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(Newser)  Sirhan Sirhan didn't kill Robert F. Kennedy, according to a man who was shot in the head the same night Kennedy was assassinated. Paul Schrade, a 91-year-old Kennedy family friend and former labor leader, told Sirhan's parole hearing on Wednesday that he believes Sirhan was the one who shot him at a Los Angeles hotel in 1968, but a second shooter killed RFK, the AP reports. Schrade apologized for missing Sirhan's previous 14 parole hearings. "I should have been here long ago and that's why I feel guilty for not being here to help you and to help me," he said. Later, when the prisoner was taken away, Schrade shouted: "Sirhan, I'm so sorry this is happening to you. It's my fault."

After three hours of testimonyincluding an hour from Schrade, who described his attempts to investigate the casecommissioners ruled against Sirhan, deciding that the 71-year-old did not show enough remorse or understand how serious the crime was, NBC News reports. The Palestinian-born Christian is serving life for the murder of Kennedy, who was killed just after winning the California Democratic primary. "This crime impacted the nation, and I daresay it impacted the world," commissioner Brian Roberts said. "It was a political assassination of a viable Democratic presidential candidate." Sirhan's next parole hearing will be in 2021. (At a hearing in 2011, Sirhan's lawyers claimed he was hypnotized as diversion for the real assassin.)
(Newser)  "Superdelegates"and their importance to Hillary Clintonare back in the news for the first time since 2008. Such delegates are Democratic Party insiders free to support any candidate at the convention, and Clinton has the support of six of them in New Hampshire, the Hill reports. That means she's expected to have the same number of delegates from the state as Bernie Sanders, who won 15 delegates to Clinton's nine in his huge New Hampshire primary victory. Two superdelegates are still uncommitted.

It will take 2,382 delegates to win the Democratic nomination, and thanks to superdelegate support, Clinton currently has 342 delegates while Sanders has just 42, according to the AP. Clintonwho debates Sanders in Milwaukee Thursday nightwas out of public view on Wednesday as her campaign assessed its next moves, reports CNN, which notes that while a Clinton adviser describes superdelegates as her "only true firewall," she presumably hasn't forgotten how dozens of delegates switched to Obama after he won their districts in 2008. (Read more Hillary Clinton stories.)
(Newser)  Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy flew into Portland, Ore., on Wednesday night to support four occupiers at a wildlife refugeand was promptly arrested by the FBI. The Oregonian reports that the 74-year-old was booked into the Multnomah County Jail after being arrested at Portland International Airport on charges relating to a 2014 standoff at his ranch that involved grazing rights on federal land. After FBI agents surrounded the occupiers' camp, the Bundy Ranch Facebook page told America to "wake up" and announced that the Bundy patriarch was on his way to the site. Hours later, the page confirmed his arrest and lamented: "They keep coming for us patriots, they keep attacking peaceful principled men and woman [sic]."

Bundy's sons Ammon and Ryan are being held without bail for their involvement in the Oregon occupation. The Oregonian notes that Bundy, like his sons, has been charged with conspiracy to impede federal officers, as well as weapons charges. The remaining occupiers had planned to surrender to federal authorities at 8am PST on Thursday, but the Bundy arrest has raised doubts about the agreement, reports the Guardian. Ammon Bundy's lawyer says Cliven Bundy had been considering joining Nevada Assemblywoman Michele Fiore at a press conference to discuss the situation, and the timing of the arrest is "terribly unfortunate." Fiore is believed to be on her way to eastern Oregon to be present at the surrender. (Read more Cliven Bundy stories.)
(Newser)  Two female backpackers have escaped a living nightmare near Adelaide, Australia. Police say a German and Brazilian, both in their 20s, met a man in a rural area of South Australia who drove them to a remote beach campsite in Coorong National Park on Tuesday, per 7 News and the Guardian. There, police say the man sexually assaulted the women, then tried to kill them. One was hit in the head with a hammer while the other was reportedly run over by a car. Incredibly, both managed to escape and run in different directions, reports the BBC. One was recaptured, but the other found a group of fishermen. "She ran straight to the car yelling. She opened the back door, jumped straight in and [was] like, 'get me out of here, get me out of here. He's going to kill us all,'" one man says. "She had no clothes on so we just straight away gave her our jacket." Another witness says she had "blood all over her."

A dozen or so locals eventually set out in search of the second woman and found her barely conscious in sand dunes. A 59-year-old South Australian man7 News reports he is of German heritagewas arrested later Tuesday in Coorong National Park and faces charges of kidnapping, unlawful sexual intercourse, and attempted murder. The man cannot be named for legal reasons, but neighbors say police have raided his home several times over the last year, taking items including computers. A photo on Facebook shows him holding a gun, while a fishing knife and hook were found at the campsite. "He's never put hands on family. At least not on me or the kids," his ex-wife says. He's due in court in April. Both victims were admitted to a hospital, where the German backpacker remained in stable condition on Thursday. (A Swedish doctor allegedly held a woman in a bunker.)
(Newser)  Russia has proposed a March 1 ceasefire in Syria, US officials say, but Washington believes Moscow is giving itself and the Syrian government three weeks to try to crush moderate rebel groups. The United States has countered with demands for the fighting to stop immediately, officials say. The talk of new ceasefire plans comes as the US, Russia and more than a dozen other countries meet in Munich to try to halt five years of civil war in the Arab country. The Guardian reports that according to a new study from the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the war has killed or injured 470,000 people11.5% of the populationand has also lowered life expectancy from 70 to 55 and almost "completely obliterated" the country's infrastructure.

The most recent Russian-backed offensive, near Aleppo, prompted opposition groups to walk out of peace talks last month in Geneva, while forcing tens of thousands of civilians to flee toward the Turkish border. Sources tell the AP that the US can't accept Russia's offer of a March 1 ceasefire because moderate opposition forces could suffer irreversible losses in northern and southern Syria before it ever takes hold. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, meanwhile, says NATO military authorities have been ordered to draw up plans for how the alliance could help shut down illegal migration and people smuggling across the Aegean Sea. Three NATO alliesTurkey, Germany, and Greecerequested alliance participation in an international effort to help end Europe's gravest migration crisis since World War II. (Read more Syria stories.)
(Newser)  A recent United Nations report that warned the Assad regime is "exterminating" civilians in Syria at alarming rates is an understatement compared to a new report from the Syrian Center for Policy Research. While other UN numbers, which the group stopped collecting in mid-2015, indicated at least 250,000 had died during the nearly five-year conflict, the SCPR's "Confronting Fragmentation" analysis paints a more "catastrophic" picture: 470,000 dead from the war and almost 1.9 million wounded, meaning 11.5% of the country's population has been killed or injured from the continuing crisis. Of the deaths, the report attributed about 400,000 to violence, with the remainder due to war-induced conditions such as hunger and illness. Life expectancy, meanwhile, has plummeted from 70.5 in 2010 to just over 55 in 2015.

And while the human toll in Syria is devastating enough, the country has been rocked in almost every other way as well: The reportwhich is careful not to criticize the Syrian government or its allies directly, per the Guardiannotes that "infrastructure and institutions, human and physical capital, and the wealth of the nation have almost all been obliterated." Estimates put the overall economic loss so far at $255 billion. About 45% of Syrians have fled their homes, with 3.1 million refugees and 1.1 million migrants taking off for other countries in search of better lives. "Human development, rights, and dignity have been comprehensively ruined," the report reads, cynically adding: "Despite the fact that Syrians have been suffering for  five years, global attention to human rights and dignity for them has intensified only when the crisis has a direct impact on developed countries' societies." (Russia is now calling for a Syrian ceasefirebut not until March.)
(Newser)  Scores of inmates at a prison in the Mexican city of Monterrey are dead following a predawn riot on Thursday. The state governor in Nuevo Leon says 52 were killed and 12 more injured, reports the AP. Gunshots and explosions were reportedly heard from within the prison, where a fire broke out, apparently after an escape attempt, per the BBC. Relatives on-site for conjugal visits reported seeing inmates with burns.

A public security rep in the state of Nuevo Leon says the riot began around midnight, noting, "The authorities formed a security cordon and nobody escaped. Everything was under control at 1:30am." Local media, however, reported seeing police vehicles combing the streets near the prison in search of possible escapees. The riot comes only a day before Pope Francis is scheduled to arrive for his first papal visit to Mexico. He plans to visit a notorious prison in Ciudad Juarez, once considered one of the most violent cities in the world, next week. (Read more Mexico stories.)
(Newser)  Two young women welcomed into a Nigerian shelter for people fleeing Boko Haram turned on their newfound campmates on Tuesday, the New York Times reports, blowing themselves up and killing at least 58 people (Reuters puts the number at more than 60, while Al Jazeera notes it's upward of 70) and injuring 78. The suicide bombers were actually accompanied by a third female who balked at the last minute for a very personal reason. "There were three female bombers who entered the camp around 6:30am disguised as displaced persons," the head of the Borno State Emergency Management Agency said, per CNN. "Two of them set off their explosives ... while the third refused after realizing her parents and siblings were in the camp." The third suspect informed military officials that they were sent by Boko Haram, which was planning on using more females to carry out future attacks.

Boko Haram has indeed been tapping more women and girls for missions, as well as other methods: The Times documents an instance in which a bomb was hid in okra, and attackers have been told to pretend they're mentally ill. Tuesday's bombing is said to be retribution for an attack on a Boko Haram market by Nigerian soldiers, who killed more than 100 Boko Haram members and liberated up to 1,000 women and girls being held as sex slaves, per the Times; those freed were brought to the Dikwa camp. Thanks to the efforts of new President Muhammadu Buhari, forces have driven Boko Haram out of many outposts, though that hasn't stopped the group from hitting well-populated soft targets. Meanwhile, in neighboring Cameroon, a pair of suicide bombers reportedly from Nigeria killed 10 and injured 40 at a wake Wednesday, per the AP. (Boko Haram isn't showing signs of slowing.)
(Newser)  The Zika virus' apparent effect on fetuses is on shocking display in a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine that was rushed to publication given the virus' spread. Though it offers no definitive link between Zika and fetal abnormalities, the study does produce the first evidence of virus transmission from mother to child and "the strongest evidence yet that the virus causes abnormally small heads and incomplete brain development," reports the Verge. The study centers on a 25-year-old Slovenian woman who became pregnant while volunteering in Brazil in February 2015. She developed a high fever and rash during her 13th week of pregnancy, but ultrasounds at 14 and 20 weeks showed no issues. When she returned to Slovenia in October, however, doctors found extensive brain damage in the fetus and the pregnancy was aborted, per NBC News.

An autopsy found the full genome of the Zika virus exclusively in the fetus' unusually smooth and scarred brain, suggesting the virus only attacked nerve tissue, per Reuters. The mother had no family history of genetic abnormalities and the fetus tested negative for 13 other viruses known to cause birth defects. "You have a mother who's infected, a fetus that's abnormal, and in the fetus, you have the genetic signature of the virus," says an infectious disease expert. "This is clear data showing Zika can infect the fetus." An epidemiologist adds "it sounds like a pretty clear case of extreme microcephaly." Scientists suspect brain development may have stopped around 20 weeks, leading one doctor to suggest that Zika, like other viruses linked to birth defects, may be most dangerous in the early stages of pregnancy. (The virus has been linked to other health problems.)
As the search for Taiwan's 6.4 magnitude quake survivors continues, state prosecutors are determined to hold property developers responsible for construction mishaps of the 17-storey high-rise apartment building that collapsed in the worst-hit city of Tainan.

According to a report by CNN, police detained three people who are currently facing charges of "professional negligence resulting in death"- former chairman of the now defunct Weiguan company Lin Ming-hui and two architects and former executives, Chang Kui-an and Cheng Chin-kui.

In an official statement by Tainan City's district prosecutor's office, the aforementioned people have been "detained to prevent collusion or other acts that could disrupt the investigation" according to a report by Fox News.

Also, the detainees were held responsible for the tragedy due to their suspected roles in overseeing the substandard construction of the Weiguan Golden Dragon apartment building back in 1989 as stated in a CBS News article.

Incessant public calls for a thorough safety review of the building are mounting after pictures of oil cans used to fill out pillars to make walls look bigger began to surface, NPR reported. So far, only the Weiguan building collapsed while all other surrounding buildings remained standing.

Meanwhile, time is thinning out in search of remaining survivors as death toll climbs to 40 and counting while more than 100 people remained unaccounted for. As heavy machineries rummage through the rubble, citizens fear that the use of such equipment may endanger the lives of survivors buried beneath the wreckage.

"If there are still people breathing in there and they are harmed now, after surviving for days, that would be the greatest tragedy," said rescue volunteer Mao Jiecheng as quoted by Ameri Publications.
NATO will be sending ships to monitor the human trafficking issue in the Aegean Sea, the military alliance's secretary general announced Thursday.

"This is not about stopping or pushing back refugee boats," the general, Jens Stoltenberg, said reported by the New York Times.

NATO has been pressured mainly by Turkey and Germany to increase it surveillance of this region after hundreds of migrants have continued to die while trying to make the journey to Greece from Turkey.

Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Philip Breedlove stated during a news conference that he was working on a mission plan while "sailing the ships in the appropriate direction."

Although the details of the mission have not been revealed, the ships will presumably be working with the Greek and Turkish coast guards as well as Fronex, the European Union border agency in monitoring illegal boats carrying large amounts of migrants. It is unclear what the protocol is when a ship finds boats that are smuggling migrants.

"This mission has literally come together in the last 20 hours, and I have been tasked now to go back and define the mission," Breedlove said. "We had some very rapid decision making and now we have to go out to do some military work."

Breedlove added that NATO will also be closely watching migrant movement at the Syria-Turkey border. The ships that have been deployed are from Canada, Greece, Germany and Turkey. A German official stated that Denmark and the Netherlands could send one ship each as well.

The United States stated that the mission has its full support.

"It is important that we now act quickly," German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said reported by Reuters.

The International Organization of Migration (IOM) reported that so far, about 409 people have died while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to get to the EU. The death tool for 2015 was around 3,800.
Brazil and a U.S. research hospital in Texas have signed an agreement regarding the production of a Zika vaccine, Brazil's health minister Marcelo Castro announced Thursday.

Castro stated that Brazil will be investing $1.9 million for a joint research project between the University of Texas Medical Branch and the Evandro Chagas Institute in Belem. Both facilities specialize in viruses that are transmitted by mosquitos. The goal of the project is to get a vaccine reading for clinical testing within 12 months. A vaccine that would become widely available could take years.

Castro added that Brazil's Health Ministry has also created partnerships with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and aims to work with GlaxoSmithKline in developing a vaccine for Zika.

"This isn't just Brazil's concern; it's the world's concern," Castro said.

The mosquito-borne virus has hit Brazil the hardest over these past few months. Although the virus is mild, officials have noticed a link between the virus and a birth defect called microcephaly. This link has prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare the Zika virus a public health emergency. There is also growing evidence that the virus can lead to Guillain-Barre syndrome.

The WHO also expects the virus to spread throughout the Americas once the weather gets warmer. The experts stated that only Canada and Chile would not be affected by the virus.

The CDC also issued safe travel guidelines particularly for pregnant women. So far, 26 countries and territories have confirmed cases of Zika.

The Zika virus causes symptoms that include a mild fever, rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis. There is no treatment or vaccine for it.
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Barasat (WB):

A baby died after the driver of a free-ambulance service allegedly refused to take her from the district hospital here to another medical facility in Kolkata without being paid.

Eight-month-old Sohani Sultana, from Jatrapota area of Amdanga in North 24 Parganas district, was admitted to the Barasat state general hospital with respiratory distress a couple of days ago, hospital officials said.

Today, she was referred to the hospital in Kolkata for further treatment and when her parents tried to avail the free ambulance facility, the driver allegedly refused to ply his vehicle without being paid.

Amid arguments over demanding money for a free service, the condition of the baby deteriorated and she soon died, the officials said.

The ambulance service is a private one and operates under the state governments Jana Jibon Suraksha Yojana. They are supposed to ferry needy patients free of cost. We have received complaints from the babys parents and a three-member fact finding committee has been set up to probe the incident, said Chief Medical Officer, Health, Dr Prahlad Acharya.

Angry residents protested outside the hospital after news of the babys death spread and also blocked the road for a brief period.

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New Delhi :

Trouble mounted for R K Pachauri, who is in the thick of a legal battle over sexual harassment allegations, when another woman, a former employee of TERI, today came out in public making similar allegations while demands were made for putting on hold his fresh appointment as its Executive Vice Chairman.

The woman, to whom he had made sexual advances more than 10 years ago, today also slammed TERI for appointing Pachauri to a higher position, Executive Vice Chairman, two days ago.

Giving details of the case, her lawyer, Vrinda Grover, said that they had first reported the complaint in February last year with police which did not do anything till date forcing her to come out in public with the charges.

Pachauri would use the excuse of work assignments to repeatedly call me to his office room, even though there was no real work that he needed to discuss.

This made me feel very uncomfortable and I used to try to dodge some meetings or ask my colleagues to go for the meetings, the woman said during a telephonic interview with NDTV.

When contacted, Pachauris lawyer Ashish Dixit said he has not seen the second complaint and he cannot comment.

Pachauri is already facing a case in Delhi High Court filed by another former TERI employee of sexual harassment.

Slamming Pachauris appointment, the second complainant said, India's pathetic record on crime against women has touched an abyss. R K Pachauri, a serial sexual harasser, who should have been punished by now, has actually been rewarded with a new and higher position!

Grover also asserted that the woman wanted to appear as material evidence in the on-going case against Pachauri to show his character and conduct with female employees.

The complaint, which originally made in February last year was circulated again today, alleged that Soon after I joined TERI and began interacting with Pachauri, he had renamed me with a sexually suggestive nickname xxxx. He said that this was a derivative of my official name and suited me far better.

Ex-TERI staff, alumni demand deferment of Pachauris appointment

A group of former TERI employees and its University Alumni today condemned appointment of R K Pachauri as Executive Vice Chairman of the green body, saying it was a slap on the face of those fighting against gender discrimination and demanded deferment of his elevation till the case was decided by the court.

This latest appointment of Pachauri as the superboss of TERI comes across as a slap in the face of all those (women and men) who have ever tried to stand up against gender discrimination or sexual harassment at workplace, the group under the banner of A few concerned ex-TERI employees and members of TERI University Alumni network said in a statement.

Terming the decision of TERI Governing Council as unfortunate, they said it will give Pachauri all the powers and access to intimidate witnesses in the case.

Appointment of any person to one of the senior most positions of the same organisation where the alleged crime occurs is out rightly unfortunate. Therefore, any appointment (actually a promotion) of Pachauri in TERI should be deferred till the case has been closed by the court, they said.

This also sends out an extremely wrong message to all TERI employees and TERI university students, through indirect intimidation and by essentially suppressing their voices forever. As a Vice Chairman with executive powers Dr Pachauri could potentially have all powers as well as access to continue to intimidate witnesses of the case, they said.

Meanwhile, Pachauri has told the court that he never exercised any pressure on the organisation and its officials as alleged by his former woman colleague in the sexual harassment case lodged against him.

Pachauri was appointed as Executive Vice Chairman of TERI on February 8 after Ajay Mathur took over the charge from him as Director General of the green body.

In February last year, a junior colleague had accused him of sexual harassment, following which he went on leave but joined work in July after a court quashed the internal committee report that found him guilty of misconduct.

He was removed as chairman of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, an international body of scientists that makes periodic assessment of climate change science.

The group, which has submitted the letter to TERIs governing council, has also started an online petition to garner support for Pachauris removal from TERI.

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Mumbai:

Salman Khan says marriage is doubtful for him but he wants to have two-three children.



The actor, who constantly faces questions on his wedding plans, visited an engineering college in Pune yesterday where he was grilled by journalist Rajat Sharma on his marriage and ex Katrina Kaif.



Marriage looks doubtful but I want two-three children. I know without marriage kids are difficult to get but I will manage it, Salman said as the students cheered for him.



The actor did not duck questions on former girlfriend Katrina Kaif, who recently shared the stage with the actor on Bigg Boss while promoting her upcoming film Fitoor.



When told that Katrina had credited him for her success, a witty Salman said, This is her baddapan but she is lying. Katrina Kaif is Katrina Kaif because she is very hardworking. I have never seen a girl so hardworking.



She may be the biggest star in India but according to me she is a majdoor (labourer). She works that hard.



Sharma asked about her pictures with Ranbir Kapoor in Ibiza some years ago, Salman indirectly confirmed Katrina and Ranbirs breakup, saying, I think this is old now. That page has been turned I feel. According to the rumours that I have been hearing.

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Hyderabad:

A deputy Executive Engineer in Irrigation Department in Nalgonda district of Telangana was arrested by the sleuths of Anti-Corruption Bureau today for allegedly taking bribe of Rs 1.37 lakh for extending an official favour.

M Manik Prabhu was caught at Saidabad here when he was accepting Rs 1,37,500 from a complainant for processing the passed bills of Rs 25 Lakh and for processing pending bills worth Rs 7 lakh, an ACB release stated.

According to ACB, the engineer is being arrested and further probe is on.

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Bengaluru:

The last rites of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad, who passed away on Thursday after battling for life since his miraculous survival in Siachen, will be held at his native village in Dharwad district on Friday with full state honours.



Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will receive the body at Hubballi Airport Thursday night and pay his last respects, the CMs office said.



The body will be kept at KIMS hospital in Hubballi tonight and shifted to Nehru Ground in the city for public viewing before last rites in the afternoon tomorrow at Betadur village in Kundagol taluk of Dharwad district in north Karnataka.



Hanumanthappa will be given full state honours, Dharwad District in charge Minister Vinay Kulkarni said.



Giving details about preparations for the last rites, he said the body will be kept at KIMS hospital in the night and for public viewing from 7 AM to 10 AM at Nehru Grounds tomorrow.



All arrangements for public viewing and last rites have been made at his village, it will be done with state honours, he added.





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Lahore:

A court here today gave two weeks time to a petitioner to inform it under which law Pakistan could seek return of the famed Koh-i-Noor diamond from Britain that India has been trying to get from the UK for years.



Petitioner Barrister Javed Iqbal Jaffrey told the Lahore High Court that Koh-i-Noor diamond was Pakistan asset as it is in illegal possession of Britain.



The British government had refused to hand over the diamond to India. Now Pakistan should lay claim on it as it is first entitled to have it. It is the Pakistani governments duty to bring it back, he said.



During the hearing of the case, Lahore High Court Justice Khalid Mahmood Khan asked the petitioner to give reference of the law under which the Pakistani government could seek the return of the diamond from the British government.



The court is hearing the maintainability of the case.



It directed the federal and Punjab law officers to appear on next hearing on February 25 and give arguments about its maintainability.



Last December, the LHC Registrar office had objected to the maintainability of the petition, saying the court had no jurisdiction to hear this case against the British Queen.



However, on February 8, the LHC overruled the objection and admitted the petition for hearing.



The British Queen, the British High Commission in Pakistan and the Pakistani government have been made respondents in the case.



Jaffery said the British had snatched the diamond from Daleep Singh, grandson of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh and took to the UK.



The diamond became part of the crown of incumbent Queen Elizabeth-II at the time of her crowing in 1953. Queen Elizabeth has no right on the Koh-i-Noor diamond, which weighs 105 carats and worth billions of rupees, he said, adding Koh-I-Noor diamond was cultural heritage of Punjab province and its citizens owned it.



Reportedly, in 1849, after the conquest of the Punjab by the British forces, the properties of the Sikh Empire were confiscated.



The Koh-i-Noor was transferred to the treasury of the British East India Company in Lahore. The properties of the Sikh Empire were taken as war compensations. Even one line of the Treaty of Lahore was dedicated to the fate of the Koh-i-Noor.



The diamond was shipped to Britain on a ship where cholera broke out and supposedly the keeper of the diamond lost it for some days and it was returned to him by his servant.



The diamond was handed to Queen Victoria in 1850.

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New Delhi :

Scintillating photographs of breathtaking views from across the world shot by a senior employee of the Delhi Metro attempts to celebrate the creative spirit of man and the bewildering beauty of nature.

A five-day long selling exhibition of 80 pictures shot by Sharat Sharma, Director, Operations, Delhi Metro is currently is set to open at India Habitat Centre here on February 13.

Inspired by the sublime beauty of nature and artistic zeal of man, the show titled Inspired to Inspire, promises a photographic tour across the world with a view of golden mountain tops during sunrise at Leh, scenic alpine villages in Switzerland, the historical Debod Temple against crystal clear water body in Madrid and unexplored havens of beauty in India.

Sharma, who is not a professional photographer, has nurtured the art of capturing near to perfect aerial shots over the years and the upcoming show is the second show by him, the first being held in the October 2014 at the same venue.

Sharmas wife Kamalnaini, a cancer survivor and qualified lawyer, has curated the show.

Our first exhibition titled A Tryst with Divinity got a very good response in 2014. The proceeds of the show will go to charities including Helpage India and National Association for the Blind, says Sharma.

An engineer by profession, Sharma who ensures safe and prompt transportation of over 28 lakh metro commuters, is also the president of Metro Adventure Club and Metro Culture Club in Delhi.

What makes this exhibition unique is the experiment with photography and a beautiful merging of technology with art, says Sharma who presented a photographic production of Indian flowers on a glass display that can be back lit through LED lighting.
Kanpur:

Lawyers of the district court here today struck work protesting against the alleged murder of an advocate and subsequent lathicharge by police on the agitating legal practitioners in Lucknow yesterday.



We have abstained from work in protest against the killing of an advocate in Lucknow and subsequent police atrocities on the agitating lawyers there, said General secretary of Kanpur Bar Association Sandeep Singh.



Lawyers of the Allahabad High Courts Lucknow bench went on the rampage yesterday, torching a state transport bus and vandalising some vehicles after the body of 40-year-old advocate Sharavan Kumar Verma bearing injury marks was found in the state capital on Tuesday.



General secretary of Lucknow Bar Association R D Shahi alleged that police used force and lathi charged the agitating lawyers near Swastha Bhawan adjacent to the High Court in which some advocates were injured and their vehicles damaged.

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New Delhi :

You may call them the most fortunate couple who ever lived or the one one who were made in heaven for each other, but they have now met in person after 70 years.

Yes! It was a heart-warming moment when 93-year-old Norwood Thomas embraced his long-lost love, 89-year-old Joyce Durrant, as they finally saw each other after almost seven decades.

Their love story is full of twists and turns and is no lesser than some romantic movie. The couple had fallen in love with each other when Norwood was serving in London, during the second World War, but due to unfavourable circumstances got separated later.

Their love story began in 1944 when 21-year-old Norwood met 17-year-old Englishwoman, Joyce Durrant, and the duo fell head over heels in love with each other. They were together till the war separated them and kept in touch through letters.

Though Norwood wanted to marry love of his life but things didnt work out the way they had thought and both moved on in their lives.

And it was after 70 years, in late 2015 that the duo got reconnected on Internet when Joyce asked her son to search for him online. The duo first spoke over Skype! Norwood, a US resident, wanted to meet Joyce, who lives in New Zealand. But he didn't have enough money to arrange for the travel.

People showered their love and support when they got to know of their love story on Internet. An online fund was created for Norwood so that he could meet his love after 70 years.

After meeting Joyce, Thomas said, Its one of the most wonderful thing that couldve happened. Clearly excited to have gotten back together, the duo is going to spend Valentine's Day together!
New Delhi :

Burqas or veil are a common sight among most of the Muslim communities around the world. The black veil is used to cover a womans hair or face but have you ever heard or seen women masks being used for the same purpose?

In Southern Iran, wearing boregheh masks is a common practice for girls as young as nine, they shield their eyes in colourful masks that rely on years of tradition for their distinctive look.

Photographer Eric Lafforgue has captured the beautiful Boregeh masks in different gold, red, embroidered and sequined designs worn in Southern Iran, for centuries by the Bandari people, the Arab Iranians who live in the coastal region.





The stunning headpieces are designed according to the ancestral tradition and are first worn at social events or gatherings by children before they attain puberty.

As the masks are always made to measure, it take two days to create one mask. The two holes for the eyes must perfectly fit the eyes so they dont cause blurred vision. The main purpose if to cover the forehead and nose, the mouth is often hidden by adding a veil.

The masks have practical and cultural purposes, it is believed that they help to shield skin against sunrays thus keeping it white.

These beautiful masks are worn by both Shiite and Sunni Muslims. What differs their masks is Shiites tend to wear red rectangular masks, while Sunnis usually wear black or golden ones made with indigo cloth and less geometric shapes.

Centuries ago, one of the masks called Qeshm masks were designed to fool invaders, so they would mistake women for male soldiers.

Masks are sold for the equivalent of 5.00 (3.90) but they sell for more when they are exported to the United Arab Emirates where demand for boreghehs is strong.

Sometimes, to add a touch of sparkle, the golden ornaments on the veils and masks are reserved for weddings.

Wearing these ornaments masks is also a sign of wealth or good financial health among them. However, the practice is dying out as more and more women are coming out in support of veil less public visits.

It's also becoming less common for young people on Qeshm Island to wear the masks that cover most of their faces and it's mainly a tradition among older Bandari women. Earlier women used to embroider the masks by hand but with time sewing machines have taken over.
Rome:

The veteran brewer who created Italys best known beer, Nastro Azzurro, has given his blessing to the brand being sold to Japans Asahi.



The premium lager is produced by Peroni, a one-time Italian family firm which is currently owned by SABMiller. It is up for sale to help win regulatory approval for the London-based groups proposed USD 121 billion takeover by Anheuser-Busch InBev.



AB Inbev announced yesterday that Asahi had offered USD 2.85 billion to acquire Peroni and the Grolsch and Meantime brands.



Given that it has been a decade since Peroni was in the hands of the family, its better it is being bought by Asahi, which is a very good brewer, than by an investment fund which would only have had a speculative interest, said Giorgio Zazio, 74.



The important thing is that the company and those who work for it can look to the future with confidence.



Nastro Azzuro was first created in 1963 but was not an immediate hit, Zazio revealed in an interview with Italian daily La Stampa.



It was very different from the current beer, it was too strong and not at all well received by our customers. We spent two years restyling it, changing the face of Nastro Azzuro, making it less bitter and reducing the alcohol level.

Nastro Azzuro, which means blue riband in Italian, is still produced exclusively in Italy and is exported to more than 50 countries around the world.



The light-coloured lager weighs in at 5.1 per cent alcohol by volume and owes its distinct taste to the unusual mix of grains used to produce it: three quarters barley to one quarter nostrano maize, a proprietary variety produced for Peroni in the Po plain of northern Italy.



The sale of Peroni and the other brands to Asahi will only go through if the AB Inbev-SABMiller tie up is finalised, the companies said.

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Dhar (MP):

Security has been ramped up in and around Bhojshala monument, where Muslims too offer namaz, as a right wing organisation has stuck to its demand that the archaeological structure should exclusively be opened for Hindus to pray on Basant Panchami on Friday.



A day ahead of the Hindu festival, police on Thursday staged a mock drill as a part of their preparedness to face any situation at the Bhojshala.



The controversial site here has been virtually turned into a fortress with MP police commandos in black uniform keeping a hawks eye at the structure.



Nearly 6,000 security personnel, including 10 companies of Rapid Action Force (RAF) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) will be deployed at Bhojshala tomorrow to ensure that Hindus and Muslim perform prayers at different times as directed by ASI, Superintendent of Police Rajesh Hingkar told PTI.



He said that about 1,000 policemen are already manning the site. Besides, 140 CCTV cameras will be installed and two drone cameras will be put in place, he added.



Tension has been building up here ahead of the Basant Panchami after right wing leader Vijay Singh Rathore demanded that Hindus be allowed dawn-to-dusk access to perform puja at Bhojshala, despite the order issued by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) last month.



The order stated that on Basant Panchami, Hindus will perform puja at Bhojshala from sunrise to 12 noon and from 3.30 PM to sunset, while Muslims will offer namaz between 1 PM and 3 PM.



Hindus consider Bhojshala as the temple of Goddess Wagdevi (Saraswati), whereas Muslims treat it as Kamal Moula mosque.



However, Bhoj Utsav Samiti (BUS) is sticking to its demand that Hindus should be exclusively allowed to enter Bhojshala to offer prayers on their festival on Friday.

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New Delhi:

Leaders cutting across party lines paid homage to braveheart Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad who died on Thursday, three days after being miraculously rescued from beneath tonnes of snow in Siachen Glacier, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying the soldier in him would remain immortal.



The 33-year-old soldier of the 19th Battalion of Madras Regiment was extricated alive six days after an avalanche hit his post at a height of 19,600 feet burying him under heavy layers of snow. The news triggering a wave of sympathy from across the country, as people prayed for his recovery.



His death on Thursday plunged the nation into grief.



Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled Koppads demise and in his tribute said the soldier in him remains immortal.



He leaves us sad & devastated. RIP Lance Naik Hanamanthappa. The soldier in you remains immortal. Proud that martyrs like you served India, Modi tweeted.



President Pranab Mukherjee in his condolence message said, I am deeply sad to learn about the passing away of your son, Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad. Lance Naik Koppad was a hero who demonstrated exemplary will power and courage in the face of adversity. He made the supreme sacrifice in the line of duty.



Vice President Hamid Ansari too joined in paying homage to the Siachen braveheart.



A survivor of the mishap at Siachen, he had come to symbolise the grit, determination and the indomitable spirit of the Indian armed forces, he said.



Congress President Sonia Gandhi also expressed deep shock and profound grief over the death of the fallen hero.



During his life, the braveheart son of India united the entire nation in praying for him and has every citizen grieving for him today, she said.



He fought till his last displaying utmost valour, courage and determination, which is the hallmark of our Armed Forces, she said in a message extending her deepest condolence to Koppads family and loved ones. He is survived by his wife Mahadevi Ashok Bilebal and two-year-old daughter Netra.



Koppads body in a coffin wrapped in national colours, was later kept at the Brar Square of the Delhi Cantonment, where several leaders like Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi and top brass of the military including the three Service Chiefs, paid their respect by laying wreath on it.



Several civilians had also gathered at the Square to pay tribute to the hero, whose miraculous survival had left the nation in awe.



In his life and his passing Lance Naik Hanumanthappa has shown the world the meaning of perseverance & courage, Rahul tweeted.



He further wrote on the micro-blogging site, His extraordinary spirit and tenacity, till the very end, is an inspiration for all. My thoughts & prayers are with his bereaved family.



Army Chief Gen Dalbir Singh condoling the death of the soldier said soldier in him will continue to inspire generations.

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Thiruvananthapuram:

Union Home minister Rajnath Singh today asked the Congress, Left and other opposition parties if they were prepared to apologise to the nation for their malicious campaign against Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the killing of Ishrat Jehan in an encounter in Gujarat in 2004.



Addressing a huge rally here, he said Pakistani American terrorist David Headley in his deposition today had clearly admitted that Ishrat Jehan had links with Lashkar-e-Taiba.



You must have heard what Headley has said in his deposition. Using Ishrat Jehans name, various allegations were made against our party leaders. On that matter, Headley has clearly stated that she (Ishrat) had links with LeT, he said.



I want to ask Congress, Communists and other parties who had continuously launched a malicious campaign to mislead the people on this issue, whether they are prepared to tender apology to the people of the country, he said.



Earlier, he had told reporters at the airport that Headleys testimony had exposed Pakistan but made it clear India wanted to maintain cordial relations with that country.



David Headley deposition has exposed Pakistan but we still want to maintain cordial relationship with the neighbouring country, he had said.



Singh is here to attend the concluding function of the state-wide Vimochana Yatra undertaken by BJP state President Kummanan Rajasekharan.



Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley today told a special court in Mumbai that Ishrat Jahanwho was killed in an alleged fake encounter in 2004 in Gujaratwas an operative of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba(LeT).



Headley, who testified via video-link from US, had picked up her name when questioned by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam about a botched-up operation mentioned to him (Headley) by LeT commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi.

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Paris:

French lawmakers have formed a commission of enquiry into possible security failings over two major terror attacks in Paris in 2015 that left 147 people dead, a deputy said today.

The commission, which was formed at the request of the conservative opposition Republicans party, held its first meeting on Tuesday, according to one of its members who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The probe will examine the resources put in place by the state to fight terrorism since January 7, 2015, the lawmaker said.

That is the date of an attack on the Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly in Paris, which was followed two days later by a hostage drama at a Jewish supermarket. A total of 17 people were killed in three days in the coordinated attacks.

The rest of the year was marked by sporadic attacks and foiled plots in the name of the Islamic State group, culminating in the slaughter of 130 people on November 13 as gunmen and suicide bombers attacked Parisian nightspots.

Four days after that attack the Republicans parliamentary leader called for the enquiry so that the French people will know the whole truth about the conditions in which these attacks could have happened.

The Republicans party has fiercely criticised the response of President Francois Hollandes Socialist governments response to the attacks.

Were all the lessons learned from the January attacks? The answer is no, too much time has been wasted, party leader and former president Nicolas Sarkozy said after the November bloodshed.

The commission will probe how the attacks could have been carried out by many jihadists who were known to anti-terrorist police. Of course we will try to understand how this was possible, to avoid it happening again, said the commission member.

The commission is made up of 30 members of parliament and will be presided over by Georges Fenech, a former investigating judge.

It can call anyone to testify under oath, but could be limited by classified information and professional confidentiality.

The first hearings will take place on Monday, with representatives of victims associations appearing. The body will hold three hearings a week, and is expected to make its findings public on July 16.

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Munich :

The Obama administration opened a two-front campaign on Syria today with a push to end one war there and step up another.

As US Secretary of State John Kerry scrambled in Germany to negotiate the timing and conditions for a cease-fire between the Syrian government and moderate rebels, US Defense Secretary Ash Carter was in Belgium trying to rally new support for the fight against the Islamic State group.

Meanwhile, the United States and Russia traded allegations over the bombing of civilian areas around the besieged city of Aleppo as fighting there intensified, further fueling fears of a mass exodus of refugees.

The Russian Ministry of Defense rejected a Pentagon claim that Russian aircraft hit two hospitals in Aleppo and contended that US aircraft had operated over the city yesterday.

Ministry spokesman Maj Gen Igor Konashenkov said Russian jets hit targets no closer than 20 kilometers from Aleppo, and that two A-10 ground attack jets from the US Air Force had flown from Turkey to attack Aleppo.

US Army Col Steve Warren, the Baghdad spokesman for the US-led coalition against IS, called the Russian claim a fabrication and said the incident was an example of Russias indiscriminate use of force.

The spat complicates Kerrys efforts with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to overcome deep differences between the two powers over a proposed cease-fire.

A truce is seen as critical to resuscitating peace talks between Syrian President Bashar Assads government and the opposition. They stalled last month before really starting, due largely to gains by Assads military with the heavy backing of Russian airstrikes.

Russia has proposed a March 1 cease-fire. The US and others see that as a ploy that only serves to give Moscow and the Syrian army three more weeks to try to crush Western- and Arab-backed rebels. The US has countered with demands for an immediate stop to the fighting, allowing peace talks to resume by February 25.

Neither Kerry nor Lavrov, who met hours before a larger gathering of the International Syria Support Group, would predict whether an agreement was possible.

Were going to have a serious conversation about all aspects about whats happening in Syria, Kerry said as their meeting got underway.

Obviously, at some point in time, we want to make progress on the issues of humanitarian access and cease-fire. We will talk about all aspects of the conflict.

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Australia to legalise medical cannabis cultivation if law gets greenlight

Australia has been moving slowly toward allowing medicinal cannabis, and on Wednesday, the federal government announced a significant new step.

(Article by Ariel Bogle, republished from //mashable.com/2016/02/09/medical-cannabis-cultivation-australia/#SL7A0HZY0uqU)

The government has proposed legislation to amend the Narcotics Drugs Act 1967, putting in place a national licensing scheme to legalise the controlled cultivation of cannabis for medicinal or scientific purposes. In a statement, Minister for Health Sussan Ley called the laws the missing piece in allowing patients with chronic illnesses access to the pain-relieving drug.

But even if passed, the proposal wouldnt make medical marijuana legal to consume countrywide. Its just one of the first steps in reaching such a ruling. Australians in certain states, including New South Wales, can currently consume medical cannabis under specific regulations, however, marijuana advocates call the patchwork of laws confusing.

This is an important day for Australia and the many advocates who have fought long and hard to challenge the stigma around medicinal cannabis products, Ley said. Importantly, having a safe, legal and reliable source of products will ensure medical practitioners are now at the centre of the decision making process on whether medicinal cannabis may be beneficial for their patient.

Speaking to the ABC, Ley said that while patients could already access medical cannabis through the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 and other legal means, they were overly complicated.

What we need is a domestic supply  allowing the states to cultivate, manufacture, have clinical trails and take this to the next step for the relief of patients, she explained. It is so important for so many people who are waiting to overcome what has been a bureaucratic and difficult process.

She assured the public only fit and proper people would be able to get a license to cultivate cannabis.

Ley is seeking bipartisan support to pass the bill and expressed optimism it would be successful  the Australian Greens and the Labor party have previously expressed support for medicinal cannabis.

Currently, Australian states including New South Wales and Victoria have proposed medicinal cannabis trials. Drug law enforcement is a matter for the states and territories, and they have the power to decriminalise cannabis for recreational use.

Despite changing attitudes to medicinal cannabis, there has been little indication the federal or state governments would be open to legalising the drug for general use, in line with U.S. states such as Colorado and Oregon. Although, a recent report suggested they would make big tax bucks if they did.

Read more at: //mashable.com/2016/02/09/medical-cannabis-cultivation-australia/#SL7A0HZY0uqU

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Bernie Sanders: Planned Parenthood is part of the establishment

Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders caucuses [votes with] Democrats in the U.S. Senate, but he is considered by many to be a political outsider. It could be his avowed preference for socialism, or it could be that hes just never been interested in becoming just another senator.

Whatever it is, his outsider appeal has helped propel his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, to heights many in the partys hierarchy never dreamed of. In fact, truth be told, most party leaders and elders, if they were being open and honest, would say they expected Sanders campaign to die off months ago, thereby leading to a coronation, if you will, of his chief rival for the nomination, the FBI-investigated Hillary Clinton.

No, Sanders isnt part of the establishment of his party  or of anything that his party aligns itself with, and that includes two stalwarts of liberal Democratic politics: Human Rights Watch and Planned Parenthood.

In a recent interview on MSNBC, Sanders was asked about the organizations endorsement of Clinton, which he dismissed as politics as usual within the Democratic establishment.

What we are doing in this campaign  and it just blows my mind every day, because I see it clearly, were taking on not only Wall Street and the economic establishment, were taking on the political establishment, Sanders said.

And so I have friends and supporters in the Human Rights Fund, in Planned Parenthood. But you know what, Hillary Clinton has been around there for a very, very long time and some of these groups are, in fact, part of the establishment, he continued. Look, Im going to do well and hopefully not win because of establishment support.

a Twitter war

That answer got under Clintons skin and got the dander up in both organizations, all of which responded via twitter  because thats how it is these days.

Really Senator Sanders? How can you say that groups like [email protected] and [email protected] are part of the establishment youre taking on? H said Clinton.

We respect [email protected]. Disappointed to be called establishment as we fight like hell to protect womens health, Planned Parenthoods social media person tweeted out, without ever explaining how killing and mutilating babies  PPs primary mission  is making women more healthy.

We share [email protected]s disappointment in Sanders attacks. [email protected] has proudly taken on the establishment & fought for LGBT people for over 30 years, tweeted the Human Rights Campaign, using what appears to be a pre-agreed-upon term, disappointment.

Not wanting to take those responses lying down, Sanders campaign spokesman, Michael Briggs, responded to the groups endorsement of Clinton.

Its understandable and consistent with the establishment organizations voting for the establishment candidate, but its an endorsement that cannot possibly be based on the facts and the record, he said, as noted by the Washington Blade.

A good liberal

Writing at the Daily Kos, Laura Clawson noted that she believes Sanders view of the Human Rights Campaign as an establishment is right on, but she nevertheless defends Planned Parenthood, like a good liberal.

She writes:

The Human Rights Campaign as establishment? I can pretty much go there with him. But Planned Parenthood? Planned Parenthood thats under constant attack from Republicans in Congress and in state governments across the country? Planned Parenthood that provides affordable healthcare to millions of women each year, most of them low-income?

Planned Parenthood which haggles for the best (highest) prices for butchered baby body parts? Is That the Planned Parenthood spoken of?

The Republicans have their outsider, billionaire businessman Donald Trump, though the shine may be coming off that rose a bit after his unexpected loss to Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas in the Iowa caucuses. Still, he has been atop the once-crowded but now-dwindling field of GOP candidates since he announced his run last summer, feeding into a growing anyone but one of them mentality among the electorate.

Sources:

Breitbart News

MSNBC

Washington Blade

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South Dakota could become the first state to officially recognize the biological difference between boys and girls

(Freedom.news) Left-wing extremism has blurred a great many lines in American society, but none so completely as the line between biological males and females. Where once such distinctions were plain and obvious  and Americans were free to recognize and acknowledge them  today Leftists have forced the country into a debate about gender specification, as if there has always been an unresolved question.

Sadly, this debate is being waged primarily in a domain long dominated by the political Left  our public schools, which the liberal education establishment have long used as a driver of their radical social agenda rather focusing exclusively on educating our young.

But one state  South Dakota  could become the first in the nation to reclaim the lost sanity over this issue, if a lawmaker there gets his way. State Rep. Fred Deutsch, a Republican from Florence, has introduced legislation that would ban students from using public school bathrooms, locker rooms and showers that are opposite from their biological sex.

Im concerned about what I see happening in schools across our country, Deutsch, who introduced a bill last week that would ban transgender students from using school facilities opposite from their biological sex, said, as noted by The Daily Signal.

Federal bureaucrats, without the force of federal law, are threatening to withhold federal funding from schools that do not allow transgender students full, unrestricted access to facilities of the opposite biological sex, he continued. I dont want that to happen in South Dakota. And I especially dont want our children to be required by the federal government to shower, change or use restrooms with other young people of the opposite biological sex.

Truth be told, neither do the vast majority of American parents  or students. But in the Age of Obama, ideology trumps sound public policy. And common sense.

Deutschs measure, HB 1008, easily passed the South Dakota House in late January, 58-10. It is expected to be taken up by the Senate this week.

As expected, Left-leaning advocacy groups are attacking the measure as a personal affront to so-called transgender students. But supporters of the measure have not included language that requires those students to change who they are or become something else.

It just acknowledges what we all know to be true  that there are two biological species within the human race, and that during the performance of certain acts we Americans prefer to engage in them in a unisex environment.

The bill also would require that schools make a reasonable accommodation for transgendered students; it described a reasonable accommodation as one that does not impose an undue hardship on a school district, a single-occupancy restroom, a unisex restroom, or the controlled use of a restroom, locker room or shower room that is designated for use by faculty.

In an op-ed for the Argus Leader, Deutsch wrote that his legislation also aims to restore privacy rights to public school children.

Deutsch said his bill is aimed at protecting South Dakota schools from aggressive actions by the Obama Department of Education to force schools into complying with guidance issued in 2014. That guidance specifically grants outsized rights to transgender students under Title IX, the federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any education program that receives federal funding, The Daily Signal noted. Before the 2014 guidance, it wasnt clear whether the law applied to kids using facilities segregated by sex.

Schools that dont comply with Title IX risk losing their federal funding.

That has already happened. Last year a school in Illinois was threatened with the loss of millions in federal funding for not allowing a biological male who identifies as a female full access to girls locker rooms. The Dept. of Education ruled that the school discriminated against the student on the basis of sex.

That decision, however, conflicts with prior rulings in Pennsylvania and Virginia, The Daily Signal noted, where federal courts have ruled that Title IX does not apply to transgendered student use of opposite-biological-sex facilities. In the Virginia case, the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled that Title IX specifically authorizes schools to provide gender-separate facilities: A recipient may provide separate toilet, locker room, and shower facilities on the basis of sex. 34 C.F.R.  106.33.

As for Deutschs bill, it remains to be seen whether South Dakota will adopt it. But one thing is already clear: The extremists behind the effort to force us to deny certain indisputable biological evidence regarding our children are not sending their children to schools where little Johnny in drag gets to shower with little Jane.

But beyond that, this issue was never about equality or compassion for children who are different. There have always been different children. This is about the Left once again using the brute force of government to enact a social policy that would otherwise never survive the democratic process.

And it appears as though this time around, South Dakota has had enough.

I am introducing this bill because I dont believe its right for the federal government to force our schools to require children to shower, change clothes or go to the restroom with members of the opposite sex. The regulation violates our personal values as a people, and our rights as a state, Deutsch wrote in the Argus-Leader. He is right on all counts.

See also:

The Daily Signal

Argus-Leader

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HARTFORD  Chambers of commerce from throughout the state will join the Connecticut Business & Industry Association in a new effort to lobby state lawmakers for reduced state spending and growing the economy.

They are hoping for a better collaboration among the private sector, the General Assembly and state government.

The campaign was announced this week during a joint news conference in the Capitol that included the Bridgeport Regional Business Council, the Business Council of Fairfield County and the Central Connecticut Chambers of Commerce.

Joseph F. Brennan, president and CEO of the CBIA, said that at a time when businesses including General Electric are not feeling welcome, state lawmakers and the business community should be working more closely. The most-important part from our perspective at this point in time is a full recognition from everybody in the state of Connecticut, from both sides of the aisle of what we need to do to bring back those glory days, he said during a Tuesday news conference. Theres some really fundamental changes we have to make in a bipartisan way.

Brennan said that the state wont be in a position to offer tax cuts until the government addresses its systemic problem of annual spending increases. We need to make the fiscal changes that are necessary, he said. We need to make important investments in transportation and other kinds of infrastructure in Connecticut to make sure were full. We need to make sure were in a position where we can reduce taxes because were having surpluses. Were only going to get surpluses, not through tax increases, but were going to get surpluses through economic growth.

While business leaders have faith in the state Department of Transportation, Brennan stressed the need for the proposed constitutional amendment to create a lockbox to prevent state lawmakers from raiding the fund that uses fuel taxes to support transportation.

We need to build up confidence in taxpayers that the state can do this, Brennan said, adding that the issue of higher taxes and tolls will likely be deferred until next year. I think everyone agrees, at least in our membership, that we need greater investment in transportation infrastructure. We just have to figure out how to finance those without doing further damage to our economy.

Paul Timpanelli, president and CEO of the Bridgeport Regional Business Council, said the eight major chambers and the CBIA represent a wide-ranging coalition from throughout the state in making a major commitment to make their views heard during the legislative session, which runs through May 4. The business community needs to increase its level of commitment, engagement and participation in the process and today we made a commitment to do that, Timpanelli said in an interview. Last week the coalition wrote a letter to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy requesting structural changes on both the spending and taxation side to support future business growth.

kdixon@ctpost.com;
Pixabay

Two biotech companies have emerged as frontrunners in the race to develop a vaccine for Zika, a mosquito-borne virus that has affected more than 4,700 live births in Brazil and crept into 32 neighboring countries, according to a report from the World Health Organization.

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, a small Pennsylvania pharmaceuticals company, has positioned itself as one likely contender thanks to its previous work with mosquito-born diseases and its relatively quick turnaround time from concept to testing, according to Fortune.
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HARTFORD  The Latino & Puerto Rican Affairs Commission joined minority lawmakers and legal activists on Wednesday to push for a change in the way state legislative districts are drawn up.

Under legislation that a powerful co-chairman of the legislative Judiciary Committee said he would pursue this year, inmates would no longer be included as living where they are imprisoned. Instead, they would be counted as residents of the cities and towns in which they last resided before being incarcerated.

Advocates said its a way to return more political power to the states cities, from which most of the states 16,000 inmates come. About a third of inmates are in local jails, either serving short misdemeanor terms or awaiting trial. But most of the rest are located in northern Connecticut, particularly the Enfield, Suffield and Somers regions, far away from the cities of Bridgeport, Hartford and New Haven from which most inmates come.

For too long, black and Latino communities have been robbed of our political representation, said Richard A. Cruz, chairman of the commission. This enhances the representation of prison towns in the Legislature without increasing the number of constituents. The more politically impartial alternative is to count prisoners in their last town of residence before they went to prison.

During a morning news conference in the Legislative Office Building, state Sen. Eric D. Coleman, D-Bloomfield, co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said that while the bill has failed in recent years, hes optimistic that it will pass in this legislative session. He said that most inmates would say their homes are where they were arrested and prosecuted.

Under the bill, state grant formulas for towns and cities that host prisons would not be affected. Most of the states prisons are in five towns. House districts represent about 23,000 people, while Senate districts contain about 90,000 people. If the law were changed, it would not affect the drawing of legislative districts until after the 2020 U.S. Census. Lawmakers with prisons in their districts gain the advantage of having more-compact districts.

Ingrid Alvarez-DiMarzo, state director of the Hispanic Federation, representing nonprofit agencies from throughout the state, said prison gerrymandering dilutes the power of minority communities, from which a disproportionate number of residents serve time behind bars.

Peter Wagner, executive director of the Prison Policy Initiative, said that New York, Maryland, Delaware and California have already addressed the issue.

The state of Connecticut relies on flawed data that counts incarcerated people in the wrong location, he said. This flaw distorts the legislative districts that are drawn based on that data, and it changes how the decisions made in this building are made and their outcomes.

The result is to give extra political representation to the cities that host the prisons, Wagner said. The impact on Latino and African-American communities is particularly stark, because most people locked up in Connecticut are people of color, but most prisons are located in disproportionately white State House districts.

The legal theory behind the proposal for change is that people do not lose their place of residence just because theyre in a state institution. Wagner said the Department of Correction can easily report the last home addresses of inmates.

State Sen. Sen. John A. Kissel, R-Enfield, ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, said Wednesday that he has not opposed similar bills in the past.

The idea has merit, Kissel said. I represent a region which includes several prisons and thousands of inmates.

kdixon@ctpost.com; Twitter: @KenDixonCT
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NEW MILFORD  A tree-service company is fighting the towns decision to reject its low bid for a tree-trimming contract because of what Mayor David Gronbach called discrepancies between the bid and what it was paid in previous years.

In January, Gronbach and the towns purchasing authority awarded the tree-service bid to Emmons Tree Service, even though Gentile Tree Care had a lower bid and was recommended by the Department of Public Works. Gronbach said at the time Gentile had been paid tens of thousands of dollars more each year since 2011 than it bid for the work.

Gentile was awarded the contract in 2011, when it bid $43,325, but Gronbachs investigation discovered that the company was actually paid more than $175,000. The company bid the same amount in 2012 and 2013, but the town ended up paying $151,000 and $143,000, respectively.

Gentile was again awarded the bid in 2014 and 2015 for $58,740 each year. However, the town paid $124,000 in 2014 and $130,000 last year.

Gronbach said some of the discrepancies can be attributed to emergency work following large storms, but there was not enough detail in the documentation available to determine what the rest of the work was for.

As a result, Gronbach said, he was unwilling to give Gentile the contract for 2016.

He also said that while Gentiles proposal of $80,700 was lower than Emmons total bid of $87,700, the two were nearly identical in the cost to remove 40 to 50 trees, which the mayor said was the typical yearly average. He also said Emmons had a lower hourly rate than Gentile.

Im looking at what was paid and what was bid, Gronbach said at Tuesday nights Town Council meeting. If you look at the detailed bids (from Gentile and Emmons), they are basically the same. It is a judgment call to go with Emmons in the best interest of the town.

Attorney Neil Marcus, who represents Gentile, said his own review of the bills showed his client performed extra work outside of the bid contract at the request of the town, but had charged the same rates.

Marcus urged Gronbach and the Town Council to reconsider their decision, and to at least rebid the contract. He also offered to meet with the mayor to review the findings of both of their investigations.

If youre going to take the bid that is higher, it makes no sense to me when the lower bid is qualified and is a local contractor, Marcus said. The other option my client has is to take the matter to court to determine if he has been damaged by the way the bid process has been handled.

Gronbach said he has not completed his review of the invoices, partially because the bills lacked necessary information such as what trees were removed and their size, which determines the cost.

Gronbach said the town bears some responsibility for not requiring that this information be included, but also said it would be in New Milfords best interest to start fresh with Emmons.

We have to work with (the DPW and Parks and Recreation Department) in terms of the practical issues they face, Gronbach said. Right now, thats a work in progress. Were working out a system to make sure these discrepancies dont repeat themselves. It might be time to hit the restart button.

Gronbach has also said Sam Gentile acted unprofessionally after the town rejected his companys bid.

Gronbach said Gentiles wife called the mayors office the next day and abused the staff. Gronbach also said Gentiles wife came to his office and yelled at him.

Some residents at Tuesday nights meeting accused the mayor of holding a personal grudge against Gentile dating back to a court case when the Gentiles testified against a client of Gronbach, who is an attorney.

The mayor didnt deny his prior experience with Gentile was a factor, but reiterated it was one of many issues he had with the contractor.

They testified in a case in which I was involved in and a jury rejected his testimony flat out, Gronbach said. So I use that for what it is. It raises an issue of credibility. But its certainly not the only issue that led to this decision. But I cant divorce myself from that experience.

Staff Writer Susan Tuz contributed to this report.
Looks like Mother Nature is making up for lost time in Connecticut and giving us a fresh coat of white snow every couple of days. While it keeps Greenwich pristine-looking, personally I like the green in Greenwich along with splashes of color. Rest assured that colorful spring flowers are coming along with our spring real estate market.

Last week saw 14 single-family homes and four condominiums change hands for a total of almost $20 million. While the total dollar volume is down from the previous week, the number of sales is escalating slightly, hopefully portending a robust spring market.

My buy of the week is in the Indian Harbor Association, a private, gated waterfront community south of Bruce Park. It was listed previously but was waiting for a buyer who appreciated this sophisticated home in a magical setting. I love this light-filled postmodern home and its convenient access to town.

My sale of the week is a newly constructed colonial home in the North Mianus section of town. The builder of this house added a finished 1,600-square-feet lower level and increased the asking price four times as the house was enhanced, fetching almost a quarter more than its original price.

Buy of the week

My buy of the week was originally listed for four months starting in June 2013 at $3.295 million. Listed again last March at $2.995 million it is a good illustration of numerical barriers to a sale. While only $5,000 under the $3 million threshold, psychologically $2,995,000 is a lot less expensive than its previous price.

When consumers or their agents screen available housing and look for properties less than $3 million, if youre a dollar more youre invisible to them. Keep that in mind when you price your home for sale near any price barrier.

This is a postmodern architecture home which is a style that challenged modern architectures less is more emphasis. Noted modern architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe is credited with that phrase. Robert Venturi, a leading postmodernist, famously offered his criticism: less is a bore.

The bottom line on this home, selling at $2.350 million, is that the buyer got an exquisite six-bedroom, four-bathroom completely updated home in a beautiful 0.9 acre setting. Not bad at all for Indian Harbor.

Sale of the week

This weeks sale of the week is a newly constructed four-bedroom, three-and-two-half bath center hall colonial on Cognewaugh Road. This home went under contract at the end of October and had its 1,600-square-feet lower level completed with an extra bathroom before going to closing last Friday. It was originally listed in July 2014 at $1.495 million but grew in features and cost in four steps to its closing price of $1.850 million, which added another $355,000.

Situated on 4.2 acres, this Cos Cob home is in the North Mianus elementary school and Easter Middle School district and will make a great family home for the new owners. Unfortunately only the construction photo was available for this publication.

Boosting curb appeal on a dime

No surprise, first impressions are key to selling real estate. Curb appeal enhancements can really boost buyer interest as Ive said in earlier columns, but if you dont have a lot of time and dont want to spend a fortune what can you do? How about some quick fixes with a top budget of around $100?

1. Number one on the hit list is to paint your front door cardinal red and add a new brass light fixture. The Home Depot Sea Gull New Castle Polished brass fixture goes for $36.50 online with free shipping if you spend $45. That gives you more than enough money left over for spray paint. A whole case of six spray cans of Rust-Oleum Cardinal Red all-surface spray paint and primer goes for $34.56. You wont need that much but you can use it later. Mask off the area and spray on new beauty. Total bill $71.06 plus tax. Done. And you didnt even need a paint brush.

2. Spray paint the mailbox. Try white or black to complement the red door color. Dont forget to freshen it up with new brass numbers. Now theyll even be able to find your house.

3. Wire brush and paint the railings. Use gloss black to add depth.

You can do all this with a minimum of time and way under your $100 budget. Wait until we have at least a 50-degree sunny day for the exterior painting. Happy selling!

This Weeks Success Quote

You would detail your car if you were going to sell it. You should detail your house too.

 Barb Schwarz, originator of home staging
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DANBURY  It was a situation similar to ones a number of college campuses have recently encountered.

Police officers wearing heavy body armor and tactical gear carefully forced their way into each room at a Western Connecticut State University residence hall as they searched for two armed men on Thursday.

As the officers canvassed the building with handguns, rifles, shields and hands-free radios, one of them was shot in the leg. The scenario quickly escalated with one of the suspects taking his ex-girlfriend as a hostage.

But about an hour after the operation began, police successfully negotiated with the men, took them into custody and rescued the victim.

Although the scene appeared real to bystanders watching from White Street and Eighth Avenue, the situation at Litchfield Hall was part of a series of large-scale training exercises university and local police performed for several hours Thursday.

The active-shooter drill provided an opportunity for law enforcement agents to practice their response during a potential crisis.

The purpose of this training or any training is to be all on the same page, so in the event of an actual emergency or critical situation, were all working like a well-tuned ship, said WCSU Police Lt. Richard Montefusco, who coordinated the exercises.

The drill involved about two dozen people, including police officers from WCSU, Newtown, Danbury and its SWAT team, members of the universitys Student Safety Services  a group of students who assist police similar to a neighborhood watch  among others.

Law enforcement student Jessica Ostroski, a supervisor for the Student Safety Services, said the exercises put important skills to the test and also made the university community more confident that police are ready for a worst-case scenario.

This is phenomenal, she said. It gives us a secure feeling.

School shootings have become a growing concern across the country, with nearby Newtown being the stage of one of the worst such tragedies in U.S. history. Since 20 children and six adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012, there have been more than 160 school shootings in America  an average of one shooting each week  according to an index created by Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

There were 94 school shootings nationwide between December 2012 and December 2014. Forty-seven percent of them took place on college or university campuses, the report shows. Of those 94 incidents, 23 resulted in at least one death.

Montefusco said this reality shows how important the training was on Thursday.

Its unfortunate that we have to do this, but this is the society that we live in, he said. In order to minimize that risk, we need to train.

The training was the culmination of hours of planning and smaller-scale exercises on campus, university spokesman Paul Steinmetz said.

For several years, the university, the local police departments and State Police have been working together to develop plans for how to approach a crisis, he said. Weve had written plans, tabletop exercises, and now this is the result.

After each scenario was completed, all officers involved gathered to discuss what went wrong and what worked during their response.

This is the time to make mistakes because when that day comes, you want to make sure all those mistakes have been mitigated and addressed, Montefusco said.

noliveira@newstimes.com, 203-731-3411, @olivnelson
Gov. Nasiru El-Rufai of Kaduna State on Thursday said that over 42 per cent of teachers in Kaduna State were unqualified. El-Rufai stat...

Gov. Nasiru El-Rufai of Kaduna State on Thursday said that over 42 per cent of teachers in Kaduna State were unqualified. El-Rufai stated this at the commissioning ceremony of a 1,500-seater capacity hall named after him at the Federal College of Education (FCE), Zaria, Kaduna State. The edifice was constructed by the college through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TEDFUND). El-Rufai said that despite the large number of unqualified teachers, we do not intend to sack anybody, but we want them to upgrade their knowledge.We are lucky to have FCE, Institute of Education, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), among other teacher training institutions in the state, which are going to be used to advance the knowledge of the teachers.While thanking FCE for the gesture, El-Rufai advised the management of the institution to introduce more degree courses to enable people benefit more from the college services. Earlier, the Provost of the college, Dr Muktar Maccido said the newly commissioned hall was the biggest of its kind not only in the college but in the entire colleges of education and polytechnics across Nigeria. Macchido said the college had been transformed during his tenure as provost through staff strength and structural advancement.Before, the college had a little above 700 staff but now have over 2,200 staff while students population was initially about 4,000 but now exceeds 31,000 students, he said. Macchido said the college had established an FM radio station, adding that a television station is expected to be on air soon.
HE Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, yesterday urged the Senate Committee on Works not to change the ministrys...

HE Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, yesterday urged the Senate Committee on Works not to change the ministrys plans as presented in the 2016 budget proposals.He spoke when he led a delegation to continue its budget defence.The minister, in his presentation of the main thrust of the Medium Term Sector Strategy 20162018 budget proposals, explained that the objective would ensure that projects in the six geopolitical zones were completed.He said: Some members of the committee have pointed out that they wanted to see a plan. There is a plan before you and it is a plan that l appeal that you should look at in more detail. It is perhaps different from what has been done before, and if we have done this budget method where we put X Naira in the budget and every constituency takes a part of it in that budget year and it doesnt lead us to the conclusion of a project, I think the time has come to try something new. I am proposing something new but we not are inflexible about what we are proposing and as l have said in my previous meetings with the chairman and the vice chairman, give us a chance, to change the way things have been done, then hold us responsible to the plan that we agree with. But as parliament, when it comes to Budgetary Appropriation matters, you have the yam and you have the knife and you can choose to cut as you wish, Sir. Mr. Chairman, we have brought a plan to you Sir, it is different from what has been done before. The purpose of that plan is to address first, economic roads as the Second Niger Bridge, the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the Ilorin-Jebba road so that, a section at least can be completed.Fashola noted that if there was a clear cut plan as being proposed, each lawmaker could explain to their people on the schedule of their areas within such a plan.Explaining that it was impossible to have come up with a 10-year plan in less than 100 days of being in office as suggested by one of the senators, the minister explained that it was important to come up with a proposal for implementation to avoid the danger of losing the dry weather while making elaborate plans.Fashola noted that the time had come for the senators to insist on what will make meaningful impact in the life of the citizenry by endorsing the ministrys proposal unlike what was done in the past.Let us also not forget that there are some contractors who were at work last year. The budget of N19 billion passed through this National Assembly last year, l wasnt here. And perhaps that was the time to have put our foot down. We have another opportunity now to put our foot down and l hope that we do not miss it. In doing so my suggestion is that you trust us with this plan and you hold us to it subject to modifications that we may make and subject to the leadership responsibility that we will take in our constituencies that next year, this is what will happen in this part of the country, in year three, this is what will happen in this part of the country,  he said.The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Works, Senator Kabiru Gaya, hailed the minister and his team for the depth of work done within a short period, adding that his committee would work with the ministry to come up with a final budget to help achieve the objectives of the executive and legislature.
The Federal Government has written to the Code of Conduct Tribunal asking for a date for the commencement of the trial of the Senate Pres...

The Federal Government has written to the Code of Conduct Tribunal asking for a date for the commencement of the trial of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, on charges of false assets declaration.The letter written on behalf of the Federal Government by the lead prosecuting counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), followed the February 5 judgment of the Supreme Court validating the trial of the Senate President before the CCT.It was learnt that Jacobs sent the letter with a copy of the Supreme Courts judgment attached to it to the Danladi Umar-led CCT on Monday.Our correspondent did not get to see a copy of the letter, but the Head, Press and Public Relations of the CCT, Mr. Ibraheem Al-hassan, confirmed to our correspondent that the registrar of the tribunal had received it.I have confirmed from the registrar and he confirmed to me that Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), wrote the letter, informing the tribunal that the Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal that was stopping the trial from going on. He attached a copy of the judgment to the letter.The letter will be considered and a hearing notice will be issued later on.It is expected that the tribunal will give a date for the trial and issue hearing notices to parties to the case this week.A seven-man panel of the apex court presided over by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, unanimously ruled in its judgment on February 5 that Sarakis appeal against the jurisdiction of the CCT and the competence of the charges, lacked merit.Justice Walter Onnoghen, who delivered the lead judgment, dismissed all Sarakis seven grounds of appeal, affirming that the charges instituted against him were valid and that the tribunal was validly constituted with requisite jurisdiction to try him.The CJN and other members of the full panel of the apex court, comprising Justices Tanko Muhammad, Sylvester Ngwuta, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, Chima Nweze and Amiru Sanusi, also consented to the judgment.The judgment of the Supreme Court terminated an earlier order of the a panel of apex court presided over by now retired Justice John Fabiyi, which had on November 12, 2015, suspended proceedings in the trial of the Senate President.The CCT is therefore expected to issue a hearing notice for the continuation of the Senate Presidents trial.In the 13 counts initiated by the Federal Government, Saraki was said to have made false assets declaration in his forms submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau as a two-term governor of Kwara State between 2003 and 2011.The Senate President, who was said to have submitted four assets declaration forms which were allegedly investigated by the CCB, was found to have corruptly acquired many properties while in office as Governor of Kwara State but failed to declare some of them in the said forms earlier filled and submitted.He also allegedly made an anticipatory declaration of assets upon his assumption of office as governor, which he later acquired.He is also accused of sending money abroad for the purchase of property in London and that he maintained an account outside Nigeria while serving as governor.Saraki initially refused to appear before the tribunal prompting it to issue a bench warrant against him.Saraki failed in his bid to get the Danladi Umar-led tribunal to quash the 13 counts, after he was arraigned on September 22, 2015.
Medical students in 100 level at the University of Lagos and their parents on Wednesday disrupted academic and business activities in the...

Medical students in 100 level at the University of Lagos and their parents on Wednesday disrupted academic and business activities in the institution.The protesters, who shut the universitys main gate, accused the university authorities of denying them promotion to 200-level.According to them, the authorities introduced some new academic rules that have denied many of them from proceeding to the universitys College of Medicine, Idi-Araba to continue their programme.The protesters also argued that the new scheme was to allow the authorities to admit diploma students to the faculty. The protesters alleged that the diploma students paid handsomely for the offer.However the authorities said the professional bodies regulating the study of medical programmes in the country, introduced a fresh index system to regulate the quota allocated to individual university.The UNILAG Head, Information Unit, Mr. Toyin Adebule, made this known in a statement on Wednesday night.According to him, UNILAG authorities will not want to flout such directive, as those admitted outside the quota will not be allowed to practice after graduation.The statement read in part, This year, the professional bodies have insisted on the enforcement of the quota upon which accreditation is hinged and hence the college has had to conform. What this means is that only students that are indexed will be registered by the professional bodies to practice after graduation.Senate at its meeting held on Wednesday, 27th January, 2016 had approved the implementation of the re-arrangement to conform to the professional bodies quota in order not to lose accreditation. This has regrettably meant that we have only been able to receive students into the college only up to the number the College of Medicine is allowed by the quota.We recognise and regret that this has led to some students being unable to cross over into the College of Medicine or their course of choice. Consequently, all candidates who were not successful to be placed in programmes in CMUL have been allocated to appropriate programmes on the main campus in Akoka.
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has said that the country must get local government ...

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has said that the country must get local government elections right.He said this would help to strengthen the countrys electoral processes.Yakubu spoke in Abuja on Wednesday when the management of Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission, led by its Chairman, Dr. Binta Dikko-Audu, paid him a courtesy call in his office.Yakubu said INEC was ready to support state electoral bodies in conducting credible elections at the state and local government levels.He said that it was only when the states were committed to free fair and credible elections that countrys electoral processes would continue be consolidated on.He commended Kaduna SIEC for considering the use of technology in its forthcoming local government elections in the state.Yakubu said, You have taken a bold step by agreeing to use the technology that has changed elections in Nigeria, believing that the technology will also change local government elections, not only in Kaduna State, but in Nigeria.We need to get the local government elections right just in the same way as we have gotten the national elections right and we should continue to strengthen the processes and the procedures.So, anything that INEC can do to add value to local government elections, I assure you that INEC will do so.He promised that INEC would provide the necessary support to Kaduna SIEC towards the states election as requested by its Chairman.We will be very happy to support the Kaduna SIEC, we believe that the card reader has revolutionarised our elections and the standard INEC has attained is replicated at the state level, he said.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday declared that none of the 774 local government areas in Nigeria is under the control of the insur...

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday declared that none of the 774 local government areas in Nigeria is under the control of the insurgents, Boko Haram.The Senator representing Borno Central, Baba Kaka Garbai had recently claimed that more than 50 percent of Borno State was under the control of Boko Haram.Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima and the Nigerian Army had swiftly disagreed with the senators position.Buhari, at a joint briefing with the visiting German President, Mr. Joachim Guack at the Presidential Villa, Abuja maintained that the senators position was incorrect.He also called for the support of Germany to make sure Nigeria emerges a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).The German President pledged more support of his country towards defeat of Boko Haram.
The Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party met in Abuja on Wednesday against the directive of the acting National Chairman of ...

The Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party met in Abuja on Wednesday against the directive of the acting National Chairman of the party, Uche Secondus.Secondus had on Monday asked the board and other organs of the party which had earlier fixed dates for their meetings for this week, to shift them till next week.His directive, which was communicated to the BoT, was signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh.Secondus had said the board should meet on Tuesday next week, the same day he also fixed for the meeting of the National Executive Committee.However, the BoT, at its meeting, removed its acting chairman, Dr. Haliru Mohammed, and mandated its secretary, Sen. Walid Jibril, to act in his stead.He will also combine the position of the secretary until a substantive chairman is appointed.Jibril, who briefed journalists in Abuja, said that the meeting where the decision to relieve Mohammed of his position, was attended by more than 60 members.He said, The BoT unanimously appointed Sen. Walid Jibril as the acting national chairman while still remaining as substantive BoT secretary.We appointed the former acting chairman to act for three months on May 25, 2015 and after the three months expired, the BoT met again and gave him two weeks to call for a meeting where a new chairman would be elected, since that was not done, the BoT cannot sit by and allow things to derail.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday played host to the visiting German President, Joachim Gauck, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. ...

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday played host to the visiting German President, Joachim Gauck, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.That was the first official function carried out by Buhari who returned to the country from London on Wednesday evening at the expiration of his six-day vacation.The President was still on his way back to the country when Gauck who had earlier visited Lagos State arrived Abuja on Wednesday.Gauck and some members of his delegation held a closed door meeting with Buhari alongside some top Nigerian government officials and presidential aides.Both leaders later addressed a joint press conference where Gauck expressed his countrys support for the present administrations wars against terrorism and corruption.The visiting President who spoke through an interpreter also said he had earlier visited a camp of Internally Displaced Persons in Abuja and was moved by their plight.He promised that his country would offer support to the Federal Government where necessary in order to ameliorate the plights of the IDPs.He extended an invitation to to Buhari to pay official visit to Germany.Buhari on his part used the opportunity of the interaction to seek Germanys support for Nigerias quest to hold a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council.
The Supreme Court has affirmed the election of Mr. Darius Ishaku of the Peoples Democratic Party as Governor of Taraba State. In a una...

The Supreme Court has affirmed the election of Mr. Darius Ishaku of the Peoples Democratic Party as Governor of Taraba State.In a unanimous judgment on Thursday, the seven-man bench of the apex court affirmed Ishakus election after dismissing the appeal filed against him by the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in the April 11, 2015 poll, Aisha Alhassan.Alhassan, now Minister of Women Affairs, had won at the Taraba State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal which sat in Abuja, with the Danladi Abubakar-led tribunal ordering Ishakus removal and directing that the APC candidate be issued with a fresh certificate of return and be sworn in as governor of the state.The tribunals judgment was based on alleged non-compliance of the conduct of PDPs primary from which Ishaku emerged as the partys governorship candidate with provisions of sections 85 and 87 of the Electoral Act.Ishaku had appealed against the tribunals decision.The Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the governor, and set aside the judgment of the tribunal on the basis that Alhassan, not being a member of the PDP, lacked the locus standi to challenge the validity of the primary which produced Ishaku as the partys candidate.Alhassan appealed to the Supreme Court, but a seven-man bench of the apex court led by Justice Ibrahim Galadima on Thursday affirmed the earlier verdict of the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division delivered on December 31, 2015.The Supreme Court delivered the judgment more than an hour after hearing Alhassans appeal on Thursday.Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour, who read the summary of the lead judgment held that Alhassans appeal lacked merit.Justice Rhodes-Vivour held, I am of the firm view that there is no merit in this appeal and it is hereby dismissed.The Jjdgment of the Court of Appeal Abuja Division delivered on December 31, 2015 is affirmed and the election of governor Darius Ishaku is hereby upheld.Justice Rhodes-Vivour and the rest of the members of the panel are to give the full reasons for their decisions on February 22.
Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, on Thursday, defended the Federal Governments refusal to devalue the naira. Oshiomhole who spok...

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, on Thursday, defended the Federal Governments refusal to devalue the naira. Oshiomhole who spoke in Lagos while delivering a keynote address at the maiden edition of The Cable Colloquium, said that the governments position was to pull speculators out of business. Oshiomhole The Colloquium was entitled: The Naira on Trial: To Devalue or Not?  According to him, a history of devaluation of the nations currency since the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) has not benefited the economy in any guise. The first time the concept of devaluation was introduced to us by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), it generated a national debate. Chief Olu Falae lectured us about the beauty of devaluation.When you devalue, the price of imported goods will go up, the capacity to consume will drop, and total outflow of forex will be less.Nigerian goods will become cheaper, importation will be less and exportation will be more. This will lead to more foreign exchange and will shore up our foreign reserves, Oshiomhole said.The governor, however, noted that devaluation had never translated to an approximate increase in exported goods because of Nigerians appetite for foreign or imported goods. He argued that available statistics from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that the thesis that if we devalue, we will export more, cannot be supported.The real critical question is  will devaluation curb our appetite for imported goods? I am unable to find gains in devaluation, Oshiomhole said. He said that currency speculators were the ones manipulating the naira, and exerting pressures on the CBN to devalue it, for their selfish gains.He explained that the nation was dealing with pure speculations and assumptions on the nations currency because a few profit from such manipulations of the exchange rate. Some people are speculating on the naira; just manipulating the naira for their selfish ends.This is how a section of the business community make their money,Oshiomhole said. The former labour leader said that the Nigerian worker had been trapped as a result of the actions of currency manipulators. He called on well-meaning Nigerians to support the forex policy of the CBN and the stand by the Federal Government not to devalue the nations currency.(NAN)
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has described Governor Ayodele Fayose as a threat to the Nigerian Constitution and ord...

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has described Governor Ayodele Fayose as a threat to the Nigerian Constitution and orderly society.Reacting to Governor Fayoses attack on Lagos fiery lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) over his position on the alleged election fraud that returned him (Fayose) to power, the party said the eminent lawyer could not have maintained his former position after revelations emerged that Fayose allegedly stole his way to power.Falana and Fayose Falana had said that Fayose is liable to prosecution in the light of the new revelations linking his victory to alleged electoral fraud through illegal militarisation and illegal printing of sensitive INEC materials through which he won the election.Falana had noted that this was revealed by Fayose himself in the secretly recorded audio tape by Captain Sagir Koli, including revelations contained in the confessions by PDP State Secretary, Dr Tope Aluko. Fayoses voice was also heard in the tape talking of how collation of the results was done on June 19, two days before the June 21, 2014 governorship election. Falana insisted that Fayose could not hide under immunity to engage in impunity and crime to commit treason to illegally remove a sitting governor.Fayose however responded, accusing Falana of double standards and lack of integrity, having supported his election after the result was announced on June 22, 2014. But in a statement by the APC Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, the party said Fayose should shut up and stop insulting Nigerians in his shameless defence of criminal acts that brought him to power.Accusing the governor of using immunity to commit impunity, the party said Fayose was carrying a moral and legal burden in the election that brought him to power, arguing that in a sane society, the governor would have resigned. Arguing that Falana supported the governors election based on information available at the time, Olatunbosun explained that the revelations contained in Ekitigate audio tape and revelations contained in the testimony of the PDP State Secretary, Dr Tope Aluko, were mind-boggling and potent enough for the senior lawyer to change his position.Expressing surprise that Fayose was still talking of Falana and American support for the election that has become a butt of jokes locally and internationally, Olatunbosun berated the governor for casting aspersion on Falanas integrity, saying the senior lawyer is a pride of Ekiti people because of his integrity, scholarship and his fight for the cause of justice.Accusing Fayose of engaging in siege mentality and attacks on his opponents to divert attention from the election fraud saga that brought him to power, Olatunbosun said: Fayose is jittery and that is why he is stoking violence. He has started attacking individuals in Ekiti State like he did during his first aborted tenure in 2006.We want to remind Fayose that many of his party leaders, who still have a modicum of integrity, have also left PDP in droves because they could not stand the shame he has brought upon them through the Ekitigate scandal planned and executed by him and some of his cohorts. Therefore, Falana cannot be an exception.Fayose is being haunted by his criminal past and there is no way he will not meet his comeuppance no matter how he tries to evade justice. Through his past and present deeds, decent people of the world have since discovered that Fayose is a threat to democracy and Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, law and order in the society and everyone knows that there is no way he can operate in a society where the law works.
warm

A crossing guard at 31st Street and Broadway in Bayonne is bundled up because of the freezing cold temperatures outside on Jan. 5, 2016. Jonathan Lin | The Jersey Journal

BAYONNE -- With a blast of Arctic air -- the coldest so far this winter -- sweeping into New Jersey this weekend, Bayonne officials have announced that they'll be keeping a warming center open tonight through Monday morning for anyone needing heat.

Bayonne Mayor Jimmy Davis said the Fire House Recreation Center at 597 Broadway near 27th Street will be open from 6 p.m. today until 8 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 15.

Lows in the state are expected to plummet into the single digits late Saturday night into early Sunday morning, setting up a very frigid Valentine's Day, NJ Advance Media reported. And with brisk winds blowing, the wind chill could dip as low as 15 to 20 degrees below zero -- even in places in the far southern end of the state, like Cape May, according to the National Weather Service.

The temperature in Bayonne tonight is expected to go down to 16 degrees with lows on Friday, Saturday and Sunday forecast to be 20 degrees, 3 degrees and 12 degrees, respectively, according to weather.com.

Jonathan Lin may be reached at jlin@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @jlin_jj. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
BAYONNE - The storm-battered Royal Caribbean cruise ship Anthem of the Seas will be inspected by the Coast Guard once the vessel docks in Bayonne, where it was scheduled to return to its home port Wednesday evening, after encountering a storm while en route to the Bahamas with 4,500 passengers and 1,600 crew on board.

A team from from the Guard's New York station, "will inspect the vessel to verify the extent of damages and ensure repairs are satisfactorily completed before the ship will be allowed to depart on its next voyage," the Guard said in a statement.



The ship was visible from the Cape Liberty cruise port as it passed under the Verrazanno-Narrows Bridge at about 8 p.m. Wednesday.

The Coast Guard will also take part in an investigation into any contributing factors or lessons to be learned from what happened, which it said was standard for any commercial vessel operating in U.S. waters under similar circumstances.



"The Anthem of the Seas is a Bahamian-flagged vessel and Bahamian investigators will take the lead in the investigation with assistance from Coast Guard officials," the guard said.



The 1,150-foot ship left Cape Liberty on Saturday, for a scheduled 7-day round-trip to the Bahamas. It was en route to a stop at Port Canaveral, Fla., on Sunday, when it encountered a storm off of Cape Hatteras, N.C., with wind gusts of more than 75 mph and rough, 30-foot seas, the Coast Guard said.



The crew reported that a handful of passengers suffered minor injuries, while the ship sustained "largely cosmetic damage" but was seaworthy and maneuverable, the Coast Guard said.



Passengers reported being relaxed and doing well, en route back to New Jersey, though Royal Caribbean said the return voyage was slow-going because of weather that continued to be less than ideal.



Some of the storm's fury and its impact on the ship was captured on smart phone videos and posted on social media.

Steve Strunsky may be reached at

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Jermaine Woodward, 8, was fatally struck by a vehicle on June 28, 2015, on Bostwick Avenue in Jersey City.

JERSEY CITY -- The Hudson County Sheriff's office performed a crash reconstruction today at the location where an 8-year-old boy was fatally struck by at least one vehicle on Bostwick Avenue on the night of June 28.

Jermaine Woodward Jr. was struck by a car on Bostwick Avenue between Martin Luther King Drive and Ocean Avenue at about 8 p.m. that night and died the next day at Jersey City Medical Center-Barnabas Health, officials said.

A representative of the sheriff's office said the reconstruction was performed at the request of the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office, which could not immediately be reached for comment on the matter.

"I'm definitely happy now," Jermaine Woodward Sr. said today when told of the crash reconstruction. He said his family is also scheduled to have a meeting with the HCPO tomorrow.

"Ever since I said something about the case that day at the meeting, that's when the Hudson Prosecutor's Office called me up and wanted to talk to me about the case."

Family members have said two cars were involved.

Woodward said the accident was right outside of his girlfriend's house and across the street from the boy's aunt's house.

The first car, described only as a red vehicle by family, fled the scene, and the second car, a silver vehicle, stopped down the block, family members said.

"They rolled right over his body," Jermaine's aunt Patricia Gregory told The Jersey Journal at the time.

At a Ward A meeting on Feb. 3, the boy's father spoke of his son's death, noting that no arrest has been made. He directed his frustration at Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, saying, "You want to be governor and you can't even protect none of our kids." He said officials were not taking the case seriously enough.

In response, Fulop noted that he is not actively running for governor and that he sympathized with the father, noting that homicides are investigated by the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office, and not the Jersey City Police Department.

The family has also criticized Jersey City for being slow to add speed bumps to that stretch of Bostwick Avenue, where they say motorists exceed the 25 mph speed limit frequently. A petition asking for speed bumps was submitted to the city a few weeks before Woodward's death, Fulop said in June, adding that the process to approve them and get them installed normally takes longer than that.

Jermaine broke his arm, leg, and pelvis in the incident. He underwent surgery at Jersey City Medical Center but it was unsuccessful and he remained brain-dead, the family said.

Information on the crash reconstruction results was not yet available.
BAYONNE -- When Hugo Arroyo got a call from his mother on Sunday, he was shocked to hear the cruise ship she was on had sailed into a raging storm off the coast of North Carolina.

"She said it was scary. This was her first time on a boat, and (it was) something she never experienced before," the 42-year-old Paterson man said, adding that he was "very scared" for his mother, his sister and his sister's mother-in-law, who were all on the ship.

Sitting in his car in a chain of traffic that is growing by the minute at Bayonne's cruise port, Arroyo is waiting along with hundreds of other families to bring their loved ones home after their harrowing experience.

Royal Caribbean's Anthem of the Seas, which was scheduled to sail to Florida, is returning early to Bayonne after getting caught in a severe storm off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina that buffeted the ship with 75-mph winds and rough 30-foot waves.

Four of the 4,529 passengers on board sustained minor injuries, and public areas and cabins on the 168,666-ton ship were damaged, according to Royal Caribbean.

Today, the U.S. Coast Guard said the ship "sustained largely cosmetic damage" but "is both seaworthy and maneuverable," though the agency is scheduled to inspect it upon arrival "to verify the extent of damages and ensure repairs are satisfactorily completed before the ship will be allowed to depart on its next voyage."

Anthem of the Seas is a Bahamian-flagged vessel and Bahamian investigators were scheduled to take the lead in the investigation with assistance from the Coast Guard, the Coast Guard said.

The decision by Royal Caribbean to let one of its cruise ships head into the path of a powerful storm system swirling in the Atlantic Ocean this past weekend has not only come under attack by frightened passengers, but also by a weather expert who was closely monitoring the development of the storm, NJ Advance Media reported.

Ryan Maue, a digital meteorologist for WeatherBell Analytics, told NJAM it's hard to believe no one at Royal Caribbean had been aware of a storm system that had been forecast -- and included in official advisories and warnings issued by the National Weather Service -- days in advance.

"The storm was well forecast by many different weather models from every agency. This was not a surprise to anyone watching the weather on a daily basis," Maue said on Monday.

Jonathan Lin may be reached at jlin@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @jlin_jj. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
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Mahsiah Imes, 15, speaks to Jersey City council members on Feb. 10, 2016 -- soon before the council overwhelmingly voted against a measure inspired by Imes. Terrence T. McDonald | The Jersey Journal

JERSEY CITY -- 15-year-old Mahsiah Imes learned a few lessons about politics last night.

Lesson No. 1: you don't always get what you want.

Imes, who had lobbied City Council members to lower the voting age for local races from 18 to 16, appeared before the council yesterday in hopes of watching it approve a measure that would have asked the state Legislature to investigate whether such a change was possible.

Instead, the teen watched as the council decisively voted down the resolution, by a vote of 7 to 2. Council members who voted in opposition said they admired Imes' advocacy but weren't ready to signal any support for 16- and 17-year olds voting.

"I do admire your tenacity," said Councilwoman-at-large Joyce Watterman, before voting no. "I just don't think this is the right time for this."

"Man, I really love your advocacy," said Councilman-at-large Daniel Rivera, another no vote. "I'm proud of you 100 percent."

Watterman suggested Imes advocate for students to learn more about public policy and political science before they are given the right to vote sooner. It's not clear whether Watterman believes those classes should be mandatory for adults of voting age.

The push to have younger teens voting is part of a nationwide movement, with advocates like the National Youth Rights Association (NYRA) saying change would boost voter turnout and encourage children to be more civic-minded. Imes is president of NYRA's Hudson County chapter.

The measure received support from only Council President Rolando Lavarro -- who said Imes had called him relentlessly about this issue in recent weeks -- and Ward E Councilwoman Candice Osborne, who said the measure inspired her to sit down with her teenage son the night before to discuss politics.

Osborne noted that the measure would not have lowered the voting age -- it would have asked state lawmakers to look into the issue.

"Children of 16 and 17 are pretty smart and thoughtful so I think it deserves a hearing," Osborne said. "I don't know if I agree but I think it deserves to be discussed."

Ward C Councilman Rich Boggiano on Facebook last week called the measure "the dumbest item I have seen this administration propose."

Imes, who stuck around until the end of the meeting to witness the vote, said he is undeterred.

"I'm going to keep bugging them until they say yes," he told The Jersey Journal.

Though Imes' plan wasn't forwarded to the state Legislature as planned, the council did give unanimous approval to a separate resolution honoring the School 24 student for his lobbying efforts. Imes argued that some teens have a greater knowledge of civics than adults of voting age, and that a 16-year-old who turns 18 during an elected official's term should have the right to vote for or against that official.

Imes learned another lesson about politics last night: speak up. When he was asked to addressed the council, there was a technical snafu and none of the microphones were operating, making it difficult for anyone to hear his speech in the acoustically challenged council chambers.

"First thing about politics," said City Clerk Robert Byrne as he tried to find an operating mic, "you have to have a big mouth."

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
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A couple walking on Liberty Avenue in Jersey City was robbed at gunpoint Wednesday night, police said.

(Journal file photo)

A couple walking on Liberty Avenue in Jersey City late last night was robbed at gunpoint, but police investigating the incident could not locate the victims after they collared a suspect, authorities said.

Police responding to a report of an armed robbery at 11:20 p.m. were met by a two witnesses who said they were across the street when they saw a man following closely behind the couple.

One of the men said they shouted over to the the couple, and the couple said they were OK. But moments later the couple ran over and said they had been robbed at gunpoint, the police report said.

The witnesses described the man suspected in the robbery, and police later questioned a man they located at Newark and Liberty avenues, where the robbery occurred.

The man, who was not carrying a gun, was arrested on outstanding warrants, but not robbery.

It is not clear what was stolen from the couple since police, who are actively seeking the victims, have not spoken to them yet. The victims should contact North District detectives at 201-547-5353.
JERSEY CITY -- Jurors have asked to hear playback of a large amount of testimony presented during the trial of Secaucus attorney Todd Gorman, who is facing up to 20 years in prison on charges he tried to kill his girlfriend in 2011.

"It's pretty much the entire trial, but if that is what you want, your wish is my command," Hudson County Superior Court Judge Mark Nelson told the jury after jurors made the request at 10 a.m. today.

Gorman is charged with the Sept. 29, 2011 attempted murder of Stephanie Schwartz, who worked at a financial firm in Manhattan.

The jury asked to rehear testimony from two doctors, a Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center nurse, seven police officers and the boyfriend of the victim's mother. Playback began at about 10:30 a.m. and it will likely take the rest of the day.

The jury deliberated a short time on Thursday following closing statements, and again for a short time on Tuesday following a playback of defense and prosecution summations. Yesterday was the first full day of deliberations and today would be the second if a verdict is not reached.

While the prosecution argued that Gorman attacked Schwartz with a knife because she threw him out of their Harmon Cove home, the defense contended Schwartz was trying to kill herself with a knife and that he intervened and was forced to defend himself when she turned on him.

Gorman testified at the trial but said he had no recollection of events that night. Defense attorney Peter Willis argued that Schwartz had tried to kill herself twice before. Within a year of the incident, she did take her own life.

Gorman described Schwartz as being suicidal, depressed, volatile, unpredictable, violent, medicated and known to abuse alcohol. He said she attacked him a number of times and put him in fear for his life on two occasions.

Gorman has a degree in aero science engineering, is a retired Air Force captain and is a lawyer. During the trial it was revealed that the couple met in an online suicide forum that provided information on methods to commit suicide and how to obtain any materials needed.

Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Tracy McQuaide described Gorman as a person who at one point in his life showed promise. She said at the time of the incident, Schwartz had given him a credit card and phone and was supporting him while he was unemployed and doing community service following a drunk driving arrest.

Gorman faces 10 to 20 years in prison if convicted.

The jury is composed of nine men and five women, including two alternates.

If there is no verdict today, deliberations will continue on Tuesday before Hudson County Superior Court Judge Mark Nelson in the Hudson County Administration Building in Jersey City.
JERSEY CITY -- Twelve jurors began their fourth day of deliberating at 9:30 a.m. today in the trial of a Secaucus lawyer charged with attempting to stab his girlfriend to death inside their Harmon Cove apartment in 2011.

If a verdict is not reached today in the trial of Todd Gorman, 51, deliberations will not resume until Tuesday. Gorman is charged with the Sept. 29, 2011 attempted murder of Stephanie Schwartz, who worked at a financial firm in Manhattan.

The jury deliberated for a short time last Thursday following closing statements, and again for a short time Tuesday following a playback of defense and prosecution summations. Yesterday was the first full day of deliberations and today would be the second if a verdict is not reached.

There are nine men and five women on the jury, including two alternates.

While the prosecution argued that Gorman attacked Schwartz with a knife because she threw him out of their home, the defense contended Schwartz was trying to kill herself with a knife and that he intervened and was forced to defend himself when she turned on him.

Gorman testified at the trial, but said he had no recollection of events that night. Defense attorney Peter Willis argued that Schwartz had tried to kill herself twice before. Within a year of the incident, she took her own life.

Gorman described Schwartz as being suicidal, depressed, volatile, unpredictable, violent, medicated and known to abuse alcohol. He said she attacked him a number of times and put him in fear for his life on two occasions.

Gorman has a degree in aero science engineering, is a retired Air Force captain and is a lawyer. During the trial it was revealed that the couple met in an online suicide forum that provided information on methods to commit suicide and how to obtain any materials needed.

Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Tracy McQuaide described Gorman as a person who at one point in his life showed promise. She said at the time of the incident, Schwartz had given him a credit card and phone, and was supporting him while he was unemployed and doing community service following a drunk driving arrest.

The prosecutor said on the night of the incident, Gorman threw Schwartz's mother out of their apartment. In response, Schwartz kicked Gorman out and he attacked her.

McQuaide said before the attack, Schwartz called Gorman's sister saying "come get him."

Gorman faces 10 to 20 years in prison if convicted.
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Malik Thomas of North Bergen appears in court in Jersey City today, Feb. 10, 2016, on charges he had 54 Zanex tablets and prescription codeine syrup in Guttenberg with intent to distribute them within 1,000 feet of school property.

JERSEY CITY - A 20-year-old North Bergen man who is currently on probation was arrested in Guttenberg yesterday and charged with possession 54 Xanax pills, and prescription syrup containing codeine, with intent to distribute both within 1,000 feet of school property.

Thomas J. Malik, of the 300 block of 76th Street, is charged with possession of the prescription drugs, possession with intent to distribute and possession with intent to distribute within 1,000 feet of the Robert Fulton School Annex, located at 7111 Polk Street, the criminal complaint says.

Malik also has a case pending presentation to the grand jury, a court official said when he made his first court appearance on the new charges in Central Judicial Processing court in Jersey City via video link from Hudson County jail in Kearny. He has four prior arrests and is currently on probation for a firearm offense committed last year.

His bail was set at $50,000 cash or bond at today's hearing.
JERSEY CITY -- A former Hoboken resident who spent 17 years behind bars for killing a Jersey City man in 1999 is back behind bars after being charged with aggravated assault and firearm offenses connected to an incident in Hoboken on Oct. 9.

Fundador Bonet, 35, of North Bergen, told The Jersey Journal in 2014 that he had changed, become religious and hoped to put his life back together.

Bonet is now charged with aggravated assault for allegedly pointed a handgun at a man and then hitting the man several times on the head with the gun, injuring him, the criminal complaint says.

He is also charged with threatening to kill the man, unlawful possession of a handgun and possession of the gun for an unlawful purpose, the complaint says.

Bonet was in prison from June 17, 1999 to Aug. 29, 2014, for the aggravated manslaughter of Charles Mincey, who was 19 when Bonet fatally shot him outside a Hoboken public housing complex on Aug. 30, 1997.

On Oct. 14, Bonet was returned to Northern State Prison in Newark for a parole violation and he remains in custody, New Jersey Department of Corrections spokesman Hyed Hassan said today. Hassan said he Bonet again becomes eligible for parole on July 13.

Bonet's parole was likely revoked due to the new charges.

Should Bonet, who was in jail for two years while awaiting trial, never be granted parole, the maximum possible term for the aggravated manslaughter sentence would end on Aug. 29, 2019.

In 2014, Bonet was paroled to a residence in North Bergen. In an interview with The Jersey Journal at the home, he was contrite and tearful.

"I wish there was something I could do to make them feel better," Bonet said of Mincey's family. "There is nothing I can do to take anything back. I was wrong. If I could give my life to make their son, their brother come back, but I can't. I really can't."

On Aug. 30, 1997, Mincey was among a group of young men from Jersey City who went to a Hoboken public housing complex on Harrison Street to visit some girls. As they were getting into their car to leave, Bonet - who was with a group of Hoboken teens - fired a shot at the car, killing Mincey, officials said.

Bonet said he was an ignorant child when he committed the crime.

"That child died a long time ago in prison," Bonet said. "I'm really religious now. I try to keep to my religion and follow it to the best of my ability. I was not an angel and I may never be an angel, but I hope for the best.

"I wish I could sit down and talk to myself back then and try to get myself to open my eyes before he did what he did."

Maurice Mincey previously said 17 years in prison was insufficient punishment for taking his brother's life. His anger and grief were still very strong.

In an email sent today, Mincey said nobody knows how he feels, especially around the holidays, on his brother's birthday and on the anniversary of his death.

"Charles D. Mincey was headed to the service (Army)," Mincey said in the email. "If he was gonna die, at least it would have be for something, instead of nothing. He wasn't out in these streets, his head was on his shoulders. (He was) the big brother in the house, the role model in the community, the friend/cousin everybody loved.

"Things will never be the same."
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The Bayonne Economic Opportunity Foundation has rental assistance funding available for qualified New Jersey residents, city officials said.

(Journal File Photo)

BAYONNE -- The Bayonne Economic Opportunity Foundation has rental assistance funding available for New Jersey residents with gross household income totaling no more than 30 percent of the median income in the area, and who lack sufficient financial resources and support networks to identify immediate housing or remain in existing housing, city officials said.

City spokesman Joe Ryan said those who are seeking assistance, and who feel they are qualified, must go to the BEOF office at 555 Kennedy Blvd. near 22nd Street in person to pick up an application and make an appointment to complete the application process.

BEOF Executive Director Samantha Howard said people in the following situations are eligible to receive assistance from the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program Two grant:

1. They are currently homeless.

2. They are living in a place not meant for human habitation, in emergency shelter, in transitional housing, or are exiting an institution where they reside temporarily (have resided for up to 90 days), and were in a shelter or place not meant for human habitation immediately prior to entering that institution.

3. They are losing their primary nighttime residence, which may include a motel or hotel or a doubled-up situation, within 14 days, and lack the resources or support networks to remain in housing.

4. They are families with children or unaccompanied youth who are unstably housed and likely to continue in that state. (They have not had a lease or ownership interest in a housing unit in the last 60 or more days, have had two or more moves in the last 60 days, and who are likely to continue to be unstably housed because of a disability or multiple barriers to employment.)

5. They are fleeing or attempting to flee domestic violence, have no other residence, and lack the resources and support networks to obtain other permanent housing.

6. They are at imminent risk of becoming homeless. (They have a summons or a warrant of removal.)

City spokesman Joe Ryan also provided the following information:

"Applicants must be in the United States legally. Examples of proof of legal status include having a current permanent residence card; having a current visa; having certification of citizenship; having certification of naturalization; having an Alien Registration Receipt Card (known commonly as a 'green card'; and having a grant letter from the Asylum Office of the U.S. Office of Citizenship and Immigration Services (the former Immigration and Naturalization Service).

All applicants must show several types of required documentation.

All applicants must present income verification. Examples of this documentation include recent pay stubs totaling four weeks of pay; employer letter; disability award letter/print-out; child support; pension award letter/check; Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) letter; SS/SSI/SSD award letter; and unemployment print-out.

Applicants must be able to provide valid proofs of identity. Tenants must provide a photo ID for everyone listed on the lease. Acceptable proofs of identity include current photo driver's licenses; current photo TANF or Medicaid cards; current passports; federal, state, county, or city ID cards; Social Security cards for everyone in the household; and birth certifications for everyone in the household.

Tenants must provide the most current one-year lease agreement with the landlord.

Tenants who have been evicted must provide eviction papers or other documentation of homelessness. Examples of documentation include summons; warrant of removal; Red Cross referral (due to a natural disaster or fire); a domestic violence restraining order; a letter from a shelter or transitional housing provider.

Acceptable documents as proof of landlord ownership include W-9 forms; recent municipal property tax bills; recent property settlement sheets; and deeds.

Acceptable documents showing reason for non-payment of rent include layoff notices; medical documentation; legal separation papers; and automotive repair shop bills and receipts for all payments made for those bills.

Program participants receiving rental assistance will pay 30 percent of their gross monthly household income each month towards their rent and tenant-paid utilities."

Jonathan Lin may be reached at jlin@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @jlin_jj. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
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Bill Baumgartner, Royal Caribbean's Senior Vice President of Global Marine Operations, was interviewed by multiple media outlets at Bayonne's cruise port after storm-rocked cruise ship "Anthem of the Seas" returned to the port earlier than planned on Feb. 10, 2016. Jonathan Lin | The Jersey Journal

BAYONNE -- In the face of criticism from meteorologists and passengers, a Royal Caribbean official maintained today that the storm that cruise ship "Anthem of the Seas" sailed into on Sunday was unexpectedly strong.

As passengers disembarked the ship at Bayonne's cruise port earlier this evening, Bill Baumgartner, Royal Caribbean's Senior Vice President of Global Marine Operations, told The Jersey Journal that predictions of the storm on Sunday had forecast wind speeds of 55 to 65 knots, or around 63 to 74 miles per hour, which "these ships are made to withstand without any significant issue."

"On Sunday, what happened is the storm was not a 55 to 65 knot storm. As storms are, they're unpredictable, and our ship measured winds -- sustained winds, that's not gusts but sustained winds -- of well over 120 miles per hour," Baumgartner said.

The cruise official's statement framed the issue as a matter of degree: yes, there were predictions of a storm, but did any forecasts indicate that it was going to be as strong as it was?

"I haven't seen any meteorologist say that they expected 110-plus knot winds, sustained winds. But, we want to work with them, we want to find out exactly what's going on," Baumgartner said.

Weather experts have said outright in recent interviews that -- given the information that was available to the cruise line prior the storm -- Royal Caribbean should not have decided to sail the ship into the growing weather system.

Ryan Maue, a digital meteorologist for WeatherBell Analytics, told NJ Advance Media on Monday that "this was not a surprise to anyone watching the weather on a daily basis."

"The extreme impacts were also quite predictable and expected by meteorologists at NOAA OPC (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Ocean Prediction Center) and private forecasting companies," Maue said. "Folks all marveled at the extreme intensity of this storm on Twitter."

Another climate watcher, Southeast Regional Climate Center climatologist Jordan McLeod, suggested to USA Today that, at the very least, Royal Caribbean is guilty of poor weather analysis.

"Did Royal Caribbean know about the forecast for a potentially dangerous storm in the days prior to the ship's departure? If so, I would say it was negligent for them to sail through that area given that passenger safety should be their first priority," McLeod said.

"Anthem of the Seas," which was scheduled to sail to Florida, returned early to Bayonne earlier this evening after getting caught in a severe storm off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina that -- according to the U.S. Coast Guard -- buffeted the ship with over 75-mph winds and rough 30-foot waves.

Four of the 4,529 passengers on board sustained minor injuries, and public areas and cabins on the 168,666-ton ship were damaged, according to Royal Caribbean.

Baumgartner said the U.S. Coast Guard boarded the ship shortly after its arrival in Bayonne and is inspecting it to verify the extent of the damage to the vessel.

Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida on Monday called for a National Transportation Safety Board investigation into the event, USA Today reported.

"The thing about this storm was that it was forecast for days," Nelson said Monday on the Senate floor. "So why in the world would a cruise ship with thousands of passengers go sailing right into it?"

Nelson is the top Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee, which oversees the NTSB, according to USA Today.

Baumgartner told The Jersey Journal today that when "Anthem of the Seas" encountered the storm, the ship's captain "executed normal tactics for a storm like that" to minimize discomfort for guests.

Nevertheless, he said what many have felt just by watching videos of how the ship was battered by the storm: "It was a very scary situation for the guests on board."

"They didn't come on a ship to rock and roll and see winds of that size, and we're very, very sorry that they had to experience those conditions, and we're very sorry that we put them in that situation regardless of how that happened," Baumgartner said.

The cruise official said Royal Caribbean plans to "look at everything and figure out how we can do better to expect the unexpected."

"We already are changing, revamping, our storm avoidance policy to provide even more consultation, and we'll be providing some more 24/7 oversight and monitoring in Miami to provide an even larger team for our captains," he said.

Baumgartner added that he sympathizes with how harrowing the incident must have been not just for the passengers but also their families.

"We're very sorry that we put them in a situation where they had to worry about the safety of their loved ones. That shouldn't happen, and we'll find a way to make sure that that never happens again," the cruise official said.

Note: This report has been updated to make it clear that it was the U.S. Coast Guard that described the storm as having over 75-mph winds and rough 30-foot waves.

Jonathan Lin may be reached at jlin@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @jlin_jj. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
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Local activists who worked with Mayor Steve Fulop in 2008 to enact the city's pay-to-play ban are blasting a super PAC with ties to Fulop for accepting a $1 million donation from a company whose leadership is all but anonymous.

(Jersey Journal file photo)

Local activists who worked with Mayor Steve Fulop in 2008 to enact the city's pay-to-play ban are blasting a super PAC with ties to Fulop for accepting a $1 million donation from a company whose leadership is all but anonymous.

Local good-government group Civic JC and its founder, Dan Levin, called upon any candidate who takes money from Coalition for Progress -- the super PAC that sources say is raising cash for Fulop's expected gubernatorial run in 2017 -- to demand it disclose the name of the $1 million donor.

Aaron Morrill, meanwhile, a local business owner who joined with Levin and then-Councilman Fulop to force the city in 2008 to ban awarding contracts to political donors, said he fears the $1 million contribution may have come from someone who does business with Jersey City and is "expecting special treatment."

"The pay-to-play ordinance that Mayor Fulop and I worked to enact in 2008 was designed to avoid exactly the type of public corruption that the large contributions to Coalition for Progress could bring about," Morrill told The Jersey Journal.

The PAC's campaign finance filings, released Jan. 29, show the $1 million donation came from a Delaware holding company whose leadership is unknown. The origins of the next-largest donation, $400,000 from nonprofit Progressive New Jersey, are similarly murky.

The federally registered Coalition for Progress, which can raise unlimited sums, took in $3.2 million from July through December, about half of which came from companies and individuals who do business in Jersey City and with City Hall. Bari Mattes, the PAC's president, says the PAC is raising money for multiple candidates, and denies its sole beneficiary will be Fulop.

Asked about the demands for the identity of the $1 million donor, Mattes it is up to the donors to reveal their identities, not the PAC.

"Our counsel, sometimes working with counsel for the applicable donor, assures that we have undertaken best efforts to be in full compliance with donor regulations," Mattes said. "I am confident we are fully compliant with all applicable regulations and the law, as per our counsel and the counsel of donors."

Fulop, a Democrat who has raised money for Coalition for Progress, has declined to comment to The Jersey Journal. He told Politico, which revealed that the Delaware company behind the $1 million donation formed the day before the donation was made, that the PAC is among numerous organizations he has raised money for.

Civic JC President Esther Wintner, like Levin a frequent Fulop critic, said the public has a right to know "who the deep pocketed interests" behind Coalition for Progress are.

"Given the relationships of some of the contributors with the City of Jersey City, a closer examination is warranted to check for violations of the spirit of pay-to-play," Wintner said. "We need to send a message that Jersey City is not for sale."

Requests for comment from the other petitions who joined with Fulop, Levin and Morrill in 2008 to ban pay-to-play -- Jimmy Carroll and Shelley Skinner -- were not returned.
A 30-year-old Jersey City man pleaded guilty to murdering his wife by strangulation and stabbing following an argument on Aug. 9, 2013, and he will face 30 years in prison with no chance of parole.

"I want to see him rot in prison," said Beverly Reid, the mother of Crystal Reid, 28, who was murdered by Jermaine McFadden around 11:30 p.m. in an apartment belonging to a relative of the victim on Bergen Avenue near Bidwell Avenue in Jersey City, officials said.

As several of Reid's relatives listened on Monday, McFadden admitted that on the night of the murder he and Reid had an argument, and he put his hands around her neck and strangled her.

Through questioning by his attorney Kevin Pervin, McFadden also admitted that he stabbed Reid a number of times and that his actions caused her death. At the hearing, the state was represented by Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Lynne Seborowski.

Police arriving on the scene that night found Reid lying motionless on the floor with multiple stab wounds to her upper body and other trauma.

She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Upon arriving at the scene, officials found McFadden being restrained by relatives inside the apartment where Reid's body was found, authorities said at the time.

McFadden previously served roughly 41/2 years in prison for drugs and robbery convictions, according to the state Department of Corrections website. He had last been released from prison almost exactly a year before murdering Reid.

McFadden is scheduled for sentencing on March 18 before Hudson County Superior Court Judge Paul DePascale in the Hudson County Administration Building in Jersey City.

Reid's family members did not provide further comment before leaving.

McFadden must also serve five years of supervised release after his prison term.
PRINCETON - The Princeton University professor who said she was mistreated by Princeton police shut down her Twitter account Wednesday and made changes to other social media citing hacking attempts and harassment.

Imani Perry, who accused Princeton Police of mistreatment during her arrest on Saturday stemming from unpaid parking tickets, said on her Facebook page that she had received more than a dozen requests to reset her password from her Twitter account, prompting fears that her account was being hacked.

Perry posted several messages to the account during the week that cited ongoing harassment from detractors. Perry also made changes to her Facebook page, changing her name from Imani to "Nia" Perry.

It was Perry's Twitter account where on Sunday she first publicly announced that she was mistreated by Princeton police when she was arrested and charged with an outstanding warrant stemming from unpaid parking tickets.

Princeton police have denied there was any mistreatment and have said Perry was treated the same way anyone in her situation would be.

The African American Studies department at Princeton also on Wednesday released a letter expressing their "unequivocal support" for Perry.

"We were outraged to hear of her treatment at the hands of the Princeton police: that a male officer subjected her to a pat-down in the presence of a female officer and that she was handcuffed to a table after her arrest for an unpaid parking ticket,'' the letter reads.

The Mercer County Prosecutor's Office is examining the arrest after Police Chief Nicholas Sutter requested the review to ensure objectivity.

Perry on Monday released a lengthy statement on her Facebook page, expressing that there were racial undertones to her interaction with police.

"The police treated me inappropriately and disproportionately," Perry wrote. "The fact of my blackness is not incidental to this matter."

Sutter has said Perry was clocked driving 67 mph on Mercer Road in a 45 mph zone and she was stopped by police around 9:30 a.m. Saturday. Officers found an outstanding warrant for two parking tickets dating back to 2013 and that she was driving on a suspended Pennsylvania license. She was arrested, searched and handcuffed, the chief has said.

Perry was taken to the police station and handcuffed to a steel bar, "as every arrestee is,'' and she was released on $130 bail, Sutter has said.

"I realize the policies or procedures can upset people," Sutter said. "I get that and I'm completely symptethic to it. But from my persepective, this is how everyone is treated -- every single person who has this exact situation."

The incident has garnered national headlines and attracted the attention of Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber, who penned a letter to the Daily Princetonian, the college newspaper, on Tuesday.

In it, Eisgruber said college community members have been "shocked'' by the arrest of Perry, who he described as a "respected scholar and beloved teacher."

Eisgruber said he was equally concerned that a male officer searched Perry before her arrest and that she was handcuffed while at the police station.

Keith Brown may be reached at kbrown@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBrownTrenton. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.
TRENTON -- As Trenton's payroll troubles continue to mount, the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office announced Thursday it was launching a criminal investigation.

File photo of Trenton City Hall on E. State St. (Michael Mancuso | For NJ.com )

The city had reached out to county officials over concerns about its payroll company, Innovative Payroll Services, after taxes were withheld from city employees' paychecks, but never paid to the government.

The prosecutor's office made the decision to begin an investigation after speaking more with city officials this week, spokeswoman Casey DeBlasio said.

The state Department of Treasury last week deferred comment to the city, which has kept mum on the specifics.

"We continue to investigate the situation regarding our payroll," city spokesman Michael Walker said Wednesday.

IPS was founded in 2006 and has locations in West Berlin, N.J., and Largo, Fla. Trenton first contracted with the company in May 2009 and, most recently, approved six-month extensions in June and December of last year.

State business records show that IPS' business license was revoked in April 2015 for failing to file its annual report for two consecutive years. An annual report was last filed with the state in September 2012.

John Scholtz, the CEO of IPS, has since retained Lisa Mathewson, a white-collar criminal defense attorney.

Mathewson, whose firm is based in Philadelphia, would only say she was hired recently and is engaged in fact-finding.

Trenton attorney Jack Furlong confirmed Thursday he has been consulted by Mathewson regarding the ongoing review of Trenton's contract with Scholtz.

"I haven't met Mr. Scholtz yet," he said. "I'm just now trying to find out what the controversy is and what steps need to be taken to address the city's concerns. ... I can only tell you that Mr. Scholtz has apparently authorized his lawyer to cooperate in any way necessary in providing the information and resolving any controversy."

The Internal Revenue Service reminds employers that even if they outsource some or all of their payroll and related tax duties to third-party payroll service providers, they are still ultimately responsible for the deposit and payment of federal tax liabilities.

"Even though the employer may forward the tax amounts to the third-party to make the tax deposits, the employer is the responsible party," the agency's website reads. "If the third-party fails to make the federal tax payments, the IRS may assess penalties and interest on the employer's account. The employer is liable for all taxes, penalties and interest due."

Patricia Svarnas, an IRS spokeswoman for the New Jersey and New York region, said strict privacy laws prevent the agency from disclosing unauthorized information about the city's relationship with the IRS.

"The IRS can neither confirm nor deny that a notice was sent out," she said.

Cristina Rojas may be reached at crojas@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @CristinaRojasTT. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.
HAMILTON  Seven of Hamilton's nine fire districts have proposed budgets for 2016 that have increased bottom lines from the previous year, prompting some Hamilton council members to urge residents to vote in fire elections next weekend.

"It is essential that the voters of Hamilton Township are aware of what is being proposed in the budgets of the nine fire districts," Councilman Dennis Pone said in a joint statement from the council.

Fire district elections are Feb 20.

Such elections traditionally have low voter turnout statewide. Ballots include budgets and the election of fire commissioners.

And with the possible consolidation of Hamilton fire districts on the horizon, council members say it's even more important this year that voters turn out next weekend.

"The township council has the ability to review fire budgets only if the voters defeat a budget," Councilman, Dave Kenny said. He said this year's vote is "critical."

Two fire districts are proposing significant tax increases, the council said.

District 4, in the Bromley neighborhood, is seeking a 13% overall increase and District 7, in Nottingham, is proposing a 10.9% increase in their budget.

An increased budget does not necessarily mean an increased tax rate, since budget increases can be covered by surpluses or other revenue.

But a larger budget can lead to an increase in a property owners' tax bill.

For example, in District 7, the proposed budget for 2016 is $4,088,577, a 10.9% increase from the $3,685,942 last year.

This year, the budget calls for $3,835,519 to be raised by taxes, an increase of 8.7% over last year's levy of $3,527,743.

The increase is causing District 7's tax rate to increase from 23 to 25 cents per $100 of a property's assessed value in 2016.

District 4's budget could not be examined because it was not posted on the district website.

"It is outrageous that such tax increases could be proposed. This is why we need consolidation of the fire districts," Councilman Edward Gore said in the statement.

Starting last fall, the fire unions that represent the career firefighters in Hamilton started a door-to-door campaign to have Hamilton taxpayers sign petitions to consolidate the town's nine fire districts into one district, leading to a single firefighting force.

The unions were buoyed by the boards of fire commissioners at three districts, 9, 6 and 5, that passed resolutions publicly calling for consolidation just weeks before.

The unions, many council members and some commissioners said it was time for Hamilton to consolidate the districts to create a more efficient fire service that would avoid duplication, enhance firefighter safety and have a township-wide tax rate.

The unions have completed the petitioning, but have yet to turn the petitions over to the council.

If 5 percent of a district's voters sign the petitions, the council holds a public hearing and vote on whether or not to dissolve the district, or possibly merge it with another district.

Also in the mix, though, is Mayor Kelley Yaede.

In late October, the mayor announced that the state Department of Community Affairs agreed to study the consolidation of Hamilton's nine fire districts at no cost to the township.

That study is also pending.

The council has been prodding the unions to hand over the petitions to get the process started.

In their Wednesday statement, the council produced numbers, saying:

"In all, the fire districts maintain 46 vehicles at taxpayer expense. There are 19 engine or ladder trucks, seven vehicles for fire chiefs, two rescue trucks, a fire prevention truck and 17 other assorted vehicles. "

Hamilton nine districts are governed by 45 commissioners - five per district  and the council says their combined salaries are $497,543.00.

"The amount spent on fire protection because of inefficiencies and duplications with 9 separate fire districts must be remedied. Township taxpayers deserve a more efficient fire service which would come from fire district consolidation," Council President Ileana Schirmer said.

The presidents of the fire unions, locals of the Firefighters Mutual Benevolent Association (FMBA), Nick Buroczi and Michael Kiernan, responded to the council with a joint statement.

"Every registered voter in Hamilton should show up at the polls on February 20, this is the best way to have their voices heard" the statement said.

"We have said to anyone willing to listen that going from 9 districts to 1 will help bring a more fair distribution of costs for this essential service to all homeowners," the statement said. "Residents have responded positively, and we look forward to entering a new phase of this effort soon."

The districts employ about 110 career firefighters, and many fire stations are staffed 24 hours a day.

Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.
For Beyonce's 'Formation' video, 'nothing was shot in New Orleans,' Curbed reports
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.
where are you from? and I tell them I am from the Philippines, most would give me a look as if ours isnt part of the Far East. A very few brightens up their faces and would swear at the splendor of Boracay, Bohol and mention a couple of places in Palawan that stood out in their mind. During my movements abroad on pit stops at various hostels, I see other travelers lingering at the common area looking at the map of the country were in  and scanning collectively, the map of South East Asia. These are the times when everyones conversation touches no other topic but travel. Once the discussion turns into ? and I tell them I am from the Philippines, most would give me a look as if ours isnt part of the Far East. A very few brightens up their faces and would swear at the splendor of Boracay, Bohol and mention a couple of places in Palawan that stood out in their mind.





Grab a beer & chill at the many beaches such as Nacpan Beach / El Nido, Palawan



While I rejoice hearing all their recollections of previous trips to our country, I usually add more and entice them to visit again because they missed out on a lot of other must-see places. One main reason why I think backpackers often skip the Philippines is because of our location being separated from the Asian mainland where one can easily hop into trains and cross borders.





The other reason mostly falls on us being unable to serve as tourism ambassadors of our country. But those days are about to end as I see a growing influx of local travelers attaining foothold in influencing foreigners to visit our country through travel blogs and social media. Gone are the days when we can only give the usual places; Boracay, Palawan, Bohol whenever someone asked us where to go in the Philippines?





The Beach that reinvigorated a Backpacking Culture





Very few people knew that the inspiration for Alex Garlands novel The Beach was really in El Nido, Palawan where he lived for several months. Since the novel was set in Thailand, the immediate pop culture result was the sudden recognition of Khao San Road in Bangkok as the starting point of the Banana Pancake Trail  a term given to expanding routes around Southeast Asia frequented by travelers. These backpackers, mostly young people on gap years start their journey in this festive street lined up with bars and hostels before crisscrossing mainland Thailand and unto bordering countries such as Cambodia, Laos to Myanmar, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore with most of them skipping the Philippines.





Young men performing a traditional dance in Banaue.

This fact though, comes with a huge upside because it marks our beautiful nation in the off-the-beaten-path category that showcases still-pristine beaches and nature setting with less touristy crowd. This also gives us enough time to set up proper infrastructures and responsible tourism guidelines in place before we see an uptick in traveler arrivals. As we promote our country we must also make sure we practice being responsible voyagers.





As a traveler who has visited my own share of domestic and international destinations, I can say that wandering around our country still gives me the most thrills as I slowly discover my own land with the same probing eye and wonder as I do so when engrossed in foreign cultures. Ours is diverse in its own myriad of ways - gifting us with a visual feast that shifts from every beautiful conceivable form to another. From mountains, to islands to quaint little towns highlighted by a colorful set of regional traditions and tasteful delicacies, it makes traveling in the Philippines more interesting because of the varied offerings to our senses as we trudge along each of our 81 provinces.





So why should one go backpacking in the Philippines? I remember one Canadian traveler asked me this question. She quizzed me if we have the ancient temple ruins of Cambodia, Myanmar, Indonesia and Thailand, while I answered in the negative I followed it up with a series of positive characteristics of the Philippines that appeal to travelers of all kinds. I cant remember how the rest of our talk went but looking at her Facebook images a year later, I could see that she enjoyed her time here in the Philippines much so that she extended her stay for a couple of months. I remember one Canadian traveler asked me this question. She quizzed me if we have the ancient temple ruins of Cambodia, Myanmar, Indonesia and Thailand, while I answered in the negative I followed it up with a series of positive characteristics of the Philippines that appeal to travelers of all kinds. I cant remember how the rest of our talk went but looking at her Facebook images a year later, I could see that she enjoyed her time here in the Philippines much so that she extended her stay for a couple of months.





Let me show you just a few of the many photographic reasons why one should definitely go.





Stunning Natural Landscape





Stunning rock formation created by the unforgiving waves of the mad oceans that surrounds the Philippines for thousands of years, litters most shorelines and this one from Biri Island is just one of the five gigantic nature-carved rock hills situated in the island that delight visitors to no end. Natural pools filled with crystal clear waters and hilly greens perfect for camping circles each of these rock formations.





One of the rock formations at Biri Island

The Islands





Off-the-grid Islands such as this one called Calaguas are too many too visit all in a lifetime. Walk over blinding white and ultra-pure sands and hear the hisses of the waves of the enticing blue waters makes one compare it to an ideal outdoor setting.





Calaguas Island And another one example is the White Island sandbar off the coast of another island called Camiguin. Even better news is the fact that when you hop from one boat to the next from Luzon to Visayas and to Mindanao you will realize how these stunning islands becomes typical sightings.





White Island off Camiguin Nagsasa Cove is just one of the hundreds of white sand beaches where you can camp

The island province of Palawan boasts of magnificent shoreline stretching to about 1,200 miles and is dotted with more than 1,780 islands and islets, limestone coves, hot springs, majestic lakes and fine-white sand beaches. It also possesses a vast land of virgin forests that encapsulate its chain of mountain ranges. A full-range of activities from mountain climbing, scuba diving, snorkeling, kayaking, beach bumming and anything related to island living awaits visitors in this pristine island province regarded by many travel publications as among the best in the world.





This View! from the trail leading to Kayangan Lake (Coron, Palawan)

The Highlands





When you had enough beaches and got tired of the island life, you can cool off at the highlands wherein snaking mountain ranges offers marvels of the lush forest and natural attractions such as rolling hills as far as the eyes can see.





The rolling hills of Batanes presents a never-ending sweeping landscape

And a natural environment serving home to a lush set of flora and fauna for you to fully enjoy what mother nature has to offer including hundreds of waterfalls and lakes scattered all over the archipelago.





Tinuy-an Waterfalls in Bislig, Surigao del Sur

And not to mention mountain peaks and volcanoes.





Mayon Volcano

Mount Pinatubo crater lake

Big cities all over the country such as Manila may present you with a sensory overload, causing at first, a fit of annoyance because of the large population and the unforgiving street activities, but once you scratched it off the surface one will discover hidden gems in every nook and crannies. Classic architecture visible on Spanish Colonial Churches and post-colonial homes produces a throwback vibe in most downtowns located in many provinces.





The Charming Towns and Local Delicacies





Along the way while transporting from one spectacular nature locations to another you will pass by charming little towns offering a glimpse of the simple life in the countryside that best typifies the hospitality of the Filipino people. Indulge in the many colorful traditions and cultures by immersing with the locals sampling home-cooked delicacies and merrymaking at the numerous festivals celebrated throughout the country all year long.





The Dinagyang Festival, is just one of the many festivals celebrated throughout the entire year. The grand 'Sinulog Festival is capped by its fun street parties at night

Each province has their own way of serving local cuisines. This one is from Saranggani



Most of all, The People





Mabuhay (long live), you will never get out of place in the many islands all over this archipelago. Each encounter will surely make your trip more memorable. As you trudge along the many regions in the country, you will live out a different travel experience thanks to the many different languages, set of cultures and traditions and local cuisines that will surely satisfy all your senses. The Filipino people are known to be among the most hospitable bunch in the world. With a smile on their faces ready to greet you  (long live), you will never get out of place in the many islands all over this archipelago. Each encounter will surely make your trip more memorable. As you trudge along the many regions in the country, you will live out a different travel experience thanks to the many different languages, set of cultures and traditions and local cuisines that will surely satisfy all your senses.





The list of reasons could go and on and on. So, next time you meet fellow travelers on the road abroad, why not initiate a conversation by suggesting them to visit the Philippines and if they asked you why? Be prepared to engage in a long tete-a-tete because theres a lot of wonderful things to say about our country.





*This article appeared as the cover story of Manila Bulletin's Panorama Magazine on January 24, 2016 *












Steve Blanchard roots for the underdog.

Though he plays the antagonist in Newsies, a Disney musical now in its second season of a national tour, Blanchard said the show, at its heart, is your essential David and Goliath story.

Everyone can relate to that at some point in their life, said Blanchard, 57, whose credits span decades of theater and television roles.

Local audiences will have the chance to relate next week, when the tour comes to Omahas Orpheum Theater.

Based on the New York City newsboys strike of 1899, Newsies tells the story of a group of young newspaper hawkers who rise up against unfair working conditions in a dark period of the citys history.

Though the days of newsboys, or newsies, are now long gone  their cries of Extra! Extra! now cartoonish memories  newspapers once relied on them to boost circulation during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The boys were often homeless, typically orphans, Blanchard explained.

In years leading up to the events of Newsies, publishers  embodied in the musical by New York heavyweights William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer  had raised distribution prices, directly impacting newsboys, who bought papers from publishers in bulk and were not refunded for unsold papers.

Hearst and Pulitzer had colluded to raise prices, he said, so these kids had to work twice as hard to sell twice as many papers.

Blanchard, who plays Pulitzer, said he doesnt take the role of such an iconic figure lightly.

You have a tremendous responsibility to the man, Blanchard said.

Portraying fantastical, fictional characters may have its own set of challenges, he said, but its certainly less restrictive.

When you play Lancelot or the Beast or the Phantom, he said, nodding to other roles hes played in Camelot, Beauty and the Beast and The Phantom of the Opera, respectively, you can do whatever the heck you want to do.

But, in the case of Pulitzer, you have an obligation to someone who accomplished so much, he said.

Known for his role in the rise of yellow journalism  and perhaps better still known for the annual prizes in journalism and the arts that carry his name  Pulitzer was a complex and brilliant man, Blanchard said.

The self-made millionaire was the ultimate rags-to-riches story, he said.

Yet for the purposes of our little skit, hes the Big Bad Wolf, he continued. How do you bring out that side of him?

Exhaustive research was key to not only understanding his own role, Blanchard said, but the story as a whole  especially its heroes, the titular newsies.

People were dying right and left, and these kids were left with nothing on the streets, forced to kick and fight and scratch to survive, he said.

This story is really about them, he said. An homage to what they went through.

Naturally, no Disney homage is complete without singing and dancing.

Disney is certainly nothing new for Blanchard, who portrayed the Beast both on Broadway and on tour for 11 years.

It was like auditioning for family, he said of the Newsies audition. It was a fuzzy, cozy feeling when I walked in the room.

After a disappointingly brief audition, Blanchard lingered outside the door, he recalled.

Actors do this thing where they take their time putting their coat on to see how long they talk about you (before calling in the next auditioner), he said. It was a long time before they brought in the next person.

But they werent discussing Blanchard at all, he said.

They were talking about my wife, he said with a laugh.

His wife, Meredith Inglesby  a fellow Disney veteran  plays Pulitzers secretary, Hannah, in Newsies, her fourth Disney production. The two met while on the Broadway cast of Beauty and the Beast.

The couples 3-year-old daughter is along for the ride, as well, Blanchard said.

Its your typical traveling circus, he said. For us, its not about newsboys, its about loading a carseat  and everything else  on a plane.

Not that hes complaining, of course.

Were in this magical little experience as a team, he said, and we love it.

Audiences, too, are sure to love Newsies, Blanchard said. In fact, he guaranteed it.

The music is so catchy, Blanchard said of the songs by Disney musical all-stars Alan Menken and Jack Feldman. Youre gonna wake up at 4 a.m. with these tunes in your head.

The show is a visual spectacle, as well, he said.

The choreography is gonna blow you away, he said. Whether youre 5 or 95, youre gonna love it, Blanchard said.

Newsies will play at the Orpheum beginning Tuesday, Feb. 16, through Sunday, Feb. 21., with evening performances at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday. Weekend matinees include a 2 p.m. show Saturday and a 1:30 p.m. show Sunday.

Starting at $40, tickets are available online at ticketomaha.com, by phone at (402) 345-0606 or at the Ticket Omaha box office at the Holland Performing Arts Center, 12th and Douglas streets in Omaha.
Community

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FedNor funding will help make city greener

For the past six months, Jennifer Harvey has been working on a business plan for Sustainable Sudbury, a local initiative to help make businesses and institutions more environmentally friendly and profitable.

Rebecca Danard, left, reThink Green's executive director, Sudbury MP Paul Lefebvre and reThink Green intern Jennifer Harvey are seen at a news conference Wednesday at reThink Green's downtown office. Darren MacDonald photo.

For the past six months, Jennifer Harvey has been working on a business plan for Sustainable Sudbury, a local initiative to help make businesses and institutions more environmentally friendly and profitable.



"The goal of that program is to help organizations in Greater Sudbury set environmental targets and achieve them," Harvey said Wednesday.



"Whether it's a greenhouse gas target, whether it's a wastewater reduction target, we're going to be helping them achieve their targets and goals."



The hope is they will be able to reduce the carbon footprint of businesses and institutions in ways that benefit the environment and the organizations themselves. Harvey said it sets Sudbury up to become a centre for such efforts in the region.



"We're going to be the hub for the sustainable economy in Northern Ontario and we're going to be empowering through events, resources, supports, workshops  every type of support that we can give organizations to help them achieve their sustainability goals," she said.



Harvey was speaking at reThink Green on Wednesday, where officials gathered for the official announcement that FedNor was providing $85,500 to support three internships  at reThink Green, the Sudbury Arts Council and local software company Symboticware Inc.



"Many small businesses and community partners across our city directly benefit from FedNor contributions, said Ward 12 Coun. Joscelyne Landry-Altmann. These investments lead to sustainable growth in our community."



Sudbury MP Paul Lefebvre said the funding is part of the federal government's commitment to support the continued growth and prosperity of the area.



"To encourage economic growth, the Government of Canada is making strategic investments in green technology, providing more support for companies seeking to export those technologies and lead by example," Lefebvre said.



"A great example of this forward-looking environmentally conscious business approach is our host, reThink Green. By bringing together grassroots community stakeholders, businesses and government, reThink Green promotes creative collaboration and dialogue on local and global environmental issues."



He said the $85,000 is aimed at creating jobs and supporting certain sectors of the local economy, including tourism, technology and innovation, environmental sustainability and economic development and business growth.



"While on the job, these interns will gain valuable work experience, completing a variety of tasks, such as data collection, statistical analysis and, in the case of our youth intern working at reThink Green, implementing Sustainable Sudbury, a program designed to reduce the carbon impact of companies while increasing their profitability."



Rebecca Danard, reThink Green's executive director, said the funding announced Wednesday is a big boost to organizations like hers.



We're in the process of launching a new program called Green Economy North, Danard said. It's a target-based sustainability program for businesses and organizations. Getting this program off the ground has really been the work of Jennifer.



"She's been developing a business plan that makes sense for Northern Ontario for this program, working on some funding applications and sponsorship packages so that we can get the support we need to start this.



"The program relies on having some capital to start the startup program, as well as memberships from businesses and organizations, who will pay us a membership to join this program."



Appropriately enough, the program will officially launch on April 22, Earth Day, Danard said.



For her part, Harvey said the new program will require a permanent manager, so there's a chance she could parlay the internship into a long-term gig.
Nickel Belt MPP France Gelinas is inviting the Franco-Ontarian community and supporters to join a rally in Toronto on Thursday, Feb. 18, to call for a French-language university in Ontario.

Nickel Belt MPP France Gelinas is inviting the Franco-Ontarian community and supporters to join a rally in Toronto on Thursday, Feb. 18, to call for a French-language university in Ontario.The REFO (Regroupement etudiant franco-ontarien) is organizing transportation from several cities in Ontario to join the Toronto rally and help people show their support for the Universite de lOntario francais.Gelinas Bill 104, for the creation of the Universite de lOntario francais, passed second reading by a unanimous vote last November. The second reading of the bill focused on the next important step which is the establishment of a transitional governance committee.There is still much work to do before the opening of the Universite de lOntario francais, and we need your support, she said in a press release.For more information about the rally, and to book a free ride to Toronto, visit the REFO website
Apartment fire in New Sudbury injures one

One person was injured in a fire at an apartment building in New Sudbury yesterday evening, according to a media release from Greater Sudbury Fire Services.

One person was injured in a fire at an apartment building in New Sudbury yesterday evening, according to a media release from Greater Sudbury Fire Services. File photo.

One person was injured in a fire at an apartment building in New Sudbury yesterday evening, according to a media release from Greater Sudbury Fire Services.



Firefighters responded to the blaze at the three-storey building on Belfry Avenue at around 4:45 p.m. Feb. 10.



Just one unit in the building was affected by the fire, which caused an estimated $5,000 in smoke and fire damage. One person was displaced as a result of the fire.



Always have an escape plan, and do not leave cooking unattended, the fire department said in the press release.
Joyce Russell Porter County Reporter Joyce has been a reporter for nearly 40 years, including 23 years with The Times. She's a native of Merrillville, but has lived in Portage for 39 years. She covers municipal and school government in Porter County. Follow Joyce Russell 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. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

Learning about genealogy is almost as exciting as learning about my family's history.

I've learned so much from other people who have sent me tips since I began this blog. I've also learned a lot from other bloggers and from other local professional and amateur genealogists.

I think that is one reason why I enjoy this as an obsession, errrr, I mean hobby. You don't stop learning, ever. And, people who are passionate about genealogy are kind and willing to share stories, tips and advise. It's a special bond. We get it.

I think I'm going to attend my first workshop or conference this year. Get out from behind the computer keyboard and take my learning beyond websites and emails.

Linda Swisher, public information coordinator for the Hammond Public Library and a genealogist who has been involved in several societies and lectured at conferences, sent me an email sometime ago and made some suggestions of conferences not too far from Northwest Indiana that I might not only enjoy, but from which I can learn.

I want to share Linda's suggestions with you:

- The Indiana Genealogical Society is holding a conference in Ft. Wayne on Saturday, April 16. Ft. Wayne is the home of the IGS and a hub for genealogy research with the Allen County Public Library's Genealogy Center. I haven't been there (that may be another road trip), but I have used its website.

The IGS website can be visited at indgensoc.org, but doesn't as yet have information about its upcoming conference online.

- The Midwestern Roots Family History Conference sponsored by the Indiana Historical Society is being held in Indianapolis July 15 and 16. I'm thinking this is the one I'll attend this year. (My daughter lives in Indy and she'll put her mom up free of charge.)

According to its web site, indianahistory.org, more than 30 sessions will be held over the two days, plus pre-conference events held the day before. Speakers will include Cece Moore, The Genetic Genealogist, from "Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr." and "Genealogy Roadshow," both programs on public television I enjoy.

According to its website, most of the sessions will focus on using ever-changing and emerging technology and sources online. Other sessions will cover DNA, methodology, using traditional sources and legal genealogy.

- The third conference Linda suggested is the Federation of Genealogical Societies conference ins Springfield, Ill. from Aug. 31 through Sept. 3. The group, headquartered in Texas, holds its annual conferences around the country. In 2017, it will be in Pittsburgh and in 2018, our own Ft. Wayne.

Information about the organization and its conference can be found at fgs.org It appears its conferences are popular as one of the recommended hotels is already booked for its duration.

If anyone has been to one of these conferences, let me know how you like it. Contact me with any tips, stories or advice at joyce.russell@nwi.com.
For the first time since 2004, U.S. drivers are expected to pay an average of less than $2 a gallon for gasoline, the government said this week.

They can thank the huge glut of oil around the globe.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its monthly short-term energy outlook that regular gasoline will average $1.98 a gallon nationwide in 2016. The last time oil averaged less than $2 for a full year was 2004, which was also the last time gasoline at stations in some states fell below $1 a gallon.

Gasoline in Northwest Indiana on Wednesday afternoon was selling for far below the projected 2016 average.

According to GasBuddy.com, regular gasoline was selling for $1.19 per gallon at the Citgo station on Rhode Island Street, in Gary. Numerous stations were selling regular for less than $1.30 per gallon.

The average price for a gallon of regular in Northwest Indiana on Tuesday was $1.36, according to AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report. That was down almost 2 cents per gallon from the day before and down 87 cents per gallon from a year ago, when a gallon sold for $2.23 locally.

The national average for a gallon of regular was $1.73 on Tuesday, according to the AAA report. That was down 46 cents from one year ago.

In Chicago, a gallon of regular at the pump averaged $1.63, a full 10 cents below the national average. That price was also 2 cents lower than the day before and down 77 cents from the year-ago average price of $2.40.

The Energy Information Administration expects gasoline prices to rise gradually during the spring.

The pump savings are a direct result of the 70 percent collapse in crude oil prices since mid-2014. Earlier Tuesday, the International Energy Agency said the supply of oil is set to outpace demand again this year, keeping a lid on any expected price increases. Global supplies could exceed demand by as much as 2 million barrels a day in the first quarter, the agency said.

"If these numbers prove to be accurate, and with the market already awash in oil, it is very hard to see how oil prices can rise significantly in the short term," the IEA said.

Fueled by low prices, and an improving job market, consumption of gasoline in the U.S. rose by 2.6 percent last year to 9.2 million barrels a day, the highest level since 2007, the government said. The EIA estimates that the average U.S. household saved $660 on gasoline in 2015, a year when the price of a gallon averaged $2.43.

The EIA expects benchmark U.S. crude to average $37.59 a barrel this year, down from $48.67 last year. International crude will average $37.52, down from $52.32 a barrel in 2015, according to the agency.

The EIA report noted the current values of futures and options contracts continue to suggest high uncertainty in the price outlook.

U.S. oil closed at $27.94 Tuesday.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.
CROWN POINT  A 47-year-old man admitted Thursday to shooting a Dyer man to death inside a St. John business last summer, according to court records.

Gerald E. Haddle, of Hebron, pleaded guilty but mentally ill to murder. As part of the plea agreement, he is expected to be sentenced to 50 years in prison. He will have to serve at least 75 percent of the term.

Haddle had previously been scheduled to stand trial next week in front of Lake County Criminal Judge Salvador Vasquez.

According to the plea agreement, Haddle on July 15, 2015, entered a business in the 9600 block of Industrial Drive in St. John and began arguing with Christopher A. Badten.

Haddles father owned the business, but Haddle did not work there, according to court records. Badten, 59, worked at the business.

After arguing for a few minutes with Badten, Haddle pointed a gun at Badten and fired one shot, according to the agreement. Badten died from the gunshot wound at the scene.

Haddle had been heard saying, This had to happen. It has been going on for too long, according to court records. He was arrested following a 45-minute standoff with police at the business.

Haddle had been diagnosed with being bipolar and depressed, according to the agreement. Vasquez asked defense attorney Angela Jones to provide him with medical records explaining Haddles mental health.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Nadia Chivers said in court that Badtens children were fine with the terms of the plea agreement. Haddle will be sentenced March 10.
HAMMOND  A federal lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges Hammond police operated under a "shoot first, ask questions later" policy in 2014 when they fatally shot a man holding a steak knife in each hand.

It alleges John E. Brown II, 44, was outside talking to some of the officers responding to his home at 6642 Ohio Ave. for a domestic disturbance Feb. 16, 2014, when one of the officers shot him. Brown was struck in the back and died at the scene.

Crown Point attorney D. Eric Neff filed the suit this week in U.S. District Court against the city of Hammond, former Police Chief Brian Miller and several unidentified police officers. Neff said he filed it on behalf of Nancy Kuhlmey, Brown's mother.

"There has to be some form of due process and there are other alternatives than shooting people who are brandishing a steak knife," Neff said Thursday. "If everyone would just calm down and quit acting like cowboys, we could all live a little more peaceably."

Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. responded Thursday he hasn't been served with court papers yet. He denied city police have a "shoot first, ask questions later" policy.

"My Police Department is outstanding," he said. "I think every single officer is a great officer, and I'm glad they are here. I don't know the facts. Every time there is a shooting, we call in state police. We never investigate our own shootings."

Indiana State Police said in 2014 that they opened an investigation into the shooting and planned to turn their findings over to the Lake County prosecutor's office for review.

Miller declined in 2014 to identify the officer who shot Brown, but said the officer served on the force for seven years and was placed on routine administrative leave.

Police said after the shooting that Brown stabbed a woman multiple times with a knife and she escaped to a neighbor's house to call for help.

The lawsuit said Brown had a dispute with his wife, now widow, Jennifer Brown. It alleges several eyewitnesses tell a different story than what has been released by police.

Brown and his wife had a history of domestic violence, and police had been dispatched to the house multiple times, the lawsuit said.

Officers recognized Brown "as a man who has, in the past, demonstrated a generally peaceful demeanor when approached by police officers," according to the lawsuit.

Police are accused of failing to use less lethal force, such as Tasers, stun guns or pepper spray, and failing to adequately warn Brown of an intent to use deadly force.

The lawsuit said the shooting violated Brown's civil rights and was an unconstitutional use of deadly force because it was intended to punish Brown without due process of the law.

Neff accuses Miller and the city of failing to properly train and supervise officers on proper use of force, as demonstrated by "Hammond police officers have used substantially greater force to address seemingly harmless situations; such as, but not limited to: discharging firearms at domesticated animals secured in their owners home. Breaking automobile windows and subduing passengers via Taser for seemingly minor, for no offense(s) whatsoever."

Jamal Jones and Lisa Mahone, both of Hammond, filed a federal lawsuit two years ago against the city and police, alleging officers used excessive force during a Sept. 24, 2014, stop at the intersection of Cline Avenue and 169th Street.

A video of that incident showed a police officer smashing the passenger's side window of a car and Tasing the passenger, Jones, before pulling him from the vehicle. Mahone's 14-year-old son, who was seated in the back with his 7-year-old sister, shot the video of the incident, according to that lawsuit.
EAST CHICAGO  On the 18th anniversary of her brother's killing, Nora Ferrer began making her round of calls to law enforcement officials.

Her brother, Alexander Martinez, was shot to death Jan. 11, 1998, in East Chicago's Marktown neighborhood. An autopsy later determined he was shot in the chest, neck, left forearm and left hand.

It took more than 10 years for a murder charge to be filed in the homicide, but the suspect has since been on the lam.

Ferrer and her mother, Beatrice Martinez, said they aren't giving up on seeing Javier Oropesa prosecuted. The family is trying to raise reward money, create an enhanced photo of Oropesa to reflect how he would now look and wants to get him listed on area most wanted lists.

"Hopefully now at this point, you see we aren't going to stop," Ferrer said. "We aren't going to give up on finding this guy."

Ferrer said there were rumors that Oropesa, who also went by Francisco Oropesa, for years traveled frequently between Mexico and Northwest Indiana. She last heard he could be living in the Mexican state of Jalisco.

Bob Byrd, public information officer for the Northwest Indiana Major Crimes Task Force, said there is momentum within law enforcement officials to find Oropesa and to determine if he can be extradited to Lake County.

Anyone with information about Oropesa can submit an anonymous tip at nwimajorcrimes.com.

Shannon Robinson, supervisory inspector for the U.S. Marshals Service, said there is an agent assigned to the case, but couldn't provide details about the investigation.

Ferrer's journey to seek justice for her brother has led her to create a nonprofit organization, secure a wanted billboard and continue to push police to not give up on the case.

"It's the right thing to do," she said. "We are willing to do that much to fight for (Martinez), for his justice. We have a lot of hope that he's going to get caught."

Ferrer last saw her brother the night of Jan. 10, 1998, when she picked up her son, whom he was babysitting.

Martinez, 20, was supposed to watch a Chicago Bulls game with his girlfriend, but he had spent time at a friend's home drinking alcohol. He eventually made his way to his girlfriend's home where the two were heard arguing outside of a home early Jan. 11, 1998, in the 400 bock of Grove Street, according to the affidavit.

Oropesa is said to have approached Martinez, tapped him on his back and pointed a gun at him. Martinez was heard asking Oropesa what he was going to do with the gun and telling Oropesa that he couldn't fight.

Oropesa fired four to five times at Martinez, according to the affidavit.

A witness years later told police Oropesa had showed him cocaine and said he was going to kill Martinez, according to the affidavit.

One witness speculated Oropesa killed Martinez because he was jealous of him, while another thought it involved drugs and another theory is that Oropesa thought Martinez had robbed him, according to court records.

When East Chicago police originally investigated the slaying, witnesses were allowed to go to a club rather than questioned.

The original detective, Joe De La Cruz, was later sentenced to prison in the city's sidewalks-for-votes scandal. The first responding officer, Eligah Johnson, pleaded guilty in 2005 to trafficking cocaine.

The case was revisited after former East Chicago Police Chief Gus Flores allowed a detective to work on the case.

Ferrer said she likes to think that her brother's homicide contributed to a stir that created changes within the Police Department.

Ferrer said she's gone through a rollercoaster of emotions since her brother's homicide. Still, if she ever faces Oropesa, she plans to tell him that she forgives him.

Beatrice Martinez said she awaits the day when she can ask Oropesa directly why her son was killed. Her husband, Abraham Martinez, died waiting to see the case come to a close.

"We won't stop until we get the justice that is deserved for my son and for our families," Beatrice Martinez said.
VALPARAISO  Prosecutors were sent back to the law books Thursday to find more support for their request to read Steven Lindseys testimony from his first murder trial to jurors when he is retried next week.

Porter Superior Court Judge Bill Alexa sought the additional case law after the request to read the testimony was opposed by defense attorney Larry Rogers.

Rogers agreed with prosecutors that the law allows the testimony from the first trial to be introduced during a second trial. But he was concerned that whoever reads the testimony, particularly Lindseys responses, would not accurately reflect the way it was voiced originally.

Rogers is seeking to have jurors read the testimony themselves.

Porter County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Matt Frost said it would take much longer to have jurors read the testimony.

He said it could be read in a neutral manner.

Prosecutors are preparing to retry Lindsey, 36, on Tuesday on a single count of murder based on allegations of fatally shooting his wife, Melinda Lindsey, 23, in the head Jan. 16, 2015, as she lay in bed at the couples then-home in Center Township.

Lindsey, who denies the allegations, claims he was attacked while sleeping on a couch, rendered unconscious, bound and moved to his then-2-year-old daughters bedroom, where he awoke to the sound of a gunshot that turned out to be someone shooting his wife in their bedroom. The invasion came after weeks of harassment by a stalker/thief, he said.

The original November trial ended with a hung jury after three weeks. Seven jurors believed Lindsey was guilty, three thought him not guilty and two others were undecided, but leaning toward not guilty, according to court staff.

The new trial is expected to last even longer than the first.

Deputy Prosecutor Cheryl Polarek was granted permission Thursday to introduce several new pieces of evidence in the upcoming trial.

The evidence, she said, will be used to respond to claims made by the defense during the first trial.
A Valparaiso University professor of education is working with UNICEF in Oman on an initiative to make schools operate in the best interests of the child.

Jan Westrick, a professor of education, is part of the joint project between UNICEFs Child Friendly Schools concept and Omans Ministry of Education. Child Friendly Schools emerged in the 1990s following the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989, which declares that all boys and girls in the world are entitled not only to a quality education but basic human rights. The approach is being used in more than 100 countries.

In Oman, Westrick is helping the country move forward with Child Friendly Schools. Her work includes holding workshops and preparing materials for schools.

The concept of a child rights-based education to me is very appealing because I think its a morally strong standpoint, Westrick said. If you say that children have the right to quality education, it sets a high bar for society.

Westrick said saying children have the right to things like clean water might sound simple until you look at the recent crisis of contaminated water in Flint, Michigan.

We dont talk about the language of rights as much in this country, we sort of assume it, she said. But if you actually have to sign on the dotted line and say yes, children have the right to clean water, and if we say children have the right to play, this would really question some of the changes people have been trying to make in education. Some schools in some states have been saying no more recess even for young children.

Westrick first visited Oman almost a decade ago to work with a company that helped design and implement a program for secondary principals. When the Child Friendly School initiative reached Oman, she was asked to get involved. In the last three or four years Westrick has been in Oman eight to 10 times.

Westrick said shes involved with the project because having lived internationally for 25 years, shes studied cultural differences and leadership and loves working with professional development.

And all of those kind of come together in this setting, she said.

Westrick said the more she thinks, researches and writes, the more she respects the choice to put child rights at the center of the education system.

I think it calls us to address issues of inequality, which I dont think weve been able to do in this country, she said.

Westrick has also done work in Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Uzbekistan. A professor at VU for 12 years, Westrick plans to return to Oman this spring to continue work on the UNICEF initiative.
SPRINGFIELD  Illinois House Democrats have revived an effort that would send stalled contract talks to binding arbitration and prohibit a state worker strike or lockout.

The move comes after Republican Gov. Bruce Rauners administration took steps to have negotiations with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees declared at an impasse. The roughly 38,000 state employees AFSCME Council 31 represents have been working under the terms of their previous deal since it expired June 30.

On a party-line vote Thursday, the House Labor and Commerce Committee approved a bill that would apply to contracts that have expired or will expire between June 30 and June 30, 2019. That would cover AFSCME and six other unions that currently dont have contracts with the state.

Rep. Chris Welch, a Hillside Democrat whos sponsoring the bill, said it represents a major concession on the part of labor unions because they would be giving up the right to strike.

I also think, from a legislative standpoint, we want to prevent the administration from locking out state employees, who are providing important services across this state, and basically shutting down government, Welch said. Thats our responsibility as legislators.

Rauner has said in the past that he will not lock out workers.

Republican opponents of the bill said AFSCME, which is backing the measure, is attempting to change the rules in the middle of the process.

Going to the General Assembly for legislation specifically designed to try and direct things in your favor is not something I can be supportive of, said Rep. Dan Brady, a Bloomington Republican who serves on the committee.

Before the committee hearing began, the Rauner administration distributed a statement attacking the bill.

Rauners statement called the move a second bite at the failed attempt to pass the bill.

The General Assembly passed a nearly identical bill last year, but Rauner vetoed it. House Democrats fell three votes short of overriding the veto.

Since then, the governor has accused AFSCME of bargaining in bad faith and asked the Illinois Labor Relations Board to determine whether the talks have reached an impasse. If the board sides with him, it could clear the way for the state to impose the terms of its contract offer.

Instead of lobbying for yet another version of the failed legislation from last Fall, AFSCME should defend its proposals before the Labor Board, the governors statement said.

Rep. Mike Smiddy, a Hillsdale Democrat who also serves on the Labor and Commerce Committee, said he believes part of the reason the override effort failed last year was because Rauner promised to stay at the bargaining table with AFSCME. The union says the administration has refused to negotiate since asking for the impasse declaration earlier this year.

This (bill) will hopefully prevent a shutdown of state government, either through strike or lockout, Smiddy said. We do not need services shut down in the state of Illinois due (to) a strike or lockout.

If the bill is approved, it would send stalled contract talks to mediation and then, if necessary, to a panel of independent arbitrators, who would decide on an issue-by-issue basis which side has made the more reasonable offer.

A similar process is currently in place for police officers, firefighters and other public safety workers, including correctional officers represented by AFSCME.
EAST CHICAGO  Incarcerated East Chicago Councilman Robert Battle may be able to phone into City Council meetings.

The city is seeing if Battle, jailed on allegations of drug crimes and a homicide, could perform official duties by attending City Council meetings twice a month through the Porter County Jail's video visitation system.

Battle, 42, has been held without bond since Nov. 17 on federal drug conspiracy and possession charges alleging he fatally shot Reimundo Camarillo Jr., 31, on Oct. 12 in East Chicago.

He is pleading not guilty and awaiting trial, scheduled to begin late this summer. Voters re-elected the unopposed Democrat in November  despite his legal problems.

Members of the Camarillo family asked the City Council on Monday to stop paying Battle's salary and expel him from office.

The City Council authorized their attorney, Stephen Bower, to look into those questions.

Bower said Wednesday it's technically possible through a system run by Dallas-based Securus Technologies, but, "there are a lot of roadblocks."

The council would have to file a request to be put on the jail's visitation chart for special sessions outside the regularly scheduled hours. The visit is now limited to 20 minutes.

Porter County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Sgt. Jamie Erow said Wednesday that Battle would sit in front of a video screen inside the jail and talk to East Chicago officials. They could see Battle and other inmates in the background.

The cost is $9.77 for a 20-minute visit, charged to the City Council.

Bower said state law forbids Battle from casting any votes by video link.

Bower said Battle has indicated through a girlfriend he wants electronic contact.

"We will try to cooperate with him, but the council is hard put to do all of this.

"It's up to Battle or Battle's attorney to do all the scheduling because he is the one absent from the meeting," Bower said. "I don't know whether Porter County would grant this or the U.S. attorney's office would have an objection."

Chicago attorney Jack Friedlander, defending Battle against the federal counts, declined comment on the video attendance issue. Ryan Holmes, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney David Capp, also declined comment.

Erow said a visitor, in this case the City Council "would have to be approved each time through our jail visitation officer. The visitor has to take a computer screen shot of their ID."

She said she isn't aware of whether Battle is requesting the video link to City Council meetings, but noted he's aware of how visitation works.

"He can make phone calls to anyone, like the East Chicago council," she said.

Battle has been absent since his detention.

Bower is set to draft a letter to the Indiana attorney general and the State Board of Accounts for guidance on whether they can stop Battle's pay or impeach him.

Paul Joyce, state examiner for the State Board of Accounts, and Bryan Corbin, public information officer for the attorney general, said their offices would cooperate with each other on the matter.

Joyce said they could provide an answer in a few weeks.

"I've seen a case long ago out of Knox County, Indiana where the prosecutor (sat) in jail before and (continued) to receive his pay," Joyce said.

East Chicago's City Council members make the highest salaries in the state at $42,356 a year.
CHICAGO  Local south suburban leaders joined forces in February to nominate Emanuel AME Church in South Carolina for the Nobel Peace Prize presented each year by the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo, Norway, according to a news release.

Thornton Township Supervisor Frank Zuccarelli and state Sen. Donne Trotter, D-Chicago, hosted the signing ceremony of the nomination papers on Feb. 1 at Lake Shore Cafe, 4900 S. Lake Shore Drive.

On June 17, the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, was conducting Bible study and worship when nine church members were shot to death allegedly by 21-year-old Dylan Roof. Roof faces dozens of federal charges, including hate crimes, in the slayings. Roofs trial in state court on the nine murder charges, in which the state is seeking the death penalty, starts in July.

Zuccarelli and Trotter were joined by U.S. Reps. Bobby Rush and Danny Davis, both Chicago Democrats, U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Matteson, and community leaders for the signing and filing of the Nobel Peace Prize nomination for Emanuel AME Church, South Carolina.

An incident of such terror and racial hatred could have sparked an outpouring of anger and violence from the community, as had been the case with similar incidents in other U.S. cities, said U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-North Carolina, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. However, something different happened and the public response was not rage, vengeance, violence, but one of Christian forgiveness, unity and peace led by the congregation and the families of the nine victims.

The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to those individuals or entities that have  done the most or best work for peace between nations  and also for the holding and promotion of peace congresses. In our view, what America witnessed in Charleston, South Carolina, was the holding and promotion of peace congresses. While many believe this may have been an isolated and one-time event by Emanuel AME Church, its 199-year history dictates peace within the fabric of its Christian faith and beliefs.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
CROWN POINT  Its official. Abe Lincoln will be making his triumphant  and very tall  return to the land of his youth, and he is bringing friends.

The citys Board of Public Works and Safety on Wednesday approved the contract with Seward Johnson Atelier Inc. to lease the 31-foot-tall statue of Lincoln discussing the Gettysburg Address with a contemporary man. The city plans to erect it at the Sportsplex.

In addition, 10 other Seward Johnson life-size sculptures, including one of Marilyn Monroe in the famous subway-grate-blowing-up-her-skirt pose, will be here from early April to November. Thats three months longer than the city leased a dozen sculptures last year, but the price will be the same as a year ago, Mayor David Uran said.

The statues brought in a lot of people and a lot of positive energy, Uran said. This is the second half of the two-year lease we agreed to last year. We are soliciting businesses to support it as they did a year ago.

Councilwoman Carol Drasga, who has spearheaded this project from the beginning, said businesses will be able to sponsor a sculpture for the $2,300 that was charged a year ago to cover the cost of the lease. The total cost is $40,000, of which $30,000 is for the Lincoln figure.

Drasga said the Lincoln sculpture will fit like a glove with the states bicentennial celebration, and she hopes, with the longer time frame for the lease, the city will be able to market it more effectively all over the state and into Illinois and make better use of social media than could be done in 2015.

It will be a sight to behold, and who knows when it will happen again, she said. People will have an easier drive to see it rather than going to Chicago for something like this. This has so much potential because weve got so many other great things for people to see and do once they get here.

Drasga said a committee will meet soon to try to finalize the selection of the other sculptures and establish sponsorship pricing. Businesses that participated last year will get the first chance to sponsor a figure this year. Then it will be open to others.

The contract calls for a minimum of 10 sculptures, but Drasga said it is possible the city could get more if sponsors are found. A sponsor or sponsors for the Lincoln sculpture also will be sought.
BURNS, Ore.  Surrounded by FBI agents in armored vehicles, the last four occupiers of a national wildlife refuge surrendered Thursday, and the leader of a 2014 standoff with federal authorities was criminally charged in federal court.

The holdouts were the last remnants of the group that seized the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Jan. 2 and demanded that the government turn over the land to locals and release two ranchers imprisoned for setting fires.

Meanwhile, Cliven Bundy, who was at the center of a 2014 standoff at his ranch in Nevada, was arrested late Wednesday in Portland after encouraging the Oregon occupiers not to give up. Bundy is the father of Ammon Bundy, the jailed leader of the most recent occupation.

On Thursday, the elder Bundy was charged in the 2014 standoff. Federal authorities may have feared Bundy's presence would draw sympathizers to defend the holdouts.

A criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas charged the 69-year-old Bundy with conspiracy, assault on a federal officer, obstruction, weapons charges and other crimes. He's accused of leading supporters who pointed military-style weapons at federal agents trying to enforce a court order to round up Bundy cattle from federal rangeland.

It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer to represent him ahead of a court appearance in federal court in Portland.

Federal authorities say the Bundy family has not made payments toward a $1.1 million grazing fee and penalty bill.

The holdouts and 12 others connected with the occupation have been charged with conspiracy to interfere with federal workers.

A live stream of a telephone call indicated that the last four occupiers had surrendered Thursday morning.

The occupiers were 27-year-old David Fry of Blanchester, Ohio; Jeff Banta, 46, of Elko, Nevada; and married couple Sean Anderson, 48, and Sandy Anderson, 47, of Riggins, Idaho.

In the live stream, Fry said the three others had surrendered but he refused to. He later said he was giving up. The FBI did not immediately confirm that the three surrendered.

The FBI began moving in on the holdouts Wednesday evening, surrounding their encampment with armored vehicles.Over the next several hours, the occupiers' panic and their negotiation with FBI agents could be heard live on the Internet, broadcast by a sympathizer of the occupiers who established phone contact with them.

Fry, an Ohio resident, said he was declaring war against the federal government.

"Liberty or death, I take that stance," he declared and later said he was pointing a gun at his head.

Fry could be heard yelling at an FBI negotiator: "You're going to hell. Kill me. Get it over with."

The occupiers calmed down after a while, and arrangements were made for them to surrender at an FBI checkpoint on Thursday.

A Nevada lawmaker has been key in getting that agreement. Michele Fiore is also a friend of the Bundy family. She came to Portland on Wednesday to show support for Ammon Bundy. When she heard the FBI had surrounded the refuge, she called into the online talk show to try to calm down the occupiers.

Fiore rushed to Burns to help negotiate a peaceful surrender of the occupiers.

The Oregon standoff began Jan. 2 when Ammon Bundy and his followers took over the refuge south of Burns to protest prison terms for two local ranchers accused of setting fires on federal lands, and to demand that the refuge be handed over to local residents.

Federal agents, Oregon state troopers and sheriff's deputies monitored the occupation to avoid a confrontation. There were growing calls for the FBI to act, including from Oregon's governor.

They did, on Jan. 26. On that day, Ammon Bundy and other occupation leaders were heading for the town of John Day to give a talk on federal overreach. FBI agents and Oregon state troopers stopped the group's two-vehicle convoy. Robert "LaVoy" Finicum was shot dead in that confrontation. The FBI says he was going for a pistol inside his jacket pocket. Ammon Bundy and four others were arrested.

A total of 12 people were arrested that week. Most of the occupiers fled the refuge after hearing they would be arrested if they left quickly. Four stayed behind, saying they feared they would be arrested if they left.

Greg Bretzing, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon, said Wednesday night that the situation had reached a point where it "became necessary to take action" to ensure the safety of all involved.

One of the occupiers rode an ATV outside "the barricades established by the militia" at the refuge, Bretzing said in a statement. When FBI agents tried to approach the driver, Fry said he quickly returned to the camp.

The FBI placed agents at barricades around the occupiers' camp, Bretzing said.

"It has never been the FBI's desire to engage these armed occupiers in any way other than through dialogue," he said. "And to that end, the FBI has negotiated with patience and restraint in an effort to resolve the situation peacefully."

___

Associated Press writers Martha Bellisle in Seattle and Terrence Petty in Portland, Oregon, contributed to this report.
They are the libraries that Andrew built. In the early 20th century, Andrew Carnegie funded the establishment of public libraries across the United States in an effort to bring the joy of reading and learning  free of charge  to the masses.

To Hoosiers great benefit, Indiana received more Carnegie grants than any other state, $2.6 million in all, enough to build 164 libraries in 155 cities and towns from 1901 to 1922.

Drive through just about any community, and youll see one. Although theres uniformity in their footprint, theres variety too  in architectural style, building material and personality. For example:

 The Wabash Carnegie Public Library was designed by Fort Wayne architect J.F. Wing and dedicated in 1903. It was constructed of Bedford limestone in neo-classical revival style with a stained-glass dome.

 The Whiting Public Library, opened in 1906, was designed by Bloomington, Illinois, architect Paul O. Moratz in eclectic Romanesque Revival style.

 The Brownsburg library, made of brick in the Craftsman-Prairie style popularized by Frank Lloyd Wright, was designed by Indianapolis architect Norman H. Hill and dedicated in 1918.

Carnegie himself never explained why Indiana received so much of his largesse. David Kaser, distinguished professor emeritus at the Indiana University School of Library and Information Science, suspects it was a matter of timing and greatest good.

By the time Carnegie launched his program, the eastern states were well stocked with libraries and had less need. The South and West werent organized to take full advantage. Indiana, Kaser says, had financial need and was receptive to the benefits with its bookish culture, widespread literacy ... and sufficient experience with rental and social libraries to assure the extensive future use of free public libraries when they should become available.

In "Temples of Knowledge: Andrew Carnegies Gift to Indiana," author Alan McPherson notes Hoosiers were voracious readers in the early 20th century, yet Indianas publicly funded township and country libraries were rather limited in literary selection, poorly housed and often meagerly staffed.

Some were subscription" libraries, which meant patrons had to pay a monthly or annual fee to borrow books.

Carnegie, a self-made steel tycoon, wanted libraries that were free to all. To obtain funding from him, communities had to agree to provide a building site and levy a tax to maintain the building and its collection into the future.

To leverage Carnegies generosity, the General Assembly in 1901 passed the Mummert Library Law, which allowed local units of government to do just that.

At the outset, communities could design the libraries as they pleased. After 1908, the Carnegie Corp. issued guidelines that standardized their cost and appearance.

Steps typically led to the front door, a symbolic representation of Carnegies philosophy that patrons should step up intellectually to get the most from the library experience.

Today, 106 of the 164 libraries Carnegie funded are still functioning libraries, many of them remodeled or expanded to accommodate customer demand and new technology. That fact would surely delight Carnegie, who called the taste for reading one of the most precious possessions of life.

Eighteen were demolished by human hands or natural disaster. The others have been adapted to new uses, including as museums, town halls, private homes, galleries and restaurants.
Northwest Indiana lawmakers are working hard on legislation aimed at combating Indianas illegal drug epidemic. Cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine continue to wreak havoc on our communities and create problems for law enforcement and our criminal justice system.

As the legislative session reached the halfway point, House and Senate legislators passed a series of bills that would crack down on violent criminals and meth cooks.

One measure, House Bill 1235, would give prosecutors a powerful tool to keep the worst drug dealers behind bars. If passed, a drug dealer convicted of a Level 2 felony for dealing would receive a mandatory sentence of at least 10 years in prison  but could be sentenced up to 30 years. This means Indiana would be in line with federal sentencing, and in many cases much tougher.

Senate lawmakers also focused on stricter penalties by passing Senate Bill 290, which would expand prosecutors ability to charge drug offenders as dealers if the suspects are found in possession of at least 28 grams of scheduled drugs. This means harsher punishments for those who intend to manufacture or sell controlled substances such as cocaine, heroin and meth.

Lawmakers also passed several bills aimed at meth cooks and curbing criminals access to pseudoephedrine (PSE) and ephedrine  common ingredients found in cold and allergy medications that are also used to make meth.

The House and Senate recently passed separate but similar proposals aimed at preventing drug felons from obtaining PSE. Under HB 1157 and SB 161, law enforcement agencies would upload drug-related felony convictions to a statewide database, which would trigger a stop-sale alert if felons attempt to buy medicine containing PSE without a prescription.

House lawmakers also passed a bill to combat a practice known as smurfing where persons purchase PSE at multiple stores to skirt individual purchase limits with the intent to sell it to meth cooks. The legislation also attempts to strike a balance with the needs of law-abiding residents to purchase these types of products.

Under HB 1390, consumers could purchase medications containing PSE without a prescription if they have prior relationships with pharmacies or purchase smaller doses. A prescription would only be required in the small number of cases in which people lack pre-existing relationships with pharmacies and refuse the smaller dosage or tamper-resistant options.

Senate lawmakers also passed SB 80, which would require pharmacists to conduct a brief consultation with the customer to determine if the PSE purchase is medically necessary.

House lawmakers also supported legislation specifically targeting meth cooks. Currently, it is very difficult to convict criminals who make meth because the process leaves very little evidence behind. Additionally, meth fires typically burn up most of the evidence, making it very difficult to prosecute the criminals involved. Thats why House lawmakers recently passed HB 1211, which would give prosecutors more tools to convict those who attempt to make meth and those who cause meth fires.

These bills reflect a strong effort by the General Assembly to find common-sense solutions to the illegal drug epidemic plaguing all areas of our state, including Northwest Indiana. There is no silver bullet to the problems we face, but we will continue to work with key stakeholders and find ways to make our communities safer.
SPRINGFIELD  President Barack Obama returned to Springfield on Wednesday to call on members of the Illinois General Assembly to work together toward a less divisive, more civil politics.

The speech, delivered nine years to the day after Obama launched his White House bid on the steps of the Old State Capitol, came amid an unprecedented state budget impasse between first-term Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Democratic-controlled Legislature, led by House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton, both of Chicago.

While alluding to the standoff, Obama focused his remarks on the larger issue of the increasing political polarization in Springfield and Washington and across the United States.

The situation we find ourselves in today is not somehow unique or hopeless, he said, speaking in the current Capitol, where he began his political career in 1997 as a state senator from Chicagos South Side. Weve always gone through periods when our democracy seems stuck, and when that happens, we have to find a new way of doing business.

Were in one of those moments. Weve got to build a better politics, one thats less of a spectacle and more of a battle of ideas, one thats less of a business and more of a mission, one that understands the success of the American experiment rests on our willingness to engage all our citizens in this work.

To build that better politics, Obama highlighted four areas where work needs to be done: limiting influence of big money in politics, changing the way congressional districts are drawn, making it easier for voters to register and cast ballots, and engaging in more respectful political discourse.

We cant move forward if all we do is tear each other down, he said.

The president said his belief in the importance of bipartisanship and civility has its roots, in part, in his days in the Illinois Senate.

As a newcomer in the then-minority party, Obama had to find ways to work with Republicans if we wanted to accomplish anything. He formed a bond with Kirk Dillard, then a GOP senator from Hinsdale and now chairman of the Chicago-area Regional Transit Authority, with whom he worked on issues such as ethics reform and combating racial profiling.

He also took the time to get to know downstate Republicans away from the Statehouse, playing cards with people like Sens. Dave Luechtefeld of Okawville and Bill Brady of Bloomington.

Away from the glare of TV or the tweets of the GIFs of todays media, what we discovered was that, despite our surface differences  Democrats and Republicans, downstate hog farmers, inner-city African-Americans, suburban businesspeople, Latinos from Pilsen or Little Village  despite those differences, we actually had a lot in common, he said. We cared about our communities. We cared about our families. We cared about America.

We fought hard for our positions. I dont want to be nostalgic here. We voted against each other all the time, and party lines held most of the time. But those relationships, that trust that we built, meant that we came at each debate assuming the best in one another and not the worst.

He added, And we didnt call each other idiots or fascists who were trying to destroy America. Because then wed have to explain why we were playing poker or having a drink with an idiot or a fascist who was trying to destroy America.

Despite Obamas message, there were times when partisan divisions were on full display in the House chamber. For example, Democrats stood and cheered when he mentioned the importance of collective bargaining rights, as did Republicans when he mentioned redistricting reform.

Obama acknowledged his disappointment that partisan discord has gotten worse during his presidency and, hinting at his post-presidential plans, said this work will be a focus of mine over the course of this year and beyond.

Obama arrived aboard Air Force One on Wednesday morning at Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport, where he was greeted by Rauner, among others. The two spoke briefly before the president got into his limo and made his way to the Capitol  after a brief stop for barley soup at The Feed Store, just steps from the Old State Capitol.

Following the speech, the president shook hands with many on the Republican side of the aisle before departing the House chamber.

Upon leaving the Capitol, Obama went to greet a group of about 500 supporters a few blocks away inside the Hoogland Center for the Arts. After that, he was back aboard Air Force One, en route to San Jose, California.

With the presidents visit come and gone, what remains is the question of whether his words will have any impact on the partisan atmosphere in Springfield or the states budget impasse, now in its eighth month.
They have the awkwardness of amateur home videos: background noise, long silences, people looking away from the camera. But inside a booth at the New-York Historical Society, visitors to the exhibition "Slavery in New York" are recording their reactions, creating snapshot reflections on race and history in the nation's largest city.

"It allows our young people to understand, really, how this city was born and who carried the brunt of the prosperity that we see in New York, not only then but now," a black man from "Harlem, New York," said of the show, the largest in the museum's 201-year history. The man, who appeared to be in his 30's, said he wanted to know what businesses in the city today derived profits in the past from selling human beings.

A white lawyer went into the booth twice to sort out his feelings. "This has just been devastating," he said. As he looked at the exhibition's array of documents, he said, he realized that the some of the laws used to isolate and dehumanize enslaved black New Yorkers became custom after the laws vanished and "contributed to the way whites look at blacks," even today.

"It's striking for any of us who are New Yorkers to realize that the ground we touch, every institution, is affected by slavery," he said.
Eric Foner has won a place in the front rank of American historians with books that seem to vacuum up all available sources to produce bold new interpretations of the countrys reckoning with the big questions of slavery and freedom.

But his latest grew from a modest beginning: a tip from his dog-walker.

In 2007, Madeline Lewis, an undergraduate history major who helped with the family cocker spaniel, had been looking at the papers of a little-known 19th-century abolitionist editor named Sydney Howard Gay, held at Columbia University, when she came upon a small notebook labeled Record of Fugitives.

She mentioned it to Mr. Foner, who was busy writing The Fiery Trial, his Pulitzer Prize-winning study of Abraham Lincolns shifting views of slavery. A few months later, he got around to looking at the notebook, which contained detailed records of Gays efforts to help more than 200 runaway slaves passing through New York City.

I was amazed, Mr. Foner said recently during an interview in his office at Columbia, where he has taught since 1982. I had never heard of this document, or seen it cited.
Fashion Week isnt a safe space for Brian Williams, either.

Im a little late, said Chris Rock, on stage at the amfAR gala on Wednesday night, introducing Rosario Dawson. I went to the other Cipriani; I was uptown. Brian Williams told me it was there.

Mr. Rock started to laugh at his own joke.

Come on, six-month suspension? he said, referring to the news anchors punishment from NBC. Thats called fired where Im from. He got more games than Ray Rice.
In closing arguments on Tuesday at the manslaughter trial of a New York City police officer charged in the shooting of an unarmed man, the prosecution presented a new argument to jurors: The officer did not mistakenly fire a bullet that ricocheted off a wall and killed Akai Gurley, who was walking down the stairs of a Brooklyn housing project, as the defense has argued.

Instead, the officer, Peter Liang, had seen Mr. Gurley, 28, while on a routine patrol and aimed, a prosecutor argued in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn. He pointed his gun, Joe Alexis, an assistant district attorney said, and shot Akai Gurley.

The argument was a departure from the prosecutions theme during the previous days of the trial, in which Officer Liang, 28, was painted as reckless, inept and craven, appearing to care only about his job in the minutes after firing, not whether anyone had been hurt.

The bullet from Officer Liangs gun hit a wall, Mr. Alexis suggested during closing arguments, because the officer missed. The bullet shot very close to where Akai Gurley stood, he said, and ripped through his heart.
Earlier this week, six young designers from around the world convened in an empty retail space in SoHo to prepare their debut collections at New York Fashion Week. They were the winners of the sixth Vfiles Runway competition  which will be held tonight at Spring Studios  and have come from Italy, Switzerland, Ukraine, Holland and India. More than a few of them are in New York for the first time.

The traditional fashion business doesnt want to admit that these kids exist, says Vfiles founder Julie Anne Quay. The first runway show was largely ignored by the press, but, Quay says, it was so rambunctious and fun that it became infectious. One of the labels from that first season, Gypsy Sport, went on to win a CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund award.

This season, Quay says, there were nearly 1,000 entries for competition. The final brands (including one in a newly created wearable-tech category) were chosen by the Vfiles team and a panel of expert mentors, including the former Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute curator Harold Koda, the Off-White designer Virgil Abloh, the Calvin Klein creative director Italo Zucchelli and the fashion brand consultant Candy Pratts Price.

One of the winning designers, Anton Belinskiy, from Kiev, Ukraine, launched his line in 2009 and was a semifinalist for the LVMH Prize in 2015. The collection hes showing is called Utopia and includes playful, surreal pieces like an oversized, canary-yellow parka with a mini-parka-shaped hood. Think about what happened to the Ukraine this year, Quay says. There were tanks and war, but the most positive fashion vibe is coming out of Russia and the Ukraine.
PARIS  No questions? Stephane Lissner, the general director of the Paris Opera, asked the 200 or so journalists assembled on Wednesday morning for the announcement of the Operas 2016-17 season. There was the briefest pause. Well, thank you, he said, leaving the podium immediately with the music director Philippe Jordan and the director of dance, Benjamin Millepied.

If Mr. Lissner had not specified that remarks be limited to those about the new season, there would certainly have been a flurry of questions for Mr. Millepied, who announced last Thursday that he would leave his job at the end of the current season. The news reverberated around the dance world and made the front pages of Frances major daily newspapers, Le Monde and Le Figaro. Although Mr. Millepied said he was leaving to focus on his choreography, avid speculation continued about his real motivation.

Why exactly did he quit?

In an interview in his office at the Palais Garnier the day before the news conference, the French-born but American-trained Mr. Millepied said he had come to realize he was not the right man for the job.

I knew it was going to be complicated and I tried really hard, he said. To face the cultural and economic issues of our time, we need new kinds of organizations, and Ive realized that its too hard to turn this one into what I think is most relevant for ballet today. Its two and a half years that Ive worked on this, and I know its a short time, but it is long enough to realize this is not something I want to do.
Leslie Bassett, a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer known for his lush sonorities and ecumenical instrumentation, died on Feb. 4 in Oakwood, Ga. He was 93.

His family confirmed the death.

A master orchestrator who could coax a vast range of tonal colors from the bits of wood and brass for which he composed, Mr. Bassett wrote works for symphony orchestra, chamber and choral ensembles, solo instruments and voice.

At his death, he was the Albert A. Stanley distinguished university professor emeritus of composition at the University of Michigan, where he had taught from 1952 until his retirement in 1992.

Mr. Bassett received the Pulitzer in 1966 for Variations for Orchestra, which had been given its United States premiere by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy the year before.
It can be said quite often: Hip-hop did it first.

When Will Smith announced last month that he would join his wife, Jada Pinkett, in skipping the Oscars after no black actors were nominated for two years in a row, he put it simply: Were uncomfortable to stand there and say that this is O.K.

It was a position hed taken before. In 1989, the first time Mr. Smith stood up against the award-show establishment, he was still known as the Fresh Prince, his medium was rap, and the ceremony was the Grammys. Unlike his situation at this years Oscars, he was nominated. D.J. Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince went on to win the first-ever rap Grammy that year, for their crossover hit Parents Just Dont Understand.

But Mr. Smith was not there to collect the trophy after deciding with some of his hip-hop peers, including two other nominees in the category, not to show up because the inaugural rap performance award would not be televised. We chose to boycott, Mr. Smith said at the time, calling the snub a slap in the face. He added, You go to school for 12 years, they give you your diploma, and they deny you that walk down the aisle.

Things have changed, and they havent. At the 58th Annual Grammy Awards on Monday, the activist rapper Kendrick Lamar will be the most nominated artist across all categories, and his work on To Pimp a Butterfly is in contention for the biggest awards of the night. (The album could become just the third hip-hop release to win album of the year.) LL Cool J, who was among the first batch of rap nominees for his song Going Back to Cali, will host the show for the fifth consecutive year.
The federal judge overseeing hundreds of claims against General Motors related to a defective ignition switch has rejected an effort to replace Robert C. Hilliard, one of the lead plaintiffs lawyers on the case.

In a ruling issued on Wednesday in Manhattan, Judge Jesse M. Furman of Federal District Court also refused to undo a $275 million settlement reached last year between G.M. and Mr. Hilliard. The agreement covered some 1,400 lawsuits, or about 60 percent of those pending against the carmaker.

The ruling represented a setback for Lance Cooper, the plaintiffs lawyer who had asked Judge Furman to remove Mr. Hilliard from the case and overturn the settlement. In motions, Mr. Cooper, who helped uncover the switch defect that has been linked to 124 deaths, cited what he described as self-dealing actions on the part of Mr. Hilliard.

The requests threatened to throw into disarray the lawsuits against G.M. that had been consolidated into a so-called multidistrict litigation. But Judge Furman held that the Mr. Cooper had provided little or no evidence to support his (sometimes wild) accusations of impropriety and underhandedness.
Just two years ago, SolarCity and other rooftop solar providers were Wall Street darlings, and prospects for growth were flying high, as enthusiasm for solar power was seemingly boundless.

After all, they had built a better mousetrap, allowing the masses to install environmentally minded solar power systems at little or no cost to them and to reduce their electricity bills at the same time.

But in two years, the landscape has drastically shifted.

Nevada recently rolled back the generous support it gave rooftop solar systems; 20 other states are rethinking their policies, as well. And despite the extension of an important federal tax credit last year, losses by rooftop solar companies have accelerated.

SolarCity, the nations largest provider of rooftop systems, is but the most visible of a cluster of companies, built with the aid of government subsidies and utility incentives, now facing deep uncertainties, despite unflagging consumer interest and surging growth in renewable energy.
Government tests show that some types of laminate flooring sold by Lumber Liquidators can cause irritation and breathing problems but the risk of cancer from exposure is low, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday. Lumber Liquidators sales and shares slumped after the CBS program 60 Minutes reported in March that the laminates, which were made in China, contained excessive levels of cancer-causing formaldehyde. On its website, the C.D.C. said that people who had bought such flooring and were concerned should open windows for a few minutes every few days to let in fresh air. The agency estimated that formaldehyde levels would return to typical levels within two years of installation.
When young designers want to unveil their first collection, they may hold a fashion show, perhaps during fashion week. But not if youre Kendall and Kylie Jenner.

On Monday night, three days before the official start of New York Fashion Week, the sisters introduced their new line, Kendall & Kylie, with an intimate house party in a penthouse duplex in TriBeCa.

First to arrive were the clothes, which were displayed on racks in the corner as if in a boutique. There were bondage-y heels inspired by Manolo Blahnik, gingham high-rise trousers that went around the knee, and crisscross mesh dresses that called to mind Givenchy and Helmut Lang.

Cindi Leive, editor in chief of Glamour, and Anne Fulenwider of Marie Claire arrived shortly after 8, just as a publicist approached the press line and made it clear that topics like the sisters romantic life, their transgender parent and a certain in-laws struggles with drugs were off limits.
Ive received occasional queries over the years from the growing cohort of academics doing research on Nollywood: Was I the one who had coined Nollywood? Id reply that a copy editor had written the headline, but, yeah, sure, Nollywood appeared for the first time with my article.

A Czech graduate student doing a masters thesis on Nollywood emailed me a few years ago: I would like to ask you if this invention came as result of a sudden inspiration, or if you remember thinking about using the word more deeply.

The truth is, it was only during a recent visit to Nigeria  my first in more than a dozen years  that I got a full taste of my unearned fame in Nollywood. Introducing myself at random shoots, Id be rewarded with a look of recognition that I could watch spread across a face or two around me. When I cold-called leading movie figures, their voices would soften at the mere mention of my name and that of The Times.

Oh, yes, youre Nollywood, Mahmood Ali-Balogun, a leading Nollywood filmmaker, said the second I introduced myself in an out-of-the-blue phone call. We began chatting as if he had been expecting my call for the past decade.

The next morning, I called upon Mr. Ali-Balogun in his office in Surulere. Nollywood, he told me, had redefined African cinema since my 2002 article. In collaboration with other African filmmakers, Nollywood was making movies and telling stories about Africans for Africans without the financial or editorial involvement of Westerners.
If Mexico agrees to extradite the notorious drug trafficker known as El Chapo to the United States, he would be tried in federal court in Brooklyn, a law enforcement official said on Wednesday.

The drug kingpin, Joaquin Guzman Loera, has been indicted in Brooklyn as well as Chicago, Manhattan, Miami and other cities where his cocaine ring is said to have extended in the United States.

WPIX-TV in New York City reported on Wednesday that Brooklyn would be the likely location for Mr. Guzmans trial.

A 2014 indictment filed in Federal District Court in Brooklyn charged that Mr. Guzman, who was recaptured in January after a daring escape from prison last summer that embarrassed the Mexican authorities, helped run the worlds largest drug-trafficking organization, called the Sinaloa cartel.
Federal prosecutors began presenting evidence on Wednesday to a grand jury in Brooklyn in the death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who died after being placed in a chokehold by a white police officer in Staten Island in July 2014, according to a person briefed on the matter.

Two New York City police officers were the first people to be called before the federal panel, the person said, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss a continuing investigation. The person added that Forrest Christian, a veteran prosecutor in the Justice Departments civil rights division, had come to Brooklyn to take part in the proceeding.

The empaneling of a grand jury, which The Daily News reported on Wednesday, is a significant step in the aftermath of Mr. Garners death and is a result of a federal civil rights investigation opened by the Justice Department in December 2014.

The federal inquiry began after a Staten Island grand jury declined to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo, who applied the chokehold on Mr. Garner while moving to arrest him for allegedly selling loose cigarettes.
Lawyers defending a New York City police officer accused of killing an unarmed man inside a Brooklyn housing project sought on Wednesday to have the case declared a mistrial, arguing that a last-minute theory introduced by prosecutors was inflammatory.

The judge hearing the case in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn quickly rejected the motion.

During closing arguments on Tuesday, the prosecution presented a new theory, suggesting that the officer, Peter Liang, had deliberately pointed his gun in the direction of the man who was killed, Akai Gurley. Mr. Gurley, 28, was walking down a stairwell of the Louis H. Pink Houses in the East New York neighborhood on Nov. 20, 2014, with his girlfriend when a bullet fired from Officer Liangs gun bounced off a wall and pierced his heart.

Officer Liang, 28, is charged with manslaughter and other charges, including official misconduct for not providing aid to Mr. Gurley, the father of two young girls.
It was one of the biggest frauds ever carried out against the City of New York, and a blot on former Mayor Michael R. Bloombergs reputation for managerial and technological savvy. On Wednesday, the criminal prosecutions spawned by the case, involving a computerized payroll system called CityTime, reached a quiet denouement when a federal judge in Manhattan sentenced a computer specialist at the center of the scheme to three years probation.

Judge George B. Daniels of Federal District Court said he showed leniency to the specialist, Carl Bell, a technology manager who took $6 million in bribes, because he had given crucial help to investigators.

The sentence, handed down in a mostly empty courtroom, was in sharp contrast to the 20-year prison terms that Judge Daniels meted out last year to three other men involved in the fraud.

The timing of Mr. Bells sentencing could be uncomfortable for Mr. Bloomberg, who has floated the possibility of running for president, serving as a reminder of the problems that bedeviled his third term as mayor and dented his reputation as a capable manager.
(Want to get this briefing by email? Heres the sign-up.)

Good morning.

Heres what you need to know:

 The day in U.S. politics.

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders square off tonight in a debate as the fight to win Nevada looms. The Clinton campaign is rethinking its strategy after its double-digit loss to Mr. Sanders in New Hampshire.

Heres what to look for in the debate (9 p.m. Eastern, PBS, and streaming).

While Chris Christie and Carly Fiorina have dropped out of the race, the remaining Republican candidates are campaigning in South Carolina. Except for Donald J. Trump, that is, who is in Louisiana. Mr. Trump won twice on Tuesday night, our analyst says.

Marco Rubio is taking the blame for his poor showing in New Hampshire. We break down how a debate misstep may have jeopardized his campaign.
Sanders is a solid candidate and his integrity and earnestness are admirable, but that can get lost in the noise of advocacy.

Tucked among all this Bernie-splaining by some supporters, it appears to me, is a not-so-subtle, not-so-innocuous savior syndrome and paternalistic patronage that I find so grossly offensive that it boggles the mind that such language should emanate from the mouths  or keyboards  of supposed progressives.

But then I am reminded that the idea that black folks are infantile and must be told what to do and what to think is not confined by ideological barriers. The ideological difference is that one side prefers punishment and the other pity, and neither is a thing in which most black folks delight.

It is not so much that black voters love Clinton and loathe Sanders. Indeed, in The Nation magazine, the estimable Michelle Alexander makes a strong case in an essay titled Why Hillary Clinton Doesnt Deserve the Black Vote. For many there isnt much passion for either candidate. Instead, black folks are trying to keep their feet planted in reality and choose from among politicians who have historically promised much and delivered little. It is often a choice between the devil you know and the one you dont, or more precisely, among the friend who betrays you, the stranger who entices you and the enemy who seeks to destroy you.

It is not black folks who need to come to a new understanding, but those whose privileged gaze prevents them from seeing that black thought and consciousness is informed by a bitter history, a mountain of disappointment and an ocean of tears.
This is hardly the first time progressive women have had a generational conflict. Once women won the right to vote, the older suffragists wanted to keep battling for equal rights, while many of their juniors felt they had other things to do. Feminism has become a term of opprobrium to the modern young woman, wrote Dorothy Dunbar Bromley in a famous 1927 essay that suggested militants of the old school had a demoralizing tendency to wear unflattering shoes.

In the modern era, whenever cross-generational sniping occurred, younger women always had a champion in Gloria Steinem. Their activism is fantastic, she told me in a post-New Hampshire phone interview. Steinem, a Clinton supporter, was drawn into the fray when, during a TV appearance, she seemed to be suggesting that younger women were supporting Sanders because they wanted to meet boys. She says she misspoke, that she was talking about issues of power, not sex: The person whos being written about is not me. Garbling a message is something that can definitely happen on the umpteenth leg of a book tour, and if anybody has earned the right to be taken at her word, its Steinem.

Its easy to see why Sanders is attracting the youth vote. His events are electric. When he demands free tuition at public colleges and universities, the audience is practically orating with him, calling out their student loans (Over 200,000, Columbia University graduate school!). When he goes into his Medicare-for-all health care system, they shout their insurance deductibles (5,000  for a single person!).

On the other hand, he hasnt grown much as a candidate. All politicians tend to give the same stump speech over and over, but Sanders is practically in the Marco Rubio category when it comes to repetition. Clinton is nowhere near Sanderss class as an orator, but there can be something compelling in her willingness to just dig in and trust the audience to follow.

Listening to Sanders wow a crowd in New Hampshire, I remembered a 2007 speech Clinton made in her first New Hampshire primary campaign. She called for an end to a tax loophole known as carried interest thats beloved by hedge fund managers. Clinton wasnt the first candidate on that particular bus, but what struck me was the time she took to explain how the system worked and how she was going to change it. She was totally fearless when it came to risking boredom in pursuit of an issue.
IN the early 1980s, American and Russian scientists working together outlined a stark vision of the Cold War future. In a battle between the two superpowers, smoke from fires ignited by nuclear explosions would be so dense that it would block out the sun, turning the earth cold, dark and dry, killing plants and preventing agriculture for at least a year.

This dystopia became known as nuclear winter.

We havent heard much about this apocalyptic future in recent years. But the research into the destructive potential of a war involving nuclear weapons has continued. Even with the reduced nuclear arsenals that the United States and Russia agreed to in 2010, we have the ability not only to set off instantaneous destruction, but also to push global temperatures below freezing, even in summer. Crops would die and starvation could kill most of humanity.

But it is not just the superpowers that threaten the planet.

A nuclear war between any two countries using 100 Hiroshima-size atom bombs, less than half of the combined arsenals of India and Pakistan, could produce climate change unseen in recorded human history.

This is why we should celebrate the recent agreement with Iran, which may stop it from producing a nuclear weapon. And it is also why we should look with deep alarm at North Koreas recent launching of a rocket to put a satellite in orbit, in what is believed to be an effort to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Italy is in an uproar over the torture and murder in Egypt of Giulio Regeni, a 28-year-old Italian doctoral student at Cambridge University who disappeared in Cairo on Jan. 25 and whose half-naked, battered body was found in a ditch Feb. 3, hours after Italian officials appealed directly to President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt for help in locating the missing student.

Italys interior minister, Angelino Alfano, said Mr. Regenis body bore evidence of inhuman, animal-like, unacceptable violence  exactly the kind of torture security forces regularly inflict on Egyptians. It is unusual for Egyptian security services to target foreigners, and Egyptian authorities deny their security forces had anything to do with Mr. Regenis torture and death. On Monday, Egypts interior minister, Maj. Gen. Magdi Abdel-Ghaffar, made an incredible claim: Such crimes have never been attributed to the Egyptian security apparatus.

The Italian press is not buying this story. A headline in La Repubblica on Monday read: Giulio Regeni was tortured because they thought he was a spy. In the paranoid realm of Egypts government-cowed news media, foreigners are regularly portrayed as spies.

Under Mr. Sisis government thousands of Egyptians have been imprisoned. Torture and enforced disappearance are commonplace. Academics, human rights activists and journalists have been specially singled out. Mr. Regenis murder is sure to put a deep chill on academic freedom in Egypt.
The Supreme Courts extraordinary decision on Tuesday to temporarily block the Obama administrations effort to combat global warming by regulating emissions from power plants was deeply disturbing on two fronts.

It raised serious questions about Americas ability to deliver on Mr. Obamas pledge in Paris in December to sharply reduce carbon emissions, and, inevitably, about its willingness to take a leadership role on the issue.

And with all the Republican-appointed justices lining up in a 5-to-4 vote to halt the regulation before a federal appeals court could rule on it, the court also reinforced the belief among many Americans that the court is knee-deep in the partisan politics it claims to stand above. While the courts action was not a ruling on the merits of the case, it will delay efforts to comply with the regulation and sends an ominous signal that Mr. Obamas initiative, known as the Clean Power Plan, could ultimately be overturned.

The Clean Power Plan, announced by the Environmental Protection Agency last August, requires states to make major cuts in greenhouse gas emissions from their electricity producers, which chiefly use older coal-fired power plants, over the next few years. These plants produce more carbon emissions than any other source, and cutting them is the backbone of Mr. Obamas larger goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions over all by at least 26 percent below 2005 levels by 2025.
Pope Francis commission on the clergys sexual violation of children had a timely private screening in Rome last week of Spotlight, the Oscar-nominated film about the pedophilia scandal in Boston. The film offers the Vatican, if it will listen, an emphatic lesson in accountability. It dramatizes the decision by The Boston Globe to do more than enumerate the scope of the scandal by reporting on cases involving scores of abusive priests. The scandal was tracked up the church hierarchy to Cardinal Bernard Law, who eventually had to resign his leadership when the news media, not the church, documented his role as a protector of abusive priests.

Hierarchical accountability remains a pressing issue that the Vatican has not fully confronted in the numerous dioceses of the world where the scandal was suppressed. The popes 17-member commission presented fresh evidence of this failing when one of its two abuse-victim members, who had gone to the news media to criticize the slow pace of its work, was suddenly suspended on Saturday in a commission vote of no confidence.

To its credit, the commission, stressing it was only a policy body, had previously urged the pope to create a separate tribunal to judge bishops accused of shielding abusive priests. But Peter Saunders, the suspended commission member, and other abuse victims complained that there has been no progress since the tribunals creation last June. They were incensed as well over the popes appointment last year of a new diocesan leader in Chile, Bishop Juan Barros, a close associate of a Santiago priest the Vatican found guilty of child abuse in 2011. The pope nevertheless defended the bishop and was seen on a video complaining that protesters were lefties and dumb.
FRONT PAGE

An article on Jan. 10 about the barriers that hamper the international fight against the illegal trafficking of antiquities, a crime that reached new heights as the Islamic State terrorist group plundered ancient sites in Syria and Iraq, misstated the year that the group declared its caliphate. It was 2014, not 2013.

INTERNATIONAL

The Qapqal County Journal article on Jan. 12, about the Xibe people of China, who are thought to be the sole inheritors of the Manchu language  once the official tongue of one of the worlds most powerful empires  misstated the publication schedule of The Qapqal News, a newspaper published in Xibe, a language that evolved from Manchu. It is published irregularly, not biweekly.

SCIENCE TIMES

A photo accompanying a report in the Observatory column on Tuesday about a deadly bee virus, using information from an agency, was published in error. It was of a fly, not a bee. (The fly was a type that evolved a resemblance to bees to avoid being attacked by predators.)

NEW YORK

The About New York column on Wednesday, about the different treatments of two of the defendants convicted in the 1981 Brinks robbery in Nyack, N.Y., misspelled the surname of a lawyer for Judith Clark, a getaway driver, in some editions. He is Steve Zeidman, not Zeiden. Because of an editing error, the article also misstated the given name for one of the two Brinks guards killed in the 1981 robberies. He was Peter Paige, not Paul Paige.
Taryn Toomeys 75-minute class  a category-defying blend of bootcamp, yoga and emotional catharsis  is the not-so-secret weapon of New York Citys fiterati, including Naomi Watts and Christy Turlington. Toomey began offering classes (invitation by word-of-mouth) in her TriBeCa buildings basement in 2011; she officially debuted the class (lowercase, because its more down-to-earth than The Class) in 2013. Sessions, in which Toomey helps followers rid themselves of the sludge (emotional and physical) and instructs them to change the way your mind talks to your body, sold out for weeks. The Class With Taryn Toomey, as its called, now has eight teachers. Later this month, Toomey will debut a fine jewelry line and open an outpost in Los Angeles.

Toomey, a former executive for Dior and Ralph Lauren, understands that most of us dont have time for a 75-minute workout  especially during fashion week, which begins today. (One of her reasons for leaving fashion: I was always running to yoga five minutes late, and I thought: I must be in the wrong field if all Im thinking about is getting to yoga.) Last night she taught a shorter class for editors and showgoers at the Serene House, a fitness pop-up at Bandier, a purveyor of fashion-focused workout clothes  and shell close out the week with another sweat session.

Here, she shares her tips on how to find zen and stay in shape  or at least, not fall prey to the madness  in between all the shows (or whenever).

Pause

In class, this is called the pause. It could be five or 10 seconds during a conversation  you dont even need to say anything, Toomey say. It could be two minutes where you step outside. Its when youre overwhelmed and you feel so much pressure that you want to lash out, she says. Thats when you give yourself a little space so you dont throw fire on top of tension.
I have a working definition of power, which came to me in an anecdote about Prince. One night at the end of last summer, according to someone who was there, Prince, the elusive chanteur, went to a concert in New York. Twenty minutes into the show, he decided he wanted McDonalds French fries. Fifteen minutes after that, McDonalds French fries were served to him on a white china plate. He ate standing up. Power like that has no uniform.

In the late 1970s and 1980s, white-collar women began to dress for the power they wanted, not the power they had. Suits were gray, maybe navy. Collars were white. Jackets were double-breasted, the better to hide a pair of breasts. If uniformity was the object of power dressing, the prototype was Katharine Hepburn: a woman for whom pockets seemed invented; who embodied the whole idea of a tall order; whose tomboy elan and gun-moll humor, in combination with a number of custom suits, made her the ultimate midcentury working girl. As Hepburn once said of Humphrey Bogart, Hes a real man, nothing feminine about him. A powerful woman couldnt have much feminine about her either.

This spring, the codes have been switched. Unisex no longer means mannish, but rather glamorously bisexual in a fin-de-siecle way. Nine to five means nine a.m. to five a.m., which means daywear looks a lot like Saturday-night wear. Im not sure appropriate means anything. Heres a list I made of looks you should try right now (unless its actually a list of things Prince once wore that I love): Harley-ready leather, head-to-toe polka dots, oversize white shirts with black thigh-high stockings, brassy or brocaded jackets over Elizabethan frills, silk suits in violet or orange. What Hepburn in the 50s was to women at work in the 80s, Prince in the 80s  half-freaky, half-ladylike, and always a bit overdressed  is to us now. The new looks may be too loud to confer real authority, but with the right attitude, and if no one else at your office reads this article, you may just look so extraordinary as to seem irreplaceable.

Gucci is leading the craze. Last January, a hitherto-unknown designer, the 43-year-old Alessandro Michele, was promoted from inside the fashion house to become its creative director and the toast of the industry. His spring 2016 womens wear show was, accordingly, a lesson in rapid advancement, as well in the charms of unexpectedness. Secretary dresses and skirts with matching blouses  pussy-bowed, preposterously colored, embroidered  got louder and sheerer as the show went on, proving that outfits can be as open-concept as offices. Trousers came purposefully, imperfectly creased, perhaps to remind us that if women on the make are no longer ironing mens clothes, were also short of time to iron our own.
There are examples of his improvisational design throughout the 7,000-square-foot space, a former printing factory that Gamper and Upritchard have taken over in its entirety with a few friends and carved up into both living and working quarters. Gamper used pegboard in both his home and studio kitchen, where most days he and Upritchard make meals together for a rotating cast of assistants and colleagues. The massive puzzle-like table in the studio kitchen, which also serves as a communal work desk, is made up of smaller tables he salvaged from different schools, churches and offices.

The New Zealand-born Upritchard, like her husband, is drawn to weird, jolie laide color palettes like 70s greens and neon oranges. Gamper tiled their bathroom in terra-cotta stone partly because it reminded him of his childhood in Italy but also because white tile feels so cold. And according to Upritchard, when her husband found a vomit brown sink online, she had to have it. Theyve added pops of other colors with art (there is no shortage of friends portraits of Gamper) as well as furniture from up-and-coming designers like Max Lamb and Bethan Laura Wood.

Gamper, who grew up in the Italian Alps, started out apprenticing with a cabinetmaker when he was 14 before enrolling in two art schools in Vienna where he studied both sculpture and design. Afterward, he returned to Italy to work for an architect but quickly found the world of industrial design too alienating. Besides, he explains, Italy in the mid-90s was dead. All the legendary design icons were gone. Gamper was then drawn to London, which was buzzing with experimental types like Tom Dixon and Ron Arad.

Gampers arrival in London marked the beginning of an expansively creative period for the designer. There were landmark shows like 100 Chairs in 100 Days in 2007, where he reconfigured 100 abandoned chairs he had rescued over a two-year period, and In a State of Repair in 2014 in Milan, for which people were invited to bring their broken items  from bicycles to electronics  to be repaired by a group of artisans he had selected. Gamper has also played host with the Trattoria al Cappello project, a series of pop-up art dinners where, with the help of colleagues, he makes everything from the food to the furniture.
She estimated that replacing 15,000 of those lines, which connect homes to the city water system, would cost $55 million. Mr. Snyders funding request included $25 million for Flint infrastructure, which the mayors office described as an important first step in beginning the pipe replacement.

We need that other $30 million, too, whether from the state or the federal government or both, Ms. Weaver said Wednesday in testimony before the House Democrats Steering and Policy Committee.

Mr. Snyder, who declined an invitation to appear before that committee, has been widely criticized for being slow to recognize the scope of Flints problems after a 2014 switch of its drinking water supply to the Flint River. In October 2015, after months of assurances that the water was safe, Flint residents were told not to drink it amid concerns of lead poisoning, a warning that remains in effect. Lead exposure can cause health and developmental problems, and can have irreversible effects.

Mr. Snyder has scrambled in recent weeks to increase aid for Flint, calling in the National Guard to hand out bottled water and declaring a state of emergency. His office said the state had already allocated $37 million for Flint.

But his efforts have not been enough to stave off criticism. State and federal investigations are underway, and the states response to the F crisis has become an issue in the presidential campaign. Hillary Clinton visited Flint over the weekend and condemned the governments handling of the situation. Her daughter, Chelsea, was scheduled to stop there Thursday.
A federal judge on Wednesday issued a new order blocking Louisiana from enforcing a law that he says would keep most women from receiving abortions. Lawyers for the state immediately asked the judge, John deGravelles, to stay the order while they appeal it and his Jan. 26 finding that the law is unconstitutional. The law requires doctors who perform abortions to be able to admit patients to a hospital within 30 miles. Supporters say that would protect womens health. Opponents say it would make it impossible to receive abortions. Judge DeGravelles said in January that of six doctors performing abortions in Louisiana, only two met the requirement, and one of them has said he would quit if the law is enforced. The judge said forcing the other five doctors out of their clinics would leave about 70 percent of the women who want abortions unable to get one.
A Roman Catholic church official could soon seek bail after a Pennsylvania appeals court refused to review a decision to throw out his child-endangerment conviction. The official, Msgr. William Lynn, has been in and out of prison as state appeals courts have split on the validity of his 2012 conviction. He is the first United States church supervisor ever arrested over his role in the suspected cover-up of sexual abuse by priests. A Philadelphia jury found in 2012 that he endangered an altar boy by sending a known pedophile priest to the boys parish in the late 1990s. The Superior Court has twice thrown out the conviction after finding that he was wrongly charged or did not receive a fair trial. On Wednesday, the court declined to review the second ruling. Prosecutors may appeal to the state Supreme Court, which once reinstated the conviction. A defense lawyer said he expected to try to get Monsignor Lynn released on bail in the interim.
Donald J. Trump released an ad Wednesday attacking Senator Ted Cruz of Texas as the two prepare to square off in South Carolina, after splitting the first two Republican nominating contests.

On Screen

The advertisement opens with Mr. Trump giving a thumbs-up, approving this message, but becomes very critical very fast. A raspy voice alleges Mr. Cruz talks from both sides of his mouth on amnesty for undocumented immigrants, as a photograph of Mr. Cruz zooms to the foreground and an interview with Fox News plays in the background. Cruz Challenged on Immigration Flip-Flop, the ad proclaims in white text, citing Fox News.

The ad cuts to a photograph of Mr. Cruz, glistening and smirking, his gaze cast longingly on an image of the Wall Street sign, as the narrator accuses him of taking more than $1 million in sweetheart loans from Wall Street banks and not disclosing them.

The ad speaks of dirty tricks and an effort to sabotage Ben Carson with false rumors, as a flat-faced Mr. Carson appears on the right of the screen.
It was an expensive deal. It called for Ferguson to pay for an independent monitor, provide new training and give raises to police officers in order to attract qualified applicants. Ferguson has been running an operating deficit of about $2.5 million since the unrest of a year and a half ago, but Mr. Knowles said at the time that he was optimistic the City Council would approve the deal.

Ms. Lynch said the federal government was sensitive to Fergusons concerns. The Department of Justice had agreed to cap the costs and provide free help to the city.

But at a crowded public hearing on Tuesday, the agreement fell apart. Council members and some residents said they could not afford the cost, which could have required a tax increase. The city said that giving pay raises to police officers could necessitate similar raises for other municipal employees.

With senior Justice Department officials watching from Washington on a video feed, the Council voted to reject the deal as written and send it back with changes. Members of the Council proposed eliminating the pay raises for police officers and, most significant, striking a provision that would have required the city to abide by the deal even if it dissolved the Police Department and turned police duties over to an outside agency.

Fergusons strategy in the face of a looming lawsuit is unclear. Mr. Knowles told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the city was not trying to reopen negotiations with the federal government, but at a news conference a few hours later, city leaders said that was exactly the goal. They said it was the Department of Justice that had dragged the case into court.

We hope the D.O.J. is willing to sit down and talk to us and continue negotiations, Councilman Wesley Bell said. But if this case goes to court, it will not be because of the City of Ferguson.
Two sheriffs deputies were killed Wednesday in a shooting that started at a restaurant in a shopping center in Abingdon, Md., and ended near an apartment complex, the authorities said. The suspect was also killed in the exchange of gunfire.

The incident began after deputies from the Harford County Sheriffs Office were dispatched around noon to investigate an active warrant for a man at a Panera Bread restaurant, the authorities said.

The man, identified as David Brian Evans, shot the first deputy inside the restaurant and then fled, officials said.

The other deputy, part of a second wave of responders, was shot by Mr. Evans nearby, the sheriffs office said.
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria  When three girls showed up Monday at a camp for people who had fled the militant group Boko Haram, they were welcomed and offered a place to sleep.

But early Tuesday morning, as the first light spread across the sprawling camp, two of the girls blew themselves up with bombs they had been concealing, killing 58 people and wounding 78.

The victims were among the more than 50,000 people who had been forced from their homes by Boko Harams rampages, only to be confronted with the same horror in the very place they had sought refuge.

The episode at the Dikwa camp for displaced persons follows a pattern of murderous attacks that Boko Haram has carried out since the Nigerian military began rooting the militants from strongholds across the northern part of the country.
Its the first of its kind, and I believe that that will be a model for sanctions against other cyber-perpetrators around the globe, Mr. Gardner said.

The bills passage, 96 to 0, came just a few days after North Korea launched a satellite in what was seen as further movement toward the development of its intercontinental ballistic missile capabilities. Last month the North Korean government conducted its fourth nuclear test in recent years, adding urgency to lawmakers desire to find a way to curtail its nuclear program.

Experts say North Korea has found ways around the United Nationss sanctions currently in place. But while the United States, South Korea and others want to impose more stringent measures, China is reluctant to punish North Korea, an ally.
MUNICH  For months now the United States has insisted there can be no military solution to the Syrian civil war, only a political accord between President Bashar al-Assad and the fractured, divided opposition groups that have been trying to topple him.

But after days of intense bombing that could soon put the critical city of Aleppo back into the hands of Mr. Assads forces, the Russians may be proving the United States wrong. There may be a military solution, one senior American official conceded Wednesday, just not our solution, but that of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

That is what Secretary of State John Kerry faces as he enters a critical negotiation over a cease-fire and the creation of a humanitarian corridor to relieve starving Syrians besieged in more than a dozen cities, most by Mr. Assads forces. The Russian military action has changed the shape of a conflict that had effectively been stalemated for years. Suddenly, Mr. Assad and his allies have momentum, and the United States-backed rebels are on the run. If a cease-fire is negotiated here, it will probably come at a moment when Mr. Assad holds more territory, and more sway, than since the outbreak of the uprisings in 2011.

Mr. Kerry enters the negotiations with very little leverage: The Russians have cut off many of the pathways the C.I.A. has been using for a not-very-secret effort to arm rebel groups, according to several current and former officials. Mr. Kerrys supporters inside the administration say he has been increasingly frustrated by the low level of American military activity, which he views as essential to bolstering his negotiation effort.
For news about comedy, including critical commentary: nytimes.com/arts. A searchable guide to these and other shows is at nytimes.com/events.

 Valentines Shows (Saturday and Sunday) Valentines Day may have a cheesy reputation, but the heart-filled holiday has inspired plenty of great live comedy for devoted couples, optimistic daters and determinedly singletons alike. On Saturday, at Littlefield in Brooklyn, the musicians and improvisers Rebecca Vigil and Evan Kaufman will interview a couple in the audience about the origins of their relationship. Theyll be nosing around for interesting details and quirky tidbits to use in their improvised musical, Your Love, Our Musical.

On Sunday, the venue will also feature Jon Friedman hosting a Heartbreak Haven edition of The Rejection Show. Normally a selection of rejected professional works, this Valentines Day edition will instead feature stories and stand-up about lost love. There might even be some country love songs, courtesy of the musical comedy duo the Reformed Whores and the bluegrass band the Defibulators. (At 8 p.m., 622 Degraw Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn, littlefieldnyc.com.)

Also on Sunday, a group at the Magnet Theater is bringing the world of online dating to the stage with Swipe Right, an improv show that will use the language of Tinder, OKCupid, Grindr, Match.com, JDate, Farmers Only, etc. to explore the worlds of two people throughout the duration of their relationship. (At 6 p.m., 254 West 29th Street, Chelsea, 212-244-8824,magnettheater.com.)
Leimay (Thursday through Feb. 21) The Brooklyn-based duo Ximena Garnica and Shige Moriya, who work as the art and performance collective Leimay, choreograph with light and projections as much as with bodies. In their 2013 work Becoming-Corpus, the visual design scrambled the dancers in intriguing ways. Their new work, Borders, is billed as a sequel and continues their interest in juxtaposing wild movement with stillness and artificial sonic landscapes against the human voice. Thursday through Feb. 20 at 8 p.m., Feb. 21 at 6 p.m., Fishman Space, Fisher Building, Brooklyn Academy of Music, 321 Ashland Place, near Lafayette Avenue, Fort Greene, bam.org. (Schaefer)

LMnO3 (Friday and Saturday) To remember which adjectives come before nouns in French, simply absorb the mnemonic B.A.N.G.S.: Beauty, Age, Number, Goodness, Size. It proved inspirational to Deborah Lohse, Cori Marquis, and Donnell Oakley, who, in partnership with the DanceNow festival and under the name LMnO3, present B.A.N.G.S.: Made in America. Its a witty and wild ode to female friendship, featuring velvet gowns, headlamps, body percussion and a game show, among other unexpected devices. At 7 p.m., Joes Pub, at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, 212-967-7555, joespub.com. (Brian Schaefer)

 New York City Ballet (through Feb. 28) With his signature flittering footwork and buoyancy, August Bournonvilles La Sylphide has long been a staple of the Royal Danish Ballet  and of Romantic ballet in general, with its familiar scenario of a restless man fleeing to the woods in pursuit of an ethereal creature. Peter Martins, City Ballets Danish director, is a product of this Bournonville classic and last year brought it to New York. It returns this week, paired with Balanchines Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2. Tuesdays through Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 2 and 8 p.m., Sundays at 3 p.m., David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center, 212-496-0600, nycballet.com. (Schaefer)

 Eiko Otake (Wednesday through March 23) The performance artist Eiko Otake, known simply as Eiko, has long been a quiet but powerful force in dance  first in collaboration with her husband, Koma, and lately as a solo artist. For its 10th annual Platform event, a deep dive into an idea or artist, Danspace shines a spotlight on her project A Body in Places. The work began in 2014 at the Fukushima nuclear plant and has taken her around the world in a quest to understand the bodys fragility. Over the next six weeks, Eiko will offer workshops, curate a film series, give 16 solo performances, as well as engage with 25 artists who have been invited to respond to her ideas in different ways. At various locations and times, a schedule and more information is available at 212-674-8112 and danspaceproject.org. (Schaefer)

 Pam Tanowitz Dance (Thursday through Feb. 21) In recent years, Ms. Tanowitz has emerged as one of the most buzzed-about New York choreographers for her ability to embrace and then smartly reconfigure a physical vocabulary pulling from ballet, modern and postmodern dance. Wit is a word regularly associated with Ms. Tanowitz; her choreographic choices are often unexpected and satisfying. For this engagement, she presents a new work and brings back an acclaimed one, with music played live by the Flux Quartet. Thursday and next Friday at 8 p.m., Feb. 20 at 2 and 8 p.m., Feb. 21 at 2 p.m., Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue, at 19th Street, Chelsea, 212-242-0800, joyce.org. (Schaefer)

Liz Santoro and Pierre Godard (Thursday through Feb. 20) The American mathematician Claude Shannon is often referred to as the father of the electronic communication age  he helped lay the foundation for the computer revolution. Now hes the inspiration behind For Claude Shannon, a work by Liz Santoro, who has studied neurosciences, and Pierre Godard, who has a masters degree in applied math. Using a complicated linguistic formula, the duo created a movement lexicon with almost limitless possibilities, which their dancers consult and respond to for each performance. At 8 p.m., the Kitchen, 512 West 19th Street, Chelsea, 212-255-5793, thekitchen.org. (Schaefer)
Metropolitan Museum of Art: Reconstructions: Recent Photographs and Video from the Met Collection (through March 13) This show is not framed as a showcase of whats new, hot or trending, but rather includes 18 works by 15 artists acquired during the past seven years  work that Met curators think will endure historically. Among those on view are Moyra Daveys photographs of record store patrons and vinyl record bins, printed on fold-up mailers; Lucas Blalocks example of photography in the post-Internet era, which contains perverse digitally tweaked passages; as well as a deceptively simple image by Sarah Charlesworth, a leading member of the Pictures Generation, who died in 2013 but remains influential. 212-535-7710, metmuseum.org. (Martha Schwendener)

 Metropolitan Museum of Art: Wordplay: Matthias Buchingers Drawings From the Collection of Ricky Jay (through April 11) A draftsman, calligrapher, magician and musician, Matthias Buchinger (16741739) traveled all over Northern Europe to entertain kings and aristocrats as well as hoi polloi with feats of physical dexterity. He was especially noted for elaborate drawings featuring biblical passages written in letters too small to be read by ordinary naked eyes. This he managed despite having been born without hands or legs: His arms ended at the elbows and his lower extremities were truncated at the upper thighs. Sixteen of his amazing works are featured in this exhibition. 212-535-7710, metmuseum.org. (Johnson)

 MoMA PS1: Greater New York (through March 7) With a multigenerational team of organizers, MoMA PS1s every-five-years-roundup of New York art steps away from its founding premise of newness, the idea that it would be an update on the metropolitan market. The 158 artists on the roster range from 20-something to 80-something; a few are deceased. The notion that an emerging artist has to be young is discarded. Older artists newly in the spotlight, or back after a long delay, qualify. And history works in two directions. Art from the 1970s and 80s is presented as prescient of whats being made now, and new art is viewed as putting a trenchant spin on the past. 22-25 Jackson Avenue, at 46th Avenue, Long Island City, Queens, 718-784-2084, ps1.org. (Cotter)

Museum of Arts and Design: Wendell Castle Remastered (through Feb. 28) This eminent woodworker became noted in the 1960s for carving chic, curvy furniture out of blocks of laminated wood. In the past four years he has revived that method with the assistance of digital and robotic technologies that enable him to make bigger and more adventurous works. This engaging show focuses on pieces from those two periods. Suspended Disbelief, made this year, has an irregularly oval, glossy black table top extending horizontally and without legs some 10 feet in the air from a trio of tall conical forms resembling the tips of monstrous tendrils. Its spectacular. 2 Columbus Circle, Manhattan, 212-299-7777, madmuseum.org. (Johnson)

Museum of Modern Art: Endless House: Intersections of Art and Architecture (through March 6) This scattered but enjoyable exhibition, drawn from the museums art collection as much as its design holdings, focuses on the single-family home as a place of experimentation and regeneration; of conflict as well as dreams. Its highlight is a series of drawings and photographs by Frederick Kiesler, the Austrian-American polymath whose Endless House  never completed  fused fine art, architecture, furniture and lighting design into a bulbous, unstable whole. Several artists here echo Kieslers theme of the house as a reflection of the psychology of its inhabitants. None is more powerful than Rachel Whitereads sober image, made with white correction fluid, of a dwelling in East London: a preparatory drawing for a now lost sculpture crafted by filling the house with liquid concrete. 212-708-9400, moma.org. (Farago)

 Museum of Modern Art: Jackson Pollock: A Collection Survey, 1934-1954 (through May 1) The first exhibition devoted to the Moderns unsurpassed Pollock holding gives a dazzling account of the evolution of his signature poured paintings. Its 58 works on canvas and paper also attest to the Moderns laserlike focus on accounting fully for the achievements of artists it deems great. 212-708-9400, moma.org. (Roberta Smith)
In December, Airbnb released a trove of data that showed about 95 percent of its hosts in New York City were playing by the rules. But an independent report released Wednesday cast a shadow on that rosy picture, claiming that the company misled the media and the public by removing more than 1,000 listings from its site in November before making available the data.



Murray Cox, one of the co-authors of the report, describes the site he founded, Inside Airbnb, as a tool for exploring the companys impact on residential communities. The report portrays the December release as a cynical attempt to garner good press, and says that listings of multiple homes by hosts on the site have already begun to proliferate again, just months after the purge.

In an email, Nick Papas, an Airbnb spokesman, said that those kinds of abusers were not representative of most of its hosts, and said that as of Feb. 8, 94 percent of hosts in the city had only one active listing on the site.

The company released the original data on the heels of a pledge to build an open and transparent community. Its goal was to show the news media, the public and New York policy makers that its local users were, for the most part, hard-working residents looking for an honest way to supplement their incomes.
Pandora Media, the largest Internet radio service, has held discussions about selling the company, according to people briefed on the talks.

Pandora is working with Morgan Stanley to meet with potential buyers, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The talks are preliminary and may not lead to a deal, the people said.

For Pandora, it would be a curious time to sell. Its shares are yielding a market value of $1.8 billion, down from more than $7 billion two years ago. The stock has fallen more than 60 percent since October.

Pandora has the largest number of users for music streaming, but the competition is encroaching. Spotify is said to be arming itself with another $500 million in capital, and Apple Music recently surpassed 10 million paying users. Pandoras users peaked at 81.5 million at the end of 2014, and, after falling to about 78 million in the third quarter of 2015, ended the year with 81.1 million.
Becoming a whistle-blower by reporting wrongdoing on Wall Street or in a federal agency that regulates Wall Street takes lots of guts. And a strong argument can be made that whistle-blowers should be celebrated and rewarded for their courage.

Incredibly, though, all too often the opposite occurs, and Wall Street whistle-blowers are shunned, ostracized and ignored. Often, they are fired from their jobs and blackballed from the industry.

The wrongdoing they witnessed and reported gets covered up. This is a typical outcome, despite the promises from such prominent Wall Street regulators as Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in the Southern District of New York, and William C. Dudley, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, who have encouraged whistle-blowers to come forward and report wrongdoing, both because it is the right thing to do and because it will enable regulators to root out the bad behavior and prosecute those responsible for it.

But the real world of Wall Street does not work that way.

Take the much-discussed case of Alayne Fleischmann, a former associate at JPMorgan Chase who, as I have written before, was one of the people responsible in the years leading up to the financial crisis for making sure that the mortgages that the bank was buying from third parties  and then packaging into securities and selling off as investments around the world  met the banks credit standards.
LOS ANGELES  In the British equivalent of fines levied by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a Disney subsidiary was charged on Thursday with four safety breaches on the Pinewood Studios set of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

The workplace agency, the Health and Safety Executive, issued the criminal charges against Foodles Productions  a name chosen in an effort to hide the filming of Star Wars from overzealous fans  over an accident in June 2014 when Harrison Ford, reprising his role as Han Solo, was struck by a hydraulic door on the Millennium Falcon spaceship. Mr. Fords leg was broken, and production was interrupted for two weeks.

By law, employers must take reasonable steps to protect workers  this is as true on a film set as a factory floor, the Health and Safety Executive said in a statement. A court hearing was scheduled for May 12 at High Wycombe Magistrates Court.

A Foodles spokesman said in a statement: Cast and crew safety is always a top priority. We provided full cooperation during H.S.E.s investigation into the on-set accident that occurred in June 2014 and are disappointed in H.S.E.s decision.
Consider the plight of Shari Redstone, the daughter of the billionaire media mogul Sumner Redstone.

Much of her familys fortune is tied to the ailing 92-year-old Mr. Redstone. He owns 80 percent and she owns 20 percent of National Amusements, the private business that controls two giant media companies  Viacom and CBS. Upon Mr. Redstones death, his interest passes to a trust with his grandchildren as beneficiaries.

But Mr. Redstone hardly set the stage for an orderly transition. He stubbornly held on so long as executive chairman of both CBS and Viacom that shareholders began to question his ability to run the company, especially after a former companion, Manuela Herzer, filed a lawsuit in November questioning his mental competence. He has lavished a fortune  about $140 million, according to court filings and lawyers claims  on Ms. Herzer, who at one point was a romantic partner and was designated to take charge of his health care in the event he was found not to be capable. She also claims that Mr. Redstones health worsened after he learned that another former girlfriend, Sydney Holland, was involved with another man.

Viacom stock has been plunging under the direction of its chief executive, Philippe Dauman, Mr. Redstones handpicked successor and longtime confidant. Shares have dropped 27 percent this week and are trading at a roughly six-year low.

Restricted from seeing her father until last year, Shari Redstone, 61, spent the holidays with him and appears to be reasserting her interests. In October, Mr. Redstone barred Ms. Herzer from his mansion, revoked the health care directive and cut her out of his will. Ms. Herzer responded with a salacious lawsuit alleging that Mr. Redstone was mentally incompetent and had an insatiable appetite for sex and steak.
Stories dont come much thinner than the one in Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong, a will-they-or-wont-they romance that invests a lot in the attractiveness of that city.

Ruby (Jamie Chung), a Californian visiting Hong Kong for the first time, cant decipher the urban landscape well enough to locate the friends shes trying to meet. Fortunately, Josh (Bryan Greenberg), an expat East Coaster who has been living in Hong Kong for years, is nearby when her cellphone dies and he offers to guide her to her buddies. As they walk and walk and walk, flirtation occurs, but the moment is broken by a minor revelation that, in the context of this sweet but uneventful film, would constitute a spoiler. Suffice it to say that hooking up, for these two, would not be without consequences.

A year later they improbably run into each other again, and much the same thing happens. The two stars are attractive, and Emily Ting, who wrote and directed, makes the city look great, but during their endless strolling Ruby and Josh never get much beyond shallow banter. That creates two problems: We dont learn enough about them, and they dont learn much about each other. That would be fine if they were high school students, but by their second meeting theyre both in their 30s, too grown up to consider derailing their respective lives based on such fleeting contact.

If Ms. Ting doesnt invest her pretty movie with enough substance, she at least knows when to stop: just short of a pat ending. Thats the movies wisest moment.
In How to Be Single, an innocent post-collegiate newcomer to New York named Alice disappears down a rabbit hole of deadening life lessons and half-baked screenwriting. Christian Ditters film adaptation of Liz Tuccillos quasi-advice book was written by the people (Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein) behind a past February lonely-hearts adaptation, Hes Just Not That Into You. This reheated Sex and the City adventure flops, even with Leslie Mann and Rebel Wilson hard at work being funny.

Shaking off a clingy boyfriend, Alice (Dakota Johnson) quickly acquires a raunchy work friend, Robin (Ms. Wilson), and a bartender ex machina, Tom (Anders Holm). She leans on her sister, Meg (Ms. Mann), an obstetrician with her own self-help-column issues about settling down and letting someone get close. For whatever reason  the eternal richness of the entirely inoffensive desperate-to-get-married shtick?  we also meet a frantic Internet dater who frequents Toms bar (Alison Brie, belaboring every comedic bit). A couple of sensitive bros also hustle into the story.

But neither the movie nor Ms. Johnson gives Alice enough of a pulse to convey the complexity of her quest to find herself. Alices big-city adventures feel flavorless, even with Robin as a lusty wingwoman. Too busy strewing pop-culture references, the screenwriters fail to write convincingly for her characters age or inner life, for that matter.

New York locations are flaunted, and the films interiors are warmly shot by Christian Rein, who seems fond of light streaming through windows. The rest of the movie isnt a pretty sight, delivering the hodgepodge that its listicle-like title maybe promised all along.
By the 1990s, however, the initial wave of domestic video growth was over, and Hollywood started looking more closely at foreign markets. Not by coincidence, Commonwealth actors again came into their own, as in 1994, when Emma Thompson, who is British, was nominated twice, for roles in Remains of the Day and In the Name of the Father. Jeremy Irons (1991, Reversal of Fortune) and Anthony Hopkins (1992, The Silence of the Lambs) won back-to-back best-actor Oscars, which Mr. Hopkins followed with best-actor nominations in 1994 and 1996 and a supporting actor nod in 1998. Mr. Crowe, an Australian, snagged three straight best-actor nominations beginning in 2000, winning in 2001 for Gladiator.

In 2002, Oscar-nominated Britons populated films like Sexy Beast, Gosford Park and Iris. The British boom had grown obvious by 2011, as Harvey Weinstein, whose company has shopped abroad for Oscar prospects and financing, turned The Kings Speech into a best-picture winner, and Colin Firth, as George VI, into the years best actor.

That approach had toned down by 2014. Steve McQueen, the black director of the Oscar-winning American slavery story, 12 Years a Slave, and its Oscar-nominated leading man, Chiwetel Ejiofor, were British, but the films honors were viewed more as an achievement for African-American filmmaking than for any Commonwealth connection. (Lupita Nyongo, who was named best supporting actress for her performance in the film, was born in Mexico to Kenyan parents.)

As Commonwealth actors crept back in  often playing Americans, Russians or characters of other nationalities  many were invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which grants the Oscars. Last year, for instance, Benedict Cumberbatch, Felicity Jones and David Oyelowo were among 10 Britons in a group of 25 actor-invitees, or 40 percent of the total.

Image Rachel McAdams in Spotlight. Credit... Kerry Hayes/Open Road Films

If the Commonwealth group is not yet large enough to dominate Oscar voting, its choices are almost certainly contributing to an alignment between the Oscars and the Bafta awards, given by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. This year, 15 of 20 Bafta acting nominations matched the Oscars. (Some exceptions: Among actresses, Maggie Smith was a Bafta nominee, for The Lady in the Van, but she was bumped from the Oscars by Jennifer Lawrence, for Joy. Benicio Del Toro, with a British nomination for Sicario, and Idris Elba, with another for Beasts of No Nation, were edged from the Oscars by Mr. Hardy and Sylvester Stallone, singled out for his Creed performance.)
In Glassland, Toni Collettes portrayal of an embittered Irish woman drinking herself to death in her shabby home on the outskirts of Dublin, is one of the most unsparing screen depictions of extreme alcoholism that I can remember. For much of its running time, the movie gazes unblinkingly into an abyss of poverty and hopelessness. And the environment created by the writer and director Gerard Barrett and the cinematographer Piers McGrail looks as drab and forbidding as any 60s British kitchen-sink drama.

Ms. Collettes character, Jean, is a formerly fun-loving woman who embraced the bottle as a self-destructive revenge against fate. At 27, she gave birth to a son with Down syndrome, and her husband, upon glimpsing the newborn, fled the hospital never to be seen again. Now that child, Kit (Harry Nagle), whom Jean has refused to see, is turning 18 and living in a public care facility.

Jean lives with her older son, John (Jack Reynor), who ekes out a living as a cabdriver while dutifully caring for her and visiting Kit when he can. In its quiet way, Mr. Reynors strong, stoic performance is the equal of Ms. Collettes. He is almost saintly.

After coming home one day to find Jean unconscious, John rushes her to a clinic where the doctor informs him that she needs a liver transplant and will soon die if she keeps drinking. Returning home after a week in the hospital, she flies into a rage on finding no booze in the house and breaks every plate in the kitchen.
Ambiguity is a defining characteristic of the European art cinema; at its most cliched, directorial solipsism is mistaken for mystery and empty images are turned into endlessly masticated cud for cultists. Although Mr. Jia is obviously conversant with the European art film  and East Asian cinema and Hollywood and so forth  he has carved out his own ways of making cinematic meaning, an approach that draws on different idioms and traditions. He occasionally folds an image into the mix that can feel enigmatic, but that over time make sense when considered in the context of the movie as a whole. A shot of an old-fashioned pagoda may not make ready sense, may even look like picture-postcard scenery, yet by the end of the movie it may make you weep.

Mr. Jia has characterized Mountains May Depart as his most emotional movie, which may underplay how deeply moving his work can be. While he invariably addresses larger cultural, social and political issues, sometimes openly, at other times obliquely, what makes his work memorable is how those larger forces are etched in the faces and bodies of his characters, in the coal dust that defines one mans reality  and, by extension, one China  and the hard mask that defines another truth, another China. Here, when Tao first walks down a street flanked by modest brick buildings, she is moving through a country that is rapidly being lost to whats optimistically called development. By the end, she is living in a new world even if, Mr. Jia suggests, her soul remains in the old.

Mountains May Depart is unrated and is in Cantonese, Mandarin and English. Running time: 2 hours, 11 minutes.
The March 26, 2015, explosion, at 121 Second Avenue, not only shook the neighborhood but left many people in the city uneasy about the vulnerability of crucial infrastructure, coming just a year after a gas explosion in East Harlem killed eight people.

Mr. Vance described a scheme that involved the landlord, her son, a contractor and an unlicensed plumber  all eager to move tenants into newly renovated space where the average rent was $6,000 per month.

Twice the landlord installed unsafe gas systems, hiding the second one from inspectors after the first was ordered shut off by the utility company, Con Edison, Mr. Vance said. The explosion erupted when they turned the gas back on just minutes after Con Edison inspectors left the building, after having rejected the most recent installation. As gas filled the basement, two of the defendants ran out of the building without warning any of the residents or patrons inside a ground-floor sushi restaurant or calling 911, Mr. Vance said.

The defendants were arraigned in State Supreme Court in Manhattan on Thursday afternoon. The four charged with second-degree manslaughter are: Dilber Kukic, 40, the contractor; Athanasios Ioannidis, 59, an unlicensed plumber; Maria Hrynenko, 56, the owner of the building; and her son, Michael Hrynenko Jr., 30. The fifth defendant, Andrew Trombettas, 57, faces lesser charges for supplying his master license to Mr. Ioannidis. They all pleaded not guilty.
These days, that agenda is also in flux. Mr. Christie, who cannot run for re-election in 2017 because of term limits, said in his State of the State address that he intended to use his executive powers to aid charter schools in New Jersey, though he did not say precisely how. In the same speech, he proposed only one measure requiring action from the State Legislature, an abolition of New Jerseys estate tax.

Kevin Roberts, a spokesman for the governor, said that Mr. Christie had remained firmly in command of the state throughout his presidential campaign. Partisan critics will always be that, but the reality is that the governor is always in charge, moving the agenda, and certainly instrumental in key accomplishments that have been done over the past weeks and months, Mr. Roberts said.

There is a measure of optimism among New Jersey leaders that the end of Mr. Christies campaign might improve the political climate in Trenton. Republicans there have seen Democrats as excessively focused on undermining Mr. Christie as a national candidate; Democrats have complained that Mr. Christie has been unwilling to negotiate compromises that might attract criticism from his opponents in a Republican presidential primary.

There may be room now to wind down those tensions. Even toward the end of his campaign, Mr. Christie seemed to recover some of his footing as a negotiator, twice leaving the campaign trail in January to announce deals with Democratic leaders, on casino regulation and a plan to rescue Atlantic Citys failing finances.

State Senator Raymond J. Lesniak, a veteran Democratic lawmaker who plans to run for governor, said it would be helpful to have Mr. Christie more focused on issues at home, but the exact implications would depend on Mr. Christies approach to the job, he said.
The Council has since taken up a slate of bills to create a civil process for minor violations of city law, such as urinating or drinking alcohol in public, reforms pushed for by Ms. Mark-Viverito that would most likely reduce the impact of broken-windows policing on New Yorkers caught in low-level offenses. The reforms, which would give officers a civil option in lieu of arrest or criminal summons, have found support at the Police Department, though they have yet to come up for a vote.

City lawmakers are also considering more contentious legislation, supported by police reform advocates, that would regulate stop-and-frisk encounters. Those bills are not sponsored by the speaker and are opposed by the Police Department.

Both the mayor and Mr. Lippman have called for changes to ease the backlog in state courts. The district attorneys in Brooklyn and Manhattan have in recent months held warrant forgiveness events to help New Yorkers dispose of outstanding warrants  which number in the hundreds of thousands  without fear of arrest.

The power of the City Council to reform the summons system, overseen by the state courts, is limited, and any proposals would have to be approved by Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat. The mayors office voiced support for the proposals, saying Mr. de Blasio had already announced similar plans on warrants and on reducing the number of New Yorkers in jail.

Wherever we house our jails, we will continue reducing our jail population  as a matter of fairness, justice, and safety, Monica Klein, a mayoral spokeswoman, said in a statement.

But by choosing Mr. Lippman to head her commission, Ms. Mark-Viverito appeared intent on creating reform that could hold sway in Albany as well as at City Hall.

We must explore how we can get the population of Rikers to be so small that the dream of shutting it down becomes a reality, she said. The commission would look at utilizing more community courts and borough-based jail facilities.
But Deputy Chief Kerry Sweet, the commanding officer of the Police Departments legal bureau, said that the department never used the devices to intercept the phone calls or text messages themselves. We do not intercept contents of any communications, he said. Nor was any information swept up from other people standing by, innocent bystanders, he said. This does not lock on their phone numbers and pick up any information from their phone.

The devices have been used by police departments across the nation, even as those departments went to great lengths to keep them secret. Law enforcement agencies frequently pledged to Harris Corporation, which manufactures many of the devices, or even directly to the Federal Bureau of Investigation that they would not divulge any details about the devices. The New York Police Department signed one such nondisclosure agreement with Harris Corporation in January 2011, which was turned over to the New York Civil Liberties Union.

Such secrecy, the F.B.I. had once insisted, was necessary to ensure that criminals and terrorists did not learn to circumvent the devices. Yet in September, the Justice Department changed course and publicly announced a set of guidelines that would govern how federal agents could use the devices. Under the new guidelines, federal agents cannot use the devices to intercept emails or texts. And most significantly, federal agents are now required, except during exigencies, to obtain a warrant from a judge before using cell-site simulators.

That is a more restrictive set of rules than what appears to apply to the New York Police Departments use of the devices. The Police Department informed the civil liberties group that it had no written policies governing the use of StingRays. But the Police Department explained that its practice when using the devices was to go to a judge and obtain an order under a specific provision of state law that for generations had enabled the police to collect call data related to a specific phone. The standard for obtaining such pen register orders, as the orders are generally called, is lower than the probable cause standard required for a warrant that now applies to the F.B.I.
To the Editor:

Re Pakistans Hand in the Rise of International Jihad, by Carlotta Gall (news analysis, Sunday Review, Feb. 7):

The whole world, including American officials and military commanders, is praising Pakistans successful military operations in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. It is strange that Ms. Gall, instead of acknowledging Pakistans sincerity, is somehow blaming the country  itself the worst victim of terrorism  for the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan.

One has to fly really high on wings of imagination to link the escalating violence in Afghanistan with the presence of a few men hiding somewhere in Pakistan.

Her reference to reports that Pakistan is responsible for the rise of ISIS in the Middle East ignores the increasingly complex regional politics. Likewise, her suggestion that Pakistan was involved in moving 300 Pakistani jihadists to the core of the ISIS fight is far-fetched.

Putting blame on Pakistan for every ill of the world may rather be construed as yet another attempt to undermine the fledgling reconciliation process in Afghanistan, where Pakistan, together with China and the United States, is trying its best to bring peace to the region.
Northampton, Mass.  Darfur may have dropped out of international headlines, but that does not mean the region enjoys peace. Far from it. A renewed escalation of violence by the Sudanese government against non-Arab ethnic groups threatens to compound a humanitarian disaster that, according to United Nations estimates, over the past 13 years displaced more than 2.7 million people in Darfur and an additional 380,000 refugees to eastern Chad.

Darfur has become a focus again because the regime in Khartoum is desperate to end one of three active rebellions in the country, conflicts that have left its military badly overstretched while a failing economy is causing civil unrest.

A campaign by regular government forces, once again working in concert with Arab militias, has moved westward from North Darfur to the strategic Jebel Marra massif. The assault on the Darfuri rebels there began in earnest in mid-January and has reportedly involved tanks, artillery and aerial bombing  the latter often inaccurate and resulting in heavy civilian casualties, the overwhelming majority of them African farmers and their families.

The United Nations estimates that in the first 10 days of the current assault, an additional 34,000 people were displaced, most of them women and children. This is probably an underestimate, but accurate figures are hard to come by, in part because Sudan has long excluded both journalists and relief workers from most of Jebel Marra.
Of course, it is not quite that simple. The European Union returns some of that money through spending in Britain, though not nearly the amount it takes out. In 2015, Britains net contribution was 8.5 billion; in 2016, it is forecast to top 11 billion. If we ended these payments, we could end our austerity measures.

The second issue is the wave of illegal immigrants effectively invited into Europe by Germanys chancellor, Angela Merkel. A growing proportion of Britons believes their country should accept fewer refugees; Turkey, where a majority of these migrants have come from, is already a safe destination.

We also note that many are young men, of fighting age, who appear to have abandoned their families; the recent sexual assaults on women in Cologne, Germany, by marauding groups of migrants have confirmed the fears of many in Britain. With no curbs on the free movement of migrants under Europes Schengen Agreement, British voters expect a wave of unwanted immigration once these migrants are given asylum elsewhere in Europe. We are unwilling to close our eyes to this, and we want our borders back.

Brexit was never a left-right issue. In the 1970s and 80s, it was supported by both Margaret Thatcher and the left-wing politician Tony Benn. The Labour member of Parliament Kate Hoey told me she believes the European Union stands for big business and tramples down British workers wages even as it exploits Eastern European ones. Ms. Hoeys view is supported by the left-wing labor union R.M.T. The fact that Conservative budget cuts are dwarfed by payments to the European Union is also not lost on liberal voters.

On the right, Conservative cabinet ministers likely to lead the out campaign are the business secretary, Sajid Javid, son of a bus driver from Pakistan, and Priti Patel, the employment minister, daughter of Indian immigrants from Uganda (they became shopkeepers, as Mrs. Thatchers parents were). Facing such campaigners, the bien-pensant pro-European left will have a hard time stigmatizing the Brexit coalition as anti-business Little Englanders.

The case for leaving the union is, indeed, a positive one. Britain is the worlds fifth largest economy, with deep cultural and economic ties to the English-speaking world. We are not anti-immigrant; rather, we wish to manage our own immigration policy. We are pro-free trade, and as the European Unions chief export market, we will not need to pay for access to its markets; and we want more freedom to trade with India, China and the rest of the world.
To the Editor:

Re 10,000 Child Refugees Are Missing (editorial, Feb. 10):

I applaud you for raising the alarm about the vulnerability of child refugees to sexual exploitation. In the midst of death and destitution, Syrian children are becoming the lost generation, falling prey to diseases, illiteracy and predatory abusers. Education is the best way to equip them with the knowledge needed to live a decent life and fulfill their potential.

The Syrian civil war will not end soon, and refugees will continue their march toward Europe.

What is needed is a strategy that transcends humanitarian aid to include sustainability in Syrias neighboring countries, like Jordan. Something like what King Abdullah II called an investment in hope creation, in an area where hope has been in limited supply, to help Jordan remain the vanguard of global antiterrorism and humanitarian efforts.

MUNJED FARID AL QUTOB

London
A team of scientists announced on Thursday that they had heard and recorded the sound of two black holes colliding a billion light-years away, a fleeting chirp that fulfilled the last prediction of Einsteins general theory of relativity.

That faint rising tone, physicists say, is the first direct evidence of gravitational waves, the ripples in the fabric of space-time that Einstein predicted a century ago. (Listen to it here.) It completes his vision of a universe in which space and time are interwoven and dynamic, able to stretch, shrink and jiggle. And it is a ringing confirmation of the nature of black holes, the bottomless gravitational pits from which not even light can escape, which were the most foreboding (and unwelcome) part of his theory.

More generally, it means that a century of innovation, testing, questioning and plain hard work after Einstein imagined it on paper, scientists have finally tapped into the deepest register of physical reality, where the weirdest and wildest implications of Einsteins universe become manifest.

Conveyed by these gravitational waves, power 50 times greater than the output of all the stars in the universe combined vibrated a pair of L-shaped antennas in Washington State and Louisiana known as LIGO on Sept. 14.
The research team, which collaborated on the project with the National Center for Science Education, surveyed 1,500 teachers from high schools and middle schools in all 50 states.

Josh Rosenau, the programs and policy director for the science education center, said that he found it encouraging to see how many teachers were spending at least some time on climate change. Coming into it, we expected the number to be a lot lower than it was, he said. And while the teachers might not be reporting a great deal of overt pressure, he said, The broader environment that they are living in is shaping how willing they are to be forthright about the science.

Bertha Vazquez, a teacher in Miami who incorporates climate change into all her courses, said the pressure was real. Every year, I get the email from a father who says, This is garbage, and why am I teaching this? she said. The fear of that kind of response might dissuade other teachers, she said, even though climate change is included in Floridas education standards.

If youre not as confident in the subject area, youre going to avoid it, Ms. Vazquez said. Its no fun to field those phone calls. An advocate for climate education, Ms. Vazquez has persuaded colleagues, including those teaching German and art, to incorporate climate issues into their courses.

The lack of knowledge of the science is understandable, Professor Plutzer said, because very few current teachers had much exposure to climate science when they were in college.

Climate change is still not often part of a formal curriculum, so the instruction in one year rarely can add to the previous years work, Professor Plutzer added. And teachers feel pressured to focus more intensely on topics that appear on high-stakes tests that define much of todays educational process, he said.
As DoorDashs experience with drivers shows, the start-ups costs dont necessarily decline over time. For some drivers, who are paid a fee per delivery, it can be difficult to make enough deliveries in an hour to make it financially worthwhile for them. And when drivers move on, the companies must spend again to recruit replacements.

Ensuring drivers have the best possible experience on the DoorDash platform is one of our top priorities, Eitan Bencuya, a DoorDash spokesman, said in a statement. He said the company has proprietary technology that helps drivers increase the amount of deliveries they can make in a single trip, increasing their commissions per hour.

Mr. Bencuya declined to comment on DoorDashs fund-raising efforts. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported on the start-ups funding hurdles.

For consumers, the delivery services may not seem cheap, either. Customers pay a delivery fee and a service charge on top of the cost of the food, as well as an optional tip to the driver. That has prompted concern that the services will not appeal to less affluent users in cities like New York, Denver, Atlanta and San Francisco, where DoorDash and others operate.

What we consider before using anonymous sources. Do the sources know the information? Whats their motivation for telling us? Have they proved reliable in the past? Can we corroborate the information? Even with these questions satisfied, The Times uses anonymous sources as a last resort. The reporter and at least one editor know the identity of the source. Learn more about our process.

Private companies doing last-mile delivery rely on charging high consumer fees, which make the services untenably expensive for the average consumer, Dean Prissman, an Internet analyst for Morgan Stanley, wrote in a research note to clients in October.

Some investors said the start-ups have the potential to capture a relatively untapped multibillion-dollar market, one that is also being eyed by tech behemoths like Google, Amazon and Uber. The companies see opportunity in bringing delivery to millions of retailers and restaurants that do not now offer it, all for a slice of the fees.

Alfred Lin, a partner at the venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, which has invested in DoorDash and Instacart, said the start-ups are also amassing a very valuable asset: consumers purchasing data. The advent of the smartphone gives a company the ability to track all the information about your purchasing habits, and where you are, he said. Its pretty dramatic what a company can do to utilize that information.
In its continuing game of hide-and-seek with European privacy regulators, Google is about to make more changes to how people view its search results in Europe.

The companyt will soon block access to certain disputed links from all of its domains  including the main United States one, Google.com  when people in Europe use its online search engine, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. They spoke only on the condition of anonymity.

The move is the latest attempt by Google to comply with a May 2014 data privacy ruling by Europes highest court, while also trying to minimize damage to the companys vast global database of digital information. That ruling, known as the right to be forgotten and hailed by many national data privacy officials in Europe, forced Google to comply with the regions tough privacy rules, even when those laws were at odds with the companys goal of providing unfettered information to people worldwide.

The 2014 ruling allowed anyone with connections to Europe to ask search engines like Google and the Bing service of Microsoft to remove links to information about themselves, if they could demonstrate that the information was wrong, no longer relevant or not of general public interest.
Abe List responded, cocaine addict James Woods still sniffing and spouting.

That tweet is central to Mr. Woodss defamation lawsuit. But the insults did not stop there, according to the complaint, which says that Abe List also referred to Mr. Woods by a vulgar name, as well as describing him as a joke and a ridiculous scum clown-boy on the social media platform. Abe Lists account is now protected, which means the tweets are no longer visible to the public at large.

Many of the arguments in the case have centered on the nature of statements made on Twitter. Abe Lists lawyers have argued that the addict tweet was hyperbole and not a statement of fact. It was uttered on Twitter, a platform known for insult and exaggeration, they argued in a motion filed in September.

They have also pointed to a long list of tweets they noted were sent by Mr. Woods and were inflammatory, including those calling the Rev. Al Sharpton a disgusting pig directly responsible for the murder of two good policemen, or using allusions to homosexuality as insults. They also say Mr. Woods has called people clown and scum and told someone to put down your crack pipe on Twitter.

Mr. Woods dishes it out, but he cant take it, Lisa Bloom, a lawyer who is representing Abe List, said in an emailed statement on Wednesday. Mr. Does suggestions that Mr. Woods was on drugs was not meant to be taken literally, just as Mr. Woods put down your crack pipe and other mocking language was not serious.

But Mr. Woods and his lawyer have argued that Abe Lists tweet was a statement of fact and thus constitutes defamation. In their opposition to the defendants motion to strike the case, they cited numerous examples of misinformation spread on Twitter, including one incident covered by The New York Times in 2012.

They also included a seven-page report from Edward Finegan, professor emeritus of linguistics and law at the University of Southern California, who cited the Oxford English Dictionary and uses sample sentences from The Los Angeles Times to conclude that the tweet in question would likely be interpreted as a statement of fact by those who read it. Mr. Finegan disclosed to the court that he was paid $450 an hour by Mr. Woodss attorneys. Judge Recana cited Mr. Finegans arguments in his recent ruling.
Uber has agreed to pay $28.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that took issue with the companys claims that its driver background checks were industry leading.

The terms of the settlement, filed on Thursday in the United States District Court in the Northern District of California, require Uber to pay roughly 25 million riders across the United States and to reword the language around the fee that the company charges for each ride.

Uber will rename the fee, called the safe ride fee, to a booking fee. The ride-hailing company said it would use the fee to cover safety as well as additional operational costs that could arise in the future. Lyft, a main Uber rival, has made a similar change, Uber said.

No means of transportation can ever be 100 percent safe. Accidents and incidents do happen, Uber said in a statement. Thats why its important to ensure that the language we use to describe safety at Uber is clear and precise.
Those commissioners said Mr. Lester had been dismissed because he and his staff had been unresponsive in providing information to commissioners, had nitpicked developers legitimate projects and had failed to take steps to ensure that the coastline was accessible to people of all income levels. More important, they said, the commission needed to become more accepting of change and more aggressive in righting shortfalls like an absence of affordable hotels near the coastline.

Bullet Train to Nowhere : Construction of the California high-speed rail system, Americas most ambitious infrastructure project, Construction of the California high-speed rail system, Americas most ambitious infrastructure project, has become a multi-billion-dollar nightmare

A Piece of Black History Destroyed: Lincoln Heights  a historically Black community in a predominantly white, rural county in Northern California  endured for decades. Lincoln Heights  a historically Black community in a predominantly white, rural county in Northern California  endured for decades. Then came the Mill fire

Warehouse Moratorium: As warehouse construction balloons nationwide, residents in communities both rural and urban have pushed back. In Californias Inland Empire, As warehouse construction balloons nationwide, residents in communities both rural and urban have pushed back. In Californias Inland Empire, the anger has turned to widespread action

Commissioners felt they werent kept apprised of things, Steve Kinsey, the chairman of the commission, said in an interview. They didnt like getting surprised by things from time to time. Not getting phone calls back. We often heard criticism of the commission staff; at some point, one has to recognize that it could be part of institutional behavior.

For Mr. Lester and his supporters, the commissions action reflected a move to make things easier for developers and open the way for more construction along the coast. In an interview, Mr. Lester said that he had offered to take steps to address some of the concerns, and had been rebuffed.

Ive seen a lot of commissions over the years, Mr. Lester said. Relative to commissions of the past, this commission has been more interested in things that the development community raises as problems  as opposed to the policies of the Coastal Act.

Mr. Kinsey said he was not moved by the turnout of people at the hearing.

Anytime you want to pack a house in California, you threaten development, he said. On the coast, thats magnified 100-fold, and we saw it yesterday. In reality, if you look at the actions of this commission during the tenure of Mr. Lester, its hard to find times that the commission gave stuff away to developers.
Nearly 15 months after a Cleveland police officer fatally shot Tamir Rice, 12, while the boy was playing with a pellet gun near a recreation area, a document appeared online showing that the city was suing to collect $500 for his last dying expense  the cost of his emergency medical treatment.

The documents were signed by legal officials and posted on Wednesday, drawing condemnation from the familys lawyers, one of whom called the suit nothing short of breathtaking.

But in a surprising twist on Thursday, city officials said that the $500 claim was unintended, and that the city was withdrawing it. In a news conference, Mayor Frank G. Jackson also apologized to the family if in fact this has added to any grief or pain that they may have.

But we want to explain what happened, he added.

Dan Williams, the mayors spokesman, said in a telephone interview, It should have raised a red flag. He said a senior official should have looked at it and said, Does this make sense? And that question didnt get asked.
The occupation highlighted longstanding grievances over federal government ownership and management of vast acreage in the West. The Bundy brothers father, Cliven Bundy, a Nevada rancher, was arrested Wednesday on charges related to the armed standoff in 2014 between his supporters and federal agents. He and his supporters, like the Oregon occupiers, maintain that the federal government does not have the legal right to own so much land and is too restrictive on ranchers using it.

From the start, the Malheur standoff had a foot firmly planted in unfiltered live media, bypassing mainstream journalists, whom the protesters called tools of the government. Pete Santilli, who has an online talk show, was a frequent presence, interviewing and supporting the occupiers on his YouTube channel; he is among the jailed. Mr. Fry live streamed videos of the occupation and posted them online, while other protesters gave interviews on talk radio.

The occupiers repeatedly called on people from around the country to join them at the refuge. But the mass movement they hoped for never materialized. Critics said the protesters relied on a strained reading of the Constitution that the courts have rejected. And many experts argued that, in fact, ranchers  along with loggers, miners and others  get the use of federal land at bargain prices, heavily subsidized by taxpayers.

But Western lands experts and supporters of the occupations goals said that however quietly the standoff ended, and however garbled its message was at times, the deeper meaning will continue to resonate, because the occupiers in some ways reframed one of the nations oldest and thorniest arguments. The question of who should control land in the West  often a dry matter of economics in the past  has now been pulled into the polarized political terrain that has already made the nation a house divided.

In the 1980s and early 90s, in what is now called the Sagebrush Rebellion, ranchers in the West protested higher prices that the federal government wanted to charge to let cattle graze on public lands. That fight, said David J. Hayes, a former deputy secretary of the Department of the Interior  the agency that oversees hundreds of millions of acres of Western lands  was largely over money.

The new argument, as the occupiers said repeatedly, is not overtly about money at all  rather, it is a much broader fight about the role of government and what constitutes federal overreach.
A Nevada state lawmaker whose political life has been largely animated by concerns over individual liberty and gun rights emerged as an unlikely figure in negotiating the final stage of the standoff in eastern Oregon on Thursday.

Panicked talks between the federal authorities and four holdouts at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge seemed headed toward a dire, perhaps violent, end, when the lawmaker, Michele Fiore, got involved the night before.

The authorities were struggling to persuade the group to surrender during a tense negotiation that was broadcast live online for tens of thousands of listeners and derailed over and over by screams of despair and recrimination from the occupiers.

The holdouts wondered if the agents circling them were planning to gun them down.

Theyre here to kill us, one said on the phone.
But Mr. Graysons activities have long concerned his campaign aides. In private emails in June, Mr. Graysons aides pleaded with him to close the hedge fund, convinced that its focus on investing in nations hit by political or economic strife, and its ties to the Cayman Islands, a notorious tax haven, sharply conflicted with his image as a scold of Wall Street  even if he had not done anything wrong.

This is going to be the drip, drip, drip story that never goes away, Doug Dodson, Mr. Graysons Senate campaign manager until the end of 2015, wrote in a June email to Mr. Grayson, saying his political opponents would try to make you look like a hypocrite and a fraud and not the populist you claim to be.

Mr. Grayson rejected the advice, the emails show. I still think that it would be taken, wrongly, as an admission of guilt, he wrote back.

Sometimes, Mr. Grayson deployed his aides to work for the fund and his political activity at the same time. Todd Jurkowski, a former spokesman in Mr. Graysons House office, was the vice president for investor relations when the fund was started while also serving as treasurer for Mr. Graysons campaign in 2012.

More recently, David Keith, finance director for Mr. Graysons Senate campaign, was being paid about $1,000 a month, in part to help Mr. Grayson in a search for new investors in his hedge fund, Mr. Keith said in an interview. He worked for Mr. Grayson from early 2014 to late 2015, he said.

Mr. Grayson first won a seat in Congress representing the Orlando area in 2008 but failed to win re-election in 2010. In 2011, he started the Grayson Fund, which he said would specialize in investments in developing countries in Asia and Latin America. Mr. Grayson was elected again to the House in 2012, but he kept the fund open.
Heres our coverage of the sixth Democratic debate, and our live fact checks.

Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton will convene in Milwaukee on Thursday night for the first Democratic debate after Mr. Sanders defeated her in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday. Mrs. Clinton will be under pressure to address some of the concerns that voters have expressed about her in the first two nominating contests, while Mr. Sanders will look to continue his momentum leading into the elections in Nevada and South Carolina.

With tension between the two candidates intensifying, here is how to follow the action (and what were looking for):

On television: PBS NewsHour is producing the debate and it will air at 9 p.m. Eastern time on PBS. CNN will simulcast it, and CNN International and CNN en Espanol will also broadcast the event, too.
Heres our coverage of the sixth Democratic debate, and our live fact checks.

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Hillary Clinton square off Thursday in Milwaukee, just two days after the New Hampshire primary, in which Mr. Sanders scored an overwhelming victory. The battle for the Democratic nomination is becoming increasingly competitive, which could mean sharper exchanges when the two debate starting at 9 p.m. Eastern time. We asked New York Times political reporters and editors what they would be looking for in the debate (and heres how to watch).

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After her humbling loss in New Hampshire, Mrs. Clinton is likely to be the aggressor tonight. But I am curious as to how prepared Mr. Sanders will be both for her attacks and when it comes to the detailed questions from the moderators. He has so far used the debates to mostly reiterate his stump speech. Is he capable of being nimble when he faces scrutiny?  Jonathan Martin

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The next series of primaries, primarily in the South, are supposed to be Mrs. Clintons firewall because of the large participation by African-American voters. It was no coincidence Mr. Sanderss first stop post-New Hampshire was a breakfast in Harlem with the Rev. Al Sharpton. Ill be attuned to what the candidates say about criminal justice reform, voting rights, womens rights and whether they want to build on President Obamas record  or scrap it for a sweeping revolution.  Trip Gabriel

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I expect Mr. Sanders to press aggressively on Mrs. Clintons paid speeches before big banks, as he has in the last few days. How she answers that question could be one of the most important moments of the evening. Mrs. Clinton, in her concession speech in New Hampshire, previewed her case going forward, speaking about her history of fighting for people who need it. Despite all the complaining from both sides, the Democratic primary has been fairly sleepy so far. That could change Thursday night.  Maggie Haberman
A backlash has been building gradually among American voters for years against stagflation, the middle-class squeeze, cross-border trade deals and Wall Street bailouts.

This week, they let out a primal scream that was heard around the country. The democratic socialist Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and the Republican billionaire Donald J. Trump recorded smashing primary victories in New Hampshire, and even if neither candidate reaches the general election in November, their supporters will shape the selection of the next president. The populist revolt is rooted in decades of failure by politicians to improve the living standards to which Americans became accustomed during post-World War II boom times.

The United States receding economic dominance was masked for years by a surge in two-paycheck households as women entered the work force, an expansion of consumer credit and government borrowing, and surging stock and real estate values that inflated household wealth. Those props have now eroded.

Mr. Sanders translates stagnant middle-class incomes and rising inequality into outrage against Wall Street millionaires and billionaires who prosper in a global economy under rules theyve written. His message is attractive to liberals, especially young Democrats facing large college debt and lackluster earning prospects.
Dick Peffley, the general manager for the Lansing Board of Water and Light, which has advised Flint, said it was now possible to avoid such missteps.

The process for replacing each lead service line in Flint, he said, would probably be similar to the effort in Lansing, Mich., which is nearly finished with a $42 million project to replace 13,500 of its lead lines. That project started in 2004.

Once a home is identified as having a lead service line, a crew of four to five will arrive to remove it. The workers typically dig two holes: one at the water main in the street, and another between the curb and the sidewalk. They use a cable to remove the old lead pipe, which is often about 50 feet long, and replace it with a copper line. If there are no complications, the job can take about four hours.

Some older homes might still contain lead in internal plumbing. The use of lead in pipes, fittings and fixtures was outlawed in an amendment to the Safe Water Act that President Obama signed in 2011.

Q. What do the people of Flint say?

A. In Lansing, about 650 homes are still scheduled to have their lead pipes replaced. Mr. Peffley said that the water utility used to occasionally receive complaints from residents who did not want their pipes removed. If we ran into any resistance, we skipped that house and moved on, he said. We havent had any resistance since people have read about Flints problems.

Many Flint residents are eager for the pipe replacement to begin so they can use the water from their taps again and no longer have to rely on bottled water to drink, cook and even bathe.

Even those who were in denial of the scope of the issue have come around, said Laura Sullivan, a professor of mechanical engineering at Kettering University in Flint and a city resident.

There is an element of the population in Flint that up until very recently was reluctant to admit or even consider that there was a problem, she said. Then there are the people who need help most of all, who dont have TVs and are very late to even finding out that theres a problem. Theyre clamoring.
DAKAR, Senegal  Of all the mysteries surrounding Boko Haram, the marauding militant jihadist group that has terrorized Nigeria and its neighbors, the use of women and girls as suicide bombers is among the most vexing.

That was demonstrated this week when Boko Haram sent three girls to a government-run camp in northern Nigeria that was supposed to be a haven for people who had been chased from their homes under threat or attack by the group.

Those three at the camp in Dikwa are among an increasing deployment of women and girls who have served as suicide bombers in recent Boko Haram attacks. The United Nations estimates that since June 2014, Boko Haram has deployed 100 abducted women and girls for attacks once carried out by men. The group has also used boys as young as 8 for suicide missions.

In Dikwa, the girls posed as refugees from the violence, spending Monday night at the camp. At dawn on Tuesday, two blew themselves up, killing 58 people and wounding 78. The third girl did not detonate her device. The authorities said she had recognized her parents and siblings among those seeking shelter at the camp and had surrendered.
MEXICO CITY  The fight took less than an hour. At the end of it, at least 49 followers of two rival gang leaders lay dead, stabbed and beaten to death in an overcrowded, aging prison in the northern city of Monterrey.

The trouble began just before midnight on Wednesday at the Topo Chico Prison when a struggle broke out between the gangs led by Jorge Ivan Hernandez Cantu and Juan Pedro Saldivar Farias, said Gov. Jaime Rodriguez Calderon of Nuevo Leon.

All of the dead were inmates, he said. The state government put the original death toll at 52, but officials said they had found only 49 bodies. One inmate was killed by a shot fired by a guard, Mr. Rodriguez said in interviews with local news media, but the rest were stabbed and beaten to death.

It was a pitched battle, the governor said in a radio interview. It is horrible and terrifying.

The two gang leaders, both serving sentences for organized crime activities, had been moved from federal prisons. The government identified 40 of the dead on Thursday afternoon, and neither of the gang leaders was on the list.
NEW DELHI  An Indian infantryman whose unlikely survival in an avalanche touched off celebrations across the country died Thursday morning at a military hospital in New Delhi.

The soldier, Hanamanthappa Koppad, was buried for five days under 35 feet of ice on the treacherous Siachen Glacier, where Indian and Pakistani troops face one another from camps at elevations approaching 20,000 feet. Nine other soldiers were killed in the same avalanche on Feb. 3.

In retrospect, it appears that Mr. Koppads chances of survival were close to nil. He was in critical condition from the moment he was retrieved from the ice, with multiple organ failure, pneumonia in both lungs and catastrophic brain damage, his doctors said in a news conference.
SEOUL, South Korea  North Korea said on Thursday that it would freeze all South Korean assets at a joint industrial complex the South shut down to retaliate for a recent nuclear test and a rocket launch by the North.

It also ordered all 248 South Korean managers in the factory park in the North Korean town of Kaesong expelled by 5 p.m. on Thursday, allowing them to return home with only their personal belongings. The North said it would sever all communication across the border after the last of the South Koreans left.

In addition, it said it was shutting down the only cross-border highway open between the two Koreas. The road has linked South Korea with the factory park since 2004, when it began operations just over the western inter-Korean border. The zone will return to the control of the North Korean military, it said.
HONG KONG  The city government of Tainan in southwestern Taiwan announced Thursday night that it had identified at least 30 real estate holdings across the island belonging to the developer of an apartment complex that collapsed in an earthquake last Saturday, and had told local government agencies to monitor the holdings to prevent their sale.

Information on the holdings was being given to families affected by the collapse who might want to sue the developer. As of Friday afternoon, rescue teams had pulled 93 bodies from the collapsed building, and an additional 29 people were missing and feared to be under the rubble. The quake claimed only two other lives elsewhere in the city.

The developer, Lin Minghui, and two of his business associates were arrested Monday night and charged with criminal business misconduct causing fatalities, a specific manslaughter charge under Taiwanese law. As of Thursday night, they had not made any comment or entered a plea.
PARIS  President Francois Hollande of France appointed a former prime minister and several politicians from so-called Green parties to his government on Thursday in a minor cabinet shuffle that is expected to be his last before the presidential election next year.

Former Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, a Socialist lawmaker from western France and the mayor of Nantes for more than 20 years, was named foreign minister. He is replacing Laurent Fabius, who stepped down on Wednesday and is expected to lead one of Frances top legal bodies, the Constitutional Council, which ensures that laws comply with the Constitution.

Many analysts had speculated that the environment minister, Segolene Royal, would replace Mr. Fabius. Both took part in the international negotiations last December in France that produced a landmark agreement on climate change.

Ms. Royal, who unsuccessfully ran for president in 2007 and is Mr. Hollandes former partner, will remain the environment minister, although her portfolio has been expanded to include international relations related to climate issues.
Giacomo Tachis, who transformed Italian winemaking in the 1960s and 70s with a series of innovative, French-influenced red wines from the Chianti region that became known as Super Tuscans, died on Saturday at his home in San Casciano in Val di Pesa, Tuscany. He was 82.

The cause was complications of Parkinsons disease and heart disease, his daughter, Ilaria Tachis, said.

An oenologist by training, Mr. Tachis joined the Antinori winery in 1961 and soon began working with its owner, Piero Antinori, to introduce new grape varieties and such techniques as temperature-controlled fermentation and aging in oak barrels.

Most notably, he helped develop Sassicaia, Tignanello and Solaia, top-quality, long-lived wines that took the wine world by storm. Because they used French grape varieties that did not fit the definition of Chianti, the wines were sold under the lowly designation vino da tavola table wine. Instantly recognized as Italys best, they soon acquired the much more marketable name of Super Tuscans.
NATO, like the European Union, operates by consensus. Jeffrey Rathke, a former American diplomat and NATO official now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said the announcement reflected the reality that Frontex is not able to cope with the situation and that the United States and Turkey, which are members of NATO but not of the European Union, could do more.

Could and should NATO have done this earlier? he asked. Id say yes  but that doesnt mean they shouldnt do this now.

The American defense secretary, Ashton B. Carter, said that three NATO members  Germany, Greece and Turkey  had asked NATO for help with the sea patrols, as they struggle to deal with the huge number of refugees who have fled violence in Afghanistan, Eritrea and Iraq, as well as Syria and other conflict-torn countries. They have been joined by migrants fleeing poverty in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, many of them ineligible for political asylum.

The NATO defense ministers tasked NATO military authorities to provide its advice for options for implementing it, Mr. Carter said, calling the human traffickers a criminal syndicate which is exploiting these poor people.

NATO has a track record of search-and-rescue and antipiracy efforts, but whether it can actually curb human traffickers in this case remains to be seen. While the migrants typically rely on people smugglers for help in getting to Turkey and then across the sea to Greece and onward to northern Europe, they are often determined to make the voyage alone despite the risks  and the people running the smuggling rings are rarely on the vessels they send toward Greece.

The people piloting the ships from Turkey to Greece are relatively low-level people, Mr. Rathke said. But having Turkey and Greek vessels, led by Germany, will provide an opportunity for greater cooperation which, frankly, hasnt functioned well to date.

Ian O. Lesser, a foreign policy expert at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, said the announcement was in some sense symbolic, but also meaningful: NATOs strategy in the years ahead is going to be driven not only by whats happening in the east, with Russia, but also in the south, with the Mediterranean, as a result of the chaos in the Middle East and North Africa.
BERLIN  Reinhold Hanning, a 94-year-old former Nazi charged with being an accessory to the murder of at least 170,000 people who perished at a concentration camp in Poland, refused to make any statements as his trial opened on Thursday in Germany, even as a survivor directly urged him to break his silence.

Mr. Hanning, a bespectacled, white-haired former SS sergeant at the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, who was declared healthy enough to stand trial, sat attentive as the charges against him were read in court in the northern city of Detmold.

But he declined to speak, even when addressed by a survivor. Mr. Hanning, we are nearly the same age, and soon we will stand before the highest judge, said Leon Schwarzbaum, 94, from Berlin, who took the stand as a co-plaintiff. I would like to call on you to tell us the historical truth.
GAZIANTEP, Turkey  As waves of heavy Russian airstrikes edged closer to the Turkish border on Thursday, a Syrian research group issued a report saying the impact of five years of war in Syria has been more devastating than already thought.

The report from the Syrian Center for Policy Research said that at least 470,000 Syrians had died as a result of the war, almost twice the 250,000 counted a year and a half ago by the United Nations until it stopped counting because of a lack of confidence in the data.

Life expectancy has dropped 14 years, to 56 from 70, since the war began, with an even deeper plunge for Syrian men, says the report, which the group compiled from its longtime base in the capital, Damascus. It put the wars economic cost at $255 billion, essentially wiping out the nations wealth.

The report stood out because it shows a state in collapse in many ways even though it comes from an organization that was, until recently, based in Damascus, the seat of a government that seeks to control tightly how it is portrayed. The report was released on a day that world leaders met in Munich, where the United States and Russia agreed on a cease-fire plan, though it remained to be seen if the parties on the ground would abide by it.
JERUSALEM  One of the many things that divides Israelis and Palestinians is the letter P.

The consonant that prefaces prejudice and partisanship became an object of mirth on Thursday after Anat Berko, a conservative lawmaker from the governing Likud Party, said in Parliament that there could be no such place as Palestine because there is no P in Arabic.

The name Palestine is a borrowed term, Ms. Berko said, presumably referring to the ancient Greek Palaistine and the Syria-Palaestina of the Roman era.

I want to return to history, she said during a parliamentary debate late Wednesday called by the center-left Zionist Union on the two-state solution. What exactly is our place here regarding Jerusalem, regarding Palestine? As we have said, there isnt even a P in Arabic so this borrowed term is also worth scrutinizing.

As opposition lawmakers heckled Ms. Berko, she retorted, There is no Pa,  sputtering, Pa, pa, pa, for emphasis.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia  An assailant shot and killed six employees inside an education administration building in southern Saudi Arabia on Thursday, the Saudi Interior Ministry said.

The attacker was arrested but not identified. Mass shootings are rare in the oil-rich kingdom, although extremists linked to the Islamic State have committed a series of deadly attacks on mosques and security personnel in recent years.

The authorities described Thursdays attack as criminal, suggesting that they did not consider it to be an act of terrorism.
MOUNT HERMON, Golan Heights  Israels military commanders are rethinking their concept of border security as they watch the reality of what is happening on the other side changing in front of their eyes.

With new terrorism, violence and chaos engulfing the Middle East, it is clearer than ever to them that nonstate actors with sophisticated weapons and technology have replaced the threat from Arab armies, forcing Israel to weigh differently the advantages of preventive strikes against the risks of setting off the next war.

Given its lack of strategic depth, the Israeli military is investing in fences, surveillance and reconnaissance devices.

A top general recently told reporters that Israel must enhance its cross-border intelligence abilities and build on mutual interests and cooperation with Egypt and Jordan.
For 25 years, Frederic Brenner traveled the world, finding Jews to photograph. In every place he went, whether it was a singles weekend in the Catskills or an ancient stone dwelling in Yemen, he sought to uncover a buried trace of his own past. What had been silenced and ignored by my family, I had to excavate, he said during a visit to New York last month.

Only after finishing the project did he comprehend his motivations. He had been raised in an assimilated intellectual household in Paris by parents who ignored their Jewish heritage. But the Six-Day War in Israel in 1967 awakened their ethnic consciousness. Against his wishes, Frederic was sent to a Jewish day school for three years before entering university. There, he became fascinated by Judaism  and, as he grew older, by the ways in which a portable identity had assumed varied forms in different cultures. The product of his wanderings with a camera appeared in 2003: Diaspora: Homelands in Exile, a weighty two-volume work of black-and-white photographs and Talmud-like outside commentary.

This Place, a photography exhibition through June 5 at the Brooklyn Museum (after stops in Prague; Tel Aviv; and West Palm Beach, Fla.), is the centripetal counterpart to Mr. Brenners far-flung Diaspora. All the photographs were taken in the concentrated domain of Israel and the West Bank. And while Mr. Brenner, 57, joined the project belatedly as a photographer, he mainly served as impresario. The exhibition features work from 11 other photographers, all foreigners  established artists who for the most part had never been to the Holy Land. Its very unusual that a group of not-so-young artists would be invited to do something like that, said Thomas Struth, who joined a roster that also included Jeff Wall and Stephen Shore.
Gillian Jacobs knows how to deliver a withering zinger. She did it as Britta Perry, the self-absorbed hipster with grand delusions on NBCs Community. She did it as Mimi Rose Howard, the self-serious performance artist naif on HBOs Girls. She even did it in lingerie, in Choke, a 2008 adaptation of a Chuck Palahniuk novel, in which she played Cherry Daiquiri, a stripper with a sardonic smirk.

Ms. Jacobs, 33, has rapidly earned a reputation in comedy circles for this droll sense of humor and razor-sharp timing  a little bit Lucille Ball, a little bit Janeane Garofalo. As a result, Ms. Jacobs has spent the past decade getting cast as neurotic, messy women.

Ms. Jacobs, for her part, says that while she has become an expert at portraying maladjusted characters, the women she embodies on screen couldnt be further from her private self. In real life, I am so boring, she said over a recent lunch near Gramercy Park in Manhattan. I dont drink. I dont smoke. Dinner out of the house is a big night for me. I love books and NPR.

And yet, Ms. Jacobs once again found herself playing another woman struggling to deal with the complexities of modern life. In Netflixs new romantic comedy series, Love, which debuts Feb. 19, she plays Mickey, a young alcoholic and sex addict who cannot seem to stay still long enough to find romance. Love joins a handful of recent comedies that follow groups of flawed young-to-middle-age white Los Angelenos trying to connect, including Youre the Worst, Togetherness and Transparent.
President Obama called after the officials left. The connection was terrible; Elaine and Jen listened on separate extensions, barely able to hear with fingers jammed against their other ears. To his contrition and condolences they hardly replied. What I would have liked to say and what I said are two different stories, Elaine said later.  Where the hell were you when I needed your help? No, I couldnt say that. It was, Thank you, Mr. President, thank you for calling. 

On June 18, 2015, a spokesman for Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent posted a statement in Urdu on Twitter that Weinstein had converted and was a hard-working student of Islam, that he was treated as a beloved elder by the mujahedeen and that his corpse emitted a mysterious but pleasant fragrance that mesmerized everyone. Along with the text, Al Qaeda included a photograph of Weinstein seemingly prepared for a Muslim burial, his bearded face ensconced in a white shroud. At the K.&R. mans request, Jen glanced swiftly at the picture online, confirming that it was him. Elaine and Alisa avoided any glimpse. Elaine doubted the conversion  chances are he was praying orally in Arabic and reciting a Hebrew prayer in his head  but the idea that Weinstein was beloved by his captors fit with the story the family had told themselves all along.

Not long after, Elaine said, the F.B.I. called to tell her that the government had been contacted by a party claiming he had Weinsteins remains and demanding $3 million for them. The F.B.I. acknowledged that American surveillance  they still wouldnt utter the word drone  had indeed revealed, at some previous point, that Weinsteins grave had been dug up. And they said that DNA had been sent  they didnt explain how this was done and Elaine didnt ask  and matched DNA the F.B.I. had taken from Weinsteins sister. But there was no way to pay for Weinsteins corpse, the F.B.I. counseled, without inviting the murder of more hostages, and Elaine did not disagree. How much worse could this get? she thought. Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong.

Yet things kept going wrong. The Wall Street Journal reported on Aug. 20, 2015, that Giovanni Lo Portos corpse had been recovered by the Italian government  how, the Italians wouldnt say. This didnt make the Weinsteins rethink trying to negotiate for Warrens body, but they were plagued by the idea that their government may have known where he was buried and had not managed to reclaim his body. Then, on Sept. 10, The Washington Post cited unnamed American officials saying that, as long as a year before the strike, drone surveillance had perhaps spotted someone in captivity who might have been Weinstein. The sighting was described as inconclusive, and the entire account was murky, but the article suggested that the government might not have done all it could to find him.

The C.I.A. would not respond to my questions about the possible sighting. The government kept mostly mute about all aspects of the kidnapping. But one current and one former high-ranking State Department official, each with extensive experience in Pakistan and with Weinsteins case, agreed to talk but requested that they not be named because of diplomatic sensitivities. They emphasized how difficult the task of rescuing Weinstein was, given the Pakistani governments extremely limited control, as one of the officials put it, in the region where Weinstein was held and given Americas severely strained relationship with Pakistan, particularly in the aftermath of the Bin Laden raid. You have to recognize the limits of the tools in your tool kit, he said. But he went on, describing discussions with the Pakistanis, I cant think of a meeting when we didnt talk about Warren. There was always competition from other issues  nuclear issues, Indo-Pak tensions  but Warren was always above the fold. The other official spoke about the shortcomings of American intelligence. In the days and nights after the announcement in April, he said, I spent a lot of time thinking about how, with all the resources of the American government, the presence of two civilians  Weinstein and Lo Porto  was unknowable. Its disheartening and heartbreaking.

The Obama administration has failed, so far, to settle with Elaine on compensation that was promised last April. Weinsteins situation was unique, but there are a few comparable cases that might serve as guideposts toward determining a fair sum for the government to give the family. The family of Robert Levinson, a former F.B.I. agent who disappeared in Iran in 2007, while reportedly working for the C.I.A., and has never been found, received $2.5 million from the agency. In December, federal legislation was passed to compensate the Americans, most of them government employees, who were taken hostage in the United States Embassy in Tehran in 1979. The law gives nearly all the captives up to $10,000 for each of their days as prisoners. (Most were held for 444 days.) But, of course, Levinson wasnt killed by his own government, and the embassy hostages came home alive. Though the Weinstein family would not discuss the settlements the government has proposed, they have been frustrated by both the offers and the delays. The family has suggested that a formula, similar to the one used with the Iran hostages, would help resolve the protracted negotiations.

Alisa, meanwhile, goes on imagining how her father died. Having heard from Jen that in the burial photo his face did not look bruised, she believes that he didnt perish instantly in the missiles explosion but, rather, more slowly, in the fire that must have followed, inhaling smoke and suffocating. She wonders often about his remains, decomposing in an empty room or a ditch. Im trying to separate the physical from the spirit of who my father is, she said. I just keep saying to myself: Its only a body. Its not my dad.
The world brims with noteworthy threes. There are the primary colors, the legs on a stool. There are thesis, antithesis, synthesis; Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin at Yalta. There are the love triangles of Helen of Troy, of Anna Karenina  and of most of us, at some time in our own epic journeys. There were three Magi, bearing gold, frankincense and myrrh. But in daily life, where our needs are physical as often as intellectual and spiritual, no trinity is more useful than the gastronomic trinity of olives, capers and dried chiles. Each has a forcefulness belied by its small size, and together they can sit on a pantry shelf, waiting to be called on  which makes them as indispensable, on a small scale, as Ahabs (three) mates aboard the Pequod and decidedly more successful at their aim.

The troika is especially critical in this season-of-no-season, when fields are frosted, streets are iced, air is brittle and ingredients originate in jars or boxes or far away. Olives, capers and chiles all store nearly indefinitely, keeping their strong, transformative flavors for ages, as long as they were harvested carefully and salted or dried well. (I write nearly because Ive had some chiles lose their backbone after a few years. But my dried chile pequins, picked in the wild in Arizona seven years ago, are as hot today as they were when I acquired them.)

Each has slightly different but equally important powers. Capers contribute a saline, peppery bite to whatever they meet, and the smallest smattering of them perks up anything tired and plain. By themselves, capers go best with butter  a few added to melted butter produce a fine, bold sauce, while the same number pounded into just-softened butter makes a slightly marine paste, perfect for spreading onto broccoli, cabbage, toast or white rice.
If the fact that this is possible doesnt astonish, then read these statements again. This difference is so small that even the minuscule motion in the position of each mirror at the end of each tunnel because of quantum mechanical vibrations of the atoms in the mirror could have overwhelmed the signal. But scientists were able to resort to the most modern techniques in quantum optics to overcome this.

The two black holes that collided, which the LIGO experiment claimed to have detected, were immense. One was about 36 times the mass of our sun, the other, 29 times that mass. The collision and merger produced a black hole 62 times our suns mass. If your elementary arithmetic suggests that something is wrong, youre right. Where did the extra three solar masses disappear to?

Into pure energy in the form of gravitational waves. Our sun will burn for 10 billion years, with the intensity of over 10 billion thermonuclear weapons going off every second. In the process, only a small fraction of its total mass will be turned into energy, according to Einsteins famous equation, E=mc2. But when those black holes collided, three times the entire mass of our sun disappeared in less than a second, transformed into pure energy. During that time, the collision generated more energy than was being generated by all the rest of the stars in the observable universe combined.

Too often people ask, whats the use of science like this, if it doesnt produce faster cars or better toasters. But people rarely ask the same question about a Picasso painting or a Mozart symphony. Such pinnacles of human creativity change our perspective of our place in the universe. Science, like art, music and literature, has the capacity to amaze and excite, dazzle and bewilder. I would argue that it is that aspect of science  its cultural contribution, its humanity  that is perhaps its most important feature.

What more can we learn about the universe from a stupefying experimental feat observing a stupefying wonder of nature? The answer is anyones guess. Gravitational-wave observatories of the future will be able to explore the exotic features of black holes. This may shed light on the evolution of galaxies, stars and gravity. Eventually, we may be able to observe gravitational waves from the Big Bang, which will push the limits of our current understanding of physics.

Gravitational waves emerge from near the event horizon of black holes, the so-called exit door from the universe through which anything that passes can never return. Near such regions, for example, time slows down by a huge amount, as anyone who went to see the movie Interstellar knows. (Coincidentally the original treatment for Interstellar was written by Kip Thorne, one of the physicists who helped conceive of the LIGO experiment.)

Ultimately, by exploring processes near the event horizon, or by observing gravitational waves from the early universe, we may learn more about the beginning of the universe itself, or even the possible existence of other universes.

Every child has wondered at some time where we came from and how we got here. That we can try and answer such questions by building devices like LIGO to peer out into the cosmos stands as a testament to the persistent curiosity and ingenuity of humankind  the qualities that we should most celebrate about being human.
Earlier this month, Noel Santillan, an American tourist in Iceland, directed the GPS unit in his rental car to guide him from Keflavik International Airport to a hotel in nearby Reykjavik. Many hours and more than 250 icy miles later, he pulled over in Siglufjordur, a fishing village on the outskirts of the Arctic Circle. Mr. Santillan, a 28-year-old retail marketer from New Jersey, became an unlikely celebrity after Icelandic news media trumpeted his accidental excursion.

Mr. Santillan shouldnt be blamed for following directions. Siglufjordur has a road called Laugarvegur, the word Mr. Santillan  accurately copying the spelling from his hotel booking confirmation  entered in lieu of Laugavegur, a major thoroughfare in Reykjavik. The real mystery is why he persisted, ignoring road signs indicating that he was driving away from Icelands capital. According to this newspaper, Mr. Santillan apparently explained that he was very tired after his flight and had put his faith in the GPS.

Faith is a concept that often enters the accounts of GPS-induced mishaps. It kept saying it would navigate us a road, said a Japanese tourist in Australia who, while attempting to reach North Stradbroke Island, drove into the Pacific Ocean. A man in West Yorkshire, England, who took his BMW off-road and nearly over a cliff, told authorities that his GPS kept insisting the path was a road. In perhaps the most infamous incident, a woman in Belgium asked GPS to take her to a destination less than two hours away. Two days later, she turned up in Croatia.

These episodes naturally inspire incredulity, if not outright mockery. After a couple of Swedes mistakenly followed their GPS to the city of Carpi (when they meant to visit Capri), an Italian tourism official dryly noted to the BBC that Capri is an island. They did not even wonder why they didnt cross any bridge or take any boat. An Upper West Side bloggers account of the man who interpreted turn here to mean onto a stairway in Riverside Park was headlined GPS, Brain Fail Driver.
After Emilie Gossiaux graduated from Cooper Union in 2014, she started interning at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on the Upper East Side.

She lived in the East Village, close to school. She took the bus to the museum, finding it easier for her and her guide dog, London, than the crowded subway, but the trip took well over an hour.

Ms. Gossiauxs education  her whole life, really  had been interrupted in late 2010, when she was hit by a truck while on her bicycle. The accident destroyed her eyesight. She had been hearing-impaired since childhood, and had a hearing aid in one ear and a cochlear implant in the other.

She went through nearly a year of rehabilitation to learn how to deal with blindness and to live independently, then returned to New York to finish her study of art at Cooper Union, landing in the tiny East Village one-bedroom. If the elevator was broken, she had one flight of stairs to climb. In her three years there, the rent rose to $2,900 a month.
The view of the Hudson River from Joel Greys apartment on West Street is enchanting, even on a murky day, with a drizzle of rain fogging the long wall of high windows. But during a recent interview Mr. Grey rarely looked in that direction. He was focused instead on his new memoir, Master of Ceremonies, published by Flatiron Books this month.

At 83, he felt that at last the time had come to explore in depth the distinctive, surprising, occasionally traumatic arc of his life and career.

I think it was a kind of coming-of-age  a late coming-of-age, he said with a laugh. Finally feeling on top of it; ready to accept all the good stuff; I wake up joyous looking out at the water, feeling so lucky.

Despite his successes on stage and screen  that rare Tony and Oscar for the same role, the M.C. in Cabaret  Mr. Grey has not always felt that luck was on his side. As his book reveals, the journey from child actor to teenage nightclub phenomenon (who knew?) to established Broadway name contained its share of bumps, and his personal life was no less rife with conflict and complication.
Accepting a 2008 Tony Award for his hilarious performance in Boeing Boeing, Mark Rylance offered some curious advice in his speech: When you are in town, wearing some kind of uniform is helpful, policeman, priest, etc., he began. The perplexing speech was actually a poem by the Minnesota poet Louis Jenkins; Mr. Rylance used another in 2011. Unlike flying or astral projection, walking through walls is a totally earth-related craft, he began, accepting a Tony for his performance as the hedonistic Johnny (Rooster) Byron in Jez Butterworths Jerusalem.

Now, fans of the poet and the actor should head to St. Anns Warehouse to catch Mr. Rylance in Nice Fish. The show, about two men ice-fishing and pondering big questions, is drawn from Mr. Jenkinss work and comes to New York after a run at American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Mass. (Sunday, Feb. 14, through March 27, stannswarehouse.org.)
The bad news  or perhaps its an exciting opportunity  is that little of this is announced or scheduled in a way that fits into a world of prearranged vacations or advance-purchase airfares. Web-based information is sketchy. You could always call. But this is a place where, as Ry Cooder famously said of Havana, when the phone rings, its like a dog barking  no one pays attention. Official sources such as the citys tourism group and most hotels know mainly about static attractions like the museums and temples. Word of mouth, through new acquaintances and friends, is how you come to see its hidden life.

So you show up at the right places, find the right people (this town has coffee and pastry shops like Boston has Irish bars) and leave plenty of messages. You spot the few other travelers at recitals and galleries and become comrades at a glance, comparing hand-scrawled notes as they did a hundred years ago. You get invitations to gamelan evenings, or hear of a gallery opening as if it were a rave, show up and meet an artist who last week was lionized in Paris.

Or maybe you just get a cryptic text message telling you to be at a crossroads outside of town. That is the only hint something special may be going on up a dusty farm road, past pens of chickens, goats and a few munching water buffalo. But at its end, a large postindustrial studio is throbbing with activity. Dancers, stagehands, musicians carrying heavy brass gongs, computer technicians with clipboards; all in a swirl and, at its center, the intent, black-clad choreographer Martinus Miroto.

Mr. Miroto was born and raised in this city, where dance class is required in high school. Since then he has toured the world and won praise with acclaimed choreographers such as Pina Bausch and Peter Sellars. His own dancing draws on the rich vocabulary of classical Javanese movement, pulling together its rapid, angular, formal phrases into fluid, emphatic statements of personal experience rather than collective myth. Rather than remaining in Berlin or Los Angeles where he studied, he started the Miroto Dance Company, building an arts campus around this high-roofed studio, clad in aged coconut trunks. A performance here may start on a traditional stage or outdoors, on a terrace that lets dancers overflow across the nearby stream, wandering among torches and foliage, or splashing in a pool fed by a waterfall.

For the traditional dance he grew up with, one of Javas most vivid full-scale productions is showcased just a few miles north of town. The Ramayana Ballet, a spectacular staging of the South Asian epic, takes place every night of the year with firelight, extravagant costumes, a full gamelan orchestra and grandeur in the shadow of the nearby ninth-century Prambanan, the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia. (The regions other World Heritage Site, the ninth-century monument at Borobudur, is the largest Buddhist temple in the world and worth a day trip.)
Unpeel the wax paper and there is a fat, charred wedge of rice, prickly with bacon shards, its nori sleeve puckered from a bout on the grill. At the center is treasure: smoked Cheddar and a soft-boiled quail egg, ready to spill.

This is a diner breakfast packed in a Japanese onigiri, or, as it is called in Korean, samgak kimbap. At Kichin, a mostly Korean, mostly takeout shop under the Marcy Avenue subway stop in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, it is one of several slightly unorthodox rice balls, small but mighty.

Another comes stuffed with a piece of fried chicken, so big it breaks through one side like a wayward root. Persian cucumber pickle is tucked in there, too, bracing with a hint of sweetness. On the outside, a crowd of black sesame seeds brings an echoing crunch and earthiness, balanced by a bright trill of yuzu salt.

You will need more of that fried chicken, which can be ordered on its own or, better, atop rice in a riot of pickles. The chef, Bryan Moon, who opened Kichin in November with his older brother Mike, was reluctant to fully disclose his recipe, and it is a secret worth keeping.
When will the Supreme Court make a final decision?

The climate rule will remain frozen while its legal status is uncertain, and that will take awhile. A Federal Appeals Court will hear oral arguments on the rule on June 2, and is expected to issue its decision later this year. An appeal to the Supreme Court is all but certain. If the justices agree to hear the case, a ruling is unlikely before June 2017. The Supreme Court's decision on the final rule will either unfreeze the hold and require states to go back to creating their plans, or it would simply overturn the rule entirely.
Anna K.E. and Florian Meisenberg

Ridgewood

For the twosome's digital efforts, their home desk serves them just fine. We do a lot of video work, Meisenberg says. This is where we can cut, edit, and do the more technical side of things. They are working towards a fall video show at Signal Gallery in Bushwick.

For the twosome's digital efforts, their home desk serves them just fine. We do a lot of video work, Meisenberg says. This is where we can cut, edit, and do the more technical side of things. They are working towards a fall video show at Signal Gallery in Bushwick.

Brought together by mutual admiration at the Kunstakademie Dusseldorf, Florian Meisenberg and Anna K.E.s collaborative practice began when they created Galerie Hasen, a gallery alter-ego they invented that was part performance, part exhibition and all them. Two years ago, the Germany-based artists decided they needed a change of scenery and moved into a light-filled apartment in Ridgewood, Queens. Enveloped by floor-to-ceiling windows, their living room looks over an industrial landscape; here, the duo plot and sketch amongst their selective belongings. Often on the go, they use the apartment as a landing pad. (Flexibility is paramount: Almost everything they own fits in a suitcase.) The duos year is off to a rocket-powered start with individual and group projects in Tel Aviv, Lisbon and Poland.
Yes, We Do Eat More Soup When Were Sick

Grandma always told you that chicken soup would cure your cold. You listened.

Analysts for the online food delivery service Grubhub noticed that soup orders seemed to be spiking at odd intervals during the winter. Upon further examination, the soup surge couldnt be explained just by cold weather.

Acting on a hunch, Grubhub turned to another rhymingly-named online ordering system, ZocDoc. ZocDoc allows people to book doctors visits online. When the two companies matched their data, they found that people ordered the most soup when the most people were sick.



Specifically, about 80 percent of the variation in soup ordering matched the variation in the percentage of doctors visits for cold and flu symptoms.

We cant be sure that the synchronization of illness and soup orders means that the ill are ordering soup  you could say that soups somehow cause colds, or it could be pure coincidence. But we feel pretty confident that the relationship can be explained by people seeking a home remedy for their illness.

The soup-as-medicine myth has been around probably as long as there have been grandmothers and soup. But unlike a lot of prehistoric medical advice, it actually seems to hold up. There arent as many randomized controlled trials of soup and other remedies as medical experts might prefer, but there are a few studies that suggest that soup  particularly the homemade variety  does seem to reduce cold symptoms and boost the immune system more than cold water or hot water alone.

One 2000 study in the journal Chest even included a chicken soup recipe. My colleague Aaron Carroll and his co-author Rachel Vreeman have written two books about medical myths. The soup cure was one of the only ones that checked out, he said.

Even if soup doesnt directly fight illness, doctors have some good reasons for recommending it. Steam can help relieve sinus inflammation and soothe the throat. Salty liquids can help with hydration.

10 8 6 4 2 0 Percent of takeout orders including soup Percent of doctors visits for cold and flu 2014 2015 2016 Shaded areas indicate flu season 10 8 6 4 2 0 Percent of takeout orders including soup Percent of doctors visits for cold and flu 2014 2015 2016 Shaded areas indicate flu season

I spoke to a couple of self-identified foodie doctors. All of them started with the usual caveats that soup isnt a proven medicine. But they quickly moved on to suggesting their favorite recipes. Michelle Hauser, a researcher and primary care doctor in California who is also a Cordon Bleu-trained chef, said sickness is a great excuse to eat something salty and delicious. She recommends spicy soup if you can stand it, the better to clear your sinuses. And if youre feeling too weak to stand for long, she has a recipe for a garlic herb broth that even the ill can make themselves. I like that kind of broth if youre feeling really bad, she said. Its really nourishing and soothing.

Kathy Hughes, a surgeon in Massachusetts, loves the usual chicken noodle soup (she boils the leftover bones and skins from a rotisserie chicken for a roasted flavor) and strains her broth using sterile laparotomy cloths. Robert Smalley, a medical student, thinks the sick need the energy from easily digestible carbohydrates in noodles: He suggests takeout ramen or pho.

We asked the team at Grubhub to measure the correlations between doctors visits and individual types of soups. The biggest winners were the chicken varieties  chicken noodle, chicken rice, even chicken tortilla. People also order a lot of gumbo, wonton and lentil soups, but apparently not when they are sick.

If all this talk of soup and its virtues makes you crave some, our colleagues in Cooking are here to help. Takeout isnt the only way to get yourself a hot bowl of soup when youre under the weather. Here are a few of their suggested recipes if youd like to soothe a sick friend or stock up for the next cold.
OECD report shows huge impact of poverty on education

11 February 2016 new report from the OECD has again highlighted the negative effects of poverty, showing that disadvantaged children in New Zealand are more than six times more likely to underachieve in maths than children from wealthier homes.The report looked at PISA results of 15-year-olds in 64 countries and found that the disadvantages of poverty are compounded by a lack of early childhood education or coming from a single-parent family.NZEI Te Riu Roa President Louise Green said the report was yet more evidence poverty has a massive impact on childrens ability to learn.We should be putting our efforts into pulling children and their families out of poverty so they can achieve their true potential, but this government is clearly not serious about lifting educational system success while it pursues policies that breed poverty and inequality, she said.Many of our underprivileged children come from homes where one or both parents are employed, but the minimum wage is not enough to live on and provide the necessities of life. When a child is poorly housed, fed and clothed, their health suffers, their dreams slowly shrink and its no wonder that school can be a struggle.The report said that, worldwide, socio-economic status was probably the most important risk factor associated with low academic performance. It makes sense to focus on reducing that risk factor. Introduction of the Living Wage of $19.25 would have a positive effect for many children and their families, said Ms Green.
A 45-year-old man threatened to kill a former co-worker in front of a Brea business Wednesday morning, police said.

At 7:15 a.m., Brea police officials received a call for an assault with a deadly weapon in the 1200 block of Pioneer Street, said Lt. Darrin Devereux of the Brea Police Department.

Eduardo Aguirre, of Los Angeles, had angrily confronted the former male co-worker in a parking lot with a gun, he said.

The guy was agitated, pointing a gun and threatening to kill him, Devereux said.

The co-worker ran away, and Aguirre fled the area in a black Toyota 4Runner. No shots were fired.

Investigators tracked Aguirre to his home in Los Angeles and took him into custody around noon as he was getting into his car.

Inside the SUV, police found a loaded handgun and methamphetamine. Detectives were not sure of a motive, as Aguirre had not worked at the business in at least 10 years.

Devereux did not know if the two men had seen each other in recent years.

The victim told police he did not know why Aguirre was upset with him, Devereux said.

Aguirre was arrested on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a loaded firearm, possession of methamphetamine, assault with a deadly weapon and making criminal threats.

Contact the writer: 714-796-2478 or lcasiano@ocregister.com
ANAHEIM  An election map slicing Anaheim into six districts was finalized by the City Council Tuesday night, though updated U.S. Census figures received late in the process show Latino voters will not be a majority in any one district.

Latino voters make up the largest portion of voters in three districts, but fall shy of a majority. All three of those districts in central Anaheim will be placed on the November ballot, along with another district on the citys western edge.

This map is not perfect for any one group  but these are all estimates with a margin of error of 3 or 4 percent, Mayor Tom Tait said.

Anaheim is ending its longstanding practice of holding at-large elections. Residents will now vote for a City Council member who lives within their designated districts.

Though Latinos make up 53 percent of Anaheims population, only a few have served on the City Council.

The American Civil Liberties Union and three Anaheim residents filed a lawsuit in 2012 alleging Anaheims at-large election process had violated the states Voting Rights Act.

The suit was settled when a pair of measures were placed on the November 2014 ballot asking voters whether two members should be added to the City Council, and whether council members  except the mayor  should be elected by district. Both measures were approved by Anaheim voters.

The map approved this week was dubbed the Peoples Map by Latino advocacy groups, unions and other supporters who said it would provide the best opportunity to elect a Latino to Anaheims City Council.

Originally it appeared District 3 would have a 50.8 percent majority of Latino voters, but that was using census estimates from September 2013. Updated U.S. Census estimates released Friday, using data from October 2014, show 49.1 percent of District 3 is Latino.

Councilwoman Kris Murray said she reached out to a pair of Latino advocacy groups, who said that they still supported the map.

I think thats very important as we move forward, that they maintain their support so that there is universal support for the map before us, but also to prevent future legal challenges, Murray said. I hope that this new process allows for all residents of Anaheim to have an equitable chance to elect the candidates of their choice.

Contact the writer: 714-704-3769 or amarroquin@ocregister.com
DETMOLD, Germany  A 94-year-old former SS guard at the Auschwitz death camp is going on trial this week on 170,000 counts of accessory to murder, the first of up to four cases being brought to court this year in an eleventh-hour push by German prosecutors to punish Nazi war crimes.

Reinhold Hanning is accused of serving as an SS unterscharfuehrer  similar to a sergeant  in Auschwitz from January 1943 to June 1944, a time when hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews were brought to the camp in cattle cars and gassed to death.

The trial for the retiree from a town near the western city of Detmold starts today and is one of the latest to follow a precedent set in 2011, when former Ohio autoworker John Demjanjuk became the first person to be convicted in Germany solely for serving as a camp guard, with no evidence of involvement in a specific killing.

The verdict vastly widened the number of possible prosecutions, establishing that simply helping the camp function was sufficient to make one an accessory to the murders committed there. Before that, prosecutors needed evidence of a specific crime  a difficult task with few surviving witnesses and perpetrators whose names were rarely known and faces often seen only briefly.

Hannings attorney, Johannes Salmen, says his client acknowledges serving at the Auschwitz I part of the camp complex in Nazi-occupied Poland, but denies serving at the Auschwitz II-Birkenau section, where most of the 1.1million victims were killed.
BERLIN  The Prussians once paraded on the grounds that are now Tempelhof. Then, in the 1930s, the architect Ernst Sagebiel took what was a modest airfield and conceived the site as a gigantic entrance to Hitlers new Germany.

Later, his brainchild  what the architect Norman Foster has called the mother of all airports  was used by the Americans to run the airlift that saved West Berlin from a Soviet blockade.

Tempelhofs sweep and size, as well as its location in the center of Berlin, are so impressive that everything down to the airport signs and now disused luggage conveyors remain under legal protection as a monument.

All its life, in fact, Tempelhof Airport has been writing chapters of the history of Berlin. So it was perhaps inevitable that it would land a leading role in the current one.

Today, it is in the throes of becoming Germanys largest refugee center. For Tempelhof, that spells yet another transformation.

The new mission for the airport, which could house up to 7,000 refugees when work is completed, has thrust employees here into improvised roles. They must figure out how to shelter, feed, heat, entertain and aid the new arrivals from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.

There is no blueprint for something like this, said Michael Elias, who leads the company, Tamaja, that runs the refugee facilities, organizing everything from security to cleaning and the catering that delivers breakfast, lunch and dinner.

At the beginning, you can only make mistakes, added Elias, 46, who came as a child to Germany from Lebanon.

His office looks down on one of the four gaping 52-foot-high hangars where up to 800 refugees are currently accommodated in sparse 269-square-foot spaces formed by temporary screens. Six double bunk beds sleeping 12 are squeezed into these spaces, with no room for a spare chair.

Its not space designed for living, Constanze Doell, a spokeswoman, noted of Tempelhof Projekt, the city agency that is responsible for the overall development. Its an aircraft hangar.

Indeed, under the Nazis, imprisoned laborers were forced to build aircraft in these hangars.

In 1948 and 1949, American C-47s brought in millions of tons of food, coal and other supplies for the Berlin airlift, in an operation that, at its height, saw planes landing every 90 seconds.

Many of the aircraft scattered small parachutes with raisins and chocolates. The raisin bombers, as they were dubbed, are still fondly remembered in a city that has both loved and hated the Americans.

Throughout the Cold War, the U.S. military operated here, along with civilian flights. After the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the U.S. military gradually withdrew.

As the newly united Berlin melded its western and eastern halves, various uses were discussed for Tempelhof. But, in classic Berlin fashion, none were ever really decided. In the latest referendum in 2014, Berliners rejected a plan to build 4,700 homes while leaving up to 85 percent of its vast green space open.

City planners who may have cursed that missed opportunity to build needed housing are now at least partly relieved; where permanent houses might have gone up, they can now erect prefab housing for refugees not housed in hangars.

Holger Lippmann, 52, who leads the Tempelhof Projekt, has certainly felt the effects of the airports evolving fate. He came to the job in the summer of 2015 as a place holder, having previously been charged, for 13 years, with selling off land the city thought it did not need.

Now he will stay at least two years and is among those interested in preserving every inch of city land to house not just refugees but the increasing number of families staying in Berlin, or moving here, squeezing housing and schools.

For Lippmann and Elias, their part in Tempelhofs saga came suddenly. On the night of Oct. 23-24, they were told to ready a hangar for refugees.

Back then, 16,000 or more refugees were arriving at the Bavarian border each night, Lippmann said. They would put them in buses, then drivers would call us from the autobahn, saying they would be in Berlin in three hours. And in that time, you have to get the fire brigade, the police, even the army, and the volunteers organized.

Neither he nor Elias could give costs to date, or future costs, of the program. A lot, Elias said, when asked. Lippmann said just heating the inhabited hangars costs 20,000 euros a day ($26,000).

A recent visit on a fairly mild, windy day yielded glimpses of refugees, many on cellphones, others lying listless in their cramped bunks, and children being entertained by volunteers from a circus group and the charity Save the Children.

Dozens of new units, each containing a toilet, washbasin and shower for individual use, awaited hookup. They were purchased after refugees, particularly women, declined to use communal showers.

Almost each day brings a new challenge. After hundreds of women were assaulted on New Years Eve in Cologne by young men said to be migrants, women who work in more than 100 offices here became fearful.

After Cologne, we have a special sensitivity and worry, Lippmann said.

Employees once engaged in staging money-earning events  TV galas or fashion shows, for example  in Tempelhof are now busy undoing those contracts, and assessing refugee needs.

There are still reminders of the U.S. military presence here. A sign says this hangar was once part of Berlin Brigade/Freedom City, of the U.S. Army Aviation Department.

High Noise Protection Required, says another sign, in a hangar whose vastness mutes any buzz from the 800 or so refugees currently accommodated there.

The refugees have already added their own layer to Tempelhofs archaeology: graffiti on the white walls with simple messages or flags and emblems of Iraq, Kurdistan and Afghanistan.

I love you Syria, says one. Thank you Germane, says another, with a heart, referring to Germany. Still another: Love love love. And a smiling face with the word Hapee next to it.

Ideally, Elias said, refugees should spend just a few weeks here before moving through the system. He likens Germany to a society that used to cook with just salt and pepper.

Now, he said, we have a real potpourri.

The influx, he added, is positive  society is thinking about what kind of values it holds dear.
Despite an outpouring of public support for the popular executive director of the California Coastal Commission, the politically-appointed commissioners voted 7-5 late Wednesday to fire him.

The commission, created four decades ago, has vast power over land use and development on Californias 1,100 miles of coastline. Executive Director Charles Lester was unanimously appointed in 2011, but the commissions makeup has seen significant changes since then, with only five of the commissioners who voted to appoint Lester remaining.

Rather than resign quietly, Lester chose a public hearing to make his case. Wednesday, about 450 people packed the Morro Bay Community Center in San Luis Obispo County to plead the commissioners to allow Lester to keep his job. After more than five hours of testimony, it didnt work.

The huge public turnout was a celebration of the vitality of the California coastal program, Lester said after the vote to fire him. I am so energized by all the people who came together for this. This was not a created thing. This was a spontaneous expression of commitment to the coast of California.

Before going behind closed doors to discuss Lesters employment, the commissioners denied rumors that they were in the pockets of developers seeking to build on Californias coast and accusations that the effort to fire Lester was part of an ideological coup to take over the Coastal Commission.

If you dig a little you realize theres absolutely no truth to this narrative. Who are these pro-development forces? Where are they? And where are their puppet strings? said Commissioner Mark Vargas, who voted to fire Lester.

Thousands of people in the last few weeks sent letters to the commission supporting Lester, including ones signed by 35 former commissioners, 16 state legislators and 76 environmental and social justice groups, all praising Lesters record on preserving public access to Californias beaches and preparing coastal cities for sea level rise and global warming.

Two projects in Orange County will go before the commission this year: the desalination plant proposed by Poseidon Resources in Huntington Beach and the Banning Ranch development, a proposal to build houses on the largest privately owned, undeveloped parcel of land in Southern California.

In the days preceding the hearing, as it garnered national attention, the question of Lesters employment took on extra meaning: a statement on the direction of the Coastal Commission, and a test of whether or not it will start to bow to the developers and other monied interests that seek to make a profit off Californias coastline.

Created by voters in 1972 by Proposition 20, the Coastal Commission is tasked with protecting public access to beaches while preserving vital habitat for birds and wildlife. Four years later, the Legislature passed the Coastal Act, and enshrined the Coastal Commission in law permanently.

Because of that original grassroots effort, the Coastal Act and the Coastal Commission hold a cherished place in the hearts of many Californians. That emotion was obvious Wednesday when dozens of speakers stood up for Lester and implored the commissioners to not fire him.

The speakers accused the commission of failing to explain what Lester had done wrong and called on the commission to publicly explain its reasons for seeking to fire Lester and to hold any discussion or vote on the topic in public rather than behind closed doors. Commissioners said they couldnt publicly share personnel details.

Noting the overwhelming testimony in support of Lester and the criticism commissioners have endured from the public, Ralph Faust, who served two decades as chief counsel for the commission, was one of many who urged the commissioners to discuss Lesters employment in public.

Own it, whatever it is. Own it and defend it, he said.

More than 150 staffers who work under Lester signed a letter supporting him, and several spoke Wednesday.

He is a consensus builder. He is reasonable. He is easy to get along with, and we his staff are 100 percent behind his continued tenure as executive director, said Vanessa Miller, an associate governmental program analyst at the Coastal Commission.

Lester defended his record of preserving access to beaches and helping local governments update coastal development and conservation plans while preparing for sea level rise, which he described as the heart of his vision. Sea level rise raises the spectre that many of our favorite beaches could be lost, Lester said.

Lesters predecessor, Peter Douglas, served as executive director for 25 years and endured about a dozen attempts to oust him. Lester was Douglas hand-picked successor.
The saying goes, the Bay calls the day.

Waves at Waimea Bay didnt show up the way organizers of the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau contest expected, and they had to call the contest off.

The event  expected to run Wednesday  brought thousands of people to the sand with hopes that the contest would run for the first time since 2009. The big-wave riders, including San Clementes Greg long, packed their bags and rushed to the island for the contest.

The contest only runs when waves are 40 feet and bigger, and has only run eight times in the past three decades.

Its challenging to see what Mother Nature is going to bring to us, said big-wave commissioner and competitor Peter Mel, calling the decision shattering.

Im a bit demorilized at the moment, he said.

The swell was promising for the event, but it simply swept past the Hawaiian islands over night.

Lindsay Longacre, who lives on Oahu, woke up before sunrise and got to the North Shore at 5:30 a.m.  but wasnt too disappointed.

It was a pretty cool scene even though it didnt happen, she said.
Some Orange County hospitals, and many others across California, continue to struggle to fend off a hardy bacterium that can inflict life-threatening diarrhea on their patients, especially those who are 65 and older.

According to a report released Wednesday by the department of public health, 327 California hospitals reported 10,588 cases of Clostridium difficile in 2014  far more than any other type of infection that patients commonly acquire, including MRSA.

Nearly one-fifth of those hospitals, including four in Orange County, had significantly high rates of C. diff infections, according to the report:

 Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach

 La Palma Intercommunity Hospital

 Los Alamitos Medical Center

 UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange

Blame poor hygiene and antibiotics on C. diff, which is a bacteria that lives in some peoples intestines.

In hospitals, and especially in nursing homes, C. diff is either transmitted person-to-person or via surfaces when patients shed C. diff spores along with their feces, then dont wash their hands. In other people, those spores release toxins that can cause inflammation and damage the lining of the colon, leading to severe diarrhea. Serious infections can also lead to colitis, sepsis and death.

Antibiotics make people vulnerable to C. diff infection because the medicine kills beneficial bacteria that would otherwise help fight the infection. People on antibiotics are seven to 10 times more likely to get C. diff while on the drugs and during the month after, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

So, public health officials say, hospitals have to be judicious in prescribing antibiotics. But hospitals also contend with the fact that the spores are tough to kill. They withstand routine cleaning with detergents and survive when hit with alcohol-based gels.

The odds of contracting C. diff are low, but the consequences can be severe. The CDC estimates that of the nearly half-million people infected with C. diff in 2011, 29,000 died within 30 days of the infection diagnosis.

C. diff isnt a new problem. Nationwide, the number of patients discharged from hospitals with C. diff infections more than tripled to 300,000 from 1993 to 2005, according to a 2011 report from Consumers Union.

But some hospitals are doing a better job than others fighting it. The department of public health said 12 California hospitals significantly lowered their rates of C. diff infections in 2014. None were in Orange County.

The public health department doesnt use raw numbers when evaluating hospitals. Rather, it uses a rating system that takes into account factors that might drive up the number of C. diff infections in a particular hospital, including the number of beds, how it tests for C. diff and the number of patients who were infected before they were admitted to the hospital.

Contact the writer: jchandler@ocregister.com and @jennakchandler on Twitter
KOLKATA, India  A wild elephant rampaged through an east Indian town on Wednesday, smashing cars and homes and sending panicked people running before the animal was tranquilized to be returned to the forest.

As the frightened elephant ran amok, trampling parked cars and motorbikes, crowds of people gathered to watch from balconies and roof tops. Some followed from a distance as the elephant moved through the streets.

The elephant was scared and was trying to go back to the jungle, said Papaiya Sarkar, a 40-year-old homemaker who watched the elephant amble down a street near her home.

The elephant had wandered from the Baikunthapur forest, crossing roads and a small river before entering the town of Siliguri in West Bengal state.

Divisional Forest Officer Basab Rai said the female elephant appeared to be a loner without a herd, and was likely searching for food when it strayed into the town.

He said it did not attack any people, and appeared to be afraid of them. After several hours, it became clear the elephant was unable to find its way back to the forest.

Authorities eventually shot the elephant three times with a tranquilizer gun and used a crane to lift it into a truck once it had calmed down.

It was then taken to a park for domesticated pachyderms that is maintained by the forest department. Once the effect of the tranquilizer wore off, authorities planned to return the elephant to the forest, Rai said.

Elephants are increasingly coming into contact with people in India, as the human population of 1.25 billion soars and cities and towns grow at the expense of jungles and other elephant habitats. In India and Sri Lanka, more than 400 elephants and 250 humans are killed each year.

On Wednesday, another wild elephant trampled a farmer to death in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. The farmer had been sleeping in his paddy field when the elephant appeared, police told Press Trust of India.

Indias elephants are also threatened by speeding trains and illegal poachers looking for ivory to sell on the black market. Today, there are about 30,000 elephants across the country, restricted to about 15 percent of their historic habitat, according to the environment ministry.

Worldwide, elephants have disappeared from some 95 percent of their historical range, which once stretched from the shores of the Mediterranean to the Yellow River in northern China.
BURNS, Ore.  The FBI surrounded the last four occupiers of a wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon as they yelled at law enforcement officers in armored vehicles to back off, prayed with supporters over an open phone line, and said later they would turn themselves in Thursday morning.

The tense standoff between law enforcement officers and the four occupiers played out on the Internet beginning Wednesday night via a phone line being livestreamed by an acquaintance of occupier David Fry.

Fry, 27, of Blanchester, Ohio, sounded increasingly unraveled as he continually yelled, at times hysterically, at what he said was an FBI negotiator. Youre going to hell! Kill me! Get it over with, he said. Were innocent people camping at a public facility, and youre going to murder us.

The only way were leaving here is dead or without charges, Fry said, who told the FBI to get the hell out of Oregon.

Fry and the three others are the last remnants of an armed group that seized the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Jan. 2 to oppose federal land-use policies. The three others are Jeff Banta, 46, of Elko, Nevada; and married couple Sean Anderson, 48, and Sandy Anderson, 47, of Riggins, Idaho.

Fry said Wednesday the group was surrounded by armored vehicles.

A Nevada legislator, Michele Fiore, called in to try to get the occupiers to calm down. Fiore said she could help them only if they stayed alive.

I need you guys alive, said the Republican member of the Nevada Assembly who was in Portland earlier in the day to show support for Ammon Bundy, the jailed leader of the occupation. Fiore told occupiers Wednesday night she was driving to the refuge to try to help negotiate their exit from the refuge. The occupiers prayed with Fiore and others as the situation dragged on for hours Wednesday night.

Sean Anderson said late Wednesday he spoke with the FBI and that he and the three other holdouts would turn themselves in at a nearby FBI checkpoint at 8 a.m. Thursday.

Anderson relayed the news to Fiore.

Were not surrendering, were turning ourselves in. Its going against everything we believe in, he said.

Greg Bretzing, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon, said in a statement the situation had reached a point where it became necessary to take action to ensure the safety of all involved.

Bretzing said one of the occupiers rode an ATV outside the barricades established by the militia at the refuge. When FBI agents tried to approach the driver, Fry said he returned to the camp at a high rate of speed.

The FBI placed agents at barricades ahead of and behind the occupiers camp, Bretzing said.

It has never been the FBIs desire to engage these armed occupiers in any way other than through dialogue, and to that end, the FBI has negotiated with patience and restraint in an effort to resolve the situation peacefully, he said in a statement.

Authorities had for weeks allowed the occupiers to come and go freely from the remote refuge, leading to criticism from local and state officials that law enforcement wasnt doing enough to end the situation.

Group leader Ammon Bundy and others were arrested Jan. 26 on a remote road outside the refuge, but the four holdouts remained.

On Wednesday night Sandy Anderson said after the group was surrounded: Theyre threatening us. Theyre getting closer. I pray that theres a revolution if we die here tonight.

Her husband, Sean Anderson, said in the livestream: We will not fire until fired upon. We havent broken any laws, came here to recognize our constitutional rights.

The occupiers said they saw snipers on a hill and a drone.

The standoff was occurring on the 40th day of the occupation, launched by Bundy and his followers to protest prison terms for two local ranchers on arson charges and federal management of public lands.

Bundy was arrested last month as he and other main figures of the occupation were traveling to the town of John Day. Four others were also arrested in that confrontation, which resulted in the shooting death of the groups spokesman, Robert LaVoy Finicum. The FBI said Finicum was reaching for a gun.

Most of the occupiers fled the refuge after that. Authorities then surrounded the property and later got the holdouts added to an indictment charging 16 people with conspiracy to interfere with federal workers.

At first, Bundy urged the last holdouts to go home. But in response to the grand jury indictment, he took a more defiant tone from jail.
A three-day ordeal that began with a carjacking ended with a joyful reunion Wednesday morning when a San Bernardino man was reunited with a tiny terrier he thought was lost.

In front of several TV crews, Donald Mittica, 80, took his dog, Lola, into one of his arms in front of the Western Riverside County/City Animal Shelter in Jurupa Valley and scratched her neck, laughing at how fast her tail was wagging.

I got my companion back, he said.

As he held Lola, Mittica said he could barely find the words to say how he felt. Happiness, I can tell you that, he said.

Mittica last saw Lola on Monday afternoon, when he stepped into a San Bernardino restaurant for some tacos. When he got back into his car, he was surprised by a man inside his Toyota Camry waiting for him.

All of a sudden, an arm goes around my throat, Mittica said.

The man put the dog owner into a headlock and held him at knifepoint, then threw him out of the car and sped away, he said. Three-pound Lola, a white terrier, was still inside.

It was kind of a scary thing, Mittica said.

The car later was pulled over in Santa Ana about 5:30 p.m. Monday, San Bernardino police spokeswoman Eileen Hards said, and four juveniles were inside. Lola was not.

It seemed like what happened is they were driving to Santa Ana and they might have just shoved the dog out of the car, she said.

Hards said the juveniles were arrested but had not been linked to the car theft by Wednesday morning.

The whereabouts of Lola remained unknown until a good Samaritan brought the dog to the shelter Tuesday around 5:30 p.m.

The woman found the dog wandering near her home at the north side of Riverside, Riverside County Department Animal Services spokesman John Welsh said.

The dog was microchipped and Mitticas daughter Mary Ann Schmidt, 47, of Highland, had provided a picture that was posted on Facebook, which was shared by the Police Department as well as an animal rescue group.

Lola was a gift from Schmidts niece to Mittica and his wife, Sheila, about a year and half ago. Mittica said he became especially close to Lola after Sheila, his wife of 43 years, died two months later.

He loves that dog, Schmidt said, referring to it affectionately as a rat dog because of its size.

When they went to pick up his car Tuesday, they hoped that Lola, who likes to curl up under the back seat, might still be there, unnoticed by the carjacker, she said. They even found Mitticas drivers license in the car, she said.

Mittica said the last few days were like hell on wheels for him.

Fortunately, it worked out pretty doggone good, he said.

Staff writer Anne Millerbernd contributed to this report.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9558 or ighori@pressenterprise.com
Of course Michael Moore exaggerates. Of course he engages in cheerful, unabashed cherry-picking. Of course he sees black and white where most of us see shades of gray.

That doesnt necessarily mean hes wrong.

It just means hes being Michael Moore  and in his latest documentary, Where to Invade Next, its a more impishly entertaining Moore than usual, using comedy and even a bit of fantasy to prove his point. Which is, basically, that Europe has some ideas on how to run a society that Americans should plunder and pillage  er, adopt!  forthwith. But lest that seem an overly harsh indictment of the United States, Moore also seeks to remind us that many of these admirable ideas originated in America in the first place.

A jocular tone is set from the start, when Moore is summoned to the Pentagon. In this fantasy, U.S. military leaders beg him for help. Michael, we dont know what the (expletive) were doing, they say. Weve lost all the wars since World War II.

Can Moore help? Why yes, Moore replies. Yes he can.

Heres the plan: Moore himself will invade other countries to bring home whats useful. The first target is Italy.

He zooms in on a working-class Italian couple that seems to truly have it all: good jobs, plenty of leisure time, and the money to enjoy it, thanks to seven weeks of paid vacation, an extra months pay each year, and oh, two-hour lunch breaks. Maternity leave, you ask? Five months paid. To twist the knife, Moore reminds us there are only two countries in the world that dont have mandated maternity leave: Papua New Guinea, and, yes, the USA.

Next stop: France. As usual, the French offered little resistance, Moore quips. But soon you wont be laughing at Frances expense  not when you see how well they feed their schoolchildren. An average district in Normandy serves four-course lunches with scallops to start, followed by lamb on skewers and a cheese course  Camembert is just one option  before dessert. Moore brings a can of Coke. Nah, the kids say.

On to Finland, where a forward-looking education system sees excessive homework as a hindrance to learning, and even eschews multiple-choice questions. Getting the picture?

Near the end, Moore detours to Tunisia, where he finds a young radio journalist wondering eloquently why Americans know so little about others.

Why arent you curious about US? she asks. We deserve your attention.

Its the heart of Moores argument, actually: that wherever we stand on the issues, we could stand to learn from others. And its pretty hard to argue with.
WASHINGTON  Seeking to derail North Koreas drive for nuclear weapons, Republican and Democratic senators set aside their partisan differences Wednesday to unanimously pass legislation aimed at starving Pyongyang of the money it needs to build an atomic arsenal.

The Senate approved the sanctions bill 96-0 after lawmakers repeatedly denounced Pyongyang for flouting international law by pursuing nuclear weapons.

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., said for too long North Korea has been dismissed as a strange country run by irrational leaders. Its time to take North Korea seriously, Menendez said.

The Senate bill, authored by Menendez and Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., targets North Koreas ability to finance the development of miniaturized nuclear warheads and the long-range missiles required to deliver them. The legislation also authorizes $50 million over the next five years to transmit radio broadcasts into North Korea, purchase communications equipment and support humanitarian assistance programs.

The legislation comes in the wake of Pyongyangs recent satellite launch and technical advances that U.S. intelligence agencies said the reclusive Asian nation is making in its nuclear weapons program.

Gardner said the Obama administrations policy of strategic patience with North Korea has failed. The situation in the Korea peninsula is at its most unstable point since the armistice, said Gardner, referring to the 1953 agreement to end the Korean War.

The House overwhelmingly approved North Korean sanctions legislation last month. While there are differences in the two bills, Sen. Bob Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he does not expect any difficulty in producing a final measure.

The House sent the Senate a bill that was very strong and weve been able to improve it, said Corker, a Tennessee Republican. I think theyll be happy with those improvements.

GOP senators and presidential candidates Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida rushed back from the campaign to vote, but one presidential hopeful didnt make it. Democratic candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont missed the vote. He issued a statement expressing his support for the legislation.

Also missing the vote were Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

North Korea on Sunday launched a long-range rocket carrying an Earth observation satellite into space. The launch, which came about a month after the countrys fourth nuclear test, was quickly condemned by world leaders as a potential threat to regional and global security.

Washington, Seoul and others consider the launch a banned test of missile technology. That assessment is based on Pyongyangs efforts to manufacture nuclear-tipped missiles capable of striking the U.S. mainland; the technology used to launch a rocket carrying a satellite into space can be applied to fire a long-range missile.

In the annual assessment of global threats delivered to Congress on Tuesday, Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper said North Korea has expanded a uranium enrichment facility and restarted a plutonium reactor that could start recovering material for nuclear weapons in weeks or months.

Both findings will deepen concern that North Korea is not only making technical advances in its nuclear weapons program, but is working to expand what is thought to be a small nuclear arsenal. U.S.-based experts have estimated that North Korea may have about 10 bombs, but that could grow to between 20 and 100 by 2020.

Clapper said Pyongyang has not flight-tested a long-range, nuclear-armed missile but is committed to its development.

North Korea already faces wide-ranging sanctions from the United States and under existing U.N. resolutions is prohibited from trading in weapons and importing luxury goods.

The new legislation seeks additional sanctions  both mandatory and at the discretion of the president  against the government of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and those who assist it.

It would require the investigation and punishment of those who knowingly import into North Korea any goods or technology related to weapons of mass destruction; those who engage in human rights abuses, money laundering and counterfeiting that supports the Kim regime; and those who engage in cyber-terrorism.

The bill also bans foreign assistance to any country that provides lethal military equipment to North Korea, and targets Pyongyangs trade in key industrial commodities.

The White House director for Asian affairs, Daniel Kritenbrink, told reporters Wednesday that discussions are continuing at the U.N. Security Council to impose new sanctions on North Korea, and the U.S. is considering other unilateral measures. He did not elaborate on what those measures might be.

The principal action the Obama administration has taken to date in response to the nuclear and rocket tests has been to start discussions with close ally South Korea on deploying a new missile defense system.
Two Anaheim elementary schools have mariachi bands  and theres one soft-spoken, articulate kid with a booming, beautiful voice who helped make that happen.

Sean Oliu, 13, was a student at Adelaide Price Elementary School three years ago when he was a finalist on La Voz Kids, Telemundos Spanish-language counterpart to NBCs The Voice.

For finishing so high, he won $4,000 that he could donate to any organization.

Sean wanted to buy instruments for students at Price Elementary, but like other Anaheim City School District campuses, the school didnt even have a music program at the time.

His mother, Robbie Hernandez-Oliu, talked to Superintendent Linda Wagner, who was already committed to creating a districtwide music program. Hernandez-Oliu mentioned how great it would be if schools also could teach mariachi.

She looked at me and said, Why not? Hernandez-Oliu recalled.

The mom and son organized their first fundraiser in 2014 to create an after-school mariachi program for Price that was held in Olius grandmothers backyard. It raised about $6,000 to add to Olius donated winnings from the voice contest. With the support of other parents, more fundraisers followed.

Today, Price and Juarez elementary schools boast mariachi groups with some 120 students who meet weekly with professional musicians to learn Mexican music and its traditional instruments.

Because its mariachi, it helps build a strong bond with our culture, said Oliu, now an eighth-grader at Sycamore Junior High School.

My goal would be to see every single student in our schools and our district play an instrument and explore the arts, he said. Music is everything.





Contact the writer: 714-796-7829 or rkopetman@ocregister.com
The folks who own and manage the regions biggest properties may be seeing a future chill in their climate.

Local commercial real estate executives remain generally optimistic, but that enthusiasm is decidedly tempered, according to the latest biannual edition of the Allen Matkins/UCLA Anderson Forecast. It surveys local real estate executives about their three-year outlooks for key industry segments.

A broad economic revival brings strong job growth, and a modest amount of new development keeps many property owners in a good spot for property values, vacancy rates, rent increases as well as for future development opportunities.

There is still room for improvement, but people are smart enough to know that six-plus years into a recovery that things dont go on forever. They getting more cautious, says John Tipton of Allen Matkins, a law firm well-known in real estate circles.

Heres how the Matkins/UCLA survey saw key slices of Orange Countys commercial real estate market.

Office: Orange Countys optimism score trailed only Los Angeles among the six California markets tracked.

The survey found shrinking optimism over two years for Orange Countys office vacancy rate, but that cooling enthusiasm may reflect the limited amount of empty space. Hopes for rising rental rates are strong, but still at a two-year low.

This was a market that was hit very hard in the downturn, Tipton says. So it is coming back a little late. But once it got its footing, the last couple of years its been among the strongest markets in our survey.

Apartments: Limited vacancies puts landlords in a good spot, until new development puts pressures on rising rents. Orange County optimism ranked fourth of five California markets tracked.

People still need a place to live, Tipton says. But supply is starting to meet demand.

Industrial: Orange County ranked fifth out of seven California markets tracked for optimism for warehouse and factory spaces. But the local markets remains strong with virtual no empty spaces.

The market is always going to be tight, Tipton says. In all coastal communities, its not like theres a ton of industrial space. The land costs so much, so there a ton of warehouses in the Inland Empire where land is cheaper.

Retail: This is the first time this survey has tackled this real estate niche, which has shown surprising resilience despite the draw of shopping dollars to online merchants. Orange County retail optimism was second only to Los Angeles, among the six California markets tracked.

What you do see is that people still like to get out of the house, Tipton says. But they dont want to go to their enclosed mall or Kmart.

Contact the writer: jlansner@ocregister.com
They might not be four-star heroes, but theyre the restaurants where we love to take our favorite person. A place where weve created memories: the time we sent the chef a glass of cult cabernet and got a thumbs-up and a smile from across the room; the night we forgot to make a reservation and the maitre d found us a booth anyway; the birthday dinner when we were treated to cake and a glass of Champagne.

Its not always the breathtaking atmosphere that draws us back. Its that comforting service, good food and let-your-hair-down feeling you get when you walk through the door, knowing theres an intimate corner where you can converse without raising your voice.

This is an ode to unlikely romantic restaurants. It could be a neighborhooder, a cantina with an outstanding bar menu or even a killer Sichuan joint.

These are the Food Teams personal favorites when we need to reconnect with that special someone.

Haven Gastropub: A loud, open-floor gastropub packed with twentysomethings and snooty craft beer aficionados shouldnt conjure up images of romance. But, if you get that right table  the two top window seats overlooking century-old buildings in Old Towne Orange  youll hardly notice the high-volume chatter of the main dining room and bar.

Ever since Haven Gastropub opened in 2009, its been a go-to spot for date night for me and my husband, Brady. We love craft beer and Greg Daniels edgy menu. The bar-top table is along the floor-length windows overlooking Glassell Street. The cozy table is small, making it easy to hold an intimate conversation while sharing a glorious burger and a flight of carefully curated craft beer.

Daniels, executive chef and partner at Haven, said the two-person window seats have become an unintended go-to spot for couples looking for some privacy in an otherwise busy atmosphere. Im not sure that it was designed with romance in mind, but we do have many couples request the window seats nightly, Daniels said.

Prices: Haven Burger, $18. Craft beers are $6-$10 a glass.

Reservations: Definitely recommended, as there are only three window seats. Call ahead or request via OpenTable. Being spontaneous? If you get there before 6 p.m., chances are pretty good that you wont have to wait too long for a window seat. 190 S. Glassell St., Orange. 714-221-0680, havengastropub.com.

 Nancy Luna

Mona Lisa Cucina: Who knew that an ordinary-looking restaurant that we pass daily on the way home from work could be such a find? We finally stopped in after hearing good things from our favorite somm, never before attracted to this drab-on-the-outside spot in a strip mall with a doughnut shop and a Goodwill thrift store.

Mona Lisa is an Italian restaurant with a French chef, Francois Lieutaud, and unremarkable decor  all the atmosphere is created by the super-friendly staff. The Mona Lisa salad with greens, goat cheese, caramelized walnuts and beets in Champagne-orange dressing sets the stage, then its pesce Siciliana, white fish with almonds in orange-lemon butter. We also like anything in a cream sauce  dont forget, the chef is French!

And pay attention to specials: Weve been pleasantly surprised with a tasty prix fixe menu on Julia Childs birthday. But casual digs mean you can stop by in your sloppy jeans or still dressed in business attire to celebrate a meeting that went beyond expectations. Prices are low, so theres never any regret about treating ourselves.

Dinner prices: $11-$21.

Reservations: Always recommended at this neighborhood favorite. Without one, weve waited over an hour on a weeknight. 9017 E. Adams Ave., Huntington Beach. 714-965-9900, monalisacucina.com

 Anne Valdespino

Kappo Honda: Here, the beguiling scent of smoke curling from an oak-charcoal fire greets us, a glass partition separating grill master from guest at the intimate bar by the front door. Over the flames, two long metal bars elevate short skewers filled with glistening tidbits, some with meat or seafood, others threaded with vegetables. This unassuming Japanese izakaya restaurant specializes in yakitori, skewered delicacies basted with a mixture of mirin, soy sauce and sugar.

My husband and I feel relaxed and happy here, especially if we score one of the wood-lined booths on the far side of the restaurant (a romantic victory that is more likely early on weeknights). We settle in with the long checklist of yakitori selections, penciling in our favorites to give to the server. There is everything from chicken hearts to asparagus wrapped in see-through curtains of fresh pork belly. We order single skewers so that we can sample a wider variety. Sharing fuels conversation and negotiation.

Prices: Yakitori is $2-$6.25. Menu also includes salads, soups, sushi and entrees.

Reservations: Highly recommended on weekends. 18450 Brookhurst St., Fountain Valley. 714-964-4629, izakayahondaya.com

 Cathy Thomas

Manpuku Japanese Grill: Everyone has their own idea of what makes a restaurant romantic. Some people need candlelight, while others just want to be able to whisper. Some find it romantic to get dressed up for an expensive, 12-course dinner with wine pairings. I get that. Those things often work for me. But I also find romance in cramped, intimate spaces where the hubbub becomes a soothing white noise, as is always the case at Manpuku, a 40-seat Japanese grill where my partner and I are forced to turn off Instagram for a minute and cook our own food. Theres always a wait for a table, but once inside, private booths add to the illusion of intimacy. Discreet servers politely come and go, delivering more meat and sake and replenishing the charcoal without making a sound or interrupting the conversation.

Prices: Go for the set menus, roughly $35-$55 per person.

Reservations: Not accepted. Arrive early and expect to wait. 891 Baker St., Costa Mesa. 714-708-3290, manpuku.us

 Brad A. Johnson

The Twisted Vine: The dreamchild of husband-and-wife Chris and Jessica Castillo, this rustic downtown Fullerton hideaway in a historic red-brick building is popular with the locals for its alluring combination of casual charm, good food and an excellent wine inventory. Weekly wine and beer flights are alway intelligently composed (and sometimes even humorous  theres a Girl Scout cookie beer flight). The shareable plates match the wine perfectly, and theyre imaginative: baked brie in a sourdough bowl, chorizo potato empanadas, the P.L.T. (pancetta, arugula, tomato and thyme mayo on an open-face brioche). The heated patio is a favorite spot for couples.

Prices: $9-$17

Reservations: 127 W. Commonwealth Ave., Fullerton. 714-871-1200, twistedvinewines.com

 Paul Hodgins
SACRAMENTO  Californias new corrections chief plans to add training on diversity and leadership for prison employees and to examine what has been effective in other states to change employees attitudes as he tries to alter a culture that often pits prison guards against inmates and outsiders.

They (guards) have worked under very difficult situations and we have to figure a way to get them engaged in the rehabilitation process and not just be somebody counting heads, Scott Kernan told The Associated Press in an interview.

He took over as secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation last month after starting as a correctional officer himself in 1983. Kernan worked his way up through management at a time when California prisons were so crowded that federal judges eventually set a limit on the inmate population.

Crowded conditions meant a violent atmosphere, few rehabilitation programs and an us-against-them attitude from guards, Kernan said.

Its just emotional survival. You tend to paint, for example, all inmates with a broad brush of negativity, and I think weve got to change that, he said.

Altering that culture is his top priority as secretary, now that prisons are less crowded and state policymakers are emphasizing inmate rehabilitation, he said.

Kernan, 55, assumed the top post days after the state inspector general said the union that represents most correctional officers is encouraging a code of silence. The report came more than a decade after the department first tried to end a culture in which prison guards protect one another when they witness wrongdoing.

It was part of a scathing investigation that found guards at an isolated state prison created a culture of racism and used an alarming amount of force against inmates, among many other problems.

Kernan plans more training for rank-and-file employees, leadership programs for supervisors, and a search for practices that have worked in other states as he tries to change attitudes. He also plans to work more cooperatively with the inspector generals office and inmates attorneys who filed the class-action lawsuits that largely drive prison policies and led to the federal population cap.

The additional training is patterned after that being offered at High Desert State Prison after the inspector generals report. That includes stress management and diversity classes for all employees and a national executive training class for wardens.

The more training officers have, the better suited they are to contributing to a better correctional system, said Nichol Gomez-Pryde, spokeswoman for the California Correctional Peace Officers Association. She added that the majority of correctional officers are professionals who take their duty and oath seriously.

However, the union is suing the department and Inspector General Robert Barton over the months-long investigation at High Desert.

Barton alleged the union advised members not to cooperate and otherwise tried to hinder the investigation. The union says the department and inspector general violated employees rights by requiring them to talk to investigators.

Barton praised Kernan for taking positive steps.

Thus far, Secretary Kernan has indicated a willingness to advance the Governors vision for a more rehabilitative prison system, Barton said in a statement.

Kernan was the departments undersecretary of operations until Gov. Jerry Brown appointed him to replace departing secretary Jeffrey Beard.

Kernan also said California is on a pathway to regain responsibility for the prison medical system more than a decade after a federal judge seized control as inmates died from neglect or malpractice.

Bartons office on Wednesday said that an inspection found maximum-security Pelican Bay State Prison is now providing adequate medical care.

Its the seventh prison to receive a passing grade since the inspections started last year. But the federal court-appointed receiver who runs the prison medical system has only returned one prison, in Folsom, to state control.

Kernan said he expects that pace to quicken as he works cooperatively with the receiver and Bartons office.

Inspections have found sub-standard care at three other state prisons.
Competition is a key element for improving Californias public schools, which, despite some reforms, continue to perform near the bottom of the 50 states on national tests. Thats why we favor continuing an innovative program called Districts of Choice, a reform enacted in 1992 and since extended by the Legislature.

Normally, children have to get permission from their geographically assigned district to attend a different district. But according to an analysis by Senate Committee on Education, a school district can declare itself a DOC willing to accept a specified number of interdistrict transfers. Pupil selection has to be random, except priority goes to siblings of children already in attendance in the DOC and children of military personnel.

The state has 47 DOCs, comprising about 5 percent of school districts and serving 10,000 students. Unfortunately, none is in Orange County.

According to EducationNext, after Riverside Unified declared itself a DOC in 2010, the change spurred it to start a science and technology middle school, a dual-language immersion elementary, an all-digital high school, an arts-centered grade school, a virtual school starting at grade 3, and more.

Surrounding districts were upset about losing their students, and the state funding attached to them. But its obvious that competition made Riverside attractive enough for parents to switch their kids schools.

DOC legislation expires June 30, 2017. But the California Legislative Analyst just endorsed reauthorizing the DOC program for at least five more years because it appeals to many types of families seeking alternative educational options.  The program is relatively small in comparison to other choice programs, such as charter schools. [B]ut it provides an alternative when these options are unavailable and when neighboring districts no longer are granting interdistrict permits.

Sen. Bob Huff, R-San Dimas, is working on a bill to either extend DOCs for five years or make them permanent. We recommend the latter for a program that has bipartisan support. And more Orange County districts should stop stalling and make themselves DOCs to give kids more choice.
SAN DIEGO  For the 15th time, officials denied parole for Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, after hearing Wednesday from another person who was shot that night and called for Sirhans release.

The decision came after Sirhan answered questions from a California parole panel during a hearing that lasted more than three hours in a small, windowless conference room.

Commissioners concluded Sirhan did not show adequate remorse or understand the enormity of his crime.

This crime impacted the nation, and I daresay it impacted the world, commissioner Brian Roberts said. It was a political assassination of a viable Democratic presidential candidate.

During the hearing, the 71-year-old Sirhan stuck to his previous account that he did not remember the shooting in 1968 at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after Kennedy won the Democratic presidential primary in California.

He said he recalled being in the hotel then going to his car and returning after realizing he had too much to drink. He said he became interested in a female and they drank coffee in a hotel pantry.

Its all vague now, Sirhan told the parole panel. Im sure you all have it in your records, I cant deny it or confirm it, I just wish this whole thing had never taken place.

Sirhan, a native of Jerusalem, listened intently during most of the hearing, turning testy when commissioners pressed him on his memory. He said he felt remorse for any crime victim but added that he couldnt take responsibility for the shooting.

If you want a confession, I cant make it now, Sirhan said. Legally speaking, Im not guilty of anything.  Its not that Im making light of it. Im responsible for being there.

Sirhan said incriminating statements he made at trial were the result of an ineffective defense attorney who pressured him into thinking he was guilty.

Paul Schrade, 91, told the panel that he believes Sirhan shot him at the hotel but an unidentified second shooter killed Kennedy.

Schrade was alongside the candidate when five people were injured in the June 5 shooting. Schrade was shot in the head.

Schrade pleaded for the release of Sirhan at the hearing and apologized to him for not doing more over the years to secure his freedom.

Schrades voice broke with emotion at times during his hour of testimony that recounted his efforts to unravel questions about the shooting.

I forgive you for shooting me, Schrade told Sirhan. I should have been here long ago and thats why I feel guilty for not being here to help you and to help me.

The two men faced each other for the first time since Schrade testified at Sirhans 1969 trial.

Schrade was western regional director of the United Auto Workers Union and labor chair of Kennedys campaign at the time of the shooting.

On Wednesday, Sirhan nodded politely each time Schrade sought his forgiveness.

Schrade showed flashes of anger against Roberts, who admonished him for violating protocol by addressing Sirhan directly.

Schrade also criticized a representative of the Los Angeles County district attorneys office for making what Schrade called a venomous statement against the release of Sirhan.

Roberts at one point asked Schrade to wrap up his presentation, saying quite frankly, youre losing us.

I think you have been lost for a long time, Schrade shot back.

Earlier in the hearing, the commissioner asked if anyone wanted a break. Schrade spoke up from the audience and said, no I want this to get over, I find it very abusive.

Retired Deputy District Attorney David Dahle argued at the hearing for the district attorneys office.

The prisoner has still not come to grips with what he has done, Dahle told the panel.

Sirhan is serving a life sentence that was commuted from death when the California Supreme Court briefly outlawed capital punishment in 1972.

In one of many emotional outbursts during his 1969 trial, Sirhan blurted out that he had committed the crime with 20 years of malice aforethought.

That and his declaration when arrested, I did it for my country, were his only relevant comments before he said he didnt remember shooting Kennedy.

Sirhan told the panel Wednesday that if released, he hoped he would be deported to Jordan or live with his brother in Pasadena, California.

His hope, he said, was just to live out my life peacefully, in harmony with my fellow man.

This is such a traumatic experience, its a horrendous experience that for me to keep dwelling on it is harmful to me, Sirhan said.

As Sirhan left the hearing, Schrade shouted, Sirhan, Im so sorry this is happening to you. Its my fault.

Sirhan tried to shake his hand but a guard prevented it.
PAJU, South Korea  North Korea on Thursday ordered a military takeover of a factory park that had been the last major symbol of cooperation with South Korea, calling Seouls earlier suspension of operations at the jointly run facility as punishment for the Norths recent rocket launch a dangerous declaration of war.

North Korea said it was responding to Seouls shutdown order by immediately deporting the hundreds of South Koreans who work at the complex just across the worlds most heavily armed border in the city of Kaesong, pulling out the tens of thousands of North Korean employees and freezing all South Korean assets. The North also said it was shutting down two crucial cross-border communication hotlines.

Hours after the Norths expulsion deadline, South Koreas Unification Ministry, which is responsible for ties with the North, said all of the 280 South Korean workers who had been at the facility finally crossed into South Korea.

The Norths moves significantly raised the stakes in a standoff that began with North Koreas nuclear test last month, followed by a long-range rocket launch on Sunday that outsiders see as a banned test of ballistic missile technology. South Korea responded Thursday by beginning work to suspend operations at the factory park, one of its harshest possible punishment options.

South Korea said it would ban reporters from the border crossing on Friday.

I was told not to bring anything but personal goods, so Ive got nothing but my clothes to take back, a manager at a South Korean apparel company at the complex, who declined to give his name, told The Associated Press by phone before he crossed South.

Chang Beom Kang, who has been running an apparel company in Kaesong since 2009, said from South Korea that his company has about 920 North Korean workers  who didnt show up on Thursday  and seven South Korean managers at Kaesong.

He said one of his workers, who entered Kaesong earlier Thursday, was about to cross the border to return to South Korea with thousands of womens clothes produced at the factory. But at the last minute the employee had to drive back to the factory to unload the clothes because of North Koreas announcement that it would freeze all South Korean assets there.

Im devastated now, Kang said by phone, saying hes worried about losing credibility with clients because of the crisis.

Yonhap news agency, citing an unidentified military official, reported that South Korea bolstered its military readiness and strength along the western portion of the border in the event of a North Korean provocation. The report didnt elaborate on what that meant. Seouls Defense Ministry would only say that its military has been on high alert since the Norths nuclear test last month.

North Koreas Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said in a statement that the Souths shutdown of Kaesong was a dangerous declaration of war and a declaration of an end to the last lifeline of the North-South relations. Such over-the-top rhetoric is typical of the Norths propaganda, but the country appeared to be backing up its language with its strong response.

North Korea, in its statement, also issued crude insults against South Korean President Park Geun-hye, saying she masterminded the shutdown and calling her a confrontational wicked woman who lives upon the groin of her American boss. Such sexist language is also typical of North Korean propaganda.

North Korea has previously cut off cross-border communication channels in times of tension with South Korea, but they were later restored after animosities eased.

Seoul said its decision on Kaesong was an effort to stop North Korea from using hard currency earned from the park to develop its nuclear and missile programs.

Earlier Thursday, along the South Korean side of the border, a stream of large white trucks lined up before crossing into North Korea, presumably to bring back products and gear from the factories.

North Korea, in a fit of anger over U.S.-South Korean military drills, pulled its workers from Kaesong for about five months in 2013. But, generally, the complex has long been seen as above the constant squabbling and occasional bloodshed between the rival Koreas, one of the last few bright spots in a relationship more often marked by threats of war.

Park, the South Korean president, has now done something her conservative predecessor resisted, even after two attacks blamed on North Korea killed 50 South Koreans in 2010. She has shown a willingness to take quick action when provoked by the North. When North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test last month, for instance, she resumed anti-Pyongyang propaganda from loudspeakers along the border, despite what Seoul says was an exchange of cross-border artillery fire the last time she used the speakers.

The factory park, which started producing goods in 2004, has provided 616 billion won ($560 million) of cash to North Korea, South Korean Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo said.

Combining South Korean initiative, capital and technology with the Norths cheap labor, the industrial park has been seen as a test case for reunification between the Koreas. Last year, 124 South Korean companies hired 54,000 North Korean workers to produce socks, wristwatches and other goods worth about $500 million.

South Korean businesses with factories at the park reacted with a mixture of disappointment and anger. In a statement, the association of South Korean companies at Kaesong denounced Seouls decision as entirely incomprehensible and unjust.

The park also allowed people from both Koreas to interact with each other and glimpse into lives on the other side of the border. Some South Korean snacks have become popular among North Korean workers.
For the past several weeks, regular visitors to Disneyland have noticed temporary stages and lighting being set up at different locations around the park. When they asked cast members, they found out it was for taping a television special about the parks 60th Anniversary.

The two-hour special, called The Wonderful World of Disney: Disneyland 60, will include a large dance number on Main Street, U.S.A., a tour of some rarely seen areas, such as Walt Disneys fire station apartment, and performances by Fall Out Boy and Elton John.

For Elton Johns performance, the executive producing team of Jesse Ignjatovic and Evan Prager decided to place his million-dollar red piano right in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Dream big is the overriding theme of the special, and we decided to dream big, said Ignjatovic.

The taping of Johns performance was done at night, but visitors to the park still there were allowed to watch him perform. The end of his number featured fireworks going off behind the castle.

Other musical performances include Pentatonix singing their version of Be Our Guest during the opening number.

The heart of the show is music and performances. Those musical moments are what make the show so special, Prager said.

For the show, they also taped several presentations and musical performances in Hollywood at the Dolby Theater before invited guests.

On stage for that part of the show were Fall Out Boy, Jessie J, Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford, giving a preview of Disneylands upcoming Star Wars land.

Also appearing, and dancing with some chimney sweeps, was 90-year-old Disney legend Dick Van Dyke.

The show has Derek Hough as its host.

The special airs Sunday, February 21, at 8 p.m. on ABC.

Contact the writer: meades@ocregister.com
One out of every six Orange County veterans who enlisted after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was homeless at some point in 2014, a study of local veterans showed.

By comparison, just one in 10 of pre-9/11 vets experienced homelessness that year.

And while the military is billed as a way for young people to jump-start their careers, retired service members say just the opposite is true.

Orange County vets say theyre behind their peers in education and job experience, Carol Ferguson of the Orange County Community Foundation told a symposium on housing for veterans Wednesday in Irvine.

Theyre told in the military, Youre not going to have any problems finding a job. You have a good skill set, Ferguson said. Theyre generally pretty surprised how hard it is finding a job with a civilian employer.

Ferguson was one of three keynote speakers at the symposium, held at USCs Orange County campus.

Several local affordable housing advocates created the symposium to bring developers and service providers together to address the specific issues facing veterans in one of the priciest housing markets in the nation.

Ferguson presented findings from a 2015 study by USC and the O.C. Community Foundation, which found retired service members are significantly underprepared for civilian life when it comes to finding jobs and housing.

The problems appear to be worse for veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq than for older vets.

Among the studys findings:

 After nearly 14 years of war, an estimated 6,500 military veterans are settling in Orange County each year, the study said.

 61 percent of post-9/11 veterans reported they had problems adjusting to civilian life compared with 30 percent of pre-9/11vets.

 28 percent of post-9/11 veterans were unemployed. Only half had full-time jobs, and of those, 35 percent were in low-wage jobs.

 35 percent of post-9/11 vets hadnt lined up permanent housing upon discharge. Several reported they would have been homeless if they had not been able to stay with relatives or friends. For older vets, 29 percent hadnt lined up permanent housing.

 Nearly 18 percent of post-9/11 vets experienced some form of homelessness in 2014, such as sleeping in a shelter, on the street, in an abandoned building or in their car. For older vets, 10 percent experienced some form of homelessness that year.

Nationally, veterans are estimated to make up 13 percent to a third of all homeless people. An estimated 62,600 U.S. veterans are homeless.

In all, Orange County has about 125,000 retired military service members, or just over 4 percent of the entire population and the fourth largest veteran population in the state, Ferguson said.

While finding affordable housing here is a challenge for middle-income families of all stripes, veterans have special problems that others dont face, said Antoinette Balta, president and co-founder of the Santa Ana-based Veterans Legal Institute.

How do you go from hero to homeless veteran? What happens to these people? asked Balta, whose group provides free legal services to retired military personnel. Many, she said, struggle with post traumatic stress, traumatic brain injury, sexual assault or substance abuse.

Red tape often stymies those who seek to provide affordable housing for veterans, said Rochelle Mills, one of the symposiums organizers.

Doing affordable rental housing for a regular family and doing affordable rental housing for a veteran family are two different beasts, said Mills, chair of the housing working group committee for the Orange County Veterans and Military Families Collaborative, a coalition of more than 100 local nonprofit groups.

For example, Mills organization, Innovative Housing Opportunities, is seeking preferential treatment for veterans at an affordable housing development in Brea. But most of the apartments in the project have too many bedrooms to qualify rent vouchers for homeless veterans, so many cant qualify to move there.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7734 or jcollins@ocregister.com
Five Orange County restaurants made Yelps Top 100 Places to Eat in the U.S. for 2016, according to rankings released Wednesday.

Mama Ds Italian Kitchen, an Italian coastal favorite in Newport Beach, ranked the highest at No. 8. It was followed by Cream Pan of Tustin (No. 11), Mr BBQ of Fullerton, CA (No. 27), Istanbul Grill California of Fountain Valley (No. 43) and Rockfire Grill of Mission Viejo (No. 60).

Unlike last year, the rankings are based on performance since the founding of Yelp in 2004.

This list is a combination of classic favorites and new up-and-comers that garnered lots of positive attention, Yelp said. We analyzed which places were the all-time most popular and well reviewed on Yelp.

Restaurants were compared using a ranking that looks at both the ratings and the number of reviews while accounting for quality, popularity, and statistical fluctuations, Yelp said. Newcomers were able to crack the 100 based on the high number of quality reviews over a two-year period, Yelp explains.

Of the five restaurants ranked, Cream Pan and Mama Ds are among the best known. The Tustin bakery, in business for more than a decade, is known for its namesake puffy, sweet bun filled with light custard, as well as its custard and strawberry filled croissants. Mama Ds is a longtime neighborhood favorite for classic Italian fare along Newport Boulevard.

Newcomer Rockfire Grill features stone cooked pizzas and flat breads, as well as burgers. The Yelp ranking is based on reviews from its Mission Viejo location. However, it has another location in Santa Ana on 17th Street, near Tustin Avenue. A third one is coming soon to Newport Beach, at the old JackShrimp location on 1200 West Coast Highway.

Yelps No. 1 restaurant is Portos Bakery & Cafe of Burbank. The Los Angeles institution, with other locations in Glendale and Downey, is known for its Cuban cakes, French mousses, Italian sweets, cheese rolls and cheese strudels.

Curious Orange County foodies wont have to fight freeway traffic to give Portos a shot. The bakery recently announced plans to open a shop in Buena Park.

Gen Korean BBQ House of Cerritos ranked No. 37. The Korean BBQ restaurant also has a location in Tustin.

Last year, nine Orange County restaurants made the top 100, including Cream Pan, Mama Ds and Istanbul Grill.

To see the complete list, head over to Yelps Top 100 Places to Eat in the US for 2016: Fast Track to a Food Coma.
Global PR and communications agency Hotwire this week announced a series of senior appointments in its San Francisco and New York offices.

Greg Mondshein

Greg Mondshein has been named a senior vice president at Hotwires New York headquarters. Mondshein joins Hotwire from Miami-based consumer technology agency Max Borges Agency, where he was vice president and advised that agency's sizeable roster of tech clients. He first joined Max Borges as an account executive in 2007, before later filling account manager and director positions before becoming vice president in 2012.

Mondshein is married to Max Borges account supervisor Kristen Mondshein, who, as reported today by O'Dwyer's, relocated to that agency's newly opened New York office from its Miami headquarters.

At Hotwire, Mondshein will now guide the agencys continued growth by bolstering its reputation and network in the U.S.

Laura McDonald

Laura Macdonald has been named a vice president in the agencys San Francisco location. Macdonald comes to San Francisco from Hotwires London office, where she served as director and headed the agencys consumer and tech practices.

Macdonald, who joined Hotwire in 2008, will now spearhead west coast and international client programs for the agency.

Hotwire group CEO Brendon Craigie in a statement said the addition of Mondshein and Macdonald to its U.S. team advances the agencys ability to provide clients with top talent. Craigie said Mondshein and Macdonald both bring that rare combination of high level strategic skills and a tenacious focus on results and join the agency with great track records driving business results for clients."

New York-headquartered Hotwire, which was founded in 2000, is a subsidiary of Australia-based marketing and communications network Enero Group Limited. Hotwire accounted for $3.1 million in tech related net fees last year, according to O'Dwyer's rankings of PR firms.


This piece authored by (L to R) Hal Dash, Chris Gilbride & Brandon Stephenson

The more things change, the more they stay the same. In the PR world, this adage rings especially true, especially in regard to a lack of good crisis planning in the energy and environmental arena.



Even today, too many companies do not have instantly deployable crisis communications plans, as well as a skilled implementation team, in case of an incident that could significantly hurt the companys brand, reputation, image and earnings.



The energy and environment sector is particularly vulnerable to crisis situations because of the various kinds of projects they deal with: exploration, processing, distribution, transportation, etc. Accidents involving fires, explosions, leaks, discharges, emissions and construction glitches are often handled poorly, instantly leading to intense coverage across all platforms  television, radio, newspapers, online publications, social media, blogs plus on activist and community websites.



Its amazing that in our current digital age, and with the sophistication of community and environmental activists, many businesses do not have crisis communication plans.



Weve heard several explanations for this general lack of preparedness:

 Even though the economy has rebounded robustly in many sectors, the recession forced many businesses to down size, reorganize or merge, pushing communications planning aside.

 The ongoing transition from more senior practitioners that have left the sector to younger professionals that lack the real world experience with crisis communications.

 Many companies dont see communications activities as a worthwhile investment, as it doesnt contribute to the bottom line.

 Some believe that they can handle crises with whatever communications staff they have as a situation comes up, or worse  that high-profile incidents will never happen to them.

Regardless of the excuse, these corporations have been left vulnerable to PR catastrophes.



The digital age demands that companies have plans in place to rapidly assess crises as they unfold, and actively engage in the type of real-time dialogue that they arent accustomed to.



The convenience and prevalence of social media has made traditional media deadlines irrelevant. Citizen reporters are able to instantly share uncensored information, including photos and videos of breaking news events, with an enormous audience. Established news organizations are often quick to follow, covering events breaking on social media and filling airtime with talking heads and speculation while they wait for an official response.



This atmosphere can make it challenging for companies to frame the story or manage the public narrative during the early stages of an emergency, but it doesnt have to.



Social media tools like Twitter and Instagram can provide decision makers with invaluable situational awareness about unfolding events that they may have waited hours for in years gone by. The next time you hear about a breaking news event, try searching for it on Twitter. In seconds, you will likely find photos, videos, and a host of comments and opinions about the situation. That is the exact information that can help companies assess a situation and craft preliminary messages to engage their stakeholders.



The bottom line is that companies responding to crisis situations risk having their story be told by someone else if an emphasis is not placed on providing timely, frequent and accurate updates during emergencies.



This is especially true as tech-savvy activists who live, eat and breathe environmental justice, weigh in on any industrial accident. Many of these activists are also subject-matter experts with technical knowledge who can jump into a crisis instantly, grab the headlines and direct the conversation.



Over the years, our firm has seen an incredible growth in the sophistication and knowledge of established advocacy groups, who have also become strong advocates with the media, elected officials and regulators. This expertise has now filtered down to community groups and neighborhood councils all over our state and across the country.



The focus and effectiveness of todays advocacy tools  websites, e-newsletters, social media, blogs and other digital platforms  is truly amazing. These groups can now use digital tools to immediately rally, organize and mobilize a community when a crisis situation occurs.



Corporations in the energy and environment sector are so often slow to respond to a crisis just because of their size and inability to move quickly. Many management levels at a company often have to weigh in on appropriate responses, as well as outside counsel, with an eye not only toward the crisis but also shareholders reactions and the bottom line.

This is just one reason why energy and environment businesses are often beaten to the punch by more nimble environmental organizations, activists and community groups.



Just recently, there have been numerous examples of multinational corporations fumbling crisis situations: BP, Pacific Gas and Electric in the energy space, as well as Facebook, FIFA, Malaysia Airlines, NFL, Sony, Lufthansa, General Motors, VW and Chipotle in other sectors of the economy. The list is long, but is in no way complete.



What these organizations have in common is that they were slow to respond, muddled their messages, did not take responsibility, and/or failed to drive the conversation or the direction of the issue(s). As a result, they ended up behind the curve and, in some cases, still have not fully recovered.



Weve seen this trend consistently over the decades and we are constantly amazed at how little has changed in the lack of crisis management preparedness and training both here and abroad. And companies in the environmental sector seem to lag behind in having robust crisis plans and teams ready to go when an incident occurs, even though catastrophic events can have more lasting impacts than incidents in non-energy spaces.



Just as these negative traits run rampant among corporations that have botched crisis situations, there are trends that are consistent in companies that understand how to plan for a crisis and manage it.



Companies that respond well uniformly have a dedicated person or persons who own crisis communications activities; they have an up-to-date plan with messaging, scenarios and an identified spokesperson(s); and either internal or external digital expertise that can be turned on instantly.



To further protect their brand, these successful companies have an engaged CEO who is media savvy and can engage with their communities, elected officials, regulators and the media. Finally, they have established relationships within their communities, established by their community relations team that can quickly be deployed when an incident occurs.

Even though we shouldnt be, were still surprised that most clients dont have a crisis management plan. This is unacceptable in this evolving digital communications age.



As public affairs and public relations counselors, it is our responsibility to immediately begin exploring potential crisis issues and how best to manage them from a PR perspective. Ask all of your clients, but especially those in this sector, the following questions to determine if a plan must be created or refreshed, why your client must have one and what the price tag will be:



 What could go wrong in your business?

 Do you have a crisis plan?

 If you dont, why not?

 If you do, when was it refreshed, rehearsed, etc.?

 Who is in charge of managing each crisis scenario?

 Have you practiced rapidly responding to a crisis?

 What is your level of digital expertise and does it have a place in an existing plan?



Crisis communications plans need to have all these elements: strong and focused messaging that can evolve as a situation changes; a high-level spokesperson and other company contacts with expertise in the specific crisis situation; scenarios of what could go wrong and a team assigned to specific roles.

If you or your client does not have current digital communications skills, you must find that resource ASAP! Your adversaries communicate digitally 24/7 and so do your supporters and stakeholders. Yet, many firms are so far behind in their digital capabilities and knowledge that they would enter a crisis situation with two strikes already against them.



Both agency and client staff must also be up-to-speed on environmental rules, regulations, relevant agencies, information, local community groups, and elected officials who represent a facility. Are your lists up to date so you can you get out a message instantly from your company through digital portals? All of these entities will invariably jump on an incident, and generally take the side of the community versus the industry, which makes getting out in front of a crisis situation mandatory. And they use every platform social media has to offer. So should you and your client!



At the end of the day, good crisis planning, preparation and execution is an incredibly valuable and priceless service that public affairs firms can provide their clients. Dont hesitate to discuss this issue with them and guide them toward constructing a plan. The digital age and their very survival demands it. And there is no time like the present, because the clock is ticking.

* * *

Hal Dash is Chairman and CEO of Cerrell Associates. Brandon Stephenson is Chief Strategic Officer and Chris Gilbride is a Senior Public Affairs Director at Cerrell Associates.
ASA rules against Iceland Fat Bastard wine ad

The Advertising Standards Authority has ordered multiple retailer Iceland to withdraw an ad for the Fat Bastard wine brand.

The judgement follows four complaints the ASA received following the distribution of a circular from Iceland, which was delivered to homes in the week beginning October 18 and also to a school on November 25.

The circular carried an introductory offer on the Fat Bastard wine brand on its outside back page, with an accompanying strap line which read, Outrageous name, outrageously good wine.

The ASA was asked to rule on whether the language used in the ad was likely to cause serious or widespread offence, and whether it was was appropriately targeted because it might be seen by young children.

In its defence, Iceland maintained that while the name might be controversial and distasteful to some, it did not believe that it reached the level of causing serious or widespread offence.

Iceland noted that, while 175,000 copies of the leaflet had been distributed, the ASA had received only four complaints. Further, Iceland had never received any previous complaints about the brand, despite it having been available in store for ten years.

The wines name derived from the story that, when first tasting the wine, its winemaker exclaimed that it was a fat bastard due to its full-bodied nature, Iceland said.

With regard to the circulars distribution, Iceland confirmed that its delivery to a primary school was a mistake which it had taken up with its distributor.

The domestic distribution was intended for adults, not children, and there was no implication that the ad was designed to attract childrens attention in any way, the retailer said.

The ASA dismissed the first challenge against Iceland, agreeing that the language of the ad was not likely to cause serious offence.

However, it upheld the complaint regarding the ads propriety for children, ruling that by virtue of its position on the outside of the circular, it was likely to be seen by children and that its references to Fat Bastard were unsuitable and irresponsible in that context.

The ad must not appear again in its current form, the ASA told Iceland, and language which was unsuitable for children should not in future appear on the outside cover of any future circular.





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Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack expects softening commodity prices and land values to create stiff competition among the nations farmers to enroll their marginal cropland into a popular conservation program this year.

This will be the most competitive general CRP sign-up seen in quite some time, he said Wednesday.

CRP is the U.S. Department of Agricultures Conservation Reserve Program. The 30-year-old initiative pays a yearly rental payment in exchange for farmers removing environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production to be planted with certain grasses, shrubs and trees that improve water quality, prevent soil erosion and increase wildlife habitat.

Vilsack said the programs environmental benefits should appeal to urban dwellers, too, because in addition to re-establishing native plant species on marginal agricultural lands, the grasslands reduce greenhouse gas emissions and sequester carbon.

And for those concerned about the rural economy, nearly 13,000 Nebraska farms received more than $58 million in rental payments, Vilsack told The World-Herald in an interview. That money rolls around in the community and supports a lot of folks who provide services and products in rural areas.

Dan Steinkruger, state executive director of USDAs Farm Service Agency in Nebraska, said at times when commodity prices are low, enrolling sensitive lands in CRP can be especially attractive to farmers and ranchers, as it softens the economic hardship for landowners at the same time that it provides ecological benefits.

Chuck Gipp, director of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, said the program is great for landowners and farmers who want to protect environmentally sensitive land, whether the goal is to bring back pheasants, plant woodland for long-term profit or improving water quality.

The deadline for landowners to submit offers for the programs competitive enrollment period is Feb. 26. This is the first opportunity for them to bid land back into the general CRP since 2013.

Vilsack said the most competitive offers will stack conservation benefits, including those for water quality and wildlife.

In addition to factoring in lower land prices and rental rates  plus weaker prices for wheat, corn and soybeans  the sign-up will be more competitive than usual because Congress limited the maximum number of acres at 24 million in the 2014 farm bill.

As of last month 23.6 million acres across the country are enrolled in CRP, with 1.6 million acres expiring this fall.

Submissions are ranked according to environmental benefits in comparison to all other offers nationwide. USDA will announce accepted offers after the enrollment period ends and offers are reviewed.

Nebraska has 63,037 acres coming out of contracts this year; Iowa has 99,596 acres expiring. Contract duration is between 10 and 15 years.

The sign-up is getting a big push by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, the states Pheasants Forever chapters and the Rainwater Basin Joint Venture. The three organizations have been identifying important landscape factors and geographies. Letters were sent to more than 43,000 landowners highlighting the sign-up and rental rates.

Nearly 60 informational meetings were held across the state for interested producers.

Vilsack said USDA has already seen record demand for continuous and grassland CRP sign-ups. A record number of continuous CRP acres were enrolled last year totaling more than 830,000 acres. These high-value acres provide multiple benefits on the same land, including water quality, wildlife, carbon sequestration and others. For example, the acres dedicated to pollinators has almost tripled to more than 190,000 acres.

This record sign-up came after an announcement last May that an additional 800,000 acres would be accepted for key natural resource protections. Wetland restorations have increased 77,000 acres, duck nesting habitats have increased 35,000 acres and other wildlife habitat has increased 255,000 acres within CRP known as State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement.

Vilsack said farmers, ranchers, conservationists, hunters, fishermen and other outdoor enthusiasts have made CRP one of the most successful conservation programs in the history of the country over the last three decades.

Contact the writer: 402-444-1127, david.hendee@owh.com
Bellevues four Catholic schools celebrated National Catholic Schools Week last week under the coast-to-coast theme Catholic Schools: Communities of Faith, Knowledge and Service.

St. Bernadette, St. Marys, St. Matthew and Gross Catholic High School typically observe the annual event with Masses, open houses and other activities for students, families, parishioners and community members.

This years events included pig races, dance breaks, volleyball games and talent shows.

St. Bernadette Principal Lynn Schultz said her schools pig races were tied to their reading goal.

Schultz said each grade, prekindergarten through eighth, decorated and named a battery-operated toy pig as a storybook character for the tournament-formatted race on Friday.

It was a fun way to have competition, Schultz said. The sixth-graders pig, Darth Bacon won.

At St. Marys Catholic School in Olde Towne, more than 200 students rocked the gymnasium with their cheering  for both teams  in the annual teachers vs. eighth-graders volleyball game.

The teachers won.

The theme of Catholic Schools Week was Catholic Schools, Communities of Faith, Academics, and Service. We had a great week of activities to live the theme, said St. Marys School Principal Trish Wallinger.

Although the winter storm halted some school events during the week, St. Matthew students were able to participate in Fridays talent show.

And, Gross Catholics junior boys claimed quick victory against their older classmates Friday afternoon in the annual Powder Buff volleyball game.

Through such events, schools focus on the value they believe Catholic education provides to young people and its contributions to their churches, communities and to the nation.

____________________________

Two snow days may have shortened the festivities, but that didnt stop St. Columbkille Catholic School from ending the week with spirit.

Students at the school spent last week participating in numerous activities to celebrate Catholic Schools Week.

Its really a celebration of our Catholic schools, said principal Jim Makey. We celebrate our faith and our knowledge and our service.

Communities of faith, knowledge and service was the overall theme for this years national event. St. Columbkille arranged activities throughout the week to correspond with each part of the theme.

Faith-based activities included an annual event  an eighth-grade Mass at St. Cecilias Cathedral. Eighth-graders from the metro area join together at St. Cecilias for Mass with Archbishop George Lucas.

Its really a cool thing to see, all the eighth-graders in the Archdiocese attending Mass in the cathedral, Makey said. Its really a neat experience for them.

Another faith-based activity St. Columbkille connected to Catholic Schools Week was a Friday morning Mass, which has become a monthly occurrence.

Weve been doing the First Friday devotions this year and we attend Mass on the first Friday of every month, Makey said.

The school also held a family Mass on Monday, inviting parents to attend Mass with their children.

Similar Masses were scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, but were canceled due to weather.

After Mass we have a doughnut reception where kids can sit with their families and enjoy some fellowship with family after Mass, Makey said.

Knowledge-based activities included a Bible trivia event and a spelling bee, both of which were rescheduled for this week after the snow days. A talent show was held Thursday for students to show off their expertise in different areas.

Service, the final Catholic Schools Week theme, is also a recurring theme for St. Columbkille students.

We try to do a service project every year, Makey said. This year, the main project were doing is Penny Wars. We have a sister school in Guatemala. Were trying to raise enough money to sponsor a scholarship for a student from that school for all six years of their education, for their program down there.
WASHINGTON  Representatives from the Nebraska Rural Water Association were in the nations capital this week for the Rural Water Rally.

The event brings utility representatives to town to lobby Congress on the importance of infrastructure, training and technical assistance for the countrys rural water systems.

Randy Hellbusch, circuit rider with the association, urged Nebraskas congressional delegation to support Agriculture Department and Environmental Protection Agency funding for small public water supply systems and wastewater systems.

The biggest thing we try to emphasize is just keep that money coming, Hellbusch said. Its very important because our infrastructure is getting so old theres just a lot of need out there.

Clean public water is on everyones minds with the elevated lead levels found in Flint, Michigan.

We want to make sure we keep things so we never get in that situation, Hellbusch said.

The rally includes the Great American Water Taste Test, where drinking water from around the country is judged. Scottsbluff was a finalist this year but did not take home the gold.
From terrorists in Peshawar to leopards in Bengaluru: Varied threats to S Asian schools

Bengaluru

oi-Shubham

Bengaluru, Feb 11: Over 130 schools have remained shut in some areas in south-eastern Bengaluru in the wake of a leopard's intrusion in a renowned school and also reported spotting of more leopards in the city.

135 schools shut in Bengaluru

Whistling guards, extra lights... Leopards have left Bengaluru panicky in night

Shutting schools in Bengaluru in fear of an external threat reminds one of a similar situation that had arose in Pakistan after a terror attack took place at Bacha Khan University in Charsadda in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on January 20, resulting in the death of many students and a professor. Thirteen months before this attack, another dreadful terror attack took place in an Army school in Peshawar in the same province, killing several, many of whom were schoolchildren.

Following the attack in Bacha Khan University, several schools remained shut as state agencies warned of more attacks on educational institutions. Schools run by army remained shut for more than a week as the 2014 massacre made the authorities over-cautious.

But can't these threats to schools be completely uprooted so that our children can peacefully concentrate on their studies and creative faculties? It is unfortunate that we, in these parts, are not being able to ensure the basic right that children have, which is their right to study.

Taking the case of Bengaluru, it is disappointing to see talks about leopards are refusing to die down and more the talks, more are the rumours and the result: more holidays in schools affecting the children's study. In case of terror strikes too, closing down schools over warnings not only encourage the enemies of humanity but also discourage the young minds' desire to excel.

Do the governments in these parts lack the minimum courage to ensure complete immunity to our children from disruptions? For Bengaluru, one can understand to what degree the authorities here are prepared if they feel so much shaky in the wake of a leopard's intrusion in an empty school in the city.

The record of our service to the future generations is not satisfactory, at least at this point.

Oneindia News
Assam polls 2016: BJP looks more organised than Congress but still...

Feature

oi-Shubham

The BJP had launched its "Mission 84" in Assam which will go to polls in a few months, soon after the 2014 Lok Sabha election. The saffron party has chosen Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal to lead its mission in the north-eastern state where it done well in the last Lok Sabha elections.

Three-time Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, on the other hand, will be hoping to prevent the BJP from making inroads in the state which is known to be a Congress bastion. An alliance between the Congress and AIUDF is also not clear. The departure of Himanta Biswa Sarma from the Congress and his joining the BJP last August has also been perceived to be blow by the Gogoi regime.

Source: IndiaVotes

But Assam's election is not just about whether the Congress or BJP can do or not. The state doesn't have a typical bipolar political scenario like in some states in central and western India and issues like land, ethnicity, infiltration, language and terror activities make Assam a complex case to handle.

The BJP has felt encouraged by the big leap in its membership, the fact that 38 of 74 urban local bodies are under its control and it has won a seat in the Bodoland Territorial Council elections.

In October last year, the BJP helped form the Tiwa Autonomous Council and wrested the Dima Hasao Autonomous Council by causing defections in the Congress and getting many former militants-turned-Council members on its side. The BJP has also formed an alliance with the Bodoland People's Front for the upcoming elections. The party is also taking stock of its condition in each of the state's 126 Assembly constituencies. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also ensured that at least one central minister visits the state every week.

But can the BJP get into the details of the state's complicated political equation? The saffron party is expert in handling the politics of the Hindi heartland but can it do so in case of a northeastern state like Assam? In 2011, the BJP could win just five out of 126 seats and even though it put up a good show in the 2014 general election, but the reason could be attributed more to the nationwide wave in favour of Modi. A state election is a different ball-game and issues like personality clashes between two local heavyweights-Sonowal and Sarma-could pose more headache for Modi.
Delhi air quality projected to cross 301 by Sat; GRAP stage II comes into effect ahead of Diwali

Is JNU becoming hub for anti-national activities?

Feature

oi-Lisa

Jawaharlal Nehru University or JNU as it is called by most is again in thick of controversy as some students of the university attempted to hold an event at university's Sabarmati dhaba on the occasion of Afzal Guru's (2001 Parliament attack convict) hanging death anniversary.

This comes as a big shock to all as the city along with the entire nation was praying for the speedy recovery of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad, who was buried in an avalanche at Siachen Glacier on February 3 and rescued on February 8.

All one can say is that what JNU students did is wrong. They condemn the hanging of terrorists in the same city where a soldier battled for life and they didn't care for him. The brave heart passed away today despite the best efforts of doctors attending to him.

VIDEO: Siachen braveheart Lance Naik #Hanamanthapa passes away ...https://t.co/y7DyOKhp3g  Doordarshan News (@DDNewsLive) February 11, 2016

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad at RR Hospital where he is undergoing treatment.

PM visited RR Hospital to enquire about Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. He also spoke to doctors at the hospital. pic.twitter.com/KSHb4NdWCx  PMO India (@PMOIndia) February 9, 2016

PM Modi had earlier tweeted,

"No words are enough to describe the endurance and indomitable spirit of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. He is an outstanding soldier. Team of doctors is attending to Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. We are all hoping and praying for the best."

Many people found it unbelievable that likes of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa risk their lives to protect people like JNU students who favour terrorists.

The JNU jholawalla students couldn't hold a solidarity prayer for Lance Naik Hanumanthappa but will hold prayers for Terrorist Afzal Guru!  Radhika#Apostate (@RpG_89) February 10, 2016

Our brave soldier is fighting 4 hs life & JNU students holding cultural prog 4 Afzal Guru?

See this PAPPU GANDHI ! pic.twitter.com/mzoBRTCtCs  Sangh Parivar (@SanghParivarOrg) February 9, 2016

Most people found such celebrations shameful and condemned the action while demanding shutting down of the JNU.

Many questioned as to why taxpayers should fund JNU which is nurturing anti-national professors and students.

The event at JNU was hosted to call Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhat co-founder of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) who was hanged in 1984 as "martyrs". The JNU students had called execution of Afzal Guru's and Maqbool Bhat as "judicial killing".

As the university did not take any action against students who organised the Afzal Guru commemoration the issue was highly discussed on social media with common man and celebrities alike shared their views on it.

Ultimately the university had to give in as the protest by members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) outside the Vice Chancellor (VC) of JNU became strong. The ABVP demanded the expulsion of students who "misled" the university about nature of the event.

The organisers of the event had originally got the permission from the university but it was withdrawn after the ABVP complained. The meet was couched as a "Cultural Evening of Protest" and was hosted to show camaraderie with the "struggle of the Kashmiri People for their democratic right to self-determination". ABVP had called for a protest opposite to the venue of what they called "anti-national" activity in the campus.

JNU has ordered a "disciplinary" inquiry into holding of an event on campus against the hanging of Afzal Guru despite cancellation of permission saying any talk about country's disintegration cannot be "national".

JNU students' union (JNUSU) joint secretary Saurabh Kumar, who is the only ABVP member in the union was reported to have said that,

"How can an event on Afzal Guru, who attacked the temple of democracy, be organised here. We are demanding expulsion of those who organised it."

He also alleged that,

"This was an anti-national event. When we tried to stop them from holding a march, I was shown a gun. They raised anti-India slogans and for freedom of Kashmir."

JNU's VC was reported to have said on the issue that,

"The permission for the programme was sought by giving incomplete information, so it is an act of indiscipline. A committee headed by the Chief Proctor will examine the footage of the event and speak to the witnesses. It is on basis of the report, the varsity will take appropriate action."
Ishrat Jahan case: Discharge plea of two ex-cops to be heard on Aug 7

What all secular media said about Ishrat Jahan few years ago

Feature

oi-Shradha

While deposing for the third day before a Mumbai court via video from the US, David Headley, a Pakistani-American terrorist who conspired with the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) organisation and Pakistani intelligence officers in plotting the 2008 Mumbai attacks, told the special court that Ishrat Jahan was working for LeT.

Ishrat was killed in an encounter in 2004 by Gujarat police, who had accused her of being involved in a plot to assassinate the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Secular media claims anti- Muslim pogroms:

However the secular media termed the whole encounter as "fake" and accused Hindu fundamental leaders of the state to have indulged in "anti-Muslim" pogroms. They had even accused Intelligence Bureau of spreading false information about the whole incident. [Read more]

We are sure that Ishrat Jahan was not a terrorist, says her family member]

The Central Bureau of Investigation's first charge sheet encounter case had stated that the unlawful killing was a joint operation of the Gujarat police and the Intelligence Bureau had named seven State police officials as the accused.[Read more]

Accusations against Gujarat Government:

Many leaders of the Congress party, which was at the Centre at that time had lashed out at the Gujarat CM, accusing him of indulging in nefarious activities of killing an innocent college girl by branding her as a terrorist.

"Modi had then announced that he was proud of his police force for gunning down terrorists. He boasted that the encounter was a feather in the cap of the Gujarat police, while the Mumbai police had failed to do their duty. Ishrat was innocent but she was projected as a terrorist," said Sharad Pawar who was the then Union Agriculture Minister. [Read more]

Not lagging behind in condemning the encounter killings was Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Brinda Karat, who called it a politics of intimidation, encounter killings. [Ishrat Jahan was a Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative: David Headley blows the lid]

"It was a cold-blooded murder of an innocent girl", Karat had alleged adding "we denounce this model of Modi's governance in which innocent people were put in jail after being declared as terrorists, "said Karat.[Read more]

Karat had also accused the UPA government of adopting "double standard" and had questioned why three central agencies Intelligence Bureau, Central Bureau of Investigation and National Investigation Agency were spreading "wrong" facts on the encounter killing.

Barkha Dutt,Rana Ayyub etc must answer WHO motivated them to declare Pak back terrorists Ishrat Jahan, Sohrabuddin etc as innocent victims?  Madhu Kishwar (@madhukishwar) February 11, 2016

Lawyer for Ishrat Jahan family Vrinda Grover argues that David Headley comments on Ishrat based on "double hearsay" & have "no legal value'  barkha dutt (@BDUTT) February 11, 2016

"Ishrat Jahan was a LeT suicide bomber"- vindicates Congress had been compromising national security for vote bank! pic.twitter.com/SYSJHGRD9e  Sarit Dutta (@SaritSpeaks) February 11, 2016

With #DavidHeadley naming #IshratJahan as an LeT suicide bomber, wait for our subverted nouveau elite to invent a new narrative  Minhaz Merchant (@minhazmerchant) February 11, 2016

David Headley's testimony punctures hysteria fuelled by naysayers. Confirms Ishrat Jahan was a Lashkar suicide bomber.  Rahul Kanwal (@rahulkanwal) February 11, 2016
"Kick us out if we don't do anything": How Modi's emotional appeal resembles that of Mamata

Why Congress will lose in long run by making alliance with CPI(M) in Bengal

Feature

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee looks calm and peaceful this election year and the credit for that goes to her opponents, the Left and the Congress. The two Opposition parties' struggle in reaching a consensus on an alliance with each other to defeat the Trinamool Congress (TMC) will assure the latter, which looks strong ahead of this year's Assembly election.

Yes, no, yes, no: CPI(M)'s Congress dilemma in Bengal

But while Mamata will be happy as an alliance between her two opponents will erode credibility of their respective leadership at both local and federal levels, the Congress will face even a far more serious challenge in handling the issue than the CPI(M) and the words by its vice-president Rahul Gandhi in Kerala recently makes that evident.

Source: IndiaVotes

Rahul was seen walking a tightrope in Kerala while speaking on that state's election issues. He took on the BJP---the common enemy to easily target---besides backing the Congress as the only alternative to itself. It is not that he did not take on the Left, but that was not satisfactory enough for the state's Congress leaders.

The Congress high command will perhaps give up under pressure of the party leaders in Bengal who have shown a rare unity in support of the alliance with the CPI(M). But it will do so with a hesitant heart.

Lok Sabha 2019 is a far bigger cause for the Gandhis than a state it has long lost

For the top leadership of the Congress, the Lok Sabha election in 2019 is a much bigger cause to fight for than the Assembly election in Bengal, a state where the party has long been reduced into a fringe player. It needs a support to do well in Bengal (in 2001 and 2011, it was the Trinamool Congress) and has virtually no face to lead its campaign independently. In Bengal, the Congress is a name of a number of disjointed groups that look after their own pockets of supremacy. True, the Congress had come to power in Bengal in 2011 in alliance with the TMC but it was more of a Mamata show.

Congress will need Mamata's help if it harbours any hope of returning to power in 2019

To focus on reviving the party from such a state looks a meaningless exercise for the Gandhis as they themselves have a much difficult task in hand at the national level. Reduced to just 44 MPs in the last Lok Sabha election and losing in one state after another, the Congress's central leadership has a serious stake in the next general elections. One more big loss and it could be rendered irrelevant nationally. And let's face it. An alliance with the CPI(M) will not do the Congress's base in Bengal any stronger so that it can make a bigger impact in the Lok Sabha polls in that state on its own.

Given this challenge, the Congress high command will never like to put its relation with Mamata in a jeopardy by forging an alliance with the Left for Bengal sends 42 MPs to the Lok Sabha and Mamata is still a force with the biggest claim on those numbers. If at all there is a hung Parliament, the TMC's support will be needed the most by the Congress if it gets an opportunity to dethrone Narendra Modi.

Congress is anyway a strong force in Kerala which though sends 22 MPs less than Bengal

Kerala, on the other hand, sends 20 MPs to the Lok Sabha and the Congress, still being a strong player in that state, sends many of them. Currently, eight MPs from Kerala are from the Congress (12 in all from the UPA). An alliance with the CPI(M) in Bengal can have an adverse impact on the psyche of the Kerala Congress and as a result, on the MP count. In that case, the Congress will stand to lose from both the states nationally.

Bengal Congress is just living another day, but the Gandhis have their pride at stake

In Bengal, the Congress is just fighting to live another day and the state leadership's demand for an alliance is part of a desperate attempt to remain relevant. But for Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, the battle involves a much larger question of redeeming the lost pride. A short-sighted alliance with the CPI(M) will have every potential to derail the high command's long-term objective.
Banning women in temples is unfair, says Vidya Balan

India

oi-PTI

Kolkata, Feb 11: Bollywood actress Vidya Balan on Thursday said the age-old practice of ban on entry of women of menstrual age in some temples was unfair.

"It is great that we are asking these questions now. Men and women should get equal opportunity at work, social life and everywhere," asserted the National award-winning actress.

Sabarimala temple must let in all women: Shashi Tharoor

"We are saying how unfair it is. I think we will see the changes in our lifetime," Balan told reporters when asked to comment on the controversy over entry of women in some temples of south India.

Kerala government has recently told the Supreme Court that banning entry of women of menstrual age in Sabarimala temple is a matter of religion and it is duty bound to protect the right to practice the religion of these devotees.

"I think we women have created a lot of barriers for ourselves. There are some professions which we have reserved only for males. Women are there only in the background," The Dirty Picture (2011) star said at an event.

Balan feels people need to get over the "stereotypical" notion about looks and think beyond that.

"We need to overcome stereotypical notions which do not allow ambitions to grow. I love wearing sarees but people have asked me why do you dress older than your age. I tell them I love sarees and will continue wearing them. It's not about driving home a point or feminism but just being true to yourself."

She said more than strangers, judgements from friends and family affect the lives of women more.

"Now with the social media this has increased as friends with whom you spoke to ten years ago are also commenting on your looks, " she added.

PTI

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Story first published: Thursday, February 11, 2016, 13:30 [IST]
Big banners of AIADMK lead to accidents in Tamil Nadu

India

oi-Shalini

Chennai, Feb 11: Big Banners of ruling party has become a major cause of concern now in Tamil Nadu, as the opposition DMK on Thursday, Feb 11 alleged that due to Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's big banner, in middle of the road, caused an accident.

On Saturday, Feb 6 at around 3 pm, an engineering student was injured after his motorbike crashed onto one of the two banners at the Saravanampatti village in Coimbatore. After hitting the banner, the motor bike collided with a truck, that was coming from behind.

DMK also alleged, "The big banner in middle of the road blocks one side of the road. The bike rider was not able to see the banner and accidentally collided with a truck. The ruling party are not following the norms of roads as many activists and citizens have complained about the traffic problems in the city."

Meanwhile, the student who got injured rushed backed to the nearby governmnet hospital. The villagers also accused and said that the police refuse to file an FIR into the case.

Chandra Mohan, a Chennai-based-activist who got arrested for pulling down AIADMK banners in December told media that "this was the main reason I have pulled down the banner from the road as it was creating a huge risk for pedestarians and riders. The court has ordered a strict rule for this but nobody has guts to question over the banner which was being displayed by the ruling party."

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Thursday, February 11, 2016, 17:09 [IST]
Kharge vs Tharoor: Counting of votes today; Cong to get first non-Gandhi president in 24 years

Congress should apologise for targeting Modi: BJP on Headley's

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Feb 11: Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley's deposition that Ishrat Jahan, who was killed in an encounter in Gujarat in 2004, was an LeT operative led to a political slugfest with BJP demanding that the Congress leadership should apologise for "targeting Narendra Modi over her killing at the cost of national security".

BJP accused Congress of politicising the encounter as part of its "hate politics" against Modi, then Gujarat chief minister, and said if its chief Sonia Gandhi and her deputy Rahul Gandhi had any "shame" left, then they must apologise to the nation.

Police personnel who fought terrorists risking their lives were put behind bars by the then UPA government and security agencies like CBI and IB were politicised, party secretary Shrikant Sharma alleged, saying it was done to "defame and fix" Modi as part of a "political conspiracy".

"Headley's deposition that she was a LeT's suicide bomber has unmasked those who do politics over terrorism. We do not expect any morality from Congress. But if Sonia and her son Rahul Gandhi, who is a champion in politics of conspiracy, have any shame left, then they must apologise to the nation. "They should apologise to the police personnel' families who had to suffer after they were put in jail for killing these terrorists in encounter.

Congress and its allies linked terrorists with religion to mask their corrupt governance," he told a press conference.

Congress sought to dismiss BJP demands for an apology in the wake of David Headley's claims that Ishrat Jahan was an LeT operative, insisting that the "fundamental question" was whether she and her accomplices were killed in fake encounter.

Sharma also cited comments of Congress leaders questioning the Batla House encounter and their allusion to RSS hand in 26/11 Mumbai attack to attack the opposition party. "It has become clear that Congress played with national security. It is height of hate politics," he said.

Immidiately after Headly's testimony, a battery of BJP leaders swung into action to attack Congress, claiming that its leaders dubbed Ishrat as a "martyr" only to "fix" Modi.

PTI
David Headley confirms ISI hand in fake Indian currency

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Mumbai, Feb 11: In the event of the ongoing deposition by David Headley, India has several questions to ask of Pakistan. Among all the revelations that he made, one interesting one was related to fake Indian currency. He told the court today that he had received fake Indian currency from Major Iqbal thrice.

This is an interesting revelation as the money was given to him by none other than someone who is part of the Pakistan establishment.

(Live) David Headley deposition (Day 4)

Major Iqbal is part of the ISI and he was David Headley's handler during the 26/11 Mumbai attack. This makes it very clear that the Pakistan establishment is directly involved in the circulation of fake currency in India.

Pak establishment's role in fake Indian currency

Fake Indian currency produced in Pakistan is a major money spinner. There is fake Indian currency to the tune of Rs 1,500 crore that is pumped into India every year. While India has repeatedly said that it is the Pakistan's ISI which masterminds this racket there has always been an obvious denial.

However, what Headley says does blow the lid of the ISI's claims. When Headley visited India several times to carry out a reconnaissance of the targets in Mumbai, he was paid money several times by various persons. Today he named Sajid Mir, Major Pasha, Tawwahur Rana and also Major Iqbal who had given him money.

However during the deposition he said that he had been given fake Indian currency on at least three occasions by Major Iqbal. This is quite a revelation as he directly links an officer part of the establishment to the fake Indian currency racket.

In Pakistan it is expected that anyone visiting India has to carry a certain amount of fake Indian currency with them. At times it is the terrorists who bring it in and on other occasions it is the drug mafia.

While circulating fake currency gets the ISI a good amount of money the larger plan is also to disrupt the Indian economy.

OneIndia News
India-Pakistan reunison can end Siachen tragedies, says Retd Air Marshal

India

oi-Staff

By Super Admin

Bengaluru, Feb 11: The country has lost a braveheart soldier Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad on Thursday, Feb 11, in a battle against death, at Delhi's Research and Referral army hospital, after he miraculously survived a treacherous avalanche in Siachen on Feb 3.

His death, figuratively speaking, added to an 'unending' death toll due to inclement weather condition at Siachen glacier. The country has lost over 1,000 soldiers without any war, but battle against nature-- 'A fight to survive.'

"Nature is the prime enemy in Siachen glacier controlled by India," opines Air Marshal (retired) B K Pandey. India is left with no option but to guard the glacier as withdrawing troops would provide Pakistan and China to easily interfere in Ladakh. The tactical advantage to the country from the area beyond NJ9842 is, it blocks access for Pakistan and China to Ladakh.

The fresh sacrifice at the glacier is no new phenomenon. Many have died since 1984 after India claimed its foot on Sia La and Bilfond La. However, Gyong La is still controlled by the Pakistan army.

Pandey, who served at military airfield in Thoise, a small village in Shyok valley near Nubra river, scathingly observes that sacrifices at Siachen will continue and long standing dispute between Pakistan and India over territory will only remain 'a long standing issue'.

For a question on will both parties (India and Pakistan) would one day mutually agree to withdraw troops, Pandey quipped "the only route to resolve dispute is by uniting India and Pakistan as one nation."

He recalled a paper he presented for his M.Phil in 1996. Pandey jogging the memory said, "I argued in the paper for 'India and Pakistan' reuniting again to which army raised an objection." Pandey stressed Indo-Pak relationship will never consolidate and reuniting would pave the way for resolving the unresolved .

Even though the Indian government emerges with the opinion of drawing troops, the Army disputes the idea. Army does not support the idea of withdrawing the troops back from the glacier. The key reason is, once the troops are pulled out, going back to the area is extremely hard. Then, Pakistan and China will seize this opportunity to launch the offensive.

In view of this, Army will not back such move, even if the government works on that front. On the other hand, Pandey opened another window of argument saying, military dominance over Pakistan might also render solution for the problem. But Pandey was quick to observe India lacks military capabilities to overpower Pakistan, including political capabilities.

The glacier is treacherous, even as temperature hovers around -50 degree celsius. The loosing of lives will continue to take place in the conflict-ridden zone. "The nature is the prime enemy for soldiers and they have to battle it hard to survive in the high altitudes of the Siachen," Pandey added.

When asked about glacier melting and will India regret over it, if it retreats completely and finally whole glacier is perished, he contended that "this would not occur in the near future, the country has to focus on today."



OneIndia News
'This may give sleepless nights to some': Eknath Shinde on sharing dais with Sharad Pawar

Not just future of Sena but democracy at stake, says Uddhav

Ishrat Jahan was a Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative: David Headley blows the lid

India

oi-Vicky

Bengaluru, Feb 11: The issue relating to Ishrat Jahan had become a major issue with several persons terming it as a fake encounter by the Gujarat police. While there were questions being asked about the encounter, it was also said that Ishrat Jahan was not a terrorist and the Gujarat administration was accused of stage managing an encounter.

Today revelations by David Headley puts a major issue to rest. In the court of law while deposing today he said the following- Ishrat Jahan was a Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative. [Live: David Headley deposition (Day 4)]

The operation was about a shoot out at police at some check naka- One woman of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba Ishrat Jahan was involved- There was a women's wing in the Lashkar-e-Tayiba- On Ishrat Headley first said that no suicide bomber of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba was involved. But he went on to state later that Ishrat was involved in an operation involving a shoot out on police at a naka.

Ishrat Jahan was killed along with Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai and two Pakistani nationals Amjad Ali and Jishan Johar Abdul Ghani on June 15, 2004.

Why did the NIA not probe this angle?

The Ishrat Jahan encounter had become a major issue with allegations flying around against those who had carried it out. Headley who was first questioned by the FBI had spoken about her. When a team of the NIA questioned Headley he had spoken about it again.

When he spoke with the FBI and the NIA he had said Ishrat Jahan, a Mumbai girl killed in a police encounter in Ahmedabad, was a suicide bomber of the outfit.

This information was shared by Headley with a four member team of the NIA. While this was made clear by Headley, the angle was never probed and the official reason that was given to us was that he was basing his statements on hearsay.

At that time the Home Ministry had said that this never figured in the probe. Our probe was restricted to 26/11 and this statement by Headley was based on hearsay, the government had said.

The Intelligence Bureau which was being blamed by the then government of providing false information on Ishrat said that there is no doubt that Headley was well aware of who Ishrat Jahan was.

When everyone sought answers, it is quite surprising that the NIA did not chose to push the questioning on this angle further despite Headley knowing a lot about her and the case.

OneIndia News
J&K impasse: BJP's central leadership keen on continuing alliance with PDP

India

oi-Vicky

New Delhi, Feb 11: Hectic discussions on the formation of a government in Jammu and Kashmir will get underway with BJP's Ram Madhav set to meet with PDP chief, Mehbooba Mufti.

Sources say that the central leadership of the BJP is keen that the government should be formed with the PDP. However it would tread carefully before giving into the demands of the PDP.

The PDP has a host of demands which includes a better financial package for the state. There have also been demands to hold talks with separatists and also not raise issues such as the beef ban or special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

Ram Madhav who will meet with Mehbooba would put-forth the BJP's point of view and may also accept some of the demands.

What is the BJP ready to offer?

BJP sources say that the party is ready to offer a better financial package for the state. Mehbooba has demanded that more financial aid from the centre must reach the state. Madhav could tell Mehbooba to visit Delhi and hold talks with the party president, Amit Shah on this aspect as well.

While the central leadership of the party is keen on continuing with the alliance there are some reservations from the state unit of the party. The state leaders feel that since their primary vote bank lies in Jammu, it should not appear that the BJP is giving away too much to the PDP.

Issues such as talks with separatists must not be brought to the talking table at all, BJP leaders in the state say.

OneIndia News
Sorry, not sorry: Lalan Singh unapologetic about his remarks on PM's caste

Bihar: Girls protest after being asked to remove Hijab during exam

Central team roped in as dengue cases in Bihar rise to over 5000

Lalu's brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav accused of extortion

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Patna, Feb 11: Sadhu Yadav, a former MP involved in several criminal cases, is in trouble again after a complaint was registered against him for allegedly demanding money from a builder here, the police said on Thursday, Feb 11.

In his complaint lodged at Kotwali police station here, builder Anil Singh said Sadhu Yadav, estranged brother-in-law of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, had demanded Rs.50 lakh from him as extortion money, said a police official.

Sadhu Yadav, who has already been involved in several cases of extortion, assault, forgery and other crimes, has denied the charge.

Interestingly, Anil Singh, who himself is absconding after being accused in several criminal cases, took the help of his manager in filing the complaint against Sadhu.

In his complaint, Anil Singh said Sadhu Yadav had threatened him with dire consequences if he failed to pay up.

Sadhu Yadav, brother-in-law of Lalu Prasad and a former member of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), enjoyed great clout during the Lalu-Rabri rule in Bihar from 1990 to 2005.

He later fell out with his brother-in-law Lalu Yadav and sister Rabri Devi and left the party.

"Lalu and Rabri's residence has been closed for Sadhu and practically they had no connection left at all," an RJD leader said.

The RJD is a constituent of the Grand Alliance that came to power in Bihar last November. Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and the Congress are the other constituents of the coalition government led by Nitish Kumar.

JD-U leaders said Sadhu Yadav has no connection with the Grand Alliance and that the law will take its own course in the case of extortion against him.

Sadhu Yadav has also been an accused in the multi-crore flood relief forgery scam in Bihar.

IANS
Delhi air quality projected to cross 301 by Sat; GRAP stage II comes into effect ahead of Diwali

Lance Naik Hanumanthappa: Daring soldier to the core

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

New Delhi, Feb 11: Daring, highly motivated and one who was always ready to stare death in the face, not flinching a bit. That was Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad, the doughty soldier who survived for six days under tonnes of snow at the Siachen Glacier, but finally lost the battle for life on Thursday, Feb 11 at an army hospital in Delhi.

Aged just 33 and extremely physically fit, Koppad volunteered more than once for postings in inhospitable and difficult areas, serving in these areas for 10 years out of his 13-year-long army career.

At a personal level, Koppad was an ever-smiling person who shared cordial relations with his army colleagues and subordinates.

A resident of Betadur village in Dharwad district of Karnataka, Koppad enlisted in the Madras Regiment's 19th Battalion on October 25, 2002.

He was deployed in Mahore in Jammu and Kashmir from 2003 to 2006, where he was actively involved in counter-insurgency operations.

He again volunteered to serve the 54 Rashtriya Rifles (MADRAS) in Jammu and Kashmir from 2008 to 2010, where he displayed indomitable courage and gallantry in fighting terrorists.

The lance naik also volunteered to serve in the northeast from 2010 to 2012, where he actively participated in successful operations against the National Democratic Front of Bodoland and United Liberation Front of Assam.

Koppad was posted on the Siachen Glacier from August 2015. He was deployed on one of the highest posts where temperatures can plummet well below minus 40 degrees Celsius and winds of up to 100 km per hour batter the frozen landscape and army men deployed there.

He along with his team members were deployed at the army's Sonam Post - the highest permanently manned post in the world - when an avalanche engulfed their camp on February 3.

The 10 soldiers buried alive were maintaining the world's highest helipad in the area, which brought supplies for soldiers on the Siachen Glacier.

While nine soldiers, including one Junior Commissioned Officer, died, Koppad was the only one who cheated death, at least for a few days more than his colleagues.

The nine soldiers who died in the avalanche are Subedar Nagesha TT of village Tejur, Hassan district, Karnataka; Havaldar Elum Alai M. of village Dukkam Parai, Vellore district, Tamil Nadu; Lance Havildar S. Kumar of village Kumanan Thozhu, Teni district, Tamil Nadu; Lance Naik Sudheesh B. of village Monroethuruth, Kollam district, Kerala; Sepoy Mahesha P.N. of village HD Kote, Mysore district, Karnataka; Sepoy Ganesan G. of village Chokkathevan Patti, Madurai district, Tamil Nadu; Sepoy Rama Moorthy N. of village Gudisa tana Palli, Krishna Giri district, Tamil Nadu; Sepoy Mustaq Ahmed S. of village Parnapalle, Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh; and Sepoy (Nursing Assistant) Suryawanshi S.V. of village Maskarwadi, Satara district, Maharashtra.

IANS
Maharashtra tops internet readiness of Indian states: IAMAI

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

New Delhi, Feb 8: Maharashtra has emerged as the top ranking state in terms of overall Internet readiness index, followed by Karnataka, Gujarat, Telangana and Tamil Nadu, according to a pioneering report titled Index of Internet Readiness of Indian States', published by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and Indicus Analytics.

Karnataka and Gujarat are closely at second and third slot while Telangana and Tamil Nadu are closely at fourth and fifth slot. Incidentally, the bottom four states are all from the Eastern region.

Delhi on top among smaller states

Among the smaller states, Delhi has emerged as the top-most state in terms of Internet readiness index, followed by Puducherry and Goa. Even in the smaller states, the northeastern states do not figure among the top three. Therefore, much more needs to be done in the form of investment and infrastructure development in the region.

Among the Union Territories, Chandigarh is ranked top in terms of Internet readiness index.

Internet Readiness index is a composite index of 4 components:

e-Infrastructure index

e-Participation index

IT-Services

e-Governance index

Driving factors behind Internet readiness

The performance of the states based on internet readiness index depends on several factors. The driving factors inuencing Internet readiness index of each state varies from one another.

For instance, in Maharashtra, though e-infrastructure is relatively low compared to Kerala, Karnataka, Gujarat etc, yet the state surpasses others in all other components making it the best e-Ready society.

In case of Karnataka, participation of citizen in ICT environment is lower than Kerala and Gujarat, yet on account of the high contribution of IT to overall economy and success in e-government initiatives makes the state the second most e-Ready environment in the county.

Madhya Pradesh, though having a high rating in terms of participation, ranks low in all other components. Nevertheless, all the four components have equal signicance in the Internet readiness index model.

Objective of the report

The report highlights the performance of the states regarding different measures of Internet readiness index. Given the rapid advancement in e-services and e-commerce, it is essential to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the states.

While this would help the business and governments to leverage the strength, policy measures can also be taken where improvements are required.

Under this report, selection of the categories (and the parameters within each category) was based on the broader understanding of Internet readiness of citizens, whereas Internet readiness encapsulates the spread and extent of the digital sector in different aspects of the socio-economic realities of each state.

Thus, Internet readiness in this study is not limited to how industry friendly each state is for investment in the IT sector, but aims to give a more holistic picture of the digital ecosphere that presently exists in the states.

This stems from the understanding that only an organic linkage between the digital world and the real world can lead to the development and well being that digitalisation promises to deliver.

Key internet using parameters, which have been used in this report are:

Mobile subscribers per person above 15 years of age

Share of private players in internet service providers

Percentage of households using computer/ laptop with internet connection

No. of e-transactions in Utility Bill payments per lakh person above 15 years

No. of e-transactions in Business to Citizen (B2C) Services per lakh person above 15 years

No. of e-transactions in Informational Services per lakh person above 15 years

No. of e-transactions in Statutory and Non-Statutory services per lakh person above 15 years, among others.

That is why, this report is different from the traditional e-readiness reports, which had no internet parameters. A different report using the internet parameter was necessary to understand where states stand in terms of Internet readiness, rather than general e-readiness.

An annual study, this study would include the parameter of measuring the startup ecosystem of states next year.

OneIndia News
Diwali 2022: Mumbai Police warns against sale crackers without license | Details here

Mumbai police receives bomb threats at 3 locations; Security beefed up at several areas

'This may give sleepless nights to some': Eknath Shinde on sharing dais with Sharad Pawar

Not just future of Sena but democracy at stake, says Uddhav

Diwali 2022: Major sites to be illuminated in Mumbai between Oct 22-29

News flash: Scientists claimed to have detected gravitational waves

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Bengaluru, Feb 11: Nestle terminates sponsorship programme with world athletics' governing body (IAAF) amid corruption, doping scandals. Meanwhile, David Headley began his deposition before Mumbai court for third day.

Get all the latest news updates of the day:

10.20 pm: Its a great loss to the country and I condole the role of Mr Hanamanthappa: Siddaramaiah, Karnataka CM.

People pay last respects to Lance Naik Hanamanthappa at Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences in Hubli pic.twitter.com/8CiDnxvMP6  ANI (@ANI_news) February 11, 2016

9.50 pm: Girish Shankar, lAS (SH:1982), appointed as Secretary, Department of Heavy Industry in Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.

Ramesh Abhishek, lAS (SH: 1982), appointed as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion  ANI (@ANI_news) February 11, 2016

9.45 pm: 9-year old boy dies in Hyderabad due to alleged medical negligence.

9.30 pm: Scientists say they have detected gravitational ripples, just as Einstein predicted a century ago.

9.15 pm: The mortal remains of nine of our martyrs are still at Siachen: Northern Command.

We continue to wait for favourable weather so that the mortal remains can be transported on helicopters: Northern Command #SiachenAvalanche  ANI (@ANI_news) February 11, 2016

8.25 pm: People pay tribute to Lance Naik Hanamanthappa and other soldiers who lost their lives in Siachen Avalanche.

People pay tribute to Lance Naik Hanamanthappa and other soldiers who lost their lives in #SiachenAvalanche pic.twitter.com/wLHHccvBug  ANI (@ANI_news) February 11, 2016

8.10 pm: Vasant Kunj North Police Station has lodged an FIR on the complaint of BJP MP Maheish Girri over JNU event on Afzal Guru.

8.00 pm: Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Hyderabad House in Delhi.

7.23 pm: Terror suspect Sameer Sardana released after being granted conditional bail.

6:55 pm: Tell me, will the accusing political parties now apologise to the nation for trying to fool the people?, asks HM Rajnath Singh.

6:50 pm: Former President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf hospitalised following high blood pressure.

6:49 pm: You must have heard what David Headley has just said in Court, that Ishrat Jahan was a suicide bomber:, says HM Rajnath Singh.

6:25 pm: All agencies & people saying encounter was fake should know that it has to be proved in court, says former DIG of Gujarat DGVanzara on Ishrat Jahan.

6:00 pm: I salute his (LN Hanamanthappa) greatness which he showed in Siachen, express my condolences for his family, says Rajnath.

5:30 pm: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar meets Lance Naik Hanamanthappa's family members at Brar Square (Delhi).

5:15 pm: ISI agent's (Irshad) partner Sandeep produced in Sessions Court in Pathankot, sent for police remand till 14th Feb.

5:00 pm: Maheish Girri requests HRD Minister to give direction to VC not to allow such events & to take action against organisations behind the event.

4:45 pm: Last rites of Lance Naik Hanamanthappa to take place tomorrow in his home town in Dharwar (Karnataka).

4:25 pm: We will employ around 500 retired defence personnel as traffic enforcement inspectors, SDMs will not be involved, says Arvind Kejriwal on Odd Even rule.

4:15 pm: Mortal remains of Lance Naik Hanamanthappa brought to Brar Square (Delhi). Wreath laying ceremony to take place.

4:03 pm: We tried our level best to fight death for this brave Siachen warrior but this morning his blood pressure dropped down, says Lt General SD Duhan.

4:00 pm: His brain swelled and electrical activity of his brain gradually stopped few hours before his death, says Lt General SD Duhan on L/Nk Hanamanthappa.

3:34 pm: His already failing kidney totally shut down within 6 hours of arrival, says Lt Gen SD Duhan on Lance Naik Hanamanthappa.

3:15 pm: It required another miracle to survive and we really feel bad that this miracle did not happen second time, says VK Singh, Union Minister.

3:00 pm: We hope Siachen issue is treated in an urgent manner between our two countries so more lives aren't lost, says Pak High commissioner Abdul Basit

2:55 pm: It was a miracle for anybody to survive for 6 days buried under avalanche, under 35 ft of snow, says VK Singh, Union Minister.

2:50 pm: Delhi police has filed status report on allegations of influencing witnesses, says Ashish Dixit, RK Pachauri's advocate.

2:45 pm: Sensex tumbles 701.54 points to 23,057.36; Nifty plunges 196 points to 7,019.70.

2:37 pm: Sensex falls by 660 points, currently at 23,098.30.

2:35 pm: Delhi HC reserved its order on the plea of complainant seeking cancellation of anticipatory bail granted to RK Pachauri.

2:30 pm: Wife of Lance Naik Hanamanthappa reaches Army RR Hospital in Delhi.

2:25 pm: NGT asks counsel for DDA to inspect site and file report within 7 days.

2:22 pm: Love shouldn't be for 1 day, don't celebrate Valentine's day: Durga Vahini Bajrang Dal activists in Hyderabad.

2:17 pm: NGT issues notices to Delhi Govt , DDA & Art of Living on the ongoing work on the Yamuna river bed for the "world culture festival".

Petitioner's have alleged damage to the environment and the river bed in preparation of the function by Art of Living next month.

2:10 pm: MCOCA Court gives permission to CBI to take a voice sample of Chhota Rajan in JDey Murder Case, Rajan agrees for the same.

2:07 pm: Army Chief Gen Dalbir Singh condoles passing away of Lance Naik Hanamanthappa, says " soldier in him will continue to inspire generations".

2:05 pm: Bajrang Dal and Durga Vahini members burn Valentines' Day greeting cards in Hyderabad.

2:00 pm: Entire village has been doing nothing but joining the nation in praying for his survival: Villager, Dharwad, K'taka.

We were praying for him, were hoping for him to come back. Saddening: Betadur villager (Dharwad)on L/N Hanumanthappa.

1:55 pm: Anybody who suggests that this evidence isn't valid,is trying to cover up fr an entire conspiracy to protect her real identity: M Jethmalani.

1:50 pm: 1st LeT had claimed Ishrat was fidayeen.But that changed after a statement by an Indian politician:Mahesh Jethmalani

1:40 pm: Lance Naik Hanumanthappa's family in grief in Dharwad (Karnataka).

Lance Naik Hanumanthappa's family in grief in Dharwad (Karnataka). pic.twitter.com/t8SGISJXQY  ANI (@ANI_news) February 11, 2016

1:31 pm: I was Home Secretary then, stood by officers who were being prosecuted. Those people were terrorists, says RK Singh, BJP.

1:25 pm: His extraordinary spirit and tenacity, till very end, is inspiration for all. My thoughts and prayers are with his bereaved family, says Rahul Gandhi.

1:14 pm: Investigation has shown Ishrat Jehan was killed.Case is on.Headley being investigated on 26/11, says Vrinda Grover, lawyer.

1:12 pm: Only concerned with what David Headley said in court. I am very clear in framing the questions, not to suggest or prompt, says Ujjwal Nikam

1:00 pm: David Headley recognized the picture of Gateway of India where he conducted a surveillance for landing site for arrival of terrorists.

12.45 pm: Lance Naik Hanamanthappa passes away at 11:45 AM.

12.37 pm: Siachen soldier Lance Naik Hanamanthappa slips into deeper coma, says Army.



12.02 pm: Headley tells court that LeT handler Abu Kahfa was instructing the ten terrorists from a control room in Karachi during 26/11 attacks.

11.25 am: We stand vindicated on Ishrat Jahan. The long known truth has now been confirmed: BJP

10.42 am: David Headley reveals that Ishrat Jahan was a LeT operative.

10.05 am: Rumors of Leopard spotted near Bengaluru school sparked scare. Around 130 schools to remain shut as a precautionary measure.

9.45 am: JNU orders probe into event on campus against Afzal Guru hanging. Students went ahead with event despite denial of permission.

9.00 am: Shamli incident: Police arrest two main accused Ghayur and Inam.

8.18 am: Zuckerberg responds to Andreessen's comments: I found the comments deeply upsetting, and they do not represent the way Facebook or I think.

8.00 am: AeroMexico apologizes to actor Waris Ahluwalia, who was barred from boarding plane because of his turban.

OneIndia News
Blacklisting Mahmood blocked by China: The man who raised funds under garb of religion in India

No way out in sight for China's zero-COVID strategy

China steps up border controls after first Zika case

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Beijing, Feb 11: China stepped up monitoring at its borders and the city of Shenzhen, a major border control point, and begun Zika detection tests after the first case was detected in the country.

The Shenzhen Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau will enforce stricter controls at its border after the Chinese National Health and Family Planning Commission confirmed on Tuesday a 34-year-old man, who returned to the country on Feb. 5 from Venezuela, was detected with the virus, EFE news reported on Thursday, Feb 11.

The authorities also advised pregnant women to refrain from travelling to South America unless absolutely necessary, since experts warn that the Zika virus might lead to children being born with microcephaly.

The World Health Organisation, however, had assured on Wednesday that a majority of the women in areas affected by Zika will give birth to normal babies.

The Zika virus has been detected in nearly 30 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean and many cases have been reported from other regions too, where the virus was carried by travelers.

IANS
Islamic State bomber detained in Russia for attempting attack in India was recruited through Telegram

Why India should get access to Islamic State bomber detained in Russia

Prosecutions story may be attractive but should be backed by evidence

ISISs jihadi junior blows up men in car bomb

International

oi-Jagriti

London, Feb 11: A minor British boy has appeared in a latest execution video of the Islamic State. The minor dubbed as Jihadi Junior' can be seen blowing alleged spies in a car bomb.

The Jihadi Junior is believed to be the son of Muslim extremist Grace Khadija' Dare from Lewisham, south-east London, reported the Daily Mail.

The video concludes with a car exploding before the boy shouts Allahu Akbar' with his arm raised next to the burnt wreckage.

The video, which is likely to be shot in Raqqa, has been entitled: 'They are the enemy so be aware of them.'

India not immune to ISIS, warns UAE

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned of the danger of the Islamic State terror group spreading its tentacles to South Asia through organisations like the Tehreek-e-Khilafat in Pakistan.

UAE has also warned that India is not immune to the threat from the Sunni radical group.

OneIndia News

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Thursday, February 11, 2016, 15:12 [IST]
'This may give sleepless nights to some': Eknath Shinde on sharing dais with Sharad Pawar

Not just future of Sena but democracy at stake, says Uddhav

Know why this UK daily prefers to use 'Bombay' instead of 'Mumbai'

International

oi-Jagriti

London, Feb 11: A well-known newspaper in UK has decided to use Bombay instead of its new name Mumbai, the financial capital of India.

The Independent newspaper will now be using "Bombay" and not "Mumbai", said its editor Amol Rajan.

"The newspaper will now be using "Bombay" and not "Mumbai" to describe the Indian city. The name Mumbai has been controversial in India ever since Bombay was renamed in 1995.

Calcutta, now Kolkata, born Amol Rajan, who served as columnist and adviser to Evgeny Lebedev, became the first non-white editorial head of a UK national paper when he was appointed editor of the Independent in June 2013.

"The whole point of Bombay is of an open, cosmopolitan port city, the gateway of India that's open to the world," said Rajan, who was born in Kolkata -- formerly known as Calcutta -- and raised in London.

Mulayam to hold rally in Mumbai on February 16

"If you call it what Hindu nationalists want you to call it, you essentially do their work for them," the 32-year-old told BBC radio.

"As journalists, as someone who edits The Independent, it's incredibly important to be specific about our terminology.

"I'd rather side with the tradition of India that's been open to the world, rather than the one that's been closed, which is in ascendance right now," he said, referring to the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

Shiv Sena renamed the Mumbai after the goddess Mumbadevi considered as the protector of fisherman the original inhabitants of the area.

OneIndia News (With agency inputs)
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A new hub for supporting womens leadership in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville was launched today.Australias Ambassador for Women and Girls, Natasha Stott Despoja, joined representatives of the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) in launching the Bougainville Womens Federation facilities in Buka.We are delighted that this hub will assist the Federation to strengthen womens leadership in the region, Ambassador Stott Despoja said.It includes an office that will give women a proper place to work and discuss key issues of concern. Its appropriate that its located at the market where so many women gather to sell their produce."Ambassador Stott Despoja thanked the PNG Regional Member for Bougainville, the Hon. Joe Lera MP, for his contribution through funding furniture and a computer for the office and the construction of a cafe area also located in the new building.The cafe project downstairs will provide women with new skills in running and managing a business and it will provide income for the Federation. It will also ensure women have access to bathroom facilities, Ambassador Stott Despoja said.This hub couldnt have been achieved without the partnership of many people and organisations, whom we acknowledge and thank today.Australia provided more than K350, 000 through the Australian aid program to build the office space and support the cafe. Mr Lera funded the downstairs area, which was contracted through the ABG.Australia supports gender equality in the ABG through a jointly developed and agreed to gender investment plan (2014-19) valued at $14 million. The plan focuses on three key areas: to reduce gender-based violence and provide support services for survivors; strengthen womens leadership and influence in decision-making; and improve womens economic opportunities.In consultation with the PNG Government and the ABG, Australia is increasing its aid to Bougainville to support stability by strengthening governance and service delivery, promoting social cohesion and economic growth, and empowering women and youth.
Komfie Manalo, Opalesque Asia:

Puerto Rico may be getting a bad rap for defaulting on its credits and the plan of Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla to restructure $70 billion in debt, but hedge fund manager John Paulson thinks there are opportunities in the unincorporated U.S. territory.

On Thursday, Paulson is set to travel to Puerto Rico as the keynote speaker at the Puerto Rico Investment Summit to be held at the Puerto Rico Convention Center in a bid to encourage investors to invest in the island, reported the New York Post.

However, Paulson, who has invested millions of dollars buying up several luxury hotels in Puerto Rico, including a $20m stake in the cash-strapped San Juan Beach Hotel, is not expected to receive a warm reception from his audience, experts said. A source was quoted as saying by the New York Post, "He will be there talking about the value of investing in Puerto Rico. Hes trying to attract capital to Puerto Rico." Investors are particularly peeved at the proposal of Padilla to restructure the islands debt.

Indeed, several hedge funds, including Monarch Alternative Capital and WhiteboxAdvisors ......................

To view our full article Click here
Opalesque Industry Update - The Malta Financial Services Authority [MFSA] has announced the launch of a new framework applicable for notification of Alternative Investment Funds [the Notified AIFs] which will be promoted to qualifying or professional investors. The AIFs falling within the scope of the notification process shall be managed by a full-scope AIFM. The Notified AIF is not authorised or in any way approved by the MFSA. In addition, Notified AIFs will not be subject to ongoing supervision. The MFSA shall make available and maintain updated on its website a List of Notified AIFs in good standing. The MFSA is separately assessing the licensing process for funds, particularly the Professional Investor Funds, currently licensed under Maltese law. The Notified AIF can be established as any structure allowed under Maltese law and the AIFM will assume full responsibility for the Notified AIF and for the fulfilment of the obligations of the Notified AIF. EU/EEA AIFMs may submit a notification to the MFSA for an AIF to be included on the List of Notified AIFs. Third country AIFMs will be able to submit a request for notification of an AIF once the country where these have been established has been granted passporting rights pursuant to the AIFMD. The process of notification of AIFs will be available to Collective Investment Schemes which are not already in possession of a licence issued by the MFSA in terms of the Investment Services Act. The MFSA will be publishing a list of documents required together with a proforma prospectus template to be submitted as part of the notification process of the AIF. Within 10 business days from the date of filing of a complete notification pack, the MFSA will proceed to include the AIF in the List of Notified AIFs. The MFSA expects to start receiving requests for inclusion in the List of Notified AIFs from around the middle of the second quarter of 2016.
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Were The Cramps, and were from New York City, and we drove 3,000 miles to play for you people. So begins one of the oddest but also the punkest of punk rock concerts in history, as The Cramps play for a crowd at a state mental hospital in Napa, California. The date was June 13, 1978, a time when Napa was more known for the hospital than for its burgeoning wine industry.

Lead vocalist Lux Interior made this introduction after the first number, Mystery Plane. The band played on a patio, several steps above the courtyard at the institution, while the bands friends hung out with the 100 or so patients in attendance.





And somebody told me you people are crazy, but Im not so sure about that, Lux continues in the video. You seem to be all right to me. Indeed, most everybody seems to be having a hell of a time, some dancing as if theyre at a sock hop, others just completely thrashing about.

This wasnt the first band to have played at the institution, as the hospitals Bart Swain, who invited The Cramps to Napa, often brought in musicians to expand the patients horizons. But on that night a video camera was also brought along to record the set. (Swain worried about preserving the anonymity of the residents.)

Another band on the bill, The Mutants, didnt get videotaped, possibly because the sun had gone down around this time. Either way, it is a very rare slice of punk history, with few comparisons apart from the Sex Pistols playing Chelmsford prison and when a little known thrash metal band called Gobstopper played a Christmas party at a home for developmentally disabled kids and adults.

According to this article on the event, Napa State still stands but the chances of such a concert happening again are slim. The majority of its tenants are now both violent offenders and mentally unstable, too dangerous a venue for anybody to play, no matter how punk.

via Noisey/Vice

Related Content:

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The Talking Heads Play CBGB, the New York Club that Shaped Their Sound (1975)

The Ramones Play New Years Eve Concert in London, 1977

Posters Promoting the 1970s L.A. Punk Scene: Black Flag, The Plimsouls, The Runaways & More

Ted Mills is a freelance writer on the arts who currently hosts the artist interview-based FunkZone Podcast. You can also follow him on Twitter at @tedmills, read his other arts writing at tedmills.com and/or watch his films here.
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Boys soccer peaking into sectionals It was not an ideal start to the 2022 season for the Orchard Park boys soccer team, dropping its first...
Carrie Kahn has joined the Portland office of Holiday Fenoglio Fowler as a director, focusing on multi-housing investment sales transactions.

Kahn has more than 10 years of multi-housing experience and joins HFF from CBRE where she was a first vice president in the investment properties group. During her tenure at CBRE she was involved in more than $1.5 billion of multi-housing transactions in Portland as well as Chicago, where she began her career.

Kahn has also worked at Fifield Companies, a multi-housing and office development and acquisitions firm, and in the real estate banking group of JP Morgan. She is a member of Urban Land Institute and is a licensed real estate broker in Oregon, Washington and Illinois.

Trevor Lindsay has been appointed by Wells Fargo to manage its bank branch at

Trevor Lindsay

4233 N.E. Sandy Blvd. in Portland. He previously managed a Wells Fargo branch in Chico, Calif.



In his new position, Lindsay is responsible for the customer service, sales, professional development and community involvement efforts of 14 team members.



Lindsay joined Wells Fargo in 2013 as a personal banker in Citrus Heights, Calif. The next year Wells Fargo promoted him to assistant store manager of another branch in the same city. Seven months later Lindsay was named the manager of a bank branch in Chico, Calif., where he was working immediately prior to assuming his current role.

-- Compiled by Roger Gregory

Twitter: @washcoaide

503-294-5962
Here are five food and booze events we think should be on your calendar:

Dumpling Week 2016: Starting February 6, The Oregonian/OregonLive.com will host Portland's second annual Dumpling Week, seven days dedicated to all things wrapped in dough. Throughout the week, 12 Portland restaurants including Kachka, Bollywood Theater and Smallwares will offer special dumplings not available on their regular menus. Keep an eye out for dumpling recipes and features -- including an epic 82nd Avenue dumpling crawl -- online and in print. The readers who fill their Dumpling Passport by eating their way through a certain number of dumplings will be eligible for prizes, including gift certificates ranging from $50-$200.

Valentine's Day: Valentine's Day is only days away. For those who don't have dates or dinner plans, here are our 10 best bets for showing how much you care.

Providore Fine Foods opening: After more than 30 years on Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard, Pastaworks has a new home in Northeast Portland, with a few new friends. The gourmet food market launched as the centerpiece tenant of Providore Fine Foods, Portland's European-inspired response to Seattle's Melrose Market, found in the historic, 5,000-square-foot De Soto Building on Northeast 24th Avenue and Sandy Boulevard. The market is also home to Little T American Baker; Arrosto, a new, Italian-style, wood-fired rotisserie chicken concept from Pastaworks; an oyster bar and retail space from the sustainably-minded Flying Fish Company; Emerald Petals, an eco-conscious florist; and Rubinette Produce Market, a Pacific Northwest-sourced fruit and vegetable grocer.

Pasta Class Series at Renata: Starting Feb. 25 at 6 p.m., chef Matt Sigler will be hosting beginner, intermediate and expert level pasta classes at Renata. The beginner's level class will be an introduction to pasta making, focusing on pasta dough and rolling and cutting noodles. Class includes dinner, with Prosecco on arrival, for $125/person. Call 503-954-2708 to book.

Jenn Louis' Israeli dinner: Portland chef Jenn Louis' downtown Los Angeles Israeli restaurant is expected to open this fall. For those who want a taste of the new menu without the wait (or flight), Louis will be hosting a family-style Israeli dinner at Lincoln on March 3 for $30/person, with an optional beverage pairing. Call 503-288-6200 to reserve.

-- Samantha Bakall

sbakall@oregonian.com

Follow @sambakall
"The Goonies," "Stand By Me," "Five Easy Pieces," "Wild." Most Oregonians thrill at Hollywood movies that set even the tiniest foot in Oregon.

But there's a wealth of quality film being made by Oregon's own filmmakers, inside the state's borders and out.

The Northwest Film Center, tasked with promoting the art of moving images in Oregon and beyond, knows this. And that's why its biggest event of the year, the Portland International Film Festival, features its share of films that put Oregonians behind the camera.

With two international documentaries and a smattering of shorts, you'll get your Oregon film fix without having to watch "Bandits" again."

"Open Your Eyes"

"All of my children, I used to know their faces." This line from Portland filmmaker Irene Taylor Brodsky's new documentary about losing and finding sight says it all. It follows Nepalese couple Manisera and Durga, whose cataracts have completely clouded their remote mountain home. Traveling down the mountain on the backs of their son and nephew, the couple treks toward a surgery that will let them see their grandchildren's faces for the first time.

34 minutes

Director: Irene Taylor Brodsky (Portland)

3:30 p.m. Feb. 21 at Whitsell Auditorium, 1219 SW Park Ave.

"50 Feet From Syria"

Compelled by the medical need he sees in news coverage of the Syrian refugee crisis, U.S. hand surgeon Hisham Bismar travels to a Turkish hospital to help how he can. Equipped with dull drill bits and mismatched bone and joint implants, Bismar and the heroes around him do their best to ease the pain. The documentary profiles Bismar and his determination while illustrating the human cost of an equally persistent conflict in Syria.

39 minutes

Director: Skye Fitzgerald (Portland)

Plays before "Open Your Eyes"

3:30 p.m. Feb. 21 at Whitsell Auditorium, 1219 SW Park Ave.

Made in Oregon short film series

Featuring eight shorts made exclusively by Oregon filmmakers, PIFF's Made in Oregon series has everything from a fight for LGBT rights in a small Arkansas town to a dance film for trees. Comedy, drama and the downright surreal collide as Oregonians make their movie magic in short, digestible bits. Look out for "Sista in the Brotherhood," about a black tradeswoman who faces contempt at a new jobsite, or "Dude in the Headlights," a film that brings new meaning to the phrase "animals are people too."

88 minutes

Various directors from Portland, Salem and Silverton

1 p.m. Feb. 20 at Whitsell Auditorium, 1219 SW Park Ave.

6 p.m. Feb. 22 at Roseway Theater, 7229 NE Sandy Blvd.

--Dillon Pilorget

503-294-5927
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INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  President Barack Obama's proposed 2017 budget includes a $75 million federal grant that would jump start a bus rapid transit line in Indianapolis.

The grant would pay for construction of the first phase of the Red Line, a 37-mile route from Westfield to Greenwood, in which electric buses would run in dedicated lanes, the Indianapolis Star (http://indy.st/1T4bu16 ) reported.

The initial leg of the Red Line is 13.6 miles long and would cost an estimated $96.3 million. IndyGo, which would operate the Red Line, would provide $21 million in local matching funds for the line's first phase, while the next two phases of the line also would require future federal funding.

The grant request, which was outlined Tuesday in the $98 billion federal transportation budget, reflects the federal government's confidence that the system would work, said Mike Terry, president and chief executive officer of IndyGo.

"This funding decision is a testament to the quality and importance of the Red Line project," Terry said.

The Red Line is part of a larger transit effort, called Indy Connect, which calls for four high-speed bus routes at an estimated cost of $800 million. It will need taxpayer support in Marion, Johnson and Hamilton counties if it's to expand.

"It is not going to be easy," said Anna Gremling, executive director of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization. "It is going to take a lot of educating the public. This will be the first rapid bust transit project in the state."

The Indy Chamber wants the referendum to be placed on the Marion County ballot in the November general election, Gremling said.

For more than a decade, local transportation officials have been working on a comprehensive mass transit plan for central Indiana, which at times included proposals for rail and light rail.

"I can't see any other moments that will more directly affect the evolution of our city," Michael McKillip, executive director of Midtown Indianapolis Inc., an organization that promotes economic development on the north side, said Tuesday as advocates hailed the grant as a critical step in making over the region's mass transit system. "The Red Line will provide access to jobs, hospitals and groceries."

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Information from: The Indianapolis Star, http://www.indystar.com
Strife over staffing levels at the jail seems to have ceased upon completion of a staffing analysis by consultant Bill Wilson.

Last October saw Midland County Sheriff Scott Stephenson request an additional eight corrections officers (COs) be added to the 2016 budget at a cost of $421,000. Instead, commissioners decided to add two part-time COs for $41,202 and conduct a study on staffing levels.

The study came back with two recommendations: increase staffing levels or decrease the inmate population. Either option would ensure that, inmate supervision and control is maintained constantly and both the jail deputies and inmates are afforded safe and secure conditions, the study stated.

Im glad we did it and Im glad it is up to date and that were all working together to solve this issue, and that fingers arent pointing at others, said Commissioner Eric Dorrien, R-6th District.

At a meeting this week, Dorrien, Chair Scott Noesen, R-7th District, and Jim Geisler, R-5th District, unanimously recommended to accept the analysis.

Personally, I am supportive of the study, Noesen said. I met with (Stephenson) earlier today and he seemed reasonably comfortable with the level of between 200 to 224 (inmates). The recommendation is almost 38 (full-time equivalent COs) and that is almost where we are at now.

The recommendation also stated that the committee acknowledges and supports that the sheriff is currently implementing a reduction in inmate population so that the level is consistent with current staffing. That level is 80 percent of capacity, or around 220 inmates.

At the end of the day, its the Constitutional right of those inmates to have a safe work environment, Noesen said. The number one priority of the sheriff is the safety of the inmates, staff and visitors. That trumps any kind of financial implication. Our responsibility is to make sure we can do this and afford it in the county.

When Stephenson made the request in October, he stated, ...the county is not in compliance with the Administrative Rules for Jails and Lockups in the state of Michigan ... They are not suggestions. They are mandated. They carry the validity of the law and I am required to follow them.

Stephenson has slowly been decreasing the inmate population in the 274-bed jail because of safety concerns. Last fall, the inmate census hovered in the 240-250 range. Earlier this week, it stood at 204.

I have been proactive in staffing levels and we will continue monitoring it and the types of inmates we have, Stephenson said.

That inmate census can be very fluid.

The population can change drastically, sometimes throughout a day, Stephenson said. (The study) will give us one more tool as we monitor the population of the jail. But, our first priority is to our local inmates.

Wilson, who has served 16 years as the jail commander for the Monroe County Sheriffs Office in Bloomington, Ind., recommended that if the county wanted to maintain a jail census of more than 250, it should raise staffing levels from 37.8 full-time equivalent positions to 47.15. If the county wants to maintain an inmate population level in the 200-224 range, current staffing levels would be adequate, said Wilson, who for the past four years has served on the committee of jail administrators in Indiana, which reviewed the proposed revisions to the Indiana Jail Standards and made recommendations to the Indiana Sheriffs Association, Indiana Department of Corrections and Indiana Attorney Generals Office.

A reduction in inmates will mean fewer funds to pay off jail debt. Currently, the jail takes in prisoners from Federal Marshals, Genesee County and the Michigan Department of Corrections.

After the meeting, County Administrator/Controller Bridgette Gransden stated that they would continue to monitor the budget as they always do and make adjustments if needed.
LANSING, Mich. (AP)  The Latest on Gov. Rick Snyder's budget proposal (all times local):

11:50 a.m.

Gov. Rick Snyder wants to expand a program so state police troopers patrol more Michigan cities.

He says putting state police in Detroit, Flint, Pontiac and Saginaw has reduced violent crime in those cities. In his annual budget presentation Wednesday, he asked lawmakers for $1.5 million more to expand the "Secure Cities" effort into Benton Harbor, Hamtramck, Harper Woods, Highland Park, Inkster and Muskegon Heights.

Snyder also wants to add 85 new troopers and 350 new corrections officers.

___

11:30 a.m.

Gov. Rick Snyder is proposing that Michigan school districts receive between $60 and $120 more per student in state funding in the next budget.

Lower-funded districts would get more, while better-funded districts would get less of an increase.

The $14 billion school aid fund would grow by 2 percent under the Republican governor's proposal.

___

4 a.m.

Gov. Rick Snyder is proposing that Michigan's 15 public universities get 4.3 percent more in state operations funding in the next fiscal year.

The higher education budget Snyder will unveil on Wednesday includes nearly $1.6 billion, according to his office. If approved by lawmakers, it would bring the overall university budget above the level it was when Snyder took office in 2011, when he and lawmakers cut funding by 15 percent to address a deficit.

To get all their state funding, universities would have to limit tuition increases to 4.8 percent or less.

Funding increases would range from a high of 6.8 percent for Grand Valley State to a low of 3.5 percent for Wayne State.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help a Midland family dealing with a tragic car crash that killed a parent and a child.

Jefferson Middle School seventh-grader Sarah Bell and her father, Victor Bell, 33, both of Midland, died in the Saginaw County accident.

The purpose of the Go Fund Me page, at https://www.gofundme.com/mu993q9a, is to raise money to help with funeral expenses as well as financially help the family members caring for Bells youngest daughter, age 9.

Victor was an amazing father and Sarah was such a bright soul. They are both gone far too soon, wrote the creator of the page, Amber Farrow Rutland.

On Wednesday, counselors helped Jefferson students deal with the loss of their classmate.

It was a very somber day at Jefferson today, Principal Steve Poole said Wednesday. Teachers informed students of Sarah Bells loss in the morning.

Extra counselors from Midland and H.H. Dow high schools, as well as Northeast Middle School, assisted the Jefferson counselor in providing support to students, Poole said. The school has 900 students.

I would say hello to her every morning, Pools said when asked about Bell. Just a tremendous seventh grade student who lost her life.

The Saginaw County Sheriffs Office reports Victor Bell was driving a Dodge Neon north on Mackinaw Road near Pierce Road in Kochville Township, when Bell lost control about 4:30 p.m. Sarah Bell was his passenger.

The car crossed the centerline and was struck in the passenger door by a southbound Chevy Tahoe.

Both victims were wearing seat belts.

The driver of the Tahoe, 31-year-old Kelsey Lucas of Saginaw, was not hurt.

Lt. Miguel Gomez said the road was snowy and driving conditions were rapidly deteriorating at the time of the crash.

The crash is being investigated by a crash reconstructionist.
A 27-year-old Beaverton man charged with homicide in connection with the October killing of a Gladwin County man has been bound over for trial.

Chad Alan Ballard appeared for a preliminary examination in the Gladwin County District Court.

Evidence presented during the hearing included that the victim in the case, Daniel James Dombroski, 46, who was reported missing in early October, suffered 27 stab wounds to his neck, chest and abdomen. Investigators working on the missing person case began to suspect foul play after there was no activity on his social media pages and no transactions made with his financial accounts.

Ballard is scheduled to be arraigned in the Gladwin County Circuit Court next week.

Also charged in connection with the death is Stephanie Anne Livingston, 47, Rochester Hills. She faces charges of tampering with evidence, larceny from a person and being an accessory after the fact to a felony.

The charges against Ballard and Livingston were filed after Dombroskis body was recovered from a wooded thicket on the edge of a swamp in Beaverton Township in November.

Gladwin County sheriffs deputies were called to Tobacco Township near Wixom Lake on Oct. 12 after Dombroski was reported as a missing person. He was last seen on the evening of Oct. 6.

Deputies, with help from the Michigan State Police, searched in the neighborhood where Dombroski was last seen, and south into Midland County including areas near the river in Edenville. The Billings Fire Department dive team also helped the Gladwin County Sheriffs Office check portions of Wixom Lake.

The search in November was precipitated by a detectives interview with a suspect in Dombroskis disappearance. During the interview, the suspect gave the detective information about the location of the body.
Air Force officials announced today the selection of Tinian as the preferred alternative for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands PACAF Divert Activities and Exercises Initiative. This is the modified Tinian only alternative described in the revised draft EIS.

The purpose of the initiative is to establish additional divert capabilities to support training activities, while ensuring the capability to meet mission requirements in the event access to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, or other western Pacific locations is limited or denied.

I am pleased to announce Tinian as the preferred alternative for this initiative and greatly appreciate the contributions of the people of the CNMI community to our nations defense, said Deborah Lee James, secretary of the Air Force. We believe this initiative will provide critical strategic operational and exercise capabilities for U.S. forces and provide economic benefits to the local community.

The initiative will also improve the Tinian airport infrastructure to support up to 12 tanker aircraft and associated support personnel for divert operations. Periodic exercises would be conducted up to eight weeks per year.

The divert initiative in CNMI will create the only divert airfield in the Western Pacific and provide the U.S. Air Force the capability to conduct either temporary or sustained refueling operations from an additional location in the region, said General Mark Welsh, chief of staff of the Air Force. It will also give us another location to use when supporting contingency or natural disaster responses in the region.

The modified Tinian only alternative was selected as the preferred alternative. Saipan and the Hybrid options remain reasonable alternatives. The EIS analyzes many factors for each alternative, including quality of life, noise, cultural and historical interests, safety, potential effect on natural and coastal resources, land use, effect on existing air traffic, effect on tourism, and recreation.

During the comment period, we heard from government agencies and community members on both Saipan and Tinian. They expressed an overwhelming desire to have the divert initiative on Tinian, said Gen. Lori Robinson, commander, Pacific Air Forces. In addition to enhancing our national defense, the expansion of the airport on Tinian will enhance U.S. Pacific Commands disaster relief and humanitarian assistance capabilities in the region.

The Air Force will release the final environmental impact statement in the spring after which a record of decision will be signed.

For more information, contact Ashley Conner, PACAF Public Affairs, at 808-448-3214 or ashley.conner.3@us.af.mil
The U.S. military will participate in the 2016 Singapore International Airshow at the Singapore Changi Airport and the Changi Exhibition Centre, Singapore, Feb. 16-21, 2016.

The airshow is a biennial event and is the largest defense exhibition and biennial international tradeshow in the Pacific. This years exhibition will be the 5th iteration since its inception in 1996.

A cross-section of U.S. military aircraft and equipment are scheduled to be present through static displays and aerial demonstrations, including the C-17 Globemaster III, E-3 Sentry, KC-135 Stratotanker, B-52 Stratofortress, P-8 Poseidon, C-12 Huron, MV-22 Osprey, AH-64E Apache, MH-60R Seahawk, CH-47 Chinook, F-22 Raptor, F-16 Fighting Falcon, and F-18 Super Hornet.

Through participation in airshows and regional events, the U.S. demonstrates its commitment to the security of the Indo-Asia-Pacific region, promotes equipment interoperability, displays the flexible combat capabilities of the U.S. military, and creates lasting relationships with international audiences to strengthen the bonds that support partnership building throughout the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.
Misawa F-16s deploy to Andersen AFB in support of Cope North 2016

A crew chief assigned to the 35th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, Misawa Air Base, Japan, prepares a F-16 Fighting Falcon, piloted by 1st Lt. Dave Takahashi, 13th Fighter Squadron, for takeoff Feb. 4, 2016, at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. Several F-16 Fighting Falcons from the 13th FS are deployed to Andersen AFB in support of Cope North 2016. Cope North is an annual event that focuses on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief and large force employment in an effort to enhance interoperability among forces from the U.S., Japan, Australia, South Korea, Philippines and New Zealand. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Joshua Smoot)
On Newsstands Now: Here's Everything You'll Find in CityBeat's Latest Issue

From a Bigfoot hunt to delightfully spooky ghost stories from one of Cincinnati's watering holes, here are the stories you'll find in CityBeat's latest print edition.

By CityBeat Staff Oct 19, 2022

For many of us, Bigfoot is a legend present only on an episode of Ancient Aliens, or perhaps only among the towering, mysterious pines of the Pacific Northwest. However, for CityBeat's latest issue, we went on a hunt for Bigfoot in a place where the massive furball had allegedly been spotted before  Ohio's Pleasant Hill Lake Park...
TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines  United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Chief Financial Officer Reginald Mitchell visited Tacloban City on February 4 to inaugurate new structures as part of the U.S. governments continuing support for communities impacted by Typhoon Yolanda.

Mr. Mitchell joined Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez, and Department of Education (DepEd) Region VIII Director Dr. Luisa Yu in the formal opening of four climate-resilient and fully-furnished classrooms at the Tacloban City National High School.

This is part of the more than 250 classrooms that the U.S. government, through the U.S. Embassy Manilas USAID, is building in Leyte Province to help restore normalcy in education in Typhoon Yolanda-affected areas, said Mr. Mitchell. The priority we give to building classrooms is recognition of the critically important role of education in poverty alleviation.

As part of the U.S. governments support to sustain the local economy, Mr. Mitchell also inaugurated a new grains warehouse and solar dryer facility. The structures will help 120 members of the Association of Tagpuro Farmers United for Progress, one of the leading rice and vegetable farmers' groups in Tacloban City, to fully recover their main source of livelihoods and income.

The warehouse and the solar dryer are two of the more than 30 agri-fishery support facilities being constructed by USAID to assist farmers and fisherfolk affected by Typhoon Yolanda. Other facilities that are being constructed across the province include trading centers, warehouses, solar dryers and irrigation facilities.

In addition to the school buildings and livelihood facilities, USAID is constructing 12 health centers to help restore access to quality health services. In partnership with U.S. companies, Procter & Gamble and Coca-Cola, USAID is also constructing 1,000 sari-sari stores to help small entrepreneurs get back on their feet.

To date, the U.S. government has provided approximately $143 million to help the Philippines respond to, and recover from, the devastating effects of Typhoon Yolanda.
JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii -- The U.S. and five ally and partner nations in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region are scheduled to participate in exercise Cope North 2016 at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, Feb. 10 through 26.

Exercise CN16 is a long-standing exercise designed to enhance multilateral air operations between the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, Japan Air Self-Defense Force and Royal Australian Air Force. As part of CN16, additional participants from the Philippines Air Force, Republic of Korea Air Force and Royal New Zealand Air Force will participate in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief training.

More than 930 U.S. Airmen and Sailors will train alongside approximately 490 JASDF, 375 RAAF, 5 PAF, 20 ROKAF and 35 RNZAF service members. Additionally, more than 100 aircraft, comprised of 23 flying units from the U.S. and Indo-Asia-Pacific region, will participate in CN16.

The exercise will begin with a two-day table-top Humanitarian Assistance Disaster Relief exercise to enhance command and control prior to the week-long HA/DR training. This will be the first time a table-top HA/DR exercise has been completed prior to executing the training. During the second part of the exercise, the focus will shift to large-force employment training, fighter-versus-fighter air combat tactics training, and air-to-ground strike mission training over the Farallon de Medinilla range 160 nautical miles north of Guam. The U.S. Air Force's 353rd Combat Training Squadron from Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, will participate in the exercise and conduct multilateral survival training for the first time this year.

Additionally during CN16, Andersen AFB will open its doors to the general public to attend an open house featuring static displays and flyovers.

Beginning in 1978 as a quarterly bilateral exercise held at Misawa Air Base, Japan, Cope North was moved to Andersen AFB in 1999. Today, the annual exercise serves as a keystone event to promote stability and security throughout the Indo-Asia-Pacific region by enabling regional forces to hone vital readiness skills critical to maintaining regional stability.
CAMP HANSEN, Okinawa, Japan  U.S. Marines and Japanese Ground Self Defense Force Soldiers waded through frozen creeks and seemingly unending fields of snow together during Forest Light 16-2. Day and night, whistling mortars, the crack of sniper fire and howling sub-zero winds created a chorus of cold as they braved the elements together.

Forest Light, ending Feb. 6, took place in the remote winter environment of Hokkaido, Japan. The exercise, which involved elements of III Marine Expeditionary Force and the Japan Ground Self Defense Force, is intended to strengthen military partnership, solidifies regional security agreements and improves individual and unit-level skills between the U.S. Marine Air-Ground Task Force and the JGSDF.

Forest Light builds upon the Marine Corps ground combat capabilities while maintaining the Corps strategic presence in the Pacific. Forest Light includes force-on-force training at the platoon and company level, helo-borne operations and unit-level training events that test expeditionary warfighting capabilities within III MEF and refines the homeland defense capabilities of the JGSDF.

A strong Japan means a strong America, said Capt. John J. Dick, the company commander of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. Our partnership is essential for regional security.

The exercise also supports enhancing the training opportunities of elements augmenting III MEF as part of the unit deployment program.

We also learned how they execute regimental, battalion and company operations, while we offered back our own experiences and guidance based from Afghanistan and Iraq, said Dick, from Livingston, Scotland.

The benefits extend down to the tactical level, where troops feel the greatest impact.

Forest Light absolutely benefits the Marine Corps tactically, said Maj. Jose J. Pereira, the assistant operations officer for 4th Marine Regiment, which 3/5 is currently supporting. It is very hard to plan and execute a mission when there is a language barrier, but, due to exercises like this, it sets the bar for issues we may run into the next time we work with our partners and allows us to continue to overcome these obstacles.

The exercise helps boost security for the region and strengthens ties between the U.S. and Japan.

The significance of this exercise is twofold, said Dick. One, it increases our ability to cooperate and two, the strong partnership here will provide stability to the region.

According to Pereira, the greatest benefit of Forest Light is building the personal relationships to help the JGSDF and U.S. Marines overcome obstacles together.

Building these personal relationships now means that the day a combined task force is called upon to work together, they will already be familiar with each others procedures, said Pereira, from Boston. They will be able to work together under duress, such as an earthquake, typhoon or other natural disasters.

Forest Light included cultural events to build lifelong friendships between the two nations forces. During the exercise, the Marines visited a museum, temple, watched JGSDF soldiers perform ceremonial martial arts with swords and play traditional Taiko drums. Dick said the experience was new to him and his company, which he said has never worked with the JGSDF before.

Like any other industrial country, they are professional, disciplined, he observed, and it was a unique opportunity to work with an enthusiastic military that is honing its skills in defense and for the freedom of its people.

Because 3/5 is currently forward deployed in the Pacific through the unit deployment program, they dont have to sacrifice their ability to rapidly respond to support operations here when conducting training exercises like Forest Light.

From Okinawa to Fuji and now to Hokkaido, the experience has been eye opening to the Marines on the UDP from 3/5, said Dick. The UDP program we are on right now, I think, should set the tone for how UDPs are conducted in the future. It truly emphasizes the expeditionary mindset that Marine Corps has, taking us to any clime and place
BLOOMINGTON  An Arizona man was acquitted Wednesday of raping a woman in Bloomington three years ago.

Gregory Suddreth hugged his lawyer Donald Angelini and smiled broadly at the jury as the not-guilty verdicts were read. The jury deliberated slightly less than an hour on the two counts of sexual assault.

The alleged victim, who is acquainted and has a family connection with Suddreth, wept and was hugged by a supporter as the decisions were read.

After the verdict, Angelini said the three-year legal process has been a difficult one for the family. "I'm very happy for the family," he said as he left the courtroom following the three-day trial.

In her closing arguments to the jury Wednesday, Assistant State's Attorney Kristin Alferink said there was no doubt that Suddreth, 48, used force when he raped the woman during the first incident on Dec. 6, 2012, in his apartment.

The woman "did not want to have sex with the defendant. She told you that," said the prosecutor, adding that "he saw something that he wanted and he took it."

According to testimony, Suddreth took the woman to dinner and then to a strip club in Kappa before the Dec. 6 incident. When the two returned to his apartment where the woman left her keys, he blocked her exit and directed her to his bedroom, the alleged victim told the jury.

A week later, Suddreth forced his way into the woman's apartment after a company holiday party and sexually assaulted her a second time, the alleged victim testified.

The prosecutor addressed the five-week delay in the woman's reporting of the incident to a relative and Bloomington police.

"We can all say if I was (her) I would have done it differently," said Alferink. Without being in the role of a victim, such hypotheticals are meaningless, she said.

Pointing directly at the alleged victim in the courtroom, Angelini told jurors in his closing remarks: "I'm not asking her to report. I'm asking that she just tell then the truth and stay consistent."

The defense lawyer asked jurors to scrutinize the credibility of the alleged victim and a California doctor who treated her for post traumatic stress disorder after the incidents.

Questions about missing entries in the woman's diary that described the alleged assaults also should create reasonable doubt, said Angelini.

The woman's claim that she blacked out shortly after she was led into Suddreth's bedroom and could not provide details of the alleged assault leaves "a vacuum of evidence," said Angelini.

Only two people  Suddreth and the woman  know exactly what happened on the nights of the two incidents, said Angelini. The possibility that the two engaged in consensual sex that the woman later regretted cannot be excluded as a possibility, said Angelini, adding that Suddreth was not making such an admission.

"I don't know if it's consensual ... but that's not rape," said Angelini.

Still pending is a lawsuit filed by the woman in Cook County against Suddreth and STA Group, the firm that employed both as consultants for State Farm. She is seeking damages related to the alleged assaults.
BLOOMINGTON  A former Bloomington resident who died in 1992 acted alone in killing a part-time bartender in 1984, police say, bringing closure to a case that went cold nearly 30 years ago.

About 6 a.m. on Feb. 28, 1984, Gary L. Sheppelman, 37, was found dead inside what was then known as Schenks Tavern at 1504 Morrissey Drive, Bloomington.

The initial investigation determined that someone had stabbed him 26 times and slit his throat. His killer also had beaten him over the head with a heavy weapon, police said at the time.

Sheppelman, a Navy veteran who had served two tours in Vietnam as a patrol-boat gunner, likely was killed sometime between 9 and 11 p.m. the night before.

Police have now identified Aaron Patrick, who died in 1992 at the age of 51, as the man who committed the crime.

In 1987, authorities told The Pantagraph they had identified a suspect who had spent time in prison on an unrelated charge following the homicide, but did not have enough evidence to make an arrest. They also said at least two other people had information about the crime, but refused to cooperate.

Patrick had a lengthy arrest record, including several burglary charges.

Authorities worked on the case for two years after the homicide and held four grand jury hearings, but few leads were generated from the public. On Oct. 2, 1986, the Bloomington Police Department placed the case in an inactive status.

After a case goes cold, we periodically review those cases, said Bloomington police spokeswoman Sara Mayer. It was assigned to a detective by a sergeant and during that review, they were able to generate some new information which led to a witness that was now willing to talk.

Police officials said that in December 2014, a witness revealed information due to the death of Patrick, who was a 42-year-old resident of Bloomington at the time of the crime. Few other specifics were released.

There was a robbery and money was taken, Mayer said.

The case file was submitted to the McLean County state's attorney's office for review in 2015. Officials with the office told police that information in the investigation would have been sufficient to charge Patrick with the homicide if he were still alive.

It is believed Patrick acted alone in this crime, and there is no information at this time which would lead to others being charged, Mayer said.

According to Pantagraph archives, Sheppelman was tending bar on a snowy night in February. After working all day, he agreed to work the night shift when another bartender couldnt make it in because of the storm.

Authorities said they believed Sheppelman knew his killer because the doors had been set to lock automatically, meaning Sheppelman and the killer were inside and others could not enter.

An obituary in The Pantagraph indicated Patrick died June 2, 1992, after an illness.

Late last week, police located and notified Sheppelman's surviving siblings of the findings. The Sheppelman family was grateful to have closure on the death of their brother, Mayer said.

Pantagraph efforts to contact the family Wednesday were not successful.
NORMAL  The McLean County Unit 5 school board on Wednesday voted to issue $21 million in bonds for school repairs and upgrades after the district was denied $17.5 million in state bond money for what are described as urgent projects.

The projects we have are imminent and not getting those bonds doesnt make that go away, said Marty Hickman, Unit 5 business manager.

The district plans to issue the $21 million in bonds within the next month to cover costs of projects related to fire prevention and safety, energy conservation and school security, Hickman said.

The tax implications for property owners won't be known until the bonds are issued, he said.

Nearly 200 Illinois districts applied for Qualified School Construction Bonds from the state for building upgrades and repairs.

The Illinois State Board of Education reviewed applications and released a report Friday, approving 29 districts  mostly in Cook County  for bonds.

The $17.5 million requested by the Normal-based district would have gone toward roof repairs or replacements, new pipes, lighting, and heating and cooling installation at multiple district buildings.

At Wednesday nights school board meeting, Hickman explained how the district plans to prioritize and complete necessary building updates and repairs.

Receiving the QSCB was one way we hoped to pay for building repairs, but we talked about different roads we could travel, said Hickman.

Superintendent Mark Daniel encouraged parents and members of the community to contact state legislators to let Springfield know public education must be fully funded.

"Something has to change and parents have to reach out to legislators," he said. "If we dont get funds from the state, we have to turn to our property tax payers. If budget woes continue, we will have to increase class sizes, have fewer buses and even cut school days.

On another topic, parents with students in Unit 5 schools spoke about potential changes to school start times, which could help the districts transportation budget. Some parents voiced concerns to board members about their elementary students having to start school earlier while other parents showed approval of high school students starting school later.

Daniel said a final decision on next year's school start times is expected to be made before spring break.

I encourage the board to take more time to discuss the issue. Having elementary students start school earlier would have a negative impact on their schedules and education, said Brian Davis of Hudson.

The board also approved the 2016-17 school calendar, which includes changing parent-teacher conferences to after school hours.
SPRINGFIELD  President Barack Obama returned to Springfield on Wednesday to call on members of the Illinois General Assembly to work together toward less divisive, more civil politics.

The speech, delivered nine years to the day after Obama launched his White House bid on the steps of the Old State Capitol, came amid an unprecedented state budget impasse between first-term Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Democratic-controlled Legislature led by House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton, both of Chicago.

While alluding to the standoff, Obama focused his remarks on the larger issue of the increasing political polarization in Springfield and Washington, D.C., and across the United States.

The situation we find ourselves in today is not somehow unique or hopeless, he said, speaking in the current Capitol, where he began his political career in 1997 as a state senator from Chicagos South Side. Weve always gone through periods when our democracy seems stuck, and when that happens, we have to find a new way of doing business.

Were in one of those moments. Weve got to build a better politics, one thats less of a spectacle and more of a battle of ideas, one thats less of a business and more of a mission, one that understands the success of the American experiment rests on our willingness to engage all our citizens in this work.

To build a better politics, Obama highlighted four areas where work needs to be done: limiting influence of big money in politics, changing the way congressional districts are drawn, making it easier for voters to register and cast ballots and engaging in more respectful political discourse.

We cant move forward if all we do is tear each other down, he said.

The president said his belief in the importance of bipartisanship and civility has its roots, in part, in his days in the Illinois Senate.

As a newcomer in the then-minority party, Obama had to find ways to work with Republicans if we wanted to accomplish anything. He formed a bond with Kirk Dillard, then a GOP senator from Hinsdale and now chairman of the Chicago-area Regional Transit Authority, with whom he worked on issues such as ethics reform and combating racial profiling.

He also took the time to get to know downstate Republicans away from the Statehouse, playing cards with other lawmakers, including state Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington.

Away from the glare of TV or the tweets of the GIFs of todays media, what we discovered was that, despite our surface differences  Democrats and Republicans, downstate hog farmers, inner-city African-Americans, suburban businesspeople, Latinos from Pilsen or Little Village  despite those differences, we actually had a lot in common, he said. We cared about our communities. We cared about our families. We cared about America."

He added: And we didnt call each other idiots or fascists who were trying to destroy America. Because then wed have to explain why we were playing poker or having a drink with an idiot or a fascist who was trying to destroy America.

Despite Obamas message, there were times when partisan divisions were on full display in the House chamber. For example, Democrats stood and cheered when he mentioned the importance of collective-bargaining rights, and Republicans did when he mentioned redistricting reform.

Obama acknowledged his disappointment that partisan discord has gotten worse during his presidency and, hinting at his post-presidential plans, said this work will be a focus of mine over the course of this year and beyond.
The education industry is nothing if not trend-driven, and sometimes fads manage to calcify into indisputable "facts" that spur backlash when challenged.

Take the mini-revolt over the recent boomlet of myth-busting news articles about "learning styles," the theory that some people learn better through movement, others through reading or listening and so on.

Just post links to Quartz's "The concept of different 'learning styles' is one of the greatest neuroscience myths" or New York Magazine's "One Reason the 'Learning Styles' Myth Persists" on your Facebook timeline and watch otherwise gentle, open-hearted educators descend into bitter disputes about the challenges of being an auditory learner in a text-rich society.

My first brush with the "learning styles" credo was in a graduate-level education program that promoted it as an article of faith for any new teacher.

A decade later, not teaching for different learning styles is considered akin to educational malpractice. Some educators believe that not presenting every concept to students in each of the many styles  kinesthetic, visual, auditory  is nothing short of bigotry because it discriminates against those who don't learn in "traditional" ways.

Students have internalized this responsibility-absolving mantra over the years. I spent this past fall semester in a music theory course at my local community college with young adults who unfailingly challenged our professor's classroom instruction, homework and tests with "learning style" complaints.

If we were doing aural training, someone would whine about being a visual learner. The written tests were "too hard" for the kinesthetic learners because they weren't good at writing on paper, and so on. It was ridiculous  we were, after all, in a music class where reading, writing and listening to music were required, and had been clearly articulated in the course description.

I'm too jaded about how tenaciously educators cling to their dogmas to believe that the overemphasis on differentiated learning styles will soon recede from practice. The "everybody's special" ethos of teacher education tends to treat the "learning styles" theory as though a student's preferred method of processing new information automatically makes him or her incapable of learning through any other means. It is heartening to see attempts at dismantling the legend.

"Over and over, researchers have failed to find any substantive evidence for the notion of learning styles, to the point where it's been designated a 'neuromyth' by some education and psychology experts," writes Jesse Singal in a recent issue of New York Magazine.

The reason the myth lives on, according to Christian Jarrett in Wired magazine, is the educational-industrial complex. "It is propagated not only in hundreds of popular books," Jarrett wrote, "but also through international conferences and associations, by commercial companies who sell ways of measuring learning styles and in teacher-training programs."

Howard Gardner, who over 30 years ago did groundbreaking research on the notion of multiple intelligences has gone out of his way to differentiate his work from the shorthand of "learning styles."

On The Washington Post's Answer Sheet blog, Gardner wrote, "If people want to talk about 'an impulsive style' or 'a visual learner,' that's their prerogative. But they should recognize that these labels may be unhelpful, at best, and ill-conceived at worst."

When I spoke to Gardner about the danger of using his research and the now-ubiquitous "learning styles" as a crutch for students or an excuse for teachers to not push students to perform up to their potential, he said: "I'm against uniform schools. And everybody's got his or her own way of learning, but we're not going to expect all schools to accommodate them all.

"There has to be a middle ground. We don't want to make every student learn in the same way, but we also don't want to encourage students to not have to stretch out of their comfort zone and show some grit. The way I would put it is that kids should get as much help as they need to learn, but not one whit more."

Teachers are well meaning, but buying into the "learning styles" myth has not been definitively shown to improve educational outcomes. So let it die already.
SPRINGFIELD  Illinois House Democrats have revived an effort that would send stalled contract talks to binding arbitration and prohibit a state worker strike or lockout.

The move comes after Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration took steps to have negotiations with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees declared at an impasse. The roughly 38,000 state employees represented by AFSCME Council 31 have been working under the terms of their previous deal since it expired June 30.

On a party-line vote Thursday, the House Labor and Commerce Committee approved a bill that would apply to contracts that have expired or will expire between June 30, 2015, and June 30, 2019. That would cover AFSCME and six other unions that currently don't have contracts with the state.

State Rep. Chris Welch, a Hillside Democrat who's sponsoring the bill, said it represents a major concession on the part of labor unions because they would be giving up the right to strike.

"I also think, from a legislative standpoint, we want to prevent the administration from locking out state employees, who are providing important services across this state, and basically shutting down government," Welch said. "That's our responsibility as legislators."

Rauner has said in the past that he will not lock out workers.

Republican opponents of the bill said AFSCME, which is backing the measure, is attempting change the rules in the middle of the process.

"Going to the General Assembly for legislation specifically designed to try and direct things in your favor is not something I can be supportive of," said state Rep. Dan Brady, a Bloomington Republican who serves on the committee.

Before the committee hearing began, the Rauner administration distributed a statement attacking the bill.

Rauner's statement called the move "a second bite at the failed attempt" to pass the bill.

The General Assembly passed a nearly identical bill last year, but Rauner vetoed it. House Democrats fell three votes short of overriding the veto.

Since then, the governor has accused AFSCME of bargaining in bad faith and asked the Illinois Labor Relations Board to determine whether the talks have reached an impasse. If the board sides with him, it could clear the way for the state to impose the terms of its contract offer.

"Instead of lobbying for yet another version of the failed legislation from last fall, AFSCME should defend its proposals before the labor board," the governor's statement said.

State Rep. Mike Smiddy, a Hillsdale Democrat who also serves on the Labor and Commerce Committee, said he believes part of the reason the override effort failed last year was because Rauner promised to stay at the bargaining table with AFSCME. The union says the administration has refused to negotiate since asking for the impasse declaration earlier this year.

"This (bill) will hopefully prevent a shutdown of state government, either through strike or lockout," Smiddy said. "We do not need services shut down in the state of Illinois due a strike or lockout."

If the bill is approved, it would send stalled contract talks to mediation and then, if necessary, to a panel of independent arbitrators, who would decide on an issue-by-issue basis which side has made the more reasonable offer.

A similar process is currently in place for police officers, firefighters and other public safety workers, including correctional officers represented by AFSCME.
Madison Paper CEO Says Production Schedule 'A Fluid Situation' Feb. 11, 2016 (Portland Press Herald) - The president and CEO of Madison Paper Industries said [on Feb. 9] he can't confirm the details of a potential months-long curtailment at the paper mill (in Madison, Maine), saying only that while production at the mill is down, the situation is changing on a weekly basis and layoffs have been avoided. Meanwhile, the president of the union representing employees at the mill said schedule changes enacted after the curtailment are frustrating workers with less pay. Russ Drechsel, president and CEO of Madison Paper Industries, said the mill's production schedule is now subject to change on a weekly basis. The mill employs about 225 people. We'll balance our production needs with what the market demands, Drechsel said. In other words, an order or request for paper could come in tomorrow, and we may elect to run this weekend. Or we may have 10 orders canceled, and we may have to shut down all next week. It's a fluid situation. That's the best I can say right now. Michael Croteau, president of the United Steelworkers Local 36, the union at Madison Paper, said in January that the mill had just begun a two-day-per-week curtailment that was expected to last three to six months. The production cutback has come amid a drop in demand for supercalendered paper  the type of glossy magazine paper made at Madison Paper, according to both officials. Go to the full story: http://www.pressherald.com/2016/02/09/madison-paper-production-schedule-could-change-weekly-president-says/ SOURCE: Portland Press Herald Editor's note: The Madison mill is located on the bank of the Kennebec River in Madison, Maine (USA). The mill has the capacity to produce about 200,000 tonnes per year of supercalendered paper used for printers and publishers of magazines and catalogs.
You've just finished a wonderful trip to Africa and you're so delighted to show off that ivory pendant to your sister in the U.S. Unfortunately, you didn't even make it past the customs officials at the New York La Guardia Airport. Sad to say, anything made of ivory is banned in the U.S.

U.S. customs officials have been very strict with bringing items from overseas. So, before you consider bringing anything into U.S. territory, take a look at the list of banned items in America from Culture Cheat Sheet.

Kinder eggs

While these sweet treats may satisfy a child's fancy, they are certainly banned in America. These are little toys covered in milk chocolate, which can cause choking problems for small children. If you're from Canada and you're caught bringing these treats to the U.S., be ready to leave them with customs officials.

Ivory-made products

If you have wanted to show off an ivory pendant, forget it. U.S. has banned ivory products. The only exception are items made of warthog ivory or an antique, which is 100 years old or more.

Non-U.S. compliant cars

U.S. regulatory laws on car manufacture are strict enough that if a car does not meet the required safety and emissions standards, then better leave it at the place where you bought it. Don't fret though, you can still look for a registered importer that will help you, but expect a long process for it.

Absinthe

Considered as a hallucinogen, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection will not allow you to bring this one, unless it is "thujone-free." Also, make sure that the brand name of the product is not named "absinthe," per se and the artwork must not depict "hallucinogenic" images.

Animal-hide drums from Haiti

Haitian animal hide drums are specifically banned due to previous cutaneous anthrax cases. To be able to bring these home, they need to be specially processed that ensures no risk of infection.

Ancient artifacts

Be careful whenever you intend to bring an ancient artifact from Egypt or the Middle East. Cultural items from a certain country are banned from entering the U.S., in the same vein that the country of origin may not allow you to bring them out of that country. Stolen art and antiquities are also not allowed.

Meat

Obviously, the risk of bringing in diseases, like mad cow disease or avian flu, is increased when you bring in meat. So unless the meat is cooked or packed in good and stable packaging, and of course, not from a country where animal-related diseases abound, don't even consider bringing meat.

Shark fins

Independent has reported that these were banned in California. So if your destination is California, make sure that you don't have these with you.

Take caution when bringing banned items in America. The money you spent for them might just go down the drain when they end up being taken away from you.
Sentebale philanthropist, Prince Harry, is no stranger to getting the spotlight on his love life. That the 31-year old prince is currently being linked to three romances comes as no suprise. The first buzz concerns "Suicide Squad" Harley Quinn actress Margot Robbie.

At the same time, news are going haywire over Prince Harry dating the ex of "Fifty Shades Darker" star Dakota Johnson's ex. Rounding up the list, Prince Harry is also being linked to Princess Maria-Olympia of Greece and Denmark.

According to New Idea on Yahoo!, Prince Harry and Margot Robbie came as a couple to an exclusive party in London not too long ago. "They seemed very close," a guest from the party commented on the interaction between Harry and the "Suicide Squad" actress. "Harry was hanging off her every word - he was clearly smitten. Everyone was talking about their chemistry. Harry couldn't get enough of her."

In 2015, Prince Harry was supposed to have gone to Australia well ahead of his May schedule to be able to visit Robbie. "Harry has made no secret of his feelings towards Margot,' a palace insider said. 'He has a massive crush on her."

However, the "Suicide Squad" beauty may not be an exclusive interest for Prince Harry. Fashion & Style reports that American Juliette Labelle is also dating the prince. Labelle used to date "Last Man Standing" actor Jordan Masterson, who used to date "Fifty Shades Darker" star Dakota Johnson. "Fifty Shades Darker" is the second instalment to the "Fifty Shades" series, which also stars Jamie Dornan.

According to E! News, Labelle is also an aspiring actress, who has many friends in the acting business. Prince Harry and Labelle were brought together by a common friend. "Prince Harry met Juliette through a friend," a source revealed. "Over the New Year, Juliette went out with Harry."

The stories, however, do not end with a reported girlfriend in "Suicide Squad" and the link to the ex of a "Fifty Shades Darker" star. Prince Harry is spoiled for choice with the addition of Princess Maria-Olympia of Greece and Denmark.

Hopefully, the publicity on Prince Harry can only be good for his charity work. The prince is one of the founders and main benefactors for Sentebale, a charity for orphans in Lesotho, South Africa. Prince Harry co-founded Sentebale with Lesotho's Prince Seeiso.
The death of six infants due to congenital syphilis in Queensland, Australia since 2011 is alarming medical professionals these days about the needed education regarding sexual health. They are calling out to help fund the awareness of this said sexually transmitted disease.

In a report posted by ABC Australia on Feb. 9, an ongoing epidemic of syphilis has made medical groups realized that funding sexual health education to make people aware of this disease should be done immediately. Syphilis is one of the sexually transmitted diseases that could be prevented.

Northern Australia is currently known for having a syphilis epidemic since 2014 and education for the awareness of STD has been cut in that area. Not only did six babies died of syphilis, but there are also still three out there suffering from chronic birth defects.

The Northern part of Australia has now about 800 syphilis cases and there is a possibility that its statistics could even go higher if no proper education for sexual health is implemented sooner.

But Australia is not the only country that has this issue, as the health department in Minnesota in the U.S. has also addressed this concern. According to the SouthernMinn.com, the increase of syphilis cases in their area has been seen mostly on pregnant women regardless of their race or ethnicity.

When the Health Department of Minnesota released a statement last week on the data collected back in 2015 regarding the alarming number of people affected by syphilis, Public Health Director Amy Roggenbuck said that it is about time for everyone to become aware of the situation. Women with syphilis went up to 63% from 2014.

Roggenbuck believes that telling the public this ongoing issue about this dangerous sexually transmitted disease would not only make them aware of it, but would even make them protect themselves from acquiring it.

In Roggenbuck's own words, "That [way] we, as communities, can take a proactive, preventive approach to this."
Whether parents like it or not, disciplining their child is part of their job. It is not easy for most to do it because of the fear that their child might hate them growing up. For those who are struggling in this department, one man in history might help and he goes by the name of King Solomon.

There have been many observations and studies saying the behavior of kids these days have become quite more difficult to manage due to a lot of factors affecting their attitude like the Internet, their friends at school and the way they are treated inside the house.

In an article written by a wife and a mother, Tara Layne for Goshen News, she encouraged parents to read the book of Proverbs from the Bible. It has lots of wisdom written by the late King Solomon that could come in handy for parenting, especially in disciplining children.

One of the passages of the book says, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." That can be found in Proverbs 22:6 and it clearly suggests that a responsible adult is a product of good parenting. The book of Proverbs is full of wisdom coming from the mind of King Solomon who was known not just for his brilliant wit but also for his wealth. He was one of the wealthiest kings who ever ruled Israel.

All his success points out to one word and that is discipline. In an article published by Dr. Ray Guarendi, a family psychologist, he said that this subject has gone a little sensitive for some parents to the point that they no longer apply it to their children, which is not healthy for them. He recommends disciplining a child in a straightforward and commonsense manner. Giving them limits and consequences to their behavior is one way to inject discipline.
Parker Monhollon, an 8-year-old girl from Silver Lake, Kansas was diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), a rare brain cancer, told the public about her condition on YouTube. Many people responded with love and sympathy towards her and gave their support.

"I just got done with MRI. They said I have a brain tumor," Monhollon said in the video. "And it's something that's on your brain. And it's called a tumor. And they get bigger and bigger. So you have to take these pills," she shared.

Fox News reports that Monhollon parents noticed something wrong with their girl just before last Christmas when Parker's eye looked like it was drifting toward her nose. It was then confirmed that it was a brain tumor through MRI.

The Silver Lake community and other neighboring towns are raising funds for Parker since the video was posted last Jan. 16.

Schools and youth clubs are giving donations, too. People know that Parker loves to dance. Dance studios and other dance teams likewise extend their support to the girl in the form of tribute videos.

Parker gives her gratitude to her supporters in videos that are posted on the Facebook page that is entitled "Parker Loves Life." Currently, she is undergoing radiation treatment at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Wikipedia defines Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) as a tumor that is located in the middle of the brain stem, which is the bottommost portion of the brain that connects the cerebrum with the spinal cord. The standard treatment of DIPG includes chemotherapy in infants and radiation therapy.

The radiation therapy is done for six weeks to few months. The treatment can kill some cancer cells, lessen pressure on the brain stem and shrink the tumor. About 75 to 85 percent shows positive results after radiation therapy.
The highly-successful Samsung S6 and S6 Edge line made waves in the past year when it was released and it has become one of the highest rated smart phones in the market. Now, fans of the Samsung phones are waiting for the next Samsung S generation and it has been rumored for many months now that Samsung is almost ready to reveal the new S line, S7 and S7 Edge.

Along with the excitement is a rumor that is swirling around the Internet about an apparent leaked photo of the new S7 and S7 Edge Samsung phones, although the reports are unconfirmed the photos of the phone seems very legit. The images of the S7 and S7 Edge are from Vietnamese tech website ReviewDao and in the photos they are showing the back of the phone.

Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge shown off in leaked photos https://t.co/9GP0daHTfF pic.twitter.com/aJ7P58mLeq  The Verge (@verge) February 8, 2016

The back of Samsung's S7 and S7 Edge is in plastic and not in metal, which is what have been rumored for the next S line. The camera of the phone is also flusher than that of the S7 and S7 Edge's predecessor, the S6 and S6 Edge, again it could prove that this phone is the new Samsung S line.

Along with the plastic back covering of the S7 and S7 Edge one can also glimpse the metal frame on the sides of the phone, which is according to diehard Samsung fans is made out of magnesium and not aluminum. Chinese social network Weibo has also a leaked image of the S7 and S7 Edge phone and this time it is the front of the phone.

The screen on the S7 seems to be larger than that of the S6 line and the phone is displaying an AnTuTu benchmark test that labels the phone as an SM-G9350, which is the S7 model number. Samsung plans to reveal the new S7 and S7 Edge this year.
A recent study that was conducted by the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort suggested the link of paracetamol to the development of asthma to infants. Known to use as pain killer for pregnant women, it's efficacy needs further evaluation to avoid health problems among babies.

Paracetamol as a means to treat pain, influenza and fever during pregnancy is not the best solution at all as it may cause an adverse effect on the infant's health such as asthma, according to Hidustan Times. Confirming the issue, the study showed that most likely children age's three to seven exposed to the said drug during pregnancy developed asthma.

To support the result, Maria Magnus from the University of Bristol in the UK agreed that the issue must be taken seriously as it is a common painkiller for pregnant women and infants. She added that if the health issue will not be resolved, a more adverse effect will not be uncovered due to paracetamol used.

Another identified factor to cause the dependency of paracetamol on pregnancy is the fact that it is a norm for it to be prescribed during prenatal check up. Hence, a careful assessment of the mother and infant's condition must be done to avoid asthma development, the report added.

Moreover, an alternative remedy is being considered today to avoid asthma development. According to Thestir, holistic care such as massage and the use of herbal oil such as frankincense essential oil is essential in relieving backache, headache and other joint pain. This time, natural way instead of using pain killer drugs is being pursued to save the health of the baby.

Therefore given the facts about the danger of paracetamol as a contributing factor for asthma development, it is recommended for a pregnant woman to seek counsel to a doctor on how to safely and effectively kill body pain to promote health. A careful use of medication and even herbal remedies must be done to avoid the development of asthma among infants.
One of television's most-followed series, "Vampire Diaries," is becoming more intense as plot lines unravel themselves for the viewers. Now that "Vampire Diaries" is in its 7th season, the story has been building up and it seems that the Salvatorre brothers are in some roller coaster rides this season.

In season 7 episode 12 of "Vampire Diaries," the brothers, Damon and Stefan, will have a lot of struggle with Damon (Ian Somerhalder) getting into the path of the unknown and Stefan (Paul Wesley) trying to keep his brother under wraps. Caroline, who is played by Candice King, will also struggle handling herself and her situation, which is having a supernatural pregnancy.

Episode 12 of "Vampire Diaries" will most likely go around the story of Damon. After Damon losses Elena, he feels lost and will probably spiral into darkness as he finds a path of his own. Stefan will be there for Damon the whole time and will try to stop Damon from being taken by the dark side.

"When his experience in the Phoenix stone leads him to do the unthinkable, Damon finds himself without a care in the world, spiraling out of control and under the influence of a dangerous and reckless Julian (guest star Todd Lasance). Refusing to give up on his brother, Stefan attempts to reason with Damon, only to uncover the devastating reason for his descent," stated the episode synopsis.

Caroline will also be feeling some side effects of her supernatural pregnancy and will be forced to ask help from Valerie (Elizabeth Blackmore). Rayna (Leslie-Anne Huff), the ruthless vampire hunter is also speculated to be back and Bonnie (Kat Graham), Nora (Scarlett Bryne) and Mary Louise (Teressa Liane) will try to hunt her down.

Moreover, Damon was seen hanging out with Julian who is bringing out his dark side more and more. Damon is battling his demons and Stefan who will find out the reason as to why Damon is in such a slump will be angered by this.

"The Vampire Diaries" Season 7 Episode 12 will air on Feb. 12, 2016 on The CW.
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Whats Galentines Day? Its only the best day of the year.  Leslie Knope

By starting Galentines Day, Parks & Recreation character Leslie Knope (played brilliantly by Amy Poehler, of course) has given women a spectacular and additional reason to celebrate their friends. Observed on February 13th, Galentines Day is a day to leave your partner at home and go out and eat breakfast with your best friends. Its all about, to quote Knope, ladies celebrating ladies. Although Parks & Rec has come to an end, the tradition of Galentines Day continues and these 10 songs about friendship and female empowerment are perfect for your celebration. Best served with waffles, frittatas, and your squad.



Along with bringing girl power to the 1990s, the Spice Girls gave us this enduring motto: If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends. In the infectious Wannabe, the Spice Girls understand how tricky it can be managing a new partner and your friends and the relationship of these two parties. But because friendship never ends, its pretty clear who should get preferential treatment.



When times are tough, your friends are there by your side telling you its okay. Throughout Umbrella, Rihanna honors this duty as a friend particularly with the line, Ill always be a friend / took an oath / Ima stick it out til the end. Whether youre holding the umbrella or underneath it, take your role as a friend as seriously as Rihanna does.



Its not a true celebration of friendship unless someone gets sentimental, and Carole King has just the song for your emotions. Her classic track Youve Got A Friend perfectly summarizes the love you feel for your friends and the knowledge that even during the roughest storms, your friendship wont sink. Winter, spring, summer or fall, all you have to do is call and theyll be there for you. And so will Carole King.



Swiss/German pop duo BOY celebrate their friends in this track from its 2013 record Mutual Friends. Like all worthwhile friendships, BOYs Army is founded on love and support and is the source of calm and happiness during rough patches. The songs best line, Im alright on my own, but with them Im much better, speaks volumes of how important friends are in life.



The watch Im wearing, I bought it. The house I live in, I bought it. The car Im driving, I bought it. I depend on me. These simple but powerful declarations are just some of the incredibly motiving lyrics in Destinys Child Independent Women. First appearing on the Charlies Angels movie soundtrack, Independent Women is one of the greatest songs celebrating female autonomy so while you and your friends celebrate your collective powers, celebrate yourself and remember, depend on no one else to give you what you want.



Few bands bring together a group of friends quite the way TLC does. And nothing brings women together faster than bonding over awful encounters with men. So naturally, TLCs No Scrubs is ideal for a female bonding session. Between venting how frustrating it is to deal with a scrub (a guy that thinks hes fly) and the songs multiple vocal parts, No Scrubs is ripe for a sing-along.



A day all about ladies celebrating ladies is nothing without Beyonce. In another Beyonce-led and female empowered track, Run The World (Girls), women are given a deserving celebration for all the hard work they do to make the world go round. Just like the work the women youre celebrating with do.



Leslie Knope likens Galentines Day to Lilith Fair (minus the angst) so its only appropriate to include a Lilith Fair alumna on this list. Meredith Brooks Bitch is a celebration of strong women who can be a little bit of everything all rolled into one. Alongside that unforgettable chorus, Brooks subverts the insult and enthusiastically praises the many valid feelings women have.



From Wolf Alices 2015 record My Love is Cool comes this very cool celebration of long-lasting friendship. Described by frontwoman Ellie Rowsell as an ode to childhood imagination and friendship, the playfully entitled Bros is extra special for those who are as close as ever with their childhood friends.



For Parks & Rec fans, youll remember that Kind & Generous was the music used in the BFF slide-show Leslie made for Ann during Season 6. Although there are multiple subjects Natalie Merchants big hit could be about, its fitting to think of your own BFFs who are, after all, very kind and generous.
Thirsty? Youre in luck. In Pastes drinking-and-traveling series, City in a Glass, we mix up a citys signature swills and slide them down the bar to readers. Grab a stool. This round, in Raleigh, North Carolina, is on us.

, the capital of North Carolina, is home to one of the most educated populations in America. And over the past few years theyve proven they arent just hungry for book knowledge; theyre also thirsty for cocktail expertise. The craft cocktail scene in Raleigh is still pretty young and lots of people are being introduced to the idea of good drinks for the first time, says local barman and Raleigh native Jordan Hester. True, Tar Heels still love the standardsOld Fashioneds and Moscow Mules are popularbut theyre also starting to seek out more unusual flavors and spirits. Will Alphin, co-owner of Raleighs Foundation bar, was surprised recently when his bar sold out of a barrel-aged Manhattan within four days. The city has really evolved over the past decade to appreciate what is available locally and to look within for talent, he says. As the first bar in Raleigh to open with a locavore approach to drink, we have been proud to see others make things such as seasonally based cocktails and North Carolina beer lists part of their standard menus. Hester says he, too, is proud of what his industry has accomplished in such a short amount of time, and its only going to keep getting better from here. On this city drinks tour, were going to introduce you to three Raleigh-only cocktails, show you where to find them and even how to replicate them at home.



Where to order: Foundation



Photo courtesy Foundation

Foundation is one of Raleighs oldest craft cocktail bars; it has been slinging libations for seven years. In an atypical and groundbreaking move the bar was the first to exclusively stock spirits made in the U.S., wines from the region and beers from the state. Co-owner Will Alphin says this is for sustainability reasons, not xenophobic ones. There is a lot of interesting booze to be found in North Carolina, he says. The bartenders also make all of their sodas and syrups in-house. To keep the menu approachable, the bar always has a familiar and seasonal sangria on the list. Most folks dont give too much thought to the origin of the ingredients in drinks like sangria or punch, he says. And as a place on a mission to showcase local flavors, we thought sangria would be a perfect way to utilize North Carolina ingredients and show off the variety of booze available here.

During the winter the bartenders make a big batch of sangria with red wine and port wine made in Dobson, North Carolina, and moonshine made in Asheville. (In the spring and summer Foundation offers sangria made with either scuppernong or muscadine wine, two unusual grapes that are native to the area.) The winter sangria is full-bodied and has quite a bit more booze than traditional sangria. The port has wintery flavors of cranberries and toffee and the moonshine, which has been barrel-aged enough to give it a nice amber color, adds complexity; a little oak and char on the edge, he says. Its just what you need to warm your soul in our underground bar on frigid winter night.

Winter Sangria

(Serves 10-15)

8 bottles (750 mL) Madison Lee red wine

2 bottles (375 mL) Shelton Vineyards port-style wine

1 bottle (750 mL) Troy & Sons Oak Reserve moonshine

3 cups brown sugar

2 cups orange juice

Orange wedges, for garnish

Combine all ingredients in a punch bowl. Stir. To serve, ladle into a glass filled with ice. Garnish with an orange wedge.



Where to order: Bida Manda



Photo courtesy Bida Manda

The dishes on the menu at the Laotian restaurant Bida Manda (Sanskrit for father and mother) are exactly what the brother-and-sister owners grew up eating. You can order crispy pork belly soup, pumpkin curry and papaya salad, for example, all crafted from centuries-old family recipes. The drinks, however, are a little less traditional. Take the Lao Bull cocktail: a simple yet powerful blend of homemade Pho broth, North Carolina moonshine and lime juice. Bar manager Jordan Hester was inspired to make the drink after watching Bartender, an anime series based on the manga of the same name. One of the semi-mythic, older bartenders on the show makes a Bull Shot for a guest who has just been soaked by a cold rain, Hester says. The cocktail was made from hot beef broth and vodka.

For the Lao Bull, Hester swapped out the vodka for local moonshine. North Carolina and Laos have in common their long moonshining traditions, he says. Ours is perhaps more colorful, with the revenuers and car chases, but theirs is just as famous. In Laos they make lao-lao (moonshine) from rice in a very low-tech fashion and drink it neat. Hester cant get rice moonshine in Raleigh, but he can get corn and sugar moonshine from Broadslab Distillery in nearby Benson. The hot drink tastes salty and boozy and has a silky texture courtesy of the translucent Pho broth thats slowly cooked in the restaurants kitchenthe same way it is cooked in Laotian homes around the world.

Lao Bull

2 oz. Broadslab moonshine (or any other vegetal, flavorsome white whiskey)

4 oz. Pho broth (homemade or leftovers from your favorite Pho shop)

 oz. fresh lime juice

1 or 2 star anise pods

Fill a small ceramic bowl with hot water. Once bowl is warm, empty the water. Add moonshine, lime juice and star anise pods. Top with Pho broth.



Where to order: Death & Taxes



Photo by Kelsey Hanrahan

Tonka beans are the seeds of a flowering tree native to Central and Southern America. The legumes, which look like big raisins, taste like a mix of vanilla, cinnamon and almond. While chefs often shave the bean over dishes to give them a subtle, hard-to-pinpoint flavor, the beans are actually illegal in the U.S. due to an antiquated FDA regulation that deems them toxic in high doses. (Other cooking spices like nutmeg are also toxic in extreme doses.) Nevertheless, chefsand bar managerstake their chances, buying the beans online for use in their kitchens.

At Death & Taxes, the newest restaurant from James Beard Award-winning chef Ashley Christensen, tonka beans make an appearance on the cocktail list. The Prophets & Loss cocktail includes aged rum, a bitter Italian vermouth and syrup made from a tonka bean. Its a riff on the classic Old Fashioned, general manager John Anton says. We built the drink about the rum and then added Punt e Mes to give it the appropriate bitterness and depth. In lieu of the traditional sugar cube muddled in bitters, we made a tonka bean, coffee and orange peel syrup. It has a slightly tropical warmth to it that matches beautifully with the rum and pulls out its natural coffee notes. The drink tastes smoky and somewhat exotic and is well worth all the risk.

Prophets & Loss

1 oz. Zaya 12-year rum

 oz. Punt e Mes

Black walnut bitters

1 teaspoon tonka bean syrup (recipe below)

Orange peel, for garnish

Make tonka bean syrup: In a large saucepan over high heat, combine 1 cup demerara sugar, 1 cup water,  cup coffee beans, the zest of  orange and 1 whole tonka bean (available on amazon.com). Bring to a boil, stirring once or twice until the sugar is dissolved. Reduce heat to medium and let steep for 5 minutes. Turn off heat and let cool to room temperature. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a lidded container and store in the refrigerator until ready to use. Yields 2 cups.

Make cocktail: Add a large ice cube to a rocks glass. Stir the cube. While stirring, add the rum, Punt e Mes and rum. Continue stirring for 45 seconds until the glass is chilled. Add additional ice cubes as the first one melts until the glass is three-quarters of the way full. Express the oils of the orange peel by twisting it over the surface of the drink. Drop the peel into the glass.

Top photo: Ryan Hyde, CC-BY

City in a Glass columnist Alyson Sheppard writes about travel, restaurants and bars for Playboy.com. She spent many years drinking in New York before resettling in the great state of Texas.
Its clear the Disney franchise has decided to take over the world in a jovial way. Theres Disney World, Disneyland and Disney Paris, and soon Shanghai will have a Disneyland of its own. But the latest Disney creation, Disney Laos, has even Disney itself scratching its head, because the park has nothing to do with Disney at all.

The newest amusement park to the Disney Clan plans to include cartoon character

parks, a water park and other cheerful recreations. The only problem is Disney literally has nothing to do with it. In fact, Disney Laos is not a certified Disney property at all, but rather an unaffiliated project currently under construction.

So how did a group of Lao entrepreneurs finagle this? Mostly, its just a group of people who have a hazy understanding of global intellectual property law.

Somjith Aliyaphaphone, one of the theme parks investors, told The Global Post, If its called Disney Laos, then that should be permitted. But Disneyland? That would be copyright infringement. We think thats the case, anyways.

Despite the current concerns over potential legal action, Disney Laos has already broken

ground in Thakhek and hopes to open within the next seven to 10 years, which leaves plenty of time for lawsuits and a Toy Story 6 ride.

Disney, on the other hand, has no plans to open up shop in Laos at the time. The companys perfectly fine with its Mount Phousi and organic rice farm adventure.

Tom is a travel writer, part-time hitchhiker, and hes currently trying to imitate Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? but with more sunscreen and jorts.
Irans already becoming the new Cuba before Cuba could become the new Cuba.

Last months sanctions removal did more than improve US-Iran political relationsit also helped revive the Islamic Republics tourism appeal among Americans. According to The New York Times, Iranian tour operators have seen a surge in bookings to the Middle Eastern nation, saying the demand has been so acute theyre racing to add new departures.

Its similar to Cuba in my mind where suddenly its both OK to go there officially but also with travelers thinking this place is going to change, said Barbara Banks of Wilderness Travel, which already sold out its spring trips to Iran.

Much like the initial draw of Cuba, American travelers, undeterred by State Department warnings, hope to experience the long-isolated country before it becomes saturated with fanny-pack toting families.

Among Europeans, Irans been a trendy tourist destination for years. Flocks of Brits and Germans flood to Tehrans Grand Bazaar and Persepolis each year. Just last fall Iranian officials counted five million foreign travelers to the country, and by 2025, Iran hopes to attract 20 million tourists.

Those travelers currently keen on exploring the republic will need to overcome a handful of

infrastructural issues firstlike minimal lodging, shoddy roads, banking restrictions and rustic public restrooms.

Additionally, Islamic rules require that women must cover their hair and dress conservatively in loose tunics that go past the knee. Guys, no shorts are allowed. And perhaps most alarming for many travelers is the illegality of alcohol. Thankfully, the ancient beauty and picturesque landscape balances this out.

If that werent enough to deter Americans, the many Death to Americans signs shall spark fear. That is until they realize that Iraniansindividually, not necessarily politicallyactually love Americans.

Interested in Iran? Here are some resources on how to make it happen.

? Iran Luxury Travel: Trips start at $2,995/person, double occupancy for eight days

? Mir Corporation: Operates about ten different trips, be it train trips or small groups

? Golden Eagle Luxury Trains: Run tours via sleeper trains, and Americans account for 88 percent of its passengers in Iran.

? Mountain Travel Sobek: Runs two trips through Persia each year.

Tom is a travel writer, part-time hitchhiker, and hes currently trying to imitate Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? but with more sunscreen and jorts.
Back in early December we posted a report titled "HSBC Analysts Predict TSMC will Gain All of Apple's A10 Chip Business." Two months later and we learn today that the HSBC analysts were correct. It's being reported in Korea today that Taiwan's TSMC has won the battle against Samsung Electronics and will produce the iPhone 7's 10-nano application processors (AP). The news comes by way of semiconductor IP and EDA industries. These sources confirm that Apple has entrusted TSMC with all production of next 10-nano AP called 'A10'. TSMC is planning to enter a state of mass-production starting from June.

A high-ranking executive in EDA industry stated that "TSMC has taken all of Apple's supplies in 10-nano and such plans were already confirmed in second half of last year," which explains why HSBC was so confident in their forecast as we reported.

After encountering such intelligence in second half of last year, Samsung Electronics' System LSI Business Department confirmed that it lost its battle against TSMC. Apple had entrusted TSMC with all of production of 20-nano A8 Chips that were installed in iPhone 6 series, and this hurt Samsung Electronics significantly. Sales of Samsung Electronics' System LSI Business Department had reduced greatly in 2014, and it had made huge amount of loss.

Samsung Electronics, which was grinding its teeth at the fact that it had lost its battle against TSMC, had taken back half of Apple's supplies by quickly establishing mass-production system of 14-nano process."

Now, Samsung Electronics has entered a state of emergency system to prevent declination of rate of operation of factories, claims the report. The report further noted that "It is also important for Samsung Electronics to plan out high-intensity innovations so that it can take back Apple's supplies in 7-nano. But for now, it's all bad news for Samsung and it's going to be hard to be profitable in 2016 without Apple's orders for the A10."

A second Korean report published this morning is claiming that Samsung may dampen the blow of losing Apple's A10 business by gaining more Qualcomm business. Samsung is hoping to gain orders for Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 chipsets.

The report added that "Samsung plans to beat out TSMC for the Apple logic chip business next year with its seven-nanometer technology. But officials say due to TSMC's latest contract with Apple, it's highly unlikely that Samsung's logic chip business will turn profitable this year."

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Nation vs. Revolution in Iran

02/11/16

By Shireen T. Hunter (source: LobeLog)



Basij Militia Head Mohammadreza Naghdi

Basij Militia Head Mohammadreza Naghdi

The Implementation of Irans nuclear agreement with the P5+1, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), has not yet been completed, but critical statements by its detractors in Iran about its ineffectiveness have already began. For example, recently Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, a former speaker of the Parliament and an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, said that so far the JCPOA had not had a single positive impact. Others have taken President Hassan Rouhani to task for not yet improving the Iranian economy after the nuclear deal. Some have launched attacks on the Rouhani governments efforts to enlist European participation in Irans development projects.

A particular target of attack has been Irans desire to buy a number of Airbus planes as part of its efforts to refurbish its aging fleet of passenger planes. Sardar Naghdi, a firebrand hardliner and the commander of the Basij, has chided the president that buying Airbus planes will not solve Irans problems of economic recession and unemployment. Needless to say, Naghdi would have preferred that a good part of Irans unfrozen assets go to the Basij. In the past, opposing Rouhanis economic outlook and asking for a resistance and jihadi economy, he had said that if provided with adequate resources, his volunteer militia could solve Irans problems of economic deprivation and unemployment.

Earlier, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (of which the Basij are part) contributed to undermining Rouhanis policies by arresting a group of US sailors and, even worse, by showing them kneeling in front of the Iranian military. No one can dispute Irans right to defend its territorial waters. However, the US sailors could have been warned off-or, even better, politely escorted from Iranian waters-instead of being arrested and displayed in the public media. Their arrest was a calculated act to embarrass the Rouhani government even as it has been trying hard to show a softer image of Iran. The IRGC knows well that such acts exacerbate anti-Iran sentiments in the West and leads American politicians in particular to say harsh things about Iran. The hardliners can then use these statements to show that the US continues its hostile policy toward Iran. Nor did the episode with the American sailors end with their release. Instead, Ayatollah Khamenei decorated their captors, an act accompanied by exhortations that the anti-imperialist struggle will never end.

At first glance, these acts might appear to be mere random mistakes that representat natural political rivalries. However, a closer look at the pattern of their repetition over the last 30 years reveals a more fundamental fault-line in Iran, namely the incongruence of the countrys national and revolutionary aspirations.

Against the Nation

Sadly for Iran, the Islamic revolution has always had an anti-national dimension. For the Islamists, especially Ayatollah Khomeini, what was important was Islam and not Iran. This became crystal clear upon his return to Iran. When asked what he was feeling about returning to his homeland, he said absolutely nothing. For the leftist elements, the search for socialist utopia and the anti-imperialist (read anti-American) struggle were the key priorities. Most revolutions have such conflicts between their local and more universal aspirations, especially at their early stages. After a while the requirements of national survival and advancement prevail over universalist goals. But in Irans case this dichotomy still persists, and revolutionary aspirations often trump national interest. Periodically over the last 30 years, when external circumstances have posed serious threats to national survival, the revolutionary goals have been relegated to the second place. As soon as the immediate threat has passed, the previous pattern returns.

When Rouhani came to power, the nuclear issue was hanging over Irans head like a sword of Damocles. Therefore he was given license to pursue a solution. Now that the hardliners feel that the immediate threat has passed, they are back to their old tricks.

More fundamentally, there is a dichotomy between the interests of nizam-the system-and that of Iran as a country and people. This was evident from the beginning of the revolution. The very fact of creating a separate military in the form of a revolutionary guard whose sole goal is to protect the revolution and the system attests to this reality. Never in Irans very long history, and despite its occupation by foreign forces, had there existed two rival militaries.

Irans national interests require that it maintain good or reasonable relations with all those countries which are willing to reciprocate. It requires that Irans energies be spent in making a better life for its people. It requires that Iran not spend its forces in pursuit of goals beyond its reach or pursue goals that earn it the enmity of others without gaining the friendship of any. The best example of such a goal is Irans stand on the Palestinian issue, which has been at the root of all its problems, including economic sanctions. Iran has earned the unrelenting hostility of Israel without obtaining the friendship of Arabs. Even the Palestinians, for whose sake Iran has spent so much of its resources, just recently sided with Saudi Arabia in its dispute with Iran. Iraq, too, voted against Iran in the Arab league, and both Iraq and Bashar al-Assads Syria have supported the United Arab Emirates in its dispute with Iran over the three islands in the Persian Gulf.

Stuck in the Past

The material and emotional interests of the hardliners are at stake in this juxtaposition of Irans national interests and the interests of the revolution and the system that embodies it. Moreover, the hardliners have remained unchanged while Iran and the world have moved on. Irans hardliners are still stuck in the 1980s. They still talk of holy war and holy defense and the martyrs and the sayings of Ayatollah Khomeini. They still see the world through the prism of the Cold War and the leftist cliches of the 1960s. They are still obsessed with the Pahlavis without realizing that at least half of Irans population has no memory of life under the Shah. All they know is the Islamic system and its shortcomings. The hardliners are thus yearning for the relatively more simple times when people could be lured with mere slogans.

But Iran has changed. Its population is more educated and informed. Most importantly it has experienced life under an Islamic system and knows its drawbacks and has no illusions about its promises. The world has also changed. The post-Cold War era is more complex with no overarching paradigm to guide states, whereas Irans hardliners are still operating under the Cold War paradigm and anti-Imperialist struggle and become frustrated when they see that others dont see the world as they do.

Therefore, whatever the outcome of the upcoming parliamentary elections and regardless of how valiantly the Rouhani government tries to remedy the countrys problems, Iran cannot hope to achieve a national revival economically or otherwise until and unless it stops being a revolution. At this juncture, it would be wise for the hardliners to remember that without a strong and prosperous Iran they themselves will cease to exist.





About the Author:

Shireen T. Hunter is a Research Professor at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. Her latest book is Iran Divided: Historic Roots of Iranian Debates on Identity, Culture, and Governance in the 21st Century (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014).








U.S. Lawmakers Object To Loosening Visa Rules For Some Iranians

02/11/16 Source: RFE/RL

The Obama administration's plan to loosen tough new visa requirements for businessmen and journalists who travel to Iran has touched off strong resistance in Congress.



Visa Waiver Program

Citizens of 38 countries are eligible for visa-free entry into the United States under the VWP

At a hearing of the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee on February 10, lawmakers voiced particular concern over exempting from the new visa clampdown some travelers who conduct business in Iran -- an area the administration had sought to liberalize now that economic sanctions against Tehran have been lifted under last year's nuclear deal.

"Nowhere does the law include this authority. In fact, Congress explicitly rejected the waivers requested by the White House," Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (Republican-Texas) said.

He accused the administration of bending the law, passed at the end of last year, to the point of breaking because Tehran objected to the rules and charged that they violated the nuclear accord.

"It seems to me that in our effort to...appease Iran, the State Department made a call overriding, basically breaking the law that we passed," McCaul said.

Also skeptical was the committee's top Democrat, Representative Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, who said he had "questions about how the [Department of Homeland Security] would go about determining the legitimacy of the business-related purposes."

Administration officials said their goal in crafting waivers to the rules is to shield journalists, humanitarian aid workers, and employees of other international organizations, as well as business people helping economic reconstruction efforts in Iran and Iraq.

They added that they would not grant "blanket" waivers to whole categories of people like Iranian businessmen, but will apply the exemptions case by case.

The law's new visa requirements were spurred by the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris, where several of the Islamic State attackers who killed 130 people had European passports that would have entitled them to visa-free access to the United States.

The new rules require citizens of Europe and other mostly Western nations who previously were able to travel to the United States for up to 90 days without a visa to now obtain one if they have visited Iran, Iraq, Sudan, or Syria since March 1, 2011.

Those four countries were deemed to be breeding grounds for terrorists. Ed Royce, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said during the hearing that he now wants to add Libya to the list.

To get a waiver from the rules, administration officials said Individuals must qualify for the U.S. visa-waiver program, which requires people to pass background checks.

Administration officials expressed concern that if the United States fails to loosen some of the new restrictions, foreign governments might cut back on information sharing, or impose awkward new visa requirements on Americans who travel to their countries frequently.

With reporting by Reuters and The Hill

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
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If you hire people for your own business, your boss, or a client, there's a chance you have "ghosted" a job candidate. In the dating world, ghosting someone means showing some initial interestexchanging texts, calls, seeing them a few times, and then disappearing. I got ghosted a couple of times in my single days and it ain't fun.

Hiring isn't all that different from dating, at least according to a just-released survey of American job hunters and employers. Half of job seekers surveyed said that, apart from an automated "Thank you" for submitting an application, they got no follow-up notice from a company for which they had applied to work. Ouch. Slightly more than half (51 percent) rated the overall application process one to three stars out of five, according to the survey.

Those and other finding are included in the 2015 Candidate Experience report(Opens in a new window), an annual survey of corporate hiring practices from the nonprofit Talent Board(Opens in a new window), a recruiting industry nonprofit. The survey, conducted from May through July 2015, includes data from 185 North American companies and more than 100,000 people who applied for jobs at those companies, including many who weren't hired.

The results matter because companies continue to mistreat job applicants at their own peril, as low unemployment, a war for talent, and a workforce itching to switch jobs have made it a job hunter's market. However, treating job hunters better doesn't have to be difficult and could lead to a more qualified pool of job applicantsand even save your company money.

200 Applications Per Opening

In their defense, companies have some legitimate reasons for not doing better at following up with job hunters. The biggest reason is the sheer volume of applications they receive: an average of 200 per opening according to the report. Half to 75 percent of people who apply don't have the qualifications needed for the job. On top of that, roughly 40 percent of businesses don't require outside recruiters they work with to follow up with prospective candidates.

Other report highlights:

Filling out online job applications takes time. Forty-three percent of job seekers said they spent 30 minutes or more filling out an online application, and 12 percent said they spent 60 minutes or more.

More than half (55 percent) of job hunters have some type of existing relationship with companies to which they apply, as customers, interns, former employees, etc., but companies aren't good at capitalizing on those connections.

Companies might be spending unnecessarily on mobile-ready job applications. Only 8 percent to 10 percent of job seekers reported using a phone or tablet to fill out an application, but 59 percent of businesses have created mobile-ready applications.

The vast majority of companies miss out on an easy chance for feedback because they don't survey new employees. According to the report, only 16 percent of companies asked new hires about the application and hiring process they just went through.

Fixing Application and Hiring Problems

If companies don't treat job seekers better, they could lose promising candidates to competitors who have figured out how to treat them better. The Candidate Experience report highlights a number of companies that retooled recruiting processes with positive results, including AT&T. The telecom carrier determined that 27 percent of prospects weren't finishing applications because the online form took 30 minutes to complete. After cutting application questions in half (from 71 to 35) drop-offs shrank to 12 percent and applications rose 15 percent. AT&T estimated the efficiencies helped save them $500,000.

As that example shows, treating job applicants better doesn't have to be hard or expensive. It could be as simple as setting up an applicant tracking system (ATS) to send human resources (HR) personnel alerts reminding them to email or call job candidates, or send status updates. Spectrum Health, a nonprofit hospital system in Michigan, requires that recruiters follow up with job candidates within three days of getting a resume. Managers have seven days to follow up after getting a candidate's name from the company's recruiting team, according to the report.

Four other actions companies could take to improve their interactions with job seekers are:

1. Upgrade online job applications

Include a progress indicator so people know how far along they are in the progress. Allow candidates to save an unfinished application so, if they have to stop, they won't need to start from scratch the next time.

2. Add an application FAQ to your career site

One company in the survey created a "guide to apply" with frequently asked questions (FAQ) and contact information (and an FAQ link inside its application).

3. Add systems and services

About a third of employers surveyed were considering adding employee referrals systems and predictive analytics to help improve their hiring processes.

4. Dial back on mobile-based applications

Until more job seekers fill out applications on their phones and tablets, put resources into the places candidates use to look for job openings. Those include company career websites, job notifications (job boards) and recruiters, LinkedIn career pages, online groups, and review websites such as Glassdoor(Opens in a new window), Great Place to Work(Opens in a new window), and Vault(Opens in a new window).
Google will reportedly(Opens in a new window) expand its "right to be forgotten" effort in a move that will prevent Europeans from viewing de-listed content in the region.

As it stands, Europeans can request that Google remove links to certain content for a variety of reasons. If Google grants that request, the content does not show up when people perform searches on the region-specific version of Google (Google.fr or Google.de, for example). But that content is not removed from Google.com, so Europeans who want more complete results can just switch to that URL.

Google has long resisted applying "right to be forgotten" delistings to Google.com. If that "approach were to be embraced as the standard for Internet regulation, we would find ourselves in a race to the bottom," Google said last year. "In the end, the Internet would only be as free as the world's least free place."

The move, however, appears to be Google's attempt at compromise, following threats by France's Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertes (CNIL) to fine the company if it didn't start scrubbing search results globally.

At issue is a May 2014 ruling from the EU High Court that said, if requested, Google must consider removing links to certain information in its search results. The case dates back to 1998, when a large Spanish daily newspaper published an article about Mario Costeja Gonzalez's social security debts. When the paper's archives were published online, Gonzalez discovered that a search for his name produced the article.

Reuters said Google has notified all EU data protection authorities about the upcoming changes.

The Web giant will filter content according to a user's IP address, meaning people accessing the site from outside Europe (or via a VPN service, presumably) will not be affected, Reuters reported, citing a person close to Google. According to the BBC(Opens in a new window), the adjustment will take effect from mid-February.

Google and the CNIL did not immediately respond to PCMag's request for comment.
Rose Salgado made an emotional visit to the San Jacinto School Board meeting Tuesday, Feb. 9, to tell the group she missed them.

She also revealed important news: Tests show she is cancer free.

The 59-year-old Salgado resigned from the board a year ago because of the disease.

It had been way too long since I had seen them, she said Wednesday. I wanted to tell them I am feeling so much better. One of the hardest things I had to do was resigning from the school board. I miss the kids.

Highly active in the community, Salgado also gave up elected seats on the Valley-Wide Recreation and Park District board and the Soboba Tribal Council. She withdrew her name from consideration as the replacement for Jeff Stone on the Riverside County Board of Supervisors after he was elected to the state Senate.

She quit boards with the Western Science Center and The Community Foundation.

I resigned from everything. she said

Bedridden, unable to walk and undergoing treatments, she simply couldnt meet her demanding schedule of public service while ill.

She said that while quitting those positions was difficult, she had to focus on survival after a cancerous tumor was discovered by her spine shortly after Thanksgiving 2014.

It was the third time the busy, busy woman faced cancer.

The 1974 San Jacinto High grad, who attended UC Riverside for a time, spent a 27-year career with Southern California Edison. She retired as a planner in 2007 to increase her public service.

While working for the utility, she raised her daughter, Desiree, as a single mother. She was elected to the Soboba Tribal Council, served on the board of the Ramona Bowl and was active with the Hemet-San Jacinto Valley Chamber of Commerce.

Salgado first encountered cancer in 1997 when a lump was detected and removed from her breast. About four years later, another lump was found, removed and successfully treated.

In late 2014, she experienced excruciating back pain following a fall. A cat scan found the cancerous tumor by her spine.

The tumor was removed on Dec 10, 2014. Under home nursing care day and night, she endured round after round of chemotherapy, radiation and other treatments. She lost 60 pounds.

Some doctors recommended hospice care. Others were more encouraging.

The treatments continued. Receiving considerable support and prayers from friends and relatives, she maintained a positive attitude.

In July, 2015, I started regaining my strength, she said. As fast as I came down, I went back up.

Her test results steadily improved until no cancer cells could be found a month ago. She now walks with a cane.

She said she only will seek one elected position, a seat on the Soboba Tribal Council, which is acceptable to her family.

Other than that, she will spend lots of time with her four grandchildren.

It changes everything, she said.

San Jacinto schools president John Norman and Lori VanArsdale, a former Hemet mayor who is president of the Ramona Bowl, wont beg her to return. They were devastated by her illness and ecstatic about her surprising recovery. They know she needs to take care of herself.

Its good for her health, but at the same time, its a loss, Norman said.

We miss her. She had that quiet personality of some people that when they step into a room, they command your respect.

He said her presentation at the school board meeting Tuesday was inspiring and emotional.

We barely could hold it together.

Contact the writer: bpratte@pressenterprise.com
The driver of a Nissan Sentra that crashed into a school bus full of kids in Menifee on Wednesday, Feb. 10, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, California Highway Patrol Officer Mike Lassig said Thursday.

He said officials are still investigating what caused the car to collide with a Perris Union School District bus carrying 19 Paloma Valley High School students Wednesday afternoon.

The bus was turning left from Evans Road onto Holland Road when the Nissan, heading east, collided with it just before 2 p.m. The cars speed at the time of the crash is still under investigation.

The Nissans driver, 22-year-old Garrett Breece, was determined to be under the influence of alcohol, but his injuries prevented officers from taking him into custody, Lassig said. He was released to the hospital.

Joshua Witten, 18, and a 17-year-old were passengers in the Nissan and both sustained major injures from the crash, according to a CHP news release. Witten, of Menifee, and the juvenile, who is from Quail Valley, were taken to the Inland Valley Medical Center, the release said.

A third passenger in the Nissan got out and fled the scene on foot. That person still had not been located Thursday. CHP officers know that persons first name, but have little other information to go on, he said.

One female student on the bus complained of dizziness and was taken to the hospital, evaluated and released, Lassing said.

The bus driver, Rogelio Zuniga, was not injured, according to the release.

Officials from the Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department initially reported that 22 people were injured, and a tweet referred to it as a mass casualty. An incident report said a triage operation was set up and had determined there was one major injury, 22 moderate injuries and one minor injury.

Fire Department Spokeswoman Jody Hagemann said Thursday that the error resulted from a simple miscommunication between the first fire official on-scene and dispatchers.

It happens, Hagemann said. It just happened to be a lot of kids on the bus  he walked into quite a mess.
Here are new DVD releases scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 16:

Steve Jobs (Rated R for language, 122 minutes): If there is one takeaway from Danny Boyles Steve Jobs, its that the film is better than that Ashton Kutcher one. The film takes a fictional tone showing the life and career of the Apple founder using a series of confrontations with friends and co-workers in different time periods. The highlights of the film are the performances from Michael Fassbender and Kate Winselt, both nominated for Oscars. Its also a career best for Seth Rogen, whos not playing a silly pothead for once.

Verdict: Rent it.

The 33 (Rated PG-13 for a disaster sequence and some language, 127 minutes): The true story of the trapped Chilean miners made for capitvating television. The movie? Not so much. The film has a great cast including Antonio Banderas, Juliette Binoche, James Brolin, Adriana Barraza and Rodrigo Santoro, but, theres not much else to it.

Verdict: Pass, youd be better off watching the original news footage.

Trumbo (Rated R for language including some sexual references, 124 minutes): A running theme with this weeks new release seems to be great casts. Trumbo has one of the best with actors such as Bryan Cranston, Helen Mirren, Diane Lane, Michael Stuhlbarg ( who is also in Steve Jobs), Louis C.K., Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, John Goodman and Elle Fanning. The film follows Spartacus screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, who finds himself blacklisted for his political beliefs in the 40s.

Verdict: Rent it, to check out Cranstons Oscar-nominated performance.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9342, tguy@pressenterprise.com or on Twitter: @timwguy
Students of the now-closed Marinello Schools of Beauty met with school administrators and state regulators on Wednesday to find out what options they might have for continuing their educations.

The company, which operated 56 schools, mostly in California, closed all of those campuses last week, including ones in Moreno Valley, San Bernardino, Ontario, Hemet and Murrieta.

Marinello had been under investigation by the Department of Education for a number of suspected violations. The department placed the company on heightened cash management status in December. On Feb. 1, it denied recertification for the schools, meaning students could no longer apply for federal student grants or loans. Federal money typically makes up the bulk of funding for such colleges.

The majority of students at the schools are studying to pass the state license exam for cosmetology. They expressed anger and sadness at Marinellos closure. Some were frustrated that they did not find the answers they were seeking on Wednesday.

It was a bunch of nothing, said Sade Angel, 30, of Moreno Valley. This is the second meeting weve had and we still have no answers.

She said students were given their transcripts and information packets and directed to websites where they could file for loan forgiveness.

We have to do the legwork ourselves, said Donna Davenport, 48, of Moreno Valley.

Russ Heimerich, spokesman for the states Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education, a regulating agency that had representatives on the Moreno Valley, San Bernardino and Murrieta campuses on Wednesday, Feb. 10, said students can call the agency if they still have questions. State representatives will be at the Ontario and Hemet campuses Thursday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Several students at the Moreno Valley campus complained that their transcripts from the school were inaccurate and did not reflect the number of hours they had put into the 1,600-hour cosmetology program.

Company spokesman Joe Hixson said management was unaware of any such problems. Students who think their transcript is inaccurate, he said should call the company at 800-648-3413.

Students said they need the transcripts to be right in order to transfer those hours to other schools.

Demetria Lynum, 26, of Moreno Valley, said she had just 19 days left until she graduated. She said she has already talked to two other beauty schools in the area.

Im hoping to transfer my hours, Lynum said. More than likely, Ill be able to keep all of my hours.

Jeff Gross, vice president of operations for Salon Success, which has several Inland Empire schools, said his company is working on an agreement to take Marinello students and give them credit for the hours theyve accrued. Hes expecting to hire additional personnel to handle the influx from the closed schools.

Theyre working night and day to make sure these students dont get left out in the cold, Gross said of Marinello officials. Were going to find the best possible options.

Contact the writer: mmuckenfuss@pressenterprise.com or 951-368-9595
Calvary Chapel Bible Fellowship, the only church in Temecula Valleys Wine Country, has filed a lawsuit in federal court that alleges religious discrimination by Riverside County, which adopted a planning document for the region in 2014 that does not allow churches.

The planning document, called a specific plan, carved out a doughnut hole for the churchs 28-acre property but that exemption was challenged in court by Protect Wine Country, a group that includes area winery owners.

The successful challenge, which took the form of a settlement in 2015, left Calvary Chapel as a non-conforming use within the 17,900-acre Wine Country region.

It also makes the church responsible for defending the legality of the doughnut hole, which has been described as illegal spot zoning by opponents.

They threw us under the bus, said Robert Tyler, Managing Partner of Tyler & Bursch, LLP and counsel for Calvary Chapel Bible Fellowship.

The church has long threatened to file a lawsuit alleging religious discrimination over the countys plan but didnt play that card until now due to the repercussions of the countys settlement, which has severely hampered the ability of the church to pursue its expansion plans

Weve always said youre gift-wrapping a lawsuit for us, Tyler said.

The church also has filed a writ of mandate in Riverside County Superior Court to challenge the legality of the settlement.

Members of Protect Wine Country have said that any expansion proposal by the church should trigger an environmental review of their entire operation, which would include its impact to traffic on Rancho California Road and their adherence, or lack thereof, to the land use conditions the county already has imposed.

The church was built on the site of a former nursery in 1996 and the county required a large portion of the property to be used as farmland. Foes of the expansion plans contend the church initially complied with the rules by planting Christmas trees but then later paved over the farmland to create a parking lot.

The church has said the countys specific plan violates the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, which aims to protect churches and prisons from discrimination by way of zoning or landmarking laws.

According to the Department of Justice, zoning codes and landmarking laws may illegally exclude religious assemblies in places where they permit theaters, meeting halls, and other places where large groups of people assemble for secular purposes.

A release issued by Tyler and his Santa Ana-based nonprofit law firm Advocates for Faith & Freedom notes the county permits special occasion facilities, wineries, hotels, resorts, restaurants, and many other tourist-related uses in Wine Country.

Michael Newcomb, an attorney for Protect Wine Country, said Thursday that the zoning only allows special occasion facilities in conjunction with wineries, which undercuts the idea that the county is imposing some sort of double-standard.

There are no stand alone special occasion facilities unless we count the one exception that is Calvary Chapel, he said.

The church has discussed in the past building an auditorium designed to accommodate 936 people, nearly double the capacity of the existing sanctuary. There also has been talk of a school, which is opposed by growers in the region who use pesticides on their vines, that would be built on the 24 acres to the north of the developed 7-acre church campus, which is east of Calle Contento.

Ray Falkner, owner of Falkner Winery and a member of Protect Wine Country, said the county put together the rules for the Wine Country region may withstand federal scrutiny because the act provides for a series of defined exceptions.

The exceptions that are out there definitely pertain to economic districts where the inclusion of churches into the districts could prove detrimental to the entire region, he said.

Ray Smith, spokesman for the county, said Thursday that after the county has been served, counsel will review the lawsuit and the county will make a determination on how to proceed.

Staff Writer David Downey contributed to this report.
Say what you will about Sydney and memes, but this #CasinoMike thing has really escalated, hey.

Not only has NSW Premier Mike Bairds patronising AF Facebook post spurned memes, smack-downs, and a city-wide movement from the hospitality industry to #LockOutMikeBaird, but weve now got the #CasinoMike anthem, and not a moment too soon.

It comes from Sydney duo Yolanda Be Cool, who remixed Skeptas classic track Shutdown to produce the protest banger this city deserves.

Mikey, are ya listening?
We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on!

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The Top Chef season 4 winner, Stephanie Izard, wed craft-beer consultant Gary Valentine on Sunday in Chicago and, as expected, the menu was something to talk about.

I was blown away by the food at our wedding! We had such amazing friends put together an incredible menu that everyone loved, the bride, 36, tellsPEOPLE.

The reception at the Bridgeport Art Center featured a phenomenal pasta course made by Chris Pandel, the chef of Chicagos The Bristol and Balena. Guests, including Top Chef season one finalist Lee Ann Wong, had a choice of cavatelli, smoked eggplant and heirloom tomatoes or a rigatoni dish with pork ragu.

For the main course, executive chef of GT Fish & Oyster, Giuseppe Tentori, prepared a family-style spread of red wine braised beef short ribs, roasted black cod with grilled fennel and heirloom tomato sauce. Guests also enjoyed rosemary potato gratin, grilled broccoli with bacon vinaigrette, roasted golden beets with Manchego, balsamic vinegar pearls and toasted hazelnuts. And it doesnt stop there! A kale, radish and hearts of palm salad in a sherry vinaigrette was also served.

Everyone raved about it, says the first female winner of the Bravo hit show and chef at two successful Chicago restaurants, Girl & the Goat and Little Goat.

To help celebrate the couples big day, Izards pastry chef at Girl & the Goat, Mathew Rice, created the wedding cake. One layer was strawberry Nesquick and chocolate marble with a bacon buttercream frosting, while the other contained Cheez-It cake with chocolate ganache, peanut butter and chocolate-covered Cheez-Its.

In addition to the main attraction, Izard Tweeted out a second dessert. The groomsman cake was designed as a tiny cask to match Valentines specialty.

And to burn off some of the events delectable meal, the bride and groom took to the dance floor. We were lucky to have not only great food but a night of music that got everyone dancing, she says.

PHOTOS: My Wedding, My Way
In the current episode of VOM Radio, our guest is Dale Rhoton, one of the co-founders, along with George Verwer, of Operation Mobilization. One of the stories Dale shared is about meeting VOMs founder, Richard Wurmbrand, inside Romania shortly after Richards release from prison.

VOM Radio host, Todd Nettleton: Dale, along the way as you are traveling through those Communist countries you met a man who most of our listeners with be familiar with, Richard Wurmbrand, the man who founded The Voice of the Martyrs. Tell us about that first time you encountered Richard.

Dale Rhoton: This was 1964 and we were, 5 of us OMers. I was 26 years of age and I think the others were younger, except for one man named Ray. He, today, is in his 80s. We said, It is time for us to drive from the Middle East to Europe. Then we heard that Richard Wurmbrand had been released from prison and we said it would not take us too much out of the way if we go by way of Bucharest. We went to Bucharest and told some believers there that we had known before. We said, We understand this Pastor Richard Wurmbrand has just been released from prison and we would like to visit him.

They said, We dont think that is a good idea. It might not be good for him, he is just out of prison and to receive visitors from the West may not be good. We said, We respect that, but could you just even ask him if he would. He consented he wanted to meet us.

Richard Wurmbrand after his release from prison.

He came and there were five of us, total 10-15 people in the living room and I was looking around the room trying to figure out who has just been released from 14 years in prison. I didnt see anybody who looked like they had been released from 14 years in prison. I asked the young man on my left. I said, Tell me who is the person that is just released from prison for 14 years? He pointed to a man over in the corner. I looked at him and he was shiny, his face was aglow and he seemed to have a happiness about him, a peace. I thought he doesnt look like he has been 14 years in prison. Then I asked the young man, again, How do you know that he was in prison 14 years? He said, Thats my father. I thought, Wow. I guess you know.

Todd Nettleton: What was it about Richard that enabled him to come through 14 years in prison and still have that sense of joy, have that glow about him? Do you have any kind of hints of how he seemed to be so unscathed after so much suffering?

Dale Rhoton: Total commitment to Jesus Christ! More than counting all the pain and suffering he was counting his blessings; just an amazing person. Here he is, just out of prison after 14 years and what does he talk about, he talks about wanting to go to Paris and get up in the nightclubs and preach the gospel in nightclubs. He talks about going to Israel to the Knesset and he would like to stand before the Knesset and preach the gospel. He wanted to have somebody go with him who could hold the people off so he could preach the gospel.

I thought, These are not the words of someone who is just released from those years in prison. One of our group, an OMer named Ray Lynch. Ray had worked in Israel and Pastor Wurmbrand said, Is there someone in Israel who will help me with what I want to do? Ray said, There are a number of real fine believers in Israel. Pastor Wurmbrand said, No, you dont answer me until I tell you what I want to do. Then he told him that he wanted to get up in the Knesset and preach the gospel. Then our man, Ray Lynch, said, You know, they will put you in prison for that. Without missing a beat Pastor Wurmbrand said, Yes, I get two years."

So here is a man who is just released from 14 years in prison and what is he doing? [He's] thinking about how he can get back in prison. This is just a totally different breed!

Sign up for the VOM Radio Podcast so that you never miss and episode of VOM Radio.
Colombian government accused CB&I of bad management on Reficar refinery proyect



Colombia government seek answers from contractor's Chicago Bridge and Iron NV after Cartagena oil refinery (Reficar) runs $4 billion over budget



BOGOTA

Petroleumworld.com 02 11 2016



The Colombian government is preparing a complaint against contractor Chicago Bridge and Iron NV, which directed construction on the newly renovated Reficar refinery, after accusations bad management sent the project some $4 billion over budget.

The refinery, part of state-run oil company Ecopetrol , reopened late last year after a multi-billion-dollar overhaul meant to increase its capacity from 80,000 barrels per day to 165,000. Once operating fully it will produce diesel, naphtha, liquefied petroleum gas, jet fuel and petroleum coke.

"We know that a good part of the cost overruns are down to failures on the part of CB&I," Finance Minister Mauricio Cardenas told journalists, referring to the Texas- and Netherlands-based contractor by its initials.

"We have hired a team of lawyers who have spent a long time preparing all the arguments to make this complaint."

Cardenas said the government was aware of the overruns for years but chose not to delay construction by revoking the contract.

A large part of the overruns could be due to lack of proper cost estimates at the beginning of the project, Cardenas said.

"But another component could be bad management," he said. "Where that has occurred, we are completely committed to seeing it reach final consequences."

Chicago Bridge and Iron NV did not immediately respond to a message from Reuters seeking comment.

The original cost projection for the renovations was $4 billion. The country's comptroller estimates final costs came in at $8 billion, although the head of Ecopetrol said Wednesday that the final cost was still being calculated.

Authorities from the attorney general's office visited Reficar's Bogota headquarters late on Tuesday in connection with the allegations of mismanagement.

"Reficar has given all its cooperation to the authorities who came to our offices," the refinery said in a statement. "Reficar reaffirms it is the most interested in clearing up doubts about the project."

The accusations of mismanagement have sparked a war of words between officials from the government of former President Alvaro Uribe, which began the refinery construction, and members of the administration of his successor, Juan Manuel Santos.

The government has estimated the refinery will account for 1 percent of Colombia's gross domestic product and generate between $600 million and $700 million in cash flow per year.






It is looking likely that government will impose a new working contract for junior doctors after being advised by its lead negotiator Sir David Dalton that there is no realistic prospect of a deal.

An eleventh-hour offer by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, which made some concession on the key sticking point of unsocial pay, was rejected by the British Medical Association as doctors joined picket lines across England in a second round of industrial action.

The governments latest proposal reportedly offered extra pay for doctors working at least one in four Saturdays, and included higher fines for trusts over-working doctors, according to the BBC.

But speaking to PharmaTimes, a BMA spokesperson said the union has offered the government a cost-neutral alternative, which would see part of the proposed increase in junior doctors basic pay re-distributed to an increase in unsocial hours pay.

Talks over the new contract have been underway for four years, but Sir Dalton told the BBC that negotiations "have reached the end of the road".

Drawn out industrial action over contracts and pay would mean further disruption to patients who are relying on NHS care, with thousands more operations cancelled and check-ups delayed, noted NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens, commenting on the situation.

Its incredibly disappointing that Sir Dalton has reported that there is no realistic prospect of a negotiated agreement, he said. Under these highly regrettable and entirely avoidable circumstances, hospitals are rightly calling for an end to the uncertainty, and the implementation of the compromise package the Dalton team are recommending.

But there is growing concern that imposition of a contract will fuel continued industrial action by junior doctors that couple end up crippling the NHS. And almost 90 percent of junior doctors said they would consider resigning from the NHS if the government does so, according to a poll of more than 1,000 medics seen exclusively by The Independent, highlighting the strength of opposition to the proposals.
The Coconut Grove Sailing Club hosted Moths last month. Not the insect, the US Moth Fleet just in from the Bahamas. This was the third event this season for the Moth Fleet and they were back in the Grove for the first time in four years.





The Moth Class is a small development class of sailing boat. It was originally a cheap sailing boat built at home, by hand, now it is a high-end mostly commercially-made boat designed to hydroplane on foils.





The US Moth fleet puts the environment first and they had stayed away according to Class President Matt Knowles, because of the trash and debris in the water. This is one reason for the water clean up that you see at the Seminole Boat ramp often. I had not known about all the dirt and debris that was down below the surface.





It's interesting to see that a whole sailing fleet would keep their distance in the name of the environment. It's also interesting to know that the City of Miami has taken it seriously enough to clean out the waterways.
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I've ridden with TSG protection since I started biking and I've been on the team since 2007, so when the chance came to ride for TSG apparel as well I couldn't turn it down. I'm excited for everyone to see the new range of clothing and I'm stoked I get to wear them! Thanks for this cool opportunity guys! - Sam Pilgrim

Sam Pilgrim had been wearing TSG helmets even before he was promoted to the pro team in 2007. The Swiss protection brand had spotted the young Englishman at an event and immediately recognized his potential. That's when the tight and successful relationship between TSG and Sam Pilgrim began.2016 marks a new milestone in the collaboration. From now on, Sam Pilgrim will ride in bike performance and streetwear by TSG Apparel. He finally arrived right where he belongs. Sam Pilgrim stands for the brand TSG like no other and is one of the brand's most important ambassadors.In 2014, TSG extended its collection and launched MTB Performance Apparel. Sam will join a number of long-time team members. Timo Pritzel has been an ambassador since the launch of TSG Apparel, and Amir Kabbani started riding with TSG Apparel a year later. Apart from the fact that all three TSG mountain bike pros are extremely talented and successful riders, they all have distinctive personalities and inject their experience, demands and ideas into the development of future collections. The result will be revealed at the Eurobike 2016 in Friedrichshafen, Germany.
The winter issue of The Planetary Report is at the printer and will be in your mailbox soon. All Planetary Society members can start reading now by downloading the magazine here.

Although 2015 had no shortage of bad news, we denizens of Earth also continued to accomplish great things; not least among them were our advances in understanding the cosmos and our place within it. Acknowledgment of our progress and thoughts aboutand evidence ofour inspiration, are the themes of this issue.

And what better way to celebrate than with pretty photos? Once again, its time for The Year in Pictures, where Emily Lakdawalla handpicks a collection of images that showcase the milestones of exploration weve crossed, from a very long-awaited visit to the Pluto Charon system to our first global map of Ceres.

Nadia Drake is a science journalist whose blog No Place Like Home is hosted by National Geographic. When I read her eloquent How Can We Write About Science When People Are Dying? I knew it would strike a chord with our readers and obtained permission to reprint it here.

Planetary Society members are a dedicated and effective group of people. Congress listens. In More Important Than Ever, Casey Dreier lists the impressive strides we made in increasing funding for planetary exploration in 2016. He also looks forward to the (now released) Presidents budget request for 2017 and reminds us of space explorations power to take us past partisan politics toward something much larger than ourselves.

The Planetary Deep Drill traveled from its home in Honeybee Robotics laboratory to a gypsum mine in Californias desert for its first field test, sponsored in part by The Planetary Society. Director of Science and Technology Bruce Betts and Society colleagues took a road trip to document this important step toward understanding ices on other worlds.

Plus, Bill Nye recognizes Neil deGrasse Tyson and Robert Picardo; Society members share their awe-inspiring photos; the Volunteer Network encourages tomorrows explorers; and more.

For 35 years, The Planetary Society has worked hard to ensure that we have a vibrant future in space. If you are not a member and youd like to have a role in this adventure, join us here.

Donna Stevens

Editor

The Planetary Report
I just watched a video that sickened me. It's a video and news story that undermines all the great law enforcement work being done by officers all around the country. It doesn't matter where it took place because the city is irrelevant in any negative story about police officers because whether you are in the biggest of cities or smallest of villages, police misconduct paints everyone with a badge with the same broad and tarnished brush.

This news report was about the indictment of an officer who while in uniform groped, grabbed, and fondled a female pedestrian who was standing with a group outside of a nightclub. When a male companion pulled out a cell phone and videoed the encounter, the officer's partner manhandled him, took the phone, and arrested him, later claiming the man attacked him. The officers tossed the phone out of their moving patrol car on the way to booking. Unfortunately for them, surveillance video revealed the truth, which resulted in the charges against the man who was simply trying to protect his friend being dismissed and the indictment of the officers.

Law enforcement all over our nation has been pummeled this year by legitimate media, social media, "activists," political leaders, presidential candidates, and everyone with a personal beef or agenda. Most of the criticism is about use of force, officer-involved shootings, and reported misconduct, which have been shown to be false or at least explainable. But when the "real thing" rears its ugly head and we are subjected to seeing an officer or officers commit terrible acts in front of our eyes, it's nothing short of heartbreaking and anger provoking.

Each day law enforcement officers face temptations, as they have since the first officer pinned on a badge. And temptations come in all shapes and sizes. For example, the temptation of greed has probably been the root cause of the most high-profile police corruption scandals throughout history.

New York City in the 1970s had the notorious and well-publicized Knapp Commission hearings, which revealed the widespread practice of bribes being paid to police by bookmakers, prostitutes, gamblers, and drug dealers. Hundreds of officers and supervisors upward throughout the chain of command were caught up in a system of payoffs that was called "the pad." During the hearings, it came to light that even among those who didnt actively participate it was common knowledge that it was taking place. Taking payoffs and/or turning away when it was happening became accepted behavior, which reveals how the ethical environment of an entire agency can become toxic even when a relatively small amount of the department were actively taking part in the criminal conduct.

No one wanted to be responsible for bringing this terrible betrayal of the public trust to light for fear of being labeled a snitch. This has been a pervasive problem in law enforcement all over the country. The culture within many agencies has been one of loyalty versus integrity, a perverted view of an us versus them philosophy that some call brothers before others. This culture is based on the belief that if you are a law enforcement officer, you must protect each other at all costs and regardless of offense, and it grows out of the loyalty that officers have for one another. Unfortunately, when criminal and other forms of misconduct become enveloped in that loyalty system of belief, it perverts everything that the badge should stand for, honor, integrity, compassion, and truth.

It took only two men of courage Sgt. David Durk and Patrolman Frank Serpico to come forward in the 1970s and alter the ethical environment of the NYPD. Durk has been largely forgotten by history, although some say his role in exposing the corruption was larger than Serpico who was immortalized in a book and a movie bearing his name.

Frank Serpico was a plainclothesman, a patrolman assigned to work out of uniform investigating vice-related crimes, when he witnessed the pad and brought it to the attention of his superiors in vain attempts to stop what he knew to be unlawful conduct. Unfortunately, his superiors already knew about the bribes, and if they were not outright participating in it themselves, looked the other way so as not to rock the boat."

That "don't rock the boat" philosophy has been the kind of thinking that has repeated itself in many cities and towns leading to high-profile investigations, arrests, and embarrassment personally and professionally for hundreds of officers, their families, and agencies throughout the years. In the NYPD, no one would listen to David Durk or Frank Serpico. So they went to The New York Times. The Times reporters listened alright and broke the story whose ripples can still be felt today.

The resulting investigations destroyed careers, lives, families, and shook the NYPD to its foundation. But they also paved the way for changes, which today can account for the immense pride that the NYPD has in its ranks. That one or two brave men could themselves change the course of history and the ethical environment of the largest police department in the nation is nothing short of incredible. And I wish that I could report a happy and rewarding conclusion for these honorable men. But they paid a high price for their integrity.

Durk was labeled a "rat," and his NYPD career faltered. He died in 2012. Serpico was shot in what is suspected to be a friendly fire incident during a narcotics raid shortly after his role in exposing the corruption came to light. He survived but retired and left the country for a decade. Today, he lives in a rural area of New York north of New York City.

But regardless of the cost, we as law enforcement officers, simply cannot condone the purposeful abuse of power and criminal misconduct of anyone who shares the badge. Not only does that person drag him- or herself into the abyss of disrepute but also all who have knowledge, whether a willing participant or a co-worker who turns a blind eye.

There has never been a more important time than now to understand that the ethical environment in which law enforcement operates is one of the most important issues challenging the profession. Creating a positive ethical environment is every single officer's responsibility, regardless of rank. If the head of the agency "talks the talk" but doesn't "walk the walk" of ethical behavior, on or off duty, the agency faces a terrible challenge. Yet, there can be no doubt that your integrity can never be taken, it can only be given away. And while that may sound simplistic, it is anything but. Pressure from administrators, supervisors, and peers play an immense role when it comes to creating the ethical environment of not only an agency but individual units and squads within an agency.

America law enforcement faces challenges that will define and affect the profession for years to come. Some of those challenges are not within the control of the men and women who serve. But some things are clearly in your control, and they include your personal integrity, a belief in a personal code of honor, and the inner strength to always "do the right thing." Upholding your integrity and the integrity of your agency is how you can win the trust of the communities you serve and our entire nation.
Image: Harford County (MD) Sheriff's Office Facebook page

Two Harford County, MD, sheriff's deputies have died after a shooting both inside and near a restaurant in Abingdon late Wednesday morning, the head of the department said.

Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler didn't immediately identify the officers, and asked for "respect and patience during this difficult time for our agency," reports the Baltimore Sun.

He said the officers were veterans of the force, and said the department's prayers are with their families. "There are no words to describe what they're going through right now," Gahler said at a 5:15 p.m. press briefing.

Two additional officers fired weapons at the scene and have been placed on administrative leave, Gahler said outside the Panera Bread restaurant at the Boulevard at Box Hill. It was there, where he said earlier in the day, "We fully suspect that both deputies were shot by the same suspect."

The suspect, who died, was identified as David Brian Evans, 67. There were two warrants for Evans' arrest, Gahler said, one in Florida for assaulting a police officer and fleeing and eluding, and a civil warrant in Harford County.

One deputy was taken to University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Bel Air. The other was flown to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.

"Both deputies have succumbed to their injuries," Gahler said at the evening press briefing.

One deputy, with the court services division, was with the Sheriff's Office for 30 years; the other, with the agency for 16 years, was with the community services division.

"Both were two outstanding deputies who served the citizens of this county faithfully for 16 and 30 years, respectively," Gahler said.

The sheriff said he believes the deputy was targeted, saying, "The suspect took that action because he was in a police uniform. He was certainly targeting them."

At a press conference earlier in the day, Sheriff Gahler said deputies were called to a Panera Bread at a busy shopping area in Abingdon at about 11:46 a.m. for reasons that he would not divulge. After entering the restaurant, the deputy was fired on by a gunman and hit.

An additional deputy or deputies followed the gunman to a nearby apartment building. At that location, the second deputy was shot and the gunman was killed.

Gahler speculated that the two shootings occurred not more than 15 minutes apart and called the second shooting a "continuation of events" from the Panera attack.
Deputy Derek Geer (Photo: Mesa County SO)

The Mesa County Sheriff's Office announced Wednesday night that Dep. Derek Geer--who was shot Monday in a confrontation with a teen suspect--had been taken off life support after donating his organs.

The 17-year-old accused of shooting Geer, Austin Patrick Holzer of Grand Junction, faces murder charges. He'll likely be charged as an adult.

Austin Holzer (Photo: Mesa County SO)

Holzer is accused of firing multiple times at Geer, mortally wounding him. Geer and several other deputies responded Monday to reports of a person walking with a gun in Grand Junction. The deputies encountered a 17-year-old boy, identified as Holzer, who started an altercation after Geer told him he would be detained. Geer fired a Taser that struck Holzer. Holzer pulled out a handgun and shot Geer several times, the MCSO told KOAA TV.

Prior to his alleged run-in with Geer, Holzer had been on the run since September. Prosecutors told KKCO TV that Holzer was previously wanted on an incest case, and had allegedly been using meth daily for much of 2015.
COLUMBUS  Jose Rodriguez shifted only a few feet when he switched tables in the courtroom, but the job description was a complete about-face.

In January, the new deputy Platte County attorney went from defending a client in a felony theft case in Scotts Bluff County District Court to making arguments for the prosecution in Columbus just a few days later.

I got a not guilty verdict in a felony theft jury trial Jan. 4-5 in Scottsbluff and was making arguments for the prosecution during bond reviews two or three days later in Columbus, said Rodriquez, who spent a year as a public defender in Scottsbluff before being hired by Platte County Attorney Carl Hart to fill the deputy position.

Rodriguez replaced Tonia Soukup, who accepted a deputy attorney position in Colfax and Butler counties in December.

Rodriguez, 31, said his role has changed along with his move from one end of the state to the other.

The job of a public defender is to argue on behalf of the defendant and work to protect his or her legal rights, while the prosecutors role is to seek the truth and pursue justice, said Rodriquez, who moved to the Midwest in 2010 from the Bronx, New York, to attend Creighton Law School.

Basically, in the end being a prosecutor is the other side of the coin from being a public defender, said Rodriguez, adding that he has found relationships between the county attorneys office and local community of defense attorneys to be mutually respectful.

Its been an interesting transition so far, said Rodriguez, who clerked in a law firm specializing in immigration issues after graduating from Creighton and waiting to take the bar exam to become a licensed attorney.

Rodriguez, a graduate of The State University of New York at Stony Brook, originally journeyed to Omaha when his wife, Luz Colon-Rodriguez, accepted a job as assistant director of multicultural affairs at Creighton.

He opted to attend Creighton Law School in the fall of 2010, while his wife remained in New York until beginning her new job in Omaha at the end of the year.

I came out with a backpack on my back, said Rodriguez, looking back on those early months waiting for his wife to arrive.

Luz Colon-Rodriguez is currently a full-time student in a remote graduate program through Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, studying child and adolescent psychology.

Rodriguez said Columbus, along with its proximity to Omaha and Lincoln, will offer his wife more job opportunities after her graduation from the Northwestern program.
The four remaining occupiers at an Oregon wildlife refuge surrendered Thursday morning after hours of tense negotiations, bringing an end to the weeks long demonstration over land rights that began Jan. 2.

Federal officials said Jeff Banta, Sean Anderson, Sandy Anderson and David Fry were taken in without incident after FBI agents overnight surrounded the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, about 300 miles southeast of Portland.

Agents "moved to contain" the holdouts Wednesday night after one allegedly drove outside previously-established barricades and then back in at high speed when approached by the FBI, the bureau said in a statement.

All four arrested are expected to face an arraignment before a magistrate judge in Portland on Friday, NBC News reports.

The ringleaders, Ammon and Ryan Bundy, and other protesters were arrested last month, and Ammon Bundy through his attorney called for the remaining occupiers to give up.

In total, 16 people  including the holdouts  have been charged with conspiracy to interfere with federal workers.
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In less than 18 hours after winning New Hampshire, Bernie Sanders has set a new fundraising record by raising $5.2 million.

According to the Sanders campaign, In the 18 hours since the polls closed in the Granite State, his campaign has raised more than $5.2 million, shattering the campaigns previous record for money raised in less than a day. The average donation since Sanders speech is $34.

This is exactly what Hillary Clintons supporters feared the most. Bernie Sanders has immediately converted his New Hampshire victory into a massive outpouring of financial support that will allow him to compete in every state on Super Tuesday.

During his victory speech in New Hampshire, Sanders asked his supporters to donate, Im going to hold a fundraiser right here, right now, across America. My request is please go to BernieSanders.com and contribute. Please help us raise the funds we need, whether its $10 bucks, $20 bucks, or $50 bucks. Help up us raise the money we need to take the fight to Nevada, South Carolina, and the states on Super Tuesday.

The money that ordinary Americans across the country are donating is going directly into building the kind of organization that is needed to get out the vote and win the Democratic nomination. Unlike Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders has real grassroots support. While Trump continues to refuse to build a get out the vote organization, the Sanders campaign is successfully converting small donor dollars to voters.

What Bernie Sanders and his supporters are doing is showing the billionaires that people power can defeat individual wealth. Millions of people are standing with Sanders. They have his back, and now the political revolution has the funds to carry out a national campaign.
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President Obamas Department of Justice has filed a civil rights lawsuit against Ferguson, Missouri alleging that law enforcement conduct violated the First, Fourth and 14th Amendments of the Constitution and federal civil rights laws.

Video of Attorney General Loretta Lynch discussing the lawsuit:

Attorney General Lynch said:



Nearly a year ago, the Department of Justice released our findings in an investigation of the Police Department of Ferguson, Missouri. Our investigation uncovered a community in distress, in which residents felt alienated from their own police force. The Ferguson Police Departments violations were expansive and deliberate. They violated the Fourth Amendment by stopping people without reasonable suspicion, arresting them without cause and using unreasonable force. They made enforcement decisions based on the way individuals expressed themselves and unnecessarily escalated non-threatening situations. These violations were not only egregious  they were routine. They were encouraged by the city in the interest of raising revenue. They were driven, at least in part, by racial bias and occurred disproportionately against African-American residents. And they were profoundly and fundamentally unconstitutional. These findings were based upon information received from Fergusons own citizens, from Fergusons own records and from Fergusons own officials. And they demonstrated a clear pattern or practice of violations of the Constitution and federal law.

After announcing our findings one year ago, we began negotiations with the city of Ferguson on a court-enforceable consent decree that would bring about necessary police and court reform. From the outset, we made clear that our goal was to reach an agreement to avoid litigation. But we also made clear that if there was no agreement, we would be forced to go to court to protect the rights of Ferguson residents. Painstaking negotiations lasted more than 26 weeks as we sought to remedy literally years of systematic deficiencies. A few weeks ago, the Department of Justice and Fergusons own negotiators came to an agreement that was both fair and cost-effective  and that would provide all the residents of Ferguson the constitutional and effective policing and court practices guaranteed to all Americans. As agreed, it was presented to the Ferguson City Council for approval or rejection. And last night, the city council rejected the consent decree approved by their own negotiators. Their decision leaves us no further choice.

Today, the Department of Justice is filing a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the city of Ferguson, Missouri, alleging a pattern or practice of law enforcement conduct that violates the First, Fourth and 14th Amendments of the Constitution and federal civil rights laws. We intend to aggressively prosecute this case and I have no doubt that we will prevail.

The residents of Ferguson have waited nearly a year for their city to adopt an agreement that would protect their rights and keep them safe. They have waited nearly a year for their police department to accept rules that would ensure their constitutional rights and that thousands of other police departments follow every day. They have waited nearly a year for their municipal courts to commit to basic, reasonable rules and standards. But as our report made clear, the residents of Ferguson have suffered the deprivation of their constitutional rights  the rights guaranteed to all Americans  for decades. They have waited decades for justice. They should not be forced to wait any longer.

The city council in Ferguson brought this lawsuit are to blame for the lawsuit. Not only did the council reject the agreement, but they tried to unilaterally add seven additional conditions to the agreement. While this has been going on, the people of Ferguson have been waiting for real reforms.

The evidence of systemic law enforcement civil rights violations is overwhelming. The Obama administration isnt just talking the talk. They are walking the walk. The people of Ferguson deserve law enforcement that will protect and serve the community. Racial discrimination has no place in our society.

The administration of President Barack Obama is standing up for the most basic of civil rights.
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While addressing the Illinois General Assembly, President Obama did what the billionaires and special interests fear most. He took the Citizens United fight to the states.

Video:

While addressing the Illinois General Assembly, the President said:

Now, this year, just over 150 families  150 families  have spent as much on the presidential race as the rest of America combined. Today, a couple of billionaires in one state can push their agenda, dump dark money into every state  nobody knows where its coming from  mostly used on these dark ads, everybody is kind of dark and the worst picture possible. And theres some ominous voice talking about how theyre destroying the country.

And they spend this money based on some ideological preference that really is disconnected to the realities of how people live. Theyre not that concerned about the particulars of whats happening in a union hall in Galesburg, and what folks are going through trying to find a job. Theyre not particularly familiar with whats happening at a VFW post. In Carbondale. They havent heard personally from farmers outside of the Quads and what theyre going through. Those are the voices that should be outweighing a handful of folks with a lot of money. Im not saying the folks with a lot of money should have no voice; Im saying they shouldnt be able to drown out everybody elses.

And thats why I disagree with the Supreme Courts Citizens United decision. I dont believe that money is speech, or that political spending should have no limits, or that it shouldnt be disclosed. I still support a constitutional amendment to set reasonable limits on financial influence in Americas elections.

But amending the Constitution is an extremely challenging and time-consuming process  as it should be. So were going to have to come up with more immediate ways to reduce the influence of money in politics. There are a lot of good proposals out there, and we have to work to find ones that can gain some bipartisan support  because a handful of families and hidden interests shouldnt be able to bankroll elections in the greatest democracy on Earth.

President Obama was correct it will be difficult to get a constitutional amendment ratified, but there are other ways to take on Citizens United. States can and should be doing more to get money out of politics. Unlimited dark money at any level of government is bad news for every citizen. It can be argued that Citizens United has made the lives of Americans worse because the billionaires and corporations have been very successful in buying governors and state legislatures.

The one thing that the Kochs and their billionaire buddies fear the most is an enlightened electorate. Most people think that Citizens United is a federal issue, but at the state and local level, dark money can swamp elections. Citizens United has created a barrier that keeps many good people from running for public office because they cant raise the funds needed to compete with the billionaires and special interests.

Citizens United is a plague on our democracy, and as President Obama suggested all levels of government must come together to get dark money out of our politics.
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Making a claim that sadly seems plausible on the surface, an Iranian official accused Republicans of asking Tehran to delay the recent prisoner exchange until after the presidential election.

Tasmin News reported:

Secretary of Irans Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani said a recent prisoner exchange between Iran and the US went ahead as planned despite calls by Republicans for a delay until US presidential elections. In the course of the talks for exchanging prisoners, the Republican rivals of the current US administration who claim to be humanitarians and advocates of human rights sent a message telling us not to release these people (American prisoners) and continue this process (of talks) until the eve of US presidential elections, Shamkhani said Thursday in an address to a rally held in the central city of Yazd to mark the 37th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolutions victory. However he said we acted upon our independent resolve and moved the process forward.

Thats a serious allegation implying that Republicans would have let the prisoners, who were released on January 16th, rot in jail for political purposes. But Republicans have let the U.S. go without funding at all for political purposes, so it would be foolish to suggest that they wouldnt do this for ethical or moral reasons.

It seems like the smartest reason they wouldnt have done this is they could have been caught. Shamkhani didnt say how this request was made, for example. It is most likely at attempt to spread propaganda about how they stood up to the United States, as the article continued on paraphrasing him, Iran proved that it is not influenced by any foreign or domestic pressure but acts against spies and infiltrators decisively.

The problem for Republicans is that this claim, which might well be false bravado, actually sounds reasonable given their behavior. This seems exactly like something they would do.

This wouldnt be the first time Republicans have tried to sabotage the Iran deal. In July of 2015, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu indirectly admitted that he was working with Republicans in Congress to kill President Obamas Iran deal.

This, of course, is treason. Republicans worked with a foreign agent against the foreign policy of the President.

So its not a stretch to suppose that there could be some truth to Shamkhanis claims. Republicans have spent years investigating various Democrats and organizations that help the poor based on less evidence than this, so they have absolutely no room to complain if this charge is used against them. In fact they will be lucky if Democrats dont push for an investigation into their sabotage of the Iran deal. There is no low too low for the party of Donald Trump.

The Republicans of this era are becoming the Democrats of the 60s, known for anarchy and treason. One can almost believe any accusation made against them, since they themselves proudly display their arrogant defiance of government, of process, of hierarchy and of this President.

That doesnt make this true.

But the fact that this charge goes along with previous Republican behavior points to a huge political problem for the Republican party, which has worked against its own country in service of its political agenda and masters one too many times to cry foul.
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It is curious that although America generally has pathetically poor voter participation in elections, a couple of state primary elections are more than sufficient to distract the publics attention from extremely important news. Tuesday night, or Wednesday, were no different and while people were intent on the results of one small states primary results, they missed the news that the Koch-surrogates on the Supreme Court issued a ruling that reveals their contempt for the Earths population; like typical Koch Republicans.

In a five to four decision, the conservatives on the High Court put an immediate stop to President Obamas restrictions on new coal plants. The Presidents action was an important step toward combatting climate change that experts in several disciplines attest it necessary to preserve the human race. The conservatives orders were particularly telling about their service, obedience, and devotion to the Koch brothers fossil fuel industry because they went outside of normal federal judicial system procedure to give the Koch brothers what they likely paid for during the latest secret Koch policy seminar.

Apparently the conservative jurists were not impressed that the EPAs regulations were intended specifically to, besides ameliorate the effects of climate change, avoid thousands of premature deaths and thousands fewer asthma attacks and hospitalizations within 10 years and every year beyond. What likely did impress the 5 Republican justices was that those new regulations are highly regarded as representing the most significant thing America has ever done to combat climate change. Since the Koch brothers and their Republican puppets say climate change is a liberal hoax, and campaign vigorously on neutering the Environmental Protection Agency, the Conservative Court stepped in and got proactive for the Kochs and their fossil fuel cohorts.

The High Courts intervention is contrary to a unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Washington D.C. Circuit that has already denied several motions to stop the Clean Power Plan. This is following two months of briefings and several weeks of careful painstaking review of the fossil fuel polluters claims. It is important to consider that the conservative Courts decision does not, and did not, address the merits of the Clean Power Plan; that is what Court of Appeals is considering, on an expedited basis no less.

In fact, the High Court butted in within a day of the fossil fuel industry and its allies filing their final legal attacks on reply. The industry wanted it stopped and no federal Appeals Court was going to interfere with the Kochs plans leaving the High Courts Republicans no choice but do exactly what the Kochs tell them to do.

Instead of just telling the EPA that the fossil fuel industry said no more regulations, the Courts conservatives gave no insight or purpose behind its order. It just issued this command;

The Environmental Protection Agencys Carbon Pollution Emission Guidelines for Existing Stationary Sources: Electric Utility Generating Units, is stayed pending disposition of the applicants petitions for review in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and disposition of the applicants petition for a writ of certiorari, if such writ is sought.

What that means is that exactly as Senate Mitch McConnell predicted, Republicans would task the states to appeal to the conservative High Court do what the proper federal appellate court refused to do and suspend the rules until after President Obama leaves office. Republicans want to have more time to defund and completely break the EPAs ability to protect Americans air and water before it can enact any new regulations. Republicans will never allow those life and climate saving rules to go into effect and the High Court has no intention of waiting for an Appellate ruling challenging the Clean Power Plan because the fossil fuel industry only challenged the new regulations to get the case before the Kochs conservative Justices. Tuesdays order all but fulfilled the industrys wish without going through the normal appellate procedures.

Apparently, some dreamy-eyed environmentalists errantly believed that because Republican Anthony Kennedy abandoned the Koch Justices in a 2007 case Massachusetts v. EPA, that he would let the appeal system play out, listen to the merits of the regulations, and possibly rule in favor of the climate and Americans lives. In the 2007 case, the Court ruled that the Clean Air Act permits the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from new motor vehicles. However, that was before Americans elected a President concerned about the Earths climate, and millions of Americans health and lives, and took action to preserve the environment. It was also before the High Courts conservatives began openly and actively working for the fossil fuel industry, corporations, the Vatican, and American patriarchy.

If any American thought for even one nano-second that Republicans or their Koch-surrogates on the High Court would offer any hope to the people whose lives would be lost by upholding the environmental regulations, they now know they were dreaming.

There is no telling how Justice Kennedy will ultimately vote when the case gets to the Koch Court, but if he joined the four activist Justices and butt into the case before the Appeals Court was finished hearing arguments, it is likely the Koch Republicans will make certain the United States of America is incapable of taking steps needed to mitigate climate change; regardless how many Americans lives are lost and how badly the American economy will be decimated.
Blood drive planned Friday

COLUMBUS -- Dynamic Life Therapy and Wellness, 3763 39th Ave., Suite 100, will hold a blood drive from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday.

Appointments can be made by calling Heather at 402-606-4492 or visit redcrossblood.org, code DynamicLifeColumbus.

Those who donate will be entered into a drawing to win a 60-minute massage.

Eagles fish fries begin Friday

COLUMBUS -- The Fraternal Order of Eagles, 3205 12th St., will host fish fries from 5:30-8 p.m. every Friday through March 25.

All-you-can-eat buffet style meal of fish and side dishes will be served.

Appraisals for antiques slated

COLUMBUS -- Nebraska native Tom Bassett will be conducting free antique appraisals beginning at 2 p.m. Feb. 20 at Columbus Public Library in the auditorium.

Those who have antiques too large to bring to the library can bring pictures. Cookies and coffee will be provided.

Medicare workshop set

DAVID CITY -- Medicare Changes 2016, a workshop about the newest revisions to Medicare, will be held at 10 a.m. Feb. 23 at david place, 260 S. 10th St.

A certified Medicare counselor will address changes to Medicare and answer questions from the audience.

For more information, call 402-367-3144.

Leadership series at CCC

COLUMBUS -- A leadership development series will be offered from 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. on Thursdays, Feb. 25 through April 14, in the West Education Building, room 177, at Central Community College-Columbus.

The series will cover leadership and trust, team building, communication skills, personality styles, conflict resolution, situational leadership and managing change.

Class size is limited, so registration is required to reserve a space. The cost is $600.

For more information or to register, contact Sue Mahlin at 402-562-1409; toll-free at 1-877-222-0780, ext. 1409; or email smahlin@cccneb.edu.

Shrimp peel set Feb. 26

COLUMBUS -- The 18th annual St. Isidore Elementary School Lenten Shrimp Peel will be held from 6-11 p.m. Feb. 26 in the Scotus Central Catholic cafeteria.

The meal will include shrimp, beverage, salads and desserts. Tickets are $15 each and must be purchased in advance. No children are allowed at this event as there will be alcohol present.

Proceeds will go to assist with technology upgrades at the school.

For more information or tickets, call Nicole at 402-606-4115 or stop by the St. Isidore school office and church rectory.

Kin Seekers meeting set

COLUMBUS -- The Platte Valley Kin Seekers will hold their next meeting at 1 p.m. March 1 in the west building of the Platte County Historical Museum, 2916 16th St.

The program will be a video "The American Experience -- In The White Man's Image.

Meetings are open to the public.
I recently had the privilege to share my thoughts with the Columbus City Council about the arts and the proposed library/cultural arts center. The key to speaking in front of the city council is to be prepared; in hindsight, I wish I had been better prepared.

Here are a few things I wish I had said:

The arts are alive in Columbus. The Columbus Arts Council strives to make the arts available to everyone. In addition, we strive to bring a variety of arts events to the Columbus area. We are host to art exhibits, the Missoula Childrens Theatre, Wichita Childrens Theatre, Art2Go, Art Camp, Artful Home Tour, First Thursdays and the Murder Mystery to name a few.

Currently, in the art gallery, we have the Ernestine Quick Exhibit. This exhibit showcases artists from across Nebraska. I invite everyone to attend this and all of our exhibits. The artwork is stunning. It is displayed beautifully in our gallery, which is located in the lower level of the Columbus Public Library.

There are no windows or natural light in our gallery. We do our best to light the shows with can lights. Having a gallery on the first floor of the proposed library/cultural arts center will showcase the artists and their work. Natural light will make the exhibits even more appealing and inviting. This state of the art gallery will entice artists from across the region to display their works of arts and exhibits in Columbus.

The arts and the library will also gain a flexible performance space. Many refer to it as an auditorium. It is so much more than that. Yes, it is a place where performing arts can be held, with room to perform and room for an audience.

This space can also be used for recitals and receptions. It can be used for meetings, speeches and retreats. It is a flexible community space to be used for a variety of occasions. The arts council is looking forward to utilizing grants available from the Nebraska Arts Council and other grant providers to bring a variety of touring performances to this new venue.

The proposed building will also have classrooms and meeting rooms. There will be more opportunities for classes and workshops for youth and adults.

Take a moment to imagine what it will be like walking into the proposed library/cultural arts center. The building itself will be a work of art, a place where locals and visitors to our city will find themselves drawn to.

This building will be a destination. It will no longer be a place of just books, but a place where our community can gather to learn, inspire others, take in an art exhibit or class, and to experience the innovations the library has to offer.

It will be a beautiful addition to our city of Power and Progress -- a place we can all be proud of.

UPCOMING EVENTS IN THE COLUMBUS ART GALLERY

 Now-Feb. 27: Ernestine Quick Memorial Art Competition. Please come down to cast your vote for the Peoples Choice award presented at the end of the exhibit.

 Feb. 29-April 2. Youth Art Month, sponsored by the Columbus Bank & Trust Company.

Find us on Facebook (Columbus Nebraska Arts Council, Columbus Art Gallery) or our website at www.discoverthearts.org
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CALEDONIA  A southeastern Minnesota man who was wrongfully convicted of child sex abuse will be compensated $475,000 under a new state law.

Roger Lee Olsen, 50, will receive the settlement for the two years he spent in the Stillwater Correctional Facility after he was convicted in Houston County of criminal sexual conduct involving a minor, his attorney Steve Meshbesher said Tuesday.

Olsen was released from prison in 2008, when investigators found evidence that his accuser lied about the incident.

Olsen is among three men who will receive monetary compensation for their time incarcerated, as well as emotional distress and injuries, under a new state law.

Koua Fong Lee was convicted of vehicular homicide after his car in 2006 suddenly accelerated, rear-ending another vehicle and killing three people. He was freed three years later after it was determined the crash wasn't his fault.

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Michael Ray Hansen served nearly seven years in prison for murder in his infant daughter's death before the conviction was overturned after it was determined her skull fracture occurred when she accidentally fell from a shopping cart.

Olsen lives in his hometown of La Crescent. He suffers from post-traumatic stress, and his mental and physical health have declined, Meshbesher said.

"He hurts," Meshbesher said. "It's very difficult for him mentally and emotionally. No amount of money is going to compensate him for that. It's not going to right the wrong."

According to a November story in the Star Tribune, Olsen was freed in 2008 once Houston County investigators discovered evidence that led them to believe his accuser made up the story. Olsen told the Star-Tribune that he refused to take a plea deal on the criminal sexual conduct charges against him, and he said doubts about his guilt were raised when his accuser directed strikingly similar accusations against another man.

A final determination of the payment to Olsen was made by a three-person panel of judges and attorneys, Meshbesher said. The settlement will be presented to the state Legislature for final approval, as required by law, before the state's Office of Management and Budget disperse the money.

"Hopefully, that money can be used in a way that can help him cope with these problems, psychological problems he is having because they are deep," Meshbesher said.

"You can feel his hurt when he talks, when he talks, you can feel it. There's no question that everyone feels bad."
Yes, at the GEC voting center at the Westin.

Yes, at one of the satellite voting centers open on Saturdays.

No; I'm voting on Nov. 8.

No; I'm not voting in the general election.

Vote

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We still dont know what really happened when the Iranians took two riverine Navy boats into their custody last month. We know that the boats were said to have been traveling from Bahrain to Kuwait when they lost their way, but some have their doubts about that. FOX News recalls the background here if you need a refresher.

We know that the Iranians humiliated the sailors by disseminating images of them on their knees on the order of their Iranian captors. We know that Secretary of State John Kerry announced that he had taken up the matter with his counterpart and good friend over at Irans Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We know that Kerry announced: I was furious about it, and I immediately contacted my counterpart and we indicated our disgust. It was very, very unfortunate, inappropriate. And as a former sailor, and member of the military, I was infuriated by it and I expressed that very directly to my counterpart.

I think we can infer that the Iranians dig the alleged fury of John Kerry. I think we can infer that the Iranians hold President Obama and his administration in the utmost contempt. Social media users now report that the sailors capture was reenacted as part of celebrations marking the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted the U.S-backed Shah and the official Iranian news agency released new footage of one of the ten sailors it detained crying (video below).
As the Obama administration limps through its last months, its impending demise is mourned by few. One of those few is the perennially clueless David Brooks, apparently the New York Timess idea of a conservative. Brooks is infamous for falling in love with the crease in Barack Obamas pants. Seven years later, he has found more to like about our failed president: I Miss Barack Obama.

Many of the traits of character and leadership that Obama possesses, and that maybe we have taken too much for granted, have suddenly gone missing or are in short supply. The first and most important of these is basic integrity. The Obama administration has been remarkably scandal-free.

I hope you werent drinking anything when you read that. Anyone who has a nodding acquaintance with the news can tick off a list of Obama scandals, from Fast and Furious through the Veterans Administration and the IRS targeting of conservative groups, to Benghazi and the EPA employee who bilked taxpayers by pretending to be a spy, to crashing hard drives at both the EPA and the IRS, from EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, who evaded the law by doing business off the books via an email account in the name of her dog, to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who conducted business off the books through an email server in her basement, the contents of which were in all likelihood monitored by our enemies.

Far from being scandal-free, the Obama administration has been beset with scandals of all kinds. If scandals have failed to seriously dent the administration, it is because, to an unprecedented degree, the Obama administration has scoffed at the law and the judicial process by stonewalling. That this strategy has largely been successful hardly makes it admirable.

Second, a sense of basic humanity.  Hes exuded this basic care and respect for the dignity of others time and time again.

But thenwhy has Obama been the most divisive president in our countrys history? He has abandoned any pretense of being the president of all Americans. Instead, he has consistently demonized Republicans and other political opponents. He has maligned their motives, lied about their actions, and wherever possible blocked them from any participation in the legislative process. He has deliberately fomented race hatred because he saw it as advantageous to his political party.

Third, a soundness in his decision-making process.

Brookss prime example of this soundness is Obamacare. Brooks praises Obamacare because it took coverage away from only a small minority of Americans. How sound can you get?

As for process, Obamacare is a Frankensteins monster that was written behind closed doors by lobbyists and Democratic Party staffers and passed without any Republican input or any Republican votes. No one knew exactly what was in the bill; as Nancy Pelosi famously said, we had to enact it in order to get the bad news. And Obamacare squeaked through the Senate only through the fiction that it was a reconciliation bill. This is Brookss idea of a sound decision-making process?

Fourth, grace under pressure.

I think Brooks misspelled petulance. Weirdly, he goes on to write, Too often hes been disdainful, aloof, resentful and insular. Well, yeah. Especially when hes under pressure. But I guess grace is in the eye of the beholder, like a perfect pants crease.

Brooks, of course, never mentions Obamas lawlessness, in my opinion his most damaging trait, or his incompetent foreign policy (incompetent if you assume he is trying to advance American interests), or $19 trillion in debt, or the chronic dishonesty that has caused even his supporters to stop taking him seriously, or the devotion to cronyism that has contributed to the worst economic recovery of the postwar era.

What will I miss about Barack Obama? Not a single damn thing.
Nigerian banks are frustrating efforts by the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, to get investors in the countrys capital market to embrace the e-dividend policy, a senior official of SEC said Monday.

The electronic registration is expected to help investors receive from the banks unclaimed dividends from their investments in stock and equities in the capital market valued at over N90 billion.

A senior official of SEC, who requested anonymity to discuss the issue, told PREMIUM TIMES at the launch of the second phase of its investors sensitization campaign in Lagos, that some banks were deliberately frustrating the exercise launched last December to ensure that unclaimed dividends were paid to investors.

At the launch of the campaign, investors were given 30 days to migrate to the e-dividend platform free of any charge.

The official revealed that monitoring reports on the exercise showed that some banks were charging their customers as much as between N1, 050 and N2, 000 before stamping and signing the e-dividend registration forms.

This charge is contrary to commissions directive that investors migration to the new e-dividend platform be free throughout the period of the sensitization campaign.

The official said an official report on the development has already been lodged with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) during a meeting of the heads of banking operations, supervisors and registrars of banks last week.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the CBN, SEC, Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), Committee of Heads of Bank Operations and Institute of Capital Market Registrars (ICMR).

The SEC official also confirmed that the CBN had assured that the matter would be tabled before the next Bankers Committee meeting to compel the affected banks to retrace their steps and comply with the free registration directive.

The official, who did not name the banks involved, lamented that their activities were posing serious threat to the capital market regulators effort to ensure that the issue of unclaimed dividends was finally resolved and the monies paid to their rightful owners.

To ensure that the process was cleared of all unscrupulous activities of banks, the official announced the immediate extension of the free registration period by another 30 days.

The period, which was expected to close by March ending, would continue till the end of April 2016.

A spokesperson for SEC, Naif Abdulsalami, declined to comment on the claim.



Unclaimed dividends

A minimum of N90 billion unclaimed dividends is being kept in various bank accounts belonging to quoted companies in the market.

The amount, which ordinarily should have been paid to the investors, had continued to sit in the various banks for various reasons, including claims of wrong investors personal information and postal addresses.

The Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) stipulates that 15 months after the annual general meeting where those dividends were declared, if they are not redeemed by the investor, such unclaimed dividends must revert to the paying companies, the official explained.

Curiously, some of the registrars belonging mostly to the banks have continued to keep the monies beyond the stipulated period and using them to do businesses that yield huge interests.

The commission has said that no fewer than 1,500 complaints have been received from various investors over unclaimed dividends, non-issuance of investment certificates and other infractions.

The introduction of e-dividend platform would guarantee prompt and direct remittance of declared dividends by quoted companies into the accounts of registered investors, while allowing investors to sell off part or all their shares any time they wished without fear of their pay being delayed for weeks and months.

The e-dividend registration sensitization campaign began in January 2016 in Abuja with road-shows and a town hall meeting to educate investors on the benefits of the exercise.

The second phase of the campaign began on Monday in Lagos.
LINCOLN  After six hours of first-round debate, spread out over a week, the Legislature on Wednesday voted 34-6 to advance a bill that would more clearly define which passengers injured in a police chase could collect damages from cities and counties.

Debate was stopped with a cloture motion that passed on a 37-5 vote.

Sen. Dan Watermeier of Syracuse introduced the bill (LB188) because, he said, judges have said the term "innocent third party" needs to be clarified to determine liability of law enforcement agencies for injuries to passengers in fleeing vehicles. It would affect only a small number of cases, Watermeier said.

Nebraska, he said, is the only state that imposes strict liability for police chases, even when the injuries are to a passenger in the car being pursued.

During debate, Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers meticulously detailed how the bill  which he said he believed was cities and counties trying to get out of liability  would place the burden of proof on injured passengers.

The current law was introduced by Chambers and passed in the 1980s.

Sen. Paul Schumacher of Columbus said the issue that caused the filibuster could have been easily resolved before the bill made it to debate. A simple amendment could have been worked out, he said, to say the passenger would not have been an innocent third party if they did something to increase the probability of the police chase, or egged on the driver.

Instead, he said, the Legislature was being played by lobbyists. And senators had to burn up time in debate instead of moving forward with other bills in a short session.

Chambers wanted an amendment that said law enforcement would have to identify any passenger who was being sought by police to superiors prior to giving chase.

Watermeier said he would propose an amendment that would take out segments of the bill that say a passenger was not considered innocent if he or she entered the vehicle knowing the driver was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or if the passenger failed to try to persuade the driver to stop the vehicle.

Senators adopted a Judiciary Committee amendment that said a passenger would not be considered innocent for liability purposes if the person engaged in conduct that could be charged as a felony prior to entering the vehicle or while in it.

Watermeier said he would add the word "immediately" prior to the phrase "entering the vehicle." Then a judge would have to decide how immediately would be interpreted.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, CPJ, has condemned Thursdays attacks on the Istanbul offices of two daily newspapers, Yeni Akit andYeni Safak.

The newspapers are generally supportive of Turkeys ruling Justice and Development Party, AKP.

Unidentified assailants shot and threw firebombs at the offices of Yeni Safak at around 5am, breaking its windows, according to local press reports.

Roughly 30 minutes later, assailants threw firebombs at Yeni Akits parking lot and shot at the building, according to the independent news website, Bianet. No one was hurt at either publication, reports said.

Authorities in Turkey must conduct a swift and effective investigation into the attacks on Yeni Safak and Yeni Akit.

We call on all parties in Turkey to respect the role of the media.

No journalist should operate in fear of reprisal for their work, CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program coordinator, Nina Ognianova, said in a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES.
The Supreme Court has upheld the election of Darius Ishaku as the governor of Taraba State, affirming an earlier decision of the Court of Appeal.

The court dismissed an appeal by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Aisha Alhassan, saying it lacked merit.

The reason for the judgement is to be given on February 22, the Supreme Court said.

I am firmly of the view that there is no merit in this appeal. It is hereby refused, said Justice Bodeh-Rhode Vivore, who read the lead judgement of a seven-member panel. The judgement of the court of Appeal is affirmed and the return of the first respondent as the governor of Taraba is affirmed.

Mrs. Alhassan had approached the highest court through with four applications to challenge the decision of the Appeal Court, which nullified the victory given her by the Taraba State Election Tribunal.

A five-member panel of the Appeal Court in Abuja had on December 31 nullified the ruling of the Taraba State Election Tribunal on November 7, which declared Mrs. Alhassan winner of the April 11 election of the state.

The tribunal ruled that the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Ishaku, was not nominated by his party, and therefore not qualified for the said election.

The counsel to the APC and its candidate, Abiodun Owonikoko, told the Supreme Court on Thursday that the reason for the judgement of the tribunal, was that the important determinant for the sponsorship of a candidate for election, under the Nigerian Constitution, remained the conduct of a primaries by the sponsoring party.

What is decisive of this appeal is the sponsorship as a ground to qualify for contesting in an election, by the constitution, said Mr. Owonikoko.

Citing the previous judgements of the Supreme Court in the case against, Benue States Tarsus and Ortom, which was held on January 15, and another judgement regarding the case of Zamfara States Yari and Shinkafi, Mr. Owonikoko said the applicants in the aforementioned appeals founded their application on an alleged lack of conduct of primaries, by the respondents.

He further said that their argument was that no primaries was conducted at all by the PDP, which would have resulted in the emergence of Mr. Ishaku as its candidate.

But counsel to Mr. Ishaku, Kanu Agabi, said the appeal court had in its ruling stated that the APC and its candidate were bound by their pleas.

He said the appellants had admitted in the third paragraphs of their applications that Mr. Ishaku was a member of the PDP and a candidate of the party in the April 11 elections of the state.

The second respondent is a duly registered party and sponsored by the first respondent, he stated, citing a quote from the appellants brief.

Mr. Agabi further said the appellants repeatedly fielded the first respondent as being sponsored by the PDP.

He further told the court that they had presented 51 witnesses before the tribunal, who were not reviewed.

Also in his address, counsel to the PDP, Solo Ahmed, said the party had never denied sponsoring Mr. Ishaku.

He said the appellants had submitted that there was no primary election, but went ahead to state that it (the primaries) was conducted in Abuja.

He further told the court that the previous judgements cited by Mr. Owonikoko had indicated that issues relating to the conduct of primaries in an election were pre-election matters that could only be contested by members of the party in question, or by INEC.

The counsel to INEC, Joseph Daudu, reiterated the point made by Mr. Ahmed, regarding the position of the APC on the conduct of primaries by the PDP.

According to Mr. Daudu, the APCs claim that there was no primary election was premised on the contention that the primaries was conducted in Abuja.

He therefore prayed the court to dismiss the appeal.
The European Union on Thursday pledged $50million as support for the fight against Boko Haram insurgency and resettlement of the Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, in the country.

German President Joachim Gauck announced the pledge on Thursday at a joint press conference when he visited the President Muhammadu Buhari at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja on a state visit.

Mr. Gauck stated that the EU was supporting an already initiated approach by the Buhari administration to fight the Boko Haram scourge in collaboration with the neighbouring countries and the African Union.

He added that what Germany wanted to see was a peaceful change, which was being propagated by the president.

We as Europe will support that initiative with $50 million. We commend your good governance.

Good governance is not possible without peace, Germany will support Nigeria in the fight against Boko Haram and we would continue to provide support for the displaced people on a humanitarian basis, Mr. Gauck said.

Responding to questions on the repatriation of funds stashed in European Banks, Mr. Gauck advised Nigeria to adopt a model used by Germany when they were in a similar position.

He said they had used illegal means to get the information needed to track the funds.

The president commended the freedom of speech and freedom of the press in Nigeria, adding that Nigeria is a country full of determination to make a change and Mr President you are determined to make the change.
A prosecution witness, Mustapha Gadanya, on Thursday told Justice Hussein Yusuf of the Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja, how seven accused persons conspired with banks to launder police pension funds.

The accused persons, Esai Dangabar, Atiku Kigo, Ahmed Wada, Veronica Onyegbula, Sani Zira, Uzoma Attang and Christian Madubuke, are standing trial for complicity in the over N24 billion scam in the police pension office.

Mr. Gadanya, whose evidence started on Wednesday, told the court while being led in evidence Thursday by the counsel to Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Rotimi Jacobs, that the first accused, Esai Dangabas bank statement was obtained and analysed.

According to him, the analysis revealed that the bank statement did not reflect the investments as seen in the pay deposits advices recovered from the accused persons office.

The bank was helping accused to launder money. Funds were kept in the banks suspense account and later fixed, never entering his company account, Mr. Gadanya told the court.

The witness further stated that a lot of funds discovered in the first accused account (close to a billion naira) had been withheld by the federal government.

Investigations revealed that several hundreds of millions fixed as investment deposits made by the first accused person through his companies AMT Global Concept and Damule Nigeria Limited were made when he was a director in the Police Pension Office, he said.

Documents in support of the claim were tendered in evidence and admitted by the court as exhibits.

Giving further details of the complicity of Mr. Dangabar in the matter, Mr. Gadanya said the accused was also discovered to be the managing director and the sole signatory of Damule Nigeria Limited, the company where he had his wife and two sons listed as directors.

The witness also named two properties located at Utako and Jabi which Dangabar bought worth hundreds of millions naira, one from a senator, in the name of his company Damule Nigeria Limited which he said had been forfeited temporarily to the federal government.

Justice Baba adjourned to March 17 and 18, 2016 for continuation of trial.
The Western Marine Command of the Nigeria Customs Service on Thursday said it intercepted cannabis worth N150 million and arrested a suspect.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the illicit drug was handed over to the Lagos commander of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Sule Aliyu.

Handing over the items and the suspect, the controller of Western Marine Command, Umar Yusuf, said the seizure was made on February 9 in Badagry.

He said a 25-year-old suspect, Bala Mamudu, of Awuse village, Ojo, Lagos, was arrested.

According to him, the team was liaising with other security agencies to check smugglers.

He said the command had repaired 14 of its patrol boats.

Mr. Yusuf appealed to the customs authorities for more training of officers and men of the command.

He assured that his team would never relent in the drive to ward off smugglers.

The controller said the seizure surpassed every seizure ever made by the command.

(NAN)
President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday resumed work at the State House in Abuja after a six-day vacation, a statement by his office said Thursday.

In compliance with Section 145 (1) of the Nigerian Constitution, the president has sent a formal notice of his resumption to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, his spokesperson, Femi Adesina, said in the statement.

Mr. Buharis return to work has marked the end of Vice President Yemi Osinbajos first tenure as acting president.

It is the first time since May 29, 2015, when the current administration came to power, that President Buhari would step aside for his deputy to take charge of the country.

The president had on February 5 broke from his official functions leaving Mr. Osinbajo to perform those roles till February 10.

Mr. Buhari spent most of his short vacation in London seeing his doctors of many years, an arrangement that irked not a few Nigerians who believe the President was not demonstrating confidence in local health institutions and professionals by continuing to use foreign-based doctors.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday said Boko Haram insurgents were no longer holding any local government area in the country, saying his administration had recaptured 14 local government areas previously controlled by the insurgents.

There had been conflicting reports that the insurgents were still controlling some local government areas in Borno State, with a senator representing Borno Central, Baba Garbai, saying the insurgents control about 50 percent of the state.

A day after Mr. Garbais claim, Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima, dismissed the claims, saying the insurgents were not in control of any local government in the state.

But in response to a remark by German President Joachim Gauck, at the Presidential Villa on Thursday, Mr. Buhari said as part of the successes recorded in the fight against Boko Haram by his administration, Nigerian troops had recaptured all the local government areas previously held by Boko Haram.

It is a pity Boko haram welcomed you by explosions in Maiduguri that took so many lives, but I have attempted to explain in so many fora that Boko haram is not what it used to be.

While they were firmly holding 14 out of 774 local governments when we came in, they are not holding any local government now.

What they have resorted to is using improvised explosive devices to cause maximum casualties on soft targets as they did yesterday, he said.

He added that they can no longer attack military and police formations.

According to him, the government had redoubled efforts to ensure that the people in internally displaced camps were rehabilitated.

More than 60% of the two million people in IDPs are women and children and more than 60% of them are children, and more than 60% of the children are orphaned.

Some of them dont know where they are from, they dont know their parents. This is a pathetic situation the leadership of this government is facing because the least we should is to quickly resettle those children, if possible, try and identify their neighbourhoods, he said.

Mr. Buhari lamented that monies allocated for the purchase of military hardware were shared and pocketed by officials.

He said as part of economic plans for the country, the government was already working at diversifying Nigerias mono-economy, through agriculture and the exploration of the solid mineral sectors.

He thanked the German government for the help extended to ensure that the 2015 election was a success as well as their humanitarian contributions to Nigeria.

He urged Germany to support Nigeria in its bid to get a seat at the United Nations, stating that the country was qualified considering its number and position in the African region.

Speaking earlier, Mr. Gauck announced a pledge by the European Union to donate $50million to support Nigeria in the fight against Boko Haram insurgency and resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons in the country.

Mr. Gauck stated that the EU was supporting the Buhari administrations efforts to fight the Boko Haram scourge in collaboration with the neighbouring countries and the African Union.

He added that what Germany wanted to see was a peaceful change, which was being propagated by the president.

We as Europe will support that initiative with $50 million.

We commend your good governance. Good governance is not possible without peace.

Germany will support Nigeria in the fight against Boko Haram and we would continue to provide support for the displaced people on a humanitarian basis, Mr. Gauck said.
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), John Odigie-Oyegun, on Thursday met with APC leaders in Akwa Ibom State over the recent Supreme Court judgement on the disputed governorship election in the state.

The meeting, which held at the APC National Secretariat in Abuja, was also attended by the partys National Secretary, Mala Buni.

The Akwa Ibom APC delegation comprised the partys governorship candidate, Umana Umana; state APC chairman, Amadu Attai, Member APC Board of Trustees, Don Etiebet, and other APC leaders from the state.

Mr. Odigie-Oyegun told the Akwa Ibom delegation that the party was waiting for the Supreme Court to give reasons for the decisions in Akwa Ibom and other states.

The APC chairman disclosed that the partys leadership would meet at a yet-to-be announced date to deliberate and decide on the way forward.

What is paramount is how to move forward on the situation that confronts us. We should reach conclusions that will guide us as a party in the months ahead, Mr. Odigie-Oyegun said.

Speaking at the meeting, the partys governorship candidate in Akwa Ibom state, Mr. Umana, decried the Supreme Court judgement despite overwhelming evidence presented before the Apex Court confirming election fraud and violence perpetrated by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

According to Mr. Umana, local and international election monitors including the United States Embassy and the European Union (EU) and the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), reached independent conclusions that the Akwa Ibom elections were marred by widespread irregularities and violence.

Mr. Umana quoted the Court of Appeal as saying: May this country never again experience the violence and thuggery found to have taken place in Akwa Ibom State during the Governorship elections held on 11th April 2015.

Mr. Umana said at the meeting: Indeed we are not happy in Akwa Ibom state with the situation. Our people were not allowed to vote. It was not just a case of card readers, even the voters register proved clear cases of over voting. The EU, TMG and other international observer groups issued statements condemning the elections

Against this background, we thought if we approach the court, we will get justice. We submitted over 350 exhibits including video proving election violence and malpractices.

It was a case of double jeopardy. During the election our people were killed. We went to court and we could not get justice.
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on Thursday said the Judiciary has shown that it remains the major hope for the survival of democracy in Nigeria.

The opposition party has recently received favourable judgements from Nigerias Supreme Court in various appeals challenging the election of its governors.

The Supreme Court has in the last two weeks upheld the elections of Governors Nyesom Wike of Rivers, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia, Emmanuel Udom of Akwa Ibom and Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State.

The court also on Thursday upheld the election of Darius Ishaku by affirming the judgement of the court of appeal which had earlier also dismissed the decision of the state governorship election tribunal.

Without such landmark judgments from the Supreme Court, perhaps there would have been no Nigeria and we salute them for their courage in delivering justice to the people.

We therefore warn APC and the federal Government to stop insulting judiciary as there is nowhere in the world that a ruling party go about hauling abuses on the Judiciary, PDP said in a statement by its acting chairman, Uche Secondus, on Thursday

Mr. Secondus said with the outcome of Thursdays ruling, all hope is not yet lost for democracy.

According to the PDP chairman, the Supreme Court ruling not only established the judiciary as a functional arm in stabilizing the nations polity, but as the voice of the voiceless.

The ruling is a vivid reflection of the will of the people of Taraba State and goes a long way to show the strength of our party in the state, he said.

While congratulating Mr. Ishaku for his victory, the PDP chair charged him to remain resolute in delivering dividends of democracy to the people in line with the manifesto of the party.

He also congratulated the people of Taraba state for their resilience in standing up for democracy.

Mr. Secondus charged them to remain steadfast in their support for PDP as the All Progressives Congress APC has nothing to offer Nigerians.
The governor of Bauchi State, Muhammed Abubakar, has warned corrupt judges in the state to either quit or face sanctions.

The governor also directed the State Attorney General and commissioner of Justice, Ibrahim Umar, to work out modalities for sanitizing the rot in the judiciary.

A statement by the governors spokesperson, Abubakar Sidique, on Wednesday said the governor would restructure the judiciary in order to fast-track the dispensation and improve the administration of justice in the state.

Mr. Abubakar said his administration would not tolerate corruption, and was ready to make an example of anybody found to be corrupt.

The governor also lamented high salary bill of the judicial arm owing to over bloated staff.

The governor directed the commissioner of Justice to identify the immediate problems in the Judiciary.

He also said the governor had great respect for the rule of law and was determined to obey all court orders regardless of whether they are favourable.
LINCOLN  Nebraska judges whose hands are tied by mandatory minimum sentences could have a way to overcome the restriction under a bill presented Wednesday to a legislative committee.

Sen. Paul Schumacher of Columbus said his bill would create an "escape valve" in cases where a judge views a mandatory minimum as inappropriate.

Schumacher, a former Platte County attorney, said he introduced the measure after talking with judges who were frustrated with the state's mandatory minimums. Judges should have freedom to consider factors such as a defendant's age, mental health status and plea bargains that other defendants received, he said.

"There are cases where the glove just doesn't fit," Schumacher told the Judiciary Committee. "And yet, because of the Legislature's actions, they have to impose a sentence which is unjust."

The measure would allow the sentencing judge seek a review of the case along with two other district court judges, chosen at random by the Nebraska Supreme Court's chief justice. Together, the judges would determine whether a mandatory minimum sentence is appropriate. If two or more of the judges agree that it isn't, the mandatory minimum restrictions would no longer apply.

It also would create similar procedures for judges who believe a defendant should be classified as a "habitual criminal," Nebraska's version of a three-strikes law. If prosecutors choose not to seek the designation, the sentencing judge could convene a similar three-judge panel to do so, opening the door to stiffer penalties.

Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, a critic of mandatory minimums, said the bill was "very reasonable" and would give judges more discretion. Chambers said prosecutors use the threat of lengthy prison sentences as leverage to force plea deals.

"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely  and that's how I feel about prosecutors," Chambers said.

Spike Eickholt, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska, said current law requires mandatory minimums even for some first-time offenses, including drug crimes.

Prosecutors argued the bill could create different sentencing outcomes for the same crime in different parts of the state. The current mandatory minimum system "promotes uniformity and ensures fairness," said Jim Masteller, a deputy Douglas County attorney.

Assistant Nebraska Attorney General Corey O'Brien said the bill sets no clear legal standard for what a judge should consider "inappropriate."

O'Brien said the proposal could increase the number of "habitual criminal" designations because judges might feel pressure to appear tough on crime.

Opponents of mandatory minimums attempted last year to repeal some of the sentencing requirements, but abandoned the effort after realizing they didn't have enough votes in the Legislature to override a gubernatorial veto. Gov. Pete Ricketts argued at the time that the bill would compromise public safety.
The All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State has petitioned the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, demanding a review of the June 21, 2014 governorship election that produced Ayo Fayose as governor.

The petition followed recent revelations by a former state secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ekiti State, Temitope Aluko, that the election was manipulated by the then ruling party.

APC had previously written two petitions, dated February 13, 2015 and November 23, 2015, on the same subject matter.

Mr. Fayose, however, described the call as another APC comedy and a futile attempt to revisit a matter that had been decided by the Supreme Court.

The APC, in the petition, requested for the prosecution of persons involved in conspiring and perpetrating acts of electoral fraud and malfeasance in the governorship election of June 21, 2014 in a manner other than that envisaged by the relevant provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended.

In the petition, signed by the state chairman of APC, Olajide Awe, the APC said the review of the matter had become imperative in view of the way Mr. Fayose came to power.

We are compelled to write this reminder to draw your attention to the urgent need to address the matter to ensure justice in what has turned a blight on the nations practice of democracy through treasonable actions that denied the votes of Ekiti people.

The Ekitigate scandal is an unprecedented electoral crime of treason that must be addressed in an unprecedented manner, the petition said.

The petitioners argued that there were violations of the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

APC also alleged that militarisation before, during and after the election created fears and heightened the level of insecurity in the state.

In the spirit of the change agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari and in view of the new anti-corruption crusade that frowns at allowing criminals to enjoy the fruits of their crimes, the matter must be addressed in a manner that would not allow criminals to go away with their crimes.

We view Ekitigate as an extraordinary shame of a nation, which is unprecedented in the annals of our electoral history.

We unequivocally believe that this should elicit extra-ordinary remedy so that the course of justice, fair-play and pre-eminence of the Nigerian constitution are not permanently perverted and to act as deterrent to a repeat of such, said the petition.

But Mr. Fayoses spokesman, Idowu Adelusi, said it was a futile exercise as the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice had no such power to review the election.

He said Mr. Awes demand for a review suggested that he had no knowledge of the law.

The issue concerning June 21, 2014 governorship election is a concluded matter which can never be revisited.

The issue raised by Awe is an election matter conducted under stipulated time under the law because it is time bound.

All parties have exhausted their rights at the tribunal, appeal court and Supreme Court under the law.

It is only an unserious minds like Awe that will rely on what Temitope Aluko has been saying, Mr. Adelusi added.




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.
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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...
For the New World Order, a world government is just the beginning. Once in place they can engage their plan to exterminate 80% of the world's population, while enabling the "elites" to live forever with the aid of advanced technology. For the first time, crusading filmmaker ALEX JONES reveals their secret plan for humanity's extermination: Operation ENDGAME.

Jones chronicles the history of the global elite's bloody rise to power and reveals how they have funded dictators and financed the bloodiest warscreating order out of chaos to pave the way for the first true world empire.

Watch as Jones and his team track the elusive Bilderberg Group to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III.





to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. Learn about the formation of the North America transportation control grid, which will end U.S. sovereignty forever.





Discover how the practitioners of the pseudo-science eugenics have taken control of governments worldwide as a means to carry out depopulation.





View the progress of the coming collapse of the United States and the formation of the North American Union.

Never before has a documentary assembled all the pieces of the globalists' dark agenda. Endgame's compelling look at past atrocities committed by those attempting to steer the future delivers information that the controlling media has meticulously censored for over 60 years. It fully reveals the elite's program to dominate the earth and carry out the wicked plan in all of human history.

Endgame is not conspiracy theory, it is documented fact in the elite's own words.




Thursday, February 11, 2016





A few updates and a couple of pictures: We were trying for a post every couple of days, but sometimes life gets in the way of those intentions.A few updates and a couple of pictures:





This landon the side of a mountainincludes The Luyenga Farm Project on 35 hectares (86 acres; 1/8 of a square mile) rented to United Societies  Ireland, the Usuthu Mission Church (and a new building under construction for their worship), two schools, and a handful of small homesteads. The Diocese is applying for a grant to provide for the planting of trees on areas of the land not suitable for farming or other development (and also water-harvesting at a number of parishes). There is also some of the property that is not very suitable for farming but is somewhat more horizontal than the rest of the mountainside. Eventually they would like to build some flats (apartments) on that section to provide more rental income. Both of these efforts would help the diocese move in the direction of more sustainability. Mary Jane and I got a tour of some of those areas along with (L to R) Archdeacon Bheki Magongo, Dean Advent Dlamini, Archdeacon Gregory Makhubu, Revd. Peter Zungu, priest at Usuthu Parish, a warden of the parish, Bishop Ellinah, Rev. Mary Jane, and the other Usuthu warden. We got a later than expected start to the morning so the women of the parish had lunch ready for us before we left. Tuesday we visited the Luyenga Farm, land that was given to the Diocese by the King many years ago.This landon the side of a mountainincludeson 35 hectares (86 acres; 1/8 of a square mile) rented to United Societies  Ireland, the Usuthu Mission Church (and a new building under construction for their worship), two schools, and a handful of small homesteads.The Diocese is applying for a grant to provide for the planting of trees on areas of the land not suitable for farming or other development (and also water-harvesting at a number of parishes).There is also some of the property that is not very suitable for farming but is somewhat more horizontal than the rest of the mountainside.Eventually they would like to build some flats (apartments) on that section to provide more rental income.Both of these efforts would help the diocese move in the direction of more sustainability.Mary Jane and I got a tour of some of those areas along with (L to R) Archdeacon Bheki Magongo, Dean Advent Dlamini, Archdeacon Gregory Makhubu, Revd. Peter Zungu, priest at Usuthu Parish, a warden of the parish, Bishop Ellinah, Rev. Mary Jane, and the other Usuthu warden.We got a later than expected start to the morning so the women of the parish had lunch ready for us before we left.













He chairs the Education Committee for the Diocese. And we have met some each day except Tuesday with Ms. Thandi Zulu, the newly hired Director of the Department of Social Development for the Diocese. She began her job on the day we flew out of Iowa so we are working on goals, plans of action, assessment planning, etc. Next week we will go along a couple of days as food is distributed to Neighborhood Care Points (NCPs) and Thandi visits some of them for the first time. We will also visit a couple schools. On Wednesday I met with Archdeacon Bheki to schedule some visits to Anglican schools.He chairs the Education Committee for the Diocese.And we have met some each day except Tuesday with Ms. Thandi Zulu, the newly hired Director of the Department of Social Development for the Diocese.She began her job on the day we flew out of Iowa so we are working on goals, plans of action, assessment planning, etc.Next week we will go along a couple of days as food is distributed to Neighborhood Care Points (NCPs) and Thandi visits some of them for the first time.We will also visit a couple schools.





Mary Jane and Thandi (fourth from left) joined them for this photo-op this morning. I believe it is the third woman from the right who told us that she and her husband were the first Swazi lay people to visit Iowa  with Helen Wilson. Any of you Davenport area folks recognize her? She had lost touch with Helen and was clearly saddened when I told her that Helen had passed away a few years ago. Thursday morning a group of women from the Cathedral meet in the Bishops living room to pray with and in support of their Bishop.Mary Jane and Thandi (fourth from left) joined them for this photo-op this morning.I believe it is the third woman from the right who told us that she and her husband were the first Swazi lay people to visit Iowa  with Helen Wilson.Any of you Davenport area folks recognize her?She had lost touch with Helen and was clearly saddened when I told her that Helen had passed away a few years ago.













MJs last chance to observe before being the celebrant (and preacher) on Sunday. Morning comes early6:30 Eucharist tomorrow.MJs last chance to observe before being the celebrant (and preacher) on Sunday.





Such a relief to be able to run water from the tap! Water came back on before supper tonighta few hours later than we had anticipated.Such a relief to be able to run water from the tap!
WASHINGTON, February 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Early-career researchers from Indonesia, Nepal, Peru, Uganda and Yemen honored for their life-enhancing work in health and nutrition

Five researchers have been named winners of the 2016 Elsevier Foundation Awards for Early Career Women Scientists in the Developing World, in recognition of research that has strong potential health and economic benefits. The winning scholars from Indonesia, Nepal, Peru, Uganda and Yemen are being honored for their accomplishments in nutrition, psychiatry, biotechnology, women's health, bioenvironmental sciences and epidemiology. They are also celebrated for mentoring young women scientists who are pursuing careers in agriculture, biology and medicine in their respective countries.

The Elsevier Foundation awards are given in partnership with the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) and The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) for the advancement of science in developing countries. The five winners will receive their awards on February 13th during a ceremony at the Gender & Minorities Networking Breakfast at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting in Washington D.C.

The 2016 winners are:

Dr. Etheldreda NakimuliMpungu, Makerere University Kampala, Uganda (Sub-Saharan Africa Region)

Psychiatric epidemiology: For her work using psychotherapy as treatment of depression and alcoholism in Ugandans with HIV. Depression is a serious problem for HIV patients throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, making it more likely that those patients will stop taking their HIV-antiretroviral medications. Dr. NakimuliMpungu is working with service providers to integrate depression screening with HIV-treatment, as well as to include local communities in discussions of depression to help destigmatize the illness.

"A country needs human capital; individuals who are productive members of society," said Dr. Nakimuli-Mpungu. "This innovative model helps people coping with HIV/AIDS to regain their dignity, self-esteem and desire to fully participate and contribute to their communities."

Dr. Sri Fatmawati , Kampus ITS Sukolilo, Indonesia (East and South-East Asia & the Pacific Region)

Bioenvironmental sciences: For her work analyzing the medical and pharmaceutical potential of plant and fungi extracts normally used in herbal medicine. Dr. Fatmawati has also received the prestigious Pemenang Fellowship International L'Oreal-UNESCO for Women in Science for research analyzing substances from sponges that may lead to treatments for malaria, cancer and Alzheimer's disease.

"I don't know what the future brings, but I know science is part of my soul," said Dr. Fatmawati. "I hope more young generations will share their life with science for a better world."

Dr. Sushila Maharjan , Research Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology RIBB, Nepal (Central & South Asia Region)

Biochemistry and biotechnology: For her work using soil microbes to develop medically useful chemicals. Microbes create a great number of the materials used in medicine, including antibiotics. Dr. Maharjan is currently researching bacterial strains from the high-altitude regions of Nepal to identify substances useful for development of new antibiotics, as well as other medically useful compounds.

"The most rewarding part of my research is to find novel drugs and antibiotics from Streptomyces bacteria of Nepal that have great potential to combat the emerging drug and antibiotic resistant diseases worldwide," said Dr. Maharjan.

Dr. Magaly Blas, Urb Ingenieria, Peru ( Latin America and the Caribbean Region)

Epidemiology: For her work using information and communication technology to solve health problems, particularly sexually transmitted diseases in urban and rural Peru. Dr. Blas also leads the Mama River Programme, training community members to use smartphones to collect basic information from pregnant women and forward this information to a medical ship to schedule visits.

"Female leadership in Latin America is growing," said Dr. Blas. "I feel proud to be part of this new generation of women scientists who are trying to make a difference in their country and in the world."

Dr. Ghanya AlNaqeb, Faculty of Agriculture, Sana'a University, Yemen (Arab Region)

Nutritional Sciences: For her research using chemicals isolated from Yemeni herbal plants for disease prevention. For example, a major focus of her work has been black cumin seeds, which are commonly used as a spice in Yemen, other Middle Eastern countries and India. Her research on these seeds has focused on their effects in protecting the heart from cardiovascular diseases.

"Despite all the difficulties we face in our country, Yemeni women have always worked hard to raise the name of Yemen," Al-Naqeb said. "I am very pleased to represent my country with my scientific research."

The 2016 Elsevier Foundation awards competition focused on biological sciences (agriculture, biology and medicine) and a panel of eminent scientists selected each winner based on her achievements. The prize includes USD $5,000 and all-expenses-paid attendance at the 2016 AAAS Annual Meeting.

This important recognition helps invigorate the winners' careers by providing them with new visibility and extended professional networks, allowing them to engage with colleagues and the public while their careers are still at an early stage. The winners also serve as a source of inspiration for other women in countries where more scientific expertise is a critical need.

"The determination, commitment and enthusiasm of these five women is an inspiration to us all but especially to other women undertaking scientific research in developing countries. This award celebrates their excellent science and demonstrates that their hard work has had an impact both regionally and internationally, despite the difficult local conditions" said Fang Xin, president of OWSD.

"These are exemplary researchers, and their work has enormous potential to improve people's health and support stronger communities," said TWAS Executive Director Romain Murenzi. "Their work will be widely appreciated for the benefits it can bring to developing countries. Just as important, they will serve as models and as inspiration for young scientists - women and men - of a new generation."

David Ruth, executive director of the Elsevier Foundation, said, "Over the past 5 years, we've evolved these awards together with OWSD and TWAS and each year we learn more about the incredible challenges faced by women researchers doing science in low-resource settings. We hope that our awards help shine a light on these emerging women leaders and the important work they are doing in their fields-and what better place to do this than at the AAAS conference where the latest science, issues and leaders come together each year."

The Elsevier Foundation Award winners will be giving a talk about their work at the Global Women's Institute, George Washington University, February 11th in a session moderated by Dr. Rachelle S. Heller, Professor in the Department of Computer Science.

You can read more about this story on Elsevier Connect.

Notes to editors

Reporters wishing to attend the Award ceremony on February 13 at the AAAS Annual Meeting can contact: y.schemm@elsevier.com.

About TWAS

The World Academy of Sciences for the advancement of science in developing countries (TWAS) works to advance sustainable prosperity through research, education, policy and diplomacy. TWAS was founded in 1983 by a distinguished group of scientists from the developing world, under the leadership of Abdus Salam, the Pakistani physicist and Nobel Prize winner. Today, TWAS has nearly 1,200 elected Fellows from more than 90 countries; 16 of them are Nobel laureates. The Academy is based in Trieste, Italy, on the campus of the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP). Since 1983, its mission has focused on supporting and promoting excellence in scientific research in the developing world and applying scientific and engineering research to address global challenges. TWAS receives core funding from the Government of Italy. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) administers TWAS funds and personnel.



About OWSD

The Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) provides research training, career development and networking opportunities for women scientists throughout the developing world. Headed by eminent women scientists from the South, OWSD has more than 4,500 members and runs various programmes, including a PhD fellowship programme with over 200 successful graduates from Least Developed Countries and sub-Saharan Africa. OWSD is the first international forum to unite eminent women scientists from the developing and developed worlds with the objective of strengthening their role in the development process and promoting their representation in scientific and technological leadership. OWSD is affiliated with TWAS and based in Trieste, Italy, with national chapters throughout the developing world. http://www.owsd.net

About The Elsevier Foundation

The Elsevier Foundation is a corporate not-for-profit 501(c)(3), funded by Elsevier, a global provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The Elsevier Foundation provides grants to knowledge centered institutions around the world, with a focus on diversity in STEMM, health information delivery, research in developing countries, nurse leadership and sustainability. Since its inception, the Foundation has awarded more than 100 grants worth over $5 million to non-profit organizations working in these fields. Through gift-matching, the Foundation also supports the efforts of Elsevier employees to play a positive role in their local and global communities. http://www.elsevierfoundation.org

About Elsevier

Elsevier is a world-leading provider of information solutions that enhance the performance of science, health, and technology professionals, empowering them to make better decisions, deliver better care, and sometimes make groundbreaking discoveries that advance the boundaries of knowledge and human progress. Elsevier provides web-based, digital solutions - among them ScienceDirect, Scopus, Elsevier Research Intelligence and ClinicalKey - and publishes over 2,500 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and more than 33,000 book titles, including a number of iconic reference works. Elsevier is part of RELX Group plc, a world-leading provider of information solutions for professional customers across industries.

http://www.elsevier.com



Media contacts

Tonya Blowers

Program Coordinator

OWSD

+39-040-2240-682

tblowers@owsd.net

Marie Gentile

Widmeyer Communications

marie.gentile@finnpartners.com

+1917-679-6299

Ylann Schemm

Program Director

Elsevier Foundation

y.schemm@elsevier.com

Edward Lempinen

Public Information Officer

TWAS

+39-040-2240-512

elempinen@twas.org

SOURCE Elsevier
PUNE, India, February 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The report "Metalworking Fluids Market by Product Type (Removal, Forming, Protection, and Treating Fluids), by End-Use Application (Transport Equipment, Machinery, Metal Fabrication, Primary Ferrous, and Non-Ferrous,), by Region - Global Forecast to 2020", published by MarketsandMarkets, The market size, in terms of value, is expected to reach USD 9.74 Billion by 2020, at a CAGR of 3.2% between 2015 and 2020.

Browse 116 market data Tables and 47 Figures spread through 148 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Metalworking Fluids Market"

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/metal-working-fluid-market-116835111.html

Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.

Removal Fluids to dominate metalworking fluids market

The metalworking fluids is segmented into four different product types, namely, removal fluids, forming fluids, protection fluids, and quenching fluids. The removal fluids are used to remove the metal chips produced during the drilling and milling of metal pieces. The forming fluids are used as rolling oils, forging fluids, and hydroforming fluids and are used in metal fabrication and machinery industries. Removal fluids are dominating the market share and the dominance will continue due to the high use of coolants, cutting fluids, and grinding fluids during the various machine processes in manufacturing.

Transport equipment dominates the metalworking fluids market across the globe

The metalworking fluids market has been segmented based on end-use industry into transport equipment, primary ferrous, primary non-ferrous, machinery and metal fabrication industry. The main industries linked with transport equipment are automotive and fabricated metal industries which are involved in the manufacturing of boilers, radiators, engines, and other equipment, hence driving the overall metalworking fluids market.

Increasing demand from manufacturing industry in Asia-Pacific:

The Metalworking Fluids Market has been segmented based on five regions, namely, North America, Asia-Pacific, Europe, South America, and Middle East & Africa. There has been an increase in manufacturing activities of various products such as automotive, packaging, construction materials, among others, in Asia-Pacific. The rapid urbanization, increase in demand from rising population and higher disposable income is boosting the manufacturing industry in Asia-Pacific.

Currently, the metalworking fluids market is dominated by various market players such as ExxonMobil Corporation (U.S.), Houghton International (U.S.), Fuchs Petrolub SE (Germany), BP Plc. (U.K.), Total S.A. (France), Chevron Corporation (U.S.), Lubrizol Corporation (U.S.), and Idemitsu Kosan Co. Ltd. (Japan).

For More Info Make Inquiry @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=116835111

The research study is aimed at identifying emerging trends and opportunities in the metalworking fluids market along with a detailed classification of the market, in terms of value, and volume. It provides a comprehensive competitive landscape and identifies the key players with regard to market size and market share. The research study also includes a detailed segmentation of the metalworking fluids market on the basis of application, type, and region.

Apart from the market segmentation, this report also adopts the Porter's Five Forces Analysis to provide an in-depth analysis of the market by providing a detailed process flow diagram and market dynamics such as drivers, restraints, challenges and opportunities in the metalworking fluids market.

Browse Related Reports:

Lubricants Market by Type (Mineral Oil Lubricants, Synthetic Lubricants, Bio-based Lubricants, and Greases), by Application (Transportation, and Industrial Machinery & Equipment) http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/lubricants-market-182046896.html

Lubricant Additives Market by Function Type (Dispersants, VII, Detergents, Antiwear, Antioxidants, Corrosion inhibitors, Emulsifiers & Others) and Application (Automotive & Industrial Lubricants) http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/lubricant-additives-market-172993846.html

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.

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SOURCE MarketsandMarkets
NEW YORK, Feb. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Misahara, the New York handmade fine jewelry house, has announced today that the owners of the company have chosen Janice Winter as the organization's next Chief Executive Officer. Mrs. Winter, who served as President for fourteen years at Judith Ripka Companies, was "immediately engaged by the unique design and beautiful craftsmanship" of Misahara's jewelry.

"After a thorough research process, I am delighted to have Janice as our new CEO," says Misahara designer, Lepa Galeb-Roskopp. "Janice has a track record of strong leadership and success in the luxury industry. This combined with her experience at Estee Lauder and several other luxury brands makes her uniquely qualified to lead Misahara successfully into the future."

Established in the US with a boutique at the Plaza Hotel and a retail presence at Material Good in New York, Misahara has recently entered Neiman Marcus in select locations (Palo Alto, Beverly Hills) and will soon be available in key locations in both the West and East Coasts. Creating a brand that will be approachable and luxurious as it interacts on a variety of media platforms; perfecting the retail environment with sales professionals who can communicate the brand message and become a resource to their clientele are some of the goals Winter will be looking to accomplish.

"In the ever shifting global luxury market, luxury houses must first understand and evaluate where growth in luxury will come from and which luxury consumers will drive that growth. Emerging designers in particular must differentiate themselves and hone in on what is now driving the luxury consumer mindset," says Winter.

In 2007 Mrs. Winter founded Luxury Brand Consulting, Inc., a company that specializes in brand building, marketing, business development, retail operations, sales/distribution, and financial management. She is aligned with best in class retail organizations, luxury companies in fine jewelry, beauty, wellness/spa, fashion and accessories. Her key strengths are in growing businesses while maintaining brand integrity and relevance.

In 2013 Janice launched her new company, Janice Winter Inc.; a global business solutions company focused in luxury and specializing in scaling businesses through all growth phases. As a business operator and idea generator, Mrs. Winter connects her knowledge and understanding of the consumer mindset to product, brand strategies and ultimately to what drives purchasing. She is driven by her passion for excellence and consistently delivers sustainable business models for growth and profitability.

Misahara is a fine jewelry house influenced by the beauty of nature's pristine elements ranging from the Adriatic Sea to the Sahara Desert. The Misahara Collection is designed for empowered well-traveled women who much like its founder, Lepa Galeb-Roskopp, have an affinity for philanthropy. As a designer, she envisages art through the inspiration of world travels and transfers it into material form. With homes in New York, California, South Africa and Montenegro, Lepa's creations are reminiscent of each and every experience she endures. Misahara evokes a feeling of exquisite luxury, channeling a modern and suave flare marked by unique handcraftsmanship and the finest quality gemstones.

For media inquiries

Pierre-Antoine Oury

[email protected]

T/ +337 83 52 94 81

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com

SOURCE Misahara

Related Links

http://www.misahara.com


"The lack of transparency in bank-based payments makes both banks and their customers consider alternative solutions," said Menny Shalom, CEO of Wayerz. "With our Global Payments Network, banks and clients will finally gain transparency into their international wire payments by being able to access and monitor their transactions in real-time through a central and secure platform. We're providing banks with a practical enhancement to simplify their clients' payment processes while meeting the strict banking guidelines of regulation, security and confidentially."

International bank wiring has traditionally been an unpredictable and expensive process, oftentimes involving multiple financial institutions. In many cases, even the original bank transferring a payment does not know the route of the transfer in advance, so it cannot provide an accurate time and cost estimate. One bank transfers money to another, which transfers to another, and so on. Each bank keeps track of its own ledger, and when a payment clears from one bank, the next financial institution can add it to its ledger and continue the process, with each step extending the route and adding more fees. If any problems occur along the way, banks must chase a never-ending trail of different currencies, regulations and fees to locate and solve the issue. Until now, there was no way to know how long an international wire transfer would take to clear and how much it would eventually cost the original bank.

Although having a substantial role in international commerce and global activity, international payments have notoriously lagged behind other organizations in the booming FinTech industry. Several platforms now offer immediate and transparent international fund settlements for people and corporations. These platforms are a market risk to banks and a reason why banks need to embrace these new technologies as to not lose customers. Wayerz's solutions help banks remain the leader in processing international payments by lowering fees, shortening processing times and providing clients with tools to better manage, forecast and monitor their payments.

The GPN global central payment ledger is for all banks and their enterprise clients. Instead of chasing after one another like they currently have to do, GPN allows participants to access and monitor one global source of reliable real-time information, easing the interactions between financial institutions and their clients. The platform, while completely secure, allows every bank and client to access data specifically relevant to them.

Launched in 2014, Wayerz provides banks with a suite of tools to optimize their correspondent banking relationships and activities. Its platform boosts banks' productivity in processing bank-to-bank onboarding, including automating KYC and AML procedures and digitizing incoming and outgoing FI billing for different bank-to-bank services like cash and payments, securities and custodian, and forex and trade finance. Its wire optimization module allows real-time access to wiring options tailored to their unique wire needs and business considerations, such as speed, cost, risk, restrictions and location. It then provides a detailed analysis of available wiring routes and a recommended wiring method, making these transactions cheaper, more efficient and easier for bankers. Wayerz recently partnered with Cisco Solutions to enhance bank-to-bank communication through a secure global cloud provided by Cisco.

Prior to the launch of GPN, Wayerz showcased the platform at the FinTech 2016 finals in Hong Kong  an event organized by Next Bank and sponsored by Visa in January 2016.

About Wayerz

Wayerz provides an integrated platform that optimizes international wiring, simplifies bank billing processes and improves bank-to-bank productivity, communication and transparency. By tracking global wiring schedules and statistics in real time, the technology enables banks and their corporate clients to choose the optimum route for every wire. Its proprietary algorithm analyzes all the invoices banks receive and converts them into clear, unified and easy-to-read formats. Wayerz solutions are available via traditional software licenses or via Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) contracts. For more information, visit http://www.wayerz.com.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160210/332042

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151027/281098LOGO

SOURCE Wayerz

Related Links

http://www.wayerz.com


23 May 2022

- Understand the French healthcare system, how you access it and how you are reimbursed - Useful if you are new to the French healthcare system or want a more in-depth understanding - Reader question and answer section Aimed at non-French nationals living here, the guide gives an overview of what you are (and are not) covered for. There is also information for second-home owners and regular visitors.
If you're a shareholder, you might think twice about investing in Nevada corporations. Case in point from Keith Paul Bishop:

In a recent blog post, Delaware lawyer Francis Pileggi discusses a recent ruling by Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster ordering Yahoo! Inc. to produce personal emails of directors and electronically stored information in response to a stockholder inspection demand pursuant to Section 220 of the Delaware General Corporation Law. Amalgamated Bank v. Yahoo!, Inc., C.A. No. 10774-VCL (Del. Ch. Feb. 2, 2016). The ruling caused me to reflect on how Nevadas stockholder inspection statute, NRS 78.257, compares to Delawares Section 220.

Who may inspect. Nevada grants inspection to Any person who has been a stockholder of record of any corporation and owns not less than 15 percent of all of the issued and outstanding shares of the stock of such corporation or has been authorized in writing by the holders of at least 15 percent of all its issued and outstanding shares. NRS 78.257(1). Delaware is much more egalitarian, granting inspection rights to any stockholder.

Exceptions. Nevadas inspection statute does not apply to: (i) any corporation that furnishes to its stockholders a detailed, annual financial statement, or (ii) any corporation that has filed during the preceding 12 months all reports required to be filed pursuant to section 13 or section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. NRS 78.257(6) (there is an exception for certain Subchapter S corporations). Delaware, in contrast, does not grant similar exceptions.
Madrid, Feb 7 : Atletico Madrid played a lacklustre first half but stormed back in the second to cruise past Eibar 3-1 in La Liga.

The turning point at Vicente Calderon Stadium here on Saturday came in the 46th minute when Eibar midfielder Sergi Enrich scored. But Atletico then took charge of the match and completely dominated the contest from that point onwards, reports Efe.

Atletico were out of sorts in the first half, lacking precision and under pressure from Eibar's midfielders.

Then at the start of the second half, midfielder Saul Niguez lost the ball just outside Atletico Madrid's penalty area and allowed striker Enrich to take possession and score in the 46th minute.

But the goal seemed to be what was needed for Atletico, who turned on the aggression and began their assault on Eibar.

That determined play led them to win three corner kicks in just 10 minutes, the last of which was perfectly executed by midfielder Koke and headed home by Uruguayan defender Jose Gimenez in the 56th minute.

The second goal was an almost identical strike, with Koke setting up Saul, who made up for his earlier blunder by heading the ball in.

The final score of the match came shortly before the final whistle, when veteran striker Fernando Torres notched his 100th goal for Atletico when he stretched to get his foot on a well placed cross by Belgian midfielder Yannick Carrasco.

The 31-year-old striker starred for Atletico Madrid between 2001 and 2007 and returned to the club early last year for a second stint after competing for Liverpool, Chelsea and A.C. Milan.

"It's an honour and a prize to have scored my 100th goal and to be among the club's greatest goal scorers," Torres said.

Atletico Madrid now has 51 points and once again is tied with FC Barcelona at the top of the La Liga standings, although the Catalans, who square off against last place Levante on Sunday, have played two fewer games.
Mumbai, Feb 8 : Actors Alia Bhatt along with Vikrant Massey will be seen endorsing ice-cream brand Cornetto, earlier promoted by Sidharth Malhotra and Yami Gautam.

The news of Alia, who is rumoured to be dating Sidharth, taking over the endorsements was announced via a statement on Monday. It was timed with the launch of the brand's latest variant - Cornetto choco coffee.

The actress is excited about representing the brand, and said: "I am extremely happy to have the opportunity to be associated with Cornetto - a brand that has been a part of my life through all these years. I have fond memories of sharing a cone with friends and fighting for the chocolate tip."

Alia, known for her spunk and bubbly spirit, also stars in its television commercial, which is themed around best friends turning out to be 'love-struck' couples.

The "Highway" star added: "The moment you realise it's more than just friendship, it's quite special. And I'm delighted to be a part of their new campaign helping best friends become couples in love."

The advertisement shows Alia enjoying the ice-cream cone when Vikrant comes in and they indulge in a conversation about a couple, only to realise that they are sharing the cone. They also discover hidden feelings for each other over a cone.

Sumit Mathur, general manager, ice-cream division (Kwality Wall's) at Hindustan Unilever Ltd, feels Alia fits well with the brand's ethos.

"She brings out the brand messaging of 'the moment you realise you are in love and it's more than just friendship' really well through the advertisement. We are glad to associate with her and leverage this concept that embodies that special moment of realisation," Mathur said.
About Me Connie Schisler Vellekoop Lima, New York, United States I'm happily married, two kids who are married; four grandchildren, and a new grandson in California. I grew up on the mission field; had polio at age 18 months but this has formed my character and made me what I am, by God's grace.We served in Argentina, Paraguay and Canada, besides here at Elim, and are happy doing God's will. I teach piano full time; write books part-time. My biography about my father was published in 2009 and has sold very well, now also in Portuguese, Spanish, and soon in Indonesian. It is available on Amazon and Kindle. I also have written some kids' stories which I'm in the process of getting published. View my complete profile

Blog Archive
Mumbai, Feb 8 : Actress Priyanka Chopra says her "Jai Gangaajal" director Prakash Jha is "amazing" at his craft, but his anger can get "scary".

Priyanka took to Instagram and shared a video of the 63-year-old filmmaker in which he is seen shouting at his crew members for not working properly.

"Here's a little fact about Prakash Jha... apart from being an amazing director, he also has a talent for making grown men quake in their boots every time he picks up the director's mike!

"Fun to watch when it's directed elsewhere... scary to be on the receiving end! Prakash Jha, sorry sir but I just couldn't resist," the actress captioned the video.

"Jai Gangaajal", releasing on March 4, features Priyanka in the role of a police officer.
Kochi, Feb 8 : The Kerala High Court on Monday ordered a CBI probe into the murder of Abdul Shukoor, an activist of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), in which certain Left leaders are allegedly involved.

The high court order came on a plea of Shukoor's mother that the police probe was not moving in the right direction.

Shukoor, 22, activist of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) youth front, was killed by alleged Communist Party of India-Marxist activists in full public glare in February 2012.

Kerala Police had named 33 people as accused, including Kannur CPI-M district secretary P. Jayarajan and party legislator T.V. Rajesh.

The two Left leaders were arrested and jailed but later got bail, following which the police probe slowed down.

Hearing the plea of Shukoor's mother, Justice Kamal Pasha said it was most surprising that police were not able to include the names of the two CPI-M leaders in the conspiracy aspect of the case. The court cannot be a mute witness to this grave injustice, he added.

The development comes at a time when Jayarajan is awaiting a high court decision on his anticipatory bail in the Kathirur Manoj murder case, now under probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

A lower court had denied bail on three occasions to Jayarajan in the case. He is now admitted to a hospital near Kannur after the lower court also denied him an anticipatory bail last month.
New Delhi, Feb 8 : The Supreme Court on Monday said Arunachal Pradesh Governor Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa can't summon on his "whims and fancies" the assembly session to test the majority of Chief Minister Naban Tuki's government (since dismissed).

"You (governor) can't ask (the house to assemble) on your whims and fancies," an apex court constitution bench comprising Justices Jagdish Singh Khehar, Dipak Misra, Madan B. Lokur, Pinaki Chandra Ghosh and N.V. Ramana observed.

The court's observation came in the course of the submissions made by senior counsel Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for 14 MLAs disqualified by Speaker Nabam Rabia, who defended the governor's action to summon an assembly session on December 16 at a community hall in Itanagar.

Dwivedi contended that if the governor is satisfied that the chief minister has lost the majority support in the assembly he could ask the latter to convene the assembly session to prove his majority.

If the chief minister fails to do so, the governor has three options - dismiss the government under Article 164 (1) of the constitution, send a report to the president invoking Article 356 or call the session of the assembly.

As Justice Khehar observed that the governor could not summon the assembly on his whims and fancies, Justice Dipak Misra observed that the "occasion has not arisen here (in the case of Arunachal Pradesh)".

In another poser, the bench asked Dwivedi: "Who has the primacy in such a situation?" As the senior counsel said that "primacy is with the elected government", the court asked if there was any discretion with the governor.

Dwivedi reiterated that if the chief minister failed to convene an assembly session, the governor in exercise of his discretionary power was entitled to call the assembly session.

In a related development, Speaker Nabam Rabia has moved the apex court to seek status quo in the matter.

Senior counsel Fali S. Nariman told the court that Deputy Speaker T. Norbu Thongdok had written to Governor Rajkhowa that he was the speaker and sought records pertaining to the speaker's office as custodian of the assembly. Nariman said the governor had sought legal opinion on Thongdok's plea.

Making it clear that it would not pass orders on a daily basis on the affairs of Arunachal Pradesh, the court said it will decide when Rabia's plea filed on Monday evening is put up before the bench.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told the apex court that the offices of the chief minister and other ministers have not been sealed as contended by the petitioners who challenged the imposition of President's Rule in the state.

Rohatgi said documents and files allegedly taken into possession on the governor's instructions ran into one lakh pages, adding that the petitioners, including Congress Party's chief whip in Arunachal Assembly Rajesh Tacho, should indicate what documents they required and the same would be furnished to them.

Making it clear that the list provided by the attorney general was not exhaustive, the court said that the petitioners would be provided with full details of the documents in the possession of the state and they would then indicate which documents were required.

"You give the whole list. This is not the whole list. Give the entire list (of the documents connected with the matter before the court)," the bench told the attorney general.

The constitution bench is hearing petitions filed by the Congress leaders challenging Governor Rajkhowa's report to recommend the imposition of President's Rule in Arunachal Pradesh, subsequent presidential proclamation and other matters rooted in the political imbroglio.

The hearing in the case will continue on Tuesday.
Ramallah, Feb 9 : Israeli and Palestinian officials will hold a security meeting in Jerusalem this week to discuss the situation in the West Bank, a senior Palestinian official said on Tuesday.

Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), who was speaking to Voice of Palestine Radio, did not give further details about the meeting, Xinhua reported.

However, another senior Palestinian official said the Palestinian delegation will convey a clear message to the Israeli side on its commitment to agreements and treaties signed in the past between the two sides.

But "if Israel kept storming the Palestinian-controlled territories, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) would soon reconsider all these agreements", the official said.

In March, the PLO Central Council decided to severe security cooperation with Israel and reconsider the signed peace treaties and agreements in response to Israel's policy and the ongoing stalemate in the Middle East peace process.

Palestinian factions, like Islamic Hamas movement, the rival of President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party, which controls and rules the Gaza Strip, opposes all kinds of security cooperation with Israel.

In early October last year, a wave of violence broke out between Israel and the Palestinians in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza, which has so far left 170 Palestinians and 30 Israelis dead.

Meanwhile, Erekat called on the international community to exercise pressure on Israel to stop "its aggression" on the Palestinian people and respect the signed agreements.
Seoul, Feb 10 : In a fallout of Pyongyang's recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch, South Korea on Wednesday announced it was halting all operations at a factory park jointly-run with North Korea Unification Minister Hong Yong-Pyo said Pyongyang conducted extremist provocations, including the fourth nuclear test and long-range missile launch, in defiance of repeated warnings from the international community, Xinhua reported.

North Korea launched a rocket on Sunday to deliver an observation satellite into orbit after testing what it claimed was its first H-bomb on January 6.

Pyongyang has been banned under UN Security Council resolutions from testing any ballistic missile technology and conducting a nuclear test.

Calling the recent moves as an intolerable act and a challenge to peace and stability to the Korean peninsula and the world, Hong said Pyongyang has never shown any intention to give up its nuclear and missile programmes as seen in North Korea's recent declaration of plans to continue nuclear and missile tests.

Operations at the Kaesong Industrial Complex were stopped earlier also, in 2013. when Pyongyang withdrew its workers leading to a suspension of operations for over five months between April 8 and September 15.

The inter-Korean factory park, where the first product was manufactured in December 2004, was a symbol of cooperation between Seoul and Pyongyang. It employed over 53,000 North Korean workers in units run by about 120 South Korean companies there.

The park is located 10 km north of the Korean Demilitarised Zone, an hour's drive from Seoul, with direct road and rail access to South Korea.

The park allows South Korean companies to employ cheap labour that is educated, skilled, and fluent in Korean, whilst providing North Korea with an important source of foreign currency.
Kathmandu, Feb 10 : Lifting of the almost six-month-old blockade of the Nepal-India border by Madhesi protestors and high-level bilateral visits have paved the way for a much-awaited visit to India by Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli later this month, officials here say.

Oli had raised a question-mark over his visit to New Delhi -- his first foreign trip after assuming office on October 11 last year -- when he told senior editors here on January 26 that it will not be appropriate for him to visit India as long as a blockade of the border continued.

Events transpiring earlier this month, however, indicated that the fences were being mended and the freeze in bilateral relations finally thawing.

A visit to New Delhi by Nepal Finance Minister Bishnu Poudel on February 7-8 and the customary conferment of the rank of honorary General of the Indian Army upon Nepal Army's chief General Rajendra Chhetri earlier in the month were signs of bilateral relations coming back on track.

The Madhesi protestors, too, on February 8 called off their almost six-month-old anti-Constitution agitation that had resulted in blockading of cross-border transit points and subsequent scarcity of essentials in the land-locked Himalayan nation.

And with Oli's major objection to an India visit taken care of, decks were finally cleared for Nepal and India to get down to resumption of bilateral meetings that had been put on the back-burner for the past almost six months.

Earlier, under pressure following more than five months of unrelenting agitation in the country's southern region by Madhesi protestors, the government allies and the main opposition Nepali Congress on January 23 approved two amendments to the barely four-month-old Constitution relating to proportionate representation and allocation of seats in parliament on the basis of population.

The constitutional amendments aimed at addressing the grievances of the agitating Madhesis -- who also share sentimental, cultural, geographical and linguistic attachment and proximity with India -- were the first step in the thawing of Nepal-India relations.

And the opening of the key Nepal-India border point at Raxaul-Birgunj -- which sees over 70 percent of total bilateral trade -- further paved the way for Oli's India visit.

The visit by Finance Minister Poudel, a close aide of Oli, signifies that the Nepal PM's upcoming visit to India will be focused on economic cooperation and mending of ruffled ties.

Nepal's finance minister Poudel, who concluded his India visit on Tuesday told reporters in Kathmandu that Nepal-India relations have reached in a new height and misunderstanding between the two countries has subsequently diminished.

A daylong visit to Kathmandu by India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on February 9 to offer homage to former prime minister and president of Nepali Congress Sushil Koirala and her meeting with PM Oli contributed greatly to the thaw, officials here said.

According to Gopal Khanal, foreign relations advisor to PM Oli, the two sides discussed the upcoming India visit of PM Oli later this month. "We are eager to welcome you in India and preparation of your India visit is underway," Sushma reportedly told Oli during the meeting.

Though the two sides are yet to announce the dates of Oli's visit, officials here said that mending of fences at the political level, clearing the misunderstandings between the leaderships of Nepal and India and modality of future bilateral cooperation were among key points on Oli's agenda for the upcoming visit.

Also figuring prominently during bilateral discussions would be defining projects under the $1 billion line of credit announced by India, finalising the modality and projects under another $1 billion credit line announced by India for Nepal's reconstruction following last year's devastating earthquake and implementation of past accords and understanding, the officials said.

(Anil Giri can be contacted at girianil@gmail.com)
Lucknow, Feb 10 : Enraged over a colleague's murder, lawyers on Wednesday torched two buses, stoned passers-by and attacked police as well as media personnel here.

They also set fire to a police booth after which security personnel were deployed near the high court complex. The lawyers also targeted a hoarding of Uttar Pradesh's ruling Samajwadi Party.

Earlier, the lawyers practising at the Allahabad High Court's Lucknow bench struck work following the Tuesday murder of lawyer Shrawan Kumar Sharma. His body was found dumped in a drain near his house.

Uttar Pradesh Accredited Journalists Association president Hemant Tiwari later met Director General of Police Jawed Ahmed and sought action against those who attacked journalists and photographers covering the violence.
Mumbai, Feb 10 : Actress Priyanka Chopra says shooting Prakash Jha's "Jai Gangaajal" was an "amazing" experience as she got an opportunity to work with "fine actors".

The 33-year-old actress shared a video on Twitter, showcasing some clips from the film. The video also featured Jha, as well as actors Manav Kaul, Murli Sharma, Ninad Kamat and Rahul Bhat.

"'Jai Gangaajal' was an amazing experience especially because I had the opportunity to work with such fine actors," Priyanka captioned the video.

"Jai Gangaajal", releasing on March 4, revisits the dusty heartland of central India and examines the society-police relationship.

Priyanka will be seen portraying the role of a police officer named Abha Mathur, while Jha will also be seen playing a police officer in the film.
New Delhi, Feb 11 : Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, General Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is on a three-day visit to India, was on Thursday accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here.

"A day of engagements for the crown prince begins with ceremonial honours at the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan," external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup tweeted.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke protocol as he personally received the crown prince on his arrival here.

Modi welcomed Sheikh Mohamed with a warm embrace as the latter alighted from his aircraft at the Palam Technical Area here.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also called on Sheikh Mohamed soon after his arrival on Wednesday.

A slew of agreements, including on defence equipment manufacturing and civil nuclear cooperation, are likely to be signed between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during the crown prince's visit.

After the India-UAE relationship was elevated to comprehensive strategic partnership during Modi's visit to the UAE in August last year, the first by an Indian prime minister in 34 years, there is focus on new areas of cooperation like defence production in India, security, counter-terrorism, in nuclear and space sector, and in the energy sector.

The welfare of the expatriate Indians in the UAE, numbering around 2.6 million, is also likely to come up for discussion.

The crown prince is being accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising cabinet ministers, senior officials and business leaders.

Delegation-level talks between Modi and Sheikh Mohamed are scheduled to be held on Thursday evening following which the agreements will be signed.

On Friday, the crown prince will leave for Mumbai where he will visit the Bombay Stock Exchange and meet Indian business leaders.
Vatican City, Feb 11 : Pope Francis held talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi at the Vatican which centred on the rights of Christians and ethnic minorities in the Middle Eastern country, inter-faith dialogue and national reconciliation.

An official statement called the talks on Wednesday "cordial" and said Francis and Abadi referred during their meeting to the "good state" of bilateral relations between Iraq and the Holy See.

Francis and Abadi discussed the role of inter-religious dialogue and the need for religious communities to promote tolerance and peace, focussing on Iraq's ongoing reconciliation process and the national and regional humanitarian situation, the statement said.

Abadi, a Shia Muslim, met Francis in his study at the Vatican's Paul VI Audience Hall and later the Vatican's second-in-command, secretary of state, Pietro Parolin and its secretary for relations with states, Paul Gallagher.

After Italy, Al-Abadi will head to Germany to attend the annual Munich Security Conference on global security issues taking place from Friday-Sunday.
Rome, Feb 11 : The Islamic State jihadi group will lose against the international military coalition of countries fighting against it and will be defeated culturally, economically and diplomatically, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has said.

"The unscrupulous terrorists of IS must know they will lose their battle," Renzi told journalists in Rome on Wednesday after a meeting with his Iraqi counterpart Haider al-Abadi.

"Iraq and with Iraq the whole international community will overcome this challenge, not only through the international coalition but also culturally, economic and diplomatically," he said.

The international coalition is driving back IS and recapturing territory from the group and Italy is one of the countries leading the battle against it with over 700 security personnel deployed, Renzi noted.

More than Italian 100 paramilitary Carabinieri police officers are training police in Iraq, he said.

Abadi said Iraq aimed to defeat IS in Iraq "by the end of the year" calling for a "political solution" in his country and in neighbouring war-wracked Syria.

He thanked Italy for its support to the Iraqi government and urged Trevi, the Italian company that recently won a tender to undertake key repair work on Mosul's dam to "accelerate its arrival".

Rising water levels in spring, when the Tigris river is swollen by rain and melting snow could lead to the breach of the 3.6 km-long dam which was recaptured from the IS by Iraqi and Kurdish forces in 2014.
Islamabad, Feb 11 : The Pakistani parliament has worked out a mechanism to register marriages between Hindus in the country, a daily said Thursday, noting that while this is "good news" for the country, "we must remember that parliament has only done what it should have done decades ago".

An editorial "Hindu marriage law" in the News International said that there is good news for Pakistan's Hindus. "Seven decades after the creation of Pakistan, its parliament has worked out a mechanism to register marriages between Hindus in the country."

On Monday, the Hindu Marriage Act was approved by the National Assembly Standing Committee on Law and Justice. The bill is now expected to be cleared through the National Assembly with the backing of the PML-N government.

A longstanding demand of Pakistan's Hindu community, the bill is aimed at regulating marriages and their termination among Hindu families.

"Five Hindu lawmakers were present during the review of the bill, which had been tabled in 2014 in the NA but had faced numerous delays due to interventions by the Council of Islamic Ideology and various religious political parties. After the bill is approved by parliament, a mechanism will need to be worked out to register Hindu marriages," said the daily.

The editorial noted that the decades of delay in passing the bill have been "truly embarrassing".

"This has meant that Hindu couples have had to resolve their disputes outside the ambit of Pakistan's legal system and there has been no formal recourse available to them.

"Whether registration will offer any new protections is uncertain as the law provides no new protections against the issue of forced conversions and marriages. However, the law has been pitched as a potential protection against forced marriages as proof of marriage will be available in case an already married Hindu woman is abducted," it said.

The daily said that controversially, however, the approved draft of the bill has a clause declaring a marriage between two Hindus to be nullified if either of them converts to Islam, "which arguably negates the earlier protection".

"Questions of the division of property, receiving pension, annulment of marriage, have never been dealt with at a state-level for Hindu citizens of the country and they are unable to provide proof of marriage when required.

"Lawmakers responsible for drafting the law have rightly asked why we are so afraid of giving protections to our religious minorities. While the law is good news, we must remember that parliament only done what it should have done decades ago," it added.
London, Feb 11 : Social partners can influence the way an adult male chimpanzee establishes grooming interactions -- an important social interaction for chimps -- with family and community members, new research says.

The chimps' decisions on how much to invest in grooming interactions that are usually done to establish friendly ties are based at least in part on whether there are other potential social partners close by, the findings showed.

With more bystanders - a larger audience - the male chimps offered less grooming at the start of a bout and were more likely to abandon the attempts to start a grooming interaction, explained Nicholas E. Newton-Fisher, anthropologists from the University of Kent in Canterbury, Britain.

Also, their grooming efforts were less likely to be reciprocated, he added.

Chimpanzees grooming involves removing pieces of dirt, plants, dried skin, and insects from the hair of another chimpanzee of off of themselves.

Grooming and other forms of social interaction in non-human primates are driven by considerations of direct benefits rather than relationships based on trust, the study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, revealed.

Wild chimpanzees live in large groups, and the associations between the individual chimps are fluid, and social relationships are variable, the researchers said.

They studied the behaviour of chimpanzees in a 60-strong community from the Mahale Mountains National Park, Tanzania, which has been continuously studied for over 30 years.

The chimpanzees were used to human observation and grooming interactions could be recorded in detail at close range.
New Delhi, Feb 11 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held a restricted meeting at his 7 Race Course Road residence with visiting Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, General Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

"A meeting at 7RCR... HH Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan meets PM @narendramodi at his residence," the Prime Minister's Office tweeted along with a picture of the two leaders.

"An exceptional tete-a-tete. PM meets Crown Prince for a restricted meeting at 7RCR before talks in the evening," external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup also tweeted.

Earlier on Thursday, the crown prince, who arrived here on Wednesday on a three-day visit to India, was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan here.

On Wednesday, Modi broke protocol as he personally received the crown prince on his arrival here.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also called on Sheikh Mohamed soon after his arrival on Wednesday.

A slew of agreements, including on defence equipment manufacturing and civil nuclear cooperation, are likely to be signed between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during the crown prince's visit.

After the India-UAE relationship was elevated to comprehensive strategic partnership during Modi's visit to the UAE in August last year, the first by an Indian prime minister in 34 years, there is focus on new areas of cooperation like defence production in India, security, counter-terrorism, in nuclear and space sector, and in the energy sector.

The welfare of the expatriate Indians in the UAE, numbering around 2.6 million, is also likely to come up for discussion.

The crown prince is being accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising cabinet ministers, senior officials and business leaders.

Delegation-level talks between Modi and Sheikh Mohamed are scheduled to be held on Thursday evening following which the agreements will be signed.

On Friday, the crown prince will leave for Mumbai where he will visit the Bombay Stock Exchange and meet Indian business leaders.
Chennai, Feb 11 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa on Thursday said the draft memorandum of understanding (MoU) circulated by the ministry of railways for forming joint venture companies needs revision.

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, text of which was released to the media here, Jayalalithaa said the draft MoU circulated by the ministry does not address the concerns of the state.

The Indian Railways had said it would enter MoU with state governments to implement railway projects jointly.

Jayalalithaa told Modi that Tamil Nadu had prioritised Chennai - Thoothukudi Freight corridor, high speed passenger rail link - Chennai - Madurai - Kanniyakumari, and high speed passenger rail link - Madurai to Coimbatore - for implementation through the formation of a special purpose vehicle (SPV) with the participation of the state and ministry of railways.

Jayalalithaa told Modi: "We had also indicated some specific conditions for the establishment of the SPV. Since the land is typically provided by the State Government, this should be treated as part of the State Government's equity contribution to the SPV at market value.

"Matching equity contributions from the Ministry of Railways could be in cash or in the form of land owned by the Railways or other Central Government departments."

According to her, the equity contributions in cash should be made in time to avoid project delays and governance structure of the SPV should be well balanced with adequate participation by the state government.

"In the draft MoU circulated by the ministry of railways, these concerns are not adequately reflected.

"The draft MoU would require revision before it becomes acceptable to the government of Tamil Nadu," she said.

Listing out various railway projects for Tamil Nadu announced during the presentation of railway budgets, Jayalalithaa urged Modi to expedite them with allocation of adequate funds.
New Delhi, Feb 11 : Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad, who was described as a miracle soldier after being dug out alive from snow and ice in which he was buried for six days in the inhospitable Siachen glacier, died on Thursday.

Lance Naik Koppad was flown down to the Army Hospital (Research and Referral), where he battled for life for two days.

He died at 11.45 a.m. on Thursday, an official told IANS.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: "He leaves us sad & devastated. RIP Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. The soldier in you remains immortal. Proud that martyrs like you served India."

Millions across the country had prayed that he recovers. But, that was not to be.

The soldier's health worsened early Thursday.

Doctors in the morning said that he was extremely critical, with worsening multi-organ dysfunction.

Koppad was found from under 35 feet of snow and hardened ice at an avalanche-hit army post in the Siachen glacier in Jammu and Kashmir -- six days after an ice wall crashed down on the post he and nine other soldiers were occupying.

The bodies of the other nine have been found.

Lance Naik Koppad suffered from pneumonia which had worsened and the blood clotting disorder showed no sign of reversal despite blood component support.

Koppad's family from Karnataka, including his wife, were staying in the hospital complex.

Koppad has served in difficult and challenging areas for 10 out of 13 years of his total service.

His postings include Jammu and Kashmir from 2003 to 2006, where he was actively involved in counter-insurgency operations.

He again volunteered to serve with the 54 Rashtriya Rifles (Madras) in Jammu and Kashmir from 2008 to 2010, and later in the northeast from 2010 to 2012 where he took part in operations against militants.

He was serving in the high-altitude areas of Siachen glacier from August 2015.
Lucknow, Feb 11 : Congress president Sonia Gandhi arrived in her parliamentary constituency Rae Bareli on a two-day visit on Thursday.

Soon after landing at the Fursatganj airstrip, she drove to Rae Bareli and held a chaupal (open interaction) at Sardar village where she interacted with locals, women and farmers.

Giving them a patient hearing as they raised their problems, Sonia assured them of all possible help. She is slated to meet party workers and local Congress leaders later in the day.

Sonia was in the constituency after a gap of five months. She last visited Rae Bareli on September 9-10, 2015.
Mumbai, Feb 11 : Less-than-expected earning results, combined with negative European indices and a weak rupee dragged the Indian equity markets to their lowest levels in over 21 months on Thursday.

Bearish sentiments led a barometer index of the Indian equity markets to provisionally close the day's trade down 807 points.

Indian equity markets continued to decline for the fourth consecutive session amid weakness in the European indices.

Selling frenzy by foreign investors led both the bellwether indices of the Indian equity markets to provisionally close at their lowest levels in over 21 months. The bellwether indices touched new 52-week lows during the intra-day trade.

The Indian VIX (volatility index) ended higher by 15.5 percent, portending to sustained volatile trading sessions.

Initially, both indices opened on a weak note, following Wednesday's decline in the US markets and a steep fall in the Japanese index.

The selling pressure was accelerated by the absence of any fresh positive trigger and below expected third quarter (Q3) results by the likes of banking major, State Bank of India (SBI).

The decline of crude oil prices below $30 a barrel (one barrel is equal to 159 litres) kept sentiments subdued.

Investors' doubts over the central government's ability to perk up investments dragged the markets lower.

In addition, a weak rupee unnerved investors. It opened lower at 67.95 to a US dollar from its previous close of 67.84 to a greenback.

The weakness in the rupee indicated massive flight of foreign funds from the equity markets. The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers on Wednesday; they divested Rs.606.83 crore.

Investors' confidence was further eroded by hawkish comments made by US Fed chairman Janet Yellen to the US House Financial Services Committee late Wednesday.

During her semi-annual monetary policy testimony to the committee, Yellen said that the US is unlikely to go in for a stimulus and that the rate hike cycle will continue.

The barometer 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) plunged by 807 points or 3.40 percent.

It has lost over 858.07 points or 3.61 percent in the last three sessions.

Similarly, the wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended deep in the red. It was down by 239.35 points or 3.32 percent at 6,976.35 points.

The NSE Nifty touched a new 52-week low at 6,959.95 points. Nifty traded at its lowest levels since early May, 2014.

It has slid by 273.4 points or 3.78 percent during the last three days trade.

The S&P BSE Sensex, which opened at 23,758.46 points, provisionally closed at 22,951.83 points (3.30 p.m.) -- down 807.07 points or 3.40 percent from the previous day's close at 23,758.90 points.

During the intra-day trade, the Sensex touched a high of 23,758.46 points and a low of 22,909.12 points -- its new low in 52 weeks.

The BSE market breadth favoured the bears -- with 2,350 declines and only 333 advances.
Jammu, Feb 11 : General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) of Northern Command, Lieutenant General D.S. Hooda, on Thursday expressed grief at the death of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa.

"Lieutenant General Hooda expresses deep grief and condolences at the demise of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad at the Army Research and Referral Hospital, Delhi, today (Thursday)," a statement issued by the army's Udhampur-headquartered northern command said.

"With his indomitable spirit, courage and unmatched human endurance, he survived the extreme cold and inhospitable conditions while being buried under the ice on the Siachen Glacier."

Koppad was one of the ten soldiers, including a Junior Commissioned Officer, who were buried alive in an avalanche at the Sonam Post on the Siachen Glacier on February 3.

While the bodies of nine soldiers were recovered, Koppad miraculously survived six days under tonnes of snow. He died on Thursday at the Army Research and Referral Hospital in Delhi.
Los Angeles, Feb 11 : Actress Jennifer Garner is urging Kentucky lawmakers to protect funding for early education programmes.

The 43-year-old testified before the House budget committee on Tuesday on behalf of non-profit organisation Save the Children, in which she serves as a trustee. She asked lawmakers to preserve the nearly $1 million in funding the organisation receives annually, reports people.com.

"I'm here because I believe so much in Save the Children's early childhood programmes, and I am hoping that you will continue to support them," said Garner.

She joined Save the Children President Mark Shriver to explain the programme helps more than 12,000 children in Kentucky and is one of the most successful programmes within the organisation.

According to the Courier-Journal, lawmakers indicated that they support the programme and are optimistic that the money can be preserved despite a tight budget. They also seemed impressed to have a star in their midst.
New Delhi, Feb 11 : After receiving a tremendous response to its Rs.10,999 Le 1s smartphones in the first two flash sales, Chinese smartphone maker LeEco will launch the device in silver colour in its next flash sale which is slated for February 16.

Having sold 70,000 Le 1s devices during its first flash sale in a flat two seconds and 95,000 smartphones in 20 seconds during the second flash sale on e-tail major Flipkart, the company has also set up 555 service centres across the country.

"We are enthralled on getting such a brilliant response from the Indian market for our phone. We have got 95,000 orders for the phone in this flash sale," Atul Jain, COO, smart electronics business, LeEco India, told IANS.

The company had on January 20 launched two "superphones" -- Le Max and Le 1S -- in the Indian market.

The Le 1s with all its features and a price of Rs.10,999 is a good buy.

Display quality, good user interface, fast charging, lag-free multi-tasking and handy design that lets user work with one hand are some of the features to look for in the phone.

The phone boasts of 2.2 GHz Octa-core Mediatek MT6795 Helio X10 processor with PowerVR G6200 GPU and 3GB DDR3 RAM with 5.5-inch display and 32GB storage.

It has 13-megapixel auto focus rear camera with ISOCELL technology and blue glass infrared filter and 5-megapixel front camera, dual 4G/LTE, 3,000 mAH battery and a mirror-finish fingerprint identification system.
Mumbai, Feb 11 : Actress Richa Chadha has left for Amritsar along with the entire team of "Sarbjit" to begin shooting for the upcoming movie.

"Sarbjit" is a biopic on Sarabjit Singh, an Indian farmer who was convicted of terrorism and spying in Pakistan and was sentenced to death. He was attacked by inmates at a prison in Lahore in April 2013 and died a few days later.

Richa will begin the shooting for the final schedule of the biopic from Thursday.

"The actress will be shooting in Amritsar with the entire star cast for 'Sarbjit'. Richa, who was shooting for 'Cabaret' till the previous day, is now looking forward to this next schedule of 'Sarbjit'. Richa might even meet Sukhpreet Kaur sometime this week," a source close to the actress said.

In the biopic, the "Fukrey" actress will be seen as the protagonist's wife Sukhpreet Kaur.

The actress also took to Twitter, where she wrote: "Travelling to my holy birthplace... For Sarbjit... Ambarsariya".

Actor Randeep Hooda will be seen playing Sarabjit in the film, which will be narrated through the perspective of the victim's sister Dalbir Kaur, played by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.

"Sarbjit" is slated to hit the screens on May 19, a day before it was scheduled to release.
Hyderabad, Feb 11 : Turkey is keen to have direct flights to Hyderabad to connect to south India, said its consul general here.

Arda Ulutas, who took over in November last, on Thursday called on Telangana's Industries Minister Jupally Krishna Rao.

Ulutas told the minister that his country is interested in making Hyderabad a direct destination which could connect to the south. Presently, there are no direct flights from Turkey to south India and all flights are routed through Delhi or Mumbai.

He also informed about the readiness to sign the sister cities agreement with Telangana, said a statement from the minister's office.

The consul general said his country is looking for cooperation in the potential areas of construction, housing, metro and railway system etc.

He said he was keen to bring a delegation of Turkish construction union and exporters to Telangana to explore the possibilities of working together in several fields. He said a beginning would be made with micro, small and medium enterprises.
Bengaluru, Feb 11 : The Karnataka government is arranging a plane to fly the body of Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad from Delhi to Dharwad along with his family members, an official said on Thursday.

"The chartered aircraft will fly to Panjim (in Goa) or Hubbali by evening for taking it to (his native place) Betadur near Dharwad," the official told IANS here.

The 33-year-old soldier breathed his last at an army hospital in Delhi after battling for life for three days.

Koppad was miraculously rescued from the Siachen glacier where he was buried for under 35 feet of ice after an avalanche hit an army patrol on February 3.

Koppad's family members, including wife Mahadevi, mother Basavva, two-year-old daughter Netra and brother Govindappa, will accompany the body in the plane.

The last rites will be done on Friday with full state honours, the official said.

Meanwhile, a pall of gloom descended on the village near Dharward, about 430 km from here where Koppad's family lives.

Police made elaborate arrangements to regulate crowds as people in large numbers gathered at his house.

Koppad belonged to the 19th battalion of Madras Regiment, which he joined 13 years ago.

Koppad remained buried under 35 feet of ice for five nights before he was rescued in the Siachen glacier. He was brought to Delhi on February 9 and died early on Thursday.
New Delhi, Feb 11 : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said he saluted the bravery of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad, who died on Thursday after being buried under ice in the Siachen glacier.

"We salute his bravery. May his soul rest in peace. May god give strength to his family to bear this loss," he told the media.

Koppad was buried in 35 feet of ice for six days after an avalanche hit an army patrol in the Siachen on February 3 at an altitude of over 20,000 feet.

While the nine others were declared dead, Koppad was miraculously found alive on February 8 and flown to Delhi the next day. Despite best medical care, he passed away due to multiple complications on Thursday.
Kochi, Feb 11 : CPI-M leader P. Jayarajan was on Thursday denied anticipatory bail by the Kerala High Court for the murder of RSS activist Kathirur Manoj, making imminent his arrest by the CBI.

A former legislator of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, the 63-year-old Jayarajan had been refused anticipatory bail thrice by a lower court, following which he approached the high court.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), probing the murder case, vehemently opposed the anticipatory bail plea. High court judge Justice K.T. Shankaran upheld the CBI argument.

The CBI counsel on Thursday said bail must be given as the case was registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Manoj was one of those accused of trying to kill Jayarajan in 1999.

Manoj was in turn attacked by a seven-member gang on September 1, 2014, at Kathirur near Kannur. The assailants first threw a bomb on his vehicle and later hacked him to death.

Jayarajan, who was admitted to a hospital in Kannur after the lower court rejected his anticipatory bail plea last month, was likely to be arrested by the CBI, informed sources said.

The agency has so far arrested 23 people in the case. The CPI-M leader was questioned by the CBI last year but let off.

This is the second setback for Jayarajan and the CPI-M.

Earlier this week, the Kerala High Court ordered a CBI probe into the murder of Abdul Shukoor, an activist of the Indian Union Muslim League in which too Jayarajan is one of the 33 accused.
New Delhi, Feb 11 : The controversial Ishrat Jahan shootout, which once sent current BJP president Amit Shah to jail for months, is back to cause ripples in India's political landscape after David Coleman Headley, a Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operative, on Thursday named her a member of the terror group.

Controversy has shrouded the action on the June 15, 2004 by a police team led by DIG D.G. Vanjara, amid claims and counter-claims about its authenticity. At least two investigations -- one by a metropolitan magistrate and the other by a court ordered special investigation team -- indicated that the shootout was staged and Ishrat had no terror links. She was alleged to have been killed in cold-blood.

Shah, was then Gujarat's home minister. He had to resign in the aftermath of the case. He was jailed for a few months before being given bail and was asked to live outside Gujarat.

Jahan, a 19-year-old college student, and her three associates, Pranesh Pillai also known as Javed Gulam Sheikh, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar, were killed near Ahmedabad in an alleged shootout with the police.

The Ahmedabad police claimed that the slain persons were Lashkar's suicide bombers and were in the city to kill Narendra Modi, the then chief minister. The police also claimed that the suspected terrorists were plotting to avenge the 2002 Gujarat communal riots, in which hundreds of Muslims were killed.

Months later, on September 7, 2009, metropolitan magistrate S.P. Tamang submitted a report in an Ahmedabad court saying that the four had earlier been arrested and killed in police custody. Tamang picked holes in the police theory citing a forensic report that showed the suspected terrorists were shot from a very close distance and at different times of the day.

Tamang's report said that there was no evidence to link them to the Lashkar militant group and nothing that indicated that they had planned to assassinate Modi. On the basis of Tamang's findings, the Ahmedabad court ruled it to be a staged shootout.

The government challenged the decision in the high court, terming Tamang's report "illegal and doubtful" because, the government said, it didn't have the response of 20 policemen, including senior IPS officers, involved in the shooting.

The Gujarat high court tasked a Special Investigation Team to probe the case further. The probe panel submitted its report on November 21, 2011 that the shootout was staged. The high court ordered murder charges to be framed against those involved.

However, in June 2013, an Intelligence Bureau report which appeared in the media told the PMO and the home ministry that the agency had enough evidence to prove that Ishrat was part of an LeT module which planned to kill Modi.

In 2004, a Central Bureau of Investigation report also denied that Amit Shah had any role in the shootout.

Headley's earlier testimony before a team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) came in 2011 when he reportedly told Indian investigators who had gone to the US that Jahan was a Lashkar terrorist. And on Thursday he repeated the assertion via video from the US before a Mumbai court that she indeed worked for the terror group that operates from Pakistan.

(Sarwar Kashani can be contacted at sarwar.k@ians.in)
New Delhi, Feb 11 : The All India Government Nurses Federation will go on a relay hunger strike from Friday to February 27 to press for their demand to be paid all benefits recommended by the Seventh Pay Commission.

The two-week strike will also see the nurses across India go on mass casual leave on February 26.

The nurses have demanded increment in nursing, risk and night duty allowances as per the Seventh Pay Commission, federation secretary general G.K. Khurana said here.

She said: "We deal with the deadly infections daily but we are not provided enough risk allowances. If the demands are not met, we will make the hospitals non-functional after March 15."

Aruna, a senior nurse at the Hindu Rao hospital here, told IANS: "We want our payment to be as per the Seventh Pay Commission. Up until now all the pay commissions have been implemented without any problems. Why is the Seventh Pay Commission not being implemented for the nurses?"
New Delhi, Feb 11 : Police on Thursday told the Delhi High Court that it was likely to file a chargesheet within 15 days in the sexual harassment case registered in February last year against environmentalist R.K. Pachauri by a former TERI colleague.

Delhi Police said it has prepared the draft chargesheet which is now being scrutinised by the prosecution branch.

Justice S.P. Garg, who is hearing a plea filed by the complainant seeking cancellation of anticipatory bail granted to Pachauri, asked police to submit the file related to the case by February 15.

Justice Garg also reserved the order on the complainant's plea.

During a brief hearing on Thursday, advocate Prashant Mediratta, appearing for the complainant, told the court that one TERI employee, who has now resigned, had filed a police complaint on January 12 saying senior officials of TERI were pressurising him to have the matter settled by the woman with Pachauri.

Delhi Police, represented by Sanjay Lau, told the court that the colleague of the 29-year-old woman research analyst approached police and said that in July 2015, TERI director Sanjay Joshi called him to his office and asked him to talk to the woman if the matter can be settled out of court.

The researcher told police that area convener Reena Singh had also spoken to him saying that he must reach out to his woman friend and get her to settle the matter out of court.

Lau said the researcher also said that in October last year, director Alok Adholeya had also spoken to him on the same issue.

On being interrogated, Joshi said it was a very casual conversation with the researcher "to save the image of the organisation before the media", police said.

Joshi said he was never asked by Pachauri and any other person of TERI to talk about settling the matter and he had not pressurised him, police said in their affidavit.

Adholeya could not be examined because he is currently out of India, police said.

Reena Singh was also interrogated in her office, and she said she never talked about any settlement, police said in their status report.

Police also said the researcher told them that TERI offiacials never pressurised him.

Advocate Ramesh Gupta, appearing for Pachauri, told the court that TERI officials did not talk to the man on Pachauri's behalf, adding that he "never exercised any pressure upon TERI and its officials".

After the woman employee filed a sexual harassment complaint, Pachauri denied the charge but stepped down as chairperson of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in February last year and proceeded on leave from TERI where he was the director general.

Later, Pachauri was removed as TERI head in July and Ajay Mathur appointed in his place.

In November, the woman researcher who accused him of sexual harassment quit her job at TERI, alleging she was treated badly. TERI denied the charge.

Pachauri has now been appointed executive vice chairman of the organisation despite the ongoing inquiry in the sexual harassment case.
Washington, Feb 11 : Pandit Jasraj has been honoured in Houston for his lifelong contribution to classical Indian art. He is happy that he is able to popularise Hindustani music in the US.

At an event in Houston on February 6, India House, an organisation representing Houston community in the US, recognised and honoured Pandit Jasraj.

"I have fond memories of my musical journey in America. I am happy that me and all my students are spreading Hindustani music among the people of North America and keeping the Indian art and culture progressive and relevant in contemporary times.

"Music has no boundaries and this award is a testimony to that. I am thankful to India House for honouring me with the lifelong distinguished and exceptional service award. This is a reflection of their love towards Indian classical music. God created music to spread love and unite souls across the world and beyond. I thank god for making me a musician," Pandit Jasraj told IANS.

In 1995, the Pandit Jasraj School of Music Foundation was opened in Vancouver. After which, many disciples of Pandit Jasraj spread out to run many schools in New York, New Jersey, Tampa, Pittsburg, Atlanta, and in other cities.

He spends a few months every year teaching, performing and spreading the true essence of Indian classical vocal music in the US.
THURSDAY, Feb. 11, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- A growing number of young women with breast cancer are being tested for the BRCA gene mutations that substantially raise the risks of breast and ovarian tumors, a new study shows.

Researchers found that of nearly 900 women who developed breast cancer at age 40 or younger, most had undergone BRCA testing within a year of their diagnosis.

And the percentage went up over time: By 2013, 95 percent had been tested, according to findings published online Feb. 11 in JAMA Oncology.

Experts called the results good news, since BRCA testing has long been recommended for women diagnosed with breast cancer before the age of 50.

"This is great, it's heartening," said Dr. Jeffrey Weitzel, director of clinical cancer genetics at City of Hope, in Duarte, Calif.

But, he added, women in the study were largely white, well-educated and had health insurance -- and it's unlikely that disadvantaged U.S. women would show the same high rate of BRCA testing.

"We need to keep working on extending the reach of genetic testing," said Weitzel, who co-wrote an editorial published with the study.

Media coverage following actress Angelina Jolie's disclosure that she carried the BRCA1 mutation has improved awareness about the testing and cancer preventive surgeries, previous research has suggested.

Jolie had both of her breasts removed in 2013 after learning she has the BRCA mutation. And, in 2015, she had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed due to the significantly increased risk of ovarian cancer that stems from having the BRCA1 mutation. But, the authors of the new study note that the rise in gene testing among patients in this study largely predated Jolie's disclosure.

Inherited mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes account for 5 to 10 percent of all breast cancers, and about 15 percent of all ovarian cancers, according to the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

Since the mutations raise the risk of early cancer, women who develop either disease at a young age have a relatively higher chance of harboring the flawed genes.

So BRCA testing is recommended for women diagnosed with breast cancer before age 50. That's, in part, to help guide their treatment decisions, explained Dr. Ann Partridge, the senior researcher on the new study, and an oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, in Boston.

Women who carry the mutations have a high risk of developing a second cancer in the other breast, so some may want to opt for a double-mastectomy as a preventive measure. (Experts also advise women with BRCA mutations to have their ovaries removed by age 40, since there is no screening test for ovarian cancer, or any way to prevent it.)

BRCA testing also gives families information, Partridge explained. "On one hand, it could give them some peace of mind if the test is negative," she said. If it's positive, then certain family members may want to be tested, too, she added.

For the current study, Partridge and her colleagues surveyed 897 women who'd been diagnosed with breast cancer at age 40 or younger, at some point between 2006 and 2013. All were treated at one of 11 hospitals in Massachusetts, Colorado and Minnesota.

Of women diagnosed in 2006, 77 percent said they'd received BRCA testing. That went up to 95 percent among women diagnosed in 2013, the study reported.

Overall, about 12 percent of women who were tested had a BRCA mutation. And most of those women -- 86 percent -- decided to have a double-mastectomy, the study showed.

But half of the women who tested negative for a BRCA mutation also had a double-mastectomy, the researchers found.

That's concerning, both Partridge and Weitzel said. Women without the gene mutations have a low risk of developing a second cancer in the other breast, and there's no evidence that a double-mastectomy improves their long-term survival.

"We don't want to be doing procedures that aren't medically indicated," Partridge said.

It's not clear why so many women with negative test results opted for a double-mastectomy -- but it's also not surprising, Partridge noted, since it's consistent with past studies.

"Some women may do it for peace of mind," Partridge said, "or because they do believe it will improve their survival, even though there's no evidence."

At a time of high anxiety, she said, some women may not fully process the risk/benefit information they're hearing.

According to Weitzel, BRCA testing should ideally include genetic counseling, to help ensure that women understand their results.

But in reality, that counseling does not always happen, he said.

Under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, BRCA testing is a covered preventive service for women at high risk of having a mutation. And, Weitzel said, Medicaid is now paying for testing, though the coverage varies by state.

There's still work to be done to improve "underserved" women's access to BRCA testing and counseling, Weitzel said -- including women in lower-income countries.

More information

The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more on BRCA testing.
Agartala, Feb 11 : 'Destination North East 2016' festival begins in the national capital from Friday in an effort to bring the rest of India closer to the northeast region.

The union ministry of DoNER (Development of North Eastern Region) is organising the three-day event at New Delhi's Pragati Maidan.

"Destination North East is being organised aiming to bring the rest of India closer to northeast region. The region has certain speciality which is a great asset for the nation," a statement issued by the ministry said here, quoting union DoNER minister Jitendra Singh.

It said the contribution of the northeast in academics, growth and revenue is very commendable.

"The region would play an important role in India's 'Act East Policy'. To act east effectively on foreign policy, it is necessary to act within our borders."

The statement said the three-day event would include theme-specific business summits on tourism, agriculture, food processing, skill development and entrepreneurship, information technology, handloom and handicrafts, livelihood, micro-finance and start ups.

India's northeastern region, comprising eight states and home to 45.58 million people (2011 census), shares borders with China, Myanmar, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal. Some of the states have trade ties with some of these countries, especially Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Guwahati, Feb 11 : Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Thursday said the BJP was "frustrated" and that was why they were so upbeat over the alliance with the Bodoland Peoples Front (BPF) for the upcoming assembly elections.

A day after BJP president Amit Shah hailed the alliance between his party and the BPF, Gogoi at a press conference said the BJP "cannot even contest the elections" without the BPF.

"Now without the BPF and its chief Hagrama Mohilary, they (BJP) cannot even contest the elections. Can you imagine the prime minister coming twice to meet Hagrama Mohilary in Kokrajhar.

"... yesterday (Wednesday) party president Amit Shah came to meet Hagrama Mohilary, who is confined to a small area like Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) and represents a small community. This only indicates frustration of the saffron party," said Gogoi.

The chief minister said the Congress had also allied with the BPF in the past.

"We had also formed an alliance with the BPF in the past. However, I never went there to meet him. It was Hagrama Mohilary who came to us (Congress) and met me.

"The BJP has now made Hagrama Mohilary a bigger leader than Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah," he said.

On Shah's Wednesday remark at a public rally that the CAG did not get replies to 822 inspection reports for more than 10 years and that there were serious financial irregularities of Rs.1,79,755.12 crore, Gogoi said Shah was nobody to ask him.

"Why should I reply to Amit Shah? Let the prime minister ask me, I'll reply then.

"This is nothing but propaganda before the elections. I submit memorandums to the prime minister and finance minister of India. Let them ask me about the irregularities, I'll reply," Gogoi said.

On Shah mentioning rhino killings, Gogoi said: "Neither Shah nor the prime minister mentioned a single word about the 150 people who died during the floods in Assam in the last two years.

"Does it mean that rhinos of Assam have more value than the people of Assam for the BJP," he asked.
New Delhi, Feb 11 : Two people have been arrested here on charge of cheating several people across India by obtaining their debit card details on the pretext of verification, police said on Thursday.

Vicky Soni, 26, and Sunil Pandey, 25, were arrested on Wednesday from their hometown Mungeli in Chhattisgarh.

"They were involved in online cheating by gathering information from their victims regarding their debit cards by posing as bank officials," Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Ravindra Yadav said.

The duo was using online fund managing apps or wallets -- Oxigen, Billdesk and PayUMoney -- to transfer siphoned-off money in their bank accounts opened in remote locations of Chhattisgarh, the officer said.

"They duped a Delhi-based businessman Akshay Goyal of Rs.85,000 by using the same modus operandi," Yadav said.

Efforts are on to trace their associate Mohan Kumar Mandal who is operating from Jamtara in Jharkhand.

The SIM cards used by the gang for making calls to their victims were procured on fake identity documents, the police officer said.

"Details of their victims across the country are being verified and further investigation is on," he added.
New Delhi, Feb 11 : Actor Pulkit Samrat, who is gearing up for the release of filmmaker Divya Khosla Kumar's romantic drama film "Sanam Re", says he does not see any difference between a male or a female director.

Pulkit, who has mainly starred in films directed by male director till now, has been directed by a female director for the first time. He, however, feels that there is no difference between the two genders when it comes to direction.

"I don't see any different between a male or a female director. It's only about being a director and having the full control and do justice to the story," Pulkit told IANS.

"Divya is very prepped up and very passionate about her work. She wrote the characters so strong on paper that it made our job a little easier to depict them onscreen," added the actor, who has starred in films like "Fukrey", "O Teri" and "Bangistan".

"Sanam Re", which is slated to release on Friday, also stars "Vicky Donor" fame actress Yami Gautam.

Sharing his experience of working with the actress, Pulkit said: " She completely forgot us while shooting in the school at Chelsea in Shimla because that was the school where her school used to go for competitions. She definitely relived her childhood days there. She used to tell all her experiences there."

"For preparations we even had to go through each others' school photographs. It was a fun experience."

Apart from them, "Sanam Re" also stars veteran actor Rishi Kapoor and Urvashi Rautela.
Mumbai, Feb 11 : Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan has been fined Rs.1,93,784 by the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation for constructing an illegal ramp outside his bungalow 'Mannat' in Bandra, a RTI query revealed here on Thursday.

Activist Anil Galgali sought details under RTI on a reinforced cement-concrete ramp constructed outside the actor's landmark bungalow which was used for parking his vanity van, leading to an outcry early last year.

Following a campaign by various citizens and activists, the municipal commissioner initiated action and a notice was slapped on Shah Rukh on February 6, 2015.

After the notice period ended, the BMC started the demolition on February 15 of the ramp which falls outside the bungalow on the junction of HK Bhabha Road and Mount Mary Road.

Activists had alleged that by constructing the ramp for his private uses, Shah Rukh had also encroached on a portion of public land.

After the demolition, the BMC served a demand notice of Rs.193,785 on the actor as costs towards the razing of the illegal structure, or face prosecution.

In order to close the issue, the actor quietly made the payment through a cheque for the entire amount, Galgali said.

When the ramp came up in late 2014, locals had complained that it blocked access to the famous Mt. Mary Church steps from the Bandstand side where the actor's bungalow is located.
New Delhi, Feb 11 : President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday expressed "great satisfaction" at the elevation of the relationship between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to a comprehensive strategic partnership.

The president's remarks came when Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of UAE Armed Forces General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is on a three-day visit to India, called on him at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here.

"Welcoming the crown prince, the president conveyed that India shares UAE's desire for a closer partnership between the two countries," a statement issued by the President's Secretariat said.

Mukherjee said India appreciated the vision of the crown prince's father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and the personal commitment of the crown prince to strengthen bilateral ties with India.

"President said it was a matter of great satisfaction that the two countries have decided to elevate their relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership," the statement said.

Mukherjee said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the UAE in August last year, the first by an Indian prime minister in 34 years, has resulted in increasing mutual understanding and bonds of friendship between the two nations.

"The joint statement issued during that visit reflects the desire to intensify cooperation between the two countries in a wide range of sectors - political, economic, security as well as on regional and multilateral issues," he said.

Mukherjee also expressed happiness over the establishment of good institutional mechanisms including a joint commission between India and the UAE and said close collaboration through these institutional dialogues and mechanisms would address pending issues and progress cooperation to the desired levels.

Stating that India attached high priority to enhancing bilateral investment ties with the UAE, Mukherjee said that through bilateral trade ties between the two countries were growing satisfactorily, UAE investment in FDI in India - of about $3 billion - is far below the existing opportunities and potential.

"The president said during the prime minister's visit to the UAE, the two countries had agreed that investment institutions in the UAE would be encouraged to invest in India's infrastructure, including through the India-UAE Infrastructure Investment Fund and a target of $75 billion is set for the same. India looks forward to working together with UAE to achieve this," the statement said.

Warmly recollecting his meeting with the crown prince in May 2008 during his visit to the UAE as the then external affairs minister, Mukherjee presented the visiting dignitary a historical photograph of him calling on Sheikh Zayed during the latter's visit to New Delhi in 1975.

The crown prince warmly reciprocated the president's views and expressed his desire to create a strong bridge of friendship and cooperation between India and the UAE.

"Although our relationship have crossed many milestones, that doesn't stop us from opening new horizons for this relationship to grow and prosper," WAM news agency quoted Sheikh Mohamed as saying.

"We expect all the mutual groups between the two countries to meet the desire of the leaderships of the two nations by working on creating new opportunities for economic, developmental and cultural partnerships," he said.

The two sides also discussed regional and international developments and exchanged views on issues of mutual interest.

Sheikh Mohamed was accompanied in the visit by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, crown prince of Dubai, Lt. Gen. Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE's deputy prime minister and minister of the interior, and Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, chief of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince's Court among others.

Mukherjee hosted a private lunch in honour of the crown prince of Abu Dhabi which was attended by Prime Minister Modi, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, other dignitaries from India and the UAE as well as business leaders.

Earlier on Thursday, the crown prince, who arrived here on Wednesday, was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

He then paid floral tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat and also held a restricted meeting with Modi at the latter's residence at 7, Race Course Road.

Delegation-level talks between Modi and Sheikh Mohamed are scheduled to be held on Thursday evening following which a number of agreements are expected to be signed.
New Delhi, Feb 11 : Congress president Sonia Gandhi expressed shock and grief at the death on Thursday of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad, noting he had fought till the last.

"I express deep shock and profound grief the death of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. During his life, the braveheart son of India united the entire nation in praying for him and has every citizen grieving for him today. He fought till his last displaying utmost valour, courage and determination, which is the hallmark of our armed forces," she said in a statement.

Gandhi also extended her sympathies to Hanamanthappa's family and loved ones.

Koppad, who was rescued alive after being buried under snow for six days in the world's highest battlefield, the Siachen glacier, died of multi-organ failure at an army hospital here.
Mumbai, Feb 11 : Actor Suresh Menon, who has starred in adult comedies like "Grand Masti" and "Mastizaade", feels that such films get better attention amongst the masses and the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) should have different characteristics to certify these type of films.

Interestingly a Delhi-based lawyer Gaurav Gulati filed a complaint against the cast and director of "Mastizaade" on Tuesday at the Adarsh Nagar police station in north Delhi, objecting to a scene in the movie wherein condoms are discussed inside a temple.

However, Suresh feels adults comedies are the ones which grabs viewer's attention faster.

Asked about the trend of sex comedies, Suresh said: "It's very simple, the biggest laughter comes when double meaning jokes are cracked. I feel a lot of films based on this concept work and lot of films don't work, but I think they are here to stay.

"I also feel they should give certification in a different manner for such films."

Suresh, best known for his roles in films like "Phir Hera Pheri", "Partner" and "Bheja Fry 2", feels proud that in a career spanning over a decade, he has been part of all kinds of projects.

"I got upset when senior journalists told me that I have done the same roles so many times. So, I actually went back and checked my track record and I am proud that I have done all kinds of films," Suresh said.

Post "Mastizaade", which was directed by Milap Zaveri and starred Sunny Leone in the lead, Suresh has given the nod to his next film.

"I am not allowed to talk about my next project, but all I can say is that it's a very big film and my role is different from my previous film. I am yet to sign the on dotted line," he said.
Mumbai, Feb 11 : Leading private sector IndusInd Bank on Thursday said it had followed all regulatory guidelines while conducting a financial transaction for LeT terrorist-turned-approver David Coleman Headley, but denied it had opened any bank account for him.

"In 2006, the bank, under a money transfer arrangement, duly approved by regulators, handled a few inward remittances under the Money Transfer Service Scheme (MTSS), in the normal course of business, in October-November. As per the regulatory guidelines in force, cash was handed over to David Headley after completing due diligence," the bank said in a statement here.

The bank response came to certain media reports which claimed that payments were made to Headley through the IndusInd Bank's Nariman Point Branch in south Mumbai.

Headley had revealed earlier on Thursday said before Special TADA court judge G. A. Sanap that he had received terror funds, including counterfeit currency, from various Lashkar-e-Taiba and Pakistani spy agency Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) functionaries.

Since last Monday, he is deposing via videoconference from a US jail before the Special Judge Sanap on his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks and being grilled by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.

The bank asserted that it had obtained the requisite documents including a copy of Headley's passport issued by the US which was valid from March 2006-2016.

Earlier, there investigations by the Indian agencies between 2009-2011 and the bank had produced the KYC documents to them and declared that IndusInd had not opened any bank account in Headley's name or handled any other business for him.
Kolkata, Feb 11 : Accusing central agencies of going soft on the Saradha scam probe, mass organisations of Left parties on Thursday held a demonstration demanding punishment for the scamsters.

Under the banner of Bengal Platform of Mass Organisations (BPMO), Left leaders and activists held a demonstration at the CGO Complex which houses the offices of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) - the two central agencies probing the multi-crore rupee scandal.

"Be it the CBI or the ED, none are doing their job. The people of Bengal demand strict punishment for all those involved in the scam. The also want back their money that was looted," said former CPI-M Lok Sabha member Sujon Chakraborty, who led the march.

"If the central agencies do not wake up and there is no action, this movement will only intensify," added Chakraborty.

With the assembly polls in the state only months away, the Communist Party of India-Marxist led Left Front has been taking the attack to the ruling Trinamool Congress on a host of issues including the Saradha scam in which several of Trinamool leaders were arrested and interrogated.

The opposition has been accusing Trinamool supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of forging a tacit understanding with the Bharatiya Janata Party with the aim to thwart the probe by the central agencies.

The financial scandal that came to light in April 2013 ruined several thousand families, mostly from the rural areas of Bengal and the adjoining states.
Islamabad, Feb 11 : Pakistan Army chief General Raheel Sharif on Thursday confirmed death sentence to another 12 "hardcore terrorists", who were involved in "heinous offences", the military said.

Some of the convicts were found guilty of attacks on armed forces, law enforcement agencies and civilians and breaking out of a key prison in the northwestern city of Bannu in 2012, Xinhua news agency reported.

Nearly 400 inmates, including dozens of Taliban militants, were freed during the attack on the jail.

These convicts were tried by military courts, an army statement said, adding that all of them had admitted involvement in the offences.

The army courts were set up after the terrorist attack on an army school in December 2014 for the speedy trial of terrorism-related accused.

Those whose death penalties were approved belong to the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, Al Qaeda and a banned sectarian outfit, Sipah-e-Sahaba. This group is blamed for attacks on Shia Muslims.

The convicts have the right of appeal to the president under the law, experts say. The President has previously rejected all mercy petitions in terrorism-related cases.
Guwahati, Feb 11 : Star shooter Gagan Narang added the one international multi-sport medal missing from his cabinet as Indians went on to sweep all five golds on offer on the second day of the shooting competition at the 12th South Asian Games (SAG) here on Thursday.

Gagan struck gold along with Chain Singh and Surendra Singh Rathod in the team event of the men's 50m Rifle. But the Olympic medallist was upstaged by Chain Singh in the individual competition of the same event and had to settle for silver. Chain shot 204.6 points to Gagan's 203.7 in the final while Umar Siddique of Pakistan shot 182.2 to take the bronze.

In the 50m Rifle Prone team event, Chain, Gagan and Rathod shot a combined total of 1871.5 to win gold. Pakistan got the silver with a team total of 1838.2 while Sri lanka landed the bronze with 1825.7.

The third gold for India came through old warhorse Samaresh Jung who shot 580 in the men's Centre Fire Pistol to edge out another Indian veteran Pemba Tamang who scored 579. Olympic silver medalist Vijay Kumar made it a clean sweep for India by bagging the bronze with a score of 577.

In the final event of the day, the women's 50m Rifle Prone, the Indian team comprising Kuheli Gangulee, Lajja Gauswami and Anuja Jung shot a combined score of 1835.6 to win the gold ahead of Pakistan who managed a total of 1805.4. Sri Lanka took the bronze with a score of 1801.8.

Kuheli won the fifth gold of the day for India when she triumphed in the individual competition of the women's 50m Rifle Prone. She shot 619.9 to lead yet another clean sweep for India with Lajja bagging silver with 608.2 and Anuja the bronze with a score of 607.5.

With this performance, India's medals tally from shooting has gone up to 17 with eight gold, six silver and three bronze medals in their kitty.
Kabul, Feb 11 : Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani said on Thursday that his government will continue to encourage the Taliban groups to join the peace talks and the national reconciliation process.

"The message of the peace is clear. We want peace, but we want peace with dignity, we want peace talks that must be stand on the basis of our constitution and that we want peace that must guarantee the rights of our people," Ghani told a gathering at an Afghan Air Force base here.

The comment coincides with the potential resumption of government-Taliban peace talks and the launch of the fourth round of four-nation meeting of Afghanistan, China, the US and Pakistan on Afghan peace process to be held in Kabul on February 23, reports Xinhua news agency.

The last meeting of the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) was held in Islamabad on February 6. The QCG agreed to set a date for the Afghan peace talks by the end of February.

The first ever direct talks between the representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban were held in Pakistan in July last year but the process was scuttled after the death of Taliban leader Mullah Omar.

"All Afghans want the peace to return to their country but members of opponents who decline to take part in political negotiations would only marginalize themselves, and they will only serve the enemies of the country," the Afghan president added.

Ghani and other leaders have repeatedly offered peace talks with the Taliban. But the insurgent group has rejected the offer, saying there will be no talks until foreign troops leave the country.

The US and NATO-led troops completed their combat mission in Afghanistan by the end of 2014, after 13 years of military presence.

They switched from combat to support mission, which focuses on training, advising and assisting Afghan forces since January last year.

Nearly 13,000 foreign forces are stationed in the country.
Kolkata, Feb 11 : Rubbishing a British website's revelations asserting that Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose perished in a plane crash in 1945, author-researcher Anuj Dhar has claimed that even the British and Indian authorities disbelieved the main witness of the alleged crash.

While the theory of Netaji's death in a plane crash is mostly based on accounts given by his aide-de-camp Lt. Col. Habibur Rahman Khan, Dhar citing documents available at the National Archives in New Delhi says both the British and Indian security officials who cross-examined him disbelieved Khan.

"The crash theory is mainly based on the accounts given by Rahman, supported by contradictory statements of a few Japanese. But according to documents, the officials who cross-examined Rahman found several loopholes in his claims and did not buy the crash theory," Dhar, whose 2012 book "India's biggest cover-up" triggered the demand of the declassification of the Netaji files, told IANS.

"IB Deputy Director W. McK Wright who led the probe into Bose's reported death, on March 25, 1946, was informed by Colonel G.D. Anderson, who had supervised Rahman's interrogation at the Red Fort, that even after months, Rahman still adhered to his earlier attitude of ingenuous denial," says Dhar.

"Even if Rahman was in the know of Bose's plans, he would not disclose them. His manner is not very convincing. He talks in a secretive way even if no one is about," reads a hand-written note by interrogating officer Major Hyat Khan to Anderson, that was accessed by Dhar.

Prompted by Anderson's report, a re-interrogation of Rahman was carried out by Capt. Habibullah Malik.

Malik in his report wrote: "Throughout the protracted questioning, resentment was visible from B1269's (Rahman's) face and he made no bones about it."

"The results obtained are far from satisfactory and do not take us much further from the original position," reads the report by Malik.

Dhar says that after Rahman was released, he was questioned at length by ace lawyer and Bose's elder brother Sarat Bose, who then made a public statement that "Rahman had orders from Netaji to come out with a fake story".

Referring to the documents suggesting the authorities disbelief of Rahman as well as the Justice Mukherjee Commission which debunkd the air-crash theory, Dhar questioned the claims made by the London website set up to catalogue the last days of the nationalist leader.

"At a time when the Narendra Modi government has begun the process of declassifying Netaji files and also has been urging foreign governments to follow suit, the motive behind the claims by the website needs to be questioned," asserts Dhar.

Describing the revelations as "trite, hackneyed and even misleading", Dhar along with a section of Bose family members have been questioning the motive of the website which incidentally has been set up by Netaji's grandnephew Ashish Ray.

Citing testimonies of two Japanese doctors and a Taiwanese nurse who treated Bose, his personal interpreter and Habibur Rahman, the www.bosefiles.info. has been ascribing to the plane crash theory.
Kathmandu, Feb 11 : Nepal's Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli on Thursday asserted that he will not compromise with India against national interest during his visit to the southern neighbour later this month.

"I will make sure that Nepal's sovereignty, independence, freedom, geographical integrity, self-respect and dignity are not adversely affected," affirmed Oli who, according to officials here, is scheduled to begin his maiden visit to India from February 19.

Oli, who is considered relatively soft towards India among the Communist leaders in the Himalayan nation, has been criticising India vehemently since he became the prime minister in October last year.

The reason for Oli spewing vitriol against India immediately after assuming office was possibly due to his facing hard days due to an anti-Constitution agitation by Madhesi parties in the southern Terai plains. The protest also led to blockading of key Nepal-India border points resulting in acute scarcity of essentials in the landlocked Himalayan nation.

Oli has also been asked by some organisations to talk to India about revising the "unequal" 1950 India-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship, to which Oli has responded that he will work for the welfare of the country.

Many leaders, however, have asked Oli to look at the bilateral relationship in its totality.

"This is not the right time for the prime minister to raise issues like amending of treaties or other controversial pending issues like the boundary row with India," said Rajan Bhattarai, a parliamentarian from Oli's party CPN-UML.

Bhattarai is also a member of the Eminent Persons' Group formed by the Nepal government to look into the totality of bilateral agreed to during the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in August 2014.

According to Bhattarai, during the visit, political issues, and strengthening of bilateral ties should be discussed at a time when Nepal-India ties have plunged to a new low.

Oli is likely to discuss strengthening cooperation in trade, tourism, as well as seek Indian investment, and implementation of past accords and various projects undertaken by India.

He will also discuss utilisation of the $1 billion line of credit announced by Modi in various infrastructure-related projects and another $1 billion aid and loan pledged by India for Nepal's reconstruction after the earthquake.

Foreign affairs expert Nischal Nath Pandey said it was "better to have implement the past understanding and commitment rather than carrying new wish list".

Maximum utilisation of the Indian line of credit, construction of the Nepal-India petroleum pipeline, expediting sub-regional cooperation under the Saarc framework, and construction of airports and mega-infrastructure should be the focus of the prime minister's visit, said Pandey.

(Anil Giri can be contacted at girianil@gmail.com)
Mumbai, Feb 11 : Pakistani-American terrorist-turned-approver David Coleman Headley on Thursday said Thane collegian Ishrat Jahan, shot dead in an alleged shootout with police in 2004, was a Lashkar-e-Taiba member and hinted that she could be a potential suicide bomber.

"Jahan was an LeT member," Headley said in his sensational disclosure while deposing before Special TADA Court Judge A. Sanap via video-conferencing from a US jail.

Headley said the 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi told him about "a botched up operation in India" of shooting at the police at a check-post in Gujarat.

A LeT woman operative was involved, said Headley identifying her as Thane college student Ishrat Jahan, out of the three names -- Noorjehan Begum, Ishrat Jahan and Mumtaz Begum -- given by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.

Muzammil Bhatt was the head of their group before Sajid Mir took over, Headley said, replying to questions by Nikam.

The revelation came when Nikam asked whether there was a women's wing of the LeT to which Headley replied in the positive and said its female head (whose name he did not know) was the mother of an LeT operative Abu Aiman.

Reacting to the deposition, former Gurjarat Deputy Inspector General of Police D.G. Vanzara told media persons that Headley's testimony on Ishrat is "very important" and proved his contention it was "a genuine encounter (shootout)".

"She was from the LeT and the Gujarat Police knew it in 2004. She was a LeT suicide bomber; it has been told in the open court," said the 62-year-old IPS officer who is facing allegations of 'extra-judicial' killings in the case.

On June 15, 2004, Ishrat Jahan and three persons accompanying her - Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Zeeshan Johar and Amjad Ali Rana - were shot dead on a road near Kotarpur on Ahmedabad's outskirts.

The police team was led by Vanzara, who was later jailed for his alleged involvement in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case.

The police then claimed that Ishrat and her associates were LeT operatives plotting to assassinate the then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi.

Subsequently, investigations revealed in 2009 that the Ishrat shootout case was staged.
New Delhi, Feb 11 : Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad died here on Thursday, three days after he was found miraculously alive under 35 feet of ice for six long days in the treacherous Siachen glacier.

President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled his death as Koppad's body was flown to Hubbali in Karnataka in an IAF An-32 plane, accompanied by his grieving family. From there, the body will be taken to his village Betadur in Dharwad for the last rites on Friday.

Mukherjee called the 33-year-old a "hero who demonstrated exemplary will power and courage in the face of adversity".

Koppad died at 11.45 a.m. at Delhi's Army Hospital Research and Referral, where he was admitted on Tuesday, following multi-organ failure, disappointing millions in the country who had prayed for his recovery.

Koppad was found from under 35 feet of hardened ice at an avalanche-hit army post in the Siachen glacier in Jammu and Kashmir -- six days after an enormous snow wall came crashing down with a massive roar on the post he and nine other soldiers were occupying.

The bodies of the other nine have been found. Siachen, in Jammu and Kashmir, is the world's highest battlefield where more Indian and Pakistan soldiers succumb to the extreme climate rather than fighting. An India-Pakistan truce has been in place on the glacier since 2003.

Mukherjee added: "The nation shall always remember Hanumanthappa for his bravery and indomitable spirit."

Modi tweeted: "He leaves us sad and devastated. RIP Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. The soldier in you remains immortal. Proud that martyrs like you served India."

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar added: "The nation salutes him."

Indian Army chief General Dalbir Singh said: "The soldier in him will continue to inspire generations."

Besides the army chief and Parrikar, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal laid wreaths on the body at Delhi Cantonment. Koppad's wife Mahadevi and two-year-old daughter Netra were present.

When Koppad was found alive late on February 8 in Siachen, he was conscious but disoriented. The next morning, he was flown to Delhi where his health took a turn for the worse on Wednesday.

On Thursday, doctors said in the morning that he was "extremely critical", with worsening multi-organ dysfunction.

He had suffered from pneumonia and multi-organ dysfunction, and the blood clotting disorder showed no sign of reversal.

The soldier was serving in the high altitude Siachen glacier from August 2015 and was chosen for deployment on one of the highest posts, where temperatures fall below minus 40 degrees Celsius with wind speeds of 100 km per hour.

Koppad has earlier served in difficult and challenging areas for 10 of the 13 years of his military service, the army said.

His postings had earlier taken him to Jammu and Kashmir (2003-06 and 2008-10) and the northeast.

Siachen glacier is one of the five largest glaciers in the Karakoram range, situated at an average altitude of 17,700 feet above sea level and is contested by India and Pakistan.
Chandigarh, Feb 11 : The AAP is instigating Punjab's people and the Congress will oppose Arvind Kejriwal's visit to Punjab this month if the AAP did not change its agenda for the border state, a Congress parliamentarian said on Thursday.

"Punjab is a very sensitive state and it has already paid a very big price after the emotions of the people were played upon. Kejriwal should not indulge in this kind of politics at all; otherwise, he will have to pay a big price for it," Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu said in a statement here.

"Kejriwal should not play with fire by inciting public sentiments in Punjab. It is a very dangerous style of politics indulged in by the AAP."

"The Punjab Congress will not allow Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to visit Punjab if the Aam Aadmi Party does not change its anti-national agenda for Punjab ahead of the next Vidhan Sabha elections,"

"I will lead a protest to stop him along with 35,000 families affected by terrorism in the state in the past. His cavalcade won't be allowed to enter the state," the Congress leader warned.

Kejriwal is scheduled to begin his week-long tour of Punjab on February 20 ahead of assembly polls in February next year.

The Delhi chief minister is expected to meet families of farmers who committed suicide in Punjab in recent years.

Kejriwal addressed a major AAP rally at the Maghi religious fair in Punjab's Bathinda district last month.

Bittu also questioned the "rise in the source of funding of AAP".

"This (funding) also raises serious doubts. The way this party is being funded, it is clear there is involvement of anti-social elements who are sponsoring them from abroad in a big way. Kejriwal should clear his stand on the source of funding," Bittu said.

The AAP is posing a political challenge to the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance and the Congress, which have dominated Punjab's political space in the past few decades.

Earlier, Kejriwal told the media in Delhi that the AAP is set to win the Punjab assembly elections, adding that he expected the Congress to finish a distant second.

"We are winning (in Punjab)," Kejriwal said at his residence in the national capital. "Delhi will be repeated in Punjab."

"The Akalis are in a bad shape," he added.

Kejriwal led the Aam Aadmi Party to a sweeping win in February last year in Delhi, where it secured 67 of the 70 seats.
New Delhi, Feb 11 : The woman who lodged a sexual harassment case in February last year against environmentalist R.K. Pachauri said on Thursday that TERI can't give a secure working environment to women employees and she felt better after leaving the organisation.

In an exclusive interview to IANS, the woman said she faced an extremely difficult situation as TERI gave her "zero support" and she was left to fend for herself.

"I feel better having resigned from TERI," she said.

Days after Pachauri was promoted as executive vice chairman of TERI, another former woman employee of the organisation on Wednesday levelled similar charges against him.

In an open letter to the media, she said: "Ever since the FIR against Pachauri came to light, I have been stating that I have also been sexually harassed by Pachauri, but all the efforts to have my statement recorded have been obstructed by police."

The former TERI employee who filed a case against Pachauri in February 2015 said similar charges levelled against the environmentalist show that there was a pattern of misconduct at TERI.

"TERI can't give secure working environment to women employees," she said.

On students of TERI refusing to accept their degrees from Pachauri, she said: "Very heartening to see."

"It's not that anyone is pronouncing anyone guilty but the point that is being made is to take a stand. These students have but TERI did not," the woman told IANS.

The former TERI employee also said she has good legal experts and was getting support from her family and friends.

Delhi Police on Thursday told the Delhi High Court that it was likely to file a chargesheet within 15 days in the sexual harassment case against Pachauri.

During a brief hearing on Thursday, the court was told by the complainant's advocate that one TERI employee, who has now resigned, had filed a police complaint on January 12 saying senior officials of TERI were pressurising him to have the matter settled by the woman with Pachauri.

After the woman employee filed a sexual harassment complaint, Pachauri denied the charge but stepped down as chairperson of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in February last year and proceeded on leave from TERI where he was the director general.

Later, Pachauri was removed as TERI head in July and Ajay Mathur appointed in his place.

In November, the woman researcher who accused him of sexual harassment quit her job at TERI, alleging she was treated badly. TERI denied the charge.

Pachauri has now been appointed executive vice chairman of the organisation despite the ongoing inquiry in the sexual harassment case.
New Delhi, Feb 11 : The Supreme Court on Thursday directed all state governments and union territory administrations to formulate a "uniform scheme" for compensation to victims of rape and sexual exploitation on the lines of one framed by Goa.

"All the states and union territories shall make all endeavour to formulate a uniform scheme for providing victim compensation in respect of rape/sexual exploitation with the physically handicapped women as required under the law ..." said a bench comprising Justice M.Y.Eqbal and Justice Arun Mishra in their judgmenty.

The court said that uniform scheme of victim compensation should take into consideration "the scheme framed by the state of Goa for rape victim compensation", as it noted different states and union territories had a lot of variation - Goa paying Rs.10 lakh compensation, Himachal Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh a "paltry amount" of Rs.50,000 and Maharashtra none.

The direction came as the court dismissed a plea by Taken alias Takram of Chhattisgarh who had challenged his seven year rigorous imprisonment after being convicted for sexually exploiting a blind girl on the false promise of marrying her.

Directing the Chhattisgarh government to provide the blind victim of sexual exploitation a sum of Rs.8,000 every month in her lifetime, Justice Eqbal, speaking for the bench, said: "It would not be possible for the victim to approach the National Commission for Women ... for relief and rehabilitation... the victim, who has already suffered a lot since the day of the crime till now, needs a special rehabilitation scheme."

Chhattisgarh government "shall pay a sum of Rs.8,000 per month as victim compensation to the victim who is physically handicapped, i.e. blind, till her life time", the court said in its direction.

"Indisputably, no amount of money can restore the dignity and confidence that the accused took away from the victim. No amount of money can erase the trauma and grief the victim suffers. This aid can be crucial with aftermath of crime," it said.

Finding no infirmity with the trial court convicting the accused and the state high court upholding the same, the apex court in its judgment said, " ... victim being physically disadvantaged, she was already in a socially disadvantaged position which was exploited maliciously by the accused for his own ill intentions to commit fraud upon her and rape her in the garb of promised marriage which has put the victim in a doubly disadvantaged situation and after the waiting of many years it has worsened."

While the trial court had convicted and sentenced Taken to seven year rigorous imprisonment on November 29, 1997, it was affirmed by the Chhattisgarh High Court on January 16, 2014.

Tekram was studying with the victim girl's three brothers and used to frequent her house. He gradually started displaying his love for her and on the promise of marrying her, sexually exploited her when she used to be alone at home. He refused to marry her after she became pregnant.

Both the victim and the accused are residents of village Nandini Khundini in Chhattisgarh's Durg district.
New Delhi, Feb 11 : The Press Club of India (PCI) on Thursday condemned the raising of anti-India slogans by Kashmiri students in the PCI compound to protest the execution of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru in Tihar Jail in 2014.

"We strongly condemn the incident in the PCI premises by miscreants yesterday (Wednesday). We have taken strong action against a club member under whose signature the conference hall was hired," said PCI secretary general Nadeem Ahmad Kazmi.

Kazmi said a show-cause notice had been served to the person concerned and further action will follow.

"We normally let out the premises for holding press conferences or seminars on a member's recommendation. We wish to make it clear that we are in no way responsible for such incidents," Kazmi said.

"On the contrary, when our managing committee came to know about the happenings, they went to the conference hall and forcibly got the premises vacated."

Kazmi said the club is reviewing the process of letting out the premises.
New Delhi, Feb 11 : India and the UAE signed four agreements across various sectors on Thursday, the second day of the three-day visit to India of Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.

"The strength of a multifaceted relationship. The leaders witness the exchange of four agreements across various sectors," external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said after the agreements were exchanged by officials from both sides in the presence of Sheikh Mohamed and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The four agreements cover the fields of cyber security, infrastructure investment, renewable energy and currency swap arrangements, he said in another tweet.

Prior to this, the crown prince held meetings with Modi and President Pranab Mukherjee.

Earlier on Thursday, the crown prince, who arrived here on Wednesday, was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

He is being accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising cabinet ministers, senior officials and business leaders.

On Friday, he will leave for Mumbai where he will visit the Bombay Stock Exchange and meet Indian business leaders.
Kolkata, Feb 11 : The condition of ailing All India Forward Bloc leader Ashok Ghosh has improved although he continues to be critical, doctors said on Thursday.

The 94-year-old Ghosh, the senior-most Left Front leader in West Bengal, was on February 2 rushed to a hospital following lower respiratory tract infection.

"Ghosh... is conscious, haemodynamically stable and obeying commands," the hospital said in a statement, adding that he was on oral feed.

However, he still remains critical, the statement added.

He was taken off ventilatory support on Wednesday.

Ghosh has for decades now been the secretary of the West Bengal unit of the party founded by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
Kolkata, Feb 11 : Giving their stamp of approval on efforts to cobble up an alliance with the Congress for the upcoming West Bengal assembly polls, partners in the Left Front on Thursday said discussions should be held with the Congress on the issue if the party so desired.

In a related development, former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said a common will to remove the Trinamool Congress from power could be the basis for an alliance between the parties despite their mutual differences.

The 11 Left Front partners, who met during the day, lobbed the issue of alliance on the Congress court.

"There has been no formal discussions so far with the Congress. All 11 Left Front partners said if the Congress wants to hold discussions with us on the issue, we will discuss," the combine's chairman Biman Bose told mediapersons.

In an obvious reference to the alliance efforts, Communist Party of India-Marxist veteran leader Bhattacharjee exuded confidence that past bitterness and differences would not stand in the way.

"There is one thing that you and we understand. There is a call for unity, an alliance. Why? Some people are saying we all should unite, join hands to oust the Trinamool.

"Nothing good will happen to Bengal if Trinamool is not removed from power. This party (Trinamool) are sending our state towards doom," Bhattacharjee said.

Addressing a party rally at Barrackpore in North 24 Parganas district, the veteran leader said there could be an alliance based on the common consensus of removing the Trinamool.

"Whoever wants to oust the Trinamool, there may be differences between us, two individuals or parties may differ on issues, but there is a broad consensus is that this government has to be removed. We have to do it. We have to prepare for that. I am confident."

Bhattacharjee, however, said he could not divulge everything as his party would start a two-day state committee meeting from Thursday to decide on the strategy for the polls.

The state committee's decision would be conveyed to the CPI-M central committee, which is scheduled to hold a three-day session beginning February 16 to take the final decision on the alliance.

Welcoming the Left Front stand as a "positive step", Congress leader Abdul Manna also hoped the alliance would be a reality.

With the polls less than three months away, the state leadership of the CPI-M has been making overtures to the Congress for a joint fight against the Trinamool.

Last week, a majority of state Congress leaders also conveyed to party vice president Rahul Gandhi their desire to team up with the CPI-M at the hustings.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi will take the final decision on the possible alliance.
Panaji, Feb 11 : A Goa minister on Thursday accused Karnataka of 'dadagiri' (bullying) over the Mhadei river water dispute, which is currently being looked into by a central tribunal as well as the Supreme Court.

"Karnataka is doing dadagiri. I am saying this in simple words. They are defying a judicial decision and still carrying out work of constructing facilities for river water diversion. We will not compromise on the Mhadei issue in any way," state Water Resources Minister Dayanand Mandrekar said at a public discussion on the dispute.

Goa and Karnataka are currently battling out the dispute over the controversial Kalsa-Bhandura dam project across the waters of the Mhadei at a central tribunal.

Mhadei, also known as the Mandovi river, is a lifeline in the northern parts of Goa. It originates in Karnataka and meets the Arabian Sea in Panaji. While the river traverses 28.8 km in Karnataka, it is 81.2 km long in Goa.

Karnataka plans to construct seven dams on the river, aimed at diverting the water into the starved Malaprabha basin in northern Karnataka.

Both the Goa government and civil society groups have said that diverting the water would sound a death knell to the northern areas of Goa which are dependent on the river for fishing, irrigation and potable water.
Kolkata, Feb 11 : West Bengal's Left Front on Thursday gave the stamp of approval on holding alliance talks with the Congress, but put the ball on the Congress court, saying it has to approach the combine first with the proposal.

Briefing mediapersons after a meeting of Left Front partners, its chairman Biman Bose said all 11 constituents agreed that talks should be held if the Congress wanted discussions.

"There has been no formal discussions so far with the Congress. We have not received any letter so far from the Congress seeking discussions on the issue," Bose said.

"The question is whether we should agree to hold talks with the Congress if it approached us. All 11 Left Front partners said if the Congress wants to hold discussions with us on the issue, we will discuss," Bose said.

He sidestepped a query on whether the Left Front would pop the proposal for the alliance to the Congress if the latter refused to take the first step.

Asked why the Left Front was open to holding discussions on the alliance with the Congress, Bose referred to communist Russia joining hands with the US and Britain during the Second World War.

"Democracy is in danger, the people's democratic rights are threatened. We want to bring back democracy. And so we are eager to talks to all those who share our desire to restore democracy and want to discuss it with us," he said.

In a related development, former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said a common will to remove the Trinamool Congress from power could be the basis for an alliance between the parties despite their mutual differences.

In an obvious reference to the alliance efforts, veteran CPI-M state secretariat member Bhattacharjee, while not taking the name of the Congress, exuded confidence that past bitterness and differences would not stand in the way.

"There is one thing that you and we understand. There is a call for unity, an alliance. Why? Some people are saying we all should unite, join hands to oust the Trinamool.

"Nothing good will happen to Bengal if Trinamool is not removed from power. This party (Trinamool) is sending our state towards doom," Bhattacharjee said at a party rally at Barrackpore in North 24 Parganas district.

"Whoever wants to oust the Trinamool, there may be differences between us, two individuals or parties may differ on issues, but there is a broad consensus is that this government has to be removed. We have to do it. We have to prepare for that. I am confident."

Bhattacharjee, however, said he could not divulge everything as his party would start a two-day state committee meeting from Thursday to decide on the strategy for the polls.

The state committee's decision would be conveyed to the CPI-M central committee, which is scheduled to hold a three-day session beginning February 16 to take the final decision on the alliance.

Welcoming the Left Front stand as a "positive step", Congress leader Abdul Manna also hoped the alliance would be a reality.

With the polls less than three months away, the state leadership of the CPI-M has been making overtures to the Congress for a joint fight against the Trinamool.

Last week, a majority of state Congress leaders also conveyed to party vice president Rahul Gandhi their desire to team up with the CPI-M at the hustings.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi will take the final decision on the possible alliance.
Bhubaneswar, Feb 11 : Union Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Thursday assured that he will positively consider the demand of the Odisha government to provide more rice instead of wheat under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).

After holding a meeting with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik over NFSA implementation, Paswan said demands of the state regarding allocation of more rice instead of wheat would be considered positively.

He said Odisha also demanded supply of rice to inmates of SC/ST hostels at discounted rate.

The minister said he has received complaints regarding ration card irregularities in Odisha and assured to look into it.

Patnaik said Odisha was getting 1.43 lakh tonnes of rice and 26,000 tonnes of wheat on a 86:14 ratio before the implementation of NFSA in the state.

But, the state was now getting 1.27 lakh tonnes of rice and 34,000 tonnes of wheat after the implementation of the Act.

Informing Paswan that people of the state prefer rice to wheat, Patnaik urged the minister to allocate rice and wheat at the earlier ratio to the state.

The chief minister also urged to provide subsidised rice to 4.8 lakh inmates of SC/ST hostels.

Earlier, Patnaik had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Paswan demanding more rice and decrease in the wheat allocation for the state.
Chennai, Feb 11 : The Election Commission will take necessary action to update the electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu next month, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Nasim Zaidi said on Thursday.

Zaidi told reporters hee that measures will be taken next month to update the electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu as well as other poll-bound states.

Special camps will be conducted for the purpose, he said.

Zaidi met representatives of various political parties, who have demanded single-phase polling, apart from curbing of money and freebie distribution to voters.

He said there were around 5.79 crore voters in Tamil Nadu, and over 65,600 polling stations would be set up.
New Delhi, Feb 11 : India and the UAE signed seven agreements across various sectors on Thursday, the second day of the three-day visit to India of Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.

"The strength of a multifaceted relationship. The leaders witness the exchange of four agreements across various sectors," external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said after the agreements were exchanged by officials from both sides in the presence of Sheikh Mohamed and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The four agreements cover the fields of cyber security, infrastructure investment, renewable energy and currency swap arrangements, he said.

"Three more agreements have already been exchanged in the fields of insurance, culture and skill development," Swarup stated in another tweet.

An eighth agreement between EXIM Bank of India and Dubai Economic Council will be signed during the crown prince's visit to Mumbai on Friday.

Earlier on Thursday, after being accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan and paying floral tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat here, the crown prince held a restricted meeting with Modi at the latter's 7 Race Course Road here.

"Productive interaction with HH Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Avenues of India-UAE cooperation are immense," Modi later tweeted.

Following this, Sheikh Mohamed called on President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan During the meeting, Mukherjee expressed "great satisfaction" at the elevation of the relationship between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to a comprehensive strategic partnership.

"Welcoming the crown prince, the president conveyed that India shares UAE's desire for a closer partnership between the two countries," a statement issued by the President's Secretariat said.

Mukherjee said India appreciated the vision of the crown prince's father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and the personal commitment of the crown prince to strengthen bilateral ties with India.

"President said it was a matter of great satisfaction that the two countries have decided to elevate their relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership," the statement said.

Mukherjee said Modi's visit to the UAE in August last year, the first by an Indian prime minister in 34 years, has resulted in increasing mutual understanding and bonds of friendship between the two nations.

"The joint statement issued during that visit reflects the desire to intensify cooperation between the two countries in a wide range of sectors - political, economic, security as well as on regional and multilateral issues," he said.

Mukherjee also expressed happiness over the establishment of good institutional mechanisms including a joint commission between India and the UAE and said close collaboration through these institutional dialogues and mechanisms would address pending issues and progress cooperation to the desired levels.

"The president said during the prime minister's visit to the UAE, the two countries had agreed that investment institutions in the UAE would be encouraged to invest in India's infrastructure, including through the India-UAE Infrastructure Investment Fund and a target of $75 billion is set for the same. India looks forward to working together with UAE to achieve this," the statement said.

The crown prince warmly reciprocated the president's views and expressed his desire to create a strong bridge of friendship and cooperation between India and the UAE.

"Although our relationship have crossed many milestones, that doesn't stop us from opening new horizons for this relationship to grow and prosper," WAM news agency quoted Sheikh Mohamed as saying.

"We expect all the mutual groups between the two countries to meet the desire of the leaderships of the two nations by working on creating new opportunities for economic, developmental and cultural partnerships," he said.

Sheikh Mohamed was accompanied in the visit by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, crown prince of Dubai, Lt. Gen. Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE's deputy prime minister and minister of the interior, and Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, chief of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince's Court among others.

Mukherjee hosted a private lunch in honour of the visiting dignitary which was attended by Prime Minister Modi, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, other dignitaries from India and the UAE as well as business leaders.

The crown prince later also met Vice President Hamid Ansari at the latter's residence here during which the two leaders discussed friendly ties and cooperation between the UAE and India as well as ways to promote them in order to achieve common interests.

The UAE is home to around 2.6 million expatriate Indians, 60 percent of whom are blue collar workers.
New Delhi/Mumbai, Feb 11 : The BJP and the Congress on Thursday sparred after terrorist-turned-approver David Coleman Headley's court deposition that Ishrat Jahan -- shot dead in a shootout along with three others in 2004 -- was a Laskhar-e-Taiba operative.

While the Bharatiya Janata Party demanded an apology from Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi, the opposition party questioned attempts to justify the "fake" Ishrat Jahan encounter which it said were "not permissible by law".

Ishrat, a 19-year-old college student, Pranesh Pillai alias Javed Gulam Sheikh, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed on Ahmedabad's outskirts in an alleged shootout with the police on June 15, 2004.

The police claimed that the four were LeT operatives plotting to assassinate the then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi.

"Jahan was an LeT member," Pakistan-American Headley said in his sensational disclosure while deposing before Special TADA Court Judge A. Sanap in Mumbai via video-conferencing from a US jail on Thursday.

Headley said the 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi told him about "a botched up operation in India" of shooting at the police at a check-post in Gujarat.

A LeT woman operative was involved, Headley sais while identifying her as Thane college student Ishrat Jahan, out of the three names -- Noorjehan Begum, Ishrat Jahan and Mumtaz Begum -- given by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.

BJP leader Shrikant Sharma said in Delhi that Sonia and Rahul should tender an apology following Headley's testimony.

"These Congress leaders should apologise to the nation and to the heroes who killed LeT terrorist Ishrat Jahan and her three accomplices," he said.

"Instead of praising the brave policemen, questions were raised on their sincerity and they were put behind bars. Now the mask has come off their faces," Sharma said.

He said the Congress hatched a conspiracy to politicise terror in order to defame the Bharatiya Janata Party and Modi.

On the other hand, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari questioned the attempts to use Headley's testimony to justify the "fake" shootout.

He said if the government wants to investigate further if Jahan and her accomplices were Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives or not, there was nothing which stops it.

"But the fundamental question remains: Whether Ishrat and her accomplices were killed in a fake encounter or not?" Tewari added.

Tewari said even if a person is a terrorist, he needs to be arrested and needs to be brought to justice like parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

"But to try and justify a fake encounter, I am afraid, is something which the law does not permit," the Congress leader said.

Headley's earlier testimony before a National Investigation Agency team in 2011 in the US claimed Jahan was a Lashkar terrorist.
Mumbai, Feb 11 : British luxury car maker Jaguar Land Rover on Thursday said its pre-tax profit for the third quarter of 2015-16 declined 27.15 percent, at 499 million pounds (approx $721.2 mn) as against 685 million in the same period last fiscal, despite the best quarterly sales performance in the company's history.

The strongest quarterly sales performance in the company's history for the quarter saw sales of 1,37,653 cars globally, Jaguar Land Rover said in a statement.

"We have reported solid revenues and profits in our latest financial quarter, reflecting very positive customer demand for our new and refreshed line-up of vehicles," said CEO Ralf Speth in the statement.

However, the company's total revenues slumped by two percent to 5.8 billion pounds compared to the year ago quarter.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, retail sales rose by 23 percent with 1,37,653 vehicles in Q3 2015-16.

Jaguar sales rose by 30 percent with the sale of 23,841 units while Land Rover sales rose by 22 percent with 1,13,812 units in the quarter under review.

Compared to Q3 2014-15, demand rose nearly 50 percent in the top three regions of Jaguar Land Rover in Europe, North America and Britain while Chinese demand fell by 10 percent due to local market conditions and model transitions.

The third quarter of the current fiscal saw an EBITDA margin of 14.4 percent at 834 million pounds.
New Delhi, Feb 11 : Nine agreements were exchanged between India and the UAE, including on cyber security and infrastructure investment, as the two sides agreed to further boost bilateral ties on Thursday, the second day of the three-day visit of Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.

Apart from cyber security and infrastructure investment, the other agreements are for cooperation in the areas of renewable energy, space exploration, insurance, culture, skill development, trade and business, and currency swap arrangement, according to the ministry of external affairs.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sheikh Mohamed held bilateral talks at Hyderabad House here during which the two leaders discussed ways to promote bilateral cooperation.

The two leaders agreed that promoting bilateral cooperation would drive forward the strategic partnership between the United Arab Emirates and India. The two leaders also discussed a number of regional and international issues of mutual interest.

Modi expressed his happiness on the occasion of this important visit which would serve the interest of the two nations. He also praised the special relationship the UAE and India enjoy.

Sheikh Mohamed was accompanied in the visit by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, crown prince of Dubai, Sheikh Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE deputy prime minister and minister of interior, and Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, chairman of the Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Court among others.

Sheikh Mohamed expressed his happiness on visiting India, saying that the country has a special relationship with the people of the UAE and the Arabian Gulf dating back centuries.

He added that this deep-rooted relationship has helped to strengthen the bonds of friendship that the two nations enjoy today.

He said the UAE, under the leadership of President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, was keen on pushing its relationship with India forward on the solid basis of mutual respect and common interests. He also commended the contributions of the Indian community to the development and growth of the UAE.

There are around 2.6 million expatriate Indians in the UAE, 60 percent of whom are blue collar workers.

The two leaders also discussed regional and international issues, including current developments in the Middle East such as violence and terrorism.

The two leaders concluded their talks by stressing that the two nations have passed a milestone in the path of their strategic relationship, expressing their keenness on pushing this relationship forward.

They also agreed that it was important for the international community to exert more efforts to achieve stability and security at the regional and international levels and to confront the challenges that the people of the world face, including the menace of terrorism, extremism and violence.

Sheikh Mohamed's is the second highest level visit to India from the Gulf region after the visit of the emir of Qatar in March 2015.

The region, which hosts seven million expatriate Indians and is an important source of remittances, has a strong bearing on India's security and stability in its neighbourhood.

The UAE is the third largest trading partner of India after the US and China and also the sixth largest source of India's crude oil imports.

While Thursday's memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cyber security provides for technical cooperation in cyber space and in combating cyber crime, the one on infrastructure investment aims at establishing a framework for facilitating the participation of UAE institutional investors in infrastructure investments in India.

During Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in August last year, the first by an Indian prime minister in 34 years, the Gulf nation committed $75 billion in investments in India's infrastructure sector.

A framework agreement on renewable energy provides for bilateral cooperation through extensive projects, investments, cooperation in research and development in renewable and clean energy.

Another MoU establishes a framework for cooperation in space science, technology and applications including remote sensing, satellite communication and satellite based navigation.

Earlier on Thursday, after being accorded a ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhavan and paying floral tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat here, the crown prince held a restricted meeting with Modi.

Following this, he called on President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

During the meeting, Mukherjee, who hosted a private lunch in honour of the visiting dignitary, expressed "great satisfaction" at the elevation of the relationship between India and the UAE to a comprehensive strategic partnership during Modi's visit last year.

The crown prince later also met Vice President Hamid Ansari at the latter's residence here during which the two leaders discussed friendly ties and cooperation between the UAE and India as well as ways to promote them in order to achieve common interests.
Dharwad (Karnataka), Feb 12 : Hundreds of people gathered at the house of Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad at Betadur village near here on Thursday night to mourn his tragic death at an army hospital in New Delhi earlier in the day.

When Koppad's mortal remains were brought on road from Hubbali airport around midnight, wrapped in a casket and draped in tri-colour, his extended family plunged into grief even as his brother and close relatives broke down.

The 33-year-old brave-heart lost the battle for life three days after he was rescued from a Siachen glacier at the world's highest and coldest battlefield where he was buried under 35 feet in ice for six days after an avalanche struck his camp on February 3.

State chief minister Siddaramaiah, opposition leader Jagadish Shettar and many dignitaries were present at the airport when an IAF AN-32 aircraft landed with Koppad's body at 10.30 p.m.

After laying wreaths and paying floral tributes, Siddaramaiah consoled Koppada's widow Mahadevi, mother Basavva, two-year-old daughter Netra and brother Govindappa, who accompanied the body from Delhi.

"Besides an ex-gratia amount, the state government will give Koppad's family farm land, a residential plot at Hubbali for building a house and a government job to his widow," Siddaramaiah told reporters at the airport, about 410-km from Bengaluru.

The state government will also pay hefty compensation to families of two other soldiers from the state-Sepoy Mahesha from Mysuru district and Subedar Nagesha from Hassan district who perished in the tragic mishap atop Siachen along with seven others last week.

"We are pained because we thought he will recover in one or two days and come back. We prayed to all gods but in vain. His family is shattered," Koppad's neighbour Manjunath told reporters, weeping inconsolably.

When news of Koppad's death reached his village on Thursday afternoon, many people also felt proud that he was martyred in the mountains while serving the country.

"Koppad will be laid to rest on Friday afternoon with full state honours, including 21-gun salute in the presence of army personnel and state reserved police.

Koppad belonged to the 19th battalion of Madras Regiment, which he joined 13 years ago after failing to get through into the army on three occasions in past.

Koppad was posted on the Siachen glacier since August 2015 and deployed at one of the highest posts (Sonam) facing Pakistan and where temperatures plunge to minus 40 degrees Celsius and winds blow up to 100-km per hour.

The 10 soldiers buried alive were maintaining the world's highest helipad in the area, which brought supplies for soldiers on the Siachen glacier.

While nine soldiers, including one junior commissioned officer, died, Koppad was the only one who survived for six days buried under tonnes of snow.
Moscow, Feb 12 : Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that current regular large-scale snap military drills were a success and such exercises should be continued.

"The practice of conducting such snap inspections should be continued. We are seeing that the practice itself works well and allows consistent raising of combat readiness of the army and navy, as well as coordination of units," Putin said during a video conference with military officials participating in the Southern Military District exercises, Xinhua reported.

Involving a total of 8,500 troops, 900 military vehicles, 88 warships and 200 aircraft, snap drills began Monday to inspect the combat readiness of troops stationed in the Southern Military District.

Some troops from the Central Military District, which includes Western Siberia and the Urals, are also participating in the exercises.

The practice of unexpected massive checks of combat readiness of Russian troops was introduced by Putin in 2013. Since then Russia had held regular snap drills in various parts of the country.

Putin on Thursday praised the personnel involved in the Southern Military District drills for demonstrating the best performance and professionalism.

Putin added that the drills confirm the troops' willingness to reliably ensure Russia's security in the south-western strategic direction including the Crimean peninsula, according to an official online transcript.

Moscow has been accusing North Atlantic Treaty Organization of its military deployment in several member states neighbouring Russia.
Some 284,000 residential landlords in the UK have failed to protect renters deposits despite the fact that it is a legal requirement to do so, new research has found.

A report from the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) for financial comparison website money.co.uk says that these landlords are sitting on 514 million of deposits that should be protected by an official third party service.

With 4.6 million households privately rented and the average protected deposit at 1,040, the total value of deposits paid by tenants and placed in protection schemes by landlords has now reached 3.2 billion, the report claims.

Despite the risk of fines for landlords who fail to protect their tenants deposits, 15% are still failing to do so running the risk of a 2,400 penalty and the report adds that landlords that flout the rules could together be earning up to 8.5 million a year in interest on unprotected money, while leaving themselves and their tenants with no third party protection when their agreement comes to an end.

The government imposed deposit protection schemes to stop landlords unfairly taking money out of deposits for things such as wear and tear or pre-existing damage when tenants move on.

With this protection in place, an alternative dispute resolution scheme will step in and assess the case and make sure any money held back by the landlord is a fair deal for both the tenant and the landlord.

However, compliance with these rules are not being monitored effectively and the onus to report and take action against the landlord lies with the tenant, the report also explains.

While many landlords are doing the right thing and protecting deposits in one of the official government backed schemes, a worrying amount of money is falling through the cracks and far too many tenants are being left vulnerable, said Hannah Maundrell, editor in chief of money.co.uk.

Its not right that tenants are left responsible for taking their landlord to court if their deposit hasnt been protected. The government needs to step in and take decisive action. Introducing a compulsory register listing every landlord that rents out property in England and Wales would be a start. This works for Scotland and Northern Ireland and it seems crazy this hasnt been brought in across the UK, she explained.

Add in tenants ratings and reviews to this too and you have both the beginnings of a solution that helps renters make an informed choice about who theyre handing over buckets of cash to; and the foundation for policing landlords that are currently going unchecked, she added.

Maundrell also pointed out that it is not just renters that stand to benefit from deposits being protected. Landlords need a safeguard against renters that misbehave too. I cant understand why any landlord wouldnt do this. It doesnt have to cost anything to place money with a tenancy deposit scheme and could save so much hassle later on, she added.
Average rents in the UK increased by 1.1% in the 12 months to September 2017, driven by growth in the south of the country although they were unchanged in Greater London, the only area not to see a rise.

The biggest annual increase was in the South West of England with rents up to 795 per month, followed by a rise of 2% in Wales to 657 and a 1.9% rise in the South East of England to 1,032, according to the latest lettings index from Countrywide.

Rents increased by 1.7% in the East of England to 937 and although the highest rents are still in Greater London at 1,712, they did not move month on month. In the Midlands, the North of England and Scotland rents increased by 1.2% to 674, 637 and 655 respectively.

The report also shows that more homes coming on to the rental market in Northern England has slowed rental growth. In September there were 12% more rental properties on the market across the three regions of Northern England with one in 10 owned by a London landlord.

And more people renting a home are moving out of London. Over the last 12 months some 64,672 tenants left London, the highest number since 2007, with the majority, 78% or 50,406, moving out of the city to rent and the rest buying instead.

The index report points out that this is a significant shift from a decade ago when the majority of tenants moving out of the capital, 51%, did so to buy and since 2007 over half a million tenants have left London, with 30% of them buying a home.

Tenants leaving London to rent moved twice the distance as those leaving to buy, 101 miles compared to 53 and a combined average of 89 miles. This is reflected in the growing proportion heading to the Midlands or the North. This year 48% of tenants leaving London to rent somewhere else headed north compared to 31% in 2007.

Despite the growing number of London tenants heading north, the majority remain close to the capital. More homes in Slough, some 46%, are let to a tenant coming from the capital than anywhere else in the country while Tandridge is the top hotspot for buyers who were renting in the capital.

The average London tenant buying a home outside the capital spends 388,000 on a new home, some 16% less than someone who was selling a property in London. Tenants coming from London spend an average of 9% more than those who already live locally.

For people in their 30s leaving London is something of a rite of passage. But as the number of those renting has grown the move out of London is increasingly likely to be in the rental market. A decade ago most tenants moving out of the capital did so to buy. But since 2007 leaving London to carry on renting somewhere else has become more typical, said Johnny Morris, research director at Countrywide.

Rental price growth continues to be supported by the low number of landlord purchases, particularly across the south of England. The number of rental homes on the market has continued to drop with more southern based landlords looking northwards in search of better yields and lower stamp duty bills. Conversely northern England has seen double digit increases in the number of homes on the market which is likely to temper rental growth, he added.
Colleen Drury - The Inspiration for Colleen's Dream Foundation Dr. Karen Watters is performing valuable microRNA research which can help in the battle to defeat ovarian cancer. Colleen's Dream Foundation President Billy Cundiff

As part of their 2015 end of year funding strategy, Colleens Dream Foundation, with support of the Million Dollar Round Table Foundation (MDRTF), has gifted $10,000 to University of Chicago to support ovarian cancer research being conducted by Dr. Karen Watters, according to Colleens Dream Foundation President Billy Cundiff.

We are honored to support a promising young investigator from Dr. Lengyels lab at the University of Chicago, says Cundiff. Dr. Karen Watters is performing valuable microRNA research which can help in the battle to defeat ovarian cancer.

According to Dr. Watters, the microRNA research she is focused on has important implications for the long-term survival of ovarian cancer patients.

Although the majority of high-grade serous ovarian cancer patients initially respond well to chemotherapy, most will eventually relapse and succumb to chemoresistant disease, says Dr. Watters. My research focuses on the microRNAs (regulatory short non-coding RNAs) of not just the tumor itself, but also the tumor microenvironment and how the cross-communication between these two compartments can contribute to both innate and acquired resistance to chemotherapy in these patients.

Dr. Watters says understanding why ovarian cancers stop responding to chemotherapy may be key to understanding the disease itself. She says support from organizations like Colleens Dream Foundation and the Million Dollar Round Table, is important in allowing her to pursue this question.

This gift will allow me to study unique aspects of the mechanism of ovarian cancer seeding and why these cancers stop responding to chemotherapy, says Watters. This additional knowledge has the potential to help us gain further insight into the biology of this disease.

Cundiff says supporting ovarian cancer research like Dr. Watters is the goal of Colleens Dream.

Colleens Dream is honored to support Dr. Watters work, says Cundiff. We are truly excited about the possible impact her research may have in defeating ovarian cancer.

ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICINE AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

The University of Chicago Medicine and Biological Sciences one of the nation's leading academic medical institutions, has been at the forefront of medical care since 1927, when it first opened to patients. Today, it comprises the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, a top 10 medical school in the country; the University of Chicago Biological Sciences Division, a section committed to scientific discovery; and the University of Chicago Medical Center, consistently ranked among the best hospitals in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Twelve Nobel Prize winners in physiology or medicine have been affiliated with the University of Chicago Medicine.

ABOUT THE MILLION DOLLAR ROUND TABLE FOUNDATION (MDRTF)

The MDRT Foundation is the charitable arm of the Million Dollar Round Table, The Premier Association of Financial Professionals. The MDRT Foundation helps MDRT members maximize their philanthropic efforts in their own communities and worldwide.

In 1956, MDRT President, Arthur F. Priebe, CLU directed a corporate charitable gift in his honor to support the larger needs of the community, which led to the creation of the MDRT Foundation in 1959. During the next 10 years, MDRT members pooled their resources together to strengthen this newly founded charitable organization. By combining the generosity of each contributor, the MDRT Foundation is a powerful vehicle to maximize the global impact of MDRT members committed to improving the life of children and families in need in communities worldwide.

Since 1959, the MDRT Foundation has awarded more than USD 30 million in life-changing grants to charitable organizations worldwide. MDRT Foundation grants support social service agencies, education and advocacy programs, medical agencies and many other causes committed to empowering people in need. Some of the organizations that have received funding include Make-A-Wish International, Habitat for Humanity, Heifer International and The Salvation Army.

ABOUT COLLEENS DREAM FOUNDATION:

Colleens Dream Foundation started in 2012 and supports research for early detection and improved treatment for ovarian cancer. The story of Colleens Dream started in 2007 when Colleen Drury Nicole Cundiffs mother and Billy Cundiffs mother-in-law- was diagnosed with late-stage ovarian cancer. The family became aware of a new world that was filled with invasive surgery, harsh chemotherapy, and lots of uncertainty, and realized they needed to help others who were dealing with ovarian cancer.

Colleens Dream Foundation believes it is important to raise money for research that will lead to reliable early detection testing and improved treatment for ovarian cancer. Because so little is known about ovarian cancer in proportion to other womens health issues, there is an incredible opportunity for research and education.

Colleen's Dream Foundation is a qualified 501 (c) (3) tax exempt non-profit organization based in Phoenix, Arizona.
Prior WSTA Seminar on Mobility I am very excited to hear the mobile thought leaders who are actively innovating for their clients and bringing new technical capabilities to the market as a whole. It's going to be a great day, says keynote speaker Joe Kennedy, Director, PwC

The WSTA will host a seminar on Mobile-First Design and Seamless Delivery on February 25, 2016 in New York City for Financial IT Professionals. Speakers at this event currently include Luncheon Speaking Sponsor: Mobiquity, Inc. and Speaking Sponsors: Akamai Technologies, Inc., InfoStretch, Red Hat, Inc., and Solstice Mobile. I am very excited to hear the mobile thought leaders who are actively innovating for their clients and bringing new technical capabilities to the market as a whole. It's going to be a great day, says keynote speaker Joe Kennedy, Director, PricewaterhouseCoopers. View the complete agenda at http://www.wsta.org/events/event/mobile-first-design-and-seamless-delivery/.

Seminar Overview

Mobility as a customer channel enabler has attained a reasonable level of maturity. While working on new channels like wearable integration, the industry is still dealing with traditional challenges on ubiquitous employee access to enterprise resources, device security, end-user authentications and cybersecurity. In return, the firms are getting access to precious data from their mobile customers by correlating their access, interests, locations and behavioral patterns. New types of data are enabling new analytics on customer and product intelligence. Product-centric design is yielding to user-centric design. This seminar on mobile-first design and seamless delivery will include topics on responsive web design, app store enrichment, governance, mobility testing, multimodal user security, near-field communication integrations, and cloud-based service implementations. It will also cover strategic challenges to increase revenue by harnessing the seamless delivery of features and functions using the mobile platform.

Profile

For almost 50 years, the Wall Street Technology Association (http://www.wsta.org) has provided financial industry technology professionals, vendors, service providers, and consultants forums to learn from and connect with each other. The WSTA facilitates educational seminars and networking events where members meet and exchange ideas and best practices that assist them in effectively capitalizing on technology advances and dealing with financial industry business challenges. Founded in 1967, the WSTA is a not-for-profit association with a long history of evolving to meet the needs of its members.

The WSTA hosts seminars, roundtables, panel discussions, and social events. These events offer many opportunities to stay on top of leading technologies, as well as network and share information with industry colleagues. The WSTAs quarterly educational Ticker e-Zine and LimeLight e-Newsletter provide additional content and information about the WSTA and industry-related activities. The website is a dynamic resource for keeping on top of the latest information and offers access to additional resources including white papers, blogs, videos, and information about other industry events.

Financial Firm Members

WSTA financial firm members are employed at banks, brokerages, hedge funds, insurance companies and other financial firms. The WSTA currently has about 2,400 members from over 50 different firms; 81% of the members hold senior titles such as CIOs, CTOs, Vice President, Director and Manager. The remaining 19% hold other titles such as analysts, engineers, architects, etc. The WSTA also reaches over 3,200 prospective financial firm technology professionals with information about educational and networking opportunities.

Affiliates and Sponsors

Affiliates and sponsors are an integral component of the WSTA. As a not-for-profit organization, they contribute significantly by providing the resources needed to run the educational and networking programs for WSTA financial firm members. These programs strengthen the bond between members and companies that serve the technology needs of the financial community.

The WSTA currently has approximately 100 technology firms that participate in the WSTA as an affiliate or sponsor. Companies that provide cloud, big data, mobility, security, software, infrastructure, networking, social, telecom and other industry-related solutions find the WSTA an invaluable forum to create awareness, educate and develop relationships with financial industry professionals.
Alison Conlin, M.D., Providence Cancer Center It is particularly important for our highest risk women to be screened for cancers, and this illustrates the impact that insurance may have on emphasizing that, said Alison Conlin, M.D., Providence Cancer Center oncologist and study author.

Research led by Providence Health & Services has found Medicaid coverage results in significantly higher rates of several common cancer screenings, especially among women. Cancer screenings are often the best way to catch cancer early, resulting in better outcomes and survival rates.

The study,What Does Medicaid Expansion Mean for Cancer Screening and Prevention: Results from a Randomized Trial on the Impacts of Acquiring Medicaid Coverage, has been posted online at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cncr.29802/full, and was published in the January issue of the journal Cancer.

Using a randomized controlled trial of people seeking health coverage, researchers sought answers to two questions: Would Medicaid coverage cause individuals to seek cancer screenings, and would they adopt preventative health behaviors that might reduce cancer risk?

Getting more people into screenings and preventive care is a key goal of the insurance expansions embedded in the Affordable Care Act, said Bill Wright, Ph.D., Providence Center for Outcomes Research and Education senior research scientist and study author. More screenings might mean earlier detection, which could lead to more cost effective care and better treatment and health outcomes for patients.

The study found having Medicaid coverage did result in people having several types of common cancer screenings, including for cervical cancer (19 percentage points higher than non-covered individuals) and colon cancer (10 percentage points higher than non-covered individuals). However, Medicaid coverage did not significantly impact other screenings, including for prostate or breast cancer, or HPV vaccinations.

Researchers did find the effects of insurance were most evident among women who were thought to be higher risk for cancer by family or personal history. Having insurance significantly increased three of the four female-specific screening rates for women in this group, including breast examinations (26 percent higher), Pap smears for cervical cancer (21 percent higher) and HPV vaccinations (4 percent higher).

It is particularly important for our highest risk women to be screened for cancers, and this illustrates the impact that insurance may have on emphasizing that, said Alison Conlin, M.D., Providence Cancer Center oncologist and study author. It is encouraging to see that these vulnerable women having improved cancer screening and therefore hopefully earlier diagnoses.

While having coverage did substantially improve connections to primary care physicians, the study found little evidence that those connections resulted in healthier behaviors, such as smoking cessation, alcohol use reduction or weight loss.

It might be that, for people who have just acquired insurance, these larger lifestyle changes are still a bit down the road, Wright said. People who have been without coverage may have been experiencing all kinds of unmet care needs, and may prioritize getting those immediate issues taking care of when they do gain coverage.

Providence researchers were able to conduct this unique study with the cooperation of the State of Oregon. In 2008, Oregon held a lottery to accept additional low-income, uninsured residents into its Medicaid program. Nearly 90,000 people applied for the 10,000 available openings. The researchers collected data on the lottery participants from many sources, including hospital records and mail surveys, and compared outcomes between those randomly selected by the lottery and those not selected in order to determine the impact of Medicaid coverage. Medicaid, which is jointly funded by the federal and state governments, covers the health care costs of eligible low-income individuals and families.

Earlier research on this randomized controlled trial found that individuals who had access to health care fared better than those who did not. That study was released in 2011 as working paper 17190, and can be found at http://www.nber.org.

The research team included Wright, Conlin, Heidi Allen, Ph.D., Columbia University; Jennifer Tsui, Ph.D., Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey; Matthew Carlson, Ph.D., Portland State University, and Hsin Fang Li, Ph.D., Providence Health & Services. The project was funding by a grant from the American Cancer Society, however the American Cancer Society was not involved in any aspect of the study itself.

Providence Health & Services in Oregon offers a comprehensive array of health and education services through its eight hospitals, medical clinics, health plans, long-term care facilities and home health services. With more than 18,000 caregivers, Providence is the states largest private employer. Visit http://www.providence.org/oregon.
Mori Luggage & Gifts joins Briggs & Rileys national charity program A Case for Giving, taking place in their 29 stores February 11 February 29, 2016, benefiting Ronald McDonald House as part of a nationwide cooperative effort.

We are proud to work with Ronald McDonald House Charities to make a true difference in the lives of people who are in such need of luggage. said John Mori, CEO of Mori Luggage & Gifts.

Briggs & Rileys A Case for Giving works in cooperation with more than 250 retail partners to get your gently used rolling bag to someone in immediate need in local communities around the country. A Case for Giving salutes more than 100 charity partners of Briggs & Rileys retailers including Ronald McDonald House, Treehouse for Kids, Make A Wish, Goodwill and local womens shelters, mens homes and coalitions for the homeless.

We are very pleased to re-introduce A Case for Giving for its second year, and we expect to be even more successful and to exceed the 2,000 bags collected for the needy last year during our first luggage trade-in program, said Briggs & Riley CEO Richard Krulik. The idea was sparked by conversations with foster care leaders who made me realize what a wonderful added purpose our products can have, Krulik continued. Weve put our support behind making sure that those in need can transport their belongings securely, whether it be a child leaving foster care, or a woman getting out of a shelter, or a family who must travel for medical treatment.

A CASE FOR GIVING  HOW IT WORKS:



Think about a gently used rolling bag you own. It might have even been sitting for years gathering dust in a closet.

Bring your used bag into a Mori Luggage & Gifts store between February 11 and February 29, 2016.

Receive $100 credit on a new Briggs & Riley bag if you donate a used Briggs & Riley bag and a $50 credit on a new Briggs & Riley bag if you donate a used bag from another brand.

Leave your used bag behind knowing it will be a joy to someone who needs it.

About Mori Luggage & Gifts

Founded in 1971, Mori Luggage & Gifts is a family-owned specialty retailer employing more than 200 people. Mori currently operates 29 stores throughout Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee,

South Carolina, North Carolina, and Florida in addition to two stores at Atlantas Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. For more information about Mori Luggage & Gifts, visit http://www.moriluggage.com.

About Briggs & Riley Travelware

Briggs & Riley is the international brand of luggage and business cases whose fanatical customer base speaks loudly in the two way dialogue that embodies the companys mantra  Engineered for Reality, Guaranteed for Life. Briggs & Rileys main focus is making sure travelers are equipped with a durable product and a dependable relationship required for today's travel realities. Owned by US Luggage LLC, a privately owned and operated family company with headquarters on Long Island, New York, Briggs & Riley and its parent company are acclaimed for innovations such as the first ever wheeled luggage, a differentiating Outsider handle, the first compression/expansion luggage, and backing every bag they make with an unconditional lifetime performance warranty, the only one of its kind in the industry. Briggs & Riley collections and products can be found in North America, the UK, Japan and China at more than 600 fine specialty retailers, select high-end department stores and online, with online ordering and a store locator at http://www.briggs-riley.com.
Small business owners, like financial planner John Hobden of London, Ontario, Canada, was looking for a relatively quick way to expand his business.

What John discovered was a niche certification, the Certified SmartEquity Specialist (CSES) program from the nonprofit Institute of Consumer Financial Education - ICFE, based in San Diego, CA. Hobden learned a new way - not the make an extra payment plan - to pay off his mortgage and lower the amount of his interest payments resulting in a tremendous savings of his time and money.

"My referral business has exploded to the point I'm having a hard time keeping up with the appointments. All I did was share my CSES course experience with my clients and helped them save thousands in loan interest payments," he recalled. "I found by first helping clients free up cash flow and saving thousands of dollars in loan interest payments, they found it easy to get properly insured. The Certified SmartEquity Specialist program from the ICFE helped me both personally and professionally," Mr. Hobden said.

Credit reporting, credit ratings and credit scores are another area of specialization for many different professionals. By becoming a Certified Credit Report Reviewer (CCRR) through the ICFE, or a Certified Credit Repair Specialist (CCRS) people can make an immediate impact on the lives of their clients and their credit reports. CCRRs are trained to look for a wide variety of reporting irregularities and mistakes. CCRRs also put in seminars on how to improve credit scores.

Another ICFE course is the Certified Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (CHECMS). It fine-tune's the real estate or mortgage person's knowledge and how to help their clients navigate the reverse mortgage process.

The ICFE also has instructor training courses for "Make Your Move", a first-time home buyers course, "Money in Motion", "Money and Faith in Motion" and the "Money Instruction Book". "Credit When Credit is Due" is one of the nations most popular consumer credit courses with almost a half million people enrolled or completing it.

The ICFE's courses are accepted for continuing education (CE) credits by a wide variety of professional associations, state regulatory and licensing authorities, including the CFP Board of Standards and Practices and the Association for Counseling and Planning Education.

A specialized certification may help a small businessperson land a sole source contract. For instance, many municipalities and private employers make Identity Theft Protection part of an employees benefit package. When they issue requests for proposals, most specify the individuals who work with their employees must have a CITRMS XV designation. A certification could also land a professional a "preferred vendor" status with many companies and governmental employers.

MORE ABOUT THE ICFE

The Institute of Consumer Financial Education (ICFE) was founded as a non-profit organization in 1982 to help consumer improve spending habits, increase savings and use credit more wisely. Working in cooperation with government and business, the ICFE offers several certification programs with Continuing Education Units and Professional Development Units including Certified Identity Theft Risk Management Specialist Program and the Certified Consumer Debt Collection Compliance Specialist. Paul S. Richard is the ICFE President and Executive Director. To learn more about ICFE visit their websites at http://www.icfe.org and http://www.studentdebthelp.org. For further information contact charlie(at)dtpublicrelations(dot)com
Arabs, British, Dutch, Chinese and Portuguese all left their mark in the sub-continent. There is something for everyone ranging from culture, wildlife, sun and sand to indigenous medicines

The popularity of the sub-continent for tourism surged last year as a record number of tourists arrived in Kerala, Sri Lanka and Maldives. The Hindu, on 29th December, reported an increase of 4.5% of tourist visits to Kerala with British being the No. 1 European market. Similarly, according to Lanka Business Online, Sri Lanka and Maldives reported 18.1% and a 10.3% increases respectively.

Arabs, British, Dutch, Chinese and Portuguese all left their mark in the sub-continent. There is something for everyone ranging from culture, wildlife, sun and sand to indigenous medicines, stated Trevor Samuel, Senior Manager at Thomas Exchange Global. Its a place to turn back the clock.

The South Asian sub-continent is considered a very economical and popular tourist destination. However, Indian Rupees and Sri Lankan Rupees are not freely available in London at competitive prices.

There are very few places to instantly buy Rupees in London and usual waiting time range from 1-3 days, said Samuel. Thomas Exchange Global is the one stop shop with the best exchange rates to buy local currencies to India and Sri Lanka over the counter on same day.

In addition to currencies for the sub-continent, many other Asian currencies such as the Thai Bath, Indonesian Rupiah, Vietnam Dong, Malaysian Ringgit and 100 other foreign bank notes are available for instant purchase at any of Thomas Exchange Globals locations.

About Thomas Exchange Global

As dedicated foreign exchange specialists, Thomas Exchange Global has the professional expertise, in-depth market knowledge, technological infrastructure and commitment to provide an unprecedented level of service that sets the standard in the foreign exchange industry. They are specialists in all areas of foreign exchange and provide commission-free currency as well as travellers cheques.

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 Place (Victoria Rail Station) Victoria Street, Liverpool Street, High Street Kensington, Hammersmith, Canary Wharf, Cannon Street, Wormwood Street and Richmond.
Entrepreneurs must look at businesses as blank canvases that offer opportunities to create something beautiful.

Southern California best selling author and marketing expert Lisa Caprelli is now accepting speaking opportunities from business and educational groups interested in entrepreneurship, marketing and innovation.

Caprelli is CEO and founder of Go Glossy Public Relations, and author of Color Your Message, a how-to book on digital marketing. More importantly, she is a how-to book. Imagining businesses as a blank canvas, Caprelli provides them with the color they need to be successful.

Todays business leaders will find many great examples of how to be more successful leaders in these presentations. I believe its important to share the knowledge Ive gained during my 22 years in the marketing world with the future generation, says Caprelli.

Caprelli welcomes speaking opportunities in educational settings like universities, colleges, and high schools, community organizations, and more formal business environments.

Entrepreneurs must look at businesses as blank canvases that offer opportunities to create something beautiful, says Caprelli of her business philosophy. "I help business leaders envision how to use the many tools available to them to paint a successful business."

Caprelli's presentations offer an interactive experience and provide a unique brand of inspiration. Whether its sharing anecdotes about famous clients, relating what has worked for other successful entrepreneurs, or playing an inspirational Jim Carrey clip (yes, Jim Carrey), she uses a high-energy, personal style to connect with crowds.

Groups that have benefited from her talks include UC Irvines Blackstone LaunchPad, the PRSA 2015 International Conference, The Institute of Management Consultants in Orange County, and Fairmont Prep Academy in Anaheim Hills. Says Caprelli: It is my honor to help the next generation of innovative entrepreneurs. You can do anything you set your mind to.

About Lisa Caprelli and Go Glossy:

Successful entrepreneur, marketer and author Lisa Caprelli brings creative marketing solutions to client organizations. Caprelli began life as the quiet middle child in a small city Texas family. She eventually found her voice which ultimately led to public speaking and hosting radio shows. Her passions were fueled by helping people, especially those like herself - motivated, self-driven, entrepreneurial types working hard toward a better life. Her penchant for marketing and the psychology that propels people into action has been a hallmark of every position she has held since early adulthood. An accomplished artist, she has used her colorful approach to develop top brands including Kasem Cares Foundation, HyperCar Development, Intelidy, Legal Point, Toyota of Whittier, Razor Resources, The Business Experience Show, Y.E.L.L. (Young Entrepreneurs Living Large) and many more client success stories.

Media Contact:

Brian Gaps

pr(at)goglossy(dot)com

Tel (949) 346-4769
"Sally Shaw has had an extraordinary career and we are lucky to have attracted one of the brightest stars of the art world to Colchester

Sally Shaw, currently Head of Programme at Modern Art Oxford, has been working to bring art to diverse audiences for over 15 years. Exhibitions of note that she has commissioned include Barbara Kruger, Stuart Brisley and Love Is Enough: Andy Warhol and William Morris, curated by the Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller which received an Exceptional Award from Arts Council England.

Prior to her time at Modern Art Oxford, Shaw was Deputy Head of Culture for the Mayor of London. Here she led a wide range of visual art programmes including the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square and a number of high profile contemporary art commissions for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Alongside her commissioning work, Shaw led a long-term strategic programme to develop artist studio provision across London.

From 2006  2010 Shaw was Senior Curator for Art on the Underground where she programmed a broad range of ambitious and unconventional artist commissions for a daily audience of four million London Underground passengers.

Shaw is currently a board member of Eastside Projects in Birmingham and was previously Chair of the London Contemporary Visual Arts Network (CVAN).

"Sally Shaw has had an extraordinary career and we are lucky to have attracted one of the brightest stars of the art world to Colchester, says Noorzaman Rashid, Chairman of the Firstsite Board of Trustees. The challenges at Firstsite are still great but we are going from strength to strength. Visitor numbers are already 30% greater than last year and levels of community engagement continue to grow."

Councillor Tim Young, Cabinet Member for Communities and Culture, Colchester Borough Council, commented: "Sally Shaw comes to Firstsite with a superb pedigree. She is just the right person to build on the work of the last twelve months and to take Firstsite forward with confidence and a degree of excitement. We, at the Borough Council, look forward to working with her."

Councillor Roger Hirst, Cabinet Member for Transport, Planning and Environment, Essex County Council added: Sally Shaw joins Firstsite at a very exciting time in its development and Im confident that she will build on the excellent work that has already been done. She brings with her a wealth of knowledge and experience and Im delighted that she has agreed to take up the position of Director.

Hedley Swain, Area Director, South East, Arts Council England, said: Firstsite is an important part of the arts scene in the East of England. We want to see the gallery continue to exhibit exciting and enjoyable works of contemporary visual arts for a broad audience, both in Colchester and more widely across the region. With the support of Colchester Borough Council and Essex County Council, the gallery has made progress in the last 12 months and Sallys appointment will continue that momentum. We look forward to seeing her build on the development that has been achieved so far, working with the board to create a strong and successful gallery.

Notes to editors:

About Firstsite

Firstsite, in Colchester, is the East of Englands contemporary visual arts organisation based in the award winning building designed by internationally renowned Uruguayan architect Rafael Vinoly.

Since opening in September 2011 we have welcomed half a million visitors and established a reputation as a gallery of regional and national importance presenting a varied, popular and challenging programme of exhibitions, commissions, residencies and screenings.

With an annual turnover of 2 million, we have increased our visitor numbers from 80,000 in 2014 to 125,000 in 2015 and continue to offer free entry.

Firstsite builds relationships between art, artists and people through the delivery of high quality exhibitions supported through our educational activities and our public programmes that engage diverse audiences and local communities. Firstsite offers a wide-ranging programme of creative events and activities  from drop-in sessions for parents and toddlers, young peoples creative development, to arts and craft courses for adults, film screenings from across the world, talks and debates in its state of the art auditorium.

Firstsite works with museum, gallery and cultural partners across the UK and internationally. Firstsite is proud to be a partner of Plus Tate, an 18-strong affiliation of regional galleries, including The Baltic in Gateshead, Turner Contemporary in Margate and The Hepworth Wakefield, which join together to exchange ideas, knowledge, skills and resources, as well as programmes and collections.

Firstsite has worked with some of the most influential artists of our time including Louise Bourgeois, Barbara Hepworth, Yoko Ono, Bridget Riley, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Anthony Gormley, Grayson Perry and Ai Wei Wei. In 2016 Firstsite will show the work of the pop artist Andy Warhol. In Summer 2016 it will feature a retrospective of the work of the President of Magnum Photographers, and well-known chronicler of British life, Martin Parr.

About Arts Council England

Arts Council England champions, develops and invests in artistic and cultural experiences that enrich peoples lives. We support a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries  from theatre to digital art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections. Great art and culture inspires us, brings us together and teaches us about ourselves and the world around us. In short, it makes life better. Between 2015 and 2018, we plan to invest 1.1 billion of public money from government and an estimated 700 million from the National Lottery to help create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country. http://www.artscouncil.org.uk
SCS Engineers, an environmental consulting and contracting firm recently hired Eduardo Choquis, P.E., as Project Director. He will work out of the Bedford office near Dallas, Texas and will focus his experience in support of SCS clients in the area.

Before joining SCS, Choquis was responsible for engineering and environmental compliance activities in a large portion of Texas and North Louisiana for a major waste services company. His responsibilities included providing technical support to a professional staff of engineers, environmental managers, and environmental technicians, as well as an area management team and general managers for a variety of facilities. These facilities include landfills, transfer stations, material recovery facilities, composting operations, and hauling operations.

Choquis 20 plus years of experience includes positions as Program Manager and Senior Project Manager for a regional engineering consulting company. His diverse project experience includes engineering design and permitting of landfills and transfer stations, construction plans for solid waste facilities, construction quality assurance for waste containment systems, and preparation of regional waste management plans. Choquis also has experience in geotechnical engineering including slope stability analyses, Phase I/II environmental site assessments, and remedial projects at contaminated sites.

Choquis earned a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and a Master of Science in Environmental and Geotechnical Engineering, both from Iowa State University. He is a member of the Solid Waste Association of North America and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. He is certified in the State of Texas as a Class A Landfill Operator, as issued by TCEQ and is a licensed professional engineer in three states Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.

About SCS Engineers

SCS Engineers environmental solutions are a direct result of our experience and dedication to solid waste management and other industries responsible for safeguarding the environment. For more information about SCS, please visit our website at http://www.scsengineers.com or follow us on your favorite social media channel.
"With Operation Pure Motivation we have truly created a win-win scenario for all involved" James Schwenk.

United Risk, Inc., a Charlotte based provider of insurance management and aggregation services for companies in North and South Carolina, announced today the launch of Operation Pure Motivation. Operation Pure Motivation is a special program that aims to raise $50,000 for local charity Charlotte Rescue Mission through a donation of 50% of all proceeds earned through the program.

Through the program, United Risk, Inc. showcases their service. The service offers companies a review of workers compensation insurance audits. Its not common knowledge, but commercial insurance audits are disputable for three years, and more often than not contain very costly errors. In fact, according to James Schwenk, President of United Risk, Inc. 85% of the free insurance audit reviews weve completed contained errors resulting in premium overpayments by business owners. The Insurance Ally service finds errors in audits, corrects them by following official insurance carrier dispute procedures, which results in premium refunds for their clients. United Risk, Inc. is paid based on a percentage of the premium refund earned then gifts half of that to the Charlotte Rescue Mission.

James Schwenk, comments: With Operation Pure Motivation we have truly created a win-win scenario for all involved. Our clients benefit from insurance premium refunds, we earn the trust of a new customer, and most important the Charlotte Rescue Mission receives the funds they need with 50% of Operation Pure Motivation proceeds dedicated to helping the local community, and those in need. Thats what really motivates us!

The Charlotte Rescue Mission is delighted about Operation Pure Motivation, as Neely Gilbert, Development Officer notes: Through Operation Pure Motivation, the Charlotte Rescue Mission will be transforming lives in the name of Christ by serving people struggling with addiction, poverty or hopelessness with the goal of returning them to society as productive, self-sufficient citizens.

About United Risk, Inc.

United Risks mission is to provide its clients with innovative services like Insurance Ally which greatly exceed customer expectations. They offer value through insurance management, aggregation, and consulting services that aim to eliminate the root cause of unnecessary insurance premium increases. The company also assists clients with sourcing insurance policies through its network of insurance purchasing groups, and related premium discounts.

About Charlotte Rescue Mission

The Charlotte Rescue Mission provides a free 90-day Christian residential program for men and women who are addicted to drugs and/or alcohol and are predominately homeless.

Interview opportunities are available now by calling:

Rev. Tony Marciano cell: 704-806-4693

tonym(at)charlotterescuemission.org

Charlotte Rescue Mission main phone number: 704-333-HOPE
Ron Kleiman, CEO, BenefitVision, Inc. We have new techniques that work to make online enrollment more effective. Let's focus on the future.

BenefitVisions Chief Executive Officer, Ron Kleiman is leading a panel discussion at Worksite Benefits Renaissance, Atlantic City, NJ on March 1st. The Keynote Panel will discuss Increasing Volume with Online Enrollment and Call Centers.

Mr. Kleiman noted, Self-service is changing our Worksite Marketing industry and it is changing it fast. It is certainly possible that if we dont figure out how to adapt to that change the enrollment firms, the carriers providing the worksite products and the brokers who count on the income from those products will see a future about as bright as a closed casino on the boardwalk in Atlantic City.

The panel discussion featuring Ron Kleiman from BenefitVision, Norma Gregorio from Employee Navigator, Lyle Griffin from Selerix and Gil Murdock from Enrollment Advisorsas well we are hoping lots of good ideas from audience participantsare going to share ideas about how to address these very critical issues. Registration for the conference is still available for all who would like to attend.

BenefitVision is headquartered in Long Grove, IL serving large employers throughout the United States with a diverse range of communication and enrollment and administration options. The company has an Enrollment Office in Los Angeles, CA and a Tele-Enrollment Center in Harrisburg, PA. For more information, please contact Virginia Eanes, VP of Marketing at (800) 810.2200 ext. 1115 or visit us at http://www.benefitvision.com.
Portal Solutions (http://www.portalsolutions.net), a technology consulting firm that designs and deploys digital workplace solutions, announces today it is partnering with Microsoft for an Office 365 roadshow event in Reston, Virginia, and Elkridge, Maryland, to give IT and business decision-makers insight on being cloud ready in 2016, specifically, understanding SaaS and Office 365.

The opening keynote will be given by Microsoft and Portal Solutions CEO followed by four 45-minute breakout sessions presented by Portal Solutions digital workplace experts, Daniel Cohen-Dumani, Dale Tuttle and Jill Hannemann. Thanks to Microsofts sponsorship, the event is free.

Who:

Executives, IT and Business Decision-Makers

What:

Microsoft and Portal Solutions Office 365Cloud Readiness Roadshow

When/Where:

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Microsoft Office

6518 Meadowridge Road

Suite 200

Elkridge, MD 21075

When/Where:

Friday, February 12, 2016

Microsoft Office

12012 Sunset Hills Road

Suite 100

Reston, VA 20190

For session details and to register for the event, visit http://portl.me/msftrdshw. The roadshow is scheduled to hit Philadelphia, New York and Boston in late spring and early summer.

Were excited to partner with Microsoft. Its a great opportunity for businesses to learn about Office 365 and what to consider when moving to the cloud, says Daniel Cohen-Dumani, CEO and Founder of Portal Solutions. Cohen-Dumani continues, There are many powerful features in the Office 365 platform and deploying and managing them for maximum ROI seems to be a pain point for many organizations."

The company will also demonstrate its turnkey intranet, OneWindow Workplace (http://www.onewindowapp.com) that brings together the components of the powerful Microsoft Office 365 platform into one single digital window.

About Portal Solutions

Portal Solutions (http://www.portalsolutions.net) designs and delivers modern digital workplaces on Microsoft Office 365 and SharePoint platforms to help organizations effectively share what they know and find what they need  anywhere, anytime and on any device. For more than a decade, the companys cutting-edge solutions have revolutionized the way employees collaborate; driving productivity, innovation, and increasing overall customer experience. Portal Solutions is a Microsoft Gold and Cloud Partner focusing on Office 365, SharePoint, Azure and Yammer. Founded in 2003, Portal Solutions is a privately-held company headquartered in Bethesda, Md., with a regional office in Woburn, Mass.
National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists

Students enrolled in the Congress of Future Medical Leaders or the Congress of Future Science and Technology Leaders may now enroll in College Domination Boot Camp on June 28, 2016, to be held at UMass Lowell, Lowell, MA.

The College Domination Boot Camp is hosted by college admissions expert, Dr. Deborah Bedor, CEO of College Admission Central, LLC and author of Amazons best-selling college admissions guide: Getting IN by Standing OUT.

Dr. Bedors tentative schedule of boot camp topics include:

 Your essential college application timeline (freshman through senior year strategies)

 College essay brainstorming and how to write your personal statement

 Leadership, talent development, and science research opportunities to make your application stand out

 Dominating the college interview

 How to rescue a deferral from your favorite college

A special parents segment will include:



What keeps parents up at night? (And how to eliminate those worries)

How to foster a stress-free & healthy relationship with your teen during junior and senior year

Todays competitive college application process is nothing like it was even just a few years ago", said Bedor. Our goal at this boot camp is to enlighten, teach, strategize with, and inspire these exceptional college-bound students so that they gain the edge they need to win admittance into the college of their dreams.

College Admission Centrals approach is based on a deep understanding of the creativity, leadership roles, entrepreneurial and science research experiences, and unique intellectual projects required of todays college applicants, leveraged with proprietary and the most up to date admissions technology platforms. For over 25 years, Dr. Deborah Bedor has personally advised top students nationally and internationally, assisting them with every part of the college application processbuilding and implementing the most unique and winning presentation of each student's college portfolio and application. For more information about College Admissions Central visit http://collegeadmissioncentral.com/ or call 1-800-559-1625.

The Congress of Future Medical Leaders and the Congress of Future Science and Technology Leaders are sponsored by the National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists and the National Academy of Future Scientists and Technologists, respectively. The Academies were founded committed to supporting Americas high achieving high-school students through career and focus-based programs and services. Based in Washington, D.C., and with offices in Boston, Massachusetts, each Academy was chartered as a nonpartisan, taxpaying institution to help identify, encourage and mentor students. For more information about the Academies and the upcoming summer 2016 Congresses visit http://www.FutureDocs.com, http://www.SciTechLeaders.com, or call 617-307-7425.
Anholt Services (USA), Inc. (Anholt) announced today that it had hired Hangsu Jhun to the position of Vice President in June of 2015. In this position, Mr. Jhun will beis focusing on analyzing public securities trading in Asia, with a focus on emerging and frontier Asian markets, including Vietnam, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. Mr. Jhun will also work with the rest of the Anholt team to oversee the remainder of Kattegats broader Asian public securities portfolio, which covers a range of countries, including China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, andVietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines and Russia.

Prior to joining Anholt, Mr. Jhun worked as a graduate researcher at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. He was previously at Daewoo Securities and Korea Asset Pricing & Korea Ratings Co. Mr. Jhun is a graduate of Yonsei University and the Tuck School of Business.

Commenting on the hiring, Anholt Managing Director Joe Massoud said, We are very pleased to have Hangsu joining our team. He brings experience, focus and enthusiasm to the position. We look forward to working with Hangsu over the coming years as we continue to build out our Asian public equity position. We are also pleased to announce that as a result of the hard work of Hangsu and the Anholt support staff, we have successfully established brokerage and custody accounts in Pakistan and Bangladesh, and we are excited to begin deploying capital in these rapidly growing and dynamic markets.

About Anholt:

Anholt Services (USA), Inc. is an indirect subsidiary of the Kattegat Trust, a family office based philanthropic foundation. Anholt evaluates and manages Kattegats interests globally across a wide range of asset classes, including hard assets, fund partnership interests and control and minority stakes in private and public companies. The senior members of the Anholt team have worked with the Kattegat Trust in various capacities since 1998. For more about Anholt, please visit http://www.anholtusa.com.
Energy Foundry was announced as one of eight Seed Fund Support grant awardees under the Economic Development Administrations (EDA) 2015 Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) program. These funds will establish programs that expand the pool of available capital that is accessible for energy start-ups and technologists in the Midwest.

Energy Foundry will work directly with investors and institutions interested in the regions growing energy innovation sector. The EDA grant will advance the energy related acumen of seed-stage and angel investors in the Midwest. It will also engage the business community in a new commercialization platform unlocking additional capital, accelerating time-to-market for energy start-ups, and enriching the overall energy ecosystem.

The 2015 RIS program is managed by EDAs Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIE) and is designed to advance innovation and capacity-building activities in regions across the country.

ABOUT ENERGY FOUNDRY

Energy Foundry invests venture capital to build groundbreaking energy start-ups. Their approach merges investment capital with the perks of strategic partnership, and includes an arsenal of essential tools and relationships to help bring great ideas to market. With the backdrop of Illinois billion-dollar grid modernization efforts, their investment model is designed to reduce risk and accelerate speed to market for the most promising grid and energy ideas.
Natural gas provider Infinite Energy has pledged to contribute $5 to Gwinnett County Public Schools every year for each natural gas customer it has in Gwinnett County. The Gwinnett County Public Schools Foundation recently surprised the principals of 47 elementary, middle and high schools in the Gwinnett County Public Schools system with $500 checks for each of their 69 robotics teams, courtesy of Infinite Energys first contribution.

The Gwinnett County Public Schools Foundation received $41,325 from Infinite Energy as part of this program in December. The $34,500 contribution to the local school robotics teams was allocated from this first installment.

We are so pleased to be able to present the schools with these funds, said Infinites CEO Darin Cook. Robotics is certain to play a larger role in everyday life in the near future, and Infinite Energy wants to send a clear message that we support the next generation of designers and engineers. Todays child may be the designer of the automated system that changes the world.

Infinite Energy markets wholesale and retail energy products in an ethical and profitable manner. The company employs over 340 people and has offices in Florida, Georgia and Texas.
The goal of CARD Academy is to offer students with autism an individualized education enabling them to grow and thrive.

CARD Academy, a nonpublic school day school for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), today announced its open house in Woodland Hills, Calif. on Saturday, February 27, 2016 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Using an applied behavior analysis (ABA) teaching approach, CARD Academy educates students with ASD, developmental delay and speech-language impairment from preschool to age 22. The open house will offer parents a chance to discover the benefits of the private day school, ask questions and meet the staff. The open house will take place at the CARD Academy site located at 6330 Variel Ave., Suite 101, Woodland Hills, Calif. 91367. Light refreshments will be served. To RSVP or ask questions, contact Serenita Kumar, CARD Academy Business Development Manager, by phone at 818-657-1112 or email at s.kumar(at)centerforautism(dot)com.

The California Department of Education now allows CARD Academy to accept nonpublic school placements. Please contact us for more information on how to receive special education services through district funding.

We are excited to host our open house in Woodland Hills and meet the community, said CARD Academy superintendent, Mary Ann Cassell, MA, BCBA, LBA. The goal of CARD Academy is to offer students with autism an individualized education enabling them to grow and thrive.

CARD Academy is an institution focused on teaching excellence. Students receive a personalized program based on their performance on several assessments covering a wide range of skill areas, including language, social, academic, cognition, motor, adaptive and executive functioning.

Once the assessment process is complete, teachers and administrators work to create a dynamic individualized education program (IEP). Student-teacher ratios range from 1:1 to 4:1 based upon the individualized needs of the students.

The CARD Academy curriculum is based on the Department of Educations standards and is enhanced by the Skills assessment and curriculum, developed by the Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD). Aligned with the Common Core curriculum, Skills is a technology used by teachers and administrators to organize lesson plans, track progress, identify trends, and allocate resources, such as extra training.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that one in every 68 children in the U.S. is diagnosed with ASD, with one in 42 boys and one in 189 girls diagnosed. These figures have increased by more than 30 percent since previously reported in 2008. As the prevalence of ASD has increased, services for children with ASD have not always kept pace with demand. As a result, families affected by ASD may encounter challenges when trying to access the services that are crucial to their childs development, such as an individualized education in the classroom.

About Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD)

CARD treats individuals of all ages who are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) at treatment centers around the globe. CARD was founded in 1990 by leading autism expert and clinical psychologist Doreen Granpeesheh, PhD, BCBA-D. CARD treats individuals with ASD using the principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA), which is empirically proven to be the most effective method for treating individuals with ASD and recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the US Surgeon General. CARD employs a dedicated team of nearly 2,000 individuals across the nation and internationally. For more information, visit http://www.centerforautism.com or call (855) 345-2273.

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The common goals of Sanford International Clinics and Global Health Corps are synergistic and provide an opportunity for our two organizations to be of great value to each other.

Two leaders in bringing health equity to global locations are collaborating to improve care in Africa. Sanford International Clinics and Global Health Corps have partnered to enhance the level of care in developing parts of the continent.

The two organizations, which both have an existing presence in Africa, will work to develop health care professionals and identify and implement best practices in areas like electronic medical records, supply chain management, medication standardization and clinical education.

Global Health Corps is thrilled to be partnering with Sanford International Clinics to expand access to healthcare in an area where it is greatly needed, said Barbara Pierce Bush, CEO and co-founder of Global Health Corps. We believe that health is a human right, and are proud to collaborate with likeminded partners to ensure that individuals get the quality healthcare they deserve.

Global Health Corps places young professionals in Eastern and Southern Africa and the United States in year-long, paid fellowships where they work in high-impact roles within local organizations to improve health care access and outcomes. Fellows are currently working in Rwanda, Uganda, Malawi, the United States and Zambia. Alumni of the program, totaling nearly 600, continue to work in the global health field expanding access to care. Global Health Corps was founded in 2009 and is led by Barbara Pierce Bush, daughter of former president George W. Bush and granddaughter of former president George H. W. Bush.

Sanford International Clinics, a division of Sanford Health, launched in 2007 as an initiative to develop clinics around the United States and world in areas that lack adequate primary care services. In Africa, Sanford International Clinics has established a network of 17 clinics in Ghana.

The common goals of Sanford International Clinics and Global Health Corps are synergistic and provide an opportunity for our two organizations to be of great value to each other, said Jim Slack, vice president for Sanford International Clinics. GHCs fellowship program is a natural fit for our Ghana clinic locations, and the organizations existing relationships with other African countries allows Sanford Health to explore expanding its impact.

A key component of both Global Health Corps and Sanford International Clinics is their collaborative work with partner organizations in the areas they serve. Global Health Corps, for example, has partnered with dozens of African-based placement organizations since its founding, while Sanford International Clinics works in concert with the Ghanaian government and other partners to develop its facilities there.

Global Health Corps plans to place four to six of its alumni among Sanford International Clinic sites in Ghana and in Rwanda and Uganda, where expansion is being explored.

About Sanford Health

Sanford Health is an integrated health system headquartered in the Dakotas. It is one of the largest health systems in the nation with 43 hospitals and nearly 250 clinics in nine states and four countries. Sanford Healths 27,000 employees, including 1,400 physicians, make it the largest employer in the Dakotas. Nearly $1 billion in gifts from philanthropist Denny Sanford have allowed for several initiatives, including global children's clinics, genomic medicine and specialized centers researching cures for type 1 diabetes, breast cancer and other diseases. For more information, visit sanfordhealth.org.

About Global Health Corps

Global Health Corps (GHC) works to mobilize the movement for health equity and build the next generation of leaders to change the face of global health. Since 2009, GHC has placed talented and creative young professionals from a range of backgrounds into high-impact global health positions in Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, the United States, and Zambia. GHC's vibrant, global community of emerging leaders is nearly 600 strong and growing. Applications for the 2016-2017 fellowship class are open now at ghcorps.org/apply. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or Medium.
David Littman - Founder and chairman of Littman Brands, parent company of Hudson Valley Lighting, Corbett Lighting and Troy Lighting. Once more our dedication of producing light fixtures that evoke something so much more than the light they emit  has put our collections for 2016 ahead of the industry.

Hudson Valley Lighting, Corbett Lighting, and Troy Lighting once again redefine the lighting industry with progressive product designs. The expansive collection, which debuted at Lightovation 2016 includes over 250 new exquisite chandeliers, exceptional pendants, and a multitude of sconces and flush mount fixtures incorporating crystal, acrylic and mixed metals. These newest collections are the perfect choice for residential, retail, office and hospitality specifications.

Hudson Valley Lighting presents its newest collection of European-inspired and contemporary designs. Each year, Hudson Valley Lighting takes more design risks and outdoes the previous years collection  and for 2016, its no different. For the first time, Hudson Valley will feature new families in a new combination of fine textured black and plated finish, colorful crystal globes inspired by Paris flea markets and their first use of rock crystal.

With the debut of 2016 collection, Corbett Lighting has reinforced their name as a leading designer of fashion-forward designs. The collection takes lighting to a sculptural art form with unique, innovative designs in pendants, chandeliers, semi-flush mounts and sconces that incorporate lavish adornments of Venetian glass with 24K gold finishes, 70s inspired triedi crystal, decorative piastra glass, alabaster stone, and handcrafted iron and stainless steel stems.

Troy Lighting displayed their newest lighting designs at Lightovation and charmed the crowd. Famous for its sophisticated casual designs, Troys latest creations stay true to Troy Lightings transitional aesthetic with sculptural creations in hand-worked wrought iron, aluminum and pressed, frosted and smoked blown glass. Troy combines these unique elements to create distinctive products that are original works of art.

For 2016, our new designs fill a variety of aesthetics that combine innovation with creativity," said David Littman, founder and chairman of Littman Brands. Once more our dedication of producing light fixtures that evoke something so much more than the light they emit  has put our collections for 2016 ahead of the industry. We continue to be influenced by the world of art, and are always seeking new materials and finishes to offer fresh, innovative releases.

Included are some highlights from Hudson Valley Lightings, Corbett Lightings, Troy lightings new 2016 collections:

Carter by Hudson Valley Lighting

Carter merges LED technology with artisanal glasswork for a very unique flush mount. The outer floating glass ring shows off hand-cut circles.

Malden by Hudson Valley Lighting

Malden is all about the shade and the shape. The shades are large with a unique, gentle curve. Their delicate pleats contrast with weighty tubing for the rest of the fixture.

Charisma by Corbett Lighting

The delightful Charisma collection packs a world of personality into any space. Charismas clear triedi crystal forms are arranged in a circular, tiered formation, resulting in a retro design with a new and fresh feel. The crystal is complemented by iron extrusions made and capped in gold leaf while a stainless steel frame sparkles from the inside. Charisma is offered in four pendant sizes as well as one flush and two sconces.

Voila by Corbett Lighting

Voila is an attention-getting LED sconce with a dazzling appearance. Pieces of handmade clear Venetian glass are arranged by height and held in place by a handcrafted iron frame. The beautiful Italian glass is handmade by the original company that made original triedi crystal. While the glass looks like it was cast, it is completely handmade. The glass is offered in two finishes: gold leaf with gold flecks embedded into the glass and silver leaf with silver flecks embedded into clear glass. Voila is ADA compliant and offered in two sizes.

Maddox by Troy Lighting

Maddox combines clean lines and shapes to create a unique, industrial form. The bold fixture is constructed of hand-worked iron finished in a dark textured bronze. The outside rectangular frame holds panes of clear glass, while the inner open cylinder frame contains a simple, classic cluster with thin and curvy arms. The resulting effect creates a solid look thats still lighter than air. Maddox is offered with early electric or early electric LED bulb options in two pendant sizes and a wall sconce.

Chrysalis by Troy Lighting

Chrysalis is a transformative design inspired by natures most celebrated metamorphosis. The pendants beautifully hand-hammered and finished iron outer frame is finished in cottage bronze with leafing, which adds extra luster to the design, while the inner frame is made of gleaming stainless steel. Adorning the inside is a beautiful arrangement of handcrafted, sculptural branchwork and gold leaf butterflies. Chrysalis is offered in two pendant sizes and accompanying wall sconce.

About Hudson Valley Lighting

Since 1985, Hudson Valley Lighting has been producing distinctive products of outstanding quality and value for residential and contract settings. From the brands New York-based headquarters, an in-house team creates unique and original fixture designs, spanning in style from historic to artisan, transitional to contemporary. Brand hallmarks include exquisite detailing, fine finishes, hand-forged metals and strong craftsmanship. From a variety of pendants, chandeliers, sconces, bath bars and flush mounts, to portable floor and table lamps, designers, specifiers and consumers are assured of extensive, top quality options. With more than 150 collections in its catalog available throughout North America through dealers and showrooms, Hudson Valley Lighting retains an impressive library of products to suit virtually any residential, commercial or hospitality project. For more information on the brand and its products, visit: http://www.hudsonvalleylighting.com.

About Corbett Lighting

For more than 40 years, Corbett Lighting has created and manufactured lighting for residential, hospitality, commercial and contract markets. Corbett Lightings superb craftsmanship and revered commitment to fine detailing and finishes are major brand characteristics and are evident in every beautiful design. From bias cut crystals to delicate Japanese papers, Corbett Lighting uses only the most stylized and refined materials to reflect the latest trends in fashion, design and lifestyle. Adhering to meticulous manufacturing standards, Corbett Lighting not only maintains a level of consistency in production, but produces pieces that are superior in quality and unmatched in execution. Corbett Lighting also makes available a large selection of wall sconces and pendants to accommodate a wide spectrum of projects and applications. With its inclusive, on-site manufacturing facility, Corbett Lighting is able to produce custom lighting solutions that exceed even the most exacting standards. For more information on Corbett Lighting, visit: http://www.corbettlighting.com.

About Troy Lighting

Best known for its sophisticated casual aesthetic, Troy Lighting has graced the interiors and exteriors of the finest homes worldwide for 50 years and counting. Their rich catalog of products can fulfill even the most unique design inspirations, exuding quality, design and value. Troy Lightings team of expert craftsmen create one of a kind, hand-forged lighting fixtures for the most discriminating residential and commercial clients and take great pride in engineering and inspection standards to ensure high-quality products. Their firm commitment to the environment led to the development of the Troy Lighting Environmental Series, which combines exquisite, hand-crafted designs with compact fluorescent, LED, Energy Star and Dark-Sky compliant options. For more information on Troy Lighting, visit http://www.troy-lighting.com.

About Littman Brands

Littman Brands is renowned for unique custom designs and high-quality lighting solutions for the residential, hospitality and contract arenas. Led by Founder and Chairman David Littman, whose family has maintained a key leadership role in lighting design for more than 85 years, Littman Brands is represented by four distinct brands: Corbett Lighting, Hudson Valley Lighting, Troy Lighting and CSL (Creative Systems Lighting). Each brand reflects an individual identity and specialization while maintaining the promise of uncompromising quality, expert craftsmanship and groundbreaking design. For more information about Littman Brands, visit http://www.littmanbrands.com.

For more information about the new collections, please contact DRS and Associates: David Schlocker at david@drsandassociates or Amanda Telson at amanda@drsandassociates.com.
Houghton International, the global leader in metalworking fluids and services, has received approval from Pratt & Whitney, a United Technologies company, for the use of Hocut 4940 Metalworking Fluid in the production of its aircraft engines and military power units under the Pratt & Whitney reference PMC 9151.

Pratt & Whitney approved Hocut 4940 for contact with gas turbine engine parts made from a variety of aerospace alloys including aluminum, steel, stainless steels, nickel-based alloys, single-crystal nickel alloys, cobalt-based alloys, magnesium, titanium, and titanium based alloys. Hocut 4940 is a semi-synthetic advanced metalworking fluid designed for machining these tough alloys in the most complex metal removal operations, providing high lubricity without the use of chlorinated additives. It is low-foaming with high detergency so it runs clean. It delivers high lubricity at low usage rates and provides high corrosion protection for both parts and machine tools.

Hocut 4940 is truly a global formulation enabling aerospace companies to achieve a step-change in productivity while incorporating new environmental requirements, said Gary Dukus, Business Development Manager, Aerospace. It is especially valuable for aerospace companies with significant international operations because it conforms to all health and environmental regulations including TSCA, REACH, DSL, METI, and PRTR, enabling a single product to be supplied locally to global operations. In addition to being chlorine-free, Hocut 4940 does not contain formaldehyde releasers, boron, TEA, DCHA, or any other secondary amines, making it one of the most environmentally responsible fluids available to aerospace manufacturers.

Hocut 4940 also provides performance advantages that support the Pratt & Whitney approval, including increased tool life, longer sump life, higher productivity, improved quality of surface finish, and reduced backlogs, all contributing to the lowest total cost of operation. For decades, Houghton has been a supplier of advanced fluid solutions for global aerospace manufacturers most demanding metalworking operations.

About Houghton International Inc.

Houghton International is a global leader in delivering advanced metalworking fluids and services for the automotive, aerospace, metals, mining, machinery, offshore and beverage industries. Headquartered in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, Houghton operates research, manufacturing and office locations in 33 countries around the world delivering solutions that increase productivity, reduce operating costs and improve product quality for our customers. Visit http://www.houghtonintl.com and http://www.twitter.com/houghtonintl.

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Houghton International Inc.

Madison & Van Buren Aves.

P.O. Box 930

Valley Forge, PA 19482-0930
Waterford's early literacy program prepares Preschool students for future success. Parents choose Waterford School because they want an extraordinary experience for their child.

The Waterford School, located at 1480 East 9400 South in Sandy, Utah, will host a Lower School Open House, Wednesday, February 17 between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 8 p.m.

This event will showcase Waterfords Lower School campus, highlighting Preschool through grade 5. Time will be available to tour homerooms, art studios, and the science, music and computer classrooms. Interested parents and students are invited to come meet members of the faculty and administration as well as current parents.

"Parents choose Waterford School because they want an extraordinary experience for their child. A liberal arts education is extraordinary because it emphasizes critical thinking, creativity, hands-on learning and collaboration, and most importantly, joy," said Todd Winters, Director of Admissions at Waterford. "We invite parents who are intrigued by these ideas to visit the Waterford Campus during the Admissions Lower School Open House."

Founded in 1981, The Waterford School is a private liberal arts, college-preparatory school for students in preschool through grade 12. Bus service is available from downtown Salt Lake City, Olympus Cove, Utah County and Park City. For more information, please call 801-816-2216 or visit waterfordschool.org/openhouse.
We look forward to elevating the Nantucket brokerage model by combining a forward-thinking, technological approach to our business while emphasizing what has become lost in today's tech world, the importance of a personal touch.

Three of Nantucket Islands top real estate brokers announced today the formation of Fisher Real Estate. This new firm will utilize the latest technologies coupled with unmatched market analysis, all the while focusing on the importance of a personal touch in an increasingly digital world.

Fisher Real Estate is comprised of Cam Gammill, formerly of Great Point Properties  Christies International Real Estate; Jen Shalley, formerly of Windwalker William Raveis; and Brian Sullivan, formerly of Maury People  Sothebys International Realty. Together, they bring 32 years of experience in Nantucket residential and commercial real estate and over $500 million in sales and transactions.

Operating under the pillars of market research and analysis, personal touch and connection, revolutionary marketing and advertising, and teamwork and collaboration, Fisher Real Estate represents experience and the new and current generation of real estate marketing and sales on Nantucket.

Fisher Real Estate will be located at 21 Main Street, with doors opening at the end of February. The official open house will kick off Daffodil Weekend, but in the meantime, the community is invited to stop by the new office at any time to become acquainted with the team and celebrate this new chapter in Nantucket real estate.

About Fisher Real Estate Nantucket:

Fisher Real Estate is a full-service, forward-thinking brokerage leveraging the latest technologies and unparalleled market analysis to enhance the foundation of our business  personal relationships. Above all else, we value authenticity, honesty and integrity, and live every day by our motto, Providing a personal touch in a digital world. We aspire to excellence in what we do so that you may focus on what is most important, time well spent on Nantucket.
CCNG Regional Events - Connect, Collaborate, Contribute People in customer support operations management truly appreciate downtime with peers to have meaningful conversations and establish new business relationships...

CCNG International Inc. is pleased to announce the 2016 kickoff regional events schedule for March, April and May. These regional events are hosted by CCNG members in their customer contact operation centers and highlighted with a host member led discussion, open town hall led by various members from the region, topic led discussions by sponsoring CCNG partners, small group conversations and site tours.

The regional events will begin on March 23rd in Fort Worth TX followed by the Columbus OH on the 31st with hosts Medical Mutual of Ohio and Erie Insurance. The April event will be in Baltimore MD on the 21st with member host Window Nation. In May CCNG will feature two regional events hosted in Indianapolis IN by Bluegreen Vacations on the 5th and again on the 19th in Charlotte, NC with host CharMeck 311. The 2016 regional events will be sponsored by CCNG partners including HP, Plantronics, Aspect, Calabrio and inContact.

I always enjoy hearing from customer service and contact center managementfrom training their teams to developing programs to improve service to their customers. With technology constantly changing to adapt to clients needs, it was insightful and valuable to learn more about cross market / cross channel customer servicing. Cory Rovnak, Call Center Director, Window Nation.

New in 2016 will be a full-day format in addition to the existing half-day format. This day long agenda allows our members, guests and partners more time to network, engage and relax together sharing perspectives over 6 - 7 hours that includes an hour networking lunch says David Hadobas, President and CEO of CCNG. We heard a great deal of feedback from members attending our 2015 regional events that they would welcome more time togetherespecially time to network with peers!

Not everything in an event format needs to be sponsored according to Hadobas. People in customer support operations management truly appreciate downtime with peers to have meaningful conversations and establish new business relationshipssomething lacking in most event programs being sold in our industry today.

Each year CCNG works with members to plan over 25 regional events throughout the United States and their annual Executive Summit designed for senior level experienced management.

For details on how to attend regional events and membership options, please contact Ginger Graber, ggraber(at)CCNG(dot)com. View program details at  http://www.CCNG.com.

CCNG International Inc.

Founded in 1992, CCNG International Inc., CCNG is a member Professional Peer Network (PPN) for Contact Center, Customer Experience and Customer Service Executives, Managers, and Leaders.

By joining the CCNG Member Network, experienced industry professionals:



Connect  interact and engage with your peers,

Collaborate  discuss best practices and problem solve,

Contribute  share your own experiences and expertise.

All Call Center, Contact Center, Customer Care, Customer Service, and Customer Experience Professionals are invited to participate in the CCNG Member Network. For more information about the CCNG Member Network, please visit CCNG.com, Like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter - @CCNGNetwork.

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Hampton Louisville Common Area

Hampton Inn by Hilton Boulder Louisville welcomes all concert goers to stay the night in Boulder this Valentines Day weekend. Alternative Rock band, Ween, has three sold-out concerts at 1st Bank Center beginning Friday, February 12th through Sunday, February 14th, 2016. Concert goers are invited to spend the night after the concert and wake up to delicious complimentary breakfast before heading home or heading outside to explore all that Boulder and Louisville offer this February. To reserve a guest room, please visit http://www.louisvillehampton.com.

Located just a short ten-minute drive to the 1st Bank Center, Hampton Inn by Hilton Boulder Louisville welcomes all fans to stay the night after the concert. Hampton offers great amenities, comfortable rooms and group accommodations. Amenities include free Wi-Fi, complimentary hot breakfast buffet daily, indoor pool, fitness center and much more. Guests may choose from king, double queen, king study and accessible rooms, available upon request. Guests will enjoy the hotels close location to Pearl Street Mall, Flatirons Crossing Mall, University of Colorado at Boulder and much more.

For reservations and more information on the Hampton Inn by Hilton Boulder Louisville, please visit http://www.louisvillehampton.com or call (303) 666- 7700. The Hampton Inn by Hilton Boulder Louisville is proudly managed by Stonebridge Companies in Denver, Colo.

Founded in 1991 by Navin C. Dimond, Stonebridge Companies is a privately owned, innovative hotel owner, operator and developer headquartered near Denver. Its diverse listing of properties includes select-service, extended-stay, mid-scale and full-service hotels in markets throughout the U.S. For detailed information, visit http://www.sbcos.com.
We wanted to help them to afford a college education to pursue their dreams

180 Medical, a leading catheter and ostomy supplier, would like to announce that it is currently accepting applications for its 2016 College Scholarship Program. The Oklahoma City-based company began accepting applications on January 1st and will continue to accept application packets from eligible students until June 1st. Interested students can find more information and application instructions at http://www.180medical.com/scholarships.

Eligible students must be under a doctors care for spina bifida, a spinal cord injury, transverse myelitis, a condition causing a neurogenic bladder, or an ostomy (ileostomy, colostomy, or urostomy). In addition to this, they must be U.S. citizens and intend to study at a U.S. institution for the Fall 2016 semester in pursuit of their Associate, Bachelor, or Graduate degree. There will be seven $1000 scholarships awarded in total.

Considering that many of these students and their families are already dealing with some financial burden due to their medical condition, we wanted to help them to afford a college education to pursue their dreams, Todd Brown, founder of 180 Medical, said.

Interested applicants are asked to submit their scholarship application and relevant materials, including academic transcripts, in one packet. A completed application packet will include the application itself, typed questions and essay, physician's statement of diagnosis, most recent official transcript, and a college acceptance letter or other document verifying acceptance or current enrollment.

Application packets can be sent by mail at 180 Medical Attn: Scholarship Committee, 8516 NW Expressway, Oklahoma City, OK 73162 or email at scholarships(at)180medical(dot)com.

About 180 Medical:

180 Medical is one of America's top providers of sterile-use catheters and ostomy and urologic disposable medical supplies, via home-delivery. Based in Oklahoma City, the company is dedicated to serving the supply needs of customers with chronic medical diagnoses such as urinary incontinence, spinal cord injuries, spina bifida, colon cancer, Crohns disease, and many other conditions that require catheterization and ostomy supplies. 180 Medical is a subsidiary of ConvaTec, a leading global medical products and technologies company. For more information, please visit http://www.180medical.com.
Our partnership with CDRapp allows us to integrate with dozens of new CDR sources for our Hosted Billing and Fraud Detection services. -- Jason Tapolci, VoIP Innovations President

VoIP Innovations is pleased to announce that they have partnered with CDRapp, a software company which specializes in automated gathering of call detail records and distribution to billing or tax rating software. As a new member of VoIP Innovations Partnership Program, both companies will benefit from each others strengths for the utilization of their end-users.

Jason Tapolci, President of VoIP Innovations, said "Our partnership with CDRapp allows us to integrate with dozens of new CDR sources for our Hosted Billing and Fraud Detection services. Integrations that were previously time-consuming, costly, and frustrating can now be implemented in literally minutes. In a world where data exchange is key to every part of your business, our partnership with CDRapp makes it easy, simple, and seamless."

VoIP Innovations added CDRapp as part of its new Partnership Program. The Programs purpose is to facilitate stronger relationships between VoIP Innovations, their customers, and the switch vendors they use. Partners will continue to be added as they remain looking for ways to help companies that provide the switching infrastructure for their customer base.

About VoIP Innovations:

VoIP Innovations is an Inc. 5000 company that specializes in providing the largest DID and termination VoIP footprints in North America. Their network includes over 500,000 DIDs in stock in over 8,500 rate centers in the US and Canada. Recently, VoIP Innovations expanded their footprint to include DIDs in over 60 countries and now offers A-Z termination. VoIP Innovations is owned by ABG Capital and is based in Pittsburgh, PA. To learn more, please visit the VoIP Innovations Blog.

About CDRapp:

CDRapp.com is a subsidiary of Teleco.IO which specializes in automated gathering of call detail records from various sources and distribution to billing or tax rating software. Their software connects directly to upstream providers and local systems to automate record collection, filter, analyze, and groom records for delivery to billing or other rating and analysis systems. For more information please visit the http://www.cdrapp.com website.
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On Friday, February 12, 2016, BBBT members will be briefed by Information Builders. Chief Innovation Officer, Dr. Rado Kotorov, will provide an update on the companys latest innovations, including in-document analytics, a new, patented analytical document format that can overhaul billions of PDF documents, and InfoApps, which allows frontline users to get answers to business questions. Vicky Lozovsky, Director of Marketing will demo the products. And Vice President of Product Marketing will share updates on iWay Big Data Integration solutions as well as data quality, MDM and Omni-Gen.

Information Builders has been in the BI and analytics space long enough to know where all the challenges for self-service BI and analytics are, said BBBT Founder Claudia Imhoff. The sophistication of their software supporting this approach to BI comes from their deep understanding and experience.

We are looking forward to sharing our mission, visions, and strategy with the BBBT, especially our new WebFOCUS product positioning, roadmap and go-to-market plans, said Mr. Kotorov. This is an invaluable opportunity to get constructive feedback and informed opinions from BBBT members on our strategy, messaging, and product offerings, and we hope they will benefit from our perspective on this dynamic market.

A podcast summarizing the presentation will be available at the BBBT podcasts page and a video of the presentation will be available at the BBBT videos page.

About BBBT

The Boulder Business Intelligence Brain Trust has served the BI industry since 2006. It is a consortium of over 190 industry analysts, experts, and practitioners from around the world. BBBT hosts BI industry vendors who provide extended, interactive briefings, streamed live as webinars exclusively to BBBT members. It's a reciprocal arrangement, the members receive the latest information on current and planned BI tools and technologies, and the vendors get valuable feedback on their offerings, marketing, and messaging.

About Information Builders

Information Builders helps organizations transform data into business value. Our software solutions for business intelligence and analytics, integration, and data integrity empower people to make smarter decisions, strengthen customer relationships, and drive growth. Our dedication to customer success is unmatched in the industry. Thats why tens of thousands of leading organizations rely on Information Builders to be their trusted partner. Founded in 1975, Information Builders is headquartered in New York, NY, with offices around the world, and remains one of the largest independent, privately held companies in the industry. Visit us at informationbuilders.com, follow us on Twitter at @infobldrs, like us on Facebook, and visit our LinkedIn page.
Fischer Laser Eye Center ...were making affordability a priority at our center.

Fischer Laser Eye Center has expanded its list of accepted insurances to include Vision Service Plan (VSP).

The centers laser cataract and LASIK surgeon Dr. Jeffrey Fischer says the addition was made to support the groups tradition for providing affordable eye care.

Our goal is to provide highly specialized patient-focused care, and we do that by making a consistent effort to meet our communitys financial needs, in addition to their vision needs. Adding VSP to our list of accepted insurances is just one more way were making affordability a priority at our center.

Dr. Fischer and his colleagues, including optometrists Dr. Mike Nagel, Dr. Mike Novak, Dr. Thomas Lenz, Dr. Jennifer Mulder Fairbanks, and Dr. Shane Jahraus, serve central Minnesota from offices in Willmar, New London, Paynesville, Olivia, Litchfield, Hutchinson, and Chaska. Together they provide a wide range of services, from comprehensive eye exams and diagnostic services to state-of-the-art surgical procedures.

For Fischer Laser Eye Centers full list of accepted insurance plans, call 1 (800) 404-4393, or visit FischerLaser.com to learn more.
ANY LAB TEST NOW, a national franchise of direct access lab testing, is taking on type 1 diabetes by helping to raise money for a cure. Approximately 1.25 million American children and adults have type 1 diabetes. The company, which tests for the disease along with many others, is proud to announce it will serve as a sponsor for the JDRF Georgia Chapters Ride to Cure Diabetes program.

The JDRF Ride to Cure Diabetes is a charitable bike ride that raises money for type 1 diabetes research. There are seven ride destinations throughout the country, including a new ride location in Amelia Island. Riders have the option to ride up to 100 miles. Money raised will help put the brakes on one of Americas deadliest diseases.

Just like the riders for the event, the team at ANY LAB TEST NOW was recruited by the events biggest advocate, Barry Falcon. Falcon has made it his lifes mission to raise money, bring awareness and find a cure for the disease. His son Michael was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2002 at the age of 12. Since then, Falcon has participated in 35 JDRF rides across the country and is excited to bring the Amelia Island event to the JDRF ride lineup.

This is not about setting records for me, says Falcon. This is about raising awareness and money to find a cure. We really appreciate the support from corporate sponsors like ANY LAB TEST NOW to help us turn Type One into Type None!

Clarissa Bradstock, CEO of ANY LAB TEST NOW, says the partnership aligns with her companys mission to give back to the communities they serve. Sometimes when folks walk into our clinics for a blood glucose test, this is the first time they realize they have diabetes, she says. Its a very emotional discovery, and we want to do everything we can to help find a cure for this disease.

Diabetics require frequent lab testing to monitor their health. Diabetic tests, such as an A1C test which measures the average blood sugar level over a period of time, are the most common tests performed at ANY LAB TEST NOW.

The JDRF is the leading charitable supporter and advocate of type 1 diabetes research worldwide. The mission of JDRF is to find a cure for diabetes and its complications through the support of research. 95% of the money that is raised goes directly to help with research. The Ride to Cure Diabetes is one of the largest JDRF fundraising events, raising more than $30 million for research to deliver life-changing therapies.

Registration for the 2016 JDRF Ride season is now open at http://www.ride.jdrf.org.

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About ANY LAB TEST NOW

Founded in 1992, ANY LAB TEST NOW is a franchise direct access lab testing company that provides thousands of standard lab tests to consumers and businesses in a professional, convenient and cost-effective, transparent manner. With over 150 facilities around the U.S., ANY LAB TEST NOW offers a variety of affordable and confidential lab tests to consumers and businesses including general health and wellness panels, pregnancy, HIV/STD, drug, paternity and many more tests. To learn more about ANY LAB TEST NOW, visit http://www.anylabtestnow.com or like us on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/anylabtestnowcorp.
We, together with our partners, aim to empower smaller banks and credit unions to compete with the banking goliaths and non-bank startups by offering a solution that will help them keep the pace with todays tech-savvy consumers." - Alex Lopatine, CEO

NYMBUS, the worlds first complete, full-stack, API driven core banking platform, has been named one of five finalists for a 2016 PYMNTS Innovator Award in the Best Newcomer category. The Innovator Awards are among the most prestigious in the payments industry.

Out of a record number of more than 600 submissions, NYMBUS, which launched in October of 2015, was selected as a finalist in part based on its ability to showcase how its core banking technology differs in the marketplace, how the core banking platform solves a burdening industry problem and how it plans to continue along the path of innovation in the next five years.

As an emerging company dedicated to revolutionizing the banking industry, we are honored to be recognized as a finalist for the Best Newcomer award, said NYMBUS CEO Alex Lopatine. Our teams mission is to improve the financial landscape by offering a solution to the challenges presented by legacy core banking systems, which prove to be both a time and cost burden for small to medium-sized FIs. We are eager to see our efforts positively impact the banking industry on a larger scale throughout this next year and beyond, and we are thrilled to be recognized for our innovations thus far.

A panel of judges comprised of industry professionals, who see and invest in innovation every day, has chosen the five finalists to compete for the gold, silver and bronze medal in the Best Newcomer category  one of 15 best-in-class categories recognized this year. These medals will be presented at the PYMNTS Awards dinner on March 17, at the conclusion of the Innovation Project 2016.

NYMBUS software features a single sign-on to a central hub, and since inception, the platform has continuously aimed to eliminate the inefficiencies and security liabilities inherent in legacy core banking platforms. Designed by world-class UX experts, NYMBUS is the first cloud-based, fully integrated core banking platform. The scalable, user-friendly software gives end users a 21st-century experience and can increase financial institutions productivity by 50 percent.

We, together with our partners, aim to empower smaller banks and credit unions to compete with the banking goliaths and non-bank startups by offering a solution that will help them keep the pace with todays tech-savvy consumers, Lopatine said. Were achieving this by taking a modern approach to core infrastructures and continuously evolving our technology to best fit our customers needs.

As part of the winner-selection process, the public is encouraged to vote for their favorite innovator. To cast a vote for NYMBUS as this years Best Newcomer, visit innovationproject.com/2016-innovator-awards. Voting closes at 5 p.m. EST on Feb. 19.

For more information on how NYMBUS, together with its partners, is revolutionizing the banking industry, nymbus.com.

###

About NYMBUS

NYMBUS is poised to revolutionize the banking industry through a modern and holistic approach to core infrastructures. Developed to evolve seamlessly with both banks and their increasingly tech-savvy customers, NYMBUS software fuses core banking functionality, an impressive suite of applications and a cloud-based infrastructure into a singular banking solution designed for the 21st century. NYMBUS API driven platform allows financial institutions to operate more efficiently, build customer loyalty and drive revenue growth.

Media Contact

Michelle Yandre

Leverage PR

michelle(at)leverage-pr(dot)com

512-502-5833
Nina Vaca, 2016

Nina Vaca, Chairman and CEO of Pinnacle Group, has been unanimously selected as the Dallas Business Journals (DBJ) Lifetime Achievement Award winner. The DBJ honors a select group of minority business leaders with various accolades each year; however, its highest honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award, is only issued when such an individual emerges.

Now approaching its 20th anniversary, Vaca has led Pinnacle Group through a post-recession renaissance -- quadrupling its revenue since 2010, making it one of the largest and fastest growing firms in its industry, and most recently named the fastest growing women-owned enterprise in America by the Women Presidents Organization in 2015.



In addition to founding and leading Pinnacle Group, Vaca has a long track record of civic leadership, beginning locally here in Dallas, and expanding nationally and globally. Nina is Chairman Emeritus of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC) and Chairman of the USHCC Foundation and was appointed as an inaugural member of the Presidential Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship. In that role she has traveled internationally with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker to help entrepreneurs in developing countries advance their businesses and communities.



Vaca also serves as a director on the boards of Comerica Bank, Kohls Corporation, and Cinemark, and has been a strong advocate for more women in corporate leadership and serving on corporate boards through the At the Table initiative she founded with the USHCC Foundation.



I am truly humbled to receive this award from a publication that has chronicled our story since its inception, said Vaca. The last 19 years have just been a warmup for Pinnacle, because were just coming into our own. This recognition reminds me of the road weve traveled, but more importantly, it excites me for the promising road ahead. We all have so much yet to achieve in our lifetimes, and I know that the best days are yet to come for our clients and the people behind Pinnacle.



With past recognitions such as the Women in Business honoree (2013), Tech Titans (2010) and 40 Under 40 (2010), DBJ has chronicled Vacas achievements for the past 10 years, ranking her among Dallass highest achieving citizens.



Vacas community involvement, reputation and accomplishments led our panel of judges to unanimously choose her as the Lifetime Achievement Award winner for the 2016 Minority Business Leader Awards, said Anna Butler of the Dallas Business Journal. There has not been an honoree for a Lifetime Achievement Award for several years.



While her national footprint and global reach has grown in recent years, Vaca remains heavily involved in her hometown of Dallas, Texas. In 2010, she brought the largest gathering of Hispanic business leaders in America, the USHCCs National Convention, infusing millions of dollars into the citys economy. Vaca continues to serve her community by supporting several community organization, while also devoting time and resources to pro-growth initiatives such as the Dallas Blueprint for Leadership and the Mayors Intern Fellows programs.



Ive enjoyed working with Nina Vaca, and witnessing her grow into a formidable force for Dallas; attracting big business and national conferences, giving back to our communities through her activism and investments, and serving as an emissary of our city to future investors and residents throughout the nation and across the globe, said Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings. "Nina is an exemplary Dallasite, I am pleased that she has received this well-deserved accolade and look forward to working with her for many years to come."



Read the full story at: http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/blog/morning_call/2016/01/nina-vaca-selected-as-lifetime-achievement-award.html



About Pinnacle Group

Pinnacle Group is a leading provider of information technology services and workforce solutions and was named fastest growing women-owned business in the U.S. by the Women Presidents Organization in 2015. Pinnacle Group includes Pinnacle Talent Solutions, its information technology staffing and professional services division; Pinnacle MSP, its managed services division; Pinnacle Payrolling, providing payrolling and independent contractor compliance services; Pinnacle Canada, providing staffing, MSP and payrolling services in Canada; and Provade, Inc., a global provider of enterprise-class vendor management software (VMS).

Pinnacle Group has become one of the largest providers in its industry, with thousands of IT professionals providing services across the U.S. and Canada. Provades VMS technology operates in over 60 countries and manages billions of dollars in annual spend. For more information visit: http://www.pinnacle1.com and http://www.provade.com.

Media Contact

Kyra Hartung

Pinnacle Group

Dallas Office: +1-214-550-5091

kyra.hartung(at)pinnacle1(dot)com
Official Chargeback Sponsor CNP Expo 2016-17 Merchants dealing with card-not-present transactions need to address chargeback fraud holistically and the CNP Expo is the best place to learn more.

The CNP Expo is the only dedicated event for constituents in the ever growing arena of card-not-present transactions. The event will take place May 23-25, 2016, at the Loews Royal Pacific Resort in Orlando. Chargeback.com will be demonstrating enhanced Chargeback Monitoring, Response and Alert products, participating on a panel, and exhibiting at the event. For Internet Retailers and Online Merchants dealing with chargebacks is simply part of business.

Online transactions dont just suffer from true fraud attempts resulting from data breaches, identity theft, skimming, etc. Theyre actually much more likely to see reason codes that tie back to friendly fraud, lost or stolen merchandise and return or refund requests that went sideways. Last year eCommerce merchants reported to Lexis Nexis that 70% of chargebacks representing billions of dollars in revenue were from those categories. Merchants dealing with card-not-present transactions need to address chargeback fraud holistically and the CNP Expo is the best place to learn more. Dave Wilkes, CEO, Chargeback.com

Chargeback.coms two-year commitment to the CNP Expo inspires and excites us. It tells me what weve built and what were doing is important and valuable. When we set out to create this show five years ago we didnt have an official chargeback sponsor, but it's such an important part of eCommerce and card-not-present transactions that it was inevitable we would add it. Were looking forward to this partnership and hope to have many more like it. Steve Casco, CEO, The CNP Expo and CardNotPresent.com

Chargeback.com is hosting a social gathering with complimentary drinks and appetizers from 7:30 p.m.  10:30 p.m. PST on Tuesday May 23rd, 2016 at Jakes American Bar at Loews Royal Pacific Resort. To RSVP and receive 20% OFF attendance to the CNP Expo visit https://chargeback.com/cnp. Chargeback.com will be exhibiting at booth 806 during the show.

About Chargeback.com.

Chargeback.com is an industry leader in chargeback monitoring, response and prevention. Comprehensive and timely responses to the networks helps maintain an exceptionally high recovered revenue rate. Coupled with the ability to intercept chargebacks before they make it to the networks prevents fees and protects merchant accounts from suspension. These services are available to clients as a Managed Service or enabled in-house via a SaaS model. Chargeback Monitoring is free for any merchant. For more details about Chargeback.com, visit the corporate website, read the Chargeback Blog, follow the company on Twitter or call +1 888-808-8447.

Twitter Tags: #cnpexpo, @cbgtweets, @cnpexpo, #ecommerce, #chargeback.com

Click to Tweet: 20% off #CNPExpo May 23-26 plus tix to social gathering with comp drinks and food courtesy of @cbgtweets Get it http://ctt.ec/2N9er+
To date, Paxtis has donated more than $1 million to nearly 1,200 local groups and non-profits through 52 Weeks of Giving and other philanthropic endeavors.

Patxis Pizza, a collection of polished casual dining destinations in California, Denver and Seattle, today celebrates the 5th anniversary of their signature philanthropic program: 52 Weeks of Giving. The year-round initiative donates 10 percent of a days sales, every week at every location, to local charities. Best known for their vast selection of distinctive pizzas and wide range of appetizers and salads made with carefully sourced, quality ingredients, Paxtis is also deeply committed to the communities and people they serve each day. To date, Paxtis has donated more than $1 million to nearly 1,200 local groups and non-profits through 52 Weeks of Giving and other philanthropic endeavors.

Founded in February 2011, 52 Weeks of Giving is a way for Patxis to partner with their customers to raise money and strengthen local communities. Throughout the year, Patxis hosts weekly neighborhood fundraisers at Patxis restaurants for organizations dedicated to the health, education and welfare of children. Ten percent of that days sales are then donated to organizations including, but not limited to:



Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco

Childrens Treehouse Foundation

Colorado Youth for a Change

Denver Rescue Mission

Gateway Public Schools

Global Student Embassy

Imagination Library of Denver

Junior Achievement

Junior League of Seattle

KIPP Bay Area Schools

Make-A-Wish Foundation

Pacific Autism Center for Education

Prevent Child Abuse Colorado

Ronald McDonald House of Denver

San Francisco Children's Art Center

Smart Girl, Inc.

Special Olympics Northern California

St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital

Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation

The Food Education Project, Inc.

Community involvement and charitable giving is imbedded in the DNA of Patxis Pizza, said Bill Freeman, chief executive officer and co-founder of Patxis Pizza. When we opened our first restaurant in 2004, our team made a commitment to offer not only an unparalleled dining experience but a source of unwavering support to our neighbors and guests.

Deeply rooted in the communities they serve, the staff at Paxtis devote a great deal of their time to charitable causes, sitting on boards of various non-profit organizations, and volunteering alongside local patrons. In addition to 52 Weeks of Giving, Patxis recently financed an eponymous learning center at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Novato, Calif., the first independent research facility in the U.S. focused solely on understanding the connection between aging and chronic disease.

For more information about Paxtis Pizza and 52 Weeks of Giving, please visit http://www.patxispizza.com.

ABOUT PATXIS PIZZA

Patxis Pizza, a collection of polished casual dining destinations in California, Denver and Seattle, serves distinctive deep-dish pizza, thin crust pizza, and a wide range of appetizers and salads made with the finest, carefully sourced and best-tasting ingredients. Patxis was founded during the summer of 2004 in Palo Alto, Calif., when pizza lover and entrepreneur Bill Freeman partnered with Francisco Patxi Azpiroz, a longtime friend and expert pizza maker. Their vision was to serve the best authentic, deep-dish pizza in a stylish, sophisticated and welcoming environment. Little did they know they were helping pioneer the concept of polished casual dining, which combines the best from both white tablecloth and casual dining, with their approach to service, pricing, product and atmosphere. Today, Patxis has 17 locations and is still run by Bill and Patxi out of the companys headquarters in Sausalito, Calif. The companys continuous commitment to charitable giving firmly positions Patxis as one of the top most philanthropic companies in the San Francisco Bay Area.

For more information, please visit http://www.patxispizza.com or follow Patxis on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
Scott & Scott, LLP logo Companies of all sizes are struggling with issues evaluating software license compliance.

Companies of all sizes are struggling with issues related to information technology (IT). These struggles extend to evaluating compliance with software licenses. From shrink- or click-wrap licenses to heavily negotiated enterprise licenses, licensees have an ever-changing landscape of licenses to review and manage. They experience difficulty in understanding and negotiating critical provisions like limitations of liability, indemnification, geographic restrictions, transferability, and termination rights. These misunderstandings lead to difficulty staying compliant with the software licensing obligations, which leads to significant financial exposure during software audits and other disputes. Establishing regular software compliance reviews at periodic intervals can help reduce, but will likely not eliminate, the risks associated with managing software compliance.

On February 17th, software license experts, Robert J. Scott and Julie Machal-Fulks, partners in technology law firm Scott & Scott, LLP, will address software license issues in Managing Software License Compliance in a CLE sponsored by the State Bar of Texas Intellectual Property Workshop in San Antonio, TX. The day-long workshop precedes the 29th Annual Advanced Intellectual Property Law course sponsored by the Texas Bar CLE and the Intellectual Property Law Section of the State Bar of Texas.

Attendees will learn:



Types of software licenses

Geographic restrictions

Indemnification and limits of liability

Prohibitions on transferring software licenses

Termination provisions

Common hurdles with software license management

Infrastructure assessments

Virtualization

Software audits

For more details and registration, visit http://bit.ly/1PE1sQ2.

About Robert J. Scott

Robert represents mid-market and large enterprise companies in software license transactions and disputes with major software publishers such as Adobe, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP. He has defended over 225 software audit matters initiated by software piracy trade groups such as the BSA and SIIA. He is counsel to some of the world's largest corporations on information technology matters including intellectual property licensing, risk management, data privacy, and outsourcing. Robert ensures that Scott & Scott, LLP continues its focus on cost-effective strategies that deliver positive results. He is regularly called upon by his peers and the media to share his expertise.

About Julie Machal-Fulks

Julie leads a team of attorneys in representing and defending clients in legal matters relating to information technology. Her practice focuses on complex litigation ranging from privacy and network security, data breach notification and crisis management, intellectual property disputes, service provider negligence claims, and content-based injuries such as copyright and trademark infringement in software, the Internet, and all forms of tangible media.

Her focused practice has made Julie a trusted resource in her field, often invited to submit papers and present on topics including data breach notification, security incident response, and defending against regulatory and consumer class actions.

About Scott & Scott, LLP

Scott & Scott, LLP is a leading intellectual property and technology law firm representing businesses in matters involving software licensing. Scott & Scott, LLP's legal and technology professionals provide software audit defense and software compliance solutions, all protected by attorney-client and work-product privileges. Visit http://www.scottandscottllp.com.

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Lendio's Senior Vice President of Marketing Edward Angstadt We have brought together these bright minds with one goal, to make a positive impact on the lives of small business owners.

Lendio (http://www.lendio.com), the nations leading marketplace for small business loans, today announced a key addition to its executive leadership team appointing Edward Angstadt as senior vice president of marketing.

Angstadt joins Lendio during the companys fast-paced growth phase highlighted by nearly 100 percent year-over-year revenue growth.

With a proven track record of developing and executing marketing strategies that target small business owners, Edward is the ideal leader to further strengthen our management team, said Brock Blake, CEO and co-founder, Lendio. It is a priority for us to bring on exceptional talent as we continue to grow and solidify our position within the small business lending marketplace.

Angstadt joins Lendio from Web.com, a leading provider of Internet services and online marketing solutions for small businesses. At Web.com, Angstadt managed and led all customer acquisition activity, media spend optimization, cross-sell activity, marketing design resources and website experiences for more than three million small business owners each year. At Lendio, he will utilize his industry experience in driving the companys market growth initiatives to small business owners.

It is very exciting to be part of such a fast growing company, Angstadt said. Most important, Lendio makes a massive difference for thousands of business by helping them find the financing they need. It is an incredibly rewarding experience to be part of a leadership team making that happen.

Joining Angstadts team is Steve Jones, senior director of conversion, who previously managed conversion optimization and testing development for the Marketing Acquisition Department at Vivint. With more than 20 years of industry experience, Brenda Armstrong has also been named as Lendios public relations director and will oversee the companys communications efforts.

We have brought together these bright minds with one goal, to make a positive impact on the lives of small business owners, Blake added. These new team members reinforce Lendios commitment to scaling the company through increased visibility, which is exactly what we need as we take our business to the next level.

To learn more about Lendio, please visit http://www.lendio.com.

About Lendio

Lendio is a free online service that helps business owners find the right small business loans within minutes. The center of small business lending, our passion is fueling the American Dream by uniting the small business loan industry and bringing all options together in one place, from short-term specialty financing to long-term low-interest traditional loans. Our technology makes small business lending simple, decreasing the amount of time and effort it takes to secure funding. More information about Lendio is available at http://www.lendio.com.
Celltick, a global leader in mobile marketing, is pleased to announce that Abraham Punnoose will lead its African business expansion. The new geography would be in addition to his current role as Managing Director, Celltick India. As head of Africa, Abraham will be responsible for growing the company's presence and market position across the region.

Abraham joined Celltick in 2011 and has been responsible for the companys business in the Indian subcontinent. Under Abrahams management, Celltick has expanded and deepened its partnerships with Operators, device manufacturers and media companies across the region.

I am happy to have Abraham lead our expansion into Africa. Africa is certainly a strategic focus for us in the coming years said Ronen Daniel, CEO of Celltick. I am confident that Abrahams deep knowledge and proven track record of implementing and managing Cellticks services will aid us to succeed in the region.

With over 20 years of experience in sales, marketing and business operations across telecom and retail banking, Abraham has proven experience in opening up telecom software markets globally for start-up companies and extensive domain knowledge in the wireless business.

I am excited to lead Cellticks expansion into Africa and further our success said Abraham Punnoose, Managing Director India & Africa With Africa being one of the fast growing markets in the world I see a great potential in the region for Cellticks services and products.

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About Celltick

Celltick is a global leader in home screen marketing. Celltick is unique in creating and managing mass market mobile marketing solutions for mobile operators, large media companies, device manufacturers and large brands while delighting users with a unique user experience. Cellticks innovative products, robust relationships within the ecosystem and strong execution capabilities enable powerful distribution, high user retention and unmatched home screen monetization. The company drives billions of transactions annually across more than 150 million active consumers across its different mobile platforms in over 20 countries. A rapidly growing company, Celltick has subsidiaries in Europe, Asia, South America and the U.S. For more information, visit http://www.celltick.com.
Biddeford-Saco-OOB Courier

Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird created the series in Dover, New Hampshire. The negatives for that first comic, printed in 1984, have surfaced and the owner, a Colorado collector, came to Biddeford In September to look around.
...the TRICARE-reform plan laid out in the defense budget includes limited quantifiable benefit fixes mixed with numerous beneficiary fee hikes.

The president released a FY 2017 budget request on Tuesday that includes $48.8 billion for the DoD Military Health System but would shift more of the cost burden to military beneficiaries.

MOAAs president, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dana Atkins, described the TRICARE-reform plan laid out in the defense budget as including limited quantifiable benefit fixes mixed with numerous beneficiary fee hikes.

We were hoping to see some specific proposals to address well-documented problems with access, continuity of care, referrals, National Guard and Reserve programs and other documented health care issues, but so far, were left asking, Wheres the substance?  said Atkins.

He expressed concern that the proposed budget envisions a broad array of fee hikes, mostly affecting retired servicemembers and their families and survivors.

Weve been heartened by our discussions with leaders and staff members of the House and Senate that theyre focused on improving the health care benefit and the reform focus isnt just about raising fees for beneficiaries, Atkins said. But the budget proposal seems to be mostly about the fees, with only a few sentences on possible program improvements.

On the plus side, MOAA expressed support for the proposal to reduce the retiree cost-share for in-patient care, as well as initiatives to change copays to flat fees rather than a percentage of the bill.

However, a number of proposals concern us, Atkins cautioned. Our initial assessment is that the full array of fee changes would mean about a $500 to $600 annual increase for retired families under 65 who use in-network providers and an increase of more than $1,000 a year for those using out-of-network providers. One obvious concern is how robust the network will be. One of the main access problems is that many doctors dont want to be in the current network. Wed like some assurance that will be fixed.

Atkins also cited MOAAs concerns about proposals to:



impose a new enrollment fee for beneficiaries now using TRICARE Standard and TRICARE For Life (which covers beneficiaries age 65 and older). MOAA believes enrollment fees should be reserved for programs like TRICARE Prime that provide guaranteed access standards, which the other programs do not;

establish a new $600 family deductible for out-of-network care;

means-test fees for TRICARE For Life beneficiaries, which MOAA calls unprecedented and inappropriate for service-earned health coverage, as it imposes escalating financial penalties for longer and more successful service on a population that already is paying the highest fees of any military beneficiaries;

establish a multiyear schedule to double most pharmacy copays, which MOAA says already have been doubled or tripled in the past five years; and

adjust fees with a medical inflation index that is projected to grow at more than 6 percent per year. MOAA says fees should be indexed to the same inflation measure used to increase military retired pay, as Congress already has done.

On the administrations proposed 1.6-percent pay raise for 2017, Atkins said, Were disappointed this will be the fourth consecutive year of capping military pay raises below the average Americans. Congress spent a decade restoring military-pay comparability following the retention problems of the late 1990s, so were concerned about an evolving military pay gap. While the proposed 1.6-percent raise is slightly higher than the 1.3-percent raise for 2016, we need to put that in the context that each of the last seven military pay raises has been lower than any in the preceding 50 years.

Another area of concern is the budget proposal to reduce funding for military commissaries by $221 million for FY 2017. Thats perplexing, said Atkins. Last year, the administration proposed cutting $300 million for the budget as the first step toward privatizing commissaries. After Congress restored the funding, administration officials agreed that the benefit needs to be preserved, and theyd accept whatever level of savings might be realized by business efficiencies without reducing the benefit. To us, thats inconsistent with proposing a $221 million cut. Without context, that seems considerably more than any efficiencies could be expected to generate in one year.

MOAAs thoughts on the military retirement proposals in the budget are closer to the Pentagons. Atkins said MOAA would be reluctant to delay the start of government matching of troops Thrift Savings Plan deposits until four years of service but strongly supports the proposal to continue the matching as long as the member is currently serving. The current law that ends the military match after 26 years of service is inconsistent with any 401(k)-type plan we know of. For those who argue military careers should be longer, stopping the match at 26 years sends a contrary message.

Its important to appreciate the budget submission is just the first step in a long process, said Atkins. MOAA and our partners in The Military Coalition will be working with leaders and staffs of the House and Senate Armed Services committees in the coming months in our ongoing efforts to improve access and other problem areas while doing our best to protect against imposing disproportional fee increases on those who earned their military health care coverage through decades of service and sacrifice.

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About MOAA:

Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) is the nations largest and most influential association of military officers. With more than 390,000 members  active duty, former, retired, and National Guard and Reserve officers from all seven uniformed services and their spouses and surviving spouses  it is a powerful force speaking for a strong national defense and represents the interests of military officers and their families at every stage of their careers. For those who are not eligible to join MOAA, Voices for Americas Troops is a nonprofit MOAA affiliate that supports a strong national defense. For more information, visit http://www.moaa.org.
Ashlands EXCiPACT Certificate

Ashland (NYSE: ASH) today announced that its Calvert City, Kentucky, facility has earned EXCiPACT certification for Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP). Its scope covers the manufacturing, testing and packaging of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and polyvinylpolypyrrolidone (PVPP) used as pharmaceutical excipients. According to EXCiPACT, the certifying body, this is the first U.S. excipient facility to receive certification.

Ashland has established a goal of having all of its global pharmaceutical excipient facilities certified by 2017. A leader in excipients, Ashland supplies both cellulosic and polyvinylpyrrolidone polymers to the pharmaceutical industry, along with dedicated technical expertise and support.

This achievement reflects Ashlands commitment to providing high-quality products and services to our customers, said Annie Tannhauser, vice president global product regulatory and quality, Ashland. As an industry leader, we are always challenging ourselves to be the best in the products we produce and the quality approach we use to do so.

The transparency and global reach of this certification program will further patient safety through consistent, global quality standards, noted Deneen Law, global pharmaceutical marketing and innovation director, Ashland.

ExcipientFest, held in Baltimore in 2013, marked the launch of EXCiPACT, an independent, globally recognized certification scheme for excipient suppliers in the United States and has expanded to the global standard. Since both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency require that excipient suppliers be qualified by drug producers, EXCiPACT certification reduces the amount of time, resources and dollars associated with responding to audit requests. Multiple drug customer audit requests can be answered through one successful EXCiPACT audit confirming that an excipient complies with current GMP and GDP requirements. To learn more, please visit: http://www.excipact.org.

About Ashland Specialty Ingredients

Ashland Specialty Ingredients is the leading global producer of cellulose ethers and a global leader in vinyl pyrrolidones. It offers industry-leading products, technologies and resources for solving formulation and product-performance challenges. Using natural, synthetic and semisynthetic polymers derived from plant and seed extract, cellulose ethers, vinyl pyrrolidones and acrylic polymers, as well as polyester and polyurethane-based adhesives, Specialty Ingredients offers comprehensive and innovative solutions for today's demanding consumer and industrial applications. Key customers include: pharmaceutical companies; makers of personal care products, food and beverages; manufacturers of paint, coatings and construction materials; packaging and converting; and oilfield service companies. Visit ashland.com to learn more.

About Ashland

Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH) is a global leader in providing specialty chemical solutions to customers in a wide range of consumer and industrial markets, including adhesives, architectural coatings, automotive, construction, energy, food and beverage, personal care and pharmaceutical. Through our three business units  Ashland Specialty Ingredients, Ashland Performance Materials and Valvoline  we use good chemistry to make great things happen for customers in more than 100 countries. Visit ashland.com to learn more.

 0 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

Andrea Falciani

Marketing Communications Specialist

Ashland Specialty Ingredients

P: (302) 594-5237

E: AMFalciani(at)ashland(dot)com

*Trademark owned by EXCiPACT.
Image One USA The entire Image One team has been so supportive and I couldnt imagine ever going somewhere else, or doing something different with my life.

Image One USA veteran franchise owner Maria Bogacki is bringing her top-notch commercial cleaning business to a new market, and its the buildings of Nashville that will benefit.

Ive enjoyed being a part of the Image One franchise so much that when I needed to relocate to Nashville, there was no question that I would bring my business with me, Bogacki said. The entire Image One team has been so supportive and I couldnt imagine ever going somewhere else, or doing something different with my life.

Bogacki established her Chicagoland janitorial business in 2014 following her medical retirement as Staff Sergeant from the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army. After learning that Image One USA provided an attractive startup option for military veterans to own and operate a recurring-revenue business at a fraction of the cost of some other franchise models  opening the door to ambitious veterans with limited capital  she knew she had found the business to invest in.

Amid her relocation to Music City U.S.A, the continued support from Image One has played a big role in her continued dedication and in her decision to relocate the business in early 2016.

With nearly 100 franchise owners across the United States, and a newly launched franchise affiliate program that provides additional opportunities for owners, Image One USA continues to expand its name and business model. Image One President and co-founder Tim Conn is enthusiastic and proud to have Bogacki continue her business goals with the commercial cleaning company.

Were so happy that Maria has decided to remain a part of the Image One family, and is now helping lead the charge of our franchise expansion across Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee, Conn said. She is exactly the type of owner-operator we want for our company. We are so fortunate to have her continued dedication within our franchise community.

Additional owner-operated locations are available across other markets in the Midwest and Southeast. Image One USA offers a low-cost franchise business for driven individuals who want to make a difference and grow their own business.

About Image One USA

Image One USA is a commercial cleaning services business. The Image One franchising model was formed on the principles of transparency, training, and top-notch financial and customer service support. In a 2015 Franchise Business Review survey measuring franchisee satisfaction, Image One received high ratings from franchisees, including a 4.3 out of a possible 5 rating in the Core Values category.

Image One franchisees work for themselves in a unique relationship with Image One. Image One provides them with customer support for their business, ongoing training, along with assistance with billing, equipment and insurance coverage. Image One has more than 80 commercial cleaning franchise locations throughout the Midwest. Immediate franchise and affiliate expansion plans call for locations across Texas, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Iowa.

For more information on the commercial cleaning franchise, visit imageonefranchise.com, call 1 (847) 370-2745 or email Director of Franchising Scott Kochanski at scott(at)imageoneusa(dot)com.
The newly launched Aspen Tea Company on the ROC Commerce Platform. "Anybody can build a website, but the knowledge of the people building the website behind the scenes is what really matters", said Terry Nugent, co-owner of Aspen Tea Company.

Americaneagle.com proudly announces the launch of the new Aspen Tea Company website on the ROC Commerce platform. With the implementation of the ROC Commerce platform and CMS platform, Americaneagle.com was able to configure an ecommerce solution that would best support Aspen Tea Companys specific business requirements.

A seamless customer experience was paramount in Aspen Tea Companys decision to select Americaneagle.com and the ROC commerce platform. The new website has expanded their brand and market position within the consumer beverages category.

The new website is extremely easy for visitors to use and the responsively-designed website and checkout create a streamlined ordering process across all devices, which encourages customers to make purchases, said Mike Svanascini, President of Americaneagle.com. "Anybody can build a website, but the knowledge of the people building the website behind the scenes is what really matters", said Terry Nugent, co-owner of Aspen Tea Company.

About Americaneagle.com, Inc.

Americaneagle.com, Inc., founded in 1978, is a leading Web design, development, and hosting company based in Des Plaines, Illinois. Currently, Americaneagle.com employs approximately 300 professionals in offices throughout the country including Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Washington D.C., New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. Some of their 5,000+ clients include the Chicago Bears, Capstone Publishing, Stuart Weitzman, International Paper, ADA, Komatsu USA, and more. For additional information about Americaneagle.com, visit http://www.americaneagle.com.

About Aspen Tea Company

The Aspen Tea company was established in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. The founders of the Aspen Tea Company were inspired by miraculous mountain land and beautiful nature, creating a tea that would be representative of this spirit, utilizing organic ingredients such as organic tea leaves, roots, berries, flowers and spices. For more information on Aspen Tea, visit http://www.aspenteaco.com/
Port of Indiana-Mount Vernon Our port companies and stevedores who attract cargo to our ports did a tremendous job in 2015. - Ports of Indiana CEO Rich Cooper

The Ports of Indiana handled over 12.2 million tons of cargo in 2015, surpassing 2014s record volume by nearly 18 percent. This was the first time annual shipments exceeded 12 million tons in the port authoritys 54-year history, and the total was more than 1.8 million tons more than the previous years record.

Shipments of coal, steel, bulk commodities and ethanol-related products helped drive significant increases in annual cargo volumes at the three Ohio River and Lake Michigan ports. Coal volumes increased 69 percent while ethanol shipments more than doubled, and dried distillers grains (DDGs) increased 64 percent from 2014. There were also significant increases in shipments of steel (up 18 percent), cement (up 17 percent), soy products (up 4 percent) and limestone (up 12 percent).

Our port companies and stevedores who attract cargo to our ports did a tremendous job in 2015, said Ports of Indiana CEO Rich Cooper. Theyve become masterful in leveraging Indianas ports year-round maritime access to world markets as well as connections to multiple Class I railroads and major highways and interstates. Their business performance in this uncertain economy is highly commendable, particularly in the coal and steel sectors.

On the Ohio River, the Port of Indiana-Mount Vernon set a new annual shipping record in 2015 handling 6.6 million tons for the first time in its 40-year history. This was a 36 percent increase over 2014 and 30 percent higher than the previous record set in 1994.

The Port of Indiana-Jeffersonville, also on the Ohio River, set an annual shipping record for the second year in a row, handling 2.8 million tons of cargo, exceeding 2014s volume by 16 percent. Shipments of steel more than doubled the previous 2014 record, helped in part by record demand in the auto industry. Jeffersonville port companies supply components for all six of the top U.S. automakers.

On Lake Michigan, the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor recorded its second highest cargo volume in over two decades, 2.8 million tons. Increased shipments of heavy-lift project cargoes helped drive the increase as the port received multiple shipments of beer fermentation tanks for regional breweries in Illinois and Michigan.

While we savor the victories our port companies achieved in 2015, we are mindful of the challenges they continue to face with the pressure on fossil fuels and steel prices, said Cooper. Despite the difficult economy, steel shipments at our ports still reached an all-time high in 2015 with many of our 28 steel companies processing steel for the record number of new cars and trucks sold by the U.S. auto industry last year.

The mission of the Ports of Indiana is to develop and maintain a world-class port system dedicated to growing Indianas economy. The combined three ports contribute over $6.8 billion in total economic activity per year to regional economies and support over 52,000 total jobs.

Based on the economic successes of Indianas ports, Governor Mike Pence, in his 2016 State of the State Address, called on the Ports of Indiana to explore building a fourth port in southeastern Indiana. Gov. Pence Quote: Indianas ports have also been spectacular catalysts for job growth. That is why I have called upon the Ports of Indiana to vigorously explore the building of a fourth port in the far southeastern part of our state, which could unleash enormous economic investment throughout the southeast region of our state.

About the Ports of Indiana: The Ports of Indiana is a statewide port authority managing three ports on the Ohio River and Lake Michigan. Established in 1961, the Ports of Indiana is a self-funded enterprise dedicated to growing Indianas economy by developing and maintaining a world-class port system. Information: portsofindiana.com
Maureen Corrigan will kick off Alvernia's 2016 Literary Festival season on Feb. 24

Alvernia University will host NPR correspondent and book critic, Maureen Corrigan, in the university's historic Francis Hall on Wed., Feb. 24 to discuss her book So We Read On: How the Great Gatsby Came to Be and Why It Endures, for the universitys annual Literary Festival. A reception with the author will begin at 5 p.m., followed by a lecture at 6:30 p.m.

In addition to more than 20 years as a book critic for NPRs Fresh Air, Maureen Corrigan serves as a columnist for the Washington Post and is an associate editor of and contributor to Mystery and Suspense Writers and winner of the 1999 Edgar Award for Criticism, presented by the Mystery Writers of America. She has written reviews for the New York Times, the Boston Globe and The Nation among others, and is a critic-in-residence and lecturer at Georgetown University. As both a respected journalist and author, Corrigan served as a juror for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction.

Corrigans book So We Read On: How The Great Gatsby Came To Be and Why It Endure s offers an interesting perspective and depth about Gatsby by delving into archives, high school classrooms and onto the Long Island Sound. Her book challenges readers to re-examine Gatsbys rocky path to recognition as a classic, and its profound commentaries on race, class and gender. So We Read On was named one of the 10 best books of the year by Library Journal.

ALVERNIA is a thriving university that empowers students through real-world learning to discover their passion for life, while providing the education to turn what they love into lifetimes of career success and personal fulfillment, helping them make the world a better place. Situated on a scenic 121-acre suburban campus in historic Berks County, Pa., the university of more than 3,000 students is conveniently located near Philadelphia (60 miles) and within an easy drive of New York, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. With a College of Arts and Sciences and College of Professional Studies, Alvernia today offers more than 50 undergraduate majors and minors and a range of graduate programs at the masters and doctoral levels through its School of Graduate and Adult Education.
On Feb. 25, The Lester Senior Housing Community will host a no-cost CEU seminar for nursing professionals who work with stroke patients The Stroke Management Seminar will Cover Best Clinical Practices in Stroke Treatment and Care Past News Releases RSS Bloomfields 5th Annual Restaurant...

Century 21 Cedarcrest Realty in...

Tracy Chan, Multiple Award-Winning...

Registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and nursing aides who treat stroke patients are invited to a free CEU seminar titled, Stroke Management: Time to Act, Time to Heal on Thursday, February 25 from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. at the Lester Senior Housing Community in Whippany, N.J. The presenter is Vishal Chedda, president of ANSA Consultants, who will discuss clinical best practices throughout the continuum of stroke care. He will cover critical information that covers all phases of stroke treatment, from the rehabilitation stay to nursing home, or assisted living residency through community integration. The program also includes breakout sessions, and a complimentary coffee bar and registration are open from 8:30 to 9:00.

RNs, LPNs and nursing aides will earn 3 CEUs upon completion. Seating is limited and advance reservations are requested; to RSVP or for more information, contact Emma Reading at (973) 530-3977 or EmmaR(at)jchcorp(dot)org.

The Lester Senior Housing Community is located at 903-905 Route 10 East on the Alex Aidekman Family Jewish Community Campus in Whippany. The community, owned and managed by the Jewish Community Housing Corporation of Metropolitan New Jersey, hosts seminars for healthcare professionals throughout the year. Visit http://www.jchcorp.org for information about the non-profit organizations senior living communities in Essex and Morris counties.

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About the Jewish Community Housing Corporation of Metropolitan New Jersey

Founded in 1983, the Jewish Community Housing Corporation of Metropolitan New Jersey (JCHC) owns and manages more than 470 apartments in four buildings for older adults in Morris and Essex counties in northern New Jersey. The non-profit organization offers seniors a range of options in terms of services, amenities, location, and cost, all within a traditional Jewish environment. The JCHC provides housing, programs, and services for the independent elderly as well as those who need assisted living. For more information, go to http://www.jchcorp.org
Yellowfin: Making Business Intelligence easy We have seen substantial interest from our clients in Yellowfin as a great way to bring the power of visualization and Business Intelligence to end-users

Global Business Intelligence (BI) and analytics software vendor, Yellowfin, has signed a reseller agreement with US-based Business Consulting and Information Technology Services Provider, StraVis IT Services Inc.

Under the guidelines of the partnership, StraVis will offer Yellowfins business-user-oriented BI solution, and associated suite of professional services, to its current and future clients throughout the US, via its Boston, Chicago, Troy and San Jose offices.

StraVis Managing Partner, Ram Rishi, said that the decision to partner with Yellowfin was brought about by increased demand from its customers for modern BI software that enabled end-users to independently access, share and act on data-based insights.

Founded in 2003 to reduce the cost and complexity of BI software, we knew that Yellowfins approach to reporting and analytics would meet growing market demand for pervasive, business-user-focused Business Intelligence software, said Rishi. We have seen substantial interest from our clients in Yellowfin as a great way to bring the power of visualization and Business Intelligence to end-users.

Yellowfin Sales Manager for North America, Shane Harris, said that StraVis experience delivering successful BI projects throughout the US would assist Yellowfin to win new clients and expand its market presence.

StraVis analytics expertise enable them to empower clients to harness the true value of their data assets to directly impact business outcomes and secure fast return on investment, said Harris. The StraVis partnership is a valuable addition to Yellowfins growing channel network in North America.

 END 

About StraVis IT Solutions

StraVis IT Solutions is a Business Consulting and Information Technology Services Provider focusing on the Digital Business Transformation and implementation of Integrated Business Systems, with specialization in SAP applications and technology. The company provides functional process design and integration expertise for Fortune 500 companies in the areas of HCM, SCM, CRM, Financial and Cost Management. StraVis is engaged by customers due to its ability to easily understand business processes and technology with relative ease in different industry segments. We are a CMMI Level 3, ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 27001:2013 certified company.

For more information, visit http://www.stravissolutions.com

About Yellowfin

Yellowfin is a global Business Intelligence (BI) and analytics software vendor passionate about making BI easy. Founded in 2003 in response to the complexity and costs associated with implementing and using traditional BI tools, Yellowfin is a highly intuitive 100 percent Web-based reporting and analytics solution. Yellowfin is a leader in mobile, collaborative and embedded BI as well as Location Intelligence and data visualization.

Over 10,000 organizations, and more than one million end-users across 70 different countries, use Yellowfin every day. For more information, visit http://www.yellowfinbi.com

For regular news and updates, follow Yellowfin on Twitter (@YellowfinBI), LinkedIn (Yellowfin Business Intelligence), YouTube (Yellowfin Team) or email pr(at)yellowfin(dot)bi to subscribe to Yellowfins free e-newsletter.

For further media information, interviews, images or product demonstration, please contact:

Jimmy Bowman, Yellowfin North America Marketing Manager on +1-208-721-8986, or jimmy.bowman(at)Yellowfin(dot)bi

Laxmi Kanth, StraVis IT Solutions on (408) 470-3774 Ext: 808, or laxmik(at)stravissolutions(dot)com
Brookhaven Retreat  LLC, a unique residential treatment facility exclusively for women with mental health and/or substance abuse issues, will exhibit at the psychiatry event of the year, the 2016 annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, GA from May 14 to 18.

Brookhaven Retreat offers a unique voluntary residential program of mental health and substance abuse services designed to help women overcome depression, trauma, anxiety, personality disorders, and substance dependence among other diagnoses.

Jacqueline Dawes, owner and founder of Brookhaven Retreat, and her team will be at the 20x10 exhibitor booth #1513 answering questions about The Lily Program, a 90-day individualized mental health treatment program offered exclusively at the Tennessee-based treatment center. Visitors of the booth can enter a drawing to win prizes and receive a messenger bag with information about BH and additional giveaways.

Originally established in 1844, the meeting has remained the premier gathering in psychiatry today and serves as a symbol of the Associations commitment to improved patient care through professional education. Hundreds of educational sessions and presentations on the latest research will be featured. More than 13,000 attendees from around the globe, including physicians from psychiatric and other mental health disciplines will gather at the Georgia World Congress Center, the first state-owned convention center established in the United States, and now the third largest convention center in the country.

Attendees will gain insight and in-depth knowledge designed to help improve patient care by meeting with renowned experts, earning credits, building peer relationships, discovering ground-breaking technology and new therapies and treatment options.

Each year we look forward to this meeting as an opportunity to mix with peers, gain insight in our field, and for an up-close and more personal view of what new concepts, research and information have been developed and are in the process of being developed, says Dawes. It also affords us the very important chance to introduce ourselves to those who dont already know who we are and what we do.

About Brookhaven Retreat

Brookhaven Retreat is a women's treatment center nestled on a naturally beautiful 48-acre site secluded in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. It has helped hundreds of women across the United States overcome depression, trauma, anxiety, substance use and a range of other behavioral health challenges. Brookhavens Founder, Jacqueline Dawes, has predicated its gender-specific treatment on healing emotional breakage for women. In this way, she has established a sanctuary and a place where women can feel safe, secure and cared for by a staff of highly trained professionals.
Cincinnati High Speed Internet and Data Services Connecting Customers With Dependable, Affordable Metro Cincinnati Ethernet Fiber Past News Releases RSS ATC and LEAD Magazine Announce...

QueenCityFiber.net Launches to Help...

Advanced Technology Consulting, Inc. (ATC) has launched QueenCityFiber.Net (http://QueenCityFiber.net), a quick-quote shopping tool for small and medium-sized businesses that are looking for fast, reliable Internet access.

ATC has partnered with Cincinnati Bell Business to support the web site, which provides speedy, accurate quotes and specialized counsel. Cincinnati Bell Business is known to have the most widespread fiber optical network in Greater Cincinnati.

ATC has offices in Cincinnati, OH, and Hartford, CT. The QueenCityFiber site can be used to access information about service provider offerings throughout the United States, but the initial focus is on Cincinnati.

Its pricing on the spot, said ATC managing partner and co-founder David Goodwin. There is no obligation to buy. What we are doing is providing a window into an opaque world of service providers and bandwidth options. QueenCityFiber.Net engages you in a painless, three-step process to determine your service options, Internet speeds and contract terms.

What people  business owners specifically  are looking for is reliable connectivity options, and how thats going to affect their budget, said Greg Wheeler, senior vice president of sales and operations for business markets at Cincinnati Bell Business.

Businesses are using exponentially more data as part of their daily routine. Its an IP-based world. The Internet of Things will only exacerbate the need to transmit more data. Were confident that in an open marketplace, our dedicated Ethernet fiber is very competitively positioned within our footprint, Wheeler said.

QueenCityFiber.Net was quietly launched late last year by ATC to support local Cincinnati businesses. ATC is a strategic channel partner with Cincinnati Bell Business. Service options run the gamut from business broadband and DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) to gigabit Ethernet. Although these services are all a viable option for businesses depending on their situation, QueenCityFibers go-to-market strategy is to promote the adoption of true dedicated Cincinnati Ethernet fiber (http://queencityfiber.com/connectivity/cincinnati-ethernet-fiber/).

We like to see businesses move off of shared services and onto connectivity platforms, such as Cincinnati Ethernet fiber that are much more stable and reliable, said Louie Hollmeyer, ATCs director of marketing.

For any business looking for stability and growth, its not a matter of if, but when. Cincinnati is fortunate that the metro Cincinnati Ethernet fiber (http://queencityfiber.com/connectivity/cincinnati-ethernet-fiber/) footprint is strong and costs are affordable. Its also a unique market with the influence of Cincinnati Bell Business. They have a solid fiber offering and its one of their most strategic products.

For more information, please visit http://QueenCityFiber.net or contact Louie Hollmeyer, director of marketing, at (513) 323-1131 or louie.hollmeyer(at)queencityfiber.net.

About Advanced Technology Consulting

Advanced Technology Consulting, Inc. (ATC), an independent telecom agency and consulting firm, removes the business complexities of researching, comparing, procuring, implementing and managing telecommunications solutions. ATCs team of Certified Telecom Professionals (CTP) leverages an extensive network of technology providers to deliver unbiased insight and tactical proficiency. Technical expertise includes VoIP business phone systems, network services, unified communications, cloud computing, and collaboration solutions. Services include strategic consulting, contract negotiation, project management, business-needs analysis, and support.
CPG International LLC (CPG) announced today that Chief Executive Officer Eric K. Jungbluth intends to retire. Mr. Jungbluth, who has led the company since 2008, will remain in his position until a permanent replacement is named and will assist in the orderly transition of the companys leadership. Upon his retirement, Mr. Jungbluth will transition into an advisor role for the company and will maintain a significant personal investment in the company.

I am grateful to my colleagues, the Board, our employees, customers and partners for the opportunity to lead CPG through a period of substantial growth over these past eight years, said Mr. Jungbluth. While I am certainly proud of the growth we have achieved, I believe my greatest accomplishment has been assembling a world-class team that is highly focused and committed to leading the next stage of CPGs growth. The company is well positioned today as a market leading building products manufacturer, with an unrivaled portfolio of premium brands and products, track record of innovation, and distribution network. I feel that now is a good time to begin a leadership transition given the strong positioning of CPG and the momentum we have in the business. I look forward to assisting the team throughout the leadership transition process.

Since joining the company in 2008, Mr. Jungbluth has led CPG through a period of rapid growth and development into a market leading manufacturer of highly engineered, premium building materials. Mr. Jungbluth led the successful execution of accretive acquisitions while at CPG, including the TimberTech acquisition in 2012. The combination of TimberTech and AZEK Building Products, a subsidiary of CPG, created the largest manufacturer in the trim, decking and railing market and an unrivaled portfolio of premium building products and brands. In 2013, Mr. Jungbluth led the company through a successful sale from AEA Investors to funds managed by Ares Management LLC and Ontario Teachers Pension Plan.

More recently, Mr. Jungbluth has been instrumental in leading CPGs strategic growth plan, including the launch of an innovative next generation siding product and continued enhancements and new product introductions across the decking product portfolio. CPGs innovative new product development efforts have helped drive strong recent momentum in the business, and have positioned CPG for continued growth into the future.

About CPG International LLC

Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, CPG International LLC is a manufacturer of market-leading brands of highly engineered, premium, low-maintenance building products for residential commercial and industrial markets designed to replace wood, metal and other traditional materials in a variety of construction applications. The company's products are marketed under several brands including AZEK Trim and Moulding, AZEK Deck, AZEK Rail, TimberTech, TuffTecTM, Duralife Lockers, SeaboardTM, Hiny Hider and Celtec, as well as many other brands. For additional information, visit http://www.cpgint.com.

Contact

Bill Mendel, 212-397-1030

bill(at)mendelcommunications(dot)com
We are very proud of this recent accolade, from the prestigious San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, as well as the many that came before it, said Ken Zignorski, Managing Member and General Manager. As of January 2016, we have earned 90 high-level wine awards (Platinum, Double Gold, Gold, Best of Class, 90+ Wine Scores) and are looking forward to working our way to 100 awards.

Gold medals at the 2015 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition were awarded to wines that possessed an added dimension or profound characteristics that were recognized by two or more of the judges on the three-judge panel. Additionally, Monte De Oro Winery also won 4 Silver Medals for 4 other 2012 red wines. To qualify, wines must have been produced for commercial sale, such as those entered by Monte De Oro Winery.

Monte De Oro started its vineyard endeavor in 2002, planting its first 18-acre vineyard (Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon), and in 2003 planting its next 41 acres of vineyards. We were grape growers until 2008 when we decided to break ground to build a winery, which today is Monte De Oro Winery, said Zignorski.

Monte De Oro currently has 72 vineyard acres that produce over 200 tons of grapes a year (2/3 red grapes and 1/3 white grapes) and a diverse grape and wine portfolio. It produces 6 white grape varietals and 12 red grape varietals, handcrafting 8 different white wines, 15 different red wines and 3 reserve wines.

While we are known for our red wines, our white wines have been emerging as well, said Zignorski.

One of Monte De Oros hallmark wines is the Synergy 65 Owners Blend. This is a blend handcrafted from the first 5 red grapes we grew: Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Zinfandel.

Monte De Oros newest addition is Bolle De Oro (Bubbles of Gold) sparkling wine; its most recent vintage being 2014, which was released in December 2015 and awarded Best Sparkling Wine by the National American Wine Society Convention last December. Monte De Oro Winerys goal is to help put Temecula Valley on the national wine map, said Zignorski, and we believe we are doing just that with our award-winning wines.

About Monte De Oro Winery

Monte De Oro Winery uses a combination of 21st-century innovation and centuries-old tradition in an environmentally responsible approach to growing its grapes and making quality wine. It is a 31,000-square-foot facility with the only glass floor tasting room, offering an oasis of wine excellence in an environment that is both sophisticated and inviting. Monte De Oro offers tastings and tours, has an award winning Bistro, and hosts weddings. For more information, please call (951) 491-6551, visit montedeoro.com or follow them on Facebook. The winery is located at 35820 Rancho California Road, Temecula, CA 92591.

About the NALA

The NALA offers local business owners new online advertising & small business marketing tools, great business benefits, education and money-saving programs, as well as a charity program. For media inquiries, please call 805.650.6121, ext. 361.
If you are new to iQ you can schedule a demo and learn more about this opportunity.

PSFK iQ - Where Innovators Turn for Research. Our professional-grade research platform is designed specifically for Retail and CX leaders who want to know whats next. Whether youre staying current on trends or need a real-time research partner to help you get ahead, count on PSFK iQ to deliver the info you need to make your next move.
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Todays religion and spirituality news roundup includes an interview with Nicholas Sparks about faith, a guide to giving up books for Lent, and more.

Following the latest film adaptation of one of his books, Nicholas Sparks reflected on his lifetime of faith and how it has impacted his career. The author of The Choice, which opened in theaters earlier this month, admitted that his faith has gone through several seasons. I think God is okay with that because what I think God wants is for us to choose to love him and love our neighbors, he said.

With the Lenten season upon us, many Christians give up indulgences or vices. Over at the Christian Science Monitor, check out one authors novel idea of giving up new books for Lent.

David Dark is addressing the growing number of people who identify as spiritual but not religious with his book Lifes Too Short to Pretend Youre Not Religious. In an interview with Christianity Today, Dark said that people need religion for looking hard and honestly at our own lives, for really leveling with ourselves and for abandoning our dysfunctional ideas for better ones, truer, livelier, more sustainable ways of negotiating our existence.
La prima versione del Motorola, quella lanciata all'inizio dello scorso anno sul mercato italiano, ha iniziato a ricevere in queste ore l'aggiornamento alla versione 6.0.1 di Android Wear basata su Marshmallow. L'elenco delle novita e delle migliorie per il nuovo software sono davvero tante, come conferma il change-log ufficiale che riportiamo di seguito.

Support for new languages



Moto 360 now officially supports new language+country pairs, including:



Mandarin (Taiwan)

Cantonese (Hong Kong)

Indonesian (Indonesia)

Polish (Poland)

Dutch (Netherlands)

Thai (Thailand)



These new languages will be listed in the language selector before you pair Moto 360 with your phone. If you've already paired it, then you can switch your phone language to one of these languages. Reminder: when Moto 360 pairs to the phone, the watch's language is synced to the phone's language.



Doze mode



Doze mode is a new smart feature that helps to preserve your watch's battery life: it recognizes when your Moto 360 is idle and automatically goes into a deep sleep state. How does it work? When your watch is not charging and not in use, Doze mode shuts down unnecessary background processes to optimize power.



Screen dimming to support battery



Helps to reduce the battery drain of your Moto 360 and gives you extra privacy by turning your watch's screen off, or putting it in ambient mode if Always-on screen is on, when is not in use. To try it, remove your Moto 360 from the usual viewing orientation, for example, drop your wrist after interacting with your Moto 360.



App permissions



Now you have more control over what you share with your apps. With the new permissions model, you can modify the permissions granted to apps at any time from the settings menu.



To modify permissions for an app:



Swipe left on the watch face, then scroll down and tap Settings> Permissions.

Select the app you want to adjust, you will see the list of permissions for that app.

Tap a permission to disable/enable it.



New wrist gestures



Your Moto 360 has new wrist gestures to help you navigate through screens:



See more details or take action on a card: hold your arm in front of you and push down quickly, then bring your arm back slowly.

Go back on a card: hold your arm in front of you and quickly pivot up, then bring it back slowly to the original position.

Open the apps menu: on the watch face, hold your arm in front of you and push down quickly, then bring it back slowly to the original position.

Pull down settings: on the watch face, slowly turn wrist away from you then flick back towards you.

Exit to watch face: hold your arm in front of you and shake your wrist quickly.



Follow the tutorial on the watch to see how these new gestures work and get some practice. To launch the gesture tutorial:



Swipe left on the watch face, then scroll down and tap Settings> Gestures.

Select Launch tutorial and follow the instructions.



Date & Time



You can now manually set the date, time and time zone of your Moto 360, independently of your phone's settings. Try it:



Swipe left on the watch face, then scroll down and tap Settings> Date & Time.

Tap Automatic date & time or Automatic time zone, then select OFF.

Swipe right to return to the previous screen, you will see new options to manually set the date and time or time zone of your Moto 360.



Bluetooth headset audio improvements



We have introduced improvements that reduce the choppy audio when listening music through a Bluetooth headset while your watch is in motion, like when you are walking or working out.



Bug Fixes



A variety of system optimizations to improve performance and stability.
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With all the xenophobic rhetoric poisoning politics today, young people could easily get the wrong impression about the land of the free and many of the immigrants who struggle to get here.

So its not only worth celebrating, but spreading as widely as possible, the wonderful antidote that folks behind Molines Fourth Wall Films and WQPT-TV have found to such venom as Donald Trumps contention that Mexico sends us primarily its drug addicts, criminals and rapists.

While the GOP presidential candidate did concede that some Mexican immigrants I assume, are good people, Fourth Wall and area public television leaders have found a perfect way to educate him -- and now young people throughout the nation -- about just how good, even great, many of them are.

They have adapted for schools and teachers the award-winning documentary Letters Home to Hero Street, so the story of the patriotic, courageous Mexican Americans of Hero Street, so well known to us, can find its way into classrooms across the nation. This compelling immigration story is just one of the components of this new curriculum.

Education is, of course, the primary goal of the PBS LearningMedia lesson plan geared to junior-high and high school students. And it will no doubt help to bring home the realities of World War II to todays students in new, more compelling ways as the 25-minutes documentary tells Frank Sandovals World War II story through letters he sent home to his family in Silvis between 1942 and 1944.

It also will help pre-teens and teens to connect with todays soldiers by urging them to write letters through Operation Gratitude and to past heroes by urging them to design and advocate for an overdue war memorial to the 15 Mexican-American medal of honor winners.

Co-producers Lora Adams, of WQPT, and Tammy Rundle, of Fourth Wall Films, are among those celebrating such an excellent teaching resource.

The documentary provided a wonderful opportunity to teach students about World War II through the perspective of this very personal story of a soldier and his family, Ms. Adams told reporter Jonathan Turner. We are excited to share this story, that is so important to our community, with the entire United States and beyond.

We salute Fourth Wall and WQPT for making this important film and sharing it. We also salute others who worked to make this wonderful classroom tool available, including Bob Ontiveros, Matthew Casillas, LULAC Council No. 10 of Davenport and Darryl Morin. It was created with the help of Illinois Public Media -- WILL-PBS (in Champaign-Urbana), and Mark Foley, who teaches U.S. history at Urbana High School.

We urge teachers who havent already done so to access the resource at pbslearningmedia.org and then help spread this wonderful story of courage and patriotism to their colleagues in this community and beyond it.

Of course, it wouldnt hurt to send Mr. Trumps campaign a link to it, as well.
Consulate official Marcelino Miranda told The Associated Press Wednesday the U.S. granted Manuel Armando Cruz a humanitarian visa. He was expected to arrive late Wednesday and attend Sunday funeral services. The six bodies would be buried later in Mexico.

Investigators believe the family was "targeted." But no one's been arrested.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi added Wednesday that authorities know the father wasn't in the U.S. at the time. He says Cruz isn't a suspect but that authorities are speaking to everyone they can for any clues.
In a ruling on Tuesday, Cook County Circuit Judge Clare McWilliams wrote that a man who alleges he was sexually abused as a boy in 2000 by former priest Daniel McCormack can seek punitive damages, which are compensation to punish an offender beyond any losses to the victim. The case is scheduled for trial in July. The judge determined it was reasonably likely that attorneys could prove to a jury that the archdiocese showed "utter indifference" to the safety of parishioners by ordaining and placing McCormack in parishes at a time when it knew about sexual abuse by priests and about questions regarding McCormack's sexual conduct in particular.

The ruling also means that possible victims in future cases involving McCormack can seek such damages if their lawsuits go to trial.

The archdiocese would not say if it would appeal the ruling, saying only in a statement: "We are disappointed in the ruling and will respond in court at the appropriate time."

The judge wrote that not only did the archdiocese know about the "widespread problem of priests abusing parishioners," but McCormack was ordained by Cardinal Joseph Bernardin when the archdiocese knew of several instances of McCormack engaging in sexual acts after drinking alcohol.

The judge also rejected the archdiocese's argument that there was no evidence Cardinal Francis George knew that McCormack was a risk to children. George promoted McCormack to a parish on the city's West Side. He was criticized for failing to remove McCormack from the parish until months after he learned of sexual abuse allegation. He later apologized his handling of the McCormack case. Both the former leaders of the archdiocese, Bernardin and George, have since died.

The archdiocese has paid about $130 million to settle sex abuse claims, including those against McCormack. In 2007, months after his arrest, he pleaded guilty to abusing five children and was sentenced to five years in prison. He was subsequently released from prison and placed in a mental health facility.

In 2014, McCormack was charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse stemming from another alleged incident in 2005 involving a boy when McCormack was still a priest.
CHICAGO (AP)  Art lovers have a chance to spend one starry night in a replica of Vincent Van Gogh's bedroom for only $10.

The Art Institute of Chicago decorated a one-bedroom apartment to look like Van Gogh's painting of his bedroom in the south of France. The room in Chicago's River North neighborhood is listed on Airbnb as if the artist himself were renting it for cash to buy paint.

Renters also will get tickets to the Art Institute's "Van Gogh's Bedrooms" exhibition, which opens Sunday and runs through May 10.

Museum spokeswoman Amanda Hicks says February dates for the apartment filled within minutes of the promotion being announced Tuesday night.

More openings will be announced on the Art Institute's social media channels. Another recreation of the bedroom is in the exhibit.
A doctor with a practice in Bettendorf has agreed to a settlement with the Iowa Board of Medicine on a charge that he prescribed medications over the Internet without properly vetting the patients.

Dr. Bolger denied the allegations but elected to settle with the board, the release states. He received a citation and warning and will pay a $10,000 fine. He also cannot work with patients over the Internet "unless and until he demonstrates that he is able to do so in a safe manner," the release states. He also must have prior permission from the board to do so.
SPRINGFIELD -- Area legislators from both parties praised President Barack Obama's hourlong speech stressing compromise that he delivered to a joint session of the Illinois General Assembly.

"In a subtle way, I think he was saying, 'Let's cut the bull----,'" said retiring state Rep. Pat Verschoore, D-Milan.

"You could've heard a pin drop in there," Rep. Verschoore said. "I think he was trying to tell us to put the partisan politics aside and get something done."

Retiring state Rep. Don Moffitt, R-Gilson, said the president gave an excellent speech.

"Part of his message was trying to find common ground," Rep. Moffitt said. "He emphasized we should kind of lower the rhetoric, reduce that tension, reduce that polarization.

"Voters should insist on a higher form of discourse," Rep. Moffitt said. "He (President Obama) said we need to reject the idea that compromise is a sign of weakness."

Rep. Mike Smiddy, D-Hillsdale, said the president's message was what state lawmakers and Gov. Bruce Rauner needed to hear. He added he was optimistic that "cooler heads will prevail and we can have some compromise."

Rep. Moffitt noted President Obama also mentioned needed reforms in Illinois, such as how legislative districts are determined. Rep. Moffitt wants an independent commission to draw up the district map, rather than the party in charge.

"It's the politicians picking the voters," he said of the current process. "It should be the voters picking the politicians."

In released statements, state Sens. Neil Anderson, R-Rock Island, and Chuck Weaver, R-Peoria, noted the president's call to improve the state's legislative remap process.

"I hope his words encourage (Democrat) Speaker Michael Madigan to come to the table to end the budget impasse," Sen. Weaver said.

Wednesday's speech comes amid an eight-month battle in Springfield over the state's finances. Given the challenges Illinois faces, Rep. Verschoore said he is not optimistic a budget can get passed.

"I hate to be pessimistic, but unless the governor backs off some of his Turn Illinois Around agenda, I don't think it will happen," Rep. Verschoore said.

Rep. Verschoore also said President Obama's Wednesday visit to the General Assembly was only the fourth by a sitting president. The others were Presidents Jimmy Carter, Herbert Hoover and William Taft.
BISHOP HILL -- Trustees on Wednesday voted to save 26 American arborvitae trees, a state champion arborvitae and an Austrian pine at the village cemetery.

Last month, trustee Amanda Laub was asked to look into the legality of removing the champion tree -- the largest of its species in Illinois -- as well as the costs to remove the line of trees and replanting.

On Wednesday, state arborist Shane Kaiser, of Galva, and a representative from Taylors Trees and Turf in Princeton told trustees the arborvitae were not dying.

Basically theyre fine, said Mayor Mike Funke. They just need to be trimmed and regulated.

Mayor Funke said the arborist from Taylors Trees and Turf was real excited to be asked to view a state champion. He said he learned the champion is not part of the line of 26 arborvitae leading in to the cemetery. The arborist also said the tree has a unique lateral branch that requires a cable.

Trustees also heard that a three-year plant growth regulator to slow canopy growth would let the trees grow back stronger. Trustees were told the regulator would cost $2,593 for the 26 trees for three years, and the cable support and plant growth regulator for the champion tree may run $725.

A two-year treatment for the Austrian pines fungal disease was projected to cost $1,110.

Mayor Funke expressed some dismay at fears the trees would be removed, stressing the removal price was sought because of liability concerns.

It was never my intention to cut the trees down," he said. "I was a little blown away by what a hot topic it became."

Bishop Hill's arborvitae is listed on the University of Illinois Extension Big Tree Register website, along with a catalpa tree in Kewanee and a river birch in Cambridge, both on private property. No champion trees are listed in Rock Island, Mercer or Whiteside counties.

Trustees also approved $1,358 for a security camera at the village dumpster to prevent people from improperly leaving TV sets and other large items.
DAVENPORT -- For the the third and final time, hair stylist Suzanne Weerts will dress up the tresses of "American Idol" finalists.

The 47-year-old Bettendorf native and owner of Suzanne & Co. Salon in Davenport is heading to Los Angeles to be part of the five-person hairstyling team for the 15th and farewell season of the Fox TV singing competition. The team is headed by her longtime friend, DeWitt native Dean Banowetz, known as the Hollywood Hair Guy." Ms. Weerts also worked on the "Idol" styling team in 2006 and '07.

"It's part of pop culture," the Pleasant Valley High alum said Wednesday from her Spring Street salon. "Fifty years from now, people are going to know what 'Idol' is or was. It's huge to be a part of that. It's a huge reward to see your work on live TV."

"Dean and I have had a friendship for a long time, and he's very generous to extend this invitation to me," Ms. Weerts said. "Just being local here, and his being out there and having the exposure he has ... he's got the ability to connect with anyone he wants to. The fact that he invites me to come out is a special part of our friendship."

Mr. Banowetz, who's been in L.A. for 20 years and has been nominated for two Emmy Awards, became stylist for "Idol" in its first year, 2002. He left the show after 2007, and he was asked back last season. He's also been stylist for ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" and Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance"; he has done the hair of pop stars Taylor Swift and Katy Perry for awards shows; and he was a stylist for the recent Fox live broadcast of the musical "Grease."

He and Ms. Weerts were students together at the old Bill Hills College of Cosmetology. She managed Regis Salon in Duck Creek Plaza for seven years and then opened Suzanne & Co in 2001. Her full-service salon employs five stylists and a massage therapist.

Describing her work on "Idol," Ms. Weerts said, "You're outside your comfort zone. I've had the luxury of having the same clientele so long, when you go into something new, everything is just all new.

"It's cool to be in the environment, because the people you work with you see on TV," she said, naming the current judges, Keith Urban, Jennifer Lopez and Harry Connick Jr. Previous seasons that she worked featured contestants Jordin Sparks, Katharine McPhee, and Kellie Pickler.

"It's great to see an average person from anywhere in the United States that has a shot at this, to see them grow," Ms. Weerts said.

After contestants appear on the show in taped auditions and the number competing is winnowed down to 12, the show goes live, and contestants get hair, makeup and wardrobe assistance, Ms. Weerts said, noting it's not like working here with customers in a full appointment.

"I may get somebody for seven minutes in my chair, and get four curls in their head, and they go off to rehearsal. When they're ready to come back, I may be working on someone else," Ms. Weerts said of "Idol." "Until they get down to two or three contestants, you don't get to start-to-finish work on one person."

"It's a group effort. Dean is the creative head, so he generally makes most of the decisions," she said.

The 15th "Idol" winner, to be picked sometime in May, will join a list that includes Phillip Phillips, Taylor Hicks, Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson.

On Feb. 18, former contestants Chris Daughtry, Kellie Pickler, Jordin Sparks, David Cook and Haley Reinhart will return to perform duets with the second group of semifinalists. Ms. Clarkson will serve as a guest judge on the first live Top 10 show Feb. 25.

I was happy for Dean when he agreed to be part of the show and excited when he offered me the opportunity to reunite with the original team for the farewell season," Ms. Weerts said, adding that he's asked her to move to L.A. "every single day."

"I've secretly given him a number," she said, indicating the salary she would need to make such a move possible. "We'll see."

"I'm very lucky to have a really strong clientele, and also they allow me to do this kind of thing," Ms. Weerts said. "The other girls take over for a couple months while I'm gone."

"I've been very lucky to not have to worry about being busy for most of the 15 years I've been here. I have loyal customers, and I like to think I manage pretty good relationships," she said. "And some pretty good hair walks out the door as a result of that."
The 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate ruled incorrectly in August when he issued a preliminary injunction blocking the state from executing prisoners.

It wasn't immediately clear if Attorney General Jim Hood would seek to set execution dates for prisoners who have exhausted their appeals. A spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The opinion by Circuit Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod rejected arguments by death row prisoners that Mississippi can't execute them because the state no longer will be using the particular class of drugs required by state law.

Mississippi law requires a three-drug process, with an "ultra-short-acting barbiturate" followed by a paralyzing agent and a drug that stops an inmate's heart. Through late 2010, Mississippi and all other states used sodium thiopental as the barbiturate, according to records maintained by the Death Penalty Information Center.

After a manufacturer stopped selling it for executions, Mississippi used a centrally manufactured version of pentobarbital, called Nembutal, in eight executions in 2011 and 2012. But Nembutal's manufacturer also cut off use in executions.

Mississippi then bought pentobarbital mixed to order by a pharmacist. In legal papers, the state said it destroyed that supply and now intends to use another sedative, midazolam.

Elrod and two other circuit judges ruled that despite Mississippi's law, prisoners don't have a right to be executed using a particular drug.

"Mississippi's statutory requirements and the associated lethal injection protocol are not 'atypical ... in relation to the ordinary' in comparison with other states' execution protocols," Elrod wrote, noting the U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld as constitutional Oklahoma's plan to use the drugs that Mississippi now plans to use.

Elrod also rejected arguments that Mississippi's execution protocols are so egregious as to "shock the conscience" because prisoners might remain awake for a period of time. Prisoners claimed they faced risk of excruciating pain and torture during an execution, and that such pain violates the U.S. Constitution's Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

The appeals court sent the case back to Wingate for further action.

"The Fifth Circuit's ruling affirms my belief that the state is legally and properly administering the death penalty," Gov. Phil Bryant said in a statement.

Jim Craig, a lawyer representing the prisoners, said the ruling is "disappointing," but said he expects to ask Wingate for another preliminary injunction on other grounds. He said there's more evidence now than in August that use of the new drugs will be problematic.

Since the court overruled only a preliminary injunction, Wingate could also still decide the case in favor of the prisoners. A trial is set for August.

Mississippi lawmakers have been considering bills creating alternate methods of execution.
FERGUSON, Mo. (AP)  The federal government sued Ferguson on Wednesday, one day after the City Council voted to revise an agreement aimed at improving the way police and courts treat poor people and minorities in the St. Louis suburb.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Ferguson's decision to reject the deal left the Justice Department no choice except to file a civil-rights lawsuit.

"The residents of Ferguson have waited nearly a year for the city to adopt an agreement that would protect their rights and keep them safe. ... They have waited decades for justice. They should not be forced to wait any longer," Lynch told a Washington news conference.

The Justice Department complaint accuses Ferguson of routinely violating residents' rights and misusing law enforcement to generate revenue  a practice the government alleged was "ongoing and pervasive."

Ferguson leaders "had a real opportunity here to step forward, and they've chosen to step backward," Lynch said.

Ferguson spokesman Jeff Small declined to comment. Messages left with Mayor James Knowles III were not returned.

Ferguson has been under Justice Department scrutiny since 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was black and unarmed, was fatally shot by white officer Darren Wilson 18 months ago. A grand jury and the Justice Department declined to prosecute Wilson, who resigned in November 2014.

But a scathing Justice Department report was critical of police and a profit-driven municipal court system. Following months of negotiations, an agreement between the federal agency and Ferguson was announced in January.

A recent financial analysis determined the agreement would cost the struggling city nearly $4 million in the first year alone. The council voted 6-0 Tuesday to adopt the deal, but with seven amendments.

Hours before the lawsuit was announced, Ferguson leaders said they were willing to sit down with Justice Department negotiators to draw up a new agreement.

That seemed unlikely from the outset. Within hours of the Tuesday vote, Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, said in a statement that the department would take "the necessary legal actions" to ensure Ferguson's police and court practices comply with the Constitution and federal laws.

Knowles said the seven amendments were formulated after the analysis showed the deal was so expensive it could lead to dissolution of Ferguson. The analysis suggested that the first-year cost of the agreement would be $2.2 million to $3.7 million, with second- and third-year costs between $1.8 million and $3 million in each year.

Ferguson has an operating budget of $14.5 million and already faces a $2.8 million deficit. Voters will be asked to approve two tax hikes in April, but approval of both would still leave the city short.

A big part of the cost was the requirement that Ferguson raise police salaries to attract better candidates, including more minority officers. Removal of the pay-raise clause was among the seven amendments.

Another provision the City Council added states that the agreement would not apply to any other governmental entity that might take over duties currently provided by Ferguson. That means, for example, that St. Louis County would not be beholden to the agreement if it takes over policing in Ferguson.

St. Louis County police spokesman Brian Schellman said if the county were ever asked to take over policing in Ferguson, "we would consider the implications of the consent decree before entering into such an agreement."

Knowles doesn't believe neighboring municipal departments would agree to cover Ferguson under the Justice Department's requirements.

Defiance has often defined Ferguson since Brown's death.

Days after the shooting, then-Police Chief Tom Jackson released surveillance video showing Brown's involvement in a theft at a small grocery store shortly before his death, with the burly teenager pushing the store owner. The video's release only heightened anger among protesters.

Jerryl Christmas, a St. Louis attorney who has represented a number of Ferguson protesters, said the Justice Department now understands the frustration the black community has felt with the city for years.

"If you cannot operate a legal and just city, you don't deserve to exist," he said. "If you can't put measures into place so you operate under the Constitution of the United States and guarantee rights to the citizens of the area, the city needs to dissolve."

Ferguson resident Bob Hudgins, 52, an activist who plans to run for City Council, applauded the lawsuit.

"I'm proud of my federal government today," Hudgins said.

Knowles has vigorously defended Ferguson. Even as protesters and civil rights leaders called for reforms, the mayor noted that Ferguson was already making changes to municipal courts aimed at easing the burden on people accused of minor violations. In fact, city revenue from court fees and fines has declined by hundreds of thousands of dollars since the shooting.

It's not uncommon for local governments to seek changes to agreements even after negotiations, but the overwhelming majority of investigations still end up in a settlement.

The Justice Department has initiated more than 20 civil rights investigations into law enforcement agencies in the last six years, including in Baltimore and Chicago. In the last 18 months, the department has reached settlements with police departments that included Cleveland and Albuquerque.

There have been occasional disagreements.

In 2012, the Justice Department sued Maricopa County, Arizona, after failing to reach agreement on allegations that the sheriff's office targeted Latinos with discriminatory stops and arrests. County officials voted in July to settle parts of that lawsuit.

The federal government also sued North Carolina's Alamance County following an investigation that alleged biased policing practices against Latinos. A federal judge last August ruled in the county's favor, saying the Justice Department failed to prove the sheriff ordered deputies to target Hispanics. That case is on appeal.
Federal authorities in six states also arrested seven other people accused of being involved in the occupation and brought charges against a leader of the movement who organized a 2014 standoff. Two more suspects remained at large.

The last occupiers at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge gave up without incident a day after federal agents surrounded the site.

Nearby residents were relieved.

"I just posted hallelujah on my Facebook," said Julie Weikel, who lives next to the nature preserve. "And I think that says it all. I am so glad this is over."

At least 25 people have now been indicted on federal charges of conspiracy to impede employees at the wildlife refuge from performing their duties.

Meanwhile, Cliven Bundy, who was at the center of the 2014 standoff at his ranch in Nevada, was arrested late Wednesday in Portland after encouraging the occupiers not to give up. Bundy is the father of Ammon Bundy, the jailed leader of the Oregon occupation.

The elder Bundy appeared in federal court Thursday in Portland to hear the charges against him, all of which stem from the 2014 confrontation with federal authorities in Nevada.

He's accused of leading supporters who pointed military-style weapons at federal agents trying to enforce a court order to round up Bundy cattle from federal rangeland. The charges include conspiracy, assault on a federal officer, obstruction of justice and weapons charges.

Federal authorities have not said why they chose to arrest the 69-year-old now. They may have feared Bundy's presence would draw sympathizers to defend the holdouts.

At the court hearing, the elder Bundy asked for a court-appointed attorney. U.S. Magistrate Judge Janice Stewart said she wanted to see financial documents first. She set a detention hearing for next Tuesday, and Bundy will stay in jail until then.

Bomb squads planned to go through the refuge's buildings to make sure no explosives were left behind, said Greg Bretzing, the agent in charge of the FBI's Portland division.

The refuge will remain closed for weeks as specialists collect evidence and try to determine whether the occupiers damaged any tribal artifacts and burial grounds sacred to the Burns Paiute Tribe, he said.

Videos posted online showed members of the armed group exploring buildings at the site and criticizing the way tribal artifacts were stored there.

The last four occupiers had been living in a rough encampment on refuge grounds. The videos sometimes showed group members living in tents or gathered around a campfire, driving vehicles and setting up barricades. They erected a canopy next to a pickup truck and an old car and put camping chairs and coolers around it. The area appeared strewn with plastic water bottles, cardboard boxes, clothes, packages of bullets and beer cans.

The last four occupiers were scheduled to be arraigned Friday in Portland. They are 27-year-old David Fry of Blanchester, Ohio; Jeff Banta, 46, of Elko, Nevada; and married couple Sean Anderson, 48, and Sandy Anderson, 47, of Riggins, Idaho.

The FBI began moving in Wednesday evening, surrounding their encampment with armored vehicles. Over the next several hours, the occupiers' panic and their negotiation with FBI agents could be heard live on the Internet, broadcast by a sympathizer of the occupiers who established phone contact with them.

The Andersons and Banta surrendered first on Thursday. Fry initially refused to join them.

"I'm making sure I'm not coming out of here alive," he said at one point Thursday, threatening to kill himself. "Liberty or death, I take that stance."

After ranting for a while, he too gave up.

Federal authorities were criticized during the occupation for not acting sooner to end it. But some experts said the FBI's strategy of letting tensions die down before moving in ensured there would be no bloodshed.

"This was beautifully executed," said Brian Levin, a criminal justice professor at California State University, San Bernardino. "This siege and the way it was handled will go down in law enforcement textbooks."

The standoff began when Ammon Bundy and his followers took over the refuge south of Burns, demanding that the government turn over the land to locals and release two ranchers imprisoned for setting fires.

Federal agents, Oregon state troopers and sheriff's deputies monitored the occupation to avoid a confrontation. As the weeks passed, there were growing calls for the FBI to act, including from Oregon's governor.

They did, on Jan. 26. On that day, Ammon Bundy and other occupation leaders were heading for the town of John Day to give a talk on federal overreach. FBI agents and Oregon state troopers stopped the group's two-vehicle convoy. Robert "LaVoy" Finicum was shot dead in that confrontation. The FBI said he was reaching for a pistol inside his jacket pocket.

A total of 12 people were arrested that week, including Ammon Bundy. Most of the occupiers fled the refuge after hearing they would not be arrested if they left quickly. Four stayed behind, saying they feared they would be arrested if they left.

Oregon elected officials rejoiced at the end of the long occupation but said it will take a while for the rural area to recover. Gov. Kate Brown called the episode "very traumatic."

"The level of harassment and intimidation by folks who were staying in the Burns community was horrific," she said. "And the healing will take a long time."
RIVERDALE, Ga. (AP)  A police officer in suburban Atlanta was shot twice and killed Thursday by a suspect who was also wounded during a law enforcement operation, authorities said.

Maj. Greg Barney, a 25-year veteran of the Riverdale police department, died following surgery, said Riverdale police chief Todd Spivey.

"We have lost a valuable member of our family," Spivey said.

Riverdale City Manager E. Scott Wood said Barney was struck in the mid-torso and arm.

The shooting happened as Riverdale police officers were assisting Clayton County police with an operation at an apartment complex in Riverdale late Thursday morning, Assistant Chief Michael Reynolds said. Reynolds did not release any details about the police operation or say what led to the shooting. He also did not release the suspect's name or condition.

Riverdale is a city of about 15,000 people just south of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating the shooting, said GBI spokesman Scott Dutton. The body of the officer has been taken to the GBI headquarters, where an autopsy will be performed Friday morning, he said.

In 2004, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Barney became the first African-American to serve as Riverdale's police chief when he accepted the interim position after the retirement of Mike Edwards. Barney's stint as chief lasted five months.
Baca stepped down from the helm of the nation's largest sheriff's department in 2014 amid the probe that led to charges against underlings for beating inmates and for trying to thwart an FBI investigation into those beatings.

Baca signed a plea agreement that said he ordered deputies to intimidate an FBI agent and "do everything but put handcuffs on her." He later lied to federal prosecutors and the FBI that he wasn't privy to discussions about trying to derail the investigation.

Baca was scheduled to plead guilty later in the day to a single count of lying to federal investigators. He could face up to six months in prison under the deal. He could withdraw his guilty plea if the judge gives him a longer sentence. In that case prosecutors would proceed to obtain an indictment.

"This is not a day of celebration for us," U.S. Attorney Eileen Decker said during a news conference. "It is a sad day when a leader of a law enforcement agency fails to honor his oath and instead of upholding justice chooses to obstruct it."

Baca, who ran the department for more than 15 years and traveled the world to speak about policing tactics, had said he was out of touch with what was going on and he denied knowing about efforts to stifle the probe by hiding an inmate who was an FBI informant.

Baca avoided charges for years as prosecutors moved up the ranks to indict a number of officers and, eventually, his second-in-command.

In May, when former Undersheriff Paul Tanaka and another high-ranking member of the department were charged with obstructing justice, prosecutors declined to comment on whether Baca was under investigation.

Tanaka is facing trial, but his co-defendant, former Capt. Tom Carey, pleaded guilty and agreed to testify in related court proceedings. It's not clear if that included providing grand jury testimony against Baca.

Seventeen members of the department have been convicted of federal crimes, including beating inmates, obstructing justice, bribery and conspiracy. The convictions stem from a grand jury investigation that began in 2010 into allegations of abuse and corruption at the downtown Men's Central Jail.

Deputies tried to hide an FBI jail informant from his handlers for weeks in 2011 by shifting him from cell to cell at various jails under different names and altering jail computer records. The FBI wanted the informant to testify to a grand jury.

After Baca learned of the investigation, he met with Tanaka, Carey and a lieutenant in September 2011 and told them to approach Special Agent Leah Marx, one of the inmate's handlers, according to court documents. The next day officers, threatened to arrest Marx for intervening in their jurisdiction.

David Bowdich, the FBI's Los Angeles chief, said Baca had continuously denied playing a role in the corruption even as his rank-and-file deputies faced prison time.

"He had the opportunity to lead," Bowdich said. "He did not lead ... There's no excuse for the decisions that were made."

Tanaka retired from the department in 2013 and ran unsuccessfully to replace his former boss, losing by a wide margin to Jim McDonnell.

Tanaka faces trial next month. Baca's deal does not require him to testify against his former undersheriff.
Press release submitted by Metropolitan Community Church of the Quad Cities

Metropolitan Community Church of the Quad Cities (MCCQC) announces a series of two hour

art classes beginning on February 13 that will focus on a collaborative art project, The Art within Us.

DAVENPORT, Iowa, February 9, 2016  Metropolitan Community Church of the Quad Cities, in

collaboration with lead artist Sarah Robb, is hosting a series of two-hour art classes beginning on

Saturday, February 13th from 2 to 4 p.m. The community is invited to attend classes in the social

hall of the church located at 2930 W. Locust Street, Davenport, IA. The series will continue for

the next two Saturdays, February 20th and 27th from 2 to 4 p.m. Classes will also be held on

Wednesday evenings from 6 to 8 p.m. on the 17th and 24th of February and on March 2nd.

Participants are welcome to attend all of the classes but are encouraged to attend a minimum of

three classes in order to receive full instruction. Due to the collaborative nature of the project, the

art instruction is designed for adults of all ages and teens. There is no cost for the classes and all

the supplies will be furnished.

In addition to funds donated by members of MCC QC, the project is supported with Quad City

Arts Dollar$ funds, provided by Hubbell-Waterman Foundation, Illinois Arts Council Agency, John

Deere, and the Doris and Victory Day Foundation. According to lead artist Sarah Robb, The goal

of this project is to create a collaborative experience with the intention of building a sense of

community among the participants. Participants of all levels will have the opportunity to develop

and/or enhance art skills. The group will come to consensus about two works of art from a selection of six that will have been previously chosen by the lead artist. The selection process will include an overview of each artists worldview and the impact on creative choices. Both pieces of art work will be enlarged and then a grid will be drawn on the art piece taking into consideration

the number of students in a class and the size of the finished piece. Individual squares will be

numbered and distributed among the students. During the initial session(s), students will be taught

how to replicate the design to meet the dimension of the Masonite tile. Depending upon individual

skill levels, students will have the opportunity to convert the design on paper prior to working with

the acrylic paint and tile pieces. Once all tiles are complete, they will be mounted on plywood and

installed in the social hall of MCC QC. The final outcome will be a replica of two original works of

art representing a juxtaposition of various talents and strengths within the group. The church plans

to celebrate the accomplishments of the artistic team with a reception once the pieces have been

installed. For additional information, please contact either Rev. Rich Hendricks at 563-940-9630

or by email at richdhendricks@msn.com or Jennifer Robb at 563-271-8872 or by email at
DETMOLD, Germany (AP)  A 94-year-old former SS guard at the Auschwitz death camp is going on trial this week on 170,000 counts of accessory to murder, the first of up to four cases being brought to court this year in an 11th-hour push by German prosecutors to punish Nazi war crimes.

Reinhold Hanning is accused of serving as an SS Unterscharfuehrer  similar to a sergeant  in Auschwitz from January 1943 to June 1944, a time when hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews were brought to the camp in cattle cars and were gassed to death.

The trial for the retiree from a town near the western city of Detmold starts on Thursday and is one of the latest that follow a precedent set in 2011, when former Ohio autoworker John Demjanjuk became the first person to be convicted in Germany solely for serving as a camp guard, with no evidence of involvement in a specific killing.

The verdict vastly widened the number of possible prosecutions, establishing that simply helping the camp to function was sufficient to make one an accessory to the murders committed there. Before that, prosecutors needed to present evidence of a specific crime  a difficult task with few surviving witnesses and perpetrators whose names were rarely known and whose faces were often only seen briefly.

Hanning's attorney, Johannes Salmen, says that his client acknowledges serving at the Auschwitz I part of the camp complex in Nazi-occupied Poland, but denies serving at the Auschwitz II-Birkenau section, where most of the 1.1 million victims were killed.

Prosecutor Andreas Brendel told The Associated Press, however, that guards in the main camp were also used as on-call guards to augment those in Birkenau when trainloads of Jews were brought in.

"We believe that these auxiliaries were used in particular during the so-called Hungarian action in support of Birkenau," he said.

Leon Schwarzbaum, a 94-year-old Auschwitz survivor from Berlin who is the first witness scheduled for the trial, said he can't forget the vivid images he witnessed there.

"The chimneys were spewing fire ... and the smell of burning human flesh was so unbelievable that one could hardly bear it," he told reporters Wednesday.

Though he said he felt deeply unsettled about staring Hanning in the eyes in the courtroom Thursday, he said he thought it was important to be there and that more than punishment, he hoped the trial would give the former SS man an opportunity to give a full accounting of what he saw and did.

"It's perhaps the last time for him to tell the truth. He has to speak the truth," Schwarzbaum said.

In all, about 40 Auschwitz survivors or their relatives have joined the trial as co-plaintiffs, as allowed under German law, though not all will testify.

Hanning's case is one of some 30 involving former Auschwitz guards investigated by federal prosecutors from Germany's special Nazi war crimes office in Ludwigsburg. It was sent to state prosecutors in 2013 with the recommendation that they pursue charges after the office undertook a major review of its files following the Demjanjuk verdict.

Although Demjanjuk always denied serving at the death camp and died before his appeal could be heard, prosecutors last year managed to use the same legal reasoning to successfully convict SS Unterscharfuehrer Oskar Groening, who served in Auschwitz, on 300,000 counts of accessory to murder.

Groening's appeal is expected to be heard sometime this year, but prosecutors are not waiting to move ahead with other cases.

Hubert Zafke, 95, a former SS Oberscharfuehrer  roughly equivalent to a Sgt. 1st Class  is scheduled to go on trial at the end of February in Neubrandenburg, north of Berlin, on 3,681 counts of accessory to murder on accusations he served as a medic at an SS hospital in Auschwitz in 1944.

His attorney, Peter-Michael Diestel, says it is Germany's "shame" that many higher-ranking Auschwitz perpetrators and other Nazi war criminals were able to escape with minimal or no sentences in the initial years after the war, and questions whether prosecutors are trying "to make up for mistakes of the past" with his client.

"He was a medic for Wehrmacht (army) soldiers and SS men  for uniformed men  and had no part of the Holocaust, but the judicial argument of the Demjanjuk verdict says that if he didn't provide his service as a medic then Auschwitz wouldn't have functioned," Diestel said. "What should a young man, even if he knew what was going on in Auschwitz, do to stop it?"

There is no question there were "some serious failures by the German judicial system in the past," says Efraim Zuroff, the head Nazi-hunter at the Simon Wiesenthal Center. But "that doesn't in any way change the validity of what's happening now."

"In a certain sense, you could say these people had the bad luck to live a long life," he told the AP in a telephone interview from Jerusalem. "If they had died five years ago they would never have been going to trial."

Two others whose cases are likely to go to trial this year are a 93-year-old woman charged with 260,000 counts of accessory to murder on allegations she served as a radio operator for Auschwitz's commandant in 1944, and a 94-year-old man charged with 1,276 counts on allegations he served as an Auschwitz guard.

In all four cases, the health of the elderly defendants will be a major factor in whether the trials can be concluded.

Hanning's will be limited to two hours per day in deference to his age, and his attorney says his client's health will be checked again by an expert as the trial opens.

Still, Jens Rommel, the head of the Nazi war crimes investigative office in Ludwigsburg, says it is too early to talk of the last round of trials. There are a half-dozen open investigations right now with state prosecutors, and his office is looking into another seven suspects from both the Auschwitz and the Majdanek death camps.

"Year by year it's more difficult, but the state justice ministers last year decided that Ludwigsburg would keep working," he says. "The state of North-Rhine Westphalia last summer talked about another 10 years as a timeframe."

Auschwitz survivor Justin Sonder, who is scheduled to testify Friday, said it's never too late to pursue those responsible for running the camps.

"I'm often asked if there were SS men in Auschwitz who showed compassion," the 90 year-old from Chemnitz said. "No, absolutely not!"
WASHINGTON -- It's time for establishment Republicans to face the truth about Marco Rubio: Once you get past the facade, there appears to be no there there.

The void behind his prettified rhetoric was stunningly revealed in Saturday night's debate. Rubio sounded like a malfunctioning cyborg as he kept repeating one of his prepared lines.

Asked to list his accomplishments in the Senate, he tried to name a few but was wise to change the subject. But he did so with an oddly phrased swipe at the president: "And let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing." I guess that's supposed to be a bad thing.

Chris Christie barged in with a tough attack on Rubio's lack of experience. Rubio's response: "Let's dispel with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing."

A former prosecutor, Christie persisted by charging that well-honed speeches don't solve anyone's problems. Rubio's retort: "Here's the bottom line. This notion that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing is just not true. He knows exactly what he's doing."

"There it is!" exulted Christie, having maneuvered the defendant into confessing on the witness stand. "There it is, the memorized 25-second speech. There it is, everybody."

Rubio's weak attempt at a comeback demands to be quoted at length: "Well, that's the -- that's the reason why this campaign is so important. Because I think this notion -- I think this is an important point. We have to understand what we're going through here. We are not facing a president that doesn't know what he's doing. He knows what he is doing. That's why he's done the things he's done."

That's four times, within the course of a brief exchange, that Rubio offered the same snippet of focus-tested rhetoric about Obama being a purposeful president. Why? Two reasons, I think. He couldn't come up with a way to defend a negligible record and he had nothing to say beyond what he had planned to say.

But wait, there's more: Later in the debate, after Christie had swiped at Rubio for disowning his own comprehensive "Gang of Eight" immigration bill, Rubio returned to the well yet again. "Well, here's the response," he said. "I think anyone who believes that Barack Obama isn't doing what he's doing on purpose doesn't understand what we're dealing with here, OK?"

Moderator David Muir deadpanned, "The governor wasn't talking about the president, he was talking about the Gang of Eight bill." The audience applauded.

I dwell on this weirdly robotic performance because it was so revealing. Rubio became the darling of the Republican establishment because of his youth, his looks, his inspiring life story, his adherence to GOP orthodoxy and, perhaps above all, his compelling way with words. No one else in the generally dour and angry field has his ability to paint a hopeful future. A general election contest that pits either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders against Rubio, many leading Republicans believe, would be like asking voters to choose between yesterday and tomorrow.

It's true that much of what is said about Rubio -- first-term senator, slender legislative record, brilliant speaker -- was also said about Obama. But the president, as Rubio repeatedly pointed out, is a man of substance and intention. He also happens to be a man who never flashes a deer-in-the-headlights look and repeats one of his talking points nonsensically.

Anyone can have a bad night on the debate stage; I recall the way Mitt Romney talked rings around Obama in their first encounter. But that lapse did no great political harm to the president because everyone knew he had more depth than that evening's performance suggested. Rubio's display, by contrast, bolsters the narrative of a talented and ambitious young man in far too much of a hurry, programmed to say what he thinks voters want to hear.

Is he deep and substantial enough to be president? Judging from the post-debate buzz, much of the conservative commentariat is asking that question.

Rubio's brain-lock, if that's what it was, happened at an unfortunate moment for his prospects. He was billing his third-place showing in Iowa as a win, judged against expectations, and hoping for enough of a surge in New Hampshire to drive other establishment hopefuls out of the race.

On Saturday night, though, John Kasich, Jeb Bush and Christie all seemed plausibly presidential. Rubio, with his canned loop of pre-cooked rhetoric, seemed anything but.
Marine Corps Base Quantico 10th Marine Regiment 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit 11th Marine Regiment 12th Marine Corps District 12th Marine Regiment 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit 1st Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company 1st Battalion, 11th Marines 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment 1st Dental Battalion 1st Marine Aircraft Wing 1st Marine Corps District 1st Marine Division 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade 1st Marine Logistics Group 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit 2nd Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company (ANGLICO) 2nd Battalion 2nd Battalion 23rd Marines 2nd Dental Battalion 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing 2nd Marine Division 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade 2nd Marine Logistics Group 2nd Marine Regiment 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit 3D Law Enforcement Battalion 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing 3rd Marine Division 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade 3rd Marine Logistics Group 3rd Marine Regiment 4th Marine Corps District 4th Marine Division 4th Marine Regiment 5th Battalion, 11th Marines 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade 6th Marine Corps District 6th Marine Regiment 8th Engineer Support Battalion 8th Marine Corps District 8th Marine Regiment 9th Marine Corps District Adjutant Administration and Resource Managment Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps Chemical Biological Incident Response Force Combat Logistics Battalion 31 Combat Logistics Company 21 Combat Logistics Regiment 2 Combat Logistics Regiment 25 Combat Logistics Regiment 27 Combined Arms Training Center Camp Fuji Command Element, Marine Forces Central Command Forward Commandant of the Marine Corps Community of Interest Defense Logistics Agency Defense Media Activity Deployment Processing Command-East Deputy Commandant of Information Director of the Marine Corps Staff Division of Public Affairs Expeditionary Energy Office Field Medical Training Battalion-East Field Medical Training Battalion-West Ground Combat Element Integrated Task Force Headquarters Marine Corps Human Resources and Organizational Management I Marine Expeditionary Force I MEF Headquarters Group I MEF Information Group II Marine Expeditionary Force II MEF Headquarters Group II MEF Information Group III Marine Expeditionary Force III MEF Information Group III MEF/MCIPAC Consolidated Public Affairs Office Inspector General of the Marine Corps Installations and Logistics Marine Air Control Group 28 Marine Aircraft Group 14 Marine Aircraft Group 26 Marine Aircraft Group 29 Marine Aircraft Group 31 Marine Aviation Marine Barracks Marine Corps Air Facility Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort Marine Corps Air Station Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station Futenma Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni-Japanese Marine Corps Air Station Miramar Marine Corps Air Station Miramar-EMS Marine Corps Air Station New River Marine Corps Air Station Yuma Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz Marine Corps Base Camp Butler Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base Hawaii Marine Corps Base Quantico Marine Corps Blount Island Command Marine Corps Civil-Military Operations School Marine Corps Combat Development Command Marine Corps Combat Service Support School Marine Corps Defense Services Organization Marine Corps Embassy Security Group Marine Corps Engineer School Marine Corps Engineer School Marine Corps Forces Africa Marine Corps Forces Central Command Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command Marine Corps Forces Europe Marine Corps Forces North Marine Corps Forces Reserves Marine Corps Forces South Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command Marine Corps Helicopter Squadron One Marine Corps Installations Command, MCICOM Marine Corps Installations East Marine Corps Installations Pacific Marine Corps Installations West Marine Corps Institute Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow Marine Corps Logistics Command Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego Marine Corps Recruiting Command Marine Corps Security Cooperation Group Marine Corps Security Force Regiment Marine Corps Support Facility New Orleans Marine Corps Systems Command Marine Corps Tactical Systems Support Activity Marine Corps Training and Education Command Marine Corps University Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory Marine Expeditionary Brigade-Afghanistan Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 251 Marine Forces Command Marine Rotational Force - 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What is 3GPP? An overview 3GPP, 3rd Generation Partnership Project is the organisation that manages the cellular standards: GSM, 3G UMTS, LTE; and now 5G.

3GPP overview includes:

What is 3GPP Standards/ Releases 3GPP groups

3GPP, 3rd Generation Partnership Project is an industry collaboration that manages the standards for the on-going mobile communications systems.

The name implies that it was an organisation focussed in 3G UMTS technology, and this was how it started. Since its inception, 3GPP has also taken on the GSM standards as well as those for 4G LTE, and now 5G.

3GPP was initially set up in 1998, to develop the third generation UMTS mobile communications system. With that completed many years ago it manages these standards and a number of others beside.

3GPP scope

3GPP, 3rd Generation Partnership Project manages a variety of standards, and essentially it looks after the standards that have come out of GSM and UMTS. These include:

GSM and related 2G / 2.5G standards including GPRS and EDGE.

UMTS and related 3G standards including HSPA

LTE and related 4G standards

An evolved IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) developed in an access independent manner

5G standards

3GPP location

Although 3GPP is effectively a summation of a large number of organisations, it does have a headquarters and some permanent staff.

The 3GPP support team which is more correctly known as the Mobile Competence Centre is located within the offices of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, ETSI which is Sophia-Antipolis, near Nice in Southern France.

3GPP organisational partners

3GPP has a set of what are termed organisational partners. These are essentially regional standards institutions.

These organisational partners determine the general policy and strategy of 3GPP as well as undertaking a number of other specific tasks.

3GPP Organizational Partners

Organization Originating region ARIB Association of Radio Industries and Businesses Japan ATIS Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions USA CCSA China Communications Standards Association China ETSI European Telecommunications Standards Institute Europe TSDI Telecommunications Standards Development Society India India TTA Telecommunications Technology Association Korea TTC Telecommunication Technology Committee Japan

3GPP Market Representation Partners

In addition to the 3GPP Organizational Partners, there is also a set of 3GPP Market Representation Partners who can be invited by the Organizational Partners to take part in 3GPP activities.

The 3GPP Market Representation Partners provide a valuable service on topics including market consensus for requirements. With assembling and assessing the requirements being a major area of developing a new standard like 5G, looking at what is required is a very important element of the function of 3GPP.

However these 3GPP Market Representation Partners do not have the capability and authority to define or publish standards within the 3GPP scope.

These 3GPP Market Representation Partners include:

3GPP Market Representation Partners

Organization IMS Forum TD-Forum GSA GSM Association IPV6 Forum UMTS Forum 4G Americas TD SCDMA Industry Alliance InfoCommunication Union Small Cell Forum (formerly Femto Forum) CDMA Development Group Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) TETRA and Critical Communications Association (TCCA)

In order to represent industry and to have the ability to represent those developing further mobile communications standards, 3GPP needs to have links with many areas of industry. It takes representation from the major industry organisations as well as from the major companies developing the technology as well as user groups and the like.

At its inception, 3GPP was very European-centric, but over the years, 3GPP has grown in stature and recognition and is now recognised as the main body for the development of further mobile telecommunications standards as demonstrated by the fact that it is responsible for the 5G standards.

Wireless & Wired Connectivity Topics:

Mobile Communications basics 2G GSM 3G UMTS 4G LTE 5G WiFi IEEE 802.15.4 DECT cordless phones NFC- Near Field Communication Networking fundamentals What is the Cloud Ethernet Serial data USB SigFox LoRa VoIP SDN NFV SD-WAN

Return to Wireless & Wired Connectivity
In 2013, Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) identified a need for a fresh approach to infrastructure maintenance after it discovered rising traffic levels had triggered a steady deterioration in the condition of the network. As a result, BAV started work in 2014 on a report on the general state of the network with the aim of ascertaining the true extent of the problem and identifying potential remedies.

In the meantime, the federal government has already agreed a 15% increase in funding for the SBB's maintenance budget, which will rise to SFr 7.6bn ($US 7.6bn) in 2017-2020. However, this problem is also affecting the private railways, which need more resources. One of the main drivers of the rising costs is the need for increased investment in rails, sleepers and below-track infrastructure.

The scope of the study has been limited to the standard-gauge networks operated by Switzerland's three largest railways, SBB, BLS, and SOB with the main focus on the most heavily-used lines.

The report shows that the correlation between cause and effect is complex, but two key findings emerged. The huge increase in wear-and-tear on the track is a direct result of the rise in traffic over a period of 20-25 years, with higher speeds and heavier rolling stock to meet customer demand. Secondly, the railways have been unable to keep pace with the need for increased maintenance. There are several reasons for this - inadequate records of infrastructure condition, construction strategies that were not consistently followed, lack of skilled personnel, and short-term cost pressures.

The Mattstetten - Rothrist high-speed line, which opened in 2004 as part of the Rail 2000 programme, is taken as a case in point. Rails have already been replaced after 10 years of service, considerably less than the expected lifespan. The analysis showed that the problem stemmed from a combination of factors both in the run-up to the opening of the line and the failure to implement preventive maintenance measures such as tamping and rail grinding once the trains were running. However, this example is only of limited use when applied to the entire network.

A comparison between the three railways reveals that SBB track generally has a shorter lifespan than BLS or SOB. This could be a result of the higher degree of wear-and-tear affecting these lines and the reduction in preventive maintenance. BAV says more research is needed in this area.

To overcome these problems, BAV has proposed a number of measures with varying degrees of urgency. One that has already been agreed is the introduction of attritional pricing in the Swiss track access charging system as from the beginning of 2017, a measure which will be based on the 'user pays' principle. Until now, freight trains operating through Switzerland have been priced by weight. It is hoped that this new system will act as a financial incentive for rail operators to use rolling stock appropriate for the lines.

In addition, BAV's proposals for funding the railway over the next four years is now based on an overall picture of the infrastructure - a first for Switzerland's railways - thanks to guidelines introduced last year for standardising review procedures. These guidelines were developed in cooperation with the railways themselves.

The report also recommends giving more weight to infrastructure maintenance strategies in the railways' service level agreements, with the aim of encouraging them to take a more systematic approach not only in assessing the state of their infrastructure, but also in following a consistent long-term strategy in maintenance concepts and providing value-for-money. Infrastructure managers and operators should aim to achieve better coordination, the report suggests, and take due consideration of the interests of the infrastructure sector. Infrastructure divisions in turn should improve their cost analyses to cover the entire life-cycle of their networks and optimise the collection of data on the current condition of assets.

With these measures, BAV hopes the condition of the railway network can be made more robust and more stable over a longer period of time, and maintenance costs can be kept within bounds. It also recommends further research and urges the railways to commit to the quest for solutions.

SBB on track

SINCE 2009 SBB has produced annual reports on the state of its infrastructure, and while these show that the overall condition of the network is good, the state of its track can only be regarded as adequate.

SBB has already adopted some of the measures put forward in the BAV report. Under the next service agreement for 2017-2020, SBB has pledged to develop its preventive maintenance activities, optimise procedures, and drop activities that offer no customer benefit.

However, even with additional funding it will take several years before the backlog and the completion of new infrastructure such as Zurich's Durchmesserlinie and the Gotthard Base Tunnel is set to bring more traffic onto the network, with implications for the volume of maintenance work. To meet this challenge SBB has launched its RailFit 20/30 programme with the aim of cutting costs across all sectors.

SBB says it has also improved communication and cooperation between its infrastructure, passenger and freight divisions in recent years with its Ensemble project, and has developed an overall strategy for all three divisions. SBB believes that becoming a more integrated railway is vital to providing productive, high-quality transport services on a heavily-used network with increased maintenance activity and an ongoing programme of upgrades.
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Moscow court finds fault with case against Defense Ministry fraud suspect

MOSCOW, February 11 (RAPSI, Diana Gutsul)  Moscows Presnensky District Court questioned a criminal case against Yekaterina Smetanova, former head of a Defense Ministry-affiliated company, and sent it back to prosecutors for overhaul, RAPSI learnt in the court on Thursday.

The criminal case against Smetanova has been returned to prosecutors under article 237 of Russian Criminal Code to eliminate defects, representative of the court said.

Defects in question were not named because the case was herd behind closed doors.

Smetanova has pleaded guilty to the crimes of which she has been accused, and provided detailed and consistent testimony exposing the other individuals involved in the crime. She has been released under restriction notice. Case against her was singled out and considered separately.

The corruption scandal broke out at the Defense Ministry in 2012 and led to led to the resignation of the then defense minister Anatoly Serdyukov and Yevgeniya Vasilyeva.

Serdyukov was charged with negligence. Investigators claimed that his actions or inactions resulted in damages to the state estimated at 56 million rubles (about $745,000) by ordering army personnel to build a private road to a Caspian Sea resort owned by his brother-in-law.

However, the Russian media reported in late December 2013 that the criminal probe into Serdyukovs actions was closed. Serdyukov's lawyer Genrikh Padva said later that his client was pardoned under an amnesty program.

On May 8, the Presnensky District Court of Moscow sentenced Yevgeniya Vasilyeva, an aide to Serdyukov, to five years in prison for her involvement in corruption cases at the Defense Ministry.

In late August, a court in the Vladimir Region released Vasilyeva on parole.
Russian communications ministry drafts bill on government control over Internet  report

MOSCOW, February 11 (RAPSI)  The Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation has drafted a bill which significantly increases government control over Internet-traffic in Russia, Vedomosti newspaper reported on Thursday.

According to two sources of Vedomosti, this document implements tasks set by Russian President Vladimir Putin made after the Security Councils session in autumn of 2014.

Authors of the bill propose to change laws regulating Russian communications and information systems allowing Russian government to track Internet-traffic routes through several means.

The Ministry suggest to create governmental system of DNS and IP addresses monitoring which would additionally look after the critical elements of Russian Internet infrastructure. Another change is a creation of a reserve copy of IP addresses registry. This database would automatically check availability of IP addresses and would be optional for use by Internet companies.

Third change is related to Internet communications between Russia and other countries. Authors of the bill propose to increase control over Internet-traffic gateways on Russian border. Measures include licensing of Internet companies that would get a special right to transfer data through the border. The Ministry also suggests to create a list of official gateways for use, so the government would be able to maintain control over them and would be able to build reserve Internet-traffic routes in case of emergencies.
This article first appeared on TomDispatch.

It was half a century ago, but I still remember it vividly. "We have to help South Vietnam," I explained. "It's a sovereign nation being invaded by another nation, North Vietnam."

"No, no," my friend protested. "There's just one Vietnam, from north to south, divided artificially. It's a civil war. And we have no business getting involved. We're just making things worse for everyone."

At the time, I hadn't heard anyone describe the Vietnam War that way. Looking back, I see it as my first lesson in a basic truth of political life -- that politics is always a contest between competing narratives. Accept a different story and you're going to see the issue differently, which might leave you open to supporting a very different policy. Those who control the narrative, that is, are likely to control what's done, which is why governments so regularly muster their resources -- call it propaganda or call it something else -- to keep that story in their possession.

Right now, as Americans keep a wary eye on the Islamic State (IS), there are only two competing stories out there about the devolving situation in the Middle East: think of them as the mission-creep and the make-the-desert-glow stories. The Obama administration suggests that we have to "defend" America by gradually ratcheting up our efforts, from air strikes to advisers to special operations raids against the Islamic State. Administration critics, especially the Republican candidates for president, urge us to "defend" ourselves by bombing IS to smithereens, sending in sizeable contingents of American troops, and rapidly upping the military ante. Despite the fact that the Obama administration and Congress continue to dance around the word "war," both versions are obviously war stories. There's no genuine peace story in sight.

To be sure, peace activists have been busy poking holes in the two war narratives. It's not hard. As they point out, U.S. military action against IS is obviously self-defeating. It clearly gives the Islamic State exactly what it wants. For all its fantasies of an apocalyptic final battle with unbelievers, that movement is not in any normal sense either planning to attack the United States or capable of doing so. Its practical, real-world goal is to win over more Muslims to its side everywhere. Few things serve that purpose better than American strikes on Muslims in the Middle East.

If IS launches occasional attacks in Europe and tries to inspire them here in the U.S., it's mainly to provoke retaliation. It wants to be Washington's constant target, which gives it cachet, elevating its struggle. Every time we take the bait, we hand the Islamic State another victory, helping it grow and launch new "franchises" in other predominantly Muslim nations.

That's a reasonable analysis, which effectively debunks the justifications for more war. It's never enough, however, just to show that the prevailing narrative doesn't fit the facts. If you want to change policy, you need a new story, one that fits the facts far better because it's built on a new premise.

For centuries, scientists found all sorts of flaws in the old notion that the sun revolves around the Earth, but it held sway until Copernicus came up with a brand-new one. The same holds true in politics. What's needed is not just a negative narrative that says, "Here's why your ideas and actions are wrong," but a positive one that fits the facts better. Because it's built on a new premise, it can point to new ways to act in the world, and so rally an effective movement to demand change.

At their best, peace movements in the past always went beyond critique to offer stories that described conflicts in genuinely new ways. At present, however, the U.S. peace movement has yet to find the alternative narrative it needs to talk about the Islamic State, which leaves it little more than a silent shadow on the American political scene.

Vietnam Redux

That's not to say that the peace movement is stuck story-less. One potentially effective narrative that might bring it back to life is sitting in plain view, right there in the peace activists' most common critique of the U.S. war against the Islamic State.

IS is not making war on the U.S., the critique explains, nor on Europe. Its sporadic attacks on those "infidel" lands aim primarily to radicalize Muslims living there in hopes of recruiting them. Indeed, all IS strategies are geared toward winning Muslims to its side and gaining more traction in predominantly Muslim lands. That's where the vast majority of IS-directed or inspired violence happens, all over what Muslims call dar al-Islam, "the home of Islam," from Nigeria to Syria to Indonesia.

The problem for the Islamic State: the vast majority of Muslims are just not buying its story. In fact, IS is making enemies as well as friends everywhere it goes. In other words, it is involved in a civil war within dar al-Islam.

Every step we take deeper into that civil war is a misstep that only makes us more vulnerable. The stronger our stand against the Islamic State, the more excuses and incentives we give it to try to attack us, and the easier it is for IS to recruit fighters to do the job. The best way to protect American lives is to transcend our fears and refuse to take sides in someone else's civil war.

That's the positive narrative waiting to be extracted from the peace movement's analysis. One big reason the movement has had such a paltry influence in these years: it's never spelled out this "Muslim civil war" narrative explicitly, even though it fits the facts so much better than either of the war stories on offer. It radically shifts our perception of the situation by denying the basic premise of the dominant narrative -- that IS is making war on America so we must make war in return. It points to a new policy of disengagement.
On Sunday, North Korea successfully launched a satellite into space for what it called peaceful purposes, triggering the perfunctory denunciations of its neighbors. South Korean President Park Geun-hye called the launch a challenge to world peace, and Japan vowed to resolutely take measures in response to the provocation. Likewise, the United Nations condemned the test in an emergency Security Council session, affirming that a clear threat to international security continues to exist -- particularly in the context of nuclear security.

The international community's response to Pyongyang's satellite launch shows how the threat of nuclear proliferation typically enters the Western policy discourse in reference to countries hostile to U.S. interests. Rarely, if ever, do policymakers worry that a friendly nation might draw the nuclear card. Until recently, an ally acquiring threshold nuclear capabilities had been a fairly remote possibility. What is known as a non-proliferation Gold Standard requires countries to forgo uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing in exchange for U.S. civil nuclear assistance.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the nuclear deal with Iran that resulted in the lifting of many sanctions on Iran just three weeks ago, risks lowering the standard by making threshold nuclear capabilities more attainable for countries seeking an advanced nuclear program. By giving Tehran domestic enrichment capabilities, and allowing that enrichment capacity to expand over time, the deal contradicts decades of U.S. policy on non-proliferation and could weaken Washington's position in future nuclear negotiations. After seeing Tehran walk away from the negotiating table with enrichment and reprocessing rights, how many countries would now accept greater constraints on their nuclear activities than were demanded of Iran?

Certainly not South Korea.

A steadfast U.S. ally, Seoul also concluded its bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement with Washington (the 123 Agreement) in June, after five years of tough negotiations during which Seoul insisted upon domestic enrichment and reprocessing. To South Korea's good fortune, it just so happened that the United States was in talks to fine-tune the international nuclear accord with Iran around the same time.

As South Korean nuclear policymakers observed, in its talks with Iran, Washington was sending conflicting messages about its stance on non-proliferation. If the United States made concessions on enrichment and reprocessing rights to a country in the so-called Axis of Evil, then Seoul certainly should receive similar if not better terms. Unwittingly, the structural flaws in the Iran nuclear deal make it easier for Seoul -- or any country, for that matter -- to build its case for spent fuel management capabilities.

Consequently, last summer, South Korean interlocutors walked away from the 123 Agreement negotiations triumphant. The revised agreement left open the possibility of Seoul obtaining domestic enrichment capabilities, contingent upon bilateral consultations with Washington and a written arrangement. The two countries will also continue their 10-year Joint Fuel Cycle Study to examine the technical and economic feasibility of pyroprocessing.

The duration of the nuclear pact was also reduced from 30 years to 20, after South Korean negotiators argued that a lengthy agreement would shackle the country's nuclear progress. If Seoul does have ambitions for threshold nuclear capability, a shorter-term deal would reduce the wait for a full-fledged nuclear program.

The revised 123 Agreement essentially made domestic enrichment and reprocessing capabilities an attainable goal for South Korea. A nuclear weapons program may not yet be in the cards, but at the least, such an agreement opens opportunities for Seoul to become one of the world's most advanced nuclear states.

Many observers would dismiss the notion of a nuclear South Korea. After all, Seoul has been a reliable U.S. ally since the end of the Korean War, including on the issue of non-proliferation. South Korea has also experienced nuclear threats firsthand from its closest neighbor and arch-foe, North Korea. Having condemned Pyongyang's nuclear tests and supported international measures to restrict the North's nuclear program, Seoul knows well the economic and political consequences of misusing nuclear technology. If South Korea decided to go nuclear, it too may face damage to its reputation, as well as political and financial costs from the international non-proliferation community.

But even generally reliable partners could inadvertently mishandle nuclear technology, bringing unintended consequences. Northeast Asia is already fraught with security tensions and rivalries. Imagine the regional response should South Korea ever decide to pursue a nuclear weapons program. China and Russia are already declared nuclear weapons states; North Korea has conducted several nuclear tests; Japan has the latent technological capacity to build nuclear weapons; and North Korea just demonstrated twice this year its nuclear weaponization potential, through an alleged hydrogen bomb test and a satellite launch. If South Korea joins the fray, a Northeast Asian arms race would be inevitable.

The Gold Standard was originally put in place precisely to prevent such catastrophes. But our inconsistent approach on nuclear non-proliferation has made it more difficult for the United States and the global non-proliferation community to set any kind of standard at all in future nuclear talks. The South Korean case has demonstrated that even close allies are prone to place their national interests ahead of global non-proliferation priorities. When other countries begin to line up and demand similar terms for their nuclear agreements with the United States, are we prepared to manage the proliferation cascade?

(AP photo)
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The Matagorda Club Established right after WWII, The Matagorda Club will soon be celebrating 70 years since its inception. Having always been for the private and exclusive use of club members and their guests, the many amenities have only increased for The Club over the years. Perpetually offering deer, hog and bird hunting, the Island is also renowned for bay, surf and deep sea fishing that continues to draw sportsmen year round. The 45 year Traditional Paco Bueno fishing tournament...

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By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 02/11/2016



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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

bachelorette Olivia Caridi has addressed her "haters" and wants them to know they can't bring her down.Caridi was a strong presence on this season right up to her elimination in the Bahamas when Ben Higgins sent her home during a two-on-one date instead of Emily Ferguson and she was left dramatically crying alone on a private beach as ocean water sprayed all around her.Opinions differ on whether the always-entertaining Caridi was really a "villain" this season.While Caridi's fellow bachelorettes accused her of being "fake" and disliked the blonde news anchor because she was overly aggressive with Higgins and made occasional insensitive comments, Caridi didn't seem to intentionally want to hurt people's feelings. Caridi claimed she just wanted to win Higgins' heart and was therefore totally and utterly focused on furthering their connection.After giving her best friend a shout-out for amazing adventures they had together in the Bahamas, such as kayaking and fishing, Caridi had a message for everyone else."Thank you to the lovers and supporters, both friends and strangers, who have reached out. I am eternally grateful. For the haters, you've made me stronger than ever before. The girls on this show see your comments and they have feelings. Think twice before sending an insensitive message. Words hurt, and they kill, too. Don't be mean behind the screen. #AntiBullyingMonth," Caridi captioned a photo of herself smiling on Instagram Wednesday."This has been one of the most interesting experiences of my life. I've learned a lot about myself. Good things and tough lessons. We're all human. We make mistakes. Learn from them. Let them make you wiser. Be imperfect, flawed, and quirky. And own it. Never trade your authenticity for approval. Don't be afraid to stand alone. Anyway, rant over. Can't wait for adventures ahead!"airs every Monday night from 8-10PM ET/PT on ABC. The women still in the running for Higgins' heart are Emily Ferguson Becca Tilley and Amanda Stanton
By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 02/11/2016



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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

's upcoming finale promises to be shocking and heart-wrenching, and a show source has leaked some juicy details.As previews have already shown for this season's ending, star Ben Higgins confesses his love to two different women, which is a first for the ABC franchise. Show stars are supposed to wait until the Final Rose Ceremony to express their feelings, and a proposal typically follows.The few times a Bachelor or Bachelorette has ever slipped an "I love you" too soon was when it was only directed at one person. For example, Kaitlyn Bristowe told her now-fiance Shawn Booth he was "the one" for her so early on it caused major problems.According to a show source, the woman whom Higgins rejects at the conclusion of his journey was "blindsided," Us Weekly reported . "The finale is brutal."When three women remained during filming, Higgins said "I love you" to two of the bachelorettes while enjoying his overnight fantasy suite dates in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. His revelations were "spur of the moment," noted the source."Ben was just following his heart," creator Mike Fleiss told the magazine recently, "but it caused considerable drama."Once Higgins let one girl go and determined his Final 2 bachelorettes, he realized the magnitude of his mistake."Ben definitely regretted saying 'I love you' to both women," said source. "He realized the inevitability of what was going to happen: needing to send one home in the end."When it became time for Higgins to hand out his final rose, he chose his words wisely when dumping the runner-up."Ben tells her that he truly does love her. He says those weren't just words. That was the most important thing he had to do: Tell her that as much of a mistake as it had been to say 'I love you,' he did mean it," the source explained. "She was devastated. There were lots of tears."This turn of events couldn't be easy for the winner to deal with either, knowing her future husband loved another girl completely at the same time he fell in love with her.Higgins talked about finale during a recent appearance on Bachelor Live hosted by Chris Harrison "You know, coming into this, you don't really know what to expect... I did fall in love with two women during [the show]. I didn't think I could, but I really tried to concentrate and make each relationship its own and stay open to the process. And as a result, this is where it's left us," Higgins explained.In one of the preview clips, Higgins told his parents he loved two women who were both too good to walk away from. He also cried to the cameras about how he must say goodbye to someone who truly didn't deserve it.airs every Monday night from 8-10PM ET/PT on ABC. The women still in the running for Higgins' heart are Joelle "JoJo" Fletcher Amanda Stanton and Becca Tilley
Graeme Murphy is a well-known Australian dance choreographer and under his leadership, he has lead Sydney Dance Company to rise as one of Australia's most successful dance companies.

On the other hand, only a few may know that he is also into real estate and according to Domain, he is scaling his portfolio down a bit. He has recently offered his Bundeena property to any interested buyer for $1.45 million to $1.5 million.

The north-facing Bundeena estate overlooking Port Hacking was designed Ardea Oosthuizen, a longtime friend and property co-owner. The property that is at 31 Crammond Avenue was originally bought in 1987 for only $107,000 but its location and its flexible floor plan that can transform the property to one or two separate residence are undoubtedly the two driving factors behind its price growth. Murphy and his wife have listed the estate with Debbie Donnelley of Phillips Pantzer Donnelley.

According to the listing, for a strikingly affordable private piece of Bundeena, Murphy's listing features breathtaking views of Port Hacking, two living areas, two kitchen, three bedrooms and three baths, low maintenance high ceiling, a driveway with an off-street parking for one car, passive solar design, good ventilation and delighting. It also boasts of a central deck that overlooks the water and offers a sight of the sea eagles and peregrine falcons along with other birds and the dolphins that are native to the area. Moreover, the property has been designed to be energy efficient. The place is said to be ideal for weekend retreats or a permanent residence.

Murphy, the former artistic director of the Sydney Dance Company who is married to longtime collaborator, Janet Vernon, has also sold his one-bedroom investment flat that is in Coogee six months ago to Kathryn Milliss and Mark Hopkins. The property fetched a whopping $1 million to filmmakers.
Underwater mortgage is one uncompromising scenario for homeowners. This type of incident makes a homeowner pay more mortgage than the actual value of his property. Nolo tells that "underwater mortgage" happened sometime in the year 2000 when the real estate market collapsed and caused a tremendous effect for homeowners.

An example of this scenario according to Realtor is Tiffany Doyle who happens to purchase a house priced at $289,000. Although $289k is a good amount for Doyle, what she did not expect was a recession that happened in 2007 that made the value of her house go below for an amount of $220,000.

What's most painful for homeowners experiencing "underwater mortgage" is the loss in the value of their home and the pitfalls accumulated towards it.

One problem cited in the outlet was "difficulty in selling the property." Evidently, even if a homeowner managed to find a buyer for a property, she will just receive the projected amount of the home and not the value she is paying for the mortgage. In case of Doyle, she will only receive $220,000 instead of the amount of $289,000.

Another unwanted outcome of underwater mortgage is the risk of the home to foreclose. This may be the last worst resort of a homeowner that could not make ends meet for the payment of his/her mortgage. Foreclosure happens especially when the owner is not diligent enough to pay the monthly mortgage of a home.

The circumstances of homeowners falling into a pit of "underwater mortgage" is slowly projected to lessen and even the most burdened ones are now able to recover.

"Over the past three-and-a-half years, the number of seriously underwater properties has been cut in half, but we continue to deal with a long tail of seriously underwater properties, and it will likely be another five years at least before most of those remaining underwater properties move into positive equity territory," said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac from Realtor.

Meanwhile Bankrate details that HARP (Home Affordable Refinance Program) and HAMP (Home Affordable Modification Program) can help homeowners if they are facing this kind of situation. According to the outlet, if a homeowner is qualified to apply for HARP, there is a chance that they can get a loan of 105 to 125 percent while HAMP can offer incentives for those who are qualified in the program.
Today's technology is so advanced that it made the use of wire for communication look primitive. With the introduction of Wi-Fi and other wireless technology, things have become more convenient and hassle free. However, it cannot be denied that though we are living in a high-tech environment, there are some shortcomings or issues in the background. And one these issues are the interruptions in our Wi-Fi signals.

These interruptions create a gap and even slows down the performance of our gadgets at home. In a home setting, there are many factors to consider to boost your Wi-Fi connection. And Whitson Gordon has something to share about it:

Top 10 Ways to Boost Your Home Wi-Fi -Find the Perfect Spot for Your Router Routers may be ugly, but that doesn't mean you should hide them behind the TV cabinet. If you want the best signal, you'll need it out in the open, free of any walls and obstructions. Point the antennas perpendicularly, and elevate the router if you can (one reader found that his attic was the perfect spot). Lastly, make sure it's in the center of your house, so you have the best coverage possible throughout your home. -Get Rid of Interference from Other Appliances Other routers aren't the only thing that can cause interference. Cordless phones, microwaves, and other appliances can muck with your signal as well. Buying a dual band router can help with this, but you can also buy cordless phones on other bands too. Read full advice...

There are many possible reasons why you are experiencing a slow connection at home. And some of the tips listed above are the best way to improve the speed of your internet at home. Aside from the internal changes, you should also try checking your location and the other external impediments that may cause a slow connection. It may include but not limited to tall mountain and trees nearby. Or you place may simply be not a suitable spot for wireless connections.
The U.S real estate market is still very appealing to many foreign investors. In fact, the apartments are still the number one real estate property that most foreign buyers like to acquire.

RealtyBiz News reports that a survey has been conducted among the members of the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate. The result proves that overseas buyers are still eager to acquire real estate properties in the U.S. particularly the apartment buildings.

It is noted that in 2015, there is already a huge investments coming in from foreign investors who are acquiring apartment buildings. Based on the result of the survey, "nearly two thirds expects to make major or modest increases in their investments in real estate in the US while a third anticipate maintaining their current investment levels." This only implies that the most of these foreign investors are not planning to reduce their investments.

Report also states that the respondents of the survey are "numbered amongst the largest institutional real estate investors and it's estimated they have around $2 trillion or more in property assets under management." It is inferred that this kind of investors opt to acquire "industrial and multifamily properties" than other real estate property types.

NREI Online says that "the volume of investment in apartment properties that involved foreign buyers grew 180 percent in 2015." This information is taken from New York City-based research firm Real Capital Analytics (RCA).

As stated in the report, 2015 was a banner year for international investment in the US real estate market. Major investors in the apartment buildings are the Canadians. It is stated that total investment of the Canadian investors has a rough estimate of $10 billion in U.S dollars. Other investors are from Middle East like Qatar or Bahrain, which contribute a total investment of $1.6 billion.

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Entrepreneur and actor Jeff Beacher recently meet with the Playboy executives because of his intention to purchase Hugh Hefner's Playboy mansion.

The mansion is listed for $200 million but Beacher reportedly offered only $90 million for the mansion. Of the said amount, $12 million is Beacher's own money while the rest will come from investors. He also revealed that he intend to use the name "Playboy" for the area which he is planning to develop into an exclusive, members-only resort, Celebrity Net Worth reported.

Beacher also expressed his plans to restore the mansion into its former glory. He plans to create an upscale destination both for business purposes as well as for pleasure.

"We envision this as a private hotel-meets-country club," Beacher said according to Los Angeles Business Journal. "It's beautiful, historic, and perfect for what we want to accomplish."

Last month, Hustler founder Larry Flynt has shown interest for the house with less than half of its asking price but he plans on evicting Hefner from the mansion. But Beacher has other plans since he will allow Hefner to live in the properly until the day of his death.

For Beacher, who is worth $50 million, the presence of Hefner in the mansion is an added appeal to the proposed exclusive resort. But it is not yet confirmed if the Playboy executives will agree with Beacher's deal, although they are seriously considering it except for the price offer which is way lower than the asking price. Reports said that further discussions will still be done.

The actor said that he is serious about his offer and is even planning to spend $20 million for renovating the mansion. He will also build five bungalows in the area for the guests, TMZ reported.

Jeff Beacher is the man behind "Beacher's Madhouse" which is a burlesque nightclub that features a circus sideshow inside that includes a "world-famous flying midget bartender," pro wrestling, and goats, Curbed wrote.

The Playboy Mansion now has potential to become the world's most exclusive hotel: https://t.co/lDLLwrOnBl pic.twitter.com/AqVMOhw3v1  E! Online (@eonline) February 3, 2016
If you've grown tired of waiting for your one true love to come knocking at your door, then maybe it's time to change your environment a little bit. Who knows, the man you will be marrying in the future may be located miles away from you?

In this Valentine's Day special, we will be looking into the possibility of increasing your chances at finding love and whether it might be a wise choice for you to move to a new city.

If you are living in New York and still haven't had love look willingly on your favor, then statistics may help provide you with answers and some comfort. According to Thought Catalog, it is harder for single people to find love in bigger cities, as compared to those living in smaller cities with a sizable population.

The publication further noted that those within Los Angeles, Miami and New York have a hard time finding love than those living in Colorado Springs, Louisville and El Paso.

Single females who are looking into increasing their chances at meeting someone may find love in San Francisco, as the outlet noted that the city has the highest rate of single males in the U.S. For single men, Memphis, TN has the highest rate of single women.

Realtor.com also provided a detailed list of cities that singles can look into while taking into account certain features such as unemployment rate and median list price of houses in the area.

While finding love may be your ultimate goal, especially this Valentine's Day, it is also important to consider whether the city you're looking into relocating can offer you a chance to find a job and give you a house to live in.

The publication noted that Minneapolis has the highest percentage of singles in the U.S., which accounts for 28 percent of the city's population. It also has quite a relatively low unemployment rate of 3.2 percent with a median list price of $268,000.
There are many listed treacherous disasters that have hit homes all over the nation. Hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and even earthquakes are the main causes why people now are opting for a secured home. A home that can shield or perhaps lessen the threat that these calamities bring. Meanwhile Washington Post reports of a movement that is geared to fortifying the construction of homes during climate change scenarios.

The birth of "Resilient Design" is taking place to take course on this attacks of nature. According to the outlet based from Resilient Design Institute, this field of design "is the intentional design of buildings, landscapes, communities and regions in order to respond to natural and man-made disasters and disturbances as well as long-term changes resulting from climate change, including sea-level rise, increased frequency of heat waves and regional drought."

This home construction and design is being developed to act as an answer towards the threats accompanied with nature. There are many factors ensued on the implementation of this design. As the institute cited in the article, "there is no one-size-fits-all" in creating these homes.

Apart from Resilient Design Institute, President of High Performance Homes Kiere DeGrandchamp also shared interesting details on how he designed his home to further combat the harsh effects of nature. He was able to introduce the use of "panels" in his home and how it could be beneficial to use with others.

"If you want to build a house on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, like in Ocean City, to hold up to hurricane-force winds - or pretty much anywhere with high-wind restrictions - these panels will stand up," DeGrandchamp said. "Because these panels have such a high thermal mass, extreme heat and cold don't affect the home as much as with a conventionally built, code-constructed house."

Aside from these notes, Popsci also tells of a "tornado-proof" home. Based on the description, this type of home "is made out of solid concrete with a solid steel door and no windows." Although this type of home is doable, it will be expensive to build and it does not appeal to a lot of people.

The rise of technology and research attributed to the safekeeping of a home is undoubtedly priceless especially now that the weather situations change from time to time.
Man kidnapped after Tinder hookup

On Saturday night, Feb. 13, a man met up with a woman he met on Tinder at the Travel Inn on West Broad street. After having sex with the girl, two black men came out of the bathroom and assaulted him, according to Athens-Clarke County police.
Four Athens bars, Cloud, Whiskey Bent, Boars Head and SandBar Athens, who received administrative citations for serving alcohol to minors in February, went before the Georgia Department of Revenue in Atlanta Wednesday morning to defend themselves as to why their alcohol license should not be suspended.
Sheriff Ira Edwards Jr. has been requesting a new jail ever since he was elected 15 years ago, and the project has been in the works for the past several years.
Sitting in the plush seats of the Fine Arts buildings main stage theater, its easy to be almost hypnotized by the graceful rise and falls of vocal vibratos, listening to notes that seem to reach the heavens. Suddenly an actress might break character to ask the director a question, and youre jolted back into reality. After receiving a note from the director, they adjust then burst back into their aria and carry the story onwards. This was a rehearsal for the UGA Opera Theatres upcoming romantic comedy, Cosi fan Tutte.
In a time when Hollywood is rolling out sequel after sequel, Ben Stiller decided to throw his hat in the ring and bring Derek Zoolander back to the big screen. Zoolander 2 attempts to bring back all the jokes and characters that audiences fell in love with in 2001 but relies too much on nostalgia and offers nothing new to viewers. Aside from a few well placed jokes, this movie taints the legacy of both the original Zoolander and Ben Stillers career.
The annual Bulldawg Brawl has been a popular boxing and charity event in Athens for the last five years, but for the sixth annual Brawl for a Cause, the game has changed. Instead of just UGA students fighting UGA students, University of Florida students will be bussed in from Jacksonville this year to go head-to-head with UGA students for their respective charities.
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By Betty Lease

Make Valentine's Special

Valentines Day is quickly approaching, and this Valentine Wine, Dine and Dance may already be sold out, but why not give it a try? Call Tuscan Ridge Estate Winery at 527-7393 to see if they can squeeze you in to this Feb. 13 event, set for 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. It will include a welcome bubbly cocktail, a three course wine-paired dinner and music by Off the Charts. Cost is $125 per couple, plus tax and gratuity. The winery is at 19260 Ridge Road in Red Bluff.

Good Time in Corning

The annual Wine, Food & Art Festival, sponsored by Corning Rotary, offers so much for so little. Set for noon to 8 p.m. Feb. 27 at Rolling Hills Casino in Corning, entrance costs a mere $10 and gives you wine tasting, a wine glass and $5 free slot play. The event also features a Chowder Cook-off. Tasting costs $1 at each booth. Tickets are available at these Corning locations: Banner Bank, Rabobank, Corning Chamber of Commerce and Rolling Hills Casino.

Wine-Tasting Card

If you like to go wine-tasting in the surrounding areas, www.livingsocial.com is offering a good deal on Sip California wine experience cards. For $29.99, you can choose wine tasting experiences for two in Sonoma, Napa, Sacramento/Sierra Foothills or Lodi. Or, purchase all four areas for $99.99. Each card is good through 2016. Living Social periodically runs discounts, so your purchase price could be even less. Check it out.

Visiting From the Coast

The Grape Escape is hosting a wine tasting by Moonstone Crossing Winery in Trinidad from 6 to 8 p.m. March 11 at 1747 Market St. in Redding. Winemakers Don Bremm and Sharon Hanks will be on hand to pour and talk about their wine.

All Things Wine

The Celebration of North State Wine is just the ticket for wine lovers. This 12th annual event, benefitting Palo Cedro Community Park, will be held 5:30 to 10 p.m. March 12 in the Mercy Oaks Banquet Room, 100 Mercy Oaks Drive in Redding. The event kicks off with wine tasting and light hors doeuvres, live music and wine store options. As the evening progresses, there will be Power Hour Prizes, dessert, silent and live auctions and dancing. Tickets, $55, are available at www.thecelebrationofnorthstatewine.com.

Dining out Deals

Now that The Savory Spoon has settled into its new digs at 1440 Placer St. in Redding, why not drop in during the week for a meal and beer/wine specials. Pint Night is every Tuesday and Thursday, with local craft brews half off. If you prefer wine, go for Wine Wednesdays, when all bottles of local wines are half off. Glasses of wine are $1 off too.

Send wine event announcements to blease15478@sbcglobal.net.
Kelsey Cary poses for a portrait in her home on Feb. 2, 2016 in Eastborough, Kan. Cary's bathroom, hallway and the exterior of her home has been inspired by Pinterest. (Mike Hutmacher/The Wichita Eagle/TNS)

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By Annie Calovich, The Wichita Eagle

EASTBOROUGH, Kan.  Kelsey Cary humbly says shes just a good copycat.

Long before she and her husband bought their house in Eastborough, Kan., in 2014, the stay-at-home mom had pinned a photo of the exterior of a Georgia house that shed fallen in love with  white brick, black windows, set back in the trees  to a board on Pinterest.

After the Carys bought the Eastborough house  red brick, dark-green trim, set back in the trees, like something out of Hansel and Gretel  Cary called forth the photo that shed put on the Pinterest social-media bulletin board.

The photo had come from the blog of a Georgia company that was chronicling a house it was redoing.

I followed them on Instagram and asked them, What color did you paint that house? and they actually replied and said, Natural Choice by Sherwin-Williams, Cary said. It was like, ah! I can execute my vision.

Cary is one of millions of people who go to social-media sites such as Pinterest and Instagram and the craft site Etsy for home decor ideas and DIY projects. Pinterest is a sort of online bulletin board where you see images  photos, diagrams, recipes  and pin them to bulletin boards you create to refer back to later. You can follow certain people or businesses to see what theyre pinning, and you can repin what you like to your own boards.

Thanks to Pinterest and Instagram, the Carys house is now bright where it was dark, painted Natural Choice  not too white, but more natural, naturally  and cars slow down to examine the new look on the 1940 house.

The exterior is only one of many home-decor ideas Cary has pinned to Pinterest boards under such categories as boy bath, girl room and shut the front door. The stay-at-home mom uses the site to organize ideas for the house as well as other areas of life such as recipes, clothes for the kids and vacations.

Whereas some people pin vicariously, dreaming of things they pin that never see the light of day, Cary sees Pinterest as something quite practical.

I dont have to go out and find my own color, she said of painting the house, for example. Its the perfect color.

With inspiration from Pinterest shes also redone a bathroom, decorated a hallway  and tore into the fireplace wall in the den. One red-brick wall was taken up with a fireplace, a long narrow mantle, and built-in shelves.

I got inspired on Pinterest one day and tore out all the built-ins on the side. I texted my husband and said, Hey, I started a project!

Jay Carys response: Youre killin me!

It turned into a team project. Kelsey painted the red brick white. My husband took down the mantle and sanded it, and I stained it, and we put it back up together. For $50, it totally changed the look. Except for the built-ins, that is; theres still the hole in the wall where they were. The contractor has been called.

Inside the entryway, along the wall at the base of a staircase, this little nook is Pinterest-y and -inspired. I saw an image I liked and thought, I could do something like that, Cary says.

She bought a wooden bench at Juliana Daniel Antiques, some pillows on Etsy, art from last years local Young Life Art Show, and a basket online. It kind of worked out perfectly.

But her biggest Pinterest project was gutting a bathroom on the first floor of the house. It started with a pin of some tile shed fallen for because of its unique pattern  again, before theyd moved into the house.

The floor was the main piece, and I had pinned that floor like a year and a half ago. Then I saw this bathroom that had the tile, and I said, No way. Ive gotta have it. 

She tracked down the source of the tile and saw that it wasnt available locally. But she talked to Designers Expo in Wichita and found out that it was getting ready to become a distributor for the manufacturer of the tile. So she ended up being able to buy it locally.

When people see the tile, they say, Are these floors original? Because they have that 40s vibe.

Almost all of the other elements in the bathroom are also exactly what Cary saw on Pinterest, or its pretty darn close, from the brass hardware to the custom-built cabinet vanity.

Ah, I love it, Cary said. Every time I walk in the door.

Kathy Haines of Designers Expo who worked with Cary says that while customers can be overwhelmed in a store, not able to see different elements pulled together, such online tools as Pinterest or Houzz can help with that.

In the past we were loathe to send customers to the internet, Haines said. But now they are able to show us things they like. Its something that makes it much easier to get inside their head.  We refer people back to it all the time because you do a search of Carrera marble backsplash and you get millions of pictures and they can usually find something they like.

Cary says she thinks she gets her love of design from her mother, who, among other things, was always rearranging the furniture. Cary tells the childhood story of the time her father carried her and her sister to bed and dropped them on the floor because her mom had moved the beds and not told anyone.

She was of that generation that tore ideas out of magazines and collected them, and this is kind of our generation of that, Cary said of Pinterest. Its all online. Makes it pretty easy.

And Cary has only just begun. The kitchen still has to be finished, and she wants a big firepit out back.

All this gives me a sense of accomplishment, she said.
Expansive views are the reward for the hike to the top of Chamise Peak.

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By Laura Christman

Redding has hills aplenty. Were surrounded.

Chamise Peak is one with a terrific trail to the top, making it a standout among its fellow foothills. The single-track dirt path up the 1,628-foot peak just north of Redding is great for a hike, run or ride. Rewards are a good workout and grand views.

Its a relatively easy hike for a family and the views are pretty impressive, says Bill Kuntz, supervisory recreation planner for the U.S. Bureau of Land Managements Redding office.

The panoramic perspective from the top includes Shasta Lake, Shasta Dam, Mt. Shasta, Keswick Reservoir and the distant Trinity Alps.

Chamise Peak Trail was completed in 2009, according to Kuntz. It came to be through BLMs trail-development partnership with Redding Foundation, McConnell Foundation and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The path is part of a 25-mile network of dirt trails east of Keswick Reservoir linking Shasta Dam to the Sacramento River Trail.

The route up Chamise Peak is a side trip  created because the trailblazers wanted a spot with a nice viewpoint.

It was a great location, Kuntz says of why the peak was picked. Its a little round-top mountain that sticks right up out of the hills there.

The peak is named for chamise (Adenostoma fasciculatum), an evergreen California native shrub that grows happily in locations with harsh conditions.

The hike to the top of the peak can be approached two ways  starting from the north on the Upper Sacramento Ditch Trail or from the south on Flanagan Trail.

The Upper Sacramento Ditch version is the longer route  13 miles or so round trip. Starting point is the parking lot at Shasta Dam visitors center. Chamise Peak Trail is a left turn several miles down the Upper Sacramento Ditch Trail.

The Flanagan Trail option  the more common route to reach the peak  is about five miles round trip. The trailhead is a small parking area along Flanagan Road north of Redding off Lake Boulevard. Flanagan Trail connects to Chamise Peak Trail on the right. The peak trail gradually circles up the hill. Elevation gain from Flanagan trailhead to the top of Chamise Peak is roughly 700 feet, Kuntz says.

Its a moderately strenuous hike. Nothing over 10 percent (grade), but you work up a sweat, he says.

Theres a picnic table at the top, so bring lunch or a snack.

The trail is popular with hikers, runners, mountain bikers and horseback riders. Dogs are allowed. For a map, visit Healthy Shasta, http://healthyshasta.org/maps/KeswickTrails2011.pdf.
Melvin Baldwin-Green and Tanishia Williams stand as jurors enter a courtroom Wednesday in Shasta County Superior Court.

SHARE Jim Schultz/Record Searchlight Annie Brassfield, a relative of Melvin Baldwin-Green, was overcome by emotion Wednesday outside the Shasta County Courthouse only minutes after he was convicted of sex-trafficking and other criminal charges.

By Jim Schultz of the Redding Record Searchlight

A Shasta County jury convicted a Redding man and woman of multiple sex-trafficking, pimping, kidnapping and pandering charges Wednesday, prompting an outburst from one of the defendants who said he did not receive a fair trial because he's black.

"I feel cheated," said Melvin Baldwin-Green, also convicted of forcible rape, among other charges, shortly after the verdicts were read.

Baldwin-Green, who voiced his displeasure after quietly listening to a clerk read the verdicts aloud, interrupted the proceedings as it was ending to say he believed the charges against him were false and that he did not get a fair trial due to his race.

"I'm black in Shasta County," he said.

Family members also loudly voiced their displeasure as they left the courtroom, also claiming the guilty verdicts were unfair and unjust.

"It's prejudiced here," Teresa Renee Baldwin, Baldwin's aunt, said during an interview outside the courthouse.

Although the jury did not convict Baldwin-Green and Williams of all of the nearly three dozen charges they faced, including deadlocking on a pandering count against Williams, the multiple felony charges on which they were both convicted are enough to send them to prison for the rest of their lives.

Their convictions included abduction for the purpose of prostitution, pimping a minor, child abuse, kidnapping, kidnapping for extortion and human-trafficking a minor for a sex act, pandering and false imprisonment by violence.

They are due to be sentenced March 11 and are being held in Shasta County Jail without bail.

The eight-woman, four-man jury, none of whom are black, reached the verdicts shortly before noon after all-day deliberations on Friday and Tuesday.

Baldwin-Green, 27, and Tanishia Savannah Williams, 23, were arrested in March 2014 on suspicion of abducting a 16-year-old Sacramento girl and pimping her in the North State.

But the case against the pair later grew to include six other victims, all from the Sacramento area, including one who told detectives she was threatened with torture and death before being dumped naked in a remote area near Red Bluff in February 2013.

During closing arguments earlier this month, Deputy District Attorney Sarah Van Slyke likened the two defendants as slave owners.

"Slavery is exactly what seven young women (victims) suffered in this case," she said, adding that the two defendants looked upon them as "a commodity to be traded and sold."

But Shasta County Deputy Public Defender Jeremy West, who represented Baldwin-Green, showed photographs and messages posted on Facebook from at least one of the alleged victims, who is seen smiling happily and appears to be out in public.

"She wasn't kidnapped, held against her will or forced to be a prostitute," he said.

Meanwhile, defense attorney Rob Hammonds, who represented Williams, argued during closing arguments that his client was a victim of Baldwin-Green, saying she was controlled by him and did what he told her to do.
Andreas Fuhrmann/Record Searchlight

Shasta College student Elijah Relph competes in the double buck competition with Luke Seats, not pictured, during the Sierra-Cascade Logging Conference at the Shasta District Fair grounds in 2015.

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The Sierra Cascade Logging Conference will take up the subject of Californias drought and how it affects the forest.

Forestry and Californias Water Supply  Connections and Solutions will start at 1 p.m. inside Fusaro Hall at the Shasta District Fair grounds in Anderson. The panel discussion is scheduled to go until 3 p.m.

Panel members are Siskiyou County Supervisor Ray Haupt, Rob York of UC Berkeley and Sara LaPlante of the U.S. Forest Service. Jim Ostrowski, a consulting forester, will moderate.

Today also is education day at the Sierra Cascade Logging Conference. The conference runs through Saturday.



Tweets by @DavidBenda_RS
Redding Police Department This photo shows the man suspected of robbing Dominos Pizza at gunpoint earlier this week.

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Police distribute photo of robber

Redding police Wednesday released a photo of the man suspected of robbing a pizzeria at gunpoint earlier this week.

The photo shows a man holding a gun while he robs the Domino's Pizza parlor at 2056 Eureka Way on Sunday, police say.

They described him as having a medium complexion, being 5-feet, 7-inches tall, with a medium build and wearing a black hoodie and dark pants. He also has a bandanna covering much of his face.

Anyone with information is asked to call 225-4200 or Secret Witness of Shasta County at 243-2319.

SINTF: Agents find pot, gun at home

Drug agents located more than 120 marijuana plants while serving a search warrant in the 18000 block of Oasis Road in Redding on Tuesday, the Shasta County Sheriff's Office said.

The Sheriff's Office Marijuana Investigative Team found 128 plants on the property in a hoop-style greenhouse, along with processed marijuana and items associated to marijuana sales while serving a Shasta County Superior Court search warrant, Sgt. Barry Powell said.

A loaded .380 semi-automatic handgun was also located at the residence, along with Jeffrey Lee Cossairt, 46, and Kristy Lee Patnode, 35, both of Redding, who were found at the residence during the raid and were found to have prior felony convictions, Powell said.

Cossairt and Patnode were arrested and booked on suspicion of being ex-felons in possession of a firearm, Powell said.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife Watershed Enforcement Team and the Central Valley Water Board, who were investigating potential environmental damages, were also on the scene with the sheriff's team.

Agents intend to submit the case to the Shasta County District Attorney's Office for review on the weapons charges, along with marijuana cultivation and possession of marijuana for sale, Powell said.

Cash offered for tips in theft of car parts

Secret Witness of Shasta County is offering up to $1,000 to anyone who provides a tip that leads to the arrest of a suspect in the theft of rare parts for a 1973 Camaro.

On Dec. 31 someone stole a small utility trailer containing approximately $10,000 worth of car parts at Vista Pines Court. The trailer was later discovered empty a short distance away, according to Secret Witness.

Anyone with information on the case can call Secret Witness anonymously at 530-243-2319, or submit tips at scsecretwitness.com.

Street closes for crash investigation

Redding police officers Wednesday conducted an investigation into a crash that occurred recently at Magnolia and Chestnuts streets in downtown Redding.

The area was closed to traffic until 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Forest waives fees for Presidents Day

Shasta-Trinity National Forest invites visitors to enjoy a fee-free day at several recreation sites Monday in honor of Presidents Day.

Fees are waived generally for day-use areas, such as picnic grounds, developed trailheads and destination visitor centers.

Cowboys pick theme for rodeo parade

The Asphalt Cowboys chose A Tribute to the American Cowboy as the theme for the 2016 Redding Rodeo parade.

The theme was submitted by Dorothy Hollingsworth of Redding. It was one of 133 entries. Hollingsworth will receive $100 and ride in the May 21 Rodeo Parade.

The theme will be used for the parade and other Rode Week events. Those who wish to participate in the parade can pick up entry forms beginning March 1 at the Redding Chamber of Commerce, Lulu's Restaurant and the Paint Mart. The parade entry form will also be available on the Asphalt Cowboys website.

Water main work to close Olive Ave.

Road crews will close Olive Avenue between Placer and Butte streets between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. Thursday and Friday.

During work hours the road will be open to residents, but motorists in the area are advised to use alternate routes. Redding road crews will be replacing a water main in the area.
Tommy Botell

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By Damon Arthur of the Redding Record Searchlight

Lassen Volcanic National Park officials did not destroy evidence following a boy's death on Lassen Peak, but officials did a "terrible job" coordinating an investigation into the incident, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior's Inspector General's office.

The Inspector General's office looked into allegations of Lassen employee misconduct and whether officials at the park destroyed evidence.

While the report said evidence was not intentionally destroyed, the investigation into 9-year-old Tommy Botell's death in 2009 was poorly handled, said Steve Hardgrove, chief of staff for the Inspector General's Office.

"The Park Service did a terrible job, in my opinion, coordinating the investigation," he said.

On July 29, 2009, the Botell family was climbing the Lassen Peak Trail when Tommy Botell of Red Bluff was killed when a rock retaining wall he sat on collapsed, killing him and injuring his sister.

After the family sued the Park Service, the two parties settled in 2013 for $3.5 million in damages before trial. During the trial, a U.S. magistrate determined the Park Service should be sanctioned for destroying evidence in the case.

That didn't happen, so the lawyer for the Botell family, Steven Campora of Sacramento, asked members of Congress to investigate. U.S. Rep Jackie Speier, a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, requested the Inspector General's report in 2014.

The report looked into whether evidence was destroyed, whether the investigation was conducted properly and whether Lassen officials knew the trail was dangerous before Tommy Botell was killed.

"Regarding the alleged destruction of evidence and documents, our investigation determined these actions were not intentional and stemmed from miscommunications between LAVO (Lassen) staff," the report says.

But Campora disagreed with all of the report's findings and wondered why a federal magistrate and a judge would find evidence of wrongdoing but the Inspector General did not.

"It's people investigating themselves. They whitewashed the whole thing," Campora said.

When he requested an investigation, he said he did not want a Department of the Interior Inspector General's report because it would not be independent.

Inspector's office spokeswoman Nancy DiPaolo said she was offended by Campora's remarks, and said department investigators remain independent from political pressure.

She said the Park Service has 90 days to respond to the report posted on the Internet Dec. 15.

Karen Haner, a spokeswoman at Lassen park, said she could not comment on whether officials agreed with the report's findings.

"We accept the findings of the report and extend our heartfelt condolences to the Botell family," Haner said.

One of the disagreements over the investigation was whether Lassen officials or the Park Service's Investigative Services Bureau should have led the probe into Botell's death. The report found Lassen officials followed proper procedures by investigating the incident and did not impede the bureau's participation.

The report also said that in at least one instance Campora was misinformed about which laws Lassen officials were required to follow during the investigation. Campora accused the Park Service of not convening a post-incident review panel to look into what happened, but the report points out that the agency was no longer required to convene the panel because that policy was outdated.

Campora also said the agency did not properly preserve documents related to the investigation. The report notes the first law firm hired by the Botells sent a letter to the Investigative Bureau asking for documents to be preserved.

But the Department of the Interior's Regional Solicitor told the inspector's office they interpreted the request as "a notification of representation and not a litigation hold or preservation notice."

Regarding allegations that documents related to the case were shredded, the report says a clerk at Lassen observed the chief park ranger shredding documents. The report says assistant U.S. attorneys assigned to the case concurred that chief park ranger and superintendent Darlene Koontz shredded documents but they were not related to the case.

As to whether Koontz and others knew the trail was hazardous before Botell was killed, the report said staff court depositions were conflicting. However, the report says previous Lassen officials had worked to get federal funding to improve the trail to the top of Lassen Peak.

Since Botell's death the trail has undergone an extensive, $3 million rehabilitation.

The report also quoted a historic landscape architect who surveyed the trail for its historic significance in August 2009, after Botell's death, and noted that it was in poor condition.

She told an Investigative Services Bureau special agent in December 2009 that the Lassen trail was "quite the worst trail I'd ever seen in terms of poor condition and safety hazards."

The landscape architect also submitted a draft report on the trail that noted the poor condition of park retaining walls. But Koontz ordered the comments removed because they were outside the scope of the document, the report said.

The allegations the report investigated were all "glossed over" by the inspector's office, Campora said.

"I'm happy the family got the result. I'm disappointed the government didn't hold anyone accountable," he said.
Lloyd Pendleton

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By Staff Reports

Housing first expert Lloyd Pendleton will talk about Utah's successful efforts to reduce homelessness and save tax dollars at a forum at noon on Thursday at Sequoia Middle School.

The forum has "sold out" so speak, with nearly every seat in the auditorium accounted for, according to officials with the Women's Fund of the Shasta County Community Foundation. The Women's Fund is hosting the free program along with the Shasta Community Health Center and the Record Searchlight.

If you haven't already registered to attend, you can follow the Record Searchlight's live coverage on Redding.com and join in the conversation by using the hashtag #ShastaHousing.

The Shasta Arts Council will also record the event and show it on Charter's Channel 181 starting Friday evening for the next few weeks.

Pendleton will discuss the housing first model, which puts chronically homeless people into housing without requiring them to pass drug tests or linger on a waiting list. The concept originated in New York.

Pendleton helped lead the effort in Utah. "The reason why we (in Utah) were successful is that the state took the lead," he said. "I spent the last 12 years with resources from the state in organizing homeless service providers, political leaders and we got the county involved. It became a concerted effort."

He said that California doesn't have a homeless czar taking the lead like he did in Utah, but he has been in talks with California lawmakers about finding solutions to the homeless issue.

The Shasta Community Health Center initially contacted Pendleton to ask him about how the housing first model works in various communities. Health Center CEO Dean Germano said Utah's model that reduced homelessness and saved taxpayers' dollars resonated with the North State team.

That discussion led to an invitation to have Pendleton address a wider audience.

While in Redding, Pendleton will meet with a variety of local leaders, including Shasta County CEO Larry Lees and Redding City Manager Kurt Starman. He will also meet with select stakeholders who work in social services and with the homeless.

He will be a guest Thursday morning on the Carl and Linda Bott radio show at KCNR 1460 AM.

The Shasta Arts Council is recording Thursday's forum and will air it on Channel 181 on Charter cable at 6 pm. on Fridays, Mondays and Tuesdays Feb. 12 through March 11, and on weekends at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Police investigate a robbery at the Shopko in Redding Wednesday.

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Redding police are searching for a man suspected of using pepper spray on two Shopko employees and possibly hitting another with a car during a robbery this afternoon.

Police say at 2:18 p.m. they received reports that an unidentified man in his late 30s left the Shopko store on Lake Boulevard with a cart containing various items and employees followed trying to stop him.

They tried to detain him in the parking lot, police say. But the man used pepper spray on two employees and then got into a four-door Honda sedan, police say.

He backed out of his parking space in an unusual manner, police say. It isn't clear whether he hit, or even tried to hit, a third employee, officers say. They said they still need to review more evidence and interview more witnesses.

They said he may have been simply panicked after the robbery.

The man then drove away at a high speed and in an erratic manner, police say. He was last seen heading westbound on Lake Boulevard, officers say

He is described as in his early 30s, 6-feet-2-inches tall, around 175 pounds and has a goatee. Police say he was wearing khakis and a white shirt. He also appeared somewhat unshaven.

He is the only suspect, police say.

The employees have recovered from the pepper spray and didn't need medical attention, police said.

The store manager, identified as Josiah, declined to comment.

Check back as we update this story.

Tweets by @JSzydlowski_RS
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Drug agents located over 120 marijuana plants while serving a search warrant in the 18000 block of Oasis Road in Redding on Tuesday, according to the Shasta County Sheriff's Office.

Agents with the Sheriff's Office Marijuana Investigative Team found 128 plants on the property in a hoop style greenhouse, along with processed marijuana and items associated to marijuana sales while serving a Shasta County Superior Court search warrant, according to Sgt. Barry Powell.

A loaded .380 semi-auto handgun was also located at the residence, along with Jeffrey Lee Cossairt, 46 and Kristy Lee Patnode, 35, both of Redding, who were found at the residence during the raid and were found to have prior felony convictions, Powell said.

Cossairt and Patnode were arrested and booked on the charge of being ex-felons in possession of a firearm, Powell said.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife Watershed Enforcement Team and the Central Valley Water Board, who were investigating potential environmental damages, were also on the scene with the SMIT team.

Agents intend to submit the case to the Shasta County District Attorney's Office for review on the weapons charge, along with marijuana cultivation and possession of marijuana for sale, Powell said.
A mosquito from the genus Aedes, which can carry Zika virus. (Jeffrey Arguedas/EFE via ZUMA Press)

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By Daniel Chang, Miami Herald

MIAMI  In 2007, physicians working on a remote island in the western Pacific Ocean reported an outbreak of an illness with flu-like symptoms similar to dengue fever, a debilitating viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes and well documented since the 18th century.

But the illness observed by doctors on Yap Island in Micronesia seemed different than dengue  with sudden onset of rash, joint pain or red eyes, and no cases of hemorrhagic fever.

Patient blood samples sent to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would later confirm the first recorded outbreak of what was then an obscure pathogen.

We didnt have any idea that it was Zika virus, said Lt. Col. Mark Duffy of the U.S. Air Force, one of the lead physician researchers dispatched to investigate the mystery illness in June 2007. There was just a paucity of literature that was out there.

Until then, Zika had been something of a sleeper virus. Only 14 cases of human Zika disease had been documented prior to 2007, and all of them were in Africa and Asia, according to an article on the Yap Island upsurge published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2009. Researchers identified 49 confirmed cases of Zika, and estimated that 73 percent of the population had been infected with the virus.

Nearly nine years after the first Zika outbreak was documented by Duffy and a team of disease detectives  a collaborative effort involving the CDC, the World Health Organization and the nonprofit Pasteur Institute  the virus has spread rapidly across South America and the Caribbean, triggering warnings of a global health threat.

But physicians and public health officials still lack the basic scientific research to understand precisely how Zika spreads or to establish a causal connection with a concurrent spike in microcephaly, a congenital birth defect, and other neurological disorders following outbreaks of the virus in Brazil in 2015 and in French Polynesia in 2014.

There is no tool available that allows physicians to diagnose Zika virus in the field, limiting their ability to quickly identify the disease and take action. There is no vaccine or specific medical treatment for the virus symptoms, which affect only one in five infected people. And its unclear whether the virus is transmitted only by mosquitoes, or perhaps also through sexual contact, as health officials believe occurred in Texas this year.

Were all steep on this dreadful learning curve, said Elizabeth Talbot, a physician and infectious diseases expert at Dartmouth Colleges Geisel School of Medicine. There are a lot of negatives, and there are a lot of unknowns right now.

Those unknowns, particularly the suspected link between the virus and birth defects, are precisely the reasons cited by the WHOs Emergency Committee for declaring an international emergency for Zika on Feb. 1.

Catherine Spong, a physician-scientist and acting director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, said the most important unanswered question is whether or not Zika virus is causing birth defects and other neurological disorders.

If in fact it is, Spong said, then we need to work through exactly when that happens and how can we prevent that.

Duffy, the physician who investigated the Zika outbreak on Yap Island in 2007, said the team of scientists spent a month in the field studying the transmission and symptoms of the disease.

In that time, he said, the team made several important observations, including the determination that only about 1 in 5 people infected with the virus show symptoms.

Duffy surmised that the Zika virus likely arrived on the remote island via an infected monkey, an infected person or a mosquito carried aboard a cargo container or airplane.

The team determined that about 75 percent of the islands population had been infected with Zika during the outbreak, he said, and they were the first to characterize the diseases symptoms in a broad population.

But, Duffy said, There wasnt any indication at that point about the fetal anomalies or Guillain-Barre syndrome, a neurological disorder often associated with viral infections.

The only way to prove a causal link between the virus and any of the suspected outcomes is through epidemiological research, including cohort and case-control studies, which then would require further research for prevention and treatment.

Scientific efforts, including case investigations and ecological research, already are underway to close the knowledge gap on Zika, the WHO reported.

President Barack Obama on Tuesday asked Congress for $1.8 billion in emergency funding to combat the virus through mosquito control, vaccine research, education and improving health care for low-income, pregnant women.

The CDC also is responding to state requests for help, sending 950 Zika antibody tests to Florida this week at the request of Gov. Rick Scott  in addition to 475 tests sent last week. Sixteen cases have been identified in Florida so far, all acquired outside the country and none involving pregnant women.

Talbot, the infectious disease expert at Dartmouth, who also is New Hampshires deputy state epidemiologist, said very active investigations into a causal link between Zika and birth defects are under way now. But, she said, the scientific community shouldnt expect to arrive at definitive conclusions for three to six months.

Until then, she said, people worried about Zika virus should listen to what is known about transmission of the disease and its symptoms.

Pregnant women should try to postpone travel to the affected regions, she said. We have confidence in that recommendation.

Tablot added that practical advice can go a long way, including the use of insect repellants DEET or Permethrin in clothing and removing containers and places where mosquitoes breed.

Maybe theyre not always simple, she said, but they are effective.



2016 Miami Herald

Visit Miami Herald at www.miamiherald.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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It was with mild amusement that I read the article "Redding to be tech player" in the Feb. 9 Record Searchlight.

The amusement is my perception how far away Redding is from being a tech center. Of course, we may have different definitions of tech. To put my own concepts of technology into context, I was an executive at two technology companies larger than $400 million, CTO at two startups, and spent some time at both Amazon and Microsoft.

We moved to Redding last year and Redding becoming tech hub would truly be unexpected, to borrow from Rachel Hatch's quote. We almost had to cancel our house deal when we found out that there was no high speed Internet available, yet we were only about 10 minutes out of downtown and chose an area next to Grant School  which has an excellent reputation (guess what  high tech workers like their kids to have good schools). Even slow DSL turned out not to be an easy option as all the circuits through AT&T were taken  and AT&T has no obvious plans on expanding service, including its U-verse fiber optic in the area. In the 21st century, if you don't have a robust Internet (ubiquity and speed) infrastructure, you don't have a chance of becoming a tech hub.

A tech hub, for me, includes the ability for high tech workers to continue their education and for companies to draw directly from the local universities. I think you know where I am going with that and the article touched on it, but I think underestimates this. Not just a full four-year degree, but advanced degrees. We have a few small, private, four-year colleges, but none have a technology focused degree, nor a robust set of graduate programs that include any hard science.

I mean no insult to the many great technologists who work in what is often termed IT, but a tech center needs both IT workers (because any 21st century business that is going to survive has to have a solid IT department) but, it also needs companies that produce technology as a product. The example given of Limelight Health is a solid form of a product, except branch offices have less value than a headquarters and tend to concentrate on maintenance, not innovation. Having had geographically dispersed development teams under me in the past, I am well aware where the cutting edge work is usually done and where the spinoff company is likely to occur and finally who is kept during an acquisition.

A tech hub for me includes the buzz of employees wanting to leave the company they work at to start their own company and having a number of other workers at other companies who want to do the same thing.

A tech hub includes a diversity of thinking, a diversity of people, and diversity tolerance for wild ideas. Tech hubs are also cultural hubs. Culture includes some standard issue culture, but also wild ideas and wild places  wild as in enthusiastic, untidy and unexpected. Places to hang out where the tech side of your imagination can run free.

Is Redding finally entering the 21st century in that local companies see the need for basic technology? Sure. But the idea of a tech hub is a long way from the reality here. There needs to be a tech ethos, a psyche to an area for it to take off as any kind of hub. Without a solid Internet, solid university (that has a well-rounded technology and business degree and advanced degree) and vibrant startup mentality, Redding will simply be catching up all the time.

This is not to sound negative, per se. I love Redding and the proximity to a lot of things, but Tuesday's article is too optimistic.

Cheap real estate and economic development groups are valuable, but only go so far. When I was in Minnesota, in the Twin Cities, we looked at several small towns with these sorts of incentives. Ultimately, it didn't make sense for us for a host of reasons. Looking to Chico is interesting for inspiration, but Chico has the university and the buzz of activity that brings with it. Tech workers need that buzz. There is reason that Amazon chose, after much consideration, to stay in the city, rather than locate  for instance  across the lake near Microsoft. The culture and buzz of Lake Union and the downtown area.

The ability to jump from one company to another is part of what makes a tech hub work  it creates cross-fertilization of ideas. Luring a company to the area with the thought that it won't have to compete with other companies for talent is wrong-headed. If I were in charge of a company again, I would recommend not opening a branch in that situation. I want there to be competition and vibrancy and cross-fertilization. I want to know who bubbles to the top of multiple companies, who jumps ship and for why. I don't want to hire someone who stayed at a company simply because there were no other opportunities. I want people who tried startups and failed, but still have that passion and will bring that to my company (if I were still managing at one).

Finally, you note that not all jobs in the field require the ability to code. Certainly, but it does require the ability to talk to a coder, to understand aspects of coding and also what it means for product (which can mean service as a product) development in a tech company. The HR person at a tech company is different than the HR person at a hospital. Even accounting and legal is different. Understanding the patent system, understanding what sort of software development can be amortized and what can't are all subtly different in a tech company.

My perception is Redding is doing a lot to prevent slipping further behind, which is hugely important, but it is barely doing that. All companies and all businesses today use technology. Most of the technology efforts discussed help keep Redding in the 21st century, but realistically do nothing to move it ahead of cities and areas around the country and the state.

Obviously, there are a lot of things to recommend Redding, or we would not have moved here, but being a tech hub was not one of those reasons. I would love to see the area move, gently, into becoming more of a tech center, but it needs real commitment from the area and it needs some thinking on what areas of technology to focus on. My early observations don't show me that this is happening.

Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go adjust my line-of-sight Internet antenna to see if that is the reason the connection died again and switch to my molasses slow DSL until the line-of-sight comes back up. I would call to complain, but guess what, a few minutes out of town and I don't have cell service. Tech hub, eh?

Stanislav Fritz lives in Redding.
'The government and corporate sector must join hands to implement action which allows all of India to develop. It would be good for the corporate sector in the long run.'

'It is not that talent is a monopoly of a few castes who have been privileged over centuries. Talent also exists in other groups. They need opportunity and exposure,'

The debate on casteism is back!

The National Commission of Backward Classes on Tuesday, February 9, wrote to the ministry of social justice to bring in a bill to provide 27 per cent job reservations for other backward classes in the private sector.

Former diplomat Ambassador Pavan K Varma -- now a Janata Dal-United member of the Rajya Sabha -- tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com why it is important to have caste-based reservations in the private sector.

Why do you support reservations in private sector jobs?

In a country like ours there are such vast discrepancies in the economic system. We have the largest number of abjectly poor people in the world, including the largest number of those who are illiterate and malnourished.

The corporate sector needs to be a partner with the government to promote economic growth with social justice. Given the background, the corporate sector should have on its own committed itself through a programme of affirmative action.

In fact, in 2004, 218 leading corporate houses and their associations had given a letter to the then prime minister saying that they would implement in letter and spirit affirmative action to empower persons who are socially and educationally backward. I do not believe that has happened, except for a few notable exceptions.

When was this letter given and why was it given?

It was given on November 18, 2004, when there was a dialogue between the then prime minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, and the corporate sector on the need for affirmative action.

The spirit of the Constitution supports affirmative action, otherwise there would not be a provision for reservations for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Subsequently, by an amendment to the Constitution, we have also included reservations for the Other Backward Classes.

In the government sector, jobs have been shrinking after 1991 and the liberalisation policy. In fact, from 2006 to 2012 there has been a 3.3 per cent decline in the number of jobs available in the government sector whereas in the same period there has been a 35.7 per cent increase in the private sector.

The private sector uses government support, including the great many loans from public sector banks which have not been properly utilised or underutilised. In this situation the government and the corporate sector must join hands to implement action which allows all of India to develop.

Do we have any study which says that OBCs are not appointed in the corporate sector?

It is a matter of fairly easy verification. Please take the top 500 companies on the Bombay Stock Exchange and see what per cent senior management are from the OBCs, SCs or STs. My claim would be subject to verification that they are a miniscule minority.

It is not that talent is a monopoly of a few castes who have been privileged over centuries. Talent also exists in other groups. They need opportunity and exposure to training. You will find the best talent among them too.

Don't you think you are dividing society by introducing caste-based reservations in the private sector?

If affirmative action is seen as a divisive instrument, you will not have it in most countries like the United States. It is not about dividing society, but creating the foundations for creating a society where the possibilities and opportunities for development are available to all.

This division that you have in mind exists and becomes stronger when you deny affirmative action in a society where such divisions already exist.

I don't think the US has reservations in jobs...

First of all, America need not be our only template. But if you study the diversity bill (of the US), it was brought into being only to ensure that people of other races and colour should not be excluded from jobs available.

Similarly, in our country, I would be much happier if the corporate sector on its own put into place a vibrant programme which empowers and provides opportunities to those who are educationally and socially backward and to the SC/STs.

They constitute the numerical majority of this country. You must increase and expand the catchment area from which you can pick and develop them.

It cannot be restricted always to a small segment which has always been the beneficiary of both social approval and economic opportunity. That's the point.

When our Constitution was framed, it was decided we would do away with reservations after 10 years. Why did we as a nation not give up on reservations?

The founding fathers of our Constitution felt that 10 years would be sufficient to create the necessary transformational change, but subsequently we realised that the magnitude of the problems was such that you needed more time for it to have effect.

I am not saying that everything is right with the reservation system. The Supreme Court itself has referred to a creamy layer. However, you cannot throw the baby out with the bath water. More time is needed.

This is not just a theory. Walk into any village anywhere in India and you will find a difference in the standards of living and social esteem between the relatively upper castes and Dalit sections, even today. So you have to understand the problem. It is not that these people don't have talent. They must be given a chance.

What have we achieved in the last 70 years, then? They have been given a chance in government jobs. And secondly, how long do you want reservations to continue?

I don't know for how long, why are you so impatient? When you impose a system of oppression and exclusion for 2,000 years, nobody in the upper castes was impatient for change. It is only 65 years and you are saying, 'How long?' Why?

What will you tell an economically poor boy from, say, a Brahmin family if he loses his job in the private sector to a backward person?

Government policies must do whatever they can to eliminate poverty and that includes those from the upper castes. What can be done for them should also be done.

In Bihar, for example, apart from reservations for SC/STs and OBCs, the government has set up a commission for those who are economically deprived among the upper castes. There are a range of measures you can adopt for them.

However, reservations as a concept in the Constitution talks of the socially and educationally backward. It does not speak of economic criteria at the moment, but government policies must also try and benefit those who are poor, irrespective of their caste.

Don't you think the government's priority must be to create more jobs rather than create reservations in existing jobs?

In fact, the two are not either or. The government must create jobs and the economy must grow and the current government is not doing a particularly splendid job in that direction. But at the same time, economic growth without social justice means very little in a country like ours.

The BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) will say your party is an expert at playing caste politics. You won the Bihar assembly election because of caste combinations and therefore you are now bringing this issue of reservations in the private sector.

The BJP plays the caste card better than any other party. Kindly note there is a direct co-relation between socio-economic deprivation and caste. If you are a Dalit and even if you want to hide the fact, you can't.

If you belong to the extremely backward classes you cannot hide the fact and your level of opportunity and socio-economic development largely corresponds to where you figure in the caste hierarchy. That is the unfortunate aspect of India.

You believe the BJP plays caste politics.

They are the masters. They make a caste calculus before any other party can do it. If you want proof, see what they did in Bihar.

Didn't the JD-U win the assembly election along with Lalu Yadav and the Congress party?

We won the elections not because the BJP did not try to win. Ram Vilas Paswan, Jitan Ram Manjhi and Upendra Kushwaha were part of the BJP alliance not because they were particularly led by good leaders, but because of the caste combinations.

Does it mean that caste will be made a major issue in the 2019 general election?

Caste should not be an important issue, but social injustice will be an issue and will remain so until we put our society on a track where everybody gets the right opportunity.
I love Thursdays, because that's when Eurosurveillance comes out, and it always has something of interest. Case in point: an article in the February 11 issue on Zika virus infections in three travellers returning from South America and the Caribbean respectively, to Montpellier, France, December 2015 to January 2016. The abstract:

We report three unrelated cases of Zika virus infection in patients returning from Martinique, Brazil and Colombia respectively, to Montpellier, France. They developed symptoms compatible with a mosquito-borne disease, and serological and molecular investigations indicated a recent Zika virus infection.

Considering the recent warning for the likely teratogenicity of Zika virus and the presence of competent mosquito vectors in southern France, these cases highlight the need for awareness of physicians and laboratories in Europe.

Since early 2015 there has been a rapid spread of Zika virus infections in South America with a subsequent threat for importation of that emerging disease in other regions of the world. Here we describe three cases in travellers returning to France from affected areas.
India is gradually transforming most of its taxation laws for a greater degree of stability and predictability, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said, stressing that the proposed Goods and Services Tax is a major step in this direction.

"It has been our effort in India to gradually transform and change most of our taxation laws, put to rest various disputes and issues which have been pending and make sure that the scope of discretions is eliminated and there is a greater degree of stability and predictability as far as taxation laws are concerned," Jaitley said.

In a video message to an inaugural global conference on legal matters being held here on January 21-22, Jaitley noted investors' preference for stability of laws and dislike of uncertainty and assured them that India is "seeking to bring about convergence (of laws) among the states in India too".

"One major step needed to increase the ease of doing business, is to reduce inter-state variation and the barriers to inter-state trade," Jaitley told some 500 delegates from 40 countries attending the conference on 'Doing Business Across Asia: Legal Convergence In An Asian Century'.

In several areas, the Indian government has put out a model law encouraging their adoption by the states.

"The proposed Goods and Services Tax is a major step in this direction," he said.

The net impact of the GST, once it is put into force, is that there will be a seamless transfer of goods and services across the country.

"There will be uniformity in taxation rates, there will be much greater compliance and obviously certainty. . . it's going to help India's GDP," he said.

The GST Bill has been pending in the Rajya Sabha since the past three sessions.

The Opposition Congress wants no additional cess and a constitutional cap of 18 per cent on the tax.

Although the Central Government has agreed to the first condition and has even agreed to limit the GST, it refuses to put down the cap in the Constitution.

The Central Government, which had initially set a deadline for rolling out the tax as April 1, has been attempting to broker peace and get the Bill passed in the Budget Session, which will begin in the second half of February.

Jaitley, at the same time, pointed out that an artificial or coerced push to convergence can backfire, citing the experience of the banking regulation in the European Union.

"If India despite its massive population and unparalleled diversity has remained strong and united political and economic unit, it is partly because of the freedom given to states to be diverse in their laws and regulations.

"Some degree of divergence in practice also allows for experimenting with multiple models," he said.

"The fact that India's central bank did not fully subscribe to the then global consensus of free flows of financial capital, is credited with insulating India from the global financial crisis of 2008.

"The fact is that businesses need a level of tolerance for diversity of laws if they are to exploit the opportunities that come from geographical diversification," said Jaitley.

Jaitley applauded the launch of Asian Business Law Institute in Singapore on Thursday, whose members are India, China, Australia and Singapore.

"I would call upon the Asian Business Law Institute to be attentive to the factors and arguments that may be in favour of retaining diversity.

The institute should engage constructively with those holding the opposing points of view especially those who are outside the business community," he said.

A push for convergence, which is seen as driven entirely by the interests of business, may not be socially sustainable.

In the long-run, such convergence may not be even in the interest of businesses, he said.

"Hence, I call upon you to seek 'optimal convergence' -- a convergence which takes into account the benefits of convergence but recognises that there will always be some need for diversity of laws," he said.

Singapore-based ABLI, which will have more Asian countries as members, aims to be a platform for discussions and conversations on commonly beneficial laws in member countries for businesses and commerce across the region.
'I had seen Waqt, starring Balraj Sahniji, and I can never forget it. There is a happy family and an earthquake later, everything is gone.'

'That movie got stuck in my head. How one man loses his entire family and becomes a pauper. The same thing happens in Airlift.'

Akshay Kumar, and his lovely leading lady Nimrat Kaur discuss their latest film.

While his wife Twinkle Khanna is known for her wicked sense of humour, Akshay Kumar isn't far behind. No wonder, it's always a delight to interact with the Khiladi Kumar.

Akshay was in a cheerful mood during the promotional interviews of his film Airlift. But instead of answering questions, the actor decided to ask some of his own.

In the picture: Akshay Kumar and Nimrat Kaur take a selfie. Photograph: Nimrat Kaur/ Instagram.

'Pehle ye bataiye ki Airlift kya hain?' he asked the media.

When reporters wondered if roles were reversed, AK quipped: 'Aur kya?'

Then, he turned to a reporter closest to him and asked: 'Kya tahalne aaye ho? If youve come here, you must know something.'

After grilling the media, Akshay Kumar finally decided to take the questions.

His gorgeous co-star Nimrat Kaur joined in the interaction. Patcy N/Rediff.com took notes.

What is Airlift all about?

Akshay Kumar: Airlift is based on a true story. The most amazing part of this story was that it was hidden from all of us.

Did you ever read about India bringing back 1,70,000 Indians (from Kuwait)? It's listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for the biggest airlift evacuation ever done by any country. Even I was surprised to hear of this when I met them (some of the evacuees). Their experience was unbelievable.

Just imagine, you are a billionaire and suddenly Saddam Hussain attacks and there is nothing left. The Kuwait dinar is reduced to a zero value. You have no money left. The stories were unbelievable.

I cannot talk much about my character but he is still alive and is a big businessman today.

He still lives in Kuwait? Did you meet him?

Yes, he is in Kuwait. I havent met him but my director (Raja Krishna Menon) and others have met him.

How old were you when this incident took place?

Akshay: This happened in 1990, but why would you ask my age?

I would like to know what you were doing during that period.

Akshay: For me, the war had just started. I entered the (film) industry in 1990. I was unaffected by what was happening that time. But there are so many videos of it; people running (for safety).

I think every family should take their children for this movie; the entire episode should be in text books. When they talk about history, they dont mention this. There is a political reason for that.

Actually, during that time, we were very close to Saddam and so, we wanted to keep a low profile. That's why the whole thing was hidden.

Nimrat Kaur: Yes, there were only two or three obscure articles in the newspapers. That's it.

(Akshay interrupts to say there was only one article).

It is amazing how even I did not know about this event despite being someone who has grown up fairly aware of what was happening.

Akshay: Imagine if it had happened today! In Yemen, some thousand people were saved and it was all over the news. But I dont know how they managed this (to keep such a large scale evacuation a secret).

How did you get this information if it was such a secret?

Nikhil Advani, producer, pipes in: (Director) Raja Menons uncle Sunny Mathew was one of the refugees. He told him the story.

It suited the Americans not to talk about this because they had stopped entering and coming out of Kuwait. They just shut the press; nobody was allowed to speak about the 1,70,000 people, who were left behind to fend for themselves.

Now that you have made the movie, aren't you facing any objections?

Akshay: Its okay now.

Nimrat: The political situation in India was different then. The alliances were different. They dont exist anymore.

Akshay, your character looks very demanding. Did you do any homework for it?

I did nothing; just grew my beard.

When you read a script like this, you know you don't have to go to Kuwait, nor do you have to tell someone to do a bombing, so that you can feel it.

When you read the script, you just feel it. You get into their shoes and realise what they must have felt.

I had seen Waqt, starring Balraj Sahniji, and I can never forget it. There is a happy family and an earthquake later, everything is gone.

That movie got stuck in my head. How one man loses his entire family and becomes a pauper. The same thing happens in this film. A lot of people lost their lives.

The biggest trouble was that when Iraqis attacked, they were killing a lot of Kuwaitis. They used to come to an Indian (locality) and ask the people if they were Indians or Kuwaitis. They would ask them for passports for identifications. But when you go to work outside, you cannot keep the passports with you. You had to give it to your boss.

And when there was no passport, they used to kill. So how did we prove that we were Indians?

How do songs fit in such a serious subject?

Nimrat: The song takes place before all this happens.

Akshay: It was just before the attacks. That night, there was a party, even in real life.

How challenging was the shoot?

Akshay: We were very lucky that we got to shoot the film in Ras al-Khaimah (United Arab Emirates). It's near Dubai, and looks like Kuwait.

Nimrat: Yes, it is literally stuck in the 1990s. You dont have to change anything. There is nothing in the name of modern signage or anything and so it naturally lends to the story well.

Did you pick up the local language?

Akshay: I speak a little Arabic but it is a very hard language. It was not easy for me. So when they gave me the lines, I had to memorise them. If you ask me to repeat it now, I won't be able to.

Tell us about your character, Ranjit Katyal.



Akshay: There were three or four people who took the initiative to get the people out from Kuwait into Jordan and from there, to India but we have got all the stories together and made it one mans story.

But the man I play was actually there and he was the main guy. He was a multimillionaire and though he lost everything at that time, he has become a multimillionaire again and lives in Kuwait.

Is Airlift similar to Hollywood film Argo?

Akshay: I have not seen Argo but I did heard people saying it is similar. But it cant be, ours is a real story. So how can we copy the story?

Nimrat: I have seen Argo and the two stories are very different. Argo was a very small operation.

Airlift is a human drama, and people had to face trials and tribulations. It's not like this man figured it out in one shot, and it was a success. There were a lot of disappointments. They tried many different things that did not work out.

Its a constant back and forth of are we going to make it or not? Are we going to get killed? Im sure people must have thought what's going to happen because they were rendered homeless and jobless. They didn't have money. Their identity was lost overnight.

People were just running, looking for food and shelter. Just the basic necessities were a challenge. There were no bathrooms.

It took about 488 flights and some 58 days to bring them back.

Akshay, off late you are doing stories about unsung heroes, like this one. Any other real life heroes you want to bring to the big screen?

There are many such characters. Like now, I am doing a film with Neeraj Pandeyji called Rustom. But we shall talk about it later.

Nimrat, after The Lunchbox why did it take so long to sign your next film?

I was away for half a year filming Homeland. When I came back, the scripts did not come at the right time. Its just a matter of chance. I didn't plan to give myself a two year gap.

How was the experience of working with a star like Akshay Kumar?

Nimrat: I have not felt -- even for a second -- that I was working with a huge star.

Akshay: She has done a Hollywood film, so who is the bigger star, her or me? We would say Nimratji, please...

Nimrat: See this is what I come on the set for. Ive been so lucky from day one that I did not feel that I was working with someone whose films I have watched...

Akshay: (interrupts) ...from childhood.

Nimrat: I was actually going to say that (laughs).

Akshay: It doesnt matter.

Nimrat: We used to have those GK quizzes on Bollywood (when we were kids) and one of the questions would be: 'Akshay Kumar ka sahi naam kya hai?' (laughs).

Akshay: So tell me my mothers name.

Nimrat: Youve havent told me that; how would I know?

Akshay: It's in the producers credits. Aruna Bhatia.

Nimrat: Correct.

Akshay, what do you enjoy more -- action or comedy?

I enjoy everything. I am comfortable with comedy as well as action.

But a challenge is much more enjoyable, like this movie. It was a challenging role. Rustom is a challenging role. In Houseful 3, the role is very comfortable.

Nimrat, you have worked with Irrfan Khan in The Lunchbox. How different was it working with Akshay Kumar?

Nimrat: To be honest, I did not work with Irrfanji. I have worked with Akshayji.

Akshay: (Interrupts) Unko sirf lunch bheja (referring to the film The Lunchbox).

Nimrat: Unko sirf chittiyan bheji aur khana bheja (laughs). Thats about it. So Ive worked only with Akshay.

Akshay: You didnt shoot even for one day with him?

Nimrat: Not even one day. There was one cafe scene where we were sitting tables apart but we were not even in the same shot.

So how was Akshay as a co-star?

I was very intimidated before I met him because in your mind, you know he is such a big star and working for so many years. I was thinking how confident would he be with a newcomer.

So I was very unsure and hoping that I am not in a situation where I did not know how to find myself.

But right from the start, there were no formalities with him. He is one of the most wonderful and easy people I have met.
Military cooperation with the US has its limits and relations with China have to be given due weight, opines Premvir Das.

IMAGE: Indian troops engage with Chinese during the fifth edition of the joint exercise called Hand-in-Hand 2015 at the Kunming Military Academy at Yunnan Province in China. Photograph: Indian Army

There has been much talk in recent years of the flourishing defence cooperation between India and the USA and future possibilities.

Examples of the undoubtedly professional Malabar series of exercises at sea, as also of similar interfaces among the two armies and air forces, are quoted in support of the growing engagement, as well as the purchase of military hardware from American companies now crossing $9 billion (around Rs 60 thousand crore).

That this has come about through a larger strategic congruence between the two countries is also a given.

Add to this, the increasingly close interaction in exchange of intelligence relating to terrorism, which is not unrelated to security, and the picture gets bigger. Two visits of the American president to New Delhi in as many years and his bilateral exchanges with our own prime minister in Washington add to this synergy.

Positive interactions at Track II levels have further facilitated this process, and the sky would appear to be the limit. Wisdom, however, lies in recognising the ground realities.

Only two decades ago, our military interface with the US was in the pits, literally. Even after the tensions of the Cold War began to recede and India started to see the world and its interests in it through a different prism, suspicions on both sides remained high.

In 1995, the two countries signed what was termed a Minute on Defence Cooperation. Then came India's nuclear tests in 1998 and things went back to zero as the US imposed stiff sanctions on this country.

From then until now, steady progress has been made in the relationship and defence has been an important driver. Acquisition of sophisticated aircraft for the navy and the air force that provide strategic reach has led the purchase segment even as exercises at sea have given a visible public face to the military engagement.

However, the two, while advantageous to both sides in different ways, must, sooner or later, plateau and that may well be happening even now for reasons that are not difficult to understand.

Defence cooperation between two countries essentially requires a strategic base. For the Americans, such relationships have primarily flowed from politico-military alliances.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation across Europe and two other earlier groupings, Cento covering South West Asia and Seato in South East Asia -- both now defunct but in most cases replaced by bilateral arrangements -- are some examples. Add to this close military interfaces and bases around the world, and the mosaic is complete.

In short, America's defence engagement has always been focused on and with its 'allies'. Through this network, which includes transfer of military hardware and technologies, the US seeks to maintain the status quo, in which it remains the unchallenged leader.

To quote US President Obama in his recent State of the Union address, "America is the strongest power in the world, period."

India's world is somewhat different.

From being a relatively docile nation hesitant to play any leading role in global affairs other than by professing its non-alignment, it is now moving to a stage where it seeks to be more proactive in its interfaces and in its region, the Indo-Pacific in particular.

This means engagement, including in defence relationships with several participants, without becoming the alliance partner of any.

So, while the US is a country with which India shares many common interests, it is not the only one.

Similar synergies exist with other players, of which Russia (with which India has had a strong military relationship for decades), Japan, France, UK, Australia, Israel, Vietnam, Iran, South Africa and littorals of the Indian Ocean region and South East Asia are only a few.

It has such cooperation arrangements with several countries and it is not surprising that as many as 54 are represented at the International Fleet Review being hosted by the Indian Navy in Visakhapatnam.

One or more of these nations might also be America's allies but their aspirations are not the same as ours, or the desire to seek changes in the world order consistent with our own. India's need to seek a new paradigm in international equations runs on a different plane, if not counter to the American theme.

So, while healthy and mutually beneficial interaction with the US must be a key objective of our foreign policy, developing advantageous relations with the others is important. In such bilateral interfaces, relations with China have also to be given due weight.

As the major Asian power with which India shares a long and disputed land boundary, it cannot be left out of our calculus. In short, there are some fundamental differences in the way the US and India see the emerging strategic environment and their own roles in it.

The fact that India is already the fourth largest global economy in PPP terms, and will become the third in less than a decade, gives another dimension to the emerging scenario.

To this dissonance should be added the continuing soft handling of our neighbour by the US despite that country's known support of India-focused acts of terror.

As far as the purely military relationship is concerned, levels of suspicion have greatly diminished in the last 15 years but they have not disappeared; one reason for this is the mollycoddling of Pakistan's military establishment by the Pentagon, which is unlikely to be gone anytime soon.

To address and overcome the negatives should be work in progress for both sides.

As for procurement, some facts need recognition.

Several major warships that the Indian Navy operates are of Russian origin and almost every single frontline vessel that is built in India is equipped with some Russian weapons and/or sensors.

The SU-30s and MiG-29s are at the forefront of our air strike power, as are armoured vehicles like the T-90 tanks on land.

To expect that things will change dramatically in the foreseeable future is unrealistic. The impending induction of Rafale multi-role aircraft from France costing about $10 billion (around Rs 62 thousand crore), more than all US purchases so far, will further constrain acquisition of American military hardware.

In recent years, many important American functionaries -- among them the present secretary of defence -- have actively pursued closer ties between the militaries of the two countries, independent of the fact that India is not and is unlikely to ever be a US ally. This is a positive approach which we must reciprocate.

In brief, both countries have to realise that there are limits to our defence cooperation and the relationship has to be developed within the parameters that these will, inevitably, set.

Any expectation that this engagement will reach the sky is rather simplistic.

The writer is a former Director General, Defence Planning Staff, and has been a participant in Track II India-US dialogues for many years
'There is nothing in Headley's testimony. Where is he saying anything? He says, 'I don't know, I don't know.' He says 'I overheard somebody's speech.' Is this evidence? This is double hearsay.'

'Is this evidence? What kind of game are you playing? Is this Kaun Banega Crorepati or evidence?'

'If this (the Ishrat Jahan encounter) investigation is really carried out further, it points to the heart of the BJP's political leadership. And therefore they want you to distract you and say terrorist, terrorist.'

David Headley, an accused in the 26/11 attacks, in his testimony to a Mumbai court on Thursday, February 11, claimed that Ishrat Jahan was a Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist.

Ishrat, who lived in Mumbra near Mumbai, was killed along with three others in 2004 in Ahmedabad by the Gujarat police in an alleged encounter. The Gujarat government, then headed by chief minister Narendra Modi, has all along maintained that she and the others killed with her were terrorists.

Vrinda Grover is the lawyer for Ishrat's family. Grover, below, left, spoke to Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com about Headley's testimony.

How do you see David Headley's testimony in court on Thursday?

There is nothing in the testimony. Where is he saying anything? He says, 'I don't know, I don't know.' He says 'I overheard somebody's speech.' Is this evidence? This is double hearsay.

He still does not give any name. He is then given multiple choice questions to answer and then he answers. This is not evidence under Indian law.

But the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) appears thrilled about Headley's testimony against Ishrat Jahan.

Because if this (the Ishrat Jahan encounter) investigation is really carried out further, it points to the heart of the BJP's political leadership. And therefore they want to distract you and say 'terrorist, terrorist'.

Ajmal Kasab was a known terrorist, we gave him a trial and we did not shoot him dead. Why does the BJP run scared of this case?

So is Ishrat Jahan innocent or not? After Headley's testimony, many Indians will believe Ishrat Jahan was a terrorist, isn't it?

Headley does not know. He says, 'I don't know, I overheard some people talking about somebody', he still doesn't name her. Please look at the questions put up by the public prosecutor and the answers given by Headley.

The BJP has always been misleading the nation. What can I say?

How is the Ishrat Jahan case related to the 26/11 case?

Ishrat Jahan was killed in June 2004, whereas the 26/11 attacks occurred four years and five months later, on November 26, 2008.

That is a very pertinent question. The reason will be explained if you look at who the public prosecutor was -- Ujjwal Nikam who was recently awarded the Padma Shri. It has nothing to do with 26/11.

Why was these questions posed today? It has only to do with politics. It has got nothing to do with India's national security.

So you think what happened on Thursday was a political drama?

I think the prosecutor should answer this. What he has got on record is still not evidence, and only political mileage can be got out of it.

Why can't we trust Headley? He has turned an approver in the 26/11 case.

Because Headley is not saying anything and before you ask me all this, why don't you read all what happened in court today?

I will, but why don't you explain briefly for our readers what happened in court today?

Headley is saying, 'I don't know.' Then he is asked (by the public prosecutor), do you know about a botched-up operation? He then says I heard Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi and Muzammil Bhatt (the 26/11 accused) talk about something and he says 'but I don't know where this happened.'

He then says there was some botched-up operation and some female member was killed, but I cannot recall the place.

Then David Headley is given a multiple choice question by the prosecutor. He says, 'I will give you three names, was it one of them? Nusrat Begum, Mumtaz or Ishrat Jahan.' Then Headley says Ishrat Jahan.

Is this evidence? What kind of game are you playing? Is this Kaun Banega Crorepati or evidence?

This is the nature of questioning that has happened in court. Headley was asked do you know that the LeT has a female suicide member, Headley says no.

This is all in the court's transcript that I am reading. Then he is asked, 'Do you know the name of the female suicide member of LeT' and he says, 'I do not know.' And then he is given three names. The man is saying, 'I don't know'!

What have the courts so far ruled in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case?

The courts are not proceeding in the trial ever since the government changed. I don't know why that happens, but it does. There are charge-sheets pending against Gujarat police officers and the Intelligence Bureau.

Has the trial in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case come to a halt?

The trial has not started. The accused are 11 Gujarat police officers and four Intelligence Bureau men.

But somewhere, public opinion will be built against Ishrat Jahan after Headley's testimony, isn't it?

That is exactly what the BJP wants to do. Where is the evidence? The media has to show the public that this testimony is unreliable.

You are directly accusing the BJP. But we are depending on Headley's testimony to convict Abu Jundal, the other accused in the 26/11 attacks. If we can trust Headley there, why cannot we trust him in the Ishrat Jahan case?

Correct, I agree. You can trust him if he says so. What is a witness? A witness knows something that has happened, something in front of him or which he has directly heard or which he has done.

What is Headley saying? He is saying I heard two other men talking about something. Is this evidence?

Look at all his evidence in the 26/11 case, he is saying he knows who in the ISI (Inter Services Intelligence) was doing what.

That is what I am trying to impress upon you. Please understand you are a journalist, you cannot be swayed by the BJP machinery.

I understand, but since we are depending on Headley's testimony to convict Abu Jundal, then why...

(interrupts) Correct, because Headley knew what Jundal has done. Headley does not know anything about (Ishrat Jahan).

Were you surprised to hear Headley speaking about Ishrat Jahan?

Not at all. I had been waiting for it. I am surprised it did not come out on the first day.

You knew this would come out?

Of course. The BJP has been saying it for the last four years.
Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan was on Thursday accorded a ceremonial welcome in the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.



Al Nahyan, who is on a three-day visit, was accorded a ceremonial Guard of Honour in the sprawling courtyard of the Rashtrapati Bhavan in what is his first state visit to India.



Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley were present on the occasion.



Modi and Al Nahyan, who is also the Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE armed forces, later met at the prime minister's residence.



"An exceptional tete-a-tete. PM meets the Crown Prince for a restricted meeting at 7RCR before talks in the evening," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.



The two leaders will hold detailed deliberations today following which both sides are expected to sign a number of agreements.



Ways to contain radicalism, stepping up counter-terrorism cooperation and dealing with the ISIS are likely to figure prominently in the talks.



Before his ceremonial welcome, the Crown Prince also visited Mahatma Gandhi's memorial at Rajghat, laid a wreath and planted a sapling there.



Al Nahyan arrived in New Delhi on Wednesday to a warm welcome, with the prime minister keeping aside protocol to receive the "special friend" at the airport with the hope of adding new vigour and momentum to India-UAE ties.

Image: Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Photograph: @PMOIndia/twitter
The Indian Navy showcased its might off the Bay of Bengal when it held the second edition of the International Fleet Review last week. Vipin Vijayan/Rediff.com, who was on board INS Sunayna for the fleet review, shares his experience.

Sailors on board INS Vikramaditya doff their caps in unison in a grand salute.

The satin naval ensign on the mast of the 2,215 tonne offshore patrol vessel INS Sunayna was fluttering proudly.



Trained lenses on its deck peered into the distance hoping to catch 'the' prized shot.

A sense of excitement buzzed through the air; some anxious eyes in uniform prayed for good tidings and smooth sailing.

Months of preparation had built up to this momentous day -- the International Fleet Review.

The review, conceived as a show of the countrys naval might and readiness for battle, would see as many as 100 naval ships, including 70 from the Indian Navy, taking part in the second edition of the coveted event.

The naval ensign on board the offshore patrol vessel INS Sunayna

Held once during the tenure of a President, it was Pranab Mukherjees turn to review six columns of ships and witness a spectacular flypast by naval aircraft.

He would be in the first of the four-ship column, INS Sumitra, which had earned laurels in March 2015 when her crew rescued 350 Indian citizens stranded in Yemen and escorted the evacuees from the Yemeni port of Aden to Djibouti across the Red Sea.

Also on board would be Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and the tri-service chiefs and other military top brass.

The other two Saryu class ships -- Saryu and Sumedha -- were to take the VIPs out into the Bay of Bengal sea with the members of the media, including this correspondent, at the fag end of the column on board INS Sunayna.

On our way out of the dockyard, the surrounding hillocks bear silent testimony to a recent natural disaster.

***********

A glimpse of the naval dockyard. On closer examination, one can see a temple, a mosque and a church side by side on the hillock.

A little over a year ago, the idea of holding an event of such an immense scale would have been unthinkable.

For on October 14-15, 2014, Visakhapatnam was lashed by super-cyclone Hudud that brought winds of 205 kmph to the port city, causing damage worth thousands of crores of rupees and claiming six lives.

As Navy Chief Admiral Dhowan recalled time and again during the fleet review, nearly 50,000 trees had been uprooted within the naval base itself. The base resembled a war zone, he said.

There was even a suggestion by the navy to the state administration to move the proposed fleet review to an alternative location in view of the calamity. However, the state administration insisted that the city will be back on its feet.

Brick by brick, the civic authorities went about clearing the rubble and improving the sanitation services. The state government allocated nearly Rs 100 crore to ensure that the city was beautified. The sheer resilience of the residents and the civic authorities is there for all to see.

No wonder Visakhapatnam is referred to as the city of destiny.

**********

Around 9:30am, the presidential yacht joined us out in the deep seas. INS Sumitras deck could be seen buzzing with activity.

The presidential column during the fleet review.

As the four-ship formation lined up one behind the other, the first of the ships to be reviewed emerged on the horizon. It was the INS Tarangini, a three-masted barque, commissioned in 1997 as a sail training ship for the navy.

The ship with its complement of six officers, 40 sailors and nearly 30 trainees saluted the President -- some from atop the ships masts -- with their caps held high.

On the deck of INS Sunayna, meanwhile, the media had just been given restricted access to the ship.

Barring the captains bridge and the lower decks, we were allowed to venture into other sections of the ship.

It was a first-of-its-kind experience for many on board the Sunayna; it gave them a fleeting glimpse of how life on the seas was like. Like kids who had just been given free access to an amusement park, the media scurried past narrow passages and stairs, through the iron doors, scrutinising the ship, its guns and paraphernalia.

A view of the bridge of the offshore patrol vessel INS Sunayna.

For some junior officers, this was their first-ever review.



One junior officer told this correspondent that the occasion -- when they saluted their Supreme Commander -- gave them a tremendous sense of pride.

Meanwhile, the presidential yacht sailed past ship after ship, dressed in full regalia. Each ship was manned by her company, all dressed in white ceremonial uniform.

In a moment that stood still in time, white caps were doffed in unison in a grand salute. The resounding sound of Three Jais by the naval ships echoed over the waves, symbolising the spirit of camaraderie and bonhomie across the seas.

The foreign fleet included contingents from Bangladesh, Brazil, France, Indonesia, Iran, Maldives, the UK, Australia and the United States.

The guided-missile frigate Liuzhou of the Chinese People Liberation Army Navy.

But it was the sight of guided-missile frigates Liuzhou and Sanya of the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army that had many rushing for their cameras.

Recent Chinese activity in the Indian Ocean Region has been a matter of concern for the Indian establishment. The occasional spotting of Chinese submarines in the IOR recently prompted India to deploy its latest long-range maritime patrol aircraft at its forward military base located in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Beijing, on the other hand, justifies its presence arguing that much of its energy interests were in the Indian Ocean.

In the run-up to the fleet review, Admiral Dhowan sought to calm down sentiments when he said that no single navy is robust enough to provide safety and stability on its own. This is the responsibility of the men in white -- the navies and the coast guard -- to come up with cooperative mechanisms. And that is the theme of the fleet review -- that we are united by the oceans, to make the global commons safe and secure.

As the Liuzhou sailed past the presidential convoy, many waved at the Chinese sailors hoping that the tensions between the two countries would simmer down in the days to come.

The Russian submarine rescue vessel Epron.

Another head-turner was the Russian submarine rescue vessel Epron from the Baltic Sea Fleet.

The Epron, which can operate at a depth of 1,000 metres, was the oldest vessel being reviewed on the day.

What raised eyebrows was the presence of Epron at a time when the Indian Navys 6,000-tonne submarine, INS Arihant is presently in the final stages of sea trials. The submarine's design is based on the Russian Akula-1 class submarines and its 83 MW pressurised water reactor, which went critical in 2013, has been built with significant Russian assistance.

Talking of submarines, the only participants in the fleet review were three Sindhughosh class diesel-electric submarines -- INS Sindhuraj, INS Sindhukirti and INS Sindhuvir.

MARCOS in action at the fleet review

As the presidential column finished the first leg of the review, the elite marine commandos or the MARCOS executed a daring display.

MARCOS, the special forces unit of the navy, was created in 1987 to conduct special operations such as amphibious warfare, counter-terrorism, special reconnaissance, unconventional warfare, hostage rescue, personnel recovery, combat search and rescue, counter-proliferation and amphibious reconnaissance.

As I waited for our ship to turn and enter the second leg of the review, I decided it was time to dig into the delicious spread neatly laid out by the navy. I barely had time to grab a bite in the morning for we had been told to report at our pick up points at 6:30 am.



The second leg began while I was still holding on to my plate. I kept it aside, as I didnt want to miss any moment.

The all-woman crew of the Mhadei wave to the presidential columns

Unmissable among the of next two rows of ships was the Mhadei sailing vessel, which made maritime history in 2010 when Commander Dilip Donde set a record for the first-ever solo circumnavigation of the globe on a sail boat by an Indian; he steered into the Mumbai harbour after 276 days on the high seas.

Then in 2013, Abhilash Tomy became the first Indian and the second Asian and the 79th person on the earth to complete the solo, non-stop circumnavigation of the globe on wind power.

At present, four women led by Lieutenant Commander Vartika Joshi are training to be the first ever all-woman team to perform the same feat.

Personnel on board INS Airavat salute their Supreme Commander

The Make in India thrust was prominently on display at the review.

On show were the Khukri and Kora class missile corvettes, the 7,400-tonne Kolkata class guided missile stealth destroyers, the Landing Ship Tank-Large class (which form the front line of the Navy's amphibious warfare capabilities) ships, the 5,300-tonne Shivalik class guided missile frigates, the Godavari class guided missile frigates, the Brahmaputra class guided missile frigates, the Kamorta class indigenous anti-submarine stealth corvette and patrol vessels.

All of which were built in Indian shipyards.

A rare sight: INS Vikramaditya is seen with INS Viraat (in the background)

As the presidential column turned around once more for the last leg of the review, all eyes were trained upon the two behemoths that were fast coming up on the horizon.

Perhaps this would be the last time that Indias two operational aircraft carriers  the 45,000-tonne INS Vikramaditya and the 28,700-tonne INS Viraat  would be seen together.

The cameras never stopped clicking. The excitement made the port (right) side of the Sunayna heavy, prompting a gentle reminder by its crew that we remain a few steps back.

Personnel on the flight deck of INS Viraat in a grand salute.

The Viraat, which saw action in the Falklands War and remained for well over a decade the sole aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean region following the decommissioning of the first Indian carrier INS Vikrant in 1997, is set to retire after 57 years of service, including 29 years in the Indian Navy.

The aircraft carriers proud complement of 150 officers and 1,500 sailors lined up along the sides to salute the supreme commander one last time.

It was indeed an emotional moment. Last heard, the old warhorse is set to be converted into a 500-room hotel or resort.

The bio diesel powered fast interceptor craft of the navy.

The navy also showcased its bio diesel powered fast interceptor craft. The FICs provide security cover within the inner harbour as well as approaches to the naval harbour.

The grey-coloured fibreglass-hulled sleek T 307 and T 311 have been developed by the Defence Institute of Bio Energy Research based at Haldwani.

The technology demonstrator is in line with the navys ambition to turn to bio-diesel fuel for its warships in future.

A combination image of the naval aviation's flypast

As the last of the ships sailed past, it was turn to look skyward for what would be fitting finale to the days proceedings.

A flypast comprising 15 formations of 45 aircraft, including two formations from the Indian Coast Guard, left the crowd spellbound and asking for more.

This display also showcased the latest acquisitions of the navy such as the Carrier Borne Strike Fighter MIG 29K, Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance aircraft, P8I and the AEW helicopter KM-31.

A high-speed offshore patrol vessel escorts the presidential column to the dockyard

As the Sunayna sailed back to the dockyard, one couldnt stop thinking how Indias naval prowess had grown over the years. As Admiral Dhowan pointed out, The Indian Navy is now truly a builder's navy, not buyer's navy.

United Through Oceans! Thats the message India sought to send across to the 50 navies from around the world that were taking part in the fleet review.

Over the course of five days, this message was delivered loud and clear.
The family and the lawyer of Ishrat Jahan, who was killed in an alleged fake encounter in Gujarat, on Thursday raised questions over David Coleman Headley's testimony that she was a Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative, saying this was for the "political benefit of some big people" whose names have been "besmirched."

Musarrat, the sister of the 19-year-old college girl, and lawyer Vrinda Grover claimed that she had no terror links, hours after the Pakistani-American terrorist's deposition in a special court over a videolink from the US in the 26/11 case.

Grover also questioned prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam's tactics in the special court in Mumbai, saying certain questions put to Headley by him had nothing to do with the Mumbai attack case and alleged they can have a "political relevance."

Musarrat expressed surprise over the claim made by Headley and said investigations have proved she was innocent but killed in a "fake encounter".

"It has been proved in investigations that it was a fake encounter. We are not saying this, it has been proved by the Indian investigators that my sister, Ishrat, was innocent. She was killed... it was a fake encounter and a political conspiracy," she said in Mumbai.

"Many big people are involved in it. Headley is saying all this because they will benefit politically out of it. I don't understand that despite investigations, which has proved she was innocent, why judgement in the case is taking so long. He himself (Headley) is a terrorist and is in jail in the US, how does his statement counts?" she asked.

"There are big people involved in this fake encounter I do not want to take any names. All I want to day is that what others say does not matter.

"We are fighting a legal battle for past 11 years and it has been proved that it was a fake encounter. What Headley is saying, I don't care. All I know and concerned is that my sister was innocent. We don't agree to what others say.

Ishrat's uncle Rauf Lala regretted that attempts were being made to link Ishrat's name with terror from Headley's testimony.

"This is just a ploy by those guilty who are powerful to try and salvage their names that have been besmirched," said Ishrat's mother Shamima Kausar.

Grover said she was surprised how suddenly the name of Ishrat Jehan was brought up by the prosecutor.

"They can have a political relevance, but they can have no relevance to 26/11. The public prosecutor in a procedure which is wrong and illegal in law gives a multiple choice question to a witness and says 'now I will give you three names (of female LeT suicide bombers that included Ishrat Jehan) you select one name which will be that female person," she said.

Meanwhile, the BJP government in Gujarat hailed the disclosure by Headley.

"Headley's testimony before a Mumbai court today has proved that Ishrat was receiving guidance from LeT and tried to spread terror in Gujarat at that time. Gujarat Police thwarted all kinds of terrorist attacks in the past and we will continue to work in that direction," Gujarat Minister of State for Home Rajni Patel said.

Another senior BJP Minister Vijay Rupani slammed Congress for "politicising" the issue and alleged the Opposition tried to malign the image of then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and state Home Minister Amit Shah at that time over the encounter of Ishrat and three others.

"When Modiji as chief minister and Amitbhai as home minister were taking strong steps to curb terrorism in Gujarat and in India, Congress tried to politicise the whole issue by claiming that terrorists were innocent," said Rupani, who holds Transport portfolio.

"Now, after Headley's testimony, it is established that Ishrat was a terrorist and steps taken by our government at that time were just and proper. Now, everyone has to admit that the Gujarat government was right at that time."

Photograph: PTI Photo
Making fresh disclosures on the brazen 26/11 attacks, Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley on Thursday exposed how Inter-Services Intelligence and Lashkar-e-Tayiba majorly funded terror operations in India and financed him from time to time and that Pakistan native Tahawwur Rana visited Mumbai before the terror strikes.

Resuming his deposition before a court in Mumbai on Thursday via video-link after a days break due to a technical glitch at the US end on Wednesday, the LeT operative also said that the Reserve Bank of India had turned down a request to open a bank account for their office in India.

Giving details of his funding, he said, Before coming to India in September 2006, he received $ 25,000 (Rs 17 lakh) from ISIs Major Iqbal.

I also got 40,000 in Pakistani currency from LeT operative Sajid Mir between April and June 2008, he told the court, adding that Major Iqbal used to regularly sent him money in instalments.

Also, Major Iqbal gave me counterfeit Indian currency once or twice in 2008, he said.

Besides Abdul Rehman Pasha, also from ISI, gave me Rs 80,000, Headley said.

Tahawur Rana (Headleys associate and a Pakistani native who operated a Chicago-based immigration business) used to send me money from the US in September 2006 when I came to India to do intelligence work on instructions of LeT, he told the court.

The 55-year-old, who recently turned approver in the case, also said that it was my idea to open an office in India. It was a part of my cover (as an immigration consultant). I had discussed about this with Major Iqbal and Sajid Mir and they both agreed to it.

I also told Rana that Major Iqbal had asked me to do intelligence work in India. Iqbal told me that if Rana was reluctant to be associated with this (Headleys India operations) then he (Headley) should appeal to his (Ranas) sense of patriotism towards Pakistan, he testified.

But Rana was not reluctant and he agreed readily for me to go to India, Headley said.

Headley also revealed that Rana had visited Mumbai before the terror attacks. I advised Rana to leave India before the attacks as I was afraid that he would be in danger, he told the court.

Headley also disclosed that Rana had asked Raymond Sanders (who ran an immigrant law centre in Chicago) to submit an application to the RBI to open a bank account for their office in India.

However, RBI turned down the request, he said.

Later, in January 2009, Major Iqbal told Headley to close down his office in India, the court was told.

Earlier on Tuesday, Headley had told the court that terror outfits like LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hizbul Mujahideen were given moral, financial and military support by the Pakistani intelligence agency besides making fresh revelations including about an aborted plan to target Indian defence scientists and famous Siddhivinayak temple.

He said he was working for ISI besides LeT and that he knew about ISI official

Brigadier Riyaz being the handler of LeTs top commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, who was the mastermind of the November 26, 2008 attacks in Mumbai.

He named three officials of the Pakistan army and ISI -- Colonel Shah, Lt Colonel Hamza and Major Samir Ali -- besides retired army officer Abdul Rehman Pasha who was closely working with LeT and Al Qaeda.

Headley said his assessment was that ISI and LeT were coordinating with each other.

ISI provides financial, military and moral support to terror outfits Jaish-e-Mohammed, LeT and Hizbul Mujaideen, he said, even though he claimed that his opinion was formed on the basis of hearsay.

Headley, who had visited Mumbai seven times to scout for targets, revealed that plans to harm the metropolis had started over a year before the attacks in 2008 and that LeT initially wanted to attack a conference of Indian defence scientists at Taj Mahal Hotel for which even a dummy of the hotel was prepared.

But the plan to target scientists was dropped because of logistical reasons, like difficulty in smuggling in weapons and personnel and lack of details about the schedule of the meet, he said.

The LeT operative had said he had also conducted a recce of the famous SiddhivinayakTemple and Naval air station.

He said the LeT group as a whole is responsible for the terror attacks in India and it can be speculated that all orders come from Lakhvi since he is its top commander.

He had also told the court that he was a true follower of LeT, and said that ISI official Brigadier Riyaz was the handler of Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi. When shown a photograph of Lakhvi, the LeT operative had identified him.

The LeT operative said he had been asked by Pakistans ISI to recruit Indian armymen to spy for them.

About the plan to target SiddivinayakTemple, Headley said, Sajid Mir (Headleys handler in LeT) specifically asked me to make a video of it.

Prior to November 2007, he said, the targets in Mumbai had not been decided.
Union Home minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday asked the Congress, Left and other opposition parties if they were prepared to apologise to the nation for their "malicious campaign" against Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the killing of Ishrat Jehan in an encounter in Gujarat in 2004.

Addressing a huge rally in Thiruvananthapuram, he said Pakistani American terrorist David Headley in his deposition on Thursday had clearly admitted that Ishrat Jehan had links with Lashkar-e-Taiba.

"You must have heard what Headley has said in his deposition. Using Ishrat Jehan's name, various allegations were made against our party leaders. On that matter, Headley has clearly stated that she (Ishrat) had links with LeT," he said.

"I want to ask Congress, Communists and other parties who had continuously launched a malicious campaign to mislead the people on this issue, whether they are prepared to tender apology to the people of the country," he said.

Earlier, he had told reporters at the airport that Headley's testimony had exposed Pakistan but made it clear India wanted to maintain cordial relations with that country.

"David Headley deposition has exposed Pakistan but we still want to maintain cordial relationship with the neighbouring country", he had said.

Singh is in Thiruvananthapuram to attend the concluding function of the state-wide Vimochana Yatra undertaken by the Bharatiya Janata Party state president Kummanan Rajasekharan.

Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley on Thursday told a special court in Mumbai that Ishrat Jahan -- who was killed in an alleged fake encounter in 2004 in Gujarat -- was an operative of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayiba.

Headley, who testified via video-link from US, had picked up her name when questioned by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam about a "botched-up operation" mentioned to him (Headley) by LeT commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi.
In a significant claim, Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley on Thursday said that Ishrat Jahan -- who was killed in an alleged fake encounter in 2004 in Gujarat --was actually a suicide bomber of Lashkar-e-Tayiba terror outfit.

The disclosure is likely to ignite a fresh row around the controversial encounter.

Testifying via video-link from the US, Headley spilled the beans on the 19-year-old Mumbra girl and picked up her name when quizzed by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam about a "botched up operation" mentioned to him (Headley) by LeT commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi.

Headley told the court that Lakhvi had mentioned to him about a "botched-up operation" conducted in India by another LeT operative Muzammil Butt where a female member of the terror outfit was killed.

Prodded by Nikam to elaborate on the operation and the members involved in it, Headley said, "(I was told) It was a shootout with police in which a (female) suicide bomber was killed."

To which the prosecutor prompted three names of which Headley picked up Jahan before telling the court that "there is a female wing in the LeT and one Abu Aiman's mother headed it."

Four persons -- Ishrat Jahan, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar -- were killed in an encounter with Gujarat Police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

The city crime branch had then said that those killed in the encounters were LeT terrorists and had landed in Gujarat to kill then Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

The CBI, which took over probe from the Gujarat high court-appointed Special Investigation Team, had filed charge sheet in August 2013 saying that the encounter was fake and executed in the joint operation by the city crime branch and Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau.

In further disclosures, the 55-year-old, who recently turned approver in the 26/11 case, also told the court that that LeT operative Muzammil Butt was the head of his (Headley's) group before Sajid Mir.

He told the court that a person, whom he identified as Abu Dujuna introduced him to Muzammil.

Headley said that he and Muzammil had once visited Kashmir to fight against the Indian troops.

Earlier in the day, Headley exposed how ISI and LeT majorly funded terror operations in India and financed him from time to time and that Pakistan native Tahawwur Rana visited Mumbai before the terror strikes in November 2008, which left 166 people dead and 309 injured.

The deposition of Headley could not take place on Wednesday due to a technical snag in the video conference in the US.

Headley told the court that LeT had planned attacks on the famous AkshardhamTemple to avenge the Babri Masjid demolition.

He had heard that Muzammil Butt had planned an attack on the AkshardhamTemple in Gujarat.

When I asked Muzammil about this, he said that since Indians demolished Babri Masjid (in 1992), it was justified for us to attack Indian temples also, he told the court.

The LeT operative-turned approver in the case, said that one of the 26/11 handlers Abu Kahfa, who was also part of the training programme before the brazen Mumbai siege was in continuous touch with the 10 terrorists who sneaked into the city and held it to ransom for over three days.

Along with Sajid Mir, Kahfa was talking to the 10 terrorists from a control room in Karachi and was giving them instructions. Kahfas nephew was one of the ten boys who had come to India, Headley told the court.

He further said that after the 2008 terror strikes, which left 166 dead and 309 injured, he met Sajid Mir in Rawalpindi where he (Mir) told me that he was very happy with the attacks.

Even I felt very happy, he said.

Headley also told the court that he knew Haji Ashraf, a businessman in Lahore who was in-charge of the finance wing of LeT.

He also said that he knew Al-Qaedas Ilyas Kashmiri and had met him once.
Somehow I missed this February 9 report on WHO's Zika Open page: Estimating a feasible serial interval range for Zika fever. Maia Majumder is the corresponding author. The abstract:

Objective: In this paper, we determine a feasible serial interval range for Zika fever.

Methods: Existing estimates of intrinsic and extrinsic incubation, as well as viraemic period, are used to develop a simple life cycle model of Zika fever to determine expected time between two consecutive infections in a chain of transmission. Case count alerts from the HealthMap digital surveillance system are then used to assess the feasibility of our estimated serial interval range. Findings: Our model suggests that 10 to 23 days may be a feasible serial interval range for Zika fever. Though sparse, preliminary data from the Zapaca department of Guatemala and the Caribbean island of Martinique provide supporting evidence for this range.

Conclusion: Serial interval estimates from Zacapa (serial interval = 15 days) and Martinique (serial = 16 days) are reasonable when compared against estimates for similar arbovirus diseases, such as dengue [15, 17 days]. This suggests that our estimated serial interval range for Zika fever in Central and South America is likely feasible; moreover, it lends credibility to the recent practice of repackaging existing dengue models for predicting the forthcoming burden of Zika fever and potential Zika-related diseases (e.g. Guillain-Barre syndrome, microcephaly).
Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf was on Thursday rushed to the ICU of a naval hospital in Karachi after he developed high blood pressure and fainted.

The 72-year-old ex-commando-turned-politician was admitted to the Pakistan Navy Ship Shifa or PNS Shifa, a multi-speciality naval medical treatment facility.

Sources said Musharraf was sitting with family at his home in Karachi -- where he lives with his daughter to seek medical treatment for a spinal condition -- when he fainted.

He was rushed to the hospital amid tight security and his situation was monitored. Doctors undertook several medical tests before allowing him to return home.

Aasia Ishaq of his All Pakistan Muslim League party said there was "nothing serious" about Musharraf's condition.

"There is nothing serious with him as it was only high blood pressure. He is getting treatment in hospital," Ishaq said.

Last month, Musharraf was acquitted by an anti-terrorism court in the 2006 murder case of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, the first major relief to the ex-military ruler entangled in several high-profile cases.

He came to power in a bloodless coup in 1999, deposing then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Facing impeachment following elections in 2008, Musharraf resigned as president and went into self-imposed exile in Dubai.

The ex-army chief is facing a slew of court cases after returning from five years of self-exile in Dubai to contest the general elections in 2013 which he lost.

He is also facing trial in high treason case for abrogating the constitution in 2007 and illegal detention of judges same year. In January, 2014, Musharraf suffered a "severe heart attack" on his way to a special court to face the high treason charges following which he was admitted to an army hospital.

Musharraf has also been charged in connection with the 2007 assassination of prime minister Benazir Bhutto and the killing of a radical cleric in Islamabad in a military crackdown.

A Pakistani court has banned his foreign travels and he was also forced to limit his political activities.
Ten images that show its an odd, odd world we live in.

Participants take part in the annual Great Pancake Race in aid of Londons Air Ambulance in London. Photograph: Stefan Wermuth/Reuters

A participant is hit by an orange during an annual carnival battle in the northern Italian town of Ivrea. Dressed up as Middle Age kings guards, a group of men ride in a horse-drawn carriage and pelt foot soldiers with oranges as thousands of people gather to re-enact a Middle Age battle when the townsfolk of Ivrea overthrew an evil king. Photograph: Stefano Rellandini/Reuters

A model dressed in an outfit made with chocolate presents a creation at the Brussels Le Salon du Chocolat chocolate fair. Photograph: Yves Herman/Reuters

German Krasitsky, a cameraman from Russia, dressed as movie character Captain Jack Sparrow, carries his bride Anastasiya in his arms during their wedding ceremony near a registry office in the southern city of Stavropol, Russia. Krasitsky dressed as the Pirates of the Caribbean character and picked the film for the theme of his wedding as a surprise to his bride. Photograph: Eduard Korniyenko/Reuters

Children watch their classmates pour cold water on themselves as part of a health and fitness program at a local kindergarten in subzero temperatures, in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, Russia. Photograph: Ilya Naymushin/Reuters

A man covers the face of a woman with talcum powder during El Dia de los Polvos (Powder Day) festival in Tolox, near Malaga, southern Spain. During the carnival, it is traditional, especially for young people, to hurl talcum powder at each other until they are completely covered with it. Photograph: Jon Nazca/Reuters

People interact with the winning Times Square Valentine Heart Design Heart of Hearts by Collective-LOK in New York City. The public art installation, as part of Times Square Arts, will be on view through March 6. Photograph: Andrew Renneisen/Getty Images

A monkey catches knives as it balances on a board during a daily training session at a monkey farm in Baowan village, Xinye county of Chinas central Henan province. Photograph: Jason Lee/Reuters

Clowns attend the 70th anniversary Clown Church Service at All Saints Church in Haggerston in London, England. Clowns attended the service in memory of Joseph Grimaldi (1778-1837), the most celebrated English clown who was born in London. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

To kick-start the worlds biggest celebration of our planet, Raymond Blanc OBE dines by candlelight with a symbolic panda to show his support for WWF's Earth Hour. Photograph: Stuart C Wilson/Getty Images for WWF-UK
Days after a leopard entered a school in Bengaluru and attacked people, the Karnataka government on Thursday asked schools in the city to remain closed in the wake of the scare.

The government asked as many as 130 schools to remain closed on Thursday as a precautionary measure. A decision on reopening the schools is likely to be taken in a review meeting after the Forest Department submits a report later on Thursday.

A panic was created after there were reports of locals sighting leopards in the vicinity of Vibgyor school, where one had entered recently.

On February 7, a leopard had entered Vibgyor school and had injured three forest department personnel, including a veterinarian, before it was tranquilised after a day-long operation.

Forest officials and police teams had struggled to capture the leopard which prowled the campus for hours.

The feline was first spotted by CCTV cameras inside Vibgyor school following which authorities immediately informed forest officials and police who rushed to the spot.

The leopard had escaped from the school premises during the day and was reportedly hiding inside nearby bushes.
A 25-year-old woman allegedly went missing after taking an autorickshaw from the metro station in Vaishali area in Ghaziabad, police said on Thursday as it launched a search operation in the jungles of Morti near Raj Nagar extension, where her last location was traced to.

Ten teams of Ghaziabad Police are trying to trace Deepti Sarna, who works with Snapdeal in Gurgaon.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, has instructed the Ghaziabad SSP to personally head the search operation.

"UPCM @yadavakhilesh has instructed SSP GZB to personally head the search operation of #HelpFindDipti. Several teams formed," said a tweet on his official Twitter handle.

Last night around 8.30 she became untraceable while travelling in an auto she had hired from outside Vaishali Metro Station, police said.

City SP Salman Taj Patil said that Deepti was on her way from Vaishali metro station to the old bus stand of Ghaziabad where her father Narendra Sarna, a resident of Kavi Nagar, was waiting to pick her up.

Sarna told the police that when the auto crossed the Hindon river bridge, Deepti called him and gave him the location.

She was also heard shouting at the auto driver for taking a wrong route, he said, adding thereafter her phone was switched off.

Upon information, police swung into action and launched a manhunt to search the girl.

On Thursday morning, police started combing operation in the jungles of Morti near Raj Nagar extension under jurisdiction of Sihani gate police station. As per call details of Deepti's phone, that was her last location, Patil said.

Police is trying to trace Deepti by electronic surveillance and monitoring some other mobile numbers.

Some auto drivers were also summoned for questioning, the officer said.

Meanwhile, there were protests by people outside the residences of police officials.

IMAGE: A picture for Deepti posted on a social media website. Photograph: Deepti Sarna/ Twitter
Lance Naik Mohan Nath Goswami met a hero's end battling Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorists in the jungles of Kashmir.

His valour earned him the nation's highest gallantry award in peacetime this Republic Day.

Archana Masih/Rediff.com travelled to Lal Kuan, Haldwani, to find out who this hero was.

IMAGE: Lance Naik Mohan Nath Goswami spent 13 years in the Indian Army. He belonged to the highly trained Special Forces. Photograph: Kind courtesy Bhawna Goswami

Martyr Mohan Nath Goswami rests under a mango tree in a mound of sacred earth circled by red bricks outside his home. The wind has dislodged the paper tricolour inside the hallowed ground which a visitor stops to fix with delicate care.

The green and white tiled house is surrounded by green rice fields. Grains of wheat dry on a cot in the courtyard from where neighbouring houses can be seen scattered at uneven distances.

The path has a white board with 'Shaheed Mohan Nath Goswami Marg' painted in red. It was put up before the chief minister came to visit the soldier's widow last September.

This afternoon, Bhawna Goswami is standing in her courtyard with her seven-year-old daughter, Bhoomika, wrapped around her waist. Reed-like thin, she weighs 40 kilograms and as she looks at the spot where her soldier husband lies under the earth at the entrance to their home -- her eyes seem to encompass the world's sadness.

IMAGE: In the quiet village, everyone knows where the martyr's home is. Photograph: Archana Masih/Rediff.com

Two weeks ago, on Republic Day, she had walked up to receive the country's highest award for gallantry in peacetime before the grand parade began on Rajpath. She fought hard to hold back tears as she received the Ashok Chakra, while the announcer provided an account of Lance Naik Goswami's act of bravery in eliminating India's enemies in the mountains of Kashmir.

"I was able to walk the dais because I felt my husband was pushing me. I felt him walking beside me. It was a moment of immense pride and acute sadness," she says sitting in a room with photographs that chronicle the life of Lance Naik Goswami, a Special Forces commando from the 9 Parachute Regiment, the first SF battalion raised in the Indian Army.

Permanently located in Jammu and Kashmir, 9 Para is affiliated to the Northern Command where all the action is. "Therefore, you will find their personnel earning gallantry awards every year," says Lieutenant General P C Katoch (retd), a Special Forces veteran who was commissioned in and commanded 1 Para.

"An encounter can take anything from 1 to even 8 to 10 days, the latter where terrorists are hiding in caves in high altitude areas," adds the general who commanded 1 Para in the Indian Peace Keeping Mission in Sri Lanka.

"The Special Forces soldier is physically and mentally tough," he says, "but over and above he is much more confident because he is attuned to operate in a 5-man squad independently, usually led by an officer or a JCO."

IMAGE: Bhawna Goswami and daughter Bhoomika outside their home. Across the road is the unfinished foundation of a house the martyr had hoped to build. Photograph: Archana Masih/Rediff.com

The sun shines brilliantly outside but a gloomy sadness pervades the house. On the first anniversary of the martyrdom which will fall on September 3, Bhawna Goswami will build a small temple at the spot where her husband's remains lie. She will put a framed photograph of him in it.

Sitting cross legged on the bed, with the Ashok Chakra medal in a box, she says it is more precious than any silver or gold.

"He was a daring man and loved the risks that came with being a Special Forces soldier. He used to always say that he would never go down fighting alone but take 10, 12 of the enemy with him. His officers said he was fearless," says Bhawna showing photographs of her husband in uniform from a thick photo album. Gently pushing the photographs towards the light coming in through the sole window for a better look.

In the forested mountains of Kupwara in the Kashmir Valley, Lance Naik Goswami's words had rung true. In three consecutive operations in August-September, spanning 11 days, he and his fellow soldiers eliminated 10 Laskhar-e-Tayiba terrorists and captured one.

On the night of September 2-3, he volunteered to be a part of another operation to take on four terrorists. He killed two terrorists, assisted in neutralising two others and saved the lives of three of his wounded colleagues.

'He first assisted in eliminating one terrorist. Sensing grave danger to three of his wounded colleagues, Lance Naik Mohan Goswami with utter disregard to his own personal safety, charged at the remaining terrorists drawing intense fire from them. He was hit in the thigh. Unmindful, he closed in and eliminated one terrorist, injured another and was again shot in the abdomen.'

'Undeterred by his injuries, he hurled himself on the last terrorist and killed him at point blank range before succumbing to his wounds.'

'Lance Naik Mohan Goswami made the supreme sacrifice in the highest traditions of the Indian Army.'

The parchment bearing this citation was handed to Bhawna Goswami by President Pranab Mukherjee in the most poignant and sacred part of the Republic Day celebration.

The citation is presently displayed with the 9 Para unit and will be sent to her in a few days.

IMAGE: Bhawna Goswami receives the Ashok Chakra from the President on Republic Day. Photograph: President of India/Facebook

"No one will remember whether I lived, but as long as this country celebrates Republic Day, his name will be remembered," says his wife.

Next month she has been invited for a felicitation in Nagpur and for the Raising Day function of the unit in July. "Jaha jaha mere husband ka naam ayega main khushi khushi jaoongi (I will happily go wherever my husband's valour is recognised)," she says looking out of the window into the fields.

Across the road, in the middle of a patch of green, is an unfinished foundation of a house. With iron roads silently emerging ghost-like from a line of bricks, it wears an abandoned look.

On a previous visit, Lance Naik Goswami had got the foundation laid on a piece of land he had bought. In the last conversation on the telephone with his wife a day before his martyrdom, he had asked about its progress.

It had not been easy to arrange the cash but he had made a promise that he would move her into a new house this year and he wanted to go through with it.

But Bhawna Goswami does not want to finish it without him. She wants to fulfill his other dreams instead -- to complete her MA and BEd; to get a job as a teacher; to provide Bhoomika with a good education.

"He dreamed of making Bhoomika a doctor. Her name is an almagam of ours and I was told that he breathed his last with her name on his lips."

IMAGE: 'He loved the risky life of a Special Forces soldier. His officers said he was fearless,' says his wife. Photograph: Kind courtesy Bhawna Goswami

The last time the martyr was home was for his daughter's birthday in August. It had been a happy fortnight, they had visited relatives and made plans for a holiday in Goa in December. But in less than a month, Mohan Goswami was martyred.

When his mortal remains were brought home in a coffin, it was hard to explain to Bhoomika why her father was in a box. There were around 10,000 mourners for the last rites on a day that is shrouded in a heavy haze of grief.

Bhawna remembers uncovering his face and sitting beside the coffin for half an hour, looking at the man whose phone she had answered herself by chance when he had called with the proposal of marriage eight years ago.

They were married five months later and he had introduced the village girl to a different world outside. They had spent three years in the Agra cantonment, the only time he was in a field posting in their years of togetherness. The visit to the Taj Mahal... Photographs of them in front of the iconic monument are among the first in the pages of the thick photo album that she had just shown me.

IMAGE: The couple at the Taj Mahal in Agra. Photograph: Kind courtesy Bhawna Goswami

"I would often think that while he sleeps on the floor in a tent during operations, I sleep in a bed with a thick mattress. He melts ice to drink water and I have to just reach out for a bottle. He eats food that must have turned cold and I eat it hot off the pot," says Bhawna with a sad smile as her younger brother who has come to spend few days with her makes tea.

In the verandah outside is a framed photograph of Lance Naik Goswami in uniform with a garland strung over it. Someone has fixed a paper Indian flag to it. In the room upstairs, she has kept his washed and ironed uniforms in a trunk -- not mustering the courage to open it because it is too painful.

As Bhawna Goswami walks me out, the driver of the car that I had travelled in, folds his hands and bows to her. "It is an honour to meet you. Never think you are alone, this country is with you," he says and she gives him a weak smile with folded hands.

"It is an honour to be his wife. I can live my life on the eight years of memories he has left me with," she says turning towards me, "It is hard, but good people are needed both in heaven and earth."
'Our daughter's name is ANITA-BRIGITTE. She should actually bear the name of AMITA, but the German authorities would have certainly objected to such an unusual name so we chose the name Anita which is almost sounding like Amita.'

'Brigitte was chosen by me because its short form in German is Gita.'

Netaji's family had no idea that he had married and had a child till his brother Sarat Chandra Bose received a letter from Emilie Schenkl.

A fascinating glimpse from Madhuri Bose's book, The Bose Brothers and Indian Independence, An Insider's Account.

IMAGE: Emilie Schenkl with her and Netaji's daugher Anita.

Dear Sir,

(The letter was sent to Sarat Chandra Bose, Netaji's elder brother.)

You will be surprised to get a letter from a person unknown to you. I had for a long time hesitated till I decided to write to you in a matter regarding your family as well as mine. In the following I am going to explain matters to you.

I started working with your late brother, Sjt Subhas Chandra Bose in 1934, when he wrote his book The Indian Struggle as his secretary. You might perhaps have known that when ever he was in Europe, I worked with him.

Your brother has come to Europe again in 1941 and asked me if I could come and join him in Berlin to work with him. I agreed and joined him in April 1941 and we worked together till autumn 1942.

Your brother asked me when I was in Berlin if I would accept his proposal to marry him. Knowing him since years as a man of good character and since there was a mutual understanding and we were very fond of each other, I agreed. The only difficulty was to get the necessary marriage permission from the German Government.

Though Austrian by birth, I had at that time been a German subject and, therefore, to obey German laws. And it was very difficult for a German to get the permission to marry a foreigner. And since we both did not want to beg for a favour and wanted also to avoid making an affair of the whole matter, we decided to settle it between ourselves and got, therefore, married according to Hindu fashion in January 1942. The whole thing was kept a secret, only two friends knowing about it.

On November 29, 1942, a daughter was born to us. I had returned to Vienna in September already, in order to avoid unnecessary talking and difficulties with the German authorities. I have kept my maiden name and nationality therefore.

Our daughter's name is ANITA-BRIGITTE. She should actually bear the name of AMITA, but the German authorities would have certainly objected to such an unusual name so we chose the name Anita which is almost sounding like Amita. Brigitte was chosen by me because its short form in German is Gita.

Your brother had unfortunately only once seen his daughter when she was four weeks old. Shortly before he left Europe in 1943 he wanted again to come down to Vienna to see his child once more but due to his sudden departure he had to leave without seeing her again. I had been with him three weeks before he left Europe but could not bring Anita with me.

The day before he left for the East he wrote a letter to you which he asked me to have photo-copied and sent to you in case anything should happen to him. This letter is written in Bengali and he informed you about his marriage and the birth of his daughter.

Unfortunately one cannot at present send any photos or documents to foreign countries, so the only thing I could do, was to write to you personally about the whole matter. Later on, when it is permitted again to send photos, I shall let you have a photo-copy of the above-mentioned letter as well as some pictures of the child so that at least you might have an idea how she is looking.

Allow me to explain my way of living to you so that you might be informed how the child of your brother is brought up. Anyhow, I want to emphasise that I am NOT demanding any financial help from you or your family.

My object in writing this letter was to inform you about the existence of the child so that she might have a help later on, in case anything should happen to me. But I do earnestly hope that I will live and be able to earn my living till Anita is grown up and can look after herself.

I am working at present as clerk in the Trunk Office of Vienna holding the position of interpreter for English and French. I am earning about 200 Shillings (Austrian) a month. I am staying with my mother who is drawing a pension from the municipality after my late father. Therefore, we have no financial difficulties. Other difficulties re: food and clothing are only due to the all-round shortage in the world.

Anita is not yet old enough to attend school. When she is six she will have to enter primary school. Later on I shall try my level best to give her as good an education as might be possible for me. She is quite a clever child and I hope to be able to help her so that she might later have an easy way in life.

According to your brother's wish she has not been christianed (sic), because he had been hoping to take us both to India one day and then she would have been brought up as a Hindu girl. I shall perhaps have her christianed (sic) later on when she begins with school since most probably she will always stay in Europe and not having a religion might prove to be a handicap for her later on.

It might perhaps interest you to hear that Anita is absolutely resembling her father. She has got his eyes, his mouth and his nose. Only the colour of the eyes is a little lighter than her father's and her hair is brunette (you would call it blonde). Also her complexion is lighter than her father's but one can at once see that she is not European.

IMAGE: One of the many loving letters Netaji wrote Emilie Schenkl.

As far as one can speak of the character of a child of three, I must say she is a very good soul. Very soft-hearted, helpful and affectionate. But at the same time very will-strong (sic). I should say that even in character she is resembling her father completely.

She is also very pious and likes to pray, since she has been taught from the very beginning that there is a God. She has, of course, also her faults. But who in this world is without faults?

I would be thankful if you could drop me a few lines to acknowledge this letter. Could you also let me know how your family and yourself are getting on? Is your respected mother still alive? If you think you can do it, please give the lady my and my daughter's pranams. How is your son Amiya? Is he in India or England?

We read in the papers and hear in the wireless a lot about the present conditions in India. It naturally interests me very much but at the same time I am very sorry that also this country has to suffer so much from post-war difficulties like Austria. I hope conditions for your family and yourself are not too bad, since one hears that the country is starving.

I would like to add that, when I heard the news of your brother's death, I was very much shocked and grieved. Because through his death I have lost the only person in this world whom I really loved and respected.

Unfortunately I cannot live like an Indian woman should after the death of her husband, because I am bound to live in Europe and due to the fact that I must earn my living

I am forced to mix with people and cannot make a show because they would not understand my feelings here. Besides the whole thing is still a secret. But in my memory I have put up a shrine for him and through his child he will always be alive for me.

Should you want to make any suggestions regarding the child or have any questions to put, please let me know and I shall gladly answer you or give you any information wanted. May I in this connection ask you to send me later on some family photos so that I might keep them for Anita till she is grown up and then give her an idea about her father and his family.

Please accept my best wishes for your family and yourself as well as my best regards,

Yours sincerely,

Emilie Schenkl

In the absence of a response from Sarat (Chandra Bose, Netaji's elder brother) Emilie re-sent copies of the letter on 15 May and 1 August 1946, again with no word from Sarat, who as it later transpired had received none of them.

In the meantime, an Indian doctor residing in Vienna Dr Akmat, who together with his wife had known Emilie and Anita, took it upon himself around mid-1947 to draw to the attention of Nehru and Sardar Patel the existence in Vienna of the wife and daughter of Subhas, claiming that they were living in hard circumstances.

On 11 and 13 August 1947 -- virtually on the eve of independence -- Sarat received from Nehru and Sardar Patel, respectively, copies of Dr Akmat's missive.

Sarat responded somewhat acerbically that if the information were true, he Sarat was quite capable of looking after Subhas's family in the absence of Subhas.

Thus, it was that in August 1947 when he was contending with the catastrophe of Partition and the tragedy of divided Bengal, Sarat came to learn from those who were now his political enemies, of the possibility that Subhas had left a wife and child in Europe.

Sarat would have been acutely aware too that those who feared a return of Subhas at this time to the Indian political landscape would miss no opportunity to denigrate him.

Emilie's reply to Sarat of 17 May 1948 was received by him on 27 May 1948, and his second letter of 8 July 1948 in response finally resolved the confusion caused by the failure of her original correspondence to reach Sarat for more than two years.

With the puzzle now solved, Sarat welcomed Emilie and daughter Anita into the Bose family, together with a note of caution about false propaganda continuing to be spread by 'eminent Congress leaders who were political enemies of my brother.'

IMAGE: Netaji's daughter Anita Bose Pfaff with Krishna Bose, the former MP whose husband Sisir Bose was Sarat Chandra Bose's son and Netaji's nephew, at Badgastein, Germany, June 2008. Photograph: Professor Sugata Bose, MP.

Dear Madame Schenkl,

Your kind letter of the 17th May last was delivered here on the 27th May and was most welcome. In 1946 up to the month of October, I was mostly away from Calcutta and was also moving from place to place. My wife and daughters were with me.

I had no secretary then in Calcutta and I would not be surprised if the letters you wrote to me in 1946 fell into the hands of people who opened them and pocketed them.

I need hardly say that anything that concerned and concerns my brother always had and has the greatest significance for me. Possibly you heard from him several times of the relations between him and me.

I heard from Colonel Habib-ur-Rehman in August 1946 all about the air-crash story; but, though I have not had any facts to the contrary, I ought to tell you that the air-crash story left me unconvinced about its truth.

I have always had and am still having the feeling in me -- it is no more than a feeling -- that my brother is alive.

I did not reply to your letter of 17th May earlier as I had intended to go to Bombay and find out for myself the nature of the propaganda that was being carried on there against my brother and to communicate to you something about it. By the time your letter came, I had heard from friends in Bombay who had come to Calcutta something about that propaganda.

My wife and I went to Bombay last month and returned to Calcutta on the 4th of this month. The propaganda that is being carried on in Bombay is subtle.

The suggestion is that my brother had committed a sin and had left you stranded. It is also being circulated in Bombay that Sardar Patel came to your rescue and that he has paid you rupees 18,000. I know that it is altogether false propaganda; still I felt that I owed it to you to give you some information about it. Of course I did not expect anything better from eminent Congress leaders who were political enemies of my brother, or from Nathalal Parikh who joined them in September, 1945.

Dr Akmat's conduct was strange. He may have meant well; but he certainly ought to have written to me before writing to Nehru and Sardar.

I fully appreciate all that you have written about yourself and also the reasons for your unwillingness to receive any support or help at the moment. I was very much relieved and assured to learn that you were earning enough to manage your living.

My nephew Aurabindo has not yet handed over to me copies of the snaps he took when he was there, though I was told in Bombay last month that he had shown them to some people there. Will you kindly send me photos of yourself and the child at your convenience?

There is one information I would like to have. In 1938, I sent my brother some of the letters he wrote to me from Cambridge in the year 1920, which I had preserved. He used some of the letters in his Autobiography but, subsequently, the original letters could not be traced. He left them in Europe. Will it be possible for you to trace them? If you are able to do so, please keep them with you until I come to Europe.

My wife and I intend to come in September or October this year. If our intention materialises, we shall certainly come to Vienna and see you and the child. There will be plenty of opportunities then to talk about matters that concern you and me. In the meantime, we shall correspond with each other.

Is Professor Demel in Vienna? If you meet him, please convey to him my kind regards.

Nambiar arrived in Calcutta yesterday. At the moment he is in this house. He will be leaving Calcutta in a day or two but intends to come back here again before he leaves for Europe.

I trust this will find you all in good health and spirits. With all good wishes,

Yours sincerely

(Sarat Chandra Bose)

As he had promised in his correspondence with Emilie, Sarat resolved to go to Europe with wife Bivabati as soon as possible to meet Emilie and daughter Anita. Later that year in the autumn of 1948, Sarat and Biva with three of their children (Sisir, Roma and Chitra) met with Emilie and Anita in Vienna in an emotional coming together of family.

The bonding was spontaneous and immediate, and Emilie was finally able to hand over to Sarat the original handwritten letter in Bengali of 8 February 1943 to him from his beloved brother Subhas.

Emilie stayed in close touch with Sarat for the few years left to him, and thereafter with Sarat's children and their families until her death on 13 March 1996, more than 50 years after the disappearance of Subhas.

Excerpted from The Bose Brothers and Indian Independence, An Insider's Account, by Madhuri Bose, Sage, 2016, with the publisher's kind permission.
Honorary Captain Bana Singh won the Param Vir Chakra, India's highest ranking gallantry award, for recapturing a Pakistani post on the Siachen Glacier.

Living a retired life in a quiet village in Jammu and Kashmir, he makes you feel that his act of phenomenal courage was part of a soldier's day at work.

Words: Archana Masih/Rediff.com. Images: Rajesh Karkera/Rediff.com

IMAGE: Honorary Captain Bana Singh, Param Vir Chakra, outside his modest village home in Kadyal. Photograph: Rajesh Karkera/Rediff.com

In a country which has only three living winners of the Param Vir Chakra, it is a rare honour to meet one.

"It is an honour to meet you, Sir," we say and Param Vir Chakra winner Honorary Captain Bana Singh replies, "What I did was my duty to the country. I was given a task and I did it."

There is no trace of arrogance that a decorated soldier would perhaps be fully entitled to -- he should after all be an icon of courage in a nation woefully short of heroes -- but Captain Bana Singh makes you feel that what he did was part of a soldier's day at work.

The difference being that when he set out for work that morning 29 years ago he was at the world's highest battlefield on the Siachen Glacier, leading an operation to recapture a Pakistani post at a height of 21,000 feet, scaling vertical walls of ice 1,500 feet high under blinding snowfall.

Pakistani troops sat on top of this brutal climb as Bana Singh and his men launched a brilliant attack, clearing the post of every Pakistani soldier, setting an example in high altitude warfare which would bring him the country's highest ranking gallantry award.

The man sitting in front of us in his modest village home flanked with green fields, dressed in a simple pyjama and light sweater, had not only defeated the enemy but nature itself on the most vicious battle terrain known to man, one that has taken the lives of countless Indian and Pakistani soldiers.

"'Three months in Siachen are like 30 years', a colonel once told me and asked, 'How did you do it?'" remembers Bana Singh who some years ago was invited to speak to young men in Siachen, soldiers not even born when he had won the Param Vir Chakra on that ruthless terrain.

Much has changed at the glacier since Bana Singh's time; men now have better gear, equipment and food, but Siachen continues to be an unimaginable challenge for military and human survival. A landscape where men guard the frontlines at temperatures below minus 52 degrees Celsius that saps the body of energy and hunger.

It was here that Naib Subedar Bana Singh fought the battle of his life.

IMAGE: Honorary Captain Bana Singh, Param Vir Chakra, Bana Singh, 8 J&K Light Infantry, with then President K R Narayanan. Photograph: Kind Courtesy, Captain Bana Singh

The scale of his heroic accomplishment cannot be understood without the back story.

Pakistani soldiers were entrenched on the highest post in the Siachen Glacier, so important that it was named the Quaid Post, after the founder of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

From here the Pakistanis had a vantage point, with a clear view of Indian posts that were supplied only by helicopters. By controlling that post Pakistani soldiers targeted the Indian supply lines on the Soltoro range.

India had failed to recapture the post in two previous attempts; a reconnaissance patrol under young Lieutenant Rajiv Pande was gunned down by the Pakistanis, leaving only three survivors.

In a do or die attempt, then Subedar Bana Singh and 6 men were tasked to recapture the post once again on June 26, 1987. If the mission had to succeed it had to be completed before sunset that day -- and by 5 o'clock that evening, the Indian flag was flying at the top.

,font size=7>India had won back the Quaid Post in a battle so heroic that the post was renamed Bana Post, by which it is known till today.

'There was a single bunker on the top. I threw a grenade inside and closed the door. At the end, a total of six Pakistanis were killed,' he had told Rediff.com contributor Claude Arpi in 2007.

Claude's wife Abha Tiwari's maternal uncle, Major Somnath Sharma, incidentally won the first Param Vir Chakra. Major Sharma died fighting Pakistani intruders in Badgam in the Kashmir valley in November 1947.

Major Sharma's last words, inscribed below his bust in Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, were: 'The enemy is only 50 yards from us. We are heavily outnumbered...I shall not withdraw an inch but will fight to the last man and last round.'

IMAGE: Honorary Captain Bana Singh, Param Vir Chakra, Bana Singh, 8 J&K Light Infantry, with then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. Photograph: Kind Courtesy, Captain Bana Singh

Captain Bana Singh is the only soldier along with the late Major Ramaswamy Parmeswaram, to be awarded the Param Vir Chakra in peacetime, an award which is otherwise only given for exemplary military courage during war.

Major Parmeswaram, 41, was martyred during the Indian Peace Keeping Operation in Sri Lanka in 1987, five months after Bana Singh's heroism in Siachen.

The last time the Param Vir Chakra was awarded was in the Kargil war in July 1999; at that time Bana Singh was the only serving Param Vir Chakra winner in the Indian Army.

Looking back at the Kargil conflict in which India lost 527 soldiers, he feels that that war changed many things for the armed forces and compliments then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and then defence minister George Fernandes.

"It was only in Vajpayeeji's time that we acquired the facilities of proper transportation of the bodies of fallen soldiers home," he says, surrounded in his home by India war memorabilia like the historic surrender of the Pakistani forces in Dhaka after the 1971 war and photographs of two famous Indian generals -- Field Marshals K M Cariappa and S H F J 'Sam' Manekshaw.

"The Kargil war highlighted the entire fauj. The media also played a role and as a result martyrs' families are looked after much better than before."

A year after Kargil, he retired after 32 years of service to the nation and went home to his village of Kadyal near Jammu where he was born. His son Rajinder Singh now serves the Indian Army.

For a decade after his retirement, apart from his pension from the Indian Army, Captain Bana Singh would receive Rs 160 as pension from the Jammu and Kashmir government. A sorry comment on that state's regard for the only Param Vir Chakra from Jammu and Kashmir.

It was only after a long and sustained effort that the Jammu and Kashmir pension was raised to Rs 10,400 in 2010. His pension from the army is Rs 32,000 per month.

"People say I have set an example and I say I don't know how I did it, but I am proud to have successfully fulfilled the task my unit gave me," says Captain Bana Singh in his small drawing room festooned with army felicitations.

"I have received a lot of respect and fame from my country. It is a blessing."

Every year, Bana Singh is invited by the government to be part of the Republic Day parade, in the small contingent of soldiers awarded the highest gallantry award.

It is a day when the soldier, who retired from the Indian Army in 2000, wears his full uniform, puts his Param Vir Chakra medal and salutes the President on Rajpath in the country's grandest parade.

In all these years, he has missed just two parades, he says and tells us a story reminiscent of days past when some men lived their whole lives on words like honour, duty and discipline.

IMAGE: Honorary Captain Bana Singh, Param Vir Chakra, outside his modest village home in Kadyal. Photograph: Rajesh Karkera/Rediff.com

Sitting on a small water tank in a field behind his house, Captain Bana Singh speaks of one such incident when a few years after his retirement, a retired senior army officer whom he had served under stopped by at his home.

"He looked at me and asked 'Bana, do you remember me?' and I said 'Sir, if an Indian soldier cannot recognise an officer who has commanded him, he has no right to this country'."

In a nation overdone with places named after politicians, the long overdue Bana Singh stadium in his native tehsil may yet not be fully functional -- but Captain Bana Singh Param Vir Chakra is not one to get perturbed about any such lack of recognition.

That afternoon when we had came looking for his home, we only had to ask for his name and people would lead the way.

Later, as he bade us good bye, the postman dropped by with an envelope, bearing only his name and the village name as the address.

"Someone is inviting me to speak to their students and inspire them. I travel at least ten times a year for interactions in schools and colleges," he smiles, folding the letter neatly, overwhelmed with the respect he has got from people over the years.

On his school visits, children want to know how he won that battle in Siachen for India; how he conquered fear. At other functions, people touch his feet in respect of his valour.

The recognition is unbridled and comes to him spontaneously. No officially named plaque, road, bridge or stadium can rival that.

This feature was first posted on Rediff.com on April 17, 2012.
Indonesia: Ahmadiyah Community Persecuted

Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 11 February 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Indonesia: Ahmadiyah Community Persecuted, 11 February 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56bc4a774.html [accessed 21 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.

Local Indonesian authorities have banned the activities of the Ahmadiyah religious community in the town of Subang in West Java province, Human Rights Watch said today. The Indonesian government should urgently intervene to stop the harassment and intimidation of the minority group.

On January 29, 2016, Subang district officials and Muslim clerics issued a letter that bans all Ahmadiyah activities in central Subang. The next day, they placed a banner outside the Ahmadiyah mosque stating that it was closed. Neither President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo nor other national officials have spoken out or intervened to lift the ban.

"The Subang officials who are trying to prevent the Ahmadiyah community from practicing their faith seem oblivious to religious freedom," said Phelim Kine, deputy Asia director. "Indonesian officials should be at the forefront of defending rights protected under the constitution and international law, not issuing unlawful prohibitions that undermine them."

The three-page letter was signed by Tatang Supriyatna, the head of Subang district, five other local officials, and four Muslim clerics who support the ban. The Subang signatories include its police chief, the district Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) commander, the local Religious Affairs Ministry, and the chief of Sukamelang village, where many Ahmadiyah live.

The Ahmadiyah have long suffered persecution in Indonesia. They identify themselves as Muslims, but differ with other Muslims as to whether Muhammad was the "final" monotheist prophet. Consequently, some Muslims perceive the Ahmadiyah as heretics.

The 400-member Ahmadiyah community in Subang, about 130 kilometers east of Jakarta, has been a target of official harassment and intimidation since October 2015. At that time, Ika Koswara, the Sukamelang village head, sought to stop the construction of an Ahmadiyah mosque, alleging that the Ahmadiyah community had no construction permit. The Subang Ahmadiyah community then presented officials with a valid construction permit issued in 2004.

The harassment and intimidation intensified on January 16, when a neighborhood leader, Amir Syaripudin, accused the Ahmadiyah in a letter to the Sukamelang village chief of "blasphemy against Islam" and implied that there could be violence against the Ahmadiyah unless the local government curbed their activities. "We reject a blasphemous activity taking place in our neighborhood," Syaripudin wrote. "We don't want our members to lose patience and to use violence if that activity is not banned."

The Subang district chief, Tatang Supriyatna, responded by convening a meeting on January 29 with the leaders of the Ahmadiyah community and local government and security force officials. Ahmadiyah community leaders told Human Rights Watch that the officials at the meeting pressured the community "to disband" and to convert to Sunni Islam. Later that day, Supriyatna issued the banning order. The following day, Supriyatna had a banner placed outside the Ahmadiyah mosque that says the property is officially "Closed/Banned" and lists the names of the 10 officials and clerics who support the ban.

The harassment and intimidation of the Ahmadiyah in Subang coincides with similar persecution on Bangka Island, off Sumatra's east coast. The local government's threat of expulsion prompted the police on February 5 to evacuate the community's women and children due to fears of violence.

Indonesia's Ahmadiyah have been under threat since June 2008, when the government of then-President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono signed a national decree ordering the Ahmadiyah community to "stop spreading interpretations and activities that deviate from the principal teachings of Islam." Violators are subject to up to five years in prison. Following the decree, militant Islamists carried out several violent attacks against Ahmadiyah including in Cikeusik in February 2011, killing three Ahmadiyah men.

During the 2004-2014 administration of Yudhoyono, militant Islamists with the complicity of local police and government officials forced the closure of more than 30 Ahmadiyah mosques, while other religious minorities including the Shia and some Christian groups were also targets of harassment, intimidation, and violence. The frequency and severity of violent attacks on religious minorities have decreased since Jokowi became president in October 2014, and he has pledged to protect religious minorities and fight religious intolerance.

Indonesia's constitution in articles 28 and 29 guarantees freedom of religion. Prohibitions on the Ahmadiyah from practicing their religion violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified by Indonesia in 2006. Article 18 of the covenant protects the right to freedom of religion and to engage in religious practice "either individually or in community with others and in public or private." Article 27 also protects the rights of minorities "to profess and practice their own religion."

"Jokowi needs to demonstrate the political will to protect the rights of religious minorities by both taking action against officials who seek to deny those rights and repealing discriminatory legislation, " Kine said. "Jokowi's silence is giving free rein to people abusing the Ahmadiyah."

Copyright notice:  Copyright, Human Rights Watch
UN agency provides food to Syrians fleeing Aleppo fighting

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 9 February 2016 Cite as UN News Service, UN agency provides food to Syrians fleeing Aleppo fighting, 9 February 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56bc4d0c40d.html [accessed 21 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.

9 February 2016 - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced today it has started distributing urgently needed food to people displaced by the recent surge in violence in Syria's northern Aleppo.

The food was transported on cross-border convoys from Turkey into the small town of A'zaz in northwest Syria, 30 kilometres northwest of Aleppo city and close to the Syrian-Turkish border. Over the next few days, distributions will reach 21,000 people with more food to meet the urgent needs of the new wave of displaced people.

"The situation is quite volatile and fluid in northern Aleppo with families on the move seeking safety," said Jakob Kern, WFP's Country Director in Syria, in a press release.

"We are extremely concerned as access and supply routes from the north to eastern Aleppo city and surrounding areas are now cut off but we are making every effort to get enough food in place for all those in need, bringing it in through the remaining open border crossing point from Turkey," he added.

The food includes rice, lentils, bulgur, pasta, white beans, chickpeas, vegetable oil, sugar and wheat flour in parcels that are enough to feed a family for one month. WFP is also sending ready-to-eat rations such as canned food for those who have no access to cooking facilities.

According to the agency, thousands of displaced people have gathered in A'zaz in search of refuge close to the Bab Al Salam border crossing point, and thousands more are expected to arrive if the fighting continues. More than 30,000 people are reported to be on the move, many of them fleeing towards the Turkish border, and the towns of A'zaz and Afrin.

Prior to the escalation in fighting in northern Aleppo, WFP was regularly delivering food across the Turkish border into Aleppo and Idleb governorates through the Bab al-Hawa and Bab al-Salam border crossings.

"WFP urges all parties to the conflict to facilitate unimpeded access to these communities in order to provide immediate relief to families who have already suffered for far too long," Mr. Kern added.

At a press briefing in Geneva, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) noted that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in northern Aleppo have also been providing assistance and humanitarian relief to internally displaced persons (IDPs).

Meanwhile, the Turkish authorities have been accepting a number of vulnerable and wounded people into the country. According to UNHCR's spokesperson, William Spindler, WFP asked Turkey to open its border to all civilians from Syria who are fleeing danger and seeking international protection. Moreover, he said there has to be a political solution to the conflict but that in the meantime, UNHCR is "dealing with its consequences on the humanitarian side."

Mr. Spindler also noted that there have been humanitarian deliveries from Turkey close to the border, where about 5,000 people are hosted in communal tents in the vicinity of Kilis. He underscored that Turkey has had a very generous policy in terms of receiving refugees, and that all countries have an obligation to open their borders to people fleeing persecution.
The Mattos Report is beginning to reverberate. Via CBC News: Microcephaly cases in Brazil predate Zika virus outbreak, study says. Click through for the full report and numerous links. Excerpt and then a comment:

Large numbers of babies with borderline normal head sizes were born in Brazil as far back as 2012, two years before the Zika virus is thought to have entered the country, say researchers searching for answers to urgent questions.

Pediatric cardiologist Dr. Sandra Mattos had been collecting data on 100,000 newborns in the Brazilian state of Paraiba as part of her work studying and treating congenital heart disease.

The microcephaly fears linked to the Zika virus drove her team to check back into hospital records for head circumferences of more than 1,600 babies born in the state in the last four years.

"We were very, very surprised," Mattos said. Babies with mild microcephaly were present in the population dating back to at least 2012.

Having a head slightly smaller than the limit doesn't mean there's neurological disease. "Borderline cases seem to be present all along," she said.

Brazilian authorities set the criterion for microcephaly, a measurement of head size, at 32 centimetres for full-term births. Doctors were asked to report babies at or below that level for further investigation.

Mattos said the data analysis also confirmed the number of severe microcephaly cases increased starting in October or November of 2014.

Scientists think the original reports of 4,700 suspected cases were inflated by over-reporting that didn't stand up when specialists examined the babies. Brazil's Ministry of Health said Tuesday that 404 cases have been confirmed as involving microcephaly or other nervous system disorders and 709 have been ruled out. The other cases remain under investigation.

Lingering questions remain, including why more than 80 per cent of suspected microcephaly cases are confined to Brazil's northeast region. And why has microcephaly not appeared in other Latin American countries with similar climates, such as among the 2,100 pregnant women infected with Zika in Colombia?

In her research paper submitted to the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, Mattos and her colleagues suggest other potential factors need to be considered.

These include boosting effects from other infections, exposure to teratogens or agents that cause birth defects, such as drugs, and malnutrition, which could have "an intensifying effect."

In Berlin, epidemiologist Dr. Christoph Zink has been charting publicly available data from the Zika virus outbreak in terms of when cases appeared, the geographic distribution and the continuous microcephaly epidemic.

"I soon got the idea that blaming the Zika virus for this epidemic does not really get to the point," Zink said.

Zink suspects there was massive under-reporting of microcephaly in Brazil in the last five years. He proposes another potential explanation for the recent concentration of severe microcephaly cases in the northeast.

"I would ask my toxicological colleagues in Brazil to please look very closely into the practical application of agrochemicals in their country," Zink said.

We are involved in a fascinating (if confusing) debate. The Slovenians seem have found that Zika virus homes in on fetal neurons, as I posted here just an hour or so ago. But unless Zika was in Brazil far earlier than thought, something else was harming Brazilian babies in 2012. Or both.

This is the silver lining of emerging diseases: they powerfully focus the scientific mind. Like pissed-off sergeant-majors, the experts are kicking ass and taking names, and they will determine who or what caused this problem on their watch.
All sides in Syria killing thousands of detainees in crimes against humanity, UN reports

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 8 February 2016 Related Document(s) Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Deaths in Detention in the Syrian Arab Republic Cite as UN News Service, All sides in Syria killing thousands of detainees in crimes against humanity, UN reports, 8 February 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56bc4d3a40c.html [accessed 21 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.

8 February 2016 - Thousands of detainees have been killed while in the custody of the warring parties in Syria over the past four and a half years, with thousands held by the Government beaten to death or dying from torture and anti-Government groups brutalizing and executing prisoners in war crimes and crimes against humanity, a United Nations commission reported today.

Nearly every surviving detainee has emerged from custody having suffered unimaginable abuses, Paulo Pinheiro, Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, said of those held by the Government in releasing the report in Geneva  Out of sight, out of mind: Deaths in detention in the Syrian Arab Republic.

For ordinary Syrians, the spectre of arrest or abduction and the near-inevitable horrors that follow have paralyzed communities across the country, he said.

The report, which calls on the Security Council to adopt targeted sanctions against persons, agencies and groups suspected of responsibility or complicity in deaths, torture and enforced disappearance, is based on 621 interviews and extensive documentary material on killings by all parties between 10 March 2011 and 30 November 2015.

It details how civilians have been arbitrarily arrested, unlawfully detained, taken hostage, or kidnapped, with eyewitness accounts and documentary evidence strongly suggesting that tens of thousands of people are detained by the Government at any one time. Thousands more have disappeared after initial arrest by State forces or while moving through Government-held territory.

It describes, sometimes in gruesome depictions, how thousands of detainees held by the Government have been beaten to death or died as a result of injuries sustained due to torture. Many others perished as a consequence of inhuman living conditions and deprivation of medical care.

These killings and deaths, the report stresses, occurred with high frequency over a protracted period of time and in multiple locations controlled by the Syrian State apparatus, with significant logistical support involving vast State resources.

Government officials intentionally maintained such poor conditions of detention for prisoners as to have been life-threatening, and were aware that mass deaths of detainees would result. These actions, in the pursuance of a State policy, amount to extermination as a crime against humanity, the report adds.

The Commission determines that the Syrian Government has also committed the crimes against humanity of murder, rape or other forms of sexual violence, torture, imprisonment, enforced disappearance and other inhuman acts. These violations constitute war crimes, where the acts were committed after the start of the armed conflict.

As anti-Government armed groups and terrorist groups have come in control of territory, they too have held prisoners under brutal conditions, the report says. Some anti-Government armed groups established makeshift places of detention where captured Government soldiers were ill-treated, and executed.

We have heard shocking evidence of how people have been summarily executed following illicit trials, while some individuals taken hostage died in the custody of armed groups, said Commissioner Vitit Muntarbhorn.

Jabhat Al-Nusra and anti-Government armed groups control places of detention, holding Government soldiers as well as civilians. The torture and deaths of detainees have been recorded in some of these facilities. Both the terrorist group Jabhat Al-Nusra and some anti-Government armed groups committed the war crimes of murder, cruel treatment, and torture, the report found.

In areas under control of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) the terrorist group subjected detainees to serious abuses, including torture and summary executions. Detainees were frequently executed after unauthorized courts issued death sentences. ISIL has committed the crimes against humanity of murder and torture, and war crimes.

Through the report, the Commission hopes that efforts will be strengthened to find a path to justice for Syrian civilians, as well to assist prosecutorial and judicial authorities seeking to bring cases, whether at a national or international level.

Accountability for these and other crimes must form part of any political solution, said Commissioner Carla del Ponte. Instead, these violations are being committed with total impunity.

The Commission was established by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council in 2011 to investigate and record all violations of international human rights law and allegations of crimes against humanity and war crimes in Syria, and to identify, where possible, those responsible with a view to ensuring that perpetrators are held accountable.
Low on funds, UN and partners race ahead of rains to tackle needs in South Sudan

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 10 February 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Low on funds, UN and partners race ahead of rains to tackle needs in South Sudan, 10 February 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56bc4db640b.html [accessed 21 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.

10 February 2016 - With humanitarian needs rising in South Sudan, the top United Nations relief official in the country has called for urgent funding to allow aid organizations to rapidly increase humanitarian action during the current dry season.

Aid workers are in a race against time to respond in areas previously cut off by fighting and rains, and to pre-position vital supplies ahead of the next rainy season, said Eugene Owusu, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for South Sudan, in a press release.

If we are unable to act now, the situation wIf we are unable to act now, the situation will be much worse, and the response will be much more costly in the months ahead.ill be much worse, and the response will be much more costly in the months ahead, he added.

Mr. Owusu said he has allocated $20.3 million to top priority projects from the South Sudan Common Humanitarian Fund, which is a multi-donor pooled fund focused on the disbursement of donor resources to humanitarian partners. However, partners urgently require $220 million for critical actions to be taken before the end of the dry season in May, he stressed.

Appealing to donors to give generously, and to give now, to replenish the fund, Mr. Owusu said the additional funding was necessary to combat widespread food insecurity, malnutrition, displacement and disease in the country.

This year, about two per cent of the $1.3 billion required to provide life-saving assistance and protection has been received.

I am deeply concerned that we are facing increasing needs with diminishing resources, he said. The world must not let South Sudan become a forgotten crisis. Humanitarian partners are standing ready to respond, but they cannot do so without funding.

Earlier this week, UN agencies warned that South Sudan faces unprecedented levels of food insecurity, with 2.8 million people  nearly 25 per cent of the population  in urgent need of aid, at least 40,000 of them on the brink of catastrophe, at a time when the war-torn country is traditionally most food secure.
Security Council boosts number of corrections officers for UN mission in Central African Republic

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 9 February 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Security Council boosts number of corrections officers for UN mission in Central African Republic, 9 February 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56bc4f2440b.html [accessed 21 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.

9 February 2016 - Determining that the situation in the Central African Republic (CAR) remains a threat to international peace and security, the United Nations Security Council decided today to maintain the current personnel ceiling of more than 12,800 personnel in the military and police components of the UN peacekeeping operation in the country and to increase the number of corrections officers.

In its unanimously adopted resolution, the 15-member Council decided that the UN Integrated Multidimensional Mission in the CAR, known by its French acronym, MINUSCA, will comprise up to 10,750 military personnel, among them 480 military observers and military staff officers, and 2,080 police personnel, among them 400 individual police officers. It also decided to raise the number of corrections officers from 40 to 108.

The Council also asked the Secretary-General to keep the level of MINUSCA's military and police personnel and corrections officers under continuous review.

The current mandate of the mission, which was established in 2014 to replace the UN Peacebuilding Office in CAR (BINUCA), is set to expire at the end of April.

More than three years of civil war and sectarian violence have displaced thousands of people in the CAR amid continuing clashes between the mainly Muslim Seleka rebel coalition and anti-Balaka militia, which are mostly Christian. The UN recently reported an upsurge in violence, in particular last September and October, committed by armed elements.

MINUSCA itself has recently been hit by a series of allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation by peacekeepers and associated troops. Just yesterday, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon named Jane Holl Lute, an American official with wide-ranging United Nations experience, to coordinate efforts to curb the scourge.
After 30 years of conflict, Sri Lanka still in 'early stages of renewal' - UN rights chief

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 9 February 2016 Cite as UN News Service, After 30 years of conflict, Sri Lanka still in 'early stages of renewal' - UN rights chief, 9 February 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56bc4f6440c.html [accessed 21 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.

9 February 2016 - After nearly 30 years of conflict and acrimony that not only cost tens of thousands of lives but also eroded vital components of the State, Sri Lanka is still in the early stages of renewal, the United Nations human rights chief said today, ending a mission to the country.

Virtually everyone agrees there has been progress, although opinions differ markedly about the extent of that progress, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said in a statement to the press, issued from Colombo.

During his four-day visit, Mr. ZeidI urge all Sri Lankans to make an effort to understand what that resolution and the report underpinning it actually say, and I urge all those in a position to do so, to make a greater effort to explain why the recommendations are so important, and why the United Nations and all those individual States - Sri Lanka included - endorsed them. met with several senior Government officials, including President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. In Colombo, he visited the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka and the Task Force that will lead the forthcoming National Consultations on transitional justice. On Sunday, he was in the Northern and Eastern Provinces of the country.

This has been a much more friendly, cooperative and encouraging visit than the one my predecessor endured in August 2013, which as you may recall was marred by vituperative attacks on her integrity, simply because she addressed a number of burning human rights issues that any High Commissioner for Human Rights would have raised at that time, said Mr. Zeid, referring to former UN rights chief Navi Pillay.

I am aware that some of the same people have given me a similar welcome  I've seen the posters  but I am pleased that in the new environment in Sri Lanka, all voices, including the moderate voices of civil society, can at last be heard, even if sometimes the voices of hatred and bigotry are still shouting the loudest, and as a result are perhaps being listened to more than they deserve, he added.

Progress & Challenges

Noting that Sri Lanka has come a long way in the past year with the media now having greater freedom, Mr. Zeid said the element of fear has considerably diminished, at least in Colombo and the South, but in the North and the East, it has mutated but, sadly, still exists.

On the positive side, he highlighted several recent highly symbolic steps taken that have had a positive impact on inter-communal relations, including the decision to sing the national anthem in both Sinhala and Tamil on Independence Day, for the first time since the early 1950s. He also indicated that one of the most important long-term achievements over the past year has been the restoration of the legitimacy and independence of Sri Lanka's Human Rights Commission.

But despite these advances, he said Sri Lanka is still in the early stages of renewal. Repairing the damage done by a protracted conflict is a task of enormous complexity, and the early years are crucial. If mistakes are made, or significant problems are downplayed or ignored during the first few years, they become progressively harder to sort out as time goes on, he warned. While the glass is still molten, if you are quick and skilful, you can shape it into a fine object that will last for years.

Turning to the proposed Constitutional reform, which should ensure that the rights of all Sri Lankans are fully recognised, Mr. Zeid said there are fears that at a later stage this may be achieved at the expense of other equally important processes such as truth-telling, justice and accountability.

While the Task Force appointed to lead the National Consultation process includes high quality representatives of civil society, there are concerns  including among the Task Force members themselves  that the process is too rushed and has not been properly planned or adequately resourced, he noted, highlighting measures that could be taken quickly to reverse this trend of draining confidence.

Implementing Human Rights Council resolution

Meanwhile, he said issues relating to implementation of a resolution adopted by the UN Human Rights Council last October were high on his agenda during this trip. Co-sponsored by Sri Lanka and agreed with the consensus of all 47 Council members, it laid out an eminently sensible pathway for the country to follow, with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) charged with following up on its implementation.

The Human Rights Council resolution was in many ways a reflection of the reform agenda that Sri Lankans had voted for in last year's Presidential and Parliamentary elections. It sets out some of the tough steps that must be taken to achieve reconciliation and accountability and, through them, lasting peace, Mr. Zeid stressed.

There are many myths and misconceptions about the resolution, and what it means for Sri Lanka. It is not a gratuitous attempt to interfere with or undermine the country's sovereignty or independence. It is not some quasi-colonial act by some nebulous foreign power. The acceptance of the resolution was a moment of strength, not weakness, by Sri Lanka he insisted, adding that it was the country's commitment to both itself and to the world to confront the past honestly and, by doing that, take out comprehensive insurance against any future devastating outbreak of inter communal tensions and conflict.

I urge all Sri Lankans to make an effort to understand what that resolution and the report underpinning it actually say, and I urge all those in a position to do so, to make a greater effort to explain why the recommendations are so important, and why the United Nations and all those individual States  Sri Lanka included  endorsed them, he continued.

The human rights chief told reporters the resolution suggests international participation in the accountability mechanisms set up to deal with international crimes and gross human rights violations committed by individuals on both sides.

This is a practical proposal to solve the very real and practical problems I mentioned earlier. But it is only one aspect  albeit a very important one of the broad range of measures outlined in the 2015 UN report and resolution, and the extent to which it has been allowed to dominate the debate in Sri Lanka in recent days is unfortunate, he said.

Concluding his remarks, Mr. Zeid said the international community wants to welcome Sri Lanka back into its fold without any lingering reservations and help Sri Lanka become an economic powerhouse.
Third journalist murdered this year in Mexico

Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 10 February 2016 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, Third journalist murdered this year in Mexico, 10 February 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56bc504a40d.html [accessed 21 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.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is appalled to learn that the body of Anabel Flores Salazar, a crime reporter for the El Sol de Orizaba newspaper, was found on the Cuacnopalan-Oaxaca road in Puebla state yesterday, a day after the 32-year-old mother was abducted from her home in neighbouring Veracruz state.

Identified by relatives, her semi-naked body was found with a plastic bag covering her head. She was the third journalist to be murdered this year in Mexico. RSF reiterates its call to the Mexican authorities to establish effective measures for protecting journalists and guaranteeing their safety.

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Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is very concerned for the safety of Anabel Flores Salazar, a crime reporter kidnapped from her home in Orizaba, in the eastern state of Veracruz, in the early hours of yesterday, and urges the local authorities to continue their efforts to find her.

The State Commission for the Attention and Protection of Journalists (CEAPP) initiated an immediate alert procedure designed to expedite efforts to locate Anabel Flores Salazar. The Veracruz state prosecutor's office said in a statement yesterday that it was doing everything possible to find the missing journalist.

Nothing in so far known about the identity of Flores' kidnappers, armed men in military-like uniforms who reportedly said they had a warrant for her arrest.

"We are deeply shocked by Anabel Flores' abduction and we call on the local authorities to pursue their efforts to find this journalist as quickly as possible," RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said.

A specialist in criminal investigations, Flores works for El Sol de Orizaba, a local newspaper. She also writes for other publications such as El Mundo de Orizaba and El Buen Tono. Jorge Morales, the CEAPP representative in Veracruz, said she covers "organized crime" and described her reporting as "incisive."

Ranked 148th out of 180 countries in the 2015 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index, Mexico is the western hemisphere's most dangerous country for journalists.
Investigative reporter freed provisionally after prosecutor reduces charge

Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 10 February 2016 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, Investigative reporter freed provisionally after prosecutor reduces charge, 10 February 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56bc507d40b.html [accessed 21 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.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the use of trumped-up charges in an attempt to intimidate John William Ntwali, an investigative reporter and editor of the Ireme news website, who was released provisionally yesterday after being held by the police for 13 days.

Arrested on 28 January, Ntwali was initially accused of raping a minor but the case subsequently unravelled, reinforcing the impression that the charge was fabricated because his reporting is critical of the government.

It emerged that the alleged rape victim, arrested at the same time as Ntwali, was in fact 20 years old and showed no signs of violence, leaving the prosecutor with no choice but to reduce the charge to indecent exposure. Although vaguely defined in Rwanda's criminal code, the charge carries a possible sentence of 2 to 5 years in prison.

"We are relieved by Ntwali's release but we continue to be concerned about the charge he is facing," said Clea Kahn-Sriber, the head of RSF's Africa desk. "The prosecutor's case is gradually evaporating, going from rape of a minor to consensual physical contact with an adult woman. This gives the impression it was trumped-up in order to intimidate this journalist. We urge the authorities to drop all charges against him."

Ntwali's investigative website Ireme, which often carry stories that reflect badly on President Paul Kagame's government, was the victim of a cyber-attack in April 2014. A second version of the site, created to circumvent the blocking, has also been rendered inaccessible.

Interviewed by Radio France Internationale, Ntwali denounced the charges and said he had been threatened in connection with his coverage of the suspicious death of Assinapol Rwigara, a former ruling party official who was killed when his car collided with a truck in Kigali in February 2015. His family insists that it was not an accident.

The media are not free in Rwanda and are subject to constant harassment. The premises of East African, a newspaper owned by Kenya's Nation Media Group, were raided by armed police on 3 February. The computers and hard disks of two journalists were seized and Yvan Mushika, a reporter who often covers sensitive stories, was arrested and questioned for five hours at a police station.

Rwanda is ranked 161st out of 180 countries in the 2015 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.

Photo: John William Ntwali , Igihe.com
RSF asks Cote d'Ivoire to comply with Kieffer case request from French judges

Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 10 February 2016 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, RSF asks Cote d'Ivoire to comply with Kieffer case request from French judges, 10 February 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56bc516240d.html [accessed 21 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.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the family of Guy-Andre Kieffer, a Franco-Canadian journalist who disappeared in Cote d'Ivoire in 2004, urge the Ivorian authorities to comply without further delay with the formal request they received a year ago from two French judges in charge of France's investigation into his disappearance.

The Ivorian authorities have still not responded to the request sent on 23 February 2015 by the two French investigating judges, Cyril Paquaux and Gaelle Beuf, who asked them to question several people including the former first lady and other former officials who could shed light on Kieffer's fate.

A French and Canadian dual national based in Abidjan, Kieffer was investigating shady practices in the production and export of cocoa when he was kidnapped on 16 April 2004. He has been missing ever since.

The civil parties who are registered in the case, were briefed by Paquaux and Beuf on 3 February about the current state of the investigation. It was their first meeting with the judges since Paquaux was assigned to the case in 2014.

The association Verite pour Guy-Andre Kieffer joins RSF and the Kieffer family in urging the Ivorian authorities to act at once on the year-old request from the French judges.

"President Alassane Ouattara has personally undertaken on several occasions to both Osange Silou-Kieffer and RSF to shed all possible light on Guy-Andre Kieffer's disappearance," said Clea Kahn-Sriber, the head of RSF's Africa desk. "One of these occasions was during a meeting with RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire in Abidjan in 2014.

"Now that the Ivorian government is well established and stable, it is important to act on these promises and question the witnesses again. The Kieffer family, RSF and the association Verite pour Guy-Andre Kieffer call on the authorities to comply as quickly as possible with the formal request from the French judges, so that they can advance the investigation, which has been stalled for several years."

Inter alia, the French judges have asked the Ivorian authorities to question former First Lady Simone Gbagbo, currently detained in Cote d'Ivoire, her former security chief, Anselme Yap Seka, also under judicial control, her brother-in-law, Michel Legre, and former Ivorian intelligence officer Jean Tony Oulai.

Cote d'Ivoire is ranked 86th out of 180 countries in the 2015 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.

For more information on the Kieffer case, click here.
RSF demands immediate withdrawal of new charges against editor

Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 9 February 2016 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, RSF demands immediate withdrawal of new charges against editor, 9 February 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56bc518a40b.html [accessed 21 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.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the Moroccan authorities to drop the absurd and iniquitous charge of harming the country's territorial integrity brought against website editor Ali Anouzla on the basis of a translation error, and to abandon the trial that is due to begin today.

In an interview for the German newspaper Bild in November 2015, Anouzla referred to "Sahara" but the newspaper transcribed it as "occupied Western Sahara." Anouzla explained this when he was questioned about it by the authorities in December and the newspaper published a correction in February.

Anouzla, who edits the Lakome2 news site, is nonetheless due to be tried today in Rabat for "endangering the Kingdom's territorial integrity," an extremely grave charge that carries a possible five-year jail sentence.

"Holding a journalist responsible for a translation error by prosecuting him on such a grave charge is outrageous and ridiculous," said Yasmine Kacha, the head of RSF's North Africa desk. "We call on the Moroccan authorities to show some sense by withdrawing the charge at once and without conditions."

Anouzla is already the subject of a separate prosecution on a charge of "defending terrorism" for posting a link to an article on the website of the Spanish daily El Pais that, in turn, had a link to a video posted by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). RSF has repeatedly urged the authorities to abandon these proceedings, which are still under way.

Morocco is ranked 130th out of 180 countries in the 2015 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.
RSF urges Algeria to implement media freedom's new constitutional guarantees

Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 9 February 2016 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, RSF urges Algeria to implement media freedom's new constitutional guarantees, 9 February 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56bc51ae411.html [accessed 21 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.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) hails the constitutional reform approved two days ago by Algeria's national assembly, for the first time guaranteeing press freedom without any form of prior censorship, and urges the country to put it into practice and to modify legislation accordingly while respecting the international conventions it has ratified.

Article 41 (b) of the amended constitution guarantees media freedom and abolishes prison sentences for journalists "in the framework of the law and respect for the nation's religious, moral and cultural constants and values." Article 41 (c) guarantees the right to information while conditioning it on "the rights of others, legitimate corporate interests and national security requirements."

"These constitutional guarantees represent a major step forward for the right and the freedom to inform in Algeria," said Yasmine Kacha, the head of RSF's North Africa desk. "Nonetheless, the real value of these provisions will not be realized unless Algeria's current legislation, especially the criminal code, is brought into line with the new constitution and with the country's international obligations regarding freedom of information and freedom of the media."

RSF points out that restricting the media's ability to question or criticize the head of state, national security provisions or the nation's moral values is extremely disturbing because of the lack of precision in these restrictions.

As regards international law, the UN Human Rights Committee's General Comment No. 34 on article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Politic Rights stipulates that no media outlet should be penalized for criticizing the political and social system espoused by the government. Algeria ratified the covenant in 1989.

Furthermore, international law does not recognize "legitimate corporate interests" as grounds for restricting freedom of expression. The constitutional amendment's reference to such interests therefore poses a real threat to the media's right to provide business coverage.

Finally, although international law recognizes "national security requirements," the UN Human Rights Committee points out that they must be applied in a manner compatible with article 19 of the covenant. Any such restrictions must therefore be provided by law and must be necessary and proportional to the legitimate goal pursued.

Algeria is ranked 119th out of 180 countries in the 2015 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.
Reporter fatally shot while covering opposition party meeting

Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 9 February 2016 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, Reporter fatally shot while covering opposition party meeting, 9 February 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56bc51d440b.html [accessed 21 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.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is deeply shocked by the death of El Hadj Mohamed Diallo, a reporter for the Guinee7.com news website, who was fatally injured when shots were fired during the general assembly of Guinea's main opposition party, the Union of Guinean Democratic Forces (UFDG), on 5 February.

It is still not known who fired the shot that struck Diallo in the chest while he was covering the meeting. He died of the injury shortly after being admitted to Conakry's Donka Hospital.

The shooting started during clashes between supporters of UFDG president Cellou Dalein Diallo and supporters of Bah Oury, the party's former deputy leader, who wanted to attend the meeting although Oury was recently expelled from the party.

"We deplore this journalist's death during the performance of his duties and we hope that the investigation will lead to the identification of those responsible as quickly as possible," said Clea Kahn-Sriber, the head of RSF's Africa desk.

Guinea's main press associations - GUIPEL, URTELGUI, AGEPI, UPLG and REMIGUI - have registered as interested parties in the investigation opened by the judicial authorities. A day without newspapers has been announced for today as a sign of mourning for Diallo.

Guinea's main opposition party has been torn by internal disputes ever since Oury's return to Guinea on 24 January after four years in France. Sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment in connection with a coup attempt in 2011, he was granted a pardon by President Alpha Conde last December

Guinea is ranked 102nd out of 180 countries in the 2015 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.

 Photo AFP
Ugandan authorities gag media in run-up to presidential election

Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 9 February 2016 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, Ugandan authorities gag media in run-up to presidential election, 9 February 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56bc5211411.html [accessed 21 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.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the government's intimidation of the media in the run-up to the 18 February presidential election. What with threats, arrests, media closures and seizure of equipment, covering the election is becoming almost impossible for news media that do not kowtow to the ruling party.

In the latest incident, a BBC crew was held for four hours at a police station in the northern town of Abim on 6 February after filming a public hospital from the road. The police arrested Catherine Byaruhanga, the BBC's Uganda correspondent, cameraman Kelvin Brown and Sam Lawino, a local journalist acting as their fixer, after they refused to comply with orders to delete their video footage.

The local police commissioner told RSF that they did not have the permits needed to film public health installations, and that they had posed as health ministry employees. They were released thanks to the personal intervention of Inspector General of Police Kale Kayihura, who was alerted by several journalists.

The hospital was the subject of controversy a few months ago when an opposition presidential candidate, Dr. Kizza Besigye, visited it with journalists. Interviewees criticized its dilapidated state and a nurse claimed that she had not seen a doctor at the hospital for the past six years. Nation Television (NTV) was the target of an angry verbal attack by President Yoweri Museveni after broadcasting its report about Dr. Besigye's hospital visit, which led to an order by the health ministry and the electoral commission banning all visits to public health installations by presidential candidates.

"Arrests and intimidation attempts of this kind are completely unacceptable in a country that claims to be democratic," said Reporters Without Borders. "What happened to the BBC crew is just one example among dozens of cases of threats and intimidation of Ugandan journalists, which have increased since the start of the election campaign. We urge the authorities to end this campaign of media control and intimidation so that the entire Ugandan people can have transparent and peaceful elections."

Arrests and intimidation of this kind were already common, but they have intensified since the election campaign got under way in November 2015. According to Robert Sempala of the Human Rights Network for Journalists, more than 40 journalists have been arrested, beaten, prevented from working or deprived of their equipment by police since October. Human Rights Watch has published a report in 2016 detailing the violations endured by journalists, leading to a "chilling effect" for all media in the country, according to the human rights organisation.

Uganda is ranked 97th out of 180 countries in the 2015 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.

Picture : Catherine Byaruhanga  BBC
Radio reporter hospitalized after attack by masked men

Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 8 February 2016 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, Radio reporter hospitalized after attack by masked men, 8 February 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56bc524340c.html [accessed 21 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.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns today's "unacceptable" attack by masked men on a municipal radio reporter in Athens and calls on the city's authorities to shed all possible light on the incident.

When RSF was drafting this release, little information was available about the circumstances of the attack on the reporter, Dimitri Pierro of municipal radio 9.84, who was covering a demonstration called by trade unions in protest against the pension reform law.

"Whatever this circumstances, we firmly condemn an act of such violence against a journalist who was just doing his job at the time," said Alexandra Geneste, the head of RSF's EU-Balkans desk in Brussels.

Pierro was stopped by around 20 masked men armed with wooden sticks, who asked him to identify himself and started to hit him when he said he was a journalist. Local media reports described his assailants as "anarchists."

Pierro was taken to a local hospital where he was said to be under observation. He reportedly told other journalists that a riot police unit watched him being beaten without ever intervening.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. The Athens authorities said the attack was being investigated.

Staged as part of a nationwide 24-hour general strike, the demonstration ended with clashes between police and dozens of masked protesters, who were driven back with teargas and stun grenades.

Greece is ranked 91st out of 180 countries in the 2015 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.
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Lent, the 40-day period leading up to Easter, began with Ash Wednesday services at many Abilene churches.

In a message for Lent, Pope Francis reminded Christians that Lent is a time of conversion and a time to deepen one's faith by "corporal and spiritual works of mercy."

The pope issued his Lenten statement Jan. 26 from the Vatican, reminding followers that faith should be expressed in everyday actions.

"Feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, welcoming strangers, offering instruction, giving comfort," are the actions that people will be judged on, the pope said.

Easter is March 27 this year. The date for Easter, and the Lenten season before it, is determined by the lunar calendar.
For the foreseeable future, Mike Reeser sees no changes to how Texas State Technical College in Abilene operates its three current campuses.

As chancellor and chief executive of the statewide technical training college system, Reeser said a plan to build a new facility to educate in a number of underserved career paths in this area will have no immediate effects on the operations already in place throughout the city.

"We'd like to have a single building, but I can't tell you how long that would take at this time," Reeser said Tuesday. "For the foreseeable future, we'll continue to operate our three campuses."

TSTC-West Texas currently has three facilities in Abilene, with the main campus on East Highway 80 sharing space with the Abilene Independent School District's Academy of Technology, Engineering, Math and Science. Other locations are the culinary center at Pine and North First streets and a hangar at Abilene Regional Airport.

Reeser was in Abilene last week to meet with city leaders, including the Development Corporation of Abilene, about a possible matching contribution by Abilene's community to build a new industrial training facility. He asked the community to contribute $6 million over a roughly 10-year period to the project.

The school received permission from the state Legislature to spend up to $12 million pending the match, with the intention to buy 30-40 acres to allow not just a new, larger facility but also room to expand as the city grows, Reeser said.

DCOA has since pointed TSTC in the direction of a few different locations, Reeser said, though speculating on where those are would be premature at this point in the process.

"We want something that would allow us to expand as Abilene's needs grow," Reeser said. "Unfortunately, the locations we have don't lend themselves to this.

"We think that Abilene has growth potential in West Texas and we think it will continue to be an economic center west of Fort Worth. TSTC will continue to grow in a manner that fits with economic growth of the region."

One of the programs Abilene doesn't offer that Reeser said he'd like to see move into the city's education consciousness is diesel engine repair. He said the biggest drawback to bringing the program to Abilene is the space required for all the pieces of the program, as well as those for like welding, industrial systems and advanced manufacturing simply doesn't exist in the current footprint.

These programs each take up a lot of space with their equipment requirements and large objects, he said.

While TSTC is worried about getting more space, it's not worried about the facilities it already has, or its partnership with AISD for sharing the space on East Highway 80. Reeser said the two schools have a long-term agreement in place to allow ATEMS to continue operating on its property and this wouldn't change, no matter what happens moving forward.

"In no case would we violate that agreement going forward," Reeser said, adding he still needs to sit down with AISD Superintendent David Young for planning sessions looking long-term after just meeting him for the first time this past week.

Twitter: @TimothyChippARN
Derek Smith knew there was an opportunity for a pair of Howard Payne University students under his tutelage to make an immediate impact in their undergraduate research projects this spring. Financing their endeavors, however, was the biggest obstacle.

So he called in some of his friends from the nearby business world. Enter Zac Allen, the owner of Lazy Eight Ranches in Coleman, and Paul Smithson, chief executive officer of Apollo Computers in Early, who decided to help the young researchers by contributing $300 apiece.

But Smith, an associate professor of chemistry at the school, didn't want to make it easy for his students. Demanding a challenge, he set up a pitch meeting with the potential investors and forced the seniors, preparing to graduate after this semester, to woo the wallets open.

"I wanted the merits of their proposals to be the determining factor," Smith said. "This is a real-world exercise from the students' perspective. I think ... as we progress, that we'll find people willing to do it because of the recognition for the benefactors, that they're able to meet the students and develop relationships with the students. There are so many benefits beyond just the research."

Sarah Van Remmen will spend the rest of her semester, as soon as her materials arrive, working to determine the ability of sunscreen to continue blocking ultraviolet rays over prolonged periods of time. Samuel Parmley is creating a spectrum of narcotics using an ion trap spectrometer, which is a slightly different tool than what many forensics labs use to determine the presence of a drug in a sample.

While he's not sure what he actually wants to do with his life after he finishes at Howard Payne, Parmley said he is interested in crime scene forensics and is investigating some openings around Texas.

"In the field or in the lab, I'm not sure what I'd like," he said. "So I'm looking into both."

His project won't have much immediate use for law enforcement, he said, but it could provide an extra resource to Howard Payne and the surrounding municipalities if they decide to use what he's creating, which is essentially a second chemical view of what makes up illegal and legal narcotics.

When a forensics lab tests a sample, they use a mass spectrometer to determine the many different compounds present. His idea would be to use an ion trap instead of that machine, giving a slightly different look.

Van Remmen, meanwhile, is using her $300 to purchase sunscreen and other materials to see how the products absorb radiation and at what cost. To do this, she'll borrow the school's ultraviolet spectrophotometer to test both spray-on and lotion-based protection.

She said her goal is to find out what's happening to the sunscreen once it's exposed to the sun.

"I'd like to determine what's happening once the active ingredient gets radiation applied to it," Van Remmen said. "Does it break down, or can it be constantly radiated upon. My guess is that it breaks down."

The projects are required for the pair of students to graduate and must be complete by May, Van Remmen said.

Twitter: @TimothyChippARN
The flu has come to Abilene, and local medical providers and others are seeing ample evidence of its presence.

Tabatha Giustiniani, a registered nurse at Dr. J Express Care in Abilene, said the clinic has seen a "significant increase" in flu cases since Feb. 1, including 50 cases in the past 10 days.

Meanwhile, patient volume also has grown significantly in the past week, Giustiniani said.

Similarly, Hendrick Health System reported an increase in raw numbers of flu patients, while the Abilene Independent School District reported a growing number of students out with the illness.

January and February tend to be peak flu months, Giustiniani said, because they also tend to be among the area's colder months.

"People are more likely to be indoors and in close contact," she said.

But patient activity significantly has spiked in what appears to be a somewhat late flu season, Giustiniani said, the clinic and others seeing substantial numbers of people seeking appointments for diagnosis and treatment.

"It's been a busy day," Giustiniani said Wednesday evening after seeing 82 patients.

So great has been demand, many patients were making use of appointment tools that allow them to receive a text message just before their turn, a feature the clinic fine-tuned before the flu season in anticipation of demand, she said.

According to Linda Langston, director of health services for the Abilene ISD, the district's flu count went from 38 two weeks ago to 102 last week, accompanied by a fair amount of stomach virus complaints and strep.

"So flu count is going up rapidly," Langston said.

On Tuesday, some campuses sent home a dozen to around 20 children, Langston said, many with high fever and/or vomiting. Attendance rates were down compared with previous weeks, with 91.8 percent attendance reported Monday.

"For the sake of comparison, our attendance rate for the third six weeks, which ended at the Christmas break in December, was 95.3 percent," said Phil Ashby, spokesman for the AISD. "Over the last few years, our fourth six weeks attendance rate has averaged about 94.5 percent."

The fourth six weeks period started Jan. 5 and ends Feb. 19, Ashby said. The district's enrollment is about 16,900.

Raw numbers of flu cases from Hendrick Medical Center, too, were up.

The number of confirmed cases at the hospital has hovered typically around three or four most weeks since October, spiking as high as six on Oct. 25 and seven during the first week of January.

Cases went from 3 Jan. 17 to 13 the next week, climbing to a high of 23 the last week of January before dropping to 15 the first week of February.

Statewide, numbers rose slightly from the week before, up 1.03 percent in the number of specimens testing positive for influenza  5.78 percent  and less than 1 percent in the percentage of visits due to influenza-like illness.

According to surveillance data from the Texas Department of State Health Services, the number of positive cases of flu rose significantly since mid-December 2015, which bottomed out with around 20 cases reported, to a recent high of 127 positive cases at the end of January.

While up, though, the number of visits to reporting physicians statewide for flu-like illnesses pales compared with previous years.

At this point in the flu season in 2014-2015, for example, around 11 percent of visits reported to the state's surveillance network were for flu, down from a peak of more than 14 percent in mid-December 2014.

And numbers were still slightly less  by a percentage  compared with the 2013-2014 season.

Hand-washing, avoiding crowded areas, and getting a flu shot if you haven't already received one remain among the best ways to avoid getting the flu, Giustiniani said.

It takes two weeks for immunity to be conferred after a flu shot, she said, though the injections tend to make the case one endures lighter even if one does get the flu, she said.

"It's still worth it," she said.

And if one does have symptoms, the sooner one can get in, get diagnosed and get on antiviral medication, the better one's chances of shortening the illness.

Tamiflu, for example, should be started within 24-48 hours of one's first symptoms to best do its job, Giustiniani said.

"So if you start to feel symptoms, don't wait," she said.

Beth Lantrip, infection prevention specialist with Hendrick Health System, said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducts studies each year to determine how well the flu vaccine protects against illness.

Although vaccine effectiveness can vary, recent studies show the vaccine reduces the risk of flu illness by 50 to 60 percent among the overall population during seasons when most circulating flu viruses are similar to the vaccine viruses.
The nine Republican candidates vying for their party's nomination for the 19th Congressional District agreed on most issues during a forum Wednesday night at McMurry University: Oil and agriculture are vital to the district's economy, Obamacare has been a disaster and the EPA has to go.

The forum, hosted by the Abilene Chamber of Commerce in the auditorium at McMurry's Old Main, was broadcast on KTAB-TV.

In his opening remarks, Lubbock Mayor Glen Robertson remarked on the strength of the field.

"You can't go wrong in this election," he said. The remark was repeated several times during the 90-minute forum.

Joining Robertson were Michael Bob Starr, the retired commander of the 7th Bomb Wing at Dyess Air Force Base; Jodey Arrington, Jason Corley, Greg Garrett, John Key, Donald May, Don Parrish and DeRenda Warren. The winner of the March 1 primary will face Libertarian Troy Bonar in the general election in November.

The biggest difference among the candidates came when moderator Bob Bartlett asked whether they would support U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan as the speaker of the House. Although none of the candidates expressed support for Ryan, Corley and May were adamant in their opposition to the former vice presidential candidate.

"Their day is over," said Corley about the Republican establishment. "Ryan is gone. They did absolutely nothing to slow down Obama."

May was just as pointed in his criticism of the mainstream Republican Party.

"I blame the Republicans more than the Democrats," he said. "We've got to end the stagnation. Republican cowards are our single greatest problem."

Robertson gently chided May and Corley in his response to the question.

"The art of leadership is not trying to shove your idea down someone's throat," he said.

The candidates were limited to a minute in their responses and most of the candidates used their time to stress their qualifications or their commitment to agriculture, energy, water, health care and shredding government regulations.

Corley spoke policy when it came to health care, saying he endorsed GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson's plan to give Americans $2,000 a year for a health care savings plan from which they would buy mandatory catastrophic insurance and then pay for other services with the money.

"It would cost $600 billion," he said, adding that the money would be able to be passed to other family members and that any unspent money would be carried over to build up the fund.

Corley also proposed getting rid of salt cedars to help replenish surface water.

May was the most vociferous critic of President Barack Obama.

"Obama is purposely pulling our country apart," he said.

May also remarked several times about getting the country back "on God's side."

Starr may have been tossed the biggest softball of the night with a question about the importance of Dyess Air Force Base to the Abilene economy and to national security.

"No one is going to fight harder in the halls of Congress for Dyess than someone who's worn that 7th Bomb Wing patch," he said. In his closing remarks, Starr stressed his military experience.

"I'm the only one on the stage who's fought terrorism," he said. "I'm the only one who's secured the border."

May turned out to be the only candidate to express a preference in the presidential race.

"I look forward to working with President Cruz," he said, referring to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

Excluding Starr, all of the candidates are from the Lubbock area and they were asked about their ties to Abilene. The consensus was that the issues facing the two biggest cities in the 19th District were the same.

"I don't think this is Abilene vs. Lubbock or Stamford vs. Seminole or 29 different counties," said Arrington, a former adviser to George W. Bush. "This is one West Texas district."
It was an election marred by missing votes, questionable tallies, tricky tactics, late reporting, disputed outcomes and demands for recounts. Is this Chicago? No, it's Iowa.

The Iowa caucuses are supposed to be a quaint but inspiring example of American democracy at work. But this year's version, while not devoid of inspiration, left many voters and candidates feeling shafted.

On the Democratic side, the battle between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders was agonizingly close, making every caucus important. But some of those in charge didn't keep records of the votes and some of them didn't call in the results on time. In a few caucuses, a tie vote was broken by a coin flip.

When the chair of the Monday night meeting in one Des Moines precinct realized Tuesday that its votes had not been transmitted and might decide the outcome, reported The Des Moines Register, he had to go home to retrieve his notes  only to discover that "he didn't know who was logging the tallies. The party's caucus hotline was no longer working. The party headquarters was locked."

Campaign aides for Sanders, the runner-up by a razor-thin margin, demanded paper records to determine whether the results were tabulated correctly. That request prompted Clinton's state director to accuse the Sanders team of having the chutzpah to "disparage results that don't come out in their favor."

But an editorial in The Register said, "What we can't stomach is even the whiff of impropriety or error," and it demanded "a complete audit of results." Andy McGuire, chairwoman of the Iowa Democratic Party, said, "Asking for raw vote totals demonstrates a misunderstanding of our process. As does asking for a recount."

Republicans had their own mini-scandal. After CNN reported on caucus day that Ben Carson would proceed to Florida instead of New Hampshire, U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, a supporter of Ted Cruz, tweeted, "Carson looks like he is out. Iowans need to know before they vote."

King's claim likely allowed Cruz to capture some votes that would have gone to Carson  who explained that his Florida swing was to get fresh clothes before heading north to campaign. So after finishing a disappointing second, Donald Trump said, "Ted Cruz didn't win Iowa, he stole it." Trump demanded that the vote be redone or the results nullified.

Cruz laughed off Trump's complaint but apologized to Carson, whose campaign issued a statement saying, "These 'dirty tricks' political tactics are part of the reason Dr. Carson got into this race and reflect the 'Washington values' of win at all costs  regardless of the damage to the country  which he is trying to change."

This is not the first time things have gone awry in the Hawkeye State. In the 2012 Republican caucuses, the initial count gave the win to Mitt Romney.

A couple of weeks later, though, the state GOP announced that the actual winner was Rick Santorum  who by then had lost the chance to capitalize on his victory.

All these snafus have to be embarrassing to the people of Iowa, who treasure their special role in the election of presidents.

The good news for them is that their job is done. The next round of voting is Tuesday, in New Hampshire. And by the time it's over, no one will be talking about Iowa.
A look at elections in Taylor County and beyond
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The Cambodian government said on Thursday that it has no plan to send the roughly 170 ethnic Montagnards seeking asylum in Cambodia or in a third country back to Vietnam, where they claim to have faced religious persecution.

The announcement contradicted a local media report published the same day, quoting Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak as saying the government would return all the Montagnards temporarily living in the country to Vietnam because they have failed to qualify for refugee status.

During the interviews, there is an evaluation to determine whether they are truly refugees, economic [immigrants], or have entered Cambodia for other reasons, he said. If we determine that they are truly refugees, we will find a third country for them to reside in.

But Sok Phal, general director of the ministrys immigration department, said the process of checking the Montagnards applications for refugee status had not yet been completed.

In the meantime, the government would not send them back to Vietnam unless they volunteer to return, he said. But if the government determines that they do not meet any of the eligibility requirements, it will send them back to their country of origin.

Thirteen of the Montagnards already have been granted refugee status but have not yet been sent to a third country because they are still waiting for the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) to arrange their move, Sok Phal said.

Representatives from the UNHCR and Jesuit Refugee Service, which has been providing assistance to the Montagnards, told The Cambodia Daily on Wednesday that the registration process for the other members of the groups had not started.

Illegal economic immigrants

A new wave of ethnic Christian Montagnards began entering Cambodia illegally in October 2014, seeking asylum based on allegations that authorities in Vietnams Central Highlands had denied them religious rights and persecuted them. Most of them initially hid out in northeastern Cambodias Ratanakiri province.

The Cambodian government, however, branded them illegal economic immigrants who should be sent back across the border.

Some Montagnards were deported, while others returned to Vietnam on their own, disheartened by the long wait for refugee status reviews.

The government announced in late January that the Montagnards, who had been in Cambodia for months awaiting refugee registration, would have their applications processed, following a meeting between Interior Minister Sar Kheng and James Lynch, the UNHCRs regional representative.

The U.N.s 1951 Convention on Refugees, to which Cambodia is a signatory, requires countries to process refugee claims.

The government set deadlines for the Montagnards awaiting processing late last year, saying they would have to return to Vietnam voluntarily or be forcibly repatriated.

Reported by Yeang Sothearin and Hong Sokunthea for RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Pagnawath Kuhn. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Despite protections promised by a Mental Health Law passed by China in 2013, the country's medical profession has continued to collude with the authorities in carrying out psychiatric incarceration of critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, a rights group has said in a recent report.



The Mental Health Law was aimed at protecting mental health service users from misdiagnosis and involuntary medical treatment in China's state-run psychiatric hospitals.



But the practice of enforced psychiatric treatment for rights activists and persistent petitioners continued throughout 2015, the Hubei-based China Rights Observer group said in its annual report.



"The original intention when the government passed the Mental Health Law was to limit the phenomenon of being 'mentally illed,'" China Rights Observer founder and report author Liu Feiyue told RFA in a recent interview.



"But our observations have shown that this continues to happen, even to previous victims of psychiatric incarceration."



"This is because they already have a psychiatric case history, and that makes it easy for the authorities just pack them off to the mental institution on politically sensitive dates, like the annual parliamentary sessions," Liu said. "This started to happen more and more last year."



Forced medication



On Thursday, Shanghai petitioner Lu Liming told RFA he had been locked up in a psychiatric hospital in Beijing after being detained by police.



"I have no mental illness; I am normal ... and yet I was tied to a bed in the Changping Hospital of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine for two days and two nights," Lu said on his release.



"They also forced me to take a lot of medication while I was tied up there, so miserable I wanted to die," he said. "I am still in pain, and my head is still swollen from their beatings."



Lu said he plans to sue the police and the hospital over his treatment there.



The China Rights Observer's Liu said Lu's ordeal began after he was detained while on a petitioning trip to Beijing by "interceptors" hired by the Shanghai authorities to stop complaints being made to central government.



"He was petitioning, and he was intercepted and taken to the Changping [hospital]," Liu said. "A lot of petitioners get sent to that hospital for so-called treatment."



'Politicized' psychiatry



He said 2015 saw a number of additional cases of forcible psychiatric treatment for political reasons, in spite of the 2013 law aimed at protecting citizens from abuses.



"For example, there was Wang Shiwen, from Shiyan in Hubei province, who was locked up in a psychiatric hospital for petitioning in Beijing and with the provincial government," Liu said.



"Our report concludes that the practice of psychiatry is politicized by the fact that there are no curbs on government power, and so they can easily suppress people who are angry with them by using psychiatric hospitals."



"This is all part of the government's stability maintenance system, which is getting tighter and tighter ... because they fear anything that could threaten their grip on power, including petitioners," Liu said.



"Using psychiatric incarceration is only one of the weapons in their arsenal," he said.



The group's website reported on more than 30 cases of activists around China who were forcibly committed to psychiatric institutions in 2015, often without their relatives' knowledge or consent.



Activists and petitioners "under treatment" have been detained, tied up, beaten, forced to wear manacles and leg irons, and forcibly fed psychoactive drugs, as well as denied access to the outside and to visits from their friends and family.



Hospitals often refuse to discharge such "patients" without the agreement of law enforcement agencies, and inmates are sometimes forced to sign "guarantees" that they will drop all further action against the government before being released.



Tiger bench



Shanghai petitioner Zhu Jindi said her grown son was taken into a psychiatric hospital on Feb. 27, 2014 after getting into a dispute with another person, in spite of having had no history of mental illness.



She said the authorities had taken the action as a form of revenge against her petitioning activities.



"They locked my son up in the detention center for 51 days, and we didn't know he was in there, until the court ruled he should be committed for psychiatric treatment on April 17," Zhu said.



"Inside there, they put him on the tiger bench [torture chair] from morning till night," she said. "He was also manacled, and he was tied hand and foot in restraints to his bed, to urinate and defecate on himself."



"It was evil," she said.



The "tiger bench" was among a number of torture methods reported by Chinese detainees and highlighted by rights groups testifying to the U.N. Committee Against Torture last year during its review of Beijing's record last year.



The committee concluded that torture and other human rights violations are deeply entrenched in China's justice system, and called on the ruling Chinese Communist Party to abolish inhuman treatment of detainees.



Reported by Xin Lin and Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Wong Lok-to for the Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.




South Korean vehicles cross the Tongil Bridge checkpoint near the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea as they return from the Kaesong joint industrial area, Feb. 11, 2016.

An industrial park formerly viewed as a symbol of cooperation between the two halves of a divided Korea is now a focal point in a tug-of-war between the communist North and democratic South.

On Thursday, North Korea ordered all South Koreans out of the Kaesong Industrial Complex, froze all South Korean assets there, declared the area under the military control, and cut two inter-Korean communication hotlines.

The Norths moves come a day after South Korea announced it was pulling out of Kaesong in retaliation for North Koreas nuclear test last month and a long-range missile test on Sunday.

The South Korean puppet group will experience what disastrous and painful consequences will be entailed by its action, North Koreas Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said in a statement issued on Thursday. The committee is the North Korean government agency in charge of relations with the South.

North Korea often uses bellicose language as it contends that the South Korean government is a puppet of the United States. In its Thursday announcement, the committee also called South Korean President Park Geun-hye a traitor for all ages.

On Wednesday, South Korean Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo accused Pyongyang of using the wealth generated by the joint venture to fund its weapons programs instead of using the cash to help the North Koreas impoverished population.

It appears that such funds have not been used to pave the way to peace as the international community had hoped, but rather to upgrade its nuclear weapons and long-range missiles, the ministry said.

The South Korean military on Thursday retrieved three pieces of what it believes to have been the rocket's combustion gas jet nozzle from the ocean floor off an island located about midway along the west coast of South Korea, the country's Yonhap news agency reported.

Kaesong controversy

Kaesong has long been controversial in South Korea, with some Koreans there arguing it had undermined international sanctions designed to put pressure on the North to curb its nuclear and missile programs.

Others contend that it gave North Koreans a glimpse of life in the more prosperous South and helped ease tensions between the two countries.

North Koreas Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said on Thursday that Kaesong had operated for the common prosperity for more than a decade, calling its closure little short of an act of dropping an axe on one's own foot and a dangerous declaration of a war.

Some South Korean workers left Kaesong before North Korea's announcement, and a handful of others were seen leaving afterward, the Associated Press reported on Thursday, but South Korean officials said they didn't know what would happen to its nationals who had not departed by North Korea's 5:30 p.m. (Seoul time) Thursday expulsion deadline.

They also wouldn't say how many workers remained at Kaesongs factories. South Korea said it would bar reporters from the border crossing on Friday.

Well after the deadline passed, a South Korean manager at Kaesong in a phone call with AP said he had been told to wait for further instructions from South Korean officials.

The South Korean government has promised financial assistance to the more than 100 companies that operated in the Kaesong.

"The government will preferentially come up with measures to counter the fallout stemming from the shutdown, such as manufacturing delay or cash shortage," said Lee Suk-joon, an official in charge of government policy coordination, according to Yonhap.

Reported by RFA's Korea Service. Written in English by Brooks Boliek.
Vehicles drive away from the Kaesong joint industrial area and the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas, Feb. 10, 2016.

In an effort to make North Korea pay for recently launching a long-range rocket and exploding a nuclear device, South Korea on Wednesday announced that it will close an industrial park that the two countries jointly operate.

Shuttering the Kaesong Industrial Complex in the border town of the same name could have an impact that goes beyond sanctions already announced by the United States and other countries because the complex generates desperately-needed hard currency for North Korea.

The likely impact of the closing is a matter of conjecture, according to experts on the secretive country.

"South Korea is sending the North a stark message that its provocations will no longer be tolerated as business as usual, Greg Scarlatoiu, executive director of the Washington-based Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, told RFAs Korea service.

Clearly, South Korea can't tolerate the Kim Jong Un regime's 'byungjin line,'" Scarlatoiu said, referring to the name of North Koreas policy of simultaneous nuclear and economic development.

North Korea faces a clear choice between continuing to pose threats to international peace and security and [having] economic development. It simply can't have both," Scarlatoiu said.

Its unclear, however, if shutting the facility will force the country to change, Andrei Lankov, a noted Russian expert on North Korea, told RFA.

Of course, Seouls shutdown of the Kaesong Industrial Complex will deal a blow to North Korea, but not a severe one, Lankov said. U.S. $100 million is a big sum of money to the North, but its far from a decisive factor.

On Wednesday, Seoul said 616 billion won (U.S. $560 million) had flowed into North Korea through the industrial complex since its opening, with 132 billion won (U.S. $120 million) flowing into North Korea last year alone.

In making the announcement, South Korean Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo accused Pyongyang of using the money to fund its weapons program, instead of using the cash to help the nations impoverished population.

It appears that such funds have not been used to pave the way to peace as the international community had hoped, but rather to upgrade its nuclear weapons and long-range missiles, the ministry said.

U.S. backing

Daniel R. Russel, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, called the decision a difficult one for the South Korean government, but said it is a compelling indicator of the seriousness with which they regard the provocative steps taken by North Korea.

It is a decision that is consistent with the widespread view in the international community that more steps are needed to convince the [North Korean] leadership that it is not going to be possible to have access to the international economic system, let alone economic or financial aid, as long as North Korea continues to pursue a nuclear and a missile program in direct contravention of the U.N. Security Council resolutions, he said.

There was no immediate reaction from North Korea.

Shutting down Kaesong could cause political problems for North Korea as Kaesongs thousands of workers are sent home, but those workers may end up blaming the West instead of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Lankov said.

When they lose these jobs overnight as a result of Seouls shutdown, they will be hit financially very hard, he said.

They might not know whether such a shutdown has been caused by the North Korean regime or the U.S. and South Korea, but the bottom line is the shutdown of Kaesong Industrial Complex will deal a big blow to its thousands of workers there, but not a severe one to the North Korean regime, he said.

End of an era

Until Wednesday, Kaesong was one of the few instances where the two countries cooperate.

Established in 2004, the industrial park is the last remnant of former South Korean President Kim Dae-Jungs Sunshine Policy, which also led to a historic summit with then-North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in 2000.

While Kim was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for implementing the Sunshine Policy, his legacy was dismantled in 2010 when South Koreas Unification Ministry declared the policy a failure.

Closing Kaesong now snuffs out what remains of North-South cooperation and closes a window through which some North Koreans could get a taste of life in the south, Lankov said.

I have supported the continued operation of the Kaesong complex because of the enormous effects of South Korean Choco Pie cookies on the North Korean workers, which the North Korean regime banned distribution of some time ago, Lankov said.

The Kaesong Industrial Complex has served as sort of a window through which its North Korean workers can get a glimpse of life in South Korea, he added.

Labeled a special administrative industrial region of North Korea, Kaesong operated as a collaborative economic development zone that hosts South Korean companies attracted by its access to cheap labor. Kaesong is only six miles inside North Korea, with direct rail and highway access to the south.

The industrial park has been controversial in South Korea, as some conservative South Koreans argue that it extends a lifeline to the North Korean leadership, undermining United Nations sanctions.

Kaesong has been closed before.

In 2013, North Korea pulled its 53,000 workers from the plant in a show of strength during an earlier time of rising tensions between the two nations. At the time, North Korea said it gets few economic benefits from the zone while the South side largely benefits from it.

While the earlier closure did not last, the closure announced Wednesday looks set to become permanent.

Extremely provocative act

North Korea has pushed ahead with the extremely provocative act of launching a long-range missile on the heels of its fourth nuclear test, showing disregard for the repeated warnings of the international community and the suffering of its people, South Korea's Unification Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry added: North Koreas provocations are a direct challenge to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the international community, and its actions are absolutely unacceptable.

Feelings among the 124 mostly textile businesses that used the park have been mixed.

In a statement, the association of South Korean companies in Kaesong denounced the government's decision as "entirely incomprehensible and unjust."

Lee Eun Haeng, chairman of Il Sung Leports, which produces fashion goods at the park, told the Associated Press that the companies had become "victims" of a political situation.

"For the companies and for their suppliers to survive, the government should give enough compensation," Lee told the AP. "There are hundreds of thousands of South Korean workers and families who rely on the Kaesong park for their living. They have become jobless overnight."

Nonetheless, he said, he had no choice but to accept the government's measures because they were taken for the sake of "national security."

Lankov thinks that this view of national security is illusory.

If they lose the money, maybe they will have to slow down a bit their speed of developing nuclear weapons and missiles, he said. But I think that the Kaesong complex not only helps the North Korean regime fund its nuclear and missile development, but also helps ordinary North Koreans get a peek at the real picture of life in South Korea, and works as a firewall to block the rise of crises in inter-Korean relations.

In that respect Seouls decision is a big mistake, he said.

Reported by RFA's Korea Service. Translated by Changsop Pyon. Written in English by Brooks Boliek.
The Afghan government has sent a team of specialists to a northern province to repair electricity pylons blown up as fighting raged between security forces and Taliban insurgents.

With the capital, Kabul, already facing blackouts since late January due to the destruction of several other electricity-transmission towers elsewhere in Baghlan Province, Baghlan officials announced on February 10 that the Taliban had destroyed at least one more tower, near Dahana-e Ghuri.

The recent power cuts raise concerns that militants might have stumbled across a new tactic in their persistent efforts to oppose the Afghan central government.

Speaking to RFE/RL by telephone from Dahana-e Ghuri, Ahad Barekzai, the head of the team of specialists, said that "if everything goes according to plan, we hope to reconnect power lines in this area in the next day or two."

"Security forces are cooperating with us in this area," Barekzai added. "If government forces provide security, we don't have any technical problem restoring [the pylon]."

Barekzai pointed out, however, that even if power lines in Dahana-e Ghuri are restored, it will "improve the power situation in Kabul" but won't fully resolve the problem.

The towers in Dahana-e Ghuri deliver electricity to Takhar, Baghlan, and Parwan provinces, as well as to Kabul, Barekzai said.

The national electricity company, Da Afghanistan Breshna Shirkat (DABS), said it was unable to begin repair works at the site of the first tower blasts, in Dand-e Shahabuddin, until the area is cleared of militants and land mines. That location is a major supplier of electricity to the capital.

"If security is ensured, it would take us several hours to reconnect the electricity supply lines," Wahidullah Tawhidi, a DABS spokesman, told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan.

The government has blamed the Taliban for sabotaging major power lines that deliver electricity from neighboring Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

The Taliban, however, denied responsibility for blowing up the pylons.

Kabul's 5 million or so inhabitants are used to rationing and frequent power cuts that often last several hours, especially during winter.

However, the latest blackouts mark some of the worst the capital has seen since the demise of the Taliban regime in 2001.

Electricity is a main source for heating and cooking for many Kabul residents, who now get as little as three hours of electricity a day in some areas.

The poor tend to be hardest hit by cutoffs, in part because many of the Afghan households that can afford them have their own power generators. Kabulis also resort to lanterns, gas-powered lamps, and candles.

"We use coal for heating and cooking," one Kabul resident said. "We get three hours of electricity a day, and when it comes we quickly try to do things that are impossible without electricity, such as ironing clothes, charging phones, and using the washing machine."

"I haven't even been able to charge my phone for the past two days," a young Kabul resident told Radio Free Afghanistan. "I really want our government to solve this problem as soon as possible."

In the meantime, a group of tribal elders and local activists from Baghlan arrived in Kabul on February 10 demanding that the government reach a cease-fire to end clashes in their province.

They said the clashes of the past three weeks have affected some 30,000 civilians.



Khairullah Shinwari, a Baghlan activist, told reporters in Kabul that 125 civilians, including women and children, had been killed and some 650 others injured in "indiscriminate firings."

Shinwari said the clashes have forced around 17,000 civilians from their homes.

The Baghlanis have demanded that the government prevent civilian casualties and provide humanitarian aid and compensation for those affected.

Separately, a group of Baghlan tribal elders are set to meet with Taliban commanders in an effort to ensure security from the militants' end for specialists to repair the downed pylons.

In Dahana-e Ghuri, the team from Kabul was racing to finish repair work to take advantage of relative calm provided by security forces.

"All people need electricity, regardless of what side they are," said Barekzai, the team leader. "We hope government and Taliban leaders make it possible for us to do our work to restore electricity for everyone, the rich and poor, those who desperately need it in hospitals, schools, and mosques."

With additional reporting by RFE/RL Radio Free Afghanistan correspondents in Kabul
Afghan police say four officers were killed and seven others wounded when a colleague opened fire on them in the southern province of Kandahar.

Provincial police spokesman Zia Durrani said the shootings took place at a checkpoint in the Zhari district late on February 10.

He said the rogue policeman, who joined the police force two years ago, was shot dead by another officer.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes after a rogue police officer drugged and then shot dead 10 colleagues in the central province of Uruzgan on January 26.

Earlier in January, nine policemen were shot dead in the same province by four rogue colleagues.

Based on reporting by AP, dpa, and Pajhwok
You've gotta love it when a Kremlin official gets caught telling the truth.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova this week called a NATO plan to station air, naval, and ground forces in six Eastern European countries -- Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania -- part of a strategy to "contain" Russia.

Well, yeah. That's exactly what it is. And it wouldn't be happening if Russia hadn't annexed Crimea, started a war in the Donbas, and persistently menaced the Baltic states.

In addition to the NATO plan, the United States has quadrupled its budget for European defense to $3.4 billion and plans to send a brigade-sized force of 3,000 soldiers to the continent, including to the Baltic states.

Additionally, Great Britain will deploy five warships to the North Atlantic, the North Sea, the Baltics, and the Mediterranean.

"This is not a thunderstorm that's going to blow over," Reuters quoted an unidentified senior NATO official as saying about the West's standoff with Russia. "This is climate change, and we have to prepare for the long haul."

The planned deployments represent a big step toward addressing vulnerabilities on the alliance's Eastern flank, like the threat of Moscow sending "little green men" to the Baltics to start a hybrid war.

The commander of the U.S. Army Europe, Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, has also highlighted the exposure of the Suwalki Gap, a roughly 100-kilometer stretch of the Polish-Lithuanian border wedged between Belarus and Russia's Kaliningrad region.

"Capture by hostile forces of Suwalki or bordering Lithuanian territory would cut off the three Baltic states from other NATO countries," Agina Grigas, a fellow at the Atlantic Council and author of the book Beyond Crimes: The New Russian Empire, wrote recently. "Analysts have likened Suwalki to the Cold War era's Fulda Gap in Germany where NATO planned and prepared for hypothetical Soviet attacks."

Weaponizing Globalization

But while NATO's moves this week should create a credible deterrent to a kinetic threat from Russia -- a military attack, hybrid or otherwise -- on one of its members, Moscow's broader challenge to the West is nonkinetic.

It's essentially a civilizational challenge to the Western liberal order.

"Russia is not an existential enemy, but it is an antagonist, and its self-declared interests in Europe diverge from those of the vast majority of European states," veteran Kremlin-watcher James Sherr of Chatham House wrote in a recent report.

Sherr noted that "two normative systems" have emerged on the Eurasian land mass, "the first based on rights and rules, the second on connections, clientelism, and the subordination of law to power."

Vladimir Putin's regime, he added, "is applying its tools of influence to circumvent the European normative system and undermine it."

And toward this end, the Kremlin has taken advantage of Russia's integration into the global economy to undermine the West's institutions.

In effect, it has weaponized globalization.

The Kremlin has weaponized international finance and business to establish a pro-Moscow lobby abroad.

Likewise, Moscow has weaponized corruption to capture Western elites and make them dependent on Moscow.

By utilizing the "corrupt transnational schemes that flowed seamlessly from Russia into the rest of the former Soviet space -- and oozed beyond it" -- Vladimir Putin's regime has extended its "shadow influence beyond Russias borders and developed a natural, captured constituency," James Greene wrote in a 2012 report for Chatham House.

The Kremlin has weaponized organized crime to carry out unsavory tasks with plausible deniability for the Kremlin and to provide funds for black ops.

Putin's Russia is "not so much a mafia state as a nationalized mafia," Russian organized crime expert Mark Galeotti, a professor at New York University and co-host of The Power Vertical Podcast, said in a recent lecture at the Hudson Institute.

Moscow has weaponized the Internet by unleashing an army of trolls to poison discourse in Western media and with a series of brazen cyberattacks on Western targets.

In an effort to undermine unity in the European Union, it has weaponized electoral politics by supporting and financing extremist parties like Marine Le Pen's National Front in France.

And most famously, it has weaponized information in an effort to confuse, distract, and sow doubt among Western news consumers.

It is a comprehensive threat that requires a comprehensive response -- not just from NATO but from Western governments and civil societies as a whole.

"The EU must shoulder as much responsibility for European security as NATO. The defenses needed against potential hybrid threats are societal, economic, and administrative, as well as military," Sherr wrote.

"Unless nondefense arms of government (judicial, financial, regulatory) understand the defense and security implications of their responsibilities, they will not be fit for purpose. A free media should not be defenseless in the face of trolling, state-sponsored manipulation and cyberattack. The corporate and financial sectors need reminding that commercial interests are not always the same as national interests."
Bosnia-Herzegovina's supervising judicial authority has upheld a ban on wearing the Islamic head scarf and other religious symbols in courts and other legal institutions.

The decision to uphold the ban on the hijab was announced by the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC) on February 11 and came despite weekend protests in the capital and several other Bosnian towns.



It applies to judges and other employees in the Bosnian judiciary and pertains to all religious symbols and garb. But it explicitly mentions the hijab -- the Islamic head scarf that leaves the face open while covering the hair, ears, and neck.



The council, which supervises the functioning of the judiciary, announced the measure in October. But the measure went largely unnoticed until it went into effect some two weeks ago, prompting criticism and mass protests.



The largest protest took place on February 7 in Sarajevo, where some 2,000 people, mostly women, held a one-hour demonstration in support of their right to wear the hijab.



Many of the female demonstrators held banners with various slogans supporting the wearing of the hijab, including: "The Hijab Is My Right" and "The Hijab Is My Life."

Speaking on February 10, council President Milan Tegeltija sought to allay the tensions, saying they had been prompted by a misunderstanding.



Tegeltija said the council was only acting in accordance with the ruling adopted in October.



He explained that the ban was needed to maintain the image of the courts as impartial arbiters.



"No one is stating that, by wearing a religious symbol, a member of the judiciary is biased," he was quoted as saying by Indian daily Siasat.

But he added that the presence of such symbols could prompt those under trial to accuse the judiciary of lacking neutrality.



Tegeltija, quoted by the Vijesti.ba website, reiterated that the decision refers to all religious symbols, although the public protests centered only on the hijab.



In singling out the Islamic head scarf, the measure states that lawyers, court officials, and other judicial system employees will no longer be allowed to wear the hijab to work.



It also says that allowing witnesses and other third parties taking part in hearings to wear a head scarf would be decided on a case-by-case basis.



Critics have pointed out that while a Christian cross can be removed or concealed, the same is not true for a hijab.



It was the first time Bosnia-Herzegovina, which was part of the former Yugoslavia and whose population of 3.8 million is about 40 percent Muslim, has ruled on the wearing of the hijab.



Yugoslavia's communist rulers after World War II banned the wearing of a different type of Muslim head scarf, the niqab, which covers a woman's face almost completely, with the exception of the eyes.



The hijab ruling has been condemned by Muslim political and religious leaders in the country.

Several petitions have been posted online calling for the measure to be scrapped.

And on the occasion of World Hijab Day, an annual event held this year on February 1 that encourages Muslim and non-Muslim women to wear the hijab, Bosnian activists posted pictures of themselves wearing the head scarf and holding the sign #unbiased.

Tegeltija said that the head of Bosnia's Muslim community, Husein Kavazovic, has told the council that he is interested in cooperating with the body.

To reduce tensions, Tegeltija also proposed holding talks with leaders of Bosnia's Muslim and other religious communities, which in Bosnia includes Orthodox and Catholic Christians.

Another European country that partially forbids religious symbols is France, which banned them from public schools in 2004. In 2010, France also prohibited the concealing of a person's face in public, resulting in a ban on the wearing of face-covering headgear, including niqabs and other veils, except under specific circumstances.
The Daily Vertical is a video primer for Russia-watchers that appears Monday through Friday. Viewers can suggest topics via Twitter @PowerVertical or on the Power Vertical Facebook page.

A transcript of today's edition of The Daily Vertical can be found here.
Before he was killed, Boris Nemtsov was attacked and threatened routinely -- and sometimes ridiculously.

He was assaulted with eggs, had ammonia thrown at him, and a toilet tossed on top of his car, just to name a few.

This is worth bearing in mind when considering this week's incident in which a group of assailants threw a cake in the face of former prime minister and opposition figure Mikhail Kasyanov.

If a Russian opposition figure gets assassinated in the near future, nobody will be able to say it wasn't telegraphed.



The Kremlin, of course, is dismissing the cake attack as mere hooliganism.

This ignores the fact that Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov openly threatened Kasyanov on Instagram a week earlier, posting a video of him in the crosshairs of a sniper's rifle -- and openly mocked the cake assault afterward.

And it ignores the fact that the website LifeNews, which has ties to Russia's security services, posted a video of the incident -- and an accompanying story on the Most Popular Cakes In Grozny.

Whatever it was, it wasn't mere hooliganism.

Writing on Facebook, opposition politician Dmitry Gudkov noted that far from being funny, the cake incident shows that Kasyanov is under constant surveillance and potential attackers know exactly where he will be at any time.

And this is all happening as the first anniversary of Nemtsov's assassination approaches later this month.

Is this a psyop designed to frighten and intimidate Kasyanov and other opposition figures?

Or is it something more sinister -- a signal that Kadyrov has license to come after the Kremlin's opponents with impunity?

It's impossible to be sure. And that is exactly the point.

Keep telling me what you think in the comments section, on The Power Vertical's Twitter feed, and on our Facebook page.
Hundreds of schools have been destroyed during the war in eastern Ukraine, including many that were used for military purposes by both sides in the conflict, Human Rights Watch (HRW) says in a new report.



Schools that have survived the war operate in dangerous and often overcrowded conditions, while many children have been forced to stop attending school altogether, says the report titled Studying Under Fire: Attacks On Schools, Military Use Of Schools During the Armed Conflict In Eastern Ukraine.



It urges the sides in the conflict between government forces and Russia-backed separatists to take steps to protect children's safety and access to education and to prevent the use of schools for military purposes.



"All parties to the conflict have a responsibility to protect children and to make sure that their hostilities don't cause further harm to their safety and education," New York-based HRW says in the report released on February 11.



During visits to 41 schools and kindergartens and interviews with 62 students, teachers, principals, and witnesses, HRW documented attacks on schools located in both government-controlled and separatist-held areas.



Yulia Gorbunova, Ukraine researcher at HRW, told RFE/RL that both sides have used schools for military activities, deploying forces and armaments in and near schools.



"Using those schools for military purposes led to them basically turning into legitimate military targets and increasing the possibility of them being attacked and destroyed," Gorbunova said.



Other schools damaged during the conflict were not occupied or used by the fighting forces, and therefore did not appear to be "legitimate" military targets.



"We've found cases which we documented in the report also very clearly showing indiscriminate attacks, which is a very common [occurrence] in this conflict where the combatants did not distinguish between military and civilian targets," Gorbunova said.

WATCH: Schoolkids Stay At Home As Ukraine Conflict Simmers





More than 9,000 civilians and combatants have been killed since the war erupted in April 2014. Fighting has diminished markedly under a cease-fire that took effect in September 2015, but violations are frequent and a deal aimed at resolving the conflict has gone largely unimplemented.



The report describes an artillery attack from the direction of rebel-controlled areas which caused extended damage to a school in Krasnohorivka, a government-controlled town in the Donetsk region, in June 2015. School No. 3 was located some 700 meters from a Ukrainian military checkpoint.



"Well, there was a very heavy artillery attack in which that school was hit many times -- repeatedly, and the military checkpoint was not hit at all, not even once. So that either shows very, very bad aiming [skills], or it shows that the school was targeted deliberately," Gorbunova told RFE/RL.

Safe Schools Declaration



The report warns that targeting such institutions is prohibited under the laws of war, and can be prosecuted as a war crime.



It also documents cases when the Ukrainian military occupied schools, and "frequently broke or burned school furniture, including classroom doors, chairs, and desks."



It says that, on several occasions, troops left behind heavy artillery or unused ammunition.



The report says Ukraine's Ministry of Education and Science has acknowledged in meetings with HRW that government troops have used schools for military purposes.



In urging both sides to protect children's safety and access to education and deter military use of schools, HRW says Ukrainian authorities should do that by endorsing and adhering to the international Safe Schools Declaration -- a statement that was opened for endorsement by countries at a conference in Norway in May 2015. So far, 51 states have signed it.



Gorbunova told RFE/RL that Kyiv had shown openness and a willingness to endorse the declaration. "We do not have a clear time frame [for the signing] yet, but we will continue working with the government toward it and hope that it will happen in the very near future."



The report also urges the separatists to follow the principles of the Safe Schools Declaration's Guidelines For Protecting Schools And Universities From Military Use During Armed Conflict.



Gorbunova said that, in the separatists' case, adherence to the guidelines should be proven by concrete action.



"While we cannot call on the militants to actually officially endorse the declaration because they are nonstate actors, we can definitely call on them to follow best practices laid out in the guidelines, and issue very clear orders to all the forces under their command to stop using schools for military purposes," she said.
The capture of 10 U.S. sailors by Iranian forces last month was reenacted at rallies in Iran celebrating the anniversary of the countrys 1979 Islamic Revolution.



Images published by Iranian news agencies and shared on social media show actors in fatigue pants walking in the streets, some with their hands tied and with chains around their necks.



In images from a rally on February 11 in the city of Qom, a man wearing red lipstick is apparently posing as the female U.S. sailor who was among those detained by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) on January 12 after mistakenly straying into Iranian territorial waters.

A similar scene played out in the Iranian capital, Tehran.

The sailors were released on January 13 following several phone calls between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif.



Their capture was a moment of glory for Iranian hard-liners who consider Washington their enemy despite an accord reached last year by Tehran and global powers including the United States that places restrictions on Irans nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.



The hard-liners, who are worried that their power could be diminished as the result of the deal and the opening up of Iran, have repeatedly used images of the U.S. sailors on their knees with their hands behind their heads for propaganda purposes.

They have also released footage and images that appear to show one of the sailors apologizing and another crying.



They seem clearly aimed to embarrass the United States and project an image of power to an Iranian audience.

Despite the nuclear accord, which has significantly decreased tensions between Tehran and Washington, at some of the rallies in Iran the U.S. flag was set on fire while some of those participating in the carnival-like gatherings held signs with Death To America slogans.


Iranians are commemorating the 37th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution with rallies across the country.

Demonstrations are taking place on February 11 in Tehran and other cities and towns, with many participants chanting slogans against the United States and Israel.

Speaking to crowds in Tehran's Azadi Square, President Hassan Rohani urged Iran's political factions to seek consensus, after a constitutional watchdog disqualified thousands of moderate candidates from running in the February 26 elections to both parliament and to a top clerical body, the Assembly of Experts.

"Political factions should put aside any confrontation," Rohani said "We need consensus now."

On February 11, 1979, followers of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ousted U.S.-backed Shah Reza Pahlavi.

This year's commemorations follow the implementation in January of a landmark nuclear agreement with world powers.

International economic sanctions against Tehran were lifted under last year's deal after the United Nations certified that Tehran had met all of its commitments toward curbing its nuclear activities.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, and IRNA
Montenegro says it has barred Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin from entering the small Balkan country.

The Foreign Ministry said on February 11 that Rogozin is among 50 Russian politicians and businesspeople who are not allowed to enter Montenegro.

The nation of some 600,000 people, which is seeking to join the European Union and NATO, has adopted Western sanctions against Russia for its role in the Ukraine crisis.

The Foreign Ministry said Milan Knezevic, leader of the pro-Moscow Democratic People's Party, had invited Rogozin without any consultations with Montenegro's authorities.

Based on reporting by AP and Interfax


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told EU leaders on October 20 that Russian attacks that have destroyed a large portion of Ukraine's energy infrastructure are aimed in part at provoking a new wave of migration of Ukrainians to EU countries.



"Russian terror against our energy facilities is aimed at creating as many problems as possible with electricity and heat for Ukraine this fall and winter, and for as many Ukrainians as possible to go to your countries, he told an EU summit in Brussels.

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.

This should be "answered immediately," primarily by more air defense systems sent to Ukraine, the president said.



"We must do everything possible to make it completely impossible for Russia to destroy our energy system with missiles and drones," Zelenskiy said in a virtual speech to EU lawmakers, calling on Ukraine's partners to provide systems "to create a truly reliable air shield."



Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukrainian civilian and infrastructure facilities since October 10, mainly using kamikaze drones that Ukraine and its Western allies say are Iranian-made. Moscow and Tehran have denied the accusations.



Zelenskiy also warned that Ukraine suspects Russia has mined the dam and units of the Nova Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant on the Dnieper River in southern Ukraine, and if it were blown up, more than 80 settlements, including Kherson, would be in danger of flooding.



Zelenskiy said Ukrainian workers have been thrown out of the facility, leaving Russians in control. He asserted that Russia "has already prepared everything to carry out this terrorist attack."

He called for an international observation mission and the return of Ukrainian personnel to ensure the mines are removed from the dam and its units.



Zelenskiy's comment came two days after Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-appointed head of the Kherson region of Ukraine, announced an "organized, gradual displacement" of civilians from four towns on the right bank of the Dnieper River to the left side.



Saldo accused Ukrainian forces of planning to destroy the dam and also warned of "an immediate danger of flooding."



The Moscow-installed authorities of Kherson said on October 20 that about 15,000 people had left the region.

The Moscow-appointed deputy head of the Kherson region, Kirill Stremousov, encouraged people to cross over to the left bank of the Dnieper River and posted a video of a column of buses on Telegram.



Kyiv has denounced Moscow's move, calling it a "deportation" of Ukrainian civilians to Russia.



But Stremousov said people should follow the evacuation instructions and leave Kherson, one of four Ukrainian regions illegally annexed by Russia.



"Give the military a chance to do what they have to do," he said, claiming that the Russian army will not surrender Kherson.



Zelenskiys office said that Ukrainian forces on October 20 had mounted 15 attacks on Russian military strongholds in the Kherson region. Russias Defense Ministry spokesman said the Kremlins forces repelled Ukrainian attempts to advance with tanks on three Kherson villages.



Another Russian-installed official in the region, Vladimir Leontyev, said Ukrainian forces had launched five missile strikes against the Kakhovka dam.



Ukraine earlier on October 20 began restricting electricity consumption for the first time since the start of Russia's invasion as the country sustained serious damage to its infrastructure following waves of Russian air strikes targeting its electricity grid ahead of the onset of winter.

Oleksandr Kharchenko, an adviser to the energy minister, said on October 19 that there would be outages, including some that are scheduled.



"Unfortunately, according to new data, about 40 percent of the total infrastructure is seriously damaged. Repair and connection work is ongoing, but outages are expected today and tomorrow," Kharchenko said on Ukrainian television.



The supply restriction started at 7 a.m. (0800 Prague time) and was due to last until 11 p.m. Grid operator Ukrenergo urged Ukrainians to charge their mobile phones and have blankets on hand for warmth.

In the latest Russian attack, an energy facility was struck and damaged in the Kryvorizka district of the Dnipropetrovsk region, the head of the regional administration, Valentyn Reznichenko, reported on October 20.

Earlier, a missile strike hit a major coal-fired power station in the city of Burshtyn in western Ukraine, the region's governor said.

"Our region experienced missile fire today. The Burshtyn thermal power station was hit, which caused a fire," Svitlana Onyshchuk, governor of Ivano-Frankivsk region, said in an online video statement.

The Burshtyn power station supplies electricity to three western regions and 5 million consumers.

Ahead of the summit, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz addressed lawmakers in Berlin on October 20, condemning Russia's latest drone attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine and saying that "such scorched-earth tactics will not help Russia win the war."

Scholz said such tactics by Russian President Vladimir Putin would "only strengthen the resolve and the will of Ukraine and its partners to persevere."

"In the end, Russia's bombing and missile terror is an act of desperation -- just like the mobilization of Russian men for war," Scholz said. "He wants to sow fear, divide, and intimidate. He is speculating on our weakness, but he is wrong -- we are not weak."

Scholz said the reconstruction of Ukraine after the war would be a "generational task in which the entire civilized community of states must join forces."



In London, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace will also make a statement to parliament on Ukraine later on October 20, the House of Commons said on Twitter.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, dpa, and BBC
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says Georgia is moving closer to the military alliance by making reforms and major contributions to "our shared security."

Stoltenberg made his comments after a meeting of the NATO-Georgia Commission in Tbilisi on February 11.

He said the alliance is committed to helping Georgia move toward NATO membership.

Georgia was designated by NATO as an "aspirant country" in 2011, three years after the alliance pledged to eventually grant the country membership.

Stoltenberg said NATO will open a Joint Training Center in Tbilisi in May.

He said NATO members at the commission meeting "praised Georgia's efforts to strengthen its democratic institutions," but added that it still needed to improve its rule of law and the independence of the judiciary.

Stoltenberg also called on Russia to reverse its recognition of the disputed Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent countries.

He also called on Azerbaijan and Armenia, which he called NATO partners, to show restraint and "avoid any escalation of the situation" over the disputed Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is controlled by ethnic Armenians.
Russian opposition leader and anticorruption crusader Aleksei Navalny has filed a lawsuit against President Vladimir Putin, accusing the Russian leader of failing to disclose a conflict of interest in an award of $1.75 billion in government financing to a company owned by his son-in-law.

Navalny said in a February 11 blog post that Putin was required by law to divulge his family ties to Sibur, Russias largest gas and petrochemicals processor, when he directed the government in October to dip into a key emergency fund to finance a massive refinery the company is building in western Siberia.



Kirill Shamalov, who is widely reported to be married to Putins younger daughter, holds a 21.3 percent stake in Sibur, making him the companys second-largest shareholder.



Putin personally handed part of the Russian peoples wealth to his son-in-law, Navalny wrote. Did he have the right to do this? Legally, yes. He did have that right, but he should have disclosed his conflict of interest.



Navalny, a driving force in the large opposition street protests that preceded Putins return to the Kremlin in 2012 following a four-year stint as prime minister, posted a copy of the civil lawsuit he filed with Moscows Tverskoi District Court on February 11.

The lawsuit calls for a ruling deeming that Putin violated Russias anticorruption law by failing to disclose his family links to Sibur and to ban him from involvement in matters concerning financing of the refinery from the emergency fund, known as the National Welfare Fund.



Rambler News Service cited a Tverskoi District Court employee as saying that the court had received Navalny's lawsuit.

Navalny said he also filed complaints with Russian federal prosecutors and the presidential administration, copies of which he also posted on his blog.

Many of Putins longtime associates have benefited from government contracts while amassing enormous wealth during his 16 years in power, prompting accusations that he is leveraging Russias resources to enrich his friends.



Last month, the U.S. Treasurys acting secretary for terrorism and financial crimes, Adam Szubin, told the BBC that Putin is a picture of corruption, a characterization the White House subsequently stood by.



The Kremlin has repeatedly rejected allegations that Putin is siphoning off state funds to a small group of handpicked insiders and called Washingtons recent corruption accusations outrageous and insulting.



A Family Affair



Details about the lives of Putins daughters, which the Kremlin has fiercely shielded from public scrutiny, have begun to emerge in both the Russian and Western media over the past year.



Among these revelations is that Kirill Shamalov is married to Putins younger daughter, who goes by the name Katerina Tikhonova. Both the Kremlin and Shamalov have refused to confirm reports of the marriage but have not denied them.



Reuters reported in December that within 18 months after the couples wedding in February 2013, Shamalov acquired his stake in Sibur, which the news agency estimated to be worth $2.85 billion.



Sibur said in September 2014 that Shamalov acquired the bulk of his stake from Gennady Timchenko, a wealthy Putin associate. Shamalov told the Kommersant newspaper in August that he acquired the stake with financing from state-owned Gazprombank, secured on assets belonging to me.



Like Timchenko, Shamalovs father -- Nikolai Shamalov -- is a longtime associate of Putins.



The heart of Navalnys lawsuit -- that Putin ordered the government in October to allocate $1.75 billion to Sibur from the National Welfare Fund to build the refinery in western Siberia -- is a matter of public record.



Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed an October 17 order mandating the financing, and an explanatory note on the governments website says the measure was developed by the Economic Development Ministry on instruction of the president.



Medvedev told senior officials that the plant would produce up to 1.5 million metric tons of polyethylene and 500,000 metric tons of polypropylene annually, reducing Russias dependence on imports of these plastics with a wide range of uses. He also said the plant would create up to 15,000 jobs.

A report about federal budget implementation published on the Russian Audit Chamber's website states that an October 13 directive signed by Putin tasked the government with financing the Sibur refinery from the National Welfare Fund.



Navalnys lawsuit appears to be largely aimed at highlighting ways in which well-connected insiders are given access to government largesse. As president, Putin is immune from criminal prosecution but not necessarily from civil lawsuits.



Any expectation, however, that a Russian court would rule against Putin in a civil case appears quixotic given Putins control over the countrys political landscape.

"Formally, Navalny is absolutely correct." Ivan Pavlov, a St. Petersburg-based lawyer and activist for government transparency, told RFE/RL. "Formally. But on the other hand, there is a widespread practice, especially in Moscow courts, of not accepting lawsuits not only against the president, but even against employees of the presidential administration."

Pavlov said he believes Putin did violate the law in this case and that "in any other democratic country, there would be a scandal over this, and the president might even be forced to resign."



Navalny, who is currently serving out two suspended sentences on theft convictions he and his supporters calls retribution for his political activities, nonetheless wrote that he is confident he will win.



Putins spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, offered a curt response when asked by the state-owned TASS news agency whether the Russian president was aware of Navalnys lawsuit.



No, he was quoted as saying.

With reporting by Reuters, Vedomosti, and TASS
Qatar has signed a deal with Pakistan to export up to 3.75 million tons of liquefied natural gas a year, the Persian Gulf state's media reports.

The agreement was signed on the first day of two-day visit to Qatar by Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Media reports in Pakistan on February 10 estimated the deal was worth $16 billion.

Pakistani Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said the deal will fill about 20 percent of the South Asian country's gas needs.

Abbasi told Pakistan media that the deal was a "game-changer" for his country, and would help save the country $1 billion a year.

Pakistan currently faces a severe shortage of natural gas, both for electricity generation and industrial use.

Supplies of the gas could start as early as March, and would continue through 2031 under the long-term deal, Qatar news agencies reported.

Based on reporting by AFP and Business Standard
With the Russian patriarch and prime minister both holding big meetings abroad, this weekend presents a chance for President Vladimir Putin to soothe a world still stunned by Moscow's aggression in Ukraine and dismayed by its bombing campaign in Syria.



Russian Orthodox Church chief Kirill holds historic talks with Pope Francis at the airport in Havana, Cuba, on February 12, the first such meeting since Christendom split in two more than 1,000 years ago.



Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will speak at the annual Munich Security Conference on February 12-14 -- the same forum at which Putin ripped into Washington and the West in a 2007 address that set the tone for years of discord.



Facing deep economic troubles and persistent Western sanctions, Putin may be looking for ways to alleviate Russia's isolation.



But will he use the high-profile meetings of two top allies to build real bridges, or to execute tactical moves in a mounting confrontation with the United States and Europe?



Signs point to something far short of the first and closer to the second: an effort to improve Russia's global image and score points with the West without giving ground on the gritty issues of Syria and Ukraine -- or even the deep-rooted disputes between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church.

The clearest of those signs, perhaps, is the fact that Putin is not attending the security conference.



"I will not come to Munich," he said bluntly in an interview with German tabloid Bild last month.



Why not?



It would seem like an opportune time for Putin to pitch for a thaw in ties with the West, or at least make a case for two things he wants: relief from sanctions imposed by the United States and European Union over Russia's role in the war that has killed more than 9,000 people in eastern Ukraine, and an end to criticism of its bombing campaign in Syria.



Putin Steers Clear



But there are at least two potential motives behinds the decision by Putin, who has not attended the Munich Security Conference since his jolting 2007 appearance, to give it a miss once again.



One is the apparent animus between Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose opposition to Russia's interference in Ukraine was by all accounts tougher than the Kremlin expected and dashed Moscow's hopes for a muted Western response.



Merkel, whose position at home has been weakened by an influx of refugees now aggravated by Russian air strikes in Syria, said in February 8 that she was "not just appalled but horrified" by the suffering caused by the bombing in Syria, primarily by Russia.





For the time being, Germany is enemy territory for Putin.



But the main reason that Putin is not going to Munich may be that he just doesn't think he needs to.



He seems to have the upper hand in Syria at the moment, and may believe he'll get it soon in Ukraine.



Russia's stepped-up military campaign appears to have reshaped the five-year war in Syria,bringing President Bashar al-Assad's government back from the brink of battlefield defeat and increasing the chances that if a resolution is achieved, it will suit the Kremlin.



Russia is facing growing criticism over civilian casualties in Syria and risks becoming mired in a long and costly conflict with repercussions for its own large Muslim minority. But for now, Putin seems confident he is winning what many see as a proxy war with the United States.



In a bid to put pressure on Washington ahead of the conference and a February 11 meeting in Munich on Syria, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia had proposed a "concrete plan" to end the conflict and expressed hope the United States would not dawdle with a response.



In eastern Ukraine, a fragile cease-fire is turning the war between government forces and Russia-backed separatists into a frozen conflict that is a constant threat to the country's unity and economic health.



Medvedev In Munich



Russia has not achieved what many analysts believe is a chief goal: a say for the separatists in Ukrainian foreign policy decisions, which would in effect mean a Russian veto on NATO and EU membership for Kyiv.



But with cracks appearing in European unity and increasing frustration in the West over the slow pace of reforms in Ukraine, Putin has grounds to hope that this year will bring an end to many of the economic sanctions on Russia -- or even the collapse of the government in Kyiv.



Instead of going to the Munich Security Conference himself, Putin is sending both Lavrov and Medvedev, the pliant protege who helped mend ties with the West while keeping the presidential seat warm in 2008-12.



Putin could be hoping for a similar effect from Medvedev in Munich. Alternatively, he may use Medvedev as a mere messenger, tasked with delivering a version of Putin's own stern words and absorbing whatever criticism comes his way.



Whether the prime minister lays into the West or appeals for understanding, any message Putin wants to send is undermined if delivered by Medvedev because of his image as an underling with no real clout.

Ahead of the Munich meeting, Moscow set about playing down its significance. Valentina Matviyenko, the chairwoman of Russia's upper parliament house, said she does not expect a "breakthrough" and blamed the West in advance.



"Regrettably, we do not see reasonable ideas coming from the West," she said on February 10.



Kirill The 'Courier'



The Munich Security Conference starts the same day that Patriarch Kirill is set to meet Pope Francis at the Havana airport.



It will be the first meeting since the Christian world split in the Great Schism of 1054 between the heads of the Catholic Church and what is now the largest church in Eastern Orthodoxy.



A meeting with the Moscow patriarch had eluded Francis's two most recent predecessors, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, with the Russian church frequently saying longstanding disputes -- over property in Ukraine and Russian Orthodox accusations that the Catholic Church has poached members of its flock, among other issues -- must be resolved before it could happen.



Many Russians believe the decision to meet the pope now is not the result of a change of heart by Kirill, but of a pragmatic calculation by Putin.



"It's a good sign, but it's obvious that the Russian state is seeking lines of communication with the West, and the patriarch is a courier," Aleksei Venediktov, the editor in chief of Russian radio station Ekho Moskvy, said on the air on February 6. Kirill's job, he said, is to tell the pope that "Western European leaders" can communicate with Russia through him.



Kirill has strongly supported Putin at home in Russia, even offering crystal-clear backing in the 2012 election that returned him to the Kremlin.



That record has led to suspicions that Putin may see the historic meeting as a chance to paint Russia in a positive light -- as a proponent of peace, moral rectitude, and global religious unity -- at a time when it is under fire over its actions from the takeover of Crimea to what critics say is an indiscriminate bombing campaign that has killed large numbers of Syrian civilians.


The head of Russia's state oil company for the first time suggested oil producers should cut output to prop up plummeting oil prices.

Rosneft chief executive Igor Sechin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, told a conference in London on February 10 that major producers should cut production by 1 million barrels a day to reduce oversupply of about 1.5 million barrels a day.

"A coordinated supply cut by major exporters by around 1 million barrels per day would sharply reduce uncertainty and would move the market towards reasonable pricing levels," he said.

Oil prices have slumped more than 70 percent to near $30 a barrel since 2014 as supply exceeded demand.

Sechin has never before suggested working jointly with OPEC, a cartel that he has derided in the past.

Oil markets rose in recent weeks on hopes of a deal between OPEC and Russia after other Russian officials suggested joint production cuts.

After his speech, Sechin questioned whether top OPEC producers Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Iraq are ready to cut production, however.



He said he expects Iran to nearly double its 3 million barrels a day output by 2025 with the lifting of economic sanctions.

Based on reporting by Reuters and TASS
Mikhail Kasyanov has been pelted with eggs, the second attack on the Russian opposition figure in recent days.

TASS reported that Kasyanov was targeted as he stepped out of his car on February 11 in the city of Vladimir, some 200 kilometers east of Moscow.

The report said the egg throwers identified themselves as members of the so-called People's Liberation Movement.

Kasyanov, who served as prime minister under President Vladimir Putin and is now a Kremlin critic, was the victim of a similar attack at a restaurant in Moscow on February 9.

Kasyanov said about 10 men of "non-Slavic appearance" had entered the establishment, threatened him, and threw a cake into his face

The Moscow incident came several days after Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Chechnya, posted a threatening video on Instagram that shows Kasyanov in the crosshairs of a sniper rifle.

The Kremlin on February 10 called the cake attack an act of "hooliganism" and rebuffed the idea that it was related to Chechnya's leadership.

Based on reporting by TASS and AP
MOSCOW -- NATOs insistence that it is a defensive alliance has always received short shrift in Russia. So when the alliance approved plans to deter Russian aggression by bolstering its eastern flank, the icy reaction of the Russian media came as no surprise.



The tone of the outrage varied greatly, but the opposition was largely uniform across mainstream TV, radio, and print media after NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg announced that a multinational NATO force will be rotated through the countries of Eastern Europe to deter Russian aggression.

Pro-Kremlin news and commentary website Vzglyad cast the plans as the building blocks of a NATO beachhead on Russias doorstep that would fracture the foundations of European security.



Vzglyad characterized NATOs announcement of rotations and regular exercises -- rather than a permanent base -- as a sneaky way to get around a promise, in the 1997 NATO-Russia Founding Act, to defend itself without additional permanent stationing of substantial combat forces near Russia in the current and foreseeable security environment.



The tactic of getting around rather than once and for all tearing up [the Founding Act] is most likely being conducted because of pressure from a range of Western European countries, primarily Germany, which are not interested in unnecessarily provoking a Russian response, Vzglyad wrote.

The tone on TV, radio, and social media was more vitriolic.

And state TV tried to turn NATOs assurances that it poses no threat to Russia on their head, calling any notion of Russian aggression a "myth."



The NATO secretary-general is in no hurry to ease relations, watchers of the Vesti evening news program were told on February 10, not long after Stoltenberg spoke. On the contrary, while frightening the world about the myth of Russian aggression, he intends to increase the military presence in Eastern Europe.



The number of troops to be involved in the NATO exercises will be decided at an alliance summit in Warsaw in June. The plans may help allay fears, particularly among NATO's easternmost member states, sparked by Russias 2014 takeover of Crimea and its backing for separatists in a conflict that has killed more than 9,000 people in eastern Ukraine. Russia denies it has sent regular troops into eastern Ukraine, despite mounting evidence.



Aleksei Pushkov, head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, took the idea of NATO promulgating the "myth" of a Russian threat to social media.

The NATO secretary-general says that the alliance is not going to fight [Islamic State]. Understood. Thats not NATOs role. Its main task is confrontation with Russia amid commotion over the Russian threat.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova opined that Brussels had dreamed up the Russian threat to make itself feel better after proving unable to resist Islamist militants on the continent.



Take a look at the terrorist attacks in Paris, for instance. Did NATO fall on the grenade to protect everyone from the terrorists? No, of course not, because it is not capable of this, Zakharova said in comments carried by the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper on February 10.

Newspapers including the popular tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda latched onto a comment from Ruslan Balbek, a member of the Russian-imposed government of Crimea, who said NATO's deployment plans were a blatant psychological test of Russias resilience.



NATO has dropped its sheeps clothing and intends to rattle the saber. But nobody has ever succeeded in scaring Russia, and nobody will ever succeed, he said.



Igor Korotchenko, the pro-Kremlin editor in chief of National Defense magazine, hit the airwaves to accuse NATO of gearing up for war on Russia.



He told Vesti FM listeners that NATO is working on real plans to conduct military action against Russia in the European theater of military activity.



This would seem completely unthinkable in the context of the 21st century, in the context of a global world. But unfortunately this is the reality. And we need to take these realities into account, Korotchenko said.

He was clear on how the Kremlin should respond.



We must understand that the only guarantee that the U.S. and NATO plans do not become reality is an increase in the readiness of the armed forces, the work of the military industrial complex, and of course the development of our strategic nuclear forces that are the guarantee against large-scale aggression against our country.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has warned of the possibility of a permanent or "world war" if a resolution of the Syrian conflict is not found and U.S. and Arab ground forces get involved in the conflict.

Medvedev, in an interview in Munich with Germany's Handelsblatt newspaper on February 11, said Washington and Moscow must use their influence to pressure all sides in the conflict to agree to a cease-fire.

He said if Saudi forces joined a recently discussed U.S.-led ground operation into Syria it could turn "the war into a permanent one," citing Afghanistan and "many other countries" as examples.

Medvedev said the United States and Arab countries must think carefully before getting more deeply involved in Syria and that "all sides must be compelled to sit at the negotiating table instead of unleashing a new world war."

Russia, which began a bombing campaign in Syria in September, is carrying out bombing sorties around the key city of Aleppo in support of advances by the government troops of President Bashar al-Assad, a close Russian ally.

A U.S.-led coalition of dozens of countries is also conducting air strikes in Syria.

French President Francois Hollande on February 11 called on Russia to end its military action in support of Assad.

"I ask that the Russian actions stop," Hollande said. "We need to ensure that [Assad] leaves power and at the moment, helped by the Russians, he is massacring some of his own people."

Russian, U.S., and officials from several other countries held talks in Munich on February 11 in an effort to agree on conditions for a cease-fire.

Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin is defending his decision to demolish dozens of kiosks overnight on February 9.

His post, to Russian-language social network VKontakte, warns that those running the stalls can't protect themselves with ownership papers that he claims are fake.

"The demolition of illegal structures in Moscow is a good example of the fact that truth, legacy, and the history of our country is not sold in Russia," Sobyanin, a member of the ruling United Russia party, says in the post. "You can't hide behind property papers you clearly acquired fraudulently. Let's return Moscow to Muscovites. Its parks, squares, streets. Open, beautiful, loved."

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But Artur Aipetov, a member of the Moscow Chamber of Advocates, is disputing Sobyanin's claim. In an earlier interview with the Kommersant daily, he claimed that the demolished stalls had all the necessary documents and thus should have been protected from demolition under the Russian Constitution unless a court ruled otherwise.

"Mr. Sobyanin lost every court case on demolition of real estate in 2015," Aipetov added.

In December, authorities changed the Civil Code, which now states that the city government may demolish any structure if it deems it to be "samostroi," or "self-built." However, Aipetov said that only courts can make such decisions, and so far they have not done so.

While some have defended Sobyanin's move as appropriate, others have expressed anger at the mayor's line of defense.

On February 10, two men protested in front of the mayor's office in an action they called "You can't hide behind papers."

On Twitter, a local opposition deputy suggested that Sobyanin's statement raised the specter of conversations like the following:

"You are arrested, immediately found guilty, and now we will execute you."

"But according to the Constitution, the court"

"You can't hide behind papers!"

Another Twitter user argued that Russian authorities use Sobyanin's principle in the area of foreign policy, too.

"I'm taking away Crimea. And don't hide behind the paper of the Budapest memorandum," the tweet reads, a reference to the document in which post-Soviet Russia promised "to respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine."

The Russian Anticorruption Foundation, headed by opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, tweeted copies of documents suggesting that two of Sobyanin's daughters own three apartments in Moscow and St. Petersburg. A 2013 investigation by the foundation claimed that one of the Moscow apartments cost $5.3 million, while the St. Petersburg property cost $3.5 million under the prevailing exchange rates.

"You can't hide behind property papers you clearly acquired fraudulently," the tweet says. "Let's return Moscow to Muscovites?"

Some Muscovites support Sobyanin's decision to demolish the kiosks, suggesting they are eyesores.

Journalist and socialite Ksenia Sobchak, who is often critical of the Kremlin, tweeted that "living in the capital must be expensive, not otherwise."

"This doesn't justify lawlessness, but one can understand Sobyanin's logic -- either you live [at the market] next to the metro or you lawlessly get rid of it," she wrote in another tweet.

Overall, Moscow authorities ordered the demolition of 104 structures they deemed to have been self-built.

The demolition wave might come to St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city, next.

Maksim Vorontsov, a representative of the Center for Efficient Use of State Property, told Radio Baltika that they already have around 1,500 requests to free up sites that are occupied by allegedly illegal structures.
U.S. officials say Russia has proposed a cease-fire in Syria to begin on March 1 but the United States says the fighting should stop immediately.

One unnamed official told AP on February 10 that Washington believes the Russians are giving themselves and the Syrian military three weeks in which to launch fierce ground attacks on opposition forces and to regain valuable territory before the cease-fire begins.

The U.S. officials said Washington wants an immediate cease-fire and complete humanitarian access to Syrian civilians trapped in the fighting.

The recaptured territory -- mainly in northern and southern Syria -- would be largely at the expense of the forces fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that Turkey, the United States, and other Western countries support.

Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin said on February 10 that Russian and U.S. officials had been holding "very important" talks in Munich about a cease-fire in Syria.

The United States, Russia, and several other countries are in the Bavarian capital this week for an annual security conference where they are also discussing Syria.

Based on reporting by AP and Reuters
Russia says it is ready to discuss a possible cease-fire in Syria ahead of fresh talks on the Syrian crisis in Germany.

Ahead of talks in Munich on February 11, Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said the Russian side was ready to discuss the modalities of a truce.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were chairing the meeting of the Syrian contact group, which includes states and international organizations.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, meanwhile, dismissed as speculation reports that Russia was ready to propose a cease-fire in Syria starting on March 1.

Syrian peace talks collapsed last week in Geneva amid a Syrian government offensive, backed by Russian air strikes, to retake the city of Aleppo. As a result of the military push, tens of thousands have fled to the Turkish border.

On February 11, a senior Russian diplomat said Moscow opposed plans to establish a "safe zone" along the Turkey-Syria border.

Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov told Interfax that Russia opposed "any attempts" by the U.S.-led coalition to deploy troops in Syria's north without asking the Syrian government or United Nations first.

In Ankara, Turkey's president renewed a call for the establishment of a secure, no-fly zone in Syria, saying it is the only way to deal with the influx of migrants and refugees.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan on February 11 also criticized the United Nations, which has demanded that Turkey open its border to a new wave of Syrian refugees. Turkey is already home to more than 2.6 million Syrian refugees.

Erdogan said the world body should be focusing on ending an "ethnic cleansing" unfolding around the Syrian city of Aleppo instead of making demands on Turkey.

Elsewhere, the U.S. military denied carrying out any strikes on February 10 in or around Aleppo.

A Baghdad-based spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group said any claims to the contrary were a "fabrication."

Russia's Defense Ministry said earlier on February 11 that two U.S. aircraft had bombed the Syrian city of Aleppo on February 10.

Meanwhile, a fresh UN report said the Syrian military offensive has cut off 120,000 people in the northern province of Homs since mid-January, worsening hunger and killing patients unable to get to medical care, a UN report said on February 11.

Kurdish Gains

In related news, Syrian activists say Kurdish-led fighters have captured a rebel-held former military airport near the Turkish border.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the Menagh air base fell to the People's Protection Units (YPG) and their allies late on February 10.

The Observatory said Menagh has been the scene of fierce fighting between Kurdish fighters and other rebels, adding that warplanes believed to be Russian carried out at least 30 air strikes in support of the Kurds as they advanced in the area.

Kurdish fighters appeared to have been taking advantage of a major Syrian ground offensive around the city of Aleppo to gain ground in the area.

Reports say the Kurds have grabbed a number of villages that rebels had to evacuate to confront advancing Syrian troops coming from the south.

Russian Strikes

In Moscow, Russia says its air strikes have hit some 1,900 targets across Syria in the past week.

The Defense Ministry said on February 11 that the strikes struck targets in the provinces of Aleppo, Latakia, Hama, Deir ez-Zor, Daraa, Homs, Hasakah, and Raqqah.

The ministry also rejected accusations of targeting residential areas of Aleppo and denied responsibility for the alleged destruction of two hospitals in the northern Syrian city.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has warned that the surge in fighting displaced some 50,000 people in the whole province.

The humanitarian situation is deteriorating rapidly in the city, it said, with supply routes for aid cut.

With reporting by AP, AFP, Reuters, Interfax, and TASS
The ombudswoman for the Russian republic of Tatarstan says it is premature to carry out a court order closing down a popular human rights group.

Saria Saburskaya, Tatarstan's human rights commissioner, said on February 10 in Kazan that a ruling by Tatarstan's Supreme Court to close the Agora human rights group had not yet come into effect and it was "too early" to put an end to the group's work.

She said it would be regrettable to shut down Agora, which is very popular among human rights groups due to its work in defending rights activists in court.

Agora lawyer Ramil Akhmetgaliyev said the Supreme Court ruling -- which upheld an order by Russia's Justice Ministry -- would be appealed at the Russian Supreme Court.

Human Rights Watch's Russia Program Director Tatyana Lokshina expressed concern over the Supreme Court decision, saying the liquidation of Agora was a "blow to civil society."

Russian Human Rights Commissioner Ella Pamfilova said the decision against Agora was part of an "alarming trend" that could lead to all human rights NGOs to soon "be extinct in Russia."

The Justice Ministry said Agora had violated financial regulations required of NGOs deemed to be "foreign agents" under controversial legislation.

Based on reporting by Interfax and Rapsinews.com


Russian authorities that control Crimea have arrested at least nine Crimean Tatars after a series of raids on their homes on the Russian-occupied peninsula.

Prosecutors in the Russia-imposed government, said four had been charged with belonging to Hizb ut-Tahrir, a Sunni political organization that is banned across Central Asia and Russia.

The detentions come after 12 homes of Crimean Tatars were raided by police in the city of Yalta and the town of Bakhchesaray earlier on February 11.

Reports say some of the individuals whose homes were targeted had met with a delegation from the Council of Europe that recently visited Crimea to assess the human rights situation there.

Emil Kurbedinov, a local human rights activist, accused the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) of fabricating new "terrorist cases" against Crimean Tatars.

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014 after a referendum dismissed in the West as bogus.

Since Russia's land grab, fundamental freedoms have "deteriorated radically" for many in Crimea, especially for pro-Ukrainian activists, journalists and the Crimean Tatar community.

That was the finding of a report issued in September 2015 by the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities.


A stinging rebuke from the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has underscored the precarious spot in which Ukraine finds itself despite Kyiv's repeated pledges to tackle corruption and enact major reforms.

IMF head Christine Lagarde's call on February 10 for "a substantial new effort" from Ukraine's leadership carries particular weight due to fears that the fund could suspend its $17.5 billion portion of an international bailout to help the country kick-start its economy, stay on a democratic track, and weather an ongoing conflict with Russia.

The IMF's stark language set off alarm bells in Kyiv, where President Petro Poroshenko quickly telephoned Lagarde to assure her and allies such as the United States that he recognized the need to "reboot" the government.

The government's approval ratings have tumbled and it could face a no-confidence vote in the coming days, ushering in more uncertainty for a country already on a war footing.

But Poroshenko's quoted remarks to Lagarde also appeared to highlight the risk in the current climate of dramatic showdowns in Ukraine, whose economy and currency have collapsed since unrest in 2014 unseated a pro-Russian president and unleashed invasion plans in Moscow. Poroshenko reminded critics of the desire to avoid "snap elections, which would only deepen the political crisis and worsen conditions for carrying out reform," according to a statement on Poroshenko's website.

Plummeting Ratings

As the stakes in Ukraine have risen -- along with the notion that Ukraine is a testing ground for Western resolve in the face of a newly assertive Russia -- expectations have mounted that Kyiv must implement market and democratic reforms to justify outside support.

But most Ukrainians will find discouragingly little in the IMF chief's criticism of Kyiv's reform effort that they didn't already suspect.

"There's been little action, only words," one young Kyivan told RFE/RL. "It seems to me some work is being done, but the results have been meager, especially given the scope of the problem."

Polling in December showed Poroshenko's approval rating had fallen so low that he was less popular than his ousted predecessor Viktor Yanukovych, and the prime minister and his cabinet are faring no better.

Another indication that endemic corruption and a failure to establish rule of law plague reform efforts arrived on February 3, when Lithuanian-born Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius announced he would resign over what he called a "sharp escalation in efforts to block systemic and important reforms." He likened recent developments to "the style of the old authorities."

Abromavicius has since said he is supplying evidence of wrongdoing involving key government officials to anticorruption investigators.

Rotten To The Core?

Tackling corruption in Ukraine is daunting, experts agree. Bribery and cronyism have been facts of life since Kyiv gained independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The situation only worsened during the last four years under Yanukovych, when $11 billion was siphoned yearly through the abuse of public procurement tenders alone, according to post-Yanukovych Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko.

There has been some success, including plans to take public procurements online -- a big boost for transparency, antigraft activists say. But that was largely the work of outgoing Economy Minister Abromavicius.

In his public letter of resignation, Abromavicius said he could no longer endorse what he claimed was corruption in the president's inner circle. He highlighted his feud with Ihor Kononeko, a business partner of Poroshenko's and an influential member of the political grouping Petro Poroshenko Bloc.

Abromavicius expressed outrage over attempts by the presidential administration to impose a new deputy who would have been responsible for financial flows and supervising strategic state enterprises.

Tiny Few Or 'Majority'?

Abromavicius previously voiced his eagerness to clean up state enterprises, where oligarchs have held considerable sway, often behind the scenes. That made him powerful enemies, says Andriy Marusov, head of the Ukrainian branch of Transparency International, a global anticorruption watchdog.

"[Abromavicius's] resignation happened right now because his plans...to reform, to reorganize state-owned enterprises, to privatize them afterwards -- they ultimately ran into the resistance of the majority, I would say, of the political class of Ukraine," Marusov told RFE/RL.

Abromavicius is not the first official in Poroshenko's government to quit after voicing similar frustrations. Agriculture Minister Olekseiy Pavlenko and Infrastructure Minister Andriy Pyvovarsky made fruitless attempts to prosecute Yanukovych-era officials before throwing up their hands and walking away.

Anticorruption campaigners point to the controversial appointment in February 2014, at the height of the Euromaidan furor, of sexagenarian Prosecutor-General Viktor Shokin.

Shokin previously served in the same post under Presidents Leonid Kuchma and Viktor Yushchenko, and in his new tenure has proposed a number of Yanukovych-era holdovers for key functions, making him the ultimate political insider in the eyes of critics.

Poroshenko has ignored repeated calls to sack Shokin, including from more than 100 members of parliament.

"Presidents in Ukraine -- and this unfortunately is valid in the post-Maidan Ukraine as well -- manage the state of affairs through the prosecutor's office," Balazs Jarabik, a Ukrainian expert and visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for Peace, told RFE/RL.

Same Old Story

While prosecutors appear to look the other way, officials are upping their graft game. Several Western company executives told Reuters on January 27 that "organized graft has given way to a free-for-all where bureaucrats grab what they can, while they can."

"The system of corruption has become more chaotic, more haphazard," the director of a major industrial company told Reuters. "Before some issues could be resolved without money, but now these options don't exist -- everyone is on the take."

Pyvovarsky, the infrastructure minister who announced his resignation in December, told Ukraine Today TV on February 5 that "the system does not change in one day."

He added: "You can't make a corrupt bureaucrat wake up one day and say suddenly, 'Because of the revolution, I will not take bribes.' Of course for 24 years a lot of people were benefiting from bribes, and that was the only source of income for them."


The Obama administration's plan to loosen tough new visa requirements for businessmen and journalists who travel to Iran has touched off strong resistance in Congress.

At a hearing of the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee on February 10, lawmakers voiced particular concern over exempting from the new visa clampdown some travelers who conduct business in Iran -- an area the administration had sought to liberalize now that economic sanctions against Tehran have been lifted under last year's nuclear deal.

"Nowhere does the law include this authority. In fact, Congress explicitly rejected the waivers requested by the White House," Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (Republican-Texas) said.

He accused the administration of bending the law, passed at the end of last year, to the point of breaking because Tehran objected to the rules and charged that they violated the nuclear accord.

"It seems to me that in our effort to...appease Iran, the State Department made a call overriding, basically breaking the law that we passed," McCaul said.

Also skeptical was the committee's top Democrat, Representative Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, who said he had "questions about how the [Department of Homeland Security] would go about determining the legitimacy of the business-related purposes."

Administration officials said their goal in crafting waivers to the rules is to shield journalists, humanitarian aid workers, and employees of other international organizations, as well as business people helping economic reconstruction efforts in Iran and Iraq.

They added that they would not grant "blanket" waivers to whole categories of people like Iranian businessmen, but will apply the exemptions case by case.

The law's new visa requirements were spurred by the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris, where several of the Islamic State attackers who killed 130 people had European passports that would have entitled them to visa-free access to the United States.

The new rules require citizens of Europe and other mostly Western nations who previously were able to travel to the United States for up to 90 days without a visa to now obtain one if they have visited Iran, Iraq, Sudan, or Syria since March 1, 2011.

Those four countries were deemed to be breeding grounds for terrorists. Ed Royce, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said during the hearing that he now wants to add Libya to the list.

To get a waiver from the rules, administration officials said Individuals must qualify for the U.S. visa-waiver program, which requires people to pass background checks.

Administration officials expressed concern that if the United States fails to loosen some of the new restrictions, foreign governments might cut back on information sharing, or impose awkward new visa requirements on Americans who travel to their countries frequently.

With reporting by Reuters and The Hill
The chairman of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee is demanding answers from the Pentagon over its purchase of rocket engines from a Russian company for military satellite launches.

Reuters is reporting that Senator John McCain (Republican-Arizona) in a February 10 letter asked Air Force Secretary Deborah James and Pentagon chief arms buyer Frank Kendall to explain why the U.S. government continues to deal with NPO Energomash, the Russian firm that builds Russian RD-180 rocket engines.

McCain questioned the legality of doing business with Energomash, given sanctions against Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin and others who now have control over the company after a recent reorganization.

McCain said he wants answers to these questions by February 22.

McCain has frequently aired concerns about what he describes as subsidies to Russian President "Vladimir Putin and his gang of corrupt cronies."

James has urged Congress to allow use of the Russian engines that power the Atlas 5 rocket for several more years until alternatives are available.

Based on reporting by Reuters and Breaking Defense


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Police dogs scoured the woods in south Roanoke County on Wednesday night after a police pursuit on U.S. 220 ended in a fiery crash and a person fled the scene.

Virginia State Police were pursuing a 2001 Chevrolet Impala in Franklin County when the car being chased struck another vehicle, flipped into a ditch along the side of the road and caught on fire, Roanoke County police and state police officials said. The crash happened in the northbound lanes near Webb Road at about 9 p.m.

Five people were inside the car that state police were chasing. Four people were taken to the hospital, Roanoke County spokeswoman Amy Whittaker said. The other person, believed to be the driver, fled on foot from the scene.

No one in the other vehicle involved in the crash was injured, Whittaker said.

The person who fled is believed to be a white male in his early 20s, Whittaker said. State police Sgt. Rick Garletts said he may be armed.

Police dogs searched for the person and state police brought in a helicopter to scan the area. Roanoke County police are assisting state police. The person had not been located as of 2 a.m. Thursday.
It looks like nothing was found at this location. Maybe try a search?

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For some parents and students, stigma remains stuck like a barnacle to career and technical education even though this path often yields more promising career outcomes these days than a four-year college degree.

Del. Chris Head, R-Botetourt County, has proposed a budget amendment that he believes could help end ill-informed stereotypes about career and technical education and counter the effects of those judgments on enrollment.

Heads amendment would provide a one-time allocation of $100,000 to study the feasibility of establishing a Roanoke Valley governors school for career and technical education, often abbreviated as CTE.

The prestige of governors school programs in Virginia could help attract the best and brightest students to promising career paths and provide the skilled workforce employers seek, he said.

The region currently hosts the Roanoke Valley Governors School for Science and Technology, one of 19 academic-year governors schools in Virginia whose students are typically college-bound.

At least two leading advocates in the Roanoke Valley for career and technical education  Robert Sandel and Kathy Duncan  enthusiastically endorse Heads idea. Sandel is president of Virginia Western Community College and Duncan is principal of the Roanoke Technical Education Center and CTE director for the citys public schools.

There should not be a stigma associated with preparing students for high-demand careers, Duncan said. We know the jobs are out there and we need to educate our students to meet the rising demand, provide them with the skills to be successful and, in turn, produce a quality workforce for area employers.

Head said numerous workforce development efforts are underway regionally to prepare workers for high-wage, high-demand jobs that do not require a four-year degree.

There are some great things happening, Head said.

But misconceptions about career and technical education can mire those efforts and leave them sort of spinning in mud, he said.

Dated stereotypes might suggest that CTE programs offer a refuge for low-achieving kids or students with behavior problems instead of bright students whose aptitudes lead them toward careers with a more practical bent than, say, a bachelors degree in philosophy.

For modern CTE programs, the mantra has become, This is not your fathers shop class.

Sandel offered another generational perspective about CTE curricula and some of the jobs the programs serve.

These are not your grandfathers manufacturing jobs, Sandel said.

He said he and Head have discussed the idea of a regional governors school for career and technical education. And Sandel said he is very enthusiastic about this proposal.

He said the regional economy will grow if we can show young people that there are good-paying, secure jobs available to them if they acquire the right skills.

Sandel added, I think a governors school for CTE can help infuse that excitement in our young people and show them what is possible.

Preliminary discussions have suggested that the Virginia Western campus could host the school.

John Williamson is a member of the Botetourt County Board of Supervisors and chairman of the board at RGC Resources, where he once served as president and CEO.

Williamson said Tuesday that he spoke with Head soon after the delegate first joined the General Assembly in 2012 about the growing need for skilled workers. Williamson said he supports examining the idea of a regional governors school for high-achieving students who are leaning toward career and technical education.

I have felt for a long time that we were short-changing kids who were interested in developing a usable skill and able to learn at a faster pace, Williamson said.

Sean Lynch, a spokesman for the Association for Career and Technical Education, said attitudes and perceptions about CTE are changing.

What was once thought of as the redheaded stepchild in the education system is becoming more highly valued, Lynch said.

He said policymakers and employers are emphasizing CTE to bridge what he described as the skills gap  the gap between available careers in high-demand industries and the number of qualified applicants.

VWCC has long been a regional force in support of CTE and has repeatedly reached out to school districts and employers for their input about creating and refining career and technical education programs.

Sandel said similar collaboration would help establish a governors school that would not compete with other career and technical education programs. Collaboration would be key, he said.

It is very important for us to pool our efforts as a region to guarantee the workforce we need for economic vitality, Sandel said. The equipment needed for this type of CTE can be very expensive and duplicating efforts will cost us as a community.

Duncan described a similar vision.

A governors CTE center would augment programs offered within the Roanoke Valley, she said. I see this as a collaborative venture with the surrounding school divisions.

Still, in years past, there has been some resistance to establishing a regional CTE center that might compete with or replace existing programs offered by separate school districts.

Separately, some businesspeople have observed for years that duplication of CTE programs at varied school settings can be inefficient and expensive.

We dilute our efforts by putting resources at individual schools and not pooling together to gain maximum value, said Dan Hughes, director of operations for Graham-White Manufacturing.

He said a governors school for CTE could help pool resources and ensure that students would gain experience with the most up-to-date equipment.

Sandel said programs that would serve regional demand could include mechatronics engineering, cybersecurity, biotechnology and Automotive Service Excellence certifications. Duncan concurred with that list.

The Roanoke Valley Governors School for Science and Technology draws students from Roanoke and Salem and the counties of Botetourt, Craig, Franklin and Roanoke. Head said a feasibility study could help identify the new schools service area.

Williamson said a study also could help determine whether there would be enough interest to guarantee adequate enrollment.

Jay Foster, founder and CEO of Roanoke-based technology firm SoftSolutions, is a longtime advocate for career and technical education. Clients for his companys lean manufacturing software include many high-tech manufacturers.

There is a growing skilled worker shortage in the USA, and it is going to get severe in the years ahead, Foster said.

Roanoke could differentiate itself as a proactive region by taking a leadership position on launching a governors school for CTE programs, he said.

He said helping parents understand the value of a two-year degree over many four-year degrees will not only help our next generation of skilled workers, it will certainly help the many firms seeking to fill these positions today.

Hughes said his company experienced a dramatic surge of business that demanded skilled workers about 18 months ago.

We suffered through months of taking folks with little or no skills and training them to do the job needed, he said.

Heads proposed budget amendment is being considered by the House Appropriations Committee, which will release its recommendations later this month.
Preliminary autopsy results show 3-year-old Titus Tackett died of hypothermia, according to the Iron County Coroner's Office.

The autopsy showed no signs or bruising or anything else on the boy's body.

This is an ongoing story and we will update as more information becomes available.

According to Iron County Sheriff Roger Medley, Titus, 3, of Potosi, was visiting with his mother, Amber Tackett, at the home of her ex-boyfriend who lives at Killarney Shores, a private lake development located about four miles southeast of the Arcadia Valley.

They were apparently trying to patch things up, Medley said. The mother and boyfriend left to go to town for an errand at around midnight and left the boy in the care of a family member.

The sheriff said this was the last time the couple saw the boy alive.

After returning from town, one of the family members came in and noticed the door open and they began looking for the child, he said. "When (he) wasnt found, they called us. We received a call from the family around 1:14 a.m.

Weve had the sheriffs department, highway patrol and FBI looking for him since. Weve been out all night. The highway patrol had their helicopter up for several hours with the infrared looking. We had the FBI airplane flying over with infrared looking. We also had three dogs from the Missouri Department of Corrections help in the search and the mobile command post from Sikeston to help with communications.

The sheriff estimates 50 volunteer searchers assisted law enforcement in the search for the youngster.

It was very time consuming, he said. Its a lot of hills. A lot of dense brush on both sides of the road.

Asked why such a large search team was assembled at the scene so soon after Tackett was reported missing, Medley said, This is our protocol. This is the way we decided we would handle things after we had a child go missing during a hunting incident several years ago. This is part of our lessons learned. We call everybody in early and hopefully we find them quickly.

Sgt. Clark Parrott of the Missouri State Highway Patrol said all attempts to find the child had come up empty until a discovery was made just before 11 a.m.

Apparently someone walked out of the home (near the junction of Highway 72 and the entrance to Day Spring Bible Camp) and observed the child in the van and flagged down a volunteer, he said. Thats when the volunteer came over here to the command post and said he needed officers. At that point I was able to make contact with our helicopter by radio and he flew over the area. Thats when a continuum of officers from the command post went over there.

According to Sheriff Medley, the child was pronounced dead at the scene by Iron County Coroner Tony Cole.

At this point its too early to determine exactly how he got out of the house and how he ended up where he was, Medley said Wednesday. Thats why the investigation is going to continue at this time with the highway patrol, FBI and Iron County Sheriffs Department working in cooperation.

He added that at this point there appears to be no relationship between the vans owners and Tacketts family. He also noted that the boys death appears to be an isolated incident.
Students from Salem and Glenvar high schools who attend the Roanoke Valley Governor's School recently participated in the annual Student Project Forum.

Winners include:

Chemistry/Cellular and Molecular Biology

First Place tie: Jacob Beedle (Salem High School)

A Comparison of DNA from Multiple Monocultures of L. digitatum

Energy: Chemical/Energy: Physical

First Place tie: Kelly Devens (Glenvar High School)

Optimizing a Piezoelectric Crystal Tree to Harvest Electrical Energy from Rainwater

Environmental Engineering B

Third Place: Trevor Buzzard (Salem High School)

The Use of Expandable Graphite for Oil Absorption

Materials Science

Second Place tie: Nicholas Hood (Salem High School)

The Effect of Fiber Reinforcement on Concrete Flexible Strength

Microbiology B

Third Place tie: Vanessa Lin (Franklin County High School) and Barika Mirza (Glenvar High School)

Role of Lactobacillus spp. on Epileptic Behavior in D. melanogaster (kcc)

Robotics and Intelligent Machines A

First Place tie: Savannah Amos (Lord Botetourt High School) and Madolyn Legg (Salem High School)

Application of a Pick and Place Robot in Conjunction with a Touchscreen Interface

For photos of the students at the Project Forum, see the photo gallery, or for a different view, click here.
Ted Cruz won in Iowa. Donald Trump took New Hampshire. Next, the action turns to  Lexington, Virginia.

Well, not exactly. The U.S. senator from Texas, the billionaire from New York and the rest of the pack still fighting for the Republican presidential nomination are headed to South Carolina, site of the next primary in what has become a wide-open race.

But if history is any indication, who wins the nomination later this year will be forecast in Lexington, where Washington and Lee University is holding a mock political convention this weekend.

Better known on campus as Mock Con, the simulated convention has an uncanny record of correctly predicting every four years who will win the nomination from the party not occupying the White House. Since 1908, Mock Con has picked the eventual nominee 19 out of 25 times. It has been wrong only twice since 1952.

For more than a year now, the student-run organization has been conducting extensive research  studying poll results, interviewing political strategists, talking to campaigns, gathering background on state trends, searching for any political bellwether  on which to base its nomination.

They put thousands and thousands of hours into the entire effort, said Bill Connelly, a professor of politics at W&L. They understand the playing field, and they have done their homework in the states.

But with unconventional outsiders finding a way in, even the professional pundits are discombobulated by this years Republican race.

I think its one of the toughest mock cons that weve seen in recent history, said Andrew McCaffery, a W&L senior who is the chair of the event.

If nothing else, Mock Con already has repeated its past record of drawing an all-star political lineup to speak at the event. Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney will address the convention Friday night, and former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich will be there Saturday. Other speakers include political commentator Ann Coulter, anti-tax increase crusader Grover Norquist, and Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin.

The event began Thursday evening, with a debate on the ethics of citizenship. On Friday morning, a parade will wind through downtown Lexington, featuring floats from all the delegations. After that, the convention gets underway with two days of speeches.

Sometime Saturday evening, the nominee will be announced.

Even if the selection turns out to be wrong later this year, observers say, what really matters is that about 95 percent of W&Ls student population came together in a show of political participation. Approximately 150 students are involved in running the convention. Most of the remaining 2,000-some students will serve as delegates, many representing their home states.

Im a big fan of the Mock Con because its one of the best college civic education tools Ive ever come across, Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginias Center for Politics, wrote in an email earlier this week.

However, the unpredictable nature of this years race means that on a national level, a February prognostication from Mock Con is unlikely to carry much credence from the candidates and those who follow them.

At this point, were all just guessing about the eventual GOP nominee. Too many things are going to happen that are completely unpredictable at the moment, Sabato added.

The students in Mock Con will take a stab at it. Good for them. They may get it right. And if theyre wrong, it doesnt matter. The process, which molds good citizens, is far more important than the outcome, a prediction of the nominee.

Several of the candidates in this years Republican primaries were invited to Lexington. They all declined. But thats not to say they wont be paying attention to what happens.

Four years ago, after former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won the Mock Con nod  months before he went on to win the real Republican nomination, then lose to President Barack Obama  his wife Ann called in to the convention hall. Her remarks thanking the students were broadcast over the public address system.

Former President Bill Clinton did the same thing in 2008, after his wife Hillary won the nomination in Lexington. That prediction turned out to be wrong; Clinton lost a hard-fought battle with Obama, who went on to the White House that year.

Before it stumbled with Clinton, Mock Con was on a winning streak going back to 1976. In 1972, it incorrectly predicted that Ted Kennedy, the late U.S. senator from Massachusetts, would secure the Democratic nomination. Before the Clinton and Kennedy nominations, the last time Mock Con got it wrong was 1948.

Overall, W&L students have fared better with Republicans than Democrats.

But the private, liberal arts school is not a truly conservative enclave, McCaffery said. Even if it were, the nomination is not supposed to reflect the political will of the student body.

We put on blinders, as best as we can, to what we would personally like to see, said Kevin Ortiz, a W&L senior who is one of the conventions political analysts.

Ortiz, who hopes to work on Capitol Hill after he graduates this spring, has been at the center of a political research operation that has been consulting with big names like Sabato and Republican strategist Karl Rove.

For the past year or longer, the chairs of 56 delegations  representing all the states and U.S. territories  have been gathering data at the ground level. The information is then passed on to a regional team for analysis. It then goes to a national team, which includes Ortiz, that will make the final call for each state, probably not until late Friday or early Saturday.

Its incredibly challenging, Ortiz said of picking a winner from this years volatile race. All the conventional wisdom that has been used to guide Mock Con in the past has been thrown out of the window.
RICHMOND  A bill that could lead to a state inspection program for interstate natural gas pipelines is moving through the House of Delegates with no opposition.

HB 1261, sponsored by Del. Greg Habeeb, R-Salem, authorizes state regulators to seek federal permission to conduct their own pipeline inspections.

The State Corporation Commission already inspects all intrastate pipelines as well as interstate oil lines.

But its not yet empowered to evaluate interstate natural gas lines. Virginia is currently crisscrossed by more than 2,500 miles of interstate natural gas pipelines, and proposals like the Mountain Valley Pipeline and Atlantic Coast Pipeline could usher in more.

If the state seeks and receives federal authorization, it would be able to inspect pipelines both during and after construction.

The authority would be limited to inspections. Under federal rules, violations found by state inspectors must be referred to federal regulators for follow-up and enforcement action.

Currently, about nine states are authorized to undertake their own inspections of interstate natural gas pipelines.

HB 1261 was unanimously approved in committee on Thursday. No parties spoke against it. The bill is now set to advance to the full House for a vote next week.

Senate advances bill to raise reckless driving threshold

The Senate backed a bill this week to raise the trigger for reckless driving by speeding.

SB 768, sponsored by Sen. David Suetterlein, would raise the threshold to over 85 mph  up from the current standard of over 80 mph.

Some Virginia interstates allow speeds of 70 mph, meaning under current law a driver could be charged with reckless driving for going 11 miles over the limit, said Suetterlein, R-Roanoke County.

His bill does not change a second part of the law that makes driving 20 miles or more over the speed limit a reckless driving offense. Reckless driving is a Class 1 misdemeanor.

SB 768 was passed on a 26-14 vote Wednesday after an extended debate about whether driving 85 mph is safe.

The bill now advances to the House of Delegates, which already killed two identical House bills  including one patroned by Del. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke  last month.
RICHMOND  The political war over tolls on Interstate 66 in last falls legislative elections ended in armistice on Wednesday, when Gov. Terry McAuliffe declared he had broken the gridlock with a bipartisan coalition of legislators.

The deal that ends the war will allow tolls to be applied on I-66 inside the Capital Beltway to pay for an arsenal of improvements  from expanded mass transit to accelerated construction of a new eastbound lane on a 4-mile stretch of the traffic-clogged highway.

The agreement smooths the way for state transportation officials to negotiate a public-private transportation deal to widen a 25-mile stretch of I-66 outside of the Beltway  the highest ranked transportation priority in Virginia  without raising the cost of the $2.1 billion project and potentially raiding funds for other projects in the pending six-year plan.

We are now fixing the most congested road in the most congested region of the country, McAuliffe declared in a news conference with House Appropriations Committee Chairman Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, and more than a dozen other legislators, including opponents of the original toll plan for I-66.

Under the compromise, the General Assembly will kill legislation that would prevent the use of tolls to pay for transit improvements to relieve congestion on I-66 inside the Beltway, while committing the state to immediately begin planning and design for widening a 4-mile stretch of the interstate that the Democratic governor called a choke point.

It would have made it very difficult to do [improvements] outside the Beltway without doing inside the Beltway, said McAuliffe, a former Fairfax County resident who called I-66 a parking lot during rush hour.

Jones brokered the compromise. He said it fits within the framework that would be established by his bill, HB 1069, to create a statewide policy on tolling.

The measure addresses a costly agreement in 2012 by then-Gov. Bob McDonnell to impose an escalating schedule of tolls to improve the Midtown and Downtown tunnels between Norfolk and Portsmouth. State taxpayers ultimately footed the bill for delaying and reducing the tolls under that public-private partnership deal.

The General Assemblys money committees will release a pending two-year state budget on Feb. 21.

It will include a provision in the House that would allow use of $140 million in new federal transportation money and unallocated funds from the state six-year plan to begin planning the construction of a third lane on eastbound I-66 between the Dulles Connector Road in Fairfax and the Ballston exit in Arlington.

However, the deal was not universally hailed. Del. Bob Marshall, R-Prince William County,

issued a news release that denounced the deal and Jones role in making it possible.

The people should decide whether or not tolls should be imposed in Northern Virginia, not political elites or toll companies, he said.
The search for a young child who went missing sometime between midnight and 1 a.m. Wednesday morning, ended tragically with the discovery of the youngsters body just before 11 a.m. in a van parked in front of a residence on Highway 72, approximately a mile from the home where the boy disappeared.

According to Iron County Sheriff Roger Medley, Titus Tackett, 3, of Potosi, was visiting with his mother, Amber Tackett, at the home of her ex-boyfriend who lives at Killarney Shores, a private lake development located about four miles southeast of the Arcadia Valley.

They were apparently trying to patch things up, Medley said. The mother and boyfriend left to go to town for an errand at around midnight and left the boy in the care of a family member.

The sheriff said this was the last time the couple saw the boy alive.

After returning from town, one of the family members came in and noticed the door open and they began looking for the child, he said. "When (he) wasnt found, they called us. We received a call from the family around 1:14 a.m.

Weve had the sheriffs department, highway patrol and FBI looking for him since. Weve been out all night. The highway patrol had their helicopter up for several hours with the infrared looking. We had the FBI airplane flying over with infrared looking. We also had three dogs from the Missouri Department of Corrections help in the search and the mobile command post from Sikeston to help with communications.

The sheriff estimates 50 volunteer searchers assisted law enforcement in the search for the youngster.

It was very time consuming, he said. Its a lot of hills. A lot of dense brush on both sides of the road.

Asked why such a large search team was assembled at the scene so soon after Tackett was reported missing, Medley said, This is our protocol. This is the way we decided we would handle things after we had a child go missing during a hunting incident several years ago. This is part of our lessons learned. We call everybody in early and hopefully we find them quickly.

Sgt. Clark Parrott of the Missouri State Highway Patrol said all attempts to find the child had come up empty until a discovery was made just before 11 a.m.

Apparently someone walked out of the home (near the junction of Highway 72 and the entrance to Day Spring Bible Camp) and observed the child in the van and flagged down a volunteer, he said. Thats when the volunteer came over here to the command post and said he needed officers. At that point I was able to make contact with our helicopter by radio and he flew over the area. Thats when a continuum of officers from the command post went over there.

According to Sheriff Medley, the child was pronounced dead at the scene by Iron County Coroner Tony Cole and an autopsy to determine the cause of the boys death will take place at 9 a.m. Thursday in Farmington.

At this point its too early to determine exactly how he got out of the house and how he ended up where he was, Medley said. Thats why the investigation is going to continue at this time with the highway patrol, FBI and Iron County Sheriffs Department working in cooperation.

He added that at this point there appears to be no relationship between the vans owners and Tacketts family. He also noted that the boys death appears to be an isolated incident.

Id like to thank everybody for coming and helping, Medley said. We needed your help and you gave it to us. We had an unbelievable turnout of people that wanted to come and search. We very much appreciate that. Its a tragedy that he wasnt located earlier.

After promising that investigators will rundown everything that [they] can on the case, Sgt. Parrott alluded to the emotional impact felt by law enforcement officers when dealing with the loss of a child.

It is very hard, he said. As a father of three, when I came in about an hour-and-a-half ago and briefed all the volunteers, I think several of the volunteers knew just by looking at me. Theres one  I think she could tell from my face before I ever said a word.

"It makes you pause and, you know, reflect on what we do have. You know its hard, real hard, and so Id ask that you respect the familys privacy and pray for them.
Monty Wayne Plymale, 68, of Roanoke, Va., passed away on Sunday, February 7, 2016, at Lewis-Gale Medical Center. He was the son of the late Thomas Ray Plymale Sr. and Mary Ruth Montgomery Plymale.Left to cherish Monty's love and memory are his wife of 42 years, Sarah Loftis Plymale (formerly of Halifax County, Va.); his son, Justin Loftis Plymale; his brother, Thomas Ray Plymale Jr. (Dr. Sandra M. Curry); and countless friends throughout his life.Monty grew up in the Roanoke Valley, was a life-long member of Northminster Presbyterian Church, and graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1970 with a BS in Economics. He joined Central Fidelity Bank in 1981 and by 1997 was chosen to be President of CFB's western half of the state.After retiring from Central Fidelity, Monty became CEO of Friendship Retirement Community and successfully guided its expansion from a traditional nursing home facility to a more encompassing life-care community. He retired fully in 2004, continuing his service on the Friendship Board, volunteering at the Presbyterian Community Center, and enjoying the beach, boating, fishing, and dining at Oak Island, N.C.Monty possessed a quick wit, keen mind, and an ability to win friends. With these gifts, Monty inspired those around him to achieve seemingly daunting goals and tasks. He enjoyed living in the Roanoke Valley and freely shared his time with many community boards and organizations in an effort to improve opportunities for all. His leadership, both personally and professionally, bettered countless lives.The family would like to offer their sincere thanks and appreciation to Drs. Bill Fintel and Susan Meyer as well as all of their nurses, aides, and associates for providing us with an extra three plus years of life with Monty.A Celebration of Monty's Life will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, February 13, 2016, at Northminster Presbyterian Church with the Rev. Russ Merritt officiating and the Rev. C. Todd Hester preaching. A luncheon in the fellowship hall will be held at the conclusion of the service.In lieu of flowers, the family would suggest memorial gifts be made to either Northminster Presbyterian Church, 3911 Greenland Ave., NW Roanoke, VA 24012 or The Presbyterian Community Center, 1228 Jamison Avenue, Roanoke, VA 24013. Online condolences may be made at www.oakeys.com.
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Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Canada Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cuba, Republic of Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Dominican Republic Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Haiti, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Jamaica Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Mexico, United Mexican States Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and 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 US Virgin Islands Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland United States Minor Outlying Islands United States of America 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
The Hateful Eight

Stars: Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh

Director: Quentin Tarantino

187 min

Three stars





YOU might wonder why you havent seen Quentin Tarantinos latest film, The Hateful Eight, at some of the big chain cinemas.



This is due to a distribution row over the films 70mm Ultra Panavision format  an archaic camera technique used in the 50s and 60s on horizon-stretching extravaganzas.



But get yourself down to the Showroom in Sheffield and you can catch Tarantinos eighth feature length instalment and his second foray into the Spaghetti Western genre.



As a Tarantino buff, his releases always fill me with a sense of excitement and nervousness  will it be another Django Unchained disappointment? Will anything ever be as good as Death Proof?



Happy to report I left the cinema very happy, a definite return to form despite a bumpy start.



Set sometime after the Civil War in the wintry Wyoming landscape, bounty hunter John Ruth (Kurt Russell) and his fugitive captive Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh) are heading to Red Rock, where Daisy will hang for her crimes.



Along the road, they encounter fellow bounty hunter Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L Jackson) and Red Rocks new sheriff Chris Mannix.



But as a strong blizzard takes hold they seek refuge in a barn where some other suspicious characters have also rolled in to  and after 90 minutes this is when the film really gets going.



It becomes a double-crossing, whos done it, whos going to do it, suspense-filled edge of your seat mystery.



You can tick off/down a shot on the Tarantino checklist  extended dialogue, ultra-violence, narration interjection, black comedy, and of course a cameo from the man himself.



I took a while to warm to it, but stick with it as I think itll soon be my most wanted.


A MAN has been jailed for 18 years for sexually abusing a young girl for almost a decade.

Paul Fury (46) of Pickup Crescent , Wombwell, was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court last Friday after being found guilty of rape, gross indecency and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

The jury heard how Fury subjected his victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, to nearly a decade of sexual abuse from when she was around seven years old.

In March 2015 his victim, now an adult, told police of the abuse.

Fury was interviewed and later charged with multiple child sexual offences.

Det Con Liz Portman, of South Yorkshrire Police, said: The victim has demonstrated incredible courage, coming forward to disclose years and years of awful abuse.

Fury refused to accept his guilt and put his victim through a trial process, where his horrific crimes were highlighted before the courts.

I hope the result at court last week offers the victim some form of closure as she begins to rebuild her life.
A NEW business which describes itself as a spring-loaded urban playground has been given the chance to save lives.



Trampoline park Jump Inc has been awarded a defibrillator by the British Heart Foundation.



Financial director Lee Shipley said the machine  which is used to help cardiac arrest victims  is available for public use at the businesss premises on Rail Mill Way, Parkgate Retail Park.



He said that the defibrillator would mean peace of mind for his customers as well as the general public.



Mr Shipley said: We had to go above and beyond to prove we were suitable to get this.



The business, which opened in November, had to show that the defibrillator would be accessible to the public in order for it to be granted by the British Heart Foundation charity.



It has already been installed on the wall at the reception entrance of Jump Inc and is placed in a container called a cabin to keep it safe.



Users ring a phone number to get the code that accesses the defibrillator when it is needed.



Mr Shipley said: To be awarded this we had to ensure the equipment would also be publicly accessible 24/7.



Our premises are five minutes from Parkgate Retail Park which has an enormous footfall. This device will save someones life one day.
Lesotho said it is planning to boost its annual diamond output from the current 340 000 carats to 1,5 million carats in 2017.

Mines minister Lebohang Totanyana told delegates at the African Mining Indaba that this would be achieved as most of the operations in the country were scheduled to reach full production by next year.

He said Linqobong Mine, which was set to commence production end of the year, would produce 1 million carats, while Koo would contribute 260 000 carats.

Totanyana said Letseng would produce 110 000 carats, while Lemphane and Mothae would add a combined output of 100 000 carats.

He said Northen Fissures would also contribute 72 000 carats.

Meanwhile, the mines minister said that the country had 405 kimberlite bodies of which 39 were pipes, 23 blows and 343 dykes.

Totanyana said that the country was gradually moving towards adding value to its rough diamonds by first offering the stones locally instead of packaging them for the export market.

For a long time we had a challenge which was structural, we never had a platform were diamonds could be bought and sold in the country. In the past we would produce and package our goods for Antwerp, he said.

That on itself created challenges for us if we wanted to cut and polish our diamonds. We are now introducing the Lesotho Diamond Centre which is going to be a platform for buying and selling of diamonds, and we believe that this is the starting point if you want to go into cutting and polishing.

He said Gem Diamonds Letseng had a cutting and polishing factory that was ready, but Maseru and the company were working on an appropriate business model that would bring viability.

For us its not about just beneficiation in the country, it must also make business sense for our investors to cut and polish, said Totanyana.

We want to find ways and means in which that can be achieved and am excited in the level of commitment that we see from people who want to occupy that (beneficiation) space.

Lesotho was known for producing some of the worlds largest diamonds and for highest price per carat.

Letseng diamonds averaged $2500 per carat.



Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, from Cape Town, South Africa, Rough&Polished




Polished imports to the U.S fell 4 percent to $23.1 billion in 2015 after the trade registered a relatively slower end to the year, according to Rapaport. By volume, polished imports dropped 5 percent to 11.125 million carats, while the average price of the imports rose 1 percent to $2,076 per carat, according to provisional government data.

Israel was the largest supplier even though imports slumped 10 percent to $8.32 billion. U.S. imports from India slipped 3 percent to $7.37 billion, while inbound shipments from Belgium declined 6 percent to $3.69 billion.

Polished exports by the U.S. dropped 12 percent to $18.32 billion, taking net polished imports  imports minus exports  to $4.78 billion, a jump of 53 percent from the previous year. This means the U.S., which is the worlds largest diamond consumer market, increased its net appetite for diamonds during the year, according to Rapaport calculations.

Rough imports dived 44 percent to $306 million and rough exports plunged 48 percent to $192 million. Net rough imports - imports minus exports - fell 37 percent to $114 million.

The net diamond account, which represents total polished and rough imports less total exports  soared 48 percent to $4.89 billion, signaling a net growth in the countrys diamond consumption in 2015.

Polished trade slowed toward the end of the year, with December imports declining 13 percent year on year to $1.63 billion, while exports fell 9 percent to $1.26 billion. In December, the U.S. net diamond account dropped 22 percent to $377 million.




Zimbabwe said it will bring together the assets of diamond companies operating in Marange as their licenses had long expired as far back as 2011 and 2013.

Mines minister Walter Chidhakwa told Rough & Polished after his presentation at the African Mining Indaba in Cape Town that there was a misconception that Harare was consolidating the diamond companies.

All the companies that were operating in Chiadzwa (Marange), their licenses expired as far back as 2013 and 2011," he said. "We are not going to be renewing their diamond licenses, so it is not exactly a consolidation, it is bringing the assets of the companies as they leave the country into one company that will be called the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC).

He said real action concerning the consolidation of the assets would be seen within the next two months.

Meanwhile, Chidhakwa said that Harare would soon go into discussions with Rio Zim, which owns the countrys only operational kimberlite mine, Murowa Diamonds. He said the discussions would be centred on how we are going to move forward.

It was previously believed that Harare wanted all the diamond companies in the country to be consolidated into one, including Murowa Diamonds and DTZ-OZGEO.

State-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) would hold 50 percent shareholding in ZCDC while the other 50 percent would be shared among the diamond mining companies.

However, recent media reports suggested that the Russian linked, DTZ-OZGEO, which mines in Chimanimani, would continue operating without the burden of surrendering its assets to ZCDC.



Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, from Cape Town, South Africa, Rough&Polished




Belgian anti-money laundering legislation requires diamond traders to identify their clients, verify their identity and conduct a risk analysis before proceeding to a transaction. AWDC, the umbrella organization of the Antwerp diamond industry, is therefore making a free database available to diamond traders to simplify this identification process, AWDC spokeswoman Margaux Donckier informed.

Not only banks, but also diamond traders in Belgium are required to identify potential clients before proceeding to a transaction. In this regard, Belgium is stricter than other European Member States. To simplify this process, AWDC has entered into a cooperation agreement with Bureau Van Dijk, a company specialized in gathering information with regard to company data and shareholder structures.

In addition to identification data, the database also includes sanctions lists, PEP (Politically Exposed Persons) lists, media reports, FATF high-risk countries lists, etc. The database also includes identification data from some 250 million firms worldwide, including the company information of diamond-related firms in the most important diamond trade hubs and diamond producing countries such as Israel, India, the United States, China, Botswana, etc.



Alex Shishlo, Editor of the Rough&Polished European Bureau in Brussels




Fifty-eight people were treated for their injuries and discharged, while the rest are under observation in hospital, the health ministry said in a statement. The train conductor was arrested, according to local sources. He ignored instructions to stop from the railway control room. Negligence in enforcing safety standards is a common cause for many transportation accidents in Egypt. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ordered Prime Minister Sherif Ismail to form an emergency committee to investigate the incident. Sisi promised a medical care package for the injured. More than 55 percent of train incidents recorded by the statistics agency in 2013 occurred at railroad crossings, where procedures are usually manually operated.Egyptians have long complained that the government has failed to deal with the countrys chronic transport problems.The deadliest disaster occurred in February 2002 when 370 people were killed in a fire which tore through a train south of the capital.
After a poor showing in the New Hampshire Republican primary, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie officially dropped out of the race for president on Wednesday.

In a post on his Facebook page, Christie said his message that speaking your mind, experience, and competence matter was heard by and stood for by a lot of people but not enough.

"I have both won elections that I was supposed to lose and I've lost elections I was supposed to win and what that means is you never know what will happen," Christie said.

"That is both the magic and the mystery of - you never quite know when which is going to happen, even when you think you do," he added. "And so today, I leave the race without an ounce of regret."

Christie came in sixth in New Hampshire with just over 7 percent support, coming in well behind winner Donald Trump and other establishment candidates like Ohio Gov. John Kasich, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.

In a speech following the primary, Christie said he would return home to New Jersey to assess the outlook for his bid for the White House.

"We want to see exactly what happens," Christie told supporters on Tuesday. "Then it's going to allow us to make a decision."

The New Jersey governor was seen as a strong Republican candidate after his overwhelming re-election in 2013, but his campaign was hampered by the so-called "Bridgegate" scandal and a sluggish in his home state.

Christie's brash, straight-talking style may also have been overshadowed by the emergence of Trump, whose controversial statements often stole the spotlight on the campaign trail.

Recent polls have shown Christie with national support in the low single-digits, and his poor showing in New Hampshire suggested he was not likely to qualify for the next Republican debate on Saturday.

Christie made headlines for his harsh attacks on Rubio in the previous debate, although the move was later described by some political analysts as a "murder-suicide."

(Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore)

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
A powerful Republican Senator has vowed to block the sale of eight F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, which is acting as a duplicitous partner and providing safe havens to terror groups.

In a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, Senator Bob Corker said he couldn't allow the Obama administration to use taxpayer funds to support the sale of the jets, given that the terrorist organizations like Haqqani network that attack US troops in Afghanistan enjoy safe havens inside Pakistan, The Wall Street Journal reported. In the letter dated February 9, Corker said Pakistan's activities are immensely problematic and contribute to the notion that Pakistan is a duplicitous partner, moving sideways rather than forward in resolving regional challenges. Corker shot off the angry letter to Kerry after his fifth trip to Afghanistan wherein he had a first-hand experience of the ground realties and attack on US troops from the terrorist organizations based in Pakistan.

The Senator wrote the letter to Kerry on the day on which the Secretary of State in his annual budget sent to the Congress proposed a financial assistance of $859.8 million for Pakistan, including $265 million for military hardware.

Another Republican lawmaker on Wednesday opposed the pending sale of eight F-16 aircraft to the Government of Pakistan saying it is deeply troubling. Congressman George Holding, Co-chair of the House Caucus on India and Indian-Americans, said Pakistan has continually proven to be an unreliable and unwilling partner for the US on numerous fronts -- chief among them our effort to combat the growing threat of terrorism. "It is difficult to see how this sale strengthens our national security and more importantly, how this sale would improve stability in the region. I believe this sale requires further assessment by Congress and urge the Administration to suspend any further action on this sale," Holding said.

The State Department refused to comment on the sale of F-16 to Pakistan. As a matter of policy, the Department does not comment on proposed arms sales or transfers until they have been formally notified to Congress, David McKeeby, a Spokesperson for the US Department of State's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, said recently. We place tremendous importance on our wide-ranging US-India defence partnership which our leaders have recognised as having long-term benefit to not only each other, but the world over, he said.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Political News
Just days after North Korea launched a long-range rocket, the U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday evening to impose tougher sanctions on the impoverished communist nation.

The Senate voted 96 to zero in favor of the bill, known as the North Korea Sanctions Enforcement Act of 2016. Four Senators, including Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., did not vote.

Sanders said he strongly supports the North Korea sanctions legislation but was necessarily absent for the vote due to the presidential campaign.

Republican presidential candidates Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Tex., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., returned to Washington for the vote, leading a spokesman for Hillary Clinton to claim Sanders lacks interest in vital national security issues.

The bill would impose mandatory sanctions on individuals who contribute to North Korea's nuclear program and proliferation activities, cyberattacks, censorship of its citizens, and human rights abuses

If enacted and signed into law, the legislation would be the first passed by Congress to impose mandatory sanctions on cybercriminals.

"This legislation is the first step toward building a new policy that will put pressure on Pyongyang to peacefully disarm and cease its violations of international norms," said Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Col., the bill's chief sponsor.

Gardner claimed the Obama administration's policy of "strategic patience" toward North Korea has been a strategic failure and has not stopped the "Forgotten Maniac," a reference to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The House overwhelmingly approved similar legislation last month, and a House Republican leadership aide told NBC News they are currently discussing how to proceed.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Political News
Reports saying a meteor killed a man at a college campus in India are erroneous, according to NASA.

Analysts looking at images of the scene are sure that "a land based explosion" killed the bus driver, identified only as Kamaraj.

"Initial assessments, based on photos posted online, are not consistent with something from space. Small meteorites do not start fires or cause explosions when they hit the ground," NASA elaborated.

"To form a crater the size of what has been posted online would have required a meteorite of at least several kilograms. While more details may be forthcoming from local scientists, this is unlikely something from space."

NASA stopped short of blaming anybody for deliberately misleading the public.

India's space agency is looking into the incident.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

More Science This Week Stories
Potentially helping Hillary Clinton solidify her support among black voters, the Congressional Black Caucus Political Action Committee announced its endorsement of the former Secretary of State's run for president on Thursday.

A post on the CBC PAC website described Clinton as someone who consistently worked with the Congressional Black Caucus as a U.S. senator, noting her support for legislation to ban racial profiling, prosecute hate crimes, and eliminate racial disparities in the healthcare system.

Clinton also stood with the caucus on voting to raise the minimum wage, championing the Paycheck Fairness Act, and helping minority-owned small businesses, the CBC's campaign arm said.

"In Hillary Clinton, African Americans will have a nominee who knows key Black elected officials, clergy, fraternity and sorority leaders, educators, public intellectuals, athletes, artists, and activists," the CBC PAC said in the post.

The post added, "With their support, we will have a president who has dedicated her lifetime of public service to addressing the inequities that millions of African Americans still face."

The CBC PAC is the campaign arm of the Congressional Black Caucus, whose membership includes forty-six members of Congress.

In a statement, Clinton said she is honored to have earned the endorsement of the CBC PAC, which she said has been fighting for enduring progress for almost 50 years.

"The CBC PAC knows we need to elect a President who can take on all parts of the job and build on the progress we've made under President Obamanot let it get ripped away," Clinton said.

The endorsement could help Clinton in upcoming primary states where black voters play a bigger role than in the previous contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.

According to exit polls, black voters made up 55 percent of South Carolina Democratic Primary voters in 2008, when President Barack Obama defeated Clinton.

A recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll showed Clinton with a 74 percent to 17 percent lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., among black likely South Carolina Democratic primary voters, contributing to her 64 percent to 27 advantage overall.

Sanders has subsequently been looking to increase his support among black voters and recently announced an endorsement from entertainer and social activist Harry Belafonte.

(Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore)

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Political News
Senators voted overwhelmingly Thursday to approve a customs enforcement bill that included a provision permanently banning taxes on access to internet service.

The Senate voted 75 to 20 in favor of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act, which previously passed the House and now heads to President Barack Obama's desk.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., praised passage of the bill, which he called the strongest package of enforcement tools in decades to crack down on foreign trade cheats.

"It's about creating tough trade enforcement policies, seeing them through, and standing up to anybody who tries to get around them," Wyden said.

He added, "It says that the U.S. will no longer stand by while American workers and businesses get their clocks cleaned by the scofflaws."

The customs bill included an unrelated provision that would permanently ban levying taxes on internet access.

Ahead of the vote, Senate Majority Mitch McConnell, R-Ken., noted Congress has repeatedly reauthorized temporary bans on internet taxes and argued now is the time to make the ban permanent.

The inclusion of the internet access tax ban in the customs bill came after Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., reached an agreement with McConnell on a separate more controversial measure related to an internet sales tax.

Durbin and Alexander reportedly allowed the customs bill to go forward after McConnell agreed to hold a vote on the internet sales tax bill later this year.

The internet sales tax bill would allow states to collect sales taxes on purchases made from out-of-state online retailers, although the legislation is likely to face opposition.

In a statement on Tuesday, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., claimed the so-called Marketplace Fairness Act would be bad for New Hampshire's and small businesses.

"I will continue to do everything in my power as U.S. Senator to prevent this legislation from advancing in Congress," Shaheen said. "The last thing our small businesses need is this unnecessary red tape."

While New Hampshire does not have a sales tax, the statement from Shaheen's office said the bill would force businesses to collect sales taxes for 46 states and 9,600 taxing jurisdictions across the country.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Ural Airlines are launching a new flight to Portugal

11.02.2016  News

MOSCOW

Ural Airlines intend to maintain direct flight connection between Moscow and Lisbon.

As RusBusinessNews has been informed by the Press Service of the air carrier, starting from May 1 flights to Portugal will be available on Sundays and from May 29 they will be made two times a week.

The aircraft of Ural Airlines also fly from Moscow to Belgrade, Ovda, Rimini, Munich, Dubai, Tivat, and Larnaca.

Ural Airlines rank among the top five Russian airlines in terms of air traffic volume. By the end of 2015 the air carrier provided services to 5.4 million passengers. The aircraft fleet of Ural Airlines consists of 35 Airbus airliners.
Aggression launches over 35 raids on Nehm district





SANAA, Feb. 11 (Saba) - The Saudi aggression war jets waged more than 35 air raids on scattered areas of Nehm district in Sanaa province since dawn on Thursday.



The hostile warplanes targeted areas in Malah, al-Shabaka, Mabdah and al-Fardha with cluster bombs, which led to severe damage to citizens houses and agricultural lands, a security official explained.



The aggression raids targeted also Assaj bridge in the district and destroyed it completely, the official added.



He condemned the continuation of the aggression coalition in using the internationally-banned cluster bombs to bombard the Yemeni people and their infrastructure.



BA

Saba

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[12/February/2016]
Hostile war jets target severl areas in Saada





SAADA, Feb. 11 (Saba)  The Saudi aggression warplanes launched on Thursday a series of raid on a number of districts in Saada province.



A security official in Saada told Saba that the hostile war jets waged seven raids on the areas of Al Ghanem in the boundary Baqem district, causing large destruction in citizens houses and property.



He added that the aggression warplanes launched a raid on Dahwan area in Razeh district, as well as rocket bombing on different parts of the district.



BA



Saba

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[12/February/2016]
Saudi aggression targets several districts in Sanaa





SANAA, Feb. 11 (Saba)  The Saudi aggression warplanes launched a series of air raids on Bani Matar, Sanhan and Hamdan districts of Sanaa province on Thursday.



The hostile war jets waged two raids on al-Subaha area and two others on Ayban Mountain in Bani Matar district, which led to severe damage to the telecommunication towers and citizens houses and property, a security official said.



Another air raid targeted Bait al-Hadhrami area in Sanhan district, leaving damages in the agricultural lands, the official added.



Moreover, the aggression warplanes launched five raids on the areas of al-Madwar, al-Qanaza, al-Ara and Dhelaa in Hamdan district, which resulted in large damages in the agricultural lands and citizens houses in those areas.



BA



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[12/February/2016]


but NOBODY vetted Barack Obama after Barack Obama politicized his own mother's cancer

for his own political gain during the 2008 democratic race, and then again in the presidential debates.

Did Barack Obama tend to his own mother in any personal way

during her last couple of years of life, when she was dying of cancer in Hawaii?





If I am wrong, or can be proven wrong about my concern, then I will stand corrected.

But until then, the timeline I have been able to put together shows that Barack Obama

chose to finish writing his book instead of being with his mother.

With apologizes to the filmmaker for politicizing his film,Or, did Barack Obama CHOOSE to fly over Hawaii, where his mother was dying of cancer,so he could go to Bali to finish writing his book about his sperm donor father?
By SA Commercial Prop News

Womens Property Network (WPN) Chairwoman, Genevieve Naidoo says it is our intention to provide our members with the tools needed to alter their business strategies, and enhance their businesses in order to be successful within the sector.



CEO's, Lawyers and Entrepreneurs, all of them expert in aspects of influence in South Africa's Real Estate industry  will address the second Womens Property Network (WPN) annual property leadership conference this Friday.

Sponsored by Standard Bank, this years theme, Game Changers, encourages women to become game changers, by taking an out of the box approach to their role in the industry. This includes the way they think, position themselves and transform the sector.



It is our intention to provide our members with the tools needed to alter their business strategies, and enhance their businesses in order to be successful within the sector, says Genevieve Naidoo, National Chairwoman of WPN.



Entrepreneur Donna Rachelson will be the event host and the line-up of speakers includes; Phil Barttram, Vice President Real Estate MSCI; Zola Ntwasa (winner of the Entrepreneur Award in the 2015 SA Women in Property Awards); Shaun Rozyn, Director of Rozyn Economic Advisory Services and Cuan Chelin, Founder and CEO of Super-Brands Holdings.



The conference programme will also include a panel discussion with leaders in the real estate sector, including Vuyiswa Mutshekwane, CEO of South African Institute of Black Property Professionals; Bronwyn Corbett, CEO of Delta International; Yondela Silimela, Executive Director of the Development Planning Division in the City of Johannesburg; and Genevieve Naidoo, National Chairwoman of WPN, discussing game changing strategies in the sector.



A key focus for WPN is to help the real estate sector understand the importance of the role of women to their businesses. For those companies not yet ready to invest in women, it is worth noting that gender diversity is critical to bottom lines. According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), companies that include women at top levels of leadership tend to outperform those that dont. It also ranked South Africa 18th in the 2014 Gender Gap Index, with Iceland in first place, the USA 20th and the UK 26th.



The development of leaders in our sector is crucial and our involvement in this event in a small way allows us to be part of the growth and development of those leaders. We are also incredibly proud of our association with WPN. Their focus on education and on promoting the role of women in real estate is fundamental to diversity in the sector and key to its success, says Gary Garrett, Head of Real Estate Finance at Standard Bank.



Ms Naidoo, also Head of Credit for Real Estate at Standard Bank, a board member of RICS and a former WPN Rising Star Award Winner, maintains that educational and mentorship initiatives are key in WPNs drive to bring about demographic change across the entire spectrum of the real estate sector.



Since 2008 the WPN has awarded over 43 bursaries to previously disadvantaged female students studying towards a property related degree or diploma, and with the increasing financial support of the WPN Educational Trust, in 2015 a total of eleven bursaries were awarded to students studying at various institutions across the country.
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
Yes, I ramble: but you knew that already, right?
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
This week, Erkiletian Development Co. and the Shakespeare Theatre Co. filed plans with Washington, D.C. for a mixed-use project that has Southwest residents up in arms. The project, known as The Bard, is planned to house everything from residential space to artist studios to non-profit office space to educational space. The development will also house the Shakespeare Theatre's costume fabrication studio.

The entire development will span 149,298 square feet with 131,273 square feet tailored for residential space. The height will vary from roughly 42 feet high to a little over 73 feet high. Expect all of the residential units to be apartments with 93 market-rate and nine inclusionary zoning. For the Shakespeare Theatre, 29 of the units will be set aside for actors and five will be for for fellows. There will also be an underground parking garage. 36 spaces will be for residents, 16 spaces for non-profit office use, nine spaces for art use, and nine spaces for education use. Despite the limited number of spaces for residents, the site, 501 I Street SW, is only a couple blocks from the Waterfront Metro station. 10 short-term bicycle parking spaces will also be provided, according to UrbanTurf.

In opposition to the development, there is a website and Twitter account that delve into what concerns residents have with the project. In a recent blog post, D.C. resident and blogger Andrea Pawley described the Shakespeare Theatre as "tone-deaf" and further accused the organization of misrepresenting neighborhood opposition in a narrative portion of a Planned Unit Development (PUD) document. According to Pawley, the project will affect "nearly every household within 200 feet of the proposed rezoning."

In the effort to appease residents' concerns, the developers reduced the height and the number of units planned, reported UrbanTurf. In the PUD, the developer also lists proposed benefits of the project. These benefits include: free use of the assembly spaces/conference rooms for community meetings; annual donations to the multi-day festival, SW ArtsFest; and scholarships to sponsor up to 10 low-income children to attend the Shakespeare Theatre summer camp. With this project, the developer hopes to further satisfy three goals in the D.C. Office of Planning's Southwest Neighborhood Plan. These goals are to strengthen I Street as a cultural corridor, grow the presence of the arts throughout the Southwest neighborhood, and build on and market existing cultural assets and institutions to reinforce the concept of an arts and cultural destination.

Despite this, Pawley as well as over 50 neighbors in the immediate vicinity of the site argue that the Shakespeare Theatre is attempting to undermine the Southwest Neighborhood Plan. Rather than a mixed-use development, Pawley wrote that residents would prefer townhouses or properties built for educational purposes, none taller than 40 feet.

The site of the development is the former home of Southeastern University, reported UrbanTurf. The area is currently vacant and consists of approximately 36,476 square feet of land area. Shalom Baranes Associates is the architect of the project.



 Out, Damned Developer! Out! [Official Website]

 Shakespeare Theatre Files PUD For 136-Unit Mixed-Use Project in Southwest [UrbanTurf]

 All Shakespeare Theatre Company coverage [Curbed DC]
Adrian Martinez thrives in K-State offense

Turning Adrian Martinez loose has not come back to bite Kansas State. The senior quarterback has yet to turn the ball over this year.
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Dover, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/11/2016 -- Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine's "natural" or un-paid ("organic") search results. In general, the earlier (or higher ranked on the search results page), and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine's users. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, video search, academic search, news search and industry-specific vertical search engines.



As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work, what people search for, the actual search terms or keywords typed into search engines and which search engines are preferred by their targeted audience. Optimizing a website may involve editing its content, HTML and associated coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines. Promoting a site to increase the number of backlinks, or inbound links, is another SEO tactic.



Webmasters and content providers began optimizing sites for search engines in the mid-1990s, as the first search engines were cataloging the early Web. Initially, all webmasters needed to do was to submit the address of a page, or URL, to the various engines which would send a "spider" to "crawl" that page, extract links to other pages from it, and return information found on the page to be indexed. The process involves a search engine spider downloading a page and storing it on the search engine's own server, where a second program, known as an indexer, extracts various information about the page, such as the words it contains and where these are located, as well as any weight for specific words, and all links the page contains, which are then placed into a scheduler for crawling at a later date.



Dover Delaware G3-Development Online Media (LinkedIn.com) News: Licensed Blog Content Creators and Creative Lab Introduces New Google Indexing Tools



By 2004, search engines had incorporated a wide range of undisclosed factors in their ranking algorithms to reduce the impact of link manipulation. In June 2007, The New York Times' Saul Hansell stated Google ranks sites using more than 200 different signals. The leading search engines, Google, Bing, and Yahoo, do not disclose the algorithms they use to rank pages. Some SEO practitioners have studied different approaches to search engine optimization, and have shared their personal opinions. Patents related to search engines can provide information to better understand search engines.



In 2005, Google began personalizing search results for each user. Depending on their history of previous searches, Google crafted results for logged in users. In 2008, Bruce Clay said that "ranking is dead" because of personalized search. He opined that it would become meaningless to discuss how a website ranked, because its rank would potentially be different for each user and each search.



In December 2009, Google announced it would be using the web search history of all its users in order to populate search results.



Google Instant, real-time-search, was introduced in late 2010 in an attempt to make search results more timely and relevant. Historically site administrators have spent months or even years optimizing a website to increase search rankings. With the growth in popularity of social media sites and blogs the leading engines made changes to their algorithms to allow fresh content to rank quickly within the search results.



In February 2011, Google announced the Panda update, which penalizes websites containing content duplicated from other websites and sources. Historically websites have copied content from one another and benefited in search engine rankings by engaging in this practice, however Google implemented a new system which punishes sites whose content is not unique. In April 2012, Google launched the Google Penguin update the goal of which was to penalize websites that used manipulative techniques to improve their rankings on the search engine.



About G3 Development

G3 Development is set out to proactively serve the business community by providing solutions in entrepreneurialism, business development, social media and venture capitalism.



To provide leadership in establishing strength with our client's international businesses, being built on a foundation of innovation, advocacy, technology and business integrity.



http://www.g3-development.co/

877-229-9183
Honolulu, HI -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/11/2016 -- Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine's "natural" or un-paid ("organic") search results. In general, the earlier (or higher ranked on the search results page), and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine's users. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, video search, academic search, news search and industry-specific vertical search engines.



As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work, what people search for, the actual search terms or keywords typed into search engines and which search engines are preferred by their targeted audience. Optimizing a website may involve editing its content, HTML and associated coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines. Promoting a site to increase the number of backlinks, or inbound links, is another SEO tactic.



Webmasters and content providers began optimizing sites for search engines in the mid-1990s, as the first search engines were cataloging the early Web. Initially, all webmasters needed to do was to submit the address of a page, or URL, to the various engines which would send a "spider" to "crawl" that page, extract links to other pages from it, and return information found on the page to be indexed. The process involves a search engine spider downloading a page and storing it on the search engine's own server, where a second program, known as an indexer, extracts various information about the page, such as the words it contains and where these are located, as well as any weight for specific words, and all links the page contains, which are then placed into a scheduler for crawling at a later date.



Honolulu Hawaii G3-Development Online Media (Reddit.com) News: Licensed Website (Blog) Source and Creative Lab Introduces New BING Indexing Tools



By 2004, search engines had incorporated a wide range of undisclosed factors in their ranking algorithms to reduce the impact of link manipulation. In June 2007, The New York Times' Saul Hansell stated Google ranks sites using more than 200 different signals. The leading search engines, Google, Bing, and Yahoo, do not disclose the algorithms they use to rank pages. Some SEO practitioners have studied different approaches to search engine optimization, and have shared their personal opinions. Patents related to search engines can provide information to better understand search engines.



In 2005, Google began personalizing search results for each user. Depending on their history of previous searches, Google crafted results for logged in users. In 2008, Bruce Clay said that "ranking is dead" because of personalized search. He opined that it would become meaningless to discuss how a website ranked, because its rank would potentially be different for each user and each search.



In December 2009, Google announced it would be using the web search history of all its users in order to populate search results.



Google Instant, real-time-search, was introduced in late 2010 in an attempt to make search results more timely and relevant. Historically site administrators have spent months or even years optimizing a website to increase search rankings. With the growth in popularity of social media sites and blogs the leading engines made changes to their algorithms to allow fresh content to rank quickly within the search results.



In February 2011, Google announced the Panda update, which penalizes websites containing content duplicated from other websites and sources. Historically websites have copied content from one another and benefited in search engine rankings by engaging in this practice, however Google implemented a new system which punishes sites whose content is not unique. In April 2012, Google launched the Google Penguin update the goal of which was to penalize websites that used manipulative techniques to improve their rankings on the search engine.



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Pune, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/10/2016 -- The report "Liquid Nitrogen Market - Global Forecast to 2020", The liquid nitrogen market size is projected to grow from USD 12.48 Billion in 2015 to USD 16.14 Billion by 2020, at a CAGR of 5.28%. Factors such as increasing demand for electronic products and growing demand from the healthcare sector drive the liquid nitrogen market. Growth of the chemical industry in the developing and under-developed regions provides an opportunity to the liquid nitrogen market to grow even further.



Browse 200 market tables and 54 figures spread through 222 pages and in-depth TOC on Liquid Nitrogen Market - Global Forecast to 2020.



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Chemicals & pharmaceuticals segment to gain maximum traction during the forecast period.



The chemicals & pharmaceuticals segment is projected to be the fastest-growing end-use industry in the next five years. Furthermore, due to the growth of the pharmaceuticals industry, liquid nitrogen is extensively used to cool reactors filled with catalyst at the time of repair works and retain the required cold reaction temperatures. The liquid nitrogen market is also projected to witness growth in the healthcare, food & beverages, and rubber & plastic sectors, during the forecast period.



Get more Information from Analyst@ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/speaktoanalyst.asp?id=198286214



To be used as a Coolant will be the major function of liquid nitrogen during the forecast period



The report segments the global liquid nitrogen market on the basis of function into coolants and refrigerants. The coolant is estimated to contribute the largest market share in the liquid nitrogen market during the forecast period. Liquid nitrogen has an extremely low temperature and hence serves as an ideal coolant in several applications of different end-use industries.



Cryogenic distillation to account as the largest used process to manufacture liquid nitrogen market



The cryogenic distillation process is expected to dominate the liquid nitrogen market with the largest market share. It is the most widely used technique for producing high purity oxygen, nitrogen, and argon on an industrial scale, and is a cost-effective technology solution for plants with high production rate. Whereas, the pressure swing adsorption technique is expected to play a key role in changing the liquid nitrogen landscape by growing at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.



Asia-Pacific is estimated to be the fastest growing region.



North America is estimated to have the largest market share in the liquid nitrogen market during the forecast period. Asia-Pacific is projected to grow at the highest CAGR from 2015 to 2020. The Asia-Pacific region is expected to post high growth in the liquid nitrogen market due to growing developmental activities, and rapid economic expansion in countries such as China and India. With increasing income of the people in this region, the demand for high-end products has been growing fast. Convenience food products, aerated beverages, and electronics are few of the applications, which find growth in the region, resulting in higher demands of liquid nitrogen. The metal and chemicals industry in the Asia-Pacific region are growing rapidly to fulfill the demand from the construction and manufacturing sector.



The major vendors in the liquid nitrogen market include Linde Ag (Germany), Praxair Inc. (U.S.), Air Liquide S.A. (France), Nexair LLC (U.S.), Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corporation (Japan), Messer Group (Germany), Air Products and Chemicals Inc. (U.S.), Gulf Cryo (United Arab Emirates), Emirates Industrial Gases Co. LLC. (United Arab Emirates), and Southern Industrial Gas Berhad (Malaysia).



The scope of the report covers detailed information regarding the major factors influencing the growth of the liquid nitrogen market such as drivers, restraints, challenges, and opportunities. A detailed analysis of the key industry players has been done to provide insights into their business overview, products & services, key strategies, new product launches, mergers & acquisitions, partnerships, agreements, joint ventures, and recent developments associated with the liquid nitrogen market.



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Peoria, AZ -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/11/2016 -- Mirage Marble & Granite, LLC, a full-service quartz, marble, and stone contractor located in the Metro Phoenix area, has earned the coveted Angie's List Super Service Award. The award is a reflection of the company's exceptionally high level of customer service to members of the local service marketplace and consumer review site in 2015. An estimated 5 percent of service providers within the commercial and residential stone design and installation category in the Phoenix, Arizona region have consistently maintained such high standards, according to Angie's List Founder Angie Hicks. "It's a really high standard."



Angie's List 2015 Super Service Award winners have met strict eligibility requirements, which include an "A" rating in overall grade  which is graded on an A through F scale in areas ranging from professionalism to punctuality  as well as recent grade, and review period grade. The company must also be in good standing with Angie's List, pass a background check, and abide by Angie's List operational guidelines.



This is the third year in a row for Mirage Marble & Granite to achieve this prestigious award. The company performs over 150 installation jobs per year; to maintain such high-quality customer service is quite an achievement. The company is looking forward to continuing their success throughout the 2016 year and beyond.



"Whatever your needs are, large or small, Mirage Marble & Granite LLC will be able to exceed your expectation. We receive the lowest prices and can pass the savings on to the customer," says Bujor Balog.



About Mirage Marble & Granite, LLC

The company specializes in the design and installation of granite, quartz, marble, limestone and slate surfaces such as countertops, Jacuzzi surrounds, fireplace surrounds, and bathroom vanity tops. Design and installation services are available throughout the Metro Phoenix area including Litchfield Park, Queen Creek, Sun City, and Avondale.



Angie's List helps facilitate successful transactions between more than three million consumers nationwide and its collection of highly rated service providers in more than 720 categories of service, ranging from home improvement to health care. Built on a foundation of more than 10 million verified reviews of local service, Angie's List connects consumers directly to its online marketplace of services from member-reviewed providers, and offers unique tools and support designed to improve the local service experience for both consumers and service professionals.



For more information about Mirage Marble & Granite LLC, please visit www.mirageaz.com or call 480-252-7182.



Media Contact:

Bujor Balog

Mirage Marble & Granite LLC

Address: 8199 North 83rd Avenue, Peoria, Arizona 85345

Phone: 480-252-7182

Website: www.mirageaz.com
To mark the first International Day of Women and Girls in Science, SciDev.Net spoke with Princess Nisreen El-Hashemite, an Iraqi medical doctor and geneticist based in London, United Kingdom, about the challenges female scientists face in the Middle East. El-Hashemite is the granddaughter of King Faisal Bin El-Sharif Hussein, the first King of Iraq, and executive director of the Royal Academy of Science International Trust (RASIT), which has co-organised celebrations of the day at the United Nations headquarters in the United States.



Although many women in the Middle East graduate in scientific, technological and medical fields, they are unlikely to pursue research careers. Why is this?

The number of female graduates from scientific colleges and universities in Middle Eastern and North African countries is higher than the number of men but women dont have the opportunities to pursue their dreams, their intelligence and their vision. If you talk about Arab countries, the number of girls going into science is higher but their employment options are limited.

Girls are less likely to pursue scientific research careers without role models, and we need to encourage them. Nisreen El-Hashemite

In Western countries, women hit a glass ceiling and have unequal pay. Whereas in Middle Eastern countries, the problems are less related to gender inequality and more related to the lack of opportunities to pursue scientific research [in the first place]. Governments and policymakers in many of these countries only make it possible for science graduates to continue as teachers and not as scientists because they dont have science policies and institutes.

In Lebanon for example, there are a lot of universities but there isnt scientific research. It is similar across much of the Middle East and North Africa, although there are some exceptions, such as Tunisia  which has wonderful scientific research  Turkey and Iran, [the latter] despite the constraints of sanctions.



How are differences between men and women relevant to the content of research itself, for example on health?

The idea for the first International Day of Women and Girls in Science came out of a Womens health and development forum held at the United Nations in New York in February 2015. Reproductive health is very important but there are so many other issues related to womens health because of biological differences between the sexes. If you look at the medications for heart conditions for example, they are mainly tested on males rather than males and females and this has implications for dosage because women are biologically different to men.



Women do not receive the same recognition as men at the highest levels of scientific research. How does this affect younger women interested in pursuing careers in these areas?

There are so many great women achievers, but the number of female Nobel Prize winners is so small you can count them, and when women in science do win they [often receive joint awards] with their male counterparts. This is why RASIT created the first international award for women in science. We named the award after Fatima El-Fehria, a woman who donated all of her inheritance more than 1,200 years ago to build the first university in the world in the city of Fes, Morocco. Girls are less likely to pursue scientific research careers without role models, and we need to encourage them.

Q&As are edited for length and clarity.
The fixed division of labour between crested penguin parents increases their chicks' vulnerability to food shortages made ever more common by climate change. The parents have been unable to adapt their habits to the challenges of increasingly frequent years of limited food supply and, as a result, will become further threatened by extinction. So says Kyle Morrison of Massey University and the National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research in New Zealand, who led a study published in Springer's journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

The main duties of all penguin parents are to provide food and to defend their offspring against predatory seabirds and other intruding penguins. While on guard duty, parents fast and do not go off to sea to feed. Most penguins avoid long fasting periods by alternating brooding and chick-provisioning duties between the sexes. However, the seven species of Eudyptes penguins (the crested penguins, including rockhopper penguins) are an exception. Males guard and fast for the first three to four weeks after eggs have hatched. During this time, females are the sole providers. During the next six weeks, chicks gather together in creches and can be fed by both parents. During this creche phase, both sexes may make extended multi-day trips to sea to regain weight.

These parental roles never vary, no matter what the environmental conditions. However, how frequently each sex brings food to their chick can change drastically between years, depending on how much krill, fish, and squid the parents can find. Eudyptes populations have already seen worrying long-term declines, especially because of climate-induced food shortages.

The researchers studied Eastern Rockhopper Penguins (Eudyptes chrysocome filholi) on New Zealand's sub-Antarctic Campbell Island over two consecutive breeding seasons. During the 2011 season, abundant food was available, but 2012 was a lean year. The researchers noted how often chicks were fed, their subsequent size at one month old, and the colony's overall success in raising chicks. Data-loggers installed along a narrow travel pathway from the sea were used to gather accurate data on how much time tagged adult birds spent away from the island and how frequently they returned to feed their chicks.

Morrison and his team found that chicks were hatched and reared more successfully during the 2011 season than in 2012's lean months. During the 2012 creche phase, males in particular spent more time at sea in search of food to regain the mass they lost during their chick-guarding fast ashore. This made males less likely to regularly bring food to their offspring. Chicks that were fed less also grew more slowly.

The results show that these penguins' rigid division of parental roles is not suited to ensure that their chicks grow and survive as well as possible, especially in times of poor food supply. The situation is expected to become worse with increasing climate change. The researchers estimate that if Eudyptes penguins were to share guarding and foraging duties equally, up to 34.5 percent more feeds could be provided to their chicks. However, changing their breeding strategy isn't a simple matter, because the smaller, less aggressive females would be less effective in the role of guarding chicks.

"Eudyptes penguins, ostensibly anchored in a reproductive strategy maladapted to a marine environment where food availability is less predictable, will continue to be highly threatened by climate change," warns Morrison.
Statistical analysis by University of Wyoming researchers shows wide variation in the rates at which the bones of ancient animals in the Americas have been lost.

Considerably more of the fossil record of creatures such as mammoths, mastodons, camels, horses and ground sloths has been lost in what is now the continental United States and South America than in Alaska and areas near the Bering Strait. That variation complicates efforts to reconstruct the population sizes of those species across North and South America, conclude Professor Todd Surovell and graduate student Spencer Pelton in UW's Department of Anthropology.

"While bone preservation in Arctic regions is aided by cold temperatures and the presence of permafrost, considerably more bone has been lost over time in regions farther south -- in fact, at a faster rate than the sediments in which they were deposited have eroded," Surovell says. "That means researchers must adjust for those differences as they estimate the numbers of these animals, many of which are now extinct, across the Americas."

The research appears today in Biology Letters, a Royal Society journal that publishes short, highly innovative, cutting-edge research articles and opinion pieces accessible to scientists from across the biological sciences.

Surovell, whose past research has linked human hunting to the extinction of large mammals in the Americas, conducted the latest study by compiling radiocarbon dates of bones from animals of the Pleistocene era, which ended just under 12,000 years ago. He and Pelton also looked at the rates at which sedimentary deposits were lost over time.

While cautioning against applying their conclusions to the fossil record before or after the Pleistocene, the researchers suggest further research into the differences in the rates at which animal bones are lost from region to region.
Brains over beauty? But we all know that guys are hardwired for pretty faces and shapely bodies when it comes to choosing a mate, right?

Not so fast. Despite today's ongoing challenges in achieving gender equality, a new review of research on mate preferences conducted by researchers at Northwestern University and the University of Innsbruck suggests that modern men indeed increasingly value brains over beauty in their long-term partners.

"Our review across several disciplines suggest that mating preferences of men as well as women have responded with unsuspected speed to progress toward gender equality," said Marcel Zentner, professor of psychology at University of Innsbruck in Austria.

The common view is that our mate choices are evolutionarily "hardwired" in our brains and therefore minimally responsive to changing conditions. But some evolutionary scientists now argue that humans are programmed to respond with great flexibility to changing environments.

"This flexibility allows people to do what sociocultural theorists have maintained for a long time: Select partners who minimize the costs and maximize the benefits that they will experience in their future lives," said Alice Eagly, professor of psychology and faculty fellow at the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern.

Indeed, she and her colleagues have shown that men and women who were led to envision a future as their family's sole provider preferred a partner with domestic skills. Conversely, women and men who projected a future as a stay-at-home parent preferred someone relatively older and thus established in a career.

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Three interlocking sources of evidence support these conclusions. What makes Zentner and Eagly's study unique is their demonstrations across these differing types of research.

Cross-cultural research found that the more gender-egalitarian a country, the less likely that men and women trade male earning power for female youth and beauty -- the pattern that many evolutionary psychologists believe to be innate. The greater preference of women for a high-earning partner is twice as large in gender-unequal nations such as Korea and Turkey than in more gender-equal nations such as Finland and the United States. Notably, in Finland men are more interested in an educated, intelligent partner than women are.

Then, Zentner and Eagly looked at individuals. Sex differences in what people want in a mate diminish not only when societies become more gender-egalitarian but also when individuals embrace more gender-equal attitudes. Men and women with traditional mindsets prefer partners that suit the old-style exchange of male breadwinning for female fertility and domestic skills. But those preferences have weakened considerably among people who favor gender equality.

Finally, what men and women want parallels changes in gender roles in recent history. The traditional world of female homemakers and male breadwinners is long gone in many nations.

In the United States, 70 percent of mothers with children under 18 are in the labor force. In 38 percent of marriages with an employed wife, she earns more than he does. Not that long ago, women's education and income were only minor assets for attracting a husband. Today, they matter. Of course, women have long sought these attributes in men. What's new is that men now choose wives in a similar way.

Gender equality appears to act as a lever. Wherever you push it up, differences between men's and women's partner preferences diminish. That doesn't mean that these differences will disappear entirely or that biology plays no role in mate preferences. However, social factors shape mate preferences much more strongly than has been assumed.

In the old days, it made sense for women to seek men who could provide for them and for men to seek women who could cook and clean while producing children. "In today's world, where both partners can (and often must) work to achieve a decent lifestyle, most men want an educated, intelligent wife who can earn a good wage," Eagly said. "In turn, men can worry somewhat less about producing wealth but may benefit from brushing up their looks and domestic skills."

The review, "A sociocultural framework for understanding partner preferences of women and men: integration of concepts and evidence," was published in January in the European Review of Social Psychology.
Rechargeable lithium metal batteries have been known for four decades to offer energy storage capabilities far superior to today's workhorse lithium-ion technology that powers our smartphones and laptops. But these batteries are not in common use today because, when recharged, they spontaneously grow treelike bumps called dendrites on the surface of the negative electrode.

Over many hours of operation, these dendrites grow to span the space between the negative and positive electrode, causing short-circuiting and a potential safety hazard.

Current technology focuses on managing these dendrites by putting up a mechanically strong barrier, normally a ceramic separator, between the negative and the positive electrodes to restrict the movement of the dendrite. The relative non-conductivity and brittleness of such barriers, however, means the battery must be operated at high temperature and are prone to failure when the barrier cracks.

But a Cornell team, led by chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Lynden Archer and graduate student Snehashis Choudhury, proposed in a recent study that by designing nanostructured membranes with pore dimensions below a critical value, it is possible to stop growth of dendrites in lithium batteries at room temperature.

"The problem with ceramics is that this brute-force solution compromises conductivity," said Archer, the William C. Hooey Director and James A. Friend Family Distinguished Professor of Engineering and director of the Robert Frederick Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.

"This means that batteries that use ceramics must be operated at very high temperatures -- 300 to 400 degrees Celsius [572 to 752 degrees Fahrenheit], in some cases," Archer said. "And the obvious challenge that brings is, how do I put that in my iPhone?"

You don't, of course, but with the technology that the Archer group has put forth, creating a highly efficient lithium metal battery for a cellphone or other device could be reality in the not-too-distant future.

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Archer credits Choudhury with identifying the polymer polyethylene oxide as particularly promising. The idea was to take advantage of "hairy" nanoparticles, created by grafting polyethylene oxide onto silica to form nanoscale organic hybrid materials (NOHMs), materials Archer and his colleagues have been studying for several years, to create nanoporous membranes.

To screen out dendrites, the nanoparticle-tethered PEO is cross-linked with another polymer, polypropylene oxide, to yield mechanically robust membranes that are easily infiltrated with liquid electrolytes. This produces structures with good conductivity at room temperature while still preventing dendrite growth.

"Instead of a 'wall' to block the dendrites' proliferation, the membranes provided a porous media through which the ions pass, with the pore-gaps being small enough to restrict dendrite penetration," Choudhury said. "With this nanostructured electrolyte, we have created materials with good mechanical strength and good ionic conductivity at room temperature."

Archer's group plotted the performance of its crosslinked nanoparticles against other materials from previously published work and determined "with this membrane design, we are able to suppress dendrite growth more efficiently that anything else in the field. That's a major accomplishment," Archer said.

One of the best things about this discovery, Archer said, is that it's a "drop-in solution," meaning battery technology wouldn't have to be radically altered to incorporate it.

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"The membrane can be incorporated with batteries in a variety of form factors, since it's like a paint -- and we can paint the surface of electrodes of any shape," Choudhury added.

This solution also opens the door for other applications, Archer said.

"The structures that Snehashis has created can be as effective with batteries based on other metals, such as sodium and aluminum, that are more earth-abundant and less expensive than lithium and also limited by dendrites," Archer said.

The group's paper, "A highly reversible room-temperature lithium metal battery based on crosslinked hairy nanoparticles," was published Dec. 4 in Nature Communications. All four group members, including doctoral students Rahul Mangal and Akanksha Agrawal, contributed to the paper.

The Archer group's work was supported by the National Science Foundation's Division of Materials Research and by a grant from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia. The research made use of the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source, which also is supported by the NSF.
Scientists at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have developed a small smart chip that can be paired with neural implants for efficient wireless transmission of brain signals.

Neural implants when embedded in the brain can alleviate the debilitating symptoms of Parkinson's disease or give paraplegic people the ability to move their prosthetic limbs.

However, they need to be connected by wires to an external device outside the body. For a prosthetic patient, the neural implant is connected to a computer that decodes the brain signals so the artificial limb can move.

These external wires are not only cumbersome but the permanent openings which allow the wires into the brain increases the risk of infections.

The new chip by NTU scientists can allow the transmission of brain data wirelessly and with high accuracy.

Assistant Professor Arindam Basu from NTU's School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering said the research team have tested the chip on data recorded from animal models, which showed that it could decode the brain's signal to the hand and fingers with 95 per cent accuracy.

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"What we have developed is a very versatile smart chip that can process data, analyse patterns and spot the difference," explained Prof Basu.

"It is about a hundred times more efficient than current processing chips on the market. It will lead to more compact medical wearable devices, such as portable ECG monitoring devices and neural implants, since we no longer need large batteries to power them."

Different from other wireless implants

To achieve high accuracy in decoding brain signals, implants require thousands of channels of raw data. To wirelessly transmit this large amount of data, more power is also needed which means either bigger batteries or more frequent recharging.

This is not feasible as there is limited space in the brain for implants while frequent recharging means the implants cannot be used for long-term recording of signals.

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Current wireless implant prototypes thus suffer from a lack of accuracy as they lack the bandwidth to send out thousands of channels of raw data.

Instead of enlarging the power source to support the transmission of raw data, Asst Prof Basu tried to reduce the amount of data that needs to be transmitted.

Designed to be extremely power-efficient, NTU's patented smart chip will analyse and decode the thousands of signals from the neural implants in the brain, before compressing the results and sending it wirelessly to a small external receiver.

This invention and its findings were published last month in the journal, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Circuits & Systems, by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the world's largest professional association for the advancement of technology.

Its underlying science was also featured in three international engineering conferences (two in Atlanta, USA and one in China) over the last three months.

Versatile smart chip with multiple uses

This new smart chip is designed to analyse data patterns and spot any abnormal or unusual patterns.

For example, in a remote video camera, the chip can be programmed to send a video back to the servers only when a specific type of car or something out of the ordinary is detected, such as an intruder.

This would be extremely beneficial for the Internet of Things (IOT), where every electrical and electronic device is connected to the Internet through a smart chip.

With a report by marketing research firm Gartner Inc predicting that 6.4 billion smart devices and appliances will be connected to the Internet by 2016, and will rise to 20.8 billion devices by 2020, reducing network traffic will be a priority for most companies.

Using NTU's new chip, the devices can process and analyse the data on site, before sending back important details in a compressed package, instead of sending the whole data stream. This will reduce data usage by over a thousand times.

Asst Prof Basu is now in talks with Singapore Technologies Electronics Limited to adapt his smart chip that can significantly reduce power consumption and the amount of data transmitted by battery-operated remote sensors, such as video cameras.

The team is also looking to expand the applications of the chip into commercial products, such as to customise it for smart home sensor networks, in collaboration with a local electronics company.

The chip, measuring 5mm by 5mm can now be licensed by companies from NTU's commercialisation arm, NTUitive.

Developed over the past two years by a team of four at NTU's VIRTUS IC Design Centre of Excellence, the project has since received over S$850,000 in research funding.
HARTSVILLE, S.C.  The Leadership Hartsville class January session explored education in Hartsville, visiting the South Carolina Governors School for Science and Mathematics, Coker College and Hartsville High School, and learning about Florence-Darlington Technical College, the Darlington County School District, Emmanuel Christian School and Trinity-Byrnes Collegiate School.

The Governors School hosts many of the states most academically gifted students, focusing on STEM training but providing a well-rounded education that will prepare them to be competitive at any college or university. Graduates ultimately go on to successful careers at organizations like Google and NASA.

With a visit to Hartsville High School, the group learned about the communitys strong sports legacy, including the legacy of Butler High School before the two high schools were integrated. Hartsville Highs International Baccalaureate program ranks No. 4 of the 25 IB programs in the state, showing that you dont have to go to the Governors School to stand out from the crowd.

Many of our classmates didnt know that Florence-Darlington Technical College has a location in Hartsville. In fact, FDTC has been in Hartsville since 1990, and is currently enrolled to its building capacity of around 300 students. The school offers a variety of classes and types of career training, focusing on workforce development in the Hartsville area. It is raising $6 million for a new facility.

Coker College has been in Hartsville since 1908 and now provides a liberal arts education to approximately 1,300 full-time and continuing education students every year. In addition to their classes, Coker students give back to their community through several volunteering programs, including Enactus, a program focused on communities and entrepreneurship. Students also have the option to take an Executive Roundtable class, where they work with local entrepreneurs and business leaders to develop their business and leadership skills.

We also got a chance to tour the new DeLoach athletic center, which brings many new event-hosting opportunities to the area. Were hoping to all meet up for a Coker basketball game sometime soon to see the facility in action.

Dr. Eddie Ingram, the superintendent of Darlington County Schools, talked to us about educating children for their future, not our past. He shared many ideas about how best to teach the 10,000 children in the school district, including trends such as blended and individualized learning.

We also got to hear from Sharman Poplava about the communitys TEACH and PULSE programs, which bring new learning and mentorship opportunities to students at four area elementary schools as well as Hartsville High School. These programs work to boost reading ability and other key skills for elementary students, and they even help high school students earn college credit before they graduate. If you missed the PBS documentary 180 Days: Hartsville, you can learn a lot more about the work these programs do for the community by going to pbs.org/black-culture/shows/list/180-days/series/hartsville/.
Bengaluru: My two years with Flipkart has been nothing short of a fairy tale!, wrote Mukesh Bansal to his colleagues on Wednesday, in a sudden announcement that that fairy tale had actually ended.

On Thursday, as he spoke to Deccan Chronicle, Mukesh, who came as the third Bansal to Flipkart when it acquired his fashion etailing portal Myntra for a rumoured Rs 2,000 crore, gave no hint that he was leaving India's largest e-commerce player in a huff, although market buzz insistently pointed out that barely a month ago, Flipkart had rejigged its top deck, making Sachin Bansal the company's chairman and sending his co-founder Binny Bansal to the corner office while leaving Mukesh more or less where he was.

Rather, Mukesh seemed to be saying, Blame it on Rio. For Rio, he said, was where he was heading with his kids in July, in time for the Olympics!

But, his next venture may only be months away. After a month, when my transition (out of Flipkart) is complete, I plan on meeting a lot of people, exploring different things. By the end of this year, I plan on starting something new. But it won't be another e-commerce portal as he continues to be invested in Flipkart.

Excerpts from the interview:

What happens to your baby Myntra now, Mukesh?

I think Myntra is in a phenomenal place as an undisputed brand. It is very strongly positioned. It has a very good team in place and a phenomenal CEO. So, as a founder, I feel very good to leave Myntra in such a strong position. And to be optimistic, I believe it will continue to so stay in a very strong position even in the future.

Did Myntra turn out quite the way you wanted in these nine years?

Absolutely. When we started Myntra, I had three things in mindto become the largest fashion retailer in the country, to build a unique value proposition for consumers and to build an organisation with a very strong foundation. I think we have achieved all three. And I think in the next five years, Myntra will be one of the iconic companies in India. So, Im leaving with a feeling of satisfaction. I think what made me most happy was the culture that we built. People in Myntra are deeply connected. I feel the place has a unique personality. Yesterday, when I sent a note to Myntra employees about my exit, many of them came and spoke to me about how much they feel like its their own company and how much fun they have and that they really feel connected to the place. I think thats something Im most proud of.

How did your family react to your quitting?

I think my kids were really happy that I would be taking some time off and travelling with them. They are really excited.

What are you going to do in the break? What plans after that?

I am planning some trips with the kids. Thinking of taking them to Brazil for the Olympics. I think that would be fun. I also plan to read a lot and travel. Also, after a month, when my transition is complete, I plan on meeting a lot of people, exploring different things. By the end of this year, I plan on starting something new.

What will be the next venture be? Does e-commerce still excite you?

E-commerce does interest me. But, I continue to be a shareholder in Flipkart, and I am very much invested in and supportive of Flipkarts business. So, I wont venture into another e-commerce portal. There are other areas that I think are very interesting. Artificial Intelligence is a technology that I think is really taking off in a big way. There are other areas, like sports, education and fitness, that I think can be dramatically transformed. There are also a lot of companies transforming logistics and transport businesses. There are tremendous opportunities in every field. For now Ill keep an open mind and explore opportunities.

Will you be doing a recce of Silicon Valley to spot the next big thing?

I have a strong network in the Valley, so I will plan some time to meet people there. There is a lot happening in the Valley which is very inspiring.

What are you reading currently?

I read a lot of non-fiction, from science to history to biographies. I also like reading classic literature. Im reading Bill Brysons A Short History of Nearly Everything and Gabriel Garcia Marquezs One Hundred Years of Solitude. Both are really fascinating books.
ONGC's plan to slash costs, a final decision on which is still to be taken, would come about a year and half after crude prices first started to decline

Mumbai: India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp hopes to agree new cheaper drilling contracts for its western offshore fields, two sources involved in the matter said, in its biggest ever cost-saving drive in response to lower crude prices.

The state-owned explorer wants to end existing expensive contracts for drilling rigs signed in the 2014-15 fiscal year when crude prices averaged $85 a barrel and to sign new ones at a lower price. That could help the company save 5-10 billion rupees ($74-$148 million) a year, analysts said.

Brent crude has fallen to just over $30 a barrel. This, along with a sharp drop in commodity prices, has led to a fall in the cost of equipment used for drilling for oil and gas.

ONGC's plan to slash costs, a final decision on which is still to be taken, would come about a year and half after crude prices first started to decline, and underscore the challenges Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces in trying to turn around large but slow-moving public sector giants.

The company is likely to post flat December quarter profit compared to the year-ago period on Thursday. Its shares fell by a third last year. ONGC's plan comes against the backdrop of overseas explorers lowering spending and scaling back drilling, forcing rig contractors to idle or even scrap rigs, due to the prolonged slump in oil prices.

The biggest cost saving could come from hiring new jack-up rigs, drilling rigs that are used for drilling in shallow water, said offshore rig consultant, Rajeev Nair, who has worked with ONGC at its Mumbai High field.

The jack-up rigs were contracted by ONGC in 2014 at a cost of between $80,000 and $90,000 per day, he said, adding those rigs are now available for $35,000-$40,000 a day. ONGC has close to 15 jack-up rigs in the western offshore fields, according to a company presentation in December 2014.

ONGC does not disclose the names of its contractors. Jindal Drilling and Industries Ltd and Dynamic Offshore Drilling Ltd have said in the past they had rigs working for ONGC.Other areas for cost-cutting could include the staffing and maintenance cost of rigs and offshore marine and air logistics costs, the sources said.

ONGC's average cost of production in the western offshore fields, India's biggest for crude oil and gas, is about $40 per barrel and, at current crude prices, the company is losing money fast, one of the sources said.

The company's western offshore interests, home to the company's biggest crude oil field Mumbai High and biggest natural gas asset Bassein & Satellite, are located off the west coast of India in the Arabian sea.The western offshore field contributes 60 percent of the company's total crude oil production.

As ONGC makes additional investments in the near future, it expects the average cost of production at Mumbai High, the most productive field in the western offshore area, to go up to $44-$45 a barrel, the source said.

By signing new drilling contracts, the company aims to reach "a borderline (break even) figure" for production cost, he said. Both the sources did not want to be named as the matter is not public yet. An ONGC spokesman did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.
Chennai: Several leading industries from Tamil Nadu, including the TVS Group, have offered to invest over Rs 3,000 crore in all in Haryana. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar who was in the city on Wednesday to campaign for Happening Haryana - Global Investors Summit-2016 at Gurgaon in March 78 said, Twelve organisations have assured to invest around Rs 3,000 crore in Haryana. Among them were Schwing Stetter, Saint-Gobain, Farm Fresh Banana and TVS group.

Soon we will unveil a new labour and IT policies to give further boost to industrial sector as well as provide employability to the youth in the state. The new labour policy will be more industrial and labour friendly, the Chief Mini of officials from his state to attract investments during the roadshow here, informed.

Earlier, Mr Manohar who spoke a few words in Tamil, said he had met representatives from top corporate houses in the state, both headquartered here, as well as those who have manufacturing units. During the last one hour, I have met some of them (industry leaders). They have assured major investments, he announced.

Earlier, his government had fixed a target of Rs 1 lakh crore. But as things progressed, we visited four countries where we saw a lot of enthusiasm among the business entrepreneurs there and we have achieved the target (of more than Rs. one lakh crore), he said.

No controversy on beef ban: Later, speaking to reporters Mr Manohar Lal Khattar declined to comment on his health minister Anil Vijs controversial remark that those who eat beef should not visit Haryana, but said I think questions like this should not be asked. It is a mere waste of time. There is no controversy over beef ban. No one has approached the government in this regard and it has already implemented an Act.

Chennai to have Haryana Bhawan: Assuring all assistance of his government in setting up of Haryana Bhawan in Chennai, Haryana Chief Minister Mr, Manohar Lal exhorted Haryanvis settled in Chennai to expand their base in Haryana by setting up industrial units as this would not only provide ample employment opportunities to the youth but also would ensure overall development of the state.
PM Narendra Modi has backed an export-focused 'Make in India' drive as the path to prosperity for Asia's third-largest economy,

New Delhi: India, concerned at being sidelined from the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), is stepping up efforts to reach agreement with an alternative trade bloc centred around China, and hopes to reach a deal this year.

New Delhi has long been seen by many countries as an intransigent player at the World Trade Organization (WTO), a multilateral forum that has struggled to find the consensus it needs to move forward.

Now, after 12 advanced economies accounting for 40 percent of the global economy signed a TPP deal this month, India's trade negotiators feel they need to get a move on.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has backed an export-focused 'Make in India' drive as the path to prosperity for Asia's third-largest economy, where per capita output is $1,688 a year, one fifth that in China.

With TPP out of reach - India was not invited to join - India's negotiators are focussing instead on a Chinese-led grouping called the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) that would improve its access to Asian markets.

Trade representatives meet in Brunei from Feb. 15-19 to iron out differences on tariffs. A senior New Delhi official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters that India was hopeful of striking a tariff-cutting deal this year, in the clearest indication yet that India wants to accelerate progress on a bloc first launched in 2012.

Ganeshan Wignaraja of the Asian Development Bank said a breakthrough on RCEP would help mitigate the competitive disadvantage of India being absent from the TPP. "Concluding an RCEP agreement would mark a key milestone for the Modi government," he said.

Experts caution that India has shown little appetite to open its market to imports, even as it seeks to ramp up exports, not least because of a gaping trade deficit with China.

"India is worried about opening up to China," said Professor Bernard Hoekman, a trade expert at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies in Italy, adding he very much doubted an RCEP deal would happen this year.

With the TPP lacking votes in Congress and likely to be put on hold if a Republican is elected U.S. president, any sign China is seizing the initiative in the trade arena could raise concerns over Washington's declining clout in Asia.

Beijing has already redrawn the financial map by launching the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, with backing from close U.S. allies like Britain.

Losing business

New Delhi fears the TPP, although years away from reality, could mean losing some textile and drugs exports to countries like Vietnam, which has embraced both the TPP and the RCEP.

It could also raise barriers to entry on labour, environment and intellectual property when it comes to seeking access to other markets, officials said.

"The TPP will certainly have an impact on India's exports," Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. "It is most likely to affect sectors like leather goods, plastics, chemicals, textiles and clothing." Talks on creating the 16-member RCEP could be the last hope for some Indian companies to break into the global supply chain.

The group comprises the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand. If signed, the regional free trade agreement would create an economic bloc with a population of 3.4 billion and trade volume of over $17 trillion.

"We can't waste time," said Chandrajit Banerjee, director general of the Confederation of Indian Industry, which represents manufacturers. "TPP will basically change the landscape of global trade."

Successful export industries, particularly garment and drug makers, are urging Modi to speed up RCEP talks and wrap up trade deals with the European Union and Australia.

But steel, tyre and chemical firms want him to go slow, saying they have been undercut by free trade pacts already done with ASEAN, South Korea, Thailand and Japan.

Indian merchandise exports have fallen for 13 months in a row, depressed by weakening global demand and slumping commodity prices. To boost its stagnant 1.7 percent share of global exports, India needs to raise productivity and move up the value chain, economists say.
Speaking to Seatrade Maritime News Slater says: I think this is probably the worst of any of the previous market crashes even the 80s, and the closure of the Suez Canal, its really very, very bad because youve got a combination of things.

This combination is new money that poured into shipping during the boom years and a vast newbuilding book that resulted with the new vessels delivered between 2008 and 2012 increasing the available cargo capacity by 50%. Added to this is a dramatic drop in the volume of dry bulk cargoes, which is reflected in the historically low rates being seen today. And there is no recovery in sight.

When somebody announced last week they fixed a ship at $4,000 a day, less commission, I wondered which bit of the ship they were going to run for $3,600 a day, he quips.

In the meantime stock prices have plunged with the market cap for some listed shipping companies falling to just a few million dollars.

Slater believes that as result of this many companies will go bankrupt and out of business, with Chapter 11 type bankruptcy restructuring no longer an option.

An example of this is Mercator Ltds, Singapore-listed dry bulk subsidiary Mercator Lines (Singapore) (MLS), which went under judicial management in January. On Tuesday Mercator announced it had sold its 66.17% stake in the bankrupt firm for a mere SGD3 ($2.20) the sellers assuming MLS debt.

What it is does signify is that the equity is gone, the equity values in the publicly traded stocks are virtually zero in my opinion. Theres no basis for them to having any real value if you mark the value of the ships to market, which you should do if they are not committed to long-term charters. That wipes out the equity and worse still triggers the loan-to-value issues at the banks, which is what is happening at Eagle (Bulk), Slater explains.

This week Eagle Bulk extended a forebearance and standstill agreement with its creditors until 23 February as it seeks to find a solution to its financial woes.

The banks that are still in this are very tough people, and thats what theyre proving be at Eagle, he adds.

Unlike three or four years ago Chapter 11 restructuring is not seen an option with the fees simply to high and the banks he believes will not accept such a situation either.

I dont see people being able to go to the bankruptcy court to try and save the business because if you then put the market value of the ships into play, you then deliver to a court a company that is clearly deficient in assets and therefore bankrupt. And the cashflow that is coming in doesnt meet the expenses.
The 56,000 dwt Hong Kong-flagged Ocean Carrier was stranded in waters off the Riau Islands last week before being towed to Sambu Island by two Indonesian navy vessels.

According to the ship's manifest, it was transporting iron ore from the UAE port of Fujairah, close to Iran to Yang Jian in China. We have checked the cargo and interrogated the crew members. We have also opened one of the ships hatches to check its content, TNI AL spokesperson Muhammad Zainuddin said. The ships hatch contained iron ore, in accordance with its manifest.Another sign is that the ships crew members were not wearing special radioactive waste-handling attire, Zainuddin added.

Apparently information leaked to the public had suggested that the ship was transporting uranium waste from Iran when it got stranded.

Head of the maritime security office for the western maritime zone Agung said that the cargo was now at Sambu Island port for further investigation. We confirmed that the information was not true. We have checked and found no uranium material, [...] only iron ore, Agung said. He added that the Nuclear Energy Regulatory Agency (Bapeten), the sea security agency (bakamla) and related institutions had worked hand in hand on the investigation so far.
Prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told the parliament on Wednesday that China has offered to help establish the ship repair facility, and subsequently placing Chinese engineers to work at the yard at least for five years, local media reported.

The Sri Lankan government should be open to the idea, according to Wickremesinghe.

The ongoing construction of Hambantota port is jointly funded by the Export-Import Bank of China and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA).

The port, designated as a tax-free port zone, would boast shipbuilding, ship repair, bunkering, and warehousing facilities.
Nimrat stuck by Rubina's side as she walked her to the mandap.

Bollywood actress Nimrat Kaur, who recently celebrated the success of her film Airlift, was up for another round of celebrations this week. Nimrat, along with her mother, family and friends gathered in Delhi to celebrate the nuptials of her younger sister Rubina with her long time love.

A few days ago, Nimrat took to her social networking handle to share pictures from her sisters Haldi ceremony. She sent out a short message that read: It's your big day my baby girl... to the best part of your life hereon.

And bride arrives #rubyvinitdavyah A video posted by neil malgaonkar (@neil_malgaonkar) on Feb 9, 2016 at 10:57pm PST

The wedding that was held according to Sikh traditions, saw the bride dressed up in a beautiful pink lehenga, while her famous bridesmaid wore a green Rimple & Harpreet Narula ensemble complete with a maang tika and jhumkas. Nimrat stuck by her sisters side as she walked her to the mandap.

Nimrat was also seen sitting with the bride throughout the ceremony and the celebrations that followed soon after. The guest have been sharing pictures from the reception with the hashtag #rubyvinitdavyah.
Ranveer recently took to his social networking handle to wish Deepika for her first day of shoot.

Ranveer Singh strikes again with his smouldering cuteness! We have learnt that the actor has flown to Toronto to be with his ladylove Deepika Padukone, for the Valentines weekend.

Also read: Ranveer Singh's wish to Deepika Padukone defines relationship goals

Ranveer, who is all set to begin work on his next YRF film Befikre, snuck out of Mumbai city, to be with Deepika on the Valentines day holiday. The actor was spotted by a fan, who claims that the Bollywood star was visiting the country to spend the weekend with his love who is busy shooting for xXx: The Return of Xander Cage with Vin Diesel.

Ranveer Singh photographed with a fan at the Toronto airport.

The actor recently took to his social networking handle to wish Deepika the best for her first day on the sets by posting a picture of a taxi with a xXx sticker. Ranveer, who is gaining popularity as Deepikas boyfriend, also went all out at a recent award function to sing praises of the actress and also wish her for her big debut.
Press Release

February 11, 2016 Opposing Abra politicians unite for Bongbong Marcos Opposing political leaders in Abra found a common ground when they decided to set aside their political differences and conflicting agenda by supporting the candidacy of Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos, Jr., who is running for vice president. Continuing his campaign that centers on national unity in the so-called Solid North, Marcos visited Bangued, Abra to meet and hold a dialogue with local political leaders and heads of various peoples organizations. Election in Abra is oftentimes hotly-contested and bloody between various political camps and many incidents of poll-related violence have been recorded in the province in the past few elections. It has been consistently been considered an election hotspot by the Commission of Elections. But political leaders, including from the clashing Valera and Bersamin families, agreed to come together at the Bangued Gymnasium to meet Marcos and express their full support. Provincial Board Member Brix Bachiller who acted as master of ceremonies told Marcos that local leaders coming from different political affiliations were eagerly awaiting for him to show their support for his candidacy. "Kasama rin po ang mga kandidato sa pagka-mayor, vice mayor at ibang posisyon galing sa magkakaibang panig. Kinalimutan po namin ang pulitika makita lang si Bongbong Marcos," he said. Buoyed by the show of support, Marcos expressed confidence that his campaign is gathering momentum to make the "Solid North" the bedrock of his advocacy for national unity. "Talagang napakainit ng pagsalubong at syempre nakakatuwa makita na mukhang mabubuo ulit ang Solid North at dito mag-start ang pagkakaisa," said Marcos in an ambush interview by local and national media. "Natutuwa ako na nakarating kami dito at nakasama natin lahat ng iba't-ibang kandidato. At ang magandang development dito ang magkabilang panig sa pulitika ay sumasama kaya very encouraging ang naging bisita dito sa Bangued," he added. In his message Marcos noted that since 1986 the Solid North has remained relatively dormant and had only showed signs of its latent force when Ilocanos backed his candidacy for the Senate in 2016. Marcos said its time the Solid North once again display the unity the Ilocano people are known for and show to the entire country what a united people can do, particularly in achieving the vision of a brighter future for all Filipinos. The Abra visit capped a two-day stump of three provinces in the North that began Tuesday when Marcos and running presidential mate Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago kicked off their campaign in Ilocos Norte and immediately followed by a sortie in Ilocos Sur.
Dinesh Vijan, who has produced super hit films, will now be helming the project with Homi Adajania stepping in as the producer.

Mumbai: If watching them sizzle in the first look of 'Raabta' wasn't enough, brace yourself as more pictures of Sushant Singh Rajput and Kriti Sanon will be coming your way. The smoking hot on-screen couple have begun shooting for the film.

Sushant shared a picture and wrote, "The story I'm obsessed with..the script that has seduced me 4 over 1 year..lets start #dinoo @kritisanon #maddock"

The story I'm obsessed with..the script that has seduced me 4 over 1 year..lets start #dinoo @kritisanon #maddock pic.twitter.com/k1J2uo61Oh  Sushant S Rajput (@itsSSR) February 11, 2016

It had been reported that Kriti spent all of January getting acquainted with the traits of her character. Sushant recently returned from Cape Town where he was working on the final schedule of his film Dhoni: The Untold Story.

Dinesh Vijan, who has produced super hit films like 'Love Aaj Kal', 'Cocktail', 'Badlapur', 'Go Goa Gone', will now be helming the project with Homi Adajania stepping in as the producer. Pritam has been roped in for the films' music and the costumes will be styled by costume designer Anaita Shroff Adajania.
Oakland Councilman Larry Reid is concerned about a plan to impose impact fees on new housing developments, saying the mechanism  used by many cities to generate money for affordable housing, transportation and infrastructure  would hurt his East Oakland district.

I dont want my district to be the district where all the affordable housing is thrust upon, Reid said at a meeting Tuesday. There needs to be some balance of where affordable housing gets built throughout this city.

City officials have worked for two years to calculate the fees, which would be levied on every new structure, from single-family homes to high-rise apartment buildings. The idea is to either prompt developers to include affordable housing in their projects or charge them a fee so that the city can build affordable housing.

Four council members  Lynette Gibson McElhaney, Annie Campbell Washington, Abel Guillen and Dan Kalb  introduced what they thought was a balanced strategy to phase the new fees in over two years. Their plan, presented Tuesday at the councils Community and Economic Development Committee, called for a graduated fee scale that would extract more money from projects in the citys downtown corridor, and less in the low-income areas of East and West Oakland.

To that end, the plan divides Oakland into three geographic zones. Developers in Zone 1  downtown, Uptown, Lake Merritt  would pay $7,000 per market-rate unit starting in September, increasing to $24,000 per unit by July 2018. The fee in Zone 2  which includes West Oakland and parts of North Oakland  would start at $5,550 per market-rate unit in September, increasing to $19,250 in July 2018.

There would initially be no fees imposed on any development in Zone 3, east of 23rd Avenue. The target fee for that area would be $13,000 in July 2019.

As I see it, the issue before us is not about a fee, its about how do we best address the housing crisis we now find ourselves in, said McElhaney, urging her colleagues to approve the plan and push it to the full council.

But Reid, who chairs the committee, took issue with the fees, saying they would impede development in his East Oakland district.

Whereas the citys Uptown and downtown areas are swarming with high-priced real estate and tech offices, East Oakland has the opposite problem, Reid said. His district has plenty of affordable housing projects in the pipeline, but its starved for market-rate projects.

Reid persuaded his colleagues to punt their impact fee proposal back to the citys Planning and Building Department, whose staff will deliver a revised version to the committee sometime in the next few weeks. He said he would support a plan that delayed impact fees for two years in East Oakland.

Campbell Washington told The Chronicle on Wednesday that she hopes the revised plan will closely resemble the one she and her colleagues presented at the committee meeting.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter:@rachelswan
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The head of San Franciscos police union joined a public spat Wednesday among city leaders who have been arguing over how to investigate police conduct.

Martin Halloran, president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association, sent an angry letter to District Attorney George Gascon refuting his recent public assertion that the union has tried to block such an investigation with a dizzying array of stonewalling tactics.

That accusation is a complete fabrication, Halloran huffed at Gascon in a letter he copied to nine other public figures, from Mayor Ed Lee to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

Gascon started the squabble on Jan. 28 with a two-page letter to Lee accusing the mayor of failing to support the district attorneys efforts to look into a wide array of areas concerning police conduct, including use of force, stop-and-search protocols, and internal discipline. In the letter, Gascon said that not only the police union, but also Police Chief Greg Suhr have been uncooperative.

On Wednesday, Halloran publicly disagreed.

Had you bothered to make even minimal factual inquiries, Halloran wrote Gascon, the district attorney would have learned that such an accusation was an ill-informed attack.

Gascons effort to investigate the police began in June when he formed a Blue Ribbon Panel on Transparency, Accountability and Fairness in Law Enforcement, expecting that it would receive city funding to look into thousands of police reports written by 14 officers accused of trading racist and homophobic text messages.

Gascons January letter angrily reminded the mayor that he had refused to fund the work. He praised Lee for asking the U.S. Department of Justice to look into police procedures after the fatal shooting of Mario Woods on Dec. 2, which drew public outcry when video of the confrontation surfaced. But Gascon said it wasnt certain that the federal government would step in, and that Lee and the police should have supported his panels efforts all along.

Halloran responded that the police union, at least, has cooperated with Gascons Blue Ribbon Panel and listed eight ways this was so. He identified, for example, several lawyer-to-lawyer meetings. And he said police had allowed the panels lawyers to ride along with some officers, and added that there have been dozens, if not hundreds, of calls and e-mails back and forth between representatives of the (union) over the last several months.

Hardly a dizzying array of stonewalling tactics, Halloran concluded, before adding one small footnote that acknowledged mildly contentious early exchanges with panel representatives.
These days, when I shop at flea markets, my main focus is the pursuit of my next article. I found a photo album of a family's trip through California, with the majority of images from the Golden Gate International Exposition that was held on man-made Treasure Island in 1939. According to a souvenir guide book that I also purchased at a local flea market, years ago, it was said to be the largest man-made island in the world, at one mile square. It sits in the middle of the San Francisco Bay. The booklet also stated that it cost about $65,000,000 to build the fair, which celebrated the completion of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge.

The general theme of the fair was a "Pageant of the Pacific," showcasing art and products from many nations that bordered the ocean. In addition to the Pacific influence, the modern style of architecture of the day was also blended in. The buildings had an Art Deco look to them. According to the San Francisco Public Library records, due to an economy that was still struggling to emerge from the Great Depression, it was not a financial success when it initially opened February 18 through October 29, 1939. It was re-opened for a second season May 25 through September 29, 1940.
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For years after its 1999 debut, the big-wave surf competition at legendary Mavericks north of Half Moon Bay was a Bay Area phenomenon. Organizers would announce the event at the last minute  when a good swell picked up  and thousands of people would skip work and flock to the coast to watch.

When they arrived, they would be confronted with a hard reality: They couldnt actually see much of the surfing, which was a half-mile off the beach. Still, they came.

But as the event  now called the Titans of Mavericks  returns Friday morning, the question is whether it remains a cultural sensation or merely a surf contest. This year, theres neither a gathering at the beach, a party at a nearby hotel parking lot nor a mass viewing at AT&T Park  options that were offered in past years.

Fans can watch a live stream of the 24 surfers attacking some of the worlds most dangerous waves  and a handful of local restaurants, bars and shops will broadcast the stream  but its unclear if the collective energy of the occasion has been lost.

Without that, it just doesnt seem worth it, said Paul Baker, a 55-year-old firefighter and recreational surfer from Brisbane, Australia, who was visiting the San Mateo County coast this week and thought about extending his trip to watch the competition. If I was going to stick around, I want to see it live.

Whims of the wild

Thats always been the dilemma of Mavericks. Baker and others know full well that the contest, which is generally announced just three days before its held, hinges on the whims of the wild and isnt run for spectators  but surfers.

The event coordinator, Los Angeles-based Cartel Management, could not be reached for comment Wednesday. But a consultant for the company said the prior venue for the live-viewing festival, the Oceano Hotel & Spa in Half Moon Bay, was not available on short notice this week.

With the contest date fluid and few other options along the undeveloped coast, the organizer is hoping fans will make a virtual pilgrimage to the live stream.

Is this event for the athletes or is it for the fans? asked Ken Skindog Collins, 48, of Santa Cruz, one of the two dozen surfers from around the world invited to participate in the elite competition.

While hed like his wife to watch him surf, he knows thats not the priority at Mavericks. Theyre trying to make the best contest possible, he said, not figure out how to have a great party.

The big-wave spot was never meant for the limelight. Not only is the break relatively far from the coast, but its also protected by the Pillar Point Air Force Station, which sits on a peninsula where public access is limited and the beach is nearly invisible. A small path is the only way to get there.

Thats why I couldnt get anybody to surf with me for 15 years, said Jeff Clark, one of the first to ride Mavericks 40 years ago, before it took on its current mystique. Theyre saying, I gotta paddle out a half mile off all those rocks out there. Youre out of your mind.

The geography, though, didnt dim interest among fans. Those wanting to catch a piece of the action rushed to tiny Pillar Point, where they parked a car wherever there was room and scattered over bluffs and beaches to catch a distant glimpse  often horrifying state and federal land managers charged with protecting sensitive wildlife.

Damage to vibrant coastal reefs and erosion-prone cliffs was reported. But things really changed in 2010, when more than a dozen unsuspecting spectators were overtaken by a giant wave that threw them against a rock and, in some cases, shattered bones.

The injuries prompted the coast to be shut down in subsequent years. On Friday, authorities will close roads to limit access to the beach, and San Mateo County sheriffs deputies will keep people from getting near the water or the bluffs.

The problems seaside arent the only ones to roil the waters of Mavericks.

Internal politics

The competition has seethed with internal politics, as promoters in the unconventional world of surfing have struggled to agree on leadership, find sponsors and pay the talent in the water. Disputes contributed to the cancellation of at least one contest  which already is threatened yearly by conditions that cant always accommodate the event.

The latest shake-up came in October when organizers announced that South Africas Grant Twiggy Baker, who has won two of the nine Mavericks competitions including the last one held in 2014, would be banned from this years contest for undisclosed reasons.

Some local residents said Wednesday they were fine with the increasingly offbeat status of Mavericks.

Kathy Hann, a 53-year-old math professor who lives in El Granada near the surf spot, said she was excited for the contest this year but couldnt care less about designated spots for visitors.

The locals never participated in that stuff anyway, she said. I'll probably head to one of the local haunts and watch it there.

Kale Williams and Kurtis Alexander are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. E-mail: kwilliams@sfchronicle.com, kalexander@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfkale @kurtisalexander

Titans of Mavericks

For more information on the contest and for access to the live stream, visit titansofmavericks.com.
A Yolo County resident who recently traveled outside of the United States has tested positive for the Zika virus, county officials said Wednesday.

The resident is believed to be the sixth Californian since 2013 diagnosed with the mosquito-borne illness linked to thousands of cases of microcephaly, a birth defect that causes babies to be born with an unusually small head. All of those diagnosed had traveled to one of about 20 countries where the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have reported infected mosquitoes, including Brazil, Mexico and Caribbean nations.
LONDON  Asahi Group Holdings of Japan has made a binding offer to buy the beer brands Peroni and Grolsch, as well as certain European operations of SABMiller, for $2.9 billion.

The deal, if consummated, would be the latest effort by Anheuser-Busch InBev to sell some parts of SABMiller as it seeks to persuade regulators to approve their nearly $103 billion merger.

SABMiller said Wednesday that the binding offer would apply to the brands and operations of Royal Dutch Grolsch, Birra Peroni, Miller Brands U.K., the Meantime Brewing Co. and SABMillers sales and marketing office in France. SABMiller bought Meantime in May. The deal would not include the rights for the Peroni and Grolsch brands in the United States; those rights belong to MillerCoors.

The combination of Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller would create a beer industry giant with annual revenue of about $64 billion and would give Anheuser-Busch InBev, already the worlds largest brewer, a substantial operation in Africa, where it has little presence, and greater dominance in Latin America.

In hopes of appeasing regulators, SABMiller has already agreed to sell its 59 percent stake in MillerCoors in the United States to its joint venture partner Molson Coors Brewing for about $12 billion. That deal includes the global rights to the Miller brand and would make Molson Coors the second-largest brewer in the United States, behind Anheuser-Busch InBev.

Both the MillerCoors and Asahi transactions would be contingent on regulators signing off on the larger deal.

We are pleased to have received this binding offer from Asahi on the Peroni, Grolsch and Meantime brands and businesses  iconic beer brands with long-standing heritage and leading positions in core markets, Carlos Brito, the Anheuser-Busch InBev chief executive, said in a news release.

Anheuser-Busch InBev has agreed to a period of exclusivity with Asahi on these brands and businesses while employee information and consultation processes are undertaken as part of a potential sale.

In December, Anheuser-Busch InBev said it was exploring the sale of several of SABMillers premium brands in Europe, including Peroni and Grolsch, in the hope of easing regulatory concerns.

Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller reached an agreement in principle on Oct. 13 to merge and completed their negotiations in November, with SABMillers board recommending that shareholders accept the deal.

In that deal, Anheuser-Busch InBev is offering to pay 44 pounds, or about $63.51, per share in cash for SABMiller.

Anheuser-Busch InBev has tackled similar regulatory issues before.

It was forced to restructure its $20.1 billion takeover of Grupo Modelo of Mexico in 2013 after the Justice Department sued to block the deal.

Among the concessions in that deal, Anheuser-Busch InBev agreed to sell the rights to Corona beer and other Grupo Modelo brands in the United States to Constellation Brands, one of the worlds largest wine companies, for $2.9 billion.
Despite facing currency headwinds that had a negative impact on profitability, Belimo Corp. released guidance Thursday touting strong revenue growth in the Americas.

Belimo, a Swiss company that has its North American headquarters located on Danburys west side, said sales in the U.S. and Latin America rose 9.7 percent for the year. While sales in Pacific and Asia for the company also increased by about 7.9 percent, continued weakness in western and eastern Europe resulted in a decline of nearly 1 percent in that region.

Total sales for 2015 were flat with the previous year at 493.3 million Swiss francs ($507 million) but up about 3.6 percent using local currencies, the company reported.

However, the company noted that the strong appreciation of the franc in the past 12 months had a negative impact on net income, which declined to around 56 million francs from 67.2 million francs in the last fiscal year. What percentage of that decline resulted from negative currency translations has yet to be reported by the company.

Switzerlands central bank shocked financial markets last January when it suddenly lifted the francs three-year old peg to the euro, which sent the Swiss currency soaring. A strong franc hurts exporters, who make up 70 percent of national growth.

2015 was a very challenging year for the Swiss economy, Belimo stated in a statement.

John Coppola, vice president of finance and administration for the Americas, said Thursday he expects the company will have another banner year of sales in the region during the current fiscal year. Sales in January, he said, were already up by double digits in the Americas over the previous period.

Belimo continues to be a very strong company with a solid cash position, he said, adding that the growth is due in part to the hard work of the employees in the Americas. Everyone did a great job to help make this happen.

Belimo, a privately held company that produces actuator solutions and valve systems for heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems, constructed a new Americas headquarters in Danbury that was completed two years ago and includes more than 200,000 square feet of manufacturing and warehousing space as well a state-of-the-art Automated Storage and Retrieval System for more efficiency production and inventory controls.

The company is expected to issue its full financial report for the past fiscal year on March 21.

dperrefort@newstimes.com
A group of Chinese investors sees $1.2 billion worth of potential in the worlds sixth-place Internet browser.

The group, which includes a Chinese private equity firm and two upstart technology companies, said Wednesday that it had offered to acquire the Norwegian company behind the Opera Web browser. The deal would give the buyers a name that has faded amid intense competition from Googles Chrome and other browsers but still has a following in the developing world.

The offer is the latest effort by Chinese technology companies to look abroad. One of the partners behind the Opera bid, the mobile-game maker Beijing Kunlun Tech, acquired a 60 percent stake in Grindr, valuing that social networking app for gay men at $155 million. Chinese tech giants like Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings have also made purchases outside their home market in recent years to expand their reach.

Opera, developed in the 1990s, gained prominence a decade ago with a browser designed specifically for mobile phones that used compression technology to speed downloads. But others have caught up, and Opera  with a 5.5 percent market share  is now sixth behind Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer, Firefox and Alibabas UCWeb, according to the Internet metrics firm StatCounter.

Opera has pockets of strength in some fast-growing Internet markets. It is the top browser in Africa, according to StatCounter, and it is the third-most-popular in Russia and India.

Retail

Sales may

slow down

The National Retail Federation is forecasting retail spending growth of 3.1 percent in 2016, a slowdown from the groups annual estimate a year ago.

The nations largest retail trade industry group says the increase would top the 10-year average of growth of 2.7 percent. Online, mobile and catalog sales are expected to fuel the rise, with growth of about 6 to 9 percent.

There are a lot of positives in the economy, said the groups CEO, Matthew Shay. But he noted that economic volatility could make people feel uncertain about the future, and inhibit spending.

The groups annual estimate includes discounters, department stores and grocery stores, but excludes sales at automotive dealers, gas stations and restaurants.

Restaurants

Burger King

to be a top dog?

Burger King is looking for a new crown: Hot Dog King.

The Miami chain says it plans to put hot dogs on its menu nationally for the first time Feb. 23. It may seem like a jarring addition for those who know the chain for its Whoppers. But Burger King says its ability to flame-grill meat makes hot dogs a natural fit on its menu.

This is probably the most obvious product launch ever, said Alex Macedo, president of Burger King North America.

Burger King says it will offer hot dogs at all 7,100 U.S. restaurants  more than any other chain. Smaller chains that sell hot dogs include Dairy Queen and Sonic.

Economy

Rate hikes

might slow

The widening fallout from global economic woes may compel the Federal Reserve to slow the pace of future rate hikes, but it doesnt see any immediate need to reverse course and lower rates, Chairwoman Janet Yellen told lawmakers Wednesday.

In her semiannual report to Congress, Yellen flagged Chinas weaker currency and economic outlook, which is rattling global financial markets. She also expressed concerns that rising borrowing rates and a strong dollar could weigh on U.S. growth and hiring, a reflection of this years turmoil in financial markets.

Yet she also noted that strong hiring at the end of last year and signs of better wage growth could offset those drags.

Chronicle News Services
Mumbai: After his recent comments on intolerance kicked up a storm, filmmaker Karan Johar today said he would prefer to keep mum to avoid any further controversy.

Hinting at it at the trailer launch of his upcoming home production 'Kapoor And Sons', the 43-year-old director said, "I will keep shut or else I will invariably land in trouble."

Wading into the intolerance debate, Johar during the Jaipur Literature Festival last month had said, "We are in a tough country and to speak about ones personal life in todays time can land you in jail. I feel bound on every level, be it what I put out on celluloid or what I say in print. I feel like there is always some kind of a legal notice awaiting me everywhere I go. Ive become some kind of an FIR king."

He had further said, "Look what happened as a result of anyone who said anything on intolerance. I make movies, I'm fighting megalomaniac movie stars everyday. Do I need to fight the governance? We're fighting the censor with every film. You write anything, you can't say anything. How are we democratic then?"

On work front, the director said that he wants to act more but no offer has come his way after his "disastrous debut" in 'Bombay Velvet'. In Anurag Kashyap's directorial venture, Karan played the role of a villain. He said, "No one has offered me any film after 'Bombay Velvet'. It was such a disastrous debut that I did not get any single offer."

The 43-year-old producer-director has expressed his desire to do supporting roles. "I am dying... Waiting for someone to offer me something. No one is going to offer me a lead role, I am waiting for good supporting roles to come my way. Even Shakun Batra (director) did not cast me for 'Kapoor And Sons'," he added.

On a serious note, the filmmaker wished a speedy recover for Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppa, who was rescued alive six days after being buried under tonnes of ice in Siachen Glacier and is currently in a critical state at an

Army hospital in New Delhi.

"I was not here... I heard ...read about it (Hanamanthappa case). It is exceptionally unfortunate. It is heart breaking. My mother told me about it (the case)...like everyone I too wish for his speedy recovery. It is truly heart breaking and saddening," he added.
NEW YORK  Panera wants to eliminate one of the biggest scourges of eating out  bungled orders.

The devil, as they say, is in the details, particularly when it comes to all the adjustments people want for the sandwiches and salads that are staples on its menu.

And the substitutions, additions and subtractions people are asking for are increasing as Panera works to give people more ways to order.

Panera launched a campaign almost two years ago to modernize its operations.

At locations that have undergone the transformation, customers can now order anywhere, whether at work, on the way to Panera, or even sitting at a table in the restaurant, where you can have food delivered to your table after placing an order by phone.

There are signs the overhaul is working. Sales in the most recent quarter rose 3.6 percent at company-owned restaurants, Panera said this week. And in the current quarter, sales are up 6.4 percent, which Panera says is a testament to its digital transformation.

Blaine Hurst, chief transformation and growth officer at Panera Bread Co., recently explained Paneras strategy.

Q: In restaurants that have undergone the transformation, you mentioned employees have to press a button on their work stations to confirm if an order was modified.

A: There are two buttons. They say Mod or No mod.

It also used to just say Bacon Turkey Bravo, add onions on the order screen.

Now, we list the full ingredients in the sequence theyre supposed to be assembled.

We list the ingredients, then strike through anything thats supposed to be omitted in red. If you add something, it will be in green. And if its a substitution, its in yellow.

Q: What other new checks are in place?

A: When I hand it to that quality control person behind the counter, they ask, Bacon Turkey Bravo, extra onion, right? So there is verbal confirmation of every change.

That chatter is very valuable.

Nobody is intentionally making sandwiches wrong. Its just people get in a hurry. Confirmation back and forth is huge.

Q: And theres another check after the order is assembled?

A: The expediter on the other side of the counter is once again confirming that everything in that order is correct. Theyre taking the chit for that order, checking off the individual items, then putting their signature on it.

Q: Could all the extra checks slow things down?

A: It actually turns out this is faster. This is Manufacturing 101.

By decreasing the error rate, you actually increase the speed of the line.

If youre dining in and your order gets messed up, what do you do? You walk up to the counter and say You guys made my salad wrong. Can you remake it?

Now I have an order that has to go back through the lines. It messes up the flow.

Q: What else are you doing?

A: Were looking at what happens when something goes wrong. So if I mis-make your order, and I say, All right, Ill just take the onions off. Your experience just sucked.

On the other hand, if I say, I am so sorry, can I remake this order? You go sit down, have a cup of coffee on me. Would you like a dessert?

You went from pretty angry to, Theyre humans. They made a mistake but they took care of me.

Q: So if Panera gets my order wrong, I get a free coffee?

A: No, but if we get your order wrong on a Rapid Pickup order, well give you a free dessert. Theres a sign in our cafes that say that.

This is almost an incentive to get you to check your order before you leave.

Its also a reminder to our associates, because we really dont want them giving away a lot of free cookies.
The fourth generation Toyota Prius for 2016 is even better in nearly every way imaginable, moving from pioneer status to that of Hybrid icon. The claimed EPA mileage estimates are 58 mpg city, 53 mpg highway, and 53 mpg combined for the new Prius II Eco, which can be bested with only a minimal amount of effort and focus, but given the way most Prius owners really drive their cars, the actual mileage will probably fall considerably short of the Prius potential for economy.

The new Prius lineup comes in six levels of trim or grades: Prius Two represents the base level, with a new Prius Two Eco option; followed by the mid-range PriusThree, with a Prius Three Touring option; and finally, there is a premium grade Prius Four, which also offers a Prius Four Touring option.

CHECK CAR PRICES:

All new Prius models feature the same basic powertrain based on Toyotas New Global Architecture. The powertrain consists of a 2ZR-FXE 1.8-liter Atkinson Cycle, DOHC, 16-valve VVT-I four-cylinder gas engine, with a Motor Generator Two  Permanent Magnet Synchronous Electric Motor  Max Voltage  DC600V with 71 hp/53 kW and 120 pound feet of torque. The Hybrid Battery Pack - NIckel-Metal Hydride DC201.6V (168 x 1.2V cells) or Lithium-Ion  DC207.2V (56 cells) delivers 95 horsepower at 5,200 rpm along with 105 pound feet of torque at 3,600 rpm. The Hybrid Systems Net horsepower is 121. Engines and motors are mounted up front In a transverse orientation, driving the front wheels through an Electronically Controlled Variable Transmission.

In terms of its exterior appearance, the new Toyota Prius still presents a familiar form, but now displays a strikingly dramatic and more emotional design that is considerably more refined, and aerodynamics are improved, with a 0.24 coefficient of drag. In other words, Prius is now longer and wider, and is a really good looking vehicle, with a slippery profile in all of its trim levels.

The new Prius delivers a premium interior debuting advanced technology complemented by functional features that are fun and visually appealing. The wrap-around dash design, form-hugging seats, ease of controls and enhanced visibility combine to make this latest iteration Prius a highly engaging automobile. The new interior is much quieter than the previous model, with improved NVH.

SUMMARY: With this fourth generation Prius, Toyota continues its quest for optimum fuel economy, and by 2020, the goal is to have a hybrid option for every Toyota model.

This latest example of Prius development continues to manage the intelligent evolvement to an ever better and more ecologically friendly vehicle, with increased sustainable mobility. The new Prius models perform well on the highway or in the inner city, while delivering a comfortable ride with admirable handling characteristics from the perspective of both genders.

To effectively put the new Prius through its paces and to demonstrate safety technology, three venues were set up at the old El Toro Marine air base in southern California. The first exercise showcased the Pre-Collision System with Pedestrian Detection, the second demonstration focused on handling characteristics and ride quality on a challenging autocross course comparing the 2016 Prius with the 2015 Prius. The third venue allowed experiencing Toyotas Dynamic Radar Cruise Control.

In the final analysis, the 2016 Toyota Prius in its various grades is an attractive and practical Hybrid liftback that exhibits Prius DNA, but in a much more appealing package. It also delivers sportier handling traits, while providing a comfortable and stable ride. The new Prius is also a functional and versatile hybrid vehicle thats suitable for grocery getting or long haul excursions.

 Auto Impressions

2016 Toyota Prius II

Eco Hybrid Liftback

Base price: $24,700

Price as tested: $25,600

Engine/transmission:

1.8-liter, 2ZR-FXE DOHC 16-valve VVT-i, 4-cylinder

Wheelbase: 106.3 inches

Length: 178.7 inches

Width: 69.3 inches

Height: 58.1 inches

Curb weight: 3,010 pounds

Fuel capacity: 11.3 gallons

Fuel consumption: 58 mpg city/53 mpg highway
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An off-duty Richmond police officer was shot and killed in his Vallejo home early Thursday by the father of his 6-year-old grandson, who then fled with the boy and was arrested a short time later in Fairfield, authorities said.

The slain officer was identified as Augustine Gus Vegas, 58, a 15-year veteran of the department and an investigator in homicide and property crime cases. He was shot multiple times around 4:30 a.m. inside his home on Narragansett Court near Cliff Walk Drive and died at the scene.

The alleged gunman, identified as Robert Vega, 30, of Fairfield, was arrested without incident outside an undisclosed residence in Fairfield, about 15 miles from the site of the shooting. The boy was unharmed and taken into protective custody, authorities said.

The childs mother, one of Vegas biological daughters, was not identified. It was unclear if she was in the house during the shooting.

Vallejo and Richmond police said the motive and the circumstances for the shooting were under investigation, but one official called it the result of a domestic dispute. It was not immediately known who else was inside the home when the shooting happened, but no one else was injured, police said.

Somber leaders of the Vallejo and Richmond police departments held a news conference in Vallejo, where officers stood quietly with ashen faces and black tape on their badges.

Officer well liked

We are stunned and saddened, said Richmond interim Police Chief Allwyn Brown. Gus was very likable, always pleasant and good-natured. I never saw him have a bad day or a bad mood. Its a tough loss.

He was engaging and interactive with the community and with young people. He was a likable and lovable guy, Brown said.

Richmond police Capt. Mark Gagan, who worked daily with Vegas, said the shooting was the result of a domestic dispute.

When someone like Gus gets killed, something is wrong, Gagan said. He was always about giving back. As a homicide investigator, he brought a lot of healing and closure to families he dealt with. The dynamics of domestic violence need to be addressed.

Police academy grads

Both the victim and the suspect shared a common law enforcement experience  they were both graduates of the police academy at Napa Valley College. Vegas graduated from the colleges Criminal Justice Training Center in 1990, and Vega graduated in 2011, officials at the school said.

The suspects law enforcement career after his graduation was not immediately known. Interim Chief Brown said Vega had not been a Richmond officer and that he was not aware of any other police department that Vega might have worked for.

Napa Valley College President Ron Kraft said the college was saddened by the loss of one of our former students, and that the colleges thoughts are with the family and friends of the Vegas family.

At Richmond police headquarters, officers lowered the flag to half staff and gathered quietly in groups to mourn their colleague and friend.

Richmond Mayor Tom Butt praised Vallejo police for their swift response to the shooting and called Vegas a kind, valued and respected officer. He said the city was committed to seeking justice for this tragic loss of life.

During the shooting, an unknown number of Vegas family members were inside the home, officers said. Vegas was a foster parent and involved with the Foster Greatness organization  which was founded five years ago by his wife, Sandra.

Crime-scene tape blocked off Narragansett Court in a quiet residential community as several detectives and police officers were going in and out of Vegas home.

Around 2 p.m., Vegas flag-draped body was removed from the home while three dozen Vallejo and Richmond officers stood and saluted. A procession of police cars and motorcycles accompanied the coroners van to the Solano County morgue in Fairfield.

Irene Estepa, 18, who lives nearby, said she knew Vegas and his family well. Estepa said the officer lived at the home with his wife and a teenage daughter, with whom she goes to high school.

Highly regarded family

Its shocking. Theyre a good family. They do wonderful things for our community, theyre a wonderful family to be around, Estepa said, noting how the family has provided a home to multiple foster children.

A woman named Valerie, who declined to provide her last name, said the neighborhood was generally quiet.

Things like this just dont happen here, she said.

Stefan Kusmierski, a 44-year-old neighbor, said he happened to be smoking a cigarette on his front porch around 4:30 a.m., but didnt see or hear anything at the house. Kusmierski, who lives around 50 yards from Vegas home, said it was really quiet when he was outside. Later, when he went to bed, he heard a stream of sirens in the area.

Kusmierski would often see the family members who live in the home and had once loaned them his ladder so they could hang Christmas decorations.

Evan Sernoffsky, Hamed Aleaziz and Steve Rubenstein are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. E-mail: haleaziz@sfchronicle.com, esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com, srubenstein@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky, @haleaziz
The San Francisco Police Department is seeking to equip about 5 percent of the department with stun guns under a revised policy proposed Wednesday by Chief Greg Suhr in the aftermath of the recorded killing of Mario Woods in the Bayview neighborhood.

At a meeting of the city Police Commission, Suhr reignited a years-long debate in the city over the less-lethal weapons, proposing to give stun guns to officers assigned to the tactical company or specialist team. Under the proposal, officers may use the device only to protect the public and officers from serious injury or death by a subject armed with a weapon other than a firearm.

Members of the public packed the room at that same meeting to speak out against the devices, accusing the department of using the Woods shooting as a way to get approval for a weapon that has been repeatedly opposed by community members.

The proposal comes two months after the fatal shooting of Woods, a 26-year-old man who police said posed a threat because he was armed with a knife allegedly used in an earlier stabbing. Suhr has said the officers who shot Woods did their best after trying and failing to subdue him by shooting him with beanbag rounds and using pepper spray on him.

Psychiatric issues

But Woods family said he had psychiatric issues, and the shooting drew wide outrage after video revealed that Woods was shuffling slowly along a wall  and not appearing to directly threaten officers  when five of them opened fire.

Following the shooting, many city and community leaders called for reform in how officers use force. The review of the departments policies is part of a series of changes Suhr and other city officials have proposed in the wake of the Dec. 2 incident.

The departments current policy, which lays out for officers when and how to use their pepper spray, batons and firearms, has been bolstered by a series of bulletins issued by Suhr in the past few years encouraging de-escalation and creating time and space when a subject is considered a threat only to him or herself.

Shortly after the Woods shooting, Suhr issued a bulletin requiring officers to file a use-of-force report whenever they point their gun at a person.

The last resort

While the policy proposed Wednesday includes equipping officers with stun guns, it also puts more of an emphasis on proportionality and doing whatever is possible so that lethal force is a last resort, signaling an effort to shift the cultural mind-set of the department.

Where the policy once called just for officers to accomplish the police mission as effectively as possible with the highest regard for the dignity of all persons and with minimal reliance upon the use of physical force, the new draft highlights the departments commitment to the sanctity and preservation of all human life, human rights, and human dignity.

The draft calls for thoughtful communication and de-escalation, as well as a duty to intervene if officers reasonably believe another officer is about to use or is using excessive force.

The proposed policy on stun guns would prohibit officers from using the weapon on an unarmed subject, or on a subject who is a danger only to him or herself, women who are pregnant, the visibly frail, children, a fleeing subject or a subject who is passively resisting.

The stun gun proposal also calls for officers to take special consideration if a subject is exhibiting symptoms of an altered mental state, as those subjects may be more susceptible to collateral problems  meaning that, in the case of Mario Woods, whose family believes was in mental distress, stun guns may not have been used.

Suhr and members of the police officers union have said repeatedly that they believe Woods would still be alive if officers at the scene that day had been equipped with stun guns, generally referred to by the most common brand, Tasers.

Based on what we know, if our officers had Tasers on the night of the Bayview shooting, that incident would likely have ended without the loss of a human life, Martin Halloran, president of the Police Officers Association, said in a statement Wednesday. Our constituents have been asking us to make Tasers available to all police officers in San Francisco. Its time for City Hall to change its policy.

We need them here

The union called for all officers trained in crisis intervention to be equipped with stun guns, which would amount to more than 25 percent of the department rather than Suhrs proposed 5 percent. Halloran said Tasers are standard equipment in other cities, and we need them here  now.

Though Mayor Ed Lee supports Tasers, police chiefs who have tried to bring the devices to the San Francisco force have repeatedly been rebuffed by critics who say the devices are dangerous and ripe for abuse.

Suhr sought to bring Tasers to the department after the 2012 fatal shooting of Pralith Pralourng, a man believed to be suffering from a psychiatric episode when he allegedly slashed a co-worker at the Tcho chocolate factory with a box cutter.

At Wednesdays meeting, community members said better training and more compassion were needed, not a new device. They said the devices still have the capacity to kill, despite being less lethal than guns.

How disingenuous it is to look at the killing of Mario Woods as somehow related to the lack of Tasers, said Andrea Pritchett, a member of Berkeley Copwatch. That is not what killed that man. What killed that man was an incredible lack of sensitivity to the value of black life. That is what killed him.

Feds to review SFPD

Last week, officials with the U.S. Department of Justices community-policing office announced that they would be entering into a collaborative review of San Francisco police to ensure that city officers were employing the best practices in policing. Commission President Suzy Loftus said the draft policy will be reviewed by the federal agency before it will be passed.

Any department plans to equip officers with stun guns will have to be approved by the Police Commission. Loftus said the commission will be seeking community input on the issue before voting, and the overall use-of-force policy will be discussed by a working group of stakeholders similar to the group that reviewed the policy proposals for body camera use policy proposal.

Loftus said she hoped to have something to vote on by early April, but that it was at the discretion of the Department of Justice.

Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: vho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VivianHo
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A North Bay slaughterhouse owner who admitted ordering the sale of meat from ailing and uninspected cattle  leading to a nationwide recall of 8.7 million pounds of beef and veal products in 2014  was sentenced Wednesday to a year in federal prison.

Jesse Amaral, 78, of Petaluma, former president of Rancho Feeding Corp., pleaded guilty a year ago to conspiracy to distribute adulterated and misbranded meat. Robert Singleton, owner of Rancho Veal Corp., which purchased cattle for the Petaluma slaughterhouse, and two slaughterhouse employees have also pleaded guilty and await sentencing in March.

Amaral admitted ordering employees between 2012 and January 2014 to process cattle that had been condemned by a government veterinarian  meaning they were unfit for human consumption  and to avoid full inspection of cattle suffering from epitherlioma, or eye cancer.

Prosecutors said he told the employees to deceive inspectors by putting the heads of cows that had been healthy next to the carcasses of decapitated cows that had eye cancer. He also directed employees to use carvers to remove condemned stamps from cattle carcasses, prosecutors said. Amaral also admitted sending fraudulent invoices to cattle farmers telling them their cattle had died or had been condemned rather than slaughtered and sold.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture ordered the recall and closed the slaughterhouse after learning that Rancho Feeding Corp. employees had processed and sold meat from 101 condemned cattle and another 79 that had suffered cancer, prosecutors said.

There have been no reports of illnesses among consumers, said Amarals lawyer, Michael Dias. He said the meat, though not properly inspected, was not a public risk.

Federal prosecutors sought a five-year prison sentence. In imposing the one-year term, followed by a year in a halfway house, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer cited the health of Amaral, who has had several heart attacks and recently underwent cancer surgery.

Dias, who had requested probation or house arrest for Amaral, said it was a fair sentence. He said Amaral has liquidated his assets to pay restitution to his victims, an amount he said was confidential.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko
Mumbai: The eagerly-awaited super-hero film Deadpool which has been banned in China for its excessive gore and sex, has miraculously escaped censorial wrath in India. It has been passed with an A certificate. But hang on.

Before you break into a joyous jig, here is the rider. Or rather, many riders. Most of the colourful language where characters refer to various unmentionable body parts and their functions in an abusive manner, are gone. Fair enough. If we cant have abusive language in Hindi films, there cant be any in their Hollywood counterparts.

But heres where the battle between Bollywood and Hollywood gets curious. Among various references to c*cks and c*nts , the formal proper allusion to the female reproductive organ  and I am referring to the vagina  and the male testicle have also been deleted by the CBFC.

Now I ask, what does one call a vagina and a testicle, if not a vagina and a testicle? And a play called Vagina Monologues has been regaling Mumbai and other metroes for years now!

The deletion of other cuts, like a prolonged love-making sequence (which has been seriously reducedseriously!), a performance at a striptease club (where the bare bodies have been reduced in quantity), a head being blown off during a case sequence,or a hand being chopped off are in my opinion, fine. We can live without those. And these cuts make no difference to the film.

But how do we explain the deletion of a shot showing a womanerrrtouching herself in a poster on the wall? Does this mean women cant behave improperly even in images encrypted into the images in the script? Its like ordering men and women in rural Indian to not defecate while a train full of urban Indians speeds by.
JACKSON, Miss.  Abortion opponents in Mississippi, West Virginia and several other states are filing bills to ban an abortion procedure commonly used in the second trimester that opponents describe as dismembering a fetus.

Courts have already blocked similar laws that Kansas and Oklahoma enacted in 2015.

The Center for Reproductive Rights, which represents abortion providers in legal fights, says banning the dilation and evacuation method of abortion  commonly called D&E  is unconstitutional because it interferes with private medical decisions.

Laws like these are an attack on womens health, personal autonomy, and the doctor-patient relationship, and they have the potential to force physicians to subject women seeking safe and legal abortion services in the second trimester to additional invasive and unnecessary procedures, Kelly Baden, the centers director of state advocacy, said in a letter to West Virginia lawmakers.

Baden said dilation and evacuation is the safest method for the second trimester and is used for about 95 percent of all second-trimester abortions in the U.S.

The Mississippi bill uses language provided by the National Right to Life Committee. It would prohibit any abortion that would involve extracting a live fetus in pieces from the uterus using instruments like clamps and forceps, calling that procedure a dismemberment abortion.

Mary Balch, director of state legislation for the antiabortion group, said the proposals would not ban all dilation and evacuation abortions. The law would still allow abortions in which the fetus is dead before it is extracted, which she said do not pose any greater health risk to the woman.

The Center for Reproductive Rights says it is not always medically necessary to induce fetal death before starting an abortion, and its never required before 18 weeks, when most women would be seeking abortions. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says there is no evidence that inducing fetal death makes second-trimester abortions safer.

If proposals such as those in Mississippi become law, the center said a woman seeking a D&E abortion would have to have an injection to the fetus to stop its development before the procedure.

Similar bills are also being filed in Idaho, Missouri, Minnesota and Nebraska, Balch said. Others are expected in Kentucky, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island and South Carolina.
SALT LAKE CITY  A Utah committee of all-male lawmakers voted to keep the sales tax on tampons and other feminine hygiene products despite an international push to remove it.

Members of a taxation committee on Wednesday evening voted 8-3 against removing the tax, saying subjective variations on exemptions can make the tax system less predictable. The Utah proposal also called for making adult incontinence products and childrens diapers tax free.

Governments that make money this way penalize women for their biology, some say. Pennsylvania and Minnesota are among states that have eliminated these taxes. A handful of other states, including California, have seen similar proposals brought before their legislatures this year. In Wisconsin, a Democratic lawmaker has proposed providing free tampons in all public buildings.

Last year, Canada removed taxes on feminine hygiene products after receiving unanimous political support. For almost two decades, Britain set the tax on sanitary products at 5 percent, the lowest-possible level, and leaders there have considered doing away with the tax entirely.

Most states dont tax prescription drugs or food, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Utah keeps with the trend when it comes to medication, but it still taxes most groceries.

Feminine hygiene products should be considered necessities  like medicine and food  not luxuries, said Stephanie Pitcher with the Utah Womens Coalition.

Having a period is not a choice for women, Pitcher said.

President Obama said last month that he had no idea why feminine hygiene products were taxed.
1 Slavery apology: Gov. Jack Markell signed a resolution Wednesday apologizing for Delawares role in slavery and wrongs committed against blacks during the Jim Crow era. Calling slavery an egregious sin. Along with signing the resolution, which was passed by state lawmakers last month, Markell presented a proclamation recognizing African American History Month. He also joined Delaware State University Harry Williams in unveiling an exhibit at the state archives commemorating the 125th anniversary of historically black school.

2 Police shooting: Two Kentucky police officers who opened fired at a robbery suspect and killed him have been cleared of wrongdoing by a prosecutor. Commonwealth Attorney Tom Wine said Officers Dwight Taylor and Torray Walker would not face any charges in the death of Roger D. Hall Jr. in Jeffersontown. In October, Hall was shot to death after police said he defied their orders to show his hands. Police suspected Hall, who was white, had just attempted to rob a man. Witnesses reported that Hall was armed with a gun. Police cornered Hall in a Holiday Inn parking lot. When he reached inside his hoodies pocket, the officers, who are black, opened fire. Two of Tylers bullets struck Hall, who was found with a BB gun.
EL CAJON, San Diego County  Free Pregnancy Testing, reads the large sign in front of the East County Pregnancy Care Clinic, on a busy intersection of this impoverished city east of San Diego.

Inside the clinic, a woman will not only get a free pregnancy test, but she will also see a counselor to discuss her options. She will see models of fetuses at early stages of development, which show that at week 12, you see a recognizable human, said Josh McClure, executive director of the clinic. If she is pregnant, she can get a free ultrasound and attend childbirth classes. If she gives birth, she may receive help with diapers and a car seat.

What she will not get from this center is advice on where to obtain an abortion.

The clinic is one of more than 3,000 crisis pregnancy centers around the country that are operated by religious opponents of abortion, with the heartfelt aim of persuading women to choose parenting or adoption. Now it and others in California are in a First Amendment battle with the state over a new law that requires them to post a notice that free or low-cost abortion, contraception and prenatal care are available to low-income women through public programs, and to provide the phone number to call.

The clinics argue that the law, which took effect in January, flagrantly violates their rights of free speech, and it appears that many of the dozens of licensed pregnancy centers in California are not yet complying.

I dont want to put up a sign telling you where you can go for an abortion, said McClure, whose clinic is a plaintiff in one of several legal challenges. The sign is not up here now because its unconstitutional.

Many states are passing restrictions that could force abortion clinics to close, a tactic under scrutiny in a major Supreme Court case to be argued next month. Here in California, it is the abortion opponents who are seeking to block a law  one adopted by a liberal state government to offset what officials call the misleading advice dispensed by pregnancy centers.

Abortion-rights advocates have long accused the centers of luring women in without revealing their bias, then providing false accounts of medical and emotional risks of abortion, among other tactics, to steer them away from the procedure. But the Constitutions high bar for interfering with free speech has largely protected the centers from regulation.

Previous efforts in New York City and a few other places to require them to state, up front, that they do not provide abortion referrals and make other disclosures have been largely struck down by federal courts.

So far, Californias law has fared better, with three federal district courts and one state court refusing to block it as the cases proceed toward trial. Officials say their law is written to comply with the First Amendment because it does not force the centers to say anything about their beliefs. Rather, it requires licensed centers to prominently post, or hand out, factual notices about public programs.

According to NARAL Pro-Choice California, whose investigation of pregnancy centers was cited by legislators, around 170 to 200 such centers are operating in California. At least 70 are licensed, meaning they are under the supervision of a physician and employ nurses and volunteer counselors.

The rest are unlicensed. In a twist of First Amendment law, it is harder to justify regulating their speech than it is to oversee the statements of state-sanctioned professionals. So the law simply requires these centers to post that they are not licensed.

On Jan. 28, in the third such effort in a federal court, a lawyer from Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal group that is representing the El Cajon clinic and others, argued in San Diego for a preliminary injunction.

In the 90-minute hearing, Matt Bowman, a lawyer for the conservative group, argued that the law imposes an onerous and unconstitutional burden. Youve got to give women information about abortion even though the reason you exist is to give them alternatives to abortion, he said, arguing against the mandate.

Anthony Hakl, a deputy attorney general, replied that the interest of the state is compelling  that is to ensure womens access to a complete range of reproductive health services.

On Tuesday, Judge John Houston, who in the hearing had suggested that the notices may be essential to an informed decision, became the third federal judge to refuse to grant the preliminary injunction requested by the pregnancy centers. In the previous two cases, the federal appeals court had also refused to block the law.

McClure denied that the center in El Cajon tries to mislead anyone, saying it provides honest information that allows women to make their own decisions.

The clinic was established by evangelical churches in 1993; its annual budget, close to $300,000 in 2014, is met with donations from churches, individuals and businesses.

In 2015, McClure said, the clinic served 674 clients  32 percent white, 29 percent Hispanic, 12 percent African American and 15 percent Arabic, drawn from the population of Iraqi and Chaldean refugees in El Cajon. Close to half were unmarried.

The court battles appear likely to continue over the next year. The legal groups representing the centers, which also include the Pacific Justice Institute and the American Center for Law and Justice, vow to pursue the issue to the Supreme Court.
OKATIE, S.C.  The best hope of the Republican establishment just a week ago, Marco Rubio suddenly faces a path to his partys presidential nomination that could require a brokered national convention.

Thats according to Rubios campaign manager, Terry Sullivan, who said this weeks disappointing performance in New Hampshire will extend the Republican nomination fight for another three months, if not longer. Its a worst-case scenario for Rubio and many Republican officials alike who hoped to avoid a prolonged and painful nomination fight in 2016.

We very easily could be looking at May  or the convention, Sullivan said as Rubios charter jet traveled from New Hampshire to South Carolina this week. I would be surprised if its not May or the convention.

The public embrace of a possible brokered convention marks a sharp shift in rhetoric from Rubios top adviser that could be designed to raise alarm bells among Republican officials. Yet days after a disappointing fifth-place finish in New Hampshire and looking up at Donald Trump in next-up South Carolina, Rubios presidential ambitions are facing growing odds.

After this week I feel 55, the 44-year-old senator joked as he courted voters at an Okatie elderly community Thursday.

The joke aside, the first-term Florida senator discussed his political challenges at length during an unusual 45-minute question-and-answer session with reporters aboard his campaign plane the day before. He answered questions until there werent any more, noting afterward that he hadnt held a session that long with reporters since his days as Floridas House speaker.

In remarks that were at times personal and others defiant, he also may have simply needed to talk it out to help process his predicament. It also seemed he needed to prove to the political world, himself and his family that he could face the biggest test of his young presidential bid.

As he shifts his attention to South Carolinas Feb. 20 contest, Rubio wants voters to know hes learned an important lesson from his experience in New Hampshire. Instead of trying to avoid attacking his GOP rivals on the debate stage, Rubio said hes now prepared to fight back when necessary  particularly with his partys front-runner Donald Trump.
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The North Houston Veterinary Specialty and Emergency Willowbrook Hospital is the first animal hospital in the Houston area to accept blood donations for pets.

Typically, smaller clinics that perform surgical procedures on pets might order blood from an outside source. But having a blood supply on hand for dogs and cats eliminates the middle man and provides those clinics with an available and convenient blood supply.

The animal hospital recently hosted a blood drive.

"I think a lot of people are unaware this (pet blood donation) exists. Everyone who has been here today has said they had no idea that animals could donate blood," said Dr. Natalie Lang, who specializes in emergency medicine. "When veterinarians in the community need blood, they don't have to order it, they can get it right now from us. This is the only blood bank in Houston. Blood is available here any time of day or night."

More Information Want to know more? Want to learn more about pet blood donations? Call: the North Houston Veterinary Specialty and Emergency at 281-890-8875 Email: bloodbank.tx@bluepearlvet.com Online: visit http://bluepearlvet.com/locations/texas/texas-hospitals/houston-tx/ See More Collapse

Like human beings, dogs and cats have blood types.

For dogs, there are two types - DEA positive, and DEA negative - with DEA negative being the universal type that all dogs can use.

Cats blood is sort of like human blood types, and is usually type A, B or AB. Cats do not have a universal blood type.

There are many benefits to having your dog or cat donate blood, but the greatest benefit is knowing these donations can save the lives of other pets in the future, Lang said.

The donors' plasma and packed red blood cells will assist animals suffering from trauma, toxin ingestion, auto-immune diseases and heat stroke, as well as those who are preparing for or recovering from surgery.

There is no charge to donate, and there are a number of benefits to pet blood donation, which includes free blood work examination, heartworm and thyroid testing, blood typing, infectious disease testing, and lots of treats.

"This is a nice program to have because a lot of the testing they are doing is not something that will be done regularly by the veterinarian," Lang said.

The North Houston Veterinary Specialty and Emergency Willowbrook Hospital has been screening donors for infectious disease to ensure pets are good candidates for donation.

Several others were pre-screened in the last 60 days in order for those pets to be able to donate blood in February.

One of those was Mick Jagger, a three-year old Irish wolfhound weighing in at 140 pounds.

Mick, who was sporting a blue bandana when he was brought in to donate blood this week, sat quietly in an upstairs examination room, waiting for the mild sedative to take effect.

"We only gave him a little bit of a sedative because this is his first time donating and we wanted to see how he does with it," said veterinary technician Talar Everett. "This is not something they need to be completely sedated for, this is just to take the edge off."

His owner, Susan Lipka, sat nearby reassuring Mick.

Lipka, who owns six Irish wolfhounds, said as a blood donor herself she understands the benefit of having her pets donate blood.

"It's nice knowing that not only me, but my dogs can give back to the community," she said. "We believe in volunteering."

About 10 minutes after the sedative was given, Mick was helped onto the examination table and lay quietly as Everett shaved the left side of Mick's neck.

Lipka continued whispering to Mick as his neck was sterilized, and a needle connected with a tube to a bag in a nearby tray was inserted into a vein.

Within a few minutes, the needle was removed, and Mick was enjoying the first of several treats while he recovered.

Lipka said she plans to bring her other dogs for blood donation soon.
The event, supported by the Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Tourism, Sangeet Natak Akademi, Lalit Kala Akademi and the National School of Drama, is expected to host people from over 155 countries. (Photo: Facebook/ The World Cultural Festival)

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to inaugurate the 'World Culture Festival' to be held from March 11-13 in the national capital.

The three-day event, based on the theme of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' (world is one family), is expected to be attended by among others, religious and spiritual leaders, political leaders, artists and peacemakers from different countries.

Former Pakistan Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani, besides leaders from a host of nations such as Sri Lanka, Iraq, Nepal and Afghanistan among others are expected to attend the event which will showcase the rich cultural traditions of dance, music and art from around the world as well as the ancient Indian art of Yoga.

"With the World Culture Festival, we hope to foster deeper understanding between people of different faiths, nationalities and backgrounds. The goal of the Festival is to make people from across the globe stand together and spread the message of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (world is one family)," the Art of Living Founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said.

He said the Festival was a celebration of The Art of Living's 35 years of service to humanity.

Over 35,900 artists are expected to perform at the Festival which will include 8,000 musicians playing 40 instruments in a musical symphony, 650 drummers from South Africa and several tribal artists from Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Sikkim.

A sizable number of guests from South America, Mongolia, Russia, US, Europe, Japan, Malaysia, Australia and Pakistan are expected to attend the Festival.
BRIDGEPORT - Police were investigating a robbery and possible shooting near Oman Street and Reservoir Avenue Wednesday night.

Dispatch reports indicated that several suspects robbed several victims. No civilians were shot and officers were still trying to determine whether shots were actually fired around 10 p.m., according to public safety spokesman Michael Giannotti.

Officers and K9 units were tracking the suspects throughout the neighborhood. Giannotti said officers had detained one suspect but were looking for three more, and that the suspects all seemed to be juveniles.

Trumbull officers were assisting with the search.
New York: A Sikh-American teenager has penned a book about bullying of children from the community in the US based on his experiences and that of others to raise awareness on the issue.

Karanveer Singh Pannu, an 18-year-old high school student from New Jersey, has written the book 'Bullying of Sikh American Children: Through the Eyes of a Sikh American High School Student'. "Sikh-American youth are largely unrepresented and do not seem to have a voice on the national stage or in the media, especially when it comes to bullying," Pannu told NBC News.

"I wanted to help in any way I could to alleviate this pain and suffering which children from my faith go through on a daily basis," he said. In the book, Pannu introduces the Sikh faith and discusses the significance of the turban and the history of Sikhs in the United States.

He also details the results of a bullying survey he conducted of Sikh-American children in order to draw from their experiences as well as his own. Pannu also suggests practical solutions drawn from interviews with several child psychiatrists and psychologists.

He said he hopes the book can help other Sikh-American children who have experienced bullying, as well as parents and school administrators trying to understand the students' experiences.

According to a study by The Sikh Coalition, 67 per cent of turbaned Sikh youth in Fresno, California, have experienced emotional and physical bullying in schools and also cyberbullying. "A very emotional mother called me and thanked me

profusely for writing this book," Pannu said.

"She wanted to help me in any way in order to get the book into the hands of the school authorities. Another non-Sikh reader after reading the book is gifting a book to the local school library," he said. In December, a 12-year-old Sikh boy in the US had to spend three days in a juvenile detention centre after he jokingly told a classmate that he had a bomb in his school bag.
Washington

The Supreme Court's surprise decision Tuesday to halt President Barack Obama's climate change regulation could weaken or even imperil the international global warming accord reached with great ceremony in Paris less than two months ago, climate diplomats said.

The Paris Agreement, the first accord to commit every country to combating climate change, had as a cornerstone Obama's assurance that the United States would carry out strong, legally sound policies to significantly cut carbon emissions. Over history, the United States is the largest greenhouse gas polluter, although its annual emissions have been overtaken by China's.

But in the capitals of India and China, two of the world's largest polluters, climate change policy experts said the Supreme Court decision threw the U.S. commitment into question, and possibly New Delhi's and Beijing's, too.

"If the U.S. Supreme Court actually declares the coal power plant rules stillborn, the chances of nurturing trust between countries would all but vanish," said Navroz K. Dubash, a senior fellow at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi. "This could be the proverbial string which causes Paris to unravel. The Paris Agreement was a fragile and hard-fought consensus."

The court's verdict does not block the climate change rule permanently but halts its enactment until legal challenges against it have been decided, a process that could take a year or more. Legal experts said the justices' unprecedented decision to stop work on the rule before any court had decided against it appears to signal that the regulation could ultimately be overturned.

"If the American clean energy plan is overturned, we'll need to reassess whether the United States can meet its commitments," said Zou Ji, deputy director of the National Center for Climate Strategy and International Cooperation, a government policy think tank in Beijing.

"It had seemed that with the American commitments, it was possible to get on the right emissions path globally," said Zou, who was an adviser to the Chinese delegation at the Paris negotiations, by telephone. "But without those commitments, that could be a blow to confidence in low-carbon development. In China domestically there is also resistance to low-carbon policies, and they would be able to say, 'Look, the United States doesn't keep its word. Why make so many demands on us?'"

Inaction by the United States has long been the chief obstacle to meaningful global climate change agreements. India and China in particular resisted action absent a climate change policy in the United States.

Obama sought to change that by putting in place a set of aggressive but politically controversial Environmental Protection Agency rules to cut planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants. On the basis of those rules, Obama won agreements from China and India to enact their own pollution reduction plans, and helped push other countries into signing on to the Paris measure. Visiting Beijing in 2014, Obama made a joint announcement that both countries would enact concrete domestic policies to cut emissions.

Over the past year, Obama worked closely with the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, to bring India to the table for the Paris deal. Modi and many within India were resistant; the prime minister's top priority is to make cheap electricity available to the 300 million Indians who live without power. If the United States reneges on its commitments, "it really would strengthen the hand of those who say Paris was ineffective and a bad deal for India," Dubash said.
People with heart disease or at risk for heart disease were more likely to have brain shrinkage. (Photo: File photo)

People who are out of shape in midlife may end up with smaller brain volume as they age compared to peers who exercise regularly, a according to a U.S. study.

While past research suggests that brain shrinkage may be an unavoidable part of aging, the new findings add inactivity to a growing list of factors like smoking, obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure that are thought to accelerate the process.

We found that poor fitness in midlife was linked to more rapid brain aging two decades later, said lead author Nicole Spartano of Boston University School of Medicine.

This message may be especially important for people with heart disease or at risk for heart disease, in whom we found an even stronger relationship between fitness and brain aging, Spartano added by email.

The study included 1,583 people enrolled in the long-running Framingham Heart Study who took a treadmill test to assess their fitness levels when they were 40 years old on average, and were free of dementia and heart disease at that time.

Almost two decades later, researchers put them back on the treadmill, and also did magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of their brains. At this point, they were around 58 years old.

In that first treadmill test, 89 percent of the participants achieved their target heart rate, a level slightly below what researchers estimated to be their peak capacity.

At this point, participants had an average estimated exercise capacity of 39 milliliters of oxygen per kilogram of body mass per minute (mL/kg/min), which is also known as peak VO2, and represents the maximum amount of oxygen the body is capable of using in one minute. The score of 39 is considered fairly typical for nonatheletes in their 40s.

Spartano and colleagues found that two decades later, people with below average fitness in the first test had smaller total brain volume than the others. Each 8 mL/kg/min of exercise capacity below the average performance level in the first test was associated with enough reduction in brain volume by the end of the study to amount to two extra years of brain aging, according to the results in Neurology.

People whose blood pressure and heart rate surged more during the first treadmill test  another indication of poor fitness  were also more likely to have smaller brain volumes two decades later.

Over the course of the study, the ranks of people with hypertension surged to 28 percent from 9 percent. One limitation of the study is that the treadmill test at the end was easier than the one participants did at the start. As a result, researchers couldnt estimate maximum exercise capacity.

The study also wasnt designed to prove that poor fitness erodes brain volume or directly causes cognitive decline.

Even so, the findings should encourage people to exercise earlier in life, and often, said Sandra Bond Chapman, founder and chief director of the Center for BrainHealth at the University of Texas in Dallas.

The take-home message is a familiar one  an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, Chapman, who wasnt involved in the study, said by email.

People who havent started exercising by 40 can still get moving, Chapman added. Some sedentary people 50 and older who start workout routines may see improved cognition and neural health after as little as 6 weeks of aerobic exercise.

Findings from the current study offer more evidence that the choices people make in their 40s can impact brain health later in life, said Scott Hayes, a researcher at Boston University and the Memory Disorders Research Center at VA Boston Healthcare System.

Given that most people fail to meet the minimum recommended requirements for physical activity, this could provide some motivation for those middle-aged adults to become more physically active, Hayes, who wasnt involved in the study, said by email.

Each week, adults need at least 2.5 hours of moderate intensity aerobic activity like brisk walking and a minimum of two muscle strengthening workouts.

Ideally, one would do aerobic and strength training coupled with stabilization exercises to improve balance and coordination, as well as flexibility training, Hayes added.
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Its never an encouraging sign when youre running for president and you get less debate airtime than a Republican state senator from Fairfield  not on stage.

Dr. Ben Carson, meet Tony Hwang.

The Fairfield lawmaker photobombed the moderators of the most recent GOP presidential debate in New Hampshire, snagging a prime seat in the audience behind ABCs David Muir and Martha Raddatz and directly in view of the camera.

It was apropos for the Taiwan native Hwang, widely regarded as one of the Capitols most visible and gregarious go-getters.

Now, Hwang, 51, completing his first term in the Senate after three terms in the House, is gauging support for a possible run for statewide office in 2018.

Its simply exploring, Hwang said Tuesday. I dont think people ever begrudge that youre prepared.

The Fairfield legislators exploratory committee, set up last year under the name Hwang for Connecticut, held its first fundraiser Tuesday night in celebration of the Chinese lunar new year.

He said he wanted to keep the committee separate from his 2016 Senate re-election campaign, which is likely to be funded by taxpayers as in the past under the state Citizens Election Program. Connecticut does not require candidates to specify which office they are eyeing, including governor.

Why not just set it up, respect the integrity of the CEP and make it transparent and accountable? said Hwang, assistant minority leader of the Senate. It wasnt like I was trying to hide anything.

Like Richard Blumenthal, Connecticuts senior U.S. senator, Hwang is omnipresent at ribbon-cuttings, business openings and other public events, both in his district and in Hartford.

As senator from the 28th District  in addition to Fairfield, it includes Westport, Newtown, Easton and Weston  Hwang frequently criticized the states efforts to keep General Electrics headquarters in his town. Last month, the conglomerate announced plans to relocate to Boston.

I think when somebodys been as active as Tony has, that immediately raises the question of what his long-term plans are, said Michael Tetreau, Fairfields Democratic first selectman, who described Hwang as very professional. He has been in the public eye more than most and he continues to have a very aggressive approach to outreach to the citizens of our town.

State GOP Chairman J.R. Romano, who attended Saturday nights Republican presidential debate in Manchester, N.H., acknowledged Hwang is testing the waters.

Weve talked about a future, nothing specific, Romano said. I know Tony has a desire to help fix this state.

Leigh Appleby, a spokesman for the Connecticut Democrats, criticized Hwang for his votes against biotech investments at the University of Connecticut Health Center and a bond measure for transportation improvements when Hwang was in the House.

Since taking office, it has been clear that he is more interested in climbing Connecticut's political ladder than serving his constituents, Appleby said.

State Rep. Brenda Kupchick, a fellow Fairfield Republican, said Hwang has a high ceiling. I think anything hed look to do, hed be successful at, she said.

In 2014, Hwang captured the Senate seat of Fairfield Republican John McKinney, the Senate minority leader at the time who opted to run for governor instead of re-election. He joined Branford Democrat Ted Kennedy Jr.  son of the late U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy  as freshmen in the upper chamber.

Im serving in the same capacity as a Kennedy, said Hwang, whose parents fled Communist China for Taiwan. I love what I do. As an immigrant that grew up in a country that was under martial law, and for me to have spent my formative years in a federal housing project with English as a second language and parents who never finished school  Im telling you, who wouldnt be happy?

A real estate broker who is married with two children, Hwang was in New Hampshire volunteering for the presidential campaign of Ohio Gov. John Kasich. He said his prime seat at the televised debate was luck of the draw.

My daughter texted and said, Dad, dont fall asleep,  Hwang said.
Chemotherapy was ruled out as chances of her survival were slim, only 15 to 20 per cent.

Jaipur: In a rare medical procedure, a two- year-old girl suffering from acute blood cancer was given a new lease of life after a successful 50 per cent matched Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) at a private hospital in Jaipur.

Prachi, who hailed from Sikar in Rajasthan, was suffering from acute blood cancer (acute myeloid leukaemia) in June last year, and brought to Manipal Hospital in a critical condition with her eyes nearly protruding out of the sockets, Dr Satyendra Katewa, Head of Paediatric Haemato-Oncology and BMT, told reporters on Wednesday.

Chemotherapy was ruled out as chances of her survival were slim, only 15 to 20 per cent. Bone marrow transplant was the only viable option and her father's 50 per cent stem cell was a high match, Dr Katewa said.

Half-matched (haplo-identical) bone marrow stem cell transplant is not very common in India as compared to the west and it was the first 50 per cent matched bone marrow transplant of stem cells donated by the girl's father, he said.

The medical procedure was done in June last year, and the girl is hale and hearty now, Dr Katewa said.

As against a high cost of Rs. 20 lakh, her parents paid about Rs. 8 lakh for treatment, he said.

Referring to recent cancer registry, Dr Katewa said about 15000 people, including 3000 new born babies, in Rajasthan were reportedly afflicted by leukaemia every year.
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The Oaks Historic District neighborhood association will oppose a proposed tax-credit apartment development planned for 11th Street, citing the possible impact on home values in Old Town.

On Tuesday, City Council received five proposals for tax-credit backed developments around the city and one outside its limits.

The property that the Oaks District opposes is called The Bristol, which would offer 120 rental apartments, 96 of them for low-income residents and 24 at market rate.

The proposed complex is not in the Oaks District but is near homes covered by the association.

Chris Akbari, president of the Itex Group, which is applying for the tax credits to build what he estimates will be a $14 million property, said he has the property at 1155 N. 11th St. under contract to buy.

The property was the site of the former Chula Vista restaurant, which is still standing, and the Castle Motel, which was demolished in 2015 after it became a derelict and destroyed by vandals. The property also includes a now-closed dry cleaning shop.

Akbari said he thinks The Bristol would help revive that part of 11th Street and could attract people who work at Christus St. Elizabeth Hospital.

One opponent spoke at Tuesday's meeting.

"We feel this would hurt property values in the Oaks Historic District," said Lynda Kay Makin, who lives in the neighborhood.

Virginia Jordan, president of the Oaks Historic District, said a representative from Itex attended a neighborhood association meeting on Monday to outline the project.

"We have major concerns," she said Wednesday. "We're canvassing our neighbors and preparing a response."

Akbari, in response to Makin's public comment, said after the council meeting, "You can't please everyone."

Itex used tax credits to build The Providence on Major Drive, which is reserved for people 55 or older. Itex also is building a tax-credit backed property called Place of Grace, next to Grace Lake near Antioch Missionary Baptist Church.

Itex is pursuing a project in China called The Carlyle, which led to a meltdown of city government there, with the mayor ousted by voters and council members stepping down afterward.

Gordon Anderson, spokesman for the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, said the top criterion for a successful tax-credit application is financial feasibility. The second is local government support.

Beaumont City Council also must declare to the state housing agency that it recognizes the city has more than twice the state average of tax-credit properties.

One of the factors in the decision-making process location, whether the property is within a "high-opportunity" area so low-income residents are not pigeonholed in poor areas.

Read the complete story in the Feb. 11 print edition of the Beaumont Enterprise.

DWallach@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/dwallach
A counseling center for convicted sex offenders, yielding to pressure from prospective neighbors, has dropped plans to move into new quarters in the Upper Market area.

Sharper Future, which had planned to open Tuesday inside a long-vacant pharmacy at Duboce and Church streets, said it was abandoning the plan following a community meeting on Monday night attended by hundreds of neighbors, many of whom loudly protested the proposed move.

Sharper Future has decided to immediately halt efforts to move into 100 Church St., said Sharper Futures president, Mary-Perry Miller, who is also a psychologist. After (the) meeting, it is clear that our presence would be divisive for everyone concerned.

Out of respect for the community and the very critical work that we do, weve elected to seek an alternate location.

Company spokeswoman Evette Davis said Sharper Future would look for another site in San Francisco because its current office at 1540 Market St. is scheduled for demolition. Its contract with state authorities requires it to be located and accessible to its clients in San Francisco, Davis said. The company, founded in 1995, operates a chain of counseling centers throughout California for convicted sex offenders.

We feel good about their decision to pull the plug, said Dennis Roybal, president of the Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association. Sharper Future is not something that the residents of our neighborhood felt warm and fuzzy about. Were looking forward to a different neighbor moving into that location.

Roybal said his members objected to the controversial nature of Sharper Futures service, and that the neighborhood had not been informed of it before the move was announced.

Im surprised they backed out so quickly, said another neighborhood resident, a few doors from the proposed facility, who did not want to be identified.

But its probably the best decision for all concerned.

Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com
The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show that the spread of cold viruses, which is heavily influenced by the school calendar, is the primary driver of asthma exacerbations. (Representational image)

The study could help improve public health strategies to keep asthmatic children healthy.

Children with asthma tend to have worse symptoms at the same times each year: when school starts in the fall and after school holidays in the spring.

Researchers previously thought that environmental factors such as air quality in schools might be to blame, but a new study confirms that the primary driver of seasonal waves of worsening asthma symptoms, which can lead to hospitalisations, is the common cold.

This work can improve public health strategies to keep asthmatic children healthy. For example, at the riskiest times of year, doctors could encourage patient adherence to preventative medications, and schools could take measures to reduce cold transmission, says Lauren Meyers, professor of integrative biology and statistics and data sciences at the University of Texas at Austin.

Exacerbations, the medical term for worsening asthma symptoms, result in millions of missed work and school days and $50 billion in direct health care costs in the United States each year, researchers say.

Earlier studies into the cause of exacerbations involved swabbing individual patients to detect viruses, but Meyers, a mathematical biologist, and her team investigated population-wide patterns of how common colds circulate among adults and children throughout the year to learn about the role of the viruses.

The researchers built a computer model that incorporated possible drivers of asthma exacerbations and compared the output of the model to a large set of real-world health data: The timing and locations of about 66,000 asthma hospitalisations from cities across Texas during a seven-year period. By testing each driver independently, the researchers could determine the relative impact of each and find the weighted combination of factors that best fit the data.

The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show that the spread of cold viruses, which is heavily influenced by the school calendar, is the primary driver of asthma exacerbations.

The school calendar predicts common cold transmission, and the common cold predicts asthma exacerbations, says Meyers. And this study provides a quantitative relationship between those things.

Source: www.futurity.org
Full text of the Vallejo Police Department's press release on the shooting death of Richmond Police officer Augustine "Gus" Vegas in Vallejo:

At 4:39 this morning Vallejo officers were dispatched to a 911 emergency call from a home on Narragansett Ct. in the City of Vallejo. A family member at the residence reported that there had been a deadly shooting and the suspect had fled the area.
Cassandra Tainsh, who is Pandoras owner, loves making her pet tarantula pose in a variety of hats and setups  ranging from shopping at a supermarket to skateboarding.

Contrary to popular perception, not all tarantulas are angels of death  some of them can actually be a pro at posing for pictures. Find that hard to believe? Then you have to check out Pandora, the furry tarantula who is winning praises all over social media.

Cassandra Tainsh, who is Pandoras owner, loves making her unusual pet pose in a variety of hats and setups  ranging from shopping at a supermarket to skateboarding. Whats unbelievable is that just a few years ago, Tainsh was actually terrified of spiders!

The 23-year-old personal assistant now is the proud owner of nineteen tarantulas, 23 snakes and a host of other exotic creatures. If you are curious about how this Chilean Rose tarantulas photo shoots happen then click on the video link below.
Cawnpore turned to Kanpur within a year of Independence  one of the first towns to do so. The Indian name is apparently derived from Karnapur  or the town of Karna from the Mahabharat. Another theory claims the name has its origins in Sufi history. During the Raj, Kanpur served as a crucial British military base with over 7,000 soldiers stationed there. Its no wonder then, the Brits wanted a more convenient name to one of their garrisons.

This week, Britains The Independent is set to implement an editorial rule  Mumbais going back to Bombay in all references to the city in the newspaper.

But The Independents India-born editor Amol Rajan has chosen to ignore the current name that brings together all things fantastic about the city.

In his argument, Rajan (originally from Kolkata, or Calcutta) claims the move is the papers stand against the closed-minded view of Hindu nationalists.

Bombay turned into Mumbai in year 1995. One of our biggest cities, Mumbai takes its name after the goddess Mumbadevi. Its still Bombay though, during a casual chat. But, on paperwork, the change is a constant.

Bombay was officially changed to Mumbai in 1995 with yes, the Shiv Sena spearheading the name-change campaign. The Marathis though, have been using Mumbai from much before the paperwork.

But Rajan is of the opinion hes doing us a favour by pointing the light at issues he believes are ascending  more importantly, internal issues!

The whole point of Bombay is of an open, cosmopolitan port city, the gateway of India thats open to the world, said Rajan, in an interview with BBC Radio.

If you call it what Hindu nationalists want you to call it, you essentially do their work for them. As journalists, as someone who edits The Independent, its important to be specific about our terminology.

Madras changed to Chennai in 1996. The port city was a crucial part of the Empire and Brits just found Madras to be a more convenient tag.

Id rather side with the tradition of India thats been open to the world, rather than the one thats been closed, which is in ascendance right now.

In conclusion, Rajan adds that Mumbai had a slightly nastier strain of Hindu nationalism.

So according to the highest editorial chair within the offices of a British paper publishing out of a capital city that was responsible for the plunder of several hundred indigenous cultures, Bombay  a memory from the Rajs humanitarian ways  is better than terminology weve put in place as a free country.

Retired professor of history, Prof Aravind Ganachari, from Mumbai University says: There is no strain of Hindu nationalism when you call it Mumbai. Beijing was previously called Peking, and Istanbul was previously called Constantinople. Does that mean these cities should go back to their former names because a white man decided on it?

Another port town in India that had its name changed by the British. Cochin turned into Kochi in 1996. Kochi was, and remains, one of the biggest spice trade hotspots for the British.

"One cant pinpoint Shiva Sena or any other party for the change of name  its got to do with nothing with Hindu nationalism. Shiv Sena renamed the western Indian city after goddess Mumbadevi.

"This announcement by The Independent only reeks of colonialism. Imperialism did no good to India  all these years they tried to civilise India under the guise of colonialism. The guys in the UK probably need lessons in civility.

Others agree. The Independent has a colonial hangover, says Anil Dharker, columnist and director of the Mumbai International Literary Festival.

It is the prerogative of the country to decide what they want to be called. Many countries have changed their names, be it China, Vietnam or Myanmar. Here, we are only talking about a city.

Many call it just Trichy now. During the time of the Raj, the town was known for its particular brand of cigars. In 1971 though, Trichinapoly finally turned into Tiruchirapalli

"If the UK decides to call one of its cities by some name and we still decide to stick to its old name, how upset would they be? The colonial powers in the past changed the names and Anglicised it.

Another citizen of Mumbai, author Kiran Nagarkar, maintains the name Mumbai has had nothing to do with religion.

It is a cultural identity and that is what the original name of Bombay was. Ive used Bombay in my books and both the names are still used interchangeably. The problem comes when either party judges the other one for using either one. It is absolutely not the right stance to take".

"I dont want to come across as closed-minded but I dont understand why they would do something like this. How would they feel if we called London something else? I frankly think The Independents stand is really infantile, says Nagarkar.

Some still use the bizarre British name, Waltair. Visa-khapatnam was made official in 1987. And we Indians now know it as Vizag. Local folklore claims that the name was derived from an ancient Lord Visakeswara temple nearby.

Colonising Brits didnt just murder names of cities in India. Names of hundreds of ports and capitals worldwide were changed just because leading lights of the Empire couldnt pronounce them correctly.

In Kerala, where the Brits chose absolute convenience over recognition of culture, names of dozens of port towns were altered to avoid confusing the man responsible for trade receipts.

Malayinkeezhu Gopalakrish-nan, a Kerala-based historian says, Misinterpreted translations were a reason for the spread of Anglicized names in Kerala. Here, native speakers were an important source of information for the British and the Dutch.

The way they articulated the names did not really suit the Anglicized tongue. So, they recorded and documented it in the way they could decipher in terms of spelling and pronunciation.

Funnily enough, the capitals name was either Aananthapuram or Thiruvaananthapuram but after the British opted for Trivandrum, it became Thiruvananthapuram for local people. It was in 1810 that a British Colonel, James Wells, first called it Trivandrum, adds Gopalakrishnan.

Whats in a name?

Plenty. The decision to revert to colonial-era tags is not just infantile, its the de-recognition of the historical fact that India lost thousands in its fight for freedom a freedom it exercised while deciding its own versions of cities names.

Changes made to names of cities remains one of the most important moves we have made  even if motivations were political  to remove memories of the Raj. And when you consider, those names now mean much more, culturally, than the shortened versions which suited the stiff upper lip... that makes a world of 21st century sense. Many thanks for the reminder, dear Independent.
This week, British newspaper The Independent is set to implement an editorial rule  Mumbais going back to Bombay in all references to the city  a cradle to our movie industry and one of the worlds megacities. Population 1.85 crore and climbing. But The Independents India-born editor Amol Rajan has chosen to ignore the current name that brings together all things fantastic about the city. In his argument, Rajan (orginally from Kolkata, or Calcutta) claims the move is the papers stand against the closed-minded view of Hindu nationalists.

Even Tamil Nadu has had name change of several cities to oppose colonialism, with Chennai replacing Madras being the most prominent one. In 1996, the then ruling party Dravida Munnetra Kalagam (DMK) officially renamed the capital city by referring to the ancient name of Chennapatnam. The British actually renamed several cities only for easier pronunciation. But to bring back the local dialect, we have changed the names of several cities including Thoothukudi (Tuticorin), Kanyakumari (Cape Comorin), Thanjavur (Tanjore) and others, says K.R.A. Narasiah, a popular Tamil historian.

Bombay was officially changed to Mumbai in 1995 with yes, the Shiv Sena forming the name-change campaigns spearhead. The Marathis though, have been using Mumbai from much before the paperwork. But Rajan is of the opinion hes doing us a favour by pointing the light at issues he believes are ascending. The whole point of Bombay is of an open, cosmopolitan port city, the gateway of India thats open to the world, said Rajan, in an interview with BBC radio (of course).

If you call it what Hindu nationalists want you to call it, you essentially do their work for them. As journalists, as someone who edits The Independent, its incredibly important to be specific about our terminology. Id rather side with the tradition of India thats been open to the world, rather than the one thats been closed, which is in ascendance right now. The Independent has a colonial hangover, says Anil Dharker, columnist and director of the Mumbai International Literary Festival. Brits didnt just murder names of cities in India. Names of hundreds of ports and capitals worldwide were changed just because the Empire couldnt pronounce them.

Retired professor of history, Prof. Aravind Ganachari, from Mumbai University explains: There is no strain of Hindu nationalism when you call it Mumbai. Beijing was previously called Peking, and Istanbul was previously called Constantinople. Does that mean these cities should go back to their former names because a white man decided on it? This announcement by the Independent only reeks of colonialism. Imperialism did no good to India  all these years they tried to civilise India under the guise of colonialism. The guys in the UK probably need lessons in civility.

And in Kerala, where the Brits chose absolute convenience over recognition of culture, names of dozens of port towns were altered to avoid confusing the man responsible for trade receipts. Malayinkeezhu Gopalakrishnan, a Kerala-based historian says, Misinterpreted translations were a reason for the spread of anglicised place names in Kerala. Here, native speakers were an important source of information for the British and the Dutch. The way they articulated the names did not suit the anglicised tongue. So, they recorded and documented it in the way they could decipher in terms of spelling and pronunciation. Funnily enough, the capitals name was either Aananthapuram or Thiruvaananthapuram but after the British opted for Trivandrum, it became Thiruvananthapuram for local people. It was in 1810 that a British Colonel James Wells first called it Trivandrum, adds Gopalakrishnan.
Bengaluru: The city police have learnt that those running the child smuggling racket took away the passports of children after reaching them to their biological parents in the US, so that the children did not face any problems later, said a senior investigating officer probing into the case. The racket was busted with the arrest of 16 people on Monday.

The officer said that the gang members went to great lengths to prepare the documents for the child.

They ensured that the fake parents of the child were staying at the same address for over a year, prepared wedding certificates, rental agreements, ration cards and voter IDs to apply for passports and visas to fly the children to the US to reunite them with their biological parents. The childrens parents would be staying in the US illegally.

The city police were tipped off about a year ago, but they could carry out only a part of the investigation as they were hampered by jurisdiction issues.

The passport authorities and the US Consulate, which issues the passport are shocked as to how the racket hoodwinked them.

Syndicates modus operandi

After preparing all the fake documents, the gang members procured passports, which were genuine documents and that helped them go under the radar, said an investigating officer.

Uday Prathap Singh, the alleged kingpin of the racket who operated out of Bengaluru, got such kids from a man in Gujarat and Punjab, whose sole job was to identify such children and send them to Bengaluru.

The gang in Bengaluru then created a fake name for the child and attached the child to fake parents, who are called carriers. In most of the cases, the male member of the fake family would be genuine, carrying a valid passport.

Only in some cases the gang created a fake identity for him too. The father would then approach the US Consulate and procure the visa. After the visas were granted to the fake parents, Uday Prathap Singh contacted his men in Gujarat and other states for procuring the children. Each carrier couple was given two children and the entire family was trained for the visa interview.

The racket ran successfully because the childrens biological parents had no right to get their kids legally into the US, because they would be either overstaying or they would have declared themselves as refugees. Our interrogation of the 16 arrested culprits proved it too, said Mr Harisekaran, Additional Commissioner of Police, East.

We have to verify these in our further investigations and only then the US police will come into the picture. Since the biological parents themselves are illegal immigrants or staying in that country under refugee status, they cannot apply for visas for their children. These parents approached this gang to reunite with their children. Twenty-five to 30 children have been smuggled into the US by the gang, he said.
The driver has been identified as an executive of Bank of Maharashtra, heading Tiruvanmiyur branch, operating in apartment complex.

Chennai: A safety meet at an apartment complex turned deadly for two persons on ECR here, after a speeding car killed the apartments welfare association secretary and security bureau officer on Tuesday night.

The driver has been identified as an executive of Bank of Maharashtra, heading Tiruvanmiyur branch, operating in apartment complex.

The irate residents of the apartment handed him over to the city police on Wednesday.

Four persons including the deceased  Piyari Lal, (62), secretary of Sai Subhodaya Apartments Residents Association, and Abdul Rahim, (44), security-bureau officer of the apartment were deliberating as to how to improve the safety and security of the apartment complex when the incident took place. Two other residents, Nalini and Srinivasan, were walking along the compound on the same path.

Banks chief manager Venkatesh, (35), after the days work, started his car parked on the campus and drove straight into the sextet near the gate. The deceased stayed on the front bonnet of the car which rammed them into the gate before coming to a halt.

The injured were rushed to a private hospital in the vicinity while the deceased were rushed to another private hospital in Adyar where the duo succumbed to injuries. Of the four injured Brindheswaran, (55), guard, and Vasudevan, (62), apartment resident, were being treated, while the other two were treated as outpatients for the minor injuries.

Venkatesh, who caused the accident, was later handed over to Tiruvanmiyur Police on Wednesday.

During the interrogation, Venkatesh claimed that the brakes in the vehicle failed when he started it, leading to the accident.

Senior police officers who are privy to the investigation suggested that Venkatesh could have been learning to drive very recently. He was driving alright until he climbed a speed breaker installed inside the complex.

He appears to have got confused the accelerator with the brake after he panicked on the sight of the people blocking his way. He had floored the accelerator instead of the brake pedal and hit them. The front right tyre burst in the impact, said an officer.

Thiruvanmiyur police who took him in custody charged him under section 304A (causing death by negligence). The car was seized and will be tested by a motor inspector to verify the claims of brake failure.

The driver was later remanded to judicial custody by a magistrate in the city and was lodged in Puzhal Prison. The bodies were handed over to the bereaved families after post-mortem at the Government Royapettah Hospital.
Ishrat Jahan, the 19-year-old Mumbai student killed in an encounter by Gujarat police in 2004. (Photo: PTI)

Mumbai: Deposing before a Mumbai court on Thursday, Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley said that Ishrat Jahan, 19-year-old Mumbai student killed in an encounter by Gujarat police in 2004, was a Lashkar-e-Taiba suicide bomber.

Headley said that there is a femals wing in the LeT and one Abu Aiman's mother headed it.

He claimed that the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attack, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi told him about a botched up operation of former LeT operative Muzammil Bhatt in India.

"The operation was about shooting the police at some naka. One woman LeT named Ishrat Jahan was involved. Muzammil Bhatt was the head of our group before Sajid Mir," he told the court.

Read: All you need to know about Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case

He told the court that a person, whom he identified as Abu Dujuna, introduced him to Muzammil. Headley said that he and Muzammil had once visited Kashmir to fight against the Indian troops.

Ishrat Jahan, her friend Pranesh Pillai alias Javed Sheikh along with two suspected Pakistanis -- Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar -- were gunned down by Gujarat crime branch officials on the outskirts of Ahmedabad in 2004.

Police officials claimed that they were LeT terrorists who had planned to kill the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Ishrat Jahan, from Mumbra near Mumbai, Pranesh Pillai alias Javed Sheikh, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an encounter on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. (Photo: PTI)

An investigation was launched into the case after allegations that Ishrat was killed in a fake encounter and in 2009 an Ahmedabad Metropolitan court ruled that the encounter was staged.

Read: People who supported Ishrat Jahan must take back their statements: BJP

The Gujarat government challenged the decision in the High Court, saying that the accused policemen were not given an opportunity to present their side of the arguments.

The CBI, which took over probe from the Gujarat High Court appointed a Special Investigation Team (SIT), had filed chargesheet in August 2013 saying that the encounter was fake and executed in a joint operation by the city crime branch and Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau (SIB).

The CBI had accused Gujarat police of staging the encounter in a joint operation with the state's intelligence bureau.

The CBI had said that Ishrat and others were in the custody of Gujarat Police before being killed and, in fact, she and Javed had been interrogated at a farmhouse on the outskirts of Ahmedabad where they were kept in confinement.

All four were taken to the encounter spot near Kotarpur Waterworks blind-folded before being shot dead in cold blood, CBI had said.
Mumbai: Making fresh disclosures before a Mumbai court on Thursday, Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley told special judge G A Sanap that ISI was helping different terror outfits in Pakistan and was providing financial, military and moral support.

The LeT operative also said that RBI has turned down a request to open a bank account for their office in India.

Resuming his deposition via video-link after a day's break due to technical glitch at the US end, Headley told the court that Pakistan native Tahawwur Rana was aware of his connection with LeT and that he had gone to India for intelligence work on instructions of the terror outfit. He also revealed that all his India trips were sponsored by ISI to conduct reconnaissance of possible targets.

Headley said, Rana also visited Mumbai just before 26/11 attacks and he had advised the latter to leave India.

Giving details of his funding, Headley said, "Before coming to India in September 2006, he received USD 25,000 from ISI's Major Iqbal."

Read: Centre Pakistani-American terrorist welcomes Headley's revelations

"I also got 40,000 in Pakistani currency from LeT operative Sajid Mir between April and June 2008," he told the court, adding that Major Iqbal used to regularly send him money in instalments.

Also, Major Iqbal gave me counterfeit Indian currency once or twice in 2008, he said.

Besides, Abdul Rehman Pasha, also from ISI, gave me Rs 80,000, Headley said.

"Tahawwur Rana (Headley's associate and a Pakistani native who operated a Chicago-based immigration business) used to send me money from the US in September 2006 when I came to India to do intelligence work on instructions of LeT," he told the court.

The 55-year-old, who recently turned approver in the case, also said that "it was my idea to open an office in India. It was a part of my cover (as an immigration consultant). I had discussed this with Major Iqbal and Sajid Mir and they both agreed to it."

"I also told Rana that Major Iqbal had asked me to do intelligence work in India. Iqbal told me that if Rana was reluctant to be associated with this (Headley's India operations) then he (Headley) should appeal to his (Rana's) sense of patriotism towards Pakistan," he testified.

"But Rana was not reluctant and he agreed readily for me to go to India," Headley said.

Headley also revealed that Rana had visited Mumbai before the terror attacks. "I advised Rana to leave India before the attacks as I was afraid that he would be in danger," he told the court.

Headley disclosed that Rana had asked Raymond Sanders (who ran an immigrant law centre in Chicago) to submit an application to the RBI to open a bank account for their office in India. However, RBI turned down the request, he said.

Later, in January 2009, Major Iqbal told Headley to close down his office in India, the court was told.

Headley told the court that LeT had planned attacks on the famous Akshardham Temple to avenge the Babri Masjid demolition.

He had heard that Muzammil Butt had planned an attack on the Akshardham Temple in Gujarat.

"When I asked Muzammil about this, he said that since Indians demolished Babri Masjid (in 1992), it was justified for us to attack Indian temples also," he told the court here.

The LeT operative-turned approver in the case, said that one of the 26/11 handlers Abu Kahfa, who was also part of the training programme before the brazen Mumbai siege was in continuous touch with the 10 terrorists who sneaked into the city and held it to ransom for over three days.

"Along with Sajid Mir, Kahfa was talking to the ten terrorists from a control room in Karachi and was giving them instructions. Kahfa's nephew was one of the ten boys who had come to India," Headley told the court.

He further said that after the 2008 terror strikes, which left 166 dead and 309 injured, he met Sajid Mir in Rawalpindi where "he (Mir) told me that he was very happy with the attacks". "Even I felt very happy," he said.

Headley also told the court that he knew Haji Ashraf, a businessman in Lahore who was in-charge of the finance wing of LeT.

He also said that he knew Al-Qaeda's Ilyas Kashmiri and had met him once.

Earlier on Tuesday, Headley had told the court that he was working for Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence, which he said gave financial, military and moral support to LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Hizbul Mujahideen.

Answering a question by special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, Headley admitted that he had worked for the ISI besides Lashkar, and that he knew about ISI official Brig. Riyaz being the handler of LeTs top commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the mastermind behind the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai. He also said that during his stay in Pakistan, Col. Shah, Lt. Col. Hamza, Maj. Samir Ali, Maj. Iqbal and retired Army officer Abdul Rehman Pasha, who was closely working with LeT and al-Qaeda, were among the ISI personnel who were coordinating with him.

Headley also told the court that he had done surveillance of key locations in Mumbai like the Naval Air Station, the Siddhivinayak temple and the state police headquarters on Lashkars instructions. He also deposed on the operations planned by LeT in Mumbai prior to 26/11, adding these were not executed for various reasons. One such plan was to attack a conference hall in the Taj Mahal Hotel during a meeting of Indian defence scientists. But this was called off as the LeT could not arrange the logistics for it.

Headley said he was specifically asked to survey the Siddhivinayak temple as a target. He also said the Naval Air Station and the Maharashtra state police headquarters were among the planned targets, but these plans were not executed. The recording of Headleys evidence will continue on Wednesday.

Headley said he had visited Mumbai for the first time in 2006, but then he was not given any specific targets to survey, and only asked to take general videos and pictures of different places in Mumbai. To set up office and make my cover authenticated so that I could stay there (in Mumbai) and I could do surveillance, he said.

I did surveillance of multiple targets as well as selected landing sites, Headley added. According to Headley, a meeting was held between him, Abu Kahafa and Sajid Mir at LeTs headquarters in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. This was sometime in November or December 2007, when Headley was tasked with doing surveillance at the Taj, and specifically at the convention hall (conference hall) on the second floor as they had information that a conference of defence scientists was going to be held there soon. But this plan was later cancelled. When prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam asked him the exact reason why the plan was cancelled, Headley said it was mostly due to logistical problems, which he later meant getting the necessary personnel and weapons.

He also did surveillance at the Oberoi Hotel and the entire stretch of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Marg in Colaba, where Leopold Cafe (one of the places hit in the 26/11 attacks) is located, as well as Chabad House (Nariman House), another actual target on November 26, 2008.

The LeT operative also said he had been asked by the ISI to recruit Indian Army personnel to spy for them. Headley told special judge G.A. Sanap: I met Maj. Iqbal of ISI in Lahore in early 2006. He asked me to gather military intelligence from India and also try to recruit someone from the Indian military to spy. I told Maj. Iqbal I would do as he asked.

Another ISI officer, Samir Ali, also wanted him to do some intelligence work in India, Headley told the court. On Abdul Rehman Pasha, Headley said he met the retired Pakistan Army officer in early 2003 at a Lahore mosque. When I first met Pasha he was with LeT. At that time he had no relations with al-Qaeda, but may be after two years, he left LeT to join al-Qaeda, he said.

On his links with Jaish-e-Mohammeds founder Masood Azhar, Headley said: I know Maulana Masood Azhar as I saw him once in October 2003. He is the head of Jaish-e-Mohammed. In October 2003, there was a gathering of LeT and he was a guest speaker there.
The woman always took a metro on her way home and would then take an auto. (Representational Image: PTI)

New Delhi: A Snapdeal employee who works at their Gurgaon office was allegedly kidnapped while she was on her way home after finishing work Wednesday night.

Snapdeal founder Kunal Bahl said his organisation is working closely with police authorities to help secure the womans safety.

Deeply disturbed by news of our @Snapdeal team member getting abducted yest. We are working closely w/ authorities to secure her safety.  Kunal Bahl (@1kunalbahl) February 11, 2016

According to some reports, the woman who has been identified as Dipti Sarna, lives near Delhi and was in the habit of taking a metro from Gurgaon to Vaishali. She would then take an auto from the station and on the day of her kidnapping she was on the phone with her family.

Her parents reportedly heard her question the driver on why he had taken a wrong turn. Her phone then got switched off and that was the last anyone heard from her.

We are extremely disturbed with the reported abduction of our team member. Her security and safety is our topmost priority," said a statement released by the company.

The city police has registered a case of abduction and have launched a search operation.
Raipur: At least twelve primary students of two state-run schools in Chhattisgarh's Janjgir Champa district were taken ill after they were administered deworming Albendazole tablets distributed under 'State Level Deworming Drive' launched in the state on Thursday.

"Seven students at a government primary school in Bamnidih block and five students in another government school of Jaijaipur block complained of uneasiness and nausea after consuming anti-worm tablets", Janjgir-Champa Collector O P Chaudhary told PTI.

The students were admitted to Jaijaipur government hospital where their condition was reported to be normal. Even some of them have been discharged, the collector said.

"Although the teachers of both the schools had taken some more students to the hospital as a precautionary measure but they were reported to be normal," he added.

According to the doctors, the children have psychological fear of medicines, which may have resulted in uneasiness among them or it might also happen if the medicines were taken empty stomach, Chaudhary said.

The exact cause behind the incident will be known after an investigation, he added.

Under the National Deworming Day which was observed today, Chhattisgarh's Health and Family Welfare Department started 'State level worm free campaign' and distributed anti-creamy tablets in government schools.
Dont mess with the Tehachapis.

California has taller mountain ranges, more famous mountain ranges, more beautiful mountain ranges. But no mountains here are tougher  or more important  than the Tehachapis.

A mishmash of midsize peaks extending 40 miles across southern Kern County and north Los Angeles County, the Tehachapis effectively form the wall that defines our state. This is their paradox: The Tehachapis at once separate and connect Californias regions  north and south, valley and desert, Sierra Nevada and coastal range.

As a barrier, the Tehachapis  the name is often attributed to the Kawaiisu word tihachipia, or hard climb  boast an undefeated record. They have been penetrated  by Interstate 5, aqueducts and power transmission lines  but they have never been conquered.

Recently, the Tehachapis emerged at the center of the big California debate over high-speed rail. Plans to build the project first from the Central Valley to Southern California have survived lawsuits, bipartisan political opposition and waning public support. But last month, spooked by the financial and engineering challenges of tunneling through rock and earthquake faults in the Tehachapis (and the San Gabriels), the high-speed rail authority said it might make a U-turn, and connect the Central Valley to the Bay Area first.

Of course, the high-speed-rail builders would hardly be the first people to lose their nerve at the prospect of crossing the mountain range. Is there any more fear-inducing drive in our state than traversing the Tehachapis on that scarily steep and windy stretch of I-5 known as the Grapevine?

Trains still go over the mountains as slowly  less than 25 miles per hour  as they did in the 1870s. Even planes hit a little turbulence going over the mountains, because of shifting wind patterns (at least, thats what a Southwest pilot once told me).

The Tehachapis represent Californians as we really are  tough, stubborn, and shorter and wider than we look in our publicity stills. And, as staffers at the Tejon Ranch Conservancy recently explained to me, the Tehachapis are the most Californian of mountains: the only place in the state where four varied regions converge  the Mojave Desert, the Sierra Nevada, the coastal range and the San Joaquin Valley. As a result, the Tehachapis offer an incredible diversity of plants: desert scrub and Joshua trees next to Sierra Nevada forest, or coastal chaparral near valley grasslands.

The Tehachapis, so little known despite their importance, used to loom larger in the public imagination. Read newspapers from 19th century California, when most of the states population was in the north and crossing the Tehachapis was a life-threatening undertaking, and youll find Southern California routinely described as South of the Tehachapis in the tone one might speak of a renegade province or an uncivilized hinterland.

But in the 20th century, California tilted south, and the Tehachapis became less prominent, serving mainly as a wall to prevent Southern California from sprawling too far north. Another reason the Tehachapis were not talked about as much: Unlike other mountain ranges in the state, they are mostly privately owned (for ranches), and not so easily explored by Californias nature seekers.

That is beginning to change. The last decade has brought the promise of a new era to the Tehachapis  and that involves more than just the highly publicized restoration of a California condor population in the Tehachapi region after near extinction.

The Tejon Ranch, a 422-square-mile property in the Tehachapis, has pursued development on some of its property (perhaps notably the Outlets at Tejon along I-5 north of the Grapevine), while also striking, in 2008, a historic agreement with environmental organizations to protect 90 percent of its land.

Now the Tejon Ranch Conservancy is working to conserve, explore and provide public access. There are wildflower viewing stations, bird watches, community hikes, school trips, naturalist classes (based on the University of Californias famous naturalist program) and citizen science projects. This spring will offer more opportunities for Californians to get to know this hard-to-know mountain range.

Private conservation efforts like Tejon dont draw headlines like presidential declarations of new national parks or forests. But they are more representative of the future than the flashier conservation of public lands, which has become more difficult given the higher costs of land, the pressure on public budgets, and polarization around eminent domain, property rights and just about everything else in American politics.

The conservation of the Tehachapis means more Californians may connect to the range, and not merely through it. Californians will want more of both kinds of connections, and well need to be careful to minimize their impacts. The Tehachapis, once again, will have to hang tough.

Joe Mathews writes the Connecting California column for Zocalo Public Square. To comment, submit your letter to the editor at www.sfgate.com/submissions.
There are too many people in America who dont feel connected. Theyve got victories that no one celebrates with them. And theyve got defeats, and pain sometimes, that they have to absorb themselves, Ohio Gov. John Kasich said in a speech that celebrated his second-place showing in the New Hampshire primary Tuesday. It was a breakthrough moment. In early GOP debates, Kasich talked too much about his working-class roots and his mailman dad. I care about poor people, he crowed in a November debate  as if no one else did. Tuesday night, however, Kasich moved from boasting that he relates to working stiffs to relating to working-class voters.

The flinty Kasich always was a good fit for the Granite State. The former House Budget Committee chairman is a budget hawk; New Hampshire has no income tax. As a pragmatist, he wasnt likely to excel in the Iowa Caucus, where the GOP base rewarded obstructionist Sen. Ted Cruz with a top finish. Kasich doesnt go in for kamikaze tactics; hence his crossover appeal to independent voters who cast ballots in the GOP contest.
MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C.  Republican presidential contender John Kasich spent time and money winning over New Hampshire voters.

He came to next-to-vote South Carolina on Wednesday with a short supply of both.

You dont know me, Kasich told people in Mount Pleasant, a suburb of Charleston. So I guess Ive got to go back to the beginning.

The Ohio governor finished second in New Hampshires primary, well behind Donald Trump but well ahead of others. That reflected Kasichs singular focus on the state.

By contrast, his campaign  which has far less cash than any of his closest competitors  has spent nothing on advertising in South Carolina, and the outside groups backing him have put out barely anything. The South Carolina GOP primary is Feb. 20.

That compares with the many millions that Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, along with their allies, invested in TV and radio commercials. In recent days, a super PAC boosting Bush put an additional $1.7 million into its South Carolina ad plan. Even Trump, a master of free publicity, is spending $1.2 million on paid ads.

South Carolina is not Kasichs only blind spot.

His all-in New Hampshire strategy also meant little attention to Nevada, the state that votes after South Carolina, or to most of the dozen states that hold March 1 contests.

We dont have to win everything, said Kasichs senior adviser, Tom Rath. What we need to do is win enough to keep us alive, which I think we absolutely can do.

Kasich has spent little time in the state and has fewer employees and volunteers compared with the others.

And the pressure is on. Bush is hoping to parlay his familys long history in South Carolina, as well as his endorsement by Sen. Lindsey Graham, into a spot ahead of Kasich and Rubio, at least. At a rally in Spartanburg, Rubio called the state definitive and determinative.

Kasich plans to break from South Carolina politicking Monday to visit Michigan, which votes March 8. He sees the potential to do well in that state, and he has a home-court advantage when Ohio votes March 15.

Still, given the steep climb in South Carolina and the next few states, Kasich must act quickly to convert his New Hampshire win into a cash wave. His $2.5 million in the bank at the beginning of the year was one-third as much as Bush had and one-quarter of Rubios resources.
HAVANA  The heads of the Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches will hold a historic meeting Friday in the threadbare international airport of an officially secular, communist-run tropical island.

Odd as the location seems, Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirills attempt to reconcile their churches after centuries of estrangement will set the tone for a year of peacemaking in Cuba, a nation trying to shed its historic role as international socialist provocateur.

In addition to the meeting of the church leaders, Cuban President Raul Castro is expected to welcome President Obama to Havana as early as this spring to celebrate the detente the two men declared at the end of 2014, ending a half-century of hostility. And four years of talks in Cuba between Colombias government and its main rebel group appear set to produce an accord ending the Western Hemispheres longest-running conflict, perhaps as early as mid-year.

If all goes as planned, 2016 could cement Castros construction of a foreign policy legacy markedly different from that of his brother Fidel, who oversaw five decades of tension with the United States, dispatching Cuban troops and advisers to Africa, Asia and Central and South America, and offering safe haven to anti-Western fighters from conflicts around the world.

Cuba has been transformed from a revolutionary actor, isolated from other states in the Western Hemisphere with the exception of Mexico and Canada, said Arturo Lopez-Levy, a Cuban-trained professor at the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley. The country has come to be seen as a country in transformation, part of the modern-day international system.

The Obama administration has cited Cubas role in Colombias peace talks as a reason for the U.S. to engage with the island.

These days, said Richard Feinberg, a professor of international politics at UC San Diego. Cuba is the perfect place for negotiations.
BRUSSELS  NATO will deploy ships to the Aegean Sea in an attempt to stop smugglers moving refugees from Turkey to Greece, the military alliances secretary-general said Thursday.

The ships will focus on monitoring the waterways and on providing intelligence to the European Union, which is taking the lead in attempting to stem the flow of refugees, according to NATO officials.

NATO will also enhance its surveillance of the Turkey-Syria border to monitor more closely the flow of refugees and the activities of smugglers, the secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, said. This is not about stopping or pushing back refugee boats, he said.

The operation puts the military alliance in the position of conducting what amounts to a law enforcement operation in the middle of a humanitarian and diplomatic crisis. Even if the military move ends up being largely symbolic, it represents the heightened concern over a crisis that has also become a geopolitical conundrum.

Gen. Philip Breedlove of the U.S. Air Force, NATOs supreme allied commander for Europe, has ordered ships to the Aegean, Stoltenberg said. The vessels are from Canada, Germany, Greece and Turkey, officials said.

Breedlove told reporters that many details of the operation are still being worked out, including how to deal with refugee boats that are intercepted and the rules of engagement. It is not clear, for example, how NATO will distinguish between legitimate refugees and the smugglers whom migrants have paid to facilitate their escape.

This mission has literally come together in the last 20 hours, and I have been tasked now to go back and define the mission, Breedlove said. We had some very rapid decision making, and now we have to go out to do some military work.

Three members of the alliance  Germany, Greece and Turkey  had asked NATO for help with the sea patrols, as they struggle to deal with the number of refugees who have fled violence in Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iraq, Syria and other conflict-torn countries.

About 3,800 people died last year while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach the European Union. An additional 409 have died this year under the same circumstances, according to the International Organization for Migration.
1 Nigeria bombings: Two female suicide bombers blew themselves up in a northeast Nigerian refugee camp, killing at least 56 people, health and rescue officials said Wednesday. A third woman bomber was arrested and has given officials information about other planned bombings that helped them increase security at the camp, said an official of the Borno State Emergency Management Agency. Some 78 people are being treated for wounds from the twin explosions that occurred Tuesday morning in a camp of some 50,000 people driven from their homes by the Boko Haram Islamic uprising, according to health workers in Maiduguri, the biggest city in northeastern Nigeria.

2 Gay rights: Left-of-center parties in Portugals Parliament have used their majority to overturn presidential vetoes on bills that granted adoption rights to same-sex couples and removed some abortion restrictions. The legal changes give gay couples the same adoption rights as heterosexuals and waive mandatory counseling for women seeking an abortion.
BUCHAREST, Romania  A Romanian appeals court on Wednesday upheld a 20-year prison sentence for a 90-year-old communist-era prison guard convicted of crimes against humanity, the most high-profile case since dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was tried and executed in 1989.

Alexandru Visinescu was convicted in July for the abuse and killing of inmates at the Ramnicu Sarat prison in eastern Romania during his command from 1956 to 1963.

Visinescu appealed to the High Court of Cassation and Justice, but was not present in court Wednesday to hear the verdict. Police were expected to go to his Bucharest apartment later Wednesday to take him to prison.

The prison that Visinescu ran housed people who had been members of the intellectual, political and military elite in Romania before World War II. His prisoners were some of an estimated 500,000 people who fell afoul of the communist regime after World War II and were locked up until a general amnesty was declared in 1964.

Prosecutors said former prisoners of Visinescu testified that they were denied access to medical treatment, heating, exercise and adequate food. They were held in solitary confinement, and beatings were common. Nearly 140 inmates were incarcerated during the seven years Visinescu was in command.

During the trial he showed no remorse and insisted he was only following orders. At his final hearing last month, Visinescu wept and pleaded: Let me die!

He was asked six times by the judge and prosecutor why inmates died under his command. He answered just once, suggesting they died of old age.

Valentin Cristea, 85, the only surviving prisoner of Visinescus, heard about the verdict at his home north of Bucharest. Reached by phone, he said: The justice system did its duty.

Cristea said he was too ill to discuss the matter further. But he added that he was indifferent to Visinescu, saying he would pay for his sins in a future life.

Wednesdays ruling is a watershed in Romanias attempts to bring communist-era wrongdoers to justice, 27 years after the collapse of one of the most repressive regimes in the former Soviet Bloc. Aside from Ceausescu, almost none of the other top communist-era figures has faced trial, a failure that has been blamed on corruption that has flourished despite Romanias membership in the European Union.

The trial itself reflects a commitment by a new generation of prosecutors to stamp out corruption.

Though Visinescu was not a high-level leader, he has become a symbol of the systems brutality.

Andrei Muraru, who initiated the case in 2013 when he was head of the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes, said he was deeply gratified by the ruling.

It is a historic sentence because, starting from this moment, any crimes committed in the communist era can be condemned, Muraru said.

It is an important ruling for the rehabilitation of the victims, he added.
Job Cuts Possible in Santa Fe

Santa Fe city councilors, who have already proposed new taxes and spending cuts to close the citys budget gap, also want managers to consider

, preferably without layoffs, according to Daniel Chacon.

Flynn Blasts EPA

State Environment Secretary Ryan Flynn claims the US Environmental Protection Agency has attempted to downplay the extent of

and the environment following the Gold King Mine spill in August.

Cover Up

Dave McCoy at Citizen Action New Mexico thinks the New Mexico Environment Department and the EPAs regional office in Dallas acted criminally when they allegedly put together a plan to use

and turned a blind eye to the threat of potential contamination of the citys drinking water supply by Sandia National Laboratories nuclear and chemical waste landfill.

Audit Anger

A day after 10 more behavioral health providers were cleared of wrongdoing in New Mexico, US Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham said 

. On Tuesday, she called for an investigation into the controversial audits.

Space Tourism

Virgin Galactic still wants to take tourists into space sometime in 2018. Now, theyre saying theyll be

as soon as this year. Next week, Virgin plans to introduce its new spaceship in California.

Education Funding Deal Struck

Robert Nott reports that the state may be able to avoid losing $34 million in federal funds over penalties the state Public Education Department faced for

of its own money in special-education programs.

Legislative News

Open Government: Attorney Fees Appealed

The New Mexico Appeals Court is considering whether the American Civil Liberties Union should be awarded

. The ACLU sued then-Secretary of State Dianna Duran in 2011 to get records she claimed proved undocumented workers were voting illegally.

Santa Fe Reporter
While playing with his sisters children on the evening of December 31, he had lost his balance and fallen from the balcony of the seventh floor to the parking lot below.

Hyderabad: Being able to walk after falling from their seventh floor apartment at Madhapur is nothing short of a miracle for 25-year-old Mr Suresh (name changed).

While playing with his sisters children on the evening of December 31, he had lost his balance and fallen from the balcony of the seventh floor to the parking lot below. He was rushed to a super specialty hospital for treatment. His mother Ms Laxmi (name changed) said, He was lying in a pool of blood in the parking lot. Security and members of the apartment came forward to help and rushed him to the hospital. I was scared and was shivering all the time. My husband was called to the hospital from his place of work and the doctors told us that the next 48 hours were very crucial.

Mr Suresh had sustained multiple rib fractures, lung injury, spine fractures, shoulder dislocation and other minor injuries.

He works with a software company and the family had a small get-together on New Years Eve. While his mother and sister were busy with preparations he was engaging the kids. Now completely conscious, Mr Suresh only remembers that he slipped and fell. He says, I just remember the thud sound of my fall. And my mother soothing me in the hospital is the only memory of my coming back.

What happened to him in the meantime is a story told by the nursing staff and family members. Dr Ghansyam Jagathakar, director of critical care said, As the lungs were severely injured, oxygen levels had to be maintained, and for that reason he was put on ventilator and heavy medication. But within 48 hours, he stabilised. That was a positive sign and we could plan all the other treatments.

The ventilator continued for 10 days. He was also on dialysis but that too was removed once his kidneys started functioning normally. To get him back to his feet, it was important to treat the spine. Dr Srikanth Reddy, consultant neuro-spine surgeon said, It was important to carry out the surgery without paralysing the patient. Hence we opted for keyhole surgery and the results have been good as he is now walking properly. The doctors have also made him jog and the result is encouraging.

Mr Suresh says, For me, its a new lease of life. I am very thankful to God as falling from such a height and surviving is indeed a miracle.

Doctors say that while his young age was in his favour, it is also his luck that that got him back to his feet.
Even as Republican lawmakers push a series of tough new criminal sentencing bills in Santa Fe this month, federal officials, including New Mexico's senior senator, are rethinking the mass incarceration of nonviolent drug offenders.

A report prepared by the US Sentencing Commission and submitted to Congress in December 2015 (almost a year after SFR published "War on Sentences") indicates that judges reduced sentences for 95 of 154 (or 61 percent) of the federal prisoners from New Mexico for retroactive relief under new federal guidelines.

Those prisoners had their sentences cut from 106 months to 88 months, an average reduction of 18 months. Another 59 applications were denied, but it's not clear if those inmates applied despite having binding plea agreements or other technical disqualifications, including the use of a weapon in their crime.

Over the next five years, another 293 New Mexicans will become eligible to petition for early release after the US Sentencing Commission recommended a two-level drop on the sentencing matrix based on the quantities of drug trafficked.

Drug policy reform advocates, inmate families and politicians claim that mandatory sentences, which range from five years to life without the possibility of parole for third-time offenders, are too harsh and too costly.

They point to studies that have shown that longer jail sentences have a minimal effect on recidivism or increased public safety. They also contend skyrocketing prison costs (about $6.4 billion annually) has become an expensive taxpayer burden over the past 40 years, as the country's prison population quadrupled to 2.2 million adultsor 1 in 10 in 2012.

Source: US Sentencing Commission

New Mexico's senior Sen. Tom Udall says there is little doubt the federal criminal justice system is in need of serious reform. He supports President Barack Obama's proposal to spend $1.1 billion to fight prescription opioid and heroin drug overdoses in New Mexico and around the country.

In fiscal year 2013 in New Mexico alone, 455 federal defendants faced drug charges, 436 received prison time and 70 were given mandatory sentences. Fewer than 10 percent of offenders were offered probation or diverted to drug treatment programs in 2014, as federal policies shifted away from community supervision in favor of incarceration.

"Drug abuse is more than an issue for law enforcement," says Udall. "It can't be solved solely by throwing victims in jail, and that's why I have fought for resources to support prevention and drug abuse treatment as well as resources for law enforcement."

Last year, Udall, the former New Mexico attorney general, signed on as a co-sponsor of the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2015. The legislation has put conservative groups like Koch Industries on the same team as the American Civil Liberties Union, the White House, and even Republican presidential candidates Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz, who last April wrote, "Draconian mandatory minimum sentences can produce sentences that far outweigh the crime, especially for nonviolent drug offenders."

While politicians who used to advocate for tough penalties turn their focus to health-centered drug treatment and prevention programs, inmates stuck with long sentences remain locked up in facilities that are 32 percent over-capacity.

Albuquerque criminal defense attorney Bob Gorence, a former federal prosecutor, said he hopes the sentence reforms recommended by the commission will prod Congress into fixing the mandatory sentence policy this year.

"It doesn't mean legalizing drugs, but sentences up to 10 years for first-time offenses is too harsh. It's just not working," Gorence said. "The US Sentencing Commission's recommendation was a good first step. Every little bit helps since these penalties were already too harsh, but they cannot trump what Congress has already imposed."

US Attorney for New Mexico Damon Martinez, like Udall, has suggested that substance and drug abuse be treated as a public health issue.

"We cannot simply arrest our way out of the drug problem," Martinez said at an opioid-abuse summit in Albuquerque last year.

As an alternative to expensive incarceration, Martinez said he is hopeful that national and local initiatives will put more defendants into drug diversion programs and help newly released inmates return to productive lives.

Santa Fe Reporter
Here is some stuff in the news today...[Content Note: White supremacy] Cliven Bundy is under arrest and the "remaining occupiers of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge were expected to surrender Thursday morning on the 41st day of the standoff." Insert all the contempt on the planet here for the evident racist double-standard that affords white seditionists a peaceful surrender. Fuck.Albert Einstein's prediction was right: Researchers at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory have detected gravitational waves! And naturally, Maddie Stone at Gizmodo has the best headline: " Holy Shit! Scientists Have Confirmed the Existence of Gravitational Waves ." LOL! "Gravitational waves were observed on September 14th, 2015, at 5:51 am ET by both of the LIGO detectors, located in Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington. The source? A supermassive black hole collision that took place 1.3 billion years ago. When it occurred, about three times the mass of the sun was converted to energy in a fraction of a second."[CN: Terrorism; death; video may autoplay at link] Fucking hell : Two female [redacted] bombers blew themselves up this week in a camp in northeastern Nigeria set up to shelter people from terrorism, killing at least 58 people. But others were spared when a third intended bomber realized at the last minute that her family had taken shelter there, too, and refused to detonate her explosives, relief officials sad. Officials said 78 people were injured. The victims were staying in a camp for people who had been displaced by Boko Haram violence in Nigeria's Borno state." (I continue to find it inappropriate that young women and girls who detonate bombs strapped to them are called "suicide" bombers, which connotes an agency that the women and girls kidnapped and forcibly sacrificed by Boko Haram do not have. And while I don't want to strip women of their agency, even when they're committing atrocities, we do not know if the women who self-detonated had any meaningful agency to exercise.)[CN: War on agency] These laws are heinous : "A Tennessee woman who was one of the first to be charged under the state's controversial fetal assault law accepted a plea deal that will keep her out of jail but on probation for almost a year. Brittany Nicole Hudson pleaded guilty to child abuse, or simple assault, stemming from an incident in October 2014 where Hudson allegedly gave birth to a baby girl in a car on the side of a Blount County, Tennessee road. The Blount County Sheriff's Office then opened an investigation and determined that Hudson had used illicit drugs during her pregnancy. Tennessee lawmakers in April 2014 passed the first-of-its-kind fetal assault bill, which enables prosecutors to charge pregnant patients with assault for actions patients took while pregnant that cause 'harm' to their fetus. SB 1391 allows a person to be prosecuted for the illegal use of a narcotic while pregnant, if the baby is born addicted to or harmed by the narcotic drug, and the addiction or harm is a result of illegal use of a narcotic drug taken while pregnant. This bill allows women to be charged with aggravated assault, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, if they have a pregnancy complication after illicit drug use. Hudson was one of the first women to be charged under the fetal assault law, passed by Tennessee's GOP-majority state legislature."[CN: Carcerality; death] "Fifty-two people have been killed and 12 wounded in a prison riot in Monterrey, north-eastern Mexico, the state governor has confirmed , just days ahead of a planned visit by Pope Francis to another prison nearby. Jaime Rodriguez Calderon, the governor of Nuevo Leon, said the violence involved a brutal fight between rival factions, including one led by a member of the Zetas drug cartel. All 52 victims were male, Rodriguez said, adding that they had not yet all been identified. Five of the 12 wounded had serious injuries." Damn.[CN: Racism] OMFG Meryl Streep: "The Berlin International Film Festival became embroiled in the debate about diversity in the movie industry Thursday, with jury president Meryl Streep dismissing questions about the all-white panel by telling reporters that 'we're all Africans really.' ...Asked by an Egyptian reporter whether she understood films from the Arab world and North Africa, Streep said that while she didn't know much about the region, 'I've played a lot of different people from a lot of different cultures. There is a core of humanity that travels right through every culture, and after all we're all from Africa originally,' she added. 'Berliners, we're all Africans really.'" This is polite : "Moments after he placed second in the New Hampshire primary, John Kasich was transformed from a low-profile, under-the-radar candidate to the new face of compassionate conservatism in America. ...But behind the unassuming image is a track record in his home state of Ohio, where he is a second-term governor, that puts him a big step to the right of what many Americans would consider moderate." All he does is wear the mask Sources: Jim Webb May Announce Presidential Candidacy Again ." Oh."Wisdom, a Laysan albatross that researchers first tagged in 1956, has hatched what could be her 40th chick, leading the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to call her 'an iconic symbol of inspiration and hope.' Born at the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge (which is part of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument), the new (adorable) chick has been named Kukinithe Hawaiian word for messenger."[CN: Moving gifs at link] And finally! " 17 Just Great Looking Dogs ." LOLOLOL! (P.S. They're cats.)
[Content Note: Hostility to consent.]The Bernie Sanders campaign continues to have problems with misrepresenting endorsements and associated unethical campaigning.First, in Iowa, Sanders ran a campaign ad that quoted praise from thewhile concealing that the paper had endorsed Hillary Clinton and tucking the quote in between two other endorsements. Thes endorsement "came down in favor of Mrs. Clinton's candidacywhich even careful viewers would have no way of knowing."Then, also in Iowa, Sanders sent out mailers that used the League of Conservation Voters and AARP logos, "a subtle effort to tie himself to those groups, if not implying an endorsement. But neither group has backed him. The AARP, which represents retirees, does not endorse candidates, and the League of Conservation Voters, an environmental advocacy group, is supporting Sanders's Democratic foe, Hillary Clinton."Then, in Nevada, the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 reported that Sanders staffers were wearing "union pins in order to gain access to employee areas at four of the city's unionized hotels. [The union] said it was 'disappointed and offended' by what it suggested was an unethical move by the Vermont independent's campaign. The union, powerful in Nevada politics, hasn't yet endorsed a candidate in the presidential race... 'It's completely inappropriate for any campaign to attempt to mislead Culinary Union members, especially at their place of work,' Geoconda Arguello-Kline, secretary-treasurer for the union, said in a statement. 'The Culinary Union button that hundreds of thousands of union members have proudly worn to work every day represents 80 years of struggle and fighting for justice.' The Sanders campaign told CNN that staffers 'did wear Culinary buttons to try to talk to workers, but did not misrepresent who they were.' That may well be true, but from the vantage point of the union that may not matter."Then, in New Hampshire, Sanders ran a campaign ad that implied two newspapers there had endorsed him, when, in fact, they had not: "Sanders' 30-second campaign advertising spot, playing less than a week before the key New Hampshire primary, cites glowing praise from the regionalandalongside organizations that have endorsed Sanders. But theandhave not endorsed hima fact that is not shared with the viewer."Then, also in New Hampshire, Sanders sent out mailers using images of people without their consent in campaign advertisements, in several cases leaving people with potentially dire professional consequences they had to address, including American Legion state officer Tom Wiley, who "is in the early stages of a campaign himself, for the post of New Hampshire's Department Commander," and was obliged to field calls asking why he was pictured in a Sanders ad wearing his American Legion hat, as "the American Legion fiercely protects its image as a nonpartisan organization."[CN: Video may autoplay at link] And, today, there is another report that the Sanders campaign has claimed a personal endorsement they were not given: "Brenda Romero, a Nevada student leader and DREAMer that Bernie Sanders' campaign touted as someone who endorsed their campaign, tells CNN she never endorsed the Vermont senator and is backing Hillary Clinton. Romero said Monday she had agreed to be part of Sanders' Nevada Latino Steering Committee, but that she never endorsed the senator. ...'I didn't agree to such an endorsement,' Romero said Monday, noting that while she agreed to be part of the steering committee, she was told that the role would be advising the 'campaign and potentially Sen. Sanders about immigration issues.'"This latest is reminiscent of the Sanders' campaign also having claimed as foreign policy advisors people who say they've barely had any contact with the campaign: "Five of the people cited by his campaign say they have only spoken to him once or twice. One is President Barack Obama's deputy national security advisor, Ben Rhodes, whom Sanders mentioned at the Bloomberg Politics breakfast. Rhodes told CNN that he had spoken to Sanders twice as part of 'standard briefings' he gives members of Congress on issues like Iran and ISIS. ...Other foreign policy pros named by Sanders seemed similarly distant from him."Just a few days ago, I wrote : "I don't imagine these incidents to be reflective of an indifference to ethical campaigning; I think they are instead a reflection of the disorganization of a nationally untested campaign that doesn't have the competency to ensure these sorts of things don't happen."And I still believe that, but my good will is quickly depleting. At a certain point, you've got to actually learn from your mistakes andor else people are going to quite reasonably start to think they're not actually mistakes at all.Even at this point, this is far too many instances of, at best, "overenthusiastic" staffers whose indifference to the rules and/or basic ethics hasn't been caught and prevented by the campaign leaders. If it really is just a function of mismanagement, that's a pretty big problem all on its own, no nefarious motives required.
New Zealand's southern-most deep water port, South Port New Zealand, saw profits increase by 54 percent in the six months to the end of December 2015 to $5.06 million, despite worries about the global economy.

The port, which is based at Bluff, warned investors that the results were influenced by the scheduling of annual maintenance, with a much higher proportion of the work due to fall in the second half of its financial year. Full-year earnings are expected to be in the range of $8.25 to $8.75 million, compared to $7.74 million for 2015.

Chief executive Mark O'Connor said the port had experienced an unexpected lift in tonnage, compared to customer estimates.These projections had suggested reduced volumes across the board were likely, given the slow-down in the Chinese economy and lower international agriculture prices." Total cargo volumes rose 33,000 tonnes, or 2 percent, to just over 1.5 million tonnes.

This was mainly driven by stronger exports of bulk forestry products like logs and woodchips, as well as an increased volume of dairy products. O'Connor said so far banks seemed to be backing the dairy industry and accommodating continuing pasture maintenance and feed related expenditure.

Chairman Rex Chapman said the company expected operations in the second half of the year to be stable. An interim dividend of 7.5 cents per share is to be paid on March 8, an increase on the 7 cents paid this time last year.

Shares in South Port NZ currently trade at $4.40 and have risen by 18 percent in the last year.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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The New Zealand Shareholders Association says it will oppose security software developer Wynyard's plans to sell new shares below a previously announced price floor of $2 a share when a meeting of investors is held next week.

NZSA chairman John Hawkins said there was no clear information about how the company would protect existing investors and that his members faced an information "black hole", although chief executive Craig Richardson says the company is "carefully considering a number of options including those that John (Hawkins) has provided."

Wynyard shareholders agreed to let the board sell 15 million shares at a price of at least $2 at a special meeting in December after the company drummed up investor interest during a roadshow. However, since then global equity markets have been volatile. The meeting on Feb. 18 will see the board ask shareholders to approve the share placement it conducted in June 2015, when it raised $45 million. That would allow it to issue more shares without the $2 minimum price restriction.

Earlier this month, chairman Murray Horn wrote to investors to explain the move. "Global volatility crystallised earlier than directors expected and these unforeseen market conditions are disrupting the company's ability to raise capital at this price at this time from the investors that expressed interest in late 2015. Wynyard is a growth company that requires further capital in the short and medium term and continues to rely on support from shareholders and investors."

But the NZSA said far more explanation was needed. In particular they're concerned that Wynyard has given no indication of the circumstances or price at which it will issue new shares. It says the board would be able to offer large parcels at potentially large discounts, heavily diluting existing investors. The NZSA said it had engaged with the company and made a number of suggestions and if a reasonable solution is offered, then the association would support the resolution at the upcoming meeting.

Wynyard's shares last traded above $2 a share in February last year before falling by almost a third on prices seen 12 months ago. The shares rallied today, rising 7.3 percent to $1.48.

In a brief statement sent to BusinessDesk, Richardson said: "Both NZSA and Wynyard agree that global capital markets have changed significantly since December. We also both agree its important to get the right outcome for the company and its shareholders. We are carefully considering a number of options including those that John has provided."

"Its also important in this environment we consider how we deploy capital to continue to grow the company, accelerate our shift to profitability and minimise any future capital needs. As soon as we reach a decision well inform the market.

A spokeswoman said there were no plans for anything other than the shareholder vote at next week's meeting.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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A record upsurge in demand for ultrafast broadband connections since Christmas is exacerbating a shortage of technicians to do the work, say fibre companies.

Speaking at todays release by the Telecommunications Forum of a report on the status of the industry, Chorus chief executive Mark Ratcliffe said both January and February had seen a record number of connections and his company, which is responsible for most of the UFB roll-out nationwide, has had to boost its technician capacity by 30 percent in the past four months.

Four companies have been contracted by the government to meet its objective of rolling out UFB to 80 percent of the country by 2022.

Chorus received more than 13,000 new fibre connection orders in January, the highest in one month, and its currently completing an average 400 new connections a day.

We need, collectively, twice as many technicians that we have working by the middle of the year, its that kind of magnitude, Ratcliffe said.

Christchurch fibre company Enable reports a similar upsurge in demand with connections doubling in the past three months.

Enable chief executive Steve Fuller said its projections had been for the demand to peak in 2018/19 but were now hitting that peak three years early.

The roll-out has just passed the half-way mark with 550,000 customers having fibre laid past their homes and 100,000 customers now connected, Chorus's Ratcliffe said.

It takes about three months to train a technician, depending on their skill level, but also represents a $100,000 investment when the training, equipment, and van are taken into consideration, he said.

Spark New Zealand chief executive Simon Moutter said fibre was an easy sell at the moment but there needed to be more education for consumers on what will happen at their home with fibre installations. Theres lots of work to do to make sure we get the customer experience in the place it needs to be.

Chorus said it's taken a number of steps to improve that experience as the demand for fibre becomes mainstream. That's included increasing the number of installers, taking a bigger role in forecasting demand, and setting up a contact centre to confirm appointments following criticism over a high number of missed appointments.

Still, the increased demand and shortage of technicians to do the work has pushed out the time for some home connections.

While it only takes a day to do the actual work, Enables waiting times have now moved out to 40 days from 30 days before Christmas.

Chorus says it's actually decreased the median time to connect a single dwelling from 37 days in October to 22 days, though that figure balloons out to 99 days for apartment blocks and 104 days for homes on a right of way, which both require consents.

Vodafone New Zealand chief executive Russell Stanners said consumers had unrealistic expectations around how quick the connection will be made, when they wouldnt expect other work around the home such as a bathroom renovation to be done the day they think of it.

The industry report by the Sapere research group said investment in the telecommunications sector is $1.7 billion a year, proportionately one of the highest levels in the OECD.

The report said the sector is performing well above its international competitors in several ways, including the fastest fibre uptake in the developed world and one of the fastest 4G mobile download speeds globally.

A breakdown of annual sector investment shows $686 million went into fibre fixed access in 2014 compared to $665 million in 2013, while investment in the core network and backhaul, that connects the core to other sub-networks, rose to $694 million from $568 million in 2013.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in New Delhi. (Photo: Twitter)

New Delhi: Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan was accorded a ceremonial welcome on Thursday in the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan here.

Al Nahyan, who is on a three-day visit, was accorded a ceremonial Guard of Honour in the sprawling courtyard of the Rashtrapati Bhavan in what is his first state visit to India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley were present on the occasion.

Modi and Al Nahyan, who is also the Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE armed forces, later met at the Prime Minister's residence.

"An exceptional tete-a-tete. PM meets the Crown Prince for a restricted meeting at 7RCR before talks in the evening," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.

The two leaders will hold detailed deliberations today following which both sides are expected to sign a number of agreements.

Ways to contain radicalism, stepping up counter-terrorism cooperation and dealing with the ISIS are likely to figure prominently in the talks.

Before his ceremonial welcome, the Crown Prince also visited Mahatma Gandhi's memorial at Rajghat, laid a wreath and planted a sapling there.

Al Nahyan arrived here yesterday to a warm welcome, with the Prime Minister keeping aside protocol to receive the "special friend" at the airport with the hope of adding new vigour and momentum to India-UAE ties.
Mumbai: Ishrat Jahan and three others, Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Jishan Johar, were killed by the Gujarat police in an alleged fake encounter near Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

The Gujarat Police had claimed that the four were connected with the Lashkar-e-Taiba and had come to Gujarat to assassinate the then chief minister Narendra Modi in order to avenge the communal riots of 2002.

The case created ripples in the media and the state police faced a lot of heat, causing the then Modi-led Gujarat a lot of embarrassment. But last year in June, the Central government virtually brought down curtains on the 11-year long probe by turning down CBIs request for granting prosecution sanction to the officials who were accused of conspiring the alleged fake encounter.

And now with David Coleman Headley claiming in his statement that Ishrat Jahan was a Lashkar suicide bomber, the case is back in the spotlight.

Read: Ishrat Jahan was a Lashkar suicide bomber, David Headley tells court

However, in 2009, a report submitted by Metropolitan Magistrate S.P. Tamang in the Ahmedabad metropolitan court had said that Ishrat had nothing to do with the LeT and was killed in police custody with the others.

The Ahmedabad metropolitan court then ruled that Ishrat's killing was a fake encounter. Tamang's report said the Crime Branch police kidnapped Ishrat and the others from Mumbai on June 12, 2004, and brought them to Ahmedabad. Tamang said that there was no evidence to link the victims with the LeT. There was also nothing to indicate that they had come to Gujarat to kill Modi.

The Gujarat Government challenged the report of the metropolitan magistrate, saying that the policemen accused of fake encounter were not given an opportunity to present their side of the arguments. The Gujarat Government's petition in the High Court against Tamang's report said that it should be scrapped as it was 'illegal and doubtful'.

The Gujarat High Court stated that Ishrat Jahan's encounter case was of national importance and ordered the police witnesses to be posted where they would not be working as subordinates to officials accused in the case.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by Karnail Singh, was set up to probe the case further. The SIT sent four teams to Srinagar, Delhi, Lucknow and Nashik to probe Ishrat's alleged terrorist links.

On November 21, 2011, the SIT told the Gujarat High Court that the Ishrat Jahan encounter was not genuine. After the SIT filed its report, the High Court ordered that a complaint under Indian Penal Code Section 302 (murder) has to be filed against those involved in the fake encounter, in which over 20 policemen, including senior IPS officers, were involved.

In a supplementary chargesheet filed in February 2014, the CBI slapped murder and conspiracy charges against Rajendra Kumar, former special director of the Intelligence Bureau and three other IB officers, P. Mittal, M.K. Sinha and Rajiv Wankhede, over its probe into the Ishrat killing. And in June 2015, the Centre rejected CBIs plea to prosecute them, virtually closing the case.

But who was Ishrat Jahan and the other three accused?

Ishrat Jahan Shamim Raza was a 19-year-old girl, who was a second year Bachelor of Science student at Mumbai's Guru Nanak Khalsa College. Ishrat used to work as the Secretary of Javed Sheikh (Pranesh), and used to handle his accounts.

Pranesh Pillai alias Javed Gulam Sheikh was the son of Gopinatha Pillai, a native of Noornad in Kerala. Before his death, he had been booked for four assault cases in Mumbai and Pune, and had also been charged with involvement in a fake currency racket. Gujarat Police recovered two passports from Javed: one obtained using his original name Pranesh and the second one in his new name.

Amjad Ali Rana, also known as Akbar or Salim, was originally a resident of the Haveli Deewan village in the Bhalwal Tehsil of Pakistan. According to the CBI chargesheet, he told the Gujarat Police that he was planning to commit a terrorist act in Ahmedabad.

Zeeshan (alias Jisan Johar alias Abdul Ghani), along with Amjad, is said to have been caught in a trespassing case in Srinagar in 2003.
This is the second such incident after a newborn's finger was amputated at a Balurghat hospital in South Dinajpur district last year. (Photo: PTI)

Asansol: The amputation of finger of a 2-month-old baby at a state-run hospital in Asansol in Burdwan district last week triggered disciplinary action by state health department with three medical officials of the hospital suspended last night.

A top district health official said the baby's finger blackened due to pasting of leukoplast last week while being administered saline and finally had to be amputated at a Kolkata Hospital couple of days back.

Stung by the report, the health department conducted a probe and ordered suspension of the RMO of said Asansol Zilla Hospital, Asish Kumar Ghosh, and two nurses Karabi Das and Jayasree Konar last night, the official said. They were charged with negligence.

The suspension notice was sent to the hospital already with immediate effect, the officer said. He said for the sake of privacy of the family of the child, the baby's name and gender could not be made known but the finger has been re-attached.

This is the second such incident after a newborn's finger was amputated at a Balurghat hospital in South Dinajpur district last year.
New Delhi: Seeking to play down reports of around 200 children falling sick after consuming deworming tablets, the government on Thursday said there is "no need to worry or panic" as this medicine has "mild side-effects" on one to two per cent of the children for a short time.



The affected children were taken to hospitals in Bihar, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Haryana and Chhattisgarh as they complained of uneasiness after being administered the tablets on the occasion of National Deworming Day.



"The medicine sometimes causes mild side-effects, particularly if it taken on empty stomach or if there are many worms inside a child's gut. Symptoms like vomiting or nausea may occur in one or two per cent cases," Health Minister J P Nadda told reporters at the launch of Malaria Elimination Framework.



Around 27 crore children were administered deworming tablets on Thursday.



"I want to assure the parents that there is no need to worry or panic. None of the cases reported was a serious one.



All of them are being closely monitored. It was a huge programme where around 27 crore children were given deworming tablets," he said.



Under the nationwide deworming programme, schoolchildren aged between 1 and 19 years were given Albendazole tablet.
BENGALURU: Nowadays a habitual social media user is likely to come across an article reporting rape or domestic violence against women in India every so often. This is a clear indication of the rising atrocities against females in the worlds largest democracy, which if not rightly addressed may crumble the pillars of social harmony.

Strengthening the laws and imposing strict rules may serve to a good extent, but whats more important is the awareness among women about the legal protection they are entitled to. Here are 10 such legal rights (source TOI) for you to know regardless of whether you are a college student, an employee or a housewife.

Right to Free Legal Aid

It has been noticed in some cases that the complaints lodged by woman without a legal counsel arent taken seriously enough by the Police. The recent incident of Chhattisgarh police officials refusing to register complaints of sexual assault against tribal woman gives a clear picture of the situation. However, the Delhi High Court mandates the complaint of a rape to be brought to the notice of Delhi State Legal Services Authority (DSLSA) at the shortest possible time by the Station House Officer (SHO). Subsequently DSLSA provides a lawyer for the victim.

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U.S. President Barack Obama proposed a $4.1 trillion spending plan for fiscal year 2017 on Tuesday in a final White House budget that laid out his priorities for fighting Islamic State, raising taxes on wealthy Americans and helping the poor.



The budget for the fiscal year beginning on Oct. 1 is largely a political document and is unlikely to be passed by the Republican-controlled Congress.



But it gives the Democratic president, who leaves office in January, a chance to make a last pitch for funding on issues such as education, criminal justice reform and job creation while taking credit for U.S. economic strides during his tenure.



The spending proposal stayed within the confines of an agreement reached between the White House and Congress last year that lifted mandatory "sequestration" cuts on both defense and domestic spending.



It proposes lifting the limits entirely from 2018.



"My budget makes critical investments while adhering to the bipartisan budget agreement I signed into law last fall," Obama wrote in the budget document. "It also drives down deficits and maintains our fiscal progress through smart savings from health care, immigration, and tax reforms."



The proposed budget envisions a deficit of $503 billion in fiscal 2017 after a $616 billion budget gap in the current fiscal year ending on Sept. 30.



It seeks to cut deficits by $2.9 trillion over 10 years largely through shrunken tax breaks for wealthy earners, new savings in Medicare healthcare, and assumptions that adoption of its policies would boost economic growth.



Over 10 years, deficits would average 2.5 percent of U.S. economic output, compared to about 4.0 percent in the Congressional Budget Office's estimate, which is based on current laws.



"That document ... will be President Obama's final vision of how he lays out the fiscal future for the country," said Joel Friedman, vice president for federal fiscal policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.



"I don't think anyone expects it to be enacted this year. Republicans aren't going to embrace it, but that doesn't mean it's not going to be a useful document."



Congress can advance elements of the budget without endorsing the entire proposal.



Obama is slated to meet with his national security team to discuss cyber security around 11:00 ET (1600 GMT) and is likely to address reporters at the close of the meeting. The budget seeks $19 billion for cyber security across the U.S. government.



Obama and Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan agree on some anti-poverty policies, but the general differences between the two parties are vast, particularly in a presidential election year.



"The presidents final budget continues his focus on new spending proposals instead of confronting our countrys massive overspending and skyrocketing $19 trillion in debt," said Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi.



Republican lawmakers have taken the unusual step of not inviting White House budget director Shaun Donovan to brief about the proposal.



Maybe they are taking the Donald Trump approach to debates about the budget. They are just not going to show up, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters last week, referring to the Republican presidential front-runner's decision to skip a debate with his counterparts ahead of the nominating contest in Iowa.



The budget requests more than $11 billion for the Departments of Defense and State to fight Islamic State militants and stabilize Syria.



It calls for $152 billion in research and development, an increase of 4 percent over fiscal year 2016, including funding for an effort to cure cancer, which is spearheaded by Vice President Joe Biden.

Read Also: Siachen Miracle Soldier Remains Critical

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NEW DELHI: Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) is looking at its engineers to take lead in the development of at least three to four models, out of 15 new vehicles to be launched in the country by 2020, along the lines of its new compact SUV Vitara Brezza.

The move is part of Suzuki Motor Corporations (SMC) vision of MSI shouldering more responsibility in developing India-specific products while the parent focuses on high-end technology, according to sources.

There could be three to four models that would be developed with MSI engineers taking the lead out of the 15 models planned to be launched in India by 2020. However, no final decision has been taken yet, a source said.

These products will, however, be developed on Suzuki engines and platform and not from the scratch, the source added.

These will be like the Vitara Brezza, which followed a unique development process with a special focus on taste and values of Indian customers, according to the source.

When contacted, a company spokesperson declined to comment, saying we do not comment on our future product plans.

The 15 new models to be launched in the next five years in India are to be mainly spread over three key platforms, which will together entail an investment of $1 billion.

MSI Executive Director  R&D, C V Raman lead the design and development of the Vitara Brezza, which was developed at a total investment of Rs 860 crore with localisation level of 98 per cent.

The model, that was unveiled at the Auto Expo 2016, would be launched in the market in the coming weeks.

During his visit to India for the Auto Expo, SMC President and COO T Suzuki had stated that the Japanese car major expected its arm Maruti Suzuki to shoulder more responsibility in developing India-specific products.

The main responsibility of our Indian R&D is to develop suitable products for the Indian market. Maruti Suzuki will be shouldering more and more responsibility in this regard, he had said.

Suzuki had pointed out that entry of other global players has increased competition in India and we have to develop more suitable products for the Indian market.

Already, Maruti Suzuki has been ramping up its design and development capabilities with an investment of Rs 2,500 crore to set up its R&D centre at Rohtak which boasts of a test track, among others.

MSI is looking to clock two million sales annually by 2020. In 2014-15 it sold a total of 12,92,415 units. In the April-January period this fiscal, the company has sold 11,82,452 units.

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WASHINGTON: Two outsiders - Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Bernie Sanders-cruised to early victories in the first primary battleground of New Hampshire turning the nomination contests into a long drawn battle that may well stretch into spring.



With his win, Trump, the brash real estate mogul and celebrity who had never run for public office before, recovering from his second place finish in Iowa caucuses, seemed to legitimise his status as the frontrunner among the Republicans.



With about 80 percent results in shortly before midnight, Sanders had a double digit 59.9 per cent to 38.5 percent lead over Clinton, while Trump was sitting pretty among Republicans with 34.5 percent - more than double his nearest rival Ohio governor John Kasich with 16.4 percent.



Trump appeared on stage with a beaming smile on his face and gave a thumbs-up to his crowd of supporters. "Wow, wow, wow," Trump said. "We are going to make America great again."



A hoarse but jubilant Sanders also thanked his supporters with a passionate speech. "Tonight we have sent a message that will echo from Wall Street to Washington, from Maine to California," he said.



His Democratic rival, Clinton, delivered a concession speech that appeared to be an effort to co-opt Sanders' message about an economy stacked against the middle class while she vowed to fight her rival across the political map.



"Now we take this campaign to the entire country. We are going to fight for every vote in every state," she said, foreshadowing a long fight for the nomination.



"People have every right to be angry. But they are also hungry. They are hungry for solutions," she said, adding that she wanted to rein in Wall Street. "But I know how to do it," Clinton said, implying that Sanders' calls for a revolution were unrealistic.



She also sent an email to supporters vowing to keep fighting and asking them to chip in with $1.



"I wish tonight had gone differently," she wrote. "But I know what it's like to be knocked down-and I've learned from long experience that it's not whether you get knocked down that matters. It's about whether you get back up."



With Trump cruising to victory as expected, the interest in the Republican race centred on who would win the second place.



That distinction went to Kasich with Iowa winner Texas Senator Ted Cruz, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Florida Senator Marco Rubio battling for a third-place finish.



Victories of Sanders and Trump reflect deep bipartisan discontent at professional politicians and suggest that both the Democratic and Republican races will now be long struggles that could stretch well into the spring, CNN said.



The Washington Post said Sanders' decisive victory embarrassing Hillary Clinton in a state she won eight years ago against then Senator Barack Obama upends the Democratic contest and sets up an intense race for nomination.



Sanders's victory "confirmed the strength of his iconoclastic appeal and the power of an insurgent message that cast Clinton as a creature of the old guard," it said.



But the New York Times noting that "New Hampshire is in fact a drop in the bucket of delegates needed to win the nominations" advised the 'the candidates who go on, the trick is not letting these results go to their heads, or get under their skins."

Read Also:

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Source: IANS
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday critically examined a decision of Arunachal Pradesh Governor J P Rajkhowa ordering maintenance of the party-wise position of MLAs in the assembly and said he had "no role to play" in it, as the anti-defection aspect fell under the domain of the Speaker.

"How can the Governor take away the constitutional powers of the Speaker to disqualify lawmakers on the grounds of defection? The Governor may have some role in the functioning of the assembly, but he has no role to play in issues prescribed in the Tenth Schedule (anti-defection provision) of the Constitution," a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Justice J S Khehar said.

Observing that democracy was part of the basic structure of the Constitution, the bench said, hence, any "undemocratic" decision would be open to judicial review.

"Democracy is a basic structure of the Constitution and if some decisions are anti-democratic, it is the subject matter of judicial review," the bench, also comprising Justices Dipak Misra, Madan B Lokur, P C Ghose and N V Ramana, said.

Senior advocate T R Andhyarijuna, appearing for Rajkhowa, defended the Governor's decisions saying when the Speaker was under clout and part of a conspiracy with the state government, the Governor exercised his discretionary power which is "undefined" in the Constitution. He also said such an exercise of discretionary powers leaves hardly any scope for judicial scrutiny.

Andhyarujina also said the Governor's act may be "questionable", but he is not "answerable".

"The Governor has three kinds of powers under the Constitution. He has to act on aid and advice of the Chief Minister and his Council of Ministers. Second, he has discretion... Third, (his) power is undefined," he said.

During the hearing, the bench said the Governor may have the power to summon and advance the sitting of the House, but he cannot ask that a particular party-wise composition be maintained, as it would amount to interference in the working sphere of the Speaker.

"Is the Speaker prohibited under the law not to accept the resignation of legislators," the bench asked when one of the lawyers raised the manner in which the resignations of rebel Congress MLAs were accepted. The court also said its observations are "tentative" in nature.

The Governor's stand was supported by senior advocate Ashok Desai, who represented 10 MLAs of Arunachal Pradesh including the Leader of Opposition. He said "the Governor's decisions are final, which should not be questioned... There are numerous letters, which point towards the nexus between the Chief Minister Nabam Tuki and then Speaker Nabam Rebia."

"Is the letter, which you are reading, enough for declaration for emergency in the state," the bench said.

The bench also said if the Chief Minister loses majority, the Governor, at best, can ask him to go for a floor test. In any case, there is a "constitutional command that the House will have to meet within six months. If they (the assembly) meet, the Governor has nothing to do...," it said.

Meanwhile, Desai took the bench through the sequence of political events leading to the imposition of the President's rule in the state. The bench is examining the constitutional provisions on the scope of discretionary powers of the Governor. The court would now resume hearing on February 15.

On Wednesday, embattled Rajkhowa defended his actions of advancing assembly session and fixing its agenda claiming that the Chief Minister and the Speaker were "hand-in-glove" and trying to remain in power despite losing majority.

Terming the political situation in the "sensitive border" state as "chronic and chaotic", Rajkhowa's counsel had said, "the Speaker (Nabam Rebia) was under the clout and was hand-in-glove with the Chief Minister (Nabam Tuki).

"The Governor apprehended that the biased Speaker would act in support of the Chief Minister... It was not justified to wait till January 14 this year, so he advanced the session to December 16. This was done for the public cause and in their interest. What was wrong in that," the counsel said.
New Delhi: Braveheart Lance Naik Hanamanthappa  who was trapped for six days at the Siachen Glacier under 35 feet of snow before being rescued on Monday night  lost his battle for life and passed away at about 11.45 am on Thursday. The soldier had slipped into deep coma despite 'maximal life support with aggressive ventilation and dialysis'. He died of multi-organ failure.

The brave soldier breathed his last despite all efforts by the country's best Army and civilian doctors to save him. In all, 10 soldiers including Lance Naik Hanamanthappa of the Madras Regiment perished in the avalanche that had struck a specific area over 20,000 feet at the glacier on February 3. Siachen is the world's coldest and highest battlefield.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid his tribute to the braveheart via Twitter. "He leaves us sad and devastated," Modi tweeted, reflecting the sombre mood in the nation following the brave soldier's death.

He leaves us sad & devastated. RIP Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. The soldier in you remains immortal. Proud that martyrs like you served India.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 11, 2016

Just minutes before his death, the Army had said, "Braveheart Lance Naik Hanamanthappa continues to remain extremely critical with worsening multiple organ dysfunction. His circulatory shock is now refractory to all drugs in maximum permissible doses and his kidneys remain non-functional."

"His pneumonia has worsened and the blood clotting disorder shows no sign of reversal despite blood component support. He is on maximal life support with aggressive ventilation and dialysis. He has slipped into a deeper state of coma."

Read: Nation pays tribute to Siachen 'braveheart' Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad

The condition of the braveheart had deteriorated on Wednesday evening while remaining extremely critical, with evidence of oxygen deprivation to the brain, pneumonia in both lungs, and multi-organ failure including damage to kidneys, thereby rendering the chances of his survival as extremely bleak.

The 33-year-old soldier of the 19th Battalion of Madras Regiment is survived by wife Mahadevi Ashok Bilebal and two-year-old daughter Netra Koppad. A resident of village Betadur in Dharwad district of Karnataka, Koppad had joined the army 13 years back.

Read: Siachen: Army pulls out buried soldier from 35-foot down under

Hanamanthappa had also been a "yoga instructor" to fellow-troops and his physical fitness probably stood him in good stead during the horrific six days when he was trapped at the glacier.

Army doctors had already warned on Tuesday that Lance Naik Hanamanthappa "is expected to have a stormy course in the next 24 to 48 hours due to the complications caused by re-warming and establishment of blood flow to the cold parts of the body".
Onset of Eocene Warming Event took 3-4 millennia (so what were doing is unprecedented in 66 million years)

Posted on 11 February 2016 by howardlee

This article goes into more depth, and has more quotes from my interviews with Professor Richard Zeebe and Professor Andy Ridgwell, than the original article I wrote for The Guardian, published January 29.

The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) was a global warming event with a relatively rapid onset that occurred 56 million years ago at the boundary between the Paleocene and Eocene geological epochs. Scientists have been studying the event because it is seen as an analog, albeit an imperfect one, of modern climate change.

How much warming?

With a global warming of 5 or 6C, it is the strongest warming episode to affect the planet in the time since the end-Cretaceous 66 million years ago (when the dinosaurs went extinct). Unlike the end-Cretaceous, the PETM was not a big extinction event but it generated enough environmental disruption to cause a high turnover of land animals, the evolution of ever smaller animals (the Lilliput effect), and a mass extinction of tiny shell-making creatures that live on the sea bed (benthic foraminifera).

So what does relatively rapid onset mean?

The answer to that question has been an intractable problem for many years, but two new studies have independently just zeroed-in on the answer: 3 to 4 millennia.

More accurately, the two studies have constrained how long it took to release the initial carbon that drove global warming in the PETM  a crucial piece of information if we want to compare the PETM to todays warming. The first study was presented in December at the AGU conference in San Francisco by Richard Zeebe and co-workers, who have calculated a duration of about 4,000 years or more. The second is a paper by Sandy Kirtland Turner and Andy Ridgwell in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, which was published online the same week, and which calculated that the carbon release took about 3,000 years or less.

Despite the difference, the fact that 2 independent studies, using different data and approaches, arrived at a very similar timescale is a huge advance on previous estimates that could do no better than say the onset of the PETM took somewhere between 5,000 and 20,000 years.

I had the opportunity to chat with both Richard Zeebe and Andy Ridgwell about the PETM at the AGU meeting in December.

Two different approaches

Zeebe et als study was sparked by a controversial claim by Wright and Schaller in 2013 that the PETM may have been generated in as little as 13 years, possibly by a comet breaking up in the atmosphere. In a reply to that paper, Zeebe et al showed that it was impossible for the carbon release to generate a signal of ocean warming in such a short period of time.

"...would have to warm the entire planet by 5C within 13 years, which is impossible, unless the heat capacity of the ocean is zero, which we know is not the case!"

The ocean has a heat capacity, says Zeebe, and so what happens is that after you release the carbon you get an increased greenhouse effect, the climate system picks up, and you get warming. It would not only have to release the carbon, but would have to warm the entire planet by 5C within 13 years, which is impossible, unless the heat capacity of the ocean is zero, which we know is not the case!

But this also presented Zeebe with an opportunity. The Wright and Schaller study generated very detailed records of variations in the isotopes of carbon and oxygen through the PETM recorded by carbonates in clay sediments from New Jersey, USA.

We strongly disagree with their interpretation, but we think that the data itself is useful to constrain the timescale of the PETM onset, says Zeebe. We have two isotope systems that we can look at. One of those are oxygen isotopes and they are essentially a thermometer, they tell us about climate change. And the other isotope system were looking at is carbon isotopes and they tell us something about carbon release.

Weve accompanied these data with climate and carbon cycle modelling. So you take these data records and you try to model them, and you see immediately that if you run the carbon cycle and climate models there are serious problems if you assume the release was extremely fast [eg 13 years], because theres a big delay between the carbon input signal and the climate response. So what we did with the model is: stretch the input of the carbon over longer and longer periods of time until we get a match between the observations and the carbon cycle and climate models. In that case we get a consistent story between what is physically possible in terms of the rate of heating of the climate system. As a result, we constrain that the onset of the PETM was probably in the order of 4,000 years.

Exploiting isotope ratios

The approach taken by Sandy Kirtland Turner and Andy Ridgwell is different. They exploit the fact that the PETM carbon isotope curve recorded in land sediments is consistently larger that in marine sediments. This makes sense because it takes time to equilibrate an excess of CO 2 in the atmosphere with the ocean, and the shallow ocean responds faster than intermediate or deep water, so the ratio of the land to marine signals is therefore proportional to the carbon emissions rate. They use a computer model to predict the size and shape of the isotope curves for a range of carbon emission sources and timeframes, and compare those with the actual isotope curves for the PETM recorded in various locations around the globe. Their best match provides an estimate of the onset of the PETM taking less than about 3,000 years.

Modeled carbon isotope curves (CIEs) for 3 different emissions sources over 4 different emission timeframes. Note the break in the timeframe in the left 2 columns. Redrawn and simplified from Kirtland Turner & Ridgwell, EPSL 2015, with annotations added.

A new method that can constrain emissions in other warming events in Earths past

The Kirtland Turner & Ridgwell method has found an empirical relationship between the average ocean carbon isotope excursion, the atmospheric CO 2 level, and the duration of the carbon input that generated the climate change. This relationship, they argue, is generally applicable to other episodes of major carbon release in Earths past.

This is crucial because, even with recent advances in rock dating, the extreme warming events associated with the major mass extinctions in Earths past still seem to have very long durations compared to the ocean mixing time, which is about 1,000 years.

A lot of these events like the end-Permian and the Triassic-Jurassic, when theyre linked to volcanism it does seem that these are relatively slow events overall, on timescales of tens to hundreds of thousands of years, says Ridgwell. But that apparent slowness may be the result of a smeared sediment record of several shorter pulses of rapid emissions.

In their paper, Kirtland Turner and Ridgwell modeled the carbon isotope signal from 10 short emission pulses spread over 1,000 years and compared that with the signal from the same overall carbon release spread evenly over 1,000 years. The results in the average ocean, seabed, and sedimentary carbonate records were identical between the pulsed and continuous scenarios, showing that those records are incapable of resolving a series of very short pulses.

"...could individual pulses look anything like what were doing now in terms of amount and rate? Thats an area of active research..."

Even the PETM were thinking that its possible it wasnt just several thousand years of continuous CO 2 release, but it could have been a bunch of very short pulses. Many records tend to smear-out the signal so something that is actually a series of very, very, short and rapid pulses could actually look like a long continuous release of CO 2 , and therefore, could individual pulses look anything like what were doing now in terms of amount and rate? Thats an area of active research because the estimates of individual pulses are getting better, but the estimates of how much CO 2 would be released associated with an individual pulse is still of the order-of-magnitude uncertainty, which is not helpful to really talk about emission rates.

Why this matters (1): Our emissions are unprecedented in 66 million years

With two independent studies triangulating the onset of the PETM in the 3,000-4,000-year timeframe, it puts modern climate change into perspective.

What were doing with our emissions is unprecedented in the past 66 million years! says Zeebe.

Zeebe et al (2015) point out that our current climate change, occurring in just a couple of centuries, has no analog in the past 66 million years, which presents a challenge for our ability to predict the long term consequences of modern climate change. They go on to say that future ecosystem disruptions will likely exceed the relatively limited extinctions observed at the PETM.

Why this matters (2): Just how sensitive is the planet to rising CO 2 levels?

But even if the PETM isnt a perfect equivalent of todays climate (it was slower, and it happened in a world that was already warmer than today), it still provides useful lessons on how the planet reacts to a geologically rapid release of carbon into the atmosphere.

For example, the 2013 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report says we can expect a warming of between 1.5C and 4.5C if we double atmospheric CO 2 levels, but also acknowledges that the long term warming could be significantly higher than that. The PETM tells us the long-term sensitivity (Earth System Sensitivity) must be higher.

"...most mass extinctions were CO 2 -driven global warming things"

If we just try to explain the PETM with a climate sensitivity of 4.5C, we only get maybe 60% of the warming. So my conclusion would be that long term sensitivity must be more than 4.5C, says Zeebe.

Apart from the stupid space rock hitting the Earth, most mass extinctions were CO 2 -driven global warming things, says Ridgwell. If you screw with the climate enough, you have huge extinctions. The difficulty is how much is enough, and what goes extinct. And then it comes down to rates, and their complications.

References:

Chew, A. E., & Oheim, K. B. (2013). Diversity and climate change in the middle-late Wasatchian (early Eocene) Willwood Formation, central Bighorn Basin, Wyoming. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 369, 67-78.

Secord, R., Bloch, J. I., Chester, S. G., Boyer, D. M., Wood, A. R., Wing, S. L., ... & Krigbaum, J. (2012). Evolution of the earliest horses driven by climate change in the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. Science, 335(6071), 959-962.

KOLBERT, E. (2015). As Temperatures Rise, Will the Small Inherit the Earth? Retrieved January 27, 2016, from http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/lilliput-effect-climate-change-animals-smaller

Zeebe, R., Ridgwell, A., Zachos, J. (2015) Anthropogenic carbon release rate unprecedented during past 66 million years. Presentation PP42A-05, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco 14-18 December 2015.

Kirtland Turner, S., & Ridgwell, A. (2016). Development of a novel empirical framework for interpreting geological carbon isotope excursions, with implications for the rate of carbon injection across the PETM. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 435, 1-13.

Wright, J. D., & Schaller, M. F. (2013). Evidence for a rapid release of carbon at the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(40), 15908-15913.

Zeebe, R. E., Dickens, G. R., Ridgwell, A., Sluijs, A., & Thomas, E. (2014). Onset of carbon isotope excursion at the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum took millennia, not 13 years. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(12), E1062-E1063.

McInerney, F. A., & Wing, S. L. (2011). The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum: A perturbation of carbon cycle, climate, and biosphere with implications for the future. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences,39, 489-516.

Sluijs, A., & Dickens, G. R. (2012). Assessing offsets between the 13C of sedimentary components and the global exogenic carbon pool across early Paleogene carbon cycle perturbations. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 26(4).

IPCC, 2013: Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Stocker, T.F., D. Qin, G.-K. Plattner, M. Tignor, S.K. Allen, J. Boschung, A. Nauels, Y. Xia, V. Bex and P.M. Midgley (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, 1535 pp
Vijayawada: Praveen Galla, a post-graduate student from Andhra Pradesh's Tirupati, who went missing since February 1 was found dead in California, United States on Wednesday. His body was found floating in the ocean at Newport Beach, Orange County. The 23-year-old, who was pursuing his masters degree at California State University, Fullerton had allegedly been depressed of late. Praveen reportedly failed in few subjects and was depressed over it.

Since he went missing from Fullerton last week, his friends, relatives and the Fullerton police launched search but could not trace him. Praveen, a former student of Gitam University, Bubaneswar was a native of Tirupati, Chittoor district.

Read: Chittoor-born MS student missing in United States since a week

Praveen was last seen taking a taxi ride at Fullerton. It is not like Galla to not return home and he has reportedly been depressed off late, Fullerton police said in the look out notice issued to search for Praveen.

Praveen last checked in at the Newport Beach according to notification received via his mobile phone. His body was found 1000ft offshore the Newport Beach. Cause of Praveen's death is yet to be known.
New Delhi: A group of former TERI employees and its University Alumni on Thursday condemned appointment of R K Pachauri as Executive Vice Chairman of the green body, saying it was a "slap" on the face of those fighting against gender discrimination and demanded deferment of his elevation till the case was decided by the court.



"This latest appointment of Pachauri as the 'superboss' of TERI comes across as a slap in the face of all those (women and men) who have ever tried to stand up against gender discrimination or sexual harassment at workplace," the group under the banner of 'A few concerned ex-TERI employees and members of TERI University Alumni network' said in a statement.

Terming the decision of TERI Governing Council as "unfortunate", they said it will give Pachauri "all the powers and access to intimidate witnesses" in the case.

"Appointment of any person to one of the senior most positions of the same organisation where the alleged crime occurs is out rightly unfortunate. Therefore, any appointment (actually a promotion) of Pachauri in TERI should be deferred till the case has been closed by the court," they said.

"This also sends out an extremely wrong message to all TERI employees and TERI university students, through indirect intimidation and by essentially suppressing their voices forever. As a Vice Chairman with executive powers Dr Pachauri could potentially have all powers as well as access to continue to intimidate witnesses of the case," they said.

Meanwhile, Pachauri has told the court that he never exercised any pressure on the organisation and its officials as alleged by his former woman colleague in the sexual harassment case lodged against him.

Pachauri was appointed as Executive Vice Chairman of TERI on February 8 after Ajay Mathur took over the charge from him as Director General of the green body.

In February last year, a junior colleague had accused him of sexual harassment, following which he went on leave but joined work in July after a court quashed the internal committee report that found him guilty of misconduct.

He was removed as chairman of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, an international body of scientists that makes periodic assessment of climate change science.

The group, which has submitted the letter to TERI's governing council, has also started an online petition to garner support for Pachauri's removal from TERI.
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Mysuru: Even as Lance Naik Hanumantappa Koppad battles for his life in a Delhi hospital , 29 year old sepoy, P.N. Mahesh, who was one of the 10 Indian Army soldiers hit by an avalanche in the Siachen Glacier, has died.

Mysuru Deputy Commissioner, C Shikha confirmed his death on Tuesday and visited his family in H D Kote to offer her sympathies.

Mahesh was the son of a primary school teacher in H D Kote district. While his father died a while ago, his mother Sarvamangala, was heartbroken on hearing of his death.

I am deeply affected by my sons passing. But I am proud that he has died serving his country. Let him be born as a soldier in many more incarnations to come, she said bravely while bursting into tears.

Sarvamangala revealed she last spoke to her son two months ago. He told me that he would not be able to talk to me for some time as he was going to a higher altitude. We heard of the news five days ago, but I remained hopeful. I was always proud of my son, and I am happy that he has died as a soldier, but the pain of losing him is killing me, she added, tears filling her eyes.

The sepoys brother P N Manjunath, said Mahesh had last come home in March last year on 20 days leave.

He told us then that he had been posted to Siachen and showed us pictures and videos of the region. He also told us about the risks involved,  he recalled, revealing that Mahesh had always dreamed of joining the Indian Army.

It was when he was purusing his first PUC in the Government Junior college in H D Kote that he heard of the Army selection rally. Since our father had died just then, my mother pledged her gold earrings to send him to the rally. Our family fully supported his dream. He passed both his physical and written tests and was selected in 2005 . He trained at the Madras Regiment centre in the Nilgiris district and served in Assam, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, he added proudly.

The grieving family is now waiting to receive the young soldier's body.
Bengaluru: I knew he would come back, said an anxious mother Basamma, who arrived in Delhi airport to meet her son -Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad. The soldier miraculously survived five days buried under 35 feet of snow in Siachen. She never stopped believing in a miracle.

Despite being declared dead and with over four obituaries being written about him, the 30-year-old jawan survived the ordeal.

As the family landed in Delhi, they were anxious, but there was also hope in the mother Mahadevis eyes. His one-year-old daughter Nethra was also present, but looked puzzled about what was going on.

Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar who immediately flew to Delhi to assess the condition of soldier admitted in Delhi Army Hospital not only made arrangements for the family to fly to Delhi but came to receive the family at Delhi Airport on Tuesday.

He said, The family was very anxious like you, me and the entire country. When his mother told me that she always believed that her son was alive, I told her that she is very blessed mother. Hanumanthappas grit, determination is an inspiration for all. I am happy that his family is here in Delhi with the soldier. I pray he recovers quickly and is reunited with his family.

Hanumanthappas mother, wife along with their daughter, along with two uncles, reach Delhi on Tuesday. They were taken by the army to a guest house and finally met him at 9pm.

They were again allowed to meet Hanumanthappa on Wednesday morning. Regarding his health, the Rajya Sabha MP said, The doctor told us that he is still critical and will be under observation.
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Mumbai: Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Tayyaba terrorist David Coleman Headley told a special court here via video link from the US that Ishrat Jahan, killed in an alleged fake encounter in Gujarat in 2004, was an LeT operative and possibly a suicide bomber.

Headley picked up the name of the 19-year-old girl from three names when questioned by special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam about a botched-up operation that was mentioned to him (Headley) by LeT commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi.

He also confirmed that LeT targeted the Akshardham temple over the Babri Masjid demolition.

At the end of his testimony, when his statement was read out to him so corrections could be made if there was any misunderstanding, Headley told the special judge he wanted to clarify that Ishrat Jahan was an Indian.

Zaki Saab (Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi) mentioned some police shootout at some area in India and later Muzammil Butt explained it to me, said Headley, while replying to a question by Nikam.

Headley also elaborated that some female was killed in that operation in Gujarat.

Prodded by Mr Nikam for details about the botched-up operation, Headley said, I dont know which part in India. But there was one female who was killed in the shootout. I think she was an Indian national and not a Pakistani, but (she) was an LeT operative.

Not aware of female suicide bomber

David Headley informed the court Muzammil was the person who joined the LeT at a young age and had visited Indian-occupied Kashmir (J&K) with Abu Juzar to fight against Indian troops. Muzammil later became the head of LeT.

I will give you three names and you identify from them who that lady was, said Mr Nikam, reading out three names: Noor Jehan, Ishrat Jahan and Mumtaz Begum. Headley then responded: It was the second one, Ishrat Jahan. Mr Nikam also asked Headley about the womens wing of LeT and if he knew the names of any female suicide bomber. However, Headley replied he was not aware of any female suicide bomber but he only knew the mother of Abu Aima, LeT member, was head of the womens wing, but he could not recall her name.

When Mr Nikam asked if Headley knew of Akshardham temple and Somnath temple, he replied in the affirmative. Asked further what had happened at these temples when he was in LeT, he replied he had heard from LeT people that Muzammil had planned an attack on Akshardham but was not aware of anything regarding the Somnath temple. Later he explained he had asked Muzammil about this and was told that Indians demolished the Babri Masjid and hence it was all right for us to attack the Akshardham temple, and that is why we planned to attack it.
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New Delhi: Terrorist David Coleman Headleys recent revelation that Ishrat Jahan was a LeT suicide bomber, has ignited a fresh political row in Bihar, with NDA leaders hitting out at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD Chief Lalu Yadav for referring to her as Daughter of Bihar in the past. The NDA has demanded that Nitish apologise for being sympathetic towards the alleged LeT operative.

Headley while testifying himself through video conferencing from USA revealed before the court that Ishrat Jahan was an LeT operative in India and was one of the suicide bombers of the Pakistan based terrorist outfit.

While referring to Headleys statement on Ishrat Jahan the BJP on Thursday mounted an attack on the grand secular alliance government, accusing them for playing with National security by defending her after she was killed in an encounter in Gujarat in 2004.

Once Nitish and Lalu claimed Ishrat Jahan as Bihars daughter and condemned Gujarat government for her encounter. Now Nitish should react, senior BJP Leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said this through a tweet message.

Earlier Union Minister and BJP leader Giriraj Singh had slammed the chief minister and his other Mahagathbandhan colleagues for doing vote bank politics after she was killed in an encounter in Gujarat.

He said, Nitish Kumar must come forward and apologize after this revelation by David Coleman Headley. Adding to this Union Minister Ashwini Choubey demanded resignation of Nitish Kumar saying that after the truth was revealed by Headley Nitish Kumar must resign for defending her.

The JD (U) and other anti  BJP forces had made her encounter a political agenda during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and had criticized the Gujarat government terming her as Bihar ki Beti, (Daughter of Bihar).

Ishrat Jahan was born in Bihar and had spent her childhood in Patna and Munger district. Her parents later shifted to Mumbai after her fathers business failed to pick up in Bihar.
Barnaby Joyce is Australia's new Deputy Prime Minister after being elected unopposed as the Nationals new leader in a late evening meeting of the Nationals party in Canberra.

His elevation, following the resignation of long-standing Nationals leader Warren Truss, sets up a whole new power dynamic in the government between the urbane Malcolm Turnbull as a Prime Minister popular in middle Australia and Mr Joyce, a happy-go-lucky populist deputy well-known and highly regarded as an authentic representative of regional Australia.

Mr Joyce described his promotion as an "awesome responsibility".
Lagos, Nigeria: At least 60 people were killed when two suicide bombers detonated explosives in a camp for internally displaced people in north-eastern Nigeria, relief workers said on Wednesday.

The attacks were carried out by two teenage girls in Dikwa, about 55 miles northeast of Maiduguri in Borno state, as hundreds of people stood in line to collect food, one relief worker, who asked to remain anonymous said.

Rescue workers transport a victim of a suicide bomb attack at a refugee for treatment at a hospital in Maiduguri, Nigeria, on Wednesday. Credit:AP

"Fifty-two persons were given mass burial in Dikwa while several other corpses were transported to Madiguri," he said.

A third attacker who infiltrated the camp was arrested before she could detonate her device.
The Canberra Fertility Centre has called for paid surrogacy to be made legal in Australia, saying "well over" 200 couples annually would use the option to have a baby.

The centre's medical director, Dr Martyn Stafford-Bell, and scientific director, Christopher Copeland, co-wrote a submission to a Parliament House committee inquiry into surrogacy.

Commercial surrogacy is currently illegal in Australia. Credit:Getty Images

They say fertility centres in Australia should be able to offer paid surrogacy as an option and a ban on advertising for surrogates lifted.

Laws would be uniform and nationally agreed compensation would "prevent competitive offers".
"Instead they went down a path of a completely new hearing and we believe that they didn't have the right to do that. Not over yet ... Essendon is again heading for the courts. "This outcome has negatively affected the players' legal rights, so it's not a technicality, we think that this is a fundamental legal right the players have." Marsh stressed that the Essendon 34 did not seek an injunction so as not to risk their hefty suspensions spilling over into the 2017 season. Rather, they are undertaking this course of action to clear their names and Marsh is convinced their appeal has strong grounds.

"We are all optimistic about the prospects, we wouldn't be taking this on and the players certainly wouldn't be taking this on if they didn't think they had reasonable prospects," he said. "It's difficult to be certain in these types of issues, we've got exceptional lawyers telling us that we have got reasonable prospects." The AFLPA chief executive revealed that some members of the Essendon 34 weren't immediately enthusiastic about going down the appeal path but stressed that none of them had to be convinced to join the appeal and that they each made their own decision to eventually do so. "The reason why it took a bit of time for some of them is that the toll this issue has taken has been huge," Marsh said. "For some of them they were at a point where they just wanted this to end and they were mentally prepared to serve out their suspension.

"I guess as this unfolded and it became clear a number wanted to challenge it, players probably saw it was something they could probably park to one side in their own heads and get on with what they're going to do this year and let the lawyers run this process for them." Marsh confirmed a Swiss legal team would be running the case for all 34 affected past and current players and they have been advised that the process should be complete in four to six months' time. While Marsh agreed there was a chance that CAS and/or WADA might appeal the Swiss Federal Supreme Court's decision, further dragging out the saga, crucially he stressed that that hypothetical situation would not affect any of the players' suspensions. Marsh denied the AFL pressured the AFLPA into not taking the matter any further and rebuffed reports that his organisation were in any way funding the legal costs of the Essendon 34 in the appeal process. Loading
Advocates of the F-35 originally stated that investment in the aircraft was equivalent to buying the biggest gun at the gun shop and necessary to keep Australia at the top of the regional air combat pecking order, while ensuring that our forces remain fully interoperable with key US strike aircraft for the foreseeable future. However, recent leaks from pilots within the test program and analysis of enemy capability suggest that the aircraft will not ensure that Australia has air superiority over the likes of China, India and Russia into the future, all whom have or are testing what will arguably be more robust  albeit less stealthy  fighter jets.

Designed to conduct lethal strikes on air and ground targets without being detected by radar, the F-35 is often said to be the smartest and most complex fighter jet on the planet, but its development has been beset by delays and cost overruns, thanks to technical issues concerning everything from its driveshaft through to its stealth coating, which peels off at high speed.

That said, to what extent is the F-35 a knife or a gun in future air combat? That is exactly what the Senate is trying determine with its recently-launched inquiry into the acquisition of the Joint Strike Fighter.

It should come as no surprise that the first rule of gun fighting is that one should "never bring a knife to a gun fight". Bring a gun, instead. Preferably a big one.

With this in mind, and the fact that Australia already has air superiority over its more immediate regional neighbours, it is not clear whether Australia needs the capability to fight with the US against a major power in such an integrated but conventional fashion, especially when it comes at such great expense. Indeed, it is not even obvious that we need a human in the loop (that is, a pilot in the cockpit) in the age of robot wars and cyber attacks. In this sense, bringing the manned F-35 to an unmanned war is essentially the modern equivalent of bring a knife to a gun fight, and a blunt one at that.

While it is true that despite heavy international investment in unmanned aircraft systems, the associated technologies and software algorithms have not yet progressed to a point such that any remotely or autonomously operated fighter jet can manoeuvre and react to fast-changing dynamics in a combat environment anywhere near as effectively as an aircraft such as the F-22 Raptor, the margin of improvement offered by an aircraft like the F-35 over a purpose-built combat drone does not seem to represent a good return on investment or the sort of value for money that the Australian people expect in times of relative austerity.

Given the problems that plague new acquisition programs and the length of time it can take to fix them, the government needs to consider the next generation of warfare and the fact that our enemies are already deploying highly sophisticated drone technology. It ought to consider whether the Australian Defence Force has the right balance between piloted, optionally piloted, remotely piloted and even automatically piloted (autonomous) systems planned for the future ADF force structure.

It would be prudent for Defence to reduce the number of F-35s it plans to procure, along with other high-end conventional assets. More generally, it could decrease the life cycle of existing legacy platforms to reflect their declining utility in the modern battlespace, and move forward their unmanned and more technologically advanced replacements in order to avoid consequences that could affect its role in the international order for decades to come. A small number of cost-effective JAS-39E Gripen multi-role fighters, manufactured by Saab in Sweden, could fill any capability gap until new systems come online.

But none of this is to suggest that Australia should follow Canada's lead under the new Trudeau government, having effectively exited the program at an estimated cost of US$11 billion in lost parts manufacturing contracts. While the sunk costs and manufacturing losses would be far less in Australia's case, if the government can be assured of updates and revisions aimed at furthering autonomous operation, the purchase of a small number of F-35s could turn an otherwise blunt knife into a gun without frustrating allies by increasing individual unit prices too significantly.
The BBC has unveiled a final lineup of seven presenters for its flagship motoring program Top Gear, including two international racing drivers and American actor Matt LeBlanc.

LeBlanc, who holds the record for fastest lap time in the show's "star in a reasonably priced car" segment, is best known as one of the stars of the long-running US comedy Friends.

Top Gear's line-up of presenters for 2016. From left: Rory Reid, Sabine Schmitz, Matt LeBlanc, Chris Evans, Chris Harris, Eddie Jordan, The Stig. Credit:BBC/Top Gear

The 48-year-old actor joins British television presenter Chris Evans, who was announced as the first new host of the series last June.
Malcolm Turnbull has ended his most tumultuous day as Prime Minister with a new Deputy Prime Minister yet to be sworn in, another minister hanging on by his fingernails, and the pressing need for an unscheduled ministerial shake-up expected within days.

The frontbench turmoil has forced a reshuffle likely to be unveiled on Sunday.

It caps off a poor first fortnight back in Parliament for the new Prime Minister, which has been consumed by the opposition's sustained pursuit of Human Services Minister Stuart Robert.
As the actor who plays Lord Grantham's stoical valet in Downton Abbey, Brendan Coyle has won plaudits for his portrayal of a man duty bound to carry out his instructions with dignity and decorum.

Yesterday he cut a more "contrite and sorrowful" figure, as he appeared before Norfolk magistrates yesterday, charged with drink driving.

Brendan Coyle (second from R) with the cast of Downton Abbey at the National Television Awards 2012 on January 25 in London, England. Credit:Getty

Coyle, who plays John Bates in the award-winning ITV drama, was banned from driving for more than four years, after he was found to be nearly three times over the drink-drive limit while driving his BMW convertible.

He was alleged to have been drinking heavily on a flight back from Thailand, where he had spent a month receiving treatment at in a rehabilitation clinic.
Thiruvananthapuram: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi urged his party leaders in Kerala to put off their fights till after the elections are over because only Congress can defeat Congress, not the CPM.

At the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee executive here on Wednesday, Mr Rahul Gandhi said there was only thing the party needed to do: The CPM cannot defeat the Congress party in Kerala. But the Congress party can defeat the Congress party in Kerala.

Evoking all-round laughter and amid claps, Mr Gandhi said: This is the time for you to join hands, at least for two months with an aim to win the elections. Once the elections are over, you are more than welcome to fight with each other. I am then ready to come here to listen to your woes, said Mr. Gandhi.

Mr Gandhi also took on the Modi dispensation, alleging that the development agenda was merely superficial as it left out the poor, farmers and workers. There was a lethal campaign aimed at dividing the people into Hindus, Muslims and Christians. The Congress was the only force capable of tackling this divisive agenda.

While interacting with Mr. Gandhi late on Tuesday, the majority of senior Congress leaders apprised him of the internal strife in the party. Mr. Gandhis warning had come in the context of the not-so-secret moves by the I group for a leadership change in Government.

At the KPCC meeting, Mr Gandhi praised senior Congress leader A. K. Antony, saying he is the wise leader in Congress, not only in Kerala, but in the whole country. Later, Mr. Antony said gone were the days when people voted for symbols of the party.

Only winnable candidates should be fielded in Assembly elections. The question of losing elections does not rise. We should fight unitedly against the BJPs anti-secular move, said Mr Antony.

Start-Up is about free thinking

The atmosphere of free thinking and tolerance are essential ingredients of the development dreams and economic growth of the country, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said on Tuesday. Talks about startup and digital India on the one side and intolerance towards diversity of opinion will not go together, Mr. Gandhi said during an interaction with members in the startup village in Kochi, according to a release issued by the startup village.

Students and youth should have the freedom to express fresh and innovative ideas and such expressions act as triggers for innovation, he said. The denial of freedom for expressing new ideas leads to incidents such as the suicide of Rohith Venmula in the University of Hyderabad, he said.
The teenage wife of Sydney terrorism suspect Sameh Bayda is a supporter of the extremist group Islamic State and may be willing to assist in carrying out terrorist offences, a court has heard.

But Alo-Bridget Namoa's lawyer Sophie Toomey says her 18-year-old client is just a "terrified teenager" with long-standing mental health issues and the case against her "reeks of hysteria".

Relatives of Alo-Bridget Namoa outside Central Local Court in Sydney on Thursday. Credit:Janie Barrett

"If all the hysteria is pulled away from these facts, we have a girl who is defiant in the face of questioning by authorities," Ms Toomey said.

In Central Local Court on Thursday, Ms Namoa was granted strict conditional bail after magistrate Les Mabbutt said she was not charged with any terrorism offence or violent crime.
The father of a man charged with the attempted murder and rape of two backpackers in South Australia says his son should face the full force of the law if he is found guilty of the crime.

"It's horrible, unexpected," the 86-year-old man told The Advertiser in Adelaide.

The man accused of abducting and attempting to murder two backpackers in South Australia. He cannot be identified for legal reasons. Credit:Facebook

"And if he is guilty, he never has my support ... no, never. He doesn't respect me, he thinks I'm an old fart.
CSIRO executives informed a key manager of cuts of at least half his climate research staff just days before revealing the sharp reduction to the rest of the organisation, questioning in Senate estimates has revealed.

Chief executive Larry Marshall opened the two hour-long grilling from Labor and Greens senators by declaring he was "not a climate change sceptic or denier" and that CSIRO would ensure "vital" modelling and monitoring of climate change would continue.

CSIRO chief executive Larry Marshall, grilled over large-scale staff cuts. Credit:Dallas Kilponen

He said the changes were necessary to improve the value and impact of the science the organisation was doing.

"The notion of customer is often a new one for scientists," said Dr Marshall, who joined CSIRO a year ago after 26 years in the US, much of it as an entrepreneur and inventor of a laser technology used in eye surgery.
The lawyer for a Sydney school that has been stripped of $19 million in government funding has raised concerns about the school's own governance practices following allegations of financial mismanagement.

Rick Mitry, who is acting on behalf of both Malek Fahd Islamic School and the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, said there were ongoing concerns about loans that had been made to members of the school community and allegations of nepotism.

"At this stage there are certainly a lot of indications that six figure loans were made to former school board members and if that is the case they will have to be reimbursed," he said. "There are complaints that money is being spent on matters other than the educational requirements."

"I can't justify loans being made to people who aren't contributing to the school, that is just disgraceful."
The chief executive officer of the Organ and Tissue Authority (OTA) has quietly vacated her position following a controversial probe into the rate of organ donation in Australia that largely vindicated her performance.

Yael Cass emailed staff in early January advising that she would not continue in her role at the end of a five-year term that has polarised the transplant community and seen the OTA become the object of intense scrutiny by government, doctors and donation advocates.

She walked out of the building a week before the release of statistics on Wednesday that showed a record number of organs were donated in 2015 and the authority had exceeded the government target of 18.2 donors per million of the population, with a rate of 18.3.

This corresponded to 1241 organ recipients in 2015, a 55 per cent increase since the authority was formed in 2009, and 435 organ donors - a 76 per cent increase.
University of Canberra researchers hope to develop a new treatment aimed at preventing the spread of cancer within the body with the launch of a new company.

EpiAxis Therapeutics, backed by investment fund ANU Connect and two private, local investors, will soon take clinical trials of the drug into Canberra Hospital.

Professor Sudha Rao.

University of Canberra's Sudha Rao, professor in molecular and cellular biology, and her team were first to identify the role played by a certain enzyme in the proliferation of cancer stem cells.

The enzyme is now known to contribute to the recurrence of cancer after treatment.
Mr Fergus said the only thing the Australian government could do was send in a special forces team - but the risk was just too great. Neil Fergus of Intelligent Risks warns it is too risky to go into Raqqa to rescue orphaned children of terrorist Khaled Sharrouf and Tara Nettleton. Credit:Andrew Quilty Fairfax Media revealed on Wednesday that Ms Nettleton, a mother-of-five and grandmother-of-one, had died in Raqqa last year from complications after having surgery for appendicitis. It is understood that she was unable to access lifesaving medical services for her condition. Sharrouf's children (clockwise from top left) Zaynab, Hoda, Abdullah, Humzeh, Zarqawi.

Ms Nettleton's mother, Karen, has said that she is devastated by the news of the death of her only child. She is also concerned that she cannot be there to look after her grandchildren and great-grandchild. Sharrouf slipped out of Australia in December 2013 using his brother's passport and joined Islamic State, meeting up with his friend and fellow terrorist, Mohamed Elomar. Zaynab's Kik profile, recently changed to Umm Ayesha (mother of Ayesha) and a green bird, which is a common symbol used for martyrs. Ms Nettleton and their children followed via Turkey soon afterwards. Sharrouf achieved global notoriety when he tweeted a picture of his son holding the severed head of a Syrian soldier, captioned, "That's my boy."

Sharrouf is believed to have been killed in June last year. The whereabouts of the children is not known, although they were last known to have been living in Raqqa with their mother before she died. The eldest child, Zaynab, 15, who also goes by the name Umm Ayesha, was married to Elomar, who was also killed last year. Zaynab gave birth to a baby girl in September last year. Government sources said that Australia was highly unlikely to send in special forces soldiers, because that would mean a unilateral combat mission in IS's heartland, which would be extremely dangerous and complex. They said the government did not provide consular services in Syria, meaning that any Australian wanting to get out would typically need to get to neighbouring Turkey.

Even if the Sharrouf family reached a less hostile area than Raqqa, such as a Kurdish-controlled part of the country, there would be little capacity for a rescue, as territory in the north-east of Syria where Raqqa lies frequently changes hands and is subject to rivalries beyond just the IS group and the Kurds. None of the Sharrouf children had publicly expressed any desire to leave Syria, the sources said. The sad outcome for the young orphans is regarded by counter-terrorism sources as a case study in how the reality of joining the so-called Caliphate does not live up to the idyllic images portrayed in Islamic State recruitment material, the government sources said. For instance, the fact that Ms Nettleton is believed to have been given inadequate medical care is at stark odds with the portrayal of the group's hospital system in a video from last year featuring Australian doctor-turned-jihadist Tareq Kamleh, they said. A spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said, "The Australian government's capacity to confirm reports of deaths in Syria is extremely limited.

"Due to the extremely dangerous security situation, consular assistance is no longer available in Syria. DFAT travel advice has long listed Syria as a 'do not travel' destination." Terrorism expert Associate Professor Nick O'Brien, from the Australian Graduate School of Policing and Security at Charles Sturt University, said there was not much the government could do openly. "IS is probably aware that they might be trying to leave and they may be keeping an extra eye on them. The reality is that they are stuck there for the medium to long term," he said. Professor O'Brien said that the children were victims just like many others. "They didn't ask to be taken there," he said.
Groups representing the victims of paedophile priests have reacted angrily to a Catholic church edict to newly appointed bishops that they are "not necessarily" responsible for reporting allegations of child abuse to the police.

The instruction, in a new Vatican training manual advising senior clergy on how to respond to allegations of abuse, states that only victims or their families should decide whether to report to authorities, but bishops should be aware of local legal requirements.

"According to the state of civil laws of each country where reporting is obligatory, it is not necessarily the duty of the bishop to report suspects to authorities, the police or state prosecutors in the moment when they are made aware of crimes or sinful deeds," the training document states.
A victim of an alleged one-punch attack has blasted NSW Premier Mike Baird over Sydney's controversial lockout laws, accusing him of killing the city's reputation and night life.

In an email to Mr Baird, shared more than 700 times since it was posted on Facebook on Wednesday evening, Mosman resident Max Hardwick-Morris said he was "coward punched" on Australia Day.

Mr Hardwick-Morris, 21, told Fairfax Media that he had been waiting in line at Cremorne McDonald's at about 11pm when another man approached him and a friend. The man said something to his friend before allegedly punching both men when they turned around, he said.
Eddie Obeid's barrister has told jurors in the criminal trial of the former NSW Labor minister that the Crown case against his client draws "a very long bow".

Sydney silk Braddon Hughes rose to his feet in the historic Darlinghurst Courthouse on Thursday to deliver an opening address challenging allegations that Mr Obeid used his office improperly for the financial benefit of his family.

Eddie Obeid and his wife Judith (right) leave the Darlinghurst Supreme Court on the second day of his trial. Credit:James Brickwood

Mr Obeid, 72, has pleaded not guilty to misconduct in public office over representations he allegedly made to Steve Dunn, deputy chief executive of the state Maritime Authority, about the grievances of a group of Circular Quay tenants in 2007.

The court has heard that Mr Obeid, then a member of the NSW upper house, did not reveal to Mr Dunn that his family had an interest in two cafes on the wharves, Cafe Sorrentino and Quay Eatery, and collected about $1000 a week in cash from the businesses.
For the second year running, the focus in the run-up to the Budget Session of Parliament is not on economic issues but squarely on political turmoil. After a near parliamentary washout in 2015, will 2016 be different? Or are we going to witness only essential business getting transacted while all significant legislative initiative of the government gets stalled? It is true that the annual Budget does not evoke the sort of interest it used to earlier, but the Budget Session remains important as it provides indication of fresh thinking on part of the government.

If the Budget Session is preceded by a complete lack of interest, it indicates that the government has lost faith in its capacity to play a transformative role. And that it is, instead, attempting to counterbalance the deficit by hype and hyperbole. The blame can be apportioned on the government more than the Opposition because, in India, elections are not fought on ideological and programmatic lines but on performance or lack of it of the incumbent in power. In such a scenario, it serves the Opposition parties cause if the ruling party has a deficit in terms of performance. The ruling party has to find a way to either circumvent it or be more persuasive.

Despite its dismal strength in the Lok Sabha, the Congress has played a parliamentary spoilsport with telling effect and has joined other Opposition parties to stall proceedings on crucial issues in the Upper House. These tactics are common and have been resorted to by the Bharatiya Janata Party when it was in the Opposition. After the BJPs defeat in 2004, it blocked parliamentary sessions and disallowed non-essential legislative proceedings on so-called tainted ministers issue.

This was later overcome by clever parliamentary management  a skill the National Democratic Alliance government lacks. The same tactic was used by the NDA government, when the Congress prevented Parliament from functioning during the Vajpayee era.

The governments failure to ensure passage of key bills in the Rajya Sabha stems partially from the fact that the relationship between the ruling party and the Congress is at its nadir. Firstly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves no opportunity to attack the Gandhi-Nehru family.

For instance, even at the recent public rally in Assam where he kicked off his partys election campaign for the forthcoming Assembly elections, Mr Modi accused one family of not letting Rajya Sabha function. Personalised criticism of adversaries is a successful  and useful  ploy during election campaign, but since it has become a concurrent theme of governance, the Prime Minister and his team are paying with non-cooperation from the Opposition.

Second, the BJP has questioned Rajya Sabhas raison detre for over a year. Finance minister Arun Jaitley  who clearly represents the government and the BJP and is among the most articulate speakers  has made two menacing claims over the past year as the government repeatedly failed to get past the Rajya Sabha and secure passage of bills it considers important and urgent for delivering achche din.

His first accusation is that the wisdom of a directly elected House is questioned repeatedly by the indirectly elected House. The suggestion is that the Lok Sabha has more wisdom because its members are directly elected. Party president Amit Shah also said that in a democratic republic, the House of the People should have supremacy. Mr Shah should remember that the supremacy exists because the Upper House does not debate money bills yet it has been designated an important position in the Indian political system.

Mr Jaitleys second assertion is that the Indian democracy cannot be a tyranny of the unelected and if the elected are undermined, democracy itself would be in danger. The phrase tyranny of the unelected has been used in the past by almost every political party to undermine opponents. Even the BJP accused Dr Manmohan Singh of being an unelectable leader. During the hoary days of the anti-corruption movement, every representative agitator was painted as unelectable by mainstream political leaders.

But, fact is that Mr Jaitley lost the Lok Sabha election and yet he was inducted in the government. In contrast, when Atal Behari Vajpayee became Prime Minister in 1998, he did not appoint Jaswant Singh and Pramod Mahajan as ministers because they had both lost the general elections.

Moreover, in the Modi government, several key portfolios are held by Rajya Sabha members. Besides the finance minister, other heavyweights include: M. Venkaiah Naidu (ironically the parliamentary affairs minister), Smriti Irani, Manohar Parri-kar, Suresh Prabhu and Ravi Shankar Prasad. While electability of several can be questioned, it must be accepted that the Constitution grants the Prime Minister the right to choose anyone, even if s/he is not a member of either House provided they become members of either House within six months.

The Constituent Assembly debated whether India should continue the bicameral system or not. After deliberations, it gave a nod to the Upper House because, as Gopalaswami Ayyangar (member of the drafting committee of the Constitution) observed, it could hold dignified debates on important issues and the role of the Upper House is merely to delay legislation which might be the outcome of passions of the moment until the passions have subsided before clarifying that whenever on any important matter, particularly matters relating to finance, there is conflict between the House of the people and the council of states, it is the view of the House of the People that shall prevail. Yet, the BJP wishes the Lok Sabha to prevail completely.

Just as the government readies its legislative agenda before every Parliament session, the Opposition is well within its right to draw up its combative list. There is no dearth of such issues now: Rohith Vemulas suicide, Arunachal Pradesh crisis and the first scent of a scam under Mr Modi where Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patels daughter Anar Patel is being drawn into allegation of favoured land allotment near the Gir sanctuary. These are just the most obvious ones that could derail the upcoming Parlia-ment session.

For the sake of his government, Mr Modi may well consider dropping in at 10, Janpath  like his surprise visit to Lahore  with a white flag in hand and hold the angry scion in one of his customary hugs. That selfie will probably ensure smoother passage of bills in the Rajya Sabha than all his others selfies put together.
Crown prosecutor Margaret Cunneen's claim she was "joking" in a secretly recorded conversation that sparked a corruption investigation has been contradicted by audio played to a parliamentary inquiry in a confidential session, multiple sources say.

The potentially explosive Australian Crime Commission recording and its transcript were made available to state MPs on Thursday after being tendered by Independent Commission Against Corruption chief Megan Latham.

Multiple sources have told Fairfax Media the tone and content of the conversations contradict Ms Cunneen's assertion she was joking when using the phrase "fake chest pains" after a 2014 car accident involving her son's girlfriend, Sophia Tilley.

One said: "There is no way it could be construed that way."
Murderer Terrence John Leary was on parole and had just finished his shift at a meat processing factory when he saw his next victim.

The woman, 30, was listening to music as she walked down a leafy street in Hunters Hill on Sydney's lower north shore in June 2013.

Police with Terrence Leary's parents outside their Hunters Hill home in June 2013. Credit:Wolter Peeters

Leary was dressed in a fluorescent work vest when he put his arm around the women's neck, dragged her behind a bus shelter and pulled her jeans down to her feet.

Then he stabbed her. She escaped after a motorist stopped and called police.


Sydney motorists have become a cash cow for Australia's toll road king, Transurban, which has boosted toll revenue from city motorways such as the M2 and M5 by 15 per cent to almost $400 million.

The growth in Sydney in the first half of the financial year has outpaced increases in toll revenue for Transurban in Melbourne and Brisbane, where the company also operates the lion's share of toll motorways.

Toll revenue from Transurban roads in Sydney such as the Lane Cove Tunnel have soared by 15 per cent in the first half. Credit:Bloomberg

It led Transurban chief executive Scott Charlton to declare Sydney as "one of the largest toll road markets in the world".
A pregnant Queensland woman has been diagnosed with Zika virus, the state's health authority announced on Wednesday.

The woman was the state's third diagnosis to be announced in the past week and the second to contract the virus this year.

A woman recovering in hospital from the virus after being diagnosed on the weekend had originally contracted Zika in 2015.

Queensland Health said in a statement the woman returned to Australia recently after travelling overseas, but a spokeswoman for the department would not confirm where the woman had travelled.
A Queensland shark researcher has attacked Gold Coast campaigner Nicole McLachlan's hunger strike against the use of shark nets and drum lines, calling it a "sad stunt" that will compromise marine conservation efforts.

Gold Coast conservationist Nicole McLachlan began her hunger strike last Saturday, pushing the Queensland government to phase out the use of shark nets and drum lines and implement non-lethal alternatives along the state's beaches.

Nicole McLachlan has been on her hunger strike since last Saturday. Credit:Nicole McLachlan/Facebook

Bond University associate professor of environmental management Daryl McPhee has collaborated with state governments on unprovoked shark bites and mitigation for over four years and said Ms McLachlan's hunger strike was "irresponsible".

"A government, no matter its political persuasion, is unlikely to cave into activities such as a hunger strike," Mr McPhee said.
An Afghan-born teenager accused of sexually assaulting eight young females in surf at a Gold Coast beach claims he is 16, not 18, and should be tried as a child.

The Victorian-based teenager, facing 13 charges, including multiple attempted rape and sexual assault offences, allegedly committed the attacks at Surfers Paradise about midday on January 12.

A teenager has been accused of sexually assaulting eight young women in the water at Surfers Paradise. Credit:Glenn Hunt

His lawyer told the Southport Magistrates Court during a brief mention of the case on Thursday that his client says he is 16, not 18, and shouldn't be tried as an adult.

The teen and his family claim the accused arrived into Australia as a boy without official documents and was given an older age than he actually was by immigration officials.
There couldn't possibly be an IT department more loathed at the moment than the one at TAFE NSW. It was revealed last week hundreds of millions of dollars were spent on a new computer system that turned out to be more fanciful than fancy. Thousands of students were unable to be enrolled. Contractors couldn't be paid. Employees abandoned their jobs to avoid all the drama.

It reminded me of an employee of mine who one day, in an exasperated attack, lifted his computer off the desk and threw it on the floor. Somehow, the computer survived. And so did the employee  perhaps because it was easy to forgive a guy who had done what I, too, had craved for a long, long time.

Tough-mindedness is the defining characteristic of IT workers.

It was one of those environments where the software was so slow we were forced to make endless small talk with restless customers. It was one of those environments where the system would frequently crash, rendering our work MIA. And it was one of those environments where the monitor would regularly freeze, only for us to reluctantly call the unhelpful helpdesk to be asked in a patronising tone: "Have you tried turning it off and on again?"

The culprit in each of these cases, maybe unfairly, is usually the IT department. Its members are often accused of being impatient and unresponsive, jargon-rich and charm-poor, with archaic infrastructure they claim is working just fine but which everyone else knows is actually a big piece of you-know-what.
Two protesters who dangled over the Eastern Freeway beside a banner reading #letthemstay have surrendered to police.

The women unfurled the banner over one of Melbourne's busiest motorways about 7.30am on Thursday.

The two women - Katherine Woskett, 25, an arborist, and Hannah Patchett, 22, a professional rope access worker - hung from the Yarra Bend overpass for three hours and refused to speak to police.

They lowered themselves to waiting police on the freeway's median strip, only after officers from the Search and Rescue Squad prepared to abseil from the bridge to arrest the pair about 10.30am.
A man accused of stomping on his partner's toddler daughter has been committed to stand trial over the little girl's death, including a charge of murder.

Mussie Debresay, 37, on Thursday pleaded not guilty to single counts of murder, manslaughter, intentionally causing serious injury and recklessly causing serious injury, all laid over the death of two-year-old Tonnja Huynh on May 13, 2005.

Mussie Debresay, is facing a murder trial over the death of two-year-old Tonnja Huynhin 2005. Credit:Penny Stephens

Melbourne Magistrates Court has been told Mr Debresay was seen stomping on the toddler in his Footscray flat.

He was several months into a relationship with Tonnja's mother, Jennifer Louey, at the time.
In 1415, King Henry V is reported to have inspected the English fleet before it sailed for war with France, thus beginning the tradition of fleet review by the head of state. In modern times nations have held fleet reviews, both at the national (called PFR, or Presidential Fleet Review) and international (called IFR, or International Fleet Review) levels, to showcase their maritime growth while at the same time improving goodwill and friendship with other nations.

Traditionally, as the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, the President of India reviews the fleet once during his tenure in office.

The PFR or IFR is a grand ceremony where the President sails in a ship designated as the presidential yacht and inspects the warships at anchorage. Seminars, a city parade and a naval firepower demonstration which showcases naval combat capabilities to the political leadership and public who watch it from the seafront also take place.

On October 10, 1953, India held its first PFR with President Rajendra Prasad reviewing the Indian fleet at Bombay. Till now, India has had seven PFRs and two IFRs. Having participated as Eastern Fleet commander in Indias first-ever IFR held at Mumbai on February 17, 2001, I was looking forward to attending the second IFR, which was held on February 6 at Visakhapatnam though I was unable to attend the same due to other commitments.

It was a grand affair with 54 nations participating and 24 nations sending their warships. China  which had missed IFR 2001 because Pakistan was not invited  sent two warships and a delegation, while Pakistan, though invited, did not attend. Visakhapatnam, which was ravaged in 2015 by a super cyclone, received a much-needed facelift to welcome foreign visitors who included 21 Navy Chiefs, ambassadors, and military officers, in addition to the top Indian leadership, including the President, Prime Minister, defence minister, governors, chief ministers, etc.

The Indian Navy was represented by over 70 warships, 34 aircraft and submarines. The Indian Coast Guard ships and aircraft also participated along with merchant ships. Over 99 warships (including 28 foreign warships from 24 nations) present at anchorage off Visakhapatnam, along with numerous VIPs and massive crowds, posed a huge security challenge given the number of terrorist attacks emanating from neighbouring countries.

The Indian Navy, along with other security agencies, ensured that a layered seaward security system based on constant patrolling by ships, aircraft and submarines ensured safety against any sea-borne terror strike during IFR 2016.

As the IFR concluded on February 8, India announced that it would host a 30-nation Global Maritime Summit in Mumbai from April 14-16.

This will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the aim of attracting $6 billion as foreign direct investment to boost Indias maritime infrastructure, which contributes directly to Indian economic growth as 90 per cent of trade and over 80 per cent of our oil imports are done via the seas. This is indeed a laudable move and shows how the Indian leadership is aware of the linkage of Indian economic growth to the oceans of the world.

Another timely and relevant event is Defexpo 2016, which is being held for the first time in Goa from March 26 to 31. The shift in venue from New Delhi (Pragati Maidan) to Goa could be partly due to defence minister Manohar Parrikar being a Goan. However, it also indicates that New Delhi is finally overcoming its traditional sea blindness and India is taking its first step to becoming a sea power.

However, despite the spectacular IFR 2016 and the statement by Chief of Naval Staff Admiral R.K. Dhowan that India is at present indigenously building 46 ships and submarines, I did notice that only three obsolete Kilo-class conventional submarines participated in the IFR.

This indicates the rather sorry state of our submarine fleet which has rapidly reduced to 13 conventional units of which 12 have reached or will shortly reach the end of their designed operational 25-year life.

Worse, all this comes at a time when the Chinese media had reported that a Chinese submarine was also on deployment in the Indian Ocean (during IFR).

Attempts to extend the lives of these obsolete submarines by another 10 years with expensive refits costing `5,000 crore is not going to meet the challenges posed by new capabilities being introduced by the Chinese and Pakistani Navies.

The six conventional Scorpene-class submarines currently under construction at Mazagaon Docks Ltd (Mumbai) are over six years behind schedule and will enter service between 2016 and 2022. This leaves a huge vacuum in our underwater combat capability, which needs to be urgently addressed by direct purchase of SSNs (submerged ship, nuclear) or tactical nuclear submarines before we are confronted by a surprise at sea like the disastrous 1962 Sino-India war.

For the record, China has over 50 conventional submarines, six SSNs and three SSBNs (ship submersible ballistic, nuclear), and one Chinese sub is always on deployment in the Indian Ocean, while Pakistan (which has five French Agosta-class conventional subs) has ordered eight modern Chinese Qing-class missile-firing conventional subs (four to be built in Karachi and four to be imported).

The IFR 2016 was a good opportunity to showcase the emerging nuclear submarine force of the Indian Navy. It would have been a feather in our cap if Mr Modi could have commissioned our first indigeneous SSBN, Arihant, just before or during the IFR, thus enabling participation in the IFR by this vital asset which will form the third leg of our triad-based nuclear deterrence. Hopefully, Mr Modi will commission INS Arihant soon.

So, while the Indian Navy has done the nation proud by conducting IFR 2016 and the government has taken the next logical step of announcing its plan of hosting a global maritime summit, a lot needs to be done.

We need to ensure that we have a blue-water Navy which will provide both safer seas and strategic sea-based deterrence, and the first step in this direction would be to increase its budget and fill in the gap in its underwater combat capability.
A motorcycle rider has fired a gun during a bizarre altercation in the middle of Melbourne's CBD.

The motorcyclist was at a red traffic light on Lonsdale Street and was waiting to turn right into Spencer Street about 7.25pm on Sunday.

Images of the motorbike rider police wish to speak to. Credit:Victoria Police

While the rider was stopped at the lights, a shirtless man, who police believe was under the influence of drugs, approached him and physically assaulted him.

The rider fell to the ground and a scuffle between the two occurred, which onlookers have told police was almost comical.
A police manhunt is underway after a man was found with gun shot wounds to the stomach outside Rockingham Police Station on Thursday.

It was reported the man was shot in broad daylight outside the station around midday by a person who drove past him in a car as he walked along the street.

A man has been found with gunshot wounds outside a WA police station.

The victim, believed to be in his 30s, was rushed to Royal Perth Hospital where he was in a stable condition on Thursday afternoon.

The police station, on Whitfield Street, has been cordoned off by police.
The intrepid reporters at Dodgy Perth are pretty glad the heatwave has come to an end - but ever-so-grateful for the invention of air-conditioning.

Here are some stories they have dug up from Perth's past on how we used to deal with scorching weather.

Yeah, no aircon in this beast.

WA still has some way to go to beat the severe heatwave which gripped the state in February 1933, which closed schools and caused the cancellation of a stage performance.

The show was held at the Luxor Theatre on Beaufort Street, previously known as the Shaftsbury Theatre and later as Tivoli and Canterbury Court. Now sadly demolished.
Some of Perth's homeless are committing crimes in the hopes of being sent to prison where they can have a bed and a meal, a West Australian homeless man has revealed.

Josh Serafini, who has been sleeping rough for about seven months and was the poster boy for homelessness in WA, said the number of homeless people in the city had increased to about 300 in February, with an increasing number of those people turning to crime or committing suicide.

Peth homeless man Josh Serafini. Credit:James Mooney

He said government funding needed to be redirected to provide more direct assistance to the homeless instead of being spent on "wages for support workers".

"We've got $22 million in the sector and by the time any of that gets to the homeless person, they see nothing," Mr Serafini said.
Riyadh: An attacker opened fire at local education department offices in southern Saudi Arabia on Thursday, killing six employees in what authorities are treating as a criminal attack, a senior Saudi official said.

The attacker has been arrested, Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman General Mansour Turki said, adding that two people had also been wounded in the assault, which took place in the Ministry of Education buildings in Aldair Bani Malik governorate in the southern Jazan region.

Ambulances and police vehicles are seen outside of the Ministry of Education office, located in Al-Dayer, Jazan region, Saudi Arabia. Six people were killed by a gunman in the education department in southern Saudi Arabia. Credit:AP

The BBC has reported that officials said the attacker was a teacher who opened fire on colleagues in the deadly attack.

Saudi newspaper Sabq posted a picture of emergency vehicles outside a four-storey building. Other local media described it as a personal dispute.
The last place Irene Garza was seen was at confession. Credit:Facebook Suspicion lived on mostly in disbelieving whispers: How could a priest commit such an act, after all? It was so unholy. A now-83-year-old Feit, no longer a priest, has been arrested in connection with Garza's killing, The Monitor in McAllen reported. He was apprehended in Phoenix, where he now resides with his family, and authorities are waiting to see whether he will contest extradition to Texas. While always denying any part in the case, Feit has not commented since his arrest and has yet to file a plea. John Feit, the former priest who has been arrested in the 1960 slaying of a 25-year-old Texas schoolteacher and beauty queen, Irene Garza. Credit:Maricopa County Sheriff's Office Hidalgo County District Attorney Ricardo Rodriguez told The Monitor that he is confident Feit will be tried in Hidalgo County, where the crime was committed. He said his office presented the case to the grand jury last week, and it came back with a true bill, The Monitor reported.

"We had kept it quiet as much as we could - we sealed the indictment," he said. Herlinda de la Vina holds a portrait of her niece, Irene Garza, the 25-year-old Texas schoolteacher and beauty queen in Edinburg, Texas. Credit:Brad Doherty The indictment comes after former Hidalgo DA Rene Guerra failed to produce one more than 10 years ago. When Rodriguez beat him in the 2014 election, Guerra challenged him to finally solve the case. It took several police forces, including the Texas Rangers, more than five decades of sleuthing to arrive at this moment. In the beginning, the evidence pointing to Feit was telling but not sufficient to sustain a charge. While the investigation into Garza's slaying went on for months after her death, Feit was charged with a separate but eerily similar crime. At a Sacred Heart Church in a neighbouring town, a college student named Maria America Guerra reported that she had been attacked three weeks before Garza disappeared.

While she was kneeling at the communion rail, CBS reported, a man matching Feit's description grabbed her from behind and tried to put a rag over her mouth. When asked to pick her assailant out of a police lineup, Guerra chose Feit. When he took a polygraph test and denied that he had harmed either Garza or Guerra, the examiner concluded that he was lying. Feit went on trial for assault with intent to rape Guerra, but the proceedings ended in a deadlocked jury. Instead of facing another trial, Feit pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of aggravated assault and served no jail time. His punishment was a $US500 fine. Feit was never charged in the Garza case, though a few other pieces linked him to the crime. He admitted that a Kodak slide photo viewer found next to Garza's body near the canal belonged to him and he had cuts on his hands that looked like fingernail scratches. He told investigators that he had nothing to do with Garza's death, commenting that it "disturbed" him that he was the last person to see her, according to the Texas Monthly.

At the same time that Garza's family wondered whether Feit's vestments had saved him, they told themselves that it was inconceivable that he was behind it. "We were accusing a priest that - in those days priests were infallible," Garza's cousin Lynda De La Vina, told CNN. Another cousin, Noemi Sigler, agreed: "It was impossible for a priest to do such a deed. I mean, if you thought of it, that would be sacrilegious." De La Vina and Sigler were 9 and 10 years old, respectively, when Garza was killed. For a while, it seemed like the case would be left at that. The more time that passed, the more unlikely it was that new evidence would surface.

And yet it did, 42 years later, from two unlikely sources. One was Dale Tacheny, a former Oklahoma City priest who had once served as Feit's spiritual counsellor at a monastery. According to Texas Monthly, the police officer who received Tacheny's call was sceptical; it was exceedingly rare for priests to inform on other priests. The other witness was even more astonishing: The Rev. Joseph O'Brien, the assistant pastor who had worked alongside Feit at Sacred Heart. After an extended interrogation at his retirement home, O'Brien told investigators exactly what they had already heard from Tacheny. In the company of both Tacheny and O'Brien, on separate occasions, Feit had allegedly confessed to the murder. Tacheny told the police that Feit had described in detail Garza's last moments, according to CNN. Feit allegedly told Tacheny that he sexually assaulted, bound, gagged and fondled Garza in the rectory before putting something over her head. He placed her in a bathtub, Feit told Tacheny, where she had trouble breathing and eventually died. Then he dumped her body near the canal, Feit said.

In a recorded call between Tacheny and Feit in 2003, Feit denied that he had ever confessed. "At the time I was in the monastery I was pretty much a broken man," Feit told Tacheny over the phone, according to CBS. "Psychologically, emotionally, spiritually. I have no recollection what I may have told you at the time. And I am telling you this evening that I am not the man who killed Irene Garza." A grand jury heard the case in 2004, but prosecutors under Guerra called on neither Tacheny nor O'Brien to testify. No indictment was handed down. In 2007, a CNN reporter approached Feit in a Phoenix grocery store parking lot and asked him if he murdered Garza. "Interesting question," Feit responded. "Answer is no."
Over 100 schools have been closed in the city of Bangalore in southern India after a wild leopard wandered onto school grounds on Sunday, mauling six people.

The eight-year-old male stalked the halls and courtyards of VIBGYOR international high school for roughly 14 hours before the forest authorities managed to tranquillise and capture it.

Deputy director of public instruction in south Bangalore, K Padmavathi, told local reporters that 129 schools would remain closed until Friday to safeguard against the possible presence of more leopards.
United Nations/Damascus/Oncupinar: World powers pressed Russia on Wednesday to stop bombing around Aleppo in support of a Syrian government offensive to recapture the city and a Western official said Moscow had presented a proposal envisaging a truce in three weeks.

Secretary of State John Kerry is pushing for a ceasefire and more aid access to Aleppo, where rebel-held areas are being cut off and the United Nations has warned a new humanitarian disaster could be on the way.

Aid workers said on Wednesday the water supply to Aleppo, still home to 2 million people, was no longer functioning.

Mr Kerry is hoping for agreement at a meeting in Munich on Thursday between Russia, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Iran and other powers, aimed at trying to revive peace negotiations that foundered earlier this month.
PHILIPSBURG:--- On Tuesday February 9, 2016, Mr. Ruminni Rogers was inducted as the newest member of the Rotary Club of St. Martin Sunrise. Ruminni Rogers who is a Police Officer, the son of Carlyle Rogers and Ramona Riley-Juan Pedro, and a talented Calysonians, who captured the Junior Calypso crown in 2008, has become the youngest member of the club.

Ruminni was a member of the Rotaract Club of St. Maarten Sunrise, the younger chapter of the Rotary Club, where he served with dedication alongside a dynamic group of young professionals. He always says,  Anyone can join an organization, but it takes extraordinary people to make you stay. During his time in the Rotaract Club of St. Maarten Sunrise, he held the position of Sergeant At Arms for the 2015-2016 Rotaract year, and assisted with Public Relations. A strong believer in shooting for the stars, Ruminni decided that it was time to take his services to the next level and took that bold step at an early age of 25 years to transition into Rotary.

President Marcellia Henry stated that Ruminni was chosen by the membership of our club because we believe he is a leader in his particular vocation, as Police Officer, and possesses those qualities and values that Rotarians advocate which is Service Above Self. As a young, dynamic, dedicated, and positive role model, we look forward to the contributions he will make to the club and the community of St. Maarten. We are happy that he decided to move on to the next level and have chosen the Rotary Club of St. Martin Sunrise to by the medium through which he can serve the St. Maarten community.

Rotarian Ruminni Rogers expresses gratitude towards the Rotary Club of St. Martin Sunrise for making him feel at home and he looks forward to serving with this extraordinary group of professionals.

Rotary Club of St. Martin Sunrise meets every Tuesday at the Ginger Bread Cafe Restaurant at the Belair Hotel at 7:00AM to 8:00AM. . For more information on the club visit us at sxmsunrise.org or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , we are also on Facebook: Rotary Club of Saint Martin Sunrise.
Air power is the most capital-intensive means of war. A modern fighter jet now could cost several hundred crores and the prices seem to be rising exponentially. In 2007, a budget of Rs 42,000 crore was provisioned for the 126 multi-role combat aircraft (MRCA) proposed to be acquired, about Rs 330 crore a piece. The 36 Rafale deal is now estimated to be $9 billion or over Rs 65,000 crore or about Rs 1,500 crore each.

This is almost four times the cost of the Sukhoi Su-30MKI, arguably the most capable and versatile of the worlds fourth-generation fighters. The first lot of MiG-21s in 1961 cost us less than Rs 20 lakh each. A brand new and latest MiG-21 variant will cost at least one hundred times that. An Su-30MKI costs about Rs 360 crore each.

Given an operational life of about 40-50 years, Rafale will require expenditure for periodic maintenance and modernisation. Aircraft delivered ordnance is also very expensive. Radar-guided cum heat-seeking missile today can cost up to Rs 50-100 lakh each, while an advanced long-range air-to-air missile could cost five times that. Then we have a wide array of laser-guided and TV-guided precision munitions that can be more expensive.

For instance, the prices of runway busting Durandal bombs start at about Rs 15 lakh apiece. The cost of an air launched Brahmos supersonic missile will be over Rs 15 crore each. The cost of these new smart weapons can be gleaned from the following extract from a US government study after the Second Gulf War: While the vast majority of the expended ordnance was unguided  92.4 per cent  the inverse was true for cost.

About 84 per cent of cost was accounted for by the 7.6 per cent of ordnance that was guided. If the 332 cruise missiles are excluded  with their extremely high unit costs  unguided ordnance still represented about 92.6 per cent of the total number expended, but the percentage of cost for ordnance that was guided decreases to 75.9 per cent.

While the accuracy of these weapons makes them devastating, air power alone does not win wars. If it were so, the US would have won in Vietnam or even be winning in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Israeli war in Lebanon in 2006, which mostly relied on its vastly superior air power, did not give it the results it expected.

The Hezbollah was seen a victor for showing itself willing to stand up to the Israeli onslaught which in just a few days killed 1,200 fighters and civilians for a handful Israeli causalities. But even this very short war cost Israel $1.6 billion and shaved off about one per cent from its annual economic growth. The Hezbollah and Hamas continue to flourish and are now even bigger players in the politics of the region. So who won?

Given our geography, the Indian Army will still have to bear the primary burden of defending the borders. But as Kargil has shown, the combination of air and land power delivers results even and, especially in the mountains.

Nuclear weapons are the ultimate deterrent, but the conditions under which they become credible will seldom arise in the modern world. Our military credibility depends upon the options we have available at every step of the escalatory ladder. The more options we have the better placed we will be to have a flexible response to situations and that will give us more options to respond to situations.

The cost intensiveness of modern fighter aircraft requires they stay in service for decades and also be capable of maintaining air superiority and lethality in an environment where technological advancements are rapid. This means that the aircraft we buy today must be capable of taking two or more upgrades. Thus, the later the design and development, the greater are the upgrade options. Take, for example, MiG-21, still the mainstay of the Indian Air Force. The latest upgraded MiG-21-93 has all the latest avionics and the powerful Tumansky R-25-300 engine.

The next major consideration is cost. There are ways to compute these, but there are pitfalls when you compare apples and oranges. In fact, a sound equation correlating costs, age, lethality, performance, state of art, replacement and maintenance costs, political risk and other factors is well nigh impossible. But you must start with basic unit cost.

Since modern fighter aircrafts are not only extremely expensive but technologically very advanced machinery constructed out of the latest materials and electronics, it goes without saying that full indigenisation will never be possible.

A good percentage of the parts will always be imported, either from the original aircraft manufacturer or from original equipment manufacturers in other countries. In times of conflict, the wear and tear is greater and munitions stores run down very rapidly. The new generation missiles and bombs, most of which at all times will be imported, also do not have very long shelf lives. This means that supply lines must always be open.

A multi-role combat aircraft is different from a strike fighter. The multi-role fighter is designed to equally perform both aerial combat and ground attack, while the strike fighter is typically a fighter aircraft that can also employ air-to-ground munitions.

The MRCAs are essentially supposed to be replacements for the older MiG-21s and the indigenous Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA) whose entry service is now about 15 years overdue. In the recent years, the IAF has also phased out all its MiG-23 fighters. All these are best described as lightweight frontal aviation aircrafts. The MiG-21 is possibly the most successful jet fighter ever with over 11,000 produced and the upgraded MiG-21bis is expected to have a service life till about 2025.

The Tejas programme commenced in 1983 and it is yet to enter full production. The reasons for this are many, but the IAF cannot shirk responsibility either as it has a track record of constantly delaying decisions and shifting goal posts. It took the IAF three long years to finalise its air staff requirement (ASR).

After the indigenous Kaveri engine failed its tests, the designers were left with little option but to seek an engine abroad. The IAF had earlier approved the GE-F404 engine, but as this engine had become outdated and since the project was delayed due to the US technology embargo, the designer recommended the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) manufactured Eurojet EJ200.

It seems the IAF dragged its feet in giving approval, which is especially odd considering it is a more modern and efficient engine. Now the latest GE-F414 engine has been approved for the next lot of Tejas.

This persistent resistance to an indigenous fighter has given rise to much speculation about the deeper agendas of some of the IAFs top commanders. But the Defence Research and Development Organisation too doesnt have a particularly good track record of meeting its commitments and delivering the goods as promised.

In fact, it is the DRDOs rather pathetic track record that has made us such an import-dependent military power. And one whose politics are influenced by the machinations of Indian arms agents, financiers and other assorted shadowy flimflam men operating out of luxury hotels here and abroad, their identities are quite well known.
PHILIPSBURG:--- During the last two years, Foresee Foundation has shipped a considerable number of Technology devices and equipment via King Ocean Shipping. This was reason for Mr. Charles Gittens, regional Manager for the Caribbean at King Ocean in Miami, to decide on sponsoring St. Maarten Schools who are part of existing projects like DigiKidz under Foresee Foundation.

Shervin Woods, Sales Executive for CTC and Local Representative of King Ocean Services, explained that he was pleased and not at all surprised to see King Ocean Services contributing to the enhancement of education on St. Maarten: We are living in the 21st century and technologically advanced times, our Schools need to be upgraded to meet the demands of this era and not to mention to continue to equip todays students with the proper learning tools that will help them excel. King Ocean Services and CTC understands this and applauds the efforts of the Foresee Foundation in taking the needed steps to bring Digital Teaching and Learning to our schools and will continue to assist in whichever way we can.

The three DigiKidz schools have set up Tech Teams, consisting of IT persons and Tech savvy teachers, who guide the implementation and further development to ensure that policies, integration of technology in the FBE curriculum and training of staff takes place. For the upcoming months the Christian Hillside and Seventh Day Adventist schools will also work on developing a three-year strategic plan that outlines the vision and methods to fully integrate technology and ICT into the schools operations.

King Ocean indicated to also assist Foresee Foundation in its future shipments of educational materials for schools from Miami to St. Maarten. Jose Sommers, President of 4C, showed her appreciation and thanked King Ocean for its vision and generous support.
thyssenkrupp transforms passenger experience in Barcelonas metro stations

Innovative entrances to new Barcelona metro stations with intelligent elevators and escalators coordinated with the arrival and departure of trains.

Each year over 30 million passengers will benefit from 180 new mobility units in the stations.

On February 12, on the eve of the Mobile World Congress, Barcelona Metro is inaugurating 15 stations with the commissioning of Barcelona Metro Line 9 linking Zona Universitaria Station with Terminal 1 at El Prat Airport.

thyssenkrupp was selected by Infraestructures de la Generalitat de Catalunya to provide and install intelligent vertical and horizontal transportation equipment for the new metro stations, contributing to make the new line one of the most efficient in the world, addressing the mobility of passengers inside the stations with the same care as between stations.

The Barcelona metro line will be one of the longest underground lines in Europe. With a length of 47.8 kilometers with 52 stations, Line 9 lines up with Moscow Metro?s Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line 3 (44.3 km), Madrid Metro?s Line 12 (41 km) and London Underground?s Northern Line (57.6 km).

The 128 escalators and 52 elevators installed in the 15 new stations complement the over 600 escalators and elevators already installed on Line 9. thyssenkrupp will also be responsible for the service of the new units. All elevators and escalators feature an intelligent, machine learning control system enabling real time information on any situation of the stations. This control system learns in accordance with rush hours, arrival of the trains and the number of passengers in order to optimise the movement of elevators. It therefore contributes to increased service quality and reduced energy consumption.

thyssenkrupp supports cities around the world with innovative solutions meeting the requirements of urbanization, making them the best ever places to live. ?We want to jointly address the challenges of urbanization with our customers,? says Dr. Oliver Tietze, head of the elevator business in Europe and Africa. ?It is essential to find new solutions for inner-city transport which save time and reduce the consumption of energy and environmental resources.?

?We are proud to have contributed to this important project,? says Jorge Estevez, CEO of thyssenkrupp Elevator in Spain, ?by providing cutting-edge technology for the entrances to this line, which at some points circulates at a depth of 90 meters.?

Line 9 connects the airport with the eastern areas of the city, and also has stations close to various public services such as the university, hospitals, tourist attractions, Camp Nou Stadium and the Fira de Barcelona trade show facilities in lHospitalet. The new stations are prepared to take on large influxes of people, with close to 30 million passengers estimated to travel annually along this route. In addition, these innovative entrances have been adapted for people with reduced mobility thanks to modern escalators and cutting-edge elevators designed by thyssenkrupp.

thyssenkrupp Elevator brings together the Groups global activities in passenger transportation systems. With sales of 7.2 billion euros in fiscal 2014/2015 and customers in 150 countries, thyssenkrupp Elevator built its position as one of the worlds leading elevator companies from scratch in a mere 40 years time applying thyssenkrupp unique engineering capabilities. With more than 50,000 highly skilled employees, the company offers smart and innovative products and services designed to meet customers individual requirements. The portfolio includes passenger and freight elevators, escalators and moving walks, passenger boarding bridges, stair and platform lifts as well as tailored service solutions for all products. Over 900 locations around the world provide an extensive sales and service network to guarantee closeness to customers.

thyssenkrupp

thyssenkrupp is a diversified industrial group with traditional strengths in materials and a growing share of capital goods and services businesses. Around 155,000 employees in nearly 80 countries work with passion and technological expertise to develop high-quality products and intelligent industrial processes and services for sustainable progress. Their skills and commitment are the basis of our success. In fiscal year 2014/2015 thyssenkrupp generated sales of around ?43 billion.

Together with our customers we develop competitive solutions for the challenges of the future in the areas Mechanical, Plant and Materials. With our engineering expertise we enable our customers to gain an edge in the global market and manufacture innovative products in a cost- and resource-friendly way. For us, technical progress and innovations, allied with the combined strength of the Group, are key factors enabling us to meet current and future customer and market requirements around the world, grow on the markets of the future, and generate strong and stable earnings, cash flows and value growth.
DB Networks Launches Industrys First Layer 7 Database Sensor to Deliver Advanced Database Cybersecurity Capabilities to OEMs

SAN DIEGO, CA  (Marketwired)  02/11/16  , a , today introduced the industrys first product that provides OEM partners with real-time deep protocol analysis of database traffic. By integrating this technology into their products, security OEMs can offer their customers deep visibility into data-tier cyber threats. DB Networks new Layer 7 Database Sensor offers OEMs immediate access to patented technology to significantly enhance and differentiate their product offerings. In turn, enterprise customers will utilize these new features, offered through their trusted OEM vendors, to protect their critical database infrastructure.

With this launch, DB Networks enables OEM partners offering solutions such as Incident Response (IR) services, Breach Detection Systems (BDS), Data Leak Prevention (DLP), and Security Incident & Event Management (SIEM) products to integrate its patented database infrastructure security technology into their products for true full-spectrum security. In addition, DB Networks Layer 7 Database Sensor provides OEMs with machine learning and behavioral analysis technology to immediately identify database attacks.

We use DB Networks Layer 7 Database Sensor to complement our Fidelis Network and Fidelis Endpoint products when conducting Compromise Assessments, said Michael Buratowski, vice president of services at Fidelis Cybersecurity. DB Networks helps us analyze database activity and usage patterns and identify malicious database activity for our customers.

Todays information security environment demands real-time detection of advanced threats, including the illusive insider threat. DB Networks Layer 7 Database Sensors integrated into OEM products accomplish this through deep protocol extraction and analysis that non-intrusively analyzes database queries in real-time. DB Networks innovative database cybersecurity products enable OEMs customers for the first time to benefit from new insights and a situational awareness, including:

Non-intrusive discovery of all databases, including undocumented ones

Extraction and in-depth analysis of layer 7 activity in the data tier

Detailed insights into database interactions

Immediate identification of database attacks through machine learning and behavioral analysis

Today databases threats are largely opaque to SOC staff, said DB Networks Chairman and CEO Brett Helm. Our new Layer 7 Database Sensors ability to immediately identify data tier threats through deep protocol analysis and machine learning is being integrated into a variety of existing information security products. OEMs can now quickly enter the new era of machine learning and behavioral analysis-based information security without investing significant capital and time in the effort.

For a personal demonstration of DB Networks products and the opportunity to meet with members of the team, visit the company at the RSA Conference 2016  front row booth #607 South Hall at the Moscone Center in San Francisco from Feb. 29  March 3. Or see DB Networks at the HIMSS 16 Conference & Exhibition  booth #9908-13 at the Venetian Palazzo Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas from Feb. 29  March 4.

The Layer 7 Database Sensors are available today. Security OEMs interested in more information please see .

DB Networks innovates database cybersecurity products. Its customers include the worlds largest financial institutions, healthcare providers, manufacturers, and governments. DB Networks technology non-intrusively assesses database infrastructures through deep protocol extraction, machine learning, and behavioral analysis. Customers gain insights by discovering all active databases, identifying tables being accessed, and the specific applications accessing the databases. In addition, analyzing application database access that deviates from the model of normal application behavior immediately identifies database attacks. DB Networks is a privately held company headquartered in San Diego, Calif. For more information, call (800) 598-0450 or visit the DB Networks , , , , and .

DB Networks is a registered trademark of DB Networks, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other company and product names are either trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Dan Spalding

(408) 960-9297
Aryaka to Provide Enterprises With Direct Connectivity to Office 365

MILPITAS, CA  (Marketwired)  02/11/16  , the Software Defined Network Platform provider, announced today that its customers will now be able to connect directly to the Microsoft Office 365 cloud via Azure ExpressRoute. Enterprises that opt for Aryakas Office 365 Acceleration platform can now extend their on-premises networks around the world into the Microsoft Office 365 cloud facilitated by Aryaka, as an . This results in higher reliability, faster speeds, lower latencies, and higher security than typical connections over the Internet and MPLS.

Microsoft is excited to welcome Aryaka as an ExpressRoute connectivity provider for Office 365, said Ross Ortega, Principal Manager, Azure Networking, Microsoft. By offering Azure ExpressRoute for Office 365 over its software-defined network platform, Aryaka is providing enterprises with enhanced network performance and consistent, accelerated access to the Office 365 cloud.

Aryaka first announced earlier this year that it is providing , providing enterprises with faster, more reliable access to Microsofts cloud services. Aryakas Network for the Cloud now supports Office 365 connectivity over the existing Azure ExpressRoute infrastructure.

As the demand for cloud services like Office 365 grows, CIOs are increasingly concerned about their global networks becoming an application performance bottleneck, said Ashwath Nagaraj, Founder and CTO of Aryaka. We are excited about adding Office 365 support to Aryakas existing Azure ExpressRoute connectivity service as it allows us to significantly enhance our Office 365 acceleration capabilities.

Many organizations today are utilizing Microsofts cloud products including Azure, Office 365, Dynamics CRM, and SharePoint. With ExpressRoute, organizations can establish a direct connection to these cloud services, providing security, more predictable network performance, and the ability to better manage network capacity and costs.

Aryakas solution delivers stable, consistent and predictable Office 365 performance at locations around the world. With enterprise-grade private connectivity, built-in WAN Optimization technology, and 247 world-class support, Aryakas Office 365 Acceleration solution offers the following benefits:

Up to for Office 365 across global office locations

Up to 99.5% bandwidth and data reduction

at all office locations, plus real-time network visibility

Aryaka has been seeing immense customer traction in the market with its Office 365 Acceleration offering.

Our employees used to frequently complain about the slowness of Office 365, which was running over the Internet, said Kenny Gilbert, CIO at InvenSense, an Aryaka Office 365 Acceleration customer. We needed a high-performance, cloud-ready wide area network that could make our lives easier. With Aryakas Office 365 acceleration solution, our employees experienced terrific performance improvements all over the world. I think, the ability of Aryakas solution to connect to cloud providers like Microsoft is phenomenal, and truly helps businesses like us to leverage the benefits of SaaS.

As Aryaka announces the availability of Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute for Office 365, the company becomes the only ExpressRoute connectivity provider that delivers optimization benefits, such as TCP optimization, compression, data deduplication and application acceleration, on top of enterprise-grade private connectivity.

Aryakas Software Defined Network Platform provides optimized, software-defined network connectivity and application acceleration to globally distributed enterprises. Aryakas services have over 10 million users across 4,000+ sites globally. Leading brands such as Skullcandy, Air China, Freescale Semiconductor and ThoughtWorks, as well as partners like Microsoft Azure, AWS, Intelisys and SK Broadband, have all chosen Aryaka for their enterprise-grade networking needs.

To learn more, visit . Follow us on , , and .

Shehzad Karkhanawala

Public Relations Manager

Aryaka

408-273-8420
ThousandEyes Provides RichRelevance Global Network Visibility to Ensure Maximum Uptime and Customer Experience Across 12 Global Data Centers

Posted by Publisher Internet

SAN FRANCISCO, CA  (Marketwired)  02/11/16  The Thanksgiving holiday period puts increased pressure on data centers and networks as shoppers flock to the Web for Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. Any kind of online outage or connectivity issue preventing customers from visiting retailer websites or receiving online marketing offers can cost millions of dollars in lost revenue and damage a companys reputation.

With the help of , the network intelligence company that delivers visibility into every network, RichRelevance was able to monitor network issues, staying ahead of any performance degradation across its 12 global data centers during the crucial holiday shopping period. As a result, RichRelevance successfully navigated the holiday rush to facilitate 2.4 billion page views, 3.5 billion recommendation placement views and successfully served more than 19.5 billion recommendations to shoppers with global network visibility.

Further, ThousandEyes helped the RichRelevance information technology (IT) operations team spot a trending regional network performance issue five time zones away and fix the issue before it affected their retail customers. With increased network visibility, RichRelevance can now rapidly identify and remedy network degradation to deliver enhanced customer experience and reduced downtime and time to resolution, even during peak traffic days.

In the battle for customer loyalty, every second counts. ThousandEyes allows us to quickly pinpoint issues and share live, actionable insights with merchants directly to keep business running smoothly. For example, we can provide a service level agreement (SLA) for the data center, but cant SLA the Internet, so were constantly operating at the mercy of public networks, said Kevin Duffey, vice president of IT operations at RichRelevance. Before ThousandEyes, the networks outside of our own were literally a black box; we couldnt trust existing tools and were unable to analyze what we couldnt see. ThousandEyes provides deep visibility into all the global networks we touch and into our application delivery.

ThousandEyes gives RichRelevance the ability to see beyond the corporate firewall and into the public Internet (on which it relies) to ensure its 230 global customers, including Costco, John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, Monotaro, Office Depot and Sears, are able to deliver relevant and personalized customer experiences across Web, mobile and brick-and-mortar stores.

The Internet wasnt built to handle the traffic and data loads that exist today  failures are inevitable and reliability needs to be planned for, said Mohit Lad, ThousandEyes CEO and co-founder. Finding and resolving the problem, no matter where it resides, has become a mission-critical requirement for modern businesses. With broader network intelligence, RichRelevance can now identify problems and better collaborate with merchants, building trust and resolving issues before they become detrimental to their business  and their customers reputation and revenue.

ThousandEyes is seeing accelerated adoption of network intelligence as organizations expand their use of cloud services and infrastructure, with the Internet essentially becoming the corporate backbone. Companies such as Electronic Arts, iHeartMedia,NetSuite, Slack, Twitter, Verisign and Zendesk rely on ThousandEyes to gain an accurate, up-to-the-moment understanding of whats happening in the network, both inside and outside their organization to quickly and precisely pinpoint the root cause of problems  and then share insights with their vendors and customers.

For more information on how leading organizations are using ThousandEyes, go to .

RichRelevance is the global leader in omnichannel personalization and is used by more than 230 multinational companies to deliver the most relevant and innovative customer experiences across web, mobile and in store. RichRelevance drives more than one billion decisions every day, and has generated over $20 billion in sales for its clients, which include Office Depot, Costco, Darty, and Marks & Spencer.

ThousandEyes is a network intelligence platform that delivers visibility into every network an organization relies on, enabling them to optimize and improve application delivery, end-user experience and ongoing infrastructure investments. Leading companies such as Equinix, ServiceNow and Twitter, as well as eBay and other members of the Fortune 500, use ThousandEyes to improve performance and availability of their business-critical applications. ThousandEyes is backed by Sequoia Capital and Sutter Hill Ventures, and has headquarters in San Francisco, CA. For more information, visit or follow us on Twitter at .

Luis Salguero

Highwire PR

415-963-4174
IoT, or Internet of Things is the upcoming technology where many or all devices that are electronic, can communicate with each other and make life simpler for humans and themselves. Physical objects and devices, such as gadgets, home appliances, vehicles, buildings, and many more, operate on complex electronics. Each of these can actually be connected to a network, be it the local hotspot or the internet at large. When connected, they can update themselves with the information they need from its electronic connected environment. Each of these devices, if connected to the internet, can also talk to other devices outside its network, for various reasons. For example, your refrigerator can shop for food items that are exhausted, or your washing machine or air conditioner can be switched on or off from your smartphone when you are away. Similarly, these IoT devices can be controlled from another source from across the internet.

However, as devices are evolving to be smarter, they can also be a threat. Each of these devices can be controlled from the internet, and if you are unlucky, a hacker can be the man in the middle to take over without your knowledge. So now imagine your smart television being hacked to listen in to all your television habits, or your smartphones or laptops speaker or camera streaming something unknowingly to someone. Scary, isnt it?

According to arstechnica, James Clapper, the US director for national intelligence, told the lawmakers that governments across the globe are likely to employ the IoT as a spy tool. This can add to global instability that is already caused by infectious diseases, hunger, climate changes and AI.

Clapper addressed two different committees on Tuesdaythe Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Committeeand for the first time suggested that the Internet of Things could be weaponised by governments, mentions arstechnica. There were no countries or agencies named, but according to a recent study done by Havard, US authorities are claimed to be harvesting the IoT for spying.

In his testimony, Clapper claims that smart devices incorporated into the electric grid, in smart vehicles, household appliances and alike, are improving efficiency and convenience apart from saving on energy. However, these devices threaten to compromise on privacy. These devices can be used to tap into locations, voice, video, identification theft, and many other areas where privacy and sensitive data is concerned.

He goes ahead to mention that the IoT innovation will have a significant impact on our everyday life. Thouh this will be an economic prosperity, it will bring about its own set of vulnerabilities. Tens and billions of devices could be exploited and this could be catastrophic. According to arstechnica, the information coming out from the nations top spy chief means that there is already a possibility of US spy agents trying to exploit the same.

The vulnerability in IoT could make it easy for hackers to prey on public privacy and security, and for governments to spy on public. Will IoT be secure enough? Should this technology be kept back in the freezer?

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
February 10, 2016

Desert Foothills Theater presents

The Childrens Hour Feb. 19  Feb. 28

SCOTTSDALE  Desert Foothills Theater (DFT), a division of the Foothills Community Foundation, presents The Childrens Hour running Fri., Feb. 19 through Sun., Feb. 28 in the intimate Black Box theater of Cactus Shadows Fine Arts Center, 33606 N. 60th Street, in North Scottsdale.



Jennifer Rio as Karen and Kellie Dunlap as Martha in DFT's upcoming production of The Children's Hour running February 19-28 at Cactus Shadows Fine Arts Center in north Scottsdale. Tickets at www.dftheater.org or 480-488-1981. Photo by Wade Moran



Written by Lillian Hellman, the 1934 stage play drew controversy for including the then-taboo topic of homosexuality in its plot. The story begins with a troubled teen at an all-girls boarding school who decides she no longer wants to go to school. When her aunt does not indulge her request, she invents a rumor about the two head mistresses and bullies or blackmails some of the other girls to go along with the ruse. It is a web of deceit that ends in tragedy.



Hellman based her hit play on an 1810 Scottish court case in which a pupil accused her school mistresses of having an affair in the presence of their pupils. The headmistresses sued and eventually won both in court, and on appeal, but given the damage done to their lives their victory seemed hollow.



DFTs production of The Childrens Hour is directed by Janis Webb. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights and at 2 p.m. on Sundays. A special 2 p.m. matinee is also scheduled for Sat., Feb. 27. Tickets range from $26 to $32.50 for adults and $16 to $21 for youth and students. Group sale discounts are available for groups of 10 or more. Visit www.dftheater.org or call (480) 488-1981.


Guest Editorial





By Frosty Wooldridge | February 10, 2016

What happens when diversity displaces the host country's language and culture?

For the past 30 years, somebody, somewhere, or a group of people in high places decided to destroy the successful equation of "melting pot" within America. That 'entity' decided to pitch diversity and multiculturalism as the new monikers dismantling English as America's common language. "It" decided to inject hundreds of incompatible cultures and languages into America while adding another 100 million people to stress the environment even further.



That same "It" worked its magic in France, Great Britain, Holland, Norway, France, Belgium and other countries  with devastating results: fragmenting, balkanizing and separated societies. Note: Paris, France massacre; Charlie Hebdo Muslim massacre and more to come. Note: San Bernardino, California and more to come.



Like a group of chemistry students in a classroom where the teacher leaves for an emergency phone call  for kicks or giggles  the students start tossing multiple chemicals into a test tube to see what happens. Result: the mixture either melts the tube down or explodes.



No one knows what kind of volatility may occur. Today, our once "stable and sustainable" population suffered growth from a reasonable 194 million people in 1963 to an unsustainable 324 million in 2016. While we continue 'celebrating' our amazingly 'diverse' society with immigrants from over 150 countries, speaking 100 languages  in reality, the wheels fall off the 'romantic' pitch by newspapers and television networks across the USA. You will hear "racist confrontations" in dozens of media outlets weekly.



On the educational side, NBC reported a 76 percent dropout/flunkout rate in Detroit, Michigan schools. Why?



They feature 50 different languages and unending diversity. Everyone speaks a slew of languages except English.



They don't know Thomas Jefferson. They promote their own cultures and they call themselves hyphenated-Americans. Illiteracy rates exceed 50 percent according to an article in Time Magazine. (Source: Tragedy of Detroit, Time Magazine, 2009)



But hundreds of schools throughout the USA's major cities suffer 50 to 60 percent dropout/flunkout rates. Denver vacillates between 52 to 67 percent dropout/flunkout rates. NBC News added, "About 1.2 million teens hit the streets every spring unable to read or write."



What happens when this country finds itself without a common language, culture and national identity? What happens when enough immigrants do not, cannot or will not integrate into American society?



What happens when their cultures and languages trump America's culture and English language? Today, 42 million Americans cannot read or write. (Source: www.prisonplanet.com ) Another 50 million read at the fourth grade level. Name the one term that defines third world societies: illiteracy. America degrades with every illiterate citizen.



You can see it accelerating in Islamic Detroit, Michigan. Already, we hear calls for Sharia Law. For Americans that don't understand Sharia  it runs counter to everything in Western law. It subjugates women, commits barbaric acts such as female genital mutilation and calls for honor killings of women for minor infractions. Mexican Reconquista operates in the Southwest and children continue to fare poorly in schools after several generations because of their 'poverty culture' roots in Mexico. In Arizona, immigrants painted the American flag with Nazi swastikas and stomped on it at the capital in Phoenix.



Other examples:

In New York, February 16, 2009, FOX News, Joshua Rhett Miller reported, "The estranged wife of a Muslim television executive feared for her life after filing for divorce last month from her abusive husband, her attorney said  and was found beheaded Thursday in his upstate New York television studio. Aasiya Z. Hassan, 37, was found dead on Thursday at the offices of Bridges TV in Orchard Park, N.Y., near Buffalo. Her husband, Muzzammil Hassan, 44, has reportedly been charged with second-degree murder.



Adam Gadahn: The California-born Muslim convert assists Shukrijumah as al-Qaida's chief propagandist. He tailors the group's message to American Muslims. In 2006, Gadahn invoked U.S. Muslims to attack military bases. Three years later, U.S. Army Major Hasan shot 43, killing 13 at Fort Hood.



Anwar Awlaki: Articulate and media savvy, the American-born cleric is al-Qaida's top recruiter of Western suicide cells. Awlaki recruited or radicalized countless homegrown terrorists, including the Fort Hood shooter and the Times Square bomber, both English-speaking citizens. Authorities also believe he ordered the Christmas airliner attack. Thought to be bin Laden's heir, Awlaki called on American Muslims to turn against their government, "Jihad against America is binding on every other (American) Muslim," he said. A drone strike killed him two years ago.



For Americans that cherish the successful "melting pot" concept, at what point do they lose control of their culture, language and way of life  in favor of a polyglot of incompatible cultures, religions and languages?



At what point will all those countries 'exhausting' their excess populations into America, take responsibility for their own fecundity and their own citizens, in their own countries?



At what point will Americans stand up for being Americans? On every level  unrelenting and accelerating immigration cannot be sustained environmentally, educationally, linguistically or culturally  if America hopes to survive the 21st century.



Latest figures show the USA adding 100 million immigrants within 34 years by 2050. Can we remain sustainable? Ask anyone in Bangladesh, Mexico or India!



Frosty Wooldridge has bicycled across six continents from the Arctic to Antarctica to see the effects of immigration, environment and overpopulation up close and personal. He authored: America on the Brink: The Next Added 100 Million Americans.
Guest Editorial





By Glenn Hamer | February 10, 2016

National monument proposal should be shelved

The Arizona Chamber Foundation and the Prosper Foundation just released their joint policy brief entitled, The Proposed Grand Canyon Watershed National Monument: A Monumental Mistake?



If you didnt think a policy paper on state and federal land management could be a page-turner, then you havent read this paper. It provides a perfect snapshot of an administration in D.C. that is completely out of touch with the unique issues facing the West.



The paper was the centerpiece of the discussion at the latest Arizona Chamber Leadership Series breakfast, which featured a conversation with Sen. John McCain and former Sen. Jon Kyl.



On the issues that will profoundly affect Arizonas future, like water, fire and land management, you wont find two leaders with their depth of experience and insight. Ten years ago, Time Magazine named Sen. McCain and then-Sen. Kyl two of the nations 10 Best U.S. Senators. Arizona was the only state to have both of its senators on the list. A decade later, their teamwork is still impacting Arizona in a positive way.



The senators message was that we should all be very wary of the federal governments attempts to manage Arizonas land and water resources.



The foundations analysis centers on President Obamas proposed designation of 1.7 million acres of northern Arizona as the Grand Canyon Watershed National Monument.



Arizona and the federal government have historically enjoyed a multiple-use partnership on the almost 70 percent of land in the state that is federally controlled. With less than 20 percent of land in Arizona in private hands, the multiple-use relationship has been a critical component of the states economic vitality.



President Obamas proposed monument designation completely upends that partnership, though, drastically reducing public access, impeding efficient land management, representing unwarranted and unwanted federal overreach, according to the paper.



This new monument designation would not be the first time the feds overreached into Arizonas environmental management. Theres the EPAs carbon emission reduction plan, which is likely to lead to higher energy bills for Arizona ratepayers; the Waters of the U.S. rule, which would bring vast swaths of land under federal jurisdiction; a proposed EPA ozone rule that would put the entire state into a non-attainment status; an exceptional events rule that has the feds wagging their finger at us for dust storms we cant control; and the Endangered Species Act that affects dozens of species in Arizona and hamstrings our economic development.



The president is relying on the over-100-year-old Antiquities Act to make his Grand Canyon land grab. Most of the state north of the Grand Canyon and a significant area between the entrance to Grand Canyon National Park and Flagstaff would be affected. Were talking about an area larger than the state of Delaware, making it the second-largest on-land national monument. And it would encompass 64,000 acres of Arizonas State Land Trust, assets that are intended to help a variety of beneficiaries, including the states K-12 schools. As the paper states, by locking up 64,000 acres of State Trust Land, the national monument would deny the beneficial use to the State Land Trust and its beneficiaries.



The president is proposing a solution in search of a problem. No one would argue that the Grand Canyon, one of the seven natural wonders of the world, doesnt deserve protection. But most of the land that would be federalized is far from the Grand Canyon. As for the watershed part, its not even clear how much of the land is real watershed.



Federalizing land doesnt necessarily preserve an areas flora and fauna. In 1999, there were more than 100 big horn sheep in the area that was later designated the Sonoran Desert National Monument. But once it became more difficult for the Arizona Department of Game and Fish to access the area and provide new water sources, the sheep population has plummeted to fewer than 35 today. If youre looking to Washington to manage your states land and wildlife, youve got problems.



The Grand Canyon Watershed National Monument proposal is one that should be permanently shelved, and we in the West must send that message to the administration. Arizonas ability to grow economically is directly tied to its ability to effectively manage its land and resources. Bureaucrats in Washington already hold sway over 70 percent of the land in Arizona. They dont need any more.



Glenn Hamer is the president and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce
My View



BY DON SORCHYCH | February 10 , 2016

Trump et al

New Hampshire election results

National Review

Since this issue is online and the votes in New Hampshire were on Tuesday we are reporting the results on Wednesday. The bombshell this week has been that Donald Trump would win the Iowa Caucus, but he came in second to Ted Cruz with Marco Rubio close behind.



Trump has had two reactions so far. He threatened to sue Iowa (big mistake) and he suggested he was hurt by not attending the last debate before the Iowa caucus. There was another miscue when he publicly called Iowans stupid.



Disappointing to say the least.



However, Trump is the only candidate who is adamant about closing the border and sending illegal aliens home. After 45 years of deceit by both parties it is time and I doubt any other candidate would have the chutzpah to do it. There is much more to say in defense of Trump and in due time I will be more specific.





Trump took New Hampshire with 35 percent of the vote in a crowded field with John Kasich coming in a distant second at 16 percent.



Ted Cruz came in third with 12 percent, followed by Jeb Bush with 11 percent.



Marco Rubio, who came in third in Iowa, was knocked down to fifth place with 10.5 percent.



The evil twins on the Democrat side, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, were deadlocked in Iowa and had to flip coins to separate winner from loser. However Clinton won Iowa by a razor-thin margin with six successive winning flips. Now tell me she isnt a witch.



Sanders turned around and trounced Clinton in New Hampshire by a vote of 60 percent to 38 percent.



Our youth are trying to send us to oblivion by voting for a socialist  really a communist  Bernie Sanders. That is thanks to our leftist schools and heralded teachings which leave out our founders and our incredible Constitution. Hillary Clinton is nearly as bad and if she werent a Washington insider she would be in jail.



I was not amazed but angered by the recent copy of National Review. The front cover said Against Trump. That was only the beginning. The pages inside the magazine were worse, far worse.



The early pages of the magazine are titled, The Week. The first four vignettes are anti-Trump followed by a two page editorial blasting Trump. Then a brief reply to our critics in which they enumerate defenses of their anti-Trump statements in past issues. There is a long dissertation by Editor Richard Lowry and Ramesh Ponnuru damning Trump.



A series of articles follow with a Conservatives Against Trump headline.



The writers are: Glenn Beck, David Boaz, L. Brent Bozell III, Mona Charen, Beb Domenech, Erick Erickson, Stephen F. Hayward, Mark Helprin, William Kristol, Yuval Levin, Dana Loesch, Andrew C. McCarthy, David McIntosh, Michael Medved, Edwin Meese III, Russel Moore, Michael B. Mukasey, Katie Pavlich, John Podhoretz, R.R. Reno, Thomas Sowell and Cal Thomas; 22 writers in all!



Athwart, by James Lileks is the last hit piece and covers a whole page.



There is no doubt these writers covered every soft spot based on statements he has made, and there are many, with the possibility of questionable results. But if there ever was a gang rape of a candidate this is one.



Is Trump conservative? No, but he is the only candidate who will build a fence and support the fence with modern technology, AND send all illegal aliens home. Yes, he will!



I also believe he will limit immigration and stop the madness created by Obama by keeping Syrian and other likely terrorists from coming to our country. Europe has already shown why massive immigration is madness.



So there National Review!
February 10, 2016

Praise for 10 early cosponsors of Article One supplemental

FAIRFAX, Va.  Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today praised the 10 early cosponsors of the Consolidated Appropriations Amendments of 2016 offered by U.S. Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.):



"The surest, most effective way to stop Obama's continued usurpation of congressional authority is to defund those overreaching regulations and executive actions using Congress' power of the purse. Americans for Limited Government thanks Representatives Paul Gosar, Jeff Duncan, Mark Meadows, Glenn Grothman, Barry Loudermilk, Pete Sessions, Matt Salmon, Marlin Stutzman, Scott DesJarlais and Louie Gohmert for being early co-sponsors of Representative Ken Buck's Article One bill which defunds some of President Obama's most onerous executive overreaches.



"The Article One supplemental includes many provisions that have already been vetted by House appropriations committees and included in underlying appropriations bills, as well as those that have passed the House of Representatives on the floor. These riders were unfortunately left on the table during the omnibus negotiations, but 2016 provides a fresh opportunity to rein in the last 11 months of the Obama administration  before he does any more damage to the nation and the constitutional separation of powers which are fundamental to our freedoms.



"In addition, the bill would prevent President Obama from enacting any 'midnight regulations' as his Administration thankfully winds to an end.



"Rhetoric about Congress reasserting its Constitutional prerogatives has become a standard talking point for many in the House Conference, Representative Ken Buck and these ten early co-sponsors are demonstrating that tough talk is not enough, Congress must act. We strongly urge other Members to join the growing momentum in favor of real assertion of Article One authority by cosponsoring the Consolidated Appropriation Amendments of 2016."



Consolidated Appropriations Amendments of 2016 cosponsors:



Rep. Gosar, Paul A. [R-AZ-4]

Rep. Duncan, Jeff [R-SC-3]

Rep. Meadows, Mark [R-NC-11]

Rep. Grothman, Glenn [R-WI-6]

Rep. Loudermilk, Barry [R-GA-11]

Rep. Sessions, Pete [R-TX-32]

Rep. Salmon, Matt [R-AZ-5]

Rep. Stutzman, Marlin A. [R-IN-3]

Rep. DesJarlais, Scott [R-TN-4]

Rep. Gohmert, Louie [R-TX-1]
February 10, 2016

Border Report

Nogales CBP Officers seize largest meth load in Arizona Port history, more than $1.1 million



Customs and Border Protection officers made history Friday when they arrested a Mexican national for an alleged attempt to smuggle more than 387 pounds of methamphetamine through the Port of Nogales. It was the largest meth seizure in Arizona port history.



Officers at the Mariposa Commercial Facility referred Juan Rodolfo Lugo-Urias, 35, of Playas De Rosarito, Baja California, Mexico, for further inspection of a tractor-trailer load of bell peppers when he attempted to enter the U.S. After a CBP narcotics-detection canine alerted to the presence of drugs inside the trailers front wall and rear doors, officers removed nearly 400 packages of meth worth more than $1.1 million.



Officers seized the drugs and vehicle, and turned Lugo over to Immigration and Customs Enforcements Homeland Security Investigations.



Nogales Port Director Guadalupe Ramirez applauded officers for the seizure. This significant interception is a testament to the vigilance and skills of the dedicated officers at the Port of Nogales.



Federal law allows officers to charge individuals by complaint, a method that allows the filing of charges for criminal activity without inferring guilt. An individual is presumed innocent unless and until competent evidence is presented to a jury that establishes guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.



Patrol arrests child molesters



Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents recently arrested two male Mexican nationals during separate incidents near Gila Bend, Arizona, who were previously deported following convictions for crimes against children.



Agents made the first arrest Feb. 3 of a man previously deported after serving a 50-month prison sentence for two counts each on child molestation and domestic violence in King County, Washington. He is now awaiting criminal, federal prosecution.



Agents arrested the second man Feb. 6 for re-entering the U.S. illegally and, during a criminal-records check, discovered a previous conviction for lewd and lascivious acts with a child in Fairfield County, California. The subject had served 36 months in prison and was subsequently deported. He now is being held pending federal prosecution.



Border Patrol agents use biometrics to conduct comprehensive criminal and immigration record checks on all subjects they arrest. Every effort is made to ensure all criminals are prosecuted to the full extent of the law



Drugs, weapons and ammunition seized



U.S. Customs and Border Protection Field Operations officers seized more than 90 pounds of marijuana and five weapons in separate incidents Saturday at the Port of Lukeville.



Officers referred Nicolas Rodriguez Morales, 39, of Sonoyta, Mexico, for a secondary inspection of his 2006 Buick when he attempted to enter the U.S. After a CBP canine alerted to the vehicle for possible narcotics, officers found more than 90 pounds of marijuana hidden throughout the vehicle. Officers estimated the drugs to be worth almost $50,000.



Also on Saturday, officers intercepted and referred a 2008 Malibu for an outbound, secondary inspection and discovered several handguns, automatic weapons and ammunition. Officers arrested the driver, Julian Higuera, 26, a U.S. citizen from Phoenix.



Officers turned both suspects over to U.S Homeland Security Investigations.



Smugglers Busted with Heroin, Marijuana at Port



U.S. Customs and Border Protection Field Operations officers seized more than five pounds of heroin and 23 pounds of marijuana in separate incidents Saturday at the Port of Lukeville.



Officers selected Justin Lee McKee, 21, of Phoenix, for a secondary inspection when he attempted to enter the U.S. on foot carrying luggage. During the inspection, officers found approximately $75,000 worth of heroin in the lining of his luggage and arrested McKee.



Also on Saturday, officers referred a 2003 Honda for secondary inspection, during which time a CBP canine alerted to the rear of the vehicle where officers noticed an anomaly between the rear passenger seat and trunk. Officers investigated the area and found nearly $12,000 worth of marijuana. Officers then arrested the driver, Maureen Bliss Wahl, 18, and her 45-year-old uncle, Brian Mackey, both U.S. citizens from Peoria, Ariz.



Officers turned all suspects over to U.S Homeland Security Investigations.



These seizures are yet more illustrations of the professionalism and dedication of our frontline CBP officers, along with their canine partners, said Garret Reinhart, the ports chief of staff.
By Linda Bentley | February 10, 2016

Morningstar Road Properties sues Freemans over signs





CAVE CREEK  In November, Morningstar Road Properties, Inc., formerly Cahava Springs Corp., filed a complaint in Maricopa County Superior Court against Gerald and Janice Freeman who have refused to remove signs they have posted on Morningstars property at the entry to an easement that traverses Morningstars properties to access their home at the opposite end of the easement.



One sign reads: Notice to prospective buyers, property owners using this private easement are liable for monetary contribution and support for maintenance. Arizona Law CV 09-0720. Information Call 480-488-7074.



The Arizona Law cited on the sign is actually an Arizona Court of Appeals case number in which the panel created law where none exists in state statute.



In that case, the court ruled the Sorchychs, Freemans neighbors over whose property the easement also traverses, had to pay the Freemans a portion of their expenses to improve the road, despite having neither a road maintenance agreement nor any say in the improvements the Freemans made.



The other sign contains the Freemans address with another Notice stating it is a private easement for residents and guests only and violators will be prosecuted.



Mark Stapp



Recently, Morningstar President Mark Stapp held a community meeting to present its plans for subdividing its parcels.



In its complaint, Morningstar is demanding the signs be removed and claims installation of the signs on its property not only constitutes a trespass but causes a diminution in value of the property, while interfering with Morningstars use of its property.



Morningstar has asked the court to declare the installation of the signs a trespass, direct the Freemans to immediately remove the signs or, in the event the Freemans fail to comply with such order, authorize Morningstar to remove the signs at the Freemans expense, and permanently enjoin the Freemans from reinstalling any signs on the property.



Last month, the Freemans answered the complaint and filed a counterclaim for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief.



Gerald and Janice Freeman



The Freemans claim the signs they have erected are within the outer boundaries of their lawfully deeded easement and therefore do not constitute a trespass and any signs erected by Freemans are incident to the convenient enjoyment of their lawfully deeded easement and therefore do not constitute a trespass.



The Freemans also state the signs constitute a secondary easement by necessity or as inherently included within the primary-use rights granted by the lawfully deeded easement.



The counterclaim goes on to assert the signs have been in place in excess of 10 years and is not a trespass by virtue of adverse possession.



However, the Freemans also admit Stapp sent them a letter in November 2007 to inform them Cahava had removed the signs and requested they no longer place signs on its property.



The Freemans stated they responded to Stapps letter by indicating they were legally allowed to place the signs on the easement and their reasons for the signs.



The Freemans claimed they replaced the signs and never heard anything more from Stapp or Cahava about the signs until this lawsuit.



According to the Freemans, any holder of an easement is entitled to use the servient estate (the property on which the easement lies) in a manner that is reasonably necessary for the convenient enjoyment of the servitude, in this instance, specifically, to post signs advising potential buyers of the law regarding contribution to the maintenance of the easement.



In a different legal dispute pending in Maricopa County Superior Court over the use of another easement in Cave Creek, the court seems to disagree with that theory.



That lawsuit was filed by John Briganti, aka Johnny Ringo, against his neighbors Kurt and Terri Klimek over the use of an easement on the Klimeks property, which the Klimeks granted to Briganti after learning Brigantis horse corral and shed were actually built on their property some time prior to them purchasing it.



The legal dispute and neighbor feud arose when Briganti began construction of a new hay barn on the Klimeks property.



In a preliminary ruling in the Briganti case, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge John R. Hannah, Jr. found, after holding an evidentiary hearing, the easement granted to Briganti did not grant him the right to occupy or improve any of the Klimeks property and stated Briganti may use the easement insofar as it is necessary in order for him to use the corral area and shed, not insofar as he claims the right to be able to treat the defendants property as his and put other improvements on it.



Hannah ordered the parties to participate in a mandatory settlement conference no later than May 27, 2016 and set the case for trial on Sept. 6, 2016.



Meanwhile, as the Freemans claim a right by adverse possession to posting signs on Morningstars property, they also claim Morningstar has a duty not to interfere unreasonably with their use and enjoyment of the easement.



According to the recorded easement documents, the easement is for egress and ingress and states the road is to be maintained in the same condition as it was in October 1969.
By Linda Bentley | February 10, 2016

School elections and funding transparency



PHOENIX  Rep. Jay Lawrence, R-Dist. 23, is the principal sponsor of HB 2551, which seeks to amend A.R.S.  15-481 and 15-491 relating to school budget override and school bond elections.



HB 2551 would require election pamphlets to include a statement disclosing the total amount of per pupil revenue the school district received from all funding sources (federal, state and local) for all capital and noncapital expenditures for the fiscal year as reported in the most recent Superintendent of Public Instructions Annual Report.



Most Arizona voters dont really know how much money their school district spends per pupil and often rely on figures that grossly understate that amount.



According to Americans for Prosperity, Arizona, which supports HB 2551, school districts in Arizona, on average, spend over $9,400 per student annually from local, state and federal sources.



The Census Bureau reported the national average as $10,700, which is skewed by high per-pupil spending in states such as New York ($19,818), Alaska ($18,175), District of Columbia ($17,953), New Jersey ($17,572) and Connecticut ($16,631).



Arizonas per student spending has been repeatedly reported as ranking 49th out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia.



However, those reports generally do not include all revenue sources.



Cave Creek Unified School District, for example, according to the Fiscal Year 2014-2015 Superintendents Annual Report, received $57,261,250 from all revenue sources for a total of 5,419 students. That equates to $10,567 per student, above the state average and right around the national average.



If all that were reported was the districts local funding, which comprises close to 80 percent of its total revenue, it would reflect a per-pupil funding total of only $8,426.



HB 2551 would require school districts to disclose all their funding sources in the Informational Pamphlet for override and bond elections, so voters will have transparency in education spending when their districts ask them for more of their tax dollars.
February 10, 2016

Secretary Reagan seeks comprehensive reconstruction of state election laws

Phoenix  In an effort to root out unlawful political spending while protecting legitimate non-profit groups and charities right to engage in the political process, Secretary of State Michele Reagan is asking the legislature for the tools she needs to hold so-called convenience corporations accountable.



Following months of public stakeholder meetings with legislators and the elections community, a historic and comprehensive rewrite of the states election laws has been introduced by Senate Judiciary Chairman Adam Driggs in the state legislature. Senator Driggs bill (SB1516) consolidates and makes order of nonsensical statutes while codifying preexisting policies and procedures that govern everything from candidate filings to campaign finance enforcement.



While the complete reorganization makes little substantive change to the laws governing campaign finance, Secretary Reagan seized the opportunity to introduce a set of measures that ensure not-for-profit entities spending money to influence an election to file comprehensive registration documents and annual reports with the Internal Revenue Service. In addition, such groups must register and maintain good standing with the Arizona Corporation Commission.



For the first time we could have the tools necessary to go after fly-by-night convenience corporations who show up in Arizona on Tuesday and start spending money on Friday in our elections, said Secretary Reagan. If any of these groups fail to meet these new standards, we will assume they are a political committee and require them to register with our office and reveal their donors. If they refuse, we will turn over the case to the IRS and the Corporation Commission for further enforcement. The outcome of those investigations could jeopardize non-profit tax status, cause all their income to be taxed and expose them to potential litigation and fines.



The ability to differentiate between bad actors and perfectly legitimate companies exercising their basic right to speak is historic, continued the Secretary. Its offensive to many that institutional groups like the Cattlemens Association or Arizona Chamber of Commerce would have to hand over the personal information of their members and supporters to a government agency. These provisions strike the right balance between holding wrongdoers accountable and protecting legitimate not-for-profits from big brother tracking the issues and causes they support and deciding what political speech they wish to regulate.



In conjunction with our revolutionary, soon-to-be-released campaign finance reporting system, citizens will better able to educate themselves about the connections between the people who write checks and the politicians that cash them.



1516 is a comprehensive rewrite of Arizona campaign finance law. While provisions related to anonymous political spending are extremely important, the legislation also provides a clear, concise set of policies and procedures where citizens can easily find and understand the rules by which they can engage in political activity.



Over the years, our election laws have become a jumble set of incoherent statutory gibberish that nearly requires a law degree to understand, said the Secretary. Our goal was to rebuild the statutes from the ground up without making substantive changes to current law, policies or procedures. While politicians and career bureaucrats might not like it, the changes will allow normal, everyday people just wanting get involved in the process the ability to understand the rules without the benefit of a team of lawyers.
Washington: President Barack Obama said on Tuesday that he is asking Congress for $3.1 billion to update the government's archaic computer systems to protect them from cyber-attacks as part of a new, centralized effort to boost cyber security.

Obama said he will hire a new chief information security officer whose salary would be paltry compared to those paid by big businesses and expand the government's troubled "Einstein" intrusion-prevention technology.

Obama said some infrastructure is downright ancient, with the Social Security Administration relying on systems from the 1960s that are vulnerable. "That's going to have to change," Obama said, flanked by top national security advisers in the Roosevelt Room. "We're going to have to play some catch-up."

Across town, the US director of national intelligence, James Clapper, warned Congress that Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are the most serious threats to US information systems. Clapper also said increasingly connected devices and appliances make the US vulnerable in new ways.

Obama's comments came after the release of his 2017 budget proposal. Obama is asking Congress for $19 billion more in cybersecurity funding across all government agenciesan increase of more than from 35 per cent from last year. Dubbed the "Cybersecurity National Action Plan," the White House touted the plan as the "capstone" of seven years of work to build a cohesive federal cybersecurity responsean effort that has often faltered in the past.

Obama said some problems could be fixed relatively quickly, but added he was directing his advisers to focus also on anticipating future threats so that cybersecurity protections can adapt.

"I'm going to be holding their feet to the fire to make sure they execute on this in a timely fashion," Obama said. Other plans would make it less convenientbut ostensibly more securefor citizens to access their personal records by increasing use of passwords and pin authentication.

The budget also proposes that the government reduce the use of Social Security numbers for identification. None of the suggestions appeared groundbreaking or entirely novel. Many were previously suggested in government and industry reports, and some appeared to replicate previous efforts.

"A lot of this stuff is not new," said Randy Sabett, a former National Security Agency crypto-engineer. Sabett worked on a cybersecurity commission report that advised Obama on the subject in 2008. Success would depend on administration leadership, he said, adding: "The window dressing is there; now what's behind the curtains."

The hiring of a single high-level official to deal with cyber intruders in federal government networks establishes a position long in place at companies in the private sector. The job posting Tuesday indicated it will pay between $123,000 and $185,000although the largest companies pay far more for the same job.

The lack of such a government role has been especially notable after hackers stole the personal files of 21 million Americans from the Office of Personnel Management. The US believes the hack was a Chinese espionage operation.

The new security job is expected to be filled in 60 to 90 days, said Tony Scott, the US chief information officer. The White House said that person will report to Scott and set and monitor performance goals for agencies. Scott said the person would make sure strategies are consistently applied across agencies.

It remains to be seen whether the person will have enough authority, said Jacob Olcott, a former congressional legal adviser on cybersecurity. The budget said US Cyber Command is building a cyber mission force of 133 teams assembled from 6,200 military, civilian and contractors from across military and defense agencies.

The force will be fully operational in 2018 but has already been used for some cyber operations. Many of the proposals such as the new cybersecurity official can be done through existing appropriations or executive authorities, the White House said.

Obama said he expects broad support for what has not been a partisan issue. He said he'd already spoken to House Speaker Paul Ryan about ways Republicans and Democrats could work together.

The plan also calls for expansion of the Homeland Security Department's "Einstein" system, which was created to detect and block cyberattacks on federal agencies. The program received a scathing review last month by the Government Accountability Office, which said it can't deal with complex threats such as previously unknown "zero-day" exploits or problematic system behaviour that could signify an attack.

The president also established through executive order a permanent Federal Privacy Council. It will bring together government privacy officials. Obama was also establishing a Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity to make recommendations on government cybersecurity for the next decade.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
February 10, 2016

Real unemployment rate 8.9 percent

FAIRFAX, Va.Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning issued the following statement in response to the latest jobs numbers published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics:



"Since 2007, the population of 16 to 64 year olds has increased by about 10 million to 205 million. Yet, the number of people with jobs that age has remained unchanged at 140.4 million. As a result the employment-population for 16 to 64 year olds has dropped, from 71.8 percent to 68.5 percent, the labor force participation rate from 75.3 percent to 72.4 percent  accounting for 6 million people in the prime working years of their lives who simply gave up looking for work. If they were included in today's unemployment report, the unemployment rate would be 8.9 percent and not the reported 4.9 percent.



"The economy never recovered from the Great Recession, and if we continue on this path of ignoring the real problem, it never will."



To view online: http://getliberty.org
By Linda Bentley | February 10, 2016

CAVE CREEK  In November, Morningstar Road Properties, Inc., formerly Cahava Springs Corp., filed a complaint in Maricopa County Superior Court against Gerald and Janice Freeman who have refused to remove signs they have posted on Morningstars property at the entry to an easement that traverses Morningstars properties to access their home at the opposite end of the easement.



One sign reads: Notice to prospective buyers, property owners using this private easement are liable for monetary contribution and support for maintenance. Arizona Law CV 09-0720. Information Call 480-488-7074.

By Linda Bentley | February 10, 2016

CAREFREE  Jim Van Allen spoke during Call to the Public on Tuesday evening to thank Vice Mayor John Crane and Councilman Bob Gearhart for assisting the Carefree/Cave Creek Chamber of Commerce during a recent event.



Tom Rawles said he had been invited by Mayor Les Peterson to participate in a committee to revise the town code. However, he wanted it to be on the record that he was not involved in the changes being proposed that evening as agenda item 16.

By Linda Bentley | February 10, 2016

PHOENIX  Rep. Jay Lawrence, R-Dist. 23, is the principal sponsor of HB 2551, which seeks to amend A.R.S.  15-481 and 15-491 relating to school budget override and school bond elections.



HB 2551 would require election pamphlets to include a statement disclosing the total amount of per pupil revenue the school district received from all funding sources (federal, state and local) for all capital and noncapital expenditures for the fiscal year as reported in the most recent Superintendent of Public Instructions Annual Report.

February 10, 2016

Bicameral legislation would move AZ, NV, MT, ID, and AK out of overburdened 9th Circuit

WASHINGTON, D.C.  U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.) have introduced the bicameral Judicial Administration and Improvement Act, a bill to move Arizona, Nevada, Montana, Idaho, and Alaska out of the oversized and overworked 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and into a newly-established 12th Circuit. Currently, the 9th Circuit covers 20 percent of the United States population, containing 13 district courts over nine states, as well as jurisdiction over the territorial courts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. Each year the circuit hears over 12,000 appeals, making it four months slower than the average circuit court. In addition, Arizona has the busiest federal docket in the circuit, per capita.

February 10, 2016

FAIRFAX, Va.  Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today praised the 10 early cosponsors of the Consolidated Appropriations Amendments of 2016 offered by U.S. Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.):



"The surest, most effective way to stop Obama's continued usurpation of congressional authority is to defund those overreaching regulations and executive actions using Congress' power of the purse. Americans for Limited Government thanks Representatives Paul Gosar, Jeff Duncan, Mark Meadows, Glenn Grothman, Barry Loudermilk, Pete Sessions, Matt Salmon, Marlin Stutzman, Scott DesJarlais and Louie Gohmert for being early co-sponsors of Representative Ken Buck's Article One bill which defunds some of President Obama's most onerous executive overreaches.

February 10, 2016

FAIRFAX, Va.Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning issued the following statement in response to the latest jobs numbers published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

February 10, 2016

Phoenix  In an effort to root out unlawful political spending while protecting legitimate non-profit groups and charities right to engage in the political process, Secretary of State Michele Reagan is asking the legislature for the tools she needs to hold so-called convenience corporations accountable.

February 10, 2016

For several weeks, Senator Don Shooter has been leading an effort to restore funding to Arizonas Joint Technical Education Districts (JTEDs), while at the same time establishing reforms to make sure money is flowing to strong courses and programs. In the past few days, the plan came together, and the Legislature has a responsible and effective restoration and reform package.
Database: See how mortgage rates have changed since 1971

Here's how current mortgage rates compare to each of the past 50 years.
San Francisco: Marc Andreessen, a prominent venture capitalist and Facebook Inc board director, apologized on Wednesday for tweets that condemned the Indian government for banning the social media company's free Internet service.

India introduced rules on Monday preventing Internet service providers from having different pricing policies for accessing different parts of the Web, effectively dismantling Facebook's Free Basics program, which offers a pared-back version of Internet service.

Andreessen, who often takes to Twitter to offer his opinions, said the new rules denied India's poor access to the Internet. Only 252 million out of India's 1.3 billion people have Internet access.

"Denying world's poorest free partial Internet connectivity when today they have none, for ideological reasons, strikes me as morally wrong," Andreessen wrote.

"Anti-colonialism has been economically catastrophic for the Indian people for decades. Why stop now?" Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg condemned Andreessen's Twitter outburst in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

"I found the comments deeply upsetting, and they do not represent the way Facebook or I think at all," Zuckerberg said, adding that India was "personally" important to him and the company.

Dozens of Twitter users blasted Andreessen for his comments, which he deleted and apologized for on Wednesday in eight tweets.

"I apologize for any offense my comment caused, and withdraw it in full and without reservation," Andreessen wrote. "I will leave all future commentary on all of these topics to people with more knowledge and experience than me."

Earlier this week, Zuckerberg said he was disappointed with the Indian ruling and said that the company was still "working to break down barriers to connectivity in India and around the world."

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
Oak Creek to host outdoor 2022 World Cup watch party

A partnership between Morans Pub in South Milwaukee and the city of Oak Creek will offer residents food, drinks, music and games on Nov. 25.
Hillary Clinton, the prohibitive front-runner in the race for months, barely beat Sanders last week in Iowa and lost decisively in New Hampshire. (Photo: AFP)

Washington: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will try to mend her badly wounded campaign in a debate on Thursday with rival Bernie Sanders, an encounter many of her donors said would allow her to play a role that suits her - embattled underdog.

After her embarrassing 22-point loss to Sanders in New Hampshire's presidential nominating contest, Clinton headed back on Wednesday to New York, where her campaign is based, to confer with top advisers and prepare for the face-off with Sanders, set for 9 pm EST in Milwaukee.

Her campaign has denied reports that Clinton is considering a shakeup of her staff, but aides acknowledged that adding new staff was a possibility.

Several among Clinton's wide circle of donors said they believed her surprisingly large loss in New Hampshire would ultimately bring out the fighter in her.

This would help to battle-test her, both for the contests ahead in her party's nomination process and to take on a Republican candidate in the November 8 general election, they added.

Some donors said a growing sense of nervousness was setting in, however, especially after Sanders' campaign reported raising more than $6 million in the 24 hours after his win.

The word "disappointed" came up several times during a conference call the campaign held on Wednesday with donors and fundraisers, said one Clinton supporter who was on the call.

Many donors said they thought one immediate task for the former secretary of state's campaign would be to improve upon her messaging.

Sanders, a democratic socialist US senator from Vermont, has built his campaign around a promise to rein in big firms and Wall Street, while Clinton has emphasized her detailed policy proposals on issues from healthcare to financial reform.

Several supporters said a simpler message might bring Clinton more success in galvanizing voters.

Some donors said they would like to see Clinton retool the way she communicates her thinking to voters.

"Boil it down, be clear, be succinct, and make absolutely sure everybody knows you have a plan," said Shekar Narasimhan, a Clinton donor and managing partner at Beekman Advisors.

Sanders has called for leveling the economic playing field by breaking up the big banks, creating a single-payer Medicare-for-all healthcare plan and offering government-paid public college tuition.

Clinton, the prohibitive front-runner in the race for months, barely beat Sanders last week in Iowa and lost decisively in New Hampshire, both states with nearly all-white populations, in the first two nominating contests.

The race now moves to Nevada, South Carolina and other more diverse states with more black and Hispanic voters, who, polls show, have been more favorable to Clinton so far.

The shift raises the stakes for Thursday's debate. When the two took the stage last week for their first one-on-one encounter of the campaign, they clashed sharply over their progressive credentials.

Some of Clinton's top donors said they thought she has performed well under pressure, as during her 11 hours of testimony to a congressional panel investigating the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, and in the grueling 2008 nominating battle she lost to Barack Obama.

"The idea that there's some kind of panic is completely overblown," said major Democratic fundraiser and Clinton supporter Karin Birkelund.

"It's really, really early way too early in the process, and these states don't matter that much."

But there was a familiar feel to Clinton's flameout in New Hampshire, said critics of her campaign, as well as some major Obama donors who have yet to commit to her.

"It's the same movie, all over again," said lead Obama fundraiser Kirk Dornbush, a San Francisco biotechnology executive who has not yet committed to a candidate.

"It's 2008, running with the inevitability cloak and having that fail miserably," he added.

About half of 17 Clinton donors contacted by Reuters on Wednesday said they felt she needed to project more of her personality in intimate settings, showing the "warm, genuine affable, and funny" person they know.

Most donors expressed confidence that Clinton's campaign would be on more solid ground by the Super Tuesday voting on March 1, when Democrats cast ballots in 11 states.

"I would have been prepared for her to lose the first two states because they were so favorable to Bernie Sanders," said Carrin Patman, a partner at Houston law firm Bracewell who has raised $250,000 for Clinton.

"For me, it doesn't make me feel she needs to retool. Super Tuesday is just around the corner."
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The proposed NASA budget for the 2017 fiscal year, $19 billion, has evoked mixed reactions from government officials and space organizations.

White House officials unveiled the Obama administration's 2017 budget proposal today (Feb. 9), and NASA's share came in $300 million lower than the agency's final budget for 2016. The proposed NASA budget would decrease funding of space exploration but add some to aeronautics and space technology and redistribute the science budget. A breakdown of the budget request is available here, and there is also a full summary available.

The budget request is considered by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, which ultimately must pass a bill specifying how to allocate the money. [Photos: NASA's Space Launch System for Deep Space Flights]

Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, expressed disappointment in the proposal's allotment to different projects.

"This administration cannot continue to tout plans to send astronauts to Mars while strangling the programs that will take us there," he said in a statement. "And the administration once more proposes cuts of more than $100 million to the planetary-science accounts, which have previously funded missions like this past year's Pluto flyby.

"At the same time, this proposal shrinks space exploration priorities within NASA's budget; it disproportionately increases earth-science accounts to more than $2 billion  a 70 percent increase since 2007," Smith continued. "This imbalanced proposal continues to tie our astronauts' feet to the ground and makes a Mars mission all but impossible. This is not the proposal of an administration that is serious about maintaining America's leadership in space."

However, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, who also serves on the House Science Committee, praised the program overall.

"As in past years, the president's budget will help ensure that the U.S. can compete in a 21st century global economy and solidify America's place as a scientific and technological leader," Johnson said in a statement. "The investments in the full range R&D and STEM  including advanced manufacturing research, prioritizing basic research, investing in clean transportation and civil space activities, and education programs like Computer Science for All  are truly investments to help us meet our greatest challenges not only for the year ahead, but for decades to come."

Mary Lynne Ditmar, director of the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration, a space advocacy organization, expressed concern.

"While we appreciate the funding proposed for the International Space Station and its transportation systems, space science programs  including the James Webb Space Telescope, and proposed deep-space habitat  we are deeply concerned about the administration's proposed cut to NASA's human exploration development programs," she said in a statement.

"This proposed budget falls well short of the investment needed to support NASA's exploration missions, and would have detrimental impacts on cornerstone, game-changing programs such as the superheavy lift rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS) and the Orion spacecraft  the first spacecraft designed to reach multiple destinations in the human exploration of deep space," she added.

"The greatest challenge to these programs is not technical, but budget stability  plain and simple," Ditmar continued. "At this critical stage, it is important to ensure that the significant progress already made on the development of the SLS and Orion spacecraft continues, so as to meet important milestones, including the first integrated launch in 2018 and crewed missions beginning in 2021. Fully developing these systems will enable the United States to realize its aspirations for human exploration, planetary missions, international collaboration and scientific discovery."

Eric Stallmer, president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, praised the budget proposal. "I commend the Administration for crafting a budget that provides robust funding for NASA and FAA AST," he said, referring to the Federal Aviation Administration's Office of Commercial Space Transportation. "We applaud the proposals that would enable and utilize private space capabilities to help build a sustainable American expansion into the solar system from the edge of space through low-Earth orbit to the moon and beyond. It builds on the strong foundation established by the FY16 Omnibus and Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act. We look forward to working with the Congress to fully fund a number of the proposals in this request, while also championing efforts to shore up areas that need additional input and support."

Casey Dreier, The Planetary Society's director of space policy, broke down the proposed budget overall on the society's blog. On planetary science in particular, he said: "Well, we're five for five. This is the fifth year in a row that the White House has proposed cutting NASA's Planetary Science Division. While every other science division at NASA would receive a funding boost in this budget, Planetary Science, the year after flying by Pluto and confirming flowing water on Mars, earns a $110 million cut.

"Now, credit where credit is due," he continued. "The request is for $1.52 billion, which, compared to previous requests, is a marked improvement and very much a step in the right direction. We've been advocating for at least $1.5 billion for this program for years now, and it is satisfying to see this number reflected back in the president's budget.

"But the fact of the matter is that this program has been underfunded for years and needs to rebuild," Dreier continued. "Congress stepped up and provided $1.631 billion last year, and that number needs to continue to improve in order to position NASA for a spectacular decade of planetary exploration in the 2020s. As expected, most of the cut appears to impact the Europa mission (which would get about $50 million in 2017, down from $175 million in 2016). The administration is sticking with its intent to launch in the late 2020s. The request tones down some of the optimistic planning for the Europa flyby mission set forth in last year's budget. NASA runs the numbers to assume an Atlas V launch, not SLS, though SLS is very much under consideration.

"In more positive news, all existing missions are funded through 2017," Dreier said. "That means [the Mars rover] Opportunity can keep on roving, and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter can keep collecting data through the year. No arbitrary zeroing out of mission budgets here."

Email Sarah Lewin at slewin@space.com or follow her @SarahExplains. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
Scientists are widely expected to announce the first-ever direct detection of elusive gravitational waves this morning, and you can watch the big moment live.

Researchers affiliated with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) are holding a news conference today (Feb. 11) at 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT) at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., and you can watch it live here on Space.com, courtesy of the LIGO consortium.

Then, at 1 p.m. EST (1800 GMT), the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Ontario, Canada, will host its own webcast about the announcement and its implications. Space.com will carry that event live as well, thanks to the Perimeter Institute. [The Search for Gravitational Waves (Gallery)]

Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of space-time generated by the acceleration of massive objects. Their existence was first proposed by Albert Einstein in 1916, as part of his famous theory of general relativity. Scientists have found indirect evidence that gravitational waves exist, but a direct detection has proved elusive  until now, apparently.

Rumors have been swirling for the past several months that the LIGO consortium has spotted gravitational waves  specifically, those generated by the merger of two medium-size black holes. So Thursdays event is believed to be a discovery announcement, though the LIGO team has remained tight-lipped, referring to the news conference as a "status report on the effort to detect gravitational waves."

Gravitational waves move at the speed of light and do not interact meaningfully with matter. A direct detection would be a huge milestone, allowing researchers to test how general relativity operates under extreme conditions and potentially opening up a new window into the universe, LIGO team members have said.

"Gravitational waves probably wont be useful in helping us understand processes on the Earth, but they will help us understand processes that occur in outer space, such as the collisions of pairs of black holes," the LIGO team wrote in an online FAQ about the project.

"The knowledge that astronomers gain from measuring gravitational waves could also improve our understanding of space, time, matter, energy and the interactions between all of these things," they added. "In so doing, this field of study could revolutionize humanitys knowledge and understanding of the nature of existence itself."

LIGO consists of two huge detectors  one in Livingston, Louisiana, and the other in Hanford, Washington. Each detector is an L-shaped system with arms 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) long. A laser beam is directed down these arms; if a gravitational wave passes through the detector, the resulting distortion of space-time will cause the distance traveled by the beam to change by a minuscule amount.

Theoretically, this change would be picked up by the detector. LIGO has two such detectors spaced hundreds of miles apart to help rule out false positives caused by local environmental conditions. (If the same signal is picked up in both Louisiana and Washington, chances are, its a real detection.)

LIGO is operated by MIT and the California Institute of Technology, and is funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
Paul Sutter is a visiting scholar at The Ohio State Universitys Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics (CCAPP). Sutter is also host of the podcasts Ask a Spaceman and RealSpace, and the YouTube series Space In Your Face. Sutter contributed this article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights .

Have you ever wanted to reach out from far away and just  slap someone? Usually, its pretty difficult, but if youre both standing in some water, its not so hard. You slap the water, the water makes a wave, the wave travels to your adversary and it does the slapping for you.

It doesn't have to be water, either. You can do it in air too, although its not very effective. [The Hunt for Gravitational Waves: Complete Coverage]

And you can do it in a perfect vacuum.

The key here is the nature of space-time. Ive discussed before the importance of space-time  how space and time are unified in a single fabric that stretches across eternity in four dimensions. That was the magic that enabled Albert Einstein to develop his theory of special relativity. But to make special relativity more general, Einstein had to make another leap: Space-time isnt just a stage, fixed and unmoving, a background for all particles and forces to play around on.

In general relativity, space-time is dynamic. The stage is an actor, too! It can warp and twist, and bend and flex. It can wave. It responds to the presence of matter and energy, and can influence the behavior of that same matter and energy, exactly as you can. Space-time is a thing.

Space-time isnt a wooden floor; its a trampoline. It bends and curves underneath you, and that bending affects the motion of stuff around you. Go ahead: Stand in the center of a trampoline, and have a few friends roll some balls around. Look at how their paths curve. Congrats  youre a living, breathing general-relativity demo.

Just like any other dynamic stuff, like water or air, space-time allows waves to travel through it. But waves of what?

Well, water waves are waves made of water. Air waves are made of air. Space-time waves are made of  you guessed it: space-time!

I feel the need to note that this is a huge prediction of general relativity, and would never come about in pure Newtonian gravity. In fact, Im pretty sure Isaac Newton would have you imprisoned for even mentioning it.

You can think of a wave as a disturbance in both time and space. Float in one spot in the ocean, and you will bob up and down with each passing crest. Take a picture of the ocean from your penthouse balcony, a moment frozen in time, and you can see the wave pattern stretch to the horizon.

But if youre doing your buoy impersonation (David Buoy?) in the middle of the water, youll notice that unless theres a current dragging you around, youll actually stay more or less in one spot. Bobbing up and down, yes, but always returning to where you started. Waves dont transfer stuff; they transfer energy.

Thats what enables the slapping. The waves breaking on a shoreline are the result of distant ferocious storms beating against the water or faraway winds brushing across the surface. You cant see the storm, but it still gets to transfer some of its energy to you.

And gravitational waves (note here, they are not "gravity waves"; that name was taken before general relativity got going) are similar. They make you bob up and down. Well, almost. Its more like in and out. Or stretchy-squeezy, like space-time is playing with putty. As a gravitational wave passes through you, you literally get stretched out and squashed, over and over again.

But how could a simple ripple in space-time affect you like that? What force is it using? Its using gravity, because thats what gravity is: the bending and warping of space-time. And if space-time is wiggling, you get to jiggling.

Its pretty easy to make a gravitational wave. Just move around. See? I said it was easy! But to make one even barely substantial, it helps to be heavy. Like black-hole heavy. [The Search for Gravitational Waves (Gallery)]

A black hole just sitting there, minding its own business, isnt going to make waves, just as you standing in the center of a pool wont. But if that black hole starts moving  say, by spiraling in on a collision course with a relative  its going to ring space-time like a bell.

Those waves travel throughout space-time at the speed of light, eventually washing over the Earth. But even big waves from the most momentous events in the universe are exceedingly tough to find. I mean, its not like you or I feel continuously taller and shorter minute by minute. You might feel them, if they were strong enough  or if you were unlucky enough to get close to the merger event  but even the heavies in our universe make only the barest of space-time breezes.

Its not like we havent seen evidence for gravitational waves already. The 1993 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded for the indirect detection of these waves: a pulsar orbiting a neutron star, steadily losing energy by waving the space-time underneath them, causing them to slowly fall together.

What were hoping for with experiments like the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is to directly observe gravitational waves as they slosh onto the Earth. Imagine all the fantastic events happening in the cosmos: black holes colliding, massive stars blowing up, even the faintest whispers from the universes earliest moments. But shrouded behind dense layers of impenetrable gas or buried deep in cosmic time, they remain unreachable, inaccessible to traditional astronomy. But the waves persist.

The ability to directly see gravitational waves would take the blinders off one of the last great windows into the universe, allowing us to study the fundamentals of gravity in some of the most extreme corners of the cosmos. What wonders will be revealed to us? What new mysteries will confront and confound us?

The sky above us is ringing from the cacophony of countless bells, each one given a unique signature from the event that created it. Those waves wash over us and through us, subtly and gently flexing the space-time under our feet and in our bodies.

Somewhere out in deep space, a black hole is trying to slap you. Gently, caressingly, but slap you nonetheless. Can you feel it?

Editor's Note: The LIGO team is holding a news conference Thursday (Feb. 11) at 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT) to provide a "status report" on the search for gravitational waves. You can watch this news conference, which is widely expected to announce history's first direct detection of these space-time ripples, live here at Space.com.

Learn more by listening to the Ask A Spaceman podcast, available on iTunes (opens in new tab) and on the Web at http://www.askaspaceman.com. Ask your own question on Twitter using #AskASpaceman or by following Paul @PaulMattSutter and facebook.com/PaulMattSutter.
This illustration shows the locations and energy ranges of ASTRO-H science instruments and their associated telescopes. One keV equals 1,000 electron volts, which is hundreds of times the energy of visible light.

Japan will launch a new X-ray observatory early Friday morning to probe some of the universe's deepest mysteries, and you can watch the liftoff live.

The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) ASTRO-H spacecraft is scheduled to launch atop an H-IIA rocket Friday (Feb. 12) at 3:45 a.m. EST (0845 GMT) from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima, Japan. You can watch it live here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA and JAXA.

ASTRO-H is designed to help scientists better understand a wide variety of energetic events throughout the universe, from the evolution of galaxy clusters to powerful supernova explosions, NASA officials said. (NASA is a partner on the ASTRO-H mission; the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, provided one scientific instrument and two telescope mirrors.) [Supernova Photos: Great Images of Star Explosions]

The new observatory will be 10 times more sensitive to X-ray light than its Japanese predecessor, the Suzaku spacecraft, which operated between 2005 and 2015. ASTRO-H will study a wide range of high-energy light using four co-aligned focusing telescopes and four advanced instruments, NASA officials said.

"We see X-rays from sources throughout the universe, wherever the particles in matter reach sufficiently high energies," Robert Petre, chief of Goddard's X-ray astrophysics laboratory and the U.S. project scientist for ASTRO-H, said in a statement.

"These energies arise in a variety of settings, including stellar explosions, extreme magnetic fields, or strong gravity, and X-rays let us probe aspects of these phenomena that are inaccessible by instruments observing at other wavelengths," Petre added.

The ASTRO-H spacecraft as it appeared on Nov. 27, 2015, at Tsukuba Space Center in Japan. The open compartment visible at lower left houses the Soft X-ray Spectrometer. (Image credit: JAXA)

ASTRO-H's four instruments allow it to study the universe in a broad energy range far beyond the spectrum of visible light, which ranges from 2 to 3 electron volts (eV). The instruments can measure anything from low-energy ("soft") X-rays of 300 eV to soft gamma-rays of up to 600,000 eV, NASA officials said.

Goddard built mirror assemblies for two identical soft X-ray telescopes. One telescope focuses the light into a Japanese advanced wide-field camera. The other sends light into a soft X-ray spectrometer (SXS) that was also developed and built at Goddard.

Astronomers usually spread X-ray light out into a spectrum to learn more about the temperature, motion and composition of X-ray sources. But this technique dilutes the intensity of X-ray "colors," NASA officials said. The SXS instrument, on the other hand, should allow researchers to study the light at high intensity and high resolution.

To do this, the spectrometer will use a technique called microcalorimetry. When light particles (photons) hit the SXS detector, it will measure how much heat is generated. This requires the SXS detector to be cooled to close to absolute zero, at minus 459.58 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 273.1 degrees Celsius). The cooling is provided through supercold liquid helium and some mechanical and magnetic refrigerators, allowing SXS to stay cool for more than three years.

"The technology used in the SXS is leading the way to the next generation of imaging X-ray spectrometers, which will be able to distinguish tens of thousands of X-ray colors while capturing sharp images at the same time," Caroline Kilbourne, a member of the Goddard SXS team, said in the same statement.

ASTRO-H will join two other big-ticket space telescopes dedicated to observing the universe in X-ray light  NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton spacecraft, both of which launched in 1999.

Follow Elizabeth Howell @howellspace, or Space.com @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook and Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
Editor's note for Oct. 3, 2017: Astrophysicists Kip Thorne and Barry Barish of Caltech, and Rainer Weiss of MIT won the Nobel Prize for Physics for the first detection of gravitational waves. Below is our coverage of that historic discovery.

WASHINGTON  Gravitational waves, the cosmic ripples that distort space-time itself, have been directly detected for the first time.

In a highly anticipated announcement today (Feb. 11), researchers affiliated with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) reported the detection of gravitational waves. The signal picked up by LIGO came from the collision of two black holes and was detected on Sept. 14, 2015 by LIGO's twin detectors in Livingston, Louisiana and Hanford, Washington, scientists said.

This cosmic crash sent gravitational waves streaming outward at the speed of light, causing ripples in the fabric of space-time, similar to how a dropped pebble disturbs a still pond. Researchers said the collision occurred 1.3 billion years ago between black holes that were about 29 and 36 times more massive than the sun, respectively. During the crash, about three times the mass of the sun was converted into gravitational waves in less than a second, generating a peak power output of about 50 times that of the entire visible universe, they added.

Gravitational Waves Detected by LIGO: Complete Coverage

The probable location of a black hole collision that spawned gravitational waves detected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory is shown in this still from a National Science Foundation press conference in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 11, 2016. The collision occurred 1.3 billion years ago in a region of space over Earth's Southern Hemisphere, scientists say. (Image credit: National Science Foundation)

"Our observation of gravitational waves accomplishes an ambitious goal set out over five decades ago to directly detect this elusive phenomenon and better understand the universe, and, fittingly, Einstein's legacy on the 100th anniversary of his general theory of relativity," said LIGO Laboratory executive director David Reitze, of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, in a statement.

Using laser beams, scientists have detected the physical distortions caused by passing gravitational waves. (Image credit: By Karl Tate, Infographics Artist)

The detection is a milestone moment in astronomy and astrophysics. Unlike light waves, gravitational waves don't get distorted or altered by interactions with matter as they race through space; they therefore carry "pure" information about the objects and events that created them, according to LIGO researchers.

"With this completely new way of examining astrophysical objects and phenomena, gravitational waves will truly open a new window on the universe, providing astronomers and other scientists with their first glimpses of previously unseen and unseeable wonders, and greatly adding to our understanding of the nature of space and time itself," LIGO team members wrote in an online description of the project.

Gravitational waves were first predicted by Albert Einstein in his famous 1916 paper on general relativity. One of the central, and strangest, tenets of general relativity is that space and time are not separate things but rather are linked together in a single fabric: space-time. Massive objects, like stars, stretch and curve this fabric, sort of like how a bowling ball distorts a rubber sheet. These dips cause objects such as planets, and even light, to take a curved path around those more massive bodies.

Gravitational waves affect this fabric as well, causing ripplelike distortions. Previous studies have confirmed the existence of gravitational waves  which are generated by the acceleration (or deceleration) of massive objects  through indirect methods, but the LIGO find is the first direct detection of this enigmatic phenomenon.

"The description of this observation is beautifully described in the Einstein theory of general relativity formulated 100 years ago and comprises the first test of the theory in strong gravitation," LIGO team member Rainer Weiss, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), said in a statement. "It would have been wonderful to watch Einstein's face had we been able to tell him."

Plots display the signals of gravitational waves detected by the LIGO observatories at Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington. The detection of gravitational waves by LIGO was announced on Feb. 11, 2016. (Image credit: LIGO)

LIGO can only spot relatively strong gravitational waves, which are created by dramatic events, such as two black holes swirling around each other and then colliding, or a merger of superdense stellar corpses called neutron stars. The detector can also find gravitational waves generated by an exploding star, known as a supernova, LIGO team members have said.

Spotting these space-time ripples is a serious challenge. As a gravitational wave passes through Earth, it squishes space in one direction and stretches it another direction. LIGO looks for that warping of space-time using two "L"-shaped detectors; one is in Livingston, Louisiana, and the other is in Hanford, Washington.

Each arm of each detector is 2.48 miles (4 kilometers) long. Near the point where the two arms meet, a pulse of laser light is released down each arm simultaneously. The pulses travel down an arm, bounce off a mirror at the far end and come back near the starting point, at the crux of the "L."

The historic detection of gravitational waves by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory is shown in this plot during a press conference in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 11, 2016. (Image credit: National Science Foundation)

If a gravitational wave passes by, it will compress one arm of the detector and stretch the other. As a result, the light beam traveling down the stretched arm will take slightly longer to get back to the starting point than will the light beam traveling the arm that has been compressed. (If the same signal is spotted by both detectors, researchers can be confident the signal is real, and not the result of environmental conditions at one of the two sites. Recording the signal at two different locations also allows scientists to find the gravitational wave's source in the sky by triangulation.)

That logic seems simple enough, but the change in the length of each arm is far smaller than the width of an atomic nucleus. If the LIGO detector spanned all the way from the sun to the next-nearest star  Proxima Centauri, located 24.94 trillion miles (40.14 trillion km) away  a gravitational wave would shrink the detector by only the width of a human hair, one LIGO scientist said.

This is not the first time gravitational waves have been in the news. In 2014, researchers using the BICEP2 telescope in Antarctica announced they had detected signatures of gravitational waves in the microwave light left over from the Big Bang (known as the cosmic microwave background). But that result fell apart when observations by Europe's Planck space observatory showed the alleged signatures were probably nothing but space dust.

The LIGO team's claim of direct gravitational-wave detection will very likely undergo intense scrutiny before the scientific community fully accepts the result as sound. There are no other experiments that measure the same kind of gravitational waves that LIGO is sensitive to, so there is currently no way to directly compare the results with another experiment.

The research will be published in an upcoming issue of the Physical Review Letters.

LIGO is operated by scientists at the California Institute of Technology and the MIT, and it's funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation. The LIGO Scientific Collaboration has more than 1,000 members, from 83 institutions in 15 countries.

Follow Calla Cofield @callacofield. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
A powerful greenhouse effect can destroy a planet's chances of hosting life, a new study suggests.

Until proven otherwise, scientists on Earth assume water is necessary for life to arise on other planets. In the search for life outside the solar system, scientists focus on a "habitable zone" around other stars. Inside such a habitable zone, Earth-like planets are neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water to exist on the surface.

A planet that orbits too close to its sun may become parched because of the solar heat. But now, scientists think an extreme greenhouse effect can also push a planet into dry conditions  similar to what happened on Venus. [A Field Guide to Alien Planets]

The new research shows that warming due to carbon dioxide is as powerful as solar heat due to orbit when it comes to drying out a planet. The modeling study was published today (Feb. 9) in the journal Nature Communications (opens in new tab).

"This is interesting because it tells you that you need to know more than just the position of a planet to know whether it might be habitable or not," said Max Popp, lead author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany.

In the case of hot, hellish Venus, water that evaporated from the planet's surface built up high in the planet's atmosphere and eventually escaped into space. This is called a "moist greenhouse." Today, the atmosphere of Venus is almost entirely carbon dioxide. (Earth is able to keep its water because this planet's upper atmosphere is quite dry.)

To better understand the conditions that trigger such extreme greenhouse effects, Popp and his colleagues created a 3D model of an Earth-like planet that was entirely covered by water. This simulated water-world meant the scientists could ignore the complicated effects of continents and seasons.

The researchers discovered that once carbon dioxide levels in the model reached 1,520 parts per million, the planet's climate was unstable. The surface temperatures rapidly jumped to about 135 degrees Fahrenheit (57 degrees Celsius), creating a warm, moist greenhouse regime, the study reported. (The measurement means there are 1,520 molecules of carbon dioxide for every 1 million air molecules.)

"A planet like Earth will eventually change to a very warm climate, and it will occur relatively abruptly," Popp told Live Science.

The researchers think changes in large-scale cloud patterns drive the warm, moist greenhouse effect, Popp said. The location and thickness of cloud cover can change how much solar heat is trapped on a planet.

Although the findings suggest that greenhouse gases can be as lethal for a planet as orbiting too close to a sun, this process would occur at carbon dioxide levels significantly higher than those experienced on Earth today, the researchers said.

Popp said it's likely impossible for human activity to induce a similar moist greenhouse effect on Earth. To do so, human activity would have to raise the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere considerably, even more than if all the available fossil fuel reserves were burned, the researchers said.

"This is an idealized study designed to give a comparison between solar [heating] and carbon dioxide," Popp said. As such, Popp said a similar scenario wouldn't happen on Earth anytime soon.

Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.
An aerial image shows what it says is a column of heavy trucks carrying ammunition hit by a Russian air strike near Aleppo in Syria. (Photo: AP)

Washington: Russian air strikes in and around the city of Aleppo against opponents of the Syrian regime are benefiting the Islamic State group, a senior US official charged Wednesday.

"What Russia's doing is directly enabling ISIL," Brett McGurk, President Barack Obama's special envoy to the coalition fighting the group in Syria and Iraq, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has taken the lead over the past week in accusing Russia of derailing efforts to get Syrian peace talks going, by carrying out air strikes around Aleppo in support of a government offensive.

Kerry and some 20 foreign ministers, including Russia's Sergei Lavrov, are meeting in Munich Thursday to try to arrange a ceasefire and humanitarian access to Syrian cities besieged by government forces.

"We would have wanted a ceasefire two months ago and didn't get it. We need one as soon as possible," a US diplomat, who asked not to be named, told reporters.

When asked if the Russians were on the same page, the diplomat said, "They say they are tomorrow is going be a moment where they are going to have to prove they are serious about this."

On Tuesday, Kerry called on Moscow to work for an immediate ceasefire in Syria and to halt its air campaign, which has intensified in recent days. The US-led coalition has waged a separate air campaign against IS since September 2014.

Russia, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's closest ally, began conducting air strikes of its own September 30, 2015, targeting mainly rebels backed by the West, according to US officials.

The State Department, asked about a possible "Plan B" for Syria evoked by Kerry in an interview with the Washington Post, said there was a diplomatic process in place "that can work."

"I don't think anybody's ready to throw in the towel or to look at Plan B," spokesman Mark Toner said.

In his testimony, meanwhile, McGurk outlined coalition plans to intensify its campaign against IS in Iraq and Syria, acknowledging the complexity of the task because it relies heavily on a diverse array of local forces on the ground.

"This is extremely difficult, but now doable. Our progress will not always be linear, and we should expect setbacks and surprises," McGurk said in his written testimony.
A technician works on some of the optics for a Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory detector.

To spot gravitational waves directly for the first time ever, scientists had to measure a distance change 1,000 times smaller than the width of a proton.

Researchers with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) announced today (Feb. 11) that they had made history's first direct detection of gravitational waves, enigmatic ripples in space-time whose existence was first predicted 100 years ago by Albert Einstein's famous theory of general relativity.

The gravitational waves were generated by the merger of two medium-size black holes about 1.3 billion years ago, researchers said. These waves raced through space at the speed of light and encountered Earth, where they were picked up by LIGO's two huge detectors as a brief signal on Sept. 14, 2015. [Gravitational Waves Detected by LIGO: Complete Coverage]

Supersensitive detectors

The LIGO detectors are in Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington. Each one consists of a giant L-shaped structure with arms 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) long. A laser beam shines down each arm from the crux of the "L," and mirrors at the ends of these arms reflect the light back.

Using laser beams, scientists have detected the physical distortions caused by passing gravitational waves. See how the LIGO observatory hunts gravitational waves in this Space.com infographic (Image credit: By Karl Tate, Infographics Artist)

If the beams from both arms arrive back at the crux at the same time, they cancel each other out, and no signal is produced in the system's light detector. This is the normal, expected scenario. But if one of the beams arrives a bit late, a signal is produced, which could be evidence of a gravitational wave.

Gravitational waves, after all, distort the fabric of space-time. A wave that passes through a LIGO detector  and "passes through" is a fairly apt description, because gravitational waves do not interact meaningfully with matter  will lengthen space-time ever so slightly along one arm of the "L," and compress it along the other arm.

"Ever so slightly" does not fully capture just how minuscule this distance change is, however. The effect LIGO observed last September works out to a shift of a millionth of a millionth of a millionth of a meter  about one one-thousandth the diameter of a proton, project team members said.

To put this kind of sensitivity into yet more perspective, LIGO technology is theoretically capable of measuring the distance from the sun to the nearest star  Proxima Centauri, which lies about 4.25 light-years away  "to a level of about the width of a human hair," David Reitze of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), executive director of the LIGO Laboratory, said during a news conference today.

"LIGO is the most precise measuring device ever built," Reitze added.

Achieving this level of sensitivity isn't easy. For example, LIGO's laser beams travel down the detectors' arms in a near-perfect vacuum. And the system's light-reflecting mirrors hang from pendulums in a sophisticated quadruple-suspension setup, to isolate them from the everyday jiggling and jostling experienced on Earth's surface, LIGO team members said.

Furthermore, the groundbreaking detection wouldn't have been possible without a significant overhaul of the LIGO detectors, which first hunted for gravitational waves between 2002 and 2010. The project then took a five-year observing hiatus, as team members redesigned and upgraded the system's instruments to get a new "Advanced LIGO" up and running. [Study of Gravitational Waves Could Unravel Many Mysteries (Video)]

Advanced LIGO features a sensitivity 10 times that of the original incarnation, project representatives said. The new version began its first official observing campaign in September 2015  a few days after the historic detection, which was actually made during an engineering test run.

The fact that Advanced LIGO made a detection so soon after getting to work suggests that the system will spot more gravitational waves in the near future, team members said.

"We ought to see some more over the coming year," said LIGO project co-founder Kip Thorne, also of Caltech.

Confirming the find

The Sept. 14 signal was spotted by both LIGO detectors, about 7 milliseconds apart. This double detection gave team members confidence that they had captured a real astrophysical event, rather than something produced by local environmental conditions.

But they still took great pains to rule out alternative explanations, scrutinizing a variety of detector data and the output of numerous on-site instruments that measure seismic activity, radio interference and many other possible sources of "noise" that could conceivably mimic a gravitational-wave signal, team members said.

"It took a long time to get this [result] out, and that's part of the reason," said LIGO project co-founder Rainer Weiss, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The signal also closely matched that predicted by supercomputer models of black-hole mergers, said LIGO Scientific Collaboration spokeswoman Gabriela Gonzalez, a professor of physics and astronomy at Louisiana State University.

Details of the signal allowed the LIGO team to estimate the masses of the two merging black holes  29 and 36 solar masses, respectively. The single black hole that resulted from this smashup contains just 62 times the mass of the sun.

"That's because there were three solar masses emitted in energy, in gravitational waves. That's a huge amount of energy," Gonzalez said. "And we can tell all of that from this tiny fraction of a second in the waveform."

Further details embedded in the signal revealed that the wave source lies about 1.3 billion light-years from Earth, she added. And the time delay between the signals recorded in Louisiana and Washington provided more information, allowing the LIGO team to triangulate that source's location to a degree.

"We can tell it came from the southern sky, in the rough direction of the Magellanic Cloud," Gonzalez said.

The LIGO collaboration will publish its results in an upcoming issue of the journal Physical Review Letters.

The LIGO project is operated by scientists at Caltech and MIT, and it's funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
Seoul: North Korea said on Thursday it was expelling all South Korean workers from the Kaesong industrial zone and freezing the assets of companies operating there, calling the South's decision to suspend operations at the zone a "declaration of war."

The industrial park has been declared a military control zone, the North's agency that handles ties with the South said in a statement carried by the North's official KCNA news agency.

South Korea on Wednesday said it was suspending operations of the jointly run factory park just north of the border in response to the North's weekend rocket launch, and gave South Koreans until Saturday to quit the complex.
Tara Nettleton, who converted to Islam and married Sharrouf 10 years ago, took her five children to Syria in 2014. (Photo: Twitter)

Sydney: Australia said today it will "carefully consider" if it can help the orphans of an ISIS fighter and their Sydney-born mother, who both reportedly died in Syria, warning the children could pose a threat later in life.

Tara Nettleton, whose husband Khaled Sharrouf made headlines in 2014 when he posted an image on Twitter of his then seven-year-old son holding a severed head, died from appendicitis or a kidney condition, the Sydney Morning Herald and other media reported.

Sharrouf is widely believed to have been killed in a drone strike last year in Iraq, an attack in which fellow Australian terrorist Mohamed Elomar also perished.

The family's lawyer Charles Waterstreet told AFP the couple's five children, aged between five and 14, were trapped in an undisclosed part of Syria and in "grave danger".

The 14-year-old girl, named in Australian media as Zaynab, gave birth to a child two months ago fathered by Elomar and was also looking after her younger siblings, Waterstreet said.

"They are in grave danger. We've been in contact with them and there's bombs falling everywhere and people are starving in the streets," the Sydney-based lawyer said, adding the children told their grandmother Karen Nettleton they "want to get out" of Syria.

"Both their father and their mother are dead and they're victims stuck in a hellhole and they're Australians, and we should be doing everything we can to get them out."

Media reports said Nettleton might have died last year, with her mother only informed in the last two weeks.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said he was not able to confirm her death, although all Australians were provided with consular assistance regardless of their circumstances.

But he warned the children's experiences since they were taken to Syria by their mother in 2014 to join their father, who left Australia in 2013, could influence the government's decision on whether they could return home.

"The conditions under which people are brought back into our country would have to be considered very carefully," he told Sydney radio station 2GB.

"Obviously any parent who is dangerous enough, crazy enough, to take young, impressionable children into that sort of an area obviously scars those children for life.

"So ultimately the government's clear objective is to keep the Australian public safe and we'd have to look at the individual circumstances to see what the kids may have been through, what they've been exposed to, whether or not later in life they pose a threat."

Up to 49 Australians have been killed in the conflict in Iraq and Syria, with an estimated 110 nationals currently fighting or working with militant groups, domestic spy chief Duncan Lewis told a parliamentary hearing this week.

Some 190 Australians were actively supporting ISIS back home through fundraising, and some also hoped to join such groups in the Middle East, Lewis added.
I hear the Palmer clan will remain intact, with Ray Wise and Grace Zabriskie reprising their roles as Leland and Sarah Palmer alongside Lee, who plays their slain daughter Laura.Also said to be coming back are Peggy Lipton, who played Double-R diner owner Norma Jennings; Everett McGill, who played her lover Ed Hurley; Wendy Robie, who played his one-eyed wife Nadine Hurley; and James Marshall, who played his nephew, James Hurley. I hear also appearing in the sequel are Al Strobel, who played Mike, the One-Armed Man; Kimmy Robertson, who played the ditzy Lucy Moran; Harry Goaz, who played her occasional boyfriend, Deputy Andy Brennan; Charlotte Stewart (Bobby Briggs mother Betty Briggs); Gary Hershberger (Bobbys friend Mike Nelson); Jan DArcy (Sylvia Horne); and Harry Dean Stanton (Carl Rodd).New Twin Peaks cast additions include Grant Goodeve, Larry Clarke and Caleb Landry Jones, joining Amanda Seyfried, Naomi Watts, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Laura Dern, Robert Knepper, James Belushi, Tom Sizemore, Balthazar Getty and Lynch.Other tidbits Ive heard about the the third season of Twin Peaks:I hear Las Vegas will be a major setting.Like he did in the original series, I hear co-creator Mark Frost will likely make a cameo.I hear new cast addition Jennifer Jason Leigh may be playing the mysterious Judy.I also hear fellow Twin Peaks newcomers James Belushi and Robert Knepper may be playing brothers.Additionally, rumor is that Catherine E. Coulson, who played the beloved log lady in the original, may have filmed a handful of scenes before her death in September. Its unclear if they would be used.
File Photo / ST

An energy commodities trader for a Greenwich hedge fund is suing under whistleblower provisions of the Dodd-Frank act, claiming the funds partners ignored an Enron situation in the plaintiffs words that wiped out investors.

Litchfield resident Nikhil Dhir sued Vermillion Asset Management and its partners Drew Gilbert of Greenwich, Chris Nygaard of Darien and Chris Zuech, the funds chief compliance officer, as well as Carlyle Group which acquired Vermillion in 2012 when the fund had some $2.2 billion in assets under management. Dhir filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in New Haven citing the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act that was created after the 2001 collapse of Enron. Dhir also is suing for wrongful discharge under the Connecticut General Statutes.
Discrimination in the workplace is a hot topic. It is still prevalent and can be very costly to a company. What's more, the consequences of discrimination on the job can include fines and litigation costs, not to mention bad publicity.

Related: When Company Culture Becomes Discrimination

The answer to avoiding discrimination in the workplace? Hiring. Your goal should be to create a hiring process where you're focused on being non-discriminatory, and apply those practices to the workplace.

Look at the recent ordeal that took place at Dorney Park, an amusement park in Pennsylvania. The company introduced a new interview process that resulted in the termination of a man named Chris Emery. He was part of a five-person interview group in which he was asked to read flashcards and help build a Lego train.



Emery, a man with special needs, had worked at the park for 12 years. But he couldn't pass the new interview process for the 2016 season. And that set in motion critics' allegations that the amusement park did not make accommodations for its special needs employees.

Not only that: There was the publicity. The story went viral, resulting in heavy criticism of Dorney Park. The negative backlash and cost to the company could have been easily avoided had the hiring process not discriminated against a group of applicants, in this case those who are disabled or have special needs.

To avoid getting caught in a similar ordeal, here are five strategies to pursue during the hiring process to help you eliminate unlawful discrimination from your company:

1. Embrace diversity from the get-go.

Diversity is important in the workplace because it builds a company with a unique dynamic and a strong ability to adapt. It can also result in creative solutions for problems, and in increased productivity.

Your mindset from the beginning of the hiring process should be simple -- find the best candidate for the job. Race, gender, age and the like should not affect the decision-making process. And yet these issues still crop up: Hiring discrimination still occurs today.

According to a study by Rutgers and Syracuse universities, fewer than 5 percent of applicants studied, who said they'd mentioned disabilities in their applications, were contacted by employers. Compare that with the 6.6 percent of nondisabled applicants in the study who received expressions of interest. Even the more experienced applicants with disabilities were 34 percent less likely to get responses than their nondisabled counterparts.

Simply put, an open position should be filled by any applicant who meets the requirements and possesses the right skills to succeed. Begin the hiring process by identifying the skills needed to get the job done, and outline them in the posting for the position. Then ensure that the duties and responsibilities are clearly stated throughout all platforms, and be clear about them during the actual interview.

Its important to be direct, in this way, about your expectations, at the early stages. This helps ensure that candidates are able to assess their own abilities to apply for, and pursue, a job that fits their skill set. The hiring manager is then likely to find it easier to assure the best fit. Above all, avoid using language that would suggest any applicant preference, and highlight the fact that your company is an equal opportunity employer.

2. Create a values-based process.

A simple way to avoid discrimination during the hiring process is to take a values-based approach to hiring. Once a company establishes values, the hiring manager can make a decision based on those values. The first step toward doing this is to translate values into behaviors.

Look closely at the companys core values and define them specifically. For example, what does a word like integrity mean to the company? If it means honesty, then write that into an action for the position, like provide customers with a clear understanding of budgeting and time allotment. Hiring based on values -- and the behaviors that follow those values -- can help combat discrimination during the hiring process.

Related: Protect Yourself When Terminating Employees

3. Level the playing field.

Chris Emerys mother complained that the interview process Dorney Park used discriminated against special needs applicants because, she said, no one helped her son understand the new interview process, and what was expected of him.

This allegation, if true, raises important questions about the hiring process. What needs to be altered? Is there a way to explain expectations in a more effective manner? How can the company convey the same basic information to each candidate?

To avoid the appearance of discrimination, the interviewer should ask each candidate the same set of questions. While the follow-up question may differ based on the candidates response, the list for each person should be the same. Questions should be written to assess the applicants ability in general areas, like interpersonal and communication skills. This is a fair method for identifying whether the applicant is capable of performing the general skills that the position may require.

Involving other employees or managers on a panel interview is another good strategy. It not only secures multiple, possibly different, opinions on each applicant, but also makes interviewers accountable for fair practices. Ultimately, providing a consistent interview experience is an effective way to avoid discrimination and gather information from each candidate in an unbiased way.

4. Identify disqualification reasons.

In most cases, employers fail to provide information to candidates who do not receive job offers. According to a 2015 CareerBuilder study of more than 5,000 U.S. job candidates, only 27 percent of candidates surveyed said that an employer they'd contacted had given them an explanation of why they didnt get the job.

Companies should rethink this inaction: If a company identifies and captures the reasons why it did not hire a particular candidate, it can better ensure that its hiring process is EEOC-compliant.

If the hiring manager then informs the candidates of the reason, both parties can be assured that race, gender, age, disabilities and the like did not play a role in the decision.

5. Continue to review and improve the process.

As with all business practices, there is never a set it and forget it method, especially with a hiring process. The workplace is in a constant state of change, and the hiring process should reflect that.

Its important to constantly review the hiring process and consistently collect candidate feedback. So, systemize your own feedback process by using surveys and questionnaires to measure the candidate's experience. Use this information to write policy and improve the overall experience in order to avoid discrimination and unethical behavior and make your business truly an "equal opportunity" employer.

What do you think? What are some other ways employers can support a non-discriminatory hiring process? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Related: Accommodating an Employee's Religion Just Got Even More Complicated

Related:

5 Ways to Make Your Company's Hiring Process More Fair

The Top Skills That Will Get You Hired

4 Reasons Why New Hires 'Just Aren't That Into You'



Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
Reinhold Hanning faces court in the western town of Detmold seven decades after the defeat of the Nazis, charged with at least 170,000 counts of being an accessory to murder in his role at the camp in occupied Poland. (Representational Image)

Detmold, Germany: A 94-year-old former Auschwitz guard will go on trial on Thursday for complicity in the murders of tens of thousands of people at the Nazi concentration camp.

Reinhold Hanning faces court in the western town of Detmold seven decades after the defeat of the Nazis, charged with at least 170,000 counts of being an accessory to murder in his role at the camp in occupied Poland.

The trial is the first of three scheduled this year against former SS men, as Germany races to prosecute ageing Third Reich criminals.

Christoph Heubner, vice president of the International Auschwitz Committee, said it was an opportunity to make up "for the failures of Germany's justice system".

Among the 6,500 former SS personnel at Auschwitz who survived the war, fewer than 50 have been convicted.

Holocaust survivor Angela Orosz, who will testify against Hanning, said that all Auschwitz staff "were part of this killing machine".

"Without these people and their active support for the Holocaust, what happened in Auschwitz, the murder of 1.1 million people in just a few years, would not have been possible, and perhaps many of my family members would still be alive," said Orosz, who was born in Auschwitz just over a month before it was liberated on January 27, 1945.

After the charge sheet is read out Thursday against Hanning, the court will hear from three German plaintiffs Holocaust survivors Leon Schwarzbaum, Erna de Vries and Justin Sonder.

'Not too late'

Hanning faces between three and 15 years in jail, but in view of his advanced age and the period required for any appeals, he is unlikely to serve time.

Sonder, 90, said that "this trial should have been held 40 or 50 years ago".

But "even today, it is not too late to look at what happened", said Sonder, who lost 22 members of his family under the Nazi regime and was sent to Auschwitz when he was 17 years old.

Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, agreed.

"Even 71 years after the liberation of Auschwitz, the wounds of the survivors are still fresh. Many of them are haunted every single day by the horrible experiences they and their family members went through," he told AFP.

"At the same time, there are still a few old men out there with blood of on their hands. For seven decades, they did not have to answer for their crimes.

"As long as it's possible to bring any of them to justice, it must be done," he said.

Hanning stands accused of having watched over the selection of which prisoners were fit for labour, and which should be sent to gas chambers.

He is also deemed to have been aware of the regular mass shooting of inmates at the camp, as well as the systematic starvation of prisoners.

"Through his capacity as a guard, he facilitated... the several thousand killings of inmates by the main perpetrator," prosecutors said.

Hanning has admitted to working in Auschwitz but denies a role in the killings.

New legal basis

Today's trial come on the heels of last year's high-profile case against Oskar Groening, dubbed the "Bookkeeper of Auschwitz".

Groening was sentenced last July to four years in prison, even though he had previously been cleared by German authorities after lengthy criminal probes dating back to the 1970s.

But the legal foundation for prosecuting ex-Nazis changed in 2011 with the German conviction of former death camp guard John Demjanjuk, solely on the basis of his having worked at the Sobibor camp in occupied Poland.

As a result, at least two other cases are due to be heard this year before German courts.

One of them concerns former SS medic, Hubert Zafke, 95, who is charged with at least 3,681 counts of complicity in killings. Proceedings are due to begin in the eastern town of Neubrandenburg on February 29.

Zafke was a medical orderly at the camp in a period when 14 trains carrying prisoners including the teenage diarist Anne Frank arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Another former guard at Auschwitz, 93-year-old Ernst Remmel, is set to stand trial in April.
STAMFORD - Heres your chance to tell Gov. Dannel Malloy what you think about the job hes doing.

Or maybe you have a suggestion or two on how to make state government run better.

That chance comes from 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday (thats tonight) at the UConn Stamford Campus in the Gen Re Auditorium at 1 University Place.

Malloy and Lt. Governor Nancy Wyman will hold the town hall forum to discuss his budget principles, his proposals for adapting state government to a changing economy, and other issues concerning the future of the state. Its open to the public and there will be an opportunity to ask Malloy questions.

But if you want to ask him questions you need to arrive about 30 minutes before the start of the event to submit your name on a sign-up sheet.

Its a homecoming for Malloy, who was born in Stamford (his birthday, by the way is July 21, 1955) and he served four terms as the citys mayor from December 1995 to December 2009.

Tonights Stamford forum is the first stop in a series of town hall forums that Malloy and Wyman will hold across the state during the 2016 legislative session.

The event will be similar to those they have held in previous years, where they answered hundreds of questions on a range of state issues at numerous forums.

Malloys Stamford visit is likely to be cordial because of his hometown roots and long years of service to Stamford as its chief executive. But Malloy is likely to face tough questions and criticism on his policies in other communities across Connecticut.

The most recent Quinnipiac University poll found that Malloy has a 32 percent job approval rating, the lowest since he took office in 2011.
STAMFORD  When the Stamford St. Patricks Day Committee chose state Supreme Court Justice Andrew McDonald as its 2016 grand marshal last month, they had a host of reasons.

From his time serving on municipal boards to his current position, McDonald has served Stamford in multiple capacities and has been involved with the annual Irish parade for years. He meets all the criteria, said Michael Feighan, chair of the committee.

But the one reason that didnt necessarily guide their decision is the exact reason their actions are being embraced as a historic, groundbreaking move.

McDonald is believed to be either the first, or one of the first, openly gay grand marshals in the nation chosen to lead a St. Patricks Day parade.

Its definitely profound whether or not they intended it to be, said Anthony Crisci, executive director of the Triangle Community Center in Norwalk. Itll be seen as a welcoming of the community. I think people are probably very happy about it.

LGBT advocates in New York were thrilled by the news. After decades of conflict, that city only this year allowed openly gay people to march in the parade for the first time.

This is a marvelous breakthrough for Stamford and the nation, said Brendan Fay, founder of the Irish LGBT group Lavender & Green Alliance.

For years, Fay has been an organizer of a Queens parade created in response to the ban placed on the New York City parade, called the St. Pat's for All parade.

I think its a groundbreaking, significant step by a major city in the U.S., Fay added. I hope people appreciate the significance of this move. It says something about where the hearts of this community are.

John F. Mulligan, of the Irish Queers, an advocacy group in New York, said he didnt know of any other parades either, besides the St. Pats for All parade, that honored a gay individual with the title of grand marshal.

Thats really good news, he said. Congratulations from the Irish Queers in New York.

Mulligan and Fay are among the many members of the LGBT community who for decades have fought against discrimination in the New York City parade.

In New York, LGBT groups were banned from marching in the parade with flags or other identifying markers until this past March. And then it was only a group of gay employees at NBCUniversal, which broadcast the event, that were allowed to march.

The decision to allow them to participate angered many Catholics, especially since the grand marshal this year was Roman Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan, head of the archdiocese of New York.

Brian D. Wallace, spokesman for the Diocese of Bridgeport, said Bishop Frank Caggiano was not consulted on the St. Patricks Day Committees decision to choose McDonald, who has clashed with the Church on several issues, but would not protest the move.

The diocese respects the decision of the committee, Wallace said. Its a day of inclusiveness. Its a day people drop their differences. We hope people have a good day and enjoy the parade.

In Boston also, two groups were allowed to march this year for the first time, ending a decades-long ban there.

The bans are in sharp contrast to the actions being taken in Ireland. Just this May, Ireland became the first country to amend its constitution to allow same-sex marriage with 62 percent of voters casting ballots in favor of the change.

McDonald, who lives in Stamford with his husband Charles Gray, acknowledged that his new role would likely be a topic of conversation. He said the committees decision speaks to the inclusive nature of the Stamford community.

I would imagine my personal life played little if any role in their selection, he said. Having said that I think it definitely demonstrated how open the Irish community is. Ive known the members of the St. Patricks Day Committee for decades and all of them have embraced the diversity of the Irish American community in Stamford for the entirety of that period of time.

In addition to being inclusive, the St. Patricks Day Committee is also proactive. The parade is Sat., March 5.

ktorres@scni.com; 203-964-2265
One the the trickiest parts of any fundraising process is getting the actual commitment from investors.

Often, we hear founders say that the investor is in, only to find out later that they are not, really, in. The complexity is based on two dynamics. First, founders have happy ears and, second, investors have FOMO and want the option of being in the round.

This dynamic isn't great for the founders because, as investors fall out of the round, the round may fall apart. The root of the problem is lack of clear written, reflective communication. Here is the protocol that can help founders avoid this problem.

1. Verbal commit.

At the end of every investor meeting, ask the investor if they are interested. If they are, ask how much do they want to put in. If the investor says the amount, this means the interest is potentially real.

If the investor is not there yet, they would tell you. In this case, ask what else do they need to make a decision and what the next steps are.

If the investor is in for, say, $50K, ask if there are any conditions or they are in. Some typical replies on condition will be "I am in pending terms,'' or "I am in if you do a priced round, and get an institutional lead (which I would interpret as they aren't in).''

Whatever the response in this situation, reflect back verbally what you've heard.

Literally say "You are in for $50K pending terms'' or "You are in for $50K provided we do an institutional round.'' Have the investor confirm verbally. Then say that you will send them an email to confirm all of this in writing. It is critical that you tell them they are not in until they confirm via email.

Related: The 5 Best Pitch Tactics I Heard as an Angel Investor

Get them to confirm in writing.

In the evening of the same day, email a summary of all the points and details to the investor with a request they reply with the YES to confirm. Make the subject line of the email: Your COMPANY NAME round. In the body, be terse and specific without including anything extra.

If the investor replies, you are all set, and can count the investor as committed. If the investor replies, and says you didn't get it right, and makes changes, reflect back with a clean version that includes the changes.

If the investor doesn't reply, then this means they are not really in.

If you are raising on the note, and doing a rolling close, then in your written commit email attach the convertible debt note, and the wire instructions. This way, the investor can review the note, ask questions and then send you the money.

If you aren't doing the rolling close, then you need to add investor to your committed investors list, and keep them updated regularly.

Follow up.

Promptly follow up every two weeks to keep committed investors up to date. Good rounds have momentum, and you want the investors to feel good about investing. The update email should include progress on the company and on the round.

Keep in mind that if the round is not coming together, this maybe a turn off for the investor, and they may pull out. However, it is still better to keep them posted and be transparent.

Investors are much more likely to stick with you if you communicate with them regularly.

Related: How to Find and Land Angel Investors

Leverage committed investors.

In addition to keeping committed investors posted on the round, you should tap them to get more investors. After a couple of days of them committing to your round, reach out and ask if there are a few other investors they could introduce you to. The intros that come from committed investors are always very powerful. Ask for permission to tell other potential investors that this particular investor has committed to the round. Again, committed help investors create leverage.

The more investors commit to the round, the faster your round should be going because you get a network effect and build up the momentum.

At Techstars NYC we consistently see an issue when founders aren't following this protocol. Their rounds don't come together as quickly. As a founder you are always better off being clear and know exactly where investor stands than live in the land of a maybe.

Related: How To Show Investors Your Startup Is Worth Sinking Money Into

Related:

The Tried-and-True Process for Getting Investors to Give You a Straight Answer

5 Tips for Startups Before Approaching an Investor

The First 100,000 Successful Kickstarter Campaigns, in 10 Numbers



Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
In a text message to a friend, he wrote: "You need to get used to the cold water and no electricity. I wanna get out of here now. I've had enough. This isn't the jihad or system we thought we'd like to see." (Representational Image)

London: A Bangladeshi-origin British Muslim has been sentenced to seven years in prison for traveling to Syria to join the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group.

Mohammed Uddin, who called himself 'Supaman', was sentenced on Wednesday at Woolwich Crown Court in London after pleading guilty to a charge of preparing acts of terrorism.

It emerged in court that he fled the war zone because it was too "cold".

In a text message to a friend, he wrote: "You need to get used to the cold water and no electricity. I wanna get out of here now. I've had enough. This isn't the jihad or system we thought we'd like to see."

The court heard how Uddin traveled to Syria on November 4, 2014 and on December 12 of the same year; he crossed the border back into Turkey where he was held by the authorities because he did not have any travel documents.

The 29-year-old was stopped by counter-terrorism officers at UK?s Gatwick Airport when he returned to Britain on 22 December on suspicion of terrorist activity.

Assistant Chief Constable Laura Nicholson, the counter-terrorism lead for the UK's South East Counter Terrorism Unit, said: "Uddin's purpose of travel was to join

Daesh (ISIS) and engage in terrorist activity but thanks to the proactive work of Gatwick Airport port officers, we were able to intercept Uddin at the airport and ensure that his reasons for travel were fully investigated.

"Anyone intending to travel to Syria or Iraq to fight or to commit terrorist acts against the UK or our interests should be in no doubt that the police will take the strongest possible action against them."

Sue Hemming, head of special crime and counter terrorism at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), added: "It was very clear from the conversations recovered from electrical devices that Uddin had meticulously planned his trip so that he would be able to get to Syria undetected.

"It is vital that we bring the full force of the law against those who leave the UK to support terrorism. We will continue to work to build strong cases against these individuals to ensure that terrorists are brought to justice."

Uddin lived with his parents in Ilford, north-east London, and was separated from his wife, who was pregnant with his child at the time he left for Syria.
G ordon Brown has gone down in history as the Labour chancellor who raided the nations pension schemes when he abolished the tax-free status of dividend income. But even in his wildest dreams, Brown would surely not have sought to get away with what Chancellor George Osborne is currently quietly putting in place.

The grand plan of todays Chancellor is to take effective control of the nations local government pension schemes so he can direct them to invest in his pet infrastructure projects. In doing this, he crosses a line no British government has dared to cross before. It is thinly disguised state direction of investment.

The Governments scheme is clever because it is Osbornes usual mix of sleight of hand concealed beneath a veneer of overdue and necessary reform. The Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), provider of pensions for five million people or 12% of the nations workforce, is one scheme but the investment policy is scattered among 89 different bodies. The attraction of this is local accountability. The downside is that the multiple doubling-up of actuaries, administrators, auditors, portfolio managers, investment consultants and the rest is ridiculously expensive.

Note, however, that the LGPS is a funded pension scheme, meaning the money  some 210 billion of it  has come from the contributions of employees and employers, not directly from the taxpayer. It is different from the unfunded schemes of the armed services and the police, where the pensions will be paid directly out of taxes.

Bizarrely, given it was somebody elses money, there was widespread support for Osborne at the Conservative Party conference last year when he announced that he would ask the 89 funds in the scheme to transfer their resources into a few much larger investment pools. He got away with it probably because he claimed, and few disagreed, that such rationalisation could save hundreds of millions of pounds in costs.

Since then, and with a deadline of this month, those who run the schemes have been working hard to satisfy the Chancellors desire for the myriad funds to be repackaged as six pools of at least 25 billion each. Resistance is thought to be futile. They are in no doubt that if they do not do it voluntarily, he will consider changing the law to force them.

But there is a second arrow in the bow. With a political flourish, Osborne has branded these new pools as British sovereign wealth funds although they are nothing of the sort. Sovereign wealth funds are formed by and belong to governments such as Norway, which have saved some of their oil tax revenues for future generations. Sovereign funds belong to the nation. But these pension funds do not belong to the nation  they are the statutory assets of the five million past and present local government employees.

But that seems an irrelevant detail to this Chancellor in a hurry. This is where it gets messy because he has also said that these new pools will be expected to invest 25% of their assets in infrastructure, and again it is clear from the draft regulations that those running the funds will have to do what he wants. A document published in November by the Department for Communities and Local Government, entitled Investment Reform Criteria and Guidance, spells this out. It says in part: The draft regulations include a provision for the Secretary of State to issue guidance... Authorities would then need to have regard to that guidance when producing their investment strategy... The consultation process proposes to introduce a power for the Secretary of State to intervene in the investment function of an administering authority where it has not had sufficient regard to guidance published by the Secretary of State.

These are deep waters. It makes sense for pension funds to invest in infrastructure to the extent that these assets can be expected to deliver a reliable long-term income stream that matches the funds needs. But this does not apply to all funds all the time, and because such assets can be hard to sell in a hurry, even those it suits should not buy too much.

Nor does it mean pension funds have the skills to build the stuff. Buying completed infrastructure is one thing; building it from scratch means taking on all the risks of planning and construction and cost overruns. That requires a quite different set of skills and exposes the funds to a wholly different level of risk.

But the even more basic point is that it is no business of government how pension funds invest. Under the British system, trustees and investment managers have by law to put pension fund money where they believe it will deliver the best returns for members. They may not always get it right but that is what they are trying to do.

It is a fundamentally different thing for government to decide that this money should in future be used to meet the infrastructure needs of the nation.

It is utterly invidious to have government nudging the funds in the direction of what will inevitably be its latest pet schemes, which it cannot get funded by anyone else. Think Osborne kowtowing to the Chinese, then when the Chinese say no, passing the project to the pension funds. And if the pension funds then lose money, well thats the risk of investment.

Government has no business bouncing pension funds into paying for stuff that, unpressured, they would never have looked at. While too many City bodies have remained silent on the issue, some senior figures are appalled. Philip Jones, recently retired as an investment manager for the London Pensions Fund Authority, says he is totally disgusted that a Conservative Government should be planning the appropriation of private pension fund savings for central government purposes.

It is, he says, totally scandalous. No pension pots are safe if this is allowed to happen.
W hat do you do?

I run the worldwide operations of Maxus, which is a media investment management agency. That means our 2700 staff plan and buy advertising space for our clients and measure its success for them. We work across all media, from news brands to TV ads, billboards, social media and web search. Im based in London but travel about three weeks in four to our offices around the world. (Im in a hotel room in Sydney now, having just been to New Zealand and Las Vegas). I try to divide my time into thirds: a third on creating and communicating the companys strategic priorities for our staff; a third on external activities like speaking at conferences to build the profile of Maxus; and a third with clients.

What do you like most about your job?

Everything! The travel is really fun and media is a brilliant industry to work in. I love the fact that advertising is so tangible, its something everyone uses all the time. I like the way digital media now means we can be sure about how much our clients get back from their ad spend. A digital ad will often now lead directly to the customer clicking through to buy. Thats not like the bad old days when there used to be a saying: half of my advertising works, but I dont know which half.

What challenges do you face?

As an industry, were facing the problem of criminals generating fake traffic to ads through algorithms and bots. Its a form of cybercrime, basically. Also, we have to work out a way to serve the public better by not targeting them with the same advertisements when they move between devices and platforms like Facebook, Google or Safari. Nobody wants to get bombarded with the same ad every time they move from their smartphone to their laptop. On a personal level, prioritising is a constant challenge. Our 55 offices from Sri Lanka to Finland would all love me to visit but I cant do them all. I have to target the places where I can make the most difference.

What was your biggest break?

Getting hired to run the UK operations here in 2009. It was the first time Id had to prove I could stand up and lead. I remember going to visit the headhunter for what I thought would be a 20-minute coffee. It turned out to be a one-and-a-half-hour grilling. They were smart, difficult questions but sometimes its only when youre quizzed like that you realise you really, really want the job.

How did you overcome your biggest setbacks?

I genuinely havent had many. I do remember once having a really terrible appraisal. I thought I was doing really well in the job, but in this appraisal the managing director and head of strategy kept taking what I thought were my strengths and criticising them. I couldnt believe it was happening and started feeling angry and, worse, upset. I dont know where I got the strength to do it but I said: Can we just stop this and take some time out? and left the room. Two days later we reconvened and it went much better now wed taken the emotion out of the situation. I stayed in the company but actually, they left not long after  not directly related!

How do you juggle your work/life balance?

The whole idea of having a balance is a misnomer. You have to blend your work and your family life. I try to build in time with my three stepsons and husband around the travel I do. For example, Im going to Singapore for work next so Ill meet with my middle stepson whos based there, and add on a few days holiday with my husband in the Maldives. You just have to be relentlessly organised.

Do you have any tips for those starting out in business?

Always try to broaden out from your core role. Keep saying yes until you have to say no. In other words, accept any new opportunities that come your way until you cant take on any more.
Zika has been linked to severe birth defects in thousands of babies in Brazil. (Photo: AP)

Vatican City: A Roman Catholic group appealed to Pope Francis on Wednesday to allow Church members to "follow their conscience" and use contraception or to let women have abortions to protect themselves against the Zika virus.

The appeal came as the World Health Organization (WHO) advised women in areas with the virus to protect themselves, especially during pregnancy, by covering up against mosquitoes and practising safe sex with their partners.

Zika has been linked to severe birth defects in thousands of babies in Brazil and is spreading rapidly in the Americas. The first known case of Zika in the United States was reported last week by local health officials, who said it was probably contracted through sex and not a mosquito bite.

Catholics for Choice, a liberal advocacy group based in Washington, said in a statement it would run ads in the International New York Times and El Dario de Hoy in El Salvador on Thursday, the eve of a papal trip to Cuba and Mexico.

"When you travel tomorrow (Friday) to Latin America, we ask you to make it clear to your brother bishops that good Catholics can follow their conscience and use birth control to protect themselves and their partners," the ad will say, according to advance excerpts released in the statement.

Catholics for Choice asked Francis, Latin America's first pope, to "really stand in solidarity with the poor".

"Women's decisions around pregnancy, including the decision to end a pregnancy, need to be respected, not condemned," it said.

The Catholic Church teaches that life begins at the moment of conception and that abortion is killing. It bans artificial birth control such as condoms, arguing that they block the possible transmission of life.

The ban, enshrined in Pope Paul's 1968 Encyclical "Humanae Vitae," is widely disregarded in many advanced countries, but activists say there is still a stigma attached to birth control in some Latin American countries because of the edict.

In 2010, former Pope Benedict said in a book that the use of condoms to stop the spread of AIDS may be justified in certain exceptional cases. The Vatican has so far not addressed the issue of contraception in relation to the Zika crisis.

In its announcement on Wednesday, the WHO said: "Women who wish to terminate a pregnancy due to a fear of microcephaly should have access to safe abortion services to the full extent of the law."
T he leaked version of the draft deal that David Cameron negotiated with the EU has few surprises. It suggests that his attempt to limit migrant numbers from Europe by restricting benefits can only be a temporary move. So it could not be a permanent safeguard against ever-rising migrant numbers. And the insistence on sincere co-operation to help the euro may have worrying implications for the City in the event of a future eurozone crisis like that of 2011.

If anything, the draft affirms the wisdom of Britains opt out from the single currency; it emphasises that states that are not already in the euro will be obliged to join and  remarkably  says that political integration enjoys wide support in the union. Really?

Certainly, the leaked draft gives Eurosceptics something to get their teeth into. Real debate may be on hold among Tories pending David Camerons final deal with other EU leaders next weekend but it is starting to move nonetheless. Hilary Benn, the shadow foreign secretary, has made a robust case for staying in the EU, on the basis that collective European action is the best way to deal with the migrant crisis. On the other side, Boris Johnsons wife, the lawyer Marina Wheeler, has made some fundamental criticisms of the legal framework of the EU, in particular, the workings of the European Court of Justice and the Charter of Fundamental Rights. This is a radical critique of EU powers; if the Mayor shares these sentiments it is hard to see how he can regard Mr Camerons EU deal as it stands as anything but unsatisfactory.

What matters now is that the debate should move from generalities to particulars  on EU migration, on the powers of the European courts, on the sovereignty of parliament, on the practicalities of a Brexit. We must be as well informed as possible before we vote on this fundamentally important issue.

Keep London moving

Delays to Tube journeys as a result of passenger overcrowding have increased, are increasing and show no sign of going down. In two years, the problem has doubled, with delays especially marked on the Jubilee and Northern lines. Caroline Pidgeon, the Lib-Dem mayoral candidate, obtained the figures; as she points out, they suggest both the need for greater investment in the infrastructure and ways to encourage people to travel outside rush hour. Her suggestion of much reduced pre-peak travel fares is worth considering.

Fundamentally, the issue is about investment in the transport network to deal with the ever-rising numbers of passengers consequent on an ever-increasing London population. Crossrail 1 is already under way; we need now a commitment to the next stage of Crossrail 2 to ensure that by 2030 there is another means way of keeping the city moving beside the Tube. The cheerful way of looking at the problem is that ever-greater numbers using the Tube is a sign of the attractiveness of London as a place to live and work, but without investment the city wont move.

Switch off

In the pursuit of cleaner air, drivers are to be encouraged to turn off their engines when queuing to cross Tower Bridge. When the bridge is raised for large vessels to pass beneath, motorists have a wait of several minutes, so the idea makes complete sense: it will reduce emissions and might even save a little in fuel costs. Nobody can deny that Londons polluted air is a killer. To reduce premature deaths drivers could easily kill their engines when stuck in traffic.
T he upcoming EU referendum promises to be a defining moment in our history. If we vote to leave the union, the ramifications will be far-reaching for the economy, society and our culture.

The EU is our nearest trading bloc and the largest in the world. Part of our economic success, particularly in the City, is due to the free movement of skilled workers and common European trading regulations. It is misleading to say this will completely change if we leave the EU but it is also incorrect to say that leaving the EU will not alter this status quo.

Our ability to influence world affairs to our own advantage has also doubtless been enhanced by our membership. It is difficult to predict what sway we will continue to hold if we no longer have a seat at the negotiating table.

These are just some of the many issues that we will soon have to consider at the ballot box. Lets not solely be guided by our immigration concerns (however legitimate) in making this important decision.

Nicholas Pascal

As if we needed another reason to leave the EU, it appears we have one courtesy of flights taken by European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and his merry men.

It has been revealed that the commission has access to a fleet of six jets  in a 9.8 million deal  to ferry Mr Juncker and other officials around the world. This includes a 4.3 million seven-seater jet to make the 220-mile journey from Brussels to Strasbourg for the European Parliaments monthly four-day sittings. What is wrong with them using one of the daily commercial flights between the two cities?

On top of this the Parliament spends about 200,000 on two express trains to take officials, MEPs and others between Brussels and Strasbourg while their papers are taken in lorries. No wonder they dont want us to leave the EU when they have such high-flying ideas to fund. The whole concept of sitting in Strasbourg is a nonsense but the French have no intention of bowing to pressure to end this folly.

You cant beat a jolly junket  its just a pity were all paying for it.

Paul Nuttall MEP, Ukip deputy leader

Andrew Edwards [Letters, February 8] says the decision on whether to stay in the EU should be decided by the people. This would be acceptable if the people were in possession of facts but I would argue that a large proportion of the public has no idea what the consequences of leaving would be, so to ask them to make such a significant decision would be a mistake.

Referendums are nothing more than the shirking of responsibility by our political leaders. Worryingly, the Government might be pursuing this course of action because they are as much in the dark as the rest of us about what would happen if we left.

Craig Alexander

Cab strike is about the soul of London

After the Black Cab demonstration yesterday I would like to state why I joined the protest. Some may think of it as nothing more than cabbies moaning but its not as simple as that. London is rapidly losing its independent businesses, historical buildings and communities. With this, its tradition, history and quirkiness will disappear too.

Everything is becoming more expensive, more homogenised and more bland, and the big corporations are to blame. So where do cab drivers fit in? We are united by the London Knowledge, and our trade and iconic cabs are steeped in history and tradition.

Contrast that with Uber, just another powerful, moneyed juggernaut based in a city thousands of miles away. Last year the company paid the same amount of tax as around half-a-dozen taxi drivers. Some might claim Uber cars arent expensive but in their race to the bottom Londoners will ultimately lose more than we gain  we will lose another chunk of the soul of London.

People should think about how London is changing and what kind of city they want to live in.

A Cudlip

Cameron has made our prisons worse

Simon Jenkins is right to question David Camerons Damascene conversion to the cause of prison reform [Comment, February 9]. In a civilised wealthy society the Dickensian state of our prison system is a disgrace.

Incidents of violence, self-harm and suicide have risen precipitously, with staffing levels cut by a third due to austerity at a time when the prison population is at an all-time high of 85,000.

Government policy has focused solely on punitive regimes for lawbreakers, yet many in prison have mental health and drugs issues or committed crimes because of poverty or destitution.

Mr Cameron is making a brazen attempt to claim credit for addressing a scandal his Government created.

Dr Richard House

We could fund fare freeze with tax rise

Zac Goldsmith grabbed headlines with his claim that a fare freeze by Transport for London would mean a 59 per cent increase in council tax bills [February 9]. However, anyone who reads the article will see that the true increase would be 17 per cent. Even his claim that the fare freeze would add 175 to an average council tax bill is deeply flawed.

This seems like a sensible option to me, especially if the increase were targeted at the super-expensive homes in Zones 1 and 2 who pay least toward TfL while getting the best value from it.

Mark Wadsworth, Young Peoples Party

Healthcare needs to be more personal Last week Rosamund Unwin wrote about the attrition GPs are subject to and how this is reflected in poor recruitment and career abandonment [Comment, February 4]. But another crucial factor is the depersonalisation of the NHS.

Increasingly we see that patients do not get to know their GP or hospital specialist, while GPs do not engage with their colleagues, let alone their patients. This all comes from attempts to standardise healthcare  it is much harder for us to care with efficiency or humanity when we cannot form meaningful bonds.

Dr David Zigmond
T he queue outside ITV Studios on the South Bank is long and expectant. The smiley grannies with their silent husbands clutching hot milky teas, the single forty-something men with bad anoraks, the nonchalant, pretty students sharing a half bottle of Rioja  all are jostling in line for the chance to join the audience at tonights filming of The Graham Norton Show.

I walk briskly past, heading for the door usually reserved for guests. A bright-eyed woman in a red coat catches my eye. Are you on the show? I toy with telling her Im Bradley Coopers seat-warmer. Im a journalist, I say. Oh, are you going to interview him? Him? Yes, Sir Elton? I smile conspiratorially. She clicks, at which point the woman virtually self-immolates, her face melting through every known emoji ever posted. Even the aubergine.

I leave her squeals behind me and hurry inside, somewhat bewildered. Surely, I think, heading through the warren of grubby white corridors to Stage 1, Elton John doesnt still have this sort of impact? Who does he think he is? Or rather  who do they think he is? Harry Styles?

Hello, Im Elton.

Flamingo-pink shades, sharp navy blue suit, white T-shirt, big smile, firm handshake, rings like Liberace and actually really great hair. Its downtime between rehearsals and recording, and the 68-year-old, born but never known as Reginald Kenneth Dwight, is in a jubilant mood. Hes here to promote Wonderful Crazy Night, his 33rd album in almost half a century of nonstop hits.

Elton John - In pictures 1 /113 Elton John - In pictures Greg Allen/Invision/AP Iconic Elton John in concert circa 1970's Rex Order of the Companions of Honour Sir Elton John is made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour by the Prince of Wales during a 2021 investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle PA Young at heart Sir Elton as a boy at his piano Associated Newspapers Together David Furnish and Elton John at their Civil Partnership Ceremony in 2005 Rex Features In training British singer-songwriter and vice-president of Watford FC Elton John and Rod Stewart wearing Watford strip at Vicarage Road in 1973 Sydney O'Meara/Evening Standard Stage presence Elton John performs in 2014 Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images Sir Elton John in 1971 PA Fan favourite Pop star Elton John at Noel Edmonds record shop in the King's Road, Chelsea signing copies of his album, 'Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player' in 1973 Michael Webb/Keystone/Getty Images Costume king Elton John on stage concert in 1974 Flying hornet Elton John pictured playing football at Watford football club in 1974 Daily Mail Taking a break English pop star Elton John relaxes on a sofa and listens to some music in 1974 Express/Getty Images Pinball Wizard Elton John performing Pinball Wizard in 1974 Rex Features Luxury pad Even by superstar standards Elton John's palatial new home is almost unbelievable. His Berkshire mansion has more facilities and luxuries than some small towns. It even has its own vineyard-large enough to produce sufficient wine for a entire year's drinking David Thorpe/Associated Newspapers Quackers for the piano Elton John performs as in a Donald Duck costume in 1975 Chris Morris/Rex Features Back in the day Elton John perfortming on stage in 1975 Robin Jones/Daily Mail Rock and roll Elton John singing in the film 'Tommy' (1975) Meeting Cindy Elton John with American girlfriend, Cindy Bullens in 1976 Bill Howard/Associated Newspapers Portrait of Elton Elton John and portrait painted by a fan at the Watford Football Club in 1976 Jimmy West/Associated Newspapers What a spectacle! British pop singer Elton John dancing on stage during a concert in 1976 Evening Standard/Getty Images Elton's mother Elton John with his mother Shelia in 1976 Daily Mail Stars of stage Singer songwriter Elton John (Reginald Dwight) with star of musicals Peter Straker, and Freddie Mercury in 1977 Hulton Archive/Getty Images Double vision Super pop star Elton John (right) with his wax portrait in Madame Tussaud's studio in 1977 PA Clowning around Elton John on The Muppet Show in 1977 Rex Features Friends A group of pop fans look on as pop singer and pianist Elton John embraces singer and friend Kiki Dee in 1978 Evening Standard Gongs with George Michael Elton John pictured with George Michael, winner of the British music industry's top award, the Ivor Novello Songwriter of the Year, circa 1980's David Crump/Daily Mail Getting hitched Elton John and Renate Blauel after their wedding in Sydney on Valentine's Day in 1984 Patrick Riviere/Getty Images Sport mad Watford FC manager Graham Taylor and Chairman Elton John share a drink on the Vicarage Road pitch in 1984 Jack Kay/Express/Getty Images Flamboyant style Elton John pictured wearing a typically flamboyant costume in 1984 Express Newspapers/Getty Images Wedding bells Elton John and Renate Blauel at their wedding in 1984 Patrick Riviere/Getty Images Court appearance Elton John arriving at the high court in 1985 to sue his publisher Jack Manwarning/Daily Mail Elton John performing during the Live Aid Concert at Wembley Stadium in 1985 PA Sign away Rolling Stone Bill Wyman is pictured asking Elton John for his autograph David Crump/Daily Mail Teaming up George Michael and Elton John during Wham! The Final Concert at Wembley Stadium Iin 1986 Andre Csillag/Rex Birthday bash The aftermath of Elton John's 40th Birthday Party-held at the home of his manager, John Reid, near Rickmansworth. His Ferarri Testorossa is parked outside the house. Graham Trott/Daily Mail Legends Elton John and Michael Jackson at BMI Michael Jackson Award, Los Angeles Rex Diana, Princess of Wales being greeted by Sir Elton John for the charity premiere of the musical 'Tango Argentina' at the Aldwych Theatre in 1991 PA Drag race Elton John with Ru Paul 'Don't go breaking my heart' duet video Divas Elton John and RuPaul perform at the Brit Awards, London in 1994 Richard Young/Rex Fancy dress Elton John's Fancy Dress Party in 1994 Paul Greaves/Rex Brit award winner Elton John at the Brit Awards at Alexandra Palace, London in 1995 Richard Young/Rex Equality Elton John dressed as a woman with Kyile Minogue at the Stonewall Equality Show, Royal Albert Hall, London in 1995 Richard Young/Rex Academy Award winner British singer and songwriter Elton John (L) poses with partner Tim Rice 27 March at the 67th annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles. John and Rice won Oscars for their original song "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" from the film "The Lion King." in 1995 Dan Groshong/AFP/Getty Images The big 5-0 Elton John and David Furnish at his 50th Birthday Party 50th in 1997 Rex Features Award winner Elton John with his Ivor Novello Awards in 1997 Daily Mail Royal affair Archpriest Magio (R) shakes hands with British rock star Elton John standing next to Princess Diana (L) during the requiem mass for Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace at the Duomoin Milan in 1997 Gerard Julian/AFP/Getty Images Grieving Pop stars George Michael (top) and Elton John leave Westminster Abbey after the funeral service 06 September of Diana Princess of Wales Johny Eggitt/AFP/Getty Images Princess Diana's funreral Pop singer Elton John plays a specially re-written version of his classic Candle in the Wind during the funeral service for Diana, Princess of Wales at Westminster Abbey in 1997 Paul Hackett /Reuters Auction Singer Elton John with two jackets from his wardrobe, as he opens the sale of 10,000 items of his clothing and shoes at the 'Out of the Closet' store in Piccadilly, London. Stefan Rousseau/PA On the FROW Elton John and David Beckham are all smiles as they follow the Versace's Fall/Winter 1998/99 men's collection in Milan Luca Bruno/AP Icons Elton John sings with Madonna at the ninth annual Rainforest Benefit Concert in New York's Carnegie Hall Jeff Christensen/Reuters Knighted Elton John receiving his Knighthood Honour, London in 1998 with his mother, Step Father and David Furnish Richard Young/Rex Features Proud Sir Elton John with his Knighthood, after the presentation at Buckingham Palace Dave Benett Unique style Elton John in 1998 Rex Features On the mend Sir Elton John (left) with his partner David Furnish leaving the Wellington Hospital in north London Saturday 10 July 1999 following an operation to have a heart pacemaker fitted PA The Lion King Elton John at the premiere of Disney's stage adaptation of The Lion King Dave Benett Having a dance Elton John and Tony Bennett at the Rainforest Foundation Benefit at Carnegie Hall. New York in 1999 Scott Gries/ImageDirect/Getty Images High Court hearing Sir Elton John arrives at the High Court in London with partner David Furnish, for day two of 53 year old singer giving evidence in his multi-million pound contract battle against accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers and Andrew Haydon. *... former managing director of John Reid Enterprises (JREL), which for many years was his management company PA Thousands of fans Sir Elton John performs with Kiki Dee at Madison Square Garden in New York Gabe Palacio/Getty Images Putting on the ritz Elton John and David Furnish at The Ritz for his Birthday Party in 2001 Rex Features Hand in hand Elton John and Eminem perform at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards at Staples Center, Los Angeles in 2001 Getty Images Sir Elton John with his mother Sheila Farebrother Andy Butterton/PA Home sweet home Sir Elton John's home in Holland Park, Sir Elton is auctioning off the entire contents of his Holland Park home so he can re-model it and display more contemporary items. Picture shows the singer's dogs Joseph and Denis Alex Lentati Battle of the Sexes Elton John lunges for the ball during "The Battle of the Sexes Celebrity Doubles" tennis match at the Fleet Center in Boston Getty Images Throwback David Furnish and Elton John at Matt Lucas and Kevin McGee 'wedding' reception, Banqueting House, London in 2006 Claire Greenway/Getty Images Musical man Actors Trent Kowalik, Kiril Kulish, and David Alvarez take a bow with Elton John during a press conference to announce the stars of the upcoming Broadway show "Billy Elliot The Musical" at The Professional Performing Arts High School on April 22, 2008 in New York City Scott Gries/Getty Images Having fun Singers Lady Gaga and Elton John backstage during the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards Christopher Polk/Getty Images Prince William and his Kate leaving Westminster Abbey in London, as David Furnish (left) and Sir Elton John look in 2011 PA Royal meeting Queen Elizabeth II meets Sir Elton John backstage as British singer Robbie Williams watches during the Diamond Jubilee Concert outside Buckingham Palace in London Dave Thompson/AFP/Getty Images Sir Elton John on stage outside Buckingham Palace during the Diamond Jubilee Concert in 2012 PA Loving father David Furnish, son Zachary and Sir Elton John attend the 20th Annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party at The City of West Hollywood Park on February 26, 2012 in Beverly Hills, California Larry Busacca/Getty Images Getting political Founder & Award Honoree Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sir Elton John attend the Elton John AIDS Foundation's 12th Annual An Enduring Vision Benefit at Cipriani Wall Street Larry Busacca/Getty Images Parenting Sir Elton John and David Furnish with sons Elijah and Zachary Furnish-John in Saint-Tropez, France Rex Features Carpool Karaoke Elton John joining James Corden for his latest edition of Carpool Karaoke in 2015 CBS Prince Harry greeting Sir Elton John after the Royal Variety Performance in 2015 PA Family man David Furnish tweets 'Father's Day madness hits the Furnish-John household. Happy Father's Day to all you Daddies and Papas out there!!' @davidfurnish Performers Elton John and Lady Gaga perform live on the Sunset Strip, on February 27, 2016, as a thank you to the City of West Hollywood for their support of the Elton John AIDS Foundation Kevin Winter/Getty Images Date night Director-producer David Furnish (L) and recording artist Elton John attend the 2017 Vanity Fair Oscar Party hosted by Graydon Carter at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on February 26, 2017 in Beverly Hills, California Getty Images Sing it Elton John in concert at Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque Journal via ZUMA/Rex Features Sir Elton John attends the Elton John AIDS Foundation Commemorates Its 25th Year And Honors Founder Sir Elton John During New York Fall Gala in November 2017 AFP/Getty Images Sir Elton John and David Furnish attend the Elton John AIDS Foundation Commemorates Its 25th Year And Honors Founder Sir Elton John During New York Fall Gala AFP/Getty Images Elton John performing on stage during his "Wonderful Crazy Night" concert at the Barclaycard Arena in Hamburg, Germany in December 2017 Splash News Sir Elton John and Taron Egerton perform during the "Rocketman" Gala Party during the 72nd annual Cannes Film Festival Getty Images Elton John performs on the stage of the "stade de la Saussaz" during his final "Farewell Yellow Brick Road" tour at the 53rd Montreux Jazz Festival (MJF), in Montreux, Switzerland AP Sir Elton John with his partner David Furnish, after being made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for services to Music and to Charity during an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle AP

The dressing room is as youd expect for a man who once spent 40 million in a 20-month spending spree, 293,000 of which was solely on flowers: warm lighting, white roses and a spread of grapes and cheese straight out of a Caravaggio still life. We sit. Im offered a drink. Elton, famously sober now for 25 years, has Perrier on the rocks.

On my way over, news filtered through social media that Elton had made a surprise appearance at St Pancras International station, tinkling the ivories and donating a new Yamaha piano. Yes, that was a bit of fun, he beams, savvy enough to appreciate the Twitter storm he had left in his wake. I heard about those pianos and thought perhaps the one they had was getting a bit tired. Now they have a new one. I christened it. Commuters can go and get rid of their frustrations on their way home or early, before the office. Music can have a transformative effect. Its power still holds so much magic  even for an old codger like me.

His work ethic somewhat perplexes me, I tell him. Surely by now hes done it all  more than 300 million records sold, six Grammies, five Brits, a Tony, an Oscar, public adoration that unites generations, a knighthood, the ear of politicians and royalty alike  and an art collection that would put Charles Saatchi to shame. Why not spend his days practising his backhand and ordering staff to make him endless Shirley Temples in the grounds of his Windsor pile? I get it; its not a big event for me, releasing another album. I like the creative process. If you make peace with the fact that you arent going to sell millions of records any more, you can be more like Bob Dylan and do what the hell you want. I want to keep being inventive. I dont want to stop creating.

Next year marks the 50th anniversary of Eltons creative partnership with songwriter Bernie Taupin, with whom hes collaborated on some of his biggest hits, from Candle in the Wind to Your Song  as well as this new record. The way they work is staggeringly intuitive, with Bernie providing the lyrics and handing them to Elton on the day they walk into the recording studio. Elton doesnt consider a single note of music, nor a whisper of a melody, until that moment. When you hear of brilliant artists such as Adele who spend months, sometimes years writing new material, its astonishing. Bernie and I work very quickly, as we always have done. I dont keep a notepad by my bed at night and I dont carry songs around in my head all day. Ive never written a single lyric. Well, I have but they are all absolute filth! He cackles wickedly, his eyes burning behind those pink specs, backlit like a fully charged iPhone.

I do know of one thing Elton wrote  a farewell letter to cocaine. In the 1970s and early 1980s, he had a drug addiction that, at its peak, saw him take cocaine every four minutes. In rehab Eltons therapists asked him to write a letter saying goodbye to all his addictions  drugs, drink, even sex. Yes, it was a masterpiece letter, he recalls. Bernie said it was one of the best things hes ever read, which was such a compliment. I wrote two pages and it just poured out of me because it had to. I put cocaine in the role of a mistress saying, I love you very much but I cant see you any more. Youve been my whore, Ive taken you everywhere round the world with me, Ive flown in private jets, I made love to you and now I must say goodbye. If I see you in a room, I will have to leave. Cocaine was my worst best friend.

Today in this room, filled with all the scented candles ITVs budget will stretch to, Elton has never sounded happier. He is fit for a fight, even while contemplating the potential indignity of sparring with the likes of Justin Bieber or a contestant from The Voice for airspace. Theres so much good music out there, much better than all the pop shit they play on Radio 1. I never liked shows like The X Factor; Im glad they are on the way out.

There is one artist, however, to whom Elton will happily concede commercial defeat. Well, Im up against David Bowie, arent I? The best thing to happen to your records is for you to die. Death is very popular. Obviously, no one wanted David to die, but its astonishing how many records hes sold since  something like two million in two weeks. And thats CDs.

Where was he when he heard the news of Bowies death? I was in Los Angeles, asleep. It was 3am and the phone rang. It was David [Furnish, Eltons partner of 23 years and now husband]. I immediately panicked, as when you get a phone call at three oclock in the morning you think something is wrong. I thought of the kids, something has happened to the kids. And David said, I thought I better let you know, David Bowie has died. And I was shocked I couldnt go back to sleep.

David [Bowie] and I were not the best of friends towards the end. We started out being really good friends. We used to hang out together with Marc Bolan, going to gay clubs, but I think we just drifted apart. He once called me rocknrolls token queen in an interview with Rolling Stone, which I thought was a bit snooty. He wasnt my cup of tea  without missing a beat, ever aware of misconstrued soundbites, Elton corrects himself  no; I wasnt his cup of tea. But the dignified way he handled his death, I mean, thank God. I knew hed had a heart attack on stage in Berlin years ago, but not about the cancer. Everyone else take note of this: Bowie couldnt have staged a better death. It was classy.

Aside from music, Elton has a role as a political agitator and philanthropist. He and Furnish  now parents to two boys, Zachary, five, and Elijah, three  have raised more than 240 million over the past two decades through the Elton John Aids Foundation. But his role as a human rights troubleshooter, a sort of one-man UN, has brought its own, shall we say, complications.

Last year, Elton, having called Vladimir Putin out on his human rights record, received what he thought was a phone call from the Russian leader. It turned out to be a prank by two Russian TV presenters. The recording went viral. Was Elton fuming when he discovered hed been duped?

I wasnt cross at all. I was in the studio with a band called Clean Bandit, writing a song with Jimmy Napes, and I got a call from my office saying, Be prepared, Vladimir Putin is going to call you. I said to the guys, Putin is about to call me, and they were all like, F*** off! But I answered the questions straight and I didnt make a fool of myself. It didnt sound like a prank call. You have to have a sense of humour about these things. Then the next day, the Kremlin got in contact and were extremely embarrassed about the way Id been treated. And within a couple of days I did have a call from President Putin at my home in Windsor and we had a ten-minute chat. Soon Im going to go to Moscow to talk to him face-to-face over a cup of tea  whats the worst that can happen?

You have to admire Eltons will to get things done. While many pop stars wont even admit theyre religious for fear of alienation, Eltons straight talking is captivating. For him, the worst he could do is nothing. Its not just gay rights; Ill take on anything and go anywhere to help those in need. I am not afraid. I will speak out. What are they going to do to me? If they shoot me, they shoot me, I dont care. Listen, I am a fan of the human being. I dont like seeing dead children washed up on the beaches of Europe. But I am an optimist. Theres more good in this world than bad.

My time basking in the full beam of rock royalty is nearly up. As always with Elton, someone else wants a piece of him  this time, the ITV gophers shepherding guests to Nortons sofa. Elton must miss his childrens bathtime, I ask as we rise, on long promo days such as this. I do, yes. Will he have more children? No, were too old now to have more. If I was 15 years younger, I would love to have more. I would love to have a little girl

He looks wistful. I hate being away from my kids. We FaceTime but its not the same. They are wonders. OK, they beat the shit out of one another  but theyre brothers. I look forward to being closer to them, that is the way I want my future life to go. I want to give them a childhood they can love. And be a parent they will miss. I want to leave them a good place to live.

We say our goodbyes and shake hands. Outside, evening has fallen; its cold and windy but London is ablaze with life. I load up Tiny Dancer on my iPhone, turn into the wind and rush home to hug my daughters. Everything is going to be all right, Ill tell them. Sir Elton says so.

Jonathan Heaf is features director of British GQ. Elton John's WOnderful, Crazy Night is out now.
C ooking shouldnt be a chore. And yet it often feels more like hard work than a pleasure. Thats where we come in. Since setting up our catering company Tart London in 2013, weve built a reputation for whipping up tasty, nourishing food on fashion shoots for the likes of Gucci, Stella McCartney and Versace, serving everyone from Penelope Cruz to Kate Moss.

Every week well be bringing you a simple, delicious recipe thats as fun to cook as it is to eat. This curry, which we served to Naomi Campbell on a recent Agent Provocateur shoot, embodies everything our food is about: its fresh, nourishing and fun. Its also perfect for this time of year  warming but light, and packed with turmeric, ginger and chilli, which are natural antioxidants. The inspiration came from our travels in Asia. Weve both spent time there and love the one-pot wonders they serve. Its the sort of dish we bonded over when we first met in New York  two English girls fresh out of university and living in cramped East Village apartments.

Our favourite place to buy the spices used in this recipe is The Spice Shop on Blenheim Crescent just off Portobello Road, an Aladdins cave of exotic goodies. The turmeric turns the curry a vibrant bright orange. For the seafood weve used cod, mussels, prawns and clams, but if you fancy a treat, you could add crab, langoustine or lobster, while pollock or hake offers a sustainable alternative to cod. Serve with rice, salad, flatbreads and a limey yoghurt dip for a delicious and colourful meal.

Ingredients (Serves 6)

For the spice mix

3 tbsp coriander seeds

1 tbsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp fenugreek seeds

1 tbsp cardamom pods

4 cloves

1 cinnamon stick

1 tbsp mustard seeds

For the curry

1 tbsp coconut oil

Handful of curry leaves

6 shallots

5cm ginger

5 cloves garlic

2 small red chillies

1 carrot, finely diced

Bunch of coriander

1 tbsp turmeric

8 cherry tomatoes, quartered

1 tbsp palm sugar

400ml coconut milk

1 tbsp tamarind

500ml stock

300g mussels

300g clams

2 cod fillets

6 tiger prawns

1 lime

Method

Dry-roast the spices on a medium heat until fragrant, then grind in a pestle and mortar or spice blender. Heat the coconut oil in a pan and add the curry leaves. When crisp, add the shallots, ginger, garlic, chillies, carrot and finely chopped coriander stalks with 1 tbsp of the spice mix and the turmeric. Cook on a low heat until golden. Then add the tomatoes and palm sugar and cook until the tomatoes turn into a sauce. Pour in the coconut milk, tamarind and stock. Reduce for up to an hour, adding salt to taste.

Add the cleaned mussels and clams. When theyre just starting to open, add the cod. In a griddle pan, crisp the tiger prawns in a little oil.

Place the prawns on top of the curry with some chopped coriander leaves, sliced chillies and a squeeze of lime juice.

Follow Tart London on Instagram @tart_london
T he official day of romance, February 14, might be nearly upon us, but a new study by Hallmark Hotels has revealed some particularly unromantic stats on the rules of modern marriages.

While many classic traditions have withstood the test of time - wearing something blue, throwing the bouquet, naming a best man - there are plenty of new I dos and donts for guests to adhere to: from social media bans to stealthily photoshopping your unflattering pictures of the bride and groom.

These are the new rules of getting hitched in the modern age.

Send out e-invites

Millennials know that receiving post, other than bills, is a novelty, and that most of us organise our lives over our smartphones. Thats probably why 53 per cent of those polled believe its perfectly acceptable for the bride and groom to send out e-invitations to guests instead of formal cards.

Send your well-wishes over Facebook

The same also applies to invitees - its bad form not to congratulate your couple-to-be, but according to 61 per cent of those polled, its perfectly fine to toast a newly married couple on social media instead of sending a card.

Send and e-invite rather than a paper invite / istock

Vet your social media posts

Newlywed Girls Aloud member Kimberley Walsh recently issued stickers with her wedding invitations for guests to cover their phone camera lens in order to abide by an imposed wedding 'photography ban.' Celebrity ego? Apparently not; Forty-five per cent of people agreed they would consider a social media ban at their wedding asking guests to refrain posting pictures until the following day.

...and dont even think about posting unflattering pictures

Uncomplimentary pictures appearing on social media is, according to the survey, more concerning for women than whether or not the groom shows up, the speeches falling flat, the rings going missing or the food tasting awful. The only things that worry women more are the possibility of bad weather, tripping up down the aisle, getting a stain on their dress or their families not getting along.

Make sure to take a selfie

Forget the official photographers candid shots, one in 10 said that a bride and groom selfie is one of the most important pictures they want to capture on their wedding day, as well as a wedding group selfie.

Make sure to take a wedding selfie / istock

Embrace modern table favours

Move aside sugared almonds and personalised chocolates - according to future brides, they wouldnt rule out putting a selfie stick on each table to make sure their guests remember to capture their big day.

A flattering filter wont cut it

Brides looking for the perfect couple shot are happy to use photo editing software to erase blemishes and streamline problem areas. Londoners appear to be the most vain bride and grooms, with the highest proportion admitting they would photoshop their wedding photos if they could get away with it compared to the West Midlands, who ranked the lowest.

London's best wedding venues 1 /34 London's best wedding venues Syon Park Offers acres of sweeping land providing a stunning backdrop for weddings and civil ceremonies Copyright  Capture It Ltd. 2014 Dartmouth House The perfect setting for an elegant London wedding with fountains, wrought iron tables, and a majestic marble staircase The Roof Gardens Perched above Kensington High Street, with one and a half acres of themed gardens and exotic wildlife (including real life Flamingos!) The Roof Gardens The clubhouse on the 6th floor is licensed for civil ceremonies for up to 150 people One Canada Square At the heart of buzzing Canary Wharf, an Art Deco-inspired venue exists offering an alternative London wedding location. Strawberry Hill House Gothic 18th century building lovingly restored Strawberry Hill House Say I do in a lavish Gallery with vaulted ceilings and crimson walls Horniman Museum and Gardens This venue is perfect for a summer wedding, as it offers 3 unique venues for both the ceremony and reception, including the bandstand. Horniman Museum and Gardens The Conservatory ensures that your day will be bathed in sunshine with its impressive glass roof The Globe If you have dreamt of a wedding venue with a tree in the reception room, this is for you The Globe The Globe resembles all things Shakespeare and is one of London's best known landmarks London Zoo The Grade II listed Mappin Pavilion and The Prince Albert Suite can be yours for the day London Zoo All profits from your celebration go directly into helping critically endangered animals Natural History Museum Several galleries are offered from the Earth Hall to the Darwin Centre Natural History Museum Say your vows in the unique Natural History Museum The Gherkin If it's the wow factor you are after, this iconic landmark will surely deliver as you say I do with a breath-taking 360 degree view of London Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace is some of the most stunning grounds Hampton Court Palace The lavish and ornate setting for a wedding fit for royalty Kensington Palace Orangery The venue has floor to ceiling windows on one side of the room whic reveal views over the terrace Kensington Palace Orangery Located within Kensington Gardens tranquil grounds, the palace venue is fit for a Queen Kew Gardens The Gardens offer a host of historic and modern venues for receptions and ceremonies Kew Gardens The venues offer unrivalled elegance and speciality Dartmouth House 16th-century Dartmouth House is a rare central London location Syon Park Syon House caters for a morning or afternoon ceremony in the Great Hall, and private Dining Room Capture It Limited Fortnum & Mason Brides with a sweet tooth will be delighted to know that there are nine rooms available for hire in the iconic store

But theres an easier and cheaper way to look good on your big day - knowing that their pictures will appear online for all to see, nearly a quarter of men and women also said that they would practice their poses and smile to ensure they look their best.

Time to get posing in the bathroom mirror?

Follow us on Twitter: @eslifeandstyle
W hen Tinder launched, people were sceptical. It was viewed as the Grindr for straight people  and that wasnt necessarily a good thing. It was the hetero version of an app that many saw as only existing to link gay men for sex  no-frills virtual cruising.

And then we shook off the prejudices of online dating and all accepted that the story we will tell our grandchildren will probably involve swiping.

While dating apps became almost romantic, Grindr still had a raunchy reputation. It was left in the wake of Tinder, which established itself as a tool for relationships as much as sex.

The negative rap was enough to raise a few eyebrows when in January this year fashion designer J W Anderson decided to live-stream his menswear show from London Collections: Men on the app. There were even rumours that some modelling agencies were reluctant to commit their models over concerns of tarnished reputations.

But with a staggering 1 million users per minute worldwide, its not difficult to see the appeal of the app as an advertising platform. It would be painting with broad strokes to suggest that all gay men love fashion, but Anderson was ensuring that his show was made available and promoted to an exclusively male audience.

As for Grindr, the app aligned its brand with a genuinely cool, high fashion designer and generated coverage in the fashion press that would have been unthinkable a few years ago.

The brand was also in the business headlines with a deal announced in January: gaming conglomerate Beijing Kunlun Tech bought a controlling stake for $93 million (64 million).

There was immediate speculation that it wasnt just the money that attracted Grindr to the company, but the potential for digital expansion.

Grindrs tagline is 0 feet away and while that usually means from attractive, single men, the company has taken its own advice by moving its headquarters to the heart of West Hollywoods creative district. It will now be sharing office space with a host of edgy media start-ups like Clique Media and Whalerock Industries, the company behind Kim Kardashians app, indicating the companys dedication to digital expansion.

The best apps for Londoners 1 /16 The best apps for Londoners Zip car Join, reserve, unlock and drive  it really is that simple. The capitals preferred car clubs app gives 24/7 access to cars and vans in your neighbourhood and lets you extend or cancel reservations on the go. Free Uncover Sick of being stuck on waiting lists? You need Uncover, which redistributes cancelled reservations at some of the capitals top restaurants, including The River Cafe and Nobu. Not for planning freaks, though  tables typically become free at 40 minutes notice. Free Uber So popular its become a verb, this private driver service has revolutionised travel in the capital. Its speedy and affordable, making it a welcome alternative to the night bus. Free Santander Cycles Launched this summer, the official app for Boris fifth child can be used to search for nearby docking stations and check bike availability. Theres also a journey planner featuring easy, moderate and fast routes to satisfy all cycling tribes. Free Plume Air Report This new app has been downloaded by 3,000 Londoners. Sensors gathering air pollution data submit updates every hour, resulting in a scale that ranges from fresh to extremely polluted. Free Nightcapp Heres an app that will have booze hounds raising their glasses. NightCapp is a map that pinpoints more than 1,500 London watering holes that stay open past 11.30pm. It also shows users when a bar is about to close by highlighting it in orange. Better get moving. Free Money Dashboard An award-winning budget planner, this helps you keep track of personal spending across multiple accounts, pay off credit cards and even makes suggestions on how to manage your finances better. Free Her Promising to introduce women to a lesbian that hasnt slept with any of your friends, this revamped dating app includes queer-themed news and blogs, upcoming event notices and an improved algorithm-matching system. Free FoodMood This new startup, which reckons its Tinder for food, pledges to narrow down your choice of lunchbreak destinations. Hit yum or yuk on photos of dishes in your area. Juvenile, but strangely addictive. Free Daily Yoga This offers more than 50 yoga sessions, as well as a database of 500 yoga poses. Suitable for all levels, programmes include yoga aimed at specific areas of the body and weight loss. Namaste to that. Free Coffee Meets Bagel Billed as the anti-Tinder, this new kid on the block delivers just a single match to users once a day. Coffee Meets Bagel uses Facebook profile information to recommend suitors based on friends of friends. Neither coffee nor bagels are included. Free. Bristlr Do you have a beard? Perhaps youd like to stroke one on a regular basis? This can be arranged. Unlike other dating apps, Bristlr is unashamedly all about hooking up the hairy with the hairless. Theres even a beard-rating option for aficionados. Free

Landis Smithers, vice-president of marketing for Grindr, told Dazed magazine: I feel like its very important that brands explore media, its the only way forward. I dont see any differentiation between Grindr, Tinder and Instagram.

The app has long been a lifeline for gay men living in regions or countries where homosexuality is disapproved of or worse, illegal. More than simply offering connections within the community, it can offer a window into gay culture.

Grindr isnt, however, rushing for a cold shower after years of steamy sex. After all, its what users came for in the first place and, although it has become more common to arrange dates rather than hook-ups, partners need to understand that casual (safe) sex is still the beating heart of the brand.

Advertising on Grindr means acknowledging its reach within a very specific demographic that is ripe for marketers with a sense of humour.

The result is that among the shirtless singletons looking for love and the regular reminders to keep a check on sexual health, adverts for travel firm Expedia offer hot and heavy discounts and urge users: Dont let tonight be a flop, while ads for Hotels.com urge users to seal the deal.

Grey matter: a J W Anderson model (Image: Catwalking.com) / catwalking.com

The latest brand to use Grindr is Diesel with its Intimates campaign. When you block a potential match, a pop-up suggests you might prefer a tanned hottie in bulging pants, or more specifically the pants themselves: Id look good on you. Get in now.

Diesels artistic director Nicola Formichetti sees the collaboration as a no-brainer: We are just bringing our advertising to where the traffic is the highest on the web, and its there.

The music partnerships do read like they were hashed out by a straight person whose only knowledge of gay men comes directly from Will & Grace: Madonna, Lady Gaga. But these artists do have large gay fanbases and Live Nation saw that ads placed on Grindr for Madges Rebel Heart tour were one of the biggest ticket drivers.

Grindr is a brand that is getting to know its customer base better every day and wants to give them what they want, whether thats an oiled-up beefcake or an early pre-sale for Nicki Minaj.

Grindr is growing up.

Follow Rachael Sigee on Twitter: @littlewondering
I n China sales of smartphones are growing faster than we can slurp noodles. Fuelled by the countrys aspiring middle classes, the Chinese bought almost 500 million mobiles last year, accounting for a third of all global sales.

Curiously, though, Apple and Samsung no longer dominate the market. And in a mildly amusing sign of the times, even Chinas counterfeit Apple stores  complete with staff wearing fake Apple T-shirts  are now struggling. Almost half of the 30 or so knock-off emporiums have disappeared without a trace, while the others are slowly resigning themselves to ripping down the unauthorised logos and the glass staircases.

You see, China might be hooked on many luxury imports  from French Bordeaux wines to British Bentleys  but fierce competition in the domestic smartphone market has driven down prices of homegrown mobiles to rock bottom.

China has truly mastered the art of turning out super-high-end devices for budget prices, says Max Parker, of London tech website TrustedReviews. You might be familiar with the likes of ZTE or Huawei, who beat Apple to the Force Touch punch by a week last year. But chances are, Chinas hottest smartphone brands  Meizu, Oppo and Xiaomi  are as mysterious as the ancient city at the bottom of Fujian lake. But that is about to change.

Chinese brands continue to dominate, says Neil Shah, of telecoms analysts Counterpoint, and nine out of the top 12 global smartphone brands are Chinese. He points me to a graph that shows year-on-year growth for the last quarter of 2015. Meizus sales rocketed by 300 per cent and Oppos by 101 per cent. Compare that to Samsungs, which grew by just two per cent.

Problem is, the only way for China to sustain such explosive growth will be to look further afield and plot some good old world domination. A full-blown Asian invasion, if you will.

The timing is perfect. With Apple CEO Tim Cook announcing flatlining profits, and Alphabet (the totally-not-creepy name of Googles parent company) overtaking Apple to become the worlds most valuable company, China is on a mission. Can it persuade Londons techno-snobs to swap their 6S or Galaxy S7 for a Xiaomi Mi?

Founded five years ago by Lei Jun, a visionary tech investor with a string of successful start-ups under his belt, Xiaomi hit the headlines in 2014 when it became the number-one smartphone brand in China, knocking Samsung off the top spot.

Its now Chinas most valuable start-up, worth an estimated 32 billion, and has swelled its founders personal wealth to 9 billion. Xiaomi translates as little rice, apparently. Perhaps big potatoes would be more accurate.

Oppo have recently launched in India and Brazil, and are available via Amazon in the US / Press

The vice-president of arch-rival Meizu likened Xiaomi fandom to a religion. The brand inspires such loyalty that Xiaomi is able to call upon 10,000 fans, mostly students, who help test each new model, fix bugs and influence hardware design. A pretty stark contrast to Chinas button-down state enterprises. Xiaomis devotees call themselves Mi fans in honour of the firms best-selling model. They celebrate Mi day (April 6), and meet up at the Mi Fan Festival to buy company mascot toys (170,000 Mi Rabbits were sold at the firms fourth anniversary bash).

Cool factor aside, though, Jun is keen to keep a lid on any Apple comparisons. Apple is a group of geniuses making a good products together, he explained at a recent Q&A. They dont really care about what the users want  they imagine what the users will want. You will only know what you will get at the moment of the product launch. Xiaomi is different. Xiaomi collects opinions from millions of users online, we create the product together.

All very kum-ba-ya. But there are the other, more prosaic reasons for Xiaomis startling success. Aping Amazons Kindle strategy, Chinese customers are sold smartphones at cost, or at razor-thin profit margins. Xiaomis pay-off comes by selling its users mobile internet services.

Few of these Chinese wonder phones are on sale in London but that number is steadily growing. Weve noticed an increasing number of well-specced, great-looking phones coming out of China recently, notes Parker. But as with all phones, you need to wade through a lot of bad devices before you find the good ones. Both Huaweis Mate S and P8 are strong picks, with sleek designs and cameras that can compete with more expensive devices.

Xiaomis latest handset is a pretty gutsy attempt to seduce Londons hardcore Apple-istas. The Mi-4 (178) is honed from a block of raw steel during a 32-hour process of crafting and polishing. No fewer than 342 technicians work on each phone, a manufacturing process that Xiaomi boasts is probably the most sophisticated for any smartphone, ever.

As for the First World problem that is battery life, Meizus Metal tops the iPhone 6, with a uber-powerful battery that has about 30 per cent more capacity than an iPhone 6S.

Chinese brands such as Huawei and Xiaomi are increasingly crafting phones out of metal and glass, just like Apple and Samsung, says Parker. And in my experience, they are just as reliable.

The best apps for Londoners 1 /16 The best apps for Londoners Zip car Join, reserve, unlock and drive  it really is that simple. The capitals preferred car clubs app gives 24/7 access to cars and vans in your neighbourhood and lets you extend or cancel reservations on the go. Free Uncover Sick of being stuck on waiting lists? You need Uncover, which redistributes cancelled reservations at some of the capitals top restaurants, including The River Cafe and Nobu. Not for planning freaks, though  tables typically become free at 40 minutes notice. Free Uber So popular its become a verb, this private driver service has revolutionised travel in the capital. Its speedy and affordable, making it a welcome alternative to the night bus. Free Santander Cycles Launched this summer, the official app for Boris fifth child can be used to search for nearby docking stations and check bike availability. Theres also a journey planner featuring easy, moderate and fast routes to satisfy all cycling tribes. Free Plume Air Report This new app has been downloaded by 3,000 Londoners. Sensors gathering air pollution data submit updates every hour, resulting in a scale that ranges from fresh to extremely polluted. Free Nightcapp Heres an app that will have booze hounds raising their glasses. NightCapp is a map that pinpoints more than 1,500 London watering holes that stay open past 11.30pm. It also shows users when a bar is about to close by highlighting it in orange. Better get moving. Free Money Dashboard An award-winning budget planner, this helps you keep track of personal spending across multiple accounts, pay off credit cards and even makes suggestions on how to manage your finances better. Free Her Promising to introduce women to a lesbian that hasnt slept with any of your friends, this revamped dating app includes queer-themed news and blogs, upcoming event notices and an improved algorithm-matching system. Free FoodMood This new startup, which reckons its Tinder for food, pledges to narrow down your choice of lunchbreak destinations. Hit yum or yuk on photos of dishes in your area. Juvenile, but strangely addictive. Free Daily Yoga This offers more than 50 yoga sessions, as well as a database of 500 yoga poses. Suitable for all levels, programmes include yoga aimed at specific areas of the body and weight loss. Namaste to that. Free Coffee Meets Bagel Billed as the anti-Tinder, this new kid on the block delivers just a single match to users once a day. Coffee Meets Bagel uses Facebook profile information to recommend suitors based on friends of friends. Neither coffee nor bagels are included. Free. Bristlr Do you have a beard? Perhaps youd like to stroke one on a regular basis? This can be arranged. Unlike other dating apps, Bristlr is unashamedly all about hooking up the hairy with the hairless. Theres even a beard-rating option for aficionados. Free

But while Xiaomi, Meizu and Oppo have recently launched in India and Brazil, and are available via Amazon in the US, how should Londoners go about buying one? Your best bet is to look for sites that actually ship from Europe, says Parker. This will save you a fortune in shipping fees and, more importantly, taxes. Sites such as gearbest.com and ibuygou.com  which ships from Spain  are your best bet.

Of course, there are plenty of obstacles to be surmounted before China achieves its dream of selling its faux-spensive smartphones to the Italians, Inuit and everyone in between. Primarily Chinas woeful lack of patents, which leads to frequent accusations of intellectual property infringements. Or, as Apples design chief Jonathan Ive famously put it when asked about Chinese iPhone copycats, I dont see it as flattery. I see it as theft.

Then there is the sticky problem of the Chinese government, which is working hard to promote homegrown smartphones by offering companies relaxed labour and environmental conditions.

But while it could be many years before a Chinese smartphone earns itself a fair-trade badge, theres little doubt, say analysts such as Counterpoint, that China is tipped to become an even bigger smartphone powerhouse in 2016. Though not if it imitates others. Steve Jobs was a god, shrugs Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun. So why would I imitate Apple?

Follow Tom on Twitter: @tombaileywriter
J ust in case youve missed the subtle signs  red hearts everywhere  heres your foghorn warning: SUNDAY IS VALENTINES DAY. Dont panic, though. If you want to treat your beloved to something a little more exciting (and expensive) than carnations, theres still time to get a room. We have all suffered greatly for you, dear reader, staying in the kind of hotels that make 22-year-old bombshells fall in love with octagenarian billionaires. Its one way to ensure there will be no sinking hearts on Sunday.

Threes a crowd

The Zetter Townhouse, 49-50 St Johns Square, EC1, 020 7324 4567, thezettertownhouse.com

Zetter Townhouse / Addie Chinn

Get a room: The Zetter Townhouse in Clerkenwell is like a museum of curiosities. On every surface is something beautiful, fascinating or downright weird: a mahogany barometer, newspaper front pages from the 1920s, a stuffed cat in a dress.

The waitress in the bar told me and my boyfriend in a nudge-nudge-wink-wink way that our room was often booked by honeymooners, and we could see why: it has a vast marble bath in the bedroom, and the bed itself was on the scale of the V&As Great Bed of Ware. The only fault? That bed creaked in the way youd expect of one that your very Catholic grandmother had chosen for you and your not-yet-even-betrothed to sleep in.

The romance: As one of those killjoys who drones on about how February 14 is just a way to flog pink tat, I picked the Zetters Anti-Valentines Day offer. This weekend, a table for three in the cocktail bar gets a free gooseberry kir (see what they did there?). Initially, we did try to convince our gooseberry that his invite was just a ploy to entice him into a threesome. He laughed. Apparently, its obvious that Im not the threesome type (all those appendages, everywhere...)

Still, the cocktails are stonkingly delicious (try the peach leaf fizz) and if you happen to love in a triangle, this is the hotel for you come  and I hope you do  Sunday.

What price love? 258 a night

Romance rating: 

(but deliberately so)

Rosamund Urwin

Love is in the air

Shangri-La, 31 St Thomas Street, SE1, 020 7234 8000, shangri-la.com

Shangri-La

Get a room: If you want to know what true love looks like, consider this: I suffer from vertigo so crippling that when I accidentally took the lift to the sixth floor of our office I threw up, and yet I willingly spent the night  curtains open  in the highest hotel room in Western Europe, all in the name of romance.

You can keep your champagne, rose petal-filled bath tubs and candlelit dinners for two (although the Shangri-La offers all this, and much more), I show my commitment with a hefty dose of pure terror. And in fact, once I realise that I am neither going to pass out or hurl myself out of the nearest window, the benefits of being this high are clear.

First, aside from the howls of storm Imogen which rages outside, its silent in a way only a room 48 floors up can be. Sure, the idea of Valentines Day is to spend the night, er, awake, but its the deepest sleep Ive had in London.

Second, the view provide the mother of all conversation starters  gesture wildly towards some distant twinkling lights while proclaiming Oh, have you ever seen anything so beautiful, darling! and youre good for at least another 20 minutes.

But the real highlight is the bar on the 52nd floor, where we drink our way through the cocktail list  because theres nothing like a shared raging hangover to really unite a couple.

Romance: A view this good does all the work for you; it really cant fail to seduce. The Romeo and Juliet package includes the prerequisite flowers, booze and three-course in-room dinner  with lashings of foie gras and lobster  but the real highlight was breakfast: we returned to the heaving buffet a potentially taboo four times.

What price love? From 850

Romance rating: 

Lucy Hunter Johnston

Art attack

Claridges, Brook Street, W1, 020 7629 8860, claridges.co.uk

Claridge's

Get a room: Tasteful five-star escapism in an airy Art Deco suite high above Mayfair. The pale green and soft pink colour scheme is instantly soothing, as is the vast bed. The bathroom is almost bigger than my flat and the bath is equipped with a better television, should you tire of conversation with your beloved. Burberry trenchcoats are provided and we wear them on our private terrace, as we try to snoop on the grand buildings across the road.

We ate fresh Dover sole under a glass Dale Chihuly sculpture at the Foyer & Reading Room restaurant, followed by a nightcap of Corton Charlemagne chardonnay at the Fumoir bar but there is also Simon Rogans Fera restaurant and its new offshoot Aulis.

The romance: Staying in historical splendour is romantic in itself but on top of that Claridges sets the bar for Valentines Day gifts high, with the holy trinity of a bottle of champagne, dark chocolate and flowers  any suitor trying to top that with their own gift will have to be very imaginative.

Even if you think Valentines Day is soppy and commercial it would be easy to spend your whole stay in the suite, dressing for breakfast in bed by putting on the monogrammed bathrobes that are provided  and guests who have chosen the Perfect Valentines package dont have to check out until 2pm.

What price love? The Perfect Valentines package starts at 590 and is available on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in February,

Romance rating: 

Susannah Butter

Put a ring on it

The Marylebone, 47 Welbeck Street, W1, 020 7486 6600, doylecollection.com/marylebone

The Marylebone

Get a room: Its Don Drapers living room! shouted my boyfriend. The suite was so vast that at one point we genuinely lost each other (I was in the whirlpool bath watching TV).

We reunited on the private (heated) terrace, complete with fireplace, which looks out over the rooftops of Marylebone, and was set up for our private three-course dinner of scallops, steak and chocolate fondant.

The romance: Its exactly two years today since my editor sent me on a blind date (to see Lars Von Triers Nymphomaniac double bill, no less) and now theyre packing me and the same lucky guy off for a Say Yes proposal package. I know how my editors would like this to go  real subtle, guys.

Im not sure that drinking too much wine and playing backgammon until 3am is quite what they had in mind but curling up in a beautiful suite is just the kind of romance Im after.

What price love? From 1,500 for the Say Yes package

Romance rating: 

Rachael Sigee

Mother puckers

Sanderson, 50 Berners Street, W1, 020 7300 1400, sandersonlondon.com

Sanderson / Niall Clutton

Get a room: Call me a stuffy traditionalist, but I like lips on people, not furniture. So the foyers sofa in the shape of a large, red pair of smackers was the first sign that Sohos Sanderson hotel might not be to my taste. The rest of the downstairs decor didnt get much better  an onslaught of brash colours and bulky, abstract shapes. Do I look at it or sit on it? my wife wondered. Imagine a hotel as designed by one of the Spice Girls (Ginger, probably).

Once we got past the outer space-themed lift, what a relief it was to find that the room was kept simple. A combination of glass screens and semi-see-through white curtains created an airy, calm space. A small, framed picture of a numerical keypad was the only surviving bit of Soho kitsch.

The romance: Our In Love package included a bottle of Perrier-Jouet Grand Brut and a chocolate and raspberry treat. The bed was comfortable, the breakfast tasty and the staff friendly and efficient, but I couldnt shake the feeling that this is a hotel best suited to hen nights, not romantic getaways. The young women in pink sashes lining up for selfies on the indoor swing chair confirmed my suspicions.

What price love? 323 for two

Romance rating: 

William Moore

Boutique call

The Arch, 50 Great Cumberland Place, W1, 020 7724 4700, thearchlondon.com

Get a room: A short walk from the retail mother ships on the Marble Arch end of Oxford Street, The Arch is one of those discreet, boutique hotels  in a Tardis-like Georgian townhouse  that most actual Londoners wont have heard of.

The suite my wife and I are shown to on a rainy Saturday afternoon is sleekly modern, huge and mercifully free of rose petals. But thats not the best bit. Theres a wall-mounted television in the bath. A telly in the bath! Its the sort of thing Elvis would have had if only hed lived to see the necessary advancements in waterproof electronics. Yep, pretty sexy.

Valentine's Day 2016: the best alternative events 1 /13 Valentine's Day 2016: the best alternative events Valentine's Roller Disco

29-32 The Oval, E2 9DT, Feb 12 - 14



Oval Space and Tremors have teamed up to throw a Valentine's party, in the form of a roller disco. Music comes courtesy of Gin & Juice, Futureboogie and San Propers L.O.V.E, and there'll be a prosecco bar on hand to keep you dancing once your skating session has stopped. Glorious.

ovalspace.co.uk Daddy's Got Sweets Bloody Valentine Cabin

York and Albany, 127  129 Parkway, NW1 7PS, Feb 11 - 14



If you're anti-Valentine's Day, you'll love this pop-up, purposefully designed to be as unromantic as possible. Bring a group of friends to feast on the likes of devilled duck hearts and knock back their specially designed cocktails. The perfect place to bitch about your ex.

gordonramsayrestaurants.com Erotic Cake Decorating

The Book Club, 100-106 Leonard St, EC2A 4RH, Feb 13



This beginner's class isn't really about learning to decorate cakes, it's about having a laugh, so it's a bonus that you'll come away adept at cake art. There's a bar, prizes, and you can walk away with some filthy cakes. What's not to like?

thebookclub.eventcube.io Gin Safari

Mr Foggs Tavern, 58 St Martins Lane, WC2N 4EA, Feb 14



Nothing mends a broken heart like an adventure, and you only have to make it to Theatreland to have a safari at the Salon upstairs in Mr Fogg's Tavern. They're all about the gin: 269 of them, to be precise, including all number of rarities. Head down for a tasting session and a couple of gin n' tonics, all while wearing a hunter's hat (if you're feeling suitably silly). Later, head through to the bar for a cocktail to unwind after all that, er, sight-seeing.

mr-foggs.com Anti-Valentines Fiesta

Across London, in Barrio Bars, Feb 13



The easiest way to forget it's Valentine's? Tequila, and lots of it. Barrio bars know this better than anyone: go to dance, to drink, and wake up on Valentine's morning not caring a jot for any of the mush that everyone else is getting up to. Who needs mush when you have mezcal, anyway? Besides all the drink, there'll be a Mexican menu and live DJs keeping everyone dancing into the small hours. And, who knows, you might even hook up.

barriocentral.com Feline Lonely

Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, 4 Battersea Park Rd, SW8 4AA, Feb 12



Prosecco and pussycats! So much less troublesome than humans. Head to Battersea Dogs & Cats home for this Valentine's pawty where you'll meet their very lovable residents while sipping on a glass of fizz. If your match (cat-ch?) is here, take them home the next day, or buy them a treat.

battersea.org.uk Down With Dating

The Phoenix, 37 Cavendish Square, W1G 0PP, Feb 10



It's called Down With Dating, but it's partly a place for like-minded grumps to shrug 'hi' to each other. You'll be given a fake name to go 'Speed Hating'  where you sit and share things that wind you up  and there's even 'Blind Hate', which is a little like the Cilla show, but much, much gloomier and much, much angrier. To hell with Valentine's Day, basically.

feelinggloomy.com Wam Bam Cabaret

Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, SW7 2AP, Feb 13



Valentine's Day can be sickly sweet, when it really should be sexy. The Wam Bam club is one of London's longest running burlesque supper clubs, serving up live music and circus acts alongside the burlesque itself. There's a three course meal on offer, too. Besides  it's in the Royal Albert Hall. That alone promises to make the night a memorable one.

royalalberthall.com Ben Carpenter Love Potion Mixology Class

King's Cross/Bankside/Canada Square



Drinking beats dating, but they go nicely together anyway. Head to Drake & Morgan at Kings Cross, The Refinery on Bankside and The Parlour in Canada Square for a cocktail class with a (sort-of) romantic twist: drinks that double as aphrodisiacs. A bartender will guide you through the session, pairing booze with the likes of honey, chilli, chocolate and strawberries. What's the worst that can happen? After all, you'll get a drink out of it.

drakeandmorgan.co.uk Palentines Party

The Book Club, 100-106 Leonard St, EC2A 4RH, Feb 14



When you're stumbling out of a bar, arms around someone, slurring "I really love you, you know that?" there's a good chance it's your best mate because, well, friends are fabulous. Though crying into a bottle of gin while curled up in bed with your best chum is fun enough, there's a healthier way to celebrate your mates. The party starts with a workshop from Crafternoon Cabaret Club, there's a screening off Romy and Micheles High School Reunion, rounds of truth or dare, and plenty of popcorn and cocktails on hand. You can do the tears-in-gin bit afterwards if you still fancy it.

thebookclub.eventcube.io

The romance: The Valentines package is a fairly classic offering, ticking off all the modern staples of February 14 bar an M&S Dine In deal and hastily grabbed roses. Theres champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries on arrival plus an afternoon tea.

Then theres the mysterious intimacy box. Luckily for any friends or relatives reading, these werent ready in time for our trip but Im told it contains a feather, a sex toy and other Red Room of Pain ephemera.

Bad news if your idea of intimacy is a Netflix-equipped iPad and a bag of Maoam.

What price love? From 340 a night

Romance rating: 

Jimi Famurewa
S ix more people have been charged after the murder of a teenager who was stabbed to death outside a house part in north-west London.

Che Labastide-Wellington, 17, was knifed in the chest in the early hours of Sunday, November 8, and died a short time later.

Detectives investigating the murder today charged six more people in connection with Ches death.

Rimmel Williams, 18, of Churchill Road, Willesden, Omar Afrah, 22, of Walton Avenue, Wembley, Marlon Tudor, 23, of no fixed address and a 17-year-old boy from Acton were all charged with four offences.

The all face charges of the murder of Che, wounding with intent in relation to the stabbing of a 16-year-old boy, conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm with intent and conspiracy to commit violent disorder.

A 15-year-old boy from Willesden has been accused of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm with intent and a 14-year-old boy from Brent has been charged with possession of an offensive weapon.

All six will appear at Hendon Magistrates Court on Friday.

Previously, detectives charged Calvin Tudor, 21, of Kelly Close, Neasden, with murder and he is due to stand trial at the Old Bailey on April 25. He was remanded in custody

Walker Sesay, 18, of Rawlings Crescent, Wembley, was charged with murder and attempted murder and also has a provisional trial date set for April 25.

Five other men between the ages of 16 and 28 years old arrested in connection with Ches death are currently on bail.
The conflict in Syira has killed more than a quarter-million people, created Europe's biggest refugee crisis since World War II. (Photo:AFP)

Munich: Russia has proposed a March 1 ceasefire in Syria, US officials say, but Washington believes Moscow is giving itself and the Syrian government three weeks to try to crush moderate rebel groups.

The United States has countered with demands for the fighting to stop immediately, the officials said on Wednesday. Peace talks are supposed to resume by February 25.

The talk of new ceasefire plans comes as the US, Russia and more than a dozen other countries meet in Munich to try to halt five years of civil war in the Arab country. The conflict has killed more than a quarter-million people, created Europe's biggest refugee crisis since World War II and allowed the ISIS to carve out its own territory across parts of Syria and neighboring Iraq.

Russia says it is supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad's government as part of a counterterrorism campaign. But the West says the majority of its strikes are targeting moderate groups that are opposed to Assad and the Islamic State.

The most recent Russian-backed offensive, near Aleppo, prompted opposition groups to walk out of peace talks last month in Geneva, while forcing tens of thousands of civilians to flee toward the Turkish border.

The US officials weren't authorized to speak publicly about private diplomatic discussions in the run-up to the Munich conference and demanded anonymity. One said the US can't accept Russia's offer because opposition forces could suffer irreversible losses in northern and southern Syria before the ceasefire ever takes hold.

The officials said the US counterproposal is simple: A ceasefire that is effective immediately and is accompanied by full humanitarian access to Syria's besieged civilian centers.

Secretary of State John Kerry, who arrived in Germany Wednesday, had talks planned late in the evening with UN peace envoy Staffan de Mistura and Adel al-Jubeir, the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, a key backer of Syria's rebel groups.

The Obama administration has been trying for months to clinch a ceasefire and pave the way for a transition government in Syria that would allow parties to the conflict to concentrate on defeating the threat posed by ISIS and the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.

But after having long demanded Assad's ouster, the shift in the US focus to combating terrorism has resulted in a confusing mix of priorities and a layered strategy in Syria that few understand, and even fewer see working. Beyond Russia, the administration has often struggled to keep its own allies such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia in line.

"We will approach this meeting in Munich with great hopes that this will be a telling moment," Kerry said Tuesday in Washington. His peace push coincides with Defense Secretary Ash Carter's attendance at a gathering in Brussels to hash out military options with NATO partners.

Brett McGurk, the Obama administration's point-man for defeating the Islamic State, said Russia's Aleppo offensive was having the perverse effect of helping the extremists by drawing local fighters away from the battle against IS and to the war against Syria's government.

"What Russia's doing is directly enabling ISIL," McGurk told the House Foreign Affairs Committee in Washington.

But the panel's top Democrat echoed some of the frustration of his Republican colleagues with the larger US strategy.

"It seems as if we're only halfheartedly going after ISIS, and halfheartedly helping the (rebel) Free Syria Army and others on the ground," said Rep Eliot Engel, D-N.Y. He urged a "robust campaign, not a tentative one, not one that seems like we're dragging ourselves in ... to destroy ISIS and get rid of Assad."

Kerry emphasised on Tuesday that US officials "are not blind to what is happening." He said the Aleppo battle makes it "much more difficult to be able to come to the table and to be able to have a serious conversation."

But the US has staked its hopes for an end to the five-year civil war in Syria on the peace talks and Assad's eventual departure, saying the American public has no appetite for a military solution.

To that end, Washington has tempered its calls dating back to August 2011 for Assad to immediately leave power. And to get Russia on board, it now won't even say that Assad should be barred from running for re-election if and when a new Syrian constitution is drafted.

The ambiguity has emboldened Assad's supporters, Russia and Iran, while upsetting American allies in the Middle East, who are frustrated by a process that appears to lock the Syrian leader in place well into 2017 and perhaps beyond.
A teaching assistant who callously stamped on his heavily pregnant ex-girlfriend's stomach to kill their unborn son because he was not ready to be a father has been jailed for life.

Kevin Wilson, 22, donned a motorcycle helmet to launch the horrifying assault on Marks and Spencer's worker Malorie Bantala.

The 22-year-old expectant mother had refused Wilson's pleas to have an abortion, insisting she wanted to keep the child.

Wilson enlisted his friend Taffari Grant, 17, and together they stamped on Miss Bantala and kicked her repeatedly in the stomach in the two-minute attack.

She curled up in a ball on the ground and cried out my baby as she tried to shield their blows.

Judge Mark Lucraft QC today jailed Wilson for life and ordered him to serve 16 years behind bars.

Victim: Malorie Bantala, 22

Grant, who can be named for the first time after the judge lifted his anonymity, was sentenced to ten years in prison with an extended licence period of four years.

This was a cowardly, vile and callous attack, the judge told them.

The assault was premeditated and involved planning, it was sustained and involved repeated kicks and stamps to the midriff.

There were two victims of the attack, a young pregnant woman and her unborn child.

You, Wilson, were the father of the unborn child and as such had a responsibility to ensure the continued wellbeing of mother and baby.

The judge told Wilson his was a rare case where a life sentence was necessary.

It was the most horrific and planned attack that destroyed a child and caused life-threatening injuries to the mother of that child, he said.

It is difficult to think of a more serious case.

He added that he was sure the pair had stolen Miss Bantala's mobile phone to stop her calling for help.

Unrepentant Wilson still refused to accept responsibility for the attack, despite Miss Bantala recognising him immediately from his hulking frame and clothes.

He and Grant were both found guilty unanimously by a jury at the Old Bailey of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and child destruction.

Miss Bantala, who still bears the scars of the attack, was in court to see the two men being sentenced.

In an impact statement, she said her son Joel was the real victim and added: The moment Joel died inside me I lost everything literally. Life as I knew it no longer made sense.

She also revealed her struggles coping with her baby's funeral: The thought of burying him was unbearable and when I had to do it that was the worst day of my life.

Wilson, a teaching assistant at Octavia House School in Walworth, south London, ambushed his ex-girlfriend on June 15 last year in Peckham as she returned home from shopping for decorations for her baby shower.

During the trial, she said: I remember looking at him and then something clicked in my mind and I said "Oh s**t, it's Kevin". He turned round and we made brief eye contact.

I didn't have time to think anything because by the time I knew it, I was on the floor.

Kevin proceeded to kick my stomach, probably three or four times and then he stamped on my stomach twice.

By then I had screamed "Kevin" for him to stop but he continued to kick my stomach. They were harsh kicks.

In their haste to escape, the attackers were caught on CCTV running a red light on the teenager's scooter as they headed back to the Bermondsey estate where they lived.

Wilson had deluged Miss Bantala with texts asking: Why are you doing this to me? and even took her to a clinic but she refused to go through with the procedure.

After the assault, she gave birth to a still born baby boy by emergency Caesarean section and needed lifesaving surgery to her own wounds.

Prosecutor Jonathan Rees QC said she will not know if she is fit to have a child until she becomes pregnant again.

That's a psychological burden she carries and will continue to carry until she becomes pregnant if that happens in the future, he said.

It was plainly a despicable and wicked thing to do.

The two males carried out a brutish attack on a heavily pregnant woman in no position to defend herself.

It makes you wonder what sort of world we live in, any normal person would be disgusted by this attack.'

Miss Bantala had met Wilson in the summer of 2011 before they both started courses at the University of Bedfordshire, in Luton.

They split after the first year but got back together in summer 2014 during a trip to Ibiza to celebrate the end of university.

She fell pregnant in November last year after sleeping with Wilson in a hotel, but when told he was to be a father he replied OK and hung up.

Judge Lucraft added both defendants should be ruled as dangerous.
A man has been charged after allegedly posing as a bogus police officer to try and abduct schoolchildren in north London.

Abdi Waise, 28, of no fixed address was today charged with six counts of attempted kidnap and five counts of impersonating a police officer.

The charges relate to alleged incidents of attempted abductions in Hornsey on January 15 and 16.

Waise was also charged with one count of false imprisonment, one count of stalking and one count of inciting a 15-year-old boy to engage in sexual activity.

He will appear in custody at Wood Green Magistrates Court on Friday.
A lleged victims of historic sex crimes should no longer be believed unconditionally by detectives, Britain's most senior police officer has warned.

Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said officers should investigate allegations with an "open mind" rather than follow the current policy of presuming claims to be true.

He also claimed suspects should also be offered anonymity before they are charged because "reputations may be tarnished" before a proper investigation is carried out.

Sir Bernards comments came after he announced a review led by retired high court judge Richard Henriques following Scotland Yard's controversial handling of claims of a VIP paedophile ring in Westminster.

The Scotland Yard boss refused again yesterday to apologise to Lord Bramall, 93, amid criticism over the conduct of Operation Midland, which saw police raid the home of the former D-Day veteran. The case against Lord Bramall was later dropped.

Writing in the Guardian, Sir Bernard admitted public confidence has been affected by the Met's handling of complaints against high-profile figures.

The way officers investigate historical sex claims involving public figures would be part of the review, Sir Bernard added, suggesting a shake-up of policy to make it "more neutral".

He said: "The public should be clear that officers do not believe unconditionally what anyone tells them. They are listened to, sometimes at length, before the decision is made to begin an investigation.

"A good investigator would test the accuracy of the allegations and the evidence with an open mind, supporting the complainant through the process.

This is a more neutral way to begin than saying we should believe victims, and better describes our impartial mindset.

"Emotionally, though, it may not be enough to give victims confidence in our approach."

Additional reporting by the Press Association.
S cotland Yard today issued an alert to women walking home alone after a series of random violent attacks on victims in south London.

The warning came after three women were assaulted and punched in the face and head in what detectives fear are sexually motivated  incidents.

The attacks took place within a four square mile radius in south London - the first on December 4 last year and the most recent on January 1 on a woman walking home after New Years Eve celebrations.

Police say they are so sudden that victims are not aware of anyone behind them and cannot recall details of the suspects face. In one case a woman was left unconscious on the pavement before being discovered by a passer-by.

Today detectives released CCTV images of a hooded suspect fleeing from a scene and warned women walking late at night to take precautions such as not wearing headphones and being aware of people around them.

Police issued CCTV of a man they wish to speak to / Metropolitan Police

Detective Chief Inspector Zena Marshall, who is leading the inquiry, said : These women were completely unaware of anyone until they were attacked. The attacks take place in a matter of seconds and the suspect targets lone females early in the morning, in one case he followed the woman for four minutes before the attack.

We believe there could be a sexual motive, although there is no evidence of a sexual attack. The motive is not believed to be theft or robbery because the suspect has left items of value at the scene.

DCI Marshall, of Scotland Yards Serious and Complex Case Team, added : The level of violence appears to have escalated each time so I am urging women, in and around the areas affected, to be alert and follow personal safety advice.

I cannot rule out that there may be other offences, which could possibly be linked. If you are a woman who has been approached or assaulted in circumstances that sound similar to these, but have not reported it to the police, then I would urge you to please get in touch with us.

Police issued CCTV of a man they wish to speak to in connection with an attack / Metropolitan Police

She said some women may have been followed but not reported the incident to police and she urged them to come forward.

All the women were walking home alone after a night out in central London, in the latest case a woman was returned from New Years Eve celebrations.

At first all the attacks were investigated separately but police say the suspects actions has led them to being linked.

All the assaults have taken place in the early hours of a weekend or public holiday.

The first incident was on Friday, December 4 in Commercial Way, Peckham between 1.15am and 2.15am when the 31-year-old victim suffered assault injuries.

The second took place on Sunday, December 13 in Hanover Park street in Peckham 6:15am and 6.45am. The 30-year-old victim was knocked unconsciousness and was discovered lying in the street by a passer-by.

The third attack took place on New Years Day in Creekside, Deptford in the early hours when an 18-year-old woman suffered serious injuries to her head and face.

The police advice includes:

Prepare travel arrangements carefully and ensure someone knows where you are going and when you might be home.

Look as assertive as you can, walk with confidence and be aware of your surroundings and who is around you.

Avoid short cuts and dark isolated areas, vary your routine and be discreet handling cash, phones and wearing jewellery in a public place.

Never take your safety for granted and look after your friends so that they dont become vulnerable.

Anyone with information should call 020 8217 6541 or ring Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
A London hospital investigated after a series of maternal deaths has made significant improvements in safety but needs to achieve further progress, the NHS watchdog said today.

Homerton Hospitals maternity department was served with a requirement notice to improve learning from mistakes and continues to be rated overall as requires improvement, said the Care Quality Commission.

Inspectors returned to the hospital, in Hackney, last autumn after criticising it following the deaths of five women between July 2013 and January 2015.

Not all the women had died at the Homerton but the deaths sparked concerns and a whispering campaign by a secretive group, the Unhappy Midwives.

The CQC said safety improvements at the Homerton, which handles about 6,000 births a year, included better cleanliness and infection control as well as training staff to spot deteriorating patients. However, robust checks of babies were still not in place.

Homertons chief executive Tracey Fletcher said: We are moving in the right direction but recognise we still have more work to do. We will continue to make further improvements which benefit our mothers and babies.
T he Government will impose its new contract on junior doctors after talks failed to reach agreement, Jeremy Hunt has said.

In a statement to the Commons the Health Secretary said he felt that with time the contracted would be accepted as a good thing, although he admitted the process had created "considerable dismay" among junior doctors.

Justifying the reasons for the imposition, Mr Hunt said no health secretary could ignore the fact that standards in NHS hospitals are "too low" at weekends and more patients die than during the week.

Mr Hunt told MPs that if just one doctor works one hour over the maximum shift rate, it can trigger a 66 per cent pay rise for all doctors on that rota.

Objections: Junior doctors protest on Westminster bridge between St.Thomas' hospital and Westminster / Andy Rain/EPA

It is unclear whether the British Medical Association (BMA) will now stage further strikes in protest at the new contract.

However, Dr Johann Malawana from the British Medical Association warned junior doctors "cannot and will not accept a contract that is bad for the future of patient care, the profession and the NHS", as he vowed the union would "consider all options open to us".

Mr Hunt also told the Commons there was a "patent unfairness" to the existing contract but progress in reforming it had been "slow".

He said the Government's chief negotiator Sir David Dalton - who was drafted in to broker a deal - had told him a "negotiated solution is not realistically possible" with the BMA.

Mr Hunt added that with the backing of major NHS groups including NHS Employers and NHS England, Sir David "has asked me to end the uncertainty for the service by proceeding with the introduction of a new contract that he and his colleagues consider both safer for patients and reasonable for junior doctors.

Junior doctors on strike

"I have therefore today decided to do that."

Shadow health secretary Heidi Alexander warned that imposing the new contracts on junior doctors will "destroy morale" and bring "chaos".

"Does he not realise that this decision could lead to a protracted period of industrial action that will be distressing for everyone?" she asked.
A n absolutely filthy Chinese takeaway in north-east London has been shut down after mouse droppings and cockroaches were found in its kitchen.

Fu Lam Chinese takeaway in Forest Road, Walthamstow was closed by inspectors after mouse faeces were found on tins of food and inside a cardboard box, which was soaked with the animals urine.

The inspector, who visited the restaurant on February 3, discovered two cockroaches in the kitchen and that the edges of the lino floor in the storeroom had been gnawed by mice.

The takeaway was described as absolutely filthy by the inspector, who added the kitchen was thick with grease.

Dirty tea towels had been hung up to dry on a broom handle, the chefs apron was unclean and scourers were crusted with food debris.

"Absolutely filthy": Holes from burrowing mice were found in the storerooms lino / Waltham Forest Council

The takeaway was closed immediately and the owner of the business, Yee Ting Pang, was served with a Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Notice.

At Stratford Magistrates Court on February 5, a Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Order was granted, allowing the council to keep the takeaway closed until all problems have been addressed.

Councillor Clyde Loakes, cabinet member for environment at Waltham Forest Council, said: It beggars belief that anyone operating a food business could allow mice and cockroaches in their kitchen.

It never fails to amaze me how business owners can simply carry on regardless when there is an obvious need to address these sorts of issues.

They are so blatantly putting the health of their customers at risk and yet seemingly they dont give a damn.

The takeaway will have to carry our deep cleaning, repair the structural damage and address the vermin problem before being allowed to reopen.
A London estate agent tried to sue Lidl over a ruined Sunday morning after the store allegedly caused his mince to spoil by opening an hour late on a hot day.

David Benson, 65, and his wife were left waiting outside the Edgware Lidl branch for an hour due to incorrect times stated on the shops website.

The couple, from Stanmore, had arrived there after a trip to the butchers in June last year to find a sign stuck to the door informing customers the shop would not open until 11am.

But while Mr Benson waited for the store to open, he placed the bag of meat in his car. He said the mince then became spoiled due to the warm weather and had to be binned.

He told the Standard: A handwritten, crude note on the door said the shop would not open until 11am.

A whole crowd of people built up outside waiting for the store to open.

A frustrated Mr Benson decided to lodge a complaint with the supermarkets customer services team.

They offered me a 5 voucher, which was an insult to two peoples ruined Sunday morning, he added.

And for several weeks afterwards, they were still publishing the opening time on the site as 11.

The dissatisfied customer then wrote further letters to Lidls CEO asking for 50 worth of vouchers and a refund for the 12.58 cost of the meat.

Mr Benson said: I sent the same letter twice but received no response. The only way I could reach them was calling them into court. My letter was politely written.

I felt the 5 voucher did not take into account our ruined frame of mind.

The small claims case for the loss of meat was due to be heard at Watford County Court on February 18.

Mr Benson said he has since cancelled the claim after receiving a letter from the judge informing him he was unlikely to succeed.

A Lidl spokesperson said: "The Sunday opening times of our Edgware store changed from 10am to 11am on Sunday 7th June 2015.

"The complaint in question was investigated as soon as our customer service team were made aware, and the customer was offered a voucher as a gesture of goodwill.

"We apologise for any inconvenience caused by the changeover."
A n explorer who made headlines when his father came to his rescue during a disastrous expedition in Iceland says he has defied his critics by finally completing his mission four years later.

Alex Hibbert, 29, from Battersea, has successfully led a team of explorers on a 100-mile mid-winter crossing of the notoriously treacherous Vatnajokull icecap. They claim to be the first UK team to complete the trail in mid-winter, when winds can reach 80mph and temperatures can drop to -30C.

In 2012, Mr Hibbert attempted the same route without success. Aged 25, he and fellow explorer and climber Finn McCann were forced to call rescuers when gales destroyed their tent.

The explorers father, Royal Navy Commodore Richard Hibbert, was on the support team and he requested rescue from coastguards in Reykjavik. Officials then embarked on a five-hour mission.

Mr Hibbert said: The media said I called dad for help, which is not strictly true. Its not as though I called him asking him to pick me up. He was on the support team and so he could contact the right people.

Obviously it made a good headline though. But it was humiliating. I was trying to be professional and prove I could do this properly. But it didnt look like that.

The explorer said he felt he had now rewritten history. It was great to finish something that I had to give up on. It was good to draw a line under it. It was an amazing feeling to finally get over the icecap.

2012 was difficult, it was a disaster. I was young and hadnt really had anything go really wrong during an expedition before. Then the media response was overwhelming. It feels great to have made it back alive and smiling. I feel like I have defied my critics. He added: A lot of people claim that they had crossed this icecap  but in March or April when the conditions are much kinder. I believe we are the first people to do it in winter.

Mr Hibbert, along with fellow explorers James Wheeldon and Brad Jarvis, set off on January 5. They travelled across 94 miles of lavafields, crevassed-glaciers and icecaps. The sun only rose for about six hours a day and it took just over 11 days.

Mr Hibbert said they celebrated with a warm drink. We had to wait for the team to come and pick us up for about four hours. So we made a camp and had a hot chocolate.
T his computer simulation shows what the capital would look like if all of its planned skyscrapers were built.

More than 250 buildings are either under construction or awaiting approval in locations across London.

This computer-generated mock-up, produced by BBC Newsnight, shows how the changes would affect the skylines of areas including Canary Wharf, Battersea and the South Bank.

It comes as London faces a boom in the construction of skyscrapers, with campaigners in some areas mounting fierce battles to prevent new buildings shooting up.

Last month plans for a 72-storey high-rise in Paddington were criticised by one of Britains leading architects Sir Terry Farrell, who described the scheme as opportunistic and piecemeal.

Other major proposals set to redraw London's skyline include One Blackfriars, a 50-storey tower yards from the South Bank where trendy flats will go on sale with a price tag of between 1.15m and 23m.

The "Scalpel" is planned for the City, where it will tower 10 metres above the Gherkin at 190 metres tall. It is set for completion next year.

The Nine Elms redevelopment between Vauxhall and Battersea Power Station is also set to see some large-scale construction work.

There the twin towers of One Nine Elms, which have been approved, will be a significant addition to the skyline in a part of London where buildings are mostly no bigger than a few-storeys high.

Speaking to Newsnight, former City of London chief planning officer Professor Peter Rees said: If youre going to change the skyline of a city its important to consider what the buildings are for.

He added: It would be fine it you were building office towers that people are going to be working in that will boost the economy.

I take great exception to them building piles of safety deposit boxes simply for rich Russians and Chinese to stash their cash.
Syrian children wait in line for food at a refugee camp near the Turkish border, in Azaz, Syria. (Photo: AP)

Geneva: A military offensive by Syrian government and allied forces has cut off 120,000 people in the northern Homs governorate since mid-January, worsening hunger and killing patients unable to get to medical care, a UN report said on Thursday.

"There are reports of increasingly acute shortages of food, basic commodities, medical items and fuel in the area.

With the irregular supply routes used until mid-January now cut off, food items that are still available are now being sold at much higher prices," said the report by the UN humanitarian office. Bread prices are already 10 times higher than in the city of Homs, and unaffordable for most families.

Northern Homs governorate is mostly farming land, but the fields yield little in winter and hunger is expected to spike in the next two weeks, the report said. Basic medical supplies are also in short supply, the report said, noting dialysis patients in rural Homs were unable to access lifesaving treatment and 14 out of 34 cancer patients in the area had reportedly died due to lack of medical care.

Homs governorate is mostly farming land, but the fields yield little in winter and hunger is expected to spike in the next two weeks, the report said. Basic medical supplies are also in short supply, the report said, noting dialysis patients in rural Homs were unable to access lifesaving treatment and 14 out of 34 cancer patients in the area had reportedly died due to lack of medical care.

The last UN aid convoy reached rural northern Homs in October 2015. The UN has been trying to send additional supplies since then, but has been unable to get approval.

The two enclaves are controlled by opposition groups and lie between the cities of Homs and Hama in a pocket of land close to Syria's north-south highway -- which links most of its main cities and the Mediterranean provinces that are the homeland of President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite minority.

There are 90,000 people in one enclave around the towns of Rastan and Talbiseh and a further 30,000 in another around Houla.

The severing of the supply lines has stopped UN food supplies reaching the enclaves, where 12.7% of children and 25% of pregnant women are suffering from moderate acute malnutrition, much higher than the national average of 4.9%, the UN said.

The area has been targeted by airstrikes and shelling since the end of October 2015. There has been no electricity since then, and no pumped drinking water in Rastan and Talbiseh.
E mbattled Scotland Yard chief Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe was today given a one-year extension to his contract as he again refused to apologise to former armed services chief Lord Bramall over the discredited sex abuse inquiry.

Home Secretary Theresa May backed Mayor Boris Johnsons proposal for only a 12-month extension but stopped short of granting the Met chief an extra two years which the Commissioner is believed to have wanted.

The decision was understood to have been made to give the force stability during the forthcoming mayoral elections with Mrs May backing Sir Bernard for his work on reducing crime and leading the Met through major cost savings. His new contract will give him until September 27, 2017.

Questioned on BBC Radio 4s Today programme on why he refused to apologise to Lord Bramall, Sir Bernard said: I cannot really apologise for investigating a serious allegation.

He added: I have expressed regret, and it is genuine regret, if Lord Bramall or his family have been damaged in this investigation.

Speaking before news of the contract was announced, he also declared that he did not want to give away when he was leaving because what happens in your final year is you are dismissed. I have no intention of being dismissed.

Sir Bernard spoke after he announced a judge-led review of how police investigate historical child abuse claims such as the controversial Midland inquiry, which is examining allegations of a VIP paedophile ring in Westminster.

The Met chief has faced furious criticism over a nine-month inquiry into war hero Lord Bramall, 93, which saw more than 20 police officers raid his home. The case against the peer was dropped last month.

In a further move Sir Bernard has called for a change in the policy where detectives investigating historical sex crimes were told to believe alleged victims unconditionally. He said officers should investigate allegations with an open mind rather than follow the current policy of presuming claims to be true.

There have been mounting doubts over the credibility of the key witness Nick, who was at the heart of the allegations of a Westminster child abuse ring, which includes claims that politicians were involved in the murder of three boys.

However, the NSPCC today said it was deeply disturbed by the change in policy which would create a serious bar to victims coming forward.

In a series of heated exchanges with presenter John Humphrys on Today, Sir Bernard said if the review of Operation Midland found the force could have done it better he would acknowledge the criticism.

The findings of the review, to be led by former High Court judge Sir Richard Henriques, will be published later in the year, although the full report will remain confidential.

Sir Bernard added: It may be, of course, that he discovers there are things there that arent in the public domain that affected the way the investigation went forward and that didnt help Lord Bramall but were necessary for the overall investigation.
T he Duke of Cambridge has attended the funeral of polar explorer Henry Worsley, who died after trying to make the first unsupported solo crossing of the Antarctic.

Mr Worsley, 55, was just 30 miles from his goal when he fell ill and had to be airlifted to hospital on Saturday, January 23.

He was flown to hospital in Punta Arenas in Chile where he was found to have bacterial peritonitis and underwent surgery but later died.

While taking part in the expedition, Mr Worsley was raising money for the Endeavour Fund, established by the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.

The charity funds sporting and adventure challenges for wounded and sick servicemen and women.

Since his death, the funds raised have soared to more than 315,000, more than treble his original target of 100,000.

Mr Worsleys funeral was today helped at St Pauls Church in Knightsbridge, with the Duke, who was patron of the adventurers Shackleton Solo Expedition, among the mourners

Prince William had waved off Mr Worsley, a former Army officer, from Kensington Palace in October, ahead of the start of the trek.

He also sent the explorer a Christmas message, telling him how proud everyone was of him.

Following his death, the Duke and Prince Harry pledged to ensure the adventurer's family, which includes his two children, Max, 21, and Alicia, 19, would receive the help they needed.

Exploration: Prince William with Henry Worsley at Kensington Palace before he set off on his solo challenge / John Stillwell/PA Wire

William said at the time of his death: "He was a man who showed great courage and determination and we are incredibly proud to be associated with him.

"Even after retiring from the Army, Henry continued to show selfless commitment to his fellow servicemen and women, by undertaking this extraordinary Shackleton solo expedition on their behalf.

"We have lost a friend, but he will remain a source of inspiration to us all, especially those who will benefit from his support to the Endeavour Fund."

Additional reporting by Press Association.
C ampaigners opposed to a new train station on Chelseas Kings Road have delivered a 10,000-strong petition to Boris Johnson at City Hall.

Plans for a station on the 30 billion north-south Crossrail 2 route have triggered opposition from local residents including actors Felicity Kendal, Cherie Lunghi and Trevor Eve and Made In Chelseas Georgia Toffolo.

Many have said they would prefer to see a station at nearby Imperial Wharf. But some local business leaders believe the Kings Road station is essential to boost the local economy and improve Chelseas transport links.

Chris Lenon, chair of the No Crossrail in Chelsea campaign, said: Our petition demonstrates overwhelming opposition to this 1.2 billion vanity project.

More than half of the respondents to TfLs consultation on the entire Crossrail 2 line opposed a Chelsea station. TFL consulted on a station and the people of London have spoken.

The petition was handed in yesterday, the same day the Mayor called on George Osborne to give the route  from Wimbledon to New Southgate and Tottenham Hale  the green light in next months Budget.
N orth London residents have been sent letters warning a spy has been hired to find out who is feeding the pigeons and causing streets to be splattered with excrement.

Neighbours on the Palmer Estate in Tufnell Park received a letter on Islington council-headed paper this week complaining about the unsightly mess in communal areas alongside Littlefield and Greatfield Close.

The warning note also claimed a professional witness has been hired to keep a lookout for culprits and people who feed the birds could be kicked out of their homes.

Islington council has since said the letter was sent out in error and apologised for upsetting people.

Ryan Ross, 28, of Greatfield Close, said: It struck me the worst part was the idea they were going to use a professional witness, a bit like a spy.

If theyre talking about the cost of cleaning up it seems weird they would pay someone to do that too.

He added: It certainly makes you feel a bit weird to live in an estate where there might be a snoop watching for people feeding birds. Its quite funny really, its almost like a parody."

In the letter, people are warned that pigeon faeces are causing a health hazard and high-cost specialist cleaning is needed to wash them away.

Pigeon detectives: Neighbours got this warning through their letterboxes / Ryan Ross

It stated: Islington are not prepared to allow this kind of behaviour and will take steps to enforce the conditions of tenancy and lease covenant which may severe (sic) consequence including court action and could lead to injunction or the loss of your home.

Islington council have appointed a professional witness to obtain video and hearsay evidence to identify the culprits of this behaviour. No further warnings will be given regarding this issue.

Should anyone witness a resident feeding pigeon (sic) on the estate, please do not hesitate to contact me in order to commence enforcement action.

Mr Ross, who tweeted a photo of the letter, said he thought only a few elderly residents fed the pigeons but the birds were not a big problem.

He said: Its a family estate. A lot of the residents are families and pensioners. It seems bit weird that they went into full force right away without a warning first.

Weve got a grass square in the middle of the estate but you never see pigeons on it, not swarms of them. You end up with a bit of bird poo on your car occasionally but its no worse than anywhere else.

A spokesman for Islington council said: "This letter was sent out in error and is clearly inappropriate. We are looking into how it went out and apologise for any upset.

"We would only ever use a professional witness in instances where we believe serious crimes are happening or suspected, which is clearly not the case here."
T racey Emins proposal to replace a historic Twenties building with a modernist house and studio has been unanimously rejected by planners.

The artist wants to replace a listed three-storey property in Spitalfields with a contemporary five-floor home connected to her studio next door.

Last night, Tower Hamlets planning committee turned down the proposal after objections from residents, campaigners and heritage groups.

Emin, however, had pre-emptively lodged an appeal with the Governments Planning Inspectorate. It is expected to rule on whether to have an inquiry or hearing to decide the application.

Objection: Council planners rejected the proposed home in Bell Lane

Paul Buckenham, development manager at the council, said: Whatever form the appeal takes, officers will vigorously defend the committees decision.

Emin, a former Turner prize nominee, paid 4 million for the studio at Tenter Ground in 2008.

The designs from David Chipperfield Architects for a house next door involved knocking down a building in Bell Lane, which Historic England said illustrates aspects of social history in the East End during the first half of the 20th century.

Save Britains Heritage called the proposed home angular and blank.

Emin, 52, did not attend the committee meeting.
A woman holding a baby were forced to flee a flat fire in south London today.

London Fire Brigade sent three crews to Surrey Street in Croydon just before 10.30am after reports a blaze had broken out at a shop and flats above.

A spokesman said part of the first floor was damaged in the fire and three people left the building before firefighters arrived.

Witnesses said a woman and a baby were among those who left. No-one is thought to have been seriously injured.

Ambulance crews said two adults and two children were treated at the scene before they were taken to Croydon University hospital.

Surrey Street market trader Craig Vince told the Croydon Guardian: I saw her when she came out. She said she had tried to plug in the fridge with a baby in her arm, and it just started sparking.

"She only just moved in last week as well."

Another trader told the paper he overheard the cause of the fire described as an electrical fault.

The alarm was raised by a 12-year-old boy, who lives above the shop.

Councillor Mark Watson, Croydons cabinet member for communities, safety and justice, said: Our market inspector, Fiona Woodcock, was full of praise for the twelve year old son of one of the families who had the presence of mind to call the emergency services and give officers a diagram of the flat when they arrived on the scene.

"He told witnesses that hed learnt about what to do from a talk given at his school by a firefighter from the Croydon station.

"Staff from the neighbouring Virgin Active gym also deserve thanks for helping with the evacuation.

An ambulance spokeswoman said: We were called at 10:35am to Surrey Street to reports of a fire.

"We sent multiple resources including a single responder on a motorcycle, an ambulance crew, an incident response officer and our hazardous area response team to the scene."
T ory mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith has branded Southwark councils destruction of 10 trees on Camberwell Old Cemetery appalling and called on Boris Johnson to intervene.

The cemetery is a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC) and includes two acres of natural woodland, said to be a vital local flooding defence.

Former Labour deputy leader and local MP Harriet Harman has written to the council, which wants to create 700 burial plots over existing graves, urging the tree-felling to cease. She has also asked for an independent drainage engineers report to be commissioned into plans to clear two acres of woods.

Residents on Ryedale Road, below the woods, claim they have been flooded in the past because the cemeterys sloping woodland sits on a layer of clay.

They are concerned that the removal of trees and undergrowth which absorb rainwater will increase flooding. Last week campaigners held a mock funeral for the first 10 mature trees to fall.

Mr Goldsmith, who backs the campaign, has written to the Mayor asking for his intervention.

A Southwark council spokeswoman said: We have all the relevant permissions for the work that is currently under way, which is mainly preparation. This does involve removing some trees but we have pledged to re-plant many more.
C amembert has been hauled off the shelves at three British supermarkets over fears it has been contaminated with Listeria.

Asda, Sainsburys and the Co-op have all withdrawn packets of the French cheese after low levels of the bacteria were discovered.

Listeria can cause foodborne illnesses and is particularly harmful to the elderly and newborn babies. It can also cause pregnant women to miscarry.

Asda has recalled its Extra Special Camembert de Pays, Sainsbury's its Taste the Difference Camembert and the Co-op its Truly Irresistible Camembert as a precaution.

The supermarkets import the camembert from the same manufacturer in France.

The recalls were made public by the Food Standards Agency (FSA), who said: "Listeria monocytogenes is a bacterium that can cause foodborne illness, particularly among vulnerable groups  these are pregnant women, unborn and newborn babies, those over 60 years old and anyone with a weakened immune system.

Listeria can be present in raw milk and can live in foods such as refrigerated pates, smoked seafood, dairy products and deli meats.

Its symptoms include fever, vomiting and weakness.
T wo commuters have been ordered to repay thousands of pounds after being caught out in a compensation fraud.

Steven Martins, 49 and Nicole Phillips, 42 scoured the internet for delayed trains before submitting false compensation claims.

They defrauded rail operator Southern of more than 6,000 before they were caught in what was described as a deliberate scam.

They profited from the rail operator by demanding cash from services they had not travelled on. CCTV was produced to show they weren't near the affected trains.

The pair of Pulborough, West Sussex, pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation at Highbury Magistrates Court following an investigation by British Transport Police.

Caught: The pair submitted claims for delayed services when CCTV showed they were elsewhere at the time / British Transport Police

Martins was sentenced to two-year prison sentence, suspended for a year, and ordered to repay Southern Railway 3,500.

Phillips was handed an 18-month prison sentence, also suspended for a year, and ordered to repay 2,600 in compensation.

Both were given 120 hours unpaid work.

Speaking after the sentencing, PC Michael Stephenson said: This was a carefully-organised and deliberate scam designed to defraud thousands of pounds from the railway industry.

Phillips and Martins researched services that qualified for delay compensation on the internet.

They managed to arouse suspicion after submitting an unusually large number of claims.

CCTV was produced that clearly showed they had already made their journeys into London for work and hadnt been anywhere near the delayed services at the time.

This was an operation designed to defraud the railway of thousands of pounds set aside for passengers who have been genuinely inconvenienced by delays and disruption.

Ultimately it is the travelling public who lose out through increases in fares to cover the cost of bogus claims like these.

We hope this sends a clear message to anyone thinking of abusing the claims system in future.

Stella Morris, from Southern Railway, added: "Govia Thameslink Railway worked hard with British Transport Police to uncover this fraud and will continue to highlight to them those cases where we believe that fraudulent claims are being made."

The case was heard on January 22.
T he family of a British man found dead in a canal in Amsterdam still have "no idea" how he died.

Richard Cole, 30, from Dursley, Gloucestershire, had been travelling from Copenhagen to Assen via the Dutch city.

He went missing after going to bars in the Thorbeckeplein area of Amsterdam last month.

Dutch police discovered his body in the Herengracht canal on February 1 but more than 10 days later his mother Debbie Thornhill said officers had not revealed what caused his death.

She told the Times: "They know what the cause of death is but they still haven't released that information to us.

"We have been assured that they are still investigating. We just don't know. We have no idea.

"It's never going to bring him back but we would just like to know the circumstances. It's been a hard road. There are so many questions with no answer."

She paid tribute to her son as "just a pure joy" as his body was repatriated on Wednesday.

Mr Cole's family, along with police in the Netherlands and Gloucestershire, launched a desperate appeal to trace him after he went missing at about 2am UK time on January 25.

His brother Lee travelled to Amsterdam to visit bars and distribute leaflets as part of the search.
Mass shootings are rare in the kingdom. Saudi Arabia has faced a series of recent attacks by Islamic State militants. (Photo: Google Maps)

Riyadh: A teacher in southern Saudi Arabia opened fire on colleagues on Thursday, killing at least six people and wounding two, state television reported.

The attacker has been arrested, Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman General Mansour Turki said, adding that two people had also been wounded in the assault, which took place in the Aldair Bani Malik governorate in Jizan region.

The brief reports on the state television channel's website and Twitter account did not elaborate or offer a reason for the shooting at an education department building. It quoted an unnamed police spokesman for the information and said the suspected shooter was in custody.

The state-run Saudi Press Agency did not immediately report the shooting.

State TV posted a still photograph that showed ambulances gathered outside the building where the shooting took place in Jazan province.

Mass shootings are rare in the kingdom. Saudi Arabia has faced a series of recent attacks by Islamic State militants.

Saudi Arabia is leading a coalition of countries conducting airstrikes and ground operations in neighboring Yemen in support of the deeply impoverished country's internationally recognised government. It is fighting against Iranian-backed Shiite rebels and supporters of a former president, who control the capital and other parts of the country.

Jazan, on the kingdom's southern border with Yemen, has been targeted by missiles and cross-border fire since Saudi Arabia intervened in the conflict. On Tuesday, authorities said they shot down a ballistic missile targeting the city and that a police officer in the surrounding province was killed in a separate shooting incident.

In October, two people were killed and another two were wounded when a gunman opened fire inside a bank in the city of Jazan.
A London based production company is being prosecuted after actor Harrison Ford was seriously injured during the filming of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

The 73-year-old actor, who plays Han Solo, suffered a broken leg and other injuries in an incident with a heavy hydraulic metal door on the set of the Millennium Falcon.

The incident happened while filming at Pinewood Studios on June 12, 2014.

Mr Ford was airlifted to hospital and then spent almost two months with his leg in plaster, which delayed filming for the seventh film in the Star Wars franchise.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) today told Foodles Production (UK) Ltd  the production company behind the movie  that it will be prosecuted over the incident.

The production company will appear at High Wycombe Magistrates Court on May 12 and will face four charges.

Two charges fall under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, one under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and another under the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.

A spokesman for HSE said: HSE has today informed Foodles Production (UK) Ltd that it will be prosecuted over four alleged breaches of health and safety law.

The charges relate to an incident during filming of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, which left Harrison Ford with serious injuries after he was hit by a heavy hydraulic door.

By law, employers must take reasonable steps to protect workers  this is as true on a film set as a factory floor.

We have investigated thoroughly and believe that we have sufficient evidence to bring the case to court.
A gunman shot dead a one-year-old girl as she lay in her cot at home in a gang-ridden Los Angeles suburb, police said.

Autumn Johnson died on Tuesday after the suspect got out of a car and fired at a converted garage where she lived with her parents in Compton.

Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department said its officers found the infant with a gunshot wound to her head at around 7pm.

Her tearful father was seen carrying the girl from the garage in his arms, the Los Angeles Times reported.

She was taken in a police patrol car to hospital, where she died from her injuries.

According to KTLA-TV, Autumns pregnant mother, Blanches Wandick, said: My innocent baby got shot for nothing. She was sitting, standing in her crib, and out of nowhere, gunshots.

I miss my baby, I love my baby, but shes gone.

Investigators, who believe the motive behind the shooting is gang related, are hunting for two African-American suspects who were travelling in a dark-coloured, four-door sedan car.
T he family of a British grandfather being held in an Iranian prison today urged David Cameron to make his case his number one priority.

Kamal Foroughi, 76, was arrested in 2011 and sentenced to seven years in jail in 2013 for alleged espionage.

His family fear he may die behind bars due to his ailing health.

Mr Foroughi is a dual Iranian national, something the country does not recognise, and British diplomats have been prevented from seeing him.

His family hoped the release of four Americans last month  including Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian  would speed up Mr Foroughis bid for freedom, following the lifting of international sanctions in the wake of a deal on the countrys nuclear programme.

Downing Street said Mr Cameron raised concerns over the dual UK-Iran nationals held in Iranian prisons, pressing for swift progress in their cases earlier this month, two weeks after meeting Iranian president Hassan Rouhani to discuss the case.

Mr Foroughis son Kamran, 40, said the Government needed to increase the pressure on Iran. He said: My daughters saw on TV Jason Rezaians release and return to his family and keep asking why the same hasnt happened to Grandpa Kamal.

Of course we are grateful that during the London meetings David Cameron and Philip Hammond asked Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif for his release. But we all worry that Grandpa Kamal could die any day a lonely old man in Evin Prison. Until he is back home in London, the British government must make this the number one priority in its dealings with Iran.

Another Briton being held is Roya Nobakht, 49, who was jailed for five years in 2013 for making anti-government comments on Facebook. The third Britons identity is unknown.

There has been a thawing in relations between Iran and Britain in recent months. The countries have reopened their respective embassies in one anothers capitals, with Nicholas Hopton, the British charge daffaires for Iran, now resident in Tehran.

Foreign Secretary Mr Hammond also raised Mr Foroughis case during an official visit to Tehran in August.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: We are very concerned for Mr Foroughis health and have raised this with the Iranian authorities on repeated occasions, urging them to provide regular medical assistance and access to a lawyer. The Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary have both raised Mr Foroughis case with Irans President Rouhani and Foreign Minister Zarif.

We will continue to raise it with the Iranian government at every opportunity, seeking Mr Foroughis release on medical grounds.

Amnesty International UKs Kathy Voss said: The UK should be using the diplomatic thaw to urge thorough human rights reform in Iran, including an end to mass use of the death penalty, rampant torture in detention, and systematic discrimination against women.
A riot at an overcrowded prison in Mexico has left 52 prisoners dead and 12 seriously injured.

A governor confirmed the death toll after violence broke out at the Topo Chico prison in Monterrey today.

Prison director Gregoria Salazar told relatives there was fighting in two areas of the prison and that inmates had burned mattresses and a food store.

Relatives have formed large crowds outside the prison and are demanding answers / Daniel Becerril/Reuters

The riot is the latest in a series of deadly disturbances at prisons across the country with inmates from different drug gangs housed inside.

The Nuevo Leon state government said on Twitter the situation has been brought under control.

However, officials gave no details on what happened.

One woman outside the prison said: I want to know that my daughter is okay. She is in the infirmary. There are children in there.

Television images showed relatives of inmates shaking the prison gates and throwing rocks at guards and police as they demanded information.

The deadly riot comes days ahead of a planned visit by the Pope to visit another prison in northern Mexico.

Pope Francis is due to make his visit to the country as pontiff on Friday and was expected to attend a prison in the city of Ciudad Juarez.

In 2014, a human rights report said Topo Chico prison was packed with 25 per cent more criminals than it could hold.
S ix children have died after a crash between a lorry and a school bus in western France.

Part of the truck is said to have come loose and sliced into the side of the minibus, killing the passengers instantly.

Several others were injured in the collision near Rochefort, about 100 miles from Bordeaux, shortly after 7am local time. Eighteen schoolchildren were on the bus.

Jerome Servolle, a police union official in the town, said a gate-like object swung open on the truck, cutting through the school bus at window height.

Deadly collision: Several people were injured / AFP/Getty Images

He said: "The word chaos is not strong enough. This is such a tragedy."

French website France Bleu described the object as "side panel" and said it functioned like "huge blade" as it slashed the side of the bus.

Officials for the Charente-Maritime department used Twitter to confirm the deaths of six people.

Rochefort Mayor Herve Blanche told iTele that the circumstances of the early morning crash are under investigation.

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He also said six children had been killed.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls tweeted to express his "pain and compassion" following the collision.

France's transportation minister and other top government officials are on their way to the scene.

The accident comes a day after two pupils were killed when a bus careered off the road in Montflovin in the east of the country.

This page is being updated
A woman allegedly armed herself with a gun and tried to shoot her stylist in a row over a botched haircut, police said.

Adrian Blanches Swain, 29, reportedly stormed out of the 619 Barber Shop in San Diego, California on Wednesday after getting her hair done.

She is then said to have returned three hours later with the loaded weapon.

Police said the dissatisfied customer pointed the gun at her hairdresser and tried to pull the trigger three times but it jammed.

The gun had bullets but malfunctioned, said Sergeant Ray Battrick, of San Diego police.

Moments later, the hairdresser and another customer wrestled her to the ground, pinning her down until police arrived.

Attempted murder incident log. https://t.co/MrSEYvDZTb  San Diego Police (@SanDiegoPD) February 10, 2016

She was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and taken into custody.

The stylist said Swain ruined her haircut herself by shaving off most of her own hair.

He told Fox5: She messed it up with some straight razors.

She erased everything I did, messed it up with a razor, took it all off, and then she came in and said Look what you did to my hair.

Eight people were in the barber shop at the time of the incident but nobody was injured, CBS8 reported.
A deles record breaking single, Hello, has been accused of normalising sexual harassment.

The University of Oklahomas Gender + Equality Center circulated posters containing the lyric I must have called a thousand times to raise awareness during Stalking Awareness Month.

The lyric is accompanied by the slogan: Even great songs can normalise sexual harassment.

Kathy Moxley, Director of the Gender + Equality Center, told FOX411: The music examples were used to demonstrate how aspects of popular media could be interpreted to normalise unhealthy relationship behaviors."

Students at Univ. of Oklahoma protesting @Adele. Female-on-male harassment an epidemic, but what about obesity? - AP pic.twitter.com/AqivxdTAyH  Asher Pennington (@APenningtonIII) January 26, 2016

But Dan Gainor, VP Business and Culture at Media Research Center, branded the posters ridiculous and told FOX411 that they undermine the true horrifying nature of stalking and sexual harassment.

Gainor blasted those distributing the posters as idiots who are failing to help women.

The centre has also used Maroon 5s song Animals for a poster, using the lyrics: "Baby, I'm preying on you tonight. Hunt you down eat you alive.

James Corden Carpool Karaoke with Adele.mp4

Standard Online has contacted a representative for Adele for comment.

Adele releases Hello 1 /6 Adele releases Hello Big moment Adele on the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show with Nick Grimshaw for the broadcast of the world premiere of her new single, Hello Mark Allan/BBC Having a listen Adele is all smiles as the world is introduced to Hello from her third album 25 Mark Allan/BBC Heading for number one? The singer said she was relieved following the track's first play Mark Allan/BBC Proud friend Adele with BBC Radio 1 Breakfast presenter Nick Grimshaw as she released her single Hello @R1Breakfast/BBC/PA Busy promoting Adele leaving BBC Radio 2 Studios after having a chat with Chris Evans Beretta/Sims/Rex

Follow @StandardShowbiz for more entertainment news.
D eadpool actor T.J. Miller has criticised the way Ricky Gervais mocked Hollywood during his stint as Golden Globes host.

Miller, 34, said the industry should not be mocked for making films that are important to people.

Speaking during a SiriusXM radio interview, he said: "Culturally America is at the forefront and our media is globally influential and these award shows, although we can make fun of them for being empty and ridiculous, we also should say that these people worked their whole lives to make content and make movies and television that are important to people.

You dont have to be like Hollywood sucks and you all are whining babies. Everyone knows that. You dont have to keep telling people that over and over.

Golden Globes 2016 1 /46 Golden Globes 2016 Kate Winslet Kate Winslet poses in the press room with the award for best performance by an actress in a supporting role in a motion picture for iSteve Jobsi at the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards Double act Presenters Amy Schumer and Jennifer Lawrence speak onstage during the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards Paul Drinkwater/NBCUniversal via Getty Images Brie Larson Brie Larson poses in the press room with the award for best actress in a motion picture - drama for iRoomi at the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Veep losers Julia Louis-Dreyfus tweets out a 'This is us' tribute to Veep at the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards @OfficialJLD Bear with a sore head Presenters Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum onstage during the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards Paul Drinkwater/NBCUniversal via Getty Images Best Actor Leonardo DiCaprio accepts the award for best actor in a motion picture drama for his role in "The Revenant" during the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards Paul Drinkwater/NBC via AP Matt Damon Matt Damon poses in the press room with the award for best performance by an actor in a motion picture - musical or comedy for 'The Martian' Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Eva Longoria Eva Longoria arrives at the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Sylvester Stallone & Co Sylvester Stallone, second from right, poses in the press room with the award for best performance by an actor in a supporting role in a motion picture for 'Creed' with Sophia Stallone, Scarlet Stallone, and Sistine Stallone at the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Best Actress in a TV Drama Taraji P. Henson poses in the press room with the award for best performance by an actress in a TV series - drama for 'Empire' at the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Brie Larson Brie Larson arrives at the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lopez arrives at the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Kate Winslet Kate Winslet arrives at the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Jennifer Lawrence Jennifer Lawrence arrives at the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards Invision/AP Joanne Froggatt Joanne Froggatt arrives at the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Jason Statham Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, left, and Jason Statham arrive at the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Eddie Redmayne Eddie Redmayne arrives at the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Julianne Moore Julianne Moore arrives at the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Awkward Leonardo DiCaprio winces as Lady Gaga brushes past him to collect her Golden Globe Award ABC Lady Gaga and Taylor Kinney Lady Gaga, left, kisses Taylor Kinney as they arrive at the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Ricky Gervais and Jane Fallon Ricky Gervais, left, and Jane Fallon arrive at the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards /Invision/AP Alicia Vikander Alicia Vikander arrives at the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Natalie Dormer arrives at the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Kirsten Dunst Kirsten Dunst arrives at the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Saoirse Ronan Saoirse Ronan arrives at the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Kate Bosworth Kate Bosworth arrives at the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Taraji P. Henson Taraji P. Henson arrives at the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Rooney Mara Rooney Mara arrives at the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Cate Blanchett Cate Blanchett arrives at the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Rachel McAdams arrives at the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Amy Adams Amy Adams arrives at the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart Harrison Ford, left, and Calista Flockhart arrive at the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards Invision/AP Toast to the host Ricky Gervais, left, and Mel Gibson appear on stage at the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel AP

He added: "So let's celebrate them. It's OK for us all to get drunk and congratulate each other. Like, let it go. So f**k you Ricky Gervais."

Millers comments come weeks after he poked fun at Gervais while hosting the Critics Choice Awards. Referencing the comedians Mel Gibson roasting, he quipped: How abrasive do you have to be to make fun of Mel Gibson?

Explaining the remark, Miller took aim at Gervais' film career.

I made the joke about how awful of a person do you have to be to make us all feel bad for Mel Gibson," he said. Like that is so real. But I love the idea that nobody makes fun of him. Because what was he in? Mel Gibson was in Lethal Weapon. I know hes f****d it up but, dont get down on him. Hes a great American actor from the lexicon of American Cinema.

And then Ricky Gervais (pronouncing it Gervay and sometimes Ger-vay-ees) was in Ghost Town. Yeah, really, go ahead and laugh. The only thing funny about it was that he was in it. And Ghost Town was less a movie and more a description of the theatres in which it played.
H ugh Grant put on a dapper display as he stepped out for the British Heart Foundation's Roll Out The Red ball.

Grant, 55, looked every inch a gentleman as he posed for photographers in a black suit and bow tie on the red carpet at The Savoy, London.

He joined a host of stars who stepped out to support the charity, including ambassador Pippa Middleton who showed her support by teaming her white dress with a red heart shape clutch.

Middleton  who recently returned from competing in a Swiss ski challenge  took to the stage to open the event. She has also donated a silk tea dress and matching cashmere scarf which she created in collaboration with designer Tabitha Webb.

The items will be auctioned off alongside a sleeveless coat from The Saturdays Mollie King, a Valentines weekend away at Downton Abbeys Highclere Castle and a date with Made in Chelseas, Ollie Locke to raise funds for the charity.

The annual event was hosted by Natasha Kaplinsky and Lord Jeffrey Archer to raise funds for groundbreaking research.

Other stars at the event included Blake, Ollie Proudlock and his girlfriend as well as TOWIE star Jessica Wright who made sure to stick to the colour scheme in a red lace dress.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj led an all-party delegation here yesterday to pay homage to Koirala saying India had lost a true friend (Photo: PTI)

Kathmandu: Thousands of mourners thronged the funeral venue as Sushil Koirala was cremated here on Wednesday with full state honours, a day after the death of the former Nepal prime minister who was instrumental in ushering in the country's new Constitution last year.

Koirala's nephews Atul Koirala and Sudhanshu Koirala lit the funeral pyre at the Pashupati Aryaghat.

A Nepal Police contingent formed a guard of honour as the pyre was lit. Nepal Army soldiers also performed a 13-cannon salute in his honour.

The body was kept at the Dasharath Stadium for final tributes before it was taken to Aryaghat for the last rites.

Thousands of supporters of Koirala's Nepali Congress and general public gathered at the funeral venue to pay homage to the former premier.

Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli, acting NC president Ram Chandra Paudel, senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba, Speaker Onsari Gharti Magar, former prime ministers Madhav Kumar Nepal, Jhala Nath Khanal, Prachanda and leaders of other parties were also present during the last rites.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj led an all-party delegation here yesterday to pay homage to Koirala saying India had lost a "true friend".

The high-level delegation comprising Congress leader Anand Sharma, JD(U) President Sharad Yadav, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, paid their last respects to Koirala.

79-year-old Koirala had died of cardiac arrest in the wee hours of yesterday after suffering from pneumonia.

He served as Nepal's 37th prime minister from February, 2014 to October, 2015. He was elected as Nepali Congress president in September, 2010.

After assuming office, Koirala was tasked with formulating the long-delayed Constitution to bring stability to the nation after years of ethnic conflict and abolition of the 239-year-old monarchy.

He was credited with promulgating the country's new Constitution that completed a stalled peace process.

Plans to cremate Koirala at a newly-launched electric crematorium were cancelled after his family expressed a wish to cremate him on a traditional Hindu funeral pyre.

The Nepal government has declared a public holiday today to mourn the death of Koirala.
Karachi: Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf on Thursday said ISI trains LeT and Jaish militants and terror attacks in India will not stop until New Delhi addresses the "core" issue of Kashmir.



"Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) trains Jaish-e- Mohammad (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists," said Musharraf.



"Pakistan army is not training civilians. Intelligence organisation on our side as well as on your side is involved," he said in an interview to a television channel.



When asked if he sees any progress in the Indo-Pak peace process, Musharraf said, "Everything will stop if you address the core issue. The unfortunate terrorists acts and the militancy will continue unless we address the core issue. That is what you don't want to do," he said.



"Kashmir continues to arouse sentiments in Pakistan," the 72-year-old former president said as he defended terrorist activities in India.



"Anyone who is fighting in Kashmir is a freedom fighter," he said.



"I don't think we will move forward on the core issue.



You don't want. You want to bulldoze us, you want to bully us and you want to dominate us. You only want to talk about issues concern you like terrorism, Mumbai and Pathankot. So I don't feel, core issues are moving forward," he said when asked to comment on Foreign Secretary-level talks that were postponed after Pathankot attack.



Speaking on Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley, who is currently deposing before a Mumbai court in connection with the 26/11 attack case, Musharraf said, "I don't believe anything that Headley had said... Pakistan intelligence should interrogate Headley."



When asked about JeM chief Mesood Azhar, who was involved in two attacks against Musharraf himself, the former military general said, "Anyone who is doing any other act in Pakistan like, I know that he attacks me, is a terrorist certainly. Therefore I call him a terrorist."



"LeT and Hafiz Saeed are not involved in terror activities in Pakistan," he said.



He said India derailed peace process every time and wants to discuss only terrorism.



"You create hysteria in your country against Pakistan. Whenever we try to speak. You want to bulldoze us to whatever is your point of view.



He also accused India's intelligence agency RAW for carrying out attacks in Pakistan from Afghanistan.
The diamond was handed to Queen Victoria in 1850. The 105.6 carat stone adorns a crown that was last worn in 1953 by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother at the coronation of her daughter. (Photo: AP)

Lahore: A court on Thursday gave two weeks' time to a petitioner to inform it under which law Pakistan could seek return of the famed Koh-i-Noor diamond from Britain that India has been trying to get from the UK for years.

Petitioner Barrister Javed Iqbal Jaffrey told the Lahore High Court that Koh-i-Noor diamond was "Pakistan asset" as it is in "illegal possession" of Britain.

"The British government had refused to hand over the diamond to India. Now Pakistan should lay claim on it as it is first entitled to have it. It is the Pakistani government's duty to bring it back," he said.

During the hearing of the case, Lahore High Court Justice Khalid Mahmood Khan asked the petitioner to give reference of the law under which the Pakistani government could seek the return of the diamond from the British government.

The court is hearing the maintainability of the case. It directed the federal and Punjab law officers to appear on next hearing on February 25 and give arguments about its maintainability.

Last December, the LHC Registrar office had objected to the maintainability of the petition, saying the court had no jurisdiction to hear this case against the British Queen.

However, on February 8, the LHC overruled the objection and admitted the petition for hearing. The British Queen, the British High Commission in Pakistan and the Pakistani government have been made respondents in the case.

Jaffery said the British had snatched the diamond from Daleep Singh, grandson of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh and took to the UK.

"The diamond became part of the crown of incumbent Queen Elizabeth-II at the time of her crowing in 1953. Queen Elizabeth has no right on the Koh-i-Noor diamond, which weighs 105 carats and worth billions of rupees," he said, adding Koh-I-Noor diamond was cultural heritage of Punjab province and its citizens owned it.

Reportedly, in 1849, after the conquest of the Punjab by the British forces, the properties of the Sikh Empire were confiscated.

The Koh-i-Noor was transferred to the treasury of the British East India Company in Lahore. The properties of the Sikh Empire were taken as war compensations. Even one line of the Treaty of Lahore was dedicated to the fate of the Koh-i-Noor.

The diamond was shipped to Britain on a ship where cholera broke out and supposedly the keeper of the diamond lost it for some days and it was returned to him by his servant.

The diamond was handed to Queen Victoria in 1850. The 105.6 carat stone adorns a crown that was last worn in 1953 by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother at the coronation of her daughter.

Originating in the Golconda mines of central-southern India, it passed through the hands of conquering Mughal princes, Iranian warriors, Afghan rulers and Punjabi Maharajas before being surrendered by a young Sikh prince to Britain following the conquest of Punjab in 1849.

"Mountain of Light", is a literal translation of Koh-i-Noor. It was re-cut from its original 189 carats in 1852 and currently it is on display in the Tower of London along with other precious ornaments that comprise Britain's crown jewels.

India has made regular requests for the jewel's return, saying the diamond is an integral part of the country's history and culture.

India says that Koh-i-Noor was illegally acquired and demands that it should be returned along with other treasures looted during colonial rule.

The Koh-i-Noor was mined in medieval times in the Kollur mine in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur district. The diamond was originally owned by the Kakatiya Dynasty, which had installed it in a temple of a Hindu goddess as her eye.

When Queen Elizabeth II made a state visit to India marking the 50th anniversary of independence in 1997, many Indians in India and Britain demanded the return of the diamond.

Britain has, however, consistently rejected India's claims on the gem and during a visit to India in 2010, British Prime Minister David Cameron had said in an interview on Indian television: "What tends to happen with these questions is that if you say yes to one, then you would suddenly find the British Museum empty."
Karachi: Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf was on Thursday rushed to the ICU of a naval hospital after he developed high blood pressure and fainted.

The 72-year-old ex-commando-turned-politician was admitted to the Pakistan Navy Ship Shifa or PNS Shifa, a multi-speciality naval medical treatment facility.

Sources said Musharraf was sitting with family at his home in Karachi where he lives with his daughter to seek medical treatment for a spinal condition when he fainted.

He was rushed to the hospital amid tight security and his situation is being monitored. His personal physicians have also been called to the hospital.

However, Aasia Ishaq of his All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) party said there was "nothing serious" about Musharraf's condition.

"There is nothing serious with him as it was only high blood pressure. He is getting treatment in hospital," Ishaq said.

Last month, Musharraf was acquitted by an anti-terrorism court in the 2006 murder case of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, the first major relief to the ex-military ruler entangled in several high-profile cases.

He came to power in a bloodless coup in 1999, deposing then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Facing impeachment following elections in 2008, Musharraf resigned as president and went into self-imposed exile in Dubai.

The ex-army chief is facing a slew of court cases after returning from five years of self-exile in Dubai to contest the general elections in 2013 which he lost.

He is also facing trial in high treason case for abrogating the constitution in 2007 and illegal detention of judges same year. In January, 2014, Musharraf suffered a "severe heart attack" on his way to a special court to face the high treason charges following which he was admitted to an army hospital.

Musharraf has also been charged in connection with the 2007 assassination of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and the killing of a radical cleric in Islamabad in a military crackdown.

A Pakistani court has banned his foreign travels and he was also forced to limit his political activities.
On Thursday, Feb. 11, Hillary for Nebraska will host an office opening at its organizing headquarters in Omaha. In addition, Hillary for Nebraska organizers, supporters, and volunteers in communities across the Cornhusker State will show their support for Hillary Clinton by holding organizing events and debate watch parties. At these events, organizers and supporters will gather to talk about how important it is to caucus for Hillary early by absentee or in-person at the upcoming March 5 Nebraska caucus.
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India is nervous about losing influence over the island nation off its southern tip. (Photo: AFP)

Colombo: Just over a year after a new leader was elected and Sri Lanka's business ties with China came under close scrutiny, Colombo is reversing course by resuming a stalled port project and naming Beijing as the front runner for a new special economic zone.

India is nervous about losing influence over the island nation off its southern tip, while China's push into the Indian Ocean, and the possibility of dual purpose civilian-military facilities in Sri Lanka, are raising alarm further afield.

The ouster of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who steered Sri Lanka towards China until 2015, was a setback for ties, as his successor reviewed projects to check if they were fair and legal.

Now Maithripala Sirisena's government, faced with falling foreign reserves, a balance of payments crunch and few, if any, alternative investors, is heading back into Beijing's embrace, albeit on better terms than before.

"The stance on China has completely changed," cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said. "Who else is going to bring us money, given tight conditions in the West?"

Most of the focus has been on the $1.4 billion port city China wants to build in the commercial capital, Colombo, where cranes and diggers have sat idle for months.

But according to international trade minister Malik Samarawickrama, Chinese investors have also expressed interest in a special economic zone (SEZ) in Hambantota, southern Sri Lanka, where a $1.7 billion seaport and airport built by the Chinese are operating at a fraction of capacity.

"We will agree to that. They will invest their own money. That's the way to go forward," Samarawickrama said.

India "not concerned"

Beijing's rehabilitation does not mean the door is closed to other potential investors in Sri Lanka's $79 billion economy.

Indian foreign minister Sushma Swaraj held talks with Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe for an SEZ in Trincomalee last week, according to an Indian official.

And New Delhi said it was not unduly worried by China's return to pole position in talks with Colombo.

"The relationship between India and Sri Lanka is robust, is getting stronger," said Renu Pall, joint secretary in the Indian foreign ministry in charge of the Indian Ocean region.

But so far, only Beijing had come up with specific proposals for a trade zone, an official at Sri Lanka's Board of Investment said.

Beijing has already pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into roads and ports since the end of Sri Lanka's civil war in 2009, when Colombo was largely shunned by Western investors over its human rights record.

China's interest is seen as part of its ambitions to build a "Maritime Silk Route" to the oil-rich Middle East and on to Europe.

That makes some countries, including India and the United States, nervous, with Sri Lanka sitting near shipping lanes through which much of the world's trade passes on its way to China and Japan.

Western diplomats have expressed particular concern over Hambantota, located in Rajapaksa's stronghold on the southern tip of the country, because they say it could have both civil and military use.

Sri Lanka's government says such fears are misplaced and that it plays host to a far higher number of ship visits by other foreign navies, including India's.

Improving terms of deals

The SEZ in Hambantota is the biggest of four proposals made by the Chinese to Sri Lanka's Board of Investment, the official there said. He did not provide details about others.

The SEZ is one of 45 projects the government plans to help lift growth at a time when public finances have deteriorated and Colombo is seeking an emergency IMF loan to avert a balance-of-payments problem.

Trade minister Samarawickrama said the government decided to go ahead with the Colombo port city project after proposing to the Chinese to reduce the land area and limit the environmental impact.

Already, the suspension of work has cost $380,000 a day overall, according to state-owned China Communications Construction Co Ltd (CCCC), which is financing the project.

"During negotiations, the new Sri Lankan government understood the reality and also the fact that they were legally bound by the contract," said an official at CHEC Port City Colombo (Pvt) Ltd, the local company handling the project.

Sri Lanka and the Chinese government also discussed loan terms, which critics said were too onerous on the host country, finance minister Ravi Karunanayake said.
According to Andemos, sales of cars in Colombia in the first month of the year totaled 16,763 units, down from 21,261 units sold in the same period of the year prior. When compared to December 2015 figures, the decline was 43.3 percent.
According to market sources, demand for Turkish merchant bar in the export market is still slack, not having recorded any recovery over the past week, while prices have remained stable. Accordingly, Turkish steel producers merchant bar export prices are still at $350-390/mt FOB.
Los Angeles, known as the homeless capital of the US, has passed a $1.87bn (1.29bn) plan to help get an estimated 40,000 people off the streets.



City authorities hope to expand homeless shelters and build quality housing over the next 10 years.



It is "the most serious humanitarian crisis confronting our county today," city official Sachi Hamai said.



LA declared a state of public emergency last year as the number of homeless people soared by 12.4% in two years.



Residents and officials say a mixture of unemployment, drugs and rising rents and house prices are to blame for the growing problem.



As many as 40,000 homeless people are predicted to be living in the whole of Los Angeles county, two-thirds of which either live in the street, in tents or in cars.



-~-
Social Democrat Party Chairman Liviu Dragnea defends a bill on human dignity and tolerance, widely challenged recently across the press and social media as 'defamation law'; according to him, it was dubbed so to make it look negative.

"It's not the 'defamation law,' I insist because it's important. This appellation has been repeatedly promoted, which is not the actual name of the [draft] law, to try suggesting it's a negative law. No; it's a profoundly positive law, with a positive approach. All the critics, probably made in good faith by 95 percent of those who reacted to it, were generated by some provisions in the original form of the bill; they were removed by amendments I proposed, because the spirit and the goal of this law is entirely different. Attacking the politicians is permitted," Dragnea told Romania TV on Wednesday night.He admitted a hesitation on the amendments in the Legal Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, namely failing to upload its report on the Parliaments website a day earlier, with the amendments, and to send it to the deputies. "There's no longer any provision that might even question the freedom of speech, not on social networks, not in the media, either. (...) I take the responsibility for the Chamber of Deputies who did not posted these modifications on its website; whoever reads them carefully will note that the concerns are no longer justified by the bill," he stressed.The novelty of the bill, according to Dragnea, is the promotion of human spirit and dignity through tolerance in education.The Legal Committee issued a positive advice on the bill on Tuesday, with an amendment on fines ranging from 1,000 to 30,000 lei (1 leu = approximately 0.22 euros) for discriminations against individuals and from 2,000 to 100,000 lei for discriminations against social groups.The Senate already passed the bill; the Chamber of Deputies has the final say on it. AGERPRES
There was a Michael Moore film called Bowling for Columbine. The film after awhile got off on a tangent where Moore went back to his hometown of Flint, and bemoaned that the State of Michigan had a similar program where welfare recipients were made to work. Moore interviewed people riding the before dawn bus in the dark riding 50 miles to some suburban shopping mall. The Flint workers were black and the suburban shopping mall was mostly white in a upper middle class area.



Moore thought it was wrong that (I guess) single mothers had to do this program, and had a high level police officer to agree with Moore. I am not sure if I agree, why not use birth control? Birth control is easy, inexpensive and cost effective.



The place that the woman with the child had to work was a chain of places owned by Dick Clark. Moore found it horrible that this poor black woman should be taken from her child (or children) to work in a billionaire's restaurant. Later, Moore found Dick Clark getting into a van, and after Clark went "Huh? Who are you?" slammed the sliding door in Moore's face and drove off. Now, I would have went insane listening to Bee Bop, Beaver Cleaver tunes eight hours a day learning Spanish from the Mexican cooking line, but that is me. The woman could be working in a slaughterhouse knocking cows in the head with a sledgehammer.



I have never been to Maine and would love to see it. I would love to live there if it were not so frightfully cold five months out of the year. I think the people would be provincial too, I don't think many outside companies move to Maine, and people either live generations in Maine or move away and never ever come home.
Label Insight, which has assembled a database of nutrition information from food labels, has raised $10 million in capital from KPMG and other investors.

Label Insight, formerly known as Food Essentials, moved to St. Louis from Chicago after winning a $50,000 Arch Grant in 2012, but since has moved its headquarters back to Chicago. It still has an office in St. Louis, where it also was supported by Capital Innovators and Cultivation Capital.

KPMG, the international accounting firm, said it would offer Label Insight's technology to food and beverage clients. Anton Xavier, Label Insight's chief executive, said in a statement that the connection "will help accelerate our expansion into new markets."

Label Insight says its software shows 15,000 attributes, such as nutrients and allergens, for more than 300,000 food products. The company has raised a total of $14 million in capital.
CHICAGO  Bunge Ltd. expects a challenging year in 2016 due to slumping U.S. farm exports and processing margins, Chief Executive Officer Soren Schroder said Thursday, as the global grain trader reported a lower-than-expected quarterly profit.

Shares fell by more than 18 percent on Thursday. Bunge came under pressure after the company joined Archer Daniels Midland Co. and Cargill Inc. in detailing the pain from sluggish U.S. exports. Both recently reported weak results.

Demand for U.S. grain has declined as strength in the U.S. dollar and massive global supplies have increased competition for business from South America and other parts of the world. U.S. farmers have put crops into storage, rather than selling them to trading houses, as they wait for prices to rebound.

The United States is a big challenge for the next couple of quarters, Schroder told analysts on a conference call.

Instead, Bunge will be banking on profits from exports and processing operations in South America to benefit the company.

Bunge is a major player in Brazil and Argentina, which increased grain shipments after new President Mauricio Macri eliminated taxes on corn, wheat and soy exports.

Northern Hemisphere oilseed processing margins and grain exports will be pressured until markets adjust to the increased level of global supplies, Schroder said.

Historically, large crops have benefited agricultural traders and processors by providing more grain for them to transport, store and sell. However, Bunge said slow selling by farmers and the weak export demand hurt its U.S. operations.

Agribusiness, the companys largest unit, will probably start the year slow, with results weighted toward the second half of the year, said Drew Burke, chief financial officer.

Fourth-quarter net income available to shareholders was $188 million, or $1.30 per share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $62 million, or 43 cents per share.

Excluding discontinued operations and other charges, earnings rose to $1.49 per share from $1.12. Analysts on average expected $1.56, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue dropped to $11.13 billion from $13.23 billion.

Last week, ADM reported a lower quarterly profit and cautioned that tough market conditions could persist in the year ahead. Cargill said last month that earnings and revenue were down for the quarter ended Nov. 30.

Bunge shares fell by $10.64, or 18.2 percent, to close Thursday at $47.79. Prior to Thursdays slide, the stock price was down 36 percent from a year ago. ADM shares had lost 30 percent over that same period.

Bunge North America, Bunge Ltd.s North American operating arm, is based in Maryland Heights.
DALLAS  Southwest Airlines announced a record employee profit share of $620 million for 2015 on Thursday, equivalent to about eight weeks of pay for each eligible employee.

The profit sharing, which is added to employee retirement plans, is equal to 15.6 percent of each employees eligible compensation. The amount will be funded on April 29 and brings the companys cumulative profit share over the last five years to $1.4 billion.

The announcement comes on the heels of a record year of profits for Dallas-based Southwest, which saw the company post $2.2 billion in net income in 2015, driven in large part by massive savings on jet fuel costs as oil prices have plunged.

It also comes at a time when the companys retirement compensation is being debated as part of ongoing labor negotiations with pilots that have stretched for nearly four years.

Southwest was the first in the industry to offer profit sharing with pilots, tying their fortunes to the broader trajectory of the company. In return, the company offered a smaller maximum retirement contribution than competitors while also requiring pilots to make matching contributions.

Over time, other companies incorporated different types of profit sharing but not the required retirement match for pilots.

For Southwest pilots, the company matches employee retirement contributions dollar for dollar up to a maximum of 9.3 percent. A tentative contract rejected by pilots last fall would have raised the companys maximum matching contribution up to 10 percent of compensation.

Thursdays announcement means that pilots who make the full match will see a 24.9 percent employer contribution to their retirement this year, well above the 16 percent guaranteed at American and United.

But Southwests profit share contribution has fluctuated in recent years, reaching a recession-driven low of 1.3 percent in 2009 and more recently 3.5 percent in 2012, meaning pilots banked less for retirement than their peers in those years.
JEFFERSON CITY  The Missouri House this week was primed to send a bill to the Senate that would change the state's status as the only state without a prescription drug monitoring program.

But the bill has attracted mixed reviews from Republicans concerned about privacy, and the GOP sponsor of the proposal is fending off opposition within her own party.

Under Rep. Holly Rehder's bill, the state Department of Health and Senior Services would start collecting data on patient painkillers prescriptions. Prescription drug monitoring programs, or PDMPs, are designed to help prevent "doctor shopping"  when patients visit multiple doctors seeking multiple painkiller prescriptions to sell or fuel their own addictions.

Opioid painkillers such as Vicodin or OxyContin are in the same class of drugs as heroin. While they're effective at treating pain, they're also addictive  and the amount of prescription painkillers dispensed in the United States has quadrupled since 1999, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. The agency says a shift in doctor prescribing behaviors is partially to blame.

The 163-member House has passed Rehder's bill with an overwhelming majority the last two years with 107 yes votes last session and 112 the year before. It takes 82 votes to move bills forward.

But Rehder said there is an new lobbying campaign this year against the bill by the conservative nonprofit Missouri Alliance for Freedom. Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City, is also opposed and has been trying to line up opposition, Rehder said.

She is trying to corral as much support as possible before it's debated. The Senate could be an even tougher sell, where similar proposals have been filibustered in the past.

"We've had quite a few members drop off from our 107 (votes) that it passed with last year," Rehder said Thursday. "And so we're going to wait a few days ... and try to work through some concerns that those members have before we bring it to the floor. I'm hopeful that that will only be a few days lag time."

Barnes said one of his concerns is with the way the data will be collected.

"Dragnets are un-American," Barnes said. "The PDMP proposal would track private medical information of innocent Missourians without their consent. There's no reason an innocent person should have their activity tracked, especially when it regards medical information."

But Rehder said that state already tracks sales of pseudoephedrine, cold medicine that can be used to make meth. In addition, Rehder said "more invasive" medical records are already stored with the state through Missouri HealthNet, which administers health services for low-income and vulnerable Missourians.

This is no different than our electronic medical records, Rehder said in an interview, and if you werent standing on your head saying the sky is falling when those went into place, which are much more invasive, you dont need to be doing that now.

Rehder said her bill weaves in other protections. No governmental agency could bar someone from having or obtaining a concealed carry permit based on prescription histories. It would be a felony to wrongfully disclose any information from the database. And Rehder said medical records also require greater encryption to prevent hacks.

Even so, Barnes said that in many of the 49 states where PDMPs are in effect, they "haven't worked as advertised."

"An addict is going to get their fix whether their purchases are being tracked or not," Barnes said. "How are they going to get their fix? Well, if they don't get pain pills, they're going to get heroin."

Rehder said that having the information brings problems out into the open.

"If they've gotten five prescriptions in the last month, the physician can say 'look, we need to address your addiction,'" Rehder said. "Those are conversations that need to happen on the front end, not after the addiction has progressed so much that their children have been taken away or they've been arrested."

Republican Rep. Ron Hicks of St. Peters said he understands concerns about a database, but said that pharmacists in his district say the state needs a PDMP.

"There's going to be some push back," Hicks said. "I think there's going to be a good debate on the House floor, and that's what I'm waiting for, to tell you the truth. I will make an absolute final decision when it's on the House floor, but right now I'm a 'yes.'"

The bill needs 82 votes to move onto the Senate. Republicans control 117 seats. Rep. Jacob Hummel, D-St. Louis and minority floor leader, said Democrats have locked in support.

Meanwhile, Missouri, like the rest of the country, is grappling with what politicians and medical professionals have called an opioid "crisis" or "epidemic." In Missouri, hospital treatment due to opioid painkillers has increased 137 percent over the last decade, according to a recent study by the Missouri Hospital Association.

Rehder's bill is House Bill 1892.
EDWARDSVILLE  A Florissant man charged with taking a baby Jesus figurine from a nativity scene at an Edwardsville church last month has worked out a deal with Madison County prosecutors to pay for his misdeeds.

Matthew J. Fellhauer, 25, had been charged with misdemeanor theft and criminal damage to property in the incident.

Fellhauer met with church leaders at St. Boniface Church and agreed to pay restitution for repairs to the statue, which was damaged during the theft. He also agreed to place the statue in the manger at the church on Christmas Eve this year.

Fellhauer was facing fines, probation and up to a year in jail on the misdemeanor charges, according to officials. The charges were dismissed as part of the agreement.

The saga began when Fellhauer was visiting friends in Edwardsville when he took the figurine from St. Boniface Catholic Church at 110 North Buchanan Street. It was reported missing on Jan. 4. The figurine was found on the grounds of the watershed Nature Center in Edwardsville. It was returned to the church by a visitor. One of the arms on the figurine had been damaged.
Gov. Jay Nixon said Wednesday that legislators who have threatened to cut funding to the University of Missouri after recent upheaval on campus are just grandstanding, as lawmakers often do.

Nixon, speaking to the Post-Dispatch Editorial Board, said it would be very wrong for legislators to cut funding to such an important state asset.

He said the length of the legislative session gives lawmakers too much free time to spout off.

Youre not going to stop the Legislature from getting up and saying stuff. Thats what they do, Nixon said. Its just a question of what effect it will have. And I dont think it will have a tremendous effect.

In an hourlong interview, Nixon touched on several topics, saying his last 300-plus days in office are going to be a sprint rather than a slow lap.

He spent much of his time reflecting on his record since taking office seven years ago, including ethics reform and placing restrictions on lobbyists.

He touted the states 4.4 percent unemployment rate  lower than the national 4.9 percent rate  and the lowest in Missouri in more than a decade.

On his fiscal record, Nixon emphasized balancing the states budget every year hes been in office and keeping Missouris AAA credit rating intact.

Nixon talked up his work in the social services, particularly that 100,000 more children have health insurance now than when he took office.

He also focused on mental health. Hes proposing $200 million more in mental health funding. He said Missouri needs resources for everyone, from a child with autism to an adult with schizophrenia.

He said he got serious after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in December 2012. While a lot of attention was focused on the availability of guns, Missouri focused on the mental health aspect of the problem, he said.

Nixon called the gun issue in Missouri settled: Everyone has one.

On education, he spoke of more funding for K-12, improving the high school graduation rate to among the top 10 in the nation, expanding scholarships and holding down tuition.

A House committee on Wednesday cut a $26.8 million increase recommended by Nixon for performance funding for the University of Missouri. The money was to help freeze tuition.

He spoke about the recent turmoil within the UM system, particularly at the flagship campus. He called interim President Michael Middleton the right person for the job amid tension in Columbia, where black students have said they feel unwelcome on campus.

He discussed the case of Melissa Click, an assistant communications professor caught on video in November trying to block student journalists from recording a campus demonstration.

Legislators and others have called for Click to be fired, while black students and others have offered support.

In January, the university suspended Click indefinitely pending an internal investigation. Nixon said Wednesday the university should have acted more quickly.

He added that he will move forward in nominating people for three vacant spots on the universitys Board of Curators.

Three board members  including two who represent the St. Louis area, and who both are black  have resigned since November. The board now has six members, all white and all lawyers.

Republican legislative leaders have said they wont approve any new board members until January, when there is a new governor. Nixon said that wont stop him from making nominations.

And should the Legislature reject those appointments, Nixon said hell make more after legislators go home for the summer.
FERGUSON  The U.S. Department of Justice accused Ferguson of numerous constitutional violations in a 56-page lawsuit filed Wednesday, saying that the City Council had in fact rejected a proposed agreement the night before  despite Ferguson officials repeated claims to the contrary.

At a meeting on Tuesday, the Ferguson City Council approved a revised version of a consent decree it had worked out with the department, but one revision eliminated the so-called poison pill clause that made the decree apply to any other agency providing policing in Ferguson.

That change would have allowed Ferguson to circumvent most of the decree by disbanding its police department.

At a news conference Wednesday, Ferguson Mayor James Knowles III insisted that the City Council had unanimously voted in favor of the most expansive and comprehensive consent decree issued to date.

Two hours later and 800 miles away in Washington, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch also stood before reporters, taking issue with Knowles description.

The City Council rejected the consent decree approved by their own negotiators, she said. Their decision leaves us no further choice.

Lynch referenced the Justice Department investigation that began shortly after the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown. It uncovered a community in distress, in which residents felt under assault by their own police force, she said.

She said the police departments violations were expansive, deliberate, egregious and routine.

The lawsuit mirrors a 105-page report the Justice Department published in March, detailing patterns in the police department of illegal stops, searches, and arrests, driven partly by racial bias.

City leaders encouraged the abuses, which violated the First, Fourth and 14th Amendments, in the interest of raising revenue, Lynch said.

The Justice Department and Ferguson spent 26 weeks in painstaking negotiations reviewing every detail of the consent decree, a 131-page document with hundreds of requirements, Lynch said.

The city released the decree nearly two weeks ago, asking the public to review it and offer their thoughts at three public hearings.

The price tag

In her remarks on Wednesday, Lynch said Ferguson residents had waited decades for justice and should not be forced to wait any longer.

But at the public hearings on the decree, residents were divided. Some believed the decree would bankrupt Ferguson, forcing it to dissolve.

I would rather lose our city by fighting for it in court, than lose it by giving in to the DOJs crushing demands, said Susan Ankenbrand, who moved to Ferguson 41 years ago, partly because she wanted to live in a diverse community.

At the news conference, Knowles said such comments influenced the citys decision.

There is no reason to enter into an agreement that we know we cannot live up to, he said.

But many African-American residents and activists believed the decree was their best chance at justice and often described instances of police harassment.

The paperwork is prepared, protester Debra Kennedy warned at Tuesdays meeting. They are not playing with you all.

After the lawsuit was announced, Kennedy said, What did I tell you? What did I tell the council? ... I wish could have been at that press conference where Knowles taunted the DOJ and practically begged them to sue him.

At a public hearing on Saturday, Finance Director Jeffrey Blume said the decree could cost the city $2.1 million to $3.7 million in the first year, and more than $10 million over three years. But much of that estimate was based on a clause in the agreement that required police officers pay to be among the most competitive with similarly sized cities.

The Justice Department has not offered an explanation of how it understands the provision.

Blume said the clause would mandate 25 percent raises for police officers, possibly triggering raises for other employees.

Those statements sparked speculation that Ferguson was inflating the figures and positioning itself to vote the decree down, as well as questions about Blumes motivations given that he was mentioned in the March report 19 times.

In one instance, the report cites a 2010 email Blume wrote to the police chief stating, unless ticket writing ramps up significantly before the end of the year, it will be hard to significantly raise collections next year. What are your thoughts? Given that we are looking at a substantial sales tax shortfall, its not an insignificant issue.

The city had reached the outlines of an agreement with the Justice Department in December. Asked why Ferguson had not compiled cost estimates sooner and provided them to the public when it released the decree, Knowles said, We can conceptually agree to a lot of things. That doesnt mean theres a price tag.

Ferguson Attorney Dan K. Webb said Saturday that a lawsuit would last three to four years, and estimated legal expenses would be $4 million to $8 million.

The assessment is, as the agreement currently stands, it will cost more to implement the agreement than it would be to fight it in a lawsuit, Knowles said Wednesday.

We know what they have done

The City Council enacted some municipal court reforms contained in the decree, as a sign of good faith, before voting to send the agreement back to the Justice Department with revisions.

Gov. Jay Nixon applauded those actions, despite the lawsuit.

I served as attorney general of this state for 16 years, Nixon told the Post-Dispatch. Im extremely familiar with the process and the myriad of issues in which federal consent decrees are attempted. Philosophically, Ive never been a huge fan of them.

Nixon said the court-ordered agreements take away the flexibility to solve problems quickly.

The methodology, whether its a consent decree or a lawsuit, is not nearly as important as the subject, and what youre doing to solve problems, he said.

The council met in closed session for about an hour before Tuesdays meeting. To some, it was clear they scripted both the discussion and the vote behind close doors, rather than deliberate in public.

Within minutes of publicly approving a revised version of the decree, the citys public relations staff handed out news releases announcing the decision.

The council also voted unanimously to appoint Laverne Mitchom, an African-American, to a council seat vacated when Councilman Brian Fletcher, a former Ferguson mayor, died of a heart attack. Two weeks earlier, in a heated discussion, the council was split along racial lines about whether to appoint Mitchom.

There was clearly an agreement already in place about how the proceedings would play out and what the final agreement would be, said the Rev. Starsky Wilson, a former co-chairman of the Ferguson Commission, which was formed to study the economic and social conditions highlighted by months of protests following Browns death.

When they are making critical decisions in closed session, when theres clearly an open meeting where they should be discussing these items, it raises questions about inclusive democracy and transparency for elected officials, Wilson said.

The attempt to remove the so-called poison pill clause, was either foolish or deceitful, he said.

Quite frankly, at this point, I hope and look forward to the Department of Justice bringing the full weight of civil rights implementation on the city of Ferguson if this is how the leaders will care for the constitutional rights of the people, Wilson said.

Many Ferguson Commission recommendations released last year were also included in the decree. As for the City Councils insistence that it had approved the decree, Wilson said, They can say that. But we know what they have done.

Jeff Rainford, former chief of staff for St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, said Ferguson residents deserve a police department of which they are not afraid, but the proposed consent decree could place a great financial burden on the people it is supposed to help.

The majority of the citizens who are going to pay for this are African-American ... the people whose rights were supposedly violated, Rainford said, adding that any solution will be complicated.

And on Wednesday, as the federal government bore down on the small city with credibility problems, any good faith seemed to have evaporated.

At her news conference, Lynch characterized Fergusons decision as profoundly disappointing.

A reporter questioned if that description was accurate. You seemed rather fired up, he said.

Lynch declined to elaborate further about how she felt.

David Hunn and Chuck Raasch of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON  Congress appears ready to appropriate an emergency $1.8 billion to battle the rapidly spreading Zika virus, and leading government health officials said Thursday the U.S. should be prepared for many travelers returning to the country with it.

But widespread infection in the United States is not likely, and efforts to fight it are being boosted by experience from fighting similar viruses, like dengue or the West Nile virus, Dr. Thomas Frieden told a subcommittee chaired by Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.

"This is a new phenomenon and we are working around the clock" to confront Zika, said Frieden, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While most adults don't show symptoms or get mild ones - fevers, rashes, eye irritation - when they do, the virus is especially dangerous for pregnant women because of its tendency to cause microcephaly, an abnormal smallness of the head and brain, in fetuses. Other possible effects on babies are currently being studied, Frieden said.

"It doesn't seem that long ago we were having a similar hearing on Ebola," Blunt said, referring to the relatively recent phenomenon of viruses once contained to countries or continents now spreading more rapidly in an increasingly interconnected world.

Zika, primarily spread by mosquitoes, was first discovered in 1947, but its health threat in the western hemisphere has arisen only in recent months. The World Health Organization last week declared it a health emergency.

Blunt chairs a Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the Obama administration's emergency $1.8 billion spending request. Full congressional approval will be necessary, and appears to be going forward. Blunt and other committee members had more questions about whether that level of funding is enough to confront the disease.

Frieden and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said it would suffice for now. They also repeated assertions that money previously appropriated to fight the Ebola virus should stay there, and that new funding to confront Zika was necessary.

About a fourth of the $1.8 billion be directed to Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories, where the most immediate threat exists, Blunt said.

"We think there is a real possibility that at some point in the coming months... we may see tens or hundreds of thousands of Zika infections in Puerto Rico," Frieden told Blunt.

He said that challenges posed by the "natural environment and human environment" in Puerto Rico make fighting the mosquito that carries the virus extremely hard.

Fighting the virus "means getting rid of standing water everywhere," Frieden said. "It can breed in the top of a bottle cap if there is some water in it. So there is a real challenge in reducing breeding sites."

Frieden said efforts in Puerto Rico will include advising people to wear long sleeves and long pants, plead with women to avoid mosquito bites by staying indoors or wearing repellant, and help install insecticide-infused screens and other mosquito barriers in homes, many of which aren't air conditioned.

Fauci and Frieden urged Americans, especially pregnant women, to, as Fauci said, "avoid going to a place Zika is spreading." If they do, he said, he urged them to do everything possible to avoid mosquito bites. He urged those who do travel to high-Zika areas to have condoms while having sex, to prevent transmission through seminal fluid. Fauci said the CDC web site, cdc.gov, will constantly update information on where the virus is most likely to be contracted.

Fauci repeated earlier assertions that trials on a vaccine for the virus are likely to start in late summer to determine if it is safe.

Those trials should be finished by the end of 2016, he said, and if the "epidemic is still raging, in places such as in Brazil" health officials could "ask for an accelerated approval from the FDA" which would "truncate" a normal drug approval process of 3-5 years in to a shorter time period.

Brazil is scheduled to host the Olympic Games Aiug. 5-21. Concern about the virus there has spread among American athletes and others.

If the vaccine proves safe and effective, only regional or locally clustered vaccinations will be necessary to confront the vaccine in the U.S., Fauci said.

"Unless something radically changes, I don't see widespread vaccination" necessary for the U.S., he said.
WASHINGTON  Instead of sorting out the 2016 presidential nomination contests, New Hampshire strung them out.

The result: Prolonged battles in both the Democratic and Republican parties are more likely, increasing the possibility that Missouris and Illinois March 15 primaries will be pivotal, consequential and hard fought.

That day also will include Ohio, Florida and North Carolina, delegate-rich states on the first day that states can award all their delegates to the winners of their primaries.

There were two casualties after New Hampshire: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Hewlett-Packard head Carly Fiorina dropped out.

Tuesdays primary also exposed long-term challenges for the establishment in both national political parties:

 Democratic-socialist candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders thumping, 22-point win over Hillary Clinton further exposed generational and gender gaps for Clinton, once considered her partys overwhelming favorite. It also exposed persistent trust issues for the former secretary of state that wont be easy to overcome.

The 74-year-old Sanders beat the 69-year-old Clinton by a whopping 83 percent to 16 percent among New Hampshire Democrats under 30, according to CNN exit polls. Sanders won by a 2-1 ratio among 30- to 44-year-old Democrats. Sanders also beat Clinton among Democratic women, defying former Secretary of State Madeleine Albrights assertion that there is a special place in hell for women who dont support women. Sanders won Democratic women under 30 by a stunning 4-1 ratio.

The gap was even wider among Democratic men under 30, who went for Sanders by almost 9-1.

The only age group Clinton won in New Hampshire was those over 65.

The trends are ominous for Clinton if she hopes to build around President Barack Obamas winning Democratic coalition.

Four years ago, Obama defeated Repulblican Mitt Romney, 60-37 percent among voters under 30. He won 55 percent of women, while Romney won 52 percent of men.

The gender gap is especially significant for Clinton because 53 percent of the votes in 2012 were cast by women, according to exit polls. If she wins the nomination, that gap may disappear, depending on the GOP nominee. But Clinton has made the potential of a first woman president a significant part of her appeal, and the fact that Democratic women are turning to Sanders is a red flag.

In Clintons favor, the campaign now has a distinctly southern flavor for the next three weeks, culminating in March 1 Super Tuesday primaries or caucuses in 14 states, most of them in the South.

Clinton will try to press a perceived advantage among minority voters, who in many of those states will be far larger percentages of the Democratic electorate than the population as a whole. She received an important endorsement from the Congressional Black Caucus on Thursday. Sanders has reached out to African-American leaders and is highlighting his activism in the Civil Rights Movement as a young man.

But Clintons trust gap persists. Among the 33 percent of Democrats who said a candidates honesty and trustworthiness was their prime decision point, Sanders won by 9-1. He won by 4-1 over Clinton among he 26 percent of New Hampshire Democrat voters who said their first priority is a candidate who cares about people like me.

 Donald Trumps convincing New Hampshire win further unsettled a Republican establishment worried that the billionaire businessmans bombast and lack of political experience will be exposed in a general election.

Non-Trump New Hampshire results were spread out among surviving rivals, from Ohio Gov. John Kasichs 16 percent to Florida Sen. Marco Rubios just over 10, with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in between. Because of that, chances of one or two anti-Trump candidates coalescing support any time soon diminished. It may take until those March 15 primaries to get there.

Trump could have more trouble among culturally conservative southern Republicans in coming weeks. Signaling whats ahead, in a South Carolina stop Thursday, Rubio attacked Trump on dual fronts: lack of experience and lack of civility. Thats built upon a premise that manners and the military still hold sway in the Palmetto State. Rubio said opening hotels in foreign countries is not foreign policy, and he criticized Trump for saying profanity from a stage.

But Trumps outsider-ism has been a powerful antidote to attacks from officeholders. Half of New Hampshire Republican voters polled said they want the next president to be from outside the political establishment. Among this group, Trump won about 60 percent support.
JEFFERSON CITY  The Missouri House on Thursday gave final approval to a bill that would increase access to naloxone, a drug that can block the effects of an opioid overdose.

Naloxone, sold under the brand name Narcan, can block the effects of heroin and other opioid overdoses, including from prescription painkillers.

The bill would allow people to obtain a dose of the drug from licensed pharmacists. Someone wouldn't have to have a drug problem to obtain a dose, meaning that family members or friends of an opioid user could buy naloxone in case of emergency.

The bill also requires that anyone who administers the drug because of an overdose immediately call 911.

The bill received initial approval on Tuesday on a voice vote. It passed with near-unanimous bipartisan support Thursday 154-2.

"We just want to get it to the place where most of the overdoses take place, which is in the home," said Rep. Steve Lynch, R-Waynesville, and the sponsor of the bill.

"This isn't the solution for the epidemic," Lynch said Tuesday. "It's a rescue remedy while we try to figure out how to deal with the complex problem of drug addiction and abuse."

The bill now moves to the Senate for consideration.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon signed a bill in 2014 that allowed first responders to administer naloxone in overdose situations.

Lynch's bill is House Bill 1568.
JEFFERSON CITY  Missouri moved a step closer Thursday to putting a private company in charge of scrubbing the states welfare rolls.

In an initial vote, members of the Senate endorsed a plan requiring the Department of Social Services to ink a two-year contract with a company that would verify whether Missourians are eligible for Medicaid, child care subsidies and food stamps.

Supporters said the plan, patterned after a similar agreement in Illinois, could save the state millions of dollars if the company finds scofflaws or deceased people who are receiving benefits.

Hopefully this will free up extra funds, said state Sen. David Sater, R-Cassville, who sponsored the measure.

Currently, the state reviews eligibility for various aid programs once a year. The proposal moving through the Senate would require more frequent checks, including monthly reviews to see if recipients are, for example, dead or in prison.

Sater did not have a savings estimate, but legislative researchers say the savings could top $24 million. But, not all of the savings could be used for other state programs. For example, aid currently spent on needy families would have to be spent on similar programs, such as one designed to reduce out-of-wedlock pregnancies.

Sater said that approach is fine with him.

My preference would be to direct (the savings) back to where it came from, to health care, Sater said.

The program mirrors a 2013 effort in Illinois where a private company working for the state flagged more than 360,000 people who may not have been eligible for benefits. After a review, about 120,000 of those people were actually removed from the rolls.

The proposal could come up for a final vote in the Senate as early as next week.

The legislation is Senate Bill 607.
WASHINGTON  Sen. Roy Blunt's three draft deferments during the Vietnam War more than 40 years ago erupted in a campaign the senator Tuesday said he was still not going to engage in.

Blunt, R-Mo., told reporters Wednesday that he has always acknowledged getting student deferments during the war, even though the Kansas City Star reported that Blunt's office last year did not mention the deferments when asked for a story about declining role of military service in elective office.

The paper said it had received new documents showing Blunt had gotten a student deferment three times in the late 1960s. Blunt said Wednesday the paper was correct in its description.

That issue of Vietnam deferments dogged Bill Clinton in his 1992 presidential campaign. The issue has toggled off and on again in subsequent elections around the country, although it has diminished as fewer and fewer people in elective office are veterans.

Blunt unsuccessfully ran for governor in 1992, and Vietnam era service did come up for several candidates in that race, including him. Blunt lost to Attorney General William Webster in the 1992 gubernatorial primary.

Blunt's 2016 Democratic opponent, Secretary of State Jason Kander, has highlighted his record as an Army Captain who served in the Afghanistan War, and Kander's campaign Wednesday pushed the Star story with vigor.

Kander called Wednesday for Blunt to apologize to "all Missourians."

"Hiding three deferments and saying you couldn't remember them is inexcusable," Kander said, in a release put out by his campaign. He said that Blunt, who last Saturday received lifetime service award from the Missouri Veterans of Foreign Wars, owes "veterans an apology for insulting their sacrifice."

Blunt told reporters that "I don't have anything to say in response to anything Secretary Kander has to say about most things, including this.

The one thing to learn here is dont become an expert on something that you dont know everything about," he added.

Blunt told reporters that he always disclosed the student deferrals when asked.

"I don't think it has taken 40 years for this to become public," Blunt said. "Any time anybody ever asked me about that I have said I had student deferments and was then included in the first year of the (draft) lottery and that was always my sense of that. And I think that is what the (Star) story verified."

The Star reported that "Blunt's draft deferments are not widely known in Missouri, and have not been a part of his personal story."

The paper said it had asked Blunt's office by email last February if the senator had ever received a draft deferment, and if so, the reason for it.

The paper quoted a response from Blunt's office: Senator Blunt was 1A status in 1969, the year of the first draft lottery. He was 19 years old at the time. His number was in the low 300s, and was never called.

Deferments weren't mentioned, the paper said. The Star said Blunt's office this week blamed poor memories and hard-to-get records and maintained that no attempt was made to deny the deferments.

Blunt, who has persistently refused to talk about a re-election campaign he is expected to launch later this month, began a weekly call with reporters Wednesday by mentioning his award from the Missouri Veterans of Foreign Wars.

He said that "I can't think of any recognition Ive received that Im more humbled or touched by than this one."

He said was proud of his work on behalf of veterans. Blunt has most recently worked on legislation aimed at expanding mental health and other health services for veterans, helping military families cope with frequent moves and other issues, and expand job opportunities for veterans - the latter an issue he just raised in a bill this week co-sponsored by Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.

"The Missouri VFW recognized that" legislative record, Blunt said. "I was pleased that they recognized that, and I wish you were at least half as interested in that story as you are in not reporting that story."

Kander's communications director, Chris Hayden, pointed to an August, 1991, Post-Dispatch article in which Blunt, then seeking the Republican nomination for governor, said he "would have served if drafted," but did not mention deferments.

But the article, which was primarily about the anti-war activism of another candidate, former St. Louis Mayor Mayor Vincent C. Schoemehl Jr., does not say whether or not Blunt was asked about deferrals.

Blunt said then he didn't protest against the war, and he pointed out that some who supported the war didn't agree with how it was being fought.

''It wasn't a war that people were lining up to participate in," Blunt told the Post-Dispatch then.
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.




UNIVERSITY CITY  The city and the union representing its firefighters agreed to a federal court settlement Thursday that will result in the distribution of $345,000 to five emergency services workers suspended two years ago for their participation in a contentious municipal election.

City Manager Lehman Walker said the bulk of the settlement reached by the city's insurance company will cover legal fees incurred by the firefighters.

"The matter was resolved by the insurance company to the satisfaction of everyone involved," Walker said Thursday, a few hours after the city and the union representing the firefighters inked the agreement in U.S. Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.

Kurt Becker, district vice president of the International Association of Firefighters Local 2665, said the suspended employees will receive approximately $29,000 each for back pay and damages after the legal fees are paid.

The agreement also stipulates that the city must expunge the suspensions from the employment records of the firefighters.

"We feel the outcome is a clear vindication of our contention from the outset that our members' participation in the election process was lawful, and that the city's persecution of them was outside the bounds of the law," Becker said.

The case was brought against the city after the firefighters were suspended for campaigning on behalf of an unsuccessful challenger to an incumbent City Council member in 2014.

Two years later, the fallout from that campaign continues to reverberate through City Hall.

The council in a hurried vote last summer shifted the city's emergency services from the fire department to privately-owned Gateway Ambulance  a move the firefighters viewed as further retribution from Mayor Shelley Welsch, an ally of Stephen Kraft, the council member they opposed in 2014.

The firefighters saga took yet another twist in December when Welsch asked the council to approve an obscure legal maneuver to remove council member Terry Crow from office.

Welsch charged that Crow breached the city charter and public confidence by forwarding an email to Becker that contained a legal opinion from the city attorney on the laws guiding participation in municipal elections by public employees.

Nor is there any sign that the tension generated by the 2014 campaign will ease in the near future.

Crow and his own council ally, Paulette Carr, are up for re-election in April.

Petition efforts are underway to place the measures calling for the recall of Kraft and Welsch before the voters.
Retired U.S. District Judge William D. Stiehl, who sentenced a crooked investment firm and a sex-club operation to underwrite an anti-poverty foundation during his 28-year judicial career, died Monday (Feb. 8, 2016) at Memorial Hospital in Belleville. He was 90 and a lifelong resident of Belleville.

Appointed to the federal bench by President Ronald Reagan, Judge Stiehl served from 1986 until his retirement as a senior judge in January 2014. He had been in the hospital a week before his death.

He graduated from Belleville Township High School, the University of North Carolina and the St. Louis University School of Law. He served in the Navy as a lieutenant on board a ship in the Pacific during World War II, briefly as future entertainer Johnny Carsons roommate. He returned to Navy service during the Korean War and was a lawyer on the U.S. Armistice Negotiation Staff.

In 1947, Judge Stiehl married Celeste Sullivan of Belleville. He was elected in 1948 to the Belleville Township High School and Junior College Board of Education and again in 1954, and was its president for two years.

Judge Stiehl practiced law in Belleville and became active in Republican politics. He was elected chairman of the St. Clair County Republican Central Committee in 1960, sought the partys nomination for Illinois attorney general in 1964 and served on the GOP state central committee. His wife served in the Illinois House of Representatives for 10 years, until 1983.

Former U.S. Sen. Charles Percy, R-Ill., nominated him to the judgeship in 1984, but it was held up in a dispute among Illinois GOP leaders over his conservative credentials. After the U.S. Senate confirmed him in June 1986, the new judge said he was excited, delighted and very happy.

Judge Stiehl presided over hundreds of criminal cases, including the trial of Thomas Venezia, who ran an empire of topless clubs and illegal video gambling in the Metro East until his conviction in 1996. Part of his sentence was ordering one of the clubs set aside for a youth center in Washington Park.

His signature sentence was the one he imposed upon Matthews & Wright, a New York investment company that pleaded guilty of fraud in 1990 over its phony plan for financing riverfront development in East St. Louis. He ordered it to give $7 million to the Greater East St. Louis Community Fund, which provided money for causes such as trash removal, scholarships and 911 service.

In 1995, he ordered a company that ran prostitution at sex clubs in Brooklyn to deposit $1 million in a similar fund for that impoverished community.

Bill Stiehl, his son and a lawyer in Belleville, said Judge Stiehl saw the funds as way to help the residents. Rather than have fines go into the giant maw of the (U.S.) Treasury, he wanted to find a way for the money to work for the citizens, without local political infighting, Stiehl said. He went to work every day in East St. Louis and saw the problems. He did his best to do what was right.

He was a longtime member of Ainad Shrine and was a Master Mason. Judge Stiehl was in the Navy Reserve from 1943 to 1973, retiring as a commander.

In addition to his wife and son, Judge Stiehl is survived by a daughter, Susan Guthrie of Springfield, Va.; four grandchildren; and one great-granddaughter.

A funeral service will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at First United Presbyterian Church, 1303 Royal Heights Road in Belleville. Visitation will be at the church from 10 a.m. until the service. Burial will be in Valhalla Cemetery in Belleville.
If the execution is carried out, it too will leave a grieving family, in addition to having lost a little boy who might have survived if he could have gotten to the hospital in time.
Over the last year or so, a variety of voices have spoken out about the proliferation of local government entities in the St. Louis area. Better Together has published a series of reports demonstrating inefficiencies in our present governmental system. The Ferguson Commission has called attention to racial and social disparities among small police and fire departments and municipal courts in St. Louis County.

With the possible exception of Baltimore, no other metropolitan area in the country has as many local government entities for its size as does St. Louis. Why, for example, are there 90 separate municipalities in St. Louis County, many without the resources necessary to discharge 21st century municipal responsibilities?

One hundred and forty years ago, St. Louis leaders set the stage for the current government complexity by persuading voters to approve a provision in the Missouri Constitution of 1875 authorizing the city of St. Louis to separate itself from St. Louis County. When voters made that decision, St. Louis was one of the largest and most populous cities in the country, rising to No. 3 or 4 by the time of the St. Louis Worlds Fair in 1904. St. Louis County was predominantly rural and expected to remain that way. The Constitution of 1875 also gave St. Louis the power to become the first city in the country to govern itself through a home rule charter. Later iterations of the Missouri Constitution gave cities with populations as small as 5,000 similar home rule powers.

But by separating from St. Louis County and fixing its boundaries as they were in 1875, the city gave up the power to extend its boundaries through annexation as the population grew. Instead, incorporation of new municipalities became the preferred method of delivering local government services as the county shifted from rural to urban in character. New municipalities in St. Louis County took shape in response to two waves of migration, the first from southern states to northern states in the decades after the Civil War, and the second from the inner cities to the suburbs during the second half of the 20th century.

Ninety incorporated municipalities now exist in St. Louis County. Add to that number multiple police, fire and school districts, and one is greeted with a decentralized governmental structure that has the value of being close to its citizens but at the same time is extraordinarily inefficient.

Is there a way out of this governmental proliferation and inefficiency without losing the sense of identity small municipalities can provide? The former Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations thought so in 1975 when it recommended a model state statute authorizing the creation of neighborhood service areas governed by elected neighborhood councils. These neighborhood entities were to be delegated limited powers of taxation and local self-government in order to help restore a sense of community to the countrys major urban centers after a period of great social unrest.

The work of Better Together and the Ferguson Commission suggests elements of a measured process of reorganization. A first step could be replication of the cooperative spirit engendered by Beyond Housings 24-1 initiative, in which 24 municipalities within the Normandy School District boundaries are collaborating on various enterprises common to the Normandy schools. The Parkway School District, serving nine municipalities in west St. Louis County, recently agreed to begin sharing resources with the Normandy School District.

A second step could be consolidation of small, resource-strapped police and fire departments. For example, the Charlack City Council recently approved a proposal to delegate its policing responsibilities to the North County Police Cooperative headquartered in nearby Velda City.

A third step could be to revisit the Board of Freeholders 1990s call to merge the 90-plus county municipalities to 30 or so, but with a twist: the 60-odd small municipalities merging into larger ones would not lose their identities, but instead would become Neighborhood Service Areas governed by elected Neighborhood Councils  all with delegated authority to perform neighborhood services such as local code enforcement.

The final step, at long last, would be the re-entry of the city of St. Louis into St. Louis County.

Peter W. Salsich Jr. is a professor of justice emeritus at St. Louis University School of Law.
LONDON MARKET CLOSE: Investors cheer as Truss chased out of No 10

Thursday, October 20, 2022 - 17:12

The FTSE 100 moved into the green on Wednesday afternoon, with sterling also rising, as investors in the UK were buoyed by Liz Truss calling an end to her disastrous six-week tenure.

Truss has announced her resignation after a chaotic 44 days in office during which she lost the confidence of Tory members of Parliament and the public and oversaw economic turbulence.

She is set to become the shortest serving prime minister in history after she battled an open revolt from Conservatives demanding her departure.

Speaking from a lectern in Downing Street, Truss said she had told the King she was resigning as the leader of the Conservative Party as she recognised she "cannot deliver the mandate" which Tory members gave her little over six weeks ago.

"To use a phrase that has no doubt been exhausted in the past few weeks, markets don
South Korea has officially begun an effort to develop and build their own jet fighter (KFX) to replace its aging U.S. built F-4 and F-5 fighters. The KFX is intended to be an aircraft somewhere between the F-16 and the F-35 and will have some stealth capabilities. The KFX is expected to enter service in about ten years now that the government has found the cash and foreign partners to make it happen. Indonesia will be a partner in this effort by contributing 16 percent of the $8.5 billion required. South Korea will buy at least 120 KFXs while Indonesia will buy up to fifty as the first export customer. Indonesia will also get access to some of the technology and build some of the components.

The KFX is currently seen as a single seat 24 ton fighter with two engines and the ability to carry more than six tons of weapons. Some of these weapons can be carried in an internal bomb bay, increasing stealthiness. The KFX is expected to look more like the Eurofighter Typhoon, than the T-50 or F-16. The KFX is based on only costing $60 million each, having advanced electronics (including an AESA radar).

South Korea has been trying to assemble the cash, technology and export orders for KFX since 2001. This was part of an effort to create South Korean military aircraft development and building capability. The problem with KFX has always been cost and a lack of partners. One of the major problems, recently overcome, was the United States finally agreeing to transfer several key military technologies KFX needed. This was delayed because of American security concerns, as East Asian nations (like Japan several times in the past) have proved vulnerable to China spies obtaining key military technologies. Not just the specifications but the more difficult to obtain details of actually manufacturing such tech. Most of the technologies the U.S. would not give South Korea access to were only available from a few sources, or only the United States. Eventually South Korea struck a deal to obtain 21 key technologies used in the F-35.

Another reason for the KFX delays was that several studies by South Korean analysts pointed out that the KFX would cost up to twice as much as a top-of-the line model of the F-16 bought from the United States. Critics also pointed out that Japan made the same mistake in the 1990s when they decided to develop and build a similar (to the KFX) aircraft; the F-2. It cost twice as much as an imported F-16 (or even one built in Japan under license) and was justified (unofficially) as a way to provide lots of good jobs. The F-2 did little to aid exports because Japan cannot, by law, export weapons.

South Korea can and does export weapons and actively sought partners to build the KFX. Indonesia first agreed in 2010 to jointly develop the KFX. That deal fell apart because of costs as did several similar deals with other countries. The cost problem is less of an issue now because of the growing popular enthusiasm for developing the ability to design and build combat aircraft. South Korea worked out solutions here as well and believes they can learn from the Japanese experience as well as their own recent success in developing and producing the TA-50 jet trainer/attack aircraft.

South Korea learned much while developing and manufacturing its TA-50 jet trainer. That effort began in the 1990s and the TA-50 entered service in 2005 as a 13 ton, two seat, single engine aircraft. More importantly the TA-50 is also available as a combat model (the F-50), which carries a 20mm autocannon and up to three tons of bombs and missiles.
Since the 1980s China has been busy transforming its amphibious troops into a force very similar to the U.S. Marine Corps. The most recent bit of emulation was a late 2015 marine exercise in the northwest (Gobi Desert). Training for operations far from the sea is something the American marines been training for and doing since the 1960s.

Another new Chinese development is, as recently revealed in a photo, a proposed 40,000 ton LHA (helicopter carrier). In 2014 the United States put the first of its latest LHAs into service. The eleven America class LHAs are big ships (45,000 tons, 257 meters/844 feet long) and, like all other American amphibious assault ships, look like small aircraft carriers. But the Americas are larger than earlier LHAs and have no well deck taking up lots of space in the stern. The Americas have a crew of 1,050 and carry 1,600 marines as well as 32 aircraft (helicopters, V-22s, and F-35Bs). The reasoning behind this design is that the proliferation of anti-ship missiles makes it too risky to get close enough for landing craft. So now it's back to LPHs and longer range transports like the V-22.

The Chinese seem to be planning some of these LHAs as well, which would enable them to also emulate the American ESGs (Expeditionary Strike Groups). The main fighting element of the ESG is a battalion of marines supported by a helicopters squadron and a Service Support Group. All of these travel on three amphibious ships (an LHA, LPD, and LSD). The rest of the ESG consists of warships (usually a cruiser, a destroyer, a frigate, and an attack submarine.) Supporting firepower comes from cruise missiles and some 127mm (five inch) guns on the cruiser and destroyer plus attack helicopters. The American first ESG went to sea in 2003. Each ESG is built around a battalion landing team. This consists of one marine infantry battalion, an artillery battery (six guns), an armored car company, a platoon of M-1 tanks, an amphibious assault platoon (operating armored amphibious vehicles), an engineer platoon, and a recon platoon. In all, over 1,200 troops plus helicopters and landing craft from the amphibious ships, along with their troops.

Currently the Chinese marines are a small force. The actual marines are 12,000 infantry. There also two army divisions trained to undertake amphibious operations and who regularly train with the marines. This is not, in a Western sense, a "marine corps" but the Chinese marines have come to be considered elite troops.

In the West the nature of China's amphibious forces has been misunderstood for decades. Until the 1980s, the Chinese didn't have a distinct marine force, only army units that were trained to conduct amphibious operations. China didn't start building its own large amphibious ships until the 1980s, at the same time they organized marine brigades. There are currently two Chinese marine brigades, containing a total of 10,000 troops, plus another 2,000 troops in support and training units.

The marines are equipped with amphibious armored vehicles and self-propelled artillery, anti-tank, and anti-aircraft missiles. All of these marines are volunteers and undergo strenuous training. Each brigade also has a reconnaissance battalion, with several hundred men (and thirty women) trained to use scuba gear to get ashore and look around. These are actually special operations troops and are carefully selected and trained. In Western terms, the Chinese marines share some characteristics with both the U.S. Marine Corps and the British Royal Marine Commandos in terms of training and intended capabilities. The Chinese appear to be going more for their marines to be considered special operations troops. The U.S. Marine Corps is doing the same thing.

Interestingly, the Chinese marines are not stationed where they could be used for an invasion of Taiwan but in the south, where they can grab disputed islands in the South China Sea. While these islands, which control fishing and potential oil fields, are considered disputed, China has already laid claim to some of them by force. In 1974, China fought a naval battle with Vietnam off the Paracel islands. In 1988, China and Vietnam fought another naval battle, off the Spratly islands. Both of these battles were followed by Chinese troops establishing garrisons on some of the islands. In 1992, Chinese marines landed on Da Lac reef, in the Spratly Islands. In 1995, Chinese marines occupied Mischief Reef, which was claimed by the Philippines.

Initially Chinese marines were trained and equipped for raiding, not for large scale landings against a defended shore. The latter task is apparently left to army divisions that have been drilled on how to get on, and off, amphibious ships. While the Chinese marines might play a part in a Taiwan invasion, their full time job appears to be in the South China Sea, where the Chinese stand ready to grab more islands, if the economic advantages seem high enough. The navy supplies the amphibious ships and any air support (fixed wing aircraft and helicopters) needed. Detachments of marines have accompanied the warships China sends to the anti-piracy patrol off Somalia.

The U.S. Navy has come to view the Chinese marines as tip of the spear for any Chinese amphibious operations. While China has other special operations forces, only the marines regularly practice operations at sea. The marines have been used against Somali pirates and to provide security for Chinese aid efforts in dangerous areas. As China practices to use military force in the South China Sea or other disputed offshore areas, the marines always tend to be present. So American intel tracks the Chinese marines carefully, for these amphibious troops will often be the first in if China decides to fight.
In Syria Lebanese Hezbollah fighters have been seen using the Iranian Toophan ATGM (Anti-Tank Guided Missiles). This is an Iranian copy of the American TOW (Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided) that entered service in 1970. When the Iranian monarchy was overthrown in 1979 the rebels found themselves in possession of lots of modern American weapons, including plenty of TOW systems. By the 1990s Iran had managed to copy the TOW as the Toophan. By 2000 they upgraded it and are now supplying Hezbollah with dozens of systems. Iran probably noted that in early 2015 Kurdish forces fighting in Iraq and Syria were using the Chinese HJ-8 ATGMs, which is the Chinese version of the TOW.

The original American TOW is still in service worldwide and over 500,000 TOW missiles have been manufactured so far and it remains in service with the United States and many other countries. All versions of TOW are shipped and fired from a sealed launch tube. That tube is placed on a MGS (Missile Guidance Set) that contains the gunner sight, with night vision, and operator guidance electronics. The MGS weighs 25 kg (55 pounds). The 1970 version of the missile weighed 19 kg (42 pounds) and had a 3.9 kg (8.6 pound) warhead. The latest version (TOW 2B or BGM-71F) weighs 22.7 kg (50 pounds) and has a 6.2 kg (13.5 pound) warhead that can defeat ERA (Explosive Reactive Armor) at targets up to 4,000 meters away.

The HJ-8 and Toophan are nearly identical to TOW 2 in size, weight, range and, according to the users, performance. Both TOW and HJ-8 use SACLOS (semi-automatic command line-of-sight) guidance. This system works by having the operator hold the target in the MGS sights and the missile will be guided to the target via wires that connect the missile to the launcher. The big problem is that the operator is often under fire and that sometimes makes it difficult to maintain aim. The next generations of anti-tank missiles were wireless and fire-and-forget which allows the operator to duck as soon as the target is identified by the MGS and the missile fired. Nearly all ATGMs use shaped-charge warheads that penetrate most tank armor and are also effective against structures and unarmored vehicles.

Israel has also been using the TOW since the 1970s and now faces the prospect of fighting someone else (Hezbollah) who has it.
So far the military has not tried to halt the momentous and unexpected (to them) power shift. These changes accelerated in November 2015 when veteran reform advocate Aung San Suu Kyis party won 80 percent of the available seats in parliament in the first nationwide elections in 25 years (and the first to actually take power since the 1960s). The new government is expected to take action on two issues (ethnic unrest and Chinese encroachment) the military was reluctant to tackle, as was the current elected (but still military dominated) government. The military was always in favor of getting the economy growing rapidly, something decades of military rule had prevented. But many military leaders had prospered during the dictatorship because they could be corrupt (to get rich) without fear of prosecution. The new government is under a lot of pressure to crack down hard on corruption in order to increase economic growth and reduce the widespread poverty. Such a crackdown would also cause tensions with China, which has, for over a decade, invested heavily in the tribal north via corrupt deals with the military. Unwinding all these unfair (especially to local tribes) deals will be painful for the Chinese as well as prominent Burmese military leaders and businessmen.

Another thorny issue the new parliament is expected to address is ethnic and religious tensions. Some 40 percent of the 52 million Burmese belong to ethnic minorities although 80 percent of the population is Buddhist. While most ethnic Burmese are Buddhists many of the other ethnics are not. A third of the non-Buddhists are Christians (mainly in the tribal north) and about 30 percent are Hindu. The ethnic Burmese are most hostile towards Moslems, who make up only about four percent of the population and less than ten percent of the minorities. Until 2012 about half the Moslems were ethnic Bengalis (Rohingya) who until the 1980s were considered Burmese citizens. The military took away that citizenship but at least prevented religious violence against the Moslems by nationalist Buddhist clerics. That changed after an elected government took power in 2011 and since 2012 nearly a quarter of the million Rohingya are believed to have fled Burma to escape the growing violence of radical Buddhist Burmese nationalists.

Despite the military being guaranteed 25 percent of the parliamentary seats in 2008 Aung San Suu Kyis party still has an absolute majority (60 percent) and was able to form the current government with Aung San Suu Kyi in charge. Because of that there is growing anxiety among the officers who ran a military dictatorship until 2011 when, after decades of growing domestic and international pressure, they gave up power and allowed a new constitution and free elections. It is believed that there has been no resistance by the generals because there is an unwritten understanding that the military will comply as long as the new governments grant, in effect, amnesty for past crimes.

The 2008 constitution was written by the generals and for the generals and guarantees the military some key jobs and freedom from parliamentary interference with the military budget. The new government is expected to eventually try to revise the 2008 constitution, despite the risk of another military takeover or civil war. So far the generals have kept their promises, but there is always the risk that might change if an elected government sought to punish the military for crimes committed during the dictatorship or shut down some of the illegal, but lucrative, operations the military still controls (like the illegal jade trade in the north). Then there are the corrupt (and profitable for the military) deals the generals made with China for development in the north. That stuff has kept the tribal rebellions going.

Some of the most important changes in Burma since the army gave up power in 2011 have occurred inside the security forces. For example, the military is losing control over the national police. After the military took over in 1962 they absorbed many police into the army and filled the police leadership with army officers (often retired ones). For decades the militarized police were very unpopular because they were very effective at terrorizing the population. But now the 80,000 personnel of the national police are increasingly free of military control and are going to nearly double by the end of the decade. More important the new national police are concentrating on keeping the population safe rather than enforcing obedience to a military dictatorship. This is something very important to most Burmese but hardly noticed by foreigners. Both the national police and the army are getting new equipment and new training. The goal is to turn the military into a force that defends the country rather than terrorizes it into compliance.

In the northwest (Arakan State) tribal rebels (Arakan Army) have been avoiding soldiers since a series of clashes in late 2015 ended badly for the rebels. This outbreak was unexpected because the northwest coast has not had as much tribal violence as states to the east. In this case the Arakan Army had help from Kachin State tribal rebels and have become a problem on both sides of the Bangladesh border. The government ordered the army to increase its efforts to destroy the Arakan Army and the successful clashes in late 2015 led to the military now working with police to find and arrest the many Arakan Army supporters in the area. Unlike most tribal militias in the north, the Arakan Army was never given official recognition, in large part because the Arakan Army was more of a gangster operation than tribal rebels. All this police activity is unpopular but at least it is less arbitrary and lawless as in the past when soldiers would torture and kill people they picked up. That sort of behavior has always been illegal but not violators are prosecuted.

The Arakan Army is not alone as there are several other tribal rebel groups that the military wont negotiate with for various reasons. These include the KIA (Kachin Independence Army), the SSA-N (Shan State Army - North), the TNLA (Tang National Liberation Army) and the MNDAA (Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army). A new Burmese president, backed by the new parliament, is expected to change that.

A lot of common military practices that were illegal (or are illegal now) are still going on. But as these practices come to light they are being addressed. A recent example was triggered by the appearance of a video on the Internet showing an officer beating a subordinate who displeased him. Actually this form of leadership is still quite common in Asia. It used to be common in the West but was outlawed and largely disappeared from Western armed forces during the 20th century. As recently as World War II and the 1950s this sort of hands-on counseling was still common in the American military. But increasing enforcement of rules against it saw this sort of violence largely gone by the 1980s. Burmese want to see this sort of thing gone as well but it takes a while. The appearance of the video did produce assurances from the military that the offending officer in the video would be found and punished and everyone reminded that this sort of thing is no longer allowed, especially not when it is likely someone will capture the incident on video.

February 8, 2016: Military leaders, who lost control of parliament in late 2015, agreed to presidential elections on March 17th. The generals (both on duty and retired) still have a lot of influence in the bureaucracy, the courts and the business community. So if they wanted to these military leaders could stir up a lot of opposition to the changes now taking place.

January 25, 2016: In the north (Kachin State) there was another landslide in the jade mining area, killing as many as twenty. That makes the third major landslide up there since November 2015. So far over 150 have died from these accidents. The landslides are made possible by all the illegal jade mining, which often involves removing most of the vegetation on a hillside. With the trees and shrubs gone there is nothing to hold soil together when there are heavy rains. All this has brought rebel commander Wei Hsueh Kang a lot of unwanted publicity because of his control of the jade trade. Burma is the main source of jade on the planet and is a $30 billion a year operation. Yet only about one percent of that is taxed and half of the jade is found by illegal mining operations and is quietly sold to Chinese traders. Most of the illegal jade trade is controlled by generals who have connections inside China. The rest is controlled by rebels, mainly the Wa of the UWSA (United Wa State Army). Most of the jade is in the northern tribal territories and the army is constantly fighting with tribal rebels who are seeking to make some money in the jade producing areas. The military men are not eager to give up all their illegal businesses. A lot of the current fighting in Kachin State is a continuation of this decades old Jade War. Local tribes also point out that all the illegal jade and gold mining ruins many water supplies (streams and lakes) but since outsiders (military and tribal warlords) dominate and protect the illegal mining, no one cares about some bad water except a few locals.

January 18, 2016: In the north (Shan State) fighting broke out between feuding tribal militias. The TNLA (a rebel group) and the pro-government SSA-S (Shan State Army - South) have long been at odds over a number of issues. The skirmishing between the two groups continues.
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America Mysteriously Denies Arab Allies New Aircraft

by James Dunnigan

February 10, 2016 For two years the United States has delayed action on a Qatari attempt to buy 36 (and eventually 73) F-15E fighter bombers (for nearly $4 billion) and Kuwaiti efforts to buy 28 F-18E fighters (for $3 billion). The American Department of Defense and State Department approved the deal and there was support in Congress but for reasons unclear the American president refused to approve (or disapprove) the deal or even explain why not. Kuwait has long used the older F-18A and wants the latest model to improve its defenses against an increasingly aggressive Iran next door. With a max weight of 29 tons, an F-18E can carry up to eight tons of bombs. Combat range is 720 kilometers, and the aircraft was designed as a fighter. Qatar still wants the F-15E, which Israel and Saudi Arabia are both major users of but in the meantime has bought 24 Rafale fighters from France. It is still a mystery of how tiny Qatar (population 2.2 million) justifies the purchase of over 73 F-15Es. Middle Eastern nations are major users of the F-15E. Saudi Arabia alone has 153 F-15SA fighter-bombers. This includes 84 new ones ordered in 2012 and 69 upgraded F-15S models. The F-15SA is a special models of the F-15, similar to the two-seater F-15E, and unlike the single seat F-15Cs the Saudis already have optimized for ground attack. Israel protested selling the Saudis such advanced bomber technology, but the U.S. worked this out via secret discussions. The Saudi "F-15SA" is similar to the South Korean version of the F-15E, the F-15K. This is a customized version of the 36 ton U.S. F-15E (a two seat fighter bomber version of the single seat, 31 ton F-15C fighter). Already in service for over twenty years, the F-15E can carry up to 11 tons of bombs and missiles, along with a targeting pod and an internal 20mm cannon. The Saudi will begin receiving the new F-15SAs in 2016 and those will cost nearly $30 billion. The F-15E is an all-weather aircraft that can fly one-way up to 3,900 kilometers. It uses in-flight refueling to hit targets anywhere on the planet. For the Saudis this means they can keep these bombers in the air longer, searching for targets. Smart bombs make the F-15E particularly efficient. The second crewman (the backseater) handles the electronics and bombing. The F-15E remains a potent air-superiority fighter, making it an exceptional combat aircraft. This success prompted Israel, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and Singapore to buy it, paying about $100 million per aircraft. In the U.S. Air Force the F-15E is one of the most popular aircraft for combat pilots to fly, even more so than the new F-22.


On January 28th Japan displayed, for the first time, its X-2 stealth fighter. This prototype aircraft is to make its first flight by the end of February so there was no point in trying to keep it hidden from public view anymore. Japan admits that it will take about a decade to get the X-2 into service, assuming all the technical and fiscal obstacles can be overcome. China and Russia are also trying to develop similar aircraft while the U.S. has already done so, several times, since the 1980s (when the F-117 appeared).

The X-2 is actually a demonstrator aircraft for testing stealth concepts. The stealth tech that works would then be incorporated into a new Japanese designed fighter. This is needed to replace the locally built F-2s by the end of the 2020s. This F-2 replacement would be called the F-3 (or ATD-X). While Japan has already ordered some American F-35s it is possible Japan might go ahead with both the F-35 and F-3, depending on how dangerous their neighborhood gets.

In 2011 Japan decided to purchase 42 American F-35 fighters to replace its 110 elderly F-4Js. The F-35A is a 31 ton, single engine fighter that is 15.7 meters (51.4 feet) long and with a 10.7 meter (35 foot) wingspan. The F-35A can carry 8.1 tons of weapons in addition to an internal 20mm four-barrel autocannon. Japan will pay about $127 million for each F-35, which includes training, maintenance equipment, and a supply of spare parts. The Japanese will assemble the F-35 in Japan as the AX-1 and some of the components will be made in Japan. Despite the AX-1 deal Japan is still exploring a locally

Japan originally wanted to buy the American F-22 but was not allowed to. In 2010, wary of the continuing delays (and rising costs) of the F-35 program, Japan seriously considered buying another 50 locally made F-2s. This is a Japanese F-16 variant with a 25 percent larger wing area and better electronics. The 22 ton F-2 carries nearly nine tons of bombs. This plane is twice as expensive (at $110 million each) as the F-16, part of that is due to the better electronics (like an AESA radar), but mostly this is due to higher production costs in Japan. The F-2 has been in service since 2000 and 98 have been built so far.

Japan is concerned with the growing belligerence of China and North Korea, plus a simmering territorial dispute with Russia. More warplanes, and the modern ones at that are needed, just in case. The rapid Chinese development of its new stealth fighter, the J-20, also alarmed the Japanese. The delays in the F-35 program are seen as less critical now. South Korea is now more likely to buy the F-35, if only to keep up with their ancient rival Japan.
The U.S. is openly criticizing Moslem nations in the Middle East for saying they are eager to help destroy ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) but do little about it. Too many of these allies are much talk and little action. Then there is the delicate subject of Turkey and some Gulf Arab states quietly supporting al Qaeda affiliated Islamic terrorist rebels in Syria because they consider the Iran backed Syrian government more of a threat than al Qaeda. Turkey and these Arab states also see al Qaeda as much preferable to ISIL.

The Saudis and the other Gulf Arab states are mainly concerned with Iranian aggression. Iran has made it very clear that they believe they should control the Moslem holy places in Saudi Arabia and be the dominant military and political power in the region. That means having a veto over Arab diplomatic moves and generally returning to their ancient role of regional superpower. The Gulf Arabs are very hostile to this sort of thing but reluctant to go to war over it because the Iranians have an impressive history of battlefield victories.

In response the Sunni Arab states have tried to use Islamic terrorist groups as a weapon against the Shia threat. Thus Yemeni Shia rebels blame the Sunni Gulf Arabs of supporting al Qaeda in Yemen. This Islamic terrorist group has always been very hostile towards Shia and the growth of al Qaeda in Yemen was a primary reason for the Yemeni Shia rebelling in the first place. There is some truth to the Yemeni Shia accusations as many Sunni Gulf Arabs do support al Qaeda and have long provided cash donations and recruits. This terrorist support is not government policy with these Gulf States although some Gulf Arab states, like Qatar, have actively supported Islamic terrorist rebels in Libya and Syria.

There is a lot of popular support for Islamic terrorism among Sunni and Shia as it is common to believe that the non-Moslem world is actively at war with the Islam and Islamic terrorists are the only effective weapon to strike back with. This sounds absurd to non-Moslems, especially Westerners and Arab diplomats insist that there is no such terrorist support. But anyone perusing Arab language media immediately sees this support and some of it even shows up in English language versions of Arab media. That despite the fact that the Arab editors of the English language news outlets know that the Arab support for Islamic terrorism is not acceptable to Western audiences and try to remove it from the English language sites. The Iranians understand all this, as do other non-Moslems (like Indians) who have lived next to Moslems for a long time. So when the Yemeni Shia complain of Gulf Arab Sunni support for al Qaeda in Yemen it has a different meaning to other Moslems (who take it as fact) and Westerners (who dismiss it as a paranoid delusion).
The Taliban continue to earn their pay from the drug gangs by disrupting government efforts to halt the production (mostly in Helmand and Kandahar provinces in the south) and exporting of heroin and other drugs via routes in the south, east, north and west). Because of this there is lots of violence in the north, which is largely non-Pushtun (the Taliban is largely a Pushtun outfit) and hostile to Pushtuns and drugs. Pushtuns dominate the drug trade nationwide. There is also a lot of violence in the east, despite the presence of a lot more Pushtuns living there. Thats because Pakistan backed Islamic terrorists have long sought sanctuary along the Pakistan border and often try to control the local tribes via terror. The situation in the east has gotten worse since mid-2014 because of thousands of Pakistani based Islamic terrorists being chased out of their sanctuary (North Waziristan) by a major Pakistani military offensive. This has meant nothing but trouble for the Afghans living in those border areas, which have now turned into a war zone.

The drug gangs prefer to use bribes to create safe smuggling routes but if that doesnt work the Taliban supply the muscle. That gets the headlines while the bribes rarely do. When a large group (usually less than a hundred) of soldiers or police, including their commanders switch sides the cause is usually cash. Mercenary attitudes are acceptable in Afghanistan and an ancient tradition. Afghanistan is on the highway to India and passing armies often offered lucrative, if dangerous, opportunities for Afghan tribesmen. Those who returned with loot told exciting stories that became part of the folklore and tribal history. In this part of the world the legends are a lot more meaningful than elsewhere.

With most foreign troops gone the traditional warfare techniques are more effective. As a result the government is losing control of more territory. The problem is that the traditional methods, as practiced by the Taliban and drug gangs are very effective. These ancient methods use attacks on civilians and lots of terror to demoralize foes and keep allies in line.

Government forces cannot use these methods without endangering the billions of dollars in annual foreign aid that keeps the government and the security forces functioning. The drug gangs receive even more cash each year from producing and exporting opium and heroin. The only decisive edge the security forces had were the foreign troops and especially the Western support forces. This was especially true with air power (smart bombs and lots of air transport) and logistics. The presence of lots of foreign troops also reduced the corruption which is a problem for the government as well as the enemy.

American experts on Afghanistan pointed out that this would happen and now it cannot be denied. It is more likely, but not assured, that American air power and support forces (especially special operations and intel forces) will increase. Doing that is not popular in the United States or the West in general. Over 2,300 Americans (and 1,100 other foreigners) have died in Afghanistan since 2001 and over $100 billion spent so far to rebuild and sustain democracy and the economy in Afghanistan. Yet the withdrawal of Western troops caused panic inside Afghanistan and that crippled economic growth (which went from 14 percent in 2012 to less than two percent in 2014.)

Most Afghan military and police commanders believe that more (as in two or three times more) Western air power would do tremendous damage to the enemy. The reason is that the Taliban and drug gangs always believed that the bad guys would triumph once the foreign troops were gone. It didnt exactly work out that way and the Taliban have become sloppy. The enemy no longer fears and respects aerial reconnaissance as they once did and now more much more freely. An increase in air power would initially kill a lot of Taliban and force the enemy to move more slowly and cautiously. Taliban attacks would not be as massive and bold. All that air power made a huge difference and both sides know it. Foreign troops had a peak strength of 140,000 in 2010 versus 10,000 now. But the Afghans dont want a lot of foreign combat troops, just lots of aircraft and support forces.

A growing number of government officials believe efforts to negotiate a peace deal with the Taliban are futile. Aside from the growing factional battles within the Taliban factions there is fear that ISI (Pakistani intelligence, the creator of the Taliban) is again lying about its intentions and actually has no intention of helping make any peace talks a success. To the ISI keeping the Afghan leadership busy with futile peace efforts is useful which has always sought to obtain as much control over Afghan affairs using any means available.

Both the security forces and various Islamic terrorist groups continue fighting ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) in the east. ISIL is attracting a lot, if not most, of the religious fanatics in the Taliban ranks. From the beginning many of the Taliban were more opportunists than religious zealots. But after 2002, when it became obvious that a Taliban resurgence would have to be financed by drug gangs, the percentage of Taliban who were there mainly for religious reasons declined. Those religious fanatics were not happy working with drug thugs hated by most Afghans. So when ISIL came along these Taliban zealots felt a real attraction to the new gang, even if it meant taking a pay cut. More danger was a plus not a negative because these were the guys who believed death while serving Allah was a surefire ticket to paradise. It is believed there are more ISIL in Afghanistan (up to 5,000) than Pakistan (less than half that) even though there are twice as many Pushtuns (the tribes Taliban are mainly from) in Pakistan. Fortunately for the Taliban ISIL is still busy organizing and building bases and a support organization. So the clashes are relatively few. Eventually ISIL forces will come after the blasphemers (the Taliban and drug gangs) and it will be different. That will start happening sooner rather than later, which is another incentive for more foreign airpower.

Despite the distraction caused by ISIL and internal disputes the Taliban still puts most of its forces into keeping the drug business safe. Thus in the north (Kunduz province) officials report that the Taliban still control areas outside Kunduz city. The Taliban launched a surprise offensive in Kunduz in September 2015 and by the end of the month were in control of Kunduz city. Soon more police and soldiers arrived and drove them out by mid-October. By the end of the year over 1,500 more Islamic terrorists were killed in the city and then Kunduz province. The September Taliban attack on Kunduz left 289 civilians dead and 559 wounded and some local officials fear another attack. The Taliban consider Kunduz province a major route for smuggling heroin out of the country via Central Asia. The Taliban are still a threat in parts of Kunduz province, as can be seen in the areas where cell phone companies comply with Taliban demands and that cell phone service be turned off at night (so locals cannot alert police to Taliban activity). If the companies do not comply the Taliban will attack the cell phone towers and company personnel.

Meanwhile In Pakistan

Despite a massive 18 month long campaign against Islamic terrorist hideouts along the Afghan border the Pakistani military cannot reduce the incidence of Islamic terror attacks below about half their normal level (5,300 deaths in 2013). In 2015 there were 3,682 deaths, most of them Islamic terrorists killed in the offensive. But Islamic terrorist attacks only fell by about half. The offensive in the northwest is to continue to the end of 2016 and there is general agreement that it was not enough. The military is under growing pressure to shut down all Islamic terrorists in the country. Many military officers resist that because they believe, for religious or economic reasons that some Islamic terrorists must still be protected (so they can attack India and Afghanistan.) It is getting harder and harder to defend that position. America, India and Afghanistan are leading that effort and Pakistani government denials no longer work at all.

February 10, 2016: the United States has ordered a larger force (500 soldiers) to replace the 150 already in Helmand province. There 150 soldiers are providing security for a base that American Special Forces and foreign commandos operate from. The Taliban and drug gangs see these special operations troops as a major threat and are apparently trying to attack these bases. So more American troops are being sent to ensure that any attacks fail.

February 9, 2016: The United States issued a warning to Americans living in Kabul that Islamic terrorists were planning attacks on areas where foreigners lived in Kabul.

February 8, 2016: Another senior Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Hassan Rahmani, died of cancer in a Pakistani hospital. Rahmani was one of the founders and served as governor of Kandahar province in the late 1990s when the Taliban controlled most of the country. Since 2002 Rahmani has been at Taliban headquarters in Quetta Pakistan (just across the border from Kandahar) and was a close advisor of the late Taliban leader Mullah Omar. Quetta has been a sanctuary for the Taliban leadership since 2002 and is the one tribal area where Pakistan would not allow American UAVs to operate.

February 6, 2016: In the east (Kunar province) the bodies of three members of a polio vaccination team were found 12 days after they disappeared. Despite attacks like this Afghan polio cases were at a record low (eight) in 2015. This compares to 54 in neighboring Pakistan. The first 2016 case in Pakistan was confirmed in early February and there has apparently been at least one case so far in Afghanistan. In both countries Islamic terrorists (especially the Taliban) ban polio vaccinations and attack anyone trying to deliver the vaccine to vulnerable children. Islamic terrorists in general tend to believe the vaccination teams are spying for the government and that the vaccinations are a plot to sterilize Moslems.

February 3, 2016: In the east (Paktika province) an American UAV fired missiles that killed 18 Pakistani Taliban coming from South Waziristan. Locals had already buried some of the dead when troops arrived but it was still possible to identify which tribe the dead men were from and collect other useful intelligence.

February 1, 2016: In Kabul a Taliban suicide bomber attacked outside a government compound, leaving 20 dead and 29 wounded. The security is pretty tight these days so Islamic terrorists go for attacks near government facilities, often in lines of civilians waiting to go through a security check the suicide bomber would not pass. The idea here is to get some media attention.

In the east (Nangarhar province) Afghan warplanes and American UAVs found and destroyed an ISIL radio station and also killed 29 of the ISIL men in the area.

January 30, 2016: Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed to increase coordination on border security. The 2,600 kilometer long frontier is poorly guarded and there are frequent illegal crossings by smugglers and Islamic terrorists.

January 25, 2016: In the southwest (Uruzgan province) the Taliban bribed a policeman to drug and kill the other ten policemen at a remote checkpoint and then load all the weapons and ammo in a vehicle and drive off to join the Taliban. Such acts of bribery, betrayal and murder are not uncommon in Afghanistan. This is especially true if tribal loyalties are involved (as in putting policemen from different tribes or clans in the same unit).

January 24, 2016: In eastern Afghanistan, near the Pakistani border, an American UAV fired a missile at a building and killed Mullah Fazlullah, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban. Pakistan had asked the Americans to do this and apparently provided some useful intel to make this attack possible. There is still no absolute proof that Mullah Fazlullah is dead but that is expected soon as a new leader will have to be announced if the previous one is really gone. Pakistan accused Mullah Fazlullah of authorizing and supporting several major attacks inside Pakistan, including the recent one at a Pakistani university.

January 21, 2016: The head of the local (for Pakistan and Afghanistan) branch of ISIL released an interview in which he repeated allegations that the Pakistani military controls the Afghan Taliban and Islamic terrorist groups based in Pakistan that operate in India. These accusations are nothing new but they are the reason ISIL considers Pakistan un-Islamic and worthy of some lethal retribution delivered by ISIL. To underscore that on January 13th ISIL attacked the Pakistani consulate in Afghanistan (Jalalabad). Three attackers and seven security personnel died. This was the first time ISIL went after a Pakistani government target. Apparently four suicide bombers were involved in this attack and the fourth one got away. For most of 2015 ISIL has been skirmishing with Pakistani Taliban hiding out in eastern Afghanistan.
Wellesbourne Airfield

Mr Twomey said: Democracy can only work when the people are given a real choice between candidates. I intend to bring a new perspective to the debate on crime, and as an independent candidate can make a clear promise that I will do all in my power to keep party-politics out of policing.

Two other candidates have declared.

They are Cllr Philip Seccombe, Stratford district councillor for Ettington ward, and former senior Warwickshire Police officer, David Whitehouse.

The current incumbent, Ron Ball, has already decided not to seek reelection.
A gas pump is seen hanging from the ceiling at a petrol station in Seoul in this June 27, 2011 file photo. REUTERS/Jo Yong-Hak

By Barani Krishnan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. crude slid on Thursday, hitting 12-year lows as domestic stockpiles grew, Goldman Sachs called for depressed prices until the second half of the year and investors fled from equities and other risky assets into safe havens such as gold.

Prices came off session lows in post-settlement trade after the Wall Street Journal quoted UAE's energy minister as saying OPEC was ready to cooperate on production cuts. Most traders were skeptical, noting that Venezuela and Russia recently called in vain for OPEC and other major oil producers to cut output.

"I will say this is the first time the UAE is weighing in" on a production cut call, said John Kilduff, partner at New York energy hedge fund Again Capital. "Its the first time a Gulf producer is saying something."

The market "was vulnerable to a headline risk and it seems to have got it. Otherwise there's nothing new."

Earlier, U.S. crude plumbed a new 2003 low and Brent fell below $30 a barrel after data showing strong, steady growth in U.S. and global oil inventories.

Both benchmarks extended steep weekly slides, with U.S. crude down 14 percent and Brent 10 percent for the week so far.

U.S. crude settled down $1.24, or 4.5 percent, at $26.21 a barrel. It fell in post-settlement trade to a 12-year low of $26.05, before paring losses after the Journal headline on OPEC.

Brent settled down 78 cents, or 2.5 percent, at $30.06 per barrel. It fell as low as $29.92.

Investors shoveled funds into safe havens. Gold prices surged to a one-year high and U.S. Treasury yields plunged.

Market intelligence firm Genscape reported a build of almost 425,000 barrels in the week to Feb. 9 at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery hub for U.S. crude. On Wednesday, government data showed crude inventories in Cushing hit all-time highs just shy of 65 million barrels during the week ended Feb. 5.

Traders scrambled to buy bearish U.S. crude options, particularly for $25 puts. Technical analysts said the $25 level could be hit within days.

Investment bank Goldman Sachs said in a note to clients it expected U.S. oil prices to fluctuate between $20 and $40, with significant volatility and no trend until the second half.

Oil has fallen almost 75 percent since mid-2014 as global crude output exceeded demand by 1-2 million barrels daily. China's economy has hit the lowest growth in a generation, further limiting demand for oil.

(Additional reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar and Catherine Ngai in New York and Simon Falush in London; Editing by Marguerita Choy and David Gregorio)
Franco-Nevada Corporation (NYSE: FNV) is pleased to announce that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Franco-Nevada (Barbados) Corporation ("FNB") has agreed to acquire a precious metals stream with reference to production from the Antapaccay mine for US$500 million ("Glencore Stream"). The Antapaccay mine is located in Southern Peru and is wholly-owned and operated by Glencore plc and its subsidiaries ("Glencore").

"Franco-Nevada is pleased to partner with Glencore," said David Harquail, President and CEO of Franco-Nevada. "Following our recent Antamina and Candelaria investments, this is yet another step in strengthening and diversifying Franco-Nevada's portfolio with some of the best mining projects in the world. This investment is expected to be immediately accretive and provide our shareholders with gold price optionality over multiple cycles and potential further exploration and expansion upside."

Transaction Highlights



-- Another cornerstone investment: The Glencore Stream is referenced to

production from the Antapaccay open pit mine which has been expanding

throughput rates and production since late 2012. It is on the same

property as the Tintaya mine that operated for almost 30 years. Glencore

has invested in excess of US$1.5 billion to develop Antapaccay into a

low cost operation with production that ranks amongst the top 20 copper

mines globally.



-- Immediately accretive: Franco-Nevada is expecting 60,000 to 70,000 gold

equivalent ounces ("GEOs")1applicable to deliveries from the stream in

2016. Due to the timing of concentrate shipments, Franco-Nevada expects

11 months of deliveries to contribute to revenues in 2016.



-- Near term growth: Total throughput from the Antapaccay plant and Tintaya

plant is expected to increase to 105,000 tpd by mid-2016. Full year

contributions to Franco-Nevada from the Glencore Stream are expected to

average 70,000 to 80,000 GEOs1 per year over the next 5 years.

Glencore's current mine plan (based on Mineral Reserves) projects

production to 2030.



-- Alignment with Glencore: Under the streaming agreement, precious metal

deliveries are initially referenced to copper in concentrate shipped.

FNB will receive 300 ounces of gold and 4,700 ounces of silver for each

1,000 tonnes of copper in concentrate shipped, until 630,000 ounces of

gold and 10 million ounces of silver have been delivered. Thereafter,

FNB will receive 30% of the gold and silver shipped.



-- Exploration and expansion potential: The Glencore Stream is referenced

to the entire Antapaccay concession covering approximately 997 km2. The

Coroccohuayco deposit is located within 10 km of the Antapaccay plant

and is not included in the current mine plan. Coroccohuayco hosts 256

million tonnes of M&I resource, at approximately twice the copper grade

of Antapaccay reserves, and could potentially provide supplementary high

grade ore later in the mine life. In addition, there are a number of

large-scale regional targets and prospects on the Antapaccay

concessions.





Transaction Terms



-- FNB will make a one-time US$500 million advance payment upon closing of

the transaction which is expected to occur in February.



-- Gold and silver deliveries to FNB will initially be determined by

reference to copper shipments until 630,000 ounces of refined gold and

10 million ounces of refined silver have been delivered. For each 1,000

tonnes of copper in concentrate shipped, FNB will receive 300 ounces of

gold and 4,700 ounces of silver until the previously mentioned

thresholds are met. Thereafter, FNB will receive 30% of the gold and

silver shipped.



-- Deliveries to FNB will be payable monthly based on the prior month's

shipments. FNB will be entitled to deliveries based on shipments on or

after January 1, 2016. In the first quarter of 2016, FNB expects to

receive deliveries of gold and silver under the Glencore Stream relating

to January and February.



-- FNB will initially pay an on-going price of 20% of the spot price of

gold and silver until 750,000 ounces of refined gold and 12.8 million

ounces of refined silver have been delivered. Thereafter, the on-going

price will increase to 30% of the spot price of gold and silver.



-- Gold and silver deliveries will be made by Narila Investments Ltd, a

Bermudan incorporated wholly-owned subsidiary of Glencore plc. Glencore

plc will be a party to the agreement. The operating company and its

immediate holding company will be subject to certain negative covenants

governing indebtedness and encumbrances.





Antapaccay

Antapaccay is located within the province of Espinar in Southern Peru - a district with a long mining history. The property hosts the historic Tintaya open pit mine and related infrastructure which began operating in 1984 and produced over 1.6 million tonnes of copper and 500,000 ounces of gold until operations ceased in 2012.

Glencore (Xstrata) invested in excess of US$1.5 billion of initial capital to build and commission the Antapaccay open pit mine and plant, which commenced operations in 2012 at an initial throughput of 70,000 tpd. Through debottlenecking at the Antapaccay plant and restart of the Tintaya plant in 2015 (which incorporated additional throughput of 20,000 tpd), total throughput at the mine has increased to approximately 100,000 tpd. By mid-year 2016, additional flotation capacity is expected to increase Antapaccay plant throughput to 85,000 tpd, taking the total throughput capacity of the operation to approximately 105,000 tpd. The mine produced 202 kt of copper in 2015 and is expected to produce approximately 220 kt in 2016 (at 0.70% copper) ranking it as one of the top 20 largest copper producers in the world.

Based on current projections, the mine life at Antapaccay is estimated to extend until 2030 and would mine 538 million tonnes of sulphide ore at an average copper grade of 0.52%. The current mine plan is solely based on Antapaccay reserves and does not incorporate additional resources from the project. Antapaccay currently contains Mineral Reserves of 547 million tonnes at a copper grade of 0.52%, M&I resources (inclusive of Mineral Reserves) of 686 million tonnes at a copper grade of 0.50% and inferred resources of 165 million tonnes at a copper grade of 0.40%.

The Antapaccay property consists of mining concessions that cover an approximate area of 997 km2. The property also contains the Coroccohuayco brownfield expansion project, a satellite skarn deposit that is located within 10 km of the Antapaccay plant and is part of the Tintaya mineralized district. At this stage, exploration and drilling at Coroccohuayco has focused on defining resources. The current M&I resource includes 256 million tonnes grading 1.01% copper, 0.10 g/t gold and 3.1 g/t silver and an inferred resource of 80 million tonnes grading 1.20% copper, 0.10 g/t gold and 4.7 g/t silver. Beyond the estimated Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources of Antapaccay and Coroccohuayco, there are a number of regional scale targets and prospects for exploration within the large concession.

Please refer to the "Mineral Reserves and Resources" section of the press release for additional detail.

Financing the Acquisition

To provide the initial upfront cash payment of US$500 million, Franco-Nevada intends to use the net proceeds of a US$550 million equity offering announced concurrently as of today's date (the "Offering"). At December 31, 2015 the Company had approximately US$290 million in net debt with US$460 million outstanding under its US$1.0 billion credit facility. On completion of the Offering and after funding the acquisition of the Glencore Stream, the Company expects to have in excess of US$800 million in available capital to complete further investments.

Conference Call Information

Management will host a conference call today, Wednesday, February 10, 2016 at 4:45 p.m. Eastern Time to discuss the transaction.

Interested investors are invited to participate as follows:
Ingram Micro Inc. (NYSE: IM) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) Division of RRC Group, a leading value-added distributor, specializing in IT enterprise solutions. Headquartered in Poland, the CEE division business brings to Ingram Micro a comprehensive suite of service offerings including logistics, education and technical and marketing support. The business also supports a portfolio of higher value solutions focused on networking, security, IT infrastructure and auto identification products and services from world-class technology partners, including Cisco, IBM, EMC, Zebra and Avaya. The CEE division has operations in Poland, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia and Albania, significantly increasing Ingram Micro's presence in the region. The addition is expected to contribute more than $250 million in annual revenue and be slightly accretive to Ingram Micro's 2016 non-GAAP earnings. The associated leadership team will join Ingram Micro upon close of the transaction to assist in the integration and help lead the combined business thereafter. The transaction, which is subject to customary regulatory and other closing conditions, is expected to close in the second quarter of 2016.

Ingram Micro CEO Alain Monie commented, "The addition of RRC's CEE division is well aligned with Ingram Micro's global strategy to broaden our reach in higher margin, value-add and services businesses. In addition to bolstering our European portfolio of value solutions, we expect to leverage their established brand in Central and Eastern Europe to further increase revenue and profitability throughout this strategic territory, which has been a focus of expansion for Ingram Micro. We look forward to the CEE business and its associates becoming a part of Ingram Micro."

Konstantin Sidorov, RRC Group Chairman, added, "As a highly respected global brand, Ingram Micro is an ideal partner to help our CEE division expand its business and profitability throughout the region as we will benefit from Ingram Micro's established infrastructure and partnerships with leading technology companies."
SALEM  Oregon lawmakers took no action Thursday on a bill that would have phased out fifth-year high school programs, leaving the programs intact at least for the coming school year.

Sen. Arnie Roblan, the Democrat who chairs the Senate Education Committee, said he did not believe Senate Bill 322 had at least four of the seven votes to move out of committee, so he opted not to advance it.

However, he said, he'd received assurances from mid-valley Sen. Sara Gelser, a member of the committee, that she'd convene a work group of representatives from the school districts the bill would have affected. The group will look into more sustainable funding models for the programs and come up with recommendations for a new bill by February 2016.

Fifth-year high school programs allow students in participating school districts to put off receiving their diplomas while spending an additional year, sometimes two, earning college credits.

Tuition and fees are paid through state school funds because the students, having not officially graduated, are still considered part of their home school districts.

Sen. Mark Hass, who sponsored SB 322, said the funding mechanism was the problem. Stretching funds for grades K-12 into a 13th or even 14th year takes money away from younger students, he said. And, he added, the model isn't sustainable because not all districts can participate. "If Portland were to go this way, it would break the bank," he said.

Gelser, the Democrat who represents the mid-valley's Senate District 8, said she fought hard against the bill and is glad for a chance to revisit the issue. But she said she and the school officials who use the programs are aware the funding situation needs work.

"It was a fair question about what's the right way to pay for this," she said. "What isn't appropriate is to shut something down without talking to the people it impacts, without understanding how the program actually works, and especially when it's something that's working incredibly well for kids."

Fifth-year programs are particularly strong in the mid-valley and are in place in Albany, Corvallis, Lebanon, Scio, Sweet Home and Central Linn, all of which work with Linn-Benton Community College to guide participants along the college path.

Superintendent Erin Prince of Corvallis said she was "relieved and encouraged" by the decision to let the bill go and stands ready to join the work group.

Already, more than 100 students are poised to take advantage of the Corvallis program, Running Start, this fall.

"We are seeing amazing results in how these programs re-engage students and provide hope and support in bridging high school to college," Prince said. "When all is said and done, this is a decision that will impact many young adult lives for the positive, many who would not have gone to college without this opportunity."

In Lebanon, where Beyond LHS has operated since 2005, Superintendent Rob Hess said the legislative time-out was "what we were hoping for."

"There's no fast, overnight solution to this, so we're going to put it to the work group and bring it back next February," he said.

Educators, parents and students from nearly all of the affected mid-valley districts testified March 19 before the Senate Education Committee, voicing unanimous support for the fifth-year programs and asking for help in finding funding to keep them.

Gelser credited that testimony with helping move SB 322 off the table.

"This issue unifies people in the mid-valley like nothing I've ever seen. I can't go anywhere without somebody talking to me about this  church, restaurants, gas stations, the grocery store, the park," she said. "It's some of the best grass-roots lobbying I've ever seen on anything, and it made me very proud of my district."
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Crown Bioscience Inc., a global drug discovery and development services company providing translational platforms to advance oncology and metabolic disease research, has reached an agreement with UKs University of York to exclusively license and commercialize the universitys unique collection of patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models for prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men, impacting more than 14 million patients worldwide. The disease has long been underrepresented at the preclinical modeling stage of drug development, and as such, Crown Bioscience is anticipating significant demand for this new service offering.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160211005069/en/

This agreement benefits cancer researchers around the world because these models will now become more widely available, Jean-Pierre Wery, PhD., president of Crown Bioscience. With this agreement, we can offer researchers one of the largest, if not the largest, collection of well-validated prostate cancer PDX models. The universitys models will be marketed alongside our industry-leading HuPrime collection and run to CrownBios meticulous standard.

CrownBio intends to expand characterization, including next generation sequencing, of the models, and ultimately to develop new models resistant to current clinical therapies. Derived from primary tissue, the collection includes pretreated and naive material, plus examples of both clinically diagnosed castration-resistant (CRPC) and hormone sensitive prostate cancer.

The models were developed by Dr. Anne Collins in the laboratory of Professor Norman Maitland in the Department of Biology at the University of York, with major funding from the independent regional charity Yorkshire Cancer Research. Since setting up the YCR Cancer Research Unit at the University of York in 1980, our researchers have advanced our understanding of the genetic makeup of prostate cancer and how it can be detected and treated. These models can now become a resource for researchers all over the world, said Charles Rowett, CEO at Yorkshire Cancer Research.

Were delighted to work with CrownBio, the market leader in PDX and translational models, to help us bring these models to the wider research community, said Maitland, director of the YCR Cancer Research Unit at York. For many years, the preclinical development of the new therapies, sorely needed for prostate cancer, has relied on testing in models derived in the 1980s. Researchers will now be able to use multiple near-patient xenografts, from different stages and grades of prostate cancer. This initiative should provide the best indicator yet to drug developers of the particular patient group in which a new treatment will be most effective.

For more information about the entire line of Crown Bioscience translational platforms, visit www.crownbio.com.

About Crown Bioscience Inc.

Crown Bioscience is a global drug discovery and development service company providing translational platforms to advance oncology and metabolic disease research. With an extensive portfolio of relevant models and predictive tools, Crown Bioscience enables clients to deliver superior clinical candidates. For more information, please visit www.crownbio.com.

About the University of York

The University of York is a member of the Russell Group and features regularly in the ranks of the worlds foremost universities. In the UK 2014 Research Excellence Framework, its Department of Biology placed in the Top 10 as well as ranking first for impact outside academia. www.york.ac.uk

About Yorkshire Cancer Research

Yorkshire Cancer Research (Registered Charity 516898) is the largest independent regional cancer charity in England. The charity aims to invest 100m over the next 10 years in order to save 2,000 lives in Yorkshire every year by 2025. For more information, please visit www.ycr.org.uk.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160211005069/en/

For Crown Bioscience Inc.

Lea Studer, +1-308-237-5567

SCORR Marketing

[email protected]

Source: Crown Bioscience Inc.
CHICAGO, Feb. 11, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A Washington, D.C., court violated international human rights law when it denied one of the youngest persons held in Guantanamo Bay his right to redress for torture that he suffered while he was detained. That's according to an amicus brief filed by The John Marshall Law School International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC) with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Brief author Professor Steven D. Schwinn says the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia erred when it dismissed the lawsuit of Mohammed Jawad, who was held at Guantanamo from 2003 until 2009. John Marshall has filed the only "friend of the court" brief on Jawad's appeal thus far. Jawad made international headlines as one of the youngest prisoners to be detained at Guantanamo. The government initially claimed that Jawad injured U.S. soldiers and their interpreter when he threw a grenade at a military vehicle in 2002. But a military judge ruled Jawad's confession inadmissible, after learning that Jawad confessed only after he was tortured by Afghan police. The judge also found that Jawad suffered "abusive conduct and cruel and inhuman treatment" while wrongly detained at Guantanamo. The government later dropped its case and maintained that Jawad was no longer detainable. After nearly seven years in wrongful detention, Jawad returned home to Afghanistan in 2009. Jawad sued the U.S. government and several officials in 2014, claiming that while in detention he was beaten, kicked and pepper-sprayed; deprived of proper medical care; sexually humiliated; deprived of food and drink; and held in solitary confinement. The district court dismissed the case in summer 2015; Jawad appealed in September. "The district court's ruling denies Mr. Jawad an effective remedy and thus violates his well-settled right to an effective judicial remedy under international human rights law," wrote Schwinn, co-director of John Marshall's IHRC. The responsibility of the U.S. to provide a judicial remedy is heightened because Jawad was a minor at the time, Schwinn noted. The brief continues the work of the International Human Rights Clinic fighting for lawful treatment of prisoners while incarcerated. The IHRC has produced research on the use of solitary confinement in U.S. detention centers, especially involving immigrant detainees. About the John Marshall Community Legal Clinics

John Marshall offers several clinical experiences through its Community Legal Clinics, including the International Human Rights Clinic and the nationally recognized Veterans Legal Support Center & Clinic. The IHRC offers law students a background in human rights advocacy through the practical experience of working on international human rights cases and projects. The National Jurist magazine has named John Marshall among the best in the country in providing practical training to law students. John Marshall earned an A- from the publication that is followed by current and future law students, law educators and the legal community. About The John Marshall Law School

The John Marshall Law School, founded in 1899, is an independent law school located in the heart of Chicago's legal, financial and commercial districts. The 2016 U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Graduate Schools ranks John Marshall's Lawyering Skills Program fifth, its Trial Advocacy Program 16th and its Intellectual Property Law Program 17th in the nation. Since its inception, John Marshall has been a pioneer in legal education and has been guided by a tradition of diversity, innovation, access and opportunity.

CONTACT: Christine Kraly 312-427-2737 x 171

Source: The John Marshall Law School-Chicago
WASHINGTON, Feb. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Inc., a nonprofit educational organization honoring the achievements of outstanding individuals and encouraging youth to pursue their dreams through higher education, will induct Colorado resident Michael Shannon, chairman, KSL Capital Partners, LLC, as a lifetime Member at the annual Horatio Alger Award Induction Ceremonies in spring 2016. Concurrently, two outstanding Colorado high school students will be awarded the prestigious Horatio Alger National Scholarship. Association Members and Scholars are selected based on their commitment to higher education and determination to succeed in the face of significant adversity. Members serve as mentors to this future generation of leaders.

Named for renowned author Horatio Alger Jr., who wrote about the merits of honesty, courage and perseverance as the means to success, Horatio Alger Association was established in 1947 to uphold these tenets, which are core to achieving the American Dream. To further its mission, individuals who have achieved great success despite difficult personal challenges and who also demonstrate initiative, resilience and excellence, such as Mr. Shannon, are annually inducted into the Association as lifetime Members.

"The Association is proud to welcome Mr. Shannon, an individual who so clearly embodies the qualities depicted in the works of Horatio Alger, Jr.," said Byron Trott, president and CEO, Horatio Alger Association. "Each year, the Association inducts new Members who are committed to higher education and philanthropy, and who, despite humble beginnings, have achieved great personal and professional success. Mr. Shannon is an outstanding businessman who understands the importance of pursuing higher education, and we are certain that he will help to further the mission of our organization."

Since 1984, Horatio Alger Association has administered one of the nation's largest privately funded, need-based scholarship programs, which provides educational assistance to promising students with an admirable commitment to continuing their education and serving their communities.The Association has provided more than $125 million in undergraduate, graduate and specialized scholarships in just over 30 years. The following students from Colorado have been recognized for their exceptional accomplishments with the 2016 Horatio Alger National Scholarship in the amount of $22,000 per student:

Andy Guerrero, Aurora Central High School, Aurora, CO

Kamia Iniko Bradley, East High School, Denver, CO

"My fellow Members and I are consistently inspired by the incredible achievements of Horatio Alger Scholars," said Tony Novelly, chairman, Horatio Alger Association. "The two recipients from Colorado have excelled academically and also find time to generously give back to their communities. We are proud to present them both with the prestigious Horatio Alger National Scholarship, and we look forward to witnessing all that they will accomplish in the future."

Mr. Shannon and his fellow new Members will be formally inducted into the Association at the 69th Horatio Alger Award Induction Ceremonies in Washington, D.C., from March 31-April 2, 2016. The annual three-day event honors the achievements of the Members and also recognizes the 2016 Horatio Alger National Scholars, affording both groups the opportunity to meet and interact, exchanging stories of hardships, triumphs and successes. The National Scholarship Program is wholly funded through private donations from Association Members, Life Partners and Friends.

To view the complete list of Horatio Alger Members selected for the Class of 2016, please click here.

To view the complete list of 2016 Horatio Alger National Scholarship recipients, please click here.

About Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans:Founded in 1947, the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Inc. is dedicated to the simple but powerful belief that hard work, honesty and determination can conquer all obstacles. The Association honors the achievements of outstanding leaders who have accomplished remarkable successes in spite of adversity by bestowing upon them the Horatio Alger Award and inducting them as lifetime Members. Horatio Alger Members support promising young people with the resources and confidence needed to overcome adversity in pursuit of their dreams through higher education. Through the generosity of its Members and friends, the Association awards more than $11 million annually in undergraduate and graduate need-based scholarships across the United States and Canada and provides college support and mentoring services to its Scholars. Since 1984, the Association has awarded more than $125 million in college scholarships to more than 22,000 deserving young people. For more information, please visit www.horatioalger.org.

CONTACT:McKenna Young484-385-2913 (office)[email protected]

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/horatio-alger-association-honors-denver-businessman-michael-shannon-and-two-national-scholarship-recipients-from-colorado-300218892.html

SOURCE Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Inc.
NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 02/11/16 -- IC Media Direct, an award-winning online PR and marketing firm based in New York and Washington DC, will join other attendees in the upcoming Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, Spain. An opportunity to share knowledge on boosting visibility in search results and to learn from other leading experts, the GSMA has been producing leading events for the global mobile industry since 1987.

This year is expected to set records, as attendance has increased from 60,000 visitors to over 93,000 in the past five years. Scheduled for February 22-25, 2016, the Mobile World Congress conference will gather the world's leading digital marketing professionals who will learn and share cutting-edge technology announcements. Various companies will analyze and predict industry trends expected to shape the mobile market of 2016. Businesses ranging from startups to Fortune 500's will be in attendance, hosting hundreds of exhibits to contribute their knowledge on technology for the 21st century.

The conference's five-day agenda has been released, confirming an impressive line-up of chief executives to speak at this year's event. The 2016 keynote speaker list includes Facebook Founder & CEO Mark Zuckerberg, PayPal President & CEO Dan Schulman, Getty Images CEO Dawn Airey, and BuzzFeed Founder & CEO Jonah Peretti. Together, these renown entrepreneurs are expected to share mobile insights as they apply to the 'Internet of Things', industry disruption topics, and new product releases. "We are honored to be joining this event. It's a unique experience to focus on the ever-growing possibilities for success and growth strategies in mobile marketing," stated a representative from IC Media Direct.

Founded in 1996, IC Media Direct is an award winning PR and marketing firm specializing in reputation management with locations in New York City and Washington, DC. With an unmatched expertise in online marketing, the company is proud to provide their services to top executives, celebrities, and countless international organizations. A public relations powerhouse, IC Media Direct are also recognized as the innovator and worldwide leader in 'Google Brand Repair,' reinstating the good reputations of clients in nearly 50 countries. The firm attends and sponsors major marketing events and conferences including Affiliate Summit, Leadscon, SES, and ad:tech.

IC Media Direct - PR and Marketing News: http://icmediadirectnews.com

IC Media Direct - Presents Advanced Google Reputation Management Solutions at ad:tech 2015 in San Francisco: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSnMKWhbKxQa+1ca+MKW20150525

IC Media Direct - Google+: https://plus.google.com/115958791732157489400

Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/2/11/11G082484/Images/IC_Media_Direct_--_Attends_Mobile_World_Congress_i-e313c9c9be0c8cff8cac495e0a3cc3fd.jpg

Embedded Video Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3QHOeY8qAM

Source: ICMediaDirect.com
TOLEDO, OH -- (Marketwired) -- 02/11/16 -- To meet the growing demand for pizza in the Gulf Coast region of Northern Florida, Southern Alabama and Southern Mississippi, Marco's Pizza franchise is seeking to partner with entrepreneurs who want a slice of the action.

How big is the demand for pizza in the Gulf Coast Region of Northern Florida, Southern Alabama and Southern Mississippi? The area is incredibly diverse of the United States. The population of well over 2,500,000 is spread over 27 counties, including the vibrant cities of Tallahassee, Biloxi, and Mobile, as well the dynamic tourist destinations of Panama City and Gulf Shores. The Gulf Coast region of Northern Florida, Southern Alabama and Southern Mississippi will be thriving for years to come.

That kind of growth makes it a perfect location for a Marco's Pizza. Their Ah!thentic Italian-style pizza is fresh-made with delectable cheeses, meats and vegetables, and they have several prime locations in the Gulf Coast available for franchise partners who want to be part of the nation's fastest-growing large pizza chain.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently published a study on American eating habits that found that on any given day, 13% of the entire U.S. population is eating pizza. When applied to the Gulf Coast region of Northern Florida, Southern Alabama and Southern Mississippi -- population over 2,500,000 -- that statistic means that more than 325,000 people in the region are eating pizza every single day.

Marco's Pizza prides itself on making the best pizza money can buy. It is handmade in the Italian tradition, using fresh, never-frozen cheeses, making the dough in stores daily and using only premium meats and vegetables. Founded in Toledo in 1978, Marco's is the only Top 20 pizza chain founded by a native Italian. Marco's has enjoyed stunning growth in recent years and is on pace to open 1,000 restaurants by the end of 2017. The brand's proven business model and sustainable growth has been heralded by the likes of Forbes, Consumer Report, Entrepreneur, Franchise Times and Nation's Restaurant News.

"Our franchisees come from a remarkably wide variety of backgrounds. But there's a common thread among our franchisees -- passion for the Marco's product. Almost half of them were Marco's consumers first. They fell in love with our product," said Cameron Cummins, Chief Development Officer for Marco's Pizza.

Marco's Pizza is growing faster than the overall pizza industry Marco's Pizza has the fastest unit growth, according to Nation's Restaurant News, which named the beloved pizza franchise as part of its Second 100 List. That list analyzes businesses that are smaller but are focusing on growing around the nation.

The publication states that while the pizza industry is mature and growth is limited, Marco's Pizza is the exception. Not only is Marco's growing faster than other pizza franchises, Marco's Pizza sales growth also is higher than any other pizza franchise. The publication reports that Marco's Pizza sales growth is tops for system-wide sales in the Second 100 pizza segment.

Marco's Pizza franchise seeks friendly, passionate entrepreneurs in the Gulf Coast region Marco's Pizza wants welcoming, friendly individuals who remember customers' names and are passionate about the product to join the Marco's Pizza franchisee family. The investment required to start a Marco's Pizza franchise is typically about $350,000. The pizza franchise is looking for people who have a net worth of $150,000 and a minimum liquidity of $100,000.

To learn more, visit www.marcosfranchising.com.

Embedded Video Available

Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=2960351 Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=2960353 Embedded Video Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=2960355

Contact Cameron Cummins Chief Development Officer [email protected]

Source: Marco's Pizza Franchise
MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 02/11/16 -- Mobi724 Global Solutions Inc. ("Mobi724 Global" or the "Company") (CSE: MOS), a technology leader in the digital incentives, couponing and payment space, announces that its wholly owned Argentinian subsidiary, Mobi724 S.R.L. Inc. ("Mobi724 Argentina"), has signed a commercial agreement with First Data Cono Sur S.R.L. ("First Data") to route its transactions and offer its innovative solutions to First Data's partner banks and retailer clients.

The integration of the Mobi724 platform with First Data's gateway will allow immediate authorization of coupons and/or rewards redemptions.

This agreement will enable First Data and Mobi724 Argentina to offer Mobi724's Digital Incentive Engine and services platform to retailers, offer providers, mobile operators and card issuers to create, manage, deliver and authorize incentive campaigns to ANY mobile device or payment card.

Marcel Vienneau CEO of Mobi724 Global stated: "The agreement with First Data Cono Sur S.R.L. will allow us to bring our solution to every Point of Sale where First Data is connected in Argentina, enabling the use of the Mobi724 platform for redemption of card linked coupons and rewards in a seamless transaction process for both their banks and merchants. This will enable us to accelerate our market growth with their banks' card portfolios. This white label solution will enhance the traction in retail sales and follows the growing trend in consumer buying behavior based on promotions and coupons."

About First Data Cono Sur S.R.L.

First Data Cono Sur SA is based in Argentina and operates as a subsidiary of First Data International Incorporated, which is a global leader in payment technology and services solutions. With 23,000 owner-associates and operations in 36 countries, the company provides secure and innovative payment technology and services to more than six million merchants and financial institutions around the world, from small businesses to the world's largest corporation, with a presence in 118 countries.

About Mobi724 S.R.L. and Mobi724 Global Solutions Inc.

Mobi724 S.R.L. of Argentina, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mobi724 Solutions Inc., a Canadian corporation with offices in Montreal (Canada) and Buenas Aires (Argentina). Mobi724 Solutions Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mobi724 Global Solutions Inc. (CSE: MOS).

Mobi724 Global Solutions Inc., a corporation based in Montreal (Canada), offers a unique and fully integrated suite of solutions - PAYMENT-COUPONING AND LOYALTY all in one.

Our vision is to enhance the value of commoditized payment transactions to the players in this eco-system (card associations, banks, mobile carriers and retailers) by adding layers of intelligence to these card-linked transactions (i.e. smart transactions) in a seamless manner for all the players in the eco-system.

Mobi724 Global Solutions unleashes the true potential of both payment and card-linked couponing/rewards transactions for both online and offline points of sale.

The Corporation provides its customers with full and comprehensive traceability and enriched consumer data through its offering. Its solutions enables card associations, retailers, manufacturers, offer providers, mobile operators and card issuers to create, manage, deliver and "track and measure" incentive campaigns worldwide to ANY mobile device and allow its redemption at ANY point of sales.

Our credit and debit EMV payment solutions will allow banks to process end to end EMV transactions, focusing on authentication, approved security and quick merchant adoption which allows the users to process payments with a wide range of devices over a secure and seamless transaction.

Mobi724's PCI and EMV cloud-based switch, with their device agnostic connectivity, simplifies deployment and integration, and introduces new payment and digital incentives solutions to the market enabling multi layered intelligent transactions therefore SMART TRANSACTIONS.

For more information on its products and on Mobi724 Global Solutions, visit www.mobi724globalsolutions.com.

Certain statements in this document, including those which express management's expectations or estimations with regard to the Company's future performance, constitute "forward-looking statements" as understood by applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are, of necessity, based on a certain number of estimates and hypotheses; while management considers these to be accurate at the time they are expressed, they are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and risks on the commercial, economic and competitive levels. We advise readers that these forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other known and unknown factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements. Investors are advised to not rely unduly on the forward-looking statements. This advisory applies to all forward-looking statements, whether expressed orally or in writing, attributed to the Company or to any individual expressing them in the name of the Company. Unless required by law, the Company is under no obligation to publicly update these forward-looking statements, whether to reflect new information, future events, or other circumstances.

The Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) has not reviewed this news release and does not accept responsibility for its adequacy or accuracy. This news release does not constitute a solicitation to buy or sell any securities in the United States.

Contacts: Mobi724 Global Solutions Mr. Marcel Vienneau 1-514-394-5200 Ext 413 www.mobi724globalsolutions.com

Source: Mobi724 Global Solutions Inc.
A rainbow is seen behind European flags in Greece at the European Council headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, July 7, 2015. REUTERS/Eric Vidal

ROME (Reuters) - The European Union faces "critical times" and all its members should set aside selfish interests to tackle problems such as immigration and terrorism, the bloc's six founding nations said on Tuesday.

A week after the EU accepted that some members may never go further in sharing sovereignty, as part of the price for keeping Britain in the club, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg pledged to pursue "ever closer union" at a meeting in Rome, where they founded the bloc in 1957.

"We are concerned about the state of the European project," the foreign ministers of the Six said in a statement after their talks. "Indeed, it appears to be facing very challenging times. It is in these critical times that we, as founding members, feel particularly called upon."

The meeting was held against the backdrop of deep division in the 28-nation bloc over how to handle the flows of hundreds of thousands of migrants arriving in Europe fleeing war and failing states in the Middle East and North Africa.

It also came a week after Brussels agreed a draft deal with Britain Prime Minister David Cameron that, among other things, reaffirmed the limitations of a treaty commitment to pursue the "ever closer union" of the peoples of Europe, part of a package to help Cameron campaign before a referendum that the EU's second biggest economy should continue its 43-year membership.

While acknowledging that the Union "allows for different paths of integration", the original signatories of the Treaty of Rome declared: "We remain resolved to continue the process of creating an ever closer union among the people of Europe."

Meeting in Italy, which has been in the frontline of a wave of migration to Europe across the Mediterranean, the ministers also stressed the need to overcome divisions on the EU response.

Hungary and Austria this week called for fences on the Macedonian and Bulgarian borders with Greece and between Austria and Slovenia, and several states have called into question the Schengen accord on free circulation inside the EU.

The statement called for better management of the Union's external borders in order to make them more secure while preserving Schengen and not hampering freedom of movement.

It contained no concrete policy proposals, but said Europe "is successful when we overcome narrow self-interest in the spirit of solidarity".

(Reporting by Steve Scherer Writing by Gavin Jones; Editing by Alastair Macdonald and James Dalgleish)
By Denis Dumo

JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudans President Salva Kiir has re-appointed his rival Riek Machar as vice president, a decree said on Thursday, the culmination of a deal to try to end months of civil war in the world's newest nation.

The announcement returned the presidency to where it was soon before fighting erupted between supporters of the two men in December 2013 - a conflict that went on to kill thousands of people and force more than two million to flee.

Both sides, under pressure from Washington, the United Nations and other powers, signed an initial pact in August, and agreed to share out ministerial positions in January.

But that accord has repeatedly broken down and a U.N. report last month said both leaders qualified for sanctions over atrocities in the conflict.

The decree read out on state TV said Machar would be first vice president, his position before he was sacked in 2013, the move that eventually triggered the violence. There was no immediate announcement from Machar.

Oil-producing South Sudan split away from Sudan in 2011 amid mass celebrations and promises of aid and good will from most of the developed world.

But its regional and Western backers were dismayed when fighting erupted, often along ethnic lines.

Last month's confidential report by a U.N. panel that monitors the conflict in South Sudan for the Security Council stated that Kiir and Machar were still completely in charge of their forces and were therefore directly to blame for killing civilians and other actions that warrant sanctions.

According to the report, those violations include extrajudicial killings, torture, sexual violence, extrajudicial arrest and detention, abductions, forced displacement, the use and recruitment of children, beatings, looting and the destruction of livelihoods and homes.

The report described how Kiir's government bought at least four Mi-24 attack helicopters in 2014 from a private Ukrainian company at a cost of nearly $43 million.

It added that Machar's forces were trying to "acquire shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles to counter the threat of attack helicopters, specifically citing the need to continue and indeed escalate the fighting."

(Reporting by Denis Dumo; Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
(Reuters) - A North Dakota police officer, shot during an hours-long standoff, has died from his wounds, city officials said on Thursday, making him only the second officer killed in the line of duty since the city of Fargo was founded in 1871.

Jason Moszer, 33, was responding to a domestic disturbance on the northeast side of Fargo late on Wednesday and, Police Chief David Todd told local media, the armed suspect, 49-year-old Marcus Schumacher, also died in the incident.

Moszer had been with the force for six years and had a Silver Star commendation, Mayor Tim Mahoney said in a statement.

It was not immediately known if Schumacher had shot himself or if he had been shot by police, ABC affiliate WDAZ and the Forum newspaper of Fargo-Moorhead reported.

In 1988, Schumacher, then 22, was found guilty of negligent homicide when a teenager was shot dead, the Forum said.

The state's Bureau of Criminal Investigation and North Dakota's Cass County Sheriff's Office is investigating.

(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Additional reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit and Victoria Cavaliere in Los Angeles; Editing by Louise Ireland)
SALEM  Students and administrators from five mid-valley school districts were among nearly 30 people who spent Thursday afternoon urging Oregon lawmakers to keep fifth-year high school programs.

Representatives from Corvallis, Albany, Lebanon, Scio and Sweet Home, along with Linn-Benton Community College officials and students and staff from other districts, spoke at a public hearing of the Senate Education Committee on Senate Bill 322.

Amendments have been suggested to the bill that would phase out fifth-year programs in the next two years. Educators urged senators to instead consider expanding them, possibly by reconsidering other bills that would direct funding for new initiatives. They said they stand ready to help the state find a way.

Students that participate in fifth-year programs first meet all the requirements to graduate from their local high school, but put off actually receiving their diploma while spending a fifth year taking classes at a community college.

Because the students still are considered part of their hometown districts until they formally graduate, districts have state school funds to cover their tuition and fees at the community college. Coordinators at both sites meet regularly with the students to help them plan and keep them on track.

SB 322 initially would have provided a funding structure for the programs, albeit at a reduced payment rate.

But Sen. Mark Hass of Beaverton, a member of the education committee, said he and other lawmakers support the amendments that would end them entirely. They say the programs exploit a "loophole" in state funding, that K-12 dollars shouldn't be used to support college classes at the expense of crowded elementary classrooms and other needs, and that larger districts can't participate for fear of bankrupting the system.

The Oregon Department of Education knows of 26 districts with fifth-year programs and estimates their cost to the K-12 budget at about $9.5 million per year, although Sen. Sara Gelser questioned that figure and said individual dollar amounts for the Corvallis district don't match the information she has.

Student after student on Wednesday urged the senators to keep the programs, saying they provide a critical support system, especially for low-income, first-generation college students.

"In a couple years, you guys are going to get that money back, because a lot of people will be paying more taxes, and you guys will be wasting less money on welfare and stuff like that," said Brian Sanchez of South Albany High School.

Hass asked Anthony Ross, student body president for South Albany, whether Ross thought it was appropriate to use K-12 money for college.

"Senator, you're well aware of the saying, 'You have to spend money to make money,'" Ross replied. "Yes, it will hurt, at first. Down the road, you will see enormous benefits from this program."

Scio's Pace program, developed in 2003, is the oldest fifth-year program in the mid-valley. Superintendent Gary Tempel reminded lawmakers Thursday that Scio officials spoke twice on Pace at the request of the House Education Committee, and the program was lauded in an Oregon State University study on innovative thinking in high schools.

Lebanon began Beyond LHS in 2005, after lawmakers passed SB 300, a bill that encouraged school districts to offer their young students college credits while using state school funds to cover tuition and fees.

"Some of you may have voted for it," Lebanon Superintendent Rob Hess pointed out to members of the Senate Education Committee.

Corvallis Superintendent Erin Prince said her district's graduation rate jumped nearly 20 percent in two years, to 84 percent, after beginning a fifth-year program.

"We understand the funding model needs to look different," she said, "but don't cut the programs that are successful."

Sen. Tim Knopp asked Prince where she thought the graduation rate might top out, were the program to continue.

"Which student behind me would you choose not to graduate?" Prince shot back. "If we give up on this program, we're giving up on these students, and I'm not willing to do that."

Kristin Adams, who coordinates Sweet Home's fifth-year program, asked senators to reconsider the "fairness" angle.

Portland may be worried about crowding in its 33 elementary schools, Adams acknowledged. However, she said, each of those 33 schools already offers a P.E. specialist, a music teacher, a counselor, a speech pathologist, a technology instructor and someone to teach English as a second language  all resources Sweet Home lacks.

Beaverton offers Advanced Placement class in 11 subjects, she added, while Sweet Home has just two. "I don't feel like I'm robbing the K-12 budget," she said. "I feel like I'm leveling the playing field."
One of the biggest retail operations in the region sprang from the most Waikato of beginnings: a farm.

When Ralph and Evelyn Forlong decided to make the switch from farming at Kiwitahi, near Morrinsville, to selling furnisings in the thriving city of Hamilton, it was 1946 and the start of the post-war golden years, when New Zealand was growing on the sheep's (and cow's) back.

Ralph's brother Malcolm had given retail a go in Taumarunui after switching from his own sheep farm. With a similar eye for an opportunity, Ralph bought into existing retailer Newby Bros in Commerce St, Frankton.

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Joined by their son Ivan, who would go on to forge the Forlong dynasty, Ralph, Evelyn and two others set to work in their 278-square-metre shop.

But the beginnings weren't all rosy - the business auctioned cars on the side to make ends meet and to hit a modest sales target of 40.

Frank Newby had stayed on at the business and showed Ralph and Evelyn the ropes of the furniture trade as Ivan made free home deliveries using the family car. The team expanded in 1948 with the addition of transport contractor Frank Terry, with a new, bright-red Chevrolet truck with R Forlong & Son emblazoned on the side.

SUPPLIED Forlongs staff pose for a photo in 1974. The firm featured generations of workers.

The business was still very much a fledgling concern when the 1948 Frankton tornado claimed three lives in the suburb and left a repair bill in the $80 million range in today's figures.

But Forlongs was cleared for business again in a matter of days and after the Forlong family had helped out friends and neighbours in strife, the store kicked off the first of decades of sales with a "tornado sale".

A move to almost 500 square metres of retail space in the business's current Commerce St location followed as the range expanded.

PETER DRURY/FAIRFAX NZ Forlong directors Howard, Helen and Terry Forlong in 2012.

It was the spread of television to the Waikato in 1961 that gave the business a product the public couldn't get enough of and opened the way for an appliance department.

Ironically, even the boss's family didn't have one initially, as Ivan's son Terry, current managing director, recalled in Wares New Zealand magazine.

"We never had a TV at home until maybe 1964 and most nights I would get home from school, do my homework and cycle down to the shop to join dozens of others watching through the window and listening to the sound from a speaker mounted outside until about 9.30pm. I was transfixed."

SUPPLIED Ivan Forlong, pictured in 1996, used to make deliveries in the family car.

Big brands of the day such as Pye, Autocrat, Bell and La Gloria filled the store and flew out the door with many customers returning years later for the trade-ins that kept generations of shoppers coming back.

Initially Terry Forlong wasn't keen to follow in his father and grandfather's footsteps. He spent over a decade dairy farming before being lured into sales and taking over the appliance department in 1978.

Despite the fact Forlongs offered some of the flashest gear around, customers weren't always interested in what the bells and whistles did, as Terry recalled.

A top of the line stereo with massive speakers had a ticket price of $5999 in the late 1970s, or roughly $35,000 today, and wasn't expected to sell.

"The first day we had this model on display, a couple came in and were admiring it. I went up, hoping to make a demonstration, but the lady said she didn't need one and that the speakers were the perfect height for some pot plants she had. She looked at the price card, checked with her husband and bought it on the spot."

Ralph Forlong died in 1987 and Ivan continued as second-generation managing director. Under his leadership, the business took a brief foray out of the Waikato in 1991 as it took over failing Tauranga department store Greerton Furnishings.

"The first year was fantastic," said Terry, "But in 1992 we saw the big kiwifruit crash and our sales dropped to a third of previous levels. We were financing all our own hire purchase and the big downturn in sales had a negative effect on our working capital, so we closed Tauranga and consolidated all our energies into the home base of Frankton.

"We put all the Tauranga stock into the shop in Frankton and the money we generated meant that, in one year, we doubled the size of our shop. I had been against the closure but, in hindsight, my dad was right. He made a typically good choice and Forlongs of Frankton grew enormously."

The 1990s saw the range expand to include hardware, computers, and with an impulse buy of a nearby retailer, sporting goods.

In 1996, Forlongs' 50th year, its total retail space was just under 7000 square meters. Today its 12,300 sqm covers two blocks and its warehouse another 2000 sqm.

But the times were changing: increased competition came from big box retail stores and a seven-day shopping week.

Forlongs continued the strong Christian ethos that saw the family never open at Easter or Sundays so staff could, as Ivan said, "go fishing and have longer at the beach".

This moral code was also evident when the business hit the pages of the Waikato Times in 1998 for pursuing the repossession of a fireplace and flooring from a house now occupied by someone after the original debtor had scarpered.

It didn't sit well with Ivan, who although stepping back in the business by that time came forward to wipe the debt, despite the store being on the right side of the law.

"We didn't want to upset people, so we cleared the matter up so we could have a pleasant night's sleep," he said.

The family had to think carefully about using the beer crate display scene requested by Levis when the store branched out into clothing in the 2000s, but went ahead with what turned out to be another briefly profitable range, Terry's daughter Jeanine told Wares.

"Being a Christian family, this was uncomfortable for us  beer crates! But we did it, laid plywood over the carpet and pinned some scrim around to give it a barn-like appearance and off we went selling jeans. We were selling these jeans for $150 to $200 and couldn't get enough. "

By 2002, Terry was managing director with brother Howard managing furniture and appliances and other departments. They added shoes to the clothing range for a successful venture, but moving them to a separate store nearby showed the cutomers' loyalty to the Forlongs home base - they simply wouldn't go to the new store and it later closed.

In 2007, a $6 million extension added 3800 square metres to Forlongs' Hall St site, along with an underground carpark.

"We like the fact that people can drive past," Terry said at the time. "We have never had that before. We have always been one block back. Some people are saying they have been in Hamilton 15 years and did not know where Forlongs was until now."

Despite decades of support for local clubs and charities, the stoush over the growing Frankton markets left a sour note for some.

Ivan had paid for advertising and smoothed the markets' path in the early days, but by 2010, the business wanted the Saturday morning institution moved away or held on Sunday, citing shoplifting issues and blocked doorways.

Amid threats of court, the wrangling lasted until 2013, when Forlongs backed a council pedestrian plan that saw the markets move down Commerce St.

It was also the year in which patriarch Ivan died. Staff lined the street to farewell the man who left a long legacy in the dozens of people he had employed, strong friendships, a handshake that meant more than any contract and a record of community support.

It fell to third-generation managing director Terry to deliver the bad news this week to the 100 or so staff that closure was on the cards.

"We have seen many changes in the retail environment in recent years, including competitors with bigger buying and discounting power making it harder for a single store operator to compete," Terry said.

"In addition, there is a personal element to the decision to consider closure as the company directors are facing retirement age, and this is impacting upon the management of the business."

Although the family is staying tight-lipped for now on what the future holds, a fourth-generation Forlong continuing 2016 with the business as usual model of interst free deals and free Christmas hams looks increasingly unlikely.
A humble science project has turned into an award-winning venture for Matamata teenager Patrick Roskam.

Patrick was just 11 years old when he invented the Gudgeon Pro - a multi-functional tool which enables farmers to drill straight and accurate gudgeon holes and then quickly and easily hang gates on their hinges.

The tool is made from high quality T6 aluminium so is made to last.

Now three years later, and after a year in business, the Matamata College student has sold more than 420 Gudgeon Pros to farmers around the country and has recently been nominated for New Zealander of the Year in the innovation category.

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* Wallets expected to be 'tightly in pockets' during Southern Field Days at Waimumu

This week he was busy promoting the tool to farmers at the Southern Field Days at Waimumu for the first time.

Patrick launched his Gudgeon Pros at the 2013 National Field Days at Mystery Creek and has won many awards since which have included Young Innovator of the Year and the agri-inventions section at the South Island Agricultural Field Days.

"I always wanted to be at Mystery Creek - I was amazed at the feedback."

The Gudgeon Pro came about when Patrick had to develop a new product for a science fair around the same time his father was preparing to hang about 20 gates on his Waikato dairy farm.

"Dad likes to have his gates straight and accurate so I came up with the idea - it was sheer luck really."

Patrick designed the Gudgeon Pro in a series of technical drawings and developed several prototypes before settling on the finished product which are then produced by Patrick at facilities owned by aluminium firm Alpac.

He wanted to keep his invention in New Zealand and was now focused on selling it on-line.

The Southern Field Days would be the last event Patrick would attend for a while as he was now focused on school work and upcoming exams with the aim of eventually working in engineering or accounting.

"I still can't decide what I want to do."

Although Patrick had been busy re-investing in his business he had splashed out on a 3D printer.
The Todd family has sold 1500 hectare of vines and bare land to Marlborough-based wine company Indevin.

One of New Zealand's richest families has sold its entire vineyard holding in Marlborough.

The Todd family, who have an estimated worth of $3.16 billion, have sold vineyards associated with its company Winegrowers of Ara to Marlborough-based wine company Indevin.

On Thursday, the companies confirmed they had signed an unconditional agreement.

The vineyard, which is located in the Waihopai Valley, includes 600 hectares of vines and about 900 hectares of bare land suitable for further plantings.

READ MORE: Todd family believed to be selling Winegrowers of Ara in Marlborough

Neither company would comment on the sale price, but UK trade publication The Drinks Business speculated the deal could be "potentially worth 130 million" ($283 million) based on "the average cost of a planted vineyard in Marlborough" per hectare.

The Todd family has retained the Ara brand and the associated business.

The agreement included a provision for supply of wine back to Winegrowers of Ara.

Indevin chief executive officer Duncan McFarlane said they were looking forward to the ongoing development of an "exceptional Marlborough vineyard".

Indevin owns, or holds long term leases, on extensive vineyard properties in Marlborough, Gisborne and the Hawke's Bay.

This purchase added further grape growing capacity to Indevin's well-established base, McFarlane said.

The company would offer ongoing employment to the existing vineyard team, he said.

Indevin is a privately owned New Zealand wine company, based in Marlborough, with wineries in Marlborough, the Hawke's Bay and Gisborne.

It provides contract winemaking services to a small number of New Zealand wine companies.

The majority of Indevin's business is focussed on grape growing, winemaking and wine supply for a range of large scale partners in key export markets, as well as for Lion NZ in the domestic market.

The Wellington-based Todd conglomerate originally acquired the land as one half of a joint venture with property developer Greg Olliver, but moved to 100 per cent ownership when Olliver's holding company, Landco, collapsed into receivership in July 2008.

Todd Group's business interests span the oil and gas, healthcare and technology sectors.
A large shark, caught in a net with a smaller one on Te Horo Beach.

A two-metre shark has washed up in a net on a Kapiti Coast beach, a day after five large sharks were spotted swimming in the area.

The Department of Conservation have identified the shark found on Te Horo Beach this morning as a bronze whaler. A smaller shark, identified as a spotted dogfish, was also in the net.

Te Horo Beach resident Greg Kusabs saw the sharks in the net when he drove along the beach towards Peka Peka about 7am.

Supplied The shark has been confirmed as a bronze whaler, the same species as five sharks seen swimming off the Kapiti Coast yesterday.

"I saw a guy on a bike looking at something in a net so I thought I'd have a nosey.

"I thought with yesterday's report of five sharks it could be one of them.

"It's not often you see a shark that size tangled up in a net," he said.

Kusabs said a fisherman probably set his net last night or early this morning, and the sharks became tangled in it.

DOC marine scientist Clinton Duffy believed the bronze whalers could have been hunting kahawai in the area. The species are also known to eat small sharks, like the spotted dogfish, which breed close to the shore in the area at this time of the year.

"These are all potential food for bronze whalers and are probably the reason they're in the area."

Te Horo resident Lisa Bean was running along the beach at about 6.30am when she saw the net.

"I thought, 'Hmm that looks like something stuck in a net' then I got a bit closer and thought 'Gee, that's impressive'.

"I suppose it came in so close to get the [sting]rays."

She said the larger shark had "good sharp teeth".

"The skin felt like sandpaper and the teeth were small but very sharp.

"They could do some damage, especially to a toddler if they went out there."

Bean returned to the net about two hours later but it was gone.

She said from now on she'd prefer to swim in the river. "I'm not going in the sea again ... "I didn't know they came that close."

Yesterday five sharks were seen near Peka Peka Beach and Waikanae Beach by crew on a Heliworx helicopter working in the area, and police warned swimmers to stay out of the sea.

Kapiti Heliworx chief executive Dennis Young said the first shark was seen about 50 to 70 metres off Peka Peka Beach, and the helicopter landed there so the crew could warn swimmers to get out of the water.

More sharks were spotted further south at Waikanae Beach, and the helicopter landed again.

He said they appeared to be about two or three metres long.

Duffy said the sharks could have been a number of different species, but were likely to be bronze whalers, a type that had been recorded along the Kapiti Coast in the past.

They were not considered dangerous, but had been reported as biting the hands or feet of surfers and swimmers.

Duffy said that, further north, bronze whalers were often seen among swimmers, and tended to ignore them.

The sharks could also be sevengill or blue sharks. It was possible, but unlikely, there was a great white among the five sharks seen.

"Great whites are also found inshore around at this time of year, but they're much rarer.

"They have been recorded [in the area], but it would be extremely unlikely all five sharks were white sharks.

"It is possible there could be one in among them."

The shark warning from police was the second alert along the Kapiti Coast in the space of a month. It appears to be part of a growing number of sightings of sea life along the coast.

Paekakariki Surf Club chairman Brent Harvey confirmed the town's beach was closed by life guards on January 25.

He said the closure came after a resident spotted what appeared to be a shark at the southern end of the beach, near Ames St.

The shark was not seen again and the beach was opened later that day.

Sharks have also been seen recently in Wellington. Wainuiomata man Anthony Murphy was fishing on his 5 metre aluminium boat off Makara on Sunday when a 2m blue shark approached his boat then spent an hour hanging around.

During that hour, he hooked it on his line three times including once when it did a "screaming run" before biting down and snapping the line.

For most of the hour-long visit the shark stayed placidly beneath the surface.

"It's awesome seeing them," Murphy said.

Sunday's shark encounter - about 100m off the beach at Makara - came a month after he spotted a similar-sized seven gilled shark in the same spot.
Wine experts Markus Berlinghof of Germany, Sara Schneider of California, and Kiwi John Saker discuss tasting the 1903 Landsdowne "claret" near Masterton on Wednesday.

After 113 years in a farmhouse cellar, a bottle of wine believed to be the oldest ever opened in New Zealand has astonished critics by still tasting great.

"It's superb. Amazing, really ... It's still hanging on, shaking its fist at you out of the glass," was how wine writer John Saker summed up the 1903 Landsdowne Claret opened in Wairarapa on Wednesday.

Early Wairarapa settler William Beetham made the wine on land the family owned in Masterton, after his homesick French wife Hermance planted vines.

SUPPLIED The 1903 blend of pinot noir, pinot meunier and syrah is poured at Brancepeth Station in Wairarapa.

The vineyard stopped producing around 1908, but some bottles have been cellared ever since in the Edwardian homestead at Brancepeth Station, east of Masterton, which Beetham's descendants still own.

READ MORE: Sheep station stays stationary in history

On Wednesday, Saker convened a panel of 12 other local and international wine writers at Brancepeth to sample the valuable vintage, a bottle of which once sold for $14,000.

CALEB HARRIS/ FAIRFAX NZ American wine writer Sara Schneider at the tasting.

Beetham's Masterton vineyard was revived under new owner Derek Hagar in 2009 and won an international pinot noir award, so the tasters compared Beetham's 1903 wine with a contemporary bottle produced by Hagar on the same land.

Brancepeth's current custodian, Edward Beetham, said seeing his forebear's pioneering role in Wairarapa winemaking acknowledged was "a great occasion". "We've always sort of dreamt of doing this."

Although called a claret, the wine is actually a blend of pinot noir, pinot meunier and syrah.

CALEB HARRIS/ FAIRFAX NZ German sommelier Markus Berlinghof and American wine writer Sara Schneider get to work on their tasting notes.

Breaths were bated as the crumbling cork was pulled, but once the venerable wine was swished, sniffed and sipped, the consensus was that age had not wearied it.

"This wine is like ... a 100-year-old human which is still not ready to die," German sommelier Markus Berlinghof said.

"There was this sort of dried citrus-peel acidity that just made it feel alive, still, and that completely shocked me," American wine writer Sara Schneider said.

Saker found the wine not only surprisingly fault-free for its age, but also redolent of an "Edwardian summer" at the dawn of New Zealand's wine industry. "That's what makes it wonderful."

BETTER WITH AGE?

1. John Saker, Wine editor Cuisine magazine

Tasting notes: "Slight faded rose, a hint of reduction ... that lovely elegant passage across the palate, just a suggestion of sweetness. This is a Wairarapa pinot to be proud of."

What about compared with the 2009 Landsdowne wine? "I thought there was a family resemblance ... both have a finer, lighter, red fruit notes and a steely acidity."

Rating (1903): 5 out of 5

2. German sommelier Markus Berlinghof

Tasting notes: "A lot of dried fruit character, dried orange zest. Elegant, a very feminine mouth feel. The colour is still in very good condition, a deep garnet, very fresh."

What about compared with the 2009 Landsdowne wine? "I wasn't a friend of drinking the other wine afterward, I don't want to compare them."

Rating: Doesn't believe in ratings, but in a word: "Superb".

3. American wine writer Sara Schneider

Tasting notes: "That first red fruit is really gone by now, but has sort of turned into a dried fig character, kind of an earthy tang, with the tannin texture ... dried rose petals ... a terrific wine."

What about compared with the 2009 Landsdowne wine? "There's a wet loam, forest floor, mushroomy, savoury character in both wines."

Rating: High 19 out of 20 (1903); low 19 out of 20 (2009).
Environment Minister Dr Nick Smith, Kaikoura MP Stuart Smith and Minister for Primary Industries Nathan Guy announce a proposal for the Marlborough Sounds to be turned into a recreational fishing park earlier this year.

Marlborough commercial fishers and other stakeholders have taken the Government to task over a proposed recreational fishing park in the Sounds, with many questioning the need for a park and the timing of the proposal ahead of a planned overhaul of the Marine Reserves Act.

Environment Minister Nick Smith told a public meeting on the issue in Blenheim on Thursday that while the proposal to exclude commercial fishers from the Marlborough Sounds would result in job losses, this was justified on the grounds it improved the recreational experience.

"We believe that in enclosed areas like the Marlborough Sounds, fish offer more value to New Zealand as a recreational resource, to be caught by families or tourists, than what they offer us as a commercial resource to be caught and put on supermarket shelves," he said.

READ MORE:

* Concerns raised about proposed fishing park in Marlborough Sounds

* Government proposes recreational fishing park for Marlborough Sounds

* Industry groups united against Sounds recreational fishing park plan

* Hauraki Gulf and Marlborough Sounds fishing parks are a political power play

However, Smith acknowledged that measuring the benefits of the parks, which were first floated before the 2014 general election, would be difficult.

"I openly concede there is no magical way to measure the benefits of a national park, or the enjoyment that comes from a recreational fishing park," he said.

"But the very business of politics is making value judgments and, in this event, I believe the Marlborough Sounds area is best used as a resource for recreational fishing."

Many at the meeting, set up as part of a public consultation process for the proposed Marlborough Sounds Recreational Fishing Park, questioned why a park was needed and whether it would do anything to improve the sustainability of fish stocks in the Marlborough Sounds.

Speaking after the meeting, Ngati Apa ki te Ra To chief executive Butch Bradley said iwi opposed the policy as it lacked any scientific basis.

"Nick Smith says he wants to be able to go out with his son and catch a fish," he said.

"He can do that right now, without putting anyone out of work and without disrespecting the property rights of quota holders."

A discussion paper about the policy said quota holders would be compensated on a case-by-case basis, depending on whether the impact to their business was deemed materially significant.

However, as Smith answered one man during the meeting, commercial fishers who were contracted by quota holders would not be eligible for compensation.

Bradley said he believed it was wrong to propose policy without any scientific evidence backing up claims recreational fishing parks would improve the fishing experience.

"Nowhere in this process is there science that shows the establishment of a fishing park will enhance the experience, or the number of fish," he said.

The Department for Primary Industries did not keep data on the recreational take in the Marlborough Sounds, relying on estimates that put the blue cod catch at 60 tonnes per year, compared with 130 tonnes for all commercial take.

However, Green list MP Eugenie Sage believed this would increase if the park went ahead.

"It's likely to be a honey pot, attracting more fishing and compounding the environmental problems we already have in the Sounds," she said.

Smith disputed this argument, saying that recreational pressure on fish stock would increase regardless of whether the park went ahead, because of population increase and easier access to boats and fish-finding technology.

He also downplayed comments that, because commercial fishers were monitored more, it would be easier to keep track of fishery levels in the Marlborough Sounds than if it were turned over to recreational fishers.

"Commercial fishers have a far greater impact on the sustainability of New Zealand's fishing resources, and as a consequence we have tougher reporting requirements," he said.

Sage was critical of the policy, saying it prioritised recreational fishing over promoting sustainability and that it allowed oil companies to block any marine protection areas where they were undertaking operations.

Commercial fisher Nadine Taylor said the policy had the effect of dividing recreational and commercial fishers.

A member of the Marlborough Marine Futures group, Taylor said the Kaikoura marine strategy, Te Korowai o Te Tai o Marokura, was a better model than the top-down approach being adopted by the government.

"It was grassroots, from beach to Parliament, which is what we want to do in Marlborough," she said.

Taylor also disagreed that removing commercial fishers would improve the recreational experience, saying they already operated further out than most recreational fishers, so there was no conflict.

Marlborough/Nelson Conservation Board member Bev Doole said she supported replacing the 1971 Marine Reserves Act as it was outdated, but thought the new Marine Protected Areas Act should be passed into law before recreational fishing parks were proposed.

Passing the law first would give people a chance to become familiar with the act, which would mean they were better informed when it came to consulting on a recreational fishing park in the Marlborough Sounds, she said.

Four categories of marine protection were recognised in the proposed act: marine reserves, species-specific sanctuaries, seabed reserves and recreational fishing parks.

If a recreational fishing park was set up in the Marlborough Sounds, it would be managed by a committee, which would either be appointed by the government, or elected from among recreational fishers, Smith said.

Submissions on the proposal close on March 11.
Motueka High School's 2015 dux Stella Bogdanoff who gained three NZQA scholarships, two of them for drama and her art portfolio

Stella Bogdanoff only found out she had topped New Zealand in two scholarship subjects this week when Motueka High School principal John Prestidge gave her a call.

"I'd been on social media on Tuesday night and noticed teachers were sending me congratulations.

"I went on the NZQA website, but it is so confusing."

Bogdanoff, the high school's 2015 dux, achieved outstanding scholarship awards and gained the country's highest scores in drama and art painting. She also earned a scholarship in fabric technology.

Prestidge said the school's staff were "walking on air".

"Everyone has been part of Stella's story. Everyone is very proud of her."

Prestidge understood Bogdanoff would also receive $5000 for her scholarships wins.

"It's a pretty big deal. And it shows this school has the wheels and whatever kids want to do they can excel here."

But Bogdanoff said she was unlikely to take up the scholarship money. She understood it could be spent only on tertiary education, which she did not currently want to pursue.

Instead she plans to take a year off and would spend the first part of the year working on her World of Wearable Art Awards entry while she lived at home.

When asked what possible careers interested her, Bogdanoff said: "At the moment my heart leads me towards reproductive justice, gender equality and politics."

Prestidge said the high school was also proud that students AJ Binns and Rebecca Sandlant also gained scholarships in physical education and English respectively.
State Sen. Sara Gelser is optimistic that theres a future for the so-called fifth-year programs, in which many mid-valley school districts use Oregon State School Fund money to pay for students to attend a year of community college after graduation.

Maybe. Well know more about the future of fifth-year programs after this years short legislative session, which starts next week. Among the items for the Legislature to consider in its five-week run this year is a bill from Gelsers Education Committee that would allow the programs to continue in a reduced capacity.

In a recent meeting with the Gazette-Times editorial board, Gelser said that the bill aims to put some financial and policy sideboards on the fifth-year programs. That idea of sideboards  especially finding ways to control the costs of the programs  likely is an essential part of any kind of legislative deal to continue the programs, even in a reduced capacity.

So the bill would require eligible students to enter the new Oregon Promise program, which established a fund to provide grants to recent Oregon high school graduates attending state community colleges. The idea is that the Oregon Promise program would help cover community college costs not paid for through federal grants.

Its clear that legislators, particularly those in the Portland metro area, are much more amenable to the Oregon Promise program than they ever were to the fifth-year programs, which had the misfortune of being born (and mostly used) by school districts in the mid-valley. And, to be fair, as Gelser puts it, there is a significant policy question surrounding the issue of whether its proper to use State School Fund money to pay for community college costs. (And, again to be fair, the fifth-year programs mid-valley school districts have adopted cannot be adopted statewide without a huge price tag.)

But the fifth-year programs have a significant advantage over the Oregon Promise in terms of giving students a better chance of success after they graduate from high school: The Oregon Promise grants are available only to those students who had a high school grade point average of 2.5 or higher. That often means that low-income students or English language learners, who sometimes struggle in high school, might not be eligible.

And that brings up one of the hidden benefits of the fifth-year programs, at least as theyve been developed by mid-valley districts: The secret sauce, so to speak, isnt so much the free tuition  its the access to counseling services that helps these students navigate through their first few years of college that can make all the difference, particularly to minority students and students who might be the first members of their families to attend college. It will be interesting to see how much of that manages to survive this years legislative review.

Its clear that part of Gelsers long-term strategy is just to keep the fifth-year programs alive, even in a reduced state, until we get hard data for their effectiveness. But the struggles the programs have faced statewide say something about the difficulty of educational innovation in Oregon.

Gov. Kate Brown recently talked about her plans to hire a state official whose job would be to spearhead educational innovation. It seems that the first bit of business facing that person, whenever she or he is hired, would be to encourage exactly this sort of innovation, instead of figuring out all the reasons why we have to settle for what we have now.
Last week, we reacquainted readers with the legislative term cats and dogs  the phrase used by legislators themselves to refer to the myriad of bills on seemingly smaller topics that tend to dominate the early days of a legislative session.

Today, lets talk about another, somewhat less charming, legislative term: Gut and stuff. The phrase, shockingly blunt, is appropriate: It refers to the process by which legislators can essentially remove a bills original language and replace it with different language.

The only catch is that the new language must have a relating clause that is similar to the original bill; the relating clause, a brief statement at the top of each bill, offers legislators a bit of guidance as to the topic of each bill. But since relating clauses can be very general, that still leaves a lot of room for legislative mischief. The gut-and-stuff is one of the primary ways in which bills long left for dead can suddenly reappear at the end of the session.

Now, a gut-and-stuff maneuver has placed high school fifth-year programs once again at risk of extinction.

These fifth-year programs allow students to put off receiving a high school diploma and spend a fifth year taking college courses, with books and tuition covered by the state school funds their districts receive because the students still are considered enrolled. The mid-valley has pioneered these programs, which are showing promising early results.

But the programs do raise some legitimate funding questions, with some legislators arguing that its not fair to use K-12 money for a 13th year in school when younger students still need those resources. Also, lawmakers (mostly from the Portland area) say the program isnt sustainable because theres not enough money available to allow larger districts to participate. Sure, they say, this seems to be working in smaller districts, but we cant afford to offer it to everyone; therefore, we must eliminate it.

An attempt earlier this session to phase out the fifth-year programs died in committee. But the idea came back to life last week, thanks to the gut-and-stuff, as Sen. Mark Johnson of Hood River amended another bill with language that includes the phase-out.

Sen. Sara Gelser and Rep. Sherrie Sprenger, who represent the mid-valley, both testified against the amendment last week. And Gelser already had volunteered to lead a work group before the 2016 session to try to figure out ways to make the programs financially sustainable; that offer helped scuttle the earlier phase-out proposal.

Gelsers offer, obviously, still stands. The Legislature should take advantage of it and revisit the issue, armed with the findings from her work group, in 2016. But it makes no sense to have her do that with a death sentence hanging over the programs.

And legislators need to think carefully about the messages theyre sending here to Oregonians interested in finding ways to improve the states underperforming public schools. Heres an innovative program that appears to be making a difference in the lives of students. Legislators should be encouraging these programs, not figuring out ways to eliminate them. (mm)
There was good news last week in the Legislature for those of us who believe we need to get creative about ways to attain the state of Oregons educational goals.

A bill that would have phased out fifth-year programs at high schools failed to advance out of the Senate Education Committee. Although odder things have happened in a legislative session, that means the fifth-year programs are safe  at least until the 2016 session.

These fifth-year programs allow students in participating districts to put off receiving their diplomas while spending an additional year, and sometimes two, earning college credits. Tuition and frees are paid through state school funds because the students, having not officially graduated, still are considered part of their home school districts. The programs have been pioneered in large part by mid-valley districts.

The question about funding is at the heart of the concerns about the programs. Mark Hass, the Portland-area senator who sponsored the bill to phase out the programs, argued that it wasnt fair to stretch dollars meant for K-12 education into a 13th or 14th year. And, he added, the programs arent sustainable because if larger districts were to participate, the additional cost would be prohibitive.

That reasoning stuck in the craws of many mid-valley folks, largely because it came across thusly: Well, if we cant do this worthwhile program in Portland, nobody can do it.

But the funding issue is a legitimate question that needs to be solved. To that end, mid-valley Sen. Sara Gelser said shed convene a work group on the matter, with the idea of having a bill in place on the matter for the February 2016 session.

For Oregon to reach its so-called 40-40-20 education goals, we need to get increasingly creative about ways to fund new ideas. (Youll recall that the 40-40-20 goal calls for every adult Oregonian to have a high school diploma by 2025, with 40 percent of adults holding a four-year degree and another 40 percent holding some sort of post-secondary degree or certification.)

New ideas like the fifth-year programs should be assessed on whether they help us progress toward those goals. The fifth-year programs might not do much to improve the states lackluster high school graduation rate, because most of the students participating already have met the goals for graduation. But the assistance these programs offer to students starting college  especially students who are the first in their families to attend college  should help boost the states progress toward the post-secondary goals.

Its clear that business as usual isnt moving the dial enough on the 40-40-20 dashboard. Initiatives like the fifth-year programs offer hope of driving progress toward these vital goals. The Legislature needs to find a way to fund these educational experiments, assess the results, junk the ones that arent working and embrace the ones that are. Looks like itll get a chance to do that starting next February.
Two tropical lows developing north of New Zealand are threatening wind and rain next week.

A tropical cyclone forming between Fiji and Vanuatu today is expected to track towards New Zealand over the next few days.
Whether you believe in actual love at first sight or you think the whole notion is a myth sprung from fairy tales, romance novels and the movies, I'll bet you've had a BAM-POW moment at some point in your life  that split-second when you see someone across the room for the first time, and it feels as if your heart has stopped for a second, and you wonder:

Who's THAT?

Such a moment occurs in Todd Haynes' elegant and quietly powerful "Carol"  and that it occurs between two women, and the setting is early 1950s America, only reinforces the universality of instant, undeniable mutual attraction.

Even if it means lives could be shattered if you follow up on that initial feeling.

This is a beautiful film, bathed in tones that give off a nostalgic, 1950s vibe. The cinematography by Edward Lachman is pitch-perfect for the time period.

Haynes directs with subtle precision, the script by Phyllis Nagy is a well-crafted gem, and Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara make for an intriguing and memorable movie couple.

Blanchett, who has never met an era in which she didn't appear to be thoroughly of that time, plays Carol, a well-to-do wife and mother from New Jersey. Christmas shopping for her daughter in a Manhattan department store, Carol makes eye contact with Therese (Rooney Mara), and neither one can deny the magnetic force.

Carol is the type of woman who on the outside always appears to be in control and knows exactly what she wants. She's quite a bit older than Therese, who is just starting to find her way in life, so in addition to the myriad and scandalous implications of the two actually getting together, there are some generational issues as well.

Therese is a sweet, almost fragile young woman, still regarding much of the world with almost childlike wonder. With her short hair and gamine features, Rooney bears more than a passing resemblance to Audrey Hepburn.

Carol's marriage has already come apart at the seams by the time she meets Therese. Kyle Chandler gives an excellent performance as Carol's husband, Harge. Aware of Carol's previous relationship with a woman named Abby (Sarah Paulson), Harge takes one look at Therese and is immediately suspicious. "Just how do you know my wife?" he says to Therese, and it comes across as more of an accusation than an expression of curiosity.

As Harge takes legal steps to keep Carol away from their daughter on "moral grounds," Carol and Therese form a friendship, dancing around the obvious and powerful connection they're feeling  until they go on a road trip together.

Of course, eventually they'll have to return to the real world, where Carol's relationship with Therese could mean she won't be able to participate in the upbringing of her daughter. Meanwhile, Therese has to decide which direction her life will take.

Director Haynes has a knack for framing his characters with just the right touch. There are no throwaway shots in this film. The music by Carter Burwell is fittingly lush and dramatic. The set design and art direction reflect a meticulous, artistic attention to detail.

Cate Blanchett plays the title character and she is her usual magnificent self, but Rooney Mara's Therese is the character that makes the lasting impression. This is the finest piece of acting the talented Mara has done in her career.
Limited to just 99 units, the special edition iPhone 6S features a laser engraved monkey symbol on the back of the handset.

Each of the phones will come with a unique number, making the Year of the Monkey 24k Gold iPhone 6S Elite a rare collectors item.

The phone will also come packed in a luxury cherry oak display box and will include a lifetime warranty on the Gold customization and the device itself.

It will be available in 16GB, 64GB or 128GB models through Goldgenies website, with pricing starting at 2,497.

Last year, Goldgenie celebrated the Chinese Year of the Goat with a similarly fashioned Year of the Goat 24K Gold iPhone 6 Elite handset.

Founded in London in 2005, Goldgenie specialises in providing customization of household items. The service is primarily used to customize mobile phones, games consoles, and items with gold, copper, nickel, chrome and platinum plating, solid gold, Swarovski crystals and diamonds.

The brand does not have any retail outlets but sells selected items via High Street stores including HMV, Apple premium resellers and Selfridges & Co.
This is the first of our monthly messages from Charmaine Arbouin at the British Consulate in Malaga. Charmaine is the Consul for Andalucia and the Canary Islands. Her team helps thousands of British nationals in distress every year.

Theres a New Years resolution you can complete in less than five minutes that could be a huge help to both you and your family in an accident or emergency. Simply add the letters AA, followed by the name and phone number of the person youd like to be contacted in an emergency, onto the lock screen of your mobile phone. This lets paramedics and the police know who they need to call in an emergency, even if they cant access your phones address book.

AA stands for Avisar A (which in the case of an emergency effectively means please call), and is widely used by Spaniards on their mobile phones to assist the emergency services. And here at the British Consulate in Malaga we may also need to search for your next of kin. The Consulate is often the first place that police or hospitals call if a British national has been in a serious accident or died. We can inform family much faster if the police or emergency services are able to provide us with emergency contact information. When we lack this information, it can take much longer. In some cases, we have to call the UK police or even check Facebook to try to find someones family. That is time lost when, with the right contact details, we could reach your nearest and dearest more quickly.

Not sure how to add your emergency contact onto your phones lock screen? Check your phones settings for instructions or search online for personalise lock screen. Whilst youre updating your phone, its a very good idea to update the contact details on your passport contacts page too. Again it could help the emergency services and us to help you, when you most need it.

The AA campaign was devised by the Spanish Government and the Cruz Roja Espanola, and its similar to the UKs In Case of Emergency or ICE initiative. The idea for ICE came from a paramedic who had often had to look through the phone contacts of people who were too shocked or injured to provide him with next of kin details.

So if you have five minutes right now, you have time to complete that new resolution!

Contact the British consulate : Email spain.consulate@fco.gov.uk Telephone enquiries: 952352300
The Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals will hear oral arguments regarding the appeal of the proposed Albany WinCo store on Feb. 18 in Salem.

Melissa Anderson, city of Albany planner, said LUBA officials expect to have a written decision in the matter approximately three to four weeks from the hearing, and that should come around mid-March.

WinCo intends to demolish the old Kmart building, 3100 Pacific Blvd. S.E., and construct a new 86,600-square-foot commercial building and parking lot.

City staff approved the application on Nov. 25.

The appeal of the citys approval of the store was filed in December. At the center of the appeal was whether a frosted glass pane constitutes a window.

Albanys development code requires that WinCo provide windows on the rear elevation of the building, as that is adjacent to a sidewalk on Killdeer Avenue.

City staff interpreted that the code allows for frosted glass in those windows.

In a response to the appeal, received by LUBA on Tuesday, WinCos attorney Kelly Hossaini wrote that the petitioners who filed the appeal incorrectly surmised that windows must have transparent glass  and the petitioners own dictionary definition does not support their argument.

A window may be an opening in a wall of a building that admits light through a translucent material, Hossaini added.

Furthermore, LUBA had already set precedent in allowing frosted glass for windows in a similar case regarding a Walmart store in Oregon City, Hossaini wrote.

City staff also did not commit any procedural errors while making the decision, the response states.

One of the petitioners who filed the appeal is Kevin Billman, the staff director for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 555, which represents 20,000 workers in Oregon and southwest Washington.

WinCo is an employee-owned, nonunion store.

The other petitioner in the case was Albany resident Valerie Wilson. According to LUBA, she has asked to be removed as a petitioner in the matter, which would leave Billman as the sole person responsible for the appeal.
ABINGDON, Va.  Ive been trying to get away all my life, but Im still here, said arts icon Carole Blevins, launching Abingdon, a sketchbook by Carole Farris Blevins, with historical notes by Carl Mallory. The book is to debut in late spring. Its 70 original works will be on exhibition at Abingdons Arts Depot, opening on First Thursday June 2.

The journey leading to that point has always been circuitous, more since 2008. That was the year her second husband, regional art titan Tedd Blevins died. Consequently, Blevins reluctantly sold Cold Spring, the home I thought Id never leave, in 2013, and moved from Bristol, Tennessee, into east Abingdon in October 2014.

Something must have been gestating  it always is in Blevins, who by some curious turn has spent the last two years mirroring how locals feel about changes to Abingdon. While not especially vocal, Blevins has responded to change by creating signature watercolors of famous Abingdon locations.

Polly Mallory, of Mallory Fine Art, Blevins art rep, is the books editor, facilitating 2,000 copies printing by Johnson Citys Sabre Printers. Middle Tennessee Tech art professor Perry Johnson, an acclaimed fine artist in his own right, is doing the books layout. Blevins illustrations are augmented by text from Mallorys husband, Carl, whos among Abingdons erstwhile historians.

The Mallorys moved to Abingdon 11 years ago and live in an historic district home. Mallory has honed his local history interest for eight years. He also posts to a Facebook page he maintains, AbingdonHistoryVA.

Blevins arrived at her sketchbook series by feeling a sort of spiritual urgency about documenting Abingdon in the here and now.

Our land and our historic buildings are what we have here, she said. Officials dont realize, in a deeper sense, it is our legacy, what we have to offer. They will realize. But right here, right now, this is our place in time. I figured Id better capture it. Ive wanted to do these since I dont know when, a long time. Ive always loved the local architecture, the different styles. The book itself I started on four years ago, but its been coming many years now.

Its not so much that Im opposed to change, said Blevins. Its inevitable humanitys moving on. Im not nostalgic. Im sort of a preservationist, love saving. But I dont want to go back. Lets say its more that I appreciate the past, because the land and our old buildings are whats been given us. I dont want to see it all go away. We can have growth and keep the good, important things, the things our forefathers handed down to us.

Blevins sketchbook documents the famous sites, but it also captures historic settings presently suffering from neglect or disrepair. Its also studded with small works that capture a telling detail, of a painted wolf, or Donnamarie Emmerts Spirit Walk. The endpapers of the 9 x 11 book will be a double-sized horizon watercolor that Blevins accomplished from the vantage point of the Taylors Hill community, looking out over the town. The tops of trees, with suggestions of buildings peeping through, rise to meet the mountains looking up at an eternal sky.

Although Blevins new watercolors document the now, they also feel timeless. Some were difficult, some easy.

The hard ones, like The Cave House or the Stuart Law Office, have more ornate shapes, said Blevins. Changing light can also make the shadows compete. I have to simplify the ornate into something.

The simpler ones, like the Charles Wesley Church, one of the better ones in there, sort of take over when you start. They tell you what to leave in and take out.

Others were so complex, said Blevins. Just to get started on a hard one, sometimes I painted it two or three times before I got it right.

Blevins sometimes starts with a little pencil, but her approach is wholly organic, instinctive. She paints on-site and also utilizes photographs. But you cant work with pictures. The camera doesnt see the ways your eyes see it. You have to capture the feel of the 3-D object and the point of view of being right there. You visit, and its not the same as a flat image. I manipulate things a little  a view, an angle, to show the buildings feel.

The first time I painted on location was in 93, in Munich, said Blevins. I was along when Tedd took his Virginia Intermont students. I had no idea I could paint like that. I sat right on the sidewalk and painted, for two hours or more at a time. Id look up and there would be a crowd around me. Germans would come up and look, and say, Das gut! Das gut! They were the most encouraging people, stopping and looking.

I got to thinking I can really do this, said Blevins. Then I remember sitting in a park, in London. I was doing a view across the park. Drew it in and started. A lady came along, and said, Dont do all that. Theres a shadow, theres a shadow, theres a light, you got it. I taught art for many years. She moved on, and I was putting in greens and reds. A guy came over and got in the trash, found part of a sandwich, came over eating it to watch. Add warmth, he said. So, in England, theyre all critics. Pay attention, Carole, I told myself. Youre not all that you think you are. 

Blevins didnt originally feel she fit into her surroundings, which started at Meadowview, out Route 80. I used to never say that, but I grew up out there in the country, in the holler. I never was meant to be born up there. I was meant to be born an urban girl!

At least, Tedd got me to Paris. How you gonna keep em down on the farm, after theyve seen Paree? Thats my theme song, I think, said Blevins. My parents moved back here from Roanoke because there were no jobs, in 1932, to work the farm. My mother was artistic. She did crafts and needle work. She bought that to us. And we had Life magazine.

I have one sister, three-and-a-half years younger, who lives near me now. We both worked on the farm. Id be working, but I was looking, looking at the light, looking at the color.

I added the e to Carole, in second grade, to be different than other Carols. But I was named for movie actress Carole Lombard, born the night she died in a WWII plane crash. It was a month after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

I graduated high school at Meadowview, but had to go to work, said Blevins. I took a correspondence course for commercial art, and Ive taken other classes over the years. I have who knows what and where college credits. I took courses at the community college, and taught commercial art at VI. But theres so much you cant figure out for yourself without an education. Education gives you focus, teaches you how to look at things.

Instead, starting in 1964, Blevins worked in Bristol for two commercial printers, doing brochures and business cards and living in Bristol, Virginia. She said it was mostly a matter of cutting and pasting. As the industry began to change and some printers faltered, Blevins ended up doing freelance through 1990.

I painted on the side while I was a commercial artist, but always had to make a living. I did do quite a few illustrations for commercial art, said Blevins. I also have paintings done in Bristol, of Johnson Street, of Mary Street. Bristol, Virginia, then Tennessee, was home to me from 1963-2014.

Does she have a lot of her own work?

Its immeasurable, said Blevins. Stacks. I also have quite a bit of Tedds, but Im not selling it. Theyre for his children  he has two and five grandchildren, two in Richmond, three in Maine. They already have quite a lot of his work.

I have one son from a first marriage just out of high school, too early. My first husband died. I like to say, Ive killed off two husbands, Im not going to try for another one.

Tedd also, during his 40-year tenure at VI, exposed his wife to the British Isles, Germany, France, Spain, Turkey and Greece.

Paris is the most beautiful, said Blevins. Florence is my favorite. Madrid was the worst  big, ugly, impersonal. But Cordoba and Granada were great.

Blevins has lots of big ideas about where shed like to paint, if I can get away from here. Russia is one, as shed like to see The Hermitage. Shed like to just drive, stopping and painting in Mexico, Utahs Monument Valley, Colorado, New Mexico, the Deep South.

Blevins art taste is quirky. Asked to volunteer her favorite painters, Blevins says she has a love-hate thing with Thomas Hart Benton. Mostly, I like modern artists, like Neil Welliver and in Paris, Joseph Raphael.

Benton was a Missouri muralist of Americana, a forefather of the Regionalist art movement. Welliver, deceased since 2005, was a Pennsylvania artist known for large landscapes, somber yet emotionally intense, often inspired by the Maine woods. Conversely, Raphael, who died in 1950, was a California impressionist who spent most of his life as an expatriate. Blevins choices somehow reflect Blevins two sides, one close to home, the other seeking adventure abroad.

Id always wanted to go to Morroco. We didnt have time the last time we were in Spain, says Blevins. It wasnt one of Tedds choices for a destination, but mine. Tedds travel choices were driven by art Florence, The Louvre, The Prado.

But Id always wanted to go and had read a lot about it. About creative artists who had spent time there  Sargent, Matisse, Delcroix, Jimi Hendrix, William S. Burroughs in Casablanca!

So after Tedd was gone, I just decided Id go. Everyone thought I was crazy, but I did my homework.

Blevins found out about the Cross Cultural Solutions organization (crossculuralsolutions.org), which allows volunteers to work three weeks abroad out of a three-month journey. The organization, begun in the 1990s, seeks to benefit the world through volunteer work and learning opportunities in nine different countries. CCS encourages people to experience foreign culture as a local while also benefiting communities. Blevins got work in an orphanage, doing whatever needed to be done, and learning some rudiments of the language. Then she set off on her own.

She went to Essaouira, where she met a guide who said hed take her to the desert, near his home town of Erfoud. He and a friend took her walking and walking before renting a Chevy, and going off over the high Atlas, almost to Algeria. The men took her to the old part of Marrakech.

We went seven flights up in a 10-story building one afternoon, said Blevins, and I never felt afraid or threatened. We went into a room of men and it takes them forever to negotiate. Here I am, this old lady in a room with all these foreign men whom I dont understand. I had to laugh about it. Then we all got up, and shook hands. We went up two flights more, and then to the top of the building. Dusk was falling. I stepped out, and there it was, Marrakech, glittering at my feet.

They visited several casbahs (citadels), which have become tourist attractions where films are made.

Because Morocco is an artistic culture of tile work and writing, Blevins couldnt find brushes. She finally, she said, found camel hair ones in an office supply store, and turned out pretty good paintings. But then, its all great to paint!

Blevins says Morocco is mostly Shia, making movement toward freedoms and is the most liberal of Muslim countries. The crime rate is very low.

In general, no matter where, said Blevins, people are the same. Its the governments which so oppose each other. Peoples interpretation of religion is one of the biggest problems in the world. So is the non-acceptance of other people, who are not old, white men. Theres a refusal to look and understand. Lately, I keep being reminded of Martin Luther Kings quote, Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

The trip to Morocco convinced Blevins a world of wonder was still out there.

Im still adjusting to Tedds death, said Blevins. He anchored me, was my rock, my foundation. Even though Im a very independent woman. But I do think hes around me all the time. Im still learning from him how to look at the world, the way society works, and how people react. He had a philosophy which opened my eyes to how things are. The sketchbooks dedicated to him.

Since then, the art he coaxed out of Blevins is what anchors her: I love the immediacy of it. I dont have to deal with a lot for it to happen. I love working in watercolor, she said, because its sort of a dance. Not as uptight as other mediums, because you dont completely control it.

How long has it taken here to reach a place of complete assurance?

Im not there yet, she said.

C. Robert Weisfeld is a freelance writer who lives in Abingdon.
When Saddam Husseins ground troops and armor invaded Kuwait on Aug. 2, 1990, many Americans had to do a map study to learn where the constitutional emirate is located.

When they found the small country perched at the tip of the Persian Gulf, they likely wondered why the United States was willing to invest great treasure in blood and money to liberate it. What isnt widely known is that the U.S. and Kuwait has enjoyed a legacy of friendship that goes back at least as far as 1911, when the Arabian Mission of the Reformed Church in America arrived there to build a hospital.

The rich history of this close friendship is now documented in a just-released book, Strangers When We Met: A Century of American Community in Kuwait by W. Nathaniel Howell. The book, 25 years in the making, was authored by one of the best friends and champions Kuwait has ever known.

Howell, a longtime Albemarle County resident, was serving as the U.S. ambassador to Kuwait when Iraq invaded. Although Saddam Hussein declared the American embassy closed on Aug. 24, 1990, Howell refused to lower the American flag or shutter the mission.

The ambassador, along with his tenacious staff, Marines and American civilians who were brought into the embassy for their protection during the crisis, held their ground for months. The remarkable episode, which displayed American ingenuity and courage at its finest, was documented by Howell in his 2001 book, Siege: Crisis Leadership: The Survival of U.S. Embassy Kuwait.

In mid-December 1990, Saddam Hussein relented and allowed the Americans to leave the embassy without it being technically closed. The plastic milk crates filled with reams of paperwork that held the oral histories and information Howell had gathered diligently for years, and which was indispensible in the creation of the new 728-page book, came within a sliver of being confiscated by Iraqi troops.

When I got to Kuwait in 1987 as ambassador, I knew something about its history and the Arabian Mission, Howell said during a recent interview. I began picking up oral histories and things like that, and I thought it would be interesting to put it into a pamphlet that the embassy could give out to visitors.

I began to find more and more material, much of it information that I either took notes on or was from published things that are very obscure. It had never been pulled together, and a lot of this would have been lost to history if I hadnt written the book.

I was very lucky, because all this information was in my household effects. The Iraqis had rifled through it but didnt stop it from coming out of Kuwait, so it survived the evacuation. They stole all the weapons and electronics, but they werent interested in a bunch of papers.

Fortunately, the Iraqis didnt realize the reams of paper were much more valuable to Howell than most everything else in his personal effects. When he and his wife, Marge, returned home to Virginia, it took some time before the former ambassador was able to muster the energy to organize the papers and start writing.

The importance of bringing all the information together in a narrative form was what drove Howell to spend years on the project. He also realized he was uniquely qualified to be the person to do it.

My purpose was to save this information that I had collected, and to put it out to the public, because so much that is written about the Middle East is superficial, said Howell, who was born in Portsmouth in 1939 and received his bachelors degree and doctorate in foreign affairs from the University of Virginia.

This isnt a textbook, although it could be if you wanted to teach a course on Kuwait. I think its the best English-language history of Kuwait that covers the last 100 years.

The missionaries wrote a lot in obscure journals that I was able to find, and people would give me information. For example, the Kuwaitis first started coming to study in the United States in the mid-1950s. I knew one of them, and he told me who had come, where they had gone and why.

As Howell brings to light in his work, the histories of the U.S. and Kuwait have interesting similarities. Each nation is basically made up of immigrants seeking a better life.

And, like Americans, Kuwaitis started to identify themselves as an autonomous nation around the mid-18th century. And each nations history reads like an adventure novel of strife, struggle, accomplishments and the continuing act of striving to be better.

There are a lot of stories here, Howell said as his eyes settled on the thick book. People think that Kuwaitis are wealthy and self-indulgent, and some of them are. So are some Americans.

But you have to look before oil to see what kind of an existence they were scratching out. They had pearl divers who died at a tremendous rate from tuberculosis and other lung diseases because they were offshore for weeks on end diving with no apparatus.

Other people went on tremendously difficult sea voyages in order to trade. They did a lot to make a living, but since they got oil, theyre not doing that anymore. Its like Americans who, when they were young, mowed their own lawn, but can now afford to pay someone else to do it.

In published remarks, Ryan C. Crocker, also a former ambassador to Kuwait, offered the following reflections about the book:

We are now marking the 25th anniversary of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the U.S.-led liberation, Crocker writes. Nat Howells superb book reminds us of all our two peoples have experienced together over more than a hundred years  and why Kuwait matters. Its an amazing book.

Colbert C. Held, author of Middle East Patterns: Places, Peoples and Politics, wrote this about the work: Howells engaging and comprehensive opus presents invaluable details of Kuwaits development and the part played by a small group of dedicated Americans.

The dedicated Americans who have played important roles in Kuwaits history add much of the color to the narrative of the book. One of them is Dr. Eleanor Calverley, who was the first female physician to serve in the American hospitals there.

What an innovation that was to bring a female doctor to Kuwait as early as 1911, said Howell, who is currently a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of The Daily Progress. That was because the women wouldnt go to see a male doctor.

So we had Dr. Calverley riding around on her little donkey, making house calls and things like that. Her husband was an educator, and he started the first modern English-speaking school in Kuwait.

In 1920, when fanatics out of the central peninsula attacked Kuwait, the Kuwaiti casualties were brought to the mission. Of the 104 casualties, 100 survived. That was when people in Kuwait really began to appreciate what this mission was doing for them and began to support it financially and otherwise.

Howell said the relationship between the U.S. and Kuwait remains very good and solid. Its strategic importance continues as it anchors the head of the Persian Gulf.

Howells last visit to Kuwait was in May 2011. The visit was particularly meaningful, as it revealed in a powerful way Kuwaits appreciation for the U.S., and the strong bond of friendship the nations enjoy.

The American mission hospitals, one for males and one for females, were very much beloved by the Kuwaitis, and they didnt want to see them closed, Howell said of the facilities that served as the initial foundation of friendship. But the mission board in the U.S. decided to do so when Kuwait had its own elaborate medical structure.

The hospitals sat derelict the whole time I was there as ambassador. Shaikha Hussah Sabah al-Salem Al-Sabah, a lovely person who is married to the son of the current amir, and I would try to think of ways we could rehabilitate those buildings.

Since then, she has acquired those buildings and has completely restored them. She has created in them what they call the American Cultural Center. In 2011, I was invited back to give the first lecture in their new auditorium.

They have an exhibit on the American mission and its work. It is so sincerely pro-American you cant believe it.

Another similarity between the U.S. and Kuwait that Howell pointed out is the attachment to the land  every inch of it.

There are a lot of commonalities, even with the differences, Howell said. This book is a story of how, with the proper mixes, you can make that work, and come out in a positive fashion.

This is a hopeful narrative, because weve heard so much about how you cant get along with Muslim societies, and how they go sour. Some of that is true, and some of it is very exaggerated.

Most of the problems you have is when they perceive the United States is not listening to them. Or is not responsive to their concerns, or is unfair.

I had a friend in Kuwait who was a fundamentalist. He spent all his time collecting eyeglasses to give to people in Somalia. I dont care what his religion is, as long as hes doing good work.

Strangers When We Met: A Century of American Community in Kuwait by W. Nathaniel Howell is an ADST-DACOR Diplomats and Diplomacy Book. It is available at adst.org/publications/adst-dacor/strangers-when-we-met.

David A. Maurer can be reached at dmaurer@dailyprogress.com or (434) 978-7244.
Syracuse, NY -- Security cameras caught all but the most important seconds of a 2015 New Year's Day homicide in Syracuse.

Parolee Charquell Judge, 22, is accused of being one of two gunmen who shot at a group of three others, killing Kendell Williams, 23, and striking his brother, Stephen Grimes, 19, in the foot.

Security cameras recorded two groups of three people walking into the store at the corner of Midland Avenue and West Colvin Street around noon, Syracuse Police Detective Christopher DeJoseph testified today.

The groups had a "brief interaction" before leaving separately, as seen on the store security cameras, DeJoseph said.

Outside, a Syracuse police camera caught the groups before they disappeared from view.

Kendell Williams is seen with his children, from left, Doncere, 6; Kendell Jr., 1; Tamia, 5; and Ayanna, 4. Williams was killed on New Year's Day 2015 in Syracuse.

Shortly afterward, Williams was killed nearby on Mark Avenue. Grimes was shot in the foot and admitted firing back, DeJoseph said.

The group that included the suspect, Judge, then reappeared on another Syracuse police camera at Midland and Fage avenues, the detective said.

Judge later acknowledged being one of the men in the security videos, but said he did not commit a crime.

Prosecutor Matthew Doran did not say today exactly why Judge was charged with the murder, but indicated that witnesses -- including Grimes -- had linked him to the fatal shot.

Grimes was arrested on weapons charges for firing back, police have said. He remains jailed.

Judge had been paroled in September 2014 on gun charges stemming from him shooting at a passing vehicle in 2011, police said at the time.

The security camera footage was not made public due to the ongoing court case.

Related: Syracuse man fatally shot on New Year's Day was devoted father, fiancee says

Here's a map of the area described in court today:
Michael Romanowski.jpg

Michael Romanowski

(Utica Police Department)

UTICA, N.Y. -- Police are searching for a Utica man suspected of using a bad credit card to steal high-value items in an "elaborate" scheme.

Michael E. Romanowski, 34, is wanted by two Oneida County law enforcement agencies. Utica police issued a warning Wednesday urging businesses not to sell anything to Romanowski. The warning came a week after the Oneida County Sheriff's Office asked the public for help finding Romanowski, who is wanted for grand larceny.

Utica police said Romanowski committed an "elaborate" series of crimes using fake business documents and bad credit cards.

Romanowski used a credit card to buy expensive items like trucks, trailers, snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles and computer equipment, police said. By the time businesses learned the credit card was bad, Romanowski and the stolen items were gone, police said.

Romanowski recently proclaimed his innocence in an email sent to the Observer-Dispatch -- saying he was out of the state for "work-related commitments," reported the Observer-Dispatch.

Romanowski's last known address was 1210 Lenox Ave. in Utica, said Oneida County deputies. Police believe he is in the Utica area.

The suspect has a history of theft-related charges, according to state records.

Romanowski was sentenced to serve up to four years in prison in October 2013 after he was convicted in Oneida County of grand larceny, according to state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision records. He was released from prison onto parole in January 2014.

According to state parole records, Romanowski was discharged from parole in October.

Police asked anyone with information about the thefts or Romanowski's whereabouts to call Utica police at (315) 223-3511 or the Oneida County deputies at (315) 765-2765.
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A traffic camera shows a tractor-trailer pileup Thursday morning on the New York State Thruway near the Weedsport exit. The westbound lanes are completely blocked. The traffic camera screenshot on the left shows the scene just after the crash was reported. The traffic camera screenshot on the right shows emergency responders on the scene.

(NYS Thruway Authority)

BRUTUS, NY -- State Police dealt with a number of accidents on the New York State Thruway Thursday morning, including one that seriously injured a man.



Police responded to multiple accidents that occurred on westbound Interstate 90 between exits 39 and 40, which are the Syracuse/I-690 and Weedsport exits. The westbound lanes of the highway were shut down for about four hours.

One of the crashes involved two tractor-trailers and a passenger vehicle. A man, 52, was injured and sent to Upstate University Hospital for treatment, according to State Police.

The accidents are still under investigation, but "severe weather winter conditions may have been a factor," State Police said.
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SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- It's time for New York health care workers who did not get flu shots this season to don face masks when working near patients.

The face mask rule for unvaccinated workers took effect today because Dr. Howard Zucker, the state's health commissioner, declared the flu is now widespread in the state.

The flu is arriving late this season and has been much milder than last year.

In Onondaga County, only 15 laboratory-confirmed flu cases had been reported through the end of January. During the same period last year, 1,433 cases were reported in the county.

Statewide laboratory confirmed cases have been reported in 44 counties and all boroughs of New York City. There have been no reports of flu-related pediatric deaths in the state so far this season.

The flu can show up as early as October and last through May. It often peaks in February.

The rule requiring unvaccinated workers in hospitals, nursing homes and other health facilities to don masks is part of a state regulation adopted in 2013. The requirement is designed to protect patients and encourage nurses, doctors and other health care workers to get vaccinated.

The state reported 86 percent of health care workers were vaccinated during the 2014-2015 flu season. That's up from about 60 percent in the 2012-2013 flu season before the mask rule took effect.

Public health officials recommend everyone 6 months and older get a flu vaccination. Since the flu can spread through coughing and sneezing, people who regularly come into contact with children and others at risk of developing flu complications should get a shot, according to the health department.

Contact James T. Mulder anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-470-2245
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Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney meets today with the Syracuse Media Group editorial board on Consensus,

(Michael Greenlar)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - A strong reason to consider marrying the governments of Onondaga County and Syracuse is that the city is likely to go bankrupt if left on its own, County Executive Joanie Mahoney said.

Either that or the state will take over Syracuse finances with a fiscal control board, Mahoney said during an editorial board meeting today at The Post-Standard/Syracuse.com.

"I think the city is going to have a fiscal control board or bankruptcy in the near future,'' Mahoney said. "The crisis is not far away."

Mahoney said the looming fiscal crisis should concern both city and suburban residents because it would impact the entire region. She did not offer specifics on how imminent the cash crunch is.

Syracuse city government has run structural deficits in the millions of dollars in recent years. If the trend continues, the city's fund balance - a rainy day fund that currently stands at $50 million -- could be depleted in three or four years.

Fitch Ratings, a credit rating agency, reported in May 2015 that the city projected deficits of $19.6 million in 2017 and $22.6 million in 2018.

But Mayor Stephanie Miner dismissed Mahoney's assertion that Syracuse faces a fiscal crisis as "politically motivated conjecture.'' She pointed out that city has achieved better-than-anticipated financial results in recent years.

"Reports of our demise have been greatly exaggerated,'' the mayor said in a prepared statement. "We face considerable challenges due almost exclusively to state mandates. Politically motivated conjecture that has no basis in reality does a disservice to all those who truly care about solving problems.''

Miner herself began warning about the dire fiscal condition of Syracuse and other cities five years ago, pointing to similar deficit projections to those Mahoney now cites. But Syracuse thus far has avoided a crisis, in part through cost cutting and an extra $21 million in state aid in 2012.

The independent Consensus commission on government modernization issued preliminary recommendations last month, including a proposal to combine Syracuse and Onondaga County into a new metropolitan government. The commission is soliciting public opinion through March 16 before coming out with a final report.

Public officials have been asked to avoid commenting extensively on the report during the public comment period, and Mahoney said she will honor that and not go into details. But the county executive noted that she has been a long-time advocate of government consolidation.

She said the time to consider consolidation is now, before a crisis hits.



Can the county pursue a merger without city cooperation?

The relationship between Mahoney and Miner has soured recently, leading Miner to say the prospects for consolidation talks looked dim. And at least two city councilors have expressed strong reservations about metro government.

But Mahoney said she hopes that city officials will support consolidation. She said it was "premature'' to consider whether the county might initiate a public referendum on a city-county merger without support from the city council.

"It's too premature'' to talk about the potential for the county to act if city officials aren't interested, she said.

"But I will tell you that that is not my preference,'' Mahoney said. "And I believe that the likelihood that I would be successful is very much diminished (without city cooperation). As I sit here, I would be more likely to find the places we do agree on. And say (for example), do you want to combine parks? And move ahead with something that I think we'd have a better chance at being successful with.''

Is half a loaf better than none?

Mahoney said she is excited about the opportunity to take "a giant leap forward'' into metro government, but any movement toward greater efficiency would be a good start.

"We'll live to fight another day,'' she said.



Has Mahoney spoken to Gov. Andrew Cuomo about consolidation?

The origin of the Consensus initiative had nothing to do with Cuomo, Mahoney said. But the governor is a longtime proponent of local government consolidation. Mahoney said she has discussed the Consensus work "generally'' with Cuomo.

They talked "just about the fact that we have committed - both the mayor and I - to the process,'' Mahoney said. "And I think that's why we're where we are right now. We have a $500 million prize that we get to invest here in Central New York in large part because we agreed to have this very difficult, wide open conversation about whether we can do better."

Cuomo indicated last month that Central New York's commitment to pursue consolidation was a key reason the region won $500 million in economic development money in the Upstate Revitalization Initiative.

Mahoney emphasized that the governor is not directing the process, despite suspicions voiced by some residents at public comment sessions on the Consensus report.

"This belief people have that the governor is calling the shots in Central New York -- nothing could be further from the truth,'' she said.

Why should suburban residents give up small government?

Mahoney said residents of suburban towns and villages often exult over the quality of service they get from local police, public works, and other agencies. She recalled, for example, anecdotes of village police officers checking on residents' homes while they're away on vacation.

But that level of service is too rich for the community to support, she said. If Central New York can't reform itself to promote economic growth, the suburbs will suffer along with the city, she said.

"You can like this personalized service,'' she said. "But your child is going to have to go get a job in another part of the country.''

Contact Tim Knauss anytime | email | Twitter | 315-470-3023


Members of the Lane County Sheriffs Office recovered the body of a man believed to be in his 20s from the Long Tom River near Monroe on Wednesday.

Workers at Stroda Brothers Farm were tending hazelnut trees on the west bank of the river Wednesday morning when they spotted the body caught in some brush along the east bank.

Lane County Search and Rescue Dive Team members responded and pulled the body out of the river. The man had not been identified as of Wednesday afternoon.

One of our workers noticed something in the bushes that had a safety vest on it, said Kirk Stroda, co-owner of Stroda Brothers Farm.

Stroda added that he used a pair of binoculars to scan the river and saw what appeared to be a man wearing a yellow safety vest.

This is the first time the river has been low enough to see over there in over a month and a half, Stroda said.

The Lane County medical examiner was expected to make a positive identification of the body Wednesday or Thursday. Authorities said they would release the name of the man after his identity was confirmed and next of kin had been notified.

Lane County Sheriffs Office officials said Wednesday afternoon that they believed the man had been dead for an extended period of time, possibly months, and that he likely died far upriver from where the body was found.

In December, the Lane County Search and Rescue Team pulled a car belonging to a 21-year-old Junction City man from the Long Tom River. Rescue workers searched the area for several days after finding the car but did not locate the driver. Authorities said in December there was no evidence of criminal activity associated with that case.

The car was pulled out upriver from where the body was located Wednesday.

An ambulance from the Lane Fire Authority and members of the Monroe Rural Fire Protection District also responded to the call Wednesday.
In 2010, Oak Creek Youth Correctional Facility celebrated the completion of a $2.8 million, 7,876-square-foot building for a new Young Womens Transition Program.

Six years later, that building is finally being used for its intended purpose  at least for this year.

Closure of the Corvallis House transition program initially made construction of the YWTP building possible, because a new building was more cost-effective than making repairs to the old one.

The idea was to use Albanys building to house young women who no longer need the intense supervision of the close custody facility, but are still building the skills they need to live on their own.

But the Oregon Youth Authority shelved its residential plans shortly after the buildings completion, both because of budget cuts and because of an overall decline in the numbers of juvenile offenders, which led to fewer girls being committed to the agency.

The YWTP building has been used instead for day treatment, meetings and the occasional education program.

Now that the female population has returned to more historically normal levels, we were able to justify the cost of opening the building and operating the program on a pilot basis, said Ann Synder, OYA communications manager.

The one-year pilot program for residential YWTP work at Oak Creek was made possible by shifting existing resources from elsewhere in the agency, Snyder said. The amount is approximately $920,000 for this biennium, although its not new money  nor permanent.

In order to sustain the program we will be going to the 2017 Legislature to request permanent funding, Snyder said.

The funding request will be a part of the OYA budget proposed for the governors support as part of the overall budget recommended to the Legislature.

Right now, OYA has funding to staff residency for 14 young women. The first residents moved in this past November.

In the past, youths who left Oak Creek as youngsters might go into foster care, but anyone over 18 had few options other than simply going back into society: the group home in Albany known as Oxford House, perhaps, or a few other group home situations in Eugene.

The YWTP program was built on the idea that women learning to return to society would get more practice in a facility that looked and felt closer to what the real world would be like, while still receiving support and supervision.

Gone are the 25-person dorms, replaced by small bedrooms for up to six individuals. Gone are the institutional uniforms: Here, the young women may wear their own clothing and keep their own toiletries  even items that might formerly have been contraband, such as nail clippers.

The airy, light-filled common room just adjacent to the living quarters features a ping-pong table where the paddles are left out for use, instead of being locked away for supervised checkout only. A bookshelf forms a small nook in the back for quiet conversations and a token amount of privacy. Here, unlike the walled-off, windowed offices of the main facility, just a countertop separates residents from staff.

The main facility at Oak Creek is highly structured and allows few choices. Thats both to keep young offenders safe and to limit their access to any of their usual coping strategies: drugs, alcohol, aggression, running away, risky sexual behavior, self-harm.

The majority of the youths incarcerated there arent in for their original crime, Superintendent Mike Riggan said. Theyre in custody because of parole violations; because they struggled to redirect themselves to a more stable life.

Once theyre sober and stable, YWTP is meant to help them learn to make the choices to be more self-directed.

Main facility youths study for college, for instance, while YWTP youth may visit a campus. Main facility youths practice interviews and resume-writing; YWTP youths might actually obtain an internship. Main facility youths learn about good nutrition; YWTP youths can plan their own meals.

There, theyre sort of in this controlled environment. People are telling them what to do, said Lori McGovern, juvenile corrections counselor and a full-time part of YWTP. When they step out here, it becomes a place where they can actually do things.

Riggan said hed like to see the program receive dedicated funding that would allow Oak Creek to bring on enough full-time staff for 24 youths. That will be up to lawmakers to decide, however  and its not something being talked about during the current short session.

We really want to move this thing from a rental to full ownership, he said.
Oregon lawmakers are moving forward on a plan to make high school fifth-year available from now on to everyone who qualifies.

Those qualifying factors, however, will look different than they used to.

Senate Bill 1537, sponsored by State Sen. Sara Gelser, D-Corvallis, passed unanimously (with one absence) out of the Senate Committee on Education on Wednesday and is now headed for Ways and Means.

Gelser said shes proud of the bill, which is meant to secure a funding mechanism for the programs that are used by nearly every school district in the mid-valley.

She said she thinks it will be a tough fight to bring the bill all the way through to the end, but added, At this moment, it looks good.

Almost all mid-valley high schools offer some type of college access program. In their current form, they allow high school students to put off receiving a diploma and instead spend a year or more taking community college classes, with tuition and books covered by state funds their district continues to receive.

That setup prompted lawmakers in some of Oregons larger cities to question whether the programs were sustainable or fair. They contended funds meant for kindergarten through 12th grade shouldnt be covering college classes and that it wasnt possible for Beaverton or Portland to join in without bankrupting the state.

Gelsers post-graduate scholar bill limits the number of students who qualify because it will apply only to those who have earned a diploma; have filled out the federal financial aid form known as a FAFSA; have applied for and accepted all the grant-based aid for which they are eligible, such as a Pell Grant; and have applied for the new community college grant program known as Oregon Promise, which is open to recent Oregon graduates with at least a 2.5 grade point average.

Students who receive funding through Pell or Oregon Promise will not be considered part of the post-graduate scholar program. Districts will be allowed to tap state school funds only for students who arent covered by the other programs. Those restrictions should narrow the field and allow other districts to take part, Gelser said.

It really becomes those kids who dont have another path, she said.

Districts also wont continue to receive full state funding for a post-graduate scholar. The bill calls for full funding the first year (2016-17), then 85 percent the next year, then 75 percent for all subsequent years.

The bill doesnt affect students pursuing a General Educational Development certificate or students who need to stay on for a fifth year to meet regular or modified graduation requirements.

Its still not completely clear how many students might fall into the post-graduate category. Gelser said that data is to be collected during the next two years so decisions can be made on whether state K-12 dollars or some other fund will be the best source for the program.

But barring further state action, the question at that point will be only how best to fund the program, not whether to fund it at all.

It would take an act from the Legislature to take it away. The program doesnt go away, she said.

Its been a struggle to get the bill through, Gelser said, because many lawmakers outside the mid-valley dont really understand how the program works.

Aside from minimum wage, its the hardest thing Ive worked on this session, she said.

However, she added, shes very proud of the results.

I believe we can increase our high school graduation rates and really transform the lives of some kids who have really been left behind too often.
If you are in the mood for fresh fish, try Tausha's Seafood. It has become more than just a fish market since it moved to a new location on Dixie Highway. Tausha and Marty Houck added a restaurant so you can enjoy a very casual dining experience. You also can place an order to go.

The menu features an assortment of fish prepared just one way. Each piece of fish is lightly coated with Marty Houck's seafood breading, then fried. You can order an appetizer portion, sandwich or dinner. The sandwiches and dinners come with hush puppies, French fries and coleslaw. Also offered are lobster bisque, seafood chowders and daily dinner specials. I ordered the conch chowder ($3.99) as a starter, and the ocean perch sandwich ($8.99). My husband chose the mahi-mahi dinner ($12.99).

The conch chowder arrived hot and had a fragrant aroma; it absolutely delighted my senses. The tomato-based chowder was filled with bits of fresh conch, finely chopped tomatoes, onions and bell peppers. I was pleased the bell peppers didn't overwhelm the overall flavor of the carefully seasoned chowder, and I was still able to enjoy the taste of the conch.

My ocean perch sandwich had a heaping amount of fried pieces of fish on top of a buttered and toasted bun. The perch was delicate and flaky without a hint of fishiness. I was given a choice of tartar, cocktail or remoulade sauce and since I couldn't make up my mind, I tried all three. My favorite one for this sandwich was the remoulade sauce. It's not often I notice the accompaniments on a sandwich, but the fresh tomato slices caught my eye. They had a deep red color and were full of rich flavor. The iceberg lettuce, which was very crispy, the dill pickles and the slightly sweet and spicy taste of the white onions really topped off this sumptuous sandwich. The coleslaw was very sweet and creamy. The crinkle-cut fries were not greasy or overloaded with salt so you could enjoy their starchy flavor.

My husband's mahi-mahi dinner also came with a generous portion of fresh fish. The mild taste of moist mahi mahi was complimented nicely by the light coat of Marty Houck's breading. He also commented on the perfectly crunchy texture of the crinkle-cut fries.

The Houcks' family tradition of providing quality fresh seafood to Floridians started in 1892. In May 2009, the family arrived in Port Salerno, and the legacy continued by delighting residents here in Martin County. Whether you buy fish at the market and choose to prepare it yourself, or you dine at the new restaurant, you surely will enjoy a fabulous feast of fresh seafood that will delight even the most finicky fishermen.

Karen Lennon dines anonymously at the expense of Treasure Coast Newspapers for #TCPalmSocial. Contact her at yourmobilechef@gmail.com or follow @urmobilechef on Twitter.

TAUSHA'S SEAFOOD MARKET

Cuisine: Seafood

Address: 4533 S.E. Dixie Highway, Stuart

Hours: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday; 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday

Phone: 772-288-6500

Alcohol: Yes

Handicap access: Yes

Reservations: Yes

Online: www.taushasseafoodmarket.com
The Florida Department of Health has filed an administrative complaint against one Martin County health care worker and restricted the certification of another.

Each of the workers is entitled to a hearing before any final action is taken.

According to Health Department records:

The agency issued an order of emergency restriction of certification against Roger Wilson, a paramedic who worked for Martin County Fire Rescue in November, when the department called the Sheriff's Office to report Dilaudid, a pain killer, was missing from its rescue vehicles.

Wilson told deputies he had used the missing drugs. He was charged with grand theft of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance.

In the second case, the agency issued an administrative complaint against Jaime Melissa Smith, a registered nurse.

As part of a settlement agreement stemming from a 2014 suspension of Smith's license, Smith entered a five-year Intervention Project for Nurses monitoring contract. She was evaluated by a physician, who made recommendations with which Smith failed to comply. She was terminated from the IPN treatment program for impaired practitioners.
Jack Maxwell, 30, 1600 block of Mariner Lane, Port St. Lucie; sale of marijuana; possession of marijuana with intent to sell, manufacture or deliver; public ordinance crimes  use of a two-way communications device to facilitate a felony.

Lakesha Johnson, 20, 5300 block of Sanibel Avenue, Fort Pierce; warrant for violation of probation, battery of a detainee.

Osvaldo Acostamena, 37, Hialeah; out-of-county warrant, Martin County, grand theft.

Timothy Morant, 31, no street address, Fort Pierce; possession of cocaine.

Tempestt Finch, 28, Lauderdale Lakes; out-of-state warrant, Buffalo City, New York, Police Department, fugitive from justice, possession of a weapon.

Donel Quintanal Garcia, 26, Miami; larceny  receiving/retaining stolen credit/debit card; larceny/grand theft; possession of a counterfeit driver's license or I.D. card; counterfeiting of a pay instrument with intent to defraud; fraud  impersonation to obtain property; fraud  swindle to obtain property.

Clesha Green, 47, 3300 block of Avenue R, Fort Pierce; warrants for grand theft, tampering with evidence, destroying, tampering with or fabricating evidence.

Angela Porciello, 34, 2200 block of Melaleuca Boulevard, Port St. Lucie; warrant for arson of a dwelling.

Cheyenne Horne, 23, 1000 block of 27th Circle, Fort Pierce; property damage  criminal mischief.

Rodney Fardink, 51, first block of Flores Del Norte, Fort Pierce; aggravated battery on a person, 65 or older; commit domestic battery by strangulation.

Santoria Brown, 43, 1900 block of Avenue D, Fort Pierce; possession of marijuana with intent to sell, manufacture or deliver; distribution of marijuana within 1,000 feet of a place of worship.

Smaranda Anghelache, 36, Pompano; out-of-county warrant, Palm Beach County, for failure to redeliver/hired vehicle.

Barry Winn, 61, 1700 block of Arizona Avenue, Fort Pierce; warrants for obscene material  possession of a controlled view depiction child sexual conduct, obscene communication  in state person electronically transmit child pornography.

Felipe Martinez, 30, 4200 block of Allsworth Street, Port St. Lucie; warrant for violation of probation, driving while license suspended; warrant for failure to appear, DUI, fleeing or eluding lights and sirens, driving while license suspended, refusal to submit to testing of motor vehicle.

Consquela Lester, 21, 900 block of 12th Street, Fort Pierce; warrant for child abuse.

Khalil Hopkins, 22, 2200 block of Cape Cod Drive, Port St. Lucie; warrant for sale, manufacture, delivery or possession with intent to sell, manufacture or deliver marijuana.

Sesario Garza, 38, no street address, Fort Pierce; warrant for failure of a sex offender to secure a driver's license or identification card.

Matthew Munoz, 24, 15000 block of Yalaha Street, Indiantown; warrants for giving false information to a pawnbroker, dealing in stolen property.

Edwin Ulloa Rodriguez, 30, 500 block of Sixth Street, Fort Pierce; warrant for leaving the scene of an accident with personal injury.

Gary Clark, 45, no street address, Fort Pierce; warrants for giving false information to a pawnbroker, dealing in stolen property.

Brian Davanzo, 25, Deerfield Beach; warrant for failure to appear, possession of marijuana resin/hash.

Jamie Frank, 32, 1900 block of Gold Lane, Port St. Lucie; possession of a controlled substance (Xanax) without a prescription.

Joshua Frederick, 35, 1100 block of Hemlock Circle, Fort Pierce; driving while license suspended, third or subsequent offense.

Christopher Curtiss, 28, 2900 block of Massey Lane, Port St. Lucie; warrant for court order to revoke bond, discharging firearm from vehicle.

Nelson Clark, 28, 1500 block of 29th Street, Fort Pierce; warrant for violation of probation, possession of firearm or ammunition by a convicted felon.

Brandon Scites, 25, Ashland, Kentucky; warrant for violation of probation, failure to complete treatment for substance abuse; out-of-state warrant, Kentucky, fugitive from justice, rape  strong arm, unlawful transaction with a minor, illegal sex act with a minor under 16, rape of a second degree mentally incapacitated by intoxicating substance, sodomy of a second degree mentally incapacitated by intoxicating substance.

Henry Plain, 29, 300 block of 31st Street, Fort Pierce; warrant for possession of a firearm or ammunition by a convicted felon, introduction of contraband into a county detention facility.

Floyd Tennyson, 18, 900 block of Streamlet Avenue, Port St. Lucie; warrants for burglary of a conveyance, petty theft, giving false information to a pawnbroker, dealing in stolen property.

Noah Pyrrhon, 20, 2300 block of Aneci Street, Port St. Lucie; readmit, sale, manufacture, delivery or possession with intent to sell, unlawful use of a two-way communication device.

Davecha Titus, 26, 3300 block of Avenue T, Fort Pierce; readmit, driving while license suspended, habitual offender.

Alexander Weiner, 25, Norfolk, Virginia; readmit, possession of cocaine, possession of methamphetamine.

Equila Augustin, 29, 1500 block of Arenson Lane, Port St. Lucie; readmit, petty theft.

Veranda Delancy, 36, 1900 block of Turus Lane, Port St. Lucie; warrant for violation of probation, felony charge. Arrested in Martin County.

James Orourke, 22, 1900 block of Redwing Circle, Port St. Lucie; carrying a concealed firearm. Arrested in Martin County.
SEBASTIAN  A growing number of local students are leaving school for the weekend with more than school books in their backpacks.

Student volunteers from the Sebastian River High School's International Baccalaureate program and the Indian River Charter High School are packing and delivering food to more than 300 students in the county thanks to the "It's In The Bag" program.

Since September, the program has grown dramatically, with 70 kids at the Fellsmere Elementary; 27 at Pelican Island Elementary; and 47 at Indian River Academy now receiving food through Sebastian River High, while another 126 elementary school kids at Glendale, Citrus and Dodgertown elementary schools receive food from Indian River Charter High School.

A separate program called the "Chum Bucket" provides food, clothing and toiletries to 47 needy Sebastian River High School students each week.

"When we started this program four years ago, we had 15 elementary students at the Fellsmere Elementary School who received food from us regularly," said teacher Susan Lovelace, who oversees the program at the school. "That number has grown larger each year. We try to provide food that is kid-friendly, something that a little kid can open easily and fix for themselves."

Items distributed in the bags vary from week to week but usually include cereal, peanut butter, granola bars and fruit cups. The bags are assembled on Tuesdays and delivered to the elementary schools on Wednesdays so they can be sent home with younger kids on Thursday or Friday.

The program is underwritten by Orchid residents Cindy and Joe Scherpf, who spend about $3,250 per month to keep both SRHS and Indian River Charter High programs stocked with food. Through a partnership with the local Publix supermarket, general manager Randy Strauss keeps students informed about sale items that could be included in upcoming food distributions.

Senior Logan Johnson, 18, of Fellsmere, delivers food from SRHS to Fellsmere Elementary each week and said it gives him a lot of satisfaction to help other people.

"It's pretty cool when you deliver the food and you see how grateful everyone is for the donations," Johnson said. "Making sure kids have enough to eat is something I'm very proud to do."

Lovelace said the program is beneficial to high school students who learn how to organize, pack and distribute the groceries each week, and raise money for the program through fundraisers.

"They definitely have the packing down to a science," Lovelace said. "The program is a real-world learning experience for students who get to see up close how they can make a difference."

HOW TO HELP

More elementary students could be served by the "it's in the bag" program if some additional sponsors would step forward.

For more information on how to help, contact Cindy Scherpf at 772-388-4643 or by email at cynthiascherpf@aol.com.
People get bit by mosquitoes. They dont know what bit them, so you have to kill all the mosquitoes, said Morel Jules (right), of the Indian River Mosquito Control District, while checking for mosquito larva Feb. 9, 2016, in a marsh area along South Jungle Trail off Wabasso Beach Road with Stephen Gee. This is the idea, control them before they fly, Jules said. (ERIC HASERT/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS)

By Elliott Jones of TCPalm

If the Zika virus shows up in Florida's mosquitoes, it potentially could be as close as outside the back door.

Elsewhere in the world, the virus is being spread to humans by the Aedes aegypti mosquito that frequently lives around Florida's homes, biting people on ankles or feet at daybreak and sundown, according to Treasure Coast mosquito control experts.

"When you step out, they are there in Florida," said Jorge Rey, director of the University of Florida's Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory in Vero Beach, which extensively has studied the mosquito in Florida.

They also can get inside the home and like to rest in closets, he said.

In addition to Zika, the Aedes aegypti mosquito can carry yellow fever and dengue fever.

Getting in front of the virus

Morel Jules is on the front lines of mosquito control on the Treasure Coast. At the Indian River Mosquito Control District, he heads up an eight-member crew that is outside daily, in protective long-sleeve shirts, looking for signs of the mosquitoes, to keep them in check to minimize an outbreak.

"It's just a matter of time before we (Treasure Coast) have a case," he said. There are 91 cases in the state, with the closest being Palm Beach and Brevard counties. None originated in Florida. Five women now are infected with Zika, however, the names of the counties where the women live was not released April 21.

But there's a silver lining amid any trepidation.

Carlyn Porter, acting director of Martin County Mosquito Control, said early awareness has helped scientists and public understanding.

"The awareness of this virus has emerged far earlier in the year than the mosquitoes themselves, giving us valuable preparation time," she said. "We're doing a lot of outreach and inspections to educate residents about potential mosquito breeding sites around their homes."

Those include just about any area with standing stagnant water, such as in pots, plant containers, uncovered boats and even in toys left outside. Abandoned pools are another breeding ground, as well as even an upturned bottle cap filled with water.

St. Lucie County Mosquito Control field workers are stopping at houses with containers outside that could contain water in which the mosquitoes breed, said Interim Director Glenn Henderson. They are knocking on doors or leaving notices.

Porter's agency is testing insecticides to find which one is the most effective is combating the mosquitoes.

Jules' agency is trying to minimize risk by spraying whenever they find places with the mosquito larvae, he said.

"If (an outbreak) does happen here, it will not be as widespread," Jules said.

(Story continues below infographic.)

Symptoms and effects

The mosquito's slight sting is about all most people notice if they get the virus. Only 1 in 5 people experience virus symptoms, which usually are mild, increasing the possibility they could unknowingly pass the virus to another mosquito and on to other people, spreading it.

Symptoms can include joint pain, rash, body aches, slight fever, eye pain and vomiting. Usually symptoms appear two to 18 days after being bitten and last two days to a week. Doctors advise not to take aspirin, but that people should rest and drink lots of liquids. If conditions worsen, seek medical help.

In Brazil, the virus is being linked to serious birth defects: abnormally small heads and brains in children. If a pregnant woman is bit by an infected mosquito, the virus can be passed to her unborn child.

The virus is in South and Central America and in the Caribbean. It is especially present in Brazil, Colombia and El Salvador.

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control, there is some evidence that a man infected with Zika can pass it to a sexual partner. The CDC recommends safe sex for those who have traveled to a country with a Zika outbreak. So far the CDC hasn't found cases where women pass Zika to men.

How serious is it?

Within the past two weeks, the World Health Organization, CDC and Florida have issued public health alerts. The CDC is to provide Florida about 1,000 Zika detecting tests  475 are currently available  so the state can check people, especially pregnant women and new mothers who traveled to affected areas and had symptoms of Zika.

People who suspect they have Zika should consult their doctor, who can get one of the test kits, according to the Florida Department of Health.

On advice of the health department, Indian River Medical Center has started asking pregnant patients whether they have been in nations with Zika, said hospital spokesman Lewis Clark Jr. They are being handed an Indian River County Health Department memo that says they should call the health department directly for testing, if they show symptoms within two weeks of traveling to a country with a Zika outbreak.

Similarly, Lawnwood Regional Medical Center & Heart Institute in Fort Pierce and St. Lucie Medical Center officials ask patients whether they have traveled outside of the country, including places where the Zika virus is active, as well as if they experience any symptoms of the virus, said hospitals spokeswoman Rhonda Wilburn. Martin Health System, with hospitals in Stuart and Port St. Lucie, plans to start asking patients whether they've recently traveled out of the country.

Within the next two weeks, the CDC plans to have a telephone conference for training Florida hospital workers about Zika.

Florida has 20 confirmed cases of the virus in humans, all of which were acquired by people traveling to Latin America or the Caribbean, including Colombia and Venezuela, according to the Florida Department of Health. None are on the Treasure Coast; none are pregnant women.

Rey's agency is striving to get samples of the virus brought to his Vero Beach-based lab to test them on Florida's Aedes aegypti mosquitoes to see what it does in them. That would be done indoors under laboratory conditions.

What can residents do?

The cold front, and others since mid January, are helping.

Cold slows the development of the mosquitoes in a time when there is an abundance of water that is vital to their growth, said Indian River Mosquito Control District Director Doug Carlson.

Carlson and Jules urge homeowners to keep emptying anything with standing water, including bird baths or old tires.

The only way health experts expect to know if the virus is in Florida's mosquitoes is through humans getting it.

Testing mosquitoes could be futile, Jules said. The odds of finding it in them are remote.

Humans are the sentinels, Carlson said, referring to the sentinel chickens Treasure Coast mosquito control agencies use to detect the presence of other mosquito-borne illnesses, such as West Nile virus. Chickens don't get the Zika virus.

There is no known preventive vaccine. The best prevention is protection from bites by using mosquito repellent, scientists said.
Gov. Rick Scott wants the Army Corps of Engineers to help reduce Lake Okeechobee discharges and flooding south of the lake by moving more water into Everglades National Park.

In a letter Tuesday, Scott asked Jo-Ellen Darcy, who heads the corps as assistant secretary of the Army for Civil Works, to raise the water level in a Miami-Dade County canal so "substantial volumes of water" would flow from a huge man-made marsh south of Lake O into the park.

The L-29 Canal runs east-to-west parallel to Tamiami Trail on the border between the park and Water Conservation Area 3. Typically, water south of the lake goes into stormwater treatment areas and then into water conservation areas to remove excess nitrogen and phosphorus before reaching the park. That water can come directly from Lake O or be drained off farmland south of the lake in what's called the Everglades Agricultural Area.

Scroll down or go here for an interactive map of the pieces that make up the Everglades and the main canals that could enable more water to be sent south out of Lake Okeechobee.

Moving the water directly from the lake helps relieve the discharges currently threatening the ecosystems of the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers on Florida's west coast. But right now the water conservation areas are full of water from the farmland.

The high water is threatening wildlife in the conservation area, Scott told Darcy.

The corps was still considering Scott's request Thursday afternoon, said Lt. Col. Jennifer A. Reynolds, deputy commander for South Florida, adding there's no way to ensure any extra water sent to the Everglades would come from Lake O or from the Everglades Agricultural Area.

Raising the canal level a foot as Scott recommends would send an extra 450 million gallons to 500 million gallons of water a day to Everglades National Park.

By comparison, Lake O water is flowing into the St. Lucie River at a rate of about 2 billion gallons a day.

The corps is concerned, Reynolds said, that moving more water out of the conservation area could increase the amount of phosphorus entering the park and increase the potential for flooding nearby private lands.

In his letter to Darcy, Scott said the state has gotten support from "stakeholders along Tamiami Trail," including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the park, the South Florida Water Management District and the Miccosukee Tribe.

The plan isn't supported by Minority Leader Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, who said the water would be too polluted to go into Everglades National Park.

Getting water from the conservation areas into the park has been a "longtime bottleneck" in restoring flows south of the lake, said Gary Goforth, a Stuart environmental engineer who formerly designed and monitored water systems for the water management district.

Raising the canal level to facilitate the flow, Goforth said, "probably is the right thing to do right now."

Meanwhile, the corps will keep sending 2 billion to 3 billion gallons of Lake O water a day to the St. Lucie Estuary for at least the next couple of weeks, Reynolds said.

After that, the discharge flows will depend on the weather, she said; and long-term forecasts still call for wetter-then-normal conditions over the next two months.

On the plus side, Wednesday was the first day since December that more water was flowing out of the lake than was flowing into it. And the lake elevation has dropped almost an inch since Monday to 16 feet 3 7/8 inches Thursday morning.

The corps would like to get the lake down to around 12 feet, 6 inches by June 1, the usual start of the South Florida rainy season.

Staff reporter Isadora Rangel contributed to this report.
Watching New Hampshire primary voters relegate Jeb Bush to fourth place and hand fifth place to Marco Rubio hasn't deterred some powerful local Republicans who back the presidential rivals from believing the White House is still winnable.

Talk to Rubio supporters and Bush-backers from the Treasure Coast who spent money and several days canvassing in Iowa and New Hampshire, and you might not think Donald Trump was Tuesday night's winner after he swept past Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who placed second, and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who battled late into the night for third place.

Florida's Senate president-elect Joe Negron, R-Stuart, a top Bush supporter who was in New Hampshire in early January attending his town hall meetings, said the former two-term Florida governor has a national campaign organization and is ready to compete in every state.

"The goal was to be in the top tier of candidates moving forward and I think the effort put into New Hampshire put him in the top tier," Negron said Wednesday from Tallahassee. "As we move toward southern states I think you'll see him do very well."

WORTH THE EFFORT

Reached Wednesday in Manchester, New Hampshire, Vero Beach Republican and Indian River County Tax Collector Carole Jean Jordan said Bush heads to the next GOP presidential primary in South Carolina with momentum and a "great ground team."

"He's showed that he's strong and that ideas ... experience and authenticity matters, and I don't think anyone knows that better than the people up here who have been around Jeb and the family for years," Jordan said. "It was fun being out in the precincts, as cold as it was. And it was cold."

Negron, too, said canvassing for Bush in New Hampshire was time well spent and made the campaign personal.

"I'm proud to work hard for Gov. Bush. Also on a personal level, it was great to participate in what I consider to be an iconic American electoral phenomenon of the New Hampshire primary," he said. "It's a testing ground for presidential candidates."

He declined to criticize Rubio  Bush's former political protege, who Negron served with for six years in the Florida House.

"I'm working for Gov. Bush," Negron said, "not against any other candidate."

SETBACK?

Rubio's campaign manager Terry Sullivan on Wednesday told The Associated Press the New Hampshire setback could extend the GOP nomination fight for at least another three months.

State Rep. Debbie Mayfield, R-Vero Beach  who spent a snowy weekend before the primary working for Rubio in New Hampshire with South Carolina Republicans Sen. Tim Scott and Rep. Trey Gowdy  wouldn't bash Bush or his bid for the White House. But she insisted Rubio is the one impressing GOP voters in South Carolina who go to the polls Feb. 20.

Rubio on Wednesday said it was a mistake during Saturday's GOP debate to revert to talking points instead of engaging with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who ended his presidential run Wednesday.

It was a mistake Mayfield said Rubio won't repeat.

"He assessed what the problem was, he took responsibility for it and now let's move on and go to South Carolina," she said. "To me that's showing him as presidential and that he is a leader and is very capable of being president of the United States."

Still, Mayfield said watching Rubio come in fourth in the New Hampshire primary was "disappointing."

"I wish I could have been there with Marco," she said, "to give him support and say 'look, this is not the end this is just the beginning.'"

ALTERNATIVE TO TRUMP

Despite Trump winning with 35 percent of the vote in New Hampshire, both Mayfield and Jordan dismissed the real estate tycoon as the candidate who will capture the Republican presidential nomination.

"People in this country are aggravated with the status quo and the same Republicans getting elected and that's why Trump is doing so well," Mayfield said. "But Marco is that alternative  of having a clear vision for the country and for the young people. That's where Marco's difference is ... he's out there fighting for every American, to get our country back on the right track and that's what people want to hear."

Jordan, though, said Bush has the "solid leadership abilities" Trump lacks.

"No one has the record of leadership Gov. Bush has and I think that's what people are going to look at," she said. "He's ready to walk into the White House ... and bring America back as the leader of the free world and peace through strength that aren't happening right now."
TALLAHASSEE  After speeding through the Florida House of Representatives last week, a measure to prevent counties from passing so-called "sanctuary" policies and force them to help federal immigration officials round up undocumented immigrants or face massive fines is all but dead in the Senate.

"I don't think the sanctuary bills will find safe haven in my committee," Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a Republican leader from Miami, said Monday.

That should be welcome news to a host of interests outspoken in their opposition to the legislation  immigration advocates, law enforcement agencies, civil liberties groups, labor unions and county and city governments.

"It's a good sign" the measure has not been placed on a Senate agenda going into the fifth week, said Francesca Menes, spokeswoman for the Florida Immigrant Coalition, "but you never know."

There are a number of procedures that would allow some other committee chairman to take up the matter, but Senate President Andy Gardiner is a firm believer in the traditional process and gives great discretion to the people who chair the committees where bills are first assigned, said Katie Betta, Gardiner's chief of staff.

Still, Gardiner has often said, "Nothing is dead" until the session ends.

The Senate version, SB 872, was filed by Sen. Aaron Bean, R-Fernandina Beach, and co-introduced by Senate President-designate Joe Negron, R-Stuart.

The House version, HB 675, by Rep. Larry Metz, R-Yalaha, was approved last Tuesday 80-39, with all but two Latino Republicans voting in favor of the measure  even though Miami-Dade leaders and law enforcement officials said it would impose a big cost on county government.

Rep. Jose Felix Diaz of Miami, a Republican and head of the Miami-Dade Hispanic caucus, walked out of the House chamber rather than vote on the measure, and Rep. Rene Plascencia, R-Orlando, voted against it with most Democrats. One Democrat, Michelle Vasilinda of Tallahassee, voted for its passage.

"Our communities will never forget the representatives who voted today to unleash the witch-hunt that will criminalize and racially profile our families," said Pamela Gomez, Tallahassee Organizer for the We Are Florida Campaign.

The Florida Immigrant Coalition and other groups are planning a rally at the capitol on Feb. 17 to hand petitions to state lawmakers to oppose several anti-immigration bills.

"We're definitely going to be holding Latino elected officials accountable," said Menes with the coalition.

The federal government in January 2015 rolled out the Priority Enforcement Program to replace the Secure Communities Program, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement began asking local law enforcement to detain people up to 48 hours while it decides if it wants to take them into custody for deportation.

Within months, county and law enforcement officials around the state began opting out of the requests, citing the high cost of detaining people for days and weeks at a time with no chance of federal reimbursement. Miami-Dade County said it spent $12.5 million the year before the county commission voted not to cooperate on ICE detainers.

The Florida Sheriffs Association issued an advisory opinion to its 67 county sheriffs that detaining these people without a warrant raises Fourth Amendment concerns. Many courts have held that the immigration detainer doesn't give ICE the right to require someone's detention without a warrant or an order of deportation or removal, the association said.

The sheriffs' association said no county in Florida has passed a sanctuary ordinance like San Francisco, the example often raised of what happens when local governments don't help enforce federal immigration laws. Investigators say a woman there was slain in July by an undocumented immigrant who has been deported more than once and has a felony record.

The Florida bill would punish local governments and law enforcement agencies that "shield such persons from personal responsibility for their unlawful actions" by charging a civil penalty of $1,000 to $5,000 a day for each day the sanctuary was in effect before injunction was granted.

Thirty counties have some sort of policy that "attempt to safeguard against unconstitutional detention requests from ICE" according to Shalini Goel Agarwal, lead author of an ACLU report that studied the hardships those counties would face under the proposed legislation.

No jurisdiction in Florida has what Agarwal would call a sanctuary ordinance, and she said law enforcement does cooperate with ICE in at least two significant ways.

"Everybody who gets picked up in Florida by police has their fingerprints sent to ICE," Agarwal said. "Also, there is a separate notification step when someone is released from the county jail, and all are complying with that in Florida."

The detainer requests are not a basis for restricting a person's liberties, and would open local law enforcement to the exposure of civil lawsuits, she said.

"Detainees who have sued local jails over ICE detainers have won significant victories," Agarwal said. "You can't legislate your way around the constitution."

The Florida legislation also doesn't indemnify the county or sheriff against lawsuits.

"That would be one thing to say that we are confident of the legality of the legislation that we'll pay if you get sued," she said.

If the measure passes, counties would either have to "detain these people and open themselves up to lawsuits, and spend lots of money that the federal government won't reimburse them for, or honor their constitutional obligation and pay thousands of dollars in fines to the state," Agarwal said.

Jeff Schweers covers the Florida Statehouse for Treasure Coast Newspapers, the Naples Daily News and the Tampa Tribune. Contact him at jschweers@tampatrib.com.
PORT ST. LUCIE  Construction is to begin this month on a controversial drug-and-alcohol detox center that sparked outrage from neighbors nearly three years ago, according to its medical director.

The $6 million Torino Addiction Treatment Campus is awaiting its city building permit, said Stuart neurologist and addiction specialist Dr. Jose Toledo. Toledo also heads New Life Addiction Treatment Center in Palm City.

"We're finalizing everything with the bank, and if everything goes as expected we should break ground later this month," Toledo said.

A lack of funding delayed the project, Toledo has said.

Once completed, the 3.93-acre campus, on Northwest East Torino Parkway at Northwest Zenith Drive, would comprise two one-story buildings  a 30-bed, 9,900-square-foot drug-and-alcohol detox center; and a 40-bed, 14,000-square-foot sober home.

Toledo anticipates the detox facility would be complete in December. He hasn't finalized construction plans for the second building, he said.

Toledo said he has applied for a building permit. City officials, though, could not locate an application for the permit, Building-Code Administrator Joel Dramis said in an email.

Neighbors who make up the Torino Residential Committee held numerous protests and packed City Hall in fierce opposition to the project. They argued the center would increase crime and drive down property values. The group had no comment Thursday.

Toledo in 2013 applied for a special-exception use for detoxification services. The City Council denied the application, but reversed its decision several months later to settle a discrimination lawsuit filed by Toledo. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Federal Fair Housing Act and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, recovering alcohol and drug addicts are considered disabled, and denying them housing could be discriminatory.
VERO BEACH  It was a swan song for County Administrator Joe Baird Wednesday as he addressed the Taxpayers Association of Indian River County for the last time.

Baird, who will retire on June 30, was greeted with a standing ovation from the group, which twice awarded him its annual "miser of the year" award for his fiscally-conservative practices as county administrator.

Since 2006, Baird said, the county has reduced its budget by 40 percent, going from $472 million to its current $280 million. It also has reduced its workforce from 960 employees to 700 and paid off some long-term debt earlier than anticipated.

Baird said he was following the county commissioners' directive not to increase taxes during tough times, opting instead to tighten-up the county's own fiscal house.

"We made a lot of changes even during the recession," Baird said. "The board instructed me not to increase the millage, but we've been very proactive about making changes benefiting taxpayers."

In recent years, county coffers have reaped the benefits of its fiscally-conservative policies, Baird said. With the increase in new building projects, impact fees have skyrocketed, sales-tax collection is up 5.7 percent; and tourism taxes jumped 21 percent in the last year.

But even with improved revenue outlooks, Baird said, the county still faces fiscal challenges, particularly in the area of emergency services.

"The public wants more fire stations and better response times," Baird said. He estimated two new fire stations, one near Interstate 95 and another in Vero Lake Estates, will cost the county $4.2 million.

Other projects on the horizon include a $5 million extension of the county sewer system to serve parts of Sebastian.

"We've already paid for the design," Baird said. "It's a $5 million project and we're asking the state for $2.5 million, but there's a lot of competition."

County Attorney Dylan Reingold updated the organization on the county's fight against All Aboard Florida and its Florida Supreme Court case involving utility territories. The county wants the state high court to reverse a Public Service Commission decision allowing Vero Beach to continue providing service after its franchise agreement expires in 2017.
Mid-valley fifth-year high school programs are endangered again, with an amendment currently before Oregon lawmakers that would phase them out in three years.

Senate Bill 418, which establishes state standards and a funding mechanism for high school programs that provide college credit, is before the education subcommittee of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means.

It contains a proposed amendment that would limit current fifth-year programs to the number of students they currently serve, prohibit new programs from starting and phase the programs out entirely by 2018-19.

The subcommittee heard public comment on the amendment Thursday morning but did not take action. The bill itself is to come up again next week, although the discussion topics are unclear.

Sen. Sara Gelser, D-Corvallis, testified against the amendment on Thursday, as did Rep. Sherrie Sprenger, R-Scio, a member of the committee.

Gelser said she is going to draft her own amendment, which would agree to put a one-year moratorium on any new programs and give time for a work group to hammer out a more sustainable funding structure. She promised to devote one of her bills next session to that issue.

There arent a lot of good choices here. Im just doing everything I can to save these programs for these kids," she said. "I will do everything I can not to have a mandated phaseout."

Fifth-year programs allow students to put off receiving a high school diploma and spend a fifth year taking college courses, with books and tuition covered by the state school funds their district receives because they are still considered enrolled.

Albany, Corvallis, Lebanon, Scio, Central Linn and Sweet Home school districts all have such programs. Philomath had been slated to start one next year, but that future is now in doubt.

Senate Bill 322, sponsored by Sen. Mark Hass, also proposed eliminating the programs. Hass said he doesn't believe it's fair to use K-12 money for a 13th year when younger students still need resources, and that the program isn't sustainable because larger districts can't take part without bankrupting the state school fund.

That bill died in committee. But earlier this week, Sen. Mark Johnson of Hood River proposed the amendment to 418 with some of 322's language, a move known in lawmaker parlance as a "gut and stuff."

Superintendents Rob Hess of Lebanon and Erin Prince of Corvallis also testified Thursday against the phaseout clause and said they are committed to helping Gelser's work group find a funding solution.

Prince said a year ago, none of the students in the Corvallis alternative education program were going on to college. This year, 60 percent have made that commitment, which she attributes to the two-year-old Corvallis program, Running Start.

"The bottom line is that I dont believe there's anybody in the Legislature or in the school districts across the state that would question that these programs are doing some great things for kids. It really comes down to the funding model and fear that the states going to go bankrupt if some of the larger districts jump on board," she said. "Strike the three-year phase out and trust us to get the job done.

Lebanon's program, "Beyond LHS," has been in place for a decade. Hess said he's never seen any program work better to close achievement gaps and get first-generation students to college.

Hess said the state has long put resources toward programs without proven results or with weaker outcomes than predicted. He said he believes if lawmakers are worried about "thinning the soup," it's time to thicken it.

"This program is the most effective reform that Oregon is currently doing, bar none. And that's based on real data," he said. "If we know something works, figure out a way to scale it rather than shut it down."
VERO BEACH  Local flights to the New York City area are available to summer travelers.

Elite Airways opened reservations last week, allowing travelers to book flights from the Vero Beach Regional Airport to Newark Liberty International Airport through mid-September.

Flights remain $149 each way, and will continue Thursdays and Sundays. Vero departures change from 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m., to accommodate new morning flights from Naples that begin later this month.

Elite last week announced new service between Vero to Naples and flights from Naples-to-Newark via Vero Beach. Vero-bound flights leave Newark at 12:15 p.m. Thursdays and Sundays.

The airline also will begin flights from Naples to Portland, Maine, via Melbourne.

"We are committed to year round flights at Vero Beach and are very pleased with the bookings so far," said Elite CEO John Pearsall in an email.

Elite returned commercial passenger service to Vero Beach in December after an almost 20-year hiatus, offering nonstop flights to Newark twice a week. Officials have said continuation of the flights depends on community support, while declining to release passenger counts.

"It's reflective of the company's growth and its commitment to expanding air service for Florida to the northeast," spokeswoman Rebecca Crisafulli said.

The airline is updating its reservations page, she said. Flights will continue to be booked through the Elite website. Customers booking flights on the website after April 25 will be redirected a new reservations page, she added.
FORT PIERCE  A proposed commercial-and-industrial park west of Midway Road and Interstate 95 on Tuesday received initial OK for its layout.

The City Planning Board voted 8-0 to approve the preliminary plat for Village at Midway, a 516-acre development.

The City Commission will vote on the project in March, City Planner Clarissa Davis said.

The property owner, Canadian real estate developer Walton Acquisitions, is designing a commercial-and-industrial park with a separate residential development.

It would include:

Up to 650 single and multifamily homes.

1.5 million square feet for warehouses.

1.2 million square feet for light-industrial use.

160,000 square feet for a shopping center.

10,000 square feet for a fast-food restaurant.

25,000 square feet for a full-service restaurant.

The firm's parent company, Walton International, purchased the property in December 2013 for $5 million. The property is owned by more than 1,400 investors, records show.

Walton would lease space to a developer, who would be responsible for applying for building permits and constructing buildings, Davis said.

The company is a privately owned real estate investment and land development firm based in Calgary, Alberta. The firm's U.S. headquarters is in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Imagine the horror a child must feel being removed from their home by investigators from the Florida Department of Children & Families.

There may be many good reasons for taking such a drastic step  neglect, abuse, drug use or domestic violence among them  yet a kid in that situation probably doesn't understand why it's being done. All they know is they're being suddenly uprooted from everything familiar.

A group of volunteers that specializes in helping abused or neglected kids on the Treasure Coast wants to add a little more humanity to the process.

The nonprofit Guardians for New Futures is raising money to buy a home that will serve as a temporary sanctuary for such children until they can be placed in foster or other care. At the moment there is nothing like it anywhere on the Treasure Coast.

Adding insult to injury, these children often must spend several hours in DCF offices until a suitable placement can be found.

The Guardians group is working to raise funds to buy a home, probably in Port St. Lucie, that will be a safe, nurturing environment where children may take showers, do homework or watch a movie while they await a longer-term home.

Sanctuary4kids Treasure Coast will be based on similar successful models operating in Palm Beach and Broward counties.

Guardians for New Futures has so far raised $191,000 toward an estimated $300,000 needed to purchase such a home, according to board member Doris Plym of Vero Beach. She was a volunteer for the Guardian ad Litem program, advocating for children in court, for 20 years.

"If they could go somewhere safe and clean, and watch a Disney movie," Plym said, "it would prevent them suffering more trauma."

Hubert "Vern" Melvin is circuit director for the 19th Judicial Circuit Guardian ad Litem program, but before that he spent 12 years as Department of Children & Families district administrator for the 19th Judicial District.

Melvin definitely sees the advantages of a sanctuary house.

"Yes, it is needed," he said, "primarily because when children are removed from a home, that's traumatic enough. All too often child protective investigators then have to 'baby sit' children in their offices, and the children must be transported to those offices by a law enforcement officer."

Nothing about the process is exactly warm and fuzzy.

The sanctuary house would house a maximum of eight children for up to 48 hours, according to Christina Kaiser, community relations director for Devereux Community Care for Okeechobee & the Treasure Coast, the area's foster care agency.

Kaiser noted that even if a child is eventually placed with a family member, neighbor or teacher instead of being placed in foster care, background checks still must be made on those individuals. Sanctuary4kids would serve in those situations, too, she said.

During the last six months, between 30 and 40 children a month across the Treasure Coast have been removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect, Kaiser noted. Most of those children are less than 5 years old, she said.

Kaiser cited an example this week when two children had to be removed from their home at 3:30 a.m. They were required to then be in court at 8:30 a.m. and had to spend the intervening hours with their child protective investigators at the office.

"There was no chance for them to sleep, shower or get changed before appearing in court," Kaiser said.

Guardians for New Futures estimates the annual operating costs for a sanctuary house to be between $500,000 and $600,000 a year. That figure includes the cost of 24/7 staffing, including medical personnel.

There are safe places for victims of domestic abuse, care facilities for adults with medical, mental or drug issues  but Sanctuary4kids would be the only place on the Treasure Coast to cater to the temporary needs of our most vulnerable population: children.

Doris Plym of Guardians for New Futures said she hopes the group will have a home sometime this spring. It can't come soon enough for kids like those dragged out of their beds before dawn.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Send tax-deductible donations to:

Guardians for New Futures

546 NW University Blvd., Suite 203

Port St. Lucie, FL 34986

Call 772-807-3868
FRACKING STALLS: State Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Lee, R-Bradenton, tapped the brakes on Florida's rush to institutionalize fracking by demanding the Florida Department of Environmental Protection provide more scientific details on the impact of hydraulic fracturing, the Miami Herald reported.

The House last month passed a companion bill, House Bill 191, that would create statewide fracking regulations and pre-empt local governments from controlling from the process.

'There is a growing number of people, not just in the environmental community but in local governments, particularly on the pre-emption issue, that are concerned about what they believe is an overreach by the state,'' Lee said.
MAKE IT UNANIMOUS: Requiring a unanimous jury decision to impose the death penalty is one step closer to becoming law in the Sunshine State.

Of 32 states that authorize the death penalty, Florida is one of three that does not require a unanimous recommendation from jurors to implement this ultimate sentence.

Sen. Thad Altman, R-Rockledge, has tried unsuccessfully in each the previous three legislative sessions to make it unanimous.

On Monday, the Senate Criminal Justice Committee approved a bill that would mandate this provision.

Senate Bill 7068 also would require a unanimous decision on at least one aggravating factor  such as whether the defendant was convicted of another felony in the past  to make someone eligible for the death penalty.
The new year has brought record rainfall, and the excess groundwater is creating significant challenges for many residents living close to Lake Okeechobee and its nearby watersheds.

For all residents, including business owners, homeowners and farmers, proper management of this excess groundwater is important to protecting our families, homes, businesses and farm fields that supply our food.

As the rainfall has continued, our communities have benefitted greatly from the leadership of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District, which have been doing an admirable job in managing roughly 3 million acre-feet of water that fell on the northern Lake Okeechobee watershed during the month of January, as well as an equal amount received as far south as Homestead.

Members of South Florida's farming community have been doing our part to help get through this significant event, minimizing impacts on the environment, farmers, our communities and our local economies. Nature does repeat itself, and I'm reminded of a 1998 report from the water management district entitled, "Hydrologic Impacts of the 1997-98 El Nina and El Nino on Central and South Florida." A record rainfall of more than 23 inches hit the area between November 1997 and March 1998, and Lake Okeechobee rose to 18.43 feet, the third-highest in the history of recorded lake levels.

We are all concerned about the impact of freshwater flows from Lake Okeechobee to the coastal estuaries and are all looking forward to the day when we can send water south into the Everglades. Thanks to the good work of farmers down in the Everglades Agricultural Area, we are even closer to being able to realize our goal to send water flowing south without having to sacrifice more farmlands in the process.

With all that said, I can't help but think of the 1 million people living in what was once the headwaters of the system and the 5 million people living in what was once coastal wetlands and the eastern edges of the Everglades. We all have to come to grips with the fact that, given all the development that has occurred during the last 50 years in this large watershed, there is only so much one can do to manage the large volumes of water that are generated during events such as we've experienced in January.

Unless we all move out of South Florida I'm not sure you can buy enough farmland to better manage events like this. Let's face it: farming operations in South and Central Florida are the last bastion of green space left, aside from portions of the 10 million acres of state-owned land down in South Florida. And, yes, farmers did their part again by watching their lands get flooded and sacrificing their seasonal crops during the peak of their growing season to help dampen the impacts to the coastal estuaries.

We all need to continue to work together to retool the system to accommodate the more than 8 million people who live and work in South Florida. Yes, we need to continue to push for finishing projects like C-44 and C-43 reservoirs, along with the Central Everglades Planning Project, the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan and the Integrated Delivery Schedule. Buying more land is simply not the answer.

Finally, we need to stop blaming water managers for not being able to handle mother nature's 1 in 500-year storm events, especially when the very system being managed enables us all to live, work and farm in South Florida. Let's all be mindful our goal has to be balance and sustainability in a place where we've all created environmental challenges by the sheer fact that we're living and working here.

Gary Ritter is assistant director of government and community affairs at Florida Farm Bureau Federation and resides in Okeechobee.
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United States Reps. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., and Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, last week introduced legislation to prevent states from passing laws banning the sale of smartphones with encryption capabilities.

The ENCRYPT Act of 2016, as the bill is known, provides that a state or political subdivision of a state may not mandate or request that a manufacturer, developer, seller or provider of covered products either design a security backdoor or modify existing security functions to allow the surveillance of their users or allow their physical search by any agency or instrumentality of a state, a political subdivision of a state or the United States.

No Backdoors

The bill prohibits the use of products or services from manufacturers, developers, sellers or providers to decrypt or otherwise render intelligible information that has been encrypted or otherwise rendered unintelligible.

Covered products and services include computer hardware, software, electronic devices, and online services available to the general public.

In short, the bill aims to shut off attempts by the FBI, NSA and law enforcement agencies in the U.S. to force high-tech companies to include security or encryption backdoors or otherwise provide access to information on devices.

Rationale for the Act

I was concerned when I saw the New York State legislators bill that would mandate encryption backdoors, and got more concerned when the California state legislature introduced a similar bill, Lieu told TechNewsWorld. California is a Democratic state, and if a Democratic legislator introduces the bill, I figure it will pass.

The FBI, the NSA and other law enforcement agencies have been pressing for encryption backdoors.

FBI Director James Comey went so far as to suggest Congress might have to intervene if Apple and Google refused to remove default encryption from iOS and Android, but some lawmakers gave that suggestion a chilly reception.

A Weather Eye

You cant design a smartphone that would work in different states differently in terms of encryption, because people travel in different states all the time, Lieu pointed out.

The issue is not about encryption, per se, he said. Whether you believe in encryption backdoors or oppose them, you can still support the [ENCRYPT 2016] bill, because states shouldnt get into interstate commerce.

The bill introduces people to the issue, observed Daniel Castro, a vice president at the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, and in some ways, it educates policy makers on the issue.

It also sends a signal to the states that Congress is keeping an eye on things, and maybe theyll give the issue some serious consideration, Castro told TechNewsWorld.

We need a national policy on this, he remarked. Its not just about screwing up encryption but about how we can do national security really well.
Movidius on Wednesday announced that its working with Google to put deep learning on mobile devices.

Google will source Movidius latest flagship chip  the MA2450  and software development environment, and will contribute to Movidius neural network technology road map in return.

That could result in smartphones and other mobile devices that will be able to understand images and audio swiftly and accurately.

The Movidius Technology

The MA2450 is the most powerful iteration of Movidius Myriad 2 vision processor unit, which the company said is the only commercial solution available to perform complex neural network computations.

The Myriad 2 is the first always-on vision processor, Movidius said.

It has a programmable architecture and comes with the Myriad Development Kit, or MDK, which includes a software development framework. That lets developers incorporate proprietary functions and build arbitrary processing pipelines while leveraging the vision, imaging, and linear algebra software libraries and reference vision processing pipeline examples Movidius provides, all as source code.

The MDK includes all necessary programming and debugging tools.

Movidiuss Myriad VPU processor powers GooglesProject Tango.

What to Expect

We can expect to see run-time deep neural networks for speech-to-text, vision and many other smart machine applications running in phones, cameras, automobiles, medical devices and others because the DNN models can be downloaded and run disconnected from the cloud,Gartner Fellow Tom Austin said.

Remember that working with Google on a project doesnt necessarily translate into products, cautioned Jim McGregor, principal analyst atTirias Research. However, this has the potential for almost any device and extends well beyond just facial recognition; this is machine learning.

Facial recognition and retinal scans the technology enables could significantly increase the level of security over fingerprints and even help identify people, he told TechNewsWorld.

Facial recognition could be used in two-factor authentication, and Google could bake it into Android as it did with fingerprint IDs, suggested Wayne Lam, a principal analyst at IHS Technology.

Google also could apply the technology to home security platforms, he told TechNewsWorld. Think Nest and other IoT uses.

Potential Uses for the Technology

Banks will begin using smart machines widely, and a report Gartners Austin co-authored suggests most banks will invest in six main types of smart machines during the next few years.

The smart machines resulting from Googles team-up with Movidius could make wireless banking more secure, he told TechNewsWorld.

Other possible uses include authenticating users or admins signing in remotely to an enterprise network, and tracking and authenticating users for security purposes and for provisioning or deprovisioning as needed.

Facial recognition and retinal scans are much more secure and user-friendly than any of the more common security solutions, Tirias Researchs McGregor said. This could allow users to log in and begin using platforms in a secure manner effortlessly.

The technology also could be used in wearables and industrial applications in the medical and industrial automation fields, where the Internet of Things might come into play, he suggested.

A New Trend Emerges

This capability is not limited to the Movidius solution, McGregor pointed out. Qualcomm is doing it in conjunction with its image signal processor, and this could be done within most SoCs by leveraging the ISP, DSP, GPU, VPU and CPU resources.

Microsoft, Apple and a whole range of social sites like Facebook,  Amazon, Baidu, IBM and a few thousand other firms might follow suit, Gartners Austin suggested.

As global smartphone sales slow, noted IHSs Lam, well see more and more efforts to create differentiated value for platforms such as Android and iOS just to keep up with the furious pace of competition and innovations.
New Delhi, India, February 11, 2016: LeEco is now all set to lure metallic lovers with its stunning Silver color on 16th February. Having sold 70,000 devices on its first flash sale in 2 seconds and over a million registration by the second flash sale, the Le 1s is definitely a best seller in the market. Now available in the amazing silver colour, the Le 1s is a beauty to behold with not just great looks but also a superfast performance and great camera features that makes it a perfect device to gift your close ones.

LeEcos Le1s has endeared itself to Indian consumers and gained unprecedented popularity in a short span of time, owing to its superior performance, amazing features and attractive price.

Market-disruptor LeEco has created three incredible records: The largest number of orders received in a single flash sale; the shortest ever time for the orders received and the highest presale registration number. LeEcos international stature, superior technology and lower-than BOM cost pricing have contributed immensely to creating these amazing records.

At a price only Rs 10,999, Le 1s has a metal unibody, a worlds first mirror-surface finger scanner, and a 5.5 FHD display, the flagship processor of the year Helio X10 Turbo, 3GB Ram and 32 GB storage, dual-SIM card slots, 4G LTE support, and USB Type-C port. On the camera front, there is a 13-megapixel f/2.0 rear camera, and 5-megapixel wide angle selfie camera.

Another outstanding feature is the phones fast charging technology, which means a 5- minute quick charge allows for 3.5h talk time. Business people need never worry about the phone running out of charge during busy days.

Le 1s is priced at Rs 10,999, and buyers using an Axis bank card will get a further 10 percent cash back, making the final price as low as Rs 9,899. This could also be a new benchmark price for the same specifications, thanks to the companys BOM price policy.

Technuter.com News Service
Bangalore, India, February 11, 2016: Wind River has introduced a new platform, Wind River Titanium Server CPE, that can speed the deployment of early Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) use cases such as virtualized customer premises equipment (vCPE). In addition, enhancements to the Titanium Server portfolio (Titanium Server and Titanium Server CPE) accelerate performance, improve scalability, and simplify commissioning. The Titanium Server portfolio comprises commercial NFV infrastructure software solutions that deliver the carrier grade reliability required for telecom networks.

CPE applications have emerged as an early use case delivering significant savings in operational costs. The virtualization of CPE functions, traditionally implemented as discrete physical appliances, reduces operating expenses (OPEX) through more efficient utilization of compute resources, increased service deployment agility, and the elimination of truck rolls required to update and maintain equipment at remote locations. These OPEX savings may be achieved whether the virtualized CPE functions are hosted in a server at the customer premises, in a service provider point-of-presence (PoP), or in a central data center. Given the undeniable benefits of a more virtualized and intelligent network, service providers will continue to push toward network transformation with the growth of NFV use cases like vCPE and other software-defined and cloud technologies.

By leveraging the Titanium Server CPE platform, service providers can deploy cost-sensitive NFV applications such as a virtual business CPE (vBCPE) on only two servers. Each server runs the full set of carrier grade compute, control, and storage functions, while working to deliver best-in-class virtual network function (VNF) performance to maximize the number of users supported per server and thereby also maximize OPEX savings. At the same time, Titanium Server CPE helps service providers to maintain full carrier grade uptime for their vBCPE services, which enables them to minimize any revenue impact resulting from Service Level Agreement (SLA) penalties triggered by service downtime.

Use cases such as virtual CPE are emerging as early applications of NFV that can deliver significant operational cost savings as well as improved deployment agility, said Paul Senyshyn, vice president of commercial operations for networking solutions, Wind River. As service providers evaluate the NFV benefits and opportunities possible today, Wind River is delivering solutions that can help the industry introduce new services, minimize costs, and maintain carrier grade reliability for business-critical services.

Technuter.com News Service
Qualcomm, the world's biggest mobile chipmaker, has announced a range of products at the company's analyst meeting today, including a new Snapdragon Wear platform for wearables, the first commercial gigabit LTE modem for mobile devices, and several new low to mid-range mobile chips.

First up is the Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor, a dedicated chip designed to power the next generation of wearables. It will replace the Snapdragon 400 SoC that is found in the majority of today's Android Wear watches. It's 30 percent smaller and 25 percent more power efficient than the 400, and includes a new LTE modem, Wi-Fi and low-power Bluetooth.

Next up is Qualcomm's gigabit-class LTE modem for mobile devices: the X16. The company says that the X16, which is made using the 14-nm processor, will enable live streaming of 360-degree virtual reality content. The chip will be in commercial products in the second half of this year.

Qualcomm also revealed its Snapdragon 625, 435 and 425 chips, which all use ARM's Cortex-A53 CPU. These will appear in handsets around the $99 - $399 range, and will bring features previously only available in top-tier smartphones to some low to mid-range devices.

The most powerful of the new processors, the eight-core 625, will be able to handle 4K video recording and playback, and can support both 13-megapixel front-facing sensors as well as 21-megapixel rear-facing sensors in the same device. The chip also has an X9 LTE modem. Smartphones sporting the 625 should have an impressive battery life as the chip is 35 percent more power efficient than its predecessor.

The octa-core Snapdragon 435 has an X8 LTE modem to allow speeds of up to 300 Mbps down and 100 Mbps up. It will support up to 21-megapixel cameras and features an Adreno 505 GPU.

The entry-level quad-core Snapdragon 425 will be aimed at cheaper handsets found in emerging markets such as India and China. It features an Adreno 308 GPU, an X6 LTE modem and supports cameras up to 16-megapixles.
Global aviation companies agreed to reduce aircraft carbon emissions to address the growing predicament of global warming. At a meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Montreal, Canada, members of the aviation industry representing countries across the globe agreed to new standards and binding limits on carbon dioxide emissions from aircrafts.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calls for strengthening of the bond and commends the first step to reduce carbon emissions from air travel. He calls for further consolidation of the standards as quickly as possible.

The proposal, which would be implemented to develop new commercial and business airliners which have reduced carbon emissions by 2028, comes after the Paris agreement aimed to reduce the effects of climate change to the environment.

"Carbon emissions from aviation are growing rapidly, with the number of flights worldwide expected to double in the next 15 years. The ICAO's new rules come after years of negotiations and are the first time that governments have set emissions standards for the aviation industry," U.N. Secretary-General's website stated.

If the proposal will be fully implemented, carbon emissions will be reduced by more than 650 million tons from 2020 to 2040. That is equivalent to the removal of over 140 million cars from the streets for a year.

The aviation industry is one of the biggest contributors to climate change. Across the globe, aircrafts emit about 11 percent of carbon emissions from transportation. If there will be no actions implemented to address the problem, emissions from commercial aircrafts are projected to increase by nearly 50 percent.

The new standards by the Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP), would be adopted by aviation companies for new aircraft type designed as of 2020.

"It is particularly encouraging that the CAEP's recommendation today responds so directly to the aircraft technology improvements which States have forged consensus on at recent ICAO Assemblies," Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, President of the ICAO Council, said.

"Every step taken in support of ICAO's full basket of measures for environmental improvement is an important one, and I am sure the Council will be deeply appreciative of the this latest CAEP achievement," he added.

The goal of the proposal is to make sure that the next generation of aircrafts would contain new technology that is efficient and has reduced carbon emissions. ICAO is due to finalize a market-based mechanism for all airlines later this year. The agreement shows that international efforts are being exerted to implement global market-based approaches to reduce emissions that contribute to global warming.

Photo: Joao Carlos Medau | Flickr

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Honda Civic fans are looking forward to the 2016 Geneva Motor Show, where the company will showcase its newest Civic Hatchback Prototype.

So far, Honda published only a teaser sketch of its upcoming Civic model.

The preview concept hints at the revamped hatchback Civic variant that should replace the present European FK series Civic.

The latest Civic hatchback will be manufactured at Honda's UK plant. The model will be exported to global markets, including the United States, where it will be joining the sedan version already on the streets.

A number of spy shots of a five-door hatchback variant from Honda recently permeated the media. Some noticeable design elements from the model can be seen on the concept's teaser, backing the speculation that the prototype is the car from the shots.

Engine Specs

When looking under Honda's hood, two variants are in store. The first is a 1.0 VTEC Turbo engine that lashes out 127 horsepower and 200 Nm (148 pound-feet) of torque. The second powerhouse is a 1.5-liter VTEC Turbo engine that offers 201 horsepower and a traction of 260 Nm (192 pound-feet) of torque. American customers might recognize the latter as the same engine from the tenth-generation Civic sedan.

The American market gets a different set of powerhouses: a 1.5-liter VTEC Turbo at an undercharged 174 horsepower and 220 Nm (162 pound-feet) of torque, as well as a naturally-aspirated 2.0-liter DOHC powerhouse that packs 158 horsepower and 187 Nm (138 pound-feet) of torque.

The tenth-generation (FC) Civic sedan hasn't reached Europe yet, but will do so at the beginning of 2017. To have a better idea what the Civic sedan brings to the table, read this coverage.

There's a possibility that Europe will get both the hatchback and sedan body styles.

Other Honda Cars At The 2016 Geneva Motor Show

The new Civic hatchback is not the only expected model on the Geneva stage.

Fans of green cars will meet the Clarity Fuel Cell, which marks its first presence in Europe after being released at the Tokyo Motor Show last year. The range of the hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicle (FCV) is quite impressive, as it reaches a distance of 700 kilometers (435 miles). The car can host as much as five passengers, making it an interesting family car choice for environmentally friendly drivers.

A Jazz concept, dubbed Keenlight, will also share the stage with the hatchback and the FCV.

Sports car fans will also be happy to see the NSX, Honda's high-end, mid-engine sports car.

The automaker promised to make a few customer deliveries this year, and we will keep you posted on the details as soon as we have them.

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A team of scientists and surgeons has just gotten the go-ahead for a groundbreaking procedure: an organ transplant between an HIV-positive patient and an HIV-positive donor.

The newly-approved surgery is a result from a struck-down band that, until recently, barred people with HIV from becoming organ donors. The embargo, which went into effect in 1988 under the Reagan Administration, was repealed by President Barack Obama after the HIV Organ Policy Equity Act (HOPE Act) was passed in 2013, not only allowing for HIV donors and transplants, but for scientists to be able to study how to successfully complete one.

According to an official statement released by Johns Hopkins, Dr. Dorry Segev, a JHU associate professor of surgery and one of the most vocal advocates for signing the HOPE Act into law, estimates that about 500 to 600 organs go to waste every year due to a given donor's HIV status  organs that, as per the statement and Segev  could save roughly 1,000 lives. With a transplant list that averages to around 122,222 names on the list on average, Segev pointed out to the New York Times in an interview the amount of wasted opportunities this creates, especially in the context of a life-or-death scenario for a patient in dire need of a transplant.

"Organ transplantation is actually even more important for patients with HIV, since they die on the waiting list even faster than their HIV-negative counterparts," Segev told the NYT. "We are very thankful to Congress, Obama, and the entire transplant community for letting us use organs from HIV-positive patients to save lives, instead of throwing them away, as we had to do for so many years."

While the procedure might only last for a choice number of hours, the transplant has been two years in the making: after the HOPE Act became law, Segev and his team still needed that allotted time to research and prepare for a successful transplant  hence the large time gap between the institution of the HOPE Act and the as-of-yet-unscheduled surgery.

"Nobody would consider transplanting an HIV-positive recipient because everyone knew their life span was short," Dr. David Klassen, the United Network for Organ Sharing's chief medical officer, told the NYT. He also pointed to the correlation between the interest within the last few years of HIV-positive organ donation and the rising average lifespan of the domestic HIV-positive population, noting that "the notion that HIV-positive recipients could be transplanted arose as a result of their extended life spans."

The U.S. is far from the first country to attempt an organ transplant from an HIV-positive donor: South Africa previously completed a successful kidney transplant between an HIV-positive donor and an HIV-positive transplantee.

"People want to leave a living legacy; they want to help," Segev added. "And to be stigmatized and told, 'You can't help because you're HIV-positive' can be devastating. This removes yet another stigma associated with HIV."

"The idea that my organs could now benefit someone living with HIV? Heck yeah," said Michael Kaplan, president of AIDS United, a lobbying group.

Source: Johns Hopkins

Photo: Global Panorama | Flickr

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AMC has given its viewers a Valentine's Day gift in the most morbid way possible: by releasing a glimpse at the midseason premiere of The Walking Dead before it airs this Sunday.

When the show went on hiatus back in November, things weren't looking good. The town of Alexandria had been overrun with walkers, and it seemed as if the survivors were doomed  and then, out of nowhere, a post-credits sequence revealed that Daryl, Abraham and Sasha had been ambushed by a motorcycle gang known as the Saviors. While the scene didn't last for very long, the leader of the group mentioned someone named "Negan"  and that our heroes' possessions now belonged to him.

Thanks to AMC's latest teaser, fans can finally see exactly how the conversation between Daryl's group and the Saviors ends. In typical Walking Dead fashion, it doesn't take long for things to start breaking down  and by the end of the scene, it's starting to look like Daryl's group may have been better off in Alexandria.

When it comes to actually revealing new plot points, the trailer doesn't do much. It's to be expected  AMC doesn't want to spoil its midseason premiere early  but anyone who's ever seen a standoff throughout the show's six seasons can easily predict where the teaser is going.

If anything, the trailer proves that The Walking Dead's midseason premiere will be starting off on a quieter note. As previously mentioned, things weren't going well back in Alexandria (especially for Rick and his group). Long story short, if you thought AMC was going to reveal exactly what happened in Alexandria right off the bat, you're out of luck.

Thankfully, fans won't have to wait long before they find out what happens next: The Walking Dead returns to AMC on Feb. 14.

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It looks like Johnny Depp will be joining Universal's monster mash  the Black Mass actor and Tim Burton muse has signed on for the studio's remake of the 1933 black-and-white seminal horror classic The Invisible Man.

Taking a cue from Marvel (and Sony), Universal plans to form its own expanded universe  but instead of superheroes, Universal's EU will connect monsters and monster-hunters like Dracula, Van Helsing, the Bride of Frankenstein and the Wolfman. All of the rights to these characters belong to Universal to begin with, thanks to the studio's Golden Age producer Carl Laemmle, Jr., who made his studio a literal House of Horror (movies).

To create Universal's new connected monster milieu, the studio brought on producers Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan to oversee the vast project. Following Marvel/Sony's example, the studio and its producers plan to release a new monster flick every year.

"We're creating a mythology, so we're looking at this canon and thinking, 'What are the rules?' " Kurtzman said in an interview with Variety back in November 2015. "What can we break and what are the ones that are untouchable?"

Based on the 1897 sci-fi novella by HG Wells, The Invisible Man tells the story of a scientist named Griffin, who finds a way to make himself invisible, as the title suggests. What he doesn't count on is the possible inability to reverse his new condition  a condition that drives him to madness and homicide. The movie was adapted for the screen in 1933 by none other than James Whale, who was also the genius behind Frankenstein (1931) and The Bride of Frankenstein (1933), both of which made actor Boris Karloff a household name.

The Invisible Man also served as the inspiration for later film classics, like The Island of Dr. Moreau and The Time Machine, as well as loosely-tied adaptations like the Kevin Bacon vehicle Hollow Man. Excluding the dozens of TV versions of The Invisible Man produced throughout the years, Whale's version remains the only direct retelling of the story  until now.

The news of Depp's official involvement with Universal's monster movie renaissance comes only months after the studio announced that Tom Cruise officially signed on for a reboot of 1932's The Mummy, where he will play opposite to Star Trek actress Sofia Boutella, who will take over the titular role originated by  who else?  Karloff.

In the vein of Whale's movies, Morgan and Kurtzman also want to imbue Univeral's remakes and reboots with timeless themes in a contemporary context  the gender-flip casting in The Mummy is a prime example.

"This is not a heightened world," Morgan also told Variety, explaining the duo's aim to add a dose of sobering realism with the legacy of Universal's horror movies, which regularly mixed camp and comedy with the genre.

"We're exploring issues of family identity and questions of, 'Where do I belong in the world?'" he added.

Source: The Wrap

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Coyotes and wolves are canids, sharing a common ancestor, but a new study examining their calls sheds new light on the history of interbreeding between the two varieties of animals. Candids are a family of animals which includes dogs, wolves, and jackals.

University of Cambridge researchers examined more than 2,000 howls produced by 13 species in the group, categorizing the sounds by 21 distinct vocal qualities, producing a "vocal fingerprints" for each type of animal.

Investigators found each species utilized distinctive styles of calls, and even subspecies of wolves have distinct vocal fingerprints.

Coywolves, hybrids of coyotes and wolves, are seeing a population explosion, particularly in the eastern half of North America. These canids are sometimes known as eastern coyotes. In the northeastern region of the continent, they are often referred to simply as coyotes.

Researchers discovered that wolves and coyotes were most likely to interbreed with companions who displayed similar howls. Red wolves were found to produce a high-pitched howl, similar to that of coyotes.

"The survival of red wolves in the wild is threatened by interbreeding with coyotes, and we found that the howling behaviour of the two species is very similar. This may be one reason why they are so likely to mate with each other, and perhaps we can take advantage of the subtle differences in howling behaviour we have now discovered to keep the populations apart," Arik Kershenbaum of the University of Cambridge, lead researcher on the study, said.

Study of the howling patterns of wolves and coyotes might also help shed light on the evolution of human speech. The vocal styles of humans are significantly more complex than those of even our closest living relatives, including chimpanzees. By studying the vocalization patterns of different species of animals, researchers are able determine data concerning the genetic history of the animals. The team even scoured YouTube for videos of domestic dogs howling, in order to collect sounds. The 6,000 samples collected included both wild and domestic animals.

Coywolves did not exist in any significant numbers until just about a century ago. Now, a rapid rise in the population of the animals has resulted in millions of the creatures spread throughout half a continent. Around 10 percent of the DNA of coywolves is from dogs, allowing the hybrids to thrive near urban environments.

Red wolves were hunted to the edge of extinction in the middle of the 20th Century, and a repopulation program was halted, in part, due to the large number of wolves mating with wild coyotes.

In Yellowstone Park, conservationists are recording howls of canids around the refuge, in an effort to better understand how population levels are changing over time.

Learning to identify the species of a particular canid by the sound of the animal's howl could also assist in conservation efforts. Once it is possible to reliably recreate howls used to mark territory, the artificial calls could be used to steer wild populations of animals away from farmland and other undesireable areas.

Examination of the calls of canids, and analysis of what the findings can tell us about the hybridization of coyotes and wolves was published in the journal Behavioural Processes.

Photo: Jitze Couperus | Flickr

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Apple has launched the third public beta version of the iOS 9.3 mobile operating system to non-developer testers, following the third beta for developers launched this week.

The first beta version of iOS 9.3 revealed the new Night Shift mode, which automatically reduces the blue light that users are exposed to at night by using more yellow tones for the Apple mobile device's display.

The first beta also introduced several updates for educational users, additional shortcuts for the 3D Touch feature for stock apps such as Health, Weather, App Store, iTunes Store and Settings, and the option for locking Notes through Touch ID. For the second beta, Apple added a Night Shift toggle to the iOS Control Center.

These features are still included in the third beta, which also packs a feature that will be very beneficial to Verizon subscribers.

The third beta of iOS 9.3 includes Wi-Fi calling for Verizon subscribers. The feature allows users to make calls and send messages over Wi-Fi networks if cellular services are not available or weak in certain areas. After the feature is set up, the mobile device will automatically use it when needed.

The Apple mobile devices that are currently compatible with Wi-Fi calling are the iPhone 6, the iPhone 6 Plus, the iPhone 6s and the iPhone 6s Plus.

Verizon subscribers should be happy to see that the feature is included in the upcoming update, especially as Apple has already supported Wi-Fi calling for all other major networks in the United States, namely AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile.

Also included in iOS 9.3 is in-line video playback for News, along with landscape mode for iPhones and more customization options. The Health app will also receive a new Activity interface similar to the Apple Watch.

One other thing that is said to be discernable from the iOS 9.3 beta versions is that the software contains a hidden message that says the iPhone 7 will be dropping the classic 3.5mm headphone jack.

The assumption, however, is not supported by enough evidence, and Apple has not yet confirmed nor denied that the headphone will indeed be absent when the iPhone 7 launches.

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Perth will become the first city in Australia to test self-driving electric bus.

Dean Nalder, West Australia's Transport Minister, announced that the trial for the driverless bus will start at the Royal Automobile Club's driving center, but the bus will make its way to Perth's roads sometime in 2016. The test will involve a single electric shuttle bus, which will be equipped with "multi-sensor technology."

The electric bus is built by a French transport company called Navya SAS. The bus uses semi-autonomous radar and camera-based technologies already found in many autonomous cars. It will be completely unmanned and rely on 3D perception for mapping its nearby environment, identify road obstacles and understand traffic signs.

The bus will be able to carry 15 passengers at a time. It can travel at a maximum speed of 45 kph (28 mph), but it will drive at an average speed of 25 kph (16 mph).

"By giving Western Australians the chance to see the technology, to eventually use and experience it, we are learning more about the technology and working towards WA being ready for driverless vehicles," says Terry Agnew, CEO of RAC. "Increasing levels of automation in vehicles are an inevitable part of the future, and the notion of them being on our roads is not a question of if, but when."

Agnew added that that the test run is one of a kind in Australia and the trial will establish when the technology can be widely adopted in public spaces in the near term.

Nalder says that the Department of Transport is working closely with the RAC for ensuring compliance with vehicle and road safety standards.

"It is not a matter of if this technology will come to WA, but when it will, and that time is fast approaching," says Nalder.

The transport minister says that it is important that West Australians are aware of the novel technology because the trial is a step towards achieving its goals of providing the best integrated and intelligent transport services and solutions for the state.

The increasing level of air pollution adds to global warming, that is why government agencies as well as environmentalists are working hard to find ways to reduce emission of harmful gases. The trial of the fully-electric bus in Perth highlights Western Australia's contribution to this cause.

The self-driving bus test in Perth may encourage other states in Australia to develop and try the latest technology, which will help the country as a whole to limit emissions.

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Google is extending the "right to be forgotten" requests from European users in order to make "inadequate and irrelevant" search results removed from all of its pages, including U.S. search results.

The company will soon start polishing its search results in an effort to meet the demand of the French data protection authority, which threatened to impose a fine if Google fails to comply.

French privacy regulator Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertes (CNIL) issued a ruling that the right to be forgotten requests should all be delisted globally. The fine amount it has imposed on Google reaches up to 150,000 euros (around $169,000). A separate fine of up to 300,000 euros (around $337,000) will also be charged for repeat offenses.

To meet the ruling, Google would have to filter search results based on a user's IP address, Reuters reports. This means that those who are accessing Google from a location outside Europe will not be affected. For instance, if a German resident sends a request to Google to de-list search results that pop up involving his name in the search, the link will not appear on any of Google's websites even when the search was performed in Germany. This would include de-listing the link at Google.com.

In November, Tech Times reported that Google had received a total of 348,085 requests to de-list 1,234,092 links since May 2014. At least 42 percent of the URLs from the search results were already removed and the other 58 percent remained intact.

Google revealed in the report that the requests came from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, Germany, Latvia, Austria, France, Poland, Hungary and Belgium.

Google did not disclose the reasons why it chose to delete certain links over others. According to an earlier report from the Wall Street Journal, Google may have considered certain criteria to come up with a decision. These include whether the person who made the request is a private or a public figure; whether the request has something to do with the humiliating events that happened in the individual's professional or private life and whether a crime-based search is deemed as having a minor or a major impact.

The company had so far informed all data watchdogs in Europe of the changes it is implementing on its search results.

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Findings of a new study suggest that increasing levels of education and good cardiovascular health may help reduce odds of developing dementia, a condition afflicting about 47.5 million people worldwide.

For the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Feb. 11, Sudha Seshadri, from Boston University School of Medicine, and colleagues looked at the heart and brain health data of 5,205 people who have been part of the Framingham Heart Study and found that the incidence of dementia in the U.S. has significantly dropped since mid-1970s.

The subjects experienced about 20 percent drop in the risk of developing dementia and the age at which the brain disease sets in increased from 80 in the late 1970s to 85 in recent years.

The study likewise offered clues that can help prevent or delay dementia. Education and heart health, for instance, appeared to be factors in the decline in dementia cases albeit these two did not account for all drop in dementia cases.

Seshadri and colleagues found that the significant decline in risk for dementia only occurred in people who have at least a high school diploma, who from the year 1975, saw up to 44 percent drop in dementia cases.

"Relative to the incidence during the first epoch, the incidence declined by 22%, 38%, and 44% during the second, third, and fourth epochs, respectively," the researchers wrote in their study. "This risk reduction was observed only among persons who had at least a high school diploma."

The researchers also observed an improvement in cardiovascular health that is in line with the drop in dementia risk. Improved heart health efforts could be making a difference.

"This does add evidence that controlling cardiovascular risk factors and increasing levels of education are good for your risk of developing dementia over time," said Keith Fargo, from the Alzheimer's Association.

Fargo said that having at least a high school education appeared to have helped seniors, which supports what is known as the cognitive reserve concept.

"The essential idea behind it is the more cognitively [mentally] healthy you are to begin with, the better able your brain is to withstand the slings and arrows of aging," he said adding that formal education could be very important to brain health as a person ages.

An earlier study has found that the onset of cognitive decline in people who had more education years and engaged in brain simulating jobs is delayed by five years compared with their counterparts who had less education.

Seshadri, however said that education could also indicate an individual's economic and social status and those who have higher education are more capable of getting good care.

Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia. In 2015, there are about 5.1 million people in the U.S. who suffer from the disease. America's aging population raises concern of dementia cases increasing over the next few decades. The incidence of the disease is expected to triple to 13.8 million by 2050 unless a medical breakthrough that could prevent or treat the disease could be found.

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The Orion crew module pressure vessel arrived in Cape Canaveral earlier in the month and is now being processed in preparation for the Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) which will bring the spacecraft past the moon.

Secured to a test stand referred to as the "birdcage," the pressure vessel is touted as the vehicle that will take astronauts to deep space. According to Scott Wilson, NASA's Orion production manager, the arrival of the pressure vessel is an exciting event because its integration with a Space Launch System rocket is the first step to venturing further in space.

Before the Orion arrived in Florida, its seven large segments were welded together over the course of several months to create the pressure vehicle, its underlying structure. At the Kennedy Space Center, additional components will be fitted into the pressure vehicle. It will then be tested to assess structural soundness.

Throughout the next 18 months, more than a hundred thousand components will be arriving at Kennedy, all of which will be added to the spacecraft by technicians and engineers from Lockheed Martin and NASA. Lockheed manufactured the Orion.

After the spacecraft completes testing in Kennedy, it will be subjected to a new round of tests at Ohio's Glenn Research Center's Plum Brook Station.

"We want to make sure the vehicle itself is good for its mission ... We qualify our design," said Wilson.

The Orion spacecraft was first launched into space in December 2014. Taking note of results from that event, Lockheed redesigned the pressure vessel to have fewer parts and be 500 pounds lighter.

When the spacecraft is confirmed ready for flight, it will be integrated with the service module provided by the European Space Agency. After fueling, Orion will then be placed atop the SLS rocket to be launched, hopefully in 2018.

The spacecraft will go on a three-week mission traveling beyond the moon, going further than the Apollo missions. When Orion re-enters the Earth, it will be splashing down off the coast of San Diego in the Pacific Ocean.

If the EM-1 mission is successful, it will demonstrate NASA's capability to carry out deep-space missions in the future.

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A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV rocket blasted off Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 3:40 a.m. local time on Wednesday lighting up the pre-dawn sky. The towering rocket was carrying a classified National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) NROL-45 spy satellite.

The NRO is responsible for designing, building and operating the spy satellites of the United States. The federal agency was set up in 1961, four years after the Soviet Union started the space age with the launch of its Sputnik 1 satellite. The agency worked in secret for over more than decades until its existence was declassified in 1992.

The mission is ULA's second in six days after the Feb. 5 launch of an Atlas V rocket carrying a GPS satellite for the U.S. Air Force.

"Congratulations to the ULA team and our U.S. Air Force and NRO partners on the launch of NROL-45," says ULA vice president of Custom Services Laura Maginnis. "This is our second successful launch within five days for our U.S. government customer, a testament to our outstanding teamwork and focus on 100 percent mission success, one launch at a time."

The identity of the payload was classified but a short description on the ULA website says the mystery-shrouded mission will support national defense.

The trajectory of the rocket suggests that the satellite's objective is an orbit around the Earth's poles. Optical and radar-imaging spy satellites prefer polar orbits because these allow them to go over all points on the surface of Earth as it rotates.

Satellite trackers think that the mission deployed an image satellite in a series known as Topaz, a code name that came out in the documents that were leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.

The Topaz satellites are a series of radar imaging satellites made by Boeing for the Future Imagery Architecture program of the NRO. The program intended to design a new fleet of optical and radar imaging reconnaissance satellites but was eventually scaled down. Satellite Analyst Ted Molczan, who tracks military payloads, said that the spy satellite launched on Wednesday is likely the fourth in the series.

The ULA ended the launch webcast less than five minutes into the flight to preserve the secrecy of the mission, as requested by the NRO.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Today marks the first-ever International Day of Women and Girls in Science, a day to celebrate the achievements made by females in all areas of science, technology and math.

The United Nations previously announced the resolution to establish Feb. 11 as the annual day to commemorate women in STEM back in December, finally paying credit where credit is due.

Throughout history, women have failed to be as recognized as their male counterparts  who continue to dominate the fields  for their breakthroughs.

Take the example of Emmy Noether, the woman Albert Einstein called the "most significant" mathematician of the time. She was discriminated against because of her gender. Or Jocelyn Bell Nurnell, who discovered the first pulsar, but the Noble prize was awarded only to her male colleagues in 1974. There's Caroline Herschel, who was the first woman to discover a comet, Alice Catherine Evans, who discovered unpasteurized milk could make us sick, Ada Lovelace, the first computer programmer, and Lise Meitner, who was the first physics professor in Germany who spilt the atom along with her male colleague. The list goes on and on.

"America is Grace Hopper and Katherine Johnson and Sally Ride, @POTUS at #SOTU #WomeninSTEM  The White House OSTP (@whitehouseostp) February 11, 2016

While women in STEM of the past and present have made significant accomplishments, according to a report from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), only 28 percent of researchers worldwide are women. While women are underrepresented in these fields (only 30 percent of women make up the tech industry), they are also underpaid compared with men who hold the same jobs. The goal of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science is to "eliminate gender inequality in science, employment, opportunities and education," which is part of the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

"The International Day of Women and Girls in Science will directly influence the perception of women in science for sustainable development and elevate the contributions of women in science, past, present and future that equitably reflects the aspirations and ambitions of all global citizens," HRH Prince Adel El-Hashemite said in a statement on Dec. 22, 2015.

The Internet is embracing the day with the trending Twitter hashtag #WomeinSTEM, with accounts paying homage to the women making a difference in these fields.

One of many #WomenInSTEM is going to the @Space_Station in May. Kate Rubins will be the next woman in space! pic.twitter.com/rFMiEDBEDB  Johnson Space Center (@NASA_Johnson) February 11, 2016

Not only is today a day to celebrate women who are often overshadowed by their male colleagues in science, tech and math, but it is also a day to encourage young girls to explore these fields.

Photo: goddard studio 13 | Flickr

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The Young Womens Transition Program building at Oak Creek represents the type of residence the youth correctional facility hopes to have when it eventually remodels.

The building itself is the best example of the new type of living unit we are moving toward, which supports best practices in juvenile justice, said Ann Snyder, communications manager for the Oregon Youth Authority. Its the most advanced of any OYA facility from that perspective.

Converted in February 2008 to the OYAs only all-female youth correctional facility, Oak Creek can house 75 female offenders between the ages of 12 and 24.

Oregon lawmakers agreed last year to a 10-year strategic plan for the Oregon Youth Authority, which included funds for a construction and remodeling project at Oak Creek in Albany.

Superintendent Mike Riggan has said the idea is, among other things, to build two dedicated classroom spaces and create a multipurpose area for larger group meetings.

The plan is also to revamp living areas that maintain safety while strengthening relationships, both among the young offenders and between them and staff members. No blueprints have been drawn up yet, but Riggan said he envisions something closer to what the transition facility offers: more open spaces, more natural light and fewer physical barriers between youth and staff.

Oak Creek likely wont see any walls knocked down before 2017, however. Work at MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn is first in line, where six new living units are being completed so the state can follow through with plans to close Hillcrest, Snyder said. After that comes work on a new school building at Rogue Valley Youth Correctional Facility in Grants Pass.
The late Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart once said, "Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do."

As artificial intelligence (AI) systems become more and more advanced, can the same statement apply to computers?

According to many technology moguls and policymakers, the answer is this: We're not quite there yet.

Industry leaders say the ethics surrounding technology need to change to keep up with advancements in fields from robotics and nanotechnology to neuroscience and biotechnology.

And the issue isn't unique to the United States. In a keynote speech held in Brussels last month, European Parliament President Martin Schulz referred to such technological innovation as a "wrecking ball," citing Internet giants Amazon, Google and Facebook as major culprits.

Schulz's efforts were not entirely in vain. Immediately following his speech, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS)  an independent supervisory body aimed at ensuring privacy and data protection  announced the development of a new ethics advisory group.

It's a step in the right direction  especially when Internet security is such a hotly debated topic.

But what about some of the more challenging ethical dilemmas facing the tech world, such as robots and self-driving cars? Sometimes it seems like there are more questions than answers.

Will Robots Take Over the World?

It's a familiar plot line in some of the most popular science-fiction movies: robots and androids developing consciousness and seizing power from human beings.

But scientists like Stephen Hawking and tech entrepreneurs like Bill Gates and Elon Musk, who owns Tesla Motors and SpaceX, warn the scenario is a realistic concern.

In fact, last year, the three joined hundreds of others in unveiling a letter at the International Joint Conference in Buenos Aires suggesting that AI has the potential to be more dangerous than nuclear weapons.

The development of these super-robots has already begun. For example, U.S. scientists have used robots to predict the military strategy of Islamic extremists, and the company Boston Dynamics has been successful in building powerful mobile robots.

With the advances in AI happening so quickly, how can we ensure that society uses robots for ethical and not malevolent purposes?

The jury's still out on who can best control that decision, although Silicon Valley entrepreneurs have started to make some headway. Last year, Musk, Peter Thiel and others from the tech mecca funded $1 billion into a new nonprofit called OpenAI, with the aim of keeping AI "an extension of human wills."

How Will Self-Driving Cars Be Programmed to React?

Self-driving cars are already here. In fact, Google recently announced its plans to expand its self-driving car pilot program to Kirkland, WA after the cars have driven 1.4 million miles around Montain View, CA, and Austin, TX.

But there are plenty of dilemmas surrounding self-driving cars. The prospect of not having to cling to the steering wheel during those grueling rush-hour commutes may seem like a dream come true  but how do you program the car to react as ethically as possible in the event of a collision?

For example, consider a scenario in which five young children run out in front of a self-driving car. Should the car be programmed to save the occupants at all costs? Or is the ethical decision to minimize the overall loss of life, even if doing so means the occupants may be injured or killed?

A consensus has yet to be reached, but the ethics of self-driving cars remain an important issue because they could influence how well these cars are accepted into society. For example, it's unlikely that drivers would choose to purchase a vehicle designed to sacrifice them during an accident.

Scientists, philosophers and engineers alike are conducting research to explore the real-world ethical dilemmas associated with self-driving cars  the so-called ethics of the road.

Researchers still have a lot of work to do before these cars can be released to the public. A recent study by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute reported that, so far, self-driving cars have a higher accident rate than conventional vehicles.

Where Else Do We Need to Change Our Tech Ethics?

Artificial intelligence and self-driving cars aren't the only tech topics wrought with ethical dilemmas.

According to the John J. Reilly Center's 2016 Top 10 List of Ethical Dilemmas and Policy Issues in Science and Technology, other areas of moral importance this year include genetic engineering (including the recently introduced CRISPR technology), head transplants, artificial wombs and digital labor rights.

No matter where you align yourself politically  whether you plan to vote for Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders  there's no underestimating the importance of making sure the proper ethics are in place as we plow forward on this technological journey.

After all, as the French philosopher and author once wrote, "A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon the world."

And a computer without ethics could be a monster.

Edited by Kyle Piscioniere
A 40 anos de Malvinas

"Revisar el pasado es pensar el futuro". La frase de la presidenta de Telam, Bernarda Llorente, resume el espiritu del documental coproducido entre la agencia de noticias y el canal publico de TV sobre la cobertura que los medios de comunicacion hicieron del conflicto, plagada de censura y mentiras. Una autocritica necesaria para mirar hacia adelante en un (ya viejo) contexto de fake news y negocio informativo.
The UK is acknowledged to be the country in the EU with the highest number of its citizens living abroad. No one knows exactly how many UK citizens have taken advantage of free movement, but estimates are that there are more or less the same number as EU citizens in the UK (about two million.)

A lot of us work and take advantage of public health systems and social benefits in our adopted countries. There are some 800,000 retired UK citizens in Spain alone, who are free to use the Spanish health system (and therefore dont take up valuable NHS beds).
What has Cupid got to do with it?

Cupid, also known in Latin as Amor ("Love"), is the god of desire, erotic love, attraction and affection. He is frequently portrayed as the war god Mars, as well as the son of the love goddess Venus.

His Greek counterpart is Eros and he is just one of the ancient symbols associated with St Valentines Day, along with the shape of a heart, doves, and the colours red and pink.

Today, he is typically portrayed as a small winged figure with a bow and arrow which he uses to strike the hearts of people. People who fall in love are said to be "struck by Cupids arrow".

Why is the heart associated with love?

The heart was once associated with knowledge as well as feelings: Egyptians believed that the heart was the source of our memories, as well as our emotions. They placed so much value on the organ that they left it in people's bodies during mummification, while throwing all other organs, including the brain, away. And they weren't the only ones - Aristotle also believed that the heart was an organ of intellect.

This idea was widely accepted until Galen, a Roman physician, said the heart was more likely to be responsible for emotions than reason - apart from love, which was found in the liver.

As the influence of Christianity grew in the Middle Ages, so did the religion's pairing of the heart with love. 'Courtly love', where knights wooed women, became popular in the eleventh century and was tied to spiritual attainment.

It became popularised in lyric poems written by troubadours, such as William of Aquitaine, one of the first troubadour poets. Some say he was likely influenced by similar views on love in the Islamic world, which he came into contact with during the First Crusade.

In 1184, poet Andreas Capallenus referred to the organ as one of affection, writing the pure love which binds together the hearts of two lovers with every feeling of delight.

Around the same time, members of European families began to insist their hearts were buried separately from the rest of their bodies, in places that were special to them. In 1199, King Richard I of England had his heart buried in Rouen in Normandy and his body in Anjou, where his father was buried.

Over the centuries, the idea that the heart is linked to emotion has persisted and the two are now intrinsically linked.

When did Valentine's Day become so commercial?

It was during the middle of the 18th century that Valentine's Day started to take off in England, with lovers sending sweets and cards adorned with flowers, ribbons and images of cupids and birds.

Eventually huge numbers of printed cards replaced hand-written ones. In 1913, Hallmark Cards of Kansas City began mass producing Valentine's Day cards.

Now about a billion Valentine's Day cards are exchanged every year and it's the second largest seasonal card sending time of the year.

However, not all the cards are intended to be read: every year, thousands of letters addressed to Juliet are sent to Verona, where Shakespeare's fictional Romeo and Juliet lived.

Why do some people leave anonymous Valentine's cards?

This trend was started by the Victorians, who thought it was bad luck to sign Valentine's cards with their names.

The Victorians also started the rose-giving trend. They were the favourite flower of Venus, the Roman goddess of love, and have come to indicate passion and romance.

Nowadays, around 50 million roses are received on Valentine's Day each year. But, there will of course be some people who do not receive any cards, flowers or gifts on Valentine's Day. In 2016, one teenager solved this problem by buying 900 carnations and giving them out to all the girls at his school.

If you want to break from tradition and pass on red roses, opt for a delicious Valentine's Day treat instead...

How to woo your love interest on Valentine's Day

On Valentine's Day, sometimes a bunch of flowers won't do - you need a grand romantic gesture, writes Helen O'Hara. For inspiration, here are some of the best ever captured on film:

His Girl Friday (1940) - The plan-within-a-plan

A real contender for the title of greatest rom-com ever, and certainly the quickest witted, the climax here sees star reporter Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell) realise that her editor and ex-husband Walter Burns (Cary Grant) has engineered their quest for a scoop so that it also sabotages her plans to marry again. Instead of raging at such temerity, she falls gratefully into his arms. Its a beautifully executed little twist, making it clear that the pair are in cahoots even when theyre apparently working against each other.

10 Things I Hate About You (1999) - The Shakespearean-ish sonnet

Heath Ledgers grandstanding performance of I Love You Baby gets mentioned a lot in relation to romantic gestures in this film  but thats a lark thats relatively easy to laugh off. In terms of putting yourself out there for your other half, Julia Stiles Kat takes the bigger risks. First, she flashes a teacher to give Ledgers Patrick the chance to escape detention. Then she reads a sonnet, no less, revealing her feelings for him to her entire class. The guts required are almost unthinkable.

Beauty and the Beast (1991) - The library

Belle (Paige OHara) isnt particularly materialistic in this Oscar-nominated animation, but shes as susceptible as the next bookworm to the gift of an entire, enormous library. This one comes with a convenient sofa by the fire and sweeping baroque staircases to shelves that stretch about 200ft in the air. The fact that the Beast (Robbie Benson)  previously bad-tempered and hostile  presents his revelation with a charming degree of shyness and hope just makes it all the sweeter. He was originally cursed for his selfishness, so the thought counts all the more here.

How Valentine's Day is celebrated around the world

While Britons tend to think of red roses, corny cards and chocolates when it comes to Valentine's Day, some countries around the world celebrate love differently and have their own traditions.

In Denmark, couples exchange pressed white flowers called snowdrops while in the Philippines, weddings and vow renewal ceremonies significantly increase on the romantic day, with couples gathering at shopping centres and other public places to tie the knot.

In South Africa, women wear their hearts on their sleeves on Valentine's Day, quite literally, by pinning the names of their love interests to their shirts.

China celebrates its own version of Valentine's Day called Qiki, during which young women prepare offerings of fruit to Zhinu, a heavenly king's daughter, in the hope of finding their perfect match.

In Brazil, they celebrate Dia dos Namorados, translating as "Lovers' Day", on June 12, with music festivals and performances, while in Argentina, they celebrate love for an entire week during July, in what is called "Sweetness Week".

Single on Valentine's Day and looking for love?

If you're single and looking for love, look no further than online dating. Any stigma which may have surrounded searching for love online has been banished, and meeting for a mid-week Tinder date, is no longer something people feel they have to lie about.

But given how much choice is out there, how can you separate the wheat from the chaff? We've selected the top 20 dating apps to help you find your perfect match.

This article has been updated with the latest advice for Valentine's Day 2022.
The former president of Brazil, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, deemed the comeback of the incumbent, Jair Bolsonaro, unlikely. | Read More
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Author and historian Michelle Alexander (source)

On the Democratic side Hillary Clinton leads Bernie Sanders 53/32. Sanders does keep gradually moving closer- our previous couple polls had her leading 56/28 in December and 59/26 in November. But he still has some weaknesses that may make it hard for him to catch up. Primary among these is African American voters- Clinton leads 82/8 with them and has a 79/9 favorability compared to 27/23 for Sanders. That does suggest some possibility for Sanders to improve his position- part of his problem is just that black voters dont really know him yet- but hes starting at a tremendous disadvantage that will make the upcoming run of Southern primaries very difficult for him.

Why Hillary Clinton Doesnt Deserve the Black Vote

From the crime bill to welfare reform, policies Bill Clinton enactedand Hillary Clinton supporteddecimated black America.



Hillary Clinton loves black people. And black people love Hillaryor so it seems. Black politicians have lined up in droves to endorse her, eager to prove their loyalty to the Clintons in the hopes that their faithfulness will be remembered and rewarded. Black pastors are opening their church doors, and the Clintons are making themselves comfortably at home once again, engaging effortlessly in all the usual rituals associated with courting the black vote, a pursuit that typically begins and ends with Democratic politicians making black people feel liked and taken seriously. Doing something concrete to improve the conditions under which most black people live is generally not required.



Hillary is looking to gain momentum on the campaign trail as the primaries move out of Iowa and New Hampshire and into states like South Carolina, where large pockets of black voters can be found. According to some polls, she leads Bernie Sanders by as much as 60 percent among African Americans. It seems that weblack peopleare her winning card, one that Hillary is eager to play.

When Bill Clinton ran for president in 1992, urban black communities across America were suffering from economic collapse. Hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs had vanished as factories moved overseas in search of cheaper labor, a new plantation. Globalization and deindustrialization affected workers of all colors but hit African Americans particularly hard. Unemployment rates among young black men had quadrupled as the rate of industrial employment plummeted. Crime rates spiked in inner-city communities that had been dependent on factory jobs, while hopelessness, despair, and crack addiction swept neighborhoods that had once been solidly working-class. Millions of black folksmany of whom had fled Jim Crow segregation in the South with the hope of obtaining decent work in Northern factorieswere suddenly trapped in racially segregated, jobless ghettos.



On the campaign trail, Bill Clinton made the economy his top priority and argued persuasively that conservatives were using race to divide the nation and divert attention from the failed economy. In practice, however, he capitulated entirely to the right-wing backlash against the civil-rights movement and embraced former president Ronald Reagans agenda on race, crime, welfare, and taxesultimately doing more harm to black communities than Reagan ever did.

Reagan had won the presidency by dog-whistling to poor and working-class whites with coded racial appeals: railing against welfare queens and criminal predators and condemning big government. Clinton aimed to win them back, vowing that he would never permit any Republican to be perceived as tougher on crime than he.



Just weeks before the critical New Hampshire primary, Clinton proved his toughness by flying back to Arkansas to oversee the execution of Ricky Ray Rector, a mentally impaired black man who had so little conception of what was about to happen to him that he asked for the dessert from his last meal to be saved for him for later. After the execution, Clinton remarked, I can be nicked a lot, but no one can say Im soft on crime.

To be fair, the Clintons now feel bad about how their politics and policies have worked out for black people. Bill says that he overshot the mark with his crime policies; and Hillary has put forth a plan to ban racial profiling, eliminate the sentencing disparities between crack and cocaine, and abolish private prisons, among other measures.

[T]he Clinton administration didnt reduce the amount of money devoted to the management of the urban poor; it changed what the funds would be used for. ... Billions of dollars were slashed from public-housing and child-welfare budgets and transferred to the mass-incarceration machine. By 1996, the penal budget was twice the amount that had been allocated to food stamps. During Clintons tenure, funding for public housing was slashed by $17 billion (a reduction of 61 percent), while funding for corrections was boosted by $19 billion (an increase of 171 percent), according to sociologist Loic Wacquant effectively making the construction of prisons the nations main housing program for the urban poor.

Though I've written about this myself, I don't want to advocate, but present. So consider this a horse race post. Clinton's self-admitted "firewall" is South Carolina in particular and the southern states in general, states with large numbers of minority voters. Words like "less diverse" when used about New Hampshire and Iowa are code for "white," or "too white" to lead to a Democratic primary victory.The Clinton campaign is clearly and openly putting its Sanders-stopping eggs in the minority basket; in particular, counting that victory will come from the hands of the African-American voters. Recent polls show her far ahead of Sanders among those voters, with two contests with a more "diverse" electorate, Nevada and South Carolina, up next.For example, from a recent PPP poll (pdf) of the national races (my emphasis):Other polls show her losing by less, but by any measure the difference in support is considerable. So the horse race question  can Sanders make up that difference in the time left to do it? The Nevada caucus is February 20. The South Carolina primary is February 27. Super Tuesday is March 1. Each will occur in just a few weeks.Enter widely respected author and academic, Michelle Alexander, writing in The Nation . Alexander is best known for her book, so she has special expertise in the recent history of black America. She starts by detailing the relationship that both Clintons have enjoyed with African-American voters:Which sets up her punch line: "And it seems were eager to get played. Again."The rest of the piece walks through the troubled Clinton legacy  again, both of them, since Hillary strongly and vocally supported the Clinton era policies  and the horrific effect those policies have had on the black community. The overview (my emphasis):Alexander discusses the reasons that black voters "should have seen it coming," including this chilling detail:As I said, these are policies that Hillary fully supported at the time. For example, this is Hillary Clinton talking about the 1994 crime bill: "They are often the kinds of kids that are called super-predators. No conscience, no empathy. We can talk about why they ended up that way, but first we have to bring them to heel." Note the code word "predators" echoing the Reagan-era racist depiction of black criminals.Both Clintons have since recanted. Alexander notes:But is that enough? she asks. It's a valid question, whether you consider the answer to be yes or no.The section on mass incarceration is particularly chilling, especially since many of the non-violent men and women are still in prison. A very small taste of this painful-to-contemplate section of the article:Alexander also notes how government statistics, which don't count the incarcerated in the unemployment rate, hid the true unemployment rate among young black men. "When Clinton left office in 2001, the true jobless rate for young, non-college-educated black men (including those behind bars) was 42 percent." This section is more than chilling; it's horrifying.Alexander brings Sanders to task as well, and includes many of the offsets to her anti-Clinton argument, such as the fact that black community leaders were similarly concerned with crime in their neighborhoods. She notes: "This is not an endorsement for Bernie Sanders, who after all voted for the 1994 crime bill. I also tend to agree with Ta-Nehisi Coates that the way the Sanders campaign handled the question of reparations is one of many signs that Bernie doesnt quite get whats at stake in serious dialogues about racial justice. He was wrong to dismiss reparations as divisive, as though centuries of slavery, segregation, discrimination, ghettoization, and stigmatization arent worthy of any specific acknowledgement or remedy. But recognizing that Bernie, like Hillary, has blurred vision when it comes to race is not the same thing as saying their views are equally problematic."Which leads Alexander to this indictment: "In short, there is such a thing as a lesser evil, and Hillary is not it."There's much more in the article  please do read it through. Whatever position you take, notice first that the argument is nuanced  it acknowledges all of the "yes, but"s that can reasonably be raised  and second, that it's incredibly well written. (I'm officially jealous of her talent in this regard.)But this not about Clinton and the arguments for and against her vis-a-vis the African-American community; that's a question primarily for them to decide. Nor is it about Sanders and what can be said for or against his racial policies and awareness. There's a lot of "that was then and this is now" one can offer in this discussion.My real interest in bringing this to your attention is this. The South Carolina primary is February 27. Super Tuesday is three days later, with its cluster of southern and other "more diverse" states. Conventional (and Clinton campaign) wisdom holds that these states are out of Sanders' reach, that he can never make up the difference in support that the polls, exemplified by the one cited above, show to be great.Losing 82-8 with African-American voters is the largest differential we've seen in this Democratic primary. It's almost a no-brainer to call the next rounds hers, and it's not too unreasonable to imagine that the next four weeks or so could be do-or-die for Sanders, regardless of your preference. Still, this is a Black Lives Matter moment  thank god for that; it's been needed since forever, meaning 1619  so the electoral outcome could be far from certain.Given my belief that this election will be the most important in any of our lifetimes , for a variety of reasons, I'm watching the coming contests with great interest. Sanders has promised to take it to the convention , and I'm glad to hear that.he takes to the convention could be decided very soon, as I see it.Will thought-leaders in the African-American community, people like Michelle Alexander and former NAACP head Ben Jealous, be able to move the needle sufficiently and in time? We're clearly into popcorn territory. Stay tuned.(Blue America has endorsed Bernie Sanders for president. If you'd like to help out, go here ; you can adjust the split any way you like at the link. If you'd like to "phone-bank for Bernie," go here . You can volunteer in other ways by going here . And thanks!)GP

Labels: 2016 presidential race, Bernie Sanders, Bill Clinton, Black Lives Matter, Gaius Publius, Hillary Clinton, racism
Anasuya attacks fans

Anchor turned actress Anasuya seems to be thoroughly displeased with sexiest remarks made against her on social media. The actress who was a mother of two decided to give a fitting reply to her haters on Facebook. She attacked fans when they commented about her attires in recently released movies.



Here is her post on facebook.

Hello there!!.. I am Anasuya Bharadwaj addressing all those individually who r so very concerned abt me being a wife n a mother.. How are you.. I c u r frustrated wid ur lyf.. Instead f cribbing on others who r trying to make the most f lyf.. Y don't u put al da hard work in ur lyf sir/madam.. Plz try.. You'l succeed.. And what I or my husband do is like any of u do for living sir/madam.. The difference is but obvious the professions v choose.. Wen in Rome be a Roman.. M sure u've heard of it.. I really don't need to answer to u on dis.. But out f concern dat u myt end up being a loser i am responding.. Yes I am a mother.. Yes i am married.. But wat i wear or wat i do is totally my choice sir/madam.. Lyk it is urs.. Its only one's perception..I am blessed n grateful to the almighty dat i have such an understanding husband and supportive family.. If u dislike u have al da liberty to keep me at bay.. Rather than being abusive.. It only shows how frustrated u r n how unethical n disrespectful upbringing ur parents gave u.. M sorry if i'd hurt ur feelings.. Ur betterment in my prayers..Thanks n regards..



Anasuya recently entertained in Nagarjuna's Soggade Chinni Naayana and is now playing as cop in Adivi Sesh's Kshanam.









News Posted: 11 February, 2016








KCR to meet PM Modi on Friday

Hyderabad, Feb 11 (INN): Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao will leave for New Delhi on Thursday night.



During his two-day tour, KCR will call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday afternoon. He is likely to seek Central funds for the pending projects of Telangana and additional grants for the State in the next Union Budget. On Saturday, the Chief Minister will meet Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and other Central Ministers.









News Posted: 11 February, 2016








TS Govt signs MoU with Railways

Hyderabad, Feb 11 (INN): The Government of Telangana on Thursday signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Railways for 'Formation of Joint Venture Companies for Development of Railway Infrastructure in the State of Telangana.'



On the event of Signing Ceremony, Railway Board Chairman A.K. Mittal, Member Engineering V. K. Gupta, Member Staff Pradip Kumar, Secretary Railway Board R. K. Verma and other Board members and senior officials were present. On behalf of the Railway Ministry, Ved Prakash Dudeja, Executive Director/Works signed the MoU whereas on behalf of Government of Telangana, Sunil Sharma, Principal Secretary, Department of Transport, Roads & Buildings, Govt. of Telangana signed the MoU. Dr. Shashank Goel, Resident Commissioner, Govt. of Telangana was present among others.



The MoU was signed in the backdrop of Railway Minister's Budget announcement regarding setting up of Joint Ventures with States for focused project development, resource mobilization, land acquisition, project implementation and monitoring of critical rail projects.



Speaking on the occasion, A.K. Mittal stated that Railways has a big shelf of projects valuing about Rs. 3.5 lakh crore. Last year, Railways had sanctioned additional lands of 9,000 kilometres. There has always been lot of expectations from various States for new railway lines/lands. Thus, to meet the demands of the States, a Cabinet note was got approved for formation of JV Companies. He stated that 17 States have already consented for formation of JV Companies in their respective States and 5 States have already signed MoUs with Railway Ministry in this regard which include Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Maharashtra.









News Posted: 11 February, 2016








This morning, I was pointing out that conservatives, generally corrupt, infiltrate the Democratic Party , which they use as a vehicle for their careerism, while wrecking the party's brand, tugging it inexorably towards the money-friendly right. The linked post is about Members of Congress. But, of course, this starts at the local level. Illinois has it's share of corrupt conservative Democrats in Congress, of course, including vile Blue Dogs Dan Lipinski and Cheri Bustos and New Dem Bill Foster. And Schumercrat/Rahmocrat Tammy Duckworth isn't exactly good news for progressives either. In fact, when Duckworth, now Schumer's Senate candidate, first ran for the House, it was against progressive Christine Cegelis and today, coincidentally-- and not related to the point of this post-- Cegelis endorsed Mike Noland against sleazy New Dem-type Raja Krishnamoorthi, pointing out that Mike "is the only candidate in this race with a proven record of supporting the progressive values we all share." [You can contribute to Mike's campaign here on the Blue America ActBlue page .]





Chicago Sun-Times about a race in a long, skinny Chicago state House district-- the 5th-- just west of Lake Michigan that stretches from the South Sides Grand Crossing neighborhood to the Near North Side. It's one of the bluest districts in the entire state-- chunks of Danny Davis' 7th CD and Bobby Rush's 1st CD; Obama scored 85.5% against Romney there. A couple of days ago, Andy Grimm wrote a piece for theabout a race in a long, skinny Chicago state House district-- the 5th-- just west of Lake Michigan that stretches from the South Sides Grand Crossing neighborhood to the Near North Side. It's one of the bluest districts in the entire state-- chunks of Danny Davis' 7th CD and Bobby Rush's 1st CD; Obama scored 85.5% against Romney there.





Before we get into Grimm's story, let's look at the background. Illinois Democrats have a 71 to 47 super-majority in the state House, exactly the number they need to override vetoes from the state's right-wing governor, Republican Bruce Rauner). Problem is Ken Dunkin, who represents the 5th. He's an ego-centric careerist, unconcerned with policy, in Rauner's pocket, and he's refused to be that 71st vote needed to override, most recently on a couple of bills that attempted to invalidate Rauner's obsessive austerity efforts to cut social service programs.





quid pro quo for helping Rauner was a $500,000 check from the Illinois Opportunity Project, a Republican PAC founded by Hate Talk Radio host Dan Proft. So how crooked is Dunkin? Plenty crooked , to the point of taking the biggest legalistic bribe that anyone can remember to an Illinois state legislator. Thefor helping Rauner was a $500,000 check from the Illinois Opportunity Project, a Republican PAC founded by Hate Talk Radio host Dan Proft.





Speaker Mike Madigan is apoplectic over Dunkin and his serial betrayals and would like to see him defeated for reelection and they're openly supporting attorney Juliana Stratton's campaign against Dunkin in the March 15 primary. Julianna Stratton, his opponent is basically being endorsed by the Democratic Party against him. Last week it was Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, Secretary of State Jesse White, Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis, as well as AFSCME and the SEIU. Stratton isn't pulling any punches. "Ken Dunkin," she told the media, "took a half a million dollar thank you gift for voting against our families. That is not putting people over politics."





Dunkin has repeatedly struck back with shenanigans aimed at attacking the Illinois Democratic Party-- who he calls "monkeys"-- and is trying to make the race all about him vs Madigan claiming, for example, that the "Mike Madigan slave mentality of his plantation politics is real," and calling Stratton Madigan's puppet.





Today, even President Obama, visiting Springfield, chimed in after Dunkin interrupted his speech several times. This afternoon Obama told Illinois lawmakers Wednesday that they and the nation should insist on a "better politics" based on civility and compromise as a cure to the "poisonous political climate" that pushes citizens away.
Vietnam did not send military officers to join the Cobra Gold military exercise being held in Thailand, nor did it have observers attend the drill, the Ministry of Defense said Thursday.

The ministry's announcement came after some local and foreign newspapers reported that Vietnam had sent three army personnel to take part in the annual joint military exercise, the biggest in Southeast Asia.

The Vietnam News Agency quoted Nguyen Thanh Tuan, head of Department of Propaganda and Training under the ministry, as saying that Vietnam's policy is "not to join any joint military actions."

Cobra Gold 2011, the 30th of its kind, officially kicked off on Monday in Thailand's northeastern province of Chiang Mai.

Besides hosts US and Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia and Singapore are participating in the exercise.
The Vietnamese Embassy in Russia is taking measures to protecting 1,200 Vietnamese who have been recently arrested on suspicion of illegal immigration, the Vietnam Consular Department has announced.

The Vietnamese are among 1,400 foreigners that Russian police apprehended at textile factories in a market east of Moscow on July 31, according to the department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

It said the embassy has sent officials to work with Russian agencies in clarifying the case, and requested local authorities to guarantee living and eating conditions for the Vietnamese during the investigation.

It quoted Russian authorities as saying that they are questioning the detainees, and will release those who have legal documents.

The Vietnamese embassy is keeping a close watch and working closely with Russian authorities to handle the case, and guarantee that Vietnamese citizens are able to continue living and working in Russia, the department said.

In the meantime, the Russian-owned news agency RIA Novosti last Thursday reported that a Vietnamese national is among eight people suspected of organizing illegal labor at 20 textile factories probed during the same raid.

The suspects, four of whom are reportedly Russian nationals and the rest from Azerbaijan, Iraq, and Syria, were also detained.

Russian investigators have launched criminal action against the suspects on the charge of setting up a criminal gang and organizing illegal migration, AFP reported. RELATED CONTENT Vietnam migrants seized in Russia not connected to extremism

The French news agency quoted police as saying that the immigrants were found sewing clothes with fake designer labels.

They were living in "unsanitary conditions" with their families, including pregnant and unweaned babies, it reported.

According to RIA Novosti, Moscow police recently launched a series of raids on the city's marketplaces to "decriminalize them," after a local police officer was attacked by an angry mob at a market last month and was seriously injured.
Heads up to prevent injury from falls Morning walks in my neighborhood are one of the most enjoyable parts of my day. I love the coolness of daybreak and the special sightings of the stag and two does that frequent our open space. I also enjoy my walk because each day at...

Signs that point to the best time for retirement Ive been thinking a lot about retirement lately. One of our amazing staff members, who has been with Senior Concerns for the last 13 years, retired last month. It just doesnt seem real. I always thought of Dana as young. Certainly not the person to...

Rethinking the mandatory retirement age How old is too old for working at a job? Last week a news story hit my inbox and it really got me to thinking about age and retirement. The article noted that Target Corp. abandoned its mandatory retirement age of 65 for its CEO,...

Tips to promoting a healthy nights sleep for children Question: Help, please. My daughter is almost 2 years old and has been an easy child to put into her own bed. Yet in the past few weeks she is purposefully stretching out the bedtime routine longer and longer. She wants more: more stories, more...
Whether youre a traditionalist or independent, youll find plenty of edibles to suit your Valentines Day style. Celebrate with the love of your life, or just say bah, humbug, and indulge in a solo tin of chocolates or heart-shaped pizza. Heres a little roundup.The pizza specialist is bringing back its heart-shaped pizza through Monday, or while supplies last. The one-topping pizza is being paired with an 8-inch pan of fudge brownies and a bouquet of a dozen roses for $60, or a single long-stemmed rose for $25. Pre-orders beginning tomorrow are recommended. Call 979-PAPA (7272) or visit papajohnshawaii.com. For every online order made with the promo code MAWROSES, Papa Johns will also donate $5 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.A tin containing seven of the chocolatiers Coeurs Framboise raspberry hearts is $27. Three words about this isle newcomer: Best. Chocolates. Ever. Look for the shop on the third level of Ala Moana Centers new Ewa Wing.The hotel at 175 Paoakalani Ave. will host a Valentines Day popup featuring special guest Miller Royer of Wing Shave Ice & Ice Cream, who will be serving scoops and sundaes, from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday in the lobby. Ice cream selections available will be Rose, Mayan Xocolatl (chocolate with cinnamon and a hint of cayenne pepper), and 100 percent Kona coffee (made with award-winning Aikane Kona Coffee). A strawberry and champagne sorbet will also be available. Single scoops will be $4.71, while double scoops will cost $6.81. For those seeking something sweet to share, Royer will offer sundaes with a choice of homemade sauces, including hot fudge, strawberry sauce, or Hawaiian sea-salt caramel. The single scoop sundae will go for $6.28, with double scoop sundaes are $8.38. All prices are tax inclusive. Call (808) 922-3861 or visit waikiki.place.hyatt.com/en/hotel/home.html for more information.Pick up a box of the resorts special hand-dipped truffles in flavors of Kula lavender milk chocolate, roasted mac-nut blonde chocolate, mango yuzu white chocolate and guava strawberry dark chocolate, to share or indulge on your own. The 16-piece box of truffles, with four of each flavor, sells for $38 at Hokus, Plumeria Beach House and The Veranda. Call 739-8760 or email restaurants@kahalaresort.com to reserve for pick up through Monday.Also at the hotel,is offering a five-course San Valentino prix fixe dinner at $89 per person, with $30 per person wine pairings, from Friday through Sunday. Reserve at 380-4400.Here is whats on the menu:As for The Kahalas restaurants, from Feb. 12 to 14,will be offering an all-you-can-eat dinner buffet, at $80 per adult and $40 for children. Favorites such as prime rib and crab legs will be available, along with such special dishes as baked oysters with lehua honey butter and roasted duck breast with a raspberry gastrique. If fine dining is more your style, a lovers four-course dinner ($120 per person) will be available at, or enjoy a $75 per person prix fixe menu at, with main course choices of grilled beef tenderloin and sauteed foie gras, or roasted Maine lobster with scallops. For reservations, call (808) 739-8760 or email restaurants@kahalaresort.com.Valentines dinner, with reservations from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. Sunday, starts with a choice of Kula tomato biqsue of roasted beet and Waipoli greens salad, followed by a choice of grilled ahi or steamed crab and shrimp appetizer. Then pick one of three entree choices from petit filet mignon, Okinawan awamori pork belly rafute, or seared mahi with Bhutanese red rice with lup cheong. Dessert is a matcha opera cake with green tea buttercream, azuki mousse and Waialua chocolate. The cost is $65 per person. Call (808) 945-6573. The restaurant is on the third floor at Macys, Ala Moana Center.The restaurant at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Resort & Spa is offering a Pre-Valentines Day dinner Feb. 12 and 13, at $89 per person, starting with an amuse bouche of Kona kampachi tartare with jicama, watermelon radish, cilantro and finger lime. Then take your pick of first course of island beet and Surfing Goat cheese salad; or poached Kauai prawn with Nalo Farms baby mizuna, Big Island oranges, toasted walnuts and Meyer lemon vinaigrette. Then choose from main course of Kona coffee and cocoa-dusted beef filet; pan-roasted fresh catch; or roasted Kona lobster tail. Dessert is burnt honey Pots de Creme with strawberry medallions and ganache.Then on Valentines Day the $89 per person menu starts with the same amuse bouche followed by one of three first course choices of the beet-and-goat cheese salad; hamachi and strawberry carpaccio; or seared diver scallops. Then choose one of four entrees, starting with the three above, or Maui sugar-glazed duck breast. Dessert is the same as the pre-Valentine menu. A Valentines Day limited a la carte menu will also feature steaks and such aphrodisiac selections as blue crab cakes with mustard sauce and sambal ($21), abalone and Parmesan gnocchi ($20), market price King crab legs or a Bali Seafood Platter for two, that for $95 includes ahi poke, King crab, jumbo shrimp, abalone, Kona Kampachi Crudo, and more. Reservations: (808) 941-2254.
Romance scam victims are not just losing the money they send to con artists, but suffering significant ongoing financial losses.

Jan Marshall, aged 62 from Melbourne, fell in love with a scammer posing as a British engineer working in Dubai and transferred amounts totalling $260,000 in late 2012.

On top of using her savings and obtaining multiple credit cards, she drew money out of a self-managed super fund.

"I was not allowed to take money out of that fund. I have to pay tax on that money at the rate of 46.5 per cent, so I've ended up with an additional bill of over $75,000," she said. "I can never pay that money."
Cardinal Pell, 74, has been granted permission by the Commission to appear by video link in lieu of a personal appearance, because he is too sick to fly.

Their offer: a praetorian guard of personal physicians who could safely see Cardinal George Pell through the flight from Rome to appear before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Call them the 'Physicians for the comfort of George Pell'.

In a letter published in Fairfax Media newspapers Dr Sallie offered his expertise to help the Cardinal get home.

Reached in Western Australia, Dr Sallie admitted he was something of a veteran newspaper letter writer  his own mother even receives death threats, presumably meant for him, from time to time.

Of what spurred him to prose, Dr Sallie said: "I'm just a physician, I have nothing to do with this story, but I've had a lot of patients who have, for one reason or another, [such as] sexual abuse, or abuse within the church.

"You read what's gone on in Ballarat, you read the litany of destruction that's occurred as a consequence of these people, and you get outraged at it."
The three private training colleges that collapsed, leaving thousands of students in limbo, received at least $66 million in government-funded student loans.

They had been recently audited by the national regulator and were found to be compliant, with the largest college still under investigation.

Aspire College closed last month leaving many students out of a course and out of pocket.

As news of the closures trickled to concerned students on Thursday, former employees revealed the colleges recruited students from foster homes, homeless shelters, women's refuges, aged care homes and drug rehabilitation centres.

Aspire College of Education, The Design Works College of Design, the Australian Indigenous College and the affiliated RTO Services Group and National Training and Development were placed in voluntary administration on Tuesday, with at least 500 staff affected.
A suspect has been arrested over the fatal shooting of a man in Geelong on Tuesday night.

The 36-year-old victim, from Norlane, was shot on Anakie Road, Bell Post Hill, about 11pm and died in the arms of a resident who ran outside to help him.

The scene of the Anakie Road shooting. Credit:Courtesy of Melina Sarris/Seven News, via Twitter

A Victoria Police spokesman said homicide detectives and Special Operations Group officers arrested a 22-year-old Lovely Banks man about 3.15pm on Thursday.

He said the man, who has not been charged, was arrested on Anakie Road in Norlane - not far from the scene of the shooting.
Seoul: South Korea will shut down an industrial complex run jointly with North Korea, in retaliation for the North's recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch over the weekend.

In announcing the decision, Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo said the industrial complex in the North Korean border town of Kaesong, which went into operation in 2004, had ended up providing funds for the North's weapons programs.

Wednesday's action was the first time the South unilaterally closed the complex. And by officially identifying the factory park as a source of cash for the North's nuclear program, the South seemed to indicate that the shutdown was permanent.

There was no immediate public response from North Korea.
Hundreds of school students have been evacuated across the wider Canberra region after another wave of threatening phone calls.

At least two schools in NSW and three in the ACT received phone calls on Thursday morning.

ACT police outside Canberra's Lanyon High School last Tuesday, following a bomb threat. Credit:Rohan Thomson

Theodore Public School, Neville Bonner Public School and Forrest Public School also received threatening phone calls, ACT Public Schools announced via Twitter.

Police attended the three schools but would not speculate on whether the calls were a hoax.
Failed bidders for the Currong and Allawah public housing flats were surprised at just how high bidding went, with the winners paying $47 million for the prime inner-city block.

Eight developers registered for the auction on Wednesday, each with $40 million in ready capital and a track record of major apartment developments.

Representatives of SHL Development at the auction for the Currong and Allawah site last year. Credit:Jay Cronan

Five dropped out before $40 million. The Village Building Company stayed in the bidding until about $42 million and Amalgamated Property Group until it was finally forced out when winning bidder SHL Developments went to $47 million.

Amalgamated Property Group head Graham Potts said the result was higher than expected and much higher than valued by some.
A former teacher and current ASIC senior executive has been charged with abusing a 14-year-old boy in the 1980s.

Peter Cuzner, 60 of Kaleen, pleaded not guilty on Thursday to three acts of indecency against the boy in 1986.

Alleged abuser Peter Cuzner. Credit:Graham Tidy

Cuzner was a teacher at a number of schools in the ACT, including Daramalan College, although it is not yet clear where the alleged abuse occurred.

He is currently listed as the ASIC regional commissioner for the ACT, a senior executive position, but was suspended once the organisation learned of the allegations.
And here's where things get interesting: Selling soda in smaller cans might not only help Coca-Cola make more money on the soft drinks people buyit could even push people to buy more.

But the mini cans are also a welcome addition for consumers who are cutting back on soft drinks. The smaller servings offer a middle-ground between the soft drinks people have been drinking and the soft drinks they should be drinking: none at all. They are, in other words, a great way for self-conscious drinkers to achieveor pretend to achievewhatever drinking goal they have set for themselves.

A quick search on Amazonand a bit of simple mathshows the premium consumers have to pay for the smaller cans. A 12-pack of regular 12-ounce (355ml) cans costs $US4.99, while an 8-pack of the new 7.5 ounce (222 ml) cans costs $US2.99. On a per can basis, that doesn't look so badit comes out to roughly US42 and US$37, respectively. But the cans are different sizes, which obscures the mark-up. On a per ounce basis, the new cans are actually about 42 per cent more expensive, running roughly US5 per ounce, instead of the US3.5 per ounce it costs when buying the larger cans.

The mini cans and bottles allow Coca-Cola to save money on aluminium and glass, most or even all of which it pockets. Look no further than the pricing of its different offerings for evidence.

Just points to various studies that he and his colleague Brian Wansink, the director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab, have performed over the years. In one from 2013, the two showed that people are incredibly responsive to labels. Participants, having been told that the food put in front of them was "double-size," left 10 times as much food on their plates as those who were told their serving was "regular," even though both groups were given the exact same amount.

The opposite, Just says, happens when servings are labelled as small. "If they are marketed as minis, as I believe they are, they can actually increase consumption," Just said.

"People upon consuming them are either left wanting or feel they have done something virtuous by not consuming more," he added. "If they are left wanting, they may be much more likely to move to a second can, which could be a bad thing for the consumer, but a good thing for Coke. If they feel they have done something virtuous, they might feel they have license to consume more elsewhere, and most often overcompensate."

It's unclear if the miniature cans will be enough to offset the growing distaste for soft drinks around the world, especially in places like the United States, where the distaste has been particularly severe. But thus far, they certainly seem to be helping.

On Tuesday, Kathy Waller, the company's chief financial officer, expressed enthusiasm about the smaller packaging. "In the United States, in particular, we have a price-pack architecture strategy promoting the mini cans and the 8-ounce glass bottles," she told Reuters. The strategy, she said, has been helping to boost sales in the country.
These were kids who were of Joe's age. Kids who were born in Australia  just like him. These kids belong here, they deserve to stay here. Call it a moment of clarity  call it whatever  but that's when I realised Victoria could help. So I wrote to the Prime Minister last Saturday with a proposal.

Sitting on the kitchen bench was a newspaper filled with stories of a hundred stranded kids  kids just like Joe  seeking asylum in Australia with their families.

The fact that children are among the victims of Australia's detention policy makes it worse that what happens at Guantanamo Bay.

Joe was no doubt focused on his birthday cake, but my mind was elsewhere.

A week ago, my wife Cath and I were at home celebrating our son Joseph's ninth birthday. Another year of comfort and safety had passed him by, and another such year awaited him.

We  the Victorian Government  offered to take full care of these children and their families, because shipping them off to a sparse island is not the act of a decent nation and not our idea of a fair solution. Right now, they are on a one-way ticket to Nauru, so we're offering to take full responsibility for them.

Some people called it a political stunt. I can assure you it wasn't. The last thing these kids need is more politics. In fact, it's only when you take the politics out of this sad situation that the right answer becomes clear. That's what happened to me.

Over the weekend, I met two of these kids and their ill father. I took them to the zoo. As we were walking around, I didn't see in their father's face, the face of a man who was trying to manipulate a system or undermine a policy. I saw the face of a man who just wanted his boys to be safe.

He'd escaped one of the most violent places in the world. Now here he was at the Melbourne Zoo with his boys. I wish you could have seen how much they smiled.

People smuggling is a wicked problem, but for these kids, there's no reason why we must settle on a wicked solution.
Professor Robert (Bob) Carter was one of the best known of all the scientists who argue that it is far from proven that humans are causing dangerous warming of the climate. He gave presentations to the Select Committee on climate policy to the Australian Parliament, and testified before the United States Senate on the issue of climate change.

Bob was a contributor to, and reviewer of, the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change 2009 report Climate Change Reconsidered, and lead author of the 2011 interim report. He published two books on the subject and a range of associated scientific papers.

What is often overlooked is that before his activity in the "climate debate", which he undertook during his retirement, he was a brilliant teacher and research academic with expertise in palaeontology, marine geology and stratigraphy. Bob graduated from Otago University in New Zealand before completing his PhD at Cambridge University. He travelled throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East with his wife Anne, studying sedimentary rocks and the systems which formed them.

Bob held the position of senior lecturer from 1968 at Otago University, followed by his appointment at James Cook University (JCU) in Townsville as the Chair of the Geology Department from 1981 until 1998. He remained associated with JCU as an Adjunct Professor for many years after his retirement. Bob had served as chair of the Earth Sciences Discipline Panel of the Australian Research Council and the Australian Office of the Ocean Drilling Program, championing collaborative science and early career researchers. Carter was a high-achieving leader of Australia's science community.

His studies of the ocean's sediment record revealed many profound environmental, oceanographic and climatic changes of the past. These included repeated series of major variations in sea level and ocean temperatures. To him, the phrase "climate change" was usually misused because it implied that it was possible for climates not to change. Geological research shows that climates always change, naturally and on virtually all timescales, so his view was that humans needed to get used to the idea and, most importantly, that society needed to prepare for change and to adapt.

It is, of course, no coincidence that many "climate sceptics" a phrase he disliked  are from a geological background, because they view the world from a different perspective. So, it was possibly inevitable that Carter, as a brilliant communicator, would lead the argument proposing that the relatively small changes in climate over the last hundred or so years are nothing particularly special.
The sky rail ticks a lot of boxes: it's prettier and more practical than a ditch; vastly cheaper than a cut-and-cover tunnel, freeing up money for more grade separations elsewhere; and allows existing users of Melbourne's chronically overloaded Pakenham/Cranbourne corridor to continue commuting by train while the project is being built. Most importantly, it allows well-designed bus interchanges to be built underneath new stations. Not only will this provide better accessibility for parents with prams, people in wheelchairs and our ageing population, but it also means faster and more reliable connections for people wishing to switch modes. Of course, the effect of having a well-connected public transport system is that more people choose to use it. Given Melbourne's growing population, we should be welcoming sky rail, and its proposed integrated bus and train stations. Berish Bilander, Carlton North For the greater good As Melbourne grows and population density increases, we are all inconvenienced in some way. To minimise this we all have to make compromises for the greater good. For residents along the Dandenong train line, their compromise is to accept the rebuilt tracks and intersections. John Groom, Bentleigh

Change for the better Saying that gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans and gender-diverse people are fine just the way they are and are entitled not be bullied at school is hardly a "leftist agenda" as Kevin Donnelly claims ("Save school kids from radical views on sexuality", Comment, 11/2). Conservative types such as David Cameron and John Key are supporters of same-sex marriage and a transgender soldier was a nominee for Australian of the Year. I was at an average government secondary school in an average suburb of Melbourne the mid-1990s. Back then, acknowledging my sexuality and coming out at school would have almost certainly subjected me to a torrent of verbal and physical abuse and bullying. No one dared to do it. Today I play rugby in a gay-inclusive team where part of what we do is undo the damage done to the self-esteem of generations of gay teens at school who felt excluded by something as simple as playing sport. I am amazed by how much the world has changed for people like me. Future generations will grow up in much more supportive school environments and we will have programs like the Safe Schools coalition to thank for it. Michael Smith, Yarraville

Creative opportunity I commend the Brunswick Secondary College student who objected to their production of Hairspray, but I respectfully disagree ("Student sprays school for 'whitewash' musical", 11/2). Many musicals are set in a particular part of the world, and some of the best of them have racial themes. We cannot deprive our students of these works simply because a school does not have enough people of a particular race. Sure, there are a range of challenges for the director, but that also presents a significant opportunity. The acting fraternity has always maintained that any actor can play any character, regardless of gender, race, appearance, or whether they are evil like the character is. In our current culture you have to tread carefully, but that is only if a minority are being put out of professional work, or if a portrayal becomes a stereotype. The former problem doesn't exist here, the latter can be avoided. There are only so many productions of The Sound of Music I can stand. Let this school take this challenge and see what they can achieve. James Mason, Kings Park Learn from successes

Ben Stephens and Matthew Tyler correctly note that Native Americans are better off than Australian Aborigines ("Let Aboriginal people control their destiny", Comment, 10/1). This is mainly because they have enjoyed consistent government support through the Bureau of Indian Affairs since 1824 and still do. In Australia, an endless parade of authorities, agencies and "innovative policies" meant to solve Aboriginal disadvantage have come and gone and failed with depressing regularity. We do not need yet another one of these experiments, and certainly not Noel Pearson's "Indigenous Policy Productivity Council". Consistent policy, administered through an efficient and accountable federal department of Aboriginal affairs working consistently over generations, is the only hope. It worked relatively well for most Native Americans. Philip Batty, Blackwood Fundamentals first It was heartening to hear an Australian Prime Minister make the effort to say a few words in an Aboriginal language ("Recognition in 2017 achievable, says PM", 11/2). Hearing the obvious but until now neglected necessity to involve Aborigines themselves in the programs that have been unsuccessfully imposed on them, was encouraging. But any such progress will be hampered without the government and Australian mainstream unequivocally acknowledging  whether it be in our anthem, flag or constitution  the Aboriginal people as not only the first Australians, but also the significance of their cultural symbols as indispensable elements of what it means to be truly Australian. No one would ever deny that health or education or sanitation programs are all necessary. But for any of these to succeed, first we have to go back a few steps, and start with a fundamental recognition of Aborigines in our national symbols.

Elliot Wollner, Caulfield Failing to get method Thankfully, CSIRO chief Larry Marshall wasn't around in 1897 when J.J. Thomson's "plum pudding" model of the atom was thought to be the model that most accurately represented the atom. Thomson's model consisted of a solid sphere of positive matter in which negative "plums" were embedded like the plums in a plum pudding. Even though this model received wide acceptance from scientists at the time, future data collection allowed scientists to test their observations against various predictions of the model. From then until now the atomic model has undergone many changes as research into the atom progresses. Dr Marshall justifies his sacking of climate scientists by suggesting there is nothing left of importance to know about climate change. This not only shows a lack of respect for the work of our dedicated scientists but a complete misunderstanding of the scientific method. It is like a quack doctor in the 19th century spruiking that the "plum pudding" model is all you need to know about the atom.

Neil Chirgwin, Frankston Live up to honour Environment Minister Greg Hunt, "world's best minister", should perhaps be congratulated for tempering the worst excesses of the Abbott government's crusade against environmental issues such as renewable energy uptake and greenhouse gas emissions. However, at the same time, Minister Hunt has seen the dismantling of a greenhouse gas reduction method that was working  the carbon tax  and replaced it with "Direct Action", which to date is seeing Australia's emissions rising. He has replaced the "polluter pays" principle, with one of "pay the polluter". There is no sign that this approach is working, nor that it is scalable to reach the carbon emission reductions needed to stop reaching a tipping point in global warming. Mr Hunt has also overseen the approval to dredge and increase coal shipping through the Great Barrier Reef, and spent large sums of government money lobbying to ensure the reef was not placed on UN endangered lists, despite the scientific evidence of reef die-off due to warming oceans. Hopefully, Mr Hunt will begin walking the talk and reverse the irresponsible actions of the Abbott government.

James Thyer, Northcote The wrong impression The article "Don't send my students back to Nauru" (10/2) contains inaccuracies that create a false impression. Your front page says, "Glenroy College principal Paul Dingle risks being jailed to speak out for three asylum seekers ..." Later the article says, "He could run foul of the Border Force Act, which threatens imprisonment for 'entrusted persons' who disclose information about detention centres ..." These statements are untrue. Mr Dingle is not an entrusted person and the act does not apply to him. The Border Force Commissioner and I have made clear publicly that the applicable sections of the Border Force Act do not and will not seek to prevent people discussing border protection policies and expressing their views. The secrecy provisions are part of the law because the Border Force receives sensitive information from security agencies and this operational information must be protected in our nation's interest. The article also states that students live behind barbed wire at Broadmeadows detention centre. The fence surrounding the centre has no barbed wire.

Peter Dutton, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Canberra, ACT Obstacles too great I was disturbed to read about "Our $260,000 baby" (9/2). It is yet another example of the debacle that has been the virtual disappearance of inter-country adoption in Australia. When we adopted our first son in 1997, ICAS, the government agency responsible for adoption in Victoria, was thriving. The countries of origin were carefully chosen, families were scrutinised, prepared and supported to ensure the process was legitimate as well as putting the interests of the child first. No money (excluding administrative and medical fees) changed hands. Bureaucratic changes introducing overarching federal supervision have led to ridiculous waiting times. Because of such obstacles, couples are making overseas surrogacy arrangements or adopting under the laws of other countries without the support or safeguards of Australian agencies. Many adoptive families visit and support the homes from which their children were adopted, benefiting their own family and those left behind; $260,000 could do so much for those already born without families. Ross Jones, Parkville

AND ANOTHER THING ... Recognition Why the rush for recognition for Aborigines? We only invaded their country 250 years ago. Don't forget how slow our governments tend to operate ("Recognition in 2017 achievable, says PM", 11/2). John Cain, McCrae What is against instant recognition? Why wait until 2017?

Bruce Dudon, Woodend The PM spoke about finding words for an amendment to the Constitution that will "sing to" our First Peoples. Did he mean some of those words would be written in Ngunnawal? Trevor Kerr, Blackburn Politics Now that Greg Hunt has become world's greatest minister, any chance we can get an environment minister?

Harvey Mitchell, Castlemaine Meg Paul is right (Letters, 11/2). Toys for the boys. John Wolstenholme, Balnarring How fortunate is the Glenroy College community to have such a principled principal ("Don't send my students back to Nauru", 11/2)? John Tudor, Bethanga

Why stop at I'm a refugee, get me out of here (Letters, 12/2)? What about My Kitchen Rules with the contestants inviting the judges to their cells for a home-cooked meal. Now that would be reality TV. Michael Blee, Brighton Sky rail Thank you, Julie Szego, for some much-needed perspective ("Sky rail more an eye opener than an eyesore", Comment, 11/2). It seems an effective way to get rid of some accursed level crossings with minimum disruption. David Mitchell, Moe
Kristin Davis has taken a not-so-subtle jab at Sunrise, by sharing a knowing 'wink' with rival show host Lisa Wilkinson, after the actor took part in a train wreck segment on Channel Seven's breakfast program.

Davis - who is in Australia to present a keynote address as an ambassador for the UNHCR - vented her frustrations on social media following her Sunrise appearance in which she was asked to reprise her role as her Sex and the City character Charlotte York in a bizarre skit.

She appeared tense and uneasy when hosts David Koch and Samantha Armytage showed a clip of Davis as Charlotte from the first Sex and the City movie in the throes of a bout of explosive diarrhoea.

"No, no, no, no take it off, no. No. You lured me here. We are not discussing that. Stop talking," she yelled.
The mornings were the worst. Andrew Robb didn't want to get out of bed, didn't want to make decisions. From age 12, he felt listless and negative in the early hours.

He developed strategies to cope - from long hot showers to staring at the sun to make himself sneeze. This released serotonin, giving him a momentary lift. He would later reflect that his high-adrenaline career choices - leading the powerful farmers lobby, running election campaigns, a career in Parliament - were a way to get the blood pumping and keep the darkness at bay.

But as he got older his "morning problems" began lingering into the afternoon. In 2009 he rang his friend, former Victorian premier and mental health advocate, Jeff Kennett for help.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has led the tributes for retiring cabinet ministers Warren Truss and Andrew Robb, describing them as "remarkable men" who have helped shape Australia.

In a speech in Parliament on Thursday, Deputy Prime Minister and Nationals leader Warren Truss confirmed he will move to the backbench in the coming days and will not contest the next federal election.

Officially ending months of speculation about his future, Mr Truss' decision paves the way for Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce to take the Nationals' leadership. The party will meet at 8pm tonight to choose the replacement.
The Coalition's $1 billion work-for-the-dole scheme has improved the probability that an unemployed person will find a job by just 2 percentage points, a government-commissioned review has found.

A 90-page academic evaluation of the program concluded that the chance of getting a job had risen  but off a low base.

Minister for Women and Employment Michaelia Cash was a big winner in Malcolm Turnbull's new-look cabinet. Credit:Janie Barrett

"It is estimated that in the short-term [work for the dole] resulted in an additional 2 percentage point increase in the probability of job seekers having a job placement controlling for other characteristics (from a low baseline of 14 per cent)," researchers from the Australian National University's Social Research Centre concluded.

"Furthermore, moving off income support increased by an additional 2 percentage points, compared to what would occur in the absence of [work for the dole] (from a baseline of 13 per cent)."
The race to replace outgoing Trade Minister Andrew Robb in his blue-ribbon Liberal seat "will be World War III" as frontrunners Georgina Downer and Tim Wilson and a swath of other contenders battle it out.

Ms Downer, daughter of former foreign minister Alexander Downer, and Mr Wilson, the outspoken Human Rights Commissioner, are lobbying hard to win preselection for the safe Melbourne seat of Goldstein.

While neither currently live inside the electorate they are both understood to have strong support bases among local pre-selectors.

Fairfax Media understands Ms Downer has the strong backing of a powerful group of Liberal frontbenchers in Parliament, including Josh Frydenberg, Greg Hunt and Mr Robb himself.
Pandora, the largest internet radio service, has held discussions about selling the company, according to people briefed on the talks.

Pandora is working with Morgan Stanley to meet with potential buyers, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing private matters. The talks are preliminary and may not lead to a deal, the people said.

Pandora's users peaked at 81.5 million at the end of 2014.

For Pandora, it would be a curious time to sell. Its shares are yielding a market value of $US1.8 billion, down from more than $US7 billion two years ago. The stock has fallen more than 60 per cent since October.

Pandora has the largest number of users for music streaming, but the competition is encroaching. Spotify is said to be arming itself with another $US500 million in capital, and Apple Music recently surpassed 10 million paying users. Pandora's users peaked at 81.5 million at the end of 2014, declining to 78.1 million in the third quarter.
Your front page states: "principal Paul Dingle risks being jailed to speak out for three asylum seekers." Later the article goes on "he could run foul of the Border Force Act which threatens imprisonment for 'entrusted persons' who disclose information about detention centres.".

I write in relation to the front page article published on February 10  "Don't send my students back to Nauru." This article contains serious inaccuracies which create false impressions and would gravely mislead your readers.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton on Thursday Credit:Andrew Meares

Your front page states: "principal Paul Dingle risks being jailed to speak out for three asylum seekers." Later the article goes on "he could run foul of the Border Force Act which threatens imprisonment for 'entrusted persons' who disclose information about detention centres.".

These statements are untrue.
Unions have accused Mr Joyce, who spent Thursday awaiting a leadership ballot for the Nationals, of pork-barrelling.

Mr Seselja said he would continue to fight to keep public service jobs in the national capital after Barnaby Joyce, as Agriculture and Water Resources Minister, said jobs from research and development corporations would be relocated out of Canberra.

ACT senator Zed Seselja says he was disappointed about the decision announced on Wednesday to move public servants out of Canberra.

His announcement came despite rural research and development corporations already paying expensive lease costs in the national capital.

In May 2015, when news of Mr Joyce's decentralisation intentions surfaced, Senator Seselja said, "I think Barnaby's a little bit out on his own here ... it's going to be hard to make a financial case for it".

After the announcement, Senator Seselja said the same rules that stopped the Immigration Department being shifted out of the Canberra suburb of Belconnen could not be used in this instance.

"As a result of my work with the Minister for Finance, last year a decision was taken to ensure that any ACT-based federal government department would need to undergo a local impact statement before moving," he said.

"We are the first government to take these local impacts into account.
The NFSA loaned DAMsmart a valuable Quadruplex videotape machine which transferred two-inch tapes. DAMsmart was going to use the machine to service its own private clients. In return DAMsmart agreed to digitise 200 hours of cassette tapes - a different kind to the two-inch tapes - a year. Broadcast Transfers, which also digitises two-inch tapes, said the NFSA's decision to loan out the machine allowed DAMsmart an unfair advantage in the marketplace. "NFSA put us out of business with that contract," a Broadcast Transfers spokesman said. "We're not saying we wanted that NFSA contract, we're saying the contract allowed DAMsmart to undercut us in the private industry with a subsidised machine."

The Broadcast Transfers spokesman said DAMsmart could have done up to $1 million of work with the Quadruplex machine over two years servicing its own clients. In return the taxpayer was set to receive up to $120,000 worth of work for DAMsmart to digitise the cassettes. "It's like swapping an electric scooter for a Kenworth truck," the spokesman said. The NFSA-DAMsmart contract shows the government agency signed an agreement forcing the archive to pay for up to 36 hours maintenance a year on the machine and pay for an unlimited number of spare parts. The ombudsman's report said the NFSA should have applied procurement principles to the agreement - even though it was not mandatory - which would have provided a framework to assess the issues of concern.

The ombudsman's main issues were whether taxpayers were getting value for money and if Commonwealth resources had been used ethically. NFSA conceded to the ombudsman it could have better handled the investigation into the complaint. DAMsmart general manager Joe Kelly said taxpayers received value for money and the complaint was "sour grapes". Mr Kelly said his business returned the machine when the contract was "torn up" and bought his own machine from the United States. He said DAMsmart spent $20,000 upgrading the machine and the archive did not spend any money on spare parts despite allowance for it in the contract.

"We rebuilt an asset for the national archives," he said. "I don't think DAMsmart or the NFSA has anything to apologise for." Overall he said DAMsmart did not get the chance to run the machine 24 hours a day, seven days a week and that the company broke even financially on the deal after the machine was returned. Mr Kelly said quid pro quo agreements, otherwise known as this for that or non-cash contracts, should be "explored more" at a time when cultural institutions such as the archive had bigger workloads and fewer staff. "Otherwise a lot of our institutions won't be able to deliver," Mr Kelly said.
School friends of the late Tara Nettleton, the widow of Islamic State terrorist Khaled Sharrouf, who has died in Syria, have paid tribute to the 31-year-old and recalled their fun days together as the "Cheso girls".

In social media posts dedicated to her, friends shared photos of their early years at Chester Hill High School, NSW, and remembered the girl that they grew up with.

Jade Koda posted: "Rip TARA very sad!!! You deserved so much better! Although you chose a different life. I will remember you As the reckless funny teenage girls we were."
What's on the tape? The answer to this tantalising question could determine the future of two of NSW's most powerful legal figures.

The question was prompted by Independent Commission Against Corruption chief Megan Latham during a highly charged NSW parliamentary inquiry on Thursday.

Brandishing a white envelope containing an audio CD and a transcript of an Australian Crime Commission phone intercept involving Crown Prosecutor Margaret Cunneen, Ms Latham urged the committee to make the phone tap material public.

It and other material, she said, would show ICAC had not acted with "unreasonable, unjust, [and] oppressive maladministration" in its pursuit of Ms Cunneen, as alleged by ICAC Inspector David Levine in a scathing report last year.
The state government has announced an independent review of its controversial "lockout" laws that will be "genuine and transparent".

The announcement follows recent indications by Premier Mike Baird that the restrictions are unlikely to change.

The review of the laws will be led by former High Court Judge Ian Callinan.

"There is no predetermined outcome here," said Deputy Premier and Police Minister Troy Grant. "This review will be open, genuine and transparent."
The political party shares its name with a failed Border Force operation that embarrassed the Abbott government last year.

According to police, however, not very many people turned up to the hear the leader, "Chairman" Blair Cottrell, speak about the aims and purpose of the as-yet unregistered political party, Fortitude.

The far right, anti-Islamic group, United Patriots Front, expected up to 500 people to attend the launch of its official political arm in the Toowoomba Indoor Bowling Association Hall on Saturday.

Blair Cottrell in one of his Facebook posts. Credit:Facebook

Earlier: Mr Cottrell has previously expressed pro-Nazi views on social media, including advocating hanging a photo of Adolf Hitler in every classroom, has a "locked inner-circle" to protect against "infiltration/internal subversion" of Fortitude, which is yet to appear on Electoral Commission sites as a registered political party, made its policies publicly available on its website ahead of its launch.

Claiming to be "the first Aussie political party borne of a street movement", Fortitude supports "an immediate stop on all further Muslim immigration", "cease construction of all Mosques  destroy plans for new Mosques", "cross examination of all members of Parliament/members of the institutions and community groups with significant influence over local government and public education curriculum" and "a federal indictment for conspiracy and treason to be issued to mainstream media organs (sic) suspected of undermining and deconstructing the Australian Nationality".

But it appears to have picked the wrong town to begin spreading its message, with Toowoomba community leaders  who have actively taken a stance against xenophobia and racism within the Darling Downs town  working to "deny the group oxygen" at their party launch by ignoring it.

Mr Cottrell and his supporters have bragged on their website of the "indispensable" attention counter-protests have brought the group, claiming "its obsessive rantings, lack of emotional control and violent counter-protests have forced us into the faces of hundreds of thousands  or millions  of Australian people who would otherwise have never known we existed".
Three heritage homes in Brisbane's inner south may yet be saved, after the state government issued an eleventh-hour reprieve to enable their historic value to be assessed.

Brisbane City Council's planning committee chairman Cr Amanda Cooper on Thursday welcomed the Queensland Government move to protect the homes and have the Queensland Heritage Council research the homes.

Protesters outside the proposed development at Highgate Hill on Monday. Credit:Amy Mitchell-Whittington

"We are absolutely delighted that the state government has decided to use their state government powers to protect these sorts of things," Cr Cooper said.
Police suspect a drug debt was behind the alleged murders of missing Logan pair Cory Breton and Iuliana Triscaru, who they believe were stuffed in a metal box, shot dead and dumped in a dam on the night of January 24.

Two bodies were found in a box pulled from the dam in Kingston, in Logan's south, on Tuesday afternoon, police confirmed.

The remains are yet to be formally identified but are believed to be those Mr Breton and Ms Triscaru.
Gold Coast seniors would receive free travel on public transport outside peak hours for four years if Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate is re-elected on March 19.

Cr Tate challenged mayors across Queensland to help seniors obtain free off-peak public transport but did not say whether he had raised the idea with Translink, which would need to agree with the promise.

Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate has promised free off-peak public transport for seniors.

"I would like to negotiate with the state government that we lock it in for four years to give seniors certainty," Cr Tate said on Thursday.

The mayor said off-peak seniors public transport move would cost Gold Coast City Council $3.2 million over four years.
A 99-year-old Melbourne man will stand trial for arson after appearing in court to plead not guilty to a charge that he caused $150,000-worth of damage to a relative's property.

The man, who cannot be identified, appeared before Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday charged with a single count of arson.

It is not yet known when the man will stand trial, but it's possible he could have turned 100 by the time his trial is listed. Credit:Getty Images

"I do not know the law. I will not plead guilty today," the man said through an interpreter when magistrate Donna Bakos asked for a plea.

Ms Bakos recorded a plea of not guilty and committed the man to stand trial in the County Court.
Message to first time readers:

Optimism and an open mind are the most radical political acts there are.



We have thousands of energy options that can save our economy and planet without sacrificing our resources or lifestyles.

The general public only hears of the few options that line the pockets of the few that result in the suffering of the many.

The public information on this website makes it easy for anyone to clearly understand how viable and abundant our future can really be.

We are not activists, treehuggers or politicians... we are EHS professionals who have thoroughly enjoyed everything this planet and its people have offered us and want to extend the quality of life for both.

NOTE:

I post articles because I think they are of interest. Doing so doesnt mean that I necessarily agree with everyor anyopinion in the posted article. And a lthough I often blog about disagreements, it is VERY important to understand that I agreed more with the ideas of President Obama and Dr. Chu than disagreed. (it is just part of democracy, it gives balance and is vital)

Quote of the year:

"If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there'd be a shortage of sand." - Milton Friedman



Word of the year:
Malaysian immigration officials have vowed to deport a paedophile priest who fled Melbourne last month despite being warned by the Archbishop it was against the conditions of his paid leave.

It was revealed on Tuesday that Father Peter Grasby, who the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne found had abused a boy aged as young as 10, had travelled to Kuching while on administrative leave, and had been using gay dating websites to seek the company of "younger Asian men".

Father Peter Grasby asked to move overseas in August 2013 but the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne said 'no'.

The archdiocese confirmed late Wednesday that they did not know Father Grasby had left the country until they had read The Age report.

Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart had explicitly told Father Grasby he was not to move overseas in August, 2013, a spokesman for the archdiocese said, and has written to him since the report directing his "immediate return".
That is the idea of Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle, who has suggested the Flemington Racecourse train line be roofed over.

Instead of building railway lines over our suburbs, why not build suburbs over our rail lines?

Cr Doyle said the trains could run in a tunnel underneath a new "strip suburb" to be built over the top of the line, which is used only for special occasions such as Melbourne Cup.

"[The Flemington Racecourse line is] used very rarely but it's actually in a quite deep corridor for most of it," he said.

"It would be relatively easy to roof over that, turn it into a linear suburb and you've got an automatic underground rail line there. I think that would be at reasonable cost for the fact that you can develop the land on top of it."

The lord mayor made the comments on 3AW radio on Thursday morning in the midst of a heated debate about an elevated rail line  dubbed "sky rail"  proposed for three sections between Caulfield and Dandenong stations.
Victoria is facing the threat of an early election following a major Parliamentary impasse over the $6 billion sale of the Port of Melbourne.

Talks between the Andrews Government and the Opposition to pass the deal through the upper house - where Labor is seven votes short of a majority - have all but failed.

The dispute over the Port of Melbourne sale could give Premier Dan Andrews an early election trigger. Credit:Rob Gunstone

As a result, Labor on Thursday indicated it was preparing to use a little-known 2003 clause allowing it to refer disputed legislation to a specially convened Dispute Resolution Committee.

The committee - made up of seven members of the lower house and five members of the upper house - would then be given a month to make a recommendation to Parliament.
Victoria's climate change laws face a major overhaul, with an independent review recommending the state establish new targets to cut emissions, put in place a legally binding charter on government decisions and give the environmental watchdog powers to limit greenhouse gases, among other sweeping reforms.

But the Andrews government, which commissioned the review, has immediately ruled out setting up a state-based emissions trading system or adopting a "shadow carbon price" on government decisions, which were both floated in the review's recommendations.

Victoria's climate change laws are facing a radical redraw if the recommendations of an independent review are adopted. Credit:Jessica Shapiro

On the other proposals the Andrews government has largely kept its powder dry, promising a broader response in the coming few months.

"We went to the last election with a commitment to reintroducing an emissions reduction target and ... to put Victoria back as a leader responding to climate change, and this is one of the first steps," Victorian Environment Minister Lisa Neville said on Thursday morning.
Chicago: US Federal agents have moved in on the last four anti-government militants still holed up at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, the FBI said in a statement.

The four protesters were indicted last week along with 12 others previously arrested on charges of conspiring to impede federal officers during the month-long armed stand-off at the compound.

The takeover at Malheur, which began on January 2, was sparked by the return to prison of two Oregon ranchers convicted of setting fires that spread to federal property in the vicinity of the refuge.

The occupation, led by Ammon Bundy, also was directed as a protest against federal control over millions of acres public land in the West.
Bangkok: A Cambodian orphanage director who crusaded for years against child sex abuse has been sentenced to three years jail for committing indecent acts on children in his care.

The conviction of 46 year-old Hang Vibol, the director of Our Home Orphanage in Phnom Penh, follows a warning by Tara Winkler, a former NSW Young Australian of the Year, that children are vulnerable to sex predators in Cambodia's 600 orphanages and residential care institutions.

Children pose for photographs at a Phnom Penh orphanage in Decermber. Credit:Lindsay Murdoch

United Nations agencies and a consortium of 50 non-government-organisations have urged Australians to stop supporting Cambodia's orphanages, many of which are not registered and are operated as for-profit businesses.
It was a reminder, too, of the ways in which civilians have routinely become pawns in the Syrian conflict, which has already displaced more than half the prewar population and created a vast diaspora of nearly 5.5 million refugees beyond Syria's borders.

The blunt acknowledgment that politics are part of the calculus in this latest humanitarian crisis in Syria underscores the dilemma confronting Turkey as it grapples with the prospect of a new refugee influx as well as the fear that hostile forces will overrun territory adjoining its border.

Gaziantep: Turkey has angrily rejected demands that it open its border to tens of thousands of Syrian refugees driven from their homes by relentless Russian airstrikes, saying that to do so would amount to complicity in the Russian-backed offensive to drive rebels out of the province of Aleppo.

The numbers could soon increase significantly if the Syrian government achieves its stated goal of encircling and eventually recapturing the provincial capital of Aleppo, Syria's largest city. Half of the city and much of the countryside have been under rebel control since 2012, but the intervention of Russia's air force in September tilted the balance of power on the ground in favour of President Bashar al-Assad.

The closed Turkish border crossing with Syria on the outskirts of the town of Kilis, in south-eastern Turkey, on Wednesday. Credit:AP

An offensive launched last week has succeeded already in severing a vital rebel supply route between the Turkish border and the rebel-held portion of Aleppo city, and also torpedoed fragile peace talks in Geneva that were suspended before they had begun. More than 500 people have been killed in the nine days since the battle began, many of them in the heavy Russian airstrikes that preceded the government loyalists' advances on the ground, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

World powers are scheduled to meet in Munich on Thursday in an effort to salvage the peace process, but the intensified fighting has given little reason to hope that a breakthrough is near.

More than 50,000 people have fled the latest fighting, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross. The Turkish government said that more than 70,000 and up to 100,000 have been displaced by the battles and that as many as 600,000 could eventually flee the Aleppo region.
Vatican City: A Catholic group has appealed to Pope Francis to allow Church members to "follow their conscience" and use contraception or to let women have abortions to avoid having children with defects linked to the Zika virus.

Wednesday's appeal came as the World Health Organisation advised women in areas with the virus to protect themselves, especially during pregnancy, by covering up against mosquitoes and practising safe sex with their partners.

Zika has been linked to severe birth defects in thousands of babies in Brazil and is spreading rapidly in the Americas.

The first known case of Zika in the United States was reported last week by health officials, who said it was probably contracted through sex and not a mosquito bite.
Toyota U2 Urban Utility Concept Car Makes Global Auto Show Debut in Toronto







Unique concept representing the future of urban mobility joins all-new 2016 Prius, RAV4 Hybrid, and other must-see models and technologies at the Canadian International Auto Show

TORONTO - February 10, 2016: Toyota has developed a concept vehicle that perfectly suits today's creative class of mobile entrepreneurs and Makers. Visit Toyota at this year's 2016 Canadian International Auto Show and be among the first to see the Toyota U2 ("U Squared"), an urban utility concept making its global auto show debut at this year's show, held from February 12-21 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

"From its retracting roof panels, to its uniquely configurable utility rail system, the U2 offers a concept vehicle that is only limited by the imagination," says Cyril Dimitris, Vice President, Sales, Toyota Canada Inc. "Our North American design team left no stone unturned in masterfully creating a concept vehicle that truly embodies the spirit of today's Maker culture from the inside out."

The U2 will make its global auto show debut alongside great company at this year's CIAS, including:

The all-new, 2016 Toyota Prius  on sale this winter

The new 2016 Toyota RAV4  including the first-ever RAV4 Hybrid

The 2016 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro Series pickup truck

A totally tricked out Scion iM

The Toyota Safety Sense and Toyota FT1 virtual reality simulators

A number of other new or updated models for 2016,

These models join the full line-up of Toyota and Scion vehicles and technologies on display throughout the Canadian International Auto Show, running February 12-21, 2016.
Hyundai Genesis Wins ALG Residual Value Award +VIDEO







TORONTO - February 10, 2016: For the second consecutive year, the Hyundai Genesis sedan has been honored with a 2016 Canadian Residual Value Award from ALG, an automotive insights company and authority on automotive residual values in North America. Winner in the Premium Fullsize Car category, the second-generation 2016 Genesis was launched by Hyundai Auto Canada Corp. as an all-new model in 2014. The award comes as the company is in the process of launching a new luxury brand  named Genesis  in the second half of 2016, at which time the Hyundai Genesis sedan will become the Genesis G80. By 2021, the Genesis line-up will feature six vehicles.

"That the Hyundai Genesis sedan won a residual value award for two consecutive years is a testament to the incredible level of detail and advanced engineering that went into the car's development," said Don Romano, President and CEO of Hyundai Auto Canada. "In fact, the sedan's success has led the way for us to create an all-new global luxury brand, Genesis. This award from ALG is justification that our product engineers are on the right track."

ALG's Residual Value Awards recognize vehicles in 27 segments that are predicted to retain the highest percentage of their original price after a three-year period for Premium brands and a four-year period for Mainstream brands. Vehicle quality, production levels relative to demand, and pricing and marketing strategies represent key factors that impact ALG's residual value forecasts. This year's awards are based on 2016 model year vehicles.

"A repeat winner, the 2016 Hyundai Genesis earns the ALG Residual Value Award in the Premium Fullsize Car segment," said Geoff Helby, Canada Regional Director for ALG. "The Genesis sedan makes a big statement with pricing that is significantly less than is typical for the segment, creating an incredible value story that helps to explain the strong residual forecast."
The XX Factor  The cost of parental responsibility

WED like to think were progressive enough to share parental leave, but are we up to the challenge? asked Lyn Ayrton of Lake Legal, nearly a year after Shared Parental Leave reforms were introduced.

Gone are the days when having a child meant women had to leave their careers behind, but that doesnt mean its all plain sailing for women who want to have a family and a career.

European countries such as Sweden offer 16 months parental leave which can be divided between both parents, on 80% salary for the first 13 months (up to 3,050 a month).

There, shared parental leave has been in place for around 40 years with 480 days per child to share.

But these ideas have taken decades to filter into Britain  why has it taken so long?

In April 2015, the Government introduced new rules around leave, meaning that now, fathers can share the parental leave of their partners.

Reforms have been in place for nearly a year, and the workplace is changing, retaining talent through flexible work patterns and environments has become a key action for the Government and employers alike.

We have more female managing directors, chief executives and partners than ever before, though we still have a long way to go.

Things like parental leave bring out hidden cultural attitudes said Ms Ayrton, managing partner of specialist family law firm Lake Legal. But we need to be in a position where you wont lose out if you do decide to take leave, and also that if you dont want to take leave, or as much leave, you can share it, and not be criticised as being a bad mother for it.

Shared Parental Leave brings in some balances, she said. Were at the cusp of big cultural changes, and our laws need to reflect and encourage that.

Though laws have been introduced, men face the same concerns that women had about choosing to take leave.

Sarah Tahamtani (pictured), head of employment at Clarion, shared parental leave with her husband after both her children were born.

She said: The reality is that you are out of the business for a period of time, and your career is on pause. It doesnt have to go backwards.

Ms Tahamtani said that the shift in law and pay should move towards the caregiver, whoever that may be, rather than assuming that this is always the mother.

She added: The focus is not then a gender issue, but rather one of ensuring preferential treatment for all carers,

There are still a lot of assumptions made about how parents would like to share their parental responsibilities, together with nervousness about how to best discuss career plans with pregnant employees.

But bringing these issues to the fore can only happen over time. It relies on women having a higher profile and equal pay in the workplace so that their starting position is the same as their male counterparts.

Increasing the number of female FTSE 100 directors, said Ms Tahamtani, and having more leading businesswomen will push this to the fore.

She said: Youll find self-employed and entrepreneurial women, who dont have that statutory option or benefit, have a lot less maternity leave indicating perhaps that the decision is heavily influenced by pay.

Under the new legislation, men can take up to six months of what would have previously been the mothers leave.

The question is, said Ms Ayrton, are you going to get men taking up Shared Parental Leave?

Edward Heaton of Mills & Reeve is a family lawyer. He took paternity leave when his wife went back to work after eight months, spending a month with his child.

He said: You come across very different roles within families now and we are moving in the right direction. That said, fathers do remain in the minority in the playground and some people are still surprised by them taking a more active role in childcare.

This remains rooted in traditional perceptions that men go to work, and women stay home and look after any children.

Mr Heaton added: I would recommend sharing parental leave, but I think that it is something that may yet take a while to become more mainstream.

There are any number of reasons why one might not choose to do it (perhaps most notably financial) but, for me personally, it worked out very well, and I was pleased to have the opportunity to spend some quality time with our little one.

Ms Tahamtani (pictured right) shared leave with her husband, who is also a lawyer. She said: It works for us because we have similar careers which we have both worked hard to develop.

Dynamics are changing with parental responsibility and it cant be assumed that the mother wants to be the primary carer, choosing not to focus or drive her career.

Furthermore, it gives the father one-to-one time with the child that you wont ever be able to have again.

Dads are involved on a level they werent before, all the way through the pregnancy and birth.

They are surrounded by other dads as well and this makes being and wanting to be involved more acceptable. 

With expectations that men should be more present in their lives, Shared Parental Leave has become more important in the division of labour in the home, and at work.

But another obstacle has surfaced.

The Fawcett Society has calculated that women earn on average 13.9% less than men. This has an impact on Shared Parental Leave as it only makes financial sense if the mother earns more of the same as the father.

With women getting leave of six weeks at 90% of their salary, with sometimes enhanced pay for 39 weeks after, and men only receiving statutory pay after two weeks, it still doesnt make financial sense for a new father to take leave.

Prior to April last year, men only had two weeks of statutory pay available.

So even if the mother and father were in the same financial position (which is becoming more likely but is still not often the case) it would make better financial sense for the father to go back to work, unless the mother was earning considerably more.

Mr Heaton finished: I think Shared Parental Leave is a step in the right direction  there shouldnt be expectation that the roles within the family should be divided in a traditional sense, but we have a way to go to get out of these mind-sets.

If you would like to get involved in a future XX Factor: women in business column, email clare.burnett@thebusinessdesk.com.
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ELKO  Members of the Elko County Art Club have been on a roll the past few weeks getting ready for upcoming events, including their February exhibition at Northeastern Nevada Museum. A reception will be from 6-8 p.m. today at 1515 Idaho St.

In honor of Sarah Sweetwater we are going to be showing some of her pieces, said Mica Johnson, club president.

A couple of Sweetwaters sculptures will be on display as well as her well-known illustration, Jeff, a colorful portrait of a young cowboy. Sweetwater was a member of the club and a longtime artist who died in January.

Work created by other members will include paintings, photographs and drawings.

The clubs art gallery is located at 407 Railroad St. New art has recently been installed, including photographs by Dave Patton.

Patton is a long-standing member of the club who likes working with experimental photography. His wabi-sabi images depict old, rusted cars and objects found in the desert. The Japanese genre of wabi-sabi emphasizes the beauty in disarray and imperfection.

We are also planning on having a tiny art show here, said club secretary Karrie Denham.

The show will introduce the public to small, low-priced art. The installation is planned for May and entries will be accepted through the end of April. Interested contributors can call the gallery at 753-8170.

This months Toast of Art will be on Friday. Denham will teach a class with a Valentine theme. The club partners with the City for the monthly celebration of creativity and fine wine. The City website posts information on upcoming classes at elkocity.com.

Art in the Park, the clubs largest fundraiser, will be hosted in July. They are looking for vendors and sponsors to build the event back up to its past glory. Art materials suppliers are also now allowed to purchase booth space for the weekend.

The gallery has recently been staffed with new volunteers and members to keep the doors open five days a week. Now people can stop by Tuesday-Saturday from 11-5:30 p.m.

Those looking for special Valentines gifts will be pleased to see a wide variety of artistic gifts. Many members have been busy creating and the stock is up.
A day after getting shellacked in New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton is laying every chip on the table. By morning, while her opponent was in New York having breakfast with Rev. Al Sharpton and making an appearance on The View, the Clinton campaign began unleashing one endorsement after another from African-American leaders.

The move is largely seen as a counter-punch to a stingingly brutal assessment of the Clinton record published in The Nation. Best-selling author and college professor Michelle Alexander spared nothing in her rebuke of Clinton and her husbands record on black issues. By mid-morning, acclaimed writer Ta-Nehisi Coateswho is perhaps best known for The Case for Reparationsannounced that he would be voting for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Alexander did not make an endorsement and Coates was quick to say that he represents no one but himself. However, the news comes at a time when many believe the Clinton campaign is in dire need of a re-set.

While Clintons enormous support among black voters does not appear to be in jeopardy, the latest round of endorsements is an attempt to send a clear message to big donors and white liberals. No Democrat can win without black support. And that means Bernie Sanders has no path to victory.

In addition to a flock of South Carolina elected officials, Clinton now counts the Congressional Black Caucus PAC and at least 28 prominent black preachers among her strongest supporters. Announced just ahead of the Iowa and New Hampshire contests, the former secretary of state unveiled a list of some of the most politically powerful pastors in the countryincluding Dr. Otis Moss Jr. and Dr. Raphael Warnock.

Both Moss and Warnock are camera-ready and have a proven record of turning out votes in hard-fought Democratic primaries at the local, state, and national levels. Warnock, who is senior pastor at Atlantas Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church situated in the center of The King Memorial site, was once rumored to be a potential U.S. Senate candidate in Georgia. Ahead of the 2012 mid-term elections, the 45-year-old co-led one of the largest voter registration drives the South has ever seen. Warnock, the son of a Savannah preacher who doubled as a junkman, is frequently featured on cable news and has emerged as a national voice on social justice issues.

Otis Moss Jr. is a theological giant whose storied activism dates back to the civil rights movement. He is the pastor of Olivet Institutional Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio, and a local health center at University Hospital bears his name. He also is the father of Otis Moss III, the pastor of Chicagos Trinity United Church of Christ, where President Obama and his family once worshipped. Moss, who was once co-pastor at Ebenezer, enjoyed a close and personal relationship with Dr. King. The late civil rights icon presided over Mosss wedding to his wife, Edwina, over 50 years ago.

That they and others are standing up for Clinton now should come as no surprise. The black church has long proven to be a ready and necessary refuge for former President Clinton and now, as his wife makes her own bid for presidentfirst in 2008 and now in 2016the Clintons appear to be answering the altar call again.

The playbook was first forged in 1992, when the only viable black candidate for president abruptly dropped out of the race. The exit of Douglas Wilder, a popular Virginia governor, opened the window for Clinton to win over black voters and he was embraced like family by black pastors.

Twenty-four years later, the Clintons are attempting to harden support among key African-American influencers ahead of the South Carolina primary. Once again, black pastors are a key element of that strategy. Unlike Iowa or New Hampshire, 56 percent of those eligible to vote in the Palmetto State Democratic primary are black, and nearly 56 percent of all South Carolinians attend church at least once a week. Home to Republican U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, black evangelicals are a powerful force in state politics. Notably, after a white supremacist slaughtered a black state senator and eight people at Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, the community came together and prayed.

According to a Marist Poll released Feb. 5, the Clinton firewall has not cracked and she is leading Sanders nationwide by a hefty margin: 64-27 percent. And the most recent poll shows Clinton beating Sen. Bernie Sanders among black voters by a 4-to-1 margin.

Still, she is stacking the deck.

South Carolina House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford, State Sen. Marlon Kimpson, and 25 other General Assembly Democrats have endorsed Clinton. Former UN Ambassador and Atlanta mayor Andrew Young (also a pastor and former House member), as well as Congresswomen Sheila Jackson Lee, Maxine Waters, and Gwen Moore have all stumped for Clinton. Many of the surrogates, including D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Congressman G.K. Butterfield of North Carolinawho chairs the Congressional Black Caucushave been dispatched to houses of worship in every corner of the state.

He only really started talking about these issues, Rep. Rutherford said of Sanders during an endorsement press call Wednesday afternoon. Clinton, Rutherford added, has been talking about these issues for the last 40 years while Sanders has only stepped up in the last 40 days.

What were about do in South Carolina is what we are known to do, former South Carolina Rep. Bakari Sellers told The Daily Beast. In other words, despite Sanderss substantial ground operation, dont expect South Carolina to Feel the Bern.

Some, however, are neither impressed nor amused.

Black pastors are opening their church doors, and the Clintons are making themselves comfortably at home once again, wrote Alexander in The Nation. Alexander, best known for her groundbreaking book The New Jim Crow, says black people are getting played.

Why Hillary Clinton Doesnt Deserve the Black Vote was a stinging repudiation of Clintons public record on African-American issues and codified the conversation unfolding in some quarters of black America: Can we trust Hillary Clinton?

In her support for the 1994 crime bill, for example, she used racially coded rhetoric to cast black children as animals, Alexander wrote.

They are not just gangs of kids anymore, the then-first lady said, two years after the passage of the 1994 crime bill. They are often the kinds of kids that are called super-predators. No conscience, no empathy. We can talk about why they ended up that way, but first we have to bring them to heel.

The legislation, which was also supported by then-congressman Bernie Sanders, resulted in the mass incarceration of black men and opened what has become known as the school-to-prison pipeline. It was an extension of the war on drugs and it had a devastating impact on black neighborhoods, crippling some for generations to come. Blamed for the largest increase in prison populations that this country has ever known, the bill expanded the number of capital crimes and created a federal three strikes law that mandated life sentences for some repeat offenders.

Despite public mea culpas for the outcomes wrought, many believed statements like those made by Clinton nearly 25 years ago would leave her vulnerable in 2016. And while that may have been true, no candidate emergedincluding Bernie Sanderswho could make a meaningful challenge among black voters. And without a viable alternative, the black church, writ large, hasnt held the Clintons accountable. To do so would mean turning some of the blame on themselves.

The 1994 law was not passed under the nose or behind the back of black preachers and elected officials. Rather it was done with their overwhelming support. At the time, black mayors around the country touted the virtues of putting more police officers on the street.

The Pat Moynihan-esque approach to combatting black unemployment, escalating poverty, and violent crime rates was a failure of both conscience and policyand fully embraced by the respectability politics of the black church. There were no marches on Washington or other protests led by black pastors in cities across the country. Instead, the Clintons found eager reception for the bill, written by then-Sen. Joe Biden, in black pulpits. People were more concerned about the presence of bloodshed than any destruction that legislation might cause. Black mayors, including Atlantas Bill Campbell, applauded the administrations funding of more police officers on the street.

It should be said that neither Sanders nor Clinton has sufficiently rebuked those failings or crafted a comprehensive, timeline-driven proposal to turn back the tide. Maybe thats because both will need a coalition of liberal white votes and strong African-American support to win the nomination. While running against mass incarceration is proving to be good politics in the 2016, no candidate wants to be seen as returning to the murderous days of the early 1990s.

Ultimately, it appears that black pastors and elected officialsat least those who are supporting Clintonare making the same bet in 2016 as many made in 1992, 1996, and 2008 (at least before President Obama sent shockwaves through the political establishment by winning Iowa). They are betting on familiarity and viability. After all, Clinton and Sanders both broadly support the pastors basic approach to economics, justice, and individual rights.

Clinton is making her bet, too. Shes taking her black support, and doubling down.

Edit: An earlier version of this article dated Clintons quote to 1994 instead of 1996.
The tattoos on his caramel-tanned armsLady Luck, a martini glass, the names of his much-loved third wife, Anoushka, and of his childrenspeak of a full and colorful life.

But it is hard to square the handsome, bearded, quietly spoken Dave Stewart, dressed all in black, with hat and dark glasses, beckoning me to put my recording device nearer to him because he speaks so softly, with the man who was trashed on LSD on his wedding day to his first wife, Pam.

Or who has written about his wild partying days with Mick Jagger in the Grenadines.

Or about the time when he was so off his face on MDMA that he collapsed in the street.

Or the time he had sex with Stevie Nicks, without immediately realizing he was going home with Stevie Nicks.

Or the time when Robin Williams and Eric Idle rang his bell one night, and for the next few hours proceeded to comically deconstruct his marital breakdown, with his then-wife in the room.

Or the time and here, in Stewarts life story, Sweet Dreams are Made of This: A Life in Music, insert any one of a number of any other celebrity names: David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Demi Moore, Bruce Willis, the Duke and Duchess of York, Jon Bon Jovi, Katy Perry, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Jack Nicholson, Paul McCartney.

And, of course, Annie Lennox, Stewarts onetime love, with whom he went on to set up The Eurythmics: In the book, Stewart thoroughly, but tenderly, unpacks their complex relationship.

Its a testament to something that, after they broke up, they still managed to form a pop group that went on to sell over 75 million albums.

His book, Stewart says as we sit in a hushed anteroom of the Crosby Street Hotel in New York, is not a tell-allits dish is mostly polite and affectionatebut it is an engagingly written story of a very rock-star life, with drink, drugs, stadiums filled with cheering fans, and dedicated partying and lost, louche nights.

The book took shape via scrawled sticky notes, each with a few incidents written on them per decade. Photographs helped liberate his memories further, he says. There are so many pictures, Stewartwho loves technology and technological innovationhas constructed a website for curious readers to see the overflow.

Stewarts joy these days, he says, is not just in his 19-year marriage to third wife Anoushka and the four children he has (two with her, two with wife number two, Bananaramas Siobhan Fahey), but also making and producing music with new artists.

The 63-year-old musician, who lives in Los Angeles, is working with seven artists, including Martin Longstaff, aka The Lake Poets (like Stewart, from Sunderland in northern England), as well as around eight others.

His friend, former Beatle Ringo Starr, calls Stewart Mr. Busy, as he never stops working.

At 7:30 p.m. every evening Stewart likes a vodka martini, but if you have dinner with him its probably best to avoid ordering clam chowder, as he oncein a hotel roomspilled a scalding bowl of it over his exposed dick and balls.

This moment is so vividly described in the bookhe even takes pictures of the gross chaosmay well have you leaping up from your couch.

The Daily Beast sat downno clam chowder in the immediate vicinityto discuss Stewart and Lennoxs long and complex relationship, drugs, and why he loves to connect with artists and musicians.

The Daily Beast: Was it difficult getting all these amazing stories down?

Dave Stewart: I went to a very small hotel in Jamaica, thinking, Ill be a writer now. I sat there, looking at the sea, getting bored. It had a lovely old martini bar, with quite a few pictures of famous people, all black-and-white and faded: Arthur Miller, Marilyn Monroe, Noel Coward.

It was like the bar in The Shining: very empty, just me and him. The barman was 89 years old, and had been there 60 years, and told all kinds of great stories. I would go to bed quite happy, and wake up and think, I didnt write shit, I could write his story, not mine.

I tend to live in the moment. Thats why writing it down almost killed me: spending a year looking backwards. It made me tired. Most creative people are not interested in looking backwards: what they did 26 years ago. Theyre more excited about the thing theyve just done.

TDB: Was it hard to write about your feelings about Annie? You were together before you both became famous.

DS: Its hard to put it all in a shortened space when youve spent so many years with somebody, and lived together as a couple. We were just this sweet couple, and to break up and not want to break uphow awkward was that? Then to make what was it? Ten albums in nine years? Going through all that stuff was more painful at the beginning of doing it than writing about it now.

Imagine every interview we did, where we were asked, So you guys used to live together? Imagine if you had broken up with your girlfriend or boyfriend and your heart was breaking, to be asked, Didnt you used to live together?

At the start of making music together it felt weird and shaky. But with us, one plus one equaled five when it came to making music. We started to get really stronger, because wed broken the emotional and sound barrier. We knew nothing could break us because wed been through the worst thing.

TDB: How are you with each other now?

DS: People always assume artists who worked together talk about music, but its just not like that. We talk about kids, marriages, marriage break-ups, moving countries, moving houses. After we broke up it was very difficult to meet other people, but then you realize theres all different kinds of relationships. It doesnt have to be full-on, intense every second of the day. In fact, it can be really exhausting.

TDB: Is it an easy relationship?

DS: It depends where you put the fulcrum of where an easy relationship is. Our relationship was incomparable to anyone I know. Most people dont break up, then form a duo and become a phenomenally successful band.

TDB: Are you close?

DS: Not geographically. She lives between South Africa and London and I live in Los Angeles. But whenever she comes round for dinner or a martini theres a lot of laughing and joking. Shes very close to Anoushka. As soon as people see us together, its like being suddenly dragged back in time. Its very difficult for our husbands, wives, boyfriends, and girlfriends. No matter what Annie does or what I do in any genre, if we stand together as The Eurythmics, the people who grew up listening to us on the radio dont like to see itusgo wrong, because were tangled up in their lives.

TDB: Will you reunite?

DS: We get asked this constantly by promoters. Weve never said we never will, and so many acts who broke up bitterly have gotten back together over the last 20 years because the Internet took away all their earnings and pension. A lot of young people think everything is free, and all those rock and pop stars are wealthy. It means people in their seventies are going out there and having to play concerts again.

TDB: What about you? How are your earnings?

DS: Im the same as everybody else. Your earnings drop. Your record royalties go down to practically zero. Were not in the top 200 of any chart anywhere in the world. If youre not in the top 200, youre talking 50 dollars here, 20 dollars there. I could obviously make some money back if we [The Eurythmics] played live. Im a real workaholic: I produced five albums in the last 18 months. Nobody buys them, but even megastars selling 50,000 albums are barely recouping their costs. On one side of the barbell, you have Katy Perry and Taylor Swift and other supernovas with sponsors, and then on the other are all the other artists who have never sold over 200,000 albums.

TDB: Did you invest wisely?

DS: I did not. When we first became famous, our American manager told us, Whatever you do, dont buy more than one house. We didnt listen. We both bought seven houses, in my case when the prices were really high, and sold them when they were really low. Ive reinvented what I do, and I come up with concepts. I go to Nashville to make records with people. Im one of the few artists who finds other artists, I think because Elton signed us [The Tourists, for Rocket Records] when we were young. Im having a great time. I play all the time at the [LA music venue] Troubadour, which I love.

TDB: You write that Annie got you off your intense drug use when you were together?

DS: Annie, without realizing it, did what you do at rehab. People die because they try and stop taking drugs suddenly, dead. Your body goes into spasms. She would say, Why dont you take 19 lines of speed rather than 20? 12 instead of 10? Why dont you eat this fish and mashed potato I just made? Just after time, I had a major operation, and afterwards, not being on any drugs, I felt incredibly focused. One time in The Eurythmics and once seven years later, I took MDMA. I did it once, not every day.

I was very lucky to do drugs before I became really successful, when people would come round and give you a five-ounce bag of coke as a gift. If I had gotten really successful and got into drugs that would have been problem, but I wasnt.

Something we both did to damage ourselves was that wed forget to drink water during those big stadium shows, where you sweat a lot and get dehydrated. Then afterwards youd have champagne and brandy, not water.

I never had a problem with drinking. I never drank in the 60s and 70s: it didnt mix with smoking grass or taking acid. Drinking just made you feel sloppy-woozy. But I had to do something after drugs, I couldnt just be buzzy. I lived in France, and got into red wine. Then a barman at La Coupole in Paris asked if I wanted to taste the martini he had made. Then he would see me walking past, and ask me to come in for a martini. I quite liked this ritual thing. Ever since, Ive had one at 7:30 in the evening, and maybe a glass of wine for dinner.

TDB: You write very sweetly about having sex with Stevie Nicks [who supplies a lovely quote on the back of Stewarts book about him being her hero, and helping make 2010, when they made her record, In Your Dreams, the best year of her life].

DS: Yeah, I didnt realize who she was right at the beginning that night. Shes great, were close friends. People think shes a space cadet. But shes not. She is on it.

TDB: Were you ever jealous of Annies greater fame?

DS: No, Id be setting up the photos with her in the front. I only regretted it when the group broke up, and I realized, Oh, shit, you spent 10 years putting this person at the front. I had to reintroduce myself to the world, created another persona, and moved back to London, where I got into the art scene with people like Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin. I also got into photography

TDB: Which led you to taking Demi Moores picture in India, with Deepak Chopra.

DS: We hadnt realized Demi had been in one of the biggest movies of all time, Ghost, and wherever we went there were people chanting her name. We had to get Indian army helicopters to move us about.

TDB: And then in England, you swam and took saunas with a group that included royalty.

DS: She and Bruce Willis, who she was married to, had rented this country mansion. Siobhan and I were there with our two kids, then Jon Bon Jovi turned up with his kids, and then Fergie [the Duchess of York] and Prince Andrew came with their two children. I was playing guitar, Bruce Willis was playing harmonica and was quite good. I thought, This is the weirdest combination of people ever. Im peaking. Ive gone back to an acid trip.

TDB: Youve had three very serious illnesses. Did they make you think about your mortality?

DS: When I die, I wouldnt like to be in great pain or slammed into by a lorry. I was walking down the street todayit was so busy, crazy, and cold. I thought, It wouldnt be painful being in a New York hospital, dying, as long as you could see everyone outside. Maybe on a beautiful island watching the sea would be quite nice. I dont think this will be a horrendous feeling. Ive already been through it, and it wasnt a horrendous feeling.

TDB: As in a near-death experience?

DS: It was very sort of heavenly, which is probably a cliche. But a lot of people have described the same thing. You see yourself, then you see a white light, then theres this amorphous weirdness. You go into the white light, a non-local space, you couldnt say was here or there. Its an in-between land, and not that bad really.

TDB: How is aging?

DS: I feel very lucky physically: I have a lot of energy, swim 40 lengths in the morning, do Pilates.

TDB: You lost two friends in recent years: Lou Reed and David Bowie.

DS: Lou was so into Tai chi. He had worked out so many of his demons, and was as excited about finding Tai chi as he would have been about finding a fuzzbox or guitar. And Im sure were about to see a video from David Bowie that hes already recorded, saying, Here I am on the other side. His was a beautifully choreographed life: the way he produced his art pieces right to end.

The last time I spoke to him it was really weird. Anoushka and I were in Mexico in a really obscure place, and I was brushing my teeth and he rang. He told me he had been filmed emerging from the sea for a film in exactly the same place.

TDB: And your wild times with Mick Jagger? The story you tell in your book is pretty great.

DS: There have been hundreds of them. I think Im bonkers about people and creativity, and for me music has been the glue.

TDB: Do you ever get depressed? Have you had therapy?

DS: Not really depressed, not like close the door, put messages under the door for three days. I had some therapy when Siobhan and I were breaking up. We came to the realization that it was probably better for parents not to be together for the sake of the kids.

TDB: You tell the story that Robin Williams and [British comedy great] Eric Idle turned up at your apartment in London one night to re-enact your marital breakdown to Siobhan?

DS: They spent two hours improvising. We were both in pain from laughing so hard.

TDB: What kind of dad are you?

DS: It would probably be hard for people to understand how close I am to all my kidseven the two boys who have their own places come round asking, Whats in the fridge?

TDB: Were you ever rock and roll enough to have sex with guys?

DS: No, only when youre a kid, like 12, and you dance around the rhubarb patch learning how to masturbate. But very early on I realized girls were different.

TDB: And now?

DS: And now Anoushka and I have been together nearly 20 years, and I got it totally right. We have a great, great family.
Did NASA ban the word Jesus as Fox News and several other conservative media outlets suggested this week? Not exactly.

What is clear, though, is that all of those headlines accusing Americas space agency of being censorious are based on allegations from an anti-LGBT legal organization that has a long history of taking on questionable cases like these.

According to the Plano, Texas-based Liberty Institute, NASA employees belonging to the Praise and Worship Club at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston submitted an announcement about an upcoming meeting for inclusion in a center-wide email newsletter. That announcement invited the JSC to sing praise and worship songs, noting that [t]he theme for this session will be Jesus is our life!

The Liberty Institute maintains that NASA attorneys then called the club organizers and told them that the word Jesus could not appear in their official announcements.

The NASA attorneys claimed including Jesus was sectarian, possibly creating the perception that NASA was endorsing Christianity over other religions and non-religion, and thus violating the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, the legal organization wrote in its press release.

In a demand letter, the Liberty Institute is threatening to file a federal lawsuit against NASA unless the Praise and Worship Club is allowed to write Jesus in its newsletter announcements within 30 days. In response, NASA denied allegations of censorship in a statement to The Hill.

NASA does not prohibit the use of any specific religious names in employee newsletters or other internal communications, said NASA media relations officer Karen Northon.

The agency allows a host of employee-led civic, professional, religious, and other organizations to meet on NASA property on employees own time. Consistent with federal law, NASA attempts to balance employees rights to freely exercise religious beliefs with its obligation to ensure there is no government endorsement of religion. We believe in and encourage open and diverse dialogue among our employees and across the agency.

Northon did not immediately respond to The Daily Beasts request for further comment or clarification.

The Daily Beast asked the Liberty Institute whether or not they had evidence that NASA had specifically targeted the term Jesus apart from the Praise and Worship Clubs recounting of a phone call. They do not.

NASAs lawyers communicated their decision to ban the name Jesus only over the phone to our clients, Jeremy Dys, senior counsel for the Liberty Institute, told The Daily Beast. It was a lengthy conversation in which the lawyer made clear that she was communicating the decision of the general counsels office, a decision she indicated the general counsels office had arrived at after some discussion among NASAs attorneys.

If NASA did ban the word Jesus from a center-wide newsletter, the Praise and Worship Club is still clearly welcome to say it at their meetings and to organize those meetings in the first place. A quick scan of the JSCs office list of clubs shows that the Praise and Worship Club is the sole religious organization, hence NASAs possible reluctance to be seen as endorsing Christianity by posting an announcement for a single worship group with the words Jesus is our life! included in the text.

The First Amendment protects the free exercise of religion, but the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment restricts the government from endorsing religion, or from preferring one religion to another.

The Liberty Institute, however, has a long history of picking up Establishment Clause cases like this one to argue that religious exercise is being restricted. They have also worked to protect anti-LGBT speech under the banner of religious freedom.

Last January, for example, former Ford Motor Company contractor Thomas Banks filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaint alleging that he had been fired based on his religious beliefs. What, in fact, happened is that Banks had written a long anti-gay comment in a company forum, writing, among other things: Never in the history of mankind has a culture survived that promotes sodomy. Heterosexual behavior creates lifehomosexual behavior leads to death.

The Liberty Institute took on the case.

In 2014, a Christian father in Florida claimed that his kindergarten-age daughter had been told not to pray in the lunchroom, spawning a similar flurry of headlines from Fox News and other outlets. A school investigation found zero evidence the incident ever occurred. Todd Starnes, the columnist who drew attention to the alleged incident on Fox News, was about to release a book at the time about the supposed attack on Christian values in America. Starness publisher, Charisma House, employed the father in Starness story.The Liberty Institute was there to draw attention to the case.

That same year, when President Obama signed an executive order prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity for federal contractors, the Liberty Institute responded online, calling the concept of gender identity, which protects transgender employees, a trap door to sexual nihilism. The Liberty Institute has also spoken out against everything from the Boy Scouts of Americas decision to allow openly gay scout leaders to the Supreme Courts legalization of same-sex marriage to the passage of San Antonios LGBT non-discrimination ordinance.

What happened on the purported phone call between NASA attorneys and general counsel may never be known, or it may emerge in the lawsuit that the Liberty Institute has threatened to file if they dont receive a response by March 10.

For now, the Liberty Institute is holding the line, maintaining that keeping Jesus out of the JSC newsletter is tantamount to censorship.

It is not consistent with federal law, specifically the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, to censor employees' religious speech, Dys told The Daily Beast. If NASA says they will no longer censor their employees speech, well take them at their word. However, if they go back to their old ways, well take appropriate legal action. All we are asking is for NASA to respect the rights of their employees to religious expression.
When it comes to technology, sometimes it can be hard to distinguish reality from parody. Was Peeple, the Yelp for people app, a joke or real? (Real.) Is Yo a joke? (No.) Is this reparations app real? (No, but it should be.) There are apps and devices bubbling up all around all the time-solving problems nobody ever knew they had. And its in this strange space that a little project called Object Solutions manages to be one of the most incisive critiques of technology around.

Object Solutions is a fake company, one that produces solutions for a variety of problems it has identified in the world.

The company is a dark, satirical take on the real machinations of product development; its creator, Ernesto Morales, is a designer and worked at a real product development studio for years. Past solutions include things like a Fully Body Moist Towel, which comes in a sleek black box and is, in fact, simply a wet towel inside beautiful packaging. Another invention is called the Magnifying Spoon. Its a spoon, whose round end is a magnifying glass, to help picky eaters detect specks of dust and hair in their food.

Now, Morales has teamed up with sociologist Shelly Ronen, an expert on sex and relationships, and theyre creating solutions for romance. As with all of Object Solutionss inventions, they take something that is almost plausible, and take it one step further. I think we step into the space and expand it and try to press that feeling of, is this a joke? But is it? And really pushes in that place, says Ronen.

In their presentations, Morales and Ronen trade off. He presents the sales pitch, and she takes the role of company scientist, substantiating each step with research and evidence.

Take the NeurAlign, a kind of reverse Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Two potential partners each don a neural mapping system, and doze off to sleep while the algorithms determine whether its a match. If the merger is approved, the NeurAlign writes a compelling neural narrative of your falling in love, Morales explains. It triggers irresistible chemical releases, forges inextricable connections, and simulates indisputable memories that will follow you for a lifetime together. When you wake, your first date can commence as though it were your thirtieth. Its an algorithmicand rhythmic, toomanipulation of romantic reality.

Ronen follows. Following from neurologically mediated machinery for checking partner compatibility, this technology will entirely eradicate emotional maladaptive behaviors, and will culminate in the simplification of romance and seduction to an efficient algorithmic tournament.

Its not hard to walk this back a few steps to the emphasis so many online dating sites put on their algorithm. OKCupids Christian Rudder has made a career talking about how statistics and algorithms create matches. Jon Morra from eHarmony has given presentations about how machine learning can be deployed to find love. His talk is titled Finding Love Through Science. The Match.com algorithm is named Synapse. And there are independent projects in the works now that aim to use brain waves to match potential lovers.

Or take another Object Solutions invention: the Ring Finder Spotlight, a tiny drone that follows your hand around to illuminate the existence or absence of a wedding ring. The device comes with four modes: Commitment, Flaunt, Threat, and Single.

In Commitment mode the drone shines a nice beam onto your ring. In Flaunt mode, The Spotlight twirls around your ring using twelve dramatic flyover techniques. It captures unforgettable video footage, including reaction shots from onlookers. In Single mode you broadcast the opposite: The Spotlight traces sensuous curves along the ring finger, helping singles spot each other even prior to handshake.

This might seem like a lot of work to show off the status of your ring finger, but its not that far off from the lengths people go when it comes to showing off their wedding bands.

In 2012 the Canadian Government came out with a guide for female travelers that includes this advice: Wear a (fake) wedding ring. Also carry a photo of your husband (or an imaginary one), which you can show to persistent suitors. Being seen as married will lower your profile and stave off uninvited advances. The guide was released in 2012, but the advice still stands on its current guide even today.

A company called Gemporia made news last year with their plans to sell a fidelity engagement ring that tracks the wearer (the company assumes that person is a woman) using GPS. And theres even this bizarre study that claims that the absence of a wedding ring is connected to parental neglect.

Several NFL players have special rubber rings made, so they can continue to wear their symbols of commitment during the football game. Kirk Cousins, the quarterback for the Washington football team, wears a special rubber ring any time he works out, made by a company called QALO, an acronym for Quality Athletics Love Outdoors.

QALO was founded by two men who explain on their website that While we love our wives, and love being married, the reality was that our ring was getting in the way (literally) of our active lifestyle. After hearing the same complaints from other men, we searched for a solution that would allow us to show our commitment of marriage, and wear a comfortable wedding band that could withstand our active lifestyle.

Ryan Fitzpatrick, the quarterback for the Buffalo Bills, wears a metal ring and told The New York Times in 2011 that he opts to keep it on because It stands for something. Its not like Im trying to throw a message in anybodys face. Its just a personal thing between me and my wife. Its important for me not to take it off.

Lets compare all this to Ronens fictional scientist follow up. Compensating for human error and the temptation to infidelity, the Ring Finger Spotlight cannot be left at home absentmindedly; nor can it be slipped off at the gym. Not so far off, eh?

Or what about the Object Solutions TouchTrainer, a navigation system for your hands across the terrain of your lovers body, where the journey is just as critical as the destination. The Touch Trainer uses skinserts beneath your skin to guide users where to put their hands and for how long. At the start of your session, your only task is to decide on which of the three suggested routes your partner will follow. You and your partner can finally lose yourselves in the experience. After all, your next move will be indicated clearly, and any wrong turn will be re-routed. The path to pleasure has never been so direct.

We might not have skinserts just yet, but there are a host of educational sex devices and apps out there that treat sex as a series of predetermined moves and not a conversation between two people. The Happy Playtime app (Link NSFW duh) aims to teach women that masturbation is totally normal (which is a great message) by showing them how to masturbate. You are encouraged to use your mouse or finger to stroke a little cartoon vulva as it responds. Nevermind that this vulva is an actual cartoon and not your vulva, or that different women like different things. Some people think that humanoid sex robots will be used to practice new techniques on a human who wont judge you.

When Morales and Ronen do their presentation, it is often followed by a workshop, where they invite participants to come up with their own solutions, based on a few key terms or questions. Morales pulled out a few of them when we spoke.

One team created a sting ring that a person would wear around and, before sexual activity, use to prick a partner's finger to test for STDs. (Not unlike the color-changing condom that some claimed could detect STIs.) Another team came up with a pill that magnetized bodily fluids so that they wouldnt mix. Another team dreamed up a website that allows long-distance couples to get sponsorships that help pay for their travel. If a company donates money to Mark and Adam, one of them will carry a suitcase with that companys logo on it, and so on.

Often, Ronen says, participants find this object invention surprisingly fun and rewarding, and she says that thats part of what theyre teaching people. Startups and apps dont get born because nobody is having fun. Theres a reason why these things happen this way, theres a pleasure in turning the world into input that need outputs.

Each Object Solutions pitch is wrapped in the sleek salesmanship and storytelling that a real company might employ. Morales does his part, using his experience as a real product designer to make these dystopian devices almost believable. But theyre also almost believable because theyre not all that far from the kinds of pitches that tech reporters like me get every day.

Last year I was pitched a period tracking device by five typical guys who were tired of the drama, discourse, and sometimes absurd fights they would come home to with their wives and girlfriends when they had no idea it was that time of the month.

Last month I got something about a magical device that could provide new hope for depression, Parkinson tremor, sleep disordersalternative to drugs. The product in question was being sold as neurotech that interacts with the brain's natural oscillations and encourages them to follow our oscillations which gently restores the disturbed rhythms back to their normal state.

Last week entrepreneur Amanda Chantal Bacon was in the news for her unbelievable lifestyle. She sells something at Urban Outfitters called Moon Juice Brain Dust. The product is described thusly: Moon Juice Brain Dust is an adaptogenic potion that lights up your brain and increases mental flow by feeding neurotransmitters and brain tissue. Neuron velocity and vision are fine tuned by toning the brain waves, in particular the alpha waves that connect to creativity.

These are all real products that Object Solutions follows right to the edge. But while they teeter in the realm of reality, Object Solutions jumps off the cliff. The NeurAlign implants memories. The Ring Spotlight is a literal drone that follows you around. Another solution controls utilities in your house and only releases them if you perform enough intimate acts with your partner.

Morales hopes that by taking things a step further people will start to see the creepiness that already exists all around them. He hopes that people will take a look at the Ring Finger Spotlight or the then go out into the real world and see that it actually can sometimes be indistinguishable to the experience you just had with Object Solutions.

Because sometimes the truth is stranger than design fiction.
RENO  More than 500 Northern Nevada students have been selected to receive Scholastic Art Awards in the first round of the 2016 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.

A blind panel of judges sorted through over 1,400 works submitted in 16 categories for the visual arts component of the Awards, overseen by the Nevada Museum of Art. Winners will be honored with a ceremony at the Nevada Museum of Art, Donald W. Reynolds Center for the Visual Arts, E.L. Wiegand Gallery, on March 16.

Judges spent more than 16 hours deliberating which submissions would receive awards, judging on originality, technical skill, and the emergence of a personal vision. From the submissions chosen to receive awards, 106 artworks were selected for Gold Key awards, five of which were nominated for the American Visions Award. Gold Key award winners and American Vision nominees go on to compete at the national level, and the chance to be recognized as the best up-and-coming artists in the nation.

Judges selected 165 additional artworks to receive the Silver Key award for outstanding achievement at the regional level. The panel selected 311 submissions to receive Honorable Mention recognition. Finally, students demonstrating exceptional talent will be awarded scholarships.

Elko winners were:

Destiny Nebeker, Gold Key, sculpture

Taylor Avery, Silver Key, sculpture

Diana Finley, Silver Key, painting (2)

Amanda Wilson, Silver Key, photography

Kandi Crandall, honorable mention, photography

Alexis Freitag, honorable mention, photography

Elisseth Reyes, honorable mention, photography

Winners from Battle Mountain were:

Kandise Baird, honorable mention, mixed media

LaRae Tomera, honorable mention, sculpture

The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards is the longest-running recognition initiative for creative teens. Past award winners include influential American artists and writers such as Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman, Truman Capote, and Renos own Michael Sarich.

Since 1999 the Nevada Museum of Art has overseen the Northern Nevada regional visual arts component of The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.

The Museum will partner with the Holland Project Gallery to present the 2016 Scholastic Art Award winning works March 11 through April 15. Gold Key winners will be exhibited at the Holland Project Gallery, 140 Vesta St. in Reno.

This 2016 Scholastic Art Awards are generously sponsored by Bank of America. Additional support is provided from the City of Reno Arts and Culture Commission, Amerco, the Nell J. Redfield Foundation, the Hearst Foundations, and Wild Women Artists.
The Brazos County Health Department is teaming up with local city officials and area hospitals to design a game plan of prevention and management regarding the Zika virus that is spreading through Central and South American countries, and more recently, the United States.

Representatives from the City of Bryan, City of College Station, Texas A&M Health Science Center, Baylor Scott and White, CHI St. Joseph Hospital and College Station Medical Center met with the health department on Wednesday to discuss environmental and medical concerns regarding the mosquito-borne virus, and how they can educate the public through prevention.

Transmitted through the Aedes mosquito species, Zika began spreading last year throughout South and Central America -- most notably in Brazil -- and has infected more than a million people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The virus has since expanded to the Southern United States, and the CDC reported two new cases of Zika in Bexar County on Wednesday, bringing the total of confirmed cases in the United States to 66 -- 10 of which have been in Texas.

According to Julie Anderson, a family nurse practitioner with the Brazos County Health Department's Community Health Services, contrary to popular belief, Zika is not a new virus. It was first discovered in rhesus monkeys in 1947 in Uganda and later in humans in 1952, but has not been widely spread until the past couple of years.

The virus is transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes, and since the virus resides in bodily fluids, it can spread from person to person through sexual activity, Anderson said. Symptoms resemble the flu, including muscle and joint aches, fever, and a rash, but the presence of conjunctivitis -- the reddening of the eyes because of inflammation -- sets it apart, she said.

"Eighty percent of people who get Zika will not have symptoms," Anderson said. "Their body will fight off the virus on its own, and they will not know. The remaining 20 percent will get sick and have this set pattern of symptoms."

Pregnant women are the most at-risk for the effects of Zika, as the disease has been linked to birth defects that affect brain development, according to the CDC.

There is no cure for Zika, but efforts to develop a vaccine and treatment are underway, Scott Lillibridge, a professor of epidemiology at the A&M Health Science Center School of Public Health and the A&M System director of health initiatives, said.

The A&M Center for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing was selected in 2012 as one of three centers in the United States to manufacture vaccines in its facility if the federal government should need large quantities in a short amount of time, most likely because of an epidemic. Lillibridge said this time is no different.

"We are ready for the government to find a candidate to manufacture in our facility," he said. "We have been told to be ready in the near future."

No cases have been confirmed in Brazos County or in the surrounding area, but Anderson said preventative measures should be taken. Anybody staying outdoors should wear long-sleeved shirts and pants and spray the skin and clothes with DEET-based insect repellent.

Anderson said any source that can contain water for more than six days needs to be eliminated, and both College Station and Bryan will distribute mosquito dunks, a nontoxic chemical biscuit that is put in standing water to kill mosquito larvae, upon request.

At this time, Anderson said the health department is only taking preventative steps and does not intend to promote panic.

"We are sticking with what the CDC recommends," she said. "Universal testing for men, women and children is not appropriate at this time."

Lillibridge added the incidents reported in Texas have been "introductory cases," meaning the person contracted the virus from traveling in an infected area abroad before returning to the United States. Once the virus spreads to local mosquitoes when they feed off a person with the virus, he said the plan of action may need to change.

"Our worry for the future is that mosquitoes will transmit the virus locally, so we have to watch it carefully," he said. "Additional steps will have to be taken to control mosquitoes after it spreads."

For more information about Zika virus and local prevention, go to brazoshealth.org.

A previous version of this story incorrectly identified the year that the Texas A&M Center for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing was selected as one of three centers in the United States to manufacture vaccines.
ELKO  A few local businesses are up in arms about the commerce tax that was recently passed. Arlene Jones and Debbie Pawelek, owners of Natural Nutrition are angry and have joined the growing number of businesses statewide that are gathering names for a petition to repeal the tax.

If we can get 55,000 signatures in the state by June it will go on the ballot so we can vote it out, said Pawelek.

State Controller Ron Knecht is opposed to the tax and he formulated a legal petition that is being circulated around Nevada. In Elko, Natural Nutrition, Canyon Construction and Gateway Motorhomes are the only businesses so far that have the petition available for their clientele to sign if they care to. But, according to Jones and Pawelek, the movement is spreading like wildfire and will gain further propulsion once Knecht gives a talk here scheduled at 10 a.m. Feb. 29, upstairs in the Stockmens Casino. Knecht will speak specifically about the referendum petition to stop the commerce tax.

Last year, Nevadans voted almost 4-to-1 against taxing businesses based on their gross receipts. Amidst an anemic economic recovery, most Nevadans understood that taxing them on their top line, with no regard for their costs or profitability, was a terrible idea commented Knecht and co-author Geoffrey Lawrence in a column published in the Elko Daily Free Press on Dec. 17, 2015.

The commerce tax will be imposed on each business entity engaged in business in the state whose Nevada gross revenue in a fiscal year exceeds $4 million. Pawelek is concerned that in the future the threshold might be lowered to affect smaller businesses. She said there is no limit to how it might change.

Raising the sales tax this year is a big concern for us, said Pawelek. Now they also want to tax our gross revenue annually. For the first three years the percentage of the tax will remain consistent but after that they can raise it. Each business entity is taxed differently.

This means that even during challenging years when businesses may fall behind in profit because of unforeseen business expenditures they will still have to pay the same percentage. In the world of Nevada small business this tax is commonly deemed the Business Killing Tax.

We have had a hard time just keeping the store because of vitamin regulation, said Jones. We have been in business for 30 years. We feel very thankful for all of the support we have received from our loyal customers and community.

This tax will make us lose business because we will have to raise our prices. Its also going to be a nightmare for accountants and anyone else who has to deal with the paperwork, Pawelek mentioned. We need to stand up for our rights and our liberty.

The owners are hoping to collect at least 15,000 legitimate signatures from county voters. People can stop by Natural Nutrition, Canyon Construction, or Gateway Motorhomes to sign the petition. Pawelek and Jones also have the petition to give to other area businesses if they want to help repeal the tax. Call them at 753-9319.
Agree that Peyton Manning's remarks were inappropriate

Thank goodness for Glenn Dowling (Eagle, Feb. 9)! His comments about the inappropriate message from Peyton Manning concerning drinking lots of beer after the Super Bowl was right on target.

I agree with Dowling's reply. I am so relieved.

I'm just glad someone other than myself felt this way.

MARGRET STANFIELD

College Station

Candidate has lengthy record of service to Brazos County

I endorse Steve Aldrich for Brazos County Commissioner's Court, Pct. 1. Steve has been a long-time unselfish servant of the Brazos County community, first by serving several terms on the College Station school board. He currently is continuing his service to the community as a College Station city councilman. As a long time independent businessman in Bryan Steve has a very good understanding of the needs of Brazos County in both Bryan and College Station.

Steve always will have in mind a fair and balanced approach to all Brazos County issues. You quickly will see him completely prepared for all issues requiring his involvement. Steve does his homework.

Steve will be a valuable asset to the Brazos County Commissioner's Court and to the residents of Precinct 1.

JIM KEBLINGER

College Station

Commissioner experienced in Brazos County governance

The role of a Brazos County commissioner is not to be a micro-manager, but one who has to help his or her constituents resolve their concerns and problems on a daily basis. Important decisions must be made quickly without people in higher positions of management contributing to the decisions.

County taxes provide a multitude of services to all residents of Brazos County. Some of these services are district courts, county courts at law, justice of the peace courts, law enforcement,detention services, indigent defense, indigent health care, contributions to non-profit organizations for the health, safety and welfare of the county residents and working with other entities within Brazos County.

Additional services provided to the residents of Brazos County are road construction and maintenance, bridge construction, culvert installation, road and street signage, acquisition and maintenance of rights-of-way, drainage, flood-plain management, road rights-of-way clean up, nuisance abatement, mailbox structure, county burn ban, and establishing managing and staffing rural trash collection sites.

Lloyd Wassermann as a commissioner of Brazos County Pct. 1 has addressed all of these services at one time or another during his time in office. He hears his constituents and provides the necessary action to resolve a problem.

BRENDA OWENS

Millican

Commissioner has served the people of his precinct well

I am pleased and honored to write a letter of support for County Commissioner Lloyd Wassermann.

I have known Commissioner Wassermann since he first ran for office in 2005. At the time I was fire chief of South Brazos County and we often contacted our county administrators with problems and pleas for support. Commissioner Wassermann proved time and time again he was not only a man of his word, but a man of action.

I have nothing but respect and appreciation for Lloyd Wassermann and his efforts on behalf of not only our fire department, but the entire Precinct One area. He has attended numerous community center events -- cooking, serving -- whatever was needed.

In the years I have had the privilege to work with him and around him, I have always been impressed with Lloyd Wasserman's dedication, honesty and integrity and willingness to serve South Brazos County.

EMILY STAPLES

Millican

The ideal Brazos County Commissioner

What would the ideal county commissioner look like?

A person with financial acumen, personal integrity, a record of public service, and no agenda. Not only those qualities, but it should be someone with Christian character, a concern for others but also a passion for justice and fairness. Someone who is invested in our local community and has the youthful energy to manage multiple activities. Because of the Aggie Code of Honor, it would be a real bonus to have an Aggie serve in this position.

If you agree with me that those characteristics would make for an ideal county commissioner, then you will want to vote for Gabriel Garcia for Pct. 3 and allow him to build a brighter tomorrow in Brazos County.

HELEN BECKMAN

College Station

Incumbent is lying about his own record and his opponent

John Raney has a serious problem in his bid for re-election: He represents a conservative voting district yet he has one of the most liberal voting records out of all Republicans in the state House. In fact, independent surveys rank him as third or fourth most liberal Republican in the House.

So how does John get people in a conservative district to rally around him? It appears he has chosen two strategies. His first strategy is to hid his voting record. He does not want voters to know that he joined with Democrats to fund a needle exchange program for drug users that became a disaster. He does not want pro-life voters to know that he joined with Democrats to support the destruction of embryos for stem cell research. And he certainly does not want voters in favor of border security to know that he joined with Democrats to oppose additional funding for border security and instead use that money for diversity training.

So instead, John focuses on just a few selected votes and continues to claim that he is a conservative.

Another thing John has chosen to do is to misrepresent his opponent Jess Fields, who is a true conservative. John does this by claiming Jess is an out-of-towner even though Jess was a local business owner and served on the College Station City Council. John claims that Jess Fields is too young and inexperienced. Perhaps here he has a point. Jess Fields does not have experience joining forces with liberal Democrats to fight against conservative values.

But is that the experience we want to send back to the state House?

MICHAEL STASIOWSKI

College Station

Candidate is pro-life and wants to protect our borders

If you are like me, you have been buried under political advertisements lately. I usually ignore them, but recently when I went to the mailbox, I was mortified.

I know for a fact that John Raney is pro-life. He introduced a bill in the Legislature last spring to allow for adoption of orphaned embryos at fertility clinics. Because of his votes, he partially is responsible for the Planned Parenthood clinic in Bryan being closed. How more pro-life can you get? He voted pro-life on everything he could! I was a registered nurse for 40 years and this is very important to me.

If you have a question about one of John's votes, contact him and discuss it.

Why in the world is his opponent lying about John's record?

The other mailer that bothered me is about border security. John Raney voted to include in the state budget more than $800 million for border security. The Legislature, including Raney, gave the Texas Department of Public Safety exactly the amount it wanted. This put hundreds more DPS troopers on the ground in South Texas. It provides for more planes and boats and weapons to help patrol against those committing crimes after they enter legally.

John Raney is a very valuable resident of Bryan-College Station. We should be grateful for his selfless service in the House of Representatives. His voting record is public information and I don't appreciate a young wannabe moving in here and spreading lies.

Please vote to re-elect a real public servant who actually cares about our values,, John Raney, for state Representative from District 14.

SHARON DENT

Bryan

Brazos County cannot afford inexperience in Austin

These are uncertain economic times with the huge drop in oil prices and a volatile stock market. The continued success of Bryan, College Station and Texas A&M University depends on strong, experienced leadership in Austin.

John Raney has been and will continue to be that leader with our support.

John and lived in and worked in the Brazos Valley for more than 50 years. He has been a strong voice for our community.

Now is not the time -- nor will it ever be -- for us to place our future and that of our family in the hands of someone who does not have the experience and the understanding of the needs of our community.

Please vote and vote for an effective leader, John Raney.

MIKE BEAL

Bryan

A true conservative who helped found the Brazos GOP

I first met John Raney in the early 1970s. Virtually everyone in town was a Democrat -- except John Raney. Although we were on opposite sides of the political fence, I respected his intelligence and independence. I also admired the fact that, while his campaigning as a Republican cost him elections, he never abandoned his conservative Republican values.

Therefore I was surprised to receive a sample ballot from a group saying John Raney was not the "best qualified conservative candidate." John Raney has been a conservative Republican his entire career.

I have to believe that this dishonest and simple-minded attack on John is driven by an inability to control him. This is not about a conservative policy but rather which candidate can be controlled by special interests.

I would urge everyone to support one of the founding fathers of the Brazos County Republican Party and a consistent and principled conservative. Vote for John Raney.

PHILIP C. BANKS

Bryan

Why are outsiders involved in local state representative race?

I have been receiving Jess Fields' glossy mailers, which are conservative platitudes and frantic attacks on John Raney but do not mention any support by Fields for the local community

A Houston political activist, Steven Hotze, did a robo call spouting the same platitudes and sent a flier endorsing Fields, implying that Raney is not a conservative, which is dead wrong. What does he know about Raney and Fields that we do not know? We know Fields, 27, lived here sporadically, was an ineffective one term city councilman, and moved to Austin to become a lobbyist and policy analyst for a think tank that advocated positions directly contrary to A&M, Brazos County's largest employer. He left Austin, rented here to run against Raney.

Another activist, Michael Quinn Sullivan, sent a letter wrongfully faulting John for his vote on what Sullivan termed opposition to border security.

Then, a Fields' mailer cites "Austin Insider," an unknown organization, for support.

Both are wrong. John voted for legislation which gave the Texas Department of Public Safety the largest amount of money in history and created 250 new trooper positions.

Plus, The Eagle reports that most of Fields larger contributors are from outside Brazos County -- many from West Texas and the Empower Texans PAC

It is disturbing that outside political activists are trying to influence/buy our local election. What is in it for these substantial contributors from Houston, Austin and Midland? It is even more troublesome considering that the Texas Ethics Commission fined Sullivan the maximum amount and he is involved in a pending commission dark money investigation of Empower Texans, an organization critical of John.

Do we want an outsider supported by questionable outside activists?

No, we need, John Raney, a man of integrity who has devoted his adult life to this community and effectively has represented us.

ARNO W. KREBS Jr.

Bryan
The basic story of the poisoning of the children of Flint, Michigan, through the water they drink is now pretty well known. But as more details come out, it keeps getting worse.

Republican Governor Rick Snyder, after passing a big tax cut for the rich and corporations on coming into office, had to find cuts to make up for the lost revenue.

In Flint and other cities, he essentially nullified democratic elections, deposed elected mayors and city councils and installed his own agents with virtually dictatorial powers.

The 'emergency manager' of Flint decided that the city could save money by discontinuing its water supply from Lake Huron and instead drawing it from the toxic Flint River. He then failed to treat the new water with additives needed to keep the city's old pipes from leaching lead.

When people objected to the brown, smelly water filled with particles that was coming out of the taps, the governor's men reassured them the water was safe. All of Flint's children were exposed to water with elevated levels of lead.

Now we learn that General Motors complained to state officials that the water was corroding their auto parts. So the governor's team gave GM its own hook up back to the water from Lake Huron - while still insisting to the residents of Flint that the water was safe for their children to drink.

Privileged corporations, disposable people

State officials also acted promptly to respond to the bad water for one other constituency: state employees in Flint's state office building. Even as it was reassuring residents that the water was safe to drink, Flint officials arranged for coolers of purified water to be set up on all the floors of the office building.

Flint's residents - disproportionately black and low income - were seen as disposable. And they are not alone. The national statistics on lead poisoning, as Kevin Drum of Mother Jones details, show that African-Americans were poisoned at three times the rate of whites until recent times.

And, of course, low-income people are poisoned at higher rates than the more affluent; poor, urban African-Americans and Latinos suffer the highest rates of all.

Drum notes that while white children were severely afflicted in the postwar lead epidemic, it produced "nothing less than a carnage among black kids." He argues that before lead was brought under control in the late 1980s, virtually an entire generation of urban black teenagers was at risk of lower IQs, more behavior problems in school, higher rates of violent behavior.

This, of course, reinforced already vicious racial stereotypes of African-Americans, and of the poor. The only hope in Flint is that the children's exposure was limited in time and intensity, but even that is grasping at straws.
ELKO  A bus campaigning for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders made several stops in Elko on Wednesday, but there was no word yet whether he or opponent Hillary Clinton will visit before the caucuses.

The bus was sponsored by National Nurses United for Patient Protection.

Bernie Sanders best represents nurses values of caring, compassion and community, said NNU Co-President Deborah Burger, RN, in a press release last month.

Sanders is campaigning at the University of Nevada, Reno over the weekend, according to The Associated Press. He is scheduled to appear Saturday morning at a presidential forum hosted by several progressive groups. Sen. Cory Booker is also set to attend as a surrogate for Hillary Clinton.

The forum is expected to touch on immigration and issues specific to the West, including public land use and water rights.

Clinton and Sanders will to take part in a town hall event in Las Vegas on Feb. 18, two days before the Nevada caucus.

State Democratic Party Chairwoman Roberta Lange said Thursday that MSNBC and the Spanish-language television network Telemundo have agreed to host the evening event.

Party spokesman Stewart Boss says a time and location havent been determined.

Lange says questions are expected to focus on issues affecting Nevada and the Latino community.

The Nevada caucus is Feb. 20. Times and locations are available at caucus.nvdems.com.

The Republican caucus is on the evening of Feb. 23, three days after the South Carolina caucus. Information is available at nevadagop.org.
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By Gleaner Staff

Kentucky State Police said at least one person is dead following a multi-vehicle crash on U.S. 60 near the Henderson-Union County line.

Three or four vehicles were involved in the collision, which occurred about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, said Trooper Corey King of the Kentucky State Police.

"We are looking into if weather was a factor in the accident," King said.

Kentucky Transportation Cabinet crews were out responding to a clipper system that moved out of Missouri and Illinois into Western Kentucky on Wednesday night.

Radar indicated some strong bands of snow squalls embedded in the fast-moving system, said KYTC spokesman Keith Todd.

The fatal crash occurred on or near the Highland Creek Bridge. All lanes of U.S. 60 were blocked following the incident and remained so as of Wednesday night.

The injured people have been taken to Methodist Hospital Union County and Methodist Hospital in Henderson.

State police, the Henderson County Sheriff's Office, the Union County Sheriff's Office, the ambulance service and volunteer fire departments from Henderson and Union counties responded to the scene.
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By Gleaner Staff

Audubon Area Community Services Inc. will be hosting two free Veterans Resource Fairs in March.

Vendors at the fairs will offer educational, employment, financial, health and service -related resources.

The fairs will take place:

10 a.m.-2 p.m. March 17, National Guard Armory, 3300 Tamarack Road, Owensboro, Kentucky

10 a.m.-2 p.m. March 29, Ohio County Senior Center, 2320 Kentucky 69, Hartford, Kentucky.

All veterans, active duty, retired military, National Guard, reservists and military families are invited to attend. There will be door prizes and refreshments will be served.

For more information, contact Vickie Poteat at 270-683-1589 or 888-683-1527.
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Frank O'Nan, Henderson

Behold unmitigated gall of 'king' Koch

Isn't it wonderful that Charles Koch, the billionaire CEO of Koch Industries, the second-largest privately held corporation in America is going to help the poor? Doesn't he remind you of Mr. Potter from the movie "It's a Wonderful Life"?

Mr. Potter or Koch has proposed to "strengthen the fabric of American society." Ha!

I would suggest that Mr. Koch and other libertarians should begin by paying bills assessed by the courts for their destruction of the environment and violation of federal laws. These white-collar crooks are now going to do something for the poor in our society. Libertarians believe the best government is no government. Would that be survival of the fittest?

The estimated $900 million spent in the last election to re-elect blowhards like Mitch McConnell could have been used to repair misdeeds of the past.

The election of puppets like Mitch certainly didn't help the poor and elderly in America. This Koch puppeteer really wants to destroy national healthcare, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and SNAP, in the meantime writing off his taxes a goodwill program. Koch puppets oppose equal pay for women, increasing the minimum wage, lowering student loan interest, etc.

The poor and elderly in Kentucky could use a sack of potatoes, some milk and bread at Christmas rather than be a write-off on some billionaire's taxes. We've had puppet Mitch for 31 years. We could have been last in America in poverty even without McConnell.

Did fracking by the Koch brothers lower your natural gas bill this month? They are the largest frackers in the world. Meanwhile their power plants spew filth into our air and water. Billionaires like the puppeteer Charles Koch pull all the Congressional strings so it doesn't matter who is in Congress, Charles Koch is still king.

The Republican tea party voters in Kentucky are like the peasantry of bygone days, where the king makes all the money and pulls all the strings.

The unmitigated gall of Mr. Koch's "Stand Together" that actually means "Ask not what the wealthy can do for you; ask what you can do for the wealthy."
NORWALK -- While proponents of Gov. Dannel Malloy's proposed legislative changes to the current bail system are singing its praises as a forward thinking approach to reduce pre-trial incarceration, one local bondsman is less than enthusiastic and predicting public safety issues if the proposal is adopted as law.

Under the current system, once a defendant is charged with a crime, a monetary bond may be set by police or the court to ensure that defendant's court appearance. That person may utilize the services of a licensed bail bondsman and pay a non-refundable fee of seven to 10 percent for their release from custody.

On the heels of Malloy's Second Chance Society criminal justice reforms, which were adopted last year, the governor has launched Second Chance 2.0 -- a series of legislative proposals that, if approved, will bring sweeping changes to the bail bond industry. Those changes include the abolishment of monetary bail for "low-risk" misdemeanor defendants, and to provide most defendants the opportunity to make a refundable cash deposit with the court -- thus possibly rendering the role of the bail bondsman virtually obsolete.

"We applaud Governor Malloy's leadership in helping Connecticut to be a national model for twenty-first century justice. Bail should be based on a person's flight risk or danger to society, not on the money in his or her pocket," said David McGuire, legislative and policy director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Connecticut.

According to a prepared statement from Malloy's office, the thinking behind a "Smarter Approach to Bail Bonds" follows in part:

"We know that too many adults are languishing in jail, pre-trial, because they cannot come up with even a few hundred dollars in bail. Every day spent in jail awaiting a court date for these low-risk, misdemeanor offenders means another day that their connections to their communities, families, jobs, and responsibilities are weakened."

Malloy's proposal "Prohibits a judge from setting money bail for anyone charged only with a misdemeanor, except where the judge determines that the accused poses an immediate threat to the health or well-being of another person, or the accused is charged with failure to appear ... This aims to ensure that the state is not housing low-risk offenders after arrest simply because they cannot find the money."

"I counted those who are in jail right now in Connecticut on misdemeanor charges with no charges of violence or of being dangerous," said Mike Lawlor, the Governor's Under Secretary on Criminal Justice. "There are 299 sitting in jail on misdemeanors who can't post bond. There are also 550 sitting in jail on bonds of less than $20,000 on charges that are not that serious. We see people sitting in jail for weeks -- these are people that are homeless, or have no job or no family or they would be out."

While Norwalk bail bondsman Chris DaRoja, who is also licensed in New York and New Jersey, acknowledges that the proposed bail changes could have an adverse impact on his Connecticut business, it's the impact on public safety that DaRoja questions.

DaRoja, owner of The Bail King since 2004, has a vested interest in making sure that people he bonds out appear in court and will travel near and far to bring bail-skipping defendants back to court.

"The state won't go after people who skip bond the way I will. If someone doesn't show up to court, we are responsible for that bond, and we have an obligation to bring them back," DaRoja said. "I don't care if it's a $500 bond, everything is a priority, I'll sit in front of someone's house with binoculars for 10 hours if I have to. There was a big one in Virginia last year. He was arrested up here in a home invasion and gun and drug charges. His bond was $110,000 and it took us five months to catch him and bring him back. There was another guy who was charged with counterfeiting -- the Secret Service couldn't find him and we found him in a house in Shelton that nobody would have found, and we brought him back. This really is a public safety issue."

Bail bondsmen in the State of Connecticut must be licensed in order to conduct bonding business. Standard rates for bail or Bail Premiums are set and regulated by the Connecticut Insurance Department (CID).

Malloy's proposal ensures that a judge would have the opportunity to deny the accused the option of the 10 percent cash deposit if they feel the defendant poses a significant threat to another individual or to public safety and Lawlor said that the goal of the state is public safety.

A prepared statement from Malloy's office states the following: "African-Americans are jailed at almost four times the rate of white Americans and despite the fact that they make up only 13 percent of the population, they account for 36 percent of the jail population. Often, this is because of their inability to put up even a few hundred dollars for bail ... (Malloy's proposal) aims to ensure that the state is not housing low-risk offenders simply because they cannot find the money for bail."

"We have people in jail for non-violent misdemeanors who can't post bond, but you see gangbangers -- really dangerous people -- who are bonded out by bondsmen," Lawlor said.

DaRoja disputes the contention that low-income defendants are unable to post bond, and blames earlier state mandates for making it increasingly difficult for many low-income arrestees to post bond.

"He's (Malloy) playing double jeopardy," DaRoja said. "Before he became governor, if it was someone we knew, or who wasn't a flight risk, we could work out a payment plan with them. Let's say a judge sets an astronomical $100,000 bond and their fee is $8,500 we could work it out where they're paying us a little each week for 15 months and we could sometimes stretch it out for up to two years. A few years ago, the state told us that letting people out of jail was causing problems, so they made it mandatory that people have to pay 35 percent of their bond up front. It happens a lot where people don't have that kind of money and there is that many more people you can't help or do anything for."

Lawlor cited states -- Oregon, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Kentucky -- that have virtually eliminated bondsmen.

"We know that in states that don't have private bondsmen, there is a low failure to appear rate," Lawlor said.

Lawlor outlined conditions of release for those charged with a crime.

"The law governs pre-trial release of the least restrictive conditions," Lawlor said. "Those can be specific conditions of release, non-surety bond, a 10 percent bond, a cash bond or a surety bond. If some is arrested there is a specific score sheet by which bond is set. The bail commissioner's office supervises those who are released with various types of technology."

And according to a statement on the ACLU of Connecticut website: "Our bail system is broken. It leads to people spending lengthy periods in jail for minor offenses such as drug possession, prostitution and even traffic infractions simply because they can't afford bail. Meanwhile people who have committed more serious crimes can get out as long as they can pay. That's not right and it needs to end ... "Once locked up people lose their jobs, homes and sometimes even their families. We've seen better models in other states and cities that promote public safety, save money and avoid many of the negative impacts that the current bail system has on individuals and communities."

In addition to bail reforms, Second Chance 2.0 has two other components: To raise the age of "Youthful Offender" status from 17 to 20 by Oct. 1, 2016; To raise the age of the juvenile justice system's jurisdiction through age 18 on July 1, 2017, through age 19 through July 1, 2018, and through age 20 on July 1, 2019.

"Young people who make mistakes should have a second chance, not find the deck stacked against them for the rest of their lives. We look forward to learning more about the details of both of the governor's proposals," said McGuire.
ELKO  The Redevelopment Advisory Councils bylaws were amended Tuesday, making the board five members instead of seven, and reducing the required meetings.

At the Dec. 17 RAC meeting, members voted to eliminate the Northeastern Nevada Development Authority and Chamber seat.

Assistant City Manager Scott Wilkinson said, soon after, there was communication from the NNRDA that it has appointed another representative.

That was not a unanimous vote, said Wilkinson.

Former RAC member and NNRDA representative Pam Borda announced her resignation from the RAC Sept. 21.

Upon reviewing the bylaws, the Citys staff and legal counsel proposed additional changes that included the reduction of the number of board members from seven to five and changing the appointment of offices from July to January.

The bylaws also stipulated the RAC was to meet monthly, or as needed. Wilkinson asked the RDA to consider a requirement for quarterly meetings.

Wilkinson said the RDA will have to decide if it wants a member of NNRDA to remain on the board.

Catherine Wines, a RAC member, said the changes were, in part, due to last falls turmoil.

Part of these (changes) were an effort to create more efficiency, to bring the membership down, because we didnt have that member, and so, we were having quorum issues, she said.

Wines said she voted to eliminate the NNRDA seat but she said she thinks that decision could be reconsidered.

I dont stand by that vote, as it is now, because we have a new member of the NNRDA that wants to serve, she said.

RAC member Jon Karr said he would be against adding the NNRDA member back on the board because, in a short time, progress has been made with the five-member board.

He said if the new NNRDA member gives input it will be heard and evaluated.

Lina Blohm was the dissenting vote and wanted to retain the NNRDA, she said.

The reason I wanted to retain NNRDA was because economic development is a huge component to redevelopment in what were trying to achieve, she said.

Blohm said the Storefront program may not have taken place without input from the NNRDA, because it was with that enthusiasm, the access to Carson City and economic development and the availability of the grant money, and Michele Reeves, that really brought this to the forefront for us, she said.

Blohm said she feels NNRDA is a valuable persona at RAC.

At that point, Wilkinson said, if the seat was to be retained, the RDA might want to consider a seven-member board.

Councilman Robert Schmidtlein said he had mixed emotions. The councilman sat on the RAC for three years, he said.

Today, I feel with a five-member board they are making a lot of headway, he said.

However, he did acknowledge the NNRDA has brought forth a lot of information. He said he is concerned with getting back to the spinning-wheels mode.

The larger the group the harder it is to manage, said Mayor Chris Johnson, explaining the bylaws are to streamline the group.

Councilman Reece Keener motioned to approve the bylaws, making a five-member board and the required meetings quarterly instead of monthly  more frequent meetings can be held when necessary.

He said he encourages NNRDAs participation in the meetings and, if it becomes a necessity, the committee can recommend the addition of a voting member.

The motion passed unanimously  Councilwoman Mandy Simons was not present.

The voting board members will be comprised of an RDA member; the president or designated representative of the Downtown Business Association; the chairman or agent of the Arts and Culture Advisory Board; one member residing within the City of Elko incorporated boundary; and a stakeholder from the redevelopment area.

There will also be four non-voting members representing the school district, the county, Great Basin College and the Convention and Visitors Authority.

Storefront Improvement Program

Additionally, the RDA accepted the Storefront Improvement Program implementation process. It was voted on by Council members Robert Schmidtlein, Reece Keener and Mayor Chris Johnson  John Rice and Mandy Simons were not present.

Were presenting this to the RDA as more of a housekeeping issue and have the RDA take action to accept the implementation process, said Wilkinson.

The program is administered through the City under an inter-local program between it and the Redevelopment Agency.

An implementation plan that delineates the roles of the City and RDA was approved by the Council at the Jan. 26 meeting.

The Council approved sponsoring the grant in January 2015.

The grant is a 50/50 matching program that gives property owners the opportunity to apply for a grant to remodel their storefronts. The maximum value is $50,000, with the City matching 50 percent of the cost.

The money is federally funded through the Governors Office of Economic Development.
A top Connecticut labor leader blasted Gov. Dannel P. Malloys proposed budget as continuing to protect the very, very wealthy, offering a counterpoint to the governors call for deep spending cuts and state workforce reductions, and to the broader aversion among many legislators to raising taxes for a second consecutive year.

I know that the members of the Connecticut AFL-CIO have had enough and are saying enough is enough, Lori Pelletier, the head of the Connecticut AFL-CIO, said Wednesday. She spoke during a press conference by a coalition of unions and advocacy groups that formed a new coalition, called D.U.E. Justice - A Coalition for Democracy, Unity, and Equality. It described its broader agenda as reducing income inequality and promoting democracy.

Members called for, among other things, taxing soda and capital gains and imposing a fee on large employers that pay workers less than $15 an hour - a measure dubbed the Walmart bill in previous legislative sessions.

This is an unlikely year for success at the Capitol for proponents of higher taxes. It is an election year when lawmakers are particularly sensitive to characterizations of the states business climate, particularly after GE announced it was leaving its Fairfield headquarters for Boston. Malloy has ruled out tax increases, and even many lawmakers critical of the spending cuts he proposed have signaled that tax hikes would be a tough sell.

Malloy spokesman Christopher McClure said Wednesday afternoon the administration was "very proud of our record on making Connecticut a fairer state, from a first-in-the-nation minimum wage rise to $10.10, to first-in-the-nation adoption of paid sick days. Weve been leaders on these issues, because people deserve fair wages, with fair benefits. We couldnt agree more with the AFL-CIO that no one should work forty hours a week and live in poverty. However, we do not believe raising taxes is the right step forward. Were in a new economic reality, and government has to adapt in a changing world.

Malloy, a Democrat elected twice with heavy backing from labor, proposed a budget last week that aims to close a nearly $570 million for the next fiscal year deficit by cutting spending and potentially eliminating thousands of state jobs. In doing so, he cited what he called a new economic reality, suggesting during a speech to the General Assembly that state government must reset our expectations of what we can afford, how we provide services, and how we save for our priorities.

Business leaders have praised the governors proposal and what Paul Timpanelli, president of The Bridgeport Regional Business Council, called an emerging consensus on the need to control spending at the Capitol.

Social service and mental health providers have criticized the spending cuts in the governors plan. In many cases, they have cast their work as among the core services the state budget is meant to fund, rather than challenging the premise behind the governors call for a tighter budget.

One sign of this years spending climate came Tuesday, when the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence released a study showing shelters are filled to capacity nearly all year and face increased demands despite flat funding since 2009. The groups chief executive, Karen Jarmoc, said during a press conference at the state Capitol complex that the organization wasnt seeking additional funding this year. Given what we know about the state budget and whats occurring with that, that really wouldnt be a reasonable ask at this point, Jarmoc said.

The coalition Wednesday took a different tack, emphasizing the challenges workers face in an era of flat wages and suggesting that spending cuts were poor alternatives to raising more tax money from the wealthy.

William Buhler from the Better Choices Coalition, an organization made up of labor and community-based social service groups, said he didnt know why Malloy had chosen to cut jobs and services.

But I do know that people will not be happy when they realize that this is happening so that we can finance tax avoidance by millionaires.

Ann Pratt, director of organizing at the Connecticut Citizen Action Group, drew applause from other advocates at the press conference when she said the coalition rejected the idea of adjusting ourselves to the new economic reality.

Pelletier noted that since government largely provides services, the largest portion of its expenses goes to fund personnel costs.

And so if youre trying to go after it and figure out the easiest, most convenient target for a reduction in spending, then thats that, she said. But I think that he makes a grave mistake.

Pelletier added that laying off state employees would hurt the local economy.

Other items on the coalitions agenda include paid family leave, universal access to quality public education, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, expanding collective bargaining to farm workers, expanding access to the states Citizens Election Fund, and policies to promote affordable housing.

This story originally appeared at CTMirror.org, the website of The Connecticut Mirror, an independent, nonprofit news organization covering government, politics and public policy in the state.
NORWALK -- It will take a city investment of more than $249 million spread out over 10 years to fully address the school district's growing enrollment, school overcrowding and building renovations.

The findings were a part of a yearlong facilities study conducted by Silver, Petrucelli and Associates; and Milone and MacBroom.

During Tuesday's Board of Education meeting, a team of architects and engineers from both firms outlined the report on Norwalk's elementary and middle schools.

To accommodate the city's growing population, the report suggests the establishment of three schools. It recommends reopening Nathaniel Ely School for PreK-5 students, and expanding both Naramake Elementary School and Ponus Ridge Middle School as PreK-8 schools.

Reopening Ely School would provide a neighborhood school for South Norwalk elementary students. There are currently 332 South Norwalk elementary students, who are bused to various schools around the district. The move would also alleviate enrollment capacity at a number of Norwalk elementary schools.

The study estimates that renovating Ely School as new would cost about $27 million. Norwalk Public Schools would be eligible for a $6 million reimbursement from the state. The school would hold a total of 482 students.

The expansion of Naramake as a PreK-8 school would cost approximately $37 million. Norwalk would be eligible for a $12 million reimbursement from the project. The expanded Naramake School would seat 734 students.

Expanding Ponus Ridge Middle School would cost the city approximately $48 million, of which $15.7 million would be reimbursable. The revised Ponus Ridge School would hold 954 students.

The study also presented an alternative three-school recommendation that would include Ely, Naramake and Tracey Schools.

Under the alternative plan, Tracey School would be a PreK-8 school. It involves the school district purchasing the defunct St. Phillip's Catholic School, which would be used as an annex of Tracey School for PreK and grades K-2. Grades 3-8 would be in the current Tracey school building.

Expanding Tracey School would cost approximately $41 million, with a state reimbursement of $11.7 million.

"Norwalk is projected to have some pretty strong growth over the next 30 years," said Michael Zuba, director of growth for Milone and MacBroom.

The city's population is expected to increase to about 88,500 residents by 2020. School enrollment is expected to grow by 3.5 percent over the next 10 years.

The enrollment projections of the study will provide some clarity to the school district in the years ahead.

"This has been a blind spot for the Norwalk Public Schools. We have not had accurate enrollment projections until this point," said Superintendent of Schools Steven Adamowski.

The study also suggests establishing two PreK classrooms at each elementary school. A long-term goal of the study is eliminate portable classrooms at every city school.

John B. Ireland, senior project manager of Silver, Petrucelli and Associates, said the vision of the 10-year master is to ensure all Norwalk schools have the correct number of students.

The study also listed West Rocks Middle School, Marvin Elementary School and Jefferson Science Magnet School as top priorities for renovations. Officials are calling for all three schools to be renovated as new.

All recommendations outlined in the study would cost $350.5 million, with an anticipated state reimbursement of $101.3 million, which would make the city's share about $249 million.
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NORWALK -- SoNo train commuters were treated to ash blessings for Ash Wednesday right before they hopped on their trains toward New York City.

Peter Thompson, assistant rector for St. Paul's on the Green, located at 60 East Ave., performed the blessings from 5:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on the New York-bound side of the train station.

"Sometimes people don't have the time on Ash Wednesday to go to church," said Thompson. "There is a national movement currently called 'Ashes-to-Go' and we wanted to be a part of it this year."

This is St. Paul's on the Green's first year doing "Ashes to Go," and by 9 a.m. Thompson had already blessed nearly 100 people.

"Ash Wednesday is a reminder that we are all made of dust and that we will return to dust," said Thompson. "It promotes humility and let's us turn back towards God and repent."

Ash Wednesday is the first day in Lent, an approximately six-week period before Easter Sunday. Lent represents the 40 days that Jesus Christ spent fasting in the desert before enduring temptation by the Devil.

"It's a good opportunity to examine ourselves and our relationships with God," said Thompson."

Thompson is originally from Washington, D.C., where he was a chorister and acolyte at Washington National Cathedral. He then attended Yale Divinity School where he received his internship at St. Paul's on the Green. Thompson was ordained to the priesthood at St. Paul's on the Green at St. Paul's Ascension Day 2015 and became his current position of assistant rector in June of 2015.

"Lent leads to Easter which is a preparatory time for us," said Thompson. "It prepares us for Holy Week which has observances for Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday."

On Maundy Thursday, St. Paul's on the Green will have a foot-washing event held at their church.

"Following Good Friday, on Saturday we will have a Great Vigil of Easter," said Thompson. "It is a beautiful service that people like to be a part of."

St. Paul's on the Green will continue to hold regular services, as well as three services today for Ash Wednesday.

St. Paul's on the Green is an Episcopal church that follows in the Anglo-Catholic tradition. For those wishing to join the congregation or have any questions about the church, email Anne Watkins, associate for member incorporation at watkins@stpaulsnorwalk.org or call her by phone at (203) 847-2806, ext. 18.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi will this weekend become the first European leader to visit Buenos Aires since the election last year of Argentinean President Mauricio Macri. Ten days later, French President Francois Hollande with also fly to Argentina following his official visits to Peru and Uruguay. Whether or not they are doing so intentionally, Spains rivals in Latin America are taking advantage of the political stalemate and uncertainty in Madrid in the wake of inconclusive general elections in December to expand their presence in the region.

Interim Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo and Cuban Vice President Ricardo Cabrisas in Madrid on Tuesday. Emilio Naranjo (EFE)

More information Francia e Italia toman la delantera a Espana en America Latina

France has no plans of usurping or replacing Spains influence in Cuba, said Yves Saint-Geours, the French ambassador to Spain, in an interview on Tuesday.

But the recent visit by Cuban President Raul Castro to Paris and Hollandes trip to Havana last year indicates otherwise.

Since Fidel Castros last visit to France, eight years have passed without a Cuban leader making an official visit to Paris. The Havana government has said that Raul Castro was paying back a visit made by Hollande to the Caribbean island last May.

The trips come as United States and Cuban are trying to move forward to normalizing diplomatic relations.

France has no plans of usurping or replacing Spains influence in Cuba, says the French ambassador to Madrid

And Italian Prime Minister Renzi has followed close behind.

Last May, Renzi met with Castro in Rome after the Cuban leader paid a visit to Pope Francis at the Vatican. Then in October, the Italian prime minister led a business delegation to Havana in search for investment opportunities.

Now the visits by both European leaders to Buenos Aires  only 10 days apart from each other  dont seem so casual.

Cuba and Spain agree on debt conversion M.G. Cuban Vice President Ricardo Cabrisas and interim Economy Minister Luis de Guindos agreed on Tuesday to set the rules so that Spain can write off more Cuban debt in the near future. According to a government statement, the goal is to create an exchange value fund to finance projects in Cuba that both sides agree upon. The statement explains that the current interim government in Spain cannot guarantee this fund will be created in the future. In December, Cuba negotiated with 14 countries that are members of the so-called Paris Club of creditors to restructure some $11.083 billion in debt, of which $2.471 billion is owed to Spain. The agreement included forgiveness of interests on late payments and rebates on the principal and interests over 18 years.

While the economic boom Latin America had experienced over the past 10 years has now slowed down  mainly because of the drop in commodity prices, a stagnant Chinese economy, and the political and social crises in Brazil and Venezuela  Cuba and Argentina offer the best investment opportunities.

Experts believe that both countries, which have a great need for foreign investment, are convinced that they want to open their economies to the rest of the world.

In the case of Cuba, the now-interim Popular Party (PP) government in Spain had focused most its attention on trying to change the communist governments ideology through pressure. The PP made this a sticking point for bilateral relations when the conservative party was in opposition.

Even interim Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo faced strong resistance by members of his own party before he made a trip to Havana in November 2014.

Although the trip was marred by Raul Castros decision not to meet with the foreign minister, it was a helping push for future visits by Spanish and Cuban officials to discuss their economic relations.

But Mariano Rajoy, now the acting Spanish prime minister, never planned a trip to Cuba. At the same time, Castro has skipped Madrid during his last two European visits.

Fearing criticism by some conservative sectors, the Rajoy government had also vetoed an offer by Spains former King Juan Carlos for a private journey to the communist island.

Rajoy has his hands tied: he cannot make an official visit to Buenos Aires or invite Macri to come to Madrid

Rajoys rocky relationship with past Argentinean President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner kept him away from Buenos Aires during the prime ministers four-year term in office.

His personal friendship with Macri has now put him in a privileged position as Argentina enters a new era. But now that relationship remains uncertain until the current political stalemate in Spain is resolved.

As interim prime minister, Rajoy has his hands tied: he cannot make an official visit to Buenos Aires or invite Macri to come to Madrid. Rajoy can only sit back and watch as Renzi and Hollande make inroads in the region.

Its clear that something is not right here, said a diplomatic source close to the Spanish Socialist Party. I dont know if it is all just coincidence or if [France and Italy] think so much about us. But Spain has left a lot of holes in its relations with Latin America and others are moving in to fill them.

English version by Martin Delfin.
OMAHA  Paul Younes, 63, of Kearney and Kearney Hospitality Inc. pleaded guilty to charges related to the unlawful hiring of an undocumented worker, U.S. Attorney Deborah R. Gilg announced on Tuesday in a news release.

Younes was charged with unlawful employment of aliens in violation of United States code. He faces a maximum sentence of six months imprisonment and a $3,000 fine. Kearney Hospitality Inc. was charged with harboring an alien and is subject to a term of probation of five years and a maximum fine of $500,000.

Sentencing has been set for May 9, the news release said.

Younes attorney, Paul Forney, issued a written statement that said:

In January 2015, Kearney Hospitality had an issue with one of its employees. This particular employee was not authorized to work under the U.S. immigration laws. Kearney Hospitality Inc., as well as Mr. Younes, accepted responsibility for wrongdoing as the employer. Subsequently, Kearney Hospitality Inc. has implemented corrective measures to ensure this kind of incident does not occur again.

Both Kearney Hospitality Inc. and Mr. Younes have entered into plea agreements with the U.S. government. Both plea agreements involve probation and a fine.

Gilgs news release said Younes is an officer and director of various corporations that own and/or run hotels in Nebraska including the Fairfield Inn & Suites in Grand Island, Holiday Inn Express in Hastings and Fairfield Inn & Suites in Kearney.

The investigation revealed that Blanca Gama, a citizen of Mexico who was not lawfully in the United States, worked as the supervisor of housekeeping at the Holiday Inn Express in Hastings. In 2014, Gama learned she was under investigation by the Social Security Administration. Gama quit her job at the Holiday Inn Express but later met with Younes, who arranged for her to work in the housekeeping department at the Fairfield Inn & Suites in Kearney under the name Elizabeth Gomez, according to the press release.

Younes was aware that this person had previously been employed under the name Blanca Gama, the press release alleges.

Younes did not place Gomez on the regular payroll for the Fairfield Inn. Rather, he treated her as an independent contractor even though she was the only person in the housekeeping department who worked in that capacity, according to the press release. Younes later authorized this persons rehire at the Holiday Inn Express in Hastings under the name Jacqueline Lopez even though she continued to be referred to as Blanca Gama at that location.

This case was investigated by the Social Security Administration office of inspector general and the Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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A Basque dancer performing the traditional Aurresku dance in Gernika. RAFA RIVAS (AFP)

New research by a former head of the Basque Country University shows how political institutions in the northern region heavily favor the hiring of individuals with Basque surnames.

A study of the surnames of people working in municipal, provincial and regional government agencies shows a clear statistical overrepresentation of Basque names compared with their incidence in the total population.

Using 1998 census data, the study shows that residents with two Basque surnames  one for the father, one for the mother, using Spanish naming customs  represented 20.4 percent of the entire population of the Basque Country.

Basque surnames seem to convey a greater sense of authenticity, as though representing some uber-Basqueness whose remote origins remain shrouded in mystery

Those with one Basque and one Castilian Spanish surname made up 25.4 percent, while those with two Spanish surnames accounted for 54 percent.

In fact, the most common surnames in the Basque Country are the very Castilian-sounding Garcia, Fernandez and Gonzalez, according to Civil Registry records. The first Basque surname, Aguirre (alternatively spelled Agirre), shows up in 17th position.

Yet Manuel Monteros study proves that Basque nationalist parties overwhelmingly favor politicians with local surnames for positions at all levels, and that this trend has been going on for decades even though it had not surfaced in research until now.

The weight of surnames in nationalist organizations is extremely high, much higher than in Basque society, says Montero, a former rector at the Basque Country University. This peculiarity, which is more visible than other measurable variables, meets with public silence. The public discourse conceals it, denies it or glosses over it.

In Monteros view, this bias overrates one part of society and undervalues the other, and proves that nationalism has not embraced people without Basque surnames in a statistically normalized way.

Basque Nationalist Party officials at a 2014 tribute to party founder Sabino Arana. EFE

The disconcerting revelation underscores how ones name still carries a lot of weight in Basque politics and society, even though Basque nationalists  in both their moderate and radical versions  long ago renounced the original definition of Basqueness as something associated with ethnic attributes.

To claim ethnic identity as a basis for political organization entails denying the political principle of equality for all the citizens of a given territory, notes the scholar.

The pre-eminence of Basque surnames in the regional parliament today is evident. Of the 48 nationalist representatives in the chamber, 32 sport two Basque surnames, 10 have one of each, and only six have two Spanish last names. Among the non-nationalist forces in the house, surnames reflect the social reality much more faithfully.

Race and religion

When the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) formally dropped race and religion as distinctive traits of the true Basque individual  traits defined by 19th-century party founder Sabino Arana, also considered the father of Basque nationalism  it seemed like ethnic criteria would be increasingly irrelevant in regional politics.

It also stood to reason that radical nationalists, who place the stress on speaking the language and have been more welcoming of foreign-born Basques, would not be stuck on the old nationalist obsession for purity of surnames.

The weight of surnames in nationalist organizations is extremely high, much higher than in Basque society

Yet this new report clearly indicates that the radical political left born out of ETA circles does not lag behind the conservative PNV when it comes to selecting personnel based on their names.

There were no significant differences in the makeup of candidate lists belonging to moderate and radical nationalism, says Montero.

Lopez de Haro

The fact is that many Castilian surnames have been around for centuries. Diego Lopez de Haro, lord of Biscay, founded Bilbao on June 15, 1300. Yet nationalist politicians have always treated Spanish surnames as somehow less genuinely Basque. Surveys show that Basque citizens share this view to some extent, but not enough to grant them political superiority.

In small towns such as Mondragon, population 22,000, half of registered residents bear Spanish surnames, yet there is not one nationalist candidate with a Spanish last name.

In the de facto Basque capital of Vitoria, only seven percent of the population has two Basque surnames, while 26 percent have one and 66 percent have two Castilian surnames. Yet nationalist candidates show percentages of 31 percent, 43 percent and 26 percent, respectively.

The movie 'Ocho Apellidos Vascos' captured the importance of Basque names.

As for appointed officials, in June 2013, when the PNV was in full control of the regional government, practically half of the positions of confidence were awarded to individuals with two Basque surnames.

The former head of the Basque Country University says there are only two explanations for this trend.

Either nationalism makes inroads mostly in a social environment that recognizes the importance of Basque surnames, or else nationalism takes surnames into account when it selects its candidates, he says. There is no possibility of this being a random occurrence.

It does seem true that Basque nationalism has found many followers in rural areas where Basque is spoken at home, and where Basque surnames are much more prevalent than in the cities. But that alone cannot explain the results.

And even outside the Basque Country itself, Basque-sounding surnames seem to convey a greater sense of authenticity  as though representing some kind of uber-Basqueness whose remote origins remain shrouded in mystery.

This feeling was captured to perfection by Ocho Apellidos Vascos (or, Eight Basque Surnames), a 2014 comedy that has become the highest-grossing movie in Spanish film history.

English version by Susana Urra.
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Thu, February 11, 2016

Jakarta Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama has said he may join the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), even though his supporters grouped under Friends of Ahok (Teman Ahok) have collected the required number of photocopied identity cards for him to run as an independent candidate in the upcoming election.



'Maybe we can join the PDI-P, but it depends on the PDI-P,' Ahok said in Jakarta on Thursday as reported by kompas.com. The PDI-P plans to announce its candidate for the Jakarta gubernatorial election in April.



It is a new political stance for Ahok because he previously told activists from Friends of Ahok that he would run as an independent candidate in May if his supporters managed to collect one million photocopies of Jakartans' ID cards.



Ahok said he had communicated with executives of the party, chaired by Megawati Soekarnoputri, about the Jakarta gubernatorial election in 2017. 'Of course, I have talked [about the election] with them,' he said.



Since leaving the Gerindra Party, Ahok is known to have been close to the PDI-P. He met several times with Megawati and was warmly welcomed by party executives when he attended the party's national gathering (Rakernas) last month.



PDI-P election campaign body member Arteria Dahlan said on Tuesday that his party preferred Ahok to potential gubernatorial candidate Bandung Mayor Ridwan Kamil, who is currently the strongest contender, according to a number of surveys.



'Ahok has opened himself [to possible candidacy] and has communicated with the PDI-P. It is part of our [positive] assessment," Arteria said on Tuesday.



Meanwhile, Friends of Ahok spokeswoman Amalia Ayuningtyas expressed hope that Ahok would run as an independent candidate as planned because the group's volunteers had managed to collect more than 600,000 copies of IDs, more than the number required by law to run as an independent candidate.



The wish of many political parties to support Ahok as a gubernatorial candidate is an indication of the governor's popularity, also shown by residents' willingness to provide photocopies of their IDs to the group, Amalia said.



'We, Friends of Ahok, insist that Pak Ahok should run as an independent candidate. We welcome political parties giving their support,' she said, adding that independent candidates would be declared in May. (bbn)(+)
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Linkedin Grace D. Amianti (The Jakarta Post)  Thu, February 11, 2016

Large domestic banks with overseas networks expect that their earnings from international trade financing will continue to grow this year despite the global economic slowdown.



Executives of the banks predict that the fall in exports caused by the global economic slowdown especially in China, one of Indonesia's main trading partners, would not severely hurt their international trade financing business.



Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) president director Achmad Baiquni said the lender, which was one of the country's major players in trade finance, had reviewed the possible impact of China's lower growth on its overall loans.



'We are still optimistic about our trade finance business growing,' Baiquni said in Jakarta recently.



China's economic growth is expected to remain relatively low, with the country's gross domestic product (GDP) seen to increase by only 6.5 percent this year compared to 6.9 percent in 2015.



Due to the global economic slowdown, Indonesia's total exports fell by 14.62 percent last year to US$150.2 billion. Non-oil and gas exports dropped by 9.77 percent to $131.70 billion year on year.



Non-oil and gas exports to China dropped by 19.44 percent to $13.25 billion in 2015 from $16.45 billion in 2014.



Rahmad Hidayat, BNI's head of financial institutions and overseas network, said previously the bank was expecting to double its trade finance business this year in order to increase revenues in the international banking division.



Revenues from international banking, such as fees from trade finance and bank guarantees, contributed almost 5 percent to BNI's total revenues as of last year.



By the end of 2015, loans from BNI's overseas branches also contributed Rp 19.5 trillion (US$1.43 billion), or equal to 6 percent, to the bank's total lending, with a jump of 93.8 percent year-on-year despite the weak global economy.



Rahmad said BNI held a market share of about 10 percent in Indonesia's trade finance business and China would remain the main export destination for the bank's customers.



'Lower national export growth only affected our trade finance volume, but revenues grew by 28.6 percent from trade finance in third quarter last year,' he said.



Another state-owned lender, Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), also maintained a positive outlook for its international banking business, as China's economic growth was expected to be buttressed by monetary and government measures.



BRI finance director Haru Koesmahargyo said the international banking business contributed less than 5 percent to the bank's total revenues but was expected to help boost overall fee-based income.



'Our fee-based income still contributes 7 percent to our total income, but we expect that the growth can be higher than interest income,' he said.



Haru said BRI's international banking business had seen positive growth in revenues, especially from remittance and money-changing services in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan and South Korea.



Voicing a similar view, CIMB Niaga strategy and finance director Wan Razly Abdullah said the bank expected to maintain its annual growth rate at 20 percent in the trade finance business, despite seeing flat growth in volumes due to falling global commodity prices.



Wan Razly said the bank was expecting to enlarge its market share in trade finance this year, as it would offer competitive rates on foreign exchange loans.



'Our remittance operation also continues to grow positively as we have a service called CIMB SpeedSend that helps increase fee-based income from that business,' he said.




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Linkedin Grace D. Amianti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 11, 2016

Layoffs in the banking industry may continue this year, but the number will not be as high as in 2015 when thousands of workers lost their jobs, a senior official from the Financial Services Authority (OJK) has said.



Financial Services Authority (OJK) deputy commissioner for banking supervision Irwan Lubis said in Jakarta on Tuesday there had been massive layoffs in the banking industry last year after some banks took consolidation measures to improve the efficiency of their businesses.



For this year, Irwan predicted that some banks would still have to reduce their workforce, but if they were to do so, the numbers would be far lower than last year.



Last year, several banks decided to offer early retirement programs to their employees as they struggled with rising expenses and falling revenues caused by the country's economic slowdown.



Among the banks that decided to cut back employees were the private lenders Bank Danamon and CIMB Niaga.



Irwan Lubis said the banks had reduced their workforce through voluntary early retirement programs, which offered a special retirement package for their workers. 'The compensation offered by the banks was deemed quite attractive by their employees. More employees applied for the early retirement than the number approved of by their employers,' Irwan said in Jakarta on Tuesday evening.



After enjoying more than 20 percent loan growth for years, domestic banks recorded credit growth of just 10 to 11 percent last year. Furthermore, net profits declined in the face of to numerous economic challenges.



Bank Danamon, the country's sixth largest bank, offered an early retirement program to the employees of its micro-banking unit, Danamon Simpan Pinjam (DSP).



Danamon finance director Vera Eve Lim said the early retirement program was conducted in compliance with prevailing laws and regulations, and the bank had consulted with its labor union.



'In this regard, some 2,000 employees of Danamon Simpan Pinjam participated in the early retirement program in 2015,' Vera said in an email on Tuesday.



She added that Danamon had taken the initiative to strengthen the growth of DSP, which is one of the company's core mass-market businesses.



Publicly-listed CIMB Niaga, part of Malaysia's CIMB financial group, also cut at least 1,700 employees last year through an early retirement program, its strategy and finance director Wan Razly Abdullah said.



Both banks have suffered declines in earnings starting in 2014 and continuing until September last year due to Malaysia's sluggish economic growth.



Danamon saw year-on-year (yoy) net profit declines of 36 percent in 2014, followed with 21 percent yoy, 16 percent yoy and 10 percent yoy declines in the first, second and third quarters of last year, respectively.



The profit declines in Danamon were mainly caused by the country's weak sales in vehicles, as 36 percent of the bank's loans are centered around its auto-financing subsidiary, Adira Finance.



Meanwhile, CIMB Niaga suffered from yoy net profit declines of 45.3 percent in 2014, with 92.4 percent yoy, 91 percent yoy and 88.5 percent yoy declines in the first, second and third quarters, respectively.
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post  Thu, February 11, 2016

Words and photos Agung Parameswara

The Chinese Lunar New Year, which fell on Feb. 8 this year, is celebrated worldwide by millions of Chinese people, who this year are welcoming the Year of the Monkey, based on the Chinese zodiac.



Bali was no exception. Over hundreds of years, the island has welcomed many Chinese people, who have since grown roots here and some of whom have married local residents. Chinese influences on Bali's traditional arts, dances, architecture and fashion are clearly seen in daily life.



At Vihara Dharmayana temple in Kuta, lavish decorations were in place to celebrate the holiday season. The smell of fragrant burning incense filled the temple, piles of beautiful fresh fruit offerings were placed on tables to honor the ancestral deities and red and gold lanterns were hung all over the temple to signify wealth and prosperity.



Red is most often used for decorations and costumes as it is believed to ward off evil, is closely associated with luck and also symbolizes a new start.



Although Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, fell on Monday, people had already been celebrating for a few days. On New Year's Eve, hundreds of people of Chinese descent held a special celebration, locally known as ngelawang - a dragon and lion dance parade that is part of the rituals to eliminate negative forces and welcome the New Year.



In Indonesia, the lion dance, often called barongsai, is performed by two dancers, while the dragon dance is performed by many. The dragon dance is believed to bring good luck to the community.



On Sunday, the lion and dragon dance parade started from the temple and headed toward Kuta. Hundreds of people took part, carrying offerings and placing them at every street corner to balance nature and remove bad spirits.



The parade returned to the temple in the evening, when people started to pray for health and wealth in the Year of the Monkey, the ninth animal sign in the Chinese zodiac, which is expected to bring greater prosperity to people around the world.
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Linkedin Tama Salim, Wahyoe Boediwardhana and Ina Parlina (The Jakarta Post) Malang  Thu, February 11, 2016

Indonesia will no longer buy military planes from Brazil if the investigation into Wednesday's Super Tucano aircraft crash confirms an engine defect was responsible, particularly as various irregularities surrounded the plane's purchase.



The light-attack and trainer turboprop aircraft, made by Sao Paolo-based Embraer S.A., crashed into a house in a densely populated area of Malang in East Java during a test flight, killing the pilot, an onboard technician and two people in the building.



Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said that while the crash would not impact the delivery of the remaining four aircraft of the same type from Brazil, the government would closely monitor their quality.



'If the engine turns out to be the problem, we will definitely sever future purchases,' said Ryamizard after a meeting with House of Representatives Commission I overseeing defense.



Ryamizard also said he would need to strengthen regulations pertaining to the procurement of military equipment should there be evidence pointing to engineering flaws.



In 2010, the Defense Ministry signed a US$284 million contract with Embraer to build a squadron of 16 Super Tucanos to replace its OV-10 Bronco aircraft that have been in service for three decades.



However, a string of delays in the aircraft's delivery annoyed the ministry in 2014, forcing it to lodge a protest with Brazil, telling Embraer to pay the maximum penalty of around $7 million to compensate for the delay.



According to then defense minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro, all 16 aircraft should have been received by Indonesia before October 2014 as stated in the contract. As of this month, only 12 aircraft have arrived, including the crashed one.



Another disturbing fact in the delivery process revolved around allegations by Ryamizard that the crashed aircraft was apparently produced in 2003, seven years before Indonesia placed its order.



Commission I member TB Hasanudin demanded the government be transparent with the findings of the investigation as it was unusual for the plane to crash after lodging only around 300 flying hours.



'The crash gives credence to reports of irregularities,' said the retired Army general.



The spokesman for Abdurahman Saleh Airbase in Malang, Maj. Sus Hamdi Londong Allo, said the aircraft, widely used in counterinsurgency operations worldwide, made its last contact with flight control at 9:59 a.m. local time.



Hamdi said the plane recently underwent routine maintenance for two days after notching up 300 flying hours. It crashed on the house of Mujianto, on Jl. Laksda Adi Sucipto XII, around 8 kilometers from the airbase.



Among the deceased were the plane's pilot Maj. Ivy Safatillah, technician Sergeant Maj. Saiful and two civilians, Irma Wahyuningtyas, Mujianto's wife, and their tenant Nurcholis.



The pilot was found in a critical condition after ejecting pre-impact and was rushed to the Abdurrahman Saleh Airbase Hospital where he later died.



Eyewitness Junaedi, Mujianto's relative, revealed that the house into which the aircraft crashed had been occupied by seven people.



However, at the time of the crash, only Mujianto, Irma and Nurcholis were inside. 'Irma was doing her laundry when the plane crashed onto the house and Nurcholis was in his room,' Junaedi said.



Irma and Nurcholis were rushed to the nearby hospital, but were pronounced dead upon arrival.



The incident adds to a long list of military aviation accidents in Indonesia. In most cases commanding officers have not been held accountable and the results of crash investigations have never been made available to the public.



In December last year two pilots were killed when their T-50 Golden Eagle fighter plane crashed in Central Java while performing manoeuvres.



In June last year a Hercules C-130 crashed into a residential neighborhood in Medan, North Sumatra, killing 142 people, including civilians on the ground, and causing widespread devastation.

________________________________

Military aircraft crashes



March 15, 2015: Two KT-1B Wongbee planes from an Indonesian aerobatics team collide during a practice session before an



air show on Malaysia's Langkawi Island. The four pilots were able to eject and parachute to safety.



April 16, 2015: An F-16 jet fighter bursts into flames before takeoff at an event held to honor President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo. The pilot suffered only minor injuries.



June 30, 2015: A C-130 Hercules military aircraft crashes in a residential area shortly after takeoff from a nearby Air Force base in Medan, North Sumatra. All 122 people onboard, mostly service men and women and their families, died, along with 20 civilians on the ground.



Dec 20, 2015: An T-50i Golden Eagle jet fighter trainer crashes as it conducted an aerobatics maneuver during an air show at Adisutjipto Military Airbase in Yogyakarta. Both pilot and co-pilot were killed.

______________________________________________

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Linkedin Erika Anindita Dewi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 11, 2016

The House of Representatives on Thursday canceled a plenary session at which the deliberation of a revision to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Law was set to begin after the Democratic Party joined the Gerindra Party in opposing the revision.

"We agreed to postpone the plenary meeting until Feb. 18," said Supratman Andi Agtas, the House legislation body (Baleg) chairman.

All members of the legislation body, except those from Gerindra, agreed to the 12 points of an amendment to Law No. 30/2002 on the KPK on Monday, but the Democratic Party retracted its agreement after the party's chairman, Susilo Bambanga Yudhoyono, ordered the party's lawmakers to oppose the revision.

Besides the KPK Law revision, several others would resume being deliberated, said Supratman.

The bill on the revision was approved by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), along with the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), Hanura Party, Golkar Party, National Awakening Party (PKB), National Mandate Party (PAN), United Development Party (PPP) and NasDem Party. Except the PKS, the parties are all members of the ruling collation.

Among the controversial new articles in the amendment are the formation of a KPK supervisory body, limits on KPK investigators' power to wiretap and the right for the KPK to stop investigations if they do not have adequate evidence.

Anticorruption activists have expressed concern that amending the KPK Law will only weaken the anti-corruption body. (bbn)
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post  Thu, February 11, 2016

The Democratic Party (PD) has joined Gerindra in opposition to amending the Corruption Eradication (KPK) Law, which has been proposed by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and supported by all other members of the ruling coalition.



PD chairman Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has reportedly instructed all lawmakers from the party to oppose amending the KPK Law, although in previous meetings in the House of Representatives' legislation body (Baleg), PD representatives had expressed their agreement to the revision.



"Bapak [Yudhoyono] has said it is not timely to revise the law. It is too sensitive. In fact, corruption cases are still rampant. Therefore, Bapak instructed me as a Baleg member to oppose the revision," said Ruhut Sitompul, a PD lawmaker, on Thursday as quoted by kompas.com.



Ruhut, who said Yudhoyono's instruction was made on Wednesday, would explain the party's stance during the House's plenary session on Thursday. "I will fight in the plenary session, it is up to the people to decide," Ruhut added.



Among the controversial new articles that will be included in the amendment are the formation of a KPK supervisory body, limits placed on the power to wiretap by KPK investigators and allowing the KPK to stop investigations if they do not have adequate evidence.



Anticorruption activists have expressed concern that amending the KPK Law will only weaken the anti-corruption body.



Gerindra has long voiced its opposition to amending the law. "We, the Gerindra faction, have voiced our opinion that the moves to amend the KPK Law should stop immediately," said Baleg member Aryo Djojohadikusumo from Gerindra on Wednesday.



All the points of amendment would undermine the KPK, said Aryo at a meeting of the legislation body.



The PD has since the elections in 2014 stressed its position as "a balancing party". Meanwhile Gerindra currently stands alone with the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) as opposition parties after members of the Red and While Coalition (KMP) have steadily defected from that coalition to join the ruling coalition. (bbn) (+)
Police remove the body of David Byrne from the Regency Hotel in Dublin. CLODAGH KILCOYNE (REUTERS)

At 2pm last Friday afternoon, three men armed with Kalashnikovs walked into the Regency Hotel in Dublin disguised as Irish police special forces. They proceeded to the stage area where boxer Jamie Kavanagh was posing for the cameras at the weigh-in ahead of his fight with Portugals Joao Bento the next day. The WBO European lightweight title bout, which was subsequently canceled, had been dubbed The Clash of the Clans. For once, the hype was to match reality. Their target was 32-year-old David Byrne, who worked for a Costa del Sol-based Dublin gangster. The gunmen opened fire, causing panic in the room as people tried to flee or ducked for cover, killing Byrne and wounding several others.

At least six people took part in the shooting, including a man armed with a revolver who accessed the area disguised as a woman

The Irish police say the shooting is the latest incident in a long-running feud between two of Europes bloodiest gangs over the control of Irelands heroin, cocaine and pills trade. And it is a fight that is also taking place in Spain. The gunfight at the Regency  one more of hundreds of gangland killings that have taken place in Dublin over the last 15 years  has exploded amid the campaign for the Irish general election on February 26.

Security cameras in the hotels reception area show the gunmen, who were unidentifiable, wearing balaclavas, helmets and bullet-proof jackets. The attack was carried out with military precision. At least six people took part, including a man armed with a revolver who accessed the area disguised as a woman, wearing a gray dress and blonde wig.

Byrnes killing was allegedly ordered by Gerry Hutch, also known as the Monk, who police suspect of controlling the drugs supply in the north of the Irish capital. In the opposite corner of this bloody clash of the clans is Christy Kinahan, who police say runs the drugs trade in the southern half of Dublin from his base on the Costa del Sol. In the middle are their hired guns, who have unleashed an increasingly bloody war. Among the victims is Gerard Kavanagh, the father of the would-be European lightweight, who was killed in a shootout two years ago in Spain.

The war erupted again when Gary Hutch, the 34-year-old nephew of the man who runs the north side of Dublin, was gunned down next to the swimming pool of an apartment block in Marbella in September. The police suspect Kinahan ordered the killing of the younger Hutch, a convicted drug trafficker, after an argument over a deal with South American criminals. The Monk, the victims uncle, swore vengeance.

Police outside the property where the second shooting took place on Monday. CLODAGH KILCOYNE (REUTERS)

The Irish police say the Regency shooting was a simple act of revenge. The Monk may recently have teamed up with a Scottish gang based in Spain that intends to take over Kinahans Spanish operations.

A new twist to the story came on Monday morning when the BBC received a call from a man saying he was a member of the so-called Continuity IRA, claiming that the organization, which has refused to give up the armed struggle to create a united Ireland, was responsible for the attack. The caller said Byrnes murder was in retaliation for his involvement in the death four years ago of Alan Ryan, a member of another dissident IRA faction, adding that more killings would follow against drug traffickers and criminals. The BBC says it has been unable to verify the identity of the caller. On Monday evening, another supposed spokesman for the Continuity IRA issued a statement denying the organizations involvement in Byrnes death.

For the moment, the police say they are not ruling anything out, but still believe the shooting was part of the long-running turf war.

A heavy police presence in Dublin was unable to prevent retaliation, and on Monday evening, four armed men burst into a house in the north of the city and pumped five shots into a man that the Irish Independent has identified as a 50-year-old taxi driver named Eddie Hutch, the brother of Gerry The Monk Hutch.
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Linkedin George Barber (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 11, 2016

This article was written in response to the two interesting articles that have been written by Madjedi Hasan, a director of PT Pranata Energi Nusantara, which was titled 'Indonesia's Oil and Gas Paradigm Shift' and 'Additional Incentives to Accelerate Oil, Gas Exploration'.



Both articles relay the same message, 'Indonesia needs to do more to attract investment'.



The minister of energy and minerals has stated that Indonesia needs to carry out exploration and it needs to attract investment. This has led to groups and individuals stating the same message, although, making statements is different to making things happen.



The government has said that it plans to accelerate oil and gas exploration by providing fiscal incentives. This statement was made by Andang Bachtiar, the head of the National Committee for Exploration (KEN) in a press conference that was attended by Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said.



KEN has recommended that the exploration period is accelerated from six-10 years to three-and-a-half years by providing financial incentives, progressive production splits and simplifying permits.



It is difficult to see how this time frame can be met if other methods of exploration are not accepted and used.



Exploration takes time, especially in the remote areas of Indonesia, no amount of incentives can reduce the time that it takes to physically carry out exploration by traditional methods.



Madjedi stated that that there are still considerable prospects for new oil and gas reserves in Indonesia, particularly in the deep seas and remote areas. The problem with this statement is, no one knows. Why is this? Detailed exploration in many parts of Indonesia has not been carried out, not only in the potential basins offshore but also the potential blocks and concession areas onshore.



Madjedi also stated Indonesia still depends largely on foreign capital for the oil and gas business in view of the high risks involved.



Traditional exploration methods are extremely expensive and come with a high risk, therefore, the pace of investment is well short of hopes and expectations, especially if the investor has to pay all of the costs for exploration with a high risk of discovering non-commercial resources or even nothing.



Indonesia needs to provide a catalyst for the explorer and investor to bring their capital to Indonesia. That catalyst should be in the form of confidence building data and indications of prospect.



Financial incentives are not enough, many of the large companies do not need finance incentives, they have sufficient finances to take their business to more attractive countries where the cost of production is far less, and the terms and conditions are far more conducive to good business practices.



It is acknowledged that Indonesia is not the hardest country to work in, but neither is it one of the easiest. Flexibility for change is a must; knowledge of what resources the country has is a must.



How does Indonesia get into a position where investors will be interested? This is a hard question to answer as there are so many areas that have been recommended for change, but the two main areas are: knowing what potential resources are contained in any given area and reducing the bureaucracy, risk and the cost of doing business.



Indonesia should compare the cost of oil and gas production with the production cost of countries in the Middle East, Europe and Africa. Doing business in Indonesia is much more expensive and risky, due to ambiguous and variable interpolations of the governments regulations/bureaucracy and the third party costs for nearly all services provided.



In exploration, risk in the form of time, expense and success are a given. 'The key is to manage the risk effectively, which means that we need to use all the tools available in the modern explorer's tool box, which includes traditional and unconventional methods.'



Technology is part of the answer for successful exploration of the smaller, deeper and harder to find resources.

__________________________



Indonesia is not the hardest country to work in, but neither is it one of the easiest.



Technology will dramatically reduce the time, cost and risk before applying more expensive traditional exploration tools such as seismic and exploratory drilling.



By pre-staging conventional exploration with unconventional tools, one focuses precious exploration finances on high-probability targets, which in turn will achieve higher returns on investment.



It is normal that 80 percent of a given area does not contain resources, the 20 percent of the

area that may have potential needs to be defined prior to the traditional exploration tools being deployed.



These tools become tools of confirmation instead of exploration tools.



Very few companies can afford to carry out a full 3-D seismic survey of a large area, therefore, it makes economic sense that a 3-D survey is carried out on high profile targets, which in turn reduces the risk of drilling a dry hole that may cost US$50 million or more.



Equally, the cost of carrying out a seismic survey in Papua is expensive, time-consuming and detrimental to the environment.



All finance managers consider costs, but do they consider the cost of drilling noncommercial or

dry holes? The costs of using unconventional methods incorporated with traditional methods far outweigh the costs of unproductive holes.



Drilling is an accepted risk but this risk needs to be reduced. Seismic has provided and continues to provide enormous value to the industry, but it has its limitations, especially in the geological challenging areas of Indonesia.



Greater productivity with less risk is within our grasp if new technologies are leveraged.



Nothing is full proof or guaranteed in life, but in a business that spends an enormous amount of money every year on areas that will never produce a drop of oil or a whiff of gas, wouldn't it benefit all parties involved to reduce some of that waste?



Even if new technologies provide only marginal incremental improvements in productivity, the gains are still enormous.



Indonesia needs to increase their knowledge of the resources they believe they have for the whole country, provinces, regions, unexplored oil basins such as the 22 unexplored basins in Eastern Indonesia, areas with geothermal potential, unexplored areas for minerals, areas which are covered by jungle without causing environmental damage, volcanic areas, green field, brown field areas, oil blocks that have produced can also be explored for potential oil that remains (because it does). The potential is there.



A more intelligent strategy is needed to reach the potential and meet the claim that Indonesia is 'rich in resources'.

_____________________________________



The writer, a hydrographic surveyor by background, worked in the Royal Navy for 24 years and has been involved in various projects in Indonesia for the past 22 years.
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Thu, February 11, 2016

Jakarta Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama has issued a new regulation that will require city administration officials to wear white shirts and black trousers or skirts instead of the old green uniforms starting next week.



The change of uniform has been stipulated in newly issued Home Affairs Ministry Regulation No. 6/2016 on the third revision of Home Affairs Ministry Regulation No. 60/2007 on civil servants' uniforms. The regulation was issued on Feb. 6.



'We will apply it next week, so we will not see any green uniforms except when we have ceremonies,' Ahok said Wednesday as quoted by tempo.co.



He added that the new regulation would not be a burden for city officials as he was certain that most of them had at least one white shirt. 'During inauguration ceremonies they always wear white shirts and a suit,' he said.
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Bekasi  Thu, February 11, 2016

A housewife in Bekasi, West Java, has thwarted an attempted robbery by grabbing a gun from the robber.



reportedly on Tuesday evening, Nuraini Aris Aritonang, 54, was involved in a fight with one of four robbers who tried to steal a motorcycle from her son, Bagus Aditya Aritonang, in front of her house in Jatibening, Pondok Gede.



Nuraini reportedly tried to seize a gun that a robber was using to threaten Bagus.



'During the attempt, the robber fired the gun five times but Nuraini eventually managed to take it,' said a neighbor, Awang, 34, to tempo.co on Wednesday. 'The four robbers then ran away with only one motorcycle, leaving their other motorcycle.'



tempo.co reported that the shootings left Bagus with minor injuries to his thigh and head.



Pondok Gede Police chief Comr. Sukadi confirmed the incident. He said that Nuraini was brave enough to fight the robbers back due to her family background being closely related to the police.



'She is the younger sister of Central Java Police chief, Insp. Gen. Edward Aritonang,' Sukardi said as quoted by wartakotalive.com on Wednesday.



He added that the police were now looking for the suspects.
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Linkedin Tama Salim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 11, 2016

Lawmakers have criticized the government for lacking a unified approach in dealing with separatism in Papua, the country's easternmost province.



Members of the House of Representatives' Commission I, which oversees defense and foreign affairs, blasted the Foreign Ministry for not doing enough to counter public relation campaigns conducted by separatist groups from Papua, which they said were slowly garnering support abroad.



'There is a sense that their struggle for independence is gaining momentum ever since Benny Wenda's group launched its human rights-themed campaign overseas,' Democratic Party lawmaker Darizal Basir said, referring to the controversial leader and founder of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), a separatist group that has garnered worldwide attention since gaining the approval of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu in South Africa last year.



The ministry, which had so far avoided addressing the issue, dismissed the allegation that separatist groups in Papua were gaining ground.



'I think it's too early to say that their leader is Benny Wenda, because [the separatist groups] are still very fragmented,' Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said in a hearing with Commission I on Tuesday.



'Benny Wenda flying the ULMWP flag does not necessarily represent the aspirations or struggles of our friends [in Papua],' she said, before asking leaders of Commission I to turn the hearing into a closed-door session due to the sensitivity of the subject.



Commission I chairman Mahfudz Siddiq further berated the government for what he considered a failure to conduct damage control on the issue of Papuan separatism.



Mahfudz further urged the Foreign Ministry to take the initiative in coordinating its public relations campaign with other government agencies.



Mahfudz said the ministry could work with the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) to broker a deal that would allow members of separatist groups to give up their cause.



'BIN has already struck a deal that made waves abroad. If that doesn't work out, I'm wary of the impact it might have on [the government's efforts]. This might become fodder for the separatists,' the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) lawmaker said on Tuesday.



Late last month, 10 former members of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) met with intelligence chief Sutiyoso in Jakarta to seek an amnesty and living assistance in exchange for turning themselves in to the authorities.



Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut B. Pandjaitan said in response that the government would consider the request and would promote dialogue with the group.



In January, President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo instructed his cabinet to prioritize a soft approach in handling separatism, over the hard approach that involves force and firearms.



Separately, international relations analyst Adriana Elisabeth of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) warned the government against underestimating the conflict in Papua.



'This problem has been brewing for years, so I think as the highest political symbol, the President should make a point of engaging in more concrete work that would politically open up room for dialogue,' Adriana told the Post.
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Linkedin Erika Anindita (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 11, 2016

The House of Representatives ethics council has said it will work with the National Police Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) in processing a case of assault allegedly perpetrated by House lawmaker Masinto Pasaribu against one of his staff members, Dita Aditia Ismawati.



"We will coordinate with the police, exploring what evidence they have found so far in the case," ethics council deputy chairman Sufmi Dasco Ahmad said on Wednesday. Dita reported Masinton to the police for allegedly punching her in the eye on Jan. 30. She underwent questioning on the case at Bareskrim on Feb. 4.



Dita also reported her case to the Legal Aid Foundation of Indonesian Women's Association for Justice (LBH APIK) and the National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) to seek their support. On Feb. 3, LBH APIK reported the case to the House ethics council and requested it investigate, saying it was important as it allegedly involved a House lawmaker.



Dasco said the report from the LBH APIK was among cases the ethics council would discuss in its weekly meeting on Thursday.



As earlier reported, Dita claimed that Masinton, a lawmaker from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), hit her twice when she was traveling in the politician's car after leaving a cafA in Central Jakarta on Jan. 21.



Masinton, a member of House Commission III overseeing law and human rights, repeatedly denied the allegations, saying the bruises on Dita's face resulted from unintentional contact with the driver of the vehicle. Dita claimed she and Masinton were the only people in the car when the incident occurred. (ebf)(+)
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Thu, February 11, 2016

Indonesia's government has demanded that instant messaging apps remove stickers featuring same-sex couples, in the latest high-profile attempt to discourage visible homosexuality in the socially conservative country.

The government move comes after a social media backlash against the popular smartphone messaging app Line for having stickers with gay themes in its online store.

Information and Communication Ministry spokesman Ismail Cawidu said Thursday that social media and messaging platforms should drop stickers expressing support for the LGBT community, a common abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.

Homosexuality is not illegal in Indonesia, but remains a sensitive issue in the Muslim-majority nation. At the same time, most of Indonesian society, which follows a moderate form of Islam, is tolerant, with gay and transsexual entertainers often appearing on television shows.
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Linkedin Hans Nicholas Jong (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 11, 2016

The government is planning to locate the country's first waste-based power plant in Jakarta in a bid to end the acute garbage problems that have bedevilled the country over the last few years.



The government plans to build incinerators to turn waste into energy in seven cities, namely Jakarta, Bandung, Tangerang, Semarang, Surabaya, Surakarta and Makassar.



However, the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) said that building incinerators had many health and environmental costs and listed Jakarta as the only city that could run the project.



'Jakarta's problem [with waste] is already chronic, but as for the other cities, it's not yet needed [to build incinerators],' BPPT waste researcher Sri Wahyono said at the agency's headquarters in Central Jakarta on Wednesday.



Sri said that Jakarta was the only city ready to implement the system, which was very costly.



'Jakarta has the financial capability to pay the Rp 400,000 [US$29] needed to process a ton of waste. In Japan, the cost to turn a ton of waste into energy is already Rp 1,000,000. But what about other cities? They don't have such a huge regional budget. They're only capable of paying Rp 80,000 per ton at most,'

he said.



However, the government has already drafted a presidential regulation (Perpres) as a legal basis for the policy.



President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo previously said that the government would ease permit issuance procedures for waste to energy (W2E) investors.



'Like it or not, the regional governments have to allocate part of their budget [to operate the incinerators] because the Perpres will be issued,' BPPT environmental technology center head Rudi Nugroho said on Wednesday.



He admitted that the waste problems in the six cities other than Jakarta were not as acute as those in Jakarta, where residents still rely heavily on the Bantar Gebang landfill in Bekasi to handle the city's 6,700 tons of daily garbage.



Environment and Forestry Ministry director-general for dangerous toxic materials and waste management Tuti Hendrawati Mintarsih said the ministry would proceed with the plan by conducting feasibility studies, such as emission standardization tests and environmental impact studies.



Karliansyah, the ministry's environmental pollution and damage control director-general, said that his team would only need three months to complete the emission standardization tests.



However, he admitted that measuring emissions from burned waste was not easy due to the characteristics of waste, which varied wildly.



'If we're talking about coal, we know for sure how much we get. But waste differs. That's our challenge,' he said.



Karliansyah also said that the ministry had not recommended the use of incinerators to deal with waste in the past due to the characteristic of waste in Indonesia.



'Indonesia's waste is mostly organic. It is moist. So why burn it? It's just a waste of energy,' he said.



According to the Asian Development Bank, incineration has limited use for municipal solid waste and has not had much success in the developing cities across Asia.
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Linkedin Dewanti A. Wardhani and Safrin La Batu (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 11, 2016

The Jakarta administration is set to flatten the semipermanent structures that make up the Kalijodo area, home to the city's largest red-light district, to make way for green spaces.



The plan to clear the area has been revived in the wake of an accident on Monday that led to the deaths of four people. In the incident, Riki Agung Prasetyo hit a motorcycle in front of him; he was allegedly drunk alcohol in Kalijodo.



Buildings in Kalijodo, which straddle North and West Jakarta, have been knocked down on several occasions, including once in 2003, but the area's pimps and sex workers have continued their trade regardless.



Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama said that the plan to clear Kalijiodo had been on the city's agenda for a while, noting that buildings in the area were built on designated green space regulated and overseen by the administration.



In a 2007 bylaw on public order, individuals and organizations are prohibited from occupying green spaces.



'We will send letters to local people telling them to clear the area,' Ahok told reporters at City Hall Wednesday.



The city administration, he said, planned to develop the area into its initial purpose as an open green space, adding that the city would not provide for the displaced pimps and sex workers.



Separately on Wednesday, Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Tito Karnavian said the police were ready to help the administration to evict the residents of the red-light district.



'The administration will decide whether to go ahead with the plan. In principle, we are ready to help,' Tito said.



Kalijodo, also a gambling hot spot, is home to thousands of sex workers, brothel owners and petty criminals.



The district has been known as a red-light district since the 1930s, when the city, then called Batavia, was under Dutch rule. At that time, the red-light district was home mostly to Chinese prostitutes, but now the majority are ethnic Indonesians.



Besides prostitution and gambling, the area has in the past seen sectarian conflict.



In 2013, a brawl pitting Makassarese against Mandarese, with stones thrown and arrows fired, ended with 13 people hospitalized with severe injuries.



Effort to rid the area of prostitution began in 1998 when then governor Sutiyoso knocked down the semipermanent structures used as brothels. Brothel owners and sex workers left the area, but returned not long afterwards and recommenced their trade.



The administration, still under Sutiyoso, cleared the area once more in 2003. Police officers deployed to the area faced resistance from some residents, but the eviction process went ahead as planned.



The plan to rid Kalijodo of prostitution has reemerged under the Ahok administration; clearing was initially planned for last year, but was delayed, according to Ahok, because the city was prioritizing the eviction of people living on the banks of the Ciliwung River to allow the central government to widen the river and build concrete embankments.
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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 11, 2016

The police plan to submit the case dossier of Jessica Kumala Wongso, a suspect of premeditated murder of Wayan Mirna Salihin, to the Jakarta prosecutor's office next week.



Police investigators were still busy completing the dossier, which, among other things, would contain the investigation report, expert assessments, reports on crime scene reconstructions and on pieces of evidences, Jakarta Police general crimes chief Sr. Comr. Krishna Murti told journalists on Thursday.



"We are making a summary of the dossier. We will note crucial points of the case and analyze them," he added.



Jakarta Police has also submitted an application to extend the detention of Jessica for another 20 days to the prosecutors' office.



Jessica, who shared a table with Mirna and Hani at Olivier cafA in Central Jakarta during the incident, is suspected of pouring cyanide into the iced coffee drunk by Mirna, who died on her way to hospital after consuming the coffee.



Jessica has denied allegations of being involved in the death of her friend. The police claim to have strong enough evidence to name her a suspect but have not revealed any motive for the alleged murder.



'The police are not required to reveal the motive; instead the police are only required to describe the elements of the criminal act,' Krishna added. (bbn)(+)
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Thu, February 11, 2016

Students in Kediri in East Java have been banned from celebrating Valentine's Day in any form as the romantic celebration of love is considered by some in the city to be antithetical to Indonesia's culture and morality.

Kediri Education Agency head Siswanto said the leaders of the city's elementary, junior and senior high schools had gathered to discuss the matter and an official letter had been sent out to ensure that no event would be conducted celebrating the occasion in any form.

"Valentine's Day is not in line with Indonesia's culture and morality," said Siswanto as quoted by Antara news agency on Thursday.

The Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) will increase patrols at popular hangout spots often visited by young people, including boarding houses and hotels.

Besides Kediri, Banda Aceh in Aceh has also banned students from celebrating Valentine's Day. The occasion is deemed haram, or forbidden, because it is not in line with the teachings and values of Islam. (cal/kes)
Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez is trying to build an alternative coalition that will leave out the PP. JuanJo Martin (EFE)

Faced with continuing warnings by the acting government about the ills that will befall Spain if the next executive fails to include the Popular Party (PP), other parties are telling the conservatives to stop their campaign of fear.

The Socialists (PSOE), the anti-austerity group Podemos, the pro-market Ciudadanos and the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) have all spoken out against claims that an alternative governing alliance will dry up foreign investment and mark a return of terrorist violence by Basque group ETA.

Stop all the vileness, said the Socialist spokesman in Congress, Antonio Hernando.

The terrorist organization has been liquidated, and this type of statement makes it look like some people yearn for the previous situation

The PPs de facto campaign against an alternative bloc comes after Socialist secretary general Pedro Sanchez was tasked to try to form a government following inconclusive elections on December 20.

Although the PP received the most votes, it fell short of an absolute majority, and winning candidate Mariano Rajoy recently declined to bid for reinstatement due to lack of congressional support.

The acting prime minister is hoping that Sanchez will fail to build a strong enough alliance of his own, and be ultimately forced into a grand coalition with the PP.

In the meantime, Rajoys team has been putting out the word that if the PP is left out of office, the economy and national security will suffer.

Acting foreign minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo is one of the PP members who are alerting about the risks of a leftist government in Spain. Sergio Barrenechea (EFE)

Specifically, Spains commitment to the fight against terrorism will decline if a leftist alliance takes over: ETA is awaiting that kind of government like a godsend, said Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz in a recent interview.

Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo, speaking in Rome on Tuesday, added that a coalition between Sanchez and Pablo Iglesias of Podemos would hurt Spains commitment against Jihadism.

And Economy Minister Luis de Guindos noted that if Podemos joins the government or there is a government supported by Podemos, there would be uncertainty in the same markets where we have to raise a lot of funds.

Finally, Industry Minister Jose Manuel Soria noted that investors would not place a single euro in Spain out of fears of seeing a Greek-like crisis in Spain, as Podemos once defined itself a a sister party to Syriza.

In response, the Socialist Party has demanded public explanations from these ministers. Cesar Luena, the Socialist leaders top aide, has told the PP to keep itself in check and asked Mariano Rajoy to put his ministers in their place.

Smaller parties complain

Other parties have joined in the complaints. Podemos number two official Inigo Errejon on Wednesday criticized using terrorism as a political tool.

Some issues, such as terrorism, are too serious to try to use them as an electoral weapon, he said.

The PNV spokesman, Aitor Esteban, was equally critical. The terrorist organization has been liquidated, and this type of statement makes it look like some people are yearning for the previous situation, he said.

Ciudadanos, which is trying to mediate between the PP and PSOE to get a government up and running, reminded the conservatives that it is foolish and somewhat disloyal to Spain to keep sending out apocalyptic messages, even if theyre about future scenarios, to foreign leaders and to our European partners, in the words of congressional spokesman Juan Carlos Girauta.

English version by Susana Urra.
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Linkedin Haeril Halim and Ina Parlina (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 11, 2016

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) leaders have dropped a plan to dislodge investigator Novel Baswedan following an order from President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo to settle Novel's assault case without any back-room deals.



KPK chairman Agus Rahardjo, who earlier hinted at Novel's possible 'expulsion' from the KPK following the Attorney General's Office's (AGO) decision to pull Novel's case from the Bengkulu District Court, said on Wednesday that he had received the President's instruction and that the KPK would comply with it.



'I support [the order] of the President. It is a positive gesture. The case should be settled without any deals. Novel will stay with the KPK,' he said.



Novel himself has earlier expressed dissatisfaction over the KPK leaders' plan to offer him a position outside of the KPK.



KPK deputy chairman Saut Situmorang previously asked Novel to resign to minimize possible future conflict between the institution and the National Police.



Since Novel resigned from the National Police and became a KPK investigator, he has been involved in several high-profile investigations against top police officers, including former police traffic corps chief Insp. Gen. Djoko Susilo.



In a show of revenge, the police in 2012 opened an assault case against Novel, accusing him of shooting suspects when he was serving as an officer at Bengkulu police in 2004.



Then president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono asked the police to drop the investigation to avoid worsening the standoff between the KPK and the police.



However, the Police reopened the case when the KPK and the police entered another standoff in January 2015 following the KPK's decision to name Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan a bribery suspect.



Despite the KPK's recent assault case withdrawal, Novel remains in limbo because the AGO has yet to officially drop the case, a situation that antigraft campaigners deem leaves room for negotiation between the KPK, the AGO and the police.



Agus called on the AGO to drop Novel's case to comply with the President's order, saying 'It is not us who make the decision, but the AGO.'



In addition to Novel, the National Police also named former KPK chairman Abraham Samad and his deputy Bambang Widjojanto suspects in separate cases during the 2015 standoff, presumably because they both signed investigation warrants for Budi's case.



The National Police sent both the dossiers of Abraham and Bambang to the AGO last year but their cases were left in limbo due to the AGO's indecision on when it would take the two cases to court for trial.



Separately, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan emphasized on Wednesday that Jokowi wanted the three cases to be settled with certainty immediately.



'Of course [there will be certainty for Novel] as the President wants certainty,' Luhut said.



Although he stopped short of commenting on the alleged deal between leaders of the KPK, the AGO and the National Police, Luhut said he believed there was no such swap over Novel's case.



Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo confirmed on Wednesday that his office had yet to make a decision to stop Novel's case, saying 'we are still studying [Novel's] dossiers', adding that the AGO would also consider reviewing Abraham and Bambang's dossiers.



Previously, the palace has stated that Jokowi ordered the AGO to immediately settle the cases and let the AGO work on the mechanism, whether through a deponering (dropping a case in the public interest) or issuing a letter ordering prosecution be stopped (SP3).
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post  Thu, February 11, 2016

The alcohol industry has called on the House of Representatives to draft a bill that would become the legal basis to regulate the distribution of alcoholic beverages in society.



If such a bill was passed into law, it would allow regulators to control and monitor the distribution of such beverages, rather than totally banning the commodity, said Indonesian Malt Beverage Producers Association (GIMMI) executive committee member Bambang Britono on Wednesday as quoted by kompas.com.



What Indonesia needed was comprehensive regulations on the chain of production and the marketing of alcoholic beverages instead of total prohibition because there was no reason to completely ban liquor, Bambang added.



"Research findings from the Health Ministry's research and the development agency as well as the WHO have indicated that there is no alcohol emergency issue in Indonesia," Bambang said on Wednesday as quoted on kompas.com, adding that the results had shown low levels of alcoholic consumption in the country.



Indonesia Spirit and Wine Alliance (ISWA) spokesman Ipung Nimpuno made a similar statement, saying that the US National Prohibition Act, commonly known as the Volstead Act, which prohibited the production, importation, distribution and sale of alcohol between 1920 and 1933 was an example of how such a law failed to reduce alcohol consumption.



"What actually happened was a rise in crime and the growth of mafia organizations who smuggled alcoholic drinks," Ipung said.



Ipung said proper control and monitoring would provide greater certainty in regulating the alcoholic drinks sector in Indonesia.



Indonesian Alcoholic Beverage Entrepreneurs Association (APMBI) spokesman Stevanus voiced his concern about the public perception of oplosan (bootleg liquor), which could become an alternative to properly made alcoholic drinks.



"For us, oplosan is not alcohol but poison. Oplosan is not a beverage because the ingredients are not for consumption, unlike an alcoholic drink," he said.



The APMBI has conducted a number of campaigns to raise public awareness of the dangers of bootleg liquor in several areas including Bali and Surabaya. The organization is aiming to collaborate with the government to educate the public and reach a wider audience.



House of Representatives' inquiry committee (Pansus) member Abdul Fikri, who is a Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) lawmaker, said the committee would take into consideration all the input from the alcohol industry.



He said the alcohol prohibition bill was still very simple and needed further contributions from various parties. "The point is how can we organize, provide security and save the younger generation. That is our objective," he said. (liz/bbn)(+)
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Linkedin Nurul Fitri Ramadhani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 11, 2016

In spite of several interfaith conflicts, a government survey has found that the country does enjoy religious harmony, especially in regions where Muslims are the minority.



The Religious Affairs Ministry released results on Wednesday from the latest inter-religious harmony (KUB) index, announcing a national score of 75.36 out of 100.



The national survey informing the index was conducted from June to December last year with 2,720 respondents covering all 34 provinces. It assessed perceptions of tolerance, equality and cooperation among people of differing religions.



The three provinces with the lowest proportion of Muslims in their populations scored the highest on the index, indicating that they performed best at interfaith tolerance.



East Nusa Tenggara came out on top of the list scoring 83.3, followed by Bali at 81.6 and Maluku at 81.3.



The lowest performer was Aceh, a Muslim-majority region and the only province allowed to implement Islamic law, which scored a harmony index of 62.8, indicating that it had the most intolerance.



Other Muslim-majority regions such as Lampung and West Sumatra followed, scoring 65.9 and 69.2, respectively.



Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin said the country had performed better in the tolerance index last year because people were more open to interfaith dialogues and his ministry had established the Religious Community Harmony Forum (FKUB) to aid communication among religious groups.



He acknowledged, however, that religion-related conflict still occurred. 'We should be proud of the high score, but we can't deny that there are still many problems that need more attention from the government,' he said.



The country faced a number of religion-based conflicts last year.



An arson attack on a church in Aceh Singkil regency on Oct. 13 left one person dead, four injured and saw at least 7,000 people leave the area to find shelter in nearby areas of North Sumatra.



Conflict did not only occur in regions with large Muslim populations.



In Papua, a mosque in Tolikara was burned down by a group affiliated with the Evangelical Church of Indonesia (GIDI) during Idul Fitri. Police shot dead one teenager during the incident and injured 12 other Tolikara residents.



Lukman said that most of the conflicts were actually triggered by certain members of the elite who intentionally used religion as a weapon for provocation for their own political and economic interests.



Human-rights group Setara Institute said that the results of the government study were in line with the institute's findings in its recent survey on tolerant cities.



'Regions that have the highest tolerance are those that are capable of accepting and preserving pluralism,' institute researcher Ismail Hasani said.



National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) commissioner Imdadun Rahmat agreed that, in general, the country had a good level of tolerance.



'The government index is acceptable. Among a population of 250 million, only a few were involved in these conflicts and across over 500 regencies and municipalities, cases of sectarian violence involved only 0.01 percent of the population,' Imdadun said.



Lukman further said that, in an attempt to avoid more conflict in the future, the ministry was preparing a draft bill on the protection of religious freedom, which had been undergoing drafting since early last year.



The draft proposed five main points, including the regulation of state treatment of citizens with beliefs outside the six permitted religions, restrictions on certain religious teachings and methods for deciding whether certain religious ideologies were deviant or not.
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post  Thu, February 11, 2016

'Where the splendor of nature and the beauty of the human soul are laid bare under the starry sky'

Words I Wayan Juniarta and Mario Andi Supria Photos Mario Andi Supria

It was probably my fourth or fifth visit to the place, but the sweeping vista had never failed to take my breath away.



I vividly remembered the thought that crossed my mind at that time.



'How funny it is that the darkest night always reveals the brightest sky.'



Before me was a stunning panorama of barren hills punctuated by stout rocky structures, which stood like menacing warriors of the past under the vast sky, which, on that night, looked like a calm ocean dotted with thousands and thousands of flickering lanterns.



The stars, the distant galaxies, were the comforting presence for our cold loneliness.



The verses of Rumi, Tagore, Thoreau and Sagan crashed like persistent waves in my mind and I suddenly realized that what I was feeling at that moment had been embraced by numerous hermits in the past: an exhilarating sense of awe and humility.



No wonder they sought liberation in places like this one, where the immense landscape would force the mind to accept the inherent insignificance of an individual's existence and, at the same time, embrace his perennial connection with those faraway nebulas.



The porters put out their cigarettes and stood up, a signal for us to continue the uphill hike. We had been walking for 30 minutes and had to reach the edge of the crater by 3 a.m. to get the best shots of Ijen crater at dawn.



It was a 3-kilometer hike, which felt like forever to our city-spoiled feet. A few meters in front of us was a group of sulfur miners, who navigated the hard path as well as the steep trail with equal ease while bantering with each other.



No philosophical stuff there, no big words, only light political jokes and a lot of double entendre. They were joyful, and that said a lot of their characters.



Doing one of the most dangerous jobs in the world ' breathing in toxic fumes and traversing a perilous trail with heavy loads on a daily basis, thus facing a short life expectancy in return for only meager pay, these guys walk tall and treat each day as a valuable gift.



Ijen crater, or Kawah Ijen, is one of the most-visited tourist attractions in East Java. It lies on the border of Banyuwangi and Bondowoso regencies. The huge, one kilometer-wide acidic crater lake is Ijen's centerpiece and the blue fire, a natural phenomenon resulting from the ignition of sulfuric gas, has become the site's signature event, drawing an increasing number of people to visit the crater at midnight to witness it.



We reached the rim of the crater as scheduled and cautiously began descending the 800 meter trail toward the acid lake. Columns of toxic fumes were now visible and we all put on our gas masks. Even with that breathing apparatus, we still struggled with the fumes that irritated our nostrils and eyes.



Most of the miners wore no masks, relying on layers of cloth or handkerchiefs to shield their mouths and noses from the gas. Some didn't even wear a shirt as they collected the bright yellow sulfur slabs from the edge of the lake.



'If you have been here as long as I have, the gas would smell like grilled cassava,' one worker said, grinning as he inhaled deeply.



We were not as fearless as he was and decided to keep the masks on while observing the miners carrying out their taxing job. Each miner placed slabs into two baskets, weighing up to 90 kilograms, before carrying the baskets uphill to the edge of the crater. There the haul was loaded into a waiting trolley. In one single day, each miner can do up to three return trips down the crater, exposing him to multiple encounters with the toxic fumes.



At 5 a.m., the sky was illuminated by the rising sun. The turquoise-colored lake had never looked so brilliant. A group of miners sat together near the lake enjoying a brief break. Each lit a cigarette and soon hearty bantering erupted. This time it was about a newlywed miner.



What a stunning place and what courageous people.
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Thu, February 11, 2016

Suspects involved in the alleged harvesting of kidneys for selling to the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital (RSCM) in Jakarta would be charged with human trafficking rather than malpractice, police said Wednesday.



'This [kidney] trade is not a case of malpractice, but human trafficking,' the head of the trafficking unit at the National Police's Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim), Adj. Com. Arie Darmanto, said on Wednesday.



Police investigating the case also plan to consult experts and the Health Ministry.



'We will consult experts from the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) and the Health Ministry,' Arie said as quoted by Antara.



Last week, Health Minister Nila Djuwita Anfasa Moeloek came to the defense of RSCM, saying that doctors and administrators of the hospital were unlikely to be tangled up in the alleged kidney-harvesting case.



Speaking after a meeting with Bareskrim, Nila said that RSCM had met the standard operating procedures (SOP) that donors must go through before undergoing an organ removal operation.



Police have detained three suspects on allegations of harvesting and selling kidneys to hospitals, the practice of which is in violation of Law No. 36/2009 on health and Law No. 21/2007 on human trafficking.
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Thu, February 11, 2016

The National Police has no plans to dispatch more personnel to join Operation Tinombala, launched to capture members of the Santoso terrorist group in Central Sulawesi, police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti said on Wednesday.



Badrodin made the statement following the death of one police officer in a shoot-out with alleged members of the terror group in South Poso on Tuesday.



Two alleged members of the Santoso group died in the incident.



Police have yet to identify the two suspects and whether they were new recruits in the terror group.



The incident happened in Saigginora village at 8 p.m. on Tuesday when police stopped a car with two suspected terrorists inside.



Hundreds of Indonesian Military (TNI) special forces officers have been deployed to join the manhunt.



The elite troops joined police units, such as the Mobile Brigade and counterterrorism unit Densus 88, that had earlier joined the security operation.



Prior to Operation Tinombala, police had conducted The Camar Maleo I to IV operations, starting in January last year.



The operations failed to capture Santoso, also known as Abu Wardah, who is also believed to be the leader of the Islamic State (IS) movement in Indonesia.
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post  Thu, February 11, 2016

'Celebrating Galungan through offerings'

WORDS DESY NURHAYATI PHOTOS STANNY ANGGA

You know that Galungan and Kuningan are approaching when you see penjor being put up all along the roadsides throughout the island.



The tall decorated bamboo poles are the most obvious sign that the two major Balinese religious celebrations are coming.



For the celebration, penjor will be lavishly decorated with young coconut leaves, colorful paper, lantern-shaped ornaments made of dried palm leaves and bunches of rice stalks.



The poles are placed in front of homes, representing strong devotion and gratitude to the creator. The shapes and elements all have religious meanings.



Although creating gorgeous offerings is daily work for the Balinese, only a few still understand the philosophy behind the penjor and other offerings.



To encourage greater understanding and preserve the culture, the South Kuta Beach Business Association (SKBBA), with the support of the Kuta customary village, held a special competition to create penjor and gebogan ' the towering offerings of fresh fruit, cakes, flowers and decorations.



'This annual competition aims to engage locals and business communities around South Kuta. We also want to create an attraction for tourists by introducing them to our traditions,' Nyoman Gede Suasta, chair of the organizing committee, said.



Held at Lippo Mall Kuta, dozens of men were busy weaving young coconut leaves to make the decorative elements for the penjor, while the women were arranging colorful flowers and fruit for the gebogan.



The penjor were then assessed for form and meaning. Participants had to be able to understand the meaning of each element and how to create it properly. Meanwhile, the gebogan were assessed for completeness, aesthetics and meaning.



This year, Alaya Resort Kuta won the penjor-making competition, while Holiday Inn Resort Baruna received the first prize for the best gebogan.
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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 11, 2016

The Jakarta Police have been reported to the Jakarta Ombudsman for alleged maladministration after dozens of police officers reportedly attacked a number of people when dispersing participants of a labor rally on Oct. 30 last year.

"The police's actions were not in line with Criminal Law Procedures Code (KUHAP). Their actions also violated the Convention against Torture, which has been ratified by Indonesia," Legal Aid Institute (LBH) lawyer Maruli Rajagukguk told thejakartapost.com on Thursday.

The report was made by LBH Jakarta, whose lawyers -- Tigor Gempita Hutapea and Obed Sakti Luitnan ' claimed to be among the victims of the alleged attack.

The two lawyers were present at the demonstration as legal consultants to the workers, not as participants. However, the police also arrested and named them suspects.

On Oct.30, thousands of workers gathered near the National Monument (Monas) park in Central Jakarta to demonstrate against the new payment formula stipulated in Government Regulation No. 78/2015 on remuneration.

The workers said the regulation was one-sided as union representatives had not been included in discussions on the regulation before it was endorsed.

LBH Jakarta claimed that demonstrators were beaten relentlessly by police officers even though they had dispersed.

"Twenty-five people were treated improperly by the police. Demonstrators who had dispersed were even chased by police officers. The police also damaged labor union cars," Maruli said, adding that even those apprehended had been beaten inside the police cars.

The 25 people, comprising 23 demonstrators and two lawyers, were arrested and named suspects for allegedly defying the government. (bbn)
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Linkedin Agnes Anya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 11, 2016

About 100 families in Pinangsia, Taman Sari, West Jakarta, are facing uncertainty having been left homeless following a forced eviction carried out by the West Jakarta administration along the banks of the Ciliwung River.



The administration, which considered the hundreds of buildings in the area illegal, cleared a 14-meter space between the river and residential areas for building a road connecting Jl. Kunir and Jl. Jembatan Batu in West Jakarta as part of the city's river dredging program.



On Wednesday, about 100 houses were demolished, including several tents put up on the rubble of the previously demolished houses of residents who insisted on remaining there after the first phase of eviction in May last year.



'This is our advanced method for building the connecting road after similar evictions in 1994 and 2015,' West Jakarta deputy mayor Muhammad Zen told The Jakarta Post during the eviction.



However, the residents are yet to be given replacement accommodation although the authority promised them units in low-cost apartments (rusunawa) in Marunda, North Jakarta and Komarudin, East Jakarta. As a result, most homeless residents decided to stay near their wrecked houses or stay in relatives' houses.



Noodle vendor Kamarudin with his wife and son, for example, decided to build a tent on the rubble of their house while putting their belongings in front of a neighbor's house as they did not have any other options due to limited funds.



'I didn't know where to go so here we decided to stay,' said Kamarudin, who has lived in the area for 20 years. 'I can count on my neighbors as they feel like my own family. They allow us to wash and cook at their houses.'



He said he had actually signed up for an apartment in Marunda with the Pinangsia subdistrict administration. However, when the eviction came, he had still not received any confirmation.



He added that the administration was yet to draw the raffle to give the residents their rusunawa apartments.



Despite the absence of ownership certificates to the land, Kamarudin and other residents in the area have had a strong affinity with the neighborhood for decades. They took good care of it and eventually made it a winner in the Green and Clean Area category of an environmental competition held jointly by a local NGO and the Jakarta administration in 2010.



Hence, many residents, including Siti, could not hold back their tears when a backhoe was demolishing their houses.



'Please, give me some more time. Don't demolish all of my house. I have nowhere to go,' Siti said in tears while showing at her 6-square-meter house, built inside a two-story building, to an officer from the West Jakarta administration. 'I will demolish some other parts by myself. I promise. I have marked the border.'



Compared to her neighbors, Siti was relatively lucky that day as the officer decided to only clear a 10 meter space between the riverbank and her house and those of four other neighbors. The backhoe, however, kept demolishing houses within the 14 meter area.



Siti said that the administration had previously announced that it would need a 10 meter space between the river bank and the neighborhood for the road. However, last Thursday, she received a warning letter saying that it required 14 meters.



Muhammad Firmansyah, community unit (RW) 06 chief, confirmed Siti's statement. He said that on Feb. 1, the administration met with him and neighborhood unit (RT) chiefs and said that it would demolish buildings within 10 meter of the riverbank. However, last Thursday, the residents received notification of the 14 m requirement.



'I have to admit that it is such a sudden move. Now the residents are confused about their homes,' Firmansyah said.
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Linkedin Ina Parlina and Tama Salim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 11, 2016

Indonesia insisted that it was not abandoning its Western allies as it agreed on Wednesday to improve defense and intelligence cooperation with Russia, while also seeking legislative approval for the ratification of a defense agreement with China after eight years of delay.



The commitment between Indonesia and Russia, which also includes possible joint training and information sharing, was forged following a meeting between President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo and visiting Russian Security Council secretary Nikolai Patrushev.



Russia also took the opportunity to convince Indonesia to buy weaponry systems, including Sukhoi SU-35 fighter jets, helicopters and submarines, alongside transfer of technology to help improve Indonesia's defense industry.



Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said the reason Indonesia was looking at greater intelligence and defense cooperation with Russia was that 'too much of our cooperation is with Western countries'.



'Russia is no less sophisticated than the US,' said Luhut, a member of Jokowi's close-knit inner-circle.



'We don't cooperate enough with Russia. It makes sense to cooperate with them in intelligence-sharing.'



While Indonesia did not make any demands for specific intelligence priorities and weaponry system, the visit of the Russian delegation gives weight to Jokowi's stated policy to modernize Indonesia's primary weapons defense systems in order to help boost the Indonesian Military's (TNI) capabilities as a regional maritime force.



Indonesia and Russia have long had military ties. The Air Force, for example, has a squadron of 16 Russian-produced Sukhoi Su-27/30 heavy jet fighters.



The Defense Ministry earlier decided to procure Russian-made Sukhoi SU-35s to replace the retiring F-5 Tiger jet fighters after comparing five different types, including models from the US, Sweden and France.



Meanwhile, Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu insisted that Indonesia was not spurning its Western allies. 'Commitment to strengthen defense cooperation with Russia and the procurement plan is the way for Indonesia to show the world that it is a neutral country in terms of defense cooperation,' he said.



'We have F-16s from the US. We have many war vessels from Europe too. We also engage in many other forms of defense cooperation with the US. We don't favor any one country.'



Earlier in the day, lawmakers agreed to deliberate a bill to ratify a defense agreement previously struck between the government of president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and its Chinese counterpart in Beijing on Nov. 27, 2007.



According to Ryamizard, the Indonesia-China defense agreement necessitates the establishment of a joint committee to oversee, direct and implement the agreement.



The agreement will also oblige all parties to offer protection and the proper distribution of intellectual rights, as well as exercising discretion with confidential information.



The plan involved, he said, information and personnel exchange for educational and research purposes, strengthened cooperation among industries from both countries, joint military training and 'other cooperation initiatives in other sectors based on common interests'.



In spite of consensus among all party factions, legislators took issue with the latter point in the agreement, arguing that the vague wording used in the draft could be used to justify an act that might potentially jeopardize regional stability.



Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) lawmaker HM Gamari said that his faction essentially agreed to endorse the bill, but only under the condition that the government would not take part in any joint patrols with China in the South China Sea.



'The Defense Ministry should refrain from taking part in any joint patrols in the South China Sea, taking into account the dispute among countries in the Pacific Ocean,' Gamari said. 'The PKS faction recommends this to prevent any misconceptions that Indonesia recognizes China's claim to the region.'



The PKS politician's recommendation was supported by Commission I deputy chairman Meutia Hafid of the Golkar Party, who suggested that it should be inserted as a footnote in legislators' written approval of the bill.



In response, Ryamizard merely said that the government would take note of the suggestion, refusing to rule out the possibility of joint patrols. 'That will be noted, but I myself have overseen a previous patrol, which was aimed at making headway in the situation. It is important to open up communications among disputing countries,' he said.

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Left: Romano Van der Dussen before he entered prison in September 2003. Right: Briton Mark Dixie.

A Dutchman who has spent more than 12 years in prison for a rape that was committed by another person was ordered released from custody on Wednesday after he was acquitted on appeal by the Spanish Supreme Court.

Romano Liberto van der Dussen was convicted of three sexual assault cases that took place in August 2003 in Malaga.

In 2007, Spanish police found that the DNA evidence in at least one of the cases didnt link Van der Dussen to the crimes committed, but instead matched the genetic makeup of British national Mark Dixie, who is currently serving jail time in Britain for rape and murder.

Despite the new findings, Van der Dussen spent nine more years in jail because of the snail-paced Spanish justice system

Despite the new findings, Van der Dussen spent nine more years in jail because of the snail-paced Spanish justice system and the bureaucracy involved in the cooperation between Spain and Britain in the case.

The courts ruling handed down by Justices Manuel Marchena, Andres Martinez Arrieta and Joaquin Gimenez only acquits him in the rape case, where DNA was tested; there were no samples in the other two attempted rapes.

The Malaga regional High Court, however, ruled during Van der Dussens conviction that the suspect in the three cases had to be the same man because the incidents were similar and had taken place on nearby streets between 4.30am and 6am on August 10, 2003 in Fuengirola

In all three cases, the attacker approached the victim, violently beat her and then tried to rape her. Every time, a passerby or a car interrupted the attack before the victim was raped, but all three women  ages 19, 29 and 33  were left terrified by their ordeals.

Van der Dussen, who is now 43, will be released from prison because he has served his time, but under the eyes of the Spanish justice system he is still guilty of the other two sexual assaults.

His defense lawyer, who had asked for a full acquittal, is satisfied that Van der Dussen will soon be released.

Van der Dussen, now 43, will be released but under the eyes of the law he is still guilty of two sexual assaults

In an EL PAIS interview last year, Van der Dussen said he couldnt understand why it has taken so long to exonerate him when the police had evidence pointing to Dixie since 2007.

Ive been in jail over 11 years for crimes I did not commit. I have been through an indescribable hell, these have been the worst 4,000 days of my life, he said.

During this time I have seen people get stabbed, others commit suicide, others get raped over unpaid debts... All this has caused me irreparable damage. I am in psychiatric treatment. I take medication for post-traumatic stress and suffer from multiple psychological disorders. I have even lost my own dignity as a person. How can I believe in the justice system?

The 15-year sentence handed down by the Malaga High Court was based exclusively on the testimonies of the victims  filled with irregularities  who had identified him from a photo lineup. The court had overlooked the DNA evidence, which would have exonerated him.

With the help of the International Police (Interpol) database, Spanish police matched the DNA in 2007 to Mark Dixie, a British man who had confessed to murder and rape and in custody since the previous year.

A police forensic report dated March 23, 2007, and presented to the court, concluded that there was 54 million times more likely that the DNA sample was a mix of the genetic makeup of Dixie and his Fuengirola victim, rather than two other people by chance.

Nevertheless, the court asked for more genetic markers from Dixie through British authorities  proceedings that would take another nine years to complete.

The Malaga High Court and the judge charged with reviewing the case never received any findings from the international judicial commission sent to Britain because procedures were not followed properly. The case was later dismissed.

It is unbelievable that this man has spent all this time in prison for crimes he did not commit

It wasnt until four years after that first DNA finding that Van der Dussens lawyer, Silverio Garcia Sierra, filed his appeal with the Supreme Court along with the evidence.

But it took three years for British authorities to comply with a petition by the Spanish Supreme Court for a new genetic profile of Dixie.

When the results came back in February 2015 that concluded it was Dixie who raped the woman in Fuengirola, Spanish police spent months drafting a new report based on the recent findings by British authorities.

Throughout this time, Van der Dussen remained in prison.

This is an incredible example of slowness, apathy, negligence and bad professional practice by all the judicial authorities who were involved, said Garcia Sierra. It is unbelievable that this man has spent all this time in prison for crimes he did not commit.

English version by Martin Delfin.
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Linkedin Fedina S. Sundaryani and Tama Salim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 11, 2016

Terrorism experts and lawmakers said on Wednesday that the country needed a stronger shield against the influence of the Islamic State (IS) movement, despite recent landmark convictions of Indonesian IS members and supporters.



Terrorism expert Noorhuda Ismail said that the government and law enforcement authorities should observe the impact of the West Jakarta District Court's verdicts on Tuesday, which saw seven IS recruits and supporters sentenced to up to five years in prison.



Noorhuda said the government should monitor whether the sanctions deterred other Indonesians from joining terrorist groups or planning attacks.



'Five years is a very short time, especially since there is a chance their sentences will be shortened for good behavior. That is why there must be other mechanisms [to counter terrorism],' Noorhuda said.



He was referring to Tuah Febriwansyah's five-year prison sentence, the highest of the seven, for violating the 2003 Terrorism Law and the 2008 Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law.



The remaining six convicted included Ahmad Junaidi alias Abu Salman, Ridwan Sungkar and Abdul Hakim, who were sentenced to three to four years in prison for having participated in military training with IS in Syria in 2014.



Junaidi had previously told the The Jakarta Post that he had returned to Indonesia because he was not paid the amount promised by one of the leaders of IS' Indonesian faction, Salim Mubarak Attamimi, aka Abu Jandal Al-Yemeni Al-Indonesi.



Hundreds of Indonesians have fled to Syria to join IS over the past year, pushing the government to act on the group's growing influence in the country.



A fatal attack involving bombing and gunfire near the Sarinah shopping center in Central Jakarta on Jan. 14 was also linked to the group, with the perpetrators allegedly receiving funding from Indonesian fighters in Syria. All four assailants and four civilians were killed, while dozens were injured.



The Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) said in a recent report that the government should experiment with targeted deradicalization programs by developing activities for Indonesians deported from Turkey after being caught trying to enter Syria.



The report states that 60 percent of the deportees are women and children, many of whom have sold all their belongings to travel to the war-torn region.



'The fact that most of them sold everything they had to finance their travel to Turkey gives an opening to the government to provide economic assistance, possibly through local NGOs with experience in community development,' the report said.



National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) chief Comr. Gen. Saud Usman Nasution said that it was unlikely the results of the trials would significantly affect prosecutions of terrorists, as verdicts always depended on individual judges' interpretation of existing laws.



'We cannot intervene with the judges and we know that they will judge [the cases] fairly. During the investigation process we always give our all to make sure that [the terrorist suspect] does not go free and gets the sternest sentence possible. However, that itself is extremely subjective,' he told the Post.



Saud, who was once head of the police force's counterterrorism unit Densus 88, emphasized that neither the Terrorism Law nor the 2013 Terrorism Funding Law had any articles prohibiting citizens from joining terrorist organizations abroad as foreign fighters.



'There aren't any specific laws against Indonesians becoming foreign terrorist fighters or joining a foreign terrorist group. We have suggested a revision of the 2003 Terrorism Law to include such a clause, as it would be more effective. For example, many of those who have been deported, especially women and children, still want to return [to Syria] and we can't legally stop them. However, this can change if we revise the law,' he said.



Separately, Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) lawmaker Nasir Djamil of House of Representatives Commission III overseeing legal affairs said that the Terrorism Law should be amended to include preventive measures to counter local terrorism growth.



However, Nasir, who is also a member of the working committee on revisions to the Criminal Code (KUHP), said it would be better if clauses on terrorism were removed from the KUHP and inserted as a particular revision to the Terrorism Law.



'[The KUHP draft] already includes points [prohibiting] Indonesians from joining paramilitary training abroad with organizations that act as vehicles for terrorism. I have already asked the government to remove such clauses from the KUHP draft and include them in the terrorism bill, but the government has not responded,' he said.
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Linkedin Erika Anindita (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 11, 2016

The Attorney General's Office (AGO) has said it scheduled another questioning session on Thursday for former House of Representatives speaker Setya Novanto.



Setya was scheduled to account for alleged corruption related to the contract extension of gold and copper mining firm Freeport Indonesia at 8 a.m. at the AGO's Oval Building in Jakarta.



'He [Setya] confirmed that he would attend the questioning session,' said AGO junior attorney for special crimes Arminsyah on Wednesday.



Setya fulfilled an AGO summons for a second questioning session on Wednesday.



"Pak Novanto attended the questioning session to respond to several questions left unanswered during his previous session," Setya's lawyer, Firman Wijaya, said as quoted by tribunnews.com on Wednesday.



In his questioning session last week, the Golkar Party politician answered 22 questions. 14 questions were left unanswered.



After answering 22 questions, Setya reportedly asked for a postponement, claiming that he had to depart to West Nusa Tenggara on official duty.



During last week's session, Setya was questioned about a suspected conversation between Freeport president director Maroef Sjamsoeddin and businessman Riza Chalid in Jakarta in July 2015. Setya was also allegedly involved in the conversation. During the questioning session, the lawmaker denied that the voice heard on an audio recording of the meeting was his own.



'He denied it. He said it was not his voice,' said Arminsyah as quoted by kompas.com at his office after Setya's questioning session on Feb.4.



Arminsyah said it was Setya's right to answer the questions of investigators in whichever way he wanted to. The most important thing, Arminsyah argued, was that AGO investigators would continue to look for evidence that there was corruption involved in the negotiations surrounding Freeport's contract extension.



Arminsyah said investigators had asked Maroef and an expert from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) to listen to the recording. Both witnesses said that the voice on the recording was Setya's.



Setya failed to meet with the AGO on three occasions before he finally agreed to attend his first questioning session last Thursday. (ebf)(+)
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Linkedin Trisha Sertori (The Jakarta Post) Kintamani, Bali  Thu, February 11, 2016

Bali is known as a Hindu stronghold in Muslim-majority Indonesia. But that doesn't mean that Bali does not respect diversity.

A pair of curved bamboo poles decorated with coconut leaves, known locally as penjor, stand sentinel over neighboring temples dedicated to Kwan Im (also spelled Guan Yin) and Siwa (or Shiva) within the grounds of Pura Ulun Danu Batur in Kintamani.



For the first time in living memory, Chinese New Year and the Hindu Galungan celebrations fell within days of each other and worshippers gathered at the temple famed for its recognition of Buddhist and Confucian beliefs alongside Hinduism.



An ancient love story between the King of Bali, Sri Jaya Pangus, and his Chinese bride, Kang Ching Wie, is believed to be the key to this coming together of religions according to Mangku Jero who offered blessings to temple goers on Monday. Dozens of families made the trip to Pura Ulun Danu Batur to pray, first to Kwan Yin and Confucius in celebration of Chinese New Year, known locally as Imlek, and then to the Hindu God Siwa.





'Normally there are around three months between Imlek and Galungan. I have never witnessed them occurring in the same week, just two days apart. Bali has 35-day calendar units compared to the Chinese's 30-days, so over the decades, maybe even centuries, the events have grown closer,' says the 63-year-old Hindu priest. He adds that Pura Ulun Danu Batur pays homage to both Buddha and Siwa because of the marriage of Kang and Pangus almost a thousand years ago.



Perched on the uppermost rim of the volcanic Mount Batur's caldera, the extensive temple with its many-tiered meru spires and backdrop of fir trees and mountains is reminiscent of a Chinese watercolor. Seated on steps leading to the Chinese Ratu Gede Subanda temple are brothers Luki and Theo. Both are dressed in red silk Chinese pajamas and are excited to be celebrating Chinese New Year at the temple.



'Maybe this temple had been here for hundreds of years,' says Luki, who at 6 years of age is more excited to be receiving lucky money envelopes than worshipping the Gods. 'I like Imlek because we are given lucky money. I have four packets,' says the youngster. His elder brother Theo is planning ahead. 'I am saving up my lucky money to help out my family in the future,' says the 9-year-old who is excited to be receiving gifts for Imlek and Galungan in the same week.



For Made Suardana, who is visiting the temple with his young daughter, sharing Imlek and Galungan is an opportunity for his family to gather and pay tribute to their ancestors.





'Our ancestors came from China hundreds of years ago, they came to Bali, that's all I know, and so we follow Confucius and Hinduism. This is good that we have two days of Imlek and Galungan when all the family comes together to pray. This is the first time in my life I have seen these days so close together,' says Made.



It is not only Indonesians of Chinese descent that have come to pray at the Kwan Yin temple. Made Metri has made the trip from Denpasar to give thanks to Kwan Yin and Siwa, despite having no Chinese family connections.



'I come here for Siwa and Buddha. In Bali Hinduism includes Buddhism; we believe Buddha is represented by Siwa. This has come down from our ancestors. My ancestors were all Balinese, but we still follow both Buddha and Siwa, because in the past Chinese and Balinese traders worked together,' says Made Metri. For this worshipper Kwan Yin is the goddess of trade and business.



'I feel happy praying to both Kwan Yin and Siwa. I am sure Kwan Yin helps in my skin-care business and Siwa keeps my family safe. This is the first time I have ever celebrated Imlek and Galungan at almost the same time. It is perhaps hundreds of years since such an event has occurred,' says Made Metri, dressed in the Hindu fashion of kebaya, sarong and sash.



Along with Imlek and Galungan, Indonesia's national motto Unity in Diversity was also being celebrated at Pura Ulun Danu Batur on Monday. A young woman wearing an Islamic scarf paid respect to Hinduism while visiting the temple with her family. Dressed in Hindu sarongs and sashes, the family of four on holiday from East Java joined many others to give thanks and good wishes at the dawn the year of the monkey.



' Photos by JP/J.B. Djwan
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Linkedin Arya Dipa and N. Adri (The Jakarta Post) Bandung/Balikpapan  Thu, February 11, 2016

Having been in love with astronomy since her childhood, Avivah Yamani didn't need to think twice to put a new item on her wish list this year: witnessing the total solar eclipse on her country's soil.



The 36-year-old magazine editor and five of her friends will depart early next month from their hometown of Bandung, West Java, for Maba, a small town in East Halmahera regency, North Maluku, from where they will closely observe the rare natural phenomenon.



'I have been saving money since last year for the trip,' said Avivah, who is also a member of Bandung-based Langit Selatan (Southern Sky), a community for local astronomy enthusiasts.



Unlike a partial solar eclipse, a total one can usually only be seen from a particular spot on Earth once every few decades.



It occurs when the Moon comes between the Sun and the Earth and casts the darkest part of its shadow, or the umbra, over the Earth.



Astronomers are predicting that this year's solar eclipse will fall on March 9, with Indonesia the only country in the world from which the phenomenon will be visible.



Dozens of cities in 12 Indonesian provinces, including those in West Sumatra, Central Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, Bangka Belitung, East Kalimantan and North Maluku, meanwhile, have been identified as areas that will experience the short-lived yet breathtaking phenomenon.



The shortest total eclipse, which will last for one minute and 54 seconds, will be visible on South Pagai island, West Sumatra, while the longest, which will last for three minutes and 17 seconds, will occur in Maba.



'That's why we picked Maba as our sightseeing destination,' Avivah said.



The rare phenomenon has also drawn interest from local and international scientists.



The Central Sulawesi provincial administration, for example, has confirmed that hundreds of foreign scientists, many of them from the US, will gather in the provincial capital of Palu in early March to observe the solar eclipse.



Reaserchers in the Bosscha Observatory in Lembang, West Bandung regency, meanwhile are planning to observe the solar eclipse to help them answer the mystery of the pendulum motion anomalies raised by French economist Maurice Allais during a total solar eclipse on June 30, 1954.



The swing of a hanging pendulum shifts 15 degrees per hour when it is placed at the north or south pole, so in a day, or 24 hours, the pendulum will shift 360 degrees.



Allais, who won the Nobel Memorial Prize in economics 1988, however, noted a change in the swing of the pendulum during an eclipse.



Based on Allais' observation, the irregularity of the pendulum swing is not constant during a solar eclipse. Allais found the same condition during the total eclipse of the sun on Oct. 2, 1959. The anomaly was then called the Allais Effect.



'Today, scientists don't know what causes the anomaly,' observatory head Mahasena Putra said.



For the purpose, the observatory has set up a pendulum weighing 12 kilograms with cross-motion and various other sensors to record the change or shift during the total solar eclipse.



The solar eclipse has also provided local tourist businesses with opportunities to offer attractive holiday packages.



In East Kalimantan city of Balikpapan, a number of agents are offering tour packages in which tourists can visit sightseeing spots to observe the eclipse and enjoy various festivals organized by local residents to welcome the phenomenon.



Trans Borneo Adventure director Joko Purwanto said his company had been promoting such tour packages since last year. As of last month, he added, more than 60 foreign tourists from European and Asian countries had booked their seats for the eclipse tour in the province.



'Some of them will visit Tanah Grogot, as the solar eclipse in the city is predicted to last longer than those in other regions,' he said.
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Linkedin Sudirman Said and Casper Klynge (The Jakarta Post) Nusa Dua, Bali  Thu, February 11, 2016

Indonesia effectively took to the front stage in promoting the global clean energy revolution by joining the newly created 'Mission Innovation' initiative during COP21 in Paris last December. President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo, along with 20 other heads of state, committed to double government investment in clean and sustainable energy.



Indonesia has recently become an associated member of the International Energy Association (IEA) and has set an impressively ambitious target for reducing emissions by 41 percent before 2030 with international support.



This underlines the important role and responsibility Indonesia holds in the fight against climate change.



On Feb. 11'12, Indonesia will take its first major step in promoting the worldwide transition toward clean and sustainable energy by hosting the Bali Clean Energy Forum (CEF). At the Bali CEF, government and business delegations from around the world are meeting to find effective and affordable solutions to increase the supply of clean and renewable energy as well as to utilize innovative technologies to make existing energy sources cleaner and more efficient.



The forum and the launch of the Bali Center of Excellence for Clean Energy are two important contributions to the global energy transition.



Indonesia and international partners stand united in promoting clean and sustainable energy solutions. At the Bali CEF, Indonesia will welcome high-level delegations from around the world to strengthen the international partnerships that are central to reaching the global energy transition goals.



By cooperating closely with other partners, Indonesia can reinforce its efforts to increase the supply of clean, efficient and affordable energy and electrify remote areas without compromising on its goal of higher economic growth.



In doing so, Indonesia can utilize the experiences from other countries' transition toward clean and sustainable energy that effectively refute the contradiction between growth and sustainability.



By deploying the know-how and technologies developed during this transition, Indonesia can increase its energy supply by the necessary 35,000 MW by 2019 in the greenest possible way.



Indonesia can benefit from international energy cooperation in a number of ways. An example hereof is the current energy partnership between Indonesia and Denmark.



Resting on three complementing pillars, the partnership seeks to create tailor-made solutions to Indonesia's energy challenges.



First, the development cooperation between our two countries has for more than a decade provided assistance in handling energy and environmental challenges. A prime example of this cooperation is our waste-to-energy project in the Central Java town of Cilacap.



The raison d'Atre behind this project is to demonstrate how innovative technology can use 120 tons of waste daily to substitute for the use of coal.



This project can be replicated to other places throughout Indonesia, and will help solve the increasing waste problem and at the same time create a valuable green energy source.



Second, we recently launched our joint government-to-government cooperation within the energy sector. This innovative form of bilateral cooperation brings together energy sector experts from both countries to share knowledge on energy modelling, energy efficiency and the integration of renewable energy.



Sharing experiences, policies and regulations comes at no cost and only serves to support the transition of the energy system to be less reliant on fossil fuels. By sharing our common expertise on energy transformation, we will support each other to reach the ambitious goals.



And last ' but definitely not least ' we are establishing strong partnerships and commercial cooperation between energy technology companies in our two countries.



By boosting investment and trade, know-how and technology are effectively transferred between energy sector companies. Indonesian companies can benefit from the knowledge on green and renewable energy supply created during Denmark's clean energy transition over the past 40 years.



A strengthened commercial partnership will support Indonesia's energy transition, generate jobs in the Indonesian energy sector and create economic growth. In short, it will be a win-win for both the economy and the environment.



Indonesia is currently welcoming investments from Danish and other international energy technology suppliers. The companies see the enormous potential this sector holds and are ready and willing to invest.



Investments like these will not only increase Indonesia's supply of sustainable energy, but also provide electricity to remote areas of the country.



But some companies still face challenges when trying to invest. And every investment opportunity lost will not benefit Indonesia's green transition.



At the Bali CEF focus will thus be on the planned energy sector reforms and how they will create an investment-friendly business environment, supportive of Indonesia's vision of a transition toward clean and renewable energy.



And strengthening the partnerships with international partners will assist Indonesia in this endeavor and support Indonesia's reform toward a low-carbon economy.

_________________________________



Sudirman Said is Indonesian minister for energy and mineral resources and Casper Klynge is Danish ambassador to Indonesia.
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Linkedin Nani Afrida (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 11, 2016

Last year saw more journalists become victims of violence and various other forms of abuse and disruption when doing their jobs, reports the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI).



In the report, released on Tuesday to coincide with the National Press Day, AJI reveals that cases of violence against journalists increased to 46 in 2015 from 40 and 39 in 2014 and 2013, respectively.



'We found out that the situation faced by Indonesian journalists is growing more critical as levels of violence have worsened in the past three years,' AJI chairman Suwarjono told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.



Suwarjono said that the election of President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo, the first democratically elected civilian President in the post-Soeharto era, had failed to make a difference.



Worsening violence against journalists, he claims, shows that the state is failing to protect journalists as they carry out their jobs.



'We are concerned about this because according to the 1999 Press Law, journalists should be given protection,' Suwarjono said.



Based on data from AJI, police were responsible for 14 cases of violence against journalists.



'We observed that more police are being violent toward journalists. We had 6 cases in 2014 and that number more than doubled in 2015,' Suwarjono said.



He said that the culture of impunity within the police force was the reason for the spike.



'The police institution never imposes punishments on their personnel,' he said.



Asep Komaruddin from the Legal Aid Institute for the Press (LBH Pers) said that his institution recorded the same trend, where most cases of violence against journalists went unpunished.



'Based on our data, from 2008 until today, no case of violence against a journalist has been tried or processed legally,' Asep said.



The attacks against journalists have included beatings, intimidation and the destruction of journalists' equipment.



The disturbing trend has also affected foreign reporters assigned to work in Indonesia.



Late last year, during a Papuan Students Alliance (AMP) rally at Hotel Indonesia (HI) traffic circle, journalist Archicco Guiliano from ABC Australia, Step Vaessen from Al-Jazeera and Chris Brummitt from Bloomberg were stopped by police officers and ordered to delete pictures they had taken.



Based on an investigation by LBH Pers, Archicco Guiliano was taking pictures of the chaos and was positioned in front of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Officers approach him and told him to delete his photos. He refused and was reportedly hit by the officers. Step Vaessen witnessed the incident and photographed it on his cell phone. Police officers then approached him and asked him to erase his photos. When he refused, the police reportedly grabbed his phone and did it for him.



Article 18 of Law No. 40/ 1999 on the press stipulates that anyone who intentionally prevents journalists from doing their jobs can face a two-year prison term or be fined Rp 500 million.



The National Police did not return a call from the Post when asked for their response to the allegations.



Besides physical violence, LBH Pers noted several other problems that affected the work of journalists.



'We found that during 2015 there were some regulations made that threatened the freedom of the press or freedom of expression,' Asep said.



He expected that more regulations were being drafted this year to further limit the press's freedom.



He said that the press's freedom would most likely continue to decline once the regulations were passed.

______________________________________

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Linkedin Slamet Susanto (The Jakarta Post) Yogyakarta, Central Java  Thu, February 11, 2016

A jomblo (single, not in a relationship) festival is set to be celebrated in Yogyakarta on Valentine's Day to encourage young Indonesians to stay creative and not to get bogged down in matters of love and affairs of the heart.



Slated to be held at Kopi Geek Cafe on Jl. Seturan Raya 12 in Sleman, the event will reportedly feature a creative photo competition and art and cultural performances.



Festival chairman Janet Cynthia told thejakartapost.com that the status of jomblo could produce low esteem in young people, causing them to give up hope.



"We will hold the event to encourage people, especially the younger generation, to stay creative," said Janet.



Janet said the response to the festival on social media had been quite positive so far.



Janet hoped that the festival would inspire creativity because the future of the nation depended on the creativity of its youth. (kes)(+)
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On the outside, Ariels Latin Bistro looks like a Lower East Side newcomer, and in some ways, what you see is what you get. But the restaurant at 293 East Houston St. (at Clinton Street) is also deeply rooted in the neighborhood. The other day, we stopped by to talk with co-owner Ariel Mendez, whos debuting a new menu beginning tomorrow.

For several decades, the corner spot has been a go-to destination for Dominican home cooking. It used to be known as the Clinton Restaurant, and then as Pinalito City before Mendez and his father bought the business. They finished renovations a year-and-a-half ago and have been gradually tweaking the concept.

The family came to New York from the Dominican Republic and settled on Forsyth Street. Ariels dad owned a bodega on Broome Street at a time in which, Ariel says, the Lower East Side was a little bit more raw. The Clinton Street restaurant was a regular hangout for his dad. It always had a reputation for solid Dominican food, but was also a drinking and socializing spot for the men of the neighborhood.

Four years ago, the previous owners decided it was time to sell the restaurant. They knew the area was changing and werent all that interested in changing with it. Ariels father came to him and asked, Do you want to do this, do you want to get into the restaurant business? After working as a bartender, a club promoter and in other jobs, Ariel answered, Yes, and hes never looked back.

Renovations took more than a year. The look of the restaurant, as well as the menu, were modernized to appeal to a broader clientele. One of the cooks, on the job at this location for 18 years, stayed on after the ownership change. I waned to continue what was already here, says Mendez, but the niche was too tight. The atmosphere was not welcoming, to be honest, and the presentation of the food needed to be improved. In the past, the restaurant was a classic baked chicken with rice and beans spot. Mostly, only Dominican people and some Puerto Rican people came here, explained Mendez.. I want everyone to come here, so there are more people to please, but you have to change with the times.

The new Latin-inspired menu really does offer something for everyone. Theres a tapas section, featuring dishes such as empanadas, potato croquettes and steak arepas. The kitchen excels at seafood. One standout is an appetizer portion of seared scallops with red cabbage and a carrot puree. Larger plates include shrimp in garlic sauce with fried plantains, a t-bone steak with fried onions and vegetables and even a Portobello burger. You can see the full menu below.

Mendez said business has picked up steadily in the past year. Speaking of the constant churn on Clinton Street (businesses coming and going), he says its both a challenging and exciting place to be operating a small business. The block seems to be gaining some stability, with a few longtime operators (such as the newly expanded Clinton Street Baking Company), mixed with a handful of new arrivals. We all want each other to succeed, said Mendez, because its better for Clinton Street.
Mortuary workers transport the body of slain Mexican journalist Anabel Flores. Francisco Guasco (EFE)

More information Frio en recuerdo de Anabel Flores

It is cold on Wednesday inside the offices of El Sol de Orizaba, where murdered journalist Anabel Flores Salazar had worked as a freelancer.

One of the newspapers advertising representatives, who also writes stories about weddings, baptisms and cultural events, is reading the front page of another newspaper, El Buen Tono, which carries the headline: Reporter found dead.

I never spoke with her, she says about her dead colleague, explaining that Anabel always worked from home.

A group of armed men broke into her home in Veracruz early Monday and kidnapped her

Orizaba is a peaceful city, says another employee.

Authorities found Flores body dumped on the side of a highway in Puebla on Tuesday. She was bound and handcuffed with a plastic bag wrapped around her head.

Family members said a group of armed men had broken into her home in Veracruz early Monday morning and kidnapped her.

Besides El Sol, Flores had also freelanced as a crime reporter for other publications, including El Buen Tono.

In September 2014, Anabel Flores was fired from her job at El Buen Tono, reads the article in that newspaper underneath her photograph. It was discovered that her lifestyle did not go with the salary she had earned. She drove a Ford Patriot truck, a vehicle she owned but impossible to purchase with her salary.

Slain Mexican journalist Anabel Flores Salazar.

The editor-in-chief at El Sol refutes that version.

No thats not true, says Jose Luis Ramos, who spoke to Flores for the last time on Sunday, just hours before she was kidnapped. I knew her and she didnt live the high life.

Do you think that her murder had something to do with her job?

No, says Ramos, smoking a cigarette. I think her stories never bothered anyones interests.

Did she receive any threats?

No, no, no. In fact, we dont have any security, he insists, adding that he did not think Orizaba was a dangerous place for journalists.

What we have here are home invasions and assaults, and maybe the odd confrontation. The mayor has said that this is one of the safest cities in Mexico. In fact, three or four years ago, Orizaba was named the Magic Town.

No thats not true. I knew her and she didnt live the high life

The two-story house where Flores lived is located in a modest neighborhood. Armed officers stand guard outside under the rain. From the inside, the cries of a baby can be heard  Flores had given birth just two weeks before.

I am sorry, we would rather not say anything right now, says a youth before shutting the door.

Various security cameras point at the entrance of the home. One of the officers dressed in camouflage uniform says he does not know whether they have been recently installed or were there before the kidnapping.

Anabel is the 17th journalist murdered in Veracruz, says one reporter, who asked for anonymity and is thinking about leaving the profession. Its scary, and it gets worse each day.

The notorious Zetas drug cartel remains active in Veracruz. It is one of the most violent criminal organizations in Mexico and when people refer to it they usually speak in code. Some call the gang the bad guys or the last letter of the alphabet.

After the funeral, the story will fade away

The journalist who doesnt want to be identified uses his finger to draw a Z on the table, Zorro-style.

He covers the same crimes stories that Flores covered. Describing his late colleague as reserved but witty, the journalist believes that the newspapers in Orizaba would sooner forget about the case.

This has to disappear from the agenda because the situation is out of control. After the funeral, it will all go away, he says.

At midday, the body arrives at the mortuary, which is heavily guarded by armed police officers.

A young man, Geiser Manuel Caso, emerges to speak to reporters. He is the acting secretary for the State Commission for Attention and Protection of Journalists in Veracruz.

For our part, we have no additional information on the matter, Caso says.

Veracruz attorney general Luis Angel Bravo has said one lead that investigators are looking into is a meeting that took place in 2014 between a local criminal known as El Pantera and Flores. El Pantera was arrested at the time.

More than 120 journalists have been murdered in the last 25 years in Mexico

When asked if he believes that the attorney generals theory links Flores to crime, Caso says Bravos statements were unfortunate and should never be repeated.

According to the International Federation of Journalists, more than 120 journalists have been murdered in Mexico in the last 25 years, making the country the third-most-dangerous place for working reporters.

Of the seven journalists reported murdered last year, three killings took place in Veracruz, reports the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas.

Caso, whose job is to protect journalists, admits that enforcing the law in Veracruz has been a great challenge.

English version by Martin Delfin.
When I heard the news that Buddy Cianci  serial felon, wearer of atrocious toupees, revered and reviled former mayor of Providence, R.I.  had died on Jan. 28 at the age of 74, my first thought was not about death. It was about my birth as a writer. In May of 1976, a free Providence weekly called Fresh Fruit published my interview with Cianci, then the citys brash young Republican mayor. Forty years later, I still own a crumbling clip of that interview. Maybe thats not surprising since that clip is the first piece of writing I ever published, the first time I saw my byline in print. Its my birth certificate. Writers tend to cherish such things.

When I interviewed him, Cianci had been in office for 16 months and I was one month away from my college graduation. More to the point, I was on a caffeine- and amphetamine-fueled binge to finish writing the final chapters of a history of the city of Providence, an independent-study project Id been working on for two years because Id become intoxicated by the citys crazy quilt of ethnic neighborhoods, its fluorescent Mob presence, its post-industrial ruins, its wobbly triple-deckers and Greek Revival gems, its scuzzy waterfront, the milky fogs that spilled in off Narragansett Bay, the overall sense that this was a once-mighty shipping and manufacturing center the best times of which were long past. The place felt forgotten. The Wall Street Journal dismissed Providence as a smudge beside the fast lane to Cape Cod. Thats precisely what I loved about the place: it was the un-Boston, with little of the conventional New England charm. And it was a prolific incubator of criminals. Jimmy Breslin might have had Buddy Cianci in mind when he said, Providence is where the best thieves come from. What better way to end my elegiac history of this faded old city than by interviewing its optimistic, forward-looking young mayor?

For as far back as anyone could remember, politics in Providence had been controlled by a Democratic machine that ran on the grease of patronage  payoffs, kickbacks, bribes, no-show jobs, rigged contracts and other niceties. Cianci, a political novice, had come out of nowhere to stun the Democratic incumbent, a booze-marinated Irish ward heeler named Joe Doorley. Well, not quite nowhere. Cianci, the citys first Italian-American mayor, had come up through the attorney generals anti-corruption task force, where he made a specialty of going after Mob families. Providence was a target-rich environment in those days. After a murder conviction in 1970, Raymond Loreda Salvatore Patriarca, Sr., head of the New England Mob, had relocated his headquarters from Providences heavily Italian Federal Hill neighborhood to his cell in the federal penitentiary in Atlanta. Business remained brisk.

When I called the mayors office to request an interview, Cianci, to my surprise, readily agreed to sit down with a nobody college boy writing for a weekly throwaway. I shouldnt have been surprised. Then and for the rest of his days, Cianci was a publicity hog, a one-liner machine, a shameless promoter of his city and himself. In the introduction to the Fresh Fruit interview, I adopted the ostentatious first-person plural (hey, I was 23 years old and still operating under the influence of The New Yorker):

On a chilly Tuesday afternoon we were ushered into the mayors office in City Hall, a plush inner sanctum with a thick red rug on the floor, with blonde woodwork on the walls and chandeliers suspended from the distant ceilings. Through spotless tall windows we could see the scrum of buses, pedestrians and cars on Kennedy Plaza  an inaudible world that seemed miles away. Buddy Cianci was seated at his spacious desk poring over the Evening Bulletin. He was wearing only two of his suits three pieces: the jacket was draped over a coat rack in the corner. He looked puffy, as though the vest was uncomfortably snug. In a hoarse voice he complained about a touch of laryngitis. He motioned us toward gaudy chairs and, sipping ginger ale, launched into an unprompted monologue

Re-reading those words 40 years after they were written, Im dismayed that I failed to mention Ciancis most defining physical trait: a toupee so shamelessly synthetic and pelt-like that even he referred to it as the squirrel. The most memorable  and prescient  thing Cianci said during that rambling interview came when we got onto the subject of the Democratic machine he had defeated: You know, Lord Acton once said it  and I always like to repeat my friend Lord Acton: Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

In due time Ciancis power would become far more absolute than Joe Doorleys had ever been. A few months after he granted me an audience in City Hall, Cianci gave an electrifying speech at the Republican national convention. Overnight he became a GOP darling, proof that the party was still relevant in the cities of the Northeast, and there was talk of Cianci as a vice presidential candidate, maybe in a cabinet post, or a senate seat. His potential seemed boundless.

Using his charm, energy, and ruthless political skills, Cianci won re-election as mayor in 1978 and again in 1982. Id left Providence shortly after my college graduation, but I always kept an ear cocked for news about the city, which usually amounted to news about Cianci  or the latest perp walk by one of his minions. As Ciancis power grew, the FBIs interest in corruption inside City Hall grew along with it. During Ciancis first tenure as mayor, 22 city workers were convicted on corruption charges. But the FBI couldnt lay a glove on Buddy Cianci. Only Buddy Cianci could do that.

In 1983 Cianci got himself involved in a little dustup that would have shocked even world-wise Lord Acton. One night the mayor summoned a wealthy contractor named Raymond DeLeo to his home and, as a city cop and two other men looked on, Cianci accused DeLeo of having an affair with his estranged wife. Cianci then proceeded to spend three hours assaulting DeLeo with a versatile arsenal that included fists, feet, saliva, an ashtray, a lit cigarette and a fireplace log. It was like a game of Clue for Sociopaths: the Mayor did it in the Living Room with the Lit Cigarette and the Fireplace Log.

Cianci pleaded no contest to the assault and kidnapping charges and resigned as mayor. He received a five-year suspended sentence and spent the time hosting a popular radio talk show, keeping his name in the air, waiting for his chance. Eligible to run again in 1990, he was re-elected by 317 votes.

Only in Providence, I thought, when I heard the news about Ciancis astonishing comeback. The attitude of voters seemed to be Hey, DeLeo was screwing the guys wife. He had it coming. Besides, Buddy was a great mayor.

Now Ciancis power became absolutely absolute. The mayor clearly loved his city, and his city loved him back. He produced a pasta sauce, Mayors Own Marinara Sauce, and donated the proceeds to a scholarship fund. He was everywhere, attending Little League games, banquets, business openings. It was said he would attend the opening of an envelope. He became a wise-cracking regular on the Imus in the Morning radio show. There was no denying that he was doing a spectacular job of rebuilding the citys downtown and burnishing its faded image, but he was also turning City Hall into what one judge would call a criminal enterprise, a place where envelopes of cash changed hands as people paid bribes to buy city jobs, contracts, reduced tax bills, or city land. Cianci made Joe Doorley and his Democratic lords look like a bunch of schoolboys.

Unfortunately, the FBI was still on the case. In 2001 Cianci was indicted by a federal grand jury on racketeering, conspiracy, extortion, witness tampering and mail fraud in the FBIs so-called Plunder Dome investigation. In June of 2002 Cianci was found guilty on one count of racketeering and acquitted of 11 other corruption charges. While he was awaiting sentencing that summer, I got it into my head that his rollercoaster career would make an interesting magazine article, maybe even a book. So I took an exploratory trip back to Providence, where I witnessed the weekly WaterFire spectacle downtown  bonfires on the river set to New Age music  and I was astonished to see that in the past quarter-century downtown had been transformed, almost miraculously, from a ghost town into a vibrant hub of activity. I read newspaper microfilm in the downtown library and roamed the city, compiling a tidy little stack of Ciancis achievements and misdemeanors, plus a sense that beyond the shiny new downtown, the city hadnt changed all that much. The industrial ruins were still there, the triple-deckers still wobbled, the public schools were worse than ever. The city struck me as a miniature version of Baltimore: a shiny veneer doing its best to conceal a lot of rot.

In September, Cianci was sentenced to five years in prison. At the sentencing, U.S. District Judge Ernest Torres said, Im struck by the parallels between this case and the classic story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. There appear to be two very different Buddy Ciancis. In 2003 a Providence Journal reporter named Mike Stanton published a richly reported book on Cianci, The Prince of Providence, which became a bestseller. My own book project died aborning.

After serving his five years at the federal prison in Fort Dix, N.J., Cianci emerged immaculately bald, shorn of the squirrel. I took my medicine, he told The New York Times. I took it like a man. Then he went back on the radio airwaves, wrote an autobiography called Politics and Pasta, and got busy plotting yet another comeback.

For all the many things he did in life, both good and bad, its hard not see Buddy Cianci as a gifted politician who missed a shot at greatness. His seemingly boundless early potential never led to much. For all the loyalty he inspired in the citizens of Providence, his peculiar style  the squirrel, the marinara sauce, the one-liners, the stubborn whiff of corruption  did not travel well beyond the city limits. He ran for governor of Rhode Island in 1980 and was beaten badly by the incumbent Democrat, J. Joseph Garrahy. Cianci considered a run for U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedys seat in 2010, but decided against it. Then in 2014, after a bout with cancer, Cianci made one last run for his old job at City Hall.

It turned out that even the voters of Providence do not possess a bottomless reservoir of forbearance. In the 2014 mayoral election, Cianci lost to Jorge Elorza, the current mayor, who ordered the flags at City Hall flown at half-staff when the word spread of Ciancis death.

Mike Stanton, the former Providence Journal reporter who wrote the book on Cianci, said the man embodied the best and worst of American politics. True, as far as it goes, but I cant help thinking that American politics is a little bit poorer  and drabber  without the fluorescent presence of people like Buddy Cianci, a skillful politician, a man who loved his city, a Jekyll & Hyde figure who forgot the lessons Lord Acton had tried to teach him. We used to have vivid, inspiring, maddening politicians like Huey Long and Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson and Coleman Young and Buddy Cianci. Nowadays, what passes for colorful is that bad dye job called Donald Trump.

The obituarist who came closest to the truth about Buddy Cianci was Dan Barry. Writing in The New York Times, Barry called Cianci a walking coulda-been. Perfect. Absolutely perfect.
Family members of inmates stand outside Topo Chico prison following the riot.

More information 52 presos muertos en un motin en una carcel al norte de Mexico

Forty-nine people have been killed in a violent prison riot that broke out before dawn at a Mexican state penitentiary in Monterrey on Thursday.

Among the dead at the Topo Chico prison are inmates and guards, according to news reports. Twelve others have also been injured, five of them seriously, according to Nuevo Leon state governor, Jaime Rodriguez, aka El Bronco.

Mexican media reported that the riot was linked to an escape attempt by a leader of the notorious Zetas drug cartel.

First reports claimed that a group of inmates in one section of the prison began rioting and tried to help a group of Zeta members flee from Topo Chico. After the guards lost control of the situation, the Mexican army was called in at around 1.30am.

After the guards lost control of the situation, the Mexican army was called in at around 1.30am

The government of Nuevo Leon state, which runs the penitentiary, said on its Twitter account that the army had taken control of the complex. But so far no official has provided details of exactly what occurred.

The uprising comes a day ahead of Pope Franciss visit to Mexico. Next Wednesday, the pontiff is scheduled to pay a visit to another state prison in Ciudad Juarez and officially release 50 inmates.

Prison riots have become more frequent in Mexicos overcrowded penitentiaries. The most recent occurred at La Pila jail in San Luis Potosi where 13 people died.

An estimated 250,000 inmates are housed in Mexicos prisons, which have come under fire by international rights groups for their overcrowded and unsanitary conditions. At the same time, many complexes are controlled by gangs that provide drugs, sell food and lend money to inmates who often suffer violence if they do not pay off the loans.

An estimated 250,000 inmates are housed in Mexicos prisons, which have come under fire by international rights groups for their overcrowded and unsanitary conditions

Last year, the daring escape of Sinaloa drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman from a maximum security prison shed light on the lax surveillance, corruption and other problems that plague the Mexican penitentiary system.

Embarrassed by El Chapos escape through a tunnel dug under his cell, President Enrique Pena Nieto ordered the arrests of dozens of prison officials, including the warden of the penitentiary where the drug lord was held, and promised drastic reforms in the system.

El Chapo was recaptured on January 8 and is being held at the same complex under heavy guard.

English version by Martin Delfin.


After years of fan outcry for an R-rated Deadpool film, 2016 finally puts the voice of fans at rest with Fox releasing a Deadpool film which is true to its source material.

Deadpool made his first appearance on the big screen in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and it is fair to say it was a victim of terrible execution: no swearing, no gore and no silly one-liners. Deadpool's credibility had been damaged. Deadpool made his first appearance on the big screen in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and it is fair to say it was a victim of terrible execution: no swearing, no gore and no silly one-liners. Deadpool's credibility had been damaged.

However, Ryan Reynolds has made Deadpool a respectable part of the Fox Marvel Cinematic Universe, and his portrayal of the character will be one that fans want to see more of.

The film is a simple revenge story: Wade Wilson (Deadpool), played by Ryan Reynolds, is after the man who gave him immortality after the treatment he receives gives him a rather wrinkled face.

It is clear that Deadpool is a character Reynolds has been waiting to play for a number of years and he suits the role perfectly. He clearly realises that his relationship with the viewer is what makes Deadpool special and unique.

Deadpool's ability to break the fourth wall is frequent, but not annoying, whilst his cursing and pop culture references make him one of the most relatable Marvel characters to date.

Deadpool is joined by a great cast: TJ Miller's portrayal of Weasel was great and arguably delivers some of the best lines in the film.

Two X-men also make an appearance, in the form of Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead. If all crossovers in the Fox MCU are like this, then the Fox Marvel films are on the rise.

The only character which does not live up to expectations is Ajax. As usual he is British, but he lacks real depth and does not pose any real threat to Deadpool except kill his love interest.

The final set piece is underwhelming compared to previous Marvel films - but that is mainly down to the villain posing no real threat to the world except Deadpool.

Deadpool is a great change for Marvel films and shows that with the right people, and mature superhero film can be achieved.

An underwhelming villain and finale do not take away from what is a great Deadpool film, with all the cursing and audience interaction Deadpool fans could wish for. Deadpool is a character which will make appearances in many other Fox Marvel films.

Deadpool is out in UK cinemas now.
Its been a busy week for women in politics. As Hillary Clinton faces up to failure at the hands of rival Bernie Sanders in the New Hampshire Primary and German Chancellor Angela Merkel attempts to quell her countrys brewing refugee disquiet, Aussie politician Fiona Nash is celebrating being named deputy leader of the National Party of Australia and our very own Baroness Shirley Williams is preparing for a well-earned retirement after half a century in Whitehall.

Heres our round-up, with a few extra bits thrown in. Heres our round-up, with a few extra bits thrown in.

special subscription package --- Sponsored by The Economist, who would like to give away to The National Student readers a: for 12 only get a 12-week print and/or digital subscription as well as Bluetooth speakers or a Phone Charger. ---

biggest-ever victory in a contested Democratic primary The biggest politics news this week comes from across the pond, where all guns are out in the race for 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Hillary Clinton took a hit in the New Hampshire Primary on Tuesday, where she lost out to an increasingly threatening-looking Bernie Sanders  who allegedly achieved the with more than 60% of votes overall. With Sanders winning over the youth vote with his promises in friendly areas like education and healthcare (and Hillarys so-called millennial-woman problem), the question of who will take over from Obama as Democrat leader - and potentially as the next US President  is looking increasingly interesting.

Meanwhile, on the Republican side, Carly Fiorina has taken herself out of the running via an announcement on Facebook after finishing in seventh place  but has vowed that she will continue to travel this country and fight for those Americans who refuse to settle for the way things are and a status quo that no longer works for them.

In Australia, New South Wales Senator Fiona Nash was announced on Thursday as the new deputy leader of the National Party of Australia. Nash is the first woman to be elected to a leadership position within the party, and beat six men in the ballot. Its expected that her election, under leader Barnaby Joyce, will modernise Australias current government administration.

according to The Economist Back to Europe, and in Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel is facing increasing questions over the influx of refugees that are still flooding into the county  including from non-conflict zones such as Algeria. Last week,, a frustrated mayor sent 31 busses full of refugees to Berlin, saying his provincial town couldnt cope. It might seem like a childish move, but the problem is clear  Merkels refugee policy, whilst well-meaning, isnt necessarily working in real terms.

Back on home turf, David Camerons 81-year-old ex-magistrate mother Mary has revealed that she signed a petition against the closure of lifeline childrens centres  a proposal made by her sons very own city council  that would leave families vulnerable and isolated and fail an entire generation of children. Perhaps understandably (maybe because it would cause some awkward weekend conversation), Mrs Cameron isnt overly enthusiastic about discussing the issue further.

Others displeased by David Cameron this week include Boris Johnsons wife, human rights lawyer Marina Wheeler, who has written a 2,700 diatribe on the governments EU deal  which she accuses of raising more questions than it answers. Whether her words will lead to the London Mayor declaring that hes for a Brexit remain to be seen.

Meanwhile, Labour might be about to face some internal troubles of its own  according to the Muslim Womens Network chair Shaista Gohir, the party has been complicit in blocking Muslim female members from seeking office. Gohir has written to Jeremy Corbyn about the open secret, which has allegedly seen smear campaigns and pressure from male party members blocking womens participation for decades.

Bad news  or perhaps good, depending on how highly you value personal freedoms  also for Theresa May, whose snoopers charter needs to be rewritten in order to justify the government having access to the browsing history of Britons. A scrutiny committee has handed the Home Secretary a list of 86 points that need to be addressed before the charter is viable.

In happier news Baroness Shirley Williams, one of the first women to sit in parliament in the UK, has announced that shes retiring after 50 years. Aged 85 and with a stellar career behind her, we think she deserves it. Ms Williams: we salute you.
In a bewildering press conference last week, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights issued the abstruse statement that, "The Panel has decided that the detention [of Julian Assange] may be legal but it is arbitrary".

The gathered throng of understandably confused looking journalists was then directed to read the report in its entirety. The opinion stated that the majority of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention deemed that Assanges detention violated Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil Liberties and Political Rights. They further opined that Assange should be entitled to compensation from the UK Government for this arbitrary detention.

The opinion of the Working Group is preposterous and it difficult to understand how a group of allegedly legal experts could have arrived at such a bizarre decision.

To fully appreciate the absurdity of the Working Groups opinion it is important to remember the facts surrounding the proceedings at the UN.

In 2010, the Swedish Prosecutors Office issued an arrest warrant for Assange on allegations relating to rape and other serious sexual offences. After a judge in the UK ruled that Assange should be extradited to Sweden, Assange appealed to the High Court and then to the Supreme Court - he was unsuccessful in both attempts.

As a result, and in a cowardly attempt to evade justice, he applied for political asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. Assange was successful in his claim for asylum.

However, he has remained in the embassy since June 2012 as he will rightly be arrested by the Metropolitan Police if he ever leaves.

Assanges legal team argued to the Working Group that the Swedish authorities had not been sufficiently rigorous in investigating the allegations against him of rape and other serious sexual offences. They further argued that travelling to Sweden would put him at risk of being deported to the United States to face charges of treason.

In a move which flies in the face of both justice and common sense, the Working Group agreed with Assanges lawyers and thus ruled that his detention was arbitrary.

This is ludicrous for a number of reasons. First, it reveals a breathtaking ignorance on the part of the Working Group of UK law.

For example, the opinion of the Working Group suggests that the initial detention of Assange in Wandsworth Prison was arbitrary. This is a bewildering conclusion to draw given that the Met acted properly under UK law. If the Working Groups reasoning was to be applied consistently then one could argue that anyone held in custody pre-trial was being arbitrarily.

Secondly, the opinion ignores the fact that Assange entered the embassy under his own volition in a craven attempt to avoid lawful arrest. It would be akin to Ronnie Biggs claiming that he had been arbitrarily detained whilst sunbathing on Copacabana Beach.

Thirdly, in reaching their conclusion the Working Group agreed with Assanges lawyers that the Swedish authorities had not been sufficiently rigorous in their investigations. Surely the correct response to this is to point out that the Swedish authorities attempts to investigate the allegations have been hampered by Assange himself. It is incredibly difficult for anyone to properly investigate a crime when the chief suspect has not only been wholly uncooperative but has also absconded and has claimed asylum in the embassy of another country- within another country - after he had repeatedly and unsuccessfully attempted to appeal the extradition order.

Fourthly, the Working Group concluded that it would be wrong for Assange to be extradited to Sweden as he would then be at risk of being extradited to the US to be tried for treason.

This is another puzzling conclusion to draw. After all, it is far easier for the US to extradite Assange from the UK due to the UKs treaty with the US, where Swedish law prohibits extradition for political offences.

Finally, it is a ludicrous opinion because of what it represents and has achieved. Instead of being a victory for justice as some of Assanges supporters have claimed, it in fact represents and lends legitimacy to Assanges attempts to avoid justice.

Again, let us not forget the real reason he knocked on the door of the Ecuadorian Embassy back in 2012. Assange is in the embassy not because he is a martyr for political freedom but rather because he does not want to face the potential consequences of the rape allegations made against him.

His alleged victims have the right for their claims to be investigated and for them to see justice. Assanges alleged victims, who were Wikileaks supporters, have faced disgusting and unsubstantiated attacks on their character by Assanges supporters and have been robbed of their right to justice. Contrast this with Assange who is living in comfort at the Ecuadorian Embassy and revelling in his status as a political hero.

Mercifully, the opinion of the Working Group has no legal effect in the UK. However, this does not detract from the fact that the opinion is ludicrous, disgusting and runs counter to natural justice.
A man is in police custody after a student was stabbed to death in halls of residence at the University of Salford.

The body of 30-year old, Computer Science student William Lound was reportedly found after Lee Arnold, 36, handed himself into the police. The body of 30-year old, Computer Science student William Lound was reportedly found after Lee Arnold, 36, handed himself into the police.

Arnold has now been charged with murder by Great Manchester Police.

Lounds body was discovered in Bramall Court, which is on Cannon Street in Salford, following Lounds admission to a community support officer.

A Home Office postmortem has concluded Lound died as a result of stab wounds to the back and neck. It was also concluded that entry had not been forced into the student halls.

Superintendent Mark Kenny from GMPs Salford division told the Guardian: Our thoughts are with the family of William at this extremely difficult time. Specialist support officers are with Williams family and we are working closely with Salford University to offer support to anyone affected.

Kenny also highlighted that other students in the area should not be concerned about the incident stating; We believe this an isolated incident and we dont believe there is any risk to the wider community.

Anyone with information or concerns should call police on 101 or call the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111
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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

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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

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The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces

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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
Zvartnots eagle- apple of discord for descendants

Scandal is brewing about Zvartnots eagle sculpture on Yerevan- Echmiadzin highway. Peoples Architect Rafael Israelyan NGO released a statement, which questions the co-authorship of Yervand Kochar in this sculpture. Every person aware of Yervand Kochars works, every specialist of Armenian fine arts can claim undoubtedly, that the eagle has nothing in common with the style of Yervand Kochar. And there is nothing surprising, as the only real author of the sculpture is Peoples Architect of the USSR Rafael Israelyan, reads the statement. Karine Kochar, Director of Yervand Kochar Museum, told A1+ that they dont understand what the motive of such a statement can be. According to her words, Yervand Kochar and Rafael Israelyan never questioned the issue of the co-authorship of the sculpture. Karine Kochar noted that they will defend their rights at the court and will demand from the non-governmental organization to reject the statement and apologize to the descendants of Yervand Kochar. Mrs. Kochar thinks that it is done for PR, but for whom, she cannot say. It is a meaningless and illogical statement, and we wouldnt pay attention to it, if there werent the signatures of some people from the same family under it, she summed up.
Body parts suspect in solitary confinement

BANGKOK: A Spanish man accused of killing a fellow national, whose body was chopped up and discarded in the Chao Phraya River late last month, has been put in solitary confinement at the Bangkok Remand Prison after a court yesterday (Feb 10) approved his detention for 12 days.

crimehomicidepolice

By Bangkok Post

Thursday 11 February 2016, 09:14AM

Artur Segarra Princep, charged with the murder and dismemberment of a fellow Spaniard, continues to help police with their inquiries  but from solitary confinement awaiting a court appearance. Photo by Patipat Janthong

BANGKOK: A Spanish man accused of killing a fellow national, whose body was chopped up and discarded in the Chao Phraya River late last month, has been put in solitary confinement at the Bangkok Remand Prison after a court yesterday (Feb 10) approved his detention for 12 days.

Artur Segarra Princep, 37, allegedly murdered David Bernat, a 40-year-old consultant to a foreign company, dismembered the body and dumped the body parts into the river on Jan 30.

The suspect was caught on Sunday evening (Feb 7) in the Cambodian coastal town of Sihanoukville where he had checked into a guesthouse a few days earlier, and was later extradited to Thailand. He was charged with premeditated murder and destroying and concealing a human body.

Police yesterday brought Segarra before the Ratchada Criminal Court to seek his detention. Investigators plan to interview 20 more witnesses and have to wait for the results of examinations of fingerprints and other evidence, the officers said.

Segarra was sent to the Bangkok Remand Prison at 2:50pm, where he underwent documentation and a medical check-up.

Prison director Ayut Sinthoppan said the suspect was put in solitary confinement to better enable monitoring. The cell was equipped with CCTV cameras for around-the-clock observation. Psychiatrists will be sent to talk to him.

Meanwhile, sources said the suspect still insisted he did not know the slain man. He also refused to talk about saw blades and other evidence found in his property.

The investigation found Segarra ordered saw blades from a store in the Rama IX area on Jan 15. The goods were delivered on Jan 17.

Police believe extortion was a motive behind the murder.

Bernat was reported missing from his apartment, Nantiruj Tower, in Klong Toey district on Jan 20 after he was last seen on CCTV footage riding a motorcycle with Segarra from his apartment.

The money trail showed two B37 million wire transfers from Mr Bernats account in Singapore to Segarra's account.

Read original story here.
CAAT suspends Asian Air flights

BANGKOK: The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) has suspended the operations of Asian Air, a small Thai-owned, full-service airline, slightly over a week after it banned a company plane from leaving Thailand.

transporttourismeconomics

By Bangkok Post

Thursday 11 February 2016, 10:32AM

The small Thai airline Asian Air has been grounded for an indefinite period while it deals with a lawsuit over debts to its own maintenance firm. Photo: Asian Air

The airline, founded in 2011 with a current paid-up capital of B500 million, said the order took effect on Sunday (Feb 7) as the company is seeking all possibilities to resume its operations as soon as possible.

On Jan 27, the CAAT banned an Asian Air aircraft from leaving the navy-owned U-Tapao airport in Rayong province to pick up passengers in Macau before flying on to Palau, an island country in the western Pacific Ocean, after it received an order from the Central Bankruptcy Court to freeze the debt-laden airlines assets.

CAAT acting director Chula Sukmanop said last month the agency found the airline had unpaid debts and was being sued by its maintenance service provider, Cargo Aircraft Management Inc, for bankruptcy.

Asian Air co-owner David Srichai-udom told the Bangkok Post the airline's debt was now down to B10 million after it had paid off B90 million. He expected the legal battle to end in four to six months before the CAAT would allow the airline to resume operations.

Normally, the aviation authority has no immediate access to information about an airlines debts, Mr Chula has said. The airline may face having its operating licence revoked if it is found not to be in a financial position to run a business.

The airline reported net losses of B8.3 million in 2013 and B150.4 million in 2014, according to financial statements filed with the Ministry of Commerces Department of Business Development.

Last April, a total of 233 Thai tourists were left stranded at Don Mueang airport as their Asian Air chartered flight to Sapporo was not approved by the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau to fly to Japan.

Read original story here.
Phuket Governor urges parents to take Nong DJ lesson to heart

PHUKET: Phuket Governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada has called on parents to take the miraculous survival of 3-year-old boy Jessadakorn Chaiyo, or Nong DJ, to heart and ramp up their vigilance to ensure children do not stray from home.

health

By Suthicha Sirirat

Thursday 11 February 2016, 11:43AM

Phuket Governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada called on parents to take the miraculous survival of 3-year-old boy Jessadakorn Chaiyo, or Nong DJ, to heart and ramp up their vigilance to ensure children do not stray from home. Photo: Suthicha Sirirat

Nong DJ was found weak but alive in hillside jungle several kilometres from his familys home on Tuesday (Feb 9). He had somehow survived six days in the wild, alone. (See story here.)

Nong DJs mother and grandfather told me that the boy usually played by himself at home because he is too young for school, Gov Chamroen said.

The family is lucky that he was found. He is in good care of doctors and nurses now and he will recovery soon.

However, police are carrying on their investigation into how the boy ended up in the forest so far from home, and parents must take this incident into mind and learn from it.

Be careful and vigilant when taking care of a child or children, Gov Chamroen said.

Hospital Director Dr Jessada Chungpaibulpatana explained to Gov Chamroen that Nong DJ was recovering well.

When Nong DJ arrived at the hospital, he was very weak, had a fever, was dehydrated and had gastrointestinal bleeding. All over his body was marked by scrapes and insect bites, but we found no sign of assault, Dr Jetsada said.

Nong DJ has been moved to the Pediatrics Intensive Care Unit, he added.

He is now on a ventilator and being provided vitamins and nutrition via intravenous drip along with antibiotics to counter any blood infection. Dr Jessada said.

Today (Feb 10), his pulse back to normal and he no longer has seizures and gastrointestinal bleeding, but we will continue to monitor his condition closely at least for another 24-48 hours.
Phuket migrant worker crushed to death under granite slab

PHUKET: One Myanmar migrant worker died and a second was hospitalised yesterday (Feb 10) when heavy granite slabs they were unloading from a shipping container was dropped and crushed them.

deathMyanmarpolice

By Eakkapop Thongtub

Thursday 11 February 2016, 05:11PM

One man died and another was injured when crushed under a granite slab being moved from the container. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

Thung Thong Polices Lt Col Amphonwat Sangriang was called to investigate the death and injury of two Myanmar nationals at 11:05pm. It was reported that they had been crushed by granite slabs being unloaded at a warehouse on Pra Phuket Kaew Rd in Kathu.

Police arrived at the B.M.P System Furniture Co warehouse with Kusoldharm rescue workers and were led to a container lorry loaded with granite slabs. Each slab weighed between 300-500 kilos.

Lt Col Amphonwat said, We were led to the body of a 23-year-old man named Mong who was lying lifeless in the container.

We were told that a second man, 22-year-old Kyaw Swar also from Myanmar, had already been taken to Patong Hospital, he said.

Lt Col Amphonwat added, The truck had delivered a container of granite slabs to the warehouse and 4 or 5 migrant workers were unloading them. While they were carrying one of the slabs it slipped from their hands and fell on the two men.

We will continue to investigate before concluding our investigation.
South Dakota high school football playoffs scores and pairings

The South Dakota high school football playoffs start tonight with the Class 11B and 9-man teams facing off in the first round.
Michael Cummings, Copy Editor

cummings@grinnell.edu

Over winter break, President Raynard Kington wrote a special campus memo that Vice President for Communications Jim Reische will be leaving his position at the College effective on March 21.

Reische, who first came to Grinnell in 2011, dedicated the four years he has spent at Grinnell to making needed improvements to the College.

The resulting improvements [from Reisches work] in our financial sustainability were central to the Trustees October 2015 vote continuing our need-blind policies, Kington wrote in the memo.

Reische was selected Vice President for Communications at Grinnell during a nationwide search in 2012. Previously, the same person headed the Communications department and the Development and Alumni Relations department, but the office of Vice President of Communications role was established as part of a growing trend among colleges across the country.

Reische has accepted a position as the Chief Communications Officer for St. Johns College in Annapolis, Md., a small liberal arts college dedicated to the reading of the Great Books of Western Civilization. Reische cited family as the main reason for his move.

My parents, who live in New Hampshire, are getting older, Reische said. I want to be able to spend some time with them. Its not easy to get back and forth from Iowa to New Hampshire. Our daughter is at college in Pennsylvania  I want to be closer to people who I want to be able to see.

Reische said he has a hard time picking out what he will miss the most about Grinnell.

One of the things I really like about Grinnell is the incredible intellectual vibrancy, Reische said. Anybodys willing to try anything, and people are willing to discuss and debate and really engage at a really intense level, and so thats something that Ive loved.

He added that he especially values the relationships he has formed in his time here.

I really have a lot of good friendships with people on campus, and not just administrators but faculty and staff and students, which is a pretty rare thing in my world.
Sometimes I put my dog in sweaters. Or pearls.

Its a pet, Carli. Not a kid, Im told often, and usually by friends who have children. Though its not because Ive accessorized her  as I usually do this in private, and to music  its the response I get when I say I have to leave wherever it is I am to get home to Fig, my 7-and-a-half-year-old French bulldog. And the comment stings each time its made.

For some reason, people seem to think I need to hear it. Like I cant count legs. I can, and I acknowledge the logical, tangible, and biological disparities between animal and human. However, just because people and puppies are different, do parenthood and pet ownership necessarily have to be?

In no particular order: I love laughing, I love a good nights sleep, and/or Netflix. I love sweating, my slow cooker, spending time with family, and spending money at the Dollar Store. I love reading next to my partner, and falling asleep in clean sheets. I also really, really love my dog  and this love is different. Not bigger or smaller, just different.

This love gets me out of bed and into the cold darkness of my yard, wearing nothing but a bathrobe and slippers, at all hours of the night. This love forces me to familiarize myself with her figure by hand, so I can feel for foreign lumps with braille precision as she ages. This love had me (rather inconveniently) splitting custody for some time with an ex, who also loved her dearly, until we both agreed it made more sense for me to assume guardianship in full.

This love helps me justify the high cost per can of food from the vet  the kind that wont upset her intestinal lymphangiectasia, a diagnosis she received two years ago that has made every moment with her since feel both precious and precarious. This love is sometimes the only kind of love I can muster, when in that moment the thought of loving even myself seems ambitious and forced.

Yet, if ever I jokingly refer to myself as a dog-mom, or Fig as a fur-baby, I am quickly stopped in my semantic tracks. It seems that just uttering the term appears to offend some, turning an otherwise pleasant conversation into a competition over whos had less sleep in the last year. To suggest that caring for a pet is anything like caring for a child somehow seems to bring my overall comprehension of caring into question.

I recently came across a comment thread in a community chat group regarding my local Canadian Tire changing its policies to allow dogs in the store. Most of the commenters were vehemently opposed. Crudely worded concerns about barking and tinkle puddles were composed in a queue, which I scanned carefully on my smartphone in a coffee shop.

A few tables down from me, a young boy tipped a container of Goldfish crackers onto the floor, and repeatedly hollered the word that at the woman accompanying him, who remained entirely unfazed. As the woman knelt dutifully to collect the snack food, keeping one hand on her child, she briefly glanced my way. Her look was not apologetic, and perhaps thats because mine was not condemning. This was a child being a child, and a woman doing her best to be a parent. Like pee-pee, crackers can quickly be cleaned up. Accidents happen, after all.

Whats interesting is that I didnt need to ask this woman if she gave birth to the fish-flinging tot in order to label this act of caring and responsibility as parenting. She could have been an aunt, or a nanny, or a deranged psychopath whod just snatched the youngster from someone elses station wagon. But when she told the child, Mommy will get it, I was not about to challenge the way she self-identifies. She knows who she is in relation to this being, and thats enough for me.

Fig may not need a college fund, I dont have to worry about her getting into my makeup as a toddler, or drugs as a teen; and shes been spayed, so I dont need to sit through her appeal to go on the Pill at 14 for her skin either. I do feel joy when shes happy, worry when she sick, responsible when in public.

And when Im alone and the thought creeps in, I cry heavy, soul-sourced tears at the notion of eventually losing her.

True, the circumstances of parenthood and pet ownership are not exactly the same, but the feelings that come with each can be. Devotion, purpose, pride, and fear exist in both worlds  even if the world you and your pet have created will only exist for a short period of time.

I cannot say if I love my dog like I love my child, because I dont have a child yet. I can tell you, however, that I love my dog with all the love thats in me to give. And if thats not the same way you love your children, perhaps its you who doesnt understand the meaning of parenting.

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COLUMBIA, S.C.Heres a story, the gist of which will sound familiar to anyone living in South Carolina: Natalie Barrett, a 53-year-old schoolteacher from Westminster, got a robocall earlier this month, and ended up furious.

It started off simple enough, an automated mans voice asking her age and gender, then quizzing her on which Republican candidates she liked. But when she selected Sen. Marco Rubio as one of her choices, she said, things got nasty.

Thats when he said, Did you know that Marco Rubio and the Gang of Eight are for amnesty?  she recalled in a phone interview. And then the gentleman said hes for letting 11 million illegal immigrants stay in the U.S. and that he was for letting Syrians cross the borders freely.

Barrett said she found the call  which continued to say negative things about Rubio before taking shots at Donald Trump for being a supporter of eminent domain  to be negative and unfair, but couldnt figure out right away who it was from. The voice said the poll was conducted by some place called Remington Research.

She told her Rubio-supporting friend about the call; her friend told the campaign. They said they knew exactly what Remington Research was: a consulting firm started by Sen. Ted Cruzs campaign manager, Jeff Roe.

These tactics are becoming all too common in this race and indicative of our opponents campaigns that are willing to say or do anything to win an election, Rich Beeson, Rubios deputy campaign manager, said. This is nothing more than a deliberate effort to peddle false information in the hopes of deceiving voters.

But, of course, nothing is that simple in politics.

Were not doing any robo-polls in South Carolina, said Chris Wilson, Cruzs director of research. Its not us making those calls. Anyone can make those calls as Remington Research to screw with reporters and make Jeff look like hes doing something.

This, in a nutshell, is South Carolina a week before the highly contested Republican primary: a cloudy tincture of desperation, paranoia and umbrage, with plausible deniability for everyone. Its a mad scramble to make every other candidate look bad, either by playing dirty or accusing an opponent of playing dirty.

And so, the media has flocked South, left taciturn New England behind in search of a quiet spot  the corner booth of a bar, perhaps, or a well-appointed office downtown  hoping to be blessed with those magic words: You didnt hear this from me, but . . .  South Carolina: home to whisper campaigns, dirty politics, bare-knuckled knife fighters, and other cliches. A land where consultants share shibboleth with bank robbers: No fingerprints, please. Its a week before the primary, and the Palmetto State is all anonymous flyers and unlisted numbers.

In fairness to the natives, South Carolinas electoral nastiness may be a matter of timing more than geography. The window to win the nomination is rapidly closing, and theres little advantage in holding back.

The hallmarks of the South Carolina dirty tricks are: high impact, low tech, high deniability, said Joel Sawyer, a GOP consultant based in Columbia. The more salacious the better. And the people that do these kinds of things know their audience  they are going to play to the fears of the blue-collar South Carolinians and know these tricks are going to be impactful.

The late GOP campaign consultant Lee Atwater is remembered as the patron saint of aggressive South Carolina politics. In 1980, he used push polls to link Democratic congressional candidate Tom Turnipseed to the NAACP  a scary notion for some white suburbanites  and spread rumours that as a depressive child Turnipseed had been hooked up to jumper cables. Atwater later became an adviser to Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush and chaired the Republican National Committee.

His tactics are still very much in play. It feels like just yesterday when anonymous phone calls went out around the state asking primary voters in 2000 if they would be more likely or less likely to vote for John McCain for president if (they) knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child?

Its not all bad news. In 2012, Peter Hamby, then at CNN, published an article maintaining that South Carolinas dirty political reputation outlives reality. He quoted state Sen. Tom Davis insisting that people have become sort of jaundiced about the whole dirty-trick thing . . . They see some of that ambush stuff, and they take it with a giant grain of salt.

But there is also evidence that things may get worse. It used to be that, under state law, robocallers could only conduct their business on answering machines and voice mails; that if anyone picked up the phone, the call would go dead. But last year courts found the law to be unconstitutional. Which is why Natalie Barrett spent five minutes feeling her anger build as she answered automated questions about Marco Rubio the other day.

As far as the political dark arts are concerned, this was relatively insipid fare and may have entirely missed the mark.

I was pretty sure it was from Cruz, said Joseph Bowers, a 24-year-old student who said he got a similar call. The last question was to give a reason why people should vote for Ted Cruz in the primary, and I said they shouldnt at all.

Nicole Walukewicz, a 58-year-old who has retired to take care of her sick husband and her mom, said the robocall she got represents everything thats wrong with politics today.

The implication was that Rubio wasnt going to protect the American population from potential terrorists coming into the country, she said. It just felt like Cruz, or whoever was behind it, was willing to lie to get the presidency. She said she found the tactic especially offensive considering what went down in Iowa, where members of the Cruz campaign told caucus-goers that Ben Carson had dropped out of the race when he hadnt.

Wilson, of the Cruz campaign, said hed heard of these alleged robocalls in South Carolina from a D.C. reporter who was sniffing around the story.

He read the text to me, Wilson said. One of the questions was close to what were doing, but there was one key difference. There was a line basically from our TV ad that said the Gang of Eight bill would have accepted refugees from Syria, but what he read to me said they were from Muslim countries. 

That seemed like a clue to Wilson.

Who would put the world Muslim into a question? he said with someone in mind. What candidate would do that?

Could it be that a Donald Trump lackey had something to do with this? Could someone from team Rubio have done it just to make Cruz look like a huckster? Or could it have been someone from Cruz World the whole time? The fact is that we may never know.

So some advice for South Carolina residents during election season: Dont pick up your phone and dont trust anything you hear. These conspiracies can go all the way to the top. Or, so it seems, the bottom.

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Spoofing, a form of market manipulation, has been a persistent problem in the capital markets for several years, but 2015 saw the practice shift into the public's eye, arguably constituting an industry crisis. Aided by the rise of high frequency and algorithmic trading, spoofing occurs when a rogue broker profits by selling a security at a new, higher price, after issuing, but then immediately canceling, a buy order without filling it, in order to create the appearance of demand.

In an effort to suppress this illegal trading activity, New York's Attorney General recently opened an inquiry into spoofing at several large firms, including BGC Partners, TFS-ICAP, Tullet Prebon Financial Services, and GFI Group. Paired with growing numbers of convictions for "lone wolf" traders -- including Michael Coscia, who was charged in November with 12 counts of fraud and spoofing on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange -- broker-dealers can't afford to risk their reputation with "business as usual".

Firms already have plenty of reasons to put a stop to spoofing, including potential damage to their reputations and financial penalties. Bloomberg reports that FINRA is working with firms to help identify these rogue brokers, but awareness is only one piece of the puzzle. But putting a stop to spoofing requires more than merely reporting infractions as they occur. Authorities are calling on both buy- and sell-side firms to do more in the struggle against this particularly manipulative tactic. Many organizations don't realize what steps they can take. Broker-dealers can create a company culture that discourages rule breaking, screens out unsavory applicants during the hiring process, and invests in more sophisticated monitoring capabilities in these three ways:

1. Cultivate the Right Culture



While no firm encourages noncompliance with SEC and FINRA regulations, many organizations inadvertently create a culture that tolerates illegal trading strategies by not being proactive.



First, broker-dealers need to send a clear message to their employees that compliance is mandatory. Next,technology can and should play a central role in ensuring that rules are followed, but creating a healthy culture goes beyond managing the tools that employees use. Firms must address instances of spoofing directly, avoiding the temptation to sweep wrongdoing under the carpet. Finally, broker-dealers can periodically refresh employees on illegitimate trading practices, while structuring incentives to discourage questionable trades. Compliance isn't the purview of the Chief Compliance Officer alone; all broker-dealer leaders are responsible for nurturing an environment that prioritizes safe, ethical trading.





2. Reform the Hiring Process

It's not enough to simply react to spoofing; broker-dealers can take steps to prevent unethical and illegal trading behavior from occurring. Brokers who make a habit of flouting industry regulations and organizational policies place their client relationships at risk. A firm's reputation has always been critical to client acquisition and retention, but in this age of always-on social media, a seemingly small misstep can be extremely costly. Even minor client concerns can be amplified online, whether in the news or on Twitter and LinkedIn, and an unreliable broker represents a significant liability. To prevent legal and financial consequences, firms must identify bad actors before they have the opportunity to act criminally.

HR departments (or for smaller firms, a sole HR manager) represent the front line of defense against lone wolves who engage in negligent trading practices.

First, broker-dealers must perform their due diligence and comb for potential red flags in an employee's history that may warrant concern; it's rare for an employee with a clean record to abruptly begin employing questionable trading practices. At the same time, it's important to screen out applicants who reveal hostility toward complying with SEC, FINRA or internal trading regulations. And finally, broker-dealers need to take a more comprehensive view of a prospective employee's worth, weighing not only the value they can bring to the firm, but also the risk they represent.

3. Take a Holistic Approach to Compliance

The onus falls on capital markets firms to develop a comprehensive compliance approach that protects their reputations and bottom lines.

There is no silver bullet solution to preventing spoofing, but a combination of effective HR screening, a healthy company culture and modern surveillance software can give your firm a head start over bad actors. As rogue traders and regulatory authorities continue to engage in a virtual arms race, broker-dealers must do more than sit around and watch.

The onus falls on capital markets firms to develop a comprehensive compliance approach that protects their reputations and bottom lines.

This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.
The year 2016 remains a slow one for IPOs. The water is still choppy after six full weeks of turmoil. Combined with a disappointing end to 2015, it seems that this will year may be plagued with more of the same.

Despite the conditions, US Foods announced its intentions to brave the difficult market on Tuesday. The food distributor filed for an IPO with a placeholder amount of $100 million. However, the company could raise as much as $1 billion when it hits the market. Current estimated valuations for the company include $2.5 billion.

US Foods has a strong foothold in the food service industry and has also survived some turmoil of its own. However, this market has hurt even the best IPO candidates and offering itself too soon may be a mistake.

All About US Foods

US Foods is a food service behemoth that serves restaurants, schools and hospitals across the country. Offering over 350,000 products and employing 25,000 people, it is the second-biggest food company in America.

The history of US Foods goes back to the 19th century. Several of the entities that make up the giant began as mid-century provision companies that sent food west of the Mississippi.

Until 2007, it was owned by Royal Ahold NV, a Dutch casino room owner. Its current owners are Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Clayton Dubilier & Rice, which paid cash to the tune of $7.1 billion.

US Foods was nearly acquired by its main competitor, Sysco,last year, but the deal was knocked down by U.S. regulators.

Hungry for US Foods

In 2014, the company lost $73 million on $23 billion in revenue. However, the first 36 weeks of 2015 looked better for US Foods after pulling in a $177 million profit on $7 billion.

US Foods currently holds 9% of the market share in US food service.

Sysco offered to buy the company for $3.5 billion. The buyout attempt lasted over a year before a federal judge shut down the process. The judge ruled that the sale would violate competition rules. However, Sysco continued to maintain that the acquisition would have been a positive one for the market. It maintained that the purchase would save the companies $1 billion and allow it to lower its prices.

Whatever the market, US Foods remain an old and stable business with a large revenue and plenty of experience. It is unclear whether this is enough to deal with the uncertainty in the market.

Why to Stay Away

The failed merger did not reflect badly on Sysco. The company's shares rose after the firms announced the cancellation. However, US Foods admitted that the potential merger slowed the company's sales growth. The period of uncertainty affected the way that the company was able to target new customers.

However, US Foods says that once it cancelled the deal, it began to regain momentum.

To combat the uncertainty that remains, US Foods has to come up with a new strategy for attracting customers. However, any real growth through acquisitions would likely be quashed by the government because of the company's current size.

The Bottom Line

US Foods would be better served by refocusing its strategy on its product and its customers rather than trying to brave the market storm. If the company chooses to go public now, its negligence will cost both it and any investors who follow their lead.

This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.
In marketing talk, Bernie Sanders has a "purpose-driven brand."

It's simple and very much of his own making: Income inequality is unfair and bad for the U.S. economy, and that unfairness is being pushed by Wall Street greed, which is benefiting no one except the 1%.

Hillary Clinton is having a hard time matching that message. The general election is still nine months away, but Clinton's campaign is facing big challenges both in defeating Sanders and countering his touchstones of authenticity as populist street fighter.

"She needs to start to say why she's running," says Drew Train, managing partner at Oberland, a New York-based branding agency specializing in non-profits and social responsibility. "Everyone knows Bernie is running to upend the apple cart, to create a new economic system. People think Hillary is running because its her turn, or because it's a foregone conclusion or because she wants to be the first female president -- but none of those things benefit me as a consumer or a voter."

One nagging problem for Hillary Clinton is that she has been on the public stage for more than 25 years. She is part of the "establishment" in a year when the winners of the New Hampshire primary -- Sanders and Donald Trump -- are not the favorites of their partys' leaderships. Peddling pragmatism just isn't cutting it.

One nagging assessment, as framed by MSNBC's Rachel Maddow in an interview earlier this week, is a perception that she lacks "trustworthiness." In the interview held just prior to the New Hampshire vote, Clinton countered that the impression is a by-product of a long-running campaign by Republican and right-wing groups to attack her character as much as her position on any issue.

Clinton's challenge, says Tom Christmann, chief creative officer of DiMassimo Goldstein, a New York advertising and communications agency, is to turn the focus of her campaign away from her and onto those very issues that she feels most passionate.

"She needs to not make it about her," Christmann said in a phone interview in New York. "She may not be able to completely change certain perceptions, but she needs to say, yes, I'm a women and of course people are going to try to tear me down, but I'm focused on what's important, which is you and your concerns."

Clinton's image problems, Trains says, are due in part to the confines of the typical political campaign. Like most politicians running for president, Clinton's team is looking at myriad polls and focus-group studies, trying to figure out what voters want, and then tailoring a message much as a corporation seeks to craft a brand to sell a product or service.

That's a reasonable strategy, Train says, when all the other candidates are doing the same. But Clinton is facing a candidate in Bernie Sanders who is delivering something very different.

Whereas Sanders released a soaring campaign anthem set to Simon & Garfunkel's America, Clinton ran a reasonable video about how her many qualifications to do a job as difficult as being president. To be sure, Clinton's more recent advertisement highlighting her many years championing the needs of children speaks to filling this "purpose" vacuum.

"Brands need to go back to purpose -- why did you create your business in the first place," Train said. "Hillary hasn't been able to do that convincingly. I believe she's as ardently a defender of people, low-income and otherwise as Bernie is, but she just can't get out of that consulted, marketed, disciplined space."

Sanders handed Clinton a whopping defeat in New Hampshire on Tuesday, out-polling the former New York senator 60% to 38%. Clinton, exit polls show, is failing to reach young people. In fact, she's failing to reach just about anyone but folks like herself -- men and women over 65. The two candidates face-off tonight in a PBS debate from Milwaukee.

Executing a brand makeover for someone who has been around as long as Clinton won't be easy. From the day Bill was elected president, Hillary made clear that she was her own person, not a traditional first lady. Since then, the public has watched the Clintons struggle through healthcare reform, the Monica Lewinski scandal the Whitewater investigation, a move to New York to run for senate and most recently, questions about Hillary's role in Benghazi, Libya and the use of a private email server.

Those many chapters invoke a lot of images, many of which continue to linger.

"You can't do this overnight, but there is enough time if she starts now," Train said. "Maybe has a kind of a Bulworth moment and shows a human side, kind of like she was in New Hampshire in 2008. Hillary has many structural and institutional advantages in this race. She has enough time to turn herself around, but she has to get moving."

She can start tonight at the PBS Democratic debate, which will be held in Milwaukee and starts at 9 p.m. The next voting stop for Democrats in the primaries is Nevada on Feb. 20, followed by South Carolina on Feb. 27.
Sections of the American urban landscape are starting to resemble a Mad Max movie, as disaffected citizens battle police forces that they view as hostile, racist and oppressive.

This trend positions a leading supplier of advanced war gear to police for greater demand this year and beyond, regardless of the gyrations of financial markets. We examine this promising stock below. The company is among a group of technology-intensive firms that should "beat the bear" in 2016.

Tensions between the cops and the citizenry are only getting worse. Latest case in point: The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city of Ferguson, Missouri, to end what it described as routine patterns of unnecessary violence and constitutional abuses by the city's police department.

In post 9/11 America, the line between soldier and cop has blurred. This reality came to the fore during the violent protests in 2014 in Ferguson and in 2015 in Baltimore, Maryland. Also causing widespread outrage was the 2014 shooting of Laquan McDonald in Chicago, a 17-year-old black male who was shot 16 times in 13 seconds. The video of the killing was revealed in November 2015.

As an investor, it's immaterial whether you side with the cops or the protesters, or whether your opinions lie somewhere in between. The fact remains: The violence in U.S. cities and the conditions that spawn it won't abate anytime soon. To make money (especially in this volatile market), you should look for companies with advanced products that are tapped into unstoppable trends, like our stock recommendation below.

The presence of military surplus equipment during civil unrest, especially in the Ferguson and Baltimore riots, has exacerbated civilian rage. After congressional hearings and public pressure, the White House this year implemented a plan to sharply curtail the Pentagon's provision of surplus equipment to police departments. This opens the door even wider for defense firm L-3 Communications (LLL) , whose L-3 Warrior Systems division provides imaging and targeting products that allow police to accurately locate, target and fire during day and night, or in adverse weather.

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L-3 Warrior Systems is made up of complementary military and commercial segments: Insight Technology, EOTech, Electron Tube Operations, InfraRed Products, Advanced Laser Systems Technology and Mobile Vision.

Here's why we like L-3 Warrior Systems: Its products are ultrasophisticated and consequently confer higher profit margins. What's more, its illumination devices, image intensifiers, thermal imaging systems, high-performance night vision and fusion goggles, and precision targeting products don't attract the same negative political response as other militarized police weaponry, such as assault rifles, armored personnel carriers, grenade launchers and helicopters.

Parent company L-3 Communications also provides intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance systems, simulation and training products, aircraft fleet management, and national security solutions (such as airport body scanners) to public and private organizations in the U.S. and around the world. As terrorism worsens internationally, demand for these products is soaring as well.

If you're worried about a down market this year, a smart bet is to find adaptable technology companies such as L-3 Communications that provide customers with "must have" products.

As with all defense contractors, L-3 Communications (market cap: $9.08 billion) is susceptible to the ebb and flow of Pentagon contracting. In some quarters revenue can temporary decline due to the vagaries of the federal budget, which can weigh on share prices -- and that in turn that can be a buying opportunity. The time to buy shares of a company like L-3 is at the inflection point: while valuation is cheap, and ahead of an upward trajectory in revenue and earnings as new orders and existing backlogs kick in.

L-3 last month reported fourth-quarter fiscal 2015 adjusted earnings per share of $2.16, compared with EPS of $2.34 in the same quarter a year ago. Revenue in the quarter came in at $2.9 billion, down 3% year over year. But keep in mind, L-3 Communications has reported positive earnings surprises in two out of the last four quarters. And in a sign that the company's balance sheet remains solid, LLL this week hiked its quarterly dividend payment by 7.7%, bringing the annualized payout to $2.80 per share from the previous payout of $2.60. This marks the company's 12th consecutive annual hike in its dividend.

The stock sports a trailing 12-month price-to-sales ratio of only 0.89, compared with 2.05 for Honeywell (HON) , 1.41 for Lockheed Martin (LMT) and 1.64 for Raytheon (RTN) , three major competitors, and 1.44 for its industry. L-3 stock is now trading at $118, but the median 12-month price target from analysts is $135, suggesting the stock can gain more than 14%. As many analysts call for a bear market in 2016, those projected gains for LLL look quite appealing.

We've found a small-cap biotech "rocket stock" that's about to take off. UCLA researchers are stunned by a Nobel Prize-winning cancer breakthrough that's proven in clinical trials to eliminate lethal forms of cancer with a single dose. One small company owns the patent to this life-saving treatment. Now trading at about $5 a share, the stock of this innovative company is projected to surge 2,700% on an imminent FDA announcement. To download the full report, click here.

John Persinos is editorial manager and investment analyst at Investing Daily. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.
Remember "Peak Oil?"

The ExxonMobil (XOM) board probably does. On February 2, 2016, the company announced that it would cease its voracious stock buyback program after profits hit their lowest point in over a decade. Since August 2000, ExxonMobil has spent over $210 billion on stock buybacks, while reiterating its commitment to its dividend policy.

This dedication to dividends and dividend growth is what sets good companies apart from the pack, in good and bad times, but ExxonMobil's dedication to buybacks is another matter completely. The question is, "Who really benefits from buybacks?"

In August 2015, Reality Shares authored an article in TheStreet. The study pointed out that there are four ways companies can use their free cash: invest in organic growth; grow through acquisitions or investing in other companies; pay down debt; and offer stock buybacks and dividends.

Only stock buybacks beg the question: How did close to a quarter trillion dollars benefit the company and its shareholders?

From August 2000 through December 2015, the company had 12 distinct buyback periods and repurchased nearly 4 billion shares. Comparing the average repurchase price in each of these periods with the period-end and 2015 year-end closing prices, the company overpaid on a per-share basis 83% of the time (in 10 of 12 buyback periods).

For years, shareholders and analysts have questioned the real value of buybacks. Why is it that most uses of company cash for investments require a measureable ROI justification and buybacks do not? What factors do executives consider when making the decision to spend a company's cash to buy back its own shares?

Yes, share buybacks can provide a short-term bump in stock price and put some lipstick on earnings per share (EPS), but studies such as the one done by Reality Shares didn't show any compelling long-term relationship between buybacks and stock price performance. Most cynics would say that a buyback program has something to do with executive pay, and that is partially true. However, as with most things financial, a single sentence isn't sufficient to explain.

A study done by the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business pointed out that "the use of employee stock options increased dramatically, as did the use of stock repurchases," beginning in the late 1990s. Importantly, both affect a company's EPS. As new executive pay programs became more performance based, stock options in lieu of salary have also greatly increased; today, only about 20% of top executive pay derives from salary.

A large amount of incentive options dilutes existing stock. An expanding share base without the offsetting income will reduce the EPS, a key metric used in most C-level incentive pay programs. Is it too cynical to think that management would decide to buy back shares to reduce the float and make EPS look better?

Why not reward the stockholders with dividend growth, since they assume the risk?

Numerous articles have suggested that managers repurchase shares to offset EPS dilution in response to employee stock option plan dilution, and some executives have acknowledged that their decisions to issue and repurchase shares have been influenced by potential EPS effects. By reducing the number of their shares on the market, companies beef up their stock's price, which they believe to be undervalued. And fewer shares translates to a lower denominator in measuring EPS.

The University of Chicago study showed that while repurchases may provide a temporary boost to EPS, it "does not create any value for shareholders." And what is the mandate for company boards and managers? Answer: create shareholder value.

So, why not reward the stockholders with dividend growth as they are the ones who take the risk?

Instead of rewarding shareholders or allocating that money to other ROI-related investments, over the past decade ExxonMobil has spent close to a quarter of a trillion dollars on stock repurchases since August of 2000. Management apparently chose to feather their own nests, aided and abetted by the board.

If any topic should help motivate more shareholder activism, it should be to change company policies regarding the use of free cash when it comes to rewarding employees and diluting stock or rewarding shareholders with dividend growth.

In the case of Exxon Mobil, the opportunity cost to shareholders has been staggering. What would a quarter of a trillion dollars' worth of dividends have done for the total return for loyal shareholders'?

This article is commentary by an independent contributor. This article represents the opinion of the author and may not represent the opinion of Reality Shares. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- SunEdison (SUNE) stock is down 12.50% to $2.07 in afternoon trading on Thursday, as Latin America Power shareholders sue the renewable energy company, Bloomberg reports.

The Latin America Power investors believe they will win an arbitration fight for $150 million against SunEdison regarding its failure to close a $733 million buyout in 2015, the Wall Street Journal adds.

The shareholders have asked a New York court to set aside $150 million of SunEdison assets to ensure their availability, as the investors fear that SunEdison is nearing bankruptcy.

In court papers filed in New York Supreme Court, the shareholders claim SunEdison, which has endured a "stunning financial collapse" in its stock price, is "teetering on the edge of bankruptcy," and has allegedly said it would transfer assets away, the Journal notes.

The investors want to be certain that the assets will be available when it is time for them to collect.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates the stock as a "sell" with a ratings score of D.

SunEdison's weaknesses include its generally high debt management risk, generally disappointing historical performance in the stock itself and feeble growth in its earnings per share.

You can view the full analysis from the report here: SUNE

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 article's author.

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In the quiet battle between save-the-earth conservationists and American motorists who won't give up driving big, truck-like vehicles, SUV owners have seized the high ground, at least temporarily.

The latest salvo from the come-hell-what-may forces is (NSANY) next-generation Armada fullsize SUV, shown for the first time on Wednesday at the Chicago Auto Show. Unlike most new vehicles, this one is 200 pounds heavier than the model it replaces and comes equipped with a 390-horsepower V8 engine.

Pickup trucks and SUVs built on body-on-frame pickup architectures such as Armada, Ford Expedition, Chevrolet Tahoe and Cadillac Escalade are making a comeback. In 2015, U.S. automakers sold 847,430 full-size SUVs, up 6.2% from a year earlier.

"This vehicle can be used for light off-road usage, very well-suited for camping, fishing, the outdoors," said Rich Miller, head of Nissan's truck development. "The segment is heavy with luxury buyers."

Nissan is building Armada in Japan because its Mississippi plant is maxed out with production of pickup trucks and other big models. The automaker actually is shipping V8 engines from its plant in Decherd, Tenn., to its assembly plant in Japan, which means the V8s will cross the Pacific Ocean twice by the time new Armadas are sold in the U.S.

At various times, spiking gasoline prices have damped the sale of big SUVs. But with gasoline selling at between $1.50 and $2 a gallon in many parts of the country, car shoppers aren't deterred by low fuel-efficiency ratings.

Automakers love selling big SUVs as much as their enthusiasts love to buy them. Their outsize profitability stems from two factors. First, they command steep prices, compared to other types of vehicles. Customers like the size, the space and a multiple rows of seats. The current generation of Armada starts at about $40,000. Infiniti QX80 starts at nearly $70,000.

Second, the cost of developing body-on-frame models is moderated because much of the mechanical architecture already has been designed for the corresponding pickup truck. General Motors' (GM) Chevrolet Suburban, for example, shares many parts and components with its Silverado pickup truck.

While the Environmental Protection Agency hasn't yet released the new Armada's fuel-efficiency rating, it should be roughly the same as its clone, Nissan's Infiniti QX80, which is 15 or 16 miles per gallon combined city/highway, depending on rear-wheel or four-wheel drive. What's certain is that the new Armada will detract rather than contribute to Nissan's corporate average fuel economy.

Automakers by 2025 will be required to meet an EPA fleet average of 54.5 miles per gallon. Executives privately say they're not sure how their companies comply, unless the EPA provides loopholes. They certainly don't expect the politics of fuel conservation to change anytime soon.

Doron Levin is the host of "In the Driver Seat," broadcast on SiriusXM Insight 121, Saturday at noon, encore Sunday at 9 a.m.

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) -- American International Group (AIG) stock is advancing by 0.83% to $51 in after-hours trading on Thursday, after the company reported its most recent earnings, announced a share buyback and dividend hike and expanded its board.

After the market close, the insurer reported an adjusted loss of $1.10 per share, wider than analysts' projections for a loss of 93 cents per share.

AIG was negatively impacted by weak underwriting and lower returns on investments. The company hopes to cut its gross general operating expenses by an additional $1.6 billion by the end of 2017.

Additionally, the insurer announced that its board of directors has approved the repurchase of up to $5 billion in stock.

AIG also declared that it will increase its quarterly dividend by 14% to 32 cents per share. The dividend will be payable on March 28 to shareholders of record as of March 14.

Samuel Merksamer, managing director of Carl Icahn's Icahn Capital, and John Paulson, president of Paulson & Co., will join the company's board of directors in May. AIG is expanding its board of directors to 16 seats from 14.

Activist investor Carl Icahn, whose insistence that the company should split into three public companies has been resisted, tweeted that he had reached an agreement with AIG about its board.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates the stock as a "hold" with a ratings score of C+.

American International Group's strengths such as its solid stock price performance, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures and reasonable valuation levels are countered by weaknesses including feeble growth in the company's earnings per share, deteriorating net income and disappointing return on equity.

You can view the full analysis from the report here: AIG

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 article's author.

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Hebrew University's Roni Gross holds the original historical documents related to Albert Einstein's prediction of the existence of gravitational waves at the Hebrew university in Jerusalem, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. In a blockbuster announcement, scientists said Thursday that after decades of trying they have detected gravitational waves, the ripples in the fabric of space-time that Einstein predicted a century ago. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)
The Rev. Al Sharpton greets Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. and his wife Jane as they arrive for a breakfast meeting at Sylvia's Restaurant, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016, in the Harlem neighborhood of New York. Sanders defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday in the New Hampshire primary. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
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In a significant claim, Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley on Thursday said that Ishrat Jahanwho was killed in an alleged fake encounter in 2004 in Gujaratwas actually a suicide bomber of Lashkar-e-Taiba terror outfit.

The disclosure is likely to ignite a fresh row around the controversial encounter.

Testifying via video-link from the US, Headley spilled the beans on the 19-year-old Mumbra girl and picked up her name when quizzed by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam about a "botched up operation" mentioned to him (Headley) by LeT commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi.

Headley told the court that Lakhvi had mentioned to him about a "botched-up operation" conducted in India by another LeT operative Muzammil Butt where a female member of the terror outfit was killed.

Prodded by Nikam to elaborate on the operation and the members involved in it, Headley said, "(I was told) It was a shootout with police in which a (female) suicide bomber was killed."

To which the prosecutor prompted three names of which Headley picked up Jahan before telling the court that "there is a female wing in LeT and one Abu Aiman's mother headed it."

Four personsIshrat Jahan, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an encounter with Gujarat Police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

The city crime branch had then said that those killed in the encounters were LeT terrorists and had landed in Gujarat to kill then Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

The CBI, which took over probe from the Gujarat High Court appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT), had filed charge sheet in August 2013 saying that the encounter was fake and executed in the joint operation by the city crime branch and Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau (SIB).

In further disclosures, the 55-year-old, who recently turned approver in the 26/11 case, also told the court that that LeT operative Muzammil Butt was the head of his (Headley's) group before Sajid Mir.

He told the court that a person, whom he identified as Abu Dujuna introduced him to Muzammil.

Headley said that he and Muzammil had once visited Kashmir to fight against the Indian troops.

Earlier in the day, Headley exposed how ISI and LeT majorly funded terror operations in India and financed him from time to time and that Pakistan native Tahawwur Rana visited Mumbai before the terror strikes in November 2008, which left 166 people dead and 309 injured.

The LeT operative also said that RBI had turned down his request to open a bank account for their office in India.

Giving details of his funding, Headley said, "Before coming to India in September 2006, he received $25,000 from ISI's Major Iqbal."

"I also got 40,000 in Pakistani currency from LeT operative Sajid Mir between April and June 2008," he told the court, adding that Major Iqbal used to regularly send him money in instalments.

Also, Major Iqbal gave me counterfeit Indian currency once or twice in 2008, he said. Besides Abdul Rehman Pasha, also from ISI, gave me Rs 80,000, Headley said.

"Tahawur Rana (Headley's associate and a Pakistani native who operated a Chicago-based immigration business) used to send me money from the US in September 2006 when I came to India to do intelligence work on instructions of LeT," he told the court.

He also said that "it was my idea to open an office in India. It was a part of my cover (as an immigration consultant). I had discussed about this with Major Iqbal and Sajid Mir and they both agreed to it."

"I also told Rana that Major Iqbal had asked me to do intelligence work in India. Iqbal told me that if Rana was reluctant to be associated with this (Headley's India operations) then he (Headley) should appeal to his (Rana's) sense of patriotism towards Pakistan," he testified.

"But Rana was not reluctant and he agreed readily for me to go to India," Headley said. Headley also revealed that Rana had visited Mumbai before the terror attacks.

"I advised Rana to leave India before the attacks as I was afraid that he would be in danger," he told the court.

Headley also disclosed that Rana had asked Raymond Sanders (who ran an immigrant law centre in Chicago) to submit an application to the RBI to open a bank account for their office in India.

The deposition of Headley could not take place yesterday due to a technical snag in the video conference in the US.
OB vans parked end to end, television cameras crammed for space and jostling reporters vying for a sound bite. An ignorant observer can be forgiven for thinking that a high-flying celebrity is about to make an appearance at the lobby of the Kerala State Housing Board building in Kochi. A while later, a young woman steps out of the elevator and is mobbed by waiting reporters. Clad in an electric blue sari, Saritha S. Nair handles questions from seasoned reporters with what seems to be practised nonchalance. Saritha, 38, is one of the key accused in the solar panel scam, which has been rocking Kerala politics for the last three years. And, the scene at the housing board building, where Justice Sivarajan Commission of inquiry into the scam is based, has been animated for the past few days.

Saritha and her second husband, Biju Radhakrishnan, launched Team Solar Renewable Energy Solutions Private Limited in 2011, promising people assistance to set up solar power units. With the duo dropping enough hints about their connections with the high and mighty of Kerala, many people invested in their projects. Still, the scam was in the minor league, worth around Rs.12 crore. After some of the investors who lost their money approached the police in 2013, Saritha and Biju were arrested and 33 cases of cheating were registered. The chief minister's office was in the eye of the storm and two members of his personal staff Tenni Joppen and Jikkumon Jacob and his security guard Salim Raj were fired. In an interview with THE WEEK in 2013, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said lapses by a few members of his staff had led to the controversy. A few months later, Biju was convicted in the case of his first wife Reshmi's murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

During her eight-month stay in jail and upon her release on bail, Saritha has made several allegations about paying bribes and providing sexual favours to a number of leaders of the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF), but never substantiated the charges. But with the media lapping up her every word and deed, Saritha now enjoys celebrity status and her appearances before the solar inquiry commission often end up being public spectacles.

It was during one such appearance on January 27 that she dropped a bombshell against Chandy. Saritha said she had paid him Rs1.9 crore as bribe through his Delhi-based aide, Thomas Kuruvilla. She said she had paid Rs.40 lakh to power minister Aryadan Mohammed. A day later, S.S. Vasan, a vigilance judge in Thrissur, while hearing a public interest litigation on the issue, ordered a first information report to be registered and an investigation to be opened against Chandy and Mohammed. Both of them approached the High Court against the order and got it stayed. The High Court severely criticised the vigilance judge for the manner in which he handled the matter. He opted for voluntary retirement following the criticism, but changed his decision a few days later at the instance of some judges of the High Court.

Although Chandy won reprieve from the High Court, his government has been lurching from one crisis to another. On February 1, Saritha submitted, before the solar commission, CDs which purportedly contained her conversations with Thampanoor Ravi and Benny Behanan, Congress leaders known to be close to Chandy. The leaders could be heard asking her to stick to the CMs version of events in the solar scam. Although the veracity of the CDs is yet to be proved, they have turned into a major embarrassment for the Congress party.

It was only a few days earlier that Excise Minister K. Babu had to resign following adverse remarks by the same vigilance judge on the bar bribery scandal. Babu, too, had obtained a stay order from the High Court and rejoined the cabinet. Yet, allegations of corruption are levelled against UDF leaders almost on a regular basis by bar hotel association leaders, tarnishing the reputation of the government.

However, with the Congress high command throwing its weight behind him, and the major coalition partners unwilling to rock the boat, Chandy seems to be putting up a fight. His challengers within the party, including state Congress president V.M. Sudheeran and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, have declared support for the chief minister, at least for the time being. Some factions in the Left Democratic Front are scheming against the chief minister, said Sudheeran. The CPI(M) wants the Lavalin case, in which [CPI(M) Polit Bureau member] Pinarayi Vijayan is an accused, to go undiscussed.

ON JANUARY 15, the day Vijayan launched his Kerala march from the northern district of Kasaragod (leaders of most parties are taking out marches ahead of the assembly elections), the High Court upheld a plea by the state government for an early hearing on revision petitions filed against a CBI court verdict acquitting him in the Rs.374.5 crore SNC Lavalin corruption case. It will now be taken up by the High Court and as Kerala moves into election mode, it could be a major headache for Vijayan and his party.

Chandy's latest travails in the solar scam began soon after the High Court order in the Lavalin case. He deposed for 14 hours before the solar commission on January 25, but the bribe allegation was not raised then. Chandy told THE WEEK that it was a plot by the bar lobby, the solar scam accused and the left front. With the government standing firm on its policy of shutting down bars other than in five-star hotels, the bar hotel owners have been on the warpath. Senior CPI(M) leaders have already spoken about reviewing the liquor policy.

Chandy challenged his detractors further in a news conference on February 3, in which he reiterated the conspiracy theory. He said he would relinquish public life if Saritha could prove any of her charges against him.

While she holds forth formidably before television cameras, Saritha does not seem to be that confident during her examination by the solar commission. Her answers are brief and barely audible. During her deposition on February 2, Saritha mentioned she had faced sexual exploitation, but refused to give more details, stressing her right to privacy, although on several occasions in the past, she had revealed such details. She told the commission that she would give details and supporting evidence in sealed envelopes at her next deposition scheduled for February 4.

Saritha was in a defiant mood talking to journalists before leaving for Coimbatore to appear next day at a judicial magistrate's court in a cheating case filed by a private firm in the city. She said she would spare no effort in exposing Chandy's involvement in the scandal. I have nothing more to lose, said Saritha.

With assembly elections round the corner, leaders and supporters of the ruling Congress-led United Democratic Front must be feeling a sense of deja vu. In the last two elections the UDF lost, it was hurt by scandals centred on women. For the third time in a row, a woman seems to be reprising the spoiler's role for the ruling alliance.
[Written By Rabbi Moishe Lebovits  KOF-K Kosher Supervision]

To subscribe for free to emails and see archives visit www.thehalacha.com

The Learning from this article should be in memory of my Rebbe, Harav Yisroel Belsky ztl

Volume 5 Coming Soon!

An unfamiliar halacha is the obligation to recite a beracha on wise people and kings, whether they are Jewish or non-Jewish. Does this beracha apply today? What are the qualifications of wise? Does this beracha apply to the President of the United States? What are the criteria involved? How often is one required to recite this beracha?

All these and other questions will be dealt with in this issue. We will first deal with reciting the beracha on wise people.

Is this Beracha Still Relevant?

There is a discussion among the poskim whether the beracha recited on a wise person[1] is still relevant today. Some suggest that we are not clear how to define a wise person. Therefore, one can recite the beracha without Hashems name.[2] Others say that although our contemporary chachamim might not be defined as wise for certain rules,[3] but regarding the beracha they still are.[4] This is the accepted custom.[5]

The Aruch Hashulchan[6] says that the parameters of this beracha are not clear, so the beracha is not said today.

Beracha on Wise People  Source

The Gemorah[7] says that if one sees a wise Jewish person[8] he recites ..   .[9] For a wise gentile the beracha is: ..    

There are different explanations as to why the nusach is different for a wise Jewish person than for a wise non-Jewish person. The Maharsha[10] explains that a wise Jewish person acquires his knowledge from the Torah which is a part of Hashem, as opposed to the sharpness of a non-Jew. Others explain that the souls of Jewish people are from the throne of Hashem as opposed to a non-Jews.[11] The Levush[12] says that the wisdom of the Torah is extremely profound, and we can only understand a small portion of its depth. Therefore we say

 , which means a portion. However, the non-Jews can only excel in the wisdom that exists in this world. They can acquire all of this wisdom, but they cannot know more. This wisdom is a gift; therefore we recite , which means that He gave. As far as making the beracha for a wise non-Jew, the person has to be wise in the wisdoms of the world.[13] It is not common for this beracha to be recited today, since they are very few if any who meet the criteria.[14]

Criteria of a Wise Person

The poskim do not discuss at length the definition of a wise person in regard to these halachos.[15] However, the Shevet Halevi[16] says: a person who is accepted in his generation as wise from Torah and his learning is lishmah. Others say that he has to know kabbalah as well.[17]

Beracha Recited Over the Years

It is reported that when the author of the Tzafnes Paneach (the Rugatchover ztl) visited Vienna, the citizens recited the beracha.[18] In addition, some recited the beracha on the Chazzon Ish ztl,[19] and Steipler ztl.[20] The Steipler ztl instructed his son to make a beracha on the Brisker Rav ztl, and maintained that one should recite the beracha on Harav Aron Kotler ztl.[21] Others have recited the beracha on Harav Moshe Feinstein ztl,[22] as well as Harav Elyashiv ztl,[23] Harav Shlomo Zalman Aurbach ztl, Harav Ovadia Yosef ztl,[24] and Harav Chaim Kanievesky Shlita.[25]

Seeing the Wise People Through a Window

Even if one does not meet the person face to face, but only sees him through a clear window, he would recite the appropriate berachos.[26]

Jewish and non-Jewish King[27]

When one sees a Jewish king (at the time of the Bais Hamikdosh)[28] one says

..   

. If one sees a non-Jewish king he say

    .[29]

The poskim maintain that the beracha is also recited on a queen.[30] Although one should not look at women,[31] one may take a peek.[32]

There are different explanations as to why there is a change in nusach between a Jewish and non-Jewish king.[33]

One should make an effort to see both Jewish[34] and non-Jewish kings alike.[35]

What are the Criteria to Make This Beracha?

Some mention that a king is defined as someone who has the ability to order capital punishment.[36] Others maintain though that if it is a king which is shown honor it is considered a king in regard to this halacha.[37]

President of the United States

There is a discussion among the poskim whether a president of a democratic country would have the status of a king. Some poskim say that since a democratic president does not have the authority to order an execution, the beracha is not recited on him.[38] Many poskim say that one may recite the beracha since the president has the ability to pardon a condemned criminal.[39]

Some maintain that if one sees a president of a country in his royal clothes (not common in the United States) then he can make a beracha if he wishes to do so.[40]

Daily Clothes

There is a discussion in the poskim if one sees a king in normal clothes would it constitute a brachah. This would also apply to the President of a country. Some maintain that one would not say the brachah with Hashems name in this situation.[41]

Watching the President on Television

The beracha is only recited if one sees the president live, not if he sees him on television.[42] The same is true in regards to seeing a wise person etc.

One who sees the vehicle in which the president is traveling, but does not actually see the president, may not recite the beracha.[43]

When to Make the Beracha

The beracha is not repeated if one sees the same king etc. within thirty days,[44] but if he sees a different king etc. then he may recite another beracha.[45]

Wise King

One who sees a wise king would recite two berochos, one for the fact that he is wise and the other that he is the king.[46]
By: Isaac Yedid, Esq. & Raymond Zeitoune, Esq.

Halachic Estate Planning

In todays society, the monetary laws of the Torah have unfortunately been largely disregarded even within the Orthodox community, mostly due to a lack of education and understanding of those laws. There is one area of monetary law which affects everyone  the laws of yerushah (inheritance). According to the Torahs laws of inheritance, a mans sons1 are his sole heirs, each inheriting an equal share, except that when the oldest child is a son, the first born son would inherit a double share (as compared to his brothers). Jewish law provides for the mans widow and unmarried daughters by giving them a lien against the mans estate for their support until his widow remarries and until all his daughters get married, but the mans widow and daughters do not inherit any property outright.

In contrast, under New York law, if no Will was ever written, a deceased persons surviving spouse and children (including daughters) all have a right to share in the deceased persons estate. If a Will was written, the deceased persons assets would be distributed to whoever was named in the deceased persons Will. However, a secular non-halachic Will has no halachic validity, which poses a real problem for an observant Jew. A secular non-halachic Will takes effect only after a persons death, at which time the deceased persons halachic heirs have automatically inherited the deceaseds assets, and the deceased person no longer has any halachic authority to transfer such possessions because those possessions no longer belong to the deceased person, but rather to his halachic heirs.

Furthermore, a person has no halachic right to accept assets inherited from an estate where the deceased person had no Will or had only a secular non-halachic Will because it is almost certain that there will be instances of gezel (theft) under Jewish law. Therefore, it is important for every Jewish person to not only write a Will but to make sure the Will conforms with Jewish law, making sure that the very last thing a person does in this world does not violate the Torahs laws of yerushah.

What is a Will?

A Will is a legal document that provides specific instructions as to how a persons assets should be distributed upon his or her death. This article will touch on a few reasons why it is important for everyone, young or old, wealthy or not, to write a Will.

1 If a man has no sons, the order of succession is as follows: (i) daughters, (ii) father, (iii) brothers, (iv) paternal uncles, and (v) next of kin.

Protect Your Family

Many young couples mistakenly believe that only elderly or very wealthy people should write a Will. When speaking with young parents in their 20s and 30s about writing a Will, the usual responses are, Why do I need a Will? I dont own any property! or Im not a millionaire, what do I need to worry about? Unfortunately, many couples view their greatest asset as their home or the green paper in their pockets. The truth of the matter is that a couples greatest assets are their children.

Example: Joseph and Sara have been happily married for eight years. Although Joseph and Sara dont own any property, they have three wonderful children and both work very hard to provide for their children. One Saturday night, Joseph and Sara decide to hire a babysitter and enjoy a date night. They enjoy a lovely dinner at one of the citys most exquisite restaurants. However, things begin to take a turn for the worse. While Joseph is cautiously driving home, his car is struck by a drunk driver travelling at 95 mph. Joseph and Sara are rushed from the scene to the nearest hospital, but unfortunately, they both dont survive the night.

In a Will, you may choose who you would like to be the legal guardian of your children in the event of your untimely death. Young parents assume that there is no need for this type of legal planning because there is an obvious choice for an alternative legal guardian for their children, and the courts will clearly see things that way. However, one of the most important lessons shared by estate planning attorneys is the fact that family relationships are often strained in the aftermath of a death. While it may not seem like a possibility now, in the aftermath of your death, different family members may begin arguing over the guardianship of your children. Taking away these uncertainties today should be a high priority for all parents.

Every couple with young children (especially those that travel together often) should consider writing a Will. Without properly drafted Wills naming the legal guardians of their children, the fate of Josephs and Saras three children rests in the hands of the courts which inevitably may cause the surviving family members (i.e. the grandparents) to argue as to who is better equipped to act as the legal guardian for the three orphaned children.

Avoid Potential Family Disputes

Often times, elderly couples need to be cared for, and the people in the best position to care for them are their children. Unfortunately, due to family responsibilities, business matters or other considerations, not all of an elderly couples children are always around to take on their fair share of the responsibilities, and some children may make more efforts than others. Elderly couples may desire to reward their golden child with a larger inheritance.

Example: Jacob and Rachel have been happily married for 52 years. They have two sons and one daughter, as well as many grandchildren and great grandchildren. Jacobs and Rachels sons run successful businesses and are constantly travelling out of town. However, their daughter, Leah, diligently takes care of her parents. She comes by her parents house every day, helps them with errands, drives them to doctors appointments and handles all of their paperwork. Jacob and Rachel decide that they would like to give Leah something special. Jacob tells Leah, Your mother and I have decided that after weve passed on, we would like you and your brothers to split our assets equally, but we want to give our home only to you as a token of our appreciation for all the care that youve given us.

Without properly drafted Wills that leave their house to Leah, Jacobs and Rachels sons have an automatic legal write to share in their parents house, which may cause future arguments between Leah and her brothers. The last thing parents want after their death is to have their children argue over monetary possessions. The smart thing to do is to have a Will that specifies how you want your assets divided upon your death.

The attorneys in the Trusts & Estates Practice Group at Yedid & Zeitoune, PLLC have consulted with many Orthodox rabbis and have obtained a psak halachah as to the proper way to write a halachic Will in order to avoid the halachic problems mentioned above. May we all merit living long, healthy and happy lives  amen.



The Trusts & Estates Practice Group at Yedid & Zeitoune, PLLC collectively work together with each client to ultimately put together an Estate Plan customized to each clients particular needs, taking into account the need to balance control with protection. The attorneys in the Trust & Estates Practice Group at Yedid & Zeitoune have a combined 20 years of legal experience.

Isaac Yedid, Esq. and Raymond Zeitoune, Esq.

Yedid & Zeitoune, PLLC

1172 Coney Island Avenue Brooklyn, New York 11230

Phone: (347) 461-9800 Fax: (718) 421-1695 Email: [email protected]

NYC Office  By Appointment Only:

152 Madison Avenue, Suite 1105 New York, New York 10016
President Reuven Rivlin on Tuesday evening 30 Shevat addressed a ceremony at the Presidents Residence marking the appointment of 7 new Qadis  judges in the Muslim religious (Shariah) courts in Israel. The event was attended by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked MK, as well as the President of the Shariah Court of Appeal Qadi Daoud Zini, and saw the appointment of 2 Shariah Court of Appeal judges, and five who will serve in the regional Shariah Courts.

The President began by congratulating all the newly appointed judges and said, Your appointment today serves directly and tangibly the entire Muslim community of Israel. The ceremony today is especially poignant and special, as the last such appointment ceremony for Qadis held at the Presidents Residence was more than 6 years ago. Your swearing in today is a tribute to the important work of the appointment committee, whom I wish to personally thank. The new forces joining the Shariah judiciary today refresh and bring new strength and spirit to one of the oldest and most important judicial systems in the State of Israel.

The President stressed, The existence of the state supported Shariah courts in Israel, reflects the recognition of the unparalleled importance of the vitality of communities, cultures and traditions to the fabric of the life in the modern state. The authority of the Shariah courts  as assured by Israeli law  to me reflects the fundamental principle that an attachment to faith, to tradition, to a culture and community, is not solely the issue of the individual. Such affiliations are a basic right of a citizen in a democracy, and accordingly it is the obligation of the state to support and nurture them.

A further challenge you face in your new role, relates to the very situation in which we are currently living. A society such as ours which is changing rapidly. A society which promotes values different to those which were the custom for generations, and which does not hesitate to be critical of tradition in the name of those values. In Egypt, in Jordan, in Sudan, in Malaysia, in the UAE, and even in the Palestinian Authority, there are a number of serving women Qadis on the Shariah courts. I pray that also in the State of Israel, the mechanism of hurdles and obstacles will be quickly removed, and we will merit to see as such an event female and male Qadis. And until we will be fortunate enough to see this, may you all be granted the ability to build bridges between the tradition and rulings of Shariah, and between the understanding that men and women are equal in every way.

The President concluded, As you embark upon your new holy missions, I would like to close my remarks by quoting the Quran, from Sura Al-Hadid, Aya 25, as translated into Hebrew by my father, Indeed, did We send Our apostles with all evidence of truth; and through them We bestowed revelation from on high, and gave you a balance [wherewith to weigh right and wrong], so that men might behave with equity. When the revelation and the balance is in your hands, I wish you success in preserving justice.

Minister of Justice Shaked added, When the decision to make the new appointments was made, I turned to the sub-committee for recommendations for female candidates for Qadis. This can and would be an important declaration to the Arab population and Israeli citizens as a whole. In recent years we have seen such appointments made is several Muslim countries including Jordan, Egypt and others. There is no reason why Israel, as a democratic and progressive state, would not align itself with these important winds of change, in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence, which sets forward that the state would be based upon equal rights for all its citizens regardless of religion, race, or sex. We must welcome the fact that the Arab sector is willing to support such a move and do all that is necessary to ensure equal representation for women, which will promote them to their rightful place at the forefront of the judiciary.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem / Photo: Mark Neiman-GPO)
The following is via OnlySimchas.com:

Last week some 1,000 people were in attendance at the Paradise Hall in Kiryas Joel to attend a unique seminar on the obligations of dina dmalchusah dina, the Torahs command to follow the laws of ones home country.

A diverse list of speakers assembled to discuss the topic.

It was a tremendous kiddush Hashem, one of the organizers told Hamodia. Because there is so much to know and it can be complicated, we wanted to take a proactive step in educating the community.

Several prominent askanim from Kiryas Joel discussed practical topics and cases. Attorney Mr. Jack Laufer, discussed issues related to banks and mortgages.

Lakewood committeeman, Mr. Meir Lichtenstein talked about how much emotional energy is required of askanim in order to help the community navigate affairs with local and broader governments.

Orange County legislator Michael Amo offered a unique perspective when he spoke about how a village that sticks out like Kiryas Joel needs to be especially careful when dealing with the wider society, saying that since not everybody appreciates the towns lifestyle even innocent mistakes can draw negative attention.

Bais Neeman, a Kiryas Joel-based organization that helps prepare chassanim establish their new homes, hosted the event. Upon hearing about the education being offered on the appropriate use of social services, the village authorities asked if it could be packaged as a seminar for the whole community.

The feedback has been unbelievable, the organizer told Hamodia. Its created a lot more awareness and we are looking for a way to take this initiative to the next level.

PHOTOS BY JDN:
Carly Fiorina is dropping out of the 2016 Republican presidential race.

The former technology executive announced on Twitter that she is suspending her campaign.

The 61-year-old drew positive reviews for several strong debate performances, in which she promoted her business expertise and argued that as the lone woman in the GOP field she was best positioned to oppose likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. But she struggled to build support in a crowded primary field and her poll numbers lagged.

Fiorina announced her candidacy in April. She previously ran unsuccessfully for Senate in California.

Fiorina struggled with criticism of her time at Hewlett-Packard, where she was ousted from the top job in 2005, after leading a major merger and laying off 30,000 people.

FULL STATEMENT:

This campaign was always about citizenshiptaking back our country from a political class that only serves the big, the powerful, the wealthy, and the well connected. Election after election, the same empty promises are made and the same poll-tested stump speeches are given, but nothing changes. Ive said throughout this campaign that I will not sit down and be quiet. Im not going to start now. While I suspend my candidacy today, I will continue to travel this country and fight for those Americans who refuse to settle for the way things are and a status quo that no longer works for them.

Our Republican Party must fight alongside these Americans as well. We must end crony capitalism by fighting the policies that allow it to flourish. We must fix our festering problems by holding our bloated, inept government bureaucracy accountable. Republicans must stand for conservative principles that lift people up and recognize all Americans have the right to fulfill their God-given potential.

To young girls and women across the country, I say: do not let others define you. Do not listen to anyone who says you have to vote a certain way or for a certain candidate because youre a woman. That is not feminism. Feminism doesnt shut down conversations or threaten women. It is not about ideology. It is not a weapon to wield against your political opponent. A feminist is a woman who lives the life she chooses and uses all her God-given gifts. And always remember that a leader is not born, but made. Choose leadership.

As I have said to the many wonderful Americans I have met throughout this campaign, a leader is a servant whose highest calling is to unlock potential in others. I will continue to serve in order to restore citizen government to this great nation so that together we may fulfill our potential.

(AP)
Facing the biggest test of his presidential bid, Marco Rubio promised a more aggressive approach in what his team expects to become an extended Republican nomination fight that could result in a brokered national convention.

I dont need to start these fights, but if someone starts one in the future were going to have to point out the differences in our records in a sharper way, Rubio told reporters Wednesday aboard his charter flight from New Hampshire to South Carolina. I dont think we have the luxury any longer to basically say look, I dont want to argue with Republicans.

The comments came after a disappointing 5th-place finish in New Hampshires presidential primary. The poor result was a reflection, he said, of a high-profile stumble in Saturday nights debate that pushed undecided voters toward other candidates.

And as he shifts his attention to South Carolinas Feb. 20 contest, the 44-year-old freshman senator wants voters to know hes learned an important lesson from his experience in New Hampshire. Instead of trying to avoid attacking his GOP rivals on the debate stage, Rubio said hes now prepared to fight back when necessary  particularly with his partys front-runner Donald Trump.

The hard thing about Donald in the short-term is he doesnt have any policy positions, Rubio said. He tells you what hes going to do, but he wont tell you how hes going to do it. I think once this race narrows, the pressure will be on him.

New Hampshire destroyed any momentum Rubio had coming out of Iowa and for now, at least, locks Rubio in a messy muddle in his partys establishment wing. Both Ohio Gov. John Kasich and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush beat Rubio in New Hampshire in the contest to emerge as the mainstream alternative to Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

Rubios senior team concedes the New Hampshire setback will extend the Republican nomination fight for at least another three months, if not longer.

We very easily could be looking at May  or the convention in July before theres a functional nominee, Rubio campaign manager Terry Sullivan said in a brief interview with The Associated Press. I would be surprised if its not May or the convention.

There hasnt been a contested national convention since 1976, yet Republican National Committee officials have already had preliminary discussions about the possibility of no candidate securing a majority of delegates in the state-by-state primary contests.

Its by no means assured that Rubios candidacy will survive that long.

Despite his popularity among many Republican leaders, he will ultimately need to start winning primary contests to remain competitive  especially as Trump and Cruz perform well. Sensing weakness, Democrats and Republicans alike have begun to pounce on questions about Rubios long-term viability.

He will obviously need to do well in South Carolina or he will have a hard time continuing on, said Steve Duprey, a Republican national committeeman from New Hampshire. I think he can do it.

(AP)
Among the array of speakers addressing this years Jerusalem Conference, which is sponsored by BaSheva, there was an economic panel discussion to discuss monthly child allowance payments.

The discussion was opened by Arutz-7s Shlomo Piotrokovsky, who stated the monthly child allowance payments in Israel are low compared to other nations, amounting to about 40 per child.

MK (Bayit Yehudi) Nissim Slomiansky stated the monthly allocations were instituted for two reasons; to encourage people to have children and to assist the poor. Today he feels the matter has become a political one and each government has its own agenda. He feels there is merit to the argument not to have this monthly allocation for the higher it is the more it encourages people not to get and out work. Slomiansky cites in the previous administration, Finance Minister Yair Lapid believed more chareidim and Arabs must join the workplace.

He adds that in 1960, the average Muslim woman had 9.2 children and today that figure stands at 3.2. Slomiansky feels this attests to the fact that monthly allocation does not influence how many children people will have.

The discussion now shifted to the chareidi sector. Slomiansky explained that here, the husband learns and the wife earns the living but she cannot always work. When there are a lot of children it is difficult for her to work. This is where it differs from the United States. Over there, the nation does not assist and the chareidim are out working Slomiansky added, citing when Lapid was Finance Minister, getting the chareidim into the workforce was of paramount importance, even more so than chareidim serving in the IDF.

They quoted former Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in 2003, when he said People will only bring children into the world when they can afford them. The nation will collapse if the monthly child allowance payments continue.

Boaz Sofer added The state gave two perks to those who bring children into the world; addition tax credit points and the monthly allowance.

Netanyahu said what he said back then because of the Halpert Law. The fact remains that the number of chareidim in the workplace has increased and the Halpert Law was a stab in their eye.

NOTE: In 2000, during the Ehud Barak administration, the Knesset passed a law dubbed the Halpert Law since it was authored by MK (Yahadut Hatorah) Shmuel Halpert, which led to a significant increase in monthly child allowance payments, from NIS 171 per child to NIS 855 per child. Despite government objections the bill passed into law due to support from religious parties, Arab parties and most of Likud.

Sofer continued Chareidim just wanted monthly allowances, not a work incentive. One must not mess with the mechanism in place today, finally. The formula must be work entitles one to an allowance. We must help those who help themselves. By the way, chareidim take advantage of work incentive more than other sectors of society. They got it and understand one who goes to work profits.

Monthly child allowance payments must be devoid of relevance for employment. Two partners who have three children are working and have negative income tax. We removed the Tax Authority logo from the forms so people will not be afraid to come and take what they are entitled to.

Meital Pereg suggested There is a situation in which people do not wish to enter the workplace, primarily single mothers. There is no connection between giving birth and allowances. I believe benefits must be differential.

MK (Kulanu) Eli Elalouf added I am not a politician, explaining the real problem facing the government is how to systematically bring families out of poverty. He feels no one is doing this for fear of confronting one segment of the population or another. We can however remove people from all walks of society from poverty he added.

We must eliminate the monthly child allowance and eliminate all allowances. There must be a work incentive. Dont call it negative income tax but an incentive. We must educate or compel even the poorest of families to save for the future. This is what was decided this year, that a portion of the monthly child allowance is placed in savings [until the child is an adult]. I would be most selective as to who is entitled to a child allowance. If it is a poor non-working family, the family must be educated so it can get out and work and realize its rights.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
The United States has given its approval for the sale of the Boeing KC-46 Pegasus plane, which can fly long distances in difficult conditions.

According to the Walla News report, the IAF will be receiving the military aerial refueling and strategic transport aircraft, which was developed by Boeing from its 767. The US has been hesitant regarding the sale of certain aircraft to Israel, fearing they would be used to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities. Needless to say this aircraft will play a most important role in IAF future operations.

Walla quotes unnamed military sources in Israel explaining that the deal of the sale of the planes could not have been approved before the United States signed on the agreement with Iran. They add Israel is expected to sign an official deal with America for the Pegasus by years end and the first planes would be arriving in Israel in 2019.

At present, Israel wishes to acquire two of the planes and begin phasing out the IAFs antiquated fleet of refueling planes that carry very high maintenance costs due to their age.

The cost of one of KC-46 is reportedly $188.2 million according to Wikipedia.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem / Photo: Wikipedia)
Police Commissioner Roni Alsheich on Tuesday, 30 Shevat, addressed a session of the Knesset Law Committee, which held a special session to honor Israels police force. The event was the initiative of MK (Yesh Atid) Mickey Levi, a former Jerusalem Police Chief.

The committee members were briefed by the newly-appointed commander who spoke of the changes being implemented under his command. Committee Chairman MK (Bayit Yehudi) Nissim Slomiansky praised Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan for having a vision, for seeing ahead and making the appointment he did. Slomiansky acknowledged the difficulties faced by Erdan, who opted for a candidate from outside the ranks of the Israel Police, taking a great deal of heat for his decision.

Many realize that due to widespread corruption among high-ranking officers over recent years, Erdan decided to select his candidate from outside the department, tapping Alsheich, who was the deputy director of the ISA (Israel Security Agency  Shin Bet).

Erdan stated that unlike the IDF, which is judged by the public based on the actions of the entire military, Israel Police is measured using the actions of each individual policeman, citing each time one officer does not act appropriately, his actions are reflective of the entire department. He added the State of Israel is characterized as being made up of the largest multicultural fabric of people in the world and that the force is working under difficult conditions and police are sacrificing their lives to protect the public.

Alsheich detailed his hashkafa and the function of police. He said The police make a sharp distinction between the normative citizen even if he has committed an offense, and the criminal.

There is no one who does not break a law, no one, including lawmakers and police he added, then speaking about his new prevention program and his vision to change the norm that a citizen is far less likely to be willing to break a law as well as minimizing the chance of an illegal act slipping between the cracks. Our job is to raise the norm of obeying the law. To the best of our abilities, we want less enforcement regarding a violation by a normative citizen.

He the spoke out in strong terms about leaks from ongoing investigations.

Committee members present praised Alsheich and Minister Erdan, acknowledging the mesirus nefesh seen in the department today as police are on the front line against ongoing Palestinian terror attacks.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
The Knesset Foreign Affairs & Defense Committee`s Subcommittee on Legal Warfare on Tuesday 20 Shevat discussed the foreign media`s coverage of the current wave of Palestinian terror in Israel.

Subcommittee Chairperson MK Tzipi Livni (Machane Tzioni) convened the session after CBS ran a contentious headline following last weeks murder of border policewoman Hadar Cohen near Shar Shechem; Three Palestinians killed as violence grinds on, the headline read.

We must treat the international media arena as a hostile arena, she said. I do not think the State of Israel should not be criticized, that is the media`s job. The problem lies in those cases where Israelis and Palestinians who are killed in the same incident are placed in one package. This conduct creates the sense that these murders are not linked in any way, to the point where they are viewed as road accidents.

MK (Kulanu) Dr. Michael Oren, a former Israeli Ambassador to Washington noted the number of foreign journalists is huge in relation to those who are covering Syria. Moreover, whenever there is an incident in Iraq with casualties, the headline is much smaller in relation to a much less significant incident that occurs in Israel.

MK (Machane Tzioni) Dr. Nachman Shai argued that one of the main problems of Israeli public diplomacy is the lack of one element that concentrates the public diplomacy efforts.

Government Press Office director Nitzan Chen said, We do not examine the quality of the reports or the facts that are published. This is a free country with freedom of expression.

Chen noted that when CBS ran a similar headline following a December 24 terrorist attack, the president of the network apologized and said junior staffers had made mistakes. He said he had received no response since the GPO complained about the Cohen headline.

Since October, most reports of the foreign press have been reasonable, Chen told the lawmakers. There have been four or five incidents in which headlines after a terrorist attack were so twisted that news consumers in that country would have received the opposite impression.

Besides the CBS headlines, Chen singled out a BBC headline from October: Palestinian shot dead after Jerusalem attack kills two  about a Palestinian terrorist who was killed after murdering two Jewish civilians in Jerusalems Old City.

Reuters Jerusalem Bureau Chief & Foreign Press Association head Luke Baker rejected the claims of unbalanced or biased coverage by the foreign media. We go through a very rigorous process whenever news happens, where you have to speak Hebrew in contact with police, the army and many spokespeople and people who are on the ground, he said. This is a pretty rigorous process of reporting and checking facts.

Baker noted that since the beginning of the current wave of violence, Reuters has published 700 headlines, only one of which turned out to be problematic and was subsequently corrected.

I clearly dont think the foreign press is biased, he stated. I dont think anyone is denying there have been errors, problems from time to time. Sometimes its been harder to correct them than others. The many news organizations operating in Israel put out a huge amount of coverage with very few factual errors, he asserted. I fail to see the media has something to answer in terms of systemic bias.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem / Photo: GPO)
The question is whether one should cry or perhaps breathe a sigh of relief with the announcement by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who exclaimed he plans to fence in the entire country. He told the press while visiting an area of the Jordanian border to Israel that has been enclosed with a new fence that in this area of the world, the entire nation must be fenced in to protect Israel from predators.

The Prime Minister toured the Jordan Valley area border on Tuesday, 30 Shevat. He stated that in addition to the fence around Israel, there are plans to repair breaches in border fences in areas of Yehuda and Shomron.

Briefing Mr. Netanyahu during this visit were IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-General Gadi Eizenkott and Southern District Commander Major-General Eyal Zamir. A number of other senior officers were present as well as well as Minister of Transportation and Intelligence, Yisrael Katz. .

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
As forces of the Assad regime draw closer to the heart of the city of Aleppo, the ancient Central synagogue of Aleppo is under the threat of destruction, due to the clashes with opposition forces in the city. The synagogue, built in the 9th century CE, serves as one of the Jewish worlds oldest houses of prayer. The exclusive photo of the shul in this report was taken from a hiding place by the Amaliah organization, which reports about the shuls status.

Due to its proximity to a large number of opposition sniper nests, the shul, which as of today is already badly damaged, is currently under the threat of total destruction. Consequently, efforts are being made in order to preserve its religious articles and ancient scriptures, which, if destroyed, might also destroy the last fragments of Jewish heritage in the city. In light of that, the Amaliah organization, headed by Israeli-American businessman Moti Kahana, is working with opposition forces in the city in order to salvage as much as possible from the synagogue.

Last week, backed by intense Russian air support and Hizbullah reinforcements, forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad in Syria began their push towards the city of Aleppo, a known opposition stronghold in the region. As the clashes between the forces intensify, people of Aleppo flee the city in search of a safe haven or prepare themselves for the imminent siege of the city. Therefore, this has put in danger not just the civilian life Aleppo, but its buildings and religious monuments as well. One such building is the ancient shul.

We are doing everything in our power in order to save as many seforim and scrolls as possible, says Moti Kahana, who for the last 5 years has been engaged in humanitarian work in Syria. This shul is an important heritage site for the Jewish people, holding many historical and holy religious articles, which if destroyed, will take with them any memory of Jewish life from this ancient city.

We are working together with opposition forces in order to salvage the shuls religious articles, an effort which has proven to be very costly and difficult. Hence, we call upon all Jewish people and those who share the Jewish belief, to join us in our efforts and donate whatever they can. Together, we can save the story of the Jewish life in Aleppo, which is part of the unique tapestry of the ancient Jewish life in the area.

In 2012 the shul has suffered major hits during the Syrian civil war, as the first battles over the city of Aleppo began. The ancient synagogue was massively hit during the clashes, leading to the belief that it was completely destroyed. In 2014, reports told that the shul was destroyed in the attack, but indeed took massive damage, living its fate in the hands of the Syrian rebels controlling the city. In 2015, as the last Jewish family in the Aleppo was smuggled out of the city by Amaliah, the shul stood as a lone remnant to the Jewish life in the city, which dates back to 12th century CE.

This is not the first time the Amaliah organization headed by Kahana is engaged in such matters. In 2014, Kahana has also worked for the sake of the Jobar Shul in Damascus, being the first Israeli-American businessman to work with various opposition organizations throughout Damascus.

Photo: The damaged shul

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem / Photo: The Amaliah Organization)
Police on Wednesday, 1 Adar I, arrested twenty-two PA (Palestinian Authority) residents who were found in Bnei Brak without a permit to be in Green Line Israel, including seven with repeated offenses of the crossing into Israel proper illegally.

Police worked with border police to round up the illegals who arrived in three separate vehicles. All the vehicles were impounded, each having serious safety issues.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
On Sat., Feb. 20, when the Nevada State Democratic Party holds its caucus and primary, observant Jews and others such as Seventh-Day Adventists who observe the Sabbath on Saturday, wont be able to participate because of their religious beliefs. The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of American, the nations largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization, urges the Nevada State Democratic Party to change its caucus plans to accommodate those who observe the Sabbath.

Under Jewish law, Jews are prohibited from driving, working and other activities from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.

Other states that hold primaries on Saturdays avoid this exclusion by giving voters the option of casting absentee ballots. Nevada does not offer this alternative, instead requiring all voters who arent members of the military to participate in person.

Nathan Diament, Executive Director of OU Advocacy, the nonpartisan public policy arm of the Orthodox Union, issued the following statement:

We ask the Nevada State Democratic Party to change its policy and ensure that all Nevadans, can participate in the important presidential caucus. We must protect religious freedom.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)
[By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for the Five Towns Jewish Times]

YNET is a non-religious Israeli news internet site. Recently, in a controversial article they posed the following question:

How is it that waiters, chazzanim, and Baalei Kriah can work on Shabbos, yet religious Jews demand that shopkeepers and businesses close on Shabbos? Why, asked the YNET authors, cant the Rabbis create a workaround?

Although the question misunderstands some fundamental issues regarding Shabbos, it does beg the question as to what are parameters of who may work over Shabbos and the leniencies that are employed.

Can a young lady babysit on Shabbos? May a Yeshiva student take a waiter position over Shabbos? Can someone get paid to read from the Torah on Shabbos? May one get paid to speak at a Scholar in Residence program?

TWO TYPES

In halacha the term for being compensated on Shabbos  whether it be forbidden or permitted is called Schar Shabbos. When discussing the idea of Working on Shabbos there are two types of work that need to be understood.

 There is the first type of work which is called Malacha  one of the 39 major categories of creative acts that the Torah prohibits. Repairing a car or replacing a windshield wiper falls into this category. It is forbidden to work in this manner on Shabbos and if one does, one may never benefit from that work.

 The second type of work involves the Rabbinic violation of either engaging in a business transaction or earning compensation for services that are performed over Shabbos. This second type of work is discussed in Chapter 306 of the Orech Chaim section of Shulchan Aruch. It is called Schar Shabbos and will be the focus of this article (See SA 306:4).

The reason why a workaround could not be developed to open up a commercial district on Shabbos is that invariably it will always involve some violation of the first definition of work  malacha. We must, however, be concerned with the second type of work and what its limitations and parameters are.



BACKGROUND

The Gemorah in Psachim (50b) states: [There are] four coins in which one never sees blessing.. the payment of a meturgeman Shabbos interpreter.. Rashi explains that a translator stands before the Torah scholar on Shabbos and listen to him and then they translate for the masses.

The indication of this Gemorah is that although it is permitted, it is frowned upon.

TWO VIEWS REGARDING CHAZANIM

The Shulchan Aruch discusses the issue of hiring a Chazan to lead the services on Shabbos. In Orech Chaim (306:5) he cites two views:

 The Mordechai citing Rabbeinu Boruch and the Tur forbids it, unless it is subsumed under a longer period of hiring.

 The Mordechai also cites the view of Rabbeinu Shmuel who permits it. The Mishna Brurah explains that this is because it is a Mitzvah and in the place of a Mitzvah the Rabbis did not create a prohibition. Nonetheless, the recipient of the compensation will not see a sign of blessing from it.

The Mogain Avrohom (OC 526:12) writes regarding burying someone on second day Yom Tov that it is permitted to take payment because perhaps they may not find someone who will do it for free.

WHO IT APPLIES TO

The prohibitions involving Schar Shabbos applies to the employee and the employer but in different ways. Only the employee who receives compensation for services rendered on Shabbos is in violation of the prohibition of Schar Shabbos  the employer is not, according to most authorities (See MB 305:21 and Tehilah LDovid 305:7). However, by paying the employee, the employer is in violation of placing a stumbling block before the blind  Lifnei Iver lo sitain michshol.

The employee might also in violation of causing the Jewish employer to violate Lifnei Iver, thus causing a sort of Lifnei Iver on a Lifnei Iver. [See Rosh, Avodah Zarah 1:14; Ritvah AZ 14a; Meiri; Ramban Chulin 94a where this is a problem].

There is a view espoused by Rabbi Uziel Meisels, grandson of the Shaages Aryeh, that the prohibition of Schar Shabbos applies equally to the employer (See Menorah HaTehorah 347:2). Most Poskim, however, reject this view.

It should be noted that the prohibition applies to Jews but if a gentile is employed by a Jew it is permitted to pay him or her after Shabbos. Of course, malacha may not be done by a gentile for a Jew, but it is permitted to pay for hour he or she has worked.

The idea of Schar Shabbos is forbidden whether it is performed by a daily worker (Schirus) or by a contractor (Kablanus) who contracted for the job, and he happens to perform it only on Shabbos (Responsa Ateres Moshe #55).

THE THREE EXCEPTIONS

There are three types of exceptions, wherein some form of Schar Shabbos might be permitted. The three exceptions, which will be fully explained in the pages to come are 1] Havlaah  when payment is being made for an entire job that encompasses more than Shabbos 2] When the moneys are given as a gift and there was no monetary obligation for the work at all 3] When the type of payment given I not something that someone would normally pay for.

EXCEPTION OF HAVLAAH

According to the Shulchan Aruch, if the payment is being made for one job that includes work done on Shabbos as well as either before and/or after Shabbos, the sages never issued a prohibition.

It is important to conceive it as one hiring and not two separate hirings combined into one payment.

The wording of the Mishna Brurah when he discusses the notion of Havlaah is also the subject of controversy. He writes: Therefore it is considered proper to make an arrangement with the watchman that he also be paid for hours that he worked before Shabbos begins and also for hours that he will work after Shabbos ends, and then it would be considered Havlaah according to all opinions.

There are three different views in the Poskim about how to understand this Mishna Brurah. Most Poskim understand the Mishna Brurah (306:21) to mean that the havlaah can be either before or after Shabbos. (See Minchas Shlomo Vol II 35:9 written by Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach ztl). It is just that in the specific case under discussion by the Mishna Brurahs citation of the Chayei Odom  the weekday work happened both before and after Shabbos.

Others understand the Mishna Brurah as requiring both before and after in order to create a Havlaah (Megilas Sefer Shabbos 81:4).

A third view is that the havlaah may certainly happen before Shabbos, but it is a doubt as to whether the havlaah may happen on Motzei Shabbos only (Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach cited in Shmiras Shabbos Khilchasa Volume III Chapter 28 note 129).

It seems that the commonly held view is to allow the havlaah to happen either before or after Shabbos. It is still considered Havlaah even if the majority of the hours that were worked were on Shabbos.

Some Poskim hold that Havlaah can also include an expense and service that the employee includes (See Vayavrech Dovid Siman 41).

LIMITATIONS ON HAVLAAH

Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach (ibid) is also of the opinion that if there is a discrepancy in the rate of compensation between the going rate on a Shabbos and that of the weekday, it is not considered Havlaah. It would thus be forbidden to take the extra money that is offered for Shabbos work. Rav Elyashiv, however, still considers it Havlaah (Zichron Dror Yikrah page 344).



EXCEPTION OF FREE GIFT

If both parties agree that there is no financial obligation incurred but rather the person who has benefitted from the work of the other offers compensation after Shabbos as a gift or token of appreciation, then it seems from the Mishna Brurah (306:16,24) that it is permissible.

EXCEPTION OF COMPENSATED BY GUARDING

Although all forms of compensation for Shabbos is prohibited whetehr it is money or food, if the compensation is a non-tangible such as watching something, it is permissible as well according to Rav Neuwith zl (Shmiras Shabbos Khilchasa 28:54). Thus one can babysit in exchange for babysitting.

BENEFITTING FROM MONEY EARNED ON SHABBOS

The Shulchan Aruch (OC 245:6) indicates that it is forbidden to benefit from Schar Shabbos if it was paid. The case of the Shulchan Aruch dealt with gentiles who had forcibly used a Jews oven to bake bread and paid him with bread. The Shulchan Aruch rules that it is forbidden for the owner or any other Jew to benefit from the bread.

PRACTICAL EXAMPLES

WAITERS  If a waiter arranges for doing work before or after Shabbos in addition to his Shabbos tasks he may be paid for the total job in one payment. It must be understood that it should be one job.

BAAL KOREH  A baal Koreh may be paid because he is also being paid for preparing the leining. If he does not prepare before Shabbos it is a problem.

BABYSITTERS  A Babysitter may only be paid for Shabbos work if she also babysits before or after Shabbos and she is paid for one total job. However, if she provides diapers or food on her own that she had paid for previously, then she can be paid for that as part of the Havlaah (see aforementioned Vayavrech Dovid).

SCHOLARS IN RESIDENCE  A scholar in residence can accept a gift for his speech but he cannot stipulate a set amount. If the Scholar in residence also prepares beforehand and it is stipulated that he is being compensated for that as well, or if he delivers a lecture after Shabbos as well, then he may accept payment.

Now can a city rely on these three heterim to open up a commercial district? Aside from the fact that it would undermine the spirit of Shabbos and the fact that actual sales and credit cards cannot be done, it is completely impractical.

The author can be reached at [email protected]
A 94-year-old former SS sergeant went on trial Thursday in western Germany on 170,000 counts of accessory to murder, based on accusations that he served as a guard in the Auschwitz death camp as hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews and others were gassed to death there.

Reinhold Hanning seemed in good condition for his age, walking into the court in the city of Detmold without even the help of a cane and appearing to listen attentively as the indictment against him was read aloud.

No pleas are entered in the German system. Hanning, who ran a local dairy after the war until he retired in 1984, declined to give an opening statement to the court.

He showed no reaction as the first witness, Leon Schwarzbaum, a 94-year-old Auschwitz survivor, read moving testimony about his own experiences, then looked directly at Hanning and made an emotional plea.

Mr. Hanning, we are about the same age and we will both soon be before the highest court, Schwarzbaum said, his voice quavering and hands trembling. Speak here about what you and your comrades did!

The trial is one of four expected this year against two other former SS men and one woman alleged to have served in Auschwitz. The 11th-hour prosecutions come after a new precedent was set in 2011, when former Ohio autoworker John Demjanjuk became the first person to be convicted in Germany solely for serving as a death camp guard, with no evidence of involvement in a specific killing.

Prosecutors successfully argued in the Demjanjuk case that simply serving in a death camp, and thus helping it operate, was enough to convict someone of accessory to the murders committed there. Although Demjanjuk always denied serving at the death camp and died before his appeal could be heard, prosecutors last year successfully convicted SS sergeant Oskar Groening, who served in Auschwitz, on 300,000 counts of accessory to murder using the same reasoning.

Hanning admitted to investigators when first questioned that he had served in the Auschwitz I part of the camp in Nazi-occupied Poland, but denied serving at the Auschwitz II-Birkenau section, where most of the 1.1 million victims were killed.

As the trial opened, however, his attorneys filed a motion asking to exclude that statement, saying that Hanning had been surprised when authorities showed up at his house and wasnt fully aware he was under investigation. It wasnt clear when the judges would rule on the motion. His attorney, Andreas Scharmer, would not say whether the defense was planning to try and argue that Hanning did not serve in the camp at all if his statement was excluded.

Prosecutor Andreas Brendel told The Associated Press after the hearing that there was also other evidence that Hanning was there, including SS company lists.

Reading the indictment, Brendel told the court that Hanning served in two different SS Deaths Head companies in Auschwitz as a guard. He said those companies were used to guard prisoners used as slave laborers outside the camp, and also were called to Birkenau to help with the tens of thousands being brought in during the so-called Hungarian action in 1944 and unloaded from trains onto a ramp.

On the ramp, Nazis stripped the prisoners of their possessions and sorted them into groups: those who would be immediately taken to the gas chambers and those fit enough to be used as slave labor, and likely worked to death.

The decision over life and death lay with the SS men on the ramp, Brendel said.

Doctors have advised that the trial sessions can run no longer than two hours, in deference to Hannings age and health.

Schwarzbaum, one of about 40 Auschwitz survivors or their relatives who have joined the trial as co-plaintiffs as allowed under German law, had his testimony cut short before he could finish answering questions. Hes due to take the stand again when the trial resumes Friday.

After the proceedings, he told the AP his main hope for the trial is that Hanning will tell his story so the world will better know what happened in Auschwitz and why SS guards did what they did.

Hes an old man, Schwarzbaum said. He should tell the truth.

(AP)
Assemblyman Gary Schaer has introduced legislation to boost funding for security services, equipment, and technology to help ensure a safe and secure school environment for students attending non-public schools.

School security has become a paramount concern in recent years, particularly in light of the many tragedies weve witnessed across the country and around the world, said Schaer (D-Bergen/Passaic). While weve taken many steps to increase security efforts throughout our public schools, much more needs to be done, and we cannot overlook the needs of students in nonpublic schools in the process.

Under the provisions of the bill (A-2689), known as the Secure Schools for All Children Act, the superintendent of each school district in which a non-public school is located will confer annually with the chief school administrator of the non-public school in order to agree upon the security services, equipment, or technology that will be provided to the students of the non-public school within the limits of available funds.

If the superintendent and the chief school administrator are unable to agree on the security services, equipment, or technology, then the executive county superintendent will make the final determination.

If the superintendent and the chief school administrator are unable to agree on the security services, equipment, or technology, then the executive county superintendent will make the final determination.

Beginning in the 2016-2017 school year, the maximum amount, or state support limit, which may be appropriated for the purposes of the bill is $144.42 per non-public school student, which is the average amount public schools get per pupil for security related concerns and an sizeable increase from the $25 that was appropriated per pupil last year. Schaer led the effort to ensure that funding was appropriated through the budget process last year, the first time in the states history that funding was included for non-public school security.

Under the bill, this amount would be increased each school year by the consumer price index.

Each year the school district will forward to the state Commissioner of Education an estimate of the cost of providing the security services, equipment, or technology required pursuant to the bill and the number for students attending the nonpublic school located within the district as of the last school day of October of the current school year.

The commissioner will provide state aid to the district in an amount equal to the number of non-public school students multiplied by the state support limit.

The State Board of Education would be charged with promulgating rules to carry out the provisions of the bill, including a list of allowable expenditures for the security services, equipment, and technology to help ensure a safe and secure school environment for nonpublic school students.

The measure has been referred to the Assembly Education Committee.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)




"Looking forward to perform at The Havana Music Festival with our show Earth, Wind & Fire Experience. We are looking so much to get in Cuba and really see what we've only read about and heard about. Every musician I have met from there is excellent so I am very, very impressed; we hope we can exchange some ideas culturally," Al McKay, of Al McKay and The All Stars, said.

Artist Lineup:

Copperbridge Foundation (CBF), a non-profit organization with the mission to promote cultural and educational exchange through the medium of artistic expression, is the United States Promoter of the 3rd Annual Havana World Music Festival from the National Center of Popular Music and the Cuban Institute of Music, taking place in Havana, Cuba from March 24-27.CBF, known as promoters of world-class dance, art, and music, supports Havana World Music in opening a window from Cuba to the world by promoting this cultural event that is known for its avant garde spirit and music quality that reflects an image of a creative, open-minded and modern Cuba.Havana World Music Festival (HWM), is expected to host over 10,000 attendees and will see US and Cuba joining forces to make musical history. Featured international acts include Al McKay and The All Stars Earth, Wind & Fire, Juanito Makande, Centavrvs, top Cuban artists Havana D'Primera,Yoruba Andabo, Kelvis Ochoa, and many more.In addition to the main Havana World Music Festival, HWM and CBF have created an extended program beginning March 21 taking place at Fabrica de Arte Cubano (FAC), a multi-faceted venue from the Ministry of Culture, to host creative workshops, lectures, planned and spontaneous jam sessions, and exciting exclusive performances that will continue to unfold and ignite throughout the week.Created by Cuban rock and media artist, X Alfonso, FAC, is a multi-faceted venue - a gallery, bar, and performance setting, blending all facets of arts into one creative space.FAC was recently featured in the New York Times and on Anthony Bourdain's award-winning travelogue, Parts Unknown: Cuba, revealing the best ways to experience Havana.Be a part of history: as a US participant you will be able to legally travel to Cuba to attend the festival under the CBF general license.Be a part of the first wave of music fans to share this live music and living history experience with these internationally renowned talents by being part of a 7-day musical and cultural happening.Al McKay and The All Stars - Earth, Wind and Fire Experience (USA)Havana D' Primera (Cuba)Juanito Makande (Spain)Yoruba Andabo (Cuba)Centavrvs (Mexico)Kelvis Ochoa (Cuba)Sergent Garcia (France)Woman of the World (Argentina - Ecuador - Cuba)Yelsy Heredia (Cuba)Vox Sambou (Haiti - Canada)Yissy & Bandancha (Cuba)Carolina Camacho (Dominican Republic)Ecos (Cuba)This Havana-based cultural event offers American citizens an opportunity to travel legally to Cuba and engage in meaningful interactions with the Cuban people through music.Our travel packages are fully compliant with U.S. Treasury Department laws.To attend the festival and for additional information on Havana World Music Festival from the United States, please contact Copperbridge Foundation for Global Passes and Travel Packages:For more information on Havana World Music Festival please visit: havanaworldmusic.com For more information on Fabrica de Arte Cubano please visit:
Travel firm Thomas Cook saw its bookings and revenues fall at the end of last year as terrorist attacks in Paris, Tunisia and Egypt deterred holidaymakers from heading abroad.

Shares in FTSE 250-listed firm fell more than 2 per cent in morning trading, but had recovered by lunchtime to add 0.15p at 95.95p as the company reassured investors that the new year had started on the right foot and it left its earnings guidance for the year unchanged.

Thomas Cook said its winter bookings were down 2 per cent in the last three months of 2015, while revenues fell 7.2 per cent to 1.41billion as holidaymakers were spooked by the terrorist activity in major holiday areas, although average selling prices increased by 2 per cent in the period.

Less demand: Winter bookings were down 2 per cent in the last three months of 2015, but have improved since

Some 11 people were killed in a suicide bombing in Istanbul last month, while 130 people lost their lives in terrorist attacks Paris in November last year.

Turkey has also been impacted by a drop in demand amid general security fears, as the country borders Syria, which is currently gripped by a bloody civil war.

Chief executive Peter Fankhauser said: It is clear that the awful attacks in Paris and Istanbul impacted confidence, leading some customers to delay booking their holidays.

However we've seen clear signs of recovery in recent weeks - customers still have money in their pockets, and want to go on holiday.

Thomas Cook said it had switched to selling more trips in West Mediterranean locations such as Spain and the Canary Islands to meet changing demands from travellers searching for alternatives to Egypt, Tunisia and Turkey.

Having anticipated a higher risk of disruption this year, we have worked proactively to rebalance our programme to match changes in customer demand, adjusting our in-house flying capacity and route networks, and securing additional hotel rooms particularly in the Western Mediterranean where demand is strongest, the company said in a statement.

Thomas Cook also said underlying operating losses improved by 11 per cent to 49million, thanks to more customers opting for long-haul destinations like the Caribbean, instead of North Africa.

However, there are now mounting fears that the Zika virus could be having a damaging impact on customer appetite for holidaying in the Caribbean, after Jamaica announced it had been infected by the virus.

Thomas Cook said its winter season is 82 per cent sold across the group, broadly the same as last year. Its group summer programme is 29 per cent sold, which is 2 per cent below last year, with prices so far up 4 per cent.

Analysts at Jefferies said the proactive changes to destinations, prices and volumes were helping Thomas Cook navigate a tough operating environment.

Istanbul attacks: 11 people were killed in a suicide bombing in city's main tourist hub on January 12

The Thomas Cook update follows TUI Group's results earlier this week, which also revealed a decline in holiday bookings late last year after the terror attacks. But TUI also reported a recovery in early 2016 and a movement in booking trends.
Bristol has become the latest airport to clash with the Government over aviation policy.

Britains ninth busiest airport warned that its local economy could lose 843million if Wales wins the right to set a lower rate of passenger duty for passengers travelling from Cardiff Airport.

Air Passenger Duty is a levy set by the Government. If Wales is given autonomy over the rate, Bristol Airport warns it will see a 25 per cent drop in passenger numbers by 2020 as they flock to neighbouring Cardiff where flights would be cheaper.

Flight fears: A jet takes off at Bristol Airport where bosses are concerned that they might lose business to Cardiff if Wales is granted the right to set its own rate of passenger duty

Bristol Airport published a report that claimed the move could cost 1,569 jobs over the next ten years.

Separately, Europes third-biggest budget airline, Norwegian Air, posted fourth-quarter earnings above expectations.

It has launched flights to the Middle East, south-east Asia and the United States, bringing the low-cost model to the long-haul market.

In a blow for Heathrow Airport, the independent regulator for railways has ruled against it seeking to charge train operators, such as Crossrail, to use its Heathrow Express track.

Heathrow paid more than 1billion building the line into Central London, and had hoped to charge Crossrail an annual 40million to use it.
Gatwick has heaped further pressure on Heathrow by unveiling aggressive expansion plans worth 2.5billion.

Britains second-largest airport lost out when a report by Sir Howard Davies recommended building at Heathrow to improve the UKs airport capacity rather than expanding Gatwick.

The Government is finally expected to make its choice by the summer but Gatwick is pushing ahead regardless. It announced the acceleration and expansion of its investment programme, totalling 2.5billion, and has opened discussions with contractors about building its second runway.

Expansion plans: Gatwick has also opened discussions with contractors about building its second runway

However, it will stop short of breaking ground until the Government makes its decision.

A spokesman said: It is important that Gatwick is ready to start work as soon as we get government approval. Opening discussions now with contractors means that we will be well placed to take forward our plans for a second runway, on time and on budget.

Separately Carsten Spohr, chief executive of Lufthansa, Europes biggest airline, said in a speech that there would be little impact on his airline if Britain voted to pull out of the EU.
Britains biggest bank is being sued by the families of several US citizens who were murdered by Mexicos most notorious drugs cartels.

HSBC was fined 1.1billion in the US in 2012 for laundering billions of dollars for rogue states and drugs gangs.

Its anti-money-laundering systems were so slack that the High Street giant became the bank of choice for criminals, according to US lawmakers.

Now, more than three years on, families of victims murdered in the Mexican drugs war are claiming that HSBC is liable because it allowed the cartels to launder their ill-gotten gains.

Lawsuit: HSBC was fined 1.1bn in the US in 2012 for laundering money for rogue states and drugs gangs

The class-action lawsuit has been filed in a federal court in Brownsville, Texas, close to the Mexican border. The size of the claim has not yet been revealed.

Richard Elias, a lawyer for the victims and their families said: HSBC was complicit in laundering billions of dollars for drugs cartels and should be held accountable under the Anti-Terrorism Act for supporting their terrorism.

HSBC, whose shares closed yesterday up 8.9p at 441.4p, said it would defend itself vigorously against these legal claims.

The case recounts details of a series of horrific murders that took place in 2010 and 2011. They include 36-year-old Rafael Morales Jr who was abducted on his wedding day along with his brother and uncle by the Sinaloa cartel. The three men died of asphyxiation after the gang members wrapped duct tape around their heads.

Lawyers for the victims will draw heavily from the devastating 335-page US Senate Committee report which accused HSBC of ignoring warnings and breaching safeguards that should have stopped the laundering of money from Mexico, Iran and Syria.

The legal row is another blow to HSBC, which has been desperately trying to salvage its reputation since the scandal erupted in 2012.

More embarrassing revelations could emerge in a secret dossier detailing the lenders behaviour in recent years.

As part of its deferred prosecution agreement with US authorities over the money-laundering scandal, an independent monitor was installed in its US offices to make sure it is cleaning up its act.

This was meant to be kept secret but a Brooklyn federal judge has ordered it to be published.

HSBC had been given until tomorrow to submit a redacted version.
Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Mr. Hugh Borrowman

Ambassador Hugh Borrowman: The visit further strengthened the already important partnership between Australia and Vietnam. A key outcome was the signing of the Declaration on Enhancing the Australia-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership, which reinforces the strong bilateral ties between our two countries in all areas, including political cooperation, education, development assistance, legal and police cooperation, trade and investment links.

There are excellent opportunities for further cooperation in all fields, including: our ongoing cooperation in institutions such as the EAS on important regional security issues; growing our bilateral trade and investment links, including under the recently concluded Trans Pacific Partnership, to which we are both parties; and continuing to work with Vietnam on enabling and engaging the private sector, skilling-up the workforce, and women's economic empowerment focusing on ethnic minorities, through our bilateral aid program.

I feel very positive about the future direction of the Australia-Vietnam partnership.

Reporter: In the context that international donors have been reduced their ODA for Vietnam, what changes has Australia made to its ODA policy towards Vietnam? What are the areas of priority to receive Australias ODA from now to 2020?

Ambassador Hugh Borrowman: In July 2015 Australia committed to continue to provide aid to Vietnam for the next five years to support the countrys long-term development needs. It is estimated that a total of around AUD90 million ODA, of which around AUD60 million will be direct bilateral aid, will be provided to Vietnam during the financial year 2015-2016.

Prime Minister Dung and former Prime Minister Abbott witnessed the signing of the Declaration on Enhancing the

Australia-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership.

Australia remains committed to Vietnams sustainable economic growth as well as to delivering a high-quality, focused aid program that complements Vietnams ambitious objectives to basically industrialize by 2020. Australian development cooperation in Vietnam will align with the SEDP 2016-2020 and will focus on three priority areas: enabling and engaging the private sector for development; assisting the development and employment of a highly skilled workforce; and promoting womens economic empowerment, including ethnic minorities. Given Vietnams continuing economic development and Australias new aid paradigm, Australia will transition from traditional aid to one of an economic partnership with Vietnam.

Australia has a long history of providing development assistance to Vietnam with numerous achievements, including the support to the construction of two critical bridges which link people and markets in the Mekong Delta to the rest of South East Asia - the My Thuan and the Cao Lanh bridges, currently under construction.

Australia has also provided more than 5,700 scholarships for Vietnamese students to study in Australia and contributed to enabling 82 percent of the rural population now to have access to hygienic water and 60 percent to hygienic latrines thanks to its support for the national water supply and sanitation program.

Reporter: Education cooperation is always a cornerstone between Australia and Vietnam. What do you think of the education ties between the two countries in 2015 and its prospect in the future?

Ambassador Hugh Borrowman: Cooperation in education and training is a major strength of the bilateral relationship between Australia and Vietnam. We continue to strengthen that cooperation through a number of mechanisms, including under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Cooperation in Education and Training between our respective education ministries, first signed in 1994, and renewed in 2013.

Mr Borrowman congratulates scholarship recipients. Our two countries promote two way student mobility and transnational education opportunities. A tangible outcome of the long lasting education cooperation is the 50,000 Australian alumni in Vietnam who are the key to mutual understanding, ongoing cooperation, and enduring people to people links between the two countries. The Australia Awards Scholarships (including the Endeavour Scholarships and Fellowships) support Vietnamese applicants to undertake short-term and full-length post-graduate study, research or professional development opportunities in Australia. Through the New Colombo Plan and Endeavour mobility grants, the Australian Government supports Australian students to undertake part of their studies in the Asia Pacific region, including Vietnam. Full or part scholarships are also offered by many Australian education institutions, including significant top-ups to supplement the 911 scholarships under university agreements with the Vietnams Ministry of Education and Training. The prospects for the future are exciting and build on the above encouraging institutional partnerships for twinning programs, student mobility and research collaboration. For example, we expect to see more research collaborations happening following the Australian governments recent announcement of the Global Innovation Strategy in which Vietnam is one of the 17 priority economies. There is also open policy dialogue related to transnational education, qualifications recognition, quality assurance, science communication and regulations related to education.

Reporter: As far as I know, you will finish your posting in mid-2016. Would you mind sharing with our readers some of your impressions on Vietnam? Are there any messages that you would like to send to your successor?

Ambassador Hugh Borrowman: My impressions are of a proud and independent country which has played an important part in the history of the region and which will continue to do so. My impressions are of a country with a strong and indomitable people. My impressions are of a country with a great future ahead of it. My message to my successor would be to enjoy his or her time in your wonderful country and do all they can to develop the Australia - Vietnam relationship even further./.

Reporter: Thank you very much!
The diplomat made the request at a working session with acting head of the MFAs Asia-Pacific region department Leshynskaya G.V on February 9th.

Tri said the incident occurred on the run-up to the traditional Lunar New Year (Tet), which has stirred concern amongst the Vietnamese community in Ukraine.

Ambassador Nguyen Minh Tri (left)

He noted that head of the Vietnamese Foreign Ministrys Consular Department Ly Quoc Tuan twice met with Ukrainian Ambassador to Vietnam Aleksay Shovkovplias to ask the Ukrainian side to promptly settle the issue.

However, the hosts appropriate agencies have yet to make any replies regarding the case, he said.

The Vietnamese Ambassador suggested that the Ukrainian MFA work closely with its agencies to address the situation, in line with the hosts law, and return property to Vietnamese nationals, in order to maintain the sound traditional friendship between the two countries.

Leshynskaya shared the Vietnamese sides concern and said that her MFA has worked on the issue with relevant agencies, but they have yet to receive any official information.

She promised to continue working with domestic agencies to reply to Vietnam as soon as possible.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) was reported to have raided a Vietnamese quarter called Lang Sen (Lotus Village) in Odessa city on January 28th, arresting one Vietnamese national and collecting money from several Vietnamese families./.
So said Country Director of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), Mr Chang Jae-yun, during an exclusive interview to the Communist Party of Vietnam Online Newspaper, sharing achievements of the Agency in the nation in 2015, and some future plans for 2016.

Photo: KOICA Vietnam

KOICA's ODA projects aim to assist the socio-economic development of Vietnam, and thus are planned and designed according to the nations Social Economic Development Strategy (SEDS) and the Socio-Economic Development Plan (SEDP).

Last year, KOICA has carried out 20 projects throughout the nation, with a total investment budgets ranging USD2-35 million, covering policy consultation, vocational training, public health, environment and green growth, science and technology, and rural/urban development sectors, shared the Country Director.

In general, these projects consist of construction of buildings, provision of equipment (including installation and maintenance), consultation, and capacity building programs (on-site workshops and invited training to Korea).

Recently, in order to cope with the fast changing environment of economic and social sector of Vietnam, KOICA is more focusing on delivering of consultations and advises on policy making, law making, and master plan establishment in related fields.

In collaboration with the World Bank, KOICA has supported Vietnam to formulate the Vietnam Vision 2035 Report through sharing Korean development experience in the two topics: Sustainable development and innovation and technological reform, with exclusive study tours and dispatch of Korean experts. Another spotlight in policy consultation is the Development experience exchange program (DEEP) for Vietnams vision in new rural development and other governance issues, in partnership with the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics.

Vocational training: Key to meet increased demand of the industries

According to Mr Chang Jae-yun (who has been working for KOICA for 25 years), among the projects carried out in 2015, the vocational training projects and other work related projects emphasized to meet the demand of the industries, such as Improving the Central Highlands vocational college for ethnic youths in Dak Lak province (2013-2016, valued USD5 million), Improving the Vietnam-Korea industrial technology vocational college in Nghe An province (2014-2016, worth USD6 million).

Photo: KOICA Vietnam

An MOU has been signed by KOICA, Koreas LOTTE, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of Korea and the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam for Capacity building for inclusive development of Vietnams distribution industry, aiming to create skilled labor force in the sector of logistics and distribution, serving Vietnam on the way toward the market economy.

With desire to pass on its 48 years of experience and know-how on technology innovation, the Government of Korea decided to support the nation to establish the Vietnam-Korea Institute of Science and Technology (V-KIST) (2014-2018, with a total capital of USD35 million), duplicating the prestigious KIST of Korea. The project is the largest among Koreas ODA operations to developing countries around the world.

Besides, KOICA also backs the Government of Vietnam in the public administration sector, through key projects such as technical assistance for establishment of the multi-purpose land information system model for Vietnam (2013-2015, valued USD3.5 million), strengthening the capacity of the Judicial Academy (2013-2015, worth USD9.5 million); establishing the E-library at the People's Police Academy of Vietnam (2014-2017, USD2.3 million).

As of January 2016, the new projects on environment and sustainability are undergoing the detailed negotiations between KOICA and responsible ministries in Vietnam. By standing side by side with the Vietnamese Government, KOICA will continue its utmost effort to meet the demand of the government of Vietnam to achieve the sustainable socio-economic development of the country.

More 25 projects of CSO Cooperation and Private sector engagement/USD5.62 million in 2016

Some of 20,800 people have benefited from 23 projects of civil social organization (CSO) cooperation and private sector engagement carried by KOICA in Vietnam last year, covering four sectors of vulnerable people - the elderly, children affected by HIV/AIDS, ethnic groups, poor children, the disabled, environment and health, self-reliance, and human resources, TVET, with the total investment of around USD5.23 million. In addition, there are three types of CSO Cooperation and Private sector engagement projects KOICA focuses on, which are under the Academy Partnership Program (APP), Business Partnership Program (BPP) and Civil Society Partnership Program (CPP).

Photo: KOICA Vietnam

This year, KOICA is expected to deploy 25 of these projects with a total investment of USD5.62 million, accounting for 18,730 beneficiaries. In which, five projects will be completed in the first quarter of 2016.

According to KOICA Vietnam leader, 57, in the line with the focus on Vision 2050 of Vietnam and Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) of KOICA, more projects for human resources with Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programs will be implemented this year.

In particular, capacity building of poor youth with the training of skills on car maintenance and construction welding with Hyundai car and Hyundai engineering and construction will be actively implemented very soon. Apart from these, KOICA already planned to undertake the two projects for capacity building on climate change with the Hanoi University of Natural Resources and Environment, and on emission trading and for making the standards of emission trading.

Numbers can speak: 220 trainees, 10 country-specific fellowship programs

KOICA considers public officials as the key players of the socio-economic development of Vietnam. So, KOICA designed invited training programs for them in order to enhance their capacity in policy making in various field, by sharing the development experience in Korea, under the brand name of CIAT (capacity improvement & advancement for tomorrow) programs, thus equipping them new trend of development, including international development issues such as trade and market economy.

We have been carried out 10 country-specific fellowship programs, solely designed for the Vietnamese officials, through which about 220 trainees participated in 2015, such as capacity enhancement program for Vietnams high level strategic leaders, social insurance training for Vietnamese social security specialists, and capacity building of immigration service management.

Mr Chang Jae-yun mentioned that along with the country-specific programs, KOICA has also invited 79 trainees for 22 multi-country fellowship programs in which Vietnamese trainees can join the officials from other countries to learn and share about the experiences in various issues such as climate change, food safety, cyber crimes, Korean language and culture, intelligence property, ICT as well.

Also, KOICA offers master degree scholarship programs for Vietnamese officials. This is an international open competition in which participants come from corners of the world. In 2015, as many as nine Vietnamese candidates succeeded to undertake scholarships in prestigious universities in Korea, for the majors including ICT, women policy, economic and industry policy, and marine science.

People to people connection

In Southeast Asia, Vietnam has been a major partner of World Friends Korea (WFK) program. Run by KOICA, it is designed for Korean citizens who fulfill certain qualifications go abroad to live together with the residents of developing countries and work to improve their quality of life and strengthen their capabilities. It not only serves to enhance friendly relations between Korea and developing countries, but also cultivates Korean volunteers into global citizens with regional expertise.

Photo: KOICA Vietnam

Since 1994, KOICA has dispatched four WFK volunteers in the nation (two for Taekwondo and two for Korean language education) and gradually increases to an average of 50-70 ones yearly.

Based on the local and national needs of Vietnam and KOICAs long term strategic development plan, the annual number of WFK volunteers has been adjusted. In 2015, KOICA successfully dispatched 57 WFK volunteers from various fields, including education, healthcare, public administration, agriculture, forestry and fishery, industry and energy, and environment.

With the aim to contribute and strengthen the capacities of Vietnamese recipient agencies and local citizens as well as to promote sustainable development, KOICA WFK volunteers have implemented many significant activities, which have been highly appreciated and valued by the local authorities, such as the training course for machinery manufacturing department in Quy Nhon vocational college (USD48,339); establishing the Korea-Vietnam Cultural Education Center in Nghe An province (USD40,757); project for the empowerment of traditional medicine at Quang Nam Central General Hospital (USD30,870); and project for agricultural road expansion and paving of Vinh Thinh commune and after-care facilities, Thanh Hoa province (USD49,500).

Photo: KOICA Vietnam

In 2016, KOICA envisions to develop its program in remote and poor provinces in order to help achieve the Sustainable Developments Goals adopted by the UN in 2015 and fulfill Vietnams national targets to 2020. To this end, KOICA hopes to deploy WFK volunteers and experts in public health, education, womens empowerment, community development, and tourism to the Northern, Central and Southern provinces, such as Son La, Lai Chau, Thai Nguyen, Quang Binh, Kien Giang, and An Giang continued Mr Chang Jae-yun.

Apart from other international sponsors, this year, KOICA is expected to back Vietnam more to fostering socio-economic development, perfecting the Sustainable Developments Goals adopted by the UN, fulfilling Vietnams national targets to 2020, especially as the nation just successfully conducted the 12th National Party Congress./.
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By Gabriel Rom

The first homicide in the 111th Precinct since 2014 is the result of a family affair gone horribly wrong, the Queens district attorney said.

Demetrios Safetis, 19 of Auburndale, was charged with first-degree manslaughter, assault and criminal possession of a weapon after he allegedly bashed his father to death with a steering wheel lock, the DA said.

According to the criminal complaint filed by the DA, the brutal assault occurred after Demetrios had an argument with his father, 57-year-old Ioannis John Safetis. The altercation occurred in the familys Auburndale home, located at 190th Street near Utopia Parkway, Friday night.

Officers from the 111th Precinct and EMS units responded to the scene after receiving a 911 call about the incident and found Ioannis Safetis unconscious with blunt force trauma to his head and scratches across his face, the NYPD said. Paramedics rushed him to NewYork-Presbyterian/Queens hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Demetrios Safetis allegedly first struck his brother, Niko Safetis, with the steering wheel lock, causing his brother to bleed out from the nose, the complaint said. He then moved to his father, and struck him on the side of the head with his weapon, leaving a severe bump and abrasion on his fathers head, according to the court document.

Dimitrios Safetis was taken into custody at the scene and brought to the 111th Precincts Bayside station, where he was questioned by detectives and subsequently charged with his fathers death.

Queens Criminal Court Judge William Harrington issued an order of protection for Niko and set bail for Demetrios at $500,000. Demetrios Safetis was due to appear before a grand jury this week.

The 111th Precinct, where the killing occurred, recorded no murders according to NYPD CompStat figures. The numbers do not include manslaughter. Fifty-eight felony assaults were reported in all of 2015, while there were six felony assaults reported through the end of January, compared to two up until that point in 2014.

In December 2014 Jagsheer Singh from Bayside was arrested for allegedly killing his 4-month-old baby. Nevin Jandu. Singh, who was 28 at the time, told police that his child had fallen off a changing table, but doctors found multiple severe skull fractures that were not consistent with an accident, according to a criminal complaint filed by the DA in 2014.
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By Madina Toure

A bus owned by a Flushing company traveling from the neighborhood to a casino in Connecticut overturned on I-95 early Monday afternoon due to snow on the road, according to the Connecticut State Police.

At about 12:24 p.m., the operator of the bus, Flushing resident Keyi Zang, was merging from the left lane to the right lane on I-95 northbound, just east of Exit 61 in Madison, Conn., the State Police said.

He then lost control on the snow-covered road, striking the right-shoulder metal-beam barrier, police said.

A Connecticut State Police trooper said the operator said the bus was coming from Flushing.

Several EMS services, the Connecticut State Police CARS Unit, the Connecticut Department of Transportation and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, responded to the scene.

The bus, owned by Dahlia Group Inc. at 127-27 34th Ave., was transporting passengers from Flushing to the Mohegan Sun Casino. The company declined to comment.

As of Tuesday, 29 vehicles and 43 drivers have been inspected over the last 24 months but there have been no crashes, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

As of October 2015, the company has a satisfactory rating, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration added.

During the 2014-2015 fiscal year, 32 of the companys buses had been inspected, with one reported out of service, according to the state Department of Transportations bus operator profile. A total of 36 passengers were transported from the scene to area hospitals and medical clinics for treatment of minor to moderate injuries, police added.

The highway was closed periodically during the investigation and the bus was towed from the scene, which was cleared after four hours, the Connecticut State Police said. The National Transportation Safety Board was also notified.

The state police trooper said the investigation was ongoing.
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By Gabriel Rom

Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced emergency regulations after a crane owned and operated by two Queens companies crashed in Lower Manhattan last Friday morning, killing a 38-year-old man and injuring three others.

The crane was owned by Bay Crane of Long Island City and operated by Galasso Trucking and Rigging Inc. of Maspeth. Neither company could be reached for comment.

In May 2015 Bay Crane was involved in another accident when a massive air-conditioning unit being lifted by a crane in Midtown Manhattan fell about 28 stories, injuring 10 people.

Crawler cranes like the one involved in last Fridays crash will now have to be removed from operation and properly secured whenever winds are expected to exceed 20 miles per hour or gusts exceed 30 mph, the mayor said Sunday.

Crane companies that dont comply, de Blasio announced, may face fines of up to $10,000, more than a 50 percent increase from the previous fines.

The city also plans to ramp up enforcement of street and sidewalk closures due to crane activity. Cops, firefighters and officials from the departments of Buildings and Transportation will be ordered to keep pedestrians out.

Crane operators will also now be required to notify people who live and work in the area when a crane is moved. The only notification currently required is when a crane is installed. The city will also form a task force on crane safety to develop additional regulations.

We all know there is a construction boom going on in our city, and although we value the work thats being done  nothing is more important than the safety of our people, de Blasio said, standing near the site of the collapse on Worth Street on Sunday. There is no building that is worth a persons life.

A few miles north David Wichs was being remembered on Manhattans Upper East Side. Wichs, who immigrated to the United States from Czechoslovakia as a teenager was remembered by Rabbi Haskel Lookstein as a supreme mensch in every respect.

Investigators are still working to determine the cause of the collapse.

We just checked the history. This is the first crane collapse in the city since 2008, de Blasio said at the press conference.

In May 2008 the horizontal arm of a 240-foot crane snapped off, launching the cab and upper portion of the arm into a building on 91st Street and First Avenue. The cranes operator, Donald C. Leo, and a construction worker, Ramadan Kurtaj, were both killed. James Lomma, the owner of Maspeth-based New York Crane & Equipment Co., was acquitted of criminal charges but will have to pay over $96 million in total damages to the families of two victims.

But in addition to the 2008 and 2015 crane accidents, a crane owned by another company fell off a luxury 57th Street skyscraper in 2012.
By Arvin Paranjpe

In the United States, St. Valentine\s Day is celebrated widely with candy, flowers, and private expressions of affection. I proposed to my wife on Valentine\s Day and my kindergartner daughter, who was born on its eve, observes it with heartfelt cards to friends and family. I never suspected that St. Valentine\s Day, so sweet and whimsical, actually stands tribute for the ancient struggle against war and oppression.

Valentinus lived in the Roman Empire during the 3rd century and is recognized officially as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church. At the time, Roman Emperor Claudias II was facing an intractable problem. His soldiers, whom he preferred to consider faceless fighting drones, would marry, start families, and begin to find greater meaning and purpose to life. Their rehumanization made them worse fighters, less likely to kill and be killed. Claudias would not have this. He passed an edict that prohibited soldiers from marrying. All engagements were unceremoniously severed and chaplain wedding services for soldiers came to a grinding halt.

Except one brave soul chose to continue. Valentinus, a modest priest, secretly married soldiers apparently in and around Rome. When Claudias received word, he imprisoned Valentine and ordered his execution. Valentine died around A.D. 270.

Though the Roman Empire has come and gone, don\t think their methods have come to an end. In the U.S., we subscribe to the falsehood that adults under 21 are too young to be trusted with alcohol but may kill, threaten to kill, and be thrown in perilous, hostile situations that can permanently damage them emotionally and physically. Further, going AWOL (absent without leave) after signing up for military service is a criminal offense punishable under martial law (the Uniform Code of Military Justice) to the tune of confinement for up to one year and forfeiture of all pay and allowances. This point takes some reflection.

Thankfully the ways of slavery and indentured servitude have lost all support in our civil rights laws, property laws, and contract law. Furthermore, modern courts abhor specific performance, the concept that the breaching defendant be forced to perform his or her contractual obligations against his or her will. But martial law goes much further in that it attempts to make the military service obligation irrevocable by threatening punishment through a criminal justice system, which is by its nature much harsher than the civil law system.

If you were an active duty member of the military service, what would be better? Losing your right to marry or facing a military trial and likely imprisonment if you refuse to participate in a military conflict?

The struggle against war and oppression continues to smolder. Not just in war-torn countries, but right here at home, in the customs and laws that we live under. Many great men and women have lost their lives in this struggle. But we can carry them in our heart when we withdraw our support for the accepted governmental practices that unjustly impede free will and dehumanize us, and choose to support and promote constructive programs that do just the opposite. So on Valentine\s Day, let us bring new meaning to the countless paper and candy hearts by sharing with others heartfelt rehumanization as inspired by St. Valentinus.
Airport development adding to economy, jobs in the region

Pittsburgh may always be known as the Steel City, but a wave of new industries are popping up near its airport to redefine business in the region.
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
Contributed photo

SHARE Campbell

By Patrick Johnston

Wichita County deputies busted a Colorado man who allegedly had four pounds of psychedelic mushrooms in the trunk of his car Wednesday afternoon.

According to a probable cause affidavit:

Around 2:42 p.m., deputies stopped a Nissan Altima on U.S. 287 South near Midway Church Road for following too closely to another vehicle.

The deputy identified the driver as Sean William Campbell, 46, of Leadville, Colorado, and observed signs of criminal activity in the vehicle.

The deputy found a large sealed box in the trunk during a search of the vehicle. After Campbell denied consent for the deputy to open the box, a K-9 deputy was deployed on a free air sniff and positively alerted to it.

Deputies found four one-gallon bags containing psilocybin mushrooms  more commonly called magic mushrooms or 'shrooms  in the box. The total weight of the mushrooms was 4 pounds, or just over 1,800 grams.

Campbell was arrested and charged with manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance penalty group two weighing more than 400 grams. His bail was set at $30,000 and he was not in Wichita County Jail Thursday afternoon.
SHARE Donnell Wells

Mrs. Rosa L. Donnell, 91, passed away Friday, February 5, 2016, in Wichita Falls, Texas. The Wake Service will commence at 6 p.m. on Friday February 12, 2016, and the Celebration of Life Services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, February 13, 2016, at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, 809 Harding Street, Wichita Falls, TX 76301, with Rev. Robert M. Castle officiating. Interment will follow at Lakeview Cemetery, under the direction of Wells Funeral Home, Mr. Thorney P. Taylor, Sr. (nephew), proprietor.

Mrs. Donnell was born Rosa Lee Flemons in Hempstead, Waller County, Texas. She was the daughter of the late David Lee and Mattie James Flemons. Mrs. Flemons passed away when Rosa was a very small child. Gussie Mae Wiggins Lockhart became her adoptive mother and provided her with a loving and caring Christ-centered upbringing. In 1947, Mrs. Donnell was united in marriage to the late Mr. George L. Donnell.

Mrs. Donnell accepted Christ as her personal Savior as a young child, and Mrs. Lockhart raised her in Jackson Memorial C.O.G.I.C. (formerly Hopewell C.O.G.I.C.). Later as an adult, Mrs. Donnell united with Mount Pleasant Baptist Church of Wichita Falls, Texas. During the time she taught school in California, she was a member of Mount Olive Baptist Church of East Palo Alto. Following her retirement, she returned to Texas and reunited with Mount Pleasant where she worshipped and served faithfully until her illness and subsequent demise. Over the years, she sang in numerous choirs, taught Bible studies, lead prayer meetings, and frequently visited the infirmed and bereaved. She served as President of the Women's Mission Union at Mount Olive and Treasurer of Senior Mission I of Mount Pleasant. She also served as Instructor for Youth and Young People in the Progressive District Congress of Christian Education in Northern California.

Midwestern State University conferred upon Mrs. Donnell the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Sociology. She held a lifetime Texas Teaching Certificate and a lifetime California Teaching Credential. Through the years, she was much sought-after as an academic lecturer and inspirational speaker at churches as well as educational, historical, and community events. She was frequently the keynote speaker at youth conferences, conventions, and meetings.

Mrs. Donnell received great renown for admonishing youth and young adults to cultivate a culture of noble and godly character, as well as a lifelong thirst for knowledge and self-improvement. Throughout the years, she personally awarded gold dollars to students of Mount Pleasant for their academic achievement of being on the Honor Roll for each grading period.

Mrs. Donnell had a love for humanity. She practiced philanthropy and was a benefactor of many charitable organizations and causes, including: the Booker T. Washington Alumni Association (Lifetime Member); East Branch Young Men's Christian Association (Century Club); Midwestern State University Alumni Association; San Jose State University Alumni Association; the United Negro College Fund; the Maskat Temple; Saint Jude's Cancer Research Hospital; and the Ambassador Boys and Sisterettes Club of Wichita Falls. Each year, she presented college scholarships to underprivileged graduates of Chillicothe High School.

Mrs. Donnell was employed as secretary of Wells Funeral Home, Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, Eastside Junior High School, and Holland House. Her professional career included being the first African American to be hired by the Wichita County Tax Assessor-Collector's Office, during the late 1960s. She was jokingly dubbed "Rosa Carnes," after the late Tax Assessor-Collector William "Bill" Carnes. Mrs. Donnell was later employed as a Supervisor and Coordinator of social work services under the Lyndon B. Johnson Administration's "War on Poverty" programs, administered by the Office of Economic Opportunity's Community Action Corporation of Wichita Falls. Her supervisory jurisdiction included Wichita County, Clay County, and Archer County. Despite repeated attacks on OEO's funding by the United States Congress, Mrs. Donnell and her team continually exceeded their national and local goals in providing special services, including: health care, transportation, food, and clothing; as well as employment, education, children's day care, rehabilitation, and Social Security referrals. Mrs. Donnell taught throughout the San Jose Unified School District in San Jose and Santa Clara County, California, and retired from Fischer School in the Alum Rock School District of San Jose. Mrs. Donnell was a community organizer and social and political activist. She served a number of terms as an officer of the East Side Community Development Association and was instrumental in the publication of its community newsletter. She was one of the architects and promoters of the plan to build the Emmanuel Davis Overpass. She authored and published a pamphlet that documents the history of the Overpass Committee's efforts, which is archived at the Midwestern State University Library. Under a project of the Wichita Falls Bi-Centennial Commission, Mrs. Donnell was the interviewer and researcher of the history of African American pioneers and businesses in Wichita Falls. She compiled documents, conducted oral narratives of longtime residents, and collected artifacts and mementos. She contributed these and many other original items relating to eastside citizens and their activities dating back to 1899. City of Wichita Falls organizers placed these items in the Bi-Centennial Time Capsule that is entombed in Harold Jones Park, formerly Bellevue Park, in downtown Wichita Falls. The capsule is to be opened and its contents viewed during the city's tricentennial in 2076. Mrs. Donnell campaigned tirelessly in the push to establish the Martin Luther King Center, and she garnered signatures to name it after the civil rights leader. Also, she was instrumental in naming Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Mrs. Donnell was selected as the North Texas Journals' Portrait of African American Pride during Black History Month, and a biographical article about her appeared in the February 7, 2003 edition of the Journal. She received numerous awards in recognition of her outstanding service to the community. Mrs. Donnell was dearly loved and respected, and she leaves an indelible imprint on the many lives she touched. Those who will cherish her memory most are: her loving children, Charlotte D. Thompson and son-in-law Fred, Benita G. Donnell, and Monica-Ife Asantewa, Esq., and son-in-law Hardin M. Lanier, Sr.; her grandchildren, Sabrina Wilson Thomas and her husband Edward, Sr., Danielle N. Grisby, William T. Wilson, Tia Asantewa Jewell, Adonis Asantewa and his wife Renee, Daimon M. Thompson, Quincy Dion Wilson, Latasha Wilson Eldridge and her husband Michael, Quintlyn Flemming, William Flemming, Taylor Flemming, and Jaylon Flemming; many great-grandchildren, five great-great grandchildren, a special daughter-in-law, Gladys Wilson Hughes; as well as a host of nieces, nephews, and other relatives and friends. Mrs. Donnell was predeceased by her darling son, William "Wilson" Flemming. She will be sorely missed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center, chairs the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Israel, Sunday, September 1, 2013. The sharpest rhetoric over any potential U.S. strike against Syria has come out of Iran, a close ally and patron of Syria. The head of Iranas powerful Revolutionary Guards warned Thursday that an attack on Syria would mean athe immediate destruction of Israel.a (AP Photo/Abir Sultan, Pool)

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By Bloomberg View

It may seem beside the point to boycott peace talks that had already been suspended and weren't likely to go anywhere. But that's what the U.S. and its allies need to do if they want to regain any kind of leverage in Syria.

Russian bombers helped the government of President Bashar al-Assad achieve scorched-earth victories on the ground during recent peace talks in Geneva. Worse, by allowing Assad and Russian President Vladimir Putin to use diplomacy as a cover for bombing, the U.S. and its allies have legitimized and even aided the Russian campaign.

This has to stop. At a minimum, there should be no resumption of talks later this month, as currently planned, until government forces allow humanitarian assistance to the 1 million Syrians now trapped and starving in rebel-held areas. The Russians' air campaign and Assad's use of indiscriminate barrel bombs must also come to end.

What to do when Moscow and Damascus reject these conditions, as they surely will? At this point, there are no good options. But it's worth playing out how Putin and Assad's version of events might proceed.

Putin's commitment to the peace process, it is now clear, is about as believable as his claim to be fighting Islamic State in Syria. His basic strategy is simply to help Assad crush any rebels who might plausibly join peace talks. When the only anti- Assad forces left are Islamic State and al-Qaida's al-Nusra Front, there will be nobody left to negotiate with.

This strategy helps Assad, Russia's ally, remain in power. It has also produced thousands more civilian casualties and tens of thousands of additional refugees, now at the Turkish border. Turkey's government says a further 600,000 may follow, hoping to make their way to the European Union.

Even if Western leaders were to accept the peace on these terms, millions of Sunni refugees would be reluctant to return to a country controlled by Assad's security forces. Rebel fighters from defeated mainstream groups would be more likely to join the Islamic State and al-Nusra, the last resistance groups left standing.

Putin is right about one thing: Russia's ability to determine the outcome of the war in Syria requires a willingness to exercise military power. In the U.S., support for military intervention is lukewarm at best. The U.S. needs to rethink how to help the rebels in a way that forces Putin and Assad see the value of negotiations. U.S. allies such as Saudi Arabia can also be prodded to do more to help stop Assad's advance. And surely President Barack Obama can do a better job explaining the urgency of this threat.

In the meantime, administration officials need to remember that diplomacy is not an end in itself  and to call it out when others use it as a cover for war.
SHARE Contributed photo Will Kelty and Claro Villanueva, owners of the First Wichita Building also known as Big Blue, have purchased buildings at 724 and 726 Indiana. The Corner Emporium and 8th Street Coffee House are among businesses in 726 Indiana.

By John Ingle of the Times Record News

The owners of the First Wichita Building, or Big Blue, have said they are committed to investing in Downtown Wichita Falls, and they proved that Thursday morning when they closed purchases on two more buildings.

Will Kelty said he and Claro Villanueva closed on a deal with Smith Walker to purchase 724 and 726 Indiana. Their plan is to turn the upper floors into multifamily residential spaces.

"We literally just closed on it and haven't picked up the keys yet," Kelty said.

The structure at 726 Indiana is a five-story building that houses 8th Street Coffee House and The Corner Emporium on the first floor and a couple other offices upstairs. Kelty said 724 Indiana has a tenant on the first floor.

Work should begin immediately on converting the office space to residential units, he said. They will work on design plans for the units soon and want to have the spaces rented by the end of the year.

Kelty said it's important to note that the first floor tenants will not be affected by the deal. He said they will notify tenants on the upper floors of the buildings soon and work with them on possibly moving into Big Blue.

Kelty and Villanueva purchased the iconic Big Blue in June 2014 and have done extensive work on the elevators, the first floor, time and temperature display, heating and air conditioning and more.

CoWorksWF, a space-sharing endeavor for businesses, and radio station La Mejor have set up shop on the second floor of the Big Blue Annex, and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame has moved into the first floor and should open fairly soon.
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Glens Falls

The Glens Falls Civic Center will receive a $2 million capital improvement grant from New York state for what economic development officials described as a "major makeover" that will make it more competitive with other venues in attracting shows and events.

The announcement was made Tuesday by Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul during a visit to the civic center. The money, which supplements an earlier state grant for $700,000, can be applied toward a new scoreboard, improvements to the locker area, new chairs for floor seating and other projects within the building.

The earlier grant was used for a new outdoor marquee, LED lighting, Wi-Fi, and for an upgrade to the sound system that will begin shortly, according to the Warren County Economic Development Corp.

State Sen. Betty Little also secured additional funding for painting the arena's steel beams.

The new funding "will significantly change the landscape and improve the ability for this center to compete for shows and events," said Ed Bartholomew, the EDC president. "These improvements will showcase our center in time for next year's ECHL All Star game in January 2017."

Bartholomew was Glens Falls' mayor when the building opened in 1979.
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Bethlehem

The Albany developer that wants to turn a 27-acre property off Thruway Exit 22 in Selkirk into a light industrial park says it is already having talks with potential tenants amid high demand for warehouse space.

Rosenblum Development, which owns the Great Oaks and Corporate Plaza office parks, is under contract to buy the land from a Rochester developer pending state and local approvals.

The company is proposing to build three buildings on the site, including one with 100,000 square feet and two smaller ones with roughly 35,000 square feet each. The buildings would target companies looking for warehouse, assembly, research and development or office space. About 120 parking spaces are proposed, although there is no expectation of high traffic in and out of the property.

"These are not going to be giant distribution warehouses," said Jeff Mirel, executive vice president with Rosenblum Development. "It's going to be low impact. These are going to be attractive, low-rise buildings."

In an application filed with town planners, Rosenblum Development said that between the second half of 2014 and the first half of 2015, the local real estate market absorbed one million square feet of industrial and storage space. And there is need for more.

"This is our first foray trying to address that need," Mirel said. "And that property has sat there for a while."

Although the site is located in a mixed economic development district, it will still need to go through a significant planning review by the town.

The company hopes to begin construction later this year after getting state and local approvals and have the first building completed by 2017. The property is located around a motorcycle shop.

Rosenblum Development says in documents submitted to the town that it is "currently in discussions with several potential users" of the park, although no names were revealed.

Rosenblum has strong ties with the local high-tech sector that might have companies looking for assembly or research and development space.

For instance, Edwards Vacuum, which does work at SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Albany and at GlobalFoundries in Malta but has its U.S. headquarters near Buffalo, took office space at Great Oaks in 2014 to be closer to its Capital Region clients.

lrulison@timesunion.com  518-454-5504  @larryrulison
Bethlehem

Water quality, environmental impacts and public health concerns topped a list of anxieties about the proposed Kinder Morgan Northeast Energy Direct gas pipeline at Town Board meeting Wednesday night.

The five-member board took the comments as it prepares to write a resolution that will likely oppose the pipeline project. Board members said they will present that resolution at their Feb. 10 meeting.

The hearing follows a weekend event at First Reformed Church in Bethlehem, and several residents expressed concern Wednesday that the church meeting, which organizers said attracted about 150 people, was the first they'd heard of the pipeline. Town board members also attended.

The Northeast Energy Direct gas pipeline would be developed through a Kinder Morgan subsidiary in Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut.

The 36-inch, pressurized line would travel east from Wright in Schoharie County through Bethlehem. Supporters say the project will create jobs and meet increased natural gas demand, but foes say they fear the energy extracted would not benefit states affected by the pipeline.

Some of the 50 people at Wednesday's gathering said they particularly fear water quality changes.

Deb Weisheit, a nurse, urged the town to include a call for more research into the pipeline in its resolution. Until recently, she said, she used a nearby well for her house's water source.

"There's already large amounts of methane in that water," she said, noting she can light a bottle of water on fire and that the pipeline might further contaminate water sources like this one.

On Wednesday, board member David VanLuven said members worried that residents in smaller towns in the county, like Knox and Berne, were not aware of the pipeline.

To be sure, a resolution opposing the pipeline would not necessarily stop it, said Bethlehem Supervisor John Clarkson.

"We are looking at this as an advocacy project," he said.

But still, several board members urged residents to speak up. "Legally, it's not something we have great control over, but we need to be strong as a body," said board member Doris Davis.

The Albany County Legislature passed a bill to regulate blasting in September. The legislation requires anyone who would like to blast in the county to research and clean ground contamination in two miles around the blast area.

In December, a Kinder Morgan vice president said the company is looking at other potential sites for a 41,000-horsepower compressor station, which helps gas travel from one location to another, that is currently planned near Clark's Chapel Road in Nassau. Burden Lake residents have expressed opposition to locating the compression station nearby.

lellis@timesunion.com  518-454-5018  @lindsayaellis
Washington

When President Barack Obama announced an historic nuclear deal with Iran last summer, Sen. Charles E. Schumer was one of a handful of Democrats opposing it. He said Iran would "use the agreement to pursue its nefarious goals."

Fast-forward seven months. The U.S. and its allies lifted sanctions in January after the International Atomic Energy Agency reported Iran so far had fulfilled its end of the bargain by shipping 98 percent of its nuclear fuel to Russia and dismantling two-thirds of its uranium-enriching centrifuges.

Iran even dumped concrete into a reactor core designed to produce plutonium. And in a swap, Iran let go of five U.S. prisoners including Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, who had been jailed in Iran for over 18 months.

Any regrets, Sen. Schumer? Have you changed your mind?

"No," the soon-to-be top Democrat of the Senate told upstate reporters on a conference call. "I've always felt that hardliners will hold sway, and that's why I opposed the deal."

While the U.S. and its allies negotiated with Iran's foreign minister and its elected president, Hassan Rouhani, real power is said to be held by its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The Iran deal presented Schumer with a difficult political choice. On the one hand, he'd love nothing more than to hand a major foreign-policy victory to President Obama. But his strong support of Israel and the mass of Jewish voters in New York ultimately led him to thumbs down.

The lifting of sanctions gives Iran access to about $100 billion in frozen assets. Republican presidential candidates have pledged to roll it back if elected.

dan@hearstdc.com @danfreedma
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The Dowager Countess of Grantham has taken to relieving herself into plastic bags.

It's taken 16 years for Alan Bennett's play, "The Lady in the Van," to make it to the big screen, but the film capitalizes on the attention afforded its star, Maggie Smith, as her role as the Dowager Countess in TV's "Downton Abbey" comes to an end.

Moving as far from the formidable countess as possible, Smith stars as a cantankerous, seemingly unhinged old woman who lives in squalor inside a van which she has parked in an upwardly mobile middle-class neighborhood of London. Ursula (Frances de la Tour), the widow of composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, resides in the area, as does playwright Bennett (Alex Jennings), who lives to regret extending a helping hand to the ornery and malodorous woman who calls herself Mary Shepherd.

The story is narrated by Bennett, or, to be precise, one of the two Bennetts in Nicholas Hytner's film. As in the original play, there is the Alan Bennett who lives his life and the Alan Bennett who writes about it  a gimmick, to be sure, but somewhat useful since, as the narrating Bennett says, "writing is talking to yourself" anyway.

More Information *** Review "The Lady in the Van" Rated: PG-13 for a brief unsettling image Length: 103 minutes **** Excellent *** Good ** Fair * Poor See More Collapse

Mary has fleeting moments of clarity. Most of the time, she's disagreeable and eccentric as she moves her battered home from parking spot to parking spot in the neighborhood. If questioned about why she has to park herself in front of one particular residence, she replies that she's had "guidance." From whom? "The Virgin Mary. I spoke to her yesterday. She was outside the post office."

Whenever she encounters someone who disapproves of what she's doing at the moment, she's likely to announce that, "I am a sick woman. Dying, possibly."

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When a social worker brings her three coats to keep her warm, she tosses one to the ground, saying "green is not my color."

Bennett wishes he could be as indifferent to Mary as his snobby neighbors, but Mary has a way of ignoring impediments, and she's decided Bennett will be her benefactor.

"The Lady in the Van" is one of those quirky little films of which the British are inordinately fond, but Americans will find it equally endearing, with the exception of the hideously over-the-top final scene.
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Albany

We can describe Tuesday's election with two words: Shocking incompetence.

I'm not talking about GOP voters in New Hampshire, although they certainly mucked things up. This is about the disastrous and shameful vote on whether to spend $180 million for the reconstruction of Albany High School.

Amateur hour started early in the morning, when voters arrived at some polling locations to find the doors locked. If only the district had kept them locked, because everything went downhill from there.

More Information Contact Chris Churchill at 518-454-5442 or email cchurchill@timesunion.com See More Collapse

A few poll locations received the wrong voting machines. Some voters claimed they were given incorrect poll addresses. Votes from one at least one polling place were badly miscounted, the district conceded late Wednesday.

But most of the problems resulted from a baffling failure to print enough ballots, leading to frustrating delays and unorthodox decisions as poll workers scrambled to compose emergency ballots from whatever paper they could find.

Often, those "ballots" were left in unsecured piles. Some voters were even ordered to write their names on envelopes containing their votes  eradicating any semblance of ballot secrecy.

The proposal passed by 189 votes. That hardly matters, though, because even supporters of the project have no faith in the election's integrity.

"I've been practicing election law for 10 years, and this is the most egregious thing I've seen," said Albany County Legislator Chris Higgins, a Democrat. "I'm happy with the outcome, but I'm entirely disturbed by how we got there. This is inexcusable."

Inexcusable is right.

It didn't have to happen this way. District officials could have scheduled the vote to coincide with the April 19 presidential primary, which would have put the process in the hands of the somewhat more competent Board of Elections.

But the district couldn't abide waiting the extra two months. Why?

It doesn't take a conspiratorial mind to surmise that officials, smarting from the rejection of last November's $196 million high school plan, wanted the second vote on a day that would depress turnout and improve the odds of passage.

That officials ordered just 5,300 ballots, even though nearly 12,000 people voted in November, confirms they expected a dramatically lower turnout, despite the strong feelings from opponents and supporters of the project.

Voters refused to play along. Nearly 7,900 cast ballots on Tuesday  throwing the election into chaos.

How many people, frustrated by locked doors or long lines, left without voting? How many votes went uncounted?

We'll never know, but county Comptroller Mike Conners, a project opponent, believes as many as 1,000 votes were lost  easily enough to turn the election. Even worse, from his perspective, is that most of the snafus happened in areas where support for the plan was low.

"What a coincidence that they wouldn't have enough ballots in the 'no' areas," Conners said with mock sincerity. "I'm shocked."

Conners is promising to file a federal lawsuit challenging the vote. If district officials had any sense, they would avoid that prospect, concede the election was a fiasco and schedule a new vote.

But that isn't the path they'll take.

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"The exciting story here is that we're getting a new high school," school board President Kenny Bruce said Wednesday, his head deeply planted in Pine Bush sand.

If construction goes forward, bitter feelings will linger. The many city residents who don't trust the district have a new reason to feel aggrieved.

"People are going to legitimately question whether it was a legal vote," Higgins said. "The whole project is going to be questioned from start to finish, and that's the real problem."

You have to wonder how a district that can't unlock doors on time  a failure that could get a manager at McDonald's fired  will handle a complicated construction project.

The roof at the new school will leak before the ribbon cutting. The walls will lean like a late-night patron at Pauly's Hotel.

Such ineptitude is par for the course at the Albany City School District, which explains why so many voters were skeptical about approving such an expensive project.

It's a district that couldn't be bothered to maintain the existing high school, making the replacement of a 40-year-old building necessary. It's a district that casually wastes money, including the $90,000 paid to make former Superintendent Marguerite Vanden Wyngaard disappear.

It's a district that, despite dedicated teachers, continues to fail so many of its students, especially those from Albany's poorest neighborhoods.

The vote is just the newest evidence of the school district's shocking incompetence. The city and its children deserve better.

cchurchill@timesunion.com  518-454-5442  @chris_churchill
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Albany

It's a question frequently aimed at politicians: What did they know, and when did they know it?

In the case of water contamination in Hoosick Falls, a village-produced timeline that describes months of outreach to elected officials has been disputed by several state and federal lawmakers.

State Sen. Kathy Marchione, U.S. Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles E. Schumer, and Congressman Chris Gibson said that the timeline posted on the village of Hoosick Falls' website stating they were first "updated" on the situation in December 2014 is not accurate.

Instead, the elected officials insist they were first notified last March about the contamination  though the state Health Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency informed them little could be done because the toxic chemical was not a regulated contaminant.

Village leaders were first alerted to the water contamination in July 2014 by a resident, Michael Hickey, whose father had died of kidney cancer. Hickey researched a man-made chemical, perfluorooctanoic acid, that has been used since the 1940s to make industrial and household products, like nonstick coatings and heat-resistant wiring, including at a factory owned by Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics near the village water treatment plant.

Elevated levels of PFOA were later found in the village water system and also a series of private wells in and the around the village.

In the past week, some state lawmakers, including Marchione and Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin, have called for legislative hearings to determine whether health agencies acted swiftly enough in notifying the public about the potential dangers of consuming the contaminated water. It took more than a year for village leaders, the state Health Department and the EPA to warn residents to stop drinking the water.

The village timeline also said the village's mayor, David B. Borge, contacted Gov. Andrew Cuomo last fall but was told the governor was "unavailable for a meeting" on the issue.

Cuomo's office confirmed the outreach but said it offered in October to set up a meeting with Sabrina Ty, head of the state Environmental Facilities Corp., and Peter Walke, at the time the governor's assistant secretary for the environment, about securing funding for a filtration system for the municipal water system. The following month, Saint-Gobain agreed to pay for the filtration system.

Other elected officials said the timeline on the website is not accurate.

"The mayor of Hoosick Falls first reached out to our office in March of 2015 and asked for help funding a new water filtration system and also expressed concerns about PFOA," said Marc Brumer, a spokesman for Gillibrand. "We immediately brought the mayor's concerns about PFOA to the EPA's attention and also requested EPA's help funding the water filtration system. At the time the EPA told our office that there were no standards in place for it to regulate PFOA and so there was no specific enforcement action they could take."

Schumer spokesman Jason Kaplan said the office had "no record of any communication in 2014."

"We did receive a letter dated March 10, 2015, from Mayor Borge, that summarized the situation, asked for our assistance, and that stated, 'the NYS Department of Health recently published a public notice specific to Hoosick Falls in which it determined that there were no immediate health risks associated with our drinking water.'" Kaplan also said the office sought funding for the filtration system.

Stephanie Valle, a spokeswoman for Gibson, said their office also was first contacted last March.

"The village at that point was looking for funding," Valle said. "We reached out to the EPA. The response we received from the EPA was that it was an unregulated issue, there was nothing that the EPA could do."

The EPA was first notified about the contamination in December 2014. That month, Saint-Gobain disclosed the contamination problem in a letter to the EPA and an official took part in a discussion about the problem with state and Rensselaer County health officials, according to emails released last week by the county executive's office.

Mary Mears, an EPA spokeswoman, confirmed the agency learned of the contamination that month and "we reached out to New York state and were told that state and county health agencies were working with the village and that the one well with levels of PFOA above the EPA advisory level of 400 parts per trillion was reportedly taken off line."

"The EPA's drinking water experts reached out to New York state regulators and in the course of a few days were able to ascertain that the state and county health agencies were working with the village and that the one well with levels of PFOA above the EPA advisory level of 400 parts per trillion was reportedly taken off line," Mears said. "PFOA is an emerging contaminant and there is new science. ... These contaminants aren't regulated, because until recently, we didn't know the extent to which they ended up in our water, the extent to which they stayed in our drinking water, or what health impacts might result."

Judith Enck, the EPA regional administrator, said she did not learn about the situation until last fall. In November, she wrote a letter to the village urging leaders to warn against drinking the water.

In a written statement Tuesday, Marchione said she was first notified about the problem last March.

"My office has continually offered assistance to the village of Hoosick Falls and has taken part in multiple meetings convened by the village and town to determine the best way to protect public health, fully address the issue and secure state assistance," Marchione said. The senator backpedaled from statements she made earlier Tuesday when she said on WCNY's "Capitol Pressroom" radio show that holding legislative hearings was under discussion, and that they would be "a good starting point for all parties."

McLaughlin said his best recollection was that the first outreach from the village was in March  at the community's St. Patrick's Day parade. He emphasized that there was no sense of urgency in the request for assistance.

After the interview, state Senate Republican Majority Leader John Flanagan said he believed the first priority should be to "fix the problem."

Hearings "would sort of be at the end of the cycle," he said. " ... Fixing the problem would be more important than trying to figure out who to blame."

Late Tuesday afternoon, Marchione said she had spoken with Borge.

"The mayor felt that at this time the primary focus should be the state, county, town and village working together with all stakeholders to get a solution in place," she said. "We could look at holding a public hearing sometime in the future."

Borge, in a written response late Wednesday, said he had contact with state and federal officials.

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"Once we received the first sample results in November 2014, I notified state and federal officials of the results, either by phone or email correspondence," Borge said. "I continued to keep everyone apprised on a regular basis, again by phone or email. Some of these discussions were with the elected officials themselves; others were with staff from their offices."

The Times Union reported Sunday that the state Health Department was informed in August 2014 that the toxic chemical had contaminated the village water system, but it took months before the public was formally notified, and more than a year for the state to adopt the EPA's position that water should not be consumed.

The timeline assembled by the village of Hoosick Falls  with assistance from a public relations firm, Behan Communications  details the outreach village leaders said they made to elected officials as far back as December 2014 seeking assistance in dealing with the growing realization that the town's water supply showed unsafe levels of the toxic compound.

The summary for December 2014 states, "Village officials update the offices of Congressman Chris Gibson, U.S. Senators Schumer and Gillibrand, NYS Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin, NYS Senator Kathy Marchione, Rensselaer County Executive Kathy Jimino, county legislators, and town officials."

On Tuesday, Marchione explained that the official response stumbled in part on the fact that PFOA was not at the time a state-regulated substance. Several other states moved years ago to set safe levels of PFOA.

"I think because PFOA was not regulated ... it caused a great deal of confusion," the Halfmoon Republican said on the "Capitol Pressroom'' radio show. "And I think because of that confusion I think things moved slower than they would have moved if PFOA had already been on the hazardous list."

At the end of last month, Cuomo met with Borge, Marchione, Hoosick Falls Schools Superintendent Ken Facin and Hoosick town Supervisor Mark Surdam after the Times Union reported that state Health Department officials had instructed town officials not to publicly release the results of private well tests  some of which showed elevated levels of PFOA. The Health Department cited the privacy rights of the private well owners.

Immediately following the meeting with Cuomo, the governor's administration announced PFOA would be listed as a hazardous chemical, an action that would help the state to declare the affected area as a Superfund site, which will qualify it for faster remediation.

The EPA is also stepping up its efforts on regulating the chemical.

"EPA is currently using the best science to develop a lifetime health advisory level for PFOA, which the agency expects to release in spring 2016," said Mears, the EPA's spokeswoman.

Still, despite their involvement in the situation dating to last spring, some lawmakers have questioned why it took more than a year from the time that concerns were first raised to warn the public.

McLaughlin has in recent weeks taken to social media to lambaste the administration.

"Am I mad? Oh yeah. I'm mad," McLaughlin, a Republican and frequent Cuomo critic, wrote Feb. 1 on Facebook. "This situation should have been addressed long ago."
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Colonie

There is a rogue wild turkey striking fear, and a touch of frivolity, into the heart of this suburban town.

The territorial tom has stopped traffic on Old Maxwell Road, accosted a Times Union employee, chased library patrons and repeatedly tried to breach the lobby's sliding glass doors at the newspaper office.

The gobbler's lovelorn chirping to communicate with a foraging hen echoed across the hollows and woodlots that dot the quiet stretch of bungalows, vacant fields and commercial properties off Albany Shaker Road near Northway Exit 4 on Wednesday.

The turkey thus far has stopped short of interrupting services at the Blessed Virgin Mary of Czestochowa Church.

Times Union arts writer Amy Biancolli was not so lucky. She was chased and lunged at during a recent noontime walk. She fended off the aggressive tom with a stick  and a few choice expletives hurled at the turkey's curdled shrieks.

"It was terrifying," she said. "I was shaking. I stopped running and my knees buckled."

Anne-Marie Sheehan rushed to help Biancolli.

"It sounded like someone was being mugged," said Sheehan, instructor of the New Visions program for aspiring high school journalists.

"The turkey was menacing Amy, circling around her, plumping out his feathers. He wouldn't back down," Sheehan said. She and students work in a bungalow adjacent to the newspaper plant, where Sheehan has shooed the turkey out of the driveway and even off the roof of her car.

On Monday at 8 a.m., when Barb Goodwin went to unlock the sliding glass front doors of the newspaper's lobby, the turkey had its beak and fleshy snood pressed to the glass.

"I couldn't tell if he was looking at his reflection or the Hearst eagle on the wall. He really wanted to get in," said Goodwin, a front desk receptionist. She's dispatched wayward birds, bats and a persistent woodchuck over the past 16 years.

Stephanie Rawling, classified ad and sales service rep, grew up with chickens on a farm in Stephentown, Rensselaer County, and offered to deal with the turkey.

"If you stomp after them, they'll run," she said. The technique seemed to work for a moment, but then the turkey reared its blue, red and white wattled head and chased her back into the lobby.

Dan Couto, vice president of operations, took evasive action. The motion sensors on the sliding doors were disabled.

"He seemed particularly emboldened," Couto said.

He sent his burly colleague, Brad Calhoun, director of engineering and technical services, to the parking lot to investigate. Calhoun was forced to retreat when the squawking turkey charged him.

Across Old Maxwell Road, patrons at the William K. Sanford Town Library complained about being chased to their cars in the parking lot last week. Workers at a back door had to use another entrance when the turkey took up position there.

"We advised people not to approach the turkey. It can be mean," said librarian Joe Nash. A staffer called police.

Cops dispatched animal control officer Jim Ainscoe on Monday. It was his first turkey call in 13 years on the job.

"I chased it back into the woods a couple times," Ainscoe said. He returned to his animal control van. The turkey trotted after its rear bumper.

"He kept evading me, so I just let him be," Ainscoe said. "We don't get involved with trying to catch and relocate wildlife."

He contacted the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

Senior wildlife biologist Karl Parker has been outfoxed by more than one wild turkey in nearly 30 years at the DEC.

He investigated complaints in 1998 by residents of Loughlin Street near the University at Albany, where residents fed a 30-pound tom and treated it like a mascot. There was a standoff with the U.S. Postal Service after a letter carrier was regularly harassed by the bird. Residents compromised by installing mailboxes at the curb so the carrier could remain safely inside the mail truck. Mail service resumed. Neighbors grieved when the turkey was struck and killed by an SUV on Fuller Road in 2003.

Parker was called to an area near Siena College a few years ago where a letter carrier and joggers were chased by an aggressive gobbler.

"The turkey was smart enough to avoid capture each time," Parker said. He speculated the turkey perhaps felt threatened by the eagle logo on the mail truck.

"I wish I knew what was going on inside that walnut-sized brain of theirs," he said.

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An ongoing female wild turkey study with banded and radio-collared birds across the Capital Region and beyond may yield clues. "Hen survival drives population changes," said DEC wildlife biologist Michael Schiavone. They're tracking a steady decline in the state's wild turkey population, from a peak of about 300,000 in 2001 to roughly 180,000 currently.

In response, hunting season for the state's roughly 100,000 turkey hunters was reduced in this region from a seven-week, two-bird limit in the fall to a two-week, one-bird limit. Hens can only be killed in the fall and not during a spring hunting season.

Wild turkeys were extirpated from the state between the mid-1800s and late-1940s by over-hunting, widespread logging and rapid growth of farmlands. Turkeys returned in 1948 from neighboring Pennsylvania. DEC biologists helped boost the wild turkey population with a trap-and-transfer program from the 1950s to the 1990s.

The study surprised the biologists. Turkeys are surprisingly strong fliers and some hens were discovered 25 miles away from where they were banded.

Hens are at risk of being killed by coyotes and foxes, and they've suffered recent "low nest success" due to raccoons, skunks and opossums eating turkey eggs in ground nests, Schiavone said.

Bird seed spilled from feeders appears to be the cause of the Times Union turkey. Neighbor Ron Krug conceded he and his mother feed the birds year-round at their Old Maxwell Road property.

"I've seen the turkey eating under the feeder, but a bigger factor is that it's been chased out of its habitat by all the recent development," he said, noting clear-cutting for a nearby housing development and construction of a bank and commercial office building across Albany Shaker Road.

Employees at the town library also put out a bird feeder this winter where the turkeys were spotted. "Stop feeding the birds and the turkeys will stop coming around," Schiavone said.

In extreme cases, the DEC can issue a nuisance permit to private landowners to kill turkeys. Trying to capture and relocate the birds is illegal.

Couto contacted a nuisance wildlife firm that deals with critters around the newspaper in case the Times Union turkey runs afoul of more people.

Some, like Sheehan, are rooting for the bird.

"He's a proud, fearless turkey," she said. "I hope he gets to stay."

pgrondahl@timesunion.com  518-454-5623  @PaulGrondahl
THE ISSUE:

A second vote for a new Albany High wins approval, but election day chaos leaves doubts about the results.

THE STAKES:

The district must restore the community's confidence.

More Information To comment: tuletters@timesunion.com or at http://blog.timesunion.com/opinion See More Collapse

Readers of this page know that we strongly support the vital effort to renovate and modernize Albany High School. After four editorials in support of it, we'd normally be elated to see the project finally approved by voters.

But not like this. Not with a vote that has left so many doubts about whether it was fair and accurate.

The district should hold one more vote. It doesn't have to cost much.

The chaos that ensued Tuesday was unacceptable. People arrived at polls only to find some were not ready to open. At least seven polls ran out of ballots in the course of the day. Some voters, unable to wait for the district to get its act together, had to leave without casting their ballots.

The district knows this is not how the democratic process is supposed to work. It had a job to do, and it botched it. School board President Kenny Bruce acknowledges that much, but he and the board still insist on letting the 189-vote victory stand.

That's a bad decision.

This project needs community support. Albany is no better served by a shoddy high school building than a new-and-improved one that has an air of scandal hanging over it from the outset. It's a distraction at best, a cause for division at worst.

A new vote can easily be held in May at the same time as the district's annual budget vote. Putting another proposal on the ballot is a minimal cost.

That cost would almost certainly be far less than what it will take for the district to fight what seems to be an inevitable lawsuit brought by opponents, who challenge the results because of the disorganized vote. A legal battle could drag on well beyond May, potentially delaying the project past the next construction season.

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There's a deeper issue here, as well. This vote drew the second largest turnout the district can recall ever seeing. The electorate's unexpectedly strong turnout was part of the reason for the problems, certainly for the shortage of ballots.

The district should be celebrating and encouraging this sort of participation in a society that seems to be constantly lamenting a decline in civic engagement. Insisting that the results of a badly managed election stand can only leave many voters disillusioned.

Mayor Kathy Sheehan and Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy, both supporters of the new school plan, have asked the state Education Department to investigate the vote. That's a logical request, but a state review might not be done in time to get the issue on the May ballot. Better to go ahead and do the vote right.

Consider what a revote would say: We messed up. We're sorry. We owe the community better. Let's do it one more time and get it right.

And the alternative? Oops. Our bad. But we stand by our shoddy performance. Tough.

Which message, Board of Education members, do you think a school district committed to excellence should send?
[February 11, 2016] China Online Education Industry Report 2015-2018 - Research and Markets

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/q87wd4/china_online) has announced the addition of the "China Online Education Industry Report, 2015-2018" report to their offering. The industry continues to grow rapidly. At present, China online education industry is still in its infancy, with the market size continuously expanding. Chinese online education market size grew at a CAGR of 18.96% in 2008-2014, and jumped by about 19.41% year on year to RMB119.17 billion in 2015. Among online education market segments, the share of online higher education has gradually declined, while the share of K12 online education ascended from 6.47% in 2010 to 11.82% in 2015. Since 2014, the Internet giants (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent), traditional education companies (New Oriental, TAL, Xueda Education, etc.), traditional enterprises (Central China Land Media) and education information firms (Talkweb) have deployed the K12 online education sector whose market size keeps growing in China. In 2015, Chinese elementary and secondary online education market size reached RMB13.8 billion, up 34.90% year on yer; the online pre-school education market size hit RMB290 million or so, an increase of 31.82% over last year.



Compared with the spree in 2013-2014, the capital market has tended to be rational about online education investment and diversified the investment since 2015. In H1 2015, 25.8% of online education investment concentrated in K12, 16.7% in early childhood education, 15.7% in vocational education, 14.1% in language training and 9.4% in overseas studying. Besides, interest education, educational media, education informationization and tutoring O2O companies have attracted the capital market's attention as well. Since 2015, some mature online education companies (such as Hujiang, New Oriental, Baidu Education, Taobao Education and TAL) have made progress by adjusting their business layout. After the business restructuring, Hujiang has formed four business systems: Hujiang.com, Hujiang community, learning tools and recording & broadcasting platform; Baidu has founded Baidu Education Division centering on Baidu Chuanke; TAL has formed the pattern -- a platform, two divisions

Key Topics Covered: 1. Overview of Online Education Industry 2. Overview of China Education Industry 3. Development of China Online Education Industry 4. Market Segments in China Online Education Industry 5. Key Enterprises in China Online Education Industry 6. Development Trends and Forecast Companies Mentioned - 17zuoye - ATA Inc. - Baidu Jiaoyu - China Distance Education Holdings Ltd. - ChinaEdu Corporation - Genshuixue - Hujiang - NetEase Cloud Classroom - New Oriental Education and Technology Group - TAL Education Group - Taobao Jiaoyu - Tarena Technology Group Ltd. - Tencent Classroom - Xueda Education Group - Youdao School For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/q87wd4/china_online View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160211005865/en/

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Technavio Announces Top Seven Vendors in the Global PLM in Electrical and Electronics Market Until 2020

Technavio has announced the top seven leading vendors for the global PLM in electrical and electronics market in their latest research report. This report also lists 14 other prominent vendors who are expected to contribute to this market's growth over the forecast period.

To identify the top vendors, Technavio's lead ICT market research analysts have considered the top contributors to the overall revenue of this market. To calculate the market size and the vendor share, the report considers both the direct revenue and the indirect revenue of the vendors, which includes resellers and distributors.

Request sample report: http://bit.ly/1PLzHEc

"Vendors, like ANSYS, Mentor Graphics (News - Alert), and EXA are likely to forge strategic partnerships with different computational fluid dynamics (CFD) support platform providers through 2020. Increased global consumption of consumer electronics will continue to foster the demand for advanced FEA and CFD in PLM during the forecast period. FEA and CFD are of much use in designing consumer electronics devices such as smartphones for analyzing the temperature and its effect in the circuitry," said Amrita Choudhury, one of Technavio's lead analysts for product lifecycle management research.

"In terms of CAGR, the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and finite element method (FEA) are predicted to remain the fastest growing segments until 2020, followed by cPDM in the global PLM in electrical and electronics market," added Amrita.

Seven leading vendors in the global PLM in electrical and electronics market:

ANSYS

ANSYS, a global engineering simulation software and service provider, follows a product expansion strategy to increase its revenue in the global FEA market in the electrical and electronics industry. They are focused on providing new technology to their end customers to increase productivity through engineering simulation solutions with extended functionalities that can be integrated with CAD, ECAD, and PLM solutions. The company maintains a direct sales management organization, with a developed enterprise-wide and focused sales approach. They also support channel partners through their presence of a direct sales office. The company derived 25% of its revenue from indirect sales channels, indicating a large presence in the direct sales channel.

Cadence Design Systems (News - Alert)

Cadence Design Systems was established in 1988 and is headquartered in San Jose, California. The company is an EDA and SIP provider. They combine products and technologies into categories that are related to key design activities such as the following:

unctional verification that includes emulation hardware and IP

Digital IC design and signoff

Customs IC design

System interconnect and analysis







Dassault Systemes (News - Alert)

The overall strategy of Dassault Systemes is to expand its 3D EXPERENCE platform to several end-users globally. They follow various strategies to compete in the PLM market. They offer various novel software and solutions for new disciplines and segments. For instance, they provide different software or solutions for product design, engineering and simulation, quality assurance and compliance, manufacturing, business operations and planning, and project management within a single sector.

Dassault's sector diversification strategy includes providing different software and solutions to specific sectors, such as aerospace and defense, transportation and mobility, high-tech, engineering and construction, marine and offshore, life sciences, process and utilities, natural resources, industrial equipment, consumer goods and retail, CPG, and financial and business services.

Mentor Graphics

Mentor Graphics was incorporated in 1981 and is headquartered in Oregon, US. They are engaged in the design and production of EDA software and hardware solutions for electrical engineering and electronics.

Their product portfolio serves multiple industries such as the military and aerospace, communications, computer, consumer electronics, networking, multimedia, semiconductor, and transportation. Their product portfolio is segmented into five categories: IC design to silicon, scalable verification, integrated system design, new and emerging products, and services and others. The company offers products that help its customers to create ICs, PCBs, embedded software solutions, FPGAs, wire harness systems, and computers.

Siemens (News - Alert) PLM Software

Siemens PLM Software is primarily engaged in the design, development, and production of pre-packaged computer software, and they specialize in 3D and 2D PLM and collaboration PLM software.

They generate revenue from licenses, maintenance, and services. The strategic differentiators between Siemens PLM Software and other vendors is that the former allows end-users to configure the system. The code is automatically generated by the software, which makes software deployment a lot easier. The company focuses on making the UI easy to use.

PTC

PTC is focused on serving emerging markets, such as SLM and IoT. In 2014, PTC acquired ThingWorx, which develops platforms for IoT, and Axeda (News - Alert), which provides a platform for connecting sensors and machines to the cloud. The company sees fewer opportunities in the highly penetrated CAD market. However, they hold a strong presence in the market in North America, with new and innovative products and a large number of resellers.

Synopsys

Synopsys, established in 1986, is headquartered in Mountain View, US. They are an EDA software company engaged in offering core design solutions, IP products, and professional services that are widely used in designing ICs and electronic systems.

The company's products portfolio is classified into four groups: core EDA solutions, IP and system-level solutions, manufacturing solutions, and professional services and training. The company uses the Galaxy Design Platform and the Discovery Verification platform in design and verification of an IC. Some key products include IC Compiler physical design solution, PrimeTime timing analysis, and FPGA products.

Browse related reports:

Purchase three reports from our library for the price of one by becoming a Technavio subscriber. Subscribing to Technavio's reports allows you to download any three reports per month for the price of one. Contact [email protected] with your requirements and a link to our subscription platform.

About Technavio

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies.

Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users.

If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at [email protected].

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160210005075/en/
[February 11, 2016] LBS Market in Southeast Asia CAGR Growth of 48.33% by 2020 - Analysis, Trends & Opportunities Report 2016-2020 - Key Vendors: Foursquare, Google & Yelp

DUBLIN, February 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/gw4c6t/lbs_market_in) has announced the addition of the "LBS Market in Southeast Asia 2016-2020" report to their offering. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130307/600769 )





This comprehensive report predicts that the LBS market in Southeast Asia will grow with a CAGR of 48.33% during the 2016-2020 period.



Commenting on the report, an analyst from the research team said: Enterprises and retailers use analytics to increase consumer engagement. A large number of advertising companies, such as Near, use data analytics to gain consumer insights in the LBS market in Southeast Asia. Government organizations are also using LBS to provide public safety services, national security, and law enforcement.



Further, the report states that consumers require reliable and accurate real-time information, providing this information in real-time can pose as a hurdle for LBS value-chain providers.



The study was conductedusing an objective combination of primary and secondary information including inputs from key participants in the industry. The report contains a comprehensive market and vendor landscape in addition to a SWOT analysis of the key vendors.







Questions Answered: What will the market size be in 2020 and what will the growth rate be?

What are the key market trends?

What is driving this market?

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 key vendors?

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?

Companies Mentioned Include:

Foursquare

Google

HERE

Maxis

Near

SingTel

TomTom

Advanced Info Service

Burpple

Celcom Mobile

Digi Telecommunication

Globe Telecom

Hungry Go Where (SingTel)

Telkomsel (Singtel)

Total Access Communication

U Mobile

Waze (Google)

XL Axiata

Yelp

Report Structure:



PART 01: Executive summary



PART 02: Scope of the report



PART 03: Market research methodology



PART 04: Introduction



PART 05: Market landscape



PART 06: Market segmentation by users



PART 07: Geographical segmentation



PART 08: Market drivers



PART 09: Impact of drivers



PART 10: Market challenges



PART 11: Impact of drivers and challenges



PART 12: Market trends



PART 13: Vendor landscape



PART 14: Appendix



PART 15: About the Autho For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/gw4c6t/lbs_market_in About Research and Markets: Research and Markets is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.



Media Contact:

Laura Wood

+353-1-481-1716

[email protected]

SOURCE Research and Markets

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[February 11, 2016] KPMG Capital Takes Equity Stake in Label Insight, a Leader in Consumer Product Data

NEW YORK, Feb. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- KPMG Capital today announced it has taken an equity stake in Label Insight, a leading provider of software-as-a-service (SaaS) data solutions providing powerful insights and strengthening the connections between Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) brands, retailers and consumers. Label Insight's proprietary technology transforms basic food and beverage product information into smart attributes, such as nutrients and allergens, providing CPG brands and retailers with a deep understanding of their product set. These attributes are easily customized to meet data views requested by retailers or required to participate in industry efforts, such as the SmartLabel transparency initiative. Label Insight also works with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to support the agency's ongoing initiatives around ingredient and nutrient analysis. KPMG Capital's investment led the Chicago-based company's Series B funding round, which raised US$10 million in total. The investment will allow KPMG member firms to offer CPG clients in access to Label Insight's product data platform, and to work with Label Insight to enter new markets and build relationships with retailers, manufacturers and government agencies around the globe. In particular, member firms' CPG clients will benefit from Label Insight's first-to-market SmartSPEC solution, which helps food and beverage brands quickly and easily participate in SmartLabel, an initiative led by the Grocery Manufacturers Association and Food Marketing Institute. Participating brands have the opportunity to establish themselves as leaders in transparency and build consumer trust and loyalty. "Label Insight's pioneering technology addresses a long-standing challenge of exchanging product data between retailers, manufacturers and suppliers," said Willy Kruh, Global Chair, Consumer Markets, KPMG International. "KPMG Capital's investment in Label Insight will provide member firms' retail food and beverage clients with access to a single, cross-disciplinary view of product data attributes and marketing claims. This is a platform that can deliver actionable insights on a broad set of relevant risk, cost and growth issues, such as customizing inventory, enhancing customer loyalty with new health and wellness initiatives, and streamlining regulation and compliance." Label Insight is a key player in the $2.3 billion product data management market for the CPG industry. Its customers, which include some of the largest U.S.-based retailers and manufacturers, as well as government agencies and consumer advocacy groups, use the platform to: Comply with product data initiatives of retailers, government agencies and industry organizations

Integrate product data into mobile and e-commerce applications

Search and compare product claims and certifications

Optimize product assortments to meet consumer needs

Drive better outcomes in sourcing, merchandising and innovation "Consumers today want an unprecedented level of clarity and will increasingly give their business to those who make this information available," said Anton Xavier, Label Insight's co-Founder & CEO. "Label Insight's transparency marks the new frontier for gaining competitive advantage. Access to this level of product detail is helping retailers, manufacturers and government agencies more clearly communicate important information to consumers regarding nutritional value and food claims." "Label Insight is an important addition in KPMG Capital's advance to deliver disruptive technologies that accelerate innovation and drive tangible business results," said Mark Toon, CEO, KPMG Capital. "This investment will provide KPMG member firms' CPG clients  retailers and suppliers of all sizes  with an incredibly robust platform that decodes product data, offers rich product attribution, complies with industry regulation and helps differentiate retail strategies." For further information, contact







KPMG International: Jennifer Samuel Global Communications +1 416 777-8491 [email protected] Kim Metcalfe ZENO Group for KPMG Capital +312 396-9797 (office) +312 802-0211 (cell) [email protected] Label Insight: Monica Bhandarkar +630 464-4075 [email protected]

About KPMG Capital

KPMG Capital Limited and KPMG Capital Holding Limited comprise an investment fund for KPMG member firms. The investment fund is not open to third-party investment and will not, itself, provide professional services to clients. KPMG Capital Limited and KPMG Capital Holding Limited are legally distinct and separate from KPMG International Cooperative and each KPMG member firm. Like every member firm in the KPMG global network, KPMG Capital, and the entities it invests in, is subject to the same rules and regulations promulgated by the regulatory bodies responsible for establishing standards for auditor Independence (for example, the US SEC, PCAOB, AICPA, IESBA and those established by the various countries in which the investments reside). These rules apply to member firms, the individuals at such member firms and the targets for potential joint venture, alliance or acquisition related to the activities of KPMG Capital. All existing Independence protocols apply to KPMG Capital. About KPMG International

KPMG is a global network of professional firms providing Audit, Tax and Advisory services. We operate in 155 countries and have more than 174,000 people working in member firms around the world. The independent member firms of the KPMG network are affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative ("KPMG International"), a Swiss entity. Each KPMG firm is a legally distinct and separate entity and describes itself as such. About Label Insight

Label Insight is the leading provider of SaaS data solutions providing powerful insights and strengthening the connections between CPG brands, retailers and consumers. The company's cloud-based product data engine enables CPG brands and retailers to transform basic product data into smart attributes, providing a deep understanding of their product set. Label Insight offers an unmatched level of data, generating 15,000 attributes - such as nutrients and allergens - per product. These attributes serve as building blocks for a live view of data for more than 300,000 products across 17,000 brands, totaling over 80% of the U.S. retail food and beverage market. Label Insight customers use this deep level of product data to provide greater transparency to consumers; maximize category growth potential; easily participate in industry and government initiatives; and create more connected omni-channel experiences. The company also works with the FDA, helping the agency develop and maintain the industry's first scientifically accurate database of food ingredients, attributes and health claims. Label Insight has offices in Chicago, IL, and St. Louis, MO. For more information, please visit www.labelinsight.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150929/271996LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/kpmg-capital-takes-equity-stake-in-label-insight-a-leader-in-consumer-product-data-300218587.html SOURCE KPMG Capital

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[February 11, 2016] Outdoor Industry Veteran Maile Buker Joins Chimani's Board of Directors

PORTLAND, Maine, Feb. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Maile Buker, former VP of Marketing for Eastern Mountain Sports, has joined the board of directors of Chimani, Inc., a developer of mobile app guides to the outdoors and National Parks. Buker brings 30 years of marketing, leadership and brand-management experience to Chimani, having helped to shape brands such as Timberland, Black Diamond Equipment, Nike, Coors Light, Izze Sparkling Juice, and Zico Coconut Water. In addition to joining the Chimani Board of Directors, Buker also serves on the boards of Hyperlite Mountain Gear and the Historic Music Hall in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. She also volunteers her time as a mentor with the Telluride Venture Accelerator and Boston TechStars. "Maile has a strong pedigree in the outdoor industry and lifestyle beverage category and we are excited to welcome her to Chimani's board of directors," said Kerry Gallivan, Chimani's CEO. "We believe her wealth of experience, especially in outdoor startups, brand development and go-to market strategy, will be extremely valuable as Chimani continues to grow."



"Chimani solves a real need for the outdoor adventurer exploring our beloved national parks with their friends and families," said Buker. "I am deeply honored to join the Chimani board and help guide the team in taking Chimani's value proposition to an expanded audience that is interested in enhancing their outdoor experience in real time." Buker graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a B.A. in Economics and International Affairs. She has completed formal leadership training with CREA in Sestri Levanti, Italy, Center for Creative Leadership in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado.

Chimani, Inc. (www.chimani.com) creates apps for national parks and the outdoors. Chimani's growing suite of apps includes guides to Acadia, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, and over 20 other National Parks. Chimani was recently chosen by Google to be one of nine app developers to partner in its new app-indexing program. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/outdoor-industry-veteran-maile-buker-joins-chimanis-board-of-directors-300218194.html SOURCE Chimani, Inc.

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[February 11, 2016] DCT Telecom Group Expands Team

WESTLAKE, Ohio, Feb. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- DCT Telecom Group, Inc. (DCT), a Cleveland based Internet Service Provider (ISP) and leader in business class cloud, data and voice solutions, is pleased to announce the addition of four professionals to our team. Shawn Fox joins DCT as Senior Account Manager. In this key role he is focused on driving revenue through the configuration, implementation and management of customized cloud, data, Internet and voice solutions. By leveraging the extensive DCT product portfolio, he will support the business goals of enterprise clients by deploying the most current technology in their daily operations. Mr. Fox comes to DCT with 11 years of experience in technology and business development. He was most recently Vice President of Sales and Marketing with Inware, an Independence-based software developer. During that period, he also served as Marketing Technology Manager for Inware's parent company, Resource Title National Agency. Previously, he served in senior sales positions with Great Lakes Publishing and Implementing Technologies. Mr. Fox received his Bachelor's degree from Cleveland State University in 2001. Wendy Johnson joins DCT as Project Coordinator. Ms. Johnson is responsible for executing DCT's systematic project management approach to ensure seamless, successful deployments for all customers. In this role she will work closely with internal engineering reources to facilitate the proper configuration, testing and activation of DCT's customized cloud, data and VoIP solutions, deliver comprehensive training, and provide on-going end-user technical support. Ms. Johnson joins DCT with over 25 years of customer care and project management experience, most recently as customer support manager for a leading communications advisory firm. Her customer-centric, solution oriented approach enables her to collaborate effectively with both customers and vendors to ensure an exceptional implementation experience.



Lorin Fonseca joins DCT as Customer Service Representative. In her role as a member of DCT's highly regarded customer service team, Ms. Fonseca is dedicated to providing top tier, local customer care 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. As our customer's first line of contact she is responsible for handling service, billing and technical support. With over 18 years of experience in customer service, administration and operational roles, she will be instrumental in collaborating with both internal and external resources to resolve client inquiries quickly and thoroughly. Cody Smith joins DCT as Support Engineer. In this role Mr. Smith is responsible for providing internal technical support, facilitating troubleshooting and issue resolution for customer network and voice solutions, including Wide Area Networks, IP phones, SIP services and PBX solutions. He joins DCT with over 5 years of progressive responsibility as a remote support technician supporting data center and SIP technologies. With his technical knowledge and experience working with both internal and external resources to diagnose and isolate issues, he will be instrumental in fulfilling the exceptional service DCT strives to provide all customers. Mr. Smith earned his Associates in Applied Sciences, Computer Networking Systems, from ITT Technical Institute.

"Expanding our team with these professionals underscores DCT's commitment to providing exceptional customer service, total account management and technical leadership," commented J. Anthony Rehak, President. "They will be instrumental in supporting our customers before, during and after project execution and upholding DCT's mission to differentiate ourselves as a true partner to our clients." About DCT Telecom Group DCT Telecom Group has been delivering leading edge telephony services and support to business customers both domestically and internationally since 1993. Drawing on extensive wholesale relationships, our own network infrastructure and our expanded equipment and hardware as a service options, DCT assists businesses with the configuration, implementation and management of customized cloud, hosted PBX, data and voice solutions. DCT is a proud business partner of the Cleveland Browns, was named a 2015 Top Workplace by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and as one of Northeast Ohio's fastest growing companies has been recognized as a prestigious Weatherhead 100 award winner seven times. Please visit www.4dct.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140618/119261 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dct-telecom-group-expands-team-300218867.html SOURCE DCT Telecom Group, Inc.

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[February 11, 2016] InGenius Launches InGenius Connector Enterprise 4.0 on the Salesforce AppExchange, the World's Leading Enterprise Apps Marketplace

OTTAWA, Ontario, Feb. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- InGenius, a global leader in computer telephony integration solutions for leading CRMs, today announced that the newest version of their flagship product, InGenius Connector Enterprise 4.0, will be one of the first CTI companies' to support voice in the Salesforce Omni-Channel. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160211/332376LOGO InGenius Connector Enterprise 4.0 will work with the Salesforce Omni-Channel feature to increase agent productivity for blended agents who handle other channels during breaks in voice activity. The InGenius integration stops Omni-Channel work items from being pushed to an agent on a call so that the agent can focus on the customer voice interaction. When agents are not on a call, InGenius notifies the Salesforce Service Cloud Platform, so that work can be pushed to the agent via the Omni-Channel feature. "We are excited to be one of the first to provide telephony support for the Salesforce Omni-Channel feature. Customers increasingly expect to receive service on he channel they choose, which might be voice, email, SMS/text, web, mobile or social media. Being able to provide the customer with a smooth experience across any channel only increases customer satisfaction and loyalty," said Dale Gantous, CEO, InGenius. "With this release, we continue our mission of helping call centers provide exceptional customer experiences and value to their end customers."



"At Salesforce, our focus is on customer success and providing a world-class service experience for our customers," said Larry Robinson, senior vice president of product, Service Cloud, Salesforce. "InGenius continues to innovate with Salesforce to ensure that telephony integrated into Salesforce Service Cloud supports the stringent requirements of modern call centers and provides customers with a seamless experience across channels." InGenius has been building telephony and CTI products since 2003 and was one of the first companies to release a product based on Salesforce Open CTI protocol.

Salesforce and others are among the trademarks of Salesforce.com, inc. About InGenius:

InGenius is an OpenCTI innovator with over 18 years' experience in Enterprise Telephony. Our mission is to enable Sales and Services organizations to deliver world class voice-based customer experiences through integrating existing phone systems into leading CRMs. Media Contact:

Kari Simpson

613-591-9002 ext. 2550

Email

www.ingenius.com To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ingenius-launches-ingenius-connector-enterprise-40-on-the-salesforce-appexchange-the-worlds-leading-enterprise-apps-marketplace-300218966.html SOURCE InGenius

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[February 11, 2016] Statflo Raises $2.4-Million To Reinvent Wireless Customer Service

TORONTO, Feb. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - Statflo Inc., which is reinventing wireless customer service, today announced it has successfully closed a $2.4-million seed round to accelerate its growth. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160211/332401LOGO) Selected by CIX as one of Canada's most innovative growth companies, Statflo also unveiled today a new strategic partnership with iQmetrix, a leading provider of retail management and customer experience technology. "We are changing how wireless customer service is delivered," said Kevin Gervais, Statflo's co-founder and CEO. "As wireless dealers and operators face the end of long-term contracts and competition from players such as Apple and Amazon, we're giving them powerful tools to drive revenue growth and build hyper-local relationships that make customers happier." Statflo delivers a powerful data-driven platform that helps wireless retail stores drive more sales, keep sales reps more engaged, and deliver a more modern, authentic, and mobile customer experience. The company's customers include independently-owned wireless retail dealers, as well as telecom providers. The platform has been rolled out to hundreds of locations across six major carriers, while revenue climbed 500% last year from 2014. "Statflo is an innovator and disrupter in the market for mobile dealer software," said Ray Sharma, Executive anaging Partner with Extreme Venture Partners.



Craig Strong, Partner with Round13 Capital, agrees that "Statflo's technology gives wireless dealers and carriers a more proactive, effective way to reduce churn and increase sales with their existing customers". Through this new partnership, iQmetrix will help its wireless retail customers drive higher sales and ROI using their existing data.

"We are excited to partner with Statflo because of the powerful technology and their passion for bettering the wireless industry," says Kelly Kazakoff, Chief Operating Officer at iQmetrix. "This seamless integration allows our clients to be more competitive through increased sales from past customers, faster reporting and streamlined reconciliation." The latest funding was led by Round13 Capital. It also includes a consortium of over a dozen investors from Toronto, Vancouver and Silicon Valley, including participation by Extreme Venture Partners, MaRS IAF, Globalive Capital, Rising Tide Fund, Garage Capital, Hedgewood and TIO Networks. Statflo will be exhibiting at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona from Feb 22-25, in the Ontario, Canada Pavilion (Stand 7I51). About Statflo

Statflo is reinventing the world of wireless customer service by offering wireless dealers and operators a data-driven platform to increase sales, engage sales reps and delight their customers. Statflo is powered by a smart engine that turns raw data into actions that drive better financial results and provide sales reps with user-friendly tools to pro-actively engage with customers to increase in-store traffic and provide more personalized, local service. Named as one of the top innovative companies in Canada by CIX, Statflo is a venture-backed company based in Toronto, Canada. http://www.statflo.com About iQmetrix:

iQmetrix is passionate about retail. Our purpose is to create great experiences for retailers, their employees and the end consumer. Our products bridge the gap between physical and virtual retail channels, offering the latest in retail management and customer experience technology. Our interactive retail solutions bring elements of online and mobile shopping experiences into the physical store to engage and educate shoppers during the purchase process. iQmetrix POS manages all aspects of a store chain operation, including POS, ERP, inventory and HR. Based on a Platform philosophy, our solutions allow users to effectively manage back-of-house operations and the in-store customer experience. Founded in 1999, iQmetrix is privately-held software as a service (SaaS) company with offices in Canada, the U.S. and Australia. http://www.iQmetrix.com http://www.statflo.com/product-overview.html SOURCE Statflo Inc.

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Volunteer walks in honor of her husband Thousand Oaks resident Joan Hull will be among those participating in this years Conejo Valley Walk to End Alzheimers at 9 a.m. Sat., Oct. 22 at the Westlake Promenade. Hull...

Overpass could get protective fencing A substantial safety upgrade for the areas most notorious overpass is finally getting some Caltrans considerationbut dont expect changes any time soon. At the Sept. 21 Moorpark City Council meeting,...

Early detection is the best way to survive breast cancer Every October, we celebrate those men and women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. But what is breast cancer and how can it be diagnosed and managed? There are...
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SEOUL, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has decided to shut down a jointly-run factory park with South Korea, following Seoul's decision to stop operations at the Kaesong Industrial Complex, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported Thursday.

The DPRK said it will deport all of South Korean residents staying at the inter-Korean industrial zone in the DPRK's border city of Kaesong by 5:30 p.m. local time, declaring the factory park as a military-controled area.

Pyongyang will cut off military communication lines with South Korea, and close off inter-Korean communication channels at the border village of Panmunjom, Yonhap reported, citing a statement from the DPRK's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland.

[ Editor:  ]
Theres currently a war raging in Sydney and at the centre of the battle is the citys controversial late-night lockout laws. The dire situation engulfing the NSW capitals nightlife has reentered the public consciousness after NSW Premier Mike Baird praised the lockouts on Facebook.

In a post thats been criticised as condescending and inaccurate, Baird wrote that violence has dropped in Kings Cross and the Sydney CBD. However, the director of the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics recently revealed that Baird was using faulty data to come to those conclusions.

Bairds post has since gone viral and has been criticised by many Australian musicians, including Flight Facilities, Alison Wonderland, Yolanda Be Cool, and Nina Las Vegas. Now, Art Vs Science have shared a biting and rather catchy anthem protesting the lockout laws.

Lock us out, lock us in and lock us down / Turn this wild city to a sleepy little town / Misguided rains youre pouring heavy from above / But you cant contain the flames of the fire that we love, the band sing on the track, which the band recently uploaded to SoundCloud.

The track had previously appeared on the bands 2015 album, Off the Edge of the Earth and Into Forever, Forever.

We wrote a song about the frustration we felt from your governments lockout laws, the band wrote on Facebook. You could have made public transport available from kings cross late at night, or changed the taxi changeover time, or allowed venues to choose their own closing time (like the UK did).

You could have encouraged other nightlife venues to be made further away from the city. You could have addressed the latent aggression of a society divided by money and social status, bubbling to the surface after a few drinks. But you didnt.

You and your government chose instead to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Readers can check out You Got To Stop below.
CHECK THIS KANSAS CITY STREETCAR PROMO CLIP DIRECTING CYCLISTS AWAY FROM THE STREETCAR LINE AND IMPOSING STRINGENT RULES ON BIKERS!!!

"Short public service video about KC Streetcar safety and riding your bicycle around streetcar tracks in downtown Kansas City, Always look and listen before crossing the road, cross the tracks at a 90 degree angle and, whenever possible, use alternate bike-friendly routes."

The latest toy train streetcar animation attempts to obfuscate a tragic betrayal of Kansas City bike/walk advocates.To wit . . .The description of the new safety guidelines:An unrealistic look at how Kansas City cyclists should cross the streetcar line:Final insult to injury . . . Toy train advocates don't want cyclists on their street . . .and realize that streetcar advocates have betrayed their former partners in promoting transit alternatives in Kansas City.Developing . . .
Realization that racial drama still plagues Missouri after uprising riots. Take a look: DOJ to Sue Ferguson After City Backs Out of Police Reform Deal
Doing more with less is the same compromise that so many broke-ass Kansas City residents are forced to confront. Strange that only politicos and newsies can't understand this fact.





KANSAS CITY INSIDERS REVEAL THAT THEY'RE WORRIED ABOUT THE MAYOR'S FADING POPULARITY AND INABILITY TO CONVINCE VOTERS TO APPROVE MORE TAXES!!!

- Mayor Sly was SHUT DOWN on streetcar expansion and the results still sting toy train streetcar supporters.





- The Mayor's charm didn't convince BNIM to keep their TIF plans moving in the face of voter outcry.





- The Council and many civic activist notice that Mayor Sly has become increasingly combative, uncompromising and quick to anger in his discussions of his pet projects falling apart.





- TKC reminds readers . . . Mayor Sly's "overwhelming" reelection victory came amid HISTORICALLY LOW KANSAS CITY VOTER TURNOUT. Most voters didn't want any part of Mayor Sly's administration despite the fact that so many local lawyers actively discouraged any competition against their favorite corporate crony.

Voters tend to dislike taxes and/or the politicos who are constantly pushing them.

Supporters of the earnings tax swear up and down that Mayor Sly is still the most popular politico in Kansas City among voters and so many people looking to claim a minority friend in Johnson County. Reality speaks to the contrary.Now, the newspaper and other Earning Tax consultants on the payroll are running scared and even attempting to counter our blog community point by point.Example . . .Our blog community has the Dead Tree Media editorial board running scared with a post we filed earlier today. Don't believe us? Take a look:By the way, the "solution" for City Hall is simple.But I digress . . .Here's the point . . .Evidence . . .And all this is simply a way to acknowledge something simple . . .This Question 1 play is one of at least a dozen tax increases Mayor Sly has touted since taking office.You decide . . .
"Ford's Transit vans, which are typically used to haul equipment and supplies, will soon be shuttling people around in Kansas City. The automaker's teaming up with ride provider Bridj and the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority to boost public transportation in KC as part of its Smart Mobility plan. When the project called "Ride KC: Bridj" launches in early March, residents will be able to hail on-demand shuttles using Bridj's mobile app. They'll then have to meet their rides at one of the pick-up locations, mostly bus stops and similar locations."









The latest Kansas City transit effort earns love letter coverage in the easily convineced world of tech news.Take a look coverage followingDeets . . .More:There are already plans to expand the service that will be a tough sell to locals who would much rather ride in their car alone.Developing . . .
TKC TOLD YOU SO!!! YEARS AFTER A BROKEN PROMISE TO DEMOLISH ABANDONED HOMES, MAYOR SLY RESTARTS THIS BLIGHT FIGHT EFFORT!!!

"Community members in the east Kansas City area say it's about time someone took notice of the number of vacant buildings in their territory. City Hall says it's blighted old buildings like the ones along the 2300 block of Chestnut Street it's targeting.





"Kansas City Mayor Sly James is planning a news conference for 12 p.m. on Thursday in that area, in the heart of an area KCPD Chief Daryl Forte says is home to 75 percent of the city's violent crimes."

WE WERE IN THE CROWD WHEN MAYOR SLY JAMES DID THE SAME DEMOLITION MAN STUNT BACK IN 2012!!!

HERE'S PERSPECTIVE FROM OUR BLOG COMMUNITY REGARDING MAYOR SLY'S RENEWED INTEREST IN ATTEMPTING TO TEAR DOWN MORE THAN 5K ABANDONED KANSAS CITY HOMES!!!

"This very same strategy was promised by Mayor James years ago!!





"Who can forget the photo op wherein Mayor James sat in the cab of a backhoe and began tearing down an abandoned home? He promised that the city would raze a certain number (was it 200?) of abandoned houses within the next year or two. Well, guess what happened? After a few were torn down, the initiative ceased due to lack of funds!





"All public relations, and no commitment to solving problems.





"It's surprising that Chief Forte would float the same idea."

The vast majority of Mayor Sly's tenure has been devoted to crafting development schemes but now, in the midst of a homicide surge and lukewarm reception to earnings tax renewal, the City Hall leader has rediscovered his commitments to Kansas City neighborhoods.To wit . . .Remember thatNow, at least one local station has the courage to break the City Hall embargo on coverage . . .Money line . . .Context that only our blog community is willing to provide . . .Mayor James atop construction equipment was pretty impressive despite the fact that. . .Even better . . .##########You decide . . .
According to Russian Agriculture Ministry data, in 2015 grain accounted for 85.3 percent of Russian agricultural exports to Greece

Russian and Greek agricultural ministry representatives have discussed cooperation and the trade potential of joint enterprises in the area of agribusiness, Russia s Agriculture Ministry said Wednesday.

"The sides discussed a wide range of issues on Russian-Greek cooperation in the area of agriculture, including trade in agribusiness products and possible creation of joint agribusiness enterprises in Russia," the ministry's statement said.

According to a sputniknews.com report, the meeting between the Russian Agriculture Ministry's International Cooperation Department Director Artem Tsinamdzgvrishvili and the Greek Secretary General of Agricultural Policy and Management of European Funds Charalampos Kasimis took place on Tuesday.

Cooperation areas

Staff from the Greek Embassy in Russia also took part, headed by the Greek envoy to Russia, Danai-Magdalini Koumanakou, according to the statement published on the Russian Agriculture Ministry's website.

The Greek side has confirmed its intentions to broaden cooperation across all the relevant areas, the statement said, adding that cooperation areas would also include veterinary and phytosanitary control, science, technology, grape cultivation, wine making and agricultural exhibitions.

According to Russian Agriculture Ministry data, in 2015 grain accounted for 85.3 percent of Russian agricultural exports to Greece, while processed fruit and vegetables accounted for 41.1 percent of Greek agricultural exports to Russia in the same year, with tobacco leaf, olive oil and spirits accounting for most of the remaining exports.

Read more here.

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
Greek authorities started simplifying visa procedures for Russians by enabling local Greek consulates to start issuing three-year multivisas.

As stated at a press conference in St. Petersburg, Consul General of Greece in St. Petersburg Panagiotis Beglitis, visas for children under 18 years can be issued with a copy of the birth certificate, without presenting the original, and Russians will no longer need to provide data on their place of registration.

According to the Consul General, Greece expects a successful tourism season, and will endeavor to issue visas to Russians in the "shortest possible time".

Greek Deputy Minister of Tourism Elena Kountoura also met with Russian tour operators and assured them that Greece plans to open more visa centers in Russia, as well as increase the number of consular officials to expedite the process of issuing visas to Russians. Greek visa centers are to operate in 20 Russian cities at least.

Russian tourists interest in Greece

The meeting was attended by representatives of "Coral Travel", "Pegas Touristik", "Anex Tour" and TEZ TOUR who informed the Minister on their plans for 2016, confirming the interest of Russian tourists in Greece. The meeting discussed the possibility of extending the tourist season in Greece by adding new flights from the Russian Federation in April, May and October, as well as new forms of cooperation for the development of pilgrimage tourism and other leisure activities.

After the meeting, Ms. Kountoura said that Greece has every opportunity to act so that the number of tourist arrivals from Russia in 2016 increase.

Earlier, the Head of the Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) Dimitris Trifonopulos said that in 2016, Greece intends to repeat at least the success in the Russian market in 2014, and receive no less than 1.2 million tourists from the Russian Federation.

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
Tourism and wine: a mixture that deserves a strong support from public authorities

The wine industry in our country represents a very important aspect of our economy. Consider this,

our annual export of wine products represents the equivalent of selling 114 Rafale airplanes!



As for tourism, lets not forget that it represents 7% of our national wealth, more than 2 million jobs, and it is our best ambassador!

with a very French name

In the splendor of the Republic, in the lounges of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,he commented.he smiled,Thus, under the leadership of Atout France, in partnership with the CSO (Superior Council of Wine Tourism), presided by Florence Cathiard, this portal was born,states Laurent Fabius ironically, VisitFrenchWine.com
Ferrovie dello Stato (FS), an Italian state-run company, has signed an agreement with Irans Ministry of Transport aimed at developing the Islamic republics railway network, a report said.



We have held talks with China and some European countries for launching high-speed rail on affordable budget; I hope the talks will yield positive results, said Abbas Akhoundi, Irans minister of transport, who signed the deal, reported Trend News Agency, citing Irna.



The Iranian republic intends to strengthen the country's infrastructure, and is considering 10,000 km of railways, thousands of kilometres of motorways, as well as ports and airports, and is in favour of partnerships between the public and private sectors, so the market is opening, said Graziano Delrio, Italys minister of infrastructure.



FS is likely to work on the high-speed line between Tehran, Qom and Isfahan, the report said.
Bahraini firms need to innovate to retain their competitive advantage, according to Industry, Commerce and Tourism Ministry Under-Secretary for industrial affairs Osama Al Arrayed. Innovation is about exploiting creativity in business, which can be in the product, manufacturing process or even in the marketplace, he told participants of the inaugural Innovation for Industry Forum, held as part of Gulf Industry Fair 2016 at the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Centre yesterday (February 10), said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

To read further, please visit GDNonline
A unit of Oman-based MB Holding Company has signed three large-scale mining agreements with the Rwandan government to undertake mining operations in Bisesero, Karongi District, of the southern African nation, a report said.



Tri Metals Mining Limited, a subsidiary of Mawarid Mining, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of MB Holding Company registered in Oman.



The project, with an estimated project value of $39 million, will carry out mining operations to extract mainly Cassiterite (Tin), Niobo-Tantalite (Tantalum and Niobium) and Wolframite (Tungsten) in Bisesero concessions in the Western Province, added the Oman Daily Observer report, citing the New Times.



The deal was signed by Evode Imena, the Rwandan Minister of State in charge of mining in the Ministry of Natural Resources, and the Rwanda Development Boards (RDB) chief executive officer Francis Gatare, on behalf of the government while Tariq al Barwani, the managing director of Mawarid Mining Company signed on behalf of the investor.



RDBs chief executive said that the deal would contribute significantly to the increase of Rwandas mineral exports, added the report.
Pakistan said it has signed a 15-year agreement to import up to 3.75 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas a year from Qatar, a major step in filling Pakistan's energy shortfall.



The deal, Pakistan's biggest, will help the country add about 2,000 megawatts of gas-fired power-generating capacity and improve production from fertilizer plants now hobbled by a lack of gas, a government official said.



"This is a huge and significant achievement because this diversifies Pakistan's energy mix," the official said. "This is the single largest commercial transaction that Pakistan has entered into."



Supplies will start in March, Qatar's state news agency QNA said. They will eventually come to around five LNG cargoes per month, the official said.



Pakistan, a nation of 190 million people, can only supply about two-thirds of its gas needs. The ruling party, which campaigned on promises of resolving the energy crisis, wants to ease shortages by expanding LNG shipments before a 2018 general election.



The deal signed between Pakistan State Oil company and Qatari's Qatargas-2, the world's biggest LNG producer, was witnessed by Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the official said.



According to the statement, LNG arriving in any particular month will fetch 13.37 percent of the preceding three-month average price of a barrel of Brent crude oil.



A price review is permitted 10 years after the start of supply. A cancellation option could shorten the deal to 11 years if the parties fail to agree a new price. A period to build up supply is provided for.



Spot LNG prices are trading at multi-year lows of $5.75 per million British thermal units (mmBtu).



Pakistan, along with Egypt and Jordan, was a newcomer to the LNG import market in 2015, helping drive up demand and absorb growing world supplies from a wave of new projects.



Pakistan's first floating import terminal got its first spot imports last April and has import capacity for around 4.4 million tonnes of LNG per year. The country has also tendered for a second terminal, which should be operational by mid-2017.



In 2016, Qatargas, the world's biggest LNG exporter, will supply 2.25 million tonnes, followed by a ramp-up to 3.75 mt/year from the second quarter of 2017.



Under the take-or-pay deal, Pakistan retains flexibility to reduce or raise Qatari LNG intake by three cargoes per contract year.  Reuters
Qatar Airways will be showcasing three state-of-the-art aircraft from its fast-growing fleet at the upcoming Singapore Airshow this month.

The Gulf carrier will be showcasing the A350, for which it was the global launch customer, and its superjumbo A380. Also appearing in Asia is Qatar Executive's newly acquired Gulfstream G650ER  the industrys most advanced business jet.

Held biennially since 2008, the Singapore Airshow is widely regarded as Asias largest and finest airshow. To be held at the Changi Exhibition Centre, the 2016 edition of the Singapore Airshow will have more than 1,000 companies from over 50 countries in attendance, with mainstay events such as the exhibition, aerobatic display and static display, popular with both exhibitors and visitors alike.

Qatar Airways group chief executive Akbar Al Baker said: Qatar Airways is delighted to be participating again in this years Singapore Airshow, in an increased capacity. The three aircraft we will be displaying demonstrate our technologically advanced and fast-growing young fleet. We have just celebrated our one year anniversary of A350 operations, and already we are embarking on another milestone with the worlds newest civilian aircraft, the Gulfstream G650ER, which many visitors will have the opportunity of seeing up close at the Singapore Airshow.

The Doha-based carrier made its debut at the Singapore Airshow 2014 by exhibiting the Boeing 787 Dreamliner to hundreds of show visitors. This year, Qatar Airways participation extends beyond the static aircraft display, as the airline has introduced a bespoke visitors chalet to receive and extend its award-winning hospitality to esteemed guests, media and trade partners.

Qatar Executives Gulfstream G650ER recently joined the fleet and will be displayed at the Singapore Airshow. The business jet is the first of 30 latest-generation Gulfstream aircraft ordered by Qatar Executive, and is capable of flying non-stop from the Middle East to North America or from destinations in Asia to Africa  farther and faster than any other jet of its kind  and is perfectly suited for those whose travel needs include flying halfway around the globe. Highly sought-after for its phenomenal range, industry-leading cabin technology and unparalleled cabin comfort, Qatar Executives G650ER has a two-cabin configuration that seats up to 13 passengers  the seats convert into fully-flat beds, so that seven guests can easily sleep on board.

The A350, now flying thrice-daily from Doha to Singapore, features customised interior settings, with its Business Class cabin comprising of 36 seats in a 1-2-1 configuration and its Economy Class cabin in a 3-3-3 configuration, allowing it to seat 247 passengers. Qatar Airways was the global launch customer for the A350, and recently celebrated one year of operations with the aircraft. The Gulf carrier started flying the worlds latest-technology aircraft from Singapore in May 2015, making it the first country in Asia to be served with the A350. In addition, it currently operates regular commercial A350 service to Frankfurt, Munich, and Philadelphia  the first airline to operate the A350 to three continents.

Also on display will be the airlines bespoke twin-deck A380 superjumbo aircraft  one of the most technologically advanced and highly sophisticated aircraft in the world. With a total of 517 passenger seats in First, Business and Economy Classes over two decks, it is the largest passenger plane in the world. Qatar Airways currently flies six A380s to London, Paris and Bangkok from Doha.  TradeArabia News Service
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Search News Archive : Fast Travel News Promotion Via Search, Social Media + Email Follow Us On : IRRESISTIBLE NEW MENU AT RASOI RESTAURANT IN CORAL DUBAI DEIRA HOTEL Industry: Food/Dining

Rasoi, the famed Indian restaurant, at Coral Dubai Deira Hotel has introduced a divine new menu



(TRAVPR.COM) UAE - February 11th, 2016 - Rasoi, the famed Indian restaurant, at Coral Dubai Deira Hotel has introduced a divine new menu with a choice of absolutely irresistible dishes. Featuring a variety of authentic North and South Indian dishes, it tempts diners with the ultimate vegetarian and non-vegetarian flavours.



The highlight of the menu is a superb selection of traditional 'Home-Made' favourites such as Lamb Chops, Tawa Kheema, Fish Curry, Kadi Pakoda, Sarso Ka Saag, Rajma Masala, Dal Tadka, Aloo Jeera, Baingan Bharta, Sambar,Cabbage Poriyal and Chettinad Chicken.



Elaborating on the idea behind the new menu, Siddhartha Sattanathan, General Manager, Coral Dubai Deira Hotel, said, We are all looking for a taste of home when travelling, and its not easy to find. Rasoi brings alive the culinary legacy of great Indian kitchens both from the north and south of the country. The food here reflects and celebrates the various influences that have shaped our gastronomic heritage over generations. The dishes included in the Home-Made section of the new menu are very rarely served in restaurants, and whenever they are, the taste is far from home. At Rasoi, along with the must-have North and South Indian dishes, we have a great selection of home style dishes.



Rasois new menu offers an equally rich variety of not-to-be-missed specialties ranging from Mutton Rogan-Josh to Palak Ghost, Mutton Pepper Fry, Laziz Chaamp, Gosht Hyderabadi Biryani and Murgh Dum Biryani. In addition, there is a wide spread of spicy curries and mixed grills. Served straight from the clay oven are sizzling Tandoori Murgh, Fish Tikka, Tandoori Pomfret, Tandoori Jhinga, Murgh Tangdi Kebab, Murgh Malai Tikka, Mutton Seekh Kebab, Shaami Kebab, Tandoori Pasliyaan.



Vegetarians have not been overlooked in this section either and can enjoy Tandoori Bharwaan Aloo, Achari Paneer Tikka, Harra-Bhara Kebab and Subz Seekh Kebab.



There are many different kinds of breads to pair up your dishes with besides the traditional Naans and Rotis such as Missi Roti, Makki ki Roti, Kashmiri Naan, Lachcha Paratha and Tandoori Kulcha. Would this leave any room for dessert? Well who can resist Gulab Jamun, Kulfi Falooda, Rasmalai and Gajar ka Halwa?



Rasois decor is as gorgeous and imaginative as the food. The exotic interior brings together the vibrant colours of India in a cozy and elegant setting. Superb selection of classic Indian music adds to the mood. Equally courteous is the signature Coral service that makes you feel at home.



Whats more? You can have it all delivered to your doorstep as outside catering is available. Terms & Conditions apply in terms of minimum number of people.



Restaurant Timings

Dinner: 6pm to 11pm (Daily)

Lunch: 12pm to 3pm (Thursday, Friday & Saturday)



For reservations call: 00971 4 224 8587 or email events@coral-hmh.email



For more information about the hotel, visit hmhhotelgroup.com/coraldubaideira

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Does this sound familiar...

As a couple you used to love the great outdoors: camping under a starry sky, scaling up a craggy ravine, biking along a leafy trail...but then the kids came along and the expeditions had to be reined in. You long for the day when they'll be old enough to endure even the gentlest ramble without asking, "how much further?"

Well, with a helping hand - or rather a helping hoof - from Merlin and his friends, a "boring walk with mummy and daddy" becomes a real adventure with a donkey to lead! And if your little one gets tired, there's always the option of riding on top.

Scot Mountain Holidays is offering a self-guided, donkey-assisted, all inclusive family trekking holiday in the sunny South of France - Cevennes to be exact. Our package includes a donkey, a map with directions, packed lunches, accommodation and delicious rural French cuisine.

We've been on this trip ourselves and it certainly is a fantastic way to introduce the youngsters to the great outdoors whilst you, as a parent, can enjoy a proper trekking holiday combined with local hospitality.

So come on and follow in the footsteps of Robert Louis Stephenson!

The trip costs just 370 per adult and 318 per child for 5 days and 4 nights, price includes accommodation, all meals, donkey hire, emergency support and trek transfers. Flights are not included in the price.
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Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 10

The Punjab government has spent nearly Rs 1,000 crore on memorials to immortalize the unparalleled role played by great heroes and martyrs in shaping the course of the human history.

Stating this during a state-level function to mark the 170th Martyrdom Day of General Sham Singh Attariwala here today, Cabinet minister Gulzar Singh Ranike gave a clarion call to the younger generation to tread the path shown by great martyrs and contribute to make a healthy society.

Ranike paid floral tributes to the legendary General along with former Arunachal Pradesh Governor and Chief of Army Staff, Gen JJ Singh (retd), descendants of General Attariwala  Col Harinder Singh Attari, Col Kuldip Singh Sidhu  besides Deputy Commissioner Varun Roojam.

Recalling the unequaled sacrifice made by the General in the first Anglo-Sikh war at Sabraon on February 10, 1846, Ranike said Sham Singh Attariwala was one of the greatest warriors of India, who preferred death to slavery. By his own example the General made it clear to his countrymen that nothing was more precious than freedom from the foreign repression, he added. He said his superb example was a beacon and a source of inspiration to numerous freedom fighters, who fought against the British from 1846 to 1947.

While addressing the gathering, Gen JJ Singh (retd) said the sacrifice made by General Attariwala had also been admired by Britishers. He said General Sham Singh Attariwala, who fought against the British forces till last breath and did not leave the battlefield, would always be a source of inspiration for generations to come.

Gen JJ Singh (retd) also visited the museum at Attari, the native village of General Sham Singh Attariwala. Office-bearers of General Sham Singh Attariwala Trust also presented a memento to General JJ Singh (retd) after a Bhog ceremony.

The former Chief of Army Staff also presented mementos and lohi (woolen shawls) to descendants of General Sham Singh Attariwala.

Earlier, Ranike announced a grant of Rs 2 lakh to the General Sham Singh Attariwala Trust for the maintenance of the monument constructed at Naraingarh in the memory of General.

GOC 15 Infantry Division, Major General Sanjay Thapa, laid a wreath on behalf of General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Commnand, Lt-Gen KJ Singh on the occasion.
Amritsar, February 10

Leader of the Opposition in the Municipal Corporation (MC), Raj Kanwal Lucky, criticised the agenda to be discussed in the House meeting of the civic body scheduled for tomorrow.

He said the government was burdening the residents and traders with water bills even when they did not have connection at their places.

Capt Amarinder Singh government had waived off water bills of houses less than 125 sqyd in 2006, he added. He said, Now, the government is hell bent to roll back the relaxation to fill its coffers. There is no move to curtail expenditure of its ministers.

The Congress leader said the government was all set to increase its revenue from water bills, but no steps were taken to replace faulty water pipes, which caused epidemic in various localities in the city.  TNS
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 11

The Delhi Police today questioned senior Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh and an AAP volunteer in connection with the death of a farmer, Gajendra Singh, at a party rally in New Delhi's Jantar Mantar area in April last year.

The important questions asked to Sanjay were what precautions did the AAP leaders take when they saw Gajendra climbing a tree and why did they continue with the rally after his death.

Sanjay and the AAP volunteer, Neeraj Chauhan, arrived at the Delhi Police's Crime Branch office at about 12.30 pm in south Delhi's R K Puram area, where they were questioned in connection with Gajendra's death.

Three other AAP leaders, Ashish Khetan, Kumar Vishwas and Punjab MP Bhagwant Mann, will appear at the same office tomorrow for questioning, according to the police.

"During the questioning today, the queries were on whether the farmer was known to any of the party leaders, why did they organise the rally without permission from the police and what measures did they take when the crowd exceeded 5,000, which is considered as the permissible limit for rallies at Jantar Mantar," said a police officer.
Jayant Prasad

With the demise of Sushil Koirala, Nepal has lost the last of its leaders from the first generation that struggled for democracy in the country for over half a century. Sushilda, as he was popularly known, became Prime Minister in February 2014, after a succession of Koirala brothers  Matrika Prasad, Bishweshwar Prasad, and Girija Prasad  had intermittently occupied that position from the 1950s until 2008. Sushilda was an extended cousin of these illustrious leaders, and gained high office the hard way.

Born in 1939, he started his life humbly. First acquainted with politics as the Secretary of the Nepali Congress leader, Tulsi Giri, he soon joined the entourage of the charismatic BP Koirala, who led the party to an impressive parliamentary victory in 1959. Confident of his popular mandate, BP came into conflict with King Mahendra, who dismissed his government the following year, suspended the Constitution, banned political parties, and jailed BP. After his release in 1968, BP decided to live in exile in Banaras, where Sushilda served him as a personal retainer. He remained a bachelor, and spent an entire lifetime in the service of the Koirala family, and of his nation.

Sushilda, as several of his predecessors as Prime Minister, had served time in an Indian prison. But unlike BP, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, and Manmohan Adhikari, who were jailed by the British for their contribution to India's freedom struggle, Sushilda was imprisoned for his participation in the 1973 Forbesgunj plane hijack, masterminded by the Nepali Congress leadership. The aim was to loot Nepal Rashtra Bank's funds being carried from Biratnagar to Kathmandu for fuelling the pro-democracy movement in Nepal against the dictatorial monarchy. Sushilda was released only after the end of the Emergency in India in 1977.

Later, as a close and trusted political aide of Girija Prasad Koirala, who became Nepal's Prime Minister on four different occasions, Sushilda steadily rose in the party, becoming a Central Working Committee member in 1979, General Secretary in 1996, and Vice-President in 1998. His biggest test came following GPs death in March 2010, when he continued as the acting President of the party  a responsibility not given to GPs daughter, Sujata Koirala, then Foreign and Deputy Prime Minister. Six months later, Sushilda decisively won the party presidency.

Through his wise, dexterous, and statesman-like handling, GP steered Nepal towards a republican and democratic track, after a nine-year long insurgency. He then got the Maoists involved, together with representatives of the democratic parties, in drafting the 2007 interim Constitution, and organising the 2008 Constituent Assembly election. Although not directly involved in the critical democratic political transition, Sushilda helped GP through this period by managing Nepali Congress affairs. The Maoists triumphed in the 2008 election. Even so, Sushilda played a key role in fulfilling one part of GPs inheritance by seeing through the integration of the former members of the People's Liberation Army into the Nepali Army. He believed this could be best done under a Maoist government. That is why, when some Nepali Congress leaders were being tempted by the extreme Left faction of the Maoists to bring down the government led by Baburam Bhattarai, Sushilda held them back. He remained supportive of the entire process of delicate negotiations on the numbers and ranks of the PLA cadres. His two subsequent decisions  not to allow the 2013 election under Bhattarai's caretaker government, and to refuse that responsibility himself due to the conditions being imposed on him  helped his party in the election.

Sushilda, however, stumbled as Prime Minister in his inability to honour the political commitments made by GP to the Janajatis and Madhesis following the 2006 and 2007 Jana Andolans, also reflected in Nepal's interim Constitution. Sushilda's governance skills were limited. He did not himself harbour any prejudices against the Madhesis and the social redistribution of power, but was steamrolled by those who abhorred a truly inclusive Constitution.

As the Constitution was being rushed through, with burgeoning protests against it in the Terai districts, Sushilda realised that a serious error had been committed. Unable to stop the promulgation of a flawed Constitution, he proposed an amendment bill before leaving office. His intriguing decision to contest against the incumbent Prime Minister, KP Sharma Oli, was partly to complete this unfinished task. The amendment finally got parliamentary approval three months later, after more protests, privation, and loss of lives. He was acutely aware that his party's electoral support lay in the Terai, and alienation of the Madhesi and Tharu population on the Constitution could become a liability for it.

Sushilda had many endearing qualities. Fascinated by celluloid, he wished to be a screen actor, not a political player. The simplicity with which he lived is a rarity among political leaders, as much in South Asia as the rest of the world. He had virtually no material belongings, much like Krishna Prasad Bhattarai. He was steadfast, even stubborn, in his core beliefs, democracy being one of them. He was a tenacious fighter, battling cancer and his adversaries. He treasured loyalty. He was a patriot and an intrepid political organiser, leading his party to a remarkable victory in the 2013 election. He could connect with party leaders across Nepals 75 districts. Although his legacy might be disputed, Nepal will miss him in its unfolding transition.

The writer, a former Indian Ambassador to Nepal, is currently the Director General of the Institute of Defence Studies & Analyses, New Delhi.
Tribune News Service

Shimla, February 10

The BJP today demanded judicial enquiry by a sitting High Court judge to fix the responsibility for jaundice outbreak in Shimla town and the adjoining areas and sought compensation for the deceased and patients suffering from the disease.

Former BJP state president and sitting MLA from Shimla Suresh Bhardwaj said the negligence on the party of the Irrigation and Public Health Department (I&PH), Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) and Pollution Control Board (PCB) led to the outbreak of jaundice in an epidemic form. The families, who lost their near and dear ones, should be adequately compensated. Free treatment should be given to the persons suffering from jaundice while the employees afflicted with the disease should be given special medical leave.

Addressing media persons here today, Bhardwaj claimed that about 15,000 persons are affected by the disease and six persons have died so far. He termed the registration of case and arrest of a few persons by Special Investigation Team (SIT) an eyewash and added that action should be taken against those responsible.

Alleging that even after the situation had turned so grave, the government was not serious. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who recently visited Junga, did not have time to visit the sewerage treatment plant (STP).

The government has itself confessed that the cases of jaundice would continue till February 15 but we apprehend cases are likely till the end of February, the BJP leader. He suggested that the schools should be closed till February 20.

He said that on December 23 last a meeting was held which was attended by the officials of the SMC, the IPH and Programme Officer, Epidemics, but the minutes of the meeting were not disclosed and questioned how the samples of contaminated water were passed. Questioning the role of state disaster management authority and disaster cell of the SMC, Bhardwaj asked what steps had been taken to find the cause of the outbreak of the disease and the precautions and the preventive steps taken. He raised objections over setting up of the STP at Malyana in 2005, which was just six km from the main water source of Ashwani Khud and posed grave threat of water contamination.
NBU decides to liquidate bank Premium for violation of financial monitoring laws

The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has decided to remove a license of bank Premium (Kyiv) and liquidate it for violation of financial monitoring laws, the regulator has reported on its website.

The decision is outlined in NBU resolution No. 68/BT dated February 10, 2016.

"The facts of violation of law were established during the off-schedule audit of bank Premium in connection with financial monitoring issues," the regulator said.

The NBU said that the Individuals' Deposit Guarantee Fund will pay funds to 97% of depositors of the bank worth some UAH 150 million.

The central bank said that the liquidation of the bank would not affect stability of the financial market.

Bank Premium was founded in 2007. As of April 1, 2015, its majority shareholders were Leonid Pervak (33%) and Larysa Smyrnova (33.5%).

The bank ranked 56th among 123 operating banks as of October 1, 2015, in terms of total assets worth UAH 1.754 billion, according to the NBU.
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, February 11

In continuation of the recovery drive, the Regional Office of Employees Provident Fund has constituted five teams headed by Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner to intensify the recovery drive. These commissioners possess the powers of recovery officer as per the provisions of EPF and MP Act 1952 and can arrest any defaulter. They can also attach the property of defaulters.

According to an official press release, the team of recovery officer arrested the principal of a reputed school and released him only after recovery of PF dues amounting to Rs 2.4 lakh, Further, property of an establishment M/s Tixeo Industries, Ludhiana, was also attached by the team. Today, a team of officers arrested employer of M/s New Tech Engineering.

The recovery team of Ludhiana has arrested 10 persons and recovered nearly Rs 70 lakh from defaulters.
Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 11

India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) today signed four major agreements across various sectors that will help provide a major boost to the bilateral relationship.

The agreements were signed during the visit of Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and deputy supreme commander of the armed forces of the UAE to India.

Four Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) were signed today in the areas of cyber security, renewable energy, currency swap and infrastructure investment.

The strength of a multifaceted relationship. The leaders witness the exchange of four agreements across various sectors, External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said after the agreements were exchanged by officials from both sides in the presence of Sheikh Mohamed and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Before the signings of the agreements, the Crown Prince and Modi held bilateral talks.

Earlier in the day, President Pranab Mukherjee hosted a private lunch for the Crown Prince, which was attended by Modi, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, other dignitaries from India and the UAE as well as business leaders.

The President said it was a matter of great satisfaction that the two countries have decided to elevate their relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership, a statement issued by the Presidents Secretariat said.

The UAE has already committed investments worth $75 billion through the establishment of UAE-India Infrastructure Investment Fund. This promise of investment was made during the visit of Modi to UAE in August last year. It was the first visit by an Indian PM to UAE in three decades.

Accompanying the Crown Prince on his visit here are seven ministers, including those in charge of foreign affairs, the interior ministry, energy, economy, labour and renewable energy.
Tribune News Service

Mussoorie, February 10

The Municipal Council (MC) in an anti-encroachment drive demolished two temporary slum dwellings near the Barah Kainchi road, in Mussoorie today.

Acting on the directions of SDM Mussoorie, the MC team removed two illegal dwellings amid opposition by the owner of structures.

However, the anti-encroachment exercise did not go well with the affected persons who alleged that the MC had targeted only two dwellings while had left the other dwellings constructed illegally.

Area MC member Sashi Rawat objected the biased anti-encroachment drive and said only two temporary dwellings were targeted while the other illegal dwellings were left untouched.

Residents living in the nearby housing societies said the slum dwellings were on the rise with every passing year at the Bara Kainchi Road area.

Earlier, there were only two illegal slum dwellings but now the whole area has been crowded with people from different parts of the country, including Bangladesh, alleged residence. They demanded police verification of every individual and removal of all illegal dwellings instead of selecting few while conducting the anti-encroachment drive.

Municipal Council Executive Officer DS Rana said there was no question of bias and the every illegal construction would be demolished. He said the anti-encroachment drive would continue in near future also.
New Delhi, February 11

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) today said it would provide technical assistance to the Central government for the development of national highways in mountainous regions such as Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.

The JICA has signed a technical cooperation agreement with the Central government for capacity development project on highways in the mountainous regions, it stated in a statement.

The project will provide for strengthening of institutional capacity of organisations engaged in the development of road networks in mountain terrain such as the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, National Highway Auhtority of India (NHAI), NHIDCL and state Public Works Departments.

The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has assigned high priority to the development of national highways in the mountainous regions to enhance local connectivity, especially in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast region.

The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is keen to adopt new technologies related to tunnels, bridges and slope stabilisation and enhance its capacities for disaster-resistant planning, cost-effective construction technologies and safety management in mountainous highways, the statement said.

Under the JICAs cooperation, technical guidelines would be prepared for design, development and management of road networks in the mountainous regions, including for tunnels, high-pier bridges, earthworks, slope protection and waterways for the drainage.

The JICA would dispatch experts on highway engineering and management and conduct technical training programmes for Indian engineers and technical personnel in partnership with the Indian Academy of Highway Engineers to enhance capacity of government in planning, construction and management of highways in the mountainous regions.

The agency has been continuously cooperating with the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and other agencies in their HR development and improvement and construction of highways since early 1990s when it started dispatching Japanese experts to those organisations, it said.  PTI
Mexico City, February 11

Fifty-two inmates were killed in a Mexican prison brawl today, as prisoners fought with bats, sticks and blades and ignited a fire in the overcrowded penitentiary.

Twelve others were injured during the pitched battle that lasted 30 to 40 minutes at the Topo Chico prison in the northern industrial city of Monterrey, said Nuevo Leon state Governor Jaime Rodriguez.

The fight erupted following a dispute between leaders of two rival groups, including one led by a member of the Zetas drug cartel, Rodriguez said.

"They used sharp weapons, bats, sticks," the governor said, adding that the 60-year-old penitentiary houses 3,800 inmates, twice its capacity.

During the brawl, inmates set a fire in a supply room. TV images showed flames coming out of the prison in the middle of the night.

The riot erupted on the eve of Pope Francis' trip to Mexico, during which he is due to visit another notorious prison, in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez.  AFP
Maiduguri, February 11

Two female suicide bombers yesterday killed at least 58 at a camp for people made homeless by Boko Harams Islamist insurgency in northeast Nigeria in the latest violence to hit the remote region.

The attack happened in Dikwa, some 90 km from the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, yesterday morning and is believed to be a reprisal for a military strike on Boko Haram strongholds in the area last week.

It will again raise security fears about the safety of internally displaced people (IDPs) and put pressure on the government, which maintains it has the upper hand against the insurgents and is pushing for the return of civilians caught up in the violence.

Nigeria's Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, deputising for President Muhammadu Buhari who has been on holiday, described it as "regrettable that the heartless terrorists chose to unleash their wickedness on people who were taking refuge from previous acts of destruction in their homes".

He promised those behind the attack would be hunted down and ordered that "formidable security in and around the IDP camps in the country be beefed up and renewed measures put in place to guard against future occurrences".

The head of the Borno State Emergency Management Agency, Satomi Ahmed, earlier told AFP 35 bodies were recovered from the camp, which houses some 53,600 people, with 78 injured.

He later said the other dead had been buried locally, leading to the revised toll.

"From what we gathered three female suicide bombers disguised as IDPs arrived at IDP camp at about 6.30 local time," he said.

"Two of them detonated their explosives. The third one refused to set off hers when she realised her parents and siblings were in the camp. She surrendered herself to the authorities."

Ahmed said the woman told the military why she refused to detonate her explosives and warned them of further attacks to come in the remote region.

The injured were taken to the Borno State Specialist Hospital and the Umaru Shehu Hospital, both in Maiduguri for treatment, he added.

The camp in Dikwa is currently home to people from six local government areas in Borno: Dikwa itself, Gamboru Ngala, on the border with Cameroon, and the towns of Marte, Kalabalge, Bama and Mafa.

Last week, the Nigerian military attacked three villages considered Boko Haram strongholds near Kalabalge, killing dozens of militant fighters and rescuing hundreds of women.  AFP
Dhaka, February 11

A Bangladeshi court on Thursday upheld the death penalty against three members of an outlawed Islamist militant group and life sentences for two others for a 2004 failed assassination attempt on the then Bangladeshi-origin British envoy here that left three persons dead.

The (lower court) verdict is upheld, presiding judge of a two-member high court Bench Enayetur Rahman said, confirming the death penalty for Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) chief Mufti Abdul Hannan and two other operatives of the banned outfit for their involvement in the May 21, 2004, grenade attack on Anwar Chowdhury, former British High Commissioner to Bangladesh.

According to the verdict two other HuJI operatives would serve life terms for their involvement in the attack which Chowdhury narrowly escaped with minor wounds.

Three policemen were killed and some 50 people wounded as HuJI operatives exploded grenades when Chowdhury, just weeks after he took up the post, was on a visit to a Sufi shrine in north-eastern Sylhet which is also his birthplace.

A speedy trial tribunal originally tried the case and gave its verdict in December, 2008, also sentencing HuJI leaders Sharif Shahedul Alam and Delwar Hossain alongside Hannan.  PTI
Washington, February 11

Following their abysmal performance in the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former corporate honcho Carly Fiorina have ended their campaigns to seek the Republican US presidential nomination.

Both Christie and Fiorina stated their decision on Facebook, a day after the New Hampshire primary where they fared poorly in the poll won by Donald Trump by a huge margin while Ohio Governor John Kasich finished a distant second.

In a Facebook post, Christie said that the government needs to once again work for the people, not the people working for the government.

"I have both won elections that I was supposed to lose and I've lost elections I was supposed to win and what that means is you never know what will happen. That is both the magic and the mystery of politics - you never quite know when which is going to happen, even when you think you do. And so today I leave the race without an ounce of regret," Christie said.

In her Facebook post, Fiorina said while she suspended her candidacy, she will continue to travel the country and fight for those Americans who refuse to settle for the way things are and a status quo that no longer works for them.

"Our Republican Party must fight alongside these Americans as well. We must end crony capitalism by fighting the policies that allow it to flourish," said the former Hewlett-Packard CEO.

"We must fix our festering problems by holding our bloated, inept government bureaucracy accountable. Republicans must stand for conservative principles that lift people up and recognise all Americans have the right to fulfil their God-given potential," Fiorina said.

With Christie and Fiorina suspending their campaigns, the Republican presidential battle is now a six-man race.

Apart from Trump and Kasich, the other candidates still in the race are Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, and eminent neurosurgeon Ben Carson.

All these candidates are now campaigning in South Carolina where the next Republican primary is scheduled to be held later this month. PTI
Islamabad, February 11

Pakistans army chief General Raheel Sharif has accused hostile foreign intelligence agencies of providing financial support to terrorists operating in the country.

Terrorists are being funded externally by hostile intelligence agencies and have their sympathisers at home who provide them shelter and refuge, Raheel said while addressing the Corps Commanders Conference held in Rawalpindi yesterday.

We will defeat the nefarious designs of our enemies and eliminate terrorists from Pakistan's soil," he said.

Raheel, 59, did not specify the agencies or the countries allegedly involved in supporting militancy in Pakistan.

This was the third time this month that Raheel, whose tenure ends in November this year, has accused foreign intelligence services of providing support to terrorists operating in the country.

Earlier last week, he had emphasised the role of foreign spy agencies in fueling terrorism in Pakistan during a meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

He also blamed "regional and global powers" for fighting proxy wars in Balochistan during a peace seminar in the strife-torn province's capital city Quetta.

He said Pakistan has achieved significant successes in its military operation Zarb-e-Azb, but the war against terrorism was complex and required steadfast and unified response.

Military said in a statement that the conference reviewed internal and regional security situation, including reconciliation in Afghanistan and security of the China-sponsored $46 billion ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Raheel also said all efforts and resources will be employed to bring about lasting stability and socio-economic revival for prosperity and well-being of displaced people in terrorism-affected areas.  PTI
New York, February 11

Ending his two-day standoff with Aeromexico, Sikh-American actor Waris Ahluwalia has returned home on board Mexicos flag carrier after he was barred by it from boarding a flight as he refused to remove his turban.

Ahluwalia, 41, landed in New York yesterday, after being allowed to board a new Aeromexico flight without removing his turban for a check.

I was asked to rub it with my hand, then present my hand for swabbing, which I did. That had been the past security practice, the actor, model and designer was quoted as saying by the New York Times.

Before takeoff from Mexico City, he posted a photograph online of himself inside an aircraft with his arms around the shoulders of what appeared to be two Aeromexico pilots.

He told us that the check was smooth, said Harsimran Kaur, the legal director for the Sikh Coalition, a civil-rights group that worked to resolve the impasse while Ahluwalia spent two days at the airport.

Yesterday, Aeromexico apologised to Ahluwalia, saying it recognises and is proud of the diversity of its passengers.

We apologise to Mr Waris Ahluwalia for the bad experience he went through with one of our security personnel, Aeromexico said in a statement.

The airline said it works to maintain strong security measures while respecting its passengers cultures and beliefs.

Ahluwalia felt great about the apology, but said theres more work to be done.

On Monday, Ahluwalia was not allowed to board the Aeromexico flight from Mexico City to New York, triggering the standoff and condemnation from the fashion community.

Ahluwalia is also a designer known for his House of Waris jewelry line and other design work.

He was recently nominated for best supporting actor by the 2016 Canadian Screen Awards for his role in a Canadian thriller Beeba Boys. Ahluwalia is also a social activist who has campaigned for greater awareness of the Sikh religion.

In 2013, he appeared as a model in a Gap Make Love advertisement that was posted in New York City subways and later defaced with racist graffiti.
The Ukrainian pharmaceutical market remains important and promising for Indian pharmaceutical companies, Head of the Indian delegation of the Ukrainian-Indian working group for healthcare and pharmaceutical market and Deputy Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers of India Sudhansh Pant.

"Ukraine is a very important market for Indian pharmaceutical companies. It was and remains important and promising, despite the fact that in recent years the decline in goods turnover in the U.S. dollars was seen. Nevertheless, we're working on returning the indicators of the goods turnover to the level we saw several years ago and increased them," he told Interfax-Ukraine, commenting on the results of the second meeting of the Ukrainian-Indian working group held in January 2016 in Kyiv.

Pant said that the change of currency exchange rates resulted in growth of goods turnover between India and Ukraine in the hryvnia equivalent.

"We should say that goods turnover in hryvnias have an upward trend," he said.

Pant also said that the meeting of the Ukrainian-Indian working group in January 2016 was the second meeting and the first meeting was held in 2013 in India.

"In general, there is a good opportunity to discuss all urgent issued appeared during cooperation at these meetings. During discussion one can see progress in achieving the goals set, clear up the positions of the sides to support development," he said.

He also pointed at possibilities of implementing projects to localize production of medicines at facilities of Ukrainian pharmaceutical manufacturers and organize production by Indian pharmaceutical companies in Ukraine.

"Taking into account the potential of the Ukrainian pharmaceutical market, expectations from localization of production facilities are very positive. We will welcome projects on entering the Ukrainian market by Indian pharmaceutical companies to organize medicine production. I hope that we will see in the near future in what form it will happen and what contribution of Ukraine will be. In general, we see an upward trend both for the Ukrainian market and investment of Indian companies," Pant said.

He also mentioned the fruitful work of the Indian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Association in Ukraine (IPMA).

"At a meeting with representatives of the companies that are part of the IPMA the head of the IPMA association raised several problems that representative of Indian companies have to face in Ukraine, in particular, exports of medicines from India to Ukraine. We've discussed the issues and formed the position of India at the meeting of the working group. Some of the issuers were announced by India," he said.

Pant said that India received a positive reaction from Ukraine.

He said that in general India positively assesses the negotiations.
IMF to continue cooperation with Ukraine following second revision of EFF program

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will continue cooperation with Ukrainian authorities after the second revision of the EFF program for Ukraine is completed, Director of the IMF Communications Department Gerry Rice has stated.

"We continue cooperation with the authorities on the policies needed to strengthen the country's economy and pave the way for completion of the second revision," he said at a traditional press briefing in Washington.

Rice also added that during a telephone conversation the day before President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko assured IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde of his commitment to reforms, including improving governance and fighting corruption.
The custom Mack Granite snow plow built for Somerset Township. Photo: Mack

A custom Mack Granite snow plow model outfitted with all-wheel drive was built for Somerset Township, Penn., to deal with hilly terrain and windy roads in the area, Mack announced. The OEM is using it as example of how it can spec trucks to meet customer needs.

Mack took a Mack Granite model originally built as a 4x2 and specd a factory-installed all-wheel drive system, 11-foot front snow plow and an aluminum body and salt spreader. The truck is powered by a Mack MP8 engine with 455 horsepower.

Somerset Township is located just over an hour southeast of Pittsburgh and maintains 123 miles of roads that must be plowed after each snowstorm. The township required a truck that could deal with the hills, twists, and turns of its roads as well as the snow, limiting its options.

Somersets local Mack dealer Legacy Truck Center worked with Somerset to take their desired specs and develop a solution through Macks Customer Adaptation Center, where it was assembled.

Somerset took delivery of the truck in late 2015 and it is currently in service.

When we began the process of ordering a new truck, it quickly became clear that we wouldnt be able to do what we had in the past, said Randy Beistel, Somerset Township supervisor. Mack stepped up to the plate. We worked closely with our local Mack dealer, Legacy Truck Center, and we built the truck we needed.
UPDATED -- U.S. spot-market load availability fell 5.6% during the week ending Feb. 6, with the number of van and refrigerated loads dropping 17% and 12%, respectively, according to DAT Solutions and its network of load boards.

The combination of fewer posted loads and 2.5% more capacity helped hold rates down compared to the previous week. Declining fuel prices also played a role: diesel prices fell 3 cents to a national average of just under $2.01 per gallon, an 11-year low.

The national average van rate edged down 3 cents from the week before to $1.62 per mile, while the reefer rate fell 3 cents to $1.85 per mile, both the lowest in at least the last four weeks.

The decline for vans included a 1-cent drop in the average fuel surcharge. Rates rose on high-volume lanes originating in Denver, Houston, and Atlanta, but outbound rates declined in Chicago and Philadelphia.

There was also a 1-cent drop in the reefer fuel surcharge with rates ranging from an average of $2.52 per mile out of Green Bay to $1.40 per mile from Lakeland, Fla.

The average flatbed rate was unchanged at $1.85 per mile compared to the previous week and compares to $1.90 in mid-January. Rates varied from $2.83 per mile outbound from Harrisburg, Penn to as low as $1.48 per mile out of Phoenix.

Van load posts declined 14% while available capacity increased 4%, which sent the van load-to-truck ratio down 17%, resulting in 1.4 van loads for every van posted on the DAT network. In the reefer market, there were 11% fewer loads while truck posts added 1%. The load-to-truck ratio declined 12% from 3.8 to 3.4 loads per truck.

The spot flatbed freight market found a little footing with load volume up 6% against a 1% increase in capacity. That yielded a 6% increase in the flatbed load-to-truck ratio, from 8.3 to 8.7 loads per truck. Changes in the ratio often signal impending changes in rates, according to DAT.

Canadian Spot Market Up For A Change

On the heels of declining load volumes for four consecutive months, TransCore Link Logistics load volumes for Canadian and cross-border loads picked up in January.

Month-over-month volumes were 12% above December. In spite of this, compared to the same month last year, load volumes were down 28% from January 2015.

The freight index has shown alternate highs and lows for the month of January for the past three years. Compared to December of the prior year, January 2016 was above December 2015 but January 2015 was below December 2014, a year of record-breaking highs, and January 2014 was above December 2013.

Cross border spot market loads leaving Canada were lower by 18%, and loads coming into Canada decreased 33%year-over-year. These volumes averaged 72% of the total data submitted by Loadlinks Canadian-based customers.

Intra-Canada load volumes represented 23% of the total volumes and were lower by 25 percent year-over-year.

Posted equipment last month was below what was posted in December 2015, tightening the capacity by 5% month-over-month. However, these postings were above January 2015 by 28%. The equipment-to-load ratio narrowed to 3.18 last month from 3.73 in December 2015. Year-over-year, this ratio increased from 1.79 in January 2015, representing a 78% change.

TransCores Canadian Freight Index measures the movement of freight and equipment from roughly 5,500 of Canadas trucking companies and freight brokers, and includes all domestic Canadian, cross-border and interstate data submitted by Loadlinks customers.

Update adds Canadian spot freight report.
Having a cross of ashes placed on a Christians head used to be a point of pride, now it is seen, by some, as a way to share their faith.

Some people have told me I have dirt or a smudge on my forehead, Father Clark Shackelford said, laughing. I see it as a way of faith-sharing.

Shackelford, the vicar for the St. Matthews Episcopal Church, said Ash Wednesday will be observed Wednesday, Feb. 10 and many people will be seen with an ash cross on their foreheads. The ash symbolizes the first day of Lent, a 40-day fasting and repentance period leading up to Easter.

Ash Wednesday always occurs 46 days before Easter, and its a time that Christians all over the world use to prepare for Easter, the holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Using burnt palms, a priest will rub a cross on the forehead of the believer and they will wear it for as long as they see fit.

Its entirely up to the individual. Some people keep it for a day and use it to spark up a conversation, Shackelford said.

The palms used to make the ash are palms used in a ceremony from the year before.

Palm Sunday is the first day of Holy Week preceding Easter. We hand out palms to everyone in church. We have a processional outside the church, weather permitting, of course, and we sing an appropriate hymn, Shackelford said.

Those palms are then taken home and placed behind a cross or crucifix and brought back to the church for Ash Wednesday the following year.

This is a 1700-year old practice. Some traditions have been kept throughout the years and others havent. This has obviously been very powerful and it seems to work for people, Shackelford said.

When the ashes are placed on the heads of the believers, the priest says Repent, and believe in the Gospel or Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return

Lent has a connection with Mardi Gras, a time of drinking and debauchery. However, the original intent of the event was steeped in faith.

Tuesday, Feb. 9, commemorated Fat Tuesday, which is the final day before Lent, which starts Feb. 10 and runs through March 26. Lent, a time of fasting and prayer, has been transformed by some as a time of giving up a particular kind of food they enjoy.

Easter will be recognized Sunday, March 27.
Ukraine has state-of-the-art rocket technologies, and Poland shows a serious interest to cooperation in their joint gradual promotion to the EU market, President of the Polish Space Agency (POLSA) Marek Banaszkiewicz has told Interfax-Ukraine.

"I think that there is a very large potential for promotion of rocket technologies that are well developed in Ukraine to the EU space market. This would be not an easy task: as you know, there is a mature market in Europe with companies that define the competitive positioning on the market," he said after a first meeting of the ad hoc working group for space of the Ukrainian-Polish interagency commission for economic cooperation held in Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk on February 8-10.

Banaszkiewicz said that today Ukraine "has access to the market that operates and develops on the verge of competition and cooperation and could take part in the competitive fight on it."

"I think that first there is sense to develop cooperation in the area that are open for partnership," he said, adding that one of the projects where Ukrainian rocket technologies could be of great demand is the Ariane 6 new-generation launcher program being implemented in the EU.

Among promising areas for bilateral partnership is the creation of new rockets, Banaszkiewicz said. One of the projects could be the project on the creation of a new European light launcher proposed for joint realization by the Polish Aviation Institute and Pivdenne Design Bureau (Dnipropetrovsk).

"No European country has offered the similar product to the market," he added.

He said that one should not forget about possibilities of developing cooperation in the satellite area and creation of the Earth remote sensing systems.

"We should think of additional options for cooperation as part of the operation of our working group at the intergovernmental commission and move step by step," he said.

Banaszkiewicz said that at present, the Polish government shows the interest to the development of space solutions, and first solutions in the interests of the security and defense sector as part of the future development of Polish industry.

Assessing the investment attractiveness of Pivdenne Design Bureau and Pivdenmash state enterprise that are being prepared for reformation, he expressed confidence that the two enterprises are interesting for investors.

The POLSA head said that these enterprises have a large number of skilled specialists.

"This is an excellent base for competitive fight with Arianespace," he said.
Members of the Sperry High School Robotics Team eagerly waited for the school board to reach their item on the agenda at the meeting on Feb. 8. The agenda item was an approval of the request from the team to attend the Arkansas Rock City Regional competition that will be held in Little Rock, Arkansas on Mar. 9-12. The Sperry Robotics Team has attended the event in the past, earning sixth place out of fifty teams in the Arkansas competition of 2014.

Sperrys Robotics Team was formed in 2008 by Mike Jones, a science teacher at the middle school. Resources that were needed to start the team included funds to participate in the Oklahoma regional competition, and a place for the team to be able to build their robots. Mr. Jones was able to secure a NASA rookie grant to assist the team in its expenses, and he used his classroom for the teams projects. In 2009, Jones took a position in another school district, and Dana Hamersley, a high school science teacher who is the parent of one of the teams initial members, took his place as the teams faculty leader.

The team has gained solid footing as the years have progressed, with more tools and a better work area to help them in their endeavors. Along with participating in competitions, the group strives to help the community by attending events such as local creek cleanups that occur throughout the year.

During the school board meeting, it was easy to discern that the team has a lot of support from the administration of the Sperry school system. The board approved the request to attend the competition without a second thought.

Any Sperry high school student who is interested in joining the team is encouraged to do so. Members are expected to pay dues ($30 each year), participate in fundraisers, and put in fifty hours of building time during the season. The team meets on weekends and after school on weekdays. For more information about the team, Dana Hamersley can be contacted through her email address, dhamersley@sperry.k12.ok.us.
A Tulsa man pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to a drug conspiracy charge in connection with a crack cocaine ring that authorities say operated out of an east Tulsa motel.

Vysean Leandre Embry, 32, entered the guilty plea as part of an agreement with prosecutors. He faces a prison term ranging from 20 years to life.

Embry and 10 others were indicted last summer as part of an investigation of illegal drug activity and prostitution at the Tonight Inn & Suites, 8833 E. Admiral Place.

Embry, also known as Hollywood, was arrested July 29 after more than 50 law enforcement officials, carrying search warrants, raided the motel complex.

A superceding indictment filed Sept. 10 claimed Embry operated a drug trafficking organization out of the motel along with eight others, who conspired to possess and distribute crack cocaine.

Embry, on Wednesday, agreed to plead guilty to the single conspiracy count with the understanding that prosecutors would drop 28 other counts ranging from crack cocaine distribution to conspiring with two others, Devina Patel and Daxesh Patel, to lease, rent, use or maintain the motel for the purpose of manufacturing, storing and distributing crack cocaine.

Earlier this month, prosecutors dismissed drug conspiracy charges against Jermaine Dirty Red Mayes, initially named as a co-defendant with Embry.

Just prior to the dismissal of the charges, a grand jury issued a separate 20-count indictment against Mayes that accused him of crimes that are similar to those named in the indictment that included 10 other co-defendants.

Embry is the seventh person to enter a guilty plea thus far in the case.

Others who have entered guilty pleas and await sentencing include Samuel Bobo Cook, Walter Crawley, Kelly Baby Kelly Johnson, Marisha Meme Shaffer, Merchel Parker and Arijonna Jazz Newsome.

An indictment against an 11th individual was dismissed Feb. 1, according to court records.

A trial date for the Patels was tentatively set for March 21. Embry is scheduled to be sentenced May 12 in U.S. District Court in Tulsa.
Prosecutors charged an 18-year-old Nathan Hale High School student with multiple counts of rape Wednesday following accusations that he sexually assaulted a female special-needs student near school property earlier this month.

Sean Lynn Adams was charged with two counts of first-degree rape and one count of forcible sodomy in connection with the alleged Feb. 2 attack, according to court documents.

Police were called to the school about 1 p.m. Feb. 2 after a 17-year-old girl reported that another student had raped her at an off-campus location, police said.

The girl told police that Adams led her off campus to a Dumpster, where he reportedly raped her, according to his arrest and booking report.

The girl told police that she told Adams No, but he still assaulted her, according to the arrest and booking report.

Adams was arrested about 5:30 p.m. that day when he turned himself in at Tulsa Police Department headquarters. He was booked into Tulsa Jail on complaints of first-degree rape and forcibly sodomy, jail records indicate. He remains in jail in lieu of $100,000 bond, according to jail records.
An Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper chased Eufaula bank robber Cedric Norris north on U.S. 69 for three minutes on Jan. 21 before tapping Norris vehicle with his cruiser, causing it to crash, newly released dash-cam video footage shows.

Twelve seconds after his SUV ran off Onapa Road, Norris and authorities from three law enforcement agencies  the Eufaula Police Department, the McIntosh County Sheriffs Office and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol  began to exchange a minutes worth of gunfire. More than 40 shots can be heard on the audio, but its still not clear how many officers fired shots at Norris.

The Highway Patrol on Wednesday released copies of dash-cam videos from the trooper who led the chase and from another trooper who arrived as backup. The backup troopers video reveals that troopers received their first notice of the robbery at the Bank of Eufaula about five minutes before the first shot was fired on the highway.

One female black, one female white, and they do have a gun, a dispatcher, who had been told Norris was a woman, relayed to troopers about four minutes before the OHP took over the chase.

Norris, according to police, had an effeminate demeanor when he entered the bank at 9:31 a.m. Jan. 21, fatally shot bank president Randy Peterson, shot teller Betty Howell and took customer Julie Huff from the building as a hostage 63 seconds later.

Another trooper drove into Norris path in an attempt to stop him before the crash, but Norris evaded the roadblock. Less than a minute later, the trooper who led the chase is seen on video performing a tactical vehicle intervention, commonly called the pit maneuver.

We only use the pit maneuver as a last chance if theres an imminent danger to troopers, OHP Lt. John Vincent said Wednesday. If we think, We have to stop this guy, thats when we use TVI.

The same trooper can be seen on the video getting out of his patrol car after the crash to exchange gunfire with Norris. He reloaded his service pistol and eventually switched to an AR-15 rifle before the shootout ended.

Once the TVI was performed and the vehicle stopped, the trooper is being shot at. Theres also other law enforcement thats shooting, Vincent said of the incident.

Just think about the caliber of person that it took to open the door and engage the suspect in a gunfight. To me, that is the caliber of person that you want in the Highway Patrol and law enforcement in general, (a person) who will put himself in such great danger to end a threat.

OHP officials have not publicly identified the troopers who were involved in the shooting.

The footage does not show the shootout itself, nor does it show Huff, who Eufaula Police Chief Don Murray said Norris used as a human shield during the shootout.

Norris was shot around 9:48 a.m. and died at the scene, while Huff was shot multiple times but survived.

Previously released 911 call audio from the Eufaula Police Department, the McIntosh County Sheriffs Office and McIntosh County EMS indicated that officers were briefly unsure whether Huff was a hostage or an accomplice.

Dispatchers on those calls reported that it appeared Norris forced Huff to drive the vehicle, which Norris reportedly had stolen from an Irving, Texas, convenience store clerk during a Jan. 19 robbery there.

Court records show that Norris had dressed like a woman during robberies he committed in Tulsa and Sapulpa in January and February 2005, for which he received a combined 60-year prison sentence.

He was wrongly released from Texas Department of Criminal Justice custody on parole on Jan. 25, 2007, and in March 2012, despite having been sentenced in Tulsa and Creek counties in April and October 2006.

Texas prison officials maintain that they never received the proper paperwork notifying them of Norris Oklahoma convictions, while the Tulsa County Sheriffs Office has said it followed protocol when it filed a detainer with Texas to bring Norris back to stand trial in Tulsa County in April 2006.
Several recurring concerns with the financial operations and oversight of the Tulsa Jail inmate trust fund account cropped up in regular audits dating back to at least 2009  including warnings of the potential for misappropriation of funds or impropriety.

The inmate trust account will be the subject of a special audit involving a forensic accountant and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation at the request of Tulsa County prosecutors. The account holds funds for inmates to use on commissary items or phone card purchases.

Sheriffs Office spokesman Justin Green previously has said attempts to reconcile the account with in-house auditors and an outside certified public accountant have failed since discrepancies were discovered in 2012. The issue was uncovered by the Sheriffs Office financial team, said Green, who noted the account was overseen by jail employees and not the financial team.

Statutes entrust the Tulsa County Sheriffs Office with establishing a checking account to manage those funds and maintain them apart from regular county funds.

In addition to misappropriated funds or impropriety, other potential negative ramifications listed in the audits as possibilities were unrecorded transactions, misstated financial reports and undetected errors.

A source with direct knowledge of the situation told the Tulsa World on Wednesday that approximately $25,000 is missing from the account. The source said a Sheriffs Office employee working at the jail resigned after a personnel investigation.

Green on Wednesday explained that each inmates account falls under an umbrella account that contains enough money to handle all day-to-day transactions. However, if all inmates were to remove their funds at once, there would be a shortage.

That would be a fair assumption, and I dont know how much of a shortfall, Green said, adding that the Sheriffs Office wont know an exact figure until after the special audit is completed.

State Auditor and Inspector Gary Jones said the special probe likely will begin in late February or early March after the conclusion of his offices regular financial statement audit.

Weve had an issue with these accounts not balancing for a while, Jones said, noting investigators wont know for certain if its bad accounting or something else until they dig into the matter.

Jones said he was unsure how long the audit might take.

Prior concerns repeatedly raised

Audits conducted by the state auditors office for fiscal years 2009 and 2011 through 2014 are available online. They contain a litany of concerns raised throughout the years, many of which are repeat findings.

The 2011 audit found several issues, notably with two selected deposits involving large sums of money.

The first was a deposit in which the deposit slip didnt match the days report or the intake report. The deposit amounted to $12,108.

On another deposit, the report indicated a deposit of $3,721. However, $12,117 was actually put into the account. The deposit was made into the correct account, but it was made on a slip from the bank instead of from the deposit book.

The 2012 audit also raised several concerns with the inmate trust fund account involving receipts and reconciliations, disbursements, mailroom receipts and lack of segregation of duties.

Several examples of issues found with receipts and reconciliations were:

Bank reconciliations werent performed prior to May 1, 2012, and there was no evidence of independent verification of monthly reconciliations.

The Sheriffs Office couldnt provide some receipt books, deposit books and inmate booking reports. Some of the receipt books were illegible or improperly utilized.

Deposit slips and copies of them for the entirety of fiscal 2012 were missing.

Booking receipts couldnt be traced to any printed reports from July 2011 to December 2011.

All funds collected at the front desk of the jail arent kept secure during the desk shift.

Procedures for receipts and deposits in the mailroom were determined to be inadequate. Auditors noted only checks and money orders were accepted, but there was no oversight to ensure if cash was received in error that the correct amount is returned to the sender. The audit reported there were no surveillance cameras in the mailroom.

An inadequate segregation of duties also was reported. Prior to May 1, 2012, according to the audit, one person administered and performed all inmate account duties, which included processing funds, preparing deposits and managing bank accounts.

Each audit also contains responses from the Sheriffs Office, either disputing issues or explaining changes implemented to rectify the concerns.

Green said the Sheriffs Office reached out to the state auditor after finding the discrepancy in 2012 and then implemented the offices suggestions and recommendations.

The special audit

The state auditor noted the issues raised by prior audits, as well as employees voicing concerns, brought the case to the point of taking a deeper look.

Jones referenced attempts by the Sheriffs Office to figure out the issue. He said the state auditors office has a separate investigative division headed by a certified public accountant who specializes in these types of matters. He also noted his office has IT specialists, a former FBI agent who also is an attorney and an investigator who has worked for district attorneys, as well as several other experts.

Were a little more prepared to look at this type of thing than most people, Jones said.

The cost of the special audit will come from a county audit account. Jones said statutes dictate one-tenth of a mill goes into the account each year, which is more than enough to pay for the regular audits. Typically the leftovers are released back into the general fund, he said.

We dont anticipate its going to be a huge amount, Jones said of the special audits cost.
OKLAHOMA CITY  State Rep. Pam Peterson won support Wednesday for a bill to address the spiraling growth of Oklahomas prison population.

The lawmakers measure would raise the threshold from $500 to $1,000 before a nonviolent property crime is classified as a felony, which would keep many offenders from costly prison and jail sentences.

More than 30 states have raised their thresholds for imprisoning nonviolent felons, according to a national study by the PEW Charitable Trusts. Texas has increased its threshold to $2,500 for these nonviolent property crimes. At least 20 states have adopted at least a $1,000 threshold.

I think we are doing the right thing in addressing an ever-increasing number of people locked up in prisons, said Peterson, R-Tulsa.

Oklahoma locks up more women per capita than any other state and rates second or third highest in the number of men held in Oklahoma prisons.

Lawmakers are grappling with the problem of the states prison population reaching 119 percent capacity, at a time when the next state budget projection is expected to result in at least a $1 billion shortfall.

Petersons measure, House Bill 2751, now heads to the full House. Peterson is chairwoman of the Criminal Justice and Corrections Committee that approved the measure.

Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater urged members of the Criminal Justice and Corrections Committee to decrease the penalties to a more realistic level.

A few years ago, Oklahoma passed a law to require that some low-level prisoners must be provided with rehabilitation for drug abuse and alcoholism before being released.

Frankly, the Department of Corrections is not providing these treatment services now because they dont have the money, Prater said.

Peterson noted that Gov. Mary Fallin in her State of the State address last week talked about how the theft of just a cell phone could result in a felony conviction.

Two committee members expressed concern that the legislation might not take into consideration whether a suspect had committed several offenses that could total more than the $1,000 threshold. Peterson got an amendment passed addressing that problem.

Those questioning the measure were Rep. Mark McCullough, R-Sapulpa, and Rep. Scott Biggs, R-Chickasha.

The legislation was drawn up based on a recommendation by the governors Oklahoma Justice Reform Steering Committee.

Included on that committee were several members from Tulsa, including former Tulsa County District Attorney Tim Harris, District Judge Doug Drummond and several assistant district attorneys for the county.
OKLAHOMA CITY  Oklahoma needs to close some of its prisons, Department of Corrections Interim Director Joe Allbaugh said Wednesday.

On the job for about a month so far, Allbaugh said state prisons have capital needs in excess of $750 million.

We are going to have to close some facilities, and that is going to cause a lot of pain, particularly with people who dont believe their facility should be at risk, Allbaugh said during an interview with the Tulsa World. I understand that, but either we gain some efficiencies in the system or give me more money to build a prison.

Some facilities arent safe for staff, offenders or administrators, and it is just a matter of time before we have a serious incident, Allbaugh said.

Asked which facilities he is considering closing, Allbaugh said: Well, I dont know. I am not there yet.

Allbaugh, the former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, replaced Robert Patton, who announced in December his resignation from his position as corrections director to take a job in Arizona.

During his first weeks on the job, Allbaugh has been visiting prisons.

And he has seen a lot: low morale among underpaid correctional officers; programs that work but dont have enough support; doors and locks on cells that dont work but still house offenders; individuals at community centers and halfway houses that are not supervised properly; a draconian paper filing system to keep track of offender histories; holes in fences; and a system at 122 percent of capacity.

He described the bare bones staffing at the correctional officer level as unnerving.

The overriding story is that there is a problem in the Department of Corrections, Allbaugh said. And the governor, Legislature and society as a whole have ownership of this problem.

He points to mandatory sentences that send offenders to prison for long stays.

He supports sentencing reform but said it is not the agencys bailiwick.

That is not what we do, he said.

While he said he is not a fan of using private prisons, given the states situation, they are a relief valve for the state, he said.

Right now, (the private prisons) are saving our bacon, he said.

Private prisons in Sayre and Watonga could be used to help relieve pressure on state prisons, he said.

Allbaugh is originally from Oklahoma. He has been living in Austin, Texas, but has a ranch in the Blackwell area. He has known Gov. Mary Fallin for more than 35 years, and he wanted to return to Oklahoma.

He watched from afar as Oklahoma came under national scrutiny for how it handled executions.

Since then, the agency has made significant changes to ensure that human errors do not put the state under the microscope again, he said.

I am confident what has happened before will not happen again, he said.

Allbaugh said he believes in the death penalty and that the day will come when executions resume in Oklahoma.

We will be ready, and I have confidence in the men and women on the team and the individuals that it will be done right, he said.

Allbaugh wears boots, slacks, a white shirt embroidered with his initials, a large belt buckle, rings and bracelets.

That is (for) my youngest nephew, Allbaugh said when asked about one of the bracelets. He was killed in Al Anbar Province. I wear it for him.

Marine Capt. Jeremy Allbaugh, 21, of Harrah was killed in Iraq in July 2007.

Allbaugh, 63, said in response to a question that he is not really a religious person. He used to like to hunt and fish when he had time, he said.

He likes Braums ice cream and milk.

I think I have told people around the world it is the best stuff going on, Allbaugh said.

He describes himself as a workaholic.

I thrive on making things happen, Allbaugh said. Talk is cheap in my world. Action is everything.

He said he has the ability to make decisions, enforce them and hold people accountable, including himself.

Dont make me the story, he said. I want the system to be the story. It is about a broken system that horribly needs attention and needs to be fixed. Everybody in the state has ownership of how it got this bad and how we need to fix it.

We are all in this together. I dont have a magic wand, but I do know how to correct things and make things happen.

At the end of the day, he wants to have made a difference, he said.

Kevin Gross, chairman of the Board of Corrections, said when Allbaugh was appointed interim director in January that the board was hopeful that a permanent hire could be made within eight months.

Regardless of whether Allbaugh is on the job for a few months or years, he hopes that when looking back, people will say, I am glad he stopped by.
Tulsa Public Schools may award a contract approaching $920,000 to a consulting firm that would help the district take its new five-year strategic plan from a vision into reality, officials say.

The contract would be fully funded by donors.

The school board heard details of the partnership during a special meeting Wednesday evening and will vote on the contract at its regular meeting next week.

The contract would be with the Boston Consulting Group  or BCG  whose education experts can help establish better governance and accountability, streamline processes, and integrate and leverage technology for maximum improvement in teaching and student learning, its website says.

The consulting group has numerous offices across the country and around the world.

Superintendent Deborah Gist told board members that because of the significance of the budget reductions school districts are experiencing, many schools will have to pull back and hunker down and say, Were going to have to hold steady with what we have or make do. But she said BCGs work would allow the district to avoid that.

We are saying we are going to boldy expand what were doing, how were serving students, how were supporting our teachers, despite the fact that we have these reductions, Gist said. In doing that, were saying, We will be doing more with less.

If approved, the contract would take effect in mid-February and extend through early summer, said TPS Chief of Staff Paula Shannon.

She told the Tulsa World that BCG will help the district take its strategic plan through its next stage, translating its vision into an actionable plan.

BCGs work would be divided into three phases.

The first phase would focus on developing a sequence of priorities, Shannon said.

BCG and the district would think of the strategic plan in its entirety and what must be accomplished in order to understand what needs to happen first and determine the priorities.

The first phase of work would also include identifying the people, time and money required to accomplish the plan.

Shannon referred to Phase II of the work as intensive action planning, when everything would be fleshed out in detail.

According to the board agenda item, this phase would include the development of implementation-ready action plans and a refined district plan containing a master timeline, human resource needs, as well as capability and financial requirements.

The third phase of the work would focus on developing and implementing a structure, process, and set of tools and skills that will be needed, as well as a way to annually evaluate priorities.

A communication and stakeholder engagement plan would also be designed to keep board members and the community up to date on priorities and progress.

Shannon said the firm would also help the district set up an innovation team.

Patti Ferguson-Palmer, president of the Tulsa Classroom Teachers Association, told the Tulsa World that Gist spoke to her about the contract.

Ferguson-Palmer said she does not oppose the contract because it will be donor-funded, although she said she could pick other things that I would want for them to do with their money.

But she said if the money were coming out of the districts general fund, shed have a real problem with it.

Last month, TPS announced $2.1 million in budget cuts for this year because of the states revenue failure. Another round of cuts is expected from the state this month, and additional cuts are expected next school year. The district instituted a limited hiring freeze through June.

Shannon acknowledged that in the current climate of budget difficulties, it might seem counterintuitive to make such a big investment in the consulting contract. But she said this work would provide the district with a blueprint for the future it wants.

We need to keep a focus on long-term sustainability, she said.

Board member Suzanne Schreiber said the district is fortunate to have the generous support of philanthropists, which allows it to move forward with such work.

The district settled on BCG after a multiweek selection process. Shannon said the firm, which was founded in the 1960s, has had a dedicated education team for more than a decade. It has worked extensively with Atlanta Public Schools during its school turnaround process, as well as with schools in New Orleans and Florida.

A group of three to five people from BCG would be at the TPS Education Service Center four to five days a week throughout the course of the contract, Shannon said.

The contract is set for a vote by the school board at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the center, at 3027 S. New Haven Ave.
Poroshenko to Lagarde: Ukraine needs government to be reset without snap Rada election; road map for reforms will be drawn up

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has had a phone conversation with Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde during which they discussed the current political situation in Ukraine and ways of improving it, the presidential press service reported.

"The president highlighted the necessity of refreshing the Cabinet of Ministers without early parliamentary elections that will only deepen the political crisis and deteriorate the conditions for reforms," the presidential press service said.

Poroshenko also pledged that Ukraine would continue reforms despite the crisis in relations between the government and the parliamentary coalition. He also announced his willingness to carry out decisive actions to ensure political and financial stability in the country.

"The parties agreed to elaborate a roadmap of the top-priority reforms that will give a boost to the Ukraine-IMF relations," the press service said.

They also agreed on the necessity of urgent adoption of all reform-oriented laws by the Ukrainian parliament.

Later, a statement on the results of the talks between Lagarde and Poroshenko was posted on the website of the IMF, in which the managing director said that their discussion was constructive.

"The president reassured me of his unwavering commitment to reforms, including improving governance and fighting corruption. We agreed on the principle of a roadmap of actions and priority measures to ensure prompt progress under the program, which will help keep Ukraine on a path toward robust and sustainable growth," the statement says.

As reported, on Wednesday Lagarde said that it was hard for the IMF to continue its cooperation with Ukraine under the Extended Fund Facility program without a substantial effort to fight corruption.

"I am concerned about Ukraine's slow progress in improving governance and fighting corruption, and reducing the influence of vested interests in policymaking. Without a substantial new effort to invigorate governance reforms and fight corruption, it is hard to see how the IMF-supported program can continue and be successful," she said in a statement published on Wednesday.

"Ukraine risks a return to the pattern of failed economic policies that has plagued its recent history. It is vital that Ukraine's leadership acts now to put the country back on a promising path of reform," Lagarde said.

Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko confirmed the plan to raise $8-10 billion in financial assistance from external creditors in 2016, including $5.8 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
WASHINGTON  Sen. Jim Inhofe might allow a vote soon on the man nominated to be the head watchdog at the Veterans Affairs Department, he said Tuesday, but hes still not satisfied that there will be an independent review of Oklahomas veterans hospitals.

Inhofe, R-Oklahoma, met on Capitol Hill with Michael Missal, whose nomination as VA inspector general is pending in the Senate. For the past week, Inhofe has prevented a vote on the nomination as he seeks assurances that someone outside the VAs bureaucracy will investigate the VA centers in Oklahoma City and Muskogee.

After the meeting, Inhofes office was notified that the chief of staff at the Jack C. Montgomery VA Medical Center in Muskogee had been reassigned. Inhofe said that was the result of a report done by the VAs regional office that oversees Oklahoma and several other states. The senator had requested the review by the Rocky Mountain region of the Veterans Integrated Service Network.

Based on the influx of veterans calling my office for help after seeking care at the Muskogee VA Medical Center, it is clear the nine investigations conducted by the VAs Office of Inspector General over the past decade didnt prompt any substantive changes and business had continued as usual at the facility, Inhofe said.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP)  Objecting to the Arkansas Supreme Court ruling that lower-court judges can require defendants to pay their bail in cash, the high court's chief justice on Thursday cited a musician seldom thought of as a legal scholar: Johnny Cash.

Interim Chief Justice Howard Brill cited Cash's song "Starkville City Jail" in a dissent, saying it was wrong for the court's majority to deny a defendant's objection to a $300,000 cash-only bail in an aggravated assault and domestic battery case.

"After being arrested for trespassing and picking flowers, Johnny Cash spent the night in the Starkville City Jail," Brill wrote. "His ballad suggests he was not taken before a magistrate or given the opportunity to be released on bail."

In a 5-2 ruling, the court dismissed Ramon Trujillo's argument that the lower court erred in requiring cash-only bail. Trujillo's attorney argued that the state constitution requires defendants be allowed to post a bond rather than be required to pay the bail amount in cash.

"The purpose of bail in Arkansas is to ensure the presence of the defendant, and cash-only does not restrict a defendant's constitutional rights pending trial," Justice Karen Baker wrote in the court's majority opinion.

Brill, who was appointed last year to serve the remainder of the late Chief Justice Jim Hannah's term, devoted the first page of his dissent to the song by Cash recounting his 1965 public drunkenness arrest in Starkville, Mississippi. Brill acknowledged cash-only bail may have advantages, but expressed concern it could be used punitively in larger amounts.

"Requiring cash-only for bail strips a person of his constitutional right to provide any sufficient surety for his release," Brill wrote.

Another justice objecting to the ruling said requiring cash-only bonds would punish poorer defendants.

"This decision will disproportionately impact the poor, as well as those whose wealth is invested and do not have ready at their disposal large sums of cash," Justice Jo Hart wrote in a separate dissent.

___

Follow Andrew DeMillo on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ademillo
In any business or government service, continued investment can only be justified by results. Conventional wisdom concedes that public school teachers are not paid enough for what is expected from them. Yet the same public that sympathizes with those teachers, never seem to ask what is reasonable to expect for their investments.

While front-line teachers are on the short end of the financial stick, there always seems to be plenty of money available to provide administrators and superintendents with six-figure incomes and benefits. So, as taxpayers, just what are we getting for what we invest? Nobody seems to want to ask that question, or even demand an answer?

As an adjunct instructor, I taught college for 13 years. Of almost 2,000 students who came from dozens of states and school districts, I was stunned by one undeniable fact: The overwhelming majority of freshman students who arrived in my classes less than three months after graduating from high school were abysmally ignorant and unprepared for college work.

Many of them couldnt spell, formulate a coherent sentence or create a simple math equation in their heads. When required to write a simple assignment, their grasp of grammar was elementary at best. They didnt know the difference between an adjective and a noun. Too many didnt know the difference between plural and possessive words, and they felt I was unfair by pointing out that there, theyre and their had entirely different meanings, even though their electronic crutches used them interchangeably. They often lacked the skills to take notes during lectures and class discussions, a condition that will inevitably worsen since cursive is no longer being taught in many elementary schools. Their grasp of geography was parochial at best. The overwhelming majority could not identify the 50 states of the union on a map. It is impossible to teach anyone about the Battle of Gettysburg if they dont know where Pennsylvania is, or anything about our government when they cant even name the vice president.

Those deficiencies cannot be laid entirely in the lap of classroom teachers. Some can be shouldered by parents and school boards. When I was a student in the Tulsa Public Schools, Tulsa Central High School offered Greek, Latin, and even astronomy. Today colleges have to provide remedial reading, math and elementary English classes not just for foreign students, but for far too many native-born Americans who were passed when they should have been held back until they mastered their subjects.

We had shop where we learned how to handle tools, the basics of carpentry, electronics, pipe-fitting, and mechanics. Shop no longer exists or has been pared down substantially. We also learned capitalistic economics and the basics of investing money and balancing checkbooks. These skills came in very handy after graduation.

We even had supervised extracurricular archery, rifle and pistol activities. In fact, Will Rogers High School was built with a rifle and pistol range. There was never an accident, but those activities have been squashed by gun control politics and the fear of insurance companies that one might occur. Today if a small boy points his finger, he may be suspended or expelled by educators who prefer no tolerance rules to common sense.

Of course, more funding is needed. But attempting to justify increasing taxation on cigarettes as a means of raising salaries is ludicrous. Once made, those pay raises could not be cut back. If the state is successful in reducing smoking, then where will the money come from?

Recently, we lost a major industry to Massachusetts because of our failing schools. The bottom line is that if we want jobs that come with an educated population, we need to pay what is necessary to achieve that objective. Anything less is just political hyperbole. Otherwise ignorance will continue to be even more expensive.

Ed Wheeler is a retired Oklahoma National Guard brigadier general and former U.S. history, American federal government and cultural geography instructor at Tulsa Community College from 1999 to 2014. He has taught at several other colleges including the University of Oklahoma, the University of Tulsa and the U.S. Army War College.
One of the candidates for Chairman in the People's National Movement's internal election says there is a major detachment between those in office and people at the grass root level. Kenneth Butcher says things need to change from the inside.
Justice Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Petrenko has said that the state register of ownership rights to immovable property is free from risk, and information in the register is protected from abuses by persons who have access to it.

"Our register is protected directly by the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection As for the fact that we get rid of these Soviet documents, certificates and other documents, I would give you a figure. In 2014, the state spent UAH 360 million on these certificates and concrete private companies received the money," the minister said at a meeting of the parliamentary committee for economic policy in Kyiv on Wednesday.

He said that Ukrainian notaries carried out 50% of all registration actions in Ukraine in the first two months when they were authorized to register business and property.

"As for the register of business  5,000 out of 7,000 notaries have been connected to the register and work In two months of the operation no claim regarding notaries under the new law has been filed, and I hope that their number would be small," Petrenko said.

As reported, Ukrainian notaries started providing business and property registration services from December 21, 2015.

The new law on the state registration of ownership rights to immovable property took effect on January 1, 2016. Notaries have the full range of powers as state registrars of ownership rights to property.
Nine and WIN will go to trial in the NSW Supreme Court in April over disagreement on Nine streaming into regional markets.

WIN is alleging that Nine has breached the its program supply agreement and is seeking damages.

Nine will claim it discussed amending the contract to enable WIN to obtain a right to internet stream Nines program schedule. However, the two sides failed to agree to terms.

The final trial to be heard on April 13 and 14 will include evidence from a senior Nine employee on the broadcasters understanding of the definition of broadcast as well as the means in which Nine streams over the internet.

Although the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 prevents a commercial TV broadcast licence holder from exceeding 75 per cent of the population, it does not extend to live-streaming.

The trial will be heard on April 13 and 14.

Source: AFR, The Australian
Much-publicised legal action over piracy of The Dallas Buyers Club has come to an end with lawyers representing Dallas Buyers Club LLC confirming they will not be appealing a December ruling.

Michael Bradley, managing partner of Marque Lawyers has said that DBC LLCs decision was a purely commercial one, based on the costs and benefits of taking the case further.

In April last year, DBC LLC was granted the right to access the details of 4726 account holders accused of sharing its film online.

Originally DBC LLC wanted the cost of the film, plus a fee for each individual who had viewed, punitive damages based on the volume of copyrighted works that werent Dallas Buyers Club each individual had downloaded, and costs incurred to gain access to each individuals details.

However, in August Justice Perram ordered that DBC LLC would only be able to seek the cost of the film, a single reasonable license fee, and court costs.

The license fee became a sticking point, with DBC LLC unable to confirm what it would consider reasonable.

DBC LLC was also restricted from viewing the customer details of iiNet account holders until it paid a substantial bond and could convince the court it wouldnt start sending the alleged pirates high bills for damages.

Obviously, this is all extremely frustrating for rights holders because they know their IP is being pirated, serially and on a massive scale, said Bradley. They know its possible to identify whos doing it. While the copyright law remains as it is, their rights wont go away and I expect theyll continue to seek a practical way to enforce them.

Meanwhile non-profit group Internet Australia believes that it is time to accept the pointlessness of current strategies to deal with content piracy.

It would be in the best interests of content producers, as opposed to content distributors, if we all accepted that the main reason why most people unlawfully download is that they cant get what they want through legitimate channels. There is ample research evidence that people are willing to pay if they can get the content theyre after. In fact, surveys show that the people who pirate are also among the most active legal downloaders, commented CEO Laurie Patton.

There is little evidence from overseas that these warning notice schemes actually work and that are quite expensive to administer. Understandably, then, why would either party want to bear the costs of running something that isnt going to achieve much? It is not surprising, therefore, that the copyright notice scheme hasnt materialised.

The group supports intellectual property rights but not the blocking of websites.

Source: IT News, Gizmodo, CNet
Sevens Live coverage of Australias major horse races returns tomorrow from Caulfield with the Group 1, weight-for-age CF Orr Stakes.

A crack field of 18 runners has been assembled for the $500,000 feature race, including 13 Group 1 winners. Turn Me Loose will be aiming to continue his winning form as Lucky Hussler aims to beat the star Kiwi galloper after defeats last year.

Well also be heading to Randwick for the Apollo Stakes featuring superstar mare and last years Cox Plate winner Winx, who will jump an odds-on favourite.

Jason Richardson hosts the coverage with racing expert and 16-time Group 1 winning jockey Simon Marshall.

The Victorian races will also be live on Racing.com, Channel 78 (metro) or 68 (regional) including extensive coverage of the mounting yards.

As the free-to-air home of thoroughbred horseracing Seven broadcasts every major meeting on the Australian calendar including the Magic Millions, Sydney Easter Carnival, Stradbroke Handicap, Caulfield Cup Carnival, WS Cox Plate, and the Melbourne Cup Carnival.

Saturday Arvo Racing

Saturday February 13

Orr Stakes

Melbourne 2pm Live on 7TWO

Sydney 2pm Live on 7TWO

Brisbane 1pm Live on 7TWO

Adelaide 1.30pm Live on 7TWO

Perth 11am Liveon 7TWO
Russian Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin has confirmed that former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky was declared internationally wanted.

"Mikhail Khodorkovsky has been put on the international wanted list," Markin told Interfax on Thursday.

Khodorkovsky was declared internationally wanted last December, he added.

Meanwhile, a source familiar with the situation told Interfax earlier on Thursday that Khodorkovsky was put on the Interpol wanted list as part of an inquiry into the murder of Neftyugansk Mayor Vladimir Petukhov.

"The Interpol National Bureau for Russia, acting on the basis of the materials received from the Prosecutor General's Office of Russia and the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, has declared Khodorkovsky internationally wanted. The relevant decision has been forwarded to Interpol's Central Bureau in Lyon," the source said.

On October 25, 2003, Khodorkovsky was arrested on charges of misappropriation and tax evasion. In 2005, he was found guilty of fraud and other crimes. Bearing in mind subsequent appeals, his prison term as set by the court totaled ten years and ten months.

On November 12, 2013, Khodorkovsky, without admitting his guilt, asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to pardon him citing family reasons. On December 20, 2013, Putin signed a decree pardoning the former Yukos CEO.

Russian Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin announced on June 30, 2015 that a criminal investigation into the murder of the Neftyugansk mayor had been resumed.

Neftyugansk Mayor Petukhov was shot dead on his way to work on June 26, 1998. At that time, Yukos was the main employer in the city and the mayor allegedly had a conflict with the company over unpaid taxes to the local budget. The mayor demanded that a criminal investigation be launched against Yukos. Former head of the Yukos security department Alexei Pichugin was convicted of killing Petukhov.
4:15 p.m., Feb. 11, 2016--More than 1,000 high school students from around the globe are working together in teams to conceive and pitch ideas for new business concepts and social ventures as participants in the 2016 Diamond Challenge for High School Entrepreneurs.

The challenge is a signature part of the Paul and Linda McConnell Youth Entrepreneurship Initiative led by the Horn Program in Entrepreneurship at the University of Delaware.

Students representing 22 countries and 16 states created submissions for either the Business Concept or Social Venture competition. Student teams will then pitch their ideas at live events around the world or via video.

Entrepreneurs and business leaders will select semifinalist teams to compete at the Horn Programs Youth Entrepreneurship Summit (YES!) at UD on Friday, April 15. A total of $50,000 in cash rewards will be awarded to finalists and semifinalists.

We are thrilled to reach such a broad and diverse community of high school students through the Diamond Challenge platform, said Julie Frieswyk, manager of youth programs for the Horn Program.

Were deeply committed to providing young people around the world access to empowering educational programs and experiences that will unleash their creativity, encourage innovative thinking and inspire students to put their talents and dreams into action to create value for themselves and others.

Participating students received access to an online curriculum in entrepreneurship developed and presented by Horn Program faculty. Students were also partnered with mentors to guide and support their development. These mentors included business leaders, successful entrepreneurs and many members of the UD community.

"The Diamond Challenge dares students to think creatively, collaborate effectively and work persistently to create a product that will change the world, said John Downey, a senior at Christian Brothers Academy in Lincroft, New Jersey. The access to great mentors is also an incredibly useful tool for students looking to fine-tune a proposal or ask for an educated opinion."
8:46 a.m., Feb. 11, 2016--Undergraduate engineering students at the University of Delaware who apply this month may have a uniquely tailored opportunity to study abroad in over 20 countries beginning in the fall.

The opportunities are a direct result of UD recently joining the elite Global Engineering Exchange (Global E3), a consortium of universities dedicated to international education and exchange for engineering students.

According to Michael Vaughan, associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Engineering, This partnership is critical to the colleges success in the international exchange program space. It provides a robust global infrastructure for our college to leverage in order to create value-added experiences for our students all over the world.

Membership in the Global E3 consortium, Vaughan continued, will allow students a gateway into creating future global impact. Our dean offers a challenge to all who would join our ranks which simply states  lets go change the world together. Implicit in this challenge is the expectation that our students, during their educational process, would experience a bit about the world that they are trying to change for the better.

Composed of over 70 institutions worldwide, the program will allow students to take engineering coursework at any member university outside of the U.S., with choices in Asia, Australia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East at the cost of University of Delaware tuition.

Global E3 students will be able to receive UD credit for courses taken abroad, making it possible to stay on schedule for graduation.

Kim Bothi, who worked with the College of Engineering deans office to bring Global E3 to campus, describes the program as filling a necessary void in global academic experiences that will further develop UD graduates into well-rounded engineers.

The demanding nature of our engineering curriculum often makes it challenging for students to participate in study abroad outside of Winter Session, she said, adding that through this vetted consortium of partner institutions, students will benefit from not only staying on track with their studies, but also gain critical cross-cultural experience.

The partnership will also bring Global E3 international exchange students to the college, which Bothi noted is great way to enrich the classroom environment for our UD students remaining on campus.

In addition to core engineering coursework, students may enroll in language instruction at their host university and take part in an internship in an industrial or laboratory setting. These elements of the competitive program will position participants for leadership in future international and professional settings.

Interested students may choose to study abroad for the fall semester or a full academic year, and must apply via the Institute for Global Studies application portal by 5 p.m., Monday, Feb. 15.

Once nominated by the University, the number of students chosen will be dependent on the number of inbound students from other host institutions around the world. It is anticipated that up to seven students will be selected this year.

Each participant university does provide on-campus housing, available to all Global E3 students. Individuals are encouraged to apply or reserve their housing space via their host university.

Transportation costs will be the responsibility of the student.

Those who wish to speak with an ambassador associate about daily life during the program are welcome to contact study abroad coordinator Matt Drexler, who will forward the message to a current Global E3 student.

Established by a group of leading universities in 1995, Global E3 is administered by the Institute for International Education (IIE) and has been funded by the National Science Foundation, AT&T Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Education, among others.

For additional information on the program, visit the Institute for Global Studies website or contact Kim Bothi, associate director for science and engineering and faculty director.

About the Institute for Global Studies

The Institute for Global Studies was created in 2009 to enhance the international dimensions of teaching, research and outreach at the University of Delaware. IGS provides leadership and support for programs and experiences that contribute to the education of informed, skilled, open-minded citizens of the world.

Best known for coordinating the Universitys study abroad program, IGS also awards scholarships and grants to faculty and students for a number of global opportunities, and administers internationally-recognized State Department-sponsored programs such as the UD Fulbright Initiative, Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) Student Leaders Institute, Mandela Washington Fellowship Program for Young African Leaders, and most recently the Study of the U.S. Institutes for Student Leaders on Womens Leadership (SUSI-WL) program.

IGS sponsors such signature events as Global Month each fall and country-specific celebrations each spring.

IGS collaborates with other global partners on campus, including the Office for International Students and Scholars, the Confucius Institute and the Center for Global and Area Studies. In addition, IGS partners with Enrollment Management to coordinate the UD World Scholars Program.
1:03 p.m., Feb. 11, 2016--Study abroad was the highlight of my entire University of Delaware experience, said Michael Bennett, a 2000 alumnus and founder of the California-based transformational travel company, Muddy Shoe Adventures.

Looking back, Bennetts own life-changing UD study abroad experience to Costa Rica in 1999 would be the impetus for a 13-year journey toward inspiring others to do the same.

As I sat in Costa Rica, reflecting on all of my experiences, I started thinking about what I wanted to do with my life, he said. I came to the realization that life is short and nothing can or should be taken for granted.

A marketing major, Bennett found himself enrolling in internationally-focused courses once he returned from the Spanish language program directed by Suzanne Tierney Gula.

Upon graduation, he traveled the world while working in marketing, higher education admissions, and organizational development and counseling.

Bennett then went on to earn his global MBA and doctor of education degrees from Pepperdine University.

It was during his doctoral dissertation in organizational leadership that Bennett stumbled upon 38 interviews of individuals who had experienced life-changing adventure travel. The interviews were recorded by his now business partner, Don Mankin, author of Riding the HulaHula to the Arctic Ocean.

These interviews, vetted and analyzed by Bennett, became the basis for his next entrepreneurial venture, Muddy Shoe Adventures, and an e-book, The Ultimate Guide to Transformational Travel.

Now in its third year of business, Muddy Shoe Adventures offers 8-10 day guided journeys around the world including Italy, Nepal, Namibia, Norway and Switzerland. At each stop, the company relies on primarily local, family owned businesses to provide in-country guides, goods and services.

Our goal is for participants to adopt new, more empowering stories about who they are, what they are capable of, and where they want to go in their life, Bennett said.

Bennetts research, based on Joseph Campbells model of The Heros Journey, posits that there are eight key steps to transforming ones life through travel. Among them all, he says that two  meaningful reflection and an intentional action  stand out.

You can travel to a brand new place, meet new people, and really challenge and immerse yourself in the experience, he said. The sort of coup de grace is to take time to reflect on that and to let it inform your life once you return.

This advice is timely, as over 1,100 UD study abroad students arrived back on campus for the spring semester this week.

To these students, Bennett said, Costa Rica was the launch for my current path. It has been a winding one, but none of this would have happened if it werent for study abroad.

Study abroad returnees looking for opportunities to continue their global engagement at UD are invited to attend the Spring Study Abroad and Global Studies Fair, where representatives from the Universitys globally-focused academic minors, the UD Fulbright initiative, and International House Living and Learning community, among many others, will be on hand.

In addition, for those seeking to study abroad in the future, representatives from many of the over 70 winter and spring 2017 programs will be available to answer questions.

The event will be held from 2-5 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 24, in the Multipurpose Rooms of the Trabant University Center.

For additional information on study abroad at UD, visit the Institute for Global Studies website and follow @UDGlobal on Instagram and Twitter.

Those interested in learning more about Muddy Shoe Adventures, should visit the webpage or follow the company on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

About the Institute for Global Studies

The Institute for Global Studies was created in 2009 to enhance the international dimensions of teaching, research and outreach at the University of Delaware. IGS provides leadership and support for programs and experiences that contribute to the education of informed, skilled, open-minded citizens of the world.

Best known for coordinating the Universitys study abroad program, IGS also awards scholarships and grants to faculty and students for a number of global opportunities, and administers internationally-recognized State Department-sponsored programs such as the UD Fulbright Initiative, Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) Student Leaders Institute, Mandela Washington Fellowship Program for Young African Leaders, and most recently the Study of the U.S. Institutes for Student Leaders on Womens Leadership (SUSI-WL) program.

IGS sponsors such signature events as Global Month each fall and country-specific celebrations each spring.

IGS collaborates with other global partners on campus, including the Office for International Students and Scholars, the Confucius Institute and the Center for Global and Area Studies. In addition, IGS partners with Enrollment Management to coordinate the UD World Scholars Program.

Article by Nikki Laws

Photo Courtesy of Michael Bennett
The Russian Federation has fulfilled none of the clauses of the Minsk peace agreement, official representative of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mariana Betsa has said.

As of today, the Russian Federation has implemented none of the clauses of the Minsk agreement, she said at a press briefing in Kyiv on Thursday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

According to her, Russia-controlled illegal armed units in Donbas continue regular shelling of Ukraines Armed Forces positions.

Betsa also informed that there were over 1,200 attacks along the demarcation line in Donbas in January, while this month there were already over 500 attacks.

We are calling on the international community to strengthen the influence on the Russian Federation to ensure unconditional full fulfilment of the Minsk agreement, Betsa stressed.

iy
Iryna Gerashchenko believes that the OSCE has to demonstrate a tougher position to secure peace in Donbas at Minsk talks.

She told reporters today at a presentation of the report "The experience of conflict resolution in the world."

"We think that the OSCE as an organization created to secure peace, human rights, should take a tougher stance in talks held in Minsk. Not to defend the Ukrainian position, but its own position concerning violations committed by the Russian Federation," said Herashchenko.

She noted that the Ukrainian side has a very hard time at Minsk talks because of the fact that the OSCE takes a neutral position, the Kremlin seeks to act as an observer, and also the puppets of the Kremlin are present there.

Herashchenko said that "first, the puppets start talking, and then the same position is announced by the Russian side." She also said that the Minsk process is not an autonomous one, but it depends, primarily, on the Normandy format that defines the ways of peaceful settlement of the situation in east of Ukraine.

In this context Herashchenko hopes that a meeting in Munich in Normandy format will address not only security, but also the release of Ukrainian hostages.

She reminded that 136 people are now prisoners and 700 are considered missing persons in the occupied areas of Donbas.

Herashchenko noted that liberation of the hostages has been virtually frozen by the separatists now.
The European Union considers material and technical assistance to Ukraine in the security area as investment in the EU security, Ambassador of the EU to Ukraine Jan Tombinski has said.

"We believe that support of Ukraine is support of the EU: security has no borders and safe Ukraine is good for the EU. Our investment in this assistance is investment in security of the European Union," he said at a joint meeting of the Interior Ministry and Justice Ministry in Kyiv on Wednesday.

He said that Ukraine is on the way of reforms not because Europeans demand this, but Ukrainian society demands this.

"We're here as partners of Ukraine and we will be able to help," the ambassador said.
Ever wondered how the Russian Empire of the 20th century would have looked if color photography was invented during the 20th century? Would there have been any difference in its depiction, details or the story that the existing black and white pictures must have tried to convey? Think no more. Introducing Sergey Mikhaylovich Prokudin-Gorsky (August 30, 1863  September 27, 1944), a Russian chemist and a photographer who was renowned for his work in color photography of early 20th-century Russia.

Why are we talking about him? Well, around 1905, when color photography was still taking baby steps which would have eventually revolutionized the world, Prokudin-Gorsky thought and formulated a plan to use the emerging technology in a way different from the rest. The technique employed by Prokudin-Gorsky involved creating color images by exposing one oblong glass plate three times, in rapid succession, through three different color filters: red, green and blue (RGB). He then presented these color images in slides by projecting the three different color images through three different lenses, one on top of another. When the three images were projected in concert, a full color image could be seen. Prokudin-Gorsky was able to accomplish his ambitious project through the help of Tsar Nicholas II who not only provided him with a specially equipped railroad-car darkroom but also gave him possession of two permits that granted Prokudin-Gorsky access to restricted areas.

The photographer (more like a prodigy by now) captured some 2000 images of the Russian Empire around 1909 through 1915, capturing everything from people to architecture to the Empires expanding industrial infrastructure.

Presenting the absolutely genius work of the man-Prokudin-Gorsky, the following images will never have given you an iota of hint that they were taken in an era long gone:

A woman poses for Prokudin-Gorskii on a hillside near Artvin.

A switch operator poses on the Trans-Siberian Railroad, near the town of Ust Katav on the Yuryuzan River in 1910.

A woman is seated in a calm spot on the Sim River, part of the Volga watershed in 1910.

View of Tiflis (Tblisi), Georgia from the grounds of Saint David Church, ca. 1910.

A Georgian woman poses for a photograph, ca. 1910.

General view of Artvin (now in Turkey) from the small town of Svet, ca. 1910.

A group of Jewish children with a teacher in Samarkand, (in modern Uzbekistan), ca. 1910.

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Peasants harvesting hay in 1909. From the album Views along the Mariinskii Canal and river system, Russian Empire.

On the handcar outside Petrozavodsk on the Murmansk railway. Handcar riding along the Murmansk railroad, on the shore of Lake Onega. Taken in 1915.

Factory in Kyn, Russia, belonging to Count S.A. Stroganov, 1912.

Emir Seyyid Mir Mohammed Alim Khan, the Emir of Bukhara, seated holding a sword in Bukhara, (present-day Uzbekistan), ca. 1910.

A metal truss bridge on stone piers, part of the Trans-Siberian Railway, crossing the Kama River near Perm, Ural Mountains Region, ca. 1910.

View of the Nilova Monastery of St. Nil on Stolobnyi Island in Lake Seliger in Tver Province, northwest of Moscow.

Need some time in order to find your lost breath? Sergey Mikhaylovich Prokudin-Gorskys ultimate aim through this project was to educate the schoolchildren of Russia with his optical color projections of the vast and diverse history, culture, and modernization of the empire. Needless to say, his photographs, in the truest sense, represent a Lost World- Russian Empire, much of whose buildings were destroyed in the Bolshevik Revolution. Library of Congress purchased the complete canon of Prokudin-Gorskiis work for $3500$5000 from his sons in 1948. 150 of his photographs are now on display to the public in Paris Zadkine Museum, to commemorate what would have been Prokudin-Gorskiis 150th birthday.

[source: www.boston.com]
UNHCR Press Release

Budapest, 11 February 2016

UNHCR urges Central European leaders to show solidarity with refugees ahead of the V4 Summit

The UN Refugee Agency is urging leaders in Central Europe to show greater solidarity with desperate refugees who seek sanctuary in the continent as war, conflict and extremism force millions out of their homes.

UNHCR's call comes ahead of the Visegrad Group Summit in Prague on February 15, where leaders from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia will discuss regional issues, including the ongoing refugee crisis. Bulgaria and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are also invited to participate.

"While UNHCR fully understands that public opinions can sometimes be apprehensive about the unfolding situation in Europe, it is important to give both relocation and resettlement a chance to work. These tools of solidarity create an alternative to smuggling and trafficking and could reduce dangerous onward movements.

It is time for the leadership in Central Europe to set a strong example and commit to help families fleeing war and human rights violations, irrespective of their nationality or religion," said Montserrat Feixas Vihe, UNHCR's Regional Representative for Central Europe.

"Leaders in the region need to offer safety to people fleeing persecution. They cannot be bystanders during this unprecedented humanitarian situation. The world expects them to contribute to saving lives and restoring hope for those who have lost everything."

The V4 States were hosting some 25,000 refugees in 2015, 0.125 percent of the nearly 20 million global refugee population. Hungary received 177,000 asylum-seeker applications in 2015, but the vast majority of them left within a few days. The other three V4 countries combined received some 14,000 asylum claims.

"A unified humanitarian approach in Europe based on solidarity and responsibility sharing would turn this situation into a manageable, coordinated program ensuring people would find refuge, safety and dignity," said UNHCR's Feixas Vihe.

"Several times during their rich history, these very same countries have provided safe refuge for hundreds of thousands of refugees and could do so again."

END
The economic sub-group of the Trilateral Contact Group on Donbas has confirmed at a meeting on Wednesday the difficulties with the restoration of infrastructure in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, OSCE representative at Minsk talks Martin Sajdik told journalists on Wednesday.

"Despite the restoration of railway infrastructure and power lines in certain districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, further repair and recovery works are complicated by cease-fire violations. In particular, the logistics center opened earlier was closed for this same reason," Sajdik said.

Besides, the economic sub-group noted progress with water supply to the affected areas, Sajdik added.

The OSCE representative also informed that a sub-group on political issues had held the regular two-day meeting.

"T he modality of local elections in certain districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as issues of amnesty were discussed during the two-day meeting," Sajdik said.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will pay a working visit to Germany to participate in the 52nd Munich Security Conference on February 12-13, the president's press service reported.

The Ukrainian president will take part in the presidential debate, during which current challenges to the modern system of international security will be discussed.

During his visit to Germany, Poroshenko is scheduled to hold a number of bilateral meetings, in particular with the presidents of Romania, Lithuania, Poland, Finland, the president of the European Parliament, the NATO Secretary General and the leadership of the European Commission.

Earlier, an informed source told Interfax-Ukraine that in Munich, Poroshenko is expected to meet with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, European diplomacy chief Federica Mogherini, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk has said that one of the Cabinet's goals and priorities in 2016 is to ensure a transition of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to a contractual form of military service and effectively integrate the army into NATO.

"In reality, we are switching to a contractual army, and de-facto the Ukrainian Armed Forces must become NATO members, they must fully meet the standards and criteria of the North Atlantic Alliance," he said at a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, listing the goals the government has set itself for 2016.

Speaking about the Cabinet's plans of reforms, Yatseniuk listed large-scale transparent privatization of state-owned facilities and the adoption of respective laws as the first step. This concerns Odesa port-side chemical plant, Centrenergo, regional power distribution companies and other facilities whose privatization is not allowed, but they are not of strategic importance for state security.

Yatseniuk said that such companies should be put up for sale at auctions to "attract the investor, create jobs and boost the country's economic potential."

The next task of the reform is to further de-regulate the Ukrainian economy and relax administration and leverage over the economy.

"The third thing is the reform of the State Fiscal Service," Yatseniuk said.

Among other directions of changes in Ukraine is judicial reform, namely the adoption of a bill on amendments to the Constitution in part of the judicial system in a second reading with the simultaneous adoption of a new law on the judicial system and status of judges.

"Then goes the European Union. An agreement on the free trade area has already been signed. The full implementation of the agreement on the free trade zone is needed," he said, pointing to the need for the adoption of laws needed to introduce free travels to the EU.
The foreign ministers of Ukraine, Germany, France and Russia, the so-called Normandy Four, are planning to meet in Munich, Germany, on February 13, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maryana Betsa has said.

"We are planning such a meeting on the 13th on the sidelines of the Munich conference," she said at a briefing in Kyiv on Thursday.

In her words, the major subject on the ministers' agenda will be "the entire range of the implementation of the Minsk agreements."

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin announced plans on February 5 to hold the meeting in Munich on February 13.

On February 11, Director of the ministry's department for politics and communications Oleksiy Makeyev confirmed in a comment to Interfax-Ukraine that the four countries' foreign ministers would meet in Munich on February 13.

Later France's Ambassador to Russia Jean-Maurice Ripert said that it was not clear who would represent France at the meeting in connection with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius' resignation. In his words, a new minister is expected to be appointed on Thursday evening.

Ripert said he did not know the new minister's name but expressed the opinion that France's new foreign minister would not change that country's course within the Normandy format. "It is the president of the Republic and the government who determine the policy, and I don't think that the new minister will change that course," he said.
Panel at UW to Address Post-Paris Carbon Policy Feb. 24

Experts from academia, government and industry will discuss implications and opportunities stemming from the recent international agreement on carbon emissions Wednesday, Feb. 24, at the University of Wyoming.

Post-Paris Carbon Policy: Implications and Opportunities for the U.S. and the Globe will take place at 5:30 p.m. at the UW Conference Center. Sponsors are UWs School of Energy Resources, the Center for Global Studies and the Center for Law and Energy.

Panelists will discuss the status of international cooperation on carbon policy following the recent negotiations in Paris; national energy policy; the need to address the reality of carbon regulation in the United States; and strategies available to adjust to these changes.

Panelists are:

-- Ricardo Rick Nogueira, climate finance team leader in the U.S. Department of States Office of Global Change.

-- Charles Chuck Mason, the H.A. Dave True Chair in Petroleum and Natural Gas Economics in UWs Department of Economics and Finance.

-- Sam Kalen, the Winston S. Howard Distinguished Professor of Law in the UW College of Law and co-director of the Center for Law and Energy Resources in the Rockies.

-- David Lawrence, chairman of Lawrence Energy Group LLC and chairman of the Yale Climate and Energy Institute Advisory Board.

-- Michele Betsill, professor and chair of the Department of Political Science at Colorado State University, and co-leader of the Environmental Governance Working Group.

Jean Garrison, director of the Center for Global Studies and professor of international studies and political science at UW, will moderate the discussion.

A second panel discussion, Regulating Carbon in Coal Country and Beyond: Local, National and International Considerations, is planned April 4.
UW-Casper Offers Application Information Sessions

The University of Wyoming at Casper will offer two opportunities for community members to learn about its application processes and deadlines.

The first session will be held Tuesday, Feb. 23, at 3 p.m. in Room 420 Union/University Building on the Casper College campus, followed by a second session Friday, Feb. 26, at 10 a.m. in the same location. The sessions are free and open to all individuals interested in applying to UWs branch campus at Casper.

UW-Casper is a great place to earn your degree, says Rosalind Grenfell, manager of student advising. The instructors get to know you, and care about your success. Come to the session to find out more about the application process and deadlines.

In Casper, students can choose from 18 bachelors degrees, 13 masters degrees, six doctoral degrees, certificates and endorsements. Courses are offered on site, online and through audio/video conferencing.

For more information, call UW-Casper at (307) 268-2713.
Russia, being a signatory to the Minsk peace accords, consisting of the Minsk Protocol, the memorandum and the package on the implementation of these agreements, has not fulfilled a single clause of the Minsk accords, Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said in a statement.

"As of today, none of these clauses has been fulfilled. Russian-controlled illegal armed groups continue to systematically and intensively shell Ukrainian troops' positions: January alone saw 1,200 attacks along the line of demarcation. Cases when heavy weapons have not been withdrawn are reported," Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maryana Betsa said at briefing in Kyiv on Thursday.

She also mentioned numerous facts when monitors from the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine have faced restricted access; they were not allowed to work at the Ukrainian-Russian border in Donbas. She also mentioned incidents when OSCE SMM patrols had come under fire.

"The Russian side continues to move weapons, equipment and mercenaries across the border sector in Donetsk and Luhansk regions that is not controlled by Ukraine. The illegal armed groups enjoy full materiel support from Russia," she said.

What is more, the SBU Security Service of Ukraine has received evidence of "cooperation between terrorists and Russian officers from the Joint Centre for Control and Coordination (JCCC)" of the Ceasefire and Stabilization of the Parties' Demarcation Line in Donbas. "There is proof that under the guise of the JCCC, Russian military personnel participate and control military exercises of the illegal armed groups, and bring military manuals and tactics books to the occupied territory."

"Such actions run counter to Russia's announced readiness for a peaceful solution [to the Donbas conflict] and demonstrate absolute unwillingness to meet its commitments undertaken under the Minsk agreements, which poses a threat to the peace process in Donbas. We call on the international community to step up influence on the Russian Federation to ensure the implementation of the Minsk agreements in full," Betsa said.
An exclusive interview by U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt to the Interfax-Ukraine News AgencyAs my Ambassadorial colleagues and I said, we were deeply disappointed by the resignation of Minister for Economic Development and Trade Aivaras Abromavicius, who has delivered real reform results for Ukraine. During the past year, Abromavicius and his professional team made important strides -- implementing tough but necessary economic reforms to help stabilize Ukraines economy, root out endemic corruption, bring Ukraine into compliance with its IMF program obligations, and promote more openness and transparency in government. Ukraines stable, secure and prosperous future will require the sustained efforts of a broad and inclusive team of dedicated professionals who put the Ukrainian peoples' interests above their own. It is important that Ukraine's leaders set aside their parochial differences, put the vested interests that have hindered the country's progress for decades squarely in the past, and press forward on vital reforms.Two years after the Revolution of Dignity, Ukraines leaders -- spurred on by an active, engaged, and committed civil society -- have pressed forward on difficult political and economic reforms to bring Ukraine closer to its chosen European future. They have done so in the face of a Kremlin-manufactured conflict in the East and a struggling economy inherited from the Yanukovych era, making all that has been accomplished in past two years even more inspiring. Change has not come easily; it has come with great sacrifice. As Vice President Biden said during his visit, each of us has an obligation to answer the call of history and help build a united, democratic Ukraine. In the day-to-day politics and the bureaucratic struggles, its easy to get lost in the details. But at times like these, its important to keep our eyes on the horizon  to stay focused on the trend lines, not the headlines. To recognize that reform is happening, and progress is being made. More progress, in fact, than at any time in Ukraines history. In the last two years, Ukraine has held successful presidential, parliamentary, and local elections in line with international norms. Youve stuck to your IMF program. Youve worked hard to regain Ukraines credibility with the international financial community. Across Ukraine, you have a new, clean national police force. Youve made progress on decentralization -- empowering local communities to improve services for citizens. Economic growth is returning, and a new Free Trade Zone with the European Union took effect this year. We all acknowledge that more can and must be done, particularly in the area of corruption. The Prosecutors Office, for instance, must hold thieves accountable for the criminal plunder of the state, and truly empower an independent Inspector General to put an end to corruption within the PGO. Legislation has been passed, people have been appointed. Now is the time for action. The world is watching, and Ukrainians in every oblast are watching. Another issue I would flag for 2016 is work by the Cabinet of Ministers to accelerate the pace of deregulation and create an environment that fosters both domestic and external investment. Its increasingly clear that Ukrainian consumers alone cannot fill the hole created by the nearly 12 percent GDP contraction in 2015. Foreign investment can and should make up much of the difference, but will only do so if its crystal clear that the old Ukraine of bribes, regulation and appropriation has been put behind us. But the progress of the last two years shows that Ukraine is moving forward. Two years ago on the Maidan and in the years since, youve shown the world that when Ukrainians stand together, theres nothing you cant achieve. To succeed, Ukraines leaders need to put the people first and rise above the posturing and petty politics that plagued the countrys past. Government officials, business leaders, and everyday citizens need to continue to demonstrate in word and deed their commitment to building a new Ukraine and show the world that there can be no return to the ways of the past.I think Vice President Biden put it best when he spoke to this last summer at the U.S.  Ukraine Business Forum in Washington: You keep reforming, well keep supporting. Thats a message that senior U.S. officials continue to convey to the Ukrainian government. Its a message that Secretary Pritzker conveyed when she was here in October, and Secretary Lew reinforced when he was here in November. Ukraine needs to continue to make progress to improve the business climate, strengthen governance and competition, tackle corruption, repair the financial sector, and eliminate poorly targeted energy subsidies while protecting the most vulnerable members of society. Theres more work to be done to curb corruption, improve tax administration, strengthen intellectual property rights, deepen the gas sector reform, continue privatization in a transparent manner, and support the rule of law. The Ukrainian government and parliament must remain disciplined in implementing the governments reform strategy, and resist pressure to slide back on these critical efforts. The United States will continue to work closely with the IMF, the EU, the G7, and other donors to provide the necessary support for Ukraines efforts to improve the investment climate, integrate Ukraine into the global economy, and put this nation on a path to self-sustaining growth as long as Ukraine continues to press forward on vital reforms.President Obama has played a critical leadership role maintaining the international coalition on Ukraine  diplomacy with his European counterparts, lots of time on the phone with Chancellor Merkel, with Hollande, with Renzi, with all of our European partners. Youve heard him speak out strongly in support of Ukraine at the United Nations and in his State of the Union Address in defense of the fundamental international principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity. These principles are very important to us. Thats why the President and his Administration have taken a very strong position in response to Russias illegal annexation of Crimea and the Kremlin-manufactured conflict in the east. With respect to travel, I dont have anything to announce. But I would note that the significant number of visits to Ukraine by senior U.S. officials is unprecedented. Vice President Biden and Secretary Kerry. Our Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power. Commerce Secretary Pritzker and Treasury Secretary Lew. House Democratic Leader Pelosi and dozens of Members of Congress. Senior U.S. military officials like the Chief of Staff of the Army, General Milley, and U.S. Army Europe Commander General Hodges. NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Breedlove. These visits indicate the level of interest of policymakers in Washington and their desire to see Ukraine succeed.The best way to resolve the conflict in the east is to implement the Minsk agreements and ensure full support for the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission. That is our focus.It will come as no surprise to hear me say that the way to resolve the conflict in the east is the full implementation of Minsk. We still dont have a full ceasefire. Theres still shelling. There are still skirmishes with Ukrainian soldiers and civilians killed or injured almost every day. Last week saw the highest number of ceasefire violations in six months. The first challenge is to establish security so the parties can get on to the other parts of Minsk, including moving forward on elections under Ukrainian law that meet OSCE standards so that the people of Donbas can select their own, legitimate leaders. We need to see hostages released, foreign military equipment and personnel leave and Ukrainian control of its international border restored.Our position is clear and has not changed: we will not lift sanctions until and unless Russia fully implements Minsk. And so long as Russia illegally occupies Crimea, our Crimea sanctions will also remain in place.Were very proud of our robust security cooperation with Ukraine and the difference it is making in helping improve Ukraines capacity to defend itself. Since the conflict in eastern Ukraine began in 2014, the United States has committed more than $266 million in security assistance to Ukraine to help Ukrainian forces better monitor and secure their border, operate more safely and effectively, and defend their Ukraines sovereignty. In FY 2016, we expect to deliver approximately $335 million in additional security assistance. U.S. trainers from the Joint Multinational Training Group (JMTG-U) are providing classroom and field training to Ukrainian Army soldiers and the new Ukrainian Special Operations Forces on a wide array of military specialties including medical, marksmanship, construction and demolition, explosive ordnance disposal, and communications. On the equipment side, that assistance has included body armor, military vehicles, night and thermal vision devices, medical equipment, heavy engineering equipment, secure communications equipment, patrol boats, rations, tents, and sophisticated counter-mortar and counter-battery radars. All of these activities are undertaken at the invitation of the Ukrainian government, and will continue in 2016. As Ive said many times, the decision of whether or not to provide lethal assistance to Ukraine is one that will be made in Washington.We welcome Ukraines positive contributions on issues of global concern. This year, with Ukraine on the UN Security Council, the country has the opportunity to play a leading role  whether on Syria, DPRK, Iran, or on other pressing issues. Ukraine has an impressive record of contributing international peacekeeping operations. And its important to see Ukraine continue to step up and contribute to global security as it works to strengthen ties with European institutions and as it moves toward NATO.
United Nations Human Rights Report On Syria Uncovers Massive Violence And Killings In Detention Centers

The civil war in Syria has brought terror to its people because of massive violence, crimes, and human rights violation. A recent United Nations Human Rights Council report has revealed data on the "deaths in detention in the Syrian Arab Republic. The report unveiled information on the rampant abuse and extermination of detainees in Syrian jails and detention centers.

The 25-page report contains information gathered between Mar. 10, 2011 and Nov. 30, 2015. 621 witnesses were able to share their accounts of incidents involving torture, abuses and killings in Syrian jails and detention centers. The report is also backed with other substantial documentary evidences.

According to the report, detainees held by President Bashar al-Assad's regime were beaten and tortured to death inside the prisons where they were kept. Some were not able to survive the "inhuman living conditions" inside the centers, while others were exterminated, murdered, raped, imprisoned and sexually violated.

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The U.N. report also detailed human rights abuses committed by anti-government armed groups such as ISIS and Jabhat Al-Nusra. They allegedly detained government soldiers and civilians in multiple locations where they were maltreated, tortured and executed.

The situation in Syria is described as "an urgent large-scale crisis of human rights protection."

"These actions, in pursuance of a state policy, amount to extermination as a crime against humanity," said United Nations Human Rights Investigator Sergio Pinheiro, as quoted by BBC News Monday.

These findings have propelled the United Nations Human Rights Council to recommend that the Syrian Arab Republic Government should take necessary measures to protect the lives of its detainees from abuse, ill-treatment and deprivation of liberty. The Syrian government is also encouraged to provide reparations and compensations for the families of the tortured and deceased prisoners. Granting access to human rights organizations and other recognized institutions such as the International Committee of the Red Cross is also being pushed forward.

The abusers are also being compelled to fully comply with humanitarian law standards by halting torture, summary executions and illicit trials.

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Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Group Sells Banned Books To Call Out China's Detention Of Five Local Booksellers

The controversial and mysterious disappearance of five local booksellers who have been in the custody of police authorities from mainland China has fueled the desire for pro-democracy groups in Hong Kong to highlight the secrets of China's hidden industry into the public spotlight.

The Telegraph reported that the Patriotic Democratic Movements of China and the Hong Kong Alliance displayed more than 50 books in their stalls depicting contents that are highly forbidden in the mainland. The book titles suggest issues of assassination attempts, secret affairs and conspiracies among the ruling political elites of China. Some of these books included titles like "The Secret Trade Between Rich People and Top Officials" and the "Rumor and Truth About Chinese Authorities."

Albert Ho, the chairperson of the group and a lawmaker in Hong Kong, said that all of the book titles were mainly displayed at the Causeway Bay Bookstore before it got close following the mysterious disappearance of the booksellers.

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"This news has attracted a lot of interested buyers to our stall to look for different types of books, so sales have been quite good," Ho said. However, he added that the book publisher refused to provide another stock perhaps because of "political pressure from the mainland."

Paul Tang, a bookseller specializing in high-level political scandals, said that most of the customers who were in possession of the banned books need to hide them carefully when traveling back to the mainland, CNN reported.

Meanwhile, Chinese authorities have communicated with the Hong Kong police about the status of the missing booksellers namely Lam Wing Kee, Cheung ChiPing, Lui Por and Gui Minhai. Reports stated that they were still under investigation because of performing "illegal activities."

The incident at Hong Kong had drawn attention from authorities in Europe and United States. Moreover, officials from Hong Kong said they are still continuing their own inquiry and investigation into the matter.

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Fire sparked from a hoverboard destroyed a Nashville house at Tennessee worth $1 Million. This incident took place last month on 9th January, 2016 at 11.40 pm and the Nashville Fire Department says two fires in the last three months were caused by hoverboards.

According to Nashville Scene, the press release from the Nashville Fire Department said that, during the fire accident on Radcliff Drive, two teens hid upstairs in a home after hearing noises downstairs. Unbeknownst to them, a FITURBO F1 "hoverboard" had burst into flames on the first floor. Upon being confronted with smoke, a 16-year-old girl kicked out a second-floor window and leapt into her father's arms. Both received minor injuries in the process. The father then helped the 14-year-old boy out a second-story window with a ladder.

Nashville Fire Chief Rick White said that, "We are fortunate that there were only minor injuries in what was an extremely dangerous fire." He added that, "We hope Nashvillians use extreme caution before purchasing or using these hoverboards."

It took weeks for the investigators with the Nashville Fire Department to figure out that the fire was caused by the FITURBO F1 hoverboard. Also the officials advised that, if you do own a hoverboard, always use the manufacturer-supplied charge. Do not leave it unattended while charging or plugged into an outlet overnight. Do not overcharge the device and follow the manufacturer's recommended charging times.

abcnews reported that, Nashville Fire Department Public Information Officer Brian Haas told that it is unclear if the family will rebuild the home. The hoverboard that caused the fire was burned so badly that fire officials will likely be unable to determine whether it was charging at the time the fire sparked, Haas added.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is currently investigating dozens of fires across the United States thought to be caused by hoverboards, according to the Nashville Fire Department.

The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission said last month that it was looking into the safety of the toys, linking them to at least 40 fires in 19 states as said by the Daily Mail. Last week, another fire caused by a hoverboard ravaged a home in San Leandro, California.

The Tennessee State Fire Marshal's Office says that this is the first confirmed house fire caused by a hoverboard in Tennessee. But due to a growing number of cases across the U.S., they are strongly warning Tennesseans to use extreme caution if they choose to purchase a hoverboard.
Australia has proceeded in its effort to legalize marijuana for medical research purposes. Australia's Federal Government will soon introduce the legislation on Wednesday, and the new legislation will become law by March. Alongside the legislation, Australia's parliament will also create a licensing program for the plant's cultivation.



Australia's parliament had been proposing a new legislation as amendments to the Narcotics Drugs Act 1967. The new regulations would allow cannabis cultivation through a national licensing and permit scheme as reported by ABC News Australia. That would allow patients with chronic conditions to more easily access medicinal cannabis. Marijuana was proved to have helped people suffering from cancer, multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, epilepsy, and chronic pain.



Health minister Sussan Ley told parliament that the government understands that there are some Australians suffering from severe conditions for which cannabis may help the condition. "We want to enable access to the most effective medical treatments available," she stated.



The marijuana legalization bill was already introduced to the Australian parliament on Wednesday. It's very likely that it would be passed as law because the main opposition party has also shown support for the new legislation. The health minister stated that the bill had support across the chambers and around the country.



However, the health minister did acknowledge that this would be a very complex legislation that it brings together so many different strands of so much at the state and territory level. She noted that in order to make it work, the government needs to consult with relevant law enforcement to protect the integrity of the system.



Quartz reported that previously some Australian states had already pushed forward to legalize cannabis cultivation for medical uses in the region. Victoria has its own bill and in 2015, the state became the first state in Australia to legalize marijuana to treat serious medical conditions. Even though some states already have the regulation that allows marijuana cultivation for medical uses, the health minister believes that a national policy regarding that matter is still necessary. "I am confident creating one single, nationally consistent cultivation scheme, rather than eight individual arrangements, will not only help speed up the legislative and regulatory process but ultimately access to medicinal cannabis products as well," Ley noted.



CTV News noted that in 2013 the Australian government conducted a survey involving 24,000 citizens as respondents. The study concluded that 69 percent of respondents supported an amendment to the law so that cannabis can be cultivated and used for medicinal purposes.



It is likely that the bill proposing cannabis legalization under national licensing would be passed as law due to wide support from the authorities as well as citizens. The government is still processing the bill, and if it indeed is passed, Australians could more easily get access to medicinal marijuana to treat chronic illnesses.
Student.com, a student accommodation marketplace has just raised $60 million from investors. Previously, the web-based platform was known as Overseas Student Living (OSL) when it was first launched in 2011. The fund was secured a year after OSL was rebranded and relaunched as Student.com in 2015.



The $60 million fund was a combined series B and C round led by VY Capital. It's reported that high-profile investors were involved in the funding. Hong Kong's investment fund Horizons Ventures and a firm led by Uber co-founder Garrett Camp are on the list. Horizons Ventures was an investor in Spotify several years ago. The funding for Student.com also involves high-profile individual investors, as reported by the Financial Times. Spotify founders Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon are among the big names, along with Xiaomi executive Hugo Barra.



Student.com, launched as OSL, was founded by Luke Nolan in 2011 when he was working in China. He met co-founder Shakil Khan ten years before that during a study abroad program. Shakil Khan was formerly an executive at a Swedish music streaming service before he joined the startup in 2014.



Co-founder Khan stated that the student housing market is arguably one of the single biggest industries not yet digitized, as quoted by VentureBeat. "With Student.com, we're not only enabling international students the world over to quickly and easily find housing abroad; we're also giving landlords a digital and global infrastructure to reach millions of students," he said.



The platform was first inspired by Nolan's observation that Chinese students need a platform to find accommodation abroad. Even now, although the startup was now in more than 100 countries, most of the students using its service came from Asia-based students especially China, Hong Kong, and India. Asian students accounted for 40 percent of the startup's bookings, with popular destinations including the U.S., U.K., and Australia. However, Student.com did receive bookings from more than 100 countries, with a total of $110 million.



According to TechinAsia, Student.com will use the fund it has just received to further expand its service coverage globally. Student.com plans to strengthen and boost its presence specifically in the U.S., Latin America, and the Middle East. The team expects to achieve that in the next few months. In accordance to that, the startup will also expand its team.



The $60 million fund was invested in Student.com by high-profile investors. That shows the promising markets of students accommodations, which Student.com is striving to cover better. They seek to improve in coverage as well as numbers of team and bookings.
San Joaquin Capital raised $4 million in Series A funding for Aplos, the software company that build software specific for churches and non profit sectors. The venture capital firm believes that Aplo has the untapped market and in a strong position to grow.

Applos was founded in 2009 by Tim Goetz to build software to help nonprofit organization and churches managing their organizations. The online software was delivered as a SaaS (Software as a Service), which include fund accounting, online donations, donation tracking, donor management and IRS filings. Its accounting software was first launched in 2011, and has gained a huge popularity among nonprofit organizations.

On Tuesday, the Fresno-based company received a $4 million Series A funding from a newly formed venture capital firm, San Joaquin Capital. The firm believes that 1.6 million nonprofit organizations in the U.S. are the untapped market and underserved from a technology perspective. Therefore, Aplos which has acquired 200,000 of them as the customers showed a strong position to grow.

"When I founded Aplos, it was with the goal of providing technology that was easy to use that would help nonprofit leaders operate more efficiently and more successfully," Tim Goetz, CEO and co-founder of Aplos told PE Hub Network, "Six years later, we still get fired up knowing that nonprofit administrators and financial executives in over 60 countries are using Aplos every day to support the causes that are important to them and their donors."

Nonprofit organizations which used Aplos software are varied in sizes and forms, Kiwanis International and Assemblies of God are some of them. Aplos has a three-time retention rate than the industry standard because its easy-to-use and cost-effectiveness approach.

Managing partner at San Joaquin Capital Randel Mathias told Non Profit Times, the leading publication for nonprofit management, "Aplos has such a clear trajectory that it made perfect sense to our investors. "We couldn't ask for a better example of an emerging tech company that will create jobs and spur economic impact in the Valley."

Furthermore, he said about San Joaquin Capital decision, "By supporting local and successful companies like Aplos, we can retain the region's incredible talent and dramatically enhance our economy."

According to Sys Con Media, this Whitney Fund is the first fund from San Joaquin Capital with Aplos as a sole recipient. In order to raise the fund, San Joaquin Capital only recruited investors that are based in California's Central Valley. The $4 million fund was raised within only three months.

Aplos builds specialized software for churches and nonprofit organizations. Its unique approach to deliver SaaS (Software as a Service) for nonprofit has gained a huge popularity among nonprofit organizations. The $4 million series A funding will strengthen its position to grow bigger.
Opera Software, announced on Tuesday, that it has been approached by a consortium of Chinese software companies who have offered NOK 10.4 billion ($1.2 billion) to buy out 100% stake in the Norwegian browser maker.

The consortium comprises Qihoo 360 and Kunlun Tech, which are backed by investment firms, Golden Brick and Yonglian. The offer laid out on the table for Opera has met with the unanimous approval of the board members of accepting the deal. According to Gadgets 360, Opera had explained the finer details of the offer in an email. "We have received an offer on NOK 71 per share, a significant premium of 53 percent to the closing share price on February 4, and 56 percent over the last 30 trading days volume weighted average share price. The Offer also implies an attractive 2015 reported EBITDA multiple of 14.0x," said the Norwegian entity.

Opera is widely known for its browser which offers unique features for saving data and a speedy connection. While its desktop presence is quite dismal, the company has managed to stay afloat by focusing on areas like data compression and mobile advertising. Recently, to gain a competitive edge, it had also extended its data saving capacities to videos, which are the largest data guzzlers.

The company was already chalking out major restructuring plans, like carving out the Browser division and making it a separate entity. A demerger of Opera Software ASA into Opera Software AS and Opera TV AS had also been proposed by the board, which was under consideration.

However, now the Opera board is almost sold on the Chinese deal as they feel it "is the most attractive proposition for the shareholders, the Company and its employees", as per International Business Times. The browser-maker already has a strong customer base of 350 million users worldwide to which its buyers, Kunlun and Qihoo, could cross-sell their own products, apart from enjoying the benefits of the broad mobile advertising platform it has set up. At the same time, the seller itself could expand its own international exposure and acquire new users in China.

"There is strong strategic and industrial logic to the acquisition of Opera by the Consortium," Opera CEO Lars Boilesen explained, as represented in re/code. "The Consortium's ownership will strengthen Opera's position to serve our users and partners with even greater innovation and to accelerate our plans of expansion and growth."

The deal is still awaiting the green signal from the company's board members, after which it will be subject to federal approvals. The company had scheduled its earnings call on Wednesday, where more details on the acquisition would follow.
The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), along with other officials announced a new discovery that a large number of senior citizens had been unknowingly served as drug couriers. On Wednesday, the officials issued a warning in regard to that matter, putting into light the new tactics adopted by drug traffickers.



The Department of Homeland Security revealed the report saying 144 senior citizens had been victims of this new drug trafficking method. In total, the deceived couriers had carried nearly 500 kilograms of drugs across international borders. The average age of the couriers was 59, with the oldest targeted courier being 97 years old. However, the 97-year-old courier's travel was successfully terminated by the authorities.



The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reported that the victims were recruited via social media, cyber-begging and telemarketing fraud. The traffickers promised prizes in forms of an inheritance of business opportunity to their victims and set them up to carry illegal drugs unknowingly. The drug traffickers cover their travel fees and expenses then asked the victims to meet with "attorneys" or "business partners" to deliver the disguised drugs.



According to NBC Southern California, the senior targets were asked to take harmless items like chocolates, picture frames, tea, canned goods, soap, or wooden hangers. But apparently the items contain drugs. It is likely that drug traffickers are targeting senior citizens, expecting that they will not arouse suspicions.



In a statement, ICE Director Sarah R. Saldana condemned the traffickers wicked deception towards the victims. "Those who target vulnerable populations, to include our elderly, are among the worst kinds of criminals. Heart-breaking does not begin to describe some of these case details," Saldana said. She also underlined every citizen's role to prevent more similar cases. "It is the job of a law enforcement to bring these perpetrators to justice, but it is all of our jobs to teach our own loved ones to be vigilant against these kinds of schemes."



The officials unveiled that the investigation on the drug-smuggling modus of operation targeting senior citizens began in 2013. Ever since the investigators believe that more than 30 victims are still imprisoned for drug trafficking. The New York Times noted that catching the criminals behind the schemes would be very hard because most of them operate outside the U.S. and were highly sophisticated in their operations.



All residents, especially senior citizens, are asked to heed the warnings to prevent more cases and so that no more older adults would fall victim to the deception. Drug traffickers target older adults in hope to not raise suspicions while they unknowingly transport and deliver drugs to other countries.
India has sought investments from United Arab Emirates (UAE) in upgrading and enhancing infrastructure segment. Abu Dhabi is also keen on oil, aviation and other infrastructure projects in India. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sought additional oil from UAE for 2016-17. India forecast 7.6 percent economy growth for 2015-16 financial year.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, arrived in India on Wednesday on his first official visit to the country. Major business and investment deals involving billions of dollars are expected to be signed during his visit in India.

Zawya reports that the UAE is keen on using half of oil storage facility with 1.5 million ton-capacity located at Mangalore in Karnataka, a southern state in India. Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister for Oil, said Indi offered the UAE one chamber at Mangalore oil storage. The UAE can use this facility upto one-third for exports and remaining can be utilized by India as strategic reserve.

Hareb Al Muhairy, the senior vice president of corporate and international affairs, said: "India is a key market for Etihad Airways and, with our equity partner Jet Airways, we have significantly grown our business. Together, we are the market leader with 21 per cent share of total passenger traffic carried to and from India."

India has been a major destination for Etihad Airlines for increasing air traffic. Etihad invested in infrastructure and air services enhancing the number of passengers from India to Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi International Airport witnessed a record traffic of over 23 million passengers, as reported by The National. Etihad and Jet Airways operate 254 flights a week from Abu Dhabi to 15 cities in India.



Narendra Modi during his UAE tour in 2015 agreed on a deal for establishing $75 billion fund for investing in India's infrastructure projects and other fields. Pradhan further said that Indian companies are open to take stake in Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (ADCO), which is engaged in developing oil fields.

The business volume between the UAE and India is increasing ever since the establishment of UAE Federation in 1971. The UAE is the third largest trading partner for India after China and the US. The bilateral trade volume was $180 million in 1970s and rose to $59 billion in 2016. UAE investments in India are estimated to be $10 billion including $3.3 billion in form of foreign direct investment (FDI), according to Emirates 24-7.



Pradhan had a meeting with UAE Energy Minister Suhail bin Mohammed al-Mazroui. Pradhan said: "India is looking at UAE as a preferred partner for some of the projects. They have realized the potential of the Indian market." Pradhan briefed visiting team of Abu Dhabi about the investment opportunities in refining, petrochemicals and pipeline segments. The stakes in Oil and Natural Gas Corporation's (ONGC) petrochemical plant in Western India and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) in Southern India are available for an investment at about $530 billion each.
Venture capital power Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) firm has raised another fund. The firm raised $350 million as its twelfth funds. DFJ is interested in autonomous transportation, digital health, enterprise transformation, and artificial intelligence.

One of the oldest venture capital firm, DFJ focused its investment on early-and growth-stage investments in enterprise, consumer and disruptive technologies. Founded in 1985 by trio Timothy Draper, John Fisher and Steve Jurvetson, hence the acronym DFJ came from. The firm has been on the frontline of many technology advancements, including on Elon Musk's SpaceX and Tesla.

This week, DFJ announced to raise its 12th fund of $350 million, which according to Steve Jurvetson as cited by Geek Wire, "With this new fund, we will be looking to make seed and early-stage investments in trailblazing, purpose-driven entrepreneurs with ideas that have the potential to reinvent entire industries."

The fund will be used as for early stage investment in disruptive technologies as the firm is well-known for that kind of investment. This fund was raised in over two months from six partners of DFJ venture team: William Bryant, Steve Jurvetson, Emily Melton, Bubba Murarka, Andreas Stavropoulos, and Josh B. Stein. The firm has also growth team consist of five partners

One of the DFJ partners, William Bryant told Geek Wire that he will be looking to invest his portion of the $350 million fund in Seattle startups. He wanted to actively build on the firm's existing and historic portfolio in Seattle.

DFJ has been the investor of Space Exploration Technologies or SpaceX, the first Elon Musk company in the Series D funding in 2012 raising $30 million and in Series C and Series D for Tesla. Other than that, DFJ has also invested in Foursquare, Coinbase, SugarCRM and PlanetLabs.

Forbes reported that DFJ favors highly technical and highly ambitious ideas, such as synthetic biology, quantum computing, driverless cars, and artificial intelligence fields. That is the main reason the Menlo Park-based venture capital firm made an investment in SpaceX.

SpaceX was founded in 2002 to build a space transport vehicle, allowing a rocket to be built once and used multiple times for space travel. The company has successfully built two rockets: Falcon orbital launch vehicle and Dragon 9 spacecraft.

For its bold investment in SpaceX, TechCrunch reported DFJ accepted an award on behalf of SpaceX at last night's annual Crunchies awards ceremony. The company won for the category of best technology achievement for its two-stage rocket, the Falcon 9, which was designed to transport satellites and SpaceX's own Dragon spacecraft into orbit.

Now, with its new $350 million fund, DFJ will seek to invest in a highly technical and ambitious startup companies. Such investment which the firm has been doing for more than 30 years.
Microsoft announced that the company has formed partnerships with 74 Android hardware manufacturers that would pre-install Microsoft apps on their Android smartphones and tablets. Some of the OEMs, including Samsung, had already pre-install the apps on their devices. In addition to existing partnerships, Microsoft also formed new partnerships with OEMs that were just about to start to do so.



ZDNet reported that the list of partnership had been expanded from just 31 OEMs per last May. Samsung, Dell, and Pegatron were among the first device manufacturers to pre-install Microsoft apps and services on their products. Today, the partnership with Microsoft involved 74 hardware manufacturers in 25 countries.



Acer is reported to be the latest big OEM to join the partnership, closing the deal last October. Not only Microsoft Office app licensing, the partnership also reportedly covers Android patent deal. Acer is not the first Android device manufacturer to sign patent deal with Microsoft. Recently, Microsoft has been expanding its patent royalties from Android device makers in addition to form partnerships regarding the company's app.



Microsoft included most of its productivity apps in the agreement with Android device makers. The OEMs involved in the deal have pre-install, or will pre-install Microsoft Word, Excel, OneDrive, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Skype in their devices.



In the partnership deals, IP alignment is an important feature, as Nick Parker, Corporate Vice President, OEM Division, Microsoft, wrote in a blog post. He also stated that the agreements demonstrate how Microsoft is leveraging the scale of the hardware ecosystem and working with partners in new ways to deliver rich experiences to their customers. "This is a cornerstone of our broad services strategy to bring an array of Microsoft services to every person on every device," Parker wrote.



NDTV reported that OEMs could see the partnership with Microsoft as a way to establish additional revenue channel. That is important, considering the increasingly competitive markets of Android devices, whereas OEMs are often forced to sell products at a lower price to be able to be compete with other device makers.



On the other hand, Microsoft also has been eager to embrace Android. According to Venture Beat, Microsoft had also brought Cortana personal digital assistant to Android. The company also launched Arrow Andriod in beta last October. It's also widely speculated that Microsoft has adjusted its approach in making Windows Phone to focus more on software for iOS and Android.



Microsoft's partnerships with 74 Android device makers mean that most Android smartphone and tablets would already have Microsoft apps pre-installed in the devices. As OEMs embrace the partnership perhaps as an alternative revenue stream, Microsoft is also showing its ambition to embrace the Google's mobile operating system.
Mitsubishi Motor Cop., announced its intention to invest nearly P4.3 billion in order to commence its production of sedan and hatchback styles of Mirage model in Philippines. The company expects to start the production of these versions in early 2017.

The investment strategy highlights Mitsubishi's move to partake in the country's new $600 million CARS Program, RAPPLER said quoting CEO and Chairman of Mitsubishi, Osamu Masuko. The company will file a request to partake in the program, Osamu added.

Osamu said in a press briefing that the company will construct its sedan and hatchback versions at the Sta. Rosa Laguna facility, which it started in January 2015. Osamu added that the investment activity will boost the employment chances in the domestic sector. He expects the new investment strategy to create 700 jobs in the starting phase.

Osamu also noted that leaders of top 20 auto parts makers are determined to join the Philippine market. The addition of these auto parts suppliers will boost the growth of overall automobile sector in the nation and increase the employment chances to 3,000 fresh jobs.

The company decided to invest in Philippines because the country enjoys robust economic growth and increase in population. This investment move comes as the domestic automotive sector is experiencing rapid growth helped by robust sales.

In 2015, auto sales in the country increased by 23%, RAPPLER said citing a sales record from Chamber of Automotive Manufactures of the Philippines Inc., (CAMPI). Osamu also said that the ASEAN Economic Community will further boost the competition since it permits tariff less movement of cargoes.

The CAR Program is anticipated to lure over P27 billion in fresh investments, with an aim of designing nearly 600,000 vehicles and create 200,000 additional jobs, according to Inquirer.net. The program is anticipated to result in a net economic activity worth P300 billion. The gross domestic product was anticipated to be around 1.7%.

The company's local unit has fixed a sales goal of 67,800 parts in 2016 and predicts to achieve the goal following the launch of Mirage models in the CAR Program, according to BusinessWorld. Last year, Mitsubishi sold nearly 54,087 parts and this is considered to be a "record breaking performance" since the year 1996.

Henry Co, Governor of BOI, said that the nation, which had numerous hurdles in the past, is expected to have a prosperous future backed by its new government. The CAR Program summons non-fiscal and fiscal motivations to refresh Philippines' automotive sector. The program urges the participants to produce a minimum of 200,000 vehicles in the domestic region. The company aims to reach this goal by concentrating on small cars.

Mitsubishi's participation in the program will enable the company to develop its balance sheet in the local market. The investment activity will also help the company to withstand the global economic slowdown.
It makes sense to worry that weaning China off of king coal will lead to an economic slowdown.

But a new stud - co-written by an MIT professor and scholars at the Institute of Energy, Environment, and Economy, at Tsinghua University in Beijing - shows that China's newly announced plans to cap and trade carbon can reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions signifi cantly without hobbling economic growth at all.

The researchers created a unique model that ties together China's energy system and its economy and found that China's coal use - a major source of global CO2 emissions - should peak around 2020, while the nation's overall CO2 emissions would peak around 2030, or maybe even sooner.

Still, the drop in carbonfueled economic activity would not keep China from reaching its goal of becoming a "well-off society" by 2050, they write.

"Using carbon pricing in combination with energy price reforms and renewable energy support, China could reach signifi cant levels of emissions reduction without undermining economic growth," writes Valerie Karplus, an assistant professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and a co-author of the new paper titled Carbon emissions in China? How far can new efforts bend the curve? in the journal Energy Economics.

The other co-authors are Xiliang Zhang, Tianyu Qi, Da Zhang and Jiankun He, all at Tsinghua University.

The study was spurred by headline-making policy changes recently announced by China, including the toughest- ever regulations on local environmental pollution and the creation of markets for CO2 emissions, other pollutants and scarce resources like water.

That suite of measures led to the agreement with the US unveiled in November 2014 where China committed to a goal of making non-fossil fuel sources account for 20 percent of its energy use by 2030. (By 2015, that fi gure was at 11 percent). For its part, the US promised to lower its CO2 emissions by 26-28 percent against 2005 levels by 2025.

And that bilateral agreement, in turn, has been credited with laying the foundation for the grander set of global carbonreduction pledges inked at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris in December.

The study uses a model of China's economy and energy output, called C-GEM and was developed by scholars at the Tsinghua-MIT China Energy and Climate Project.

The model lays out two main paths that China's energy consumption could take: One, the "Continued Eff ort" scenario, is a business-as-usual trajectory. The other course, following the reforms and initiatives China has announced, is called the "Accelerated Eff ort".

In the "Continued Eff ort" scenario, China's carbon emissions would not level off until around 2040, 10 years later than in the "Accelerated Effort" scenario, and at a level 20 percent higher.

In the model, coal's use as a primary source of energy would drop sharply from around 70 percent in 2010 to around 28 percent in 2050.

"Coal today is used with varying degrees of effi ciency across the Chinese energy system," Karplus writes. The model is capturing the fact that you have a lot of low-cost opportunities to reduce coal, from heavyindustry direct use as well as the electric power sector."

In both simulations, China's famously high personal savings rate declines, as it has in many developing economies. As a result, more and more of China's GDP will come from consumer-driven spending, not state-led investment, which itself will drive reductions in carbon emissions per unit of GDP.

"The consumption share of GDP has a very diff erent carbon intensity, as a bundle of goods, relative to investment goods, so you automatically get a reduction in carbon intensity from that trajectory," Karplus writes.

Put simply: At the moment, household earnings in China are tucked away in banks, where they get loaned out to fund massive infrastructure projects - highways, dams, power plants - that pump out huge amounts of CO2. In the future, if China's households save less, they will be spending more on services and everyday goods, which leave a smaller carbon footprint.

The study has gotten the nod from the energy policy world. John P. Weyant, a professor and deputy director of the Precourt Institute for Energy Effi ciency at Stanford University, called it "state of the art" and a "realistic representation of the pathways by which the Chinese and world economy can be expected to adjust to policy initiatives."

One more argument for China to push aggressively ahead on the environment.
Saudi Arabia's Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal has acquired some shares from two prominent investors in Lyft Inc. The shares have been acquired at $148 million. Lyft's valuation soared to $5.5 billion from $275 million in May 2013.

Andreessen Horowitz and Founders Fund, a venture firm established by Peter Thiel, sold a part of their share holdings in Lyft to Saudi Arabia's Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal and his Kingdom Holding Co. The acquisition of shares was done in December for $148 million, according to the sources. Lyft's larger series F round, it mobilized $1 billion directly from investors, General Motors and Prince Al-Waleed.

The share sales by venture funds are part of their efforts to return more value to their shareholders. The venture capital fund investors have been waiting for long to witness substantial gains. Many startups postponed their initial public offers (IPOs) owing to the adverse conditions in the market, as reported by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).



Lyft is facing tough competition from Uber Technologies in the US market. Both the companies are spending heavily in exploring new markets. To gain more market share, both the companies are subsidizing the cost of low-price rides. At this juncture, Andreessen Horowitz and Founders Fund have decided to pull their money out of Lyft.

Lyft Inc, a ride-hailing service provider and its valuation jumped up to $5.5 billion in the funding round from $275 million in May 2013, during which period Andreessen Horowitz invested about $90 million in Lyft. Founders Fun invested in Lyft in January 2013, as reported by Market watch.



Prince Al-Waleed's Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) has drawn up investment plans for 2016-18. The holding company's subsidiary Flynas is among these investments. Mohammed Fahmy, Chief Executive Officer, Kingdom Holding, didn't reveal details about the other companies.

Prince AlWaleed is the Chairman of Kingdom Holding Company. Kingdom Holding is considering an IPO or merger of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts or Four Seasons Holding, in which KHC along with Bill Gates owns 95 percent holding, according to Argaam.



Marc Andreessen, co-founder, Andreessen Horowitz, is a vocal evangelist of the recent technology boom. He supports the lofty valuations of startups. He is also considered to be a champion of Lyft and said the company had an opportunity as "there are a lot more people who want rides than own cars." Prince Al-Waleed is also supporting debt-ridden Euro Disney. He may participate in rights issue also. It's been proposed to raise $1.1 billion via rights issue. The amusement park Disney is taking all possible measures to reduce debt burden.
SHARE Contributed Photo R. Shane Bingham (left) and Dale Alpert star in Camarillo Skyway Playhouses rendition of Tuesdays with Morrie, now through March 6.

THEATER

Ventura County

"Dark Heart of Poe": Through the works and letters of celebrated American author Edgar Allan Poe, audiences will experience the loves and losses that made up his tragic life. 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 12-14, Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center, 3050 E. Los Angeles Ave., Simi Valley. $20 general admission, $15 seniors and military, $10 students and teachers. 583-7900; simi-arts.org.

"Oliver!": In Lionel Bart's musical adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel, orphaned Oliver Twist goes from mistreatment in the London workhouses to falling in with a gang of pickpockets before finding a home. The High Street Arts Center production features Broadway hits like "Consider Yourself," "Food, Glorious Food" and "Where is Love." 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays, through March 6, 45 E. High St., Moorpark. $25 general admission, $23 seniors, students, teachers and military, $12 children 12 and younger. 529-8700; highstreetartscenter.com.

"The Other Place": Santa Paula Theater Center will kick off its 2016 season with this Pulitzer Prize-nominated drama about a respected neurologist as she unravels a 10-year-old personal mystery. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. Sundays, through March 13, 125 South 7th St., Santa Paula. $20 general admission, $18 seniors and students. 525-4645; santapaulatheatercenter.org.

"Tuesdays with Morrie": Camarillo Skyway Playhouse presents the stage adaptation of Mitch Albom's autobiographical story about time spent with his former college professor 16 years after graduating. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays, through March 6, 330 Skyway Drive, Camarillo. $20 general admission, $15 seniors, students and military, $10 children. 388-5716; skywayplayhouse.org.

"Wizard of Oz": Young Artists Ensemble presents a musical adaptation of the 1939 film. Starring 42 actors, the production is directed by Amber Hutchison with musical direction by Zachary Spencer and choreography by Kate Peltola. 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, through Feb. 21, Hillcrest Center for the Arts, 403 W. Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks. $19 general admission, $16 seniors, students and children. 381-1246; yaeonline.com.

"Black Comedy": Ojai ACT presents Peter Shaffer's one-act farce in which the lighting scheme is reversed and the play opens with a darkened stage. 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, through Feb. 14, Art Center Theater, 113 S. Montgomery St., Ojai. $15 general admission, $12 seniors, students and Art Center members. 640-8797; ojaiact.org.

"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum": Cabrillo Music Theatre presents the Sondheim musical comedy in the Scherr Forum. Guests who wear a toga to any performance can have their photo taken with the cast after the show. Through Feb. 14, Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks. Ticketmaster, 800-745-3000 or ticketmaster.com. Information: 449-2787.

"Into the Woods": Ventura College Opera and Musical Theater presents Stephen Sondheim's musical about a baker and his wife as they struggle to start a family because of a witch's curse. Feb. 18-28, 4700 Loma Vista Road, Ventura. $15 general admission, $10 seniors, students, VC faculty and staff. 289-6307; facebook.com/vcomt.

"See Rock City": Rubicon Theatre Company presents the second production in Arlene Hutton's Nibroc Trilogy. Set in the 1940s in Corbin, Kentucky, the play is a portrait of a young couple trying to find their footing in a world on the brink of great change. Through Feb. 14, 1006 E. Main St., Ventura. $25-$54. 667-2900; rubicontheatre.org.

"The Delicious Life of Love": The Aerial Studio presents this aerial dance dinner theater performance. 7 p.m. Feb. 13-14, 4476 DuPont Court, Suite B, Ventura. $45-$70. 340-3412; theaerialstudio.net.

"FUBAR": Flying H Group Theatre Company presents Karl Gajdusek's play set in 1999 about a couple who goes down different paths of addiction after suffering trauma. The production contains adult language and is not suitable for children. 8 p.m. Feb. 12-13, 2 p.m. Feb. 14, 6368 Bristol Road, Ventura. $15. 901-0005; flyinghgroup.com.

"Frederick Douglass and the Starry Road to Freedom": As part of its Literature, Arts & Lecture Series and in celebration of Black History Month, Oxnard College presents professional actor Darius Wallace performing his one-man play about Frederick Douglass, who was born into slavery and became an abolitionist and statesman. 1-2 p.m. Feb. 24, 4000 S. Rose Ave., Oxnard. Free. 986-5800; oxnardcollege.edu.

CLASSES

Ventura County

African drumming class: Malik Sow, an African master drummer from Senegal, and Solo Soro, from Ivory Coast, lead a weekly class in West African drumming from 7:30-9 p.m. Mondays at Lightning Ridge Screen Printing, 4435 McGrath St., Ventura. Cost is $20 per class and a drum can be rented for $5. For information or to arrange a drum rental, call 650-7455.

COMEDY

Ventura County

Paula Poundstone: The Emmy Award-winning comedian and author will perform her stand-up act. 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. March 5, Scherr Forum Theatre, Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks. $34-$39. Ticketmaster, 800-745-3000 or ticketmaster.com. Information: 449-2787.

#COMEDY: Hillcrest Center for the Arts presents a night of comedy, featuring comics Mary Patterson Broome, Jimmy Shubert, Josh Nelson and Oliver Newton, with host Julia Jasiunas. 8 p.m. Feb. 13, Hillcrest Center for the Arts, 403 W. Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks. $10 pre-sale, $13 at the door. 381-1246; hillcrestarts.com.

DANCE

Flamenco Show: As part of its Literature, Arts & Lecture Series, Oxnard College presents "Treasures of Spain: Song, Dance and Guitar," a show featuring flamenco dancer Wendy Castellanos, mezzo-soprano Janelle De Stefano and guitarist Scott Wolf. 1-2 p.m. March 2, 4000 S. Rose Ave., Oxnard. Free. 986-5800; oxnardcollege.edu.
SHARE Contribute Photo Princeton University professor Philip Pettit will speak at CLU on Tuesday.

Pettit talks power

Princeton University professor Philip Pettit will discuss the rights and responsibilities of corporate bodies at two free lectures Tuesday at California Lutheran University. Pettit's two discussions, "Holding Corporate Bodies Responsible" at 11:10 a.m. and "Granting Corporate Bodies Rights" at 4 p.m., are part of the Harold Stoner Clark Lecture Series.

The talks will focus on the influences corporate entities, like businesses, religious organizations and colleges, have on the everyday life of citizens of the world.

With the 2016 election looming in the background, the L.S. Rockefeller University professor of politics and human values will examine for which responsibilities corporations should be held accountable, compared to the interest of individual citizens.

Pettit is a prolific author, having written several books including "Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and Government," "Just Freedom: A Moral Compass for a Complex World" and "The Robust Demands of the Good: Ethics with Attachment, Virtue and Respect." Both lectures will be in Samuelson Chapel, and are free and open to the public.
STAR FILE PHOTO The Grimes quarry between Moorpark and Fillmore might not be part of the Broad Beach restoration project in Malibu after all.

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By Mike Harris of the Ventura County Star

Stung by criticism by the Ventura County Board of Supervisors and Fillmore officials, the Broad Beach restoration project in Malibu is now considering using sand sources other than quarries north of Moorpark.

The chastising stemmed from an agreement the project reached late last year with Moorpark in which hundreds of trucks a day filled with sand from the quarries would, in general, avoid Moorpark by traveling to Broad Beach via Highway 126 through Fillmore.

Fillmore officials felt blindsided by Moorpark, which didn't include them in the discussions about the truck routes. Fillmore doesn't want the trucks rumbling through their city for the same reasons Moorpark doesn't: environmental impacts including noise and air pollution.

The Board of Supervisors felt Fillmore's pain, with Supervisor Kathy Long chastising Moorpark for not being "good neighbors."

Taken aback by the criticisms, the Broad Beach Geologic Hazard Abatement District is now looking at buying the sand from other possible sources to enable the trucks to avoid traveling through Fillmore.

The district is the group of wealthy Broad Beach landowners, including Hollywood and business elites, who are funding the $31 million project. Greenlighted by a divided California Coastal Commission in October, it will create a new 1.1-mile public beach, including a restored dune system.

One possible source is Ventura Harbor, though project manager Mark Goss said Tuesday it likely won't pan out.

"It's a remote possibility I would have to say," he said.

More promising is a second possible source, which Goss declined to identify.

"There is a Plan B that I can't talk about right now that is emerging favorably," he said. "I don't want it in the public venue until I've fully vetted that sand source."

Ken Ehrlich, the attorney for the district, said the project is also looking at other possible sources outside Ventura County.

"We did not anticipate the reaction we got from Fillmore or the county supervisors," he said Wednesday. "It is certainly not our intent to get involved in Ventura County or local politics.

"So what we're trying to do is to go back and develop sand sources, if they exist, that could resolve all the problems and make everybody happy," he said. "The whole point is to avoid the communities that have raised concerns about the truck traffic."

Still, Goss said that as of this week, the Grimes Rock and CEMEX quarries between Moorpark and Fillmore remain the likely sources of sand for the project.

An estimated 43,000 one-way truck trips would haul up to 300,000 cubic yards of sand over a three or four-month period for the initial phase of the project.

Ehrlich said the project "would love Ventura Harbor to be a viable source of sand" so that the trucks could avoid Fillmore. "But it depends on so many different factors."

For one, the sand would need to meet the "hyper technical" specifications imposed on the project by the coastal commission, he said. "And we would need to make sure that we're not running afoul of any Ventura constituencies by taking the sand."

Goss said he and harbor officials have exchanged messages but haven't talked yet.

Brian Pendleton, the Ventura Port District's business operations manager, said Wednesday the district is open to collaborating with the other pertinent agencies including the coastal commission "to consider a plan that would benefit Broad Beach and the Ventura Harbor. (But) it is unlikely that there would be any benefit to having discussions for 2016 since dredging has now begun."

This isn't the first time the project has looked at using sand from Ventura Harbor. It did so a few years ago, but was met with opposition and nothing came of it.

"So for us, it's sort of like deja vu all over again," Ehrlich said.

Moorpark City Manager Steve Kueny said that as far as the city is concerned, the route agreement it negotiated with the project's district, and which the City Council ratified in October, is still in effect.

"We have a valid agreement with them, and nothing has changed," he said Tuesday.

But Ehrlich said that if the project goes with another sand source, the agreement with Moorpark would be "moot and irrelevant." The trucks still would not go through Moorpark, he said.

Meanwhile, Moorpark and Fillmore are still not talking about the truck routes, Kueny and Fillmore City Manager Dave Rowlands said.

Ehrlich said the project still must get other approvals, including from the state Lands Commission, but he hopes the trucks will start to roll by the fall, whatever the source of sand is.
CHUCK KIRMAN/THE STAR A plan calls for more than 50 single-family homes on the property of the Wallace Libbey Hardison Residence (background). The foreground structure is one of two proposed to be demolished. A barn would be relocated.

SHARE CHUCK KIRMAN/THE STAR Lance Williams (left), owner of Williams Home, and Keith Herren, vice president of the Hardison Home Project, are shown inside a barn that developers plan to move. CHUCK KIRMAN/THE STAR This is an aged barn window on the site. CHUCK KIRMAN/THE STAR Keith Herren, vice president of the Hardison Home Project, said this barn may be relocated on the property. CHUCK KIRMAN/THE STAR Lance Williams (left), owner of Williams Home, and Keith Herren visit the Wallace Libbey Hardison Residence.

By Claudia Boyd-Barrett

Developers are proposing to build 53 new homes on the site of a historic residence in Santa Paula that once belonged to a founder of the Union Oil Co. and Limoneira.

Santa Clarita-based Williams Home Inc. wants city permission to build the single-family homes on about 10 acres of the 19-acre site known as the Wallace Libbey Hardison Residence.

On the northern edge of Santa Paula along Highway 150, the residence was built by Wallace Libbey Hardison, an oilman, agricultural businessman, gold miner and newspaper publisher who played a key role in the region's history.

As proposed, Williams Home would retain the main historic residence built in 1884 but relocate a barn and demolish a secondary residence and a garage. The old house would be preserved on just over a half-acre, while the rest of the land would be open space, according to a report.

"Our goal is to make the barn and the house viable and preserve their historical futures," project manager Carl Steinberg said. "One of the reasons we want to do 53 homes is it creates enough financial resources to help preserve the two historic structures."

Hardison co-founded Sespe Oil Co. in the late 1800s. It later became the Union Oil Co. after it merged with another firm. He also co-founded Limoneira Co. in 1893, according to a report on the site's history prepared by Williams Home.

A man of many interests, Hardison went on to form a gold-mining company in Peru, contributed significantly to the creation of Santa Paula's water supply system, helped establish the city's Universalist Unitarian Church and for a time owned the Los Angeles Herald.

Hardison died in 1909. Many of his descendants were also prominent Santa Paula citizens, including grand nephew Charles Collins Teague, a former Limoneira director.

The development proposal has generated opposition from some city residents who fear it would affect the property's historic integrity, squeezing the home onto a small piece of land and changing the original layout.

"To relocate the barn right next to the main house and put it on a little over a half of an acre is nothing, especially for the size of the barn and the house," said Amber Mickelson, a local resident and former caretaker for the property. Mickelson cared for Hardison descendant Robert Procter, who lived at the home until his death in 2011, and then managed the property until it was sold in 2013.

Mickelson manages a 216-member Facebook group that has been monitoring the status of the property and posting concerns about the development plans. Mickelson said the home is an important landmark for the city and that many people enjoy stopping by the side of the road to look at it.

"It would be a loss  a major loss. I mean, who's going to want to drive by and see the barn and the house surrounded by 53 homes that are all crammed together?" she said. "I think the buildings should just be left exactly as they are and at least preserve some part of it so we can at least associate what it once was."

Some residents also have criticized the city for failing to adequately notify the public about a pending environmental review of the development proposal. City Planning Director Janna Minsk said the city mistakenly did not put a notice in the paper about the review. However, the city is planning to rectify that and will extend the deadline allowing people to comment on the proposal, she said.

Copies of the project documents are available for review at the Santa Paula Planning Department, 200 S. 10th St., during regular business hours and also online at http://www.ci.santa-paula.ca.us.

Written comments can be mailed to the Santa Paula Planning Department, Chris Williamson, AICP, contract planner, P.O. Box 569, Santa Paula, CA 93061, or via email to cbwplans@gmail.com. The deadline for comments is 5 p.m. March 8. A Santa Paula Planning Commission hearing on the proposed development has not yet been set, Minsk said.
JOE LUMAYA/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Medal of Honor recipients Leroy A. Petry (from left), Jay R. Vargas, Joe M. Jackson and Robert D. Maxwell and moderator Tony Pennay talk with students and guests Wednesday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum in Simi Valley. About 750 students attended the Medal of Honor: Lessons of Personal Bravery and Self Sacrifice presentation. Pennay is director of the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Presidential Learning Center.

SHARE JOE LUMAYA/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Andrew Levin, from Royal High School in Simi Valley, listens to Medal of Honor recipients at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum on Wednesday. More than 775 students from 17 schools attended the event. JOE LUMAYA/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Medal of Honor recipients Leroy A. Petry (from left), Jay R. Vargas, Joe M. Jackson and Robert D. Maxwell receive a standing ovation from students and guests during their presentation Wednesday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum. The event was moderated by Tony Pennay (far right), director of the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Presidential Learning Center. JOE LUMAYA/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Medal of Honor recipients Leroy A. Petry (from left), Jay R. Vargas and Joe M. Jackson talk with students and guests Wednesday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum. JOE LUMAYA/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Medal of Honor recipient Leroy A. Petry shows his prosthetic arm to Gideon Wang (from right), his brother Isaiah and Vietnam veteran Darron Sharp during a book signing and presentation Wednesday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum in Simi Valley.

By Michele Willer-Allred

Medal of Honor recipient Robert D. Maxwell was a young man growing up on his grandparents' farm in Kansas when he was drafted into the Army  a point in time, he said, that "changed my life."

"I said, 'Lord, forgive me, but I'll go where you want me to go and I'll do what you want me to do,' " Maxwell said  and then he went to war.

Now 95, Maxwell is the oldest living Medal of Honor recipient. He spoke Wednesday to about 750 students at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum in Simi Valley, sharing lessons learned in the military and in life.

Maxwell was joined by fellow Medal of Honor recipients Joe M. Jackson, Jay R. Vargas and Leroy A. Petry as part of the Water and Leonore Annenberg Presidential Learning Center speaker series for students.

During the invasion of southern France in World War II, Maxwell smothered the blast of a German hand grenade with his body, saving the lives of several men around him.

He was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1945 for his heroic actions.

Maxwell told the students at the Reagan Library that life was different around the time of World War II. Families typically ate dinner at the table, talking about the affairs of the world and the family.

"These were the things that held America together at that time," he said. "The unity of the family and the common desire of the people to do what was right in the world, and that was to take this war on and get it won."

Jackson was a fighter pilot, and he volunteered in the Vietnam War to rescue three men from a combat control team that was surrounded by North Vietnamese troops. He rescued the men under heavy fire and received the Medal of Honor in 1969.

Jackson, now 92, said what helped shape his character was learning at a young age to "always do the right thing."

"My philosophy is: The one thing that you would absolutely not like to do is probably the right thing to do," Jackson said. "In Vietnam, with the rescue of those three guys, I really didn't want to pick those guys up, but it was the right thing to do."

Vargas, who received the medal for carrying seven Marines and his battalion commander to safety in the Vietnam War, told the students to "finish school and become good citizens, and honor the laws of our country."

He said everyone has the potential to be a hero.

"Each of you have the ability to set an example," said Vargas, 77.

During a book signing, Petry, 36, showed some of the students his robotic prosthetic hand. Petry lost his right hand in Afghanistan after he saved his comrades from a live grenade.

Christopher Gutierrez, 13, joined Autumn Baldwin, 12, and other students from Del Sur School in Lancaster to get their books autographed by the medal recipients.

Christopher said called them heroes.

"They helped serve our country," he said, "and they're actually what keeps us standing today."
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By Arlene Martinez

For 30 years, City Council members have received the same monthly pay for serving in Ventura  $600. Add another $100 if you're the mayor.

For even longer, since elections started, the seven-member board has been chosen using an at-large system. That means voters can cast ballots for every seat.

Both of those things could change as part of a broader overhaul to the city's charter, a decision that could ultimately be made by voters.

The council can't directly alter the charter, but it can bring proposed changes to the electorate. On Monday night, council members voted to have city staff draft language for a charter initiative that could appear on the November ballot.

At the direction of the council, a group of a dozen residents spent more than a year studying various options for changing the document that lays out how Ventura's government operates. Their work ended late last year, and on Monday, the Charter Review Committee formally presented its recommendations.

Among them:

- Term limits. Council members could serve three consecutive terms, then must take at least a four-year break.

- Change the title of deputy mayor to mayor pro tem.

- Make the charter's language gender neutral.

- Eliminate the residency requirement for the city manager position.

- Increase council pay from $600 to $1,200 per month; increase mayoral pay from $700 to $1,500 per month. Automatic increases would be tied to an as-of-yet undetermined consumer price index.

- Get rid of the current at-large voting system.

The increase in pay purposely still falls far short of what is needed to make a living, group chairperson Dennis Orrock said.

"It's not to be a full-time job in this community," he said.

And the city has never had an issue drawing candidates, Orrock said.

Mayor Erik Nasarenko expressed concern about putting a pay increase on the ballot alongside a sales tax increase, an option the council is still debating.

"My concern isn't whether it should be done, it's when it should be done," he said.

But the biggest potential change, whether to move from at-large elections to districts or some hybrid of both, wasn't immediately answered. The committee said it didn't have enough information to offer the best alternative.

The council opted to weigh the pros and cons of each system while collecting better demographic data on the community. Council members would make the final decision, if voters approved giving them that authority via ballot measure.

It's an "opportunity for City Council to look at the issue and figure out when is the right time to make that change for the community," City Attorney Gregory Diaz said.

Several cities statewide, including Santa Barbara, have moved to geographic districts rather than an at-large system. Many went reluctantly, forced by lawsuits under the California Voting Rights Act. Cities with significant minority populations but no council representation have proved especially vulnerable.

Ventura's population is more than 30 percent Latino, while the council is all white.

Council member Mike Tracy, the maker of the motion, rejected just one suggestion, that of filling vacancies in the mayoral office. Tracy preferred the council fill the position of mayor or deputy mayor, should a vacancy arise. The charter is silent on the issue.

"The council is in the best position to make that choice," he said.

Council member Neal Andrews was the sole no vote because Tracy's motion lumped all the potential charter changes together. Andrews felt the council should consider them separately.

Staff will return with the proposal at a meeting in the near future.
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New Hampshire's primary voters have resoundingly presented America's political parties with two unprecedented, very different dilemmas.

Granite Staters overwhelmingly made Donald Trump the Republicans' presidential front-runner  he beat runner-up John Kasich by a 2-to-1 margin. Now the Grand Old Party's dilemma is their front-runner is prone to be uncontrollably foul-mouthed. Indeed, he has proved himself an un-presidential embarrassment to any parents who may have brought young children to his events to see a future president.

New Hampshire voters also gave the Democrats a landslide victor, neighbor Bernie Sanders, of Vermont  he defeated Hillary Clinton by an 18-point margin.

The Democrats' dilemma is that party pros fear Sanders is too leftist to be elected president and could lead the party into devastating, across-the-board defeats comparable to the routs suffered under the leadership of the two Georges, McGovern and Custer.

It remains uncertain whether the Democrats' just-dethroned yearlong consensus favorite, Hillary Clinton, will be able to recalibrate her strategic appeal and rekindle the flame of impassioned support that flickered and died in New Hampshire. Clinton, long a front-runner to be America's first female president, overwhelmingly lost the support of young females to the 74-year-old liberal revolutionary, Sanders.

And this brings us to the Democrats' bottom line dilemma: Nationally, the Democrats have the weakest bench of alternative presidential prospects either major party has had since World War II. If Clinton falters or is undone by the FBI's probe of the private email she used as secretary of state, it is unclear there can be any viable alternative to Sanders. (Vice President Joe Biden, who opted out in the emotional duress following the death of his son Beau, could conceivably reconsider.)

Meanwhile, both parties have landslide victors who were never longtime proud card-carrying members of the parties they are now fronting. Trump was a longtime Democrat who never made a quick and clean conversion to the Republican Party (as Ronald Reagan famously did). Trump always contributed grandly to candidates from both parties, hoping they could help him make more money. Sanders proudly called himself a democratic socialist and independent, not a Democrat. Until now.

Republicans face one more dilemma. On the eve of Tuesday's historic New Hampshire vote, Trump, who wants in the worst way to be our president, demonstrated, yet again, he's at least capable of going about it in the worst way.

At a Manchester, N.H., rally, when Trump noted Ted Cruz's debate comment opposing waterboarding of terrorist suspects, a woman shouted a word most couldn't hear. Trump stopped and pointed at her, declaring: "She just said a terrible thing. You know what she said?" Then, with a teenager's smirk, he instructed her: "Shout it out because I don't want to say." She did; but most still couldn't hear her. Trump's smirk widened; you could sense he was about to commit a full-frontal Fonz; and he did: "I never expect to hear that from you again. She said he's a p----." (Here, the man who wants to be your president, uttered the P-word.)

The crowd roared with glee. And Trump, with all the faux sincerity he could muster, proclaimed: "That's terrible!" No doubt he felt it was also terrible when, the previous Thursday, he committed not one obscene faux pas, but two  an F-bomb and an S-bomb  at a Portsmouth, N.H., rally.

But all the above pales compared to Trump's most un-presidential and unacceptable campaign conduct  which was, indeed, worse than any candidate has ever has been recorded committing.

In November, Trump mocked a New York Times reporter who suffers from a disease that limits the use of his arms. The reporter, who has interviewed Trump multiple times, had said he couldn't substantiate Trump's claim of witnessing thousands cheering the fall of the World Trade Center towers in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Then, at a South Carolina rally, Trump mocked the reporter's affliction. "You gotta see this guy!" Trump shouted, contorting his face, raising his arms, with hands flopping helplessly in front of him. And in an exaggerated disabled person's voice, the man who wants to be your president shouted: "'Aaahh, I don't know what I said. I don't remember!' He's going, 'I don't rememberrrr. Maybe that's what I said!'"

Which brings us to the Republicans' ultimate dilemma: It isn't ultimately about Trump's abhorrent conduct. It is about the sad acquiescence of Republican voters who are rewarding his conduct with their most precious possessions  their votes. They, too, used to be better than that.

Martin Schram is a veteran Washington journalist. Email him at martin.schram@gmail.com.
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Our multidimensional Naval Base Ventura County continues to add commands, and jobs, which makes it a more valuable neighbor and more valuable part of the U.S. defense system.

The additions, which will continue this year and into the future, are good news as we build our arguments for the necessity of this base in the face of any potential closure that Congress might spring. We do not anticipate any such action in an election year, but reductions and realignments in military spending are a constant point of discussion in Washington. And, in the past, that has sometimes led to a round of base closings.

The base will be home to the first West Coast location of a Triton unmanned aerial drone command. About 150 personnel will be added locally for the maintenance detachment to take care of the drones.

The Naval Surface Warfare Center is going to add about 300 new employees, most of them civilian engineers. Then it hopes to add 200 new employees a year for the next three to five years.

The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division is going to add 164 jobs at Point Mugu, mostly science and engineering professional and technical positions.

The U.S. Coast Guard will move its rescue helicopters to Point Mugu from Los Angeles International Airport. The hope is that the move, for now temporary, will be made permanent after a Coast Guard review of options.

The base will revive its Point Mugu Surfing Contest this summer and its fun 5K "mud run" the following summer for the public.

Next year, the Airborne Command, Control and Logistics Wing will add a fifth early warning aircraft squadron with their funny looking E-2C Hawkeye planes that we often see flying over the county. Three years after that, the plan is to upgrade to E-2D surveillance aircraft, which means more planes and more personnel.

All that activity and addition continues to confirm the role that Naval Base Ventura County plays in the long-term thinking of the U.S. Navy, and other entities. We're proud to continue to host the base and proud of the multi-layer role the sailors, airmen and civilians who work there play in keeping our nation safe.
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Re: Jan Skrabaks Jan. 31 guest column, Board should work on behalf of all homeowners:

Wed like to respond to the Ms. Skrabaks opinions in her column relating to short-term rental homes she and others are operating at Mandalay Shores. Ms. Skrabak was commenting on a guest column we previously had written.

In contrast to Ms. Skrabaks opinion, the Mandalay Shores Community Association (MSCA) always has been involved with efforts to keep Mandalay Shores a wonderful family-oriented beach community for all homeowners, and we believe they are trying to continue that goal. The MSCA believes the short-term rentals create commercial mini-hotels now scattered throughout our residential neighborhood and that these commercial activities are not only a nuisance to neighbors, but violate our existing Mandalay Shores homeowners association rules.

Ms. Skrabak says Mandalay Shores is no different than Silver Strand or Hollywood Beaches in terms of home rentals, but that is not true. The Mandalay Shores homeowners association has a set of rules, acknowledged by all homeowners when they bought their homes, called Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions, or CC&Rs. And these CC&Rs differentiate our community from these other local beach communities. Our CC&Rs specifically prohibit commercial activities to be conducted within the MSCA. The short-term rental businesses are a commercial activity. That is the core disagreement. Owners of the short-term rentals are willing to destroy our MSCA in order to ensure their ability to make money from their homes in Mandalay Shores is not restricted.

Ted Kuepper, Stephanie Brown and Brett Bednorz,

Mandalay Shores
More Chinese felt worried and stressed in 2015 than in any year in the past decade, according to a new Gallup poll.

Twenty-seven percent of the Chinese surveyed said they worried a lot the previous day, while 40 percent said they experienced a lot of stress, a jump from the 18 percent and 28 percent, respectively, from the previous year, according to a Gallup report released on Monday.

In the past decade, the percentage of those saying they had a lot of stress had hovered between a low of 28 percent in 2011 and 2014 and a high of 38 percent in 2013, while the percentage of those experiencing worry saw a low of 18 percent in 2014 and a high of 25 percent in 2006 and 2009.

The Gallup report says such feelings have increased sharply as Chinese residents' satisfaction with their household income and personal savings dropped precipitously last year amid China's economic slowdown. It says personal financial setbacks often lead to increased worry and stress.

A Gallup report released on Jan 18 showed that the satisfaction that Chinese have with their household income dropped from a high of 66 percent in 2014 to 58 percent in 2015.

The number experiencing negative emotions has increased more among rural Chinese than among city dwellers, according to the poll, which was taken of 4,265 Chinese in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in July 2015.

The fact that only big cities were chosen could be misleading, because Chinese living in big metropolitan areas are known for experiencing more stress and worry due to the hectic work and lifestyle pace.

A total of 28 percent of those living in rural farming areas or small villages said they worried a lot the previous day, compared with only 16 percent in 2014. Meanwhile, that figure of 22 percent for urban dwellers is down four percentage points from 2014.

The same is true for the stress felt. Some 41 percent of rural residents felt a lot of stress the previous day in 2015, up 15 points from 2014. Although the percentage of urban Chinese feeling stress was 40 percent, it was three points higher than in 2014.

The Gallup report did not say whether the rapid urbanization in China, which has narrowed the urban and rural lifestyle gap, contributed to the faster increase in rural stress and worry.

The report says basic food and shelter are greater concerns in rural China. Eight percent of rural Chinese said there have been times in the past 12 months when they did not have enough money to buy food for their families, compared with 2 percent of urbanites saying the same.

Twelve percent in rural areas said they have not had enough money to provide their families with adequate housing in the past year, nearly twice the percentage reported by city dwellers, or 7 percent, who have struggled to provide housing.

Anxieties among rural Chinese may be an inevitable byproduct of the slowing economy and structural changes in China's economic policies, according to the Gallup report.

It says that for decades, rural Chinese have migrated to work in low-end manufacturing plants, but those jobs are shifting to other Asian countries such as Vietnam and Bangladesh amid China's transition toward a service and hightech economy.

Rural Chinese likely worry that their future economic prospects are dimming as modern manufacturing requires more highly skilled employees.

Despite the Gallup report, Pew Center surveys have shown Chinese are among the most optimistic about their future. A Pew survey in July showed that Chinese, at 88 percent, trail only Vietnamese in saying that their next generation will be better off, compared with 32 percent in the United States.

Chinese leaders have pledged to narrow the rural and urban divide and to improve job training. Each year, more than 10 million new jobs are created in China.


Vegas Uncorkd by Bon Appetit celebrates its 10th anniversary April 28  May 1 with extravagant soirees and a world-class lineup of renowned chefs from Caesars Palace, The Cromwell, The Venetian and The Palazzo (Pictured: Gordon Ramsay  Photo credit: Scott Harrison).

Headliners include Giada De Laurentiis, Emeril Lagasse, Michael Chow, Guy Savoy, Gordon Ramsay, Nobu Matsuhisa and Jean-Georges Vongerichten.

Tickets are on sale now for the Grand Tasting at Caesars Palace as well as new events, including After Hours Sake & Sushi: The Night Rolls On at TAO at The Venetian; brunch at GIADA: An Italian Inspired Feast at The Cromwell; and Sushi Making and Sake Tasting at Nobu Restaurant and Lounge with Chef Nobu Matsuhisa at Caesars Palace.

Tickets can be purchased at VegasUncorked.com.

Las Vegas rivals the top culinary destinations of the world by combining renowned chefs and exceptional cuisine, said Cathy Tull, senior vice president of marketing for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Like previous years, the tenth anniversary of Vegas Uncorkd will offer intimate opportunities for gourmands to meet and learn from some of their favorite chefs as well as experience new food adventures across the destination.

We are so excited to be celebrating ten years of culinary excellence in Las Vegas with new events and hotel partners that will allow guests from around the world to indulge in an epicurean experience of a lifetime, said Adam Rapoport, Bon Appetit editor in chief. The tenth year is going to be unlike anything weve done in the past. This is the first time were taking the event downtown and we cant wait to show our guests another side of Las Vegas.

For the first time ever, Vegas Uncorkd by Bon Appetit will be venturing to downtown Las Vegas with epicurean revelries, including a Steakhouse Redux at the iconic Golden Steer featuring Michael Mina. This years event will also feature a Mystery Dinner hosted by Emeril Lagasse, at a location that has yet to be announced.

Additionally, Chase Sapphire Preferred, a premier rewards credit card for people who are passionate about travel and dining, returns for the fourth consecutive year as the presenting sponsor of this years Vegas Uncorkd by Bon Appetit. Chase Sapphire cardholders will enjoy exclusive access to coveted experiences, like chefs tables at the Grand Tasting including a dedicated wait staff and interaction with celebrity chefs, and an intimate lunch with veteran chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger.

Events on sale now include:

New and notable:

10th Anniversary Mystery Dinner with Emeril Lagasse (Mystery), Thursday, April 28: Join us for a mystery dinner to celebrate the Vegas Uncorkd 10th anniversary led by star chef Emeril Lagasse and The Venetian at a special Instagram-worthy location that has yet to be announced. We arent giving away all the details just yet, but this will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for lucky guests, elevating dining in Las Vegas to a whole other level! Follow us @vegasuncorkd for clues to unlock the secret location for this special dinner. Score your seat here now!

Join us for a mystery dinner to celebrate the Vegas Uncorkd 10th anniversary led by star chef Emeril Lagasse and The Venetian at a special Instagram-worthy location that has yet to be announced. We arent giving away all the details just yet, but this will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for lucky guests, elevating dining in Las Vegas to a whole other level! Follow us for clues to unlock the secret location for this special dinner. Score your seat here now! Master Series: Nobu Matsuhisas Ultimate Omakase (Caesars Palace), Thursday, April 28: At $1000 per person, this once-in-a-lifetime event with Nobu Matsuhisa, is a multi course experience, with the master chef hand crafting each dish in this selection of omakase. Net proceeds of this events ticket sales will be donated to the Keep Memory Alive organization.

At $1000 per person, this once-in-a-lifetime event with Nobu Matsuhisa, is a multi course experience, with the master chef hand crafting each dish in this selection of omakase. Net proceeds of this events ticket sales will be donated to the Keep Memory Alive organization. After Hours Sake & Sushi: The Night Rolls On at TAO (The Venetian Las Vegas), Thursday, April 28: Heres an opportunity to experience the ultimate in Vegas nightlife, in an exclusive setting. Keep the party alive after hours, and indulge in sommelier selected sake tastings, passed hors doeuvres, sushi, and a premium open bar. The ultra cool Tao Loft Space will be buzzing with energy and the perfect place to celebrate the nights events with other Vegas Uncorkd attendees, celeb chefs, and editors. As a bonus, attendees will get complimentary access to Taos exclusive nightclub after the event.

Heres an opportunity to experience the ultimate in Vegas nightlife, in an exclusive setting. Keep the party alive after hours, and indulge in sommelier selected sake tastings, passed hors doeuvres, sushi, and a premium open bar. The ultra cool Tao Loft Space will be buzzing with energy and the perfect place to celebrate the nights events with other Vegas Uncorkd attendees, celeb chefs, and editors. As a bonus, attendees will get complimentary access to Taos exclusive nightclub after the event. Master Series: Dinner and a Show with MR CHOW (Caesars Palace), Thursday, April 28: Explore the first and only Las Vegas location of the Internationally renowned MR CHOW, now open at Caesars Palace. This spectacular and exotic culinary arena brings guests straight to the front row  for an amplified and theatrical dining experience. Focused on the rich traditions of Beijing cuisine, diners will enjoy the show with the infamous champagne trolley, the decanting of the wine, the Sole filleting, the Beijing Duck, the MR CHOW noodle show and the dessert trolley.

Explore the first and only Las Vegas location of the Internationally renowned MR CHOW, now open at Caesars Palace. This spectacular and exotic culinary arena brings guests straight to the front row  for an amplified and theatrical dining experience. Focused on the rich traditions of Beijing cuisine, diners will enjoy the show with the infamous champagne trolley, the decanting of the wine, the Sole filleting, the Beijing Duck, the MR CHOW noodle show and the dessert trolley. Dine in the Dark: A Sensory Lunch at Bacchanal Buffet (Caesars Palace), Friday, April 29: This lunch is unlike anything youve experienced before! Hosted at Bacchanal Buffet, named the #1 buffet in Las Vegas by USA Today, the renowned chef team will present a culinary journey that starts the moment you enter. Guests will be blindfolded, then led to their gourmet multi-course lunch in a private dining room. The special tasting menu will highlight some of the Bacchanal signature dishes and feature enhanced textures, smells, and sounds to delight the senses.

This lunch is unlike anything youve experienced before! Hosted at Bacchanal Buffet, named the #1 buffet in Las Vegas by USA Today, the renowned chef team will present a culinary journey that starts the moment you enter. Guests will be blindfolded, then led to their gourmet multi-course lunch in a private dining room. The special tasting menu will highlight some of the Bacchanal signature dishes and feature enhanced textures, smells, and sounds to delight the senses. Grand Tasting: 10 th Anniversary Tables (Caesars Palace), Friday, April 29 : The Grand Tasting tableside and at your service. A high-end dinner experience placed right in the center of the action, with a flow of multiple courses, personalized waiter service, and a dedicated bar serving the best sips and a signature cocktail of the night. With early access, you have the luxury of staying in your seat during the event or mingling one-on-one with the master chefs and editors from Bon Appetit. Experience The Grand Tasting like youve never been able to before.

: The Grand Tasting tableside and at your service. A high-end dinner experience placed right in the center of the action, with a flow of multiple courses, personalized waiter service, and a dedicated bar serving the best sips and a signature cocktail of the night. With early access, you have the luxury of staying in your seat during the event or mingling one-on-one with the master chefs and editors from Bon Appetit. Experience The Grand Tasting like youve never been able to before. BA Navigator Downtown Tour (Downtown Container Park), Saturday, April 30: Join the Bon Appetit Navigator Tour of Las Vegas thriving Downtown neighborhood for an on-the-move feast with a diverse line-up of four restaurants and bars. Led personally by a BA editor, youll sip and sample delicious bites from a curated menu at each of the nights stops, and interact up close and personal with the talented chefs and restaurateurs. Check back soon for the full restaurant and bar line-up. Meeting location will be updated on the site and emailed to all ticket purchasers.

Brunch at GIADA: An Italian Inspired Feast (The Cromwell), Saturday, April 30: Join chef Giada De Laurentiis for brunch at her award-winning first and only namesake restaurant. Guests will be delighted by GIADAs new brunch menu, highlighting her California-inspired Italian cuisine, indulge in limitless mimosas and more with the Emmy Award-winning celebrity chef and New York Times best-selling author.

Mix It Up With The Maestro: The Craft of the Cocktail With Salvatore Calabrese (The Cromwell), Saturday, April 30: With over thirty years of experience, Salvatore Calabrese is known as one of the worlds best bartenders  having served presidents, royalty, celebrities, and now you! Guests will enjoy an intimate mixology class at The Cromwells sexy cocktail lounge, Bound by Salvatore, and learn how to stir, shake and sip on some of Maestros delicious signature cocktail concoctions with hands-on instruction while enjoying light bites in this first-ever event at Vegas Uncorkd.

With over thirty years of experience, Salvatore Calabrese is known as one of the worlds best bartenders  having served presidents, royalty, celebrities, and now you! Guests will enjoy an intimate mixology class at The Cromwells sexy cocktail lounge, Bound by Salvatore, and learn how to stir, shake and sip on some of Maestros delicious signature cocktail concoctions with hands-on instruction while enjoying light bites in this first-ever event at Vegas Uncorkd. Steakhouse Redux: Michael Mina x Golden Steer, Saturday, April 30: Chef Michael Mina joins the chefs at the iconic Golden Steer Steakhouse to add a modern spin to the classic steakhouse experience. Hosted at Golden Steer, officially the oldest steakhouse in town (the restaurant opened its doors in 1958), the scene will be set with live music from the Rat Pack era, paired with a decadent lunch featuring four courses. Kick off with a mix of classic and modern variations on cocktails, while you settle in and explore the restaurant  then take your seats for a meal thats not to be missed. Chef Mina and Golden Steer prepare and present alternating courses, to be paired with a selection of wines, bringing you one special lunch experience.

Chef Michael Mina joins the chefs at the iconic Golden Steer Steakhouse to add a modern spin to the classic steakhouse experience. Hosted at Golden Steer, officially the oldest steakhouse in town (the restaurant opened its doors in 1958), the scene will be set with live music from the Rat Pack era, paired with a decadent lunch featuring four courses. Kick off with a mix of classic and modern variations on cocktails, while you settle in and explore the restaurant  then take your seats for a meal thats not to be missed. Chef Mina and Golden Steer prepare and present alternating courses, to be paired with a selection of wines, bringing you one special lunch experience. The Ultimate Comforts & Classics Affair (Downtown Container Park), Saturday, April 30 : The best of the birds, bubbles and burgers will come together at the Downtown Container Park on Fremont Street for an evening filled with comfort food, flowing drinks, and live music. Right in the middle of the action, this event will take over the hip locales lawn, where some of the best local restaurants grill and fry up their specialties. Guests can sample and savor these delicious bites including Shake Shacks limited edition crackle burger and the one-night-only Vegas Uncorkd Concrete, made specially for this event as well as signature dishes from Yardbird Southern Table & Bar and their new fast casual concept Spring Chicken.

: The best of the birds, bubbles and burgers will come together at the Downtown Container Park on Fremont Street for an evening filled with comfort food, flowing drinks, and live music. Right in the middle of the action, this event will take over the hip locales lawn, where some of the best local restaurants grill and fry up their specialties. Guests can sample and savor these delicious bites including Shake Shacks limited edition crackle burger and the one-night-only Vegas Uncorkd Concrete, made specially for this event as well as signature dishes from Yardbird Southern Table & Bar and their new fast casual concept Spring Chicken. Eye Openers & Eats: Cocktail Academy to Brunch with Hubert Keller, Rick Moonen, and Salvatore Calabrese (Southern Wine & Spirits Cocktail Academy) Sunday, May 1: Its Sunday morning, and time to sip on some delicious cocktails and indulge in a decadent brunch for your wrap-up to an excellent weekend in Las Vegas! Hosted in the worlds most advanced beverage training facility  youll get an insider experience during this premier event as this location is not usually open to non-industry guests. Participate in hands-on cocktail demos by two of the worlds very best bartenders; The Maestro Salvatore Calabrese, and Francesco Lafranconi, Southern Wine and Spirits Executive Director of Mixology & Spirits Education. During brunch, youll be treated to more top notch wine, spirits and premier bartending talent and delectable food prepared by mega-chefs Hubert Keller and Rick Moonen. Sit back and let the experts take the wheel for this socially charged event.

Returning favorites include:

Master Series: A Decade of Indulgence with Guy Savoy (Caesars Palace), Thursday, April 28: In celebration of both Restaurant Guy Savoys 10th anniversary at Caesars Palace, and the 10th Anniversary of Vegas Uncorkd, the Michelin-starred chef will present a five-course epicurean affair with premier pairingsincluding prestigious selections of Krug Champagne, among others. Guests will be treated to an elevated culinary adventure, featuring some of Chef Guy Savoys signature dishes, such as Artichoke and Black Truffle Soup and Colors of Caviar, which pair perfectly with luxury champagne and best bubbles.

In celebration of both Restaurant Guy Savoys 10th anniversary at Caesars Palace, and the 10th Anniversary of Vegas Uncorkd, the Michelin-starred chef will present a five-course epicurean affair with premier pairingsincluding prestigious selections of Krug Champagne, among others. Guests will be treated to an elevated culinary adventure, featuring some of Chef Guy Savoys signature dishes, such as Artichoke and Black Truffle Soup and Colors of Caviar, which pair perfectly with luxury champagne and best bubbles. Master Series: High Steaks Pairings with Vodka & Caviar (Caesars Palace), Thursday, April 28 : A delicious evening awaits guests at this years Old Homestead Dinner. Greg and Marc Sherrys event is back by popular demand, and this year they present a stellar four-course menu of divine dishes and pairings featuring steak, top shelf vodka, and premium caviar.

: A delicious evening awaits guests at this years Old Homestead Dinner. Greg and Marc Sherrys event is back by popular demand, and this year they present a stellar four-course menu of divine dishes and pairings featuring steak, top shelf vodka, and premium caviar. Grand Tasting (Caesars Palace), Friday, April 29: The 10th anniversary Vegas Uncorkd Grand Tasting promises to be the best one yet: featuring signature dishes from 50+ renowned chefs, free-flowing wines, and spirits from around the world. Skill and indulgence balance to offer an unparalleled culinary tour de force. Set against the backdrop of the luxe Garden of the Gods Pool Oasis at Caesars Palace, The Grand Tasting is the opportunity to meet and learn from the worlds most respected culinary figures, while sampling uniquely curated and expertly crafted tastes.

EARLY ACCESS: Gain exclusive early admission to the event with an Early Access ticket. A limited number of tickets are available to deliver the undivided attention of experts on site.


Project 150, in partnership with Zappos.com, is calling for donations of new or gently used formal wear through March 4 to help homeless, displaced and disadvantaged high school students attend prom looking their best.

The Las Vegas Prom Closet makes it possible for students who couldnt otherwise afford it to go to prom, Project 150 Executive Director Meli Pulido said. Our Las Vegas Prom Closet event, hosted by Zappos.com, provides a boutique-style experience for high school students to shop for free with their student ID.

This years Las Vegas Prom Closet event will be from 9am to 2pm on Saturday, March 12 at the Zappos.com Plaza in Downtown Las Vegas.

Zappos hosts the Prom Closet event to give the high school students in our community the chance to experience one of lifes most memorable moments  their prom, said Shannon Rodriguez, Zappos.com countess of childrens apparel. The best part of Prom Closet is seeing their faces light up with excitement when they see all of the beautiful dresses, tuxedos, shoes and accessories that are waiting for them. This is the reason we continue to host this event on our campus each year.
Novaland, for example, a well-known investor, has been involved in many merger & acquisition (M&A) deals in the real estate market in recent years. - File Photo

Novaland, for example, a well-known investor, has been involved in many merger & acquisition (M&A) deals in the real estate market in recent years.

Within only three years, the corporation bought 25 projects, most of which were mid-tier and luxury apartments with prices ranging from VND28 million  50 million (US$1,300  2,300) per square metre.

The projects prime locations have allowed Novaland to sell their products quickly.

Like Novaland, other groups like FLC, Vingroup, Him Lam, Dat Xanh and Hung Thinh Corporation have been involved in M&A deals.

FLC has a development strategy under which it directly invests in projects and also buys projects that have already been implemented.

Since 2013, FLC has spent hundreds of billion dong (tens of millions of US dollars) to buy projects in Ha Noi.

Meanwhile, after spending over VND10 trillion ($450 million) for M&A deals in 2014, Vingroup continued to look for projects in prime locations in big cities like Ha Noi, HCM City and Da Nang..

Besides big corporations, the market has also seen the recovery of many real estate companies thanks to their restructuring, especially for M&A purchases.

VID emerged as a new name in the real estate market by buying many projects.

Foreign investors have also been involved in M&A deals, as the Creed Group spent $200 million for stocks of An Gia Investment.

Warburg Pincus poured more than $100 million into Vingroups Vincom Retail and increased its investment up to $300 million in order to develop the biggest trade centre and shopping mall in Viet Nam.

The 2014-2015 period was considered a breakthrough for M&A activity in the real estate market.

The real estate market had been frozen for years, and as a result, many investors faced a financial crisis and had to sell many of their products.

This allowed corporations with strong financial resources to take advantage of the market, spend less money and earn high profits.

Despite this, many property projects still face financial difficulties.

"In HCM City right now, there are 40 -50 projects under construction but up to 700 others are at a standstill. Therefore, in the time ahead, M&A will be the most important strategy," Nguyen Van Duc, deputy general director of Dat Lanh Real Estate Company, was quoted as saying in the Thoi bao Kinh te Sai Gin (Si Gin Times) newspaper.

"This year will be a boom time for M&A and more foreign investors coming to the field as Viet Nam is considered a promising market," Stephen Wyatt, general director of JLL Viet Nam, said.
Matt Rourke

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at her first-in-the-nation presidential primary campaign rally in Hooksett, N.H., on Tuesday.
Commerce ministers of ASEAN will meet for a trade meeting and exchange with US businesses in San Francisco next week. The Feb. 17 exchange coincides with the meeting of ASEAN leaders with US President Barack Obama earlier in the week, in Sunnylands, in Southern California.

The San Francisco meeting, sponsored by the US-ASEAN Business Council, is meant to elevate the dialogue in the United States about the importance of ASEAN, Alexander Feldman, president of the council, told VOA Khmer. The meeting will promote business opportunities in ASEAN and explain the ASEAN Economic Community, he said.

Obamas trade ambassador, Michael Froman, will lead a US delegation, and honored guests will include Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Air Asia CEO Tony Fernandes.

Cambodian Commerce Minister Sun Chanthol, who will attend the conference, told VOA Khmer that he and his delegation are looking forward to expanded partnerships with US corporations.

Feldman said the meeting will allow ASEAN trade ministers and US businesses to focus on both realities and possibilities of investment in Southeast Asia, as it unifies under the ASEAN Economic Community.

Well look at things like ASEAN trade agreements with other parts of the world, including the United States, he said. So we will talk about Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, as well as the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership), he said, adding that some ASEAN countries will likely clarify their stance on the TPP at the conference.

For many US businesses, there will be interest in how ASEAN countries tackle some of the impediments of trade, and that includes non-tariff barriers, he said. That includes corruption, a lack of transparency in regulations and other structural barriers, he said.

ASEANs unity as one trade block will help American companies do business there, Feldman said. Thats very exciting, and that allows companies to file custom paperwork electronically, and theres also a single form that everyone will use, no matter which countries in ASEAN that were going to enter into, he said. ASEAN will take a major step forward.

ASEAN, with its 626 million people, has the second-fastest growing economy in Asia, after China, with an average growth rate of 5.6 percent and a combined GDP of $2.4 trillion. It is the fourth-largest trade partner with the US, worth around $215 billion.

US investment there can have an impact, Feldman said. And it can do some good. American companies love to give back and our corporate social responsibility in ASEAN is also among the strongest in Asia, he said.
Editors note: Commerce ministers of ASEAN will meet for a trade meeting and exchange with US businesses in San Francisco next week. The Feb. 17 exchange coincides with the meeting of ASEAN leaders with US President Barack Obama earlier in the week, in Sunnylands, in Southern California. The San Francisco meeting, sponsored by the US-ASEAN Business Council, is meant to elevate the dialogue in the United States about the importance of ASEAN, Alexander Feldman, president of the council, tells VOA Khmer. Feldman recently spoke to VOA Khmer about the prospects for ASEAN-US investment, and what still needs to be done to improve it.

What will be on the agenda for discussion at the conference?

Its a whole-day conference. It focuses really on one thing, the ASEAN Economic Community, and the opportunity for business in ASEAN. So well talk and hear from experts and leading businesses about doing business in ASEAN, the importance of ASEAN, from both the internal point of view and trades point of view, internally, as well as from an external point of view. Well look at things like ASEAN trade agreements with other parts of the world, including the United States. So we will talk about RCEP, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, as well as the TPP [the Trans-Pacific Partnership].

When it comes to investment, what do US companies normally look at in countries within the ASEAN community?

They are looking for competitive advantages, and theyre looking at the ease of being able to supply other markets from that particular country. So a country like Cambodia, although maybe its a little smaller than some countries, including countries like Indonesia, has an opportunity, because geographically it is at the center of ASEAN. So then there is a question of what is the other competitive advantage of that particular country? Cambodia has competed with the labor pool, its ability, as well as its cost competiveness.

ASEAN nations officially launched the ASEAN Economic Community at the end of 2015. What does this mean for potential investment?

I think its a great, great step forward. Obviously, the world did not change on Jan. 1, after it was launched on Dec. 31. But there are a number of important things that have been accomplished already, including the ASEAN Free Trade Area, pretty much the tariff is down zero for anything imported from other ASEAN countries, as long as it qualifies for the value added that has been put in Cambodia, for instance.

Going forward, we are looking at how the ASEAN countries can go beyond the border, as we say, to tackle some of the impediments of trade that includes non-tariff barriers. We look forward to more harmonization within ASEAN, especially procedure and ruling. One of the examples that we give often is the ASEAN agreement on cosmetics, which has allowed the non-tariff measures around cosmetics to be harmonized, and then harmonization of regulations is really critical to ASEAN moving forward. We want to see more of that. Thats what all companies are looking for. We certainly have to look at each country for their own geographic and competitive advantage.

We hope that ASEAN in the second blueprint, which runs through 2025, will continue to take major steps forward. The ASEAN single window is probably the thing that is most exciting in 2016. Five countries will start the trial for the first half of the year. For the other ASEAN single window, we understand that the other five countries are not far from behind. Thats very exciting, because that allows companies to file custom paperwork electronically, and there will also be a single form that everyone will use, no matter which countries in ASEAN that were going to enter into. So its a great step forward, and many ASEAN single windows can, in fact compete among all 10 countries in 2016. ASEAN will take a major step forward.

Trade between the US and ASEAN has been flourishing, but what are the structural concerns remaining for US investors?

The vision of the ASEAN Economic Community isnt quite to where American businesses hoped it would be by this time. So we hope that ASEAN will continue to integrate, continue to reform, to harmonize regulations. We hope that ASEAN countries will continue to provide incentives for investment to attract investment from around the world and around Asia.

We still see impediments, including challenges of governance, so corruption being a challenge in ASEAN and ASEAN single window, addresses one major place where we see a lot of corruption at customs. We still see a lack of transparency on how regulations are put in place and how rules are enforced. Wed like to see those tackled in a much stronger way. Wed still love the ASEAN governments to continue to tap on all their stakeholders, including in this case, the American business community, the international business community, because we have a lot of experience and a lot of things we can bring to bear.

But the ASEAN Economic Community is exciting. It really has made a lot of progress. Were excited about ASEAN. For the record, Americans believe in ASEAN, and we always have, and weve invested over $200 billion in ASEAN, making ASEAN the largest single destination of American Foreign Direct Investment anywhere in Asia, by a long shot. If you add up all the American investment in China, in South Korea, in Taiwan, in Hong Kong, and in India, they still dont add up to as much investment as weve already made in ASEAN. I can tell you from my own personal experience that ASEAN was a great market, when I was in the private sector and building businesses. Its one of the places where we really have an impact both for our own businesses, but also for the community in which we operate. Thats another side, but the American companies love to give back and our corporate social responsibility in ASEAN is also among the strongest in Asia.
Four Afghan policemen were killed and another seven wounded when one of their colleagues opened fire on them in the volatile southern province of Kandahar, an official said on Thursday.



The rogue policeman was shot dead by another officer in the incident late Wednesday night, said Zia Durrani, spokesman for the provincial police.



The shootings, which took place in the Zhari district, are the latest in a string of recent insider attacks in Afghanistan. Last month a rogue cop in Uruzgan province shot dead 10 colleagues.



The Taliban claimed responsibility for the Wednesday night attack.



The Taliban consider Kandahar their heartland, along with neighboring Helmand where poppy production accounts for most of the world's heroin.



Insurgents have attacked most districts across Helmand in recent months, in an effort to reclaim and protect smuggling routes for drugs, minerals, arms and men.



The U.S. military announced that it would boost its presence in Helmand, where Afghan troops have been battling Taliban attacks for months.



The Afghan military is currently rebuilding is main corps in Helmand, rotating in new leaders to deal with a range of problems from exhaustion to corruption.



The United States will add a battalion of troops with some advisers to its current deployment to the province, but will not be boosting troop numbers overall.



U.S. Army Col. Mike Lawhorn, spokesman for the U.S.-NATO mission in Afghanistan, said the incoming troops would be replacing an outgoing battalion from the same base. Lawhorn would give no further details on numbers. A battalion numbers up to 800.



The total U.S.-NATO deployment is around 13,000 troops, 9,800 of them from the United States, operating under the Resolute Support mission's "train, advise and assist" mandate.
Burundi says it feels vindicated now that the United States has accused the Rwandan government of involvement in destabilizing activities in Burundi.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday that there are credible reports that Burundian refugees in Rwanda are being recruited to participate in armed attacks on the Burundian government.

Burundi Foreign Minister Alain Nyamitwe said Burundi has been sounding the alarm about Rwanda for months. Nyamitwe said the United States must now take concrete action, because Rwanda's behavior is contrary to all international norms.

"For us, we say it's better later than never because we've been telling the Obama administration about this for the last seven or eight months," he said. "But of course, in the beginning we were told that we were just trying to divert the attention of the international community on Burundi toward another country. So for us, we want the U.S. to move beyond simple rhetoric and take action because those are absolute acts that disturb the peaceful existence of states; those are acts go against United Nations charter," he said.

Nyamitwe would not say what specific action Burundi would like the United States to take against Rwanda. But he said while Burundi wants to live in peace with its neighbors, it will not relent until its sovereignty is respected.

"I believe a state cannot disturb the peaceful co-existence of its neighbors and get away with it. I think that it is high time we all collectively started acting against aggressive states. We want to live in peace with our neighbors. But we want it to be known to others that Burundi will not relent until it is respected in its rights and sovereignty," Nyamitwe said.

Rwanda calls allegation 'childish'

Rwandan President Paul Kagame has dismissed as "childish" a U.N. panel report last week that Burundian refugees had been recruited at a refugee camp in eastern Rwanda in May and June 2015 and given two months of military training to remove President Nkurunziza from power.

Nyamitwe said this is not the first time Rwanda has denied accusations of supporting Burundian rebels. But he said the evidence for Rwanda's actions is there.

"All we know, and we have evidence to support our claims is that refugees have been recruited, including underage refugees and conscripted into rebel groups with the aim of attacking Burundi in order to destabilize the country and ultimately to remove the current government elected by the people," he said.
Civil society groups are calling for Laos Don Sahong hydropower dam project to be discussed when Southeast Asian leaders meet with President Barack Obama next week at the Sunnylands estate in Rancho Mirage, California.

The unprecedented U.S.-hosted ASEAN summit comes amid increased efforts by the Obama administration to increase its security and economic presence in the region, where it wants to balance the influence of a rising China.

Environmental campaigners in Cambodia said the two-day meeting, which kicks off February 15, provides members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations the opportunity to appeal for American assistance or mediation on the awkward issue of hydropower on the Mekong River, the lower reaches of which have not yet been dammed.

Nongovernmental organizations expressed this hope to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on his visit to Cambodia last month.

Of immediate concern for these groups is the plan to construct the 260-megawatt Don Sahong facility at a site in southern Laos, just 1.5 kilometers from the Cambodian border. The governments of both Cambodia and Vietnam have raised concerns about the potential impacts downstream, where millions of people rely on the Mekongs fish for protein.

Chhith Sam Ath, country director for the World Wildlife Fund in Cambodia, said dam construction should at least be suspended while Lower Mekong countries discuss the issue.

"Cambodia has Irrawaddy dolphins in the Mekong, which may swim back and forth between Cambodia and Laos," he told VOA Khmer. "It also is one of the countries in Asia that has the most fish. These fish contain protein that supports millions of people."

Beyond providing basic sustenance for locals, the Mekong River draws tourism that, he said, could be threatened if damming disrupted the rivers delicate ecosystem.

"We are worried that the Don Sahong dam will affect our efforts to protect dolphins, as well as about fish migration, water quality and the livelihoods of millions of people," Sam Ath said.

Laos already is constructing the Xayaburi dam along the main body of the Mekong River, where it has proposed another 10 dams. Laos has pushed ahead with the hydropower projects, despite opposition from the downstream countries.

U.S.-funded initiative

While official protests have been lodged through the Mekong River Commission, a multilateral body formed out of a 1995 agreement among Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, another multilateral mechanism might hold more hope for an effective intervention over Laos hydropower plans.

Founded in 2009, the U.S.-funded Lower Mekong Initiative targets improved cooperation among the countries of the subregion, while promoting environmental conservation of Mekong River wildlife and clean water.

"We are working diligently to develop sustainable development practices on the Mekong River," Kerry told reporters in Phnom Penh on January 26. "And we have the Lower Mekong Initiative, which focuses on many of these issues."

According to the U.S. State Department, the initiatives programs include the development of a tool to model the impacts of climate change and other environmental challenges in the subregion.

Tek Vannara, director of the NGO Forum on Cambodia, said that while 60 million people rely directly on the Lower Mekong, 300 million live in its periphery and should therefore be concerned about the potential impacts of dams such as Don Sahong.

The U.S. government, he added, could use the Lower Mekong Initiative to play an important role in creating an atmosphere in which the countries along the river can talk constructively about the dam.

"We want the program to focus on energy development and environmental protection," he said. "We want [the U.S.] to give us technical and financial support, or a mechanism to preserve the Mekong River, because protecting water resources and using water with equity can guarantee food security in the Mekong region."

Luy Rasmey, executive director of the Culture and Environment Preservation Association, which is based in Stung Treng, the Cambodian province opposite the Don Sahong dam site, told VOA Khmer that local communities concerns should be raised at next week's high-level meeting. "[The dam] would have a lot of impact on the people who are relying on the river resource," she said.
For years, world governments and multinational companies have fretted over the quality of Chinas economic statistics. The recent launching of a Communist Party investigation into Wang Baoan, head of the National Statistical Bureau, on suspicions of corruption, has heightened those concerns.

As the worlds second largest economy, which has enormous sway on global markets, Chinese statistics are of great importance. Economists are now asking what prompted the government to launch the investigation only months after Wang had been vetted for this crucial job.

So far, it is not entirely clear why Wang has been targeted.

"I do not have any information or insights about the allegations of misdoings in the Statistical Bureau, said Penelope Prime, director of the Atlanta based China Research Center. I understand there is pressure to report as positive numbers as possible in terms of growth, but everyone knows that the economy is slowing".

Some analysts have suggested that the investigations could be related to his work before being appointed to the NSB. Whatever the reasons, the move is likely to affect the international confidence in Chinese statistics.

To remove the head of the statistics department for violations of party discipline just gives ammunition to those that doubt Chinese government statistics, and so the negative is clear, said Jonathan Brookfield, professor in The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at the U.S. based Tufts University.

It is possible the government is trying to replace Wang with someone it can trust more. Having one's own person there, I think, could be helpful in a number of ways, Brookfield said while listing the benefits the government can derive from it.

The net effect might be to downplay something unpleasant like a slowdown in economic growth, he said.

The NBS can bring about this effect even without the need to cover up existing data. It can also change the way certain items are measured, and control the timing of data release, and he pointed out.

Real GDP?

International research organizations have long questioned Chinas GDP figures, saying they are deflated during years of boom, and inflated when there is a marked slowdown as is happening now. Some economists say Chinas economic growth may be one or two percent lower than the 6.9 percent claimed by the government.

Agatha Kratz, an associate research fellow at the London based European Council on Foreign Relations, feels that Chinas GDP statistics cannot be fully relied on because the government does not explain how it uses the GDP deflator, a yardstick used to adjust the value of goods and services to current prices.

Real GDP figures are often believed to be somewhat less reliable. This is due to strong opacity around the calculation of the GDP deflator, which allows real GDP smoothening for political reasons, she said.

But attempts to rework statistics do not help China because world economists are already factoring in a strong margin of error while analyzing Chinese numbers.

The real GDP, while probably smoothened, cannot hide more profound underlying trends notably that of a clearly decelerating growth trajectory in China, which everyone has become aware of, Kratz said.

'Wind of falsification'

Even the Chinese government makes little effort to downplay the fact that the official data is not fully accurate.

Chinese state media reports recently noted that several officials in northeastern China admitted to inflating investment figures and other data in previous years.

In fact, Chinese officials have been struggling for two decades to overcome the wind of falsification and embellishment in data collection and reporting.

In 1999, then NBS director, Zhang Sai complained about "administrative interference in statistical work."

A year later, then Premier Zhu Rongji admitted that "falsification and exaggeration are rampant."

At one stage, the state-backed China Daily warned "statistical fraud will affect the country's economy by jeopardizing economic planning and policy-making."

Shanghai Surprise

Shanghai City Mayor Yang Xiong sprung a surprise in January last year when he declared the city was dispensing with the practice of fixing gross domestic product growth targets. Instead, he said the city would focus on sustainable and innovation driven growth and not chase investment and growth numbers.

Ironically, Shanghai made the decision to change course after its growth lagged behind national development figures.

One reason why officials over-report growth and results for other official targets is that their promotions are tied to their ability to meet those goals.

When it comes to exports and imports, a widely used practice is to over-invoice or under-invoice.

"High invoicing of exports does seem to be common and growing. I believe this is related to the demand for taking money out of the country beyond what is allowed, which is $50,000 per person per year," said Prime of the China Research Center.
U.S. National Intelligence Director James Clapper has told a Senate committee that he expects China to continue building on artificial islands to sustain its "exorbitant" territorial claims in the disputed South China Sea.

Addressing the Senate Intelligence Committee's worldwide threats hearing Tuesday, the top U.S. intelligence official implied that China is militarizing those land features, despite an assurance by Chinese President Xi Jinping during a visit to Washington last year that China did not intend to do so.

Apparently President Xi may have a different definition than we do ... [putting] in runways, hangars and ... installing radars, doing port calls with Chinese navy, and Chinese coast guard ships," Clapper said. I think its very clear they will try to exert as much as possessiveness, if you will, over this area and South China Sea in general.

Expansive territorial claims

Republican Senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said China has now reclaimed 1,300 hectares of land in the Spratly Island chain, where Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also claim territory.

China continues its rapid military modernization while taking coercive actions to assert expansive territorial claims," he said. "At the time of this hearing last year, China had reclaimed a total of 400 acres [160 hectares] in the Spratly Islands. Today that figure is a staggering 3,200 acres [1,300 hectares] with extensive infrastructural construction under way or already completed.



China claims 80 percent of the waters and islands of the South China Sea and has been involved in island reclamation projects in recent years.

The United States recently carried out several freedom of navigation" activities in the region, triggering Chinese protests.

Clapper said U.S. allies in the region fully understand and support American policy on this issue.

I think they welcome our freedom of navigation operations," said the top U.S. spy. "I think they are a bit reticent about speaking publicly as supportively as they do in private.

Clapper also said China prioritized the deployment of regional ballistic and cruise missiles to expand its conventional strike capability against U.S. forces and bases throughout the region.

They continue to field an anti-ship ballistic missile, which provides the capability to attack U.S. aircraft carriers in the Western Pacific Ocean," Clapper said. "China also displayed a new intermediate-range ballistic missile, capable of striking Guam, during its September 2015 military parade in Beijing.

Pentagon's China, Russia focus

Pentagon officials on Tuesday said after years of fighting terrorism, they are shifting focus to dealing with near-peer competitors such as Russia and China, and that that intention is reflected in the fiscal 2017 defense budget.

At a press conference at the Pentagon on Tuesday, Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work said the U.S. military must focus more on building the capacity, capability and readiness to deal with the ever-more aggressive Russia and China.



The new budget calls for $582.7 billion for the nations defense, which is roughly the same as the current spending level.

Work also said the U.S. simply cant sustain its deterrence by outspending competitors and called for investing more in new technology to offset the competitors advantages in military power.

General Paul Selva, a deputy chief of staff, said all branches of the armed forces are pursuing high-end combat capabilities to meet growing challenges from Russia and China.

China denies its military modernization has any aggressive intentions, and accused the United States of using China's military threat as an excuse for continuous military development.

This report was produced in collaboration with VOA's Mandarin service.
The two U.S. Democratic presidential candidates, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, are set to debate for the sixth time Thursday, just two days after Sanders routed Clinton in the party's New Hampshire primary election.

Clinton, the country's top diplomat from 2009 to 2013, once held a commanding lead to be the party's 2016 standard bearer. But political surveys show Sanders has drawn close to her off his campaign targeting growing income inequality in the country and attacks on Clinton's lucrative speech-making to Wall Street corporate titans.

"This country is supposed to be a country of fairness and we're not seeing that," Sanders told one television interviewer.

Clinton is looking to regain her political footing as the Democratic race heads to voting in more racially diverse states than the mostly white states of Iowa, where she edged Sanders, and New Hampshire, where she was out-polled by a 3-to-2 margin.

Race factor

The western state of Nevada, with Hispanics a quarter of its population, is holding party caucuses on February 20. Another primary election is set a week later in the Atlantic coastal state of South Carolina, where African American voters are expected to play a leading role in the Democratic voting.

Hours before Thursday's debate in the midwestern city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the political fundraising arm of the Congressional Black Caucus endorsed Clinton, calling her "our partner long-term" and "an outspoken advocate" for the group's agenda supporting liberal social programs that benefit blacks.

For his part, Sanders met Wednesday with civil rights leader Al Sharpton in New York as part of a growing outreach toward African American voters.

Republican contest

Republican presidential candidates are focused on South Carolina for their party's primary on February 20.

Front-runner Donald Trump, a billionaire real estate tycoon who easily won the party's New Hampshire primary, unleashed a new television ad in the state, attacking his nearest rival, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, as "the worst kind of Washington insider." Cruz, a conservative firebrand, won his party's Iowa caucuses, finished third in New Hampshire and is expected to draw strong support from South Carolina's large contingent of Christian evangelicals.

"We love God, we're gun owners, military veterans and we're fed up with what's happening in Washington," Cruz told one rally. "The only candidate who can beat Donald Trump is me."

Enlisting a brothers help

Another Republican presidential hopeful, former Florida governor Jeb Bush, the son and brother of two U.S. presidents, is bringing his older brother, former President George W. Bush, to South Carolina to campaign for him.

As he began his South Carolina campaign, Jeb Bush told supporters that pundits had "written me off in this campaign, over and over again." But he said his fourth-place finish in New Hampshire, behind Trump, Ohio Governor John Kasich and Cruz, has given him a new lease on his political life.

A fifth Republican contender, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, is trying to shake off a fifth place New Hampshire finish and a weak debate performance last week in which he several times repeated his claim, almost word for word, that President Barack Obama has diminished the standing of the United States overseas and changed the shape of the country's domestic policies for the worse.

Rubio vowed to supporters that his flailing debate showing would not be repeated.

He and the other Republican contenders are set to debate again Saturday.

The two parties' state-by-state nomination races are a lead-up to national political conventions in July, where the two presidential nominees will be formally selected. Next November's national election will pick the successor to Obama, who leaves office next January.
The Shiite-led Iraqi government has started constructing a giant wall around Baghdad that it says will prevent militant attacks and reduce the large number of checkpoints inside the city.

But Sunnis and Kurds worry it is a politically motivated attempt to isolate the capital from the Sunni areas.

The Iraqi Interior Ministry's police spokesman, Brig. Gen. Saad Maan, told the Associated Press last week that work began on a 105 kilometer stretch on the northern and northwestern approaches of the capital  about 32 kilometers from the city center.

Maan said the wall will be three meters high and partially made up of concrete barriers already in use across much of the capital.

The partitions will dramatically improve security and reduce the number of checkpoints inside the city by 50 percent within six months, the government said. Baghdad has been a target of numerous sectarian and terror-related bombings since the U.S.-led intervention in 2003.

Separating Sunnis

But Sunni and Kurdish leaders see the wall as an attempt toward demographic changes favoring Shiite interests in the capital.

Mohammed al-Karbouli, a Sunni MP and a member of the Parliamentary Committee on Security and Defense, told VOA that the project is an attempt to isolate Sunni tribal areas from the capital.

The majority of the areas surrounding Baghdad belong to Sunni tribes, he said. This wall will separate a brother from a brother. This is why we are worried.



Karbouli said he was concerned that the Shiite militia known as Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) would make demographic changes in the Sunni areas surrounding the capital after it recaptured them from the Islamic State (IS) occupiers.

We have experienced that any area captured by [PMF] will be seized and not given back to its rightful owners, Karbouli said.

Retaliating against Kurd

Jamal Kochar, a Kurdish MP, asked the Iraqi government to release objectives behind the building of the wall.

Kochar fears that the Iraqi government is retaliating against Kurds who have begun digging trenches in northern Iraq.

Kurdish officials say the trenches are to strengthen their defense line against IS. But the Iraqi government accused the Kurds of attempting to set up a de-facto Kurdish border as part of a process toward independence.

When we started digging a trench in the frontline against IS, they [Iraqi government] accused us of separating from Iraq, Kochar said. Today they are building a wall around the capital.

But MP Ahmed al-Badri of the National Alliance (a Shiite) rejected the concerns and described the decision to build the wall as moving toward the right direction.

Killing, kidnapping, and explosions have increased in Baghdad recently, he told VOA. The security forces concluded that building a wall was a realistic and effective way to improve security and to prevent terrorist groups from entering the city.

Baghdad is the capital of all Iraqis and no wall or fence will isolate the city or prevent citizens from entering it, the Iraqi government said in a statement, aimed at being reassuring. It is our responsibility to protect all residents of the capital from the criminal acts of terrorist organizations.
At least 52 people were killed when a riot and fire broke out at a prison in northeastern Mexico, officials said Thursday.

Nuevo Leon state governor Jaime Rodriguez said fighting erupted around midnight between inmates from rival factions at Topo Chico prison in Monterrey. He said the prisoners set fire to a storage area and that authorities brought the situation "under control" by 1:30 am local time.

Relatives of inmates at prison gathered outside, blocking a boulevard and demanding to know that their relatives were safe. Some shouted and cursed at the guards when they gave no answer, and others began throwing rocks at them.

Prison director Gregoria Salazar told relatives that fighting had broken out in two areas of the prison, though the areas holding women and elderly inmates were calm.

In a statement posted to Twitter, the Nuevo Leon state government ruled out a prison break.

The incident occurred just six days before Pope Francis is scheduled to visit another Mexican prison in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state.

Mexicos National Human Rights Commission said in 2013 that the countrys prison system was marked by violence and corruption.

Penitentiaries across the country, which often house inmates from different drug gangs, have been notorious for massive prison breaks in recent years. In one of the worst incidents in 25 years, 44 inmates were killed in a 2012 massacre in Apodaca, Nuevo Leon. Later, three top prison officials and 26 guards were accused of helping prisoners to carry out a staged escape.
Intensified U.S. airstrikes, U.S. military advisors, and more than a year of U.S. training of Iraqi soldiers appears to be paying off. Iraqi forces supported by coalition airstrikes retook the western city of Ramadi in December, the latest sign that Iraq's war against so-called Islamic State militants is gaining momentum.

Iraqi Ambassador to the United States Lukman Faily tells VOA Iraqi forces will focus on retaking Mosul after completely recapturing Ramadi from the Islamic State group.

Faily said that like the situation in Ramadi, the battle for Mosul is an Iraqi fight and not one for foreign forces.

"We have not asked the United States for troops and there was clear agreement from both capitals that the fight should be led by the Iraqis," Faily said. We don't need boots on the ground or combat forces."

Watch Ambassador Faily's interview with VOA:

Faily said Iraqis have been grateful for cooperation from the U.S.-led coalition, but he said more is needed to complete the job.

One of the toughest challenges in the battle to liberate Mosul is to minimize the loss of civilian lives, especally given that IS fighters are mixed in with the local community.

We have the responsibility for the protection of people in Mosul; we know that ISIS is using human shields in towns and cities, so we need a lot of homework to reduce collateral casualties.

Faily added that there is a crucial need to get the backing of local tribes in Mosul by making sure they are part of the planning and execution of the military operation, and the stabilization thereafter. He said it is crucial to expediate the training of the Iraqi army to liberate Mosul. The United States and its coalition partners are active in training and planning for the battles to come.

The reason we need new trainers or additional trainers is because thats really the next step in generating the amount of combat power needed to liberate Mosul, says Colonel Steve Warren, the spokesman for the U.S. military in Baghdad.

Economic challenge

The Iraqi ambassador acknowledged although his countrys first priority is to uproot IS, it faces widespread corruption and dwindling financial resources.

We have major economic challenges because of oil prices decline over the past 18 months, which means we have to be more efficient on how to use resources, and we need tremendous amount of economic support. Faily said.

Oil revenues have allowed the Baghdad government to pay salaries and keep the country going with benefits like food rations. But with oil prices dipping around $30 a barrel, the government has far less money to spend and less leverage as well.

Faily said the government is launching a campaign against corruption, but admitted it is not an easy fight and will take a sustainable effort to combat a culture in which bribes and kickbacks are common, hindering economic development and stability.

Future challenges

Faily said the anti-IS struggle is further fracturing the country by creating a variety of competing factions. Iraq has been the scene of sectarian strife, especially between Sunnis and Shiites, since the U.S. invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.



One the key faction is the Kurds in northern Iraq. Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces have been successful at fighting IS, providing troops to supplement the U.S.-led coalition's airstrikes.

But with that success has come a push for independence. Massoud Barzani, leader of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, believes there will never be a better chance for the Kurds to break away from Iraq.

"The time has come and the situation is now suitable for the Kurdish people to make a decision through a referendum on their fate," Barzani said in a recent statement.

Faily said any hopes for an independent Kurdish state will hinder Iraq's development and stability. He insists the country can remain unified.

We need sustainable development in politics, security and to learn how to handover to local authorities and work aggressively to have social and political harmony," he says.

The United States has said it wants the Kurds to remain part of Iraq.
The lawyers for former Chad dictator Hissene Habre finished their closing arguments Thursday by dismissing the credibility of testimony and reports that placed direct blame on the leader for the deaths of thousands during his rule.

Prosecutors are seeking a life sentence for Habre, who faces charges of crimes against humanity, torture and war crimes in an unprecedented trial in which one African country is prosecuting the former ruler of another. The Extraordinary African Chambers was established by Senegal and the African Union to try Habre in Dakar.

The trial, pushed for decades by the victims of abuses during Habre's 1982-90 rule, is seen by them as due justice.

Mounir Ballal, one of three Senegalese lawyers assigned to Habre after his legal team refused to recognize the legitimacy of the court, pleaded not guilty for Habre. The former leader sat silently, as he has throughout the trial, wearing sunglasses and wrapped in a crisp white turban that covers his mouth.

"We call into question the personal responsibility of the president relative to the charges brought against him, including war crimes, crimes against humanity and torture,'' Ballal told The Associated Press. He called the argument that Habre would be solely responsible because he was president "too easy'' and cited contradictions in witness testimonies.

According to a 1992 report by a Chadian truth commission formed by Chad's current leader, President Idriss Deby, Habre's government was responsible for an estimated 40,000 deaths. The commission particularly blamed Habre's political police force, the Directorate of Documentation and Security, saying it used torture methods including whipping, beating, burning and the extraction of fingernails.

In 2001, police archives found in Chad documented more than 12,000 victims.

'Machine of repression'

"Habre is directly responsible for the creation of a machine of repression and terror,'' Jacqueline Moudeina, a lawyer for the nearly 4,500 civil parties in the lawsuit, told the AP. "He controlled this machine that arrested people without reason, detained them arbitrarily and illegally, and carried out executions.''

Senegal prosecutor Mbacke Fall spoke of secret prisons created by Habre and recommended that the former leader get life in prison and that seized assets be confiscated.

The defense, however, argued that instability in Chad forced Habre to create the DDS, because he was a nationalist.

"This man who ruled for eight years and knew six wars, conspiracies everywhere  what else would motivate him to create the DDS?'' Ballal said.

After being overthrown, Habre fled to Senegal, where he lived a life of luxury until he was detained and charged in 2013.

His is the first trial in Africa of a universal jurisdiction case, in which a country's national courts can prosecute the most serious crimes committed abroad by a foreigner against foreign victims, Human Rights Watch said.

Defense lawyers, however, have dismissed the tribunal as a political tool of Habre's enemies, emphasizing that the government of Deby, who removed Habre from office, is the court's largest donor.

Burkina Faso Judge Gberdao Gustave Kam, who is presiding over the trial, said Thursday that a verdict would be issued by May 30.
A professor at George Washington University's Milken School of Public Health says the battle against the Zika virus must be focused on its associated effects.

The problem with the Zika virus is not the disease itself, Dr. Ronald Waldman told VOAs "Straight Talk Africa" on Wednesday. Its a very mild disease that lasts about a week, and there haven't been any reported deaths from the disease alone.

Therefore, he said, the task ahead is to understand more about the consequences of the disease, notably microcephaly, a neurological condition found in some 4,000 Brazilian infants whose mothers were infected with Zika.

Clarifying the facts on Zika, Waldman said, The World Health Organization has not declared the Zika virus disease to be a public health emergency of international concern. They have declared the cluster of microcephaly that was detected in northeastern Brazil to be a public health emergency of international concern.

That cluster of cases would be an emergency regardless of whether the Zika virus caused it, Waldman said, and its conceivable that after the studies are done, there might be a different cause identified, but we dont know for sure.

'So many unknowns'

We are in an unfortunate situation with so many unknowns," said Josh Michaud of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit organization focusing on national health issues.

"One of the problems we have," he said, "is that we dont have a good test to diagnose Zika easily and rapidly, so its very difficult to know exactly how many cases are in a country or a location and how quickly it may be spreading, although we have a general sense that it has spread rapidly across Latin America.

Michaud said that in parts of the world where access to health care is limited, governments need to do a better job of surveillance, setting up studies to make sure the link between Zika infections and microcephaly is genuine. Governments also need to set up mosquito-control programs and inform people about how to guard against mosquito bites that cause the infection.

The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told Washington lawmakers Wednesday that he expected Puerto Rico and other territories to be hard hit by the Zika virus, adding that the CDC "will need additional resources" to do the work necessary to reduce its risks.

The CDC has confirmed one case of the Zika virus being transmitted sexually in the U.S. But Waldman said, "We shouldnt lose sight: This is a mosquito-borne disease, primarily. There have been a few cases, one of which is fairly well-documented, of sexual transmission, but the feeling from public health authorities now is that this doesnt and will not represent a very important mode of transmission.
A 94-year-old former guard at Europe's most notorious concentration camp has gone on trial in Germany, where he faces 170,000 counts of accessory to murder.

Reinhold Hanning has said he served at Auschwitz as a 20-year-old member of the German SS guard, but insists he served in a part of the camp where no gassings took place.

Auschwitz is infamous as the camp where most of the gassings of Jews, gypsies, Poles, homosexuals, and other concentration camp inmates took place. More than one million people are believed to have been murdered at Auschwitz during World War Two. Prisoners were also shot to death or hanged. Many others died of illness or starvation.

Prosecutors in Hanning's case say all who participated in the administration of Auschwitz are responsible for the deaths, particularly in the so-called "Hungarian action" of 1944. At that time, thousands of Hungarian Jews were forced into the camp at the same time, compelling nearly all members of the Auschwitz staff to assist with the processing and extermination of the new inmates.

Three survivors of Auschwitz are expected to testify at Hanning's trial. On Thursday, 94-year-old Leon Schwarzbaum is expected to give testimony. It is unclear whether Hanning himself will make a statement.

Of the 6,500 former SS guards who served at Auschwitz, fewer than 50 have been convicted. But last year's ruling in the high-profile trial of a man known as "the bookkeeper of Auschwitz" set a precedent for other trials of former Nazi guards solely on the basis of their having served at the camps.

Following Hanning's case, at least two others are to be heard this year before German courts.
French President Francois Hollande has named former prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault as foreign minister in a government reshuffle announced Thursday.

Ayrault replaces Laurent Fabius, who was a key player last year in negotiations that led to the nuclear accord with Iran, as well as a notable climate agreement in Paris.

A member of the Socialist party, Ayrault left the post as prime minister in 2014 as his unpopularity approached a record high for failing to boost France's stagnant economy and lower the unemployment rate. Many also blamed Ayrault for a rise in taxes.

As a former professor of German, Ayrault possesses a linguistic ability that will be key in building upon French-German diplomatic relations. The two nations hold leading roles in the European Union.

For the first time in France's history, a former prime minister comes back to claim another position less than two years later and within the same presidential term.

Fabius will become chief of the Constitutional Council, France's top court.

Hollande also named a member of the French Greens Party (EELV), Emmanuelle Cosse, as housing minister and replaced Culture Minister Fleur Pellerin with Audrey Azoulay, previously adviser to Hollande on culture and communication issues.

France's government is comprised of 18 ministers and 20 junior ministers.
There's little room left in the graveyards on this windswept island. Aid workers on Lesbos struggle to bury the growing number of refugees' bodies pulled from the sea.

Of the more than a million people who have found safe haven in Europe this past year, many have come through Lesbos first. But in crossing the waters to get here, more than 4,000 others have died.

And their bodies have to wait.

"There are men and women, but the majority are children," says Mostafa Mahmoud, an Egyptian student living in Greece who has volunteered to help with funerals. "Nobody cares, no humanitarian organizations or Islamic groups."

Refrigerators for the dead

Frustration has built over recent months, as bodies wash ashore, at times singly, at others by the dozens as the flimsy rubber boats bringing refugees from Turkey succumb to the Mediterranean's waves.

"We had, at one point, 85 dead people in both the refrigerators and the container," says Theodoros Nousias, a coroner at Mytilene General Hospital, referring to the special, refrigerated container brought in to help deal with the influx of victims.



"In the big accident, on October 28, 2015, whole families vanished along with their children," Nousias adds. "So you can see, many people have not been identified."

The coroner does what he can, swabbing the dead for DNA, in case some day relatives come to learn their fate.

Buried in an olive grove

Lesbos is overwhelmed with refugees, both the living and the dead. But even before the influx, the island's graveyards were nearly full, and most of them are Christian. For Muslim refugees who died en route, burial has proved yet more difficult.



An olive grove has been cleared to provide some space. Row upon row of freshly dug graves are marked with marble headstones. Volunteer Mahmoud, a graduate of Al Azhar University back in Cairo, draws on his religious studies to help make sure proper rituals are observed. But there's only so much that can be done.

"There were many heart-breaking accidents and burials: the father is buried somewhere and the mother in a different area and the children someplace else," he recounts.

Unmarked graves

It's a testament to the desperation of those coming to Europe that they are willing to take such risks. And some who have now say they wouldn't have, had they known.



"I advise all the Syrian refugees coming to Europe these days, they shouldn't come," says Gomaa, who arrived by boat the day before. "The sea is high, and it's winter, and yesterday, the smugglers promised to put 40 people in each boat, but they put 70." One woman, he says, died during the journey. The Greek coast guard came to the rescue of the rest.

Gomaa says he left Syria for Europe because he wants treatment for a disabled daughter and education for his sons. But the passage - for him, his two wives and six children - was more challenging than he imagined.

"What I have witnessed in the sea made my heart burn for the children," he says. "For a young man, he can save himself. But the young kids - two- or five-year-olds - if something happened, they can't rescue themselves."

Those children, lost to the sea and brought to shore, in the end are given a grave. In the old olive grove, the names of some are carved in the headstones.

Others are simply marked "Unknown."
Members of Britain's Parliament questioned the head of Google's European operations Thursday on whether the Internet giant had paid its fair share of taxes.

Thursdays hearing follows a public outcry about a tax settlement the company made with U.K. authorities, which some people say is unfair. Google has agreed to pay about $187 million covering a 10-year period.

Public Accounts Committee Chairwoman Meg Hillier reflected the public mood when she accused Google's Matt Brittin of having tin ears,'' to the complaints about the back taxes deal in Britain.

Brittin said he understood the public anger, and said Google had paid taxes at a 20 percent rate in accordance with the law.

"It's important to understand that, and I think the committee raised this last time, you wrote a report after we appeared last time suggesting two things, one we should look at our tax structures which the HMRC (Her Majestys Revenue and Customs) has done and second, that we should pay tax proportionate to our UK sales. If those were the rules, that's what we would do, but those are not the rules, the rules are you should pay taxes on the profit on the economic activity which is at the heart of what HMRC looked at.



But Brittin drew a strong reaction from Hillier when he said he did not know his own pay package.

You dont know what you get paid?  Out there, taxpayers, our constituents, are very angry, they live in a different world clearly to the world you live in, if you can't even tell us what you are paid," Hilier scolded.

Meanwhile, Italy has opened a tax probe into allegations the firm evaded taxes worth over $257 million.

Lawmakers across Europe are attempting to change tax rules that allow multinational companies to transfer untaxed profits into low-tax jurisdictions.

Tax authorities in some countries, including Italy, are also trying to use existing tax laws to make companies pay more tax on the profits generated by sales in their countries.
Rebels in Aleppo are laying plans to withstand a siege by Syrian President Bashar al-Assads forces in the likelihood the regime cuts a final main supply line running west of the city. They vow a siege will not be over quickly. But their plans are not being helped by squabbles breaking out among insurgent commanders.

As forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad tighten the noose on the rebels in northern Syria, rebel commanders and opposition politicians are scrambling to plan for a prolonged siege of the insurgent-held districts of the city of Aleppo. And they are coming up with contingencies for food, medical supplies as well as ammunition and arms.



They believe the portion of Aleppo they control now can emulate the old city of Homs, which withstood an Assad siege for nearly three years.



The rebel-held area of Aleppo will be a much bigger challenge for the regime to starve or bomb into submission, says Mazen Gharibah of the Local Administration Councils Unit, part of the Western-backed rebel Syrian Interim Government.

Aleppo's needs immense



The difference is huge between Homs and Aleppo, says Gharibah. First of all in Homs, the area that was besieged was very small in comparison to Aleppo. In Homs we had 5,000 civilians besieged in a very small restricted area. In Aleppo we have more than 250,000 in a very vast area, Aleppo is one of the largest cities in Syria, he says.



He points out that the insurgent areas of Aleppo have a strong infrastructure of NGOs and pro-opposition local governance. There are more than 120 NGOs working in the city and in recent months opposition civilian authorities and the armed militias have been working well together, he says.



Rebel commanders and opposition activists are planning to use tunnels to re-supply the citys insurgent areas. And they say that even if the regime manages, which most expect it will in the coming days, to cut the small supply corridor remaining west of Aleppo, there are still smaller roads they can use to get some food and medical supplies and arms into the city.



This week, the U.N.s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OHCA) instructed international relief agencies it partners with to reposition as best they can food stores closer to the city and to move what they can inside. OHCA is updating plans it started drafting a year ago for an Aleppo siege, say European diplomats.

International aid crucial



U.N. and U.S. officials have warned of a potential humanitarian disaster in the event Aleppo is besieged by Russian-backed Assad regime forces. And in U.S.-led international coalition talks in Munich Thursday a humanitarian corridor for a besieged Aleppo will be at the top of the agenda, say U.S. officials.



There have been several meetings between local NGOs and local councils and international NGOs as well both in Gaziantep and inside of Aleppo in order to have an emergency plan, a response plan for Aleppo, says Gharibah.



Included in the plan is the setting up of a trust fund for Aleppo, which opposition politicians hope foreign governments and ordinary people around will contribute to as the siege unfolds.



But the planning  especially when it comes to grain and food-stocks  is being made harder by the intensity of the fighting and bombing, the sheer force of the Russian-backed offensive and the risk of plunder and looting by militias, including the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units, or YPG.

Regime not the only enemy



Earlier this week, the YPG stole 460 out of 500 tons of wheat from a rebel store at a village north of Aleppo.

We are doing now a whole strategy, and one of the strategies is to move some wheat inside Aleppo, at least 1,000 tons, says Moayyad Yousef of the Assistance Coordination Unit (ACU), which was established in 2012 by the main political opposition group, the Syrian Coalition, to distribute aid.

But that only will be enough wheat for just one month.



The ACU is also moving wheat and food around northern Syria to try to keep the stores safe.

We are trying to find somewhere close to the border of Turkey but still we cant find anywhere until now. You cant figure out where it is going to be safe, you cant, it is hard, Yousef told VOA.



Opposition politicians say they are harboring hopes that Saudi Arabia will send medical supplies. In 2014, the Saudis sent $17 billion of medical supplies. That was fantastic and we need them to do that again. We need everything. We need food, says ACUs Yousef.

Siege expected with or without cease-fire

According to Osama Taljo, one of 25 members of the city council for the rebel-held area of Aleppo, it would take at least a year for the siege to force a surrender. We are trying to provide what will be needed to ensure the city can withstand a siege for at least a year, he says. And I hope longer, he added.

Unlike Homs and Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus that was under siege for two years, Aleppo has had time to prepare. He insists the morale of civilians in the rebel-held portion of the city is high  and so too their determination.

They have been used to all kinds of killing and all kinds of weapons and they have remained steady, he says. He dismissed Russian offers of a cease-fire  made in Munich Wednesday. Whatever happens in Munich, Aleppo will be besieged, he said.



Rebel commanders argue that the prospects for holding out for years are good. They point out that any siege imposed on Aleppo by the regime will have gaps in it and wont be uniform  because some areas around the city will be controlled by the Islamic State and the YPG.



Daesh will still want to trade oil, says a rebel commander, using the Arab acronym for the Islamic State.

Lack of cooperation a worry



But General Salem Idris, former FSA chief of staff, is worried. He still advises some of the militias on military tactics and says there is not enough coordination going on.



I am sorry to tell you that until now that is a problem, he told VOA. There is no central command for Aleppo even now. There are many attempts now to have what is called a military operations center for the northern suburbs of Aleppo. I dont know if they understand what will happen in the coming days. In a meeting to have a tactical plan there were differences between them about who will control the border crossing at Bab al-Salameh, if they succeed.



Idris fumes: They may lose everything and they still think about personal interests.
Human Rights Watch said Thursday that both sides in the conflict in Ukraine have indiscriminately attacked schools, which could amount to a war crime.

In a report entitled "Studying Under Fire," the rights group documented how both the Ukrainian military and Russian-backed rebels have carried out attacks on schools and used them for military purposes, including basing troops or weapons in or near schools.

"Normally, a school is a civilian object and it is protected under international law," Yulia Gorbunova, the HRW researcher who authored the report, told VOA by phone from Moscow. "Once it has military inside -- it is used for military purposes -- it becomes a legitimate military target and can be attacked."

She said this happened on a wide scale in eastern Ukraine.

The HRW team visited 41 schools in both the government controlled areas and in the rebel-held Donbas region of Donetsk and Luhansk.

According to data in the report provided by the Ukrainian Ministry of Education, 119 schools and kindergartens in its areas were damaged in fighting between April 2014 and November 2015. De facto rebel authorities reported damage to nearly 900 schools in their areas during the same period.

Gorbunova said the attacks  some deliberate, some indiscriminate  have a "long-term negative effect" because many schools do not reopen and children's education is disrupted. Many students also have been traumatized by the attacks.

In one rebel-held town where there is currently no fighting, Gorbunova said they heard about students' lingering fears. "The school principal told us that children feel so traumatized they still drop to the ground every time they hear a loud sound."

"The negative impact of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine on the right to education of children is a tragic reminder of the need to find a solution to this conflict," said Ivan Simonovic, the U.N. assistant secretary-general for human rights, in response to the HRW report.



"All parties to the conflict must ensure that students, including those living in areas controlled by armed groups, may continue their education in line with the country's international human rights obligations," he added.

HRW's Gorbunova said both the government and rebels are open to discussions about the right's group's findings.

HRW urged both sides to take concrete actions to deter the military use of schools.

They also have urged the government to sign the U.N. Safe Schools Declaration and to use its current term on the U.N. Security Council to support resolutions related to protecting children in armed conflict.
The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against the central U.S. city of Ferguson, Missouri, after it refused to accept a deal that would have reformed its mostly white police department.

The Ferguson City Council said the package, which had been negotiated between the federal government and city officials, costs too much.

At a news conference Wednesday, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said while she was sensitive to the city's cost concerns, "There is no price for constitutional policing."

Lynch said the residents of Ferguson have been waiting "decades for justice,'' having endured civil rights breaches that established a pattern and practice of racially biased policing.

Ferguson has been under Justice Department scrutiny since 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was black and unarmed, was fatally shot by white officer Darren Wilson during a street altercation 18 months ago. A grand jury and the Justice Department declined to prosecute Wilson, who resigned in November 2014.

But a scathing Justice Department report was critical of police and a profit-driven municipal court system. Following months of negotiations, an agreement between the federal agency and Ferguson was announced in January.

Ferguson Mayor James Knowles defended the City Council's unanimous decision to revise the agreement. One revision removed language that required Ferguson to raise police salaries to attract better candidates, including more minority officers.

When Ferguson and the Justice Department reached a tentative agreement last month, Knowles said the city did not then have a clear understanding of the cost of implementing it.
South Koreas decision to shut down an inter-Korean industrial complex is likely to impose a financial burden on North Korea, experts in Seoul said.

In what appeared to be the toughest sanctions South Korea has taken against North Korea over the communist countrys nuclear posture, Seoul said Wednesday that it was suspending all operations at the complex located in the North Korean border city of Kaesong.

Following its fourth nuclear test January 6, Pyongyang launched a long-range missile last weekend, drawing strong protests from Seoul.

The industrial park established in 2004 is jointly run by the two Koreas. It is home to 124 South Korean companies that employ 54,000 North Koreans to produce textiles, machinery and chemical products. Pyongyang earns around $100 million a year, mostly from the workers wages, through the project. Compared with Pyongyangs total international trade volume, which is estimated to be between $7 billion and $8 billion a year, the number appears to be insignificant. But many experts say the implications of the shutdown could be significant.

Facing financial burden

Kim Kwang-jin, a researcher at the Institute for National Security Strategy, South Koreas state-run research institute, said the Kaesong project is an important hard-currency source for Pyongyang.

The shutdown will impact the countrys economy. The Kaesong complex earnings roughly equal the amount five foreign-currency-earning entities would bring in every year, said Kim, a North Korean defector who worked as an executive of a state-run insurance company while in North Korea.

Some said the closure would take a heavy toll on about 200,000 North Korean workers and their families, noting the project is their financial lifeline.

The shutdown also is likely to hurt Pyongyangs effort to attract foreign investment. The country has established more than 20 economic development zones since 2013, but it has been struggling to find investors. Seoul was trying to pave the way to some new opportunities by seeking foreign investors for the inter-Korean venture.

Turn to China

Critics argued the impact would be limited, saying Pyongyang could find another currency source by sending workers overseas.

The Kaesong workers would get higher wages in China. The shutdown would not do much damage to the North Korean economy, said Cheong Seong-chang, director of unification strategy at the Seoul-based Sejong Institute.

While 800 South Korean managerial staff worked at the complex on a regular basis before the North Korean nuclear test last month, recently Seoul limited its citizens stay there. As of Wednesday, about 180 South Koreans were staying at the industrial park, according to South Koreas Unification Ministry. Seoul said it would begin to pull the remaining citizens out of the park Thursday.

Symbol of cooperation

The joint venture, the only remaining substantive economic engagement and symbol of cooperation between the two Koreas, has been relatively unaffected by tensions and hostilities between the two sides.

Seoul excluded the economic project from across-the-board sanctions it imposed on Pyongyang in retaliation for the 2010 fatal sinking of its navy ship in which 46 sailors died. In 2013, Pyongyang shut down the complex over joint military drills between Washington and Seoul, but reopened it several months later.

The South Korean government and companies invested more than $850 million in the zones infrastructure. Last year, the output of the companies at the complex exceeded $500 million for the first time since its opening, according to the Unification Ministry.
Several hundred young people from the western Balkans have engaged in foreign fighter activity in Syria, a phenomenon of great concern for government and societies there.

But becoming a foreign fighter is not only a Balkan or Albanian phenomenon; it is a problem that even prosperous Western European counties face, Skender Hyseni, Kosovo's minister of internal affairs, said in an interview with VOAs Albanian service.

Even young people from counties like Belgium and Germany join Islamic State, Hyseni said, adding that they leave to join IS even though they have jobs that pay well. That shows, he said, that economic conditions aren't young people's only motivation for becoming foreign fighters.

Unemployment and social and economic reasons are there, but not the only reasons, and not even the predominant reason for the people to join ISIS," Hyseni said. "There are other reasons as well: ideology, indoctrination, attraction to adventurism, attraction to easy life. We hear stories of ISIS shelters turned into all sorts of drug El Dorados, sex slavery, [which] may be very attractive to numerous young people around the world. It is not solely economic and social conditions.

Hyseni said Kosovo's government had developed an excellent strategy to prevent youths from joining foreign fighters, through various instruments.

A 'counternarrative'

The strategy is mainly focused on prevention of radicalization through various steps, various campaigns of raising awareness against radicalization, getting across the message against radicalization in favor of continued interethnic, intercultural and interfaith tolerance and understanding," he said. It amounts to presenting "a countermessage against ISIS, against radicalization  a counternarrative.

The strategy will be executed through an action plan, Hyseni said, implementable in all layers of the society and by various societal groups, including government, religious communities, civil society and others, in addition to measures taken by law enforcement entities in conformity with Kosovo law that prohibit joining foreign wars.

The so-called municipal councils for community safety will be involved in campaigning against radicalization to various communities and neighborhoods, in schools, mosques and churches, Hyseni said.



According to the data obtained by Kosovos Ministry of Internal Affairs, about 320 Kosovo Albanians have joined Islamic State and about 60 have died in Syria.
The Ebola epidemic that swept through Africa left 11,000 deaths in its wake, and now health experts and governments are using lessons learned from that crisis to fight the Zika virus in Latin America and the Caribbean.

"We saw Liberians were dying every day, said Ebola survivor Naomi Tegbeh. ... and we don't want Liberians to go back to those days."

Experts don't expect Ebola to ever return to West Africa with such ferocity. Those countries now have laboratories, better hospitals and public health systems.

The slow response from donor countries and the World Health Organization, however, allowed Ebola to tear through Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

In contrast, the WHO has already called Zika an international emergency because of its possible link to birth defects.

Prevention, vaccination, funding

Experts, however, say more needs to be done on a global scale.

"We need to build the systems around the world to find things when they first emerge, to stop them rapidly, and to prevent them whenever that's possible," said Dr. Tom Frieden, head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

Large pharmaceutical companies worked cooperatively to produce Ebola vaccines. Dr. Julie Gerberding, the president of Merck, said these companies need to be included  from the beginning  when a health crisis strikes.

"We are necessary, she said. Nongovernmental organizations cannot develop vaccines and manufacture them to the kind of scale that we need."

Drug companies are ready to start working on a Zika vaccine, and experts from the U.S. and other countries are working in Latin America to help find the cause of the virus's alarming link to birth defects.

However, funding is critical  not just for Zika or Ebola, but to combat any virus.

"We really do have to make sure that the world is safe, because the next time we may not be so fortunate as to have something we can contain, said Georgetown University professor Lawrence Gostin. We might have a novel influenza that will literally sweep the world and cause millions of deaths in its wake, and we can't allow that to happen."
The onslaught on Syrias Aleppo is creating an unacceptable flood of refugees and is causing a humanitarian catastrophe, the top State Department official coordinating the global effort against the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, Brett McGurk, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee Wednesday.

McGurk just returned from a trip to Kobani and other areas in northern Syria and was on Capitol Hill to give the congressional panel a first-hand account of the situation there.

Several lawmakers expressed concerns about the attempt by Syrian President Bashar al-Assads forces, backed by Russian airstrikes, to surround the city of Aleppo.

Ranking Democratic committee member Eliot Engel asked McGurk if the Obama administration is considering a push for a no-fly zone to protect innocent Syrian civilians from slaughter.

McGurk reiterated the Obama administration's position that there is no viable option at this time for a no-fly zone.

McGurk told lawmakers that establishing a humanitarian corridor for aid and reaching a cease-fire in Syria will be at the top of the agenda at coalition talks this week in Munich, Germany.

McGurk said there has to be a political process that will lead to a transition in Damascus, and that IS cannot be defeated as long as Assad is still in power because his brutality fuels terrorism.

U.S. reluctance?

Representative Engel said some U.S. allies in the Middle East have told him that they have the sense the U.S. is reluctant to get deeply involved in Syria, and that this is why Russia moved in.

Republican Committee Chairman Ed Royce had even harsher criticism of President Barack Obamas policy.

When it comes to Syria, tragically, the U.S. response has been downright shameful. The slaughter goes on. Train and equip [recruitment of moderate Syrian rebels] failed," he said. "In December, the U.S. joined Russia to pass a U.N. Security Council resolution that required humanitarian aid and the end of civilian bombing as part of its plan for 'peace talks.' But rather than stand firm and put pressure on Russia to abide by this resolution, Secretary [of State John] Kerry pushed the opposition to the negotiating table, even as the Russian and Assad regime bombing intensified. The result: predictable failure.

Special envoy McGurk defended the administrations strategy, saying the global coalition has conducted 10,000 air strikes on IS targets and is suffocating the terrorist network in every possible way, including by hitting their ability to move oil and to store cash.

He said IS is losing territory in Iraq and Syria, and many of its fighters are getting killed in the fight. He said that is why some are heading to Libya.

IS in Libya

Democratic committee member Brian Higgins said the presence of IS fighters in Libya is particularly disturbing because there is a lot of instability for the group to exploit in Africa.

McGurk said IS tries to recruit young fighters with the false notion of an expanding and prosperous caliphate, when actually their territory is shrinking and conditions are nothing like what they depict.

He said some IS recruits want to go to die a miserable death, and he said the global coalition is happy to oblige them."
NATO warships are heading to the Aegean Sea to help Turkey and Greece stop human traffickers, marking the entry of the alliance into efforts to deal with the growing flow of migrants to Europe.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday said three ships under German command were being deployed immediately to help the Turkish and Greek coast guards with reconnaissance and surveillance. For now, the vessels do not have orders to intercept boats carrying migrants.

The decision to send the ships came at the end of a two-day meeting of NATO defense ministers at the alliances headquarters in Brussels and was in response to a request by Germany, Turkey, and Greece.

Urgency



NATOs action reflects a growing sense of urgency among western governments as officials project four million refugees will seek asylum in Europe this year.

Germany has been one of the top destinations for migrants and refugees fleeing the civil war in Syria while Turkey, a NATO member, has borne much of the burden, hosting close to three million refugees.

Turkish warning



Turkey has long requested assistance in dealing with the flow, often sparking tension between it and other members of the alliance. On Thursday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed threats to release a wave of migrants into Europe.



We can open the doors, and tell them have a good journey, Erdogan said Thursday. The Turkish leader confirmed reports of a conversation he had with European Union officials last year in which he said he would send busloads of migrants to Western Europe if he did not reach a deal for assistance to cope with the crisis. The minutes of that meeting were recently leaked to Greek and Turkish media.

Stop human trafficking

The alliance, however, wants to portray the deployment of its maritime component, the Standing NATO Maritime Group Two, as a measure to protect the refugees and not as a means to keep them out of Europe or portray them as a threat.

The United States has welcomed efforts to assist Turkey and Greece, but U.S. officials say the goal of sending ships is, above all, to stop human trafficking.

There is now a criminal syndicate that is exploiting these poor people and this is an organized smuggling operation, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said to reporters in Brussels.

The NATO maritime group deploying to the Aegean Thursday is made up of vessels from Canada, Germany, and Turkey.
According to ancient legend, a mythical beast used to come out on the night before New Year and devour the inhabitants of a small Chinese village. That is, until one of the villagers realized that the monster was afraid of bright light, red color, and sounds of thunder.



Since then, the beast - known as the Nian Monster - has become a major symbol of the Chinese New Yeara celebration chock full of red, firecrackers, and drumming. All the while, many others keep the lights on at home to ensure the Nian Monster stays away.



Across China and in cities around the world, the lunar new year, also known as the Spring Festival, is being joyously celebrated this week. In New York Cityhome to over 500,000 Chinese-Americansfestivities are scheduled all week, including Chinatowns famous parade and street party this coming Sunday.



Celebrations, now and then



"Check out Chinatown's annual Lunar New Year celebration for stunning visuals, tantalizing treats and impressive performances. This street party features all sorts of vendors, food and festivities for all ages to welcome the Year of the Monkey," reads an announcement on nycgo.com, a website for New York visitors.



Meanwhile, the citys mayor, Bill de Blasio, designated last Mondaywhen the festival beganas a day off for public school students; a first for the city, joining the ranks of San Francisco, California and Tenafly, New Jersey.



Historically, however, authorities have not always been so accommodating. When the first wave of Chinese immigrants arrived in the United Stated more than 150 years ago, they were treated as second-class citizens, often mischaracterized as opium smokers and dog- and cat-eaters. Pogroms were organized in Chinese neighborhoods.



From 1882-1943, the U.S. Congress adopted the Chinese Exclusion Act, outright banning Chinese immigration into the United States. And in Hollywood, the tension made its way to the silver screen, where Chinese were cast only by non-Chinese actors to portray villains.



Turning the page



New Yorks Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) displays the harsh contrast between Americas treatment of Chinese citizens, then and now.



There is a vast difference, said MOCAs president, Nancy Yao Maasbach. There is so much more interest in Chinese culture, in US-China relations, in Chinese food, in Chinese arts.



Joy Liu, MOCAs Director of Education, says the citys mayor is helping to create cross-cultural connections across the city, allowing more young people to learn and partake in Chinese traditions.



The awareness of it brings them out to explore whether they are celebrating at their homes or coming to these spaces to learn about the customs and traditions behind the holiday, said Liu.



At the museum, kids of all ethnic groups gather to make colorful lanterns, so that they can scare away the Nian Monster together.



A mythical lion can help too. Upon performing his traditional dance, the lion not only keeps Nian away, but also brings good fortune and prosperity to the people.



Sometimes theyll spit cabbagethe actual cabbagethey will munch it up and spit it back out in the middle of their lion dance, said Sophie Lo, MOCAs Public Programs and Marketing Associate. And that spitting of cabbage is also a symbol of money. Because 'tsai,' which means 'cabbage', is also a homophone for 'tsai,' meaning 'fortune.'



The Chinese Diaspora across the United States consists of approximately 3.8 million peopleamong them, successful authors, politicians and business leaders. And to this day, many of them will tell you: the lion had his paw in it.
One day after Americas top intelligence official warned of North Koreas nuclear, ballistic and cyber capabilities, the U.S. Senate passed expansive sanctions targeting Pyongyang and its foreign suppliers and collaborators.



Wednesdays 96 to 0 vote followed North Koreas launch of a long-range rocket Sunday as well as a recent nuclear test.



Republican Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said decades of U.S. policy on North Korea have been an abject failure, and that tougher sanctions will provide a remedy.



Our bill sets precedents and puts in place strong mandatory sanctions, Corker said. The president will be required to investigate a wide range of sanctionable conduct, including proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, arms-related materials, luxury goods, human rights abuses, activities undermining cybersecurity.



Watch: U.S. Senators discuss North Korea sanctions.

The bill targets North Koreas trade in minerals and other activities that generate hard currency for the regime, and penalizes Chinese and other entities that work with Pyongyang.



We want to prevent commercial interests anywhere in the world from trying to help North Korea get the weapons and equipment and resources it needs in order to further its illegal weapon program, said the committees top Democrat, Senator Ben Cardin.



For seven hours before the vote, a parade of senators from both political parties delivered speeches denouncing North Koreas leadership.



Extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions and unspeakable sexual violence are part of the ongoing story of this bizarre regime, said Democrat Robert Menendez.



Many also expressed frustration with what they see as inaction by the United Nations and resistance by China to a robust international response.



I am personally very disappointed at the way the U.N. Security Council is functioning, Corker said.



It is not enough to convene the U.N. Security Council for another round of hollow rhetoric that does nothing to the Kim regime but signal a lack of international commitment to enforcing international will, Menendez said.



The onus is now on China, Cardin said. China could make a huge difference in isolating North Korea and changing their behavior  They need to take action; they cant be blocking U.N. Security Council action.



Despite overwhelming bipartisan support for the legislation, some partisan sniping arose during floor debate. A few Republicans suggested North Korea and other U.S. adversaries have been emboldened by what they see as President Barack Obama's weak leadership on the world stage.



Through his words and deeds, the president continues to discredit and undercut American leadership around the world, and as a result the world is even more unstable and conflict-ridden than when he [Obama] assumed office, said Senator John Cornyn. It is absolutely the fact that in the absence of American leadership, tyrants, thugs and bullies feel emboldened.



The sanctions bills lead author, Republican Cory Gardner, said the president has been slow to confront Pyongyang.



Strategic patience has been a strategic failure, Gardner said. All that our so-called patience has done is to allow the North Korean regime to continue to test nuclear weapons, to expand its testing of intercontinental ballistic missiles, to grow its military power, to develop cyber-warfare technologies, while systematically continuing to torture its own people.



We have neither militarily deterred this regime, nor effectively used our punitive tools, he added.



Democrats noted that the failure to rein in North Korea extends back to the 1990s, covering both Democratic and Republican administrations.



Whatever ones views on various U.S. policy efforts of the past two decades, what has worked, what has not worked, there can be little question these efforts have failed to end North Koreas nuclear ambitions or end its missile programs, Menendez said. They have failed to reduce the threat posed by North Korea to our allies, failed to alleviate the suffering of North Koreas people, and failed to lead to greater security in the region.



The Senate sanctions bill would have to be resolved with similar legislation already passed by the House of Representatives, unless the House passed the Senate version.



The State Department has endorsed tougher penalties on North Korea, but has declined to comment on specific legislation until a bill reaches President Obamas desk.
A Palestinian official warned Wednesday that the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem could "explode" if funds from international donors fell short this year.

Finance Ministry official Dana Erekat said he realized there is competition for scarce funds because of crises in Syria and Yemen and the refugee wave in Europe.

But he said a shortage of badly needed donations for the Palestinian areas could lead to a disaster.

"If we do not address the needs of these communities, the situation will explode in the way it has in the rest of the region," Erekat said. "This is precisely why donor support at this time is very, very critical."

Palestinian authorities and the United Nations are making a joint appeal for $571 million for 2016.

Much of the funds from international donors would go to food and other humanitarian relief for impoverished Palestinian neighborhoods, especially in Gaza, which is still struggling to rebuild after the 2014 war with Israel.

Poverty, a lack of school and job opportunities, alleged weak leadership and a dim outlook for peace are all contributing to Palestinian fury against Israelis.

Israel accuses Palestinian leaders of encouraging young people to react violently.
Pornsak Bowornsrisuk pulls an umbrella toward him to shield his head of thick gray hair from the blazing sunshine at the Bangkok bus terminal he manages.

"You've got to be damned tough to do this job," says the 63-year-old, who records bus arrivals and departures, and adds up fares collected from journeys across Thailand's capital.

Septuagenarian bus conductor Pranom Chartyothin moves nimbly to a door to guide students off the vehicle. She waves at the driver, 66-year-old Plang Pansaior, who glances in his rear-view mirror before pulling away.

Such scenes will only become more common in Thailand as its population rapidly ages, unlike its neighbors with more youthful populations. The World Bank estimates the working-age population will shrink by 11 percent by 2040, the fastest contraction among Southeast Asia's developing countries.

Thailand's stage of economic development, the rising cost of living and education, and a population waiting longer to get married are among the reasons it is aging more quickly than its neighbors. An effective contraception program in the 1970s also played a part, said Sutayut Osornprasop, a human development specialist at the World Bank in Thailand.

Thailand's fertility rate dropped to 1.5 in 2013 from 5.6 in 1970, according to United Nations data.

The government is urging businesses to hire more older people to soften the impact of the aging workforce on productivity, as well as limit the rise in the cost of its modest pension scheme.

Thailand will have to boost productivity to foot the bill for supporting the elderly, Bank of Thailand Governor Veerathai Santiprabhob told Reuters in an interview in January.

"Everyone has to be able to earn more to be able to shoulder the cost of our aging society," he said.

The state paid 61.37 billion baht ($1.73 billion) in 2015 in pensions, and the cost is expected to rise by 16 percent to 71.23 billion baht in 2020.

Older workers keep their cool

The government established a Department of Older Persons in March 2015 to tackle elderly employment and related issues.

The Bangkok Transport Co, which employs Pornsak, Pranom and Plang, is embracing the change. Around 13 percent of its workforce is over 60. The firm likes older staff as they can keep their cool in Bangkok's bumper-to-bumper traffic, said director Phatharawadee Klomjaroon.

"Bangkok's streets are jammed," she said. "Young employees sometimes still cannot control their temper, but the older employees are focused and more mindful. They can keep a calm demeanor when it comes to driving."

With monthly pensions of 600 to 1,000 baht a month ($17 to $28), many Thais have no choice but to keep working.

"It is tiring, but we just have to keep going. There isn't anyone to take care of me," said Pranom, who used to work as a cleaner and became a bus conductor after her husband died.

Nearly 40 percent of the 10 million Thais who are above the mandatory retirement age of 60 are still in the workforce, said Anusan Thienthong, head of the Department of Older Persons.

The government is considering extending the retirement age for some occupations, he said.

Just outside the Thai capital, the Cho Heng Rice Vermicelli Factory Co. says more and more older people are seeking jobs.

"We're getting more calls asking if we accept old applicants," said factory owner Varatus Vongsurakrai, adding that 62 of his 1,600 workers are over retirement age. He said he valued older workers for their reliability and experience.

One of those is Darunee Kamwong, 72, a cleaner who has five children and helps pay for the education of two of her grandchildren.

"I think I'll work another five years," she said. "I'm old already, but I can't rest just yet."
An Indian soldier rescued after being trapped for six days under about 10 meters of snow in the high Himalayas in Indian Kashmir died Thursday, according to army officials.

Hanamanthappa Koppad and nine other soldiers were buried under a wall of ice on February 3 when a massive avalanche hit their army post at the Siachen Glacier, which lies along the line of control that divides India and Pakistan. It is known as the worlds highest battlefield.

While the other soldiers died at the scene, rescue teams found that Koppad had, against impossible odds, managed to survive  probably due to an air pocket. Doctors and experts described it as a miracle when he was pulled out late Monday.

He was brought to a hospital in New Delhi, where doctors described his condition as extremely critical, saying he was in a coma and suffering from multi-organ failure.

Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi tweeted that Koppad's death had left the country sad and devastated: "RIP Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. The soldier in you remains immortal. Proud that martyrs like you served India."

Tributes to the soldiers also poured in from many on social media.

The story of his miraculous survival had gripped India, with many praying for his recovery, including school children and Bollywood stars. The Indian media called him Siachens hero.

Koppads story has turned the spotlight on the treacherous conditions for soldiers serving on the Siachen Glacier, which is patrolled by both the Indian and Pakistani armies. Not only do they have to combat freezing temperatures, they have to also contend with deadly avalanches and snow storms. Frostbite and asphyxiation afflict many who serve there.

The harsh weather has claimed the lives of more than 850 soldiers, according to the Indian Army, since the glacier was occupied in 1984.
Resource-poor countries like Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia are experiencing growth, while resource-rich countries like Nigeria and Angola are battling.



The former finance minister of Zimbabwe, Tendai Biti, told the Investing in African Mining Indaba annual conference Tuesday that diversification is key, but African leaders in resource rich countries dont learn. However, he said the silver lining to the current slump is for policy makers to see this as an opportunity, a sentiment also expressed in the National Bureau of Statistics of Nigeria outlook report.



The focus for Investing in African Indaba was on mining, rather than crude oil, whether a particular mineral, diamonds, iron or gas.



The issue is global commodities are in a slump, and during the boom, leaders put an unnatural focus on a specific sector while ignoring other areas of the economy. They failed to industrialize around commodities and never put resources back into the community. Biti pointed out that poverty is at its worst where the actual minerals have been extracted.



What is Rwanda doing right?



Rwanda is one of the countries that is seeing growth.



The key to African nations competing in the global marketplace and attracting foreign investment is first and foremost transparency, and that is what Rwanda is doing right. Rwanda ranked well in the World Banks "Doing Business 2016" report regarding the ease of doing business, which encourages investor confidence. Operating as transparently as possible with minimal bureaucracy has led to a healthy operating environment and is starting to earn the trust of the international community.



The private sector outlook is shaping up to be bullish in 2016, and that is due in part to the success of a Single Customs Territory (SCT) implemented in 2013.



According to the Northern Corridor Integration Projects, SCT makes it easier for people to do business in the region. The Northern Corridor links Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi with Kenyas maritime port of Mombasa. It also serves the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Tanzania. Thus, the Northern Corridor connects the five countries of the East African Community. An SCT reduces the cost of doing business by eliminating duplication of processes, and also reduces administrative costs and regulatory requirements.



An SCT also enhances trade in locally-produced goods and encourages the relationship between the private and public sectors, making Rwanda an attractive foreign, domestic and cross-border investment. Through this project, Rwanda is aggressively growing its economy with sectors outside of commodity dependence, such as construction and development and agribusiness.
Russia is proposing talks about a cease-fire in Syria, but European diplomats are skeptical about the offer, which they see as a delaying tactic that would allow intense Russian airstrikes in Aleppo to continue.



Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow had submitted a quite specific proposal.

We will wait for the American response before we take it to the ISSG [International Syria Support Group], Lavrov said in Munich Thursday as he sat down for talks with Secretary of State John Kerry.

Western media reports say Russia is proposing a cease-fire to begin March 1 - too late to avert a worsening humanitarian crisis in and around Aleppo, Syria's second-largest city, near the border with Turkey. A U.S. spokesman said Washington wants an immediate truce.

Rebels: End 'Russia's campaign of slaughter'

A senior member of the Syrian opposition said any cease-fire would be welcome if it ends "the current Russian campaign of slaughter," but there must be guarantees that all of the Damascus regime's backers - including Iran-funded militias and fighters from Lebanon's Hezbollah movement - observe a truce.

The head of another rebel coalition, however, said Russia's proposal was simply "a trick which the [Assad] regime will use to prepare for other military operations."

Kerry said he and Lavrov would have a serious conversation about all aspects about whats happening in Syria.

The top U.S. diplomat said he hopes for progress on humanitarian access to civilians in Syria as well as a cease-fire.

Possible turning point in war

European diplomats told VOA they feel delaying a cease-fire for several weeks would allow Russian and Syrian government troops to complete their operation to retake Aleppo and send even more refugees fleeing toward Turkey.

Regaining control of Aleppo, which has largely been under rebel control since mid-2012, would mark a possible turning point in Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's drive to crush his opponents.



This is straight out of the Kremlins playbook, said a senior European Union diplomat. He compared the Russian negotiating stance on Syria to Moscow's handling of the fighting between government forces and separatist, pro-Russian militias in Ukraine.

Syria compared to Ukraine



Look at Ukraine," the senior diplomat said. "[There were] cease-fires, offers of solutions - but meanwhile on the battlefield, continued pressure.

Kerry and Lavrov were to join other members of the 17-nation International Syria Support Group later Thursday - the first full ISSG meeting since talks about a possible political solution to the Syrian crisis bogged down earlier this month.

Opposition protests against the intense aerial bombing campaign by Russian and Syrian government forces have delayed efforts to resume the U.N.-sponsored talks, along with diplomats' inability to agree on which rebel factions would be included.

Next UN talks in 2 weeks

U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura has delayed until February 25 the next effort to get "proximity talks" underway. These would include members of the Damascus government and the main opposition groups in the civil war, but not meeting directly with each other.

A Turkish official told VOA Russia might be talking about a truce now because its military assault on Aleppo is now complete.



Now they can focus on ... preparing for the next stage  Idlib, the Turkish official said.



Relief organizations have denounced the world powers for discussing a political solution to the five-year-long civil war while not doing enough to save the lives of endangered civilians.

100,000 refugees in a week



In the past week, since a donor's conference about Syria in London, nearly 100,000 Syrians have fled from their homes, International Rescue Committee President David Miliband said.

The ongoing humanitarian crisis is making a mockery of the international communitys commitment to help Syrians, the former British Cabinet member said.



Plans to resume proximity talks between the government and opposition hinge on whether world powers can make sufficient progress in efforts to secure a cease-fire and provide humanitarian access to affected civilians.

Former U.S. ambassador to Syria Robert Ford says, "The most important thing is to somehow pressure the Russians and the Syrians to stop the aerial bombardments which are causing these floods of refugees.



However, he added, the U.S. had not shown any willingness to genuinely pressure Russia.
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, has arrived in Cuba for a historic meeting with the head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis.

The Friday meeting will be the first of its kind, an effort to heal the 1,000-year-old schism that has divided Christianity between East and West.

The pope and Kirill plan to hold a "personal conversation" at Havana's Jose Marti International Airport that will conclude with the signing of a joint declaration. Details of the declaration have not been made public.

The split between the two churches since 1054 has festered over issues such as the primacy of the pope and accusations by the Russian Orthodox Church that the Catholic Church is trying to poach converts in Russia.

However, the persecution of Christians  Catholic and Orthodox  in the Middle East and Africa has helped bring the two churches closer.

A meeting between Francis and Kirill has been in the works for some time after the pope told the patriarch in November 2014, "Ill go wherever you want. You call me and Ill go. The pope will be making the brief stop in Cuba en route to Mexico.

While in Cuba, Kirill will also make a state visit to the nation's president, Raul Castro.
South Korean workers have begun their pullout from the Kaesong Industrial Complex in North Korea following new sanctions imposed on Pyongyang for its recent nuclear and rocket tests.

On Wednesday Seoul announced it would suspend all activities at the industrial zone it operates jointly with North Korea to punish the Kim Jong Un government for its fourth nuclear test and latest long range missile launch.



Pyongyang reacted to Seouls announcement Thursday by declaring the industrial park a military control zone according the Norths official KCNA news agency. North Korea also said it would immediately deport all South Korean nationals, freeze the assets of companies operating there, and called the shut down a "declaration of war."

The North also said it was shutting down two crucial cross-border communications hotlines.



Out of work

The 124 small and medium South Korean manufacturing companies that operate in Kaesong already had begun pulling out staff, equipment and goods. The over 54,000 North Korean employees who work for these South Korean companies will now be out of work.

"We jokingly said Kaesong might be shut down, but I was surprised to see it really happening. In my personal opinion, I feel sorry for the North Koreans because they are way more worried than we are," said Kim Soo-hee, a South Korean nurse at the Kaesong Complex.

The closure will cut off the flow of about $100 million a year into North Korea. South Korean companies paid Kaesong employee wages directly to the Pyongyang government. Seoul suspects much of that money was not given to the workers but was used to advance the Norths nuclear weapons and long-range missile program.

U.N. Security Council resolutions have banned North Korea from developing nuclear weapons and ballistic missile technology and have imposed four rounds of increasingly stronger sanctions since 2006.



End of 'Sunshine Policy'

Terminating the Kaesong complex, the last remnant of South Koreas Sunshine Policy of engagement with the North, ends virtually any hope, in the near future, of a peaceful settlement to the long-standing tensions on the Korean peninsula.

If you look at our governments way of handling North Korea, that apparently it is hoping for some kind of major collapse of the North Korea regime. But if that does not happen then therell be quite high tension (and) protracted confrontation between North and South Korea, said Chung-in Moon, a professor of Political Science at Yonsei University in South Korea and advocate for inter-Korean engagement policies.

Over a decade ago, late South Korean President Kim Dae-jung initiated the Sunshine policy on the premise that through assistance and cooperative projects, North and South could build trust that would lead to peaceful co-existence and to some form of unification.

The Kaesong complex, located inside North Korea about 54 kilometers northwest of Seoul, was intended to promote inter-Korean understanding and give North Korean workers a taste of life in the south, including snack foods like Choco Pies and toiletries that were resold as luxury items in the North.

Over the years, support in the South for unqualified engagement faded as the North continued its defiant pursuit of nuclear weapons and continued to initiate provocations.

The other major joint project, the Kumgang Mountain tourist zone, was shut down in 2008 after a North Korean soldier shot a South Korean visitor. Other South Korean aid programs were halted and sanctions imposed against North Korea in 2010, after Seoul accused Pyongyang of sinking a South Korean warship and killing 46 sailors.

Except for Kaesong, both countries forbid their citizens from communicating with each other across the world's most fortified frontier.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye came to power in 2013, and like her predecessor President Lee Myung-bak, has taken a harder line in dealing with the North.

Last December during rare inter-Korean talks, Seoul refused to re-open the Kumgang tourist program in exchange for Pyongyangs offer to support further reunions of separated families.

I think there was no compromise on the South Korean side. Our government has been quite inflexible in dealing with North Korea, said Professor Moon.

Compelling Pyongyang

In the wake of the latest missile launch and nuclear test, Seoul along with Washington and Tokyo have more fully committed to compel Pyongyang to comply with international demands to end its nuclear program.

The U.S. Senate voted unanimously Wednesday to adopting stronger sanctions that would target U.S. assets of individuals or companies that import North Korean goods, technology or training related to weapons of mass destruction, or are connected to human rights abuses.

Japan imposed unilateral sanctions Wednesday, including prohibiting North Korean ships from entering Japanese ports and a total entry ban on the entry of North Korean nationals into Japan.

Washington and Beijing are still reportedly at odds over imposing strong United Nations sanctions. China has said it does not want to trigger regional instability.

Analysts say that unless Chinas goes along with proposed measures to cut off trade and aid to its ally, sanctions will have a very limited impact.

U.S., Japanese and South Korean defense forces agreed Wednesday to increase information-sharing and coordination of security efforts.

The United States and South Korea are also proceeding with formal talks to deploy the controversial THAAD missile defense system.

China and Russia have protested stationing THAAD on the Korean peninsula in part because the over 1,000-kilometer reach of the system radar can potentially be used to monitor military installations in their countries.
Gravity waves, one of Albert Einstein's most interesting predictions about the weirdness of space time, have been an elusive but accepted element of the theory of general relativity. Now it looks like a coalition of scientists from CalTech, MIT, and the LIGO Scientific Collaboration has finally found them. And it only took a century.

Researchers on Thursday likened the discovery to the difference between looking at a piece of music on paper and then hearing it in real life. "Until this moment we had our eyes on the sky and we couldn't hear the music,'' said Columbia University astrophysicist Szabolcs Marka.

Albert Einstein debuted his notions on gravitational waves almost exactly 100 years ago. Scientists have been looking for them ever since.

Gravitational waves FAQ

Gravitational waves are easy to imagine but hard to comprehend. Think of what happens when you throw a rock in a pond. Ripples spread out from the point where your rock hits the water. Now imagine space time as the surface of the pond, and something with mass as the rock. Gravitational waves, then, would be the ripples. Pretty easy right?

Sure, but what do they do? Well, they literally expand and contract space and time as they pass through a point in space.

Okay, fine, but what does that mean for you and me living on our tiny little blue ball? Not much, but each time a gravitational wave passes through earth, our planet expands or contracts as the wave goes by.

Einstein predicted that these expansions and contractions should be observable. And that's what Thursday's announcement is all about.

How did scientists find them?

Gravitational waves were discovered by a giant scientific tool called LIGO that stands for the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. Its only job was to find gravitational waves and it has been looking on and off since 2002.

LIGO is a billion-dollar project made up of two giant L-shaped observatories, one in Washington State, and one in Louisiana. They are separated by more than 3,000 kilometers and they were built so far apart for a reason. That distance is just far enough apart so they could compare the information they received and triangulate it to actually pinpoint where the wave was coming from.

And that's why this discovery is so special. For years, LIGO, CalTech and MIT scientists have been watching two black holes that were spinning around each other, getting closer and closer. When they finally merged, the scientists predicted that the collision would release some strong gravitational waves. And those are the waves that LIGO detected. They came exactly when scientists said they would, and the two observatories pinpointed them as coming from the crash of these two distant black holes.



So what's the big deal?

Scientists had already done the math that proved gravitational waves exist way back in the 1970's. But the waves had never been actually 'seen.'

"It's really comparable only to Galileo taking up the telescope and looking at the planets,'' said Penn State physics theorist Abhay Ashtekar, who wasn't part of the discovery team. "Our understanding of the heavens changed dramatically.''
As scientists around the world race to combat the spread of the Zika virus, dozens of global health bodies  including researchers, academic journals and funding organizations  have committed to sharing data on the virus.

The statement, signed by more than 30 organizations, is meant to ensure that any information relevant to combating Zika is made freely and openly available to the international community as soon as is feasibly possible.

Signatories include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Doctors Without Borders, PLOS (Public Library of Science), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (along with the Chinese equivalent), the JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) Network, and the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Researchers who signed the agreement were assured that their work would still be eligible for publication in science journals.

Zika, a viral disease carried by mosquitoes, is causing international alarm as an outbreak in Brazil has now spread through much of the Americas.

Signs and symptoms of the Zika virus include fever, rash, headache, conjunctivitis and pain in the joints, muscles, and eyes. It usually results in mild illness, but the virus poses a greater danger to pregnant women and may be linked to a rare neurological condition called microcephaly, which causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads.
North Korea says South Korea's decision to suspend operations at a jointly-run industrial complex amounts to "a declaration of war."

The North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea issued the warning in a statement released Thursday, its first response to Seoul's decision Wednesday to shutdown operations at the Kaesong industrial park, located 10-kilometers across the border. South Korean workers began hauling equipment out of Kaesong early Thursday, well before Pyongyang's statement.

The North ordered all South Korean nationals to leave the complex, said it was seizing all materials left behind and declared it a military zone. It also said it was cutting off all military communications with Seoul, including the hotline at the border truce village of Panmunjom.

"Our military is completely prepared to cope with any possible situations in Kaesong Industrial Complex at this time, putting a priority on people's lives and safety," said South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Moon Sang Gyun.

South Korea says it is suspending operations at the Kaesong park to prevent Pyongyang from using the proceeds from the industrial park to fund the development of its nuclear and missile programs.

The Kaesong industrial park first opened in 2004 as part of the "sunshine" reconciliation policy reached between the authoritarian North and democratic South in the late 1990s, and is the last remaining symbol of cross-border cooperation.

About 124 South Korean companies operate factories in Kaesong, employing more than 53,000 North Korean workers at an annual cost of $100 million, providing a source of badly needed hard currency for the impoverished North.

The park was shut down once before, in 2013, when Pyongyang withdrew all of its workers and closed the complex for five months during a period of heightened cross-border tensions.

South Koreans react

"As businessmen in Kaesong would have invested a lot, I hope that the government cares and fights on their behalf so they won't sustain too many losses," said Seoul resident Lim Ok-sook. "Also, when we watch the news South Korea always considers [North Korea] and they do whatever they want anyway. So I hope that this will be an opportunity for South Korea to show [North Korea] a strong will."

"North Korea has caused many problems, but the South Korean government tried to maintain [its policy] silently, said Chris Oh, another Seoul resident. "I personally agree with this action [to halt the operation of joint industrial park]. It should be a chance for North Korea to realize [its wrongdoings]."

Kim Soo-hee, South Korean Nurse, said the move surprised her.

"We jokingly said Kaesong might be shut down, but I was surprised to see it really happening," she said. "In my personal opinion, I feel sorry for the North Koreans because they are way more worried than we are."
A senior pastor at a church in Hangzhou, China has been replaced and put under investigation for embezzlement, adding to fears of a growing crackdown on Christianity. Observers are speculating the replacement was due to his opposition to the relocation of church crosses or church demolitions in Zhejiang province.

Zhejiang Province is home to at least hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Chinese Christians, and is often referred to as Chinas Jerusalem.

Religious freedoms

However, a spate of arrests over the last few months, combined with a long running official campaign to remove hundreds of crosses and even demolish some churches, has raised concerns about religious freedom in the region.

Late last month, police detained leading pastor Li Guanzhong and his wife. Their arrests followed the detention of Gu Yuese and his wife. Gu was the senior pastor of the 10,000 member Chongyi church  the largest government-approved Protestant church in China.

Prior to his detention, Chinas state-approved religious groups, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, and the China Christian Council, forcibly removed Gu from his post, with authorities saying he is being investigated for corruption.

A pastor in Hong Kong, who prefers to remain anonymous to protect his contacts on the mainland, said Gus arrest surprised many throughout Chinas Christian community.

I met the man before. He seems to be honest and highly respected. A very good man, a very spiritual man, the pastor recalled. He had a lot of contacts throughout China, both at the house church Christians as well as the official church.

Campaign against Christians

The arrests come against the backdrop of an ongoing campaign against Christian crosses in Zhejiang. Since 2013 the government has forcibly removed more than 1,500 crosses from churches, claiming they are too large and violate building codes.

Gu was one of many church leaders who publicly opposed the destruction of the crosses.

Bob Fu, President of ChinaAid, which provides legal counsel to Christians in China, believes Gus arrest is retribution for his public protests. Well thats the political revenge, using the charges to punish the government-sanctioned pastors for their public opposition against the forced demolition, he stated.

Chinese authorities, who have not commented on the recent arrests, detained more than 250 lawyers, church leaders and activists last year for opposing the cross demolitions. Church leaders say the crackdown followed years of relative religious freedom in Zhejiang, when Chinese authorities allowed Christianity to spread and flourish.

Carsten Vala, an associate professor of political science at Loyola University, said the government appears to be taking a different tack in the region now.

The arrest of Joseph Gu has been linked to his opposition to this destruction of churches and removal of crosses. So to put this into a larger perspective, it seems that the Chinese government is trying to reduce the visibility of Christianity in society, said Vala.

ChinaAid is reporting another Zhejiang pastor, Huang Yizi, was released from house arrest this week after spending five months in detention while under investigation for endangering national security.
Thousands of Syrians are disappearing and dying in government detention centers on a scale that amounts to state-sponsored "extermination," a U.N.-backed commission of inquiry reported Monday.

In compiling its findings, Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Deaths in Detention in the Syrian Arab Republic, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria interviewed more than 620 former detainees and witnesses.

The report gives harrowing accounts of detainees  men, women, children and the elderly  who have died as a result of torture or inhumane treatment in detention centers run by the government.

Tens of thousands more have simply disappeared without a trace, it says, part of a widespread and systematic campaign by government forces against Syrian civilians.

The report also details "inhumane and degrading" prison conditions  overcrowded cells, inadequate food and sanitation, and a lack of access to medical care  which have led to large numbers of deaths from infection and other untreated medical conditions.

Many detainees have been victims of sexual violence, and many suffer from psychological disturbances resulting from poor treatment.

One mans account

Nothing in the report would surprise Mohamed, 37, a former Syrian government worker from Aleppo who in 2013 was arrested and detained by Syrian military and air force intelligence for several weeks.

He described to VOA being blindfolded and beaten, then locked in a small cell that held several other prisoners.

"The cell was designed for one person. We couldn't all lie down at the same time, so we took it in turns to sleep," he said.

Prisoners might be beaten for talking too loudly or spending more than a minute or two in the toilet. Food was inadequate, sometimes just a handful of ground wheat.

"The men were so thin  most had diarrhea, and many men suffered malnutrition," Mohamed said. "Many died while I was held there. People would be carried out and we would never hear of them again."

During his interrogation, guards beat the soles of Mohamed's feet. But he said he was lucky. Other detainees received far worse beatings  on their faces and all over their bodies.

Some, he said, were strung up by their wrists and left to hang from the ceiling for hours at a time.

"The cell I was in  it was called Group Four  was adjacent to the interrogation rooms, and I could hear the screaming and the shouting and the sound of blows," he said.

Aid groups constrained

Humanitarian groups like the International Committee of the Red Cross do what they can for prisoners, said Rafiullah Qureshi, a spokesman with the ICRC office in Damascus. In 2015, his office was given access to nine places of detention under Syrian government control.

"These hold, collectively, about 15,000 people," he said. "However, the total number of people detained inside Syria, either by the government of Syria or the various armed opposition groups, is much higher."

The ICRC facilitates communication between prisoners and their families.

It also monitors treatment and conditions inside the prisons  although, as the U.N. report notes, detainees are frequently held in facilities other than state-run prisons, such as anonymous, makeshift detention centers or the basements of intelligence buildings.

"Whatever we find there, whatever we want to improve there, then those recommendations and findings are communicated in a confidential manner to the Syrian authorities," Qureshi said.

This winter, for example, his office worked to improve toilet facilities and provide prisoners with blankets, rugs and clothes to protect them from the cold.

"Of course, our recommendations have to be in line with the domestic law of the country," he added, "the idea being that we have a constructive dialogue with the detaining authorities with the ultimate aim that the living conditions  material, psychological and other well-being  are improved."

Qureshi said he "glanced" at the commission's report this week, but that the ICRC does not comment publicly "on the findings of other humanitarian groups, as well as political activists."

Regime not sole abuser

This week's report to the U.N. notes that Damascus is not the only party in Syria responsible for serious violations of detainee rights.

It notes that torture, sexual violence and extrajudicial killings also are taking place in detention facilities run by Islamic State, armed opposition groups and the terror group Jabhat Al-Nusra.

Among its many recommendations, the commission is calling on the Syrian government to cease detention practices that threaten the lives of detainees and to provide rights groups like the ICRC and the commission itself immediate and unrestricted access to detention facilities.

The commission also is calling on the U.N. Security Council to sanction individuals and groups responsible for disappearances, torture and killings, and refer the situation to the International Criminal Court or similar judicial authorities, insisting that accountability for these and other crimes must be part of any political solution.
A new report finds that some 470,000 people have been killed since Syria's civil war began nearly five years ago and that the new casualty figure is nearly twice that of past United Nations estimates.

According to the independent, non-profit Syrian Center for Policy Research, 400,000 Syrians were killed in violence linked to the conflict, while 70,000 people lost their lives because they lacked necessities like adequate health care, housing, sanitation, food and potable water.

The Damascus-based center said 11.5 percent of Syria's population have been killed or injured since the start of the conflict back in March 2011. The figures were reported earlier by Britain's The Guardian newspaper.

The United Nations previously put the number of civilian deaths at 250,000 with 12 million displaced but the newspaper reports that the U.N. human rights office stopped counting the number of dead in mid-2014 due to lack of access to reliable sources of information.

The SCPR said an estimated 1.9 million people have been wounded in the ongoing civil war.

Some 13.8 million Syrians have lost the ability to earn a living. A total of 45 percent of the pre-war population have been forced to move - including more than 4 million who have fled the country and 6.4 million internally displaced, according to the report.

The report is based on a population survey of about 2,100 key informants from 700 studied areas across the entire country, SCPR said in an email. The group cross checks data from a variety of sources with secondary data and third-party research.

A U.S.-led coalition is trying to destroy Islamic State militants in Syria and wants President Bashar al-Assad to go; but, Russia and Iran are supporting Assad by attacking his opponents, including some coalition-backed rebels.

Last year, the U.N. Security Council said Syria had become "the largest humanitarian emergency crisis in the world today, threatening peace and security in the region."
Senior members of the rebel coalition arrayed against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were either deeply skeptical or outright scornful of Russia's attempt to promote a cease-fire plan  because, they say it might only prolong and expand civilians' suffering.

Mohammed Adeeb, a senior figure in the 10,000-strong Shamiya Front, an alliance of secular and moderate armed factions, said his associates are dismissing the cease-fire offer as "a feint."

Adeeb, head of the Shamiya Front's political department, told VOA: We are going to refuse this cease-fire because it is just a trick which the regime will use to prepare for other military operations.

Nader Othman, deputy prime minister in the opposition's Syrian Interim Government, said any cease-fire that alleviates civilians' suffering would be welcome. However, he adds, there is also deep skepticism about the motives behind the Russians' proposal in Munich.

We have supported negotiations and hopefully negotiations usually lead to a cease-fire," Othman told VOA. "With the current Russian campaign of slaughter, of course, we welcome a cease-fire. But we welcome a cease-fire for the sake of the civilians. The attacks are harming civilians more than fighters.

Honesty of Kremlin's offer 'in doubt'



Othman said members of the opposition have doubts about the honesty of the Kremlin's offer.

What do the Russians want in return?" he asked. "We will have to see. It seems that they want a cease-fire when the regime is in better shape or governing more strategic areas."

Answering his own rhetorical question, Othman said: "Have they got enough [territory]? We will have to see. But they are saying the cease-fire would start on March 1, and many lives could be lost by then.
The government in the northern U.S. state of Michigan is scrambling to help resolve the toxic water crisis in the city of Flint, where lead has been found in the bloodstreams of more than 200 children.

Here's a look at the who, what, where and why of the public health crisis that has poisoned the Flint water supply for more than a year.

What is wrong with the water in Flint?

Theres too much lead in it.

Lead exposure is dangerous for all people, but can have devastating effects on children, irreversibly harming their brain development, lowering their intelligence, stunting growth and leading to aggressive and anti-social behavior.

How did lead get in the water?

In 2013, the Flint City Council decided to save $5 million by abandoning the city's longtime arrangement with Detroit to purchase water sourced from Lake Huron. Instead, it decided the city would connect to a new pipeline to deliver water directly from the lake. But with that pipeline still under construction, officials needed another source of water.

The city began using the Flint River as a water source in April 2014. The water from the Flint River was much more corrosive than the water that had been piped in from Detroit, and it caused lead found in plumbing materials to leach into people's tap water.

Who is responsible?

There is no record of the City Council voting to specifically use the Flint River as the short-term solution, but a state-appointed emergency manager who oversaw the switch to that water source blames the decision on the council. City officials, conversely, are blaming the emergency manager.

The state's attorney general has launched an investigation into the contamination crisis, and so have federal authorities.

How widespread is the contamination?

Levels of toxic lead contamination can vary from neighborhood to neighborhood and home to home because not all plumbing materials are made of lead.

Flint residents began to complain about the water's taste and appearance almost immediately after the water source was switched. Others reported symptoms, including rashes and hair loss, but local officials insisted the water was safe.

Researchers at Virginia Tech University decided to study the water and, in September 2015, concluded that it was "creating a public health threat." They found that at least 25 percent of homes in Flint had levels of lead that were well above the federal level, and nearly every home had water that was distasteful or discolored.

How many children are affected?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines an elevated blood lead level as 5 micrograms of lead in a deciliter of blood. A study released in September 2015 by Flints Harley Medical Center found that the number of children 5 years and younger meeting that threshold had doubled since the citys switch.

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder said recently that 200 cases of elevated levels have been documented since last fall.

But without a comprehensive survey of all the homes in Flint, it is impossible to say how many of the city's children might have been ultimately exposed.

What's being done to remedy the situation?

The city switched back to the Detroit water supply last October.

The Michigan National Guard, state police and hundreds of volunteers have been distributing water testing kits, water filters and bottled water to residents.

Representatives of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and licensed plumbers plan to visit about 400 homes citywide to teach homeowners how to accurately test water so they can submit regular samples for analysis.

The state also is launching what it calls a "streamlined system'' of assisting residences that test high for lead and copper in their water. The effort includes steps to get people the health-related services they need more rapidly, including home visits, inspections and transportation for appointments.

The state already has directed more than $37 million toward the disaster in Flint, and Governor Snyder is calling for a $195 million plan to help resolve the crisis.

Could this problem have been prevented?

Yes. Experts say the problem could potentially have been avoided by simply adding phosphorous to the water. That fix would have only cost the city$50,000 a year.

A former public works director, Howard Craft, has said anti-corrosive treatments weren't added to the Flint River water because of concerns about bacteria.

A Virginia Tech expert who first raised public concerns about lead in Flint's water told the Associated Press that the comment by Craft was a "contrived explanation after the fact that makes no sense.''
There is growing evidence that Turkey and Israel may be on the brink of a historic handshake Both sides recalled their ambassadors after Israeli security forces killed nine Turks who were trying to break Israels sea blockade of Gaza in 2010. The latest diplomatic efforts come as Ankara increasingly finds itself isolated in the region over its support for Syrian rebels.

Turkish and Israeli media reported that the two sides held a high level diplomatic meeting this week on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. Kadri Gursel, a political columnist for the Al-Monitor website, says with Turkey at odds with its southern neighbors over its support for Syrian rebels, who may be facing defeat, Ankara has become dangerously isolated.

"Ankara now badly needs Israel, it shows how desperate Ankara is. Because bashing Israel was used as a political tool in 2009 , 2010 and onwards by Ankara to return to the region. Now they desperately need to have normal relations with ... Israel," said Gursel.

Turkeys Islamist-rooted AK Party had been one of Israel's most strident critics, even reportedly providing sanctuary to prominent Hamas members. Turkish-Israeli relations have been frozen since the 2010 killing of Turkish activists seeking to break Israels sea embargo of Gaza.

But Soli Ozel, an international relations expert at Istanbuls Kadir Has University, says with Tel Aviv apologizing for the incident and close to reaching a compensation agreement over the slain activists, both sides are working hard to reach a compromise on Ankaras final demand - that the Gaza embargo be lifted.

"I think its an almost done deal, except for the Gaza embargo - the Israelis won't lift it. I suppose they are scrambling to find a formula whereby the Israelis can claim OK, we have not lifted the embargo and the Turks can claim,well, weve poked a hole in it . Maybe Turks will gain privileged access to Gaza and do some humanitarian work, some construction and all that," said Ozel.

In a sign of improving relations, a billion-dollar deal was struck last month between Turkish and Israeli energy companies to develop and distribute Israels recently discovered huge gas reserves. Ankara is eyeing those reserves to help it reduce dependence on Russian energy supplies. Ankara and Moscow remain at odds over Turkey's downing of a Russian warplane along Turkish-Syrian border last November.

Ankara is also concerned about Moscow's deepening relations with regional rival Iran, and fear of a resurgent Iran is another factor driving Turkish-Israeli rapprochement efforts. Ozel says this is part of wider regional process.

"Remember that the common challenge, threat, is Iran. And Iran is returning to the fold: the embargo has been lifted, Iran is going to normalize its relations with the rest of the world, by and large. And this is a matter of concern at varying degrees for Saudi Arabia, Israel Turkey and Egypt. Therefore ... those four countries are ... at least at some degree of harmony with one another," he said.

Observers say Ankara is aware improvement of ties with Israel, as part of a wider alliance against Tehran, could help repair its battered image in Washington, especially if it opens is doors to support from the powerful Israeli lobby in the United States.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeated a threat to banish the 2.5 million Syrian migrants it is hosting within its borders, saying he could bus them to the borders of the European Union.

In a speech to a business forum in Ankara Thursday, Erdogan confirmed comments that were leaked earlier in the week, in which he told EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker that he would expel the refugees if Turkey is not given support for its efforts.

The comments, made last November, were leaked by a Greek website and published by some opposition newspapers.

Erdogan defended his comments on Thursday, saying he was defending the rights of Turkey and the refugees.

He also criticized the United Nations for urging Turkey to open its doors to Syrian refugees, instead of taking action in Syria.

Erdogan urged the U.N. to call on other member states to help Turkey with its overload of people seeking shelter.

Turkey shares a southeastern border with Syria, and western borders with Greece and Bulgaria  so it serves as a bridge from the war-torn Middle East to the more peaceful and relatively more prosperous nations of Europe.
Two alleged smugglers of migrants went on trial in Turkey Thursday, accused of causing the death of a Syrian toddler and four other people in September.

The Turkish Dogan news agency reported that the trial of Muwafaka Alabash and Asem Alfrhad, both Syrian nationals, opened at the criminal court in the countrys western resort town of Bodrum.

The two men are charged with human smuggling and causing the deaths of five people through deliberate negligence. If convicted, they face up to 35 years in prison.

The picture of the lifeless 3-year-old, Aylan Kurdi, lying face down on a Turkish beach shocked the world and increased awareness of the refugee crisis and the magnitude of suffering, the lives destroyed and perilous journeys it encompassed.

Aylan's brother, five-year-old Galip, and their mother Rihan were among five victims who drowned when their boat capsized on the way from Bodrum to the Greek island of Kos. Alyans father, Abdullah Kurdi, survived and is believed to be outside of Turkey.

They were among hundreds of thousands who took the risk to reach Greece in the hope to be able to travel farther north for a better life in the prosperous countries of northern and western Europe.

Despite the risks, the influx of migrants has continued this year at a much higher rate.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said earlier this week that 409 fatalities were recorded among migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea in the first six weeks of 2016, while the new arrivals passed 76,000 people, nearly 2,000 per day, which is 10 times the rate of the same period last year.
One week before Uganda's February 18 presidential and parliamentary elections, main opposition candidate Kizza Besigye of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), says he fears voter bribery could be one of the obstacles to his victory.

Besigye ran against President Museveni in three previous elections: 2001, 2006, and 2011.

Earlier this week, Ugandan government spokesman Ofwono Opondo said the ruling party, the National Resistance Movement (NRM), will once again deflate what he called the Besigye "bravado" on election day.

Besigye said given the extremely high enthusiasm Ugandans have shown toward his campaign, perhaps Opondo was referring to the three previous elections that, he said, the government stole from him.

"Even in my previous engagements, I've never had a situation where even the poor peasants turn out and make financial contribution and bring materials, chickens, and food, and everything," he said. "If that demonstration of support is something that the government spokesman would like to brush aside as something that can be defeated, quite obviously he must have a different basis from what I will have as a basis for judging popular support."

Besigye said the NRM has never cleanly won an election.

"As you know, I have contested in three previous elections, two of which I challenged the outcome in the Supreme Court where the courts categorically and unanimously declared that the elections were not free and fair. And in such an election, it is ridiculous for anybody to claim that they are the victors because in an election where one party holds the whole process, they could even declare that they have a 100 percent of the vote," Besigye said.

Besigye said his campaign has enjoyed popular support throughout the country that only voter intimidation and bribery on election day could deny him a victory.

He also said if elected, he would form a national unity government that would include even members of the ruling NRM, something he said is the position of his party and enshrined in his election manifesto.

"We considered that any government that will succeed the NRM must function as a transitional government because it must establish or re-establish foundations of a democratic state. We have been governed over the past 30 years as a military dictatorship. As you may be aware, in Uganda's entire history since independence, no leader has ever handed over peacefully to another. If it happens this time it will be the very first time," he said.

Besigye condemned the arrest and continued detention of former intelligence Chief General David Sejusa for being involved in political activities, something the government said is in violation of Ugandan law for a serving military person.

Besigye said it is very evident that such "partisan" activity is only offensive if it is against President Museveni.

"We have many serving officers who are right now deeply and openly involved in the campaigns for Mr. Museveni party, all over the country senior members of the military and who no finger is being raised against at all, including of course the head of the Ugandan police who is also a general in the military who has been making very partisan statements and clearly intervening in a very partisan way. So, it is only the case that if you are a serving officer and your views are not aligned to those of Mr. Museveni then you are quite obviously in trouble," Besigye said.
The NATO alliance may become a member of the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said Thursday.

Carter told reporters at a meeting of more than two dozen defense ministers in Brussels that NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg was exploring the possibility.

The addition of NATO would bring the alliance's experience in building partner capacity and training ground forces, Carter added. All of NATO's 28 member states are already in the anti-Islamic State alliance, but only in the capacity of individual nations.

The Pentagon chief said the group provided "unanimous support" for an operational campaign plan he laid out to defeat Islamic State. The plan focuses on destroying IS in Syria and Iraq, combating its metastasis worldwide and protecting from IS infiltration at home.

Carter said he also offered the defense ministers an opportunity to accelerate their countries' contributions, which the United States has been doing for months.

Earlier in the day, Carter spoke privately with some officials but also publicly shamed some unnamed countries in the 66-nation coalition for doing "nothing at all."

The Netherlands announced last month that it is expanding its role in the fighting from Iraq to Syria, while Saudi Arabia's defense minister told Carter Thursday that the country was expanding its role in the air campaign.

The coalition has launched more than 10,000 airstrikes against Islamic State targets in the last year and a half in Iraq and Syria, but the U.S. by far has launched most of the attacks, 68 percent of them in Iraq and 94 percent in Syria.

The U.S. estimates that the coalition and Iraqi forces have recaptured 40 percent of the Iraqi territory and 10 percent of Syrian lands that Islamic State had seized over the last two years.

President Barack Obama's budget plan for the year starting in October calls for $7.5 billion to fight Islamic State, a 50 percent increase over the current year. Part of the spending calls for buying 45,000 more GPS-guided smart bombs to use against Islamic State targets.
From the piles of paperbacks that line the sidewalks in downtown Lagos, pleasure readers can find books that teach local languages or tell the stories of American presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ben Carson.

Nigeria boasts a vibrant publishing industry and has produced a number of internationally renowned authors like Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka and Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie.

On the streets of Africas largest city, Lagos, Nigerian authors compete with imported used books for shelf space.

We have novels, we have motivationals, said Faith Ojii, who sells books near a massive public square in the Lagos Island business district. Her stock includes novels by John Grisham and Robert Ludlum along with motivational books by Christian evangelist Derek Prince and real estate mogul-turned-presidential-candidate Donald Trump, whose writings on business are popular with Nigerias many aspiring entrepreneurs.

Ojii relies on importers like Ogbonna Osiri to keep the books coming.

Osiri keeps a warehouse full of used books that are shipped from the United States and Canada, where everything from decades-old encyclopedias to Canadian real estate maps can be found stacked in overloaded cardboard boxes.

Some people can stay in my warehouse from morning to night, looking for books. They can just make out one day, be spending here, searching for books, Osiri said.

Readers looking for motivation

Most booksellers say their bestsellers are motivational books geared toward people looking to make money or attain spiritual fulfillment.

People use it, some for their business plan, some other things, Solomon Roabiu, a bookseller on Lagos Island, said of his selection of self-empowerment paperbacks. People buy a lot.

Roabiu sells his books just around the corner from CSS Bookshops, one of Nigerias oldest bookselling concerns. Founded in 1869, CSS prints, publishes and sells school textbooks, autobiographies and Christian books.

Managing Director Dotun Adegboyega said while used booksellers are his competition, his biggest problem involves the counterfeiters who pirate CSSs textbooks and sell them for half of his price.

Pirated books are cheaper, because maybe an individual will just go and do some copies, hes not incurring any overhead, hes not paying any tax to the government, hes not doing anything, Adegboyega said. Government needs to ... put on a lot of efforts to stop [this].
Florzinha Amado is eight months pregnant and trying to stay calm about whether the Zika virus infection she contracted at 21 weeks could have harmed her unborn child.

But Amado isn't Brazilian. She lives on the volcanic archipelago of Cape Verde, 570 km (350 miles) west of Senegal, and is one of 100 pregnant women in the capital of Praia who have contracted Zika there.

Their fears, and those of West African authorities seeking to prepare the region's defenses, are shared by global health experts who say it could have unknown consequences in countries ill-equipped for another public health emergency following the Ebola epidemic.

Zika, a mosquito-borne virus, was first identified by two Scots, virologist George Dick and entomologist Alexander Haddow, in a forest near Entebbe in Uganda in 1947.

The disease itself is mild and 80 percent of those infected do not feel ill, but it has shot to the top of the global health agenda after an outbreak in Brazil was suspected of causing a spike in birth defects.

And now, nearly 70 years after its discovery in mainland Africa, it is threatening to return to its roots - this time apparently in a changed form causing large-scale outbreaks.

"Cape Verde has historical links with Brazil and it seems very likely it has got there from Brazil," said Nick Beeching of Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, a Zika expert for the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.

According to new data from Cape Verde's health ministry, more than 7,000 cases of Zika have been recorded in the country since the beginning of the epidemic in October 2015, with heavier than normal rains last summer boosting mosquito numbers.

Beeching believes it is highly probable Zika will soon be back on the African mainland, thanks to regular flight connections from the Atlantic islands, potentially triggering a new chain of transmission.

Regional health officials told Reuters they were most worried about Zika being exported to Senegal or Guinea Bissau, which shares the same Portuguese heritage as Cape Verde.

A regional meeting on Zika took place in Dakar on February 9, with African and Western partners discussing preparations for possible imported cases, according to officials.

Abdoulaye Bousso, the coordinator of the health emergency operations center in Senegal, said his country had an active surveillance program with several "sentinel sites" being established as early warning points for an outbreak.

"We do not have cases in the country currently but the risk is there," he said.

Many mosquitoes

Africa is fertile ground for Zika. Researchers have found more than 20 different mosquito species carrying the virus there, although whether they all transmit the disease effectively to humans is unclear.

Ultimately, how much damage Zika may cause on this vast continent will depend on the level of immunity among African populations - and that hinges, crucially, on the extent to which Zika's genetic make-up has mutated on its round-the-world trip.

A warning from World Health Organization experts in a paper published online on February 9 that the virus "appears to have changed in character" is heightening concerns.

The exact nature of the shift has yet to be unravelled but Mary Kay Kindhauser and colleagues said Zika had altered as it moved through Asia - from an infection causing limited cases of mild illness to one leading to large outbreaks and, from 2013 onwards, linked to babies born with neurological disorders and

abnormally small heads.

Jimmy Whitworth, a British-based researcher now at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine who studied Zika in Uganda back when it was still a "virological curiosity," said the ground was shifting and the risks increasing.

"There are a few genetic differences between the African and Asian lineages, and it looks like the Asian lineages may be better able to transmit and flourish in a human population," he told Reuters.

What this means on the ground is uncertain. In theory, there may be some cross-protection between different Zika strains, which could protect Africans from the latest version.

But Beeching noted that dengue fever, a closely related mosquito-borne virus, had four recognized strains and there was only limited and temporary cross-protection between them. "We just don't know how Zika will spread if it gets to Africa," he said.

Another big question is why there is no apparent link in Africa between Zika and birth defects, since the continent has been home to sporadic cases of Zika for decades, if not centuries or millennia.

It may be that any past cases of small heads in newborns, known as microcephaly, or of the neurological condition Guillain-Barre syndrome may have been missed in Africa given its limited healthcare infrastructure.

But Whitworth hopes to go back and take a retrospective look, since countries including Malawi, Kenya and Uganda have good population records, head measurement data and serum banks that should make checks possible.

Back in Cape Verde's Central Hospital in Praia, clinical director Maria do Ceu says there is so far no evidence from scans of any microcephaly among the country's infected mothers-to-be, who are due to deliver their first babies this month.

Amado is optimistic. "The doctor encouraged me to do morphological ultrasound and told me that I am okay," she said.

"It happened suddenly. I started having blotchy skin and then I went to the maternity ward. I was followed up and thank God everything is fine."
A vaccine against the Zika virus could be ready for initial human trials within months and be dispatched to affected regions for large-scale testing in 2017, a top U.S. infectious-disease official said Thursday.

We know we can start early trials, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told a Senate panel. "By the end of 2016, a trial will have been completed that will ask: Is it safe and does it induce a response [from the immune system] that you would predict would be protective [against Zika]?



The World Health Organization announced Friday in Geneva that large-scale trials of a Zika virus vaccine are at least 18 months away.

A WHO spokeswoman told reporters that the agency is "proceeding very quickly" on a vaccine, with some 15 groups or companies involved in the research.

She also said the WHO believes it could confirm suspected links between the virus and two neurological conditions within a few weeks.

Fauci expressed guarded confidence in a Zika vaccine being developed in U.S. government laboratories, noting that the work mirrors previous efforts to stop other mosquito-borne viruses, West Nile and dengue.

After initial safety trials, determining the vaccines effectiveness would be the next step.

Probably within a period of six to eight months, you will be able to definitively say whether it works, Fauci said. Then you could ask for an accelerated approval from the FDA [Food and Drug Administration].

Fauci testified before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee that is considering President Barack Obamas request for $1.8 billion in emergency funding to combat the Zika virus. The pathogen is spreading rapidly in tropical regions and is thought to be associated with a devastating birth defect.

Limiting infections

In addition to speeding vaccine development, funds would go to more immediate steps to contain the virus and limit infections, particularly in pregnant women.

A vaccine isnt going to be here for some time, said Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Right now, what we need to do as well as we can is to reduce mosquito populations and reduce the risk to pregnant women.

Of particular concern are U.S. territories in the Caribbean, like Puerto Rico, and other tropical zones.

Were most concerned about Puerto Rico, Frieden said. At some point, we may well have tens or hundreds of thousands of Zika infections in Puerto Rico. There are approximately 34,000 births per year in Puerto Rico, and so we are concerned with 3,000 births per month, roughly.

Growing public concerns about Zika appear to be swaying some of Capitol Hills fiscally conservative lawmakers who normally seek to pare funding requests from the administration.

We have received [a request for] $1.8 billion in funding to enhance Zika virus programs, said the committees chairman, Republican Senator Thad Cochran of Mississippi. Is this enough? Are we in need of an additional request?

Frieden and Fauci said the sum requested constituted their best estimate of what is required to combat Zika. Until funds are approved, Fauci said, the National Institutes of Health is shifting resources from other research projects into the new Zika initiative.

Frieden warned against diverting funds appropriated to fight Ebola, despite the fact that the deadly virus appears to be contained in West Africa at present.
Zimbabwe's government this week launched a $1.5 billion international appeal for assistance to avert hunger, as some parts of the country are feeling the pinch of severe drought conditions blamed on the El Nino weather phenomenon and resulting food shortages.

Chivi district, in Masvingo province about 350 kilometers south of Harare is one of the areas hard hit by hunger in Zimbabwe. In Madzivadondo village, the land is dry, nothing is green.

There are no crops although it is supposed to be the growing season. Cattle and other domestic animals  those still alive  look as hungry and hopeless as the villagers. Eighty-five year old Rameki Madzivadondo said he has never seen things this bad.

He said there used to be hunger, but never like this. He said his cattle have all died and there is no hope anywhere around. People are suffering. There is nothing to eat.

Nothing to eat



Zimbabwe Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa said there are actually three million people in Madzivadondos predicament, going for days without anything to eat.

Zimbabwes appeal was made to the United Nations and humanitarian organizations such as USAID.



Some aid already provided



Bishow Parajuli, the U.N. Resident Coordinator in Zimbabwe, said the world body was already providing aid before the latest appeal came in.

"So far about six million [dollars] was mobilized and close to a million people are being reached with food support. Given a new challenge in terms of doubling this affected population, the need is almost doubled. Badly, the situation is really bad in the entire continent. Recently, Ethiopia came in a big way, saying they have over 10 million affected," Parajuli said.

According to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network  a provider of early warning and analysis on food insecurity  El Nino has led to dryer than average conditions in some parts of the Horn of Africa  such as Ethiopia  and in southern Africa, affecting countries like Zimbabwe, Malawi, Lesotho, Zambia, Swaziland, South Africa, and Mozambique.
Zanu PF says it has banned its members from using social and conventional media for denigrating party supporters, a clear move viewed as an attempt to stop factionalism that is currently ravaging the party.

Professor Jonathan Moyo has been using his personal Twitter account to provoke discussions on various issues, including suspected moves by Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa to take over ageing President Robert Mugabes post if he leaves office.

On the other hand, Mnangagwa is believed to have been using some politicians, like War Veterans Minister Christopher Mutsvangwa, to hit back on Moyos accusations through using the state-controlled media. Now, the Zanu PF Politburo, which held a crucial meeting yesterday, has ruled that all this must stop.

According to the state-controlled Herald newspaper, the party further noted that factionalism has no space in the ruling party, whose center of power is President Mugabe. Zanu PF members have welcomed this move while critics say the president has become a major stumbling block in addressing most issues affecting the country.

For perspective, Studio 7 reached Joseph Tshuma, a Zanu PF lawmaker and Central Committee member, and Abenico Bhebhe, an MDC-T lawmaker.

Tshuma said outside forces and not Mr. Mugabe are causing havoc in Zimbabwe.
President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday called for unity in his party but his critics are worried that Zanu PF Politburo did not come out with tangible plans for tackling key issues affecting Zimbabweans.

The ruling Zanu PF partys supreme decision making body between congresses, the Politburo, met at the partys headquarters only a few minutes after President Mugabe told his supporters that there was no need for internal squabbles in the party. He urged party members to unite.

Factionalism has reached fever pitch in Zanu PF over Mr. Mugabes succession with a group said to be led by Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa calling itself Team Lacoste and another known as Generation 40 or G40 alleged to be loyal to First Lady Grace Mugabe seeking to outwit each other at any available opportunity.

Hurungwe East legislator Sarah Mahoka, who is also the ruling partys national secretary for finance in the Womens League, torched a storm when she called on Mnangagwa, to restrain his backers from using violence as he seeks to take over from Mr. Mugabe in the event that he leaves office.

But Mahokas remarks that were made in the full glare of Mr. Mugabe and his two deputies, Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mphoko, were criticized by some in the fractious Zanu PF.

SAVE ZANU PF CAMPAIGN

A pro-Zanu PF group calling itself Save Zanu PF Campaign, which claims to be seeking the restoration of the ruling partys founding principles, said Mahokas utterances were pre-planned and meant to embarrass Mnangagwa.

The groups national coordinator, Godfrey Tsenengamu, issued a statement calling on the partys disciplinary committee chaired by Mphoko to suspend Mahoka after going through the partys internal disciplinary processes.

Another Zanu PF supporter, Champion Gonese, said Mr. Mugabe was right to call for his party members to stop attacking each other on social media, saying this does not portray the party in good light ahead of the 2018 general elections.

Higher Education Minister Jonathan Moyo and presidential spokesperson George Charamba have been fighting over the succession question.

A group of war veterans had earlier threatened to bar Moyo from Wednesdays politburo meeting but the former freedom fighters were a no-show at the Zanu PF headquarters.

Independent political researcher, Tjenesani Ntungagwa, said factionalism is part of Zanu PFs political processes.

Mr. Mugabe on Wednesday said the factional fights were giving former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his party some relevance.

MDC-T ATTACKS ZANU PF

MDC-T spokesman Obert Gutu noted that his party is concerned that the ruling party is not putting its eyes on the ball. Instead of concentrating on the countrys comatose economy and drought affecting thousands of people in the countryside, Gutu said it is worrisome that the Politburo chose to dwell on petty factional fights in the ruling party.

This view was shared by independent political analyst David Masunda.

Harare resident Kelvin Hamandishe said the failure by Zanu PF to deal with problems affecting the nation and the infighting within the ruling party should be a wake-up call to the opposition.

Hamandishe said there is no option for the opposition but to craft a formidable front that can successfully challenge Mr. Mugabe in the next elections.

Given the widening rift in Zanu PF, Ntungagwa said the ruling party is reducing its chances of winning in the 2018 elections.

Masunda added that Mr. Mugabe, who turns 92 on February 21st, has lost control of his party.

The Zanu PF congress endorsed Mr. Mugabe as the partys presidential candidate for the 2018 elections. At the same time, the expulsion of former vice president Joice Mujuru from both government and the ruling has not stopped the succession debate within and outside Zanu PF.
The High Court will next week hear a case of suspended Gweru councilors, who are seeking an order to be reinstated.

This comes at a time city residents are angry over the current commission appointed by the Ministry of Local Government, which they say is not delivering the necessary services.

Attorney Reginald Chidawanyika, one of the lawyers representing the councillors, told Studio 7 over the phone that the High Court in Bulawayo has set February 18 as the date on which the matter will be heard.

Chidawanyika said his clients have made an application to the court for a final order to have them reinstated, adding that he was optimistic that the order would be granted, and possibly bringing

closure to the drawn out case.

Kasukuwere suspended all 18 Gweru councillors last August on allegations of incompetence and corruption. He later fired three councillors who have since been replaced through a by election.

The minister had appointed a three-member tribunal, which was supposed to conduct disciplinary hearings.

But eleven of the councillors, including mayor Hamutendi Kombayi, filed an urgent chamber application at the Bulawayo High Court seeking to overturn their suspension and also to halt the hearings.

Gweru council is currently being run by a commission which Kasukuwere put in place after the councillors suspension.

Cornelia Selipiwe, the chairperson of the Gweru Residents and Ratepayers Association told Studio 7 that his association hopes that the issue of the suspended councillors will be brought to finality soon as residents are disgruntled by the prolonged stay of the commission, which they accuse of not being accountable to them.

Councillors were suspended on allegations of corruption and we fully appreciate that. But the issue of the continued stay of the commission without the issue of the councilors being brought to finality is a problem on its own.

There is no link whatsoever between the commissioners and the residents, so it is only desirable for the issue to be brought to finality so that those councillors found on the wrong side of the law are brought to book and those that are not guilty can return to council.

We cant continue having the commission in place indefinitely because it is expensive. We need councillors that we can talk to about the issues of service delivery.

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights has successfully challenged the withholding of Ordinary Level examination certificates for two O Level students by their former school authorities after they had failed to settle school fees and levy arrears.

Tanaka Ngwasha and Takudzwa Ngwasha, who sat for their examinations in 2013 and 2014 respectively at Townsend High School, have since been ordered to go and collect their certificates at the school after the authorities bowed down to a challenge through a letter by lawyers group.
The Zimbabwe Activists Alliance says it will go ahead with its proposed Valentines Day march Saturday despite attending a Joint Operation Command (JOC) meeting Thursday that left its members disillusioned.

Zimbabwe Activists Alliance coordinator Tendai Lynnette Mudehwe says they informed the police Internal Security Intelligence Department of their intended march on Tuesday but were surprised to get an invitation instead to attend the JOC meeting.

JOC comprises top members of the police, army, Central Intelligence Organization and the Zimbabwe Prison Services.

The march will run under the theme I love my Zimbabwe."

Mudehwe says they have decided to use this day of love to signal their patriotism and love for the country, currently facing serious social, economic and political problems.

"We will proceed with the march as it is permitted under the new constitution as we notified the police Tuesday despite the stand-off with JOC who ejected us out of the meeting after we couldn't agree on some of the things we were discussing and there was also no agenda," said Mudehwe.
The Zimbabwe Activists Alliance says it is surprised and disturbed by a move by the police to invite its members to a Joint Operation Command meeting Thursday after the organization had notified them of its intention to march on the streets Saturday.

Zimbabwe activists alliance coordinator tendai Lynnette Mudehwe says they intend to commemorate this years Valentines Day.

Mudehwe says informed the Police Internal Security Intelligence (PISI) of their intention to march Tuesday, but were surprised to get the JOC invitation instead.

JOC comprises of the police, army, Central Intelligence Organization and the Zimbabwe Prison Services.

Mudehwe says even though the police had not responded to their letter, they will go ahead and attend the Thursday meeting.

We will attend the meeting and also go ahead with our Valentine Day march preparations, Mudehwe says.

She adds that the constitution allows them to demonstrate without first seeking police clearance.
Many Zimbabweans have welcomed a South African High Court ruling which compels the police to take to court arrested immigrants within 48 hours.

A Gauteng North court has ruled that a section of the Immigration Act is unconstitutional as it allowed for prolonged detention of suspects contrary to the country's criminal law which stipulates that all detainees must appear in court within that period after arrest.

Zimbabwe Exiles Forum coordinator, Diana Zimbudzana, told VOA Studio 7 the ruling is a welcome development because many foreigners, including Zimbabweans, were usually forced to spend days or even weeks in police detention as a means to force them to pay bribes.

We view that ruling with jubilation and joy. It is a ruling that has put relief into the minds of Zimbabweans and other nationals who are living in South Africa, said Zimbudzana.

She added that following this ruling the police must be seen complying, otherwise if they do not do so then there would be questions of rule of law in South Africa.

The matter was taken to court by the South African lawyers for human rights who were challenging its constitutionality.
Bob Costas. Photo: Desiree Navarro/Getty Images

Bob Costas will host NBCs prime-time Olympic coverage for a record 11th time with this years Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the network announced Wednesday. Costas has served as prime-time host for every Olympics on NBC since 1992, including the London Games, which, with 217 million viewers, is the most-watched television event in U.S. history. Costas even tried his darnedest to host the 2014 Sochi Games but got an eye infection and had to stand down, giving the job to Matt Lauer and then Meredith Vieira. Lets hope his eyes will not betray him this year, because hed better be on the lookout for all those mosquitoes. No, but seriously. Its kind of dangerous over there right now.
Lil B. Photo: Isaac Brekken/2011 Getty Images

Noted deity Lil B will head to the Sunshine State next week to share his vast stores of wisdom with the University of Florida. The rapper, on Wednesday, revealed hes doing so in lecture form, adding via social media that prospective attendees will be a part of history. Event posters unfortunately dont add much in the way of details (or a lesson plan), but a Q&A session will likely be included. Though his speaking circuit might be touted as extremely rare, the rapper has given similar talks on such campuses as UCLA, Carnegie Mellon, NYU, and MIT. This lecture, like some of his others, will probably underline the importance of loving, pursuing happiness, and not making the same mistakes as James Harden. (All valuable concepts.)

Real logistical details can be found on the events promotional flyers. Which, yes, are already collectors items. So collect them all:

And hurry to Florida so you can say, Thanks, Based.
Photo: Andrew Toth/Getty Images

Anyone else here dying to feel joy and clean out that box of papers youre afraid to throw away? Perhaps simultaneously? Marie Kondo, inventor of the KonMari cleaning method outlined in her organization book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, is shooting two half-hour docu-specials in New York City this month. The specials, shot by Japanese public broadcaster NHK World TV and slated to air later this spring, will feature Kondo helping messy residents with the decluttering of local homes. These should be excellent. If any populace needs KonMari more while simultaneously being able to take advice from a stranger less, youd sure like to know where they live.
Bullseye! Photo: USA

Grown-up tweens waiting for Ryan Phillippes comeback have a glimmer of hope. TV Line reports that USA has picked up Shooter to series, based off of the 2007 movie starring Mark Wahlberg (the burger magnate is one of the shows executive producers). This time around, Phillippe plays Bob Lee Swagger (yes, thats his name), an expert sharpshooter who dusts off his periscope when he learns of a plot to assassinate the president. Omar Epps will join him as Isaac Johnson, a Secret Service Agent, who goes way back with Swagger at the Marines. (Semper fidelis!) This is another attempt for Phillippe to get in on the TV renaissance: He joined and then dropped a Greg Berlanti cop drama, did a stint on the final season of Damages, and most recently, dropped out of the widely disliked Secrets and Lies after the first season. Hopefully hell make something he thinks is good?
Taraji P. Henson. Photo: Mike Windle/2015 Getty Images

In casting news that will make you excited for a movie based on a book that hasnt come out yet, Taraji P. Henson will play NASA math genius Katherine Johnson in Hidden Figures, which tells the story of a group of African-American women who were crucial to Americas early efforts at space flight. Based on the book Hidden Figures: The Story of the African-American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly, the film will follow Johnson and her colleagues Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, who helped plan the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit and later, in Johnsons case, calculate the trajectory of the Apollo missions. This marks Hensons first major casting news since she won her Golden Globe for Empire, though hopefully she hasnt listened to any of Terrence Howards math theories on set.
Michael Potts (Little Joe Jackson) and LaChanze (Petunia Jackson) in Encores!s Cabin in the Sky. Photo: Joan Marcus

One of the many useful and fascinating things the Encores! series has done over the years  last nights opening of Cabin in the Sky marks the start of its 23rd season  is to highlight, and in many cases restore, the rich history of black musicals on Broadway. By black musicals, I mean musicals with largely black casts or with stories of largely black life: works like St. Louis Woman, Golden Boy, House of Flowers, Purlie, The Wiz, and Lost in the Stars, all of which Encores! has already produced.





Lurking behind that list and achievement is an uncomfortable problem, though. If only The Wiz remains a very viable property today  viable enough to get a live television broadcast last December  it is also the only one thats predominantly the work of black authors, which leads one to wonder how meaningful a story of black life the others really offer. That question has never been more vividly brought to the fore than by Cabin in the Sky, whose original Broadway production, in 1940, was referred to as a Negro fantasy. It did feature an all-black cast, including Ethel Waters and the dancer-choreographer Katherine Dunham, but the book (by Lynn Root, based on his short story), the music (by Vernon Duke), and the lyrics (by John LaTouche) were all by white men. The director and choreographer was none other than George Balanchine, who spoke to his collaborators mostly in Russian. (Duke was born Vladimir Dukelsky, near Minsk.) Actually, the choreography appears to have been a collaboration with Dunham, who received no credit.

The racial makeup of the original creative team would be of less significance if the result were a less icky story, but even as edited by the director Ruben Santiago-Hudson to avoid words like pickaninny, the script is full of faux-naive folkloric touches that give off a strong odor of condescension today. The premise all but ensures that. Set in a mythical American South untroubled by racism or even much poverty, the very thin tale concerns the gambling, boozing, womanizing Little Joe and his upstanding wife Petunia. When Joe, on his deathbed after a knife fight, is about to be consigned to hell, Petunia prays that he be spared for six months so that she can reform him. A lighthearted fight for his soul ensues, with representatives of God seeking to fortify him while representatives of the devil proceed to tempt him with sweepstakes tickets and a hussy named Georgia Brown. The ending is happy if you are Christian enough to believe that getting to heaven is worth it even if it took a gunfight to get there, while dragging your blameless wife along.

Were this only a play, no one would produce it now; from the evidence of the Encores! staging, it seems hardly to have been producible in 1940. (It ran for four months.) As drama, it is so mild that cringeworthiness may be its strongest trait. But of course its not a play, its a musical  and thats where the conflict arises. The score is flat-out lovely, demonstrating Dukes charm and versatility. Chorale-like passages show off his classical training (he was a protege of Prokofiev), but many numbers employ the kind of adventurous jazz harmonies that made other songs of his, like April in Paris, big hits of the 1930s. Cabin in the Sky has a clutch of them, the most famous being the poppy Taking a Chance on Love, but also the swingy Do What You Wanna Do and Love Me Tomorrow, specialty numbers like Savannah and In My Old Virginia Home, and the sinuous title song. (Encores! has lifted Happiness Is Just a Thing Called Joe, by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg, from the 1943 movie, which jettisoned Dukes score.) Because the original instrumental parts were all lost, the show has been given terrific new orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick that bind the different styles together. And the scores indications of traditional spiritual material, including Dry Bones, has resulted here in some stupendous arrangements by Linda Twine.

But is a worthwhile score enough to justify the presentation, even in semi-staged version, of a highly compromised work? With enough caveats, the answer may be yes. As lovers of obscure musical theater, the Encores! audience may be trusted to understand such offerings in context, and to glean from them not only whatever ideas the authors intended but also the ideas that history has added. (The double vision that makes the story so uncomfortable may in fact be useful.) And the opportunity to keep black musical artists working, if even on thorny material like this, is not to be gainsaid. That such top-drawer performers as LaChanze (as Petunia), Michael Potts (as Little Joe), Norm Lewis (as the Lords General), and Chuck Cooper (as the devils son) were available for this production says a lot about the conditions still governing the commercial theater.

And yet a show so problematic cannot ever be totally satisfying. To me, Santiago-Hudsons staging felt very flat and visually cluttered, emotionally withdrawn as if slightly embarrassed. Despite the plethora of talent in the cast, only Carly Hughes  a newcomer to me seemed able to break through the fog. As Georgia Brown, who sings a double-entendre specialty called Honey in the Honeycomb, she gave off the kind of joy that even the best musical theater has always required to lift it past its built-in limitations. Happily, the choreography, by Camille A. Brown, did, too. It was really only in her vivid and unusual dances, based on contemporary social forms but feeling at the same time oddly angled and modern, that the world of A Cabin in the Sky achieved a specific physical life. She tells her own story, not someone elses  and, ultimately, that may be the best reason for Encores! to keep exploring the difficult tradition from which A Cabin in the Sky arose. Appropriated stories should eventually be taken back.

Cabin in the Sky is at City Center through February 14.
In-N-Out Burger

801 S. Fourth St.

800-786-1000 (no local number)

Hours: 10:30 a.m.- 1 a.m. Sundays-Thursdays, 10:30 a.m.-1:30 a.m. Fridays-Saturdays,

Price: $ (see guide below)

Takeout: Yes

On the menu: Burger basics: hamburgers and cheeseburgers with a multiple patty option, french fries, milk shakes.

Good to know: Customers can order off a secret menu and get such variations as double meat, 3 X 3 and 4 X 4 (two- , three- and four-patty burgers), animal style (In-N-Out sauce and grilled onions) and protein style (no bun).

Restaurant origin: Started in 1948 in California by drive-through pioneers Harry and Esther Snyder, who were among the first restauranteurs to develop the drive-through.

Barnetts Public House

420 Franklin Avenue

254-714-1356

On Facebook, and at barnettspublichouse.com

Hours: Closed Mondays; 4-11 p.m. Tuesdays-Wednesdays; 4 p.m.-midnight Thursdays; 4 p.m.-1 a.m. Fridays; 10 a.m.-1 a.m. Saturdays; and 10 a.m.- 2 p.m. Sundays.

Price: $ (see guide below)

Takeout: Yes

Alcohol: Yes, full bar

On the menu: The restaurant recently revamped its menu, with only a few items carried over from the previous menu. New menu items include The Cajun, The Italian Stallion, The Greek and Bahn Mi, all featuring gourmet sausages served with flat bread or a baguette. Other new items include Andouille sausage or shrimp with jalapeno grits, homemade boudin and beans, bratwurst and The Blue Collar Dog, a black Angus beef hot dog. Desserts include salted caramel cheese cake, bread pudding and a smore kit.

Good to know: Offers free wi-fi and daily drink specials.

Restaurant origin: Barnetts opened in the spring of 2010 before closing its doors Dec. 31, 2014. Under new ownership, the pub reopened in February 2015.

Tandoori Trailer

Waco Chowtown food truck court (University Parks Drive at Franklin Avenue.)

254-495-6466

On Facebook, Twitter and at tandooritrailer.com

Hours: 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays and 5-7 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays. Hours may vary due to weather; dinner hours longer in spring and summer. Closed Dec. 31-Jan. 3.

Price: $

Takeout: Yes. Curbside service and phone app allowing ordering available after mid-January.

Alcohol: No

On the menu: Tandoori chicken (roasted in a tandoor, an Indian clay oven), chicken curry, paneer makhani (cubes of paneer cheese in a spiced tomato and cream sauce), chole (chickpeas), naan (baked flatbread), samosas (deep-fried pastry with savory fillings), basmati rice.

Good to know: Garlic naan is a customer favorite. All dishes are made fresh daily.

Restaurant origin: Co-owner Johnny Bhojwani came to work in Baylor Universitys admissions office in 2011 only to discover the nearest Indian restaurant was in Killeen. Houston resident Naresh Thadani was looking for a business in which to invest and Bhojwani suggested creating an Indian cuisine food truck.

Freddys Frozen Custard and Steakburgers

817 S. Jack Kultgen Freeway

254-301-7330

On Facebook and at

Hours: 10:30 a.m.- 10 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays. 10:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays. Drive-through open 10:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays, 10:30 a.m.-midnight Fridays-Saturday.

Price: $-$$

Alcohol: No

On the menu: Steakburgers, hot dogs, chicken breast sandwiches, veggie burgers, french fries, cheese fries, frozen custard sundaes and milkshakes.

Good to know: Most popular order is the No. 1 combo, a double cheeseburger with fries and drink. Steakburgers made fresh daily and vegetable sides cut fresh daily. Freddys Fry Sauce also sold separately.

Restaurant origin: World War II veteran Freddy Simon started the original Freddys in 1950s in Wichita, Kansas.

WiseGuys Chicago Eatery

579 N. Valley Mills Drive

254-732-7580

On Facebook and at

Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays. Closed Sundays.

Price: $-$$

Takeout: Yes. Also available through Sic em Delivery. Catering also available.

Alcohol: BYOB

On the menu: Cheese-steaks, Italian beef sandwiches, hot dogs, hamburgers, sandwiches, french fries, onion rings, mozarella strips.

Good to know: Customer favorites are cheesesteaks and Italian beef sandwiches. Live music at 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Back room available for parties, meetings.

Restaurant origin: Current owners Gary and Barbara Klyczek, both from Chicago, reopened WiseGuys on Aug. 22, after previous management had operated as Tonys Chicago Grill.

Zoes Kitchen

1810 S. Valley Mills Drive

254-714-1361

On Facebook

Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.

Price: $-$$

Takeout: Yes. Catering also available.

Alcohol: Beer and wine

On the menu: Mediterranean cuisine, hummus, salads, kabobs, pitas, sandwiches, rollups, soups and desserts.

Good to know: Signature dishes include chicken kabobs, quinoa salad, steak rollups and hummus. Grilling is the predominant method of cooking  no fryers or microwaves used  and a variety of gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan options are available.

Restaurant origin: Zoe and Marcus Cassimus founded the restaurant in 1995 in Homewood, Alabama. The Waco restaurant, the chains 163rd location, opened Oct. 27.

The Patio on Eighth

511 S. Eighth St.

254-235-1151

On Facebook

Hours: 11 a.m. to midnight Sundays-Wednesdays, 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Thursdays-Saturdays.

Price: $-$$

Takeout: Yes

Alcohol: Yes, full bar

Smoking: The Backyards patio area has smoking zones that comply with the citys new smoking ordinance.

On the menu: Burgers, barbecue, sandwiches, tacos.

Good to know: Hamburger baskets and chicken-fried steak are popular with the lunchtime crowd while many viewers of The Backyards 40-foot television screen and outdoor stage are fans of the specialty appetizer Texas cheese steak balls, breaded and deep fried balls of chopped, seasoned brisket, cheese and jalepeno bits.

Restaurant origin: Calvin Gossett, owner of The Patio on Main in Temple, wanted to expand into the Waco market and got the opportunity with the kitchen and meat-smoking operation of The Backyard, which opened in early October.

Guide: $  main dishes less than $10; $$  $10 to $20; $$$  more than $20.
In the play A Song for Coretta, the five women who meet while waiting in line to pay their respects to the late Coretta Scott King, widow of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., share many things except one: a personal acquaintance with King.

One of the women, Helen Richards (Carol Dugat), remembers meeting King when she was 5 or 6, thanks to the fact that her parents were involved in the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott, a pivotal moment in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

Much of that is long-ago history for Spelman College student Zora Evans (Taheshah Moise), who, armed with a tape recorder, nonetheless sees Kings funeral as an opportunity to get a story on public radio and start building a resume in broadcast journalism. Mona Lisa Martin (Jolia Jones) is there because Hurricane Katrina has just wiped out her home and her city. Keisha Cameron (Ashleigh Sherel) has been kicked out of her home by her parents, while Iraq war vet Gwen Johnson (Ashley Weaver) is contemplating desertion after receiving another call-up.

What they discover in their time together, part of a crowd of thousands patiently waiting their turn to view King is a sense of instant community that forms in listening to and sharing personal experiences.

Director Richard Leslie says A Song for Coretta serves as a rare play that seems to be about the civil rights movement, but is more about the community formed when people share their stories. I think the play is ultimately about a hope that comes from community, he said. We are stronger together than we are as individuals.

That sense of sharing is paralleled in the plays Waco presentation. The Waco Civic Theatre put together the production and its two-weekend run will be staged at the

Jubilee Theatre.

Playwright Pearl Cleage penned A Song For Coretta after seeing the throngs of people patiently standing in line as Kings body lay in state first at the Georgia State Capitol, then in the rain at Kings home church of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. More than 120,000 people passed by her coffin while it was at the state capitol, then another 42,000 more at Ebenezer Baptist Church.

Most of those didnt know her, Cleage realized, but were there for other reasons: support of Kings part in the civil rights movement, accompanying family members, sadness at the death of an icon. All had different stories, Leslie said.

Cleage, in writing her play, stitched her characters stories together with an unspoken question, What would Coretta do in their situations?

The different stories that unfold in A Song For Coretta evoked another set of personal stories from some of the actors playing the characters. Dugat was a young girl in Waco during the later years of the civil rights movement, attending the all-black Wiley Elementary School and A.J. Moore High School in the years when Wacos public schools were racially segregated.

Segregation

Her parents, she recalled, shielded her and her siblings from some of the harsher edges of segregation, although she remembers the time when Waco public water fountains carried white only and colored only signs.

Dugat, then Carol Hyson, remembers hearing about the movement events referred to in A Song For Coretta and seeing, on television, the use of attack dogs and water hoses on civil rights marchers in Alabama. It was a horrible sight to see, she recalled.

For 21-year-old Ashleigh Sherel, the play brought up a different set of memories. The daughter of a white mother and black father, she overheard derogatory remarks from members of both families.

Someone on one side would talk about crackers and on the other, someone would talk about coons,  she recalled.

Kings legacy

The events recalled in the play A Song For Coretta occured long before Sherel was born and she identifies more with todays Black Lives Matter movement.

Still, theres a recognition of the legacy of King and her generation. A lot of (the play) moved me, realizing what they went through so people like my parents could marry, and I could be here, she said.

Moise, 23, offers an even different perspective from her childhood: Her parents were Haitian immigrants to the United States in the 1980s, who ended up settling in the Boston area. However, she connected with A Song For Coretta in her character: Moise, a KXXV-TV news anchor and reporter, plays Evans, a student who wants to get into journalism. Moise knows professionally what her character doesnt and that truth, unspoken, applies to the play in a larger sense. You need to know how to get the emotion behind the story, she explained.

In fact, playing Evans pushed Moise back into her past, trying to recapture a time where she wasnt so confident with a microphone in hand.

It was hard for me at first to put myself in my characters shoes, she said. Richard (Leslie) kept saying I was showing too much confidence in the role.
The Gamma Upsilon Chapter of the National Sorority of Phi Delta Kappa Inc. will host its annual Civil Rights Commission at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Eastern Waco Development Corp., 713 Elm Ave.

Local community leaders will discuss the direction of East Waco.

The event is open to the public.

For more information, call Norma Johnson at 799-4417.

Free HIV testing

Waco-McLennan County Public Health District, 225 W. Waco Drive, is offering free rapid HIV tests from 9 a.m. to noon Friday.

Gift cards will be provided to those who test, while supplies last.

For more information, call 750-5499.

Dog agility trial

Waco Agility Group will have a dog agility trial Friday through Sunday at the Central Texas Youth Rodeo Association Arena, 1700 Bluebonnet Parkway in McGregor.

The trial will begin at 5 p.m. Friday and at 8 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, with runs throughout the day.

Dogs of all sizes and breeds will compete in running courses that consist of jumps, dog walks, tunnels, A-frames and more.

Admission is free to spectators.

For more information, call Barb Sorge at 780-6818.

Miss Texas at VA

Miss Texas 2015, Shannon Sanderford, will join the leadership team from the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System, community leaders, soldiers from Fort Hood, veteran organizations and area students in a salute to veterans at 10:30 a.m. Friday in Stracke Auditorium, Building 6, at the Doris Miller Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 4800 Memorial Drive.

The event, part of the VAs National Salute to Veteran Patients, is open to the public.

For more information, call 743-0515 or 743-2893.

Lenten fish fry in Elk

An all-you-can-eat Lenten fish fry will be from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Friday at the St. Josephs Continuting Christian Education Center, 9656 Elk Road in Elk.

Plates cost $9, or $5 for ages 10 and younger, which includes a homemade dessert.

Nursing program

Licensed vocational nurses can pursue a bachelors of science in nursing degree through the University Center at McLennan Community College.

An information session will be held from 10 a.m. to noon Friday in Room 111 of MCCs Michaelis Academic Center.

The two-year degree program, offered by Tarleton State University, will use MCCs nursing classrooms and labs.

To schedule an individual advising appointment, email Kim Sales-McGee at ksales-mcgee@mclennan.edu or call 299-8370.

Calligraphy Guild

Waco Calligraphy Guild will meet from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at St. Matthew Lutheran Church, 800 N. New Road.

Jeanne Dittmann will present a program about envelope design, with a hands-on lettering and layout session.

For more information, call 640-2448.
The city of Waco received a $4 million sales tax rebate Wednesday for transactions made during the December holiday shopping season, making it one of a handful of cities in the Greater Waco area to see an increase in its rebate compared to December 2014, the State Comptrollers Office reported.

Wacos check for $4.06 million stood 3.68 percent higher than the $3.92 million it received the previous year.

I was impressed, said Laura Chiota, budget director for the city of Waco, adding that the December rebate typically is the largest the city receives.

February rebates reflect sales in December that are reported to the comptrollers office in January.

For the calendar year, Waco has received rebates totaling $6.9 million, a modest 3.3 percent more than the $6.68 million during the first two months of last year.

Waco puts its sales tax rebates in its general fund to cover the cost services including police and fire protection.

Other Waco-area cities and the much of the rest of the state did not receive such good news from State Comptroller Glenn Hegars office.

The communities of Beverly Hills, Lacy Lakeview, Lorena and West all saw sharp declines in their rebates, with Beverly Hills suffering a 25 percent nosedive.

Beverly Hills has struggled to recover from the loss of an H-E-B store two years ago. The grocery chain shuttered its store at Valley Mills Drive and Dutton Avenue in Beverly Hills when it built a 121,000-square-foot regional H-E-B at South Valley Mills Drive and the Interstate 35 frontage road.

Waco real estate agent Jim Peevey said the former H-E-B building remains under contract to a potential buyer, but a deal has not closed.

Beverly Hills saw its sales tax rebate slide from $67,896 in February 2015 to $50,433 this week.Lacy Lakeview saw its rebate drop 9 percent, from $115,259 to $104,547, while Lorenas skidded from $38,092 to $36,650.

West saw its February rebate slide 13 percent, from $54,951 to $47,724.

The 19 communities in McLennan County that receive sales tax rebates collected a total of $5.41 million this week, a 3.75 percent increase from $5.2 million in 2015.

Hegar announced he would send cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose taxing districts a total of $867 million in rebates this month.
A retired Waco police officers home near Mother Neff State Park was destroyed by a fire Tuesday morning, prompting an online relief fund to give back to the veteran officer.

Firefighters were called to the home of Jerry Holt on Tuesday morning after he saw smoke and flames coming from the structure. Holt retired from the Waco Police Department after 31 years of service.

Fire crews were able to extinguish the fire, and no injuries were reported. However, damage to the home was excessive, Jerry Holts son Scott Holt said.

I mean, everything was gone, Scott Holt said. I mean, I think I was able to find a little bit of change that he had saved up, but thats all I was able to find at the place.

Scott Holt, a Waco police sergeant, created an online account Wednesday to raise money for his father and his fathers wife. He said his in-laws offered a travel trailer for his family to stay in, but donations would assist in buying emergency essentials, including food and clothing.

So many people have been asking me what they can do, so I figured (the online account) would be the best way to get to everyone, Scott Holt said.

The thoughts and concerns from law enforcement, friends and family have been supportive, Scott Holt said. By Wednesay night, 37 people had donated $3,795 of the $5,000 goal.

To make a donation, go to https://www.gofundme.com/wwc5hfzg
As official warnings about the Zika virus escalate, Baylor University mosquito researchers say they are bracing for the possibility of mosquito-borne cases in Central Texas this year.

I think we will see it this summer, said Richard Duhrkopf, a Baylor biologist who serves as regional director for the American Mosquito Control Association. He said Texans should be thinking now about how to fight the spread by draining mosquito breeding grounds.

If anyone is going to see the Zika virus circulated, its Florida, Louisiana, Texas and probably California, Duhrkopf said.

By Wednesday afternoon, state health officials were reporting 10 cases of Zika virus, spread among Harris, Bexar and Dallas counties. News reports Wednesday indicated that two additional cases had been discovered in the San Antonio area and one in Dallas. The state of Texas is expected to have its own lab set up by next week to test for Zika.

So far, no cases have been reported in McLennan or surrounding counties, but Duhrkopf and his colleagues will be working with local health officials starting in April to monitor the mosquito population.

The primary vector of the disease is the Aedes mosquito, but so far no cases of mosquitoes transmitting the virus within the U.S. have been documented. Most cases have involved people who have traveled to foreign countries, including those in Latin America, where the disease has spread rapidly.

The Zika virus has been known for decades, but until last year it was known for causing relatively minor symptoms, such as fever, rash, joint pain and red eyes. Eighty percent of those affected do not show symptoms.

But in the past year, evidence has tied Zika in pregnant women with a debilitating birth defect called microcephaly. No vaccine has yet been developed for Zika.

The complications have caused people to sit up and take notice, Duhrkopf said.

He said he hopes a healthy fear of the virus will lead to more research and mosquito control projects.

It helps us realize the potential of these things and helps us mobilize resources, Duhrkopf said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control is warning pregnant women who travel to Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean and the Pacific Islands to take extra precautions to avoid mosquitoes and to be tested for the virus when they return.

In addition, men who travel to affected areas should use condoms when having sex with women, because the disease can be transmitted through sex, according to the CDC.

Kelly Craine, spokeswoman for the Waco-McLennan County Public Health District, said pregnant women considering taking a prenatal babymoon to a tropical country should weigh the risks.

Even if they stay here, they should take special heed of the usual advice for avoiding mosquito bites, Craine said.

That advice includes wearing long-sleeved shirts and pants outside, using DEET-based insect repellent, using permethrin-treated clothing and gear and using window screens.

The things your mother taught you still apply, Craine said.

Destroying habitats

Health authorities also stress the importance of destroying mosquito habitat. Duhrkopf said Aedes mosquitoes can breed in a cupful of water, and homeowners can make a huge difference by draining every drop of standing water.

Aedes mosquitoes tend to live their lives on the block where they were born, so neighborhood and community efforts to drain water can be effective, he said.

They do not travel far, Duhrkopf said. Most of the time, if youre getting bitten by mosquitoes, its almost certainly coming from your backyard.

Duhrkopf and his biologist colleague Cheolo Sim raise and study mosquitoes in a warm, humid vault in an on-campus laboratory. They and their students have worked for years to sample mosquitoes around McLennan County, helping local health officials monitor the mosquito that carries West Nile virus.

That mosquito, known as Culex, thrives in underground storm sewers in the height of summer and mostly comes out in the evening.

But the Aedes mosquito that carries the Zika virus is more common and often bites during the day, Duhrkopf said. And the patterns of contagion are quite different, he said.

To some extent, West Nile virus is something we know how to deal with, Duhrkopf said. This is different enough from West Nile virus that were going to have a learning curve.

Whereas the Culex mosquito transmits West Nile virus to humans from migrating bird populations, Aedes mosquitoes appear to spread Zika from person to person. But scientists dont yet know whether Zika will spread as fast in the U.S. as it has in parts of Latin America, such as Brazil.

Given the way in which it seems to spread through South America, it seems to be quite contagious, Duhrkopf said. That may be because of conditions unique to South America, where there are large cities with very dense populations.

In Central Texas, the dominant Aedes mosquito is A. albopictus, or the Asian tiger mosquito, notable for the white stripes on its body. Sim said the tiger mosquito arrived in the 1980s in a shipment of old tires from Asia and has now become widespread.

Sim said one key to the success of this invasive species appears to be its ability to go into diapause, or hibernation, during the winter. Now they are found as far north as Washington, D.C.

In the last 30 to 40 years, theyve spread that fast and expanded their habitat, Sim said.
The leaders of an all-volunteer group that helps people leaving the prison system integrate back into society are hoping the city and county will chip in for a full-time paid position so the group can offer more services to more people in need.

Tom Thomas, division director of the Heart of Texas Mental Health Mental Retardation Centers adult mental health services, said the McLennan County Reintegration Roundtable, of which he is a part, pitched the idea of a paid position to the MHMR board.

Thomas said there are individuals coming back into the community who, if they dont receive the support they need, are at risk of returning to prison. Members of the round table aim to provide support services or connect those leaving the jail and prison system to employment or educational opportunities.

Weve really reached the point as an all-volunteer organization, it was getting difficult to take it to that next level that we really felt it needed, Thomas said.

The McLennan County Reintegration Roundtable consists of area professionals volunteering to help ex-offenders work through barriers they face because of their conviction, including finding employment, said Michelle Nosrat, McLennan County Reintegration Roundtable volunteer. Nosrat serves the round table through AmeriCorps VISTA.

Many employers insurance companies or company policies prevent them from hiring ex-offenders, Nosrat said.

The volunteers at the round table host job fairs for ex-offenders with employers who are willing to hire them, she said. The group also offers classes and some motivational and support groups for people in the program to help steer them away from old habits, she said.

Funding request

Thomas said he is compiling information to present to Waco City Council and McLennan County commissioners in coming weeks to request funding to support expansion of the round-table program.

He said round-table officials will seek about $112,000 a year to cover the cost of the position, support staff and additional resources. They will ask the city, county and MHMR to split the cost.

Thomas said the round table ultimately improves public safety. Having someone fall back into criminal behavior and the justice system isnt positive for anyone in the community, Thomas said.

This would be the first steady source of funding for the round table, Nosrat said. Donations have funded its operations so far, she said.

Volunteers also are looking for grants the group could apply for, and a full-time position would give someone more time to dedicate to securing outside funding.

Nosrat said the group often work with area employers to help translate terminology. One of the biggest problems is that many people have deferred adjudicated probation, which means they chose to go on probation rather than have a conviction, she said. So when an ex-offender marks no on an application for employment as to whether he ever has been convicted, he is being honest, Nosrat said.

But with technological advances, employers often find a conviction and then think the ex-offender lied on the application, she said.

They arent lying, and the employer isnt necessarily wrong, Nosrat said. Its just a confusing situation.

She said the round table also is working to set up a mentor program to be available to employers. She said the hope is that employers contact the mentors if there is an issue with an ex-offender they have hired, instead of jumping straight to termination. The mentor program also would help educate the organization on other day-to-day skills ex-offenders could need help with before joining the workforce again, she said.

They dont really understand if you have to miss for an emergency, you need to call and let somebody know, Nosrat said.
Were currently in a campaign cycle in which candidates are increasingly fuzzy about their policy stances and the public seems content in being less informed than usual  a troubling mix for a republic that relies heavily on informed voters for its survival. But for those who want to buck this sorry trend, we recommend Baylor Law Schools annual Peoples Law School.

Set for Saturday and wrapping up before 1 p.m., this event offers a half-day curriculum of courses designed to educate consumers about their legal rights and to make the law user-friendly. Taught by legal experts, the courses range widely  everything from one on veterans rights and benefits, including how to negotiate the Department of Veterans Affairs, to a segment on separation of church and state, to a constitutional review of pivotal (and controversial) cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

One reason that we repeatedly tout this is because the events organizers shrewdly survey the past year and program special courses that Central Texans might find especially relevant. This years curriculum includes a segment on the new open carry law as well as a look at basic principles of Sharia law. Is this any different than, say, Jewish religious laws?

Another thing we like about these courses is theyre taught not only concisely but engagingly. At a time when laws are constantly changing, when theres so much misleading white noise on the Internet and when the cost of an attorney can seem daunting, this offering by Baylor Law School contributes to closer understanding of the logic behind our laws and rights. Visit the school website for info.
Sizing up Clinton

All I hear on liberal talk shows is that the most experienced candidate for the office of president is Hillary Clinton: first lady, U.S. senator from New York and U.S. secretary of state. Thats like planning a long trip and choosing Chevy Chase as my driver because of his experience driving to Wally World.

First lady: Hillarycare? Even the Democrats didnt vote for it. She blamed the far right and all the bimbos who chased her husband for his (little) problem.

Senator: Not sure, Im not from New York. But she did vote for the Iraq war. Her excuse was that Bush lied to America.

She failed to mention that President Clintons security staff informed President Bush that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and used them in the Iran and Iraq war. He used them on his own people and would have used them again if he wasnt stopped. I guess President Clinton also lied.

Secretary of state: A gift of a reset button to Russia. Russians said it translated to overcharge in Russian. Out came her Woody Woodpecker laugh. Was that really funny? The Libya fiasco. Classified material on her personal server stored in an unsecured bathroom. Hey, nothing was marked with a security classification.

Experienced? You decide.

William Bregan, Crawford

Extremism?

I give up, Jim Igleheart [Letters, Feb. 6]: Who in the 2016 presidential race fits the description you so adroitly outlined in your letter about 1930s Germany and the publics resorting to extremism? I believe I have found suspects on both sides of the aisle as well as in far left field.

What choices do we have this election? Opt for more of the same socialist garbage forced on America by the current regime  in other words, HillaryNation  or choose the dated communist ramblings of President Obamas addled fellow traveler on steroids!

Or we can elect someone from the private sector, denying the all-powerful political machines now in place that are more than willing to make this all-important decision for We the People again if we allow it.

Dan Dayton, West

Vichy Republicans

Planned Parenthood provided pregnancy services, including 327,632 abortions, in 2013. One natural concern is how many of these abortions were illegally funded. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says defunding the abortion industry giant must wait till 2017. Yet a delay of 15 months means that another 400,000 abortions will be performed during that time.

McConnells refusal to defund Planned Parenthood shows his role is to lead the Vichy branch of the Republican Party to fully cooperate with President Obama. Obama is Planned Parenthoods loudest cheerleader and sheds no tears when thousands of these tiny bodies are incinerated.

Robert A. Dahlquist, Orange, Califonia
YUTAN  The threat of legislative action this session has schools looking hard at the cost of adding new programs, and this might slow the inception of FFA at Yutan High School.

The figure to create a new FFA program that includes personnel and textbooks would be about $100,000, said Yutan Public Schools Superintendent Stan Hendricks.

Only wanting to put together a premium program, Hendricks said this would include an ideal instructor candidate.

The obvious budget addition could affect the levy if the cost is not offset with trims as opposed to chunks, said Hendricks.

LB959, heard on Feb. 9 in the Nebraska legislature, would restrain unused budget authority and growth in budget reserves for educational entities.

According to the bills statement of intent, it would control growth for educational entities as well.

Yutan added a technology program last year with a new instructor, and the board intends to keep that program going.

The long-term financial commitment of a program would also now show its full affect on other programs until about the fourth year of its existence, said High School Principal Tim McNamara.

The first year of a program like FFA would include several introductory classes and build form there.

By the fourth year, seniors would have built upon three previous years of curriculum.

When looking at state requirements or general curriculum compared to deep-dive programs, a small school cant support everything, said board member Danielle Egr.

The program is not off the table, as discussions for distance learning and local cooperation surfaced.

Matt Kreifels with the Nebraska Department of Education will be at Yutan High School later this month to discuss how a vocational agriculture curriculum and FFA might look at Yutan High School.

No action was taken on the topic at the School Board meeting on Feb. 8.
For the past five years, a dedicated restoration team at the Museum of Aviation in Warner Robins, Georgia has been working their magic on a North American F-100D Super Sabre. The aircraft, USAF serial 56-2995, was in terrible shape when it first arrived, having sat for decades atop a pole at Otis Air Force Base in the moist, salt-laden air of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Most museums would probably never have taken on the project, being that corrosion was so pervasive in the airframe, but this was no ordinary Super Sabre, this was a combat veteran of the Viet Nam War, with several hundred missions over enemy territory to her credit. Moreover, her pilot on a staggering 180 of those wartime sorties is one of the two men currently working on the aircraft today. Now a retired Major General in the US Air Force, Rick Goddard is also the reason why the aircraft came to Warner Robins in the first place.

General Goddards last command was the Warner Robins Air Logistics Center at Robins AFB. He stayed in Georgia following his retirement and is an integral member of the Museum of Aviation. Some years ago in a conversation with artist Mark Karvon, General Goddard learned that the Super Sabre he flew most of his missions with the 309th Tactical Fighter Squadron over Viet Nam was moldering away atop a pole in the harsh maritime climate of the Massachusetts coast. While Goddard was thrilled to learn his old Hun survived, he decided he had to do something to rescue the aircraft which had always found a way to bring him home during wartime. Having connections at the Museum of Aviation, Goddard managed to persuade the management to swap their non-combat F-100C 541851 for his old warhorse at Otis. The museum then had to persuade the National Museum of the United States Air Force (the owners) to go along with the trade, but they agreed to the idea as well. Even though 56-2995 was in rough shape compared to the example the museum were sending back north to Otis AFB, it was still a valuable acquisition, and quite in keeping with the Museum of Aviations policy of acquiring combat-veteran airframes for their collection. Not only had 56-2995 flown 180 missions with Gen.Goddard at the controls, where she gained the nickname Cong Killer, the Hun also flew a further 100+ missions with its subsequent pilot Captain Bill Croom as well. Croom renamed her The Phyllis B.

Perhaps most important of all though, Gen.Goddard earned the Silver Star for a mission he flew in the airframe on February 9th, 1969!

Interestingly, F-100D 56-2995 also has a history at Warner Robins, as she came to Robins AFB for modification work right out of the factory. The aircrafts service record is quite impressive, and reads as shown below.

 3 Dec. 1957  77th TFS/20th TFW RAF Wethersfield, accident at aBen Nouasseur AFB, Morocco, pilot ok.

 19 May 1962  20th TFW RAF Wethersfield

 4 Feb. 1966  50th TFW Hahn AB, West Germany

 5 Nov. 1966  4510th CCTW Luke AFB, AZ (CCTW = Combat Crew Training Wing)

 Sep. 1968  309th TFS/31st TFW Tuy Hoa AB, South Viet Nam, tail code SS and Cong Killer as a nose art.

 Oct. 1969  309th TFS/31st TFW    

 3 Aug. 1970      

 5 Aug. 1970  35th TFW Phan Rang AB, South Viet Nam

 23 Jul. 1971   

 28 Jul. 1971  131st TFS/104th TFG Massachusetts ANG, Barnes ANGB, Westfield, MA

 1974     with tail code MA

 27 Jun. 1975     

 Sep. 1977  Final days with 104th TFG MANG 00.09.77     

 1978  Retired from service

 Aug. 1978  Otis AFB, MA, preserved on pylon  until 2010

 13 Dec. 2010 arrived at Robins AFB, GA, for restoration

NOTE:    mean same

Getting the Super Sabre to Warner Robins, Georgia was no mean feat, but the restoration project has been intensely demanding due to heavy corrosion. Her wings were so badly affected that the restoration team felt they had no choice but to replace them with those from a donor Super Sabre, F-100D 56-2928, which was formerly on display at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta, Georgia.

The restoration team is comprised primarily of General Goddard, and retired enlisted USAF veteran, Aaron Robinson. The two men have formed quite a bond during their time working on the aircraft. They have put a lot of time into the project, but Robinson says that so much of the effort they expended on the fuselage will never be seen. This is typical of so many restoration projects, but it is essential to ensure the long term preservation of the aircraft.

They have literally gone through the entire airframe, and are returning it to the configuration from Goddards time flying the aircraft in Viet Nam. This has involved a lot of scrounging for parts, including locating the appropriate burner can for the engine, which they recently found at another museum and are working on an exchange. Robinson recently visited the site to check on the parts compatibility with 995, and they hope to soon swap out the unit they have on hand for the more appropriate system.

They finished the major structural work on the fuselage recently, and have prepared the wings for reattaching to the airframe. The effort is now focused on getting the windscreen and cockpit canopy installed so that they can button up the fuselage for a spell outside, where they will lift the fuselage to refit it with the wings. She will then come inside again for further work, awaiting a fair-weather day this spring when they can repaint the entire aircraft outside.

Aaron Robinson was, as these words were written, installing the HUD mount in the cockpit. He has already installed the windscreen side panels which a gentleman in Ohio generously manufactured for them using the original, damage windows as a template. A brand new center section glass panel has been in the collection for some time now, having come from spares at AMARG in Tucson, Arizona. They still have some flight controls to install, and the nose landing gear to refurbish before the F-100 fuselage can be mated with the wings, but the combat-veteran fighter is now on the home stretch of her restoration.

Once she is ready, the F-100 will take pride of place in the museums Viet Nam War Gallery. While she will wear the markings she bore while General Goddard flew her, she will be a tribute to the service of all Super Sabre veterans. The museum wants to tell as much of 56-2995s story as possible which will also include photos and memorabilia.

For those interested in learning more about General Goddards affiliation with his Super Sabre, please watch the terrific video interview that C-Span conducted with the General HERE. WarbirdsNews wishes to thank Mike Rowland (museum curator), General Goddard, Daniele Mattiuzzo and especially Aaron Robinson for their contributions to this article. We will be sure to bring you new updates as and when they occur.
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Virgin Australia's decision to limit the number of flights in the domestic market at a time of weak demand and its ability to pick up more business traffic has paid off.

The carrier charged an average of 9.1 per cent more for its mainline domestic fares and 12 per cent more for fares at low-cost arm Tigerair Australia in the first half, helping to drive an eight-fold rise in first-half underlying profit to $81.5 million.

Virgin chief executive John Borghetti said the airline had nearly met its target of 30 per cent of domestic revenue from the corporate market. Credit:Daniel Munoz

Both Virgin and rival Qantas have kept seating capacity at relatively flat levels since May 2014, when the pair ended a financially damaging capacity war that left both airlines in the red.

Virgin chief executive John Borghetti said an increased mix of business and government travellers had boosted average fares for Virgin in the first half, while Tigerair had benefited from product improvements at Melbourne Airport and its better on-time performance than rival Jetstar.
Clive Palmer could face criminal charges over the collapse of his company, Queensland Nickel, for the alleged use of aliases as the Australian Securities and Investment Commission said it had launched an informal investigation into the parliamentarian at a Senate hearing.

ASIC commissioner John Price told the Senate Economics Legislative Committee that the regulator had "a number of current inquiries around a range of issues with Queensland Nickel".

"We are working closely with the administrators," Mr Price said.

Queensland Nickel went into administration last month owing creditors, including hundreds of staff, about $100 million. Mr Palmer has been accused of being a shadow director of Queensland Nickel and using the alias Terry Smith in his dealings with the company.
ASX chief executive Elmer Funke Kupper says an overdue decision on its clearing monopoly will be irrelevant if it replaces its settlement systems with the blockchain.

The government was due to give its decision in September on whether to end ASX's equities clearing monopoly.

ASX chief executive Elmer Funke Kupper is one of the most bullish CEOs on the ability of blockchain to transform financial services. Credit:Daniel Munoz

But Mr Funke Kupper said the need for clearing would largely disappear with a blockchain distributed ledger, as would the need to hold about $250 million in capital to cover failed trades.

"If you could settle the entire market real time there would be no need for clearing," he said at the company's half-year results on Thursday. However, because there will always be traders in time zones well behind Australia, there will never be a true real-time settlement system.
Indian investment in Australia could be deterred if obstacles to the giant Adani Enterprises coal project in the Galilee basin are not overcome, the country's Minister of State for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy has warned.

Piyush Goyal, an influential figure in India's BJP government, also said "climate justice" demands rich nations do more in response to global warming and that it would be unfair to deprive India of low-cost energy from fossil fuels when per capita carbon emissions in developed countries are so high.

Mr Goyal, who is visiting Australia, said a "deep engagement" in the energy sector can become the defining feature of Australia-India economic ties but he cautioned delays to Adani's Carmichael mine could take a toll on investor confidence.

"Clearly further investment will not come in unless there is a quick resolution of this issue," he told BusinessDay. "People would worry to invest given the large amounts of capital that this company had promised to put into the economy."
Rio Tinto shares have plummeted by more than 8 per cent in London after the miner said dividends will fall in future years.

The company has abandoned its "progressive" dividend policy, which guaranteed that dividends never fall, and will instead try to return between 40 and 60 per cent of underlying earnings over the longer term.

In the first hour of trading in London, about $6 billion of value has been wiped off the stock.

Rio said the move was designed to protect its balance sheet from the current market turmoil and to ensure it was not constrained by its own dividend policy, in a hint at possible acquisitions.
When you find yourself in a hole, the saying goes, stop digging.

A simple lesson that arguably has bypassed a mining industry that's wiped out more than $US1.4 trillion ($2 trillion) of shareholder value by digging too many holes around the globe. The industry's 73 per cent plunge from a 2011 peak is far beyond the oil industry's 49 per cent loss during the same time.

This year may become the worst yet with prices trending lower for longer, according to Anglo American chief Mark Cutifani. Credit:Ryan Stuart

Just how long it will take for the world to erode bulging stockpiles of metals, coal and iron ore was the central debate at the mining industry's biggest investment conference in Cape Town this week, which attracted more than 6000 top executives, bankers, brokers, analysts, miners and reporters. Here's what they concluded.

This year may be the worst yet with prices trending lower for longer, according to Anglo American chief Mark Cutifani, who says his company should be better prepared "for the winter that inevitably comes after the summer".
Wounded electronics retailer Dick Smith is bleeding close to $3 million a week as receivers Ferrier Hodgson negotiate the sale of the business.

Sources close to the chain suggest losses have blown out from about $2.5 million at the beginning of the year to closer to $3 million as pressure builds to shut down the weakest performing outlets in the chain.

Ferrier Hodgson would not comment on the mounting losses except to say that a number of parties had been in the "confidential data room undertaking due diligence" on Dick Smith in recent weeks and it was continuing discussions with interested parties.

Sources close to the embattled chain suggest the receiver is working on paperwork for some kind of sale although it's not clear whether this is for all the stores or just the top performing outlets.
Outgoing Trade Minister Andrew Robb has indicated he wants to see a woman replace him in his Melbourne seat, all but endorsing Georgina Downer - the daughter of former foreign minister Alexander Downer - for the role.

Fairfax Media understands Ms Downer also has the strong backing of a powerful group of senior Liberal frontbenchers, even though the Victorian lives just outside the Goldstein electorate. The support is believed to have put her ahead of her main rival for the role, outspoken Human Rights Commissioner Tim Wilson.

It's understood Mr Wilson also has parliamentary support from some conservatives.
About 45,000 families will be worse off under the Coalition's childcare reforms because they pay childcare fees that are higher than the upper limits of the government's new subsidy rate.

A Senate committee also heard on Wednesday night that a further 37,000 families would be worse off because they did not work enough hours according to the new "activity test".

This breakdown comes after the government published modelling late last month that showed overall, about 184,000 families would lose support in the new childcare package that starts in July 2017, while more than 815,000 will be better off.

Under the reforms, families will receive subsidies based on an hourly fee cap set by the government. For long day care, this is $11.55 an hour and for family day care, $10.70.
Barnaby Joyce is favourite to be chosen as Nationals leader and deputy prime minister by the end of Thursday, after a dramatic escalation of current leader Warren Truss' exit timetable.

And a reshuffle of the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's frontbench could be as soon as this weekend as a result of Mr Truss' exit and Trade Minister Andrew Robb's decision to quit.

Mr Truss planned to remain in the role until March 17 - as revealed by Fairfax Media on Wednesday - but that has now changed.
Truss, Robb and Ruddock. Could there be a better name for a political consultancy?

No, wait. Scrub Ruddock. Already taken. Overboard, really. Special Envoy on Human Rights. Seriously. Studying his own Pacific Solution from the First Class cabin of a 747 en route to the United Nations in New York.

It's been a big week for farewells from the Turnbull government. You could just about close down parliament for a week or two with all the valedictories piling up for the elder statesmen on their way out.
Okay time for me to sign off. What happened?

Barnaby Joyce is poised to become Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the National Party at a meeting later tonight;

is poised to become and at a meeting later tonight; who will become deputy leader of the junior Coalition partner is less clear with several candidates in the field;

of the junior Coalition partner is less clear with several candidates in the field; Warren Truss and Andrew Robb announced their retirements to Parliament today;

and announced their retirements to today; Human Services Minister Stuart Robert has made it through the sitting week;

has made it through the sitting week; and Industry Minister Christopher Pyne confirmed to Parliament that the government would not pursue increasing the GST.

My thanks to Andrew Meares and Alex Ellinghausen for their excellent work and to you for joining us.

We'll be back, with Parliament, on February 22. Until then, good night and good luck.
It's a happy day for Aussie pirates: The Hollywood studio behind the film Dallas Buyers Club has abandoned its fight to extract huge sums of cash from alleged copyright infringers.

Dallas Buyers Club LLC had until midday Thursday to lodge a second appeal against an August Federal Court decision which effectively prevented it from engaging in so-called "speculative invoicing" in Australia.

Jared Leto, left, and Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club. Credit:Pinnacle Films

Michael Bradley of Marque Lawyers, who represented the studio in the case, confirmed to Fairfax Media the studio had not appealed the decision by the deadline.

He said while his client was disappointed by the final outcome of the case, it was not the end of the war against piracy in Australia.
The former head of the Catholic Church's defence force diocese has denied he inappropriately touched boys and has blamed another priest and a brother for assaults at a college more than 40 years ago.

Bishop Max Leroy Davis is charged with six counts of being grossly indecent with five boys under the age of 15 between 1969 and 1972 at St Benedict's College in New Norcia, northeast of Perth.

Bishop Max Leroy Davis has denied the child sex abuse claims dating back to the 1970s. Credit:Rebecca Trigger, ABC News

Davis, 70, testified in the West Australian District Court on Thursday that he never thought of children sexually or committed a child sex offence, describing it as wrong and inappropriate.

Defence counsel Seamus Rafferty has previously suggested two alternative suspects, who are now dead, including a Father Justin, who Davis had a role in removing as rector.
"Disturbing" is how wildlife officers have described the shooting of an endangered cockatoo.

The shot Baudin's black cockatoo was found on a Bridgetown oval earlier this month and handed in to Department of Parks and Wildlife.

X-ray of the Baudin's black cockatoo that was shot in Bridgetown.

Chair of the Forest Black Cockatoo recovery team and DPaW officer, Brad Barton said it was investigating the incident and seeking information from the public.

The bird had a number of pellet wounds and was treated at Manjimup Veterinary Clinic before being transferred to the Perth Zoo.
The sleepy seaside town of Esperance may be a world away from the multi-billion dollar fashion industry but it is here, in an oversized shed in the town's industrial area, that a particular leather used by international designers comes from.

For 25 years, the MacDermott brothers have been transforming fish skins, which would otherwise go into landfill, into fish leather - a material which has made appearances at the Melbourne Cup and other racing fashions in the UK.

The majority of the fish skins are sourced locally and include queen snapper, blue groper, pink snapper, gummy shark and bronze whaler shark.

Mermaid Leather is the only commercial fish leather specialist business in Australia. To their knowledge, there are less than a dozen such specialists around the world.

David MacDermott, who runs the business with his brother Andrew, told WAtoday that fish leather is surprisingly strong.
"You can't do [crime prevention] at the expense of an immediate crisis so you have to move your troops to be able to respond to those sorts of things."

Mr O'Callaghan said the overhaul to the model would result in more front-line officers focusing on catching repeat offenders who continued to commit thefts and burglaries, often while on bail for other offences.

"What I expect to get out of this is a much higher focus on what we call recidivist offenders or priority prolific offenders," he said.

"If you don't get them on day one and you wait till day seven until you lock them up, they could do 50, 60, 100 burglaries that week.

"We need to get on to those people quicker and I think coordinating the efforts of those [local police teams] and getting them focused on that quicker is going to result in these people getting locked up quicker which really is the key to reducing some of your volume crime."
Jakarta: A tip-off from the Australian Federal Police led to a sting that nabbed two Indonesians who had smuggled Papuan reptiles to Australia in an international online wildlife trafficking operation.

Indonesia is a global hotspot for the lucrative illegal trade of exotic animals, in demand both dead and alive as trophy pets, for leather products and for use in Asian medicines.

Most of the animals smuggled to Australia from Indonesia are reptiles, which are often sent live in the mail.

"A Papuan local may only receive $10 for a green tree python, the Indonesian trafficker will charge Australian customers $200 to $300 and once in Australia, rare reptiles can fetch up to $10,000 on the animal black market," said an AFP spokeswoman.
Detmold, Germany: A 94-year-old survivor of Nazi Germany's Auschwitz death camp gave his testimony in court on Thursday, face to face with a former guard, who is charged with helping in the murder of at least 170,000 people.

Leon Schwarzbaum, who lost 35 family members during the Holocaust, calmly recalled the camp's horrors and when he had finished he directly addressed the accused, Reinhold Hanning, also 94, on the first day of his trial.

"I want to know why millions of Jews were killed and here we both are," Schwarzbaum said, his voice beginning to tremble.
Monterrey, Mexico: A battle between rival drug gangs at a prison killed 52 people in the north-eastern Mexican city of Monterrey, authorities said on Thursday, days ahead of a planned visit by Pope Francis to another jail in Mexico's far north.

The incident was one of the worst in a series of deadly riots in recent years to rock the country's overpopulated prisons, which often house inmates from different drug cartels.

Fighting broke out before midnight in two areas of the Topo Chico prison between a faction of the brutal Zetas gang and another group, Nuevo Leon state Governor Jaime Rodriguez said.

"During the clash several prisoners set fire to the food storage and sleeping areas," Rodriguez told reporters.
Washington: The Department of Justice filed a 56-page civil lawsuit against the City of Ferguson, Missouri, alleging that, 18 months after the police shooting of Michael Brown, the city's police and court system continue to violate black residents' civil rights.

The suit -- a contentious next-step in what has been a months-long negotiation process between federal and city officials over potential reforms -- was filed on Wednesday and it says these "ongoing and pervasive" violations come from the city's use of law enforcement to generate revenue.

Mike Brown snr, centre, listens to the Ferguson city council meeting, where the negotiations with the Justice Department were discussed on Tuesday. Credit:AP

"Residents of Ferguson have suffered the deprivation of their constitutional rights -- the rights guaranteed to all Americans -- for decades," Attorney General Loretta Lynch said at a news conference on Wednesday in which she was impassioned as she spoke about the urgent need for reform in Ferguson. "They have waited decades for justice. They should not be forced to wait any longer."


Brussels: NATO has agreed to start a mission in the Aegean Sea to help slow refugee flows and to stop people smugglers, German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday.

"It is important that we now act quickly," Ms von der Leyen told reporters in Brussels.

US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said any mission would likely target criminal people smuggling networks.
North Korea described Seoul's shutdown as "an end to the last lifeline of the North-South relations". A statement issued by the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, a North Korean government agency in charge of relations with the South, denounced South Korean President Park Geun-hye as a "confrontational wicked woman" who lives upon "the groin of her American boss". North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Credit:AP While crude insults and threats of imminent war are not uncommon from Pyongyang's propagandists, tensions across the world's most heavily-armed border are uncomfortably elevated. The suspension of cross-border communication hotlines includes one at the symbolic border truce village of Panmunjom, the site of marathon talks which helped defuse the last crisis in August after the South Korean loudspeakers making anti-North propaganda broadcasts were fired at. But communications have also been cut in the past and later restored after animosities eased. South Korean workers unload products made at the Kaesong joint industrial complex in North Korea on Thursday. Credit:Getty Images

Disagreement of how to handle the erratic Kim Jong-un regime has also strained relations between China and South Korea. Since her election, Ms Park has sought to court closer ties with President Xi Jinping in part to convince China, a key trade partner of the North, to take a stronger stance in curbing Pyongyang's behaviour. Suspending joint operation: South Korean vehicles returning from North Korea's joint Kaesong Industrial Complex pass the customs office near the border village of Panmunjom. Credit:AP But China has resisted international pressure, including from Japan and the United States, to invoke trade sanctions with the North for fear of backing it further into a corner. High among its fears is that a collapse of the Kim regime would see millions of refugees streaming across the Chinese border. While official statements from China's foreign ministry expressed "regret" at North Korea's rocket launch, it has reserved stronger language in response to Ms Park beginning formal talks with Washington over the deployment of US anti-missile technology in South Korea. The Pentagon has said the installation, paid for by the United States, would take place as quickly as possible.

Objects believed to be part of a North Korean rocket are displayed for the media on a South Korean navy ship in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul. Credit:AP Both China and Russia have lodged official protests against Seoul bringing in the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system, concerned the prospect of having an American anti-missile defence system at its doorstep undermined its national security and would in fact represent a stealthy strengthening of Washington's security alliances in the region designed more to contain China's rise rather than counter the North Korean threat. Deploying THAAD in South Korea "will not help maintain regional peace and stability, nor will it lead to a proper settlement of the current situation," said foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying. A file photo of North Korean workers assembling jackets at a factory of a South Korean-owned company at the jointly-run Kaesong industrial complex in North Korea. Credit:AP North Korea ordered South Koreans out of the zone by late afternoon, forbidding them to take anything other than personal belongings, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said. South Korea said after the North's announcement that its top priority was the safe return of all of its people.

Dozens of South Korean trucks were already returning across the border earlier in the day, laden with goods and equipment, after the South said it was pulling out. North Korean workers were given a taste of life in the South at the complex, about 54 km northwest of Seoul, including snack foods like Choco Pies and toiletries that were resold as luxury items in the North. They also rubbed shoulders with their managers from South Korea. Supporters of the project said that kind of contact was important in promoting inter-Korean understanding, despite concerns that Pyongyang might have used proceeds from Kaesong to help fund its nuclear and missile programmes. Except for Kaesong, both countries forbid their citizens from communicating with each other across the world's most fortified frontier. "We piled up instant noodles, bread and drinks in our warehouse so North Korean workers could come here and eat freely," said Lee Jong-ku, who runs a firm that installs electrical equipment for apparel factories in Kaesong. "We don't mind them eating our food, because we only care about them working hard."

"They never act individually. They always work and move in a group of two, even manager-level people do so. They never go to the bathroom by themselves - always in groups," he said. The average wage for North Korean workers at Kaesong was roughly $US160 ($226.25) a month, paid to a state management company. The workers received about 20 per cent of that in coupons and North Korean currency, said Cho Bong-hyun, who heads research on North Korea's economy at IBK Bank in Seoul. For the North, the revenue opportunity from Kaesong - $US110 million ($155.55 million) in wages and fees in 2015 - was deemed worth the risk of exposing its workers to influences from the prosperous South. In recent years, North Koreans have had increasing access to contraband media, exposing them to life in the South and China. Still, Pyongyang took precautions to ensure the workers it hand-picked for the complex had minimal contact with their South Korean managers that could be potentially subversive. "These North Korean workers are strongly armed ideologically," said Koo Ja-ick, who was waiting on the south side of the border on his way to Kaesong, where he has worked at an apparel company for the past four years.
New Delhi: The United States and India have held talks about conducting joint naval patrols that a US defence official said could include the disputed South China Sea, a move that would likely anger Beijing, which claims most of the waterway.

Washington wants its regional allies and other Asian nations to take a more united stance against China over the South China Sea, where tensions have spiked in the wake of Beijing's construction of seven man-made islands in the Spratly archipelago.

India and the United States have ramped up military ties in recent years, holding naval exercises in the Indian Ocean that last year involved the Japanese navy.

But the Indian navy has never carried out joint patrols with another country and a naval spokesman said there was no change in the government's policy of only joining an international military effort under the United Nations flag.
It was yet another sign that many students are not waiting for social change  they are forcing it to happen, campus by campus.

And this northern spring may be even more intense: Researchers at UCLA are predicting a continued rise in campus demonstrations based on the results of their annual freshman survey, which found students' interest in political engagement at historically high levels.

US universities were rocked by protests during the northern autumn. Students upset over racial issues took over the president's office at Princeton, demanded the resignation of Ithaca College's president, and forced out the chancellor and president of the entire University of Missouri system.

A member of the black student protest group Concerned Student 1950 gestures while addressing a crowd at the University of Missouri. Credit:AP

Almost one in 10 said they expected to participate in protests  the highest it has been in the 50 years the survey has been conducted.

Those most likely to protest are black students, 16 per cent of whom said they expected to demonstrate. And more than 41 per cent of all students said that helping promote racial understanding was either an essential or a very important goal for them.

"Student activism seems to be experiencing a revival, and last fall's incoming freshman class appears more likely than any before it to take advantage of opportunities to participate in this part of the political process," said Kevin Eagan, director of the Co-operative Institutional Research Program of the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA. The largest longitudinal study of college students in the US, it reaches more than 140,000 full-time first-years at nearly 200 four-year institutions.

"We observed substantial gains in students' interest in political and community engagement across nearly every item on the survey related to these issues," he said in a release with the findings.
Manchester, New Hampshire: Anyone who still thought the Donald Trump campaign was a joke stopped laughing at 8pm on Tuesday night in New Hampshire, when he delivered a thumping victory in the second presidential primary.

A little over a week earlier he had fought his way to second place in the Iowa caucuses, falling just 3 percentage points short of the winner, Ted Cruz, who had run his race as a sort of travelling prayer meeting in the heavily evangelical rural state.

A chilling lesson of history for the Republican establishment  or for anyone watching Trump's rise with trepidation  is that no Republican candidate has ever won the party's nomination without winning one or other of those two states.
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.
A National Workshop on the Harmonized System (HS), organized jointly by the World Customs Organization (WCO) and the National Customs of El Salvador with the support of SIECA (SECRETARIA DE INTEGRACION ECONOMICA CENTROAMERICANA; PRAIAA Program), was held in San Salvador, El Salvador, from 26 to 29 January 2016. 50 Customs Officers of different areas of El Salvador Customs participated in the four days workshop.

The opening of the workshop was officiated by the General Director of Customs, Mr. Carlos Cativo, who emphasized the willingness of El Salvador Customs in becoming Contracting Party to the Harmonized System Convention. At the opening ceremony, Mr. Jose Carlos Garcia, technical coordinator of SIECA, remarked on the importance of the correct tariff classification of goods and he encouraged the participants to take advantage of this high level workshop. He pointed out the importance of the Harmonized System (HS) for Trade Facilitation.

The WCO facilitator invited El Salvador, as WCO Member, to accede to the HS Convention.

During the Workshop a wide range of HS-related matters were addressed and the participants were thoroughly informed about classification infrastructure and the fundamental principles of the General Rules and practicalities of HS classification to ensure correct and uniform application of the Nomenclature. The latest classification decisions of the Harmonized System Committee were discussed by participants. Special attention was paid to the advantages and benefits for Members adhering to the Harmonized System Convention and to the impact of the HS 2017 edition in the Central America Tariff System (SAC).

In his closing address, Mr. Walter Melendez, Chief of Operations of El Salvador Customs, thanked the WCO for its assistance in the modernization of his Customs Administration and again emphasized the importance of becoming Contracting Party to the HS Convention.
According to yesterdays Tribune Business Gowon Bowe, Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, suggests the Government has already used up 95% of its projected budget through June 2016. And it is only February 11.

The projected deficit was expected to be $141 and theyve ready exhausted $134.1 million of that according to the Central Banks report.

Im sure the argument will be posited that we should wait until the fiscal year end to see just how far off target the government is with its deficit spending, but frankly weve heard that far too many years, maybe decades now. The net result is more borrowing to cover these deficits, and where is the national debt these days? Oh just approaching $7 billion is all.

VAT was billed as the saviour of government financial woes, but it boils down to continual increases in debt with excessive spending by successive governments. Until there is some focus on reducing the behemoth our government has become, there is little hope of fiscal sanity.

The following video provides details on how Canada and Sweden reduced spending which encouraged economic growth.
Paducah Police looking for woman accused of allegedly stealing $6,600 in merchandise from Wal-Mart
By West Kentucky Star Staff Feb. 09, 2016 | 10:38 AM | PADUCAH, KY

The surgeon from Baptist Health Paducah that had an apparent "meltdown" during surgery had his first day in court Tuesday.

According to West Kentucky Star reporter Bill Hughes, who is at the McCracken County Courthouse, Dr. Ted Jefferson, 49 of Mayfield, pleaded not guilty to charges of terroristic threatening and disorderly conduct. Jefferson has been out of jail on bail since he was arrested after the incident.

Jefferson's next court appearance will be February 23.

According to a police report of the incident by Paducah police, Dr. Jefferson was in surgery on Tuesday, January 26, at around 5:30 pm, when he apparently had what's being described in the report as a "meltdown" and began using profane language. The police report indicates other employees inside the surgery suite heard Jefferson state "I guess administration will be happy if I come in here with an assault rifle."

Jefferson, who is reported to have a history of having a temper while at work, according to the police report, was initially allowed to "cool off" for around 30 minutes after being confronted by members of the hospital administration. After the 30 minutes was up, administration officials deemed Jefferson calm enough to go back into surgery and continue.

The police report states that as soon as he went back into the surgery suite, he immediately stated "Who's the weasel who called administration to complain about me?" Police say at this point two members of the hospital administration once again confronted Jefferson about his actions being unacceptable. Hospital administration told police that Jefferson became belligerent with them and made another reference to an assault rifle. He then mentioned something about "not knowing when."

Jefferson was suspended for 3 days and escorted out of the hospital by security.

Paducah police further reported that officers patrolling around Baptist Health the following morning spotted Jefferson at around 3:15 am (Wednesday) in the parking lot of the hospital. Jefferson told police he was going to his office to write the hospital administration an email.

The police report states two officers wearing body cameras recorded Jefferson indicating that he was upset over apparent medical supplies that were "unsanitary." He went on to tell police that he was acting out of anger the previous day at the hospital, and then went on to tell the two officers that the only way to "get anything done is to go home and get a pistol or rifle."
By The Associated Press Feb. 10, 2016 | 06:51 AM | EDDYVILLE, KY

Gov. Matt Bevin has told employees at the Kentucky State Penitentiary that he stands by his promises to include $4.5 million in retention raises for correctional workers at state prisons.

The Paducah Sun reports that Bevin made his first visit to the state penitentiary in Eddyville on Tuesday, joined by a team of legislators and other political officials.

After touring the massive facility, Bevin told the group who gathered in the prison's chapel that he will work to keep his proposals in the budget as legislators review it over the next few weeks.

Bevin also addressed the high turnover rate in corrections officers, currently reported at 67 percent statewide. He says he expects higher salaries will help lower that rate to benefit everybody.

___ Information from: The Paducah Sun, http://www.paducahsun.com
By The Associated Press Feb. 10, 2016 | 08:53 PM | FRANKFORT, KY

Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet Secretary Charles Snavley has canceled a series of public meetings on the EPA's proposed clean power plan after the U.S. Supreme Court delayed the plan from going into effect.

Snavley said in a news release the planned listening sessions were premature because the clean power plan could change or be vacated. He reiterated his opposition to the plan, saying it put states like Kentucky into an untenable position.

The Environmental Protection Agency required states to come up with a plan to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by one third by 2030. U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell had urged states to ignore the requirement. Republican Gov. Matt Bevin had asked for an extension to give the state time to challenge the plan in court.
Whether you're looking for something romantic to do on Valentine's Day or hate the whole idea and want a nice alternative, check out our ultimate guide to help you navigate Valentine's weekend and find something a little different to do.

First date

The cast of Wicked

 Matt Crockett

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - UK tour

An all-star cast including Jason Manford, Michelle Collins, Phill Jupitus and Lee Mead feature in this new touring production of the classic 1968 film. Let Truly Scrumptious and Caractacus Potts whisk you away and help to impress your date.

Wicked - Apollo Victoria Theatre

Telling the untold story of the Witches of Oz, this popular production has all the right ingredients for a first date - a love story, a little magic and a determined green witch to make for a wholesome night.

Chicago - UK tour

Everybody loves a little murder, betrayal and lust in a show. Throw in some classic tunes and you have the recipe for a perfect evening.

The Lion King - Lyceum Theatre

"Can You Feel The Love Tonight" - what more do we need to say to set the mood?

Bonus: Win brownie points with a romantic brunch overlooking London on the National Theatre deck (only open to public once a year on Valentine's Day).

Honeymoon period

Anastacia McCleskey, Daniel Bailen and Kyle Riabko in Close to You

 Nobby Clark

Mrs Henderson Presents - Noel Coward Theatre

Centered around a WWII nude review show and described as "charming, a little bit naughty and full of heart", this show offers to add a little extra spice to your evening to get you both a little hot under the collar.

Close to You - The Burt Bacharach Musical - Criterion Theatre

Specially extended due to Valentine's Day demand, the show based on the songs of Burt Bacharach includes hits such as "Close to You", "I Say a Little Prayer" and "What's New Pussycat". Perfect to cuddle up and have a sing along to. Altogether now, "Why do birds suddenly appear..."

Kinky Boots - Adelphi Theatre

The musical not only features songs from Cyndi Lauper but has received rave reviews from numerous critics. Matt Henry leads the cast as drag queen Lola in an evening which is guaranteed to make you feel good.

Les Liaisons Dangereuses - Donmar Warehouse

Christopher Hampton's adaptation of the 1782 novel offers a mix of sexual intrigue, seduction and double dealing. A beautiful cast and costumes will help transport you back to the the sixteenth century. Cruel Intentions (with that famous kiss) is also based on this play.

Old married couple

The cast of Guys and Dolls

 Paul Coltas

Guys and Dolls - Savoy Theatre

Wayward guys are taught the error of their ways by gals in New York in the 50s in this fun, feel-good, classic musical. Look out for classic songs such as "Luck Be a Lady" and "Sit Down You're Rockin' The Boat".

The End of Longing - Playhouse Theatre

This new play from Friends star Matthew Perry is a bittersweet comedy about four lost souls searching for meaning as they approach forty.

Beautiful - The Carole King Musical - Aldwych Theatre

Featuring Carole King classics such as "Will You Love Me Tomorrow", "Locomotion", "You've Got a Friend" and "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman", Beautiful has songs in anyone would be happy listening to. Throw in overcoming some marriage drama and a true underdog transformation, you'll be up singing in the aisles with the cast at the end.

Something alternative

The Encounter at the Barbican



Shaggers: Valentine's Special - Leicester Square Theatre

A mix of comics discuss sex (and its mishaps) in an evening aimed to be filled with laughter and absolutely no smoosh.

The Book of Mormon - Prince of Wales Theatre

Bromance, AIDS and religious satire all appear in this award-winning musical which will have you laughing all evening.

The Homecoming - Trafalgar Studios

One of Pinter's more curious plays, this is the perfect anti-valentines production with a stellar cast and performances.

The Encounter - Barbican Centre

Escape from London completely with this five-star production from Complicite's Simon McBurney, taking you on a journey into the depths of the Amazon rainforest.
Two Topeka businesses are looking to pop into Downtown Topeka to sprout new business.

Downtown Topeka Inc. announced Thursday that Sprout Communications, LLC and Cashmere Gourmet Popcorn will be moving downtown to 728 S. Kansas Ave.

Cashmere opened up a pop up shop at 1003 SE Quincy and will now be moving to their permanent home.

Its hard to believe that in just a couple years weve gone from making popcorn in our kitchen for fundraisers to having a retail location downtown, said Bill and Angie Anderson, owners, Cashmere Gourmet Popcorn. We are truly humbled by, and appreciate, the overwhelming support of the Topeka community as we have grown out business.

Cashmere is continuing to work on updating the interior of building and installing signage. They hope to open up shop in early March.

Opening up in the space upstairs will be Sprout Communications.

Caleb D. Asher established Sprout three years ago. It is a full-service marketing firm that specializes in nurturing partnerships that strengthen brands. Sprout has local clients as well as clients as far away as Portland, Oregon and Birmingham, Alabama.

After looking at numerous locations throughout Topeka for a permanent home, I cant think of a better, more exciting place to grow my company than on Kansas Avenue, Asher said. A vibrant downtown is critical to the health of any thriving company, and I look forward to doing my part to contribute.

A ribbon cutting for the location will be held Monday.
Wilkes University is once again ranked among top national universities in U.S. News and World Reports Best Colleges ranking of American colleges and universities. Wilkes is ranked 234 among 440 national universities in the 2023 edition. This is the 19th consecutive year that Wilkes has been ranked and its fourth
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This article was published 11/02/2016 (2443 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

STARTING FEB. 12

Deadpool

Grant Park, Kildonan Place, McGillivray, McGillivray VIP, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. 18A. 108 minutes.

Ryan Reynolds portrays Deadpool, the alter ego of former Special Forces soldier turned mercenary Wade Wilson. A medical experiment gives him accelerated healing powers to go along with his edgy sense of humour. Deadpool is Marvel Comics most unconventional superhero, in this decidedly rude and raunchy live-action version.

Zoolander 2

Grant Park, Kildonan Place, McGillivray, McGillivray VIP, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. PG. 103 minutes.

The long-awaited sequel brings back models Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller) and his rival Hansel (Owen Wilson). This time around, theyre joined by Will Ferrell and Penelope Cruz, among others, as a rival agency prepares to take Zoolander and Hansel out.

Lady in the Van

Grant Park. Subject to classification. 105 minutes.

In this drama based on a true story, Maggie Smith plays a woman living in a van who decides to park her place of residence in a London driveway owned by writer Alan Bennett (Alex Jennings).How to Be Single

How to Be Single

Kildonan Place, McGillivray, McGillivray VIP, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. 14A. 110 minutes.

Just in time for Valentines Day, this romantic comedy based on the novel by Liz Tuccillo follows four New York women (Dakota Johnson, Alison Brie, Rebel Wilson and Leslie Mann) as they learn all about modern-day relationships.

Into the Forest

Cinematheque. 14A. 101 minutes.

Two women, played by Ellen Page and Evan Rachel Wood, cope with a world on the brink of apocalypse and are forced to fight for their lives against enemies, disease and starvation.

RECOMMENDED

HAIL, CAESAR!

Grant Park, Polo Park, St. Vital. PG. 106 minutes.

This comedy from Joel and Ethan Coen, set in the early 50s, focuses on a Hollywood studio fixer (Josh Brolin) obliged to contend with a kidnapped movie star (George Clooney) and eliciting the help of other stars (Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum) to track him down. Brolin proves game as the brusque eye in the storm of oddballs, though no ones having more fun in this star-studded romp than Clooney as the milquetoast thespian who gets a little Stockholm syndrome and then gets slapped around for it.  (Reviewed by Brian Truitt, USA Today)

NOW PLAYING

BROOKLYN

Grant Park. PG. 112 minutes.

Painfully shy Irish lass Eilis (Saoirse Ronan) emigrates to Brooklyn and finds herself romantically torn between an Italian neighbour (Emory Cohen) and a charming lad (Domhnall Gleeson) from back home. In the hands of a lesser talent, the pivotal role of Eilis might have read as just another passive, pretty ingenue. With sure but small gestures, Ronan manages to suggest both luminous innocence and reserves of strength Eilis is only beginning to understand. Its a quietly commanding performance.  (Reviewed by Alison Gillmor)

THE CHOICE

Grant Park, St. Vital, Towne. PG. 111 minutes.

The latest adaptation of weepmeister author Nicholas Sparks sees a couple of bickering neighbours (Teresa Palmer and Benjamin Walker) turn lovers until a tragedy tests their relationship. With mediocre work from scripter Bryan Sipe and director Ross Katz, both relatively inexperienced C-listers, the romance remains tepid. I cried, all right, but I wasnt feeling it.  (Reviewed by Alison Gillmor)

DIRTY GRANDPA

McGillivray, Polo Park. 14A. 104 minutes.

A retired widower (Robert De Niro) tricks his straight-arrow grandson (Zac Efron) into taking him on a raucous trip to Florida during spring break. This is a movie that was not so much written as rote. There is not a single plot point you cant see coming from a mile away. The only real surprise is the depths to which De Niro is willing to sink here. Masturbating to porn? Check. Sex scene with a 41-years-younger actress? Check. Rapping? Check. Dick jokes? Check, check, check. 1/2 (Reviewed by Randall King)

45 YEARS

Grant Park. PG. 95 minutes.

On the eve of celebrating their 45th wedding anniversary, Geoff and Kate (Tom Courtenay and the Oscar-nominated Charlotte Rampling) have their marriage shaken to the core by the news that the body of Geoffs pre-Kate girlfriend has been found perfectly preserved in a glacier in Switzerland, an event that has the couple examining the state of their own union. In this painfully restrained film, performances are crucial. Courtenay and Rampling do extraordinary work. Their acting is utterly without vanity, without melodrama. There is no screaming, no hurling of vases, but the final effect is devastating. 1/2 (Reviewed by Alison Gillmor)

KUNG FU PANDA 3

Grant Park, Kildonan Place, McGillivray, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne. G. 95 minutes.

Reunited with his long-lost father (voiced by Bryan Cranston), Po travels to a lost village of pandas, where he is obliged to train the cuddly citizenry to fend off an attack by a supernatural foe. The lovely, colour-popping visuals here are well worth those darned 3D glasses. And the evocative visuals are accompanied by just enough heart, witty dialogue and kid-friendly humour to make this an all-around extremely satisfying third instalment in the popular series. Like a well-made dumpling, its not too heavy but not too light, has the right amount of spice and leaves one with some appetite for the next time. 1/2 (Reviewed by Jocelyn Novek, The Associated Press)

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES

Polo Park, Towne. 14A. 108 minutes.

This cinematic mashup of Jane Austen and George Romero sees Pride and Prejudice heroine Elizabeth Bennet (Lily James) not only contending with her mating prospects with the formidable Mr. Darcy (Sam Riley), but also fighting the legions of the undead, which threaten to overtake all of England. In the battle between the gory zombie flick and the genteel Jane Austen adaptation, the work of the early 19th-century novelist comes out ahead. Thats not to say Burr Steers adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smiths book really succeeds as an Austen offering, just that this kooky zom-rom-com is better on the rom than the zom. 1/2 (Reviewed by Alison Gillmor)

THE REVENANT

Grant Park, Kildonan Place, McGillivray, Polo Park, St. Vital. 14A. 157 minutes.

Leonardo DiCaprio plays Hugh Glass, a frontier explorer left for dead by his comrades following a bear attack, in this film by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. Like Inarritus Birdman, this is a directors movie, a showcase for a filmmakers vision and innovation. Inarritu employs long, complicated shots that make full use of the wide screen. Even a great innovator, though, has limits. In attempting to make an endlessly riveting film about a guy trying to crawl and limp for 300 kilometres, Inarritu has given himself a daunting assignment as the fresh brilliance of the first hour fades into something more familiar.  (Reviewed by Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle)

RIDE ALONG 2

Polo Park, Towne. PG. 102 minutes.

The insanely busy Kevin Hart returns for a sequel to the 2014 hit comedy, now playing a doofus rookie out to impress his brother-in-law (Ice Cube), a seasoned detective on a mission to bust a Miami drug kingpin. With the same brand of silliness and a bit more creativity than the original, it doesnt pretend to be anything more than what it is: a sequel designed to offer a second helping of exactly what worked the first time. 1/2 (Reviewed by Sandy Cohen, The Associated Press)

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

Kildonan Place, McGillivray, Polo Park, Polo Park Imax, St. Vital, Towne. PG. 136 minutes.

Its got a new, young cast (including Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Oscar Isaac) and the plot is a playful echo of Episode IV: A New Hope, right down to a cantina scene, a desperate, surreptitious venture into enemy territory and more. But coming as it does after George Lucass prequel trilogy, it still feels fresh and somehow grounded. Also, director J.J. Abrams knows how to work with actors, and he elicits emotional gravity from his cast, a quality that tended to elude Lucas.  (Reviewed by Randall King)
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This article was published 10/02/2016 (2444 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  The federal and Ontario environment ministers say a highly anticipated meeting next month between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the premiers isnt likely to conclude in a new climate plan for the country.

Federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna said Wednesday that a pan-Canadian climate strategy is going to take time and next months meeting is designed to lay the foundation for that plan.

Glen Murray, Ontarios minister for environment and climate change, told The Canadian Press in a recent interview that the work is going to take many months; thats not going to happen in a week or two.

Glen Murray talks to media at Queens Park in Toronto on Thursday, December 12 2013. Murray says no one expects that a highly anticipated meeting next month between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the premiers will conclude a new climate plan for the country.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

Trudeaus promise to convene a first ministers meeting to work out a climate plan within 90 days of Decembers Paris climate conference set high expectations.

Central to this would be the creation of national emissions-reduction targets, said the Liberal election platform.

But Murray said a meeting two weeks ago of the provincial and territorial environment ministers and McKenna directed officials to spend the next six months establishing a common framework of key elements that all parties agree upon, as well as a list of issues that still need to be resolved.

Those unresolved issues, he said, include matters such as trade and capital outflows resulting from climate-change policies and how common carbon pricing can be approached, given the various models already established by provinces including British Columbia, Alberta, Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba.

I dont think the pan-Canadian framework will be ready by March. I dont think anyone imagined that, said Murray.

The previous government in 10 years couldnt produce a paragraph, never mind a framework, so theres a lot of work going on.

The Prime Ministers Offices has confirmed Trudeau will attend a clean-tech business conference in Vancouver March 2-4, setting the stage for the first ministers to meet in the city that week.

McKenna told the Federation of Canadian Municipalities in a speech Wednesday that next months meeting will build the foundation of a pan-Canadian plan.

Speaking to reporters afterwards, she said the government wasnt going to throw out an emissions target without a plan to meet it.

That will take a bit of time, but we certainly are committed to looking at our target. Its just going to take time because we have to figure out what are the measures we need to get there.

The Liberal government attracted a lot of criticism for going to the Paris climate summit with national carbon-reduction targets set by the previous Conservative government. Depending on who you ask, the 2030 target of cutting emissions by 30 per cent below 2005 levels is either wildly ambitious or woefully inadequate.

McKenna has said the Conservative target is a floor. But she has also conceded the country is currently not anywhere close to being on track to meet the existing national emissions target.

We currently do have a target, but the plan is to sit down with the provinces and territories and actually discuss how are we going to reduce emissions across a variety of sectors, McKenna said Wednesday.

Thats what were going to do and after weve done the hard work then we will be able to say what a new target will look like.

Murray says the recent environment ministers meeting in Ottawa agreed that setting a new national target is not currently the priority.

The sense among all the ministers is lets actually get everything else sorted out before we start setting targets, he said.

Getting this together is going to take a while.

Nonetheless, Murray said theres a great deal of optimism among the countrys environment ministers, who have been working together on a national energy and climate strategy in the absence of an active federal government partner for several years.

Most of the authority for climate change, actually rests with the provinces anyway, he said, citing things such as building standards and transportation.

Now were able to look at other options as a result of the change in the federal government.

Murray, a former Winnipeg mayor, says hes been attending municipal and provincial conferences for many years and hes never seen the level of casual, informal and collaborative planning thats going on among the various jurisdictions.

I think the next few years are going to see major progress, he said. Were not putting up fights. Were finding solutions to things like pipelines that work for everybody, including Alberta.

 Follow @BCheadle on Twitter
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SAINT JOHN, N.B.  Dennis Oland has been sentenced to life in prison with the earliest possible chance of parole eligibility  10 years  for the second-degree murder of his millionaire father.

Justice John Walsh said Thursday the younger Oland, an investment advisor, simply lost it, snapped, or exploded.

This was a family tragedy of Shakespearean proportions, Walsh said.

Derek Oland and his wife Jackie head to his nephew Dennis Oland's sentencing at the Law Courts in Saint John, N.B. on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. Oland was found guilty of second degree murder in the death of his father, Richard Oland, who was found dead in his Saint John office on July 7, 2011. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

A jury found Oland guilty of Richard Olands murder in December following a trial that lasted four months and captured widespread public attention.

On Thursday, Olands lawyer, Gary Miller, pleaded with Walsh to consider his clients children in setting the sentence.

Miller provided Walsh with character references from Olands family, saying he was needed and loved. He said the case doesnt require more than the minimum of 10 years before parole eligibility.

I beg your lordship, give him the kind of sentence that allows him to get home to his family as soon as possible, Miller told a crowded Saint John courtroom.

Oland declined an offer from the judge to offer his own comments.

Walsh noted a pre-sentence report described Oland as a well-educated, 47-year-old man with no previous criminal record. He also said Oland told a parole officer that he cant feel remorse because he is innocent.

All 12 jurors recommended that Oland have no chance of parole for 10 years. But Crown lawyer Patrick Wilbur said the brutal nature of the elder Olands death called for a sentence of between 12 and 15 years in jail before parole eligibility.

Richard Olands body was found face down in a pool of blood in his Saint John office on July 7, 2011. He had suffered 45 blunt and sharp force blows to his head, neck and hands, although no weapon was ever found.

Sheriffs had to turn most supporters away from Thursdays hearing. However, members of the Oland family were seated in the front row, and close to 100 people were crammed into the rows behind.

Later, outside of the court, Oland friend Larry Cain said the crowd of about 200 wanted to show their support for Oland and his family.

They were gathered because they feel the same way that I do, that justice has not been served in this case, he said.

Senator John Wallace stood at the back of the courtroom during the sentencing. Outside court, Wallace said hes a friend of the Oland family and wanted to show his support and respect for them.

It has been nightmarish for them and very painful for many, many in the community who they are so close to, Wallace said.

After his conviction, Olands mother Connie said in statement the family was shocked by the outcome.

Walsh was given 73 character reference letters, 10 of which the Crown objected to.

The judge told defence lawyers it was offensive that some of the character references used their letters to give their personal opinions on the case.

Its upsetting to me as a judge that people would do that, Walsh said, adding the only opinions that count were those of the jury.

I am not pleased.

After a break, defence lawyers withdrew seven of the letters, and redacted three more to remove opinions about the verdict. Walsh also placed a provisional publication ban on four letters from Olands children.

Im concerned about their privacy, he said.

Oland was dressed in the same brown suit and blue shirt he wore through much of the trial, and he smiled at family and supporters as he entered the courtroom.

A bail hearing will be held Friday in Fredericton as Olands lawyers seek his release pending an appeal of his conviction. No date has been set.

The Olands are an establishment family in the history of the Maritimes, having founded Moosehead Breweries, although Richard Oland left the family business in 1981.

During the trial, the Crown focused on possible motives, including Dennis Olands financial difficulties and the knowledge his father was having an affair.

The key piece of evidence for the Crown was a brown jacket worn by Dennis Oland that had a number of small blood stains and also DNA that matched the profile of Richard Oland.

Oland has repeatedly denied any involvement in his fathers death.
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This article was published 11/02/2016 (2443 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  Promises, promises.

Justin Trudeau made 214 of them during last falls marathon election campaign, according to TrudeauMetre.ca, a non-partisan, citizen-driven website that tracks if and when the prime minister delivers on his commitments.

As his Liberal government prepares to mark its 100th day in power Friday, the website reckons Trudeau has so far delivered on 13 promises, started 29 more and broken at least two.

SEAN KILPATRICK / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

While some of the websites conclusions are debatable, they underscore that despite a running start, the government has made barely a dent in a sweeping platform that promised transformative change on multiple fronts: stimulating the stagnant economy, transforming government and even overhauling how governments are chosen.

A number of big promises, such as a new child care benefit and massive infrastructure investments, are expected in the Trudeau governments maiden budget late next month.

Heres a look at whats been accomplished  or not  so far:

PROMISES KEPT

 A more open, accessible style of governance, working with provincial and municipal leaders and striking a less adversarial tone.

 A cabinet with as many women as men.

 A 20.5 per cent income tax rate for Canadians earning between $45,282 and $90,563, down from 22 per cent.

 A new 33 per cent tax bracket on income of more than $200,000.

 Restore the mandatory long-form census.

 Unmuzzle scientists.

 An arms-length advisory body to recommend merit-based nominees for the Senate.

 Withdraw Canadian fighter jets from Syria and Iraq. This week, Trudeau said the jets will be coming home by Feb. 22 while the government beefs up humanitarian aid and military support to train Iraqi ground forces.

 Improve access to and reduce the cost of prescription drugs. The federal government has joined the provinces in a cheaper bulk-buying scheme.

PROMISES IN PROGRESS

 Launch a national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women. The government has so far set up a consultation process to determine how best to conduct the inquiry.

 Establish a pan-Canadian framework for combating climate change. Trudeau has met with the premiers and led a delegation to the UN climate summit in Paris to signal Canada would no longer be a laggard on global warming. But the government has not yet committed to a more ambitious target for cutting GHG emissions  or a plan for achieving it.

 Re-establish public trust in environmental assessments of resource-based projects. While it develops new rules, the government has introduced an interim process  including new environmental hurdles and consultations with Aboriginal Peoples  for projects that are already under regulatory review, such as the proposed Energy East pipeline.

 Reform the operation of Parliament, including empowering backbenchers with more free votes, a weekly prime ministers question period, more open board of internal economy meetings and an end to omnibus bills.

 Repeal anti-union legislation passed by the Conservative government. Bill introduced in Parliament.

 Scrap legislation unilaterally changing the sick leave program for public servants, while contract negotiations were ongoing. Bill introduced.

 Create a parliamentary oversight committee on national security operations. A chairman has been appointed  Liberal MP David McGuinty  but no committee as yet.

 Reopen nine Veterans Affairs offices closed by the previous Conservative government.

 Clarify rules governing political activities by charitable groups to end alleged harassment by the Canada Revenue Agency. The government is winding down the political-activity audits of charities that were launched in 2012.

EXPECTED IN THE FEDERAL BUDGET

 A new, tax-free monthly child care benefit that Liberals say will be more generous for most parents but reduced or phased out entirely for high income earners.

 The first phase of an additional $60 billion over 10 years in infrastructure spending. The platform promised an extra $5 billion this year.

 A number of first instalments of promised multi-year funding: $750 million for post-secondary student grants; $300 million for jobs and skills training; $300 million for business innovation; $250 million for First Nations education; $325 million for pensions for injured veterans and other programs and services for vets.

 Scrap income splitting for couples with children.

 Roll back to $5,500 the $10,000 annual limit on tax-free savings account contributions.

PROMISES BROKEN (or likely to be)

 Bring in 25,000 government-assisted Syrian refugees by the end of last year, at a cost of $250 million. Logistical hurdles and security concerns forced the government to extend the schedule and inflate the price tag. It is now aiming to bring in 25,000 by the end of February, only about 15,000 of them government-assisted refugees, the rest privately sponsored. It intends to bring in another 10,000 government-assisted refugees by the end of the year. Estimated cost: $678 million over six years.

 Immediately implement firearm-marking regulations to help police trace guns used in crime, postponed by the Conservatives last August. A briefing book prepared for Trudeau indicated the government had planned to meet the promise in its first 100 days.

 Run deficits of less than $10 billion in each of the first three years of its mandate, still reducing the debt-to-GDP ratio each year and balancing the books in the final year. Trudeau has acknowledged the deficit will exceed $10 billion this year and that it will be difficult to balance in the fourth year.

 The tax break for middle-income earners was to be revenue-neutral, paid for by hiking taxes for the wealthiest one per cent. In fact, it will cost the federal treasury $1.2 billion a year.

 Trudeaus verbal promise to restore door-to-door home mail delivery. The Liberals have reverted to the platforms more cautious wording: stop the Conservative plan to end door-to-door delivery and launch a review of Canada Post.

STILL TO COME

 Replace Canadas first-past-the-post electoral system by the next election. An all-party committee is to examine options and recommend a replacement by mid-2017.

 Reform election laws: repeal controversial elements of the Fair Elections Act, restore the independence of elections watchdogs, create an independent commission to organize leaders debates during campaigns, limit party spending between elections.

 Ban partisan government advertising; appoint an advertising commissioner to help ensure government ads are non-partisan.

 Legalize marijuana. Little has happened beyond rookie Liberal MP and former Toronto police chief Bill Blair being tapped to lead the effort.

 Overhaul the Access to Information Act, to make government open by default.

 Reduce the small business tax rate to nine per cent from 11 per cent.

 Employment insurance reforms, including halving the waiting period for collecting EI, reducing premiums, flexible and accessible compassionate care benefits, more flexible parental leave.

 Restore the age of eligibility for old age security and guaranteed income supplement to 65.

 Work with the provinces to enhance Canada Pension Plan benefits.

 Establish a new nation-to-nation relationship with First Nations, including implementing all 94 recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation commission.

 Negotiate with the provinces a new health accord, with a long-term agreement on funding that includes an extra $3 billion over four years for improved home care services.

 Amend controversial anti-terrorism legislation to, among other things, ensure legal protests or advocacy cant be construed as terrorist activities and institute a sunset clause requiring review of new measures after three years.

 Scrap the planned $44-billion purchase of 65 F-35 stealth fighter jets, launch an open and competitive bidding process, reallocating the savings to the navy.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 10/02/2016 (2444 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba criminals have scored an important legal victory after learning this week they should be eligible for enhanced credit regardless of why they end up sitting in pre-trial custody.

A 57-page decision, released Wednesday by the Court of Appeal, revamps the Truth In Sentencing Act brought in during 2009 which appeared to give judges the power to punish certain offenders who are held without bail. Prior to those legislative changes, enhanced credit of two-for-one had become a staple of the justice system.

This specific issue involved two Manitoba offenders who were recently granted enhanced credit of 1.5:1 and 1.25:1 for every day they had spent behind bars priors to their cases being resolved. The Crown was opposed to this and argued they should both only receive 1:1 credit.

Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press The Mental Health Court is a weekly gathering of those living on the fringe of society who are clearly struggling to find their way. Its meant to address what many see as an epidemic of mental health related-issues which are clogging the justice system.a weekly gathering of those living on the fringe of society who are clearly struggling to find their way. Its meant to address what many see as an epidemic of mental health related-issues which are clogging the justice system.

The Crown took their fight to the high court, with the Attorney General of Canada acting as interveners. Although both cases were separate, the appeals were heard jointly because of the important legal principle involved. The Crown argued the sentencing judges erred in law because both accused should have been exempted from enhanced credit, under the wording of the legislation.

In the first case, a woman had been granted bail on a robbery charge, only to be re-arrested and re-released on three different occasions. At sentencing, the judge gave her enhanced credit of 1.5:1 for her pre-trial custody which substantially reduced her overall 30-month penalty.

In the second case, a man was arrested for a string of property crimes and then never applied for bail, due largely to a lengthy prior criminal history. At sentencing, the judge gave him enhanced credit of 1.25:1 for his pre-trial custody which substantially reduced his overall 48-month sentence.

In a nutshell, the Crown was saying a criminal shouldnt be able to benefit either by remaining in custody without bail because of their own notorious past, or failing miserably once they do get a shot at freedom (or multiple shots, as was the case here). Only those people who had earned the right for enhanced credit are now supposed to receive it, they said.

But the Appeal Court now says such a decision would be an unjustifiable infringement of section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and interferes with the fundamental principle of proportionality in the sentencing process, and because the linkage of the granting or refusal of bail to the issue of enhanced credit in the sentencing process is both arbitrary and overbroad.

Judges will still have the power to ultimately decide whether to grant enhanced credit, but the high court ruling means cases such as these wont automatically be disqualified.

Debra Parkes, a law professor at the University of Manitoba, applauded the decision on Wednesday.

The constitutional problem with this legislation is that it required judges to mete out disproportionate sentences by making decisions on bail determinative for sentencing. Bail and sentencing are fundamentally different processes with different purposes, said Parkes.

She said this is an especially important decision for offenders who are poor, Indigenous and otherwise less likely to get bail because it means they will still be treated equally by the system.

For the first time, the court has recognized the principle of proportionality in sentencing processes as a principle of fundamental justice under section 7 of the Charter, said Parkes. The court is careful to say that this does not mean that every disproportionate sentence is therefore unconstitutional. Rather, it means that parliament cannot enact a process that systematically mandates disproportionate sentences.

www.mikeoncrime.com
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 10/02/2016 (2444 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

New developments in Winnipegs Parker neighbourhood will be separated from existing homes by hydro lines, the Southwest Transitway and a relocated dog park, according to a conceptual site plan.

Developer Gem Equities has taken baby steps toward a residential development dubbed Oak Grove, which would rise within whats formally known as Parker, a triangle of unserviced land on the northwest edge of Fort Garry.

Gems owner, Andrew Marquess, acquired the land in a 2009 swap for a smaller portion of serviced city land alongside the Fort Rouge Yards. At the time, Parker Avenue homeowners as well as residents of the nearby Beaumont neighbourhood were taken aback by Marquesss intention to build 3,500 townhouses on the site, which is a mix of aspen parkland and partly disturbed open prairie.

Since 2009, the development of the Parker lands has sat on the back burner while Gem Equities focused on the rest of the former Fort Rouge Yards, purchased by Marquess in 2008.

On Wednesday at the Holiday Inn South, consultants working for Gem unveiled a Parker conceptual plan that includes a mix of high-density towers, medium-density low-rise buildings and low-density townhouses and single-family homes, extending away from a transit-station plaza in concentric circles.

According to the plan, the station would be built on the north side of the Southwest Transitway, between Georgina Street and Beaumont Street. Towers would rise to the immediate north of the plaza, while low-rises would be built farther north to the west, where a park of unspecified size would preserve some of the existing woods.

Townhouses and single-family homes would be built farther west, while the Brenda Leipsic Dog Park would be relocated to the south, alongside a curve in the Southwest Transitway.

Whats kind of unusual about this site is that there is a buffer. Hydro lines separate most of this from the existing development, architect Lawrence Bird said at the open house, held to gather feedback that would be incorporated into a future, more formal development plan.

Construction in the Parker neighbourhood remains years away. Gem Equities has only recently begun construction on one small parcel of the Fort Rouge Yards, after several years of delay.

Before Gem can follow suit at Parker, city council must approve an area plan, rezonings and development plans. In the meantime, some area residents remain skeptical.

BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Gem vice president Geoff Zywina unveils some of his plans for transit-oriented development at the Parker lands this afternoon in Fort Garry.

The city has to build where it has to build, but the process here seems flawed, Beaumont resident Angela Probyn said at the open house. Just the way they got the land was flawed, she added, referring to the Parker land swap, pilloried as a rush job by a 2014 audit that documented fluctuating land values and improper assessments.

Outside the hotel, approximately a dozen protesters, including Manitoba Green Party leader James Beddome, lined up along Pembina Highway to decry the development of what they called the Parker wetlands.

Beddome said hes not opposed to infill development or bus rapid transit, but added there must be better ways of doing that.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 10/02/2016 (2444 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A lobby group says rules for a new organ donation consent form with Manitoba drivers licences would save lives, speed up the delivery of life-saving organs for transplant and ease a critical shortage of donor organs.

At a press conference Wednesday, Manitobans for Presumed Consent, a lobby group of transplant patients and their families, said they hoped to spark a public debate as the province gears up for the spring election.

I would love for every politician to state what their position is, group spokesman Bryan Dyck said at the Kidney Foundation of Manitobas office on Dovercourt Drive. With him were half a dozen transplant recipients and their relatives.

The coalition of patients and patient support groups want a new drivers licence that would allow doctors to consider everyone a potential organ donor, not just the ones who check off the informed consent box. Called presumed consent, the measure has been adopted in 11 countries, mostly in Europe. No Canadian province has signed on.

Manitoba Health Minister Sharon Blady was sympathetic in a phone interview Wednesday but non-committal.

The one thing I can say is I really appreciate the work the group, Manitobans for Presumed Consent, does, Blady said.

Shes met with them, connected them to doctors, the Canadian Blood Services and transplant officials in Manitoba and encouraged them to work together. We share a common goal, which is increasing the number of us who want to be organ donors.

The first step in any move forward is we need to have those conversations not at the bedside, the minister said.

Blady said presumed consent is not on the table at this point.

Theres a variety of groups involved, including this group and theres no a consensus as to whether presumed consent is the solution, Blady said.

When the province finally rolls out its combined drivers licence and Manitoba health card in 2017, people will still have to check off the organ donor box, the minister added.

Manitobas 2,300 plus doctors have yet to take a public position and on Wednesday, Doctors Manitoba declined comment.

There are not a lot of things that can change someones life. Theyre all been done, said Dyck, listing countless cancer and heart health campaigns with overwhelming public support.

This is small, a small nuance that not a lot of people are aware of This should be legislation that all parties can agree to.

Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press Bryan Dyck, spokesperson for the Kidney Foundation talks to the media about changing the donor policy in Manitoba to presumed consent at press conference Wednesday at the Kidney Foundation.

Blair Waldvogel is waiting for a kidney transplant.

It was October 2010 when I first went on the waiting list for a kidney, he said. It was just in the last few days that I was told, with my blood type, it could be eight, nine years.

Its not just me on this ride. I have a wife and two boys, 12 and nine. As far back as they can remember, Ive been on dialysis, Waldvogel said.

Likewise, 12-year-old Allexis Siebrecht had a life-saving liver transplant last year at Toronto Sick Kids Hospital after a public campaign to find a liver.

The difference is like night and day in their lives, said Allexiss mother, Liz Siebrecht. It finally feels like I can breathe, Siebrecht said, adding shes motivated by the same goals as everyone else in the group: We can look forward to a future.

Medical ethicist Arthur Schafer, the founding director of the University of Manitobas Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics, said countries such as Singapore and Israel have gone a step further than presumed consent. Both have a law called reciprocal consent. Those people who register for organ donation after death get priority if they need an organ (to stay alive), he said.

Schafer called this Manitoba proposal a simple matter of resetting the default on donor cards. I would argue our current system is ethically flawed. I think we have obligations of solidarity to people we could easily help at zero cost to ourselves, for example by registering as willing organ donors after our deaths.

Donation rates in Canada have been stagnant for decades, and part of the reason may be the flaws in the donor system.

Most people dont register and education campaigns dont seem to have much impact so whats being proposed by this group is to change the default position. What behavioural economists have found is most people dont opt out. Most of us stay with the default position. If its automatic unless you say no, almost everyone finds themselves there, Schafer said.

Numbers appear to back it up.

Countries that switched from our current system to a presumed consent position saw a 25 per cent to 30 per cent increase in their organ and tissue donation rate. This is an effective measure to save lives, Dyck said.

A June 2014 survey by Prairie Research Associates showed 63 per cent of Manitobans support presumed consent legislation.

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca
Students enrolled in Winona Senior High Schools Spanish Four class had the opportunity to assist in a good cause, as well as demonstrating all they have learned throughout their years of learning Spanish by writing, editing, illustrating, and publishing a childrens book  written entirely in Spanish.The books were written to donate to a school library in Matagalpa, Nicaragua.

This project was made available through a partnership between WSHS and Gundersen Global Partners, a program from the Gundersen Lutheran Medical Foundation that regularly sends groups of volunteers to Nicaragua and Ethiopia.

Teacher Susan Larsens fall semester classes were the first students of the year to complete 21 books. Every semester, a Gundersen Lutheran representative who has visited Nicaragua visited Larsens Spanish four class in order to educate the students about the country and the school in Nicaragua.

Spanish junior Jordan Buerck said, After four years of Spanish classes, the class has elementary-level language skills. This made it natural for the students to write stories that would be read by elementary students.

Students did not lack any creativeness. Topics ranged from evil alligators stealing others capes to a cat giving a tour of Winona. Aside from the comedic nature of some of the stories, each one includes information on the WSHS student author and illustrator, as well as a glossary of some of the words used throughout the book translated to English.

Junior Spanish student Michael Miller said, The project really let me be creative as well as allowed me to learn at the same time.

Another set of stories will be ready to send in June.
Health officials are encouraging people who travel south to be aware of a virus that is transmitted by mosquitoes.

The virus, known as Zika, has been found in the southern United States, South and Central America, the Caribbean, Mexico and the Pacific Islands.

Pregnant woman should be especially cautious, according to the Sauk County Health Department. And there are studies underway to investigate the association between the Zika virus and a condition known as microcephaly, in which children are born with abnormally small heads or brains.

Sauk County Public Health Department Director Cindy Bodendein said her department has received inquiries from physicians offices regarding testing. There have been no confirmed cases in Sauk County.

Zika is transmitted to humans primarily through infected mosquitoes, which can live indoors and bite at any time.

Signs of the virus include fever, rash, joint pain, red eyes, muscle pain and headache. The mild illness usually lasts several days to a week.

Bodendein encouraged people who have visited an area where the Zika virus is found and who have exhibited symptoms to see their healthcare provider.

The health department recommends that people who plan to travel to areas where Zika is found take the following steps to avoid mosquito bites:

Choose a hotel or lodging with air conditioning or screens on windows and doors.

Sleep under a mosquito bed net if you are outside or in a room that is not well screened.

Wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants

Mosquitoes may bite through thin clothing

Consider bringing insect repellent with you.

Reapply insect repellent every few hours.

Pregnant women should reconsider travel plans, Bodendein said, or strictly follow the aforementioned steps to avoid mosquito bites.

President Barack Obama has asked Congress for more than $1.8 billion in emergency funding to fight the virus and the mosquitoes that spread it here and abroad, but said "there shouldn't be a panic on this."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
MADISON (AP) | A bill that would bar county executives from serving concurrently in the Wisconsin Legislature was criticized as partisan politics in an Assembly committee public hearing Wednesday.

The bill is aimed at Democratic Winnebago County Executive Mark Harris, who is running for Republican Sen. Rick Gudexs open seat. If elected, the bill would require him to quit his job making $102,834 as county executive. As a senator, he would make $50,950 per year plus an $88 per diem for each day in Madison.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, has said Harris candidacy prompted the bill, due to concerns about an elected official drawing two salaries. The bills supporters also argue there is a conflict of interest serving as both a county executive and a legislator.

The county executive position is still an arm of the state government, so theres a conflict that could occur in that situation, said Waukesha County Executive Paul Farrow, a Republican who was elected to that role while serving in the state Senate. Farrow said he overlapped in both jobs for about 90 days to provide a transition period.

From 2006 to 2013, independent Bob Ziegelbauer also served concurrently as Manitowoc County executive and as a state representative.

Democratic Assembly committee members said many legislators hold two jobs and argued the legislation is clearly aimed at keeping Harris from running for election.

There are so many of us in the Legislature who have other jobs, said Rep. Tod Ohnstad, D-Kenosha. It just flies in the face of reality to say this is anything other than what it is, which is to stop a democratically elected Democrat who happens to be a county executive.

Scot Ross, executive director of liberal group One Wisconsin Now, called it an effort to rig the 18th district race for political advantage.

This bill is taking the decisions that belong to voters and moving it to the Legislature, Ross said.

Republican committee members also expressed some reservations about the bill.

Im uncomfortable with this, Im going to be straight up with you, said Rep. Bob Gannon, R-Slinger.

He said he could get on board if the bill dealt with a broader group of overlapping jobs, such as mayors or other elected officials.

The bill had public hearings in Senate and Assembly committees Wednesday, clearing the way for committee votes in each.
One Baraboo student has turned an English class project into a political statement. In April, Andy Andrews, a senior at Baraboo High School, and about a dozen of his classmates, will attend a student conference on Great World Texts in Wisconsin at the Center for the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The conference wraps up a yearlong program in which students across the state read a classic piece of world literature and, through their teachers, connected with scholars at the university level to interpret the text. This year, the text was Wu Chengens Journey to the West.

Some people compare things to pop culture, I compare things politically, Andrews said. I took the four main characters that went on the journey and I found political quotes to go with them.

He compared one of the books characters, Tripataka, to the Green Partys Ralph Nader, while other characters represented various political figures. Andrews hopes to become a political figure himself someday. An intern for the Republican Party of Wisconsin, he worked on local Republican candidate Ashton Kirchs run for State Assembly. The 18-year-old student also is challenging Baraboo representative Scott Alexander for his Sauk County Board seat this spring.

Andrews English teacher, Amanda Jamae, wrote the grant for the project. She said Andrews interpretation of the text was a good one. There are definitely some political themes in the book, she said. There is a character that challenges political systems.

Jamae said the book, translated from a 1592 text that remains popular in Chinese culture, was challenging for students. She said she was impressed with the Great World Texts in Wisconsin program and plans to participate again next year.

It really introduces new texts to high schools, she said. This is not a book I would usually have.
State Assembly lawmakers have approved a bipartisan bill increasing the amount of money Wisconsin pays those wrongfully convicted of a crime.

The Assembly unanimously approved the bill, 98-0, during a nine-hour marathon session Tuesday night.

The legislation increases the payments tenfold, from $5,000 up to $50,000 annually, for each year the person was incarcerated. It also caps the total payment sum at $1 million. Current law caps payments at $25,000.

The bill, authored by Rep. Dale Kooyenga, R-Brookfield, was praised across the aisle for its substance and the way in which it was crafted.

This bill is a product of true bipartisan collaboration and deliberation. There was plenty of give and take from both sides, said Rep. Gary Hebl, D-Sun Prairie.

We can never fully restore justice to those who have years of their lives ripped away from their families, but we can do better. [The bill] will help their families and their communities and will lift our society up all at once.

The bill cant replace or provide the justice that was lost when someone was locked up for a crime they didnt commit, but it can help get someone back on their feet, Kooyenga said.

What we can provide them is the opportunity to get a start where they left off, he said.

The bill helps address shortcomings in the state's justice system, which for years has lagged behind on its treatment of those it wrongfully incarcerated, Kooyenga said.

Kooyenga said the bill was not a response to, nor about the Steven Avery case. The Legislature has been working on increasing payments to all people wrongfully convicted over the last two sessions as it has also worked on authorizing more money for specific cases.

In 2014, Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill granting more money to Robert Lee Stinson, who was imprisoned for 23 years of a life sentence before the Wisconsin Innocence Project succeeded in getting him exonerated in 2009. The bill granted Stinson an additional $90,000 on top of the $25,000 maximum the state could pay him under current law.

This legislation ensures that others like Stinson will receive commensurate compensation, Kooyenga said.

The bill would also require the claims board to evaluate the $1 million compensation cap every five years and make a recommendation to the Legislature on whether it should be changed.

The petitioner is precluded from showing that he or she didnt contribute to the wrongful conviction that led to the imprisonment.

If the claims board approves the case, the petitioner is eligible for compensation at a fixed rate of up to $50,000 per year with a $1 million total limit. Each award must include reimbursements for attorney fees, post-conviction, and compensation proceedings. The $50,000 annual rate is also subject to annual adjustments based on changes in the cost of living.

There have been 43 people exonerated from county circuit court convictions since 1985 and five people exonerated from federal convictions, according to The National Registry of Exonerations, run through the University of Michigan Law School.

That includes exonerations pursued by the Wisconsin Innocence Project, which says it has helped free 20 wrongfully convicted people statewide since it was established in 1998.

Money will be paid to the wrongfully convicted through an annuity. What does that mean?

Installments. The yearly award will be paid incrementally each year.

The bill gives more latitude to the Wisconsin Claims Board. What is that board and what does it do?

The board considers claims from citizens that the state of Wisconsin owes them money. Anyone, even people who are not residents of the state, can file a claim with the board. There is no fee to file a claim and no attorney needed. Generally, the board is considered a forum of last resort for a citizen to attempt to get the state to pay them.

The board is made up of five appointees, representing the Department of Justice, the Department of Administration, the Governors Office, the State Senate and the State Assembly. The offices of the Claims Board are located at the Department of Administration in Madison.

The Board meets approximately four times per year. Claimants can request a hearing and make their case in front of the board, or submit a written petition for money. Hearings are open to the public. The board issues a written decision about what the state will pay out after hearing each case, sent to the claimant within 20 days of the meeting.

Under the bill, the board will decide whether someone who was wrongfully convicted should receive payments and has discretion in determining the amount for each year.

What other services does the bill provide?

Health insurance coverage. The bill offers those receiving payments the chance to enroll in the states health insurance program for public employees for up to 10 years beginning Jan. 1, 2017. The person would pay the same health insurance premiums as state employees and the state would cover the rest. Until January 2017, claimants would be covered under the states medical assistance program, BadgerCare Plus.

Directs the claims board to develop and issue a pamphlet to claimants on financial management services with contact information for publicly available management resources.

Allows a surviving spouse or domestic partner, child, parent, or sibling of a person who is entitled to compensation for wrongful imprisonment may petition the state for payment on behalf of the deceased within one year of the persons death.

Makes all payments tax free.

Grants transition assistance and mandates that a plan for transition for the former inmate be created within the first five days he or she is released. That plan must include:

A written list of community resources available to the inmate upon his or her release from prison, including temporary housing and emergency shelters, food banks, education and job assistance, and health care services in the county into which the inmate will be released.

An individual counseling session with a person to assist inmates in the transition to release from prison.

An appointment, set for not later than 2 weeks after the inmate's date of release, for the inmate to meet with a social worker or aid program administrator for the county into which the inmate will be released.

Seals all records related to his or her conviction.

What about people in Wisconsin who were wrongfully convicted in federal court?

This Assembly bill mirrors what the federal government already provides those who have been wrongfully convicted. The federal law allows for payments of $50,000 for each year the person was in jail, and $100,000 for each year if the person was sentenced to death.

What do other states do?

According to the national Innocence Project, the District of Columbia and 30 states have compensation statutes. Twenty states have no compensation law, including Michigan, North Dakota, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Oregon. For the other states, payments range from $15,000 to $50,000 a year with varying caps on the total sum.
Several days ago, I was leafing through my old columns and found myself faced with Afghanistan! Only, it was the Afghanistan of the late 1980s, which was an immeasurably different kind of place than it is today  or so I thought.

In one column from that era, from the fall of 88, my words almost cheered: The rich and powerful Russians are being forced to leave Afghanistan. They are withdrawing in a humiliating rout that already has them fleeing in increasing confusion to Fortress Kabul.

By February of 89, my report had gained in confidence, in historic resonance to, yes, some level of braggadocio. I imagine that many of you remember the scene I described: Lt. Gen. Boris Gromov, commander of Soviet forces in Afghanistan, was marching slowly but resolutely across the Friendship Bridge dividing the two countries at Termez.

Incongruously, he had his young son on his arm. Even more incongruously, he was smiling, and said only that he was not looking back.

Then I, even more strangely, focused on the fact that Gen. Gromov, who was famously pictured as the last Soviet abandoning Afghanistan on that famous bridge, was physically very short. I explained the emphasis on this photo-shoot of memory as being due to my sudden realization that the Russians were not, as so many Americans had assumed, 10 feet tall.

After a while, I shook myself back into 2016 and proceeded to read the mornings papers. Gen. John F. Campbell, commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, had recommended that the U.S. military role in Afghanistan be expanded to help local forces confront the Taliban and other militants. This was, of course, in direct contrast to President Obamas promise to withdraw most American troops by the end of the year.

Oddly enough in historical terms, remembering how the U.S. supplied anti-Soviet Afghan fighters with Stinger anti-aircraft missiles during the Soviet occupation, the U.S. was now worrying about supplying its own Afghan army with air support.

Gen. Campbell, who will turn over his command in March to what Pentagon officials are predicting will be a bloody 2016, could not have been clearer about his analysis of the lingering war. I do believe were going to have to have a continued modest forward presence ... for years to come, he testified on Capitol Hill. We shouldnt sugarcoat it.

What a strange world we live in. After 14 years of war, the self-described greatest power on Earth sits tied up in a wild, faraway, tribal buffer state that neither Germans nor Brits nor Russians, nor even Philip of Macedon nor the Mongol kings, could vanquish for more than a brief passing of historys wand.

As a matter of fact, Afghanistan as a COUNTRY has virtually none of the institutions, education and equality among persons and groups that characterize genuine nations. Historically, it has always been a huge, amorphous borderland  in between Pakistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and China. Its people are tribesmen, acquainted not with urban civilized living but with tribal and clan blood feuds, which largely rule their lives.

The British, in particular, learned the hard way to regret their fascination with Afghanistan. After settling in as an occupier in the 1830s in Kabul and other Afghan cities, by 1842 the Brits Grand Army of the Indus was being driven out by Afghan troops. More than 16,000 British troops began the perilous journey, through impassable snows and narrow mountain passes, followed by Afghan troops the British at first were foolish enough to think were protecting them.

In the last battle before todays city of Jalalabad, virtually all of the British troops were killed. All but one! A Dr. William Brydon somehow managed to come through, riding desolately into the waiting city on his badly wounded pony, which immediately lay down and died. The city lit fires for days to lead any other survivors to safety, but no one ever came.

The British adventures in Afghanistan were not so despairingly disastrous as were the Soviets in the 1980s. The British did not lose their empire until after World War II, while the Russians marched out of Afghanistan in 1989 on their own power and then officially abolished the Soviet Union in 1991.

Forgive me if I refer back to that earlier column of 1988, titled Soviets Humiliating Rout in Afghanistan, when I wrote: We do know that we are witnessing a breathtaking new period in international affairs. The Afghanistan demarche marks the first time since World War II that the Soviets have withdrawn from a country.

That was certainly not the last time Afghanistan  with its vast spaces, its rough-hewn fighters, its ancient ruins of cities and antiquities, its mineral wealth  will destroy an occupier. One cannot help but look at it and ask, DOES history truly repeat itself?

Im not taking any bets.
Sinus headache? Feeling feverish?

Theres an app for that.

The wonderful world of technology may soon help us take a nostalgiac turn that will return us to the days when doctors made house calls.

Recent news reports in the San Diego Union Tribune chronicled the rise of a new web and mobile app in Southern California, called Heal, that is raising health care eyebrows and sending licensed physicians out to meet patients at their homes, offices, hotel or even a coffee shop.

The company hires doctors who work as contractors or employees and, so far, has seen more than 2,000 patients since the app was launched a year ago, the newspaper said.

Not only that, but the company has already worked out agreements with a couple of major insurance providers in California, which means the cost for an app patient is no more than a standard co-pay.

For others, the newspaper reported, the cost of an app doctor visit is usually a fixed cost price of $99 -- excluding anything additional like lab work.

Heal is the brain-child of Renee Dua, a kidney care specialist, and her husband, Nick Desal, an entrepreneur. Their inspiration came after the couple couldnt make arrangements with a pediatrician for their ill child and ended up waiting for an hour at an emergency room for their childs not-too-urgent ailment.

On the way home, we thought about how we could fix a broken operation, she told the newspaper and Heal was born.

The promise of doctor service with a knock at the door, instead of crowded, noisy, take-a-number waiting rooms is enough to make one lightheaded and giddy.

And even if Heal doesnt make the jump from California to a national enterprise, the San Diego newspaper reported that Uber, the company that revolutionized the car-ride business, is looking to expand and apply its logistics engine to the health care industry.

Now that would be health care to go.
Not everyone embraces the idea of women serving in military combat roles, particularly some Republican lawmakers as well as commanders of the nations most elite special operations units. The skeptics continue to question whether women are up to the task. They seem determined to squelch recognition of womens battlefield participation any way they can.

Republican Reps. Duncan Hunter of California and Ryan Zinke of Montana introduced a bill last weej to require all American women between ages 18 and 26 to register for the Selective Service  the draft  exactly as their male counterparts already are required to do. Yes, the draft still exists, even though weve had an all-volunteer force since the 1970s.

This bill clearly was a cynical move designed for shock value. Hunter and Zinke are both veterans. Both appear to believe the Obama administration has gone too far with its advocacy for women who want to pursue combat eligibility. They echo the concerns of various military commanders who contend that womens presence in front-line combat jobs would destroy unit cohesion and erode performance.

President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Ash Carter overruled these objections, with Obama noting in December that 90 percent of military positions have opened to women during recent decades, and that they already serve  and some have died  while performing combat duties.

More than 280,000 women were deployed in the Iraq and Afghanistan combat zones, and at least 150 were killed. But because they havent been officially eligible for combat, they havent always received recognition in the same ways their male counterparts have.

In 2012, four service women, including an Air National Guard helicopter pilot shot down in Afghanistan, had to sue to get their combat service recognized. The pilot, a major, had been deemed ineligible for promotion at the time because the Pentagon couldnt officially recognize her combat service.

Thats the background driving the effort to make their combat service official and establish a training regimen that adequately prepares them for battlefield challenges.

The difficult question is the one raised by Hunter and Zinke: If women want equality, are they prepared to accept the awesome responsibility that accompanies it?

The short answer is that not all women want to serve in the military, and not all women currently in uniform necessarily want to be on the front lines. Not all men want to serve, and many probably shudder when it comes time to register for the draft.

If Hunter and Zinke seriously want to pursue this bill, let them. Its a good debate for the nation to have. Equality under the law doesnt just mean equal pay and equal opportunities for promotion. It also means bearing equal responsibility, regardless of gender, when the call comes to serve our nation.
Wisconsin Republicans simply can't bring themselves to make it easy for citizens to vote in our state.

A new voter registration bill, SB 295, which could be acted on in the state Senate as early as Tuesday this week, would allow Wisconsin voters to register online. That's the good news.

But, as usual, there's bad news to go with it. Online registration would be available only to those who have a current and valid Wisconsin driver's license or ID card. That excludes the thousands of people who are qualified to vote but don't have either of those cards, many of them seniors too old to drive, students and low-income people.

Worse, though, the new legislation would hamstring groups like the League of Women Voters and even municipal clerks from conducting voter registration drives to help eligible voters become registered for elections.

The league, for example, annually registers thousands of voters at senior centers, farmers markets, community fairs, high schools and colleges. It's an ongoing process, not just at election time. Deputized volunteers staff the league's tables and booths to provide voting information and answers to questions about the voting process, and help people sign up to vote. Many city and village clerks do likewise, often at a local library, in an effort to bolster election participation.

It's time for the state to join the 21st century by allowing and encouraging online registration, but there's absolutely no reason to once again discriminate against the poor and elderly while doing so and at the same time make it next to impossible to encourage election turnout.

If state senators have a conscience, they will strip the bill of its restrictions, allow everyone to register online and encourage groups like the League of Women Voters to continue their historic role in getting out the vote.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 11

By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:

UK-based exploration and production company Nobel Upstream has signed an agreement to acquire a 7.59 percent non-operated interest in the Maclure oil and gas field from Shell, the message of the company said.

Located in the UK North Sea, the Maclure field was discovered in 1991 and put into production in 2002. The field currently produces 8,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and is operated by Maersk which owns a 38.19 percent stake. TAQA and Apache hold 37.04 and 17.18 percent interests, respectively. Completion of the transaction remains subject to necessary approvals.

"We are very pleased to announce this acquisition and look forward to working with the other stakeholders and, in particular, Maersk who has demonstrated excellent operational management of this asset," Jeremy Huck, CEO of Nobel Upstream, said. "This acquisition is a perfect fit with our growth strategy and an important addition to our existing portfolio in Azerbaijan and North America. We see further potential in the field and consider it a best-in-class North Sea opportunity."

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov
Strike continues at Racine Case tractor factory with no clear end in sight
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 11

By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:

Azerbaijan, which has historically been one of the major transit centers in Eurasia, has somehow stayed away from the global transportation for a long time. Despite the country's unique position on the border of Europe and Asia, Azerbaijan has, for a long time, used its transit possibilities only partially. But now it is time to fully realize the potential in the current economic conditions.

Azerbaijan is well aware of this and does all the necessary work in order to increase the cargo flow through its territory. The main way is to participate in the international transport corridors, the importance of which is extremely difficult to overestimate for any country's economy. Meanwhile, it is not only the commercial benefits, but also the strategic importance of such projects.

Due to its favorable geographical position, Azerbaijan is ready to bind the northern countries with those in the south and the western ones with the eastern ones through its territory. Similar projects have already been successfully implemented.

So, Iran's ambassador to Azerbaijan Mohsen Pak Ayeen said earlier that Iran has started the construction of its part of Qazvin-Rasht and Astara (Iran) - Astara (Azerbaijan) railway within the North-South international transport project, which will connect railways of Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran, and as a whole, will regulate the trade between Northern Europe and Southeast Asia.

This is quite a long way, around 5,000 kilometers, stretching through the territory of Azerbaijan as well. The annual transit of goods from Iran to Russia via Azerbaijan is around 10 million tons. This figure between Europe and India is around 25 million tons. Most of goods are transported by sea. This takes from 45 to 60 days. The implementation of the North-South project will reduce the delivery time twofold-threefold. So, the transportation of cargo through the territory of Azerbaijan is more acceptable.

The beginning of the construction of Iran's sections was an important action towards the project implementation. In general, an 8.5 kilometer-railway section between Iran and Azerbaijan must be built till late 2016.

Another major project is the East-West or the Trans-Caspian transport corridor which is being tested. It connects China with Europe via the territories of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Georgia. This is a multimodal corridor. The railway, maritime and road transport are used during transportation through this corridor.

Three test container trains have been already launched via this corridor from China to Europe. The project has proved itself from such a reasonable side that even Ukraine decided to join in, allowing to reach Europe through Ukraine's territory much faster. The test train runs from Ukraine to China for 18 days. Kiev is trying to reduce this period to 10 days.

Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Ukraine have already signed a protocol on the establishment of preferential tariffs for cargo transportation via this route, and in February it is expected to sign the final one in order to resolve technical problems. This should help to ensure the full commercial operation of the Trans-Caspian route in March 2016.

Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway will become the major component of this corridor. The Georgian section of the road is completely ready, Turkey has accelerated construction work and promised to complete it in 2016. With its launch, cargo can reach Europe via Turkey as well.

Considering all these factors and the steps taken, Azerbaijan quite reasonably expects to significantly increase the volume of cargo transportation through its territory. In 2015, the transport sector of the country transferred 222.4 million tons of cargo, which is 0.2 percent higher than in 2014, however now this growth will be more notable.

When the corridors reach their full capacity, incomes of Azerbaijan by 2025 can amount to $1 billion per a year with a subsequent increase. All the measures and reforms implemented by the government of the country suggest that Azerbaijan will fully implement its transit and transport potential.
#SONA2016: Live Wits debates

Wits academics and analysts will provide in-depth analysis on issues ranging from education to politics, health and the environment.

Two key public debates on the State of the Nation Address (SONA) will take place at Wits University. These will be streamed live on various platforms.

The Conversation Africa and Voice of Wits FM (VOWfm)

Political analyst Professor Susan Booysen from the Wits School of Governance will be part of a panel discussion tonight hosted by The Conversation Africa and Voice of Wits FM (VOWfm). She will be joined by Professor Alex van den Heever (Wits School of Governance), Professor Mzukisi Qobo (Pan African Institute, UJ) and Professor Hartmut Winkler (Professor of Physics, UJ).

Date: Thursday, 11 February 2016

Time: Pre-Sona discussion at 18:30; Full panel engages after SONA

Tune in to VOWfm on 88.1fm or live stream

Tweet @VOwfm @TC_Africa #SONAConversations

Mbeki, Vavi, Booysen and Mbete at Wits Business School

The Wits Business School in partnership with EWN will host a breakfast debate the morning after SONA. EWN will stream the debate live via www.ewn.co.za from 07:30 to 09:00 on Friday, 12 February 2016.

Panellists:

Mr Moeletsi Mbeki, Political analyst, author and entrepreneur. Mr Mbeki will moderate the session

Mr Zwelinzima Vavi, Former General Secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU)

Professor Susan Booysen, Professor at Wits School of Governance and political analyst and media commentator

Ms Sithembile Mbete, Lecturer and PhD candidate in the Department of Political Sciences, University of Pretoria

Mr Andile Khumalo, Chief Investment Officer at MSG Afrika, a media and communications group he co-owns with business partner, Given Mkhari. He is also the Managing Director of the Groups newest business, Power FM 98.7, a talk radio station based in Johannesburg.

Tweet @Witsbschool and @Radio702
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 11

By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:

Supply of Azerbaijani gas will contribute to Europe's energy security, Ambassador of Azerbaijan to the US Elin Suleymanov said.

He made the remarks during the Atlantic Council's discussion of "Developing a Western Energy Strategy for the Black Sea Region and Beyond".

"I would say that, first of all, the issue of European markets, it's not - it's not the amount of supply," he said. "It's not the volume of gas which is available. It matters not how much gas you get, it matters the security and the uninterruptible supply of gas. I mean, that's the most important issue. Security of supply is perhaps more important than the volume set."

Diversity of gas supply means definitely its security, according to Suleymanov.

"And we know we're not going to replace the Russian gas, but to understand that the more supply - the more secure supply, the more diverse of the European supplies would basically mean good things for all us, including Gazprom, who is also competing on the market, of course," Azerbaijani ambassador said.

"The other thing is that the Azerbaijani approach has never been anti-Gazprom or in an effort to replace the Russian gas," Suleymanov said. "Azerbaijani approach to European energy security and diversity is not anti-somebody, it is actually pro-European - pro-European energy security."

"The Southern Gas Corridor is a unique project," he said. "It's about a $45 billion project, spans over six and possibly seven countries, if we include Bulgaria. We talk about 11 companies involved, six or seven very, very independently minded governments."

The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority energy projects for the EU. At the initial stage, the gas to be produced as part of the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor projects. Other sources can also connect to this project at a later stage.

As part of the Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz development, the gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline and Trans-Adriatic Pipeline.

"So success of that project has been extremely telling on how much political will is there," Suleymanov said. "So it's not just energy supply, it's not just hydrocarbons, it's not just the pipes. It's also the political commitment, which is a fundamental reason for this ongoing success."

Thankfully, the gas from the Southern Gas Corridor has already been sold to nine companies for 20 years ahead, Suleymanov said.

"So I can assure you that now regardless of the oil prices, which go up and down, as has happened before, Azerbaijani side and its other partners, we believe, are fully committed to completing the Southern Gas Corridor under any price of oil," he said.

He reminded that during the start of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline construction the price of oil was around $25. "So this is not a new development," Suleymanov said. "You have to have a long view."

"Interconnectors are of utmost importance," the ambassador also said, adding that construction of interconnectors from the Black Sea to the Eastern European countries is extremely important for ensuring European energy security.

Speaking about the projects implemented by Azerbaijan, the ambassador said that they are not limited to energy sphere, and brought the New Silk Road project as an example.

But most important now is the railway between Azerbaijan and European railway system, he said, adding that the first test train from Ukraine to China recently went through Azerbaijan into Kazakhstan. "And we hope that it will reach China soon," the ambassador said. "So that shows the new opportunities in the region."

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Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova




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Canadian cyclotron turns 40

11 February 2016

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Canada has marked the fortieth anniversary of operations at the world's largest cyclotron accelerator, the 520 MeV Main Cyclotron at the Triumf national laboratory for particle physics. Celebrations were attended by science minister Kirsty Duncan.

VIPs including federal science minister Kirsty Duncan, parliamentary secretary for science Terry Beech and director of Triumf Jonathan Bagger at the celebrations (Image: K Stallknecht/Triumf)

The cyclotron was officially commissioned on 9 February 1976 by the country's prime minister at the time, Pierre Trudeau. Its controls and electronics have been continually upgraded, and the facility - which accelerates protons up to three quarters of the speed of light - has remained the "workhorse" at the centre of Triumf's operations.

Duncan said that Triumf was a "mecca" for researchers in the fields of particle and nuclear physics, molecular and materials science, and nuclear materials. "Thanks to Triumf's ambitious international partnerships, Canadian researchers have been at the centre of some of the most important global research projects," she said.

As well as being home to Canada's only proton therapy cancer treatment centre, Triumf recently set a new record for the production of medical radioisotopes using a cyclotron as an alternative to production in a research reactor. Technetium-99m, used in around 80% of all medical radioisotope procedures, can be produced directly in a cyclotron by bombarding a molybdenum-100 target with a proton beam. The Canadian government has invested in projects, including Triumf, to bring non-reactor-based radioisotope technologies to market through its ITAP (Isotope Technology Acceleration Program) initiative.

A new advanced electron linear accelerator facility that will also be able to produce medical isotopes, Ariel (Advanced Rare IsotopE Laboratory), is currently under construction at Triumf.

Located on the University of British Columbia's campus near Vancouver, Triumf is owned and operated by a consortium of Canadian universities with funding from the National Research Council of Canada.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

Related topics
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 11



By Elmira Tariverdiyeva - Trend:

The EU has recently re-vamped its Eastern Partnership policy, taking into account the individual features of partner-countries, Dirk Schuebel, Head of Division for bilateral relations with the Eastern Partnership countries of the European External Action Service, said, EuroActive reported Feb. 11.

Schuebel was speaking at a conference organised by the EPC, the European Policy Centre.

"EU still tries to find a magic formula on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," Schuebel said.

Schuebel spoke in reply to comments by Svante Cornell, Director of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Programme of the John Hopkins University, who criticised the Commission's and the West's dealings with Azerbaijan and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Cornell argued that since the development of the Azerbaijani nation in the late 19th century, Azerbaijan had constantly made the choice of being part of what could be called the modern world.

"Importantly, this is a vision shared by the country's leaders, and by the overwhelming majority of the country's society," he said.

"Today, Azerbaijan was a fundamentally modern, secular country that is oriented towards the West, though it was unsure at what speed it wants to adopt all principles of the Western states, and was "increasingly suspicious of Western double standards"," he said.

Cornell pointed out that modern Azerbaijan was born after 1991, out of the trauma of the Armenian occupation of 20 percent of the country's territory and the ethnic cleansing.

Cornell said that the country recovered from this defeat and began to build a functioning state.

Another factor in Cornell's words was the West's decision to put Nagorno-Karabakh on the backburner and seek instead a normalisation of Turkey-Armenia relations.

"That inevitably undermined the prospects for a solution of this conflict, because if the main cost incurred by Armenia for its occupation of Azerbaijan territory, which is the closure of the border with Turkey, if that was lifted, what would be the Armenian interest in resolving the conflict," Cornell said.

"After the events in Georgia in 2008, the West practically reneged on its role in maintenance of sovereignty, security and conflict resolution, which are the most important issues for the government of Azerbaijan," Cornell said.

He further argued that Western rhetoric vis-a-vis Azerbaijan came to be entirely dominated by the issues of human rights and democracy.

"But I notice that the Washington Post has published nine editorials on the human rights situation in Azerbaijan in the past two years," he said. "I haven't seen that about Saudi Arabia, about Vietnam, about Turkmenistan, about many other countries Azerbaijan looks pretty good in comparison to."

"The more we focus only on human rights, the less we will achieve," he said.

"Azerbaijan is important for the EU in the context of fight against anti-radicalisation and counter-terrorism," Schuebel said.

Schuebel acknowledged that the efforts to get closer were not just done on the EU side.

"It was Azerbaijan who came forward with a proposal for a new Strategic Agreement, at the 2015 Riga summit," he said.
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This past week Ed Brady, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder and developer from Bloomington, Ill., issued the following statement regarding President Obama's Feb. 5 comments on the January 2016 jobs report:"President Obama hailed the nationwide unemployment rate dropping below 5 percent while at the same conceding 'that we've still got more work to do.' However, the president missed an opportunity to address how a vibrant housing market is necessary in order to maintain robust job and economic growth."Twenty-five percent of the cost of a single-family home is attributable to regulation. The administration should aggressively engage in regulatory reform that will reduce costs for businesses and consumers and take steps to ease tight credit conditions for qualified home buyers."These actions to boost housing and homeownership will bolster household wealth, generate jobs, and place the economy on a sustained upward path."For most Americans, their biggest asset is their home. It would be wise for the presidential candidates in both parties to address these important housing issues on the campaign trail."
A young man wanted to make a point about racism in the United States, but his plan backfired when he was exposed for a liar by police. 20-year-old Khalil Cavil of Texas was working at the Saltgrass Steak House in Odessa when he claimed he was discriminated against because of his Muslim name. Cavil took
Jarell Blackmon

By: Chan Yuan

A stupid thief suffered injuries after robbing a store with a fake gun, police in Florida said.

Pensacola police said that they have arrested 24-year-old Jarell Blackmon, after being accused of robbing a convenience store by threatening the employee with a fake gun.

Blackmon was charged with armed robbery, grand theft, wearing a mask or hood during commission of a felony, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and resisting without violence.

He was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment before being booked into jail.

According to the police investigation, around 2:25 a.m. on Friday, Blackmon entered the store while wearing a camouflage hat and scarf over his face.

He approached the store clerk, 20-year-old Abed Alslaq, who asked him to remove the scarf. Blackmon refused and pulled out a fake gun.

Blackmon went behind the counter and grabbed some money and 10 cartons of cigarettes before walking out of the store.

While fleeing, Blackmon was hit in the neck by a shot from Alslaq. No charges have been filed against Alslaq.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 11

Trend:

In his address to the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna today Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov spoke about current security challenges in the South Caucasus and stressed the need to revitalize the Minsk Group for the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, according to a message posted on the OSCE website Feb. 11.

Azimov highlighted Azerbaijan's adherence to the Minsk process and called for a meeting of all members of the Minsk Group to be convened to ensure full use of this format in resolving the conflict.

"Delay in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the remaining status-quo has a negative impact on regional security and the implementation of regional projects," he said.

He also stressed Azerbaijan's continued commitment to international norms and to fighting transnational threats such as terrorism, trafficking of drugs and radicalization.

Economic reforms and creation of favorable conditions for investment are among the priorities of Azerbaijan, said Deputy Minister Azimov.

Speaking about Azerbaijan's achievements in fighting corruption by developing e-government services, he expressed readiness to share this experience with other OSCE participating states.

He expressed Azerbaijan's support for the efforts of Germany's 2016 OSCE Chairmanship to promote sustainable connectivity and to create the impetus for better economic exchanges in the OSCE area.

On April 25-27, 2016, Azerbaijan will host the 7th Global Forum of the UN Alliance of Civilizations in Baku, which, according to Azimov, will be another contribution by the country to the development of inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue.

"Promotion of multiculturalism is today our state policy, which creates the necessary conditions for representatives of different nations and ethnicities to co-exist peacefully." he added.

The OSCE Permanent Council is one of the main regular decision-making bodies of the Organization bringing together representatives of all 57 OSCE participating states. It convenes weekly in Vienna to discuss developments in the OSCE area and to make decisions.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 11

Trend:

The Governor of the US State of Nebraska Pete Ricketts signed a proclamation condemning the Khojaly Massacre, which was committed by Armenia's armed forces against the Azerbaijani civilians in 1992, the message of Consulate General of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Los Angeles said Feb. 11.

Along with the document, Governor Ricketts proclaimed February 26, 2016 as the "Khojaly Remembrance Day" in the State of Nebraska and urged all citizens "to take due note of the observance."

This is the first official document on the Khojaly Massacre adopted in Nebraska. The proclamation was also signed by John Gale, Nebraska's Secretary of the State.

Thus, Nebraska has become the 18th state in the US to condemn the Khojaly Massacre, as well as to recognize and honor its innocent victims.

On February 25-26, 1992, the Armenian military, together with the 366th infantry regiment of Soviet troops stationed in Khankendi, committed genocide against the population of the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly. Among those 613 killed in the massacre, there were 63 children, 106 women and 70 old people.

Eight families were totally exterminated, 130 children lost one parent and 25 children lost both. A total of 487 civilians became disabled as a result of the onslaught. Some 1,275 innocent residents were taken hostage, while the fate of 150 people still remains unknown.

The event became the largest massacre in the course of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

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.
The Guardian has played a critical role as a propaganda outlet for the British government in its attempts to silence WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

On the evening of February 4, the Guardian published an editorial online, Julian Assange: no victim of arbitrary detention, reproduced in the following days print edition. The Guardian was intent on opposing the final opinion of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) regarding the detention of Assange, even before its findings had been made publicly available.

The Guardian was delivering a blind verdict on a 16-month legal inquiry in order to ensure that the witch-hunting of Assange by London and Stockholm would not be undermined by the devastating conclusions of the UN.

After noting that UNWGAD has played a valuable role in highlighting unjust and improper imprisonment, often of political prisoners, it editorialised, But its latest opinion, which is expected to be formally published tomorrow, that the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is being detained arbitrarily, is simply wrong. The Guardian categorically states, He is not being detained arbitrarily.

Assange initially collaborated with the Guardian, which selectively published and edited cables released by WikiLeaks to publicise material documenting US war crimes and conspiracies against the worlds population. However, shortly after publishing the revelations provided by WikiLeaks, the newspaper turned viciously on Assange, and has led attempts ever since to blacken his name, demanding his return to Sweden to face trumped-up sexual misconduct allegations.

In order to pursue the vendetta against Assange and sanction a blatant denial of justice to a man who has not been charged with a single crime, the Guardian resorts to lies and falsification.

In seeking to undermine the UNs opinion, it simply parrots the line of the British and Swedish governments, blithely declaring, Arbitrary detention means that due legal process has not been observed. It has. This is a publicity stunt.

Through gritted teeth the Guardian states, it is possible to sympathise with his [Assanges] circumstances, before adding, without accepting his right to evade prosecutors questions about the allegation that he committed a serious criminal offence.

This is a lie.

Assange has never evaded any questioning regarding allegations made against him. Had the Guardian waited a few more hours, it could have read the UNs withering conclusion: Assange has been denied the opportunity to provide a statement, which is a fundamental aspect of the audi alteram partem principle, the access to exculpatory evidence, and thus the opportunity to defend himself against the allegations.

In reality, Assange was forced to claim asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, a right protected under international law, to avoid extradition to Sweden, and ultimately to the United States. There he would be in the hands of a ruling elite, some of whom have called for his death as a traitor. As the UN opinion records, If Mr. Assange leaves the confines of the Embassy, he forfeits his most effective and potentially only protection against refoulement to United States of America.

The Guardian editorial is forced to note that Assange has always argued that it is not the sex offence inquiries that he is avoiding, but extradition from Sweden to the US.  There are indications that WikiLeaks is in the US justice departments sights: its been confirmed that a grand jury is investigating; no indictment has been made public, but that does not mean there is none.

But in the end, this counts for nothing, according to the newspaper. The Guardian insists, ...WikiLeaks was founded on exposing those who ignored the rule of law. Surely its editor-in-chief should recognise his duty to see it upheld.

What shameful sophistry. The collusion between the UK, Sweden and the US to silence Assange, including the issuing of a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) based on no criminal charges, represents the rule of law which Assange must uphold by accepting his own ritual sacrifice. Predictably, the Guardian has issued no editorials in response to Swedens and the UKs rejection of international law, as represented by the UNs opinion.

Following the publication of the UN verdict, the Guardian commissioned a scurrilous article by Marina Hyde. An intellectual lightweight, she writes on everything from sport to the tawdry lifestyles of the rich and famous. She is an Oxford-educated daughter of Sir Alastair Edgcumbe James Dudley-William, the second Baronet of the City and of the County of the City of Exeter and the granddaughter of Conservative politician Sir Rolf Dudley-Williams.

Hydes piece is an incoherent rant in which as much dirt as she can muster is flung at Assange and the UN opinion in the hope that some of it will stick. She faithfully follows the directive of the UK Foreign Office that This [the UN opinion] changes nothing. We completely reject any claim that Julian Assange is a victim of arbitrary detention.

Hyde complains that the UN found that Assange has been arbitrarily detained, including under house arrest, and that the diplomatic asylum offered him by Ecuador somehow binds the UK to give Julian Assange free passage...

Calling on her hitherto unknown but apparently encyclopaedic knowledge of international law, she adds, except he was never under house arrest, there has been nothing arbitrary at any stage of the various legal procedures with which he has been involved, and the UK has no obligation to recognise diplomatic asylum granted within its borders by another state.

Hyde is carried away by the tide of her own vitriol. Even the Swedish government accepts that Assange was under house arrest. As stated in its own submission to the UN, He [Assange] was thereafter subject to certain restrictions, such as house arrest. Point 24 of the Opinion No.54/2015 concerning Julian Assange (Sweden and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland).

On the arbitrary nature of Assanges arrest and detention the UN opinion says, The Human Rights Committee, in its General Comment No. 35 on Article 9  stated that An arrest or detention may be authorised by domestic law and nonetheless be arbitrary. The notion of arbitrariness is not to be equated with against law , but must be interpreted more broadly to include elements of inappropriateness, injustice, lack of predictability and due process of law, as well as elements of reasonableness, necessity, and proportionality (emphasis added).

Hyde disparages the UN opinion for not engaging with the reasoning of the various courts that have already considered (and rejected) many of the arguments against extradition

This was not the purpose of the UNs opinion, as she should know. In his response to the UNWGAD verdict, Liora Lazarus, a Fellow of St. Annes College and an Associate Professor in Law at Oxford University, stated, Its role is different to that of a national or regional court, and it applies an independent and exacting standard of review to national authorities. A UN WGAD ruling is the highest expression of the review of arbitrary detention that can be made by a human rights body. The European Court of Human Rights has recognised that in view of the composition, functions, process complaints and investigative powers of this body, the Working Group of the United Nations on Arbitrary Detention should be viewed as a procedure of international investigation or settlement within the meaning of Article 35 of the Convention.

In addition, while dealing with the legalities of the rulings of various courts was not the remit of the UNs opinion, it does note in relation to the European Arrest Warrant, under which Assange was detained in December 2010, With regard to the legality of the EAW since the final decision by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in Mr. Assanges case, UK domestic law on the determinative issues had been drastically changed, including as a result of perceived abuses raised by Swedens EAW, so that if requested, Mr. Assanges extradition would not have been permitted by the UK.

It adds that the UK government, in relation to Assange has stated, that these changes are not retrospective and so may not benefit him. Therefore, A position is maintained in which his confinement within the Ecuadorian Embassy is likely to continue indefinitely.

Lazarus notes that Assanges decision to claim asylum and take up residence in the Ecuadorian embassy came after, despite two dissenting opinions, the Supreme Court held against Assange on the matter of whether an EAW could be issued by a prosecutor and not a judicial authority as stipulated in relevant European and English law. This decision could not now be arrived at following the changes introduced by the British parliament (emphasis added).

Hyde claims, the UK has no obligation to recognise diplomatic asylum granted within its borders by another state. The UN opinion details that Assanges legal team explained, The United Kingdom failed to acknowledge custom and its own practice of recognising diplomatic asylum.

In the case of Sweden, it has long recognised humanitarian diplomatic asylum as being a part of general international law. The opinion states, In Santiago in 1973, the Swedish Ambassador to Chile, Harald Edelstam, gave numerous Chileans and other nationals sought by the authorities of [military dictator] Augusto Pinochet not only diplomatic asylum in the Swedish Embassy, but also safe conduct to Sweden.

The mass murderer Pinochet was detained in Britain in October 1998 under an international arrest warrant issued by a Spanish judge. Unlike Assange, who has never been charged with any crime in Sweden or the UK, Pinochet spent his time in the UK in luxury while being feted by leading politicians such as ex-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Pinochets defence team included Clare Montgomery, the lawyer for the Crown Prosecution Service, who later argued for Assanges extradition. In January 2000, Labour Home Secretary Jack Straw intervened directly to rule that Pinochet should not be extradited, but returned to Chile on grounds of ill-health.

Hyde and the Guardian are nothing more than sounding boards for Assanges Swedish and UK prosecutors who, in rejecting the UNs verdict, yet again flout international law.
Approximately 100 students and youth rallied Tuesday afternoon at the University of Michigan (UM) in Ann Arbor to protest the continued poisonous contamination of the drinking water in nearby Flint, Michigan.

The protest was originally called to coincide with a panel discussion entitled Detroit: Bankruptcy and Beyond at the UM Law School. Panelists were to include Michigan governor Rick Snyder and other officials involved in the bankruptcy, a process that involved the gutting of pensions for thousands of retired city workers. Along with Snyder, the planned speakers included Kevyn Orr, emergency manager for Detroit throughout the bankruptcy; Steven Rhodes, the judge overseeing the case in bankruptcy court; and Gerald Rosen, the federal circuit court judge involved in the arm-twisting that resulted in the final deal.

Last Friday, the panel discussion was postponed indefinitely, ostensibly to allow Snyder to attend to higher priorities in the state government. Undoubtedly, efforts to contain the political crisis now raging over Flints tainted water supply were among these.

The organizers of the protest included Ann Arbor-Flint Solidarity Network, the International Socialist Organization (ISO), and the UM chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. The first group is an umbrella that includes the ISO, a pseudo-left group oriented to the Democratic Party.

The organizers orientation to the Democratic Party and commitment to a predominantly racialist interpretation of the unfolding Flint disaster were evident from the moment the protest assembled near the universitys law school. Calls for resignations of politicians were limited to Snyder alone. There was a studied avoidance of any criticism of local, state or national Democratic Party politicians, including Obama himself. Not even the emergency managers (Orr and former Flint emergency manager, Darnell Earley) were denounced.

The organizers went so far as to call for demonstrators to rearrange their places by race. First, white students were asked to move to the outside rings of marchers to protect blacks at the center. Perhaps sensing that this violated some bylaw of political correctness, the organizers soon changed their directive: white students, they now said, should move to the back so that blacks would be in the first rows. Even chants that started with a broad class appeal were twisted to pose the matter in racial terms. Water is a human right!, for example, was quickly given the reactionary second line, Not just for the rich and white!

Supporters of the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) distributed a leaflet whose headline asked, Who is responsible for the crisis in Flint? and which advertised a meeting later this week on the subject.

The leaflet pointed to the responsibility of both capitalist parties for the attacks on workers in Michigan. The policies and decisions that led to this crisis were the result of Democrats and Republicans working together to defend the interests of the financial elite, it said. The same players who poisoned the drinking water in Flint were also involved in the bankruptcy of Detroit, with the same cold indifference about the consequences of their decisions. Arguing against Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, it made the point that the Flint crisis was not a racial question, but a class one.

Before the protest concluded, Lawrence Porter of the Socialist Equality Party spoke from the microphone. While the organizers of the protest looked on nervously, Porter pointed to the class nature of both the Detroit bankruptcy and the Flint water disaster. He explained the role of Democratic Party officials, black and white, in both events, naming Andy Dillon (former treasury secretary in the Snyder administration), Earley, Orr, and Obama as being no less guilty than Snyder.

Porter insisted that the crisis in Flint and Detroit were not the result of racism (and was interrupted here by an attempted chant of Black Lives Matter! from the crowd) and concluded by saying that there were many other cities in the US where infrastructure has been sabotaged by the ruling elite, impacting workers of all racial backgrounds. Though received somewhat coolly, Porter was approached by several students afterwards who asked for the SEP leaflet.

Two episodes highlight the divergent reaction to Porters remarks. In one discussion, a student said that he had long read the SEPs leaflets and articles and disagreed with its claim that race is just a sideshow. When pressed on the issue of class and race and asked how to account for the role played by Obama and his administration in Michigan and around the world, he argued that current president was simply a frontman for the billionaires like Bill Gates that made the real decisions.

The second episode was quite different. A student named James remarked to Porter that he tended to agree with his points and had noticed that it was now standard practice of the pseudo-left (Jamess term) to sow racial divisions. This, he said, had to be stopped.
A recent report adds more evidence of the opioid epidemic in Pennsylvania. Overdoses of pain medication have increased 225 percent from 2000 to 2014 while hospitalizations for heroin overdoses have increased by 162 percent during the same period.

The report, Hospitalizations for Overdose of Pain Medication and Heroin, was published by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4). It culled data from hospitals whose patients were admitted for the principal reason of overdosing from either pain medication such as OxyContin and Oxycodone or heroin, during the years 2000 to 2014, and focusing on Pennsylvania residents age 15 and older.

The report, as noted by the authors, excludes overdoses that did not result in hospital admission, but were limited to a visit to the emergency room, or were entirely outside the hospital. Adding such overdoses would have reinforced some of the points the authors have made.

In the case of the hospitalizations for pain medication abuse, these peaked in 2011 at 1,142, with a decrease to 929 in 2014. The opposite is the case for heroin hospitalizations: the largest increases happened between 2010 and 2014, evidencing the fact that more and more people are turning to cheaper and more potent forms of opioids.

Among those admitted to the hospital for overdosing on pain medication, the largest group, 28 percent, were aged 50-59, while 40 percent of those who were admitted for heroin overdose were aged 20-29.

The report distinguishes between urban countiesAllegheny, Beaver, Berks, Bucks, Chester, Cumberland, Dauphin, Delaware, Erie, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Luzerne, Montgomery, Northampton, Philadelphia, Westmoreland, and Yorkand rural ones. Rising hospitalizations for pain medication and heroin overdoses were found in both urban and rural counties, but rural counties had a much higher increase in both: pain medication overdoses increased 285 percent, heroin overdoses by 315 percent; in urban counties, pain medication overdoses rose 208 percent, and heroin overdoses rose 143 percent.

According to a recent story in the New York Times, analyzing death certificates across the US among young white adults, ages 25-34, [t]he drug overdose numbers were stark. In 2014, the overdose death rate for whites ages 25 to 34 was five times its level in 1999, and the rate for 35- to 44-year-old whites tripled during that period. The numbers cover both illegal and prescription drugs.

Similarly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a report detailing the deaths of tens of thousands of people from overdosing on drugs, particularly opioids. The year 2014, it reported, saw 48,000 drug overdose deaths, the most of the current epidemic. Opioid overdose deaths rose by 14 percent from 2013 to 2014.

Communities within Appalachia and the Rust Belt region are particularly hit hard by it, where the obliteration of decent-paying jobs in manufacturing and mining has been very pronounced. Most of the states with the highest rates or sharp increases in drug overdoses are found in this area: West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.

The global slump continues to affect Pennsylvania. Southwestern Energy, a large natural gas producer, has announced that it will lay off more than 100 gas workers in northeastern Pennsylvania. GE Transportation has already let go 1,500 workers at a locomotive manufacturing plant in Erie, Pennsylvania last year and has decided that more workers will be laid off this year. Joblessness is one of the main drivers of the growing epidemic of drug abuse.

Pennsylvania, meanwhile, is still trying to pass a long overdue budget, in which Democratic Governor Tom Wolf has signaled his support for the complete destruction of pensions for newly hired state workers and the privatization of the state-owned wine and liquor stores.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 11



By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:



Azerbaijan is Turkey's important partner in the region from the first day of its independence, Turkey's Ambassador to Azerbaijan Ismail Alper Coskun said in an exclusive interview with Trend Feb. 11.



The relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan are not only friendly; Turkey trusts in Azerbaijan and counts on it, he said.



Azerbaijan and Turkey have great potential, he said adding that the two countries have jointly used this potential for over 20 years, which has led to the region's development.



"The potential of Turkey and Azerbaijan is not directed against anyone," said the diplomat.



The relations between the two countries have reached such a level that Baku and Ankara can together invest in third countries, and this is an obvious example of how the two countries can act in the globalizing world, he said.



Coskun also noted that Turkey and Azerbaijan are at the center of such trilateral formats, as Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey, Azerbaijan-Turkey-Iran and Turkey-Azerbaijan-Turkmenistan.



During the Turkish President's alleged visit to Azerbaijan, said the diplomat, it is expected that the two presidents will discuss issues on energy, transport, economy, as well as regional issues.



He added that the discussion of other issues such as the development of relations in military, educational and cultural spheres is also expected during the visit.



The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Turkey in 2015 neared $1.48 billion of which $1.17 billion accounted for import from Turkey, according to Azerbaijan's State Customs Committee. The trade turnover between the countries reduced by 17.5 percent compared to the previous year.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
More than 1,300 facilities nationwide store the type of agricultural chemicalfertilizer-grade ammonium nitratethat set off an explosion in the central Texas town of West on April 17, 2013 at a fertilizer production plant. Fifteen people were killed, more than 160 were injured, with more than 150 buildings damaged or destroyed.

A federal report released recently by the US Chemical Safety Board criticized both state and federal officials for having failed to issue regulations governing such facilities. Fertilizer-grade ammonium nitrate is not categorized as an explosive or hazardous material. In the case of the West facility, the fertilizer was stored at the plant in a wooden warehouse in wooden bins, in a building without a sprinkler system.

The report makes note of the fact that Texas has no statewide fire code and state law actually prohibits most smaller rural counties from adopting a fire code.

According to the report: Not only were the warehouse and bins combustible, but the building also contained significant amounts of combustible seeds, which likely contributed to the intensity of the fire.

It also notes that: Industry has developed other forms of ammonium nitrate that are reported to reduce or eliminate the risk of accidental detonation. For example, compounding the ammonium nitrate with calcium carbonate (limestone) practically eliminates any risk of explosion in its storage, transportation, and handling, while preserving the ANs nutritive value.

Ammonium nitrate is predominantly used in industrial agriculture as a high-nitrogen fertilizer. It consists of 34 percent nitrogen.

The explosion at the West Fertilizer Company plant was one of the deadliest industrial disasters in Texas history. The explosion occurred while emergency services personnel were responding to a fire at the facility. Those living in and around the site reported that the blast felt like an earthquake.

The US Chemical Safety Board released its report January 28, 2016 in Waco, Texas, 20 miles south of West. The report calls into question the West plants handling of the fertilizer and the training of the firefighters who responded to the initial blaze.

Proximity of homes and schools to the plant in West also contributed to the widespread damage, death and injury caused by the blast, and a lack of regulations has put other communities at risk of a similar disaster. As one example of the dangers, the West Intermediate School is located about 200 feet from the property line of the plant.

The report issued warnings concerning the dangerous locations of many other fertilizer plants both in Texas and around the US. In the case of West, most of those injured were within 1,500 feet of the explosion. The report noted that risk to the public from a catastrophic incident exists at least within the state of Texas, if not more broadly.

Recommendations issued by the Chemical Safety Board include revision of a federal chemical-safety program to include fertilizer-grade ammonium nitrate and requiring automatic fire-sprinkler systems for indoor storage of the chemical.

The CSB concludes its findings by noting an exemption from hazardous chemical reporting for fertilizer held for sale by a retailer to the ultimate customer.

West reported the presence of up to 270 tons of ammonium nitrate, as well as anhydrous ammonia, at the site There is no indication that Wests filing with local authorities resulted in an effort to plan for an ammonium nitrate emergency.

Explosions and disasters involving ammonium nitrate are not unprecedented events in the state of Texas. In 1947 a French vessel docked in the port of Texas City with a cargo of approximately 2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate. It detonated, killing over 500 people in a series of chain reaction explosions.

The nitrogen fixation process that produces high nitrogen agricultural fertilizer goes back to the work of German chemists Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch, who developed it in the first half of the 20th century. During World War I it provided Germany with a source of ammonia for the production of explosives. This ammonia is the base of the synthetic nitrogen fertilizers widely used around the world today.

The major source of the hydrogen used as part of the production is methane from natural gas. The Haber process now produces about 450 million tons of nitrogen fertilizer per year.

In 1921 an explosion at a BASF ammonium nitrate factory in Oppau, Germany killed between 500 and 600 people and injured 2,000.

The Haber process and the resulting high-nitrogen fertilizers have also been criticized by many agricultural and soil scientists for producing serious imbalances to the nitrogen cycle of the soil as well as its requirement for high fossil fuel energy inputs. It has also been shown, when used as a sole source for soil nitrogen, to have negative effects on soil organisms and soil organic matter, which feeds food plants intended for human and animal consumption.

Excess runoff from the fertilizers production has polluted rivers and caused ocean dead zones.
More e-mails have been made public showing that a year ago health officials were worried that the spike in cases of Legionnaires disease in Flint was connected to the use of the Flint River as a water source. When those concerns were communicated to Michigan environmental and health authorities, their response was to quash any public announcement that the citys water was the source of the increase.

Growing tensions between Genesee County health officials and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) were illustrated by e-mail communications. In addition to e-mails publicized last week by liberal nonprofit Progress Michigan, the Detroit Free Press acquired thousand of pages of e-mails from Genesee County, also through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

When the number of cases of Legionnaires disease spiked to 42 in 2014, from a normal yearly occurrence of between 6 and 13 in the county, Genesee health officials sought the collaboration of the MDEQ to investigate. The health officials were concerned that the spike would be compounded in the coming summer months, when the Legionella bacteria, which cause the disease, are the biggest threat.

The disease is a type of pneumonia that is transmitted through inhaling the airborne bacteria that grow in the water of air conditioning systems.

Shurooq Hasan, a Genesee County Health Department epidemiologist, wrote in a February 10, 2015, e-mail, We have investigated a hospital as a potential source for the disease, but have expanded our investigation to include the city water supply.

Of our 47 cases, 25 cases have occurred within the city water supply distribution system. No common links have been found between the cases. The majority of our cases are home bound immune-compromised individuals who have not traveled and are not readily mobile.

Due to lack of cooperation from the MDEQ, Genesee County officials contacted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a federal agency. On April 27, 2015, the CDCs Laurel Garrison wrote, We are very concerned about this Legionnaires disease outbreak. Its very large, one of the largest we know of in the past decade, and community-wide, and in our opinion and experience it needs a comprehensive investigation.

Garrison added, I know youve run into issues getting information youve requested from the city water authority and the MI Dept of Environmental Quality. Again, not knowing the full extent of your investigation its difficult to make recommendations, and it may be difficult for us to provide the kind of detailed input needed for such an extensive outbreak from afar.

In an example of the stranglehold put on local health officials, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHSs) Jim Collins e-mailed county health officials on June 8, 2015, taking them to task for communicating with the CDC without the states prior approval: Relative to communications around the investigation, I believe that CDC is in agreement that their involvement really should be at the request of the state, rather than the local health department. To be clear, we do value the skills and resources of our CDC colleagues, but we also recognize that their involvement needs to have some structure. I want to reinforce the necessity that investigation communications from the Genesee County Health Department need to be directed to staff at the MDHHS.

This, after months of stonewalling by Michigan health officials.

It was not until January 13, 2016two months after finally switching back to Detroit waterthat Governor Rick Snyder publicly revealed the Legionnaires outbreak. By that time, 10 people had died of the total of 87 cases of the disease recorded since the switch to Flint River water.

After the City of Flint ended its 50-year connection to Detroits water pipeline and switched to the polluted Flint River on April 30, 2014, public outcry over the foul water was almost immediate. Despite months-long violations of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act due to E. coli contamination and then to high levels of trihalomethanes, a by-product of overtreatment with chlorine, residents were told that their complaints of the smell, coloration and taste of the water were cosmetic and the water was safe to drink.

Since late 2015, a series of forced resignations and firings have occurred among high-level officials for their roles in covering up the public health dangers of the water from the Flint River. Evidence of unsafe levels of lead in the water emerged as early as February 2015.

Liane Shekter-Smith, the head of the Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance for the MDEQ, was fired on February 5 of this year. She, along with Steve Busch, also of that division, had been suspended in October 2015, after the toxicity of Flint water was publicly admitted by Snyder.

On August 4, Shekter-Smith infamously bragged to Flint residents LeeAnne Walters and Melissa Mays in a meeting, that Mr. Del Toral has been handled, referring to the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 5 water expert who sought to bring the unsafe lead levels to the attention of higher-ups in the EPA. Also in attendance in the meeting were Steve Busch and Brad Wurfel of the MDEQ, who resigned last December.

The latest batch of e-mails adds further fuel to the political flames. There are continued calls for the resignation of Snyder and his aide Harvey Hollins, who was aware of the Legionnaires crisis almost a year ago. The Michigan state attorney generals office announced Tuesday that its investigation may result in involuntary manslaughter charges against officials who carried out misconduct in office.

Meanwhile, the Detroit Free Press revealed on Tuesday that the CEO of the Karegnondi Water Authority (KWA), Jeff Wright, who is also Genesee Countys drain commissioner, served as an FBI states witness in a sting operation against Detroit Democratic Party operative Sam Riddle. According to the FBI, Riddle extorted millions of dollars in bribes while serving as Detroit City Council President Monica Conyerss chief of staff from 2008 to 2009.

Wright hired Riddle to help get an in with the Detroit water system in order to purchase an unused portion of Detroits permit to pump water from Lake Huron, paying him $2,000 a month in consulting fees. At the same time, he was recording conversations between himself and Riddle for the FBI.

Usually, states witnesses are recruited in exchange for leniency or for dropping charges on prior offenses. In 2005, federal agents confiscated Wrights financial documents for his 2000 campaign for drain commissioner as part of a money-laundering investigation. According to the Free Press, former Genesee County prosecutor Arthur Busch said he was unable to charge Wright with money laundering because of the federal statute of limitations.

The murky beginnings of the KWA project, which eventually garnered the approval of the Flint City Council, are an indication of the reactionary motivations of local officials to sever relations with the Detroit water system. On the face of it, the KWA pipeline project was irrational, as the pipeline from Detroit had more than enough capacity to continue delivering clean water to Flint.

The decision to make the switch was finalized during the 2013-2014 bankruptcy of Detroit, which was also used to restructure the city in the interests of the wealthy and tear up pension obligations for city retirees.
Attempts by Malaysias Prime Minister Najib Razak to bury the long-running 1MDB corruption scandal have been brought undone by a series of statements and reports internationally that raise more questions. The scandal not only threatens to bring down Najib but is weakening his United Malays National Organisation (UMNO)-led government.

The allegations focus on the heavily indebted, state-owned 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and the governments misuse of public funds. Najib is in the spotlight over the transfer of $681 million into his personal account before the bitterly contested 2013 election. Last July in a bid to fend off criticism, the prime minister sacked his deputy, the attorney general and four other ministers.

On January 26, Attorney General Apandi Ali made a concerted attempt to finally lay the affair to rest. He told the media the $681 million was a personal donation from the Saudi Arabian royal family, to be put to any use, and therefore was not looted from 1MDB. The attorney general said most of the money was not spent and $620 million was returned in August 2013.

As a result, Apandi declared: I am satisfied with the findings that the funds were not a form of graft or bribery. He proceeded to shut down an inquiry by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and other investigations. Apandi also said no criminal offence was committed and therefore there was no need for Malaysia to ask foreign nations to complete their investigations.

Najib issued his own statement, saying: The matter has been comprehensively put to rest. It is time for us to unite and move on.

The scandal is far from over, however. Since Apandis announcement, Najib and the government have been hit by new revelations and continuing criticism.

On February 1, Singapore announced that it had seized a large number of bank accounts as part of its ongoing investigation into the 1MDB scandal. United States authorities are continuing their inquiries into the investment fund and its dealings in New York involving Najibs stepson Riza Aziz and associate Jho Low.

On February 4, Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir called into question the account provided by the Malaysian attorney general. While accepting Apandis claim that there was no wrongdoing, he said he did not think the $681 million came from the Saudi government or that it was a political donation. It is a private Saudi citizen, I believe, and the funds went to an investment in Malaysia, he said.

On the same day, French prosecutors announced an investigation into allegations that Najib, as defence minister, took bribes as part of a French company winning a $1.2 billion submarine contract. The inquiry is potentially very damaging to Najib. It will raise once again allegations that he was involved in the murder of a young Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu, who was allegedly linked to a middle man in the submarine deal, Abdul Razak Baginda.

On February 5, the Swiss attorney generals office said its investigation now had evidence indicating that $4 billion was misappropriated from Malaysian state-owned companies. While stating that Najib was not a suspect, it said some of the money had made its way into the accounts of ex-officials in Malaysia, as well as current and former officials in the United Arab Emirates. The Swiss formally asked the Malaysian attorney general to assist in their inquiries, undermining Malaysian efforts to shut down any further investigation.

Najib has clung to power, despite being directly implicated in the protracted scandal, by suppressing critics at home. He has also enjoyed the tacit support of the Obama administration, which has largely turned a blind eye to the allegations in order to secure closer military ties with the Malaysian government. When Obama visited Malaysia in 2014, he pointedly did not meet with opposition leaders or criticise Najibs autocratic methods of rule.

Under conditions of worsening global economic crisis, however, the expanding international corruption investigations are a sign of deepening concern over the Malaysian government, particularly in financial circles, which have long been critical of UMNOs cronyism.

A comment by the British-based Financial Times said the Malaysian attorney generals announcement had done nothing to dispel a growing sense that Najib Razak has been a disastrous prime minister for Malaysia. The comment warned that the allegations swirling around Najib are damaging Malaysias international reputation and deepening a public trust deficit at home.

The Financial Times decried the governments lurch towards authoritarianism and its jailing of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim following the 2013 election, saying these events were unsettling investors in Malaysian stocks and bonds. Its real concerns, however, are not UMNOs longstanding anti-democratic methods. The comment said it was necessary to end the practice of providing patronage to a group of crony Malay business people.

As the comment makes clear, the scandal surrounding Najib has become a useful tool to press for a wholesale restructuring of the Malaysian regime that will further open up the economy and protect the interests of investors in Malaysian stocks and bonds.

For all the governments efforts to suppress criticism, the scandal will not go away within Malaysia either. During his January 26 press conference, Attorney General Apandi waved around copies of MACC reports to emphasise the extent of the investigation he was shutting down. Press photographs snapped shots of the documents, details of which were then published by the Sarawak Report.

The Sarawak Report used the documents to trace money from SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1MDB now owned by the finance ministry, which Najib controls. The newspaper tracked the funds to specific credit cards used during Najibs holiday to Europe in 2014. Within UMNO, however, the prime minister has insisted that the money funded projects to win votes at the 2013 election.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel returned to Ankara on Monday, the latest of several trips to Turkey since the beginning of this year. She met there with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. While stopping the flow of refugees and border security were again on the agenda, this time political and military collaboration against Russia was at the heart of the talks.

Both Merkel and Davutoglu condemned the Russian bombardment of civilians in Aleppo and warned of a humanitarian catastrophe. At a joint press conference they stated, We are horrified at the suffering which has emerged among the people due above all to bombing from the Russian side. The Turkish-Syrian border region, where tens of thousands are currently fleeing, shows the real extent of misery.

The previous week had seen a major offensive by Syrian government troops, supported by Russian airstrikes, to take back Aleppo. With a pre-war population of over 2 million, Aleppo is Syrias largest city in addition to being one of the regions oldest, occupying a strategically important position between the Mediterranean Sea and Euphrates river.

So-called anti-Assad rebels have controlled part of the city for some time, using it to wage their war against the government in Damascus. Government troops, with Russian support, have now begun to reconquer this territory, at the same time disrupting an important supply route linking the Islamist militias to Turkey.

The US government and its allies in the region, especially Saudi Arabia and Turkey, have reacted angrily. The rebels, within which Islamist militias like the Al-Nusra Front play the leading role, have long been supplied by Ankara and Washington with weapons, money and logistical support.

Last week, the UNs Syrian envoy broke off peace talks shortly after their commencement, and the Saudi regime in Riyadh has announced its readiness to deploy ground troops.

Since then, the flood of refugees out of Syria, which has been stalled at the Turkish border after Ankara closed it, has been exploited for an all-out campaign against Russia. Demagogic media reports combine pictures from 20 years ago during the Chechnya war with photos from Aleppo. The call for a military intervention, which could lead to direct conflict with Russia, is assuming an hysterical tone.

Die Welt on Monday accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of avengingthe Turks and Germans with the attack on Aleppo, and bluntly threatened that to leave a battle to a warrior like Putin out of weakness could quickly backfire.

The exploitation of the plight of the refugees fleeing Aleppo as the pretext for this campaign is utterly hypocritical. The US and its allies have been encouraging the civil war in Syria for years, turning millions into refugees. The Turkish government is currently waging war against its Kurdish minority, the brutality of which is comparable with the events in Aleppo.

Kurdish cities, like the historic trading centres of Diyarbakir, Cizre and others have been turned into battlefields. 1.3 million civilians have been impacted by a 24-hour curfew for six weeks. At the end of January, human rights organisations counted 200 deaths and over 200,000 refugees.

Yet while Merkel in Ankara condemned the inhumane Russian attacks and accused Moscow of bombarding the civilian population, she failed to mention the war in the east of Turkey. She is striving for close cooperation with the Erdogan government so that it will block the victims of the wars in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan from fleeing to Europe.

Merkel promised to rapidly make available the 3 billion the European Union committed in November to build refugee camps in Turkey. The Technical Assistance Centre (THW) would in the future support Turkeys disaster relief agency Afad with the provisioning of refugees. The EU border protection agency Frontex is also to be provided with additional military equipment.

But Merkels most important announcement was that in the future, NATO would secure the sea passage between Turkey and Greece. According to a Tagesspiegel report, she agreed to this with her Turkish counterpart Davutoglu without discussing it beforehand with the other NATO members or NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

This time, Angela Merkel took NATO by surprise, Tagesspiegel wrote. However, there was within NATO certainly sympathy for an inclusion of the alliance in dealing with the refugee crisis. Italy, for example, which is the destination for many refugee boats, would be thankful for any support, according to NATO circles in Brussels.

Stoltenberg said Tuesday that the initiative to combat smugglers would be seriously considered. He had already discussed the plan by telephone with German defence minister Ursula Von der Leyen (Christian Democrats) and her Turkish counterpart Mehmet Fatih Ceylan. Today, the NATO defence ministers intend to concretise the proposal at a summit in Brussels.

With their plan for a NATO intervention in the Aegean Sea, Merkel and Davutoglu are basing themselves on a strategic concept adopted by the alliance in 2010 at its Lisbon summit. Combatting human trafficking was defined as a task of NATO. Using this argument, the NATO mission in the Aegean is to be presented as a humanitarian action against smugglers. But in the context of mounting tensions with Russia, it could quickly become the prelude to a direct NATO intervention in the Syrian war.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will expand its military infrastructure in Eastern Europe and deploy thousands of additional troops to areas bordering the Russian Federation, NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday just prior to NATO discussions in Brussels.

The alliance agreed to a set of principles to enhance NATOs deterrence posture, Stoltenberg said in a statement to the media.

NATO officials agreed to various measures to enhance NATOs military positions in Eastern Europe, including more NATO bases, more pre-positioned military equipment, thousands of additional combat troops, and stepped up preparations for cyber and asymmetric war.

This infrastructure will serve as the basis for a new multinational vanguard force, tasked with leading continuous NATO war games along Russias western flank. The enlarged NATO presence is aimed at deterring Moscow, the NATO chief said.

Russia has used military force to change borders and threaten neighbors. We will have as much presence in the East as needed. We have to be able to defend all allies against any threat, he said.

The new force would be rotational and be complemented by necessary logistics and infrastructure, he said. The multinational composition of the force would make clear that an attack against one ally is an attack against all allies, Stoltenberg said.

These measures build upon the already staggering militarization of Eastern and Central Europe orchestrated by the NATO governments. During the past year, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has announced deployments of US military hardware and forces to Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Bulgaria, Romania and Poland. NATOs Rapid Reaction Force and other US and NATO forces joined with Lithuanian regulars to conduct exercises near the Russian border, including five simultaneous NATO war drills beginning on November 9.

The new force will come in addition to the NATO Response Force (NRF) established in 2002, and the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF), formed as the lead unit of the NRF in 2014. As Stoltenberg boasted on Wednesday, NATOs Rapid Response Force has tripled in size since its formation.

NATOs elite armies will benefit from at least two new bases on the soil of NATOs Eastern allies, the NATO secretary announced.

NATO will decide on further increases to its armed presence in Eastern Europe during talks scheduled for June and July, Stoltenberg said. He went on to trumpet NATOs recent increase in military aid to Turkey and launch of an international military headquarters in Romania.

The US and European ruling elites are engaged in a predatory drive to intimidate, dominate and ultimately carve up Russia. Toward this end, they have carried out a general military buildup in Eastern Europe, Poland, and the Baltic states, seizing on the crisis produced by the US-backed February 2014 coup in Ukraine, and the ensuing secession of Crimea from Ukraine, to justify breakneck war preparations.

NATO faces pressure now on its eastern border and in the Mediterranean, and today we need to unite round a clear plan to deploy troops and ships to deter any aggression and the threats that weve seen. And we want to see faster deployment of those troops, British defense secretary Michael Fallon said Wednesday.

According to NATO strategists, the latest round of war preparations is intended to ready the alliance for both near term scenarios involving hybrid warfare against Russian-backed paramilitaries in the Baltics as well as a head-on confrontation with Russias military.

As the Center for Strategic and International Studies alleged in its recent report Evaluating Future US Army Force Posture in Europe, Russia is preparing to use guerrilla and asymmetric methods to probe NATOs weaknesses in the East.

In lines that could easily have served as the inspiration for Stoltenbergs new multinational force, CSIS warns that Russian strategy will be designed to remain below NATOs Article 5 (an attack against one is an attack against all) threshold.

At the same time, the CSIS planners envision the outbreak of conventional warfare, involving tanks, artillery, and all-out warfare aimed at seizing and conquering capitals.

Such cataclysmic scenarios are considered as inevitable within US ruling circles, as the actions of the US government make clear. The latest NATO escalations come barely one week after the Obama administration released plans to more than quadruple its allocations for US forces and military operations in Europe. On February 2, the White House authorized the Pentagons European Reassurance Initiative, or ERI, which includes nearly $3.5 billion in additional forces, weapons and training programs.

While continuing to pour vast sums into the Pentagons European projects, Washington also seeks to mobilize European and Middle Eastern militaries on behalf of its aims. The US wants more from its allies, US Defense Secretary Carter said Wednesday.

On the same day, Great Britain held military exercises in Jordan involving some 1,600 British troops and over 300 military vehicles. The drills were designed to prepare for the sudden deployment of 30,000 soldiers to Eastern Europe, military sources told British media.

This is much more about us being prepared to join the US in Ukraine than it is in Syria, an unnamed British Army Source told the Telegraph.

Meanwhile, Washington is preparing actively for a nuclear confrontation with Russia.

The Pentagons fiscal 2017 budget unveiled this week allocates $3.2 billion for a nuclear modernization program to build up the US force of nuclear submarines, bombers, Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM) and nuclear-equipped cruise missiles. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a Department of Energy agency that handles development of nuclear warheads, is slated to receive another $12.9 billion. Military analysts estimate that the US is on track to spending more than $700 billion over the next 25 years on the US nuclear arsenal.
Tuesdays landslide victory for Bernie Sanders in the Democratic New Hampshire primary has intensified the crisis of the Hillary Clinton campaign and raised the possibility of Sanders pulling ahead in the Democratic Party primary process as a whole.

The details of Tuesdays vote provide more evidence of the widespread support for the Sanders campaign, particularly among younger and lower-income voters. According to exit polls, Sanders was backed by 83 percent of voters under 30, by 67 percent of those with no college degree, and by 72 percent of voters with incomes under $30,000 a year. A third of voters said that income inequality was the most important issue in the election, and these backed Sanders by 71 percent. The only demographics that went to Clinton were voters over the age of 65 (54 percent) and voters with incomes over $200,000 (53 percent).

One further statistic points to the essential political role of the Sanders campaign: Forty percent of voters in the Democratic primary identified themselves as independent/undeclared (that is, not registered as a Democrat), and these backed Sanders by 72 percent. The Vermont senator has repeatedly said the principal aim of his political revolution is to bring voters back into the fold of the Democratic Party.

The growing support for Sanders is an initial political reflection of deep tensions in the United States, which have been artificially suppressed for decades, as social inequality rose to levels not seen since before the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Particularly since the 2008 financial crash, the American ruling class has engaged in a restructuring of class relations that has seen trillions funneled to the banks while the vast majority of the population faced falling wages, attacks on health care and pensions, mass unemployment and rising indebtedness. Young people, who back Sanders by a wide margin, have known nothing but economic crisis, war and attacks on democratic rights. An eighteen-year-old new voter would have been four years old when the war on terror began and 11 at the onset of the global financial crisis.

The growth in support for Sanders is a delayed reaction to these objective conditions. In a country where socialist ideas have been suppressed for decades, it turns out that millions of people have essentially, if as yet vaguely defined, anti-capitalist views. The politics of identity, based on race, gender, sexual preferencethe obsession of upper-middle class layershas very little broader impact, as revealed in the failure of Clinton to win over women voters by trumpeting her bid to become the first female president (along with claims that Sanders backers are sexist).

However, to say that the support for Sanders is an expression of deep social anger is very different from saying that the Sanders campaign itself articulates and represents this anger. Sanders does not speak for the working class, but for a section of the ruling class and political establishment that views the growth of social opposition with fear and is seeking some way of containing it. The ruling class sees as the greatest danger the emergence of an independent movement of the working class that challenges its economic and political power. Sanders task is to block such a development by channeling popular opposition back behind the Democratic Party.

Anyone who is under the illusion that Sanders is not completely conscious of his assigned role should study his Tuesday night victory speech. Hailing an increase in voter turnout in the primary, Sanders declared, That is what will happen all over this country. Let us never forget, Democrats and progressives win when voter turnout is high. He added that it was necessary to rememberand this is a message not just to our opponents, but to those who support me as well that we need to come together in a few months and unite this party behind whomever is nominated (emphasis added).

Sanders is seeking to bring new people into the political process to strengthen the credibility of the Democratic Party, which has suffered severely under Obama, the supposed candidate of change. In 2012, Obama became the first president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to be reelected with fewer votes in his second election than in his first. This was due to a sharp fall in voter turnout, which the World Socialist Web Site noted at the time was an expression of an electorate that is disillusioned and increasingly alienated from the entire two-party political system.

In terms of his actual program, the most essential issue is not Sanders promises of a $15 minimum wage and free tuition at public colleges and universitieswhich President Sanders would quickly drop because they would cut into corporate profitsbut his support for imperialist war. Throughout the campaign, Sanders has said very little about foreign policy, but what he has said is aimed at assuring the ruling class and the military that he poses no danger.

In Sanders speech Tuesday night, perhaps the loudest applause from the audience came when he referred to his vote against the Iraq war in 2003. However, this was followed immediately with the pledge that we must, and will destroy ISISthat is, prosecute the war in Iraq and Syria.

These comments are made as the Obama administration, whose foreign policy Sanders has repeatedly defended, is preparing an enormous escalation of the war in Syria, aimed above all at the removal of the regime of Bashar al-Assad. The conflict in Syria threatens to spark war with nuclear-armed Russia, the target of relentless threats by the US and the European powers, including a vast militarization of Eastern Europe.

Sanders opposes none of this. If he were called upon by the ruling class, he would use his progressive credentials to buttress support for war. Those feeling the Bern today would experience bombs tomorrow. Sanders would justify breaking his empty promises of social reform by pointing to the financial requirements of war.

The Vermont senators political affiliation is not a secondary question. He is fulfilling a task that has been assigned to political figuresfunctioning either within the Democratic Party or nominally outside of itmany times before. This has included the presidential campaigns of William Jennings Bryan in the late 19th and early 20th century (as the populist candidate of the Democratic Party), Robert La Folette in the 1920s (for the Farmer-Labor Party, which later became a wing of the Democratic Party), and Franklin D. Roosevelts former vice president Henry Wallace in 1948 (for the Progressive Party, backed by the Stalinist Communist Party). More modern examples include the likes of Jesse Jackson and Dennis Kucinich within the Democratic Party, as well as the various Green Party campaigns directed at pressuring the Democratic Party from the outside.

Sanders aims not to create a revolution, as he asserts in his campaign speeches, but to prevent one. If he is elected, he will rapidly and brazenly repudiate all of his promises. His actions will mirror those of Syriza in Greece (elected on the basis of opposition to austerity in January 2015, now implementing an even more brutal austerity program dictated by the banks) and Jeremy Corbyn in the UK (the left Labour Party leader elected last year, who played the essential role in facilitating the Conservative governments decision to take the country into war against Syria).

Organizations that argue that Sanders, under pressure, can be pushed to the left are themselves moving to the right, utilizing his campaign as another mechanism for integrating themselves into the capitalist state.

There are many signs that class tensions in the United States are beginning to erupt to the surface, from the militant opposition of autoworkers to last years sellout contracts, to the sickouts of teachers and students in Detroit and the mass anger over the poisoning of Flint, Michigan residents by lead-contaminated water. The conspiracies of the ruling class to expand war abroad will come into conflict with the deep antiwar sentiment that exists in the American working class.

However, a political path forward for the working class can be forged only through a struggle to establish its political independence on the basis of a socialist and internationalist program. This requires an uncompromising exposure of the politics of Sanders and all those who, in the name of getting close to the masses, adapt to him and cover up his role.
The 130 workers still employed at ship builder Forgacss Tomago and Hexham sites in Newcastle, north of Sydney, were unceremoniously dismissed last week and escorted from the premises after the finalisation of a $A20.75 million takeover bid by engineering company Civmec.

Civmec, established in 2009, is a Western Australia (WA)-based company listed on the Singapore stock exchange, with its operations headquartered at an engineering plant in Henderson, south of Perth. The company contracts for construction services in a range of sectors, notably the oil and gas industry, and is looking to cash in on growing military spending, particularly on submarines and warships. The sale to Civmec includes Forgacss heavy engineering workshop in Gladstone, Queensland.

Civmecs takeover of Forgacs ends 53 years of shipbuilding and ship repairs by the company in the Newcastle region. Forgacs progressively downsized its remaining 600-strong workforce last year as the construction of hull modules for the navys Air Warfare Destroyer (AWD) project was completed.

When Forgacs won the AWD contract in 2009 it employed 900 people. Also last year, Forgacs withdrew from tendering to build six Sydney ferries for the New South Wales state government.

Announcing the completion of the takeover deal earlier this month, Civmec CEO Patrick Tallon described it as an asset purchase. He declared: At this time none of the employees are coming with the acquisition.

Forgacs chairman Peter Burgess claimed it was an extremely hard decision for us to exit the 53-year-old firm. Nevertheless, the takeover will provide Forgacs shareholders a stake in Civmec, while the Forgacs workers are dumped onto an ever-tightening jobs market.

Forgacs deliberately kept its employees in the dark until the very last minute about the terms of the acquisition agreement, which entered the due diligence process last November. In fact, both Forgacs and Civmec agreed not to make the details of the deal known, declaring them to be commercially sensitive.

Following last weeks sackings, Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) state secretary Tim Ayres stated: The first that employees found out about this was when they were brought to meetings, given estimations about redundancy payments and marched off the job.

In reality, the union knew that the company would not retain the current workforce but did not alert its members and had no intention of fighting to defend jobs. In early December, Civmec CEO Tallon publicly stated that once the deal was completed, we will make offers of employment to selected staff on an individual basis.

The AMWU worked to blind its members to the likely consequences of the Civmec acquisition. Last November, Ayres told the media he was confident the acquisition would lead to the creation of more jobs. He heralded it as a sign of confidence in the capacity of Australian shipbuilding.

The unions response is in line with its role since the job cuts began at Forgacs at the end of 2014 and continued throughout last year. From the outset, the AMWU sought to prevent any fight by workers to defend the jobs, restricting its members to limited protests tied to futile appeals to the federal government and local politicians to rescue the industry.

As the remaining workers were being bundled off the premises at Tomago and Hexham last week, the AMWU did not call a single meeting of its members across the Newcastle-Hunter Valley region to even discuss, let alone oppose, the sackings.

Instead, the union is working to ensure the orderly shuttering of the Tomago and Hexham facilities. This is part of the transformation of the 17-hectare, purpose-built Tomago shipbuilding site into what Civmec terms a multi-disciplinary facility that will replicate Civmecs flagship operations at Henderson, Western Australia.

Civmecs takeover of Forgacs not only eliminates a substantial competitor in the engineering field. It is one of Civmecs preparations to win tenders for the Australian governments next fleet submarine contract and other large military projects.

Last November, Civmec said the exciting takeover would allow it to acquire in-house submarine building and technical expertise and a long established foothold in the defence shipbuilding industry.

Promoting the takeover, Forgacs chairman Burgess emphasised that Forgacs had grown its naval involvement progressively, undertaking major naval programs including the conversion of HMAS Manoora and HMAS Kanimbla into Amphibious Helicopter support ships; hull modules for the ANZAC frigates and most recently the AWD program.

Forgacs was also involved in building hull sections for the navys Collins class submarines during the late 1980s. In December, Civmec announced it had teamed-up with the German bidder for the submarine contract, ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems Australia, to construct several proto-type submarine hull sections to demonstrate its engineering capacities as part of its bid.

The sackings at Forgacs and the takeover are part of a ruthless restructuring across the manufacturing sector, both in Australia and internationally, as companies slash costs in a drive to secure market shares. With the Australian government already committed to $89 billion worth of defence projects over the next 20 years, the competition for military contracts is particularly fierce.

Major shipbuilding companies, such as the state-owned ASC in South Australia, BAE Systems in Victoria and Austral in WA, eliminated hundreds of jobs last year. ASC slashed 820 positions between November 2014 and October 2015. In April last year, Austral cut 300 jobs, or half its workforce.

Over the past decade, tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs have been axed and workers conditions have been systematically reduced. The trade unions, working with both Liberal-National and Labor governments have supported the restructuring drive, including by enforcing industrial laws to straitjacket workers and suppress opposition.

The dog-eat-dog fight for military contracts will undoubtedly involve ever-greater cuts to jobs and conditions as companies seek to make competitive tender bids while delivering high profit rates. As they have for decades, the unions will insist that workers must accept the cuts in order to make their own companies globally competitive.
Protests against the attack on education in Detroit continued Wednesday, February 10, as students across the school district walked out or called in sick to show support for the struggle begun by teachers.

Last month, Detroit Public Schools (DPS) teachers defied their union leadership and launched a series of sickout protests, which generated popular support both locally and nationally. The bold actions by educators called attention to years of draconian budget cuts and pay and benefit concessions. Teachers took to social media to expose dangerous and dilapidated school buildings, left to rot by a series of emergency managers appointed by both Republican and Democratic governors.

The young people and parents chose their latest protest to coincide with Count Day, the semi-annual school day used to determine state funding for the district. DPS officials try to generate the highest attendance on the count days in October and Februaryoffering special meals for parents and students, games and other incentives. Ten percent of the states foundation grant is allocated based on the district enrollment on February Count Day, although missing students will be counted if they report normally within 10 days.

At Martin Luther King, Jr. High School between 45-50 students walked out to protest conditions. Student leaders talked to the World Socialist Web Site about their cause. The walkout was a success, said DeMarcus. We came together and united. We walked to the Church of the Messiah. We are going to continue to fight because its just not about us, the people in school now. Well continue to college and life, but what about the next generation and their right to a quality education?

We need new textbooks, smaller class sizes and more quality teachers. Its not just King, its all of DPS.

Weve been trying to get the officials to deal with it, but were seeing how much value we have in their eyes. Its terrible. The schools could run out of money by April.

There are rodents and there is no pest control. On the outside there are some new buildings like King and Cass, but on the inside its bad. Its either too hot or too cold.

Our teachers are missing their money. They have given up not hundreds of dollars, but thousands of dollars.

In most of my classes we dont use books because there arent enough. There arent even enough to share each book between two people. So there are less than half the books we need. Even the books we do have are missing pages and have graffiti all over them. You cannot even read them. Stories are ripped out. Were talking about really old books that go back to when our school was Easternthat old! [Eastern HS was renamed Martin Luther King Jr. HS in 1969].

I have no books in world history, Algebra II, vocals and student government. In my main structured class, physics, we have no books and have to download the material online. Most of the work is from the book. Its one of the hardest classes and they have no money for books.

The school used to give out netbooks. They werent very nice, but now they dont even do that anymore. Teachers give out worksheets, handouts and show material on the board.

Its crazy that they spend millions of dollars on big airplanes and military aircraft but education, which costs just a couple of million, is left out.

We are fighting for our DPS education, for victory. Its not just a fight for teachers, its not just a fight for students, its a fight for education.

Kamarialso a student leader at Kingcontinued, We are fighting for everybodythe King way, thats our namesake school.

We went to vocals class today and there was a note, which said the room was too cold. It said wed have to go the King Center. We walked out. There is no way public schools should have no heatit is always either too cold or too warm. About 45-50 of us walked out.

We have extremely big class sizes, 50-55 in a room. How can you teach in a big class like that, and kids have behavior problems? I have big classes for art, math, Englishmostly all my classes. Theyre overcrowded, enormous.

As I said on [the local TV news show] Let It Rip, student voices should matter.

We the students, a group at Cass Tech, also backed the protests. The evening before, student Kyle King addressed the candlelight vigil at the school. I go to Cass Tech high school, Im 15 and Im in the tenth grade. I love all the teachers here.

Cass Tech has issues too just like Spain Elementaryelevator problems, class sizes. There are only 39 books so kids cannot get homework. When we go home, we have to get it online. Our teachers have to stay late every day. They stay past six or seven oclock. We dont want the teachers that teach the kids staying ten hours a day at school.

We dont have the resources we need. Teachers have to buy supplies out of their own pockets for us. We need to stand up for the teachers, and the teachers need to stand up. We need to become one. The kids are the future. Everyone is the future. If we stand together, who can stop us?

Ashley Ray, another Cass Tech student, also addressed the protest. Id just like to come and speak on behalf of one of the students who organized the walkout last Monday. I like to just say thank you all for supporting us, the students, because thats what this is all about, not just the teachers. Why we did go out? It wasnt to spite anyone, or to be vindictive, but its to support the teachers.

Education is the most important thing, and for anyone to try and take that from us is wrong. The teachers have never tried to hurt us. The only things that has hurt us is the lack of books and the large class sizes, the lack of resourcesall the things we should have in our schools.

In a Facebook posting, LaMethia Champion, a parent of a Cass Tech student, said parents throughout the district met over the weekend and proposed to keep their kids home on Count Day. She said, The action of keeping students home is an initiative by parents from all over the school district. It is solely parent driven.

Speaking Monday night at a forum organized by the DPS Detroit Parent Network, she Champion said, We have one of the best schools in the district [Cass Tech] but not because of anything DPS has done. Its because of the teachers. If not for them wed be in the same shape as other schools.

Teachers shouldnt be spending their money to do their jobs. And administration shouldnt have to spend their time looking for sponsors.

The district has already received 90 percent of the funds from the October count day. So this count day on Wednesday is to get that remaining 10 percent. We know how it works, we get 10 days to make up that count, but if we wanted to we could keep them out these 10 days. This is a statement by the parents, that we have the power to withhold funds.
There is a concerted effort by the political establishment to smother the growing movement of teachers, parents and students in defense of public education in Detroit, with the most sinister role being played by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and its local affiliate.

The courageous sickouts called by teachers last month, in opposition to and independent of their union, and the subsequent protests by students and parents, have tripped alarm bellsfrom the mayors office in the Manoogian Mansion, to the paneled hearing rooms in the state capitol of Lansing, to the White House.

The incipient movement has also rattled the Washington, DC headquarters of the AFT, rousing its highly paid president, Randi Weingarten ($540,000 a year) to jet into the Motor City to try to squelch the protests. Having spent the last seven years suppressing every sign of opposition to President Obamas corporate-driven school reform agenda, the AFT is losing control in Detroit and Chicago where rank-and-file teachers are rebelling against austerity measures imposed by the AFTs Democratic Party allies.

The protests in Detroit threaten to undermine a deal that the AFT and the Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT) are crafting with Michigan legislators over the reorganization of the Detroit Public Schools (DPS). This includes plans by Michigans Republican governor, Rick Snyder, and state Democrats to dissolve DPS and establish a new Detroit Community Schools entity, within which various for-profit education businesses will play an ever more dominant role.

Both parties are using the possible bankruptcy of DPS by Aprildriven by decades of federal and state budget cuts, the loss of tax revenue in the devastated industrial city, and growing indebtedness to big bondholdersto implement the restructuring plan. In this reorganization, both the Michigan AFT and the DFT have worked as partners with the Skillman Foundation, corporate interests and Democratic and Republican politicians.

David Hecker, the president of the Michigan AFT, is a point man in the process, a co-chair of the Coalition for the Future of Detroit Schoolchildren.

Over the last year, disputes have raged between state Democrats and Republicans over the pending deal, ostensibly over the timing of school board elections and local control. None of this, however, has anything to do with genuine democratic control over decision-making, let alone the improvement of public education. Instead the dispute revolves around the distribution of positions and profits, e.g. how many seats on the school board will be appointed by the state versus the city, when elections will be held, who will be choosing the vendors for the most lucrative contracts, etc.

Even after the removal of the hated emergency manager, all spending decisions will remain under the control of a hand picked Financial Review Commission, which will answer only to the banks and bondholders. Meanwhile, the dismantling of public education in the state will be the source of profit for new edubusiness and charter opportunities.

This week the AFT/DFT has pulled out all the stops to draft teachers into a series of stunts to dissipate opposition. The purpose is to corral teachers behind the self-serving demand of local control and put an end to the dangerously rebellious walkouts. The purpose is to engage educators, students and parents in fruitless appeals to the Democratic and Republican politicians in Lansingthe very same forces conspiring to destroy their schools.

Tuesdays Day of Action was composed of a morning walk-in at a few schools and an evening Interfaith Candlelight Vigil in a local park. It was timed to coincide with the state legislatures debate on criminalizing the teachers sickouts, Senate Bills 713-715.

AFT national president Randi Weingarten rushed to Detroit and decided to forego campaigning for Hillary Clinton on the day of the New Hampshire primary, obviously concerned that the teacher sickouts represented a more pressing danger.

Every time a particularly dirty deal is needed, Weingarten comes in to take personal charge. She oversaw the 2009 sellout agreement imposed on teachers by the DFT contract, which forced educators to loan the cash-strapped district thousands of dollars and also to accept health care concessions. Weingarten went so far as to tout the deal in a New York Times ad as a model for educators nationally.

Weingarten joined a small group with the walk-in at Greenfield Union Elementary-Middle School Tuesday morning. Here she sounded the Detroit-versus-the suburbs line, claiming, Why do other Michigan schools have art and music, but Detroit doesnt? Why do other Michigan communities have local control, but Detroit doesnt?

This is both politically reactionary and untrue. Weingarten is seeking to throw sand in the eyes of teachers by pitting sections of workers against each other, using the thinly-concealed age-old ploythe race cardto block teachers from linking up their struggles statewide and nationally. The claim that Detroita majority African American cityuniquely faces the challenges of education defunding has become a standard lie pushed by all those who want to conceal the class nature of the attacks on public education, which has been spearheaded by the Obama administration and the Democratic Party.

Like states across the country, education in Michigan has been under drastic assault affecting impoverished districts throughout the state. A number of districts have been placed under emergency managers, been dissolved outright or faced draconian cuts in programs, teachers and services.

The unions are opposed to uniting teachers because this would disrupt their close relations with the Democratic Party, which unlike the Republicans, generally prefers to utilize the services of unions to dismantle public education. In return, the union apparatus can continue to collect millions in dues money, including from a growing number of impoverished charter school instructors.

DFT interim president Ivy Bailey opened the Candlelight Vigil, explaining that she testified at the state hearings that day. The legislators in Lansing, I think a few of them today heard our voices. A few of them spoke up on our behalf. She concluded, We deserve the same thing that everyone else across the nation receives. It is time for us to stop allowing people to destroy urban education.

Weingarten spoke along the same lines, promoting local control as a panacea and making clear that teachers should subordinate their struggles to the dictates of state and federal politiciansas well as corporate interests and religious charlatans to boot. She lectured those present, It cant just be those of us closest to kids, it has to be the clergy, it has to be the businesspeople, it has to be the mayor, concluding, It has to be all of us going hand in hand to Lansing, going to Washington

The clear message at the vigil was that the AFT would do everything in its power to demobilize the teachers and work with the Democratic politicians, no matter the cost to the fate of public education in the city of Detroit or anywhere else.

This is not the first time Weingarten has rushed in to try to prevent a social explosion and shore up the discredited political and corporate establishment. A trusted political agent for the Democratic Party who has cultivated close ties with billionaire Bill Gates and other enemies of public education, Weingarten has a certain sense of the explosive dangers posed to the ruling elites by the growing movement of the working class to defend public education.

In 2011, as mass protests grew around the country against school closings and teacher layoffs, she came to Detroit to meet with the discredited DFT president Keith Johnson and prophetically warned she did not want a Les Mis strategy or to see kids fighting a revolution.
Only four days after his public defense of torture and a hell of a lot worse in US military-intelligence interrogations, billionaire Donald Trump added assassination to his foreign policy arsenal as well. Speaking Wednesday on the CBS This Morning program, Trump said that his solution to the US conflict with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program would be to eliminate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

I would get China to make that guy disappear in one form or another very quickly, Trump told interviewer Norah ODonnell. When she followed up by asking if that meant having Kim Jong-un assassinated, Trump replied, Well, Ive heard of worse things, frankly. I mean, this guys a bad dude.

Trump was responding to the declaration by US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday that Pyongyang had made progress in developing both nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, and could conceivably reach parts of the United States with a nuclear warhead.

The billionaire demagogue, fresh off a victory in the New Hampshire primary Tuesday that confirmed his status as the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, said the US government could engineer Kims removal through China. Beijing has absolute control over North Korea, he said, and I would force the Chinese to do iteconomically.

I wouldnt leave it up to them. I would say, You gotta do it. You gotta do it, Trump said.

If China refuses, he said he would repeat the demand and do it a little more forcefully.

Trump was escalating the thuggish, gangster language that has been the hallmark of his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. At last Saturdays debate in New Hampshire, he declared his support for waterboarding, adding, I would bring back waterboarding and Id bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding.

At a campaign rally the next day, Trump used a vulgar term for Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, one of his major rivals for the nomination, because Cruz expressed some reservations about waterboarding, suggesting that its use should be infrequent rather than widespread.

The candidate took the same tack in a series of appearances on Sunday network television interview programs. On CNN, NBC and ABC he was asked about his comments on waterboarding, and each instance he reiterated his support for torture, although he declined to spell out what methods of interrogation would be a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding.

On CNN, interviewer Jake Tapper pointed out that US law bans treatment of prisoners that causes serious and nontransitory mental harm, like waterboarding, then asked Trump, How would you bring it back, if it is currently a war crime under US law?

Trump responded, I would go through a process and get it declassified, frankly. He portrayed this form of torture as necessary retribution for the methods of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, even if it was ineffective in extracting information. They laugh at us when they hear that were not going to approve waterboarding, he said, and then they will have a James Foley and others where they cut off their heads. And, you know, you can say what you want. I have no doubt that it does work in terms of information and other things, and maybe not always, but nothing works always. But I have no doubt that it works. But, more importantly, when theyre chopping off the heads of people, and innocent people in most cases, beyond waterboarding is fine with me.

On NBCs Meet the Press program, interviewer Chuck Todd asked Trump what was worse than waterboarding, but Trump declined to define it.

Todd suggested, referring to ISIS, They want to be barbaric. Were not barbaric. Trump disagreed, declaring, OK. They can do it, but we cant? Then he added, You can do waterboarding and you can go a step beyond waterboarding. It wouldnt bother me even a little bit.

On the ABC program This Week, interviewer George Stephanopoulos asked directly, As president, you would authorize torture? Trump replied, I would absolutely authorize something beyond waterboarding. And believe me, it will be effective. If we need information, George, you have our enemy cutting heads off of Christians and plenty of others, by the hundreds, by the thousands.

This exchange followed:

STEPHANOPOULOS: Do we win by being more like them?

TRUMP: Yes. Im sorry. You have to do it that way. And Im not sure everybody agrees with me. I guess a lot of people dont. We are living in a time thats as evil as any time that there has ever been. You know, when I was a young man, I studied Medieval times. Thats what they did, they chopped off heads. Thats what we have ...

STEPHANOPOULOS: So were going to chop off heads?

TRUMP: Were going to do things beyond waterboarding perhaps, if that happens to come.

Stephanopoulos was the only interviewer to pose the torture question to another candidate, in this case Florida Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican. Rubio declared that there shouldnt be public discussion of specific interrogation techniques, such as waterboarding, to avoid alerting suspected terrorists. But he made it clear he had no differences with Trump on resuming waterboarding and other forms of torture-interrogation.

With that, the corporate-controlled media has turned the page, more or less dropping the subject. The question was not raised during the saturation coverage of the New Hampshire primary Tuesday. Network television news broadcasts on Wednesday did not mention Trumps call to assassinate Kim Jong-un or his campaign for torture.

Significantly, neither Democratic candidate, Senator Bernie Sanders or former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, criticized Trump for his embrace of torture and murder. Clinton, of course, has her own record of endorsing barbarism, with her notorious comment during the US-NATO war against Libya, referring laughingly to the torture and murder of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, We came. We saw. He died.

Clinton was part of the Obama administration during the initial campaign of drone missile assassinations, including the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki in 2011 and his teenage son two weeks afterward. She was in the cabinet when Obama made his decision to block any prosecution of CIA officials for torture, when he suppressed evidence of torture, including graphic photos, and while the CIA fought a protracted battle against the release of the Senate Intelligence Committee report on torture.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 11



Trend:

Kristian Vigenin has been appointed new OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Special Representative for the South Caucasus, OSCE PA Secretary General Roberto Montella's letter says, the parliament told Trend Feb. 11.

The letter was addressed to the head of the Azerbaijani parliamentary delegation to the assembly Bahar Muradova.

In his letter, Montella, who recently visited Baku, recalls the meetings during the visit with pleasure.

He stressed the importance of the discussed issues and appreciates the OSCE PA management's opportunity to restore the relations with Azerbaijan.

He said that the International Secretariat under the OSCE PA will work impartially for the benefit of all nations of the OSCE area.

According to the letter, OSCE PA chairman Ilkka Kanerva appointed Vigenin Special Representative for the South Caucasus. It is noted that the new special representative will make every effort to resolve issues having importance for the region.
Leo Tolstoys titanic novel War and Peace has received a new adaptation by the BBC and is now airing globally. Directed by British filmmaker Tom Harper, the serialized television production stars American actor Paul Dano and British actors Lily James, James Norton, Jim Broadbent and Stephen Rea in leading roles as part of a large, predominantly UK cast.

Tolstoy, one of the greatest of the great Russian fiction writers of the 19th century, was born in 1828, three years after the Decembrist Revolt in which a group of officers rose up in one of the first open struggles against tsarism. He died November 20, 1910, five years after the 1905 Revolution in Russia and seven years before the October Revolution. Tolstoys other great works include Anna Karenina (1877) and Resurrection (1899).

His epic War and Peace, first published in its entirety in 1869, is set during the period of the Napoleonic wars (1803-1815) and the French invasion of Russia. It follows the members of several Russian aristocratic families as they seek to survive the confusing, frenzied, bloody times.

The eight-hour miniseries opens in 1805 in St. Petersburg, as Napoleons victories and his armys conquest of significant portions of western Europe are having an increasing impact on Russian life. Many of the central characters are introduced at an upper crust social gathering. Among them is Pierre Bezukhov (Dano), awkward but amiable, and initially a supporter of the French leader: Napoleons a great man! He stood above the revolution, he put an end to its abuses and kept all that was good about it! You see good in revolution, sir? The equality of all citizens, freedom of speech, liberty, equality, fraternity, these are ideas we could learn from in Russia.

Pierre looks on with disgust at the rooms overfed aristocrats. The illegitimate son of a wealthy count, he will soon become the object of intrigue for the sinister Prince Vassily Kuragin (Rea), who makes an unsuccessful attempt to suppress the will that names Pierre the inheritor of his fathers vast estate.

Another guest at the party is Pierres friend Andrei Bolkonsky (Norton), the intelligent and ambitious son of retired military commander Prince Nikolai Bolkonsky (Broadbent). Also present are the Rostovs, a noble, but down-on-their-luck Moscow family that includes a vivacious daughter Natasha (James), a quiet niece Sonya (Aisling Loftus) and a son Nikolai (Jack Lowden), who has just joined the army commanded by the veteran General Kutuzov (Brian Cox) (Hes about the only man in Russia who knows what the wars about and that includes our glorious Emperor.). Nikolais parents (Greta Scacchi and Adrian Edmondson) are depending on their son to reverse the family fortunes.

Russia is in alliance with the Austrian Empire at this point (in the Third Coalition against Napoleon) and a restless, unhappy Andrei (I cant bear this life)whose young wife is pregnantand Nikolai set off for the front. Meanwhile, Kuragin maneuvers Pierre into marrying his morally loose but beautiful daughter Helene (Tuppence Middleton). Her incestuous relationship with her dissolute brother Anatole (Callum Turner) is one indication of her manipulative, deceitful character.

Thus the stage is set for the various personal and political stratagems, unions and disunions, as the epoch of war heads toward its denouement following Napoleons fateful invasion of Russia in 1812 and the declaration of war by a reluctant Tsar Alexander I (Ben Lloyd-Hughes). On the eve of the invasion, Napoleon (Mathieu Kassovitz) brags that he has 600,000 men while the Russian army has only one-third that number and lies in shambles.

The mini-series

War and Peace has been adapted by Andrew Davies, best known for his reworking for television of such classics as Pride and Prejudice (1995), Vanity Fair (1998) and Sense and Sensibility (2008). He also wrote the popular British political thriller serial House of Cards (1990). His work on the current production results in a credible condensation of Tolstoys massive, complex story, some 1,400 pages and more than half a million words long.

Visually graceful and aided by numerous accomplished performances, this large-scale, high-quality production is, on the whole, a gripping experience.

The series paints a picture of a Russian aristocracy in which petty and selfish motives predominate. Andrei Bolkonsky goes off to war primarily to escape a vapid, stuffy life. Nikolai Rostov has other motives: his gambling debts have nearly bankrupted his family. He considers it more honorable to turn soldier than remain in the clutches of a nasty, egotistical mother and kindly, but ineffectual, father. In the end, under pressure from his parents, Nikolai breaks his engagement to the impecunious Sonya in favor of a more advantageous liaison.

Andrei Bolkonskys sister, the modest Marya (Jessie Buckley), shows her spiteful landlord coloring when she deals with the serfs on the family estate who refuse to help the household escape from the invading French army. Bellows one angry peasant: The French will set us free and give us land! What have you ever done for us?

Unfortunately, the production seems to side with Marya and her self-centered concerns. She is soon rescued from the legitimate wrath of the peasants by the timely appearance of Nikolai and his regiment. It is the one major scene that points to the fact that this parasitical social layer lives off the exploitation and enslavement of the peasantry.

Pierre, the moral conscience of War and Peace, tries to be honest when he sadly admits that my life is one mistake after another  I wanted to change the world for the better, help my fellow men and look at me a fat, drunken aristocrat who makes a bungle out of everything. To make amends for what he considers his mistakes, Pierre becomes obsessed with assassinating Napoleon.

In a relatively modest way, the mini-series does provide some sense of the great events that shaped the Tolstoy novelnamely, the aftermath of the world-altering French revolution. The depiction of the Battle of Borodino in September 1812, the bloodiest single day of the Napoleonic wars, with some 70,000 Russian and French casualties, is one of the series strongest sequences. Here, at least for a moment, the aristocratic lifestyle is left behind and we see something of the horror of war: men cut in half, doctors sawing off legs, the misery of the wounded and dying. And later there are the horrific consequences for Moscows population.

A duality exists in Tolstoys work between sharp condemnations of the aristocratic life and his acceptance of the inevitability of that life. In his remarkable 1908 tribute to the novelist, Leon Trotsky observed that, despite everything, Tolstoy continued to place in the center of his artistic attention the one and the same wealthy and well-born Russian landlord as though outside this universe there were nothing of importance or of beauty.

The mini-series tends to adopt the same standpoint, which is far less defensible given the subsequent course of Russian and world history. Trotsky noted that at the end of the novel, Tolstoy showed Pierre Bezukhov, the restless seeker of truth, as a smug family man, and Natasha Rostova, so touching in her semi-childlike sensitivity, as a shallow breeding female, untidy diapers in hand. The present series does the same, only more so. The final scene grates with its complacency and suggestion that contented family life offers some consolation for the massive destruction and loss of life.

That being said, Davies is genuinely skilled at choosing and adapting enduring, classic works. True, his genre of intelligent costume drama is not the be-all and end-all of artistic effort. One might even say that stylish adaptations like War and Peace have a certain soothing effect on an audience (with the exception of the battle scenes). If we were currently flooded with challenging artistic evauations of the status quo, it is unlikely that such series would receive quite the attention they do. However, given the actual state of cultural affairs, this version of the Tolstoy epic attracts attention for its general intelligence and pleasing aesthetic qualities.

To their credit, the makers of the miniseries have tried to capture certain crucial features of the novel. A naturalness and elegance underscore and heighten the emotional intensity. As in Tolstoys narrative, there is truthfulness, a lack of pretension and artificiality: the viewer is engaging with real people, who have real, complex lives and feelings.

In dozens of essays the leading Russian Marxists, Plekhanov, Lenin, Trotsky and others, pointed to the great contrast between the immortality of Tolstoys artistic achievement and the poverty of his philosophical and social ideas. The novelist was a pacifist, a believer in non-resistance to evil, a conservative anarchist, a moralist and mystic, in Trotskys phrase, and a foe of politics and revolution.

Nonetheless, as an indefatigable social critic, an enemy of cruelty and oppression, Tolstoy played an enormous role in undermining the tsarist regime and the entire Russian social order. Reactionary forces in the former Soviet Union have not forgiven him to this day.

In an obituary, Trotsky magnificently paid tribute to the great writer: Truth in and of itself possesses a terrible, explosive power: once proclaimed, it irresistibly gives rise to revolutionary conclusions in the consciousness of the masses. Everything that Tolstoy stated publicly seeped into the minds of the laboring masses  And the word became deed. Although not a revolutionary, Tolstoy nurtured the revolutionary element with his words of genius. In the book about the great storm of 1905 an honorable chapter will be dedicated to Tolstoy.

It would be misleading to suggest that Tolstoys fierce indictment of Russias institutions is sufficiently present in the War and Peace mini-series. However, its honest presentation inevitably communicates elements of the social critique, and also may lead the viewer to investigate Tolstoys work further. That would be all to the good.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 11

Trend:

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev congratulated Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani on the national holiday Feb. 10.

"On behalf of the people of Azerbaijan and on my own behalf, I cordially congratulate you and the people of your country on the occasion of the national holiday of the Islamic Republic of Iran - Victory of the Islamic Revolution," the congratulatory message said.

President Aliyev wrote that he is confident that based on mutual confidence and support, intergovernmental relations will further grow and expand on bilateral, regional and international levels in accordance with the will of two countries' nations who have historically lived in an atmosphere of friendship and good neighborliness.

"On this remarkable day, I wish you robust health, success in your activities, and the friendly and fraternal people of Iran peace and prosperity," the president's message said.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - The Florida Senate is sending two messages to Congress: set term limits for senators and representatives, and condemn efforts to boycott Israel.

The chamber passed both resolutions on Tuesday. The first asks Congress to support a constitutional amendment to set term limits for its members. It doesn't suggest want limits should be imposed.

The second resolution condemns the boycott, divestment and sanction movement against Israel. It says growing efforts to boycott the country are anti-Semitic and seek to eliminate the Jewish state.

That resolution is also being delivered to President Barack Obama.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) -- The Florida Department of Health is launching a new project in five neighborhoods, the Community Health Assessment.

Starting this weekend, volunteers will go door to door, with goody bags full of information about health resources, and taking surveys about overall health and concerns.

The Community Health Assessment is a collaboration of 25 local groups, the Florida Department of Health in Leon County, Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, United Way of the Big Bend and Whole Child Leon.

It's a way to talk to people in the community to learn about their health questions and concerns, and help find services and resources to change that.

"Our citizens know about their health and neighborhood needs, said Claudia Blackburn, MPH, RN, and Health Officer of the Florida Department of Health in Leon County, in a release. "Through the CHA, we are asking them to tell us their concerns and help us find ways to address them."

The trained volunteers who make up the CHA team will visit neighborhoods on select dates, chat with residents there and answer a survey. It includes questions about personal health, family health, access to care, environmental health and demographics. It should only take about 15 minutes.

According to officials, they will then will use that information an "incorporate it into a process that will enable local public health officials and community groups to monitor trends in health status and identify priorities among health issues. The team will then work to determine the availability of resources within leon county to adequately address those priorities."

Here's the schedule for the Leon County Community Health Assessment:

- February 13: Greater Frenchtown

- February 20: Macon Community

- February 27: Fairbanks Ferry Road Ara

- March 5: Southside Area

- March 12: Aenon Church Road Area

For more information, call (850) 606-8190 or click here.
BLOUNTSTOWN, FL (WTXL) - The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration released a report which found ten deficiencies at Calhoun Liberty Hospital in Blountstown.

The AHCA released the findings from their investigation on Thursday which found deficiencies in patient rights and care, emergency services, and risk management.

Our Agency found the deficiencies at Calhoun-Liberty Hospital so egregious that the facility will be fined and is required to submit a Plan of Correction by February 19, 2016," AHCA Secretary Elizabeth Dudek said. "If the facility fails to correct their deficiencies by March 1, they will be suspended from participation in the Medicaid program. Our Agency takes very seriously our responsibility to ensure the health and safety of all patients and to hold any health care facility that fails to do so accountable to the fullest extent of the law.

The hospital is required to have a plan of correction submitted to the AHCA within ten days of receiving the complaint. In addition, the hospital will be monitored on a semi-annual basis for the next two years to ensure they are complying with all changes, the AHCA said.

The AHCA began investigating the hospital after the death of 57-year-old Barbara Dawson on December 21, 2015.
STEINHATCHEE, FL (WTXL) -- A Steinhatchee woman was found dead in her home Tuesday night, according to law enforcement.

According to the Taylor County Sheriff's Office, when deputies arrived to the home on Riverside Drive, they found 59-year-old Colleen Thomas dead.

Deputies are currently investigating the incident and say the medical examiner's office has ruled the death a homicide.

Investigators say they have found a person of interest. According to deputies, the location of that person is known and say they are not a threat to the community.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is assisting the investigation. Officers are not releasing any further details about the death of Thomas.
ATLANTA (AP)  The newspaper staff at Atlanta's Grady High School is calling for the removal of their school's name.

News outlets report that an editorial published last week in Grady's student newspaper called Henry Woodfin Grady a "white supremacist" and suggested alternative names, including Ida B. Wells, John Lewis, Andrew Young or Jimmy Carter.

The editorial says Grady, an editor of and part owner of the Atlanta Constitution, promoted his vision of the New South, a vision that depended on maintaining white supremacy.

The editorial also notes that a Houston school board last month voted to change the name of the former Henry W. Grady High School.

Atlanta Public Schools said in a statement that the school must follow board policy, including appointing a special committee, if it wishes to change the name.
TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) - Several improvements are coming to areas of the Capital City, after the city commission approved a plan Wednesday that focuses on making more walkable, attractive areas in the city's districts.

They're hoping to improve areas of Gaines Street, Midtown, the Market District, South Monroe, and South Adams.

According to city commissioner Nancy Miller, the 2016 Sense of Place Work Plan is "a collaboration between government, established local businesses and nearby neighborhoods to improve pedestrian safety in a growing business area.

The commission unanimously approve the following work plan:

Development and implementation of the Gaines Street area parking plan and parking wayfinding signs

Completion of planning and installation of wayfinding signage for Downtown Phase 2 and Midtown

Support for the Midtown Merchants second annual Taloofa Festival in May 2016 and expend the remaining events and promotions funds allocated for Midtown

Continuation of Underground Utilities' efforts on the Maclay Boulevard Stormwater Facility

Completion of Miccosukee Community Sense of Place Study (County Strategic Initiative)

Exploration of expanded parking options in Midtown

Exploration of possibilities for pet-friendly pocket parks in urban areas

The city say they will hold a second workshop in November to focus on areas such as the Arena District, the First Christmas site, Lafayette Street, Governors Walk and the Grove, Cascades Park, FAMU Way, and Railroad Square. They will also discuss public art.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 25

By Emil Ismayilov - Trend:

Azerbaijan has great transit potential and the country is implementing major transport projects to use it, Baku International Sea Trade Port's General Director, Elchin Mirzayev said on June 25.

He made the remarks at an event dedicated to the Day of the Seafarer, celebrated in Azerbaijan each year on June 25.

Mirzayev particularly pointed out the projects on construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway and the new international sea trade port in the Alat settlement in Azerbaijan.

The Baku seaport's current location in the city center hinders its full operation, so it was needed to construct a new port, and this process is continuing successfully.

"The completion of the construction of the new port's ferry terminal will allow us to transfer our ferry terminal outside the city center," Mirzayev said.

The new international sea port is expected to be commissioned in the Alat settlement (65 km from Baku) by late 2015.

Earlier, Azerbaijani Deputy Transport Minister Musa Panahov told Trend that the new port's ferry terminal is planned to be commissioned in August 2014.

The deputy minister said the existing Baku international sea port will be transferred from the capital by late 2015.

The construction of the new international port started in November 2010 and is being carried out in three phases.

The project's first phase includes constructing two ferry and three cargo berths to receive containers, ro-ro type vessels and simple (universal) dry cargo ships.

The second phase envisages the construction of three more cargo berths, and the third phase - the construction of two additional cargo berths.

The port will be able to receive up to 11.6 million tonnes of cargo annually.

The creation of a powerful port infrastructure is important in terms of cargo transportation via Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, which is planned to be fully put into operation in 2015.

Edited by CN
Brad Sinsel, now the media director for Brumback Law Group in Union Gap, owned Washington states first pair of Spandex pants back in the day. (Photo by Ernie Sapiro)
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Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 11

By Anvar Mammadov - Trend:

The first meeting of the Azerbaijan-UK intergovernmental commission for economic cooperation and a meeting of the working group on oil and gas kick off in London Feb. 11, the Azerbaijani ministry of economy said Feb. 11.

Azerbaijan's delegation for the meeting is comprised of officials and businessmen. It is headed by Shahin Mustafayev, Azerbaijani economy minister, who co-chairs the intergovernmental commission.

Francis Maude, minister of state for trade and investment, is the co-chair of the commission from the UK's side.

The meetings of the working groups on trade and investments, finance and specialized services operating as part of the intergovernmental commission and a forum dedicated to the education have been recently held.

Economic ties between the UK and Azerbaijan and prospects for their expansion were discussed during the meeting.

Trade turnover between Azerbaijan and the UK stood at $564 million in 2015, according to the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee.

Some $553.33 million of this figure accounted for import of UK products.
Jerusalem-born Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of Democratic presidential candidate Robert Kennedy in 1968, was denied parole for the 15th time on Wednesday, a California prison official said.

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Sirhan, 71, had a suitability hearing at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility near San Diego, the California Board of Parole Hearings said on its website.

Sirhan will be up again for parole in five years, said Luis Patino, a spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

The Palestinian-born Sirhan is serving a life sentence for gunning down Kennedy, 42, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968. The shooting occurred minutes after the US senator from New York and former US attorney general gave his victory speech after winning the California Democratic primary. Kennedy died the next day.

Yedioth Ahronoth article reporting Sirhan's diary entry saying that 'Kennedy must die before June 5th'

Sirhan was sentenced to death in 1969. His sentence was commuted to life in prison after California banned the death penalty.

Paul Schrade, a 91-year-old Kennedy confidant and among the five people wounded in the shooting, told the board that Sirhan should be granted parole since evidence showed that a second gunman killed Kennedy. "The evidence clearly shows you were not the gunman who shot Robert Kennedy," Schrade said in remarks prepared for the hearing.

Sirhan fired in front of Kennedy but the candidate was struck in the back by three bullets, including a fatal shot to the back of the head, Schrade said. An analysis of an audio recording shows that 13 shots were fired, but Sirhan's gun held only eight rounds and he had no chance to reload, Schrade said.

Schrade alleged misconduct in the investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department and called for a new probe of Kennedy's killing. A federal judge last year rejected similar arguments by Sirhan's lawyers, who had sought to have him released, saying he was innocent. Sirhan has said that he had no recollection of the killing, although he has also said he had fired at Kennedy because he was enraged by his support for Israel.

In one of many emotional outbursts during his 1969 trial, Sirhan blurted out that he had committed the crime with 20 years of malice aforethought.That and his declaration when arrested, "I did it for my country," were his only relevant comments before he said he didn't remember shooting Kennedy.Sirhan said incriminating statements he made at trial were the result of an ineffective defense attorney who pressured him into thinking he was guilty.

Sirhan was last denied parole in 2011. He is imprisoned in San Diego.
Asia is largely void of BDS and anti-Israel activity, and the Foreign Ministry has launched an initiative to cultivate a positive image of Israel in that continent. The idea centers on branding Tel Aviv as an exciting, vibrant place with a strong gay community.

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The Foreign Ministrys Asia Bureau originally planned to fly Moti Saadia and Daniel Mariuma, two gay, Israeli DJs to Singapore to host a Tel Aviv-themed dance party. However, the Singapore dance party never came to fruition, but the Foreign Ministry later sent the two deejays to Vietnam, India, and China to host free parties in local clubs. The parties featured dancing, short clips about Israel, a lottery for a plane ticket to Israel, and free shirts and pins.

Following the successful dance parties, the Foreign Ministry recruited Kai Long, known as the Drag Queen of Tel Aviv, to join the two deejays on another public relations tour in the Philippines and Thailand. Together, the three Israelis appeared on a television program and were featured in local newspapers.

Kai Long, who stands two meters tall, spoke positively of her experience: This is a very important mission for me, When I returned to Israel, thousands added me on Instagram and Facebook, proving that we made a lasting impression and left them with a taste for more.

Yaniv Revah, an advisor in the Foreign Ministrys Asia Bureau, also commented on the public relations initiative: It is much easier for us to bring Israeli music to Asia compared to Europe. And it is important for us to reach the young people who do not know Israel as a place of excitement and young spiritedness.
Iran celebrated on Thursday the 37th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, marking it with a reenactment of US sailors' humiliation and the traditional annual displays of hatred.

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Quds Force commander Qasem Solemaini  "the king of terror"  and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani participated in Tehran parades. One of the parades showcased a long-range Imad missile.

Tehran reenactment of US sailors' capture

Iranian media outlets emphasized shouts calling for the death of the Saudi regime heard during the parades alongside time-honored calls to destroy the United States and Israel. While anti-Saudi sentiments have been heard before, they are particularly noticeable this year, as tensions between the two nations have significantly increased lately  leading them to break diplomatic ties. Iranian media outlets attributed protester's chants to crimes allegedly committed by a corrupt Saudi regime.

Reenactment of sailors' capture in Qom

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani addresses crowd on the anniversary (: )

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Iran's Mehr news agency reported that millions in Tehran in throughout Iran celebrated despite cold weather. The Islamic Republic News Agency claimed celebrations were occurring in more than 1,000 cities and 4,000 villages, covered by more than 5,200 journalists and photographers. It also reported that more than 450 international guests were participating in celebrating, including scientists and political figures, including Louis Farrakhan, leader of US organization Nation of Islam.

President Rouhani (center, in turban) in a crowd

Public Iranian television on Wednesday aired footage showing an American sailor crying and wiping away tears, over a month after the original photos of American sailors in Iranian custody were published.

The Ayatollah regime has been working hard to gain a propaganda advantage from the incident in which the Revolutionary Guard took hold of two American Navy patrol boats that accidently drifted into Iranian waters in January.





A short while after the photos were published, Iranian state TV showed a video of the captive force's commander speaking. He apologized for entering Iran's territorial waters, and thanked the Iranians for "your hospitality and your assistance."

Iran's supreme leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met with the Revolutionary Guard officers in charge of capturing the American vessels, congratulating them for their actions.
The Islamic State has declared war on the French right-wing movement National Front led by Marine Le Pen in a statement in the latest edition of its French-language propaganda magazine Dar al-Islam.

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The magazine has an image of a National Front demonstration and stated that the party, its leaders and its supporters are "pagans" and "prime targets" for attacks.

"This is the first time that demonstrations of the National Front are presented as targets in an official document of ISIS," said Romain Caillet, an expert on Islamist issues.

ISIS video showing Eiffel Tower collapsing

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In addition, the jihadist organization warned France that another attack will happen after the terrorist attacks in Paris in November. "It's not a question if we attack the French, but how and when," the text read.

The French police will increase security (Photo: Reuters)

After the terrorist attacks in Paris Le Pen called to "destroy Islamist extremism, ban the activities of Islamist groups, close extremist mosques and deport foreigners who preach hatred in our country, as well as illegal immigrants who have nothing to do here."

The National Front's rally at a regional election (Photo: Reuters)

The National Fronts Vice President Louis Aliot asked the Interior Ministry to protect the party's leaders and institutions. "We are asking the Ministry to take the threat seriously to avoid the worst," he said during an interview with French radio channel RFI.

Police responded by increasing the party's security. ISISs threat led to harsh reactions from National Front party members, among them deputy secretary general Nicolas Bay. He used Twitter to ask French Prime Minister Manuel Valls if he was 'satisfied'. Recently Valls spoke harshly against the National Front and called on the party to abandon racist and anti-Semitic rhetoric.

In December, Le Pen was summoned for questioning after she tweeted a picture of ISISs atrocities in response to a reporter that compared the partys extremism to that of the terrorist organization. Prime Minister Valls said that the publication of those photographs was a "shameful" act designed for political profit..
The UN human rights investigator for Gaza and the West Bank called on Israel on Thursday to investigate what he called excessive force used by Israeli security forces against Palestinians and to prosecute perpetrators.

Makarim Wibisono, United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, also challenged Israeli authorities to charge or release all Palestinian prisoners being held under lengthy administrative detention, including children.

The spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry declined to give an immediate response, saying he was looking into Wibisono's remarks.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, infuriated by calls to open the Turkish border to new Syrian refugees, threatened Thursday to ship to Europe the hundreds of thousands already In Turkey.

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"The word 'idiot' is not etched on our forehead. Do not believe that the airplanes and buses are here for nothing. Our patience has limits. We will do what is necessary," Erdogan lashed out, visibly upset during a speech in Ankara.

Erdogan also called on the United Nations to do more to prevent what he said was "ethnic cleansing" in the country.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara (Photo: AP)

He accused the UN of insincerity in calling on Turkey to do more to help Syrian refugees instead of taking action to prevent the bloodshed in its southern neighbor.

Russian war planes have been bombing around the Syrian city of Aleppo in support of a Syrian government offensive to recapture the city, sending tens of thousands of people fleeing to the Turkish border.

"There is a chance the new wave of refugees will reach 600,000 if air strikes continue. We are making preparations for it," Erdogan stated.

Turkey, already home to more than 2.6 million Syrian refugees, has long pushed for the creation of a safe zone in northern Syria to protect displaced civilians without bringing them over the border into Turkey.

The proposal has so far gained little traction with Washington or NATO allies who fear it would require an internationally patrolled no-fly zone which could put them in direct confrontation with Assad and his allies.

Erdogan said the Syrian crisis could not be resolved without safe zones, and said that ways of keeping Syrians in their country needed to be sought.

He also said he had previously told the European Union's two top officials, Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk, that the time could come when Turkey would open the gates for migrants to travel to Europe.

"In the past we have stopped people at the gates to Europe, in Edirne we stopped their buses. This happens once or twice, and then we'll open the gates and wish them a safe journey, that's what I said," he said on Thursday.

A Greek news website said on Monday that Erdogan, in a meeting in November with Juncker and Tusk, had threatened to flood Europe with migrants if EU leaders did not offer a better deal to help Turkey manage the refugee crisis.
The Jaffa Military Court Thursday sentenced an infantryman in the Haredi Netsah Yehuda battalion to seven months in prison for beating and abusing Palestinian detainees on two occasions, as well as electrocuting one of them.

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The soldier also filmed one of the instances and the judges opined that watching the video, in which a Palestinian detainee is pleading for the soldier to stop, evokes very difficult emotions."

The first incident occurred last October, at the beginning of the current wave of terrorism, and the detainee was under his supervision in a West Bank post after being arrested on suspicion of involvement in terrorist activities. The infantryman was convicted of hitting the Palestinian all over his body, kicking him and stepping on his feet while he was blindfolded.

The judges : "The clip evokes very difficult emotions"

At the same time his fellow soldier was also convicted for attaching to the bound Palestinian's neck electrodes that sent electric currents with increased intensity. The soldier was accused of taking part in the electrocution of the detainee, for not preventing the crime and that he recorded it on his mobile phone so that he could brag about his actions.

About a week later, when a force from the battalion arrested another Palestinian, a soldier escorted him to the bathroom at the outpost, kicked him hard and slapped him several times. According to the soldier, his violent action against the prisoner was due to the prisoners aggressive resistance on his way to the bathroom.

During the accusations his commanders stood up for him, as did Rabbi Yitzhak Bar Haim, one of the founders of the battalion, who said: "Everyone who enlists in the battalion does something daring, as well as his parents and family who have sacrificed for this. His parents are heroes".

The commander of the convicted infantryman added: "He the best soldier there is, you can count on him, he has a head on his shoulders. In a busy time of operational activities, these are stressful and difficult situations."

On the other hand. the judges said in their decision that "the filming of the detainee's electrocution adds another layer of seriousness and attests that this was premeditated. The dissemination of this video has the potential to cause damage to the honor of the victim, as well as cause major damage to the IDF and its soldiers."

The judges called the act "humiliating, degrading and cruel", and noted that the violence the soldier committed against the prisoner a second time, a week later, did not occur in a moment of anger, but "was violence for its own sake."

The soldier, who has confessed and expressed remorse for his actions, was demoted to the rank of private.
The deputy head of Shin Bet, Nadav Argaman, will now head the organization replacing Yoram Cohen, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Thursday.

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Argaman, 55, married to Ruth with three children (aged 10, 15 and 21), is originally a kibbutz member from the Beit She'an Valley who now lives in a town in the center of the country. He enlisted in an elite IDF unit in 1978, and five years later joined Shin Bet. Since then he has served in a variety of operational roles.

He particularly stood out during the second intifada, where he led the organizations operational mindset in hundreds of operations against Palestinian terrorism. "He is a leader and a top-level professional," the Shin Bet said.

New Shin Bet head Nadav Argaman (Photo: Shin Bet)

From 2003 to 2007 Argaman served as Shin Bet's head of operations and then served for four years as the organization's representative in the United States. Afterwards he was appointed deputy head, and three years later, in September 2014, he was loaned to the Atomic Energy Commission.

Last summer, he was among the candidates to replace Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino, but after the appointment of Roni Alsheich back in September, he returned to being the deputy head of the Shin Bet at the request of the head of the organization, Yoram Cohen, who recommended him as his replacement.

Argaman has a BA in political science from the University of Haifa, a master's degree in political science and an additional masters degree in security and strategy also from the University of Haifa, from which he graduated summa cum laude.

His parents, Tikva and Amiram said to Ynet Thursday evening that "it is a great honor. We are proud of him, have always been proud of him. He should be successful and healthy. Success to all the people of Israel!"
U.S. sanctions three for Islamic State activities

The U.S. Treasury blacklisted three people on Thursday for working for Islamic State, including one it said was a senior oil official and another it said had recruited Gulf nationals for the militant group as early as March 2014.

One of those sanctioned is Faysal Ahmad Ali al-Zahrani, a Saudi citizen, who the Treasury said is responsible for Islamic State's oil and gas activities in areas of northeastern Syria.

Husayn Juaythini, born in a refugee camp in Gaza, was also sanctioned and was trying to establish a foothold for Islamic State in Gaza, the Treasury said.

The third man, Bahraini citizen Turki al-Binali, helps Islamic State recruit foreign fighters, and as of March 2014, led a support network that recruited Gulf nationals to join Islamic State in Syria, the department said. (Reporting by Yeganeh Torbati)
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Feb. 11

By Huseyn Hasanov- Trend:

Deputy prime minister, minister of foreign affairs of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredow during his working visit to Geneva has held a series of meetings with heads of international organizations, including director general of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Roberto Azevedo, said the message of the Turkmen government Feb. 11.

During these meetings "special attention was paid to implementation of initiatives of President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov aimed at strengthening global energy security, environmental protection, development of international transport infrastructure, regional trade, as well as addressing water problems."

The EU proposed Turkmenistan to join WTO in January 2011. It is expected that this will increase Turkmenistan's share in regional and global trade and have a positive impact on economic development, which is necessary for long-term prosperity and well-being of the country.

The EU leadership said that the EU is ready to support Turkmenistan's joining the WTO, as it optimizes attracting foreign capital and facilitates creating new jobs.

Fuel-energy complex, high-technological industrial spheres, transport, communications, banking and financial sector are among the promising areas of cooperation between Turkmenistan and the EU.

At present, Ashgabat is negotiating with the EU and Azerbaijan on the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline construction project.

Brussels hopes to diversify the sources of gas consumption through Caspian resources, most of which is ensured by Russia.
On a recent trip to Offutt Air Force Base, I visited with military leaders and the airmen of the 55th Wing.

Offutt is home to many critical resources and plays a vital role in defending our nation. I was there to continue my work with military leaders and receive updates on improvements to the bases runway. These conversations revealed the positive progress taking place. We are blessed to have this military installation here in Nebraska.

While at Offutt, I also toured the 557th Weather Wing, which monitors weather patterns for the military around the world. The men and women of the 557th help ensure the Department of Defense has the most accurate and relevant weather information at all times for any location around the world. From monitoring solar flares and volcanic eruptions to typhoons and blizzards, the 557th uses the latest technology to alert commanders of the threat Mother Nature poses to their missions.

Following my visit, I returned to the U.S. Capitol for a busy week in the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC). The first duty of the federal government is to defend the nation. As Nebraskas voice on this influential committee, I am humbled to work with the men and women of our military. My colleagues and I strive to ensure that our service members are prepared to do their jobs and safely return home.

As part of its work, SASC meets regularly to receive updates on new and emerging threats to our national security. The committee often deals with highly classified, time-sensitive information on a wide scope of defense-related issues. In this weeks column, I would like to provide you with an update on some of the committees recent activities and highlight the work my colleagues and I are doing to help make America safe.

The committee continues to monitor the situation in Afghanistan. I recently met with General John Campbell, commander of U.S. forces there, to discuss Americas role and the challenges facing our mission. The day after our meeting, General Campbell provided an update on Afghanistan before the full committee. With an emboldened Taliban gaining ground in the region, I believe our military must have the proper authority to prosecute its mission. I was disappointed that it took the administration over a year for the White House to approve General Campbells request for permission to attack ISIL-affiliated forces that have begun appearing in Afghanistan.

This year, I am continuing my work as chairman of the Armed Services Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee. The jurisdiction of this subcommittee includes cybersecurity, special operations, and counterterrorism policy. Recently, I convened the subcommittee for a classified briefing on ISIL with members of the intelligence community.

The goal of this session was to develop a better understanding of this terrorist group and how it operates. I also serve on the Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee, which is responsible for overseeing the militarys nuclear and ballistic missile defense. This month, I attended a hearing of this subcommittee focused on the future of our nuclear forces.

Needless to say, the dangers of our world demand American strength. We have a moral obligation to ensure our military has the resources it needs to defend our nation. Im proud to serve on SASC, and I will continue to make the tough choices to keep America safe and secure.

Thank you for participating in the democratic process. I look forward to visiting with you again next week.
SEWARD  The Concordia University, Nebraska University Symphonic Band will perform for the students, faculty and staff at its four Lutheran high school partner schools in Nebraska, as well as for the community in Seward, Nebraska, in mid-February.

The concert at St. John Lutheran Church in Seward, Nebraska, is free and open to the public on Feb. 21, 2016, at 3 p.m.

Student performers from the York area include: Kara Blase, a junior from Hordville, flute; Cole Berry, a junior from Seward, trombone; Annie Wunderlich, a freshman from Seward, flute; Joel Ristvedt, a sophomore from Utica, horn; Caleb Ristvedt, a freshman from Utica, trombone.

Schultz conducts the ensemble, which is open to all Concordia students by audition each year.

The University Symphonic Band formed in 1906 and is the oldest continuing musical organization at Concordia. The ensemble places emphasis on sacred, multicultural and contemporary literature, as well as traditional concert band repertoire.

The band tours a part of the United States each year and toured internationally to China in the summer of 2007.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 11

By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:

Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR and Italian KT-Kinetics Technology SpA signed a contract on licensing the construction of a sulphur production facility as part of modernization of the Heydar Aliyev Baku Oil Refinery, SOCAR said in a statement posted on its website Feb. 11.

While delivering speech at the contract signing ceremony, Rovnag Abdullayev, SOCAR's president, said that the Heydar Aliyev refinery reconstruction project is currently one of the most important for SOCAR, the statement said.

"As a result of the project implementation, the existing technological units are planned to be modernized and new units are planned to be constructed," he said. "The processing capacity of the refinery is planned to be increased from six million tons to 7.5 million tons per year."

"The catalytic cracking unit capacity is planned to be increased from two million tons to 2.5 million tons per year," he said. "The production of oil products meeting the Euro 5 standards will be established."

SOCAR has chosen KT-Kinetics Technology S.p.A as a licensor of the construction of the sulphur production facility, the statement said.

The contract was signed by Elman Ismayilov, the director of the Heydar Aliyev refinery, and Michele Colozzi, the business development manager at Italian KT-Kinetics Technology S.p.A.

Earlier, SOCAR signed contracts with Austrian Porner Group, French company Axens and US UOP as part of the modernization of the Heydar Aliyev Baku Oil Refinery.

The process of modernization of the Heydar Aliyev Baku Oil Refinery will be completed by late 2018.

After the completion of the reconstruction, the processing capacity of the refinery will increase from 6 million to 7.5 million tons of oil per year. The modernization is estimated at $1 billion.

SOCAR announced the liquidation of Azneftyag oil refinery and its merger with the Heydar Aliyev Baku Oil Refinery in January 2015.

This decision was taken as part of the work to improve and optimize SOCAR's structure.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 11



By Azad Hasanli - Trend:

In an article published on RatingsDirect, titled "Negatives Tip The Scale For EMEA's Emerging Banking Systems In 2016," Standard & Poor's Ratings Services says it believes this will be a testing year for emerging banking systems in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).

"In our view, the recent oil-price shock, currency risk, and legacy portfolio issues are the key threats for emerging EMEA banking sectors in 2016," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Natalia Yalovskaya.

"But we also regard political and market uncertainties, among other factors, as latent threats," she said. "We believe banking environments will deteriorate further and therefore foresee risks increasing for banks in 2016."

Sluggish economic growth will likely subdue new banking business and erode asset quality and margins for banks in Russia, Nigeria, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan, given these countries' dependence on oil, S&P says.

Although we anticipate some strain on Gulf banks' funding and liquidity this year, good asset quality and strong capitalization remain positive factors.

Furthermore, we foresee adverse operating conditions for Bulgarian, Croatian, and Polish banks, but we believe Czech, Slovak, Slovenian, and Hungarian banks should benefit from the improving economic environment. In Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, and Turkey, banks remain vulnerable to declining asset quality and higher refinancing risk, due to currency depreciation.

"Generally, we expect that negative rating actions will outweigh positive ones in the region's emerging banking markets," Yalovskaya added.

In fact, we see a positive economic risk trend in only two countries, Hungary and Slovenia.

The report states that country-specific factors also represent a danger for some systems, such as geopolitical uncertainties in Turkey, the ongoing tensions between Russia and the West, and lack of stability in Ukraine.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 11

Trend:

Nar launches a new campaign with the World Telecom (WT) store network. Till the end of March, anyone who purchase Huawei Ascend G526 or Ascend Y220 in WT stores will get a free Nar number with monthly bonus amount in the balance and the Internet bundle during six months.

In the frame of the campaign, you can buy Huawei Ascend G526 or Ascend Y220 in World Telecom stores without any pre-payment and can gradually pay for it within next 12 months. Any person wishing to buy a smart phone on beneficial terms can obtain additional information from nar.az.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 11

By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:

There is a small probability that the South Stream or Turkish Stream projects will be implemented, says Alexei Belogoriev, a deputy director at the Russian Institute for Energy and Finance.

"The EU is not considering them [the pipelines] as the urgent need to meet its demand," Belogoriev told Trend Feb. 11. "But Russia has already excess capacity for the transportation of gas to Europe."

Russia suspended the South Stream project, designed to supply Russian gas to Europe bypassing Ukraine, in December 2014. Russia said "the EU's non-constructive position" was the reason for the project's suspension.

Then it was decided to build the Turkish Stream through the territory of Turkey, instead of the South Stream. But the project came under threat in late 2015 due to sharp deterioration of relations between Moscow and Ankara.

However, in an interview with RIA Novosti Feb. 9, Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov said his country doesn't waive the Turkish Stream, saying that it is difficult to predict the pipeline's further situation amid the crisis in the Russia-Turkey relations.

Aside from that, Russia's permanent representative to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov has said earlier that he does not rule out the possibility of resuming the South Stream project.

Belogoriev further told Trend that both projects had only a political purpose - to bypass Ukraine, rather than an economic motive.

The expert believes that the Nord Stream 2 project's implementation in the Baltic Sea is sufficient for the gas delivery to Europe bypassing Ukraine, adding this is seen by Gazprom as a priority.

"Therefore, I think the construction of the South Stream and especially the Turkish Stream will not be considered seriously," he said.

He added that under the current economic conditions, including low gas prices, the project for the Turkish Stream will be unprofitable, adding that it is much more efficient to supply gas via the existing Trans-Balkan gas pipeline.

The expert recalled that Russia's Gazprom also has investment plans on the Power of Siberia and the Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines.

However, Belogoriev said that Gazprom has a problem with lending.

"It is too expensive for Gazprom to lend in foreign markets due to the economic situation as a whole, the deterioration of the investment climate in Russia, and the sanctions, which, although indirectly, affect the company," he said.

"Given the current oil and gas prices, the company has no extra funds to make investment in the Turkish Stream," added Belogoriev. "I don't see any financial institutions, which will fund such projects as Turkish Stream and South Stream at normal rates, given that there is no economic need for them."

As for the prospects of Russia's refusal to transit gas through Ukraine, Belogoriev said that the demands for gas in the EU can be fully covered if it is possible to build and fully use the Nord Stream 2 and use the idle capacity of the Nord Stream 1.

At the same time, he predicted that the transit of gas to Ukraine's neighbors, namely, Moldova, the Balkans and most likely Turkey and Slovakia, will continue as it would be very expensive to supply gas there via Poland or Germany.

Belogoriev also said that in case of an optimistic development for Gazprom, the gas transit through Ukraine will be reduced to 20-30 billion cubic meters per year.

But in case of a pessimistic development, he predicted that the transit volume will be much larger, as no one can guarantee the effectiveness of the Nord Stream 2 as part of the EU's Third Energy Package.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova
Anthony Vito Brancatella pleaded guilty in County Court of Victoria to more than 60 charges of wrongful conversion and false accounts, relating to his time as director of McDonald Real Estate in Mulgrave.

As a result, Judge Carolyn Douglas sentenced Brancatella to 40 months jail time, with a non-parole period of 20 months.

An investigation by Consumer Affairs Victoria found that between December 2013 and June 2014 Brancatella siphoned money from the agencys trust account in order to keep the business afloat.

Consumer Affairs Victoria found that in total Brancatella siphoned a total of $1,999,020 for his own use from 62 separate property transactions.

Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria Simon Cohen said abuse of trust-account management were unacceptable.

Community confidence in how real estate agents deal with trust money is absolutely critical. Any real estate agent who breaches this confidence, and takes money from a trust account without proper authority, is committing a crime, Cohen said.

While most estate agents are doing the right thing, we will pursue any agent who is not meeting their legal obligations, he said.

Brancatellas conviction means he is also disqualified from working as a real estate agent for the next 10 years under the Estate Agents Act 1980.

Consumer Affairs Victoria has currently paid more than $500,000 to victims of Brancatellas fraud from the states Victorian Property Fund, which was established to compensate any consumer who suffers a financial loss by reason of an estate agent stealing from a trust account.
As a homeowner, you probably already know that you should be working to maintain your home. But, chances are, you Read More
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 11

By Dalga Khatinoglu - Trend:

Iran is negotiating to purchase shares in oil refineries in six countries.

"Iran is in talks with Brazil, Malaysia, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Indonesia and India to obtain shares in construction of refineries," Hamid Sharif-Razi, managing director at the National Iranian Oil Engineering and Construction Company (NIOEC), told Shana.

"Iran already holds a 30-percent share in construction of a refinery with a capacity of 250,000 barrels per day in Malaysia, and we are talking to buy a 40-percent share in another refinery in Indonesia with a capacity of 300,000 barrels per day," he said.

Sharif-Razi added that Brazil showed willingness for Iran's participation in building a refinery, as well as purchasing shares of a refinery in that country. However, he didn't elaborate on details.

He explained that Iran wants to purchase shares in foreign refineries to guaranty its oil exports.

Iran's oil exports plunged from 2.2 million barrels per day (mbpd) in 2011 to around 1.1 mbpd in 2015, but after the elimination of sanctions in January this year, the figure resumed to around 1.3 mbpd.

Iran has recently said it resumed oil export to Europe by delivering 0.3 mbpd of crude oil to France's Total, as well as to Italy's Eni and Saras.

However, it is not clear how can Iran return to the oil market at a time when the market is facing a huge glut, as the difference between supply and demand is currently about 1.8 mbpd, despite that oil price stands below $35 per barrel.

Iran announced in 2014 that it was preparing to build five refineries in Indonesia with an aim to diversify the Islamic Republic's oil exports.

Earlier, it was reported that Iran would build an oil refinery in Indonesia with a daily production capacity of 150,000 barrels of crude oil, in addition to five smaller refineries with daily production capacities of 30,000 to 50,000 barrels of gas condensate each.

Iran's Deputy Petroleum Minister Abbas Kazemi also said on Nov. 18 last year that Iran started talks to buy an equity stake in India's Essar refinery.

However, a spokesperson for Essar Oil and Gas Ltd. earlier told Trend that the company didn't have discussions on the sale of its shares to Iran.
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It is not far off to say that Stephen Hawking is amongst the most brilliant minds alive today. The theoretical physicist, who is plagued by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS, has contributed a lot in the field of science including the theoretical concept of black hole radiation otherwise known as "Hawking radiation."

Time and time again Hawking's brilliant mind has shared his vast knowledge and criticisms about modern life. Just last month, the scientist warned attendees of a recent talk in England about the impending extinction of humanity through threats of a nuclear holocaust, genetically modified viruses and climate change. More recently, Hawking suggested a controversial and peculiar way Earth's energy crisis can be resolved.

In a live lecture with BBC Radio 4, the Cambridge professor proposed an unlikely alternative to fossil fuels. According to Hawking, black holes can easily be a source of energy. He explained that even a tiny black hole about the size of a mountain on earth can produce enough energy that can support all of the planet's needs.

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"A mountain-sized black hole would give off X-rays and gamma rays, at a rate of about 10 million megawatts, enough to power the world's electricity supply" explained Hawking.

The scientist however is quick to assure listeners that he is well aware of the complications his proposal will bring about. In order for his plan to be viable not only is there a need to figure out how to find and harness black hole's energy, but their existence needs to be proven first.

Other physicists has since spoken out about Hawking's claims. According to them, there is nothing wrong with his proposal however it is simply not within the realms of humanity's capabilities - at least not right now.

"There is nothing technically wrong with this idea, but it is not very practical, at least within the next 10,000 years" explained Sabine Hossenfelder from the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.11



By Aygun Badalova - Trend:



BP expects production from Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field to continue at high level in 2016, BP's Regional President for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, Gordon Birrell told in an interview to Natural Gas Europe.



"Shah Deniz continues its good production delivery. In 2015, the field provided reliable deliveries of gas to markets in Azerbaijan, Georgia, the BTC [Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan] Company and Turkey," Birrell said.

"The field has been producing at the Stage 1 plateau level over the past few years including 2015 in which we produced around 10 billion cubic meters of gas and 2.3 million tonnes of condensate," Birrell said.



"In 2016 we expect production from the Shah Deniz field to continue at this same high level," he added.



The reserves of the Shah Deniz field are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas. The contract to develop the Shah Deniz offshore field was signed June 4, 1996.



The shareholders in the contract are: BP, operator (28.8 percent), AzSD (10 percent), SGC Upstream (6.7 percent), Petronas (15.5 percent), Lukoil (10 percent), NIOC (10 percent) and TPAO (19 percent).



Birrell said that BP's future gas plans for the Caspian sea are currently focused on developing the next tranche of gas from Shah Deniz Stage 2.



Specifically, Shah Deniz Stage 2 is set to have 26 production wells at depths of over 6,000 metres, according to Birrell. Nine of these wells have already been drilled.



"These wells will produce 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year, which will be delivered to markets across Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and South Eastern Europe," Birrell said.



The gas to be produced from the second stage of Shah Deniz field development is considered as the main source for the huge Southern Gas Corridor project.



In terms of timeline, Birrell said that the first gas from Shah Deniz-2 is targeting to be delivered to Turkey in 2018 and to by 2020 to Europe.



Paying a special attention on drilling, Birrell highlighted that drilling performance in both Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) block of oil fields and Shah Deniz are success stories.



"Given that the Caspian basin represents some of the toughest drilling challenges in the industry, delivery of these difficult wells has required people and technology capable of tackling these challenges," he said.



To date BP has safely drilled around 190 wells in this challenging drilling environment, according to Birrell.



"Specifically on Shah Deniz, drilling challenges in that field are related to its location in deeper waters than ACG - up to 550 meters - and the high pressures encountered in the reservoir. We have safely and efficiently drilled 145 kilometres on Shah Deniz including the deepest exploration well of 7,300 meters depth to-date drilled in the Caspian," Birrell said.



The contract for the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli development was signed in 1994. Shares in the contract are as follow: BP (operator) - 35.78 percent, Chevron - 11.27 percent, Inpex - 10.96 percent, AzACG - 11.65 percent, Statoil - 8.56 percent, Exxon - eight percent, TPAO - 6.75 percent, Itochu - 4.3 percent and ONGC - 2.72 percent.



The geological oil reserves on the ACG block amount to more than two billion tons. More than one billion tons of this volume account for recoverable reserves.
Sleep deprivation has been used as a technique for interrogation by several government agencies including the CIA and the British government. It is often times viewed as an acceptable form of torture since it leaves no physical marks. However, there have been several studies that reveal that sleep deprivation might not be humane after all.

In 1978, Russian scientist Marie de Manaceine conducted a study which experimented on the effects of withholding sleep to 10 puppies. The outcome was startling - all ten puppies died after having stayed awake for more than 90 hours. More recently, a team of scientists have discovered a facet of sleep deprivation that might finally convince the majority of the ill-effects of the interrogation technique.

Recently, researchers from California State University published an academic paper claiming that people who are sleep deprived are more likely to give in to any requests including signing a false confession.

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The study followed 88 people performing various tasks. The subjects were warned repeatedly not to press the escape button as it would erase all of the data. Following the task, half of the group were asked to stay awake, while the other enjoyed 8 hours of sleep. The next day all subjects were accused of pressing the escape key. As a result, 50% of those who did not get sleep admitted to pressing the escape button. On the other hand, only 18% of the people who got sleep admitted to something they didn't do.

The researchers involved in the recent sleep deprivation study has since spoken up about the importance of the results. According to them, the link between withholding sleep and false confessions should be a guideline the legal community should take head from when dealing with evidence.

"I think it's important for the legal community and jurors to do what they can to accurately and reliably assess evidence including confession evidence," explained Shari Berkowitz, author of the study.
The state of Utah is currently in the middle of a debate regarding a bill that is now known as the "Tampon bill". Utah Representative Susan Duckworth is behind the said bill. The bill proposes that feminine hygiene products such as tampons and sanitary pads should not be taxed as they are a necessity for women.

"Having a period is not a choice for women," quipped Stephanie Pitcher from Utah Women's Coalition - one of the supporters of the bill.

Not everyone is on board with the proposed tax exemption. Some representatives from other states have since spoken out about the issue. According to them, cutting taxes on feminine hygiene products would create a dent in the cities' budget. Moreover the proposal might encourage other lobbyist to argue about lifting taxes on other products as well.

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Should the bill be passed, it is expected that the general fund of Utah would lose about 1 million dollars a year. According to Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes, Utah's budget cannot make another hit considering all the expenditures on medical aid it had to shell out.

At present, Utah's legislative committee is asking for more time to evaluate the bill. Duckworth is currently is scheduled to present the bill in front of the city's legislations. However, even Duckworth is not optimistic about the bill's future. According to Duckworth, she is disheartened by the knowledge that there is little to no chance that the bill would be passed. She however was quick to reassure her constituents that despite fighting a losing battle, she would not be giving up.

"I'm going into an all-male committee, and I just don't believe they're going to have much sympathy. The chances of it getting out of committee are probably not very good, but I'm not going to give up on it,"
Personal musings on Israel, Jewish matters, history and how they all affect each other
About ZVTS

Even with the Biden Administration adults in charge and Democrats in control on Congress (barely), there remains an increasingly crumbling global economy imperiling the world, rising nationalism and deadly racism across Europe and Asia, a seemingly endless war against terror, a federal government nobody trusts or believes in, global climate change putting us on the brink of destruction and a Village media that barely does its job on even the best day.



Needless to say there's a lot of Stupid out there when we need solutions . Dangerous levels of Stupid.



Into the fray, dear Reader. Tray tables, crash helmets, arms inside blog at all times.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.11

By Aygun Badalova - Trend:

BP delivered 3.3 billion cubic meters of associated gas to SOCAR from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) block of oil and gas fields in Azerbaijan, according to BP's Regional President for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, Gordon Birrell.

"In 2015, the ACG delivered an average of around 9 million cubic meters ACG associated gas per day to SOCAR," Birrell said in an interview to Natural gas Europe.

"The remainder of the associated gas produced was re-injected for reservoir pressure maintenance," he said adding that there are currently six gas injection wells at ACG supporting oil production.

"In our operations, oil production output is a result of many factors including gas injection rate and therefore it is necessary to maintain the high rates of gas injection," Birrell said.

For this purpose, BP recently upgraded its gas injection compressor engines on the Central Azeri platform using a new engine design, which has allowed to inject gas at higher rates.

"This upgrade returned immediate production benefits and now we're seeing long-term value as we work to stem the decline of reservoir pressure. So, it is absolutely necessary to continue to re-inject gas into ACG reservoir at high rates," Birrell said.

The contract for the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli development was signed in 1994. The proven oil reserve at the block is nearly 1 billion tons.

Shares in the contract are as follow: BP (operator) - 35.78 percent, Chevron - 11.27 percent, Inpex - 10.96 percent, AzACG - 11.65 percent, Statoil - 8.56 percent, Exxon - eight percent, TPAO - 6.75 percent, Itochu - 4.3 percent and ONGC - 2.72 percent.
New Delhi: The Delhi government on Thursday announced to reintroduce its fortnight-long Odd-Even Formula from April 15 to curb vehicular pollution in the national capital.

The scheme was last implemented from January 1 to 15. Here's what the Delhi government said while announcing the second phase of the Odd-Even Formula.

1. We are considering whether the Odd-Even scheme can be implemented for 15 days every month on a permanent basis. However, we accept Odd-Even can't be implemented permanently till Delhi's public transportation improves, says Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.

2. We were accused of forcing VIPs to follow the Odd-Even Formula. We won't do that this time. They will be exempt. However, we would request them to follow it anyway, says Kejriwal.

3. Some 80 percent of people in Delhi is in favour of the Odd-Even plan. Out of 276 Mohalla Sabhas in the capital, just one in Vishwas Nagar is not in favour of the Odd-Even plan, says Delhi CM.

4. We received suggestions that two wheelers must also follow the Odd-Even scheme but that will spell trouble. Delhi has 30 to 40 lakh two-wheelers and if these bike riders were to take to buses and Delhi Metro, it will lead to chaos, says Kejriwal.

5. Some 5,500 private buses will be hired for phase two of the Odd-Even scheme, says Transport Minister Gopal Rai.

6. Fine for violating the Odd-Even Formula may be revised, even though we haven't decided on the mater yet, says Kejriwal.

7. Women drivers will continue to be exempted from the Odd-Even provisions, Kejriwal said adding that about 500 retired defence personnel will become traffic enforcement inspectors to men the scheme.
Washington: The US Supreme Court's surprise decision to halt President Barack Obama's climate change regulation could imperil the Paris accord and raise doubts in India and China about US commitments, according to the New York Times.

The Paris Agreement committing every country to combating climate change, had as a cornerstone Obama's assurance that the US would carry out strong, legally sound policies to significantly cut carbon emissions, the influential US daily noted.

"But in the capitals of India and China, two of the world's largest polluters, climate change policy experts said the Supreme Court decision threw the American commitment into question, and possibly New Delhi's and Beijing's, too," it said.

"If the US Supreme Court actually declares the coal power plant rules stillborn, the chances of nurturing trust between countries would all but vanish," the Times cited Navroz K. Dubash, a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi, as saying.

Inaction by the United States has long been the chief obstacle to meaningful global climate change agreements. India and China in particular resisted action absent a climate change policy in the United States, the Times noted.

The Supreme Court decision temporarily blocked the Obama administration's rule to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants.

On the basis of those rules, Obama had won agreements from China and India to enact their own pollution reduction plans, and helped push other countries into signing on to the Paris measure, the Times noted.

Over the past year, Obama worked closely with the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, to bring India to the table for the Paris deal.

Modi and many within India were resistant; the prime minister's top priority is to make cheap electricity available to the 300 million Indians who live without power, it said.

If the United States reneges on its commitments, "it really would strengthen the hand of those who say Paris was ineffective and a bad deal for India," Dubash was quoted as saying..

American policy experts cited by the Times agreed that the Supreme Court decision might be the first of many fractures in the deal.

"The honeymoon for Paris is now definitely over," said John Sterman, a professor of management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who attended the Paris talks.

"This pushback is not something that's unique to the United States," he added. "It's happening all over the developed world."
New Delhi: 'Afzal Guru amar rahe', anti-India slogans were raised at Press Club of India (PCI) on Wednesday.

The incident happened yesterday at a hall in the PCI, which was booked by Delhi University professor Ali Zafar for a discussion on the Kashmir issue.

Even posters hailing Afzal Guru were put up around the discussion hall.

However, when the discussion was initiated, several people present there raised the issue of Afzal Guru and shouted slogans like, 'Kashmir lekar rahenege' and hailed the Parliament attack convict, who was hanged on February 09, 2013.

Notably, the PCI administration was left unaware even though the anti-India sentiments roared for three hours.

Speaking to Zee Media, Zafar said, he was asked by one of his friend to book the hall to have discussion on Kashmir. However, when the debate was proceeding some elements over there started raising such issues, he addued

I consider my fault and I tried to stop them making such statements, but they didn't relent, Zafar said.

The DU professor said he was embarrassed with the incident and demanded action against such people in accordance with the law.

Meanwhile, PCI president Rahul Jalali said a show cause notice has been sent to Ali Zafar and an explanation has been demanded over the matter.

Notably, the PCI authorities are yet to inform the police. Jalali said they are waiting for the professor's response, following which they will decide on future course of action.
New Delhi: David Coleman Headley, one of the prime accused in the 26/11 terror attacks, told a special Mumbai court on Thursday that Ishrat Jahan, the 19-year-old girl who was killed in an alleged 'fake encounter' in 2004, was affiliated to the LeT.

This is what happened back in 2004:

It was on June 15, 2004, that Ishrat Jahan Raza and three others Pranesh Pillai (alias Javed Gulam Sheikh), Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an encounter by the Ahmedabad Police.

The Gujarat Police stated that Ishrat, along with three other people, had been gunned down near Ahmedabad by a police team belonging to the Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) of the Ahmedabad City Police.

The police claimed that the four were connected with the Lashkar-Toiba (LeT) and had come to Gujarat to assassinate the then chief minister Narendra Modi in order to avenge the communal riots of 2002 which had led to the deaths of numerous Muslims.

A report was submitted by metropolitan magistrate SP Tamang in the Ahmedabad metropolitan court on September 7, 2009, which said that the four persons were killed in police custody.

The Ahmedabad metropolitan court ruled that Ishrat's killing was a fake encounter. Tamang's report said the Crime Branch police kidnapped Ishrat and the others from Mumbai on June 12, 2004, and brought them to Ahmedabad. Tamang said that there was no evidence to link the victims with the LeT. There was also nothing to indicate that they had come to Gujarat to kill Modi.

The Gujarat government challenged the report of the metropolitan magistrate, saying that the policemen accused of fake encounter were not given an opportunity to present their side of the arguments. The Gujarat government's petition in the high court against Tamang's report said that it should be scrapped as it was 'illegal and doubtful'.

The Gujarat high court stated that Ishrat Jahan's encounter case was of national importance and ordered the police witnesses to be posted where they would not be working as subordinates to officials accused in the case.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by Karnail Singh, was set up to probe the case further. The SIT sent four teams to Srinagar, Delhi, Lucknow and Nashik to probe Ishrat's alleged terrorist links.

On November 21, 2011, the SIT told the Gujarat HC that the Ishrat Jahan encounter was not genuine. After the SIT filed its report, the HC ordered that a complaint under Indian Penal Code Section 302 (murder) has to be filed against those involved in the fake encounter, in which over 20 policemen, including senior IPS officers, were involved.

Ishrat Jahan Shamim Raza was a 19-year-old girl, who was a second year Bachelor of Science student at Mumbai's Guru Nanak Khalsa College. Ishrat used to work as the secretary of Javed Sheikh (Pranesh), and used to handle his accounts.

Pranesh Pillai alias Javed Gulam Sheikh was the son of Gopinatha Pillai, a native of Noornad in Kerala. Before his death, he had been booked for four assault cases in Mumbai and Pune, and had also been charged with involvement in a fake currency racket. Gujarat Police recovered two passports from Javed: one obtained using his original name Pranesh and the second one in his new name.

Amjad Ali Rana, also known as Akbar or Salim, was originally a resident of the Haveli Deewan village in the Bhalwal Tehsil of Pakistan. According to the CBI chargesheet, he told the Gujarat Police that he was planning to commit a terrorist act in Ahmedabad.

Zeeshan (alias Jisan Johar alias Abdul Ghani), along with Amjad, is said to have been caught in a trespassing case in Srinagar in 2003.
New Delhi: In a sort of relief to the youth planning to celebrate Valentine's Day with fuss and fanfare, Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena have decided to keep the 'moral policing' at bay this year.

The two outfits have given clear instructions to their supporters not to harass the lovebirds or else strict action would be taken against them.

National head of Shiv Senas youth wing, Aditya Thackeray, has issued strict directions to not misbehave with any boy or girl on Valentines Day. He does not want assault or misbehaviour with youths. Shiv Sena is against western culture and we have communicated our message during past years. We are not going to assault any couple. If any worker will misbehave or assault any couple, he will be expelled from the party, Shiv Sena's UP head Anil Singh was quoted as saying by Indian Express.

Meanwhile, Bajrang Dals convener for UP and Uttarakhand, Surendra Mishra, told Indian Express that the acts that couples indulge in on roads and at public places on Valentines Day is similar to nature of animals and it's futile to meddle with them.

It has been decided at the top level of the organisation that our workers will not disturb any couple any more, he added.

Till last year, the supporters of Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena were assaulting the youth found at public places on Valentine's Day. The activists also ransacked the shops which were found selling Valentine's Day greeting cards and flowers.

However, it is not yet clear whether the decision was taken keeping in view the upcoming UP Assembly elections.
Lucknow: Congress president Sonia Gandhi arrived in her parliamentary constituency Rae Bareli on a two-day visit on Thursday.

Soon after landing at the Fursatganj airstrip, she drove to Rae Bareli and held a chaupal (open interaction) at Sardar village where she interacted with locals, women and farmers.

Giving them a patient hearing as they raised their problems, Sonia assured them of all possible help. She is slated to meet party workers and local Congress leaders later in the day.

Sonia was in the constituency after a gap of five months. She last visited Rae Bareli on September 9-10, 2015.

Lucknow: Congress president Sonia Gandhi arrived in her parliamentary constituency Rae Bareli on a two-day visit on Thursday.

Soon after landing at the Fursatganj airstrip, she drove to Rae Bareli and held a chaupal (open interaction) at Sardar village where she interacted with locals, women and farmers.

Giving them a patient hearing as they raised their problems, Sonia assured them of all possible help. She is slated to meet party workers and local Congress leaders later in the day.

Sonia was in the constituency after a gap of five months. She last visited Rae Bareli on September 9-10, 2015.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 11



By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:

The alternative sources of gas for Europe, first and foremost, are coming from the Caspian, that is Azerbaijan with a shot at the knees development, Ariel Cohen, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center & Global Energy Center, Atlantic Council, said.

Cohen made this statement at the Atlantic Council.

Cohen said that this is a pipeline called TANAP, Trans-Anatolian pipeline, starting from the Georgian border into Turkey, and then its extension into Albania - or, Greece, Albania and Italy, called TAP, Trans-Adriatic Pipeline.

"The overall capacity at the initial stage is only 16 billion cubic meters per year," he said. "Comparing with the Russian overall exports of 160, it's only 10 percent."

Cohen said that Russia is taking measures to stop TANAP, adding that its construction is planned to be completed by late 2018.

He said that they're not saying they're trying to stop TANAP, but the initial South Stream project was aimed at providing a massive amount of gas, 63 billion cubic meters, initially from Russia along the Black Sea, making landfall in Bulgaria, and then taking it to Romania and into Europe.

Cohen said that at this point, the only pipeline project that is actually being built - bricks, mortars, pipes, whatever - is TAP-TANAP.

"This corridor has a capacity to be expanded up to 30, 30-plus bcm, if you put additional compressor stations there," he said.

The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority energy projects for the EU. At the initial stage, the gas to be produced as part of the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor projects. Other sources can also connect to this project at a later stage.

As part of the Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz development, the gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline and Trans-Adriatic Pipeline.
Delhi: Following Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley's revelations about the planning and execution of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, Union Minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday that Pakistan had been exposed.

"I think Pakistan has been exposed, even then we would like to have a very cordial relationship with them," Singh said.

"You must have heard what David Headley has said in court, that Ishrat Jahan was a suicide bomber," he added while addressing a rally in Kerala, as per ANI.

"Ishrat Jahan regarding whom so many accusations were cast on our leaders. Tell me, will the accusing political parties now apologise to the nation for trying to fool the people?" Singh said.

Headley today told a special court in Mumbai that young college girl Ishrat Jahan - who was killed in an alleged fake encounter in 2004 in Gujarat - was an operative of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

Testifying via video-link from the US, Headley picked up the name of the 19-year-old Mumbra girl when quizzed by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam about a "botched-up operation" mentioned to him (Headley) by LeT commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi.

Headley told the court that Lakhvi had mentioned to him about a "botched-up operation" conducted in India by another LeT operative Muzammil Butt where a female member of the terror outfit was killed.

Prodded for details about the operation, Headley said, "There was a female wing in LeT which was headed by one Abu Aiman's mother. Zaki sahab (Zaki-Ur-Rehman) told me about Butt's botched up operation in India. It was some shootout with the police. I don't know which part in India. But there was one female who was killed in the shootout. I think she was an Indian national and not a Pakistani but was a LeT operative," he said.

Four persons - Ishrat Jahan, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Joha - were killed in an encounter with Gujarat Police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

The Ahmedabad city crime branch had then claimed that those killed in the encounter were LeT terrorists and had landed in Gujarat to kill the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

The CBI, which took over probe from the Gujarat High Court appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT), had filed a charge sheet in August 2013 saying that the encounter was fake and executed in the joint operation by the city crime branch and Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau (SIB).

In further disclosures, 55-year-old Headley, who recently turned approver in the 26/11 case, said LeT had planned attacks on the famous Akshardham temple in Ahmedabad to avenge the Babri Masjid demolition and that terror handler Abu Kahfa was in continuous touch with 10 of his members, sent to Mumbai to launch the 26/11 attack, from a control room in Karachi.

Headley also told the court how ISI and LeT majorly funded terror operations in India and financed him from time to time and that Pakistan native Tahawwur Rana visited Mumbai before the terror strikes in November 2008, which left 166 people dead and 309 injured.

(With PTI inputs)
Hubli: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who reached Hubli airport to receive the body of Siachen braveheart Lance Nayak Hanumanthappa Koppad, announced a relief of Rs 25 lakh to next of kin of the martyr.

"We are giving 25 lakh as compensation, two acres of wet land or four acres of dry land and job to one dependent of the family," Siddaramaiah told the media here.

"It's a great loss to the country and I condole the role of Lance Nayak Hanumanthappa," he added.

The brave soldier who survived six days buried under a 25-feet avalanche in Siachen, died at Army Research and Referral Hospital in New Delhi today.

The Army paid respects to the braveheart at Delhi`s Brar Square where Hanamanthappa`s body was lying in state.

The 33-year-old is survived by his wife and two-year-old daughter.

Lance Naik Hanumanthappa spent six days buried alive under the snow after an avalanche came crashing down on his military post.

Nine other soldiers from his regiment had died at the spot. Tributes have been pouring in for Hanumanthappa from across the country.
New Delhi: Siachen braveheart Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad, who was miraculously rescued alive from beneath tonnes of snow, passed away at 11:45 am on Thursday.

Dubbed as the 'miracle man', the 33-year-old soldier of the 19th Battalion of Madras Regiment was flown down to Delhi's Army Research and Referral Hospital, where he battled for life for two days, but eventually breathed his last today.

Koppad stayed alive for six days buried under the snow after an avalanche struck his post in Siachen Glacier at an height of 19,600 feet.

The whole nation mourned the martyr's death.

President Pranab Mukherjee expressed his sincere condolences on the passing away of the Army jawan and described him as a hero.

Lance Naik Koppad was a hero who demonstrated exemplary will power and courage in the face of adversity #PresidentMukherjee  President of India (@RashtrapatiBhvn) February 11, 2016

He made the supreme sacrifice in the line of duty #PresidentMukherjee  President of India (@RashtrapatiBhvn) February 11, 2016

The nation shall always remember Lance Naik Hanumanthappa for his bravery and indomitable spirit #PresidentMukherjee  President of India (@RashtrapatiBhvn) February 11, 2016

While expressing grief, Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined the nation in paying tribute to Hanumanthappa. The PM tweeted: He leaves us sad & devastated. RIP Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. The soldier in you remains immortal. Proud that martyrs like you served India.

He leaves us sad & devastated. RIP Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. The soldier in you remains immortal. Proud that martyrs like you served India.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 11, 2016

Condolences to family of L/Nk Hanumanthappa on his passing away. The Nation salutes him.  Manohar Parrikar (@manoharparrikar) February 11, 2016

Indian Army Chief Dalbir Singh Suhag condoled the death of the Lance Naik saying, Hanamanthappa will continue to inspire generations in the Indian Army.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi took to his Twitter account to express condolences to the brave soldier and his family.

He said: In his life and his passing Lance Naik Hanamanthappa has shown the world the meaning of perseverance & courage.

His extraordinary spirit and tenacity, till the very end, is an inspiration for all. My thoughts & prayers are with his bereaved family.

BJP president Amit Shah said: I join millions of countrymen to extend my condolences to braveheart Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. Nation will never forget his sacrifice.

I join millions of countrymen to extend my condolences to braveheart Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. Nation will never forget his sacrifice.  Amit Shah (@AmitShah) February 11, 2016

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee paid tribute to the martyr saying, Saddened by news of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. Brave soldier gave supreme sacrifice for the nation. Salute to him & his colleagues who died.

Saluting his bravery, Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar tweeted: "The only ray of hope amidst the devastating news of the avalanche was finding one of our jawans alive against all odds."

"Hearing of his demise leaves the entire nation shattered. I have always held our armed forces in the highest regard...Especially those who serve in these extreme conditions. RIP Lance Naik."

Bollywood celebrities like Lata Mangeshkar, Anupam and Kirron Kher, Rishi Kapoor among others mourned Hanumanthappa's death.

Lata Mangeshkar: Bharat mata ke veer saput Lance Naik Hanumanthappa ko meri bhavpurna shraddhanjali.
Delhi: Leaving a billion hearts saddened Siachen braveheart Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad lost the battle with death on Thursday, three days after he was miraculously rescued alive from beneath tonnes of snow following an avalanche that hit his post in Siachen Glacier at an height of 19,600 feet.

33-year-old Hanumanthappa of the 19th Battalion of Madras Regiment, who is survived by his wife Mahadevi Ashok Bilebal and two-year-old daughter Netra Koppad, breathed his last at 11:45 am today, as per the Indian Army.

The mortal remains of the Lance Naik was brought to Brar Square, Delhi where wreath laying ceremony took place and all three Service Chiefs, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, MoS Defence Rao Inderjit Singh and a host of other politicians paid their last respects.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal were among those who paid their last respects to the Lance Naik.

Parrikar also met Hanumanthappa's family members at Brar Square.

The condition of Koppad, who was admitted to Army Research and Referral Hospital in Delhi on February 9, had deteriorated yesterday.

Today the whole nation, including President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, joined in to mourn the passing away of the Army soldier.

"I am deeply sad to learn about the passing away of your son, Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad. Lance Naik Koppad was a hero who demonstrated exemplary will power and courage in the face of adversity," President Mukherjee said in his message to the Lance Naik's mother Basamma Koppad.

The PM posted on Twitter:

He leaves us sad & devastated. RIP Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. The soldier in you remains immortal. Proud that martyrs like you served India.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 11, 2016

Parrikar wrote the following:

Condolences to family of L/Nk Hanumanthappa on his passing away. The Nation salutes him.  Manohar Parrikar (@manoharparrikar) February 11, 2016

Dubbed as the 'miracle man', the soldier had managed to stay alive for six days buried under the snow after an avalanche struck their post on February 3.

His condition was reviewed by a team of doctors comprising critical care specialists, the HoD Dept of Medicine, a senior nephrologist, a senior neurologist of the army hospital and a panel of experts from AIIMS yesterday.

A resident of village Betadur in Dharwad district of Karnataka, Koppad had joined the army 13 years back.

His last rites will take place tomorrow in his home town in Dharwar (Karnataka).

(With Agency inputs)
New Delhi: The All India Government Nurses Federation will go on a relay hunger strike from Friday to February 27 to press for their demand to be paid all benefits recommended by the Seventh Pay Commission.

The two-week strike will also see the nurses across India go on mass casual leave on February 26.

The nurses have demanded increment in nursing, risk and night duty allowances as per the Seventh Pay Commission, federation secretary general G.K. Khurana said here.

She said: "We deal with the deadly infections daily but we are not provided enough risk allowances. If the demands are not met, we will make the hospitals non-functional after March 15."

Aruna, a senior nurse at the Hindu Rao hospital here, told IANS: "We want our payment to be as per the Seventh Pay Commission. Up until now all the pay commissions have been implemented without any problems. Why is the Seventh Pay Commission not being implemented for the nurses?"
New Delhi: Concerned over anti-national activities at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), East Delhi's MP and BJP's national secretary Maheish Girri on Thursday wrote to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, HRD Minister Smriti Irani and Delhi's Police Commissioner Bassi.

In his letters, Maheish Girri has requested them to take stern action against the students who raised anti-national slogans - 'Pakistan Zindabad', etc - in JNU.

Maheish Girri has requested Rajnath Singh to give directions to Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi to file an FIR against organisations behind the event.

Any anti-national activity shouldn't be allowed in any educational institute at any cost," the East Delhi MP said.

Any anti-national activity shouldn't be allowed in educational institutions at any cost. I am sure a action will be taken at the earliest.  Maheish Girri (@MaheishGirri) February 11, 2016

Also, he said that he will file a complaint at DCP's South Delhi Office on Thursday.

"Let's make it clear that if any student inflicts self harm after disciplinary action, govt shouldn't be held responsible. Enough of Drama. (sic)," Maheish Girri tweeted.

Let's make it clear that if any student inflicts self harm after disciplinary action, govt shouldn't be held responsible. Enough of Drama.  Maheish Girri (@MaheishGirri) February 11, 2016

JNU administration has already ordered a "disciplinary" enquiry into holding of an event on campus against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru despite cancellation of permission saying any talk about countrys disintegration cannot be "national".

The student organisers of the event had pasted posters across the campus inviting them to gather for a protest march against "judicial killing of Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhatt" and in solidarity with "struggle of Kashmiri people for their democratic right to self determination" at varsity's Sabarmati dhaba.

Here are the letters:-
New Delhi: Indian Army's brave soldier Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad, who was dug out alive after being buried under ice for six days in the Siachen glacier, attained martyrdom on Thursday. He breathed his last around 11:45 AM at Delhi's Army Research and Referral Hospital.

Siachen avalanche miracle survivor Hanumnathappa Koppad's condition had worsened on Wednesday. Here is all what happened since he was miraculously found alive till he attained martyrdom:-

- Feb 8, Monday night: Miraculously found alive

Hanumanthappa Koppad was found alive from under 35 feet of ice at an avalanche-hit army post in the Siachen glacier in Jammu and Kashmir. Notably, he was found six days after he and nine other soldiers were buried. The bodies of the other nine were already found.

- Feb 9, Tuesday: Flown to Delhi's Army hospital, 1st medical bulletin released; nation prayed for him

After being evacuated, Hanumanthappa Koppad was flown to Delhi in a special air ambulance.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a visit to Delhis Research and Referral Hospital where Lance Naik Hanumanthappa was recuperating.

Family members of the brave soldier flew to New Delhi on Tuesday night from Panaji to be with him as he battled for life in the army hospital. News of Koppad miraculously being found alive rejoiced his family, which almost gave up hopes of seeing him again.

"It is a punar janam (rebirth) for him and all of us," the soldier's wife Mahadevi had said.

When Koppad was flown to Delhi from Siachen in an air ambulance earlier in the day for reviving him from a comatose condition, the village folk joined his family to offer special prayers for his speedy recovery from a critical condition.

There was a ray of hope amid gloom in the village with prayers for Koppad's precious life.

Doctors of Delhis Research and Referral Hospital monitoring the brave soldier's treatment released the first medical bulletin. There was almost no improvement in his health condition.

His condition continued to remain critical and the next 48 hours were extremely crucial for him. He was still in coma. The entire nation was praying for his speedy recovery.

The doctors were taking best care of him to save his precious life.

- Feb 10, Wednesday: 2nd medical bulletin released, condition worsened

As the nation was praying for Lance Naik Hanumanthappa's life, the Army hospital released its 2nd bulletin.

Koppad, battling for life, was still critical condition, as millions across the country prayed for his recovery.

More than a day after the soldier was admitted here, the Army Research and Referral Hospital said in the evening that his condition worsened "despite aggressive therapy and supportive care".

He continued to remain extremely critical with evidence of oxygen deprivation to the brain on CT scan. There was evidence of pneumonia in both lungs. Koppad was placed on ventilator in the ICU at the hospital.

- Feb 11, Thursday: India lost its brave soldier as Hanumanthappa attains martyrdom; PM devastated over death

Sadly, the nation lost its brave and courageous soldier Hanumanthappa as he breathed his last at the army's hospital. The Lance Naik attained at martyrdom around 11:45 AM.

Sad over the soldier's demise, PM Narendra Modi tweeted, "He leaves us sad & devastated. RIP Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. The soldier in you remains immortal. Proud that martyrs like you served India."
Bengaluru: As a precautionary measure, the Karnataka government on Thursday asked the schools to remain closed for today, in the wake of leopard attack incident.

Around 130 schools have been asked by the authorities to remain shut.

Two days after a leopard entered Vibgyor Public School in the city and injured five, another one was on Tuesday spotted around the same school.

The wild cat was spotted Tuesday night between 9.30 pm and 10 pm in the area.

However, some people of the area told a forest official that they have spotted two leopards in and around the private school.

The government officials have asked citizens to lock their houses properly and remain alert.

A male leopard was on Sunday tranquilised and trapped after it quietly entered a private school in the city and injured five people.

As the school was closed on Sunday, barring a couple of security guards, hundreds of students and faculty were lucky to have escaped a ferocious attack by the eight-year-old leopard.

School authorities had immediately informed forest officials and police who rushed to the spot.

The feline was tranquilised by the forest officials and taken to Bannerghatta Biological Park.
Mumbai: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) today said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is set to launch the 'Make in India Week' later this week, also need to "showcase" farmers' suicides in the state to global leaders.

NCP member and Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Dhananjay Munde claimed 189 farmers committed suicide in Maharashtra in January alone and alleged the government is misguiding the courts by stating false numbers.

"While the Prime Minister is coming here to inaugurate 'Make in India Week', he also needs to showcase farmers' suicides in Maharashtra to global leaders," he said. The Prime Minister launches the 'Make in India Week' event here on February 13.

Munde also alleged the Maharashtra government is ignoring serious drought the state is facing.

"The CM had, on June 11, 2015, said he would chair a Cabinet meeting in Aurangabad and bring about a solution to the drought in Marathwada," Munde told reporters here.

"Urban areas in Latur district don't receive drinking water for 20 days, Beed district (doesn't receive water) for 15 days, while Parbhani district receives water once in eight days," Munde said, adding the distribution of water in rural areas is worse.

He claimed no district Guardian Minister has chaired a meeting on the drought situation in the last eight months and surgeries in government hospitals are being cancelled for the lack of water.

"The water mafia is looting the poor. Please do something to end the drinking water woes of people," he said.

On the issue of allotment of a prime plot to Bollywood actor and BJP MP Hema Malini, the NCP leader said the state government has not followed the Bombay High Court's order.
aku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 11

By Aygun Badalova - Trend:

Global liquids demand (oil, biofuels, and other liquids) will increase by around 20 million barrels per day to 112 million barrels per day by 2035, according to the forecasts, published in BP Energy Outlook.

All of this increased demand comes from emerging economies, with China and India accounting for over half of the increase. In contrast, oil consumption in OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) will decline by 5 million barrels per dat, BP said.

BP expects the demand for natural gas to grow by 1.8 percent per annual, making it the fastest growing fossil fuel. BP expects oil to grow steadily - by 0.9 percent per annual during the forecasted period.

Global liquids supply will expand by by nearly 19 million barrels per day by 2035, led by growth in non-OPEC supply, according to BP's forecasts.

Non-OPEC supply is forecasted to grow by 11 million barrels. All of the net increase in non-OPEC supply is expected to come from US shale, Brazilian deepwater and Canadian oil sands.

China's demand for energy is expected to grow by less than two percent per annual over the projected period, far slower than eight percent per annual seen since 2000.

"Part of this reduction is driven by slower economic growth: annual GDP growth is projected to average close to 5 percent over 2014-35, around half the average pace of growth since 2000," BP said.
London: Social partners can influence the way an adult male chimpanzee establishes grooming interactions -- an important social interaction for chimps -- with family and community members, new research says.

The chimps' decisions on how much to invest in grooming interactions that are usually done to establish friendly ties are based at least in part on whether there are other potential social partners close by, the findings showed.

With more bystanders - a larger audience - the male chimps offered less grooming at the start of a bout and were more likely to abandon the attempts to start a grooming interaction, explained Nicholas E. Newton-Fisher, anthropologists from the University of Kent in Canterbury, Britain.

Also, their grooming efforts were less likely to be reciprocated, he added.

Chimpanzees grooming involves removing pieces of dirt, plants, dried skin, and insects from the hair of another chimpanzee of off of themselves.

Grooming and other forms of social interaction in non-human primates are driven by considerations of direct benefits rather than relationships based on trust, the study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, revealed.

Wild chimpanzees live in large groups, and the associations between the individual chimps are fluid, and social relationships are variable, the researchers said.

They studied the behaviour of chimpanzees in a 60-strong community from the Mahale Mountains National Park, Tanzania, which has been continuously studied for over 30 years.

The chimpanzees were used to human observation and grooming interactions could be recorded in detail at close range.
Islamabad: The death sentences of 12 hardcore militants was confirmed today by army chief General Raheel Sharif, days after they were given death penalty by the military courts for committing "heinous offences relating to terrorism".

The convicts were found guilty of various acts of terrorism in the country, including breaking of Bannu Jail, attacks on armed forces, law enforcement agencies and civilians, army said in statement.

"Today Chief of Army Staff confirmed death sentences awarded to another 12 hardcore terrorists, who were involved in committing heinous offences relating to terrorism," it said.

The convicts were tried by military courts set up after attack at Peshawar school on December 16, 2014 which killed at least 150 people, mostly students.

The venue and timing of trial was kept secret due to security reasons.

Already several militants conceited by these courts have been hanged, including the facilitators of the Peshawar school attack.
Lahore: A court here today gave two weeks' time to a petitioner to inform it under which law Pakistan could seek return of the famed Koh-i-Noor diamond from Britain that India has been trying to get from the UK for years.

Petitioner Barrister Javed Iqbal Jaffrey told the Lahore High Court that Koh-i-Noor diamond was "Pakistan asset" as it is in "illegal possession" of Britain.

"The British government had refused to hand over the diamond to India. Now Pakistan should lay claim on it as it is first entitled to have it. It is the Pakistani government's duty to bring it back," he said.

During the hearing of the case, Lahore High Court Justice Khalid Mahmood Khan asked the petitioner to give reference of the law under which the Pakistani government could seek the return of the diamond from the British government.

The court is hearing the maintainability of the case.

It directed the federal and Punjab law officers to appear on next hearing on February 25 and give arguments about its maintainability.

Last December, the LHC Registrar office had objected to the maintainability of the petition, saying the court had no jurisdiction to hear this case against the British Queen.

However, on February 8, the LHC overruled the objection and admitted the petition for hearing. The British Queen, the British High Commission in Pakistan and the Pakistani government have been made respondents in the case.



Jaffery said the British had snatched the diamond from Daleep Singh, grandson of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh and took to the UK.

"The diamond became part of the crown of incumbent Queen Elizabeth-II at the time of her crowing in 1953. Queen Elizabeth has no right on the Koh-i-Noor diamond, which weighs 105 carats and worth billions of rupees," he said, adding Koh-I-Noor diamond was cultural heritage of Punjab province and its citizens owned it.

Reportedly, in 1849, after the conquest of the Punjab by the British forces, the properties of the Sikh Empire were confiscated.

The Koh-i-Noor was transferred to the treasury of the British East India Company in Lahore. The properties of the Sikh Empire were taken as war compensations. Even one line of the Treaty of Lahore was dedicated to the fate of the Koh-i-Noor.
Geneva/London: The World Health Organisation advised women on Wednesday on how to protect themselves from Zika, particularly if pregnant, but also reassured them that most women in areas affected by the mosquito-borne virus will give birth to "normal infants."

The illness, until recently viewed as relatively mild, has sparked concern because of a possible link between infection in pregnancy and microcephaly, a rare birth defect in which infants are born with abnormally small heads that can be accompanied by developmental problems.

Brazil, the worst hit country in an outbreak sweeping the Americas and now present in more than 30 countries, is investigating a potential link between Zika infections and more than 4,000 suspected cases of microcephaly. Researchers have identified evidence of Zika infection in 17 of these cases, either in the baby or in the mother, but have not confirmed that the virus can cause microcephaly.

In its advice, the Geneva-based WHO said women in areas with the virus should protect themselves, especially during pregnancy, by covering up against mosquitoes and practicing safe sex through the use of condoms. It said more evidence was needed to confirm whether sex commonly transmits the virus.

The agency, which declared a health emergency over Zika on Feb. 1, did not recommend travel restrictions but suggested women should consult their doctors or authorities if travelling.

Pregnant women in general, including those who develop symptoms of Zika infection, should see their health care provider for close monitoring. But the WHO was also reassuring, declaring: "Most women in Zika-affected areas will give birth to normal infants."

A study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine provided new evidence strengthening the association between Zika virus and a spike in birth defects, citing the presence of the virus in the brain of an aborted fetus of a European woman who became pregnant while living in Brazil.

Professor Tatjana Avsic Zupanc, who led the researchers in the study, said in an email her team`s findings "may present the most compelling evidence to date" of the link between Zika and birth defects.

As scientists race to find out more about the virus and its possible effects, 30 of the world`s leading scientific research institutions, journals and funders pledged to share for free all data and expertise on the virus as soon as they have it.

"The arguments for sharing data and the consequences of not doing so (have been) ... thrown into stark relief by the Ebola and Zika outbreaks," said the agreement by an unprecedented number of signatories in the Americas, Japan, Europe and elsewhere. There is as yet no vaccine or treatment for the disease.

Specialists welcomed the initiative, saying it showed how the global health community had learnt crucial lessons from West Africa`s Ebola epidemic, which killed more than 11,300 people.

Mark Woolhouse, a University of Edinburgh professor of infectious diseases, said the commitment "if acted upon...will save lives."

ABORTION AND THE CHURCH

The Zika outbreak has raised the issue of a woman`s reproductive rights including abortion, a contentious issue in much of Latin America. The WHO said on Wednesday that, "Women who wish to terminate a pregnancy due to a fear of microcephaly should have access to safe abortion services to the full extent of the law."

Abortion is illegal in many cases in Brazil, and in much of the region. Reflecting the influence of the Roman Catholic Church in many parts of the Americas, a Catholic group appealed to Pope Francis on Wednesday to allow Church members to "follow their conscience" and use contraception or to let women have abortions to protect themselves against Zika.

Catholics for Choice, a liberal advocacy group based in Washington, said in a statement it would run ads in the International New York Times and El Diario de Hoy in El Salvador on Thursday, the eve of a papal trip to Cuba and Mexico.

"When you travel tomorrow (Friday) to Latin America, we ask you to make it clear to your brother bishops that good Catholics can follow their conscience and use birth control to protect themselves and their partners," the ad will say, according to advance excerpts released in the statement.

The Catholic Church teaches that life begins at the moment of conception and that abortion is killing. It also bans artificial birth control such as condoms, arguing that they block the possible transmission of life. The ban is widely disregarded in many countries, but activists say there is still a stigma attached to birth control in some Latin American countries because of the edict.

In its statement on Wednesday, the WHO said microcephaly cannot reliably be predicted by early ultrasounds, "except in extreme cases." This point is important, as even in countries where abortion services are freely available, they are generally prohibited after a certain point in the pregnancy.

The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday told a Congressional hearing that he expects Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory in the Caribbean, to be hard hit by Zika. Mosquitoes have already passed the virus to people in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

"We will likely see significant numbers of cases in Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories," CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden told the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing.

So far there have been no cases of Zika passed by mosquitoes in the continental United States, said U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell on Wednesday.
New Delhi: Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, General Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is on a three-day visit to India, on Thursday called on President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here.

"Indian hospitality, Arab warmth. President Pranab Mukherjee receives crown prince at Rashtrapati Bhavan," external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup tweeted along with pictures of the two leaders.

Mukherjee hosted a private lunch in honour of the visiting dignitary.

Earlier on Thursday, the crown prince, who arrived here on Wednesday, was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

He then paid floral tributes to Mahatma Gandhi and also held a restricted meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the latter`s residence at 7, Race Course Road.

A slew of agreements, including on defence equipment manufacturing and civil nuclear cooperation, are likely to be signed between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during the crown prince`s visit.

After the India-UAE relationship was elevated to comprehensive strategic partnership during Modi`s visit to the UAE in August last year, the first by an Indian prime minister in 34 years, there is focus on new areas of cooperation like defence production in India, security, counter-terrorism, in nuclear and space sector, and in the energy sector.

During Modi`s visit, the Gulf nation committed $75 billion in investments in India`s infrastructure.

The welfare of the expatriate Indians in the UAE, numbering around 2.6 million, is also likely to come up for discussion between the two sides.

The crown prince is being accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising cabinet ministers, senior officials and business leaders.

Delegation-level talks between Modi and Sheikh Mohamed are scheduled to be held on Thursday evening following which the agreements will be signed.

On Friday, the crown prince will leave for Mumbai where he will visit the Bombay Stock Exchange and meet Indian business leaders.


When Albert Einstein forged the bedrock theory of modern physics 100 years ago, he had no computer, no internet, no printer -- ballpoint pens and pocket calculators did not exist and few homes had telephones.

Yet it took one of the most sophisticated science tools ever built, at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars, to prove an idea the scientist had crafted with little more than paper, a fountain pen, hard work and a mind sharper than most.

On Thursday, physicists announced they had detected gravitational waves -- hitherto a key unproven element of Einstein`s general theory of relativity.

The thesis was published 100 years ago this year, when the world was a very different place, inhabited by a man way ahead of his time.

Radios had been invented, but not yet entered people`s homes.

The first transcontinental telephone call was made in 1915, from New York City to San Francisco, as was the first transatlantic call between Arlington, Virginia and Paris, France.

Electric refrigerators were not yet a thing, and motorcars shared the road with horse-drawn carriages.

The Eiffel Tower was the tallest building in the world.

In maths, the height of calculating power was the "comptometer" -- a clunky mechanical adding machine that predated the electronic calculator.

In physics, there were already interferometers, but they bore little resemblance to the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) credited with spotting Einstein`s waves.

At the time, rudimentary interferometers were used to search for "aether", a medium theorised, wrongly, to transmit light like air transmits sound."The technology that was available at that time was something like 10 billion times less sensitive than what it is today," Cardiff University gravitational physics professor B Sathyaprakash told AFP.

Even if they had been more powerful, it was unlikely anyone would have thought of using them to detect gravitational waves.

"It was only about 50 years after Einstein first proposed (his theory) that we had some understanding of what gravitational waves were," said Sathyaprakash.

"In fact, after working out his initial solution, even Einstein had a hard time believing gravitational waves are real..."

The quest to detect them started in earnest when American physicist Joseph Weber built the first aluminium cylinder-based detectors in the 1960s.

This was followed over subsequent decades by telescopes, satellites, and more recently laser beams -- all searching for proof of one man`s idea.

Einstein`s genius, experts say, was probably unrelated to the time he lived in or the technology at hand.

"The elegance of Einstein`s theory of gravity does not rely on computational power, but rather on the elegance of its principles," said David Cerdeno of Durham University`s Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology.Added Sathyaprakash: "Computers are good at crunching numbers, they are not very good at analytical calculations... imagining things in a way that nobody else could do...

"(Einstein) did what are called `thought experiments`. He was very good at doing it. He would think about a situation, and then try to see what the consequence of that will be if the theory goes in one particular direction... or another."

Just 20 years ago, said Sathyaprakash, there was no computer powerful enough to solve the equations that emerged from Einstein`s musings.

A photograph of the physicist`s desk, said to have been taken after his death in 1955, presents an image very far removed from shooting laser beams at high-tech physics labs.

The workspace of the man who solved the mysteries of nuclear power, gravity and the speed of light sported no typewriter, no telephone, no radio -- no electronic gadget whatsoever.

His desk was covered in books and papers, with a tobacco tin and a pipe, and a large black board against the wall, covered in white chalk equations.

"Not everything can be solved with a computer," said Sathyaprakash.

"He had to do analytical calculations with pencil and paper, and those things took a long time."
Brussels: The EU piled pressure on Greece on Wednesday over Europe`s migrant crisis, telling Athens to improve conditions for refugees and to shore up its borders or risk a suspension of the bloc`s passport-free zone.

Brussels said Athens must treat asylum seekers better so that other overstretched European Union states can send back migrants who had originally landed in Greece, in line with EU rules.

Greece is bearing the brunt of concerns that the failure to deal properly with the biggest movement of migrants to Europe since World War II threatens the very fabric of the 28-nation bloc.

One million people entered Europe in 2015 and 3,500 died trying to reach it by sea. Another 70,000 have arrived so far this year, with more than 400 deaths.

EU migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, unveiling a report on the crisis ahead of a summit next week, urged Greece and other states to do more before a new surge of refugees expected this summer.

"We have lost time already -- this is a fact. And this is not acceptable," Avramopoulos told a news conference at the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU.

The EU`s Dublin regulations on migration say people must apply for asylum in the country where they first land, but that system has been thrown into chaos by the conditions in Greece.

A ruling by the EU`s top court in 2011 at the height of Greece`s debt crisis said conditions for asylum seekers in Greece were degrading, meaning that other countries could not send them back.

"There are still key areas in the asylum process that need to be improved before the Dublin regulation can be fully applied to Greece again, notably in the areas of reception capacity and conditions, access to the asylum procedure, appeals and legal aid," the Commission said.EU states are due next month to debate changes to the Dublin rules.

If Greece fails to comply with the recommendations, Brussels could authorise EU member countries to exceptionally extend border controls within the Schengen area -- including with Greece -- for up to two years.

Greece has been told to improve registration procedures, including making sure migrants are properly fingerprinted and their documents checked against security data bases.

The envoys nodded through the plans, which must get final approval from EU ministers on Friday, European sources told AFP.

EU ambassadors in Brussels have, meanwhile, backed demands by the Commission for Greece to secure its sea and land border with Turkey, the access point for around 80 percent of migrants to Europe.

Berlin, Athens and Ankara have asked NATO to begin surveillance of the Aegean sea to provide a "clear view" of how people-smugglers are operating on the Turkish coast.

"Germany, Greece and Turkey made a communal request for a surveillance mission in the Aegean sea," a German government source told AFP on Wednesday.

The head of NATO has said he will give "very serious" consideration to the plan, which would be a first time the alliance has got involved in Europe`s migrant crisis. But anger is growing in Greece too, with hundreds of people on the island of Kos protesting on Wednesday against plans to build a migrant registration facility voicing fears about its impact on tourism.

"No to the hotspot on our island," read the banner leading the demonstration by traders and tourism business owners, referring to the facilities the EU wants built on the island of 30,000 inhabitants.

Avramopoulos, a former Greek minister, had earlier called on both Greece and Italy to "urgently" complete all the planned hotspots on their territory -- with Greece having completed just one of five.

The criticism is certain to anger Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who on Wednesday compared the EU to the orchestra playing on the deck of the ocean liner Titanic.

Avramopoulos also hit out at European Union members for dragging their heels on easing the refugee burden for Greece and Italy. Just 479 out of a planned 160,000 people have been relocated to other states so far.

The migration crisis has pushed key tenets of European unity such as the Schengen free travel area and the Dublin migration agreements to the brink of collapse.

The EU has pinned high hopes on the deal it signed in November with Turkey to cut migrant numbers in exchange for three billion euros ($3.2 billion) in aid and faster EU membership talks.
North Rhine-Westphalia: A 94-year-old former Auschwitz guard went on trial Thursday for complicity in the murders of tens of thousands of people at the Nazi concentration camp.

Reinhold Hanning was taken to court in the western town of Detmold seven decades after the defeat of the Nazis, charged with at least 170,000 counts of accessory to murder over his role at the camp in occupied Poland.

The trial is the first of three scheduled this year against former SS men, as Germany races to prosecute ageing Third Reich criminals.

Christoph Heubner, vice president of the International Auschwitz Committee representing victims, said it was an opportunity to make up "for the failures of Germany`s justice system".

Among the 6,500 former SS personnel at Auschwitz who survived the war, fewer than 50 have been convicted.

Holocaust survivor Angela Orosz, who will testify against Hanning, told AFP that all Auschwitz staff "were part of this killing machine".

"Without these people and their active support for the Holocaust, what happened in Auschwitz, the murder of 1.1 million people in just a few years, would not have been possible," said Orosz, who was born in Auschwitz just over a month before it was liberated on January 27, 1945.

Due to the strong interest in the trial, Thursday`s hearing was held at the chamber of commerce, which can hold more people.

An hour before it was due to open, a queue of at least 50 people had formed outside, where a blue banner reading "Let`s not forget" was also draped.

After the charge sheet is read out Thursday against Hanning, the court is to hear from three German plaintiffs -- Holocaust survivors Leon Schwarzbaum, Erna de Vries and Justin Sonder.

It was unclear if Hanning would speak.Hanning faces between three and 15 years in jail, but in view of his advanced age and the period required for any appeals, he is unlikely to serve time.

"Even today, it is not too late to look at what happened", said 90-year-old Sonder, who lost 22 members of his family under the Nazi regime and was sent to Auschwitz when he was 17 years old.

Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, agreed.

"There are still a few old men out there with blood on their hands. For seven decades, they did not have to answer for their crimes.

"As long as it`s possible to bring any of them to justice, it must be done," he said.

Hanning stands accused of having watched over the selection of which prisoners were fit for labour, and which should be sent to gas chambers.

He is also deemed to have been aware of the regular mass shooting of inmates at the camp, as well as the systematic starvation of prisoners.

"Through his capacity as a guard, he facilitated... the several thousand killings of inmates by the main perpetrator," prosecutors said.

Hanning has admitted to working in Auschwitz but denies a role in the killings.Thursday`s trial came on the heels of last year`s high-profile case against Oskar Groening, dubbed the "Bookkeeper of Auschwitz".

Groening was sentenced in July to four years in prison, even though he had previously been cleared by German authorities after lengthy criminal probes dating back to the 1970s.

But the legal foundation for prosecuting ex-Nazis changed in 2011 with the German conviction of former death camp guard John Demjanjuk, solely on the basis of his having worked at the Sobibor camp in occupied Poland.

At least two other cases are due to be heard this year before German courts.

One of them concerns former SS medic, Hubert Zafke, 95, who is charged with at least 3,681 counts of complicity in killings.

Zafke was a medical orderly at the camp in a period when 14 trains carrying prisoners -- including the Jewish teenage diarist Anne Frank -- arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Another former guard at Auschwitz, 93-year-old Ernst Remmel, is set to stand trial in April.
Paris: French President Francois Hollande on Thursday broadened his cabinet to include the heads of two smaller left-wing parties, looking beyond his Socialist party in a bid to improve his faltering chances of re-election in 2017.

Dogged by deep unpopularity and public anger over unemployment, Hollande hopes the reshuffle will widen his voter appeal and discourage other leftist candidates from running against him.

But one left-winger just declared his intention to be a candidate in 2017 and analysts swiftly cast doubt on the possible impact of a reshuffle that brings in no charismatic heavyweight and does not change the government`s policy agenda.

Besides handing portfolios to the Greens and the centre-left Radical Left Party, Hollande recalled his former prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, seen as a safe pair of hands, to head the foreign ministry. The appointment of the veteran German-speaker was immediately welcomed by Berlin.

Michel Sapin stays on as finance minister and Emmanuel Macron as economy minister, and the government is expected to largely stick to the pro-business line it switched to two years ago.

"This government must act, reform, move forward," Hollande told French television.

He said his new three-pronged focus would be on fighting unemployment, now at 10.6 percent, ensuring security after France was hit by Islamist militant attacks that killed 130 people in November, and protecting the environment.

"There is no change of course, but Hollande is trying to broaden his appeal by bringing on allies, expanding his base beyond the Socialist party to boost his chances to qualify for the presidential election run-offs," Ifop pollster`s Jerome Fourquet said.

In French presidential elections, only the top two candidates in the first round make it to the run-off. As of now, Hollande is far from certain to reach the second round.

"Opinion polls now show that the National Front`s Marine Le Pen will most likely make it to the second round so it`s crucial for Hollande to do all he can to boost his chances in the first round," Fourquet said.

FIREBRAND DISSIDENT

Another problem for Hollande is that left-wing firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon said late on Wednesday he would run for the presidency again next year, a move that risks splitting the left-of-centre vote.

Besides, the nomination of Greens leader Emmanuelle Cosse, who joins as Housing Minister, is controversial within her own party. Two party spokeswomen said in a statement that the party disapproved of her joining the government and that this meant that she was de-facto no longer party chief.

Two dissident ecologist lawmakers, who left the divided Greens party last year precisely because it was becoming increasingly critical of the government, also joined the cabinet as secretaries of state.

The head of the small Left Radical Party, Jean-Michel Baylet becomes minister for local authorities.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said: "I`m happy that Jean-Marc Ayrault, the former prime minister, who has strong ties with Germany is now the successor in the foreign ministry. I say to Jean-Marc: welcome and looking forward to our cooperation in the future."

After two years as prime minister at the start of Hollande`s mandate, Ayrault was dropped in favour of the younger and more thrusting Valls. He replaces Laurent Fabius, who is leaving to head France`s top constitutional council.
Canberra/New Delhi: Harinder Sidhu, a senior career diplomat of Indian origin, was on Thursday named Australia`s new high commissioner to India.

She will replace Patrick Suckling in New Delhi and will have non-resident accreditation to Bhutan as well.

She is the third Indian-origin envoy in India, after the US and Canadian envoys and the second Indian-origin Australian high commissioner in India.

"India is one of Australia`s closest and most significant partners in the Indo-Pacific region," Australia`s Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop stated while making the announcement.

"It is our 10th largest trading partner and our two-way investment is worth over $20 billion," she stated.

Bishop said that Australia would continue to push for the conclusion of a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement with India, designed to take the economic relationship between the two countries to a new level.

"Australia also has strong strategic and defence ties with India, conducting our first bilateral maritime exercises in 2015. There are also over 450,000 people of Indian descent currently residing in Australia driving our strong education, cultural and tourism links," Bishop said.

Sidhu is a senior career officer with the Australia`s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, most recently serving as first assistant secretary of the Multilateral Policy Division.

She has previously served overseas in Moscow and Damascus. Sidhu`s previous roles included first assistant secretary in the Department of Climate Change, assistant director-general in the Office of National Assessments and senior advisor in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

She holds a bachelor of laws and a bachelor of economics degree from the University of Sydney.

In a separate statement, the Australian High Commission in New Delhi said that it would welcome Sidhu to India as the Australian high commissioner-designate next week .

It quoted Sidhu as saying that she was looking forward to her new role in a dynamic country.

"India is one of the most exciting places for a diplomat to be at the moment. India`s economic prospects are bright and it is becoming a more influential and active international player," she was quoted as saying.


Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Feb. 11

By Huseyn Hasanov- Trend:

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammadov discussed the implementation of joint projects with Afghanistan on energy and transport spheres with the country's Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to Turkmenistan Mohammad Fazil Saifi.

In particular, the sides discussed the TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) gas pipeline project, Turkmen government said Feb. 11.

Implemented at the initiative of the Turkmen side large-scale projects in the energy and transport sectors of regional significance became an important step towards strengthening the foundations of civilian life in Afghanistan, said the government.

First of all, the construction of Asia's largest TAPI gas pipeline and laying of the railway Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan (TAT), which are intended to be a symbol of mutually beneficial cooperation, were emphasized.

Berdimuhammadov noted that a special attention is given to the multifaceted Afghan-Turkmen cooperation, and emphasized that Turkmenistan will always support the inter-Afghan conflict's peaceful settlement.

Turkmenistan supplies electricity to Afghanistan on preferential terms, regularly sends humanitarian aid to the country, and builds social objects.
Paju: North Korea said it was kicking out all South Koreans from the jointly run Kaesong industrial zone on Thursday and freezing the assets of companies operating there, calling the South`s move to suspend operations a "declaration of war".

The North declared the industrial park, run by the rivals as a symbol of cooperation for more than a decade, a military control zone, the agency that handles its ties with Seoul said, according to the official KCNA news agency.

Dozens of South Korean trucks were already returning across the border earlier in the day, laden with goods and equipment, after the South said it was pulling out.

"Unpardonable is the puppet group`s act of totally suspending the operation in (Kaesong), finding fault with the DPRK`s H-bomb test and launch of a satellite," the North`s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said, referring to South Korea.

Isolated North Korea regularly dismisses the South as a puppet of the United States and just as regularly accuses both of acts of war against it.

DPRK is short for the North`s official name, the Democratic People`s Republic of Korea. North Korea tested what it said was a hydrogen bomb on Jan. 6 and on Sunday launched a rocket, putting a satellite into orbit.

The United States, Japan and South Korea said Sunday`s launch was a ballistic missile test, and like last month`s nuclear test, a violation of U.N. resolutions. The U.S. Senate voted unanimously in favour of tougher sanctions.

North Korea ordered South Koreans out of the zone by late afternoon, forbidding them to take anything other than personal belongings, KCNA said. South Korea said after the North`s announcement that its top priority was the safe return of all of its people.

Halting activity at the park, where 124 South Korean companies employed about 55,000 North Koreans, cuts the last significant vestige of North-South cooperation - a rare opportunity for Koreans divided by the 1950-53 war to interact on a daily basis.

North Korean workers were given a taste of life in the South at the complex, about 54 km (34 miles) northwest of Seoul, including snack foods like Choco Pies and toiletries that were resold as luxury items in the North.

They also rubbed shoulders with their managers from South Korea. Supporters of the project said that kind of contact was important in promoting inter-Korean understanding, despite concerns that Pyongyang might have used proceeds from Kaesong to help fund its nuclear and missile programmes.
Brussels: US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Thursday sought more help from dozens of defence ministers from the US-led coalition against Islamic State jihadists, as Russia mounts its own air campaign in Syria.

More than 18 months after the United States and the quickly assembled alliance began bombing IS targets, Carter is hoping renewed alarm over terror attacks around the globe and the jihadists` growing footprint in Libya will lead to greater military and financial commitments from partners at a meeting in Brussels.

He has taken a two-pronged approach to winning support, using a combination of private diplomacy and public shaming, accusing some unspecified members of the 66-nation coalition of doing "nothing at all" to help the fight.

Speaking at NATO headquarters on Thursday ahead of the coalition meeting, Carter said the "the capabilities that will be required to carry out the campaign plans... will be clearly delineated" to defence ministers.

"We will be sharing with them the operational campaign plan for the defeat of ISIL... which we need to get done as soon as possible," Carter said.

Thursday`s meeting in the NATO headquarters will see Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland, who is overseeing the anti-IS effort, give an overview of the situation on the ground.

A senior US defence official said Washington is looking not just for pledges of military support and cash, but ideas too.

"The secretary will, frankly, give a call to his fellow ministers to be creative, to speak up to contribute to the thought leadership in the campaign," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "There`s no monopoly on good ideas."
Moscow: Russia denied on Thursday its involvement in bombings in Aleppo, Syria's second largest city, that hit two hospitals, blaming US aircraft for the attack instead.

It said two US Air Force A-10 attack jets entered the Syrian air space from Turkey, flew to Aleppo and launched strikes against facilities in the city on Wednesday," the Russian defence ministry said.

Earlier on Wednesday, US military official Steve Warren said in Baghdad that Russian aircraft bombed the two hospitals in Aleppo, depriving some 50,000 Syrians of medical care.

The Russian ministry said no Russian aircraft operated near Aleppo on Wednesday and the nearest target hit by the Russian air force in Syria was located some 20 km away from the city.

A Russian spokesman said that only war planes and strike drones of the US-led coalition were seen above Aleppo.

He also denied accusations that Russian aircraft were launching strikes against civilians in Syria.

He said it were the terrorists who were threatening civilians.

Since October, Syrian government forces supported by Russian airstrikes have been launching offensives against rebels in Aleppo, which, according to Western media, have caused thousands of people to flee.
Istanbul: Suspected militants from the Kurdistan Workers` Party (PKK) attacked the offices of two strongly pro-government Turkish newspapers, throwing Molotov cocktails and opening fire on their editorial headquarters, reports said Thursday.

A group of five masked assailants hurled Molotov cocktails at the entrance of the offices of Yeni Safak daily in the Bayrampasa district of Istanbul before opening fire on the building with long-range rifles late Wednesday, the state-run Anatolia news agency and the newspaper said.

An hour later, another group, also armed with Molotov cocktails and rifles, attacked the offices of Yeni Akit in Istanbul`s Kucukcekmece district, damaging several cars outside the building, Anatolia added.

Fire erupted outside both buildings, but no casualties were reported. Police were searching for the assailants.

Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus blamed the PKK, which has waged an armed insurgency in Turkey.

"I condemn with hatred the ugly attack on Yeni Safak and Yeni Akit newspapers by members of the terrorist organisation," he said in an apparent reference to the PKK.

The dailies are strong supporters of the government`s military operations against the rebels of the PKK in southeast Turkey which activists claim has cost dozens of civilian lives.

A new upsurge of violence between the security forces and Kurdish rebels erupted in July, shattering a fragile two-and-a-half year truce.
Business

MarketWatch

It might feel tough sometimes to link the IRS with the concept of good news, but the adjustments for 2023 income tax brackets, the widely-used standard deduction and roughly 60 other inflation-indexed tax provisions might be one of those times. The large upward adjustments could create a chance to hold onto more cash when you file you 2024 tax return on next years income. The payout on the standard deduction is jumping 7% from 2022 to 2023, the IRS numbers show.
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Feb. 10, 2016) -

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

Era Resources Inc. ("Era" or the "Company") (ERX.TO) is pleased to announce the results of the recent initial diamond drilling program at the La Cobota Project ("La Cobota" or the "Project") located in Sonora, Mexico.

The Project comprises three contiguous mining concessions that together encompass approximately 1,800 hectares. The concessions are situated in the mining-friendly jurisdiction of Sonora State, Mexico, and are located on privately held land approximately 80 kilometres east-southeast of the town of Sonoyta and 10 kilometres south of the US border (Figure 1). The project area is easily accessible via existing roads and unsealed ranch tracks. Era is party to an option agreement for the mining concessions and has undertaken the drilling as part of a systematic exploration program to assess the prospectivity of the mining concessions.

During the period from mid-December 2015 to mid-January 2016, Era completed eight diamond drill holes totaling 955.60 metres at La Cobota (Table 1 and Figure 2). All drill holes were HQ size (63.5 milimetres diameter) and core recovery was excellent. The drill program was designed to test the continuity and grade of an outcropping mineralized structure that was the focus of historical underground mining operations. Assay results from the drilling (Table 2) confirm the presence of high grade copper-silver mineralization and suggest that the mineralization occurs within a north-east plunging shoot.

Mineralization at La Cobota is hosted within a complex iron-oxide vein system that transects an equigranular to porphyritic quartz monzonite intrusion. The principal vein (Vein #1, Figure 2) targeted by drilling is heavily oxidized and composed of massive to semi-massive magnetite and hematite. Copper mineralization principally occurs as fine-grained chalcocite, with some native copper and other copper oxides. Minor remnant chalcopyrite and pyrite is also observed. The vein is faulted and brecciated to a variable degree; and is locally intruded by mafic dykes that appear to stope-out the mineralization. Drilling intersected a major fault beneath the historical mine workings that juxtaposes the quartz monzonite against a polymictic meta-conglomerate unit. This fault is interpreted to be a thrust structure that may truncate the mineralized vein at depth.

Story continues

Under the terms of the option agreement for the La Cobota mining concessions, Era has an exclusive right to conduct exploration and is responsible for all land taxes and annual concession or permit fees during the option period, which ends on July 1, 2016. The Company has the right to acquire 100% of the concessions for a fixed amount of US$275,000, subject to a 2.5% Net Smelter Return royalty interest granted to the vendor of the mineral concessions, once it elects to proceed with the acquisition.

"The assay results from the diamond drilling at La Cobota suggest that the mineralized iron oxide vein has significantly more structural complexity and grade variability than was originally anticipated from surface mapping and the available historical mining records. Work is continuing to assess the viability of the mineralized structure to host a resource and the Company will make a decision on the La Cobota option in due course," said Chief Executive Officer Pieter Britz.

The scientific and technical information in this press release was authorized by Mr. Lachlan Reynolds, BSc, MAusIMM, MAIG. Mr. Reynolds is the Vice President, Business Development of Era Resources Inc. and is a Qualified Person for the purposes of NI 43-101.

To view Figure 1: Location of the La Cobota Project, Sonora, Mexico, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1042609Figure1.pdf

Diamond Drilling Program

A total of eight diamond drill holes were completed at the Project (Figure 2), for a total of 955.60 metres of drilling (Table 1). Seven of these holes (15LC001-006 and 16LC007) were targeted at the main mineralized structure (Vein #1), which was the principal site of historical mining operations. An eighth and final hole was subsequently completed to test a number of mapped veins in the hanging wall to the northwest of Vein #1.

Table 1: Summary of diamond drilling completed at the La Cobota Project

Hole ID Coordinates* Azimuth

() Inclination

() Depth

(m) Date

Completed East (m) North (m) 15LC001 396,228 3,490,725 164 -75 203.55 09/12/2015 15LC002 396,231 3,490,727 164 -50 110.75 11/12/2015 15LC003 396,307 3,490,728 191 -70 90.70 13/12/2015 15LC004 396,307 3,490,728 191 -85 91.10 15/12/2015 15LC005 396,308 3,490,729 140 -70 94.80 17/12/2015 15LC006 396,308 3,490,729 140 -85 95.65 19/12/2015 16LC007 396,351 3,490,744 140 -70 106.35 09/01/2015 16LC008 396,140 3,490,783 180 -60 162.70 13/01/2016 Total: 955.60

*Coordinate datum NAD84, UTM Zone 12N

To view Figure 2: La Cobota Project drill status plan, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1042609Figure2.pdf

Assay Results

A total of 264 half-core samples were collected from the drill core using a diamond blade saw. Samples were transported to the Bureau Veritas ("BV") sample preparation laboratory in Caborca, Mexico. Gold fire assays were subsequently completed at the BV analytical laboratory in Hermosillo, Mexico. A multi-element assay suite was analyzed at the BV analytical laboratory in Vancouver, Canada.

A quality assurance/quality control ("QA/QC") procedure adopted by the Company confirms that assay results are reliable. This procedure included routine analysis of blank samples and certified standard reference materials. In addition, BV implemented an internal QA/QC procedure consisting of blanks, duplicates, repeats and standard reference materials.

Significant mineralized intersections from the diamond drilling are shown in Table 2. Intersections have been calculated using a 0.1% Cu cut-off, including a maximum of 1 metre of internal dilution. Higher grade zones have been calculated using a 0.5% Cu cut-off, including a maximum of 1 metre of internal dilution.

Full drill results will be available on the Company's website.

Table 2: Mineralized intersections from La Cobota diamond drilling program

Hole ID From

(m) To

(m) Length*

(m) Cu

(%) Ag

(ppm) Comment 15LC001 7.6 10.6 3.0 0.18 0.63 No significant intersections 64 67 3.0 0.19 1.00 15LC002 59.2 60.2 1.0 0.10 2.50 No significant intersections 15LC003 18.35 19 0.65 0.65 3.00 23 28.15 5.15 0.59 1.59 Vein #2 including 24.5 27.45 2.95 0.92 2.12 55.8 63.4 7.6 0.65 2.99 Vein #1 including 60.4 63.4 3.0 1.25 5.67 15LC004 19.9 25 5.1 0.30 1.17 Vein #2 including 20.95 21.95 1.0 0.97 2.10 68.2 74.95 6.75 0.21 0.91 Vein #1 15LC005 18.2 19.75 1.55 1.42 3.57 Vein #2 including 18.95 19.75 0.8 2.49 5.70 66.65 75.82 9.17 1.27 20.45 Vein #1 including 68.8 75.82 7.02 1.60 26.38 including 68.8 71.4 2.6 2.76 53.75 15LC006 18.3 19.85 1.55 1.25 3.37 Vein #2 including 19.3 19.85 0.55 3.30 8.60 24.75 27 2.25 0.60 0.73 including 24.75 25.75 1.0 0.84 0.70 74.2 81.6 7.4 0.15 0.46 Vein #1 16LC007 4.4 6.75 2.35 0.44 4.53 12 19 7.0 0.38 2.18 including 17.7 18.4 0.7 1.50 4.80 20.75 24.25 3.5 1.62 3.52 Vein #2 including 21.6 23.35 1.75 3.06 4.75 16LC008 32.75 43.3 10.55 0.19 0.95 Vein #4

* Downhole length, close to true width due to the angle of drilling intersections with vein structures

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any ordinary shares within the United States. The ordinary shares have not been offered and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act"), or any state securities laws. Accordingly, the ordinary shares may not be offered or sold in the United States or to U.S. persons (as such terms are defined in Regulation S under the 1933 Act) unless registered under the 1933 Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration are granted.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward looking information. Such forward-looking information is often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "seek", "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect" and "intend" and statements that an event or result "may", "will", "should", "could", or "might" occur or to be achieved and any other similar expressions.

In providing the forward-looking information in this news release, the Company has made assumptions regarding the accuracy of exploration results received to date. Although management believes that the assumptions made and the expectations represented by such information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking information will prove to be accurate. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information. Some of these risks, uncertainties and other factors are described under the heading "Risks Factors" in the Company's annual information form available on the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Forward-looking information is based on estimates and opinions of management at the date the statements are made. Except as required by law, Era does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking information even if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

Factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from results anticipated by such forward-looking statements include the actual results of exploration activities, changes in market conditions, risks relating to international operations, fluctuating metal prices and currency exchange rates, and other risks of the mining industry. Although Era has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be anticipated, estimated or intended. 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. Era undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by applicable securities laws. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Statements concerning mineral reserve and resource estimates may also be deemed to constitute forward-looking statements to the extent they involve estimates of the mineralization that will be encountered if the property is developed. Reference is made to the most recent annual information form of Era available on the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com which includes further discussion of the risk factors which may impact the business and operations of Era.
Photo: Thinkstock

The Galapagos Islands are known for their amazing and rare wildlife  definitely a bucket-list destination. But many people are intimidated by the trip: the Galapagos Islands seem so far, its expensive, you need a long time there to really enjoy it. While all of these things can be true, none of them have to be.



There are certainly a million things to see on the Galapagoss 20 islands, and you could spend weeks exploring if you had the time and money, but since most of us dont have either, heres the trip made easy. Get a good taste of the archipelago and its wildlife in just a few days  and for not an extravagant amount of money  with these tips and trips.

Related: How to Do the Galapagos if You Hate Boats

1. Go in the off season.

Blue-footed boobies often do their mating dances in September, which is considered the off-season. (Photo: Thinkstock)

Though the Galapagos can be great year-round, many in the tourism industry consider April and May and September and October the low season. Low season is a great time to see the Galapagos for at least two reasons: fewer tourists and lower prices. The downside to going during low season is that it overlap with the rough season at sea, which usually runs from April or May through October. Something to consider if youre taking a cruise.

Related: 7 Ways Youre Booking Travel Wrong, and How to Fix Them

2. Book a shorter, more affordable group trip.

Cruising can be an affordable and timely option. (Photo: Intrepid Travel)

One of the best options for saving time and money is to participate in a group trip. You can either do a cruise or a more land-based tour. (Cruises are great because a smaller boat is really the only way to reach some of the more remote islands.) While many of these trips are 10 days to three weeks or more, Intrepid Travel has cheaper, shorter trips to choose from, like its Galapagos on a Shoestring (a land-based, seven-day trip, starting at $920) and its Galapagos at a Glance/Southern Islands (a six-day catamaran cruise, starting at $1825). Prices do not include flights, but depending on what time of year you go (and which airline you choose), it could be less than $400 round trip to Quito (check out JetBlue, which has some of the more affordable prices) and $300 to continue on to Baltra in the Galapagos.

Story continues

Related: Sneaky Ways to Score the Best Seat on the Plane

3. Create your own island-hopping tour with the best highlights.

The beauty of day tripping. (Photo: Leah Ginsberg)

If youre not up for a cruise or a group trip, you can also see a lot and get a really good feel for the islands by staying on one of the inhabited islands and making day trips to the most interesting islands. We suggest staying on Santa Cruz. Heres a breakdown of how to do the trip:

Day 1: Fly to Quito or Guayaquil, Ecuador. Youll probably spend most of the day flying, but you may end up spending the night because most Galapagos flights are earlier in the day. So, if you have time, explore the city. Quito, the capital, sits more than 9,000 feet above sea level. There you can check out the Spanish colonial architecture and ride the gondola up the Pichincha volcano. If you need a nice, affordable place to stay, Hotel Cafe Cultura is quaint, and rates in the off-season start at less than $70 a night. To save some dough, eat like a local  typical snacks and street foods like cheese empanadas (sprinkled with sugar) and chifles (plantain chips) and tostados or choclos (Andean roasted corn similar to corn nuts) are delicious and totally affordable. In Guayaquil, go to Rio Guayas malecon and the barrio of Las Penas.

Day 2: If youre leaving from Quito, its just a short flight to Guayaquil, and a short flight from Guayaquil to Baltra Island in the Galapagos (the flight will cost you about $300 to $400 depending on the time of year). From Baltra, its a quick ferry ride to Santa Cruz.

Santa Cruz is a great place to stay: There are a variety of hostels and hotels, so you can do it on the cheaper side (as low as $25 a night) or pick an affordable but slight sweeter place (like Villa Laguna or Grand Hotel Lobo de Mar); at either of these locations, daily rates for rooms start at about $100).

Related: Swimming With Pigs and Other Bucket-List Trips for Animal Lovers

One of Rancho El Manzanittos inhabitants. (Photo: Leah Ginsberg)

After you check in, it should still be early enough in the day to visit the famous giant land tortoises. The Galapagos Islands are one of two places on earth where you can see these creatures. Two popular places to see them are on Santa Cruz: One is the Charles Darwin Research Station, a sort of glorified zoo where you can learn about conservation and see hatchlings as well as adult tortoises. You can walk there, and entry is free. If youre willing to spend more for a wilder experience, you can take a $50 round-trip (round-trip, including waiting time) to the highlands where you can visit a tortoise farm. There, the creatures roam freely, and sometimes outnumber the humans. There are many ranches, but locals say the farm with the most tortoises is Rancho El Manzanitto. Theres a $4 entrance fee, which includes borrowed rubber boots (it can be muddy, and theres tortoise poop) and lemongrass tea.

How cute is this guy? (Photo: PROLes Williams/Flickr)

Days 3, 4, and 5: Take day trips to the best islands for the greatest chance of spotting the bucket-list wildlife youve come to see. Because trips to the islands are highly regulated, there are a limited number of companies that run them, and you can go only to certain islands on certain days. A travel agent (try Intrepid) can help you with this, but some of the most popular boating companies are Altamar, Queen Karen, Espanola, and Santa Fe. Day trips generally run anywhere from $100 to $200 per person, but are full days and also include one to two meals and soft drinks (alcohol is extra). Depending on which island youre visiting, the boat rides from Santa Cruz are anywhere from one and a half hours to three hours each way.

Day trips from Santa Cruz go to North Seymour (home of the blue-footed boobies, red-throated frigate birds, and land iguanas); Bartolome (where youll see Pinnacle Rock and with its mind-blowing views, and  if youre lucky  swim with the cutest penguins youll ever see off nearby Isla Santiago), Santa Fe (sea lions galore) and South Plazas (catch sight of sea lion pups, iguanas, and colorful crabs). You can also get to San Cristobal (sea lions and frigate birds), as well as Floreana (home of the first post office).

A trip to Isabela is totally worth doing, but youll have to put up with a bumpy, two-hour public speedboat ride that costs $25 each way. There youll see Galapagos penguins, white-tipped sharks, flamingos, booby birds, seahorses, the Sierra Negra Volcano, and more.

Day 6: Use the early morning to see the marine iguanas or swim with (harmless) sharks. Squeeze in some shopping if you can, then head back to Quito the same way you came. Youll want to spend another night there, so try to see whatever you missed on the way out.

Day 7: Head back home with amazing photos and memories!

4. Eat like a local.

This restaurant is a favorite among locals in Santa Cruz. (Photo: Leah Ginsberg)

Meals can get expensive since the cost of importing food to the Galapagos  like produce for restaurants and even regular groceries  pushes up prices. So for some of the best and least expensive food around, eat where the locals eat. On Santa Cruz, there are some great options: The fishermans market in Puerto Ayora is one of the best. Head there at the end of the day to watch the local sea lions and pelicans forage for scraps. The fisherman cook up whatever they didnt sell and serve whole fish with tons of authentic sides for about $12 a person. Another good bet is a street called Kioskos where vendors have what feel like makeshift restaurants set up every night. Try William Esmereldas Delights, which specializes in a typical dish of the coastal region  seafood cooked in coconut milk with rice and beans  for about $10 to $12. If its a treat youre looking for, go to Il Giardino for lattes or cappuccino and a delicious pastry for less than $10.

Let Yahoo Travel inspire you every day. Hang out with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Follow Leah Ginsberg on Twitter and Instagram at @lginzy.

For more on Yahoo Travels travel policy, click here.
[Kurdish fighters from the Peoples Protection Units (YPG) stand near the Tishrin dam, after they captured it on Saturday from Islamic State militants, south of Kobani, Syria December 27, 2015/REUTERS/Rodi Said]

SYDNEY (Reuters) - A Canadian who said he fought alongside Kurdish forces against Islamic State in Syria has been detained while trying to enter Australia and told he will be deported, his father said on Wednesday.

Richard Somerville said his son Robert, a Canadian veteran who previously fought in Afghanistan, was detained at Brisbane airport on Tuesday after he told immigration officials he had spent seven months fighting alongside the Syrian Kurdish militant group YPG last year.

I havent seen my son in 20 years, Richard Somerville, who lives in Queensland, told Reuters. I was absolutely shocked when he called to say he was being detained."

Australian Border Force and Immigration Department officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"The basis for the visa cancellation is at this stage unclear, Somervilles Melbourne-based lawyer, Jessie Smith, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It may have political undertones and could be contestable."

Australia introduced sweeping security reforms in 2014 over concern at the number of its citizens heading to Iraq and Syria to fight. About 110 Australians are estimated to be involved in the conflict.

It is illegal for Australian citizens to support any armed group in Syria and fighters face life in prison upon return.

The Syrian Kurds have established control over wide areas of northern Syria since the country erupted into civil war in 2011, and the YPG has become a major partner in the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State.

Several foreigners, including Europeans and Americans, have joined the YPG but their numbers are dwarfed by foreign jihadist recruits to the other side.

Kurds in Syria and Iraq are backed by a U.S.-led coalition, including Australia, which has been bombing Islamic State in both countries.

(Reporting by Jarni Blakkarly. Editing by Jane Wardell and Nick Macfie)
Tehran, Iran, February 10

By Mehdi Sepahvand -- Trend:

Iran's nuclear deal with world powers, called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was said to denote the opening of Iran's market to the world and ease trade. The deal ended years-long sanctions on Iran and businessmen and well as customers were hoping to gain easier access to foreign goods and services.

About one month since the deal was put to practice, those active in the Iranian market say their dreams have not yet come true and they do not expect much change for certain reasons. "I've in in this business for 40 years.

We pray to God the market made a move and things turn normal. Relations with world have grown better and making contacts is much easier after the JCPOA. But what we expect most is to have fixed prices in order to be sure of our business," one businessman who imports doorknobs and other building equipment told Trend February 10.

"I am a producer with factory and workers. After the JCPOA not only have raw material and workforce not gone down in price, but insurance fees have risen and there is loads of raw material stuck in customhouses because the prices are going to go higher and the government has halted the material's release until new prices are established," a hardware producer said.

Asked if there has been any change in the behavior of customers after the nuclear deal, Mehrabi, the owner of a warehouse said people are trying not to buy anything yet because they are waiting for prices to fall.

"Even if prices fall and there are various countries to import from, no big change is expected. Top-quality goods come from countries such as Turkey and Italy. But they come with much higher prices than Chinese-made goods and a few percentage of people can afford them. China is everything. No one can compete with China," he added.

China remained Iran's big trade partner in the past few years despite harsh Western sanctions. The country was Iran's biggest source of non-oil goods import at the same time as it was its biggest oil customer. Iran exported 17.56 million tons of non-oil goods, worth $5.33 billion to China during the first eight months of 2015. Iran's non-oil exports to China witnessed a fall of 15.3 percent in terms of value while the volume of the Islamic Republic's non-oil exports to China decreased by 25.4 percent, according to Iranian Customs Administration latest monthly report published Oct. 4.

China was the main importer of Iranian goods in the mentioned period. Beijing's imports accounted for 22.7 percent of Iran's total non-oil exports in terms of value and 33.3 percent in terms of volume.

During the sanction period China was the number one destination of Iran's crude oil and no change will be made in this sphere in the new era, Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Amir Hossein Zamaninia said January 17.

Iran and China are planning to sign a contract on currency swap, Iranian ambassador to China Ali Asghar Khaji said recently. China is the world's largest exporter of goods, exporting worth $500 billion to the US and $600 billion to the EU. Iran is seeking to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
By Martin Petty (Reuters) - Laos's secretive Communist Party unveiled a new central committee on Friday from which the prime minister and incumbent party chief were absent, signaling their political exits after they opted out of re-election at a party congress. Party general secretary and president Choummaly Sayasone, 79, who has held both posts since 2006, and Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong, 71, were among four politburo members who did not apply to join the top committee, according to a state media announcement. That puts them out of contention for elite politburo and party chief posts, say experts. The new 77-member central committee was due to choose those positions on Friday. The top name on the central committee list was 78-year-old Bounnhang Vorachit, the current vice president, who has been tipped to become the next chief of a party that has run Laos for four decades. Second on the list was National Assembly chairwoman and former central bank governor Pany Yathotu, a development that suggests a bumping-up in the party hierarchy to be a possible prime minister, according to Martin Stuart-Fox, a retired professor and expert on Laos at the University of Queensland. "The most significant promotion has been Madame Pany," he said, adding she was now "a very powerful figure". Analysts have anticipated a continuation of a status quo that has seen power tightly controlled by the party while pursuing strong economic expansion, which has averaged 7.8 percent since 2011. All 39 central committee members who applied to run again were chosen for another term, state media said. Laos has close political ties to communist Vietnam and mirrors its political system. Both countries are holding their five-yearly congresses this week. Communist neighbor China has been vying aggressively for influence on Laos, however, providing scholarships, aid, loans and infrastructure investment into a fledgling $12 billion economy 862 times smaller than its own. Growth in Laos has been driven by investment, mining and sales abroad of most its growing hydropower output, largely to Thailand, which has boosted incomes and access to electricity, telecommunications and healthcare for its 6.8 million mostly rural population. State media did not state why Thongsing and Choummaly, who have been politburo members since 1991, did not contest re-election to the central committee. Foreign media has not been permitted to cover the congress. A senior foreign ministry press official said there was insufficient time to invite international media. (Reporting by Martin Petty in Hanoi; Additional reporting by My Pham; Editing by Nick Macfie)
Alberta's auditor general says the former PC government's decision to assume control of disaster recovery claims actually made the process worse.

The decision came in 2014 after complaints piled up about a private company's handling of the large number of disaster claims from the 2013 flood.

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"The lesson to be learned here is not to transition a program in the midst of dealing with a large natural disaster," wrote Auditor General Merwan Saher in his 2016 report.

"While the decision to move program delivery from a contracted service provider to the department of municipal affairs might have been sound, the timing was not."

Saher says the government wasn't ready to take on that work  and it couldn't quickly hire staff to deal with the workload.

He estimates it cost the government more than $13 million during the transition.

The Tories initially privatized the processing of disaster claims but brought that process back inside government because of public complaints.

After the flood, thousands of compensation claims were filed, but many were held up in endless red tape, which frustrated claimants who wanted money.

In 2014, the PC government decided to terminate the contract with the private company doing the work.

The current minister of municipal affairs, Danielle Larivee, says Albertans suffered because the PCs ignored the advice of the municipal affairs department to ease the transition process.

"To move forward with something that clearly contravenes the recommendations of the department, we attribute to being political reasons," Larivee said.

Larivee says 99 per cent of the 2013 claims have now been dealt with and the government has improved its processes for handling any future disaster claims.
By Michelle Nichols, Tom Perry and Humeyra Pamuk UNITED NATIONS/DAMASCUS/ONCUPINAR, Turkey (Reuters) - World powers pressed Russia on Wednesday to stop bombing around Aleppo in support of a Syrian government offensive to recapture the city and a Western official said Moscow had presented a proposal envisaging a truce in three weeks' time. Secretary of State John Kerry is pushing for a ceasefire and more aid access to Aleppo, where rebel-held areas are being cut off and the United Nations has warned a new humanitarian disaster could be on the way. Aid workers said on Wednesday the water supply to Aleppo, still home to two million people, was no longer functioning. Kerry is hoping for agreement at a meeting in Munich on Thursday between Russia, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Iran and other powers, aimed at trying to revive peace negotiations that foundered earlier this month. Syrian officials have indicated no plans to ease up the war effort. A Syrian military source said on Wednesday the battle for Aleppo, a major prize in a war which has killed a quarter of a million people, would continue in "all directions". Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said the government expected a tough but relatively short battle to return the city to state control. "I do not expect the battle of Aleppo to go on long," he told Reuters in Damascus. A Western official said Russia had made a proposal to begin a ceasefire in Syria on March 1, but that Washington has concerns about parts of it and no agreement had been reached. In Washington, a state department envoy told Congress the United States needs to consider options in case the diplomatic push does not succeed. Asked how soon a ceasefire could be put in place, a Russian diplomat who declined to be identified said: "Maybe March, I think so." At a closed-door meeting of the 15-member U.N. Security Council on Wednesday, several members pressed Russia to end the Aleppo bombing sooner. "The (Syrian) regime and its allies cannot pretend they are extending a hand to the opposition while with their other hand they are trying to destroy them," French U.N. Ambassador Francois Delattre told reporters. "CROSSED THE LINE" Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Russian air strikes were being undertaken in a "transparent manner" and some Security Council members had "crossed the line" by politically exploiting humanitarian issues. "They rather crudely use humanitarian matters in order to play, we believe, a destructive role as far as the political process is concerned," said Churkin, adding that given the heightened interest in humanitarian issues, the council should also start regularly discussing Yemen and Libya. One U.N. diplomatic source said Russia was "stringing Kerry along" in order to provide diplomatic cover for Moscow's real goal - to help President Bashar al-Assad win on the battlefield instead of compromising at the negotiating table. "It's clear to everyone now that Russia really doesn't want a negotiated solution but for Assad to win," said the diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity. The Kremlin rejects claims that it has abandoned diplomacy in pursuit of a military solution, saying it would continue to providing military aid to Assad to fight "terrorist groups" and accusing Syria's opposition of walking away from the talks. FOOD, WATER SHORTAGES Doctors working on both sides of the Syria-Turkey border say they have been overwhelmed by injuries caused by the air strikes, which Moscow says have only targeted Islamist militants but which Western countries say have caused widespread civilian casualties. "We are increasingly seeing what we call multiple-trauma injuries because of the bombs and the heavy weapons they are using. There are large burn cases, lots of amputations, and internal traumas," Mahmoud Mustafa, director of the Independent Doctors Association, told Reuters in Gaziantep, Turkey. French charity Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF), which runs six hospitals in Syria and provides support for another 153 health facilities across the country, said medical workers in the area north of Aleppo had been forced to flee for their lives. "Yet again we are seeing healthcare under siege," said Muskilda Zancada, MSF head of mission, Syria. The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was delivering water to Aleppo because the city's system was no longer working but that some supply routes for aid had been cut. "The temperatures are extremely low and, without an adequate supply of food, water and shelter, displaced people are trying to survive in very precarious conditions," the head of the ICRC in Syria, Marianne Gasser, said in a statement from Aleppo. The latest fighting around Aleppo has killed about 500 people on all sides, a monitoring group said. Medecins Sans Frontiers spokesman Sam Taylor said that while its own hospitals in Syria had not been hit, many others had. "From the reports we get from MSF-supported facilities, the majority of hospitals are damaged or destroyed by aerial attacks," he said. "In last two to three weeks we have definitely seen a trend of facilities being hit in the south and in the north." FABIUS QUESTIONS U.S. COMMITMENT Saudi Arabia's King Salman plans to visit Moscow in mid-March, Russia's RIA news agency said, a meeting that would bring together the main sponsors of the opposing sides. Saudi-backed rebels said they would go to Thursday's meeting in Munich but would only go to U.N. peace talks in Geneva later this month if Russia stopped bombarding their positions and humanitarian aid reached civilians in the areas they control. Opposition coordinator Riad Hijab said the Russian and Iranian intervention in Syria was bolstering the extremist threat in the Middle East, but the rebels would not give up. On the ground, rebels say they are fighting for survival. A commander of a Turkmen contingent within the Levant Front rebel group, Zekeria Karsli, said his men faced attacks on three fronts: Islamic State to the east, Syrian government forces to the south and Kurds to the west. "Unfortunately the military situation on the battlefield is pretty bad. Russian planes are hitting us from the air and the Iranian/Assad block is hitting us from the ground," he told Reuters near the Oncupinar border post. He said Russian warplanes were carrying out hundreds of sorties every day and that the north of Aleppo city was encircled. But he said routes in to rebel-held parts of the city from Idlib province to the west were still open. Opposition spokesman Salim al-Muslat said U.S. President Barack Obama could stop the Russian attacks. "If he is willing to save our children it is really the time now to say 'no' to these strikes in Syria." The rebels want anti-aircraft weapons so they can bring down the Russian planes that have been bombing intensely over the past four months. But their Western and Arab backers have refused, fearing Islamic State militants could seize and use them against their own planes conducting air strikes against the jihadists, who have exploited the war to seize large parts of Syria and Iraq. United Nations Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura has set a target date of Feb. 25 to reconvene talks between the Syrian government and opposition in Geneva. But the offensive by Syrian forces, Hezbollah and Shiite militias directed by Iran - all backed by Russian bombing raids - have reversed opposition gains on the ground and encircled rebels inside Aleppo, a strategic prize now divided between government and opposition control. "It'll be easy to get a ceasefire soon because the opposition will all be dead," a Western diplomat told Reuters. "That's a very effective ceasefire." (Additional reporting by Warren Strobel in Munich, John Irish in Paris, Louis Charbonneau in New York, Parisa Hafezi in Ankara, Tom Miles and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Jonathan Landay in Washington and Michelle Nichols in New York; writing by Philippa Fletcher; editing by Dominic Evans)
By Phil Stewart and Robin Emmott BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The United States pressed allies on Thursday to contribute more to a U.S.-led military campaign against Islamic State that it says must be accelerated, regardless of the fate of diplomatic efforts to end Syria's civil war. U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter started talks on Thursday in Brussels with more than two dozen defense ministers, including from key ally Saudi Arabia, which renewed its offer potentially to send troops into Syria. Carter's push came a day after France delivered a rebuke to President Barack Obama, demanding that Washington show a clearer commitment to resolving the crisis in Syria where Russia is tipping the military balance in favor of President al-Bashar Assad. The talks take place as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry leads a diplomatic push in Munich to rescue imperiled peace efforts, which are being held despite Russian bombing raids to bolster Syrian forces around the city of Aleppo. Carter sought to draw a line between military and diplomatic efforts. "Our focus here is going to be on counter-ISIL and that campaign will go on because ISIL must be defeated, will be defeated, whatever happens with the Syrian civil war," Carter told reporters, using an acronym for Islamic State. "But it certainly would help to de-fuel extremism if the Syrian civil war came to an end." The United States hopes the face-to-face gathering of coalition defense ministers will allow it to secure more support for a military campaign that aims to recapture the Islamic State strongholds of Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq. WARPLANES, TRAINING, SURVEILLANCE Carter plans to offer a long list of required military capabilities -- which, beyond air power, include training Iraqi forces and help with intelligence and surveillance. Carter said countries that cannot contribute militarily can help in other ways, like by choking Islamic State financing. "Well all look back after victory and remember who participated in the fight," Carter said, addressing the coalition defense ministers, adding the campaign would move more swiftly "if all of the nations in this room do even more". He also predicted "tangible gains" on the ground in the coming weeks, vague terminology that could mean anything from territorial advances to strikes against militant leaders or infrastructure. Saudi Arabia's Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri, a military spokesman, said his country was ready to send troops into Syria if there was a consensus in the coalition. But he declined to elaborate, saying: "It is too early to talk about such options." "Today we are talking at the strategic level," Asseri told reporters in Brussels. Carter and U.S. defense officials also sought to manage expectations about the talks, since many ministers will not be able to make new commitments without first winning support from their parliaments. The timeline for the campaign to retake Raqqa and Mosul is also unclear. The head of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency cautioned this week that Iraqi forces were unlikely to recapture Mosul this year, despite hopes by Baghdad. Carter only said securing Raqqa and Mosul needed to happen "as soon as possible". He also acknowledged the need to grapple with Islamic State's spread beyond Syria and Iraq, particularly in Libya. WASHINGTON FACES SCEPTICISM Even if there is consensus on the military plan to fight Islamic State on Thursday, it is unlikely to diminish scepticism about broader U.S. policy in Syria, which has sought to limit America's role in the civil war. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on Wednesday questioned the commitment of the United States to resolving the Syrian war. Rebel groups say that while Washington has put pressure on them to attend peace talks, they see less help on the battlefield. NATO ally Turkey has meanwhile, upbraided the United States for supporting Syrian Kurdish PYD rebels, saying Washington's inability to understand the group's true nature had turned the region into a "sea of blood". Eager to sidestep such friction, NATO allies have focused on grappling with the humanitarian fallout from Syria's conflict at talks over the past two days. NATO announced on Thursday it will seek to help slow refugee flows through the Aegean Sea with a maritime mission to target criminal people smuggling networks. (Reporting by Phil Stewart and Robin Emmott, additional reporting by Sabine Seibold, editing by Peter Millership)
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 11

By Fatih Karimov- Trend:

Iranians have started mass rallies across the country, marking the 37th anniversary of the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iranian IRNA news agency reported on Feb. 11.



People in Tehran and many other cities started to take to streets on Feb. 11, chanting slogans in support of the Islamic revolution which put an end to the monarchy of the Pahlavi regime.



Carrying images of Islamic republic founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, demonstrators supporting the government re-affirmed their allegiance to the Islamic Revolution.



Demonstrators also chanted anti-US and anti-Israel slogans during the rallies.

High-ranking Iranian officials also attended the rallies.



The Islamic Republic President Hassan Rouhani and Louis Farrakhan, leader of the US-based Islamic religious movement Nation of Islam are scheduled to make speech in the ceremony in Tehran.



Some 5200 journalists including 280 foreign reporters and journalists are covering the rallies.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 11

By Umid Niayesh - Trend:

The US Republicans asked Iran to delay the recent prisoner exchange until the upcoming presidential elections in the US, an Iranian official has claimed.

"The current American administration's Republican rivals, who claim to advocate human rights, sent a message to Iranian officials, asking to delay the release of US prisoners until the 2016 presidential election," semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, as saying Feb. 11.

He further said Iran acted upon its independent will in the process of the prisoner swap.

Last month Iran freed four Americans of Iranian descent from prison, including Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, in a delicately negotiated swap with the US, which released seven Iranians who had been held on sanctions violations.

Shamkhani further said that Iran's decision to release the US prisoners was based on humanitarian approach, their families' requests, to secure the release of Iranian citizens detained in the US, and in line with the Islamic Republic's interests.
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Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 11



By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:



Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has called for unilateral fight against extremism, IRNA news agency reported.



Zarif who is in Germany to attend the meeting of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) in Bavaria, Germany, in the run-up to the Munich Security Conference, made the remarks at his arrival in Munich.



"The Western and regional countries must understand the reality of joint and unilateral fight against extremism and come up with a rational solution to end crisis in Syria," he said.



Zarif said that the international community has missed a deadline to end the Syrian crisis and finding a solution to end the crisis has been postponed due to wrong policies and irrational pre-conditions set by some countries or groups.



It is also necessary to differentiate terrorists from opposition groups in Syria, he added.



A UN Security Council resolution in December last year approved a draft resolution on peace process in Syria. According to the resolution, Syrian government and opposition groups should attend peace talks to find a solution for putting an end to the crisis.



However just a few days after launching the talks in the Swiss City of Geneva, the UN suspended peace talks suggesting that they will be resumed soon. Syrian sides keep blaming each other for the collapse of the talks.



Over 250,000 people have died and at least 11 million have been displaced in Syria, since the crisis broke out in 2011.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 11

By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei has pardoned 1059 convicts on the occasion of the 37th anniversary of the Islamic Republic.

At the request of the head of Iran's judiciary Sadiq Amoli Larijani, Khamenei agreed to declare an amnesty to pardon or reduce the sentences of 1059 convicts who were pronounced guilty in various Iranian courts including military, civil and revolutionary ones, ILNA news agency reported.

According to the country's Constitution the supreme leader has the right to pardon or reduce the sentences of convicts upon the recommendation of the judiciary chief.

On Feb. 11, the Islamic Republic celebrates the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution of 1979 when the revolution leader Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran after almost 15 years of exile and took the control of the country after toppling the Pahlavi monarchy.

Each year on Feb. 11, a large number of Iranians take to streets carrying banners and images of the late founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, as well as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, to re-affirm their allegiance to the Islamic Revolution.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 11

By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has addressed the people of Iran in a televised speech on the occasion of the 37th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Rouhani said that with the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, aka nuclear deal) Iran managed to eliminate the "Iranophobia" project and the world now understands that Iranians are a peaceful and rational nation, Iran's state TV channel IRINN reported Feb. 11.

He also called for achieving progress in the country and said the global powers had understood that the Iranian system isn't a temporary government.

Speaking about the recent trips of the presidents of Russia and China to Tehran, Rouhani underlined that significant agreements were signed during those visits.

Rouhani also touched upon his own trip to Europe and said that important contracts were signed during his visit.

Calling for the development of the country, he underlined the need to attract foreign investment and technology saying "we will build Iran".

"We are capable of competing with the world in terms of economy and industry," he added.

Rouhani further called for cooperation with international community to advance the country's industry and added that a way has been paved for cooperating.

The president also said Iranians are hardworking and educated, and the country has a large young workforce.

Further criticizing the country's aged aviation and transportation system, Rouhani said Iranians don't deserve a worn-out transportation fleet.

"Our people deserve the best aviation, railway and ground fleet," he added.

He also called for unity among the Iranian political groups and called for preparing a national plan aimed at developing the country, calling it the "JCPOA 2".

He also spoke about the plans for economic development in Iran, saying that in order to reach the planned economic growth of eight percent Iran needs to attract at least $30 billion of foreign investment.

The president further touched upon the achievements of his government in the past two years, adding that sweet gas production in Iran has recently increased by 190 million cubic meters per day.

He also said the country has increased oil extraction from joint fields from 69,000 barrels per day in the past to 110,000 barrels per day as of today.

Rouhani added that this figure will reach 230,000 barrels per day by March 21, while it is projected to stand at 350,000 barrels per day by the end of his term in office.

He further touched upon Iran's income from petrochemicals, saying that in the past the country earned $16 million from petrochemicals, which has increased to $18 million in the current Iranian year, which started March 21, 2015.

The president also predicted that the income from petrochemicals would reach $24 million by the end of his term.

"Power production has increased by 5,000 megawatts (MW), reaching 74,000 MW from 69,000 MW over the past two and a half years," he added.

Further during his address, the president said 270,000 hectares of agricultural lands have been equipped with modern irrigation technologies.

Rouhani also said that during his term in office, 11 million people in Iran have been covered with insurance.

"The next year will be the year of prosperity and progress for the Iranian nation," Rouhani concluded.
Tbilisi, Georgia, Oct. 15

By Nana Kirtzkhalia - Trend:

Georgian Regional Development and Infrastructure Minister David Shavliashvili departed for Baku, Azerbaijan.

He will take part in an international conference titled "The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway - new opportunities for development of the historical Great Silk Road."

The Regional Development and Infrastructure Ministry said that Shavliashvili will speak at the conference about Georgia's transit potential.

Several projects, including the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway project will be presented at the conference.

The conference in Baku kicked off Oct. 15, and will last two days.

The BTK railway is being constructed in line with the Georgian-Azerbaijani-Turkish interstate agreement.

Azerbaijan's State Oil Fund (SOFAZ) is financing the project in accordance with the Azerbaijani president's decree 'On implementation of measures on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project', dated Feb. 21, 2007.

The railway's new 105-kilometer branch is being constructed as part of the project.

Aside from that, the railway's Akhalkalaki-Marabda-Tbilisi section in Georgia is being reconstructed. This will increase its capacity to 15 million metric tons of cargo per year.

A station is also being built in the Georgian town of Akhalkalaki to move trains from the tracks used in Georgia to the European ones.

The railway's annual highest capacity will be 17 million metric tons of cargo.

At the initial stage this figure will stand at 1 million passengers and 6.5 million metric tons of cargo.
Egyptian forces have destroyed over 40 Daesh affiliates in the north of Sinai Peninsula, Sky News Arabia reports.

Egyptian attack helicopters started an operation against militants from the "Sinai Province" ("Wilayat Sinai") group after Daesh affiliates blew up an armored vehicle south of the town of Sheikh Zuweid in Egypt's North Sinai Governorate, the TV channel said.

Egypt has been conducting anti-terrorist operations in North Sinai for the last two years, amid the rise of Islamists in the region, particularly the "Sinai Province" militant group, known as Ansar Bait al-Maqdis before its members took an oath of allegiance to the radical Sunni Daesh group in the fall of 2014.

Ansar Bait al-Maqdis emerged after the 2011 Egyptian revolution, which forced former President Hosni Mubarak out of power after an over 30-year rule. The militants aim to topple Egypt's current government.

In August 2015, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi signed a tougher and controversial anti-terrorism bill into law to combat the recent spike in attacks on the Sinai Peninsula.
Russia is ready to export SSJ-100 aircraft (Sukhoi Superjet 100) as well as other equipment to Iraq, Russian Deputy Minister of Economic Development Alexander Tsybulsky told journalists on Wednesday.

He said that the Iraqi side had shown interest in the proposals, which the Russian side had submitted to its Iraqi partners at negotiations held prior to a meeting of the bilateral inter-governmental commission in Baghdad.

"We offered the Superjet and another two advanced planes MS-21 and Tu-204...On the whole, we saw [Iraq's] interest in those products. But it is certainly premature to speak about concrete delivery volumes," Tsybulsky said.

According to him, Russia came up with a package of concrete projects. "We saw that our partners were interested in obtaining road and construction equipment as well as building materials. They also want to attract Russian contractors to construction sites in the territory of Iraq," the Russian deputy minister of economic development said.

Iraq also wants to learn Russia's privatization experience.

"We have learnt and our colleagues have confirmed that Iraq is planning a serious campaign to privatize its state property. The Iraqis have asked us to share the Russian experience with them. They understand that along with positive experience we also made some mistakes during the process. We agreed on a possibility to attract potential investors to these privatization projects," Tsybulsky said adding that for the moment the proposal was just a good idea.

Touching upon bilateral cooperation, the Russian deputy minister of economic development said that the Russian-Iraqi trade had reached almost $2 billion in 2015 compared to $1.7 billion in 2014. "We hope it's not going to fall [in 2016]," Tsybulsky concluded.

The Russian delegation led by Vice-Premier Dmitry Rogozin is staying in Baghdad to meet Iraqi leaders and attend a meeting of the Russian-Iraqi inter-governmental commission on February 11 for the first time since 2008.

Dozens of Russian businessmen have arrived in Baghdad together with government officials.
The head of the US intelligence community has acknowledged for the first time that American spy agencies might use a new generation of smart household devices to increase their surveillance capabilities, Press TV reported.

James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, made the remarks on Tuesday during a testimony before the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence Committees as part of an assessment of threats facing the United States.

"In the future, intelligence services might use the [Internet of Things] for identification, surveillance, monitoring, location tracking, and targeting for recruitment, or to gain access to networks or user credentials," Clapper said.

The Internet of Things is the network of physical objects-devices, vehicles, buildings and other items which are embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and network connectivity, which enables these objects to collect and exchange data.

Clapper did not specifically name any intelligence agency as involved in the surveillance of household devices.

But technology experts and privacy advocates examining the Internet of Things believe that US surveillance agencies will intercept the signals the newly networked devices emit, much as they do with those from mobile phones.

The experts warn that thousands of completely unsecured web-connected devices are currently used by customers.

The US National Security Agency (NSA) has previously come under fire for secretly spying on Americans' phone calls and internet communications. NSA's mass espionage program was first leaked in 2013 by the agency's former contractor Edward Snowden.

During Tuesday's Senate hearing, Clapper also warned that fast-moving cyber and technological advances "could lead to widespread vulnerabilities in civilian infrastructures and US government systems."

"In my 50 plus years in the intelligence business I cannot recall a more diverse array of crises and challenges than we face today," Clapper said.

Attacks by "homegrown" extremists are among the most imminent security threats facing the United States in 2016, Clapper argued.

The Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group poses the biggest danger among militant groups because of the territory it controls in Iraq and Syria, and is determined to launch attacks on US soil, Clapper said.

Daesh has also demonstrated "unprecedented online proficiencies," he added.

He also cited threats from Russia's increasingly assertive international policies, saying "We could be into another Cold War-like spiral."
Turkey and Saudi Arabia will hold joint military drills as part of a decision to strategically cooperate against common threats, sources have told daily Hurriyet. However, the state-run Anadolu Agency quoted military sources as denying such a planning.

Turkish Chief of General Staff Hulusi Akar's visit to Saudi Arabia in late January, which had coincided with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's official visit to the country, brought about a decision to hold joint military exercises with the participation of the two countries' armies, military sources told Hurriyet.

Sources speaking on condition of anonymity said a decision for "the strategic cooperation against common threats" had been made during the meeting in Riyadh.

Still, military sources said the Feb. 10 media reports, which said such a joint drill would be held, did not reflect the truth, Anadolu Agency said later on Feb. 10. The agency quoted the sources as also denying that the Turkish military would attend a Saudi-led exercise, admitting that a deal was made for joint military training.

The visit was not to discuss the coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's (ISIL) facilities in Syria but rather conducted to strengthen mutual ties between the two states and armies, according to the sources speaking to Hurriyet.

The "Islam army," which Saudi Arabia had announced to be formed on Dec. 15, 2015, consisting of 34 Sunni Islam states, to fight terrorism amid a continuing war on jihadists in the Middle East and elsewhere, was not on the agenda of the meetings in Riyadh.

The visit coming right before Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates declaring they were ready to send troops and special forces to Syria under the U.S.-led anti-ISIL coalition was also a coincidence, the sources said, adding Turkey was distancing itself from both of the issues.

"The togetherness that is being mentioned [by Saudi Arabia] cannot actually be called an 'Islam army.' Even if there is such an initiative, Turkey will not be a part of its military branch," said a senior Turkish official.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 11

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

Turkey hasn't appealed to any country with a request to mediate in the settlement of relations between Ankara and Moscow, a source in Turkish Cabinet of Ministers told Trend Feb. 11.

Diplomatic relations between Russia and Turkey soured after a Russian Su-24 was shot down by the Turkish Air Forces Nov. 24, 2015. Turkey said the warplane violated its airspace, while Russia dismissed the claims.

Following the incident, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on measures to ensure national security and economic measures against Turkey.

According to the source, the reports saying that the Turkish prime minister allegedly went on a tour for the heads of some countries to act as mediators for normalizing relations between Ankara and Moscow are untrue.

Earlier, some media outlets reported that Prime Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu was allegedly visiting a number of countries to find an intermediary for normalization of relations between Ankara and Moscow.

"Turkey hasn't closed diplomatic channels for a dialogue with Russia," the source explained.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Paju (South Korea) (AFP) - A sullen mood of anger and anxiety hung over scores of South Korean businessmen crossing the border Thursday into North Korea to save what they could of a decade-long investment.

A day after Seoul announced it was shutting down the jointly run Kaesong industrial park, which lies 10 kilometres (six miles) inside North Korea, the heavy border traffic was almost exclusively in one direction... northwards.

Given barely any notice of the government's decision, owners of the 124 companies operating factories in Kaesong dispatched trucks and managers to the complex in the early morning to start removing finished goods and equipment.

"I'm speechless at what has happened," said Jang Ik-Ho, a manager with an engineering company in the complex.

"The companies have all done our best to make things work, and now this happens. What did we do to deserve this?" Jang said, as he prepared to cross into the North.

- Outrage -

Jang's remarks reflected a general sense of outrage among Kaesong's South Korean business community over the shutdown order.

Opened in 2004 as a symbol of inter-Korean reconciliation, the project had -- until now -- proved remarkably immune to the regular upheavals in North-South relations.

But awareness that much of the money the North made from Kaesong went to leader Kim Jong-Un's inner circle and the country's nuclear weapons programme has always grated, and last month's nuclear test followed by a long-range rocket launch on Sunday, proved the final straw.

The government in Seoul said the closure decision was "unavoidable" in the circumstances, but company owners insisted their businesses were being liquidated by bad politics.

"It's as if we're just being ordered to jump off a cliff," said Jeong Gi-Seob, head of the Kaesong owners' association.

Jeong also warned that companies could face severance payment totalling around 100 million dollars.

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North Korea has yet to respond officially to the shutdown, and a number of those crossing the border were wary of entering a potentially volatile situation.

Seoul has demanded that Pyongyang grant safe passage to all its citizens, but there are concerns that some might find themselves detained if the North Korean authorities try to leverage their release.

- Personal safety -

"It would be a lie to say I'm not worried about my personal safety," said Yoon Sang-Young, who has worked in the same textiles factory in Kaesong for eight years.

"But I am trusting the government's words that it will ensure the workers' safety," Yoon said.

Among those crossing Thursday was Kim Hak-Ju, a manager for a utilities supplier who was tasked with cutting off LPG supplies in Kaesong.

"I've been told to stay there until Saturday," said Kim, who wasn't unduly worried about his own security.

"But, like the others, I'm very frustrated," he said. "When I heard the news, I thought to myself, 'what we all feared is finally happening'."

South Koreans crossing the border in the other direction said none of the 53,000 North Korean workers employed in Kaesong had come to work on Thursday.

Kim Soo-Hee, a nurse working at a medical clinic in the complex, said some of the North Koreans seemed to have been aware a shutdown was possible, and had been asking her for several days if Kaesong might close.

Kim also said she had seen several military trucks arriving in Kaesong and a number of armed soldiers with backpacks and sleeping bags.

"There were more soldiers around the complex than usual," she said.

Although Seoul said there was no formal deadline for people to leave Kaesong, a number of people said they had been told to get out by Saturday afternoon at the latest.
By Colleen Jenkins

(Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday reversed a decision that halted executions in Mississippi, finding a lower court abused its discretion when it blocked the use of certain lethal injection drugs.

The ruling upholds the three-drug protocol proposed by Mississippi as it and other states struggle to obtain the chemicals needed to enforce the death penalty. But executions in the state are unlikely to restart immediately, according to a lawyer for two death row inmates challenging the protocol.

The inmates will seek further injunctions against the protocol on other legal grounds and could request a review of the case by the full 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, said their lawyer, Jim Craig.

"We havent made that decision yet," said Craig, co-director of the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center in New Orleans.

U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate issued a preliminary injunction last August barring Mississippi's corrections department from executing prisoners using compounded pentobarbital or midazolam.

The drugs have been used in botched executions and are not in the class of drugs specified by Mississippi law for lethal injections, convicted murderers Richard Jordan and Ricky Chase argued.

But the three-judge appeals panel on Wednesday found the prisoners failed to show the drugs would impose an "atypical and significant hardship" on them. The appellate judges also rejected an argument that Mississippi's plan to use drugs not listed in state law "shocks the conscience."

"The Fifth Circuits ruling affirms my belief that the state is legally and properly administering the death penalty," Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant, a Republican, said in a statement.

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood did not immediately comment. Hood, a Democrat, last month said he would ask state lawmakers to authorize executions by firing squad, electrocution, hanging and nitrogen gas when drugs for lethal injections were not available.

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Craig said the state should instead model its capital punishment protocol after Texas, where inmates are put to death using a single, overwhelming dose of a barbiturate.

That procedure lowers the risk of lethal injections amounting to chemical torture when things go wrong in the three-drug cocktail, he said.

"They refuse to do that," he said of Mississippi officials.

Mississippi last carried out a lethal injection in 2012.

(Reporting by Colleen Jenkins in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Editing by Tom Brown)
By Laila Bassam and Tom Perry DAMASCUS (Reuters) - The Syrian government expects a tough battle for Aleppo, the city that has become the focal point of the country's long civil war, but is confident of victory and says it won't be a long fight. Damascus aims to seal the border with Turkey, a major sponsor of the insurgents fighting President Bashar al-Assad, and to retake rebel-held areas of what was Syria's biggest city and industrial hub before the conflict began in 2011. "These battles are not easy, but the day will come, God willing, when all Aleppo - its rural areas and the occupied part of the city - will return to state authority," Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said in an interview on Wednesday. He declined to predict how long the campaign would last, but added: "I do not expect the battle of Aleppo to go on long." The Syrian government has made significant gains against rebels north of the city in the last week, in a dramatic advance backed by Russian air strikes and allies on the ground including Lebanon's Hezbollah and Iranian fighters. The government assault helped to derail already struggling Geneva peace talks this month. Russia's intervention has tipped the war Assad's way, reversing gains rebels made last year. PRIZE Aleppo would be the biggest strategic prize in years for Assad's government in a conflict that has killed at least 250,000 people and driven 11 million from their homes. The offensive has already cut vital rebel supply lines into opposition-held areas of the city from Turkey. Tens of thousands of people have fled toward the border. Zoubi said the insurgents were well-financed and armed, naming groups that have received U.S.-made TOW anti-armor missiles, as well as the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, and other jihadists such as the Turkistan Islamic Party. "They have TOW, they have tanks, they have armored cars, they have bombs, they have many weapons," Zoubi said. Since Russia began its air campaign on Sept. 30, the Syrian army and its allies have launched major ground offensives in the northwestern province of Latakia bordering Turkey and in Deraa province neighboring Jordan. While rebel forces are under pressure in both Latakia and Aleppo, government forces have yet to launch a major attack against them in Idlib province, which also borders Turkey and is a stronghold of groups including the Nusra Front. Zoubi indicated Idlib might not be attacked imminently. "Idlib is within the goals of ... the overall military operation, but when its time comes, it will have its own plan," he said. FOOD SUPPLIES The United Nations said on Tuesday supplies of food to hundreds of thousands of civilians could be cut off if government forces encircle rebel-held parts of Aleppo. Zoubi said one goal was to open the main highway south to Damascus and "break the siege" imposed by insurgents. Since the state lost control of the highway, supplies to government-held parts of Aleppo have been sent via a longer road that passes close to areas held by Islamic State to the east where it is being bombed by a U.S.-led alliance. Damascus describes all the groups fighting it as terrorists controlled by regional enemies including Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Saudi Arabia, one of the states that wants to see Assad gone from power, said last week it would be ready to send troops to Syria as part of any ground operation by the U.S.-led alliance. "Even thinking about this is a big adventure and gamble, the results of which I don't believe Saudi can bear, neither for its army or its internal situation," Zoubi said. He also said increasing military pressure on insurgents could lead to more attacks like the suicide car bombing in Damascus on Tuesday - the first of its type in the capital in two years. The attack, which killed at least three people, was claimed by Islamic State. (Editing by Andrew Roche)
Just two days after Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders overwhelming victory over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the two are preparing to face off, head to head again for another nationally televised debate. There might be frigid temperatures outside, but voters can expect the heated rhetoric to date from the two candidates, as the race between them is hotter and closer than ever.

What Bernie Sanders' Crushing Win in New Hampshire Means for the Democratic Race

Clinton Campaign Leans Heavily on Feminism to Make Case Against Sanders

Hillary Clinton Banking on Minority Support for Super Tuesday, Memo Says

Here are 4 things to watch for at the show tonight.

All Eyes On Hillary: Fresh off the bruising loss in New Hampshire and new speculation over whether her lead ins, in the next voting states will hold up, the pressure is now on Clinton. The Democratic presidential candidate will likely try to over-perform in order to ease fears among supporters, donors and the party establishment that despite rumors of a staff shake-up and internal conflicts, its not time to panicyet. Yesterday, she was off the campaign trail hunkering down and preparing, and its safe to expect shes going to come on to the stage tonight armed and ready to prove people wrong.

Aggressive Appeal to Minority Voters: Bernie Sanders knows he needs to make substantial ground among African-American and Latino voters if he stands a chance to carry his momentum from New Hampshire to states with more diverse demographics. His campaign has been working hard in this area and in the past two weeks and he has picked up high profile endorsements from a former head of the NAACP, Ben Jealous, and iconic entertainer and social activists Harry Belafonte. Wednesday, he met in New York City for a very public breakfast with Rev. Al Sharpton.

At the podium tonight, Sanders will likely make a point of talking about criminal justice reform, immigration, deportation, and economic and social inequality as he continues his mad-dash to boost his name recognition among minority constituencies.

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A Plea to Millennials: What minorities are to Sanders is what young people are to Clinton  but perhaps, even worse. In New Hampshire, Clinton lost the youth vote to Sanders by a whopping 68 points. Now she and her campaign are scrambling to figure out how to change their message to woo some of these millennial voters and tonight, Clinton will likely make a renewed pitch to this demographic. I know I have some work to do, particularly with young people, Clinton said at her concession speech on Tuesday. Even if they are not supporting me now, I support them, she added.

Accelerated Accusations over Wall Street Donations: Clinton accused Sanders of running a nasty campaign of insinuation and innuendo, during the last debate, arguing when Sanders talks about the campaign donations she and others have received from Wall Street he is implying that they have been bought or influenced. If youve got something to say, say it, she said to him straight on, in the most fiery exchanges in the race so far between the two Democratic candidates. In the week since, Sanders has stuck to his own talking points, but Clinton has changed hers. She accused the Vermont Senator of hypocrisy, citing the fact that he previously took money for his senate races from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and that the DSCC had in turn taken money from lobbyists with the financial industry. Sanders campaign called Clintons line of attack absurd, false, and dishonest. The question now  will Clinton standby those accusations on the main stage.

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Brussels (AFP) - NATO launched Thursday an unprecedented naval mission in the Aegean Sea to tackle people smugglers taking refugees and migrants from Turkey to Greece, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.

The alliance will deploy at least three warships after alliance members Germany, Greece and Turkey called for help earlier this week to cope with Europe's biggest migrant crisis since World War II.

The move came despite a threat by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to send millions more refugees to Europe amid a row with the European Union (EU) over responsibility for handling the crisis.

"This is not about stopping and pushing back (refugee boats)... but about critical surveillance to help counter human trafficking and criminal networks," Stoltenberg said after NATO defence ministers approved the mission.

He said NATO is "now directing the standing maritime group to move into the Aegean without delay and start maritime surveillance activities".

The group comprises three ships under German command but there will be more as the situation is reviewed.

EU efforts to tackle the problem have only exposed deep divisions while a November agreement with Turkey has got bogged down in mutual recrimination over who is to blame.

The NATO chief said the migrant crisis, driven by conflict and turmoil in Syria across the Middle East and North Africa, posed a major security threat to the 28-nation alliance at the same time as it faces new challenges in Europe driven by the Ukraine crisis.

It is a major departure for NATO, an alliance formed in the depths of the Cold War and which normally focuses on strictly military matters.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel made the call for help Monday in Turkey as thousands more refugees fled heavy fighting near Aleppo in northern Syria only to be held back on the border.

Turkey is home to some 2.5 million refugees and their future is increasingly uncertain with prospects of a return home disappearing as efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Syrian conflict flounder.

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On Thursday, Erdogan threatened to send more refugees to Europe, slamming the EU for treating Ankara as though it were an "idiot" and shirking its responsibilities.

Asked about Erdogan's statement, Stoltenberg declined direct comment, stressing instead that the Aegean naval mission had been backed by all 28 NATO member states.

He noted too that AWACS surveillance planes and other surveillance resources deployed to bolster Turkey in December as the Syrian crisis deepened would now also be used to step up monitoring along its border with Syria.

- EU welcome -

German Defence Minister Ursula Von der Leyen said that "several NATO members had pledged ships" for the mission.

"There is a clear accord with Turkey that any refugees picked up will be sent back to Turkey," she told reporters.

Sources said the force would eventually comprise five to seven ships, with the key provision that if they do rescue refugees, as they must do under international law, those migrants will be returned to Turkey.

Normally, they would claim asylum in the ship's home country.

The European Commission welcomed the plan but reiterated that it aimed to create its own border and coast guard system to fulfil the same function.

"This is a decision we welcome. We hope that lives will be saved in the Aegean Sea," commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker's spokesman Margartis Schinas told a news briefing.

"We regard this as very much a sort of a forerunner of the European coast guard, going back to proposals made in December," he said.

Turkey -- the only Muslim-majority nation in NATO and with one of its largest armies -- was the main transit country for the more than one million migrants who reached Europe last year.

Having reached Greece, most of them made their way north to Germany and other richer countries in the European Union.

More than 70,000 made the dangerous crossing in January, with over 400 dying, according to the International Organization for Migration (OIM).

The fear now is that hundreds of thousands more could follow this year with no prospect of a negotiated solution to the war in Syria which has killed more than 260,000 people and displaced half the population since March 2011.
China's central bank has injected another 110 billion yuan ($16.7 billion) into the financial system to prevent cash crunch as demand for cash surges in the run-up to the Spring Festival. (Photo : REUTERS)

The Peoples Bank of China (PBOC) has injected on Saturday, Feb. 6, another 110 billion yuan ($16.7 billion) into the financial system through open market operations to ease the anticipated liquidity strain that often occurs during the Spring Festival, the Xinhua News Agency reported.



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According to the report, the injection was made through reverse repurchase agreements (repo), in which central banks buy securities from banks and agree to resell them in the future.



The report said that this week, the total amount of funds pumped into the market through this operation amounted to 620 billion yuan, following a net injection of 690 billion yuan last week.



A statement released by PBOC said that the reverse repo on Saturday will mature in 14 days and was priced to yield 2.4 percent.



The report said that the central bank has conducted reverse repos for eight straight days in anticipation of a cash crunch, usually expected before the Spring Festival holiday week, which began on Sunday, Feb. 7, this year.



Bloomberg reported that government offices will be closed for the Lunar New Year holidays from Feb. 7-13. The central bank also said it will allow seven more lenders to participate in its Short-term Liquidity Operations.



According to Bloomberg, the demand for cash surges in the run-up to the Spring Festival holiday as people stash funds to pay for trips, feasts and gifts. Huachuang Securities Co. estimated that the sum involved is close to 2 trillion yuan, the report cited.



According to financial data provider Wind Information, the total scale of such operations since January is a record for pre-festival periods.



But other than this, the PBOC also used other tools to offer more than 1.5 trillion yuan for the market in January, which include standing lending facilities, medium-term lending facilities and pledged supplementary lending.



The report said that the Shanghai Interbank Offered Rate (Shibor), which measures the cost at which Chinese banks lend to one another, increased by 29.7 basis points to 2.281 percent on Saturday.


Burns (United States) (AFP) - The last four armed occupiers of a wildlife refuge in Oregon surrendered to authorities Thursday, ending a tense 41-day standoff over grazing rights on federal land that left one dead.

Jeff Banta, 46, of Nevada, Sean Anderson, 47, and his wife Sandra, 48, of Idaho, walked out of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge shortly after 9:30 am.

About 90 minutes later, the last protester, David Fry, followed suit, but only after vowing "liberty or death" and having threatened to commit suicide.

Fry, in an extraordinary exchange live-streamed online and at one point followed by 30,000 people, lashed out at the government, saying that unless his grievances are addressed he would not leave the refuge. But in the end he yielded.

In a rambling diatribe before his surrender, the 27-year-old at one point said he wanted a pizza, then marijuana, before denouncing abortion and American foreign policy.

- 'Die with honor' -

"The whole reason I am here is to protest against the government, to address my grievances," he said.

At another point in the conversation he warned: "I am actually pointing a gun at my head."

"It's better to die with honor (than) be forced to live dishonorably," he added.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a statement that the four holdouts had been taken into custody without incident and would appear before a judge on Friday.

They face charges of conspiring to impede federal officers from performing their duties through the use of force, intimidation or threats.

Greg Bretzing, the FBI's top agent in Oregon, said the standoff had been especially trying to area residents whose lives were disrupted.

"Over the course of the last month, the people of Harney County have lived through an experience that is both highly emotional and physically exhausting," he told reporters. "We have seen the occupiers and their outside supporters try to drive deep divisions between those who live and work here."

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- Nevada showdown -

The occupation of the refuge came to an end a day after Cliven Bundy -- the Nevada rancher whose 2014 standoff with federal authorities over grazing rights inspired the Oregon activists -- was arrested late Wednesday in Portland, Oregon.

Bundy, 74, was reportedly on his way to the wildlife refuge when detained on arrival at the airport, the FBI said.

The siege in Oregon began on January 2 when two of Bundy's sons, Ammon and Ryan, along with some 30 followers, took over the refuge to denounce federal land management policies in the American West.

The Bundy brothers were among a dozen people arrested late last month after they ventured out of the refuge. The group's de facto spokesman LaVoy Finicum was killed by police after he tried to get away.

The takeover of the wildlife refuge initially began as a protest against the jailing of two local ranchers, Dwight Hammond and his son Steven, who were convicted of arson and sentenced to prison.

But the activists' demands soon grew to include calls for the government to turn over area federal land to local ranchers. In Oregon, nearly 53 percent of the land is federally owned.

The Hammonds distanced themselves from the movement and voluntarily began their scheduled prison sentences after the occupation began.

The Bundy family grabbed headlines in 2014 after another armed showdown with federal authorities over cattle grazing fees.

That standoff ended with federal officials backing down and releasing cattle they had seized from the Bundys.

Cliven Bundy appeared in court on Thursday in relation to the Nevada standoff and was charged -- like his sons -- with conspiracy to interfere with a federal officer. He also faces weapons charges.
Istanbul (AFP) - The father of Aylan Kurdi, the Syrian toddler whose drowning shocked the world last year, went on trial on Thursday along with two alleged people smugglers accused of causing the death of migrants.

A photograph of the three-year-old, face down in the sand on a Turkish beach in his toddler's clothes, caused horror when it was published in September 2015 after his family decided to make the risky journey to Greece in an open boat.

Aylan's mother Rihana and brother Ghaleb, four, also died in the same accident.

The trial of Syrian nationals Muwafaka Alabash and Asem Alfrhad opened at the criminal court in the western Turkish resort of Bodrum, the Dogan news agency reported. If convicted, they face up to 35 years in jail.

They are charged of smuggling migrants and causing the deaths of five people, including Aylan Kurdi, his brother and mother when their boat sank while on its way to Greece.

But also on trial in absentia was Aylan Kurdi's father, Abdullah Kurdi, who survived the sinking of the boat, on accusations of being an organiser of the smuggling. The precise charges against him were not made clear.

Both of the defendants in court strongly incriminated Abdullah Kurdi as a well-known organiser of people smuggling in the Bodrum area, accusing him of being responsible for the deaths and driving the boat at the time of the disaster.

But Dogan said the court had decided to drop the legal proceedings against Abdullah Kurdi, without specifying further.

- 'The organiser' -

Abdullah Kurdi, from the mainly Kurdish Syrian town of Kobane on the Turkish border, is currently believed to be outside of Turkey and spending some of his time in northern Iraq.

He became a prominent figure through media interviews at the time of the disaster and also gave the traditional "alternative" Christmas message in 2015 on British TV's Channel 4.

His family, many of whom are now based in Canada, had previously rubbished similar allegations against him broadcast by foreign television as "ridiculous".

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"The real criminal here, the organiser, is Abdullah Kurdi, who became a hero on television but did not even testify," said Asem Alfrhad in court.

Muwafaka Alabash said he had been told before coming to Bodrum to "'find Abdullah Kurdi, he does the migrant smuggling'. I found him in Bodrum. Everyone knew him. His collected money from his people."

The court also heard testimony from Syrian refugee Emin Haydar, who witnessed and survived the sinking, and said that Abdullah Kurdi had been "driving the boat" at the time.

"While the person behind this gives TV interviews, the two victims remain behind bars," said Alfrhad's lawyer Duygu Cakmak Bisen.

"It is clear that my client received no money from anyone," he added, saying his client had only wanted to go to Europe.

The trial was adjourned until an unspecified date. The court rejected pleas from the defence to release the Syrians, ruling they must stay in custody as they had no address and constituted a flight risk.

- Greece mulls returns -

Turkey has become the major hub for Syrian, Afghan, Iraqi, Eritrean and other refugees and migrants seeking to undertake the risky crossing to the European Union in a flow that has caused huge alarm across the continent.

The Turkish government struck a deal with the EU in November to halt the flow of refugees, in return for three billion euros ($3.2 billion) in financial assistance.

But the deal and wintry weather in the Mediterranean do not appear to have deterred the migrants, with an average of 2,000 people still arriving on the Greek islands daily.

Greece is now considering whether to declare Turkey a "safe third country" which would allow it to send back asylum seekers picked up in the Aegean Sea, a government source in Athens said Thursday.

"No decision has yet been taken" but "it is being looked at", the source said.
Cairo (AFP) - A British firm hired to review security at Egypt airports after the October crash of a Russian plane will begin its work at the weekend, the civil aviation minister said Wednesday.

The global consultancy firm Control Risks will begin "assessing security procedures at the Sharm el-Sheikh airport from Sunday," Civil Aviation Minister Hossam Kamal said in a statement.

The A-321 airliner operated by Russia's Metrojet and bound for Saint Petersburg broke up mid-air over the Sinai, minutes after take-off from the Red Sea tourism hub of Sharm el-Sheikh.

The London-based Control Risks, a specialist in protecting organisations in hostile environments, was hired by Egypt after the crash that killed all 224 people on board.

Moscow has said the tragedy was caused by a "terrorist attack" but Cairo says it has no evidence to back up this analysis.

An Egyptian branch of the jihadist Islamic State group said it had found a way to "compromise security" at the Sharm airport and smuggled a bomb on board that blew up the Russian plane.

The United States and Britain have also criticised security at Egyptian airports and said it was likely the plane was brought down by a bomb.

Egypt's aviation minister said Control Risks will review procedures used to check passengers and baggages, and devices used by security personnel at the airport.

Kamal said the firm will only "assess" security measures and submit a report to the government for its consideration.

The six-month $700,000 (623,000 euros) contract will see Control Risks reviewing Cairo and Marsa Alam airports also, Kamal added.

Egyptian security teams however will be in charge of implementing security measures at the airport, he said.

Days after the crash, Moscow halted all Russian flights to and from Egypt and Britain also suspended air links with Sharm el-Sheikh.

The October crash has dealt a body blow to Egypt's tourism industry.

In November and December, the tourism sector lost 2.2 billion Egyptian pounds ($280 million) a month primarily due to the Russian and British flight bans.

Overall tourist arrivals fell sharply in 2015 to about 9.3 million, from 15 million in 2010. Revenues from tourism slumped 15 percent year-on-year to $6.1 billion in 2015.
Coast Guard Hearings on El Faro Sinking Starting Feb. 16

Convened in Jacksonville, the hearings will examine the loss of the container ship El Faro and all of its 33 crewmembers last October; NTSB investigated the sinking and is participating in the hearings.

A public U.S. Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation hearing into the loss of the container ship El Faro and all of its 33 crewmembers last October is scheduled to begin Feb. 16 in Jacksonville, Fla. Owned by Sea Star Line, LLC and operated by TOTE Services, the ship sank during Hurricane Joaquin. The ship was located Oct. 31 in about 15,000 feet of water near Crooked Island, Bahamas.

The Coast Guard's announcement of the hearing stated that the first hearing session (Feb. 16-26) will focus on the pre-accident historical events relating to the loss, the regulatory compliance record of the ship, crewmembers' duties and qualifications, past operations of the vessel, and the Coast Guard's search and rescue operations. A subsequent hearing session at a date to be determined will address the final voyage, including cargo loading, weather conditions, and navigation.

The National Transportation Safety Board, which conducted its own investigation, will participate in the hearings, which will take place in the Prime F. Osborn Convention Center, 1000 Water Street.

The Marine Board of Investigation will work to determine:

What factors contributed to the accident

Whether there is evidence that any act of misconduct, inattention to duty, negligence, or willful violation of the law on the part of any licensed or certificated person contributed to the casualty

Whether there is evidence that any Coast Guard personnel or any representative or employee of any other government agency or any other person caused or contributed to the ship's loss

NTSB also announced that it will launch a second expedition to search for the ship's voyage data recorder and to get a more extensive and detailed survey of the wreckage. The exact launch date will be announced later but is expected to be in April 2016.

"The voyage data recorder may hold vital information about the challenges encountered by the crew in trying to save the ship," said NTSB Chairman Christopher A. Hart. "Getting that information could be very helpful to our investigation."

A search area of approximately 13.5 square miles will be documented in photos and video by SENTRY, an autonomous underwater vehicle that will be launched from the research vessel Atlantis, which is owned by the U.S. Navy and operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
NTSB Issues Recommendations on Lithium Batteries in Air Cargo

The board has asked PHMSA to require that lithium batteries be physically separated from other flammable hazardous materials stowed on cargo aircraft and also to set maximum loading density requirements that limit the quantities of lithium batteries and flammable hazardous materials on board.

The National Transportation Safety Board has issued two safety recommendations to DOT's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, asking that agency to require that lithium batteries be physically separated from other flammable hazardous materials stowed on cargo aircraft and also to set maximum loading density requirements that limit the quantities of lithium batteries and flammable hazardous materials on board.

The recommendations stem from NTSB's investigation of the July 28, 2011, in-flight fire and crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 991 in international waters about 80 miles west of Jeju International Airport, South Korea. The NTSB participated in this investigation, headed by the Republic of Korea's Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board.

The aircraft involved in the crash was a Boeing 747 operated by Asiana Airlines. It crashed into the sea off Jeju, killing both pilots, after departing Seoul-Incheon International Airport en route to Shanghai-Pudong International Airport, China.

NTSB stressed that lithium batteries carried as cargo can be a fire and explosion ignition source, a source of fuel for an existing fire, and subjected to overheating that can create an explosive condition. "The National Transportation Safety Board urges the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to take action on these safety recommendations to reduce the likelihood and severity of potential cargo fires and to provide additional time for the crew to safely land a cargo aircraft in the event a fire is detected," NTSB Chairman Christopher A. Hart said.

While PHMSA generally cannot issue regulations or enforce requirements for the safe transportation of lithium cells and batteries that are more restrictive than international regulations, Congress has given PHMSA authority to do so if it finds credible evidence of a deficiency in the international regulations that has substantially contributed to the start or spread of an on-board fire; NTSB stated that it "strongly believes the circumstances and findings in the Asiana Flight 991 accident show the need for new cargo segregation and loading density requirements."

The recommendations are available here.
Israeli navy veteran Ami Daniel points at his computer screen and explains why the ship he was tracking should have been stopped and searched. It sailed near the Libyan port of Tobruk and waited four days more than a mile off the coast without ever docking, then moved west to Misrata, which it had never visited before. Next came Greece, where it waited another four days offshore. Whatever was on the ship -- possibly drugs, weapons or people -- likely eventually made its way onto Europe's shores, he said. At a time of deep concern over migrant smuggling, Daniel said his company Windward has the ability to pick up such suspicious maritime behaviour that would otherwise go unnoticed. In October, in a similar case, the Italian navy intercepted a cargo ship that was found to be carrying 20 tonnes of hashish. "The overarching problem we are trying to solve is bringing visibility to the oceans -- there is a huge gap in our understanding of the world," he said. Europe has long been aware of the threat of maritime smuggling along its 65,000 kilometres of coastline, what Daniel called its "back door". Ninety percent of the world's trade is via the oceans and ports simply cannot check even a fraction of all the containers. For that reason, they try to narrow it down with watch lists of ships. But with turbulence in northern Africa and the collapse of Libya, smuggling networks have taken advantage of the situation while also becoming more sophisticated, Silvia Ciotti, head of the EuroCrime research body, explained. And with the influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees across the seas, resources in Europe have been stretched threadbare. The same smugglers taking desperate migrants and refugees into Europe also take contraband goods, Ciotti said. "One day it is drugs. One day it is weapons. They do not care," she said. - Data-rich, information-poor - In a bid to combat this, Europe has sought to improve its coordination, establishing a common policy on sharing information. But much of the data, including where ships are at any given moment -- which is self-reported -- is prone to manipulation and error. Likewise, over half of the ships that enter Europe sail under so-called flags of convenience -- countries like Panama that require almost no checks to register -- and around one percent of ships sail on a completely false identity, Daniel said. Security forces are often reliant on tip-offs and information about specific ships, Ciotti said. As Daniel put it, Europe is "data-rich but information-poor." Windward, formed by Daniel after his stint in the Israeli navy enabled him to understand what information security services lacked, claims to fill that gap by providing to the minute and in-depth information on the ships, while also running checks on its ownership and history. If a ship's activities are unusual -- turning off its radar or visiting an at-risk port -- it will be flagged up. While not the only company offering such solutions, it has at least one prominent backer: Former CIA chief David Petraeus recently invested an undisclosed amount in the company. The company is also using its technology to track Iran's oil shipments as sanctions are eased. "One of the main innovations is the idea of activity-based intelligence  where you look at all the ships all the time to find suspicious patterns, rather than just the wanted ships," said Daniel. Even with such data, catching smugglers is still limited by a range of factors, including legislation that varies between countries, said Michael Newton, co-editor of the book Prosecuting Maritime Piracy. But firm evidence of wrongdoing could enable quicker interceptions, he said. A United Nations report points out that operations at sea are difficult to carry out, so enforcement tends to take place when ships dock. "But, when successful, interception operations at sea often result in the seizure of larger quantities of drugs than those on land or in the air," it concluded.
By Stephanie Nebehay and Kate Kelland GENEVA/LONDON (Reuters) - The World Health Organisation advised women on Wednesday on how to protect themselves from Zika, particularly if pregnant, but also reassured them that most women in areas affected by the mosquito-borne virus will give birth to "normal infants." The illness, until recently viewed as relatively mild, has sparked concern because of a possible link between infection in pregnancy and microcephaly, a rare birth defect in which infants are born with abnormally small heads that can be accompanied by developmental problems. Brazil, the worst hit country in an outbreak sweeping the Americas and now present in more than 30 countries, is investigating a potential link between Zika infections and more than 4,000 suspected cases of microcephaly. Researchers have identified evidence of Zika infection in 17 of these cases, either in the baby or in the mother, but have not confirmed that the virus can cause microcephaly. In its advice, the Geneva-based WHO said women in areas with the virus should protect themselves, especially during pregnancy, by covering up against mosquitoes and practicing safe sex through the use of condoms. It said more evidence was needed to confirm whether sex commonly transmits the virus. The agency, which declared a health emergency over Zika on Feb. 1, did not recommend travel restrictions but suggested women should consult their doctors or authorities if travelling. Pregnant women in general, including those who develop symptoms of Zika infection, should see their health care provider for close monitoring. But the WHO was also reassuring, declaring: "Most women in Zika-affected areas will give birth to normal infants." A study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine provided new evidence strengthening the association between Zika virus and a spike in birth defects, citing the presence of the virus in the brain of an aborted fetus of a European woman who became pregnant while living in Brazil. Professor Tatjana Avsic Zupanc, who led the researchers in the study, said in an email her team's findings "may present the most compelling evidence to date" of the link between Zika and birth defects. As scientists race to find out more about the virus and its possible effects, 30 of the world's leading scientific research institutions, journals and funders pledged to share for free all data and expertise on the virus as soon as they have it. "The arguments for sharing data and the consequences of not doing so (have been) ... thrown into stark relief by the Ebola and Zika outbreaks," said the agreement by an unprecedented number of signatories in the Americas, Japan, Europe and elsewhere. There is as yet no vaccine or treatment for the disease. Specialists welcomed the initiative, saying it showed how the global health community had learnt crucial lessons from West Africa's Ebola epidemic, which killed more than 11,300 people. Mark Woolhouse, a University of Edinburgh professor of infectious diseases, said the commitment "if acted upon...will save lives." ABORTION AND THE CHURCH The Zika outbreak has raised the issue of a woman's reproductive rights including abortion, a contentious issue in much of Latin America. The WHO said on Wednesday that, "Women who wish to terminate a pregnancy due to a fear of microcephaly should have access to safe abortion services to the full extent of the law." Abortion is illegal in many cases in Brazil, and in much of the region. Reflecting the influence of the Roman Catholic Church in many parts of the Americas, a Catholic group appealed to Pope Francis on Wednesday to allow Church members to "follow their conscience" and use contraception or to let women have abortions to protect themselves against Zika. Catholics for Choice, a liberal advocacy group based in Washington, said in a statement it would run ads in the International New York Times and El Diario de Hoy in El Salvador on Thursday, the eve of a papal trip to Cuba and Mexico. "When you travel tomorrow (Friday) to Latin America, we ask you to make it clear to your brother bishops that good Catholics can follow their conscience and use birth control to protect themselves and their partners," the ad will say, according to advance excerpts released in the statement. The Catholic Church teaches that life begins at the moment of conception and that abortion is killing. It also bans artificial birth control such as condoms, arguing that they block the possible transmission of life. The ban is widely disregarded in many countries, but activists say there is still a stigma attached to birth control in some Latin American countries because of the edict. In its statement on Wednesday, the WHO said microcephaly cannot reliably be predicted by early ultrasounds, "except in extreme cases." This point is important, as even in countries where abortion services are freely available, they are generally prohibited after a certain point in the pregnancy. The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday told a Congressional hearing that he expects Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory in the Caribbean, to be hard hit by Zika. Mosquitoes have already passed the virus to people in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. "We will likely see significant numbers of cases in Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories," CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden told the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing. So far there have been no cases of Zika passed by mosquitoes in the continental United States, said U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell on Wednesday. (Additional reporting by Philip Pullella in Vatican City, Bill Berkrot in New York and Toni Clarke in Washington; Writing by Frances Kerry and Lisa Shumaker; Editing by Bernard Orr)
MALE (Reuters) - Maldives President Abdulla Yameen agreed on Thursday to resume discussions among the country's political parties to end a standoff between his ruling party and opposition groups. Political unrest in the archipelago has continued since the country's first democratically elected leader, Mohamed Nasheed, was ousted in disputed circumstances in February 2012. Nasheed was then arrested and sentenced in March to 13 years in jail on terrorism charges, after allegedly ordering the abduction of a judge, following a rapid trial that drew international condemnation. Nasheed is now in London for medical treatment. Visiting members of the European Parliament said on Wednesday that sanctions against Maldivian leaders are being considered if Yameen's administration fails to take action to restore democracy. Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) said Yameen is aware of the preconditions -- release all political detainees and allow party choice of representative at the talks. "It is unclear what Yameen wants. It could well be political support and to absolve himself of the grave accusations levied against him. We have to wait and see," MDP international spokesman Hamid Abdul Ghafoor told Reuters. Previous all-party meetings followed a series of anti-government protests in the capital Male last year. All were short-lived. Authorities under Yameen have jailed several opposition leaders and members of his own party figures - including his vice president - on various charges. On Sunday, police arrested a judge and former prosecutor general over their alleged involvement in a fraudulent court order to arrest Yameen. Ali Zahir, vice president of the hard-line Islamic Adhalath Party, said in a tweet that the talks should be focused on "political instability, corruption and reforming the judiciary". (Reporting by Daniel Bosley in Male; Writing by Ranga Sirilal; Editing by Shihar Aneez, Larry King)
North Korea on Thursday expelled all South Koreans from the jointly-run Kaesong industrial zone and placed it under military control, saying Seoul's decision to shutter the complex had amounted to a "declaration of war". Pyongyang said it was seizing the assets of all the 124 South Korean companies operating factories in Kaesong, which lies 10 kilometres (six miles) across the border inside North Korea. It also cut two key communication hotlines with Seoul, preventing any further official discussion of the situation at the complex. All 280 South Koreans ordered to leave Kaesong finally crossed the border back into South Korea shortly before 10:00 pm (1300 GMT), easing concerns for their safety amid speculation that some might be detained. After their return, Seoul cut off electric power transmission to the complex, a measure that would also lead to the water supply being stopped, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said citing officials. The North's aggressive measures marked a significant escalation of cross-border tensions that have been elevated since North Korea carried out a nuclear test last month and a long-range rocket launch on Sunday. Seoul had announced on Wednesday it was closing down operations at Kaesong, and the North said it would now experience the "disastrous and painful consequences" of its action. - 'Last lifeline' snapped - By shutting Kaesong, the South had destroyed the "last lifeline" of North-South relations and made a "dangerous declaration of war," the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) said in a statement. Relations between the two Koreas have always been volatile, but analysts said the current situation risked turning into a full-blown crisis. "Now we can say that all strings between the Koreas have been cut and that there are no more buffers," said Ko Yoo-Hwan, a professor of North Korean Studies at Dongguk University in Seoul. "An escalation of tensions is inevitable, and I see further trouble ahead with Kaesong and the issues of seized assets, especially if North Korea militarises the zone," Ko said. All South Koreans were ordered to leave Kaesong by 5:00 pm Pyongyang time (0830 GMT) and told they could take nothing but their personal possessions. The North also said it had ordered a "complete freeze of all assets," including raw materials, products and equipment. The owners of the South Korean companies in Kaesong had sent more than 100 empty trucks into the North on Thursday morning in the hope of bringing out as much as they could. - Goods left behind - "I only brought back about one-thirtieth of what was there," Kang Sung-Ho, the manager of a shoe company said as he crossed the border. Although there had been a rush to leave after the expulsion order came, Kang said the North Korean officials had been quite reasonable. "They didn't give us a hard time because we've known each other for a long while," he said, reserving his anger for the South Korean government's original decision to close Kaesong operations. "We had to leave our finished products untouched and we will have to provide financial compensation to our buyers. I feel terrible," he said. Despite the ban on removing anything beyond personal belongings, a few trucks that managed to cross the border earlier in the day had managed to bring out more materials. Defending its decision to halt operations at Kaesong, Seoul said North Korea had been using the hundreds of millions of dollars in hard-currency that it earned from the complex to fund its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes. The move was slammed as "utterly incomprehensible" by the Kaesong company owners who said their businesses were being destroyed by politics. Born out of the "sunshine" reconciliation policy of the late 1990s, Kaesong opened in 2004 and proved remarkably resilient, riding out repeated crises that ended every other facet of inter-Korean cooperation. The United States signalled its own unilateral moves against North Korea, with the US Senate on Wednesday unanimously adopting a bill expanding existing sanctions.
North Korea is facing sanctions for launching another rocket. (Photo : Getty Images)

After the recent nuclear test and rocket launch made by Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, Washington urged Beijing to put more pressure on its neighbor and ally, Reuters reported, citing a senior U.S. official's statement on Monday.



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According to the official, China is in "unique position" to compel the country "to abandon its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs."



The U.N. diplomat has sought to make a new sanction on North Korea.



"It's clear to me that our Chinese friends have indicated that the U.N. Security Council's response will include sanctions and does need to go beyond previous resolutions," the official stated.



"The key of course is what exactly are the specific actions that we are going to take together and that's the focus of our efforts right now. We have made clear that China can do more and needs to do more," he added.



Since North Korea's Jan. 6 nuclear test, Washington has been pushing for hash measures while Beijing seeks dialogue.



The official said that both parties are keeping in touch, discussing ways on how to respond to North Korea. U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on Friday, a day ahead of Pyonyang's long-range rocket launch.



Western officials believe that the launch served as a test of ballistic missile technology.



The U.N. Security Council condemned the event and vowed to take action. In this light, Washington also promised that the body will impose "serious consequences" on North Korea immediately.



For the senior official, the commitment came from the urgency "to demonstrate very clearly again that there are consequences to these actions and the international community is prepared to take practical steps to restrict North Korea's ability to fund these programs."



Earlier, the U.S. has also engaged with South Korea, partaking in formal discussions on the possible deployment of advanced missile defense system. The strategy was objected by China, noting that such move could "undermine its strategic deterrent," the report said.



Meanwhile, the official also told China that the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD) of the U.S. is not aimed at China; rather it is "a defensive system designed specifically to counter the threat from North Korea."


By Philip Pullella and Maria Tsvetkova VATICAN CITY/MOSCOW (Reuters) - A meeting between Pope Francis and Russia's Orthodox Patriarch Kirill on Friday could not happen without a green light from President Vladimir Putin, diplomats and analysts say, and he may be one the beneficiaries. In a landmark step towards healing the 1,000-year-old rift between the Western and Eastern branches of Christianity, the two religious leaders will meet in Havana on the pope's way to Mexico. "There is no doubt the Kremlin took part in making this decision," said Gleb Pavlovsky, a political analyst and former Kremlin adviser in Moscow. "Otherwise the meeting would not have happened." Putin has aligned himself closely with the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), making Friday's two-hour private meeting not just a religious event but politically charged as well, especially when Russia is at odds with the West over Ukraine and Syria. "Putin clearly sees the value of his relationship with the ROC and the ROC's relationship with the pope," said a diplomat who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "He understands the pope is a big player on the world stage and I think that he would be happy about having the possibility of using the improved relations between the Vatican and the ROC to get the Kremlin's view across to the Vatican," he said. Alexander Volkov, Russian church spokesman, said that while a joint declaration will dwell on the Middle East's persecuted Christians, tensions between Russia and the West may be brought up in the talks. "This is one of the burning issues and we can assume it will be reflected in the dialogue. It can't be ruled out," he said. DIFFERENT POPE, WARMER TIES Relations between Moscow and the Vatican have improved steadily since the reign of Pope John Paul II, a Pole who had an inbred suspicion of Russia and who died in 2005. But Francis is an Argentinian with no historical baggage associated with the East-West divisions of Europe after World War Two. In 2013, Moscow was pleased after Francis opposed a proposed U.S.-led military intervention in Syria, a key Russian ally. Last year, Catholics in Ukraine accused Francis of being soft with Moscow when he described violence in Eastern Ukraine as "fratricidal". They saw it as a product of foreign aggression. One commentator said Francis' view was perhaps "blurred by ecumenical correctness" in the hopes of a meeting with Kirill. In an interview with Reuters, Cardinal Kurt Koch, head of the Vatican office for Christian unity, was non-committal when asked if the meeting could help Putin. "I think Putin agrees with the meeting, but I can't say more," he said. Russia's ambassador to the Vatican, Alexander Avdeyev, said the two Churches organised the meeting but that it could "help politicians and diplomats" with policy decisions. "The two Churches clearly understood that all threats and challenges in the world threaten both of them and cooperation has to be stepped up to fight nationalism and terrorism," he told Reuters. The meeting, which will put another historic notch on Francis' legacy, came after two years of secret contacts in Rome, Moscow and Havana, Vatican and diplomatic sources said. Agreement was clinched last autumn but the ROC wanted to keep it under wraps for several more months, one Vatican source said. The Russian Church had long accused Catholics of trying to convert people from Orthodoxy after the break-up of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. The Vatican denied the charges and both sides say that issue has largely been resolved. One sore point remains the fate of church properties that Soviet dictator Josef Stalin confiscated from Eastern Rite Catholics in Ukraine and gave to the Russian Orthodox there. After the fall of communism, Eastern Rite Catholics took back many church properties, mostly in western Ukraine. The meeting was brokered by Cuban President Raul Castro, who hosted the pope in Cuba last year. The Vatican helped arrange the rapprochement between Cuba and the United States. (Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)
By Suleiman Al-Khalidi and Humeyra Pamuk BEIRUT/ONCUPINAR, Turkey (Reuters) - The Syrian army advanced towards the Turkish border on Monday in a major offensive backed by Russia and Iran that rebels say now threatens the future of their nearly five-year-old insurrection against President Bashar al-Assad. Iranian backed-militias played a key role on the ground as Russian jets intensified what rebels call a scorched earth policy that has allowed the military back into the strategic northern area for the first time in more than two years. "Our whole existence is now threatened, not just losing more ground," said Abdul Rahim al-Najdawi from Liwa al-Tawheed, an insurgent group. "They are advancing and we are pulling back because in the face of such heavy aerial bombing we must minimise our losses." The Russian-backed Syrian government advance over recent days amounts to one of the biggest shifts in momentum of the war, helping to torpedo the first peace talks for two years, which collapsed last week before they had begun in earnest. The Syrian military and its allies were almost five km (3 miles) from the rebel-held town of Tal Rafaat, which has brought them to around 25 km (16 miles) from the Turkish border, the rebels, residents and a conflict monitor said. The assault around the city of Aleppo in northern Syria has prompted tens of thousands to flee towards Turkey, already sheltering more than 2.5 million Syrians. In the last two days escalating Russian bombardment of towns northwest of Aleppo, Anadan and Haritan, brought several thousand more, according to a resident in the town of Azaz. Aleppo, Syria's largest city before the war with 2 million people, has been divided for years into rebel and government-held sections. The government wants to take full control, which would be its biggest prize yet in a war that has already killed at least 250,000 people and driven 11 million from their homes. Rebel-held areas in and around Aleppo are still home to 350,000 people, and aid workers have said they could soon fall to the government. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan was quoted at the weekend as saying Turkey was under threat, and Ankara has so far kept the border crossing there closed to most refugees. There are now around 77,000 refugees taking shelter in camps on the Syrian side of the Turkish border, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said on Monday. He said that a worst-case scenario could see as many as 600,000 at Turkey's border. After around a week of heavy Russian air strikes, Syrian government troops and their allies broke through rebel defences to reach two Shi'ite towns in northern Aleppo province on Wednesday, choking opposition supply lines from Turkey. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was "appalled" by the suffering of Aleppo, blaming primarily Russian bombing and suggesting it violated a U.N. Security Council resolution Moscow signed in December. Kerem Kinik, Vice President of the Turkish Red Crescent, told reporters at the Oncupinar border crossing that Syrians were fleeing Russian strikes in panic. The closure of the road to Aleppo risked a much larger scale repeat of crises in Ghouta, a besieged Damascus suburb, or even Madaya, a blockaded town were residents have starved. "The route to Aleppo is completely closed and this is a road that was feeding all the main arteries inside Syria. Unless this is reopened, you will see Aleppo falling day by day into a similar situation as in Madaya and Ghouta and you will see a deepening humanitarian crisis," he said. "They are hitting any vehicles that are on the move, they are hitting aid trucks," he added. "We really urge that the Russian attacks on Azaz and Aleppo should stop, because if there is such a policy to clear this area of all human beings... then we may not be able to cope with the influx." SUPPLY LINE The Syrian army's success in opening a route to the Shi'ite towns of Nubul and Zahraa enabled it to cut a highway that linked rebel held areas in the northern countryside with the eastern part of Aleppo held by insurgents since 2012. The latest gains by the Syrian government bring it to the closest point to the Turkish border since August 2013, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The capture of the towns of Mayer and then Kafin, just north of Nubul and Zahraa, in the past 24 hrs have opened the road towards Tal Rifaat, the next focus of the army assault. The capture of that would leave only the town of Azaz before the Turkish border itself. The loss of Azaz, just a few miles from the Bab al Salama border crossing, would virtually wipe out insurgents from one of their main strongholds in northwest Syria, though they still control much of nearby Idlib province. Russian bombing has for weeks targeted rebel routes to the main border crossing, once a major gateway from Europe and Turkey to the Gulf and Iraq, lately a lifeline for rebel-held areas in Idlib and Aleppo provinces. The army's advance has also been indirectly helped by Kurdish-led YPG fighters who control the city of Afrin, southwest of Azaz. They have seized a string of villages in recent days, rebels and the Observatory said. In a multi-sided civil war that has drawn in global and regional powers, the Kurds are the strongest allies on the ground in Syria of a U.S.-led coalition bombing Islamic State in eastern Syria and northern Iraq. Turkey supports other rebel groups against Assad and is hostile to the Syrian Kurds, which it sees as allies of its own Kurdish separatists. Russia joined the war last year with air strikes that it says are aimed at Islamic State, but which Turkey, Arab states and the West say are aimed mostly at other opponents of Assad. Four months of Russian air strikes have tipped momentum Assad's way. With Moscow's help and allies including Lebanon's Hezbollah and Iranian fighters, the Syrian army is regaining areas on key fronts in the west. United Nations investigators called for new sanctions on Syrian officials as well as leaders of the two most hardline rebel groups, Islamic State and the Nusra Front, accusing the three of mass killings, torture and disappearances of civilians in custody. Speaking in Ankara, Merkel, under fire at home over the refugee crisis, said Europe needed to follow up quickly on pledges of aid to help Turkey cope with the Syria exodus, and also urged Ankara to act fast to improve the situation for refugees. (Additional reporting by Nick Tattersall in Istanbul, Yesim Dikmen and Ercan Gurses in Ankara and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; writing by Suleiman al-Khalidi and Philippa Fletcher; editing by Peter Graff and Pravin Char)
RABAT (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia would be willing to commit special forces to Syria should the international coalition decide to deploy ground troops against Islamic State, the country's foreign minister said on Wednesday. It was the Saudi minister's second reference to sending special forces since he met U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington on Monday for talks on the war in Syria and the crisis in Yemen. "We will discuss details with experts from the countries involved to decide on the nature of the participation," Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told reporters during a visit to Morocco. He has declined to give any specific numbers. President Barack Obama, anxious to avoid being sucked into another Middle East conflict after the long and costly wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, has been deeply reluctant to commit U.S. ground forces in Syria. But four months of Russian air strikes in Syria - which Moscow says are targeting Islamic State - have helped President Bashar al-Assad claw back territory from rebel fighters, alarming Gulf Arab states who back the insurgents. Saudi Arabia is a member of the U.S.-led coalition that has been fighting Islamic State in Syria since 2014. The government says it has carried out more than 190 aerial missions there, although it has focused its military efforts over the last year on the conflict in Yemen, where it is leading a coalition of mainly Gulf Arab forces battling Houthi fighters who control Sanaa. Last week, an adviser to the Saudi defence minister said the kingdom was ready to participate in any ground operation in Syria, but did not specify the possibility of sending special forces on the ground. Saudi Arabia in December also announced the formation of a 34-nation Islamic military coalition which it said would combat terrorism. (Reporting by Aziz El -Yaakoubi; writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by Dominic Evans)
War crimes judges on Wednesday piled pressure on Serbia to arrest three suspects over alleged witness-tampering in the case of an ultra-nationalist, accusing Belgrade of failing to cooperate with the UN tribunal. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in January 2015 issued arrest warrants for indicted war criminal Vojislav Seselj's defence team lawyers, Petar Jojic and Vjerica Radeta, as well as for a former war-time associate, Jovo Ostojic. The three are charged with allegedly "having threatened, intimidated, offered bribes to, or otherwise interfered with two witnesses," in two cases in Seselj's long-running battle with tribunal. "It is clear to the chamber that Serbia is not cooperating in this matter," a visibly irritated judge, Alphons Orie, told Belgrade's legal representative, Sasa Obradovic. "You (Belgrade) have had more than a year to arrest them," said the judge. He then ordered Serbia to hand in "detailed reports every two weeks" of its efforts to detain the suspects. In Belgrade, Serbian Justice Minister Nikola Selakovic said his government would send a protest note to the court over its "arrogant behaviour" towards Obradovic. Selakovic said the representative tried to explain Serbia's position but Orie retorted that the chamber was only interested in hearing when the order to arrest the three suspects would be carried out. "The tribunal behaved arrogant(ly) towards (Serbia's) representative and that is another disgrace" for the ICTY, Selakovic said. Selakovic added Serbia would continue to cooperate with The Hague-based tribunal, but "in accordance with its state and national interest," Beta news agency reported. The warrants say the lawyer, Jojic, and Ostojic approached a prosecution witness in Seselj's main trial -- in which he faces charges of ethnic cleansing against Croats, Muslims and other non-Serbs during the brutal Balkan wars in the 1990s. Jojic is accused of dictating a statement supposedly written by the witness, which was "occasionally corrected" by Seselj's wartime associate, Ostojic. According to court papers, the statement was "untruthful in that it contained false allegations against the prosecution and misrepresented the role and responsibilities of Seselj during the war." The witness "signed the statement without reading it" and was later told to memorise it when testifying in court. Seselj, a firebrand Serb nationalist, is accused of leading Serb volunteers to conduct ethnic cleansing of large parts of Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia's northern Vojvodina region during the conflict that claimed over 130,000 lives and left millions of others homeless. In a second incident, lawyer Radeta allegedly contacted a prosecution witness and told him Seselj's lawyers "would help him" if he changed his testimony and came over to the defence's side in a separate contempt-of-court case against Seselj. The witness afterwards received a 500 euro ($530) per month payment from Seselj's Serbian Radical Party and was handed a summary of questions and answers which he had to memorise. Judges in 2012 handed Seselj a two-year jail term in the contempt case. Seselj was allowed to travel back to Serbia last year to undergo cancer treatment pending a verdict in his main trial. Since then, Seselj has repeatedly lashed out at the UN tribunal, vowing not to return for his sentencing or to serve any time, as well as resuming his fiery nationalist rhetoric.
The United Nations urged Turkey to open its borders to tens of thousands of Syrians who have overwhelmed nearby emergency camps and an end to bombings of their home province Aleppo. "The highest need and the best humanitarian response is for the bombing to stop," UN aid chief Stephen O'Brien said, when asked if Russia should halt its air campaign in Aleppo. "All bombings should stop," he said. The main border crossing north of Syria's second city Aleppo remained closed Tuesday, forcing huge crowds including women and children to sleep in tents or in the open. "There are no longer enough places for families to sleep," said Ahmad al-Mohammad, a field worker with medical aid group Doctors Without Borders (MSF). "Most of the families left with just the clothes they were in," he told AFP, adding that the cold and crowded conditions were causing health problems including diarrhoea. Two days ahead of a 17-nation contact group meeting in Munich aimed at getting peace talks back on track, US Secretary of State John Kerry warned that Russia's aerial bombardment of Syrian opposition targets could derail such efforts. "There is no question, and I have said this before publicly, that Russia's activities in Aleppo and in the region right now are making it much more difficult to be able to come to the table and to be able to have a serious conversation," Kerry said in Washington. The United Nations says up to 31,000 people have fled Aleppo city and surrounding areas since last week, as government forces backed by Russian warplanes press an offensive that could encircle the rebel-held eastern part of the city. "We are asking Turkey to open its border to all civilians from Syria who are fleeing danger and seeking international protection," said UN refugee agency (UNHCR) spokesman William Spindler. - Damascus blast - EU president Donald Tusk said the Russian air strikes in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime were "making an already very bad situation even worse". "As a direct consequence of the Russian military campaign, the murderous Assad regime is gaining ground, the moderate Syrian opposition is losing ground and thousands more refugees are fleeing towards Turkey and Europe." Syria's nearly five-year-old conflict has claimed 260,000 lives and displaced half the population. On Tuesday, a suicide car bomb claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group killed at least nine people at a police club in Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus has said that a "worst case scenario" could see up to 600,000 refugees arrive at the border. "Our objective for now is to keep this wave of migrants on the other side of Turkey's borders as much as is possible, and to provide them with the necessary services there," Kurtulmus said. Turkey already hosts 2.5 million Syrian refugees, but has come under pressure to allow in more, as well as to prevent them from seeking to reach Europe. NATO said it would take any request to help with the refugee crisis "very seriously", after Ankara and Germany said they would seek the alliance's help combatting people smugglers. With Turkey's Oncupinar border crossing north of Aleppo city staying closed, with only medical emergencies allowed through. The UN's humanitarian aid agency OCHA said on Monday that eight informal camps on the Syrian side of the border were at "full capacity". - Under siege - MSF said aid groups were distributing warm clothes and mattresses to those stranded on the Syrian side. The UN warned that 300,000 people in eastern Aleppo city could be cut off from humanitarian aid if government forces encircle the area. Government sieges have been employed to devastating effect against other former rebel bastions. A report from Washington-based The Syria Institute and PAX, a peace organisation based in the Netherlands, said Tuesday that more than one million Syrians are living under siege, a tactic also used by rebel forces. The UN's World Food Programme said it had begun food distributions to the displaced, despite the severing of access and supply routes. "We are making every effort to get enough food in place for all those in need," said WFP Syria country director Jakob Kern. Syrian government forces backed by allied militias and Russian air raids began a major operation in the northern province of Aleppo last week. They are now around 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the Turkish frontier. The regime advances came as peace talks in Geneva collapsed last week in part over rebel anger about the government offensive. More than 20 suspected Russian air strikes hit targets in several towns northwest of Aleppo city and in the northern countryside on Tuesday, said the Observatory, which relies on a network of sources on the ground. Regime forces and their allies were also fighting rebels, including jihadists from Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front, in the southwestern countryside of Aleppo province.
By J.R. Wu and Damon Lin TAINAN, Taiwan (Reuters) - Rescuers pulled out alive an eight-year-old girl and her aunt from the rubble of a Taiwan apartment block on Monday, more than 60 hours after it was toppled by a quake, as the mayor of the southern city of Tainan warned the death toll could exceed 100. The official death toll from the quake rose to 38, with more than 100 people missing. The girl, named as Lin Su-Chin, was conscious and had been taken to hospital, Taiwan television stations said. Her aunt, Chen Mei-jih, was rescued shortly after. The quake struck at about 4 a.m. on Saturday (2000 GMT Friday) at the beginning of the Lunar New Year holiday, with almost all the dead found in Tainan's toppled Wei-guan Golden Dragon Building. Rescue efforts are focused on the wreckage of the 17-storey building, where more than 100 people are listed as missing and are suspected to be buried deep under the rubble. Earlier, Wang Ting-yu, a legislator who represents the area, told reporters that a woman, identified as Tsao Wei-ling, was found alive, lying under her dead husband. Their two-year-old son, who was also killed, was found nearby. Another survivor, a man named Li Tsung-tian, was pulled out later, with Taiwan television stations showing live images of the rescues. Several hours later, Li's girlfriend was found dead in the rubble. Tsao and Li were both being treated in hospital. Tainan Mayor William Lai said during a visit to a funeral home that rescue efforts had entered what he called the "third stage". "There are more fatalities than those pulled out (alive), and the number of fatalities will probably exceed 100," Lai told reporters. Rescuers continued to scramble over the twisted wreckage of the building as numbed family members stood around, waiting for news of missing relatives. Taiwan's government said in a statement 36 of the 38 dead were from the Wei-guan building, which was built in 1994. President-elect Tsai Ing-wen, who won election last month, said there needed to be a "general sorting out" of old buildings to make sure they were able to cope with disasters like earthquakes. "There needs to be a continued strengthening of their ability to deal with disasters," she said. Outgoing President Ma Ying-jeou, speaking to reporters at a Tainan hospital, said the government needed to be a better job in ensuring building quality. "In the near future, regarding building management, we will have some further improvements. We will definitely do this work well," Ma said. Reuters witnesses at the scene of the collapse saw large rectangular, commercial cans of cooking-oil packed inside wall cavities exposed by the damage, apparently having been used as building material. Chinese President Xi Jinping also conveyed condolences to the victims, state news agency Xinhua reported late on Sunday, and repeated Beijing's offer to provide help. China views self-ruled Taiwan as a wayward province, to be bought under its control by force if necessary. (Additional reporting by Faith Hung in TAIPEI and Megha Rajagopalan in BEIJING; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Paul Tait and Nick Macfie)
The human gut is a complex and amazing system, and the more we learn about it, the more amazed we are. It turns out
This year's Spring Festival was celebrated in different parts of China through traditional practices and more modern celebrations. (Photo : Getty Images)

Last Monday, Feb. 8, billions of Chinese celebrated this years Lunar New Year or Spring Festival, according to a report by the Global Times. North to south, rich or poor, every Chinese celebrated the time-honored tradition.



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Despite living in an impoverished area in Guizhou Province, southwest China, Liu Chao and his wife prepared a total of 18 dishes for the Spring Festival.



The couple prepared home-made smoked pork, ham sausage and pickles. They also farmed some of the vegetables they planted themselves. Also included in the spread are fruits, soda and candies.



For once, Liu's children weren't scolded for sneaking some food off the table before the dinner began.



"As life is getting better, dishes are richer than before," shared Luo Yanhong, Liu's wife, in an interview with the Global Times.



Meanwhile, in Shanghai, Chang Xiaolu and his family finished their dinner and prepared for a trip to Hainan Province in south China.



"The climate there is warm and pleasant, especially suited for my aged parents," said Chang. They left Shanghai for Hainan Province on Tuesday, Feb. 9.



Up north, in the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, regional tourism officials as well as self-driving travelers have flocked together to celebrate the New Year in the cold region.



The local tourism bureau organized an array of events and activities, including prairie customs performances, winter sports, and visits to the hot spring for city dwellers looking for a getaway.



The handing of gift money, another popular Spring Festival practice, was also done by a lot of Chinese families. Internet giants Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent took advantage of the holiday to give away over 1 billion yuan of gift money as a marketing ploy for people to join their mobile payment service.



But areas like Qingcheng Township in Shandong Province, where smartphones are not prevalent, opted to celebrate through galas they organized themselves.



It was also a happy Spring Festival for those in Qishan Village, Sichuan Province. The local government invested a total of 550 million yuan in 2015 to build new homes for 8,297 families. These homes were finished just in time for the Spring Festival.



"A new house and brand new furniture, I have dreamed about it all my life and now it has come true," said Chen Mingquan, a 70-year-old local.


Briton Jailed After Going To Syria To Join IS

A British man who travelled to Syria to join Islamic State has been jailed for seven years.

Mohammed Uddin, 29, of Barking, Essex, was sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court after pleading guilty to a charge of preparing acts of terrorism.

The court heard how Uddin travelled to Syria on 4 November 2014, intending to join IS - also known as Daesh - and fighting for them.

On 12 December of the same year, he crossed the border back into Turkey where he was held by the authorities because he did not have any travel documents.

He was stopped by counter terrorism officers at Gatwick Airport when he returned to Britain on 22 December who believed he was involved in terrorist-related activity and who found extremist material in his possession.

Assistant Chief Constable Laura Nicholson, the head of counter-terrorism across the South East, said: "Uddin's purpose of travel was to join Daesh and engage in terrorist activity ...

"Anyone intending to travel to Syria or Iraq to fight or to commit terrorist acts against the UK or our interests should be in no doubt that the police will take the strongest possible action against them.

"Returning foreign fighters pose a threat to the UK and we also have a responsibility to protect UK interests around the world.

"Preventing travel to Syria is a key part of keeping the British public safe whether they are at home and overseas.

"Early intervention is key for the police and other agencies.

"Between us we can offer support to help safeguard those who are vulnerable to radicalisation.

"So if anyone is concerned that a friend or family member is thinking of travelling to Syria it is crucial they tell us as soon as possible.

"The sooner we can intervene, the better chance we have of preventing people from becoming embroiled in the conflict and facing potential prosecution."

Sue Hemming, head of special crime and counter terrorism at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said: "It was very clear from the conversations recovered from electrical devices that Uddin had meticulously planned his trip so that he would be able to get to Syria undetected.

"It is vital that we bring the full force of the law against those who leave the UK to support terrorism.

"We will continue to work to build strong cases against these individuals to ensure that terrorists are brought to justice."
By Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Attacks by "homegrown" Islamist extremists are among the most imminent security threats facing the United States in 2016, along with dangers posed overseas by Islamic State and cyber security concerns, the top U.S. intelligence official said on Tuesday. In his annual assessment of threats to the United States, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper warned that fast-moving cyber and technological advances "could lead to widespread vulnerabilities in civilian infrastructures and U.S. government systems." In prepared testimony before the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, Clapper outlined an array of other threats from Russia and North Korean nuclear ambitions to instability caused by the Syrian migrant crisis. "In my 50 plus years in the intelligence business I cannot recall a more diverse array of crises and challenges than we face today," Clapper said. Islamic State poses the biggest danger among militant groups because of the territory it controls in Iraq and Syria, and is determined to launch attacks on U.S. soil, Clapper said. It also has demonstrated "unprecedented online proficiencies," he said. While the United States "will almost certainly remain at least a rhetorically important enemy" for many foreign militant groups, "homegrown violent extremists ... will probably continue to pose the most significant Sunni terrorist threat to the U.S. homeland in 2016," he said, referring to Sunni Muslim jihadists. "The perceived success" of attacks by such extremists in Europe and San Bernardino, California, "might motivate others to replicate opportunistic attacks with little or no warning," Clapper said. A married couple inspired by Islamist militants shot and killed 14 people in San Bernardino in December. General Vincent Stewart, director of Defense Intelligence Agency, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Islamic State aims to conduct more attacks in Europe during 2016 and has ambitions to attack inside the United States. The group is taking advantage of the refugee flow from Syria's civil war to hide militants among them and is adept at obtaining false documentation, Clapper said. Al Qaeda affiliates, most notably the one in Yemen known as Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, have proven resilient and are positioned to make gains this year despite pressure from Western counter terrorism operations, Clapper said. He cited threats from Russia's increasingly assertive international policies, saying "We could be into another Cold War-like spiral." U.S. intelligence assesses that North Korea, which launched a satellite into orbit last weekend, is committed to developing a long-range nuclear armed missile that can reach the United States and has carried out some steps towards fielding a mobile intercontinental ballistic missile system, Clapper said. He said North Korea has followed through on publicly stated plans to re-start a plutonium production reactor and could begin to assemble a plutonium stockpile within months. CIA director John Brennan said one of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's objectives in conducting nuclear and missile tests is to advance efforts by North Korea to "market" such technology, presumably to other rogue regimes around the world. (Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Mohammad Zargham and Alistair Bell)
By Leigh Thomas and Michel Rose PARIS (Reuters) - The possibility of Britain voting to leave the European Union must not prevent euro zone countries from deepening their economic integration in the months ahead, French Finance Minister Michel Sapin told Reuters on Thursday. In an interview, he also said that current financial market volatility is not justified by the economic conditions. In a previous stint as finance minister, in 1992, Sapin witnessed firsthand the humiliation of his British counterpart Norman Lamont, when London was forced to leave the European exchange rate mechanism, the precursor of the euro. "I think that it was the burn from that expulsion that has left scars," he said, warning against complicating London's task of winning voters support for remaining in the EU. In a package of proposals aimed at persuading Britain to remain in the EU, European Council President Donald Tusk has offered London a way of slowing down euro zone legislation that it does not like while being careful not to give it a veto. "It's perfectly legitimate that we take each side's interests into account, but nothing must block the deepening of economic and monetary union in the coming years," Sapin said. With France and Germany planning proposals on strengthening the euro zone before the end of the year, Sapin said more coordination was needed, specifically on structural reforms. But the priority was not setting up a common euro zone finance ministry as the German and French central bank heads suggested earlier this week, Sapin said. "It's time to move in the coming months by taking strong initiatives," he said, adding France was in favour of changes that did not require rewriting EU treaties in 2016 or 2017. Brought to the brink of breaking up over Greece, the euro zone's debt crisis forced its members to strengthen in particular supervision of the banking sector. But some officials, particularly at the European Central Bank, say that much remains to be done to avert any future crises. Sapin said he was confident that the Greek government would live up to its reform promises with a review of its efforts underway, which has to be completed before talks on easing its debt burden can be launched. MARKETS With financial markets once again gripped by a bout of volatility, Sapin said that the euro zone was this time much more resilient due to members' reform efforts in the recent years. Finance ministers from the Group of 20 economic powers would address the issue of volatility at a meeting this month in Shanghai and stress that markets must reflect underlying economic fundamentals. "Today's volatility does not seem very legitimate to me. There's a yoyo effect that doesn't reflect real trends in the world economy," he said. Fears of a Chinese slowdown have rocked financial markets in recent days, with speculation that Beijing may devalue the yuan in a bid to stimulate its economy. (Additional reporting by Yann Le Guernigou and Myriam Rivet; editing by Alister Doyle, Larry King)
By Alastair Macdonald and Gabriela Baczynska BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A draft accord to help keep Britain in the European Union is "very fragile", a top EU official warned on Wednesday as France and eastern states pushed for changes before leaders meet to try and seal the deal next week. European Council President Donald Tusk, who agreed reform proposals last week with British Prime Minister David Cameron, said they were "balanced and solid" and he hoped to finalise them when he chairs a Brussels summit next Thursday and Friday. "However, let me be clear -- this is a very fragile political process," he added, announcing that he had cleared his diary and would travel to Paris, Berlin and eastern Europe early next week "to secure broad political support for my proposal". Tusk spoke on the eve of a second round of talks among the 28 EU leaders' top aides and envoys in Brussels. Officials said they will discuss a new draft with small, technical tweaks. The first meeting of "sherpas", on Friday following Tusk's circulation of his reform proposals, saw participants broadly welcome a first draft as a way to help Cameron win a referendum in the coming months to prolong Britain's 43-year membership. But on Wednesday, France, the traditional pro-European sparring partner of eurosceptic Britain, demanded significant changes, particularly to Cameron's effort to secure protections for the sterling-based City of London from possible EU measures favouring the majority of states which uses the euro. Finance Minister Michel Sapin told lawmakers in Paris that the current draft must be amended to avoid skewing EU rules in favour of London, the bloc's leading banking centre: "There are ... several ambiguities in the texts," he said. "Treatment must be as identical as possible. That's why we're fighting." French concerns focus on British-based banks benefiting from different regulations to those in the euro zone -- less onerous capital requirements, say -- while retaining full access to the single European Union market in financial services. And while Cameron has insisted he has not sought a veto over the euro zone's affairs, Paris also argues that the current wording of a new British right to delay euro zone decisions which it fears could hurt its interests must be amended to place tighter limits on how long London could hold up the process. EASTERN CONCERNS Eastern European negotiators also plan to seek amendments to limit the extent that their citizens may be penalised by a new "emergency brake" mechanism on EU immigration. Under the Tusk proposal, governments who persuade their EU peers that immigration is jeopardising their welfare system will be able to deny benefits to other Europeans for up to four years after they start work in that country. That stretches EU rules which ban discrimination among EU citizens on national grounds. A draft statement seen by Reuters that was prepared by Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic -- collectively the Visegrad Group -- broadly endorses the effort to appease London but says the welfare issue is a "primary concern". It highlighted a lack of agreement yet on how long a state could go on applying the "brake" for new arrivals and said the overall period during which fresh immigrants could be penalised should not exceed four years. That would imply Britain ending the measures in 2020 if it imposed them this year as planned. Diplomats said the aim was to settle as much of the reform plan as possible, leaving only certain elements to the summit. "Everyone is fed up with this," one said. "We need to get this out of the way to be able to deal with other problems. So the common approach is not to hinder this process, help Britain solve its own internal problems and safeguard this compromise." (Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Dominic Evans)
By Alastair Macdonald BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Negotiations between London and other EU states to help keep Britain in the European Union are "very fragile", European Council President Donald Tusk said on Wednesday, though he said he still hoped for a deal at a EU summit next week. "I am in a process of intensive talks about my proposal for the UK settlement," said Tusk, who last week brokered a draft accord and will chair the summit in Brussels on Feb. 18-19. "I am confident that this is a balanced and solid proposal and I hope to finalise it next week in the European Council. "However, let me be clear: This is a very fragile political process," added Tusk, announcing he will visit the leaders of Germany, France and the Czech Republic among others early next week "to secure a broad political support for my proposal". This week he will meet the Belgian prime minister, whose government has been critical of British attempts to pull back from EU integration, and the president of the European Parliament, whose chamber must pass key legislation to enact reforms Prime Minister David Cameron has promised British voters before a referendum on EU membership expected later this year. As well as meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, leaders of the two other biggest states in the EU, Tusk will visit Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis and Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, who chairs the Visegrad Group of East European states that also includes Poland and Hungary. While all EU leaders say they are committed to helping Cameron win the referendum, eastern Europeans are concerned the draft deal to limit welfare to EU immigrants to Britain could hurt their citizens working there. France has doubts on the wording of a proposal to give London a voice in decisions on the euro, even though Britain does not use the EU common currency. (Editing by Gabriela Baczynska)
Cameron also spoke highly of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who visited Britain last year. (Photo : Getty Images)

At a reception held to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year, British Prime Minister David Cameron expressed optimism that 2016 will be a far greater year for Britain-China relations, according to an article by China Daily.



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The reception, which was held in Cameron's office, was attended by 100 representatives from China and Britain.



Aside from wishing his guests a happy Chinese new year, Cameron talked about the growing relations between China and Britain, and the optimistic outlook for the years to come.



"If you want one year of prosperity, grow grain. If you want ten years of prosperity, grow trees. If you want a thousand years of prosperity, grow relationships between people and people," Cameron quoted a Chinese proverb to refer to the strong relations between China and Britain, which underwent a "golden" year in 2015.



"That is exactly why we engage in the building of this great relationship between Britain and China," Cameron said.



Cameron also spoke highly of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who visited Britain last year. According to the British prime, Xi's visit not only helped strengthen British-Chinese ties, but also helped create and seal deals worth approximately 40 billion pounds ($57.7 billion).



Cameron also mentioned that Britain accounts for 30 percent of China's total investment in Europe. Conversely, Britain is China's second largest exporter in the continent.



"It is great when you think about how deep and strong the relationship is," Cameron said.



Aside from economic ties, Cameron also suggested that Britain and China should work hand in hand to further interests in other sectors, including trade, education, infrastructure and investment.



"I think education is an area we can take to an even higher level," Cameron said. "Many Chinese students are studying in Britain. I would like to see more British students take the opportunities to go and study in China. I think there is a huge opportunity in the years ahead."


Researchers are also planning to launch an initiative that will help counter the spread of Zika in the country. (Photo : Getty Images)

Chinas first imported case of Zika virus has been confirmed by the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) on Tuesday, Feb. 9, according to a report by China Daily.



The 34-year-old male patient from Ganxian County, Jiangxi Province, is slowly recovering, his body temperature returning to normal and his rashes fading.



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The patient had traveled to Venezuela, where he showed signs of headache, dizziness and fever on Jan. 28. He returned to Jiangxi Province on Feb. 5 via a connecting flight to Hong Kong and Shenzhen.



He has been placed in quarantine since Feb. 6 and has received treatment in a hospital.



Despite the first confirmed imported case of Zika in China, NHFPC remains positive that the risk of the virus spreading in the country remains low. This is according to an evaluation conducted by public health experts and officials, both of whom deemed China's low temperature as detrimental to the virus's spread.



Still, the government advises the public to remain on the lookout for symptoms, which include fever, conjunctivitis, headache, muscle and eye pain, joint pain and rashes. The virus is spread through mosquito bites.



Researchers are also planning to launch an initiative that will help counter the spread of Zika in the country. Laboratory-produced male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes with Wolbachia bacteria are expected to be launched in South China around March, according to Xi Zhiyong, the lead researcher.



These mosquitoes infected with bacteria are believed to effectively reduce the local mosquito population, said Xi, a microbiology professor from Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province.



The team of researchers was already successful in reducing mosquito populations by 90 percent last year during a trial. This allowed the containment of a local outbreak of dengue fever, another disease spread by the same mosquito species.



The Zika virus is spreading in the Americas at a fast rate, with severe birth defects among babies in Brazil linked as a possible side effect. The United States has also recently reported a sexually transmitted Zika case this year. The World Health Organization (WHO) is currently performing an investigation to confirm this method of transmission.


UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia, which is leading air strikes against rebels in neighbouring Yemen, has warned the United Nations and international aid groups to protect staff by removing them from areas held by Yemen's Houthi rebels, a letter seen by Reuters on Thursday said. It was not immediately clear why Saudi Arabia issued the warning and how many aid groups aside from the United Nations, received the note. The Saudi U.N. mission was not immediately available for comment. The short note sent by the Saudi Embassy in London on Friday said the intention was to "protect the international organizations and their employees" presumably from coalition airstrikes. Saudi Arabia leads a coalition of nine Arab countries that began a military campaign in March to prevent Houthi rebels, whom it sees as a proxy for Iran, from taking complete control of Yemen. U.N. aid chief Stephen O'Brien acknowledged receipt of the note in a Sunday letter seen by Reuters and said the humanitarian community would continue to deliver aid across Yemen impartially on the basis of need. He reminded Saudi Arabia of obligations under international humanitarian law to facilitate access for aid. The Saudi mission to the United Nations responded on Monday that Riyadh would "do its utmost to continue to facilitate and support" humanitarian aid work in Yemen, while also repeating its request for U.N. and international aid workers to leave areas close to Houthi bases for military operations. "The coalition's request is consistent with its obligations under international humanitarian law and, in no way, can be misinterpreted to indicate any hindrance to humanitarian access and the delivery of humanitarian assistance in Yemen," it said. The U.N. Security Council is due to discuss the humanitarian situation in Yemen on Tuesday at the request of Russia, diplomats said. The Houthis and their allies, forces loyal to former Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh, accuse the coalition of launching a war of aggression. Nearly 6,000 people have been killed since the coalition entered the conflict in March, almost half of them civilians. U.N. sanctions monitors said in a report last month that the Saudi-led coalition has targeted civilians with air strikes and some of the attacks could be a crimes against humanity. The panel of experts documented 119 coalition sorties "relating to violations of international humanitarian law" and said that "many attacks involved multiple air strikes on multiple civilian objects." (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
ALMATY (Reuters) - The United States is giving Uzbekistan an excuse to crack down on activists who expose forced labour in the cotton industry by praising Tashkent for what it calls progress in this area, a local rights group said on Thursday. In an attempt to improve its ties with Tashkent, the U.S. State Department elevated Uzbekistan from the bottom tier of violators in its 2015 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report issued last July, although its analysts called forced labour "endemic" during the cotton harvest, according to a Reuters investigation. This week, local media quoted Pamela Spratlen, the U.S. ambassador to Uzbekistan, as saying there have been positive changes in the cotton sector. Ezgulik said such comments could imply that "Uzbek activists, who monitored forced labour in the cotton harvesting campaign and published monitoring results, (were) liars." Its statement added: "Following positive U.S. acknowledgement a small number of Uzbek activists would become slanderers in the eyes of the Uzbek government." No one at the U.S. embassy was immediately available to comment. Human rights groups say Tashkent is concealing a state-orchestrated forced labour system that underpins its position as the world's fifth-largest cotton exporter. They allege regular arrests, intimidation and harassment of activists. Washington is seeking closer ties with Central Asia's most populous nation, looking for help in preventing the spread of Islamic militants, stabilising Afghanistan and offsetting Russian influence in the region. (Reporting by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)
An analyst has called on Alibaba to make large overseas acquisitions if it were to maintain itself as an emerging global brand. (Photo : REUTERS)

E-commerce giant Alibaba has to acquire large overseas targets if it wants to emerge as a genuine global company, an analyst said in an article published on China Daily.



According to the report, the issue came up following Alibaba's recent takeover of Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post.



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Mike Bastin, a visiting professor at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing and a senior lecturer at Southampton University, said in the China Daily article that if Alibaba wants to emerge as a genuine global company that can deal with competitive threats from other companies in the world, it must acquire large targets, preferably overseas companies such as European and/or U.S. corporate giants.



Bastin said that this would enable Alibaba to be included in the growing list of Chinese companies that are aiming to internationalize and modernize.



The article cited the $5.4-billion takeover of General Electric's appliance business by China's household appliance giant Haier, which it said is an example of Haier's penetration of the lucrative U.S. market as part of its growth strategy via overseas acquisitions.



Bastin noted that although Alibaba's SCMP takeover may be valuable in the digital media era, since it represents advancement and also strengthens the company's reputation, he wondered when the internationally aspiring giant would make a move similar to Haier's GE takeover.



The professor said it is time for Alibaba to get a major U.S. or European corporate catch and join the sizeable list of Chinese companies that has gained international prominence using the same route.



The article mentioned Lenovo's announcement to take over IBM's PC division in 2005, and a few years later, Chinese auto industry player Geely announced the buyout of the Volvo brand.



More recently, Chinese companies also took over world-famous overseas brands such as London's toy store Hamleys and U.K. breakfast cereal brand Weetabix.



Bastin said that a similar move by Alibaba will significantly establish the company as a credible global brand.



The professor added that Alibaba's listing on the U.S. stock exchange represents a major step in the right direction for the company. However, the investment community needs to see a bolder overseas takeover in order to be convinced of Alibaba's intent. He said if a takeover occurs in the future, Alibaba's announcement should be followed by clear integration plans that involve managerial talent at the top.



Bastin added that Alibaba may conquer the global markets if it has a suitable mix of talented professionals who have different cultural backgrounds. He said this will lead to much-needed modernization of Alibaba's corporate culture and a more transparent approach to international business.



The professor said that Alibaba's SCMP takeover may be news but it is hardly big news, adding that the only way forward is to have a multi-billion-dollar overseas company takeover.


Three Hills Capital Partners has soared past 1bn for the final close of its fourth flagship fund, almost doubling the total it collected for its predecessor vehicle.
Xiang Xu or Hunan embroidery is one of the four major styles of Chinese embroidery, a tradition thats been around for several thousand years. (Photo : www.silkepc.com)

Craftsmen have turned to modifications to keep Xiang Xu or Hunan-style embroidery alive and relevant, according to a report by Xinhua.



Xiang Xu or Hunan embroidery is one of the four major styles of Chinese embroidery, a tradition that's been around for several thousand years.



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The style, which involves light and shading for a three-dimensional effect, peaked in the 1970s and 1980s. The industry slowly dwindled, however, after an embroidery plant was shut down in Changsha, leaving approximately 30,000 craftsmen unemployed.



The trend of embroidery plants closing down continued well into the 1990s.



"There were many causes for the depression," said He Chun, an expert in cultural industry, in an interview with Xinhua. "Fake products, obsolete designs and high prices were the main cause, which resulted from lack of intellectual property awareness and shortage of talents."



The Hunan Embroidery City Group, during these dark days, had only two workshops and four workers. Production of traditional ornamental pieces was cut by 80 percent, shifting the group's focus on articles for daily use.



"Capes to Spain, shoes to Italy, dresses to Japan and school uniforms to the Republic of Korea," said Zeng Yingming, general manager of the Hunan Embroidery City Group. "We do everything to meet the needs of our customers."



Today, daily-use commodities account for about 95 percent of the company's products. It also has over 10,000 workers, with an output of 1.5 billion yuan a year.



Despite its success, the company is not without criticism.



"I really don't want to see the brand of Xiang Xiu lose its taste," said a Xiang Xu master who refused to be named. For this master, it's a shame for a 2,000-year-old art form's value to be downgraded because of its use for cheap commodities.



But Zeng is staunch in his position: to survive means to adapt.



"The traditional art form is not in the museum," Zeng said. "For the traditional handicraft art, the only way to survive is to combine art with marketing, develop new products that can meet a variety of demands nowadays."


File Photo of a THAAD missile launch. (Photo : Getty Images)

Amid continuing tensions on the Korean Peninsula, China expressed concerns over plans by the United States and South Korea to deploy an advanced missile system on the latter's territory.



Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said that the two countries' plans to deploy advanced Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missiles can potentially harm peace and stability in the region and escalate the already tense situation.



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Hua said that China remains in its position against the deployment of such systems, the Global Times reported. He also stressed that the countries concerned should exercise prudence when dealing with the issue at hand.



The spokesperson went on to remind other nations that, when pursuing their own security goals, they must also take other nations' security into account. He also revealed that his country has already expressed its position on the matter to the U.S. through diplomatic channels.



The U.S. and South Korea announced on Sunday that they have started negotiations for the deployment of the controversial missile defense system.



According to U.S. Department of Defense spokesperson Peter Cook, the main goal of the talks was to determine the feasibility of the deployment of the system in the Korean Peninsula "in the earliest time possible."



Cook also allayed concerns that it might be used against other countries, stressing that it will only be used to defend South Korea against potential aggressive actions made by the neighboring North Korea. He stressed that this is part of the U.S.' commitment to defending its allied country, China Daily reported.



Analysts said that the negotiations are likely a response to the North's announcement that it has successfully launched a long-range rocket carrying a Kwangmyongsong-4 Earth observation satellite.



The THAAD missile system is designed by the U.S. to target and intercept high-altitude missiles similar to the one launched by the North.



The announcement of the launch came just a month after North Korea claimed that it has successfully tested its first-ever hydrogen bomb.


Irrawaddy Dolphin (Photo : Wikipedia)

Chinese action star Jackie Chan may have caused panic in London when a shooting for a movie he is making exploded a bus on Lambeth Bridge on Monday. Now, he is pushing for a more serene cause in Asia.



Chan has recently posted a 34-second video in the website of the Irrawaddy River Conservation Commission to call on Myanmar to save the endangered Irrawaddy dolphin and stop electrofishing, Asia News Network reported on Wednesday. The action star spoke in English which had English subtitles and Burmese characters as well.



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He appealed, Please you must help me to stop electro-fishing, and you must all protect the Irrawaddy dolphin. Give the baby dolphin a chance to live like all the children of the world.



Han Winn, director of the commission, disclosed that based on annual surveys done the last five years, the number of dolphins that live in the river between Bhamo and Mandalay is declining gradually. He said that near Bhamo, the number of dolphins declined to just eight from 15 to 16 in 2010. Similar trends were observed near Katha, Shwegu and Htigyang.



Winn added that electro-fishing has become more rampant and is now done all day, unlike in the past when it was surreptitiously done at night. He attributed the rampant practice to lack of effective actions against fishermen.



Meanwhile, the Long Yun Kung Fu dance troupe of Chan presented on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 11 Warriors, a performance that combined ballet, martial arts and modern dance. The performance celebrated Chinese Lunar New Year at the Logan Center for the Arts in Chicago, reported Chicagoreader.






Modified On Feb 11, 2016 06:28 PM By Sumit for Renault KWID 2015-2019

French carmaker, Renault, is mulling to export its entry-level hatchback Kwid to Brazil. The planning has made its way through at a time when the automaker observed enormous response to Kwids launch and registered over one lac bookings within four months. Exports are anticipated to start from next month.

Mr. Sumit Sawhney, CEO and MD Renault India Country, apprised that they will be making exports of Kwid to Brazil, in parts, starting next month. The company was exporting small numbers of its popular SUV Duster to Brazil and Kwid will be shipped as SKDs (semi-knocked down units). The automaker will now ramp up the production at its alliance factory with Nissan, in Oragadam, near Chennai. Although, Mr. Sawhney refrained from disclosing the exact number that will be exported to Brazil.

Emphasising on the importance of domestic market, he said, Right now we are making about 6,000 units (per month). We want to increase it to 8,000 units (per month) and by March we will be crossing 10,000 units.

Sawhney was confident about carmakers future market share and stated the firm was confident about registering 5 per cent share by the end of 2016 itself. "In December (2015) we had 4.5 per cent market share, then in January it was 3.8 per cent. This month we have 4.5 per cent market. We are working very hard to achieve 5 per cent market share by the second half of 2016, he further added.

Kwid was launched at the end-september, with a starting price of Rs. 2.56 lac. Since then, the hatchback has become massively popular in its target segment, as it upholds a beautiful combination of new features and an economic price tag. The high-stance given to the car provides it with a dominating look and has worked for the company. Deliberating on the leaning inclination of consumers towards the car, Renault unveiled a 1.0 litre AMT version of the car at the recently concluded Auto Expo 2016.

Kwid received an overwhelming response in the domestic market, with more than one lakh bookings in four months since launch, a top company official mentioned. Renault, which has set a target of garnering 5 per cent market share by the end of 2017, has already touched 4.5 per cent in February, the official added.

Watch Showcase Video of Renault Kwid

Also Read: Renault Kwid 1 Litre AMT Makes India Debut at 2016 Auto Expo

Read More on : KWID 2016
Modified On Feb 11, 2016 07:02 PM By Manish for Skoda Superb 2016-2020

Czech automaker, Skoda, will be launching its all new luxury sedan, the Superb on 23rd of this month. The carmaker has been all gung-ho about the cars promotion and revealed it with a substantial detail via a video, which was showcased on the carmakers India-specific website. The highlight of the cars updates consists of an increase in the overall size of the sedan as compared to its predecessor. It should also be noted that even though the new car is bigger than the previous generation, its has managed to be 75kgs lighter than the discontinued model. The new Skoda Superb shares the same MQB platform as its foundation, which it will also share with the new Volkswagen Passat.

Under the hood, Superb is expected to incorporate a 1.8-litre petrol engine, which will produce a 178bhp in the luxury sedan and a 2.0-litre diesel mill that will deliver 160bhp of power output. Both of the powerplants will come coupled to a dual-clutch automatic transmission.

Inside the cabin, the top-of-the-range Laurin & Klement models will flaunt creature comforts like SmartLink touchscreen system, which will come mated to a 10-speaker Canton audio system. Other features are likely to include Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and a completely leather wrapped interior. It is expected that the cars prices will start somewhere around Rs. 25 lac. Regardless of the relatively inferior powerplant options - the plush interior treatment along with a premium Skoda badge and competitive pricing will help Superb take on rivals like the Toyota Camry.

Recommended Read: Skoda Vision S Concept is the Coolest SUV, In a While

Read More on : Skoda Superb india
Modified On May 13, 2016 03:26 PM By Nabeel for Toyota Innova Crysta 2016-2020

At the 2016 Auto Expo, one of the biggest reveal was Toyota Innova Crysta. Already well known to the Indian masses, new Innova was the center of attraction for many at the automotive event. The car looked refreshed and appealing on a desktop, and when we finally got to see it in person, we loved it even more. The car has grown in both - status and size.

Toyota, the world's largest automaker, is quite popular around the globe. It has made quite an impact on the Indian soil too. Although, Toyota does not have a wide range of cars in the country, it surely does have one in all the important places. Their first huge success in India was Qualis which later transformed into Innova. Indians not only accepted their beloved MPV in its new form, but also accepted it into their families as a personal car. Following the success of previous two generations in India, the Japanese auto giant is ready to work its magic yet again. Let's see what Toyota has in its belly with the all new Innova Crysta.

Looks

Toyota has done a magnificent job sculpting this MPV. We know MPVs to be dull and boring in appeal, but Innova has managed to look beautiful and edgy, from the front at least. The all new headlamp cluster looks good and is held between two shiny strips which extend from the 2-slat grille. The hexagonal air dam is big and adds an aggressive character to the car. The headlamp cluster itself is a three part unit which has projectors and four LED lights placed neatly in a square arrangement.

The big Toyota insignia on the grille is where the two slats meet. This, aligned with the strong border lines on the bonnet, gives the car a nice flow in design. Moving to the side profile, Innova undoubtedly looks long. The sharp glass layout towards the C-pillars gives Innova some character. Other than that, only the alloys add to the appeal while for every other aspect, it remains a typical MPV. The boomerang shaped tail light cluster is the major attraction at the rear and the roof spoiler adds to the overall package.

Inside, the car has a lot to offer. Not only Toyota has lifted its image of equipping its cars with less than average interiors, but has completely transformed it. The insides of the car look plush and upmarket. The new layout incorporates wood finish and a 7-inch touch screen infotainment system with navigation.

The entire layout of the dashboard is driver focused and ergonomic. The gear shifter is placed at a good height and the steering wheel also looks like one of an expensive SUV. It also has mounted control for audio, calls and cruise. Everything put into this car fits perfectly and comes out as a premium package, which will be well received by Indian customers.

Engine

Now this is where the real surprise is. The all new Toyota Innova Crysta will include a 2.4-litre 2GD FTV four-cylinder diesel engine as standard and the 2.8-litre Z variants showcased at the event also hints towards a powerful top end variant. The 2.4-litre variant will have about 142bhp of power along with 342 Nm of torque. Mileage of this engine is expected to be around 14-16 kmpl. Transmissions will be of 2 types, a 5-speed manual and a 6-speed automatic with sequential shaft and cruise control.

Features

INSIDE: The all new Innova comes loaded with features. Some of them include leather interior, ambient lighting, automatic climate control with rear auto cooler, power adjustable driver seat, easy close boot gate, a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment with navigation, smart entry and push button start.

OUTSIDE: Innova has 17-inch alloy wheels, improved suspension with pitch and bounce control, three new colors and chrome window lining in exteriors.

Safety & Dimensions

Innova Crysta has front dual SRS airbags, Anti-Lock Braking System with Electronic Brake Force Distribution and Brake Assist as standard on all variants. The new Innova is 4735mm long (which is about 150mm longer than the older one), 1795mm tall (35mm taller than the previous one) and 1830mm wide (which is 65mm wider than before). The wheelbase is identical to the old one at 2750mm.

The Package

As said earlier, the mighty Innova has grown. It's bigger, better, faster and a lot more premium than before. All these improvements will come at a cost. We expect Innova to top around a Rs. 22 lac price tag, which is a lot of money. The car is fantastic but, it will all boil down to the Indian mindset, whether or not people accept this commuter MPV as a premium product. Also, don't miss on the detailed Image gallery of Innova Crysta.

Watch Showcase Video of Toyota Innova Crysta

Also Read: Toyota Innova Crysta Bookings Open!

Read More on : Innova Crysta india
Antarctica is pictured in this undated image courtesy of NASA. (Photo : Reuters)

China will use a newly developed tool to explore the Antarctica this year, according to the State Oceanic Administration.



The SOA will form an air service team for the exploration of the Antarctica, which will help establish a full monitoring platform of the land, air and sea.



It added that the country will develop technology and equipment adapted to the polar ecosystem besides monitoring and application service systems.



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According to the Global Times, the agency will conduct a pilot deep-sea mining project, exploration, and deep-sea biological diversity research.



Furthermore, the SOA will establish an application service platform based on the homemade controlled deep-sea submersible and deep-sea space station.



The SOA will also conduct the seventh Arctic research expedition in 2016 and will attempt to arrange a joint Arctic Ocean Expedition with Russia.



The head of the department of strategic planning and economy, Zhang Zhanhai, said that the administration will advance innovative development structures for the ocean economy involving Internet and large data, and several state oceanic laboratories will be constructed.



Apart from mere exploration, China also has economic interests in the Antarctica. Although there is a treaty banning mining in the region, which will be reviewed in 2018, the SOA will carry out pilot deep-sea mining projects. The Antarctica has large deposits of oil and gas, in addition to minerals like iron ore and coal.



According to RT, researchers plan to construct a deep-sea space station to get a better picture of what is under the great ice sheet of the Antarctica.



In June 2015, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a treaty for development of Northern Sea Route, which is a passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific through the shortest route along Russia's Arctic coastline.



Beneath the ice and cold waters of the Arctic Ocean are concealed vast natural reserves, about 20 percent of oil globally, 30 percent of natural gas worldwide, and deposits of platinum, gold and tin.


$25b Port in Georgia to Serve as New Maritime Corridor Between China and Europe

Georgia is set to build the first deep sea port that will serve as a new maritime corridor connecting China to Europe. (Photo : Reuters)

Georgia has announced plans to construct its first deep sea port, a project that will cost around $25 billion and will serve as a new maritime corridor that will connect China to Europe, according to an article published on CRIENGLISH.com.



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Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili explained the project's significance during a news conference held in Tbilisi, the country's capital.



"This will bring completely new opportunities to Georgia to implement the concept of the Silk Road on a new scale. It will enable the South Caucasus transport corridor to operate at a new capacity and scale," the prime minister was quoted as saying.



Kvirikashvili said that the port will be built and developed by Anaklia Development Consortium, which has been chosen from six other parties that bid for the project.



The report said that the project is a joint venture between the Georgian-based TBC Holding and Conti International, a U.S.-based developer of infrastructure and capital projects.



Levan Akhveldiani, the general director of the consortium, hailed the project as a very important and an unprecedented initiative.



"It will create the first deep sea port in Georgia and it will facilitate the trade routes going through the South Caucasus," the director said. "It will not be only important for Georgia the entire region, central Asian countries and especially benefit the Chinese 'One Belt, One Road' initiative, which is the shortest route going from China to Europe and Georgia lays as a gateway and Anaklia will serve as a gateway for that route."



Mamuka Khazaradze, president of TBC Holding, welcomed and praised the project.



"We are implementing the project which will link Asia and Europe," Khazaradze said. "This will be a continuation of China's One Belt One Road initiative, which is a new concept for old Silk Road."



According to the report, the construction of the project will start by the end of this year, and the port is expected to become operational three years from now.



The port has a cargo capacity that will enable it to handle the largest container ships that need deep-sea access.



The report said that it has long been a major priority of Georgia to restore the historic Silk Road and build a faster maritime corridor between China and Europe.


When I talk to CEOs from companies around the world, one constant Ive noticed is the ability of successful companies and executives to tell an irresistible story. The ideas that really catch on with the public are wrapped in a compelling story.

In my work, Ive spoken to Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, Shark Tanks Barbara Corcoran, The Voice producer Mark Burnett and many other leaders who credit much of their brands success to their ability to sell ideas in the form of a story. Ive also studied TED talks and interviewed the speakers whose talks have gone viral. Ive found that there is a formula to viral messages: story, data, story, data, story.

The credit union story can easily be engaging for the public to hear and absorb  but I think credit union leaders suffer from the same problem that affects leaders in many other industries: the cult of knowledge. They know too much.

They understand the advantages credit unions have over banks  but are they communicating those advantages in language that members and potential members understand?

They speak in a language thats only understood by them  not the average consumer. Researchers whove studied the science of persuasion have found that consumers respond to messages that grab their attention  something funny, surprising or unexpected  and communicate something on an emotional level. In order for persuasion to occur, both attention and emotional resonance must be present.

Bryan Stevenson, a well-known TED speaker and a human rights attorney, has argued five cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. He knows persuasion. Narrative is everything in effective communication, he told me. Stevensons public presentations follow a template. He starts with a short personal story (something that everyone can find relatable and that supports his theme) and follows it with facts and data. He then tells another story that sets up a second set of facts, followed by a third story and more facts, etc. Thats the difference between a story  with just a beginning, middle and end  and a transformative message that moves hearts and minds.

But how can credit unions latch onto the power of that kind of transformative messaging and storytelling? How can they craft a compelling story that wins minds and moves hearts?

The secret to creativity, according to Steve Jobs, is to bombard the brain with new experiences. One such experience is NAFCUs CEOs and Senior Executives Conference, set for April 12-14 in San Francisco  just two months from now. As one of the keynote speakers, I can assure you this conference will be full of new experiences and invaluable lessons about strategies and leadership tactics. It will also be an excellent networking opportunity through which credit union executives can learn from each other about how storytelling has helped their businesses.

Leaders cannot take their businesses to the next level if theyre doing the same thing year after year. Events such as this conference expose leaders to new ideas and experiences that will help them stand out in an increasingly competitive business environment.

How can you tell a compelling story? Get outside your normal routine, open your mind to new perspectives, and listen to the experiences of others  and see what happens.

Feb. 12 is the last day for conference attendees to save $100 with the promo code CEOSAVINGS. The NAFCU CEOs and Senior Executives Conference is scheduled for April 12-14 at the Fairmont San Francisco in California.
Deano Macmillan and his mum Susie with The One Show's presenters Matt Baker and Alex Jones.

Plans to rehome thousands of organic layers from the Macs Farm in East Sussex received a fillip this week, when owner Susie Macmillan and her son Deano appeared with three of their hens on the BBCs One Show.

The hens were from a flock of 9,000 Hy-Lines which are due to be depleted on 19 March.

Mrs Macmillan explained the farm had done two major rehoming exercises in the past seven years, with all 9,000 birds finding a new home on each occasion.

See also: Jamie Oliver and Jimmy Doherty film at egg farm

But, even though there is a lot of interest among the general public in keeping backyard chickens, this time we felt we needed to publicise the rehoming well in advance, she told Poultry World.

Initially we put out a press release, and that was picked up by [Brighton newspaper] The Argus. That article was seen by a producer on the One Show and that day we got a call saying they wanted to come and film on the farm the next day.

Then, while they were here, they asked if we could go up to the studio in London, with three of our girls, to take part in the programme.

The footage, broadcast on Wednesday evening (10 February), showed The One Shows broadcaster Michael Douglas at the Macs Farm, explaining the scale of commercial egg production and the need for depletion at 78 weeks.

The birds were also seen walking around the studio, where Breaking Bad actor Aaron Paul was the main guest.

The show ended with an appeal for anyone interested in the rehoming exercise to contact the charities Fresh Start for Hens or Brighton Animal Action.

Mrs Macmillan said she had had more than 100 emails and texts in response to the programme and was confident that the 9,000 bird target would be reached.

Fresh Start for Hens is picking up 2,500 on 19 March, and another 2,500 on 26 March for distribution in the north of England.

Brighton Animal Action has another 3,000 lined up, so were well on the way.

In total, the farm has rehomed some 55,000 hens in the past seven years. The Macs Farm gets 50p a bird, while the other charities charge 1-2.50, to cover their costs.

Once depleted, the shed will be cleaned and maintenance work carried out, with the next flock coming in in late May.
2/11 SF Rally-Speak Out At Japanese Consulate-Stop The Restarting Of Japanese NUKE Plants, Stop Radioactive Water Leaks At Fukushima, Protect The Children and Families of FukushimaRally and Speak Out At Japanese Consulate On Wednesday February 11, 2015 at 3:00Japanese Consulate275 Battery St. San FranciscoThe Abe Japanese government continues to reopen nuclear plants in Japan despite the great dangers of another Fukushima. At the same time anti-nuclear activists are under attack by the government using the new secrecy law and propaganda to remilitarize Japan. The government continues to tell the people of Japan and the world that the Fukushima disaster has been overcome. This lie was presented by the government to garner the Olympics in Japan. The US government also continues to support the restarting of the plants and for the full militarization of Japan.Support the campaign to defend the children and families of Fukushima and show solidarity with the people of Japan who are fighting against the nuclear industry and the control of these billionaires who have captured the health and safety and regulatory agencies.Join the ActionFor more information(510) 495-5952Fukushima Teacher Speaks Out: How Officials and Popular Academics Have Responded to Disaster Victims in the Wake of Tokyo Electric Power Company's Fukushima Nuclear AccidentOn Fukushima Prefecture and Hiroshi Kainuma: How Officials and Popular Academics Have Responded to Disaster Victims in the Wake of Tokyo Electric Power Company's Fukushima Nuclear AccidentOn Fukushima Prefecture and Hiroshi Kainuma: How Officials and Popular Academics Have Responded to Disaster Victims in the Wake of Tokyo Electric Power Company's Fukushima Nuclear AccidentFebruary 4, 2016By Toshinori Shishido About the authorI worked as a full-time teacher at a public high school in Fukushima for about twenty-five-and-a-half years, until July 31, 2011. During the first four years of my career, I taught at Futaba High School in Futaba-machi, home to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.Naturally, I have heard stories about the harsh working conditions of nuclear workers. For example, in a certain area of the power plant, working for 10 minutes would exceed the legal maximum daily radiation exposure limit. So each shift was officially recorded as 10 minutes even though their actual worked shift was 8 hours. The workers would primarily wipe water leaking from the piping surrounding the nuclear reactor. When workers died of illnesses like cancer, their families received unusually high amounts of cash as lump-sum payments, while actual workmen's compensation insurance was not provided.At the time of the 2011 nuclear accident, I was living in a city 53 kilometers (33 miles) away from the power plant with my wife and two children. I was working at a public school 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the plant.After the accident, on the evening of March 15, 2011, the maximum airborne radioactive levels of 23 microsievert/hour was detected in Fukushima City, where I worked. Outside the school the following day, however, the annual school acceptance announcements were held as scheduled. Several faculty, including myself, met with the principal to insist that usual outdoor announcement be cancelled as to avoid having young students exposed to radiation -- but the announcement event was forced outdoors. The principal cited reasons such as, "the Fukushima Prefecture office strongly supports the outdoor plan" and he "had no choice as the school principal."From April 2011 on, aside from the prohibition of outdoor gym classes, neither my school nor the Fukushima Board of Education took any measures to prevent further radiation exposure for students. The school had students practice club activities outdoors as usual. Indoor club athletes were made to run outdoors as well, without any protective measure against radiation exposure. Despite the standard practice, measures such as gargling, washing hands, changing clothes, and showering weren't deemed necessary for students when returning from outdoor activities.Since I had some knowledge about radiation exposure, I advised the students to take caution to remove potential contamination whenever possible. However, in response to my giving the students advice to prevent radioactive materials from entering the building, I had been cautioned by the Fukushima Prefectural Board of Education, in the form of official "guidance" which forbids me to even talk about radiation and nuclear power plants to the students. Given that I was officially barred from protecting students from radiation exposure, I decided to make my move: along with my family, I evacuated my hometown and relocated to Sapporo city in Hokkaido. We were supported by staff and Toru Konno at the Hokkaido Prefectural government who led the way through the interference by Fukushima Prefecture, and Sapporo City, as well as by the support of the people at the NPO Musubiba. Once we evacuated, we found out about a financial system by Fukushima Prefecture which supports voluntary evacuees from the areas outside of the officially restricted zone (though it only approved applications from evacuees pre-December 2012; those who evacuated thereafter would not be financially supported).I have been teaching part-time in Hokkaido. Since finding out that within the public school system the Fukushima Prefecture Board of Education can intervene to oversee public high school relocation anywhere, I have been teaching at private schools only. Aside from my part-time job, I have been involved in a nuclear power plant damages lawsuit as a plaintiff as well as a member of the refugee organization.1. Fukushima Prefectural Government and the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO)'s Fukushima Nuclear AccidentThe reactors at the TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, especially Unit 1 and Unit 2, were delivered and installed from the US after the US manufacturer finished all of their construction. As for Units 3, 4, 5, and 6 the Japanese manufacturer added their own "improvements" to the original structure.I will try to avoid a lengthy explanation. TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant frequently had accidents immediately after beginning operation and the nuclear workers' exposure levels amounted to twice to ten times the average exposure dose at other nuclear plants. Furthermore, TEPCO kept a lot of serious accidents hidden from Fukushima Prefecture and the Japanese government. TEPCO proposed using Unit 3 for so-called pluthermal power generation, utilizing fuel which can contain weapons-grade plutonium in order to reduce the plutonium surplus in Japan. Eisaku Sato, then-governor of Fukushima, strongly objected to the proposal.The Japanese government arrested and convicted Governor Sato on bribery charges with the amount of the bribe recognized as "zero yen." They drove him to resign, then elected Yuhei Sato as the new governor. As described above, neither the Fukushima governor nor the organization called the Fukushima Prefectural Government had power over TEPCO.2. Nuclear accident and the Fukushima Prefectural GovernmentMarch 11, 2011, when a massive earthquake hit a wide area including Fukushima Prefecture, the building of the Fukushima prefectural office (which had been planned to function as a Disaster Response Headquarters) was damaged in the earthquake. The headquarters were set up in a small building next to the main office building to serve temporary functions. The prefectural government has never publicized records of proceedings and documents from over 20 meetings in the beginning. From the 25th meeting, they finally began keeping records of proceedings.At the time, the temporary disaster response headquarters was believed to have had little to no communication lines, and had reportedly only two satellite mobile phones. Although the communication infrastructure began to be rebuilt gradually, what was happening then still remains largely unknown. There has been no official investigation into the correspondence between the local governments, the central government and TEPCO, and no evacuation orders to the local communities.As far as public record goes, the only time Fukushima Governor issued an announcement in the first week was on the evening of March 14th. "Follow the instructions and do not panic,""High school entrance announcements will be held as planned on March 16th," -- these two lines were broadcast repeatedly throughout local media.From another angle, the recordings of the TEPCO video conference shows that Fukushima Prefecture requested TEPCO make a public announcement saying "the explosion in the Unit 3 at Fukushima Daiichi will not cause health damage." Appalled by the request, thinking they "couldn't say such an irresponsible thing," TEPCO decided to "ask the central government to suppress Fukushima Prefecture," -- as evidently recorded during the video conference.However Fukushima Prefecture repeatedly expressed that in the "Nakad ri" region -- which includes the prefectural capitol, Fukushima City, and the commercially and industrially flourishing Koriyama City -- there would be zero risk of health damage from radiation.There has been a use of protective measures like wearing long-sleeves and masks for school children, which may have been a globally familiar sight through media reports. However this was not a recommendation or an order issued by Fukushima Prefecture, but rather a result of demands from local PTAs to boards of education in individual school districts.Towards the end of March 2011, right before the school year resumed, the Fukushima governor was seen out in local grocery stores saying "Fukushima today is business as usual," in which he began acampaign to "dispel harmful rumors" about local agricultural produce being contaminated by radiation. The governor also opposed widening the evacuation zone beyond the 20km radius of the nuclear power plant, and has repeatedly made remarks to avoid increasing the number of evacuees from outside the official evacuation zone.As a result, aside from two local Fukushima newspapers, NHK, and four private television networks in addition to NHK Radio and Radio Fukushima, there was little to no mention of messages from outside Fukushima offering free housings and support networks for voluntary evacuees.Fukushima Prefecture also prohibited the use of not only public conference centers, but private facilities for hosting "counseling room" for evacuation as well. People around me practically had no knowledge of local autonomous support groups offering evacuation support. I have heard numerous times that "there is no evacuation order from outside the prefecture, meaning we have been abandoned." In fact, it was Fukushima Prefecture who had been interfering with such efforts to reach our community.3. Hiroshi Kainuma, "the Sociologist"In 2011, an author from Fukushima became renowned after publishing the book "Fukushima theory -- the birth of a nuclear village," based on a thesis he wrote as a sociology student at the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Sciences. His name is Hiroshi Kaiuma, born in Iwaki City, Fukushima, and graduated from the University of Tokyo Literature department at the age of 25 and advanced to the graduate program. I must note that this is difficult to grasp if you are not well-connected within Fukushima. But in short, Iwaki City, where Mr. Kainuma was born and raised, has very little connection to the Futaba district which hosts TEPCO's power plant. In terms of large-scale trading areas, while the Futaba district is part of the Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture trade area, Iwaki City would be part of Mito City in Ibaraki Prefecture. In any case, Mr. Kainuma did not have strong connections to the Fukushima Prefectural government prior to March 11th, 2011.Since the meltdown, however, he has somehow become "the Fukushima spokesperson who speaks about Fukushima on TV and radio."Additionally, I have written several critiques of his writings, one of which can be found on the following link (in Japanese): "Personal note on 'Fukushima theory' -- the birth of a nuclear village" http://togetter.com/li/815862 4. Hiroshi Kainuma and the Fukushima Prefectural GovernmentAfter 3/11, his master's thesis was published in books and he began to be featured in various media, including an appearance as a commentator on the popular evening program "Hodo Station (News Station)." We must note that the content of his remarks have been consistent -- such as, "The acceptance of nuclear power plant by local communities was necessary for the regions' survival"; "Those outside of Fukushima protesting against nuclear energy do not understand the reality of nuclear-hosting communities." His views and comments on the anti-nuclear movement have been antagonistic from the beginning, for example, "People who oppose nuclear energy are rubbing local communities the wrong way."Mr. Kainuma currently holds the title of Junior Researcher of the Fukushima Future Center for Regional Revitalization, but at the same time he is a PhD student at the University of Tokyo. While it would be appropriate to call him a sociology researcher, I feel it's an overestimation to refer to him as a sociologist.Currently the gist of Mr. Kainuma's speech is towards the "recovery of Fukushima in visible forms" and its target audience is outside Fukushima Prefecture. While many others have in fact been referring to "bags" jammed with contaminated waste -- seen everywhere and impossible to be ignored upon entering Fukushima -- Mr. Kainuma continues to emphasize the "ordinary Fukushima" without mentioning the bags.I see the previous governor of Fukushima, Yuhei Sato, in Mr. Kainuma in many ways, like in his seeming lack of experience interacting with people in temporary housings immediately following the meltdowns, or with shelter residents still living with much confusion and inconveniences as a result of the disaster.Even the current Fukushima governor does not seem to have made too many visits to temporary shelters during or after elections.To those who evacuated Fukushima to outer prefectures like myself, the Prefecture kept even more distance. By principle, they never made any official inspection visits to meet the evacuees. There is a notable lack of inspection visits not only in remote areas such as Hokkaido, but also in places like Yamagata and Niigata which are adjacent to Fukushima Prefecture.In the wake of the disaster, though there was housing support for those who evacuated the areas outside of Fukushima as well, such efforts have gradually died down -- as of March 2016, state subsidies for housing would be available only for evacuees who are from Fukushima. In addition, the housing subsidy program for those who evacuated the non-restricted zone will end in March 2017. However, there is no housing program for returning residents to Fukushima even if they decide to move back there.Starting March 2017, voluntary evacuees still living in outer prefectures need to choose one of the three following choices:1) Return home to Fukushima while paying out-of-pocket for most of the expenses associated with the move and your life thereafter; 2) Continue living outside Fukushima while relinquishing your rights to access resources as a disaster victim; 3) Upon proving your need for financial assistance, receive housing subsidies for up to 2 years to live in privately-owned housing.The reason for this policy change was credited to correspondence between the Minister of Environment and the Nuclear Regulatory Authority, a non-governmental agency to provide scientific grounds for nuclear policy. The Minister of Environment asked the NRA if "it is considered desirable to evacuate the areas that don't have restrictions" to which the NRA answered, "these areas are no longer fit to be evacuated." It should be noted that there was no legal ground for this correspondence to be treated as official; how this exchange was reviewed and by whom is unknown.Based on this document issued by the NRA, the Japanese government made a Cabinet decision to largely reduce support for evacuees through the Nuclear Accident Child Victim's Support Law.Following this decision, Fukushima Prefecture also determined its policy would end support for the voluntary evacuees from non-restricted areas.Hiroshi Kainuma is working from an assumed role to justify such policy of Fukushima Prefecture, utilizing his position as a so-called sociologist. Even if he has ideas and views that differ from Fukushima Prefecture's policy, he does not speak about them on media or at talk events.For instance, when Mr. Kainuma was relatively unknown before 3/11, he had reportedly interviewed local anti-nuclear activists. Another instance tells us that although he had met and interviewed several people who have moved voluntarily out of the non-restricted areas, he proceeds to ignore the voices and opinions of them as though they had never existed.Last year, nuclear reactors in Japan started resuming operation. Mr. Kainuma has not been seen or heard expressing opposition to it. Neither Fukushima Prefecture nor the Prefectural Assembly expresses any intentions to oppose nuclear restorations.5. The current presence of "Hiroshi Kainuma"Through the circumstances described above, Hiroshi Kainuma is working so as to be portrayed by the media as a Fukushima Prefecture spokesperson, intent on selling "business-as-usual" appeal and depicting a Fukushima that "overcame a nuclear disaster."Meanwhile, and quite unfortunately, many Fukushima residents agree with his words and actions. Just as there are many people hoping to forget the scars from the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake, there are many who explicitly "do not evacuate," comprising an overwhelming majority of the Fukushima population and wishing to forget and move past the disaster and nuclear crisis.Here we have an academic scholar who speaks for us and to those who are outside Fukushima as well, saying to leave the nuclear disaster in the past.Thus, this concludes the significance of Hiroshi Kainuma's existence today.Restart of Japan Takahama nuke plant refuels question about spent MOX fuelJanuary 30, 2016 (Mainichi Japan)The No. 3 reactor, left, is seen at the Takahama nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture on Jan. 29, 2016. (Mainichi)Japan has resumed its "pluthermal" power generation project using uranium-plutonium mixed oxide fuel (MOX fuel) for the first time in three years and 11 months, with the reactivation of the No. 3 reactor at the Takahama nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture on Jan. 29.The spent MOX fuel to be generated at the plant, however, will have nowhere to go for reprocessing, just as conventional spent nuclear fuel -- leaving Japan with yet another nuclear waste problem."The reactor restart bears great significance in terms of promoting the nuclear fuel cycle," said Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Motoo Hayashi at a press conference on Jan. 29.The government has promoted the nuclear fuel cycle as part of its national policy and has been seeking to breed plutonium while using it to fuel fast-breeder reactors.However, the Monju prototype fast-breeder reactor in Fukui Prefecture has hardly been operational due to a sodium leak accident in 1995 and a spate of other problems, giving way to the pluthermal project that emerged as an alternative way out.The prospect of successfully reprocessing spent nuclear fuel -- a precondition for the nuclear fuel cycle -- is nowhere in sight in Japan. Construction of the Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd.'s spent fuel reprocessing plant in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, is lagging behind schedule, and spent fuel has been accumulating on the premises of each nuclear plant across the country. At the Takahama complex, spent nuclear fuel has filled two-thirds of its capacity.In October last year, the government drew up a plan to expand the country's capacity to hold spent nuclear fuel. Kansai Electric Power Co. unveiled a plan to start operating an interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel outside of Fukui Prefecture sometime around 2030, but no specific steps are in sight.While the destination of conventional spent nuclear fuel is already unclear, reprocessing of spent MOX fuel poses yet further challenges. Because spent MOX fuel is beyond the capacity of the Rokkasho plant, there needs to be built yet another plant dedicated to reprocessing spent MOX fuel. However, there's not even a blueprint for building such a plant."For the time being, we will properly keep (spent MOX fuel) within the grounds of the Takahama plant," said a Kansai Electric Power Co. official.Hideyuki Ban, co-director of the Citizens' Nuclear Information Center, said, "It is unclear whether spent nuclear fuel will really be reused, while the final disposal site has yet to be decided. It is likely that spent fuel will continue to be kept at each nuclear plant. Power companies are now facing the high price for having prioritized reactor restarts and construction."Defiant to the end, last of Group of Six anti-nuclear scientists about to retireFebruary 06, 2016By HISASHI HATTORI/ Senior Staff WriterKUMATORI, Osaka Prefecture--Tetsuji Imanaka is the last of the so-called Kumatori Group of Six, a maverick band of nuclear scientists at an elite university here that spent decades speaking out against nuclear energy.At 65, Imanaka is now ready to collect his pension and part company with Kyoto Universitys Research Reactor Institute--and he remains as steadfast as ever in his beliefs.Imanaka cannot have found it easy to go against the governments policy of promoting nuclear power, yet that's what he's done since he joined the institute in 1976.He says he never experienced harassment, but then again he never got promoted beyond the post of research associate.Many people have commented that I must have been bullied because I banded together with my colleagues under the banner of building a nuclear-free Japan, Imanaka told a 60-strong audience gathered here Jan. 28 for a lecture to mark his retirement in March. But that was not the case. It is also true, though, that nobody has praised me for being anti-nuclear, he added, drawing guffaws.Imanaka's other colleagues in the group with the exception of one are all retired. They are: Toru Ebisawa, 77; Keiji Kobayashi, 76; Takeshi Seo, who died in 1994 at the age of 53; Shinji Kawano, 74; and Hiroaki Koide, 66.The group's moniker came from the name of the town that hosts the research center.Although all six scientists harbored doubts about promoting nuclear energy, Imanaka said, We did not set out to become activists or form a clique.Rather, We acted according to our own beliefs as individuals.The group was relatively unknown before the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.But in the aftermath of the triple meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, the rebels increasingly came under the spotlight as civic groups scrambled to seek their expertise to grasp the ramifications of the nuclear accident and the potential dangers of nuclear energy.Koide, who retired last year, has addressed 300 or so gatherings across the country since the catastrophe.But the group's efforts to educate the public about the potential danger of, and challenges facing nuclear energy, date back to 1980 when it initiated a series of seminars at the institute.Experts have a responsibility to explain science and technology in lay language to citizens, Imanaka said of the endeavor.With Imanakas departure, those seminars are about to end. After more than 35 years, the final 112nd session will be held on Feb. 10.The group's commitment to continue sounding the warning against nuclear power has been widely appreciated by the public at large.But the members have all had to pay a price for openly defying the nuclear village, as the program involving the government, powerful utilities enjoying regional monopolies and academia is called.None of the six ever got promoted to beyond the level of assistant professor.Still, Koide, who finished his career also as a research associate, recalled his academic life fondly.In his lowly position, he was able to focus on his research free from pressure and harassment.The catalyst for the group's anti-nuclear activities was a lawsuit filed in 1973 by a citizens group over a license issued to Shikoku Electric Power Co. to build the Ikata nuclear power plant in Ehime Prefecture.In the suit, the plaintiffs demanded nullification of the license on grounds that safety screening of the plant by the government was insufficient. It was the nation's first lawsuit involving the safety of a nuclear reactor.The researchers stood by the plaintiffs over 19 years of court battles, offering their technical expertise and testimony, right up until the Supreme Court finalized the verdict against them.Kobayashi, an expert on reactors, also helped residents who sought to shut down the Monju prototype fast-breeder reactor in Fukui Prefecture.The money-guzzling, problem-plagued project is the centerpiece of the governments vision to recycle spent nuclear fuel. But the reactor has rarely operated since it went online in 1995.Imanaka specialized in assessing the spread of radioactive contamination. He traveled to Ukraine more than 20 times to examine the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident site for contamination.He, along with Seo, also estimated how much radiation was released in the 1979 accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in the United States.After the Fukushima disaster, Imanaka embarked on a project to detect radiation levels in Iitate, a village to the northwest of the plant whose residents are still living as evacuees due to high radiation levels.Keiji Miyazaki, professor emeritus of nuclear energy at Osaka University, was of two minds about the goals of the Kumatori Group of Six.We, as a promoter of nuclear power, could learn from the argument they made on scientific grounds, said Miyazaki, 78, who assisted in the development of the Monju fast-breeder reactor. But at times, they rather seemed to be activists than researchers.The Fukushima disaster showed that a nuclear accident far exceeding anyone's expectations can happen in Japan, which is what the Kumatori Group of Six had been saying all along, despite the pro-nuclear power bloc always ruling it out as improbable.Still, Koide said he was left with a sense of defeat because he and his peers failed to prevent it after all.Five years on, the toll from the disaster continues.Some 100,000 evacuees in Fukushima Prefecture are still displaced.Kobayashi is pushing for a nationwide debate over whether Japan should embrace nuclear energy.It has been established that an accident can take place, he said. All of society, not just some officials and experts, should discuss whether we should continue to accept the risks involved in nuclear energy.The final session of the seminar will bring together Imanaka and the surviving members of the group together for the first time in a long while.They will pose for a picture with the photo of the late Seo in the background and renew their resolve to carry on their mission to serve the public with their technical knowledge.The next seminar will be the last one at the institute, but we are ready to come together and fulfill our responsibility as nuclear scientists if an accident like Fukushima recurs, Imanaka said.By HISASHI HATTORI/ Senior Staff Writer
The study showed that negative emotions were most common among rural than city dwellers. (Photo : Getty Images)

Stress has become a part of everyday life for plenty of Chinese, a new poll by Gallup suggests, according to an article by China Daily. Survey results were released on Monday, Feb. 8.



According to the poll, which measured stress levels in China in 2015, 27 percent of respondents showed high levels of stress the day before they were interviewed. Meanwhile, 40 percent of respondents experienced a lot of stress.



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The results show a significant increase from 2014's results, which were 18 percent and 28 percent, respectively.



Stress readings among Chinese have been low for the past decade as Gallup's surveys indicate, as results mostly hovered around 28 percent in 2011 and 2014. The percentage rose by 10 points in 38, however.



The rising levels of stress among Chinese, according to Gallup, indicate a strong dissatisfaction with their household income and personal savings--both of which were adversely affected because of China's economic slowdown.



The report went on to state that personal financial setbacks usually lead to increased worry and stress.



In a related survey by Gallup, only 58 percent of Chinese respondents expressed satisfaction with their household income in 2015. It's a rather sharp decline from 2014 results, which recorded a high of 66 percent.



The study also showed that these negative emotions were most common among those living in rural areas than city dwellers. Among the respondents, 4,265 were from Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai. Then again, most urban dwellers are known to regularly experience stress and worry due to the fast-paced lifestyle in big cities.



It's unclear whether China's rapid urbanization contributed to the rising stress and worry levels among rural residents in China. The Gallup report, however, did indicate that basic food and shelter were common causes of worry in the countryside.



The slowing economy and China's economic policies might have also contributed to the growing anxieties rural Chinese experience, said the Gallup report.



Despite the results, Pew Center surveys indicate that the Chinese are still among the most optimistic people regarding their future. The government has also vowed to create more jobs to bridge the rural and urban divide.


After agreeing to a Negotiated Settlement Agreement (NSA) in response to a lawsuit for police misconduct 12 years ago, the city of Oakland has paid $30 million in court monitoring costs and is still not in full compliance.

The infamous Riders case of 2002 was a class action lawsuit representing 120 Black complainants who accused police of misconduct that included planting drugs, kidnapping, and excessive force. The NSA, similar to a consent decree, requires the Oakland Police Department (OPD) to make 51 reforms and pay out over $10 million to complainants.

Twelve years later, of the 51 mandated reforms, OPD is in compliance with all but three: Compliant Procedures for Internal Affairs Department, Vehicle Stops, Field Investigations, and Detentions, and Consistency of Discipline Policy. While 48 out of 51 might sound like success; the NSA stated that OPD should be in compliance within five to seven years. Oakland has been under this NSA longer than any other city in the same situation. The reforms that remain unsatisfied address issues of oversight, police investigations, and police discipline. In other words, OPD cant comply with the parts that require the police to police the police.Oakland passed a Community Policing ordinance in 1996 that established neighborhood crime prevention councils, the citizens police review board, and a citizen police advisory board, all in an effort to put the community in control of police oversight. Yet, Oakland citizens have paid $74 million settling police misconduct lawsuits since signing the NSA.Its shocking and its unacceptable. said Rashidah Grinage, member of the coalition championing a ballot measure that would create citizen oversight of the police. This is our money! This is money that could be used for community needs. We have a homeless problem that we need to address.Groups of concerned individuals and organizations, like Grinage, myself included, have formed the Coalition for Police Accountability (CPA). The CPA is trying to give community policing some teeth by creating an Oakland Police Commission. Oakland does have a Citizens Police Review Board (CPRB), which makes recommendations for police discipline to the City Administrator in misconduct cases. The problems with the CPRB are that it is under funded and the City Administrator does not have to follow its recommendations.The proposed Oakland Police Commission, similar to the police commissions in Los Angeles and San Francisco, would give final discipline authority to the commission. For an Oakland Police Commission to become a reality, the City Charter would have to be amended. Amending the charter requires the voice of Oakland voters.Council member Noel Gallo was the first to sponsor the charter amendment. He astonished us by immediately agreeing to carry this, Grinage said, recalling the conversation she and other CPA members had with Gallo in 2013. Council members Dan Kalb and Rebecca Kaplan have agreed to co-sponsor the ballot initiative.Yet, CPA is not relying on the political winds to sail them to victory. The Coalition has filed an intent to place a measure on the ballot. CPA will start collecting signatures from voters to ensure that the measure makes it on the ballot with or without the vote of the City Council. The City Council can vote to put the amendment on the ballot in November 2016; CPA plans to collect over 40,000 signatures to make sure that Oakland voters are empowered to hold the police department accountable.We know that the city council members will be under considerable pressure from the Oakland Police Association (OPA), thats why we are trying to broaden and deepen the Coalition to make sure that the community needs and interests are as forcefully expressed as those of OPA, Grinage explained. She succinctly described this as, Meeting pressure with pressure.On Thursday, February 11th, the NSA Federal Monitor team will attend a Community Forum hosted by CPA. This forum will have no keynotes or panelists. Audience members are encouraged to share their experiences interacting with OPD.After 12 years has anything changed? If so, has it changed for the better? Let your voice be heard at First AME Church (530  37th St) at 7 pm in Oakland. For more information about the event and the CPA,check out the website ( http://www.coalitionforpoliceaccountability.org/calendar ).For more information about the Negotiated Settlement Agreement, visit the City of Oaklands website ( http://www2.oaklandnet.com/Government/o/OPD/DOWD004998 ).
Calexico, Calif.On Feb. 10, 1979, the 22nd day of a bitter strike, Rufino Contreras, 28, and a few fellow strikers walked into an Imperial Valley lettuce field owned by Mario Saikhon to try to speak with imported strikebreakers. Three foremen opened fire. Rufino fell face down in a muddy row. Continuing gunfire prevented Rufinos father and brother and other strikers from aiding him. Sheriffs deputies arrived later and called an ambulance. Rufino died in the hospital.

Rufino was off the picket line for several days with his wife, Rosa Contreras, in the hospital after she was badly burned in an accident. Rufino proudly showed his friends papers that said the Robert F. Kennedy Planthe unions health programwas covering health care for his wife. Rufino said he was proud to be a good union member, which is why he returned to the picket line that day.The thousandsincluding Gov. Jerry Brownwho attended his funeral mass at El Hoyo in Calexico near the U.S.-Mexico border fence will never forget Rufinos son, Julio Cesar, then 5, hugging his mother, Rosa, and crying, Mi papa, mi papa, mi papa.On Feb. 11, 2016, 37 years and one day after Rufino Contreras was slain, the Robert F. Kennedy Medical Plan will dedicate its Calexico facility as the Rufino Contreras Memorial Office. The 11:30 a.m. ceremony will be attended by Rufinos widow, Rosa, his two grown children, Julio Cesar and Nancy Berenice; United Farm Workers President Arturo Rodriguez; Paul Chavez, son of Cesar Chavez and president of the Cesar Chavez Foundation; health and pension plan Administrator Patrick Pine; local farm workers under union contract; UFW pensioners; doctors and other health professionals who care for UFW members on both sides of the border; and county supervisors, mayors and city councilmembers from the Imperial Valley. The new sign will be covered and unveiled during the ceremony.The renamed Calexico office serves UFW members and their dependents using the health plan plus retirees receiving benefits under the unions Juan De La Cruz Pension Plan, and coordinates with health care providers serving recipients in the U.S. and Mexico.Who: Members of the Contreras family; UFW President Arturo Rodriguez; Paul Chavez, Cesar Chavezs son; health and pension plan Administrator Patrick J. Pine; UFW members and pensioners; local elected officials.What: Dedicating the Rufino Contreras Memorial Office.When: 11:30 a.m., Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016.Where: 313 West Second St., Calexico 92231.For background and photos, see: http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0 ,,20073110,00.html and http://www.ufw.org/_page.php?menu=research&inc=history/11.html United Farm Workers
Richmond city worker Stacey Plummer won an $104,000 settlement for whistleblowing about corruption by former Human Resources Manager Heather Knight. The manager Bill Lindsay helped do damage control for the crook Knight and the City Council including the Richmond Progressive Alliance RPA kept Lindsay on and gave him a raise in his salary after supporting the workplace bullying of Richmond City Workers.

Richmond: Whistle-blower Stacey Plummer wins $104,000 settlement with city, City Manager Supported By Richmond City Council Helped Fight Plummer And Defend Crooked Human Resources Manager Heather KnightBy Sarah TanPOSTED: 02/10/2016 02:45:38 PM PST0 COMMENTS| UPDATED: 67 MIN. AGORICHMOND -- A city employee who reported fiscal misconduct has settled a lawsuit against the city for $104,000.Stacie Plummer, a finance manager and 27-year city employee, alleged in 2012 that a human resources officer and the library director had been misusing city-issued credit cards for personal items. She also alleged that the former assistant city manager had been running a personal business out of City Hall.In her suit, filed in 2014, she claimed that she had been deliberately passed over for raises or promotions as a direct result of her bringing these issues to light.In particular, Plummer had raised the actions of former Assistant Human Resources Director Leslie Knight, who Plummer claimed used 30 percent of her workday on personal matters and misused public resources, including a city-issued credit card paid by public money.The suit named the city, Knight, City Manager Bill Lindsay and two other current employees. She stated that since reporting these actions, she had been removed from her job duties from September 2012 until March 2014. She also alleged that during that time, she saw other less-qualified employees promoted, though she received none.In a statement made in 2014, Lindsay had said that Plummer's claims were "without merit" and that the city would work to defend the lawsuit vigorously. He could not be reached this week for further comment at the time of this story's publication."The city of Richmond has a serious problem with retaliating against employees who speak out against corruption," Sonya Mehta, Plummer's attorney at the law firm Siegel & Yee said in a statement, adding the hope that the outcome "moves the city to stop retaliating against whistle-blowers."Sarah Tan covers Richmond. Contact her at 510-262-2789. Follow her at Twitter.com/sarahjtan.Richmond City Workers Protest Corruption And Bullying By Human Resources Manager Leslie KnightRichmond city workers spoke out on April 2, 2013 against the continued employment of corrupt bully and Human Resources Director Leslie Knight. Knight illegally took funds for cars, ordered city workers to work on her private business and bullied Richmond city workers including IFPTE Local 21 Library worker Stacie Plummer who sought to stop corrupt practices. All the unions in Richmond including SEIU 1021 and IFPTE Local 21 chapter are united in demanding that HR manager Leslie Knight be discharged by the city. The city manager Bill Lindsay refused to even place Knight on leave and she continues to be paid the the City of Richmond. Lindsay's salary deal was in fact negotiated by Knight.The video also includes the presentations at the March 19, 2013 Richmond City Council meeting.For more video go to:For more information:December 18, 2012 City Council Meeting Open Forum Speakers. Start watching the video at slide dial 2:02:26:Production of Labor Video Project http://www.laborvideo.org RETALIATION: Union Steward Under Attack at the City of RichmondRETALIATION: Union Steward Under Attack at the City of RichmondSWBG Editor on Jan 20, 2014 in Public Corruption, Whistleblowing, Workplace BullyingIFPTE Local 21 Chief Union Steward, Stan Fleury, has been unjustly punished by City of Richmond Administrators for his union representation of bona fide city whistleblower Stacie Plummer! Even after the Assistant City Manager/Human Resources Directors ouster, the Campaign of Retaliation continues against public employees in Richmond. City Administrators are using tax dollars to pay $400/hour to outside attorneys to cover up their retaliatory and unlawful acts. Public corruption continues at Richmond City Hall under City Manager Bill Lindsay!The press, unions, public workers, bullied workers and the Richmond Community are invited to a rally and speak out on Thursday, January 30, 2014 from 4pm  5pm at 440 Civic Center Plaza, Richmond, California. Stop retaliation against workers who place the publics interest and publics trust as their TOP priority!Stan Fleurys public personnel board hearing will promptly begin at 5pm in the basement lunch room of Richmond City Halls January 30, 2014. Come witness how government corruption is financed in Richmond!Call 510-620-6512 or send an email to City Manager Bill Lindsay ( bill_lindsay [at] ci.richmond.ca.us ) stating that public corruption is no longer tolerated in Richmond! Save Richmond Tax Dollars for the Public Good!This event is sponsored by Stop Workplace Bullying Group (stopworkplacebullyinggroup.org) and United Public Workers for Actions (upwa.org).See flyer Retaliation Speak Out 1.30.2014 for more information.Documents detail misconduct, bullying and financial malfeasane by Richmond's second highest-ranking administrator and cover-up by city manager LindsayUPWA Protest Planned Thursday June 6 at Contra Costa DA's OfficeDocuments detail misconduct and financial malfeasane by Richmond's second highest-ranking administrator and cover-up by city manager LindsayPosted: 06/03/2013 2:00 PMRICHMOND -- Investigators determined that the city's second highest-ranking administrator spent as much as 30 percent of each work day on "personal purposes," including Internet shopping, as part of their probe into allegations of misconduct lodged by a city employee.The report's findings prompted City Manager Bill Lindsay to issue a warning demanding that she stop the misconduct or be fired, according to records obtained through a public records request.Human Resources Director Leslie Knight opted to retire last month under mounting public pressure for Lindsay to fire her.The new details of Knight's misdeeds were revealed after attorneys for this newspaper challenged City Attorney Bruce Goodmiller's refusal to release documents related to the investigation, citing attorney-client privilege. The city last week released a four-page summary of the report -- produced by a Sacramento-based law firm that the city paid $65,000 -- and several emails and memos produced by top city officials.The summary, dated Feb. 25, said investigators conducted 37 interviews with city employees and reviewed thousands of documents. Investigators concluded that Knight, 58, engaged in several acts of misconduct over a sustained period. These included: Using a city fleet vehicle for seven years while also collecting a $450-per-month car allowance. Spending between less than 10 percent and 30 percent of each work day for "personal purposes." Directing a subordinate to access the email of the whistle-blower who exposed her wrongdoing.Knight also, according to the documents, "used city-compensated staff time, city equipment, city storage space and the City Hall address for purposes indirectly involving her personal jewelry and gift business." Knight's base salary in 2011 was more than $220,000, according to this newspaper's public salary database.Knight, who has held the top personnel post in Richmond since 2005, could not be reached for comment. Her resignation is effective July 1.The saga involving Knight emerged last year, when Stacie Plummer, 43, the finance manager for the Library and Cultural Services Department, lodged a detailed complaint alleging that Knight was stealing from the city and using public resources to enhance her jewelry business, called "Little Luxuries." The city hired Sacramento-based Van Dermyden Allison Law firm to investigate.When the investigation concluded, Lindsay released a two-page news release announcing that Knight had been exonerated of most allegations but found guilty of others. He said she would reimburse the city for improperly collecting the car allowance but did not specify any further disciplinary action.Public outcry built for months, culminating in news that Knight would retire.In a March 8 confidential memo from Lindsay to Knight -- released to this newspaper -- the city manager recaps the findings of misconduct and warns Knight to cease misusing public resources "in lieu of termination.""The misconduct found by the investigator shows a failure to meet the high standard of performance required by your position," Lindsay wrote. "It is also a great disappointment to me professionally and personally."Still, the refusal to fire Knight has earned Lindsay mounting scorn as well, and the outcry has not been tamped down by news of Knight's retirement."This story is not over yet," wrote labor activist Charles Smith, in an email to supporters last week. "The fight will continue until Knight is prosecuted and Lindsay fired."The city's Human Rights and Human Relations Commission was set to discuss "workplace bullying" on Monday night, and a rally is scheduled in front of the Contra Costa District Attorney's Office, 900 Ward St. in Martinez, at noon Thursday demanding a criminal investigation into Knight's actions.Reached by phone Monday, Lindsay said he has learned from his mistakes."My biggest regret is that I didn't deal more assertively with the small transgressions that came to my attention," Lindsay said. "I saw some (trinkets) in her office, and I should have said at that point, 'Leslie, this is not really appropriate.'"Lindsay noted that the trinkets were given away by Knight for free to employees to "boost morale."Lindsay said he was not aware of any other misconduct until he received the report."I noticed the stuff in her office, but that was all I noticed," Lindsay saidIFPTE Local 21 Officials Including Bob Britton Refused to Defend Members Who Faced Corruption And BullyingFrom: Bob BrittonDate: April 12, 2013, 11:52:28 AM PDTto membersIt is simply unbelievable that you would not know why we would submit the information request. It is a request for the same information previously requested by you and Stacy in the name of Local 21. Your comments about communications are obviously disingenuous given that Stacy's original and unauthorized request was submitted without any notice to your Local 21 staff representative or me. And, honestly, your claim to have "pleaded" with us for open communication is simply pathetic two-faced positioning while you and Stacy attack Local 21 and me personally in the chapter blog, on You Tube and elsewhere.If I was going to take the time to explain the legal authorities within the union, it would not be for someone like you who supported Staceys attacks including cartoons representing me stabbing members in the back on the chapter blog. You have made your feelings clear. You may have your limitations, but I bet even you can figure out for yourself the legal liability and other problems that would occur if any steward, in any chapter, at any time and for any reason could submit formal information requests on behalf of the organization without even notice to their staff representatives or anyone else at the Local 21 Headquarters. Not to mention, copying without authorization the Local 21 banner off of our website and utilizing it to send out communications in the name of Local 21 without consultation with staff and while continuing to publicly attack Local 21.And, please don't take the time to write another line to me about "pain and suffering" for our members as though you cared and as though your antics have any purpose other than to serve your own ambitions. It is I who has pleaded with you to put aside any differences and concentrate on the upcoming contract negotiations for your chapter. Instead, you and Stacey have continued to attack and attempt to bully staff. Stacey has written of her intent to quit the union as soon as possible. This is hardly the mark of a good union leader, yet you, the president of the chapter no less, continue to support her and her anti-union rhetoric.Bob Britton, DirectorField ServicesIFPTE Local 21
Two individuals sat with their bicycles and other survival gear outside of one of the boarded up entrances to the vacant bank building located at 75 River Street in downtown Santa Cruz at about 2am on a weekday evening last week. This was enough to raise the attention of a Santa Cruz police officer in a patrol vehicle, who was then quickly joined by two more vehicles arriving at the location. After issuing one individual a citation, a police officer could be heard telling the pair they would be given 20 minutes to gather their belongings and leave. The police left and the two stayed there for about an hour and a half. 75 River Street has been vacant since 2008. Both the city and county of Santa Cruz have gone to great lengths, and costs, to "protect" the empty building.

The address of 75 River Street in Santa Cruz became infamous in 2011 when political activists occupied the building for three days during the height of the Occupy Wall Street movement. It had been left empty by its leaser, Wells Fargo Bank. Wells Fargo has another location directly across the street at 74 River, out of which the company actually conducts its business. The owner of 75 River Street is the wealthy and influential developer, Barry Swenson.Hundreds of people entered the building during the course of the occupation. Activists had hoped to transform the former bank into a community center to provide free services to low-income and homeless individuals. Before the occupation it was common to see homeless people sleeping in front of, and all around, the property at 75 River Street.Following the occupation, Santa Cruz police expended a great deal of resources targeting individuals who entered the building for arrest. In February of 2012, felony charges were filed against eleven individuals by the Santa Cruz County DA at the time, the late Bob Lee.Lee stated publicly that someone needed to be held accountable so that Wells Fargo could be reimbursed financially for the damage done to the building during the occupation, which the business estimated to be over $20,000.Charges against seven of the eleven individuals targeted would eventually be dismissed over the course of many court hearings. To resolve their legal issues, the final four defendants were tied up in court for more than three years at a still unknown cost to taxpayers.That the Santa Cruz Police Department sent three patrol vehicles to 75 River Street to issue one person a citation this past week is not uncommon for the department. The department spends a great deal of its resources addressing the nuisance crimes committed by members of the city's street-bound population.In 2012, for example, police statistics showed that 42 percent of all arrests and 32 percent of all citations issued by the Santa Cruz Police Department were for nuisance crimes related to the homeless population. An article published in 2013 in the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported that assistant city manager Tina Shull estimated the police response to incidents involving the homeless would cost the city around $1 million annually when applying that police data.For more information about 75 River, see:75 RiverVacant Bank Occupied in Santa Cruz75 River StreetAlex Darocy was one of the eleven people charged with multiple felonies in association with the occupation of 75 River Street. All of the charges against Alex were dismissed by a Santa Cruz judge in May of 2012.Alex Darocy
Remarks as prepared for delivery

Good afternoon and thank you all for being here. I am joined by Vanita Gupta, head of the Civil Rights Division.

Nearly a year ago, the Department of Justice released our findings in an investigation of the Police Department of Ferguson, Missouri. Our investigation uncovered a community in distress, in which residents felt alienated from their own police force. The Ferguson Police Departments violations were expansive and deliberate. They violated the Fourth Amendment by stopping people without reasonable suspicion, arresting them without cause and using unreasonable force. They made enforcement decisions based on the way individuals expressed themselves and unnecessarily escalated non-threatening situations. These violations were not only egregious  they were routine. They were encouraged by the city in the interest of raising revenue. They were driven, at least in part, by racial bias and occurred disproportionately against African-American residents. And they were profoundly and fundamentally unconstitutional. These findings were based upon information received from Fergusons own citizens, from Fergusons own records and from Fergusons own officials. And they demonstrated a clear pattern or practice of violations of the Constitution and federal law.

After announcing our findings one year ago, we began negotiations with the city of Ferguson on a court-enforceable consent decree that would bring about necessary police and court reform. From the outset, we made clear that our goal was to reach an agreement to avoid litigation. But we also made clear that if there was no agreement, we would be forced to go to court to protect the rights of Ferguson residents. Painstaking negotiations lasted more than 26 weeks as we sought to remedy literally years of systematic deficiencies. A few weeks ago, the Department of Justice and Fergusons own negotiators came to an agreement that was both fair and cost-effective  and that would provide all the residents of Ferguson the constitutional and effective policing and court practices guaranteed to all Americans. As agreed, it was presented to the Ferguson City Council for approval or rejection. And last night, the city council rejected the consent decree approved by their own negotiators. Their decision leaves us no further choice.

Today, the Department of Justice is filing a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the city of Ferguson, Missouri, alleging a pattern or practice of law enforcement conduct that violates the First, Fourth and 14th Amendments of the Constitution and federal civil rights laws. We intend to aggressively prosecute this case and I have no doubt that we will prevail.

The residents of Ferguson have waited nearly a year for their city to adopt an agreement that would protect their rights and keep them safe. They have waited nearly a year for their police department to accept rules that would ensure their constitutional rights and that thousands of other police departments follow every day. They have waited nearly a year for their municipal courts to commit to basic, reasonable rules and standards. But as our report made clear, the residents of Ferguson have suffered the deprivation of their constitutional rights  the rights guaranteed to all Americans  for decades. They have waited decades for justice. They should not be forced to wait any longer.
Save Midtown-Black Homes Matter blackrainpress [at] hotmail.com) by Michael Steinberg

Residents of Midtown Apartments in San Francisco's Western Addition rallied today in support of their 6 month old rent strike, and to honor the life of a longtime elder resident whose life was cut short by the harassment of property manager Mercy Housing. The Midtown Apartments are near Dividasero and Geary in SF.

San Francisco, February 10-The rally took place Wednesday afternoon in front of Mercy offices on Mission Street between 9th and 10th streets. Signs proclaimed: "Justice and Fairness For Midtown," "Black Homes Matter," "Honk For Rent Control," and "Midtown Is the Last 3 Percent." The latter sign referred to the fact that San Francisco's once burgeoning African American the One of the displaced black residents whose home was razed was Jose LaCrosby, who "in the 1950s overcame stereotypes against black male stylists to do the hair of " African American musical icons "Billie Holiday, James Brown, Nina Simone and Little Richard," according to a press release at today's rally. Mr. LaCosby later moved to Midtown Apartments.



One participant at the rally held a photo of Mr. LaCosby, looking dapper and wearing his trademark fedora. He died recently after being "forced to live out his last few months in a distant VA hospital," the press release stated. Residents say Mercy didn't help Mr. LaCosb stay in his Midtown home, thus hastening his death.



In recent years, the Mayor's Office of Housing, the previous property manager, of Midtown, transferred the master lease to Mercy Housing, which reportedly wants to destroy the housing complex. Mercy also attempted to jack rents up as much as 300%, which would have evicted many residents. This grave injustice prompted the current rent strike.



At today's rally Midtown tenants cited other recent examples of management harassment, such as that Mr. LaCosby suffered. Resident Phyllis Bowie reported that Mercy "has reduced security 90%," causing her undue anxiety about getting home from her late night job. She also said there is talk of putting in surveillance cameras.



Another tenant, Pat, reported that she has lived in Midtown 45 years, many of them as a foster parent. Recently management has begun to impose a policy that would force tenants who want visitors to obtain permission 30 days in advance. "That would make it near impossible for my kids to have friends over," Pat said.



The rally concluded on a high note, with Mr. LaCosby's son, Peter John, saluting the rally participants passion. "He had that same passion," he said of his father. "We're not going to be pushed out. We're not going to take it. Save Midtown."



The Midtown tenants want to convert their homes into a democratically run housing cooperative.


Dispatches from the War Zone mikerhodes [at] comcast.net) by Mike Rhodes

A new book has been published about homelessness in Fresno.

Dispatches from the War Zone

A new book on homelessness in Fresno

By Mike Rhodes



Did the City of Fresno really use federal money intended to help the poor and bulldoze homeless shelters with it? Why was it necessary for a federal judge to order the city to stop violating homeless peoples constitutional rights? And how many homeless people have died prematurely as a result of government officials violent, corrupt and illegal conduct?



The publication of my new book in February 2016 is the culmination of more than a decade of reporting on the homeless issue in Fresno, mostly for the Community Alliance newspaper and the Central Valley page on Indybay. Much of the information comes from articles previously published, but a significant amount is new and is from California Public Records Act requests, recent interviews and research.



You will read about the relentless attacks against the homeless in this city, the fightback that has taken place and what needs to be done to end homelessness. This book takes all of the fragmented pieces of the story and combines them into a narrative that gives a complete picture of the drama that is unfolding around you.



The perspective in Dispatches from the War Zone: Homelessness in Fresno 20022015 comes from my experience as an independent investigative journalist. I make no apologies for standing with the homeless, who are probably the most discriminated group of people in this city, state and country.



My bias on behalf of the homeless is obvious and has often put me in conflict with government officials, the police and many of the social service agencies that maintain business as usual. Unlike the mainstream media, this reporting does not depend on developing and nurturing good relations with the power brokers in this community. Many of the articles written have angered the power elite and because of that, getting information from them has been challenging.



If you are a reporter for the mainstream media and you dont tell the story the ruling elite in Fresno wants you to tell, they will cut off your access. If your job depends on access to high government officials and business leaders and they blacklist you, then you are out of a job. This has happened to more than one aspiring journalist in this town.



If you are going to write and publish a book like this you have to have independence. That independence gives you the freedom to tell the truth that some people dont want you to know about. Being an independent journalist doesnt have a lot of perks, but you are able to tell the truth and make the powerful uncomfortable.



I have also been an activist in support of homeless peoples rights. This too makes my perspective in telling the story about the homeless in Fresno different from just about anything else you are likely to read. Actually, there are no other comprehensive books about the homeless in Fresno during this time period, so this account is definitely unique. Being a supporter of homeless peoples rights and working within numerous groups to defend those rights brings an inside view of what this grassroots struggle looks like. It is an honor and a privilege to share that perspective with you.



Getting to know homeless people as co-workers, friends and allies has been one of the most rewarding parts of the experience. Although I have never been homeless myself, I did get to know many homeless people well. There is a collective and collaborative nature that comes with living on the street. People share what they have. They know and talk to their neighbors every day. My hope is that by giving homeless people a voice in this book, readers will get to know and understand that they are someones mother, father, brother or sister.



Somewhere in the back of our minds we all know that if circumstances had been different, if we had a serious health problem, a job loss, mental illness or an untreated addiction, that we too could be homeless. We need to treat the homeless like we would like to be treated if we found ourselves on the street with nowhere to sleep.



It is clear to me that homelessness is a manifestation of a political and economic system that is not meeting peoples needs. Understanding that landscape of the shredded social fabric of this city will make you better prepared to envision and implement the changes needed to transform Fresno into the great city it can be. A city where all people are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.



Dispatches from the War Zone is available online from Amazon or you can send $20 (which includes shipping and handling) to me at: Mike Rhodes, P.O. Box 5706, Fresno Ca 93755.
How a group of Silicon Valley Billionaires tried to stage a take-over of the U.S.

by Avery Lee Thu, Feb 11, 2016 11:40AM
Odalan Celebration Honors Hindu Tradition

I Ketut Asnawa

Feb. 8, 2016

BLOOMINGTON, Ill.On Feb. 14 at 3 p.m., the Evelyn Chapel at Illinois Wesleyan University will host An Odalan Celebration: A Celebration of Music and Dance.

The event honors the Balinese Odalan celebration, a traditional Hindu temple re-dedication ceremony, which will be re-enacted as an educational experience for the IWU community. It is part of Evelyn Chapels series entitled Religion, Music, and the Humanities, which is supported by the Merwin Multifaith Fund.

Adriana Ponce, Associate Professor of Music, and Elyse Nelson Winger, IWU University Chaplain, were instrumental in the coordination of this event. For the past two years, our programs have engaged Christian sacred music and texts, and in keeping with the aims of the series, we wanted to explore ways to highlight other religious traditions and music, said Nelson Winger.

The event will begin with an introduction about ritual and community by Professor of Anthropology Rebecca Gearhart. Performers include renowned ethnomusicologist and Gamelan musician I Ketut Asnawa and the Champaign-based Bali Lantari ensemble. Students from IWUs School of Music, South Asian Student Association, and IWU Interfaith are actively involved in the celebration. This event will be a feast for the eyes and ears, Nelson Winger said.

A reception will follow the Odalan Celebration. The event is free and open to the public.

By Lydia Hartlaub 16
Experts say that Amazon's expansion will make it a competition to other firms like DHL Worldwide Express and United Parcel Service Inc. (Photo : Getty Images)

Seattle-based Amazon.com is expanding its logistics operations in China. According to Reuters, the move will help the company control the increasing costs associated with shipping.



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Part of its aggressive expansion in the country involves the handling of cargo and customs for goods that are to be delivered to Japanese, European and American ports.



Experts say that the expansion puts Amazon.com in a position that makes it a possible competition to other firms like DHL Worldwide Express and United Parcel Service Inc.



If ever that's the case, the expansion will mirror that of Amazon's cloud computing arm. Amazon Web Services is currently the company's fastest growing unit. It was originally meant to aid Amazon.com's retail operations, but it's providing services to other companies.



The expansion in China is to help Amazon deal with the increasing pressure it's facing from Wall Street due to rising shipping costs. According to Reuters, shipping costs have risen by 37 percent in the most recent quarter.



Amazon has already registered Beijing Century Joyo Courier Service, its Chinese subsidiary, as a freight forwarder with the country's ministry last year. This allows the company to export cargo out of China.



The same Chinese subsidiary also applied for a similar position with the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission in November last year. Other applications involve the Shanghai Shipping Exchange. If ever approved, this will allow Amazon to serve as one of the shipping brokers for 12 trade routes, including Shanghai to Hamburg and Shanghai to Los Angeles.



"These are major gateway ports," said John Manners-Bell, head of Transport Intelligence, in an interview with Reuters. "They appear to be laying the foundation for a large forwarding operation."



In the plans submitted to the exchange, Beijing Century Joyo plans to charge clients $530 to $3,530 to transport a 40-foot container from Shanghai to Hamburg--a rate that's already comparable to other forwarders.



Thanks to Amazon's new freight forwarder license, analysts believe that the firm can make shipping easier for Chinese merchants and manufacturers, especially if they're transporting goods to locations where Amazon has warehouses.


- ADC picked up on Wednesday night

- Reason for the arrest unknown

Reports say Colonel Ojogbane Adegbe, ex-president Goodluck Jonathan's aide-de-camp (ADC), has been arrested.

According to The Will, the arrest of Jonathan's former ADC, which was confirmed by impeccable sources, happened on Wednesday, February 10, 2016.

Colonel Ojogbane Adegbe, the former ADC to ex-president Goodluck Jonathan.

Although the reason he was detained by security operatives could not be ascertained at press time, the reason for the arrest may not be far from the ongoing investigation into how billions of dollars means for the battle against insurgency in the country went missing.

READ ALSO: EFCC commences investigation into Sambos office

President Muhammadu Buhari since his election has made the investigation into the missing money his key priority as many officials of the previous administration are allegedly involved.

File photo: Former president, Goodluck Jonathan assisted by former vice president, Namadi Sambo decorate his Aide De Camp, Ojogbane Adegbe with his new rank of Colonel. Credit: The Will

The Will stated further that efforts to reach Colonel Kukasheka Usman, the acting director of army public relations, on Wednesday night were unproductive.

However, in a response to a text message sent to him, Colonel Usman reportedly wrote: "I have no idea" to explain that he knows nothing about the arrest.

In the same vein, calls to Wilson Uwujaren, the spokesperson of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission were not answered.

Only recently, reports surfaced of how the former vice president, Namadi Sambo may soon be declared wanted by the International riminal Police Organization (Interpol).

The Telegraph reports that the EFCC is set to seek the cooperation of the international police in bringing Sambo and some other officials of Jonathans government back to Nigeria.

Others are the former special adviser to Jonathan on Niger Delta affairs and the then chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Kingsley Kuku, as well as the last chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Lamorde.

Source: Legit.ng
Desperate humanitarian needs elsewhere in the Middle East are increasing "competition" for funding for Palestinian refugees, the UN warned on Wednesday.

A Palestinian official said any aid shortage could see the situation "explode".

Bo Schack, Gaza director of the UN's body for refugees, admitted there was concern crises in Yemen, Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East meant donors have less money to spend.

Negotiations between Palestinian factions over a unity government have stumbled, while Israel has maintained a blockade on Gaza, leaving some governments to question whether funding for Palestinians is well spent.

Others have diverted parts of their aid budgets to focus on the refugee crisis in Europe.

"It is true there is serious competition. It is true there are issues with the (Palestinian) negotiations and the lack of developments," Schack said, during an appeal for $571 million for Palestinians in Gaza, the occupied east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank in 2016.

"(But) what I see from the donor community is the commitment and the importance of dealing with the situation remains as strong as ever."

He warned of the threat of another funding crisis like last year, where the agency nearly didn't open its schools for Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan and Lebanon.

Dana Erekat, an official with the Palestinian finance and planning ministry, said a funding shortage could lead to more turmoil.

"Development funding has decreased, budget support has also decreased," she said.

"If we do not address the needs of these communities the situation will explode in the way it has in the rest of the region.

"This is precisely why donor support at this time is very, very critical."

The appeal aims to ease a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza in particular, where nearly half of the population has insufficient access to healthy food.

David Carden, head of office at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said they had reduced the appeal from $705 million in 2015 -- about half of which was met.

"The fact that the overall figure has been reduced from the previous year gives us hope that donors will take it seriously and that they will believe what we have included is an accurate reflection of what the needs are," he said.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online.

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- Teenager says she was divinely impregnated

- Adds that she will call for paternity test after delivery to confirm her statement

- Doctor says her pregnancy as a virgin has been confirmed

File photo of a teenager who is being tested for pregnancy.

Latifah Smith-Nabengana, a pregnant 15-year-old teenager from Ohio has claimed that Jesus Christ is the father of her unborn baby.

According to her, an angel, during an encounter in July 2015, 'divinely impregnated' her while explaining that she she had been chosen to bear a child for Jesus Christ.

World News Daily Report quoted her to have said: "He told me that he was a Nephilim, like those described in the Bible.

"He told that he had a message from Jesus, He said that I was going to be pregnant, and that I would give birth to a son, Jesus son."

According to the Bible in Genesis 6:4, "The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown."

Everyone in her family has since shown support for her since she announced it to them.

Dr William Franklin Murphy, who has been monitoring the teenager's pregnancy, informed that he is aware of her version, but is unable to either confirm or invalidate her claims.

The gynecologist said: "For all I know, her pregnancy seems normal. Her claims of 'Virgin pregnancy' are technically true, but that doesnt mean there was a divine intervention. I can tell you that its a boy, but there no way for me to determine if it is Jesus son until he is born. If she asks for a DNA test at that time, then we can tell you who the father is."

The doctor, being aware of some laws concerning medical secrets, refused to discuss any detail concerning the young womans pregnancy.

The young lady has further stated that she wants a paternity test as soon as her son is born, just to show that she was not hallucinating with her claims.

Source: Legit.ng
- Supreme court has declared Governor Darius Ishaku winner of the April 11 governorship election in Taraba state

- This verdict voids the judgement of the Taraba State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal which nullified Ishakus election

The election of Taraba state governor, Darius Ishaku of the People Democratic Party (PDP), has been upheld by the Supreme Court.

The appeal lodged by Senator Aisha Jumai Alhassan, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was unanimous dismissed by a seven-man panel of Justices of the apex court, Vanguard reports.

Darius Ishaku and Mama Taraba

Delivering the judgment, Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour said: I am of the firm view that there is no merit in this appeal and it is hereby dismissed. The Judgment of the Court of Appeal is affirmed and the election of governor Darius Ishaku is hereby upheld.

The apex court fixed February 22, 2016 as the date when it would adduce reasons that informed the judgment.

READ ALSO: Group Pledges Support For Gov. Darius Ishaku

The judgment by the court which filtered in at about 1:30pm, was greeted with jubilation. A long motorcade mounted with speakers singing "Taraba Sai Darius," ``DDI no shaking" rented the air in major streets in Jalingo, NAN reports.

Alhaji Hassan Mijinyawa, the chief press secretary to the governor, described the verdict of the Supreme Court as victory for the people.

He advised supporters of the governor not to cause security breach in the state with their celebration, while calling on the opposition party in the state to join hands with the governor to move the state forward.

On his part, a former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in the state, Emmanuel Bello, said the victory was an indication that the Supreme Court had the interest of the country at heart.

Also reacting, Alhaji Hassan Ardo, Taraba APC Chairman said he accepted the verdict of the apex court of the land in good faith, and urged the party supporters to remain calm.

The Taraba state governorship election petition tribunal led by Justice Danladi Abubakar had on November 7, nullified Ishaku's election and declared Alhassan the winner of the election. The three-member tribunal held that Ishaku was not validly nominated as candidate of the PDP and therefore did not qualify, from start, to contest the governorship election.

Governor Ishaku filed an appeal asking the court to set it the judgement of the state tribunal aside.

The Court of Appeal had on December 31, 2015, reversed the judgment of the Abubakar-led tribunal which nullified Ishakus election.

Alhassan who is currently the Minister of Women affairs, had proceeded to the apex court, asking it to set aside the verdict of the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal.

Source: Legit.ng
An official said that most of those wounded suffered light injuries and will be discharged from hospitals later today

A Cairo-bound train derailed and overturned in the Egyptian governorate of Beni Suef on Thursday, leaving at least 69 people injured, the health ministry said.

The train, which departed from the southern governorate of Aswan, collided with a cement barrier at a rail intersection early Thursday after the trains brakes failed to respond.

The impact with the barrier caused the train to go off the rails and partially turn over, a security official told state news agency MENA.

Deputy health minister Gamal El-Gohary said 69 people were wounded in the crash and sent to three local hospitals in the region. He said the relatively slow speed the train was travelling at reduced the magnitude of the crash.

Mohamed Mohsen, the train's assistant driver, said the trains brakes stopped working as it approached a connection rail at 80kph speed.

Around 40 ambulances were sent to the scene of the accident, Ahram Arabic news website reported. Train services have been halted in both directions as cranes were sent to winch the derailed train.

An official at the provincial governor office told Ahram Arabic that most of those wounded suffered light injuries including bruises and scratches and are set to be discharged from hospitals later in the day.

Egypt's roads and railways are notorious for poor infrastructure and maintenance.

The country's official statistics agency said in December that over 2,800 people were killed in road and train crashes in Egypt in the first half of 2015.

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Kholoud Saber was asked to cut short her studies in Belgium and go back to Egypt to resume work

Over 20 rights groups condemned on Wednesday a December decision by Cairo University to end a post-graduate scholarship abroad for a staff member months after she started pursuing her studies.

Kholoud Saber, an assistant lecturer at Cairo University, started a year-long scholarship for PhD studies at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium last September.

Saber said she had obtained all the necessary permits from Cairo University before travelling.

Cairo University provided Saber with her plane tickets and monthly stipend while the university in Belgium covered her scholarship fees.

However, in December, Saber said she received an email from Cairo University informing her that her study abroad permit was revoked based on a decision by the information department at the Ministry of Higher Education.

She was asked to cut short her studies and return to Egypt to resume her duties at the psychology department.

It is not clear why the Ministry of Higher Education decided to revoke Sabers permit.

According to rights groups, the information department does not have the authority to revoke permits issued by the university.

In a collective statement issued on Wednesday, 21 rights group said they "strongly condemn" the university's decision.

The groups, which include the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights and the Arab Network for Human Rights, said the decision to end Saber's scholarship "has dangerous ramifications for academic freedom [in Egypt]...and undermines the university's independence."

The groups call for "an end to all forms of security interference in the affairs of faculty members" by the higher education ministry and other security institutions and demand the preservation of university and academic freedoms.

The rights groups urge that the decision of summoning Saber back to work be revoked.

On Tuesday, Saber described the university's decision as "betrayal" in comments she wrote on her Facebook page.

Earlier this month, she filed a lawsuit against Cairo University head Gaber Nassar, the minister of higher education, as well as other officials, for the decision to cancel her study permit.

Nassar was not immediately available to comment on Thursday.

Studies Alert

On Wednesday, the US-based Middle East Studies Association issued a security alert for those considering travelling to Egypt for research and study.

It condemned what it calls attacks on freedom of expression and academic freedom in Egypt, including gross state interference in university student and faculty governance."

The memo stated that the "growth of violence and repression against academics and associated researchers in Egypt has now reached its tragically predictable outcome with the murder of PhD student Giulio Regeni.

The body of the Italian student was found with signs of torture by a roadside on the outskirts of Cairo last week after he disappeared in the capital on 25 January.

The Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman said Wednesday that drawing conclusions about his death is "premature."

He also warned that "attempts to level accusations against the Egyptian authorities without evidence could backfire."

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Tackling the oil thieves and economic saboteurs by Comrade Ben Abdul

Analyst, Comrade Ben Abdul writes on the efforts of the Nigerian Police Force to end illegal bunkering through a special task force under the office of the IGP.
President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi approved on Thursday a mutual visa exemption agreement between Egypt and Colombia for citizens of both countries.

Egyptian and Colombian citizens will now be able to visit each others' countries without first obtaining a visa.

In April 2015, Egypt and Colombia signed an agreement which stipulated that citizens from both countries who held either diplomatic or personnel passports have access to the other state without visa requirements.

In 2012, Egypt decided to lift visa requirements for tourists from Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, China, India, Azerbaijan, and Jordan in an attempt to boost the tourism sector.

Egypt's ministry of tourism announced in 2015 that tourism receipts were down 15 percent compared with the previous year as a falling Russian rouble and security concerns took their toll on the sector.

Egypt's tourism revenue fell to $6.1 billion in 2015, with the total number of tourists dropping by 6 percent to 9.3 million and the total number of tourist nights declining by 14 percent.

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The improving economy and strong market confidence were reflected in the real estate investment market from the start of the year with the industrial market currently being the most active.

The total investment volume in 2015 reached approximately 412 million. The number of deals outperformed l...

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In 2015 the quality hotel supply of Russia, CIS and Georgia increased by 6,000 rooms, slightly more than a half of which  3,300  was in Russia, JLL reports. More than 8,900 rooms were scheduled for opening last year, including 5,200 rooms in Russia.

The second market with largest new supply in...

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In a transaction signed and closed on Monday 1 February 2016, Northern Horizon has sold its Healthcare I funds entire care home portfolio to a fund managed by eQ. The 27-asset portfolio was sold for 155 million. Healthcare I, a closed-ended limited liability partnership, is a pioneer in its asset

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Goodman Group is increasing its occupancy at Goodman Interlink Hamburg logistics centre located in the Finkenwerder district. The logistics service provider, Stute, has leased a 5,200 sqm facility to store component parts for aircraft and cabins, and will join aerospace companies Airbus and Diehl Comfort Modules (DCM) at the logistics

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With Routeperfect, the whole world is in your hands Were currently gathering all the information With Routeperfect you can build your dream trip as a professional travel agent, but better This may take a few seconds
Based on the Maruti Baleno on sale in India, a new variant has been launched called Baleno Cross

The hatchbacks with rough road package and gimmicky suffixes to the nameplate didnt really work in India as the customers were willing to pay extra for proper crossover SUVs. There are still some hatchback-based instant crossovers in our market but they mostly spend their time on the sidelines.

These species of spruced up hatchbacks may have better luck in some international markets. Suzuki thinks a slightly more rugged version of the Baleno hatchback would be well received in South American markets. The Suzuki Baleno Cross has been introduced in Colombia and from the looks of it, it doesnt even have what we call as the rough road package.

The Baleno Cross receives a sportier and more expressive front bumper which is seen on the India-spec facelift, special dual-tone alloy wheels, side rub strips and roof carrier. There are no black lower body cladding, raised ground clearance or faux skid plates. It looks more like a dealer-level accessorized version than a new standalone variant in its own right.

Interior is also identical to that of the regular Baleno save for updated colour theme for the fabric. The colour of the upholstery is matched with the exterior paint. There are no other changes whatsoever.

Suzuki Baleno Cross Engine

Suzuki Baleno Cross for the Colombian market is powered by the K14B 1.4-liter petrol engine which is tuned to produce 95 hp and 130 Nm of torque. The motor can be specified either with a 5-speed manual or a 4-speed automatic gearbox. The Colombian Baleno Cross comes equipped with standard dual front airbags, ISOFIX mount and ABS with EBD. The higher end variant offers 6 airbags and LED DRLs.

Maruti Suzuk India Ltd., is the sole manufacturer of the Baleno hatchback for the entire world. The Colombia-spec model is shipped from here and is converted into a cross of the local market by adding a few accessories. The Cross variant is not likely to be introduced in India.

The Maruti Baleno for India received a facelift recently with subtle revisions. The hatchback competes with Hyundai i20, Tata Altroz, Honda Jazz and VW Polo. The Baleno has been dominating its segment since its inception and has clocked sales of over 7.2 lakh units. The hatchback is so popular in the India that one unit is sold every 3 minutes!

Its primary rival, the i20, is set to receive a vastly improved replacement in the coming weeks. The battle between the titans is set to get fiercer.
The all-new 2021MY Audi A3 features revamped styling and a new 1.5-litre mild-hybrid TFSi engine

Audi AG has debuted the 2021MY avatar of its popular entry-level compact sedan. Compared to its predecessor, the all-new Audi A3 sedan boasts of several exterior and interior upgrades while getting better in terms of overall dynamics. The 2021 Audi A3 series started in a Sportback avatar while the Chinese market will get an A3 L model soon. Audi India  which currently has only three models on sale  is expected to launch the sedan sometime around mid-2021.

Starting with the exterior design, there is a lot going on in modern-day Audi fashion. The sharp lines and cuts seem fitting on the Audi A3 Sportback but one might initially find the sedans design a bit hard to digest. In spite of getting edgier boundaries, extended fenders and fresh bumper components, the overall silhouette remains typically A3  compact and coupe-ish.

At the base of the rear doors, there is a small Audi logo which could be a no-cost option. If regular Audi models start to look this radical, we cannot help but imagine how their RS versions would be like. The car has slightly grown in size compared to the outgoing model. Plus, the higher rear-end and larger diffuser has helped bring down its drag coefficient to 0.25. The suspension has been tweaked as well to achieve the best balance between comfort and dynamics.

On the inside, the design philosophy has made a massive leap. Physical buttons are minimum while features and equipment are aplenty. The 10.1-inch touchscreen is driver-centric and is surrounded by premium quality materials. It blends well with the centre console (which sports a Porsche-like gear lever) and is placed in close proximity with the updated 10.25-inch Virtual Cockpit TFT instrument cluster. The latest version of Audis MMI system is claimed to have 10x faster processing capability.

The 2021 Audi A3 range was introduced with a new 1.5-litre 35 TFSi petrol mild-hybrid powertrain. While the petrol unit makes 148bhp and 250Nm by itself, the 48V mild-hybrid unit can bump up the torque by 50Nm. In global markets, the engine is available mated to a 6-speed manual or 7-speed S-Tronic DCT. The other option is a 2.0-litre TDi motor good for 148bhp and 360Nm while mated to the 7-speed S-Tronic unit.

Skoda Auto Volkswagen India has ditched their diesel powertrains ahead of BS6 era. Even the BS6 Volkswagen Polo and Vento come with just petrol options. Hence, Audi India would bring the new A3 sedan in just its petrol format, with no mild-hybrid assist in the lower variants. The Audi A3 sedan primary rivals the Mercedes-Benz A-Class Limousine and BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi will address the country's newly elected House of Representatives on Saturday for the first time since taking office in June 2014.

Sources told Ahram Online that El-Sisi's speech will be addressing domestic and regional issues, including the countrys current economic situation.

Parliament's Secretary-General Ahmed Saaddin told reporters on Wednesday that the presidential Republican Guard was implementing final security measures in the parliament building in downtown Cairo for El-Sisi's visit.

"This is a routine measure, Saaddin said, adding that all parliamentary staff will be on duty on this day .

Saaddin said that a number of foreign guests, primarily ambassadors of foreign countries and the speakers of a number of Arab parliaments, will be invited to attend the speech.

Egypt's new parliament is composed of 596 MPs, an unprecedented figure in Egypt's 150-year-old parliamentary history.

"This big number, in addition to more than 100 guests, will push the number of those attending the speech to more than 700," said Saaddin.

The last time an Egyptian president visited parliament was in December 2010 when the now-ousted president Hosni Mubarak addressed a newly-elected People's Assembly which was elected in a process marred by alleged widespread rigging by the then-ruling party, the NDP.

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The diesel car ban in the capital, which resulted in stop-sale of all cars fitted with the engine above 2,000 cc capacity, has shocked car manufacturers and consumers alike. Implemented over a month ago, Mercedes Benz was believed to be the most affected luxury car maker by this ban as their entire line-up is available with diesel engine above 2,000 cc.

In a recent interview, Mercedes Benz India MD, Mr Roland S Folger has revealed that there is no noticeable change in sales due to the diesel car ban in Delhi. But he adds that they will need to sit down with their dealers in the region to find out the exact amount of the impact.

Speaking about the diesel ban, Mercedes Benz India is committed to providing world-class engines in their cars which emit less amount of harmful gasses.

While the Government has stated that BS VI compliant vehicles should be introduced by 2020, fully supporting this decision, the German automaker has stated that the company will be ready with BS VI compliant engines by 2018. The introduction of BS VI engines will considerably reduce NOX values and particulate matter per vehicle by as much as 80-90 percent.

Mercedes Benz India is the largest luxury car manufacturer in the country. At the recently concluded Auto Expo, the unveiled new GLC, S-Class cabriolet, Maybach S600 guard, and G-Class 44. All these cars will be launched later this year in the country.

The theme for this year is Winning and hopes to see as much success as was noted last year. While in 2015, the company launched 15 new products in the country, 2016 will see the launch of 12 new products while enhancement of dealerships across India is also on the cards.

Mercedes Benz GLC  Photos

via economictimes
Hyundai floated Genesis as its standalone luxury car brand in 2015 with focus on markets like the US. In short, the Genesis is to Hyundai what Lexus is to Toyota. Now that Toyota has fielded Lexus in India, it would be tempting for the South Korean automaker to check what its premium marque can do in our market.

Hyundai India has been exploring the possibility of launching Genesis in the country for quite sometime now, and a recent report suggests that the project has finally been green lighted. If things move quickly, the Genesis flagship models could be showcased at the Auto Expo 2020 to gather public opinion.

The market response to the soon-to-be-launched Hyundai Kona electric vehicle in the Indian premium segment would help the automaker understand the customer expectations. This learning would go a long way in devising the strategy for Genesis.

Once the Genesis arrives in the scene, Hyundai will have the widest coverage of our passenger vehicle market than any other automaker. Hyundai and sister brand Kia will take care of the mass market and mid-premium sectors while Genesis will lock horns with the likes of Lexus, Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar, etc.

The current portfolio of Genesis Motor comprises luxury sedans of three sizes. The Genesis G70 is pitted against the likes of BMW 3 Series, Mercedes C Class, etc., while the G80 competes with mid-size sedans like the BMW 5 Series, Mercedes E Class, etc. The flagship Genesis G90 rivals the formidable Mercedes S Class.

Save for the imposing front grilles, the Genesis sedans adopt an understated styling language which has nothing in common with the mainstream Hyundai models. It is only a matter of time before the luxury brand comes up with an array of SUVs in different sizes.

Hyundai India is reportedly considering company owned outlets and experience centers for Genesis brand in select cities. The vehicles are most likely to be imported as CBUs at least in the initial phase. Hyundai India anyways have the infrastructure for local assembly should it choose to do so. Being a young luxury brand, Genesis would need aggressive marketing strategy to take on its rivals most of whom have rich history of several decades.
After emerging a bestseller with over 3 lakh units sold globally, Kia Seltos will soon get its pure electric variant

There were speculations about the same since December last year and now the Seltos EV (codenamed SP2 EV) has been officially confirmed. Seltos Electric will be a region-specific EV meant for the Chinese market.

It is expected to be launched in China in the second half of 2020. It may be recalled that Kia had earlier launched K3 Electric in China, which was also a region-specific EV. Kia Seltos will be manufactured at DYK Automobile Manufacturing Plant, which is located in Jiangsu province.

Details about Seltos Electric are yet to be revealed, but it could have the drivetrain currently in use with Hyundai Kona and Kia Soul. Internationally, Kona Electric comes with a 64 kWh battery pack connected to a 204 hp motor. Effective drive range is 400 km on a single charge.

In India, Kona EV utilizes a lesser capacity 39.2 kWh battery pack and a 136 hp motor. Effective ARAI certified drive range is 452 km. However, Seltos being larger than Kona, its range is expected to be relatively less. It is also possible that Seltos EV may borrow its hardware from Hyundai LaFesta EV, which is exclusive to the Chinese market. LaFesta EV packs in a 56.5 kWh battery pack and has a range of 490 km.

Seltos had made its global debut in Korea in July 2019, followed by India launch in August last year. China launch was in late 2019, while US, Canada and Mexico got the Seltos in early 2020. Seltos is also available in several Asian countries including Philippines and Indonesia. Europe along with Israel and Turkey didnt get Seltos, as these markets have Kia Stonic and Xceed.

ICE-powered Seltos is currently manufactured in South Korea, China and India. It is offered with diesel, petrol and turbo petrol engine options. Seltos EV is being launched first in China, as the country has a high demand for crossovers and EVs. Moreover, Chinese government policies favour electric vehicles.

Seltos Electric launch in India is unlikely in the near future, as the company is currently focusing on its ICE-powered cars in the country. However, given the huge popularity of Seltos, its EV variant will have a definitive advantage right from the start. After Seltos and Carnival, Kia will be launching its third car named Sonet later this year. In 2021, Kia will launch an India-specific model, which is expected to be a people carrier rivalling Maruti Ertiga.

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Renault Duster in India is still in its first generation while the Brazil-spec model is a second-gen

Sold in several international markets, Renault Duster has undergone a mid-cycle upgrade in Brazil. It may be recalled that while Brazil has the second-gen Duster, the Indian spec model (now in BS6 format) is a first-gen. Newly updated Brazil-spec Renault Duster comes with a range of styling upgrades, improved hardware and new features.

Second-gen Brazil-spec Duster has received a range of exterior updates that reflect the companys new design language. Changes that are easily evident at first glance include a new grille, refreshed headlights and tail lamps, and blacked-out bumpers with prominent faux skid plate. Theres a pair of auxiliary lamps as well on the front bumper. It is not certain if these features would be introduced in all trims as a standard fitment.

Talking about its interiors, there are a few major changes here as well. The overall layout of the dashboard has been changed, and it now looks much more premium. Gone is the protruding plastic block from the doors, which housed the window buttons. The same has now been incorporated into the door handles, like is seen in other cars in the segment. AC vents are seamlessly fitted into the dash, and so is the new touchscreen infotainment system, which is powered by updated software and also gets new layout.

Instrument cluster is also all new. It houses two large circular dials with a LCD display in the center. AC controls are circular knobs like earlier Duster. But now they have digital display incorporated to set the desired temperature of the cabin. Thanks to newly designed doors, there is more space in the door pockets, in comparison to older Duster. Below is a comparison of old Duster and new Duster interiors.

Coming to the engine department, 2.0-litre petrol motor has been replaced with a 1.6-litre 16V engine that delivers a max power of 118bhp. This is mated to a 5-speed manual or CVT automatic and power is sent to the front wheels. 2020 Renault Duster Facelift gets a new 1.3-litre turbo petrol engine as well which debuted in India at Auto Expo 2020.

Brazil-spec Renault Duster facelift utilizes a new platform called B0 Plus, which is an enhancement over the B0 architecture. This has helped derive improved performance from suspension system while overall rigidity has been increased by 12.5%. SUVs doors, hood, roof and tailgate have been updated and overall length has been increased by 40mm.

In India market, Renault had recently updated the Duster to keep it market relevant. It is priced from Rs 8.5 lakhs, ex-sh. It has also received a BS6 compliant engine option, in the form of a 1.5 liter petrol engine. Three variants are on offer, all petrol manual. In the coming months, it will also get a 1.3-litre turbocharged petrol unit that generates 156bhp and 250Nm of torque. With this update, Renault Duster will become the most powerful petrol SUV in its segment. On the other hand, Dusters 1.5-litre diesel unit has been discontinued in the Indian market.
The TVS Victor is back from its sabbatical. Although the new gen motorcycle has nothing in common with its predecessor, it is looking to take full advantage of the nameplates positive brand recall in what is a highly competitive two wheeler segment in the country. Positioned above the Star City in TVS commuter portfolio, the Victor 110 primarily targets mature audience who dont mind paying a little extra for useful features and good performance. So, with the new TVS Victor 110, the company is venturing into a slightly upmarket commuter sub-segment with the hope of incremental sales.

Design

The new TVS Victor 110 adopts a design which is modern but not distinct. If there is an unofficial norm for commuter motorcycle styling in India, the new TVS doesnt deviate much from it. In other words, none of the elements bear striking resemblance to anything we have seen before and yet the overall design feels vaguely familiar. You get the drift?

The angular headlamp houses LED pilot lamps and the bikini mask features a nice looking tinted visor. The sporty fuel tank gets pronounced knee indents, decals and modern fuel filler cap. The generously proportioned seat sports contrast red stitching while the neat tailpiece houses an interesting brake light.

The alloy wheels, engine, rear brake lever and other hardware are finished in black. The new victor is high on material, paint and build qualities. We particularly like the way handlebar grips and switch gears feel.

Engine and Gearbox

The 109.7 cc air-cooled 4-stroke mill is the latest unit of EcoThrust series. The engineers have incorporated quite a few measures to keep NVH under check and to deliver usable torque between 3,000 and 7,000 rpm. The three-valve engine is paired with a 4-speed gearbox.

At 9.6 PS at 7,500 rpm and 9.4 Nm of torque at 6,000 rpm, the new Victor promises to deliver performance of a 125 cc commuter. Its hard not to notice the vibrations at idling but they are quickly ironed out once the motorcycle gets going. The engine has a meaty low-end torque which would prove to be a boon in city traffic. It pulls neatly on top-gear from speeds as low as 30 kmph and responds to increase in load without forcing you to downshift. Thats a great advantage to have in a commuter.

Thats not all. The motor feels properly peppy when wrung hard and goes through the rev-range quickly. It feels best between 4,500 and 7,000 rpm beyond which, vibrations creep in on foot pegs and handlebars. As far as speed is concerned, the motorcycle runs out of breath beyond 90 kmph.

The 4-speed gearbox shifts in all-up pattern and has a very good feel. The ratios further enhance the motors versatility. To sum it up, the powertrain is sprightly, refined under normal riding and offers excellent driveability.

Ride, Handling and Braking

The new TVS Victor 110 is held together by a single cradle tubular chassis which is suspended by conventional telescopic front fork and twin hydraulic coil-spring shock absorbers with 5-step adjustment. The 17-inch alloy wheels come wrapped up in specially developed TVS Remora tyres (2.7517  front; 3.017  rear). The base variant gets 130 mm front and 110 mm rear drum brakes while the top-end variant gets 240 mm petal disc upfront.

We rode the motorcycle on TVSs rather bumpy test track at Hosur in second softest rear suspension setting (default). A real world test wouldve given us a better feel of the ride quality but from what we experienced, the Victor is a fairly comfortable motorcycle.

Grippy tyres and a well balanced chassis makes up for impressive handling characteristics. The bike can be flicked quite easily and it retains its composure even when subjected to mid-corner bumps. Suffice it to say that the equipment is more capable than what a typical target customer would expect when it comes to overall dynamics.

Coming to braking, the performance of the drum brake variant feels inadequate to say the least. It feels more so after riding the disc brake variant which offers a strong bite and decent feel. The bike comes to halt in straight line under panic braking and locks up only when the brakes are abused. If youre planning to buy the new Victor, we strongly urge you to go for the disc brake variant.

Features

Being a premium commuter, the Victor has quite a few interesting features up its sleeve. Under the skin, it employs a bigger air-filter and a carburetor with larger venturi than industry norms to extract high outputs. The bike also gets digi-analog instrument console with tachometer, speedometer, odometer and fuel gauge. Other noteworthy features include LED pilot lamps, hazard indicators (the switch is located where the engine kill switch usually is), handlebar end-weights, a long seat and an alloy grab rail.

Verdict

Also read  TVS Apache RTR 200 review

The new TVS Victor 110 blends right into the crop of commuters that are on sale in India as far as aesthetics are concerned but it does boast an individuality by virtue of its performance and dynamics. It easily comes as a top choice if youre looking for a feature rich urban commuter with good overall quality, higher-than-segment-average performance and excellent dynamics without compromising on the running costs.

Prices

New TVS Victor 110 Drum  INR 49,490

New TVS Victor 110 Disc  INR 51,490

New TVS Victor Review  Photos
<p><a href="http://www.boxerbuttsandothermutts.org/">Boxer Butts & Other Mutts</a><span></span></p>

After shooting his dog in the head, a South Carolina man paused to check for a heartbeat. Nothing. But maybe he had mistaken the dog's heart for his own. Because this dog was still very much alive. About 20 days later, police got a call about a dog running loose in a Townsville neighborhood. Boxer Butts & Other Mutts

When the deputy arrived, he found a confused, half-starved dog holed up in a neighborhood. She was partially deaf and completely blind. And she appeared to have been shot twice - although Anderson County Sheriff's Office tells The Dodo it may have been just once. It's hard to tell, you see, with all the shrapnel still embedded in the dog's head. Boxer Butts & Other Mutts

Dodo Shows Comeback Kids Family Stops At Nothing To Help Their Great Dane Run

The officer took her to a local shelter for urgent medical care. A few days later, she was transferred to a North Carolina rescue called Boxer Butts & Other Mutts - where she was given the name Amara. "She had two wounds on her head, between her eyes and another under her chin," Heidi Wagner, the group's founder, explained to The Dodo. "She does have bullet fragments scattered throughout her skull, and they will remain there because sometimes removing them can cause more damage." Boxer Butts & Other Mutts

Amara's sorry saga spread quickly on social media. At one point, her former owner recognized the dog and stepped forward to claim responsibility. He said the dog had been aggressive, even biting his wife. Shooting her was his attempt to euthanize the animal. A local magistrate, whose identity has not been made public, seems to have felt the same way and decided no charges would be issued in this case. Boxer Butts & Other Mutts

"The facts of the case were presented to a magistrate who determined that no criminal charges in reference to the attempted euthanasia would be issued," reads a statement from the Anderson County Sheriff's Office. "We understand the public's frustration with this case but until and unless the magistrate determines that a criminal warrant should be issued, we cannot proceed further with this case." The decision has sent animal lovers reeling. "There is no justice in that decision," Wagner says. Wayne Brennessel, executive director of the Humane Society of South Carolina (HSSC), echoed that sentiment in an interview with The Herald. "I don't understand how anyone could hear what happened to her and then say: 'Oh, you shot your dog in the head? Oh, OK. No charges.'" Boxer Butts & Other Mutts

Indeed, it may be worth reminding Anderson County of a passage from its own legislation that clearly defines animal cruelty as, among other things, "the willful or malicious killing, abuse, maiming, beating or disfiguring of any animal or pet." For her part, Amara is just beginning a long road to recovery in the HSSC's care. "She will be blind the rest of her life from being shot in the head but she is adjusting to that," Wagner explains. "The emotional scars may be harder to overcome." Indeed, Amara has been having nightmares recently. "She will wake up crying and screaming and in a full-blown panic attack," Wagner notes. Boxer Butts & Other Mutts
When a couple learned that their dog Dukes had cancer and likely wouldn't survive, they gave him the trip of a lifetime. And they brought the whole family along. Zhenia Bulawka and boyfriend Christian Valiente traveled with Dukes and their other two dogs to Assateague, Maryland, for the family's first trip to the beach. Dukes and ValienteZhenia Bulawka

The family saw how much Dukes loved swimming in a family member's pool back in Baltimore, so they knew he'd be excited to try out one of his favorite activities in the big, open ocean. He did love it, but to their surprise, it was Ruby, the other pit bull in the family, who raced into the water before anyone else. Bulawka and RubyZhenia Bulawka

"The day at Assateague is forever etched in my mind," Bulawka told The Dodo. Bulawka, Valiente, Dukes, Ruby and Violet spent the day playing in the sand and eating picnic sandwiches. At night, they walked on the moonlit beach. "Every moment spent with Dukes was pure joy, and the Assateague trip was no exception," she said. "I wish we could have done it together again." From left to right, Dukes, Ruby, Bulawka and Violet.Zhenia Bulawka

From left to right, Dukes, Ruby, Bulawka and Violet. | Zhenia Bulawka

On September 6, 2014, Dukes passed away. It was especially tragic since, from the moment he'd entered their lives, he was a guardian of other dogs, according to Bulawka. Her mother found Dukes in Patterson Park in Baltimore in 2005. He was underneath a tree, "glued to the side of an old Labrador that was too dehydrated to get up," Bulawka explained. Her mother took home the Labrador, later named Big Boy, and she gave Dukes to Bulawka. Since then, the young woman and her dog were the best of friends. When he left, so did that sense of happiness and excitement he brought into the home. Zhenia Bulawka

Dodo Shows Dodo Heroes Woman Devotes Her Life To The Stray Dogs Of Bali

"Dukes had such a presence and so much personality. He loved life and was always ready to get out there," said Bulawka. "If we were in the car, he wanted to be up in the front seat being copilot. If we were swimming at the pool, he'd be the first one to jump in. He was so excited to just live and experience life. When he was gone, it just sucked the life out of everyone." And Ruby, too, missed her friend. Ruby in the laundry hamperZhenia Bulawka

Ruby in the laundry hamper | Zhenia Bulawka

"They were pretty much inseparable, wrestling in the basement - the only place in the house we would allow a little roughhousing - and snuggling in bed together once they'd worn one another out. Next thing you know, both would be snoring away, their bodies intertwined in the most uncomfortable-looking positions, but they were just so adorable," said Bulawka. Zhenia Bulawka

As a victim of past abuse, Ruby joined the family with teeth knocked out and ears that appeared to be cut by a pair of kitchen shears. Dukes was another pit bull to look up to, and without him, she fell into a depression, according to Bulawka. "They both hate baths," said Bulawka. "They were both pissed."Zhenia Bulawka

"They both hate baths," said Bulawka. "They were both pissed." | Zhenia Bulawka

Violet, the other family dog, felt the loss of Dukes as well. Like Ruby, she was also the victim of unimaginable cruelty. "Because of her past, she's terrified of people," said Bulawka. "But when she was with Dukes, she felt so tough and mighty. She knew she was protected." Violet and Ruby in the rain.Zhenia Bulawka

Violet and Ruby in the rain. | Zhenia Bulawka

"Dukes was sorta the middle man, and everyone got along as a group," said Bulawka. "With him gone, they didn't have any desire to interact with one another." For many months, the two dogs lived their own lives. Bulawka and Valiente wondered when the dogs would warm up to one another, but they decided not to force anything. Time would heal the wounds. Zhenia Bulawka

And it did. "It just happened," said Bulawka. Ruby in Patterson Park.Zhenia Bulawka

It was on the same walk that Bulawka and Valiente go on every day with their dogs, around the block to Patterson Park. Out of the blue, Ruby and Violet began to interact with each other in a way they never had before. Every activity from walks to days at the house became a chance for Ruby and Violet to play together. Violet and Ruby on a bridge at Gunpowder Falls State ParkZhenia Bulawka

Violet and Ruby on a bridge at Gunpowder Falls State Park | Zhenia Bulawka

Below, the dogs eat a breakfast of blueberries together - a habit they picked up back when Dukes was first diagnosed and Bulawka and Valiente switched his food to home-cooked meals. Zhenia Bulawka

A year after Dukes' death, Bulawka and Valiente made a trip back to the beach at Assateague, and, of course, Ruby and Violet came along as well. Zhenia Bulawka

Just like the previous year, Ruby was the first to run into the water, and after watching her sister have such a good time, Violet joined in as well. As the sun set late that September day, the family splashed in the waves and immersed themselves in the joy of each other's company. "It felt like Dukes was with us," said Bulawka. It took a year of grief and patience for time to heal the pains of heartache, but in those moments on the beach, the sadness washed away. The family was all together again. Ruby and Violet on Christmas Eve 2015Zhenia Bulawka

Ruby and Violet on Christmas Eve 2015 | Zhenia Bulawka
For months, construction workers would show up at their North Carolina job site like clockwork. And every morning, they were met by the same sorrowful scene from a yard across the street.

A dog had been living in a muddy pen , on a Hendersonville property slated for demolition. He would run to the fence, his tail wagging feverishly. The construction workers were his only visitors and rarely saw anyone emerge from the house, except to occasionally throw dry dog kibble over the fence, where it scattered in the mud.

Growling Little Kitten Becomes Her Mom's Best Friend

The workers would share their sandwiches with him. Other days, they'd bring spare construction materials and build him a makeshift shelter from the elements.

The dog, who they named Demo, was all licks and gratitude for every scrap of compassion. At some point, a worker, worried about the dog's condition, called an animal rescue.

The story, published in The Dodo last month, won the dog a legion of admirers from around the world.

The day after it ran, Demo's day finally came - he was taken in by the Blue Ridge Humane Society.

While he's still looking for a real home, Demo, who has since been renamed Noah, is warm and healthy and catching up on all the love he missed.

Blue Ridge Humane Society
<p>Panda Chow Chows / Facebook</p>

She turned her dogs into pandas. And the internet failed to swoon. Maybe because, for all the technical ingenuity it must have taken to paint her chow chow puppies in panda spots, this has fail written all over it. The dogs made their debut on the streets of Singapore last month, flanking their owner, Meng Jiang - and quickly drawing a crowd.

Dodo Shows Little But Fierce Pocket-Sized Kitten Grows Up To Be A Wild Woman

At first, onlookers were reportedly outraged at the sight of a woman nonchalantly walking endangered panda babies on a leash. But no, it was all an exciting deception! They're dogs dyed to look like pandas! Get it?

Some people on the scene thought that was worth getting excited about and issued all the appropriate oohs and ahhs. But a few other reactions suggest more ewws and ughs were in order.

For one thing, Singapore's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals released a statement roundly condemning the woman's dubious artistry. "SPCA is strongly against such a practice and would advise pet owners to refrain from altering their pet's appearance in this way, because it is unnatural and unnecessary," the statement read. "There are also potential side effects with no benefits to the animals. It can be physically harmful and subject the animal to stress in the process." And then Singapore's Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) launched an official investigation. "AVA is looking into the case to ensure that animal welfare is not compromised," the government agency told The Straits Times. Owner Meng Jiang defended her actions, telling The Straits Times the dogs were dyed by a qualified groomer with the utmost safety and care in mind. "Being cruel to a dog is locking it up all day so it gets no exercise," she wrote to the newspaper, "starving a dog to death, not cleaning up after it and letting it live in its own filth, being cruel to a dog is beating it, NOT dyeing your dog with 100 percent organic product."

We've seen this routine before. Dog owners on this side of the world as well have been known to get, err ... creative, with their dogs' coats. In January, American pet dental hygienist Summer Wilson used OPAWZ, a dye touted as completely safe for animals, to give this dog an unasked-for splash of color. SUMMER SHASTA HALEAKALA WILSON / FACEBOOK

This browser does not support the video tag. SUMMER SHASTA HALEAKALA WILSON / FACEBOOK
A cat named Dias has been through more than many people have in a lifetime - and he's still waiting for his happy ending. Dias soon after he landed in Greece.Amy Shrodes

Dias soon after he landed in Greece. | Amy Shrodes

Dias survived the boat trip from Iraq to Europe during the refugee crisis, but he still needs help - and Ashley Anderson is determined to achieve the impossible. Last fall, Anderson - an American now based in Switzerland - volunteered to spend months on the island of Lesvos pulling people from the waters of the Mediterranean as they arrived in record-breaking numbers from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. They had lost their homes, their countries. They risked their lives. They brought with them only what they could carry. Volunteers, including Anderson, try to swim out to help people jumping off a sinking boat.Doug Kuntz

Volunteers, including Anderson, try to swim out to help people jumping off a sinking boat. | Doug Kuntz

Greece is the main landing place for people trying to take refuge in Europe. In one little boat was a family fleeing Mosul, Iraq, a city now controlled by the militant extremist sect, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). With them was a little white cat."This family probably paid thousands to get a spot for themselves on this rubber boat - even infants required a fee," Anderson told The Dodo. "They cared enough about this cat to bring [him] with them." A volunteer doing a "lookout" into the sea for boats coming into Greek waters.Ashley Anderson

A volunteer doing a "lookout" into the sea for boats coming into Greek waters. | Ashley Anderson

When the boat carrying the family came ashore, the cat panicked and jumped onto the beach and ran away to hide. For many refugees, the landings were hectic. Some people fainted when they reached the shore, Anderson said. Others were frantic to rush to settle and start new lives in new countries. "There were constant rumors of borders closing," Anderson said. "People were really scared they'd have nowhere to go." Despite this chaos, the family who had lost their beloved cat searched for hours, but they couldn't find him anywhere. They realized they had to go on without him. Graffiti written outside the camp Moria, where Dias's family had to go after they lost him.Ashley Anderson

Dodo Shows Cat Crazy Fluffy Cat Wants To Sit On His Dad At All Times

Graffiti written outside the camp Moria, where Dias's family had to go after they lost him. | Ashley Anderson

But three days later, the white cat reappeared, hungry and haggard, at a local cafe volunteers like Anderson frequented. But the family had already left the island. For weeks, the white cat stayed at the cafe, among the exhausted volunteers. Amy Shrodes

Amy Shrodes

One day, Anderson was talking to her friend Amy Shrodes about the cat who had lost everything. Anderson said that after the months of witnessing the trauma and suffering of the refugees, "maybe we needed a positive story." "Beds" volunteers laid out for victims of drowning. "It shows to me the severity of the chances people are taking to come," Anderson said. "They are risking their lives to have a chance at living."Ashley Anderson

"Beds" volunteers laid out for victims of drowning. "It shows to me the severity of the chances people are taking to come," Anderson said. "They are risking their lives to have a chance at living." | Ashley Anderson

"Amy made a comment like, 'We should just try reunite him with his family.' And I was like, 'Let's do it!' Both of us were like, 'why not try?'" Dias safe and sound after his veterinarian visit. "He fell asleep face down, exhausted," Anderson said.Ashley Anderson

Dias safe and sound after his veterinarian visit. "He fell asleep face down, exhausted," Anderson said. | Ashley Anderson

But not everyone was so convinced that finding a cat's family was a worthwhile endeavor. Another friend of Anderson's, who does translations to help refugees, was almost offended that she was spending so much time and energy on a cat. Amy Shrodes

Amy Shrodes

"I was like, 'This is something we can do.' Nothing is impossible. Everyone has the power to do something." A volunteer-run food line on Lesvos. "The family most likely went through one of these before they left the island," Anderson said.Ashley Anderson

A volunteer-run food line on Lesvos. "The family most likely went through one of these before they left the island," Anderson said. | Ashley Anderson

Amid the chaos, Anderson started working on tracking down the family who could be almost anywhere in Europe. "We're pretty sure they made it to the country they were trying to go, but we don't know where that is," she said.

Meanwhile, she and Shrodes gave the cat a name: Dias, the modern Greek word for the ancient god of strength, Zeus. Amy Shrodes

Amy Shrodes

Anderson and her friend took Dias to the vet for a bath and a check-up. They got him neutered. They even got him a passport. "It's easier to get a cat across a border than a human," Anderson pointed out. "His family is probably struggling to find a way to make money." Dias at the vet, where he got shaved, dewormed, neutered and vaccinated.Ashley Anderson

Dias at the vet, where he got shaved, dewormed, neutered and vaccinated. | Ashley Anderson

After Anderson left Greece, her friend Shrodes flew with Dias to Berlin, Germany, where many refugees end up settling because of the country's open door policy, hoping Dias's original family might have moved there. A foster family welcomed Dias.

Meanwhile, Anderson started a hopeful social media campaign to reunite Dias with the family who cared so much about him. Months later, she's still trying. "The story is much more than just a story about a cat," Anderson said. "I want there to be, in the suffering and pain, a little beacon of hope. I really want to find this family." Amy Shrodes

Amy Shrodes
The Friday general assembly by the Doctors Syndicate comes in the wake of a recent reported assault by policemen on physicians at Matariya Hospital in late January

Egypt's Doctors Syndicate will hold an emergency general assembly on Friday to demand an end to assaults on doctors and hospitals and to set standards to punish those responsible for any such attacks.

The call comes in the wake of a recent assault by several low ranking police officers against doctors at Matariya Hospital in east Cairo after one of the doctors refused to include fake injuries in a medical report for one of the policemen.

Eyewitnesses said a plain-clothed policeman, along with a group of colleagues who joined later, beat the doctor, kicked him in the stomach, and stepped on his neck before dragging him and a fellow doctor to a nearby police station.

The doctors later had to withdraw their complaint of the assault against the alleged assailants after they were told that the policemen had filed several complaints against the physicians and they could all face detention.

The doctors will meet at the syndicate headquarters in downtown Cairo to "defend their dignity" and shore up support to counter what they describe as a campaign to undermine the union.

"Whoever does wrong should be held accountable. No one is above law," Mona Mina, secretary-general of the syndicate, told Ahram Online.

On Wednesday, a senior prosecutor ordered a probe into nine policemen over the 28 January incident at Matariya Hospital.

Despite the prosecutors decision, Mina says Friday's assembly is still necessary to ensure the assailants are put on trial.

The doctors outcry over Matariya is the latest in incidents of reported police assaults on doctors and other hospital staff in various parts of the country.

"We want to gather support to protect doctors, preserve their dignity in the future, and to back the existence and the role of [our] independent syndicate," she said.

Mina has said that further action, from a simple protest badge on white coats to demonstrations and a partial strike, will be considered at Friday's assembly to ensure the assailants are brought to justice.

'Campaign against the syndicate'

Mina said Friday's gathering aims to push back against what she and other doctors believe is a fierce campaign to silence dissidents within the syndicate and undermine the union's independence.

She said they fear that attacks on the syndicate by some politicians and media outlets will result in legal action that will bring the union under judicial supervision.

Atef Makhaleef, the parliamentary representative of Matariya district, who says he witnessed last month's police assault on physicians, believes sufficient action has already been taken against the policemen involved.

"I will not be biased. I will not give up the rights of doctors, but also will not allow them to undermine the interests of citizens," Makhaleef said in reference to the strike at Matariya Hospital.

Doctors at the Matariya Hospital staged a strike late in January to call for legal action against the alleged police assailants, closing all non-emergency services at the hospital for almost a week. The hospital management and staff resumed only 50 percent of their operations a day after the country's top prosecutor ordered the entire facility reopen.

Following the doctors' reaction, several local media outlets waged a campaign against what they allege is negligence and violations committed by Egyptian physicians against patients.

These accusations stem from incidents such as when five patients at Tanta Hospital suffered severe complications last week after doctors administered an eye injection of what was believed to be an internationally approved drug.

The Ministry of Health has opened an investigation into the incident.

A day after the January attack, the interior ministry said it had suspended eight policemen who were allegedly involved in the assault at Matariya.

A group of senior officers also visited the hospital to apologise to the staff, but the union has insisted those involved should be prosecuted.

Several political parties and professional syndicates have backed the doctors' demands, including the Journalists Syndicate.

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Just in time for Valentine's Day, adult video site PornHub has launched a new charity campaign to raise funds for whales and dolphins, pledging to donate one cent to Washington's non-profit Moclips Cetological Society for every 2,000 videos viewed on the site until April.

That might not sound like a lot, but with over 60 million visitors to the website a day, humping could end up helping a lot of humpbacks in the month of February.

"We're now asking our community turn their attention to  and help save  a different type of blowhole," said PornHub Vice President Corey Price in a statement.

Moclips President Ken Balcomb noted that the website was as an unusually fitting benefactor for the non-profit dedicated to the research and conservation of the famously amorous marine mammals.

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You might say that things are hopping at the William E. Christoffersen Veterans Home - and there's one furry fellow to thank for that.

Dodo Shows Soulmates Dog Goes Everywhere In His Dad's Kangaroo Pouch

Meet Charlie, a 1-year-old kangaroo who serves as the Utah facility's resident therapy animal. While he might be a rather unconventional sort of comfort companion, for the home's veterans and their families, having the baby 'roo around has made a real impact. Simply by being himself - skipping through the halls, or cozying up with someone who might be in need of a nuzzle - Charlie is bringing cheer to everyone he meets.

Nursing home administrator Noralyn Kahn told news station KUTV that Charlie seems to relish his role as a brightener of people's days. "He just knows that he has to love them. And it doesn't matter what they look like or how they act, he's there to love them," she said. "It is very emotional to me because it is such tenderness. And it makes such a difference in so many lives."

Folks at the home aren't the only ones to have taken notice of Charlie's exemplary service as a therapy animal. The Utah Red Cross will honor the kangaroo at an upcoming Heroes Recognition Event - fitting praise for an animal whose job it is to make the world a happier place.
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There was Amy Schumer as the hard-partying journalist in "Trainwreck." Charlize Theron as the rebel warrior Imperator Furiosa in "Mad Max: Fury Road." Daisy Ridley as the jedi-mind-tricking Rey in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Hollywood is casting more women with three-dimensional personalities in lead roles. White women, that is. Actresses held 22 percent of leads in last years 100 biggest box office hits, a 10 percentage point increase from 2014, according to a new report from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University.

Its progress, the authors noted, but far from representative of the viewing population. Put another way, men held 78 percent of lead roles.

Women also played 34 percent of major characters  those who are featured, but aren't leads  a 5 percentage-point boost compared to 2014. They were 33 percent of speaking characters, a 3 percentage-point bump.

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The data also revealed why, year after year, the roster of Oscar nominees looks, well, monochromatic. Silver-screen diversity appeared to stagnate. Of all women who appeared on screen in 2015, 13 percent were black, an increase from 11 percent in 2014. Latina actresses stayed at 4 percent. Asian characters dropped from 4 percent to 3 percent.

Women of color were also less likely to hold lead roles. While 38 percent of white women nabbed marquee roles, 27 percent of black, Latina, Asian and women of other races played major characters, while 38 percent of white women nabbed marquee roles.

Filmmakers might be leaving significant money on the table. For the past five years, the typical white American has bought a ticket to fewer films than the average black, Hispanic or Asian filmgoer, according to industry data. Minorities comprise 37 percent of the population, but they bought 46 percent of the $1.2 billion in tickets sold in the United States in 2015.

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Landing roles is half the battle, the report authors noted. Male characters appeared to display more depth. While the professional status of men was more emphasized in movies, for example, the marital status of women received more creative attention. More men than women, meanwhile, were shown in work settings (64 percent, compared with 44 percent).

Last year, a report from the University of Southern Californias Media, Diversity & Social Change Initiative found that 30 percent of all speaking characters in the 700 most popular films from 2007 to 2014 were women. That was one leading lady for every 2.2 leading men.

The women in the analysis were mostly young, white and straight. They were more likely than the men to don skimpy attire and play love interests. At the time, Stacy Smith, who co-authored the study, said that women were not only underrepresented  they were misrepresented, setting bad examples for girls who want to become, say, economists. Especially girls of color.

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It sends a message about whos valued," Smith said, and whos not.

The good news, echoed in both reports: Women who make films tend to hire a lot more women. Movies with at least one female director or writer featured women in 40 percent of all speaking roles, the San Diego State University report found. They starred in half of the films with female directors and writers, compared to a mere 13 percent of exclusively male-created movies.

Correction: In the San Diego State University study, the percentage of lead roles played by women increased by 10 percentage points between 2014 and 2015. Also, the percentage of major characters played by women increased by 5 percentage points and their share of speaking characters increased by 3 percentage points. A previous version of this story incorrectly reported the size of those increases.

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Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi met on Thursday with the leaders of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in Cairo where they discussed a number of issues including Egyptian-US relations, the Egyptian presidency announced.

They also discussed the latest regional developments with a focus on Syria and Libya as well as the Middle East peace process.

The Jewish American leaders described the 2-hour meeting as a "very productive discussion" on the conference's official website.

The delegation came to Egypt after a visit to Turkey and will later head to Israel for its annual leadership conference.


Ionita (Mihai Comanoiu), left, and his father and mentor, Costandin (Teodor Corban), are tracking the escaped gypsy slave Carfin (Cuzin Toma), right, in Aferim! (Big World Pictures)

It would be hard to single out the most hateful character in the Romanian western Aferim! (Translation: Bravo!) Maybe the vile aristocrat who beats his wife or the bully of a constable who will punch, kick and threaten just about anyone in order to retrieve a runaway slave. The most shocking, though, is surely the creaky old priest, who rattles off stereotypical racist caricatures as if theyre Bible verses, and gets especially fanciful with tales of Jews and the Roma. Gypsies get beaten, he explains matter-of-factly. Gypsies must be slaves.

Welcome to 19th-century Wallachia, which today is part of Romania. The man at the center of Radu Judes brilliantly biting dark comedy is Costandin (Teodor Corban), that lawless lawman in search of the slave Carfin (Cuzin Toma). Along for the ride is Costandins son and apprentice, Ionita (Mihai Comanoiu), who has a little more of a conscience than his dad, but not much.

Most of the movie consists of the pair riding on horseback across rivers and through forests as they track their prey. All the while, Costandin is a bottomless fount of aphorisms, many of them offensive and some nonsensical. He delivers these pearls to his son like a cherished inheritance, demonstrating how hatred, not to mention idiocy, can become a legacy. Costandin may be despicable, but hes also a tiny part of an inhumane system. For evidence, look no further than the way he treats the travelers who cross his path: Costandin berates them, or they berate him, depending on each persons standing in this class-obsessed society.

Shot in black and white with fade-out transitions, the movie harks back to classic westerns. But its also distinctly modern. The Romanian director, who wrote the script with Florin Lazarescu, made the movie as a critique, not just of 19th-century mores but of todays. And what a critique it is. Much of the humor derives from how despicable these characters can be, and Jude doesnt so much push the envelope as turn it into a paper airplane and let it fly. Its no coincidence that Costandin and Ionita stumble upon  and delight in  a Punch and Judy puppet show.

Aside from Costandins plethora of proverbs, his most distinguishing feature is how easily he justifies his actions  and who doesnt know people like that? I treat people kindly, he argues at one point, not long before he and his son stumble on a group of massacred travelers. Costandin wants to high-tail it out of there as quickly as possible in case the perpetrators remain nearby, but as they ride on, Ionita exclaims that one person may still be alive. What are we, surgeons? his father responds.

But dont worry, theres an adage for that, too.

Fear is shameful, but healthy, Costandin reasons. It is Gods gift. The priest would probably agree.


Molotov cocktails figure prominently in the battles at the heart of the documentary Winter on Fire: Ukraines Fight for Freedom. (Netflix)

What began as a peaceful, almost festival-like protest in November 2013  sparked by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovychs failure to sign a promised trade agreement with the European Union, choosing an alliance with Russia instead  inexorably grew into the Molotov cocktail- fueled conflagration alluded to, both literally and metaphorically, in the title of the film Winter on Fire: Ukraines Fight for Freedom.

Directed by the Russian-born American documentarian Evgeny Afineevsky, using footage shot by 28 professional and amateur photographers with a worms-eye view of the ensuing battles between protesters and Yanukovychs goons, this Academy Award-nominated, Netflix-produced film plays out like a harrowingly bloody, real-life Les Miserables.

People get beaten and shot on camera  and occasionally die  in this mesmerizing portrait of protest and crackdown, seen not through the lens of politics, but through the prism of the personal. Winter on Fire has all the immediacy and power of drama. If it lacks the dispassionate context of more balanced journalism, it makes up for it with a complex, contradictory emotional impact that is simultaneously demoralizing and hopeful.

Afineevsky begins and ends his film at the culmination of the so-called Maidan protest movement, which grew up in and around Kievs Maidan (or Independence) Square over the course of a single winter. Opening in February 2014, shortly before Yanukovychs forced resignation and exile in Russia, the film then backtracks a few months to the movements birth. Shot in the midst of the protesters  with only a distant perspective on the riot-gear-clad special police (the Berkut) and their hired civilian thugs  Winter thereafter proceeds chronologically if sometimes confusingly. There are many terms that will be initially unfamiliar to some viewers, and which eventually come into focus only through context.

Despite the plentiful violence and mayhem, Winter on Fire also documents moments of surreal dark humor, as when Yanukovychs government bans the wearing of helmets, because the protestors had taken to wearing bicycle helmets and hard hats as protection from the Berkuts iron batons and bullets (first rubber, then real ones). In response, some protesters get around the prohibition by wearing pots and pans on their heads.

Generally speaking, though, theres nothing unserious about this important film. As it ends with Yanukovychs Feb. 22, 2014, flight from Kiev, the Maidan movement seems to have accomplished its immediate goals. But on-screen titles write a depressing postscript. It will be a sobering reminder to anyone who has been following the news reports of the ensuing conflicts in the Ukraine, where a bloody war still rages, prompted by Russias annexation of Crimea in March 2014.

One wildfire might have burned itself out, but another has taken its place.
The girl in Anita Kleins Reading Under the Covers might merely be disobeying a parental lights-out order, but perhaps she lives in a place where educating girls is forbidden. (Anita Klein)

In March 2007, a bomb killed 30 and wounded 100 on Baghdads Al-Mutanabbi Street. This carnage is dwarfed by the devastation in Iraq, Syria and other countries in the region since the 2003 U.S. invasion. But Mutanabbi was a place of potent cultural symbolism: a street of booksellers, named after a 10th-century Iraqi poet.

The attack on readers and writers recalled such infamies as the Nazi book burnings that preceded World War II and the destruction of Ptolemaic Alexandrias grand library. And it spurred San Francisco poet and bookseller Beau Beausoleil to call on writers, printmakers and art-book makers for an aesthetic response. Their work is showcased in Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here DC 2016, an area-wide festival that includes exhibitions, readings and more.

The number of books and prints made in response to the bombing is now so large that the array must be spread across multiple venues, including the McLean Project for the Arts (MPA), Brentwood Arts Exchange and the library and galleries at George Mason University. (GMU professor Helen Frederick is the festivals D.C. coordinator.) In addition, several local galleries have mounted shows of new work inspired by the bombing and classical Arabic poetry.

Most of the pieces incorporate text or were sparked by verse. The show at the Districts Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery, Night and the Desert Know Me, takes its title from a famed line of Al-Mutanabbis, and it matches artworks to poems. Embracing the Power of Artistic Practice, at Fairfaxs Olly Olly Gallery, contains work keyed to the poets warning: When you see the lion bare his teeth, dont think he merely means to smile.

Not all of the words are from one author, or even from one region. Theres antiwar verse by Britains Wilfred Owen (killed in action in World War I) and excerpts from the Epic of Gilgamesh, first inscribed on clay tablets some four millennia ago. Several pieces feature butterflies, fluttering from a phrase by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. Manuscripts dont burn, perhaps the best-known line from Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakovs The Master and Margarita, appears in several prints and handmade, single-edition books.

Books can burn, of course, as many participants demonstrate by singeing the edges of pages or scorching holes through them. Thats not the only form of violence on display. Paper is slashed, rumpled or wadded, and words take 3-D form. Arabic calligraphy is carved with a blade and the cut-out pieces piled next to the absent text. Miriam Schaer chopped and charred a books pages into a series of hands, on display at GMU.

Many of the books fold out so stories can unfold, or texts can stream. At MPA, Art Hazelwood offers a fanciful account of the explosion, in which books and readers are blasted, apparently unhurt, into orbit around Earth. At GMU, Dan Woods scroll superimposes Arabic script over this newspapers account of the bombing. Margaret Bellafiore, also at GMU, layers healing photos and gauze inside an old metal first-aid kit.

Nasir Thamirs handsome sculptural collage, at Hisaoka, combines lines from Gilgamesh with surfaces of metallic green and gold. Zofie Lang does something similar at Olly Olly, but her elegantly ominous story cabinets encapsulate grim fairy tales and the equally bleak Lord of the Flies. The narrative is more personal in local artist Mojdeh Rezaeipours mixed-media works on wood, also at Olly Olly, which recall her childhood in Iran.

Sisters Nasrin and Nahid Navab, whose Hushed Revolt is at MPA, also are local artists who grew up in Iran. Their show includes such personal sagas as a long scroll painting in which the abstract motifs of Persian manuscripts flow into a depiction of a political demonstration and then into the technological abstraction of the bar code on Nasrins Virginia drivers license. But not all of the work is autobiographical. Behind the Walls is a two-sided piece placed before a mirror to reveal trapped figures inside, in memory of journalists imprisoned or killed worldwide in 2015  another form of assault on knowledge and understanding.

Simple, universal images take on political meanings in such a context. Anita Kleins linocut print, at MPA, shows a girl using a flashlight to read under the covers in bed. She might merely be disobeying a parental lights-out order, but perhaps she lives in a place where educating girls is forbidden.

Many of the slogans in Al- Mutanabbi Street Starts Here are hopeful or defiant: Put out fire with paper or This book survived. In Jodi Le Bigres print, at Brentwood, women grind the ashes of burned books to make ink to print new ones. Ideas, like paper and ink, are renewable resources.


Sahil Rajan and Devi Mehta chat at a park. Rajans parents were in love when they married, but Mehtas parents had an arranged marriage. (Andre Chung/For The Washington Post)

Sahil Rajan hadnt yet figured out how to upload his profile picture to eHarmony, but when the sites matchmaking voodoo put forward a brown-eyed New York City beauty who also professed an interest in books, he pinged her anyway. He asked Devi Mehta what she was reading.

Although Mehta, a 31-year-oldad agency account manager, couldnt see what the guy on the other end looked like, she took a chance, too. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, she replied. And him?

Rajan, a 29-year-oldsoftware developer who lived in Jersey City, was deep into Atlas Shrugged.

It was January 2011, and Rajan and Mehta, both Indian Americans, were tentatively back on the market after recent relationships had flamed out. When they met at a restaurant, however, their differences seemed to compound.

Hes, like, 40 pounds lighter than me, Mehta recalled thinking. Hes my height.

I dont know about this Devi Mehta chick, Rajan told friends.

On the surface, this would not have the makings of a love story. And yet, it is one.

Mehtas parents had an arranged marriage. Though Rajans parents were in love when they wed, they had been steeped in Indian culture, which values community and family over romance.

Rajan and Mehta were adamant that they didnt want arranged marriages themselves. Yet after unsuccessfully dating the American way, both decided to try splitting the difference. They would search for partners, rather than relying on anyone else to arrange a union. But they would focus on potential spouses who shared the same culture and offered the same promise of stability and commitment to family they had seen in their parents marriages  and not worry so much about romance.

Thus, they gave each other more of a chance than they might have a few years earlier. Although Rajan wasnt her type, theres nothing wrong with this guys character, Mehta reasoned to herself.

Almost five years later, I met the couple in Northeast Washingtons bustling Union Market to discuss marriage and love. Rajan, a Montgomery County native, joked that their marriage had been arranged, after all  by an algorithm.

Mehta said that for her, the turning point came when she realized that sometimes you have to go back and listen to the people whove been married 50 years.

Indian parents always say stuff like, Its not about love, its about family, They married for family. She paused. What is it they always say? The love comes later. 

Once she shed her reservations, Mehta realized Rajan understands my family, my siblings, my world, she said. But theres more. I feel happy and loved and fulfilled, because he makes me feel that way.

She looked over at Rajan. Bouncing on his knee in a pink fleece and tiny flowered leggings was Diya, the couples bright-eyed 7-month-old.



Sahil Rajan plays with his daughter, Diya, before lunch at his parents home. With him are his wife, Devi Mehta, right; sister, Sheila Rajan, seated at left; and mother, Mamta Rajan, at far left. (Andre Chung/For The Washington Post)

One Indian American couple deciding to forgo instantaneous sparks for compatibility in other areas does not a trend make. But Rajan and Mehta may not be alone in forging what I call a practical marriage  focusing first on cultural similarities, financial goals and family, and trusting love will follow. Across the United States, thousands of Indian Americans are meeting via sites such as Shaadi.com, BharatMatrimony and the app Dil Mil, which allow them to search for such unromantic attributes such as language, education and economic status. Its unclear how many of them are children of arranged marriages and how that has shaped their views on love. But judging from a hit movie on the subject, Meet the Patels, there is great interest in the topic.

Actor and filmmaker Ravi Patel and his sister, Geeta Patel, created the documentary, which follows Ravis practical search for an Indian bride and his quest to understand his parents views on love and marriage.

In the few times I stopped to think about the future, it was a picture of an Indian woman, little Indian kids, Patel told me when we met late last year during a publicity tour for the film. When, as 30 approached and he instead found himself ending a long relationship with a white girlfriend he had hidden from his parents, he decided to try to find the woman of his dreams his parents way.

I love being Indian. I love being American, too, he said. I think most people from our generation feel this way: Dont care that much about religion. Love culture, love the rituals that come with culture. I want to keep that going in my life, selfishly, and I want my kids to feel the same thing.

So Patel polished his resume  called biodata in the parlance of Indian arranged marriages  and set out to speed date with a series of Indian women who had been vetted by his parents, among others.

Did he feel shame, I asked, succumbing to the system of arranged unions so maligned in the West?

Its embarrassing, he conceded. But the same shame were talking about is the exact same shame every person Ive ever met has when they start Internet dating.

In fact, he said, Internet dating may have opened the doors to being honest about the practical things were looking for. Kids, faithfulness, a 401(k).

The only difference with the biodata process is maybe your parents are agenting the process  and maybe thats not a bad thing, to have someone overseeing things.

You figure out a new way to approach the dream, Patel said. You become more amenable to new ways to finding the person we love.



Actor and filmmaker Ravi Patel and his sister, Geeta Patel, take a selfie with their parents. (Courtesy of Meet the Patels)

I first learned of Rajan and Mehtas unusual approach to marriage a year ago, while hanging out with a cousin who is close to Rajan. I was intrigued. I, too, am a child of an arranged marriage who has long heard the parental adage that love can come later. And, after failing more times than I care to admit at dating the American way, like Rajan, Mehta and Patel, Ive become more amenable to the idea of a new kind of search.

This is a radical change for me: I was only 7, maybe 8, the first time I insisted to my mother that I planned on falling in love and getting married. After all, my generation camped out in front of the television in the early-morning hours to watch Diana Spencer marry her prince, and went to the movies to see Richard Gere shower Julia Roberts in gems as if she were Eliza Doolittle in thigh-high boots. I wanted that kind of romance, the meet-cute, for fate to arrange my love life.

For a long time, despite my youthful protestations, my parents expected my love life would go the way theirs had. My mother, Lakshmi, met my father, Raghupathy, at her parents house in 1973 in what was then Madras, in southern India. He was 28 and set to leave in weeks for a postdoctoral fellowship 8,000 miles away in Philadelphia. But first, prodded by his parents, he took an overnight train to meet the 22-year-old beanpole of a girl with a promising horoscope and a thick braid of jet-black hair running down her back. They talked, briefly, about her cooking skills and whether she hoped to work after marriage (her music degree, my father says, made him worry about her job prospects).

I asked my parents, now married for more than 40 years, why theyd agreed to let their parents dictate their love lives.

It was all we knew, my mother said. She had seen so many good marriages, she trusted the system would work for her.

Knowing next to nothing about each other, did they at least feel a spark?

Sometimes, the very first opinion is the girl is too big ... or her face is different, and you have disappointment, my father said.

All he will reveal about my mother is, She was not disappointing to me.

I thought he was cute! my mom chimed in, laughing.

They wed 12 days later.



The authors parents, Lakshmi, left, and Raghupathy Ramanathan on their wedding day in India, in April 1973. (Courtesy of the Ramanathan family)

The couple celebrates with family and friends. The wedding took place 12 days after they met. (Courtesy of the Ramanathan family)

So, could there be some truth in our parents insistence that romance grows over time? And does it mean that we, no matter our ethnicity, should focus on other, more practical matters in our search for a mate?

Indian parents arent the only ones who believe it. Research backs the theory.

Pamela Regan, a psychology professor at Cal State University in Los Angeles, conducted a study that compared arranged marriages and love marriages among Americans of Indian descent. She found that 10 years into the relationships, satisfaction and passion among the couples whose marriages were arranged nearly mirrored those of the love matches.

I love romantic love, she said. But these things do fade. Theyre probably not the best thing to focus on when choosing a partner.

Why, then, do Americans place so much emphasis on passion?

According to Ty Tashiro, a New York-based psychologist and author of The Science of Happily Ever After, a decline in the mortality rate and the rise of Romanticism in the 1800s played roles.

With more potential mates, people began to have the luxury to choose someone based on something other than their ability to put food on the table, said Tashiro. Meanwhile, the new ideas about romantic love dovetailed with concepts of free will. It became a moral imperative to choose somebody with whom you were passionately in love, rather than somebody who was just practical, Tashiro said. According to the romantic ideal, that passion would sustain you for a lifetime of love.

But divorce has also risen dramatically since the late 1800s. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2014, there were 6.9 marriages for every 1,000 people and 3.2 divorces.

The romantic ideal, Tashiro said, hasnt worked out like we thought it would.



Sahil Rajan and Devi Mehta stroll through the Potomac neighborhood where Rajan grew up, with their daughter, Diya. (Andre Chung/For The Washington Post)

Who is doing the better job of choosing their spouses, I want to know. (Of course I do.) The people who decide based on romantic notions, or those aiming for compatibility, if not fireworks?

Tashiro laughed when I posed this question to him.

The answer is that its the people who are able to do a little bit of both, he said. Shared religious values are good indicators of stable marriages, and similar backgrounds also help, Tashiro said. When you have family and friends who are supportive of your relationship, theres good data that exists that thats a protective factor for a marriage.

He added: Although people who are pragmatic and cautious are not the most thrilling partners for a torrid romance, they are exactly the kind of person who is well-suited to sustaining a 50-year-long relationship with the same person.

Mehta and Rajan say they hope their relationship can last that long. They moved in together in Jersey City in August 2012, remodeled a condo and married in 2014. Diya was born a year later.

When they compare their marriage to that of their friends who may have had more hot-and-heavy beginnings, how do they think theyre faring? I asked.

I think were happier than they are, Rajan said. I do.

Lavanya Ramanathan is a features writer for The Post. To comment, email wpmagazine@washpost.com.

E-mail us at wpmagazine@washpost.com.

For more articles, as well as features such as Date Lab, Gene Weingarten and more, visit The Washington Post Magazine.

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Clockwise, from top left: Rachel Ruvinsky, 22; Sam Brehm, 21; Bennett Marschner, 26; and Hannah Schott, 22. The group of friends carry on multiple relationships simultaneously. (Photo by Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post)

Rachel Ruvinsky thought she was a lesbian. As a teenager, shed fallen into a serious relationship with her best friend. She was one of the few students at her high school to be out; she joined the schools gay-straight alliance but quit because the group was too cliquey. I didnt feel like I fit in, she recalls.

When she gradually realized she was also attracted to men, she was surprised. I remember being very much in denial, the now-22-year-old says.

Then about a year after she and her girlfriend broke up, Ruvinsky felt ready to look for a new relationship, and to try dating men as well as women.

When she created her first OkCupid profile at age 19, she listed a few of her interests, such as art and video games, and included a poor-quality photo of herself. Back then, she says, she responded to every message in her inbox.

One of the first was from Bennett Marschner, a 23-year-old video-game technical artist who described himself as a shameless vehicular vocalist. He seemed funny, she thought.

Ruvinsky wrote back, saying she also enjoyed singing while driving. They met for dinner at an Indian restaurant in Germantown, Md.

I was really nervous and trying not to fidget, she recalls. But she quickly felt comfortable around Marschner. After dinner, they watched a few episodes of Firefly, a sci-fi television show they both like, until well after midnight in Ruvinskys parents basement. They kissed.

The next morning, Marschner texted, saying he wanted to be upfront: He wasnt looking for anything serious.

Ruvinsky didnt want anything super- casual, so she figured that would be it. But Marschner persuaded her to keep seeing him, reassuring her that it wouldnt be a booty-call thing. They could both see other people. I was like, Okay, I like hanging out with you,  she remembers saying.

The next time they discussed their relationship status was a few months later. Marschner told her his other relationships, with two other women, werent so casual; there was an emotional attachment. Hed been reading about polyamory, he said, and he thought it applied to their situation.

Ruvinsky did, too: We knew it was more than casual, but we didnt have a word for it. Since then, the two go out with other people separately or hang in a group. A lot of times, Marschner says, if you get more than one of us together, were going to sit on a couch and cuddle and make out.



Ruvinsky embraced polyamory about two years ago. If one partner feels jealous, they talk it out and try to pinpoint what insecurity or self-esteem issue might be to blame. (Photo by Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post)

The Oxford English Dictionary defines polyamory as: The fact of having simultaneous close emotional relationships with two or more other individuals, viewed as an alternative to monogamy, esp. in regard to matters of sexual fidelity; the custom or practice of engaging in multiple sexual relationships with the knowledge and consent of all partners involved.

[A therapist, a lawyer and a sex educator answer our questions about polyamory]

Polyamory in the United States has roots in the 19th-century Oneida Community in Upstate New York, where all members were considered married to one other, according to Deborah Anapol, author of Polyamory in the 21st Century. Modern versions came out of the free-love movement of the 1960s, but the term polyamorous, combining the Greek and Latin words for many and love, wasnt coined until 1990 and was added to the OED in 2006. It draws adults of all ages, and online dating has made it easier for the polyamorous and poly-curious to find one another.

In January, OkCupid recognized the growing prevalence of polyamory among its users, who are generally 35 or younger, by allowing people to search the site as a couple. According to the sites data, 42 percent of its members would consider dating someone in an open or polyamorous relationship. Marschner and Ruvinsky havent searched as a couple, as shes looking for new partners but he isnt.

Ruvinsky and Marschner keep each other in the loop on their other dates and relationships. Sometimes Marschner will screen OkCupid messages for Ruvinsky, deleting anything unwelcomingly vulgar, prompting her to jokingly call him her sexcretary.

All that sharing was harder in the beginning, Ruvinsky says: I felt so inadequate, and I would feel kind of jealous. But then she learned Marschner talked about her, positively, to his other partners. The jealousy dissipated, and the relationship, she says, felt less hierarchical and more equal.

If one of them feels jealous, they try to pinpoint what insecurity or self-esteem issue might be to blame. Its important to realize that its valid to be jealous or envious of another partner, Ruvinsky says, but not necessarily true.

More than jealousy, though, the emotion they talk about is compersion, a feeling of joy when ones partner finds happiness with another. Ruvinsky says she feels it when Marschner texts her after a good date with someone else. He says he feels it when he meets women he thinks Ruvinsky might like and those instincts turn out to be right.

Over a year ago, Marschner introduced Ruvinsky and Hannah Schott. They gathered for a night of figure-drawing, each taking a turn as a nude model. Schott now lives in New Zealand, but Ruvinsky still has the picture Schott drew hanging in her bedroom.

Within the web of partners, one-on-ones, threesomes and orgies have been known to happen. (They test for sexually transmitted diseases every three months or when a new person joins the mix.) But Marschner says polyamory isnt necessarily about sex. Polyamory is about being in love with multiple people.

Marschner and Ruvinsky say they are thrilled to be free of the constraints that can come with monogamy: They dont have to be everything, sexually or emotionally, to each other; they can be open about their attraction to others. It might be fueled by youthful idealism that will crash and burn as she and Marschner get older, but for now they seem happy.

Ruvinskys eyes light up as she describes having so much love to give, and receiving it, too. Even the love you feel, feels different, she says, not in terms of quantity or quality, just in how it feels.



Marschner has a couple of primary partners, including Ruvinsky, and several secondary ones. He sometimes introduces his partners to one another and is happy for them to date each other as well. (Photo by Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post)

Part of me thinks Im just making up for lost time, Marschner says. I didnt have much of a social life at all, growing up. Then right out of college, I moved in with my girlfriend  and I knew all of her friends, but they never really became my friends.

Now Marschner has a romantic and social web that revolves around him. I probably spend more time on it than I should sometimes, he says of his two primary relationships (one with Ruvinsky, another with a boyfriend) and three less-serious ones.

Asked to map it out for a reporter, Marschner drew a diagram of dozens of people. Straight lines connected people with ongoing relationships; long dotted lines for former relationships; short dotted lines for people who have sexy times, as Marschner put it, but arent in a relationship.

The connections are fluid, too. An ex of one of Marschners former partners is now housemates with one of his current partners.

When members of the web get together, its as if a group of high school or college friends is reuniting. Primary, secondary and past partners piled into a booth at Bar Louie in Rockville Town Square in late December.

Some are meeting for the first time. Are you a hugger? Zia Frazier asks, and waits for the go-ahead before embracing Sam Brehm, a 21-year-old model and fire performer who met Marschner at a medieval camping trip. (The poly community is big on consent, starting with something as simple as a hug.) At different times throughout the night, Marschner keeps a hand on Brehms leg while deep in conversation with Ruvinsky.

Ruvinsky compliments Fraziers makeup: Im just watching your eye shadow, she says with awe in her voice. That blending.

Marschner asks Frazier, who is 23 and just finished her first semester of grad school in San Francisco, about a new guy she is dating whos poly and straight.

Is he pretty? he asks.

Hes tall as s---, she says.

Before moving west, Frazier said she had connected with Ruvinsky and Marschner separately on OkCupid, and the three came together just a few weeks before Fraziers move.

We were going to keep in contact so much more, Marschner says.

They order extra cocktails before happy hour ends, eat off each others plates and offer one another sips and cherries out of their drinks.

When Frazier complains about having to write so many papers and the long lines at the DMV, Marschner says: Thats what you get for going to California and leaving us all behind.

Frazier says she has a couple of dates set up for when she returns to San Francisco. Girls, too, she says. Im excited.

Ruvinsky wishes she could say the same. Sometimes, she admits, she still feels lonely.

It would be nice to date someone outside of the web, she says. Mostly everyone inside the web is more established with other people in the web, and I would like to find someone who isnt ... especially a girl.

Lisa Bonos is the lead writer and editor for Solo-ish, a Washington Post blog about unmarried life. You can reach her at lisa.bonos@washpost.com.

E-mail us at wpmagazine@washpost.com.

For more articles, as well as features such as Date Lab, Gene Weingarten and more, visit The Washington Post Magazine.

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Dear readers: I have stepped away from my daily column for two weeks to finish writing my next book, which is due to be published in the fall. As I sequester myself, noodling over this memoir, I hope youll enjoy these topical best of questions and answers while Im away. Todays questions deal with awkward terminology.

Dear Amy: Ive been confused about something for several years, and Im hoping that maybe some of your readers can clear this up for me.

It seems that lately, for a person with black or brown skin of African descent, the PC term to use is African American.

I find this to be quite ridiculous, as the large majority of blacks in this country are of many races, including white, Native American and Hispanic, and havent been able to trace their roots to Africa for many generations.

My race is considered white, and I have ancestors that trace back to areas all over Europe. I dont refer to myself as European American, nor do we use that term for the large number of white Americans who trace their roots back to Europe. The blacks I personally know prefer to be called black, but it seems that everyone is afraid to use that term anymore. If youre a first-generation American from another part of the world, I can see how the hyphenation works. But in the end, arent most of us simply Americans?

What do black Americans really want to be called, and why?

An American in Florida

American in Florida: In America, being white is the default position. You and I and other whites of European descent dont have to describe and define our race in the course of everyday life because we are the ones doing the describing. When was the last time you heard a prominent white American described as white, where race identifiers are routinely used to identify everyone else?

If Native Americans want to be referred to as Natives, by others, even when they might refer to themselves as Indians, then that should be their choice. If Latinos prefer that term to Hispanics, then their preference should be respected. Im aware of Americans several generations removed from the old country who would like to be known as Italian- or Irish-Americans. So be it.

In my mind, people have a right to define themselves and to ask that others refer to them using their preferred term. If that term changes over the decades (could you imagine referring to a black or brown American as colored  the way whites did when I was a child?), then these changes are a result of our becoming more sophisticated and respectful. Mainly, this is simply respectful. But if thats PC, then Im all for it.

Take heart, though. As the racial makeup of this country changes, either well all become Americans, or you and I will be searching for a terminology that suits us, because the majority non-white American population will need to find a way to describe us. Id be happy to run responses from other readers who might want to weigh in on this issue and/or state a preference. (April 2006)

Dear Amy: I feel terrible.

At a 4-year-olds birthday party, I stood talking to three other moms from my sons preschool class.

One of the moms was wearing a blouse that looked to me like maternity clothes.

You guessed it. I asked, Are you expecting?

I could tell instantly that Id made a mistake.

She said, No, and we sort of laughed at the awkward moment.

I later apologized to her in the parking lot, explaining about her blouse, but it sounded lame.

I know that what I said was potentially very hurtful  maybe she was sensitive about her weight (as most of us are), or trying to conceive another child.

I dont know how to make it right. I feel horribly guilty about my inconsiderate question.

Do you have any suggestions about anything I can do to make her feel better?

Dope-slapping Myself

Dope-slapping Myself: Stop. Stop before you kill again. You committed a faux pas. You apologized. Dont make things worse by continuing to bring it up, which would remind you both of this embarrassing episode.

The blouse, by now, has hit the dustbin, and youve learned a lesson in mommy diplomacy. It is never a good idea to ask about a pregnancy, unless a woman invites you to. (May 2006)

Amys column appears seven days a week at washingtonpost.com/advice. Write to Amy Dickinson at askamy@tribpub.com or Ask Amy, Chicago Tribune, TT500, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611.


The City of Conversation at Arena Stage is set in the lost world of Georgetown dinner parties and focuses on a character based on the legendary hostesses of the past. (C. Stanley Photography)

Remember when every problem in Washington could be solved over a glass of brandy? When partisan politics were set aside by reasonable people for the common good?

Okay, it never happened quite that way. But nostalgia is a stubborn thing, which explains the myth of the Georgetown dinner party. The latest homage to that world is The City of Conversation, a new play at Arena Stage.

Twenty years ago, Sidney Blumenthal wrote The Ruins of Georgetown, a New Yorker essay lamenting the end of Washingtons liberal elite and the influential women who ruled there. Playwright Anthony Giardina remembered the essay when he was writing about modern American politics and used that period as the setting for his play.

The political drama centers on Hester Ferris, a Georgetown hostess inspired by the likes of Katharine Graham, Evangeline Bruce, Lorraine Cooper, Pamela Harriman, Susan Mary Alsop and Sally Quinn. The play opens in 1979 as Hester is about to host a hugely important dinner to help Ted Kennedy win a key Senate vote.

[Manners and politics collide in Arena Stages City of Conversation]

We invited three Washington grandes dames  Republican doyenne Buffy Cafritz, who married into one of the citys leading families; jeweler Ann Hand, who came to the capital with Lyndon Johnson in the late 1950s; and Lea Berman, White House social secretary in the George W. Bush administration  to see the production and point out what it gets right and what it gets wrong. All three knew some or all of the real hostesses of the past and have spent decades navigating Washingtons social scene.

Since the play is a work of fiction, we gave Giardina dramatic license to let his characters say or do anything in private. We focused on what happens in public. How realistic is Hester as a Georgetown hostess? Does the play accurately capture the texture and tone of the times? And whats with that black cocktail dress?

Spoiler alert: Though we dont give away the plays big twist, we do discuss a few plot points.

Reality check 1: Hester is an outspoken, unapologetic liberal . Believable?

Frustrated by Jimmy President Seatwarmer Carter, eager for Ted Kennedy to run for president, disdainful of conservatives, Hester is deeply invested in the idea of a second Camelot. Were an arm of government, you might say, she explains. Georgetown. Dinners in Georgetown. Or we were. And will be again.

This legend is based on a short window of glory, when intellectual liberals settled in the brick townhouses of the prestigious Washington neighborhood after World War II and became a power elite after John F. Kennedy was elected. The wives of the wealthy and powerful entertained lavishly and often, inviting Democrats and Republicans alike to their homes. There were battles, but not wars, and an expectation of civility.

These hostesses, many bright and educated, had opinions but didnt express them with more than a raised eyebrow or a disapproving look. Hester, on the other hand, is strident and openly contemptuous  something unrealistic for a socialite of her time.

You cant behave like that, which is why the whole system broke down, says Berman. As long as Ronald Reagan and House Speaker Tip ONeill were friends, people made an effort to treat each other well. When that example went away and views hardened, everything changed. Berman remembers a private dinner party that she and her husband attended as the only Republicans in 1987, near the end of the Reagan administration. We were attacked for two hours straight, she says. We came home that night and said, Im never going back there again. 

Playwright Giardina says he researched the women of Georgetown for 14 years, diving into biographies and political histories for inspiration. But Hester is his own creation: I wasnt basing Hester on anyone in particular, he says. She has the freedom, in my world, to do anything she wants.

Reality check 2: Hesters lover is the married senior senator from Virginia.

Sen. Chandler Harris is married  perhaps separated, but not divorced  and has been involved in a long-standing relationship with Hester, also apparently divorced. Hester tells her son that she and the senator have been able to keep their affair out of the newspapers because they dont show up at parties covered by The Washington Post.

She has invited Sen. George Mallonee and his wife, conservatives from Kentucky, to dinner in an attempt to persuade Mallonee to switch his vote on one of Ted Kennedys pet projects. If Harris can secure Mallonees vote, Hester explains, he has a shot at a Cabinet position or even the vice presidency if Kennedy becomes president.

Ridiculous on several fronts, say all three women. In 1979, any married senator (especially from the South) having an open affair would never be able to keep it a secret. He wouldnt invite a conservative colleague to dine with his mistress. And hed never have a serious shot at a Cabinet post, much less the vice presidency, without his wife at his side. Hed be in the paper and people would be talking about the affair, says Hand.

No way would that have happened, says Cafritz. Formidable Post reporter Maxine Cheshire would have had a ball with that one.



Michael Simpson as Colin Ferris and Margaret Colin as Hester. When her son and his girlfriend show up on the day of her important dinner, Hester invites them to join the party. Would a real Georgetown hostess have done that? (C. Stanley Photography)

Reality check 3: Hester invites her son and his girlfriend to join the dinner party.

Hesters son and his girlfriend, both students at the London School of Economics, arrive home unexpectedly on the day she is hosting the dinner. Hester has never met the young woman but insists that both Colin and Anna join the party. This is important, she tells him. You have to promise to behave.

Unrealistic, says our panel of experts. Although the typical Georgetown dinner was larger, about 12 to 16 people, a good hostess would have very carefully assembled a guest list for such an important evening. She might have included her son but would have been unlikely to risk throwing his unknown girlfriend into the mix.

(Not to mention: The London School of Economics was known for its far-left leanings during the 1960s and 70s; Colin and Anna, both stars at the school, are both Reagan conservatives in the play.)

Another miss: Hester insists that Anna wear one of her own dresses for the evening, a short, revealing black cocktail dress that Hester wore at Richard Nixons second inaugural. But inaugural balls were formal affairs, and almost every woman would have worn a long gown, especially a middle-aged socialite like Hester. Of course, an outspoken liberal probably would never have been invited to or attended a Nixon celebration.

Reality check 4: The men retire to the living room for brandy and cigars.

After dinner, the two senators retire to the living room without the women.

Totally true, says Cafritz: I did it in my own home. That was the custom.

The women would typically go to another room for tea; at Cafritzs house, they went upstairs to put on lipstick and gossip for 20 minutes or so. We didnt think anything about it, says Hand.

That tradition was gone by the 1980s, a victim of the womens movement and a new generation who thought it was sexist and unfair  the ambitious Anna refuses to leave the men after dinner, hoping to land a job with the conservative senator.

And the set, with lots of well-worn chairs and traditional furniture, is spot on. The furnishings in Georgetown drawing rooms were never too modern or too new. Nothing screamed, A rich person lives here! Especially if one did.

Reality check 5: Hester is patronizing and rude to her guests.

She insults the senators wife when discussing the movie Apocalypse Now: Youre aware its based on Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness,  she explains grandly. She gets into a public battle with Anna and belittles her son.

Realistic? A little. Among the political establishment in Washington, there is a real condescension, says Berman. People judge. Ive certainly heard people say snippy things; passive-aggressive is perhaps a better way to describe it. But all the women say that they would be stunned by the nastiness Hester directs at Anna.

[In a new play, the Washington hostess lives again]

The great Georgetown hostesses were accomplished manipulators, more likely to pour on the charm than to chastise. The master at this was Pamela Harriman, who always had an agenda and always enlisted powerful men to help. Cafritzs late husband, Bill, was her dinner partner a few times.

She would put her hand on his knee and never take her eyes off him, explains Cafritz. He would get in the car and say, Shes terrific! 

(Why couldnt that be in the play?)

But theres real life and theres drama. Overall, all three women liked the production  the development of the characters, their emotional journey and the relatively balanced argument for classic liberalism and conservatism.

These were the two extremes: Hester is on the left and Anna on the right, says Cafritz. There are no common-ground moderates.

Once again, art imitates life.


Marco Rubio greets South Carolina voters at the Sun City Hilton Head in Okatie on Thursday. The state has become known for its unusually dirty primary politics. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Heres a story, the gist of which will sound familiar to anyone living in South Carolina: Natalie Barrett, a 53-year-old schoolteacher from Westminster, got a robo-call earlier this month and ended up furious.

It started off simple enough, an automated mans voice asking her age and gender, then quizzing her on which Republican candidates she liked. But when she selected Sen. Marco Rubio as one of her choices, she said, things got nasty.

Thats when he said, Did you know that Marco Rubio and the Gang of Eight are for amnesty? she recalled in a phone interview. And then the gentleman said hes for letting 11 million illegal immigrants stay in the U.S. and that he was for letting Syrians cross the borders freely.

Barrett said she found the call  which continued to say negative things about Rubio before taking shots at Donald Trump for being a supporter of eminent domain  to be negative and unfair, but she couldnt figure out right away who it was from. The voice said the poll was conducted by some place called Remington Research.

She told her Rubio-supporting friend about the call; her friend told the campaign. They said they knew exactly what Remington Research was: a consulting firm started by Sen. Ted Cruzs campaign manager, Jeff Roe.

These tactics are becoming all too common in this race and indicative of our opponents campaigns that are willing to say or do anything to win an election, Rich Beeson, Rubios deputy campaign manager, said. This is nothing more than a deliberate effort to peddle false information in the hopes of deceiving voters.

But, of course, nothing is that simple in politics.

Were not doing any robo-polls in South Carolina, said Chris Wilson, Cruzs director of research. Its not us making those calls. Anyone can make those calls as Remington Research to screw with reporters and make Jeff look like hes doing something.

This, in a nutshell, is South Carolina a week before the highly contested Republican primary: a cloudy tincture of desperation, paranoia and umbrage, with plausible deniability for everyone. Its a mad scramble to make every other candidate look bad, either by playing dirty or accusing an opponent of playing dirty.

[Fiery Republican race heads to S.C., known for dirty tricks and brawls]

And so, the media has flocked South, left taciturn New England behind in search of a quiet spot  the corner booth of a bar, perhaps, or a well-appointed office downtown  hoping to be blessed with those magic words, you didnt hear this from me, but. South Carolina: home to whisper campaigns, dirty politics, back-alley knife fighters, and other cliches. A land where consultants share shibboleth with bank robbers: No fingerprints, please. Its a week before the primary, and the Palmetto State is all anonymous fliers and unlisted numbers.

Republican presidential candidates are headed to South Carolina ahead of the Feb. 20 primary. Since Ronald Reagan won the first contest in 1980, Republicans in the Palmetto State have picked the candidate who went on to win their party's nomination in every presidential primary, except for one. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

In fairness to the natives, South Carolinas electoral nastiness may be a matter of timing more than geography. The window to win the nomination is rapidly closing, and theres little advantage in holding back.

The hallmarks of the South Carolina dirty tricks are: high impact, low tech, high deniability, said Joel Sawyer, a GOP consultant based in Columbia. The more salacious the better. And the people that do these kinds of things know their audience  they are going to play to the fears of the blue-collar South Carolinians and know these tricks are going to be impactful.

The late GOP campaign consultant Lee Atwater is remembered as the patron saint of aggressive South Carolina politics. In 1980, he used push polls to link Democratic congressional candidate Tom Turnipseed to the NAACP  a scary notion for some white suburbanites  and spread rumors that as a depressive child Turnipseed had been hooked up to jumper cables. Atwater later became an adviser to Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush and chaired the Republican National Committee.

His tactics are still very much in play. It feels like just yesterday when anonymous phone calls went out around the state asking primary voters in 2000 if they would be more likely or less likely to vote for John McCain for president if [they] knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child?

Its not all bad news. In 2012, Peter Hamby, then at CNN, published an article maintaining that South Carolinas dirty political reputation outlives reality. He quoted state Sen. Tom Davis insisting that people have become sort of jaundiced about the whole dirty-trick thing. . . . They see some of that ambush stuff, and they take it with a giant grain of salt.

[Meet the Clinton staffer who has devoted his life to her cause. Will it be worth it?]

But there is also evidence that things may get worse. It used to be that, under state law, robo-callers could only conduct their business on answering machines and voice mails; that if anyone picked up the phone, the call would go dead. But last year, courts found the law to be unconstitutional. Which is why Natalie Barrett spent five minutes feeling her anger build as she answered automated questions about Marco Rubio the other day.

As far as the political dark arts are concerned, this was relatively insipid fare and may have entirely missed the mark.

I was pretty sure it was from Cruz, said Joseph Bowers, a 24-year-old student who said he got a similar call. The last question was to give a reason why people should vote for Ted Cruz in the primary, and I said they shouldnt at all.

Nicole Walukewicz, a 58-year-old who has retired to take care of her sick husband and her mom, said the robo-call she got represents everything thats wrong with politics today.

The implication was that Rubio wasnt going to protect the American population from potential terrorists coming into the country, she said. It just felt like Cruz, or whoever was behind it, was willing to lie to get the presidency. She said she found the tactic especially offensive considering what went down in Iowa, where members of the Cruz campaign told caucus-goers that Ben Carson was dropping out of the race when he wasnt.

Wilson, of the Cruz campaign, said hed heard of these alleged robo-calls in South Carolina from a D.C. reporter who was sniffing around the story.

He read the text to me, Wilson said. One of the questions was close to what were doing, but there was one key difference. There was a line basically from our TV ad that said the Gang of Eight bill would have accepted refugees from Syria, but what he read to me said they were from Muslim countries.

That seemed like a clue to Wilson.

Who would put the word Muslim into a question? he said with someone in mind. What candidate would do that?

Could it be that a Donald Trump lackey had something to do with this? Could someone from team Rubio have done it just to make Cruz look like a huckster? Or could it have been someone from Cruz World the whole time? We may never know.

So some advice for South Carolina residents during election season: Dont pick up your phone and dont trust anything you hear. These conspiracies can go all the way to the top. Or, so it seems, the bottom.
Land

Sunrise Springs Integrative Wellness Resort in Santa Fe has two healthy, perks-filled packages through April 30. The Wellness Exploration starts at $366 per person double per night, with taxes, and includes lodging, with an upgrade to a premium casita (valued at $150); all meals; pre-dinner reception with organic wine and beer; access to daily activities such as yoga, culinary classes, Native American teachings and animal interactions; $200 resort credit; and round-trip airport transfers. Four-night minimum stay required. The Immerse & Thrive starts at $591 and includes a $700 resort credit and additional wellness activities, such as a health evaluation and a daily meeting with a licensed counselor. Nine-night minimum stay required. Info: 505-780-8145, sunrisesprings.com.

Seventeen hotels throughout Boston are offering discounted rates for Hotel Week Boston. For example, rates at the Boston Park Plaza start at $130, including $31 taxes and fees, a savings of $51. The promo at the newly renovated hotel also includes 20 percent off food at Off the Common, late checkout and access to the hotels 19,000-square-foot David Barton Gym. Hotel Week Boston officially runs Feb. 14-21, but many of the participating hotels are offering savings past the end date. Details: hotelweekboston.com.

Sea

With Holland Americas View & Verandah sale, save up to $1,500 on select cruises in 2016 and 2017 and receive onboard credits of up to $500 and free upgrades worth up to $1,000. Also, save 10 percent on select Journeys Ashore and up to 25 percent on Collectors Voyages. Deals applies to more than 700 cruises in Alaska, Northern Europe, the Caribbean, Australia, New England and more. Amount of shipboard credit is based on cabin type and length of cruise. For example, the seven-day Gems of Spain cruise departing Barcelona on April 17 starts at $599 per person double for an inside cabin and $799 for an ocean-view stateroom, which includes a free upgrade. In addition, guests in both stateroom levels earn a $100 credit per cabin. Add $118 in taxes. Info: 8779324259, hollandamerica.com.

Emerald Waterways is offering discounts on its 2017 European River cruises, with savings of $250 per person on sailings of 10 nights or less and $500 on longer trips. For example, a seven-night Secrets of the Douro cruise, sailing round trip from Porto, Portugal, now starts at $1,945 per person double, a savings of $250, for select departures in October 2017; price includes airport transfers, tips, port charges and taxes. Book by April 30. Info: 855-222-3214, emeraldwaterways.com.

Air

Air New Zealand has a two-countries-for-one-price deal in Australia and New Zealand. For the special, fly from Los Angeles or San Francisco to Auckland and add one of more than a half-dozen Australian cities, such as Perth, Cairns and the Gold Coast. For example, round-trip air from San Francisco to Auckland to Sydney and back starts at $997 round trip, including taxes. Swap in Brisbane and pay from $998. Other airlines charge from $1,500 for the itinerary. Book by Feb. 15. Travel Monday-Thursday on the trans-Pacific sector, from April 9-June 11, July 24-Sept. 21 and Nov. 1-30. Info: airnewzealand.com.

Southwest has launched a systemwide sale on nonstop flights. For example, round-trip fare from Washington Dulles to San Diego starts at $334, including taxes; fare on other airlines starts at $453. Travel restrictions vary by destination, but the cheapest domestic fares are generally available on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays for travel through June 15. Fourteen-day advance purchase required. Book by Feb. 18 at southwest.com.

Package

SmarTours is offering savings of $400 per person on several African safari tours. For example, the price for the six-night Cape Town & Safari Express tour now starts at $1,799 per person double for select departures; pay by check and get an additional $100 discount. Trip includes airfare from New York to Cape Town, with return from Johannesburg; airfare between Cape Town and Johannesburg; four nights of lodging at the Cape Sun Hotel in Cape Town; two nights at Protea Winkler Hotel in Kruger National Park; eight meals; a city tour in Cape Town; a full-day safari tour; land transportation; airport transfers; and taxes. Purchase by March 10. Info: 800-337-7773, smartours.com.

 Andrea Sachs, Carol Sottili
The nine policemen are officially charged by prosecutors with using violence and attacking public officials

Cairo prosecutors charged on Thursday nine low ranking policemen with assaulting public officials and using violence over the recent incident involving an attack on doctors at Matariya Education Hospital.

On Wednesday, a senior prosecutor opened a probe into the policemen, who were detained for 24 hours but have now been released on bail.

On 28 January 2016, the policemen allegedly assaulted two doctors at Matariya Hospital after one of the doctors refused to include fake injuries in a medical report for one of the policemen.

Following the allegations, the interior ministry announced that it suspended the policemen and referred them to investigation.

The incident caused a huge uproar among physicians.

Egypt's Doctors Syndicate is organising an emergency assembly on Friday to demand an end to assaults on doctors and hospitals and to set standards to punish those responsible for any such attacks.

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THE DISTRICT

Police: Woman stabs man at NE hospital

A 29-year-old woman was arrested Tuesday in what D.C. police said was the random stabbing of a man as he slept in a chair in a hospital waiting room in Northeast Washington.

The victim suffered a deep wound to the left side of his head, police said in an arrest affidavit, and was treated at Providence Hospital, where the attack occurred. Police said hospital security restrained the suspect, who officers found sitting on a floor in handcuffs with a bloody knife lying nearby.

The incident occurred about 2:15 a.m. Tuesday, police said. Police charged Janet Latoya Daniels of Southeast Washington with assault with a dangerous weapon. Police said in the arrest affidavit that Daniels was at the hospital to be treated for a drug problem.

 Peter Hermann

Authorities looking into death of infant

D.C. police said they are investigating the death of an infant boy who was found unresponsive Wednesday morning in a Northwest Washington residence, where other children but no adults were present.

Police said six siblings younger than 10 were in the house at the time, all unsupervised, including the infant. Authorities said that one of the children alerted police about the infant and that a parent was later found and was being questioned.

Authorities have not released the name of the dead boy. Dustin Sternbeck, a D.C. police spokesman, said the boy was less than a year old.

Mindy Good, a spokeswoman for the D.C. Child and Family Services Agency, said her office is investigating why children were alone in the house.

Officers were called about 8 a.m. to the unit block of Van Buren Street at North Capitol Street in the Takoma neighborhood. Sternbeck said there were no obvious signs of trauma on the body.

 Peter Hermann

and Clarence Williams

Man is killed near library in Anacostia

A man was fatally shot Wednesday afternoon near a public library in the Anacostia neighborhood of Southeast Washington, D.C. police said.

Police went to the 1800 block of U Place SE, about a half block behind the Anacostia Neighborhood Library, to investigate the report of a shooting about 4 p.m., said Officer Hugh Carew, a police spokesman.

Authorities took the man to a hospital. Several hours later, he died of his wounds.

Police did not release information about a possible assailant or a motive.

 Clarence Williams

NW man is fatally shot in NoMa area

A man who was shot Tuesday night in the Districts NoMa neighborhood has died,

D.C. police said.

The shooting occurred about 8:45 p.m. at North Capitol and M streets. The man was identified as Jamar Morris, 28, of Northwest Washington.

 Peter Hermann

MARYLAND

Skeletal remains believed to be human

Prince Georges County police said they found skeletal remains that appear to be human in Temple Hills on Wednesday afternoon.

Police said that they do not think the deceased person was a victim of foul play but that they will submit the bones for an autopsy.

Police said they got a call about the remains at 1:45 p.m. and found the bones near the intersection of Naylor Road and Oxon Hill Drive.

 Julie Zauzmer

VIRGINIA

Man fatally stabbed in Fairfax County

A 19-year-old man was stabbed to death Wednesday in Springfield, Fairfax County police said.

Shaki Ezekiel Phillip was attacked on a sidewalk in the 7400 block of Loughboro Lane about 1:45 p.m., police said.

Police said two people in their late teens fled in a blue four-door Toyota or Honda. They were last seen heading north on Franconia-Springfield Parkway.

Police said the incident initially appears to be drug related.

 Justin Jouvenal
A proposal to give people who work in the District months of paid time off to care for a new baby or an ailing relative or to recover from an illness passed a key test this week, even as a new threat to the concept emerged.

In a win for advocates, a controversial plan to pay for the benefit by taxing employers won the backing of D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D), who has spent much more time over the past two years focused on tax cuts than on increases.

Gaveling to order a final hearing on the legislation Thursday, Mendelson said that although details remained to be worked out, he has concluded that paid leave would be a transformative benefit to both employees and employers and is worth a slight tax increase.

This is a question of what can we do to make the District an attractive place to work, which in turns makes the District an attractive place for businesses, he said in a hearing room where more than 130 witnesses waited to testify.

Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), however, has grown more openly hostile toward the proposal. She told a meeting of city residents that cost estimates for the legislation are all over the place, and she chided Mendelson for not including her in decisions about the details of such a major policy.

[D.C.s paid leave law would be the most generous in the U.S.]

Mendelsons position, which is now in line with a majority of council members, appears increasingly certain to draw the citys Democratic-controlled legislature into an uncomfortable conflict with Bowser, a moderate Democrat, over an issue that has resonated on the presidential campaign trail.

Democratic hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders both have signaled support for the Districts family-leave proposal, which includes more time off, with pay, to bond with a newborn or care for a relative than provided by the few states that have adopted robust policies.

The question that the council wrestled with Thursday is how much leave the city would be able to guarantee for the amount of payroll tax it is willing to mandate.

Those who care about this legislation need to focus on costs, Mendelson said. Because in the end it will be defined by what benefits can be paid for . . . not what benefits we want to offer.

[Can D.C. really afford paid leave?]

In an interview, the chairman said a 1 percent payroll tax is the maximum he could support. The Districts chief financial officer and independent researchers say a tax of that size probably would not cover the amount of leave, rate of pay and universe of eligible employees outlined in the original bill.

That legislation would let employees take up to 16 weeks off and be reimbursed for 100 percent of wages up to $1,000 a week, and 50 percent of wages above that amount, to a maximum weekly benefit of $3,000.

In New Jersey and California, individual paid family-leave programs max out at six weeks and about 60 percent of employees salaries.

In a new draft of the leave legislation that Mendelson released this week, he proposed scaling back the duration of employees leave to 12 weeks and reducing the percentage of pay that high-income earners could recoup.

The bill would use a pool of money the city would collect from employers to reimburse workers 90 percent of their wages up to twice the minimum wage, and 50 percent of wages above that, to a maximum of $1,500 a week.

That would mean that under the citys escalating minimum wage next year, workers would get 90 percent of their first $920 in weekly wages and 50 percent of the next $1,344. Workers making almost $118,000 a year would max out the benefit, recouping roughly 66 percent of their pay for the duration of their leave.

Advocates had wanted to compel federal employes to participate and pay the 1 percent salary cost themselves. But under Mendelsons version, the city would not attempt to have federal employees participate. Mendelson said it was unclear how the city would monitor federal employees leaves, and it would create two classes of employees.

Mendelson would also restrict the chronic and mental illnesses that could be used as a rationale for taking leave and to care for others. In addition, employees would have to prove they have a legal relationship  meaning they are married to, the parent of or the guardian of  the person for whom they are caring.

Some business leaders at the hearing said they welcomed Mendelsons efforts to limit benefits but cautioned that more study was needed. Because the true cost of the program is unknown, so is the true cost to business, said Kathy Hollinger, president of the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington.

Workers who had lost their jobs or missed deaths of loved ones countered that without paid leave, workers would continue to pay the largest, emotional costs.

Authors of the bill pushed to keep the benefit as broad as possible. My fear is the more we narrow it, the more we will have to come back and fix it, said Council member David Grosso (I-At Large).

Bowser wants a task force led by her office to study the issue, but the council has shown no sign it will allow that.
A Maryland resident has the Zika virus, the first case of the infection reported in the state.

The state health department said on Thursday that a resident who recently traveled in a country where the mosquito-transmitted illness is rampant tested positive for the virus after returning home.

Brian Lawrence, a spokesman for the health department, declined to say the patients age or gender, where in Maryland the patient lives or what the patients condition is. He said he did not know whether the health department has contacted close associates of the patient to talk to them about the disease, which can be spread by sexual contact as well as mosquito bite.

The primary concern surrounding the virus, which has largely been reported in Latin America, is its link to the birth defect microcephaly.

Three cases of Zika, including one in a patient who is pregnant, have been reported in the District. And Maryland public health officials said Thursday that they anticipate more cases in the state.

[Three D.C. residents, including pregnant woman, have the Zika virus]

Medical personnel in Maryland have sent samples from 17 patients suspected to have the virus to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for testing.

Officials said that so far, two have come back negative, and this is the first positive result. But the rest are still pending.

It is likely that there will be other cases of people who have traveled, said Howard Haft, the deputy secretary for public health. Officials said the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene will post a weekly update online on further Zika cases, including information on whether the person was infected locally or abroad.

But Haft also said that this is not cause for alarm or panic. He said that the current flu season poses a greater risk to the public.

Related news:

Two American women who caught Zika abroad suffer miscarriages

NIH speeds up plan for human trials of Zika vaccine

Graphic: What you need to know about the Zika virus
Gov. Larry Hogan is calling for the state to not only help finance the demolition of vacant buildings in Baltimore but also to pay for a similar, smaller effort in a few small towns and older suburbs in Western Maryland.

Hogan (R) submitted a supplemental budget proposal to the General Assembly on Thursday that includes $18 million next year for the planned demolition of vacant buildings in Baltimore and an additional $3.5 million to knock down empty, dilapidated buildings in other areas around the state.

The spending plan also includes $11 million for the watershed investment plan, the states effort to clean up the Chesapeake Bay; $3 million for a newly created scholarship program for early high school graduates; and $2.3 million for a 2 percent raise for providers of substance-abuse services for the uninsured and to support heroin-related criminal investigations.

House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) said he couldnt comment on the supplemental because he had not seen it yet. The supplemental was released after the General Assembly adjourned Thursday.

Hogan announced plans last month to spend $75 million over the next four years for the demolition in Baltimore. The first installment is $18 million, which adheres to the stipulations under the memorandum of understanding that Baltimore officials signed off on Wednesday, Budget Secretary David Brinkley said.

[Md. gov. unveils plan to raze blocks of vacant Baltimore buildings]

The $3.5 million to address blight and lack of investment in some of the states small towns is a new initiative.

Hogan said in a statement that ridding Baltimore of empty buildings and replacing them with green space and parks has the potential to deliver lasting change and pave the way for private sector investment.

The states commitment to provide $75 million over four years for demolition is part of a bipartisan, common-sense effort that will help to make sure Baltimores future is better and brighter than its present or its past, the governor said.

Officials estimate that there are 16,000 vacant homes in Baltimore, a former industrial hub whose population has shrunk by a third since the 1950s. They also said that 20 blocks of buildings will be demolished in the first year.

The supplemental budget is the second that Hogan has given to the General Assembly in less than a week. On Friday last week, Hogan proposed spending $15 million to help Prince Georges Countys hospital system as it continues a transition to become a regional hospital center run by the University of Maryland Medical System.

Hogans proposed supplemental budget to Baltimore and Prince Georges Countys hospital system came after Democratic leaders in the General Assembly repeatedly questioned why the funding was not part of the governors original spending plan.

The supplemental budget is an adjustment to an original spending plan that comes after the budget has been introduced to the General Assembly. Under Maryland law, the legislature cannot add money to the budget, but it can make reductions.

Fenit Nirappil contributed to this report.
Nearly 1 in 10 Maryland lawmakers solicited donations online during the legislative session in an apparent violation of the ban on fundraising. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post)

Nearly 1 in 10 Maryland state lawmakers has solicited donations online during the current legislative session, records show, a possible violation of a state ban on fundraising during that 90-day period.

Lawmakers described the situation as an inadvertent oversight rather than illegal fundraising, and none reported actually receiving any contributions after the session began Jan. 13.

The State Board of Elections prohibits having active contribution links, such as PayPal accounts, on campaign websites. Lawmakers running for local or federal office are exempt from the fundraising ban.

The issue has drawn some attention in the State House in recent days, after the Montgomery County Young Republicans criticized Sen. Roger Manno (D-Montgomery) for leaving up a contribution page on his website.

Manno, who has introduced legislation to make it easier to penalize lawmakers who attempt to fundraise during the session, said his campaign hasnt received any contributions or sought any. He and other lawmakers said they were not sure whether an online donation would even go through during the session.

[Gov. Larry Hogan raises $1.7 million in first year in office]

The public criticism sent other lawmakers scrambling to scrub their online presences of references to donations.

The Washington Post this week reviewed campaign websites for all 187 Maryland state lawmakers, along with cached versions, for signs of fundraising.

Six lawmakers have online forms for campaign contributions, and at least 11 others had donation pages that were active during the session but have been taken down. Another eight had listed an address to send in campaign checks, which is not as clear-cut of a violation.

Government ethics advocates say the fundraising ban is in place for good reason.

Legislators cannot accept donations with one hand and vote on issues related to that donor with the other, said Jennifer Bevan-Dangel, director of Common Cause Maryland. Even if the delegate or senator does return it, there is still a transaction where a donors name came into the legislators possession, and that can influence a legislators vote.

[Maryland is one of few states to notify public officials when the public views their financial filings]

In interviews, lawmakers said they werent trying to improperly collect money. Some said they had safeguards in place to prevent online donations from reaching their bank accounts during the session, which would mean they are in compliance with state rules. Several said they had simply neglected to shut down campaign websites that have not been an effective way of raising money.

I just totally forgot about it, said Del. Teresa E. Reilly (R-Harford), who recently disabled a donate button that she says was never used.

Its one of those things you dont think about it, and you dont even realize is a problem, said Del. Barbara A. Robinson (D-Baltimore City), whose site was authorized to collect donations as of Thursday.

Among those with active donation pages was Del. Marvin E. Holmes Jr. (D-Prince Georges), who is co-chair of the Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics.

I thought I had that taken care of, Holmes said, noting that a separate contribution page was disabled. Obviously we are not trying to skirt or sidestep the law.

Jared DeMarinis, the campaign finance director for the elections board, said lawmakers who have active donation links should remove them immediately and report violations to his agency.

The penalty for fundraising during the session is $1,000 plus the value of contributions, though officials said it is rarely enforced in cases where lawmakers inadvertently leave online donation pages running.

It is routine for political activists to scrub opponents websites for references to donations in an attempt to discredit them.

In Virginia, Del. Robert G. Marshall (R-Prince William) was criticized by Democrats last year for accepting contributions on his campaign website after the start of the legislative session. He returned the contributions and was not fined.

With the Virginia legislature back in session, Marshalls campaign website is again linking to a donation page. He did not return a message seeking comment. A review of the websites of the other 139 lawmakers in Virginia found no other active online donation pages.

Ashley Balcerzak and Samantha Hogan contributed to this report.

Here are the Maryland lawmakers whose websites included a request for online donations at some point during this legislative session:

Had online donation pages as of Thursday, which they say they will take down:

Del. Susan L. M. Aumann (R-Baltimore County)

Sen. Adelaide C. Eckardt (R-Eastern Shore)

Del. Marvin E. Holmes Jr. (D-Prince Georges)

Del. Michael W. McKay (R-Allegany)

Del. Barbara A. Robinson (D-Baltimore City)

Sen. Robert A. Zirkin (D-Baltimore County)

Had online donation pages earlier in the session that have been taken down:

Sen. Gail Bates (R-Howard)

Del. Wendell R. Beitzel (R-Garrett)

Del. William G. Folden (R-Frederick)

Sen. Steve Hershey (R-Queen Annes)

Del. Michael E. Malone (R-Anne Arundel)

Sen. Roger Manno (D-Montgomery County)

Del. Richard W. Metzger (R-Baltimore County)

Del. Neil C. Parrott (R-Washington County)

Del. Andrew Platt (D-Montgomery County)

Sen. Justin D. Ready (R-Carroll)

Del. Teresa Reilly (R-Harford)
An effort is underway to change the process Maryland uses to select the head of the state school system, a move that would increase the state Senates role and dilute the opinion of the state Board of Education, which is appointed by the governor.

A Senate committee on Wednesday heard testimony on a bill that would require the Senate to confirm the state Superintendent of Schools. The position has been filled by an interim superintendent since Lillian Lowery, the former superintendent resigned in September.

[Maryland schools superintendent announces resignation]

Its just a check and balance, said Sen. Paul Pinsky (D-Prince Georges), the lead sponsor in the Senate. House Majority Leader Anne Kaiser (D-Montgomery) has cross-filed the bill in the House.

Pinsky said inserting the Senate into the appointment process makes sense, given the trickle down effect the state superintendent has on local school policy. He said the measure would put Maryland in line with at least 14 other states, including New Jersey, Virginia and Pennsylvania, where the state legislature has a say in who is given the states top education job.

Guffrie M. Smith Jr., the president of the Maryland State Board of Education, said Senates involvement would muddy the process, arguing that it would make the process more political and would reduce the number of candidates interested in the position.

While the Board believes the senators share the goal of attracting highly qualified candidates, requiring Senate confirmation for this position will unintentionally inhibit the states ability to attract and recruit outstanding and well-qualified individuals to the state superintendency, due to the uncertainty introduced into the governance process, the unrealistic timetable, and the inherent risks of the confirmation process, Smith wrote in a letter to Sen. Joan Carter Conway (D-Baltimore), chairwoman of the Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee.

State education officials said they are working with a recruiter to do a nationwide search for Lowerys replacement. They expect to have finalists to choose from in the next two to three months. James R. Smith, who has been serving as an interim superintendent, was recently selected to head the Montgomery County school system.

[Interim state superintendent Jack Smith to lead Montgomery schools]

We want the best possible person in the job, said Matt Clark, a spokesman for Gov. Larry Hogan (R). He said if a new process prohibits potential candidates from considering the job the people of Maryland are being done a disservice.

Hogan has pushed some education policies that have not been received well by the Democratic-controlled legislature, including a measure last year to give charter schools greater authority and a proposal this year to provide tax credits to businesses that donate to schools. The tax credit is expected to help non-public schools more than public schools.

Hogan, who has nominated five new members to the board since his election, will appoint several more in the next year. Some legislators are quietly worried that some of Hogans policies could be enacted by the superintendent and school board rather than through the General Assembly.
Elizabeth Rupp said she always suspected that her ex-husband shot her on New Years Eve 17 years ago. He vanished afterward, and she didnt see him again until a chance encounter at a Panera restaurant in Abingdon in December.

Rupp said the scruffy man stopped her short. He looked like David Brian Evans, but she wanted to make sure. On Wednesday, she went back and convinced herself it was him. Then she dialed 911.

The chaos that erupted next claimed the lives of two Harford County sheriffs deputies in one of the deadliest days for Maryland law enforcement in recent memory. Authorities said that Evans, 68, unexpectedly fired at them and then was killed by other deputies.

The Harford County Sheriffs Office identified the victims Thursday as Senior Deputy Patrick Dailey, a 30-year veteran, and Senior Deputy Mark Logsdon, who had been with the office for 16 years. Both were military veterans and decorated officers who left families behind.

It was a horror. It was a horror, said Lynn Faulkner, a restaurant customer. Children were crying. Strangers that didnt know each other were hugging. You dont . . . take your daughter to brunch at Panera on a snow day and expect a sheriff to be shot and die.

[Two deputies killed in lunchtime shooting at a Maryland Panera Bread]

Faulkner, 56, of Fallston, Md., said she and daughter Sophia were sitting about 15 feet from Evans when the shooting began.

The police officer came in, Faulkner said. I had my back to it. The officer sat down at the mans table. I think he exchanged one sentence. Thats when he was shot and fell back in the chair.

Dailey never had a chance to even unholster his gun, Sheriff Jeffrey R. Gahler said.

Sophia Faulkner, 15, described the sound as ear-rattling. She said she and her mother scrambled under their table, fearing that Evans might begin shooting patrons. A family with three young children was sitting in front of him. But the Faulkners said Evans immediately fled out a back entrance and ran around to the front of the building. Another deputy started to give Dailey medical aid, and a customer bolted after Evans, helping authorities find him at a nearby senior living center.

Gahler said that other law enforcement officers established a perimeter and that Evans was found in a car. From the vehicle, Evans fired at Logsdon, who had been among the first on the scene. Logsdon was hit and later died.

Gahler said that Logsdon was able to return fire, shooting at least three rounds. He added that other deputies, who were coming from different directions, also opened fire and that Evans was killed.

Authorities found a semiautomatic handgun in Evanss vehicle, which he might have been living in. Gahler said the initial report shows the firearm was legally purchased in Pennsylvania in 1993.

He said that Evans did not want to be arrested  he had an outstanding Florida warrant for obstructing a police officer.

It is our belief that because he knew of the warrant out for his arrest and what the ultimate outcome would be, the sheriff said, thats the reason he took action.

Rupp, 67, of Aberdeen, Md., said the incident began about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, when she went to the Panera and confirmed that the man was her ex-husband. When she had seen Evans in December, she thought he appeared too short, she said.

Rupp said she was worried by Evans resurfacing after so many years. The Panera was close to the home of one of her three adult children with Evans, so she thought her family might be in danger.

Rupp said she and Evans had been married for 17 years before divorcing in 1989. She also said Evans began driving up and down the street near her Aberdeen home about a decade later. Soon after, Rupp said, she was shot in the neck while walking to her car on Dec. 31, 1998. Rupp didnt see her attacker, but she was convinced that it was Evans.

Rupp recovered. She said she believed that a warrant was issued for Evans in connection with her shooting. A spokeswoman for the sheriff said the office is aware of the alleged incident but cannot confirm any details.

In addition to the Florida warrant, Evans was wanted on a civil writ issued in Harford County for unpaid attorneys fees, Gahler said. The fees stemmed from an earlier civil court case.

Rupp said that no one in her family had seen or heard from Evans since the 1998 shooting and that she believed he was drifting around the country.

After confirming that the man at the Panera restaurant was Evans, she left and went to a Harford sheriffs office in Bel Air, Md., to report him. Rupp said she was told to call a dispatcher, and she explained about the 1998 shooting and said Evans was unstable.

[Son: Gunman who killed 2 deputies had emotional problems]

Faulkner said that Evans appeared disheveled and that she regularly saw him at the Panera. Authorities called Evans a vagrant and said that the restaurant staff took care of him, giving him a place setting with a name placard and food one day.

Rupp said that before her divorce from Evans, he had been a civil engineer. She said he began drinking heavily toward the end of their marriage. She said she was thankful for the officers who died and that her thoughts went out to their families.

I would say these officers were courageous and they bought my familys safety, Rupp said. I am thankful they are dedicated to what they do. I will pray for these officers every day. I feel horrible.

The slain deputies were remembered as model law enforcement officers.

Its absolutely devastating to the people that wear this uniform, Gahler at a news conference Thursday. There are no words. These men are heroes.

Gahler choked up as he stood before about a dozen deputies wearing black bands across their badges.

Outside the Panera, dozens of bouquets, teddy bears and candles were left in honor of the slain deputies. A sign on the front door said the restaurant would be closed until further notice out of respect for our community, our associates and our law enforcement team.

Gahler said Dailey was a former Marine who is survived by his girlfriend, mother and two sons. Dailey was one of six sheriffs deputies and civilians who received awards for helping rescue an 11-year-old child from a burning car in 2002. His family did not return calls seeking comment.

Dailey joined the Joppa-Magnolia Volunteer Fire Company on his 16th birthday, according to the group, which also said he was active there for 37 years. The fire department said that Daileys two sons also serve with the department.

We are taking this time to support Pats family and the Harford County Sheriffs Office, a statement from the fire department said.

Gahler said that Logsdon was an Army veteran and is survived by his wife and three children. In 2005, Logsdon was honored for persuading a suicidal man with a shotgun to put down his weapon. Someone who answered the phone at a number for Logsdons parents home declined to comment.

Logsdons daughter offered a tribute to her father on her Facebook page:

To say I am proud of you is a complete understatement, Bethany Logsdon wrote. I am so happy for the time I had with you. I am so thankful for all of the people that you protected. You are my best friend. You are my hero. I will love you forever. I am so sad our time got cut short. I am so angry that someone took this from us. I love you.

Peter Hermann, Jennifer Jenkins, Julie Tate, Ovetta Wiggins and Julie Zauzmer contributed to this report.
Deonte Carraway, 22, a volunteer at Judge Sylvania Woods Elementary school in Glenarden, Md., has admitted to making child pornography with at least 10 students during the school day. (WUSA9)

Deonte Carraway, 22, a volunteer at Judge Sylvania Woods Elementary school in Glenarden, Md., has admitted to making child pornography with at least 10 students during the school day. (WUSA9)

A meeting at a Prince Georges County elementary school roiled by child pornography charges drew hundreds of parents and grandparents Thursday night, many of them angry and demanding to know how a school volunteer was able to make videos of children performing sex acts on school grounds during the school day.

Police initially identified 10 victims in the case, but by Thursday that number had grown to 12, and officials in the suburban Maryland county said they think more victims may be identified as the investigation continues.

Deonte Carraway, 22, of Glenarden had been volunteering at Judge Sylvania W. Woods Elementary since September. He has been charged with 10 counts of felony child pornography and has admitted creating dozens of videos, in which he sometimes can be seen or heard directing children ages 9 to 13 to perform sex acts, police said.

[Child-porn investigation widens at Prince Georges school]

On Thursday night, parents and grandparents filled nearly every folding chair in the multipurpose room at Sylvania Woods, in Glenarden. Spanish-speaking parents formed a line to receive headsets translating officials remarks, but officials ran out after distributing more than three dozen.

Deonte Carraway (Prince George's County Police Department)

As the program got underway, parents had pointed questions for school personnel and law enforcement officials. A grandparent of three children at Sylvania Woods asked how Carraway could have been so unsupervised that he was able to produce the videos at school.

I have those very same questions about how these things can happen when there are other adults in the school, schools chief executive Kevin Maxwell said. I dont have those answers, adding that investigators are examining the issue.

Other parents asked about Carraways hiring, about background checks for adults in the school, and about efforts to improve security for students in and around school bathrooms. They also asked whether the school system would assist in transferring victimized students to other schools and whether the principal, Michelle Williams, would lose her job.

Maxwell said officials have been hearing that people did not properly report things and he vowed to retrain every employee in the school system. He told parents that any employees found not to have fulfilled their responsibilities will be dealt with accordingly, but he said he could not answer whether Williams will be retained.

Detectives stood shoulder to shoulder against one wall, prepared to share case information with parents. Scott Hinckley of the FBIs Baltimore field office said that every person in the child sex crimes squad is working the case and will continue following leads to find more victims. Its going to take a long time to get to the bottom of this, Hinckley said.

The meeting stretched for more than two hours after Prince Georges officials said they would stay until parents has asked all of their questions. Over and over, officials said they could not answer because of the ongoing investigation, a refrain that parents eventually greeted with scoffing.

But the anguish was clear: One parent said she was afraid that her child was a victim, and there was nothing she could do to console him. Another said her daughter was scared to go to school. A third said that her child had spoken often about Carraway since the news of the investigation broke. I am very scared, the parent said.

[He always had six or seven kids around. Its a little strange]

The meeting came the same day that lawyers filed a class-action lawsuit against the county school board on behalf of all current and former students who were allegedly abused by Carraway. School officials have said that Carraway volunteered in the library, but the lawsuit alleges that Carraway told parents he directed the school choir  and that he then used that position to gain access to students, according to the lawsuit.

In the complaint, a fifth-grade boy alleges that Carraway removed students from classes to exploit them. The boy was part of the choir, which practiced on Friday evenings, the complaint says.

The allegations echo accusations made in a separate lawsuit that was filed Wednesday by the same lawyers on behalf of a 9-year-old boy, also a Sylvania Woods student.

A spokeswoman for the school system did not immediately respond Thursday evening to requests for a response to the lawsuits.

Besides the school board, both suits name Carraway and Williams, the principal, as defendants.

Williams, who has not responded to emailed requests for comment, has been placed on paid leave, a move that schools officials described as a cautionary measure given the ongoing investigation. A representative of the principals union said Wednesday that Williams had immediately reported concerns about Carraway to police and Child Protective Services when she became aware of them.

Anyone who works at a school is required to immediately report suspicions of sexual abuse to the countys protective services division, and to follow up with a written report within 48 hours, according to the school systems written procedures.

Carraway is being held on $1 million bond. In addition to the videos made at Sylvania Woods, police said recordings occurred at Glenarden Municipal Center, the Theresa Banks Memorial Aquatic Center and in homes.

Carraways family released a statement expressing shock and sorrow and promising to continue cooperating with investigators. As a family who loves him dearly, we must stress that we do not condone the behaviors in question that has victimized numerous families and brought unimaginable fear and sadness to our community as a whole, the statement said.

[Elementary school volunteer arrested in child porn investigation]

Isabel Herrera left Thursday nights meeting before it was over. She said she didnt get the answers she wanted.

She said she had hoped to find out who was responsible for Carraway and why he had seemingly unfettered access to the children. She listened to the panel of school officials and questions through a headset that translated into Spanish all that was being said.

But Herrera said that even after hearing it in Spanish, what happened doesnt make sense.

The school principal is like the mother of a household  she is supposed to watch everything, Herrera said. I dont know who was watching.

Hamil R. Harris and Donna St. George contributed to this report. Investigators ask anyone with information about this case to call 800-CALL-FBI or 301-772-4930.
A man was fatally shot Wednesday afternoon near a public library in the Anacostia neighborhood of Southeast Washington, D.C. police said.

Police were called to the 1800 U Place SE, about a half block behind the Anacostia Neighborhood Library, for the report of a shooting about 4 p.m., said Officer Hugh Carew, a police spokesman. The victim was found semi-conscious and breathing and authorities took him to a hospital in critical condition.

Several hours later, police said he died of his wounds.

Police did not release information about a possible assailant or a motive.
Prince William County police believe that a person whose bones were found last month in the woods in the Manassas area was a victim of murder.

The human remains were found near the 8000 block of Barrett Drive on Jan. 13. On Thursday, the police department announced that they believe the victim was murdered.

Officer Nathan Probus said that investigators are still working with the medical examiners office in the hope of identifiying the victim. So far, they know only that he was an adult man.

Probus said that officers hope dental records or DNA might identify the man.

He would not say how the medical examiners office came to its preliminary finding that the man was murdered.
Russia's Defence Ministry said on Thursday that U.S. aircraft had carried out a bombing attack on the Syrian town of Aleppo on Wednesday, which the U.S. later said had been carried out by Russian planes, the TASS agency reported.

TASS cited a defense ministry spokesman as saying that two U.S. A-10 ground attack aircraft, flying from Turkey, had bombed objects in Aleppo.

The spokesman also said that a Pentagon spokesman had accused Russia of bombing two hospitals in the town on Wednesday.

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The suspected drunk driver who fatally struck a Montgomery County police officer working on DUI enforcement two months ago was indicted Thursday on a vehicular-manslaughter charge, according to police officials.

Luis Gustavo Reluzco, 47, of Olney could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison if convicted. Because the charge is considered a nonviolent offense under Maryland parole rules, he would then be eligible for parole consideration after serving 25 percent of the sentence.

The death of Officer Noah Leotta, 24, devastated his family and was felt deeply by fellow officers and residents. He was an energetic, likable officer who was passionate about getting drunk drivers off the road.

The case also has spurred efforts to toughen laws and penalties for drunken driving in Maryland. On Wednesday, state lawmakers and officials from Mothers Against Drunk Driving held a news conference on a bill  dubbed Noahs Law  that would require wider use of breath-test devices to prevent drivers from s tarting their cars if they have been drinking.

Reluzco turned himself in to the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office on Thursday afternoon in the company of his attorney, John Roth, and was taken to the county jail.

Montgomery County Police Officer Noah Leotta, who was hit by a suspected drunk driver on Thursday, Dec. 3. (Courtesy of Montgomery County police)

Words cannot express how sorry and remorseful he is for what occurred, Roth said, adding, There are no excuses; he makes no excuses.

Roth said that Reluzco had been driving over the legal limit but that he did not know his exact blood alcohol concentration.

The indictment filed in court Thursday, as is standard for such documents, does not provide details of the alleged offenses. But it represents the first criminal charges in the case, which investigators have been working on since the Dec. 3 crash.

According to a police incident report, Reluzco told an officer at the crash scene hed had too much to drink and had been driving from a nearby Hooters restaurant. Reluzco also had smoked marijuana before the collision, Montgomery Police Chief Tom Manger said in December.

Reluzco also was indicted for a traffic violation: failure to avoid a stopped emergency vehicle, commonly known as the move-over law. The offense carries a fine of $750 in the case of death or serious injury.

Reluzco has worked as a bartender at the Bethesda Country Club, according to a LinkedIn profile that shares his name. In December, after the crash, a spokesman for the club said Reluzco was on leave but declined to comment further.

Reluzcos attorney said his client has spent much of his life in Montgomery County, where he now helps raise a grandson.

A hearse carries the body of officer Noah Leotta to Judean Memorial Gardens in Olney in December. (Photo by Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post)

He is a decent human being, Roth said, and he realizes the gravity of his actions.

Reluzco has been praying daily for the Leotta family and will do so for the remainder of his life, Roth said.

In cases involving drunken-driving fatalities, grand juries have indicted suspects on two charges: vehicular manslaughter and homicide while driving drunk, the latter carrying a maximum sentence of five years. Had the grand jury done so in this case, the counts could not be combined at sentencing, according to longtime Maryland attorneys asked about the case.

You cant be punished twice for the same wrongful act, said David Felsen, a defense lawyer in Rockville.

Its unclear whether Reluzco, if convicted of vehicular manslaughter, would get the full 10 years. According to a recent analysis by police officials of similar cases in the county, sentences averaged four years.

The night of Dec. 3, after leaving Hooters, Reluzco got behind the wheel of his Honda CR-V and drove north on Rockville Pike, police said.

Just one mile away, Leotta had already pulled over a car in the right-hand lane. With his lights flashing, he slanted his car to protect himself, got out and approached that driver, according law enforcement officials. Then, as he was walking back to his cruiser to step inside, he was exposed briefly to traffic.

It is at that point, according to the investigation of the crash, that Reluzcos CR-V struck Leottas cruiser. The CR-V then struck Leotta, who suffered massive head injuries and was rushed to Suburban Hospital in Bethesda.

[Numbed by death of colleague. police tear up seeing kids lining procession route]

Reluzco stayed at the scene and was behind the wheel of his CR-V when another officer approached, according to the incident report. The vehicle showed significant front-end damage, and when Reluzco spoke, his speech was slurred, according to the report.

He was asked to step out of the car. He failed a walk and turn test and declined to try a one-leg stand, according to the report. I choose not to do that, because I had too much to drink, the report says he told the officer.

He generally had trouble standing straight. My balance wont let me do it, probably because I drank too much, Reluzco said, according to the incident report.

He was taken to a police station, where he refused to give a breath test, police said. Because of the nature of Leottas injuries, officers were able to order a blood sample from Reluzco, which they obtained at Shady Grove Hospital, according to the report and officials. The results of those tests have not been made public.

Leotta died Dec. 10 at the hospital.

Reluzco had been arrested twice before on drunken-driving charges, in 1988 and 1990, according to county police.

[Maryland officer killed on duty is laid to rest]

A manager at the Hooters previously declined comment and referred inquiries to a national spokeswoman. In a December statement, the restaurant chain said it was saddened to learn of Leottas death and is keeping his family in our thoughts and prayers. At this time it would be inappropriate for Hooters to comment further on the matter or the investigation.
In the war over what it means for a vehicle to park or stand outside Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia taxi driver Yahia H. Fayed has prevailed.

A federal judge in Alexandria declared Thursday that Fayed, 35, who was convicted for violating Reserved Parking NPS Permit Required signs by the cemeterys entrance on Memorial Avenue, was technically idling in search of tourists  not parked. The judge ordered the reversal of Fayeds citations and convictions, ruling that because he remained in his car with the engine on, he was not parked by dictionary definitions.

The terms park, parking, and parked are not defined in any National Park Service or other applicable regulations or statutes, wrote U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga. The Court is therefore required to construe those terms in accordance with their plain and commonly understood meaning.

Fayed, a father of four who lives in Woodbridge, often idled in his marked gray taxi on the stretch of road leading into the cemetery because so many exiting tourists needed rides home or to other Washington destinations.

But he repeatedly ran afoul of the National Park Service and estimated that he had been issued about 15 tickets in the past two years. One U.S. Park Police officer even conducted a stakeout behind bushes in an effort to catch him in the act of parking.

With the judges order, those citations were reversed.

[A taxi drivers war with U.S. Park Police outside Arlington National Cemetery]

In his ruling, Trenga also found that the Reserved Parking signs that Fayed supposedly violated are ambiguously worded and do not clearly rule out idling or standing.

The term Reserved Parking is clearly intended to restrict the right to park to NPS permit holders. But what is reserved to NPS permit holders under a reasonable reading of the sign is the right to park; the sign does not necessarily indicate that all other non-interfering uses are prohibited.

In an interview, Fayed said he was elated.

I feel happy now. The judge made the right decision. He knows this was wrong, Fayed said. I was just sitting inside my car waiting inside for two or three minutes.

Fayeds attorney, Todd Richman, said in a statement: We believe the Court reached the correct and fair result, and were appreciative of the Courts careful consideration of the issues we raised in Mr. Fayeds appeal.

Chandana Kolavala, a prosecutor handling the case, declined to comment.
Interstate 66 in Arlington, Va. The highway will be widened and tolled inside the Capital Beltway under a compromise between Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) and Republican state lawmakers. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

Traffic-choked Interstate 66, one of the most important and painful paths into the nations capital, will be widened and tolled inside the Capital Beltway under a new compromise with Republican legislators, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) said Wednesday, raising the prospect that one of the regions great commuting bottlenecks may see some improvement over the next four years.

The compromise has much to like, or complain about, depending on who is doing the judging and where they live. It tacks on ever-unpopular tolls, although carpools get a free pass. It also greenlights a modest widening, an idea that has long raised the ire of many of the roads neighbors. And much of the toll revenue will be channeled into local transportation projects.

Tolls are set to begin in 2017, and the four-mile widening in the eastbound direction between the Dulles Connector Road and Ballston could open by fall 2019, officials said.

Arlington County declared itself disappointed by the deal. But significantly, officials made no public threats to pursue the kind of legal challenges that stymied efforts to improve Interstate 395 in Arlington, which is proud of its reliance on Metro, bike trails and other means of getting around outside the confines of an automobile.

Republican candidates and legislators had made their opposition to an earlier McAuliffe administration tolling and transit plan a prominent feature of campaigns last fall. Those lawmakers had threatened to block tolling, which could have undermined broader efforts to improve the lives of Northern Virginia commuters who depend on I-66.

The deal is the latest significant compromise McAuliffe has reached with the Republican-controlled General Assembly, following a sharply contested agreement on recognizing concealed-carry permits from other states. That, too, is drawing strong reactions.

[Bloomberg gun-safety group has a new target: Terry McAuliffe]

Widening and tolling are not the answer. Theres a lack of a holistic vision from the governor and, in some cases, the [Arlington County] board, said Kelly Alexis, who lives two blocks from the highway near the East Falls Church Metro station. The sales consultant calls the coming toll road the rich mans funnel and says that adding new costs to high Arlington taxes will prove unaffordable for many.

And longer-term problems remain unaddressed in the deal, Alexis said, including other bottlenecks that arent slated for similar upgrades. What happens at the Teddy Roosevelt Bridge when more of these cars are shoved down I-66? she asked.

But Allen Muchnick, who helped found a group in Arlington nearly 17 years ago to oppose widening plans, said that although he, too, was disappointed, It could be a lot worse.

You got to make lemonade out of lemons . . . At least were not widening highways willy-nilly and not tolling them, said Muchnick, who called the deal a reasonable compromise.

Muchnick noted that the unusual carpool restrictions on I-66 inside the Beltway, which are supposed to prevent cars with fewer than two people from driving on any of the lanes during peak times, have been a failure . . . the enforcement is difficult. The cheating is widespread.

One problem: Ferreting out scofflaws is tough because state troopers dont know if single drivers are headed to the airport, one of several exceptions to the carpool rules.

At least under the compromise, Muchnick said, drivers with no passengers will have to pay, which should make driving smoother and faster for commuter buses and carpools. And the money raised can be spent in thoughtful ways to move people through communities faster.

The McAuliffe administrations original plan called for financing any widening through the toll revenues, and only after investments in transit and other improvements were given a chance to work.

Under the deal announced Wednesday, the cost of the widening, located in a stretch where traffic is heaviest, will be financed through the state budget, at a cost of up to about $140 million, state transportation officials said. It also will be done years earlier than envisioned.

The deal anticipates that the General Assembly would kill legislation that blocked tolling before widening. That includes House Bill 1, sponsored by Del. James M. LeMunyon (R), whose district includes parts of Fairfax and Loudoun counties.

Under an agreement with the state, the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission will pick a set of programs designed to help I-66 commuters leave their cars behind and allocate some of the toll revenue to those programs. The programs would be in effect before the widening is completed.

The carpool rules requiring at least two people in a vehicle will remain in effect until 2020, when three people will be required. Hybrid car drivers, who can drive solo in the carpool lanes under an exemption, will have to pay tolls once the system is in place.

Transportation officials said the deal also removes some of the doubts about whether the states plan to create toll and carpool lanes between Haymarket and the Beltway could proceed. Officials had warned that this bigger project could become impractical and too expensive if the project inside the Beltway were to be blocked through legislation.

This is a comprehensive solution, Virginia Transportation Secretary Aubrey Layne said. By 2020, the entire I-66 corridor from University Boulevard in Prince William to the Potomac River will be transformed and will work better for commuters.

Taken as a whole, these are probably the most extensive changes to 66 since its inception, Layne said of the inside- and outside-the-Beltway projects.

Layne, the Virginia Department of Transportation and the Department of Rail and Public Transportation have spent the past two years developing plans to expand the states network of high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes onto I-66.

Although any plan to toll drivers generates opposition, the plan for I-66 inside the Beltway is unusual, because drivers will start paying tolls before the widening is complete. Other projects on the Beltway and Interstate 95  and the one proposed for I-66 outside the Beltway  involved an expansion of lanes.

The state estimates the average one-way toll would be about $6, although it could be higher because the tolls will rise or fall depending on the level of traffic.
State Sen. L. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) works at her desk on the floor of the Senate at the Capitol in Richmond. (Steve Helber/AP)

The Democratic state senator who almost helped Republicans win a bitter judicial-nomination battle this week said she rebelled against Gov. Terry McAuliffe and his allies because she believes that leaders of her party have ignored black lawmakers concerns.

Sen. L. Louise Lucas (Portsmouth) said her short-lived alliance with the GOP had little to do with who sits on the bench.

Instead, she said, her move grew out of long-simmering grievances with fellow Senate Democrats, who she said have passed over black senators for key committee slots, taken their votes for granted, and left them to fend for themselves in partisan and personal battles with Republicans.

Im getting tired of being treated like Im invisible, Lucas said in an emotional interview with The Washington Post and the Virginian-Pilot. Its always just, You sit there and you be good, and just vote with us and well take care of you. Well, I didnt get elected to do that.

[Va. Democrat bolts party amid court fight but quickly reneges]

Senate Minority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax) said he has pushed hard for Lucas and the rest of the black caucus while juggling many other responsibilities.

Its no state secret  I can be a little insensitive from time to time, Saslaw said. Sometimes people feel ignored. . . . [But] I have an impeccable civil rights voting record. Ive done a lot of things behind the scenes, prevented a lot of bad things from happening. Sometimes, people dont see that.

Lucass brief break from the Democrats ultimately did not affect Richmonds protracted tug of war over a Supreme Court slot, which is back to a stalemate. But the incident exposed a painful racial fissure within the Democratic caucus. The rift comes at a particularly awkward time for McAuliffe (D), who is trying to persuade the same minority-heavy coalition that twice played a key role in electing President Obama to back the governors close friend Hillary Clinton in the March 1 presidential primary.

Yet there was some upside for McAuliffe, too. Lucas credited him for taking her complaints seriously and summoning party leaders to his office Wednesday in an attempt to work them out. He also talked Lucas out of helping the GOP replace his pick for the high court, at least temporarily heading off a humiliating loss.

Part of her frustration with Saslaw, Lucas said, comes from what she called an unwillingness to help resolve a long-running battle between her and Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr. (R-James City). She described Saslaws relationship with Norment as cozy, cozy.

In explaining the underlying beef with Norment, Lucas described a profane verbal clash that took place three years ago in a private lounge just off the ornate Senate floor. She also recalled a fight in another Senate anteroom between herself and another female Democrat, which she said nearly turned physical.

Both accounts present a sharp break from the seemingly genteel operations of Richmonds upper chamber, where senators observe strict protocol even during fiercely partisan debates. Norment, in particular, usually stands as a symbol of that gentility, enforcing arcane rules and speaking old-fashioned flourishes. He is known for sporting formal three-piece suits and bright-pink ties.

But Lucas said he was far from courtly three years ago, when she asked him why he would not appoint her to a panel studying Hampton Roads transportation, a top concern in her traffic-choked district.

Tommy said, The reason why I dont want to vote for you is because you aint gonna do s---,  Lucas said. And I said, Just watch my black ass. . . . And he says, I dont want to watch your black ass. And I said, Well, then: You keep your little, narrow white ass, little J.C. Penney-little-boys-department-wearing-suits out of my [expletive] face. 

Lucas said that Saslaw walked in on the argument, and she called him over. Instead of getting involved, she said, he makes a beeline out.

Through a spokesman, Norment called Lucass account a prevarication. He said that he put himself on the transportation panel, instead of Lucas, because it lacked representation from the area he serves.

Lucas also described nearly coming to blows years ago with Sen. Janet D. Howell after the Fairfax Democrat chastised her. She said, Where were you when I needed your vote?  Lucas recalled. And I said, When did I become your [expletive] servant?  The argument, which began in the chamber, grew so loud that the Senate clerk shooed them into a back room, Lucas said.

Howell did not respond to a request for comment about the incident.

Such clashes, Lucas said, added to the frustration she feels as a result of a succession of perceived slights by other lawmakers. She noted, for example, that she and Howell joined the Senate the same day in 1992 but that Howell, who is white, landed a seat on the prestigious finance committee many years before Lucas did.

On Tuesday, Lucas heard a rumor that another Senate Democrat was going to back the GOPs pick for the Supreme Court  Appeals Court Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr.  in exchange for getting to elevate a judge from that lawmakers district to Alstons current slot. McAuliffe and the GOP had been battling for weeks over the court seat, and the defection of a single Democratic senator meant the Republicans would win.

Lucas wondered why deals like that never seemed to come her way. She found herself talking to Norment, her old GOP nemesis. In the end, she said, she agreed to give her own vote to the GOP, as long as a judge she supported from Portsmouth  Circuit Court Judge Kenneth R. Melvin  would get to replace Alston.

As news of her defection spread, McAuliffe called Lucas in for a meeting. Soon afterward, the senator issued a statement saying that Melvin was not interested in a promotion. She was back in the Democratic fold.

On Wednesday morning, McAuliffe brought in Howell, Saslaw and the Democratic caucus chairman, Sen. A. Donald McEachin (D-Henrico), to meet with Lucas and Sen. Mamie E. Locke (D-Hampton), an ally of Lucass who is also in the Senates five-member black caucus.

I said [to Saslaw], If Ive got to work my own deals because I cant get you to resolve the differences between us . . . ,  Lucas recalled in the interview, her voice trailing off, eyes welling. But it was the wrong time, wasnt it? I picked the wrong thing.

Lucas said she has complained over the years not just to Saslaw but also to McEachin, who is black. She said that McEachin has listened but, working through Saslaw, has been unable to help. Through an aide, McEachin declined to comment on internal caucus matters.

Saslaw said he had tried to help Lucas advance in a chamber where party control has switched back and forth in recent years. The only time weve had committee assignments since Ive been in leadership was in January 2008, and she got put on Finance then, he said. I made things happen for her.

Sen. Barbara A. Favola (D-Arlington) called Saslaw a very decent and fair leader. His values are in the right place. . . . You dont want to be in a foxhole with anybody else but Dick Saslaw.
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe was joined by members of the House and Senate as he announced a compromise on gun legislation. (Steve Helber/AP)

Virginia voters want hospitals to pay for Medicaid expansion, dont want businesses to deny service to gay customers and do support background checks at gun shows, a new poll shows.

Christopher Newport Universitys Judy Ford Wason Center for Public Policy surveyed voters on hot-button issues before the General Assembly. Results show Republicans, Democrats and presidential hopeful Donald Trump each know something about what Virginia voters want.

When it comes to statewide officials job performance, public opinion of Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) backtracked to 45 percent from 51 percent around this time last year, but he has stayed within a nine-point range since taking office.

Attorney General Mark Herring (D) also slipped following his decision to stop Virginias practice of recognizing concealed carry handgun permits with 25 states that had weaker regulations. Voters gave him a 33 percent approval-27 percent disapproval rating in January, compared with a 39 percent approval-19 percent disapproval rating in September.

In December, Virginia's attorney general announced it would no longer honor concealed-carry handgun permits from 25 states. Now thanks to a bipartisan deal with the governor, that declaration won't got into effect on Feb. 1st. Heres why. (Ashleigh Joplin/The Washington Post)

Gun laws

A slim majority of voters say they support Herrings move, but voters are deeply divided along partisan lines with Democrats and liberals strongly supporting it, and Republicans and conservatives strongly opposing it.

Areas with the most Democratic voters  Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads  support the decision as do voters likely to vote for Democrats, including women. On the question of making private gun sales and sales at gun shows subject to background checks, 88 percent of voters are supportive, reflecting support for part of a deal McAuliffe and GOP lawmakers recently struck. The agreement includes voluntary checks at gun shows.

These data suggest that Democrats who campaign on gun control in Virginia will be dependent upon key elements of their electorate showing up to vote: women, minorities, independents, and voters under 45, said Quentin Kidd, a CNU political scientist and pollster. These voters explain why Democrats are more eager to talk about gun control.

[Va. House passes guns deal over objections]

Loyalty Pledge

Poll results suggest Trump was justified in saying independent voters would shy away from voting for the Republican nominee in the March 1 primary if they had to sign a loyalty pledge affirming they were Republicans. The state party ultimately reversed its earlier decision to impose the pledge.

By a 2-1 margin, self-identified Republicans, independents who lean Republican and independents opposed the pledge. Nearly three-quarters of independents were opposed and almost two-thirds of Republican voters were strongly opposed. Sizable chunks of independent and moderate voters went as far as to say they were less likely to vote in the primary because of the pledge, which the party calls a statement of affiliation.

Medicaid

Support for the general notion of expanding Medicaid under the federal Affordable Care Act stands at 61 percent with support among a majority of African Americans, ideological liberals and Democrats.

More than half of Republicans and conservatives oppose extending coverage to 400,000 uninsured Virginians. Their argument that the federal government will not pay its entire share in the future resonates with 62 percent of voters, and especially younger voters and women.

Virginia hospitals recently offered to pay for the states share of expanding Medicaid with a 3 percent tax on revenue  an idea voters generally like, according to the poll.

Gay rights

More than half of Virginia voters solidly oppose a proposal to allow businesses to refuse services to gay and lesbian couples based upon religious beliefs, but ideological conservatives and Republicans support the measure.

The Virginia electorate has moved dramatically on same sex marriage since voters banned it by approving the Virginia Marriage Amendment in 2006, Kidd said. Today, a fairly decisive majority say businesses should not be able to discriminate against gay and lesbian couples even if homosexuality violates their religious beliefs.
MISSISSIPPI

Court reverses decision to stop executions

A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday reversed a decision that halted executions in Mississippi, finding that a lower court abused its discretion when it blocked the use of certain lethal-injection drugs.

The ruling upholds the three-drug protocol proposed by Mississippi as it and other states struggle to obtain the chemicals needed to enforce the death penalty.

Jim Craig, lawyer for two death row inmates challenging the protocol, said the inmates could request a review of the case by the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.

U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate issued a preliminary injunction last August barring Mississippis corrections department from executing prisoners using compounded pentobarbital or midazolam.

The drugs have been used in botched executions and are not in the class of drugs specified by Mississippi law for lethal injections, convicted murderers Richard Jordan and Ricky Chase argued.But the three-judge appeals panel Wednesday found the prisoners failed to show the drugs would impose an atypical and significant hardship on them.

 Reuters

TEXAS

Former priest charged with murder

A former Catholic priest has been charged in a 55-year-old murder case in which he is suspected of beating and raping a beauty queen in south Texas shortly after taking her last confession, authorities said Wednesday.

John Feit, 83, was arrested on Tuesday evening in Arizona in connection with the 1960 slaying of Irene Garza, 25, in McAllen, Tex., according to the Maricopa County Sheriffs Office in Arizona.

He is being held on $750,000 bond pending extradition to Texas. During an initial court appearance Wednesday, Feit told a Maricopa County judge that he will fight the return to Texas.

Garza, a former Miss South Texas and second-grade schoolteacher, was last seen giving confession during Holy Week at Sacred Heart Catholic Church on April 16, 1960, according to the Texas Rangers cold case website. Her body was found five days later in a nearby canal. An autopsy showed that Garza had been raped while comatose and died of suffocation.

 Reuters

Former Los Angeles sheriff to plead guilty to lying to investigators: Former Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca has agreed to plead guilty to lying to investigators during a federal corruption probe that tainted his career, prosecutors said Wednesday. Baca stepped down from the helm of the nations largest sheriffs department in 2014 amid the probe that led to charges against underlings for beating inmates and for trying to thwart an FBI investigation into those beatings. He would spend up to six months in jail under terms of his plea agreement, if accepted by a judge, U.S. Attorney Eileen Decker said.

Homeless woman, 2 infants killed in New York motel: A homeless 26-year-old woman and two of her daughters, a 4-month-old and a 1-year-old, were stabbed to death at a motel in the New York City borough of Staten Island on Monday, police said. A third daughter, 2, who was also stabbed, was in stable condition after surgery. Police were searching for the man suspected of attacking the family at a Ramada Inn. He was the father of the youngest child, city officials said.

Girl lying in crib killed by bullet likely meant for her father: A 1-year-old girl lying in her crib at home in Compton, Calif., was struck in the head and killed by a bullet probably meant for her gang-member father, Los Angeles County sheriffs officials said Wednesday. The girl died in one of the most violent areas of Los Angeles County after a gunman got out of a car and fired at least five rounds Tuesday evening at a converted garage where the child and her parents live. Compton Mayor Aja Brown identified the child as Autumn Johnson.

Dallas votes to bar erotica expo: The Dallas city council voted 8 to 7 Wednesday to ban an erotica expo featuring porn stars, sex-toy sales and a whipping dungeon from the city-owned convention center, with event opponents saying it could taint the citys image. The Exxxotica Expo was held in Dallas last year.

 From news services
The father of Aylan Kurdi, the Syrian toddler whose drowning shocked the world last year, went on trial on Thursday along with two alleged people smugglers accused of causing the death of migrants.

A photograph of the three-year-old, face down in the sand on a Turkish beach in his toddler's clothes, caused horror when it was published in September 2015 after his family decided to make the risky journey to Greece in an open boat.

Aylan's mother Rihana and brother Ghaleb, four, also died in the same accident.

The trial of Syrian nationals Muwafaka Alabash and Asem Alfrhad opened at the criminal court in the western Turkish resort of Bodrum, the Dogan news agency reported. If convicted, they face up to 35 years in jail.

They are charged of smuggling migrants and causing the deaths of five people, including Aylan Kurdi, his brother and mother when their boat sank while on its way to Greece.

But also on trial in absentia was Aylan Kurdi's father, Abdullah Kurdi, who survived the sinking of the boat, on accusations of being an organiser of the smuggling. The precise charges against him were not made clear.

Both of the defendants in court strongly incriminated Abdullah Kurdi as a well-known organiser of people smuggling in the Bodrum area, accusing him of being responsible for the deaths and driving the boat at the time of the disaster.

But Dogan said the court had decided to drop the legal proceedings against Abdullah Kurdi, without specifying further.

Abdullah Kurdi, from the mainly Kurdish Syrian town of Kobane on the Turkish border, is currently believed to be outside of Turkey and spending some of his time in northern Iraq.

He became a prominent figure through media interviews at the time of the disaster and also gave the traditional "alternative" Christmas message in 2015 on British TV's Channel 4.

His family, many of whom are now based in Canada, had previously rubbished similar allegations against him broadcast by foreign television as "ridiculous".

"The real criminal here, the organiser, is Abdullah Kurdi, who became a hero on television but did not even testify," said Asem Alfrhad in court.

Muwafaka Alabash said he had been told before coming to Bodrum to "'find Abdullah Kurdi, he does the migrant smuggling'. I found him in Bodrum. Everyone knew him. His collected money from his people."

The court also heard testimony from Syrian refugee Emin Haydar, who witnessed and survived the sinking, and said that Abdullah Kurdi had been "driving the boat" at the time.

"While the person behind this gives TV interviews, the two victims remain behind bars," said Alfrhad's lawyer Duygu Cakmak Bisen.

"It is clear that my client received no money from anyone," he added, saying his client had only wanted to go to Europe.

The trial was adjourned until an unspecified date. The court rejected pleas from the defence to release the Syrians, ruling they must stay in custody as they had no address and constituted a flight risk.

Turkey has become the major hub for Syrian, Afghan, Iraqi, Eritrean and other refugees and migrants seeking to undertake the risky crossing to the European Union in a flow that has caused huge alarm across the continent.

The Turkish government struck a deal with the EU in November to halt the flow of refugees, in return for three billion euros ($3.2 billion) in financial assistance.

But the deal and wintry weather in the Mediterranean do not appear to have deterred the migrants, with an average of 2,000 people still arriving on the Greek islands daily.

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The FBI surrounded the last four occupiers of a wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon on Wednesday night as the holdouts argued with a negotiator and yelled at law enforcement officers in armored vehicles to back off.

The tense standoff between the officers and the four occupiers was being livestreamed on the Internet by an acquaintance of David Fry, one of the holdouts.

Fry, 27, of Blanchester, Ohio, sounded increasingly unraveled as he continually yelled, at times hysterically, at what he said was an FBI negotiator.

Youre going to hell. Kill me. Get it over with, he said. Were innocent people camping at a public facility, and youre going to murder us.

The only way were leaving here is dead or without charges, Fry said, telling the FBI to get the hell out of Oregon.

Fry said the group was surrounded by armored vehicles.

Fry and the three others are the remnants of an armed group that seized the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Jan. 2 to oppose federal land-use policies. The others are Jeff Banta, 46, of Elko, Nev.; and married couple Sean Anderson, 48, and Sandy Anderson, 47, of Riggins, Idaho.

Greg Bretzing, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon, said in a statement that the situation had reached a point where it became necessary to take action to ensure the safety of all involved.

After the group was surrounded, Sandy Anderson said, Theyre threatening us. Theyre getting closer. I pray that theres a revolution if we die here tonight.

The occupiers said they saw snipers on a hill and a drone.

The standoff was occurring on the 40th day of the occupation, launched by Ammon Bundy and his followers to protest federal management of public lands and the prison terms for two local ranchers on arson charges.

The four had refused to leave even after Bundy and others were arrested on a remote road outside the refuge Jan. 26. During those arrests, police officers shot and killed Arizona rancher Robert LaVoy Finicum, who the FBI says was reaching for a gun.

Most of the occupiers fled the refuge after that. Authorities then surrounded the property and later got the holdouts added to an indictment charging 16 people with conspiracy to interfere with federal workers.

The four recently posted a series of defiant videos in which Fry shows a defensive perimeter they have built and takes a joy ride in a government vehicle. Fry says the FBI told him he faces additional charges because of the barricades.

At first, Bundy urged the holdouts to go home. But in response to the grand jury indictment, he took a more defiant tone from jail.
In an attempt to resolve Flints water crisis, officials want to remove and replace lead-ridden water pipes. Heres why this undertaking will be a challenge. (Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post)

In an attempt to resolve Flints water crisis, officials want to remove and replace lead-ridden water pipes. Heres why this undertaking will be a challenge. (Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post)

Thousands of people in Flint, Mich., are turning to the courts to seek compensation for the contamination of their water supply. But, despite clear evidence of widespread lead exposure, they face formidable legal obstacles and long waits for any money they ultimately might receive, according to experts.

Ten separate lawsuits, including several class-action suits, have been filed so far in federal, state and county courts, as well as in a special court established by Michigan to hear claims against the state. The remedies sought include compensation for lead poisoning, refunds for water bills and damages for deaths caused by a Legionnaires disease outbreak allegedly linked to the tainted water.

One class-action lawsuit asks a judge to order the state to quickly restore drinkable water for Flints 95,000 residents. Another, which seeks damages, already has attracted 2,000 potential plaintiffs. Yet another was filed by a couple who say their 2-year-old daughter may already have been harmed by lead in the water.

On the face of it, the lead scandal in Flint, Michigan, looks like it should be a billion-dollar mass tort, said Nora Freeman Engstrom, a professor and expert on tort law at Stanford University. You have a clear villain . . . and you have very sympathetic plaintiffs. But, she said, the most likely thing that happens to you in this country when you are negligently injured is you never see a penny.

A similar saga in the District of Columbia shows how long the legal journey can take. Half a dozen lawsuits over lead-tainted water, the first of which was filed in 2009, continue to plod through the courts. A judge rejected a bid for a class-action filing in 2013. Though the facts in Washington are different from those in Flint, no one who has claimed harm from contaminated water, discovered as early as 2001, has collected a dime.

Take a look at the key moments that led up to Flint, a city of 90,000, getting stuck with contaminated water. (Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post)

The main obstacle for the Flint legal actions is the well-

established doctrine of sovereign immunity, which shields state and federal governments from lawsuits except in a few, narrowly drawn circumstances. The state of Michigan is immune from suit. Full stop, said Gil Seinfeld, a professor at the University of Michigans law school. This is recognized as a matter of law.

But attorneys who have filed some of the lawsuits said they are confident they will secure big damages. And an expert not connected to the case agreed the lawsuits could succeed.

The concept is that the government is taking away life, liberty or property without due process, said John Fiske, a California environmental lawyer who specializes in water-related cases. What were seeing in this case is that the right to clean water, especially if youre paying for it, should not be taken away.

The number of citizens lining up to sue grows almost daily. Many are driven by health concerns and plunging property values  and the sense that the legal system might right the wrongs that have occurred in Flint.

The only recourse we have left after all the marching, the meeting, the protesting, the petitioning, the phone calls and the basic begging for them to do their job and help us, is to go to the courts, said Melissa Mays, a mother of three who has signed on to five different lawsuits.

But even as people flock to the courts, they face significant legal hurdles in addition to sovereign immunity.

Individuals who may be responsible for the catastrophe have a form of protection, known as official immunity, that raises the bar for anyone trying to prove they or government insurance policies should pay damages, according to Seinfeld, the University of Michigan law professor. The city of Flint doesnt have immunity, he added, but its dire financial straits make it an unappealing target for anyone seeking compensation.

But some attorneys behind the lawsuits say they believe that they can overcome the roadblocks.

Brian McKeen, an attorney for Luke Waid and Michelle Rodriguez, the parents of the 2-year-old girl, said that one exception to sovereign immunity is gross negligence by the individuals involved. That should be possible to prove, he said, because the state has admitted that it neglected to ensure that anti-corrosive chemicals were added to the water when Flint switched its water supply to the Flint River.

This wasnt [just] negligent; it was intentional, said Trachelle Young, a former Flint city attorney who is now representing local families in several class-action lawsuits. Immunity was not meant to protect someone when they are not carrying out their duties in good faith.

Attorney Geoffrey N. Fieger is also accusing several state employees of gross negligence in the four Legionnaires disease cases in his $100 million lawsuit. Michael L. Pitt, the attorney in yet another class-action suit, said his goal is to create a fund that would pay to treat the damaging effects of lead on childrens neurological systems. He said the fund could require $1 billion.

Yet another suit may skirt the sovereign immunity problem by asking mainly for a judge to order officials to provide Flints residents with clean water.

Were not asking for monetary damages, so we dont run into the problem of sovereign immunity that other claims might have, said Dimple Chaudhary, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the groups behind the effort. What were asking for is for government officials to take actions to solve the problem.

David Murray, a spokesman for Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R), said in an email that it would be inappropriate to discuss pending litigation. The Flint city attorneys office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Should the cases ever see a courtroom, Stanfords Engstrom said, the plaintiffs will face a difficult task proving it was lead in the water  and not lead in other parts of the environment or a disease  that caused each childs problems. Specific causation in lead cases is really difficult, she said.

That was one problem with the District case. A judge declined to certify a class and allow a mass claim in part because the plaintiffs had too few common characteristics.

The single biggest obstacle to compensation is the victims themselves: Excluding motor vehicle collisions, only 10 percent of the people who suffer accidental injuries ever seek redress, and only 2 percent ever file suit, according to a 1991 study of the tort system by the Rand Institute for Civil Justice.

That may not turn out to be true in Flint, where anger against government agencies has stirred up a huge pool of potential plaintiffs  possibly all 95,000 Flint residents, or at least the 9,000 children exposed to lead. Young said roughly 100 local residents a day  more than 1,500 and counting  have been signing up to join her lawsuits.

Fiske said settlements should be reached with the people of Flint quickly. I would want to come to the table right away, regardless of the technical aspects of the law, and morally and legally try to make this right, he said.

This is not the one you play hardball with. . . . You just do the right thing.

Alice Crites contributed to this report.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday threatened to send the millions of refugees in Turkey to European Union member states, as he slammed the bloc's behaviour in the migrant crisis.

In a speech that stepped up his denunciations of Western policy in the refugee crisis, Erdogan confirmed he had threatened EU leaders at a summit meeting in November that Turkey could say "goodbye" to the refugees.

"We do not have the word 'idiot' written on our foreheads. We will be patient but we will do what we have to. Don't think that the planes and the buses are there for nothing. We will do the necessary," Erdogan told a business forum in Ankara.

Greek website euro2day.gr had earlier this week reported that at the G20 summit in Antalya in November Erdogan had angrily threatened to EU Commission president Jean Claude Juncker that Turkey could send the refugees to Europe.

The website had quoted Erdogan as telling Juncker: "We can open the doors to Greece and Bulgaria anytime and put the refugees on buses."

"I am proud of what I said. We have defended the rights of Turkey and the refugees. And we told them (the Europeans): 'sorry, we will open the doors and say 'goodbye' to the migrants'," Erdogan said in his speech Thursday.

He also lashed out at UN calls on Turkey to take in tens of thousands of Syrian refugees fleeing regime advances in the Aleppo region, saying the United Nations has spent less than half a billion dollars in the crisis.

"Shame on you! Shame on you!" said Erdogan, adding that instead the United Nations could pressure its members to take in more refugees.

"The United Nations should give advice to other countries. And then we can send the refugees to these countries," he said.

Turkey is already hosting 2.5 million refugees from Syria's civil war and hundreds of thousands from Iraq and is increasingly bitter it has been left to shoulder the burden.

Erdogan said Turkey had already spent some nine billion dollars on hosting the refugees since Syria's almost half decade civil war began.

The European Union has agreed to give Turkey three billion euros in financial aid for the refugees but the funds have yet to be handed to Turkey, two-and-a-half months after they were agreed.

"The three billion euros is not in our budget, where has it gone?" asked Erdogan. "It's for refugees!"

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The Ohio legislature moved Wednesday to cut off $1.3 million in public health grants to Planned Parenthood in a closely watched vote that could have repercussions for the surging presidential campaign of Gov. John Kasich (R).

The bill, which cleared the Senate last month and passed the House on Wednesday, prohibits the Ohio Department of Health from giving state or federal grants to organizations that conduct or promote abortions. Kasich, who placed second in the Republican primary in New Hampshire on Tuesday, has said he would sign the bill.

While it could complicate his efforts to cast himself as a centrist, it could also boost his credibility with social conservatives heading into the South Carolina primary later this month.

The measure had been a top priority of antiabortion activists in the state. The effort to strip Planned Parenthood of government funding got a boost last summer, after antiabortion activists released covertly filmed video purporting to show that the womens health organization and abortion provider illegally sold fetal tissue for a profit.

Planned Parenthood supporters have criticized the videos as deceptively edited, and multiple state investigations have so far turned up no wrongdoing on the part of the organization. Last month, a Texas grand jury indicted the filmmakers, saying they illegally used forged documents as part of their ruse.

Still, more than half a dozen states have tried to cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood in the wake of the videos. Most of those efforts have been blocked by the courts.

The Ohio bill is different in that it targets state and federal programs addressing HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, infant mortality and other problems. Planned Parenthood receives a large percentage of that money every year to administer the programs across the state. Under the new bill, the organization would be barred from administering those programs because of its role as an abortion provider.

A Kasich spokesman said the governor plans to sign the bill, calling it a fiscally responsible move.

Since taking office, Governor Kasich has worked with legislative leaders to ensure that public dollars are used to their best purpose, spokesman Joe Andrews said in a statement. The Ohio Department of Health had already stopped awarding state dollars to Planned Parenthood and they were kicked to the back of the line for the federal governments family planning grants that the department administers. This bill further reinforces Ohios policies.

The funding cut would not force any Planned Parenthood health centers to close their doors. But Planned Parenthood officials said the cuts would harm women, many of them poor, who rely on the group for services. They cited the experience of an Indiana county where HIV infections surged after several clinics that provided HIV testing were shuttered. And they noted Ohios high infant-mortality rate among African Americans.

Weve seen the dire consequences for women, men and young people when politicians block access to care at Planned Parenthood health centers, Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, said in a statement. Its time for political games to end  and for Governor Kasich to veto this bill so Ohioans dont lose vital care.

Also Wednesday, an Ohio-based nonprofit group that supports Planned Parenthood announced an online ad buy attacking Kasich. The campaign includes a video titled Why Wont John Kasich Stand Up for Womens Health?

The national political arm of Planned Parenthood has endorsed Democrat Hillary Clinton for president. The group has characterized Kasich as one of the most antiabortion governors in the country.

Antiabortion activists would not disagree with that description.

We have the most pro-life governor in this [presidential] race right now, said Mike Gonidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life, which opposes abortion rights. If the life issue is the number one issue determining who you will support on the Republican presidential ticket, theres no better candidate than John Kasich.

The anti-Planned Parenthood bill is Gonidakiss groups top priority for this legislative session, and he credited Kasich with creating an environment that cleared the way for its passage. He said Kasich has signed 16 initiatives put forward by his organization that have helped force many abortion clinics in the state to close.

Gonidakis said that the measure will help Ohio women by breaking the lock Planned Parenthood has on state and federal dollars. He said that would give other clinics a chance to gain access to that money, including those that operate in the underserved Appalachian region of the state.

Other groups had also lobbied against the bill, including the health department of Columbus, the state capital. City officials said they were particularly concerned about the provision barring grant recipients from having relationships with organizations that promote abortion, which they said could extend to hospitals and health insurance companies.

Well be looking to the Ohio Department of Health to see how they officially interpret the legislation and what sort of onus they are going to put on local health departments to ensure that we dont have a relationship with groups that promote abortion, said Kelli Arthur Hykes, director of public health policy for Columbus Public Health.
Turkish security forces have ended an almost two-month military operation backed by a curfew in the southeastern town of Cizre against rebels of the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK), the interior minister said Thursday.

"The operations in Cizre have been successfully completed as of today," Efkan Ala told state-run TRT television, adding that the curfew would nonetheless continue a little longer.

"Control has been re-established in Cizre and over the terrorists there," he said.

Cizre, in Turkey's Sirnak province near the Iraqi and Syrian border, has been under curfew since December 14, when the army launched an "anti-terror operation" in a bid to root out the PKK from the town's centre where they had erected barricades and dug trenches.

The army said Wednesday some 580 militants had been killed in the town since the operations started.

Kurdish activists claim the campaign has cost dozens of civilian lives and argue the army figure for the number of militants killed is grossly exaggerated.

The PKK has killed dozens of members of the Turkish security forces in attacks since a two-and-a-half-year truce collapsed in July.

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NATO

Troop reinforcements planned for E. Europe

NATO defense ministers on Wednesday approved new multinational reinforcements to beef up defenses of front-line alliance members most at risk from Russia, the alliances secretary general announced.

Jens Stoltenberg said the plan adopted by the United States and NATOs 27 other members calls for the use of troops from multiple countries who will rotate in and out of East European member states rather than being permanently based there. He said military planners will make recommendations on the number and composition of troops needed in the spring.

The soldiers will be multinational to make clear that an attack against one ally is an attack against all allies and that the alliance as a whole will respond, Stoltenberg said at a news conference after the first session of the two-day defense ministers meeting in Brussels.

Getting firm commitments, or even deciding how many NATO troops should be rotated eastward, may take time, however.

Douglas Lute, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, said that he expected defense ministers to agree on a framework but that actual force levels will probably be hammered out only after consultations with NATOs supreme commander in Europe, U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove.

One NATO official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make public statements, said one proposal under consideration calls for creation of a brigade-size force: roughly 3,000 troops.

On Feb. 2, the Obama administration announced its own plans to quadruple spending on U.S. troops and training in Europe. U.S. officials say that if Congress approves the $3.4 billion proposal, it would mean the year-round presence in Europe of an American brigade engaged in training, mostly in small units sent to the NATO members nearest Russia.

 Associated Press

EUROPEAN UNION

Accord to keep Britain in bloc is very fragile

A draft accord to help keep Britain in the European Union is very fragile, a top E.U. official warned on Wednesday as France and eastern states pushed for changes before leaders meet to try to seal the deal next week.

European Council President Donald Tusk, who agreed on reform proposals last week with British Prime Minister David Cameron, said that the measures were balanced and solid and that he hoped to finalize them when he chairs a Brussels summit next week. However, let me be clear  this is a very fragile political process, he said.

Tusk spoke on the eve of a second round of talks among the 28 E.U. leaders top aides and envoys in Brussels. Officials said they will discuss a new draft with small, technical tweaks.

The first meeting of sherpas, on Friday following Tusks circulation of his reform proposals, saw participants broadly welcome a first draft as a way to help Cameron win a referendum in the coming months to prolong Britains 43-year membership.

But on Wednesday, France, the traditional pro-European sparring partner of Euroskeptic Britain, demanded significant changes, particularly to Camerons effort to secure protections for the sterling-based London from possible E.U. measures favoring the majority of states that use the euro.

 Reuters

German train crash inquiry may be focused on a controller: German prosecutors and police investigating a head-on train crash in Bavaria that killed 10 people are focusing on the actions of a signal controller, a person involved in the inquiry said. However, investigators said that it was too early to speculate on the cause and that they have recovered two of three black boxes from the two passenger trains that collided Tuesday.

U.N. seeks funding for Palestinians: Palestinian authorities and the United Nations made a joint call for funding amid tension between Palestinians and Israelis that has led to violence and about 200 deaths, mainly of Palestinians, in recent months. The yearly appeal to international donors sought $571 million to alleviate the sufferings of Palestinians in the poverty-stricken Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The bulk of the money will go to food aid for 1.6 million people, or roughly one in three residents of the Palestinian territories.

 From news services
Defence ministers from the US-led coalition striking the Islamic State (IS) group met Thursday in a bid to engineer a decisive new phase in what has become a difficult fight with no end in sight.

Pentagon chief Ashton Carter convened the Brussels summit to persuade partner nations to contribute more to the campaign against the extremists, who despite 18 months of air strikes remain firmly in control of large parts of Iraq and Syria and have a growing foothold in Libya.

Further complicating the situation is Russia's own air campaign in Syria, which Moscow insists is also targeting IS, but which the West says is in fact aimed at rebels opposed to President Bashar al-Assad.

"The fight to defeat ISIL should matter to all of us, and each contribution matters to this fight," Carter said as he opened the meeting, using an alternative acronym for the IS group.

"ISIL's activities are an affront to our common human dignity and to the common set of values that brings this diverse coalition of nations together."

The summit marks the culmination of weeks of work for Carter, who has taken a two-pronged approach to winning broader support from coalition members.

While he has written to each one privately, he has also publicly accused some unspecified members of the 66-nation coalition of doing "nothing at all" to help the fight.

A senior US defence official said Washington was looking not just for pledges of military support and cash, but ideas too.

"The secretary will, frankly, give a call to his fellow ministers to be creative, to speak up to contribute to the thought leadership in the campaign," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "There's no monopoly on good ideas."

The assessment comes after the coalition has carried out more than 10,000 air strikes in Iraq and Syria at a cost to the United States of nearly $6 billion (5.2 billion euros).

The effort has dealt some significant blows to the militants: the Pentagon estimates IS has lost about 40 percent of the territory it once held in Iraq, and about 10 percent in Syria.

But despite losing control of the Iraqi city of Ramadi, assaults to recapture the key IS bastions of Mosul in Iraq and its self-proclaimed capital in Syria's Raqa are still many months away, and thousands of IS fighters have streamed into Libya.

Carter's efforts to solicit broader commitments have borne some fruit. Canada, for instance, announced Monday it would triple the number of special forces training Kurdish militia in northern Iraq to about 210.

And Slovenia has said it would start sending military trainers to work with local forces trying to push back IS.

"There are a number of other (countries) who are in the final throes of trying to figure out if they can also make that leap," the official said, noting that several other nations are "very seriously" considering additional contributions, but first need parliamentary approval.

In all, 27 coalition members which have contributed militarily to the fight joined Carter's delegation in Brussels while another 21 were attending as observers.

The summit came at the conclusion of a two-day meeting of NATO defence ministers that dealt with a range of separate issues.

NATO has until now had no official role in the anti-IS fight, although all of its 28 members play some part, and officials indicated the alliance could be increasingly called upon to help.

"There are lots of opportunities that are being considered," NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe Philip Breedlove said.

"There now seems to be serious conversations about some possibilities of NATO actually being involved to some limited degree."

Breedlove's comments came after NATO said it was willing to support a German, Greek and Turkish request for help in monitoring Turkey's Aegean Sea coast for migrant smugglers ferrying refugees, mostly fleeing the Syrian conflict.

And the alliance has agreed "in principle" to a US request to deploy its AWACS air surveillance aircraft to help out in the fight against IS.

The NATO planes would not be directly involved in monitoring the militants, but would instead fill in for US and allied aircraft that would be re-tasked to gather intelligence over IS hotspots.

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EUROPEAN UNION

Nations fine-tune deal to keep Britain in bloc

British and E.U. negotiators agreed to much of a reform package on Thursday to help keep Britain in the European Union, leaving Prime Minister David Cameron to settle tricky final issues, notably on migration, at a summit next week, diplomats said.

After talks in Brussels among officials from all 28 member states to review mostly minor amendments to proposals made last week by European Council President Donald Tusk, an E.U. official reported good progress in clarifying technical, legal issues. But main political issues are still outstanding and they will have to be dealt with by leaders next week, the official added, referring to a summit on Feb. 18-19 where Cameron hopes to clinch a final deal on which he can campaign at home to keep Britain in the bloc in a referendum.

Diplomats said the main outstanding issues were how long Britain would be able to stretch E.U. rules by denying equal social benefits to workers from other E.U. states  an emergency brake intended to help Cameron cut immigration  and the wording of pledges to enshrine reforms on euro-zone rules and national sovereignty in future treaty amendments.

A British spokeswoman said that we are in a good place with an amended draft that makes concessions to French concerns about British banks gaining advantage in the euro zone and to broader grumbles that doing favors for London will water down other nations commitments to deeper European integration.

East Europeans felt less satisfied after the talks, saying their demands for tighter limits on plans to curb benefits paid to their citizens working on low wages in Britain were not met, lining up a showdown with Cameron on E.U. migration.

 Reuters

GERMANY

Merkel: Dont throw our values overboard

Kicking off her campaign for a batch of state elections, Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that Germany cant throw overboard its values as the government seeks to reduce the record number of refugees entering the country.

In a speech that was interrupted at one point by hecklers, Merkel on Thursday embarked on a five-week effort that will test public support for her handling of Germanys biggest refugee crisis since World War II. Three states  Baden-Wuerttemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt  will go to the polls on March 13.

I know what kind of challenge this is  and I know that were hitting our limits in certain cases, Merkel told a rally of her Christian Democratic Union in the western city of Frankenthal. Thats why were working on reducing the number of refugees, but in such a way that we dont throw our values overboard.

Merkel reiterated her pledge to provide shelter for those fleeing war and terrorism, while also calling for the faster deportation of migrants who dont qualify for asylum. During her address, a group of men began shouting Merkel must go! as the chancellor tried to speak over them. They soon left voluntarily.

 Bloomberg News

FRANCE

In reshuffle, Ayrault to be foreign minister

Former prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, a low-key veteran of the Socialist Party much acquainted with German culture, will become Frances new foreign minister.

Ayrault, 66, replaces Laurent Fabius in a government reshuffling announced Thursday by French President Francois Hollandes office.

Fabius, who helped clinch a landmark climate accord in Paris last year and played a prominent role in negotiations on a nuclear accord with Iran, is going to become chief of the Constitutional Council, Frances top court that makes sure that legislation complies with the constitution.

Other leading ministerial positions are unchanged, including Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, Finance Minister Michel Sapin and Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron. The French government now counts 18 ministers and 20 junior ministers in addition to Prime Minister Manuel Valls and as many women as men.

 Associated Press

Iranians commemorate 1979 revolution: Iranians held nationwide celebrations to commemorate the anniversary of the 1979 revolution that ousted a pro-Western monarchy and brought Islamists to power, with some making a point of taunting the United States despite Irans landmark nuclear deal with world powers. State television aired footage of rallies in Tehran and across the country. As in years past, demonstrators chanted slogans against the United States and Israel.

 Associated Press
EVER SINCE the disappearance two years ago of 8-year-old Relisha Rudd from the former D.C. General Hospital, there has been a general consensus among D.C. officials about the need to close the notorious facility as quickly as possible. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) has now laid out specific plans to achieve this by 2018. The question is whether D.C. Council members will have the spine to help the mayor sell her plan to residents who may be wary of alternative facilities being located in their neighborhoods.

Under the plan unveiled Tuesday, the 250-unit shelter at D.C. General would be closed and the building demolished. In its stead would be a network of smaller, temporary housing units located throughout the city. Eight sites, one in each ward, have been identified; each would house no more than 50 families, with the exception of a womens shelter slated for Ward 2 that would have more than 200 beds. Administration officials stressed the units would serve as temporary refuges for families in distress as part of a strategy that would also include better programming, wraparound services and increased investment in housing.

The initial reaction from council members was encouraging. Most were supportive of what council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3) called a well-conceived strategy and, except for council member Kenyan R. McDuffie (D-Ward 5), appeared not to object to the site selections. Finding sites that were available, affordable and convenient to services and transportation was no easy task, and there still are obstacles in getting zoning changes and other approvals for some of them. If Mr. McDuffie doesnt like the administrations choice , we urge him to suggest alternatives.

Part of the effort will be outreach to the community. We hope that once residents get to know more about the families, including the many young single women with children, they will see them not as threats but as people in temporary need. Indeed, similar facilities already exist in neighborhoods without notice or problems.

Its important to recognize that even if this plan is implemented without a hitch, the Districts homelessness problem will not be solved. In addition to the 250 families now housed at D.C. General, 874 families are being housed in motels in the city and Maryland. Administration officials say they are confident the number of people who need shelter will eventually be lowered to match the capacity of the new system. Weve heard that before from other administrations, so forgive us if we are a little dubious. One of the issues that eventually must be addressed is whether the citys unique and absolute right to shelter law creates demand that will always outstrip supply. Families in danger must be helped; but is the citys approach realistic and sustainable?
The Feb. 8 editorial The voters need answers missed important points regarding former secretary of state Hillary Clintons emails. First, voters could have had answers if Ms. Clinton had turned over her emails and server upon her departure from the State Department in 2013. If she had, the process might have been concluded by now and voters informed of the outcome. Ms. Clinton could have provided the emails electronically but chose not to, furthering the delay. The State Departments apparent lack of knowledge of the server and subsequent lack of urgency in processing the information have led to further delays.

While an investigation into the source and markings of classified materials is important, most individuals exposed to special-access programs should recognize classified material in emails, and they are obligated to immediately inform security personnel and physically disconnect public access.

The FBI investigation of the emails must be thorough and not rushed by a political partys interest or public need. The repercussions from a rushed investigation could imperil criminal investigations and prosecutions of potential mishandling of classified information. The public deserves a proper investigation. The message to Ms. Clinton from the FBI might just be A failure to plan on your part should not constitute an emergency on our part.

Stuart Claggett, Alexandria

The writer is a former federal contractor facility security officer.
In the Feb. 9 Fed Page article FAA: More registered drone operators than registered planes , Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Michael Huerta claimed that the speed with which drone registration has taken off is proof that government and industry can work together. As a pilot, I have many questions about what government and industry actually accomplished together.

Did the FAA take the opportunity to educate any of these 325,000 drone operators on safe operation of drones in national airspace? Did the FAA do anything to reduce the incidence of drones interfering with manned aircraft? The answer to both is a stunning no.

The taxpayers got an additional FAA bureaucracy to manage the 325,000 drone-operator registrations and collect a $5 fee. The flying public got zilch as far as any improvement to safety. The good news is that with drone registration, the FAA may be able to prosecute the person who registered the drone that brings down an airline flight. Perhaps the FAA and industry would better serve the public by spending their energy educating owners on the safe operation of their drones.

Michael Mercer, Vienna
Hillary Clintons 11-point loss to Bernie Sanders among female voters in New Hampshire has highlighted a conundrum for many women: How should gender factor into their decision-making when one of their own is on the ballot?

Before the primary, the notion of voting for a woman because she is a woman  decried by some as sexist and a backward step for womanhood  had led to a level of tension among feminists, according to Lauren Bruce, founder of the Feministe website and a former blogger there.

As the two-way race shaped up between Clinton and Sanders, many feminists were playing their cards close to their chest, Bruce said. For some, she said, it felt a little taboo to be supporting the old white guy.

Others would support Clinton, they said, because she has what it takes to break the ultimate glass ceiling  views they agree with, qualifications for the job and the right DNA.

A lot of people are not examining their own sexism in their rejection of her, said Kate Harding, who made the case for electing Clinton last spring in an article for the online womens magazine Dame headlined, I Am Voting With My Vagina.

1 of 46 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Clinton on the campaign trail View Photos Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton campaigns in key states in her quest to become the Democratic nominee for president. Caption The former secretary of state, senator and first lady is the Democratic nominee for president. July 31, 2016 Hillary Clinton is seen aboard the campaign bus in Cleveland on the third day of a bus tour through Pennsylvania and Ohio. Melina Mara/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue.

For many female Democrats, voting for Clinton represents a more complex calculation: Theres the gender-neutral argument  that the former secretary of state, senator and first lady is the most qualified candidate to run the country. And theres the womens-interests argument  that Clinton is attuned to causes close to their hearts, such as abortion rights and equal pay.

Some women remain troubled by the questions, rekindled recently by Donald Trump, about whether Clinton betrayed feminist values in defending her husbands presidency against his female accusers. And many younger voters see Clinton as having risen to power on an outdated form of feminism that emphasized getting ahead in the workplace but paid less heed to race and economic inequities. Whos home with the kids, those young activists ask, when wealthy white women ascend the career ladder?

[Clinton looks to sisterhood, but votes may go to Sanders]

During her campaign, Clinton has sharpened the gender politics she embraced from its beginning, presenting herself as a mother and grandmother and an advocate for womens rights, as well as the woman who can open a new door for every little girl.

Yes, finally fathers will be able to say to their daughters, You, too, can grow up to be president,  Clinton announced in October in the first Democratic debate.

That is campaign hooey, Harding said. But the sentiment resonates with many feminists who describe being shocked by what they saw as sexism leveled against Clinton in 2008, whether it was criticism of her cankles or her speaking style.

Endorsements from prominent womens rights organizations including Planned Parenthood Action and the Feminist Majority reflect the support of the feminist establishment. But the rallying cry around which feminism united in the 1960s  the personal is political  is haunting the presidential prospects of one of that movements prime beneficiaries. Even as she looks ahead to states where she has a clear advantage, Clinton may face questions stemming from her husbands presidency.

Where, asked Monica Lewinsky in a 2014 Vanity Fair article, were the feminists back then?

The answer, according to feminist iconoclast Camille Paglia, lies in a very incestuous bond that Paglia alleges existed between mainstream feminism and the mainstream media and united them behind the Clintons.

The difference today, Paglia said, is that the Internet has given voice to a range of womens views that undermine such centralized messaging. Hence the recent attacks from Bill Clintons old accusers, Paglia said. One of them, Kathleen Willey, launched a website last year, A Scandal a Day, designed to sound the alarm about the potential danger of Hillary Clinton becoming president.

Some of the controversy stems not from old enemies  Hillary Clintons vast right-wing conspiracy  but from the archived papers of the former first ladys close friend Diane Blair, a political scientist who kept extensive notes about their phone calls and interactions during the Clintons White House years. After Blairs death in 2000, her husband donated the collection to the University of Arkansas.

From those papers, brought to public attention by the Washington Free Beacon in 2014, come Blairs recollections that Clinton called Lewinsky a narcissistic loony tune; that the first lady argued that while the presidents relationship with the 22-year-old intern was gross inappropriate behavior . . . it was consensual (was not a power relationship); and that she was tired of all those whiney women when she needed Sen. Bob Packwoods support in her efforts to overhaul the nations health-care system  an apparent reference to women who had accused the senator of harassment.

Its a disappointment, Mary Heffernan, founder of the Oregon chapter of the NARAL abortion rights group and one of Packwoods many accusers, said in an interview.

She was so wrapped up in the health care, I sort of get the Oh no, this timing is terrible,  said Heffernan, who now works as a consultant on conflict resolution and described herself as an undecided Democrat. But it is interesting that the response is to dismiss the women, she said, adding that when people are in a marginalized position like women in sexual misconduct, when does that become the larger goal?

Clintons campaign did not return calls for comment about the Blair papers.

The Clintons White House history means little to younger female voters.

Brooke Wojdynski, 25, national committeewoman for the Ohio Young Democrats group, remembered knowing Lewinskys name mostly because it rhymed with hers  schoolkids would tease her as Brooke Lewinsky  but she has few if any memories of impeachment or of Hillary Clintons actions.

I was so not in tune. I didnt even know the word feminist,  said Wojdynski, who describes herself as an undecided voter. She has learned more of that background now, but she said it wont play a role in her election decision.

From a millennial perspective, its a hazy thing, she said.

That doesnt mean young feminists are rallying behind the idea of electing the first woman to the White House. According to New Hampshire primary exit polling reported by CBS, Sanders beat Clinton by nearly 60 points among women ages 18 to 29.

Clinton is a standard-bearer for womens success in the workplace, which was the focus of the movement Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan led in the 1960s. Clinton embraced that second wave feminism in the lead-up to the New Hampshire vote by looking to Steinem and former secretary of state Madeleine Albright to champion her candidacy.

[Nobody in the Albright-Steinem-Clinton flap has much to be proud of]

But many younger female activists unite around a third wave of feminism that is focused on broader concerns about social justice. From that intersectional point of view, Clintons Wall Street funding and 1 percent lifestyle seem unappealing.

Voting for a woman just because she is a woman could backfire on every other woman in the country, said Alexis Isabel Moncada, a Miami-area teen who runs the Twitter account @feministculture, which has become a popular forum for intersectional feminists.

[ Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll: Feminism in the U.S. ]

Women, as New Hampshire and Iowa have shown, dont vote en bloc.

Nor do they believe that electing a woman will necessarily advance womens causes. A recent Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll found just 38 percent of women said getting more women elected to office is a top priority for improving womens lives, ranking far lower than other issues such as access to child care and equal pay.

And while a recent Pew survey on women and leadership showed that 70 percent of female Democrats say they hope to see a female president in their lifetimes, 55 percent of those voting in New Hampshire demonstrated their willingness to wait beyond 2016.
There are at least three ongoing investigations into Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's time as Secretary of State. Here's an explanation of who is investigating, and why. (Gillian Brockell/The Washington Post)

There are at least three ongoing investigations into Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's time as Secretary of State. Here's an explanation of who is investigating, and why. (Gillian Brockell/The Washington Post)

Investigators with the State Department issued a subpoena to the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation last fall seeking documents about the charitys projects that may have required approval from the federal government during Hillary Clintons term as secretary of state, according to people familiar with the subpoena and written correspondence about it.

The subpoena also asked for records related to Huma Abedin, a longtime Clinton aide who for six months in 2012 was employed simultaneously by the State Department, the foundation, Clintons personal office, and a private consulting firm with ties to the Clintons.

The full scope and status of the inquiry, conducted by the State Departments inspector general, were not clear from the material correspondence reviewed by The Washington Post.

[Democratic debate: Clinton receives key endorsement, but faces new questions]

A foundation representative, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing inquiry, said the initial document request had been narrowed by investigators and that the foundation is not the focus of the probe.

Huma Abedin has stuck by Hillary Rodham Clinton since she interned for her in the first lady's office. Here's what you need to know about Huma Abedin. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

A State IG spokesman declined to comment on that assessment or on the subpoena.

Representatives for Hillary Clintons presidential campaign and Abedin also declined comment.

There is no indication that the watchdog is looking at Clinton. But as she runs for president in part by promoting her leadership of the State Department, an inquiry involving a top aide and the relationship between her agency and her familys charity could further complicate her campaign.

For months, Clinton has wrangled with controversy over her use of a private email server, which has sparked a separate investigation by the same State Department inspector generals office. There is also an FBI investigation into whether her system compromised national security.

Clinton was asked about the FBI investigation at a debate last week and said she was 100 percent confident nothing would come of it. Last month, Clinton denied a Fox News report that the FBI had expanded its probe to include ties between the foundation and the State Department. She called that report an unsourced, irresponsible claim with no basis.

[How Huma Abedin operated at the center of the Clinton universe]

During the years Clinton served as secretary of state, the foundation was led by her husband, former president Bill Clinton. She joined its board after leaving office in February 2013 and helped run it until launching her White House bid in April.

At a Council on Foreign Relations event on womens rights in New York City, Chelsea Clinton, vice chair of the Clinton Foundation, fielded questions about recent controversies over foreign donations to the foundation. (Council on Foreign Relations)

Abedin served as deputy chief of staff at State starting in 2009. For the second half of 2012, she participated in the special government employee program that enabled her to work simultaneously in the State Department, the foundation, Hillary Clintons personal office and Teneo, a private consultancy with close ties to the Clintons.

Abedin has been a visible part of Hillary Clintons world since she served as an intern in the 1990s for the then-first lady while attending George Washington University. On the campaign trail, Clinton is rarely seen in public without Abedin somewhere nearby.

Republican lawmakers have alleged that foreign officials and other powerful interests with business before the U.S. government gave large donations to the Clinton Foundation to curry favor with a sitting secretary of state and a potential future president.

Both Clintons have dismissed those accusations, saying donors contributed to the $2 billion foundation to support its core missions: improving health care, education and environmental work around the world.

[The inside story of how the Clintons built a $2 billion global empire]

Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.), Clintons opponent in the Democratic primary, has largely avoided raising either issue in his campaign. Last spring, Sanders expressed concerns about the Clinton Foundation being part of a political system dominated by money.

Sanders has batted away questions about the email scandal, famously saying at a debate last fall that, The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails.

The potential consequences of the IG investigation are unclear. Unlike federal prosecutors, who generally use subpoenas issued by a grand jury, inspectors general frequently subpoena documents without seeking approval from a grand jury or judge.

But their power is limited. They are able to obtain documents, but they cannot compel testimony. At times, IG inquiries result in criminal charges, but sometimes they lead to administrative review, civil penalties or reports that have no legal consequences.

The IG has investigated Abedin before. Last year, the watchdog concluded she was overpaid nearly $10,000 because of violations of sick leave and vacation policies, a finding that Abedin and her attorneys have contested.

Republican lawmakers, led by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), have alleged that Abedins role at the center of overlapping public and private Clinton worlds created the potential for conflicts of interest.
Hillary Clinton stops at a polling place in Nashua, N.H., on Tuesday. The next day, her focus immediately shifted to Nevada and South Carolina. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)

The race for the Democratic presidential nomination turned sharply Wednesday into a battle for Hispanic and African American voters, who are expected to play a decisive role in a long list of upcoming contests in Southern and Western states.

Although former secretary of state Hillary Clinton enjoys a dramatic advantage over Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) among minorities, his resounding victory Tuesday in the New Hampshire primary gives him a shot of momentum that he hopes could turn that tide.

Making clear how crucial minority support will be, Sanderss first stop after leaving New Hampshire was in Harlem, where he met Wednesday morning with the Rev. Al Sharpton and Benjamin Jealous, the former head of the NAACP.

If the elections were held today in both those states, we would lose, Sanders said in an interview, referring to Nevada and South Carolina. But I think we have momentum, I think we have a shot to win, and if we dont win, well do a lot better than people think we will.

Swamped by a wave of populist support for Sanders in New Hampshire, Clintons campaign signaled Wednesday that the spectacular loss will not throw her off a careful course set months ago that relies in part on strong support among minorities.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, left, talks with Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders Wednesday at Sylvia's Restaurant in Harlem. (Richard Drew/AP)

With a blast of announcements about endorsements, travel plans and more, the Clinton campaign sought to turn to subjects  gun control, criminal justice, the water crisis in Flint, Mich.  that speak to African American and blue-collar voters in the states that vote next.

There is no change to our core argument, our plan, and you saw that in what we are saying as we look to the states that vote in March, Clinton press secretary Brian Fallon said Wednesday.

The Sanders campaign, meanwhile, predicted that once voters in the next round of nominating states tune in, his message of economic fairness will resonate regardless of race. Sanders has argued that many of his initiatives  including a higher minimum wage, paid family leave and free college tuition  should be more appealing to African Americans and Latinos, given the greater share of economically struggling families in those communities.

Jeff Weaver, Sanderss campaign manager, said that internal polling is starting to show movement in Sanderss direction among younger voters of all backgrounds in upcoming states.

Younger voters are clearly the strongest group for Senator Sanders, and this is sort of reminiscent of the Obama campaign  where younger voters were the presidents strongest bloc as well  across racial lines, Weaver said.

Clinton had no public appearances Wednesday. She and Sanders meet for another Democratic debate on Thursday in Milwaukee. Clinton is expected to strike a more aspirational, optimistic tone that is a tacit acknowledgment that simply knocking down Sanderss ideas as unrealistic was not enough.

A chief complaint among Clinton backers appalled by her 22-point loss Tuesday in a state with long and fond ties to the Clinton political franchise is that she isnt getting through to voters. Exit polling and other data show that Clinton did not connect in New Hampshire  not with men, not with women, not with the young and not with blue-collar voters.

1 of 42 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Highlights from Bernie Sanderss campaign, in pictures View Photos The senator from Vermont has become Hillary Clintons chief rival in the contest for the Democratic nomination. Caption The senator from Vermont is Hillary Clintons rival in the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination. June 14, 2016 Bernie Sanders arrives at the Capital Hilton to meet with Hillary Clinton in D.C. Matt McClain/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue.

The next two Democratic contests will come in Nevada, where 30 percent of the Democratic electorate in 2008 was black or Hispanic, and in South Carolina, where 55 percent of the 2008 Democratic electorate was black. In March, another slew of Southern states with large African American populations will vote.

Clinton has long been thought to have a Southern firewall  an insurmountable advantage with minority voters. Sanders has never demonstrated an ability to attract minorities; his strong showing in Iowa and his trouncing of Clinton in New Hampshire were in states, like his home state of Vermont, where more than 90 percent of the population is white.

An NBC News-Wall Street Journal-Marist poll taken in January in South Carolina showed Clinton with the support of 74 percent of black voters, compared with 17 percent for Sanders.

Tad Devine, a strategist for the Sanders campaign, said that Sanders need not win a majority of black voters in South Carolina in order to put together a coalition with white voters to beat Clinton.

In South Carolina, the Sanders campaign is paying dozens of canvassers $15 an hour to go door to door, primarily in the black community, to pitch his candidacy, Weaver said. Cornel West, the noted black scholar who has fallen out of favor with many African Americans because of his sharp criticism of President Obama, also has campaigned extensively in South Carolina for Sanders. Atlanta rapper Killer Mike, another Obama critic, has helped spread Sanderss message in appearances, online discussions and social-media posts.

Clinton has been quietly organizing in the state since April and has hosted 1,900 grass-roots events. During a recent weekend of campaigning, aides say the campaign contacted 100,000 voters through canvassing and phone banks. Mothers who have lost children to gun violence, including some who were shot by police officers, are planning to campaign on her behalf in South Carolina and other Southern states, and celebrities will be enlisted to visit barbershops and beauty salons to talk up Clintons campaign.

Were not fighting to win a certain percentage of the vote, were fighting to earn the support of the community, were fighting for every last vote, said Marlon Marshall, Clintons director of states and political engagement. She has a multi-decade history of fighting for the African American community. Throughout this entire campaign weve seen her go into these communities, have these conversations, talking about issues that matter to the African American community. Shes not just now doing this, shes done this her whole life, and thats an important point to make.

Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) predicted that Clintons loss in New Hampshire would not shake her support in his state.

It wont matter a whole lot, he said even before the polls had closed in New Hampshire on Tuesday. He said there have been some signs of support for Sanders on college campuses around the state. Theres not been a big surge. The reliable primary voters that I know dont seem to have shifted at all.

Clintons African American allies unleashed a wave of criticism against Sanders on Wednesday, strongly criticizing him for being absent on issues that matter to black voters  but demonstrating an awareness that she may be vulnerable, in the wake of New Hampshire, to an erosion of support.

Bernie Sanders as mayor, as a member of the House, as a member of the United States Senate, has been missing in action on issues that are important to the African Americans, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said on a conference call with reporters.

In addition to rolling out the support of African American celebrities such as Angela Bassett this week, Clinton landed the endorsement of the South Carolina House Democratic leader, J. Todd Rutherford, who joined in the criticism of Sanders.

Rutherford faulted Sanders for voting in favor of a 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, which has been blamed for helping usher in an era of mass incarceration. Bill Clinton, who signed the bill into law as president, has expressed regret for the consequences of the legislation.

Jaime Harrison, chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party, is remaining neutral because of his post. He pointed squarely to the reasons that African American and female support is crucial to a Democratic victory in his state.

In the most recent competitive Democratic primary, in 2008, 61 percent of the electorate was female, and 55 percent was African American, Harrison said. That combination means that the key voting bloc in South Carolina are black women.

If you want to know who is going to win, you need to talk to African American women, Harrison said.

For now, they are predisposed to support Clinton. If Sanders has any chance of making it close or of winning, Harrison said, he has to cut into her support among African American women.

Hillary Clintons poor showing with young voters and with women of nearly every age in both Iowa and New Hampshire gives many of her allies shivers, and Sanderss inroads among African Americans have raised alarm.

Sanders has won the support of Jealous, the former NAACP head, and he met Wednesday with him and Sharpton, the civil rights leader. Sharpton said he will wait until a scheduled meeting with Clinton next week before issuing an endorsement.

My generation was the first generation raised in the era of mass incarceration, Jealous told reporters after the meeting. My children are now 3 and 10, and I do not intend for my children to be food for our prisons the way that my brothers and sisters have been. There is no candidate in this race who is fiercer in standing up for those who need allies in the struggle than Bernie Sanders.

Sanders also scored surprise support Wednesday from influential African American writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, who had earlier excoriated Sanders for not supporting reparations for slavery.

The Congressional Black Caucus is moving quickly to defend Clinton. The CBCs leaders said they will appear Thursday morning at a club adjacent to the Democratic National Committee to endorse Clinton for president, through the CBC PAC, and then send many of their members to states, including South Carolina, where black voters are crucial.

Its one thing to endorse and do nothing. Its another thing to endorse and to go to work, said Rep. Gregory W. Meeks (D-N.Y.), chairman of the CBC PAC.

Meeks said that 90 percent of the 20-member board of the political action committee voted to endorse Clinton, none voted for Sanders and a few, including Clyburn, the No. 3 House Democratic leader, abstained because they had not yet endorsed in the race.

Clyburn, in an interview with MSNBCs Andrea Mitchell Reports, reiterated earlier comments to The Washington Post that he is considering endorsing Clinton after previously saying he would stay neutral until the primary vote in his state.

Sanderss rise, particularly among young voters, even young African American voters, has struck a nerve with veteran members of the caucus who think these voters are behaving naively.

Many of these are first-time voters, and Senator Sanderss message resonates with the younger generation because of the promises that he is making, said Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), chairman of the caucus. But Mrs. Clinton and others are going to challenge the message by suggesting that it is unrealistic to believe that we can accomplish all of the things that Senator Sanders proposes.

Scott Clement, Paul Kane and Vanessa Williams contributed to this report.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich addresses his supporters Wednesday. Kasich faces a tough schedule for the next several weeks after placing in second in the New Hampshire Republican primary. (Alex Holt/For The Washington Post)

John Kasichs presidential campaign on Wednesday launched what it called Act 2, and the challenges are daunting. It needs a quick, massive financial infusion, it has create to a political network in many states almost from scratch and it has to wait a month before a primary is held in its next big target of Michigan.

The Ohio governor was at 2 percent in national polls before Tuesdays vote and has the lowest name recognition of the major candidates. But his message of pragmatic and compassionate conservatism appealed to enough New Hampshire voters to land him in second place Tuesday, behind Donald Trump.

Now, Kasichs tight band of operatives must expand from the political equivalent of a local business to a national company almost overnight.

His aides began dialing for more campaign dollars as soon as Kasichs win was projected. Now, you know, weve got to raise more money, Kasich told reporters who flew with him to South Carolina, which hosts a debate Saturday and holds the next primary, on Feb. 20.

Next, the campaign has to figure out where best to spend it.

Here are key moments from speeches by Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump, John Kasich, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie and Carly Fiorina, all in just over three minutes. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

Kasich faces a tough schedule for the next several weeks. His campaign had not aired ads in South Carolina, where Trump has led polls for months. Then, on March 1, when the SEC primary focuses on Southern states where Kasich may be weakest, he hopes to do well in Massachusetts and Vermont.

Tom Rath, who advised Kasich in New Hampshire and will remain part of the national team, said in an interview in his Concord, N.H., office Wednesday that Kasich can succeed by focusing on a careful allocation of resources in difficult states during the next month and then breaking out in Michigan on March 8 and in states such as Ohio and Illinois on March 15.

The Ohio and Illinois primaries are among those later in the campaign season in which the winner gets all of the delegates, instead of the proportional allocation in many earlier states.

I believe we will be behind in the delegate count as of March 15, Rath said. But on March 15, as the calendar turns to winner-take-all, we can make up the deficit very quickly.

To make that seemingly audacious goal a reality, the campaign needs much else to go precisely right. Some competitors need to drop out  New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina ended their campaigns Wednesday  and enough need to remain in the race to form elimination rounds.

While the other campaigns have signaled that they intend to attack Kasich much more forcefully than they did in New Hampshire, Kasichs aides hope they do more damage to themselves than their candidate, whose mantra is that he has his own lane to the nomination that includes courting centrists.

Behind it all is ramped-up fundraising. Donors who had been on the fence were promptly called, and donors to other candidates were approached about Kasich.

View Graphic What Trump's and Sanders's wins in New Hampshire mean for the rest of the race

At the same time, a pro-Kasich super PAC, New Day for America, was also raising cash. The group showed it was far more willing than Kasich to go on the attack, airing an ad against Trump in New Hampshire. A spokesman for the group did not respond to a request for comment.

Kasich strategist John Weaver said the campaign raised about $500,000 online between Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning but declined to share a target goal.

We have a rationale now for our candidacy, Weaver said.

Former Florida governor Jeb Bushs campaign, meanwhile, distributed a memo to supporters arguing that Kasich has little to no chance in South Carolina and does not have a national organization that can compete.

Weaver said the campaign doesnt need to organize on the ground the same way it did in New Hampshire.

You want a ground game, he said, but you dont have it as intensely because much of it is about messaging and motivation. He added: We need coalescing in the race. Thats a good thing as long as were not one of them.

To be sure, the odds were long against Kasich holding on for a month without winning a primary and then breaking through the pack, particularly with Trumps apparent strength. But several co-chairmen of Kasichs state campaign committees said the New Hampshire victory at least gives them the foundation on which to try to take on Trump and the others.

Well see a lot more enthusiasm, said Massachusetts state representative Paul K. Frost, who said he carried Kasich campaign placards from New Hampshire to his state as soon as the results were in. Now people are talking about him, you are hearing about him on major news networks. For many people, they are being introduced to him for the first time, and he will have an opportunity to really discuss his brand of politics.

Tom Leonard, speaker pro tempore of Michigans House of Representative, said Kasich has set himself up for victory in his state, which shares a border with Ohio. Leonard said that he thought Kasichs dozen visits are more than any other candidates and that Kasich will continue to focus on Michigan, echoing the retail strategy that was crucial in New Hampshire.

Kasich acknowledged Wednesday to reporters that his campaign has a long haul ahead as he approaches less-friendly primary contests, but he remained optimistic.

All the questions, all the doubts and everything, Ive been hearing this for so long, I guess for about 30 years, Kasich said. So Im sort of used to it. Well just keep doing what we do.

Kranish reported from Concord, N.H. Ed OKeefe in Concord contributed to this report.
Germany will provide 500 million euros ($566 million) worth of credit to Iraq to help it weather the sharp downturn in global oil prices, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday after talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

"Germany is ready to do what it can ... to stabilise Iraq in view of the big security challenges and economic challenges," Merkel told a joint news conference with Abadi, noting the impact of weak oil prices on the Iraqi state budget.

Merkel is under heavy pressure at home to do more to tackle Europe's migrant crisis, which has seen some 1.1 million people, including tens of thousands of Iraqis, arrive in Germany over the past year seeking refuge from wars and poverty.

The chancellor said Germany had not earmarked the credits for any particular purpose but said Iraq needed to rebuild its war-shattered infrastructure to give its citizens hope and to encourage them to remain in the country.

As well as the slump in oil prices, Iraq is also battling Islamic State militants who control swathes of territory in the north and west.

Iraq, whose income comes almost exclusively from oil sales, is struggling to pay its bills . The 2016 budget projects a 24 trillion Iraqi dinar ($20.45 billion) deficit financed largely by aid from international organisations such as the World Bank.

Baghdad is expected to need hundreds of millions of dollars to repair infrastructure in cities recaptured from Islamic State (IS) group with the help of airstrikes from the U.S.-led coalition, of which Germany is also a member.

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Even as President Obama pushes to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba before he leaves office, another legacy of post-9/11 U.S. detention policies persists here in Afghanistan, where three men languish in one of the worlds toughest prisons despite court orders for their release.

Thousands of suspected militants were picked up by U.S. and Afghan forces after the fall of the Taliban government in late 2001. Many were sent to a U.S.-run prison at Bagram air base on the outskirts of Kabul, including dozens of non-Afghans kept for years without formal charges or public disclosure of their whereabouts.

[In Afghanistan, a second Guantanamo]

A little more than a year ago, amid growing pressure from human rights activists, the U.S. military completed the handover of the prison to Afghan control. At least three non-Afghan prisoners remain incarcerated there, even though the countrys highest courts have agreed they should be freed.

They have just been left there, said Tina M. Foster, a lawyer with the International Justice Network, which works on detainee issues. They are basically condemned to die there.

The cases, involving two brothers from Tajikistan and a man from Uzbekistan, are a subset of the broader issues facing the Obama administration as it tries to bring more order to detention policies implemented after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Since Obama took office in 2009, the population at Guantanamo, where prisoners considered most likely to commit a terrorist attack are held, has dropped from 242 to 91.

But congressional Republicans oppose transferring the remaining detainees into the U.S. court system. And the administration has struggled to find other nations willing to accept them.

[Pentagon transfers 5 Yemenis being held at Guantanamo Bay to UAE]

The number of foreign prisoners held at Bagram has also been reduced. Of at least 67 non-Afghans held there in 2012, nearly all have since been sent back to their native countries, according to Afghan officials. The exact number of those left is unclear.

The cases of brothers Said Jamaluddin and Abdul Fatah and the Uzbek national, Musa Akhmadjanov, have been complicated by their refusal to be repatriated, out of fear they will be tortured. Under international law, inmates cannot be sent back to countries where they may be abused.

Brig. Gen. Dawlat Waziri, a spokesman for the Afghan Defense Ministry, said the three men have reported being so fearful of their native countries that they prefer to remain in Bagram. Attorneys for the men deny they want to stay in the prison, which has been linked to past acts of torture and ghastly unsanitary conditions. The attorneys say the best option is for them to be resettled in a third country.

Given Afghanistans lack of international clout, it is ultimately the U.S. governments responsibility to resettle them, attorneys and human rights officials say.

The onus should be on the Americans because they have had five years to deal with this and knew the guys had to be resettled, Foster said. There was no reason to give them to the Afghans. They should have either kept them in [U.S.] custody or released them, and they did neither.

The State Department said that the U.S. government has considered several options for the detainees, including repatriation and resettlement, but that transferring them to Afghan custody has been judged the best option available under all of the circumstances considered.

It said in a statement that it continued to monitor the mens welfare, but adding, Since the detainees are now in Afghan custody, the Afghan government would need to address any specific security or humane treatment concerns that might arise.

Waziri referred requests for further comment to the countrys National Security Council, which did not respond.

Our ministrys job is just to provide them accommodation, food and access to lawyers, Waziri said.

Jamaluddin and Fatah are the sons of Mullah Amruddin, a longtime political dissident and Islamic leader in Tajikistan, a country that regulates Muslims religious observance.

Fearing persecution, the brothers left home in the early 2000s to study in seminaries in Iran and later Afghanistan, Foster said. In 2009, they were captured by U.S. forces during a raid on a suspected militant safe house in Afghanistan.

For years, there was no public record of their detention.

Then about a year ago, Kate Clark, a researcher and director of the Afghan Analysts Network, uncovered U.S. case files containing allegations that the brothers had confessed to membership in the Islamic Movement of Turkestan, a Muslim separatist group.

However, neither U.S. nor Afghan prosecutors have ever charged the men with any terrorism-related crimes, Foster said.

Last February, an Afghan court convicted the brothers of entering Afghanistan without a valid visa, Foster said. They were sentenced to a maximum of three years in prison, but the judge ordered their release because they had already spent at least five years at Bagram. An appellate court and Afghanistans Supreme Court have upheld that ruling.

They have now already been in custody for seven years, said Foster, adding that her clients say the heat is not turned on in the prison and they are served food covered in maggots. Why do they need to be there? You could at least put them in a hotel.

Akhmadjanov, the Uzbek, was a shopkeeper who fled his native country because authorities were harassing him for growing a beard and looking Muslim, said his attorney, Mohammad Zamir Zamani.

He traveled to Turkey, where he got married. But in early 2010, Turkish authorities expelled him because he did not have a Turkish visa, Zamani said.

When he entered Afghanistans Nimruz province, local security forces handed him over to U.S. troops, according to court documents.

According to Clark, of the Afghan Analysts Network, U.S. authorities allege that Akhmadjanov then admitted to being a member of the Islamic Jihad Union and assisting foreign fighters in Afghanistan.

But Afghan courts have repeatedly ruled there was not enough evidence to suggest that Akhmadjanov  who claims an Afghan guard once bit him during an interrogation  had done anything illegal in Afghanistan.

We have concluded to hand over the accused person to the officials of his country, a three-judge appellate panel ruled in a written statement in May. [If] the individual would feel threatened from [a] safety perspective, then we request application of international law for his safety and security.

But Zamani said his attempts to get Akhmadjanov transferred out of Bagram have been stymied.

Akhmadjanov wants to be sent back to Turkey, to reunite with his wife. But Turkish officials can find no record of the marriage.

We now hope to invite the Turkish girl to Kabul to marry him again, Zamani said.

But that wedding will be possible only if U.S. authorities do more to help, he added.

They are the ones with influence over Turkey, Zamani said. It would be much better if the Americans contact them instead of the Afghans.

Julie Tate in Washington contributed to this report.

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In milestone, Guantanamo population to fall below 100 for first time in 14 years

Issue of where to move Guantanamo detainees threatens closure plan

Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world
A clash between rival factions in a Mexican prison touched off a deadly riot and mattress-fed fires Thursday, leaving at least 49 inmates dead after one of the worst outbreaks of violence in a system plagued by overcrowding and corruption.

The melee at the Topo Chico prison in the northern city of Monterrey was another blow to authorities seeking to tackle problems that include gang control in many of Mexicos largest penitentiaries.

It also comes less than a week before Pope Francis is scheduled to visit a prison in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, a former epicenter for battles between Mexicos powerful drug networks.

Jaime Rodriguez, the governor of Nuevo Leon state, of which Monterrey is the capital, told reporters that the prison fight involved a faction linked to the Zetas drug cartel.

[Can Mexico hold cartel boss El Chapo? ]

Rodriguez had initially said at least 52 inmates were killed and 12 were injured, including some burned in cellblock blazes as mattresses and furniture were set aflame, but later reduced the number of dead to 49.

Outside the prison, worried relatives rattled the gates and chain-link fences demanding to be let into the compound. At one point, family members forced open an entrance and pelted riot police with wood and stones, television reports showed.

Images on social media purported to show bodies of inmates scattered across a prison courtyard. The prison has separate areas for female and elderly inmates, but they were calm, Rodriguez said after the unrest was brought under control.

[Corruption allegations common behind bars in Mexico]

The death toll was the highest from prison violence in years in Mexico. In 2012, 44 inmates died in a prison bloodbath between rival drug gang members in the Monterrey suburb of Apodaca.

A report the following year by Mexicos National Human Rights Commission found that 65 of 101 prisons surveyed were effectively run by inmates. Other rights activists have documented chronic overcrowding in many Mexican jails.

Shortcomings in prison security were highlighted by an elaborate tunnel used by drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman to escape in July from his cell in the Altiplano federal maximum-security prison about 50 miles west of Mexico City. He was recaptured last month shortly after giving an interview to actor Sean Penn for an article that appeared in Rolling Stone magazine.

Read more:

Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world
The United States, Russia and other powers agreed to a cessation of hostilities in Syrias civil war, to take place within the next week, and immediate humanitarian access to besieged areas, Secretary of State John F. Kerry announced here early Friday.

It was unanimous, Kerry said of a communique issued after hours of meetings among participants in a group of nations that have supported and armed one side or the other in the four-year war. Everybody today agreed, he said. But the proof of commitment will come only with implementation. What we have here are words on paper, Kerry said. What we need to see in the next few days are actions on the ground.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the projected date for ending at least some of his countrys airstrikes in Syria is a week from Friday, but he emphasized that terrorist groups would continue to be targeted, including the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra, an al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria that is involved in the fight against President Bashar al-Assad. The group in some instances fights alongside rebel forces supported by the United States and its allies.

[Syrians stranded between airstrikes and locked border fence]

The determination of eligible targets and geographic areas is to be left up to a task force of nations, headed by Russia and the United States, that will adjudicate differences of opinion. It is expected but by no means guaranteed that signatories to the agreement will be able to persuade their proxies and allies on the ground, including Assad and the hundreds of opposition groups fighting against him, to honor the terms.

The United States, Russia and other powers came to an agreement on a cessation of hostilities in Syria, but the deal was met with caution and skepticism. (Jason Aldag,Ishaan Tharoor/The Washington Post)

Kerry and Lavrov emphasized that the agreement is not perfect and will require the goodwill and determination of all involved.

Lavrov also described a qualitative change in U.S. military policy to cooperate with Russia in continuing the fight against the Islamic State. Until now, the Obama administration has declined to deal with Russia except to deconflict their airstrikes to prevent their aircraft from running into each other in Syrias skies.

The key thing is to build direct contacts, not only on procedures to avoid incidents but also cooperation between our militaries, Lavrov said.

Kerry said there had been no change in policy, but he said humanitarian and other agreed-upon programs would require the ability to talk about deployment of forces, the presence of people, who can go where, how they get there, and avoid conflict in ways that are effective to implement the agreement.

Lavrov described the cessation of hostilities as the first step toward a cease-fire, a more formal legal construct that can involve the turning in of arms and demobilization of forces. Instead, he described the immediate goal as more akin to a truce.

The aim is that humanitarian relief begin as early as this weekend, with Russian airdrops to at least seven areas of Syria that cannot be easily reached by road. A second task force of countries, drawn from among the 17 that participated in the talks, will determine the modalities of allowing ground convoys of food and medicines to pass through government and opposition lines to reach dozens of other besieged communities.

Kerry and Lavrov acknowledged that they and other members of the group continue to disagree about many issues in Syria, including Assads future.

The Munich effort was seen as a last chance to stop carnage in Syria that has left hundreds of thousands dead and sent millions fleeing from the country. What was already a desperate situation in Syria has greatly worsened over the past few weeks, as massive Russian bombardment in and around the city of Aleppo has scattered opposition fighters and driven tens of thousands of civilians toward the barricaded Turkish border.

Participants said they had noted a new U.S. willingness to stand up to the Russians, who agreed in December to a U.N. resolution calling for a cease-fire in conjunction with peace talks.

The Obama administration has been under pressure from its allies to stop the flow into Europe of what are now about 1 million refugees. Partners in the Middle East have also openly despaired of what they see as declining U.S. leadership in the region.

Beyond its recent appearance of allowing Russia to act with impunity, the administration has long resisted calls from regional partners to increase its relatively low level of military aid and training to opposition forces, even as President Obama insisted that Assad would have to step down. A failure of the Munich effort would have presented the administration with a decision on whether to reverse course and expand its assistance to the opposition.

Some diplomats here noted that the Russians may be more amenable now to an early cease-fire, since the airstrikes and Iranian-aided ground operations have achieved their goal of regaining control for Assad over much of the countrys western population centers. This months Russian bombing has driven opposition forces out of areas of Aleppo and the surrounding province that they had occupied almost since the civil war began in earnest four years ago.

Everybodys calculations have shifted because of events of the past few weeks, one diplomat said. The diplomats spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door talks.

[U.S. official tours Syrian devastation]

Opposition leaders said as the talks progressed Thursday that they were optimistic after meeting with Kerry and others. Well wait two days and see if all the promises they made are kept, Salem al-Meslet, the spokesman for a negotiating team appointed by the Syrian opposition to open U.N.-sponsored talks with the government, said before the agreement was announced. Hopefully, well see something by Monday.

U.N. special envoy Staffan de Mistura said he anticipated an early resumption of talks between the Syrian government and the opposition. Meslet said the opposition would return to talks if the new plan is implemented. But, he said, we have to see something  food [must] go to children who are starving to death. Then well go sit at the same table with the government.

I cant stop [Vladimir] Putin, he said of the Russian president. Can you say no to Putin? he said, referring to the United States and its allies.

The initial session of the negotiations was suspended last week after the opposition protested the lack of humanitarian access to besieged areas as well as Russias stepped-up airstrikes near Aleppo.

The Munich meeting, the fourth the group of nations has held, was initially intended to bless and monitor peace talks that were supposed to start early this month. Instead, it turned into an emergency session to put the process back on track.

[Kerry struggles over Syria]

Although isolated, small-scale fighting is likely to continue, the deal would ideally stop the use of heavy weapons, including tanks and antitank missiles. The United States and its partners would continue their current level of equipping and training the opposition so as not to leave the rebels at a disadvantage if the cessation of hostilities collapses. Russia presumably would continue its support for the Syrian government.

Despite the diplomatic talks here, combat both real and verbal continued Thursday. Russias Defense Ministry was defiant about Moscows intervention in Syria, saying it would not yield to Western entreaties to stop an effort that has given Assad powerful momentum on the battlefield.

[NATO to confront human-smuggling networks in Aegean]

Western efforts at political transitions led to bloodshed and refugees, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, a Defense Ministry spokesman, told reporters in Moscow. He gave no indication that Russia plans to stop its combat air missions anytime soon.

Konashenkov denied that Russia was bombing civilians, saying that no matter how long one baits terrorists, they will not become opposition members.

Responding to a charge Wednesday from Col. Steve Warren, the Baghdad-based spokesman for coalition operations in Iraq and Syria, that Russian planes had bombed two hospitals in Aleppo, Konashenkov said two U.S. planes were in fact responsible.

There were no coalition airstrikes in or near Aleppo on Wednesday, Feb. 10, Warren countered Thursday in a statement. Any claim that the coalition had aircraft in the area is a fabrication.

Michael Birnbaum in Moscow, Thomas Gibbons-Neff and Griff Witte in Brussels and Brian Murphy in Washington contributed to this report.
A federal grand jury has begun hearing evidence in the death of a 43-year-old Staten Island man whose videotaped takedown by New York City police officers sparked national outrage, according to an official familiar with the case and an attorney for one of the officers involved.

Federal prosecutors, including at least one from the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division, began presenting evidence Wednesday in the case of Eric Garner, who died in 2014 after he was taken to the ground by New York City police officers and put in what appeared to be a chokehold. The incident, which was caught on tape, ignited protests across the country, and Garners gasping I cant breathe became a rallying cry for those upset about the treatment of African Americans by police.

[How Eric Garner changed the national conversation on race and police]

The empaneling of a federal grand jury, which was first reported by the New York Daily News and confirmed by others, is a significant step, signaling that prosecutors are taking the matter seriously and an officer or officers could be charged. The grand jurors would be looking at whether Garners civil rights were violated and whether an officer or officers could be held criminally accountable.

Federal investigators, though, sometimes use the grand jury process merely to further their investigations, and it is far from certain any charges would be returned. A Staten Island grand jury declined to bring charges in the case late in 2014.

At the center of the case is Officer Daniel Pantaleo, who on the video seems to be putting Garner in a chokehold. Stuart London, Pantaleos attorney, said Pantaleo was obviously concerned that a federal grand jury was looking into the matter, though he was unsure exactly what that meant.

London said he had learned about the grand jury via news reports and his contacts in the justice system.

It certainly gets my attention when they convene a grand jury, but it doesnt always mean there will be a criminal indictment, London said. London said Pantaleo testified in front of a state grand jury with no true bill, and from his perspective, he thought this was over.

[Grand jury declines to indict officer in Eric Garner death, igniting protests]

He never feels that he violated any federally protected right, London said. He was really just making a simple street arrest in a situation that had a tragic consequence.

Garner initially drew the attention of police for selling loose cigarettes. The city of New York reached a civil settlement with his family last year for $5.9 million. An attorney for the family could not be reached Thursday.

London said Pantaleo had not been called to testify in front of the grand jury. He declined to comment on reports saying prosecutors had offered him the opportunity to talk to them in a different setting.

Spokeswomen for the Justice Department and the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of New York declined to comment for this article.
A door-to-door salesman set himself on fire Thursday in a public prosecutor's office in southern Morocco in protest at the judiciary's inaction on a complaint he filed, local media reported.

Mashahid website said the man "filed a complaint against a night watchman who had hit his car, but the court took no action, pushing him to take the action" in the city of Agadir.

Suffering second degree burns, the unnamed man was taken to hospital under police escort, said another Moroccan news website, Lakome 2.

It said he was to be questioned to determine if he should face legal action.

Human rights activist Aziz Salami told AFP late Thursday that the man was still being treated in an Agadir hospital.

His action mirrored that of young Tunisian fruit seller Mohamed Bouazizi who set himself alight in December 2010 and died a month later, sparking a revolution in his country and the 2011 Arab Spring.

In 2013, a door-to-door salesman in Marrakesh, in the centre of Morocco, a county where the World Bank says one in three young Moroccans are jobless, died after setting himself on fire to protest the confiscation of his merchandise.

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The federal judge was irritated.

Who is this Patel guy? he asked prosecutors at a meeting in his chambers at the federal courthouse in Houston to discuss a terrorism case with them and a lawyer for the defendant.

Ted Imperato, an assistant U.S. attorney in the Houston office, explained that Patel was, in fact, Kashyap Patel, a prosecutor in the Justice Departments National Security Division in Washington, which oversees terrorism cases. And he noted that he had allowed Patel to use his account login so the Washingtonian could give notice that he would be involved.

Dont let those sons of bitches use your account, said U.S. District Judge Lynn Nettleton Hughes.

And put that in the record, he added for the court reporter.

What followed last month  memorialized in a transcript that was unsealed at the request of The Washington Post  was a Texas-size bollocking over proper attire, wasting taxpayer money and spying for the bureaucrats in Washington.

Patel was summarily tossed from the judges chambers and Hughes  if anyone doubted his 10-gallon grumpiness  subsequently issued an Order on Ineptitude to berate the pretentious lawyers at Main Justice.

[Read: How a federal judge in Texas berated the Justice Department]

The episode has left those very lawyers in the Justice Department fuming at the rough handling of their colleague, according to a person who declined to speak publicly for fear of adding more fuel to the feud.

Patel declined to comment, as did a Justice Department spokesman who also wouldnt say whether Patel is still involved with the prosecution.

The case that caused the judicial kerfuffle involves Omar Faraj Saeed al-Hardan, 24, a Palestinian born in Iraq, who was charged with attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State.

The prosecution got off to a bad start almost immediately. At a detention hearing last month, a Department of Homeland Security agent testified that Hardan had wanted to blow up a pair of Houston malls.

Prosecutors subsequently had to correct that testimony and the FBI later issued an embarrassing news release saying that although Hardan had discussed future targets, there was never any active or planned plot targeting a specific location in Houston or elsewhere.

The detention hearing also didnt pass without Hughes counting what he considered 11 nonessential government employees in his courtroom, according to an account of the proceeding.

[Read transcript: How a federal judge in Texas berated a federal prosecutor]

Hughes, 74, is something of a maverick, known for courtroom outbursts and comments about race that have led some plaintiffs to call on him to recuse himself. At a pretrial conference in a discrimination case involving an Indian American, for instance, he discussed Adolf Hitlers use of swastikas, the origin of Caucasians and the futility of diversity programs at universities, according to a report in the Texas Observer.

The plaintiff, Jitendra Shah, asked an appeals court to remove Hughes for bias. In his defense, Hughes wrote that the courts asserted hostility to Indians would surprise its immigrant or first-generation Indian doctors, friends, law clerk, and interns.

The appeals court dismissed Shahs petition.

He has a contrarian streak, said Brian Owsley, a former magistrate judge in the Southern District of Texas.

In another recent terrorism case in Houston, prosecutors asked Hughes to overturn a magistrates decision to place under house arrest a terrorism suspect who had headed to Syria to fight but returned to the United States.

A man devoted to become a martyr would not turn around, said Hughes, who upheld the magistrates decision.

Other remarks at the hearing also raised eyebrows. After a prosecutor mentioned the killings of two American journalists, James Foley and Steven Sotloff, Hughes responded, The Americans went into territory [the Islamic State] controlled. No. An American who voluntarily subjects himself to the authority of beheading theological fanatical murderers, that is not against America any more than somebody who robs you in Paris.

Patel arrived in Houston on Jan. 28 after flying from Tajikstan via London. As soon as he entered the judges chambers, Hughes pounced.

What is your role in this? he asked.

Im a member of the trial team from the counterterrorism section, Patel responded.

Youre not a member of the trial team, the judge said. Its been going on for a month or so and you havent been here, have you?

Hughes was just getting warmed up.

And where is your tie? Where is your suit? he asked.

My apologies, sir, Patel replied. I had to change my flight overnight. I was overseas for work, and I just flew in an hour ago, and I didnt have all my . . .

What did you wear on the plane? the judge pressed.

I wore this, sir he explained. This is all I had.

Why didnt you wear a suit?

I didnt have one with me overseas. I just flew in from Central Asia, sir, about an hour ago.

Hughes then told Patel to go get his passport so he could examine it. He apparently wanted to see the stamps that would verify that Patel had been in Tajikistan.

If you want to be a lawyer, dress like a lawyer, the judge said.

I will, sir, Patel said.

Act like a lawyer.

Hughes wasnt finished. He wanted to know how Patel would contribute to the case other than being a spy for a bunch of other people.

He also noted that plenty of government lawyers were in the nearby offices of the U.S. attorney.

So, what is the utility to me and to the people of America to have you fly down here at their expense, eat at their expense and stay at their expense when there are plenty of capable people over there, in this room plus over there? Hughes said Youre just one more nonessential employee from Washington. . . . You dont add a bit of value, do you?

And with that, he told Patel, You may be excused.

When word of the hearing reached Patels bosses in Washington, they apparently tried to get a transcript of the session, but with some difficulty. Their efforts provoked another rebuke from Hughes, who issued his Order on Ineptitude  now being passed around legal circles like a deliciously illicit piece of literature.

Hughes thundered, If the pretentious lawyers from main Justice knew what they were doing  or had the humility to ask for help from the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Texas  it would not have taken three days, seven telephone calls, three voicemail messages, and one snippy electronic message for them to indirectly ask the court for assistance in ordering a transcript.

Indeed, it wasnt hard to get one. With the help of no lawyers, this reporter called the judges secretary and asked that the transcript be unsealed. The next day, the judge issued an order to do so, but with some redactions, and a copy was promptly provided to The Post.

Ellen Nakashima and Julie Tate contributed to this report.
A man smokes next to a street cart selling tea Tuesday at the closed Turkish border gate in Kilis. Turkish officials say about 30,000 refugees have massed at the border after fleeing Russian airstrikes and a regime offensive surrounding the city of Aleppo . (Chris Mcgrath/Getty Images)

Turkey angrily rejected demands Wednesday that it open its border to tens of thousands of Syrian refugees driven from their homes by relentless Russian airstrikes, saying that to do so would amount to complicity in the Russian-backed offensive to drive rebels out of the province of Aleppo.

The blunt acknowledgment that politics are part of the calculus in this latest humanitarian crisis in Syria underscores the dilemma confronting Turkey as it grapples with the prospect of a new refugee influx as well as the fear that hostile forces will overrun territory adjoining its border.

It was a reminder, too, of the ways in which civilians have routinely become pawns in the Syrian conflict, which has already displaced more than half the prewar population and created a vast diaspora of nearly 5.5 million refugees beyond Syrias borders.

The numbers could soon increase significantly if the Syrian government achieves its stated goal of encircling and eventually recapturing the provincial capital of Aleppo, Syrias largest city. Half of the city and much of the countryside have been under rebel control since 2012, but the intervention of Russias air force in September tilted the balance of power on the ground in favor of President Bashar al-Assad.

[U.S. officials: Russian airstrikes have changed calculus completely in Syria]





An offensive launched last week has succeeded already in severing a vital rebel supply route between the Turkish border and the rebel-held portion of Aleppo city, and also torpedoed fragile peace talks in Geneva that were suspended before they had begun. More than 500 people have been killed in the nine days since the battle began, many of them in the heavy Russian airstrikes that preceded the government loyalists advances on the ground, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

World powers are scheduled to meet in Munich on Thursday in an effort to salvage the peace process, but the intensified fighting has given little reason to hope that a breakthrough is near.

More than 50,000 people have fled the latest fighting, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross. The Turkish government said that more than 70,000 and up to 100,000 have been displaced by the battles and that as many as 600,000 could eventually flee the Aleppo region.

About 30,000 people have converged on the Turkish border in the past week to escape the new offensive. They have gathered at the Bab al-Salameh border crossing on the Syrian side just south of the Turkish city of Kilis. There they are being aided by the Turkish relief agency IHH, which has been shipping tents and meals across the border.

But some still are sleeping in muddy fields in temperatures that drop below zero at night, and conditions are miserable even for those sheltered in the tents, said Khalil Abdulrahman, a Syrian activist working with the refugees.

Its really cold. People dont want to stay here. They just want to go to Turkey, he said. If Turkey opened its border, the entire population of the province would probably flee, and then the whole area will be empty.

[Syrian rebels are losing Aleppo and perhaps also the war]

Syrian refugee Hatice Henidil hugs her grandson, Usame, while waiting Wednesday for the boys parents near the town of Kilis, in south-central Turkey. The parents were still on the Syrian side of the border. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images)

That is a major concern for Turkey. Allowing the refugees into Turkey would serve only to facilitate the Russian-backed effort to drive out the rebels and also the local, mostly Sunni population of northern Syria, which turned against Assads regime five years ago, top Turkish officials said.

With every refugee that we accept, in a way, we would be contributing to this ethnic cleansing aim, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters during a visit to The Hague. If this is a strategy to change the demography in Syria, then we all have to be vigilant against it.

In the Turkish capital of Ankara, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called what was happening in northern Syria a deportation and genocide. He accused the international community of double standards in asking Turkey to admit refugees while most other countries in the world refuse to do so.

We have taken 3 million Syrians and Iraqis into our home. How many did you take? Which country took them in? Are you mocking us? he asked, pointing out that Turkey has spent $10 billion on housing refugees in recent years while the United Nations has contributed $455 million.

Those who regard refugees as bogeymen have turned a blind eye, a deaf ear to the Assad regime, which is the reason for this problem, he added.

The comments followed an appeal by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees on Tuesday to admit all civilians who are fleeing danger and seeking international protection, in accordance with international laws.

The New York-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch joined the appeals for Turkey to admit the refugees. Forcing people to remain in a war zone, where they risk death and injury, is no solution to the challenge of protecting Syrians fleeing their country, it said in a statement.

A victory for government forces in the Aleppo area would also put hostile forces up against the border of Turkey, which has been the regions most vocal and active supporter of the rebellion to topple Assad. The loyalist force advancing on Aleppo is made up of government troops but also sizable numbers of allied Shiite militias from Iraq and Lebanon, as well as Iranian advisers with the Revolutionary Guard Corps.

[How the battle against ISIS is redrawing the map of the Middle East]

Kurdish forces with the Peoples Protection Units, or YPG, are also advancing in the area, another nightmare for Turkey at a time when it is waging its own war against separatist Kurds in southeastern Turkey.

The Kurdish dimension has further complicated U.S.-led efforts to forge a united front in the fight against the Islamic State and a peace settlement in Syria.

The United States growing friendship with the YPG is at the heart of a brewing dispute with Turkey that is jeopardizing cooperation between the allies in the war against the Islamic State. Turkey regards the YPG as a terrorist organization, but the United States, which has provided arms and air cover to the Kurdish militia to battle the Islamic State, does not.

Erdogan on Wednesday challenged the Obama administration to choose which ally to support. Are you on our side or the side of the terrorist organizations? he asked.



Zakaria Zakaria contributed to this report.

Read more:

The hidden hand behind the Islamic State militants? Saddam Husseins.

What the fall of Aleppo would mean for Syria and the world

Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world
Migrants and refugees arrived on the Greek island of Lesbos on Tuesday. (Kostas Tsironis/AP)

NATO dispatched warships to the Aegean Sea on Thursday to target people-smuggling operations, marking the most direct intervention by the military alliance in Europes efforts to control the huge wave of migrants seeking to reach the continents shores.

The operation  cobbled together during overnight talks  puts ships from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on the front lines in combating smuggling networks in Turkey, a member of NATO. The smugglers have provided a pipeline for more than 1 million migrants who entered the European Union last year, setting off humanitarian and political crises across the continent.

NATO officials said Thursday their efforts will be aimed at monitoring and disrupting the smuggler networks, which have reaped massive profits by sending migrants and refugees across the narrow straits separating the Turkish coast and Greek islands.

[Chart: The stunning expansion of the migrant crisis]

But it remains unclear how NATOs plans will work in practice, given the complexities of integrating a military alliance into a policing and border-control operation.





NATOs mission will be sea-based, while smugglers remain on land after asylum seekers push off into Aegean waters, often on flimsy rubber boats. Also left unclear is the degree of NATO responsibility for assisting refugees in distress as boats overturn or sink in rough seas. German officials said Thursday that asylum seekers picked up by NATO vessels will be returned to Turkey.

Experts on Thursday cast doubt on the missions prospects. Alexander Betts, a refugee and migration studies expert at the University of Oxford, said the operation may not do very much other than potentially increase the price and risk of what is already a very dangerous journey.

The NATO mission reflects Europes continuing difficulty in managing a crisis that has strained resources and exposed internal divisions. Although a NATO role has been discussed for months, the decision to launch the operation was unexpected and came together only after a blitz of talks following a proposal from Germany, Greece and Turkey.

The last piece came Thursday morning when Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter announced U.S. backing, just days after other American officials had played down the idea.

Minutes after Carter spoke, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters that he had directed NATO maritime forces to immediately move toward the eastern Aegean.

[New wave of Syrians flees toward Turkey, but faces blocked border]

It is important to respond swiftly because this crisis affects us all, Stoltenberg said.

Boatloads of migrants  sometimes more than 1,000 people a day  continue to attempt the risky journey to islands in Greece despite frigid waters that have claimed hundreds of lives in recent weeks.

Greece, a NATO member, has struggled to deal with the nonstop flow of people  most fleeing violence in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and other conflict zones. The exodus shows no sign of abating as international efforts to broker a peace deal in Syria founder.

Speaking in Brussels, Carter commended requests from Turkish, Greek and German authorities to create a joint maritime mission.

This is peoples lives and destinies at stake here, and its important to act quickly, Carter said.

Under the plan, five NATO vessels under German command are to be tasked with reconnaissance and surveillance of known illegal trafficking routes. They will work in close cooperation with the European Union border force, known as Frontex, as well as the Greek and Turkish coast guards. Canadian and Italian ships are also involved in the mission.

[More migrants, more closed borders in Europe]

Stoltenberg added that other NATO countries are looking to assist the operation in the coming months. He stressed that the goal was to counter criminal activity, not to block refugees from reaching Europe.

This is not about stopping and pushing back refugee boats, Stoltenberg said.

But in Germany, the NATO operation was seen as the last, best effort by the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel to put a dent in the number of asylum seekers, which is already far outpacing the rate of 2015. Merkel, whose political future depends on her ability to uphold a pledge to the public to drastically reduce numbers, has grown frustrated as European partners have reneged on commitments and as Greece has struggled to patrol its own borders.

At least on the German side, this is an attempt to finally get some action on the refugee issue  to show that were doing something, said Josef Janning, head of the European Council on Foreign Relations Berlin Office. The talks with the Greeks are stalled, and Merkel doesnt have time anymore. She is under pressure, she needs to deliver lower numbers of arrivals, no matter how she does it.

The NATO mission, analysts say, could begin to change that by going after the smugglers who are integral to the flow of people into Europe.

These are established criminal networks, which are squeezing out millions from these people, benefiting from them and condoning as thousands are drowning, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said Thursday in Brussels.

[For desperate refugees, the smugglers room is over there]

German opposition politicians, however, harshly criticized the mission as a militarization of the refugee crisis. Some argued that it was not directed against the traffickers, as the government claimed, but against the refugees themselves. In a statement, the German refugee advocacy group Pro Asyl decried the mission as an attempt to block escape routes through Turkey. . . . This will lead to human rights abuses.

Other proposals to combat people smuggling, including an E.U. plan to challenge operations off the Libyan coast, have had relatively little impact and have struggled to get off the ground.

But in this case, the key could be cooperation between Greece and Turkey, former regional foes who remain wary of one another.

Greece has long accused Turkey of not doing enough to stop the flows. Turkey, in turn, has charged the E.U. with being hypocritical and overly demanding, given the strains placed on Turkey by the massive numbers of refugees who have flowed across its border with Syria. Stoltenberg said the new agreement ensures that Greek and Turkish forces will not operate in each others territorial waters.

NATOs top military commander said Thursday that the alliances new mission in the Aegean came together overnight Wednesday, following the Turkish, Greek and German proposals. It was, said U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, very prompt, quick political decision-making.

But he acknowledged that much of the detail surrounding how the operation will function in practice remains to be clarified, including protocols on aiding sinking vessels.

I cant talk about the specifics, Breedlove told reporters. [There] was rapid decision-making, and now we have to go do some military work.

Witte reported from London. Anthony Faiola in Berlin and Karla Adam in London contributed to this report.
Thousands of jobs losses have been announced in recent weeks across the UK as part of a corporate European-wide assault on the working class, amid growing global economic turmoil.

Tata Steel announced last month that it is to slash 1,050 jobs in the UK. Around 750 of these job losses are expected in Port Talbot, Wales and another 300 jobs could be lost at steel mills at plants in Llanwern, Trostre, Hartlepool and Corby.

The Port Talbot plant, which once employed 20,000 steel workers, is a major regional employer and each job loss is expected to have an immediate knock-on effect of four job cuts in associated industries, businesses and supply chains.

There has been a haemorrhaging of jobs in steel production in the UK over the past year.

In addition, oil giant British Petroleum (BP) last month announced 600 jobs losses in the North Sea (one in five of all jobs). These are part of 4,000 posts BP plans to shed globally from its upstream oil exploration and drilling business. BPs cutbacks form part of a major reduction in its global upstream workforcethose employed in oil exploration and productionfrom 24,000 to less than 20,000 by December 2017.

According to the industry body, UK Oil & Gas, an estimated 65,000 jobs had gone in the oil sector as of September 2015. The oil price is now at a 12-year low of around $30 per barrel and expected to fall farther.

The BP cuts were announced a day after oil and gas services firm Petrofac said that it would be cutting up to 160 jobs to integrate its operations into a single business. The firm said this was to ensure it remained competitive and sustainable against a challenging industry backdrop.

British Gas is to make 500 staff redundant, with the shutting of its loft and cavity wall insulation business. The cuts are part of 6,000 job losses announced by parent company Centrica. Some 500 of the jobs will go at sites around the UK, with 100 of them in Leeds.

Up to 300 jobs are also under threat at the Leeds headquarters of supermarket giant Asda. The retailer employs almost 3,000 staff at its head office in the city. The job cuts are on top of 1,360 middle management jobs axed in stores in 2014 as the Walmart-owned chain tries to lower costs by 1 billion.

The UKs third largest supermarket chain is believed to have fallen behind rivals during the key Christmas trading period. Analysts expect Asda to report its sixth quarter of falling revenue and to have the worst sales performance of the so-called big four supermarkets.

Up to 300 jobs are threatened at London-based ready meals company Bakkavor Meals after it lost a contract to supply mashed potatoes to the UKs top retailer Tesco. Bakkavor is one of the UKs biggest ready meals companies and provides prepared foods from salad to pizza and stir fries to all the major supermarket chains.

Tesco is involved in a ferocious trade war with low-cost retailers Aldi and Lidl. In November, Carlsberg said it was to cut up to 100 UK staff after Tesco stopped stocking some of its beer. General Mills announced 265 jobs will go with the closure of its factory in Berwick, which makes pastry and cake mixes. General Mills began producing pastry at the site over 50 years ago.

Virgin Media is to cut 900 jobs from its UK workforce over the next two years. Tom Mockridge, the chief executive, said: The proposed reorganisation will give us an even sharper focus on the customer, network expansion and business growth.

Research by the GMB trade union found that than 25,000 jobs are under threat in local authorities nationwide, due to councils imposing central government spending cuts.

Councils in the North East of England are set to shed more than 1,500 jobs. Approximately 700 jobs could go at Derbyshire County Council, 400 at Plymouth City Council and the same number at Sheffield City Council.

Also in Sheffield, over 240 jobs are under threat at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). Staff dealing with policy and corporate services have been told their office will close by 2018. Martin Donnelly, BIS permanent secretary, said the end of operations in Sheffield would be accompanied by the creation of a combined central headquarters and policy centre in London. The unions are being consulted and will be involved throughout the process, he said.

Up to 15,000 local authority jobs are set to go in Scotland under cuts imposed by the Scottish National Party (SNP) government.

In January, Edinburgh council approved 2,000 job losses, over the next four years. Scotlands second largest authority, run by a Labour-SNP coalition, is imposing 140 million in cuts in that period. About 700 staff are already slated for redundancy. Up to 85 million in cuts will go through over the next year, with museums and galleries opening hours slashed, and grants to local organisations cut. Parking charges in the city will rise by up to 50 percent.

Dumfries and Galloway Council could shed 400 job losses as part of spending cuts of 21.1 million. Stirling Council could also cut up to 390 jobs over the next five years and 150 in the immediate future. Loss of unsocial hours payments and changes in terms and condition of employment are also under consideration by Stirling as part of 6.6 million in cuts this year.

Around 150 jobs are to go at Icelands manufacturing plant for frozen food in Gorton, Manchester. Management this was as a result of a review into its business operations. Iceland bought the site from Loxton Food Company in 2013.

Staff at the plant, speaking anonymously to the local media, fear the workforce could be reduced by up to two-thirds if another round of redundancies goes ahead later in the year.

One of the workers told the press, The company farmed out manufacturing of ready meals to other companies when Gorton got the contract to do the Slimming World meals. Now we dont have enough workthat is due to a management decision. The managers say the redundancies are subject to consultation but we expect about 150 of us to go.

Budget shoe chain Brantano went into administration last monthputting 2,000 jobs at risk. The collapse of the firm, which has 140 shops and 60 concessions, was blamed on a high street slump.

Education book publisher Pearson announced 4,000 redundancies worldwide, with most jobs going in the United States. Around 500 jobs are set to go in the UK. The shares of Pearson, who recently sold the Financial Times, rose 17.4 percent on the news of the cuts.

Barclays, under newly appointed manager Jes Staley, is initiating another wave of job cuts at its investment-banking arm, on top of the 7,000 staff sacked since 2014. Some 1,200 jobs losses have been announced, with Barclays issuing its second profit warning in three months. The job losses coincide with Barclays plans to pull out of Russia and close offices across a number of countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
Nine-year-old Domenic Paces dream of becoming a superhero came true when the boy battling life-threatening cystic fibrosis was not only gifted a helmet-to-toe Iron Boy suit by the Make-A-Wish Foundation but also shuttled around on a helicopter and speedboat to perform a thrilling series of rescue missions in a day of adventure that his mother declared just amazing.

STORY: Paralyzed 3-Year-Old Has Simple Wish Granted

Domenic loves Iron Man and for a long time has been wishing to be a real-life Super Hero, revealed a post on Australias Make-A-Wish Facebook page that shared images from the boys epic outing on Thursday in Sydney. Things kicked off in dramatic fashion for sure, with a police helicopter that appeared from nowhere as Domenic was playing in a park and whisked him and his family off to police headquarters to begin his faux crime-fighting escapade.

STORY: 12-Year-Old Uses Make-A-Wish to Feed His Community

Photo: Facebook/Make-A-Wish Foundation



At the police station, Domenic was hustled off to a special briefing in the operation room with Commissioner Andrew Scipione, who gave the boy a once-in-a-lifetime mission: saving Make-A-Wishs fictional news reporter, Hope Joy, who had been kidnapped by evil henchmen and was trapped in a secret hideout. Domenic was given custom Iron Man-esque armor to wear to transform into Iron Boy and fight the bad guys. He even received a personal video message from Iron Man himself (shared with the boy after his mission was complete), in which the films star, Robert Downey Jr., appointed Domenic an honorary Avenger.

Once he was suited up, Domenic zipped off via police speedboat to the secret location to rescue Hope Joy.

Photos: Facebook/Make-A-Wish Foundation

But as soon as he fought off her captors, Domenic received another call for help. Villain Ultron was on the loose at the Opera House, and police needed Iron Boys help in apprehending the evildoer. Domenic hopped into another speedboat and rushed off to battle Ultron, whom he captured and handed over to arresting officers.

Story continues

Photos: Facebook/Make-A-Wish Foundation



For his bravery, Scipione presented Domenic with an award commending the childs courage. Not only has Domenic battled villains and saved his city, Scipione declared in a ceremony, hes stared down his illness and won the day.

(Top photo: Alamy Live News)

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.


Chris Christie and Carly Fiorina have suspended their campaigns for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. (Photo: Robert F. Bukaty, Matt Rourke/AP)



One day after dismal finishes in the New Hampshire primary, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina have suspended their campaigns for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.

Fiorina announced her decision via Facebook. Christie told staffers of his move during a late-afternoon meeting, a spokeswoman said.

It was a disappointing end for the New Jersey governor, who was once expected to be among the favorites to win the GOP nomination.

Christie spent more time campaigning in New Hampshire than any other candidate, participating in more than 70 town hall events in the Granite State. But he was unable to translate those gatherings into votes  receiving just 7.4 percent support among New Hampshire GOP voters.

The Christie campaign may ultimately be remembered for playing the foil to Marco Rubios would-be rise during the final Republican debate before the primary, attacking the Florida senator for sticking to talking points during a heated exchange just three days before New Hampshire cast its votes.

You want someone who is prepared, experienced, mature and tested to get on the stage against Hillary Clinton, Christie said on CNN hours before Tuesdays primary results were announced. Rubios just not ready, Christie added. He doesnt have the depth or the substance. And he doesnt have it because he hasnt experienced anything.

Christie added: Maybe he should run for governor of Florida and do something like that, and actually get some real experience.

With Christie gone, just two governors  Ohio Gov. John Kasich and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush  are still in the running for the GOP nomination.

Fiorina, who finished behind Christie in New Hampshire, vowed to remain active in politics. She too struggled for traction in early voting despite making a splash in early debates.

While I suspend my candidacy today, I will continue to travel this country and fight for those Americans who refuse to settle for the way things are and a status quo that no longer works for them, Fiorina wrote in a statement posted to her Facebook page. I will continue to serve in order to restore citizen government to this great nation so that together we may fulfill our potential.
At least eight people drowned in northern Nigeria when a canoe ferrying traders capsized and panicked passengers in another boat jumped into the river, a government official said Thursday.

The first canoe was carrying traders to a local market in Jahun district of Jigawa state when it tipped over after hitting an obstacle in the water, said the local government chairman, Ibrahim Mu'azu.

He said the accident frightened passengers in another canoe trailing behind who jumped into the river to escape possible capsize.

"So far eight dead bodies were pulled out of the river while another eight were rescued by local divers," Mu'azu told AFP of the accident which happened on Wednesday.

"(The) search for more bodies is on because we don't have an exact number of people in the two canoes and the general feeling is that more bodies are still in the river," he added.

Boat accidents are common in waterfront communities in Nigeria due largely to lack of safety standards and poor maintenance of boats.

Last month, seven people died when a passenger boat capsized after hitting an object in the port city of Lagos in the southwest.

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A day after his 22-point victory over Hillary Clinton in the New Hampshire primary, Bernie Sanders took a victory lap in New York City, which included a soul food summit with the Rev. Al Sharpton, a sit-down with the ladies of The View and an appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. And Colbert, who grew up in Charleston, S.C., offered the Vermont senator some advice on how to win the upcoming primary in South Carolina.

To get the vote down there, you have to eat boiled peanuts, Colbert said, offering the democratic socialist a delicacy from the Palmetto State. And you have that with a nice beer  do you want a beer?

Sanders didnt hesitate, taking a swig from a bottle given to him by the late-night host.

And this wins in South Carolina? Sanders asked.

Yes, it does, Colbert said. If you like boiled peanuts, itll certainly give you a leg up in South Carolina.

Colbert then asked Sanders about an old photo that recently resurfaced online showing the Vermont senator on a packed commercial flight seated between two passengers in economy class.

Is that penance for something? Colbert asked. Why travel in the middle seat, sir?

Because we couldnt get the aisle or the damn window, Sanders replied.

Earlier in the interview, Colbert challenged Sanders on his campaigns crusade against the billionaire class.

That sounds like class warfare, the CBS host said. If youre saying that everything  most of it is going to the top one percent, and [younger voters] want fairness, how do you achieve that fairness? Because the top one percent has a lot of influence in government, and theyre not just going to give it up. Theyre going to fight you tooth and nail, and Ill tell you how I know  Im in the top 1 percent.

I think weve reached a point in American society where people are just very, very unhappy with the status quo, Sanders said.

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Sanders was also to explain why some New Hampshire voters said they were trying to decide between the Democratic candidate and Republican frontrunner Donald Trump.

I think a lot of Donald Trumps supporters are angry, the Vermont senator said. They are in many cases people working longer hours for lower wages. Theyre people who are really worried about what is going to happen to their kids. But I think what they have done is respond to Trumps false message that suggests that if we keep Muslims out of this country or if we keep scapegoating Latinos or Mexicans that somehow our country becomes better.

Sanders added: People have a right to be angry, but what we need to be is rational in figuring out how we address the problems and not be scapegoating minorities.

Watch Bernies beer summit with Colbert below:
Hillary Clinton speaks on Tuesday night after the New Hampshire primary. (Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

In the days before Bernie Sanders positively obliterated Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, raising the very real specter that she could lose the nomination, I found myself thinking a lot about an exchange she had with voters during a CNN town hall in Derry.

A tired-looking man rose and told Clinton he had terminal colon cancer, and he wanted to know what she would do to help advance the conversation about end-of-life decisions. Clinton seemed visibly moved.

I dont have an easy or glib answer for you, Clinton said candidly, adding that she needed to immerse herself in the ethical and scientific writings.

Not five minutes later, another voter asked Clinton how she would stand up to Republican attacks. She scoffed knowingly and let loose a recitation of how victimized she had been over the years, and how horrible it was to be the target of smear campaigns, and how she was still standing anyway. Its unlike anything youve ever gone through, Clinton said.

I thought to myself: Tell that to the guy with colon cancer.

A better politician would have said yes, of course shed have to deal with some attacks, but thats life in the arena and she feels lucky to serve. A great politician, like her husband in his prime, would have actually meant it.

But Hillary, truth be told, just isnt a very gifted politician. And while Sanders focuses relentlessly on the big themes that preoccupy voters, Clintons campaign feels like its all about her  her resume, her mettle, her 25 years of suffering through the indignities of public service. Im with her is the slogan for a campaign that seems to signify nothing beyond the joyless accretion of personal loyalties.

Clinton really should beat Sanders in the weeks ahead, but she has only one clear winning strategy here, near as I can tell. She has to stop allowing the campaign to become a referendum on her  and turn it, instead, into a referendum on the guy she wants to replace.

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That wont be Clintons instinct, of course. The first thing shes going to do now, apparently, is the thing the Clintons have generally done when backed against a wall: blame the staff.

Even before New Hampshire buried Clinton in bad news, handing her a 22-point defeat in which she even lost women by double digits, stories were circulating about a shakeup at the Brooklyn headquarters (where, you would think, Clintons high command now feels like the Lost Battalion caught behind enemy lines, surrounded by turtleneck-wearing hipsters with Bernie signs in their windows).

All of which reminds me of what a scandal-damaged Gary Hart said in 1988 when his chief operative in Iowa, a young law student named Martin OMalley, informed him that he had registered at zero percent in the caucuses and apologized for letting him down.

Martin, Hart said dryly, this was not an organizational problem.

Clinton doesnt have an organizational problem. Oh, sure, there are probably too many informal advisers, too much conflicting advice, no shortage of arrogance and infighting. But thats nothing new in the Clinton orbit. Only the cast of characters ever changes, and even then not much.

No, Clintons problem is the moment and her inability to meet it. What happened in New Hampshire Tuesday wasnt just some ideological rebellion in both parties, a predictable insider-outsider conflict with less predictable results.

This was the shock wave of 2008 finally rising to the surface of our fractured politics. What Sanders and Donald Trump embody, each in his own strident way, is the disgust thats been building for the eight years since Lehman Brothers collapsed and took the markets with it  eight years in which the wealthy and their wholly owned political parties recovered fabulously while everyone else stagnated.

President Obama once told a roomful of bankers, in frustration, that he was the only thing standing between them and the pitchforks. Turns out he was right, and now that hes stepping aside, the pitchforks are overturning our politics.

Heres where Clinton finds herself in a real box. Having represented New York and its chief industry, finance, shes nowhere near a credible populist; the more she tries to sound like Sanders and tout her history as a progressive rebel who once worked for the Childrens Defense Fund, the more she comes off as desperate and expedient.

But if instead Clinton tries to own her real convictions and make the case for a more pragmatic approach, shes seen as an ideological apostate, unwilling to take on the system. And so her choice is to be either a less genuine candidate than Sanders or a less progressive one  or some days both.

A supremely talented candidate might navigate a way out of this box, but as I said, thats not Clintons superpower. Her teams strategy for beating back Sanders seems to rely, instead, on demographics. The coming states will feature more black and Latino voters, and Clinton is assuming they wont be as impressed as voters in New Hampshire were by the rumpled white guy from Vermont.

Thats a pretty shaky assumption, if you ask me.

Remember, Bill Clinton, who once commanded the loyalty of African-American voters like no Democrat since Robert Kennedy, hasnt appeared on a ballot for 20 years. A lot of younger black and Latino voters dont even remember the Clinton years, and theyre just as tired of the status quo as their white counterparts.

It wont be so easy for Hillary to convince minority and younger white voters, who soundly rejected her in New Hampshire this week, that somehow she represents real change and progressive ideals.

But they believe that still about Barack Obama, and this is where Sanders has left her an opening.

Because for the past few weeks, if youve been paying attention, Sanders has subtly extended his indictment of his partys timid status quo right to the door of the White House. I dont know what Obama said to Sanders when the two of them sat down to talk in January, but whatever it was, it left Sanders in an uncharitable mood.

Since then, he has said (in a string of angry tweets, no less) that real progressives cant be for trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership. He has said real progressives cant take money from Wall Street. Having apparently appointed himself Political Philosophy Czar, Sanders has said you cant call yourself both a moderate and a progressive at the same time.

Sanders has brushed aside the health care law that is Obamas signature achievement (and his most politically costly), calling for a single-payer system and castigating pharmaceutical companies as if Obamacare had never existed.

In other words, while he praises Obama in debates, Sanders is saying, unmistakably, that Obama hasnt been a progressive president and doesnt embody systemic change. And thats the cause  rather than her own long resume  that Clinton, having played a pivotal role in the administration, should champion if she wants to get between Sanders and the voters she needs.

If I were Clinton right now, Id be asking some pretty simple questions every chance I got in South Carolina and Nevada and Michigan.

Who gets to claim the mantle of change  the nations first black president, who overturned the old order on health care and Wall Street regulation and Cuba and Iran, or a senator whos voted with the gun industry? How seriously can you take a candidate who doesnt think Obama represents a real departure from the status quo?

A vote for Clinton, at this point, has to be a vote of validation for Obamas legacy, too.

Its not a perfect strategy. You might point out that Obama himself once derided Clinton, eons ago, as shifty and calculating. You might point out, as I have, that elections are supposed to be about the future and not the past.

But heres the reality: To this point, Clinton has run a campaign thats all about her bona fides, and nobodys swooning. If shes still defending her Wall Street speeches and whining about the vast right-wing conspiracy a few weeks from now, the nomination could very well slip away from her, again.

Clintons best move now is to lash herself tightly to the man who once beat her and hope its enough to ride out the wave.


(Photo by Getty Images. Design by Lauren DeLuca for Yahoo Travel)



The trio of small Indonesian islands east of Bali have distinct identities:

Gili Trawangan is for partiers, Gili Meno is for honeymooners, and Gili Air is for people who want to chill out. What they all have in common is clear turquoise water, white sand beaches, and old-school island charm. The Gilis have long been popular with Australians drawn to their stunning beauty and world-class diving. Yet as tourism booms in Indonesia  with arrivals increasing seven percent last year alone to 9.44 million  many new visitors are adding this sparkling tropical archipelago just off the northwest coast of Lombok to their Bali itineraries. A fleet of fast ferries now offers easy access from the Bali ports of Padang Bai, Nusa Lembongan and Serangan. Or you can fly to Lombok and catch boats from Bangsal, Teluk Nare or Senggigi.



Once you disembark, youll quickly realize that youre not in Bali anymore. Gili residents are mostly Muslim, and youll hear the call to prayer rather than Hindu chants. No cars or scooters are allowed on the islands, and the only modes of transportation are bicycles or horse-drawn carts called cidomos.



Some people will party until dawn. Others will dive or snorkel all day. But most will somehow find themselves on a beanbag on a beach under a coconut palm tree watching the longest sunset theyve ever seen.



Here are 9 reasons you should get to the Gilis:



1. Easy island hopping



Getting from island to island has never been easier. (Photo: Jen Hayoun)

Gili means small island in the language of Sasak, the ethnic group that makes up the majority of the population of Lombok. At nearly two miles long and 1.2 miles wide, Gili Trawangan (universally known as Gili T) is the biggest and most developed island. Gili Meno is the smallest and most remote, while Gili Air is somewhere in between. (Translation: Backpackers will still feel at home, but they might get woken up by construction of luxury bungalows.) Wherever you end up, there are public and tourist shuttle boats that offer quick trips between the islands or from Bangsal Harbor on Lombok.



2. The beaches



Theres no shortage of beautiful beaches in Indonesia. What makes these ones special is that the islands small size means theyre everywhere. Many feature prime snorkeling spots steps from your beach chair. (Bring water shoes to protect your feet from the rocks in shallow water.) Plus, many cafes are right on the sand, which means youre never far from a comfy cushion and a cold Bintang beer.



3. The jaw-dropping sunsets

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Few things are more magical than the sunsets on the Gili Islands. (Photo: Collin Orcutt)

Set against the backdrop of Mount Agung to the west on Bali, the sunsets here are so breathtaking youll see crowds of people wading in the water trying to quickly learn how to use the pano photo option on their smartphones to try to capture the gloriousness. The colors of the sky combined with the sand, water, and beach bonfires create a raw nature experience. Considering you can walk around any of the islands in a couple of hours, youre never far from the show.



Related: 15 Stunning Photos of Bali to Help You Survive the Winter



4. The scuba diving



You can see turtles, manta rays, reef sharks, cuttlefish, and octopus amid the coral reefs that surround the Gilis. All three islands have dive shops where you can find PADI-certified instructors who will take you on a single dive or teach you an entire course. One of the best features about diving in the Gilis is that most sites are a short boat ride away. Plus, the sports popularity means theres always someone to grab a Bintang with after you wash off your gear.



5. The fresh cheap seafood

The catch of the day. (Photo: Sarah E. Richards)

As the sun sets, the barbecues are lit, and the smell of grilled fish greets tourists stumbling back from happy hours. Considering that the Gili food scene consists mostly of boring versions of pizza, burgers and nasi goreng (the more authentic Sasak food can be found in the villages where the locals live), the fresh seafood is an inexpensive and healthy bright spot. You can pick out a whole fish or skewer from the displays lining the main walkways. Be warned: All those pretty fishies you saw snorkeling are fair game for dinner. That includes the beloved iridescent parrotfish.

6. The nightlife on Gili T

Its been called the Ibiza of the East. There are boat bashes, full moon parties and psychedelic raves that go until dawn that many bloggers claim are epic and legendary. (Yes, magic mushroom milkshakes are openly advertised.) Theres even an Irish bar called Tir na Nog on the island. The parties rotate venues late at night, so ask around to find out the schedule.

7. The weather is better

A relaxing day on Gili Meno. (Photo: Jordan Shakeshaft)

The Gilis are tropical with a warm and dry season. Yet because they are sheltered between Balis Mount Agung and Lomboks Mount Rinjani, they have a slightly drier microclimate compared to other islands in the region. The average temperature is 82 degrees Fahrenheit, and the dry season lasts from May until October.

Related: Eco-chic and Adorable Bali for $50 a Night



8. The proximity to volcano climbing



Everyone loves Bali, but if youve made it as far as the Gilis, its a shame not to learn more about the island of Lombok. One of the biggest draws is the chance to climb Mount Rinjani, which at 12,000 feet is Indonesias second highest volcano. You can take an overnight trip or book a multi-day trekking adventure to explore the emerald green crater lake and natural hot springs. But do your research beforehand. A Smithsonian report from November 2015 said its spewing ash.



9. Youre putty after four days



The beauty of the Gilis is that you can make it through your activity list pretty quickly. That means youre forced to relax. After a few days, though, you cant take it anymore and shuffle back to the ferry in a delicious languor. And that is exactly the point.

WATCH: Exploring Castaway Island Resort in Fiji



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Germany's coalition government said on Thursday it had reached a compromise in a row over new asylum rules that are intended to curb an influx of migrants, opening the way for them to pass to parliament for debate.

The proposed measures were originally agreed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and her centre-left Social Democrat (SPD) coalition partners two weeks ago.

But a dispute erupted last weekend after SPD leader Sigmar Gabriel said he had not been consulted on one of the new measures -- a two-year ban on family reunions for some asylum seekers -- that would also affect unaccompanied minors.

It was the latest in a series of spats between the ruling parties which have deepened public scepticism about the government's handling of the refugee crisis after 1.1 million migrants arrived in Germany last year.

On Thursday, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere and Justice Minister Heiko Maas said they had agreed on a compromise that would allow the parents of underage asylum seekers to be reunited with their children in cases of hardship.

The agreement clears the way for parliament to debate the new rules, which also include speeding up the process for applicants from so-called safe countries and reducing financial support for asylum seekers.

Rise in right-wing crime

Merkel, whose popularity has slumped to a four-and-half-year low over her handling of the crisis, is under pressure to limit the number of migrants as public concern grows over whether Germany can integrate the new arrivals.

To help integrate migrants into the labour market, German Labour Minister Andrea Nahles demanded a further 450 million euros on Thursday.

Germany has said it will use a larger-than-expected budget surplus to pay for accommodating refugees. Last September, Nahles said integrating refugees would lead to extra costs in her ministry's budget of 1.8-3.3 billion euros.

"We can't take away money from the long-term unemployed. Otherwise there will be a competitive situation that will fuel fears rather than counter them," Nahles told the Funke group of newspapers.

She said she expects the number of people receiving unemployment benefits to rise by 270,000 this year due to the refugee crisis.

Public resentment towards refugees has been fuelled by incidents such as mass attacks on women at New Year in Cologne which has been blamed on migrants. There are also fears that there is rising support for right-wing groups.

Preliminary statistics from the Interior Ministry on Thursday showed that crime by right-wing extremists in Germany rose by more than 30 percent in 2015 to 13,846.

Violent, xenophobic and hate crime all nearly doubled, compared with the same preliminary data set from 2014. Germany's coalition government said on Thursday it had reached a compromise in a row over new asylum rules that are intended to curb an influx of migrants, opening the way for them to pass to parliament for debate.

The proposed measures were originally agreed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and her centre-left Social Democrat (SPD) coalition partners two weeks ago.

But a dispute erupted last weekend after SPD leader Sigmar Gabriel said he had not been consulted on one of the new measures -- a two-year ban on family reunions for some asylum seekers -- that would also affect unaccompanied minors.

It was the latest in a series of spats between the ruling parties which have deepened public scepticism about the government's handling of the refugee crisis after 1.1 million migrants arrived in Germany last year.

On Thursday, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere and Justice Minister Heiko Maas said they had agreed on a compromise that would allow the parents of underage asylum seekers to be reunited with their children in cases of hardship.

The agreement clears the way for parliament to debate the new rules, which also include speeding up the process for applicants from so-called safe countries and reducing financial support for asylum seekers.

Rise in right-wing crime

Merkel, whose popularity has slumped to a four-and-half-year low over her handling of the crisis, is under pressure to limit the number of migrants as public concern grows over whether Germany can integrate the new arrivals.

To help integrate migrants into the labour market, German Labour Minister Andrea Nahles demanded a further 450 million euros on Thursday.

Germany has said it will use a larger-than-expected budget surplus to pay for accommodating refugees. Last September, Nahles said integrating refugees would lead to extra costs in her ministry's budget of 1.8-3.3 billion euros.

"We can't take away money from the long-term unemployed. Otherwise there will be a competitive situation that will fuel fears rather than counter them," Nahles told the Funke group of newspapers.

She said she expects the number of people receiving unemployment benefits to rise by 270,000 this year due to the refugee crisis.

Public resentment towards refugees has been fuelled by incidents such as mass attacks on women at New Year in Cologne which has been blamed on migrants. There are also fears that there is rising support for right-wing groups.

Preliminary statistics from the Interior Ministry on Thursday showed that crime by right-wing extremists in Germany rose by more than 30 percent in 2015 to 13,846.

Violent, xenophobic and hate crime all nearly doubled, compared with the same preliminary data set from 2014.

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Two female suicide bombers blew themselves up in a northeastern Nigerian refugee camp, killing at least 58 people, health and rescue officials said Wednesday.

A third woman bomber was arrested and gave officials information about other planned bombings that helped them increase security at the camp, said an official of the Borno State Emergency Management Agency.

Some 78 people are being treated for wounds from the twin explosions that occurred Tuesday morning in a camp of some 50,000 people driven from their homes by the Boko Haram extremist group, according to health workers in Maiduguri, the biggest city in northeastern Nigeria and birthplace of Boko Haram. They spoke on condition of anonymity as did rescue officials who said they were not authorized to speak to reporters.

The emergency management official said 51 bodies were buried Wednesday in Dikwa, the scene of the carnage 85 kilometers (53 miles) northeast of Maiduguri. Health workers said five bodies were brought to the main hospital in Maiduguri. PR Nigeria, an agency that disseminates official news, Wednesday night quoted health and rescue officials putting the number of dead at 58. The officials said poor cellphone service delayed news of the attack.

Boko Haram's 6-year-old Islamic insurgency has killed 20,000 people, made 2.5 million homeless and spread across Nigeria's borders.

In northern Cameroon, officials said two suicide bombers believed to have come from Nigeria on Wednesday killed 10 people and injured 40 attending a wake in a border village, including children. Attacks in Chad and Niger also are blamed on Boko Haram.

Since troops from Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon last year drove the Islamic extremists from towns and villages where they had announced an Islamic caliphate, the insurgents have taken to attacking soft targets such as mosques and market places where many people gather.

*The story was edited by Ahram Online.

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The United States has "significantly" increased its air strikes against Islamic State (ISIS) group in Afghanistan since President Barack Obama granted commanders broader authority last month to target the group there, a US military spokesman said on Thursday.

IS is a relatively new force in Afghanistan and the militant group has violently challenged the much larger Afghan Taliban movement in pockets of the country.

Obama granted the US military the authority to strike IS, also known as IS, ISIL, or Daesh, in January, with concerns mounting about the group's increasing global reach. US forces could previously strike IS in Afghanistan but it was under more narrow circumstances, such as for protection of troops.

"We have significantly increased our pressure and the number of strikes we've conducted against IS in Nangarhar province over the past three weeks," Brigadier General Wilson Shoffner, a US military spokesman, said in a briefing to reporters. "The change in authorities has given us additional flexibility."

Shoffner declined to give specifics on the number of strikes but said combined with pressure from Afghan security forces, they had succeeded in containing IS in the southern part of Nangarhar province, in eastern Afghanistan. According to the Afghan interior ministry, Afghan and international forces conducted nearly 20 joint operations against IS in Nangarhar in January.

IS is not yet able to conduct operations in more than one place at a time in Afghanistan, Shoffner said, but was attempting to establish a base of operations in Nangarhar and carry out low-level recruiting in various parts of the country. In eastern Afghanistan, IS numbers some 1,000 to 3,000 members, he said.

Those joining IS are typically former members of the Afghan Taliban or the separate Pakistani Taliban, known as TTP, Shoffner said. Nangarhar borders the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan.

"In terms of motivation what we see are generally former TTP who believe that associating with Daesh or pledging to Daesh will further their interests in some way," he said.

NATO aircraft struck an IS radio station in Nangarhar this month. The station had been broadcasting up to 90 minutes a day in the Dari and Pashto languages.

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A mesmerizing and deeply moving portrayal of the Iraq War as seen by Iraqis, Abbas Fahdels six-hour masterpiece is essential viewing for anyone hoping to understand the devastating implications of the US-led invasion.

In 1991, Iraq became a hapless party to the birth of televised warfare, as Western TV crews scrambled to get the best rooftop views of Tomahawk missiles raining down on Baghdad. The spectacle resumed, on a much larger scale, in 2003. Then came the big-budget movies. But somehow, 25 million Iraqis, a people unfortunate enough to have experienced both Saddam Husseins tyranny and the wrath of the Bush dynasty, were largely absent from the show.

Fahdels hugely rewarding documentary, which opened in French cinemas on Wednesday, is a reminder that one could watch a dozen of Hollywoods obscene takes on the Iraq war and still have no clue as to what it meant to be at the receiving end of the war on terror. There is no shock and awe in his 334-minute epic, no American sniper picking off swarms of faceless insurgents  just ordinary Iraqis struggling to get along with their lives even as their world collapses.

Homeland, Iraq Year Zero was shot with a lightweight camera before and after the US-led invasion in 2003, while the Iraqi director, who lives in France, was staying with his family in Baghdad and the countryside. It is split into two parts, subtitled Before the fall and After the battle. The only thing Fahdel doesnt show is the actual bombing that played night and day on Western media.

The films somewhat unoriginal title, juxtaposing two cinematic references, announces the directors twin endeavor: exploring the flipside of the war on terror as he documents Iraqs descent into chaos, with the neo-realistic poignancy of a Roberto Rossellini. As in the Italian directors Germany Year Zero, much of this chaos is seen through the eyes, gestures and devastatingly lucid observations of a child.

Before the fall

We meet the filmmakers 11-year-old nephew Haidar and his siblings in the haven of their Baghdad home in 2002, in those anxious months when George W. Bush and his British ally Tony Blair were busy fabricating a pretext to invade Iraq. The immanence and inevitability of war pervades the movies first part, hanging like a cloud over Fahdels family as they go about their routine, drinking tea, playing games, studying for exams and gazing indifferently at Saddam Husseins omnipresent propaganda on TV.

War preparations  digging a water well, making dried bread, putting sellotape on windows that still bear the traces of previous conflicts  feel like a familiar drill. This is a nation steeped in war, from the devastating conflict with Iran in the 1980s to the Bush wars, passing by the war with no name  a reference to the brief bombing campaign former US president Bill Clinton ordered in 1998, dubbed Monicas War by many Western commentators due to its concomitance with the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Fahdels handheld camera bears witness to Iraq's many layers of destruction, from ancient Assyrian ruins to children maimed by war and the crippling embargo of the 1990s. Its melancholic gaze  alternating between tender close-ups and longing shots of Iraqs blue skies and ochre landscapes  appears to question whether, this time, the cradle of human civilization might be reduced to dust.

The directors decision to tell the viewer, as the film unfolds, which of his relatives will eventually be killed, gives the footage a haunting quality, turning the protagonists into walking ghosts. Itll be a short war, warns the extraordinarily prescient Haidar. But intensive and destructive.

After the battle

Part two resumes three weeks after the US-led blitzkrieg that toppled the Baathist regime. The fearsome shadow of Saddam Hussein has been replaced by ubiquitous columns of US armoured vehicles. There is a brief sense of relief as people begin to speak out against the deposed regime and dare to hope of a better future. Satellite dishes sprout on rooftops and the critical food rations are handed out for free.

But the mood sours as Iraqs foreign occupiers prove incapable of running the country and guaranteeing basic security. With Iraqs bureaucracy and security services disbanded, looters are free to plunder and torch peoples homes and public buildings, murdering and kidnapping as they please. Soon, the foreign invader is seen as a greater scourge than the brutal, unloved regime it toppled, and reports of American abuses draw cries of revenge.

Providing a little context but no commentary, Fahdel documents the widespread destruction wrought by the US bombing and the ensuing chaos. Guided by Haidar and his siblings, he gives a voice to the desperate folks who have lost their homes, jobs and families. It is hard not to squirm in ones seat when the camera gazes at a throng of grinning children, each holding aloft ammunition picked up in the street and expertly naming the gun type as though it were a Lego model.

Undaunted spirit

Both a war film and a peace film, Homeland is a damning indictment of the catastrophic errors that dragged Iraq and the wider region into its present misery. It sets the stage for the rise of the Islamic State (IS) group and its bandwagon of bloodshed, hatred and destruction. It is also a deeply moving celebration of the people and culture the IS group has set about to enslave and destroy.

At a preview of his film in Paris, Fahdel said Homeland was born out of his urge to draw a portrait of Iraq before it was too late. The sense of impending destruction he felt in 2002, on the eve of the war, inspired his focus on the tiny details of life. Every shot of a scuttling cat, a drowning bee, a bustling bazaar, a date picker perched atop a palm tree, feels like a testament to a doomed world. The film ends tragically, he said. But the situation now is far worse.

But amid all the misery, there is an undaunted spirit running through the film. It survives in the wicked sense of humour of Iraqis long accustomed to corruption, oppression and war. It thrives in the unbroken enthusiasm of Haidar and his friends, able to make a game out of the slightest dirt mound. It radiates from young girls dogged insistence on completing their education even as their world teeters on the brink.

It took more than a decade for Fahdel to get over his familys tragedy and look back at the 120 hours of footage he accumulated over 17 months. It would take him another two years to edit and produce the film, a task he undertook alone after production companies turned him down. He said it was his duty to complete the movie and help rebuild Iraqs audio-visual memory. Those lucky enough to view this essential film will feel much the richer.

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

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China's first case of the Zika virus has been found in a 34-year-old man who recently traveled to Venezuela and is now making a speedy recovery, the government said Wednesday.

The man from the southern city of Ganzhou had been treated in Venezuela on Jan. 28 before returning home on Feb. 5 via Hong Kong and the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, the National Health and Family Planning Commission said in a statement.

The commission said he had been confirmed as having the Zika virus on Tuesday and was being treated at the Ganxian People's Hospital. His temperature is now normal and a skin rash is receding, it said.

The commission said the chances of the virus spreading in China were "extremely low" due to cold winter temperatures and a lack of mosquito activity, the primary avenue by which Zika is transmitted.

The Zika virus is spreading rapidly through Latin America. Most people who contract it have either mild or no symptoms, but it is suspected of causing a birth defect in which babies are born with abnormally small heads.

Bernhard Schwartlander, the World Health Organization representative in Beijing, said imported cases of Zika in China are to be expected given the frequency of travel between the country and South America.

"Chinese health authorities are well prepared to respond to this and any further imported cases," Schwartlander said in a statement issued by his office. "The current risk of a widespread outbreak of Zika virus in China is low."
Japan is closing its borders to all North Koreans after the North tested long-range missile technology by launching a space rocket last week.

The measure also applies to members of a massive pro-North Korean association of Korean Japanese called Chongryon who travel to the North and seek to return to Japan.

Tokyo will also prohibit all cash remittances of more than 100,000 yen to the North and bar foreign ships that make stopovers in North Korean ports.

Japan announced the sanctions Wednesday rather than waiting for the UN to decide worldwide measures.
Seoul has decided to shut down the inter-Korean Kaesong Industrial Complex in retaliation for North Korea's rocket launch Sunday and its recent nuclear test.

The closure of the industrial park just north of the border will cost the regime millions of dollars that it siphons off workers' salaries.

"We've been trying to ensure that the Kaesong Industrial Complex meets international standards, but North Korea instead exploited our efforts," Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo told reporters Wednesday. "We've decided to completely suspend operations at the Kaesong Industrial Complex to prevent our investment there from being used to develop nuclear warheads and missiles and we want to make sure our enterprises will not be victimized by Pyongyang."

Hong said Seoul notified Pyongyang of the decision and asked for cooperation in pulling out South Korean staff. The government plans to set up a task force to provide support to some 120 South Korean businesses that run factories there.
The complex employs 54,763 North Koreans and some 3,000 South Koreans who are either based there or commute. Businesses produce US$515.5 million worth of products annually.

South Korean companies with factories in the Kaesong Industrial Complex have urged the government to reconsider a plan to shut the business park. Some of the 120 companies say they will go bankrupt if their operations are shut down.

When operations were suspended in 2013, South Korean businesses suffered around W700 billion in losses, according to Unification Ministry estimates (US$1=W1,198). Industry watchers say the amount of damage this time could reach W1 trillion if businesses are unable to retrieve their equipment, raw materials and finished products.

Chung Ki-sup, who heads a committee of South Korean companies at the complex, on Wednesday called on the government to reconsider its decision. After a meeting with Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo, Chung said the government's "sudden notification" of its decision to shut down the complex is "difficult" for the businesses to accept.

He called on the government to first find ways of minimizing losses and accused it of putting the burden on private businesses for the sake of politics.

"When the two Koreas agreed to restart the complex in 2013, they told us operations would continue 'unaffected by any political circumstance,'" Hong said. "We can't understand this sudden measure."
North Korean Army chief Gen. Ri Yong-gil was abruptly executed early this month, it emerged Wednesday.

Ri was chief of the Army's General Staff and the fourth top-level victim of Kim Jong-un's attempts to bring various powerful factions under control.

The first was former Army chief Ri Yong-ho, followed by eminence grise Jang Song-taek, and Hyon Yong-chol, the armed forces minister.

Sources said Ri Yong-gil was executed around the time Kim Jong-un presided over a meeting of the military and the Workers Party on Feb. 2-3.

Ri was frequently seen at Kim's side during his interminable inspection trips around the country, but he was conspicuously absent from the meeting and a rally in Pyongyang on Monday celebrating the regime's rocket launch.

He was apparently accused of forming a political faction, abuse of power, and corruption.


"Washington hopes that the THAAD will be deployed at the USFK at the earliest possible date," a government source said on Wednesday. "Seoul also wants to reach a decision as soon as possible, believing that the more protracted the discussion becomes, the bigger the resistance will be from Beijing and Moscow and the larger the conflict in the country."

Seoul and Washington have reportedly agreed to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense batteries here as soon as possible.

Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook on Monday said, "Without getting into a timeline, again, we'd like to see this move as quickly as possible."

The two sides have so far clung to a flimsy official fiction that they have never discussed the stationing of THHAD batteries, which form a core part of the U.S.' missile shield mostly aimed at containing China. But North Korea's launch of a space rocket last week seems to have persuaded them to abandon it.

In fact Seoul and Washington opened a secret dialogue channel last year.

The new USFK garrison in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province was at one point top on the list of possible positions. Gunsan in North Jeolla Province, which has a U.S. air base, was also under consideration.

Now the two allies are reportedly considering Chilgok or Daegu in North Gyeongsang Province, which is further away from China than Pyeongtaek or Gunsan to soothe Chinese fears.

We're seeking a location close to the east coast and as far away as possible from China," the official said.

Once the decision is made, one of four THAAD batteries at Fort Bliss in Texas will be transported to the USFK within a week or two.

Russia officially expressed concerns about the THAAD deployment last week, and on Tuesday Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov called in South Korean Ambassador to Russia Park Ro-byug, warning that the THAAD deployment would tip the strategic balance in Northeast Asia and spark an arms race.


North Korean Army chief Ri Yong-gil was apparently executed early this month on charges of corruption, abuse of power and forming a political faction. Ri served as chief of the Army's General Staff since 2013. It is unclear whether he was executed for opposing North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in some way or lost out in a power struggle among the regime's unruly military brass. But the fact that his execution took place shortly after the North's nuclear test and missile launch leaves open the possibility of a fierce struggle among North Korea's elite, where hardliners appear to be gaining the upper hand.

The death of United Front Department chief Kim Yang-gon in a mysterious car accident in December was another sign that things are headed the wrong way. Kim was a relatively dovish figure who spearheaded joint projects with South Korea. Although North Korea officially mourned his death, pundits do not rule out that he was killed by rivals. Just five days after his death, Kim Jong-un officially authorized the North's fourth nuclear test, and Kim Yang-gon's job went to Kim Yong-chol, the hardest of hardliners who was in charge of the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island in 2010.

Ri is the fourth top-ranking official to be purged since Kim Jong-un came to power. The others included his uncle Jang Song-taek in 2013, a man with powerful ties to China who was seen for a while as the eminence grise. It is becoming increasingly clear that Kim Jong-un is surrounding himself, or being surrounded by, the hawks, and there is speculation that they have put him under pressure to forge ahead with the nuclear test and last week's rocket launch. The government here urgently needs to find out what is going on.

Read this article in Korean
UN Security Council discusses Aleppo situation ahead of Munich talks

2016-02-11 10:28

NEW YORK, Feb. 11, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Gerard van Bohemen, the permanent representative of New Zealand to the UN, speaks to the press after the consultations by the UN Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Syria, at the UN headquarters in New York, Feb. 10, 2016. Conversations and negotiations are what is most needed to solve the Syrian crisis, Gerard van Bohemen told reporters here Wednesday. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- Conversations and negotiations are what is most needed to solve the Syrian crisis, Gerard van Bohemen, the permanent representative of New Zealand to the UN, told reporters here Wednesday.

"Frankly, in this situation, it's not force that's the solution, it's conversations and negotiations and that's what we want most of all," van Bohemen said after the consultations by the UN Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Syria. Currently, New Zealand is one of the 10 non-permanent council members.

The consultations came as fighting intensified in Aleppo in the Northwestern part of Syria near the Turkish border.

Two crossings into Turkey from Syria had been compromised as a result of airstrikes although one of those crossings had since reopened, said Van Bohemen, who claimed Russian airstrikes were a direct cause of the crisis around Aleppo.

However, the Russian permanent representative to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, later told journalists here that some Security Council members were paying disproportionate attention to the humanitarian situation in Syria.

Churkin said that Russia's actions in Syria were legal.

"We are present there legally, at the invitation of the Syrian government and in contrast to what a so-called US led coalition is doing in Syria where they are acting outside of the international law," said Churkin.

Eyes will now be on the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) in Munich, Germany, which will meet Thursday. Churkin has previously said that Russia will bring "some new ideas to the table" in Munich.
Lithuania's exports declines by 5.7 pct in 2015

2016-02-11 05:04

Vilnius, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- In 2015, Lithuania's exportsdeclined by 5.7 per cent, compared to 2014, while imports decreasedby 1.9 per cent, announced Statistics Lithuania recently.

According to the Statistics office, the decrease in exports wasinfluenced by a decrease in exports of petroleum products.

"A decrease in the value of exported petroleum products andimported crude petroleum was conditioned by price drop forpetroleum," said Statistics Lithuania in its press release.

Exports of Lithuania origin goods dropped by 2.4 per cent,compared to 2014. After excluding mineral products, exports ofgoods of Lithuanian origin increased by 2.7 per cent, or more thanthe country's GDP in 2015. Last year Lithuanian economy grew by 1.7per cent.

In 2015, Lithuania's exports to Russia saw the biggest declineamong the country's biggest trading partners. According toStatistics Lithuania, exports to Russia decreased by 38.2 per cent,exports of Lithuanian goods decreased by 47 per cent. The declinewas mainly conditioned by Russian food embargo.

"Exports of food and agricultural products to Russia dropped by54.5 per cent, of food and agricultural products of Lithuanianorigin - by 71.7 per cent," said Statistics Lithuania.

Despite the substantial drop in exports to Russia in 2015,Russia remained Lithuania's most important single exports partnerwith the share of 13.7 per cent of total exports.

Lithuania's exports to Russia have been mostly based onre-exports of goods from other countries. Most of the goods ofLithuanian origin were exported to Germany, Latvia and the UnitedStates in 2015, according to Statistics Lithuania. Enditem
Russian oil head says oil demand to grow

2016-02-11 09:01

LONDON, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- Igor Sechin, head of Russia's state oil firm Rosneft, Wednesday noted that the demand for oil and oil products will be growing.

Sechin, Chairman of Rosneft Management Board, Wednesday gave a keynote speech at the International Petroleum Week conference in London.

"More diversified growth seems more resilient, and confirms that many of the mentioned 'threats' of reducing the role of oil in the world economy are largely exaggerated," Sechin said.

According to the head of Rosneft, "an imbalance between oil supply and demand may significantly reduce already by the end of 2016, and by the end of 2017 even lack of oil supply is possible at the market."

Sechin noted that coordinated reduction of supplies made by major exporters in the volume of about 1 mmbpd (million barrels per day) would sharply reduce the uncertainty and move the market towards reasonable price levels.

However, key market players are not ready for such a scenario. According to him, an interaction mechanism should be created between the producers and consumers for stabilization of the situation.

"The market will inevitably stabilize, it has good prospects for further growth, but it depends on its players how quickly and effectively that will happen,"said Sechin.

Speaking of long-term priorities of the global energy sector, Sechin said that "the development of advanced technologies both inside and outside of the industry is an increasingly important trend in the development of the energy sector and the economy in general."
Liberia praises China for military equipment donations

2016-02-11 08:26

MONROVIA, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Wednesday lauded the Chinese government for donating equipment in supporting the rebuilding of a new Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL).

In a statement made available to Xinhua in Monrovia, the Liberian leader said the donation, valued at 3 million U.S. dollars, has come at the right time when most of the equipment used by the army have now broken down.

She promised that the donated equipment would be used for the purposes intended.

The military equipment includes 20 heavy-duty trucks, two graders, 10,000 sets of uniforms, and 40 military tents.

"We are here to participate in the demonstration of true partnership; a partnership that comes to you at a time when you are really in need," the president said.

On his part, the Chinese Ambassador to Liberia, Zhang Yue, said the presentation was the second batch of substantive military assistance from China to Liberia, during the tour of his duty near Monrovia, the capital of Liberia.

He stressed that in the past decade, China has been active in assisting the Liberian government and its people in their endeavors to rebuilding the country.

"We take Liberia's priorities as our assistance priorities and aim at bringing tangible benefit to the Liberian people," he added.

While voicing his appreciation of economic achievements made by the Liberian government led by President Sirleaf and the accelerated infrastructure construction, Zhang stressed the donation was another evidence to show China's sincere and strong support for Liberia in its efforts in peacekeeping and social stability maintenance during the course of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) drawdown and Liberia's post- Ebola recovery.
Eldhose Kunnappilly has been directed by the court to appear before the investigating officer on Saturday.
#producer prices Producer prices bounce higher in Sept. amid inflation woes South Korea's producer prices bounced back in September following the first downturn in about two years a month earlier, as high energy and farming bills drove up costs, central ba...
The first trailer for 'Hardcore Henry' is online and it looks like it will be one heck of a ride.

The film is set to be a unique experience as it will be a movie equivalent of a first person shooter game. It's filmed entirely in a POV/Go Pro style where the audience sees everything that the titular main character Henry sees. Judging by this trailer, Henry is going to see a lot of carnage.

So as you would have gathered from the trailer, Henry wakes up to find that he's a cyborg, brought back from the dead by his scientist wife Estelle (Haley Bennett). Hes soon under attack from Akan (Danila Kozlovsky) and his henchmen. They kidnap Estelle as part of Akan's megalomaniacal plan. The only thing for it is for Henry to get her back by battling through a seemingly endless army of mercenaries through the unfamiliar city of Moscow. His only ally (or at least we think he's an ally) is the quirky Jimmy (Sharlto Copley), who will try to help him figure out his new found cyborg abilities. Oh an apparently Tim Roth is in this movie too?

The film was sprung from the mind of writer/director Ilya Naishuller. You might have previously seen his short film/music video for Biting Elbows titled 'Bad Motherfucker' a couple of years ago?

The video has over 31 million hits on youtube and caught the eye of Wanted director Timur Bekmambetov who got him the deal to make Hardcore Henry.

Hardcore Henry could be an absolute disaster or a work of pure genius. We'll be curious to find out either way. The film arrives in the UK in April and hopefully Irish cinemas shortly after.

Via Empire
As you might have already heard, Michael Collins will be screened during this year's ADIFF '16 as part of the festival and the centenary of the 1916 Rising.

With that in mind, Warner Bros. Ireland and ADIFF have put out a general call for anyone who took part in the production of Michael Collins all the way back in 1995. Over 4,000 people took part as extras during the filming, with ADIFF looking to reach out to as many of these as possible.

As Grainne Humphreys, festival director explained, "everyone remembers the excitement in Dublin when it was being filmed and so many people were part of it as extras. The resulting film was and is the great film of the period from Neil Jordan at the height of his filmmaking powers. I expect it will resonate with the festival audience just as beautifully as it did 20 years ago."

There'll also be a special reunion event for the extras on February 20th, followed by the 20th Anniversary Screening of the film itself. If you or someone you know was an extra on Michael Collins, you can e-mail your story and any images you might have to [email protected] or you can tweet the official ADIFF Twitter account with the hashtag #MichaelCollins20.

Michael Collins will return to the cinemas from March 18th for a special re-release, with the film being made available on Blu-Ray for the first time from March 4th.
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Jikkie Verlare and Frans Paul van der Putten (Netherlands Institute of International Relations  Clingendael)

The Chinese strategy to build a modern silk route known as One Belt, One Road (abbreviated as the OBOR), aiming to improve ties with Asia, Africa and Europe, is one of the most significant infrastructure projects in history. It should provide security, a better coordination of policies and financial integration, and thus create environment for a more dynamic development of economic relations.

For the EU, this plan is crucial not only because the OBOR runs through the territory, which is traditionally considered a sphere of Russian influence, but also because the Union could substantially increase the volume of Chinese direct investment, which is generally welcome on the Old Continent. Chinese companies, however, do not pursue only economic goals, but also a political task. Chinas influence on the functioning of the EU could therefore significantly increase. This might at the same time trigger cleavage within the Union, as the developed Western countries would likely fight against Chinese investments in an effort to maintain the EUs independence while less developed European countries would favor a more lenient and flexible attitude.

One of the opportunities that the OBOR offers is closer security cooperation between the EU and China. After the introduction of Junckers plan focused on a comprehensive strategy for boosting economic growth, reducing unemployment and increasing investment, the Chinese side took steps to integrate it with the OBOR. EU countries are getting into an increasingly close contact with China precisely in the OBOR-related areas, whereby it would also be beneficial to build a unified approach that would enable the EU to take advantage of the OBORs security dimension based on the already established relations. Thereby, the EU would become an active player in the Eurasian security cooperation.

The EUs foreign policy has recently been increasingly shifting its emphasis away from the original promotion of values ??to building stability and economic cooperation, which can greatly facilitate the deepening of relations with China. The EU should therefore welcome the possibilities that the OBOR brings and incorporate them in its own concept of foreign policy. This step would actually strengthen the EUs role as a global security actor.

(The study can be downloaded here: http://www.clingendael.nl/sites/default/files/One_belt_one_road_vdPutten_Verlare_Clingendael_policy_brief_2015.pdf)
The original concept of supranational democracy for Europe brought long-lasting peace to the Continent. EU's founder Robert Schuman described democracy as being in the service of the people and acting in agreement with the people. What's going on today? See also www.schuman.info and http://democracy.blogactiv.eu .
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.


The weekly Journal du Dimanche threw a cultural bomb in the French debate. It is a survey entitled Perceptions and expectations of the Jewish population." carried out by Ipsos and commissioned by the Fondation du francais judaisme, to address the theme of living together, one of the pillars of French Republican rhetoric.

60 percent of the French believe that part of the responsibility for the growth of anti-Semitism in the country falls on the Jews themselves. The realization of the poll-shock lasted a year and a half, and the interviews were conducted between July 2014 and June 2015. That includes both the period prior to and after the Charlie Hebdo attacks and the murders at the Hyper Cacher.

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Jumia, owned by Africa Internet Group, is a leading online retailer in Africa.

Africa Internet Group (AIG), parent company to e-commerce brands like Jumia and Jovago, has become Africas first venture capital-backed business to be valued at $1 billion dollars after an $83 million investment from insurance company AXA for an 8% stake.

Its a remarkable achievement for any Africa-based startup, much less one that relies on a very small, but growing, middle class consumer base. It also has to overcome unreliable power supply and logistics hurdles in most of its local markets.

But what is especially noteworthy is the timing of the funding. AIG, which is controlled by German investment firm Rocket Internet, has seen its various companies going through a period of layoffs and management firings in the last few months in the run-up to this investment.

The company has to go through phases, we are a young company, Sacha Poignonnec, chief executive of AIG.

Jumia, an online retailer operating in 11 countries in Africa, is AIGs biggest brand having attracted up to $200 million in funding to date. Launched in 2012, Jumia has grown to become one of the continents leading e-commerce brands. But in October, Jumia reportedly laid off as many as 300 people for its Nigeria business. It also suddenly replaced its managing director in Nigeriaits biggest market. All this comes amid speculation that Jumia was losing ground to homegrown rival, Konga.

Meanwhile over at Jovago, AIGs pan-African hotel booking platform, Marek Zmysowski, its popular managing director left five months ago. His exit seems to be particularly contentious. Zmysowski, whos a Polish national, tweeted hes being sued by Jovago but has since deleted that tweet. This week, Zmysowski launched his new start-up, HotelOga, which also targets the hotel industry.

Asides from Jovago, AIG has also replaced its heads at Lamudi, Easy Taxi and Kaymu in its Nigerian offices in the last few months. Kaymu, AIGs online marketplace shut down operations in Zambia, citing macroeconomic reasons.

Story continues

In total, AIG runs ten e-commerce platforms, differing in size and range, across the continent. Sacha Poignonnec, Paris-based chief executive of AIG, declined to comment on the details of the upheaval at his various businesses. The company has to go through phases, we are a young company, he told Quartz.

Its unusual for different startups, under the same parent, to go through similar upheaval just weeks before a major investment.

The upheaval at some of AIGs businesses might have led some to wonder if the parent company would pare down its African investments. That hasnt been the case so far. Poignonnec insists the group is focused on growing its businesses. What matters is that we believe in this opportunity long-term and that has not changed, he told Quartz.

It is not unusual for start-ups to go through structural and strategic changes in the early days as they figure out their best business model. What is less common, however, is for several different startups under the same parent company to go through similar upheaval just weeks before getting a very large vote of confidence from a major investor like AXA. Indeed an investor could insist on changes in management and strategy before making a financial commitment particularly if the recipient is in need of a cash injection.

AIG say the new funding will strengthen the balance sheet and support AIGs continued growth. The investment will be finalized during the first quarter of this year.

As part of the deal, AXA will also leverage AIGs vast online client base to sell custom-made insurance products on the different platforms. Other partner investors in AIG include Africas largest mobile operator MTN and Swedish telecoms conglomerate Millicom.

AIGs model is a replica of the start-up model developed by Rocket Internet, which combines roles as a startup incubator and venture capital firm. Its strategy is to back clones of Silicon Valley startups then accelerate their growth in Europe, South America, Asia and Africa. The idea is for Rocket-backed startups to eventually dominate the market and Rocket to sell the startup to the company they cloned it from. For example, Jumia could be sold to Amazon or EasyTaxi to Uber.

None of AIGs companies are known to have turned a profit yet but as smartphone penetration deepens across the continent, the company is betting on an e-commerce boom while it grows. Jumia, for example, recorded gross revenues of 206 million euros ($233.6 million) in the first nine months of 2015.

We want to be profitable but we are very long-term oriented. Amazon is a great model to look at. They have a great valuation, they have a great customer base, said Poignonnec. Everyone one is confident that Amazon has a great future but they are still yet to make money.

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bill ackman

Billionaire activist investor Bill Ackman, the CEO of the $13 billion Pershing Square Capital, has just published an op-ed article in the Financial Times throwing his support behind Michael Bloomberg for president.

Back in October, Ackman said at an investment conference at Bloomberg's New York headquarters that he would do "anything" in his power to get Bloomberg elected.

Now he's taking an activist approach. Ackman writes that a "proxy contest is looming" in the US and that the US is in need of a turnaround.

To him, Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor, is the right guy for the job.

Here's Ackman:

Today America is burning. Our government is wasteful and dysfunctional. Our national debt exceeds our gross domestic product. Our bridges, roads, airports and tunnels are crumbling. Our school system fails to educate our children. Our middle class is shrinking. Our tax code drives our most profitable businesses to relocate to foreign jurisdictions. Our immigration laws force talented young scientists and entrepreneurs to competitor nations. Our incomprehensible regulations fail to protect us from fraud, crime, pollution and abuse of power, while stunting growth and impairing our global competitiveness. Our international standing has deteriorated. Our enemies no longer take our pronouncements seriously and our military supremacy is threatened. The American dream is fading.

Yet there is hope. The key is finding the right leader. And that leader is Mr Bloomberg, who told the Financial Times this week that he is considering joining the race for the White House. His character is unimpeachable and he is an extraordinary entrepreneur and philanthropist. He has great judgment and is beholden to no one. He has a proven business record, having created $40bn of value building one of the most successful media and information technology companies in the world.

"My view is that Michael Bloomberg is going to run for president and Michael Bloomberg is going to win," Ackman predicted at the October conference.

Story continues

Ackman has said he is not supporting any other candidates because he thinks Bloomberg will ultimately run.

Bloomberg, 73, told the Financial Times this week that he was "looking at all options."

Read Ackman's full op-ed at the FT

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Watch Out! Inventory Data and China Could Swing Crude Oil Prices

(Continued from Prior Part)

Chinas crude oil production

The data compiled by Bloomberg state that Chinas crude oil production could fall by 3%5% in 2016. The fall in Chinas crude oil production would be substituted by the rise in Chinas crude oil imports. China is the second-largest crude oil importer. Its also the fifth-largest crude oil producer in the world. Chinas crude oil production hit 4.3 MMbpd (million barrels per day) in 2015. The Chinese crude oil production is expected to fall in 2016 due to the higher total cost of producing crude oil.

Chinas crude oil production could fall

The break-even costs for Chinas top oil producers like CNOOC (CEO) were at $41 per barrel. Some of the other key Chinese oil producers are China Petroleum & Chemical (SNP) and PetroChina (PTR). The historic fall in crude oil impacts Chinese oil and global oil producers like BP (BP), Total (TOT), and Eni (E). The higher break-even costs pushed Chinese and international oil producers to curb production and slash capital expenditures. So, we could see Chinas crude production decline in the years to come.

However, the depreciating Chinese dollar could impact Chinas crude oil imports. To learn more, read How China Is Creating a Big Crack in the Global Crude Oil Market. You can also read Chinas Crude Oil Imports: Teapot Refiners Will Be Key Catalysts.

The catastrophic fall in crude oil prices impacts US oil producers like Apache (APA), Murphy Oil (MUR), and Hess (HES). The ups and downs in the oil and gas market also impact ETFs like the Fidelity MSCI Energy Index ETF (FENY) and the ProShares UltraShort Bloomberg Crude Oil ETF (SCO).

In the next part of this series, well look at forecasts for crude oil prices.

Continue to Next Part

Browse this series on Market Realist:
Cliven Bundy

Cliven Bundy has been charged with assault and conspiracy in connection with his 2014 standoff with federal officials near his Nevada ranch, The Associated Press reported.

Bundy, 74, is the father of Oregon "militia" leaders Ammon and Ryan Bundy, who were arrested for their role in this year's Oregon standoff at a federal wildlife reserve.

The eldest Bundy was arrested Wednesday after he arrived at the Portland International Airport, according to The Associated Press.

In March 2014, Bundy held his own armed standoff with federal officials over grazing rights on federally controlled land. The dispute is still unresolved.

Ammon Bundy and his brother Ryan were arrested on January 26, along with several other occupiers of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon. After being pulled over by federal agents, a shootout ensued. Ryan Bundy suffered a gunshot wound and Robert "Lavoy" Finicum was killed.

"This is a total disaster to be happening in America," Cliven told the Las Vegas Review-Journal after news of the arrests and shootout broke.

"We have, I'm guessing, federal people killing innocent people," he added. "I'll tell you one thing, my sons and those who were there were there to do good, no harm was intended, they would never threaten anybody, they was trying to teach people about the Constitution and trying to help the Hammond family, trying to make sure this type of abuse didn't happen in America and yet, it did."

The standoff in Oregon began January 2 when an armed group led by Ammon Bundy took control of the refuge to protest the sentences of two men who set fire to federal land, Dwight and Steven Hammond.

Only four occupiers remained as of Thursday. All four surrendered Thursday, according to The Washington Post.

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Police officers point their weapons at demonstrators protesting against the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri August 18, 2014. REUTERS/Joshua Lott

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is suing the city of Ferguson, Missouri, in an effort to end an allegedly longstanding pattern of unconstitutional policing.

In the lawsuit filed on Wednesday  18 months after the shooting of Michael Brown ignited a firestorm of protest  the department argues that Ferguson's police and court systems routinely violate the civil rights of the city's black residents, in part to generate revenue from tickets.

The 56-page suit contains dozens of harrowing examples of police misconduct gathered from the Department of Justice's investigation that followed Brown's death.

In one section, the department lists several instances of Ferguson officers using police dogs on nonviolent offenders, including children (emphasis added):

In December 2011, officers deployed a canine to bite an unarmed 14-year-old African-American boy who was apparently truant from school and waiting in an abandoned house for his friends. Officers claim they found the boy, who was 5'5" and 140 pounds, curled up in a ball inside a closet. According to the canine officer, even though four officers had control of the scene and there was no indication the boy might be armed, the officer deployed the dog, which bit the boy's arm and caused puncture wounds, because the boy would not come out.

Ferguson officers also allegedly stopped and cited black residents for no reason (emphasis added):

In October 2012, police officers pulled over an African-American man who had lived in Ferguson for 16 years, claiming that his passenger-side brake light was broken. The driver had replaced the light recently and knew it to be functioning properly. As one officer stated, "Let's see how many tickets you're going to get, a second officer tapped his [Taser] on the roof of the man's car. The officers wrote the man a citation for "tail light/reflector/license plate light out." They refused to let the man show them that his car's equipment was in order, warning him, "Don't you get out of that car until you get to your house."

Story continues

Amarion Allen, 11-years-old, stands in front of a police line shortly before shots were fired in a police-officer involved shooting in Ferguson, Missouri August 9, 2015. REUTERS/Rick Wilking

The lawsuit describes one incident in which police found a black man in a parking lot on their way to arrest someone in an apartment building. They handcuffed the man and placed him in the back of the patrol car, even though they knew he was not their suspect (emphasis added):

Despite having handcuffed the landlord and placed him in a police car without any reason to believe he had done anything wrong, a police sergeant vigorously defended the officers' actions, noting the detention as "minimal" and that the car was air conditioned.

The lawsuit also alleges that officers violate First Amendment rights by preventing residents from recording police activity with camera phones. It details a 2013 incident involving Darren Wilson, the officer who later shot Brown:

In one such incident from October 2013, a cell phone video shows an officer telling a civilian, "If you want to take a picture of me one more time, I'm going to lock your a-- up." When the civilian asked, "Do I not have the right to record?" the officer responded, inaccurately, "No, you don't." The officer arrested him for Failure to Comply.

According to The Washington Post, the DOJ has launched 67 civil-rights investigations into police departments over the last 20 years. Only one agency has ever been successful once sued: the 117-person sheriff's department in Alamance County, North Carolina, in 2015.

NOW WATCH: Police Cars, A Walgreens, And A Little Caesar's All Go Up In Flames In Ferguson





More From Business Insider


* Commodity slowdown fuels workers' discontent

* AngloGold Ghana manager killed in riot

* Randgold CEO thinks security concerns exaggerated

By Ed Stoddard

CAPE TOWN, Feb 11 (Reuters) - From Ebola to Islamist insurgents to social unrest triggered by the global commodity downturn, mining firms operating in West Africa face mounting security challenges, analysts and executives say.

Safety is on all radar screens in the region after an Islamist attack on a restaurant and hotel left 30 people dead in January in Ouagadougou, capital of gold-producing Burkina Faso.

Last week, AngloGold Ashanti's head of corporate affairs in Ghana was killed during a riot involving illegal miners at its Obuasi mine, which is idle as the company waits for a partner for the operation.

"Illegal mining and these kinds of things are regarded as a threat to national security by governments," AngloGold chief executive Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan, known as Venkat, told Reuters at an industry conference in Cape Town.

Obuasi has been a source of smouldering social tension as lay-offs deprive households of breadwinners in a region where each miner typically has around 10 dependants.

"As mining companies lay off employees to protect their balance sheets as a response to the global commodity downturn, there is an increased risk of labour unrest and protests at mine sites as local employees fight to protect their jobs," said Mark Sorbara, an analyst with Africa Risk Consulting.

More broadly, he said, "mining companies in Africa, and West Africa in particular, face a constantly changing risk environment. Security in the West African mining sector is no longer simply the physical security of the asset."

Industry executives say precautions can be taken, with some rooted in the response to the Ebola pandemic that struck the West African nations of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

They include the use of safe houses for staff instead of hotels.

Failure by state authorities to provide basic security is a worry. AngloGold said the violence at Obuasi "followed the withdrawal of government military protection from the mine".

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THINGS THAT GO BANG

AngloGold's Venkat said one major concern, brought to the industry's attention by governments in the region, was the theft of explosives used for blasting at mines.

Joseph Keenan, managing director of mine explosives manufacturer BME, a unit of Johannesburg-listed chemicals group Omnia, said the emulsions it produces in West Africa have electronic detonators that require codes.

"So if they get stolen, they still cannot be set off," he told Reuters.

Industry sources say the transport of detonators to mining operations in West Africa always involves police or military escorts. Where explosives are produced, military guards are usually provided.

Not all miners believe the region's insurgencies are a threat to their projects.

Mark Bristow, chief executive of Randgold Resources, which has mines in Ivory Coast and Mali, said: "The security providers are raising the issue for obvious reasons.

"We have always been clear: we'll invest in a country where the government ensures there is a secure environment in which to operate and we feel there is no reason to believe that risk has gone up or down," he told Reuters.

Two weeks ago Bristow made his quarterly motorcycle trip from Randgold's Tongon mine in northern Ivory Coast to its Morila mine in Mali - on a route that underlines his confidence that the region's reputation for danger is exaggerated.

"I took the back roads, not the main roads, because it is really boring to go on the main roads," he said.

(Editing by James Macharia and Andrew Roche)
BRUSSELS, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Talks with Greece on reforms are progressing but more needs to be done on pensions reform, fiscal issues and the setting up of a privatisation fund, the head of the group of euro zone finance ministers said on Thursday.

"Progress has been achieved on important issues, but further work is still needed in a number of areas," the head of the Eurogroup Jeroen Dijsselbloem told a news conference at the end of a meeting of euro zone finance ministers in Brussels.

He called on Greek authorities to pursue discussions on the open issues in order to reach an agreement with lenders within the current Greek bailout programme.

(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio)
By Yasmeen Abutaleb

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Marc Andreessen, a prominent venture capitalist and Facebook Inc board director, apologized on Wednesday for tweets that condemned the Indian government for banning the social media company's free Internet service.

India introduced rules on Monday preventing Internet service providers from having different pricing policies for accessing different parts of the Web, effectively dismantling Facebook's Free Basics program, which offers a pared-back version of Internet service.

Andreessen, who often takes to Twitter to offer his opinions, said the new rules denied India's poor access to the Internet. Only 252 million out of India's 1.3 billion people have Internet access.

"Denying world's poorest free partial Internet connectivity when today they have none, for ideological reasons, strikes me as morally wrong," Andreessen wrote.

"Anti-colonialism has been economically catastrophic for the Indian people for decades. Why stop now?"

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg condemned Andreessen's Twitter outburst in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

"I found the comments deeply upsetting, and they do not represent the way Facebook or I think at all," Zuckerberg said, adding that India was "personally" important to him and the company.

Dozens of Twitter users blasted Andreessen for his comments, which he deleted and apologized for on Wednesday in eight tweets.

"I apologize for any offense my comment caused, and withdraw it in full and without reservation," Andreessen wrote. "I will leave all future commentary on all of these topics to people with more knowledge and experience than me."

Earlier this week, Zuckerberg said he was disappointed with the Indian ruling and said that the company was still "working to break down barriers to connectivity in India and around the world."

(Reporting by Yasmeen Abutaleb; Editing by Paul Simao and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
A Siemens logo is pictured on an office building of Siemens AG in Munich May 30, 2014. REUTERS/Lukas Barth

By Alexander Hubner and Jose Elias Rodriguez

MUNICH/MADRID (Reuters) - German engineering group Siemens (SIEGn.DE) and Spanish renewable energy group Gamesa (GAM.MC) are in final negotiations on a deal to merge their wind power assets, two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters on Wednesday.

"They are all sitting together in Madrid at the moment," one of the sources said, adding that a deal was imminent and that the enterprise value of the joint venture would be close to 10 billion euros (7.76 billion pounds).

A Siemens-Gamesa joint venture would overtake Denmark's Vestas (VWS.CO) to become the world's biggest wind farm manufacturer by market share, operating in the mature North American and European markets and fast-growing markets like India, Mexico and Brazil.

Siemens is dominant in the offshore wind market but relatively weak onshore and has struggled to make wind power profitable.

Gamesa is strong in emerging markets, notably Latin America, where it expanded when the Spanish government cut subsidies to clean energy producers in 2013.

A Siemens-Gamesa deal would be the latest in a string of mergers in the wind industry. Having weathered years of overcapacity and losses, it is now thriving as demand for carbon-free electricity increases.

Pooling R&D efforts and funding gives groups more options in an industry where products are developing and improving fast.

Gamesa had already partnered with France's Areva to build offshore wind turbines through their Adwen joint venture.

A Siemens-Gamesa joint venture would give Siemens a foot in the nascent huge French offshore market but could also raise competition issues in that market segment.

Gamesa expects double-digit sales growth through 2017, when it hopes to sell 3,500-3,800 MW of capacity, up from an estimated 3,100 MW in 2015.

Last year, 12.8 gigawatts of wind capacity was installed and grid-connected in the EU, a 6 percent increase on 2014, with growth especially strong in offshore, where installed capacity doubled to 3 GW, according to the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA).

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More wind power was installed than any other form of power generation in 2015 and accounted for 44 percent of total 2015 power capacity installations, EWEA said.

Market leader Vestas started the consolidation trend late in 2013, when it teamed up with Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to build offshore wind turbines, a capital-intensive industry with long lead times that favours companies with strong balance sheets.

German turbine maker Nordex said in October it was buying the wind power business of Spain's Acciona (ANA.MC) for 785 million euros.

(Reporting by Alexander Huebner in Munich and Jose Elias Rodriguez in Madrid; Writing by Georgina Prodhan and Geert De Clercq; Editing by Maria Sheahan and Louise Heavens)
BERLIN, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Germany is making available 500 million euros ($566 million) in credit to Iraq which is not earmarked for any specific purpose but the country needs investment in its infrastructure, said Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday after meeting Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

"Germany is ready to do what it can.. to stabilise Iraq in view of the big security challenges and economic challenges," said Merkel, adding low oil prices were a big problem for the Iraqi budget.

"So today we have given Iraq credit of 500 million euros for unspecified purposes," she said adding the country's infrastructure needed to be rebuilt to give people hope and encourage them to stay.

($1 = 0.8837 euros) (Reporting by Andreas Rinke; Writing by Madeline Chambers)
BRUSSELS, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Portugal should stick to the path of reforms that improve the country's public finances, German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Thursday, warning Lisbon it would be dangerous to continue to upset financial markets.

Euro zone finance ministers meet on Thursday in Brussels and Portugal's 2016 draft budget, which risks breaking EU rules on deficit reduction, is one of the points on the agenda.

Portuguese bond yields have surged as investors worry that the looser budget plan will trigger a rating downgrade and take Portugal out of the European Central Bank's bond buying programme, slashing demand for the paper.

"Portugal will be well advised to take notice and no longer unsettle markets by creating the impression that one wants to move away from the path taken. That would be dangerous for Portugal," Schaeuble told reporters ahead of the meeting.

(Reporting By Robert-Jan Bartunek and Jan Strupczewski)
Tea party Republican Matt Bevin had to tone down his anti-Obamacare rhetoric in order to win election as governor of Kentucky last November.

Since then, there has been intense speculation over what Bevin would do to make good on his campaign promise to phase out Kynect, Kentuckys state-run health insurance exchange created under the Affordable Care Act that is widely seen as a model of efficiency and effectiveness.

Related: Nearly Half of Obamacare Co-Ops Are Closing

The answer came recently with confirmation that Bevin is moving expeditiously to dismantle Kynect and transfer its responsibilities for providing nearly 100,000 Kentuckians with private health care insurance to the federal insurance exchange.

Bevin is also seeking a waiver from the federal government to tighten up eligibility requirements to make it harder for many to qualify or remain enrolled in the state Medicaid program for the poor that was expanded considerably under the Affordable Care Act.

The new governor has argued that preserving Kynect would be a wasteful redundancy because state residents can also obtain insurance through the federal exchange. We in Kentucky will not pay twice for the same service, he told reporters last month, adding that he hoped to wind down the state program by the end of this year.

Bevin is a hero among conservative Republicans who have been trying for years in Washington to either dismantle or seriously weaken the ACA, the signature health care initiative of President Obama.

However, critics and healthcare advocates warn that Bevins move will create chaos and confusion for more than two million Kentuckians who currently are enrolled in private health insurance policies or Medicaid through Kynect.

Related: 7 Obamacare Predictions That Havent Come True

The move will also almost certainly cost the state millions of dollars in forfeited federal grants for the state-run program and lead to the layoff of numerous Kynect employees.

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Theres really no business case for doing this, as far as it being less expensive or somehow less burdensome on Kentucky, Emily Beauregard, executive director of Kentucky Voices for Health, an advocacy organization, said in an interview on Wednesday. At this point, what we expect to see is more cost to Kentucky, more work for state officials  and more inconvenience for consumers.

The state-run insurance exchange created under former Democratic governor Steve Beshear has enrolled 93,687 Kentuckians for private health insurance this year and more than 1.3 million people as part of the expanded Medicaid program authorized by Obamacare.

Kentucky is one of 18 states that created their own insurance exchanges under Obamacare. The remaining states have left it to the nationwide federal exchange, HealthCare.gov, to sign up Americans for the program. Bevin contends that Kynect is redundant and unnecessary, and had signaled plans to end the program.

Bevin notified the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in a Dec. 30 letter that the dismantling and transition would be undertaken as soon as is practicable. That prompted a Jan. 28 response from an HHS official stating that ceasing Kynect will create a number of challenges that must be addressed to ensure that access to affordable health coverage continues for Kentuckys consumers, according to Insider Louisville.

Related: 7 Obamacare Predictions That Havent Come True

Andrew Slavitt, the acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, raised a number of red flags in his response to Bevin and outlined a set of activities that Kentucky will need to immediately take to ensure a smooth transition for its consumers. These include:

Producing a detailed plan for how the state will continue to meet its obligations to enrollees and future enrollees through 2016.





Arranging for discussions between insurers participating in Kynect and the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid to ensure that those companies understand the transition activities.





Paying a 3 percent fee on insurance costs required of states that steer their residents to the federal exchange to purchase subsidized and market-rate health insurance policies.





Forgoing nearly $58 million of the $289 million in federal grants that Kentucky received to help establish Kynect. None of those remaining funds can be used to cover the costs of the transition. And its possible the federal government will attempt to reclaim the more than $200 million of grant money already spent.





Bevin has argued that dismantling Kynect would be relatively easy and not terribly costly to the state. But it looks like the new Republican governors dream of ridding the state of responsibility for Obamacare could create budgetary and logistical difficulties for residents and state officials.

Related: GOP Fires a Warning Shot in Kentucky in the War Against Obamacare

A consultant retained by the Beshear administration estimated that shuttering Kynect would cost $23 million, but that may prove to be an optimistic assumption given the loss of the federal grant.

Beyond that, Kynect is unusual because it has successfully integrated its private insurance exchange with Medicaid and the Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP). As a result, Slavitt warned in his letter to Bevin, the state will have to decouple these three programs and figure out how to continue to administer the Medicaid and CHIP programs while sending responsibility for the private insurance market back to the federal government.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
Haitian President Michel Martelly, pictured on June 19, 2015, is out with a new carnival song that takes particular aim at a famous Haitian female journalist and is loaded with sexual innuendo and double entendre (AFP Photo/Hector Retamal) (AFP/File)

Port-au-Prince (AFP) - Outgoing Haiti President Michel Martelly, a former music star, has found fresh success with a sexually loaded song attacking his critics, amid a political crisis over who will succeed him.

The popular six-minute carnival song by Sweet Micky -- the president's stage name -- takes particular aim at a famous Haitian female journalist and is loaded with sexual innuendo and double entendre.

Translated from the local Creole language, the song is called "Give her the banana."

That seemingly is inspired from the campaign slogan, "Banana Man," of Jovenel Moise, an agricultural entrepreneur and Martelly's pick for the next president.

Martelly's main target is well-known journalist Liliane Pierre-Paul, and the song has been popular on the playlist of some Haitian DJs.

It also had success with listeners checking out carnival hits, racking up more than 100,000 plays online in less than 24 hours.

The Haitian carnival takes place February 7-9 in the capital Port-au-Prince, although preparations have been lagging.

The annual carnival, usually a time for the poorest country in the Americas to forget about its litany of ills, has been overshadowed by a roiling political crisis after the January 24 presidential vote runoff was canceled over security concerns.

Martelly's term ends Sunday, and with no successor in place, Haiti is facing constitutional crisis yet again.
Hong Kong (AFP) - Scores of police officers were hurt Tuesday when a riot erupted in Hong Kong over official attempts to move illegal hawkers, in the most serious violence the city has seen since mass pro-democracy protests in 2014.

Police said nearly 90 of their number were injured, many by broken glass or projectiles, while dozens of protesters were also hurt in the Chinese New Year clash.

Demonstrators levered up bricks from pavements in the busy Mongkok district, charging police lines with homemade shields and setting rubbish on fire in the middle of the road.

One officer was seen pointing his gun at crowds who hurled stones, bottles and pieces of wooden pallet at police.

Officers fired at least two warning shots in the air, multiple news outlets reported, a very rare occurrence in the semi-autonomous southern Chinese city.

They also used pepper spray in chaotic scenes that played out on local television.

As criticism grew of police tactics in the localised disturbance, Commissioner Stephen Lo defended the officer who fired his weapon, saying rioters were continuously attacking his already injured colleague.

"With no alternative, his police colleague used his firearm in accordance with the use of force principles to prevent his fellow colleague from being further attacked," Lo said, adding there would be a full investigation.

Police said 54 protesters aged between 15-70 were arrested for assaulting police, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct in a public place, among other offences.

"We will consider charging the arrested persons for participating in a riot," Lo said. This carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

- 'Fishball revolution' -

The battles, which broke out after officials tried to move illegal food sellers, have been dubbed the "fishball revolution" on social media, after a popular street dish often consumed at Lunar New Year.

Demonstrators, including members of radical "localist" groups -- which stress Hong Kong's separate identity from the mainland -- tried to defend the hawkers, whom they say add to the festive atmosphere.

Story continues

Reports said one of those arrested was Edward Leung, a "localist" candidate for an upcoming by-election on February 28.

Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying said the government "strongly condemns such violent acts".

"There was a riot in Mongkok in the early hours of today," the chief executive told reporters. "A few hundred (people) attacked police officers and media."

The standoff, which began overnight, lasted into the morning, with the city's subway operator shuttering the local station.

At least four journalists were also injured, one of whom was hit on the head by a brick thrown by rioters, the Hong Kong Journalists Association said in a statement on its Facebook page.

TVB news footage showed protesters harassing and attacking their cameraman who sustained injuries to his hand.

The so-called "localists" want to restrict Beijing's influence in the city, which was a British colony until its return to China in 1997. Some even want an independent Hong Kong.

The clashes come with tensions high and concerns that the city's freedoms are being eroded by authoritarian China.

There is particular concern at the fate of five Hong Kong based-booksellers who are believed detained in mainland China after disappearing last year.

One of them vanished from Hong Kong, fuelling concern he had been abducted by mainland law enforcers who have no right to operate in the city.

Mongkok, on the city's Kowloon peninsula, was the scene of some of the worst violence during the 79-day "Occupy" pro-democracy street protests in late 2014.

The mass rallies seeking fully free leadership elections in the city blocked some major streets for more than two months.

Leung said there were no plans to cancel Tuesday night's New Year fireworks, when tens of thousands of revellers are expected to gather on either side of the city's Victoria Harbour.

Police said their presence will be increased for the display in the wake of the riot.
VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - February 11, 2016) - INCA ONE GOLD CORP. (TSX VENTURE: IO) ("Inca One" or the "Company") is pleased to report its first year of commercial operations review.

2015 was a year full of milestones and challenges to overcome. Having recently passed our first anniversary of commercial operations, we wanted to reflect and provide a summary of our accomplishments and share our view going forward.

Inca One realized a number of significant milestones in 2015, moving us further towards our primary goal of becoming a leading commercial gold processor in Peru. Our accomplishments for the year included the successful transition to a cash-flowing, gold processing company, proving the concept of our business model and generating more than US$15 million in revenue. More importantly, we laid the groundwork to continue transforming Inca One into a profitable and efficient commercial operator.

We accomplished all this amidst one of the longest bear markets, and perhaps the most challenging capital and mining environments in a generation. Mere survival is the sole focus for most companies in the industry today. Inca One is not only surviving, we are growing, and I'm proud of our team's resilience despite these market conditions. Our major accomplishments in 2015 include:

Commissioned the Chala Plant, on time and within budget, on February 1, 2015;

Processed over 19,200 tonnes of mineral at an average grade of 0.75 oz per tonne in calendar 2015;

Produced 13,097 ounces of gold in the twelve months ending December 31, 2015;

Realized gold sales of approximately US$15.4 million;

Raised over US$5 million in capital;

Established Chala One's maximum daily operating capacity of 100 tonnes per day;

Successfully launched our gold export program by obtaining what is known as "Accredited Exporter Status" from SUNAT, Peru's tax and customs authority;

Reached full operation status of our in-house chemical and metallurgical laboratories;

Commissioned the new gold desorption plant at Chala One.

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Overall in 2015 Inca One operated at approximately 57% of plant capacity, as we held back throughput while awaiting the Sunat VAT/IGV refund. Clearly, there is room to grow once additional funding allows us to step up gold mineral purchases. We must also continue to ensure a consistent supply of high quality mill feed from a steady and secure stream of customers. Towards this essential goal, we renegotiated supplier contracts that helped solidify our customer base. We also began importing high-grade, gold-bearing materials from neighbouring Bolivia to feed the Chala Plant.

These efforts are allowing us to export our gold on a weekly basis to our premier refining partners. We conduct these transactions under established exportation terms to our partners, secured by armoured transport with Hermes, the Peruvian division of the Brinks Company. All of our shipments are insured by an internationally recognized loss prevention company, Lloyd's of London.

To provide some control over our margins, particularly in this bear market, we established a gold hedging program in 2015. Hedging helps us lock in revenue should the gold price drop between acquisition and export sale.

We also completed a successful SUNAT audit, which is required to attain an IGV (Value Added Tax) refund. This is essential for filing a return of the IGV, where IGV is paid on mineral purchases. As of January 2016, SUNAT was holding fees of approximately US$2 million in IGV owed to Inca One relating to exported gold sales. Further to this filing, verbal confirmation was given to our Peruvian team that the first partial payment of this refund was forthcoming -- which will provide additional working capital and funds for continued gold mineral purchases. We expect to receive the remaining funds later in the first half of this year.

Despite our successes in 2015, Inca One's share price continued to suffer from the general market malaise that has affected virtually all mining companies. The two-year high of $0.285 cents reached in March 2015 was short-lived, as market sentiment and a weak gold price pulled share and market values down for the remainder of the year. We understand fully that, as a publicly-traded company, operational success means little without market success. I know I speak for all of Inca One's board and management when I say that we are building a solid foundation for future value. We are taking steps now that we believe will generate significant returns and consequently shareholder value as we continue to execute on our business plan.

Late in 2015, we strategically sought to increase our production capacity through two acquisitions. Unfortunately, having found fatal flaws in both of these two operations while conducting our due diligence process, Inca One was forced to back away from each transaction in order to save our shareholders from unnecessary dilution, hidden costs and permitting issues that could have substantially and negatively impacted the company.

Looking ahead through 2016, we anticipate to build a cost-effective 100TPD operation with growing cash flows and cash margins -- while improving the balance sheet. We removed most of the start-up risk factors in 2015 and established a successful business model in a negative resource and precious metals sector in light of weak gold prices. Planned capital funding, combined with the balance of our IGV refund, will help us continue the pace of growth and development throughout the year.

I assure you that we will push on, looking onward and upward into 2016 with even more enthusiasm, optimism and momentum. We thank you, our shareholders, for having confidence in us to continue along this path of value creation.

Kind Regards,

Edward Kelly

President and CEO

INCA ONE GOLD CORP.

About Inca One Gold Corp.

Inca One is a Canadian-based mineral processing company with a gold milling facility in Peru, servicing government-permitted small-scale miners. As part of the terms of the original purchase agreement for the Chala, Peru processing facility, Inca One has an agreement between its wholly owned subsidiary, Chala One SAC, and the seller and initial permit applicant, to operate under the umbrella of formalization until the successful completion of all the environmental and operating permits. Peru, a highly mineral-rich country, is one of the world's top producers of gold, silver, copper and zinc, with substantial production coming from small scale miners who need government permitted milling facilities to process their mineral (such as the Company's Chala One Plant).

On behalf of the Board of Inca One

Edward Kelly

President and CEO

INCA ONE GOLD CORP.

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 NEWS RELEASE.

Statements regarding the Company which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. Such information can generally be identified by the use of forwarding-looking wording such as "may," "expect," "estimate," "anticipate," "intend," "believe," and "continue," or the negative thereof or similar variations. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature, they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results in each case could differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. Except as required by law, the Company does not intend to update any changes to such statements.

This news release deals only with the Company's Chala plant, which is an industrial project. This presentation does not deal at all with the Company's sole mineral exploration property, the Corizona property. Investors should note that no resource has been established on the Corizona property and all of the material currently being processed at the Chala plant is received from local small-scale mining operations.
JAKARTA, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Indonesia on Thursday announced its boldest measures to attract foreign investment in a decade, loosening restrictions on dozens of sectors including agriculture and the movie industry.

The far-reaching move comes a day after President Joko Widodo told Reuters in an interview he planned a "big bang" liberalisation of Southeast Asia's largest economy to encourage competition.

"Today's revisions represent our largest opening to international investment in 10 years," Trade Minister Tom Lembong told Reuters.

"More international investment will bring more capital, more world-class expertise, more technologies to Indonesia. Domestic players must seize those opportunities."

The last revision to the so-called Negative Investment List - which spells out the sectors to which foreign investment restrictions apply - was done in 2014 and was seen by many as less investor-friendly.

Widodo's administration has rolled out several economic stimulus packages in recent months aimed at cutting red tape, boosting spending and improving investor sentiment.

(Reporting by John Chalmers and Kanupriya Kapoor; Writing by Randy Fabi; Editing by Kim Coghill)
BRUSSELS, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Italy does not believe that the sharp falls of European banking stocks since the start of the year are a result of the introduction of a new EU law, which makes bank shareholders, bondholders and large depositors liable if a bank goes bust.

"I don't see this connection," Italian Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan told reporters in answer to a question if the two issues, which coincide in time, were linked.

(Reporting By Francesco Guarascio, writing by Jan Strupczewski)
ATLANTA, GA--(Marketwired - Feb 11, 2016) - Labor SMART, Inc. (OTCQB: LTNC) (the "Company"), a leader in providing on-demand blue collar staffing primarily in the southeastern United States, today commented on the recent trading activity and volatility in its stock.

In the last few days, and this morning in particular, there has been an increased volume of trading and selling pressure in the Company's common stock. This has caused the Company's management to believe it necessary to advise our investors that this volume and selling pressure was not the result of any trading activity by the Company or its management.

The Company can also confirm that no conversions of debt into equity have occurred since the Company's announcement in December that it had entered into various settlement agreements with note holders. Additionally, the company believes that recent aggressive selling may be related to an attempted but failed conversion request by one note holder, that may have sold shares before delivery. The shares requested under this conversion request have not and will not be issued pursuant to the forbearance agreement.

Further, on February 9, 2016 the Company filed suit in the San Diego County Superior Court against the above referenced note holder for Breach of Contract and is seeking Declaratory and Injunctive Relief.

About Labor SMART, Inc.

Labor SMART, Inc. provides On-Demand temporary labor to a variety of industries. The Company's clients range from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies. Labor SMART was founded to provide reliable, dependable and flexible resources for on-demand personnel to small and large businesses in areas that include construction, manufacturing, hospitality, event-staffing, restoration, warehousing, retailing, disaster relief and cleanup, demolition and landscaping. Labor SMART believes it can make a positive contribution each and every day for the benefit of its clients and temporary employees. The Company's mission is to be the provider of choice to its growing portfolio of customers with a service-focused approach that enables Labor SMART to be seen as a resource and partner to its clients.

Safe Harbor Statement

This release contains statements that constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These statements appear in a number of places in this release and include all statements that are not statements of historical fact regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of Labor SMART, Inc., its directors or its officers with respect to, among other things: (i) financing plans; (ii) trends affecting its financial condition or results of operations; (iii) growth strategy and operating strategy. The words "may", "would", "will", "expect", "estimate", "can", "believe", "potential", and similar expressions and variations thereof are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Labor SMART, Inc.'s ability to control, and that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. More information about the potential factors that could affect the business and financial results is and will be included in Labor SMART, Inc.'s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The three biggest banks are losing capital.

A crisis of staggering proportions is looming in China, and tiny Singapore will be caught right in the middle of the storm once the disaster finally erupts.

Speaking at the annual Barrons roundtable, Swiss billionaire investor Felix Zulauf warned that Singapores largest banks are at risk of massive capital outflows if the Chinese economy experiences a hard landing, which he expects will happen this year.

We are in a down cycle that will end with crisis and calamity. China in todays cycle is what US housing was during the financial crisis in 2008, Zulauf warned.

Zulauf warned that capital outflows in China will continue, prompting regulators to devalue the yuan by as much as 15% to 20% within the year. When this happens, Asian economies which are heavily dependent on Chinaparticularly Singaporewill suffer because Chinese corporates will cut their imports even more, while indebted Chinese companies will be placed at greater risk of default.

"I expect the situation the deteriorate to a point where we will witness a banking crisis in Asia that will hit Singapore and Hong Kong particularly hard," Zulauf said.

It is conceivable that Singapore, which has attracted a lot of foreign capital over the years because of its image as a strong-currency state, will be extremely exposed to the situation in China. Singapores banking-sector loans have grown dramatically in the past five or six years. Singapore is now losing capital, which means the banking industry is losing deposits, Zulauf said.

He said that such a situation will cause carry trades to go awry, which will result in steep losses for heavily-leveraged traders.

I mentioned the potential for a banking crisis in Singapore. I dont recommend shorting Singapore bank stocks, but rather the EWS, or iShares MSCI Singapore ETF. In this case, an investor will benefit from both declining local stock prices and a decline in the Singapore dollar against the U.S. dollar, said the report.

Story continues

Zulauf is the owner and president of Switzerland-based hedge fund Zulauf Asset Management. The fund has US$1.68 billion assets under management, according to data from portfolio management service Macroaxis.

Read the full transcript here.





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Two big technology companies this week provided more evidence that the global economy is slowing and possibly even headed toward a recession. Executives at Cisco Systems (CSCO) and Nokia (NOK), as they reported their most recent quarterly results, both warned of a major slowdown in orders from their corporate customers around the world.

The observations were just the latest pieces of evidence that the global economy is struggling, as data from China, Russia and other areas has revealed a multitude of problems that have scared investors in 2016. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Thursday said economic problems around the world could hit growth in the United States later this year. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down around 2% on Thursday and has lost 11% so far this year.



Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins said orders for his company's networking gear and data center equipment slowed starting in January, as tumbling stock markets and other signs of slowing economic growth spooked customers.



"When there's uncertainty in the market, we see enterprise customers, and they just basically say hey, look, let's just  let's wait, let's see what's going to happen," Robbins said on a call with analysts on Wednesday. "They may say let's wait a week. They may say let's wait a couple weeks. And when you're in the last three weeks of your quarter, those kinds of decisions have an impact."



Despite the customer concerns, Cisco reported sales of $11.9 billion for its quarter ended Jan. 23, virtually unchanged from the same three-month period a year earlier. Net income increased 31% to $3.1 billion as the company was able to raise its gross profit margin and cut expenses. Cisco expects to see revenue increase 1% to 4% in the next quarter excluding sales from a video unit it sold in November. Cisco shares were a rare winner on Thursday, gaining 10%.



Rajeev Suri, president and CEO of Nokia, said he also saw customers delaying decisions on major capital spending, or capex, projects due to the current volatile economic climate. "The first quarter, in particular, looks quite challenging as customers assess their CAPEX plans in light of increasing macro-economic uncertainty," Suri said in a statement accompanying Nokia's earnings announcement on Thursday.



To be sure, corporate executives sometimes try to avoid admitting things are going wrong at their own companies by putting the blame on larger economic forces outside of their control. Cisco faces challenges as its customers shift from buying networking equipment to leasing cloud computing services from companies like Amazon (AMZN), for example. But the company maintains shrinking sales in that area were due to the larger economic uncertainly, not the disruptive impact of cloud computing.



Not all analysts agreed. "Our long-term concerns remain that the company is increasingly challenged," Credit Suisse analyst Kulbinder Garcha noted after Cisco released its results.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Feb 11, 2016) - Nevada Copper Corp. (NCU.TO) ("Nevada Copper" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement (the "Agreement") with NV Energy to conduct a study of the potential to develop a solar energy generation project on Nevada Copper's privately-owned land ("Solar Study"). This land is adjacent to the Company's proposed Pumpkin Hollow copper development project. Additional information on NV Energy is included below.

Nevada Copper expects this Solar Study to be completed within three months. Nevada Copper and NV Energy seek to evaluate, at a scoping level, the feasibility of developing a solar facility on private land owned by Nevada Copper that is available for solar generation facilities. Subject to the results of the Study, the parties would have an opportunity to enter into an agreement to pursue a solar development opportunity. The Solar Study will be done at no cost to the Company, in consideration of which, a 90-day exclusivity period was granted to NV Energy. After the 90-day exclusivity period, if no development agreement has been mutually agreed after good-faith efforts, the Company will be free to solicit interest from other parties.

Giulio Bonifacio, the CEO of Nevada Copper commented on the Agreement: "Nevada Copper is very interested in developing solar energy on its project area, both to supply power to the mine, and to deliver power to the grid. This presents another significant opportunity that is the direct result of the successful passage of the land bill which was signed into law by President Obama and resulted in receipt of all permits to construct a mine.

"Additionally the current zoning of these private lands owned by the Company allows for solar development and has no environmental or engineering constraints. The Solar Study will provide site-specific evaluation of the solar potential on our lands at no cost to the Company and will prove beneficial in all discussions regarding future development of the solar development opportunity. Initial investigations indicate the potential for up to 500 MW of solar generation on our project landholdings surplus to our mining needs."

Nevada Copper successfully collaborated with the City of Yerington and Lyon County in 2015 to implement the purchase of federal lands by the City and in October 2015 the City re-conveyed and deeded 9,145 acres to the Company. The Company's private land surface rights now total 10,683 acres (43 km2). With the completion of the land conveyance, Nevada Copper continues to advance financing discussions to support development of the Pumpkin Hollow copper project, while also considering other commercial and industrial development opportunities.

Solar power generation was one of the key industrial opportunities afforded by the Company's acquisition of the large private land package. This is due to both the industrial zoning of the entire site and lack of any requirements for land use permits, as well as the high solar potential of the area. According to data published by the National Renewable Energy Lab ("NREL"), the Pumpkin Hollow project area, has a high level of solar irradiation, 6.5-7.0 kilowatt hours per square meter per day (kW-hr/m2/day).

Depending on the ultimate scope of the Pumpkin Hollow copper mine development, the Company estimates that 2,000-4,000 acres of land adjacent to, and outside of, the area of proposed mine facilities could be utilized for solar generation. Based on the NREL solar irradiation data, a 200 megawatt (MW) typical solar photovoltaic project in the Yerington area would require 1,600-2,000 acres of land. This implies a potential for up 500 MW of solar power development capacity. Evaluation of energy transmission options would be part of the Solar Study. Solar energy generated at the project could be used at the site and/or transmitted into the grid via existing high voltage transmission lines located east of the project area, or via other routes. A power line corridor connecting the project to transmission lines is part of the proposed copper project development plan and the Company acquired fee title to that land as part of the land conveyance.

The land proposed for solar development is privately owned by Nevada Copper and has been zoned M-1 Industrial by the City of Yerington. This zoning allows for solar development and has no environmental or engineering constraints for such a development. The land is also close proximity to federal and state highways and other infrastructure. With such a potential solar project development, the Pumpkin Hollow copper project would help enhance renewable energy development in Nevada. The Nevada Copper mine project and an adjacent solar project also could realize mutual benefit with potential shared grid-connection costs. If found to be feasible, a solar power development could be developed as a standalone operation, or as part of the proposed copper mine development at Pumpkin Hollow.

About NV Energy

NV Energy, Inc. provides a wide range of energy services to 1.3 million customers throughout Nevada and nearly 40 million tourists annually. NV Energy is a holding company whose principal subsidiaries, Nevada Power Company and Sierra Pacific Power Company, are doing business as NV Energy. The company is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Additional information regarding NV Energy, a unit of Berkshire Hathaway Energy is included in the following link: (http://www.berkshirehathawayenergyco.com/our-businesses/nv-energy)

NEVADA COPPER CORP.

Giulio T. Bonifacio, President & CEO

We seek safe harbour.
BRUSSELS, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Portugal must be ready to take additional measures, if needed, to keep its 2016 deficit falling in line with European Union budget rules, the head of euro zone finance ministers Jeroen Dijsselbloem said on Thursday.

A new, left-wing government in Portugal has prepared a draft 2016 budget that the European Commission said was at risk of breaking EU rules, called the Stability and Growth Pact.

"We are going to discuss it today," Dijsselbloem told reporters ahead of a ministerial meeting.

"Portugal needs to stand ready, if necessary, to do more, to stay within the Stability and Growth Pact. I is not a unique situation, we have had it with other countries," he said.

The 2016 budgets of Italy, Lithuania, Austria and Spain are also at risk of breaking EU rules, the Commission said last November.

Markets are concerned that Portugal's 2016 budget plans will cause a downgrade of its credit rating by DBRS, the only agency that still has a rating for Lisbon that entitles it to participate in the European Central Bank bond buying programme.

Falling out of the ECB scheme would strongly reduce demand for Portugues bonds and the concern boosted yields on Portuguese benchmark 10 year bonds by 80 basis points on Thursday.

Dijsselbloem said such market pressure could help Lisbon stick to prudent fiscal policy of EU rules.

"That would actually be another reason to be quite concise and be committed to the economic policy of the monetary union and the budget rules of the monetary union," he said.

"I have heard the new government in Lisbon say they are very committed to the Stability and Growth Pact. That commitment is very important, it is a signal of confidence and we hope to hear that again from the minister today," he said.

(Reporting By Jan Strupczewski)
Deputies stand and vote in favour of a law authorizing adoption by gay couples, at the Portuguese parliament in Lisbon on February 10, 2016 (AFP Photo/Patricia de Melo Moreira) (AFP)

Lisbon (AFP) - Portugal's parliament on Wednesday upheld a bill giving adoption rights to gay couples by overriding a veto handed down in one of the last political moves by the country's outgoing conservative president.

Lawmakers from the ruling leftist alliance that toppled the conservative government in November voted again for the measure by an absolute majority, as needed to overrule the president's action. It fulfilled a campaign promise by new socialist Prime Minister Antonio Costa.

"The era of discrimination for sexual orientation has passed," said Socialist deputy Pedro Delgado Alves, adding that "adoption by couples of the same sex is not against the best interests of the child."

President Anibal Cavaco Silva had vetoed the measure in late January arguing that lawmakers should consider the child's interest rather than the issue of equality "between different and same-sex couples".

Up to now, adoption has been open to all individuals in Portugal, but the law allowing gay marriage which was passed in February 2010 explicitly excluded the right of same-sex couples to adopt.

The 76-year-old, who served two terms as president, will be replaced on March 9 by centre-right TV pundit Rebelo de Sousa, who was elected on January 25 in the first round of presidential polls.

In another of parting move, Cavaco Silva had also vetoed a series of amendments to Portugal's abortion laws that eliminate fees introduced in July by the previous conservative government.

The leftist-dominated parliament also voted to override that veto.
Feb 11 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories from selected Canadian newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

THE GLOBE AND MAIL

** Canada has competitive advantages when it comes to car manufacturing, but falls short in marketing itself and needs to change a key element of the incentive package offered to global auto makers, says Ray Tanguay, the special auto adviser to the federal and Ontario governments. (http://bit.ly/23YCCnw)

** Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd CEO Hunter Harrison has signalled he will abandon his four-month push to form North America's biggest railway if Norfolk Southern Corp shareholders reject his latest move. (http://bit.ly/1XkRl7C)

** Pacific NorthWest LNG's project in British Columbia would likely harm harbour porpoises and contribute to climate change, but the export terminal could be built and operated without causing major ecological damage, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency has ruled. (http://bit.ly/1V5TD9i)

NATIONAL POST

** Hudson's Bay Co could be bulking up even further. The Toronto-based owner of Saks Fifth Ave. and Lord & Taylor is in the running to buy bankrupt department store chain V&D of the Netherlands, according to multiple Dutch media reports. (http://bit.ly/1SJXco5)

** Canada's second-largest dairy producer, the farmer-owned Agropur Cooperative, says it sees the company's growth not here in the country, where it has defended the protectionist supply-management system when threatened with free-trade deals, but in the U.S. where it can import to international markets including north of the border. (http://bit.ly/1PnEMoZ)

** Canada's Superintendent of Financial Institutions has taken temporary control of the assets of the Canadian branch of Maple Bank GmbH, which is headquartered in Germany. (http://bit.ly/1Ta1rYD) (Compiled by Rama Venkat Raman in Bengaluru)
Saudi military spokesman Ahmed Al-Assiri

Saudi Arabia has made a "final" decision to send ground troops into Syria to fight ISIS, the spokesman of the Saudi-led coalition force in Yemen told reporters on Thursday.

Brig. Gen. Ahmed Al-Assiri said that Riyadh was "ready" to join the US-led anti-Islamic State coalition in Syria, according to Saudi news agency Al Arabiya. He noted, however, that the coalition  which has largely targeted the militants with airstrikes  has not given its final approval on the Saudis' decision to send ground troops.

ISIS also goes by the names the Islamic State and Daesh.

"We are representing Saudi's [decision] only" in sending troops, Assiri said.

Assiri signaled for the first time last week that Saudi Arabia would be ready to send ground troops into Syria if its coalition allies  including the US, Turkey, and the UK  asked them to.

"The kingdom is ready to participate in any ground operations that the coalition (against ISIS) may agree to carry out in Syria," Assiri told Al Arabiya TV news last Thursday. The Guardian later reported that the Saudis may be prepared to deploy thousands of ground troops into Syria.

Some experts, however, were immediately skeptical over how much the Saudis would really be willing to contribute to the fight.

"The Americans are pushing the Gulf states hard. But to be clear, if it happens at all, it's going to be like support for bombing  essentially symbolic," said geopolitical expert Ian Bremmer, president of the world's largest political-risk consultancy, Eurasia Group.

kerry saudi arabia

Bremmer told Business Insider on Thursday:

The Saudis won't send significant numbers  they already stretched with an uphill and losing struggle in Yemen  and they won't want to be on the front lines, as Saudi troops in Syria would be fighting and killing other Sunnis (and indeed other Saudi Sunnis). That would be unprecedented, and enormously unpopular.

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Even so, Saudi Arabia's growing international isolation  and the rising regional influence of its biggest rival, Iran  has led the kingdom to "double down" on protecting its interests, according to an analysis of the world's top 2016 risks released by Eurasia Group last month.

That includes the kingdom's interests in Syria, where Saudi-backed rebel groups are currently battling Iran-backed Shiite militias and Hezbollah forces loyal to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Saudi Arabia is locked in two other proxy wars with Iran in Yemen and Bahrain.

Sayyda Zeinab, Syria

Saudi Arabia's relations with Iran hit a new low in January after the Saudis executed a prominent Shiite cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, leading Iranian protesters to ransack and set fire to the Saudi embassy in Tehran. The kingdom cut off all diplomatic ties with Iran shortly thereafter.

Washington's response to the spat between Saudi Arabia  a longtime US ally  and Iran, with which the Obama administration recently secured a historic nuclear deal, was not as supportive of the Saudis as the kingdom would have hoped.

Indeed, as the Saudis continue to balk at the US's decision to lift nuclear-related sanctions on Iran, Washington has shown few, if any, signs that it intends to prevent Syria from becoming a Russian-Iranian sphere of influence.

putin assad

As such, just as Russia intervened in Syria under the guise of fighting ISIS to project its own power in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia may use the fight against the group as an excuse to enter Syria's battlefield  and take the task of containing Iran's expanding influence in the region into its own hands.

"Everybody is looking for the Americans to step up," Bremmer said. "And the US isn't going to do a fraction of what the Russians are prepared for militarily. So this is set to get worse."

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, for his part, reportedly warned that foreign intervention in Syria could spark "a new world war."

Meanwhile, in his interview with Al Arabiya last week, Assiri jabbed at Russia and Iran's apparent lack of commitment to fighting ISIS on the ground in Syria.

"Increasingly, it seems that none of the forces on the ground in Syria (besides rebel groups) is willing to fight ISIS," Assiri said.

He added: "The Assad regime, Iran, Russia, and Hezbollah are preoccupied with fighting Bashar al-Assad's opposition with one ostensible goal: to keep Bashar al-Assad in power, irrespective of the cost in innocent Syrian lives."

NOW WATCH: An AT&T spokesperson and former refugee is now helping Syrian refugees in Greece





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Rosana Vieira Alves bathes her 4-month-old daughter Luana Vieira, who was born with microcephaly, at their home in Olinda, Brazil, in this file photo taken February 4, 2016. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino/Files

Zika, which has been spreading quickly in the Americas, has been linked with a rise in a birth defect called microcephaly that causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads.

On Wednesday, scientists published a study in the New England Journal of Medicine reporting the case of a pregnant woman with Zika who likely transmitted the virus to her fetus.

As far as we know, it's the most direct evidence linking the virus to the disorder so far  analysis of the child's brain tissue revealed evidence of Zika infection, suggesting it had crossed from the mother into the child via the placenta, the organ that nourishes the baby until birth.

The current Zika outbreak prompted the World Health Organization to declare a global public health emergency.

The virus, which is spread by mosquito bites and likely by sex, commonly causes symptoms such as fever, rash, joint pain or red eyes. There is no vaccine or treatment, and while infections are usually mild, it has been linked to birth defects in pregnant women.

A case of Zika passed from mother to child

In October 2015, a healthy 25-year-old pregnant woman in Ljubljana, Slovenia who had been working in Natal, Brazil was found to have abnormalities in her fetus. She had been working in Brazil near the end of her first trimester when she developed a high fever, severe muscle and eye pain, and an itchy rash. Doctors suspected she had Zika, given the high rates of the virus in the community at the time. Unfortunately, the woman was never tested for the virus, and scans of the fetus at that time appeared normal, according to the study.

When she was 29 weeks pregnant, ultrasound scans revealed problems with the fetus. At 32 weeks, the scans of the fetus revealed it was in the third percentile for weight and below the second percentile for head size. Doctors also observed a buildup of hardened calcium deposits on the fetus' brain and on the placenta, which suggest damage caused by the virus. Doctors suspected that the developing fetus had microcephaly, and the woman had an abortion.

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When scientists examined the baby postmortem, they found more calcium deposits and traces of the Zika virus in its brain, suggesting the mother had passed the virus to the fetus, and may have caused its brain abnormalities.

The link between Zika and microcephaly is still being investigated, but authorities are warning pregnant women to avoid traveling to countries most affected by the virus, and women living in some of these countries to try to delay getting pregnant until 2018.

What is microcephaly?

Sueli Maria (obscured) holds her seven-day-old daughter Milena, who has microcephaly, at a hospital in Recife, Brazil, January 28, 2016. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

Microcephaly can cause developmental delays, seizures, or problems with speaking, sitting, walking, balance, feeding, hearing, and vision in babies born with the disorder, according to the CDC. The symptoms, which are often lifelong, range from mild to severe. In some cases, the condition can be life-threatening.

Microcephaly can be diagnosed with an ultrasound late in the second trimester or early in the third trimester of pregnancy, or after the baby is born by measuring its head and comparing it to growth charts.

We still don't know exactly what causes babies to develop this defect, but it can be related to genetics, infections, severe malnutrition, or exposure to alcohol, drugs, or other toxic chemicals.

Zika and the risk of microcephaly

Ordinarily, microcephaly is pretty rare. About 2 to 12 babies per 10,000 are born with the condition in the US. In Brazil, where the Zika outbreak has been especially severe, microcephaly cases before the outbreak were about 0.5 cases for every 10,000 births. But in the second half of 2015, that number jumped to about 20 cases per 10,000 live births, according to a CDC report.

In the past few months, researchers have found genetic material from the Zika virus in the brains of infants born with microcephaly in Brazil, which suggests the virus can cross over the placenta and infect the baby's nervous system, STAT reports.

However, a pregnant woman who gets the virus will not necessarily have a child with microcephaly, and experts don't know the exact risk.

STAT reports that most of the Zika-infected women giving birth to babies with microcephaly contracted the virus during their first trimester of pregnancy, although they may still be at risk into their second trimester. Most congenital infections happen during the second and fourth months of pregnancy, when the most brain cells are being formed.

According to the CDC, Zika usually only remains in the blood of an infected person for a few days to a week, so it cannot infect a baby that is born after it has been cleared. While experts currently don't think there's a risk that Zika will cause birth defects in future pregnancies, women who have had the virus should try to consult their doctors before becoming pregnant.

NOW WATCH: The World Health Organization warns of 'explosive spread' of Zika virus





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KIEV, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Ukraine has agreed a restructuring deal with Russia's Sberbank on $367.4 million of state-guaranteed debt, the government said in an online statement on Thursday.

The deal included a 25 percent writedown and maturity extensions to Sept. 1, 2019, it said.

The debt of state-owned firms, Ukravtodor and Yuzhnoye State Design Office, was included in the external loans that Ukraine has sought to restructure under a $40 billion bailout programme coordinated by the International Monetary Fund.

Russia has refused restructuring terms offered by Kiev on a $3 billion Eurobond it holds in its entirety.

The disagreement has become yet another bone of contention between the one-time allies, whose relations have broken down over Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula and a costly pro-Russian separatist conflict.

In January, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said Russian would lodge a claim in an English court by the end of January over Ukraine's failure to repay the bond, but the ministry has not confirmed that this has happened..

The two-year Eurobond was taken out by the government of Moscow-backed ex-president Viktor Yanukovich just two months before he fled to Russia in February 2014, after protests brought a pro-European government to power.

(Reporting by Alessandra Prentice; Additional reporting by Natalia Zinets; Editing by Louise Ireland)
LONDON (Reuters) - The British government has significant work to do to justify its plans to allow the authorities to spy on the public's internet use, a powerful committee of lawmakers said on Thursday, calling for changes to the far-reaching surveillance bill.

Last November, the government unveiled its plans for sweeping new surveillance powers, a watered-down version of a so-called "snoopers' charter" which was dropped because of deep concerns, including from a similar scrutinizing committee.

On Thursday the lawmakers examining the new powers said that while it supported the bill in principle, it believed the proposed law needed significant amendments and made 86 recommendations for change.

"There is much to be commended in the draft Bill, but the Home Office (interior ministry) has a significant amount of further work to do before parliament can be confident that the provisions have been fully thought through," said Paul Murphy, the committee chairman.

Western governments have been grappling with how to bolster the powers of spies and police in the digital age while addressing concerns about mass surveillance raised by leaks from former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden in 2013.

The British government says its bill is vital because police and the security agencies have fallen behind terrorists and serious criminals they are trying to track because of technological advances.

The most controversial aspect of the bill is the plan to allow the authorities access to "internet connection records" - which websites people had visited but not the specific pages or their full browsing history.

Tech firms such as Apple have also warned that any plans to weaken data encryption could damage their security systems and the parliamentary committee said ministers needed to further spell out their plans on this area.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Kate Holton and Estelle Shirbon)
Veniam, the Internet of Moving Things. We turn vehicles into mobile hotspots and build city-scale vehicular networks that expand wireless coverage and solve urban problems. Click here for high-resolution version

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA--(Marketwired - Feb 11, 2016) - Veniam, the company that is delivering the Internet of Moving Things, today announced a $22 million Series B round led by Verizon Ventures with new investors Cisco Investments, Orange Digital Ventures, and Yamaha Motor Ventures joining the round. Existing investors True Ventures, Union Square Ventures, and Cane Investments also participated. To date, Veniam has raised $27 million.

Veniam's disruptive solutions for connected transportation and smart city applications address the growing challenges of rapid urbanization by deploying a new kind of wireless Internet infrastructure that alleviates the digital divide, generates valuable data and improves city life. The funding will enable Veniam to expand its full-stack platform and deliver managed services over networks of connected vehicles to be deployed in urban fleets, ports, airports, factories and other transportation ecosystems around the world, including New York, Singapore, Barcelona, and London. Veniam will also grow its teams in Silicon Valley, Porto (Portugal) and Singapore to continue developing its innovative hardware, software and cloud components while delivering city-scale mesh networks of vehicles that expand wireless coverage and act as mobile sensors for a wide range of applications. Key use cases include fully managed mobile Wi-Fi hotspots with advertising, onboard diagnostics and video, smart city applications and real-time monitoring and control of mobile assets in industrial spaces. Building on the success of the world's largest network of connected vehicles, currently operating in Porto, Portugal with 300,000 individual Wi-Fi users, Veniam aims to improve quality of life in cities by providing unprecedented real-time connectivity and urban data for consumers, commercial fleets and city decision makers.

"Citywide mesh networks of connected vehicles and other moving things are a radically new concept and we are excited to support Veniam in enabling the smart cities of the future," said Ed Ruth, Manager at Verizon Ventures. "Veniam's hardware enables uninterrupted 4G and 5G connectivity, and their cloud-based services empower both private enterprises and city services to act upon valuable security, safety and operational efficiency data to improve the quality of life for all citizens."

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Veniam's technology products and platforms combine DSRC connected vehicle technology, 4G, Wi-Fi, and mesh networking to provide seamless handoffs between network infrastructure and vehicles, thereby enabling ubiquitous, reliable, and low cost connectivity, while accelerating next generation 5G heterogeneous networks. The company's technology also provides cloud-managed solutions to improve fleet operations and solve urban problems.

"The convergence of urban mobility systems, IoT wireless technologies, geo-referenced data, and soon the autonomous vehicle, is completely disrupting the way we transport people and goods," said Joao Barros, founder and CEO of Veniam. "Veniam is proud to lead this convergence by expanding wireless coverage and data services for people, vehicles and moving things, thereby generating new applications, revenue streams and business models for telecom operators and the Industry 4.0."

Today, Veniam's managed services turn moving vehicles into active nodes of the Internet, thereby offering new ways to leverage commercial fleets and city infrastructure for better services and quality of life.

Veniam enables public and private fleets to collect massive amounts of high definition data from their vehicles in a cost-effective manner.

Veniam allows smart cities to collect urban data at a massive scale by turning vehicles into mobile sensors and transporting the data from fixed city sensors via the mobile mesh to the cloud.

Veniam helps provide high quality Wi-Fi to fleet passengers. Mobile data usage is expected to increase dramatically - and cellular networks are going to be overburdened by this data usage. Veniam helps offload mobile data usage from congested areas through the innovative use of DSRC and delay-tolerant networking.





Veniam's networking technology is uniquely positioned to become a platform of choice for connected vehicles, enabling them to deploy DSRC-based safety applications, run software updates over the air and deliver secure communications between each vehicle and any wireless device in its vicinity. With Veniam's solutions, transportation operators will hold the key enabler for new modes of on-demand transportation and future mobility services, including autonomous vehicles.

Veniam was founded by technologists and visionaries Joao Barros, Professor at University of Porto, Portugal, Susana Sargento, Associate Professor at University of Aveiro, Portugal, Robin Chase, founder and former CEO of Zipcar, and Roy Russell, Zipcar founding CTO.

About Veniam

Veniam is building the Internet of Moving Things. We are a leading full-stack provider of vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2X) solutions, supporting a wide range of fleet services and smart city applications. By turning vehicles into Wi-Fi hotspots and connecting them securely to each other and the infrastructure, Veniam builds city-scale vehicular networks that expand wireless coverage and collect terabytes of urban data. Veniam's cloud-based managed services enable private enterprises and cities to acquire, analyze and act upon valuable onboard data to improve safety, security and operational efficiency. Operating the world's largest live vehicle network deployment in the world, Veniam is providing managed services for smart city operations through a fleet of hundreds of vehicles in Portugal, providing free Wi-Fi to hundreds of thousands of users and millions of sessions. Veniam is backed by leading companies and venture capital firms. Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

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BRUSSELS, BELGIUM--(Marketwired - Feb 11, 2016) -

Q4 2015 sales of $670.6 million, up 10.5 percent in local currencies and down 1.3 percent in U.S. dollars from a year ago





Full year 2015 sales of $2,627.5 million, up 6.6 percent in local currencies and down 7.8 percent in U.S. dollars from a year ago





On a performance basis, Q4 2015 operating margin of 13.1 percent, up from 13.0 percent a year ago; Q4 2015 diluted EPS of $1.43, up from $1.38 a year ago





On a U.S. GAAP basis, Q4 2015 operating margin of 11.2 percent, up from 10.1 percent a year ago; Q4 2015 diluted EPS of $1.71, up from $1.10 a year ago





On a full year performance basis, 2015 operating margin of 13.5 percent, up from 13.0 percent a year ago; 2015 diluted EPS of $5.62, up from $5.52 a year ago





On a full year U.S. GAAP basis, 2015 operating margin of 10.3 percent versus 11.6 percent a year ago; 2015 diluted EPS of $4.72 versus $4.81 a year ago, due to charges taken in Q3 2015 mostly associated with WABCO's previously disclosed proposals to cease manufacturing at two sites in Western Europe





Full year 2015, WABCO generated $395.3 million in net cash from operating activities and $321.4 million of performance free cash flow, resulting in a conversion rate of 98 percent of performance net income attributable to the company





Provides guidance for full year 2016, including WABCO's recently announced acquisition of MICO Incorporated. WABCO's full year 2016 sales growth to range from 6 to 11 percent in local currencies, full year 2016 diluted EPS on a performance basis to range from $5.30 to $5.80 and full year 2016 diluted EPS on a U.S. GAAP basis to range from $3.43 to $3.93





WABCO Holdings Inc. (WBC) (www.wabco-auto.com), a leading global supplier of technologies and services that improve the safety, efficiency and connectivity of commercial vehicles, today reported Q4 and full year 2015 results.

Q4 2015

WABCO reported Q4 2015 sales of $670.6 million, up 10.5 percent in local currencies from a year ago and down 1.3 percent in U.S. dollars, reflecting strengthening of the U.S. dollar year on year.

In Q4 2015, WABCO reported performance operating income of $87.8 million versus $88.6 million a year ago; performance operating margin of 13.1 percent, up from 13.0 percent a year ago; and performance net income attributable to the company of $82.1 million or $1.43 per diluted share, up from $81.6 million or $1.38 per diluted share a year ago.

In Q4 2015, WABCO reported U.S. GAAP operating income of $74.9 million, up from $68.7 million a year ago; U.S. GAAP operating margin of 11.2 percent, up from 10.1 percent a year ago; and U.S. GAAP net income attributable to the company of $98.7 million or $1.71 per diluted share, up from $65.1 million or $1.10 per diluted share a year ago.

"In Q4 2015, we demonstrated, yet again, WABCO's outstanding ability to generate sales growth that strongly outperforms the global commercial vehicle market relative to truck and bus production as we increased sales by 10.5 percent in local currencies, despite a decrease of 1 percent in new truck and bus builds globally," said Jacques Esculier, WABCO Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

Full Year 2015

For full year 2015, WABCO reported sales of $2,627.5 million, up 6.6 percent in local currencies from a year ago and down 7.8 percent in U.S. dollars, reflecting strengthening of the U.S. dollar year on year.

For full year 2015, WABCO reported performance operating income of $354.4 million versus $371.4 million a year ago; performance operating margin of 13.5 percent, up from 13.0 percent a year ago; and performance net income attributable to the company of $327.4 million or $5.62 per diluted share versus $334.0 million or $5.52 per diluted share a year ago.

For full year 2015, WABCO reported U.S. GAAP operating income of $270.9 million versus $331.0 million a year ago; U.S. GAAP operating margin of 10.3 percent versus 11.6 percent a year ago; and U.S. GAAP net income attributable to the company of $275.2 million or $4.72 per diluted share versus $291.5 million or $4.81 per diluted share a year ago, due to charges taken in Q3 2015 mostly associated with WABCO's previously disclosed proposals to cease manufacturing at two sites in Western Europe.

"For full year 2015, WABCO grew revenues by 6.6 percent in local currencies as we solidly outperformed our market globally," said Esculier. "Once again, WABCO demonstrated the underlying strength of our outperformance strategies against an overall market decline of 7 percent in new truck and bus builds worldwide," said Esculier.

"In 2015, we continued to increase levels of WABCO content per vehicle through overall market share gain and further adoption of safety and efficiency technologies," said Esculier. "Some of WABCO's growth was achieved, among other drivers, by government regulations of commercial vehicles that came into effect during the year."

In 2015, WABCO's Operating System, the company's globally standardized management environment, delivered $72.5 million of materials and conversion productivity, another robust achievement, which also continued to help contain price erosion. It generated gross materials productivity of 5.5 percent, another continued strong result. It also achieved conversion productivity of 6.5 percent in our factories spanning 4 continents, setting a new annual record.

In 2015, WABCO generated $395.3 million in net cash from operating activities and $321.4 million of performance free cash flow, resulting in a conversion rate of 98 percent of performance net income attributable to the company.

"For full year 2015, we further differentiated WABCO's results through stellar focus on cash generation by converting 98 percent of performance net income into free cash flow, despite a volatile market environment in which truck and bus production slumped globally and, in particular, new truck and bus builds collapsed in South America and China by 44 and 22 percent respectively," said Esculier. In addition, WABCO successfully achieved its previously disclosed objective of $20 million savings in operating expenses through 2015. As stated, WABCO streamlined support operations, extended shared services and further leveraged global capabilities, among other measures to reduce costs and increase operating efficiency.

As previously reported, WABCO implemented further measures to increase cost savings in operating expenses by an additional annualized $5 million, starting in Q4 2015, beyond the company's initial objective of $20 million through 2015.

"Relentless and rigorous cost management is yet another differentiator in WABCO's commitment to shareholders," said Esculier. "As we improve internal efficiency programs and continue to leverage our global capability to source more materials and components from best cost countries, we also continually enhance WABCO's product competitiveness in terms of cost differentiation."

WABCO Share Buybacks

Since June 2011, WABCO has repurchased 15,783,712 shares for $1,249.2 million in open market transactions as of December 31, 2015. WABCO is further authorized to repurchase up to $250.8 million of additional shares through December 31, 2016.

"In 2015, we continued to further differentiate WABCO through solid market outperformance, a 98-percent-rate of free cash flow conversion, and an allocation of capital that remains shareowner friendly," said Esculier.

"In addition, WABCO delivered 2015 earnings of $5.62 per share on a performance basis, marking a new annual record and demonstrating how WABCO sustains a world of difference to deliver outstanding value for shareowners," said Esculier.

Recent Highlights

On February 2, 2016, WABCO announced that it has acquired MICO Incorporated, a global market leader in hydraulic components, controls and brake systems for heavy-duty, off-highway vehicles in agriculture, construction, mining and similar industries. MICO generated revenues of approximately $52 million in 2015 and is headquartered in North Mankato, Minnesota, U.S.A. A long-time industry leader in pneumatic braking systems, WABCO is expanding its product offerings through the acquisition to become the first and only supplier with a portfolio of complete pneumatic and hydraulic braking and control systems for off-highway vehicles worldwide. WABCO's global presence provides increased access to growth markets and customers worldwide for MICO products. In return, WABCO gains improved access to the off-highway market in North America while expanding its operational footprint there. Both companies can also build on demonstrated world-class engineering and manufacturing capabilities. MICO was previously privately owned and operated.

Recently, WABCO has launched a budget spare parts range under the brand name ProVia. It helps workshops and fleet operators serving the commercial vehicle industry to bridge the gap between low-end budget parts - which can often fall short of quality and reliability expectations - and the higher investment required for premium-level aftermarket parts for trucks, buses, and trailers. ProVia parts represent an attractive option for operators to maximize their return on investment by helping to extend the revenue-generating life and safety performance of older commercial vehicles. ProVia parts are specifically engineered to meet reliable performance standards without compromising quality or safety. ProVia, which currently offers more than 40 products, is backed by WABCO's global engineering, manufacturing, distribution and service network for aftermarket parts.

In Q4 2015, WABCO disclosed that it has entered into a new long-term supply agreement with Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor Company (DFLQ), an existing customer and one of the largest truck manufacturers in China. WABCO's new business involves advanced vehicle safety and efficiency technologies. WABCO began series delivery in 2015 to supply DFLQ's current medium- and heavy-duty truck platforms. DFLQ produces trucks for the Chinese market and for the export market, including South East Asia, Africa, Middle East and South America.

In addition, DFLQ granted WABCO awards for superlative contributions during 2015 in three categories, including best quality, supplier excellence and strategic supplier. DFLQ honored WABCO among a distinguished group of around 1,000 suppliers.

In Q4 2015, WABCO announced that it has received the prestigious "The Supplier of the Year" award from Tata Motors, India's largest automotive manufacturer and top-10 truck and bus builder globally. Tata Motors granted WABCO its superlative award, which recognizes its most valued partner among a distinguished group of 1,700 suppliers. In particular, Tata Motors honored WABCO's extraordinary contributions through innovative and differentiating technologies; world-class quality, and outstanding value that help to improve the safety and efficiency of Tata trucks and buses.

WABCO announced recently that it has been voted into the "Top 3" ranking in its sector for "Best CEO" in the 2016 All-America Executive Team survey conducted by Institutional Investor magazine. It marks the fourth year in a row that WABCO has achieved this distinguished recognition. Institutional Investor recently published its rankings for WABCO in the automotive and auto parts sector.

Full Year 2016 Guidance

The company's 2016 guidance is based on its current estimate of future market conditions, expected adverse foreign exchange effects year on year, and inclusion of MICO Incorporated, WABCO's acquisition disclosed on February 2, 2016.

WABCO provides 2016 guidance as follows:

WABCO expects full year 2016 sales growth to range from 6 to 11 percent in local currencies.

On a performance basis, as a result of the European Commission's decision in January 2016 against the Belgian tax authority, WABCO's 2016 guidance includes the company's current estimate of a performance tax rate of 20 percent, which reflects certain mitigating actions that WABCO is considering.

On a performance basis, WABCO expects 2016 operating margin to range from 13.8 to 14.3 percent, resulting in diluted EPS to range from $5.30 to $5.80.

On a U.S. GAAP basis, WABCO's 2016 guidance includes the company's current estimate of a tax rate of 20 percent. However, WABCO could have to record a one-time, non-cash tax expense up to $85 million related to the European Commission's January 2016 decision against the Belgian tax authority, which could increase WABCO's U.S. GAAP tax rate by as much as an additional 28 percentage points.

On a U.S. GAAP basis, WABCO expects 2016 operating margin to range from 12.7 to 13.2 percent, and diluted EPS to range from $3.43 to $3.93.

WABCO expects in 2016 to convert between 80 and 90 percent of its performance net income attributable to the company into performance free cash flow.

"Our 2016 guidance reflects WABCO's continuous strong market outperformance, sustained productivity gains and the benefits of our new strategic acquisition as we pursue our three-pillar strategy of technology leadership, globalization and excellence in execution," said Esculier.

"In addition, we remain committed to transforming top-line growth into healthy bottom-line results, while further managing WABCO's pristine balance sheet," said Esculier

"However, the situation surrounding taxation in Belgium is presently a matter of high uncertainty. Supported by appropriate expertise, we are considering mitigating actions, including an appeal, which could lead all the way to the annulment of the European Commission's decision," said Esculier. "Moving forward, we also reiterate our confidence in our ability to continue to deliver outstanding value for WABCO's shareowners."

Conference Call

Jacques Esculier, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah, Chief Financial Officer, will discuss WABCO's results and outlook on a conference call at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time today. It will be webcast at www.wabco-auto.com where the press release and financial information will be available under "WABCO Q4 and Full Year 2015 Results."

The call is also accessible by telephone in listen only mode. Dial-in number is +1 408 940 3818 and U.S. toll-free dial-in number is 877 844 0834.

A replay of the call will be available from 12:00 Noon Eastern Time on February 11 until 12:00 Noon Eastern Time on February 18, 2016. Replay dial-in number is +1 404 537 3406 and U.S. toll-free dial-in number is 855 859 2056. Conference ID is 20877783.

About WABCO

WABCO (WBC) is a leading global supplier of technologies and services that improve the safety, efficiency and connectivity of commercial vehicles. Founded nearly 150 years ago, WABCO continues to pioneer breakthrough innovations for advanced driver assistance, braking, stability control, suspension, transmission automation and aerodynamics. Partnering with the transportation industry as it maps a route toward autonomous driving, WABCO also uniquely connects trucks, trailers, drivers, cargo, and fleet operators through telematics, as well as advanced fleet management and mobile solutions. WABCO is regularly recognized among "the best of the best" companies. Forbes named WABCO "America's Best-Managed Capital Goods Company". For four consecutive years, Institutional Investor named WABCO among the "Top 3" in its sector for "Best CEO". WABCO reported sales of $2.6 billion in 2015. Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, WABCO has 12,000 employees in 39 countries. For more information, visit www.wabco-auto.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This document contains certain "forward-looking statements" as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that are based on management's good faith expectations and beliefs concerning future developments. Statements preceded by, followed by or that otherwise include the words "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "strategies," "prospects," "intends," "projects," "estimates," "plans," "may increase," "may fluctuate," and similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as "will," "should," "would," "may" and "could" are generally forward looking in nature and not historical facts. Actual results may differ materially from these expectations as a result of many factors. These factors include, but are not limited to, the actual level of commercial vehicle production in our end markets, adverse developments in the business of our key customers, pricing changes to our supplies or products, our ability to successfully integrate any acquired businesses or our acquired businesses not performing as planned, the outcome of any appeal by Belgium and/or the company of the European Commission's decision to invalidate the Excess Profit Ruling Program, and, if the decision is not overturned, the methodology the Belgian tax authority employs to calculate the amount of the clawback, the company's ability to claim alternative tax relief for prior and current periods, or the success of any other avenues the Company pursues to mitigate the impact of the European Commission's decision, and the other risks and uncertainties described in the "Risk Factors" section and the "Information Concerning Forward Looking Statements" section of WABCO's Form 10-K, as well as in the "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Information Concerning Forward Looking Statements" section of WABCO's Form 10-Q Quarterly Reports. WABCO does not undertake any obligation to update such forward-looking statements. All market and industry data are based on company estimates.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

To facilitate the understanding of Q4 and Full Year 2015 results, several tables follow this news release. Sales excluding the effects of foreign exchange and EBIT are non-GAAP financial measures. Additionally, operating income, operating margin, EBIT, net income attributable to the company and net income attributable to the company per diluted share on a "performance basis" are non-GAAP financial measures that exclude items for separation, streamlining and acquisition, discrete and one-time tax items, and other items that may mask the underlying operating results of the company, as applicable. Performance free cash flow presents our net cash provided by operating activities less net cash used for purchases of property, plant, equipment, and computer software; and excludes streamlining, separation, indirect tax-related and acquisition payments. These measures should be considered in addition to, not as a substitute for, GAAP measures. These measures may not be comparable to similar measures of other companies as not all companies calculate these measures in the same manner. Management believes that presenting these non-GAAP measures is useful to shareholders because it enhances their understanding of how management assesses the operating performance of the company's business. Certain non-GAAP measures may be used, in part, to determine incentive compensation for current employees.

Attachment

Consolidated Statements of Operations

Consolidated Balance Sheets

Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows

Three Months Ended December 31, 2015 Data Supplement Sheet

Twelve Months Ended December 31, 2015 Data Supplement Sheet

Reconciliation of Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities to Free Cash Flow

Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Financial Measures for Full Year 2016 Guidance

WABCO HOLDINGS INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (Unaudited) Three Months Ended Twelve Months Ended December 31, December 31, (Amounts in millions, except share and per share data) 2015 2014 2015 2014 Sales $ 670.6 $ 679.1 $ 2,627.5 $ 2,851.0 Cost of sales 470.8 474.9 1,842.0 1,979.3 Gross profit 199.8 204.2 785.5 871.7 Costs and expenses: Selling and administrative expenses 90.8 102.1 368.4 386.8 Product engineering expenses 31.3 31.9 139.5 145.0 Other operating expense, net 2.8 1.5 6.7 8.9 Operating income 74.9 68.7 270.9 331.0 Equity income of unconsolidated joint ventures, net 8.1 6.0 32.1 23.8 Other non-operating income, net 0.9 4.5 1.6 1.8 Interest (expense)/income, net (2.6) 0.1 (7.1) 0.2 Income before income taxes 81.3 79.3 297.5 356.8 Income tax (benefit)/expense (20.3) 12.4 11.5 55.6 Net income including noncontrolling interests 101.6 66.9 286.0 301.2 Less: Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests 2.9 1.8 10.8 9.7 Net income attributable to Company $ 98.7 $ 65.1 $ 275.2 $ 291.5 Net income per common share: Basic $ 1.73 $ 1.11 $ 4.76 $ 4.87 Diluted $ 1.71 $ 1.10 $ 4.72 $ 4.81 Cash dividend per share of common stock $ - $ - $ - $ - Weighted average common shares outstanding: Basic 57,158,698 58,617,583 57,768,018 59,907,763 Diluted 57,562,341 59,207,375 58,274,987 60,546,454

WABCO HOLDINGS INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES Three months ended December 31, 2015 Data Supplement Sheet (Unaudited) Three Months Ended December 31, (Amounts in millions, except per share data) 2015 % of Sales/Adj Sales 2014 % of Sales/Adj Sales

Chg vs. 2014 % Chg vs. 2014 Sales Reported $ 670.6 $ 679.1 $ (8.5) -1.3% Foreign exchange translational effects 80.0 - 80.0 Adjusted Sales $ 750.6 $ 679.1 $ 71.5 10.5% Gross Profit Reported $ 199.8 29.8% $ 204.2 30.1% $ (4.4) -2.2% Streamlining costs 7.7 5.1 2.6 Separation costs 0.2 0.4 (0.2) Performance Gross Profit $ 207.7 31.0% $ 209.7 30.9% $ (2.0) -1.0% Foreign exchange translational effects 25.8 - 25.8 Adjusted Gross Profit $ 233.5 31.1% $ 209.7 30.9% $ 23.8 11.3% Selling, Administrative, Product Engineering Expenses and Other Reported $ 124.9 18.6% $ 135.5 20.0% $ (10.6) -7.8% Streamlining costs (3.8) (11.0) 7.2 Separation costs (0.6) (0.8) 0.2 Indirect tax related income 1.7 - 1.7 Acquisition related costs (2.3) (2.6) 0.3 Performance Selling, Administrative, Product Engineering Expenses and Other $ 119.9 17.9% $ 121.1 17.8% $ (1.2) -1.0% Foreign exchange translational effects 15.1 - 15.1 Adjusted Selling, Administrative, Product Engineering Expenses and Other $ 135.0 18.0% $ 121.1 17.8% $ 13.9 11.5% Operating Income Reported $ 74.9 11.2% $ 68.7 10.1% $ 6.2 9.0% Streamlining costs 11.5 16.1 (4.6) Separation costs 0.8 1.2 (0.4) Indirect tax related income (1.7) - (1.7) Acquisition related costs 2.3 2.6 (0.3) Performance Operating Income $ 87.8 13.1% $ 88.6 13.0% $ (0.8) -0.9% Foreign exchange translational effects 10.7 - 10.7 Adjusted Operating Income $ 98.5 13.1% $ 88.6 13.0% $ 9.9 11.2% EBIT (Earnings Before Interest and Taxes) Reported Net Income Attributable to Company $ 98.7 $ 65.1 $ 33.6 51.6% Income tax (benefit)/expense (20.3) 12.4 (32.7) Interest (expense)/income, net (2.6) 0.1 (2.7) EBIT $ 81.0 12.1% $ 77.4 11.4% $ 3.6 4.7% Streamlining costs 11.5 16.1 (4.6) Separation costs/(income) 0.5 (3.0) 3.5 Indirect tax related income (1.7) - (1.7) Acquisition related costs 2.3 2.7 (0.4) Performance EBIT (Earnings Before Interest and Taxes) $ 93.6 14.0% $ 93.2 13.7% $ 0.4 0.4% Pre-Tax Income EBIT $ 81.0 $ 77.4 $ 3.6 Interest (expense)/income, net (2.6) 0.1 (2.7) Pre-Tax Income $ 78.4 $ 77.5 $ 0.9 Streamlining costs 11.5 16.1 (4.6) Separation costs/(income) 0.5 (3.0) 3.5 Indirect tax related income (1.7) - (1.7) Acquisition related costs 2.3 2.7 (0.4) Performance Pre-Tax Income $ 91.0 $ 93.3 $ (2.3) Tax rate on a performance basis 9.8% 12.5% Net Income Attributable to Company Reported Net Income Attributable to Company $ 98.7 $ 65.1 $ 33.6 Streamlining cost, net of tax 9.3 12.1 (2.8) Separation costs/(income), net of tax 0.2 (3.4) 3.6 Indirect tax related income, net of tax (1.2) - (1.2) Acquisition related costs, net of tax 1.5 1.8 (0.3) Tax items (26.4) 6.0 (32.4) Performance Net Income Attributable to Company $ 82.1 $ 81.6 $ 0.5 Performance Net Income Attributable to Company per Diluted Common Share $ 1.43 $ 1.38 Common Shares Outstanding - Diluted 57.6 59.2

Incremental Gross Profit and Operating Income Margin Gross Profit Operating Income Increase in adjusted sales from '14 71.5 71.5 Increase in adjusted income from '14 23.8 9.9 Incremental Income as a % of Sales 33.3% 13.8% Less: YoY Transactional Foreign Exchange (FX) Impact (3.6) Increase in adjusted income from '14 excluding transactional FX impact 6.3 Incremental income excluding transactional FX as a % of Sales 8.8%

Note: The presentation of the performance measures above are not in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). These measures may not be comparable to similar measures of other companies as not all companies calculate these measures in the same manner.

WABCO HOLDINGS INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES Twelve months ended December 31, 2015 Data Supplement Sheet (Unaudited) Twelve Months Ended December 31, (Amounts in millions, except per share data) 2015 % of Sales/Adj Sales 2014 % of Sales/Adj Sales Chg vs. 2014 % Chg vs. 2014 Sales Reported $ 2,627.5 $ 2,851.0 $ (223.5) -7.8% Foreign exchange translational effects 412.4 - 412.4 Adjusted Sales $ 3,039.9 $ 2,851.0 $ 188.9 6.6% Gross Profit Reported $ 785.5 29.9% $ 871.7 30.6% $ (86.2) -9.9% Streamlining costs 44.9 10.7 34.2 Separation costs 0.9 0.8 0.1 Performance Gross Profit $ 831.3 31.6% $ 883.2 31.0% $ (51.9) -5.9% Foreign exchange translational effects 135.7 - 135.7 Adjusted Gross Profit $ 967.0 31.8% $ 883.2 31.0% $ 83.8 9.5% Selling, Administrative, Product Engineering Expenses and Other Reported $ 514.6 19.6% $ 540.7 19.0% $ (26.1) -4.8% Streamlining costs (23.8) (16.2) (7.6) Separation costs (3.6) (3.8) 0.2 Indirect tax related costs (1.1) - (1.1) Acquisition related costs (9.2) (8.9) (0.3) Performance Selling, Administrative, Product Engineering Expenses and Other $ 476.9 18.2% $ 511.8 18.0% $ (34.9) -6.8% Foreign exchange translational effects 79.0 - 79.0 Adjusted Selling, Administrative, Product Engineering Expenses and Other $ 555.9 18.3% $ 511.8 18.0% $ 44.1 8.6% Operating Income Reported $ 270.9 10.3% $ 331.0 11.6% $ (60.1) -18.2% Streamlining costs 68.7 26.9 41.8 Separation costs 4.5 4.6 (0.1) Indirect tax related costs 1.1 - 1.1 Acquisition related costs 9.2 8.9 0.3 Performance Operating Income $ 354.4 13.5% $ 371.4 13.0% $ (17.0) -4.6% Foreign exchange translational effects 56.7 - 56.7 Adjusted Operating Income $ 411.1 13.5% $ 371.4 13.0% $ 39.7 10.7% EBIT (Earnings Before Interest and Taxes) Reported Net Income Attributable to Company $ 275.2 $ 291.5 $ (16.3) -5.6% Income tax expense 11.5 55.6 (44.1) Interest (expense)/income, net (7.1) 0.2 (7.3) EBIT $ 293.8 11.2% $ 346.9 12.2% $ (53.1) -15.3% Streamlining costs 68.7 26.9 41.8 Separation costs 3.5 0.2 3.3 Indirect tax related costs 1.1 - 1.1 Acquisition related costs 9.2 10.7 (1.5) Performance EBIT (Earnings Before Interest and Taxes) $ 376.3 14.3% $ 384.7 13.5% $ (8.4) -2.2% Pre-Tax Income EBIT $ 293.8 $ 346.9 $ (53.1) Interest (expense)/income, net (7.1) 0.2 (7.3) Pre-Tax Income $ 286.7 $ 347.1 $ (60.4) Streamlining costs 68.7 26.9 41.8 Separation costs 3.5 0.2 3.3 Indirect tax related costs 1.1 - 1.1 Acquisition related costs 9.2 10.7 (1.5) Performance Pre-Tax Income $ 369.2 $ 384.9 $ (15.7) Tax rate on a performance basis 11.3% 13.2% Net Income Attributable to Company Reported Net Income Attributable to Company $ 275.2 $ 291.5 $ (16.3) Streamlining cost, net of tax 53.9 19.2 34.7 Separation costs/(income), net of tax 2.0 (1.0) 3.0 Indirect tax related costs, net of tax 0.7 - 0.7 Acquisition related costs, net of tax 6.1 7.3 (1.2) Tax items (10.5) 17.0 (27.5) Performance Net Income Attributable to Company $ 327.4 $ 334.0 $ (6.6) Performance Net Income Attributable to Company per Diluted Common Share $ 5.62 $ 5.52 Common Shares Outstanding - Diluted 58.3 60.5

Incremental Gross Profit and Operating Income Margin Gross Profit Operating Income Increase in adjusted sales from '14 188.9 188.9 Increase in adjusted income from '14 83.8 39.7 Incremental Income as a % of Sales 44.4% 21.0% Less: YoY Transactional Foreign Exchange (FX) Impact (18.5) Increase in adjusted income from '14 excluding transactional FX impact 21.2 Incremental income excluding transactional FX as a % of Sales 11.2%

Note: The presentation of the performance measures above are not in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). These measures may not be comparable to similar measures of other companies as not all companies calculate these measures in the same manner.

WABCO HOLDINGS INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS December 31, December 31, (Amounts in millions) 2015 2014 ASSETS Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 515.2 $ 411.7 Short-term investments 43.8 - Accounts receivable, less allowance for doubtful accounts: $5.9 in 2015; $5.5 in 2014 444.0 445.6 Inventories: Finished products 95.7 87.3 Products in process 7.8 7.5 Raw materials 109.2 94.8 Taxes receivable on income 13.2 4.1 Guaranteed notes receivable 53.9 52.8 Other current assets 103.6 57.9 Total Current Assets 1,386.4 1,161.7 Property, plant and equipment, less accumulated depreciation 398.0 424.9 Goodwill 377.7 421.0 Long-term future income tax benefits 280.8 289.5 Investments in unconsolidated joint ventures 24.7 19.6 Intangible assets, net 62.8 78.4 Other Assets 59.5 37.6 Total Assets $ 2,589.9 $ 2,432.7 LIABILITIES AND EQUITY Current liabilities: Loans payable to banks $ 5.0 $ 8.1 Accounts payable 159.7 121.2 Accrued payroll 105.2 103.9 Current portion of warranties 23.1 25.8 Accrued expenses 61.9 58.5 Other accrued liabilities 109.9 100.2 Total Current Liabilities 464.8 417.7 Long-term debt 498.7 307.1 Post-retirement benefits 552.7 595.0 Deferred tax liabilities 137.1 129.2 Long-term income tax liabilities 16.3 48.5 Other liabilities 84.0 46.2 Total Liabilities 1,753.6 1,543.7 Shareholders' equity: Preferred stock, 4,000,000 shares authorized; none issued and outstanding - - Common stock, $.01 par value, 400,000,000 shares authorized; shares issued: 78,500,031 in 2015; 77,961,040 in 2014; and shares outstanding: 56,759,566 in 2015; 58,425,873 in 2014 0.8 0.8 Capital surplus 852.6 828.3 Treasury stock, at cost: 21,740,465 shares in 2015; 19,535,167 shares in 2014 (1,497.3) (1,248.1) Retained earnings 1,938.5 1,663.3 Accumulated other comprehensive income (507.9) (402.7) Total shareholders' equity 786.7 841.6 Noncontrolling interests 49.6 47.4 Total Equity 836.3 889.0 Total Liabilities and Equity $ 2,589.9 $ 2,432.7

WABCO HOLDINGS INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (Unaudited) Three Months Ended Twelve Months Ended December 31, December 31, (Amounts in millions) 2015 2014 2015 2014 Operating Activities Net income including noncontrolling interest 101.6 66.9 286.0 301.2 Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities: Depreciation 19.8 20.3 77.5 81.7 Amortization of intangibles 4.9 5.5 19.2 19.9 Equity in earnings of unconsolidated joint ventures, net of dividends received 0.6 (0.5) (4.7) (0.2) Non-cash stock compensation 1.3 4.0 12.0 15.5 Non-cash interest expense and debt issuance cost amortization 3.9 - 7.8 - Deferred income tax (benefit) / expense (11.0) 6.7 (11.7) 4.5 Post-retirement benefit expense 11.5 8.4 43.1 32.6 Impairment on property, plant and equipment 7.7 0.8 7.7 0.8 Loss on sale of facilities 0.1 1.2 0.4 1.4 Changes in assets and liabilities: Accounts receivable, net 11.2 18.3 (41.8) (123.9) Inventories 2.3 16.2 (42.7) (2.5) Accounts payable 2.0 (43.9) 52.1 (18.3) Other accrued liabilities and taxes (14.4) 4.2 18.1 15.2 Other current and long-term assets 2.9 18.2 (18.4) 27.5 Other long-term liabilities (21.3) (10.5) 13.5 (8.0) Post-retirement benefit payments (6.2) (12.3) (22.8) (33.0) Net cash provided by operating activities: $ 116.9 $ 103.5 $ 395.3 $ 314.4 Investing Activities Purchases of property, plant and equipment (29.8) (43.8) (89.7) (123.8) Investments in capitalized software (3.2) (2.8) (10.9) (12.1) (Purchases) / sales of short-term and other investments, net (37.6) - (81.6) 50.7 Cost of preferred stock investment - - (20.0) - Acquisition of businesses, net - - - (125.9) Net cash used by investing activities: $ (70.6) $ (46.6) $ (202.2) $ (211.1) Financing Activities Borrowings of long-term debt and revolving credit facilities - 30.0 577.0 259.0 Repayments of long-term debt and revolving credit facilities - - (385.0) - Net borrowings / (repayments) of short-term debt 2.1 3.7 (2.7) (32.6) Purchases of treasury stock (62.5) (52.0) (249.2) (351.5) Dividends to noncontrolling interest holders (1.7) (1.3) (6.4) (5.6) Purchase of subsidiary shares from noncontrolling interest - - - (5.7) Proceeds from exercise of stock options 0.5 2.9 17.3 15.0 Net cash used by financing activities: $ (61.6) $ (16.7) $ (49.0) $ (121.4) Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents (13.6) (16.6) (40.6) (43.0) Net (decrease) / increase in cash and cash equivalents (28.9) 23.6 103.5 (61.1) Cash and Equivalents at Beginning of Period 544.1 388.1 411.7 472.8 Cash and Equivalents at End of Period $ 515.2 $ 411.7 $ 515.2 $ 411.7

WABCO HOLDINGS INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES Reconciliation of Net Cash Provided By Operating Activities to Free Cash Flow (Unaudited) Three Months Ended Twelve Months Ended December 31, December 31, (Amounts in millions) 2015 2014 2015 2014 Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities $ 116.9 $ 103.5 $ 395.3 $ 314.4 Deductions or Additions to Reconcile to Free Cash Flow: Net purchases of property, plant, equipment and computer software (33.0) (46.6) (100.6) (135.9) Free Cash Flow $ 83.9 $ 56.9 $ 294.7 $ 178.5 Less: Streamlining & separation payments (8.3) (7.9) (25.7) (22.4) Less: A/R securitization related payments - - - (73.5) Less: Indirect tax related payments - - (0.3) - Less: Acquisition related payments (0.2) - (0.7) (1.4) Performance Free Cash Flow $ 92.4 $ 64.8 $ 321.4 $ 275.8

Note: This statement reconciles net cash provided by operating activities to free cash flow. Management uses free cash flow, which is not defined by US GAAP, to measure the Company's operating performance. Free cash flow is also one of the several measures used to determine incentive compensation for certain employees.

WABCO HOLDINGS INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Financial Measures for Full Year 2016 Guidance (Unaudited) (Amounts in millions, except per share data) Full Year 2016 Guidance Sales Reported Sales $2,700.0-$2,830.0 (1 Euro = 1.09 USD) Operating Income Reported Operating Income Margin 12.7% - 13.2% Streamlining cost, impact to margin 0.5% Separation costs, impact to margin 0.2% Acquisition related items, impact to margin 0.4% Performance Operating Income Margin 13.8% - 14.3% Net Income Attributable to Company Reported Net Income Attributable to Company $192.2 - $220.2 Streamlining cost, net of tax 9.9 Separation costs, net of tax 3.3 Acquisition related items, net of tax 6.5 Tax items 85.0 Performance Net Income Attributable to Company $296.8-$324.8 Reported Net Income Attributable to Company per Diluted Common Share $3.43 - $3.93 Performance Net Income Attributable to Company per Diluted Common Share $5.30 - $5.80 Diluted common shares outstanding ~ 56

Note: The presentation of performance net income and performance net income per diluted common share is not in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). These measures may not be comparable to similar measures of other companies as not all companies calculate these measures in the same manner.
Wall Street slammed after a steep global selloff, but was a slight uptick from the lows a positive sign for markets? The Final Round begins at 4pm EST and Yahoo Finance's Nicole Sinclair and trader Steven Guilfoyle break down all the market action.

Winners & Losers

Stocks dipping deep into the red in today's market rout were Mylan on its Meda acquisition, Twitter on disappointing user growth, and Boeing. Bloomberg reports the SEC is investigating Boeing accounting practices for two of its planes.



Stocks that bucked the rough tape include both Expedia and Tripadvisor reporting strong growth in the travel industry, and Tesla Motors. It's full speed ahead for Elon Musk and Tesla, with shares rocketing despite weak earnings, as the company projects it will deliver 80,000 to 90,000 cars this year, up from 50,000 last year.

Technicals: More pain to come?

How much more pain is in store for the markets? Yahoo Finance's Justine Underhill and BTIG chief technical strategist Katie Stockton take a closer look at the charts.

Curing cancer with immunotherapy

Vice President Joe Biden has called for a 'moonshot' to cure cancer, a mission President Obama seconded in last month's State of the Union address. And one promising area in the mission to get it done, a biotech technology known as immunotherapy. Dr. Andre Choulika, CEO and Chairman of Paris-based Cellectis, joins the Final Round to discuss the potential of immunotherapy.

Looking ahead

At 8 AM eastern we'll get government retail sales data for January. Economists are looking for a 0.3% jump in core retail sales, which backs out autos and gas.



The Fed-speak rolls on, with Dallas Fed President Rob Kaplan speaking at 9:45 AM Eastern, followed by the New York Fed's William Dudley at 10 AM.



Finally at 10 AM another read on the consumer with the University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey. The street's looking for a reading of 92.5 for February, which would be a slight uptick from January.
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Feb 11, 2016) - Xylitol Canada Inc. ("Xylitol Canada", or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:XYL) announced today that Andrew Reid, founder and former chief executive officer of the Company, has been retained by the Company as President of Plant Development with respect to the Company's xylose plant building initiatives.

Mr. Reid said, "I've stepped down from the position as CEO and director of the Company in order to focus my time and efforts on our goal of building the first-of-its-kind xylose facility from sustainable biomass in Canada."

Mr. Reid went on to state that, given the changing needs of the Company's maturing product division, which has grown from less than CDN $0.5 million in fiscal 2010 to well over CDN $8 million in fiscal 2014, "I recognize the importance of bringing in a CEO who is well versed in the natural sweetener and product markets and business in order to continue to maximize the Company's product division over the coming years". Year over year consumption of natural sweeteners is growing at approximately 22% per annum, and management of the Company sees the increasing ability of the consumer to educate themselves on healthy choices and products, as well as the ongoing trends towards healthy living, will continue to grow the natural sweetener market for the foreseeable future. Xylitol has been called a "super food" and is a frequently chosen product in the natural sweetener market.

Mr. Reid closed by noting that "start- up businesses are extremely hard to build at any time, but doing so while running two separate divisions requires a lot of effort from many individuals of the highest quality. I'm pleased to be able to focus now on what I'm passionate about and I look forward to dedicating myself to the Company's xylose plant building efforts."

About Xylitol Canada Inc.

Xylitol Canada markets xylitol and xylitol based-products and is focused on becoming a major low-cost manufacturer of xylitol and related products, serving the global market from operations in North America. Xylitol Canada's business strategy is to leverage novel proprietary technology and processes to become North America's premier manufacturer of low cost, high quality xylitol from readily available environmentally-sustainable biomass. Xylitol is a natural sweetener which is marketed globally including Canada and the United States and is accepted by the American Food and Drug Administration, the World Health Organization and the American Dental Association. Xylitol contains 75% less carbohydrates and 40% less calories than sugar, has a myriad of oral health benefits including the prevention of tooth decay and is safe for diabetics. To date, wider spread use of xylitol has been limited by the lack of a reliable, low cost, high quality supplier.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange Inc. 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.
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Taipei, Feb. 11 (CNA) Monkeys will be the animal people most want to see if they visit the Taipei Zoo during the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, because this year is associated with the monkey, the ninth of the 12 animals in the recurring 12-year Chinese zodiac cycle.
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Taipei, Feb. 11 (CNA) There have been no signs of "Ah Dan," the endangered red-crowned crane that flew to New Taipei, Taiwan late last year, after it was scared off by the sound of firecrackers on Lunar New Year's Day, Feb. 8, local guardians for the crane said Thursday.
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Can Justin Trudeau be Removed?

The Question is Difficult

Our Constitution

Background

Impeachment

How about the Governor General?

How About the Queen?

Public Will

Conscience?

Time?

When Justin Trudeaus father, Pierre Elliot Trudeau repatriated the Constitution of Canada in 1982 he created many impasses to progress. In failed attempts to create a made in Canada Constitution, Pierre Trudeau held numerous discussions throughout 1981 with the provinces with a goal to find consensus It was apparently that the new Constitution had gaps and flaws.By 1982, Trudeau lost patience with much larger personalities than his own in the form of provincial leaders and took a poorly calculated risk in crafting a flawed constitution without full participating of the provinces. The British North America Act (BNA) of1867 was about to become the proverbial fly in the ointment. The BNA had intentionally defined Canada with most meaningful powers handed to the individual provinces and certain specific powers delineated to the central (or Federal) government.History would show that Pierre Trudeau was an admirer of the type of strong central power model only found in republics (and/or dictatorships). His (Trudeaus ) zeal for unimpeded power led to a legacy of discord between various provinces and his Ottawa parliament. Simply put; the provinces having been in control of various issues were not about to hand over power to Trudeau.There remained mistrust in Pierre Trudeau that lingered since 1970 when he invoked the War Measures Act to quell a situation in Quebec. In truth, the rise of insurrection in Quebec and the evolution of the Front de liberation du Quebec (FLQ) were directly the result of Trudeaus unwillingness and inability to negotiate a lingering number of language based issues that had fermented inside Quebec during Trudeaus reign as Prime Minister. His strong arm action by placing an entire country under martial law (the War Measures Act, October 1982) made many of us uneasy and even more distrustful of Trudeau  th4e man and Trudeau the Prime Minister, self proclaimed to be an advocate of Machiavelli and an advocate of dictatorial power. His infamous Just watch me comments while unleashing martial law were sinister.Little wonder that the various provincial premiers of the day vested sufficient trust in Pierre Trudeau to create a truly pan-Canadian Constitution for Canada. Thus, we were left with a flawed Constitution and a growing list of unresolved federal/provincial differences.Within five scant years, in 1987 after the voters had shown the door to Trudeau and a new government was running the show in Ottawa, an attempt by way of extensive federal/provincial negotiations to amended and modify Trudeaus 1982 Constitution was made. How badly was the 1982 Constitution flawed? Lets begin with the fact that it had NEVER been ratified by all the Canadian provinces. Even now, Quebec has never ratified the Act as a result of still lingering disputes about language rights.The Meech Lake fiasco (1987) failed and in the middle of those opposing Constitutional modifications was none other than (now) former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Although no longer a valid participant, he skulked around the perimeter of meetings where he fermented discontent to anyone who would listen. His presence reminded me of a vulture or a withered old relic attempting to hang onto fleeting fame.Interestingly, there is not one single mention of the words, Prime Minister in the Constitution of 1982. Nor is there any mention of exactly how a country could rid itself of an unfit Prime Minister.We do now elect Prime Ministers. A Prime Minister is the same as any other member of parliament with one single difference. A Prime Minister becomes prime minister once select by members of his/her political party to become party leader.AND, I chose the word selected advisedly since there was more than a little gimmickry and gerrymandering inside the Liberal Party leading up to the selection of Justin Trudeau as party leader in 2013. To begin with, the tampering of voting rules permitted Justin to actually use votes from non-party members to attain power. It should be noted that the Liberals were destitute and void of potential as the aftermath of their previous scandals lingered.Justin Trudeaus Liberals rose to power by way of an overwhelming Liberal sweep of parliamentary seats in the election on October 20, 2015. The Liberals had taken 184 of the 338 seats in parliament. An interesting fact lives with the numbers. 68.5% of eligible voters cast ballots. Of that group, 40% voted for a Liberal candidate in the various 338 ridings. By simple calculation, Justin Trudeau had achieved absolute power of a G9 country with only 27% support from the voters (that is 40% of 68.5%). He promised real change and during his first three months, he has exhibited two similarities to his Liberal predecessors. Like his father, Justin has displayed a callous contempt for parliament. He has sat in parliament for a scant 5 days and yet amassed over $3.0 billion in expenses- none debated in parliament nor approved in senate. Additionally, like his scandal plagued predecessors (Chretien and Martin) he has played loose with rules and displayed a penchant to indulge himself at tax payers expense (nannies, European junkets with his entourage and use of tax money to vacation in millionaire resorts in the Caribbean.It leads to an intriguing question: how would Canada be able to rid itself of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau?It is correct to say that any member of parliament can be impeached by parliament. Given the fact that Justin Trudeaus party holds 184 of 338 seats in parliament that option is extremely unlikely. The 154 opposition members lack the numbers to toss him out. For impeachment to occur, it would require that Cabinet would likely need to decide that he (Trudeau) was an embarrassment and mount a vote among themselves to oust him. That is unlikely since Trudeau has populated his Cabinet with lackeys and toadies who will tow the mark.The Governor General (GG) is the Queens vice-regal designate in Canada. The GG is appointed by the Queen on recommendation of the Prime Minister. Despite the fact that the present GG was appointed on recommendation of the former (Harper) government, the role to GG is largely ceremonial. In theory, the Vice Regal possesses power to act to ensure peace, order and good government, the ensuing media issues alone would be sufficient to dissuade David Johnsons term in office as Governor General had been extended until September 2017 as a result of instability (minority government) in 2010.While His Excellency, Governor General Johnson serves in a more or less ceremonial role, as lawyer he is knowledgeable enough as to not permit himself to be pushed by petitions into making history. For the GG to formally request Justin Trudeaus resignation would be historically significant. At no other time in Canadian history has a Prime Minister been forced from office.For many of the same reasons, the Monarch of Canada (HRH Queen Elizabeth II) would be loath to take such actions. It is correct to say that responsibility for peace order and good government rests with the Queen, there again would be historical precedent to consider.The present Prime Minister achieved office by way of support from only 27% (see above) of the wishes of Canadians who actually voted for him and his Liberal colleagues. Given the love-affair that corporate media (newspapers, broadcasters etc), there is little hope that the media would see any fault with Justin Trudeau and ferment discussion about his misdeeds. Alas, the media has long ago abandoned objectivity and to a large extent were cheerleaders to his rise to power.The term conscience may have an entirely different meaning in the prototypical Trudeau mind. There are more than enough glimpses of a certain grandiose sense of entitlement residing behind Justin Trudeaus eyes.By way of spin and fable, the myth of Pierre Trudeaus regime have become distorted by history. Those of us who are old enough to recall Trudeau senior (Pierre) saw him for what he was  an egotistical buffoon who believed himself to be wiser than the mere serfs he reigned over.Suspicion is that Justin Trudeau believes that he is of Canadian royal lineage and, as such is entitled to the fruits of war by way of his election. I personally hold no hope that Justin Trudeau will see fault in himself. The tale of Paul (Bible, Acts 26) and his journey to Damascus and the lighting strike that changed his point of view are not likely to happen with any Trudeau.So what is left?The most obvious answer to this question is time. Three years, 9 months and 10 days is a great deal more pleasant sounding than the raw number = 1,379 days. At that point in time, Canada will again vote. The ensuing period will certainly not be boring and we are all likely to see entirely new chapters written in Canadas book of scandals. It should be interesting.source: https://thunderbirdrising.wordpress.com/2016/01/13/can-justin-trudeau-be-removed/
Let's leave this ill-considered military mission altogetherThe U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State (ISIL) is in utter disarray. Things are going so badly that some Arab members of the coalition who left the bombing campaign in Iraq and Syria to focus on Yemen now say they are ready to come back and provide ground forces. In the meantime, believing that President Bashar Assad is the best bulwark against ISIL, Russian air strikes are decimating coalition allies on the ground, blowing up the fragile UN-backed peace talks at the same time.ISIL is proving so difficult to dislodge that the U.S., under cover of outrage over the November Paris attacks, has relaxed its targeting restrictions. And ISIL advances in Libya have the U.S. and U.K. openly musing about extending the war into that country. An urgent course correction is long overdue.The non-military aspects of the new Liberal plan, including diplomatic peacemaking in Syria, and promoting regional stability and improving Iraqi governance, are important steps in the right direction. However, the military components of the Liberal response, which involve not only an expanded training role but continued participation in the air campaign through reconnaissance and refuelling, will only heighten Canadian involvement in an ever-deepening quagmire.Since the announcement by Justin Trudeau that Canada would be withdrawing its CF-18s from the coalition bombing campaign, there has been an incessant media drumbeat demanding that he rethink this decision. The demand only intensified after the Paris attacks, as if the decision to change Canadas role in the coalition was based on a misunderstanding of the threat and not on a desire to be more effective.The federal government can be rightly castigated for not articulating more forcefully its reasons for wanting to adjust the role. But this does not excuse the failure of the Canadian media to consider the actual effect on the ground of the bombing campaign.The so-called coalition victories, in which cities such as Kobane and Sinjar in Syria, and Ramadi in Iraq, are liberated with the help of massive air strikes, have resulted in the destruction of these cities. They are reduced to rubble, leaving nothing to house or sustain returning populations. Yet the American secretary of defence has made clear that this is his plan for cities such as Raqqa in Syria and Mosul and Fallujah in Iraq. If this plan is carried out, then the almost certain result will be far fewer habitable cities and far greater numbers of displaced, destitute populations.
Canada Needs A Bottom-Up, Market-Driven Climate Change PlanThe climate change file is a hot topic and not just because it's been a balmy winter. Speculation is that the prime minister will soon meet the premiers to discuss a new national climate change policy. It'll be the first opportunity for the federal government to set out its vision of a "pan-Canadian framework for combating climate change."Cue the inflated rhetoric. One newspaper has editorialized that the government must be ready and "willing to inflict some pain on Canadians" as part of an effective climate change policy. A climate change advocate has mused that the former prime minister should be jailed for his perceived indifference to the issue. And, of course, Leonardo DiCaprio has hectored us for developing our natural resources at the expense of the "future of humanity."Pain, prisons, and the future of humanity will hopefully not be on the agenda of the first ministers meeting. The goal should be a reasoned discussion about the short- and long-term costs of climate change and the policies that can limit them.There are no mainstream voices that contest the science of climate change or present government inaction as a credible policy response. Climate change poses a real cost to the economy in both the short and long run. The magnitude of these costs is a source of debate but the new government is right to be concerned about its risks and ready to act to mitigate them.But the prime minister and the premiers must also recognize that policies to curb emissions also impose costs. As an IMF report has put it: "The macroeconomic consequences of policies to abate climate change can be immediate and wide-ranging, particularly when these policies are not designed carefully."This should hardly be controversial. The intent of these policies is to influence personal and industrial decision-making with respect to carbon usage. Discouraging the use of high-carbon technologies, products, and production processes is not an inadvertent outcome of climate change abatement policies. It's the principal goal.Herein lies the challenge: Deciding which policies are likely to limit global warming's negative effects at the lowest cost in terms of economic output.It doesn't make for a good soundbite or a simple solution. Finding the right policy will require trial and error, and a general humbleness rather than sweeping or costly reform. Government should acknowledge the risk of man-made climate change, but it should be cautious about the prospects of top-down, command-and-control solutions.Instead, it should focus on creating the conditions for bottom-up, market-driven technological innovation. A pro-innovation agenda with respect to climate change is composed of the same basic policies for other sectors, including competitive taxation, strong intellectual property protection and a sensible regulatory regime, investments in human capital, and high-quality infrastructure. Government has a key enabling role for the next big idea to address climate change but it will almost certainly be conceived in a university laboratory or a business facility and not a bureaucratic office.
progs love this:As federal and provincial politicians pat themselves on the back for theirand pipeline opponents gloat about stalling construction of new Canadian pipelines, tanker-loads of foreign oil are delivered regularly to Eastern Canadian refineries, including increasing volumes from Saudi Arabia.Thats right. Saudia Arabia, the oil-rich kingdom that is waging a brutal price war to shore up its market share and devastating Canadas oil and gas sector in the process, dumped an average of 84,017 barrels a day of its cheap oil in New Brunswicks Irving Oil Ltd. refinery in 2015, according to data compiled by the National Energy Board (NEB). Thats up from 63,046 b/d on average in 2012.Overall, refiners in Quebec, Ontario, Newfoundland and New Brunswick imported about 650,000 barrels a day from foreign producers in 2015. In addition to Saudi Arabia, the oil came from the United States, Algeria, Angola, Nigeria, because there is insufficient pipeline capacity to import it from Western Canada, which produces far more oil than it needs.The reversal of Enbridge Inc.s Line 9, which is finally up and running after much opposition and moves up to 240,000 b/d of Western Canadian oil to Montreal, means oil imports will drop this year  but not likely from Saudi Arabia.moand mind flossers, the political self-cutters and brain washers, we see you too:The attitude of the greens and their allied provocateurs, Dalton McGuinty to name but one premier from that time, all the dim-minded celebrities that took their jaunts to the oilsands to mewl over its planet-destroying potential  the Suzukis and Neil Youngs  has always been fervidly anti-Alberta, reckless with the province's reputation, and deeply disrespectful of its workforce. Neil Young compared working in the oilpatch with "Hiroshima."I would be asking of them: Why Us? Why, only us? Are there no other pipelines in the world? Are there no other oil economies? Are there not huge projects elsewhere to claim their self-aggrandizing attentions, projects of far more scale and far less regulated that the one in their own country  that supplied such relief to Canadians in terms or jobs, and to the national economy in that invisible pipeline that brought the equalization dollars from Calgary and Edmonton to Ottawa, Montreal and beyond?"A reader answers beautifully:"Because its pretty much risk free for the people doing the demonizing (ex Suzuki, Young ect..) to say what ever they want in this country without consequence. Look what happened to Suzuki in Australia, they called his bluff. If the Suzuki's of the world were to travel to OPEC countries and criticize and demonize oil and the workforce over there..They might just lose their heads. We need to start standing up to these people (the silent majority working class) and start calling the bluff. However a good market shock although it might be painful might just wake some of these people up to the fact where the bread and butter comes from."I understand the Russians weren't amused either.
Guns for the purpose they are intended are fine but having everyone armed is not

the best for the Canadian society. As for us being lesser of a society nonsense we

can actually solve the problems we face with law enforcement. Imagine if all the

people in Paris had guns? First the bad guys would have been dead got ya and

you are right. In a large crowd many can't see who is shooting so they all would

have been shooting and the death toll would have been higher. There were those

who wanted revenge so when people found out there was a shooting they would

have made targets of others

We allow some people the privilege not a right a privilege to have have guns and

we should keep it that way
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About six years ago, Bob Hoops asked a simple question.

Why dont we have a fish fry? the North Bend man wondered.

The simple inquiry led to the Lenten Fish Fries hosted each year at the St. Charles Parish Center. The Knights of Columbus Council 3736 in North Bend hosts the All You Can Eat Fish events.

Meals are scheduled from 5:45-7:45 p.m. on Fridays starting this week with the last fish supper set for March 18. The public is invited.

Cost is $8 for adults ages 14 and older and $4 for children ages 7-13. Children ages 6 and younger get in for free. A family can eat for $30. That fee includes family members ages 18, who are still in high school, and younger.

Besides fish, the meals include four sides: vegetarian baked beans, Southwest mac and cheese, fried potato rounds and coleslaw. There also will be rye bread, coffee and tea.

Macaroni and cheese will be available for children.

Take-out meals are available.

Funds from the meal benefit the community.

Those who attend may notice the unique menu and some items even have a little story behind them.

The potato rounds are one of those items.

We would cut a potato and put it in the deep fat fryer to clean up the oil, said Joe Raus, a council member. All of a sudden, one guy started saving the potatoes back and eating them.

Council members, who tried the potatoes, liked them.

So now we start slicing potatoes and frying them, Raus said. We call them potato rounds. They go almost as good as the fish. Theyre very popular.

Fish fry attendees, who like a little spice, might well enjoy the mac and cheese dish.

We make a hot mac and cheese called Southwestern Mac and Cheese. Its got a little bite to it, Raus said.

As a far as the bread, why rye?

Its a Czech thing, Raus said.

Depending on the weather, between 130 and 190 people come to the parish center to eat.

The council has about 190 members. Between 20 and 30 guys work a fish fry at a time. Hoops is council chairman.

Fish Fry events also are planned in other locales, which include:

Sons of the American Legion, Cedar Bluffs. The organization is hosting its annual fish fry on Fridays starting this week through March 18. Besides fish, the menu includes beans, coleslaw, pickles, bread and chips. Cost is $8 for adults and $5 for children ages 12 and younger. The auxiliary will serve homemade desserts.

Fremont Izaak Walton. This annual fish fry is set from Friday through March 25. The meal starts at 6 p.m. The menu includes: fried pollock, baked pollock, french fries, coleslaw and bread. There will be chicken strips for non-fish eaters. Cost is $9. Children eat for $5. Carry out dinners will be available. For carry out, call 402-721-6112 20 minutes in advance. The Izaak Waltons main lodge is at 2560 W. Military Ave.

Knights of Columbus, Phil Sheridan Council 1497. The weekly Lenten fish fry dinners start Friday and run through March 18. Serving is scheduled from 5-7 p.m. in St. Patricks Auditorium, Fourth and Union streets, Fremont. The menu includes pollock, shrimp, baked beans, corn bread, coleslaw and beverages such as coffee, tea and lemonade. The Bergan Boosters sell beer and the St. Patricks Women sell desserts for an additional cost. Fried and baked fish is offered. Cheese pizza is available for $2 per slice for children. Area residents may buy take-out meals. There will be no fish fry on Good Friday.

Various churches and organizations have fish fry events during the Lenten season.

Lent is a 40-day period prior to Easter during which many Christians prepare for that day by fasting for giving up something. The idea is to set aside time to think about Jesus and his life, suffering, sacrifice, death and resurrection. As part of a personal sacrifice, people in the Catholic faith give up meats other than fish on Fridays during Lent.
When Luis Camey was a small child, he would keenly observe as his uncle made drawings when they spent time together.

Brianne Inselman also first found an interest in art from a family member. She spent time drawing abstract sketches with her dad.

He would always have me not use the right colors for the right things, which I thought was pretty cool, she said. Like, he would tell me to draw a person green, and stuff like that. It made it fun.

While both Fremont High School art students gained their respect for art in slightly different ways, both recently were recognized for their artistic abilities by being honored during the Omaha Scholastic Art Awards.

Inselman, a senior, and Camey, a junior, were two of four FHS students commended for their drawing abilities earlier this month, said art instructor Mara Hornig.

Camey won the Silver Key award for a self portrait he completed using pastel chalk and charcoal, and Inselman was awarded Gold Key for a self portrait she made with conte crayon and pastel chalk.

Seniors Chelsea Bowers and Diane Naughton also were recognized.

Bowers won Honorable Mention for a still life of her Boots drawing using graphite and colored pencil, and Naughton won Gold Key for her graphic art illustration, The Swing.

Nearly all of the work on projects was completed during class time, especially when students used pastel chalk.

The pastel is so volatile that it wont take well to being shipped and moved all over the place, Hornig said.

Many projects students submit take as much as three weeks to complete, she said.

In addition to being recognized for his self-portrait, Camey was selected by the faculty of the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts to participate in the Nebraska Young Artist Awards Day on April 6.

The day provides students and parents a look inside the University of Nebraska-Lincolns fine arts department, and helps students fine-tune their interests, released information says.

Camey said he just found out he was selected to participate in the award day, and that he was a little surprised when he learned about it.

Im still not entirely sure what its all about yet, he said.

Hornig, who has more than 240 art students walk through her door every school year, said she is happy her students can be recognized for their hard work.

Awards dont make too much of a difference to me personally, she said. But its great that our kids are being recognized for their talents.
Scott Getzschmans family roots run deep in the Fremont community.

Started by his parents, Getzschmans Heating and Air Conditioning has been one of residents go-to HVAC companies in the area since 1960.

Getzschman, the businesses current owner, also has been active in city government since being appointed to the Fremont City Council by former mayor Skip Edwards in 2006 when Patti Emmanuel-Vaughan resigned from one of the Ward 3 seats.

The only thing I had to guarantee was that if I was appointed to fill that term, that I would run for another term, he said.

So he ran again in 2006, continued fulfilling his duties and was elected Council president in 2009.

In November of that year, Edwards resigned because health reasons, and with that resignation Getzschman became mayor of Fremont.

The first two years was an obligation to the community and an obligation to Mayor Edwards, Getzschman said. I vowed to him that I would fill the seat the best way I could, but after filling those two years there were still some big things that we wanted to accomplish in the community to help move it forward.

In 2012, Getzschman defeated local businessman Craig Corn in the mayoral election, receiving 62 percent of the general election vote.

After completing his first elected term as mayor, Getzschman has announced that he plans on running for a second term.

During his six years as a city leader, a great deal of positive things have been accomplished, Getzschman said.

One major accomplishment was the completion of the Runway Extension Project at Fremont Municipal Airport.

Footage was added to the runway enabling large corporate jets to use the airport, and once that was completed, other hangar projects were finished, too.

The airport continues to grow, he said. Its one of the greatest economic development tools that we can use in this community.

Other accomplishments include infrastructure advancements.

Two of these projects include renovations to west Military Avenue and Bell Street.

The military project, starting in 2005, was completed in early 2015.

The projects were a necessity because the roads needed widening and refurbishing, he said.

Military was a very narrow street, he said. So for public safety and for kids to be able to get out to our State Lakes, it was important to keep the community safe  that was the big issue. Secondly, Fremont in general has issues with drainage because we are so flat, and so we built drainage into the project and allowed west Fremont to drain much better in that area.

Bell Street was widened from the viaduct to 13th Street, he said, and it was necessary for the overall traffic flow into the community.

Getzschman also highlighted how fiscal responsibility has been a major point of focus since he took office.

The one big thing that I have learned since being mayor is that for a community to grow, you have to be progressive, he said. We want to continue building and enhancing Fremont, but you have to do it as you control the budget. We are now working on our second bi-annual budget, and we are only one of a few communities that uses the same budget as the state of Nebraska. We are able to balance that budget, and bring money back to the reserves. You cant do that without controlling costs.

Getzschman believes he is deserving of another term in office because of what he stands for.

I stand on honesty, integrity and transparency, he said. I truly care about Fremont. My family business is here, and Fremont has been very good to me. I want to give back anyway I can, and that is the main reason I want to continue serving the citizens of Fremont as mayor, and to continue having them put trust in me moving forward.
This coming February 15, experience the newest beauty destination for beauty lovers in the Philippines. http://ph.althea.kr/

100% Authentic. They get it straight from the beauty counters. You can even email them if you think what you received has a possibility of being fake.

They get it straight from the beauty counters. You can even email them if you think what you received has a possibility of being fake. They have unknown brands or brands that we just can't get a hold of here in the PH unless you're okay with waiting for months through facebook and instagram shops.

or brands that we just can't get a hold of here in the PH unless you're okay with waiting for months through facebook and instagram shops. 30 days unconditional returns . If you received it opened, damaged or if it broke you out (yes you actually used it) you can return it within 30 days of purchase. Halleluja.

. If you received it opened, damaged or if it broke you out (yes you actually used it) you can return it within 30 days of purchase. Halleluja. It's shipped from Korea straight.to.your.doorstep . You have no idea how amazing this is for me. I loathe going to the post office after months of waiting (customs keeps it for so long I don't know why) and then being subjected to my opened package. Where the heck are all the x-rays in the country? I received my package on the 8th day from ship-out, excluding weekends.

. You have no idea how amazing this is for me. I loathe going to the post office after months of waiting (customs keeps it for so long I don't know why) and then being subjected to my opened package. Where the heck are all the x-rays in the country? I received my package on the 8th day from ship-out, excluding weekends. A minimum total of Php 1500 gets you FREE shipping. (taxes and/or shipping would apply for a total less than 1500 and more than 5000. Still waiting for verification from Althea).

(taxes and/or shipping would apply for a total less than 1500 and more than 5000. Still waiting for verification from Althea). The prices are almost the same here in the Philippines. Most are reasonable and affordable. But if they're on sale or have promos going on which I believe happens a ton. Then it's almost too affordable to pass up. The deals are that good .

Royal Gold 24K Foundation in #23 (7.5 g) - 850.00



Holika Holika Gonyak Soft Jelly In Cleansing Cream (150 ml) - 400.00 So much cheaper in Althea than at the mall. Even the regular price Php 534 is cheaper than the Php 600 + at the mall.



The Face Shop Bright Cleansing Foam (150 ml) - 260.00 Made with rice water and moringa oil. Two products I haven't used in my facial wash routine yet. Well I've used rice soap before but not "rice water". That's different right?









The Saem Healing Tea Garden Green Tea Cleansing Water (300 ml) - 270.00 Yes! I finally get to try a cleansing water. So far I'm liking it. I've read that some would rather get this than Bioderma, which does the same thing, but for a fraction of the price.



Innisfree Capsule Recipe Pack Type (10 ml) - 70.00 each I got these wash off masks from another brand that's not that widely available in the Philippines - Innisfree. I got Strawberry yogurt for brightening and Apple yogurt for moisture.



CP-1 Protein Silk Ampoule - 72.00 Yep this works. It's just a leave-in conditioner. Smells good too.







This coming February 15th, they'll be giving 300 credits (Php 300) for every new sign-up! That's basically free money being handed to you. Just sign up. You're welcome.



Apart from the low prices there are also 1+1 deals, Zero Peso Deals and free shipping for Php 1000 spent this during the launch month! So tag your friends share the facebook posts, like the page. This 15th will be big!







xx,

CJ



PS. I'll see you at the checkout! ;)

PPS. If your loved one missed you/pissed you off on the 14th, here's another way for them to make it up to you. Mwahaha

PPPS. Pero seryoso yang Php 0 deals na yan? Kelangan maging ninja ata ako. Feeling ko mabilis yan mawawala haha.



http://ph.althea.kr

https://www.facebook.com/altheaphilippines

https://www.instagram.com/altheakorea/

Made with rice water and moringa oil. Two products I haven't used in my facial wash routine yet. Well I've used rice soap before but not "rice water". That's different right?Yes! I finally get to try a cleansing water. So far I'm liking it. I've read that some would rather get this than Bioderma, which does the same thing, but for a fraction of the price.I got these wash off masks from another brand that's not that widely available in the Philippines - Innisfree. I got Strawberry yogurt for brightening and Apple yogurt for moisture.Yep this works. It's just a leave-in conditioner. Smells good too.This coming, they'll be givingfor every new sign-up! That's basically free money being handed to you. Just sign up. You're welcome.Apart from the low prices there are alsoandspent this during the launch month! So tag your friends share the facebook posts, like the page. This 15th will bePS. I'll see you at the checkout! ;)PPS. If your loved one missed you/pissed you off on the 14th, here's another way for them to make it up to you. MwahahaPPPS. Pero seryoso yang Php 0 deals na yan? Kelangan maging ninja ata ako. Feeling ko mabilis yan mawawala haha. So much cheaper in Althea than at the mall. Even the regular price Php 534 is cheaper than the Php 600 + at the mall.

Ah K-Beauty (Korean Beauty). Let me write a thousand sonnets on your adorable packaging and efficacy that rival fancy brands on top of being affordable, dare I say cheap. (well some, there are mid-range to high-end K beauty brands).Etude House, Banila Co., The Face Shop, Tony Moly, Missha, Laneige and Too Cool for School are just some of the Korean brands that have made their mark here in the Philippines as evidenced by their physical stores around the country. There are online focused brands like Purple Tags Ph (About Face Ph) and Beauty MNL that cater to Korean Beauty fanatics like myself.Thank the hallyu stars forI was a beauty beta tester for Althea (thank you!) and all throughout the process, from making my account, browsing the site, clicking the order button then having it securely (no squished boxes) arrive at my home I can safely attest to its seamlessness. It was very much like if I had ordered on a local beauty website.It was easy to register. All details of the products are there (yes also the ingredients and amount!)The only gripe I would say was that a few of the products had wrong product descriptions but as of writing this post they would've probably seen it by now. Everything is still in the testing stage after all.Good thing the shipping was amazing. I kept track of the whole process through a link they sent (it's of their courier.)Selling point/s of Shopping at Althea KoreaHere's a breakdown of what I chose.Yes it has real 24K gold on top of the foundation. This brand Royal Gold apparently has gold in all of their products. Skincare or makeup. Talk about luxury huh?
This S ite 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, Social Justice Issues, Teaching, and Research. 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.





Visit the following link for more information: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode
Political science PhD specializing in delegate selection rules, presidential campaigns and elections. Founder of FHQ Strategies LLC
Results from a recent global Destination Index have identified Italy and France as the most popular countries in Europe for meetings and incentives.

The global Destination Index, compiled by the leading Global DMC and Event Management Company, Pacific World said that improved transport links and investment in infrastructure resulting in the opening of a number of new hotels and venues were factors accountable for the fact that Milan and Paris have both been voted as most popular European cities for Meetings and Incentives.

Emanuele Pinna, Destination Manager of Pacific World Italy, commented, Thanks to its geographic centrality, recent economic and political stability and very good direct flight connections, Italy is becoming and increasingly popular destination for meetings and incentives. The destination is also seeing a great deal of interest from Middle East meeting planners, due to the Alitalia acquisition by Etihad in 2014.

Emirates flying daily from Dubai to Bologna from November 2015, has made Bolognas Marconi Airport the fourth largest in Italy for global connections. From February 2016 Verona will accommodate three flights a week from Paris Orly International Airport, operated by Transavia, Air Frances low cost company.

Cecile Dubeau, Destination Manager of Pacific World France, commented: Weve seen an increased demand for Paris as a meetings and incentives destination from countries including USA, UK, Germany and Brazil. Factors contributing towards its rise in popularity include the impact of the exchange rate for US clients, affording them greater buying power and the constant demand from the EU zone source markets.

To download the Pacific World last version of the Destination Index, please go to: www.pacificworld.com
Travel to Europe continues to surge amidst a migration crisis, and safety and security concerns in 2015.

According to latest European Travel Commission's "European Tourism 2015 - Trends & Prospects", 2015 marked the 6th consecutive year of above-average growth for the most visited region in the world. Prospects for 2016 remain optimistic with growth expected to increase by 3%," said Eduardo Santander, Executive Director of ETC.

Growth spread across the majority of European countries, buoyed by Iceland (+30%), Romania (+17%) and Slovakia (+16%). Montenegro (+15.5%) and Ireland (+14%) recorded a substantial increase fuelled by the strong demand from key European source markets. Portugal, Croatia (both +10%) and Greece (+8%) also enjoyed sustained growth. Croatia, particularly, benefited from their on-going efforts to extend the pre- and post-summer period, while Greece owes its performance to improving flight connections and to the flow of tourists avoiding competing destinations perceived at risk of terrorist attacks.

Exceptions to the overall trend were Bulgaria, Turkey (both -1%), Estonia (-3%) and Finland (-5%) which all saw a decline from the previous year attributable to the fall in arrivals from Russia. Montenegro was the only European destination that enjoyed growth from the Russian market (+6.4% overnights).

Travel demand from key intra-European markets continues to thrive within Europe despite presage of tighter border controls within the Schengen area. Growth from UK and Germany is in line with positive economic trends whereas increased demand from France and Italy is resulting from the strong appetite for traditional summer destinations.

In the US, the upswing of the economy, a strong US Dollar, and the ever-growing consumer confidence contribute to the appeal of Europe as a holiday destination. The United States[i] accounts for 5% of total arrivals (25.7million) to Europe with further growth expected (+6% annual average) towards 2020. The majority of European destinations also reported growth, +30% Chinese arrivals to Europe, what suggests that the economic slowdown in China failed to deter tourists' enthusiasm to travel internationally.
Google is reportedly developing a standalone virtual reality headset that won't require a PC, console or mobile device to operate, according to sources "familiar with the matter" cited by the Wall Street Journal.

This is chiefly notable for how far-fetched it seems, given that we've yet to see a high-profile VR headset that's not a peripheral for an established platform. However, the Wall Street Journal does note that some sources have cautioned this project is "early in development" and may never see release.

The notion that Google is working on a standalone VR headset seems a bit more believable this year in light of the company's decision last month to name longtime employee Clay Bavor its inaugural vice president of virtual reality.

A few weeks ago Google announced it had shipped more than 5 million of its debut VR headsets, the smartphone-powered Google Cardboard (pictured), in just over a year and a half.

Company chief Sundar Pichai mentioned the figure in a conference call with investors on Monday, and according to CNet he noted that "it's still incredibly early innings for virtual reality as a platform...Cardboard is just a first step, but we are excited by the progress we have seen."
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.
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at dgroves@geothermal.org
DGAP-News: Leifheit Aktiengesellschaft / Key word(s): Development of Sales Leifheit Aktiengesellschaft: Consistent implementation of 'Leifheit 2020' group strategy shows first results 11.02.2016 / 09:30 The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- PRESS RELEASE Consistent implementation of "Leifheit 2020" group strategy shows first results - Preliminary figures for 2015 show 5% growth in group turnover - Turnover forecast of 4% exceeded - Earnings forecast with EBIT of more than EUR 20 million confirmed Nassau, 11 February 2016 - Leifheit AG achieved group turnover of EUR 231.8 million in the business year 2015. This represents an increase of 5.0% compared to the previous year (EUR 220.7 million) and exceeds the company's growth target of 4%. Early effects of the "Leifheit 2020" group strategy, introduced early in 2015, and the expansion of the company's customer base in France contributed significantly to the latest results. This is made clear by the preliminary figures published today. Europe continues to be a growth driver in the two segments Brand and Volume Business. The Group recorded turnover growth of 3.9% in Germany and 7.7% in Central Europe. Continuing the trend of previous year, the markets in Russia and Ukraine recorded a downturn. However, this macroeconomic-driven development was offset by significant growth in the Czech Republic and Poland. In total, turnover in the Eastern Europe region was 0.8% higher than the previous year. Outside Europe, the Leifheit Group recorded a slight decrease in turnover of 0.9%. The strategically important Brand Business achieved significant growth in 2015, with turnover reaching EUR 188.1 million by the end of the business year. This represents an increase of 4.3% over the previous year's figure of EUR 180.4 million. The continued growth of Brand Business turnover is principally due to increasing demand for Leifheit products, primarily in the cleaning category. E-commerce has also aided growth in this segment, which once again reached double figures. Also the much smaller Volume Business achieved growth of 8.6% compared to the previous business year, recording turnover of EUR 43.7 million in 2015. The segment benefited from strong growth of the Birambeau and Herby subsidiaries in France in the product categories kitchen and laundry care. Turnover was also positively impacted by a one-off effect caused by the initial supply of a new customer with Birambeau kitchen products. "We are consistently working on the implementation of our new strategy, "Leifheit 2020", and are delighted to already see its first successes in the market. This shows us that we are on the right track, even if we still have a long way to go," says Thomas Radke, CEO of Leifheit AG. The preliminary turnover figures confirm Leifheit's earnings forecast for the last business year, which was concretised in November 2015 with the prediction that an EBIT of more than EUR 20 million would be comfortably achieved. The company will present its final figures for 2015 with the submission of its full-year financial report on 31 March 2016. The first successes of "Leifheit 2020" The past business year saw the launch of the "Leifheit 2020" group strategy and the implementation of its strategic guidelines across the company for achieving sustainable growth. These include the "Innovation Factory", a holistic innovation strategy based on a medium-term roadmap of innovative products and significant growth potential designed to support the company's growth over the coming months and years. In addition, the company has further strengthened its design expertise while maintaining high product quality and revised its brand positioning. "In 2015, we once again demonstrated our continuous stream of innovation - for example, with the introduction of the Soehnle Genio Kitchen Scale," Radke adds. The space-saving kitchen scale not only won the Kitchen Innovation Award 2016 and the "Best of the Best" Golden Award, but also scooped the IF Design Award. Leifheit presents new initiatives at this year's Ambiente The path adopted in the sector of innovation will be revealed by the new products on show at the Ambiente Consumer Fair in Frankfurt. The company's latest products and solutions will include innovations in ironing board covers and the Leifheit mop range. With the new Colour Edition, Leifheit and Soehnle will create colourful accents in their laundry care, kitchen and bathroom ranges. In addition, the company will present a new campaign under the slogan "Experience the Leifheit effect". About Leifheit Leifheit AG, founded in 1959, is one of the leading European brand suppliers of household items. The company stands for high-quality, innovative products with great utility and pioneering design in the sectors of cleaning, laundry care, kitchen goods and wellbeing. Leifheit and Soehnle are among the best-known brands in Germany. In addition to the Brand Business, Leifheit AG operates in the service-oriented Volume Business via its French subsidiaries Birambeau and Herby. The Leifheit Group and its international branches combined have around 1,000 employees. More information on Leifheit is available online at www.leifheit-group.com, www.leifheit.de and www.soehnle.de. Contact: Leifheit AG D-56377 Nassau ir@leifheit.com +49 2604 977218 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11.02.2016 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Media archive at www.dgap-medientreff.de and www.dgap.de --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Language: English Company: Leifheit Aktiengesellschaft Leifheitstrae 56377 Nassau / Lahn Germany Phone: 02604 977-0 Fax: 02604 977-340 E-mail: ir@leifheit.com Internet: www.leifheit.com ISIN: DE0006464506 WKN: 646450 Listed: Regulated Market in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Regulated Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Hanover, Munich, Stuttgart End of News DGAP News Service --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 436425 11.02.2016
LISLE, Ill., Feb. 11, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED), Chicagoland's multiple listing service (MLS), announced that its 2016 Board of Managers has been installed and its officers elected. Serving on MRED's Board of Managers for 2016 are:

Michael Emery, Urban Real Estate

Jeff Gregory, Realty Executives Success

Chris Haran, Coldwell Banker Residential

Jim Haisler, Heartland Realtor Organization (HRO)

Ruth "Drussy" Hernandez, CONLON: A Real Estate Company

Pam Krieter, Mainstreet Organization of Realtors (MORe)

John Matthews, Baird & Warner

John Murray, Key Realty

Jim Nelson, Jr., RE/MAX Suburban

Thomas Poulos, Gagliardo Realty Associates

Al Rossell, Jack Carpenter Organization

Molly Ryan, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices KoenigRubloff

Aaron Starck, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Stark Real Estate

Anthony Trotto, Anthony J. Trotto Real Estate

Paul Wells, RE/MAX of Barrington

Continuing to serve as MRED's Strategic Manager is David Charron, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Metropolitan Regional Information Systems (MRIS). The newly elected Board members are John Murray of Key Realty and Thomas Poulos of Gagliardo Realty Associates.



MRED's Board of Managers annually nominates and elects officers to guide the company through the upcoming year. This year's officers have performed their duties at such a high level and work so well together that the Board of Managers has reelected all to the same positions they held in 2015.



The 2016 leadership team includes:

Chairman of the Board  Jeff Gregory, Managing Broker and Owner of Realty Executives Success in Plainfield

Vice-Chair  John Matthews, Manager of Baird & Warner in Oak Park

Treasurer  Paul Wells, Managing Broker and Owner of RE/MAX of Barrington

Secretary  Molly Ryan, Vice President & General Counsel of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices KoenigRubloff

"I am pleased the Board continues to place its confidence in these four individuals as MRED's Officers for 2016," said MRED President and Chief Executive Officer Rebecca Jensen. "What better endorsement of the job they have done than to reelect them? I love working with these very accomplished and experienced individuals and look forward to a fantastic 2016."



About MRED



Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) is the real estate data aggregator and distributor providing the Chicagoland multiple listing service (MLS) to more than 40,000 brokers and appraisers and nearly 8,000 offices. MRED serves Chicago and the surrounding "collar" counties and provides property information encompassing northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin and northwest Indiana. MRED delivers over twenty products and services to its customers, complementing connectMLS, the top-rated MLS system in the country for two years running according to the WAV Group MLS Technology Survey. MRED is the 2013 Inman News Most Innovative MLS/Real Estate Trade Association, and for five consecutive years the MRED Help Desk has been identified as one of the best small business centers in the United States and Canada by BenchmarkPortal. For more information please visit MREDLLC.com.
Shia LaBeouf, potentially burnt out from watching himself onscreen for three days straight, hasn't been in the news much lately, which is sad news for Gothamist's #Shia Slack channel but probably good for his criminal record. Now, he's BACK, baby, and apparently trying to kick his aunt out of her apartment as repayment for a $1 million loan he gave his uncle. Shia :(

As the story goes, Shia's mother's brother, Barry Saide, borrowed $800K from Shia back in 2009, a year that was bad for the economy but decent for the Transformers franchise. Saide never paid Shia back, a move he attributed to having previously lent cash to Shia and his mother over the years.

Shia did not agree, however, and says the loan now totals over $1 million, a number agreed to by the courtto cover it, he's trying to get his aunt Sharon Saide's $2.5M apartment on East 64th Street. Sharon Saide says Barry Saide isn't even listed as an owner of her home, and she's not forking it over, so now they're in the midst of a legal battle.

Anyway, it now makes sense why Shia spent a few nights sleeping at the Angelika.
A cast of costumed characters was arrested over the past few days in Times Square, and one individual is planning to sue the city for wrongful arrestsomething he's done twice in the past.

Jose Escalona-Martinez, dressed in a Batman costume, was arrested at 2:17 p.m. on February 9th in Duffy Square, by Broadway and 46th Street. According to a spokesperson for the NYPD, he was soliciting passersby and asking them to take their picture with him. Police officers approached him and told him that he could not solicit there; when he refused to leave, they issued him a summons for panhandling and disorderly conduct.

But Escalona-Martinez has a different version of events. He told the Daily News that he was just walking across the square when he heard two officers yell, "Hey, Batman!" When they demanded to see his ID, he said he asked, "Who told you that I committed a crime? Why should I give you ID?"

"I was walking like a tourist...I know the rules," he told the tabloid. "Do not panhandle over there. Do not take pictures over there. [...] This is big discrimination. This is not right."

Escalona-Martinez has been arrested twice previously under similar circumstances. On June 8th, 2014, he was dressed as Spiderman and headed to the gym to work out when he was approached by a family to pose for a picture, according to court papers; when an NYPD officer observed the family offering him money, she arrested him. He was later acquitted. Then, on September 13th, 2014, he was arrested when dressed as Batman along with someone else dressed as Spiderman for getting into a fight with a heckler (according to his lawyer, the two were assaulted by a drunk individual).

In both instances, Escalona-Martinez sued for unlawful arrestfirst for $2 million, and then for $2.5 millionand he told the Daily News that he intends to do so once more.

His lawyer, James Franzetti, told Gothamist that he could not confirm a third lawsuit, but is aware that his client has stated that is his intent. Franzetti said that he seriously doubts the NYPD's version of yesterday's events.

"Why would they need to handcuff him for 30 minutes?" he demanded. "Looking at their version of the story in a light most favorable to them, to the police that isand I don't believe this storybut even in a light most favorable to them, they had no reason to handcuff him for an excess of 30 minutes and make a public spectacle of him. It was unreasonable and excessive, and a violation of his civil rights."

Escalona-Martinez's arrest came just two days after three individuals were arrested for harassing a passerby in Times Square. Marcella Mendoza, Reyna Perez-Perez, and Demetrio Xochimitl, dressed as Cookie Monster, Minnie Mouse, and Olaf from "Frozen," respectively, were charged with violation of local law and harassment on Sunday, February 7th, the NYPD said. According to a spokesperson, Mendoza took a picture with a tourist and then followed him, along with Perez-Perez and Xochimitl, asking for $20. The tourist allegedly felt intimidated and paid them $10.

Franzetti represents several individuals who dress as characters in Times Square, though not any of those involved in Sunday's incident.

"[Escalona-Martinez] works for tips only and...he does not, in working for tips only, commit any crime," he said, later adding, "These characters have almost always prevailed."
After meeting Al Sharpton for tea in Harlem yesterday, Vermont senator and insurgent Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders visited his former stomping grounds in Midwood, Brooklyn. With a CBS camera crew in tow, Sanders reminisced, like any native of Old Brooklyn worth his salt, about wiling away hours throwing a Spaldeen at a wall with no parental supervision.

Sanders grew up in a rent-controlled apartment building on East 26th Street near Kings Highway in the 1940s and '50s, the son of Jewish immigrants from Poland. Talking to CBS's Scott Pelley, he recalled his mother yearning for a single-family home like the ones down the block.

"Not having enough money was a cause of constant tension," he said. "And when you are five or six years of age and your parents are yelling at each other, it's, you knowyou think back on it now, you knowit's traumatic and it's hard."

Sanders attended PS 197 and James Madison High School, the latter of which is also the alma mater of Supreme Court Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sen. Charles Schumer, and Chris Rock. Speaking to NY1, a classmate recalled Sanders as reserved. Yet, Sanders wrote for the school paper, became class president and, while running for school president, whereas "other candidates talked about the prom, Sanders wanted to raise money for Korean War orphans."

Also, in a bit of backstory sure to set devout Berners' hearts aflutter, Sanders ran cross country and, according to his friend, "had great endurance."

Sanders's mother passed away when he was 19 and a freshman at nearby Brooklyn College. Sanders told CBS the loss affected him "Significantly. Significantly."

Sheepshead Bites reports that Sanders grabbed lunch at Memo Shish Kebab at Kings Highway and East 19th Street. This makes sense, given that Sanders eats mostly meat and vegetableshis stepdaughter Carina Driscoll told People, "He was Paleo before Paleo was a thing."

Kebab joint cashier Marianne Salatandre told Sheepshead Bites that Sanders "was a very sweet, charming man. He was beyond a gentleman."
This past August, Mayor de Blasio announced the creation of NYC Safe, a $22 million initiative that promised an unprecedented partnership between law enforcement and health care agencies to help New Yorkers suffering from mental illness.

Too many have literally lost their lives to untreated mental illness," de Blasio said in a statement. "NYC Safe will protect our city and save people from violence and suffering by making sure New Yorkers who need care will receive it, stick to it, and keep themselves and others safe."

The program is intended to help homeless people with mental illnesses and violent criminal records get connected to mental health resources, but at least two people on the list have been involuntarily hospitalized without the assent of psychiatristsa possible violation of New Yorks Mental Hygiene Law.

One patient was released from Bellevue Hospitals psychiatric emergency room and sent back half an hour later because his shelter didnt believe the opinion of the doctor who discharged him. After he was re-admitted to the hospital, he picked up an assault charge in a scuffle on the psychiatric ward and was then transferred to Rikers Island.

Another patient was committed to Bellevue and held involuntarily because the Mayors Office hadnt cleared him for release, even after a psychiatrist evaluating him said it would be illegal to retain him against his will. Lawyers from the Bellevue office of the Mental Hygiene Legal Service, the states public defense agency for psychiatric patients, ultimately had to file a writ of habeas corpus to get him out.

Under NYC Safe, 73 people assessed to be mentally ill and at risk of violence have been referred by the Department of Homeless Services to the NYC Safe Hub, an office of City Hall that maintains the programs participant list, widely called the mayors high risk list.

The goal of the program is to connect those who are mentally ill and at high concern for violence with mental health care, says Erin White, a spokesperson for the de Blasio administration.

There are two criteria for inclusion on the list. First, the person must have two incidents of escalating aggressionrecorded instances of increasingly severe violent behaviorwithin six months, or have faced assault charges or a permanent order of protection.

Second, the Department of Homeless Services must have attempted to intervene without success and be unable to manage the persons care with existing resources.

The program created five co-response teams combining NYPD officers and clinicians from the citys Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to engage with people on the high risk list in emergency situations.

A source familiar with the operations of the teams says that part of their goal is to identify situations when someone on the list commits an offense directly related to mental illness, and in those cases to bring the person to a psychiatric hospital instead of taking them to jail.

Yet according to information from hearings at the internal courtroom at Bellevue Hospital, confirmed by several sources throughout the citys mental health care community, the hospital has at times been required to admit people on the high risk list and instructed not to release them without coordinating with City Hall, whether they meet the legal standard for involuntary commitment or not. (The de Blasio administration denies this, and says that people in NYC Safe have no added discharge requirements.)

The idea is to decriminalize mental illness by putting people in hospitals instead of taking them to Rikers, says a doctor at one of the citys psychiatric hospitals, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized by the hospital to speak to press. But if people are being held in hospitals without being found to require hospitalization, the doctor adds, youre throwing due process out the window. Its back to the fiftieswhen institutionalization of the mentally ill in the US hit its peak at more than 550,000 patients, and when legal standards for commitment still allowed non-dangerous people to be held involuntarily.



Mayor Bill de Blasio holds a roundtable message on Homeless/ Mental Health with DOC and First Lady Chirlane McCray in the Blue Room of City Hall, a few days before the announcement of NYC Safe (Demetrius Freeman / Mayoral Photography Office)

Dr. Jeremy Colley, director of Bellevues forensic psychiatry department, evaluated Paul (not his real name), a construction worker in his twenties, in the hospitals psychiatric emergency room in September of 2015. He determined that Paul didnt need to be there.

There are various standards for different kinds of involuntary commitment under Article 9 of New Yorks Mental Hygiene Law, but in all cases the patient must be found dangerous to themselves or others.

Even if [Paul is] dangerous, the evidence for which I find tenuous at best, Dr. Colley wrote in his evaluation, psychiatric hospitalization is not required.

Dr. Colley discharged him, but as soon as Paul got to the shelter where he lives, officials there had him taken back to Bellevue. Paul is on the high risk list, so when he returned to the hospital, he was admitted in spite of Dr. Colleys evaluation. According to testimony by another Bellevue psychiatrist during a hearing at the hospital to decide whether Paul should be medicated against his will, the doctors at Bellevue were instructed that Paul could only be discharged if Dr. Mary Anne Badaracco, head of psychiatry, cleared it with City Hall.

Paul never made it that far. One week after his admission to the hospital, he was charged with assault because of a struggle that happened when he was being restrained for an involuntary sedative injection. He was arrested, transferred to Bellevues prison psychiatric ward, and later moved to Rikers Island to wait for trial.

In another case from October, a patient was released from Bellevue by psychiatrists at the hospital, who said he didnt require hospitalization. The next day, the police brought him back, saying that the doctors couldnt release him without getting approval from City Hall.

Dr. Colley was involved again. He wrote that retaining the patient would be legally and clinically inappropriate. Still, the patient remained at the hospital.

Mental Hygiene Legal Service attorneys filed a writ of habeas corpus in the State Supreme Court, demanding that the hospital produce the patient and provide legal justification for holding him against his will. The court found in favor of the MHLS attorneys, and the patient was discharged.

Dr. Colley did not respond to requests to comment for this storythe details of his evaluations come from court testimony.

Evelyn Hernandez, a spokesperson for Bellevue Hospital, told Gothamist that she couldnt discuss individual cases, but said that decisions about admitting and discharging patients are solely clinical and adhere to state law.

However, she also said that the purpose of NYC Safe is to connect people with social supports outside the hospital, and that the program is designed to bring together those important agencies and supports before a patient is released.

Many of the people Gothamist spoke to for this article emphasized that with some improvements, NYC Safe has the potential to fulfill its goal of connecting people in need of mental health care with critical resources.

The doctor at one of the citys psychiatric hospitals noted that City Hall may even have more complete information about people on the high risk list than psychiatrists evaluating them in the emergency room do, since people may lie about their histories of hospitalization or risk factors for dangerousness.

Without the information gathered through NYC Safe, no one is getting the big picture on some of these potentially dangerous people, says the doctor. I cant even say theyre slipping through the cracks. Theyre slipping through caverns.

But questions about the program linger. Aside from hospitalization and the co-response teams, its unclear what resources the NYC Safe program gives its participants access to. Privacy issues have been raised, since the list is known to City Hall, the Department of Homeless Services, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and the NYPD, and contains at least the information that people on it are mentally ill.

Its also unclear how long people remain on the list or how they can get off itCity Hall acknowledged to Gothamist that they havent decided yet.

I think it has a lot of potential, says the doctor. Im sure there are kinks to be worked out.

Ben Hattem is a journalist based in Brooklyn.
Five people are facing criminal charges in connection to the massive explosion that rocked the East Village last spring, a blast that leveled three buildings, caused dozens of injuries, and killed two people. Speaking at a press conference Thursday morning, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance named general contractor Dilber Kukic, building owner Maria Hrynenko, her son and building facilities manager Michael Hrynenko, along with two plumbers, Athanasios Ionnidis and Andrew Trombettas, as directly responsible for the catastrophic blast. All five were taken into custody Thursday morning.

Those named by Vance face a range of charges including second degree manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, assault, and reckless endangermentconvictions could lead to a maximum of 15 years in prison. Trombettas, who allegedly provided Ionnidis with an illegal license, has been charged with offering a false instrument for filing. All five defendants will be arraigned this afternoon.

Before listing the charges, the Manhattan DA acknowledged Nicholas Figueroa, 23, and Moises Locon, 26, both of whom had been inside Sushi Park restaurant at 121 Second Avenue on the afternoon of the blast and were ultimately killed, their bodies pulled from the wreckage days later. Vance described the explosion and fire that took their lives as "foreseeable, preventable, and completely avoidable."

Vance described a pattern of poor maintenance, greed, and deceit that ultimately proved fatal. According to his investigation, Hrynenko hired Kukic in 2013 to renovate her properties at 121 and 119 Second Avenue. Kukic proceeded to hire Ionnidis to work on the former building, a five-story tenement apartment. That work was completed by June 2014; however, ConEd had not approved gas meters.

"Having just invested in renovations, the Hrynenkos wanted to rent the apartments as soon as possible," Vance said. "the only thing that was holding them up was a lack of gas." Working with Kukic, they allegedly installed four flexible rubber hoses running from the gas meter in the basement of 121 Second Avenue up to the apartments, which they had begun renting at an average of $6,000 per month. Tenants were not notified of this illegal gas source, according to prosecutors.

In August of 2014, ConEd discovered the unsafe flexible hose setup, and shut down all gas supply to 121 Second Avenue. Prosecutors say the Hrynenkos responded by secretly building another unsafe gas delivery system, tapping gas lines at 119 Second Avenue and rigging a series of pipes and valves to bring it into a hidden utility room in the basement of 121.

A new ConEd appointment was scheduled for March 26, 2015. On that day, the illegal gas line was shut off, allegedly to avoid alerting inspectors. At the same time, Kukic and Michael Hrynenko opened gas valves in the basement of 121 Second Avenue "in order to bring the gas up to the apartments, because if ConEd were to perform a building wide pressure test to the system, the only way to pass the test was to make sure the gas was open," Vance said. Inspectors from the energy company arrived at 2 p.m. that day and again rejected the installation of a meter.

At approximately 2:35, following ConEd's visit, Kukic and Hrynenko allegedly returned to 119 Second Avenue to turn their illegal gas line back on. "But tragically they never re-closed the valves that they had opened in order for the gas to go up to the apartments during the pressure test by ConEd," Vance said. Pipes that opened into 121 Second Avenue were left uncapped and open.

At approximately 3 p.m. that afternoon, a worker at Sushi Park smelled gas in 121 Second Avenue, and notified Maria Hrynenko. Minutes later, the explosion occurred, and within hours all of 119, 121, and 123 Second Avenue laid in ruins.

"Development, construction, and renovation is happening all across New York City," Vance said. "We know it's happening at breakneck speed. Financial incentives for property owners to take shortcuts have never been stronger."

"Our message is simply this: they have to resist temptation to take these shortcuts...When you tinker around with the gas system and electrical hookups, you have in effect weaponized that building."

"The individuals involved in the East Village gas explosion showed a blatant and callous disregard for human life," mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement. "We are heartened that today these defendants will be brought to justice and forced to answer for their criminal actions."

Here's an important guide on what to do if you smell gas.


A flatbed truck driver fatally struck a 63-year-old woman in Washington Heights last night, at the intersection of Broadway and 165th Street.

Police say Maria Minchala was crossing Broadway in the crosswalk at 8:50 p.m. when the driver hit her. "I took the turn real slow, three miles an hour," the vehicle's driver, a 42-year-old man, told the Daily News. "I never saw her. I felt a bump. It wasnt right. I pulled over and went back and saw the lady."

Minchala was rushed to nearby Columbia Presbyterian Hospital where she was declared dead on arrival. The driver remained at the scene. A police spokesperson confirmed that the NYPD's Collision Investigation Squad is currently investigating the crash, and currently no arrests have been made.

Minchala had reportedly been at her church picking up Lenten ashes, and was on her way to work at the time of the deadly crash. "She is a mother of five," her son, Manuel Minchala, told the News. "She has four grandchildren. We are from Ecuador. She brought us here for a better life. She was a good, hard-working woman."

Minchala was killed less than 24 hours after a 16-year-old girl was killed by a hit-and-run driver in Queens.
A 25-year-old Hasidic man was stabbed without warning while walking on a Brooklyn street yesterday just before noon. NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said, "He was dressed in Hasidic garb. Right now were looking at it as a possible hate crime because hes dressed in that fashion."

According to police, the victim, Yehuda Brikman, was in front of 646 Empire Boulevard in Crown Heights when he was "stabbed on the left side of his back by an unknown person. When the victim turned around, he saw a male running on the street away from him."

Brikman, who is the son of a prominent rabbi, was taken to Kings County Hospital where he is in stable condition after "sustain[ing] a collapsed lung."

During a press conference, Mayor Bill de Blasio said he was "very concerned about" the stabbing, and a police source tells the NY Times that the NYPD is still investigating the stabbing of a Jewish emergency medical service volunteer in Crown Heights last fall, and investigators are exploring whether the cases are related.

In that November 3 incident, the off-duty Hatzolah worker was stabbed by a fleeing suspect and suffered a two-inch laceration in the shoulder.

The authorities released surveillance video of the suspect in yesterday's attack, describing him as between 20 and 30 years old, 5'10" and 180 pounds, and wearing a black bookbag, last seen wearing a dark colored jacket, blue hooded sweater, dark colored pants and black boots.



The Anti-Defamation League, which is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the attacker, said, "Brooklyns Jewish community is once again suffering from apparent targeted acts of hate with this latest stabbing in Crown Heights. This alleged hate crime is just one in a series of traumatic attacks over the past several months in which Jews across the city, especially in Brooklyn, have been singled out for violence. While we have not documented a rise in the overall numbers of anti-Semitic incidents in New York City, we are seeing a troubling pattern in which members of the Jewish community in Brooklyn are experiencing the worst kind of anti-Semitism."

Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. All calls are strictly confidential.
Five people have tested positive for the mosquito-borne Zika virus in New York City since the end of January, with all of the cases originating in the Latin American and Caribbean countries that are seeing a true outbreak of the virus. Today, Mayor Bill de Blasio said that while there is currently no risk of contracting the virus in the city, experts are concerned about what might happen with the onset of mosquito season this spring.

"We are very concerned about the onset of the mosquito season at the beginning of April," de Blasio said on Thursday. He added, "We have the most comprehensive response capacity anywhere in the nation. That was clearly on display during the Ebola crisis...New Yorkers should rest assured that the finest medical minds and scientific minds are being tapped to help us address the situation."

The Aedes aegypti mosquito, which has been spreading Zika left and right in countries such as Brazil, Guatemala, and Ecuadoramong many othersis not native to New York. However, our region does have Aedes albopictus, also known as the Asian tiger mosquito, which has been known to carry the Zika virus in other areas.

Dr. Mary Bassett, Commissioner of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, said that transmission by this native mosquito is not inevitable, because the mosquito can transmit other viruses, such as chikungunya and dengue, but has not done so in New York City, possibly because the climate does not get quite warm enough.

In the meantime, the city is warning people who are pregnant or hope to become pregnant to avoid areas stricken by the Zika outbreak, as there is some evidence that the virus may cause babies to be born with microcephalyabnormally small skulls and brains. Anyone who is pregnant or attempting to conceive is recommended to receive a blood test for the Zika virus if they ignore this advice and do travel to an affected region.

Bassett noted that no prenatal tests for pregnant women who contract Zika can absolutely confirm that the fetus will develop microcephaly.

The DOH has also released a list of recommendations for anyone returning from a Zika-affected region; precautions include using insect repellents to avoid transmitting the virus to NYC-native mosquitos, and using condoms during any sexual activity as there is a slight risk of the virus being transmitted sexually.

In the run-up to mosquito season, the city is working on a plan for mosquito control that will be similar to methods used to target the West Nile virus: surveilling and killing larvae, and, if necessary, spraying pesticides.

"We remain cautiously optimistic that we're not going to have to deal with local Zika transmission from mosquitoes," said Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Herminia Palacio. "But we've all been around long enough to know that Mother Nature may not share our optimism."
Image Courtesy Daniela FedericiDiddy has been tapped to host a fundraiser at the Playboy Mansion for Los Angeles-based non-profit Community Inspiring Todays Youth, following Sunday's Grammy Awards.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the mogul will be joined by 98 Degrees pop star Jeff Timmons wwho ill handle emcee duties for the private event, taking place February 15. Additionally, Sir Richard Branson, the billionaire founder of Virgin Group, is scheduled to deliver the keynote address.

Event proceeds benefit CITY, a non-profit organization that supports and mentors underserved teens and young adults in developing their own start-up businesses in L.A.

Copyright  2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
It takes a daring individual to open any restaurant serving pizza in the hyper-critical pizza landscape of New York City and a particular kind of madman to open a vegan pizzeria at that. Yet that's just what restaurateur Matthew Kenney has done as of today, opening up 00+Co, where chef Scott Winegard will be turning out vegan pies from a wood-fired oven. Winegard trained in Naples and is employing the lauded 00 flour to make his crusts; "we're keeping with tradition to some extent," Winegard says. "So we don't upset the purists."

Tradition, insofar as pizza-making history goes, usually means a dairy-based cheese, which obviously won't be the case here. The restaurant is making its own nut-based cheeses from almonds and cashews, resulting in what Winegard describes as similar to farmer's cheese or ricotta. "It's not a cheese where you're going to be like, 'Oh my god, this is just like mozzarella,'" Winegard explains. "But it's definitely going to have a lot of flavor and you're definitely going to be reminded of what it's supposed to be."



(courtesy 00 + Co.)

Winegard says his pies are similar to a Neapolitan style, but they certainly have their own unique character outside of their animal-free status. The pies are rustically-shaped but artistically topped, playing on the natural beauty of the ingredients. "Vegetables honestly just taste better, the flavors last longer," Winegard professes. "They're brighter, they're crisper, they're more vibrant, there's so much more color. There's so much vibrancy! I think it's more exciting."

A classic margarita-style pie with tomato, basil and cashew mozzarella ($15) will be on offer, as will a pie topped with a farro-fennel "sausage" ($18). None of the pies employ any faux-meat, but the restaurant is getting creative with mushrooms, marinating shiitakes in umeboshi vinegar, tamari and olive oil to imbue them with essence of "anchovy." They'll join potatoes, capers and baby kale in a pie bound together with almond cream ($16). The kitchen will turn out a selection of vegan small plates, too, and cheese plates of their house-made vegan cheese.

"I think that the people that predominantly eat plant-based are gonna be really excited about us and theyre gonna be our biggest champions to talk to other people that might not eat this way all the time," Winegard says, musing on where 00 + Co. will fit in amongst other pizzerias. "Theres going to be a real genuine interest in what were doing and how we do it and as long as we make a delicious product I think thats really what were gonna stand on, just being delicious."

65 Second Avenue, (212) 777-1608; website
It's going to be bitterly cold this weekend, which is good news for those of us who hope our exes die of frostbite in time for Valentine's Day. It is bad news, however, for anyone who needs to get from Point A to Point B and back, especially since the trains are doing their usual whackadoodle weekend dance. Here's what's on tap this weekend:

2 trains will run in two sections: between Flatbush Av-Brooklyn College and E 180 St, and then via the 5 to/from Eastchester-Dyre Av, and then between E 180 St and Wakefield-241 St, with that change in effect from 3:45 a.m. Saturday to 10 p.m. Monday. E 180 St-bound 2 trains run express from Wakefield-241 St to E 180 St during that period.

3 trains will not run in either direction between Harlem-148 St and 96 St from 11:45 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Tuesday.

Woodlawn-bound 4 trains run express from Grand Central-42 St to 125 St from 11:45 a.m. Friday to 7:30 a.m. Monday, and again from 11:45 p.m. Monday to 5 a.m. Tuesday.

5 trains will run every 20 minutes between Eastchester-Dyre Av and Bowling Green from 6 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Saturday, from 8 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Sunday, and again from 6 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. on Monday. 2 trains will replace 5 shuttle service between Eastchester-Dyre Av and E 180 St from 3:45 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. on Saturday and again from 11:30 p.m. Saturday to 9:30 a.m. Monday.

Pelham Bay Park-bound 6 trains will make express stops from Grand Central-42 St to 125 St from 11:45 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Tuesday. Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall bound 6 trains will run express from Parkchester to 3 Av-138 St during that period.

Hudson Yards-bound 7 trains run express from Mets-Willets Point to Queensboro Plaza from 6:45 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday. On that same track, trains run express from Mets-Willets Point to 74 St-Broadway from 3:45 a.m. Sunday to 10 p.m. Monday.

A trains will not run in either direction between Euclid Av and Lefferts Blvd from 12:01 a.m. Saturday to 5 a.m. Tuesday. During that period, A trains will run in two sections: between Rockaway Blvd and Far Rockaway, every 20 minutes, and between Inwood-207 St and Euclid Av. Brooklyn-bound trains will run express from 145 St to Canal St from 11:45 p.m. Friday to 6:30 a.m. Monday, and again from 11:45 p.m. Monday to 5 a.m. Tuesday.

Brooklyn-bound C trains make express stops from 145 St to Canal St from 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday to Monday.

D trains will run local between 36 St and DeKalb Av from 12:01 a.m. Saturday to 5 a.m. Tuesday.

Jamaica Center-Parsons/Archer bound E trains run express from Roosevelt Av to Forest Hills-71 Av from 12:15 a.m. Saturday to 7 a.m. Monday, and again from 12:15 a.m. to 5 a.m. Tuesday.

Coney Island-Stillwell Av bound F trains will skip 169 St from 11:45 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Tuesday. Trains on that line will reroute along the E line from Roosevelt Av to W 4 St-Wash Sq during that time.

J trains will not run in either direction between Hewes St and Broad St from 11:30 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Tuesday.

M trains will not run between Myrtle Av and Essex St in either direction from 6 a.m. to 12 midnight on Saturday to Monday.

All N trains run local from 59 St in Brooklyn to DeKalb Av from 12:01 a.m. Saturday to 5 a.m. Tuesday.

Q trains will not run in either direction between 57 St-7 Av and Kings Hwy from 11:30 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Tuesday. [The MTA sent out a revised schedule eliminating this change on 2/12]

R service is extended to Jamaica-179 St from 6:30 a.m. to midnight Saturday to Monday. Jamaica-179 St bound R trains run express from Roosevelt Av to 71 Av from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. Saturday to Monday. R Shuttle service will extend to Whitehall St from 11:45 p.m. Friday to 6:30 a.m. Monday, and again from 11;45 p.m. Monday to 5 a.m. Tuesday.
Steel Works 1950s





From Donegal to Gretna Green- roughly the route the cattle followed before 1667









Rainhill Locomotive Trials 1829





Guangzhou

John Dalrymple,1st earl of Stair

A & G Murray and Kennedy & McConnell mills Manchester 1815





Dalmellington Iron Works 1858

Indian calico, 18th century

Water-powered spinning mill 1770s

Kennedy & McConnell and A & G Murray steam powered cotton mills Manchester 1820

French State iron works Le Creusot, 1779

The history of the proletariat in England begins with the second half of the last century, with the invention of the steam-engine and of machinery for working cotton. These inventions gave rise, as is well known, to an industrial revolution, a revolution which altered the whole civil society; one, the historical importance of which is only now beginning to be recognised. England is the classic soil of this transformation, which was all the mightier, the more silently it proceeded; and England is, therefore, the classic land of its chief product also, the proletariat. Only in England can the proletariat be studied in all its relations and from all sides.





The strangeness never really goes away. If anything it just gets even stranger. By this I mean viewing an urban and industrial world from the perspective of a rural and agricultural one. And, at the same time having lived in London for 18 years, working in factory for part of the time, viewing a rural and agricultural world from an urban and industrial one.From within either environment the view- of fields and countryside as far as the eye can see or of houses and the city as far as the eye can see- is perfectly normal and taken for granted. It is reality. But to try and bring the two views together creates a strangeness, a disconcertion.History provides one way to combine the two perspectives. But as I have found, to use history as a method of understanding why one location is rural and another urban requires an ever expanding acquisition of knowledge. It is circle with a centre which is everywhere and a circumference which is nowhere. The history of any locality, when investigated thoroughly, eventually becomes part of global history. Example- both the Arctic and Antarctic are now subject to the influence of the history of industrialisation via climate change/ global warming.Thus the particular history of my current locality has been influenced by the growth of London in the seventeenth century via its demand for food. Until the trade was banned 1666, one source of Londons food was Ireland, which exported 60 to 100 000 cattle/year to feed the city. Most of the Irish cattle were shipped directly to England, but about 10 % crossed from Ulster to south-west Scotland.The Scottish route was developed after the Plantation of Ulster by the Murray and McLellan (later Maxwell) families who gained lands in Ulster via the Plantation. The cattle from their Irish lands could be fattened on their Scottish lands before being driven south. After the English ban on Irish cattle, landowners in south-west Scotland began supplying the English market with Scottish cattle, although at least some of these Scottish cattle had begun their short lives in Ulster.By the 1690s, the cattle trade to London was well established. This is significant since it shows that even before the political Union of 1707, the Scottish economy was being influenced by the English economy. With the English ban in Irish cattle still in place, cattle were one of the few Scottish products which were bought and sold for English gold.Landowners who were involved in the cattle trade had an advantage over those who did not. The Murray, Dunbar, Dlarymple, Stewart and Heron families in Galloway were able to extend their land holdings by using the profits from the cattle trade to buy or rent more land. They could then rear and fatten more cattle on their new land holdings.Landowners who either failed to reinvest their cattle trade profits in buying more land or who relied on more traditional mixed arable and livestock farming began to lose out. By the 1720s, this market pressure on landowners and their tenants saw an increasing number of arable farms being converted into cattle pastures. The resulting mass evictions- the first of the Scottish Clearances- provoked an armed uprising by the Galloway Levellers in 1724. They overturned the dry-stane dykes (walls) built around the cattle pastures. Some of the dykes levelled had been built over 40 years earlier, indicating that theirs was a grievance which had been building up since before the Union of 1707.Londons demand for food also had an impact on English agriculture, stimulating its improvement and the growth of capitalist farming where tenant farmers had to bid for cash leases on the land paid for by producing cash crops sold to Londoners. There was also an increase in specialisation, with some farmers producing vegetables for example for sale in Londons markets.The growth of London also depended on coal from Newcastle. There was not enough wood available to keep Londons fires burning. But as Londons demand for coal grew, so the mines in north east England had to become deeper and/or further away from rivers and the coast. Steam engines to pump out water from the deeper mines, to haul coal and miners up from the deeper mines came into use in the eighteenth century. Horse powered railways were developed to haul coal wagons from inland sites to the coast. In the early nineteenth century steam engines were used to replace horses on these railways.Until 1830, all human societies relied on the ability of plants to capture a tiny fraction- less than 1%- of the energy reaching the earth from the sun. Humans cannot eat sunlight, but they can eat plants and animals that have fed on plants. As well as food, plants and the animals that ate them provided material for making clothes. From trees came wood for building, for making fires for warmth and fires to process raw materials.Without coal, London would have had to rely on wood to heat its houses, but the land needed to grow the trees would then not have been available to grow crops or feed livestock. This would have limited Londons growth. By 1700, London had a population of half a million. If wood had been used to keep the city warm, every year 1250 square miles of forest would have had to be felled. To keep the supply of fire wood going, the same amount of land would have to be replanted. If coppicing was used on a 16 year cycle, 20 000 square miles of woodland would have been needed out of Englands total area of 50 345 square miles. By 1801, when Londons population reached 1 million, 40 000 square miles of woodland would have been needed.Without the substitution of coal for wood, the conflict between land used for food and land needed by wood burning industries created another restriction on growth. The British iron industry in particular was only able to expand after coke replaced charcoal in its furnaces. And while cotton and other textile industries were able to grow using water power in the eighteenth century, their nineteenth century growth was driven by coal fuelled steam power.However, and this is why the date of 1830 is significant, so long as transport still relied on horse power on roads and canals, the need to grow crops to feed the horses created a further land use conflict. When the Liverpool and Manchester railway opened in 1830, it was fully steam powered unlike previous railways which had used either horse power or a mix of horses and steam engines.The success of the Liverpool and Manchester railway was rapidly exported. Even before London and Birmingham were linked by rails in 1838, similar main line railways had been opened in France (1832), Belgium and Germany (1835), Austria and Russia (1837). Italy and the Netherlands followed in 1839 and Spain by 1848. In the USA, steam power was in regular use on railways from 1830. Before the end of the nineteenth century there were railways in South America, Australia, Africa, India, Japan and China.Just as the railways cut the cost and speeded up transport on land, the development of iron steamships in the 1860s had a similar effect across the oceans. Although as the pioneering industrial nation, Britain initially benefited from the shift to coal as an energy source, the advantage was steadily eroded as other countries developed their industrial infrastructure. This shift had become apparent by 1914, when London lost its status as the worlds largest city to New York.Today the worlds largest urban agglomeration is Guangzhou in China where 46 900 000 people live. Altogether there are 80 cities with more than 5 million inhabitants world wide. Without the use of coal, oil and natural gas as energy sources, such mega cities would not exist.But even if we step back from the mega cities to the countryside of south-west Scotland where farming and forestry are the main industries, there is still a reliance on oil and the internal combustion engine. Without specialist machinery and lorries, neither forestry nor farming could function.Yet this is also a region which still the same population level today- 150 000- that it had in 1851. With only two small coalfields, the region was not transformed by the industrial revolution. It remained as it had been since the seventeenth century, a rural region supplying urban markets with food.Although its population did grow from the seventeenth to the mid-nineteenth century, that growth was closely linked to the expansion through improvement of the area of productive land combined with specialisation of land use. Sheep and beef cattle were kept on unimproved upland farms, while dairy cattle and arable farming on the improved lowland farms.The process of specialisation of land use began in the seventeenth century with the cattle trade as discussed above. The improvement of arable land to increase crop yields came in the later, from the mid-eighteenth century onwards. The Society of Improvers in the Knowledge of Agriculture, established in 1723, connected the two phases. The Patron of the Society of Improvers was John Dalrymple, the 2nd earl of Stair. Stair was involved in the regions cattle trade. This involvement had been begun before 1682 by his grandfather James Dalrymple. Other landowners from the south-west who were members of the Society of Improvers were George Dunbar of Mochrum, botanist and agricultural improver Alexander Heron of Bargally and Patrick Heron III of Kirroughtrie. The Heron family played a major role in the regional cattle trade over four generations between the through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.John Clerk of Penicuik was leading member of the Society and had strong links with the south-west. His father-in-law was the 3rd earl of Galloway and Clerk represented Whithorn burgh in the pre-Union parliament of Scotland. The 3rd earl of Galloway was another regional landowner who was engaged in the cattle trade by 1682 and this interest was continued by his son, Clerks brother in law. Visiting his brother in law in 1721, Clerk estimated that the regional cattle trade was by then worth 10 000 sterling/year.Before continuing, it should be noted that John Dalrymple the 1st earl of Stair and John Clerk of Pencuik were leading supporters of the Union of 1707. Significantly, via the cattle trade, by then the economy of south-west Scotland had been linked to England/ London for 40 years and even longer if the Ulster Plantation cattle trade connection is included. This background is reflected in John Clerks support for the Union on economic grounds, including the opportunity to increase the trade in black cattle which really were bought and sold for English gold.Although the Society of Improvers did improve the knowledge of agriculture, the shift from the theory to the practice of Improvement did not occur on a wide scale until the later eighteenth century. Patrick Heron IV, for example, was influenced by his brother in law Henry Home (Lord Kames) when he set about improving lands he owned based on directions supplied by Home. Home was a leading figure in the Scottish Enlightenment as was Adam Smith. Having acted as tutor to the 3rd duke of Buccleuch, Smiths theories of economic development influenced the dukes improvements of his extensive lands in eastern Dumfriesshire and the Scottish Borders.But although the duke allowed a textile mill to be established in Langholm and owned a coal mine in Canonbie near the border with England, he did not support further developments. This was partly for political reasons after the French Revolution, since he feared the disruptive and riotous influence of the mill workers and miners on his loyal agricultural tenants. (The miners also poached his game).However it was also the case that Adam Smiths theories of political economy did not involve or anticipate an industrial revolution. For Smith and other political economists of the period, the foundation of commercial society, of the market economy was a fully developed and improved agricultural economy. Once the agricultural economy was fully developed, this would limit the further development of manufactures and economic growth would begin to slow down. Then end result would be a stationary or steady state economy rather than one which continued to grow.One way of looking at the rural south of Scotland is to see it as a region which has followed this model of economic development. From the seventeenth through to the mid-nineteenth century, its economy and population grew as its agricultural infrastructure was developed and improved. But once that process was complete, which effectively it was by the 1840s, there was little scope for further economic growth and so the population peaked in 1851.This failure to grow was not due to a rural population lacking entrepreneurial skills. Local farmers son John Kennedy was one of several young men from the region who became pioneers of the industrial revolution in north-west England. Kennedy established Manchesters largest steam powered cotton spinning factory in the 1790s and went on to become a promoter of the Liverpool and Manchester railway, acting as a judge at the Rainhill locomotive trials on the railway in 1829. Among his friends were both James Watt and George Stephenson..Kennedys partner James McConnell was a tenant farmers son who grew up near Kennedy. McConnell married Mary Houldsworth. Both brothers were also cotton spinners. One stayed in Manchester, but Henry Houldsworth moved to Glasgow in 1799 and set up a steam powered cotton spinning mill and textile machine making business there.Then in 1836, Henry Houldsworth and his brother bought Coltness estate in Lanarkshire for 80 000. The estate was sold to the brothers by James Steuart. His father, political economist James Steuart, and grandfather had been members of the Society of Improvers in the 1740s and Coltness was a fully improved estate.What attracted the Houldsworths, however, was that beneath the improved fields lay extensive reserves of coal and ironstone. After buying the estate, Henry set up an ironworks which had nine furnaces by 1846.Coltness was only one of 15 ironworks in north Lanarkshire. In 1830 these had an output of 40 000 tons/year. Output then grew rapidly to 240 000 tons/year by 1840 and 560 000 tons/year by 1848. By then all the reserves of ironstone in Lanarkshire had either been bought up or leased. This prompted Henry Houldsworth to look for other areas where coal and ironstone were found together.The Doon valley in Ayrshire was one of the few areas meeting this specification which had not yet been exploited. In 1847 Houldsworth set up the Dalmellington Iron Company in the upper Doon valley. The first pig iron was cast in 1848, but there was no railway link to the iron works until 1856. All the iron cast had to be carried by horse and wagon to the railway and docks at Ayr.Like most roads at the time, the road to Ayr was a toll road. The extra cost of the tolls and road transport threatened the profitability of iron produced at Dalmellington. Fortunately Houldsworths son in law James Murray began investing in the new company in 1851 (eventually becoming its largest shareholder) which allowed production to continue until the railway from Ayr finally reached Dalmellington.Murray was able to invest in the iron company after inheriting a share in his familys cotton spinning business in Manchester. This had been set up by his father Adam and uncle George Murray. The Murray brothers had been born in New Galloway, 20 miles south of Damellington and close to where John Kennedy and James McConnell had been born. Like Kennedy and McConnell, Adam and George Murray had left the region as teenagers in the 1780s to become apprentices in a textile machine making business near Bolton. The business was owned by William Cannan, James McConnells uncle.Given the close business and family ties between cotton manufactures and iron masters, it was only an accident of geology which separated the economic history of Dalmellington from that of New Galloway. The Southern Upland Fault line runs between the two small settlements. To the north of the Fault coal and iron existed, to the south they did not.On the other hand, unlike the Coltness and other iron works in north Lanarkshire which encouraged the growth of Wishaw, Motherwell, Coatbridge and Airdrie which now form an eastern extension of the Glasgow urban agglomeration, the Dalmellington iron works and its associated coal mines remained an isolated enclave of industry in a rural and agricultural landscape. The neighbouring coalfield in the upper Nith valley likewise did not stimulate urban growth, nor did the Canonbie coalfield to the south-east.In fact, my home town, Castle Douglas, a planned rural market town established in 1791, has a higher population at 4000 than Dalmellington -1500- and Patna -2400- in the industrialised Doon valley.On the other side of the Solway Firth, in west Cumberland, coal mining was developed in the seventeenth century to supply Dublin with coal. In the nineteenth century, iron ore from west Cumberland was used in steelmaking both in the region and beyond. Whitehaven and Workington both have about 25 000 residents and Maryport 12 000. If Tudor period copper mining and the Sellafield nuclear complex are included, the region has been an industrial one for about 450 years, but the only city in the area is Carlisle which has its origins as administrative and military centre.Comparing population densities, Dumfries and Galloway on the north of the Solway Firth has 60 people/square mile, while Cumbria to the south has 190 people/square mile. The two regions are similar in size- Dumfries and Galloway 2481 square miles, Cumbria 2613 square miles and share a similar geography which combines better quality farmland in lowland areas with poor quality farmland in their respective uplands. The difference in population densities is therefore most likely to be a result of Cumbrias industrial history and the exploitation of its coal and iron ore reserves.The raises some interesting questions. If Cumbria had lacked coal and iron ore, would its pattern of development have more closely resembled that of Dumfries and Galloway? And, now that the iron ore has gone and coal mining has stopped, has Cumbria arrived at a stationary state?At the global level there is still coal and oil and iron ore available so in theory we should be some way off from reaching a global stationary state. On the other, since 2008 the global economy has been in the doldrums. Even China which had become the workshop of the world is struggling.On the other other hand, if there is a return to growth and more coal, oil and gas start getting burned again, global warming will continue and climate change will continue to the point where it brings growth to end through food shortages and disruption of essential infrastructure.If there is no return to growth, where does that leave capitalism? Without coal as a fuel source and without steam engines as a power source, the stationary state would have strangled capitalism at birth. The conflicts between using land for food, land for fodder and land for fuel would have been insurmountable.In the pre-industrial period, Londons rapid growth in the seventeenth century depended on coal from north-east England replacing wood as a domestic fuel and in the manufacture of bricks and glass- with demand stimulated by the reconstruction of London after the Great Fire in 1666.Freed from the constraints imposed by reliance of wood as fuel, the citys increasing demand for food provided a stimulus for the improvement of farming, drawing on the best practice of farmers in the Netherlands to increase output. The disruption these changes caused to the traditional pattern of farming led to migration of poor young people (average age 20) to London where wages were higher than in the countryside. This influx created a market/ demand for large quantities of basic manufactured goods in contrast to the situation in more traditional cities where craft manufactures produced low quantity high value goods for a wealthy elite.But while the growth of London would have been possible, if more difficult, if supplied with firewood by fleets of ships from the Baltic rather than Newcastle, the growth of Manchester and its cotton industry would not.Manchester was not originally a manufacturing town. Until 1780 it developed as a trading and warehousing centre for textiles produced by hand, water and even horse power produced in surrounding areas. The most of the textiles were then sent by road or water to Liverpool for onward distribution.In the seventeenth century, the East India Company began importing cotton textiles from India. Lighter, more colourful and easily washable than linen or wool textiles, cotton became very popular. Pressure from the linen and wool industry led to bans on the import of cotton calicos between 1690 and 1721, when even the sale of fine cotton textiles was prohibited. Cottons produced for export were also exempt. The ban was lifted in 1774, but then replaced with import duties on cotton from India.The effect of the Calico acts and the import duties was to give British cotton makers protection from competition with imported finished cotton. Between 1740 and 1780, mechanised water and horse powered cotton spinning mills were built. The mechanised process produced stronger and finer cotton thread than hand spinning could. Stronger thread was needed because traditional British weaving techniques were based on stronger linen and wool threads. Weaving was not successfully mechanised until the early nineteenth century.As a new industry in Britain, cotton fitted well with the new economic and social system of capitalism. Since the market for indigenous cotton products was growing at the expense of traditional wool and linen products, capital could be and was profitably invested in a new water-powered cotton spinning mill.But capitalism was also an economic treadmill. Once set up and running, the flow of profits from a new water-powered cotton mill could be reduced if a rival cotton spinner opened an even newer mill with more efficient spinning machines or found some other ways to cut the cost of production.Water-spinning mills also needed a good supply of water. This created a problem. Even if there was a good supply of water in a town, finding the space for a new large development was more expensive since land-values were higher in towns. But in the countryside, where land was cheaper and good flows of water more easily available, it was necessary to building housing for the new workforce. This was done and new villages and towns sprang up alongside the water-spinning mills.The problem of water and labour supply made it difficult to increase production from water-spinning mills. To get around this problem, Richard Arkwright, a pioneer of water-powered mechanical spinning, set up the first cotton spinning mill in Manchester in 1783. Arkwrights plan was to use an atmospheric steam engine to power the new works, but this did not work. Instead he had to use a Boulton and Watt steam engine to pump water from a lower to a higher reservoir to keep a water wheel turning. This was not a very efficient process.However, within ten years, the direct application of steam power to cotton spinning mills was improved and Manchesters growth as a manufacturing town took off. The shift to coal-fuelled steam engines liberated cotton-spinning from reliance on water power. If improved machinery e more power, a more powerful steam engine could easily be installed. If more workers were needed, they could be recruited from the town.Since Manchester had been connected by canal to nearby coal mines in 1765, there was no need to import large volumes of timber from distant regions, thus another constraint on its growth was avoided. Then, as discussed above, the Liverpool and Manchester railway broke through another growth-limit by applying steam power to the citys transport links.A further development, and one which led to Manchesters leading role in the free-trade movement, was the campaign against the Corn laws which were repealed in 1845. To benefit farmers and landowners, the price of wheat was kept high by restricting imports. Capitalist manufacturers believed this was damaging to them, since it meant wages had to be higher to prevent workers starving.However, although the UK was in favour of free-trade, other countries were less keen. Without putting up tariff barriers, their new manufacturing industries struggled to compete with cheap British goods, just as the British textile industry had struggled against imports of Indian cotton a century earlier.So although Germany and other European nations as well as the USA did become part of a global capitalist economic and social system, to begin with they relied on a mixture of direct and indirect state support for their industries until they could compete with the UK.In other words, the development of industrial capitalism in Britain stimulated its development in other countries which risked seeing their traditional industries destroyed by competition from Britains new industries.However, without the ability to substitute coal for other sources of energy, if Britain had had to rely on renewable and sustainable sources of energy, the constraints imposed by reliance on those energy sources would have led to a stationary state rather than rapid growth.On the other hand, the problem of firewood shortages would still have encouraged the use of coal as a substitute heat source in other countries. The military use of iron for cannons and muskets would have encouraged the use of coke instead of charcoal in the iron industry. However, as happened in France in 1777, when William Wilkinson set up an iron works to make cannon, industrial development would have been more likely state led.Without the stimulus of private enterprise, the shift to coal as an energy source would have been slower, but once states realised the importance of coal as a strategic national resource it would have been developed and exploited.If the shift to coal might have been slower, a possible knock on effect would have been a delay in the advent of oil as a global energy source. This in turn would -potentially- have given us more time to recognise the danger of global warming and climate change, especially if state-led industrialisation took place at a slower rate.It is difficult to imagine any scenario in which the south-west of Scotland could have become an urban rather than a rural area. Likewise, for London to have remained a small town rather than becoming a huge city, millions of tons of coal would have to have stayed under the ground in north-east England for the past 400 years.On the other hand, even before the first cotton factories were constructed there, Manchester had already developed from a village into a town by acting as a warehousing centre for traditional textile making. Coal was consumed in Manchester before 1780, but as a substitute for firewood, not as an energy source for steam engines.Manchester is where Friedrich Engels and through Engels, Karl , discovered the proletariat in 1842. As Engels put it in the Introduction to The Condition of the Working Class in EnglandEngels arrived in Manchester in November 1842. In August 1842 the city had been at the centre of the first attempt at a General Strike. The strike had been supported by the Chartists National Executive which was meeting in Manchester at the same time. Leading Chartist Peter McDouall from Newton Stewart in Galloway had proposed this move. The fear that the economic demands of the strikers and the political demands of the Chartists would converge to create a revolutionary crisis saw troops rushed to Manchester by train suppress the strike before this could happen.For Engels these events seemed to confirm what Georg Hegel had concluded in his 1832 essay on the English Reform Bill- that the tension between the UKs archaic political system and its advanced economy was so acute that attempts to reform the political system could lead to a revolution.But there was no revolution. Instead of the condition of the English working class deteriorating, it gradually improved. It improved because the advent of the stationary state, which would have forced wages down and food prices up was indefinitely postponed.In 1839 the UK produced 31 million tons of coal. By 1913 this had risen to 287 million tons. In 1841 the population of the UK was 27 million, By 1911 it was 47 million. The rise in coal production and therefore the energy available vastly outstripped the rise in population. This reversed the Malthusian equation where population growth would always outstrip food production.People cannot eat coal, but the extra wealth generated by the coal economy as it trickled down was enough to keep revolution at bay.1913 marked the peak output of the UK coal industry and of the UKs status as a leading world power. The UKs eclipse as a great power continued through the twentieth century. The great manufacturing industries of Victorian Britain decayed. The Labour government elected in 1974 had bold plans to use the wealth of the newly discovered North Sea oil reserves to regenerate manufacturing industry but by the time the benefits of the North Sea started to flow, Margaret Thatcher was in power and they were squandered.No longer an energy rich nation, the future of the UK seems to be one of endless austerity, of increasing impoverishment. At the same time, we are beginning to see the real price of economic growth based on coal and oil as climate change moves from future threat to present danger.It is difficult to salvage any optimism from our current situation, let alone the future. For the past 300 years, growth has been seen as the route to prosperity and the challenge for more enlightened thinkers and activists has been how to ensure the benefits of that prosperity are more equally distributed rather than constantly creamed off by an elite.But if further growth is now physically impossible since its benefits will be eaten up by even more severe climate change, what is to be done?Some forty years ago it might have been possible to manage the transition to a carbon-neutral society and economy based on renewable / sustainable energy sources. Today and tomorrow it is much harder to do this since the major economic and social changes required will have to take place at the same time as food production and essential infrastructure are being destabilised by climate change.What is required is a massive cultural shift, a social revolution such that it would be, for example, unthinkable to invest in airport expansion instead of railways, road-bridges rather than hydro-electric schemes, nuclear power plants rather than wind farms and solar energy.Unfortunately as yet there is little evidence that such a revolution is anywhere at hand.
News

VIDEO: Sheikh Sultan inspects progress of 'Hanging Gardens' project

Sheikh Sultan was briefed on the plans for the remaining stages in the implementation of the project, which extends over an area of one and a half million square feet, listening to the progress of work and the most important completed and remaining stages.
Living amidst violence rapidly constricting hope for a safer, sustainable, more equitable, and happier community and nation, what is to be done?There's more to be done than I can envision or perhaps even imagine. People who suffer -- whether for being different, for trying to control their bodies, for randomly encountering some gun fetishist, from climate disruption, or simply for lacking cash -- need to be cared for. In some places and moments, some people have to raise a ruckus in the streets.But also, what experience with actual, existing U.S. political power has taught me: in the mid-term elections in the fall of 2022, there are some contests that are vital. Here is a useful list of articles to help you figure out which elections are most important.Or hit me up about volunteer and paid opportunities to join campaigns in Nevada, Arizona and Pennsylvania: jan.uhreno@gmail
This is a zine dedicated death/grind, deathcore, grindcore, melodic death metal and death metal with a blackended edge for more info contact hatredmeanswar@yahoo.com, check out the new zine http://ExtremeMetalZine.blogspot.com
This was passed along from Bob B. and also credit to Kevin Sorbo. For me When the State tells you its safe to go to Home Depot to buy a ...
Alaska Airlines will restore some of the service it cut from the Helena market.

Delta Airlines will also be phasing out its 50-seat aircraft in favor of 65-seat jets that will offer nine seats in a first-class section.

Neither airline asked Helena Regional Airport for revenue guarantees or other financial assurances as a condition for expanding service, said Jeff Wadekamper, the airports director.

Revenue guarantees are often sought to reduce the financial risk to an airline. Wadekamper attributed the lack of need for them to the airlines experience with the market here.

Alaska Airlines' move to add flights to Helena comes after a decision last year to discontinue its late-night flight from Seattle to Helena that made the return trip early the next morning.

The airline kept a midday flight into Helena but eliminated the stop-over in Great Falls for a direct flight to Seattle.

The loss of the late-night flight drew concern from those who used it to commute to Seattle for work in the morning and return to Helena on the night flight.

Travel consultants also noted that the morning flight allowed vacationers and travelers to connect with flights in Seattle, while the afternoon flight forced them to spend the night there before connecting with morning flights to their final destination.

Wadekamper said he didn't know what date in June the Alaska Airlines expanded service would begin, but said the airlines night flight would arrive on Monday, Wednesday and Friday with early morning departures on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Im glad Alaska was willing to do this, Wadekamper said.

While airport officials here have spoken with Alaska Airlines on the importance of the evening inbound and early morning outbound flight, Wadekamper said community members also expressed their support for it.

At the end of the day, theyre going to make their decision based on their customers, he added.

Restoration of the night and early morning flights on a limited basis comes after Alaska Airlines offered the flight during December and early January to meet holiday demand.

During December 2015 compared to the same month in 2014, the airline saw 30 percent more passengers, Wadekamper said.

Alaska Airlines passenger numbers were up 14 percent in January compared to the same month in 2015, he added.

Alaska Airlines flies a Q400 turboprop that has 76 seats, and its midday flights had seen between 75 percent and 85 percent of the seats filled, according to airport data.

When an airline has a load factor (occupied seats) of 85 percent, Wadekamper said previously, its basically out of seats and can lose customers who cant get the number of seats needed.

This is also a point where an airport may see those seeking flights look to other nearby airports to meet their needs.

The larger Delta aircraft will be used on the evening flight arriving from Salt Lake City and the early morning departure for the return trip, Wadekamper said.

The Delta midday flight on Saturday that arrives at 12:30 p.m. and departs at 1:05 p.m. will also use the larger CJR700 aircraft, he added.

The slightly larger Delta flight serving Salt Lake City restores first-class seating that has been absent on this route since about 2002, Wadekamper said.

The Delta flight from Helena to Minneapolis, which seats 76 people, offers first-class seating.

The airport here has been in discussions with Delta for a while on the need for aircraft with more seats to meet demand, Wadekamper said of the Salt Lake City route, adding I think we can really use the seats.

The Delta flight to Salt Lake City had between 85 percent and 95 percent of its seats filled.

While the airline industry is looking toward a two-year phase-out of the 50-seat aircraft, Wadekamper said hes pleased to see Helena included at the front of that timetable.

The slightly larger aircraft are more fuel efficient and allow the costs of the flight to be spread out among more passengers, Wadekamper said.

These larger jets also have the ability to fly farther, which can be important if an aircraft is unable to land at its destination because of weather issues and must be diverted to another airport.
Helena Outdoor Club presents 'Connections in South Africa'

Join Dayna and Thomas Baumeister today, Feb. 11, at 7 p.m. as they tell of their recent adventures in Botswana and South Africa. This Helena Outdoor Club program is being held at the Montana Wild auditorium, 2668 Broadwater Ave.

As part of a two-year immersion program at Arizona State University, they brought a group of students from around the globe to the cradle of humanity and the wilds of Africa to explore human/nature connections and experience life up close and personal. In this presentation, they will share their impressions of what it was like to fall asleep under the wide open savanna sky in company of some of the wildest things still roaming the continent all the while pondering what it means to be human.

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Charter Oak Mine ski, snowshoe set

Join the Montana Discovery Foundation for an afternoon excursion on Sunday, Feb. 14, from noon to 3 p.m. into the Charter Oak mill and mine site for an easy ski or snowshoe. Beginning at the Little Blackfoot River Road we will take a trek along the Little Blackfoot River. Charter Oak was a lode mine and mill active off and on from 1916 to the 1970s and is one of the few intact sites of that era remaining that is available for touring. The historical buildings and equipment standout in the winter months, offering unique opportunities for sight-seeing and photography.

To get there, travel west from Helena on U.S. Highway 12 for 22 miles to the Little Blackfoot River turnoff (Forest Road 227). Turn south of the highway and continue 2.9 miles until the road forks. Follow the right fork for 1.3 miles. There will be a marked parking lot on the left hand side of the road. The Montana Discovery Foundation can supply snowshoes if needed. Call in advance for reservations or more information at 495-3711.

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Smith River float applications accepted through Feb. 18

Montana State Parks reminds the public that applications to float the Smith River in 2016 are now available. Applications will be accepted through Thursday, Feb. 18, with the permit drawing results announced on Thursday, March 3.

Permits are required to float the 59-mile section of river between Camp Baker and Eden Bridge and are issued each year through a lottery. Parties of up to 15 people can float with one permit. A person applying for a Smith River permit must be a minimum of 12 years of age at the time they submit their permit application. There are no age restrictions to participate on a Smith River float trip.

Applicants will pay a $10 dollar nonrefundable permit application fee. Permit lottery results will be available online on at stateparks.mt.gov. Successful applicants will also be notified through the mail. Those who receive a permit will pay the appropriate float fees at Camp Baker just prior to launching.

Apply online now through the FWP Automated Licensing System.

Download and print out a paper application and instructions (stateparks.mt.gov/smith-river/). Mail completed application to the address on the form.

Pick up a paper application at any FWP office.

For more information about Smith River State Park visit: stateparks.mt.gov/smith-river/.

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Celebrate 'Winter Trails Day'

Join the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest on Saturday, Feb. 20, to celebrate Winter Trails Day at Elkhorn Hot springs north of Polaris.

There will be ranger-led ski and snowshoe tours in the Elkhorn area departing from the Elkhorn cabin at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Participants can enjoy a cup of cocoa and warm up at the Elkhorn cabin and when done with their activities, can go enjoy a soak at the Elkhorn Hot Springs.

Bring your cross country skis or snowshoes (there are limited number of childrens snowshoes available for borrowing), warm winter clothes and boots and your enthusiasm for enjoying the winter wonderland.

For more information contact Matt Walter at 406-683-3958, mwalter@fs.fed.us, or Jesse Salix at 406-683-3947, jsalix@fs.fed.us.

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New program offers tax credits to landowners

Landowners have until March 15 to submit applications to Fish, Wildlife, & Parks for enrollment in a new program called Unlocking Public Lands that may qualify a landowner for up to $3,000 in annual tax credits. Through this program, a landowner who enters into a contractual agreement with FWP to allow public recreational access across private land to reach a parcel of otherwise inaccessible state or federal Bureau of Land Management or United States Forest Service land is entitled to receive a $750 annual tax credit per contract, with a maximum of four contracts per year.

The Unlocking Public Lands program is a product of the 2015 Legislature, which expanded a program called Unlocking State Land passed by the previous legislature. While Montana contains nearly 31 million acres of BLM, USFS, and state land, much of this land requires landowner permission to cross private land to reach the state or federal land.

More information about the program, including enrollment criteria and the application form, can be found at http://fwp.mt.gov/hunting/hunterAccess/unlockingPublicLands/.

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2016 open water contests approved

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks has approved the following Region 4 open water fishing contests for 2016. Participants must comply with state fishing regulations, including daily and possession limits. Most contests require catch-and-release fishing and participants in these contests may not keep any fish.

Information on the approved fishing contests can be found on FWP's webpage at fwp.mt.gov; click "Fishing" then click "Fishing Contests". Look for "2016 Approved Open Water Fishing Contests at the bottom of the page.

Region 4

Broadwater Rod and Gun Walleye Derby on July 16 at Canyon Ferry Reservoir

Camp-Make-A-Dream Walleye Benefit on Aug. 13 at Canyon Ferry Reservoir

Canyon Ferry Carp Safari on June 11 at Canyon Ferry Reservoir

Canyon Ferry Walleye Festival on June 25-26 at Canyon Ferry Reservoir

Father's Day Fish Derby on June 19 at Newlan Creek Reservoir

Fort Benton Spring Classic Fishing Derby on May 20-22 at Missouri River, Marias River, Teton River

John Arnold Fish Derby on Aug. 27 at Hauser Reservoir

Tiber Walleye Tournament on June 11-12 at Tiber Reservoir, Lake Elwell
In a room packed with wolverine legal experts, U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen may have had the best brief. He actually saw the rare carnivore on three separate occasions.

I dont know what the odds are of seeing a wolverine three times, Christensen told the attorneys, but theres no reason for any of you to explain its a member of the weasel family with large feet that eats marmots. Ive seen that.

Christensen added he also had read the scientific reports on the wolverines habitat and population, was aware of how elusive the animal is and how hard it is to study. What he wanted to know in the case of Center for Biological Diversity et. al. v. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell was whether an agency decision denying Endangered Species Act protection to wolverines was reasonable or arbitrary.

The oral arguments Tuesday came from Tim Preso and Matthew Bishop representing CBD, Conservation Northwest, Friends of the Clearwater, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Idaho Conservation League, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center and Rocky Mountain Wild, and U.S. Department of Justice attorney Trent Crable representing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service along with a table of lawyers for the states of Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, farm bureaus from all those states, two Colorado snowmobile clubs and the American and Montana Petroleum Institutes.

Everybody in the Missoula courtroom agreed about 300 wolverines remain in the continental U.S., mostly in Montana. And they agreed that a 2011 study by Rocky Mountain Research Station scientist Kevin McKelvey was a solid block of evidence showing how climatic changes would affect where wolverines can live.

What they disputed was whether McKelveys study was enough to warrant federal protection for wolverines. The Fish and Wildlife Service decided it wasnt, and ruled there was not sufficient evidence that wolverines might near extinction without agency action. Preso and Bishop argued there was, noting FWS used the same research in a draft decision granting wolverines protection in 2013, only to reverse course and deny it in the final decision a year later.

Were not asking the court to choose our preferred science over the agencys preferred science, Preso said. Were asking if the agency made a rational decision.

Preso said FWS must use the best available science in determining a species' fate. In addition to discounting the McKelvey climate study, he said the agency ignored other established biological principles showing species are at risk when their population gets below around 50 breeding-age females. Wolverines have an estimated 36 breeding-age females in the continental U.S., which could lead to inbreeding, loss of genetic diversity and inadequate reproduction.

In the governments case, Crable countered that the McKelvey study wasnt enough to demand agency action.

We must have sufficient information to form a reliable opinion, Crable said. Thats why the agency withdrew its ruling -- there wasnt sufficient evidence to make a reliable prediction of the foreseeable future.

So the same people who drafted the listing proposal had to draft the exact opposite position? Christensen asked. That must have been difficult for them, if not demoralizing.

Crable replied that other FWS scientists believed the climate models in the McKelvey study werent accurate enough to predict wolverine habitat out to 2085, as the study attempted to do.

The most sophisticated study available is not necessarily enough for a listing to answer that last, most important question, Crable said. The service cant make a listing based on speculation. The burden of proof is on the agency to show why it is appropriate to list. And the modeling just isnt good enough.

When attorney Wayne DAngelo got up to speak for the American Petroleum Institute and Montana Petroleum Institute, Christensen asked why his clients thought they had a dog in the fight. DAngelo replied they worried they might face exploration limits if the wolverine got new federal protection. And theres no reason to list it, DAnglo argued, because after being nearly exterminated in the 1930s, wolverines have shown steady population growth to their current 300 census.

And thats happened at a time of higher threats from trapping and climate change, he said. The best available evidence is it will continue on.

In his rebuttal, Preso said claims that wolverine numbers were increasing was just the kind of speculation FWS said it didnt want to use.

The service cant point to undocumented conclusions as a panacea to well-documented problems and say, Population growth will take care of it,  Preso said. Our knowledge of these animals is so lacking or based on sparse data that drastic changes (in population) could go unnoticed for years because of lack of monitoring.

Crable retorted that the FWS decision wasnt a coin-flip between equally compelling evidence.

We have one study backed up by past work saying this is what we think will happen in 75 years, Crable said. We say thats not good enough. Thats not flipping a coin. Thats making a decision.
How far America has strayed from the founding of America. Many of the men who led during those turbulent times were either Christians or had extensive knowledge of the Bible and its teaching, and acknowledged that the rights of man came from God, not the government.

As I have read editorials against Mr. Gianforte, many seem to stem from the fact that he is a Christian and that he is rich. His success goes against the liberal idea that one cannot become rich without government help, which Mr. Gianforte has done. From what I have read, it was done honestly.

Second, some do not believe that Christians should be governor because they cannot separate religion from politics. They are right. A real Christian cannot. He will act under what is known as treat your neighbor as you would want to be treated. Yet he also knows the 10 Commandments. The first ones place in his mind that he has an eternal God to face, and his actions are to honor Him. The second half makes him know that he has a responsibility towards his fellow man. The rules of conduct are summed up neatly here: Dont lie, dont steal, dont 

I do not know Mr. Gianforte, but if he lives a Christian life as governor maybe things will change for the better in Montana because he has led by example.

Charlie P. Hull Jr.

East Helena
During a trip to the Dominican Republic a couple years ago, I passed some downtime learning how to play poker with a friend.

Im not a gambler; I swore off gambling for money forever after I lost $7 in a poker game as a freshman in college (true story). But we were bored, and there was no money involved, so he took the time to teach me.

One of the first techniques my friend taught me was to not overplay a good hand. When youve got something you know you can use to win, you dont tip your hand to your opponents by making extravagant bets. You keep your head down and allow your opponents to think they can beat you. Then you take their money.

This same strategy often applies to relationships between business and lawmakers. Martin Shkreli, the former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, has been in the news because he and his former company are responsible for raising the price of Daraprim, a drug that treats a deadly condition called toxoplasmosis, from $13.50 per dose to $750 per dose. Typically only HIV-positive patients and pregnant women face this illness, so the outrage in the face of this price hike is very easy to understand.

But did you know that CorePharma, the company that sold Daraprim to Turing, bought the drug from its original manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline, and hiked the price overnight from $1 per pill to $13.50 per pill, an increase of 1,250 percent? Where was the outrage then?

It turns out an increase of $736.50 draws a bit more attention than an increase of $12.50. By overplaying his hand, Shkreli managed to get the American people to do something unthinkable; he got the public to agree with Congress. Make no mistake, even I wanted to reach through my computer screen and wipe that stupid smile right off the bums face.

But Im actually pleased that Shkreli was a jerk to lawmakers. People in the pharmaceutical industry are terrified because they hate the extra scrutiny. If this ordeal results in meaningful regulation that brings more transparency to health care pricing strategies, affords consumers more leverage in their dealings with drug companies and hospitals, and brings meaningful change in the way generic drugs are regulated, this can be good.

To be clear, I want more power in the hands of consumers. I do not want more power in the hands of government. Meaningful regulation is key. Yes, there is corporate avarice. But lets not pretend that people like Shkreli and companies like Turing dont thrive unless theres a regulatory environment that facilitates price gouging. Shkreli and Turing are creatures of a screwy system comprised of what the New Yorker called an ungainly combination of dizzyingly high prices, mysterious corporate bargaining, and occasional charitable acts  which is to say, it sounded not so much different from the rest of our medical system. Congress and the FDA made the rules. They can change them.

Daraprim is an orphan drug, a moniker given to medicines that treat extremely uncommon illnesses. Given the exorbitant costs of developing a drug and releasing it to the public  Forbes estimated the true cost of bringing a single new drug to market to be between $4.5 billion and $12 billion (dizzyingly high prices)  is it any wonder that no drug company would want to invest in development of orphan drugs?

So, the FDA offers incentives in the form of government grants and a term of exclusivity of marketing rights  an artificial monopoly  to drug companies that take the time. Theyve been doing this since the 1980s.

The interesting part is that Daraprims artificial monopoly was supposed to have ended decades ago, but given the drugs previous rock-bottom prices, it lives on. No drug company saw an incentive to spend millions of dollars to create a viable, FDA-approved generic competitor that would have to sell for less than $1 per pill in a market with fewer than 15,000 total prescriptions per year.

This is a win-win for Turing. The company avoids all the research and development costs associated with bringing the drug to market (win), and because Turing holds a de facto monopoly, it can charge whatever it thinks the market will bear (win). And because most of our health care costs are shelled out by insurance companies (mysterious corporate bargaining), the market bears a lot.

Turing charitably made a commitment to deliver the drug to whoever needed it regardless of cost, probably in an attempt to save face. The fact remains, however, that after getting a prescription, a consumer is still going to have to face the stress of navigating a corporate bureaucracy in order to elicit a charitable act(!) while simultaneously dealing with a potentially fatal disease. Some charity.

The root causes of this outrage are the same ones that afflict our health care system. Rules that make medical pricing strategy more transparent, that afford consumers more leverage in negotiations with massive health care companies and that change the way generic drugs are regulated will be a good place to start.

For now, Im just happy Shkreli overplayed his hand.
MATTOON -- Life is full of complications that can lead to students taking an indirect route to completing their higher education, Millikin University President Patrick White said.

Some students may come close to earning an associate degree but then need to take time off from their studies due to family commitments or other reasons, White said. They might later earn a bachelor's or other higher degrees without having finished their associate, he said.

White said Decatur-based Millikin's new reverse transfer agreement with Lake Land College in Mattoon is aimed at helping students in this situation fully utilize all of the educational experiences that can potentially be on their resume.

"We are very excited about this (agreement). It is very innovative, and it is very special," White said Wednesday at Lake Land's main campus. He was there to help announce the agreement and sign this document with Lake Land President Josh Bullock.

The reverse transfer agreement allows credits completed at Millikin, a private university, to be transferred back to the students Lake Land transcript to complete requirements for an associate degree at the public community college. The agreement takes effect during the 2016-17 academic year,

Bullock said the agreement also will help Lake Land students feel free to transfer to Millikin without having earned their associate first, because there is now an opportunity for them to finish this degree later.

The two schools noted that students enrolled at Millikin who previously attended Lake Land, or are currently enrolled at this college and acquired a minimum of 32 credit hours, may be eligible for reverse transfer credit toward an associate's at Lake Land.

For Lake Land students admitted to and enrolled at Millikin with a minimum of 32 transfer credits, the university will notify those students who previously attended Lake Land but never completed their associate about the agreement.

Bullock said a cursory initial review of student records has already identified a handful of students who are eligible to utilize the reverse transfer agreement.

"We think there are a lot more who are out there who might be able to benefit," Bullock said.

Bullock said the reverse transfer agreement with Millikin is Lake Land's second agreement of this kind, the first being a January 2015 agreement with Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.

Millikin and Richland Community College announced a reverse transfer agreement in September.

More information about the agreement is available by contacting Lake Lands admissions and records office at (217) 234-5434, admissions@lakelandcollege.edu, or lakelandcollege.edu/admissions. Millikins registration office can be contacted at (217) 424-6217 or millikin.edu/registrar.
Richland Community College has insured it will be well-administered after President Gayle Saunders retires at the end of the month.

The college board has decided to name Chuck Novak to be the colleges interim president. Novak is familiar with Richland; Saunders replaced him he retired in 2001. Board Chairman Bruce Campbell said the search for Saunders permanent replacement will continue while Novak fills the role on an interim basis.

He has a great appreciation for Richland, Campbell said. He is well-known in the community, and its a natural fit.

The college is well-positioned to make a transition. Saunders has left the college on firm ground. During her tenure, the college has been known for a lot of things, but perhaps the most significant is how quickly it responds to the needs of the community.

All higher education institutions in Illinois face an uncertain future, primarily because of the states financial problems. But Richland is in better shape than most.

Novak, 73, should be adept at working through the financial issues. Most recently he has been working with the city of Du Quoin as a special project consultant after starting last spring as interim finance director. Once a permanent financial director was named, Du Quoin Mayor Guy Alongi said his duties were expanded. Novak calls Du Quoin home, but said he is excited to return to Decatur for the interim position.

Novak has dealt with the fallout from the states budget issues while working with Du Quoin and is well respected in both financial and educational circles in the state.

Meanwhile, Saunders is winding down a successful 15 years at the helm of Richland. Her last official day will be Feb. 29, with her last board meeting to be held Tuesday. Saunders has been a valued leader both off and on and college campus. She has indicated she will remain connected to the Decatur area.

Campbell said details of the search process are being finalized and no deadlines have been established. The board is being assisted with the national search process by the Association of Community College Trustees.

While Saunders leadership will undoubtedly be missed, the community should rest easy that the board is working diligently on a national search to find a worthy replacement.

In the meantime, it seems clear that the board has found an interim president that will be able to keep the search process, maintain the momentum that Richland has established and deal well with the financial issues facing all community colleges in the state.
SPRINGFIELD  The ongoing budget impasse between Democrats and Republicans in Illinois was front of mind for many lawmakers Wednesday as they listened to President Barack Obamas address to the General Assembly about building a better politics.

Obama didnt offer specifics for resolving the deadlock, now in its eighth month, but speaking of the national political environment more generally, he said that members of either party boasting of their refusal to compromise as an accomplishment in and of itself prevents actual accomplishments  like fixing roads, educating kids, passing budgets, cleaning our environment, making our streets safe.

It remains to be seen whether those words will have any effect on the current situation in Springfield.

State Sen. Andy Manar, a Bunker Hill Democrat who was on the Senate Democratic staff when Obama was in the legislature, said only time will tell.

He offered valuable perspective to all of us here in this moment that we find ourselves in, with an impasse  a historic impasse  that is harming lives across Illinois, Manar said.

State Sen. Jason Barickman, a Bloomington Republican, said the presidents push for compromise and civility is a healthy and necessary message in todays politics, especially in Illinois.

But its also an opportunity for us to remind ourselves that actions speak louder than words, Barickman said. Here in Illinois, as Republicans, were in the minority. We feel as though weve offered compromises on all the issues facing our state. Weve had very little, if any, interaction from our Democratic counterparts.

State Sen. Dave Luechtefeld, an Okawville Republican who served with Obama and was mentioned in the speech, said he was happy the president came.

He said a lot of good things that both parties agree with: the idea of working together, for instance, to compromise. All that is good, Luechtefeld said. But youve got to make it happen, and he hasnt been able to make a lot of that happen on a national level.

He said House Speaker Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat, continues to block compromise with first-term Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.

State Rep. Sue Scherer, a Decatur Democrat, said she hopes Obamas address can be the start of new efforts to come together, noting that lawmakers seemed more congenial afterward.

He made a good point of starting with what we have in common to work toward figuring out what we disagree on, Scherer said. And I think thats how any negotiation works.
SPRINGFIELD  President Barack Obama returned to Springfield on Wednesday to call on members of the General Assembly to work together toward a less divisive, more civil politics.

The speech, delivered nine years to the day after Obama launched his White House bid on the steps of the Old State Capitol, came amid an unprecedented state budget impasse between first-term Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Democratic-controlled legislature, led by House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton, both of Chicago.

While alluding to the standoff, Obama focused his remarks on the larger issue of the increasing political polarization in Springfield and Washington and across the United States.

The situation we find ourselves in today is not somehow unique or hopeless, he said, speaking in the current Capitol, where he began his political career in 1997 as a state senator from Chicagos South Side. Weve always gone through periods when our democracy seems stuck, and when that happens, we have to find a new way of doing business.

Were in one of those moments. Weve got to build a better politics, one thats less of a spectacle and more of a battle of ideas, one thats less of a business and more of a mission, one that understands the success of the American experiment rests on our willingness to engage all our citizens in this work.

To build that better politics, Obama highlighted four areas where work needs to be done: limiting influence of big money in politics, changing the way congressional districts are drawn, making it easier for voters to register and cast ballots and engaging in more respectful political discourse.

We cant move forward if all we do is tear each other down, he said.

The president said his belief in the importance of bipartisanship and civility has its roots, in part, in his days in the Illinois Senate.

As a newcomer in the then-minority party, Obama had to find ways to work with Republicans if we wanted to accomplish anything. He formed a bond with Kirk Dillard, then a GOP senator from Hinsdale and now chairman of the Chicago-area Regional Transit Authority, with whom he worked on issues such as ethics reform and combating racial profiling.

He also took the time to get to know downstate Republicans away from the Statehouse, playing cards with people like Sens. Dave Luechtefeld of Okawville and Bill Brady of Bloomington.

Away from the glare of TV or the tweets of the GIFs of todays media, what we discovered was that, despite our surface differences  Democrats and Republicans, downstate hog farmers, inner-city African-Americans, suburban businesspeople, Latinos from Pilsen or Little Village  despite those differences, we actually had a lot in common, he said. We cared about our communities. We cared about our families. We cared about America.

We fought hard for our positions. I dont want to be nostalgic here. We voted against each other all the time, and party lines held most of the time. But those relationships, that trust that we built, meant that we came at each debate assuming the best in one another and not the worst.

He added, And we didnt call each other idiots or fascists who were trying to destroy America. Because then wed have to explain why we were playing poker or having a drink with an idiot or a fascist who was trying to destroy America.

Despite Obamas message, there were times when partisan divisions were on full display in the House chamber. For example, Democrats stood and cheered when he mentioned the importance of collective bargaining rights, as did Republicans when he mentioned redistricting reform.

Obama acknowledged his disappointment that partisan discord has gotten worse during his presidency and, hinting at his post-presidential plans, said this work will be a focus of mine over the course of this year and beyond.

Obama arrived aboard Air Force One on Wednesday morning at Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport, where he was greeted by Rauner, among others. The two spoke briefly before the president got into his limo and made his way to the Capitol, after a brief stop for barley soup at The Feed Store, just steps from the Old State Capitol.

Following the speech, the president shook hands with many on the Republican side of the aisle before departing the House chamber.

Upon leaving the Capitol, Obama went to greet at group of about 500 supporters a few blocks away inside the Hoogland Center for the Arts. After that, he was back aboard Air Force One, en route to San Jose, Calif.

With the presidents visit come and gone, what remains is the question of whether his words will have any impact on the partisan atmosphere in Springfield or the states budget impasse, now in its eighth month.
NAVARRE BEACH, Fla.  Dolphins leaping in the sea. Shells glistening on the shore. Perfect miles of white sand beaches that make you happy to be alive.

The treasures of the Florida Panhandle belong to all of us and none of us.

And whether you respond to this place with parties or solitude, its up to you.

The Florida Panhandle, if you look on a map, is actually south of Alabama. It has a southern feel in its pace, attitude and food. Known for huge spring break crowds in March, it also attracts snowbirds in winter and family vacationers in summer. The Panhandle is anchored by Pensacola on the west and Panama City on the east.

Drive it, and you will definitely see some manmade mischief here. There are too many looming, out-of-scale condo towers, too many sprawling shopping centers and way too many chain restaurants, plus the usual assortment of junky gift shops and tattoo parlors. But in my mind, those things cannot ruin natures fine handiwork or the Panhandles charm.

The trick is to pick not only the right time but the right spot for what you want to do. Serious fishing? Base yourself in Destin. A family wanting a beach vacation? I like Pensacola Beach. Privacy? Try Navarre Beach or a planned community like Seaside. Resort your style? Try the Hilton Sandestin. Wild parties and spring break? Panama City Beach, no question.

Panama City Beach is the top destination in the country for spring break, with an estimated 300,000 students descending on the city. Besides the beaches, its draw is the countrys largest nightclub, Club La Vela, and the fact that Florida is a whole lot easier to reach and cheaper than Cancun, Punta Cana or Nassau. The drinking age is 21 in Florida. Panama City Beach is basically 15 miles of bars, jet skis, Ripleys Believe it or Not and condo towers.

But dont think that the Panhandle is one big crazed party. Its not. In fact, Florida has done a great job of ensuring that much of nature is protected on this part of the Gulf Coast so that everyone can enjoy the views, the sand and the sweep of gorgeous beauty Florida is blessed to have.

My favorite spots for that? Opal Beach on the glistening Gulf Islands National Seashore, west of Navarre Beach. Pensacola Beach and its scenic pier. St. Andrews State Park, just east of Panama City Beach. Henderson State Park near Destin. Many state parks here have camping for those who want to be closer to nature than a night club

This region is also home to intriguing sights, chiefly the National Naval Aviation Museum, home to the acrobatic flying team the Blue Angels. The nicely cared for Pensacola historic district has architecture dating back to 1805. Families with young children should try the small Gulf Breeze zoo.

Mostly, though, the Panhandle is all about the beach. It has been given two nicknames, the Redneck Riviera and The Emerald Coast. I guess both are true. You can get fried green tomatoes in the restaurants. Cheese grits are a big thing. A bar straddling the state line with Alabama has a mullet-throwing contest. Emerald Coast? The water here really is clear and crystalline with a natural emerald color not caused by algae or man but by a miracle of nature.

In the Panhandle, like the Florida Keys, the southern-facing beaches mean you get to see the sunrise and the sunset. Not bad.
News that 22 tons of Armenian tomatoes bound for Krasnodar and the Republic of Adygea in Russia had been turned back due to the discovery of the pest the South American Tomato Leaf Miner (Tomato Moth) has been refuted by Armenias Food Safety Service (FSS).

The FSS says Russias Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance subsequently refuted the original tomato ban communique released by its Krasnodar and Adygea branches.

It says the suspected shipment of tomatoes originated from another country.
Three women and five men, all from the Republic of Armenia, have been arrested in connection with the February 6 assault and robbery of an elderly Armenian couple in their apartment in Istanbuls Sisli neighborhood, this according to POSTA com.tr.

87 year-old Hagop Yakup Demirci died from wounds suffered during the robbery and his 79-year-old wife Seta Demirci was hospitalized with cuts and bruises.

After beating the couple, the robbers fled with a large amount of cash and jewelry. The couple were left hogtied in their apartment.

According to Hurriyet Daily News, three of the suspects were captured in Trabzon on February 9 and the other five in Istanbul.

The three burglars arrested in Trabzon were preparing to travel to Batumi with fake identity cards, police sources said, adding that the trio had former criminal records.
Bless our families and our children,

and choose from our homes those who you desire for this holy work.

Heavenly Father,your divine Son taught usto pray to the Lord of the harvestto send laborers into His vineyard.We earnestly beg youto bless our Diocese and our worldwith many priests and religiouswho will love you fervently and gladlyand courageously spend their livesin service to your Son's Church,especially the poor and the needy.Teach them to respond generouslyand keep them ever faithfulin following your Son Jesus Christ,that under the guidance of the HolySpiritand with the inspiration ofSaint Damien and Blessed Mariannethe Good News of redemptionmay be brought to all.We ask this through Christ our Lord.
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.
La Crosse County Republican Party Chairman Bill Feehan disputed the characterization of volunteers from Dane County gathering signatures for county board candidates as unusual during a press conference Wednesday.

The only thing unusual is that the Republican Party is involved at all, Feehan said. The truth is that the Democratic Party has been involved in these races for decades.

Feehan called the press conference in response to a story in Sundays Tribune that reported Jeff Schultz of Madison and Jonathan Minneci of Lodi circulated papers for four and six candidates, respectively, a move called extremely unusual by University of Wisconsin-La Crosse political science professor Joe Heim and unseemly by Steve Doyle, a county supervisor and Democratic member of the Wisconsin Assembly.

Schultz and Minneci both hold positions in the offices of Wisconsin Assembly Republicans, living and working in the Madison area. Feehan argued that the volunteers shouldnt be considered outsiders.

I dispute the fact that Jeff Schultz is an outsider, Feehan said. Jeff is a graduate of (Onalaska) Luther High School and a classmate of (former La Crosse) Mayor (Matt) Harters.

To characterize him as an outsider really ignores that hes a part of our community, Feehan said.

Both Schultz and Minneci have ties to La Crosse through their work on Tony Kurtzs failed congressional bid in 2014, when he took on U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, D-La Crosse.

Feehan said the La Crosse GOP has increased efforts to encourage candidates to run this year in response to previous efforts by local Democrats, which he says have recruited and supported county board candidates for years.

I believe in the First Amendment. Im not saying what the Democrat party did was wrong, Feehan said. They have the freedom to associate in order to elect the candidates to support their views. Im just saying that we have that same right.

Feehan cited a number of county board supervisors  including Monica Kruse, Maureen Freedland, Sharon Hampson and Vicki Burke  who contributed to Doyles Assembly campaign and are members of the La Crosse County Democratic Party. Burke is the chairwoman of the party in La Crosse County.

Sending volunteers out to collect signatures is hardly bare-knuckle politics, Feehan said.

Feehan pointed to 2011 redistricting that pitted him against fellow incumbent Andrea Richmond in a county board election and the resignation of former Supervisor Andrew Londre immediately after the 2014 April election as evidence of La Crosse County Democrats involving themselves in county board politics.

Doyle, who was chairman of the county board that approved the redistricting, denied the accusation of gerrymandering, saying the districts were drawn with neighborhoods in mind.

The numbers are what the numbers are, Doyle said. We had staff draft the districts and told them to do what the law said to do.

Feehan also said the timing of Londres resignation, which took place after Londre moved to a home just outside his districts boundaries days after he was elected to his second term as supervisor, was suspicious.

Members of the board voted against holding an election to elect his replacement, so that leadership  Democrat leadership  could appoint his replacement, Feehan said.

County Board Chairwoman Tara Johnson, who is also a member of the La Crosse County Democratic Party, appointed Nancy Stoll-Caucutt to Londres seat after he resigned less than a week after he was reelected to the county board, rather than hold a special election to determine his replacement. Johnson said the appointment was in line with longstanding board practices.

We have used it at the county board for many, many years very effectively, Johnson said.

Feehan said his party encouraged people to run out of a belief in democracy.

We believe that every voter deserves a choice, Feehan said. We dont believe these seats should go uncontested.

Feehan said he reached out to a number of people to encourage them to run, including Dan Hanson, because thats what serves the community best.

Hanson, however, denied being recruited by Feehan or anyone.

I looked around my neighborhood that Ive lived in for 37 years and decided to run in a nonpartisan race, and one of the people who are running against me got nine signatures out of 80, which concerns me as a citizen, said Hanson, referring to his opponent Amber Hackman.

With no affiliations to any party, Hanson said, he feels trapped between two political machines as he runs against Burke and Hackman.

Another county board candidate, Steve Johnston, who is running against Doyle, said both parties are very guilty of partisan politics.

I would really like to see the county government become more nonpartisan as it should be and committed to serving the taxpayers, Johnston said.

Doyle disputed that characterization, saying he worked very hard to include people of all political affiliations while county board chairman.

Sending volunteers out to collect signatures is hardly bare-knuckle politics. Bill Feehan, La Crosse County

Republican Party chairman
Lucas Daniel Rodriguez, who brought Madison its first Peruvian restaurant, Inka Heritage on Park Street, has now established a fast food restaurant on campus.

Rodriguez opened Estacion Inka on Jan. 21 at 604 University Ave., a location that briefly housed Taco Bros.

Estacion Inka serves traditional Peruvian street food, mainly sandwiches and burgers.

"The location is excellent. It's Downtown, in the middle of the student population," Rodriguez said. "The concept has to be fast here."

Rodriguez said he remembers his college days in Peru, where he had to eat quickly, cheaply, and then continue studying. "That's why I'm focusing on food that could be faster, good quality and at a very good price point, too."

Things are stable at 9-year-old Inka Heritage, Rodriguez said, noting that the restaurant has become part of the fabric of Madison.

He named the new restaurant Estacion Inka, estacion meaning "station" in Spanish, because there's a bus stop in front of the building.

"You can have here any little piece of everything from Peru, from sandwiches, to Peruvian-style chicken, to dessert," Rodriguez said.

So far, people who have tried Estacion Inka have been astonished by the flavors, he said. "It's different from the pizza -- everywhere pizza -- and the Chinese food. They take the risk to try it and they like it."

The restaurant is open until 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights because it is next to Wando's "and they get very hungry after they leave the bar," Rodriguez said.

In Peru, Rodriguez worked in the credit card collection business. He moved from Loreto, Peru, to the U.S. in 2000. He and his wife Esmeralda settled in Miami but came to Madison in 2002 to visit Esmeralda's father, who was married to a Wisconsin woman and had lived here for 20 years.

In 2010, Rodriguez introduced a fast-casual chicken restaurant called Fiesta 38 next to Inka Heritage. It didn't last long. Then, the following year, he created Sabor Amar, a fine dining Peruvian seafood restaurant, in that companion spot. He pulled the plug on that venture quickly, too.
Plow is part of an ambitious Downtown Cambridge revival, with a menu thats basic and non-challenging. And its a rare restaurant where almost everything is executed perfectly.

A New Years Day dinner started strangely with Treena Fiesel, who owns the restaurant and building with her husband Charles Fiesel, telling us she let two of her servers leave because business was slow. We were surprised she had already made that determination because it wasnt even 6 p.m. and it was a Saturday night.

The room was only half full, but she asked us to wait in the bar area, while she prepared our table.

She waited on us herself  ably, with an assist from her two oldest children, Ward, 11, and Liberty, 9. I got a kick at how Ward filled my water glass and slid it across the table. And at one point, he came over and asked, How is your meal going so far?

It was going great, in fact. The whole night was a success.

Starters consist of calamari, vegetable tempura, bread service, and four flatbreads that the menu notes can also be ordered as a main dish. The smoked salmon ($9) version was outstanding, the salmon enhanced by an Alfredo dill sauce, blue cheese and capers. The calamari ($10) had a thicker breading than I normally like, but it worked and they were not at all greasy. The squid rings came with an appreciated sweet chili sauce.

The house salad ($8) was a worthwhile addition, and the menu notes it feeds three to four people. A nice mix of greens sported yellow bell peppers, red onion, tomato and one piece of avocado. The raspberry vinaigrette dressing sounded tired, yet was anything but. In fact, it didnt even taste much like raspberries.

Main dishes didnt disappoint either. Charles Fiesel, whos the restaurants head chef, grew up in Northern California, where his mother had a prime-rib restaurant in the Sierra Foothills. He recreates her slow-roasted prime rib at Plow, but gives it a hickory-smoked flavor. Our 10-ounce slice of beef ($17) was cooked a perfect medium and served au jus with a creamy horseradish sauce. A cod special ($18) was equally special, mainly for the salsa or relish served on top of the thick, flaky fish. Mango and avocado were in the mix, and they really brought an ordinarily mild fish to life. The sides were just as thoughtful. Adding bacon to the green beans almondine made them a triumph, and somehow they were not outdone by the panko-encrusted mashed red potatoes.

The only weak link was a generous side of squash ($4), which Fiesel described as a medley of acorn, butternut and blue squash made with honey, butter and brandy. Despite what he said went into it, the dish had little pizzazz. My dining partner took to it, however, leaving me with only a couple of bites.

We didnt really need dessert, but Treena Fiesel offered complimentary little ramekins of super-chocolatey mousse with lots of whipped cream that we couldnt turn down.

My companion called it the highlight of his meal.

Plow is housed in Cambridges most prominent building, and the roomy space, with its beautiful woodwork, is as peaceful and relaxing as some of the restaurants before it.

There were two fire pits going on our way in, and also a fire in the fireplace inside. Unfortunately, the tables closest to the fireplace were already occupied. We could have benefited from the warmth.

The restaurant, which opened in October, has almost no web presence, and it was difficult to figure out a way to call or email for reservations. The number on Plows Facebook page didnt connect us to a real person or give any indication we had even reached the restaurant.

Its also important to know that Plow is only open Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights for dinner.
Chris Rickert | Wisconsin State Journal Urban affairs, investigations, consumer help ("SOS") Follow Chris Rickert | Wisconsin State Journal 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. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

Having been a spitting victim myself, I feel for those who would make it a felony to hawk a loogie or fling some other bodily fluid at a prosecutor.

Its pretty unusual to suffer any serious harm from such attacks, though  unlike, say, attacks with a knife.

And yet, as an alert reader recently pointed out, guess which potential threat is causing Republicans the most worry.

After Gov. Scott Walker signed a Republican bill last week to end the states 57-year ban on switchblades and ease the concealed carry of knives in general, the Assembly passed a Republican bill to make it a felony to spit or fling feces or bodily fluids at a prosecutor.

As you might expect, getting covered in someone elses fluids is a daily possibility for prison guards. The state Department of Corrections calls attacks with bodily fluids, chemicals or other substances throwing assaults, and there were 128 of them in adult institutions in fiscal 2013 and 126 of them in adult, juvenile and community corrections institutions in fiscal 2014.

Prisoners who do it can already be charged with a felony, but under current law, inmates who do it to prosecutors can only be charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct.

While getting spit on is pretty nasty, its not likely to get you sick. Dodge County District Attorney Kurt Klomberg, a board member with the Wisconsin District Attorneys Association, didnt know of any prosecutors who had been sickened by exposure to fluids.

Jeanette L. Kowalik, director of Prevention and Campus Health Initiatives at UW-Madisons University Health Services, noted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns against exposure to blood but considers other fluids less dangerous: ... The risk of infection via other bodily fluids such as saliva is fairly low, but transmission is impacted by a variety of factors including the type of virus and health of the host.

Spitting on a prosecutor is wrong, but it hardly qualifies as purposely using bodily fluids to infect someone with an illness, which is already a felony. Plus, any inmate capable of transferring blood or a bodily excretion other than saliva to a courtroom and hitting a prosecutor with it is not only a poorly guarded inmate but potentially mentally ill.

Indeed, the DOC reports that 47 percent of adult inmates who committed any kind of assault against staff in 2013 had a serious mental health condition. In 2014, it was 39 percent. Felony threats dont deter someone with a mental illness.

It might say something about the GOPs public safety priorities that its willing to crack down on people who spit on prosecutors while legalizing switchblades.

No, legalizing switchblades didnt legalize switchblade attacks, but there are reasons states and the federal government have acted to restrict them. As with alcohol, guns, opioid-based painkillers and other products ripe for abuse, greater availability usually means greater harm down the line.

Of course, knife lovers had the state NRA and a pro-knife group pulling for legalization. Its tough to imagine the inmate spitter lobby stopping a bill to make them felons.
The mental competency of a Fort Atkinson newspaper carrier charged with attempted first-degree homicide was questioned Wednesday after police say he dragged a woman with his delivery bag strap around her neck because she asked him a question he thought was stupid.

A hearing was ordered to determine if Trevor J. Ahrens, 22, is mentally competent to stand trial after he was charged with four felonies that also included strangulation and suffocation, substantial battery and false imprisonment.

At an initial appearance, Jefferson County Circuit Court Commissioner Jennifer Weber set bond for Ahrens at $50,000. He was being held in the Jefferson County Jail.

A criminal complaint said Ahrens attacked a 35-year-old woman who was picking up newspapers for her daughters paper route Monday at the offices of the Daily Jefferson County Union. She told police that her injuries from the attack included two bruised knees, a bruised shoulder, red or purple spots inside her eyes and eyelids caused by bleeding into the skin, and soreness in her ribs, stomach, head and neck.

A representative of the Jefferson County District Attorneys office said it would not name the woman because she still feared for her life.

According to the complaint:

The woman told police she was standing near a heavyset man with dark hair in the newspaper buildings mail room when she asked him where she could find extra newspapers. The woman said she turned away from the man after he shook his head and then saw an orange delivery-bag strap come in front of her face.

The woman said she fell backward and then tried to claw at the mans face as he stood above her. She said she thought she was going to die when the man dragged her out of the mail room and into a bathroom with the bag strap tightly wound around her neck.

She said she lost consciousness, woke up in the bathroom and then escaped to the Fort Aktinson Police Department. An officer said red marks were noticeable on the womans neck when she arrived and that she had difficulty breathing and speaking.

After the woman provided a description of the man to police, an officer said she contacted Daily Union paper-route supervisor Brenda Martin, who said Trevor Ahrens matched the description. An officer said she found Ahrens at his residence at a supervised living facility at 318 North Main St., and he admitted to dragging the woman by the cable thing around her neck to a bathroom because I was gonna try to rape her, but she got away.

The officer said Ahrens said he was attracted to the woman but was annoyed when she asked him where the newspapers were while she stood right next to them. Police said he called it a really stupid question.

Police said Ahrens told them he has bipolar disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and that he had been taking his medication.
MILWAUKEE  Gov. Scott Walker gave Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump a vote of confidence Thursday, five months after urging Republican presidential candidates to coalesce around a conservative alternative to the real estate mogul.

Asked whether Republicans can win Wisconsin for the first time since 1984 if Trump is the nominee, Walker said, I think they can.

Theres no doubt it will be a challenge, Walker told reporters hours before Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders were set to debate on the UW-Milwaukee campus.

Walker noted some of the other candidates are faring better against Clinton in the polls than Trump, but he also said polls can go up and down.

He emphasized turnout will also be a factor, especially if Sanders supporters arent happy about the nomination process.

If, in the end, Hillary Clinton prevails, but a lot of particularly young voters feel disenfranchised because of the whole superdelegate process, they may not vote for a Republican, but they may vote for a third party or not vote at all, Walker said.

Walker was referring to Clinton holding a large lead among delegates to the Democratic National Convention who arent selected through state primaries. Those so-called superdelegates include the partys elected members of Congress, governors, members of the Democratic National Committee and other notable party leaders.

Sanders won the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday by more than 20 points, earning 15 pledged delegates to Clintons nine. But Clinton has already received the support of six of New Hampshires eight superdelegates, erasing Sanders popular vote advantage.

Trump also won the New Hampshire primary by about 20 points, earning 10 delegates compared with four for second-place finisher Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

Im glad the Republicans dont have something like (superdelegates) so that its really reflective of how people vote in the respective state, Walker said.

Walker has not endorsed a candidate for president, but he has not ruled out doing so before the April 5 Wisconsin primary.

Walker and Trump clashed in the final debate before the governor dropped out of the race on Sept. 21. In his speech announcing that he would be ending his campaign, Walker said he had been called to lead by clearing the field so a positive, conservative message can rise to the top of the field.

I encourage other Republican presidential candidates to do the same so that voters can focus on the limited number of candidates who can offer a positive, conservative alternative to the current front-runner, Walker said at the time.
An Oconomowoc lawmaker said hes pulling his support, at the urging of Middleton city officials and lawmakers, for a bill backed by Madison developer Terrence Wall that could provide additional public incentives for a project Wall wants to develop.

Rep. Joel Kleefisch, R-Oconomowoc, and Sen. Rick Gudex, R-Fond du Lac, introduced the bill last week, in the closing days of the 2015-2016 legislative session.

The bill would add 10 years to the life of a Middleton tax incentive district  extending it from 2030, its current expiration date, to 2040  that covers much of downtown Middleton and the area around the Beltline-Highway 14 interchange.

Walls company, T. Wall Enterprises, is lobbying for the bill, according to the Government Accountability Board. Wall is a former Republican U.S. Senate candidate and frequent campaign contributor to the GOP.

But theres a problem: Middleton city officials dont want it, according to city administrator Mike Davis. The city would need to sign off on the changes if lawmakers pass them.

The city is not asking for this, nor do we think it would be good public policy, Davis said.

An Assembly panel had been scheduled to hear the bill Wednesday, but the measure was pulled off the agenda Tuesday afternoon.

Kleefisch said he requested the bill be pulled from the hearing after learning Middleton city officials and its state lawmakers oppose it.

Im not pursuing the bill, Kleefisch said Wednesday.

Kleefisch said Gudex approached him about carrying the bill in tandem with the state lawmakers who represent Middleton, Sen. Jon Erpenbach and Rep. Dianne Hesselbein, both Democrats. Previously, Kleefisch said he was told Middleton city officials and the citys lawmakers supported the bill.

Gudex and Wall didnt return messages seeking comments.

Erpenbach and Hesselbein expressed their opposition to the bill in a letter to Middleton officials this week, alerting them to the planned Wednesday hearing for the measure. In the letter, the lawmakers describe the bill as groundbreaking.

We are unaware of any past TIF/TID legislation that has been introduced in this body that has not come at the request of the municipality affected, Erpenbach and Hesselbein wrote. This is a very unrepresentative means of legislating.

Tax increment financing, or TIF, is a program by which the additional property taxes generated by a development within a set period of time are used to finance the project or infrastructure upgrades that support it.

Included in the sprawling Middleton TIF district affected by the bill is the site of Walls proposed Middleton Center project. His companys proposal calls for razing six buildings making up Old Middleton Centre and constructing seven in their place to create a new center with retail and office space, more than 200 apartments and underground parking.

The Middleton City Council last month gave conceptual approval to provide more than $7 million in TIF financing for the project. But the council only committed to provide TIF financing through 2030, the current expiration date for the district.

The Kleefisch-Gudex bill, by adding a decade to the life of the district, likely would provide more TIF funding for the project. Davis said hes not sure how much more because city officials havent calculated it.

Among the recipients of Walls campaign contributions have been Joel Kleefisch and his wife, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch.

Kleefisch acknowledged the contributions but said they didnt affect his judgment of the bills merits.
Shes barely had a vacation in two years, but Karen Andro still radiates enthusiasm.

The 52-year-old social worker left her job in alumni development at Edgewood College in 2010 for a position at First United Methodist Church, where she leads homeless outreach ministries, coordinating the churchs food pantry, its Wednesday breakfast and its single mens emergency shelter.

But Andros work has only intensified in recent years as shes served as chairwoman of the citys Homeless Services Consortium and emerged as a leader in fights against ordinances that would adversely impact the homeless.

Still, she loves her work and takes time outside her day job to volunteer in homeless outreach in Janesville.

Andro is excited to open a shelter for homeless children and families at First United this spring  an accomplishment she calls deeply personal.

How did this new childrens shelter come about?

It started on the cement right outside the building. Right around the time of the City-County Building rule change (prohibiting people from sleeping on the buildings front porch at night) we saw more homeless folks sleeping on our steps, between the bike racks, as young as a 9-month-old baby. Working with homeless children and families became very personal for me, being here, giving out the blankets, wanting to come early and wanting to stay late. One day, I called MPD and said there has to be a safe place for these little ones to sleep. I remember breaking down, crying that day because it had come to a head. There were too many nights of witnessing it and not being able to do anything.

Whats changed in Madison since your days growing up on the East Side?

I just see more poverty. Obviously a lot of it is because I come into contact with it through my work and a lot of my work involves the justice part of it  being a presence when things come up.

Is your family still in Madison?

My sister, Michelle, is in Virginia. My mom is on the West Side and my twin sister is in Sun Prairie. After losing my father in 2010, I dont take for granted time with loved ones. He really helped shape a big part of who I am today in who he was, growing up very poor in St. Louis. We grew up very modestly. Both my parents grew up modestly and without college educations. A big part for my path was to learn and to give back.

How about your own family?

I have a daughter, Nicole, whos 32, and two grandchildren, Christa and Chance. My grandchildren are very important to me. Christa and Chance spend every Sunday here and are very connected in outreach. Its so awesome. The most rewarding thing is to see them do things that are compassionate from their own hearts, not because I asked them to.

How did your dad get to Madison?

He left home to shine shoes. He didnt finish school. He left in fifth grade. Nobody knew that about him, in fact, I didnt know that about him until years later because he was ashamed of that. He went into the Air Force, came back and was very self-taught  an avid reader. He went into the insurance industry for over 35 years.

What are some of your interests outside of your work with homeless ministries?

Outdoors, camping and hiking. I used to lead monthly and weekly hikes and created something called the Wisconsin Outdoor Group. I used to lead drum circle hikes because I love music, but thats taken a back seat in recent years. I do volunteer in Rock County at the House of Mercy Homeless Center. I do a second shift and a third shift there a couple times a month. Because homeless issues are so important to me, its also part of what I do outside my job.

Wheres your favorite outdoors spot?

My favorite spot is Superior and the Boundary Waters. I havent been there in two years, so this coming year one of my personal goals is to go back and unplug. When youre in the Boundary Waters, all you see is land, no commercialism. If I could live out a dream, I would live where what matters most is the natural resources, not the commercialism.

 Interview by Jeff Glaze
Cyprus PIO: Turkish Cypriot and Turkish Media Review, 16-02-11 Cyprus Press and Information Office: Turkish Cypriot Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office Server at <http://www.pio.gov.cy/> TURKISH CYPRIOT AND TURKISH MEDIA REVIEW No. 28/16 11.02.2016 [A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS [01] Cavusoglu reiterated that the current opportunity in Cyprus is the last chance for the solution of the Cyprus problem [02] Evaluation of the contacts of Siber and the "assembly delegation" in Ankara [03] The debate on the water issue still continues [04] Ozgur: Bringing electricity with cable from Turkey will trigger peace in Cyprus [05] Ozgurgun argues that if there is a Cyprus settlement under the current conditions, there will be a conflict in Cyprus [06] The Dutch Prime Minister expressed hopes towards the developments on the Cyprus problem [07] Incentive certificates in 43 investment projects in 2015 [08] Illegal GAU university signed a cooperation agreement with Kirgizstan's State Law Academy [09] Erdogan to the US: "Hey America, you cannot make us recognize neither the PKK nor the PYD and the YPG" [10] Erdogan and Davutoglu condemned the UN over the refugee crisis [A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS [01] Cavusoglu reiterated that the current opportunity in Cyprus is the last chance for the solution of the Cyprus problem According to illegal Bayrak television (11.02.16) Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said that the natural gas to be extracted in Cyprus has no other route than Turkey and claimed that the Greek Cypriot side and Israel also shared the same view. "Therefore all agreements signed in the past have no meaning", he alleged. Touching upon the Cyprus issue during a presentation he gave at the Plan and Budget Committee of the Turkish Grand National Assembly yesterday, Cavusoglu stated also the following: "Hopefully, this year will be a solution year in Cyprus. We keep saying that the current opportunity in Cyprus should not be missed. This is the last chance". Noting that the negotiations process had been continuing in Cyprus, he said although the two sides made progress on many issues, thorny issues like property and territory still existed. "The Immovable Property Commission in the TRNC was established following the European Court of Human Rights' decision against Turkey. Thanks to this commission we have managed to solve pretty much of this problem. If it had a better budget, more cases could be solved. Especially after the economic crisis in south Cyprus, the Greek Cypriot citizens wanted to take their money. We are also contributing to the solution of the problem. We started to give water to the TRNC in October. We want to increase the capacity of the water so that we can provide water to south Cyprus and even to other countries in the region in the future. Discussions over the management of water still continue", Cavusoglu said. "We have registered Turkey's rights on natural gas reserves in the region at the United Nations. Therefore, no one can claim a right in the Eastern Mediterranean without the existence of Turkey. We did this to defend the rights of the TRNC when the Greek Cypriot side started bilateral drilling activities", Cavusoglu alleged. Reiterating Turkey's full support for a solution in Cyprus which will be based on the UN parameters and within the framework of a new partnership of two founding states, Cavusoglu added: "Hopefully, 2016 will be a solution year in Cyprus. We keep saying that the current opportunity in Cyprus should not be missed. This is the last chance". [02] Evaluation of the contacts of Siber and the "assembly delegation" in Ankara Turkish Cypriot daily Star Kibris (11.02.16) reports that the so-called assembly bureau of the breakaway regime in the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus issued yesterday a written statement evaluating the contacts that a delegation headed by self-styled assembly speaker Sibel Siber carried out in Ankara. The so-called assembly bureau announced that the Cyprus issue, the registration of halloumi/hellim, the "law on citizenship" and the water issue were discussed during the meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan According to the written statement, during the bilateral meetings of the Turkish Grand National Assembly and the "TRNC assembly", the issue of sharing information and experience was discussed, as well as the need for increased cooperation. The statement stated that they agreed also on the in-service training and enabling information sharing of some committees. It also noted that an agreement was taken towards enabling the information sharing between the EU Commission of the Turkish Grand National Assembly and the "EU committee of the assembly". During the meeting with the Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also participated. They exchanged views and evaluated the issues of terrorism and refugees regarding the neighbourhood region. On the Cyprus issue, it was stressed once more that the Turkish side continues to do its part on reaching a just solution in Cyprus and this determination will continue. The statement added: "It is pleasing to see the positive reflection of the current positive atmosphere on the peoples of the island towards reaching a viable, comprehensive solution in Cyprus". During the meeting with Erdogan, where the Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly Ismail Kahraman accompanied also the delegation, many issues were discussed and particularly the Cyprus problem. Emphasis was given on the point reached at the Cyprus talks and on the issues of property and territorial adjustment, which are the most difficult of the negotiation process. "During the meeting it was stated that the Greek Cypriot side's emphasis that the Annan Plan is not on the table naturally involves the territorial adjustments. The importance of a solution to be found in Cyprus should be based on the two founding states was also stressed", the statement read. Discussing the geographical protection of halloumi, it was explained that there are a lot of difficulties in the exportation. It was also mentioned that the "citizenship law" is in the agenda now of the "related assembly committee" and with this "law" many people will gain the "citizenship right". The statement said that "it was stressed that giving citizenship to the rightful people is a major human right". In the meeting, Erdogan said that the water project is a huge project and the water can be given also to "South Cyprus" (translator's note: the government controlled area of the Republic of Cyprus) as a peace project. (DPs) [03] The debate on the water issue still continues Under the title "Harsh debate on the water", Turkish Cypriot daily Havadis newspaper (11.02.16) reports that the four self-styled ministers, who had visited Turkey to discuss the issue of the water administration, returned to the occupied area of Cyprus with two proposals, which they presented yesterday to the "cabinet". First the "cabinet' decided that they should agree, but the chairman of the Republican Turkish Party (CTP), Mehmet Ali Talat put forward the precondition that the "municipalities" should be persuaded, something which, according to the paper, caused a "serious crisis" between the CTP and its "coalition partner", the National Unity Party (UBP). The chairman of UBP, Huseyin Ozgurgun hastily convened a meeting of his "ministers". During the meeting, a briefing was asked by the Turkish Deputy Prime Minister responsible for Cypriot Affairs, Tugrul Turkes. They also called Talat, who told the UBP "ministers" that he has no objection to the "government's' decision and that "if the municipalities approve it by majority, they will have the authority". This calmed down the situation, but the chairmen of the two parties are expected to meet again today to prevent the crisis from getting bigger. According to the paper, two proposals came up during the four "ministers'" contacts in Turkey: The one is the proposal that the "ministry of finance" will guarantee the purchase of the water so that the cost of the water not to be burdened by the consumers and the other is a proposal which ignores the powers of the "municipalities" over the water and transfers the administration to the "government" with an "international agreement". The CTP "ministers" totally rejected the second proposal and the UBP "ministers" were not positive to the proposal providing for the abolition of the "municipalities' law" and powers on the water administration. A "purchase guarantee" was demanded by the "ministry of finance", because some "municipalities" rejected using the water and the increased cost from the reduction of the demand would be loaded on the shoulders of the population of the "municipalities" which will use the water. Therefore, the water from Turkey will be distributed to all areas which are included in the system and if the sales of water are below the guaranteed quantity, the difference will be covered by the regime's "ministry of finance". It is said that the "municipalities" of occupied Nicosia, Gonyeli and Dikomo are not positive for being included in the system. The crisis within the "government" was temporarily overcome upon mediation by the self-styled ministers of interior, Asim Akansoy, finance Birikim Ozgur and education Kemal Durust. Meanwhile, Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper (11.02.16) reports that the four "ministers" who had held contacts in Ankara on the issue of the water administration briefed 28 "mayors" last night on the result of their effort. After the meeting, the 'mayor" of the occupied part of Nicosia, Mehmet Harmanci wrote in his social media account that "in brief the privatization of the administration of the water was accepted" and that the choice given to the "municipalities" is "only on paper". Finally, Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Duzen newspaper (11.02.16) reports that according to information from "reliable sources" the agreement reached in Turkey provides for the distribution and the collection of revenues in the water administration by a private company or companies and "control" by the "TRNC state". The paper cites a statement made by the chairman of the "Water Committee", Bektas Goze who said that the water from Turkey stopped flowing into the dam in the occupied Panagra village for the last one week, because of "technical reasons". Goze noted that the water will not flow into the dam for a few more days. (I/Ts.) [04] Ozgur: Bringing electricity with cable from Turkey will trigger peace in Cyprus Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper (11.02.16) reports that the self-styled minister of finance of the breakaway regime in the occupied area of Cyprus, Birikim Ozgur has recalled that Cyprus, Israel and Greece have recently launched a cooperation on the issue of the use of energy in Eastern Mediterranean and expressed the belief that the newly discovered energy resources will "seriously contribute" in peace in the area. In an interview with Anatolia news agency, Ozgur evaluated the contacts which four self-styled ministers recently had in Ankara regarding the water transferred from Turkey to the occupied area of the island through undersea pipelines. Recalling that Israel and Cyprus have launched a project of interconnecting their electricity lines, Ozgur said: "It is very well known that the export way is not only for the natural gas, but it is at the same time fertile with some developments such as turning the natural gas into electricity and transferring it to Europe through Turkey. I can say the following on this point: If an electricity cable project starts immediately between Turkey and the TRNC and at the same time an equivalent step is taken, we will seriously contribute in the project launched between south Cyprus and Israel. It will also be a step which will help us entering into the interconnected system in Eastern Mediterranean. Therefore, we want an electricity cable which will be installed between Turkey and the TRNC". Arguing that this cable will contribute only to peace, Ozgur alleged: "The electricity cable between our countries will trigger the solution in the whole of Cyprus and peace. We want this. Launching and completing this project is a matter of prestige for our countries. Just like the water project". Ozgur claimed that the only alternative of the Greek Cypriots on the energy issue is cooperating with Turkey now and alleged that the Greek Cypriots realized that "this is the way of reason". "With the electricity cable between the TRNC and Turkey, it will be possible to transfer Eastern Mediterranean's gas to Europe", he argued pointing out to the "serious energy import problem", which Turkey and the regime are facing. He said that with the electricity cable they will save a lot from the "national" wealth. Referring to the preparation of the Turkish Cypriots for a possible solution of the Cyprus problem, Ozgur said that their motivation is very high for preparing for a solution, but "we are working for a structural transformation in the economic field with the aim of standing on our own feet either there is or there is not a solution in Cyprus". He noted that in case of a solution, the so-called embargoes implemented on the "TRNC" will be lifted and they will be able to benefit from more EU funds. Referring to the water issue, Ozgur said that within the forthcoming days an "agreement" will be signed with Turkey that will be determining the rights and the responsibilities of the enterprise which will be assigned with the duty of administrating the water after the build-operate-transfer bid. Ozgur argued that Turkey has fulfilled its obligations as regards the project for transferring water to the occupied area of Cyprus and pointed out that "this is the first time that water is transferred from one country to another with undersea pipelines". Referring to the so-called economic program between Turkey and the regime for the period 2016-2018, Ozgur argued that because of the so-called isolation implemented on the "country" for many years, Turkey's donations and credits are important. Arguing that they need radical reforms, he called on Turkey to conditionally support them in these reforms and after some years to fully stop supporting them, as a result of establishing a system that could stand on its own feet. "I think that this will be an important move which will contribute to the solution and peace in Cyprus", he added. (I/Ts.) [05] Ozgurgun argues that if there is a Cyprus settlement under the current conditions, there will be a conflict in Cyprus Turkish Cypriot daily Gunes (11.02.16) reports that Huseyin Ozgurgun, leader of the National Unity Party (UBP), claimed that in case there is a Cyprus settlement under the current conditions, then there will be a conflict in Cyprus. He further said that the responsibility for the conflicts will be those who will make the agreement, adding that this is clear that they are not themselves. Speaking at a television programme, Ozgurgun noted that the Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci and his negotiating team have remained passive, adding that they should give answers to all the statements that esteemed Anastasiades has made. Commenting on the issue of Turkey's Cyprus policy, Ozgurgun said that if Turkey is removed from them, then the course would become even much worse. He added that Turkey has a lot of investments here (translator's note: in the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus) and one of them is the water project. He further said that he has close contact with high officials in Turkey. Furthermore, illegal Bayrak television (online, 11.02.16) broadcast that Ozgurgun, referring to their "government partnership", said that they are not thinking about their party interests but the interest of the public. Touching upon the "government workings", Ozgurgun said that if the continuation of the "current government" is desired then the mechanism must be more efficient. "Both parties must show that they are here for the people and not for their own interest. We are on the same page with our partner on this issue. We have 39 'MP's' that means we have 75% of the sole of the 'government', meaning we can do everything for the benefit of the 'people'", Ozgurgun added. On the water project, the UBP leader claimed that the water problem has been solved by Turkey. "Turkey invested 1.5 billion Turkish liras and solved the problem. This island is barren but we are lucky that Turkey realised such a project" said Ozgurgun and added to waste such a thing would be a pity. (DPs) [06] The Dutch Prime Minister expressed hopes towards the developments on the Cyprus problem Under the title: "A step by step progress has been achieved", Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper (11.02.16) reports that the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has stated that his country which holds the EU term Presidency, follows closely the developments on the Cyprus negotiation talks, adding that the process proceeds step by step. Speaking during a press conference with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Hague, Rutte replied to a question concerning the solution of the Cyprus problem and said: "We are hopeful towards the developments on the Cyprus problem. The ongoing process proceeds step by step. And of course, as the EU term Presidency we follow closely the developments. There are positive developments in Cyprus in this period. We will together follow how this will proceed on in the following months", Rutte said. (AK) [07] Incentive certificates in 43 investment projects in 2015 According to Turkish Cypriot daily Ortam (11.02.16), the so-called state planning organization (DPO) announced that incentive certificates were given to 43 investment projects in the fields of industry, tourism and education in 2015 within the scope of the "incentive law 47/2000". The self-styled director of "DPO" Odul Muhtaroglu said that the number of incentive certificates which were given in 2012 were 17, in 2013 21 and in 2014 22. He explained that with the investments that will be completed as a result of the 43 incentive documents in 2015 approximately 1 billion 454 million 331 thousands 835 TL of fixed capital investment will be materialized. Fourteen of the 43 investments will take place in the part of occupied Lefkosia, 10 in occupied Famagusta, 8 in occupied Keryneia, 6 in occupied Morphou and 5 in occupied Trikomo. (DPs) [08] Illegal GAU university signed a cooperation agreement with Kirgizstan's State Law Academy Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper (11.02.16) reports that the Illegal American University of Keryneia (GAU) has signed a cooperation agreement with Kirgizstan's State Law Academy (KSLA) which is one of the biggest and pioneer universities of Kirgizstan. According to the paper, the agreement envisages common work in the fields of academy and culture. The agreement was signed by the "rector" of the illegal GAU Prof. Dr. Kutsal Ozturk and the rector of the KSLA, Prof. Dr. Kanat K. Kerezbekov. (AK) [09] Erdogan to the US: "Hey America, you cannot make us recognize neither the PKK nor the PYD and the YPG" Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily News (10.02.16) reported that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has publicly raised questions over the nature of bilateral relations with the United States, as Washington has not categorized Syria's Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) as a terrorist organization. "Are you on our side or the side of the terrorist organizations?" Erdogan asked the U.S. on Febryary 10, as tensions between the two NATO allies have flared over the PYD, which Washington supports in its struggle against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria. Turkey regards the PYD and its military wing, the People's Defense Units (YPG), as an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is designated as a terror organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States. "Hey America, you cannot make us recognize neither the PKK nor the PYD and the YPG," Erdogan said. "We know these [organizations] very well. We know Daesh very well too," he said, using an Arabic acronym for ISIL. "But since you haven't been able to recognize them up to this day, the region is drenched in blood," Erdogan said, adding: "What kind of partnership is this? They are keeping silent in front of us but in our absence they say 'We don't look it that way'". [10] Erdogan and Davutoglu condemned the UN over the refugee crisis Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily News (10.02.16) reported that the United Nations' demand from Turkey to open its border to tens of thousands of Syrian refugees massed on its border has prompted a stern response from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who accused the world body of being ineffective over the refugee crisis and not shouldering the burden like Turkey. "The event taking place in Syria has now turned into a deportation, genocide. It is exemplary that those who regard refugees as bogeymen have turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to the [Syrian President Bashar al-]Assad regime, which is the reason for this problem. What does the United Nations say? 'Open your door to those massed at your door.' What are you for then? What is your use? Is it that easy?" Erdogan asked on February 10. "We have taken 3 million Syrians and Iraqis into our home. How many did you take? Which country took them in?" he asked, adding that the U.N. had provided $455 million to Turkey compared to the $10 billion Turkey had spent on the refugees since 2011. Without openly naming them, Erdogan quoted foreign officials as saying, "Bring your project, we will give support." "The project, the income, the camps, everything is in the open. They are personally coming, seeing and visiting and still saying 'Bring a plan, bring a project.' Give it up, are you mocking us?" Erdogan asked. Meanwhile, according to Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily News (10.02.16) Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoglu has lashed out at the United Nations after it demanded the country open its borders to tens of thousands of more Syrian refugees, accusing it of being "two-faced." "I see calls by several parties including the United Nations Security Council that do not move a finger to solve the crisis in Syria and that are not able to say 'stop, that's enough' to Russian bombardments as two-faced," Davutoglu said during a press conference with his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte in Hague. Davutoglu underscored that no third party had a bearing on Turkey's decision to open its borders to tens of thousands amassing on the Turkish border. "The Turkish-Syrian border as well as our hearts and our home are all open to Syrians," Davutoglu added. TURKISH AFFAIRS SECTION http://www.moi.gov.cy/pio (AK/AM) Cyprus Press and Information Office: Turkish Cypriot Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-02-11

From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Three dead in Greek navy helicopter crash

[01] Three dead in Greek navy helicopter crash

The helicopter, which was taking part in a military exercise, was reported missing at 2.45 a.m.

The Defence ministry will make statements on the accident at 09:30. Meanwhile, Defence Minister Panos Kammenos, who was visiting Brussels, is expected to return to Athens.
Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-02-11 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> CONTENTS [01] PM: TV licensing law debate shows who wants to clear up Greece's media landscape [01] PM: TV licensing law debate shows who wants to clear up Greece's media landscape Discussions over a bill on broadcast licensing shows who really wants to put the country's broadcasting landscape in order and who are trying to block the government from moving ahead with its commitments, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Thursday, during a debate in Parliament on a decree tabled by the government earlier in the day on TV licensing. This will give Greek people the opportunity to draw their own conclusions," he said, adding that "we've been listening for years to the phrase 'vested interests', but now it's time to explain the term and how to deal with it." The government has announced it will launch and oversee a tender for four nationwide TV licenses, drawing criticism from the opposition which objects to the number saying they are too few and several other aspects of the procedure. Tsipras slammed the opposition parties, saying they covered up the impunity of the unlicensed media for 27 years, and which are trying to do so now too. He also said that voters gave the government a clear mandate to clash with the vested interests, the status quo and corruption. "Now, for all those who were living like parasites and sucking all the power of Greek society, it's time to give their explanations and go through the cash register to pay their taxes; along with those who have send their untaxed money abroad," he said, noting that in three parliamentary sessions, New Democracy said it doesn't want a tender for broadcasting licenses. "It is a kind of institutional aberration, because not consenting short circuits institutions." Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
The movie Thank You, Dad by Hrach Keshishyan tells a story of an American-Armenian girl, named Virgy. Although, she had hardly ever see...
It is a sad fact that many programmers don't learn to type, despite the fact that the keyboard is their main tool of the trade. New research, however, suggests that this might not matter as much as you might think and you don't have to be ashamed that you are not using all your fingers.

Researchers from Aalto University in Finland studied the typing behavior of 30 people using a motion capture system so that they could see exactly which fingers were being using to press which keys. What they discovered runs against many well accepted assumptions.

We were surprised to observe that people who took a typing course, performed at similar average speed and accuracy, as those that taught typing to themselves and only used 6 fingers on average, explains doctoral candidate Anna Feit.

What is even more interesting is that, unlike touch typing, untrained fast typists used their right and left hands differently. In general the left hand stayed in the same place on the keyboard and the right hand moved about more freely. If you touch type then both hands stay fixed in place over the "home" keys.

The home keys

It also seems that people who discover how to type fast on their own invent different ways of doing the job. The study found four general ways of using the left hand and six ways of organizing the right hand. These varied from using mainly the index or middle finger of a hand, to more complex strategies with multiple fingers, up to the full use of all fingers in the touch typing system. However, the strategy learned does not determine the typing speed - there were fast and slow typists using all of the strategies.

You can see the experimental setup and some of the conclusions in the following video:

So what are we to make of this?

While the touch typing system is assumed to be the best way to type Feit observes that:

The touch typing system was developed for typing sentences on typewriters. It is not advantageous for Photoshop shortcuts or gaming, often done with one hand on the mouse

The team also offer some advice for getting fast without formally learning touch typing:

Keep your hands static. Move only your fingers towards the keys and try to keep the palms of your hands fixed on one position.



Look at the screen. You'll be surprised how well you can type without looking at your fingers.



Prepare upcoming keystrokes. Start with special keys, such as Shift, Backspace, or Enter, and move the unused fingers earlier.

So there you have it - you don't need to learn to touch type to program. Or do you?

The one advantage they did find for the touch typing system was that trained typists looked at their fingers and the keyboard about half as much as untrained typists. This could still give you an edge over an untrained, but just as fast, typist.

More Information

How We Type: Movement Strategies and Performance in Everyday Typing (pdf) Anna Maria Feit, Daryl Weir, Antti Oulasvirta - Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland

Related Articles

Weak typing - the lost art of the keyboard

Finland Dumps Handwriting In Favor Of Typing

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By Emile A. Frison, Julia Marton-Lefevre  and Kanayo F. Nwanze Agricultural biodiversity is the basis of our life on Earth. It is also the basis of healthy and resilient ecosystems. Yet it is under threat. Biodiversity provides more options for dietary diversity, can help smallholder farmers grow more food and earn more income, while protecting the natural resource base upon which theirand ourlives depend. It is time to redesign farms as productive, healthy, resilient ecosystems that conserve diversity within a broad landscape that provides food. Conserving biodiversity makes nutritional, ecological and economic sense. Targeted development projects can leverage these benefits to reduce hunger and poverty. For example, ancient grains high in quality proteins and rich in micronutrients such as quinoa and finger millets have been grown for generations, but in some places farmers were struggling to conserve and use these grains because there were limited markets. From 2001 to 201
The State of Illinois has over 290 accounting systems. No economic system can function effectively with so many accounting systems. Also, Illinois has the second highest property tax in the country. With so many accounting systems, how could the states revenue be allocated correctly? And how can any accountability occur?

Long before Illinois was known as the Land of Lincoln, our great state was known as the Land of Suckers." Well, we have reclaimed our old nickname.

More taxes and more laws are not going to fix the state alone, those are only smoke and mirrors. Our main issue is that Illinois continues on having the same old recycled politicians running the state for over 30 years.

For example, Michael Madigan is the longest sitting Illinois Speaker of the House and the Chairman for the Democratic Party of Illinois. This is a major conflict of interest for the residents of Illinois. Everyone should be aware that there are only two reasons why the state budget has not passed: Michael Madigan will not agree to Term Limits and the "Right-to-Work."

Michael Madigan is playing a dangerous game of political chicken with our livelihood. This is not fair to the residents of Illinois and we deserve better. Madigan is not willing to meet Gov.Rauner halfway on these issues.

Its interesting, that if we lie to the government its considered a crime; however, if the government lies to us, its called politics and government bureaucracy. We are being held hostage in our state.

John M. Aguilar is a resident of Aurora.
By Warner Todd Huston -

Barack Obama returned to the scene of his national political debut nine years ago, but he excluded the public from a speech where he choose to scold his former home state and the nation on how to build a better politics.

Obamas central theme was to plea for more unity in political discourse, delivered via a closed-door meeting of the state legislature, in a state so bitterly divided that the Democrat-run legislature and the Republican Governor have gone almost a year without being able to agree on a budget.

The tone of our politics hasnt gotten better, its gotten worse, the president lamented. Theres still this yawning gap between the magnitude of our challenges and the smallness of our politics, he added.
ABC News (NEW YORK)  Passengers who were on board the Royal Caribbean Anthem of the Seas cruise ship are back on solid ground.



Passenger Peter Aloupis said it felt "exactly" like being in a washing machine when the ship started listing, or tilting, because of the intense winds and turbulent weather.



"We were on the third floor with an ocean view and we literally saw Dory swimming by," Aloupis said Thursday, referencing the Disney cartoon character.



The Bahamas-bound ship had to turn around and return to New Jersey two days after setting sail because of strong storms off the Carolinas. The ship docked in Bayonne, New Jersey, on Wednesday night.



Aloupis told Good Morning America that he has cruised "many times." He said he "saw some of the staff hugging and crying" after the ship returned to New Jersey.



Another passenger, Lauren Whitney, said that she had a panic attack after being told by cruise staff that passengers were to stay in their cabins.



"We were probably in the room for 20 minutes if that and then we left," she said. "I couldnt do it and the crew members were even telling us, 'Get back to the room,' and I said, 'No. Im not going back.'"



At one point, the captain reportedly made an announcement on the ship's loudspeaker, urging passengers to get back in their rooms.



"He didn't sound very convincing that it was going to be okay, and everyone around us started crying, saying they couldnt breathe," Whitney said.



In spite of the harrowing ordeal, all but one of the seven passengers on Good Morning America said that they would be open to going on another cruise.



Royal Caribbean has apologized to the more than 6,000 passengers who were on board.



"The event, exceptional as it was, identified gaps in our planning system that we are addressing," the company said in a statement. "Though that system has performed well through many instances of severe weather around the world, what happened this week showed that we need to do better."



The National Transportation Safety Board is considering an investigation into what happened and why the ship hit such bad weather.



Copyright  2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Mahindra Gusto will allow you take plenty leverage when attacking a corner and when needed, cocoon your backside when commuting to work.

By Karan Mathur: VX

Test Started April, 2015/23km | Tenure/Target mileage 6 months/5,000km | Mileage this month 204km | Efficiency this month 37.6kmpl

Digital display No | Tachometer No | Fuel gauge Yes | Electric start Yes | Disc brakes No | Tyres Tubeless | ARAI Efficiency 63.5kmpl | Price Rs 48,850 (ex- Delhi) | Warranty 5 years/ 12,000 km

ALSO READ: Mahindra Gusto is very much the go-to scooter for any work

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The Mahindra Gusto has been with us for a good six months now, in that time the scooter has played chariot to quite the handful of members in the Auto Today family. The one aspect everyone raves about and I, personally, will surely miss is the levels of comfort the Gusto's large seat provides. It will allow you take plenty leverage when attacking a corner and when needed, cocoon your backside when commuting to work.

The grip from those MRF Zapper's prove to be a major boon in unprdictable Delhi traffic.

However, in these past two foggy months in the capital, I've noticed the headlight throw can be quite the annoyance. It's perfectly fine with the throttle pinned but quite inadequate when you need to feather your way through dense fog at 6' o clock in the morning. Now since this is the Gusto's last month with us, we've been concentrating more on the riding part.

By the time this magazine hits the stands the scooter will be back in to the good hands over at Mahindra. Until the time comes to hand over the keys, we'll be on the lookout for any last niggles that may crop up during that period.

ALSO READ: Mahindra Gusto is a performer without mistakes

The 110cc 4-stroke mill has been running well but the overdue service has resulted in it running a bit rough and in these cold winter days, is also a bit of lazy lump when asked to wake up in the morning for commute time. This has also in turn affected the fuel efficiency and after all calculations done, the numbers add up to 37.6kmpl.

That itsy-bitsy hook has been a life-saver on errand runs.

While in our care we have been complained about the weight, fuel efficiency and plain staid looks at regular intervals. However, during the tenure we have appreciated the ride quality, ease of handling and the innovative features the Gusto has to offer in its price bracket.

Farewell Gusto, ride safe.

ALSO READ: How does the Mahindra Gusto fare on a daily basis

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On Tuesday, an event was organised at JNU (Jawaharlal National University) campus by some students, that lead to exchange of verbal missiles between different groups of students.

By India Today Web Desk: On Tuesday, an event was organised at JNU (Jawaharlal National University) campus by some students, that lead to exchange of verbal missiles between different groups of students.

A cultural evening was organised by 10 students, formerly of the Democratic Students' Union (DSU), at the Sabarmati Dhaba, against the execution of Afzal Guru and separatist leader Maqbool Bhat, and for Kashmir's right to self-determination. Afzal Guru was hanged on February 9, 2013 for his role in the 2001 attack on parliament. Anti-India slogans like "Kashmir ki azadi tak jung chalegi, Bharat ki barbadi tak jung chalegi" were reportedly raised at the protest meet.

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According to newspaper reports, all across the campus, posters were pasted, on which it was written that there will be an art and a photo exhibition portraying the history of the occupation of Kashmir and the people's struggle against it. The ABVP (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad) complained about the same, after which the JNU administration revoked permission for the programme. But even after this, the commemorative meeting went ahead.

On Wednesday, the ABVP has called upon its cadre to impose a general bandh on the JNU campus. Jagdeesh Kumar, Vice-Chancellor JNU said that the permission for the programme was sought by giving incomplete information, so it is an act of indiscipline. A committee headed by the Chief Proctor will examine the footage of the event and speak to the witnesses. It is on basis of the report that the varsity will take appropriate action.

The varsity Registrar Bhupinder Zutshi said that there was nowhere mentioned in the permission request that the event which they want to organise will be on Afzal Guru. It was just mentioned that the students wanted to organise a cultural event.

The students who were organising this event had pasted posters inviting peole to gather for a protest march against the "judicial killing of Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhatt."



Till now, JNU has not taken any action against students that organised the Afzal Guru commemoration on Tuesday. ''ShutdownJNU" became one of the most trending Twitter hashtags on Wednesday. Taking note of this, the university administration has ordered the inquiry. The university's move came in wake of protests by members of ABVP outside the VC office demanding expulsion of students who were involved.

Read: Govt school teachers flunk basic test in J&K



For information on more latest news and updates, click here



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By Aravind Gowda: The Bengaluru police have arrested 3 youths for allegedly arresting a 20-year-old girl near Koramangala BDA Complex last Sunday.

According to the victim, one of her male friends asked her to meet him near the BDA Complex on Sunday evening. When she was talking to him, two of his friends joined them. As it was getting darker, they sat inside the car. Taking advantage of the situation, the three boys allegedly sexually molested her. When she raised an alarm, the trio pushed her out of the car and drove away.

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On the basis of a complaint filed by the victim, the police arrested Dhananjaya, Rajath Poojary and Nithin Shetty, all local businessmen. A case has been registered under IPC Section 145 and a probe is on.

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In five years of civil war, 400,000 Syrians have been killed and another 70,000 have perished due to a lack of basics such as clean water and healthcare, the Guardian newspaper reported on Thursday.

About 400,000 of the deaths were directly due to violence, while 70,000 died because they didn't have proper healthcare, medicine, clean water or housing.

By Reuters: In five years of civil war, 400,000 Syrians have been killed and another 70,000 have perished due to a lack of basics such as clean water and healthcare, the Guardian newspaper reported on Thursday.

With those injured in the confict, that amounts to more 11 per cent of the population, it said, citing the Syrian Centre for Policy Research.

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A US-led coalition is trying to destroy Islamic State militants in Syria and wants President Bashar al-Assad to go. But Russia and Iran are propping up Assad and oppose the opponents of Assad who are being supported by the West its Arab allies such as Saudi Arabia.

About 400,000 of the deaths were directly due to violence, while 70,000 died because they didn't have proper healthcare, medicine, clean water or housing.

It said 1.9 million people had been wounded. Life expectancy has dropped from 70 in 2010 to 55.4 in 2015. Overall economic losses are estimated at $255 billion, the Guardian said.



Russia is ready to discuss possible ceasefire in Syria

Russia is ready to discuss a possible ceasefire in Syria, Russian news agencies reported on Thursday citing Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov.

"We are ready to discuss the modalities of a ceasefire in Syria," TASS cited Gatilov as saying. "This is what will be talked about in Munich".

Gatilov also said that peace talks could resume before Feb. 25, Interfax reported.

ALSO READ:

Turkey sees 70,000 Syrian refugees reaching border



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At least 60 people were injured as a train which coming from Aswan, was derailed and two of its compartments overturned near el-Shennaweya village in Beni Suef, medical and security sources said.

By India Today Web Desk: Nearly 60 people were injured today due to overturning of a train in Beni Suef, Egypt, officials said.

The train, which was coming to Cairo from Aswan, was derailed and two of its compartments overturned near el-Shennaweya village in Beni Suef, medical and security sources said.

More than 40 ambulances were rushed to the place of accident. The injured were taken to the hospital, the sources added.

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No deaths have been reported until now, the sources said.



Also read:

Eight dead, about 100 injured in German train collision

Delhi to Mumbai in 12 hours by train might be a reality soon



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Police on Thursday arrested another Pakistani spy from Pathankot in PunjabThe accused has been identified as Sandeep who hails from Moga district of PunjabSandeep worked with Irshad Ahmed, the Pakistani spy who was arrested on January 31Pathankot air base was attacked by Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists on January 2

By India Today Web Desk: The Pathankot police on Thursday arrested another Pakistani spy from Pathankot in Punjab. The accused has been identified as Sandeep who hails from Moga district of Punjab.

The accused spy was produced in the court which remanded him to a three-day police remand. He worked with Irshad Ahmed, the Pakistani spy who was arrested on January 31.

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Pathankot police had earlier on Thursday morning detained a person on the grounds of suspicion near the Pathankot air base. He was detained around 7 am after he was found roaming near the IAF base.

Highly placed sources said he belongs to Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh. He is also being interrogated by the security agencies.

Irshad Ahmed, 29, is educated up to plus two. He was working as a labourer for a contractor which was laying cable outside Mamoon Cantt, Pathankot. He was arrested on the basis of a phone call made from Pakistan. The agencies are still probing who the handlers of Irshad were and whether they had paid him money for supplying sensitive information.

Highly placed sources said NIA has prepared a list of 250 persons who had temporary access to visit the Pathankot airbase and working inside the base. The development comes after the arrest of Irshad Ahmed. NIA is verifying the antecedents of the persons listed whether they belong to Jammu and Kashmir.

Sources say NIA and police is questioning the listed persons at their homes to find out whether the details given by them to the authorities were correct.

Pathankot air base was attacked by Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists on January 2.

Also Read:

Pathankot attack: 250 persons being questioned by cops, 1 held for selling SIM to Pak spy

Ultras smuggled arms from Pakistan to Pathankot, says NIA probe26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed praises Pathankot air base attack, warns of escalation

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The Bengaluru police have constituted a special team, which will fly to the US shortly, to probe the child trafficking racket following the arrest of 16 people in the city earlier this week.

By Mail Today: The Bengaluru police have constituted a special team, which will fly to the US shortly, to probe the child trafficking racket following the arrest of 16 people in the city earlier this week.

The police found out that as many as 32 children were sent to the US using "transporters" in return for monetary gains. The traffickers had confessed to have reunited the 32 children with their biological parents, who were living in the US as illegal migrants. All the children were sent on fake identities by the gang members, who operated out of Bengaluru.

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"We have constituted a special team to check the status of the children, who were sent to the US. We have already consulted our US counterparts and the American consulate," said Additional Commissioner of Police (Bengaluru East) P Harishekaran.

Children from Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat and Bihar were sent illegally to the US in the last two years.

Also Read:

Bengaluru Police bust international child trafficking racket, 16 arrested



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The Karnataka police arrested a youth, who allegedly raped his minor sister (14) in Nejar in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka, last August leading to an abortion. Sridhar (22) was arrested after a DNA test confirmed that he had raped his younger sister.

By Mail Today: The Karnataka police arrested a youth, who allegedly raped his minor sister (14) in Nejar in Dakshina Kannada district, Karnataka, last August leading to an abortion. Sridhar (22) was arrested after a DNA test confirmed that he had raped his younger sister.

According to the police, Sridhar raped his sister routinely whenever he was drunk between June and August, 2015. Hailing from a poor Dalit family, the victim whose parents are daily wage workers remained silent. When her parents discovered that the girl was pregnant, they terminated the pregnancy. The same was brought to the notice of the police by a local hospital.

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The girl refused to give away the name of the rapist fearing for the family's reputation. After ascertaining that outsiders were not involved, the police subjected all immediate male members of the family to DNA tests.

The police registered a case under POCSO Act against Sridhar. A local court has remanded him into judicial custody till February 27.

Also read:

Bengaluru businessman arrested for raping minor

Bengaluru: Nigerian arrested for raping friend's wife



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A team of doctors and officials from Jhajjar district in Haryana sent a decoy customer to Bahadurgarh as they had prior information about a tout, Akash, who was helping people in getting sex determination tests done.

By Astha Saxena: Pre-natal sex determination has raised its ugly head in Delhi once again. In what could possibly be the tip of the iceberg in the nexus between private hospitals and doctors in running illegal sex determination racket in Delhi and neighbouring Haryana, a doctor was caught red-handed on Monday. He was conducting a pre-natal sex determination test. The doctor was arrested and an FIR was registered against him. A team of doctors and officials from Jhajjar district in Haryana sent a decoy customer to Bahadurgarh as they had prior information about a tout, Akash, who was helping people in getting sex determination tests done. After the operation, a doctor from MSG super-specialty hospital in Punjabi Bagh was arrested and six ultrasound machines were sealed.

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The 'operation' assumes significance as Haryana has the dubious record of being the worst state across the country in terms of sex ratio, with just 879 females per 1,000 males. In the list of top 100 districts with worst sex ratios, 12 are from Haryana. According to sources, Akash charged Rs 11,000 from his customers to get sex determination tests done. "We got information about him (Akash) from our sources and we decided to do a sting operation to get to the root of the racket. We were shocked to find that a private hospital from Delhi was helping him," Dr Rakesh Kumar, deputy civil surgeon, Jhajjar district told Mail Today. He added the team followed Akash from Bahadurgarh. The PCPNDT Act, 1194 was enacted to stop female foeticides and arrest the declining sex ratio in the country. Prenatal sex determination is banned under the Act.

"He took the woman in an autorickshaw to Shivaji Park Metro Station," Rakesh said. While the duo was waiting at the station, a car stopped in front of them. Sources said a woman came out of the auto and made a mark on the decoy's wrist. "It seemed like a code," Rakesh said. When the woman reached MGS hospital, a doctor immediately took her inside for examination. "The doctor congratulated me and said it's a boy," the woman told officers. "We have terminated the doctor's services. We were not aware that he was resorting to such illegal practices in the hospital. We were shocked," Dr RK Mathur, medical superintendent of MGS hospital, told Mail Today.

Officials from west Delhi district administration were also present in the hospital during investigation. "We found that the hospital did not follow many guidelines laid down under the PCPNDT Act. Six ultrasound machines have been sealed and the doctor has been arrested," a Delhi government official told Mail Today. Under the PCPNDT Act, a pregnant woman is considered innocent of the act of sex determination unless proven otherwise. Medical personnel, responsible people at the facility, mediators who may abet the pregnant woman's access to such information, husband and relatives of the woman and anyone advertising sex selection in any form are the ones who can be held liable.

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In a similar incident, a doctor conducting a sex determination test at the Bhatnagar Hospital in Gurgaon was caught redhanded on Sunday. The district administration of Gurgaon has started a helpline number (8010088088) where one can provide information on hospitals or individuals involved in sex determination tests. According to Delhi government data, in 2014, the Capital had a sex ratio of 896 females per 1,000 males. In May last year, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain busted an illegal sex determination racket after he received a tip-off on instant messaging app WhatsApp. He later cancelled the licence of the hospital and imposed a fine.

Also read:



Doctor arrested for sex test on foetuses in Delhi

Sex determination test: Maneka Gandhi issues clarification





--- ENDS ---
In his most explosive interview, former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf has pointed straight at the Inter-Services Intelligence for training Lashkar-e-Tayyeba and Jaish terrorists.

By India Today Web Desk: In his most explosive interview, former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf has pointed straight at the Inter-Services Intelligence for training Lashkar-e-Tayyeba and Jaish terrorists.

"Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) trains Jaish-e-Mohammad(JeM) and Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) terrorists," said Musharraf. Watch clip



Speaking exclusively to India Today's Managing Editor Rahul Kanwal, Musharraf, referred to 26/11 mastermind and JuD Chief Hafiz Saeed as a Pakistan hero. "Masood Azhar is a terrorist," said Musharraf. Watch clip



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Pakistan's former president was grilled by Rahul Kanwal, in an exclusive interview, on Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in India. Musharraf also blamed India for derailing the peace process. "India derailed peace process every time and the country only wants to discuss terrorism," Musharraf said. Watch clip



Speaking on David Coleman Headley, Musharraf said, " I don't believe anything that Headley had said... Pakistan intelligence should interrogate Headley."

Former Pakistan president also mentioned India should hand over 2007 Samjhauta Express accused to Pakistan. He further blamed India for spreading terror in Pakistan. "LeT not involved in terror in Pakistan. Indian Intelligence agency behind Pakistan attacks, had evidence against R&AW agents," Pervez said. Watch clip



Partial transcripts of the interview

Rahul Kanwal: General Musharraf, welcome to India Today. We are interviewing at a time when the big discussion in India is around the revelations of David Coleman Headley. The Lashkar-e-Tayyeba operative deposing before a Mumbai by a video conference has revealed the deep nexus the ISI, Pakistan army and LeT. He reveals the terror financing, training and moral support provided by serving officials in the Pakistan army. He has named his handlers who are responsible for training him. Pakistan's denial has been exposed by one of its operatives, Gen Musharraf?

Pervez Musharraf: If you hand over any witness to any intelligence organisation, they can get anything out of them. They can be manipulated and can be forced to say anything. I don't believe what he's saying unless our investigation and intelligence says the same.

India Today: It cannot be denied as simply as that. He has revealed ISI officers by name - Major Ali, Major Iqbal, who tasked him on what he should do when he visits India. Senior officials such as Brigadier Riaz, Col Shah, Lt Col Hamza, Maj Samar Ali trained him, he says.

Musharraf: No comments. I will not go along the statement of one witness who is in your custody. He will blurt out anything you would want him to say.

India Today: What do you make of where India and Pakistan currently?

Musharraf: Elements [of peace and friendship] are there on both sides. There's lot happening in Pakistan also. These peace initiatives, if at all there are, but unfortunately you talk about your prime minister coming here and etcetera, it reeks of hypocrisy and artificiality. There's no substance. I don't think they have addressed any issue at all, other than shaking hands and saying happy birthday, and all that.

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India Today: Substantive action was to happen, but then Pathankot happened?

Musharraf: There has been scuttling every time. Each and every time from your side. You have been scuttling every time, but you put the blame on Pakistan. These terrorist acts are happening in Pakistan also, and in your country also. Let the peace process move forward. The root cause of all that is happening are the substantial issues.

+++

India Today: We have specific GPS coordinates, telephone numbers , details about where calls were made back to Pakistan. In the Mumbai attacks, there were calls made out to Karachi. We have put out those calls in public domain. Even in Bahawalpur, there were three calls made between 9:12 pm and 11.20 pm, we have got the specific telephone numbers. For example, +92345303313 linked to Markaz Usman Ali on the Railway Link Road in Bahawalpur? Pakistan has not been able to share one shred of evidence?

Musharraf: All these numbers can be easily be right there in your country. He could be in Pathankot. He could be anywhere on the border. I don't know all these technicalities, but since Pakistan is also investigating, let us leave it at that.

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+++

India Today: Maulana Masood Azhar, who tried to assassinate you two times over, he is supposed to be involved in Pathankot attacks. You called them freedom fighters in your previous interview. Is he a hero or villain for you?

Musharraf: Anyone who is fighting in Kashmir is a freedom fighter. I know he attacked me. Certainly he is carrying out terrorist attacks. They are also involved in terrorist activities in Pakistan. Therefore, I call him a terrorist.



India Today: If he is a terrorist, why hasn't been arrested?

Musharraf: I don't know. I am sure the law enforcement agencies and the intelligence organisations must be looking into it.

India Today: What would you do if you were leading Pakistan?

Musharraf: You put me in charge again and I will tell you what I would do.

India Today: So is it a dead end for India-Pakistan relations?

Musharraf: I don't think we'll move forward on the core issues. Because you don't want to. You want to bulldoze us, bully us, dominate us. You only want to talk about your issues - terrorism, Mumbai and Pathankot.

India Today: Do you think the Pakistan army is on board for the peace process?

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Musharraf: 200 per cent.



Watch the full interview here

Also Read

Pervez Musharraf faints moments after admitting to India Today TV that Pakistan's ISI trains Jaish and Lashkar terrorists

Also watch

Pervez Musharraf: Maulana Masood Azhar is a terrorist



Pervez Musharraf: India is the one who scuttles peace



Pakistan supports Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, Jaish terrorists, says Pervez Musharraf



Pervez Musharraf: Indian Army is responsible for killing innocent people in Pakistan



India only wants to discuss terrorism, says Pervez Musharraf

--- ENDS ---
Two female suicide bombers killed more than 60 people at a camp for people displaced by an insurgency of the jihadist Boko Haram group in the northeast Nigerian town of Dikwa, military and emergency officials said on Wednesday.

By Reuters: Two female suicide bombers killed more than 60 people at a camp for people displaced by an insurgency of the jihadist Boko Haram group in the northeast Nigerian town of Dikwa, military and emergency officials said on Wednesday.

The attack occurred 85 km (50 miles) outside the capital of Borno state, centre of the seven-year insurgency, they said. It took place on Tuesday, but a breakdown in the telephone system prevented the incident being made public earlier.

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The two female suicide bombers sneaked into an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp and detonated themselves in the middle of it, emergency officials and the military source said.

The chairman of the State Emergency Management Agency, Satomi Ahmad, added that 78 people were injured.

No group claimed responsibility but the attack bore the hallmarks of Boko Haram, which has frequently used female bombers and even children to hit targets.

The militant group has recently increased the frequency and deadliness of attacks with three at the end of January. At least 65 people were killed outside Borno state capital Maiduguri on Jan. 31.

Since it lost territory to a government counter-offensive last year, Boko Haram has reverted to hit-and-run attacks on villages and suicide bombings at places of worship or markets.

Boko Haram has only rarely targeted camps housing people displaced by the conflict and Tuesday's attack was the first one to kill victims in Borno state.

The military said militants made one abortive attempt on a camp on the outskirts of Maiduguri on Jan. 31. Boko Haram hit a Nigerian IDP camp for the first time last September, in the Adamawa state capital of Yola.

ALSO READ:

7 dead in suicide car bomber attack in southern Yemen checkpoint

Suicide bomb in Afghan capital targets journalists, kills 7



--- ENDS ---
On the third day of his deposition, Lashkar terrorist-turned-approver David Coleman Headley on Thursday told a Mumbai special court that Ishrat Jahan was a Lashkar operative.

By India Today Web Desk: David Headly on Thursday raked up another skeleton from the past when he revealed that Ishrat Jahan was a Lashkar operative. HIGHLIGHTS



Headley pointed towards Ishrat in 2013 but at that time there was attempt to not accept truth as it was: Nalin Kohli pic.twitter.com/6ypPiG47t9&; ANI (@ANI_news) February 11, 2016

During the third day of his video deposition, Headly revealed that during the course of his time with the Lashkar-e-Taiba, his colleague in the terror outfit Muzammil Bhatt had told him how Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi had mentioned about a female Lashkar recruit who had been killed in India. "The name of the female was Ishrat Jahan...," Headley had told the special Mumbai Court which is hearing his deposition.

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Speaking on Headley revelations, Ishrat Jahan's lawyer today said this is not evidence under Indian law.



Also read: Ishrat Jahan: The girl who kicked the hornet's nest



Ishrat Jahan, 19, was shot along with three men in Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004, by the crime branch of the Gujarat Police on the basis of inputs provided by the Intelligence Bureau (IB). At that time, the Gujarat Police had claimed that all four people who had been shot were terrorists and were involved in a plot to kill Narendra Modi. The three men who were shot dead along with Ishrat Jahan were identified as Pranesh Pillai (alias Javed Gulam Sheikh), Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar.



The CBI had later alleged that the seven cops had shot the group in "cold blood" and had destroyed evidence.



The CBI had said during the course of its investigation that Ishrat and others were already in the custody of the Gujarat police before being killed and, in fact, she and a man had been interrogated at a farmhouse on the outskirts of the city where they were kept in confinement.

It was alleged that all four were taken to the 'encounter' spot near Kotarpur Waterworks blindfolded on June 15, 2004, before being shot dead in cold blood, the CBI had said.



ALSO READ:

Ishrat Jahan encounter: DSP Amin, lone accused in jail, also gets bail



Ishrat case: No prosecution of ex-IB officials





--- ENDS ---
By Ankur Sharma: The unwillingness of IPS officers to move out of comfort of the Capital has resulted in an acute shortage of officers in northeastern states like Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram. To accommodate many officers, Delhi Police is being forced to create a host of new posts. "Earlier, Delhi Police used to have no DG-scale rank but to accommodate senior officers, they created the post of senior special CP. After Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung expressed his concerns, they withdrew the rank and replaced it with special CP (DG scale)," sources said.

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Till January 1, Delhi Police had six extra special commissioner rank officers and one DCP rank official. Currently, it has four director-general rank officers.

"Currently, Arunachal Pradesh has not received an ADG/ special commissioner-rank officer or a joint commissioner/IG rank officer though state has five sanctioned IG-rank posts and one ADG rank post. The state is also facing a shortage of midlevel officers. As it is a sensitive area, no officers are ready to go there. No mid-level officers have joined since last the last one year. Similarly, Mizoram is also facing crunch of senior IPS officers. The state has not got any ADG and IG-rank officers since many months," an official added.

In February, Delhi Police to accommodate special commissioner rank officers, divided the law and order post into two. Soon, Delhi Police will have special commissioners for two newly-created zones - southern and northern.

"Recently, Delhi Police placed a proposal that the city must be divided into two zones and each zone would be looked after by a special commissioner. Both zones' will report to special Commissioner (DG scale). But implementation of this proposal will take time," a senior police officer said.

According to a top official, Delhi Police requires more senior officers and everything is being done to ensure policing in Delhi. "The reason behind creating these posts is to ensure good policing in Delhi. We need at least five senior ranked officers to look after different units. DG-rank officers will look after special CP and special CP will oversee joint commissioners," the official added.

According sources, the Joint Cadre Authority is also not very keen to create a balance between Delhi and other states as they are facing pressure from senior IPS officers. "States are facing a crunch of senior IPS officers and Delhi has four DG rank officers. Chief secretaries of states have been trying to get IPS officers but their requests are falling on deaf ears. A meeting is also pending as it is mandatory to hold a meeting in every three months," a senior government official explained.

Also read: Haryana IPS officer Bharti Arora now posted as School Principal

--- ENDS ---

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Trifurcation of the erstwhile MCD into three entities increased the expenditure on wages by three times, while the revenue collection from internal sources of the civic bodies remained more or less constant, which led to a cash crunch, officials claimed.

The civic bodies' fund crunch resulted in non-payment of salaries to employees, leading to garbage woes in the Capital as sanitation workers went on an indefinite strike.

By Sneha Agrawal: A threefold increase in establishment cost, including employees' salaries, and the consistent failure of the BJP-ruled MCDs to augment revenue generation, are primarily to be blamed for the ongoing financial crisis. Trifurcation of the erstwhile MCD into three entities increased the expenditure on wages by three times, while the revenue collection from internal sources of the civic bodies remained more or less constant, which led to a cash crunch, officials claimed.

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According to figures, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, which came into existence with a cash deficit of Rs 760 crore in 2012-13, is presently dealing with a deficit of nearly Rs 2,700 crore. Similarly, the East Delhi Municipal Corporation's deficit has increased from Rs 441 crore to Rs 2,196 crore.

On the other hand, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation had a surplus budget in 2012-13 but the present financial statement shows a loss of Rs 200 crore.

The unified MCD's expenditure on salary was nearly Rs 2,000 crore, a figure that has gone up to Rs 6,563 crore for the three MCDs for the current year. There are nearly 1.5 lakh employees in three municipal corporations of which 65,000 workers are employed in the sanitation department. On employees' wages, the North MCD spends the maximum of Rs 2,883 crore annually, followed by South MCD's Rs 2,200 crore and Rs 1,480 crore by East MCD. But the salary bills of the two cashstrapped civic bodies surged so much that they could not be met through the agencies' resources.

In 2015-16, the North MCD earmarked only Rs 545 crore for salary expenses while the East MCD made a provision of `331 crore for the same. Moreover, the Delhi government gave Rs 893 crore to North MCD and Rs 466 crore to the East MCD as part of global share for 2015-16.

But as the crisis aggravated and MCD employees went on an indefinite strike, the Delhi government announced a loan of Rs 551 crore - Rs 314 crore for the north body and Rs 237 crore for the East MCD. Moreover, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also released Rs 142 crore of stamp duty for North MCD, increasing the amount in MCD's kitty to Rs 693 crore.

However, fund crunch continued despite the government respite. As a result, the two civic bodies were forced to divert money from other heads, including conversion charges and security to pay salary to its employees. North MCD and East MCD have cleared the salary and arrears till January this year. However, doubts remain over the issue of payment of wages for the coming months.

Ravinder Gupta, Mayor, North MCD said: "For the month of January and February we will manage with funds from the state government and DDA. For March, salary will be credited from the next financial year's budget. However, if there is once again a crisis of funds for the payment of salaries, we will once again be forced to ask Delhi government for it."

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Owing to constant financial losses, the East and North Delhi Corporations have also discontinued paying old age pension and arrears. Sources in MCDs said the civic bodies have grossly failed in tapping their revenue sources. In comparison to expenditure, the internal revenue collection of the civic bodies has not shown any rise in coffers.

Also read:



MCD strike enters sixth day, now teachers refuse to turn up



Delhi garbage mess: SC declines to intervene in civic employees' strike

--- ENDS ---
Olive oil is everybody's hot favourite as it is full of antioxidants and polyphenols, both considered good for heart health. But with these three alternatives, it may just be time to move on.

By India Today Web Desk: If you've been using olive or extra virgin olive oil for a long time, it's time you change your cooking oil and try something different. As it is, experts suggest that it is advisable to try different cooking oils in order to imbibe the best from all of them.

Here are three oils that will not only help you mix up the flavours but also gain the maximum health benefits when you cook next.

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1. Coconut oil: Vegan alert! The best part of using coconut oil is that it is vegan-friendly, is often used as a baking substitute for butter and is good for low-heat cooking. Not only does coconut have a wonderful flavour that goes well with baked foods and savoury dishes, it also has many health benefits. Coconut oil has been known to aid in weight loss, is conducive to heart health, boosts metabolism and benefits the skin.

Sometimes, cooking with this oil adds a coconut flavour to the dish.

Also read: Here's how fish oil can help burn those extra kilos around your belly



Raw virgin coconut oil is best used in low-temperature cooking or baking. Refined coconut oil has a higher smoke point and less of a coconut flavour, but has less health benefits than raw coconut oil.

While refined coconut oil is still a good option for occasional high-heat cooking like frying, make sure it is not hydrogenated or treated with hexane.

Smoke point: Up to 180 degree Celsius; Virgin, raw or unrefined: 280-365 degree Celsius, Refined: 400-450 degree Celsius.

According to Dr. Rajiv Erry, Senior Consultant and Unit Head, Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurgaon, "People shouldn't stick to just one particular type of oil, but keep rotating between different oils as they all contain essential fatty acids."

Benefits: Coconut oil is a source of lauric acid--studies have shown that this helps in increasing good cholesterol and lowering bad cholesterol. It's about 90 per cent saturated fat, but it gets metabolised in the body like unsaturated oil because it comes from a plant source.

2. Rice Bran Oil: The outer layer of rice is called bran and the oil is extracted from this brown husk. It has a mild taste and since it has a high smoking point, it is popular in Indian cuisine because of its suitability for high-temperature cooking and its versatility.

Smoke point: 254 degree Celsius.

Benefits: A chemical called oryzanol is present in the oil, which is good for lowering cholesterol. It is high in monounsaturated fats and has a fair amount of polyunsaturated fats too, both of which are good fats. It is full of gamma-oryzanol, which is said to help with menopausal hot flashes and also depression. It prevents cancer and is a rich source of antioxidants, and vitamin E including both tocopherol and tocotrienol, which most vegetable oils cannot claim to be.

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Mustard Oil: With a high smoking point, mustard oil is good for deep frying. It is devoid of trans-fats, low in saturated fats and has a high content of monounsaturated fats and essential polyunsaturated fatty acids such as omega-3. Thus, it offers an array of health benefits.

Smoke point: Almost the same as rice bran oil.

Benefits: Mustard oil reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases and aids in digestion as it helps the intestines to produce digestive juices, which increase the peristaltic movement of the food. It has antibacterial, anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory properties as well.

--- ENDS ---
National Deworming Day turned out to be a nightmare for 188 children in Bihar, Rajasthan, Haryana and Chhattisgarh as they had to be hospitalised after they complained of uneasiness after they were administered deworming tablets.

By India Today Web Desk: National Deworming Day turned out to be a nightmare for 188 children in Bihar, Rajasthan, Haryana and Chhattisgarh as they had to be hospitalised after they complained of uneasiness after they were administered deworming tablets.

Around 100 children complained of discomfort after they consumed the tablets and had to be taken to Sadar Hospital in Biharsharif, the Nalanda district headquarters.

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In Rajasthan's Jhunjhunu district, 58 students of a school were given treatment when they complained of nausea after consuming dewarming tablets given to them under a government programme.

"The children of a private school in Chidawa felt side effects of the tablet so they were taken to a local hospital where they were given primary treatment and sent back home," Dr SN Dholpuriya, Chief Medical and Health Officer of Jhunjhunu, said.

He said that the tablets were given to children of class 6 to 10 and those who complained of nausea were mostly from class 6 to 8. "All of them are fine now," be said.

"Eighteen children were taken to the government hospital in Sonipat, Haryana, when they complained of illness after taking the tablets. Out of them, only three had pain in the abdomen. The rest were fine," Sonipat Civil Surgeon, Dr Jaswant Punia said.

"It is normal for some to have such reaction when a large number of children are being administered the tablets. Sometimes, a child may have a large number of worms in the body and this happens. But there is nothing to worry," he said.

In Chhattisgarh, twelve school students of two different primary schools in Janjgir Champa district were taken ill after they took deworming Albendazole tablets distributed under the state-level deworming drive.

"While seven students complained of uneasiness and nausea at a government primary school in Bamnidih block, five felt discomfort in another government school of Jaijaipur block after consuming the anti-worm tablets", Janjgir-Champa Collector OP Chaudhary told PTI.

The students were admitted to Jaijaipur government hospital where their condition was stated to be normal.

According to the doctors, the children have psychological fear of medicines which may have resulted in uneasiness among them or it might also happen if the medicines are taken empty stomach, Chaudhary said.

--- ENDS ---
Sonam Kapoor's Neerja, which is based on real incidents during the hijacking of the Pan Am Flight 73 at the Karachi airport in 1986, will hit the screens on February 19 in India, but Pakistan has decided to ban the film's release for showing the country in a bad light.

By India Today Web Desk: Sonam Kapoor and director Ram Madhvani are all set to bring the story of an unsung hero, Neerja Bhanot, on the silver screen. While the film based on real incidents during the hijacking of the Pan Am Flight 73 at the Karachi airport in 1986 will hit the screens on February 19 in India, our neighbouring country has decided to ban the film's release for showing Pakistan in poor light.

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ALSO READ: Sonam Kapoor was our first choice for Neerja, says director Ram Madhvani

ALSO READ: Unseen photos from Neerja Bhanot's life



According to a report in PTI, the film has been banned in Pakistan without even being submitted to the censor boards.

Advertisements of the film in some newspapers had shown its release across Pakistan on February 19, but it has emerged that the Ministry of Commerce had initially authorised the import of the film but later changed its decision.

A Commerce Ministry official said that due to the objectionable nature of the content which portrayed Pakistan in poor light the certificate to import the film was revoked.

IMGC Executive Director Abid Rasheed admitted that there were certain anti-Pakistan elements in Neerja and it showed Muslims in a negative light.

The Ram Madhvani-directed film revolves around Neerja Bhanot, a flight attendant on board a PanAm Mumbai-New York flight, who gave up her life in order to save 369 passengers.

Neerja, posthumously, became the youngest recipient of India's highest civilian award for bravery, The Ashok Chakra, for showing incredible human kindness during the hijack.

The film, which also stars Shabana Azmi and Shekhar Ravjiani, will release in India on February 19.



--- ENDS ---
JNU has not taken any action against students that organized the Afzal Guru commemoration on Tuesday. The issue went viral on social media; 'ShutDownJNU' kept trending through the day.

By Siddhartha Rai: "ShutdownJNU" became one of the most trending Twitter hashtags on Wednesday. This came in the wake of clashes between student organisations that rocked the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus on Tuesday after a group of students organised a protest meet to celebrate Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front co-founder Maqbool Bhat. The varsity administration ordered a probe into the incident on Wednesday.

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Mail Today was the first to report that organisers went ahead with the programme even though the varsity administration had revoked permission for it after a complaint was filed by rightwing students' body ABVP. While the administration claimed the "organisers had couched (the event) as a cultural one", the denial led to clashes between ABVP and Left organisations that supported the organisers. The protesters allegedly flashed guns on campus. Police had to be called in. The incident also sparked a massive debate on social media sites as several videos of the night were shared and posted on Facebook and Twitter.

Slogans like "Kashmir ki azadi tak jung chalegi, Bharat ki barbadi tak jung chalegi" were reportedly raised at the protest meet. Taking note of this, the university administration has ordered the inquiry.

Meanwhile, the police told Mail Today that they were going through the video footage of the entire incident. "We have recorded the entire incident and now we are in the process of scanning the footage to find out what kind of slogans were raised and identify those who raised them. If there is anything antinational, we will act according to the law. We are also recording the statement of students," said PS Kushwaha, additional DCP (South).

The JNU administration ordered the inquiry after the ABVP staged a protest outside the VC's office demanding rustication of those involved in the incident. The inquiry committee is to be headed by the chief proctor of JNU. The ABVP, meanwhile, has given a seven-day ultimatum to the administration to complete the inquiry and take action.

Misleading



JNU vice-chancellor M Jagdesh Kumar claimed the the administration had been misled by organisers. "The permission for the programme was sought by giving incomplete information. So it is an act of indiscipline. A committee headed by the chief proctor will examine the footage of the event and speak to the witnesses. On the basis of the report, the varsity will take appropriate action," he said. The registrar of the varsity, Bupinder Zutshi, said: "It was nowhere mentioned in the permission request that the event will be on Afzal Guru. Organisers said that they wanted to organise a cultural event. How can any talk about disintegration of nation be in national interest?" said Zutshi.

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The ABVP is in no mood to let the matter die down anytime soon. It is preparing to write to the Centre for appropriate action. "We have decided to bring the matter to the notice of the Home Ministry, the Ministry of HRD and the Prime Minister's Office to appeal for action against such incidents of anti-nationalism," said Saurabh Kumar Sharma, the joint secretary of JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) and the lone SU member from ABVP. Other members of the JNU students' union, who belong to left-backed organisations, disowned the protest against the event, saying it is ABVP's stand and not that of the JNUSU.

Also read

JNU students clash over event against Afzal Guru hanging



Separatists call for shutdown on Afzal Guru's death anniversary, Kashmir on high alert

--- ENDS ---
Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf was today rushed to the ICU of a naval hospital in Karachi after he developed high blood pressure and fainted.

By India Today Web Desk: Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf was today rushed to the ICU of a naval hospital in Karachi after he developed high blood pressure and fainted.



Sources said Musharraf was sitting with family at his home in Karachi - where he lives with his daughter to seek medical treatment for a spinal condition - when he fainted.

Minutes after @IndiaToday interview with General Musharraf, he complained of breathlessness. Aide says he's in ICU pic.twitter.com/bVGjrtA3Z7Rahul Kanwal (@rahulkanwal) February 11, 2016

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Musharraf was shifted to PNS Shifa Hospital amid tight security. However, he was discharged after blood tests.



Musharraf, 72, has been braving health issues for some time. In 2014, he was taken to hospital following a hear-related problem the day he was scheduled to appear in the court.

Also Read:

Exclusive: Hafiz Saeed is Pakistan's hero, says Pervez Musharraf





--- ENDS ---
Salman Khan's marriage has probably been right at the top of the list of Bollywood's most-talked-about topics. However, if Khan is to be believed, marriage looks doubtful for him, although he wants a few kids.

By India Today Web Desk: Salman Khan's marriage has been a topic that has dominated most discussions on Bollywood ever since the actor became a name to reckon with. For about two decades now, the debates have ranged from when will Salman get married to if at all he will bid goodbye to his bachelor status. And as for the superstar, he has always had a repertoire of tongue-in-cheek answers for the M-Question.

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ALSO READ: What Salman Khan said about ex-girlfriend Katrina Kaif is a bit difficult to digest

ALSO READ: Katrina Kaif, post break-up, opens up about her ideal date. Is Ranbir Kapoor listening?

On February 9, at an event in Pune, Khan was asked the same question yet again. The actor revealed that marriage looked doubtful for him at this point of time, but he does want to have two-three children.

Salman said, "Marriage looks doubtful but I want two-three children. I know without marriage kids are difficult to get, but I will manage it."

In the last few months, gossip colums have been brimming with rumours about Khan's engagement to Romanian TV personality Iulia Vantur. Last December, after Salman was given a clean chit in the 2002 hit-and-run case, there were speculations that the actor would tie the knot this year. However, the Bajrangi Bhaijaan star has never really said anything about his marriage clearly.

At this particular event, Khan was also quizzed about his ex-girlfriend Katrina Kaif. Kaif has been in the news for several weeks now, thanks to her upcoming film Fitoor and her break-up with Ranbir Kapoor.

When Salman was asked about Katrina's photos with Ranbir from Ibiza that began quite a storm on social media, the actor confirmed the Ranbir-Katrina break-up, albeit obliquely.

"I think this is old now. That page has been turned I feel. According to the rumours that I have been hearing," said Khan.

Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif were in a relationship for several years before parting ways. The exes have always maintained that they are good friends.

--- ENDS ---
Sanjay Gubbi was one of the Karnataka forest department officials attacked by the leopard that entered Vibgyor school in Bengaluru. But the precautionary measures he had requested for and what all he underwent post the leopard attack is a story less known. Know all about it here.

By Vivek Surendran: Last Sunday, a leopard made its way to the premises of Vibgyor school in Varthur, Bengaluru and attacked wildlife biologist Sanjay Gubbi and two others before being tranquilised. The footage of the panic-stricken big cat running around and attacking people was captured and had gone viral.

If you haven't seen it already, watch here:





In the video, the person seen being attacked near the swimming pool is Sanjay Gubbi, the conservationist who was called to the Vibgyor school to sedate and capture the leopard by the Karnataka forest department. When Sanjay rushed to the school, what he least expected was a huge crowd hoping to catch a glance of the wild cat and TV journalists eager to market the incident.



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But the precautionary measures Sanjay had requested to be taken, and what happened to him after he was mauled by the leopard is a story journalists were less bothered about.

Here's what happened:

When Sanjay got the call from KFD, he had asked the authorities to arrange for an ambulance and a fire engine, as reported by bfirst. He had also asked the police to impose section 144 that prohibits five or more people assembling at one place, and the school authorities to empty the swimming pool to avoid the leopard drowning after being tranquilised.

None of these requests were complied.

Over 50 forest department officials tried their best to sedate the animal, but during the 10-hour-long drama, Sanjay was attacked and severely injured. Thanks to Gubbi's presence of mind, he saved himself from fatal injuries. "I allowed it to bite without trying to pull my arm from its jaw. Had I resisted, the injuries could have been more severe," said Gubbi.

Photo: Screengrab from video

Photo: Screengrab from video

Sanjay's story of bad luck doesn't end there.

Sanjay who was rushed to an Apollo Clinic nearby, had the ill fate of encountering a doctor who had no idea how to go about such an injury. The doctor who began suturing each wound ignored the profuse bleeding. Realising the doctor could only do more harm, Sanjay requested that he be referred to another hospital.

However, Apollo Clinic contacted India Today to present the facts from their perspective. In a statement, representative of the clinic said, "Sanjay was brought to Apollo Clinic at Marathahalli around 6 pm on February 8. Gubbi was bleeding profusely from the hand and buttocks. Dr Dilip Chakravarthy, an MS in General Surgery and FRCS attended Gubbi and advised he would need to be shifted to a hospital but that the clinic will provide necessary urgent care. Primary suturing was done to stop the blood flow and in addition, antibiotic and tetanus injections were given. IV fluids and pain killers were also administered. Apollo Clinic is a primary care clinic, and not a facility with an Emergency room, yet the quick action by the surgeon and medical team of the clinic ensured Sanjay was stabilised and further blood loss was prevented so that he could be shifted to a hospital. The team at Apollo Clinic saved Gubbi by providing protocol based care in the golden hour."

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Things went from bad to worse when the hospital administration refused to do so before Gubbi settled the bill. Sanjay had lost his wallet during the attack, but was glad to know someone volunteered to bail him out of there.

Around 10 pm, he was taken to Columbia Asia hospital, where an emergency surgery was done on him till 1 am, and then shifted to the ICU. Sanjay sustained 16 bites on his right hip, his right arm had several canine incisions and a bone had been chipped.

Sanjay's insurance company asked whether he had 'really' been attacked by an animal, and was told he wasn't insured against animal attacks! Tomorrow, Sanjay will undergo another surgery depending on how the injuries have healed.

He hopes to get financial aid from the KFD since his medical bill would exceed Rs 5 lakh, but usually, the forest department doesn't even reimburse the medical and legal fees borne by its staff.

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Will he get the help he require and deserve? Only time will tell.

--- ENDS ---
The Supreme Court today rejected a plea challenging the power of State governments to suspend internet services. SC argued that such steps are necessary to maintain law and order situation in states.

The Supreme Court today rejected a plea challenging the power of State governments to suspend internet services.

The PIL had challenged the state govt powers under section 144 of CRPC and section 5 of the Telegraph act to shut down internet services.

The PIL said that the internet services cannot be shut down completely but that access can be restricted.

The Petition cited example of Patidar movement in Gujarat where internet was stopped during the movement. SC held the position that such steps are necessary to maintain law and order situation in states.

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Also read:

Internet should not be monopoly of few: Ravi Shankar Prasad

Marc Andreessen apologises for tweet about India and TRAI decision



--- ENDS ---
A Snapdeal employee was kidnapped in Ghaziabad while she was on her way home from work on Wednesday. Dipti Sarna, 25, is an IT professional and lives in Vaishali but works in Gurgaon. The incident took place when she got off the Metro at Vaishali and took an auto as was her usual routine.

By India Today Web Desk: A Snapdeal employee was kidnapped in Ghaziabad while she was on her way home from work on Wednesday. Dipti Sarna, 25, is an IT professional and lives in Vaishali but works in Gurgaon.

The incident took place when she got off the Metro at Vaishali and took an auto as was her usual routine. She took the auto to the bus-stand in Ghaziabad from where her family members were to pick her up.

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On Wednesday night, she left the Metro station around 8.30 p.m. and took a 'shared' auto-rickshaw along with three other passengers, including a woman.

After getting into the vehicle, she telephoned her father Narendra Sharma.

After travelling a distance of around 3-4 km, the woman co-passenger was reportedly forced to get down.



Sensing danger, Deepti called her father again and her parents heard her screaming at the driver for having taken a wrong turn while she was speaking to them over the phone in the auto. Soon after that her phone was turned off. Her father along with some political leaders contacted police and filed a complaint.

Dipti was reportedly kidnapped near the Hindon bridge. The police have launched a search operation for her and have also registered an FIR a the Sihani Gate police station.

Ghaziabad residents on Thursday evening blocked traffic on national highway-24, and also staged a sit-in at the office of the senior superintendent of police.



In a post on social networking site Facebook, Dipti's sister Kirti wrote, "My cousin, Dipti Sarna (Age 25, Ht 5'-11") is missing since last night. She was last seen in an auto from Vaishali metro station to Ghaziabad Bus-stand at around 8:30pm. The auto driver forcefully took her to a wrong route towards Rajnagar extension. If anyone see or find any thing suspicious please contact :Prachi 07827205531.. Please share."

The ecommerce website's CEO and Founder Kunal Bahl put out a tweet saying, "Deeply disturbed by news of our @Snapdeal team member getting abducted yest. We are working closely w/ authorities to secure her safety."

The 25-year-old Snapdeal employee is yet to be traced. Her last known location was at Morti village near Raj Nagar Extension. The police is also questioning some people who are reported to have seen the auto.

--- ENDS ---
By Saurabh Singh: Social media giant Facebook has distanced itself from venture capitalist Marc Andreessen who has raised a storm by expressing his views about the latest TRAI order that bans services like Free Basics in India. Interestingly, Andreessen is also on the board of Facebook as a director. Company CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday said that he was deeply upset with Andreessen's comments.

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"I found the comments deeply upsetting, and they do not represent the way Facebook or I think at all. India has been personally important to me and Facebook. Early on in my thinking about our mission, I traveled to India and was inspired by the humanity, spirit and values of the people. It solidified my understanding that when all people have the power to share their experiences, the entire world will make progress," Zuckerberg posted on his Facebook page.

This is what Andreessen -- who tweets via the handle @pmarca -- had to say about TRAI's new ruling that safeguards net neutrality and envisages an open and fair Internet for all: "Anti-colonialism has been catastrophic for the Indian people for decades. Why stop now."

"Facebook stands for helping to connect people and giving them voice to shape their own future. But to shape the future we need to understand the past. As our community in India has grown, I've gained a deeper appreciation for the need to understand India's history and culture. I've been inspired by how much progress India has made in building a strong nation and the largest democracy in the world, and I look forward to strengthening my connection to the country," Zuckerberg said reacting to Andreessen's tweet.

Andreessen has apologised for his remarks but as many would say, the damage has already been done.

"Last night on Twitter, I made an ill-informed and ill-advised comment about Indian politics and economics. To be clear, I am 100% opposed to colonialism, and 100% in favor of independence and freedom, in every country, including India. I am a huge admirer of the nation of India and the Indian people, who have been nothing but kind and generous to me for many years. I apologise for any offense my comment caused, and withdraw it in full and without reservation. I will leave all future commentary on all of these topics to people with more knowledge and experience than me," he said.

Meanwhile Facebook on its part is glad that he apologised. "We certainly don't agree with and did not endorse Mr Andreessen's comments, and are glad that he has apologised," a Facebook spokesperson told India Today.in.

Telecoms regulator TRAI's new ruling bans services like Free Basics along with other Zero Ratings plans in the country. Facebook says its Free Basics plan aspires to offer some connectivity to those unconnected. On the inside though it's got a lot to do with offering gated Internet to people overlooking the fundamental principles of net neutrality on which the World Wide Web originally began.

--- ENDS ---

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By India Today Web Desk: Redmond giant Microsoft's tryst with artificial intelligence isn't new. In fact the company keeps coming up with new and innovative apps based on machine learning that use algorithms built by Microsoft's Research team from time to time.

Microsoft's latest piece of innovation can tell a cat from a dog and vice versa...sort of. Well, at least it has been designed to do that only that it isn't the most accurate AIs in the world. But it's cool, and it's so much fun.

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The website how-old.net (and an app designed for iOS, it calls Fetch) is Microsoft's attempt to help you figure out what breed a dog belongs to. You can use pictures stored on your computer and the AI will help you figure out the breed of the said dog in the picture. It is surprisingly accurate in case of actual dogs. But, that's not the fun part.

The fun part is when you put in pictures that show everything but a dog. It can be anything: a cat, a horse and even humans. That's right. Put in your photo and Microsoft's AI will tell you how much of a dog quotient you got inside. Everyone's putting in their photos. Have you put in yours yet?

Check these fun results out:



Here is me at 17 and the results at What Dog dot Net pic.twitter.com/7K5XVsjEcq Richard Hay (@WinObs) February 11, 2016

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Strange entities standing between 2.5 to 3 meters tall have supposedly been seen by locals in recent years.The(What Dwells in the Shadows) YouTube broadcast published only days ago a strange case with paranormal overtones involving two siblings in the southern reaches of our country on December 16 [2015]. A young student identified a Miguel, 24, who studies at a college in Concepcion, went back to his home located in a rural sector of the Araucania Region to spend the years end holidays with his family.Only recently arrived, Miguel joined his brother Patricio, 14, on a bicycle trip through the neighboring woods on a particularly hot afternoon. An hour into the trip, they hid their bicycles in a bush to venture into the woods, looking for one of the many streams in the area to cool off. After finding the watering hole and resting for a few hours in the bucolic location, Miguel suggested that they head back home, as it was growing dark. However, when they retraced their steps down the same path they had taken, the siblings heard a strange sound behind them, similar to that of two stones crashing. When they turned around, they were startled to see two allegedly humanoid creatures staring at them fixedly. According to the description given, the beings stood three meters tall had long arms and a terrifying look to their features, highlighting a disproportionate mouth size. Their bodies, aside from being covered by what appeared to be tight green overalls, gave off a very intense aura of heat, similar to the sensation felt by standing next to an oven or campfire.Miguel said that the strong impression made him stumble, falling backward to the ground, while his younger brother started sobbing, paralyzed by fear. With a great effort, after Miguel took his brother by the arm, both fled the scene, feeling the two strange beings in pursuit. However, the episode did not end there. After returning home and telling their mother what had happened, the same sound was heard outside. When Miguel looked through the window, he saw the two figures watching the house intently. The entities inspected the area for considerable time before vanishing into the forest.This unusual account brings to mind a rather similar one recorded on 27 February 2010 (the same date as the devastating earthquake in central and southern Chile) at Cobquecura Beach in the country's 8th Region. As a homeowner identified as Carmen Carmona told the press: "At around 6:45 a.m., when I was opening the gate of my summer home, I decided to look at the ocean. At that same moment, three creatures appeared, heading into the sea. I called my husband and my sister, asking them if they were seeing what I was seeing. They said yes. We found it odd that someone would be on the beach at that time, since the entire town had taken to the hills because the authorities had given evacuation orders due to a possible tsunami. When we saw them, we noticed they were very tall, standing some 2.5 meters, were thin, and had a shiny dark blue color. We were very frightened, but my nephew happened to arrive at that moment and took us to a higher section of the city. What's odd is that a month before this incident, we saw a powerful light amid the mountains which illuminated our cabin almost completely."Video at:
Investigative reporting from the inner city to Wall Street to the United Nations This is the blogspot version InnerCityPress.com
Insurance Back The European Motor Insurance Summit started today in Rome

Today began in Rome the 2016 edition of The European Motor Insurance Summit, organized by Fleming Europe. XPRIMM Publications are supporting the event as Media Partner.



The first day's agenda is dedicated to some relevant case studies illustrating success in the motor insurance world. Gregorio SANTOS, EMEA Chief Business and Clients Officer, MAPFRE Spain will present the results of his company's experience and the lessons drawn drom the successful achiquisition of Directline Italy & Germany. Edward CONDIE, Motor Insurance Director, SegurCaixa Adeslas, Spain will present the motor bancassurance start up of SegurCaixa, while Marcel Kurath, Senior Underwriter International Motor Fleet CEE UNIQA Insurance Group, Austria will explain how the Austrian group is dealing with the different patterns across the CEE markets. Finally, John O'Roarke, Managing Director, General Insurance, LV=, UK will talk about customers' satisfaction with the motor insurance.



Regulatory and Analytical Updates will be provided by Dante CAFARELLI, IBM, Italy while representatives of the OMNIASIG-VIG, British Insurers Association, AXA, Helvetia etc. will put under debate relevant experiences regarding the fraud issue.



[galerie|The-European-Motor-Insurance-Summit-2016]





Author: Daniela GHETU on 11.02.2016





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Still haunted Fears of a serial killer peaked in 2005 after a five-year string of homicides in Oak Lawn. More than 10 years later, three of those cases remain open.

The fear in Oak Lawn is palpable  and all too familiar. Gay men have been assaulted. Talk of serial attackers abounds. Cops are flooding the area but many cases go unsolved. In some ways, the string of assaults and robberies in Oak Lawn in 2015 parallel the fear of a spate of unsolved killings in the Dallas area that reached its zenith in 2005. Some of those homicides have since been solved, but back then, the gay community in North Texas worried there might be a serial killer targeting them after seven gay men were slain over a five-year span. Above photo: That horrible sketch ... haunted me for years, says Elise Kail of the police sketch of the suspected killer of her brother, Lawrence Wheat. More coverage of Dallas cold case unit Mapping Dallas cold cases I hate it that it feels like history is repeating itself, Rafael McDonnell said of the recent attacks. McDonnell is a spokesman for Resource Center, an LGBT-advocacy group. Dallas gay community was on edge after the Dallas Voice, a publication for the gay community in North Texas, reported in 2005 that 28-year-old Samuel Lea, who had been found murdered in his Arlington apartment, was the latest in a five-year string of unsolved slayings of gay men. The other victims were: Keith Calloway; Bobby Berry; James Stephen Watts; Agustin Fernandez Jr.; Lawrence Wheat; and Craig Ceson. Activists began to issue warnings. It sounds like they have a transient serial killer preying on the gay community, Erin Moore, then-president of the Dallas Gay and Lesbian Alliance, told the Dallas Voice. My only advice would be for guys to be careful who they pick up. Shortly after that, police in Dallas, Garland and Arlington joined forces to see if the seven unsolved slayings were the work of a serial killer. Investigators eventually concluded that the killings were too different from each other to all be connected, but they used the publicity to seek tips and information. Still, the similarities made people nervous. Almost all of the victims were private, and their families knew little about their lifestyles or homes. Some relatives didnt know whether anything had been stolen, so authorities couldnt determine if robbery was the motive. And in most of the cases, there were no signs of forced entry into the mens apartments, leading police to believe the victims likely knew their killers. Many of the victims had multiple relationships and police say that element often makes solving such cases difficult, regardless of sexual orientation. A lot of the guys killed at the time ... had a lifestyle where they were picking up different people from different places, said retired Dallas police detective Randy Loboda. So it increases your suspect pool by millions. In the years after the public plea for information, investigators solved three of the seven murders. And they determined that Fernandezs death was not a homicide. But three slayings still have detectives stumped. The Dallas Morning News is taking an occasional look at unsolved homicides at the Dallas Police Department. Detectives hope that renewed interest might bring in new tips to help solve the crimes. SOLVED Three homicides that generated fear and media buzz after talk of a serial killer on the loose in 2005 have since been solved. Samuel Jarnigan Lea, 28, was found beaten and strangled Oct. 31, 2005, inside his ground floor apartment near the University of Texas at Arlington campus, where he was a student. A homeless man who occasionally stayed with Lea later confessed to the crime. Kyle Johnson, 31, told detectives he killed Lea after Lea tried to kick him out of his apartment. He was sentenced to life in prison in 2007 with eligibility of parole after serving 30 years. Craig Ceson, 46, was found dead Oct. 11, 2005, at his apartment on Forest Park Road near Love Field. He died from blunt force injuries to the head. There were no signs that anyone broke into the apartment, suggesting the killer was invited inside. Detectives originally thought Cesons death may have been related to Leas. But the investigation led them to Ray Robert Martinez, 41, an acquaintance of Cesons. In April 2006, Martinez was convicted of murder and sentenced to 35 years in prison. He is eligible for parole in 2023. Bobby Dalton Berry, 63, was found dead in the garage of his friends Lakewood home in April 2001. The longtime Athens resident would meet men at parks near White Rock Lake when he visited Dallas, police said. His wife and two adult children were unaware. Nearly 13 years later, police matched a trace amount of DNA back to Michael Nadeau, 55, who had been convicted of an unrelated 2002 homicide. Nadeau, who was serving a life sentence, confessed to Berrys murder in 2013 and was sentenced to an additional 30 years. Nadeau and Berry had been in a romantic relationship. In his confession, Nadeau said he met with Berry the day he died to end their relationship.

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Pedestrians cross the intersection of Cedar Springs Road and Throckmorton Street in the Oak Lawn neighborhood on Thursday, Feb. 4, 2016. A string of assaults and robberies in the neighborhood last year parallel a spate of killings that peaked in Oak Lawn in 2005, three of which remain unsolved. (Smiley N. Pool/Staff Photographer)

Lawrence Wheat That horrible sketch What made Lawrence Wheat an enigma in life is what has made his murder so difficult to solve. Wheat, 42, was brusque and opinionated. But he was close with his cousins and doted on his niece and nephew. He was a talented pianist and had a beautiful singing voice. He was a member of the Dallas planning commission and was addicted to his architecture work. But he often seemed unhappy. He was known to bring strangers to his Cedars apartment, where he was found beaten in June 2004. He died en route to the hospital. Few people knew who he spent time with, and no one could say whether anything was taken from his apartment. Nobody knew him, Loboda said. Nobody knew what he had. Nobody knew who was coming and going. One of Wheats neighbors did see his suspected killer but didnt know it at the time. The suspect was seen trying to leave the apartment complex but didnt know he needed a code to open the gate. The neighbor opened the gate for him. Police released a sketch but never got any tips. That horrible sketch, said Wheats sister, Elise Kail. And when I say horrible, I mean it haunted me for years. His family says they wish they knew more about Wheats personal life and where he spent his time. Maybe if they did, theyd be able to find the killer. But maybe it wouldnt matter. Frances Wheat says she doesnt believe the man who brutally beat her son knew him well. He didnt know his way in or out of the apartment. And he likely left town the next day. More than 10 years after her sons death, she still regularly calls a Dallas police homicide sergeant to check on the case, but knows the killer may never be found. So she holds onto the happier memories of her son: his playing the piano, his creativity, the way he played with his niece and nephew.

Id really like to get this one done before I retire. But its starting to look like if we dont get it in the next three years, its going to be too late. Garland homicide detective Gary Sweet

Keith Calloway Some sort of closure The slaying of nursing home worker Keith Calloway still haunts veteran Garland homicide detective Gary Sweet. Sometimes you just get attached, Sweet said. Id really like to get this one done before I retire. But its starting to look like if we dont get it in the next three years, its going to be too late. Calloway was found fatally stabbed Dec. 22, 2000, inside his Garland apartment on Chaha Road near Lake Ray Hubbard. His parents had gone by his apartment after he didnt show up for work that morning. Inside, his mother found him  hogtied with a bag over his head. Calloways death had been violent. He appeared to have put up a losing fight with his killer. His throat had been slit multiple times. His younger brother, Kevin Stiggers, said Calloways death was extremely hard on both his parents. His father passed away in 2011. The gory scene had quite an effect on his mother, who struggles to even talk about her late son. Calloway, Stiggers said, had a very good spirit about him, and had a lot of friends in life. Coping with the death of his brother gets easier, but it never goes away, Stiggers said. He pines for some sort of closure. Calloways murder was briefly linked to the 1996 killing of Arnold Blair, a member of the Dallas Planning Commission, Sweet said. Their deaths were eerily similar. Both had been bound, stabbed and had their throats cut. But police couldnt connect the cases. A composite sketch of a man believed to be Calloways boyfriend, or someone close to him, also failed to turn up any leads. In 2005, Sweet and other detectives from Arlington and Dallas looked into whether Calloways death was tied to a series of six other unsolved murders of gay North Texas men. But authorities found no evidence that all six of the homicides were the work of one person. Sweet still believes police have a shot to crack the Calloway case. The forensic evidence, he said, is outstanding. Sweet said in addition to DNA found at Calloways apartment, detectives also found cigarette butts in his car, which was found near a downtown Dallas nightclub Calloway had been at hours before he died. Sweet submitted the DNA to CODIS, a national database system which includes genetic samples from anyone arrested for a violent crime in the U.S. The DNA hasnt hit anyone yet but, the detective said, rarely do we get evidence that good and not solve a case.

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Welcome to H&C,,, where I aggregate news of interest. Primary topics include abuse with "the church", LGBTQI+ issues, cults - including anti-vaxxers, and the Dominionist and Theocratic movements. Also of concern is the anti-science movement with interest in those that promote garbage like homeopathy, chiropractic and the like. I am an atheist and anti-theist who believes religious mythos must be die and a strong supporter of SOCAS.
Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatseniuk has instructed the nomination committee under the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade to urgently announce a tender to select the heads of the 50 largest public companies, as well as conduct an international audit of their activities.

"All of the top 50 state-owned companies should get new independent directors. Neither the prime minister, nor ministers should manage state companies I'm not talking about factions or certain deputies  this is violation of law, political corruption we'll not tolerate," the prime minister said, opening a cabinet meeting in Kyiv.

He also instructed the Finance Ministry to attract independent leadership to state-owned banks.

Yatseniuk also said the government would submit a bill to the Verkhovna Rada that will allow terminating contracts with the directors of state-owned enterprises according to the decision of the Cabinet, while now in case of such decisions directors go to court and overturn the government's decision.

"We have no arsenal and instruments," the premier said, complaining about pressure on the part of the prosecutor's office, courts and law enforcement agencies.
The Cabinet of Ministers is Ukraine intends to transfer the management of Volyn, Lviv, Chernivtsi and Zakarpattia customs services to specialized foreign companies, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk has said.

"We want to attract companies that have experience in fighting corruption at customs, which are able to completely change the customs service system and bring a new control system there, which provides for the simplification of obtaining customs services and in fact the replenishment of budget revenues from customs," he said at a cabinet meeting.

According to Minister of Finance Natalie Jaresko, all these projects will be financed at the expense of donor funds.

In addition, she noted that the first tender for one of these customs could be carried out within two or three weeks because one donor is ready to fund it.
Ukraine and the United Kingdom have agreed to intensify bilateral cooperation on national security issues, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has said following his meeting with British prime minister's National Security Advisor Mark Lyall Grant in London.

"I welcome the readiness of the British side to take part in international initiatives aimed at increasing pressure on Russia, so that it fulfills its obligations under the Minsk agreements, as well as at de-occupation of the Crimean peninsular," Foreign Ministry's press service cited Klimkin as saying on Wednesday.

In a conversation with Grant, the Ukrainian minister also emphasized the importance to maintain sanctions against Russia until Ukraine's territorial integrity is restored.

Klimkin also thanked the UK for its assistance in the protection of Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty, as well as for the support of democratic reforms in the country.
The foreign ministers of the Normandy Quartet, i.e. France, Germany, Russia, and Ukraine, are scheduled to meet in Munich, on February 13, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.

"A meeting with the Normandy Quartet foreign ministers is to take place in Munich, this Saturday," Oleksiy Makeyev, the director of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry policy and communications department, told Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.

A well-placed source had told Interfax-Ukraine earlier that the Normandy Quartet foreign ministers could meet on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. The source did not say exactly when this might happen.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, told Interfax-Ukraine on February 5, that the possibility of arranging the meeting in Munich, on February 13, was under consideration.
Ukraine's Infrastructure Minister Andriy Pyvovarsky has said that a criminal case was opened against him, as he has learned from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau.

"What I know from the Bureau... a criminal case was opened against me," Pyvovarsky said at a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Economic Policy Committee in Kyiv on Wednesday.

The minister said that the criminal case against him was opened at the request of "MP Denysenko", however, according to Interfax-Ukraine correspondent, it was only at the committee meeting that Pyvovarsky learned there were three MPs sharing the same surname, namely, independent MPs Andriy and Anatoliy Denysenko and MP of the Petro Poroshenko Block Vadym Denysenko.

Later MP Vadym Denysenko confirmed on his Facebook account that he had actually turned to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau with a request to consider an application of the ministry's employee who complained about back door salaries.

"A few months ago media wrote about back door salaries which were paid in the Infrastructure Ministry. One could have ignored them, but then ministry's employee Maksym Buriachok stated that he was quitting his job in the ministry, as he was not willing to accept the practice of illegal salaries (he referred to sums from $2,000 to $10,000). Afterwards, I appealed to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau asking to consider the statement of this particular individual," Denysenko wrote.

He also asked the minister not to politicize this case, and not to use it for self-promotion.

Meanwhile, National Anti-Corruption Bureau Chief Artem Sytnyk said at a press conference that the relevant criminal case was still under investigation and Pyvovarsky was questioned back in December last year; at the moment no charges had been brought against him.

"No notification of suspicion has been issued with respect to Pyvovarsky. I don't have any claims to him," Sytnyk said.

As reported, on February 4, 2016, a number of ministers, including Pyvovarsky, withdrew their previously submitted resignations. At the same time, they put forward a number of conditions for their further work in the government.
* PermaKat Eleonora Rosati received the 2022 Adepi Award

* PermaKat Eleonora Rosati listed as one of the World Intellectual Property Review's "Influential Women in IP" of 2020.

* PermaKat Eleonora Rosati listed as one of the Managing Intellectual Property magazine's "Fifty Most Influential People" of 2018.

* IPKat founder and Blogmeister Emeritus Jeremy Phillips listed as one of the Managing Intellectual Property magazine's "Fifty Most Influential People" of 2005, 2011, 2013, and 2014.

* Recommended by the European Patent Office as reading material for candidates for the European Qualifying Examinations, 2013.

* Listed as "Top Legal Blog" in The Times Online, March 2011.

2010 ABA Journal 100. * One of the only two non-US blogs listed in the Blawg100.

* Court Reporter Top Copyright Blog award winner, November 2010.

* Number 1 in the 2010 Top Copyright Blog list compiled by the Copyright Litigation Blog, July 2010.

* Selected by the United States Library of Congress for inclusion in its historic collections of Internet materials related to Legal Blawgs as of 2010.

* Top Patent Blog poll 2009: 3rd out of 50 in the "Favourite Patent Blog" poll and 2nd out of 50 in the "Most-read" poll.

Blog of the Year, 20 August 2008. * ComputerWeekly IT Law and Governance, 20 August 2008.
Edward Snowden and his disclosures have raised the level of awareness about government surveillance in the digital age. The stories that used to get unnoticed or very little press are being highlighted, and most people around the world now have a keen interest to what extent their government will go to violate their privacy, with or without consent. As reported by The Washington Post, "The British want to come to America  with wiretap orders and search warrants." The title pretty much sums up the intentions of U.S. and British negotiators looking to give MI5 access to American companies such as Facebook, Google (News - Alert) and others.

The UK government is continuing to pass surveillance laws that have further reach than the ones in the U.S. This includes the ability for ministers to issue secret surveillance orders without judicial reviews, such as The United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC, also called the FISA Court). The Snoopers Charter the country passed highlights the broad range the government has when it comes to forcing companies to make personal data available.

According to Ellen Nakashima and Andrea Peterson, who broke the story on the Washington Post, said American companies can have MI5 come to them with a wiretap order for the online conversations British suspects are having as part of counterterrorism investigations.

The negotiations, which are ongoing, will include live intercepts of its citizens when they are part of a criminal and national security investigations.

As it currently stands, it only applies to U.K. citizens. The Post went on to say, if a U.S. citizen is involved in an investigation the British government is conducting, they will have to follow the same rules as other law enforcement agencies in the country by getting the necessary warrants. And the final agreement will need action from different bodies in congress as well as review of existing laws.

The paper said the White House gave the State and Justice departments the go-ahead to start formal negotiations, with assurance from officials the agreement will protect civil liberties. The agreement goes both ways, which means U.S. officials will be able to request information for Americans that are being investigated that use companies in the U.K.

The Director of New Americas Open Technology Institute put it best when he said, "The idea that the U.S. government would allow wiretapping inside the United States by a foreign countrys national security authorities, under legal standards that are far lower than what is required of our own police, is a horrible betrayal of our constitutional principles. I can only expect that our founders, who led a revolution against the British and wrote the Constitution that this deal disregards, are rolling in their graves."
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Se cumple un nuevo aniversario del nacimiento de la actriz Golde Flami
Itongadol.- The town of Kochav Yaakov in Samaria inaugurated Wednesday a new neighborhood called "Yishai to mark the shloshim (thirty-day period following burial) of Yishai Rozales of the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, also known as Nahal Haredi, who was killed in a training accident at Tze\elim Base in the Negev.

A ceremony funded by the IDF Nahal organizations department of assistance was attended by the battalion commander and the head of the Binyamin Regional Council, as well as Rozaless battalion mates.

Netzah Yehuda Battalion commander Lt. Col. Uri Levy spoke of Rozales impact in the battalion in the months before his death, adding that the recent decision to move the operational battalion in the northern Binyamin region was made after a conversation he had with the battalion captain and officers.

Lt. Col. Levy reiterated Rozales\ argument that "even if it is hard we must carry it out, we must strive and with God\s help will succeed in any mission."

Michael, brother of the late Rozales, said at the ceremony, "I still cannot comprehend it. There are still so many questions and confusions, but there is one thing we must not forget: that there is a Creator, and only He knows heavens affairs, and a good father will always want the best for his children. Just as the Creator of the world has brought us a difficult experience, He also gives us the power to be stronger. There is no Creator who challenges a person with an experience he cannot withstand."
J/Boats News is a digest of worldwide events, regattas, and news for sailing enthusiasts and members of our J Community. Contributions regarding your racing, cruising or human interest stories on-board J's are welcome- please send to "editor@jboats.com".
MATTOON -- Life is full of complications that can lead to students taking an indirect route to completing their higher education, said Millikin University President Patrick White.

Some students may come close to earning an associate's degree but then need to take time off from their studies due to family commitments or other reasons, White said. They might later earn a bachelor's or other higher degrees without having finished their associate's, he said.

White said Decatur-based Millikin's new reverse transfer agreement with Lake Land College in Mattoon is aimed at helping students in this situation fully utilize all of the educational experiences that can potentially be on their resume.

"We are very excited about this (agreement). It is very innovative and it is very special," White said on Wednesday at Lake Land's main campus. He was there to help announce the agreement and sign this document with college President Josh Bullock.

The reverse transfer agreement allows credits completed at Millikin, a private university, to be transferred back to the students Lake Land transcript to complete requirements for an associate's at this public community college. The agreement takes effect during the 2016-17 academic year,

Bullock said the agreement also will help Lake Land students feel free to transfer to Millikin without having earned their associate's first, because there is now an opportunity for them to finish this degree later.

The two schools reported that students enrolled at Millikin who previously attended Lake Land, or are currently enrolled at this college and acquired a minimum of 32 credit hours, may be eligible for reverse transfer credit toward an associate's at Lake Land.

For Lake Land students admitted to and enrolled at Millikin with a minimum of 32 transfer credits, the university will notify those students who previously attended Lake Land but never completed their associate's about the agreement.

Bullock said a cursory initial review of student records has already identified a handful of individuals who are eligible to utilize the reverse transfer agreement.

"We think there are a lot more who are out there who might be able to benefit," Bullock said of the agreement.

Bullock said the reverse transfer agreement with Millikin is Lake Land's second agreement of this kind, the first being a January 2015 agreement with Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.

More information about the agreement is available by contacting Lake Lands admissions and records office via 217-234-5434, admissions@lakelandcollege.edu, or lakelandcollege.edu/admissions. Millikins registration office can be contacted at 217-424.6217 or millikin.edu/registrar.
SPRINGFIELD -- The ongoing budget impasse between Democrats and Republicans in Illinois was front of mind for many lawmakers Wednesday as they listened to President Barack Obamas address to the General Assembly about building a better politics.

Obama didnt offer specifics for resolving the deadlock, now in its eighth month, but speaking of the national political environment more generally, he said that members of either party boasting of their refusal to compromise as an accomplishment in and of itself prevents actual accomplishments -- like fixing roads, educating kids, passing budgets, cleaning our environment, making our streets safe.

It remains to be seen whether those words will have any effect on the current situation in Springfield.

Sen. Andy Manar, a Bunker Hill Democrat who was on the Senate Democratic staff when Obama was in the Legislature, said only time will tell.

He offered valuable perspective to all of us here in this moment that we find ourselves in, with an impasse -- a historic impasse -- that is harming lives across Illinois, Manar said.

Sen. Jason Barickman, a Bloomington Republican, said the presidents push for compromise and civility is a healthy and necessary message in todays politics, especially in Illinois.

But its also an opportunity for us to remind ourselves that actions speak louder than words, Barickman said. Here in Illinois, as Republicans, were in the minority. We feel as though weve offered compromises on all the issues facing our state. Weve had very little, if any, interaction from our Democratic counterparts.

Sen. Dave Luechtefeld, an Okawville Republican who served with Obama and was mentioned in the speech, said he was happy the president came.

He said a lot of good things that both parties agree with -- the idea of working together, for instance, to compromise. All that is good, Luechtefeld said. But youve got to make it happen. And he hasnt been able to make a lot of that happen on a national level.

He said House Speaker Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat, continues to block compromise with first-term Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.

Rep. Sue Scherer, a Decatur Democrat, said she hopes Obamas address can be the start of new efforts to come together, noting that lawmakers seemed more congenial afterward.

He made a good point of starting with what we have in common to work toward figuring out what we disagree on, Scherer said. And I think thats how any negotiation works.
SPRINGFIELD -- President Barack Obama returned to Springfield on Wednesday to call on members of the Illinois General Assembly to work together toward a less divisive, more civil politics.

The speech, delivered nine years to the day after Obama launched his White House bid on the steps of the Old State Capitol, came amid an unprecedented state budget impasse between first-term Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Democratic-controlled Legislature, led by House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton, both of Chicago.

While alluding to the standoff, Obama focused his remarks on the larger issue of the increasing political polarization in Springfield and Washington and across the United States.

The situation we find ourselves in today is not somehow unique or hopeless, he said, speaking in the current Capitol, where he began his political career in 1997 as a state senator from Chicagos South Side. Weve always gone through periods when our democracy seems stuck, and when that happens, we have to find a new way of doing business.

Were in one of those moments. Weve got to build a better politics, one thats less of a spectacle and more of a battle of ideas, one thats less of a business and more of a mission, one that understands the success of the American experiment rests on our willingness to engage all our citizens in this work.

To build that better politics, Obama highlighted four areas where work needs to be done: limiting influence of big money in politics, changing the way congressional districts are drawn, making it easier for voters to register and cast ballots, and engaging in more respectful political discourse.

We cant move forward if all we do is tear each other down, he said.

The president said his belief in the importance of bipartisanship and civility has its roots, in part, in his days in the Illinois Senate.

As a newcomer in the then-minority party, Obama had to find ways to work with Republicans if he wanted to accomplish anything. He formed a bond with Kirk Dillard, then a GOP senator from Hinsdale and now chairman of the Chicago-area Regional Transit Authority, with whom he worked on issues such as ethics reform and combating racial profiling.

He also took the time to get to know downstate Republicans away from the Statehouse, playing cards with people like Sens. Dave Luechtefeld of Okawville and Bill Brady of Bloomington.

Away from the glare of TV or the tweets of the GIFs of todays media, what we discovered was that, despite our surface differences -- Democrats and Republicans, downstate hog farmers, inner-city African-Americans, suburban businesspeople, Latinos from Pilsen or Little Village -- despite those differences, we actually had a lot in common, he said. We cared about our communities. We cared about our families. We cared about America.

We fought hard for our positions. I dont want to be nostalgic here. We voted against each other all the time, and party lines held most of the time. But those relationships, that trust that we built, meant that we came at each debate assuming the best in one another and not the worst.

He added, And we didnt call each other idiots or fascists who were trying to destroy America. Because then wed have to explain why we were playing poker or having a drink with an idiot or a fascist who was trying to destroy America.

Despite Obamas message, there were times when partisan divisions were on full display in the House chamber. For example, Democrats stood and cheered when he mentioned the importance of collective bargaining rights, as did Republicans when he mentioned redistricting reform.

Obama acknowledged his disappointment that partisan discord has gotten worse during his presidency and, hinting at his post-presidential plans, said this work will be a focus of mine over the course of this year and beyond.

Obama arrived aboard Air Force One on Wednesday morning at Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport, where he was greeted by Rauner, among others. The two spoke briefly before the president got into his limo and made his way to the Capitol -- after a brief stop for barley soup at The Feed Store, just steps from the Old State Capitol.

Following the speech, the president shook hands with many on the Republican side of the aisle before departing the House chamber.

Upon leaving the Capitol, Obama went to greet a group of about 500 supporters a few blocks away inside the Hoogland Center for the Arts. After that, he was back aboard Air Force One, en route to San Jose, Calif.

With the presidents visit come and gone, what remains is the question of whether his words will have any impact on the partisan atmosphere in Springfield or the states budget impasse, now in its eighth month.
Dear editor: Peaceful Muslims -- and there are such people -- should take comfort in a ban on immigration to the USA. A tactic of terrorists is to mingle among other people as the terrorists move to their target area. Peaceful Muslims would not want that. Government agents should watch places where Muslims gather, again a comfort, an assurance, to peaceful Muslims. An historical event explains why. Before Americans of Japanese ancestry were imprisoned by President F D Roosevelt, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover recommended against this action. Hoover's agents had been watching them and knew them to be loyal and upstanding model citizens of the USA (Thomas Fleming, The New Dealers' War.). For those wanting to escape the wars, a safe zone near their home countries would be preferred. Related to all this, an amendment is needed to limit the definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Peaceful Muslims should see it as the union of male and female as any culture in all of history has defined it. Why do they hate us? This might be a clue.
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Job Description

Organizational Setting and Reporting

The Department of Safety and Security is responsible for providing leadership, operational support and oversight of the security management system to enable the safest and most efficient conduct of the programmes and activities of the United Nations System. This post is located in the Security and Safety Service (SSS) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The incumbent reports to the Executive Secretary of the Commission.

Responsibilities

Under the overall technical supervision, policy direction and operational guidance by the Director, Division of Headquarters Security and Safety Services (DHSSS) in the Department of Safety and Security (DSS) in New York and the direct supervision of the Executive Secretary of UNECA, the incumbent

1.Directs and manages the Security and Safety Service of the United Nations office at Addis Ababa, which includes but is not limited to the following

Defines security and safety policies and standards at the UNECA premises;



Initiates and reviews all operational planning and standard operational procedures (SOP) applicable to the conduct of security operations at the headquarters, including specific procedures for special events;



Supervises and controls the functions of SSS according the defined organizational structure, directs and deploys supervisors and officers to ensure the most effective and efficient provision of security and safety services;



Provides leadership to the Security and Safety Service, ensuring that SSS staff discharge their duties in accordance with United Nations policies and security and safety procedures;



Elaborates recruitment policy in consultation with the Human Resources Management Service, and in accordance with the professional Standards for security personnel for recruitment and retention of qualified security personnel, procedures for screening and evaluating new candidates, and identifies new recruitment sources;



Directs the SSS management team, by supervising the development and/or implementation of each security related project together with appropriate entities of the Division of Administration.



Ensures prudent financial resource management.



2.Coordinates effective security provision with local police/security services for UNECA staff and premises, special events and conferences to include the following:

Establishes contacts at the strategic, operative and tactical levels of the host country security counterparts, to determine threat levels and criteria for enhanced security measures, and coordinates their implementation;



Develops and implements security and safety training programmes, including weapon training and security related information technology and organizes special training sessions for UN staff and security personnel;



Makes special security arrangements for visiting Heads of State, the Secretary-General and other high level officials and for special events and conferences including security risk assessments and conference security, outside the duty station, if so requested by the Department of Safety and Security in consultation with the Executive Secretary of UNECA;



Coordinates security measures pertaining to travel of the Executive Secretary or other VIPs, as required, and manages the provision of additional security services;



Participates in UN and other regional and international conferences/meetings on security and safety;



Establishes contracts, through the appropriate channels, with Permanent Missions, on special security arrangements.



3.Maintains regular and effective communications with the Executive Secretary, the Division of Administration, the Security Advisers office and other security/emergency management groups or crisis operations groups, as well as other resident UN and other international organizations, and advises on all security-related matters.

4.Based on regular and ad hoc threat assessments, develops a risk mitigation/management strategy for the UNECA, including major events, such as conferences, meetings, VIP visits.

5.Within the H-MOSS (or similar standard) framework and UNDSS overall strategies and policies, supervises, organizes, develops and updates, local security policies, plans and procedures and their implementation.

6.Evaluates the effectiveness of physical and security and safety installations, and in the context of the organizational resilience management system (ORMS) and with guidance from the UN Crisis Management Team in UNECA, evaluates the effectiveness of crisis response and security procedures, including, but not limited to incident response planning and mass casualty planning, and adopts preventive and/or proactive measures to remedy potential deficiencies.

7.Performs other duties as directed by the Executive Secretary or requested by UNDSS.

Competencies

Professionalism Excellent knowledge of the UN security management system, combined with solid background of military/police or other security specialization and sound political and social knowledge of Ethiopia. Shows pride in work and in achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations.

Communication: Speaks and writes clearly and effectively; listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately; asks questions to clarify, and exhibits interest in having two-way communication; tailors language, tone, style and format to match audience; demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed.

Planning& Organizing: Develops clear goals that are consistent with agreed strategies; identifies priority activities and assignments; adjusts priorities as required; allocates appropriate amount of time and resources for completing work; foresees risks and allows for contingencies when planning; monitors and adjusts plans and actions as necessary; uses time efficiently.Managerial Competencies

Leadership: Serves as a role model that other people want to follow; empowers others to translate vision into results; is proactive in developing strategies to accomplish objectives; establishes and maintains relationships with a broad range of people to understand needs and gain support; anticipates and resolves conflicts by pursuing mutually agreeable solutions; drives for change and improvement; does not accept the status quo; shows the courage to take unpopular stands; provides leadership and takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work; demonstrates knowledge of strategies and commitment to the goal of gender balance in staffing.

Judgement/Decision-making: Identifies the key issues in a complex situation, and comes to the heart of the problem quickly; gathers relevant information before making a decision; considers positive and negative impacts of decisions prior to making them; takes decisions with an eye to the impact on others and on the Organization; proposes a course of action or makes a recommendation based on all available information; checks assumptions against facts; determines the actions proposed will satisfy the expressed and underlying needs for the decision; makes tough decisions when necessary.

Education

Advanced university degree (Masters degree or equivalent) in social/political science, law, criminal justice or business administration, or related area.



A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree. Certification from a Police/Military War College/Senior Staff Course is an advantage.



Work Experience

A minimum of seven (7) years of progressively responsible experience in security, risk or disaster  management in the public or private service areas, such as national security, military or police, or in a corporate environment is required.



Senior command or management experience in the public or private or corporate sector is required.



International field experience in the UN Security Management System is desirable.



Prior experience in the management of security and safety services within the United Nations System is desirable.



Languages

Fluency in one of the working languages of the UN Secretarial, English or French, (both oral and written) is required ; knowledge of the other is desirable. Knowledge of another UN official language is an advantage.

Assessment Method

Evaluation of qualified candidates may include an assessment exercise which may be followed by competency-based interview.

Closing date: Feb 25, 2016









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Rating: 0  0 votes



How to Apply

Candidates will be required to meet the requirements of Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter as well as the requirements of the position. The United Nations is committed to the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity for all its human resources, including but not limited to respect for international human rights and humanitarian law. Candidates may be subject to screening against these standards, including but not limited to whether they have committed, or are alleged to have committed criminal offences and/or violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law.

The United Nations shall place no restrictions on the eligibility of men and women to participate in any capacity and under conditions of equality in its principal and subsidiary organs. (Charter of the United Nations  Chapter 3, article 8). The United Nations Secretariat is a non-smoking environment.

Applicants are urged to follow carefully all instructions available in the online recruitment platform, inspira. For more detailed guidance, applicants may refer to the At-a-Glance on The Application Process and the Instructional Manual for the Applicants, which can be accessed by clicking on Manuals hyper-link on the upper right side of inspira account-holder homepage.

Applications are pre-screened by the system according to the published requirements of the job opening on the basis of the information provided in the application. In relation to the requirements of the job opening, applicants must provide complete and accurate information pertaining to their qualifications, including their education, work experience, and language skills. Each applicant must bear in mind that submission of incomplete or inaccurate applications may render that applicant ineligible for consideration for the job opening. Initial screening and evaluation of applications will be conducted on the basis of the information submitted. Applications cannot be amended following submission. Candidates under serious consideration for selection will be subject to a reference-checking process to verify the information provided in the application.

Job openings advertised on the Careers Portal will be removed at midnight (New York time) on the deadline date.

Address: Addis Ababa. Ethiopia.

Email: jack.bell@undss.org.

Phones: +251 11 544 3206.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS BANK ACCOUNTS.

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Were Population Services International (PSI), the worlds leading non-profit social marketing organization. We work to make it easier for people in the developing world to be healthy by providing access to products and services that range from mosquito nets to HIV testing.

There are over 9,000 PSIers around the world. Its a diverse group of entrepreneurs and professionals with an unusually wide range of backgrounds  all with unique skills we bring to the job.

PSI-Ethiopia

PSI-Ethiopia, an affiliate of Population Services International, has developed national results-based programs in HIV prevention, reproductive health and child survival. Through evidence-based social marketing and health communications, PSI-Ethiopia strengthens public and private sector partners to help Ethiopias most vulnerable people to lead healthier lives.

PSI/Ethiopia is currently led a USAID flagship HIV prevention (MULU/MARPs) project through combination prevention and as part of the project implementation, the field program management team plays a pivotal role in the implementation of PSI/Ethiopia programs. The field programs management team is primarily responsible for the implementation of USAIDs funded MULU/MARPs program.

Join us!

PSI/Ethiopia seeks Clinical Network Services Coordinator who is motivated and enthusiastic in Regional Program Management team.

Your contribution

Under the supervision of Area Program Manager, the Clinical Network Services Coordinator is responsible for implementing standard operating procedures and quality assurance standards at a network of private, NGO, public, and MARPs clinics delivering integrated HCT, STI, reproductive health (RH) services and condom programming. S/he makes up to 50% travel to/from Addis and to project towns along her/his assigned geographic corridor. S/he also represents PSI MULU/MARPs with all partners, including regional government structures, NGOs, and private sector partners in her/his assignment area.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

* Identify, train and supervise private, NGO, public and MARPs clinic providers to implement standard operating procedures for integrated MARPs-friendly HCT, STI, RH services and condom promotion and distribution;

* Lead and supervise the strengthening of HCT, STI, RH services and referral system at MARPs network service delivery points and coordinate condom promotion and distribution in all operational sites;

* Contribute to MARPs and area/town-level work plans for PSI, sub-partners and service providers;

* Deliver MARPs performance indicators across the assigned area, as per the program PMP and work plan;

* Coordinate joint clinical technical review meetings (between MARPs provider, project partners and public facilities) and facilitate experience sharing meetings (between MARPs providers);

* Participate in MARPs bio-medical service assessment;

* Participate in town-level service mapping;

* Develop and implement cost effective training, field travel and supportive supervision activity budgets;

* Provide materials and equipment to the MARPs network providers according to budgets; Conduct and report on routine supportive supervision according to QA standards;

* Participate in data quality assessments and audits; compile, verify and submit MARPs network service delivery reports;

* Participate in annual performance and learning system, including management by objectives, performance appraisals and capacity development;

* Ensure area office compliance with GoE, donor and PSI rules, regulations and procedures; and facilitate internal and external audit activities, where required;

* Perform any other related activities as assigned by immediate supervisor.

This Job Description is not designed to cover a comprehensive listing of activities that are required of the employee. The precise duties and responsibilities of any job may be expected to change over time.
When one has finished building one's house, one suddenly realizes that in the process one has learned something that one really needed to know in the worst way--before one began.

Friedrich Nietzsche




Job Description



Contract Fixed term

Number of posts 4 (Four)

For over 70 years, Plan International unites and inspires people around the globe to transform the world and make positive lasting changes in childrens lives through the active involvement of children, and working at the grassroots with no religious, political or governmental affiliation.

Plan International is looking for Emergency Wash Officer to play a vital role in our mission to achieve lasting improvements in the quality of life of deprived children in developing countries.

Working with the team, the post holder is responsible for the coordination of the water supply, sanitation and hygiene promotion activities and budget at the El-Nino emergency response project office.



Job Requirements



To be successful, you need to have BA in Sanitary, Hydraulics Engineering and related fields from recognized university with at least 4 years relevant experience in Water supply and sanitation development and Hygiene out of which a minimum of 2 years experience in emergency WASH response project in NGOs is required.

Our vision is of a world in which all children realise their full potential in societies that respect peoples rights and dignity.

Working with us, you will be entitled to a wide range of employee benefits, such as Monthly Transportation Allowance, Monthly Pension & PF Contribution of 15% of basic salary, Annual Medical Allowance, 24 hours GPA Insurance and others.

Plan also provides a number of capacity development opportunities to its employees including Talent Management Programme.

Closing date: Feb 15, 2016











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Rating: 0  0 votes



How to Apply

The closing date for the application is Feb 18, 2016. Qualified candidates should submit the application form found with this link http://docs.ethiojobs.net/Plan_Int_Application_Form.docx through www.Ethiojobs.net

We only short list those applicants who send the complete application form. We do not accept CVs and other supporting documents at this stage

Please note: in order to apply for this role you must be able to demonstrate your eligibility to work in Ethiopia.

Thank you in advance for your interest in this position. Please note that only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted by Plan for follow-up.

More information about Plan can be found on http:// plan-international.org

Child Protection Policy:

References will be taken and background and anti-terrorism checks will be carried out for the successful candidate in conformity with Plans Child Protection Policy.

47 total views, 47 today




Job Description

Coordinate and manage the overall planning and direction of the Impact Fund at country level and set country priorities in close coordination with the Deputy Country Manager

To identify and design projects that are compliant with Gold Standard methodology and are consistent with local needs.

To develop multi-annual work plans and budgets for the range of projects

To manage all aspects of the implementation of projects;

Stakeholder awareness

Training

Procurement & Contracts

Day to day project management

Reporting

Budgets

Project maintenance

To manage the Gold Standard process throughout the 7 year cycle;

Social /economic baselines

Carbon emission baselines

Stakeholder consultation

Verification

Documentation control

Annual monitoring

To train and support Vita staff in meeting Gold Standard project requirements

To work with staff to identify and carry out the necessary steps to develop and maintain professional collaboration with all stakeholders

To ensure project original documentation is adequately managed and stored appropriately.

To establish and maintain systems and standards for monitoring and evaluation of projects against their strategic objectives and initial design.

To support the development of marketing material to promote the project and the sale of the credits

Job Requirements:

 Proven experience in project management at project leader level

 Proven leadership skills, initiative and flexibility

 Minimum 7 years working experience with BSc in related field

 Practical experience of rural development

 Understanding of the development role of solar lights, cook stoves, clean water, environmental, conservation, and forestry

 Proven communication skills, with the ability to motivate people and maintain good relationships with local partners, local government and project beneficiaries.

 Strong experience in budget management

 Good training/capacity building skills

 Excellent written and spoken English

 Good analytic skills and proficiency in computer software application

 Knowledge of implementing carbon offset projects is desirable

 Technical knowledge of rural water supply systems, in particular borehole repair, cook stoves and household solar light would be desirable.

Closing date: Feb 19, 2016









Your rating: none



Rating: 0  0 votes



How to Apply

Qualified applicants interested to apply for the vacant position are requested to send their CV with cover letter in English through P.O.Box 10744 Addis Ababa or vita2014jobs@gmail.com untile 19th February 2016.



Woman applicants are encouraged to apply.



Please do not apply online if other application instructions are stated.



Please do not accept payment requests at any of the recruitment phases!

57 total views, 57 today
A federal judge has denied former TierOne Bank President and CEO Gilbert Lundstrom's motion for a new trial or an acquittal on a dozen criminal charges.

And his sentencing is set to go forward as scheduled Feb. 24, U.S. District Judge John Gerrard said in an order Thursday afternoon.

A federal jury found Lundstrom, 74, guilty in November.

Last month, in a motion for a new trial, Chicago attorney Daniel Collins argued that there was insufficient evidence to demonstrate that Lundstrom directed a plan to delay ordering appraisals to defer recognition of losses, and insufficient evidence to show he directed a plan to modify existing loans to conceal losses. He also argued that it wasn't proper for the jury to consider evidence of Lundstrom's alleged acts of concealment, management style and compensation to infer his knowledge or intent of the conspiracy.

Collins argued that Lundstrom had been denied a fair trial and should get a new one or be acquitted.

In his order Thursday, Gerrard rejected the claims one at a time.

"The defendant is attempting a piecemeal rebuttal of the government's case," the judge wrote. "He was entitled to -- and did -- make those arguments to the jury."

Gerrard found that the government's evidence was sufficient to support the theory of the case that the evidence pointed to Lundstrom's intent to defraud.

He also rejected Collins' contention that the specific issues he outlined taken together warranted a new trial even if each alone wasn't enough.

Taken individually or together, Gerrard said, they didn't alter the course of the trial so as to violate Lundstrom's due process rights.

On Nov. 6, at the end of a three-week trial, a federal jury found Lundstrom guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and falsify bank entries, of three counts of wire fraud, of securities fraud and six counts of falsifying bank records.

He was acquitted of a single wire fraud count involving a news release about the planned sale of branches to Great Western Bank.

Lundstrom faces the possibility of spending the rest of his life in federal prison. His attorney is asking for leniency.

Lundstrom led TierOne Bank for more than a decade before it was closed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. June 4, 2010, and sold to Great Western. As a result, more than 200 people in Lincoln and Nebraska lost their jobs, and shareholders were wiped out.

The failure was the largest in history by a Nebraska-based bank.
Law enforcement agencies joined civil rights groups Wednesday in calling for a revamp of Nebraska's process for handling cash, guns and other items seized during traffic stops or criminal investigations.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska and other groups said a proposal by state Sen. Tommy Garrett of Bellevue would help protect people whose belongings are taken on the premise of wrongdoing but are never accused of committing a crime.

Opponents have called that kind of civil forfeiture "policing for profit," accusing police and federal agents of being less focused on stopping crime and more on boosting their budgets by seizing cash and valuable items.

Yet the Nebraska Attorney General's Office and State Patrol also support Garrett's bill (LB1106), saying it would allow them to keep drug money away from criminals without running afoul of the U.S. Constitution.

"I am tired of giving drug dealers their money back," Corey O'Brien, director of criminal prosecution for Attorney General Doug Peterson, told members of the Legislature's Judiciary Committee during a public hearing Wednesday. "I am tired of giving cameras and computers back to people that manufacture child pornography."

State prosecutors have faced that decision since 1999, when the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled they could not charge a person criminally while also filing civil action in state court to seize assets related to the crime because it amounts to double jeopardy.

Until recently, authorities still had the option to claim many of those assets through a similar federal forfeiture process. That door closed in December when the U.S. Justice Department suspended the program due to budget cuts.

Garrett's bill would abolish state civil forfeiture except for abandoned property, instead coupling seizures directly with criminal charges.

"I think forfeiture can be a valuable tool for law enforcement but should be used only when actual crimes are being committed," Garrett said.

For example, Nebraska seized almost $43 million through the federal process from 2004-2014, and well over $3 million through the state process since 2011, according to the ACLU. None of the money from the state process accompanied a criminal charge, and the amount of federal money associated with criminal charges is unclear.

"These statistics show me that Nebraska's civil forfeiture system is hard broke," Garrett said.

Money from assets seized under state law is split between law enforcement agencies and the state's budget for education. Federal forfeiture returned more money to law enforcement until that well ran dry.

Civil liberties groups also supported a second Garrett bill (LB1108) that would require law enforcement agencies to provide detailed reports  including what was seized, when and where it was seized, its estimated value and the race of the person it was seized from  on each of their forfeiture cases.

Those records would go to the state auditor's office under Garrett's bill, although committee member Sen. Colby Coash of Lincoln suggested the state Crime Commission might be a better place.

The added reporting would promote transparency and help ensure the forfeiture system isn't being abused, supporters say.

Lincoln Police Chief Jim Peschong opposed the additional record-keeping, saying in a letter that the new requirements would cost the department almost $85,000 a year, plus $30,000 the first year for technological upgrades.

"Tough noogies," Garrett said, arguing police get money from the seizures and the public has a right to know about them.
The battle over expanded health care coverage for low-income Nebraskans raged into the night Wednesday at the State Capitol as state senators heard more than five hours of testimony on the newest legislative plan.

A wide range of individuals, some self-described as the working poor, some with medical disabilities, one speaking through tears, another from a wheelchair, urged the Health and Human Services Committee to support the bill (LB1032).

On the other side were a line of opponents, including an Arkansas state senator and the Medicaid director for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, who warned about the costs associated with the proposal and questioned whether the federal government could be trusted to meet its obligations.

Sen. John McCollister of Omaha, sponsor of the bill, said it would provide health care coverage for 77,000 Nebraskans, two-thirds of whom fit the definition of the working poor, by accessing federal Medicaid dollars that are available to Nebraska under the Affordable Care Act.

McCollister's plan would use those Medicaid funds to purchase private health care insurance for those individuals.

Sarah Parker of Lincoln said she is one of them, a woman who quit her full-time job to take care of her father who was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. She now works at temporary jobs with no health-care insurance.

"Give me a chance," she asked the committee. "Help us so we can have our best shot at a healthy life."

Calder Lynch, the HHS director, opposed the bill, arguing that it would cost the state nearly one billion dollars over the next 10 years and could impair the ability of the current Medicaid population of children and individuals with disabilities to access needed services.

His presentation mirrored a briefing on Tuesday in which he outlined his concerns, including questioning whether the federal government could be trusted to meet its commitment to pay the lion's share of the costs, beginning at 100 percent and gradually phasing down to 90 percent.

Sen. Kathy Campbell of Lincoln, chairwoman of the committee and a co-sponsor of the bill, began the hearing by criticizing "the late delivery" of cost estimates from HHS. That, in turn, made it impossible for the legislative fiscal office to provide its own cost estimate to the committee in time for the hearing.

Campbell said she will rely on the future cost estimate provided by the fiscal office.

While McCollister has centered on the number of "working poor" who would be assisted by the legislation, HHS has also pointed to thousands of Nebraskans who would receive premium assistance through employer-sponsored insurance and additional coverage for medically frail people through Medicaid managed care.

McCollister told the committee that his bill is financially sustainable, will attract $2 billion in federal funding over the next five years, spur economic activity and significant job growth, and assist health care providers who now bear the costs of uncompensated care.

Patricia Boozang of Boston, a health policy and regulatory adviser, said the Arkansas model that Nebraska would be partially following resulted in a 13 percent decrease in uninsured residents, a 55 percent decrease in uncompensated care at hospitals and a $118 million decrease in state general fund spending.

But Arkansas State Sen. Bryan King, who voted against his state's plan, said "we did not see the economic benefits" that had been promised and it has "disincentivized work."

"It's a boondoggle for insurance companies," he said.

Jim Vokal of Omaha, CEO of the Platte Institute for Economic Research, said "the Arkansas-style private entitlement will trap more Nebraskans in welfare dependency."

A parade of supporters lined up to urge the committee to support the bill.

Lynn Rex, executive director of the League of Nebraska Municipalities, said this was the first time the league decided to enter the debate.

"This is the most cost-effective way to provide health care insurance for Nebraskans," she said. "These are our neighbors."

Andy Hale, speaking for the Nebraska Hospital Association, said the bill would be "good for workers, businesses and the state economy" while also assisting hospitals with their burden of uncompensated care.

A decision "should be mandated by the needs of patients, not by politics," he said.

A number of supporters suggested that Nebraskans already are paying for the expanded coverage authorized by Obamacare while receiving none of that money in return.
A judge sentenced a 29-year-old man to 17 years in federal prison Wednesday for being one of the prime players in a meth conspiracy that brought the drugs from Mexico.

"The substantial amount of methamphetamine that was being trafficked from Mexico up through Phoenix, Arizona, to the Lincoln, Nebraska, area was obviously significant," U.S. District Judge John M. Gerrard told Juan Gallegos Loaiza before sentencing him. "And you were well aware of what was going on."

Nearly a year ago, Loaiza pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. He was found to have been responsible for distributing more than 20 pounds of meth.

U.S. Attorney Deborah Gilg said Loaiza received large quantities of methamphetamine from Phoenix in 2012 and 2013 and distributed it to dealers in Lincoln and eastern Nebraska.

She said Loaiza maintained an apartment at 32nd and Starr streets in Lincoln for the purpose of distributing drugs.

On Oct. 22, 2013, the FBI and the Lincoln/Lancaster County Narcotics Task Force stopped two vehicles, one loaded with meth from Phoenix, and one loaded with cash bound for Phoenix. Investigators found about 4 pounds of meth and $10,000 in the vehicles.

The next day, they served search warrants and arrest warrants and found 9.6 more pounds and more than $90,000.

Loaiza eluded them and fled to Mexico, but was arrested in Arizona in October 2014.

Gilg said Loaiza is expected to be deported to his native Mexico after serving his prison sentence.
University of Nebraska President Hank Bounds offered a blistering critique Wednesday of how the states public records statutes are hamstringing the search for a new UNL chancellor.

While I cant share specific data, I can say that the candidate pool I am working with is a fraction of the size of what I would expect for a position of this stature, Bounds told the Legislatures Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee.

Because the state requires NU to publicly name four finalists for its top positions, fewer candidates are willing to throw their names into the ring for fear of repercussions  real or otherwise  at their home institutions.

If anyone suggests that its just speculation that our law could have a crippling effect on our searches  let me tell you, based on my experience, that is not the case, Bounds said.

Sen. John Murante of Gretna introduced a measure on behalf of the NU Board of Regents that would allow the university to name a single priority candidate for its system president and campus chancellor positions.

Bounds said that process would not exclude the public or the media from meeting with and offering opinions on the lone finalist during the 30-day period before regents could make a job offer.

There are fewer and fewer people who want to undergo the type of scrutiny that comes with these roles, Bounds said.

Regent Tim Clare of Lincoln and former student Regent Krupa Savalia joined Bounds in voicing support for the bill, arguing that the public is represented on search committees responsible for finding, screening and recommending top administrators.

LB1109 does not eliminate the vital role that the public plays in executive searches, Clare said. The University of Nebraska belongs to the taxpayers. We welcome and encourage the publics participation in our searches from start to finish.

Opponents to the bill  and some committee members  questioned the need to change a law, which by Sen. Dave Bloomfields observation appears to have worked.

I look at our current process, Bloomfield said, referring to Bounds. It looks like it worked.

Newspaper editors criticized the bill for reneging on an agreement forged in 2007 that created the current requirement of making four finalists public.

It was a token of faith, and we meant it, attorney Alan Peterson, who represents Media of Nebraska, told the committee.

Journal Star Editor Dave Bundy said public bodies give up some efficiency in exchange for accountability in a democracy.

I believe that (regents) believe LB1109 is necessary to conduct their business as effectively and efficiently as possible. But their job is to conduct the publics business."

And Elizabeth Renbert, a journalism major at UNL, spoke on behalf of other students concerned that LB1109 excludes the universitys largest constituent group from the search process.

Sen. Mike Groene of North Platte, a committee member, said he appreciated the opportunity to meet Bounds during the presidential hiring process and compare him to three other candidates.

Its a great vetting process right off the bat when you have that transparency, Groene said.

No action was taken by the committee following a 2-hour hearing.
City employees salary information will be available online in a few months, City Councilman Roy Christensen and Mayor Chris Beutler announced at a Thursday news conference.

Employees who make $50,000 or more will be listed by name, the rest by job title. The list will also include salaries from the highest paid person down, said Christensen, who earned $24,000 in his part-time job as councilman last year.

Annual salary information will be available to the media after the council approves a resolution Christensen will introduce. The issue is scheduled for a public hearing at the Feb. 29 meeting that starts at 5:30 p.m.

"This is a cost-effective way to present salary information without disclosing sensitive information, said Mayor Chris Beutler, who last year earned $80,677.

The Omaha World-Herald asked for the city salary information two years ago, but the city's data wasn't formatted in a way it could use, said Public Safety Director Tom Casady.

Last year, Christensen began looking for a way to make salary data more easily accessible on the city's website. The information will appear on the Journal Star and World-Herald's websites. The data will link to the city's webpage.

Christensen said he wasnt hearing a clamor for the information, but when he went to look for it, it wasnt easily available.

As an elected official, Christensen knows he can get information from the city's human resources director, who last year earned $140,577. But as a regular citizen, Christensen said he wouldnt know where to ask.

It is a whole lot easier to find out things if you are a city councilman. This is not about me getting information. It is about the public getting information, he said.

Accessible transparency is important because the people of Lincoln pay the salaries at city hall, Christensen said. Taxpayers, just as the owner of any business, should know what people are being paid, he said Thursday.

Christensen said he worked with two department directors, Judy Halstead, who last year earned $114,142, and Casady, who made $162,983, to find an inexpensive way to provide the information online.
Like most parents, I know that Im blessed by the joy of my childrens lives. My son Max is four. My daughter Pia is three. Max is one of the finest kazoo players I know. Pia loves to jump- on the couch, on the dog, on her dad. My children dance, and sing, and fight for the chance to watch more television than Id prefer. On some days, they stubbornly refuse to eat anything but chicken nuggets, or else they conspire together to steal cookies from the counter.

Like most parents Im blessed, in an extraordinary way, by the ordinary, everyday joy of children.

But by some standards, my children are not ordinary. Of course, they have the ordinary range of human emotions. They have ordinary interests in Elmo and Dora the Explorer. They make ordinary jokes, and tantrums, and messes.

But my children have an unusual number of chromosomesthey both have trisomy-21, Down syndrome. This means they have a third 21st chromosome, which is one more than the usual. By some standards, and to some people, that small abnormality seems to make a world of difference.

Most people, through no fault of their own, have a very limited sense of the ordinary lives of people with a disability. Most of us havent had close relationships with people with Down syndrome, and so we form conclusions from occasional observations or television stereotypes. Even when we have a positive impression of people with disabilities, most of us have no sense of their daily realities, their strengths, or their challenges. Certainly, this was the case for me before Max and Pia came along.

But conclusions made in the absence of information can be very dangerous. For those who conceive children with Down syndrome, uninformed choices have life-long consequences. In the United States, approximately 60% of parents who receive a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome choose to terminate their pregnancy. They often make this decision without medical information, or a meaningful sense of what life is like for Americans with a disability. Even parents who dont terminate still must often guess and conjecture, often in fear and misunderstanding, about how their lives will change because of children with Down syndrome.

Medical, therapeutic, and educational opportunities for people with Down syndrome have never been more advanced, more freely available, or more effective than they are today. Children like minechildren with Down syndromelive mostly ordinary lives these days.

Today people with Down syndrome live longer than ever before, graduate high school with honors in mainstream classrooms, attend college, marry, build meaningful careers, develop real friendships, and live with a surprising degree of independence.

But few parents know those things when they receive a diagnosis. Instead, at the ultrasound, or in the delivery room, the diagnosis of Down syndrome is often delivered with outdated information, and with funereal and somber tones. In the absence of information, Down syndrome is often imagined to mean a life of exclusion, suffering, or pain. When my wife and I received our sons diagnosis, we imagined all of those things.

Today Sen. Lydia Brasch will present to the Health and Human Services Committee of the Nebraska Unicameral the Down Syndrome Diagnosis Information and Support ActLB891 for parents like my wife and I. The bill ensures that in Nebraska, every diagnosis of Down syndrome will come with current, medically accurate information, and connection to community resource groups, assistance, and expertise. The bill has 43 co-sponsors. And at my house, the bill has the support of two ordinary children, grateful that it might bring hope to parents blessed with children like mine.
Lincoln City Councilman Roy Christensen is right. City Hall should lift restrictions on where developers can build move theaters.

For decades the council has prohibited any theater with more than six screens outside the downtown area.

The justification for the rule was that the rule protected downtown. If people came downtown to a movie, they were more likely to patronize downtown restaurants and other business, officials said. In particular officials wanted to protect the Grand Theater, which was built with $3.2 million taxpayer assistance, primarily tax increment financing.

City officials promised to keep the ban in effect until tax increment financing bonds were paid off. That goal has been achieved.

The city also has a rule that new screens should be allowed only Lincolns six major shopping centers. That rule should be scrapped too.

Its time to see what the free market will bring to the Capital City in the form of new movie theaters.

Some argue that changes in the tastes and habits of the movie-going audience have dampened enthusiasm for large multi-plex theaters.

But just over two years ago a developer wanted to build a large multi-plex theater at 84th and Hwy. 2.

And Omaha has more screens than Lincoln. In fact it has 67 screens west of Interstate 480. Lincoln has 32 commercial screens, plus two at the Ross.

In addition, virtually all those screens are in South Lincoln. The screens at Marcus East Park technically are in north Lincoln. but only by a block or two.

Chrisensen makes a good point that dropping the restrictions will make it possible for a new trend to reach Lincoln. In some parts of the country, he said, businesses are creating coffee house or art house theaters with one or two screens.

Some of these small theaters, which often show older movies and small-budget independent films, serve older neighborhoods and redeveloped areas.

As Christensen says, one cannot predict what the next innovation might be. Loosening the restriction on theaters will allow entrepreneurs to be creative.

History shows that Lincoln has had some sort of restriction on theaters in place since 1984, when a total ban on any theater outside of downtown was put on the books.

The original ban has been loosened somewhat over the ensuing years.

Now its time to give entrepreneurs free rein. Some zoning restrictions will still be appropriate, but city officials should open the door to new, creative ideas on serving the movie-going public.
COLUMBUS  Aaron Plas career in education has been more like a ride in a rocket ship.

In just 10 years, the 32-year-old rose from an undergraduate student and All-American high jumper at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to the top administrative position at Columbus Lakeview.

And hes got his sights set even higher for the local school district.

I truly believe that Lakeview Community Schools is one of the best school districts in the state of Nebraska and has the potential to become the best school district in the state of Nebraska, Plas said Wednesday night, shortly after the Lakeview school board selected him to replace outgoing Superintendent Russ Freeman.

Plas, who holds a bachelors degree in business education and a masters in educational administration from UNL, is to receive his doctorate in administration from the University of South Dakota in May.

Plas spent three years teaching business at Centennial High School before taking the same position in York. Hes been the activities director and assistant principal at York High School the past four years.

The school board and search committee groups that included district staff members, principals and patrons spent two days interviewing four finalists for the Lakeview superintendent position.

Plas earned bonus points with representatives of the rural school district for his work with the agriculture programs at York.

In 2014-15, York Public Schools partnered with two neighboring districts to launch an Agronomy Academy funded by annual donations from Monsanto, DuPont Pioneer, Mycogen Seeds and Syngenta. Through the academy, students meet at a production facility three days a week to learn agronomy concepts and gain exposure to related careers.

This academic year, the district added a work certification program through the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture that gives students access to hands-on courses and allows them to leave high school with a two-year certification in chemical application, diversified agriculture or irrigation technology.

Plas said York Public Schools, which also has an on-site animal science lab, is leading the state in ag education, something he intends to remain focused on at Lakeview.

Plas and his wife Laura, a science teacher at York High School, have three children, 3-year-old Adlee and 4-year-old twins Cooper and Kennedy.
RACINE  For seemingly all of Thursday morning's event, a bright smile refused to leave Bryan Albrecht's face.

"All eligible students, if you work hard and meet the expectations, will have the opportunity to attend Gateway Technical College upon graduation from high school, and we will support you academically and financially throughout your college career," said Albrecht, Gateway's president and CEO, in front of a crowd of more than 200 high school and college students, faculty and community members.

Those people packed into the student commons area of Racine Gateway campus' Lake Building to witness the official unveiling of the "Gateway Promise," a program offering free tuition to qualified high school graduates in the tri-county area. The program, modeled after President Obama's College Promise Campaign, will begin in fall 2017 and offer up to six semesters of free education to those eligible.

To qualify, students must graduate on time from high school with at least a 2.0 GPA in their first three years and a composite ACT score of 16 or higher and immediately enroll following graduation. The students must either attend school or live in the Gateway district and have an expected family contribution of $3,000 or lower as calculated by Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

According to Albrecht, the program will be funded entirely through donations from the community. The college's goal is to create an endowment of $3 million, and not even that lofty aim could take the smile from Albrecht's face.

"As of this morning, we are at $1.5 million," he said, adding he was "very proud" of the work that organizers did to create the program.

SCJ lends a hand

A significant part of that money has come from SC Johnson. Thursday, the company announced a $700,000 combined donation to the Gateway Promise, including $400,000 as a personal donation from Chairman and CEO Fisk Johnson.

Company spokeswoman Kelly Semrau spoke to the crowd during the event, pledging SCJ's support.

"People need access to education and often times people cant afford education," she said. "If we can give a promise to the next generation that might not be able to afford an education, but have the grades and have the will to do that, it was perfect for us to do."

Semrau highlighted the Promise's ability to "pay it forward" for Racine residents and its alignment with SCJ's values.

"Those students can go get their two-year (degree), go on for more education or get family-sustaining jobs," she said. "We're very excited about that because we're a family company. We believe in families."

Also in attendance was James Schuelke, the deputy director of the College Promise Campaign. He made the trip from Washington, D.C., to commend Gateway on its commitment to free education and even read a letter to Gateway from President Obama.

"We're making good on that promise of creating pathways for young people to enter the middle class," Schuelke said.

Among the speakers at Thursday's program was Gateway student Graciela Vargas, a recent graduate of the adult high school program, who is moving into the school's human services program.

"I now have the confidence to move forward," Vargas said. "Gateway is like a second home to me."

"You heard one of our students today," Albrecht said. "That's a remarkable story. When I see the excitement of the 150 students who are here today ... I think that's really the most exciting part."
RACINE  A life sentence is now in the cards for a Racine man whom jurors convicted on Thursday of fatally shooting his best friend last year amid an alleged theft of $100.

The six-man, six-woman jury spent a little more than an hour deliberating before convicting Jacob W. Rogers of first-degree intentional homicide and possession of a firearm by a felon. Rogers, 28, is accused of the March 2 fatal shooting of his newborn daughters godfather, Andrew L. Jones Jr., 27, of Kenosha.

Jones father, Andrew Jones Sr., director of financial shares services for Spectrum Brands, told The Journal Times earlier this week that he thinks Rogers should receive life in prison.

It doesnt matter if your child was taken by a violent act or if your child died of natural causes. Its a void that never fills, said Jones Sr., who didnt attend the trial Thursday because he was out of town for work. Its a dark void where youre trying to find the light. You cant find it because it doesnt exist.

Jones Jr. was executed in cold blood on his friend's couch, Racine County District Attorney Rich Chiapete told jurors during closing arguments Thursday, the fourth day of trial. He was shot seven times, Chiapete said.

Rogers allegedly shot his friend after a dispute about $100 missing from Rogers dresser.

"You're not allowed to use deadly force to defend property," Chiapete told jurors. "This is over $100. $100."

Rogers, a felon after being convicted of marijuana possession in 2011 in Kenosha County, didn't testify.

One of his defense attorneys, Assistant State Public Defender Helmi Hamad, said Rogers didn't kill his friend because of that $100, but what it represented.

"That $100, in his mind, was key to getting his child back. (It was to) drive back to Illinois to fight to get his child back," Hamad said, arguing Rogers should be convicted of a lesser offense, second-degree intentional homicide.

That lesser offense is not punishable by a mandatory term of life behind bars.

While the first-degree homicide charge carries that mandatory life term, there are multiple sentencing options. Rogers could receive natural life; be eligible for release after 25 years; or petition the parole commission requesting he be released on extended supervision after first serving 25 years.

After the verdict, Chiapete said he will ask for natural life.

Rogers remains jailed on $1 million cash bond. His sentencing is set for April 15.

Everything is being taken

The shooting occurred in the Allegro Apartments, 522 3 Mile Road.

Rogers girlfriend, Katelyn McGraw, 23, is seen on a motion-activated camera in Rogers' apartment positioned near Jones feet, and suddenly places money on the floor. Witnesses testified that McGraw told Rogers she pulled the money from his friends boot. The alleged theft of cash wasnt recorded.

Witnesses testified that Rogers went with his girlfriend to Illinois for the birth of their daughter. Hamad said she had two children taken from her previously because of drug problems. But this was Rogers' first child, and she was the greatest joy in his life, Hamad said. Child welfare workers in Illinois then took the baby away.

So when Rogers' money was found in his best friend's boot, "he was devastated," Hamad said. "(Rogers felt) 'first my baby is taken and now this.' Everything is being taken."

Jones Sr. said said during a break in the trial on Tuesday that he doesnt know if his son stole the money. McGraw is not seen on camera taking Jones Jr.s boot off and pulling the money out, his father said.

I dont really trust drug people. They have a habit of lying, he told The Journal Times. Even if he took the $100, are you telling me Andrews life was only worth $100?
MADISON  A 9-year-old Town of Norway boy who conducted toy drives on behalf of Childrens Hospital of Wisconsin received the State Assemblys Hometown Hero Award on Tuesday.

Vance Wilks spent time at the Wauwatosa hospital in 2014 while having a benign brain tumor removed. While there, he noticed the children in the hospital didnt have enough toys.

He and his parents, Chad and Amanda, launched Vances Toy Voyage, which collected more than 1,000 toys and raised $1,800 for Childrens Hospital in two drives. The success of Wilks efforts led him to be recognized by the Assembly Tuesday.

His work to bring joy and happiness to children who are hospitalized is remarkable, said state Rep. Thomas Weatherston, R-Caledonia. I commend Vance and his family for helping his community and for setting such a wonderful example for others.

The award is the Assemblys highest citizen honor, and only a handful of people from around the state receive it each year, according to a press release.

Vance is a hero not only to his hometown, but also to the hundreds of kids whose stay at Childrens Hospital of Wisconsin has been made easier through the toys and games he has helped collect, said Peggy Troy, president and CEO of Childrens Hospital of Wisconsin. Vance reflects the amazing community support that helps make Childrens special.
MOUNT PLEASANT  Residents will weigh in on two highly contentious Village Board races in the Feb. 16 primary.

Incumbent Rick McCluskey, who was first elected in 2014, faces challengers Terri Isaacson, Ken Otwaska and Donald Schulz for trustee seat No. 2. Another primary, for seat No. 6, features incumbent Anna Marie Clausen, John Martini and Jon Hansen.

The top two vote-getters advance in each race to the April 5 general election.

Ahead of the primary, the candidates answered The Journal Times questions on several recent village issues. What follows are responses from trustee No. 2 candidates.

The Journal Times will be running separate questions and answers from candidates Clausen, Martini and Hansen later this week. A forum for the public to hear from the candidates is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday at Mount Pleasant Village Hall, 8811 Campus Drive.

1. What do you see as the biggest areas of improvement needed in Mount Pleasant?

Isaacson: Mount Pleasant trustees need to listen to residents and they need to respect the point of view of the people who are impacted by village issues and decisions. Too many things are decided out of the public eye and it creates an atmosphere of secrecy and distrust. That is a terrible way to run a community.

McCluskey: Since elected trustee in 2014, I have facilitated $50 million in new growth and development. Businesses now view Mount Pleasant as a place to build and prosper. They bring new jobs and opportunity where families can live and grow. Yet with that growth from a rural to a blended environment of urban and commercial, there are growing pains associated with each project undertaken. I believe the key to acceptable growth and development is fostering an understanding with the impacted residents, for it is only through this understanding that they will become willing participants.

Otwaska: I feel we need a Village Board that wants to listen to and not ignore the concerns of the residents. We now have a group in office, with the exception of Jerry Garski and Gary Feest, that feel they have the right to treat us as their subjects instead of citizens. This is a board that voted for an ordinance that prohibits residents from asking questions at public meetings. The same group that voted a six-month severance package at the last board meeting Mark Gleason officiated. The board needs to respect and respond to the residents needs.

Schulz: Transparency, independent thinking and keeping Mount Pleasant residents first and foremost. Too many deals have been struck and are being done out of the public eye and sometimes without the boards knowing of them until after the facts are in. Encourage and welcome public participation and making sure residents are aware of what is happening in the village and their area.

2. How would you assess the level of public safety (police/fire departments) in the village? Are there changes you would push for?

Isaacson: Safety needs to come first. This is a big issue and needs to be addressed from all angles. The response times need to be analyzed in the village as a whole. Trustees must be honest with residents; safety is no place for excuses.

McCluskey: Mount Pleasant protective services are good in all respects, yet there is always room for improvement. The time has come for the village to improve the cooperation between fire and police agencies east of Interstate 94. I have often envisioned a Metro Police and Fire for this area with Mount Pleasant at the forefront, combining our services with those municipalities adjoining our boundaries. Is it possible? Certainly. Is it practical? Absolutely. The savings alone make it a worthwhile effort to pursue.

Otwaska: In my opinion Police Chief Tim Zarzecki is doing a commendable job in addressing the changing needs of the village. We now have 48 police officers serving the village with the hiring of five officers last month. It would be interesting to know how many firefighters were hired in the last five years. We have many areas in the village where response times need to be addressed. All of us tend to think of our fire department as an insurance policy that we hope we dont have to collect on. But when we do, response time is critical.

Schulz: Our police department is in good position with 48 sworn officers to Caledonias 33. If a major issue should arise, we have the Racine County sheriff and Wisconsin State Patrol to lend assistance to Mount Pleasant. South Shore Fire Department could use some additional staffing. Response time in rescue calls in some areas are beyond the ideal four minutes; not because of commitment, simply out of the desired distance. Short-term reopening of the Lake Park station as a limited station is one solution. I would pursue discussion with Caledonia to explore opening a second station in the Highway 38/31 area.

3. How should Mount Pleasant balance attracting economic development and neighborhood concerns, like in the case of the proposed Willkomm commercial development at the southeast corner of Highway 31 and Spring Street?

Isaacson: This is an issue of how public information was handled. Neighbors created a petition opposing it. They felt blindsided and ignored, very much the way residents on Highway V feel. This is a pattern that has to change. That will be my goal as trustee.

McCluskey: It is a matter of balance between the interest of economic development, the villages Comprehensive Land Use Plan and the concerns of impacted residents. For the Willkomm project, traffic has always been an issue at Spring Street and Highway 31. An issue voiced loudly by many of the residents is the vicinity. That will be fixed. The willingness of Willkomm to partner with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation will mitigate a lot of the traffic concerns.

Otwaska: Getting all people involved in a town hall setting and listening to concerns and issues and hopefully find common ground to work from. In my opinion, disrupting a neighborhood for a car/gas station, etc., when there is access to open land a few miles west on Spring Street is just wrong. The residents should have some input on development in their neighborhood.

Schulz: I have mixed concerns. Certainly having new jobs and increased value to the village is of great benefit. I dont want the burden of putting the infrastructure on the taxpayers back, though. I feel orderly development is the best practice. Creating tax-incremental financing and special deals to attract that development is somewhat counterproductive. If the development fits in the area I think it should proceed, but the neighbors concerns need to be heard and dealt with. I realize not everyone will be happy but the majority of their concerns should be dealt with.

4. How should the village handle paying for the Highway V water and sewer project?

Isaacson: This question hits home. Im a victim in this project. Taxpayers and homeowners in Mount Pleasant should not pay for Caledonia development. Infrastructure is an expense that can be shared fairly and has been many times. The water/sewer project in Caledonia should be no different. This entire project has been mishandled and that is why I am running for office.

McCluskey: A good start begins with a review of how Caledonia assessed their residents. I attended that meeting and found their solution sound and reasonable. What I do not want is to create a financial hardship for the impacted residents. I amended the sewer ordinance so residents do not have to hook up immediately and I believe that is a good step in the right direction. Again, it is a question of balance and I will strive to achieve it.

Otwaska: What was in the original contract with Caledonia? The secret contract amendment in August 2014 held in closed session apparently changed the original agreement. Why was it changed and why were the residents on Highway V not included in the discussion on the major decision that involves them? How should Mount Pleasant pay for the Highway V project that benefits Caledonia development and not the residents? Im waiting to see what the Village Boards idea of a fair assessment will be and only then will we have an idea of how it will be paid.

Schulz: As for the Highway V mess, the village had a similar problem with the Campbell Woods Development. The developer was required to pay for the extension of the sewer and water with a right of recovery to him as new development occurred, with a 20-year sunset clause. In this case, the Mount Pleasant Village Board is considered the developer when they voted to go to gravity sewer and allowed water extension without the usual policy followed. I believe the solution to Campbell Woods scenario would be a fair solution to this issue. It wouldnt make everyone happy, but their project could proceed.
Whining has never lifted anybody out of poverty. Whining has never gotten a positive result from a foreign power. So, why is anybody listening to presidential candidates who whine incessantly? "It's my turn!" "Mean lady scares me." "Press doesn't pick on that guy enough."

This isn't the kind of mudslinging that started in 1796. This is being unable to deal with that mudslinging. Politics is rough. The world the next president must deal with is just ugly.

There have been five full-scale riots, and more than 100 Americans murdered in domestic terrorist events in the last seven years. Participation in the workforce is at a 45-year low. How can we expect a person who cannot take the rigors of a campaign to deal with such trials? How can we trust them not to use their power to lash out at personal enemies the way Nixon did.

The world is very unstable. Vladimir Putin is trying to rebuild the Soviet Empire. North Korea is looking to nuke us. South West Asia and North Africa may be a general warzone by Inauguration Day. A whiny feckless American president green lights international bad actors.

I won't try and tell you how to vote. Ordering people how to vote is a pet peeve of mine. However, how can somebody who isn't tough enough to take the stress of an election be tough enough to take the crushing trials of the presidency. Presidents go in vibrant, they come out spent and elderly.

Karl Heinitz

Mount Pleasant
A Madison native charged last year with trying to join the terrorist group Islamic State is competent to stand trial, a psychologist at a federal correctional center has concluded.

But U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen Crocker gave a lawyer for Joshua Van Haften, 35, two weeks to discuss the report with a defense expert to decide whether to contest the competency finding.

Van Haften was charged in April with trying to cross from Turkey into Syria to join IS.

He flew to Turkey in August 2014 and was to meet with a contact to take him into Syria, according to court documents, but nobody came for him.

Van Haften was arrested by Turkish authorities after returning to Istanbul, and was arrested in Chicago on April 9 after his release from Turkey.

Van Haftens lawyer, federal defender Joseph Bugni, sought a competency evaluation, and Van Haften was sent to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago, where he underwent the evaluation by Dr. Ron Nieberding.

The court was given Nieberdings findings under seal on Jan. 29. Minutes from a status conference held by telephone Wednesday indicate that Nieberding concluded that Van Haften is competent to proceed.

But Crocker gave Bugni two weeks to consult with Dr. Kenneth Robbins, after which Bugni must tell the court either that he doesnt contest Nieberdings conclusion or that the defense wishes to contest it by conducting its own competency examination.

In the meantime, Van Haften remains in custody and is now back in the Dane County Jail. No trial date has been set.
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JURIST Guest Columnist Eric A. Johnson of University of Illinois School of Law discusses the recent Criminal Code Improvement Act 

In November 2015, the House Judiciary Committee voted to send The Criminal Code Improvement Act of 2015 [PDF] to the House floor. The bill would, among other things, add to the federal criminal code a new section, 18 USC  11, which would govern the interpretation of federal criminal statutes that are silent with respect to culpable mental states. The new statute would provide, specifically:

 11. Default state of mind proof requirement in Federal criminal cases. If no state of mind is required by law for a Federal criminal offense (1) the state of mind the Government must prove is knowing; and

(2) if the offense consists of conduct that a reasonable person in the same or similar circumstances would not know, or would not have reason to believe, was unlawful, the Government must prove that the defendant knew, or had reason to believe, the conduct was unlawful.

Would this proposed statute improve the federal criminal code? No. Granted, many federal criminal statutes are silent or ambiguous with respect to mental states. And granted, the federal courts efforts to fill these statutory gaps with judge-made law have been somewhat uneven. Probably, then, the federal criminal code would be improved by the addition of a well-drafted general provision governing the assignment of mental states to offense-elements. But 18 USC  11 isnt well-drafted. Its a disaster from start to finish. Its worse than nothing.

For now, lets focus on subsection (1), which would require the courts to add the mental state of knowing to any federal criminal statute that is silent with respect to mental states. The first difficulty with this section is that it does not say to which offense-elements the knowing mental state would be assigned. All criminal offenses have multiple offense-elements. And, as every first-year law student learns, its to these elements, not to the offense as a whole, that mental states attach.

To illustrate: Consider 18 USC  922(g)(9), which prohibits persons who have been convicted of domestic violence crimes from possessing firearms. This statute requires the government to prove four elements:

 the defendant had been convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence;

 the defendant possessed or received something;

 what he or she possessed was a firearm or ammunition; and

 the firearm or ammunition had been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce.

This statute doesnt mention any mental states, so the offense presumably would be subject to the mental-state requirement in subsection 11(1). But to which of these four elements would the knowing mental state attach? Requiring the government to prove that the defendant knew he possessed something and knew that what he possessed was a firearm (as the courts already do) is one thing. Requiring the government to prove, in addition, that the defendant knew he had been convicted of a domestic-violence misdemeanor is something else entirely. (In many parts of the country, juries would be only too happy to credit a defendants claim that he had forgotten about the conviction or its nature.) Finally, requiring the government to prove that the defendant knew the gun had traveled in interstate commerce would be absurd.

Would it be possible to construct a variant of subsection 11(1) that solved this dilemmathat said specifically to which of the elements the mental state attached? Of course. Lots of state criminal codes have default mental-state requirements, and all of them specify the kinds of offense-elements to which the requirement applies. In this respect the state codes were influenced by the Model Penal Code, which was published by the American Law Institute in 1962. The Model Penal Code says that an offense-element must be assigned a mental state if the element is materialand it says specifically what it means for an element to be material. Congress certainly could draw on these models in constructing a workable default mental-state provision.

Even better, Congress could draw on the work of the so-called Brown Commission, [PDF] which Congress created in 1967 to conduct a thorough review of the federal criminal law and to propose changes. The commissions 1971 draft federal criminal code includes a section,  302, that would govern the interpretation of statutes that are silent with respect to mental states. Unlike the Criminal Code Improvement Act, the Brown Commissions draft provision carefully and exhaustively specifies the circumstances under which a mental state must be assigned to an offense element.

Subsection 11(1)s failure to specify the elements to which the knowing mental state would attach is only part of the problem, however. The other part is the knowing mental state itself. The trouble with the knowing mental state is that it requires the actor to refrain from acting only if he is certain that the proscribed result will occur, or is certain that the critical circumstance exists. If applied to the element of non-consent in rape, for example, the knowing mental state would require the defendant to refrain from having sex with the victim only if he was certain that she did not consent; if he merely was aware of a high probability that she did not consent, he could go ahead and have sex with her. Nor is the element of non-consent unusual in this respect; a knowledge requirement is inappropriate for most offense-elements. Which is why the Model Penal Code, the Brown Commissions draft code, and most state codes specify recklessly, rather than knowingly, as the default. The exception is Oregon, which specifies a default of mental state of criminal negligence.

To this argument, Im guessing that the proponents of Criminal Code Improvement Act would respond in roughly this way: Its better to demand too much by way of culpability than too little, particularly given current rates of incarceration. Moreover, Congress remains free to specify a mental state less demanding than knowingly for any particular offense. It need merely do so explicitly. I could say a lot about this argument, but Ill limit myself to a single narrow point: In the end, Subsection 11(1) would not actually make the federal criminal code more demanding.

Here is why. Remember, first, that Subsection 11(1) does not say to which elements the default mental state of knowing actually would attach. As a result, the federal courts almost certainly would interpret Subsection 11(1) as permitting them to decide for themselvesas they always have done beforewhich elements of any particular offense require mental states. After the enactment of Subsection 11(1), however, the courts exercise of this discretion would be informed by the recognition that assignment of a mental state to an offense-element under Subsection 11(1) is an all-or-nothing proposition; if the court assigns a mental state at all, it must assign an extremely demanding one, namely, knowingly. Since the knowingly does not work well for most offense elementsnon-consent in rape, for examplecourts simply would decide not to assign any mental state at all to most offense-elements.

Is this prediction fanciful? No. When courts face the question whether to assign a mental state to a particular offense-element, they often justify their refusal to assign a mental state by (1) framing the question as whether the element requires, say, an intentionally or knowingly mental state; and (2) then explaining why these relatively demanding mental states arent suitable. This happened in Dean v. US [PDF], 556 US 568, 572 (2009), for example, where the Supreme Court framed the critical question as whether [18 USC]  924(c)(1)(A)(iii) contains a requirement that the defendant intend to discharge the firearm. The Court had little difficulty in concluding that the answer to this question was no. This refusal to assign a mental state would have been harder to justify if the Court had framed the critical question as some lower courts had, namely, as whether the statutes discharge element requires the assignment of some mental staterecklessly, negligently, etc.

In summary, the proposed 18 USC  11(1) would not make the federal criminal code consistently more demanding. In the usual case, it would force the courts to choose between (1) demanding nothing by way of culpability and (2) demanding too much. They often would choose to require nothing.

Eric A. Johnson is a professor at the University of Illinois College of Law, where he teaches criminal law, criminal procedure, and evidence. His most recent article is Dynamic Incorporation of the General Part: Criminal Laws Missing (Hyper)Link, 48 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 1831 (2015).

Suggested citation: Eric A. Johnson, Worse Than Nothing: The Criminal Code Improvement Act of 2015, JURIST  Academic Commentary, Feb. 10, 2016, http://jurist.org/academic/2016/02/eric-johnson-criminal-code.php

This article was prepared for publication by Alix Ware, an assistant Editor for JURIST Commentary. Please direct any questions or comments to her at commentary@jurist.org
Colombias Constitutional Court [official website, Spanish] on Monday revoked the mining licenses of all 347 private mining companies that had previously been granted approval to develop the ecologically endangered Colombian Andes. The resolution contradicts [Colombiareports article] part of the National Development Plan organized by the National Planning Department [official website, Spanish], which had banned the granting of new mining licenses, but had kept those already granted intact. The change in policy comes as an effort to protect the South American Paramo, a delicate tropical mountain ecosystem stretching along the Andes through Colombia to northern Peru. Additionally, the court revoked portions of the National Development Plan that prevented previously war-displaced individuals from reclaiming lands and that allowed courts to forcibly expropriate land for certain projects.

In November Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] reported that the Colombian government should prioritize the rights of indigenous and Afro-descendant communities [report, PDF] above corporate interests [JURIST report]. Similarly, in November 2014, AI released a report [press release] detailing its concern that people hoping to gain their land back [JURIST report] under the Victims Land and Restitution Law [Law 1448, text, in Spanish] in Colombia may face problems ranging from bureaucracy to intimidation, causing them to fail to receive their land. The report, entitled Colombia: A land title is not enough: Ensuring sustainable land restitution in Colombia [report, PDF], describes that those trying to restore land rights were likely to meet violent resistance and economic hardships in doing so because of the ongoing armed conflict [Insight Conflict backgrounder].
Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] on Tuesday urged [press release] the Indonesian Parliament [official website] to reject proposed amendments to its law on the eradication of terrorism [Law No. 15/2003]. HRW asserts that the proposed amendments are too vague and would limit the exercise of free expression and directly conflict with Indonesias obligations to international human rights, leading to fundamental rights violations. The proposed amendments are in response to the recent attacks in Jakarta [Al Jazeera report] and would allow the stripping of citizenship and confiscation of passports of Indonesians suspected of supporting the Islamic State. Neither the amendments nor the proposing officials provide a process by which citizenship would be stripped or passports confiscated.

Indonesia [HRW country report] has previously faced international criticism for undermining human rights. In October Amnesty International reported that death row inmates in Indonesia have been denied [JURIST report] the right to counsel, beaten and coerced into confessions. In April eight convicted drug smugglers [JURIST report] were executed by firing squad for their part in a smuggling ring. In November 2013 the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights urged Indonesia [JURIST report] to end discrimination. In February of that year a group of UN human rights experts called on Indonesia [JURIST report] to amend a bill they claimed would unfairly limit the rights of assembly, speech and religion of private organizations. In July 2012 an Indonesian cleric was imprisoned for violating [JURIST report] the nations blasphemy law. The international community criticized [JURIST report] Indonesia the preceding March for the arrest of peaceful demonstrators. In January 2011 three soldiers were sentenced [JURIST report] for their role in making a video showing the torture of detainees. In December 2010 rights groups advocated [JURIST report] for the repeal of two Sharia laws which imposed strict Islamic dress in public and prohibited unmarried men and women from being alone together.
[JURIST] Ohio lawmakers on Wednesday approved a bill [HB 294, PDF] that would block federal and state funds from reaching groups that promote or perform abortions, effectively defunding Planned Parenthood. The bill passed in the Ohio House of Representatives by a vote of 62-32 and will now be sent to Governor John Kasich [official website], who is expected to sign. The bill will cut funding [Reuters report] of $1.3 million annually to Planned Parenthood, which also performs services such as HIV testing and pre-natal care. Planned Parenthood Greater Ohio of Ohio [advocacy website] currently has 20 centers within the state, only two of which provide abortion procedures.

Last month President Barack Obama vetoed legislation [JURIST report] that would have defunded Planned Parenthood. In August Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] in the US District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, alleging that Alabama Governor Robert Bentleys termination of Medicaid provider agreements for the facility violates a federal law that requires Medicaid beneficiaries to have a choice in provider for family planning. Also in August the Alaska Superior Court struck down [JURIST report] a state law it says would have unfairly burdened low-income individuals by limiting Medicaid funding for abortions.
The prosecutor in the trial of Hissene Habre [BBC profile] on Wednesday requested that the former Chadian leader be sentenced to life in prison if convicted. The sentencing recommendation was made by Senegal special prosecutor Mbacke Fall after his closing arguments. Lawyers for the civil parties in this trial began summing up [Guardian report] on Monday. Habre, who has denounced the proceedings [JURIST report] as politically motivated, is accused of committing crimes against humanity, torture and war crimes during his 1982-1990 rule. According to the Chadian truth and reconciliation commission [materials], victims of the secret police network Direction de la Documentation et de la Securite (DDS), which Habre allegedly oversaw, may be as many as 40,000. This trial marks the first time [AP report] a former head of state has been tried by another country for alleged human rights violations.

Habre, who fled to Senegal after being deposed in 1990, was indicted [JURIST report] by the Extraordinary African Chambers in July 2013 and placed in pretrial detention. In September the former leader was carried into court [JURIST report] by masked security agents following his refusal to participate in his own trial. In July the Extraordinary African Chambers in Senegal suspended [JURIST report] his trial on charges of crimes against humanity, torture and war crimes, reportedly due to the need for court appointed lawyers to prepare the former leaders defense. In March a criminal court in Chad sentenced [JURIST report] Habre-era police officers to prison tor torture. In 2013 more than 1,000 victims filed for civil party status, asking the Extraordinary African Chambers to officially recognize them as parties with an interest in the matter. The African Union [official website] began talks with Senegal to come up with a plan for Habres trial after the International Court of Justice [official website] ruled [JURIST report] in July 2012 that Senegal must either try Habre promptly or extradite him to Belgium for trial.
The High Court of Cassation and Justice of Romania on Wednesday upheld [materials] the 20-year sentence of Soviet-era prison commander Alexandru Visinescu for crimes against humanity. Visinescu was head of the Romanian prison Ramnicu Sarat for seven years, beginning in 1956, over the course of which approximately 14 political prisoners died. The suit was initially brought [press release] by the Institute for Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile in 2013. The conviction is a land mark case for Romania, a country that has struggled with prosecuting communist crimes.

Romania has been found one of the most corrupt nations in the EU, ranking [TI profile] 69 out of the 177 nations globally according the watchdog group Transparency International [advocacy website]. In April a Romanian court sentenced [JURIST report] former Senior Judge Stan Mustata to 10 years and eight months in prison for granting favorable verdicts to defendants in exchange for money. In January 2014 the European Commission released [JURIST report] its semi-annual Cooperation and Verification Mechanism report on Romania, warning the nation to end political pressure on the judiciary amid continuing concerns over corruption. In September 2013 Romanian prosecutors charged [JURIST report] Visinescu with genocide. Visinescu, the former chief of the Ramnicu Sarat prison under Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu [Telegraph profile] faced genocide charges for beating and starving political prisoners between 1956 and 1963, the height of Communist repression against dissidents. In January 2013 the Bucharest Appeals Court ruled [JURIST report] that a former Romanian defense ministry official can be extradited to the US on charges of trying to illegally export military equipment to Iran.
[JURIST] The UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) [official website] on Wednesday called [press release] for the Central African Republic (CAR) to address numerous human rights violations stemming from an outbreak of violence in Bangui last year. Last fall an eruption of violence in the capital city of Bangui resulted in at least 47 civilian deaths, at least a dozen rapes and the displacement of 42,000 people. MINUSCA head Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, stated Wednesday, the perpetrators of grave violations of human rights will enjoy impunity, and the Central African authorities must take effective action to ensure that those responsible for the crisis are brought to justice. The UN also has found evidence that the issues in Bangui has triggered more widespread violence in other CAR cities such as Bambari, Kaga-Bandoro and Bouar. MINUSCA plans to release a report further illustrating the numerous human rights violations at the end of the month.

Violence has persisted in the CAR since the predominately Muslim-based Seleka rebels ousted former president Francois Bozize [BBC profile] in March 2013. More than 400,000 people remain displaced due to the violent overthrow, with over a half million more people seeking refuge in other countries. In November UNICEF [official website] called for [press release] aid to approximately 1.2 million children distressed by conflict [JURIST report] in the CAR. In January of last year members of a UN investigatory commission reported that crimes against humanity have been widely committed by all parties to the conflict in the CAR, prompting the commission to call for the establishment of an international court [JURIST report] to objectively investigate and prosecute crimes. Earlier that month the UN published a report stating that violent acts committed in the CAR constituted war crimes and crimes against humanity [JURIST report], but not genocide. Despite this finding, members of the international community maintain that there is much work to be done [JURIST op-ed] in the nation. In 2014 the International Criminal Court [official website] opened a second investigation [JURIST report] into CAR war crimes.
Bernie and Hillary take their contest to South Carolina, which is supposed to be friendlier to Hillary because the electorate is not nearly as lily-white as New Hampshire.

We will see soon enough. Is it really the case that Bernie's message of a rigged political system and a rigged economy controlled by wealthy Wall Streeters will fail to resonate with black voters? What, they think the system is working just fine for them?

Here is a possible clue: when Al Sharpton's National Action Network had their annual convention in 2015 the kickoff speech was given by... Bernie Sanders. And his message? Waddya think?

Vermont Senator Bernard Sanders delivered a fiery yet statistics-laden speech on income inequality to the convention of Rev. Al Sharptons National Action Network today, and laid out an aggressive left-wing national agendabut neglected to mention the speculation hell run for the White House in 2016.

Despite his introduction from Mr. Sharpton as the face of progressive politics in America and a potential candidate for the presidency, the self-identified socialistfirst elected to the House of Representatives in 1991boasted to the audience at the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel about being the longest-serving federal legislator not affiliated with either major party in American history. The Brooklyn-born New England politician then lambasted what he described as the ugly and obscene state of Americas affairs.

Let me be blunt with you today. You ready to hear some blunt talk? Our country today faces more serious problems than in any time since the Great Depression, he said. One of the things we do not do as a nation, and it may be the most serious crisis of all, is discuss the serious crises. So let me lay it on the line for you.

After noting that 11 percent of the population is either underemployed or unemployed, that black youth unemployment is the highest in America and that one third of black men born today are expected to at some point enter the criminal justice system, he lashed out at one of Mayor Bill de Blasios favorite foes: income inequality.

As serious as all those issues are, let me be very blunt with you and tell you what not a whole lot of people will tell you: there is one issue even more serious than all of the issues that Ive mentioned, and that impacts all of the issues that I have mentioned. And that is income, wealth inequality in America, which has reached grotesque levels, he said, noting that 45 million Americans and 18 percent of children live below the poverty line. In America today, not far from here, we have a financial system dominated by a handful of Wall Street firms who drove this country into the worst recession in the modern history in America. And these Wall Street firms have shown themselves to be motivated by greed and by recklessness, and illegal behavior, and enough is enough.

This just in - the Obama "recovery" has not been working for black people. Sort of like the way it has not been working for working class whites, but more so.

On the cultural front, Ta Nehisi Coates, currently the coolest kid on the black intelligentsia block, announced that he will be voting for Bernie. That makes it acceptably non-racist for other media types to let their freak flag fly, pretend they are twenty-five again, and back the New Story rather than yesterday, and yesterday, and all our yesterdays stretching back to 1992's news.

SPEAKING OF AL: Bernie and Al had breakfast today, prompting this quip:

Prediction: Breakfast lasts 6 hrs cuz neither of them will make a move for the check.

That would be the taxpayer. Free breakfast for all! Lunch, sadly, not so much.
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86-year-old man burnt alive over witchcraft charge

An 86-year-old man was burnt alive over witchcraft allegation in Hetauday-8, Maka-wanpur, on January 13.
Aleppo fighting displaces 50,000 people, says Red Cross

A surge in fighting in Syria's Aleppo province has displaced about 50,000 people, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has warned.
Government signs aid accords worth Rs90b

The government has so far signed accords worth more than $856 million (Rs89.88 billion ) out of the total amount of $4.1 billion (Rs446 billion) pledged for reconstruction during the last donor conference held in June 2015, according to the Finance Ministry.
Nepali woman languishing in Indian jail for eight months

A Nepali woman from Those-2 in Ramechhap district has been languishing in an Indian jail for the past eight months.
Power import turns uncertain over tariff issue

Although the construction of the 400kV Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur cross-border transmission line is set to complete by Thursday, plans to import 80MW electricity from India from February 16 have turned uncertain after issues related to pricing surfaced.
Quake-ravaged king Tribhuvans idol set to be refurbished

The Kathmandu Metropolitan City has started reconstructing the earthquake-damaged block housing the late king Tribhuvans statue and three traffic islands at Tripureshwor.
Telecom to give voluntary retirement to 796 employees

The Nepal Telecom is preparing to downsize the number of its employees. A meeting of the company Board of Directors held on Thursday under the chairmanship Secretary at the Ministry of Information and Communications, Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, took a decision to this end.
Tributes pour in for Koirala

World leaders, including UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, have offered condolences on the demise of former Prime Minister and President of Nepali Congress Sushil Koirala. He died from pneumonia at wee hours on Tuesday.
Will not forge agreement against national interest: PM Oli

Prime Minister KP Oli has remarked that he will not forge any agreement against national interest during his upcoming visit to India.
Incumbent President Yoweri Museveni continues to dominate news coverage in both print and broadcast media.

This is according to the latest media monitoring report on coverage of the 2016 elections released this morning by the African Centre for Media Excellence.

Museveni is closely followed by Independent presidential candidate and former premier Amama Mbabazi and FDCs Dr. Kiiza Besigye in second and third place respectively.

According to the report on media coverage of the 2016 elections, January findings by ACME,

The report that tracked media coverage for the month of January 2016, indicates that Museveni has been given more space in newspapers, radios, and Televisions followed by Besigye and Mbabazi.

It also shows that most election stories aired in January were by Kampala based radio stations with KFM leading with 10% while radios in Western region aired the least election stories.

In January, the presidential candidates received more coverage than those vying for parliamentary seats.

The report also shows a significant rise in coverage of other presidential candidates including MaureenKyalya, Joseph Mabirizi, Rtd. Maj. Gen. BenonBiraro, Dr. Abed Bwanika and Prof. Venansius Baryamureba due to the prominence they received after the first presidential debate.
By Andrew Hammond



New Hampshire, which would have seemed implausible to many only a year ago, injects further uncertainty into this volatile election season. And it also increases the prospects of a third party run by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, another billionaire businessman albeit of a more centrist stripe than Trump.



On Monday, Bloomberg confirmed that he is seriously considering running as an independent and cited his disappointment at the rancorous rhetoric of candidates of both major parties, including Sanders and Trump, which he asserted is "distressingly banal and an outrage and insult". Bloomberg, who believes that there could be significant political space' for a centrist, third party candidate in this year's race probably needs to make a final decision this month as he would need to add his name onto ballots by early March in order to mount even a semi-credible campaign.



The continued appeal of the perceived insurgent, outsider' candidacies of Sanders and Trump underlines that much of the US electorate remains in a febrile mood following the uneven economic recovery of recent years, and the continuing domestic and international terrorism threat. Since the beginning of 2016, a wide array of polls have shown that the overwhelming majority of the country (60% or greater of the population) believe that the country is firmly on the "wrong track".



This national pessimism is one factor contributing, right now, to what some have termed the United States of Anger'. This is fuelling the intensity of the anti-establishment political mood which, if anything, may be growing almost a decade after the international financial crisis of 2008-09 began.



However, while the success of Trump and Sanders is remarkable, it is by no means unprecedented: US history underlines that income and status differences are potentially significant sources of political change. Both Trump and Sanders are appealing to many of those groups that that have lost income and job security, including unskilled and semi-skilled persons working in manufacturing industries that previously operated with high levels of unionisation under the pressure of international competition. Hence, for instance, their anti-free trade rhetoric, including denunciation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership which the United States agreed, subject to US congressional ratification, with 11 other countries in Asia-Pacific and the Americas.



Such disaffected groups have significant potential claims upon federal and state government support. And these claims are potentially open to mobilisation by insurgent politicians, as both Trump and Sanders are now demonstrating, but as others have shown dating back to the nineteenth century, including the populist William Jennings Bryan in the 1890s.



The discontent of much of the 2016 electorate is not only driving distrust of government and politicians who are seen as part of the Washington establishment. It is one of the key factors contributing to sky-high rates of political polarisation in the country.



This could have crucial implications not just for the outcome of the presidential contest, but also public policy and governance too in Washington from 2017 given the significant prospect of gridlock where key issues, like comprehensive immigration reform, have been put into the deepfreeze because of differences between and within the parties. Indeed, in a political system that was built upon achieving consensus, polarisation is precluding the development of a range of short and long-term policy solutions in a host of areas from education to infrastructure, all of which undermines the long-term economic growth and vitality of the country.



While polarisation reflects the current levels of voter discontent, including growing divides over wealth and educational attainment that Trump and Sanders are proving skilful at tapping into, it is also driven by longer-term demographic and generational change. Thus, one of the most notable features of the contemporary political environment is the Republican Party's heavy dependence on white, older, southern voters, whilst its Democratic counterpart has a more disparate coalition of African-Americans, younger whites, and new immigrants across the country, including the south, along the West coast, and also the Northeast.



The last presidential highlighted these stark partisan divides with Republican Mitt Romney winning a huge slice of the white electorate -- almost 90% of his supporters came from non-Hispanic whites. Yet, he still lost relatively narrowly to Obama who had 95% backing of African Americans, over 70% of Hispanics, and around two third of Asian Americans.



The stark demographic, ideological and cultural cleavages in the electorate appear to be intensifying at the moment when the US electorate has become the most diverse ever in 2016. Nearly one on three eligible voters this year will be Hispanic, Asian or another racial minority. What this profound demographic shift underlines is that the United States is on a trajectory to become, potentially around mid-century, a majority non-white nation and, at the same time, there is rapid aging of the electorate.



Elements of the Republican Party, as seen in the divisive anti-immigrant rhetoric of Trump, are challenged by the changing social landscape of the country, although some candidates such as Marco Rubio are promoting a more welcoming stance mirroring that of George W. Bush in 2004 who won 40% of the Hispanic vote. With Trump winning in New Hampshire, there remains a significant prospect that he will continue to disproportionately set the agenda for the Republican race for potentially weeks to come, including in South Carolina on February 20.



Should this happen, it could further alienate key voting groups, including Hispanics. And as demographic shifts in population are working against Republicans, failure of the latter to reach out more aggressively to Democratic-leaning constituencies will undermine the prospects for the eventual Republican nominee winning against former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who remains likely to beat Sanders, despite his New Hampshire win.



Andrew Hammond is an associate at LSE IDEAS (the Centre for International Affairs, Diplomacy and Strategy at the London School of Economics.




Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

A few passing clouds, otherwise generally clear. Low 38F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few passing clouds, otherwise generally clear. Low 38F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
Working through my ignorance with your help.
After a public hearing attended by hundreds that ran late into the night and was dominated by an outcry of public support for California Coastal Commission Executive Director Charles Lester, the Commission decided to remove Lester from his position anyway, which could mean dramatic change is coming to the California coastline. The CCC is responsible for approving and guiding development and access along the state's coasts, which belong to the public, and as the LA Times puts it, "many speakers warned that replacing Lester would send a powerful signal to staff to be more accommodating to development." The 7 to 5 vote came a little after 9 pm last night, after seven hours of public testimony in Morro Bay.

The commissioners, who voted in a closed-door meeting to fire Lester, say that the ouster was a result of problems with the way he does his job, including poor communication with commissioners on important matters and a lack of diversity on his staff. But Lester supporters maintain his firing could create an opportunity for a more development-friendly director to fill the void; even the denial by the Commission's chairman suggests positive feelings about increased development along the coast, using the phrasing that the firing was not "an issue of greater flexibility for development."

Commissioners say that the narrative of Lester being fired to move the agency in a more development-oriented direction is just plain wrong. "It is not about developers and their consultants. We have been terribly mischaracterized as developer hacks," says Vice Chair Dayna Bochco, who voted against firing Lester. But the commissioners never presented their case to the public, so the public argued what they knew, which is that Lester has been a good steward of the coast.

As for the seemingly shady secret discussion and vote, commissioners say they voted behind closed doors over Lester's future at the agency because they were "bound by law to honor Lester's right to privacy," in order to discuss nearly 100 pages of notes from past performance reviews that Lester did not waive his privacy rights for. But the agency's chief counsel advised them that they were "free to discuss any current issues involving Lester's performance because he had chosen a public hearing to defend himself."

The Times has outraged quotes over Lester's firing from the Center for Biological Diversity and Heal the Bay, and notes that two commissioners praised Lester's "long list of achievements, including the development of a strategic plan for the agency, efforts to address sea level rise, increasing the budget by $3 million and good cooperation with local governments." California Assembly Speaker Toni G. Atkins threw her own appointees under the bus, tweeting "Let me apologize to the public. I truly thought my appointees would be better stewards of the coast."

Though both his opposition and supporters were riled up, Lester seemed to be the calmest of anyone at the hearing. He said that since the complaints he'd heard of were organizational, he just assumed it was something that could be worked on over time. "I don't know, maybe they just thought I was too independent." After the voting results were announced, his supporters cried or were visibly outraged. "Several commissioners who voted against Lester were escorted out of the meeting by law enforcement without explaining their votes," says the Times.

But though he passionately defended his work for the CCC, after he was fired, Lester simply told all in attendance, "It's been a privilege to serve the commission for the past 4 years. If there is a silver lining, I've been energized by all the people who came together on this."

Lester has held his position with the CCC since 2011. His removal from the executive director seat is active immediately; the CCC's senior Deputy Director Jack Ainsworth will be in charge until the commission finds an interim replacement, who will eventually be replaced by a permanent executive director. This is the first time anyone holding this CCC position has been fired from it. As Kinsey says, though, "The challenge we face now is to rebuild trust and to illustrate through our actions that we will live up to the ideals of the Coastal Act."

 Firing of Coastal Commission chief Charles Lester leaves deep divisions [LAT]

 Morro Bay: Coastal Commission fires popular executive director [AP]

 Will the Future of the California Coast Be For the People or For the Big Developers? [Curbed LA]
After years of debate and numerous court challenges, 2016 is the year the rubber hits the road for voter ID in Wisconsin.

The voter ID requirement takes effect in a statewide election for the first time this year.

The state elections board has created a Bring It To The Ballot voter ID website as a public resource about the requirement.

Here are some questions and answers on how voter ID affects you:

When do I need to show an ID?

Every time you head to the polls to vote, starting with the Feb. 16 spring primary. Voters must also be registered prior to voting.

Why now?

Voter ID in Wisconsin isnt new; Republican lawmakers and Gov. Scott Walker enacted it into law in 2011.

But the law has been on hold, with a few brief exceptions, since that time while a series of legal challenges to it filtered through the courts. Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to the law, paving the way for voter ID to be implemented.

What if Im voting absentee?

Youre still required to provide an ID. If youre voting absentee in person at your local municipal clerks office, you can show your ID then. Or if youre requesting an absentee ballot by mail, email or fax, you must provide a copy of your ID with your request.

There are exemptions from this requirement for military, permanent overseas and confidential voters.

Theres also an exemption for voters who are indefinitely confined  meaning they would have difficulty getting from their home to the polling place on Election Day due to age, illness or disability  or living in care facilities such as nursing homes.

What kinds of IDs qualify?

You must bring one of a list of IDs sanctioned under state law. The following are acceptable if theyre current or recently expired  meaning they expired after Nov. 4, 2014:

Photo IDs issued by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, including driver licenses, state ID cards and learner permits.

Military IDs issued by a U.S. uniformed service.

U.S. passports and passport cards.

An ID issued by a federally recognized Indian tribe in Wisconsin (acceptable even if expired before Nov. 4, 2014).

The following IDs also are acceptable.

Certificates of naturalization issued not earlier than two years before the date of the election in which youre voting.

A driving receipt or ID card receipt issued by the Wisconsin DOT no more than 45 days ago.

A citation or notice of intent to revoke or suspend a Wisconsin DOT-issued driver license dated within 60 days of the election.

You also may use some student IDs from colleges, technical colleges or universities, though that makes things more complicated.

What are the strings attached to a student ID?

In addition to the student ID, you also must provide a separate document, such as a tuition statement, that proves your current enrollment at the applicable college or university. Also, the student ID must expire no later than two years after it was issued.

Another wrinkle is that the IDs issued by some public colleges and universities dont comply with the requirement.

What if the address on my ID is out of date?

It does not matter if the address on your ID isnt the same as where youre registered to vote. Youre using your ID to prove your identity, not where you live.

What if I dont have one of these IDs?

You may obtain an ID from the state Division of Motor Vehicles for free. Be sure to check the box that says you need the ID for voting.

When you go to your local DMV, youll need to bring documents that prove your name, date of birth, identity, citizenship or legal status, and Wisconsin residency.

According to the Bring It To The Ballot website, most people will be fine if they bring a certified birth certificate, a Social Security card, and a utility bill or cell phone bill.

You must bring the original documents; copies wont work.

What if I dont have a birth certificate?

You will need to bring the documents you do have to the DMV office, where they will help locate your birth record for free.

As part of the process, you must fill out an application claiming that the documents you need are unavailable.

The information provided on this form is used to communicate with state and federal partners to verify unavailable documentation, according to the state DMV. Once that verification is made, the ID will be processed and mailed to the applicants address.

What if I go to vote but forget my ID?

You have the option to vote without your ID by casting a provisional ballot.

But theres a crucial catch: Your vote wont be counted unless you return to show your ID.

If you can return to your polling place on Election Day with your ID, you can do so any time before 8 p.m.

If you cant return to your polling place the same day, you have until 4 p.m. on the Friday after Election Day to visit your local municipal clerks office to show your ID.

Can I vote now?

Yes. Early and absentee voting for the spring primary are underway. You can request an absentee ballot by mail, email or fax, so long as your request reaches your local municipal clerk no later than 5 p.m. Thursday. Early voting in-person at local municipal clerk offices lasts until Friday. Check with your local clerk for office hours.
A particularly perilous form of heroin is circulating on La Crosse streets, spiking overdoses and raising the specter of potentially deadly cases  perhaps killing one person already, said Dr. Chris Eberlein.

The potential for death is big, from what Ive heard, said Eberlein, an emergency room doctor at Gundersen Health System and medical director for Gundersen Tri-State Ambulance.

The stronger heroin may be the culprit in the death of 29-year-old Mellisa Dobrunz found Sunday in the 800 block of South Sixth Street, Eberlein suggested. Police have said she probably died of an illegal drug overdose.

We may never find out whether the bad batch led to her death, but we might not know for months until toxicology reports are available, he said.

Eberlein suspects that the heroin is laced with the synthetic opiate Fentanyl, which dealers often use to stretch supplies. Fentanyl sometimes is hard to detect in tox screens, he said.

Fentanyl, a prescription drug, is similar to morphine but much more potent. It typically is used to treat patients with severe pain or to manage pain after surgery. It also sometimes is used to treat people with chronic pain who are physically tolerant of opiates, according to the National Institute for Drug Abuse.

What weve seen in the past is when too much Fentanyl is added, it can make the heroin 50 times more potent, Eberlein said.

The user doesnt know that even when they use the same volume, it is 50 times more potent and causes a significant overdose, he said.

Users then go into respiratory failure and die of heart failure, he said.

Overdose victims in such cases require repeated and higher doses of Narcan, the antidote for an opiate overdose, said Eberlein, who has advised Tri-State Ambulance crews to be on the lookout for such instances.

Narcan has been credited with reducing overdose deaths in La Crosse County.

Tri-State Ambulance paramedics use of Narcan has increased steadily since 2007, when they used it on 35 patients, through 2014, when they used it in 181 cases, with a dip last year to 139, according to statistics from Tri-State executive director Tom Tornstrom.

Were seeing more patients and more effectiveness on more cases, he said, adding that that indicates the paramedics are becoming more proficient with the antidote.

For example, 90 out of 180 patients had improved consciousness and/or breathing in 2014, compared with 105 out of 139 who improved last year, the statistics show.

Narcan use is on an upward trend for the first 40 days of the year, with 26 doses used on 16 patients, improving the condition of all 16, Tornstrom said.

First responders with the La Crosse Fire Department also administer Narcan, although Assistant Chief Warren Thomas said their uses have not increased much lately, compared with last year.

People trained to administer Narcan through the AIDS Resource Center in La Crosse reported using it 77 times last year.

Eberlein, who said he became concerned when four to six OD cases occurred this week, said one patient said it was the strongest drug they had ever taken.

The ER cases dont take into account overdoses that may have occurred at home in which users self-treated with Narcan, Eberlein said.

Dr. Eric Grube, an ER doctor at Mayo Clinic Health System-Franciscan Healthcare, said he has not noticed an increase of overdoses at that facility.

But were seeing is more heroin-related cases, such as abscesses and domestic cases, Grube said.

Abscesses occur at injection sites, often causing severe infections that can attack other parts of the body, he said. Domestic abuse cases result from drug use in which the incidents become violent, he said.

There was none of it when I went to school here, but when I came back, it was all over, said Grube, who attended the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse as an undergrad before going to medical school in Des Moines, Iowa, and serving his residency in emergency medicine in Columbus, Ohio.

I dont know if people know how bad the drug problem is, he said.

People can obtain Narcan from agencies such as the AIDS Resource Center, and it is expected to become more accessible under Wisconsin legislation signed into law in December. The laws acronym, HOPE, stands for Heroin, Opiate Prevention and Education.

The HOPE legislation should cut down on overdoses, Gundersens Dr. Eberlein said. The sooner you get Narcan into people, the better chance of saving them.

Along those lines, Walgreens announced Tuesday that it will offer nonprescription naxolone, a form of Narcan, over the counter by the end of the year in 39 states, including Wisconsin. The drug, available in injection or nasal spray form, will be sold mostly in 24-hour stores, Walgreens officials said.

Many insurance plans will cover the drug, company officials said, and it will cost about $80 a dose for the uninsured.

Asked what he might advise users, Eberlein said:

First, as always, get into treatment and break the addiction, he said. If you do use, greatly reduce the amount. Third, if you use, make sure you are with somebody to administer the antidote or call 911 if necessary.

Asked whether giving the public access to the OTC antidote might convey a sense of entitlement or permission, Eberlein said, We need to keep these people alive until we get them into treatment. We cant just write them off.

What weve seen in the past is when too much Fentanyl is added, it can make the heroin 50 times more potent. Dr. Chris Eberlein
The new co-chairmen for the Great Rivers United Ways 2016-17 campaign accepted their mantles of leadership with smiles and enthusiasm that bespeaks a bromance bound for success.

Steve Christiansen, president and CEO of Merchants Bank in Onalaska, and David Ring, community relations manager for La Crosse-based Kwik Trip, were announced during GRUWs 66th annual meeting Wednesday night in the Radisson Hotel Ballroom.

Also during the meeting, the Onalaska-based organization presented awards to Angela Fisher, Wade Hackbarth and Coulee Bank.

I look forward to working with Dave Ring, Christiansen said. I think we will be great partners in crime together. We both like to have fun, and well try to bring fun to the campaign.

Similarly, Ring said, Its an honor and a privilege to serve, especially with Steve Christiansen. Hes a true servant leader, and we will make a good tag team.

Both extolled the Coulee Region as a generous area and United Way as an essential nonprofit organization.

They touch so many agencies that in turn touch so many people, Christiansen said. It makes a better community.

Christiansen expressed optimism about being able to execute a successful campaign, saying, There always are challenges, but I hope the economy continues to be strong in the area, which has been relatively sheltered.

For his part, Ring said, We are fortunate to live and work in such a generous area. Referring to previous co-chairs, he said, Weve got big shoes to fill of people who have raised the bar every year.

In particular, Ring saluted the immediate past co-chairs Roger Thornton and wife Dyanne Brudos-Thornton for finishing nearly $3,000 above the $2.08 million goal with a flurry of fundraising before the Jan. 31 deadline. The goal for the next campaign will be announced in the fall.

From his personal perspective, Ring said, It fits the mission statement of Kwik Trip to make a difference in peoples lives, which he said United Way advances through the 74 programs it helps fund for 29 health and human services agencies.

The honorees:

Advocacy Award  Angela Fisher and her husband, Michael, experienced United Ways influence firsthand. Two of their three sons have used the same United Way-funded program, and United Way lauded her as being truly selfless in sharing her familys story in support of what we do.

Volunteer Award  Wade Hackbarth has served United Way in several ways, including being finance committee chairman, fund distribution steering committee member and a team member for financial review and partner certification. An agency official said he makes financing fun, which is no small feat.

Give Award  Coulee Bank, where employee participation rates hover around 100 percent every year. That results from a culture of giving that stems from the top  Coulee Bank presidents have presided over two very successful United Way campaigns, according to a GRUW news release.
ST. PAUL  A man who came to the U.S. as a refugee from war-torn Bosnia almost two decades ago will be deported for concealing a long criminal past in his home country, including the killing of an elderly Serbian neighbor, a federal judge said Thursday.

Zdenko Jakisa, 47, settled in Minnesota in 1998, obtaining permanent residency four years later. He apologized in court for withholding information when he first came to America, saying he felt at the time he had no choice.

"The reason I was lying was only to save my life and my wife's life," he told Judge Susan Richard Nelson. "I did not come here to hurt anyone, or do anything."

Nelson told Jakisa she was in no position to judge him for actions committed during the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia in the early '90s.

"I need to sentence you for the crime that you've been convicted of, which is misrepresenting important material matters on your immigration application," she said, issuing an order that he be removed from the United States.

As part of his plea, Jakisa agreed he was a Bosnian citizen and that he would surrender to U.S. immigration officials as early as Tuesday. It was not immediately clear when he would leave the country, but his attorney said he hoped it would be with days or weeks.

In Bosnia, Jakisa was convicted of various crimes including killing his neighbor by firing an AK-47 through her bedroom window. He was also convicted of assault, disturbing the peace and other criminal activities.

Jakisa and his wife, Anna, have been living in suburban Forest Lake, where they co-owned a taxi business. He has a lengthy criminal record in Minnesota, including multiple convictions for driving while impaired, disorderly conduct and obstructing legal process.

The judge attributed many of his recent troubles to mild mental illnesses, including post-traumatic stress disorder, and alcoholism, but said he had made progress toward getting better.

Authorities in Bosnia have said Jakisa is wanted for questioning in an investigation into war crimes there, but provided no details.

More than 100,000 people were killed during the conflict, which also turned half the country's population of 4.3 million into refugees.
CALEDONIA, Minn.  A southeastern Minnesota man imprisoned after he was wrongfully convicted of child molestation will receive nearly a half-million dollar settlement.

Roger Lee Olsen, 50, who spent two years in the Stillwater Correctional Facility after he was convicted in Houston County of criminal sexual conduct involving a minor, will be awarded $475,000, his attorney Steve Meshbesher said Tuesday.

Olsen was freed in 2008 when investigators found evidence that his accuser lied about the incident. He is among three men who will receive monetary compensation for their time incarcerated, and emotional distress and injuries under a new state law.

Koua Fong Lee was convicted of vehicular homicide when his Toyota suddenly accelerated in 2006, crashing into the vehicle ahead and killing three people. He was freed three years later after it was determined he wasnt at fault in the crash. Michael Ray Hansen served nearly seven years for murdering his infant daughter before the conviction was overturned when it was determined her skull fracture was from an accidental fall from a shopping cart.

Olsen is currently living in his hometown of La Crescent. He suffers from post-traumatic stress and his mental and physical health have declined, Meshbesher said.

He hurts, Meshbesher said. Its very difficult for him mentally and emotionally. No amount of money is going to compensate him for thatIts not going to right the wrong.

A three-person panel of judges and attorneys made a final determination of the payment, Meshbesher said. As required by law, the settlement will be presented to the Legislature for final approval before the states Office of Management and Budget disperse the money. Minnesota is the 30th state to adopt such legislation.

Hopefully that money can be used in a way that can help him cope with these problems, psychological problems he is having because they are deep, Meshbesher said.

You can feel his hurt when he talks, when he talks you can feel it. Theres no question that everyone feels bad.
This week marks the five-year anniversary of Gov. Scott Walkers effort to reform collective bargaining here in Wisconsin, better known as Act 10.

By requiring government workers at the state and local level to pay 6 percent toward their retirement and 12 percent toward their health insurance, Wisconsin taxpayers have realized $5.24 billion in savings.

While Wisconsinites have correctly decided to put all of the turmoil and chaos behind us, the five-year anniversary is a perfect time to remind ourselves of all of the good that Act 10 has brought to Wisconsin. Simply put, Act 10 has proven to be one of the most important public policy ideas ever introduced in Wisconsin, and it is clearly the most successful.

First, start with the statewide taxpayer savings  $5.24 billion. That is a staggering number that is so large its difficult to comprehend. The $5.24 billion in savings works out to $910 in savings for every man, woman and child in Wisconsin  or $2,291 for every household in Wisconsin.

With that savings, the Department of Transportation could build 2,912 more of those roundabouts that we all love so much. The savings also could fund more than 68,000 four-year degrees at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. We could install 42 separate Milwaukee-style streetcar systems throughout the entire state.

Next, look at the specific savings realized by local units of government in the La Crosse area.

For example, the La Crosse School District has saved an estimated $13.7 million through 2015 simply by requiring its employees to contribute a reasonable portion of their retirement. Similarly, the Holmen School District has saved $7 million, and La Crosse County saved nearly $13 million.

By taking other steps like opening its health insurance to competitive bidding, the La Crosse School District also was able to save $3.5 million, the Holmen School District saved $1.8 million, the city of La Crosse saved $1.1 million, and the Onalaska School District saved $2.3 million.

The taxpayer savings have been widespread as well. More than 493 different units of government in Wisconsin have saved more than $1 million since 2011. More than 100 different units of government have saved more than $6 million, and almost 20 units have saved more than $20 million since 2011.

And while the publicity surrounding Act 10 has certainly faded, taxpayers continue to see new examples of Act 10 savings all the time. In September, the Medford School District in northern Wisconsin realized an 11 percent decrease in the cost of its health insurance costs. The Appleton Area School District recently switched health insurance providers, and local taxpayers will see up to $3 million in savings in the first year alone.

The fiscal impact of Act 10 has been nothing short of miraculous  a taxpayer miracle.

We owe Walker and all of the brave legislators who voted for Act 10 a giant thank you. Walker has reduced the cost of government in Wisconsin by $5 billion  its the gift that will keep on giving back to taxpayers long into the future.

Five years and $5 billion in taxpayer savings later, its still working in Wisconsin.
Wisconsin agriculture is famous the world over because of the high quality of everything from our dairy, beef, corn, soy and even our beer. It should be no surprise that demand has skyrocketed around the world for our products.

Unfortunately, it's not always easy to sell our goods overseas. Many countries throw up barriers on American products  especially agriculture  that make it harder to compete.

That's why I support the Trans-Pacific Partnership  known as TPP. It's a trade deal that will help open up many of the world's fastest growing economies  many of which are in Asia. Consumers in these countries are hungry for American agriculture, but current trade barriers often stop them from getting equal access to our goods. TPP will level that playing field  meaning a farmer in Wisconsin can compete on quality. And I know when judged by quality alone, we win every time.

More sales abroad means more prosperous farms, and good-paying jobs. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Wisconsin already sells more than $3 billion worth of ag products to TPP countries, and those sales alone support more than 24,000 jobs in our state. And, on average, jobs supported by trade pay an average of 18 percent more  meaning more trade means not only jobs but better paying jobs.

TPP is a huge win for Wisconsin and Wisconsin farmers. When Congress considers TPP later this year, I hope they'll give it careful consideration and come to support this important agreement.
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UW-Madison researchers plan next week to start monkey studies of Zika virus, which has caused an outbreak apparently linked to birth defects in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Campus scientists will infect rhesus macaque monkeys with the mosquito-borne virus to examine three questions: how long Zika persists in blood, urine and saliva; if infection protects against future exposure; and whether the stage of pregnancy in which infection occurs impacts the effects on offspring.

Theres a lot thats unknown about Zika virus right now. Its an understudied virus because it doesnt make people very sick, said David OConnor, a UW-Madison pathology professor who is part of the research team.

We dont know the basics of how and where the virus replicates, what sort of immune response the body mounts to the virus and under what circumstances the virus causes diseases, OConnor said.

The research, funded by the National Institutes of Health, will be conducted in secure facilities at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center designed for the safe study of potentially harmful viruses.

The findings could help with vaccine development and treatment for Zika virus and inform recommendations by health officials.

People want clear answers, and we want to be able to make clear public health recommendations, Thomas Friedrich, a UWMadison professor of pathobiological sciences, said in a university statement. There are a lot of countries in the tropics right now saying, Dont get pregnant until 2018. Thats not a sustainable public health recommendation.

Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised pregnant women not to travel to affected countries, which have seen an uptick in cases of microcephaly, a birth defect in which babies are born with abnormally small heads and often underdeveloped brains.

The National Institutes of Health has made Zika virus research a high priority. Groundwork underway at UWMadison led to NIH support for three studies of the virus in rhesus macaques, monkeys whose physiology and immune systems are similar to humans, the university said.

A total of 15 monkeys will be used, including six pregnant monkeys, two at each trimester of pregnancy, OConnor said. Amniotic fluid will be sampled to see if it contains the virus.

These are experiments that you just cant do in people, he said.

Zika does not mutate quickly, so it could be easier to target Zika with a vaccine than HIV, for which no approved vaccine exists, or influenza, which requires annual shots.

But its not clear how to best provoke an immune response to Zika, OConnor said.

Thats why we need to have data that shows what natural immunity looks like and the sort of immune responses that arise to protect an individual when they encounter that virus again, he said.

OConnor was in Brazil for HIV research in October, when the Zika outbreak was first reported. His collaborators there were looking into unusual cases of microcephaly and asked OConnor to help them look for new viruses.

At the time we didnt know it would explode into the public consciousness like it did, OConnor says.

UW-Madison pathobiological sciences professor Jorge Osorio and research scientist Matthew Aliota were first to identify the Zika virus circulating in Colombia in October, the university said. They will be joining in the new research, along with Ted Golos, professor of obstetrics and comparative biosciences. He studies how other infections during pregnancy impact newborn health.

OConnor said Zika was first discovered in macaques in Africa in the late 1940s.

Since Zika has been around in Africa for 65 years, at least, it begs the question why were seeing these disease associations now when we havent seen them before, he said.
Public school teachers were the face of the opposition to Gov. Scott Walkers Act 10  and they could end up absorbing some of the longest-lasting changes resulting from the controversial law.

In severely curtailing collective bargaining for teachers and other public employees, Act 10 has created a new marketplace for teachers.

Whereas nearly all teachers were once paid based on experience and education level, some Wisconsin school districts are experimenting with new ways to pay teachers.

In the Oregon School District, for example, technology education teachers receive $10,000 in supplemental pay annually for four years and a $2,500 annual retention bonus after that to remain in the district for four years.

School boards are also developing new compensation plans that take teachers evaluations or leadership qualities into consideration when figuring raises. Those new pay plans can cost a district more in salaries in some cases.

Meanwhile, the influence of teachers at the state Capitol has diminished. The states largest teachers union, the Wisconsin Education Association Council, spent $2.5 million and $2.3 million in the two legislative sessions leading up to the passage of Act 10. But by 2013-14 the union spent just $175,540, and so far has spent $93,481 in 2015-16.

About 40,000 public school employees are represented by WEAC, down more than 50 percent from the 98,000-member levels before 2011.

At the time Walker pushed Act 10, lawmakers also slashed state funding to public schools and dropped revenue limits to lower taxes. Walker said school districts could use tools provided by Act 10  getting teachers to pay more for benefits  to generate savings.
For the soldier there are many battles. Arnold Carl Erickson was a Wisconsin farm boy and proud U.S. Marine. He was born in Oct. of 1946, in Chicago, Ill., the oldest child of Ruth and Carl Erickson. As a toddler, they moved to Door County, Wis., to live near his fathers family. After a few years they moved to a dairy farm in Withee, Wis., where he and his siblings Karen, Kathy and Tim grew up. After graduating high school in 1964, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps with four friends and took his first plane ride to San Diego, Calif., for basic training. Arnie served proudly as a Grunt in Vietnam, from 1965-1966. After returning to the U.S. and completing his military service, he received an associates degree in business administration and built a career working for and managing farm supply cooperatives. He also earned his private pilots license in 1975. His first co-op was in Spring Green/Plain, Wis., where he met his wife, Rita. Married for 43 years, they had three children, Deanna, Gina and Luke. They lived in Petersburg, Ill., as well as Omro, Brodhead, Thorp, and finally Tomah, Wis. Following retirement from Tomah Cooperative Services, Arnie had many adventures. He traveled through Vietnam, in 2013, and again in 2014. He loved backpacking trips with his daughters, with friends and solo. His backpacking adventures included five trips to Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior, Mt. Ranier, and other areas of the Pacific Northwest, the mountains of Colorado, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, and an expedition to see the polar bears in Churchill, Canada. He was an avid walker, walking six miles a day, seven days a week. Going to movies with his son was a favorite pastime that was frequently followed by a trip to Culvers for a raspberry sundae. He was a member of the Warrens Lions Club and served proudly as the Master Baster for their chicken Bar-B-Qs. He was a volunteer wolf tracker for the Wisconsin DNR and a board member for the Timberwolf Information Network (TWIN), as well as a volunteer driver for the Veterans Administration in Tomah. And, of course, he was an enthusiastic deer hunter and lifelong Packer fan. He passed away from complications with kidney cancer on Feb. 7, 2016.
This Saturday, Feb. 13 at 2 p.m. the library is hosting Lusk Scandia Woodworks Mike and Becky Lusk. Dont miss this special event, where Mike will be sharing his methods for building tine boxes. The Norwegian tine, pronounced teen-ah is constructed of a thin piece of steam-bent wood that is laced together with some type of tree root, usually birch. I have seen pictures of antique tines on the Vesterheim.org website, where I searched for tine. Mike has two of his displayed in the display case at the library through this weekend. Becky will talk about the influences and inspirations on her style of woodcarving. Im sure her mom, rosemaler Jean Geise, is one of her influences. We are so grateful that the Lusks agreed to come and share their artistry with us. The program will take place in the community center below the library. Lusk Scandia Woodworks, a local business, is located outside Coon Valley, near Norskedalen.

Now that the Viroqua Library is closed for the move to their new facility, we are seeing an increase in customers here. We are very glad to serve these temporarily homeless library patrons while they wait for their new digs. Please have a little patience with us as we tackle the extra demands.

Last Sunday, photographer Paul Hatlem and his wife Julie came to hang several of his works. The photographs, two of Norway and two of the Coulee region, will grace the walls of the library through February, our Arts-in-the-Library month. Paul is the son of local woodcarver, Roger Hatlem. I first saw Pauls photos of Norway at UWLs Art-Fair-on-the-Green, and again at the Driftless Art Festival in Soldiers Grove. Honestly, they took my breath away. My favorite, a birds eye view of an old farm structure high above the fjord is hanging on the stone wall in the reading area, and it simply pops Thanks to Paul, and the other photographers I will write about later this month, for agreeing to show their work here. All art will be featured during the Arts-in-the-Library event on February 28.

Preschool Story Time on Wednesdays at 10 a.m. Feb. 17: Puppet Show with Ms. Marinella. Feb. 24: Happy Smiles Tooth Storytime with Kathy Anderson.

New at the Library

Books: Remembrance by Meg Cabot; The Spring at Moss Hill by Carla Neggers; All the Winters After by Sere Prince Halverson; Sweetgirl by Travis Mulhauser; Where It Hurts by Reed Farrel Coleman; Honky Tonk Samurai by Joe R. Lansdale; The Illegal by Lawrence Hill; Brotherhood in Death by J.D. Robb; The Restoration by Wanda E Brunstetter; Joshuas Mission by Vanetta Chapman; Amish Sweethearts by Leslie Gould; Lizzy & Jane by Katherine Reay; The Yid by Paul Goldberg; Ways to Disappear by idra Novey; Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys; A Fatal Inheritance by Cora Harrison; The High Mountains of Portugal by Yann Martel; The Cellar by Minette Walters; Find Her by Lisa Gardner; Foreign Affairs by Stuart Woods; Kaplan ACT 2016-2017.

DVDs: Spectre; Bridge of Spies; Goosebumps; The Martian; The Intern; Chicago P.D. seasons 1 and 2; Chicago Fire Seasons 1, 2, and 3; Badge of Honor; Fifth Estate; Rush; Wreckers; Wild Animal Baby Explorers-Complete Series; Louder than Words; A Short History of Decay; Grandma; Learning to Drive; Walk in the Woods.

Dont have a library card? They are free and available at any library. For help or information you can call 634-4419 or e-mail bekkuml@wrlsweb.org.

Library Hours

Monday-Thursday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Friday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Saturday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Sunday 1-4 p.m.
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English Version Here: Why is the US Funding Protesters to Attack Thailand's Military and Monarchy?  5  2563 (Tony Ca...
Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Elderlawprof blog founder, elderlaw prof extraordinaire and renaissance woman, Professor Kim Dayton sent the following article Nursing homes free to hire applicants with criminal histories; Pennsylvania won't appeal decision striking down law . According to the article, the state has decided not to appeal a decision striking a Pennsylvania law that "prohibiting nursing homes and long-term care facilities from hiring employees with criminal histories." The article explains that the law contained a lifetime employment ban in the state's APS statute. Part of the challenge to the law is that the statute didn't differentiate between the types of crimes, circumstances or even when the crime was committed, so something minor or a crime committed decades ago would count in imposing the lifetime ban.

The opinion is available here.

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/elder_law/2016/02/criminal-history-not-bar-to-employment-in-snf-in-pa-.html
This Washington Post WonkBlog entry, headlined "Obama says marijuana reform is not on his agenda for 2016," reinforces my long-standing belief that Prez Barack Obama remains disinclined to use any of this limited political capital to try to advance a marijuana reform agenda. Here are the particulars:

Marijuana advocates hoping for a substantial shift in federal marijuana policy in the last year of the Obama administration are likely to be disappointed. At a briefing Friday, White House press secretary John Earnest said any progress on marijuana reform would need to come through Congress. President Obama had signaled his position a day earlier at the House Democratic retreat in Baltimore, saying marijuana reform is not on his list of end-of-term priorities, according to Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.).

Cohen said he asked the president whether he wanted to "reschedule" marijuana. The federal government considers marijuana a Schedule 1 controlled substance, "the most dangerous class of drugs with a high potential for abuse and potentially severe psychological and/or physical dependence." Many lawmakers want to see it moved to Schedule 2, which acknowledges the plant's medical potential. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders wants to remove marijuana from the federal list of controlled substances altogether.

But Obama's answer on the rescheduling was "disappointing," Cohen said in an interview. "On marijuana, he gave the same answer as when I asked him seven years ago: 'If you get me a bill, and get it on my desk, I'll probably sign it,' " Cohen said (emphasis his).

At the briefing, Earnest clarified further: "There are some in the Democratic Party who have urged the president to take this kind of action. The president's response was, 'If you feel so strongly about it, and you believe there is so much public support for what it is that you're advocating, then why don't you pass legislation about it and we'll see what happens.' "...

The DEA is reviewing another petition to reschedule pot, but given the history, most observers are skeptical that anything will change this time around. "I don't think they're doing anything," Cohen said. "They've slow-walked it for all these years." He'd like to see the White House be more vocal about the process. "The president could just tell them to get it done," he said.

The latest public opinion polls show broad support not just for marijuana reform, but also outright legalization: Fifty-eight percent of Americans want to see marijuana use fully legalized, according to the latest Gallup polling on the issue. And a 2015 CBS news poll found that 84 percent of Americans support legalizing marijuana for medical use.

Moving marijuana to Schedule 2 of the Controlled Substances Act is a more modest step than full legalization or legalization for medical purposes. It would simply remove some of the barriers to research on uses of marijuana, barriers that the Brookings Institution recently said were "stifling" medical research.

Among people who study the issue, there is near universal agreement that marijuana doesn't belong in the same category of substances as heroin, as even the DEA has finally acknowledged. The consensus among researchers is that it's a lot less dangerous than alcohol, too. A federal classification that stands in such stark opposition to expert consensus "breeds contempt for the government," Cohen said. But if this week's remarks are any indication, addressing that contempt is not high on the White House priority list for 2016.
As reported in this local piece out of California, "Researchers warn legal marijuana could be next Big Tobacco," a pair of public health scholars have produced this interesting new report examining marijuana reform proposals in Califronia from a public health persepctive. Here is the start of the press account of the report and some reaction thereto:

A ballot proposal legalizing recreational marijuana would likely launch a new profit-driven industry similar to Big Tobacco that could impede public health efforts, according to researchers at the University of California, San Francisco. The 66-page analysis, released Tuesday, is the first in-depth look at the states main effort to legalize recreational marijuana this year.

Researchers said they began with the premise that legalizing marijuana makes sense because its prohibition has put too many people behind bars and cost taxpayers too much money. But they concluded the two potential initiatives they examined would replace a crime problem with a public health issue.

The authors, Rachel Barry and Stanton Glantz, of the UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education and Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy, said the measure most likely to qualify for the ballot establishes a regulatory system similar to the one used for alcohol. They said it would have been better to pattern the guidelines after the states Tobacco Control Program, which they credited with reducing the health effects and costs related to tobacco.

Evidence from tobacco and alcohol control demonstrates that without a strong public health framework, a wealthy and politically powerful marijuana industry will develop and use its political clout to manipulate regulatory frameworks and thwart public health efforts to reduce use and profits, the report states.

In an interview, Glantz said treating marijuana like cigarettes could drive down its popularity. The goal (should be) to legalize it so that nobody gets thrown in jail, but create a legal product that nobody wants, he said.

He worries that a new marijuana industry would spend large sums of money to curry favor with lawmakers. I think a corporate takeover of the market ... is very, very hard to stop, he said, adding, They are already a potent lobbyist in California.

A spokesman for the legalization campaign noted the report was written by experts on tobacco, not marijuana, and said it makes broad assumptions unsupported by past research into the issue. The measure is drafted in a way that takes public health into account, Jason Kinney said. This report inexplicably chooses to ignore the extensive public health protections and mandate included in our measure  as well as the child safeguards, the small-business and anti-monopoly provisions and the unprecedented investments in youth prevention, education and treatment, Kinney said.

The leading measure seeks to legitimize possession of 1 ounce of marijuana and cultivation of six marijuana plants for adults 21 and over. One of the proponents, Donald Lyman, a retired physician, helped write the California Medical Associations 2011 policy calling for the legalization of marijuana.

The doctors lobby formally endorsed the main legalization measure on Monday, characterizing it as a comprehensive and thoughtfully constructed measure. For years, some doctors have complained they have become gatekeepers for healthy people seeking weed recommendations via a flawed medical marijuana system.

Lyman, a former state public health official, said the notion that marijuana must be regulated exactly like tobacco represents an awkward minority opinion not widely shared within the public health community. Lyman said it is widely accepted in the scientific community that marijuana has medical benefits, something that isnt true of tobacco.
The title of this post is the headline of this new International Business Times article discussing a notable new political voice making a notable suggestion to the a federal governmental agency. Here are the details:

As the opioid epidemic continues to balloon in the country, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has called for more research into whether legal marijuana can curb the prescription painkiller epidemic. In a letter to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Warren said opiate abuse is a "national problem and warrants swift and immediate action."

The U.S. continues to be the largest consumers of prescription painkillers in the world, according to the National Institutes on Drug Abuse. Even though Americans make up only 5 percent of the global population, they consume 75 percent of opioid medications in the word. Warren asked the CDC to conduct studies about alternatives to pain relief drugs, such as marijuana.

"I hope that the CDC continues to explore every opportunity and tool available to work with states and other federal agencies on ways to tackle the opioid epidemic and collect information about alternative pain relief options," Warren wrote. "Your agency has produced an enormous amount of scientific and epidemiological data that has helped inform stakeholders on the breadth of this crisis -- however there is still much we do not know."

In the letter, Warren noted her constituents' in Massachusetts own battles with opioid abuse. She said there were almost 1,100 confirmed cases of opioid overdose deaths in 2014, which was a 65 percent increase from 2012. "I continue to hear stories from constituents across Massachusetts affected by this crisis -- parents fighting for their kids, doctors fighting for their patients, and communities fighting for each other."

Medical marijuana remains federally illegal as a schedule 1 controlled substance, but it is available in 23 states and Washington, D.C. for patients with chronic pain. Four states, including Washington and Colorado, have gone on to legalize marijuana entirely. When it comes to providing national guidelines, cannabis legislation's lack of uniformity across state borders poses difficulties for the federal agency. "Fighting this epidemic will take hard work on the part of federal, state and local governments, working together with local law enforcement, medical professionals and members of the community," Warren said, adding she hopes the national agency will "aggressively tackle this issue."
I was intrigued and pleased to see this notable new press story out of Oregon reporting on this notable new public health task force report titled "Researching the medical and public health properties of cannabis." Here are the basics via the press coverage:

Oregon should fund an independent marijuana institute to support and conduct world-class research into the drug's medical and public health benefits, says a task force that includes state officials, scientists and leading physicians.

Tax dollars generated through recreational marijuana sales would supplement private funding to underwrite the quasi-public Oregon Institute for Cannabis Research. The center would hire research scientists, as well as staff to help academic researchers navigate the complexities of federally sanctioned cannabis research.

The recommendation, included in a report submitted Monday to the Legislature by the task force, calls for Oregon to break new ground by providing a sustained source of state money to support marijuana research. Among the proposals: the institute itself would grow and handle marijuana for research purposes. "This institute will position Oregon as a leader in cannabis research and serve as an international hub for what will soon be a rapidly accelerating scientific field," states the report, prepared by the Oregon Health Authority. "No other single initiative could do as much to strengthen the Oregon cannabis industry and to support the needs of Oregon medical marijuana patients."

The proposal represents the latest effort by states to fill gaps in marijuana research created by the federal prohibition of the drug. The government allows research on cannabis, but the approval process is especially complicated and involves marijuana produced at a government-run facility based at the University of Mississippi. The recommendation came out of a law passed last year by the Legislature that called for the creation of a governor-appointed task force to study ways to support a medical marijuana industry geared toward patients. The report doesn't include estimates for what it would cost to fund the center, but makes clear that financial support from the state would be essential. Other states have set aside money for research, but not on an ongoing basis.

Sen. Chris Edwards, D-Eugene, the lawmaker behind the provision that created the task force, said paying for the institute with revenue from the state's marijuana tax is a politically viable idea, but said it isn't likely to gain traction during the Legislature's 35-day session, which began last week. Under current law, marijuana tax revenue goes to the common school fund, mental health, alcoholism and drug services, the Oregon State Police, local and the health authority. "One thing I heard consistently is that people want to understand better the health effects and the health and safety issues -- the potential effects of pesticides and also the potential for medical uses of cannabis," he said. "I think there is broad support for those pieces."...

Colorado and Washington, the first states to legalize marijuana for recreational use, also have plans for research. Colorado lawmakers in 2014 approved a one-time $9 million expenditure for marijuana-related studies, including three that will require federal approval, said Ken Gershman, medical marijuana research grant program manager for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Six involve "observational studies" of people already consuming marijuana. University researchers in Colorado plan to examine whether young adults and adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease benefit from marijuana, and the effect of cannabidiol, a component of the marijuana plant known as CBD, on Parkinson's-related tremors. Other studies will examine the effect of high-CBD oil extracts on epilepsy, as well as the drug's impact on sleep and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Washington, which offers a marijuana research license, carved out a percentage of its marijuana tax revenue for cannabis research. The law calls for some of that work to look at ways of measuring marijuana intoxication and impairment.

California was the first state to fund research into marijuana's medicinal benefits. In 2000, the state set aside $10 million to fund the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research at the University of California, San Diego. The center oversaw multiple research projects, most of them looking at marijuana's effect on neuropathic pain. Like Colorado, California's funding was a one-time expenditure.

Dr. J.H. Atkinson, a co-director of the center and a professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, said the research was "relatively small in scope and duration" but offered a potential model for other states. He said the studies showed a promising connection between cannabis and pain relief. "Without too much chest thumping," he said, "it was the most comprehensive body of research on the potential (of cannabis) ever conducted in this country."...

Research into marijuana is complicated by the drug's longtime status as a Schedule 1 drug. That category of drugs, which includes heroin, is defined as substances that have a "high potential for abuse" and "no currently accepted medical use." Federal research proposals involving involving Schedule 1 drugs must undergo review by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and must use cannabis produced by the University of Mississippi, which holds the lone government contract to grow pot for research purposes. The agency in 2014 said it planned to increase production of marijuana to support more research....

Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said "ample research" and "an extensive history of human use" provide more than enough evidence to contradict marijuana's status under federal law as a drug that lacks medical benefit. Armentano said he welcomes more research from states like Oregon but is skeptical it will make a difference in the debate about marijuana's Schedule 1 status. "Unfortunately science has never driven marijuana policy," he said. "If it did, the United States would already have a very different policy in place."


United States President Barack Obama will host the leaders of the 10 ASEAN members next week in California.

ASEAN is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Its 10 member countries are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Last year, ASEAN leaders created the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). The aim is to increase trade, investment and economic ties among the 10 nations.

ASEAN leaders will meet with President Obama at the 80-hectare Sunnylands estate in California. The estate was once the home of a billionaire publisher. President Obama hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping there in 2013.

President Obama personally invited all the ASEAN leaders to Sunnylands when he attended the ASEAN summit last November in Malaysia.

The summit participants will address key regional security and trade issues. They are also expected to discuss climate change and human trafficking.

U.S. role in ASEAN

Obama administration officials see ASEAN as a key part of Americas foreign policy focus on Asia and the Pacific. The U.S. also wants to increase its economic ties with the region.

But observers do not expect any major results or developments from the meeting.

Simon Tay is chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs. He said that because 2016 is President Obamas last year in office, he does not believe a great deal of substance will come from next weeks meeting.

Observers expect a key topic at the meeting to be Chinas growing assertiveness in the disputed South China Sea.

The Philippines and Vietnam are among the countries involved in territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea. Leaders from both countries want the United States to give them guarantees about security. But other ASEAN member countries do not want to anger Chinese leaders.

That divide among member nations could also make it difficult for major developments to result from the meeting in California.

Chin Leng Lim is an international law professor at Hong Kong University. He said ASEAN member countries do not agree on several major issues. Because of this, he says, the United States is firmly in the driving seat of this summit. In other words, the United States could have control of the meeting.

Trans-Pacific Partnership

A major topic among ASEAN nations is trade.

Last week in New Zealand, 12 countries signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The TPP trade agreement includes four ASEAN members: Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam. Two other ASEAN members, Indonesia and Thailand, could also soon join the TPP.

ASEAN members have been talking with six other countries about forming another free trade agreement called the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Those six countries are Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.

Deborah Elms is executive director of the Asian Trade Center in Singapore. She says the signing of the TPP and the RCEP negotiations mean ASEAN is facing more competition. She says ASEAN should take regional integration seriously to remain globally important.

ASEAN launched its own economic community, the AEC, at the beginning of the year. It creates a single market for goods, services, capital and labor. So far, it has not shown strong results.

But its supporters say that it will reach its goal of being a single market and production base by the year 2020. The Asian Development Bank says it has the potential to become one of the largest economies and markets in the world.

ASEAN nations have a population of over 626 million people, and an economy valued at $2.4 trillion. ASEAN represents the third-largest economy in Asia, behind China and India, and the seventh-largest economy in the world.

Im Mary Gotschall.

Steve Herman reported on this story for VOANews.com. Mary Gotschall did additional reporting and adapted this story for Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

Do you have an opinion about this topic? Let us know what you think in the Comments section below, or on our Facebook page.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

host  v. to entertain guests socially or as a job

trafficking  n. the act or business of illegally buying something and selling it especially in another country

substance  n. the quality of being meaningful, useful, or important

assertiveness  n. aggressiveness

territorial  adj. of or relating to land or water that is owned or controlled by a government

in the driving seat  idiom. to be in control of a situation

launch v. to begin (something that requires much effort)

integration  n. the act of making (a person or group) part of a larger group or organization

launch  v. to begin (something that requires much effort)


It sounds like the opening act of a science fiction film.

Indian officials say they believe a meteorite killed a man on Sunday in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

A local television station, NDTV, reported an Indian government minister as saying that a meteorite fell on the grounds of a private engineering college. This official said the space rock created a two-meter wide hole, or crater, on the college campus.

The American space agency, NASA, was quick to react. It said that photographs of the crater seem to show a land-based explosion may have caused the damage.

While the cause is unknown, debris from the blast killed a man standing nearby. Witnesses say the blast also shook buildings and broke windows.



The head of the college told the Associated Press police recovered an object that investigators plan to test.



The object is described as dark blue with jagged edges. It is reportedly small enough to be held in a closed hand. However, it is unknown if it came from space or could have fallen off a passing airplane.

Officials have tested the crater for metals. They also plan to examine soil from the crater.

The cause of the explosion is not yet known. However, what is known is that even native English speakers have trouble with the words meteor, meteoroid and meteorite.

Meteor, meteoroid or meteorite?

If you have ever seen a shooting star, you have seen a meteor.

The science website Hubbel.com says a meteor is the flash of light we see in the sky when a small piece of interplanetary debris burns up as it passes through our atmosphere.

"Meteor means the burst of light caused by the debris, not the debris itself, says the website.

The debris is called a meteoroid. A meteoroid is interplanetary matter. It is smaller than a kilometer wide and can often be only a few millimeters in size. Most meteoroids that enter Earth's atmosphere are so small that they vaporize completely and never reach the surface.

But, if any part of a meteoroid lands on Earth, it is called a meteorite.

Most meteorites are very small. However, they can vary in size. They can be as small as a pebble or as big as a huge, life-destroying boulder.

This recent incident in India comes nearly three years after a large meteor was seen streaking across the sky in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk.

The shock from the blast injured more than 1,000 people and caused extensive property damage.

Collage of video footage of Chelyabinsk meteor streaking across the sky and the meteorite hitting Russia.

Im Anna Matteo.

Have you ever seen a shooting star, or meteor, in the sky? Let us know in the Comments section. Or simply share your thoughts on this story.

This story first appeared on VOANews.com. Anna Matteo adapted the story for Learning English. She used additional information from Hubble.com and other sources. George Grow was the editor.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

crater  n. a large round hole in the ground made by the explosion of a bomb or by something falling from the sky

debris  n. the pieces that are left after something has been destroyed; wreckage

impact  v. to strike forcefully

jagged  adj. having a sharply uneven edge or surface

chunk  n. a large amount or part of something

interplanetary  adj. situated or traveling between planets

vaporize  v. to destroy by or as if by making into vapor

boulder  n. a very large stone or rounded piece of rock

streaking  v. to move quickly


Russia is proposing talks about a ceasefire in Syria, but European diplomats have expressed concerns about the offer.

The Europeans see the proposal as a way to delay agreement on how to end the Syrian civil war. They say the plan would give Russia time to continue intense airstrikes on Aleppo, Syrias second largest city.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said his country had offered a quite specific proposal. He spoke in Germany Thursday as he sat down for talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

Russia and the United States are a part of the 17-country International Syria Support Group (ISSG). We wait for the American response before we take it (the proposal) to the ISSG, Lavrov said.

Western media reports say Russia wants the ceasefire to take effect on March 1. That would be too late to stop a humanitarian crisis in and around Aleppo.

In Washington, a U.S. government spokesman said the Obama administration wants an immediate truce.

The Russian proposal comes while a Russian-supported Syrian government offensive and siege near Aleppo continues. The fighting and airstrikes have forced thousands of Syrians to flee toward the Turkish border.

Aid groups say nearly 100,000 Syrians have fled from their homes in the past week.

Kerry is also meeting with Syrian opposition leader Riyadh Hijab. On Wednesday, Hijab and other opposition representatives met with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and other officials in London.

Talks between the Syrian government and opposition were suspended in early February. They were halted partly because of opposition concerns about the bombing campaign in Aleppo.

Im Anne Ball.

VOA State Department correspondent Pamela Dockins reported on this story. Jim Dresbach adapted her report for Learning English. Additional information for this story came from VOANews.com. George Grow was the editor.

Do you think peace will come soon to Syria? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or visit our Facebook page.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

siege  n. a situation in which soldiers or police officers surround a city or building in order to try to take control of it

specific  adj. detailed


Adeles song Hello, off her latest album, 25, is one of the top-selling songs of all time.

The music publication Billboard reported that it is the first song to reach 1 million downloads in a single week.

Adeles fans around the world have responded with recordings of their own versions of Hello. In music, this is called a cover.

These covers are then posted on streaming services like YouTube. It is a fun thing to do and a way for smaller artists to get notice with a hit song.

Adeles Hello is so popular, people will listen to a cover version from just about anyone.

Lydia Lee is a high school student from South Korea. Her simple video cover of Hello in English has collected over 17 million views on YouTube.

A singer named Sarah received 5 million views with her cover of Hello in French.

In Kenya, a singer named Dela has posted a version of Hello in Swahili. The song has about 500,000 streams.

The mostwatched cover of "Hello" on YouTube, though, is from Leroy Sanchez. He is a musician from the Basque region of Spain. His cover has over 25 million views. Some followers even commented that it sounds so much better than the original.

Karen Rodriguez of Miami works in a hotel. But she has dreams of a singing career. She once competed in American Idol, a show for aspiring singers to get notice.

Rodriguez made a video of herself singing "Hello" in English and Spanish. As of this week, her version has more than 8.5 million views on YouTube.

She thinks the song going viral will help her find an audience for her music. She told Billboard, with these covers, I get to put out music.

The magazine noted that going viral might cost Rodriguez $34,000 if her video reaches 10 million views. That is because it is in another language. That is something Sanchez and Lee do not have to worry about.

Lee and Sanchez perform their covers in English, so they do not have to pay a licensing fee to Adele and her publishing company for the rights to put the song online.

Word-for-word remakes of songs are allowed, but song translations and adaptations do not have the same freedom.

So if you make a video of yourself singing Hello in a language other than English, you might owe some money.

For those who only want hear the original, you can say hello when Adele performs this Monday night at the music awards show called the Grammys.

Im Dan Friedell.

Dan Friedell wrote this story for Learning English. Hai Do was the editor.

Does this story make you think twice about covering a song in a new language? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

adaptation  n. something changed to fit some purpose or situation

remake  v. to make a different version of something

viral  adj. something that becomes well-known as it is passed from person to person

license  v. to give official permission through a formal agreement
So Sanders beat Clinton in New Hampshire, as expected, but he beat her by an unexpectedly large margin, garnering 60% of the vote, while she got less than 40%. Those margins bode ill for Clinton, happily, even though she remains likely to win South Carolina. South Carolina and Nevada will be crucial to Sanders's viability going forward. No doubt the latest Sanders victory will bring forth another round of brainless punditry from Krugman and others hoping for a Clinton Administration job.

On the Republican side, Trump out-performed the polls only slightly, garnering 35% of the vote. Oddly, this is being described as some great victory, even though the fact remains that despite name recognition and front-runner status for six months now, two-thirds of Republican voters, even in a state like New Hampshire (without a large conservative Christian vote), still want someone else. This is consistent with what we know about the extremely high "negatives" Trump has for most voters. The "moderate" conservative John Kasich, the Ohio Governor, did capture second place, as I surmised he might, with nearly 16% of the vote; the unknown is whether that will give him any momentum and increased recognition going forward. South Carolina, which is next up, is another primary (as distinct from caucus) state, and independents can vote in South Carolina, which helps Trump, but could also help Kasich. On the other hand, there is a large group of evangelical Christian voters, which will favor Cruz. While we have Governor Christie of New Jersey to thank for effectively destroying Senator Rubio (who came in 5th in New Hampshire, with about 10% of the vote)--and Christie himself will surely drop out of the race shortly--the bad news for Kasich is that "low energy" Bush got 11% of the vote in New Hampshire, effectively tying Cruz (though Cruz did come in slightly ahead of Bush, even in New Hampshire!). Bush has enormous resources, so I expect he will compete vigorously in South Carolina and Nevada, but he and Kasich are going to compete for the same set of voters--as will Rubio, assuming he remains afloat. I expect Trump will win South Carolina, and Cruz will finish a strong second. If Kasich does not come in third or better in South Carolina or Nevada, he may soon be a goner too, and Bush may be the last venal conservative who isn't an insane bomb-thrower standing! On the other hand, if Kasich can outperform Bush in South Carolina and Nevada, then he may earn that title. The huge March 1 primaries include many Southern states--where Trump and Cruz are favored as of now--but also many states (Vermont, Minnesota, Massachussetts, Colorado)--where Kasich could do well, if he's still in the race.

Finally, a nicely written piece on why Trump is "scary." But he isn't that scary, because he guarantees a Democratic victory, and even if the Clintons are venal, they're not as scary!
LEXINGTON,Neb.  At the beginning of this year, Lexington High School Senior Maddie Berke visited London, notching an item off her bucket list.

Berke was selected to perform in the New Years Day parade after she successfully tried out and made the All-American Cheer Team in the United States. She is a member of the Lexington High School Cheer Team.

Certain members of the cheer team (LHS team) were selected to try out based on skills at cheer camp in jumps, leadership, tumbling, and numerous other categories. If any cheerleader made the All-American team, she had the option of attending special events such as the parade in London, the Varsity Spirit Spectacular at Walt Disney Resort in Florida, and an event in Hawaii. I chose London because I've always dreamed of visiting, and doing something I love was icing on the cake, Berke said.

She left for London on Dec. 26, talking a flight from Kansas City to Charlotte,N.C., then another flight from Charlotte to London, for a total of 11 hours in the air. Berke stayed in London until Jan. 2 and took two more flights back to Kansas City, which led to another 13 hours in the air.

Berke performed 10 times throughout the course of the parade, which was 2.2 miles long.

The performance was amazing. There were so many people standing on the streets and watching us. They seemed so excited to watch us perform, and some people would talk to us while we were waiting to move ahead in the parade. If I could go back and do it again I totally would, she said.

The weather in London during her stay was a lot like Nebraska weather, pretty chilly most of the days, she said. Berke said she lucked out because it didnt snow in London during the parade, a trend that broke with the snowy tradition of the event in the past.

She said it did rain a couple of days, but she was able to escape the rain at the hotel in the evenings.

Meeting and mingling with people from across America was a fun quirk of the trip, she said.

I met so many people on this trip. Cheerleaders from across American were staying in one hotel, so I got to meet people from a lot of different states. I felt like the odd one out because I didn't have a southern accent, Berke said.

While in London, Berke visited: St. Paul's Cathedral, Big Ben, The Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey,Windsor Castle (her favorite place).

We also got to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace and take a boat ride down the River Thames. Everything was so breathtaking and nothing like I've ever seen before, she said.

One of the highlights of the trip for her was seeing the musical Wicked.

It was my first Broadway-style show and it was absolutely amazing. The talent of those performers was through the roof. I think I had chills throughout the entire show.
Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year 2014



"Well written, funny and wistful" - Paul Linford; "He is indeed the Lib Dem blogfather" - Stephen Tall

"Jonathan Calder holds his end up well in the competitive world of the blogosphere" - New Statesman

"A prominent Liberal Democrat blogger" - BBC Radio 4 Today; "One of my favourite blogs" - Stumbling

and Mumbling; "Charming and younger than I expected" - Wartime Housewife
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JF Ptak Science Books

I've found a number of interesting maps in the pamphlet collection here--these are highly unusual to my experience in that they were the work of a firm called "Geopress", which was an active business and cover for a significant intelligence agent for the Soviet Union, operating in Switzerland, collecting data relating to German activities during WWII. There's nothing I can add beyond the information that I quote extensively below from the CIA website on Rado--except that I cannot find images/examples of his Geopress work. So it seems the most efficient thing to do here is to simply quote the known sources and reproduce the images of the 18 maps and their accompanying texts.

As I said Rado operated Geopress as a news/cartographic service, and Rado was an accomplished cartographer, so the mans in and off themselves as maps are perhaps not a singular issue. Their evident scarcity, however, does seem to be an issue. Also I do not understand why these maps are so small, some of which are just 1"x 3"; also the uneven;y cut/torn text sheets that are made to accompany the maps are also puzzling in their own way. I do not understand the format--someone out there in Weblandia no doubt will.

All of the maps shown below are from 1942. They were received by the Library of Congress in June 1943 and stamped so on the backs of the maps. (They lived for some time in the "Pamphlet Collection" at the LC before being purchased by me in 1998.)

The following quotes come from the CIA website, the Center for the Study of Intelligence, here: https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol12i3/html/v12i3a05p_0001.htm]

"Alexander (Sandor) Rado, Alexander Foote's chief in the Swiss-based "Rote Drei" net that in 1941-43 supplied Moscow with detailed information on German order of battle... His activity in intelligence, mapping, and related fields has lasted nearly 50 years and may earn him a place in the pantheon of major intelligence figures of the times."

And this:

"In 1936 or 1937, with Soviet funds and having a Swiss citizen as silent partner, Rado organized Geopress, a news agency specializing as Inpress had in maps and geographic background data. Geopress was more successful than Inpress because of better organization and the increased demand for news maps in the advancing shadows of World War II. As cover for an intelligence operation it proved ideal. Its normal activitynews collection and disseminationprovided justification for contacts with businessmen, officials, diplomats, journalists, and military leaders, some of whom became intelligence sources. It also justified a large volume of telephone and telegraph traffic, extensive postal business, and the maintenance of a courier system."

And so:

"While building up his Geopress cover Rado also developed his sources, organized communications, and summarized for transmission the reports collected by his growing network. And he even found time to maintain through publications his image as an internationally known geographer."

And:

"24 Feb. 1945. During the German occupation of Hungary, (Rado) lived in Geneva where (he) published geographical maps for the Allied Governments until 1943; discovered by the GESTAPO and consequently his relatives in Hungary were murdered/ went with family to Paris in September 1944 and continued his work/summoned to Russia to report on his activities with the Free French Organization and left on 8 Jan. 1945 by special plane for Moscow/suspecting a trap, he got off the plane in Cairo where he remained/received no news from his wife in Paris and suspects that she might have been deported/he was formerly a Fellow of the Geographical Society in London, New York, Paris, Geneva, Rome and Washington, D.C. OFFICE OF CENSORSHIP, Egypt, 11 April 1945."

[Again, the source for this and the above quotes: https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol12i3/html/v12i3a05p_0001.htm]

The maps:
Everything burns in my head

The blood freezes in the veins

I feel as if you are afraid

But you're afraid of being fine

We have loved each other on the top of the world

Over everything and over everyone

How many dreams in a second

And in a second you destroy them

And I'd like to go back in time

To stop that moment

In which I felt strong

As strong as a giant

And I blindly waited

In your sincerest gaze

And if I should say it all

I believed in us, for real
Sonam Kapoor-starrer Neerja based on real incidents during the hijacking of the Pan Am Flight 73 at the Karachi airport in 1986, has been banned in Pakistan allegedly for showing the country in a poor light.

The film has been banned here without even being submitted to the censor boards.

The Ram Madhvani-directed movie revolves around Neerja Bhanot, a flight attendant on board a Pan Am Mumbai-New York flight shot dead by terrorists during the hijacking while trying to save the lives of passengers.

Advertisements of the movie in some newspapers had shown its release across Pakistan on February 19 but it has emerged that the Ministry of Commerce had initially authorised the import of the film but later changed its decision.

A Commerce Ministry official said that due to the objectionable nature of the content which portrayed Pakistan in poor light the certificate to import the film was revoked.

IMGC Executive Director Abid Rasheed admitted that there were certain anti-Pakistan elements in Neerja and it showed Muslims in a negative light.

PTI
New Delhi: Private player IndusInd Bank today said it had followed all regulatory guidelines while handing over cash to the Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative David Headley.

"As per the regulatory guidelines in force, cash was handed over to David Headley after completing due diligence", the bank said in a statement.

The IndusInd Bank was responding to media reports which said that all payments to Headley were made through the bank's Nariman Point, Mumbai, branch.

Headley, who is involved in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and has become an approver, has made several revelations in his deposition via conferencing before a Mumbai court. IndusInd Bank said it "has not opened any account in the name of David Headley, and has not handled any other business for him".

In 2006, under a money transfer arrangement approved by regulators, the Bank handled a few inward remittances under the Money Transfer Service Scheme (MTSS), in the normal course of business, in October-November, it said.

Further, IndusInd Bank said it had obtained the required documents, including a copy of Headley's passport, issued by the US authorities, valid from March 2006 to March 2016. There were investigations by national agencies between 2009 and 2011 and the KYC documents were produced before them, the bank said.

Headley, who is currently serving 35-year prison sentence in the US for his role in the terror attacks, has said he had changed his name from Dawood Gilani to David Headley in 2006 so that he could enter India and set up some business.

PTI
The spike in bad loans reported by state-run banks, including State Bank of India (SBI) in the December quarter, has sent panic waves in the stock market.

Shares of most of the government banks have been dumped by investors as reports of high non-performing assets (NPAs) triggered selling. The spike in bad loans is likely to continue for a few more quarters given that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has given a deadline of March 2017 for banks to declare all bad loans on their books. This is one reason why banks are aggressively reporting NPAs from now onwards.

SBI has reported gross NPAs at 5.1 percent compared with 4.15 percent in the preceding quarter, while another bank Union Bank of India reported 7.05 percent against 6.12 percent on a quarterly basis. Higher provisions associated with increase in bad loans pushed down the net income of by substantial margin for both banks. Under norms, banks need to set aside money, known as provisions, against possible future losses and existing non-performing loans.

Even though it might cause pain in the immediate future, its good that banks are forthcoming in recognising bad loans, since this can help addressing the hidden rot in their books. What RBI governor Raghuram Rajan wants banks to do is state the problem upfront, and not postpone it.

"We have to clean up the balance sheets (of banks). They will emerge from the clean up stronger and healthier," Rajan said at an event in Mumbai on Thursday.

"As we clean up, we have to make sure that this (increase in NPAs) doesn't happen again. Strengthening board and management (of banks) will help loan evaluation and monitoring," Rajan said.

Hidden NPAs of banks have been a bigger concern for the regulator than the declared ones, since no one had actual estimate of the extent of bad loans in the banking system.

"Deep surgery needed to clean up balance sheets; NPA recognition is anaesthetic to do surgery," said Rajan.

Banks typically prefer to postpone the problem by technically retaining many NPAs as performing ones to show a good book. But, as Rajan has been cautioning banks, this would result in larger problems in future due to accumulation of bad assets that arent recognized as bad yet.

To date, the reported gross NPAs of Indian banks stand at around Rs 3 lakh crore, while restructured assets (under CDR and bilateral channels) together would constitute almost double amount. On the whole, the total stressed assets in the banking system would be in 10-12 percent of the total bank loans given for banks. But, this isnt all.

More skeletons will tumble out of the closet when banks fully declare the NPAs in their books. The earlier leeway banks used to enjoy to push bad assets to restructured loan category is no longer available now since the RBI has asked banks to treat fresh restructured loans at par with bad loans.

If one looks at the October-December quarter numbers of banks, lenders have already started to aggressively recognize bad assets, even though it meant huge hit on their net profit and bloodbath in the stock market. At least three public sector banks (PSBs), Central Bank of India, Allahabad Bank and Dena Bank posted huge losses in the October-December quarter on account of a sharp increase in bad loans, while Punjab National Bank (PNB), Indias second largest state-run bank, logged a significant fall in its profit.

PNB reported gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of 8.47 percent for the December-quarter. This is the highest level of bad loans the bank has recorded at least in 11 years. High bad loans result in high provisioning, the money every bank needs to set aside to cover their future losses, which more than doubled for PNB to Rs 3,776 crore in the third quarter from Rs 1,468 crore in the year-ago quarter. As a result, the net profit of the bank plunged 93.4 percent to Rs 51 crore in the third quarter, compared with Rs 775 crore in the corresponding period in last year. This is arguably one of the worst quarterly results of PNB in recent years.

Similarly, Central Bank of India logged a loss of Rs 836.62 crore for October-December 2015-16, against a profit of Rs 137.65 crore in the third quarter of the previous fiscal with its GNPAs rising to 8.95 percent of the gross advances during the quarter, as against 6.2 percent a year ago.

Similarly, Dena Bank reported a loss of Rs 662.85 crore for the third quarter as against net profit of Rs 76.56 crore in the same quarter last year, after it witnessed its GNPAs jumping to 9.85 percent from 5.61 percent in the year-ago period. Allahabad Banks loss stood at Rs 486.14 crore for the third quarter, hit by 6.40 percent GNPAs (from 5.46 percent) and subsequent provisions.

While it is a good sign that banks are finally willing to acknowledge the problem, it doesnt mean the issue is resolved. How to repair such a huge stock of bad assets is a billion dollar question before the industry, the government and the regulator. Any chances of recovery depend on the revival in the economy itself and how effectively the banking system is equipped with tools to take on crony promoters, who have been using the banking system to their advantage. The creation of the proposed bankruptcy code can help since this will provide ammunition to banks to deal with future case of defaults.

But, dealing with the existing chunk of defaulters, many of them are wilful defaulters (promoters who have the ability to pay back but wouldnt do so) would require tremendous political will and effective judicial mechanism to deal with disputes between banks and defaulters. The delay in dealing with disputes between banks and corporates significantly impacts the value of the underlying asset and by the time banks manage to initiate recovery process, there wouldnt be much to recover. A perfect example is the Kingfisher case, where a group of 19 large banks are still struggling to make any meaningful progress in the recovery of Rs 7,000 crore loan for liquor-baron Vijay Mallya, who is fighting lenders in the court.

As Firstpost highlighted in an earlier article, the current spike in the bad loans on the books of banks is an indication of the deeper stress within the banking system, accumulated over a longer period. The government should be worried the most since over 90 percent of the total bad loans of Indian banks is on the balance sheets of state-run banks, in which it is the majority owner.

One must give credit to RBI governor Rajan for calling a spade a spade and putting an end to the practice of banks masquerading NPAs as good loans by recasting them.

Data contribution by Kishor Kadam
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will soon launch a smart card scheme for over 40 crore unorganised workers in the country to provide them various social security benefits like insurance and pension.

"Within one month Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch smart card called UWIN (Unorganised Workers' Identification Number) card. We had sought time from the Prime Minister for launching it for over 40 crore workers in the country," Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya told reporters at launch of Global Network Operations Centre (g-NOC) of EPFO here.

The minister said that through the UWIN card, government wants to provide social security to all those people who are not covered either by Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) or Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC).

He said that the UWIN card will be a chip-based instrument to provide benefit to these workers and their family under Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), Atal Pension Yojana, Aam Admi Bima Yojana (AABY), Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana.

The minister said that the entire task of issuing smart cards to all informal sector workers would take at least two years time and government will issue 10 crore such cards in the first phase.

Asked about Centre's plan to invest funds lying in dormant EPF accounts, the minister said, "We are custodian of the workers' money. The worker can come and claim his or her funds."

Elaborating further, Labour Secretary Shankar Aggarwal said, "Finance Ministry is working on how to use around Rs 30,000 crore in inoperative accounts without compromising on workers right. Labour Ministry has no right over that money."

Inoperative accounts are those accounts where contribution is not made for more than 36 months. EPFO does not credit interest in these accounts once these became inoperative.

However holders of these accounts can claim withdrawal. On the possibility of providing 9 percent rate of interest to over five crore subscribers of the EPFO for 2015-16, the Minister said that Centre Board of Trustees' will take a call on it on February 16 at its meeting in Chennai.

There is possibility that EPFO may pay 9 percent rate of interest for the current fiscal as providing 8.95 per cent will leave a surplus of over Rs 100 crore as per September calculations of the EPFO worked out in September.

An EPFO trustee had earlier told PTI, providing 9 percent rate of interest for this fiscal as per latest calculation may leave a surplus of Rs 100 crore and it is quite possible.

The g-NOC is expected to function as the nerve centre of all the IT operations of the EPFO. It would be functioning as the centre to monitor all the three proposed data centres at Gurgaon, Secunderabad and National Data Centre Dwarka.

PTI
Patna: Sadhu Yadav, a former MP involved in several criminal cases, is in trouble again after a complaint was registered against him for allegedly demanding money from a builder in Patna, the police said on Thursday.

In his complaint lodged at Kotwali police station here, builder Anil Singh said Sadhu Yadav, estranged brother-in-law of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, had demanded Rs.50 lakh from him as extortion money, said a police official.

Sadhu Yadav, who has already been involved in several cases of extortion, assault, forgery and other crimes, has denied the charge.

Interestingly, Anil Singh, who himself is absconding after being accused in several criminal cases, took the help of his manager in filing the complaint against Sadhu.

In his complaint, Anil Singh said Sadhu Yadav had threatened him with dire consequences if he failed to pay up.

Sadhu Yadav, brother-in-law of Lalu Prasad and a former member of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), enjoyed great clout during the Lalu-Rabri rule in Bihar from 1990 to 2005.

He later fell out with his brother-in-law Lalu Yadav and sister Rabri Devi and left the party.

"Lalu and Rabri's residence has been closed for Sadhu and practically they had no connection left at all," an RJD leader said.

The RJD is a constituent of the Grand Alliance that came to power in Bihar last November. Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and the Congress are the other constituents of the coalition government led by Nitish Kumar.

JD-U leaders said Sadhu Yadav has no connection with the Grand Alliance and that the law will take its own course in the case of extortion against him.

Sadhu Yadav has also been an accused in the multi-crore flood relief forgery scam in Bihar.

IANS
Colombo: At least 12 Indian fishermen were arrested and their trawlers seized for allegedly poaching in Sri Lankan waters, Lankan Navy said on Thursday.

The fishermen, all hailing from Tamil Nadu, were arrested on Wednesday while poaching in Sri Lankan waters northwest of Thalaimannar, the Navy said.

They were handed over to the officials of the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources for further action.

Assistant Director of Fisheries Department in Rameswaram, Gopinath, said those arrested were fishing near Katchatheevu, an islet ceded to Sri Lanka in 1974. He said two boats were seized.

PTI
Editor's Note: This article was originally published on 8 February and is being re-published in light of David Headley's deposition that Ishrat Jahan was in fact a Lashkar-e-Taiba operative.

By Saikat Datta

As the Mumbai trial court hears 26/11-accused David Coleman Headleys testimony over video, all eyes will probably look towards Delhi and the political fallout that it could have. Headleys testimony would have been passed off as important but routine to a terror-related investigation, but for a claim that has dogged the interrogation report for years. In 2009, a team from Indias National Investigation Agency had travelled to the US for a court-sanctioned three-day interaction with Headley and put together an interrogation report (IR) that made startling revelations about Pakistans official support for the 26/11 Mumbai attack.

However, more than the sensational claims about Pakistans role, what caused a political brouhaha were claims that Headley had also confirmed that a young woman from Mumbai, Ishrat Jahan, was a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) agent. At that time, the Congress-led UPA government was in power and the CBI was investigating the encounter that killed Ishrat Jahan and her compatriots. The encounter had taken place when the current BJP president Amit Shah was the Gujarats home minister. He had to resign as home minister and spend months in jail before being bailed out, but had to live outside Gujarat as part of bail conditions.

Shah  and by proxy, Narendra Modi, the then Gujarat chief minister  was under attack by the Opposition and rights groups that claimed Ishrat was a innocent tourist in Gujarat. However, the copy of the interrogation report that was filed in court never had any reference to Jahan, even though subsequent leaked photocopies of the document began to show this new paragraph. Today, if Headley does mention Jahan in his testimony to the magistrate, then it is likely to set off a fresh round of political allegations.

But beyond its impact on the current political climate, the contents of the interrogation report are the clearest account of how the Pakistani establishment helped the 26/11 attackers.

It recorded how three serving Pakistani military officials of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) worked with the LeT leadership to train terrorists as well as help them identify targets. Identified as Colonel Shah, Major Sameer and Major Ali, Headley gave a detailed account of their meetings and discussions when he would brief them after every visit to India. In all, Headley made six visits to India (today in court he put that number at eight), detailing the GPS coordinates to the Taj Mahal Hotel, the Trident hotel and the Chabad House in Colaba.

He also visited other key installations in India and delivered those coordinates to his Pakistani handlers.

Headleys testimony was also the first evidence of the links between terrorism in India and the Al-Qaeda. Although this was a tenuous link, it provided a glimpse into how international jihadi outfits competed and cooperated with each other. Headley spoke about his meetings with a former Pakistani Army commando Ilyas Kashmiri, who had floated a new terror group known as 313 Brigade. They had links with the Al-Qaeda, and Kashmiri was known to have even met the Al-Qaedas emir, Osama Bin Laden.

Interestingly, the role played by Headleys third wife of Moroccan origin, Faiza Outllah, also added further revelations to the whole plan. Her complaint to the US Embassy in Islamabad and her claims that she had tried to warn the Americans about the 26/11 attack were startling and added a new dimension to the plot.

Born as Daood Gilani  the son of Pakistani diplomat Sayyid Salim Gilani and an American mother  he would adopt his mothers name and wipe out his Pakistani links, probably on the advice of the LeT leadership. With a US passport, he had easy access to various countries and used them to collect intelligence and plan terror attacks for the LeT. The fact that the Indian consulate in Chicago issued several visas over the years to him without red-flagging them, proved to be one of the key failures when it came to preventing the 26/11 attack. Today, it remains to be seen if he will repeat the bulk of what he had stated in his interrogation report. If he does, it will become evidence in a court of law and will have major implications for Pakistan globally as well as for Indias current fractious political climate.

The author is a former editor and investigative reporter, author of Indias Special Forces, a Visiting Fellow with ORF and researching on issues of counter-terrorism, intelligence and cybersecurity. He tweets @saikatd
Early on Tuesday morning, I received a call from my editor in Mumbai, to write a short profile of Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad. He had survived the deadly avalanche that struck his makeshift post and displaced it hundreds of meters ahead of its original site.

Koppad is a hero, not just for serving in a place which is considered to be a badge of honor among soldiers, but also for surviving for very long under the 30 feet blue ice that can kill in seconds. Even the fleeting touch of a weapon's trigger could lead to frostbite, and an amputated digit. He had survived the unthinkable  something we may never be able to find out how. These are not rocky and green mountains of Kashmir, neither are they the plains of northeast. He had survived in the world highest battlefield and we wanted to know what possibly could be the reaction of his family.

Special rescuers had fought adverse weather conditions to reach the spot, where Koppad, along with nine others, was performing his duty to guard the frontiers of his nation.

It is nothing short of a miracle that they found Koppad alive, and more so without broken bones or frostbite. Yes, his condition was critical, but he had survived all those days without food and fighting constant danger of frostbite and asphyxiation  buried deep inside 30 feet of snow.

SP Dharwad provided the leads, after which I reached Koppads wife after making countless calls. For all those hours in the morning and afternoon that preceded the phone call, I knew exactly the kind of questions I wanted to ask. But the moment I finally got through, I failed to muster the courage to ask the questions.

Madhavi, wife of Hanamanthappa Koppad, was elated. I could hear, on phone, her one and a half year old daughter Netra crying, maybe because many people had entered the house to celebrate the news. The space must have been too small to accommodate people; it is sight I have encountered too often in my life.

Her broken Hindi made it difficult to understand what she wanted to say, but there was happiness in her voice, I could feel. It was a happiness which lasted for too short a while. But she was brave, courageous and spoke of the debt her father-in-law and Koppads father was trapped in. Her husband wanted to pay that debt and live a simple life in the village after his retirement. He wanted to get their daughter enrolled in an army school and give her good education.

All the previous conversations between Koppad and wife have been pinned about the future of their girl Netra and the family debt. The future of the girl was an ordinary dream of an extraordinary soldier, who like thousands of others risked his life to save the lives of others, and guard our frontiers. For their ordinary dreams, they pay a price, for which no nation in this world can repay them.

The policy makers and rulers of this country should think about the lives of its soldiers who risk their lives every day braving the odds for the nation that pays them peanuts. The life of Kopped symbolised that tragedy.

Born on 1 June 1982, in Betadur village in Dharwad district of Karanatka, Lance Naik Koppad got married on 22 April 2012. He had joined the army in 2003 as a soldier, and is married to Madhavi and they have a daughter Netra, who is one year old.

There is a possibility that the all ill-judged appeals to demilitarise the Siachen glacier will now occupy our prime time, but until Pakistan authenticates the front line in the region, it would be a waste.

On Tuesday, when I spoke to Ramappa Koppad, the father of Lance Naik Koppad, he said that he had lost all the hopes about his son being alive. But his hopes were revived when someone called in to say his son was alive. That happiness was short-lived not just for him but for a nation of a billion plus people, who were praying for his recovery.

That son has died now and he has left not just the debt but also the responsibly of feeding two people on his aged shoulders.
In an explosive disclosure on Thursday, Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley told the Mumbai court that there was an LeT operation to shoot police at some naka. During his deposition, he refered to a woman killed in a police encounter on Indian soil. When he was given three names, he claimed that the name of the woman was Ishrat Jahan.

The disclosure is likely to ignite a fresh row around the controversial encounter.

In an explosive disclosure on Thursday, Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley told the Mumbai court that there was an LeT operation to shoot police at some naka. During his deposition, he refered to a woman killed in a police encounter on Indian soil. When he was given three names, he claimed that the name of the woman was Ishrat Jahan. Ishrat's family, since the encounter took place in 2004, has been alleging that it was a botched up operation by the Gujarat Police.

"One woman from LeT named Ishrat Jahan was involved," Headley said.

Testifying via video-link from the US, Headley spilled the beans on the 19-year-old Mumbra girl and picked up her name when quizzed by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam about a "botched up operation" mentioned to him (Headley) by LeT commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi.

Headley told the court that Lakhvi had mentioned to him about a "botched-up operation" conducted in India by another LeT operative Muzammil Butt where a female member of the terror outfit was killed.

Prodded by Nikam to elaborate on the operation and the members involved in it, Headley said, "(I was told) It was a shootout with police in which a (female) suicide bomber was killed."

To which the prosecutor prompted three names of which Headley picked up Jahan before telling the court that "there is a female wing in LeT and one Abu Aiman's mother headed it."

Four persons- Ishrat Jahan, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an encounter with Gujarat Police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

The city crime branch had then said that those killed in the encounters were LeT terrorists and had landed in Gujarat to kill then Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

The CBI, which took over probe from the Gujarat High Court appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT), had filed charge sheet in August 2013 saying that the encounter was fake and executed in the joint operation by the city crime branch and Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau (SIB).

CNN-IBN got in touch with Ishrat's sister, Musarrat Jahan and asked her what she thinks of Headley's disclosure. "We are fighting a legal battle for the past 11 years. The investigation in India (all of them) have proven that the encounter was fake and I believe that my sister is innocent. Who is this Headley? Ye sab political saazish hai. Bahut bade log hai is saazish ke peeche aur Headley ka zaroor koi fayda hai, (This is all a big political conspiracy. Big political names are behind this conspiracy and Headley is definitely gaining from this so-called disclosure)," Musarrat told CNN-IBN.

According to Vrinda Grover, who is the lawyer of Ishrat Jahan's mother, told NDTV that Ishrat cannot be linked to any terror group across the world. "There's political agenda behind Headley's questioning. Ishrat has no terror links. Ujjwal Nikam's questioning is illegal," Grover told the channel.

"This man (Headley) has fabulous memory but he doesn't say Ishrat Jahan so the lawyer gives him options with her name. Absurd. The lawyer put words in Headley's mouth, and now a political issue is being made out of the entire thing. Government lawyer like Amitabh Bachchan's show gives 3 options to Headley, is this evidence? This is political angle. Lawyer then acts like he is hosting Kaun Banega Crorepati and gave Headley options. I mean, what is happening in the court? Headley said he did NOT know of any female suicide bomber from LeT. Investigation has shown Ishrat Jahan was killed. Case is on. Headley is being investigated for his involvement in 26/11 attacks, what has that got to with Ishrat's encounter," Vrinda Grover, lawyer for Ishrat Jahan's family, told ANI.

Why is the BJP so keen to prove that Ishrat is a terrorist? Did we not give Kasab a trial? : Vrinda Grover, lawyer pic.twitter.com/qlaZZkEfbJ  ANI (@ANI_news) February 11, 2016

Lawyer then acts like he is hosting "Kaun Banega Crorepati" and gave Headley options. I mean, what is happening in the Court?: Vrinda Grover  ANI (@ANI_news) February 11, 2016

Ishrat, Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai and two Pakistani nationals Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Jowher were gunned down at Kotarpur in Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

Headley was deposing for the third day before a court in Mumbai.

Soon after Headley's statement BJP sprung to action and its spokersperson Shahnawaz Hussain said that it supports what many people have been saying in Gujarat for a long time. It should be noted that the "fake encounter" of Ishrat Jahan in 2004, which was ordered by the then Gujarat government, received wide coverage by the media and faced lot of flak from human rights' activists.

The deposition of Headley could not happen on Wednesday due to a technical snag in the video conference in the US.

Making fresh disclosures on the brazen 26/11 attacks, Headley also exposed how ISI and LeT majorly funded terror operations in India and financed him from time to time and that Pakistan native Tahawwur Rana visited Mumbai before the terror strikes.

The LeT operative also said that RBI has turned down a request to open a bank account for their office in India. Giving details of his funding, he said, "Before coming to India in September 2006, he received USD 25,000 from ISI's Major Iqbal."

"I also got 40,000 in Pakistani currency from LeT operative Sajid Mir between April and June 2008," he told the court, adding that Major Iqbal used to regularly sent him money in instalments.

Also, Major Iqbal gave me counterfeit Indian currency once or twice in 2008, he said. Besides Abdul Rehman Pasha, also from ISI, gave me Rs 80,000, Headley said.

"Tahawur Rana (Headley's associate and a Pakistani native who operated a Chicago-based immigration business) used to send me money from the US in September 2006 when I came to India to do intelligence work on instructions of LeT," he told the court.

The 55-year-old, who recently turned approver in the case, also said that "it was my idea to open an office in India. It was a part of my cover (as an immigration consultant). I had discussed about this with Major Iqbal and Sajid Mir and they both agreed to it."

"I also told Rana that Major Iqbal had asked me to do intelligence work in India. Iqbal told me that if Rana was reluctant to be associated with this (Headley's India operations) then he (Headley) should appeal to his (Rana's) sense of patriotism towards Pakistan," he testified.

"But Rana was not reluctant and he agreed readily for me to go to India," Headley said.

Headley also revealed that Rana had visited Mumbai before the terror attacks.

"I advised Rana to leave India before the attacks as I was afraid that he would be in danger," he told the court.

Headley also disclosed that Rana had asked Raymond Sanders (who ran an immigrant law centre in Chicago) to submit an application to the RBI to open a bank account for their office in India.

However, RBI turned down the request, he said.

Later, in January 2009, Major Iqbal told Headley to close down his office in India, the court was told.

Earlier on Tuesday, Headley had told the court that terror outfits like LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hizbul Mujahideen were given moral, financial and military support by the Pakistani intelligence agency besides making fresh revelations including about an aborted plan to target Indian defence scientists and famous Siddhivinayak temple here.

He said he was working for ISI besides LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba) and that he knew about ISI official Brigadier Riyaz being the handler of LeT's top commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, who was the mastermind of the November 26, 2008 attacks in Mumbai.

He named three officials of the Pakistan army and ISI -- Colonel Shah, Lt Colonel Hamza and Major Samir Ali - besides retired army officer Abdul Rehman Pasha who was closely working with LeT and Al-Qaeda. Headley said his assessment was that ISI and LeT were coordinating with each other.

"ISI provides financial, military and moral support to terror outfits Jaish-e-Mohammed, LeT and Hizbul Mujaideen," he said, even though he claimed that his opinion was formed on the basis of hearsay.

Headley also said that Abdur Rehman Pasha, a retired Pakistani army major, gave him Rs 18,000. "On 1 November 2006 I signed the agreement of my office in Tardeo area of Mumbai, with landlord Bora. The contents I had mentioned in the agreement of my office in Mumbai's Tardeo area, were true," Headley told the court.

"On 16 July 2008,I applied for extension of license (Mumbai office) to stay in premises and extension was granted. An application was submitted to Reserve Bank of India to open a business account in India with signatures of Raymond Sanders but RBI refused to give permission to open a business account."

Headley, who had conducted recce of the places in Mumbai which were attacked by 10 LeT terrorists on November 26, 2008, also revealed that the outfit had initially planned to attack a conference of Indian Indian defence scientists in Taj Mahal Hotel.

He said he had also conducted a recce of the famous Siddhivinayak Temple and Naval air station on directions of LeT commanders.

While spilling beans about involvement of Pakistan's army and intelligence agency in terrorism in India, he said he knew ISI official Brigadier Riyaz being the handler of LeT's top commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, who was the mastermind of 26/11 attacks.

Headley, who had visited Mumbai seven times to scout for targets, revealed that plans to target Mumbai had started over a year before 26/11.

With inputs from PTI
After David Headleys deposition on Thursday, Tahawwur Rana is back in the news.

On Thursday, Headley revealed more details about the 26 November attacks in a deposition giving the names of the people involved in the attacks and the extent of their involvement. One of the names revealed in the deposition was Tahawwur Hussain Rana  a Pakistani-Canadian member of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

In 2011, Rana was convicted by a United States jury and sentenced to 14 years in prison by US District Judge Harry Leinenweber for aiding the group that carried out the 26/11 terror attack.

Who is Rana?

Rana, born on 12 January, 1961 is a Chicago-based businessman born in Pakistan. He met Headley when they went to military school together in the Punjab province. A doctor who immigrated to the US from Canada, Rana set up several businesses  one of which was an immigration consultancy service that helped terrorists enter the US and Canada.

In 2011, he was convicted for aiding and abetting a plot to kill and behead Danish newspaper staffers for the cartoons they published of Prophet Mohammed.

Allegations by David Headley

In his deposition on Thursday, Headley said that Rana visited Mumbai before the 26/11 attacks and that Headley advised him to return to the US. He claims to have received Rs 17,636 on 30 November, 2006 and $1,000 on 4 December, 2006 from Rana. On 11 October, 2006, while Headley was in Mumbai, he allegedly also received Rs 66,605 from Rana

The monetary support Headley received helped him open his office in Mumbai's Tardeo AC market.

Ranas activities before the attack

Headley is alleged to have stayed in the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai between 28 and 30 March, 2007. He returned on 2 May that year and stayed till 7 May. Rana stayed in a South Mumbai guest house the next year and flew out of the city on 21 November, 2008  just five days before 26/11. This increased the possibility of his role in guiding the LeT squad that hit the city.
By Lt Gen Prakash Katoch

Going by queries of media friends about how soldiers live on the Siachen glacier 32 years after Indias occupation of the Saltoro Range one is not surprised that some are so outwitted by the news of an avalanche striking Sonam post held by 19 Madras on 3 February that they suggest Indian Army (IA) should vacate the area, albeit without any inkling about the ground and its strategic significance. Incidentally, George Fernades was the only defence minister who took journalists with him on his numerous visits to the Siachen area, to bring awareness about the region, including its strategic significance and why India pre-empted Pakistani move to occupy the Saltoro Range. There are some who ask why the post was located at such place where such an avalanche could occur, again without knowing the ground realities. The post of Sonam where the avalanche occurred is an essential piece of ground which guards the approach to Bana Post (the highest on the Saltoro Range) from being cut off, Bana being the erstwhile Qaid-e-Azam post of Pakistan at a height of 6,500 metres (21,326 feet) that was captured by Indian troops in 1987 under the leadership of Honorary Captain Bana Singh who was later awarded the Param Vir Chakra.

But this is about the indomitable spirit of the Indian soldier, epitomized today by Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad rescued after six days of remaining buried under 35 feet of snow in temperatures of minus 55-60 degrees centigrade, who was battling for his life in deep comma at the Armys Research & Referral Hospital in New Delhi and has unfortunately passed away on 11 February. As the whole nation stood by him and prayers were being held all over for his recovery, providence had other plans despite the best of medical treatment provided. His rescue indeed was miraculous and the herculean rescue operation mounted by the Army itself was one of the most daunting and intricate. Sonam post has a number of Fibre Glass Huts (FGH) as also a helipad. It is at an altitude of 20,500 feet where average temperatures are about minus 25 degree centigrade by day and about minus 45 degree centigrade by night. One has had the privilege to spend a night at Sonam as a Brigade Commander during 1998-1999. The recent avalanche reportedly occurred because of part of the Bana ice wall collapsing on to the post.

The ice debris from the avalanche covered an area of 800 metre by 1,000 metre with a depth of 25 to 30 feet. Massive ice boulders, some the size of a small room, had covered the post. Most of this was blue ice, almost as hard as concrete. The Army pulled out all its stops for the rescue. A 200-man strong rescue operation was mounted round the clock with rock drills, electrical saws, radar equipment, medical teams and specialized rescue dogs Dot and Misha airlifted and pressed into round the clock operation, egged on by the weak radio signal received from the buried men on the fourth day post the avalanche. It was an operation in line with the highest traditions of the Army and its spirit of never leaving a comrade behind. Helicopter pilots of both Indian Army and Indian Air Force flew repeated sorties in highly adverse weather conditions. The rescue team worked relentlessly through snow blizzards, spine chilling cold and great personal risk of being buried under an avalanche themselves, cutting, drilling, sawing and dug through tons of ice and snow. Through night and day, six days in a row, they kept at it, throwing everything they had into it.

Chances of finding a survivor in an avalanche goes down with passage of hours but that didn't daunt or shake the resolve of these 200-odd men. For them, percentages and probabilities did not matter. What mattered was that 10 of their own were trapped under those sheets of ice, and they had to be pulled out even if their chances of survival were being talked of in the negative. Everyone up the chain of command was involved. Then the miracle happened of pulling out Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad albeit with a weak pulse, otherwise inert but fortunately without any cold exposure-related frost bite or bone injury. The balance nine of his colleagues had unfortunately passed into the annals of history, with the nation saluting them.

What prevails is the fact that officers and men of Indian Army resolutely throw themselves willingly into harms way, when the occasion demands it. Because they know that no matter what, their mates shall come after them if they were to fall. The logistics of supporting the 200-man rescue team itself was mammoth, where one Cheetah can carry only two kerosene jerrycans at those heights. The fuel and kerosene required to light up the area, fuel the specialized equipment and power communication equipment required scores of flying hours, for pushing in of fuel, equipment, rations, standby troops, medical support, weather warning equipment etc. Even by the most modest estimate, this translates into thousands of man-hours over a six day period. Imagine all this effort to rescue 10 men, who by every acknowledged line of reasoning stood negligible chance of survival. But that is what the Indian Army is about.

Why India occupied the dominating Saltoro Range in 1984 through a lighting helicopter-borne operation was because Pakistan was about to capture this strategic piece of ground. Musharraf rues India pre-empting the Pakistani move in his autobiography. Significantly, troops that occupied the Saltoro Range had no special clothing and no special rations as is provided presently. There were no FGH or snow scooters in those days. Most of the troops that went in for the initial occupation stayed on for more than one year. Over the years, the system has been streamlined. There is proper acclimatization at various heights along the Siachen glacier leading on to the posts on the Saltoro Range. A soldier presently does 40 days of acclimatization enroute to Tiger Saddle which is the northern-most post on the Saltoro Range. More significantly, all troops are put through a rigid pre-induction schedule under supervision of a team from the High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS) before proceeding to their posts. This includes all types of ice training and dealing with emergencies. Given the difficulty of the terrain, the tenure of soldiers in the northern, central and southern glacier is three months, six months and one year respectively.

Yes, the life on the Saltoro is tough but the soldiers are prepared for it both mentally and physically. Morale is always very high. Vagaries of weather are there but there are units that have successfully completed tenures on the glacier without a single weather casualty, especially units where men have been practicing yoga. There are every day acts of heroism in dealing with blizzards, crevasses and rescuing colleagues that have fallen into crevasses, sometime while riding a snow scooter. At the same time, avalanches have been occurring periodically elsewhere in J&K particularly in Kargil Sector and along the LoC in the Kashmir Valley. Some time back entire crew of a gun position was buried in avalanche in Dras area of Kargil. Doesnt mean we should vacate our borders.

The strategic value of the Saltoro Ridge can be gauged from repeated Pakistan attempts to capture our posts, though repulsed every time. We are in occupation of Saltoro Range because it is our territory. We can extract heavy price from Pakistani troops deployed on lower ground to the west, when required. The northern tip rests on the Shaksgam Valley (Indian Territory) that was illegally gifted by Pakistan to China in 1963. If we vacate the Siachen area, it would imply: gifting Sub Sector North (east of Siachen Glacier) to China, as positions there will become untenable; our next defence line south of the Shyok River will likely require deployment of minimum two Divisions (instead of the one Brigade on the Saltoro Ridge) at mammoth expenditure; Leh will come within enemy artillery range; through Aksai Chin China will link up with Pakistan in Gilgit-Baltistan area, enlarging the collusive China-Pakistan threat further. It will open avenues for Pakistani infiltration and terrorism into Ladakh, with reverberations through the Zanskar Range right down to Kulu-Manali in Himachal Pradesh, requiring deployment of perhaps another two Corps to control the area. Siachen Glacier also happens to be one of the largest fresh water reserves of India, vital for our precarious water situation.

Army units and pilots of both Indian Army and IAF take pride in serving on the glacier. No one has ever sought exemption from serving there. On the contrary, there have been many instances where individuals have tried to hide medical infirmities so as not lose out serving on the glacier. Troops on the glacier are a band of brothers whose bonding cannot be understood by those who have not set foot in the area. The leadership, brotherhood and elan of troops on the glacier surpasses the icy heights. Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad symbolises every individual on the glacier. That there has not been a single incident of enemy transgression testifies the resoluteness of our troops. Our citizens can sleep in peace.
Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday held a high-level meeting on law and order situation, which decided to set up a help line under the state police chief which will function round the clock to receive complaints.

The meeting decided to initiate necessary action on information of crime gathered from social media and other means, an official statement said in Patna.

The meeting at the CM's residence was attended by Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh, Director General of Police PK Thakur, Principal Secretary, Home Amir Subhani, DG Training KC Dwivedi, Additional Director General of Police (Headquarter) Sunil Kumar and his counterpart in Law and Order Alok Raj among others.

The CM gave directions in the meeting to continue vehicle checking and campaign against those plying two wheelers without helmets, the statement said.

Considering the importance of CCTVs in tracking crimes, the meeting decided to install CCTV cameras across the state, it said.

It was decided that preparations for stopping illegal trade of drugs and illicit liquor would start after prohibition comes into effect in the state from 1 April, 2016 and laid emphasis on providing security to companies engaged in execution of developmental projects in the state.

The meeting would continue on Friday, the statement said.

The high level meeting on law and order assumes significance in view of the sharp criticism the state government over the killing of a LJP leader, two engineers in Darbhanga and a jeweller in Patna among others recently.

The opposition BJP has been regularly attacking the Nitish Kumar government over the law and order situation in the state, with NDA ally LJP recently claiming that the situation in the state was fit for imposition of President's rule due to the soaring crime graph.

PTI
Four days after miraculously surviving an avalanche at the Siachen glacier, Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad died at an army hospital in Delhi.

Earlier, medical reports had said that he had slipped into deeper coma, and that he was was suffering multiple organ dysfunction. According to a report in Hindustan Times, when Koppad was rescued, he was conscious, but was drowsy and disoriented.

"Lance Naik Hanamanthappa is no more. He breathed his last at 11:45 AM, " a senior army official said.

After Koppad's death, television visuals showed grieving relatives mourning his death. Political reactions poured in on Twitter, with both the BJP and the Congress expressing condolences on his demise.

Reacting to the death, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "He leaves us sad and devastated...The soldier in you remains immortal."

He leaves us sad & devastated. RIP Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. The soldier in you remains immortal. Proud that martyrs like you served India.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 11, 2016

Rahul Gandhi said, "His extraordinary spirit and tenacity, till the very end, is an inspiration for all. My thoughts and prayers are with his bereaved family.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi also expressed deep shock and profound grief over the death of Koppad.

"During his life, the braveheart son of India united the entire nation in praying for him and has every citizen grieving for him today," she said.

"He fought till his last displaying utmost valour, courage and determination, which is the hallmark of our Armed Forces," she said in a message extending her deepest condolence to Koppad's family and loved ones.

Condoling Koppad's death, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed her sadness. "Saddened by news of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. Brave soldier gave supreme sacrifice for the nation. Salute to him & his colleagues who died," Banerjee tweeted.

Union Minister and former army chief VK Singh said that "it was a miracle for anybody to survive for six days buried under an avalanche, under 35 feet of snow."

Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit also reacted to the soldier's demise and said that it was time that India and Pakistan addressed this issue of lives being lost in Siachen.

"We hope the Siachen issue is treated in an urgent manner between our two countries so more lives aren't lost," ANI quoted Basit as saying.

The 33-year-old soldier of the 19th Battalion of Madras Regiment is survived by his wife Mahadevi Ashok Bilebal and two-year-old daughter Netra Koppad.

ANI reported that his wife has now reached the Army RR Hospital in Delhi.

Lance Naik Hanumanthappa's family in grief in Dharwad (Karnataka). pic.twitter.com/t8SGISJXQY  ANI (@ANI_news) February 11, 2016

A resident of village Betadur in Dharwad district of Karnataka, Koppad had joined the army 13 years back.

Doctors on Thursday said that condition of Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad, the Siachen braveheart who defied death for six days buried under snow, has deteriorated further and has slipped into deeper coma.

The Army Research and Referral Hospital said that the condition has become worse than earlier, even as a team of experts from AIIMS joined the military doctors in their bid to save the soldier's life.

Hanamanthappa was being treated by a team of intensivists, neurologist, nephrologist, endocrinologist and surgeons. He was also administered fluids and drugs to bring up his blood pressure, besides antibiotics.

Youth Congress pays tearful tribute to #Siachen hero Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad, may your soul rest in peace. pic.twitter.com/OVVCHcgLws  Youth Congress (@IYC) February 11, 2016

He continued to remain extremely critical with evidence of oxygen deprivation to the brain on CT scan, a medical bulletin issued at 4 pm Wednesday evening said. There was evidence of pneumonia in both lungs. "His multi-organ dysfunction state continues unabated. His condition has deteriorated despite aggressive therapy and supportive care," it added. Koppad was examined by a team of Army Hospital doctors comprising critical care specialists, HoD Dept of Medicine, senior nephrologist, senior neurologist and a panel of experts from AIIMS, New Delhi.

Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad passes away. RIP brave soldier.  Zakka Jacob (@Zakka_Jacob) February 11, 2016

#SiachenAvalanche 3 frm Karnataka Martyred :Subedar Nagesha,LanceNaik Hanamanthappa Koppad & Sepoy Mahesha PN - Our tributes to the Hero's  BJP Karnataka (@bjpkarnataka) February 5, 2016

"The entire team was in agreement with the management (of medical problems) that the patient had undergone till now, and concurred with the future plan of management for him," the Bulletin said. Hanamanthappa was evacuated by a helicopter earlier this week from the site of the avalanche that hit his post on Siachen Glacier before being shifted to Delhi in an IAF aircraft accompanied by a critical care specialist of the force and a medical specialist from the base camp.

Despite best of medical efforts L/NK Hanamanthappa K could not be saved. #COAS & all ranks #IndianArmy express heartfelt condolences RIP  ADG PI - INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) February 11, 2016

Hero in service to the nation

Koppad had served in difficult and challenging areas for 10 out of 13 years of his total service.

His postings included Jammu and Kashmir from 2003 to 2006, where he was actively involved in counter-insurgency operations.

He again volunteered to serve with the 54 Rashtriya Rifles (Madras) in Jammu and Kashmir from 2008 to 2010, and later in the northeast from 2010 to 2012 where he took part in operations against militants.

He was serving in the high-altitude areas of Siachen glacier from August 2015.

With inputs from agencies
Patna: In yet another action which could embarrass BJP, actor-turned-party MP Shatrughan Sinha has requested "dear friend" Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to release a book written on him.

Sinha, who is at odds with BJP after being sidelined in recent the Bihar Assembly elections, told PTI that he would also invite RJD president Lalu Prasad for the book launch.

Asked if leaders of his own party would be called for the book launch function in Patna, he quipped, "It concerns Art and Culture and not Agriculture. Only those who deserve would be invited for the function."

The book, Anything but Khamosh, written by a Mumbai-based journalist, was first released in Delhi by Sinha's "friend, philosopher and guide" and senior BJP leader LK Advani in January.

Sinha said he called on Kumar at his residence for nearly an hour on Wednesday during which he requested Kumar to launch the book in Patna in the third week of March, the date of which is yet to be finalised.

Sources close to the actor-turned-BJP leader who were present with him at the time of the meeting said Kumar showed a lot of warmth and acted as a perfect host by coming out and seeing off the BJP MP in his car.

When asked what other issues cropped up during the meeting, Sinha said, "propriety demands secret must be kept secret."

Sinha, popularly known as "Bihari Babu", had left BJP leaders fuming over his meeting with Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad separately two days back.

Prasad, accompanied by wife Rabri Devi, exchanged pleasantries with Shatrughan and his elder brother Lakhan Sinha and went for photo-op of the interaction on Tuesday at Patna Airport.

Prasad had lauded Sinha for single-handedly taking on the leadership of BJP for trying to sideline him (Sinha).

PTI
With Indias demography heavily tilting towards youth, the Sangh Parivar seems to be doggedly pursuing the agenda of expanding it base in university campuses which have of late turned into a veritable contesting ground for nationalist versus anti-national debates.

There is indeed a thread of consistency in the manner in which a section of students of the JNU owing allegiance to Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) resisted the euologisation of Afzal Guru on Wednesday and the controversy surrounding Rohith Vemulas suicide in Hyderbad Central University (HCU). The Sangh Parivar is ready to fiercely contest their rivals even in arenas which were hitherto inaccessible to it. The ABVP is playing as its active carrier in university campuses. In fact, those who are aware of the growth of the Sangh Parivar would testify that there is a sound political logic behind these developments. In the Rashtriya Sawayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which is ideological fountainhead and mentor of its affiliated organisations, including the BJP, is quite wary of its unattractive profile to the countrys youth. In a series of their internal meetings, RSS leaders privately admitted their inability to attract the countrys youth.

The average age profile of RSS volunteers has risen to a middle-age level much to the chagrin of RSS ideologues, a fact which is often not acknowledged publicly. On the other hand, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a political affiliate of the RSS, far outpaced the growth the RSS affiliates in the nineties, particularly at a time when the party joined in the VHPs movement for liberation of Ram Janma Bhumi at Ayodhya. LK Advanis articulation on cultural nationalism and pseudo-secularism found traction among a section of educated upper caste youth in the Hindi heartland.

Though the BJP registered phenomenal growth in certain parts of the country, there were many campuses where its ideology found few takers. On the other hand, some of the universities like JNU were regarded as impregnable bastions of the communists and radical left. These campuses remained largely ideologically inaccessible to the Sangh Parivar even during the six-year reign of Atal Bihari Vajpayee who was more inclined towards conciliation than confrontation. For the RSS ideologues, this was a period of lost opportunity.

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the helm, the RSS is determined not to let go of this opportunity to develop its own indelible imprimatur on the university campuses and academic institutions. In the HRD ministry, search committees for vice-chancellors unfailingly zeroed in on those with rightist credentials and appointed them as vice-chancellor. The appointment of VCs in JNU and BHU served as perfect example. In states like UP, Bihar and West Bengal ruled by rival parties, the institution of governor is being to appoint of VCs with right credentials to lead the universities. This has often caused friction between chief ministers and governors in various states.

Apparently, there are enough reasons to believe that the university campuses are being used to occupy ideological mind space of the youth. In the Hyderabad Central University campus (HCU), the letters written by union HRD minister Smriti Irani and Union Minister for Labour Bandaru Dattatreya to challenge ideological rivals among students must be seen in this context. Despite a high decibel level of controversy in wake of Rohiths suicide, the BJP-RSS-ABVP combine is hardly apologetic about its ideological position. Far from showing any ambivalence, the ABVP came in support of its ideological position equally fiercely as its ideological opponents from the left, radical left and Ambedkarites.

Similarly, in JNU, where a group of ABVP clashed with their rivals in JNU on the issue of glorification of Afzal Guru, a convict sentenced to death in Parliament attack is unlikely to cede ground to their rivals from the left and radical left who till now regarded the institute as their impregnable ideological fortress. By all indications, the ferment in all such campuses is unlikely to cease till the sangh parivar acquires an easy ideological equilibrium to its favour by pursuing catch them young formula.
Thiruvananthapuram: Union Home minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday asked the Congress, Left and other opposition parties if they were prepared to apologise to the nation for their "malicious campaign" against Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the killing of Ishrat Jehan in an encounter in Gujarat in 2004.

Addressing a huge rally in Thiruvananthapuram, he said Pakistani American terrorist David Headley in his deposition on Thursday had clearly admitted that Ishrat Jehan had links with Lashkar-e-Taiba.

"You must have heard what Headley has said in his deposition. Using Ishrat Jehan's name, various allegations were made against our party leaders. On that matter, Headley has clearly stated that she (Ishrat) had links with LeT," he said.

"I want to ask Congress, Communists and other parties who had continuously launched a malicious campaign to mislead the people on this issue, whether they are prepared to tender apology to the people of the country," he said.

Earlier, he had told reporters at the airport that Headley's testimony had exposed Pakistan but made it clear India wanted to maintain cordial relations with that country.

"David Headley deposition has exposed Pakistan but we still want to maintain cordial relationship with the neighbouring country", he had said.

Singh is here to attend the concluding function of the state-wide Vimochana Yatra undertaken by BJP state President Kummanan Rajasekharan.

Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley on Thursday told a special court in Mumbai that Ishrat Jahan  who was killed in an alleged fake encounter in 2004 in Gujarat  was an operative of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

Headley, who testified via video-link from US, had picked up her name when questioned by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam about a "botched-up operation" mentioned to him (Headley) by LeT commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi.

PTI
New Delhi: Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan was on Thursday accorded a ceremonial welcome in the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.

Al Nahyan, who is on a three-day visit, was accorded a ceremonial Guard of Honour in the sprawling courtyard of the Rashtrapati Bhavan in what is his first state visit to India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley were present on the occasion.

Modi and Al Nahyan, who is also the deputy supreme commander of the UAE armed forces, later met at the Prime Minister's residence.

"An exceptional tete-a-tete. PM meets the Crown Prince for a restricted meeting at 7RCR before talks in the evening," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.

The two leaders will hold detailed deliberations on Thursday following which both sides are expected to sign a number of agreements.

Ways to contain radicalism, stepping up counter-terrorism cooperation and dealing with the Islamic State are likely to figure prominently in the talks.

Before his ceremonial welcome, the Crown Prince also visited Mahatma Gandhi's memorial at Rajghat, laid a wreath and planted a sapling there.

Al Nahyan arrived in Delhi on Thursday to a warm welcome, with the Prime Minister setting aside protocol to receive the "special friend" at the airport with the hope of adding new vigour and momentum to India-UAE ties.

PTI
Washington: Islamic State has reportedly opened a new technical "help desk" that instructs terrorists on how to evade electronic surveillance and prevent them from committing security mistakes that could endanger their lives.

The Electronic Horizon Foundation (EHF) was launched on 30 January as a joint effort of several of the top Islamic State cyber security experts, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) said in a new report.

While researchers have previously uncovered an Islamic State "help desk" and 34-page manual that help extremists encrypt their communications, MEMRI said the EHF takes these services to a new level.

"Jihadis have long sought technical information, which has been confined in the past to various password-protected jihadi forums," The Hill quoted the MEMRI report as saying.

"However, the freedom and ease by which they can now obtain that information is alarming, especially when such information is shared over private and secure channels," it said.

The EHF operates on the encrypted messaging platform Telegram but also maintains a Twitter account that disseminates information and directs followers to its secure Telegram channel, the report said.

The group's self-stated goal is clear, "Spreading security and technical awareness among the monotheists."

According to an announcement celebrating the EHF launch, Islamic State has spent a year establishing the group with the goal of "unifying the technical and security efforts, and uniting the ranks" of the jihadists.

It brings together several technical support entities, such as the Information Security channel on Telegram and the "Islamic State Technician," an Islamic State security specialist thought to be behind a leading password-protected technical forum.

EHF has pledged to provide resources to help jihadists combat this surveillance.

"It is time to face the electronic surveillance, educate the mujahideen about the dangers of the Internet, and support them with the tools, directives and security explanations to protect their electronic security, so that they don't commit security mistakes that can lead to their bombardment and killing," the announcement said.

PTI
Yasmeen M Khan

It was an inevitability waiting to happen. Actually, I'm surprised it took so long. After Kashmir, India and Pakistan are now set for a legal clash over the ownership of the Koh-i-Noor which India has been battling for decades to wrest the from Britain.

The Lahore High Court will today (Thursday) start hearing a petition claiming that the 105-carat diamond, which once sat on Queen Victorias crown and is now on public display at Tower Of London actually belongs to Pakistan, on the ground that the region of Punjab from where it was stolen by Britains colonial rulers 167 years ago is now part of Pakistan.

The petition filed by a lawyer, Jawaid Iqbal Jaafry, names the Queen of United Kingdom and the British High Commission in Islamabad as respondents and is aimed at forcing the Pakistan government to press Britain to return the diamond to Pakistan.

The alacrity with which the court has acted taking up the petition barely three days after admitting ithas caused some surprise as Pakistani judiciarylike its Indian counterpartis not known for its efficiency. Although Mr Jaffry is being portrayed as an independent lawyer, sceptics have their own conspiracy theories. But we will come to that in a bit.

The Koh-e-Noor rightly belonged to Punjab province and was forcibly taken by the British from the local ruler Duleep Siingh (grandson of Maharaja Ranjit Singh) when he was only 14 should be returned to Pakistan, said the 76-year-old petitioner described by Pakistans Express Tribune as an Anglo-Pakistani lawyer and abstract painter.

In his petition, arguing that Pakistan was Koh-i-Noors legitimate owner and should therefore be returned to it, he says, "Koh-i-Noor was not legitimately acquired. Grabbing and snatching it was a private, illegal act which is justified by no law or ethics. A wrong is a wrong. It does not become righteous or right by passage of time or even acquiescence."

The case has caused a buzz in Pakistan catapulting the once-obscure Mr Jaffry into fame overnight. The Pakistani media has gone to town with it. And why not? After all, in a country where the news agenda is dictated by terrorists such juicy stories don't come everyday.

But Mr Jaffry is also grabbing headlines in the foreign media, especially in Britain where any story about its colonial past is guaranteed special treatment.

Three-way Claim Between UK, India and Pakistan Set Over the Koh-i-Noor, ran a headline in The Daily Telegraph over a long story which noted how Indians have long demanded the return of the Koh-i-Noor which was owned by several Mughal emperors and Maharajas before being seized by the British .

With a readymade script that he has been dishing out to journalists, Mr Jaffry told the paper, The Koh-i-Noor was snatched illegally from the 14-year-old ruler of Punjab, from Lahore, by the East India British Company. It was gifted to Queen Victoria, but she never used it in her crown. The East India Company ruled Punjab, but the question is how can a company be the ruler of any country so how can you legislate for its actions.

Adopting the injured tone of a victim, he said he was forced to move the court because nobody seemed to be listening to him.

I have written more than 786 letters and epistolary requests reg.arding the return of the diamond. In the writ, I want to establish the Koh-i-Noors status as a cultural object of Pakistan. I also request the court to order government of Pakistan to raise the issue with the British government.

Despite generous media coverage, even in Pakistan there is some amusement over Mr Jaffrys stunt. And a stunt is what it is-- an attempt to muddy the waters for India. I mean if you genuinely believe that someone has stolen your most precious possession you don't wait for an eternity before you decide to cry foul. It is like filing an FIR for a theft decades after the crime.

So, who is Mr Jaffry ? Is he really his own man acting independently to gain some free publicity ? Or has he been put up to it by someone in the Pakistani establishment to embarrass India?

A Pakistani colleague said that nothing in my great country is what it seems on the surface.

It could be something very innocent. Maybe he is genuinely acting on his own. He does sound like a maverick. But in Pakistan there are wheels within wheels and I am not too sure that he is not a proxy for someone somewhere in the establishment whatever be the motive. Lets enjoy the fun!

If Mr Jaffrys aim was simply to gain attention then he has achieved his goal. But if he or his backers believe that the case will change the status quo relating to the Kohi-Noor they are kidding themselves. Even if the court rules in his favour and the Pakistan government sets out to claim the diamond for itself, nothing is going to happen. The British government has made it clear that the Koh-i-Noor is not going anywhere and stays put in Britain.

During his visit to India in 2010, Prime Minister David Cameron left no one in doubt that his country had no intention of parting with it.

I think Im afraid to say, to disappoint all your viewers, its going to have to stay put (in Britain) What tends to happen with these questions is that if you say yes to one, then you would suddenly find the British museum empty, he told NDTV alluding to the fact that the museum is full of such valuable goodies looted from the erstwhile colonies.

But India intends to keep the issue alive. In fact, it has stepped up its efforts, and after years of unsuccessful lobbying it has joined a UN-backed international campaign for the return of historic treasures to several countries, including Mexico, Greece, Turkey and Egypt.

During Prime Minister Narendra Modis UK visit last November, the issue was raised by the Indian-origin Labour MP Keith Vaz while a group of Indian businessmen and Bollywood stars announced that they planned to move the International Court of Justice if Britain continued to drag its feet.

Now with Pakistan too joining the fray, the Koh-i-Noor saga is set to get more interesting. Who cares if nothing comes out of it? As my Pakistani colleague said, lets have fun.
CHICAGO Researchers on Wednesday reported new evidence strengthening the association between Zika virus and a spike in birth defects, citing the presence of the virus in the brain of an aborted foetus of a European woman who became pregnant while living in Brazil.

An autopsy of the foetus showed microcephaly or small head size, as well as severe brain injury and high levels of the Zika virus in fetal brain tissues, exceeding levels of the virus typically found in blood samples, researchers in Slovenia from the University Medical Center in Ljubljana reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The findings help "strengthen the biologic association" between Zika virus infection and microcephaly, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, wrote in an editorial that accompanied the paper.

Researchers in Brazil are scrambling to determine whether the arrival of the Zika virus in that country has caused a major rise in microcephaly, with more than 4,000 suspected cases of the condition reported to date. Brazil has confirmed more than 400 of those cases as microcephaly, and identified the presence of Zika in 17 babies, but a link has yet to be proven.

The virus is transmitted by mosquitoes. There is no treatment or vaccine.

Professor Tatjana Avsic Zupanc, who led the researchers in Slovenia, said in an email her team's findings "may present the most compelling evidence to date" that birth defects associated with Zika infection in pregnancy may be caused by replication of the virus in the brain.

For definitive proof, however, she said more studies are needed.

In the NEJM paper, the mother showed signs of Zika infection during her 13th week of pregnancy, but ultrasounds during her 14th and 20th week were normal.

It was not until the woman returned to Europe that researchers found ultrasound evidence of severe fetal abnormalities during an ultrasound in her 29th week.

That suggests that ultrasounds may pick up signs of severe fetal abnormalities "only very late in gestation - in many cases too late to terminate the pregnancy," Drs. Eric Rubin, Michael Green and Lindsey Baden wrote in the editorial.

In the Slovenian case, the woman also noticed reduced fetal movement and was told the foetus had a poor prognosis. She requested an abortion, which was approved by state and hospital ethics boards and performed at 32 weeks gestation. A normal pregnancy lasts 40 weeks.

Aside from obvious microcephaly, the foetus showed no other deformities. The woman had no family history of genetic abnormalities that could have caused the microcephaly.

Researchers did an autopsy, and instead of normal grooves formed in the brain during growth, the surface of the brain was smooth and there were numerous calcifications, which are suggestive of inflammation.

Brain samples tested positive for the Zika virus, and no other viruses in the same class, such as dengue, yellow fever or West Nile virus. The doctors also ruled out many other potential infectious causes of microcephaly, including rubella, cytomegalovirus and toxoplasmosis.

From the brain samples, the team was able to identify the complete genetic sequence of the Zika viral genome, which most closely matched a Zika virus strain isolated from a patient from French Polynesia in 2013 and a Zika virus strain isolated in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 2015.

Importantly, the team found no presence of the virus and no other defects in any fetal organs other than the brain, which suggests the virus selectively attacks nerve tissue, Avsic Zupanc and colleagues wrote. But exactly how the virus does this is not clear.

The discovery of viral particles and a high load of Zika virus RNA in the brain samples, coupled with the absence of other possible pathogens, and a complete viral genome present "strong evidence" of the Zika virus' potential for causing birth defects, Avsic Zupanc said in an email.

In January, a team of researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that they, too, found evidence of Zika virus in brain samples from Brazil taken from two miscarriages and two newborns who died shortly after birth.

CDC published full results of their findings earlier on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
'Need to Take Clearance From Govt': BCCI President on Whether India Will Travel to Pakistan For Asia Cup
Tara Nettleton, the widow of Australian Islamic State terrorist Khaled Sharrouf, has died in Syria from complications associated with appendicitis.

The former Sydney woman is believed to have died some time ago after she was unable to access life-saving health services.

It is believed that the mother-of-five was living in Raqqa with four of her children and one grandchild as recently as last year after the death of her husband.
A court in Bangladesh has upheld the death sentences of a top Islamist militant and two of his supporters for a failed 2004 attack on a British diplomat.

The High Court dismissed the appeals of Mufti Abdul Hannan, who is chief of the banned group Harkatul Jihad al-Islami, and two of his followers. The three were convicted of attacking Anwar Choudhury, who at the time of the attack, was British high commissioner to Bangladesh.

Choudhury survived the grenade attack, which took place as he visited a Sufi shrine in the northeastern city of Sylhet. Three worshippers at the shrine were killed.

The three men were convicted in 2008 of murder and of planning the attack, and were sentenced to death. Two other militants were sentenced to life in prison.

Police said at the time that the attack was meant to "avenge the deaths of Muslims in Iraq and across the world by America and Britain."
Robb Paul sees history every day.

It comes through the front door of his Prairie Archives Book Store, in Springfields Old State Capitol Mall. The original capitol, just across the street, is remembered most as the location for Abraham Lincolns House Divided speech in June 1858.

Lincoln is a specialty of ours, absolutely, said Robb, displaying one of the many old Springfield newspapers for sale in his store. One from the 1850s advertised Lincolns old law firm in the town.

Weve had more than our share of modern as well as historic politicians, said John Paul, Robbs father and business partner.

The Pauls have had a unique front-row seat on Barack Obamas journey from Illinois state senator to president of the United States.

The trip literally began in front of their store, and the Pauls were present on the cold but sunny February day in 2007 when Obama made it official that he was a candidate for president.

Pretty electric, Robb Paul said. We had 10,000 to 15,000 people just across the street here," near the original capitol. "This was a huge crowd with a tremendous amount of excitement.

He fondly recalled the campaign signs and distinctly remembered the themes of hope and change not just in that cold February moment, but also in Obamas return to Springfield the following summer, when he introduced Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his running mate.

Robb got caught up in the excitement and said he ultimately voted for Obama.

Feelings fade

But that was then.

Nine years later, Robbs enthusiasm for Obama has faded. And the Prairie Archives Book Store is in some ways a business divided.

We dont argue politics, John Paul said. We discuss it in  I wouldnt say scholarly, but a low-key fashion.

Like they say, its not polite to talk politics and religion, Robb said.

But religion and politics are two of their top-sellers.

People arent wishy-washy, John said. They either love him or they hate him. We hear both sides of the story.

Coming home

On Wednesday, the ninth anniversary of the launch of his quest for national office, Obama returned to Springfield where his political career started to address lawmakers in the Illinois General Assembly, where he served as a state senator.

Robb Paul isn't the only one with misgivings.

Its not been a really pretty time in terms of American politics, said Kent Redfield, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Illinois-Springfield. It is clear that the era that he is in has a lot of partisan rancor, that there is not a lot of bipartisanship.

That's something Obama is keenly aware of: I had to acknowledge that one of my few regrets is my inability to reduce the polarization and meanness in our politics, he said in his address in the Illinois State House Chamber. I was able to be part of that here, and yet couldnt translate it the way I wanted to into our politics in Washington.

Yet, the current General Assembly has been unable to come up with a state budget, which has dominated local politics in Illinois.

"In a big, complicated democracy like ours, if we can't compromise, by definition, we can't govern ourselves, Obama said. He said that when he was a state lawmaker, we voted against each other all the time. And party lines held most of the time. But those relationships, the trust we built, meant that we came at each debate assuming the best in one another and not the worst.

No compromise at bookstore

He cant do any worse than what were in already, John said about Obama's effect on the budget impasse. Hes got to be a help.

Im not optimistic, not here in Illinois, Robb Paul said. I mean, we have so many problems, and we havent had a budget in so long.

Robb said he was also concerned about the cost of Obama's visit to the city.

If he could have just sent a letter, it would have saved a lot of money, he said.

Redfield said he thought Obamas Springfield visit might indicate that he's looking ahead to the end of his tenure in 2017.
Compared to many other European countries, Britain has agreed to accept a relatively small number of Syrian refugees. Just over a thousand have arrived - and some are being resettled in remote corners of the country.

It takes an hour by ferry to cross the North Atlantic swell from Glasgow to the windswept island of Bute in Scotland  the very northwestern tip of Britain.

For more than 40 refugees in December, it was the last leg of a journey that took them from their homes in Syria and through a camp in Lebanon to Britain.

They were among those selected to be part of Britains resettlement plan for vulnerable refugees.

"I think the community is very, very sensitive to the fact that the Syrians that are coming over are probably coming from a very traumatic experience," said Tariq Iqbal, who is with the Glasgow-based support group Scottish Communities Initiative..



The refugees have been advised not to speak to the media. Some local people have expressed concerns over whether the refugees would settle on the island.

The editor of the local The Buteman weekly newspaper, Craig Borland, says there is little diversity among the 6,500 islanders.

"Bute is, through no fault of its own, it's an overwhelmingly white, until now, overwhelmingly white community. Its religious background is almost exclusively Christian," he said.



Despite the contrasts, it is possible to integrate newcomers into the community, says the University of Sussex's James Hampshire - a former adviser to the British government on migration.

"History shows us that over time, these differences lessen," he said. "And some of the most important ways in which that can be achieved is by securing the economic integration of refugees and migrants by enabling them to get jobs, and also by enabling their social integration."

The University of Sussex has offered 50 scholarships to Syrian refugees. It is based in Brighton  a city on the south coast that recently welcomed its first three Syrian refugee families.

Britain has pledged to resettle 20,000 Syrians by 2020  far fewer than many other European states.

"The current government has a commitment to reduce immigration overall. And also the debate about immigration in Britain has become toxic, particularly surrounding the discussion around British membership of the EU," said James Hampshire.

"Now whilst refugees are separate from that, theyre caught up in it," he added.

Last month, four young Syrian asylum seekers living in a refugee camp - dubbed the "Jungle" camp in the French port of Calais - celebrated a legal victory that allows them to join family members already in Britain. Hundreds more cases are likely to follow.

The British government has said it will fight each case. For most migrants with ambitions of reaching British shores, the dream will remain out of reach.
Russia's Catholic minority has welcomed an historic first meeting this Friday in Cuba between the Pope and the Patriarch of Russia's dominant Orthodox Church.



There are an estimated 1.2 billion Roman Catholics in the world, but in Orthodox Russia there are around 700,000, only half of one percent of the population. In contrast, three out of four Russian citizens identify themselves as Orthodox Christians.

While a small minority, Russia's Catholics are voicing a loud welcome to a historic first meeting in Cuba between Pope Francis and the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill.

Father Kirill Gorbunov is a spokesman for the Mother of God Roman Catholic Archdiocese in Moscow.

I feel that this is an answer to our prayers, he told VOA. Of course, we were hoping that it would take place in Moscow."

Ekaterina Bozhenova, a Russian Orthodox believer and housewife, says she supports any meeting that proves beneficial.

That the meeting is not happening in Europe, where things are difficult, inappropriate, ambiguous  that it is in Cuba  I welcome that, she added.



But there are no illusions that the talks, to take place at the Havana airport, can somehow heal the thousand-year-old rift from when the Orthodox Church split with Rome in 1054.

'Some cooperation'

Politics, both church and state, have been driving the tenuous relationship in the centuries since.

Catholics were subjugated during Soviet times with church properties seized by the state and given to the Orthodox Church.



After the Soviet Union broke apart, the Catholic Church took back properties in Ukraine and incurred the wrath of Moscow. Catholics still face prejudice as a foreign influence under a resurgent Russia in conflict with the West.

They say, 'What are they doing here? They do not belong here, says Father Gorbunov. They belong to Italy, they belong to Spain, to Europe. But Catholics are everywhere, and also here.

Elena Baranova, a Russian Catholic and translator attending mass in Moscow, says the historic meeting between church leaders shows improving relations.

"Of course I do not think the churches will unite like a kind of utopia, but I think there will be some cooperation, she said. We are seeing it already."

Because even now it seems the Orthodox Church has become better intentioned, she added, not just the church but the Russian authorities as well.

Attacks against Christians

Russia's Patriarch had refused the Vatican's previous offers for talks because of the property disputes in Ukraine. But the Orthodox Church says increasing global attacks against Christians compelled them to put aside differences.

Russias Interfax news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying the meeting was a "mutual step halfway" between Russia and the Western world.



Russia's ambassador to the Vatican, Alexander Avdeyev, told Russias TASS news agency in conditions of Western sanctions, the meeting of the two church leaders is a confirmation of the Christian civilizational role of Russia.

Political analysts say President Vladimir Putin has a mutually beneficial relationship with the Russian Orthodox Church, giving vocal and financial support to its traditional values and getting the Churchs vocal support in return. Orthodox Church leaders have faced heavy criticism in the past for cozying up to the Kremlin and covering up conspicuous wealth among church leaders.

The Patriarch-Pope meeting is in line with President Vladimir Putin's efforts to reach out to conservative leaders in the West who are less critical of Russia.

Putin met in June with Pope Francis in Rome where the two discussed persecution of Christians in the Middle East as well as peace and humanitarian efforts in Ukraine. The pope made no critical public comments about Russias actions. His labeling of the Ukraine conflict as fratricidal irked many Ukrainians as it failed to recognize what Kyiv and many Western government see as Russias military aggression against its neighbor.

So, it is an attempt to find a 'better West' than the West of globalization, tolerance, and current political leaders, says the Carnegie Moscow Centers Alexander Baunov.

Putin wants also to work on a legacy, says Baunov. And, with increasing criticism of the Kremlin's actions in Syria, this historic meeting can only help.

Mark Grinberg contributed to this report.
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Russias United Nations envoy said Wednesday his government is not about to be apologetic for its airstrikes in Syria, which have been widely criticized for targeting the armed opposition instead of Islamic State terrorists.



We are acting in a very transparent manner, Vitaly Churkin told reporters after a closed session of the U.N. Security Council to discuss the escalating humanitarian situation in the Syrian city of Aleppo. We are present there legally, at the invitation of the Syrian government, he added.



Western governments have heavily criticized Russian airstrikes, which began in late September with the stated goal of diminishing Islamic State. Instead, the air campaign has dealt some crippling blows to the moderate armed opposition and led to the displacement of tens of thousands of Syrians.



In the past week, the Syrian government, backed by Russia and Lebanese Shiite militants from Hezbollah, have been waging an offensive against rebel-held parts of Syrias second largest city, Aleppo. The increased fighting also has been blamed for the rapid breakdown of new peace talks in Geneva.

As to the actions of the Syrian forces, supported by the Russian air force, our Western colleagues on the eve of Geneva II, used to say some balance on the ground must be restored. So if there is some change in the balance on the ground, then that should be taken as a logical development in any armed conflict," said Churkin.

Geneva II was the last round of failed peace talks among the parties that was held in Switzerland 13 months ago.



The United Nations says the nearly five-year war has killed more than 250,000 people, displaced 7 million within Syria and nearly 4.6 million others have fled as refugees. Much of the remaining population  some 13.5 million people  is in dire need of humanitarian assistance. Many of them live in hard-to-reach or besieged areas which aid workers cannot reach.



Ambassador Churkin criticized council members for having several meetings on the humanitarian crisis, calling it a propagandistic use of the Syrian humanitarian file. He said it would not deter Moscow from the humanitarian work it is doing with the Syrian government. Churkin said Moscow is also discussing possible humanitarian cooperation with the World Food Program and with the United States.

Humanitarian pauses



Council members New Zealand and Spain are urging consideration of a humanitarian pause for besieged areas.



We ask that serious consideration be given to a humanitarian pause to enable assistance to get through, because its clear aid is not getting into Madaya and other besieged areas, said Ambassador Gerard Jacobus Van Bohemen of New Zealand.



He said the great division within the Security Council over the military campaigns in Syria is a real problem for us all. He urged that the suspended political talks get under way as quickly as possible, saying a political solution is the only real way to end the humanitarian crisis.



Frances ambassador told reporters that there must be a tangible improvement in the humanitarian situation for there to be a credible, political negotiation.



The regime and its allies cannot pretend they are extending a hand to the opposition, while with their other hand they are trying to destroy them, Francois Delattre said.



Syrian Envoy Bashar Jaafari accused some council members of having a full-fledged obsession with his countrys so-called humanitarian situation.

The United Nations and its partners have asked for more than $8 billion to cover this years needs in Syria and for the refugees living in neighboring countries.



On Thursday, nations in the International Syria Support Group will meet in Munich. Moscow has said it plans to present a proposal for a Syrian cease-fire at the meeting.



Agencies appeal



On Wednesday, 160 humanitarian agencies appealed for an immediate cease-fire and unimpeded, sustained access to bring lifesaving relief to those affected by the worsening violence in Syria.



The humanitarian agencies include the World Food Program, UNHCR and UNICEF, Save the Children, the Norwegian Refugee Council, Care, Caritas, Islamic Relief, World Vision and scores of other NGOs from all over the world.



These are practical actions. There is no practical reason they could not be implemented if there is the will to do so, the appeal stated. In the name of our shared humanity for the sake of the millions of innocents who have already suffered so much and for the millions more whose lives and futures hang in the balance, we call for action now.
Millions of residents in the bitterly cold Afghan capital Kabul have been living mostly without power for the last two weeks as critical grid line from neighboring Uzbekistan has been cut off. The Afghan government blames Taliban attacks for the disruption in the power supply.



Taliban insurgents blew up two power pylons in the Dand-e-Shahabuddin area in the strategic northeastern province of Baghlan after security forces launched a massive operation against the Taliban, Afghan officials say.



The Taliban denied responsibility for destroying power lines and blame Afghan government forces.



The state-owned utility company Da Afghanistan Breshna Shirkat (DABS) has not been able to repair the pylons as the military offensive is still going on, DABS officials say.



We cannot give this assurance [time frame for towers' repair]. Security forces should give this assurance as to when they may clear the area, a spokesperson for DABS told VOA. Once allowed, we could repair the pylons within eight hours.



About 60 percent of the electrical supply to the city has been cut. The power shortage has not only plunged large swathes of Kabul into darkness, but it has also curtailed the operations of most government departments.



Kabuls passport department, which receives thousands of applications every day, has seen the number of passports issued decrease by 500 daily.



Customers have to wait for hours, Sayed Omar Sabour, the head of the passport department told VOA.



I have been waiting for two weeks to get a passport, a customer told VOA. What kind of a country is this? This is the capital of the country which is supposed to have power around the clock.



Electricity is the most affordable source of heat and power for cooking for Kabul's estimated five million residents.
Trade and Pacific security will be on the agenda when U.S. President Barack Obama meets next week in California with leaders of the 10 member states of ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. U.S. officials say the meeting is part of an American rebalancing to the Asia-Pacific region.

The leaders meet Monday and Tuesday (Feb. 15-16) at the Sunnylands estate in Southern California, where Obama met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in 2013.

China, which is not an ASEAN member, is the number one U.S. trading partner. The ASEAN nations together rank number four.

At the side-by-side ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in California, trade with Southeast Asia is booming, totaling over $53 billion in 2014 and making the ASEAN nations the second-largest trading partner for Los Angeles.

"We have a Thai Town here," said Stephen Cheung, president of World Trade Center Los Angeles, which works to attract international trade and foreign investment to the region.

Southern California is home to immigrant populations from every part of Southeast Asia, and has the largest Vietnamese community outside of Vietnam and largest Philippine community outside the Philippines.

"These are all assets that we leverage," Cheung said.

Many American companies do business with Vietnam, from established brands like Starbucks and Pizza Hut to Silicon Valley tech startups. They are attracted by high growth in the region. Vietnam's economy is expanding at more than 6 percent a year. The Philippines sees similar growth rates and seeks investment in agricultural products such as cacao and coffee, and in manufacturing, medical tourism, and other sectors.

"You can service the various countries in Southeast Asia from the Philippines," said Gerry Palon of the Federation of Philippine American Chambers of Commerce. "We [the Philippines] are the gateway also to the Pacific, reaching out to Hawaii and on the mainland USA via the Pacific Ocean," he said.

U.S. vs. China

The United States and China are both working to boost trade ties with Southeast Asia, whose 625 million people share an economy of more than $2 trillion. A free trade agreement among the 10 ASEAN nations, known as the ASEAN Economic Community, went into effect late last year.

The U.S. is the driving force behind the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, which was signed this month in New Zealand. Four members of ASEAN  Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam  have joined the TPP.

All 10 ASEAN member states are also set to join a proposed Pacific trade group spearheaded by China, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

The meeting in California is expected to draw protests. International human rights groups have criticized Cambodia in particular and its longtime prime minister, Hun Sen, for what the critics call repression and human rights abuses. Human Rights Watch says most other ASEAN members also have "poor human rights records."

Opponents of the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership have also promised to hold protests over the trade agreement.

White House aides have said Obama will address security issues when he meets with ASEAN leaders, including North Korea's nuclear test last month and missile launch Sunday.

Obama is also expected to tell the visiting leaders that rival claims by China and other Asian nations in the South China Sea should be resolved through negotiation and not, as one U.S. official said, "through one bigger nation bullying a smaller one." China has engaged in building artificial islands in the busy shipping region, which U.S. officials say could have military uses.
Former defense minister David Johnston has been tipped to become Australias new consul-general to Hong Kong and Macau. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported yesterday that Senator Johnston is the latest in a growing line of Coalition ministers and members to leave Parliament ahead of the election, several of whom have government appointments to ease them into retirement. Johnston left the government when former Prime-Minister Tony Abbott reshuffled his Cabinet in December 2014.

Local artists place second at Sapporo Snow Festival

A local team of snow-carving artists won second prize at the 43rd International Sapporo Snow Festival for their giant sculpture of the Ruins of St. Pauls. As the Times reported, this year marked the debut of MGTO in the Japanese event. The Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Alexis Tam, who attended the event in Japan, congratulated the Macau team on their successful debut.
NORTH KOREA Kim Jong Un had his military chief executed for corruption and other charges, a South Korean official said. If true, the execution of Ri Yong Gil, chief of the North Korean militarys general staff (pictured, right), would be the latest in a series of killings, purges and dismissals since Kim took power in late 2011. Meanwhile, Senate Democrats and Republicans unite behind tougher sanctions on North Korea for violating international law.

INDIA Authorities have detained dozens of Kashmiri activists and placed separatist leaders under house arrest to prevent them from holding anti-India protests to mark the anniversary of a top separatist leaders hanging more than three decades ago. Shops and businesses remained shut yesterday and a curfew was in effect in some areas of Srinagar, after a strike was called by separatists.

AUSTRALIAs deputy prime minister announced his retirement yesterday, with the prime minister likely to announce a cabinet reshuffle before elections due this year. Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss, who is also minister for regional development and infrastructure, told Parliament he will retire at the next election.

AUSTRALIA Two female backpackers from Europe were savagely attacked on a remote Australian beach by a traveling companion they had met hours earlier, police said. A 59-year-old Australian man was charged with a string of offenses including attempted murder and unlawful sexual intercourse following the attack that left both women, aged in their 20s, in hospital.

USA Republican businessman Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders (pictured) forge ahead after decisive wins in the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary, and the Republican field dwindled by two with announcements that Carly Fiorina and Chris Christie would drop out of the race.

USA For the 15th time, officials deny parole for Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, after hearing from another person who was shot that night and called for the release of Sirhan.

SYRIA Russia proposes a March 1 ceasefire in Syria, but the U.S. demands the fighting stop immediately, believing Moscow is giving itself and the Syrian government three weeks to try to crush moderate rebel groups.

ZIKA New details about the possible effects of Zika on the fetal brain emerge as U.S. health officials say mosquito eradication here and abroad is key to protect pregnant women until they can develop a vaccine.

NIGERIA Two female suicide bombers blow themselves up in a northeastern Nigerian refugee camp, killing at least 58 people, officials said yesterday.

CAMEROON Two suicide bombers have killed at least 10 people in an attack on a northern village. Authorities say the attackers are suspected to have come from Nigeria. 40 people, including children, were seriously wounded after two bombers attacked people gathering for a wake in Ngechewe village.
The government has proposed the inclusion of the Zika virus in Macaus official list of infectious diseases, according to a statement published by the Government Information Bureau.

The announcement comes after the Health Bureau in Macau was notified on Tuesday by the National Health and Family Planning Commission of the first imported case of Zika on the mainland [more on page 11].

According to the statement, the government is undertaking efforts to closely monitor developments relating to the Zika virus. From March the government will launch a mosquito eradication campaign in a bid to combat the threat.

In addition the government plans to strengthen existing monitoring and detection measures for uncovering possible cases of the virus, and bolstering international cooperation with the World Health Organization and mainland and Hong Kong authorities.

Authorities have also suspended the acceptance of blood donations from persons who have visited the affected territories in Latin America, unless the persons in question have been back in Macau and symptom-free for more than 28 days. The suspension came into effect on February 5.

Travellers intending to visit the affected areas are recommended to wear light-colored and long- sleeved clothing, apply insect repellant and stay in air-conditioned places. If any symptoms are discovered, such as a fever or a rash, travellers should seek medical advice immediately.
The president of the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC), Ung Vai Meng, and the head of the Cultural Heritage Department, Leong Wai Man, met representatives of the A-Ma Temple yesterday to discuss fire safety measures and restoration efforts for the temple, which went up in flames on Wednesday morning.

Together with representatives of the Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau, the authorities conducted a preliminary inspection of the temple complex, eventually concluding that the damage to the temple was not serious or irreversible.

The statue of the Goddess A-Ma  the item with the most historical value in the pavilion  remains in a state of integrity. An altar and some wall-mounted plaques were damaged, as well as other wooden furnishings.

The IC estimates that restoration works will be completed within two or three months, but that the wooden items may take longer to replace. It will be at least a year before the entire temple returns to its former glory.

The IC will support the A-Ma Temple Charity Association for inventory inspections, as well as the removal and storage of damaged items.

The interior of the temples main hall was severely damaged in a fire that broke out in the early hours of Wednesday morning. The fire is believed to have been caused by malfunctioning electrical equipment in one of the temples pavilions. The pavilion in question has been closed until further notice. No individuals were harmed in the fire.

The fire damaged one of the temples inside the A-Ma complex. Some plaques, altars, and furniture were burned, Cheong Chi Van of the Fire Services Bureau told TDM.

The fire was discovered by an attendee of the temple and he tried to extinguish it himself. Only after failing to do so did this person report the incident to the authorities, who reached the scene almost immediately, Cheong added.

The Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Alexis Tam, said on Wednesday that the government would spare no effort in conserving and, if possible, restoring the damaged relics.

Tam also pledged that the government would strengthen and promote safety measures in the citys temples and heritage attractions, in order to prevent similar incidents in future.

This years government- backed safety campaign started on January 28, as the citys temples usually receive an influx of visitors around the Chinese New Year period. According to a government statement, the Fire Services Bureau and the Cultural Affairs Bureau inspected a total of 20 temples.

The A-Ma Temple has been designated as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). According to local folklore, the temple was the source of inspiration for the naming of Macau when the first Portuguese sailors arrived in the 16th century. Staff reporter
North Korea yesterday ordered a military takeover of a factory park that was the last major symbol of cooperation with South Korea, saying Seouls suspension of operations at the jointly run facility was a dangerous declaration of war.

Pyongyang said it was immediately deporting the hundreds of South Koreans who work at the complex just across the worlds most heavily armed border in the city of Kaesong, pulling out the tens of thousands of North Korean employees and freezing all South Korean assets. The North also said it was shutting down two crucial cross-border communication hotlines.

An immediate worry in Seoul was whether all South Korean workers would be allowed to leave; some analysts speculated that Pyongyang would hold onto some to get all the wages owed to North Korean workers.

Some South Korean workers left Kaesong before the Norths announcement, and a handful of others were seen leaving afterward, but South Korean officials didnt know what would happen to its nationals who had not departed by Pyongyangs 5:30 p.m. yesterday (Seoul time) expulsion deadline; they also didnt know how many remained at the factories. South Korea said it would ban reporters from the border crossing today.

Well after the deadline passed, workers at Kaesong told The Associated Press by phone that they had been instructed to wait for further instructions from South Korean officials.

A manager at a South Korean apparel company at the complex, who declined to give his name, said he and one other South Korean at his company were waiting in an office for word about when they could leave. He said he did not see any North Korean officials and did not know whether other South Koreans were there.

I was told not to bring anything but personal goods, so Ive got nothing but my clothes to take back, the man said.

The Souths Unification Ministry, which is responsible for ties with the North, said about 130 South Koreans had planned to enter Kaesong yesterday to begin shutdown work, and that nearly 70 South Koreans who had been staying there would be leaving.

South Koreas Yonhap news agency, citing an unidentified military official, reported that South Korea bolstered its military readiness and strength along the western portion of the border in the event of a North Korean provocation. The report didnt elaborate on what that meant, and Seouls Defense Ministry said it couldnt confirm the report.

The Norths moves, announced by the Norths Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, significantly raised the stakes in a standoff that began with North Koreas nuclear test last month, followed by a long-range rocket launch on Sunday that outsiders see as a banned test of ballistic missile technology. South Koreas responded by beginning work to suspend operations at the factory park, one of its harshest possible punishment options.

North Korea called the Souths shutdown a dangerous declaration of war and a declaration of an end to the last lifeline of the North-South

relations. Such over-the-top rhetoric is typical of the Norths propaganda, but the country appeared to be backing up its language with its strong response.

North Korea, in its statement, also issued crude insults against South Koreas President Park Geun-hye, saying she masterminded the shutdown and calling her a confrontational wicked woman who lives upon the groin of her American boss. Such sexist language is also typical of North Korean propaganda.

Seoul said its decision on Kaesong was an effort to stop Pyongyang from using hard currency from the park to develop its nuclear and missile programs. Ahn Young-Joon, Paju, AP
A 93-year-old World War II veteran from the United States embraced his wartime girlfriend in Australia in their reunion this week after more than 70 years apart.

Norwood Thomas and 88-year-old Joyce Morris laughed as they wrapped their arms around each other after Thomas flew from Virginia to the southern Australian city of Adelaide to reconnect with his long-lost love.

This is about the most wonderful thing that could have happened to me, Thomas said, in a reunion broadcast on Channel 10s The Project.

Good, Morris replied with a laugh. Were going to have a wonderful fortnight.

Morris was a 17-year-old British girl and Thomas was a 21-year-old paratrooper when they first met in London shortly before D-Day. After the war, he returned to the U.S. The pair wrote letters to each other, and Thomas asked Morris to come to the U.S. to marry him. But somehow Morris misunderstood and thought hed found someone else, so she stopped writing.

The two eventually married other people. Thomas wife died in 2001; Morris divorced her husband after 30 years.

Last year, Morris asked one of her sons to look for Thomas online, and they found his name featured in an article about D-Day that ran in The Virginian-Pilot newspaper.

Thomas and Morris reconnected via Skype. After their story went public, hundreds of people made donations to help fund Thomas trip to Australia from his hometown in Virginia Beach.

The two are planning to spend Valentines Day together. AP
You are a Gary Gygax. Wow, you know a lot about Gary Gygax! My guess is that you are one of those Old School Renaissance guys, or else your last name is Gygax. Seriously, I didn't think anyone would do this well on this quiz.You completed this quiz without using Google.
BOISE  A Senate panel has passed a bill to remove the requirement that charter schools need to use the same teacher contracts as other public schools.

Sponsored by Sen. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur dAlene, the bill removes the requirement that charters have to use contracts approved by the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

I just think allowing the flexibility is a positive thing, Nonini said.

This means they could try one-year contracts or experiment with half-days, different times of year or adding duties outside the classroom, Emily McClure, a lobbyist for the Idaho Charter School Network, told the Senate Education Committee on Tuesday.

Charter schools are meant to be different and innovative, McClure said.

The debate pitted advocates for more flexibility for charter schools  which, as several of the people who testified said, were intended to be experimental  against opponents who feared it would effectively eliminate contract and labor protections other public school teachers enjoy.

Paul Stark, lawyer for the Idaho Education Association, warned it would lead to a wild wild West situation for charter school teachers. Just because a business wants to innovate, he said, doesnt meant they get to throw out labor laws or other regulations that would normally apply.

Under this legislation, he said, really anything goes in a charter school employment context.

Stark said he has worked on disciplinary cases involving teachers, and there is a massive misconception that bad teachers who have completed their three years of residency cannot be fired.

This idea that you cannot fire a bad teacher is patently false, Stark said.

The committee cleared the bill 6-2, with all the Republicans in favor and the two Democrats against. It will now go to the full Senate.

Charter schools would still have the option of using the current contracts, should they so choose. Jenny Mattravers, a co-founder of and teacher at Heritage Community Charter School in Caldwell, said increasing contracting options would help her school, a dual-language immersion school, fill positions. She said staff cohesiveness is important to charter schools, and that she has experience working with teachers who didnt believe in the schools vision but were hard to fire.

Charters are unique in model, mission and vision, she said. And we are held accountable to performance certificates.

McClure said some states you might expect to have stricter laws, such as New York, California and Oregon, actually give charter schools more flexibility in drawing up teacher contracts than Idaho.

Karen Echeverria, executive director of the Idaho School Board Association, said the charters that are part of her group were against the bill roughly 2-1. It would put charter schools at a disadvantage when it comes to teacher recruitment, she said.

They deserve to be treated the same as all teachers and afforded the same rights under the same contract law, she said.
BOISE  An update to Idahos dog laws was introduced Wednesday that would give courts more discretion in dealing with dangerous dogs and ensure working dogs or dogs that attack for good reason are protected.

Majority Leader Rep. Mike Moyle, R-Star, the bills sponsor, said he was driven to update the law after a young girl who was a neighbor of a friend was attacked by a dog that almost ripped her face off.

Shes got a lot of procedures to fix her face coming through the years, Moyle told the House Agricultural Affairs Committee on Wednesday.

The law gives judges the power to order a dog deemed dangerous, meaning it attacks someone and seriously injures them without provocation, to be put to death humanely, or the judge can order restrictions such as keeping the dog enclosed while outside, keeping it leashed or muzzled, microchipping the dog or requiring the owner to put up warning signs on his or her property. This provides more options than the current code, which says a vicious dog is to be confined to a secure enclosure for a first offense and put down for a second.

Moyles bill would also require the owner of a dangerous or at-risk dog to notify authorities when they move. Restrictions are lifted if the dogs doesnt attack anyone again after three years. The owner would be guilty of a misdemeanor if he or she breaks the court order, with penalties increasing for a second or third offense.

Moyles bill includes exemptions for law enforcement dogs apprehending a suspect; a dog defending its owner or puppies or going after someone committing a crime on its owners property; a dog attacking someone who has willfully tormented it in the past; a herding or hunting dog working on its owners property or under the owners control and attacking someone who interferes with it; or a dog who bites a person while that person is trying to break up a fight with another animal.

We clarified when a dog is justified to attack, Moyle said.

State law that allows a farmer or property owner put down a dog that is harassing or attacking his or her livestock or chickens wouldnt be changed.

Moyles bill would let cities and counties go further in regulating dangerous dogs, if they wish, with one caveat  it would outlaw breed-specific legislation.

Sometimes we have a perception that just one breed is a problem, and its not, Moyle said.

A few places in Idaho  Payette County and the cities of Preston, Cascade, Fruitland and Kellogg  have codes on the books banning pit bulls. No cities in the Magic Valley appear to ban them outright, although Jeromes code says a violation of its dog code that involves a pit bull can be considered an unlawful property nuisance if combined with one of a list of other violations.

The committee voted unanimously to print the bill, although Rep. Gayle Batt, R-Wilder, did express concern that a city or county could go farther by removing the exemptions for working dogs Moyle included in his bill.

What worries me is if a local government would want to include herd dogs, or want to include hunting dogs, she said.

Moyle said that would be theoretically possible, but unlikely.

If a city tried to undo those, Im sure that even the locals would not like that, he said.
BOISE  Gov. C.L. Butch Otter is calling on lawmakers to create a work group to study faith healing and child deaths in Idaho.

I understand it is a challenge to balance the desire to protect children while still being supportive of religious freedom, but I believe we must give this issue a thorough examination, Otter wrote in a letter to House Speaker Scott Bedke and Senate President Pro Tem Brent Hill.

I am therefore asking that you consider convening a legislative workgroup to assess the Child Fatality Review Teams report along with other sources of research and testimony regarding this policy issue.

The report is one the review team released last year that found two children died in 2012 from likely preventable causes who didnt receive medical treatment because of their parents religious or personal beliefs.

Otters announcement coincided with a panel discussion at the Capitol, Medical Neglect and Childhood Mortality in Idaho, that had been scheduled for Thursday evening. Erwin Sonnenberg, a panelist and former Fatality Review Team Member, said the law needs to be changed soon, and the workgroup shouldnt be allowed to delay that. Sonnenberg was Ada County coroner for 36 years, and has done autopsies on members of the faith-healing Followers of Christ church.

Im glad its coming to a head, but we have to go forward with the legislation we have, Sonnenberg said.

Panelist Emily Walton said she was glad Otter was taking an interest in the issue.

My opinion is this is great, she said, but we just have to have people come out and talk about it.

Walton grew up in a fundamentalist Mormon family in Declo that didnt believe in going to the doctor, and her sister, Mariah, who was born with a hole in her heart but never got treatment, suffered throughout her childhood with shortness of breath, coughing and fatigue.

As the oldest sister, I watched her, Emily Walton said. She was much smaller, she was blue, she wasnt growing.

Emily said she now regrets not just taking her little sister to the hospital and seeking help, despite their parents wishes. Mariah, now 20, told the story about the day when, at 18, she collapsed in the bathroom and couldnt move. Her mother told her she was fine and not to talk about it, but Mariah went to a doctor on her own. She found out she had pulmonary hypertension.

When I got back to my parents, my mom didnt even want to look at me, Mariah Walton said. She said, Dont talk about it, I dont want to hear about it.

Mariah Walton has been hospitalized many times since, has come close to death and is on oxygen full time. She needs a heart-lung transplant to live but needs to get stronger first to get one. Mariah said she is angry about the way she was treated as a child.

I feel it is not OK for people to be allowed to ignore modern science that saves lives, she said. I had no vote and no power over my parents, and they were legally allowed to let me get to this point.

Otters announcement also comes as Rep. John Gannon, D-Boise, who has advocated for changing the law since 2014, has a bill ready to change Idahos child-injury law, which exempts parents from prosecution if they have chosen to treat their sick children by prayer or spiritual means alone.

Gannon delivered his bill, which adds the line unless such practice creates an imminent risk of permanent physical harm or death to the current exemption, to the Senate Health and Welfare Committee on Wednesday.

Im very glad that the governor has taken an interest in this, Gannon said Thursday morning. We just have to see where it goes.

It remains to be seen how Otters announcement will affect the chances for a hearing on Gannons bill this year.

I think the governor deserves credit for addressing this issue and taking some leadership in it, Gannon said.

The issue started to receive attention in Idaho a few years ago and has centered on the Followers of Christ. Gannon first brought a bill in 2014 but couldnt get a hearing. Opponents cited concerns about restricting religious freedom.

Otter announced his call for a work group at an Idaho Press Club breakfast Thursday morning, and in his comments stressed that he doesnt want to hinder anyones religious freedom. Otter said the state needs to protect children, but at the same time, respect the religious tendencies that folks may have against medical attention. At what point does that become child neglect and abuse is a question that I cant answer.

Otter stressed that freedom of religion is the first freedom mentioned in the First Amendment, and was obviously very important to the Founding Fathers.

They didnt do them alphabetically, he said.
BURLEY  A Heyburn woman is charged with felony injury to a child after giving birth to a premature baby who tested positive for methamphetamine.

Catalina M. Trevinos son was born five weeks premature on Feb. 5, 2015, Cassia County sheriffs detectives said. Trevino tested positive for meth and other drugs in a toxicology test at Cassia Regional Medical Center. The boy was taken to twin Falls for special care.

Detectives talked with the nurse in charge of the babys care who said his middle three fingers were webbed because he was premature, but the bony structure underneath appeared to be normal.

Trevino, 25, said she last used meth the morning she gave birth, court documents said.

The babys father was sleeping on the couch in Trevinos hospital room when detectives spoke with her. They noticed meth sores on his face and asked him when he last used the drug. Investigators asked him if he would test positive if given a drug test. He told them he would because he is around people who smoke it all the time, court records said.

Trevino was arraigned Feb. 2. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

She is being held in the Mini-Cassia Criminal Justice Center in lieu of $5,000 bond.

The babys was placed in the custody of his grandmother.

A preliminary hearing is set for Feb. 12 in Cassia County Magistrate Court.
Gov. Butch Otters 2017 state budget proposes that $16 million be appropriated this year from Idahos general fund to pay for Snake River aquifer recharge infrastructure, yet the governors proposal may not be nearly enough since a recent estimate of the cost of the infrastructure needed for Snake River aquifer recharge may be as much as $30 million. In addition, operating costs of the recharge program may be as much as $3 million per year forever.

As Idaho taxpayers we should ask why are Idaho taxpayers being asked to foot the bill to create this huge benefit for water users who could easily afford to pay the cost themselves.

The better way to fund Snake River Aquifer recharge and the significant annual costs of the Idaho Department of Water Resources to oversee the recent legal settlement between Snake River Aquifer ground-water pumpers and Snake River surface water users is not to burden Idahos taxpayers through the general fund but to charge water users who stand to benefit the most from Snake River aquifer recharge.

Water-right holders do not pay the state of Idaho anything for their water use, even though the Idaho Supreme Court has affirmed that the state owns the surface and ground water within its boundaries. Water

is the only thing owned by the state of Idaho that is given away for free. Idaho charges for all other valuable resources it owns including timber, oil and gas, commercial property, grass forage, farmland and vacation cabin sites.

Since over 90 percent of all water use in Idaho is for agriculture, it only makes sense to consider a reasonable charge for water use that fairly places the responsibility of paying for costs such as Snake River aquifer recharge on the primary water users.

This is also especially appropriate since agriculture is a huge and successful business activity in Idaho. The University of Idahos publication The Financial Condition of Idaho Agriculture: 2014 confirms over $10.4 billion in gross receipts with net profits of over $4.5 billion in that year.

With such enormous profits for agribusinesses, asking irrigators to pay for Snake River aquifer recharge infrastructure and operating costs is both fair and reasonable.

A modest annual fee of $2.00 or $3.00 per acre-foot could raise between $30,000,000 and $50,000,000 every year from water users and remove any ongoing burden on the general fund for Snake River aquifer recharge and long-term Department of Water Resources administrative costs.

Those potential receipts from a water-use fee are less than one-third of one percent of gross annual revenue of Idahos agribusiness  not much of a cost when compared with Idahos state sales or income tax rates!

Charging for water use is not only a good idea, it is not a new one: Water-use fees have already been used by the Idaho Legislature to assist in paying for the $94 million cost of the Snake River water-rights adjudication.

The current Idaho state policy of giving away hugely valuable water resources for free is a massive benefit for agribusiness at the expense of all other Idaho citizens.

The Legislature should not place Snake River aquifer recharge costs on all Idahos taxpayers. Instead, the Legislature should place the cost where it belongs  on the water users who stand to benefit.
About Me Mohd. Kamal bin Abdullah I am Mohd. Kamal bin Abdullah, who resides in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. I hold a post-graduate law degree from the United Kingdom. I blog to tell MALAYSIANS THE TRUTH. View my complete profile

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The United Nations Development Program on Wednesday said it has raised $60 million for food aid in Zimbabwe, a country hit by severe drought, with cattle dying and crops destroyed.

A regional drought worsened by El Nino weather phenomenon has affected South Africa, Malawi and Zambia as well as Zimbabwe, leaving tens of thousands of cattle dead, reservoirs depleted and crops destroyed.

An estimated 2.4 million people are now in need of food aid, more than a quarter of the population, the UNDP said.

The UNDP head of mission in Zimbabwe, Bishow Parajuli, said the UN plans to raise $130 million under an emergency fund.

Last week, Zimbabwes President Robert Mugabe has declared a state of disaster after the European Union urged him to make the declaration because it helps donors raise funds for food aid.

Mugabe has blamed low farm yields on erratic rains due to climate change, as well as sanctions imposed by western countries over the governments human rights record.

Critics say the food shortages have been caused partially by land reforms enacted by the president since 2000, when the government oversaw the often violent eviction of white farmers.

The government has urged Zimbabweans not to panic, as it is importing maize from neighboring Zambia.
Tax revenues in Burundi have fallen by 17 percent, the countrys Revenue Authority said on Wednesday.

Over the past months, Burundi has been facing the most serious political crisis since the end of the civil war a decade ago.

According to the tax body, the ongoing political crisis in the country has spurred economic contraction.

The Agency collected 590.6 billion Burundian francs ($376.2 million) in taxes in 2015, compared with a target of 720 billion francs.

Last year, we got a negative growth due the political crisis that the country is facing since April, Finance Ministry spokesman Desire Musharitse said.

We estimate a growth of 3.5 percent in 2016, as we expect the security situation to improve and a revival of economic activities, especially in the industrial sector, he said.

Half of the countrys budget comes from foreign aid and one of its main financial backers, Belgium has already suspended more than 60 million in development aid.

The European Union is reconsidering a 432 million development assistance earmarked for 2014-2020.

With a GDP per capita of US$267, the countrys 10.16 million people are among the poorest in the world. Burundi ranked 180 out of 186 in the last Human Development Index.
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Iran says no talks with Gazprom on gas export to Turkey

Iran says it hasn't has any discussion with Gazprom, Russias state energy company, over the export of gas to Turkey."Iran and Gazprom's cooperation would be within the framework of establishing five workgroups in the investment, repairs, maintenance, storage and refining sectors", Shana quoted the Managing Director of National Iranian Gas Company, Hamidreza Araqi, as saying on February 2.Iran has a contract with Turkey to supply the country with 27 million cubic meters of gas per day.Russian energy giant Gazprom does not rule out its participation in the implementation of a number of export-oriented projects in Iran, the company's management committee deputy chairman Alexander Medvedev said Monday.In December, Gazprom and the National Iranian Gas Company held talks on expanding Irans underground gas storage and its gas transport network, as well as equipment deliveries from Russia."With regard to Irans export opportunities, they, of course, exist both in pipeline gas and liquefied natural gas. However, what the purpose of this gas will be, it is still an open question. In addition, we do not exclude our participation in a number of projects in Iran, with export orientation," Medvedev stated during an Investor Day in New York, commenting on the anti-Iran sanctions lifting and its consequences for cooperation with Gazprom, Sputnik reported.Iran's priority in the gas sector will be meeting domestic demand, especially in its territorial aspect, he noted."It is no secret that there is a significant shortage of gas in the northern regions of Iran. It is no coincidence that the use of Russian output to meet Irans demand for gas has been discussed quite specifically in the course of our recent meetings with our Iranian colleagues," Medvedev stressed.On January 20, the Chairman of Gazproms board of directors, Viktor Zubkov, said the company was exploring the possibility of closer cooperation with Iran after the international sanctions against the country were lifted.
Tbilisi Govt plans to register all taxies

By Messenger Staff

The Tbilisi Mayors Office plans to register every taxi driving in Tbilisi.As the Tbilisi Mayors Office stated, registering every working taxi is necessary to guarantee the passengers safety; it is also believed that regulating taxi services will reduce the heavy traffic in the capital city.The taxi service is a complete mess in Tbilisi and we should somehow regulate the field, Deputy Mayor Irakli Lekvinadze said.However, the Mayors Office only unveiled its plans concerning the registration of active taxis; the possibility of restrictions on unregistered vehicles has yet to be publicly announced.Some companies providing taxi services say that all vehicles providing a taxi service should be under the umbrella of an official company.However, those who do not belong to any company say that their income is very low, and if they are incorporated into a company they will have their meagre wages divided.It is well-known in Tbilisi that this area of public transport requires regulation, as due to the current economic problems, simply too many people use their cars as a taxi.There are many people who work a day job at and supplement their income in the evening by driving a taxi.Many people comment on the dirty nature of the interiors of many taxis, as well as the fact that some do not even seem safe to drive.Most alarming of all are incidents between drivers and passengers which cast doubt on the psychological faculties of the driver; arguments over the price of a journey are not uncommon, but most alarming of all, young foreign women have reported instances of sexual harassment in recent years.Clearly there are a range of issues which need to be addressed.However, the process seems to be quite complicated and painful for those for whom driving a taxi is their only source of income.
The News in Brief

Georgia, a low-middle-income country, could become a net exporter of gas rather than a net importer - Atlantic Council



For Europe and the USA, Georgia, in terms of potential alternative sources of gas, has to become one of the top-priority countries.



This is a topic discussed in a report prepared for the Atlantic Council entitled Developing a Western Energy Strategy for the Black Sea Region and Beyond.



The author of the report, Ariel Cohen, thinks that Georgia has the potential to reduce its dependence on Russian energy resources.



Several countries that currently rely on Russian supplies, or serve as major transit corridors for Russian and Caspian gas, actually have ample hydrocarbon reserves. They can become independent or nearly independent as far as their natural gas supply is concerned. For example, Georgia has emerged as a potentially important hydrocarbon source for Europe, the head of the Energy, Natural Resources and Geopolitical centre of USA, Ariel Cohen, says.



As noted in the report, on October 8, 2015, the Frontera Resources company announced its discovery of massive resources of gas in eastern Georgia. The company estimates natural gas resources to be 3.8 trillion cubic meters.



Provided the size of this large-scale discovery is confirmed independently, and geopolitical challenges are handled successfully, this means that Georgia, a low-middle-income country, could become a net exporter of gas rather than a net importer. The southern Kakheti discovery can supply Turkey, Romania, Ukraine and the European markets farther west. As these gas resources are brought to market, Georgia could export gas via a small-scale LNG terminal located on the Georgian Black Sea coast, or via the Main Export Pipeline to Turkey and TANAP.



According to the report, approximately two million barrels of oil equivalent per day are transited through Georgia into Turkey and Europe. In the future, the windfall profits for Georgia from energy exports could transform this low-middle-income country into a high-middle-income state, and provide the financial base for both the industrial development and an improved social safety net.



With Georgias role as an increasingly important east/west transit hub for oil and gas, becoming a significant producer and exporter would give the country more regional relevance. Given this, Georgia now has the opportunity to increase its importance to NATO and European energy security with its strategic location bordering the organizations easternmost member, Turkey, as well as Russia, Cohen notes.



What Georgia needs today is supportive leadership, transparency, good governance and the rule of law  without these, foreign investments will remain severely constrained.



Its strategic location and reserves, together with considerable hydropower potential and the proximity of the energy-hungry Turkish market, could make Georgia a promising energy supplier to the whole of the Black Sea region and beyond. (IPN)







US funding supports professional development of Georgian teachers



About 20,000 teachers and all school principals in Georgia will soon be able to better manage educational process using funds from the United States (US) government.



The US government will invest $14 million USD (about 35 million GEL) to train and support the professional development of public school teachers across Georgia.



The professional training initiative will involve all public school principals and 20 000 science, maths, information technology and English teachers of Grades 7-12. Additionally, 2,000 facilitators will be prepared to offer their assistance to other teachers in each public school across the country.



The aim of the project was to ensure the sustainable professional development of Georgian teachers, which will contribute to better educational processes at the countrys public schools.



The project was launched in January 2016 and will last until the summer of 2019. It was administrated by Georgias National Centre for Teacher Professional Development and the Millennium Challenge Account-Georgia (MCA  Georgia).



The teacher training project was a component of the US foreign aid agency Millennium Challenge Corporations (MCC) $140 million (about 335 million GEL) second compact for Georgia.



The MCC, established in 2004, has approved over $10 billion in Compact and threshold programs worldwide that support country-determined projects in a range of sectors including agriculture and irrigation, healthcare, water supply and irrigation, finance and enterprise development, anti-corruption initiatives and access to education. (Agenda.ge)




And the Hillary Clinton is really flailing and looking for an opening. And the real opening, I think, is the record of her life. Mistakes, excess baggage, all of it. But the distrust question, truthfulness is killing her right now.

And the Hillary Clinton is really flailing and looking for an opening. And the real opening, I think, is the record of her life. Mistakes, excess baggage, all of it. But the distrust question, truthfulness is killing her right now.

Wednesday on CNNs Newsroom, Watergate-famed journalist Carl Bernstein said Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is losing to her opponentSen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
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
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@PatriciaMazzei

They yearned for clarity in New Hampshire. Marco Rubio hoped to crystallize his position as the Republican Partys great presidential hope heading into the South Carolina primary. Jeb Bush intended to prove his political muscle could still be as powerful as his family name and donor fortune.

Neither succeeded.

Bush and Rubio wound up in fourth and fifth place, respectively: Bush topped by another governor, John Kasich of Ohio, and Rubio undone by three minutes of woeful debating on national television. Their results Tuesday made it possible to survive, barely.

Now Bush and Rubio head to the first-in-the-South primary Feb. 20 still competing toe-to-toe with each other for the same spot  and there is, at best, only a single spot  in the GOP: to be the last man standing to confront front-runners Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, if someone can take them on at all.

What comes next wont be pretty.

More here.

Photo credit: Jacquelyn Martin, Associated Press
The Senate on Thursday rolled out its proposal for higher per-pupil spending for public schools, but at the expense of Gov. Rick Scott's goal of $1 billion in tax cuts next year.

The strategy reflects the will of senators to shape tax policy around small businesses and homeowners, not corporations that are favored under Scott's tax cut plan. The move puts the Senate squarely at odds with Scott and with the House, which supports Scott's proposal to boost K-12 spending largely by imposing higher property tax payments on homeowners and business owners as their property values rise across the state.

About 84 percent of Scott's school spending increase would come from higher property taxes. Senators call that a tax increase, and Scott's office calls that "flat wrong." This increasingly testy battle centers on the element of school funding known as required local effort, a state-mandated property tax millage rate that school districts must impose by July 1.

The Senate wants to split the school spending increase evenly between local property taxes and state tax revenue. With more than 35,000 new students projected to enroll in Florida schools next fall, the Senate would boost per-pupil spending by $651 million, more than Scott's budget would. The Senate formula uses $324 million from local property taxes and $326 million from state tax revenue, and a draft of the proposal calls it a "tax cut." The proposal is not yet in the Senate budget, which awaits a floor vote Thursday afternoon.

Senate President Andy Gardiner endorses the plan by the two key senators who shape the education budget, Republicans Tom Lee of Brandon and Don Gaetz of Niceville, who defend their approach as a better way to give tax relief to Florida families. Politically, the die is cast with one of two likely outcomes. Either the Senate will get its way and defeat Scott on a major tax policy issue or the Senate will lose to Scott and the House -- in which case senators will claim Scott is raising taxes in an election year.
Tony Wood (NLR 2004): What has been the international response to the ongoing assault on Chechen statehood? As the Chechen foreign ministry official Roman Khalilov dryly notes, the international communitys record of timely, painless recognition of secession is extremely poor. Here Chechnya has been a casualty of the basest Realpolitik. Western governments gave the nod to Yeltsins war as a regrettable side-effect of a presidency that had at all costs to be prolonged, if capitalism was to be successful in Russia. Putin has benefited from a similarly craven consensus. Yet for all the column inches expended on the harm done to Russias fragile democracy by the imprisonment of YUKOS chairman Mikhail Khodorkovsky, it is in Chechnya that the face of Putins regime is truly revealed, and it is above all by its sponsorship of wanton brutality there that it should be judged.





The few early criticisms of Putins campaign from such bodies as the OSCE and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe were soon toned down, and dismissed by European governments as counter-productive amid attempts to welcome Putin to the European fold. In September 2001, while state-sanctioned murders were being committed with impunity in Chechnya, Putin received a standing ovation in the Bundestag; in the summer of 2002, Chirac endorsed the Russian view of the anti-terrorist operation, and he and Schroeder reiterated their support at Sochi in August 2004. Collective EU efforts have been limited to humanitarian aid for the refugee camps in Ingushetia.





Despite repeated approaches from Maskhadovs envoys, the UN has, for its part, refused to meet with Chechnyas legitimately elected leadersthough Kofi Annan was quick to express his grief at the assassination of the puppet Kadyrov earlier this year. On a visit to Moscow in 2002, Annan even praised Putins efforts at conflict resolutiondoubtless appreciative of the latters prior backing for his bid to secure a second term as Secretary General. Questions about Russias actions in Chechnya have routinely been sidestepped at meetings of the UN s Human Rights Committee.Nor has support been forthcoming from elsewhere. Arab governments have emphasized their support for Russias territorial integrity, while in 1999 the Iranian foreign minister Kamal Kharrazi insisted the Russo-Chechen war was strictly an internal affair. China has seen in Yeltsins and now Putins suppression of Chechen aspirations for independence a useful precedent for its own dealings with Tibet and Xinjiang.





Official reaction in the US , of course, has been conditioned by the needs of the war on terror. After the attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon, Putin wasted no time in linking Chechnya to the wider battle against Islamic extremism, and gave the US permission to plant forward bases across Central Asia, its former sphere of influence, as a quid pro quo for Washingtons approval for war in Chechnya. The Bush administration has responded with the requisite silencethough this is a marked change of tack for many of the neo-cons, whose hostility to Russia has meant support for Chechen independence from unlikely quarters. Members of the American Committee for Peace in Chechnya include Richard Perle, Kenneth Adelman, Elliott Abrams, Midge Decter and James Woolsey. Outside official circles, right-wingers such as Richard Pipes have also argued the Chechens case, pointing out that authoritarianism is in Russians DNA and that Putin would do well to learn the lessons de Gaulle drew from Algeria.




Todays burning question: Given the newer NFPA/OSHA standards for our SCBAs, theres a glut of the older non-compliant SCBAs for sale, Can they be used without liability issues? Can SCBAs do not meet current NFPA & OSHA standards even be used in IDLH environments? Specifically, I am wondering about using this equipment for training in live fire exercises?

Answer: Asking the dreaded liability question virtually guarantees the answer that an attorney will give: no, they cannot be used without liability issues! There will always be liability issues. Could a person give a starving man food  a thirsty man water- without liability issues? Of course not!!!!

However, there are presuppositions within the question you asked. The question supposes that SCBAs that do not meet the current NFPA standards are non-compliant and that OSHA actually has new standards that regulate SCBA in a way that is comparable to the NFPA. Both presuppositions are false.

A more appropriate question is whether the liability concerns associated with using older SCBA units are excessive liability wise? Can they be properly managed, or should we be prohibited from using any SCBA except for those that comply with the current editions of NFPA 1981 & 1982?

Might I suggest a better approach than one that focuses on liability: Are the older units safe??? BTW we only have a liability issue if something bad happens and the best way to prevent bad things from happening is to focus on safety not liability. Focusing on liability without considering safety is IMHO faulty thinking.

In a perfect world we would only use the absolute latest, safest, best, most advanced equipment available. And every firefighter would be trained to the latest edition of NFPA 1001, not the version that was in effect 5, 10, 20, or more years ago when we went through the academy. And every fire truck would meet the latest version of NFPA 1901 you get the point.

The reality is that as technology advances, the safety bar gets raised. That doesnt mean the older technology is instantly unsafe. NFPA sets the minimum standards for fire service SCBA, and most other fire service equipment. NIOSH also plays an important role as well. All SCBA must be certified as meeting NIOSH standards. OSHA  on the other hand  has not changed its respiratory protection standards much at all so there really are no newer OSHA SCBA standards to contend with.

NFPA typically allows the use of older equipment provided it met the applicable standards when manufactured. Thus, NFPA does not automatically require fire departments to retire older SCBA simply because a new standard is issued.

From time to time NFPA technical committees will establish time frames for the retirement of certain equipment. A good example is turnout gear being retired after 10 years from the date of manufacture. Another is the requirement that fire hose manufactured prior to July of 1987 be retired. Yet another can be found in the 2013 edition of NFPA 1500 that states that all fire service SCBA must meet the 1992 or later Edition of NFPA 1982.

Contrary to popular opinion, there is a lot of science behind the decisions made by NFPA committees. When a committee such as the NFPA 1500 (TC on fire service occupational safety and health) or SCBA committee (TC on respiratory protection equipment) determines there is a need to prohibit the use of SCBA manufactured prior to a certain date, there are good reasons. Until that point, the use of the equipment that meets an earlier edition of the NFPA standards, and that still meets NIOSH, would not pose a major liability risk. The NFPA standards are generally considered to be evidence (strong evidence) of the standard of care.

But there is a risk. Is that risk acceptable? Each organization would have to make that decision for itself. Whether for live firefighting or even live fire training, risks need to be evaluated. I can envision some departments saying yes, we will continue to use SCBA so long as it complies with the 1992 Edition or newer standards; and other departments saying no, we insist our people be using only the latest SCBAs.

BTW  Who is in favor of sending every firefighter whose FF1 and FF2 certificates does not meet the current edition of NFPA 1001  back to the academy?
Photo

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C.   Donald J. Trump s rivals for the Republican presidential nomination dug in Wednesday for a hard fight in the South Carolina primary, where Mr. Trump will seek to gain a clear upper hand in the 2016 race after his smashing victory in New Hampshire.

But the effort to stop Mr. Trump was only one element of the hard-edged, multifront campaign shaping up here among five candidates, nearly all of whom are facing immense pressure to demonstrate strength.

The Republican field after New Hampshire has clarified to two battles: between Mr. Trump and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, the anti-establishment duo, and three establishment-friendly hopefuls. And on Wednesday, the contenders began exchanging fire in a way that underscored the complex calculations behind each of their candidacies.

Above all, there is a fight against Mr. Trump, which will be waged by Mr. Cruz and the mainstream candidates. After largely avoiding a sustained ad assault in New Hampshire, Mr. Trump is likely to face far more attacks here in a state known for its bare-knuckled politics. Mr. Cruz wasted little time Wednesday in signaling how he intended to run against the New York real estate mogul in the Bible Belt.

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The only way to beat Donald Trump is to highlight the simple truth of his record: It is not conservative, he said in Myrtle Beach, highlighting his own ironclad conservative credentials. But in a sign of how he is facing challenges on two flanks, Mr. Cruz also began airing ads here against Senator Marco Rubio of Florida as well as Mr. Trump.

The Republican Party here is a lot like the party writ large. It is torn between activists enraged by President Obama and eager for the bald confrontation promised by Mr. Trump and Mr. Cruz, and party leaders hungry to take back the White House and considering candidates such as Mr. Rubio and Jeb Bush.

The contest here, coming on the heels of Mr. Cruz and Mr. Trumps capturing the first two states, could help determine which of those two animating forces has more currency in the party.

South Carolina contest appears to beh a race against Mr. Trump and a primary-within-a-primary among establishment candidates  Mr. Bush, Mr. Rubio and Gov. Among the three mainstream Republican candidates, the Feb. 20South Carolina contest appears to beh a race against Mr. Trump and a primary-within-a-primary among establishment candidates  Mr. Bush, Mr. Rubio and Gov. John Kasich of Ohio  to win the right to ultimately challenge Mr. Trump and Mr. Cruz.

Mr. Rubio and Mr. Kasich, swiftly criticized Mr. Bush for having spent so much money seeking to take down his opponents in the first two nominating states. And Mr. Bush, his once-forlorn campaign re-energized after outpolling Mr. Rubio in New Hampshire, made clear at a town hall meeting here that he would aggressively target the two establishment-aligned rivals he needs to defeat to consolidate the partys support.

When a voter here asked him to distinguish himself from Mr. Kasich, Mr. Bush noted that the Ohio governor led the charge to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. And without mentioning Mr. Rubio by name, the former Florida governor said voters should not embrace a gifted politician that could give the most phenomenal speech, but who lacks the experience to govern.

But Mr. Bush also intends to run what Senator Lindsey Graham, an ally, called a referendum on who is ready to be commander in chief. As Mr. Graham highlighted Mr. Kasichs support for closing down military bases, Mr. Bush reserved his harshest rebukes for Mr. Trump. The former Florida governor drew applause and rueful head-shaking from an overflow crowd in this suburban Charleston town when he called out the partys front-runner for having mocked John McCain, the winner of South Carolinas 2008 primary, for his capture in the Vietnam War.

Injecting his stump speech with a new shot of urgency after Mr. Trumps victory, Mr. Bush warned South Carolinians that the Republican Partys identity was at stake.

Our party is being hijacked by people who do not believe in the goodness of the conservative cause, Mr. Bush said. I do. I believe it.

Mr. Rubio, too, signaled to reporters on his campaign plane that he would challenge Mr. Trump more assertively on his command of policy.

I dont think you can keep saying, Trust me, I got a plan for it, Mr. Rubio said. I think as we get closer, especially now that hes been successful in New Hampshire, I would expect people will be pressing for more details.

Even more than Mr. Bush, Mr. Rubio is grappling with how to confront multiple foes. And after his disastrous debate performance Saturday and a fifth-place finish in New Hampshire, the future of his campaign may ride on a South Carolina resurrection. The Florida senator is attempting to position himself as something of a hybrid candidate, acceptable to the establishment and to the hard right, so he is taking aim at Mr. Trump and Mr. Cruz while also re-engaging Mr. Bush.

The South Carolina campaign will take place in a state where political insurgencies of the sort represented by Mr. Trump and Mr. Cruz have often withered. For decades, South Carolina played the role of sorting out candidates aligned with the leadership of the national Republican Party, catapulting the winner of every primary here since 1980 to the presidential nomination, with one exception.

And that exception shows how South Carolinas ability to select winners may be in flux. In 2012, voters here emphatically rejected Mitt Romney, the decisive victor in New Hampshire, and instead backed Newt Gingrich, who turned in two combative debate performances in the week leading to the primary.

Mr. Gingrichs victory here reflected the states drift in recent years away from conventional Republican candidates and toward a more populist and at times purer brand of conservatism.

Still, the states voting rules may create some extra space for candidates outside the hard right. South Carolina does not register voters by political party, so any voter can cast a ballot in either the Democratic or the Republican primary, though not in both.

Mr. Kasich, whose second-place showing in New Hampshire was fueled by support from independents, is hoping to replicate such cross-party appeal in South Carolina but faces a far stiffer test here. He won about 16 percent of the vote in New Hampshire with a message crafted entirely to appeal to moderate Republicans and independent voters there and must show strength here to prove he is not a one-state wonder.

That pitch will probably have more limited appeal in South Carolina and across the next round of primary states, particularly if Mr. Kasich faces an advertising assault from Mr. Bush and the  super PAC  supporting him. He said on the plane from New Hampshire that any suggestion that he weakened the military is kind of silly.

But Mr. Kasich signaled at a town hall meeting in Charleston on Wednesday that he would not revise his message for a new audience.

Some people try to call me a liberal because I think we should offer opportunity to everybody, not just to some people, Mr. Kasich said. He shrugged off the criticism: I dont know how the Republican Party got so off kilter.

Yet Mr. Kasich also sought to present himself as a plausible opponent for Mr. Trump. He twice brought up having outpolled Mr. Trump, three votes to two, in the tiny New Hampshire town of Dixville Notch.

Mr. Trump is already looking further down the primary calendar. He is scheduled to hold campaign stops this week in Louisiana and Florida, which do not hold primaries until March.

Should Mr. Trump win the South Carolina primary, it could grow exceedingly difficult for his rivals to slow his momentum as the race moves into a series of conservative states across the South the next few weeks.
It's said that each of us undergoes gradual change and that every seven years we are essentially a new person. Here's a poem by Freya Manfred, who lives in Stillwater, Minnesota, about the changes in a long marriage. Her most recent book is "Speak, Mother", published by Red Dragonfly Press.

This Stranger, My Husband

The older we get the stranger my husband becomes,

and the less certain I am that I know him.

We used to lie eye to eye, breathing together

in the immensity of each moment.

Lithe and starry-eyed, we could leap fences

even with babies on our backs.

***

His eyes still dream off

toward something in the distance I can't see;

but now he gazes more zealously,

and leaps into battle with a more certain voice

over politics, religion, or art,

and some old friends won't come to dinner.

***

The molecules of our bodies spiral off into the stars

on winds of change and chance,

as we welcome the unknown, the incalculable,

the spirit and heart of everything we named and knew so well 

and never truly named, or knew,

but only loved, at last.

***

We do not accept unsolicited submissions. American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright 2015 by Freya Manfred, "This Stranger, My Husband," from Speak, Mother, (Red Dragonfly Press, 2015). Poem reprinted by permission of Freya Manfred and the publisher. Introduction copyright  2015 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006.
HAMILTON  A Florence physician facing 400 felonies was told Wednesday that his case is moving forward whether he finds legal representation or not.

Dr. Chris Christensen appeared without counsel for the second status hearing in three weeks before Ravalli County Judge Jeffrey Langton.

At his last status hearing in January, Christensen told the Langton that he planned to file for bankruptcy and then reapply for a public defender.

At Wednesdays hearing, Christensen said the bankruptcy filing was on hold. He offered a letter from his accountant that stated he would need to reconstruct 2014 tax data before he could proceed with that filing.

Christensen also said he had contacted four lawyers to gather estimates on potential legal costs for his case. Those estimates came back between $150,000 and $500,000.

I dont have the means to afford any of those, Christensen told Langton Wednesday.

Christensen was arrested in August for allegedly providing hundreds of illegal prescriptions to patients, including two who died from an overdose.

Initially, he was appointed a public defender. After reviewing Christensens financial records, the Office of the State Public Defender rescinded that appointment about six weeks ago. Langton concurred with that decision following a review of the financial records, saying Christensen does not even come close to meeting the definition of indigent under the law.

At Wednesdays hearing, Ravalli County Attorney Bill Fulbright said his office has already extended deadlines due to Christensens lack of legal representation.

With the trial set for October, Fulbright said the fact that Christensen remains without legal counsel raises a number of concerns.

It feels like nothing much has changed in six weeks, Fulbright said.

Langton told Christensen the case is moving forward whether he has an attorney or not.

You are, whether you like it or not, your own attorney right now, Langton said to Christensen. If it gets down to it, I will expect you to represent yourself.

Christensen said he had no intention of representing himself in the case. He told the judge that he had been diligent in seeking legal representation, but was under the impression that he needed to file for bankruptcy before he could reapply for a public defender.

I am not interested in dragging my feet, Christensen said. My feet have been held to the fire.

Christensen was arrested following a 16-month investigation that found his business in Florence operated almost exclusively in cash, earned about $2,500 a day and grossed more than $500,000 annually, according to an affidavit in the case.

The 400 felony charges against Christensen include two counts of negligent homicide that stem from the death of two of his patients who were prescribed methadone.

Christensen, 67, faces a maximum penalty of 388 life sentences, plus 135 years in prison and fines of $20 million. He remains free on a $200,000 bond.

On Wednesday, Christensen also asked for permission to leave the state for two months in June to attend his sons graduation from Stanford and upcoming marriage.

Christensen said he had already signed a waiver of extradition and surrendered his passport.

Langton granted his request.
HAMILTON  A Washington state man arrested in whats been called the largest heroin case in Ravalli County accepted a plea agreement Wednesday.

Mason Gregory Skerbeck, 23, of Port Angeles, Washington, was one of three people arrested last Halloween when members of the Ravalli County Sheriffs Office acted on a tip and stopped their vehicle in the Florence area.

The three were ordered to exit the car at gunpoint.

A subsequent search of the vehicle found nearly half a pound of heroin and a similar amount of methamphetamine. Law enforcement estimated the five different types of drugs found in the car had a street value of $250,000.

Officers also found a loaded .380 Ruger pistol, $1,730 in cash and five cellphones.

An affidavit filed in the case said Skerbeck and Marlen Ravelo, 47, had driven from Washington to Montana with the intent to see if there was a market for the drugs. Once they arrived in Montana, they met Crystal Lee Griffin, 21, of Stevensville, who brokered drug deals at the University of Montana and in Stevensville.

The trio was arrested while traveling to Stevensville to complete that transaction.

On Wednesday, Skerbeck pleaded no contest to conspiracy to distribute dangerous drugs and guilty to criminal possession of dangerous drugs as part of an agreement with prosecutors that dropped eight felony drug charges.

If District Judge Jeffrey Langton decides to accept the terms of the agreement, Skerbeck will be sentenced to a 15-year commitment to the Montana Department of Corrections, with 10 years suspended.

Griffin pleaded guilty in January to conspiracy to distribute dangerous drugs in a plea agreement that included a 15-year commitment to the Montana Department of Corrections with 12 years suspended.

Ravelo also appeared in court Wednesday.

Court documents said Ravelo also plans to accept a plea agreement in Ravalli County. Her attorney said that would have to wait a week while federal attorneys in Washington state complete another plea agreement on the federal charges she faces.

Skerbeck and Griffin each may be required to pay a fine of $78,750 that would be deposited in the state general fund. That amount is 35 percent of the estimated market value of the dangerous drugs that were in their possession.

Both of their plea agreements allow them the right to argue that the fine should be waived or modified.

Langton agreed to reduce Skerbecks bail from $100,000 to $10,000 after learning that Skerbecks father had moved to Corvallis.

Skerbecks attorney, Gregory Dee Birdsong, said this was the first major crime that his client had committed.

Langton required Skerbeck to sign up with a supervision service and wear a drug patch once he was released from the detention center.

Skerbeck will be sentenced April 13. Griffins sentencing was set for March 2.
HELENA - The lead prosecutor in James George Stiffler's deliberate homicide trial asked jurors if people like the defendant who live in nice houses and rub elbows with sheriffs should be held accountable for their actions.

"Do they get away with murder?" Lewis and Clark County Attorney Leo Gallagher asked in his closing arguments Wednesday afternoon.

Just before hearing the final arguments from both sides, jurors were given their instructions. They have been asked to decide whether deadly force was justified when Stiffler shot and killed a man in his Canyon Ferry Road home on May 22, 2013.

"Do we as a community authorize the death penalty for a burglar who is trying to escape?" Gallagher asked jurors.

Stiffler's attorney, Quentin Rhoades, argued it was lawful for his client to protect himself with deadly force in his own home if threatened with assault. Stiffler testified he was in fear for his life.

"If you heard bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang," Rhoades said, "that's the cold-blooded killer."

"One shot -- that's a man defending himself."

The case went to the jury just before 4 p.m. The jury was still deliberating at press time.

The defense has argued the man who was killed, Henry Thomas Johnson, brought his death upon himself when he broke into Stiffler's home and later threatened to hurt the homeowner. Prosecutors say Stiffler escalated the scenario by entering the home brandishing a loaded 9mm handgun.

The shooting could be deemed legal by the jury if they find Stiffler was defending an occupied structure from being entered or attacked. Rhoades argued his client had the right to terminate Johnson's occupation of his property with an arrest. A civilian may arrest someone if the person has probable cause and can restrain someone with force if immediate intervention is deemed necessary.

Rhoades repeated his client's statement that he quickly was in over his head in the situation.

"And now, they call him a cold-blooded killer," he said.

Prosecutors say Stiffler shot Johnson in the back as he was trying to flee the home through a window. Gallagher told jurors Johnson "posed absolutely no threat."

"If someone is inside your house you don't have a hunting license to kill them," Gallagher said. "You can't just go in and kill somebody because they're in your house."

Stiffler testified he confronted Johnson, who took a fighting stance with clenched fists and threatened to hurt him. Stiffler then fired.

Johnson died behind the wheel of his girlfriend's car, which was parked in Stiffler's driveway.

Following an extensive forensic investigation into the case, 665 days after the shooting Stiffler was charged with deliberate homicide.

If convicted of the charge, Stiffler could face 10 to 100 years or life in prison.
BILLINGS - The Montana Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that Billings police officer Grant Morrison acted correctly in his handling of a 2013 drug arrest.

Dean Jason Ballinger, 37, had appealed his conviction after claiming Morrison illegally detained and searched him on Sept. 28, 2013. The drug evidence obtained after Ballinger's arrest on an outstanding warrant led to a charge of criminal drug possession and a five-year prison sentence.

Morrison had responded to a call from a woman who said her neighbor's door was left wide open. She said she had seen people moving out of the house earlier that day but hadn't seen anyone in the past few hours, according to the appeal filed by Ballinger's public defender.

Morrison responded to the house on the 200 block of South 33rd Street about 43 minutes later. When he arrived, he saw Ballinger and a woman named Julie Ramirez walking down the street behind his patrol car. Morrison said he believed they were headed to the home with the open door.

Morrison questioned the pair. They said they were walking from Ballinger's home to the home of Ramirez's mother, according to court documents.

Morrison didn't believe them and asked for their identifications. That's when he discovered Ballinger had an outstanding arrest warrant for a partner or family member assault charge.

Ballinger was handcuffed and frisked. He acknowledged having a pocket knife on him, but nothing illegal, and Morrison did not remove the items.

After taking Ballinger to the Yellowstone County Detention Facility, Morrison said he searched the back of his patrol car and found a small baggie containing meth.

When he returned to the jail, Ballinger insisted the drugs weren't his. Morrison said no one else had ridden in his patrol car that day, and he had searched the car thoroughly before his shift.

Yellowstone County District Judge Russell Fagg ruled against a motion filed by Ballinger's attorney to suppress the evidence on the basis that Morrison did not have a "particularized suspicion to conduct an investigatory stop of Ballinger."

The Montana Supreme Court affirmed Fagg's ruling.

The Ramirez woman with Ballinger is the sister of Richard Ramirez, who was shot and killed by Morrison about six months later.

Morrison was cleared in that shooting, as well as a second fatal shooting. He has also been investigated for illegally keeping animals, including pot-bellied pigs and a fawn, on his residential property. Morrison has also been reprimanded for obtaining criminal justice information for his own use.
I asked SH to read one of my poems in his special way to music. What he created exceeds all my expectations. I think he did a ...
The British Columbia Coroners Service said Wednesday that it had opened an investigation after a human foot washed up on the provinces shoreline, the 13th since 2007. Like most of the other cases, the current one involves a foot wearing a running shoe. It was found by a hiker on Vancouver Islands Botanical Beach on Sunday. The coroners office said the foot became detached from the body because of prolonged immersion in water. The style of the running shoe that was found was first sold in North American stores in March 2013, indicating that the death occurred sometime after that date. The coroners office confirmed that 10 of the 12 feet in earlier cases came from seven people who have been identified. It said that foul play was not evident in the other cases.
NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE PUBLISHES ABLYNX'S PHASE II TITAN STUDY OF CAPLACIZUMAB IN PATIENTS WITH ACQUIRED TTP

Proof-of-concept in the Phase II TITAN study was achieved with significant reductions in time to platelet count normalisation and recurrences while on treatment with caplacizumab

Based on these results, Ablynx is on track to file for conditional approval of caplacizumab in Europe in the first half of 2017

A confirmatory international Phase III study in patients with acquired TTP is ongoing and will be used to support a BLA submission in 2018 in the USA

Ablynx intends to lead the commercialisation of caplacizumab in Europe and the USA

GHENT/ZWIJNAARDE, Belgium, Feb. 11, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ablynx [Euronext Brussels: ABLX; OTC: ABYLY] today announced that the results of the Company's worldwide Phase II TITAN study[1] with caplacizumab for patients with acquired thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (aTTP) have been published in today's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

"Caplacizumab has the potential to become an important new component in the standard of care for patients with acquired TTP" said Professor Flora Peyvandi, Principal Investigator for the TITAN study at IRCCS Maggiore Hospital Foundation, University of Milan, Italy, and lead author of the NEJM paper. "The results from the Phase II TITAN study showed that caplacizumab acts quickly to control the critical acute phase of the disease and protects patients until immunosuppressive treatments take effect."

Dr Robert K. Zeldin, Chief Medical Officer of Ablynx, commented: "The publication of the TITAN data in this high-impact clinical journal[2] is a further validation of the potential of caplacizumab in the treatment of acquired TTP. This publication is the culmination of over a decade of work by Ablynx and its external collaborators. We are on track to file for conditional approval of caplacizumab in Europe in 2017 and to complete enrolment of the confirmatory Phase III study before the end of 2017. We look forward to making caplacizumab available for patients with this devastating disease."

About caplacizumab and the TITAN study results Caplacizumab is a highly potent and selective bivalent anti-von Willebrand Factor (vWF) Nanobody that received Orphan Drug Designation in the USA and EU in 2009. Caplacizumab inhibits the interaction between ultra-large vWF and platelets by targeting the A1 domain of vWF. It thereby prevents platelet aggregation and the formation of micro-clots during the acute, critical phase of acquired TTP.

Caplacizumab's clinical effect was demonstrated in the Phase II TITAN study in 75 patients with aTTP:

As indicated by a nearly 40% reduction in median time to platelet count normalisation (p = 0.005). Treatment with caplacizumab reduced the use of daily plasma exchange (PEX) and prevented further consumption of platelets in microthrombi and small blood vessel occlusion.

As shown by the low number of recurrences requiring re-initiation of daily plasma exchange during treatment with caplacizumab (N=3) vs. placebo (N=11).

These results will serve as the basis for filing for conditional approval in Europe in H1 2017. Caplacizumab could be the first drug specifically approved for the treatment of acquired TTP.

More information on caplacizumab, including the NEJM paper, can be found on Ablynx's website.

About aTTP



aTTP is an ultra-rare, acute, auto-immune blood clotting disorder, affecting up to 11 per million people worldwide. It has a sudden onset caused by impaired activity of the ADAMTS13 enzyme (typically <10% of that in normal plasma), leaving ultra-large vWF molecules un-cleaved (vWF is an important protein involved in the blood clotting process). These ULvWF molecules spontaneously bind to blood platelets, resulting in severe thrombocytopenia (very low platelet count) and micro-clot formation in small blood vessels throughout the body[3].

aTTP is associated with major morbidities in the brain (e.g. stroke), heart and kidney and impacts life expectancy and quality of life. Mortality is high at 10-20%[4], typically occurring within 2 weeks after initial diagnosis. Moreover, about 36% of patients have recurrences[5] after treatment with the current standard of care, which consists of daily PEX and immune-suppressants, and these recurrences have the potential to cause further organ damage and poorer longer term outcomes.

Phase II TITAN clinical study



The NEJM paper, titled "Caplacizumab Treatment for Acquired Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura" (Peyvandi et al., NEJM 2016: published 11 February 2016), reported data from the worldwide Phase II TITAN clinical trial which was a single-blinded, randomised, placebo-controlled study. In total, 75 patients were randomised on a 1:1 basis to active drug or placebo, with all patients receiving the current standard of care. Those patients in the active drug treatment arm immediately received an intravenous bolus dose of 10 mg caplacizumab and then a 10 mg subcutaneous dose of the drug daily until 30 days had elapsed after the final plasma exchange. Patients in the control arm received placebo at the same time points.

The TITAN study was conducted at 56 study centres worldwide, with investigators from countries including Italy, England, Switzerland, the USA and Austria.

Phase III HERCULES clinical study



The worldwide Phase III HERCULES study is a multinational, double-blind, placebo-controlled study evaluating the efficacy and safety of caplacizumab, in conjunction with the standard of care, in patients with aTTP. The study is expected to enrol 92 patients at clinical sites across 17 countries. The primary endpoint is time to platelet count normalisation. Other clinically relevant endpoints include: the prevention of recurrence of the presenting TTP episode after stopping daily PEX; the effect on biomarkers of organ damage; severe morbidity associated with tissue ischemia and; mortality. Recruitment for this study is expected to be completed by the end of 2017, followed by an anticipated BLA filing in the USA in 2018.

About Ablynx



Ablynx is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development of Nanobodies, proprietary therapeutic proteins based on single-domain antibody fragments, which combine the advantages of conventional antibody drugs with some of the features of small-molecule drugs. Ablynx is dedicated to creating new medicines which will make a real difference to society. Today, the Company has approximately 40 proprietary and partnered programmes in development in various therapeutic areas including inflammation, haematology, immuno-oncology, oncology and respiratory disease. The Company has collaborations with multiple pharmaceutical companies including AbbVie, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eddingpharm, Genzyme, Merck & Co., Inc., Merck KGaA, Novartis, Novo Nordisk and Taisho Pharmaceuticals. The Company is headquartered in Ghent, Belgium. More information can be found on www.ablynx.com.

For more information, please contact

Ablynx:

Dr Edwin Moses

CEO

t: +32 (0)9 262 00 07

m: +32 (0)473 39 50 68

e: edwin.moses@ablynx.com

Marieke Vermeersch

Associate Director Investor Relations

t: +32 (0)9 262 00 82

m: +32 (0)479 49 06 03

e: marieke.vermeersch@ablynx.com

Follow us on Twitter @AblynxABLX

Ablynx media relations:

Instinctif Partners

Sue Charles, Daniel Gooch

London office

t: +44 (0)20 7866 7905

e: ablynx@instinctif.com

Belgium/Dutch and French language

Jim Rusagara

Brussels office

t: +32 (0)2 626 9500

e: ablynx@instinctif.com

[1] Top line data from the TITAN study were communicated in June 2014 and were subsequently presented at ASH 2014 and ISTH 2015 (results from post hoc analysis and ADAMTS13 activity to guide treatment duration)

[2] The most recent (2014) impact factor for NEJM is 55.873, the highest among general medical journals

[3] Veyradier, NEJM 2016: "von Willebrand Factor - A new target for TTP treatment?"

[4] Allford et al, BJH 2003; Kremer Hovinga, Blood 2010; Benhamou, Haematologica 2012

[5] George et al, EJB 2008

pdf format of the press release http://hugin.info/137912/R/1985216/727994.pdf

HUG#1985216
Global Equity International Inc. Would Like to Welcome Mr. Kevin Wynn to Its Ever Growing Team

Global Equity International, Inc. and subsidiaries (OTCQB: GEQU), a specialist consultancy firm with offices located in Dubai and London, and now also a physical presence in Frankfurt (Germany), is pleased to announce that today, Mr. Kevin Wynn has formally become the newest member of the Global Equity Partners Plc. team.

Mr. Wynn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-wynn-7715632a) brings a wealth of knowledge and additional focus to the Company's already rapidly growing portfolio of clients, while developing new business strategies, potential new avenues of funding and additional opportunities internationally. As an essential part of Global Equity's growing team, Kevin's extensive accomplishments and expertise will provide the Company with a valuable pipeline of new portfolio clients.

Kevin brings an impressive amount of experience from both an operational and capital raising perspective and has significant contacts across the financial markets. He has historically worked closely with numerous Private Equity, Institutional Investment Funds and International Property Developments Corporations in Europe and also in the United States. The Company is very confident that Kevin will attract tremendous new deal flow mainly from continental Europe as he is based in Frankfurt (Germany).

Patrick Dolan, Managing Director of Global Equity International Inc., said, "We look forward to Kevin's contribution to the Global Equity Partners team. We truly believe that he will be an asset to the Company that will not only support my role as managing director but also bring in a number of new quality portfolio clients seeking to raise substantial capital funding and/or a listing of their shares on a recognized stock exchange."

Kevin Wynn said, "Global Equity International Inc. is an exciting upwardly moving company with a very unique business model which is now proving itself to be both pragmatic and extremely successful. The Company is attracting unique and robust companies looking to raise substantial capital funding, often pre-IPO and is receiving quite a lot of attention from international funding sources that are looking to deploy capital into the Company's portfolio clients. I feel privileged to join such a team of professionals at Global Equity Partners."

About Kevin Wynn

Mr. Kevin Wynn currently resides in Frankfurt, Germany. He was born in the Bahamas in 1960 and was educated in London (United Kingdom) where he completed a B.A. Honors Degree in History from the University of Keele in Staffordshire (United Kingdom).

After completing Management Training at GEC in London he moved into publishing and then on to McGraw-Hill / Standard & Poors for 8 years, becoming the European and Mid East African sales and marketing director for "Platts" the Global Oil and Petrochemical Pricing and Information Service.

In the late 90s Kevin moved to Germany where he has been involved in Corporate Finance and Asset Management, lastly with Comval Asset Management AG in Frankfurt. There he worked on planning and capital raising on Commodity, Real-Estate, Timber, Agriculture and Environmental projects.

He also has worked as a project advisor for HP Law, a firm that specializes in corporate M&A, finance, Capital Markets, international taxation and fund management.

Kevin Wynn speaks fluent English and German and brings with him a wealth of contacts in the Private Banking and Asset Management sector.

About Global Equity International Inc. and subsidiaries

Global Equity International Inc., through its wholly owned subsidiary Global Equity Partners Plc., advises worldwide business leaders with their most critical decisions and opportunities pertaining to growth, capital needs, structure and the development of a global presence. With offices in Dubai and London, Global Equity has developed significant relationships in the US, UK, Central Europe, the Middle East and South East Asia to assist clients in realizing their full value and potential by bringing them to external capital and resources that place an emphasis on collaborative thinking. Furthermore, because Global Equity has offices in key financial centres of the world, they are able to introduce their clients to a unique opportunity of listing their shares on any one of the many stock exchanges worldwide. Global Equity Partners holds significant long-term equity positions in the companies that it represents.

Safe Harbour Statement

This press release may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements related to anticipated revenues, expenses, earnings, operating cash flows, the outlook for markets and the demand for products. Forward-looking statements are no guarantees of future performance and are inherently subject to uncertainties and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Such statements are based upon, among other things, assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management, including management's own knowledge and assessment of the Company's industry and competition. The Company refers interested persons to its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and its other SEC filings for a description of additional uncertainties and factors, which may affect forward-looking statements. The company assumes no duty to update its forward-looking statements.
The New York Times**********************************************>>> 12-19-2014This is an old post and I must mention this...I have recently ran across some of these transcriptions that have been redacted...Meaning that they have blacked out portions that do not agree with the official story...Kinda like the FBI and the CIA does...G%
We like to explore the world, its landscapes, wildlife and people. We hope you will enjoy a few posts from our last ten years of travel.
The chronicles of Ruin, continued. Call me Ishmael said....intelligence is knowing what to do when you don't know what to do. Anonymous said... When I don't know what to do,I come here. 10 September 2009 22:59
A Republican state lawmaker says Montana Auditor Monica Lindeen and her chief counsel, Jesse Laslovich, illegally used a state worker as a campaign staffer while the pair sought election to separate offices in 2012.

Laslovich and Lindeen, both Democrats, told an auditors office staffer to make deposits on behalf of Lindeens re-election campaign, according to a complaint sent Monday to the states Commissioner of Political Practices.

The complaint, authored by Rep. Matthew Monforton, R-Bozeman, goes on to allege Laslovich, Lindeen and other auditor's office staffers conducted campaign fundraisers and strategy sessions during work days while on state premises.

It seeks both Democrats removal from upcoming primary and general election ballots. Laslovich is looking to take his boss' spot as state auditor. Lindeen is campaigning for secretary of state.

Monforton said Deputy Securities Commissioner Lynne Egans alleged handling of campaign checks amounts to her unregistered enlistment as Lindeens campaign treasurer, a post that must be registered with the political practices office under Montana law.

That allegation rests heavily on a nearly four-year-old deposition taken from a former auditors office staffer who said Egan, a Lindeen campaign volunteer, received checks delivered by Laslovichs campaign manager and meant for the candidate.

Egan, in a separate deposition, admitted depositing campaign funds on Lindeens behalf, but denied doing so on state time or equipment.

Lindeen, speaking through a state Democratic party spokesman, couldnt help but remark on the timing of Monfortons complaint.

"It's unfortunate that some people are choosing to play politics with legal matters that occurred in this office four years ago that were resolved by the Montana judiciary, Lindeen said. I welcome an investigation and believe the complaint is based on petty politics and not merit. My record of protecting consumers is clear and stands on its own."

Laslovich's campaign manager Brandon DeMars echoed those concerns, calling the filing a desperate attempt to distract from whats at stake in the auditors race.

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Reached for comment Monday, Monforton shrugged off questions surrounding the complaints timing, explaining he would have brought it forward sooner if not for the wishes of one of his legal clients -- Harris Himes, a Hamilton pastor investigated by the auditors office and eventually convicted of securities fraud.

Deposition testimony cited in Mondays political practices complaint was taken down in the run up to the Himes trial. Monforton, who is not running for re-election to House District 69, said he simply wanted to respect his clients wish not to reveal those allegations until after Himes fraud case closed in mid-January.

But he didnt deny there may be political consequences to dropping the complaint just months ahead of Junes primary election.

Lindeen and Laslovich are unfit for office and its important that evidence of their malfeasance be presented to voters, Monforton said.

Commissioner of Political Practices Jonathan Motl said Wednesday he's not yet received the complaint. He'll have five days to decide whether to accept or reject the filing upon its arrival at his office.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with a correction on Thursday, Feb. 11. The correction pertains to Brendan McDonoughs motion to concur and place on file, which would have granted the complaining citizen's request.

What Larry Winstel wanted more than anything heading into a recent Council of Commissioners meeting was to get a dialogue started about dog issues in Butte that included the voice of dog owners.

Not just the voices of county government or its parks or animal control departments. Not actions or reactions based solely on complaints, most of those from non-dog owners. An actual conversation about Skyline Park, any future dog parks and other matters on dogs that included input from those who own them.

Other matters, he explained to The Montana Standard during a conversation before the meeting, could include how some dogs with owners in Butte are left alone all day and night in small, muddy, filthy conditions, sometimes without water, their only refuge a wooden box or under the house, even in sub-zero weather. Some of his concerns were about dog owners.

He wasnt as clear explaining his primary desire to commissioners  to start a dialogue and a group that includes dog owners and an assurance they would be listened to  as he was to The Standard.

But not everyone is comfortable talking to government officials  especially when some of them are dismissive or defensive from the jump.

There was nothing confrontational in the formal, written request he had submitted to the council beforehand.

It sought council authorization for a citizens group to research and advise local government on the needs of dog owners in Butte. It would research the dog population here, exercise needs of dogs, remedy conflict and design flaws at Skyline Park and look for additional dog-friendly areas.

It is our intention to improve relations and knowledge between dog owners, city departments and the general public, the request stated.

Even though it wasnt Winstels first time speaking before council, hes no regular at that. In fact, he told the newspaper earlier that day, he was a bit nervous about it. It can be intimidating, he said.

As it turned out, perhaps he had good reason to be nervous. Maybe he had good reason to seek an assurance ahead of time that if he formed a group of dog owners, local government would at least listen to them.

After his brief, initial comments, Commissioner Brendan McDonough moved immediately to "concur and place on file" Winstel's request. That would have granted Winstel's request, but could have ended the conversation there, presuming other commissioners went along.

No commissioner seconded that motion, ensuring there would be at least a little more dialogue.

During that dialogue, Winstel thanked the council for establishing an area in Butte where dogs could run leash-less. But he said the design and atmosphere at Skyline is one of conflict and confrontation.

He had explained that earlier to The Standard, saying it made little sense to put playground equipment at the very front of the park but the fenced areas for leash-less dogs at the far back of the park.

Some children are afraid of dogs, leashed or not, but dog owners have to walk by the playground to get to the dog park. Winstel said there have been times animal control officers sit at the park entrance and stay for 10 to 20 minutes, even though he and his dog are the only ones there.

Winstel said he and several other dog owners went to a Parks Board meeting in July 2014, hoping to give input into final designs of the park, but they were ignored. Thats why he wanted the councils blessing for a future group.

Otherwise people are not going to participate because they know they will be ignored, he said.

He did not say the council had ignored them. He said they were afraid they would be.

He suggested other ideas for Skyline be explored, perhaps a time-sharing arrangement that would allow dogs to run around more of the park without leashes at certain times. But he did not say he wanted that allowed outright. He was simply seeking a dialogue.

Two commissioners and Chief Executive Matt Vincent promised Winstel that if he did get some concerned dog owners together, the council and county administration would listen to them.

They told Winstel what they have told Butte resident Ed Banderob repeatedly  that the council does not need to explicitly authorize or sanction community groups in order for them to have a voice.

But others went on the offensive by getting defensive.

Community Enrichment Director Ed Randall, who oversees animal control, said Skyline was not poorly designed and there were no conflicts other than with Winstel. But then, in the next sentence, he said things could be improved upon, and thats why there are plans to locate another dog area close to the entrance.

Former Parks Director E. Jay Ellington, who came on board in late 2013 after most of the Skyline designs were already decided, told The Standard he would have designed things differently. That alone suggests he saw flaws.

Randall said animal control officers, because of citizen complaints and commissioners concerns, did visit Skyline three or four times a day to make sure the leash rules were being followed.

But, he said, We dont sit there for 20 minutes just to watch this gentleman.

Maybe not 20 minutes, but they sat there for at least 10 minutes earlier that day when the only ones at the entire park were a man walking his leashed dog toward the parking lot, and a reporter, Winstel and his leashed dog. They stayed awhile even after the other man and his dog were gone.

Do you think that makes dog owners comfortable? Winstel asked the reporter.

Before the dialogue was over at council, McDonough said he took offense to anyone who suggested the council or local government ignored anyone.

He had never been contacted by Winstel or other dog owners, he said. Hes made similar comments when other issues have come before full council, saying nobody had called him beforehand about it.

I take real exceptions to comments that say we ignore the public, he said.

After the discussion, the commissioners voted to "note and place on file" Winstel's request, meaning they acknowledged the request but took no action on it.

Winstel says he still wants to form a group, and Vincent and a couple of commissioners have assured him if he does, they will at least be listened to.

Were the dog owners so crazy for thinking that might not happen?
Luke Anderson founded UpTop apparel with his brother, Colt Anderson, who was born in Butte and went on to play in the NFL. UpTop currently rents office space and a warehouse in Uptown Butte.
Montanas Apprentice Hunter Program wrapped up its first season with state officials and participants noting an overall positive experience and strong turnout.

The program, which allows 10-year-olds to hunt a limited number of species with a designated mentor, saw more than 3,600 participate during the last season. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Outdoor Skills & Safety Supervisor Wayde Cooperider was not surprised by the solid participation and heard mostly positive reviews from the field.

Overall, the parents and grandparents have been ecstatic and just very grateful for an opportunity like this, he said.

Cooperider asked game wardens to weigh in on their observations of apprentices and mentors. From the sampling he received, wardens had no negative experiences with apprentice hunters, although, We did have some encounters with mentors setting poor examples and getting a citation or two. Unfortunately, that did occur.

Legislation creating the program was controversial during the last Legislature and divided hunting conservation groups before ultimately succeeding as an amendment to the FWP licensing bill. The program allows young hunters from 10 to 17 to hunt as apprentices for two years before having to take hunter safety classes. Apprentices are largely limited to hunting deer and birds.

Critics focused on the lack of a hunter safety requirement. Some were also critical of lowering hunting ages from 12, citing the maturity necessary to operate a firearm and safely hunt.

Supporters noted that similar programs in other states had good safety records and played a big role in encouraging kids to later enroll in hunter safety. Supporters pointed out that age restrictions are not placed on hunting of many species such as coyotes or gophers, so the program only opens up additional opportunities.

The Montana Wildlife Federation was among the groups opposing the legislation, but Conservation Director Nick Gevock said the federation is looking to the future with the program in place.

Were lucky to live in a state where we have the opportunity to get kids hunting, and were fortunate to have a healthy fair-chase ethic, he said. This is the law and were moving forward, and well do the best we can to make it work.

Theres been no decline in the number of kids going through hunter ed every year, and hopefully these kids will go through that program.

Safari Club International supported the legislation since its initial proposal, and its Western Montana Chapter President Matt Ulberg received a great deal of positive feedback from members.

Were only one year into the apprentice program and theyre happy to have that opportunity, he said.

Ulberg talked to a variety of apprentices and mentors. Along with some of the younger kids, he heard from some 16- and 17-year-olds that werent sure they wanted to hunt but thought theyd give it a try as apprentices. Now they plan to enroll in hunter safety, he said.

Ulbergs own 11-year-old son, Steyr, testified before the Legislature in support of the bill and became an apprentice last season, harvesting a deer. Steyr plans to enroll in hunter safety next year.

SCI would support the program whether hunter safety was required or not, Ulberg said, adding that he was disappointed that the issue drove a wedge between hunting groups.

SCI sees a value in hunter safety, but also sees the value of youth out there and people unsure if they want to hunt having this opportunity, Ulberg said. Itll be good ultimately and a successful program, and some of these safety concerns are simply not proving to be an issue nationwide.

Kathy Wilcoxs 11-year-old son, Allen, had been shooting in 4-H and was really looking forward to hunting when the apprentice program became law.

Were a family of hunters, and this was one more way to do it, she said. We had talked about it, my husband and I, on whether he was mature enough to do it. We talked it over and then talked to Allen, and he said Im ready.

As Allen and his father pursued a certain buck, they encountered a smaller buck with a significant limp, Wilcox said. Allen made the ethical choice to harvest that deer, only to find out it had lost the lower portion of one of its hind legs, she said.

Oh yeah, when he got home with his deer he was higher than a kite and thought that was pretty neat, Wilcox said of Allens excitement.

Allen will hunt as an apprentice one more year and then take hunter education, as hed like to hunt elk and moose someday, she added.

Although not required, more than 500 10- and 11-year-olds enrolled in hunter safety among the 3,600 that became apprentices, Cooperider said. He estimates a bump of between 1,000 and 1,500 enrollees this year, as some parents want to take advantage of the program but prefer their kids first complete safety training.

The bump comes from adding an additional age class of kids to the 12-year-olds that became eligible for hunter safety under existing laws, he explained.

From a department perspective, were welcoming them into our classes, Cooperider said. Its one of the unintended consequences of the program, so were monitoring it to see what impact this has. We want these 10- and 11-year-olds to have the opportunity to take hunter safety, but at the same time dont want to prevent a 12-year-old.

The estimated bump in enrollees has officials looking at whether additional classes may be necessary, he said.
Youth group serving spaghetti dinner

WISE RIVER  The Wise River Youth Group is hosting its first Valentine's party from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 12, at the Wise River Community Center.

The group will serve a spaghetti dinner with desserts. The cost is $5 and kids 12 and under get in free. In addition, there will be games, music and dancing.

This fundraiser helps with the scholarship program for the group.

Red Hat dinner planned March 1

Gal-Us Frame Red Hats will meet for dinner at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 1, at the Uptown Cafe. For reservations, call 406-533-6617 or 406-782-6605.

Uptown Toasters list weekly winners

At the Feb. 9 meeting of Uptown Toasters, Toastmaster Club #9765, competition winners included Jodi Peretti, best speaker, Russ OLeary, best evaluator, and best topic respondent, Jean Matteucci.

The next meeting will be at noon Tuesday, Feb. 16, at the Butte Archives, 17 W. Quartz. Details: 406-782-6605.

Historic Montana barns to be discussed

SHERIDAN  The Friends of the Sheridan Public Library will host a free Humanities Montana Speakers Bureau program Hand-Raised: Historic Barns of Montana with Chere Jiusto at 5 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 28, at the Sheridan Public Library.

The historic barns are a threatened part of Montanas heritage. To capture their history and encourage their preservation, Jiusto, along with Christine Brown and photographer Tom Ferris collaborated on the award-winning book.

Jiusto and Brown have dedicated their careers to preserving Montanas historic places. Details: Sheridan Public Library, 406-842-5770.

Animal Control impounds listed

These animals have been picked up by Butte Animal Control. Details: Call Chelsea Bailey Butte-Silver Bow Animal Shelter at 406-497-6528 or stop by from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

Dogs:

One-year-old male husky, white and tan, picked up Feb. 6 on Farragut and Amherst

Twelve-year-old female golden Lab cross, gold and gray, picked up Feb. 5 on 2000 block of Locust
11 | Thursday

FLY FISHING FILMS

The 2016 Fly Fishing Film Tour shows at 7 p.m. in the Mother Lode Theatre, 216 W. Park St. The evening features a collection of fly fishing films from around the world. Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door. Doors open at 6 p.m for a pre-event happy hour. Details: Chris Bradley, 406-494-0707 or admin@thestonefly.com.

SPELLING BEE

The 2016 Silver Bow County Spelling Bee starts at 2 p.m. in the Montana Tech Auditorium. The public is welcome.

LECTURE AT TECH

The Montana Tech Public Lectures Series presents Starfish in the Sundance Sea: Jurassic Asteroidea Fossils from South Montana at 4 p.m. in the Mineral Museum on campus. Jay Gunderson, from the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology, will discuss his discovery of several Jurassic-age (approximately 160 million years old) starfish fossils in the Pryor Mountains in the summer of 2010.

SMART DRIVING

AARP Smart Driving Course is offered from 9:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Belmont Senior Center, 615 E. Mercury St. Details and to register, call Nancy at 406-723-7773.

DIABETES CLASS

Diabetes education classes continue 9 to 11 a.m. at St. James Healthcare. Call Ida Reighard RN, CDE to register at 406-723-2960.

ANNE FRANK EXHIBIT

Dillons Bank of Commerce will host an exhibit reception of Anne Frank: A History for Today from 4 to 7 p.m. at 110 S. Idaho, Dillon.

MEET-UP EVENT

Southwest Montana Small Business Network will host a female entrepreneurs meet-up event from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the Thornton Building, 65 E. Broadway St. Details: 406-533-6777 or go to agrinolds@headwatersrcd.org.

GRANT WRITING

Montana Tech hosts a free grant-writing workshop from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Tech Library. To register call the library at 406-496-4281 or email reference@mtech.edu.

VENTRILOQUIST PERFORMS

Lynn Trefzger, a ventriloquist and comic, will be on stage at 7 p.m. at the Rialto Theater at 418 Main St., Deer Lodge. Adult tickets are $22 and $5 for students through high school. Details: 406-846-7900.

CLUBS AND MEETINGS

BUTTE

PEO Chapter AL will meet at 7 p.m. at the Vintage Suites Community Building.

Daughters of Isabella will have a business meeting and social at 2 p.m. at St. Anns, Room 4.

VFW meets at 7 p.m. in the Marine Corps Building, 525 Garden Ave.

Belly Dance Class runs Thursdays 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Butte-Silver Bow Public Library basement, 226 W. Broadway St. No experience necessary. Cost is $5 a class. Details: 406-723-3164.

Chapter X of PEO meets at noon in the home of Karen McLaughlin.

AARP Smart Driving Course is being offered from 9:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Belmont Senior Center. This includes one hour for lunch. Details and to register, call Nancy at 406-723-7773.

Big Butte Mile High Cribbers play Grassroots American Cribbage Congress-sanctioned cribbage at 6:30 p.m. at the East Side Athletic Club, 3075 Dexter St. Details: Phil at 406-494-2618.

PEO Chapter AL will meet at 7 p.m. at the Vintage Suites Community Building.

Free federal and state income tax assistance will be provided at the Belmont Senior Center on most Fridays through April 15. For an appointment, call Molly, 406-723-7773.

Gamblers Anonymous meets Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. at Aldersgate United Methodist Church. Details: 406-490-3312. This is a change from the previous Friday night meetings.

ANACONDA

Anaconda DAV Memorial Chapter #13 will hold its monthly meeting at 7 p.m. at VFW Hall, 500 E. 4th. Doors open at 6 for social hour. All vets are welcome. Details: 406-563-7274.
MISSOULA  An animal seen chasing elk on Mount Jumbo in Missoula last week was a domestic dog, according to a state wildlife biologist.

On Feb. 4, Missoula resident Brian Nostrant took a photograph of a herd of elk and a black canine on Mount Jumbo in Missoula that looked very much like a wolf. The photo stirred a lot of public interest and a response from the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Park and Missoula Parks and Recreation officials.

The photo certainly resembled a wolf, and we know that wolves occur around the Missoula Valley, said Liz Bradley, FWPs wildlife biologist in Missoula. It wouldnt be surprising to see a wolf on Mount Jumbo.

But the animal's travel and track size and shape proved it was a dog.

Bradley spoke with Nostrant in the afternoon of Feb. 9 and was able to guide FWP wolf specialist, Tyler Parks, via cell phone, to the spot where Nostrant had witnessed and photographed the possible wolves. Parks and Bradley were able to match-up observations on the mountain with Nostrants observations from his house. Then Parks followed the tracks, determined to be from two dogs, to the L.

There were two dogs, one larger than the other, Parks reported, in reference to the tracks. The prints could be distinguished from a wolf by their shape and smaller size. And then, the fact that they led back down to the L Trail was pretty conclusive.

Additionally, an eyewitness report matched with FWPs track observations and Nostrants original observation.

Mike Johnson, a Missoula outdoorsman who has volunteered with FWP for many years, also watched the elk and canine last week from his vantage point at the Hellgate Conoco station with owner, Ross Grenfell.

Ross and I were watching the dog and elk through binoculars, and at first, we thought maybe we were seeing a wolf, Johnson said.

Johnson headed to his home, got his binoculars and watched the dog run across Mount Jumbo.

Ross and I were communicating by phone, and when it got out of my sight, he said it ran down to a hiker with another dog on the L Trail. He accepted the dog, which joined them for the rest of their journey.

Mount Jumbo was acquired by the City of Missoula and FWP in 1996 to protect winter habitat for elk and to minimize disturbance to the elk that spend part of their winter there.

Off-leash dogs chasing wildlife in the winter is extremely stressful to elk and other wild animals and is illegal, said Morgan Valliant, Missoula Parks and Recreation Conservation Lands Manager. It also threatens the exception to the Mount Jumbo winter closure which allows the public to hike to the 'L' and along the U.S. West Trail when the rest of the mountain is closed.

The South Zone of Jumbo is closed to the public from Dec. 1 through March 15, and the North Zone is closed until May 1. The L Trail and the U.S. West Trail above Interstate 90 are open to the public year-round. Dogs are required to be on leash in these areas.

Seeing elk in the winter on Jumbo from downtown Missoula is one of the things that makes living here special, Bradley said. And it reminds us that the elk are here in the winter to find food where snow levels are less and to minimize stress during this critical time of year. The best we can do is give them space and keep pets close. 

FWP and the City of Missoula encourage residents to call 911 or (800) TIP-MONT if they see a person hiking in Jumbos seasonally closed areas or with a dog off leash.
An open letter to Gov. Bullock:

The Helena Hunters and Anglers Association thanks you for your decision to allow expansion of bison as a year-round component of wildlife populations north of Yellowstone Park. We recognize this decision as a modest step forward. We also believe it a significant step forward in wildlife conservation. This action asserts that buffalo, beyond the borders of a national park, are resident wildlife to be managed by the state as a public trust for all people.

Montana is not a casual bystander in the tragic saga of the bison. In 1876, as America celebrated its first centennial, 80,000 buffalo hides were shipped down the Missouri River from Fort Benton, it was their record year. That same year, Custer and the 7th U.S. Cavalry, riding in defense of "manifest destiny," died on the hills above the Little Big Horn. Eight years later: the buffalo hide shipments from Fort Benton fell to zero; poachers were after the last wild buffalo that took refuge in Yellowstone Park. Two years after that, the U.S. Cavalry rode into Yellowstone to protect that tattered remnant from commercial poaching.

The buffalo of Yellowstone recovered. Today, we chase and harass them with horses and a host of machines; we force them back behind lines we draw on maps; and ship a growing number to slaughterhouses. In 2015 the kill was 737 with government wildlife agents shooting or sending to slaughter 511. This years target lies somewhere between 600 and 900. It is quite an irony that, since 1912, the buffalos image has been on the official seal of the U.S. Department of Interior  the federal agency most responsible for both past and current treatment of wild and semi-wild buffalo. While we struggle out on the land to meet our moral and ecological responsibility to the buffalo, in another ironic twist, the U.S. Congress considers legislation to make the buffalo Americas official mammal.

It is time to make space for this exceptional animal that has been more abused than any other form of wildlife in our nations history. Americans have restored a remarkable array of wild things from wild geese across a continent to grizzly bears in our wildest backcountry. It is now time to cut the buffalo in on this remarkable achievement and restore them as free ranging wildlife on lands beyond Yellowstone and out on the Great Plains where they just simply belong.

As the proverb says, the longest journey begins with the first step and we thank you for taking that step. Perhaps, with your help, in a coming spring season out on the Great Northern Plains of Montana, a truly wild newborn buffalo calf will wobble to its feet midst a lush June green-up of prairie grass and flower and -- be home! We can make it happen -- not for us -- not for the Department of Interior or the even the U.S Congress, but -- for them!

-- Stan Frasier is president of the Helena Hunters and Anglers Association.
In this season of presidential debates, international warfare and refugee crises, it is easy to often lose sight of more mundane issues like utility rates and rail safety. The fact is, however, that the actions of the Public Service Commission in these areas have significant and direct impacts on our daily lives. In recent newspaper articles the PSC announced new electrical rate increases, sought to explain dangerously concerning railroad safety audits, and witnessed unmanaged problems spinning out of control. All of these issues have one thing in common: the misguided management by the current Public Service Commission.

Thats why I was amazed at Public Service Commissioner Roger Koopmans recent editorials explaining why, in spite of voting for it, he was not responsible for NorthWestern Energys recent interim rate increase. He should be excused, he explains, because he did his best, but at the time nobody would listen. Commissioner Koopmans response to the actions of his commission blames public ecstasy for the commissions lack of oversight. He also explained that his abstention from voting on the rate reconsideration was how he would register extreme displeasure at his fellow commissioners. I am hopeful Montanans dont excuse Commissioner Koopman for errors he admits the commission made, but instead they will see it as a clear indication of how dysfunctional our PSC has become.

Just last month the state audit committee found that this Public Service Commission was so negligent in regulating rail safety that the auditors recommended that the commissions responsibilities be given to another agency. Rail safety is a key issue for Montana communities and we hope the other guy is doing it is not a reassuring response.

The PSC also recently became entangled in the sale of the Missoula municipal water utility. The Carlyle Group, an investment firm embroiled in court proceedings with the city of Missoula, sold the Missoula water utility without any notification to the commission. This issue dates back several years and has been a thorn in the side of the Missoula community, yet the only action taken by this PSC has been to allow the Carlyle Group management to keep their salaries secret from the water consumers. The failure to protect ratepayers is inexcusable

Commission Koopman recognized the dysfunction of the all-Republican PSC when he wrote, For this Commissioner, it is exceedingly frustrating to approve a rate hike that could have been avoided if the Commission had been more prudent and skeptical. The portions of the PSC that Commissioner Koopman finds so negligent are members of his political party. The commissioner would like us all to see the rate increase as a situation of those guys did it and not we did it.

Excuses, shrugged shoulders and finger-pointing are not effective forms of government regulation and Montana consumers should demand that a commission, charged with their protection, not be used for furthering ideological agendas. According to Commissioner Koopman the current PSC has been acting rashly, and I agree.

-- State Sen. Pat Noonan, D-Ramsay, represents House District 74 until January. He is candidate for Region 3 of the Public Service Commission.
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Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) President, Busisa Moyo

One wonders what exactly it would take for Zimbabwe`s business community to take a stand against the governing party`s handling of the economy. From bond notes, cash shortages, high unemployment, anemic growth, it seems not only has the wheels fallen off for Zimbabwe, but so too has the axle and the suspension. Consider this, the politburo will meet today, and on the agenda will obviously be its internal factional fights if the events of the last couple of weeks are anything to go by. Also featuring on the agenda, as a mere afterthought was the state of the economy. Yes, Zanu PF is allowed to sanitise its in-house affairs however it sees fit, but when attention on the economy is continuously relegated to the fringes, surely it must be a cause for concern.





Businesses are the backbone of the economy, and they have a vested interest in the state of the economy. Perhaps the country`s business community does not know how important it really is in the broader national context. No wonder the politicians continue to take business for granted. How can it be business as usual when the national pre-occupation is on petty party politics, while the economy continues to tank? Companies pay taxes to government, and with taxes, comes representation and participation in the democratic process. Instead of sucking up to government continuously, it is high time the business sector looks government eyeball-to-eyeball regarding its commitment, or lack thereof, to turn the economy around.





The truth is that there is a crisis which can potentially develop into something much worse. Worryingly though, is the governing party`s flagrant neglect of the economy, as it continues to major in the minors, so far as the overall economy is concerned.





What in the name of all that is good and holy, are local business lobby groups like the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) and the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) doing, holding countless consultative meetings, Indabas and workshops for months on end, yet they glaringly fail to raise their voices in holding government to account? These are the same lobby groups representing some of the corporates which stumble upon each other, queuing up to buy ridiculously priced dinner tables at Zanu PF fundraising events, just to be seen as being supportive of the governing party, regardless of the fact that they are short of working capital to just keep their lights on.





It is no longer business as usual, and it would be abhorrent for the local business industry to let Zanu PF, or any political party running the country for that matter, to drive the economy over the cliff, while it haplessly looks on. Zimbabwe`s business sector must collectively show its economic clout, and challenge government constructively on business friendly policy making and also work closely with the suits in government to practically improve the economic climate.





It could be that, the business community does not quite know the power and influence it can potentially wield. Take South Africa for instance, when Jacob Zuma  as all politicians do from time to time  made a questionable, spur-of-the-moment decision to sack Finance minister Nhlanhla Nene, replacing him with an unknown David van Rooyen, the South African business community did not just simply take this lying down. The South African Chamber of Mines, the Black Business Council as well as the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which represent a substantial number of businesses between them called for President Zuma to explain the rationale behind his decision as a matter of priority. Subsequently, they made representations to Zuma explaining to him how catastrophic his decision was, ultimately prompting Zuma to reverse his decision. This illustrates how the business community can effectively hold politicians to account, and so influence priorities and decisions, particularly when it concerns the economy.





The current situation where Zanu PF as the government in power continues its internal mud-slinging and name-calling antics as opposed to focusing on repairing the economy is untenable. This just speaks to the rather unfortunate lack of accountability Zanu PF faces. In the absence of organized and well-oiled opposition parties to do so, it is imperative for the business community locally to stand up and challenge the current status quo. In fact, it is in their best interests to do so! After all, these are the same company executives bemoaning the poor macro-economic conditions for the unimpressive performances of their companies at every twist and turn. Messrs Chris Mugaga, Busisa Moyo and Toindepi Muganyi among a host of several other business leaders must wake up and start actively confronting government on the economy as the faces of corporate Zimbabwe.




ORIGINAL NOTICE

FOR PUBLICATION

U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE FOR THE CWMBS REPERFORMING LOAN REMIC TRUST CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2006-R1,

Plaintiff,

vs.

JULIA ALVAREZ AKA JULIA GARCIA GRACIA; JOSE A. ALVAREZ AKA JOSE ALVAREZ; MARIBEL RUIZ PEREZ; PABLO ALBA; STATE OF IOWA and PARTIES IN POSSESSION,

Defendants.

To the above-named Defendants: Jose A. Alvarez aka Jose Alvarez

You are notified there was on 11/6/2015 filed in the Office of the Clerk of the above-named Court a Foreclosure Petition, which prays for foreclosure of a mortgage in favor of the Plaintiff on the property described herein and judgment in rem in the amount of $43,202.19 plus interest at the rate of 8.0% per annum from 5/1/2015, such amount equaling $288.01 per month, the costs of the action including title costs of $250.00, and reasonable attorney fees and that said sums be declared a lien upon the following-described premises from 8/15/2000, located in Muscatine County, Iowa, to-wit:

Lot 97 of Island View Addition to the City of Muscatine, Iowa

that the mortgage on the above-described real estate be foreclosed, that a special execution issue for the sale of as much of the mortgaged premises as is necessary to satisfy the judgment and for other relief as the Court may deem just and equitable. The attorney for the Plaintiff is David M. Erickson, whose address is The Davis Brown Tower, 215 10th Street, Suite 1300, Des Moines, Iowa 50309-3993, Phone: (515) 288-2500, Facsimile: (515) 243-0654.

NOTICE

THE PLAINTIFF HAS ELECTED FORECLOSURE WITHOUT REDEMPTION. THIS MEANS THAT THE SALE OF THE MORTGAGED PROPERTY WILL OCCUR PROMPTLY AFTER ENTRY OF JUDGMENT UNLESS YOU FILE WITH THE COURT A WRITTEN DEMAND TO DELAY THE SALE. IF YOU FILE A WRITTEN DEMAND, THE SALE WILL BE DELAYED UNTIL SIX MONTHS FROM ENTRY OF JUDGMENT IF THE MORTGAGED PROPERTY IS YOUR RESIDENCE AND IS A ONE-FAMILY OR TWO-FAMILY DWELLING OR UNTIL TWO MONTHS FROM ENTRY OF JUDGMENT IF THE MORTGAGED PROPERTY IS NOT YOUR RESIDENCE OR IS YOUR RESIDENCE BUT NOT A ONE-FAMILY OR TWO-FAMILY DWELLING. YOU WILL HAVE NO RIGHT OF REDEMPTION AFTER THE SALE. THE PURCHASER AT THE SALE WILL BE ENTITLED TO IMMEDIATE POSSESSION OF THE MORTGAGED PROPERTY. YOU MAY PURCHASE AT THE SALE.

You must serve a motion or answer on or before the 9th day of March, 2016, and within a reasonable time thereafter, file your motion or answer, in the Iowa District Court for Muscatine County, Iowa, at the County Courthouse in Muscatine, Iowa. If you do not, judgment by default may be rendered against you for the relief demanded in the Petition.

If you need assistance to participate in court due to a disability, call the disability coordinator at 563-328-4145. Persons who are hearing or speech impaired may call Relay Iowa TTY (1 800 735 2942.) Disability coordinators cannot provide legal advice.

IMPORTANT

YOU ARE ADVISED TO SEEK LEGAL ADVICE AT ONCE TO PROTECT YOUR INTERESTS.

Date of Third Publication

18th day of February, 2016
The Muscatine County Board of Supervisors met in regular session at 9:00 A.M. with Howard, Kelly, Sorensen, Sauer and Bonebrake present. Chairperson Sorensen presiding.

On a motion by Kelly, second by Bonebrake, the agenda was approved as presented. Ayes: All.

On a motion by Sauer, second by Kelly, claims dated February 1, 2016 were approved in the amount of $410,166.64. Ayes: All.

On a motion by Kelly, second by Sauer, the following utility permit was approved: Iowa Power and Light (Alliant Energy) - bore under road to place electrical line to 2585 122nd Street. Ayes: All.

Muscatine County Engineer Keith White updated the Board on current road conditions. White stated due to the warmer weather the roads are soft on top and drivers should expect sloppy road conditions after the upcoming rain/snow storm. White stated these are unusual conditions for this time of year and requested drivers stay off soft roads whenever possible.

White updated the Board on bridge inspection procedures and future bridge replacements. White stated the embargo on the Lindle Avenue Bridge was changed from six tons to three tons because there are problems with the pilings. On a motion by Sauer, second by Bonebrake, minutes of the January 25, 2016 regular meeting and the January 26, 2016 special meeting were approved as written. Ayes: All.

Correspondence:

Howard received several contacts regarding the February 1st Iowa Caucus.

Howard received a citizen complaint about his lack of professionalism during the Board of Supervisors meetings.

All Board Members received an email regarding the destruction of goats by a

dog and the ensuing court case.

Sorensen spoke with Senator Brace regarding Mental Health funding issues.

Committee Reports:

Bonebrake and Sauer attended a Muscatine County Joint Communications Commission meeting January 25th.

Sauer attended a MAGIC Board orientation meeting January 27th.

Sorensen attended a Bi-State Regional Planning Commission meeting

January 27th.

Sorensen attended a WELEAD (West Liberty Economic Area Development

Board) meeting February 1st.

Kelly attended an Eastern Iowa Mental Health Region meeting January 25th.

Muscatine County Engineer Keith White expressed concerns about road conditions along possible RAGBRAI routes in the County.

On a motion by Howard, second by Bonebrake, the Board accepted the January 2016 payroll claims. Ayes: All.

Discussion was held with Conservation Director Curt Weiss regarding a proposal to fund cabin construction at Deep Lakes Park. Weiss stated the Conservation Board is proposing inclusion of a $500,000 15-year bond in the FY16/17 budget to fund the construction; it is anticipated that bond payment would be made from the revenue generated from the cabins. Weiss stated the Conservation Board is in the process of looking for additional funding for park development, including an application for a Community Attractions & Tourism grant, and will advise the Board of Supervisors at a future date if the bonds will need to be issued. Board consensus was to add a $500,000 bond for Deep Lakes Park Cabin funding to the FY16/17 Budget.

Budget Administrator Sherry Seright and Administrative Services Director Nancy Schreiber reviewed FY16/17 budget updates.

Kelly reminded everyone to check the batteries in their smoke detectors and to have smoke detectors in their homes.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:49 A.M.

ATTEST:

Leslie A. Soule, County Auditor Jeff Sorensen, Chairperson

Board of Supervisors
WAPELLO, Iowa  There would be a small increase in spending next year in the Louisa County Assessors Office, according to a preliminary fiscal year 2017 budget that was accepted Tuesday by the Louisa County Conference Board.

Assessor Greg Johnson presented the proposed $361,952 spending plan, which would be $1,153 above this years spending of $360,799.

According to the budget detail presented by Johnson, the countys certified taxable valuation for the fiscal year would be $605,942 and $354,000 of the proposed budget would come from property taxes and utility excise taxes.

The total tax levy would be slightly over 58 cents per $1,000 taxable valuation. This years rate is just under 58 cents per $1,000 valuation.

One large item that was not included in this years budget is an anticipated $21,051 payout to Johnson for unused sick leave and vacation. He had previously announced he planned to retire later this year and he repeated that announcement during the conference board meeting.

I am going to retire in December, he said, adding he hoped the board would seriously consider his assistant, Cathy Smith, for the position.

He said Smith had qualified by earning the proper certifications and had the necessary experience.

A major decrease from this years budget would come in appraisal services/software & equipment. This years budget included $30,000 because of some software acquisitions, but only $15,000 was budget for next year. There was also some salary changes because of other staff retirements and adjustments, Johnson pointed out.

The board set a public hearing on the budget proposal for 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 2, at the courthouse.

In other action, the board approved the reappointment of Von Smith, of Wapello, to a six-year term on the Louisa County Board of Review.

Following the meeting, Johnson, who also serves as the countys zoning administrator, also reported the countys planning and zoning commission had approved a sign change recommendation. According to Johnson, the commission met last week and considered a request from Heritage Oaks Country Club (formerly the Indian Hills Country Club) to increase the size of signs allowed in rural areas of the county.

Under the current rules, signs cannot be larger than 20 square feet, but the country club wanted to install a larger one on U.S. Highway 61 south of Wapello. Under the change approved by the commission, signs up to 150 square feet would be allowed on all state and federal highways in Louisa County. Johnson said the larger size would not be allowed on county roads.

Johnson will forward the commissions recommendation to the Louisa County Board of Supervisors, which will make the final decision.
MUSCATINE, Iowa  The Muscatine City Council agreed Wednesday night to fund an additional $75,700 worth of projects including the hiring of two additional firefighters without raising taxes.

The funds will be taken out of the city's fund balance, according to Finance Director Nancy Lueck.

The other funding requests approved by the council were $25,000 for Muscatine Center for Social Action and a $5,000 increase in the allocation for the Muscatine Humane Society.

A request for an additional $10,000 in the allocation to Senior Resources was turned down by the council. Senior Resources had requested $30,000. The agency will receive the same $20,000 allocation as it received last year.

Council members clearly wanted to hire the additional firefighters but did not want to raise the tax rate above the current $15.672 per $1,000 taxable valuation. The council hasn't raised taxes in seven years.

"This is not a want. This is not a wish list," Fire Chief Jerry Ewers said in making his last pitch to the council Wednesday night.

The city's proposed Fiscal Year 2017 budget had contained two additional firefighters. But Ewers had asked for four new positions.

"We have the people to hire. We have a plan in place. We have a training plan in place. We are ready," Ewers said.

"I really hope this goes a long way to helping staff morale," Mayor Diana Broderson said.

"You and I both," Ewers replied.

The mayor does not have a vote.

The $25,000 for MCSA will be used for the homeless prevention program. As a provision in approving the increase, the council said the money would be offset by any grant funds the agency receives.

"We are very pleased to continue our partnership with the city and the funding we received tonight. I think there was a lot of good conversation and evaluation and we are very pleased with the outcome," MCSA Director Charla Schafer said.

Councilman Tom Spread proposed taking the additional funds out of the city's fund balance.

"I am willing to roll the dice on $75,000. I think we can do this without the tax increase," he said.

The budgeted fund balance is typically lower than the actual fund balance at the end of the year, according to the council.

"We've always outperformed," Spread said.

The fund balance is the cumulative excess of revenues over expenditures, according to Lueck. The city's fund balance will sit at $3,640,000 after the $75,700 is subtracted.

The public hearing on the Fiscal Year 2017 budget is set for 7 p.m. March 3 in city council chambers.
William Clark will be giving the presentation. Clark was on the faculty at Iowa State University for 35 years in the Department of Animal Ecology and now professor emeritus in Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology. He taught wildlife and vertebrate biology courses and conducted research on population dynamics and landscape ecology of various wildlife species. His most recent project was on bobcat colonization in the Midwest and he has worked on a wide variety of wildlife research projects. The talk will focus on his bobcat research and the status of bobcats in Iowa, but also includes an overview of other large carnivores such as bears and mountain lions that have been in the news in Iowa over the last several years.
MUSCATINE, Iowa  Muscatine Power & Water reported a water main break on the private main at Kent Estates on Canterbury Road that will require a water outage for the repairs.

Butcher Plumbing will be making the repairs and MP&W operators will be on site to assist. Approximately 100 customers will be affected by the outage, according to an email from MP&W sent at 11 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 11. Traffic will not be disrupted. Customers could experience discolored water after the repairs are completed, the email stated.

The duration of the outage will be unknown until crews expose the main break by digging into the ground to see exactly what needs to be done. Water had not been shut off as of 11 a.m.

An update will be sent when the repairs have been completed and water service is restored.
The majority of people know little or nothing about the plans of the "illuminati." The voters are led to believe that their votes decide elections, winner or loser.

Voters do not know the truth, that unless that man or woman has the endorsement of the rulers behind the scene, he or she has not chance of winning a high office.

He or she has to promise the support the goals of the controllers which include the subversion of Christian morals, the promotion of environmentalism, globalism, and the gradual end of American sovereignty, to be elected.

The controllers control both the media and political parties. If necessary, by vote scams and electoral fraud, you may or may not believe what I wrote, but I do believe it or I wouldn't have written it.

Don Hoover

Muscatine
(Weapons and Warfare) The Iran-Iraq War was one of the longest and deadliest in recent histories. Iran full of zeal after its revolution...
Important stuff you won't get from the liberal media! We do the surfing so you can be informed AND have a life!
Les emplois a Rennes sont abondants et varies. Il y a quelque chose pour tout le monde. Que vous soyez a la recherche dun emploi []
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 []
Altech Autopages largest client, Saicom, has told the Competition Tribunal that the cost of some of MTN and Vodacoms cellphone packages has increased by between 400% and 500%.

According to a report by Moneyweb, the increases were implemented on special offers that Altech Autopage used to make to its Vodacom and MTN clients.

For example, offering R100s worth of airtime for R25, Saicom director Howard Sackstein told Moneyweb.

The increases were the first indication of the detrimental effects of the proposed mergers between Altech Autopage and Vodacom and Altech Autopage and MTN, stated Saicom.

In September, Altron announced that the Altech Autopage subscriber base was to be sold to MTN, Cell C, and Vodacom for R1.46bn.

Autopage is a phone service provider that sells MTN, Cell C, and Vodacom contracts.

The sale of Autopages subscribers was referred back to the Competition Commission in December, following its initial approval.

Saicom said the viability of its business was dependent on the outcome of the current investigation by the Competition Tribunal.

Saicom made the statement during an application to the Competition Tribunal to intervene in the merger proceedings.

Saicoms application to intervene was denied. The merger hearing was concluded. The tribunal will rule on the merger in due course, stated the report.

Update: Autopage responds

Altech Autopage made the following statement in response to the report by Moneyweb.

Altech Autopage would like to set the record straight with regard to media reports that MTN and Vodacom will raise the price of Altech Autopage contracts by between 400% and 500%. These reports are factually incorrect. There will be no price change to any customer that transfers from Altech Autopage to any of the network operators  namely Vodacom, MTN and Cell C. The comments by Saicom regarding price increases refers to the contractual obligations between Saicom and Altech Autopage only. What Saicom referred to as price increases has nothing to do with Altech Autopage customers. Altech Autopage does not charge above the tariff rates as regulated by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA). With respect to the transfer of Altech Autopages customers, if approved by the Competition Tribunal, to Vodacom, MTN and Cell C respectively. The current Terms and Conditions for those customers for the duration of their contracts does not change.

More on Autopage

Altech Autopage MD resigns

Autopage thought about MVNO model
South Africas nuclear build programme will roll out at a pace the country can afford, said President Jacob Zuma during his State of the Nation Address on Thursday.

Zuma said nuclear energy will form part of South Africas energy mix.

Our plan is to introduce 9600MW of nuclear energy in the next decade in addition to Koeberg nuclear station, he said.

We will test the market to ascertain the true cost of building a modern nuclear power plant, he said. Let me emphasise, we will only procure nuclear on a scale and pace that our country can afford.

On December 26, Cabinet approved the process for the Department of Energy (DoE) to officially call for the request for proposals, which DoE director general Thabane Zulu said at the time would assist in developing a funding model.

This followed a year of inter-governmental agreements between South Africa and various countries with nuclear capabilities, a process that is legally binding before any contract can be awarded.

Controversy around the programme started in 2014, when Russias state-owned nuclear company, Rosatom, prematurely announced it had won the contract, after President Jacob Zuma secretly visited Russia. It later retracted its statement and told Fin24 in 2015 that it was a public relations mistake.

Controversy over Rosatoms announcement intensified after a local newspaper reported Zuma personally negotiated the deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin, AFP reported in 2014.

There is mounting pressure from opposition politicians, economists and environmentalists to make the process more transparent, as there are various issues, such as financing the programme, with estimates ranging from R250bn to a whopping R1.5trn.

Proponents of the programme believe this nuclear plan will unlock South Africas industrialisation potential and secure its energy security.

Critics believe it will bankrupt the state and hand over its sovereignty to another country.

Fin24

More on South Africas nuclear power plans

Mystery of old signature on SA nuclear plan approval solved

This is whats next for South Africas nuclear roll-out

Nuclear power plan for SA gets Cabinet approval
President Jacob Zuma is scheduled to deliver his address on the state of South Africa at 19:00 on 11 February.

The State of the Nation address will be made in a joint sitting of Parliament.

Zuma is expected to talk about what the government has achieved in the past year, and present a programme for the coming year.

SONA 2016 will be live streamed through a number of online channels, including:

The Parliamentary Service, eNCA, and the SABC will also cover the event.

SABC live stream

Parliament live stream

eNCA live stream

More on SONA 2016

Malema reveals his plans for State of the Nation address

What the ANC wants from the State of the Nation Address
President Jacob Zuma has called for Parliament to urgently investigate the practicality of having two capitals in South Africa.

Zuma made the statement during his 2016 State of the Nation Address.

Zuma said the cost of maintaining two capitals is too expensive, referring to Cape Town as the legislative capital, and Pretoria as the administrative capital.

This is a matter which must be considered on an urgent basis, said Zuma.

He mentioned the fact that members of the executive had to have two cars and two houses  one in Cape Town and one in Pretoria  and needed to travel between the two cities.

Zuma made the statements while dealing with how he plans to turn the countrys economy around.

More on the government

South Africas economy is heading to zero

Dont pay your e-tolls? Sanral is coming for you
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
*Tomorrow* is *Pumpkin Cheesecake Day, *and I thought I'd get a jump on the holiday! Here's an easy favorite recipe involving cheesecake and chocolate -...

7 hours ago
The life of a 28 year old man from Kisumu has changed for the better after President Uhuru Kenyattas tour in the county re-ignited his hope of finding a job.

Philemon Agwanda Nyagaya, in a bold move forced his way through hundreds of people and yelled out for the President when the Head of State stopped over at Obunga slum to address a crowd.

I was standing at one of the bumps on the busy highway. Many people had blocked the road to listen to the President. It then dawned on me that he could help me find a job, an elated Nyagaya narrated.

His resilience yielded positive results when the President turned to look at him and beckoned him to his car.

I told him how much I have struggled to get a job. His aides handed me a notebook and a pen to write my contacts, he added.

On the same day the St Pauls University graduate gave his phone number to Kenyatta, he received a phone call at around 7pm from State House and had a chat with President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Later, at around 7pm when we were still discussing the incident with my friends, I received a call from a strange line and a lady was on the other end. She asked my name which I told her and she said the President wanted to speak with me, Nyagaya told the Daily Nation.

I did not believe it until I heard the Presidents voice and we started conversing. In the conversation, he asked me about my problem. He also asked me about my parents and how they were doing. In the brief chat, he said he was happy with my courageous act and said someone would call me back and I thanked him, Nyagaya recounted.

Half an hour after his talk with the President, Nyagaya received a call from a lady who asked him to e-mail his CV and other credentials to the Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs Cabinet Secretary, Sicily Kariuki.

Below is his story. Video courtesy of KTN


DUBAI, United Arab Emirates  An Iranian drone that flew over a U.S. aircraft carrier last month was the first to conduct an overflight of an American carrier since 2014, according to a U.S. Navy report obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The Jan. 12 reconnaissance flight by the Iranian Shahed drone was the latest in a series of tense naval encounters between forces of the Islamic Republic and the U.S. Navy, including the brief detention of 10 American sailors who strayed into Iranian territorial waters in the Persian Gulf.

All the incidents have come after Iran signed a nuclear deal with world powers including the U.S., and point to lingering tensions between the two playing out in key waterways used to transport oil.

An internal U.S. Navy report on the incident, obtained by the AP through a Freedom of Information Act request, said it happened as the USS Harry S. Truman and the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle were 89 nautical miles southwest of the Iranian port of Bushehr. The U.S. Navy also released video it shot of the incident for the first time in response to the AP request.

A French helicopter watched the Shahed-121 drone on the cloudy day and the U.S. Navy dispatched a Seahawk helicopter to film it as it flew over the Truman, a nuclear-powered carrier based out of Norfolk, Virginia.

The U.S. Navy taskforce in the area publicly described the drones overflight as safe, routine and professional. But the internal report says the Navys higher command described it as safe, abnormal and unprofessional, as Iranian drones seldom fly over American carriers.

U.S. and French sailors repeatedly confirmed that the Iranian drone had its wings clean, the report said. That means it did not carry weapons and didnt pose a risk to the ship, said Cmdr. Kevin Stephens, a spokesman for the U.S. Navys 5th Fleet based in Bahrain.

Theyre operating in international airspace. You cant shoot (it) down; that would be illegal, Stephens said.

Irans Revolutionary Guard is using similar Shahed-129 drones as ground support to forces fighting on the side of President Bashar Assad in Syria, the semi-official Fars news agency reported last week. The difference between the two models was not immediately clear. Iran also said it deployed Shahed drones during war games near the Iranian holy city of Qom that simulated a capture of Jerusalems Al-Aqsa Mosque in November.

Shahed means witness in both Farsi and Arabic.

The last Iranian drone overflight of an American aircraft carrier happened in September 2014 and involved the USS George H.W. Bush, according to the report. That happened as the U.S. and other world powers were in the midst of negotiating a final agreement over the fate of Irans disputed nuclear program. An interim agreement had been reached to limit the program the previous year, but neither side had been able to finalize the deal by a June 2014 deadline, leading talks to be extended.

In January, Iranian state television aired footage it said came from a drone overflight of an American carrier. The footage, which the AP could not independently verify, purported to show the drone being launched and then hovering over an unidentified aircraft carrier, a targeting bracket briefly passing over a jet parked on the deck below.

Iran has more than 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) of shoreline facing the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman. Control of that territory, including the Strait of Hormuz, through which nearly a third of all oil traded by sea passes, has remained a priority for Irans military, and it conducts regular drills in the region.

American and Iranian forces clashed in the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. On April 18, 1988, U.S. forces attacked two Iranian oil rigs and sank or damaged six Iranian vessels in response to the near-sinking of the missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts by an Iranian mine. A few months later, in July 1988, the USS Vincennes in the strait mistook an Iran Air flight heading to Dubai for an attacking fighter jet, shooting down the plane and killing all 290 passengers and crew onboard.

The U.S. has criticized some of Irans recent maneuvers in the Gulf, including what it called a highly provocative Iranian rocket test in December near the USS Harry S. Truman, the USS Bulkeley destroyer, the French FS Provence frigate and commercial traffic in the strait.

A second report obtained Wednesday by the AP on that incident named the commercial ships nearby as the M/V Glovis Pacific, a car carrier, and the M/V SPF Prudencia, an oil tanker. The report suggested that the rocket fire was meant to intimidate the U.S. warships, a test Stephens called extremely dangerous given the close military and commercial traffic nearby.

Youre one broken rocket fin away from creating a serious international incident that could have had unfortunate consequences, the commander said.
Cinnabar Theater celebrated the opening of Theresa Rebeck's comedy "Bad Dates" with a contest asking the audience to share their worst dates. The winner was a woman who described going out on a first with a man who, midway through a meal, told her he was sure his wife wouldn't mind his dating her.

"Tell you what," this woman replied. "Give me her phone number, and I'll call her up and ask her."

At least this woman won a pound of coffee for her pains. And the audience shared a good empathetic laugh. It is, after all, a truth universally acknowledged that anyone bold and mad enough to venture into the world of dating is going to have at least one experience that will make them consider a pet rat as a preferable companion.

This laughter continued with the production, a one-woman performance by Jennifer King, directed by Molly Noble.

King, who is a director and professor of theater at Napa Valley College, has just returned from a European sabbatical, and is brimming with energy as she portrays Haley Walker, a transplant from Texas who arrived in New York City, as a single mom with a 5-year-old daughter. Seven years later, she decides it's time to start dating.

In the meantime, she has progressed from waiting tables to managing a restaurant for the Romanian mafia, turning it into a Manhattan success and even quietly paying taxes without her bosses realizing it.

She is, she explains, a sort of "idiot savant" when it comes to restaurants. For the first time in her life, she doesn't have to worry about money every minute; she has a box of cash stashed in her closet, along with about 500 pairs of designer shoes.

These are only a few of the many things Haley confides when she invites the audience into her bedroom, where the play takes place, beginning as she is preparing to go out on her first date in 13 or so years.

What has inspired it, she tells us, is a recent Buddhist fundraiser she attended, where she was condemned to sit outside in a thunderstorm, holding a napkin over her head, as advised by the hostess, and listening to a conversation about being one with mosquitoes. She notes that one of the dinner companions is attractive. "And when you start thinking that a Buddhist bug guy is cute, it's time to start dating again."

She does not have good experiences. This she shares in vivid, tragic, comic detail as she decides which shoes to wear for her next assay, in her clothes-filled room in her rent-controlled apartment.

King gives a rich and sparkling performance as the dauntless Haley, whose soliloquies are filled with wry humor, epicurean insights, and down-to-earth charm. She is, by turns, wistful, wise and not-so-wise, a mirror of that collective part of humanity that, against the odds, keeps believing in, as Oscar Wilde so admirably puts it, "the triumph of hope over experience." She may end up dating a man who worries about butter and cheese ("and it's a French restaurant"), one who tells her she looks old and then describes his colonoscopies as dinner conversation, or one who would prefer to be dating her brother, but she doesn't give up.

Is it worth it? That's for her to say, but just as the world she's worked 13 years building for herself and her daughter is threatened with collapse ( the Romanians want to look at the restaurant's books), hope arrives in a most unexpected form, causing her to ruminate:

"Maybe men and women weren't put on this earth to torture each other."

King infuses the role with energy, and notes that this is a great play for a group of women to attend together. Afterward, they can repair to a bar and compare their own bad date stories. Equally, it's not a bad idea for a date, and certainly will be a better one than any described onstage.
This year, Grgich Hills Estate will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the historic Judgment of Paris tasting and its legacy with vintner dinners across the country, an appearance at the Smithsonian Institution and the release of Miljenko Mike Grgichs autobiography A Glass Full of Miracles, which tells the story of his fascinating life.

In 1976, Steven Spurrier, an Englishman who ran a fine wine shop in Paris, decided to promote his wine shop by organizing a blind tasting to coincide with Americas bicentennial celebrations. For the tasting, he gathered together the best French judges, the finest French wines and he added in a few wines, from some upstart winemakers in California.

California Chardonnays represented in the tasting included: Chateau Montelena, 1973; Chalone Vineyard, 1974; Spring Mountain Vineyard, 1973; Freemark Abbey Winery, 1972; Veedercrest Vineyards, 1972; and David Bruce Winery, 1973.

The California cabernet sauvignons represented in the tasting included: Stags Leap Wine Cellars, 1973; Clos Du Val Winery, 1972; Ridge Vineyards, Monte Bello, 1972; Heitz Wine Cellars, Marthas Vineyard, 1970; Mayacamas Vineyards, 1971; and Freemark Abbey Winery, 1969.

The unimaginable happened: the Chateau Montelena chardonnay, crafted by Mike Grgich, won with the highest total score of 132 points. In the afternoon tasting of the red wines, the French judges gave their top ranking to Warren Winiarski for his 1973 Stags Leap cabernet sauvignon, beating the best Cabernets of Bordeaux with 127.5 points.

The only reporter to attend, George Taber, wrote in Time magazine about this American triumph, which sent shock waves throughout the world of wine. Taber later wrote an account of this tasting and its impact in his book, Judgment of Paris: California vs. France and the Historic 1976 Paris Tasting That Revolutionized Wine, which will be made into a major motion picture in 2017.

The movie will include Mike Grgich and is being co-produced by entrepreneur Jonathan Rotella and famed Hollywood screenwriter and vintner Robert Kamen, best known for writing the Taken trilogy and The Karate Kid series.

Grgich said he believes the Judgment of Paris is a significant event not just for him and the Napa Valley but for everyone who is dedicated to winemaking, since it proves that you dont need French soil to make great wine.

On April 2, Grgich, who turns 93 on April 1, will host a Judgment of Paris dinner and book launch of his autobiography A Glass Full of Miracles at Morgans in the Desert in La Quinta. Bottles and books will be available.

On May 16, Violet Grgich will participate in a panel discussion of the Paris Tasting Legacy as part of the American History (After Hours) at the Smithsonians National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C. For more information, visit bit.ly/historyPM.

On May 17, Violet Grgich will participate in the National Museum of American Historys fourth annual Winemakers Dinner commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the Paris Tasting in Washington, D.C. For more information, visit americanhistory.si.edu/topics/food/pages/fortieth-anniversary-judgment-paris.

Violet Grgich will also host a gala celebration of the Judgment of Paris at Vizcaya Museum in Miami on May 19. Ticket information is at bit.ly/VizcayaMuseumGrgich.

The Grgich and Hills families will host a special Judgment of Paris Croatian Extravaganza for wine club members, friends and family in Yountville on July 2.

Also, the winery will host Judgment of Paris dinners around the country with restaurant partners. Check the calendar of events at www.grgich.com for more information or contact the winery if your restaurant would like to participate.

More Paris celebrations

Additional highlights of the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the 1976 Judgment of Paris wine tasting in Napa Valley include:

 The Westin Verasa Napa is offering a special flight of current vintages of the most honored wines at the blind tasting. For $125, Michelin-starred La Toque will offer three-ounce pours of the current vintages from the winners: Stags Leap Wine Cellars S.L.V. 2012, Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello 2012 and Heitz Cellar Marthas Vineyard 2010.

 Flavor! Napa Valley kicks off the 40th anniversary at Silverado Resort & Spa in Napa with the Celebration of the Judgment of Paris Dinner, Thursday, March 17, 6-10 p.m. Participating chefs include Matthew Accarrino, SPQR (San Francisco); Bradley Ogden, Lark Creek Restaurant Group; Justin Yu, Oxheart (Houston); and Larry Forgione (Culinary Institute of America).

Tickets are $295 per person. For a complete description of all Flavor! Napa Valley events, including dates, times, pricing and ticket information, visit FlavorNapaValley.com.

Chateau Montelena Winery in Calistoga celebrates with an open house at the wineries on the anniversary date, May 24. In addition, Auberge du Soleil in Rutherford will host a dinner with Chateau Montelena Winery proprietor Judy Barrett, president Bo Barrett and winemaker Matt Crafton on Friday, March 11. The five-course tasting menu by chef Robert Curry, will be paired with Chateau Montelena wines. The dinner is limited to 50 guests and is $195 per person. For details, visit, www.aubergedusoleil.com

 The Meritage Resort and Spa in Napa hosts a food and wine-tasting event May 22-29, which includes a three-course menu for $52 per person and a selection of wine-pairing suggestions from Napa Valley and France. Wine pairings will be priced per glass. For details, visit www.Meritage Resort.com.

 Angele Restaurant in Napa will pair dishes with wine from Mayacamas Vineyards during the entire month of May 2016.For details, contact Kelly Mitchell-Jacks at Kelly@angelerestaurant.com, 707-252-8115; www.angelerestaurant.com

The Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena, will serve a family-style French-inspired menu with a blind wine pairing on Sunday, April 23, from 4:30-7:30 p.m. Each course will be paired with two wines; one French and one from California. When a guest correctly identifies the wine origin to the server, their name will be entered for the opportunity to win a Weekend Wine Course for two at the CIA at Greystone. For details, visit www.ciachef.edu

 Harvest Table at the Harvest Inn in St. Helena will pair one French wine and one California wine with the starter and entree of their Napa Neighbor three-course menu, which is $36 per person, for and additional $20 per person. Wine pairings will include Clos du Val; Heitz (Marthas Vineyard); Freemark Abbey; and more. The Harvest Inn will also feature a Judgment of Paris overnight package to include a private blind wine tasting tutorial with the restaurants sommelier. The hotel package is available May 2229; midweek rates start at $479 per night and $639 for weekend.
Sahil Rajan hadnt yet figured out how to upload his profile picture to eHarmony, but when the sites matchmaking voodoo put forward a brown-eyed New York City beauty who also professed an interest in books, he pinged her anyway. He asked Devi Mehta what she was reading.

Although Mehta, a 31-year-old ad agency account manager, couldnt see what the guy on the other end looked like, she took a chance, too. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, she replied. And him?

Rajan, a 29-year-old software developer who lived in Jersey City, New Jersey, was deep into Atlas Shrugged.

It was January 2011, and Rajan and Mehta, both Indian-Americans, were tentatively back on the market after recent relationships had flamed out. When they met at a restaurant, however, their differences seemed to compound.

Hes, like, 40 pounds lighter than me, Mehta recalled thinking. Hes my height.

I dont know about this Devi Mehta chick, Rajan told friends.

On the surface, this would not have the makings of a love story. And yet, it is one.

Mehtas parents had an arranged marriage. Though Rajans parents were in love when they wed, they had been steeped in Indian culture, which values community and family over romance.

Rajan and Mehta were adamant that they didnt want arranged marriages themselves. Yet after unsuccessfully dating the American way, both decided to try splitting the difference. They would search for partners, rather than relying on anyone else to arrange a union. But they would focus on potential spouses who shared the same culture and offered the same promise of stability and commitment to family they had seen in their parents marriagesand not worry so much about romance.

Thus, they gave each other more of a chance than they might have a few years earlier. Although Rajan wasnt her type, theres nothing wrong with this guys character, Mehta reasoned to herself.

Almost five years later, I met the couple in Washingtons bustling Union Market to discuss marriage and love. Rajan, a Maryland native, joked that their marriage had been arranged, after allby an algorithm.

Mehta said that for her, the turning point came when she realized that sometimes you have to go back and listen to the people whove been married 50 years.

Indian parents always say stuff like, Its not about love, its about family, They married for family. She paused. What is it they always say? The love comes later. 

Once she shed her reservations, Mehta realized Rajan understands my family, my siblings, my world, she said. But theres more. I feel happy and loved and fulfilled, because he makes me feel that way.

She looked over at Rajan. Bouncing on his knee in a pink fleece and tiny flowered leggings was Diya, the couples bright-eyed 7-month-old.

One Indian-American couple deciding to forgo instantaneous sparks for compatibility in other areas does not a trend make. But Rajan and Mehta may not be alone in forging what I call a practical marriagefocusing first on cultural similarities, financial goals and family, and trusting love will follow. Across the United States, thousands of Indian Americans are meeting via sites such as Shaadi.com, BharatMatrimony and the app Dil Mil, which allow them to search for such unromantic attributes such as language, education and economic status. Its unclear how many of them are children of arranged marriages and how that has shaped their views on love. But judging from a hit movie on the subject, Meet the Patels, there is great interest in the topic.

Actor and filmmaker Ravi Patel and his sister, Geeta Patel, created the documentary, which follows Ravis practical search for an Indian bride and his quest to understand his parents views on love and marriage.

In the few times I stopped to think about the future, it was a picture of an Indian woman, little Indian kids, Patel said when we met late last year during a publicity tour for the film. When, as 30 approached and he instead found himself ending a long relationship with a white girlfriend he had hidden from his parents, he decided to try to find the woman of his dreams his parents way.

I love being Indian. I love being American, too, he said. I think most people from our generation feel this way: Dont care that much about religion. Love culture, love the rituals that come with culture. I want to keep that going in my life, selfishly, and I want my kids to feel the same thing.

So Patel polished his resumecalled biodata in the parlance of Indian arranged marriagesand set out to speed date with a series of Indian women who had been vetted by his parents, among others.

Did he feel shame, I asked, succumbing to the system of arranged unions so maligned in the West?

Its embarrassing, he conceded. But the same shame were talking about is the exact same shame every person Ive ever met has when they start Internet dating.

In fact, he said, Internet dating may have opened the doors to being honest about the practical things were looking for. Kids, faithfulness, a 401(k).

The only difference with the biodata process is maybe your parents are agenting the processand maybe thats not a bad thing, to have someone overseeing things.

You figure out a new way to approach the dream, Patel said. You become more amenable to new ways to finding the person we love.

I first learned of Rajan and Mehtas unusual approach to marriage a year ago, while hanging out with a cousin who is close to Rajan. I was intrigued. I, too, am a child of an arranged marriage who has long heard the parental adage that love can come later. And, after failing more times than I care to admit at dating the American way, like Rajan, Mehta and Patel, Ive become more amenable to the idea of a new kind of search.

This is a radical change for me: I was only 7, maybe 8, the first time I insisted to my mother that I planned on falling in love and getting married. After all, my generation camped out in front of the television in the early-morning hours to watch Diana Spencer marry her prince, and went to the movies to see Richard Gere shower Julia Roberts in gems as if she were Eliza Doolittle in thigh-high boots. I wanted that kind of romance, the meet-cute, for fate to arrange my love life.

For a long time, despite my youthful protestations, my parents expected my love life would go the way theirs had. My mother, Lakshmi, met my father, Raghupathy, at her parents house in 1973 in what was then Madras, in southern India. He was 28 and set to leave in weeks for a postdoctoral fellowship 8,000 miles away in Philadelphia. But first, prodded by his parents, he took an overnight train to meet the 22-year-old beanpole of a girl with a promising horoscope and a thick braid of jet-black hair running down her back. They talked, briefly, about her cooking skills and whether she hoped to work after marriage (her music degree, my father says, made him worry about her job prospects).

I asked my parents, now married for more than 40 years, why theyd agreed to let their parents dictate their love lives.

It was all we knew, my mother said. She had seen so many good marriages, she trusted the system would work for her.

Knowing next to nothing about each other, did they at least feel a spark?

Sometimes, the very first opinion is the girl is too big ... or her face is different, and you have disappointment, my father said.

All he will reveal about my mother is, She was not disappointing to me.

I thought he was cute! my mom chimed in, laughing.

They wed 12 days later.

So, could there be some truth in our parents insistence that romance grows over time? And does it mean that we, no matter our ethnicity, should focus on other, more practical matters in our search for a mate?

Indian parents arent the only ones who believe it. Research backs the theory.

Pamela Regan, a psychology professor at Cal State University in Los Angeles, conducted a study that compared arranged marriages and love marriages among Americans of Indian descent. She found that 10 years into the relationships, satisfaction and passion among the couples whose marriages were arranged nearly mirrored those of the love matches.

I love romantic love, she said. But these things do fade. Theyre probably not the best thing to focus on when choosing a partner.

Why, then, do Americans place so much emphasis on passion?

According to Ty Tashiro, a New York-based psychologist and author of The Science of Happily Ever After, a decline in the mortality rate and the rise of Romanticism in the 1800s played roles.

With more potential mates, people began to have the luxury to choose someone based on something other than their ability to put food on the table, said Tashiro. Meanwhile, the new ideas about romantic love dovetailed with concepts of free will. It became a moral imperative to choose somebody with whom you were passionately in love, rather than somebody who was just practical, Tashiro said. According to the romantic ideal, that passion would sustain you for a lifetime of love.

But divorce has also risen dramatically since the late 1800s. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2014, there were 6.9 marriages for every 1,000 people and 3.2 divorces.

The romantic ideal, Tashiro said, hasnt worked out like we thought it would.

Who is doing the better job of choosing their spouses, I want to know. (Of course I do.) The people who decide based on romantic notions, or those aiming for compatibility, if not fireworks?

Tashiro laughed when I posed this question to him.

The answer is that its the people who are able to do a little bit of both, he said. Shared religious values are good indicators of stable marriages, and similar backgrounds also help, Tashiro said. When you have family and friends who are supportive of your relationship, theres good data that exists that thats a protective factor for a marriage.

He added: Although people who are pragmatic and cautious are not the most thrilling partners for a torrid romance, they are exactly the kind of person who is well-suited to sustaining a 50-year-long relationship with the same person.

Mehta and Rajan say they hope their relationship can last that long. They moved in together in Jersey City in August 2012, remodeled a condo and married in 2014. Diya was born a year later.

When they compare their marriage to that of their friends who may have had more hot-and-heavy beginnings, how do they think theyre faring? I asked.

I think were happier than they are, Rajan said. I do.
ST. HELENA  A sales tax hike, real estate transfer tax, and additional hotel development are among a menu of options recommended by a committee charged with finding ways to increase city revenues.

The City Council-appointed Revenue Source Task Force released its final report on Monday, after three months of study.

The task force recommends that the council consider the following six initiatives, listed in no particular order:

 A voter-approved half-cent sales tax (an additional $1.4 million a year)

 A voter-approved 1 percent real estate transfer tax ($1.6 million)

 An additional 150-200 hotel rooms, through the approval of one or two new hotels or additions to existing hotels ($2.5 million-$3.6 million)

 The sale of one or more city-owned properties, such as the Adams Street property, City Hall and Railroad Avenue

 Annexation of unincorporated county land, especially Meadowood ($2 million, based on estimates of the hotel and sales taxes generated by Meadowood)

 A community-based economic development committee

The report lists  but doesnt recommend  three options that need further analysis: parking meters on Main Street, Napa Valley Wine Train disembarkation, and short-term rentals.

It is not our intent that the City Council necessarily implement all of the revenue sources we recommend, but rather that they consider them all and enact those that are feasible and sufficient together to secure the citys financial future, Task Force Chair Donna Hinds told the council on Tuesday.

Citing the citys precarious condition and the need for immediate action, the report urges the entire community to work together, and recommends that the city hire a public relations firm to educate the community about revenue options.

The Task Force expressed strong support for the current City leadership and management, the report states. The Citys financial challenges developed over many years and were not created by the present administration. Righting our ship will require time, hard work and cooperation among all citizens of St. Helena.

The task force consisted of Hinds, jeweler Wayne Armstrong, insurance agent Cameron Crebs, vintner Katie Leonardini, winemaker Jack Stuart, telecommunications consultant Chuck Vondra, Mayor Alan Galbraith, City Councilmember Peter White and Planning Commission Chair Sarah Parker.

Galbraith, White and Parker didnt contribute to the report or share their opinions during the task forces deliberations, in order to remain unprejudiced in case any of the options come before the City Council or the Planning Commission.

Council members received the report on Tuesday and thanked the task force for its work, but agreed to defer discussion until their goal-setting workshop at 9 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 11, at the firehouse.

The report is available on the citys website, CityOfStHelena.org, under agenda item 8 for the councils Feb. 9 meeting.

Sales tax

The city receives only a small sliver of the sales taxes generated in St. Helena, but it would be able to keep 100 percent of the estimated $1.4 million in annual revenue that would result from a voter-approved half-cent sales tax increase.

The city currently collects about $2.8 million from sales taxes. The report notes that sales taxes are an attractive revenue source because theyre paid partly by nonresidents.

The report does not discuss when such an initiative should go before voters, but notes that several other tax measures could be coming before Napa County voters in the next year. As the current tax rate of 8 percent approaches the maximum of 10 percent, the margin available for an increase by St. Helena becomes slimmer, the report states.

A previous council put a half-cent sales tax on the November 2010 ballot, but it won only 40 percent of the vote, well less than the simple majority it needed to pass. That measure had no organized support, was endorsed by only one council member, and came as the city was still struggling from the recession.

The report emphasizes that the success of a sales tax initiative depends on organized public outreach and education.

Transfer tax

Imposing a 1 percent transfer tax on real estate transactions would require St. Helena to become a charter city. The council has already endorsed this option, which could come before voters as soon as November.

Both initiatives  the city charter and the transfer tax  could appear on the same ballot. Unlike traditional charter cities, St. Helena plans to follow the model of Emeryville and adopt a city charter that would have no effect on city operations or regulations, other than allowing the city to impose a transfer tax.

Transfer taxes are traditionally paid by the seller, but individual real estate transactions could be negotiated so that the buyer would ultimately foot the bill.

The estimate of $1.6 million a year is based on real estate transactions in St. Helena in the 2014-2015 fiscal year.

Hotels

Transient occupancy taxes (TOT) are considered more attractive than sales taxes because the city gets to keep the entire 12 percent tax, instead of splitting it with the state and various other government agencies.

The report notes that St. Helenas 224 hotel rooms generate $1.8 million a year in TOT, much less than Calistoga (720 rooms, $5 million) and Yountville (450 rooms, $9 million).

The 70-room Las Alcobas project  formerly known as Grandview  is scheduled to open this summer and eventually generate an additional $1.2 million a year for St. Helena.

The city approved a 60-room hotel on Rodney Friedrichs Vineland Station property in 2010, but it hasnt broken ground. It would generate an estimated $500,000 a year in TOT.

Ted Hall, owner of Long Meadow Ranch and Farmstead, bought the Doumani property south of Farmstead and has approached the city about an 80-room hotel, but he hasnt filed an application.

The report notes that hotels help local businesses, since visitors tend to shop and dine where they stay the night. That, in turn, generates more sales taxes for the city.

City property

After much discussion, the task force decided not to explicitly endorse selling the Adams Street property to a hotel developer.

However, the report recommends selling the citys Adams Street, City Hall or Railroad Avenue properties to create significant one-time revenue together with potential for securing significant longer term annual revenue streams of transient occupancy taxes and other economic benefits.

The report endorses the citys plan to issue Requests For Proposals (RFPs) to developers for the City Hall and Adams Street properties.

The Task Force also understands that this issue is complex, potentially involving multiple properties, and will necessitate community input and visioning, the report adds.

Annexation

Annexing Meadowood or the commercial areas north and south of the city limits is a long and complicated process that could generate significant revenue for the city in the long term, the report concludes.

Cities like St. Helena may apply to annex areas within their sphere of influence. St. Helenas current sphere of influence is actually smaller than its city limits, but that could change soon. The Napa County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) will conduct a periodic municipal services review later this year, studying police, fire, water and sewer services.

That study could support an application by the city for an expanded sphere of influence, which could be a precursor to annexation. The county would almost certainly oppose losing Meadowood and its revenue.

While the process is complicated and may be contentious, it is likely to benefit both owners of annexed properties and the city, and it should be begun now, the report states.

The Task Force noted that this option has few negative impacts on the community when compared to the amount of revenue that could be gained. However, it was also recognized that this option will take the longest to implement, if it is possible at all.

Economic development

The report also urges the formation of an economic development committee to support local businesses, set long-range goals for St. Helenas economic sustainability, create a long-term economic master plan, and balance revenue initiatives with the needs of residents.

The committee would consist of citizens and business leaders. The report recommends that the committee be community-based and independent of the city government, although city officials could still be asked to serve on it.
Thomas Jefferson wrote, If a nation expects to be ignorant and free...it expects what never was and never will be. This is especially true in Napa County.

Ignorance is defined as lack of knowledge, education, or awareness.

What Jefferson was implying is that without awareness by the people of our governments limitations and actions, government will acquire more and more control over us. Even when we are totally controlled, we will still believe we are free simply because government tells us we are Free.

Within the last 10 years Napa County public officials have taken more control over land use, over water use, over energy use, over home building and home use, over our businesses, over our jobs, and over our own personal lives. Plus, there are ever-increasing taxes of every kind, which is more control.

How aware are Napa County residents of these controls? Do Napa County residents still believe we are Free?

Many of these controls come as requirements of the subsidies our public officials receive from the state and federal government, such as requirements of One Bay Area. Meaning our public officials arent really serving Napa County residents, they serve those distributing the subsidies, which require the controls.

It works backwards, where Napa public officials and connected private sector benefactors are continually manipulating residents into believing these already decided subsidy based controls are something we always needed and wanted.

What fascinates me most is the scare tactics propaganda constantly pumped into Napa County (and cities across the United States). Were continually told these controls are for our Safety, for our Environment, for our Sustainability, and for Future generations. Some controls are necessary, but many arent.

Unfortunately, like a Community Cult many public officials and residents are spellbound by the propaganda, believing these ever-expanding controls are normal and necessary. Believing theyre saving us all, theyll do whatever it takes to have Napa County controlled.

Meanwhile, were supposed to believe we are Free.

Charlotte Iserbyt was Senior Policy Adviser in President Reagans Department of Education. My wife and I stayed at her home in Maine in May 2013. Iserbyt (like myself) has documents proving public educations role in creating todays subservient collectivist/socialist citizens that now believe government has the power to absolutely control us.

In December 2012, I sent an email to Iserbyt about an idea I had for a commentary. Iserbyt responded with this email: Just an idea? It better be more than an idea. Dont change a word. You have done all of us a great service...

This is the email I sent Iserbyt:

Charlotte, as you have been aware of for decades, public education has created the citizens that now accept all these controls as normal. Because of public education, most of the Soviet and Nazi citizens believed the propaganda they learned, as have citizens in America. I was thinking of doing a commentary on how we have two types of citizens in America, Americans and Government Citizens.

An American understands their duty is to protect the individual rights of every other citizen, ensuring the freedom of all citizens from government tyranny. Opposite of the American is the Government Citizen that has come up through the public education system, whose primary function is to serve government. The Government Citizen is interchangeable with citizens in Nazi Germany, Communist Cuba, China, etc., where they also believe, like all totalitarian citizens, that their duty is to serve government. Under Nazism and Communism (as in America today) all propaganda is focused on selfless sacrifice to the community. Government Citizens are educated to think of everything within the context of How best do I serve the community.

Morality isnt based on right or wrong, morality is based on How do I conform to the community? Like a bee hive, the Government Citizen believes they are a worker bee whose purpose is to sacrifice for the queen bee community (government). The Government Citizen believes they are serving the community, without realizing how the community is government. There are just as many conservative Government Citizens as there are liberal Government Citizens. The propagandists have conservative and liberal Government Citizens focusing on each other as both are being used within the community to destroy freedom throughout America. Just an idea for a commentary, Kevin.

Napa County isnt unique or special in its policies. Most controls our public officials are implementing are being implemented in towns across the United States. Napa County should more accurately be called Just another Totally Controlled Community U.S.A.

On the other hand, Napa County can be unique and special if residents studied the controls our public officials are implementing and stood up for our freedom.

If Napa County residents expect to be ignorant and free we expect what never was and never will be.

Eggers lives in Napa.
HONG KONG

Hong Kong to send Chinese man back to U.S. over teen deaths

A Chinese man agreed in a Hong Kong court Thursday to be sent back to the U.S., where he is wanted by authorities in connection with the slayings of his teenage nephews.

Shi Deyun signed a document in a magistrates court giving consent for his extradition.

U.S. police last month found the boys, who were 15- and 16-years-old, in their Arcadia, California, home with head trauma.

Investigators believe Shi killed them and then tried to flee to China. They said he assaulted his wife, who is the sister of the dead teens father, the day before, after learning she wanted a divorce.

Hong Kong police arrested Shi, 44, on Jan. 24, after he arrived in the semiautonomous southern Chinese city on a flight from Los Angeles.

Shi, looking at the floor, nodded when asked by Magistrate Jason Wan if he had read and understood the agreement to surrender him to the United States.

A date for Shis return has not been set because it still needs signed authorization from Hong Kongs top leader, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying.

DUBLIN

Ireland slams threats to reporters covering Dublin gang war

Irelands largest newspaper group says its reporters covering the Dublin gang war are receiving death threats from criminals because of their work.

Thursdays reported threats against two unidentified journalists from Independent News and Media come nearly 20 years after a crime reporter for the groups Sunday Independent newspaper, Veronica Guerin, was shot to death by members of a Dublin drug-trafficking gang she was investigating.

Two men have been killed and two wounded in tit-for-tat attacks since Friday.

Prime Minister Enda Kenny and other Irish leaders condemned the threats. Kenny said: In any self-respecting society, journalists must be afforded the freedom to go about their jobs without fear of reprisal.

Irelands National Union of Journalists urged reporters covering the story to remain vigilant and mindful of their safety.

TORONTO

Canada says will seek United Nations Security Council seat

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his country will seek a United Nations Security Council seat as vacancies come up.

Trudeau spoke Thursday after meeting with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Trudeau says seeking a council seat meshes with his governments plan to renew Canadas relationship with the world body, which cooled under the previous government.

Stephen Harpers former Conservative government was criticized for failing to make a strong bid for a seat on the 15-member council in 2010.

Trudeau and Ban also discussed climate change, the resettlement of refugees and Canadas return to major peacekeeping operations.

JAKARTA, Indonesia

Indonesia warns messaging apps to drop same-sex emoticons

Indonesias government has demanded that instant messaging apps remove stickers featuring same-sex couples in the latest high-profile attempt to discourage visible homosexuality in the socially conservative country.

The government move comes after a social media backlash against the popular smartphone messaging app Line for having stickers with gay themes in its online store.

Information and Communication Ministry spokesman Ismail Cawidu said Thursday that social media and messaging platforms should drop stickers expressing support for the LGBT community, a common abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.

Homosexuality is not illegal in Indonesia, but remains a sensitive issue in the Muslim-majority nation. At the same time, most of Indonesian society, which follows a moderate form of Islam, is tolerant, with gay and transsexual entertainers often appearing on television shows.

ISLAMABAD

Pakistans ex-President Musharraf hospitalized

A spokeswoman for Pakistans former president, Pervez Musharraf, says he was rushed to hospital in the port city of Karachi after suffering chest pain and breathing problems.

Aasia Ishaq says that Musharraf was treated in an intensive care unit having been taken to hospital by family members Thursday. She said that doctors are undertaking medical tests.

Ishaq declined to share any further details.

Musharraf took power in a 1999 coup and served as president until 2008, when he was forced to step down as his popularity plummeted and he was threatened with impeachment.

In recent years, Musharraf has been on trial for high treason over his suspension of Pakistans constitution in 2007 and his detention of a number of judges.

JOHANNESBURG

Tutu asks why it took years to prosecute apartheid murder

Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu has questioned why it took so long for South African prosecutors to charge former members of the apartheid-era security forces for the 1983 death of an activist.

On Thursday, Tutu welcomed the National Prosecution Authoritys decision this week to prosecute four men linked to the torture and disappearance of 23-year-old Nokuthula Simelane.

Tutu, who led South Africas Truth and Reconciliation Commission, questioned why prosecutors only acted after the young womans family approached a court. He said the commission had already finalized the case in 2001.

After apartheid ended in 1994, the commission investigated past atrocities and granted amnesty to some accused perpetrators.

In his statement, the retired archbishop asked why only a handful of more than 300 cases recommended for prosecution were pursued.
SHAKE-UP ALERT!

Can we all just take a moment to appreciate that Florida

Georgia Line have dropped from #1 on Hot Country Songs and Country Digital

Songs? Cruise is down to #2 on both, while Heres To The Good Times has also

been pushed to #2 on Top Country Albums. In addition, Round Here has suffered

a fall to #8 on Hot Country Songs and #10 on Country Digital Songs. It remains

at #7 on Country Airplay.

The culprit for Florida Georgia Lines slide down the charts

is Luke Bryan (kind of unfortunately), with Thats My Kind of Night, which

has shot to #1 on Hot Country Songs and Country Digital Songs (plus #16 on

Country Airplay) this week alongside the release of his 4th album Crash

My Party, which of course is also at #1. Amazingly, his last single of the

same name is also at #3 on Hot Country Songs and two songs from his new album

have hit Country Digital Songs; Play It Again at #22 and Dirt Road Diary at

#20. In addition, his past album Tailgates & Tanlines is at #4 on Top

Country Albums.

Elsewhere there isnt so much change around. Hunter Hayes is

at #4 on Hot Country Songs with I Want Crazy, at #5 on Country Airplay and

Country Digital Songs, with his album at #5. Brett Eldredges Dont Ya is

still a radio #1, while its at #5 on Hot Country Songs and #9 on Country

Digital Songs, and Keith Urban is shooting up the charts with Little Bit of

Everything, at #2 on Country Airplay and #6 on Hot Country Songs and Country

Digital Songs. Carrie Underwood is still struggling on up the charts with See

You Again, reaching a standstill at #7 on Hot Country Songs, but jumping to #3

on Country Airplay and #11 on Country Digital Songs.

Randy Housers fallen this week, to #9 on Hot Country Songs

for his hit Runnin Outta Moonlight, to #4 on Country Airplay and all the way

to #13 on Country Digital Songs. Thomas Rhett has made the bottom of the top 10

with It Goes Like This, while its still at #3 on Country Digital Songs and

is up to #14 on Country Airplay. Cassadee Popes second single You Hear A Song

has just made Country Digital Songs at #25, in addition to other new releases

such as See You There by Glen Campbell (#22 on Top Country Albums) and Life

Unheard by Johnny Cash (#32 on the same chart).

Other artists charting well include Blake Shelton, Darius

Rucker, Easton Corbin, Justin Moore, Jason Aldean, Tyler Farr, Billy

Currington, Tim McGraw and Kip Moore.

Thats it for this week; come back next Thursday for another

Billboard chart roundup!

Posted by Vickye.

If you

want to check out my own blog it's For The Country Record, and you can follow me on twitter @planmymistake. You can email me at

vickye.countrymusic@gmail.com.
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NATO Defence Ministers agreed that NATO will provide support to assist with the refugee and migrant crisis on Thursday (11 February 2016). The goal is to participate in the international efforts to stem the illegal trafficking and illegal migration in the Aegean, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.

NATOs Standing Maritime Group 2 is currently deployed in the region and will be tasked to conduct reconnaissance, monitoring and surveillance of illegal crossings in the Aegean. It will also establish a direct link with the European Unions border management agency, Frontex.



The Secretary General stressed that this mission is not about stopping or pushing back refugee boats, but about contributing critical information and surveillance to help counter human trafficking and criminal networks. As part of the agreement, NATO will cooperate closely with national coastguards and the European Union. Military authorities are now working out the details of the mission.



Ministers also agreed to step up NATO support for the international coalition to counter ISIL. We agreed in principle to use NATO AWACS surveillance planes to backfill national AWACS capabilities, said Mr. Stoltenberg. He noted that this decision will increase the coalitions ability to degrade and destroy the terrorist group ISIL, which is our common enemy.



To improve NATOs ability to respond quickly to hybrid threats, Defence Ministers agreed a detailed implementation plan on the Alliances hybrid strategy. Ministers also took steps to increase Allies resilience in areas that are vital in any crisis, such as food and water resources, telecommunications and cyber networks, and transportation. Resilience is primarily a national responsibility. But both NATO and the European Union have a role in providing tools and advice in specific areas, said the Secretary General.



Ministers also discussed the situation in Afghanistan. They assessed the work of the Alliance-led Resolute Support Mission to train, advice and assist Afghan security forces. Ministers agreed to keep the mission under review, in order to ensure its effectiveness.




NATO Secretary General, Mr. Jens Stoltenberg will attend the Security Conference in Munich on Friday 12 February and Saturday 13 February 2016.

Mr. Stoltenberg will deliver a keynote speech on Saturday, 13 February 2016.

In the margins of the Conference, the Secretary General will have bilateral meetings with various international officials.

Media Advisory

Friday, 12 February

12:45 Secretary Generals doorstep at Hotel Bayerischer Hof - Location: Blue Carpet

Saturday, 13 February

09:10 Speech by NATO Secretary General

Secretary Generals address can be watched live on the website of the event - www.securityconference.de/en.

Still and video images will be available after the event on the NATO website.
(As delivered)

Good afternoon.

We have just addressed how our Alliance is responding to a changed security environment.

Europe is facing the greatest refugee and migrant crisis since the end of the Second World War.

Driven by conflict and instability on our southern borders, as well as the criminal networks that traffic in human suffering.

We have just agreed that NATO will provide support to assist with the refugee and migrant crisis.

This is based on a joint request by Germany, Greece and Turkey.

The goal is to participate in the international efforts to stem illegal trafficking and illegal migration in the Aegean.

NATOs Standing Maritime Group 2, is currently deployed in the region under German command.

It will be tasked to conduct reconnaissance, monitoring and surveillance of the illegal crossings in the Aegean Sea in cooperation with relevant authorities.

And to establish a direct link with the European Unions border management agency Frontex.

As part of the agreement, Greek and Turkish armed forces will not operate in each others territorial waters or air space.

Our top military commander SACEUR is now directing the Standing NATO Maritime Group to move into the Aegean without delay.

And to start maritime surveillance activities.

Our military authorities will work out all the other details as soon as possible.

And Allies will be looking to reinforce this mission.

This is not about stopping or pushing back refugee boats.

NATO will contribute critical information and surveillance to help counter human trafficking and criminal networks.

We will do so in cooperation with national coastguards, and working closely with the European Union.

We have also decided to intensify intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance at the Turkish-Syrian border.

Turkey is on the front line of this crisis and this will complement the NATO assurance measures for Turkey which we decided in December.

It is important to respond swiftly. Because this crisis affects us all.

And all of us have to contribute in finding solutions.

Today, we also agreed to step up our support for the international coalition to counter ISIL.

We agreed in principle to use NATO AWACS surveillance planes to backfill national AWACS capabilities.

This is in response to the US request.

Our military planners are now working out the details.

The decision will increase the ability of the coalition to degrade and destroy the terrorist group ISIL, which is our common enemy.

Enhanced intelligence and surveillance is a key part of NATOs response to hybrid threats, from the south and from the east.

We now have a detailed implementation plan for our hybrid strategy.

NATO is improving its ability to identify, recognise and attribute hybrid actions and to respond quickly.

We also took steps to increase our Allies resilience in areas that are vital in any crisis.

By setting baseline requirements in areas such as:

continuity of government;

energy supplies;

food and water resources;

telecoms and cyber networks;

and transportation systems.

Resilience is primarily a national responsibility.

But both NATO and the European Union have a role in providing tools and advice in specific areas.

So to be more effective in countering hybrid threats, we are committed to working even more closely with the European Union.

We also discussed during our meeting today the situation in Afghanistan.

Ministers assessed the work of the Resolute Support mission.

They agreed that our training, advice, and assistance for the Afghan forces remains essential for stability in Afghanistan.

And they confirmed that the mission should continue to be kept under review, to ensure its effectiveness.

So with this I am now ready to take your questions.

QUESTION (BBC): On the support for the migrants and dealing with that, NATO Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 is moving to the Aegean. Does it need reinforcing? Will other boats be required to go work where it currently is? And the question of support for the US-led coalition, Secretary Carter said you have been discussing how NATO can make an appropriate contribution. What do you think over and above AWACS is an appropriate contribution? And why is it being discussed 18 months after the coalition launched?

SECRETARY GENERAL: The Standing NATO Maritime Group number 2, which is in the region, will start to move now. And they will also start to collect information, to do surveillance, and thereby provide important information for the coast guards in Turkey, in Greece, and for also other authorities. So this will be something which will also come into effect immediately and where NATO will provide essential information and support.

Then we have to work on important issues and also to clarify some formal issues when it comes to, for instance, sharing information with Frontex. And we have also started that work immediately.

The Standing Maritime Group consists today of 3 ships, but several Allies have already announced that they are ready to reinforce this group. So I expect it to be increased in the near future.

So this is something we do, and we start to act immediately. But then we have to work on important issues related to, for instance, how we arrange the concrete cooperation with Frontex and the European Union.

And this is about helping Greece, Turkey, the European Union with stemming the flow of migrants and refugees and coping with a very demanding situation. And helping them to manage a human tragedy in a better way than we have been able to do far

When it comes to the support of NATO to the counter-ISIL coalition. I think we have to remember that all NATO Allies already participate and contribute to the coalition. And for the coalition it is of great importance the interoperability, the experience which NATO Allies have developed over years to work together in military operations, as we now see in Syria and Iraq.

And this is also important because many NATO partners are also part of this coalition. So it is a great advantage for the coalition to be able to utilize the experience of NATO Allies and partners.

Second, NATO is also contributing to the efforts of the coalition to fight ISIL by our efforts to stabilize countries in the region. We work with Tunisia, we work with Jordan, we do capacity-building there. But we also will start very soon training of Iraqi forces.

Moreover, I would like to add that what we do in Afghanistan is also relevant. Because to keep, to maintain and to continue to support Afghanistan is part of a global effort to fight terror, and also to fight ISIL. So now we are looking into how we can step up our support. We will provide AWACS that will increase the capabilities of the coalition to fight ISIL and we will of course assess constantly if we should do more.

QUESTION (WSJ): Mr Secretary General, if a NATO vessel was to encounter a, a ship of migrants boat of migrants that was sinking, it would have a legal obligation to rescue those people. How do you make sure that the NATO mission deters crossings as opposed to encourages them? And do you have more insight into how NATO will attack the smuggling networks to help Turkey break them down?

SECRETARY GENERAL: The important thing here is that what we will do is that we will provide critical information. By using our capabilities when it comes to surveillance, reconnaissance, and monitoring the situation, and thereby provide high-quality information to the Coast Guard of Turkey, the Coast Guard of Greece, and also to the efforts of the European Union.

This is important. And I think that just our presence and that we are providing this information will help them and enable them to step up their efforts to cope with the crisis we see in the Aegean Sea.

And as I said, we will also increase our surveillance along the Turkish-Syrian border, which is also then a part of this broader picture. We will then sit down with the European Union and to sort out more in detail exactly how we can support them.

But we will start immediately with moving the Standing Maritime Group under German command into the Aegean Sea, and then to start to collect information, reconnaissance and surveillance immediately. And I feel very certain that this kind of support to those countries in the region which are most affected, and to the European Union, is something they highly value and is also a response to a request from Greece, Turkey, and Germany.

QUESTION (NPR/CBS): Back on the coalition efforts, before now you said that because all NATO Allies were already members of the coalition, you seem to not feel it was necessary that NATO take a role, that joint capabilities were called into the operation. What has changed now that NATO capabilities, that joint capabilities are going to be used for coalition purposes?

SECRETARY GENERAL: We are we are going to do is that we are going to backfill national capabilities and thereby freeing up capabilities which these nations or the nation can use in the efforts of the coalition.

I think this is a practical, pragmatic way of providing support from NATO to the coalition  enabling them to step up their airstrikes against ISIL and to step up their fight against ISIL.

I have all the time underlined the importance of NATO supporting the coalition. But we do that in different ways. When we do defence capacity-building for Iraqi officers, then of course thats a part of, thats an element in providing support for the coalition. And also I very much believe that everything we do to project stability into the region by working with partners as Tunisia, Jordan, is also part of supporting the efforts of the coalition.

And this is a global coalition fighting ISIL. So also our efforts in Afghanistan are relevant. So its nothing new that we provide support for the coalition; the new thing is that we will now provide support for the coalition also with making AWACS capabilities available for national backfill.

QUESTION (CBC): We have the United States calling for an intensification of the fight against ISIL. NATO is now offering assets. And at the same time, Canada has decided to withdraw its 6 CF-18 fighters. I wonder if you think that is the wrong message to be sending right now. Do you worry that other partners might be tempted to do the same?

SECRETARY GENERAL: I met with Minister Sajjan in connection with our ministerial yesterday. He had a very strong message, and I very much welcome that. About that Canada will remain a very strong and committed member of the coalition fighting ISIL. And Canada provides many different kinds of assets and support for the coalition. And we discussed, for instance, the importance of what Canada is doing and will continue to do. And that is to train and assist local forces.

So not least the efforts of Canada to build local capacity, to train forces in the region, as part of the efforts of global coalition is something which I welcome very much. So for me, Canada is very clear, the message is very clear that Canada will continue to support the efforts of the global coalition fighting ISIL.

QUESTION (Kommersant): Secretary General, let me go back to what you have said yesterday. You announced the largest military build-up of NATO force in Eastern Europe along the Russian border. And you have also mentioned that is because you need the Alliance to counter any threat. So could you please be more specific  what kind of threat are you talking about? And what kind of scenario does NATO expect? Do you really believe for example Russia can invade Baltic States?

SECRETARY GENERAL: We dont see any imminent threat against any NATO Ally. But what we see is a more demanding security environment. Both caused by the instability, the violence we see to the south, but also caused by a more assertive Russia in the east. Which has invested heavily in defence over many years, which has conducted a wide range of snap military exercises, and thereby reducing predictability and transparency. And not least which has been willing to use military force to intimidate neighbours and to change borders in Europe. So its this pattern.

And both challenges to the south and to the east that has required a response from NATO. And we are responding by implementing the biggest reinforcement of our collective defence since the end of the Cold War. Partly by increased forward presence, partly by increasing our ability to reinforce. By, for instance, tripling the size of the NATO Response Force.

So we dont see any imminent threat, but we see a need for adapting to a more challenging security environment, and thats exactly what we are doing.
(As delivered)

Good afternoon.

NATO is facing a changed security environment.

With serious challenges from the east and from the south.

And the worst refugee and migrant crisis since the end of World War Two.

Over the last two days, we have taken important decisions to respond to this new security environment.

We agreed on an enhanced multinational forward presence in the eastern part of our Alliance.

Improved our ability to recognize and to counter hybrid threats.

Made progress in connecting our intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets.

Set baseline requirements to increase the resilience of our Allies.

And signed a technical arrangement to enhance our cooperation with the European Union on cyber.

Looking to the south, we agreed to provide support to assist with the refugee and migrant crisis.

So we are directing one of our Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 to the Aegean sea to contribute critical information and surveillance to help counter human trafficking and criminal networks.

We have also decided to intensify intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance at the Turkish-Syrian border.

And this is actually a complement to the existing assurance measures for Turkey.

And we agreed to step up our support for the international coalition to counter ISIL.

By using NATO AWACS planes to backfill national capabilities and increase the coalitions ability to degrade and destroy this terrorist group.

Last night, we had a substantive discussion with the European Union, and our partners Australia, Finland, Georgia and Sweden.

We share the same security environment.

And our close cooperation is a powerful tool to keep all nations safe.

We have just had a good meeting of the NATO-Georgia Commission.

Georgia is moving closer to NATO thanks to its reforms.

And to its significant contributions to our shared security.

And NATO is committed to helping Georgia move towards membership in the Alliance.

Today, we took stock of the achievements we have made together.

Our Substantial Package of assistance is strengthening Georgias defences.

And its ability to work side-by-side with NATO forces.

In May, our Joint Training Centre in Tbilisi will start training the first Georgian company.

This is good news.

We are also exploring new practical ways to intensify our joint efforts.

Georgia is committed to an ambitious reform path.

Today, Allies praised Georgias efforts to strengthen its democratic institutions.

But there is still more to do.

In key areas, including rule of law and independence of the judiciary.

All Allies fully support Georgias territorial integrity and sovereignty, within its internationally recognised borders.

We call on Russia to reverse its recognition of the Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions of Georgia as independent states. Abkhazia and South Ossetia are part of Georgia.

Our commitment to Georgia is strong.

We help build Georgias defences.

We encourage its reforms;

And we support its Euro-Atlantic aspirations.

So with that Im ready to take your questions.

OANA LUNGESCU [NATO SPOKESPERSON]: Well go to Georgian media in the first row.

Q: Georgian Public Broadcaster. Mr. Secretary General you spoke today about the support from NATO to Georgia. We know that its early to speak about Warsaw Summit but still want to know more details. What kind of vision do you have, what should Warsaw Summit deliver for Georgia  for example open door policy and a strong statement about NATO aspirations? And also you said on Wednesday that NATO would continue adapting and building up its military capabilities in Black Sea region, what role can Georgia play? Thank you very much.

JENS STOLTENBERG (NATO Secretary General): When it comes to the Black Sea region we have a regular exchange of information with Georgia and all the partners in the region including of course the situation in the Black Sea and NATO has increased its naval presence in the Black Sea and just last night at our dinner we had free flow of views and exchange also with the Georgia President regarding also the challenges we face in the Black Sea region.

Then when it comes to the Summit we havent decided yet on the formats but Im certain that we will find ways at the Summit to recognize the progress which Georgia is making and I also expect that we are going to make decisions related to how we can move forward on our practical cooperation with Georgia. We have the substantial package, we have the annual national plan, we have the NATO-Georgia Commission and Im certain that we will agree on how we can use these tools to move further when it comes to developing our cooperation with Georgia as a very close partner.

OANA LUNGESCU [NATO SPOKESPERSON]: Okay we go to ANSA.

Q: Good morning Secretary General I just see on wire that President Erdogan said that without fly [sic] zone in Syria theres no way to end the war in Syria. Is fly [sic] zone an option that can be discussed an extension of NATO action or do you think this should be a coalition affair?

JENS STOLTENBERG: All NATO allies contribute and support the efforts of the international coalition fighting ISIL but NATO as an alliance is not member of the coalition. We support the efforts of the coalition and today we agree that we will provide support by using or providing NATO AWACS airplanes back filling national capabilities and we also agreed that we will increase our surveillance of the Turkish Syrian border. So we are addressing the challenges we see to the south and also along the Turkish Syrian border. But when it comes to the activities of the coalition as such I think it is important that I leave that to the coalition to answer. We support the efforts of the coalition and we do that in different ways.

OANA LUNGESCU [NATO SPOKESPERSON]: Radio Free Europe, second row.

Q: Thank you Secretary General my question is about Karabakh conflict. In his annual assessment of threats to the United States, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has concluded that Bakus sustained military buildup coupled with  [inaudible] economic conditions in Azerbaijan are rising the potential that the conflict  Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will escalate in 2016. What is your assessment of this issue? Is there a possibility of escalation and also in your view how is it possible to prevent deaths on the border?

JENS STOLTENBERG: So we are of course following the developments in Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh very closely and both Azerbaijan and Armenia are partners of NATO and we value the partnership both with Armenia and with Azerbaijan very much. I think the important thing is to show restraint, calm and to avoid any escalation of the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. So thats what we are underlining: the importance of calm and de-escalation.

OANA LUNGESCU [NATO SPOKESPERSON]: Lady in the second row.

Q: Thank you. Coming back to the NATO initiative in the Aegean Sea where youre supporting Turkey and Greece in the refugee crisis, is there any option for a sort of an upgrade later on in the future that NATO would be involved more than in just surveillance monitoring and reconnaissance as it is now and probably in the near future? Is there a built-in option for a broader spectrum? Thank you.

JENS STOLTENBERG: We have now decided what we do - or what were going to do - and that is to move assets starting with the standing maritime group into the Aegean Sea. Then we have also other assets which can be used to provide critical information, surveillance monitoring and thereby help Turkey, Greece, the European Union to cope with the migrant and refugee crisis. We will start to do that immediately and then we will also get advice from our military planners and we will talk with the European Union and find out how we can work in the best possible way together.

And I think it would be wrong if I now, just after we have made this important decision, and also in the recognition of the importance that Greece and Turkey have agreed and they put forward a joint request together with Germany to the alliance and the alliance was able to respond very swiftly. I think it will be wrong if I then started to speculate. Now we are going to implement what we have agreed which also includes surveillance along the Turkish Syrian border, and then we will constantly assess constantly have consultations with Turkey, with Greece as allies, with the European Union as a partner, and with others and assess whether we should do more.

MODERATOR: Kabul Times, second row.

Q: Thank you Secretary. Lailuma Sadid from Kabul Times. As you mentioned earlier in the morning about Afghanistan I would like to ask how do you, NATO assess security situation in Afghanistan because President Ghani and also NATO Coalition Commander announced the security situation will be difficult and more challenging in the new year in Afghanistan. And as also the SIGAR also reported 30 percent of Afghanistan is under control of the Taliban and whats your view about that? Thank you.

JENS STOLTENBERG: My view is that the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces are facing a challenging security environment in Afghanistan. And NATO has ended its combat mission but we continue to support them with training, assistance and advice. And the Afghan National Security Forces have taken over the full responsibility for the security in Afghanistan themselves. But the security forces have also made a lot of progress and they have proven that they are capable, that they are professional and that theyre able to respond to the attacks from Taliban and from others.

So we will continue to support them, we do not believe that this is an easy task. We are very realistic as to where we are, we know that theres going to be violence and fighting and challenges also in 2016 but we trust the Afghan National Security Forces, and we will continue to support them both with training, assistance and advice but we will also continue to fund them because that is a very strong commitment from the alliance that we will provide support also with financial support to the Afghan National Security Forces.

OANA LUNGESCU [NATO SPOKESPERSON]: Agence France Presse.

Q: Thank you very much. Bryan McManus, AFP. You described earlier that its a very important decision - the launching of the naval operation in the Aegean Sea. How do you reconcile such an important decision with the comments made this morning by President Erdogan threatening to send the millions of refugees in Turkey to Europe?

JENS STOLTENBERG: Turkey is a dear NATO ally most affected by the refugee crisis, and they host close to three million refugees and the important thing today is that we have decided and we have agreed - 28 NATO allies with Turkey, with Greece - that we will step up our efforts and that NATO will provide support with coping with the migrant and refugee crisis.

And what well do is that we will support Turkey in their efforts to deal with this challenge both in their territorial waters, but also when it comes to monitoring the border between Syria and Turkey. So I think especially today we should welcome the fact that NATO and Turkey being an ally in NATO is stepping up our joint efforts to cope with and to manage a really serious situation; a human tragedy where we have to do more to be able to both counter human trafficking, criminal networks and to avoid that so many people lose their lives in the Aegean Sea.

OANA LUNGESCU [NATO SPOKESPERSON]: Slovak media, third row.

Q: Thank you. Andrej Matisak, Slovakia PRAVDA. Mr. Secretary General, talking about Aegean operation or mission. So NATO has responded to the request from allies but you are sending some military capabilities. So does it also mean that NATO now see refugee crisis as a clear and present security danger for NATO allies? And maybe a connected question - there was a report, I think two weeks ago, that ISIL might seek some maritime capabilities. Will NATO look also at the possible risks if you are sending ships lets say closer to ISIL that ISIL might cause some trouble? Thank you.

JENS STOLTENBERG: Human trafficking, criminal networks is something which we have also addressed in our strategic concept so that is nothing new that we are concerned about the refugee and migrant crisis we see. And we have over a long time discussed how NATO can contribute to meet the challenges which we all see related to the migrant and refugee crisis.

So far NATO has been mainly focused on how we can address the root causes to try to stabilize the countries where many of the refugees are coming from. So when we are continuing our efforts in Afghanistan, cooperating and supporting the Afghan National Security and Defence Forces, thats also because we believe thats an important contribution to help Afghanistan being a stable country and thereby also addressing the root causes of some of the migrants and refugees coming into Europe. When we work with Tunisia, Jordan and when we have Iraq as a partner thats also about trying to stabilize, to address the root causes of the refugee and migrant crisis.

So its nothing new that NATO is concerned and NATO is addressing the refugee and the migrant crisis and we also have of course our assurance measures in Turkey already in place for quite a long time but the new thing now is that we are stepping up and that we are providing different kinds of military capabilities starting with standing maritime group to provide direct help, direct support to the Turkish authorities, to Greek authorities and to the European Union in their efforts. So thats something we of course decided today and we will now start to implement.

OANA LUNGESCU [NATO SPOKESPERSON]: Bloomberg at the back.

Q: Jim Neuger from Bloomberg. Just one final question about the AWACS back filling. Can you tell us to which geographic location the NATO AWACS will be sent, to the Middle East or somewhere else?

JENS STOLTENBERG: What we have done today is to decide in principle that we are ready to provide NATO AWACS surveillance planes as back filling so we can make national AWACS capabilities available for the coalition. Then we have to sit down with all the NATO allies, with our military planners and find out exactly how and where were going to do that. So this is ... how should I say - a decision in principle. So we have the political support by Defence Ministers, but then of course it has to be sorted out exactly how and where this is going to be done. We stand ready to provide AWACS planes to allies which want us to help them.

OANA LUNGESCU [NATO SPOKESPERSON]: Stuttgarter Zeitung.

Q: Mr. Secretary General two questions if I may. The standing maritime group that will be moved into the Aegean Sea - will it be replaced because its now in place as a reassurance measure for Turkey, so will there be new units going there? And the second question: theres some people arguing that Russia has an  might have an interest in a weak Europe and a weak Turkey and therefore perhaps not the biggest interest in solving the situation in Syria. So to what extent would you say that this operation in the Aegean and helping Turkey is also perhaps a sign towards Russia, or would you see no connection in this?

JENS STOLTENBERG: We are deciding, or SACEUR, our top military commander, has decided to move the standing maritime group into the Aegean and that will start without any delay. At the same time several allies announced or indicated that they are ready to then also provide additional ships and assets to the standing maritime group.

Then we will now start also the work with our military planners, our military authorities to exactly find out how were going to both address the assurance measures for Turkey and the efforts  or the support for dealing with the migrant and refugee crisis. You know this is very much in the same area. Its close to Turkey; its also partly in Turkish territorial waters and some of these ships have a lot of capabilities and capacities to provide many kinds of information.

So we will find out ways to both make sure that we have the necessary tools for assurance measures for Turkey, and at the same time providing support to deal with the migrant and refugee crisis. I speak about both maritime assets, ships but also about maritime patrol aircrafts, air policing, AWACS planes which are already there for assurance measures so Im certain well find ways to use these different kinds of capabilities so were able to do both assurance measures and support the efforts with the migrants and the refugees.

OANA LUNGESCU [NATO SPOKESPERSON]: Thank you very much this concludes this press conference and the Ministerial. Thank you.

JENS STOLTENBERG: Thank you so much.
Admiral: U.S. should now prepare for Chinese 'invasion' of Taiwan

Harutyunyan: I cannot imagine Artsakh's future without presence of Russia

Harutyunyan: Without questioning path of our independence, we must meet with Baku

Prime Minister of Finland does not think that Hungary and Turkey will block country's application for NATO membership

Iranian FM: U.S. made hasty statements in connection with protests

Former Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim involved in car accident in Karabakh

Arayik Harutyunyan: Artsakh people's right to self-determination is non-negotiable

Iranian MFA calls it important to form platform with Armenia and India on North-South corridor

Details of EU monitoring mission in Armenia are known

Foreign Ministry: It seems Ankara is more interested in opening corridor through Armenia than Azerbaijan

Mirzoyan: Unexpected third countries support Azerbaijani interpretation of road to Nakhchivan

Foreign Ministry: Armenia, Iran and Bulgaria initial agreement on creation of Persian Gulf-Black Sea corridor

Israeli Defense Minister to visit Ankara

Armenian Foreign Minister names main obstacle to solving problems with Azerbaijan

Erdogan once again raises issue of so-called 'Zangezur corridor'

Armenian and Iranian FMs to open Iranian Consulate General in Syunik province tomorrow

Abdollahian: Aliyev assured that he does not want border changes, Iran will prevent implementation of such idea

Iranian Foreign Minister in Yerevan supports '3+3' platform

Iranian Foreign Minister recalls Tehran's 'red lines' in regional issues

Mirzoyan: We highly appreciate Iran's principled position regarding territorial integrity of Armenia

UK imposes sanctions against Iran for alleged delivery of drones to Russia

Yerevan hosts meeting of Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in narrow composition

Armenian and Iranian Foreign Ministers meet in Yerevan in extended format

Charles Michel: EU energy deal possible, but difficult

Erdogan says Baku should demand 'compensation' from Yerevan

Pashinyan: EEU mechanisms are of great help, trade turnover between Armenia and Belarus has doubled

Yair Lapid: Russia-Iran relations are serious problem for Ukraine, Europe, and whole world

Amir-Abdollahian: Iran is against presence of foreigners in this region, both in Azerbaijan and Armenia

Pashinyan at EAEU meeting: Fundamental principles of world economic system in question

Iranian Foreign Minister's official visit to Yerevan begins

Macron says Germany should not isolate itself in Europe

EU begins deployment of mission on Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Trump's son made fun of Zelenskyy's ability to ask West for money

EU to provide emergency aid for Armenia residents affected by recent Azerbaijan military aggression

Azerbaijan army units fire at Armenia positions

Mikhail Mishustin arrives in Yerevan

EU approves new sanctions against Iran over alleged drone deliveries to Russia

Eurasian Intergovernmental Council meeting begins in Yerevan

Baku calls OSCE mission to assess situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border 'private visit'

On fourth day of IRGC military exercises on border with Azerbaijan, artillery destroys planned targets

Liz Truss quits as UK Prime Minister

Turkey parliament to consider extending Turkish militarys mandate in Azerbaijan

Dollar falls, euro rises in Armenia

Russias Putin ratifies agreement on simplification of payments for goods transit within EEU territory

Stoltenberg: Almost all NATO countries have agreed to Sweden and Finland joining the alliance

Ombudswoman of Armenia: Azerbaijan prevents removal of remains of fallen soldiers

Zakharova: Matter of holding CSTO Collective Security Council meeting being worked out

Ombudswoman of Armenia: I received video materials from EU special representative about Azerbaijanis

Armenia Security Council chief, UK army general discuss cooperation in security

Armenia and Kazakhstan discuss bilateral military cooperation

Iran says U.S. and Israel won't be able to split the republic

201 bodies are identified of Armenia soldiers who died as result of September military aggression by Azerbaijan

Iran FM to arrive in Armenia today

Turkey, Azerbaijan presidents officially open international airport in occupied Artsakh territory

Armenia President visits several leading Bulgaria IT companies

Ruben Vardanyan: I will assume Artsakh State Minister position at beginning of November

Armenia PM on making EU observation mission permanent: I'm not sure about that

US State Dept.: Our ultimate goal is peaceful resolution between Armenia and Azerbaijan

Armenia, Qatar to collaborate in tourism sector

Turkey president travels to Azerbaijan

Bandits in Russia cut off Armenian man's hands, shoot him in legs

President of Armenia, mayor of Bulgarias Plovdiv discuss avenues for deepening of cooperation

Armenia has new customs attache at Upper Lars checkpoint on Russia-Georgia border

Karabakh official: Baku goes for gradual escalation, provocation of situation

Armenia to get 33mn grant from EU for police, migration service, business development in Syunik Province

Lacote: OSCE observation mission deployment will contribute to respect of Armenia territorial integrity

World oil prices going up

Russia extends flight restrictions at 11 airports

Newspaper: Karabakh delegation to head for Moscow, meeting with Putin considered probable

Newspaper: Azerbaijan aggression on September 13 paralyzes Armenia public administration for some time

Azerbaijan army opens fire towards Armenia positions at midnight

Retired US Air Force general is offered consulting job in Azerbaijan at rate of $5,000 a day

White House is puzzling over how to avoid meeting between Putin and Biden at G-20 summit

Eduard Aghajanyan: Once again I remind that Armenia was deprived of opportunity to protect rights of people of Artsakh

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
The Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Armenia and Slovenia held political consultations in Ljubljana, the Slovenian capital city.

The Armenian delegation was led by Deputy Foreign Minister Garen Nazarian.

The parties discussed Armenian-Slovenian relations.

Also, Nazarian spoke about the progress that has been achieved in Armenia-European Union (EU) relations.

In addition, the interlocutors reflected on collaboration between both countries within intergovernmental organizations and parliamentary assemblies, and exchanged views on regional developments.

During the working lunch with State Secretary Dragoljuba Bencina of the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the parties expressed readiness to provide all assistance toward the development of bilateral relations between the two countries, and to their cooperation within international organizations.

The Armenian delegation met also with State Secretary Janez Lenarcic of the Office of the Prime Minister of Slovenia. They reflected on the avenues for the development of bilateral relations.

In addition, a special reference was made to regional security and stability as well as Armenias outlook on and efforts toward achieving a pacific resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

During his visit to Ljubljana, Garen Nazarian met also with President Mitja Bervar of the National Council, the upper house of the Slovenian Parliament.
YEREVAN.  Armenias economy has reached a level of establishment and reforms, whereby it becomes appealing for American investments.

The US Ambassador to Armenia, Richard Mills, stated the abovementioned commenting on US President Barack Obamas statement that the historic level of US investment in Armenia in 2015 is just the beginning.

The ambassador noted that these remarks by President Obama reflect the US Embassys and the American governments priorities in Armenia; that is, expanded trade and investment ties.

Mills added that the lifting of sanctions on Iran could turn Armenia into an important platform for American business expansion with Iran.

Also, the diplomat stated that investments can be made in Armenia so as to help reduce corruption, and for the benefit of those who are engaged in business in the country.

On the first anniversary of his ambassadorship in Armenia, Ambassador Mills on Thursday held an online chat with Armenian citizens, and he responded to their questions regarding the US foreign policy.
Czech Doosan Skoda Power is in talks with Metsamor nuclear power plant in Armenia over retrofitting steam turbines.

Mr Adam Bajer, head of the companys retrofit and modernization department, told the aforementioned to Armenian News  NEWS.am at the visit of a Czech business mission to Armenia, co-organized by the Ministry of Economy of RA.

Skoda power (part of Skoda, one of the hallmarks of Czech industry) produces equipment for machine halls of energy plants, including steam turbine generators, condensers, and other equipment apart from boilers.

We can service coal-fired power and nuclear plants, waste-to-energy and biomass installations. In Armenia, we are primarily interested in modernization of Metsamor power plant. We had met the top management at Metsamor 1-2 months before, and received an inquiry to present our technologies, Bajer said.

He stressed that the company has had a considerable experience in dealing with Soviet WWER-type nuclear reactors, one of which is installed at Metsamor.

Close economic ties of then Czechoslovakia with the Soviet Union extended into energy as well. All nuclear plants in CSSR were designed and engineered in the USSR. So for quite a long time we had been making WWER reactors and turbines to match them. So we have experience well suited for Metsamor, he concluded.

The state-owned Metsamor plant is preparing for an overhaul, due to start in May 2017, in 2 phases of 3-4 months each (the other phase due in 2018). Works will be overseen by the Russian Rosatom state corporation.

In May 2015, the Armenian parliament approved a line of credit of $270 mln and a grant of $30 mln from Russia to renovate the Metsamor plant and extend its life from 2016 to 2026. By 2018, Armenian authorities hope to attract enough investment to start building a replacement plant.
Access to scientific works is so expensive nowadays that even the Harvard University has no enough money for that.

15,000 academics recently signed a petition, in which they urged to boycott Elsevier academic publishing company for charging exorbitantly high prices for scientific works.

The income of the company is over billion dollars, while the academics get nothing for their publications. Often they dont even have access to their own works, since their universities might not be subscribed.

Thus, to publish an open access work in Cognition journal, the researcher must pay over 2,000 dollars.

And without publications in an authoritative journals its impossible to make a career in the scientific world, this resulting in a catch-22 situation, Meduza writes.

Consequently, the academics have to find different ways to get access to the necessary works.

For instance, they have created a special forum, where they ask a colleague to forward certain work. A professional Twitter hashtag - #icanhazpdf  also serves this end.

Alexandra Elbakyan, who studied at Kazakh National Technical University, also faced the situation where she couldnt afford buying expensive articles. And thus she made up her mind to struggle. In 2011, Elbakyan created the website Sci-Hub. It works as follows: After the query is entered, the system checks whether the needed work is in the database of another pirate website LibGen. If not, the algorithm gets round the paywall on the website of the publishing company or the necessary journal.

The access keys are provided by the academics whose universities are linked to a certain database. The article requested for the first time is every time added to LibGen database. During the next query, Sci-Hub must take it from there.

In November 2015, the New York court ruled to discard the domain sci-hub.org. LibGens domain was also discarded. Elsevier assured the court that thousand of works were downloaded from them every day via Sci-Hub.

Elbakyan says that if all publications and journals are considered, the number of downloaded articles will reach hundred and thousands. The websites, however, get more independent with each downloaded work: they need to take the document only once.

Elsevier assessed its losses in $750-150 000 for each downloaded work, i.e. a total of billion dollars of losses may be involved.

However, most probably nobody will appear in the American court, since Sci-Hub and LibGen servers are in Russia and the Netherlands, whereas the websites already work by other domains.

Alexandra Elbakyan stands for the freedom of disseminating information. In a letter to the American court, she slammed Elsevier for charging money from academics.


TITUSVILLE, Florida  A second Brevard County Public Schools employee has been charged for being involved in an employee theft ring, according to ABC affiliate WFTV Channel 9.

A two-month investigation into an organized theft ring operating inside the Brevard Public School Fleet Maintenance Facility by the Brevard County Sheriffs Office Economic Crimes Task Force, the State Attorneys Office, and the Brevard County School Superintendents Office, led to the arrest of 54-year-old Dale Gunther of Titusville, Florida on Tuesday after a warrant was served at his residence. Gunthers arrest follows the arrest of 57-year-old Edward Strobush of Titusville two weeks ago who is also accused of participating in the theft ring.



Gunther, a Brevard Public School employee, is a Transportation Specialist responsible for tool purchases. In addition to his arrest, agents also executed a search warrant at his residence in Titusville where property belonging to BPS was recovered. The investigation determined that items purchased by Gunther totaled approximately $10,000.00.





Court records show that Gunther was released from the Brevard County Jail after posting a $30,000.00 bond.



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The investigation commenced in December after Superintendent Desmond Blackburns Office received information that employees were possibly committing thefts at the fleet maintenance facility. The information alleged that employees were taking tools, parts and equipment from the facility as well as ordering parts on the schools accounts and were then used for their personally owned property. This information was forwarded to the Sheriffs Office and assigned to the Economic Crimes Task Force who began investigating the specific crimes.









Anyone with information about this Investigation is asked to please call Brevard County Sheriffs Office Economic Crimes Task Force Agent Harry Bermudez at 321-633-8410, or CRIMELINE at 1-800-423-TIPS (8477), you can also visit http://crimeline.org/, or text crimeline plus your tip to CRIME (274637). All information to CRIMELINE is confidential and you may be eligible for a reward.







[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RztVm8y294]



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During a visit to the Emory campus, His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama examines a wooden clock built by Emory President James Wagner. The Dalai Lama is Presidential Distinguished Professor at Emory. Emory Photo/Video

A Creativity Conversation with Emory President James W. Wagner, led by Rosemary Magee, director of the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, will take place at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 24, in the Teaching and Learning Studio of the Rose Library. The event is free and open to the public.

Emory's Creativity Conversations series features a one-on-one discussion between an Emory scholar and a distinguished thinker and creator, giving the University community unique access to leaders in a wide range of fields.

Wagner, who has served as president of Emory since 2003, holds a PhD in materials science and engineering. He is a charter fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and a fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

"I'm looking forward to discussing with President Wagner the inspiration for his own creativity," Magee says. "He has long been involved in a number of creative endeavors, including his work as an engineer and a scientist. In addition, he has been personally engaged in creative projects  he built a clock for his daughter, he's a photographer, and he has restored antique cars as well."

Wagner says his daughter and her husband still display the clock in their home. "The clock is about five feet tall, entirely wooden  gears and all  with an open design so that the works can be seen in action," he says. One of his favorite photos is of the Dalai Lama, whose hobby is fixing watches, examining the workings of the clock during a visit to campus. The Dalai Lama is Presidential Distinguished Professor at Emory.

Magee says she also will ask Wagner about how his work in organizational leadership has tapped into these creative energies, as well as his association with a wide range of scholars, artists and thinkers. His sense of wonder informs his life and work, she notes, such as his delight in discovering a collection of "Philosophical Transactions," a science journal that began publishing papers in 1665, recently given to the Rose Library by its namesake, Emory alumnus Stuart Rose.

Magee and Wagner will discuss the conditions that are most conducive to creativity and how the University can foster those.

Magee worked closely with Wagner in her previous role as vice president and secretary of Emory. "We had many thoughtful and thought-provoking discussions," she says, which inspired her to invite him to participate in a Creativity Conversation.

The conversation is in partnership with the Rose Library and Emory's Center for Creativity and the Arts.

The Rose Library is located on Level 10 of Emory's Woodruff Library.
CSUF News Service

Why Gravitational Waves Matter

Titan Physicists Discuss Discovery

Cal State Fullerton physicists and their students are part of the international collaboration of researchers who contributed to the first direct detection of gravitational waves  100 years after Albert Einstein predicted them.

Physics faculty members Joshua Smith, Jocelyn Read and Geoffrey Lovelace of Cal State Fullerton's Gravitational-Wave Physics and Astronomy Center discuss the importance of this major scientific discovery and the potential benefits to society.

What are gravitational waves?

Gravitational waves are ripples in space-time that are produced by masses that revolve or collapse in a lopsided way. The waves travel at the speed of light, stretching and squeezing the distances between things in their path. Like light, gravitational waves can have many different frequencies. The gravitational waves that LIGO searches for are roughly at the frequency of the sounds humans hear.

Why should we care about finding gravitational waves?

First of all, finding gravitational waves confirms fundamental predictions of Einstein's theory of gravity, checking that we understand the universe as well as we think we do. Measuring these waves has required decades of science and engineering work, pushing the limits of human capabilities in new ways. We are now able to observe two black holes merging together a billion light years away! In addition, gravitational waves will provide a new way to observe the universe  and we expect to learn a lot from these observations. Einstein's theory already is being used in many ways to improve our daily lives, including GPS satellite timing.

So how does this discovery affect our lives?

It opens a new field of astronomy that future students will explore. Like many scientific advances, there probably won't be much change in our day-to-day lives  at first. We'll understand more about why and how the universe works, and we'll be able to listen to the soundtrack, or the "symphony," of the universe for the first time. But experience also has taught us that scientific breakthroughs tend to have huge payoffs in the long-term  things that impact our daily lives like electronics, lasers, medical imaging and the Internet all stem from this sort of exploratory scientific work done many years ago.

Further, the technology required to push Advanced LIGO to the sensitivity required to make this discovery has improved the state-of-the-art in lasers, optics, vibration isolation and other technology areas that likely will have impacts on other areas of science and technology in the future.

What do physicists hope gravitational waves will reveal about the universe?

Gravitational waves will open a new window on the universe, revealing objects that we could not see with light  such as black holes  and by giving us information about objects that are complementary to what we learn from light. We can use gravitational-wave observations to learn about how the universe has changed over time, how stars and galaxies form and evolve, and how exotic astrophysical objects like black holes and neutron stars behave. But perhaps more excitingly, every time we have opened a new window on the universe, we have found something we didn't expect  and the most exciting part might be the still-unknown surprises.

What's next for CSUF researchers?

This discovery opens a whole new field of astronomy, and we hope that it is one of many gravitational- wave discoveries to come. Our work to improve the sensitivity of our instruments, better understand the full array of possible gravitational-wave sources, and learn as much as possible from this detection and from future observations will give us lots to do. Together with our students, and with scientists around the world, we will continue to explore this new frontier of astronomy.

What do you think Einstein would say about the discovery?

Das ist unglaublich!" (That's unbelievable!)
CSUF News Service

Finding Gravitational Waves

Titan Scientists Revel in Exciting Discovery

Joshua Smith

Joshua Smith, associate professor of physics, joined Cal State Fullerton in 2010, bringing with him 12 years of experience in gravitational physics. His research has focused on improving the sensitivity of LIGO detectors to increase the likelihood of the first direct detections of gravitational waves. He has secured more than $1.5 million in grants, including a $450,000 National Science Foundation Early Career Development Program award in 2013  the highest honor given to young faculty scholars for early career research and teaching. Smith also is director of the CSUF Gravitational-Wave Physics and Astronomy Center. He earned his doctorate in physics from Leibniz Universitat in Hannover, Germany, and his bachelor's degree in physics from Syracuse University. Smith also was a postdoctoral fellow at the Albert Einstein Institute in Germany.

"In all of human existence, people have been mystified by the skies. Nearly everything we've learned about astronomy, we've learned from light waves," said Smith. "What I'm most excited about with this first gravitational wave detection, is it opens up a new field of astronomy, where scientists use gravity to see astronomical objects like black holes, neutron stars and supernova explosions. What we'll learn will have long-term benefits to society that are impossible to predict."

Jocelyn Read

Jocelyn Read, assistant professor of physics, studies the astrophysics of neutron stars  the remnant cores of dead stars that didn't quite have enough mass to end up as black holes. She focuses on how matter behaves at the extremely high densities inside neutron stars and how this might be measured from astronomical observations of X-rays, gamma-ray bursts and gravitational waves. She earned her doctorate in physics from the University of WisconsinMilwaukee and a bachelor's degree in mathematics and physics from the University of British Columbia, Canada. Read, who joined CSUF in 2012, completed postdoctoral work at the Albert Einstein Institute in Germany and at the University of Mississippi. Read also is associate director of the CSUF Gravitational-Wave Physics and Astronomy Center.

"This discovery is especially exciting because it's a massive binary black hole system that many astrophysicists didn't expect," said Read. "This also means that for my own research the best is yet to come: We have solid predictions that Advanced LIGO also will detect binary neutron stars in the next few years. That's when my work will really come into play."

Geoffrey Lovelace

Geoffrey Lovelace, assistant professor of physics, is a theorist specializing in numerical relativity. His research focuses on using supercomputer simulations to model colliding black holes and the gravitational waves they emit, to help Advanced LIGO and other detectors observe as many of these waves as possible. He earned his doctorate in physics from the Caltech and his bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Oklahoma. Lovelace worked for five years as a research associate at Cornell University before joining the Physics Department faculty in 2012.

"It's thrilling to see this first glimpse of space and time warping under the most extreme conditions in the universe  just as Einstein predicted a century ago," said Lovelace. "And its a tremendous opportunity to involve our students at Cal State Fullerton in the excitement of this discovery."

Alfonso Agnew

Alfonso Agnew, professor of mathematics, is a Cal State Fullerton graduate who joined the Mathematics Department faculty in 2001. A mathematical physicist, his teaching and research have been motivated by Einstein's general theory of relativity and quantum theory. Agnew is interested in developing, extending and applying mathematical methods to find and study cosmological and astrophysical solutions of Einsteins equations. Agnew earned his doctorate in mathematics from Oregon State University, and holds bachelor's degrees in mathematics and physics from CSUF.

"The most exciting thing is being able to witness and be a part of a new and exciting chapter in science that may well revolutionize the field of astronomy/astrophysics," said Agnew. "I started off my research career as a cosmologist, so I am particularly excited to discover what new things and new details that LIGO and other gravitational wave observatories will see in the universe."
CSUF News Service

Physics Scholars Ride the Gravitational Wave Discovery

CSUF alumnus Daniel Vander-Hyde, left, now a doctoral student at Syracuse University and a co-author on the discovery article, with faculty mentor Joshua Smith, associate professor of physics and director of CSUF's Gravitational-Wave Physics and Astronomy Center.

As the first gravitational waves are observed, Cal State Fullerton students and alumni share the discovery of one of the most remarkable astronomical events in their lifetime.

Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) research is conducted by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC), a group of more than 1,000 scientists from universities throughout the United States  including CSUF  and in 14 other countries.

More than 90 universities and research institutes in the LIGO Scientific Collaboration develop detector technology and analyze data. Of these researchers, approximately 250 students are contributing members of the collaboration.

Since 2010, more than 40 CSUF undergraduate and graduate students have been involved in research efforts related to the discovery, as part of CSUF's Gravitational-Wave Physics and Astronomy Center (GWPAC). Of these young researchers, about 20 students have been part of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, and of these, six graduates are co-authors of the discovery article published today in Physical Review Letters.

READ: The journal article "Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger" 

Alumni co-authors are:

Thomas Abbott '10 '12 (B.S., M.S. physics) in the physics doctoral program at Louisiana State University

'10 '12 (B.S., M.S. physics) in the physics doctoral program at Louisiana State University Joshua Hacker '15 (M.S. physics)

'15 (M.S. physics) Gabriel Islas '14 (M.S. physics) working in optics industry

'14 (M.S. physics) working in optics industry Fabian Magana-Sandoval '12 (B.S. physics) in the physics doctoral program at Syracuse University

'12 (B.S. physics) in the physics doctoral program at Syracuse University Gabriela Serna '15 (M.S. physics) in a doctoral program at Syracuse University for future science professors

'15 (M.S. physics) in a doctoral program at Syracuse University for future science professors Daniel Vander-Hyde '15 (B.S. physics) in the physics doctoral program at Syracuse University

Working alongside GWPAC faculty mentors Joshua Smith, Jocelyn Read, Geoffrey Lovelace and Alfonso Agnew, students have had the opportunity to work on this groundbreaking research, enhance their scientific and computing skills, present at national conferences and co-author peer-reviewed journal articles.

"Observing as many of these waves as possible and learning as much as possible about their sources require a generation of students with extensive knowledge of science, and with laboratory and computational skills," said Smith, GWPAC director. "At CSUF, not only is faculty-student research contributing to the global gravitational-wave research effort, we're also training the next generation of scientists."

Alumni Researchers

Thomas Abbott (B.S. physics '10, M.S. physics '12)

Louisiana State University doctoral student

LIGO has complex systems that block noises from the environment, yet some noises still affect the detectors signal, hindering scientists' ability to make confident detections, Abbott said.

While at CSUF, Abbott helped develop an algorithm that compares events that resemble gravitational waves with hundreds of environmental sensors around the LIGO detectors, allowing scientists to statistically rule out some of those noises.

As a doctoral student, Abbott is continuing this work with students and LIGO scientists to block environmental noises to improve wave detection.

"Gravitational-wave detectors are more than just a fun experiment; theyre an investment in the future. The direct detection of gravitational waves wont change your everyday lives; the LIGO lab probably wont invent the flying car," said Abbott, who hails from Chino.

"But the process of designing and creating a device as sensitive as the LIGO interferometer has pushed the boundaries of instrumental technology, and will continue to push them as scientists and engineers work to extend its sensitivity even further."

Matthew Giesler (B.S. physics '13)

Caltech doctoral student

At CSUF, Giesler was introduced to the field of numerical relativity, in which researchers use supercomputers to numerically solve the equations that govern gravity. These equations come from Einstein's theory of general relativity, which predicted gravitational waves 100 years ago.

"The research I did while at CSUF gave me the needed experience to get into a graduate program, where I could continue studying astrophysics and working in numerical relativity," said Giesler, who is from Palm Springs.

His current research focuses on using numerical relativity to predict what the gravitational wave signal looks like.

"Gravitational waves will provide us with a new way to look at our universe  and being able to detect these waves will be a revolution in physics. These waves are generated by sources we still have a lot to learn about  supernovae, black holes and neutron stars, to name a few. Fortunately the waves carry information, which we can use to study these known, and possibly unknown, sources."

Fabian Magana-Sandoval (B.S. physics '12)

Syracuse University doctoral student

As a CSUF undergraduate, Magana-Sandoval learned about optical and laser technology to improve the performance of the gravitational-wave detectors.

At Syracuse, he is conducting research that will increase the effectiveness of noise-reduction technologies to improve gravitational-wave detection.

Magana-Sandoval, who grew up in Santa Ana, is awed by the possibilities gravitational-wave research holds for the future, and also credits his undergraduate experience and his faculty mentors who helped him "build the bridges" to pursue a doctorate in physics.

"The awesome thing about gravitational-wave research is that it aims to observe black holes smashing into each other at near light speeds. In the process of learning about how gravitational-wave detectors work, I get to learn about cutting-edge laser technology, modern optics, electronics and astronomy. The skills I pick up during my time studying gravitational-wave detectors are sure to transfer over into my future career," he said.

"The main reason why we do this kind of research is because studying black holes is fascinating. Gravitational-wave research will help develop a whole new way to observe our universe."

Undergraduate Researchers

Nicholas Demos

CSUF physics major

Demos is amazed by the idea of crashing black holes and neutron stars to produce an eruption of gravitational waves  triggering their detection.

As one of the CSUF students currently studying gravitational waves, he is involved in developing simulations of such violent astronomical events by using a supercomputer built by GWPAC researchers.

"These simulations help researchers to identify gravitational waves in their data, but they also allow us to make scientifically accurate visual representations of the most extreme events in the universe," explained Demos of Anaheim.

Without much experience in computer programming or physics, Demos began conducting gravitational wave research just 18 months ago after taking an introductory physics course. Since then, Demos has gained computer and numerical skills and today is among student contributors to the LIGO global research effort.

"CSUF has provided me with a unique opportunity to study gravitational waves," he said. "Largely because of my work at the GWPAC, after I graduate next year, Ive decided to apply for doctoral programs to continue my physics education in this new field of astronomy."

Alyssa Garcia

CSUF physics major

Garcia is fascinated with astrophysics  the science of applying physics beyond the atmosphere of earth  and its role in gravitational-wave astronomy. She plans to pursue a doctorate in astrophysics after earning her bachelor's degree next year.

"From my perspective, gravitational-wave research is important because it will help us learn more about our universe. What I find fascinating about this field is that there is still so much to learn and discover," said the Brea resident.

The research she conducts involves analyzing gravitational-wave data from computer simulations and studying the black hole's horizon.

"The Gravitational-Wave Physics and Astronomy Center is helping me achieve my academic and career goals by giving me the chance to experience what it is like to do research and work in a big scientific collaboration. I also have the chance to work and learn from physicists from CSUF and other universities."

Haroon Khan

CSUF electrical engineering major and physics minor

Khan has a keen interest in physics and is inspired about the potential benefits of gravitational-wave research.

"It's a new and exciting field that not many people know about. It has the potential to revolutionize physics. Gravitational waves will open a new window into the universe. We will be able to see and discover things that no humans have ever seen before," said Khan.

His physics research involves using supercomputer simulations to see what happens when two black holes collide. He also creates visualizations from the simulated data to see what the black holes would actually look like.

The Orange resident is on track to graduate next year and plans to pursue a career in the space exploration industry: "My goal is to work at NASA one day."
Posted by Mark Williams | February 11, 2016

The single, most-echoed question at the Detroit debut about the improved and upgraded 2016 Toyota Tacoma was, "Where's the TRD Pro?" Under strict orders in 2015 not to provide any hints, Toyota engineers were tight-lipped, but from the glint in their eyes it was clear it was coming soon. And now it's just made its debut at the 2016 Chicago Auto Show; it's due to arrive in dealerships this fall as a 2017 model. Click here to see our video.

We have to admit, the TRD Pro looks good (especially in bright white), but in typical Toyota fashion, the minimum has been done to upgraded trim level for this pickup truck.

Simply put: Just think of all of the upgraded features for the last Tacoma TRD Pro  Fox dual-reservoir shocks, stronger springs, skid plating, bigger wheels and tires, and some nice design features  and apply them to this all-new Tacoma. It features some new design cues, better sound proofing, stronger engine performance, a new interior look, added frame strength, and vastly improved ride and handling dynamics.

To its credit, Toyota has created one of its most capable vehicles for back-road adventures with this Tacoma TRD Pro. Much of the credit for this goes to Toyota's exclusive Crawl Control and Multi-terrain Select systems  standard on all TRD Pro models. This technology alone (available as an option on the Tacoma TRD Off-Road 4x4) is enough to put this new midsize player at the top of its segment, as well as make it one of the most capable off-road explorers around.

The TRD Pro will be offered only in the 4x4 double-cab, short-bed configuration with either the optional six-speed manual (which will have a clutch interlock defeat switch to allow the truck to be started in gear) or the all-new six-speed automatic. Additionally, the new TRD Pro will come in three unique colors: Cement, Barcelona Red Metallic and Super White.

The TRD Pro Look

Like the previous TRD Pro trim level, Toyota is giving the new model the same interior and exterior design changes along with a few more. It gets the heritage-inspired all-caps Toyota nameplate for the blacked-out front grille, blacked-out fender flares and TRD Pro badging on the tailgate. The TRD Pro also will use the hood from the Tacoma TRD Sport, but includes blacked-out hood scoops for a unique look. The headlights and taillights will have black-smoked bezels with LED lighting, projector headlamps and standard integrated fog lights.

Inside, the TRD Pro will  once again  include many standard features to give it a comfortable and sporty feel. TRD Pro logos will be stitched into the leather-trimmed headrests, and the front and rear floormats as well as embossed on the dash. Also, no matter the transmission choice, there will be a TRD shift knob along with a telescoping, leather-wrapped steering wheel and Entune premium audio system with a large, integrated navigation screen. Our favorite feature is the new 4.2-inch information display that offers both an inclinometer and tilt gauge to let you know exactly how crossed up your rig is when you're out on the trail. It also will have the GoPro mount that's standard on all Tacomas.

The TRD Pro Performance

The new TRD Pro benefits from an all-new dual-overhead cam, 24-valve Atkinson-cycle 3.5-liter V-6 that delivers more power at lower rpm (with a flatter torque curve) than the previous V-6. Combined with a stronger frame, this package continues many of the same suspension improvements we've seen before.

The 2017 model will get 1-inch longer and stronger front coil springs, TRD-tuned and re-arched progressive leaf springs in back, and larger internal-bypass Fox racing shocks. Combine that with 16-inch black alloy wheels and 31-inch Goodyear Wrangler All-Terrain tires, a unique aluminum front skid plate (with the TRD Pro logo stamped on it), an electronically controlled part-time four-wheel-drive system, and a standard push-button locking rear differential, and you can see how hard the TRD engineers worked to build an impressive package.

That doesn't include the additional capabilities available when you engage the Crawl Control or Multi-terrain Select systems. Crawl Control electronically controls braking, acceleration and traction duties while climbing or descending nasty terrain  all you do is steer. The Multi-terrain Select system allows you to set the system for surface type (snow, sand, rocks, etc.), throttle sensitivity, traction control and engine mapping, adjusting to different algorithms. Toyota also included other standard features we like: a standard Class IV tow hitch, trailer-sway control, a larger engine oil cooler, power steering cooler, a 130-amp alternator and hill start assist.

Pricing for Toyota's ultimate off-road package (also the segment's ultimate off-road package) will not be released until the vehicle goes on sale this fall; however, we'd expect pricing to start right around $37,000, which is just a tick above the starting price for the previous model.

For those who will criticize Toyota for not going further, it's worth noting that although Toyota clearly had room to raise the bar here, the strategy of simply moving the previous TRD Pro trim level onto the new-and-improved platform was the safe move and, in fact, the same one Ford is taking with the release of its new 2017 F-150 Raptor later this year. It too gets a new engine, transmission, 4x4 system and additional interior features.

Whether the manufacturers of either of these pickups decide to raise their game another notch (or two) in the future will likely hinge on how popular these new off-roaders are to the average pickup buyer. If more people opt for these exclusive off-road packages, you can bet Toyota and Ford will invest more money and technology into a more powerful and capable pickup package. We'll have to wait and see.

Manufacturer images
Posted by Mark Williams | February 11, 2016

We're big fans of straight-forward work trucks, so when Mercedes-Benz announced that it would be revealing the affordable Sprinter Worker commercial van at the 2016 Chicago Auto Show we knew we needed a closer look.

In a world filled with funky-styled full-size vans (Ford Transit, Ram ProMaster and Nissan NV), it's nice to see the M-B Sprinter, typically the most expensive player in the segment, offering a no-nonsense model to better compete with its less expensive rivals.

The new Sprinter Worker trim level will come standard with a 2.1-liter inline four-cylinder Bluetec turbo-diesel and seven-speed 7G-Tronic transmission (with paddle shifters) at a starting price of $33,490 (including destination). The Worker also will be offered in 2500 and 3500 chassis configurations, but will escalate in price around $4,000 for each upgrade in capability.

This new trim level is aimed squarely at the growing commercial segment and is likely to appeal to small-business owners who need just the bare essentials from their van so they can customize it to fit their needs.

The base Worker model will come in a 144-inch wheelbase configuration (which is only offered with the standard roof height); standard features include Bluetooth connectivity, crosswind assist, six front airbags, a four-speaker AM/FM radio, load-adaptive traction control, power windows, air conditioning, a tilt-and-telescoping steering wheel, adjustable armrests and five cupholders.

The Worker offers 319.1 cubic feet of cargo area, a payload capacity of 3,512 pounds and a maximum towing capacity of 5,000 pounds. The Worker also will be offered in a longer wheelbase (170 inches) and taller roof heights (standard, high roof and super-high roof) in both the 2500 and 3500 configurations (both can be ordered with 4x4 capability as well).

The M-B Sprinter Worker model is now available for orders at dealers.

Mercedes-Benz Base Worker Specifications

Base price: $33,490 (including destination)

Wheelbase: 144 inches

Turning diameter: 47.6 feet

Engine: turbo-diesel 2.1-liter inline four-cylinder

Horsepower: 161

Torque: 266 pounds-feet

Base curb weight: 5,038 pounds

Maximum gross vehicle weight rating: 8,550 pounds

Maximum payload: 3,512 pounds

Maximum towing capacity: 5,000 pounds

Maximum gross combined weight rating: 13,550 pounds

Interior height: 66.5 inches

Bed-floor length: 137.4 inches

Maximum floor width: 70.1 inches

Width at wheelhouse: 53.1 inches

Maximum cargo volume: 319.1 cubic feet

Fuel capacity: 24.5 gallons

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WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama on Tuesday rolled out a national action plan aimed at taking near-term actions and putting in place a long-term strategy to strengthen the country's cybersecurity.

Under Obama's plan, a commission will be created to make recommendations on actions "that can be taken over the next decade to enhance cybersecurity awareness and protections throughout the private sector and at all levels of government," the White House said in a statement, Xinhua reported.

The commission, comprised of top strategic, business, and technical thinkers from outside of government, including members to be designated by the bi-partisan Congressional leadership, will present a roadmap for future cybersecurity actions to Obama before the end of 2016, just before Obama leaves office.

The Obama administration will also create a new federal position known as Federal Chief Information Security Officer to drive cybersecurity policy, planning, and implementation across the federal government.

"This is the first time that there will be a dedicated senior official who is solely focused on developing, managing, and coordinating cybersecurity strategy, policy, and operations across the entire Federal domain," said the White House.

Obama's plan encouraged Americans to move beyond passwords and use multiple factors of authentication to log in to their online accounts, such as a fingerprint or a single use code delivered in a text message.

Meanwhile, Obama's fiscal year 2017 budget, also released on Tuesday, is proposing over $19 billion in cybersecurity funding, a 35 percent increase over this year's spending plan.

The money included a $3.1-billion Information Technology Modernisation Fund to retire, replace, or modernize antiquated IT infrastructure, networks, and systems "that are expensive to maintain, provide poor functionality, and are difficult to secure. "

By this spring, the Obama administration will also publicly release a policy for national cyber incident coordination and an accompanying severity methodology for evaluating cyber incidents "so that government agencies and the private sector can communicate effectively and provide an appropriate and consistent level of response," the White House said.

It noted that the US Cyber Command is building a Cyber Mission Force of 133 teams with 6,200 members, which will be fully operational in 2018.

In addition, Obama signed an Executive Order that created a permanent Federal Privacy Council, which the White House said "will bring together the privacy officials from across the government to help ensure the implementation of more strategic and comprehensive Federal privacy guidelines."

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Free app day camp set for middle school-age girls

by Christi Mathis

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Middle school-age girls can learn how to create their own mobile applications for Android phones during a free camp at Southern Illinois University Carbondale on Feb. 20.

The Build Your Own Android App Day Camp takes place at Morris Library and is designed to help girls get hands-on experience creating and using mobile applications. Participants dont need to bring an Android phone to camp although they can if they wish to.

They will study networking, web services, phone sensors, location services, media, speech recognition and animation. They will use App Inventor, an open source visual development tool, to create mobile apps. They will also learn to build layouts and interfaces to interact with users, store information on the phone and on the Web, work with Google Maps, and use phone features including location, accelerometer and orientation sensors. Essentially, theyll discover information taught within the School of Information Systems and Applied Technology curriculum but the content will be tailored specifically to the age and experience of participants.

The camp is limited to 25 participants and registration is on a first-come, first-served basis. The deadline is Feb. 15. Register online www.conferenceservices.siu.edu. A $20 deposit is required along with the completed registration form for those chosen as camp participants but the deposit is refunded upon completion of the day camp.

Check-in for the camp is from 8:30 to 9 a.m. and check-out is 3-3:15 p.m. The day camp concludes with a showcase allowing participants to demonstrate their expertise. Lunch and snacks are provided. All participants must have a medical release form, available at www.conferenceservices.siu.edu, on file prior to the start of the camp.

Event sponsors include the National Center for Women and Information Technology, Microsoft Research and SIUs School of Information Systems and Applied Technology in cooperation with SIUs Conference and Scheduling Services and the university.

For additional information, call 618/453-5670 or email Nancy Martin at nlmartin@siu.edu.
Illinois official to discuss state of economy

by Pete Rosenbery

CARBONDALE, Ill.  Jeff Mays, the director of the Illinois Department of Employment Security, will present a lecture later this month at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

A former state legislator, Mays will discuss the state of Illinois and the Southern Illinois economy as part of the The State of the American Worker Lecture Series. The event is from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Feb. 25, in the Saluki Stadium Club. Parking will be available in the SIU Arena parking lot.

The Paul Simon Public Policy Institute is sponsoring the lecture series.

The lecture is free and open to the public, but space is limited. Lunch is included and advance registration is required. The registration deadline is Feb. 22. RSVP to Shiloh Deitz, coordinator and researcher, at 618/453-4004, or at http://paulsimoninstitute.siu.edu/jeffmays/

The state of the American workers series is designed to provide insight into the problems of income disparities in the U.S. as well as various approaches out there to do something about it, David Yepsen, institute director, said.

A member of Gov. Bruce Rauners cabinet, Mays is a former five-term legislator who represented the 96th District in west central Illinois from 1981 to 1990. He has also served as president of the Illinois Business Roundtable, and as vice president of human resources and executive vice president of the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce.

For more information on the program, contact the institute at 618/453-4009 or visit http://paulsimoninstitute.siu.edu/.
Making the diagnosis -- Jessica Suda, center, discusses findings with automotive technology students Andrew Beau Johnson, left, and Scott Adcock in her Automotive Drivability and Emissions Diagnostics class at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. (Photo by Russell Bailey)

Auto technology teacher is making her mark

by Pete Rosenbery

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Jessica Suda doesnt view herself as a trailblazer. In just a few years, however, the two-degree Southern Illinois University Carbondale alumna has made her mark.

Last fall, Suda became the first female automotive technology instructor in the 64-year history of the program. Suda, who earned her bachelors degree in the program in 2011, is one of a handful of female automotive technology instructors at the high school, community college, or university level in the United States, according to department Chair Michael Behrmann. He noted that Suda is also one just three female automotive instructors at the university level, and the only one who specializes in automotive technology, he is aware of.

In a career field historically considered male-oriented, Suda does not feel additional pressure.

Everybody is just a person. We all work together. After being in the industry for so long, you forget. People are just people, she said.

It was Sudas performance as a student and work as an automotive technician, service adviser and in service management that prompted Behrmann to offer Suda the instructors job. Automotive technology, however, has not been Sudas only focus. She earned a bachelors degree in electrical engineering in 2014, and was involved with waterfowl migratory research with SIU Carbondales Cooperative Wildlife Research Laboratory. She also managed the facilitys invertebrate lab.

In addition to teaching, Suda is working toward a masters degree in computer engineering that she hopes to complete in December.

When she was a student here she excelled in classes. She displayed the drive -- the determination for constant learning that I look for, Behrmann said. She understood what she needed to learn and identified the resources and ways to try and learn that. She mastered it. She set challenging goals for herself and worked hard to achieve those goals.

Suda emphasizes focus and hard work with her students.

Just focus on what you want to do and you can strive to do whatever you like, she said. There is no substitute for hard work. If you want to do something, you can totally do it. You just have to put your mind to it.

A 2007 graduate of Glenbard South High School, Suda credits her parents, Karen and Frank, of Glen Ellyn, for her interests. She recalls watching her father work on the snow blower, lawnmower and fixing things around the house. Suda got her interest in engineering, where logic, order and math are key components, from her mother. A younger brother, Kevin, also graduated from SIUs automotive program and works for Toyota.

While in high school, Suda visited the Technology Center of DuPage for a career day. Suda said she recalls seeing various career fields but that automotive technology caught her eye. I want to do that. I dont know anything about cars yet, but I want to do that, she said. Steve Elza, an SIU automotive technology program graduate and one of Sudas high school instructors, encouraged her to attend SIU Carbondale.

I was unsure what to do at that point in life but Im glad I had the right people push me in the right direction, she said.

Suda said her SIU instructors, in both automotive technology and engineering, became mentors in her teaching approach. Sudas teaching area includes automotive data systems, electrical diagnostics and hybrid electric vehicle technology. She wants to one day convert her first and favorite car, a 1992 Honda Accord, into an all-electric vehicle.

A lot of the instructors are very patient, outgoing and you can ask them questions all day long, Suda said. As long as you want to learn and show initiative it will help you out. I want to be that patient, understanding person who just wants to help students learn.

Suda loves helping students realize their potential.

That is my passion; just seeing the light bulb turn on, she said. That means the world, and it affects them for the rest of their life. They will remember that moment in your class.

Janette Ramirez Baltazar, a senior from Joliet, is one of three females in Sudas Automotive Drivability and Emissions Diagnostics class this semester. Baltazar said that like Suda, she also likes to work with her hands and on cars. Having a female instructor opens my eyes more to seeing what is available; its not just fixing cars and getting dirty  its being able to teach other students, like myself. This also shows that automotive technology is not just for males.

Suda and Behrmann agree that the automotive industry provides great opportunities for women, with Suda noting, You dont always have to get dirty. She wants to continue as an instructor after she earns her masters degree, and pursue a doctorate while also involved in new automotive computer system research.

It is really transitioning into the electrical side. If you want to go to the electrical side and do diagnostics, that is great, Suda said, explaining that much of diagnostic analysis involves logic and eliminating potential problems.

Behrmann said there are misperceptions that the only career opportunities in the automotive industry are in designing, building or working on cars. There is, however, much more, and he said the industry needs to do a better job in promoting the career opportunities that we have available. There is a large industry demand for students with science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) backgrounds, he said.

There is a huge demand within our industry to take leadership management entry-level roles  and help manage the technology and the personnel who are controlling this technology, he said. Our graduates have taken global leadership positions with some of the largest corporations in the world. People do not realize those opportunities; they dont realize the job potential out there. Its not gender specific by any means.

Having a female automotive instructor, however, is important for all students to see, he said.

It impresses upon not only our current female students that they can achieve great things, but it also impresses upon our male students that this is a global industry that needs to represent all of our consumers, he said. She brings not only that academic side and the intelligence but she also brings the industry work experience into the classroom that shes been there and done that.
Stanford scientists celebrate technological advances that finally made gravitational wave detection possible

By proving a hundred-year-old theory, an international team of scientists has taken another step toward understanding the birth and evolution of the universe.

Video by Kurt Hickman and Aaron Kehoe The instrument systems that made the detection possible were built in part on a legacy of interdisciplinary technological advances made by Stanford scientists.

Today an international team of scientists excitedly announced that they had directly observed gravitational waves, often described as ripples in the fabric of spacetime. The discovery of gravitational waves confirms a prediction that Albert Einstein made nearly 100 years ago to shore up his general theory of relativity.

The detection was made by the twin Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors, an experiment led by researchers at Caltech and MIT that includes more than 1,000 affiliated scientists, including several Stanford physicists and engineers who have played key roles in the program since it was launched. The instrument systems that made the detection possible were built in part on a legacy of interdisciplinary technological advances made by Stanford scientists.

"LIGO is by far the most precise measurement machine that man has ever built," said Robert L. Byer, the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Applied Physics at Stanford, and an original member of the LIGO team. "It's finally sensitive enough to see the bells that are ringing in the universe."

The ringing bell that LIGO heard early in the morning of Sept. 14, 2015, was the result of two massive black holes merging together 1.3 billion light-years away. As the two black holes spiraled around each other, they radiated energy in the form of gravitational waves. While they merged into one even more massive black hole, they released three solar masses of energy.

"This was a huge signal," said Martin Fejer, a professor of applied physics. "It's more energy than our sun will release in its entire lifetime, and it all happened in about a fifth of a second as these two massive black holes coalesced."

Although the peak power output of the event was about 50 times that of the whole visible universe, it required an extremely sensitive device to detect the ensuing gravitational waves. LIGO consists of twin instruments, located 1,865 miles apart in Louisiana and Washington. Each of these instruments involves a single laser, each directed into two 4-kilometer-long arms that run perpendicular to one another.

As a gravitational wave passes through a detector, it distorts spacetime such that one arm lengthens, and the other shortens. By comparing the disturbances at the two detectors, the scientists can confirm the direct detection of a gravitational wave.

The detection itself was something of a surprise; the detectors were undergoing final commissioning at the time, and weren't scheduled to enter full-time detection mode for a few days. Brian Lantz, the lead scientist for seismic isolation and alignment systems for Advanced LIGO, was sitting at his desk when the detection appeared in the experiment's online notebook, and it immediately caught his attention.

The scientists had also been on the lookout for a signal that matched gravitational waves from co-orbiting neutron stars, a more anticipated event. But this signal was significantly more energetic and shorter in duration than what would be expected from neutron stars.

"We spend a lot of time making sure that the instruments are very reliable, it doesn't have any funny noise glitches, so you wonder is this a noise glitch or is this a real signal?" said Lantz, who is a senior research scientist in the Gintzon Lab at Stanford. "We [the LIGO team] immediately went through all the things that we know can cause glitches. I started looking around for earthquakes anywhere in the world that might have triggered this, and for funny misbehaviors of our instruments. But we didn't see any."

After carefully considering and eliminating all other possibilities, the LIGO researchers came to the black hole conclusion.

Separating the signal from the noise

Making the detection is incredibly difficult, in part because the amount that a gravitational wave affects the detector arms is incredibly small, only about a thousandth the diameter of an atom's nucleus. To give that some perspective, it's comparable to being able to detect if the distance between the sun and Earth increased by the width of an atom. Eliminating noise from the system has been a central challenge since LIGO's inception, and one in which Stanford research has contributed in several ways.

First, the heart of the instrument, its 1-micron, solid-state laser, was developed through Stanford. Compared to technology being used at that time, these lasers were significantly more reliable but, more important, smaller. By scaling down to a single, monolithic chip, the researchers were able to greatly reduce the instabilities caused by acoustic noise.

Hydraulic and electromagnetic systems developed by Daniel DeBra, the Edward C. Wells Professor of Engineering, Emeritus, moves the mirrors to compensate for the tidal stretching of Earth's crust. Motion of the ground is another major source of noise affecting LIGO. DeBra and Lantz have taken the lead on helping implement measures to prevent these motions from influencing the detectors, reducing vibrational disruptions caused by passing trucks and trains, earthquakes and even the moon.

Another source of noise comes from the mirrors that reflect the lasers in the arms of the detectors. Thermal energy in the mirrors causes the mirror faces to vibrate, which can lead to motions that interfere with the observation of gravitational waves. Modeling these effects and finding materials that minimize these vibrations has been a major focus of Fejer's work, which contributed to the eventual design of the mirrors used in Advanced LIGO. This work continues together with Jonathan Stebbins, a professor of geological sciences, and Riccardo Bassiri, a research associate, who are helping to identify and test high-performance glassy materials to further reduce this noise source in future detectors. Experiments on these materials are being conducted at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, with staff scientist Apurva Mehta. Further reduction in the thermal vibrations was obtained through the design of pure silica wires to suspend the mirrors, developed by physicists Norna Robertson and Sheila Rowan.

"While this is a physics experiment, there were challenges in optics and photonics and precision controls engineering and materials science," Fejer said. "Faculty members from all over campus  Applied Physics, Mechanical Engineering, Aeronautics and Astronautics, SLAC and the School Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences  all participated. The interdisciplinary nature of the faculty at Stanford who enjoy bringing their knowledge and tools to bear on broader problems made Stanford an excellent environment in which to make these contributions to the larger project."

As exciting as it is to finally directly observe gravitational waves, the researchers are already moving toward upgrading LIGO in hopes of probing known space phenomena. Targets include asymmetric neutron stars, compact binary black holes that could reveal clues about the universe's evolution and perhaps even the stochastic background of gravitational waves  those formed at the very beginning of the universe.

"It opens a whole new vista in astronomy," Byer said. "We have a new tool to look at the universe now. Gravitational waves are pure, and they can travel billions of light-years through the full length of the universe. We have some ideas of what we might find, but it also raises the potential to find totally new phenomena."

LIGO research is supported by the National Science Foundation and is carried out by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC), a group of more than 1,000 scientists from universities around the United States and in 14 other countries. More than 90 universities and research institutes in the LSC develop detector technology and analyze data, and approximately 250 students are strong contributing members of the international collaboration.

Media Contact

Bjorn Carey, Stanford News Service: (650) 725-1944, bccarey@stanford.edu
Theatre or real life? This is what Qurban Ali Mirzaee asks himself, whilst sitting in a small flat in West Delhi. Popularly known as 'Baba Mazari' in Afghanistan, this fifty-one-year old Afghan film maker has more than 100 films in his credit, acted in more than 150 TV serials and directed many plays. He is one of the thousands of refugees scattered across the world from the violent theatre of absurd, called Afghanistan. Ali had to flee with his family in last November after being threatened by Taliban. In March last year, a violent mob in the Afghan capital - Kabul, killed Farkhunda Malikzada, a school teacher, after falsely being accused of burning the Quran. "I was totally disturbed by that killing. I decided to protest" says Qurban Ali. His theatre group Simorgh ( means fabled bird ) organised a street play depicting the condition of Afghanistan women under Taliban dictate. This provoked Taliban and in July, Qurban Ali was kidnapped, taken to an unknown location and was brutally beaten. Somehow, he managed to escape, but the threat was evident. Not just for him, but for the whole family. "Leave the country or die" that was the Taliban ultimatum... The Taliban burnt down his house in Behsood district, adjacent to Kabul. "I can't put my family in danger, I had no option, but to leave. First I thought of going to Iran, because I was in Iran for some time during Taliban Era in 1990s. I lost all documents when Taliban burned down my house "says Ali. With the help of UNHCR, (United Nation High Commission for Refugees) Ali, along with 8 of his family members reached Delhi in November last year. Delhi has become a refuge for many Afghanis. Rough estimate suggests that there are over 20,000 Afghanis living in Delhi. Due to the absence of job opportunities and social support, most of them are living in miserable conditions. Ali has no complaints. "I feel peace here. At this age, that is most important for me". Ali was in Delhi in 2010 as manager of his theatre group Simorgh to participate in the South Asia Theatre Festival. The troupe was performing a play called 'Salsal and Shahmam'. The play depicts the tragic story of the demolition of Bamiyan Buddha statues by Taliban. "Demolition of Buddha statues was one of the most painful incidents in my life. After coming to Delhi, whenever I see a huge statues of Hindu Gods, I remember the Buddha of Bamiyan", says Ali Ali has been a popular performer in Kabul based TV channel, Negah TV. In his play he handled topics related to condition of women in Afghanistan, Taliban insurgency, corruption, suicide bombing etc. "I am 51-years-old now. I have seen the Russian invasion in Afghanistan, seen their withdrawal, the rise of Taliban in 1990s and their fall. The America's aggressive search for Osama Bin Laden and now their withdrawal. Taliban is waiting on the side curtain now. They will be on the stage soon. Afghanistan is a theatre of absurd... Today, I am also becoming a character in that play," says Ali, sipping Afghan tea from the balcony of a small flat in Tilak Nagar in West Delhi. Whenever Ali struggled for English words, his daughter in-law, Rehala helped him. She says, "It is a pain to see him sitting idle. He always wanted to meet people and do something. But see here, he is alone and I don't know how long he will be able to sit like this." When asked about Pakistan, Ali's reaction was violent. "Pakistan is responsible for what Afghanistan is today. They jointly, with America, created Taliban. Because of Taliban I had to leave the country today... so please don't ask anything about Pakistan." "In Delhi we can feel peace. We can feel freedom. You don't understand the value of that when you have it. Even in Kabul, suicide bombings have gone up substantially . President Ghani and the CEO Abdullah Abdullah have no sense of direction about which way to govern. Both of them are sitting in the same car and driving in two directions..." Laughs Ali. After a pause he added "In fact this was the idea for my next play. Even the title was clear - 'One Car, Two Drivers.' But today, at this age I am standing all alone on a cross road. Don't know which direction to go. At the end, I myself have become a character in my own theatre of life." (ANI)
In a release, the Defence Ministry said that he continues to remain critical with evidence of oxygen deprivation to the brain. There is also evidence of pneumonia in both hislungs.

His multi-organ dysfunction state continues unabated. The condition of Lance Naik Hanamanthappa was reviewed by the team comprising of Critical Care specialists, HoD Department of Medicine, senior nephrologist and the senior neurologist and a panel of experts from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

Lance Naik Hanamanthappa, who hails from Karnataka, was flown to Delhi on Tuesday morning in a special air ambulance and admitted to the hospital. (ANI)
Issue of terrorism and threat of Islamic State terror group are also likely to figure during the meeting between visiting Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces General Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Hyderabad House.

The Crown Prince arrived in New Delhi yesterday evening on a three-day visit to India.

Prime Minister Modi received him at the Air Force Station, Palam calling him a 'close friend'.

In a tweet, Prime Minister Modi described Sheikh Mohammed as a visionary leader saying his visit will add new vigour and momentum to comprehensive strategic partnership between India and UAE. The Crown Prince is being accompanied by a high-level delegation.

Earlier, Secretary East in the External Affairs Ministry, Anil Wadhwa told reporters that India and UAE have committed to raise their bilateral trade by 60 percent in the next five years.

He said, "The two sides are drawing an action plan to achieve this target. Bilateral trade amounted to 59 billion dollars in 2014-15, making UAE third largest trading partner of India."

"Agreements in various sectors including nuclear energy, oil, IT, aerospace, defence and trade are likely to be inked today after the talks between the visiting dignitary and the Prime Minister at Hyderabad House," he added. (ANI)
The delegation, which represents different media institutions, discussed possibility of benefiting from the educational expertise. The delegation members were also briefed on the Gulf studies at the university.

The university officials and the delegation members reviewed the cultural and historic ties between the UAE and India, as well as challenges facing the research centres. The two sides agreed to strengthen co-operation.

Prof. A. K. Pasha, Director, Gulf Studies Programme, Centre for West Asian Studies, at Jawaharlal Nehru University, commended the role of the UAE in combating extremism and terrorism. "The UAE has become the world's icon in co-existence and tolerance among religions," he added.

He expressed his admiration at the comprehensive development being experienced by the UAE in the areas of culture, education, tourism, economy, investment, infrastructure and others. (ANI)
With an eye on the Dalit vote bank, BJP in Uttar Pradesh has started campaign for next years Assembly elections with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party's national president Amit Shah scheduled to pay homage to Dalit icons Ravidas and Raja Suheldev this month.While Mr Shah will visit Bahraich, a politically sensitive district, on February 24 where he will pay homage to Raja Suheldev, the 11th century Passi king. The Prime Minister, on his part, will visit Ravidas Ghat in Varanasi, his parliamentary constituency, on February 22.Ravidas and Suheldev are both Dalit icons. While Sant Ravidas was a revered guru of Jatav caste, Raja Suheldev, a Passi king had vanquished a Muslim warrior, Salar Masood Ghazi. Passis are a big Dalit sub-caste and matter most electorally after the Jatavs.Please do not read visit of Mr Modi and Mr Shah with Dalit politics. The BJP never believes in caste politics. Our leaders are honouring them because they are iconic figures, said UP BJP chief Laxmikant Bajpai here today. Although the Assembly elections are expected in the initial months of 2017, party leaders early start signifies the importance the BJP attaches to the state. The activities in the party had intensified after BJP roped in BSPs catch Jugal Kishore, a Dalit face in the state.Mr Kishore was reported to be instrumental in taking Prime Minister to Ambedkar Mahasabha during his visit to Luknow on January 22. After his visit, Mahasabha officials issued statements saying Mr Modi can be the next Kanshi Ram if he takes pro-Dalit decisions. They were hinting at reservation in private sector.Senior party leaders are, however, silent over these claims of Mahasabha leadership but say that Dalits had always been BJP supporters. In last few years they had gone with Mayawati but have now returned to the BJP after 2014 Lok Sabha polls. The indication was where party won 71 of the state's 80 seats.In case of Raja Suheldev, the party wants to highlight this Passi king as a Hindu warrior who fought to safeguard Hindus from Muslims.BJP leaders say Mr Shah will unveil a statues of Raja Suheldev in Bahraich and then address a rally there. All the local leaders have been asked to attend the rally. "Mr Shah wanted to visit the Suheldev shrine during his 2014 general election campaign but could not make it, they said. Bahraich, bordering Nepal has been communally sensitive long before the BJP and its precursor the Jana Sangh registered their presence on the political radar.UNI MB DS SB 1013 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0177-584431.Xml
Raking up the vexed issue of illegal migration, BJP's chief ministerial candidate in Assam Sarbananda Sonowal today said that illegal immigrants were the enemies of the people of the state. In an interview with UNI here, Mr Sonowal, who took over the reins of his party in the poll-bound state last month, said, ''Congress is trying to bring illegal migrants to the state. The local people have been reduced to `microscopic minority'. These people (immigrants) are the enemies of the people of Assam.Claiming that unabated infiltration from Bangladesh is still on, Mr Sonowal said if voted to power, his party will find a lasting solution to the burning issue which is threatening the basis of Assamese society.Rejecting Congress' allegation that BJP was trying to escalate communal tension before the ensuing polls, the 53-year old leader said, It is a question of the identity of the Assamese society and the BJP is determined to protect it.Mr Sonowal, who during his days as a student leader of powerful All Assam Students Union had led a massive anti-Bangladeshi movement, accused the Congress government under Tarun Gogoi of being hand in glove with the All India United Democratic Front in protecting illegal immigrants in the state. Assam goes to the polls in April and happens to be the only among poll-bound states where the BJP has a fighting chance. Although it had won just five out of 120 seats in last assembly polls, BJP surprised its rivals with an impressive performance in subsequent parliament polls in which it won half of the 14 seats with vote share of 36.50 per cent, overtaking the Congress which was reduced to second position with 29.60 per cent vote share.Exuding confidence, he said that states voters have already set agenda and will reject Congress this time.People of Assam will vote for development and BJP has the brightest prospect. From Sadiya to Dhubri and Barak to Brahmaputra valley, people will vote for us, said Mr Sonowal, who has embarked on whirlwind tour of the state to garner support.Slamming Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government in the state, he said in last fifteen years Congress government has done nothing for the people and has failed to use huge central funds.Corrupt practices are going on for last 15 years, the Gogoi government has even failed to submit utilization certificate for many schemes.Countering the perception that the partys debacle in Bihar election will have impact in Assam, Mr Sonowal said issues in Assam are completely different and so Bihar results are unlikely to influence electoral results in the state.He said the BJP has forged alliances with all groups representing indigenous communities in Assam to win the elections. UNI ABI NM SB 1016 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0388-584137.Xml
Curfew-like restrictions have been imposed in major areas of downtown and Shehar-e-Khas (SeK) today to foil any protest demonstration on the death anniversary of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) founder Mohammad Maqbool Bhat .The separatist organizations, including both the factions of the Hurriyat Conference (HC) and JKLF, have called for a general strike today as on this day in 1984, Bhat was hanged and later buried in Delhis Tihar jail.Restrictions have also been imposed in Trehgam, the home town of Bhat and some areas in the frontier district of Kupwara in north Kashmir.Official sources said that the decision to impose restrictions in Srinagar and parts of Kupwara was taken to maintain law and order.Director General of Police K Rajindra Kumar, who visited Kupwara yesterday, said that safety and security of the people is the prime concern and any effort of elements inimical to peace should be foiled firmly.Restrictions under Section 144 CrPC have been imposed in areas under the jurisdiction of police station Safa Kadal, Nowhatta, Khanyar, M R Gunj, Kralkhud and parts of Rainawari to maintain law and order.This is the second time during the past three days, restrictions have been imposed in the city areas. On February 9, similar restrictions were imposed on the third death anniversary of Mohammad Afzal Guru, Parliament attack convict who was hanged and later buried on this day in 2013. However, the situation today was totally different as security forces and state police, deployed in strength, have closed main roads and major of link roads with barbed wires. Hundreds of state police and paramilitary forces, wearing bullet proof jackets and holding automatic weapons and lathis in their hands remained deployed on both sides of the Nallahmar from Khanyar to Chattabal. However, the road to S K Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) through Eidgah was through though only for those going to the Institute.Residents on both sides of the Nallahmar and other areas where restrictions have been imposed alleged that they were directed to remain indoor. In the civil lines Lal Chowk, the nerve centre of the city and Maisuma, where the JKLF headquarter is located, restrictions continued for the second day today. The JKLF had announced to take out a procession yesterday from Maisuma besides a sit-in at Lal Chowk to press for return of mortal remains of Guru and Bhat.However, front chief Mohammad Yaseen Malik and some other senior leaders were arrested and lodged in central Jail, Srinagar on Monday. All roads leading to Lal Chowk and Ghantaghar remained blocked with barbed wires and large number of security force and state police personnel deployed in entire civil lines.Roads leading to Maisuma, where the JKLF headquarters and house of its chairman Malik are located remained closed for the third day today. Large number of security forces and state police personnel remained deployed to prevent any procession. UNI BAS SB 1031 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-584441.Xml
Maqbool Bhat a resident of Trehgam in Kupwara District of Kashmir was hanged to death in Tihar Jail on 11 February 1984 on charges of committing a double murder. Bhat entered the political arena of Kashmir with an ideology of Jammu and Kashmir existing as an independent state. To further his political agenda he founded the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) along with his friend, Hashim Qureshi and others. Being young and impressionable, he came under the devious spell of Pakistan. He and his friends generated anti-India propaganda and committed a number of crimes, including hijacking and murder. They were too young to realise that Pakistan had no love lost for Kashmir or its people; its objective was to use the state as a tool to disintegrate India and seize its rivers. As Maqbool Bhat spoke more and more about an independent Kashmir, free from both India and Pakistan, he became persona non grata for the Pakistani military establishment. He publicly stated that the military rulers of Pakistan had never supported the peoples' armed struggle in Kashmir for which reason he and his comrades became the target of brutal torture and humiliation. He was forced to flee from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) back to Jammu and Kashmir where he was arrested for his crimes, tried as per law and sentenced to death . The ensuing events over the years have clearly established the errors in his ideology and the means adopted to fructify the same. His first mistake was to opt for the path of violence as an instrument to realise his political goals. He also erred by not understanding the benefits that his people would accrue by aligning themselves with democratic tenets of the Indian nation. The biggest mistake, however, was his reliance on Pakistan for support. Towards the end of his life he realised his mistakes. Sadly, by that time, it was too late for him to make amends. The folly of Maqbool Bhat's misguided policies dawned on the people of Kashmir; the ideology of moderation and democracy, slowly but steadily, established ascendancy over extremist fundamentalism. A shining example of the change is the enthusiasm with which young boys of Kashmir come forward in thousands for recruitment in the army despite open threats from the militants to stay away from recruitment rallies. Extremist idealism has made way for an overwhelming urge to enjoy the fruits of democracy in terms of peace, prosperity, progress and development. Hard line political postures are being replaced by political expediency to meet the aspirations of the people for a better quality of life. Separatist organisations like the Hurriyat are facing a potent threat of being politically marginalised. Unfortunately, the approach adopted by Maqbool Bhat was wrong and he became instrumental in guiding his own family members and a host of young, impressionable and misinformed young boys towards a path which gave them nothing but hardship, disruption and finally death. Maqbool Bhat's immediate family is fighting a hard battle for survival in POK. His son Showkat Maqbool Bhat is politically active. The family floated a political party, the Jammu and Kashmir National Liberation Front (JKNLF). Later on it was changed to Jammu Kashmir National Liberation Council. The party holds regular demonstrations to highlight the glaring human rights violations being faced by the people of POK and Gilgit-Baltistan at the hands of the oppressive Pakistani regime, especially the Pakistan Army. Showkat has, on many occasions, been arrested in Muzaffarabad in POK for leading peace marches to the UN office to highlight the sad plight of the people of POK and Gilgit-Baltistan. Showkat has also been speaking against the use of POK for infiltration of terrorists into Kashmir. He highlights the insecurity that the people of POK feel with the barbarian Jihadis roaming across their land as they await their turn for infiltration. Also, the artillery shelling that is carried out to facilitate infiltration elicits a massive response from the Indian side which causes great damage and loss of life and property to the villagers who reside along the Line of Control. "The fighters (terrorists) are there and they are regularly crossing into India. The local people are very scared - they believe the [terrorist] crossings are going to restart artillery exchanges between the Pakistani and Indian Armies," said Showkat in an interview to BBC. Maqbool Bhat's old associate, Hashim Qureshi, who hijacked an Indian Airlines Fokker Friendship plane from Srinagar to Lahore in 1971, after 30 years in exile in Holland, returned to India and onwards to Kashmir in 2000 and entered the political arena. He has admitted that the hijacking of the aircraft Ganga was a mistake and has expressed his support for electoral politics with a clearly non-violent agenda. In his recent interviews Hashim Qureshi has lambasted the Government of Pakistan for its brutal practices in POK. "It is not shocking for me because I've been through the atrocities and the people are still going through them. Pakistan only talks about issues which are prevalent in Indian part of Kashmir. Pakistani security forces are no better than the British colonialists," said Qureshi in an interview. He also praised India for its efforts to obtain and retain Kashmir in a democratic way. The children of the so called Baba-e-Quam, as the separatist leaders of Kashmir address Maqbool Bhat, are today leading the outcry against what has been done to their homeland by the many Jihadi organisations and the large number of terrorists who form their cadre; by the Pakistan Army and its notorious Inter Services intelligence (ISI) and the apathetic Government of Pakistan. Those who have made millions by politically exploiting Maqbool Bhat's death have not stopped attempting to do so by reviving his memory to their advantage. However, after achieving their objective they relegate him back to the shadows of his failed cause. They have made no attempt to ameliorate the emotional suffering of the family of their leader for whom they profess undying respect and loyalty. It is vital for the people of Kashmir to take note of this development and ensure that their young boys do not become prey to Pakistan's vicious propaganda and take the path chosen by Maqbool Bhat which led to his death and plunged his family into the depths of misery for no reason whatsoever. The views expressed in the above article are that of Col. Jaibans Singh (Retired), who is a columnist and an author (ANI)
Defence expert Nitin Gokhle on Thursday said David Coleman Headley's revelations in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks case have put Islamabad in dock as the world will now be more convinced that Pakistan is not just a terrorist sponsor but also a terrorist state. Gokhle told ANI that Pakistan will continue to be in denial post Headley's deposition in the case. "This is nothing new. India should have expected it, India knew that Pakistan would always say this is nothing but a kind of drama that Headley is playing out. But what has happened because of Headley's testimony in the court via video-conferencing is that at least the world will now realize that what India has been saying for so many years, for decades is coming true," Gokhle said. "And he has given so many details - how much money was paid to him by the ISI; where did he get trained; what was the plan; there were two failed attacks in Mumbai. So, I think India should take satisfaction from the fact that Pakistan may be in denial but the world will more and more be convinced because of this testimony that Pakistan is a terrorist state, not just a terrorist sponsor but a terrorist state," he added. Headley's deposition continued today at a Special Mumbai court after a day's break yesterday. The Pakistani-American terrorist revealed that before his visit to India, he received 25,000 US dollars from Major Iqbal and 40,000 Pak rupees from his handler Sajid Mir. Both belong to terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba. Besides this, Major Iqbal also gave him counterfeit Indian currency two to three times. Headley said that he signed an agreement in November 2006 for his office in Tardeo's AC market area of Mumbai. After the 26/11 attacks, he wanted to close the office but Tahawur Rana wanted to continue working from Mumbai. That is when Headley insisted on Rana returning to the US to avoid getting into trouble. He further said that after opening the office about which Major Iqbal knew, he went to Chicago and then met Tahawur Rana for the first time. Rana then facilitated Headley's visa formalities. Rana was aware that Headley was working for the LeT and that LeT was a terror outfit. He further informed that all his funding were received through Nariman Point branch of IndusInd Bank and Rana had already warned him that RBI would not grant him permission to start business account. Headley has also said that Ishrat Jahan, the 19-year-old student killed in an encounter in Gujarat on 2004, was a member of Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba's women wing. Ishrat was shot along with three men on the outskirts of Ahmedabad in 2004, by the Crime Branch of the Gujarat Police, which claimed that all four were terrorists involved in a plot to kill the then chief minister Narendra Modi. (ANI)
Congress lawyer Kapil Sibal on Thursday urged the Supreme Court to hear the National Herald case on its scheduled date of February 12 despite Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy telling the court that he is unavailable for proceedings till February 19. The Congress is seeking a stay on the proceedings at a trial court. Earlier, Swamy had given consent for February 12 for hearing at the apex court. The Supreme Court will now decide on listing the matter. Earlier, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi moved the Supreme Court against a Delhi High Court decision that dismissed their appeals seeking a quashing of summons issued to them by a trial court in connection with the National Herald case. Swamy had alleged that both had cheated and created a breach of trust in the acquisition of the now-defunct National Herald by Young Indian Limited (YIL). On June 26, last year, the trial court issued summons to them on Swamy's allegations of 'cheating' in the acquisition of Associated Journals Ltd (AJL) by Young India Ltd (YIL) -- a firm in which Sonia and Rahul Gandhi own 38 per cent stakes each. The Delhi High Court had in December 2015 rejected their plea and directed them to appear before the trial court. The case relates to the Indian National Congress granting an interest-free loan of Rs. 90.25 crore (USD 13 million) to Associated Journals Limited (AJL), owner of the National Herald newspaper which was established by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1938. It was alleged that the loan was either not repaid or repaid in cash, which is in violation of Section 269T of the Income Tax Act, 1961. A closely held company, Young Indian, was incorporated in November 2010 with a capital of Rs.5 lakh (USD 7,400) and it acquired almost all the shareholding of AJL and all its properties (alleged to be worth Rs.5000 crores (USD 740 million). Swamy filed the case alleging criminal misappropriation by both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. The courts have determined that a prima facie case has been established in the matter. (ANI)
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will visit Guruvayur Sreekrishna Temple near here tomorrow, to pay obeisance to Lord Krishna after his party's victory in the election to the island nation's Parliament last year. His wife Maitree Wickremesinghe will accompany him. The Lankan Prime Minister, who will land at the Cochin International airport at 0815 hrs, will travel by road to Guruvayur and reach at the Sreevalsam Guest House of the Guruvayur Devaswom around 1100 hrs. After paying obeisance at the temple, he will rest in the Guest House and proceed to the airport in the afternoon for Colombo at 1615 hrs. In April last, Mr Wickremesinghe had visited Guruvayur and while interacting with the media, said that he would again visit the temple after his party wins the elections. He was sworn in as Prime Minister in August last year. UNI PMD DS SB 1315 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0177-584555.Xml
Rajan has agreed for the same.

Earlier, the court sought Rajan's reply regarding the CBI's plea to obtain permission to collect the underworld don's voice sample.

Rajan, a former key aide of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, was arrested at the Bali airport in Indonesia on October 25 after he arrived from Australia, and was later deported to India.

He is facing around 70 cases in Maharashtra, which includes the J Dey murder case.

Dey, a veteran crime reporter, was shot dead in Powai by motorcycle-borne shooters on June 11, 2011 allegedly at the command of Rajan. (ANI)
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today paid a glowing tribute to Siachen braveheart Lance Naik Hanumanthappa who passed away at the Army's Research and Referral Hospital in New Delhi this morning. "Saddened by the news of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa," Ms Banerjee twitted immediately after the demise of the brave Indian Armyman, who sacrificed his life during duty to keep the Indian borders safe from the enemy."Brave soldier gave supreme sacrifice for the nation. Salute to him and his colleagues who died at Siachen," Ms Banerjee added. Hanumanthappa was the only survivor of the Siachen avalanche tragedy that struck on February 3. He remained extremely critical with worsening multiple organ dysfunction. The Lance Naik was put on maximal life support with aggressive ventilation and dialysis, but could not be saved. He was rescued from a deep layer of ice after remaining buried there for six days. UNI PC PL SB VN1420 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0211-584727.Xml
The ministry was reacting to news reports from Bhubaneswar that more than100 children in six districts of Odisha had fallen sick after being administered deworming tablets in schools on the occasion of National Deworming Day yesterday.

Referring to these reports the MoHFW tweeted ''Deworming incident: Reported side effects are particularly common in children having high load of worms infestation.''

It underlined that the tablet administered during the deworming Albendazole was ''safe''. ''There is no cause of worry,'' it added.

The incident had caused uneasiness among the public about the safety of the drugadministered to children with cases of students falling ill after being administered the deworming tablet in schools being reported from the districts of Khurda, Angul, Subarnapur, Balasore, Nabrangpur and Cuttack on the launch of National DewormingDay yesterday.MORE UNI SD RSA 1533

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In a tragic incident, two sibling farmers electrocuted when they came into contact with a live electric wire at their field at Patha Palvai village in Rentachintala mandal of the district today. Police said that the deceased brothers Mandalapu Srinivas (42) and Mandalapu Venkata Reddy (40) came into contact with a live electric wire while they were giving connection to the newly dup up bore well at their field. They died on the spot. Another farmer Korrapati Kashi sustained grievous injuries when he tried to rescue the deceased siblings. A case was registered and the bodies were shifted to government hospital.UNI DP KVV ADB1532 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0415-584957.Xml
The controversial Ishrat Jahan shootout, which once sent current BJP president Amit Shah to jail for months, is back to cause ripples in India's political landscape after David Coleman Headley, a Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operative, on Thursday named her a member of the terror group. Controversy has shrouded the action on the June 15, 2004 by a police team led by DIG D.G. Vanjara, amid claims and counter-claims about its authenticity. At least two investigations -- one by a metropolitan magistrate and the other by a court ordered special investigation team -- indicated that the shootout was staged and Ishrat had no terror links. She was alleged to have been killed in cold-blood. Shah, was then Gujarat's home minister. He had to resign in the aftermath of the case. He was jailed for a few months before being given bail and was asked to live outside Gujarat. Jahan, a 19-year-old college student, and her three associates, Pranesh Pillai also known as Javed Gulam Sheikh, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar, were killed near Ahmedabad in an alleged shootout with the police. The Ahmedabad police claimed that the slain persons were Lashkar's suicide bombers and were in the city to kill Narendra Modi, the then chief minister. The police also claimed that the suspected terrorists were plotting to avenge the 2002 Gujarat communal riots, in which hundreds of Muslims were killed. Months later, on September 7, 2009, metropolitan magistrate S.P. Tamang submitted a report in an Ahmedabad court saying that the four had earlier been arrested and killed in police custody. Tamang picked holes in the police theory citing a forensic report that showed the suspected terrorists were shot from a very close distance and at different times of the day. Tamangs report said that there was no evidence to link them to the Lashkar militant group and nothing that indicated that they had planned to assassinate Modi. On the basis of Tamangs findings, the Ahmedabad court ruled it to be a staged shootout. The government challenged the decision in the high court, terming Tamang's report "illegal and doubtful" because, the government said, it didnt have the response of 20 policemen, including senior IPS officers, involved in the shooting. The Gujarat high court tasked a Special Investigation Team to probe the case further. The probe panel submitted its report on November 21, 2011 that the shootout was staged. The high court ordered murder charges to be framed against those involved. However, in June 2013, an Intelligence Bureau report which appeared in the media told the PMO and the home ministry that the agency had enough evidence to prove that Ishrat was part of an LeT module which planned to kill Modi. In 2004, a Central Bureau of Investigation report also denied that Amit Shah had any role in the shootout. Headleys earlier testimony before a team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) came in 2011 when he reportedly told Indian investigators who had gone to the US that Jahan was a Lashkar terrorist. And on Thursday he repeated the assertion via video from the US before a Mumbai court that she indeed worked for the terror group that operates from Pakistan. (Sarwar Kashani can be contacted at sarwar.k@ians.in) --Indo-Asian News Service sar/hs/vm ( 552 Words) 2016-02-11-17:27:34 (IANS)
Police on Thursday told the Delhi High Court that it was likely to file a chargesheet within 15 days in the sexual harassment case registered in February last year against environmentalist R.K. Pachauri by a former TERI colleague. Delhi Police said it has prepared the draft chargesheet which is now being scrutinised by the prosecution branch. Justice S.P. Garg, who is hearing a plea filed by the complainant seeking cancellation of anticipatory bail granted to Pachauri, asked police to submit the file related to the case by February 15. Justice Garg also reserved the order on the complainant's plea. During a brief hearing on Thursday, advocate Prashant Mediratta, appearing for the complainant, told the court that one TERI employee, who has now resigned, had filed a police complaint on January 12 saying senior officials of TERI were pressurising him to have the matter settled by the woman with Pachauri. Delhi Police, represented by Sanjay Lau, told the court that the colleague of the 29-year-old woman research analyst approached police and said that in July 2015, TERI director Sanjay Joshi called him to his office and asked him to talk to the woman if the matter can be settled out of court. The researcher told police that area convener Reena Singh had also spoken to him saying that he must reach out to his woman friend and get her to settle the matter out of court. Lau said the researcher also said that in October last year, director Alok Adholeya had also spoken to him on the same issue. On being interrogated, Joshi said it was a very casual conversation with the researcher "to save the image of the organisation before the media", police said. Joshi said he was never asked by Pachauri and any other person of TERI to talk about settling the matter and he had not pressurised him, police said in their affidavit. Adholeya could not be examined because he is currently out of India, police said. Reena Singh was also interrogated in her office, and she said she never talked about any settlement, police said in their status report. Police also said the researcher told them that TERI offiacials never pressurised him. Advocate Ramesh Gupta, appearing for Pachauri, told the court that TERI officials did not talk to the man on Pachauri's behalf, adding that he "never exercised any pressure upon TERI and its officials". After the woman employee filed a sexual harassment complaint, Pachauri denied the charge but stepped down as chairperson of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in February last year and proceeded on leave from TERI where he was the director general. Later, Pachauri was removed as TERI head in July and Ajay Mathur appointed in his place. In November, the woman researcher who accused him of sexual harassment quit her job at TERI, alleging she was treated badly. TERI denied the charge. Pachauri has now been appointed executive vice chairman of the organisation despite the ongoing inquiry in the sexual harassment case. --Indo-Asian News Service gt/pm/dg ( 518 Words) 2016-02-11-17:57:37 (IANS)
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today expressed shock and concern over seven people succumbing to swine flu in Punjab in the last four days, taking the death toll due to the dreaded disease to 31. AAP Punjab convener Sucha Singh Chhotepur criticised the Parkash Singh Badal government for its nonchalant attitude for not taking timely remedial measures to check the onslaught of the swine flu. He said according to the media reports the death toll due to swine flu in Punjab during the current season has already risen to 31 till Wednesday. He said the patients who have died because of the H1N1 virus over the past three weeks belonged to Bathinda, Muktsar, Ferozepur, Faridkot, Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib, Moga and Mansa districts. Mr Chhotepur said though first case of the swine flu death during the current year was reported on January three still the Badal government failed to move swiftly to take steps to check the spread of the virus among people. He said till January 20, the swine flu had already claimed four lives in the state. The AAP leader said it was indeed a matter of concern and shame to see the health care system deteriorating so fast in Punjab over the last many years while Badals were busy in political gimmicks. He said the Badal government should immediately set up separate wards to treat patients with swine flu. He said an advisory must be issued to government and private hospitals to provide immediate treatment to patients suspected to be infected with the virus without conducting tests. Mr Chhotepur said the tests for the virus should be declared free of cost in all sate run government hospitals. Besides the authorities should also ensure all medicines must be made available for the patients in adequate quantity at all health centers free of cost, he added. UNI DB PY RSA VN1750 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-585245.Xml
To infuse the moral and cultural values among the children was need of the hour and both parents particularly mothers and teachers should effectively work for this to see the coming generation does not go astray. This was stated by Vivekananda Kendra Kanaya Kumari Himachal Vibag Pramukh Ashok Kumar while addressing students, their parentsand teachers on the occasion of the annual day function of a private school at Balol today. He said that fast spreading drug addiction among the youths was matter of worry for every body and need was to keep children away of such company where the drug menace penetrates. He stressed on youth to follow the foot prints of Swami Vivekananda. Mr Kumar suggested the parents to bring their children close to cultural, spiritual and moral roots from the very beginning so that when they grow they could resist the culture which pushes them to a dock. Balol village pradhan Dimple Kumari also stressed on infusing moral values among children.UNI XC DB DJK RSA VN1840 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-585423.Xml
The Supreme Court on Thursday directed all state governments and union territory administrations to formulate a "uniform scheme" for compensation to victims of rape and sexual exploitation on the lines of one framed by Goa. "All the states and union territories shall make all endeavour to formulate a uniform scheme for providing victim compensation in respect of rape/sexual exploitation with the physically handicapped women as required under the law ..." said a bench comprising Justice M.Y.Eqbal and Justice Arun Mishra in their judgmenty. The court said that uniform scheme of victim compensation should take into consideration "the scheme framed by the state of Goa for rape victim compensation", as it noted different states and union territories had a lot of variation - Goa paying Rs.10 lakh compensation, Himachal Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh a "paltry amount" of Rs.50,000 and Maharashtra none. The direction came as the court dismissed a plea by Taken alias Takram of Chhattisgarh who had challenged his seven year rigorous imprisonment after being convicted for sexually exploiting a blind girl on the false promise of marrying her. Directing the Chhattisgarh government to provide the blind victim of sexual exploitation a sum of Rs.8,000 every month in her lifetime, Justice Eqbal, speaking for the bench, said: "It would not be possible for the victim to approach the National Commission for Women ... for relief and rehabilitation... the victim, who has already suffered a lot since the day of the crime till now, needs a special rehabilitation scheme." Chhattisgarh government "shall pay a sum of Rs.8,000 per month as victim compensation to the victim who is physically handicapped, i.e. blind, till her life time", the court said in its direction. "Indisputably, no amount of money can restore the dignity and confidence that the accused took away from the victim. No amount of money can erase the trauma and grief the victim suffers. This aid can be crucial with aftermath of crime," it said. Finding no infirmity with the trial court convicting the accused and the state high court upholding the same, the apex court in its judgment said, " ... victim being physically disadvantaged, she was already in a socially disadvantaged position which was exploited maliciously by the accused for his own ill intentions to commit fraud upon her and rape her in the garb of promised marriage which has put the victim in a doubly disadvantaged situation and after the waiting of many years it has worsened." While the trial court had convicted and sentenced Taken to seven year rigorous imprisonment on November 29, 1997, it was affirmed by the Chhattisgarh High Court on January 16, 2014. Tekram was studying with the victim girl's three brothers and used to frequent her house. He gradually started displaying his love for her and on the promise of marrying her, sexually exploited her when she used to be alone at home. He refused to marry her after she became pregnant. Both the victim and the accused are residents of village Nandini Khundini in Chhattisgarh's Durg district. --Indo-Asian News Service pk/vd ( 517 Words) 2016-02-11-20:19:34 (IANS)
First it was the Kerala Travel Mart. Now, nearly two decades after they came together to launch the country's only travel trade show by a state, tour operators in 'God's Own Country' will team up once again to create a consortium to sell an unprecedented 500 packages for visitors to the state. The highlight of the packages, called Navaratana Experiessential Holidays, is a nine 'gem-like' days of essential experiences in Kerala, including an insight into village life, community interactions and promotion of sustainable tourism practices. Tourists will be able to launch their holidays by breaking a coconut at a temple, a traditional method in Kerala of making an auspicious beginning. They could also travel in boats on the state's iconic lakes and rivers with the local people, and eat the mouthwatering lunch with a Syrian Christian Orthodox family of central Kerala. The more adventurous will also be able to climb the coconut trees, do fishing in the lakes or make coir with village women. The first phase of packages by the consortium, Association of Tourism Trade Organisations India (ATTOI), targeted at foreign tourists was launched by Kerala Tourism Minister A P Anilkumar today. It will be followed by another phase of packages for domestic tourists. "The public-private partnership in our state's tourism sector has been demonstrating to the world the huge benefits in working together. The new alliance of tour operators in Kerala is yet another example of the commitment to promote tourism and contribute to the growth of all sections of the society," he added. "The initiative also underlines the determination to continue to serve our esteemed guests from all over the world and present them with life-changing experiences in our state," the Minister said. The state governments plan allocation to the tourism fund has been increased from Rs 100 Crores to Rs 225 Crores in the course of five years. This will be further increased in the coming budget session, said the minister. Shri Anilkumar launched the Navaratana 'Experiessential' Holidays package by handing over the first copy of the package brochure to reputed tour operator and travel writer from Sweden, Ms Marianne Hard Af Stegarstad. The finer elements of the industry consortium by ATTOI involve the coming together of hotels, tour operators and vendors at each destination. "It is the first time in India that tour operators are gathering under one umbrella for joint promotion of a package," Shri Anilkumar said. The move is expected to support the industry partners. "It is not only a product updating for Kerala, coming out of the same old repeated itineraries and products, but a step that will help rebrand Kerala as a "new destination" and overcome competition from other destinations," the Minister added. The Navaratana 'Experiessential' Holidays ensure a feeling of freshness through hands-on experience of the "real Kerala" of superficial holidays. Local interactions and highlighting the unique traditions and life style of Kerala are the other components of the package. "Coming out of the comforts of the hotel room and car and to taking a plunge into the Kerala life is the motto of the new packages," said Kerala Tourism Secretary Shri Jyothilal. "The new campaign currently covers places in Southern Kerala. We will further include destinations in Northern Kerala as well, the Secretary added. ATTOI president Shri Anish Kumar P K, who was present on the occasion, said it was a collective and focused effort to promote the destination. "The Navaratana 'Experiessential' Holidays is going to redefine the way we see Kerala with 99 unique experiences in nine days," Mr Kumar added. The Navaratana 'Experiessential' Holidays also envisage interactive cooking demonstrations to experience Kerala's famous culinary culture, eating dosa at local restaurants, having coffee with a Brahmin family to echo the tradition of 'Agraharam' visits, walks through the wavy, lush green paddy fields, and bullock cart rides. A tour of the Muziris heritage project reviving Kerala's more than two-millennia-old trade and cultural ties with the rest of the world will be another attraction of the packages. The packages will also include insights into the state's time-tested tradition of Ayurveda and full body massages. Jungle boat safari, backwater cruises on houseboats and tea factory visits will be the other highlights. South Kerala Hoteliers' Forum President Chacko Paul and ATTOI Secretary Sreekumara Menon also attended the function. UNI DS KVV KSR 2042 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0324-585897.Xml
A statement issued by the Department of Information and Publicity today said that Governor Mridula Sinha has summoned the Legislative Assembly of Goa to meet at Assembly Hall on March 14.

The five-day-long session will see presentation of Vote of Accounts for four months and passage of supplementary demands.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar told mediapersons at the sidelines of a function that budget would be people friendly.UNI AKM SS RJ SB2202

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Punjab Congress will not allow Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to visit Punjab if the AAP does not change its agenda for the coming Vidhan Sabha elections in the state. Reacting sharply to the recent agenda of AAP, S Ravnit Sigh Bittu, Member of Parliament from Ludhiana, today said Mr Kejriwal should not play with fire by instigating the sentiments of the people of Punjab. This is very dangerous style of politics being done by AAP. "This is a very sensitive state and Punjab has already paid very big price for playing with the emotions of the people. Mr Kejriwal should not indulge in this kind of politics at all otherwise he will have to pay big price for it. Mr Bittu further raised questions over the multiple rise in the source of funding of AAP.UNI NC AJ RJ SB2100 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-585755.Xml
"We are giving 25 lakh as compensation, two acres of wet land or four acres of dry land and job to one dependent of the family," Siddaramaiah told the media here.

"It's a great loss to the country and I condole the role of Lance Nayak Hanamanthappa," he added.

The brave soldier who survived six days buried under a 25-feet avalanche in Siachen, died at Army Research and Referral Hospital in New Delhi today.

The Army paid respects to the braveheart at Delhi's Brar Square where Hanamanthappa's body was lying in state.

The 33-year-old is survived by his wife and two-year-old daughter.

Lance Naik Hanumanthappa spent six days buried alive under the snow after an avalanche came crashing down on his military post.

Nine other soldiers from his regiment had died at the spot. Tributes have been pouring in for Hanamanthappa from across the country. (ANI)
The BJP leader urged both the Ministers to interfere and direct the Vice Chancellor not to give permissions to such anti-national functions inside the varsity campus, saying few educational institutions including JNU were being misused by certain anti-national elements.

Seeking strict action against those who commemorated the death anniversary of Parliament Attack Convict Guru, the east Delhi MP requested the duo to direct Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi to file an FIR against bodies, which held anti-national and anti-constitutional programmes in the campus.

Mr Girri stressed that a strict action against those who organized the event will act as an deterrent and send a positive message about BJP ruled NDA government in society.

According to reports, the death anniversary of Guru was celebrated in JNU on Tuesday and anti-India and pro Pakistan slogans were raised during the function. Further, there were attempts to celebrate the death anniversary of Afzal Guru in the Press Club of India as well.UNI RG RJ 2253

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Talking to mediapersons at the NCP office here, Ishrat's mother Shamima Kausar reiterated that her daughter was innocent and was killed in a staged gun battle by the Gujarat Police.

A visibly disturbed Shamima said her daughter was murdered by the Gujarat police in a fake encounter.

''Allah knows everything and I have full faith in him,'' she said.

She pointed that Headley himself was a terrorist and said how can one trust him.

NCP MLA from Kalwa-Mumbra Jitendra Awhad, who has been in news on account of the Ishrat incident, when contacted, said that he has to study the statement of Headley before making any comment on it.UNI XR SS RJ SB2344

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"We reiterate our full support of Saudi Arabia against any interference in its internal affairs," Xinhua quoted Mezouar as saying during a joint press conference with his Saudi counterpart Adel bin Ahmad Al-Jubeir.

Mezouar said Morocco also stands with Saudi Arabia against the growing threats that undermine peace and stability in the Gulf region, and "firmly rejects any use of sectarianism as a tactic to interfere in Gulf countries' affairs".

For his part, Al-Jubeir stressed that Saudi Arabia's policy is "clear and constant," adding that it is based on respect of the principles of good neighborliness and building bridges of cooperation with many countries of the world with non-interference in each other's internal affairs.

Regarding the Syrian crisis, the Saudi minister said Geneva talks "have failed because of the Russian intransigence," revealing that he discussed with his Moroccan counterpart the possibilities of participation of ground troops in Syria.

--Indo-Asian News Service ahm/

( 188 Words)

2016-02-11-07:05:39 (IANS)
The court accepted Meni Naftali's claim that he had been insulted and verbally abused, and awarded him 170,000 shekels ($43,700) in compensation, BBC reported.

The ruling said Sara's angry outbursts and demands created "abusive" conditions for employees.

Sara Netanyahu had called the claims lies, saying she was civil with staff.

The prime minister's office did not offer any immediate comment on the ruling. It has rejected past allegations of abuse against Sara as "evil, skewed gossip".

An earlier case, where Sara was accused of being abusive towards a housekeeper, was settled out of court.

--Indo-Asian News Service ahm/

( 130 Words)

2016-02-11-07:41:33 (IANS)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the parliament on Wednesday that the situation is not yet right for a two-state solution aimed at ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a statement from his office read. In a speech during a special Knesset (parliament) session, Netanyahu said he supports the two-state solution, as he stated in his seminal 2009 Bar-Ilan speech in which he acknowledged it officially for the first time, but the Palestinians do not accept Israel's basic principles, Xinhua reported. "I have clarified what is needed to end the conflict between us and the Palestinians, acknowledgment and demilitarization," Netanyahu said on Tuesday evening, according to a statement from his office. He said the Palestinians must recognise Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state and the Palestinian state must be demilitarised, stressing that these are not "preconditions" but rather principles that must be fulfilled in the outcome of the peace talks. He criticized the opposition's Zionist Union camp and its leader Isaac Herzog who had recently introduced his own plan to "separate" from the Palestinians. "There is no security separation, such a thing doesn't exist. Israel must be the force in charge of the security in the territory," Netanyahu said, meaning continuing to militarily control the territories Israel occupied in the 1967 war and where the Palestinians wish to establish their own state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip territories. The Israeli prime minister said that another reason the two-state solution appears less feasible at present time is the shifts of radical Islam throughout the region. "I'm not interested in a bi-national state," Netanyahu said, adding that he fears the West Bank territories would turn into a "base of Palestinian and Islamist terror" which he said "seeks to destroy the state of Israel." As for the ongoing wave of violence, Netanyahu said it is not the Israeli occupation responsible for the wave of violence, as the Palestinians charge. His statements come shortly after a heated exchange with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who accused Israel's expansion of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank two weeks ago and said the Palestinian frustration under the occupation is understandable as it is the human nature to fight occupation. Netanyahu, in response, said Ban's statements give a "tailwind" to terror. The last round of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority took place between July 2013 and April 2014, and ended without results. --Indo-Asian News Service ahm/ ( 419 Words) 2016-02-11-07:53:33 (IANS)
He made the comments on Wednesday during a visit to a hangar of the planes at Hoersching in the state of Upper Austria, Xinhua news agency reported.

Doskozil said each plane normally carries 92 passengers, though for the purposes of the repatriations it will need to be adapted and its eventual capacity is likely to be smaller.

He noted using the military planes will be "substantially cheaper" than commercial airlines or booking charter flights.

According to officials data, a total of 90,000 asylum seekers registered in Austria last year.

New regulations issued by the Austrian defence ministry will enable the country to use its army to stop refugees intending to transit through Germany. Over 1,000 migrants with forged IDs are being turned around at the Austrian border each week.

--Indo-Asian News Service ksk

( 167 Words)

2016-02-11-08:53:33 (IANS)
President Barack Obama's plan to loosen some requirements of a visa law spurred by the deadly attacks in Paris met with open resistance from both Democrats and Republicans in the US Congress. The measure, which went into effect in late January, requires that citizens of 38 countries who previously were able to travel to the United States for up to 90 days without a visa must now obtain one if they have visited Iran, Iraq, Sudan or Syria since March 1, 2011. Ed Royce, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, on Wednesday said he wanted to add Libya to the list of countries covered by the restrictions. At a hearing of the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, lawmakers voiced particular concern over exempting from the new visa clamp-down some travelers who visit Iran, including those conducting business. "Nowhere does the law include this authority. In fact, Congress explicitly rejected the waivers requested by the White House," Chairman Michael McCaul, a Republican, said yesterday. Lawmakers enacted the visa restrictions on fears that travelers from the mainly European countries in the Visa Waiver Program could easily travel to the United States even if they have, for example, visited countries like Syria, Iran or Iraq, where militants are active. The November 13 attacks in Paris stirred fears about such travel. Some of the Islamic State attackers who killed 130 people that day held European passports that would have allowed them easy entry to the United States. Representative Bennie Thompson, the Homeland Security Committee's top Democrat, echoed Republican concerns about Obama's announced plan to allow visa waivers for foreign business people who travel to Iran. "I have some questions about how the (Department of Homeland Security) would go about determining the legitimacy of the business-related purposes," he said. Administration officials countered that they wanted to shield journalists, humanitarian aid workers and employees of other international organizations, as well as business people helping economic reconstruction efforts in Iran and Iraq in particular, from the tougher requirements. Individuals must qualify for the Visa Waiver Program, with background checks against U.S. counter-terrorism and law enforcement databases. State Department counter-terrorism official Hillary Johnson told the committee there are regular reviews of those who are approved. Gil Kerlikowski, US Customs and Border Protection commissioner, told the committee an estimated 500,000 people who come into the country under the waiver program have overstayed their visas. He said he did not know how many of them might have traveled to Iran, Iraq, Syria or Sudan. Administration officials expressed concern that if the United States fails to loosen some of the new restrictions, foreign governments might cut back on information sharing, or impose awkward new visa requirements on Americans who travel to their countries.REUTERS JW PR0410 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-584336.Xml
Pressure is growing on the US military to do more to help Afghan forces repel the threat posed by Taliban militants, and commanders in Washington and Kabul agree that enhanced air power may be where it can make the most difference. With fewer American soldiers on the ground and their rules of engagement limited, the outgoing commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, General John Campbell, believes broader authorization of force is the best way of supporting stretched local troops. That includes attacks from the air, which dropped sharply in 2015 after NATO, whose presence in Afghanistan is dominated by U.S. armed forces, formally ended combat operations to switch to training and assisting local troops. Some senior Afghan officers are worried. "Only air support and air strikes break the Taliban," said General Daud Shah Wafadar, commander of the Afghan army's 205th Corps, based in the southern city of Kandahar close to some of the fiercest fighting in recent months. His calls for more bombing raids are not new, but the debate has gained urgency since Taliban insurgents made significant territorial gains, particularly in Kunduz in the north and swathes of the southern province of Helmand. "I think we've seen this year that they (the Taliban) have taken advantage of the reduction of the number of coalition aircraft," Campbell told the House Armed Services Committee last week. The United States carried out around 400 air strikes last year from some 1,100 in 2014, when it was in full combat mode. US aircraft did conduct 12 air strikes in two days in Helmand last month in an unusually heavy engagement. The strikes were used to help relieve a dozen US special forces soldiers serving on the ground on a mission with Afghan counterparts. "That's quite a bit in terms of what we've used down there recently," said Brigadier General Wilson Shoffner, US army spokesman in Kabul, referring to the battle in which one Green Beret was killed. "That's the kind of thing that's happening down there."REINFORCEMENTS TO HELMAND In a sign of alarm over events in Helmand, hundreds more American troops are heading there, although the US army specified their role would be to train, advise and assist, and "not to participate in combat operations". US forces' rules of engagement limit them to defending U.S. troops from attack, although they may take action "in extremis" to avoid "detrimental strategic effects to the campaign", according to a Pentagon report to Congress. "If the Taliban are attacking coalition forces, then I have everything I need to do that," Campbell said. "To attack the Taliban, just because they're Taliban, I do not have that authority." "Realistically, the thing that I can make a difference on is authorities as we go forward," he said.US troops were recently given broader authority to hit Islamic State fighters in Afghanistan. The withdrawal of most NATO troops by the end of 2014 has been keenly felt on the ground.More than 140,000 foreign soldiers once fought the Taliban, a hardline Islamist militant movement attempting to regain power in Kabul. US forces are set to be cut from 9,800 to 5,500 by the end of 2016. "There used to be dozens of foreign military advisers who played a key role and helped us with all issues, but now there is only one with me," said General Wafadar. He added that local forces were, however, largely coping without their allies. With no immediate prospect of adding "boots on the ground", others have joined Campbell in suggesting looser terms of engagement and stressing the importance of air operations. In a recent editorial in the Washington Post, one of Campbell's predecessors, David Petraeus, said Washington should "unleash our air power in support of our Afghan partners". James Dobbins, a senior fellow to the RAND Corporation and a former Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said combat air support, casualty evacuations and intelligence and surveillance were among the priorities. "Those are all air assets essentially. And at least some of them don't need to be based in the country."REUTERS JW PR0539 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-584346.Xml
Dozens of South Korean trucks returned across the North Korean border today, laden with equipment and goods from the Kaesong Industrial Complex, after Seoul suspended operations there as punishment for the North's weekend rocket launch.Halting activity at the park, where 124 South Korean companies employed about 55,000 North Koreans, cuts the last significant vestige of North-South cooperation - a rare opportunity for Koreans divided by the 1950-53 war to interact on a daily basis.Isolated North Korea faces mounting pressure following what it says was a satellite launch on Sunday. Washington, among others, said it as a ballistic missile test, and like last month's nuclear test, a violation of United Nations resolutions.The top military officers from the United States, South Korea and Japan agreed late yesterday to step up information-sharing and coordination of security efforts in light of increasing North Korean threats. Earlier, the US Senate voted unanimously in favour of tougher sanctions.At the Kaesong complex, about 54 kilometres northwest of Seoul, North Korean workers were given a taste of life in the south, including snack foods like Choco Pies and toiletries that were resold as luxury items in the North.They also rubbed shoulders with their managers from South Korea. Supporters of the project said that kind of contact was important in promoting inter-Korean understanding, despite concerns that isolated Pyongyang might have used proceeds from Kaesong to help fund its nuclear and missile programmes.Except for Kaesong, both countries forbid their citizens from communicating with each other across the world's most fortified frontier."We piled up instant noodles, breads and drinks in our warehouse so North Korean workers could come here and eat freely," said Lee Jong-ku, who runs a firm that installs electrical equipment for apparel factories in Kaesong. "We don't mind them eating our food, because we only care about them working hard."For the North, the revenue opportunity from Kaesong - 110 million dollars in wages and fees in 2015 - was deemed worth the risk of exposing its workers to influences from the prosperous South. In recent years, North Koreans have had increasing access to contraband media, exposing them to life in the South and China.Still, Pyongyang took precautions to ensure the workers it hand-picked for the complex had minimal contact with their South Korean managers that could be potentially subversive."These North Korean workers are strongly armed ideologically," said Koo Ja-ick, who was waiting on the south side of the border on his way to Kaesong, where he has worked at an apparel company for the past four years."They never act individually. They always work and move in a group of two, even manager-level people do so. They never go to the bathroom by themselves - always in groups," he said.The average wage for North Korean workers at Kaesong was roughly 160 dollars a month, paid to a state management company. The workers received about 20 per cent of that in coupons and North Korean currency, said Cho Bong-hyun, who heads research on North Korea's economy at IBK Bank in Seoul.A South Korean government official involved in North Korea policy said the decision was taken reluctantly, and that it was difficult to see how operations could be resumed anytime soon at Kaesong, which opened in 2005.Despite volatile North-South relations over the years, Kaesong had been shut only once before, for five months in 2013, when North Korea pulled out its workers amid heightened tensions following its third nuclear test. Its future had often seemed uncertain over the past decade.Lee, who runs the electrical gear installation firm, said a North Korean official expressed worry when he went to pay taxes last month, weeks after the fourth nuclear test."A North Korean officer there quietly asked me if Kaesong was going to be closed. And I said I don't know. And he said he thinks it will be closed, looking worried."REUTERS DS RK1146 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0177-584462.Xml
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will likely inherit a hard-right, climate change sceptic for his deputy after the retirement of his current No 2 today, an appointment that could block any revamp of an emissions trading scheme.Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce, an outspoken lobbyist for the nation's farmers and for tougher controls on foreign investment, is the leading candidate for the job traditionally held by the coalition government's minor partner, the Nationals."We will likely see a more assertive Nationals under Barnaby," said University of Sydney political scientist Rod Tiffen. "He and Turnbull really have very opposing views on climate change and they will butt heads over this."Australia is one of the world's largest exporter of coal and iron ore and one of the largest carbon emitters on a per capita basis thanks to its reliance on coal-fired power plants.The country pledged to cut emissions by 26-28 per cent of 2005 levels by 2030 ahead of the Paris climate talks late last year. But a planned carbon trading scheme, which would have been the world's third biggest, was axed by previous conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott to fulfill an election pledge.Turnbull who ousted Abbott in a party coup last year, is a carbon trading advocate who supports progressive climate policies. Infact he lost the Liberal Party leadership to Abbott while in opposition in 2009 because of his support for the then Labor government's carbon trading scheme."While Turnbull has put an emissions trading scheme on the backburner, he would want to revisit it at some point," said Tiffen. "That would be impossible with Barnaby."Joyce, the sole candidate standing for election to replace outgoing deputy prime minister Warren Truss, did not comment ahead of a party ballot scheduled for later today.Joyce has repeatedly said he does not believe Australia's extreme weather events, like drought and floods, are linked to man's impact on the climate.Turnbull and Joyce are the odd couple in relation to more than climate change.Turnbull, an urban multimillionaire former tech entrepreneur, is a careful thinker and erudite speaker who wants Australia to focus on a future in innovation.Joyce, who is known for speaking off the cuff, is concerned with support for regional Australia, including tougher rules on foreign investment in Australian farmland.In 2015, he made international headlines when he threatened to euthanase Hollywood actor Johnny Depp's dogs, Pistol and Boo, after biosecurity officials learned the animals had illegally entered the country - telling them to "bugger off back to America".The change of deputy leader paves the way for possibly a significant Cabinet reshuffle ahead of a federal election expected in September or October.Turnbull is under pressure from within his splintered government. He faces rear-guard actions from a conservative wing, led by Abbott, on a range of social issues including same sex marriage. Earlier this month he ruled out an increase in the consumption tax under pressure from within his own party.But any reshuffle has been made more difficult by the resignation yesterday of Turnbull's respected trade minister, Andrew Robb, who led negotiations for a landmark free trade agreement between China and Australia and the multinational Trans-Pacific Partnership."Robb's retirement is a big loss for Turnbull, he was a very capable individual and one of the stand-out performers of the last couple of years," said University of Sydney professor of political science Peter Chen. "There are a number of ministers Turnbull would rather lose over Robb." REUTERS PS RK1235 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-584580.Xml
President Tayyip Erdogan said today he had previously told the EU's two top officials, Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk, that the time could come when Turkey would open the gates for migrants to travel to Europe. "In the past we have stopped people at the gates to Europe, in Edirne we stopped their buses. This happens once or twice, and then we'll open the gates and wish them a safe journey, that's what I said," Erdogan said in a speech. A Greek news website said on Monday that Erdogan, in a meeting with Juncker and Tusk, had threatened in November to flood Europe with migrants if EU leaders did not offer a better deal to help Turkey manage the refugee crisis. REUTERS PS VN1609 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-585027.Xml
Groups of Islamic State fighters are quitting their bases in Libya fearing Western air strikes and heading south, posing a new threat to countries in Africa's Sahel region including Niger and Chad, officials and intelligence sources said.The ultra-hardline movement that has seized large areas of Syria and neighbouring Iraq has also amassed thousands of fighters along a coastal strip in Libya, where it has taken the city of Sirte and attacked oil infrastructure.African and Western governments fear that the vast, lawless Sahel band to the south will become its next target, and say any large regional presence could be used as a springboard for wider attacks."ISIS (Islamic State) are moving towards southern Libya to avoid the likely air strikes from the European coalition," said Colonel Mahamane Laminou Sani, director of documentation and military intelligence for Niger's armed forces."If something like that happens, the whole Sahel is (affected)," he added on the sidelines of the annual U.S.-led 'Flintlock' counter-terrorism exercises in Senegal.The arid region stretching from the Sahara Desert to the Sudanian Savanna, is already home to roving al Qaeda (AQIM) fighters who were scattered but not defeated by a 2012 French military intervention in Mali.A closed-door seminar for senior military officials in Dakar this week organised as part of Flintlock is focusing on the militant challenge in northwest Africa which "is becoming more lethal, more complicated and more menacing," according to a document handed to participants.The United States military has its own Africa Command, focused on combatting militancy and other threats, though it says it is rarely involved in fighting, concentrates on training and is headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany.Niger and Chad are already grappling with incursions in the south from militants loyal to Nigeria's Boko Haram which is allied to the Islamic State.A Western intelligence source on the sidelines of the conference said Islamic State fighters had already entered Niger, although this could not be independently verified.CHECKPOINTS IN CHADChad, a Western military ally in the region which denounced NATO air strikes in Libya in 2011 and opposes new ones, also expressed concern."We are informing traditional and religious leaders in the north so they are prepared to prevent Daesh (Islamic State) from coming into our territory," said Colonel Khassim Moussa, head of Chad's Special Antiterrorism Group on the sidelines of the conference.Checkpoints had been set up near the border, he added.Islamic State fighters first gained a stake in Libya's eastern city of Derna in 2014, but were mostly driven out in the summer of 2015 by rival Islamist fighters and residents opposed to foreign jihadists.A year ago, they seized Sirte, the hometown of Libya's ousted strongman Muammar Gaddafi, and consolidated power there. The group wants to impose its harsh brand of Islam in caliphate across the Muslim world and beyond.A Sirte resident said today that some districts were being evacuated and fighters were building defences around the city amid fears of Western attacks.US and European officials say they are looking at ways to counter Islamic State in Libya, including possible air strikes, though officials say efforts could be held up by political turmoil in the Opec member.Laurence Aida Ammour, a consultant and Sahel security expert who briefed participants in Dakar, said air strikes would cause a "mercury effect", pushing ISIS fighters in various directions, including southwards like small globules of the element."If they go south then there's a highway open to Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and Benin," she said, adding that only Libya's powerful Misrata militias could stop them.Col. Moussa said he expected NATO to help protect Chad's northern border. "It's them who got involved in Libya, it's up to them to fix it."REUTERS SHS SB2130 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0329-585995.Xml
A battle between rival drug gangs at a prison killed 52 people in the northeastern Mexican city of Monterrey, authorities said today, days ahead of a planned visit by Pope Francis to another jail in Mexicos far north. The incident was one of the worst in a series of deadly riots in recent years to rock the country's overpopulated prisons, which often house inmates from different drug cartels. Fighting broke out before midnight in two areas of the Topo Chico prison between a faction of the brutal Zetas gang and another group, Nuevo Leon state Governor Jaime Rodriguez said. "During the clash several prisoners set fire to the food storage and sleeping areas," Rodriguez told reporters. It was not immediately clear how the victims died but Rodriguez said there was no gunfire. Rodriguez said the situation had been brought under control at about 1:30 a.m.(1300 IST) today and ruled out a prison break. Worried family members outside the prison at one point forced open the prison gates and threw timber and stones at riot police inside, television images showed. "I want to know that my daughter is okay. She is in the infirmary. There are children in there," said one woman outside the prison as other relatives shouted and cursed. The areas holding women and elderly inmates were calm, and Rodriguez said no women or children were hurt. Pope Francis is set to begin his first visit to Mexico as pontiff tomorrow. Next week, he will visit a prison in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, which was once one of the most violent cities in the world. Police vehicles patrolled the streets near Topo Chico in Monterrey, Mexico's third most populous metropolitan area. Milenio TV reported that inmates' relatives who had been within the prison's premises for conjugal visits had seen inmates with burns. Twelve people were injured, five seriously, the state government said. A 2014 human rights report said the prison was packed with 25 percent more criminals than it could hold, and faulted it for not preventing violent incidents. The prison has long housed members of the Zetas drug gang, known for extreme violence. One Zetas leader was stabbed to death there in September. In 2012, at least 44 inmates died in another Nuevo Leon prison when members of the Zetas plotted with prison guards to stage an elaborate escape. In 2013, at least 13 people were killed and 65 injured in a prison riot, blamed on gang violence, in the central state of San Luis Potosi. Thursday's riot was a harsh blow to Nuevo Leon, where many were uplifted when Rodriguez, a blunt, outspoken rancher with a penchant for cowboy hats known as "El Bronco," or "the gruff one," defeated President Enrique Pena Nietos ruling party last year to win the governorship. Rodriguez, a former member of Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party, waged a campaign that capitalized on widespread disaffection with the established parties. He was the first independent candidate to win such a post in modern Mexico.REUTERS SHS SB2258 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0329-586064.Xml
This article was originally on GET.com at: 5 Money-Saving Tips For Millennials In Singapore

We've all seen articles about millennials, but who exactly are they? The term 'millennial' is used to describe those who were born between 1980 and the early 2000s, this generation is also known as Gen-Y.

The reason we are hearing so much about them is because millennials are one of the largest generations in history and due to the huge amount of changes this generation is going through, they've got quite a different worldview compared to previous generations.

A key difference is the way millennials think about money. According to Goldman Sachs, millennials will have less money to spend due to lower employment levels and they are more encumbered with debt.

While obviously the fortune of millennials in Singapore is not written in the stars, here at GET.com, we have 5 money-saving tips to help you get a good start towards a financially-secure future.

1. Automatise Your Savings And Payments

With millennials being a tech-savvy bunch, it'll aid greatly if you are able to automatise your banking transactions so that you do not need to think about it every month.

A great way to ensure that you save money each month is to use an automatic savings account like the DBS eMySavings Account.

It provides a convenient way for you to save money automatically every month with a preset amount. And if you happen to need more money that very month, it's easy to adjust your savings amount and crediting date online as well.

For those of you who have a credit card, you should similarly pay your credit card bills via Giro so that you do not miss out on your credit card payments and end up paying interest fees and late charges.

2. Set Up A Monthly Budget

Setting up a budget is one of the most important things to do when it comes to managing your money. A budget helps you keep your spending in check and provides a handy guide for you to tweak your spending patterns should the need arise.

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3. Make Paying Off Debts Your Priority

One of the common types of debt that millennials incur are student loan debts. Student loans can be a drag on your finances, especially if you only pay the minimum $100 a month.

While it could be difficult for you as a fresh graduate to fork out 50% of your salary to pay off your student loan, aim for about 20% to 30% so that you can clear it as soon as possible and move on to achieving other financial goals.

If you have debt problems, use this checklist to help you get out of debt.

4. Dont Feel Like You Have to Say Yes

We all want to be part of a group and feel like we belong. This can put undue pressure on millennials to say 'yes' for fear of missing out.

It can be simple things like agreeing to an impromptu weekend trip to Bangkok, opening bottles of liquor while out partying or splurging on the latest gadgets.

Being able to say 'no' when you don't want to do something is part of the growing up process, it will also help you stay grounded and not spend beyond your means.

5. Travel, But Do It On A Budget

As millennials are more likely to put off marriage and buying their first home till a later age, that leaves them with more disposable income to travel.

If you are are a young millennial who has caught the travel bug, take heart that there's always a way to see the world without having to use up all your savings.

Simple tips like buying your air tickets ahead of time to take advantage of promotions, using the right travel credit cards to get travel discounts and free travel insurance, as well as staying in cheaper accommodations such as B&Bs, backpacker hostels and couchsurfing will save you lots of money while travelling!

Here are the two best credit cards for budget travellers in Singapore.

If you want to travel somewhere on a budget and you don't want to go too far, take a look at these 4 affordable getaway destinations close to Singapore.

And if you want more details and travel tips about some popular (and cheap) destinations, read our travel guide to Ubud, Bali, our travel guide to Bangkok, and our travel guide to Hong Kong.

What do you think? Share your comments with us below!

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Geneva (AFP) - About 51,000 people have been displaced since Damascus, backed by Russian air strikes, launched its latest offensive on the Syrian city of Aleppo last week, the United Nations reported Thursday.

"Since the latest offensive by Government forces began last week in the Governorate of Aleppo, reportedly accompanied by numerous air strikes by Russian and Syrian aircraft, some 51,000 civilians have been displaced and a further 300,000 are at risk of being placed under siege," UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said in a statement.

President Bashar Al-Assad's forces backed by Russian warplanes have since February 1 captured a string of villages around opposition-held Aleppo and managed to cut a major rebel supply route to the city.

The air strikes have been blamed for derailing UN-backed talks in Geneva aimed at ending Syria's tangled, nearly five-year conflict and for threatening Europe with another huge influx of refugees.

Zeid said Thursday that "dozens of civilians" had reportedly been killed in the attacks.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has estimated that at least 500 people have been killed since the offensive on Aleppo began.

Zeid voiced "utmost alarm" at the rapidly worsening human rights situation in and around Aleppo and elsewhere in Syria, where he said "shocking violations and abuses are committed on a daily basis."

"The warring parties in Syria are constantly sinking to new depths, without apparently caring in the slightest about the death and destruction they are wreaking across the country," he said, pointing out that "women and children, the elderly, the wounded and sick, the people with disabilities are being used as bargaining chips and cannon fodder day after day, week after week, month after month."

"It is a grotesque situation," he said.

Zeid stressed that Aleppo was not the only place in Syria in need of desperate relief, pointing out that hundreds of thousands of civilians in other parts of the country were facing dire humanitarian conditions.

Especially those living under sieges imposed by the different warring sides were "in an utterly desperate situation, with many deaths, including of young children, as a result of severe malnutrition and lack of access to medical care," he said.

For instance, in the besieged town of Madaya, where at least 26 people have starved to death since the beginning of the year, he warned that "at least 300 people, including women and children, are in need of immediate evacuation."
By Stephanie Nebehay and Kate Kelland GENEVA/LONDON (Reuters) - The World Health Organisation advised women on Wednesday on how to protect themselves from Zika, particularly if pregnant, but also reassured them that most women in areas affected by the mosquito-borne virus will give birth to "normal infants." The illness, until recently viewed as relatively mild, has sparked concern because of a possible link between infection in pregnancy and microcephaly, a rare birth defect in which infants are born with abnormally small heads that can be accompanied by developmental problems. Brazil, the worst hit country in an outbreak sweeping the Americas and now present in more than 30 countries, is investigating a potential link between Zika infections and more than 4,000 suspected cases of microcephaly. Researchers have identified evidence of Zika infection in 17 of these cases, either in the baby or in the mother, but have not confirmed that the virus can cause microcephaly. In its advice, the Geneva-based WHO said women in areas with the virus should protect themselves, especially during pregnancy, by covering up against mosquitoes and practicing safe sex through the use of condoms. It said more evidence was needed to confirm whether sex commonly transmits the virus. The agency, which declared a health emergency over Zika on Feb. 1, did not recommend travel restrictions but suggested women should consult their doctors or authorities if traveling. Pregnant women in general, including those who develop symptoms of Zika infection, should see their health care provider for close monitoring. But the WHO was also reassuring, declaring: "Most women in Zika-affected areas will give birth to normal infants." A study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine provided new evidence strengthening the association between Zika virus and a spike in birth defects, citing the presence of the virus in the brain of an aborted fetus of a European woman who became pregnant while living in Brazil. Professor Tatjana Avsic Zupanc, who led the researchers in the study, said in an email her team's findings "may present the most compelling evidence to date" of the link between Zika and birth defects. As scientists race to find out more about the virus and its possible effects, 30 of the world's leading scientific research institutions, journals and funders pledged to share for free all data and expertise on the virus as soon as they have it. "The arguments for sharing data and the consequences of not doing so (have been) ... thrown into stark relief by the Ebola and Zika outbreaks," said the agreement by an unprecedented number of signatories in the Americas, Japan, Europe and elsewhere. There is as yet no vaccine or treatment for the disease. Specialists welcomed the initiative, saying it showed how the global health community had learned crucial lessons from West Africa's Ebola epidemic, which killed more than 11,300 people. Mark Woolhouse, a University of Edinburgh professor of infectious diseases, said the commitment "if acted upon...will save lives." ABORTION AND THE CHURCH The Zika outbreak has raised the issue of a woman's reproductive rights including abortion, a contentious issue in much of Latin America. The WHO said on Wednesday that, "Women who wish to terminate a pregnancy due to a fear of microcephaly should have access to safe abortion services to the full extent of the law." Abortion is illegal in many cases in Brazil, and in much of the region. Reflecting the influence of the Roman Catholic Church in many parts of the Americas, a Catholic group appealed to Pope Francis on Wednesday to allow Church members to "follow their conscience" and use contraception or to let women have abortions to protect themselves against Zika. Catholics for Choice, a liberal advocacy group based in Washington, said in a statement it would run ads in the International New York Times and El Diario de Hoy in El Salvador on Thursday, the eve of a papal trip to Cuba and Mexico. "When you travel tomorrow (Friday) to Latin America, we ask you to make it clear to your brother bishops that good Catholics can follow their conscience and use birth control to protect themselves and their partners," the ad will say, according to advance excerpts released in the statement. The Catholic Church teaches that life begins at the moment of conception and that abortion is killing. It also bans artificial birth control such as condoms, arguing that they block the possible transmission of life. The ban is widely disregarded in many countries, but activists say there is still a stigma attached to birth control in some Latin American countries because of the edict. In its statement on Wednesday, the WHO said microcephaly cannot reliably be predicted by early ultrasounds, "except in extreme cases." This point is important, as even in countries where abortion services are freely available, they are generally prohibited after a certain point in the pregnancy. The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday told a Congressional hearing that he expects Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory in the Caribbean, to be hard hit by Zika. Mosquitoes have already passed the virus to people in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. "We will likely see significant numbers of cases in Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories," CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden told the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing. So far there have been no cases of Zika passed by mosquitoes in the continental United States, said U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell on Wednesday. (Additional reporting by Philip Pullella in Vatican City, Bill Berkrot in New York and Toni Clarke in Washington; Writing by Frances Kerry and Lisa Shumaker; Editing by Bernard Orr)
By Andrew Osborn MOSCOW (Reuters) - Aleppo's return to full Syrian government control could give Russia an opportunity to scale back or suspend its air strikes, but Moscow is keeping its options open, experts close to the Kremlin and the defense ministry told Reuters. Russia's aim, which it believes it is close to achieving, is to decisively alter the balance of power so that the Syrian government, the Kremlin's closest Middle East ally, holds a strong set of cards if and when it negotiates with its enemies. The past two weeks have seen one of the biggest advances of the five year civil war by Syrian government forces, backed since the autumn by Moscow's military intervention. Intensive Russian air strikes have crushed rebel positions, allowing the army and allied Lebanese and Iranian fighters to come close to encircling Aleppo - Syria's largest city before the war - half of which has been in rebel hands for years. "If Aleppo is taken, then we can seriously ask the question about the time frame of this (Russian) operation," Elena Suponina, a senior Middle East analyst at the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, which advises the Kremlin, told Reuters. "It will be a turning point after which we can undertake at least a preliminary review. The fate of Aleppo will decide the fate of Syria to a large degree, the fate of the Geneva talks, and the time frame of the Russian military campaign in Syria." The United States, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran and other powers meet in Munich later on Thursday to try to revive talks around the conflict that foundered earlier this month. The West has blamed the Russian-backed advance for torpedoing the negotiations, the first peace talks for two years, which collapsed last week before they had begun. Washington wants an immediate ceasefire to allow talks to resume. One Western official says Moscow is willing to discuss a ceasefire, but only from March 1. That would allow more than two weeks to complete the encirclement of Aleppo. One of Russia's main conditions for such a ceasefire, according to one Russian diplomat, is that the Syrian-Turkish border be sealed in such a way that militants and military supplies cannot cross it. Damascus says it aims for its forces to reach the border and secure it as part of the Aleppo advance. Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, told reporters on Wednesday that the Syrian army was carrying out legitimate operations along the border to clear the area of militants. She said Russian air strikes were creating a "wonderful" atmosphere for the Kremlin's counter-terrorism operation. KREMLIN PAY OFF Suponina said the success of the Syrian military in coming weeks could determine how much further Russia needs to intervene to support its ally: "The more the Syrian army manages to do, the better it is in Russia's view," she said. The Kremlin launched its air strikes in Syria on Sept. 30 after Moscow became concerned that President Bashar al-Assad was just weeks away from falling. Its intervention, backed by military trainers and advisers, changed the course of the war, giving Assad's forces momentum. Alexei Pushkov, the head of the lower house of the Russian parliament's foreign affairs committee, said in October that Russian air strikes would last "three to four months". Russian diplomatic sources say Pushkov was expressing a personal opinion. Pushkov did not respond when asked this week how much longer he thought the operation would continue. People familiar with Russian thinking say that once involved, Moscow quickly realized the Syrian army was in poor shape and that it would be unable to make the kind of gains quickly enough that Moscow was hoping its support would deliver. It is only now, they say, more than four months later, that the Kremlin is beginning to feel its efforts are paying off. "The Syrian army back then was on its last legs," said Ivan Konovalov, director of the Center for Strategic Trend Studies in Moscow. "Now, thanks to Russian involvement, the situation is very different." Russian instructors had taught the Syrian army how to use new weapons, he said, and had helped them with tactics showing them how to ensure their artillery and infantry coordinated their actions with air power. He said the immediate military aims were clear. "The goal is to totally liberate Aleppo and then to seal the northern border with Turkey," said Konovalov. "The offensive should not be stopped - that would be tantamount to defeat." Further out, he said Russia's expanded military presence, which now includes an air base as well as a naval facility, would be permanent under the terms of a deal signed with the Syrian government. There are no visible signs that Russia is preparing to wind down air strikes. It bolstered its forces in Syria recently, dispatching its most advanced military jet - the Sukhoi-35S - to join its strike force of around 40 fast jets. And even though Russia is weathering an economic crisis, diplomats and officials say the financial cost of the operation is tolerable. The human cost has been higher. Although the official Russian military body count is just four, Islamic State claimed it blew up a Russian passenger plane over Egypt in October, killing all 224 people onboard, in revenge for Syria. But Russia's military, which has relished the chance to show the world its capabilities, is unlikely to stop until it is confident it has altered the balance of power decisively. It would be unthinkable, said Konovalov, for the Kremlin to call it a day before Aleppo was recaptured. "What is the point of our military operations in Syria if our involvement is not validated by military victories?" he said. (Editing by Peter Graff)
(Reuters) - An American Airlines flight made an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday morning after smoke was reported in the cabin, local media reports said.

The smoke report prompted the emergency landing, local broadcaster Fox 11 said, adding that some passengers felt sick and requested medical treatment.

Airline spokesman Ross Feinstein said the flight, which was carrying 125 passengers from San Jose, California to Phoenix, Arizona, was diverted to Los Angeles due to a "mechanical issue" and landed safely.

He did not confirm that smoke was reported in the cabin.

Feinstein said a maintenance team was checking the aircraft, an Airbus A319, and the airline was working to arrange alternative travel for the passengers.

(Reporting by Suzannah Gonzales in Chicago, Jeffrey Dastin in New York and Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Chris Reese and Bernadette Baum)
Feb. 12, 2016: This story has been clarified.

Debbie Mann can barely afford the drug that banishes the stabbing pain rheumatoid arthritis causes in her joints. Although Medicare helps cut the $40,000-per-year list price for prescription Enbrel, she said she still paid more than $3,800 last year.

She thought about going off of it but doesnt want to return to what she was like before  sleeping most of the day.

You just want to sit in a chair and not be part of life, said the 56-year-old retired nurse from Goshen, Indiana.

Mann would love a cheaper alternative, but Enbrel, made by Amgen Inc., is a biologic medicine, among the most expensive and difficult type to make because they are derived from sources such as live cells rather than chemicals in a lab. Less costly drugs that function in much the same way  called biosimilars  are expected to hit American markets in the next few years.

Yet if an Enbrel biosimilar becomes available in the U.S., as it already is in Europe, Mann will face more hurdles to obtain it in Indiana. That's thanks to the quick work done by the pharmaceutical companies that swooped in to lobby the legislature there. Drug lobbyists have helped push through bills limiting pharmacists ability to dole out biosimilars in more than a third of the states since 2013.

The biosimilar campaign is just one example of the wide-reaching power of state-level lobbying  a power thats grown as Congress stalemates and federal lobbying declines.

More companies and interest groups are pushing their agendas in the states, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of five years of lobbyist registrations from all 50 states gathered by the National Institute on Money in State Politics. Since 2010, the number of entities with either in-house lobbyists or part-time hired guns working in the states has grown more than 10 percent.

That means, on average, every state lawmaker was outnumbered by six companies, trade associations, unions or other groups angling for their attention from 2010 to 2014.

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And more special interests are finding it worthwhile to scatter lobbyists in dozens of states  or even all 50  to make sure increasingly important state legislatures dont leave them out of the picture.

This story is part of Whos Calling the Shots in State Politics?. The Center exposes the powerful special interests that drive elections and policy in the states. Click here to read more stories in this series.

Don't miss another Politics investigation: Sign up for the Center for Public Integrity's Watchdog email.

Lobbying, protected by the constitutional right to petition the government, takes different forms and follows different rules in each state. By wining and dining legislators, pressing flesh and citing talking points, dishing out campaign contributions and gifts, lobbyists wrangle lawmakers for details large and small that serve their employers interests:

AT&T Inc. lobbies against laws that require the company to provide land lines so it can cut infrastructure costs and expand its voice-over-Internet business.

Apple Inc. pitches its computer technology as the gateway to classrooms full of A+ students.

Tobacco companies back efforts to outlaw e-cigarettes for kids in exchange for regulators not treating the new smoking tools like normal tobacco products that face taxes and advertising limits.

On-demand car booking service Uber Technologies Inc. jumped from no lobbying in the states in 2010 to having foot soldiers in 35 states by 2014. Its goal: avoid rules designed for the traditional taxi industry.

Not a lot is happening in Washington, said Lee Drutman, a senior fellow and lobbying expert at New America, a Washington-based think tank, and author of The Business of America is Lobbying. If youre stymied at the federal level, you start looking to the states.

State-by-state lobbying on controversial issues may also be less visible than similar efforts in Washington, especially in light of widespread staff cuts among reporters covering statehouse news.

Related: Key findings for state lobbying

Drugmakers and the power of 50

Across America, lobbyists for drugmakers  including Enbrels maker Amgen  have worked at a feverish pace to push state laws that make it harder for pharmacists to substitute cheaper biosimilars for brand-name biologic drugs, as is commonly done with regular generic drugs.

The laws in many cases require the pharmacist to take extra steps before dispensing the cheaper drugs, including notifying the doctor, retaining extra records or, in some cases, getting patient consent.

Opponents say these laws make it less likely a pharmacist will substitute a biosimilar and more likely to instill doubt in patients about the alternate drugs. That could mean fewer patients get access to cheaper versions of specialty drugs that treat a range of diseases, including cancer, hepatitis C and Crohns.

Its going to cost some patients more money. It's certainly going to cost the health care system more money, said Diana Zuckerman, president of the nonprofit National Center for Health Research, a nonpartisan think tank that vets new medical treatments. And its certainly going to benefit the brand-name companies. Thats the whole point.

Pharmaceutical lobbyists say biosimilars are tricky to make and could be risky for patients, therefore pharmacists should take extra care when giving them out (though federal regulators are currently developing a system for confirming biosimilars as interchangeable with the original medicines). And lobbyists press state lawmakers to pass laws quickly, arguing pharmacists could not substitute the drugs at all without explicit authority. Amgen, for one, also said it is developing several biosimilars that it expects to launch in 2017.

So far 30 states have considered bills on biosimilars, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Laws have passed in at least 18 states and Puerto Rico since 2013.

Though pharmaceuticals in the U.S. are primarily regulated by the federal Food and Drug Administration, states find plenty of places to jump in  as do lobbyists.

Drug companies ask state lawmakers to make sure Medicaid or other health plans cover their products. They ask for drugs to be distributed widely, such as Mylan Inc. asking states to allow schools to stow EpiPens for any child who has a severe allergic reaction  even without a prescription. Painkiller makers such as Purdue Pharma LP resist efforts to restrict prescriptions, as the opioid epidemic claims lives.

With broad reach in multiple states, the pharmaceutical and health products industry dominates the lobbying landscape, making up 21 of the Center for Public Integritys top 101 lobbying entities.

Big names Pfizer Inc., Bayer AG, AstraZeneca PLC and at least 18 other drug companies and their trade associations have each lobbied in 34 or more states since 2010.

Don't miss another Politics investigation: Sign up for the Center for Public Integrity's Watchdog email.

Mylan, for example, jumped from having registered lobbyists in nine states in 2010 to 45 states by 2014 as its push for EpiPens took off.

Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the drugmakers main trade association, declined to comment for this article. It has said its members are committed to helping ensure broad patient access to safe and effective medicines through a free market.

In general, drugmakers favor laws that allow them to sell drugs widely at the price they set, often asking lawmakers to force insurers or government to pick up the tab.

It is a rare day when we actually win a debate against pharma, said Leigh Purvis, a health researcher for AARP, which lobbies about drug prices and profits from insurance sold under its name. They are extremely well funded and extremely effective.

The drug companies are part of a broader trend  more companies or interest groups are finding it necessary to spread out to all 50 states or close to it.

These presumably are companies that to some extent are doing business in all 50 states and believe that state policies are increasingly going to be important to their bottom line, said Thomas Holyoke, a professor of political science at Fresno State University who studies interest groups. They tend to want more uniformity across the states because its a lower compliance burden for them.

Back in 1997, according to research by a team of political scientists at the University of Iowa, not a single entity had lobbyists registered in all 50 states.

However, in 2013, according to the Center for Public Integritys analysis, at least nine companies and interest groups lobbied in every state: AARP, the American Heart Association, AstraZeneca, AT&T, Express Scripts Holding Co., the National Federation of Independent Business, the National Rifle Association of America, Pfizer and PhRMA.

Differing registration rules in the states mean that direct comparisons among them are difficult. Lobbying registrations also likely represent a minimum threshold for the lobbying taking place nationwide.

While some states even require government employees to register if they lend expertise to lawmakers or push for a bill, in other states the rules are looser. New York requires that lobbyists register only if they earn or spend at least $5,000 a year. In Texas, part-time lobbyists arent always required to register and report their activity. Lobbying in Nevada is only reported when the legislature, which ordinarily meets every other year, is in session.

Federal decline

Even federal lobbyists are getting in on the state action. Nearly all of the top 20 lobbying firms in the National Law Journals 2015 ranking indicated that they are active at the state and local level.

McGuireWoods, a top 20 firm headquartered steps from the Virginia Capitol in Richmond, has said state and local lobbying is its biggest moneymaker. In recent years, D.C.-based firms such as Cornerstone Government Affairs and Summit Strategies bolstered their rosters of state-focused influencers.

Its all happening at a time when federal lobbying is on the decline. From 2010 through 2014, the number of companies and organizations with registered federal lobbyists declined by 25 percent, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of data collected by the Center for Responsive Politics.

To be sure, federal lobbying rules have changed over time, including a 2007 federal law signed by President George W. Bush that tightened rules on lobbying, so more entities are using other tools to influence government outside of formal registered lobbying. Yet in that same five-year period, the number of entities sending lobbyists to state capitals increased 10 percent.

States, meanwhile, are pushing out many more new laws than Congress. Federal lawmakers passed 352 bills and resolutions in 2013 and 2014, according to CQ Roll Call. States passed more than 45,000 bills in that same time period.

Large insurers such as Aetna have long been major players in state lobbying, because insurance is largely regulated at the state level. So is alcohol. As a result, Anheuser-Busch InBev SA has had a steady presence in state capitols, with lobbyists in 49 states in both 1997 and 2013.

But some interest groups are pivoting to the states rather than focusing on Washington, where partisan differences seem to have slowed policymaking. The Consumer Healthcare Products Association, which went from lobbyists in 24 states in 2010 to 34 states in 2013, started pushing for state laws blocking sales of certain cough syrups to minors while it waits for a national ban to prevent teens from abusing the medicine, which can induce hallucinations. Theyve been successful in nine states so far, a spokesman said.

Experts say states also are picking up even more regulatory responsibility as more states expand Medicaid, for example, or are asked to decide specific rules for how to administer certain federal programs, such as welfare.

If Im either in favor or against more spending on welfare, Im now going to spend more time targeting the states rather than just Washington. said Adam Newmark, a political science professor at Appalachian State University.

Companies that have something to sell to states, such as Xerox Corp. with its speed camera and electronic tolling programs, also spread out to many statehouses. And others play defense against lawmakers seeking new revenue sources: Tobacco company Altria Group Inc. regularly fends off cigarette tax hikes.

In Idaho, Dennis Lake, a Republican state representative at the time, introduced a bill in 2011 that called for increasing the states cigarette tax. But he couldnt get it past the committee he chaired.

He blames heavy lobbying by tobacco companies. Altria had five lobbyists roaming the statehouse halls that year and spent more than $165,000 on lobbying, according to a review by Idaho Falls Post Register.

Indeed, one of Altrias in-house lobbyists, Amanda Klump, spent $2,500 to host two members of Lakes committee and the speaker of the House at a gubernatorial inauguration party in January that year, according to state records and the Post Register.

They were everybodys friend, Lake said. Idaho is an anti-tax state, so whenever you try to do something with any of the sin taxes, they come out in force and say, Oh this is a tax increase. 

Altria spokesman David Sutton said the company lobbies on tobacco taxes because they affect its business. "We get engaged when we need to, he said.

Related: Lobbying grows in the states

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State dominance

About every two weeks last summer, former Navajo National Councilman Daniel Tso took his white Nissan truck on a tour of oil wells and fracking sites in northwest New Mexico. What he saw there concerned him. Oil was spilled onto the ground, he said, and former fracking sites were not filled in with soil and replanted as promised.

Tso worried about damage to the lands his people hold dear, damage alarmingly near Chaco Culture National Historical Park and its sandstone ruins of the ancient Pueblo peoples.

Were tied to the land, he said. Theres nothing like walking the land and touching the earth.

Tso doesnt trust state agents to regulate the oil and gas drillers. First, Tso pointed out, there arent enough inspectors  only 14 to oversee 60,000 active wells in the state, according to a report by Inside Energy, a journalism initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

And even if it had enough inspectors, the state has little authority to enforce its own regulations. The penalties for spills and other violations havent been updated since the 1930s, thanks in part to the influence of the powerful oil and gas industry.

In 2013, lawmakers and environmentalists tried to update the states rules to increase penalties for spills and other infractions from $1,000 per day to $10,000 per day.

Oil and gas lobbyists swarmed the statehouse during hearings and votes on the bill.

Ive never seen so many suits in my life, said Viki Harrison, director of Common Cause New Mexico, which lobbies for tighter ethics rules. People were just lined up outside. They couldnt even fit in the committee room.

Thirty-six oil and gas lobbyists representing 23 companies and five trade associations worked to sway lawmakers to nix the bill, her organization later reported.

Among them was Kent Cravens, who started a job as the lead lobbyist for the New Mexico Oil & Gas Association one day after resigning from the state Senate. He did not return requests for comment.

State records show his boss at the oil association, president Steve Henke, picked up the $17,638 tab after lawmakers dined at The Bull Ring, an upscale steakhouse an 11-minute walk from the State Capitol in Santa Fe, 10 days after the bill was introduced. The association declined to comment.

The bill failed in the New Mexico House by a vote of 32-36. Since then, state regulators have made no formal attempts to seek penalties on oil companies in New Mexico.

Its one example of the formidable power industries that band together can wield in particular regions or statehouses. While some industries, like pharmaceuticals and telecommunications, seek influence in all 50 states at times, others, such as energy in the West or agriculture in the Great Plains, dominate one particular part of the country. And through their lobbyists, they fight to ensure tax and regulation schemes benefit them as much as possible.

Right now I dont think its hyperbole to say that the oil and gas industry in New Mexico is essentially self-regulating, said Eric Jantz, an attorney with the New Mexico Environmental Law Center who worked on the failed bill. Oil and gas brings out its lobbyists and gets people from the oil patch to come and testify and spreads money around.

The energy industry wields incredible influence in states whose coffers are filled with oil tax money, such as North Dakota.

Theres almost no deception. Its almost completely transparent, said Democratic Rep. Ben Hanson, who represents the city of West Fargo in the state Assembly. They want you to pass these laws because it will make it easier for their companies to operate.

The North Dakota Petroleum Council, which represents 575 oil and gas companies in the state, did not return calls for comment.

Individual organizations can wield incredible power in particular states as well. An average of 29 lobbyists per year roamed Montgomery on behalf of the Alabama Education Association teachers union from 2010 to 2014, according to state records.

Fidelity Investments averaged 18 lobbyists in the Massachusetts Statehouse, less than a mile from its global headquarters.

The Walt Disney Co. relied on an average of 30 registered lobbyists each year to represent it and its subsidiaries in Florida.

Related: "Oil and gas industry in New Mexico"

Overwhelmed with influence

As more lobbying interests haunt state capitols, the temptation grows for lawmakers to rely on lobbyists expertise. Many legislators make laws for only part of the year and have minimal staff to help them.

Thats what happened when drug companies asked North Dakota legislators in 2015 to require insurance companies to cover costlier chemotherapy pills at the same rate they covered the intravenous version of the cancer-killing treatment.

When pharma comes in with an oral chemotherapy bill that no one understands at the beginning of session, its going to get passed, said Hanson, the North Dakota state lawmaker.

And its what happened when the maker of Debbie Manns drug, Amgen, and other biologic drug makers teamed up in Indiana.

In 2013, as legislators considered a bill limiting pharmacists ability to prescribe biosimilars, Amgen sent two lobbyists to the state, the first time it had a lobbying presence there in at least seven years. After that bill failed, the drugmakers tried again the next year, working to better explain biologic medicines to legislators.

We had to educate and educate, said Michael Leppert, a lobbyist who represented the trade association now called the Biotechnology Innovation Organization that pushed for the legislation. It was very, very new.

Amgen boosted its presence to five lobbyists working in the Hoosier State in 2014. State records show they teamed up with 23 more from biotech interests, including cancer-drug-maker Genentech, a subsidiary of the Swiss company Roche Holding AG. Thats more than double what those companies had in the state in 2010.

Amgen operates in a highly regulated industry, said Amgen spokeswoman Kelley Davenport in an email. Our lobbying efforts and expenditures reflect Amgen's continued advocacy efforts to provide patient access to and advance the coverage of existing and future products.

None of the other companies responded to requests for comment.

Related: Methodology

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Republican Rep. Ed Clere, who sponsored the bills in the Indiana House, told The New York Times that Genentech brought him the legislation. Strikingly similar bills were introduced in other states.

After the bill passed, Clere and Sen. Brandt Hershman, the bills Senate sponsor and also a Republican, received Legislator of the Year awards from the states biotechnology trade association. Neither responded to requests for comment.

Debbie Mann, who pays attention to rheumatology news, didnt know the bill on biosimilars was working its way through her state legislature in 2014. And since the legislation received little media coverage at the time, its likely Manns fellow patients dont know obtaining cheaper drug options will require navigating more state mandates in the future.

In the meantime, Mann said she pays more for Enbrel each year and worries what would happen if her husband fell ill, knowing she would no longer be able to afford the medicine that keeps her going.

All it takes is something major to happen in our finances, and thats going to be the first thing to go, she said. Thats a lot of money.

Reporters Ashley Balcerzak and Michael J. Mishak contributed.

Clarification, Feb. 12, 2016, 4:47 p.m.: An earlier version of this story imprecisely characterized the relationship between AARP and the insurance that carries its name. The organization markets and profits from insurance sold under its name but does not directly sell it.

The story has also been updated to include that Amgen, the maker of the biologic drug Enbrel that Debbie Mann uses, is currently developing biosimilars that it expects to launch in 2017.

This story is part of Whos Calling the Shots in State Politics?. The Center exposes the powerful special interests that drive elections and policy in the states. Click here to read more stories in this series.

Related stories

Copyright 2016 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.
By Colleen Jenkins

(Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday reversed a decision that halted executions in Mississippi, finding a lower court abused its discretion when it blocked the use of certain lethal injection drugs.

Mississippi officials said the ruling validated the state's three-drug protocol, which they noted was the same as the Oklahoma cocktail upheld in a 5-4 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court last June.

But executions in the state are unlikely to restart immediately, according to a lawyer for two death row inmates challenging the protocol.

The inmates will seek further injunctions against the protocol on other legal grounds and could request a review of the case by the full 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, said their lawyer, Jim Craig.

"We havent made that decision yet," said Craig, co-director of the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center in New Orleans.

U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate issued a preliminary injunction last August barring Mississippi's corrections department from executing prisoners using compounded pentobarbital or midazolam.

The drugs have been used in botched executions and are not in the class of drugs specified by Mississippi law for lethal injections, convicted murderers Richard Jordan and Ricky Chase argued.

The three-judge appeals panel on Wednesday found the prisoners failed to show the drugs would impose an "atypical and significant hardship" on them. The appellate judges also rejected an argument that Mississippi's plan to use drugs not listed in state law "shocks the conscience."

"The Fifth Circuits ruling affirms my belief that the state is legally and properly administering the death penalty," Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant, a Republican, said in a statement.

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood, a Democrat, said state lawmakers should authorize alternative means for executions, as more "frivolous lawsuits" are expected and the chemicals needed to enforce the death penalty have become difficult to obtain.

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He has proposed using firing squads, electrocution, hanging and the gas chamber when drugs for lethal injections were not available.

Craig said the state should instead model its capital punishment protocol after Texas, where inmates are put to death using a single, overwhelming dose of a barbiturate.

That procedure lowers the risk of lethal injections amounting to chemical torture when things go wrong in the three-drug cocktail, he said.

"They refuse to do that," he said of Mississippi officials.

Mississippi last carried out a lethal injection in 2012.

(Reporting by Colleen Jenkins in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Editing by Tom Brown and Lisa Shumaker)
Buenos Aires (AFP) - An Argentine footballer lost the tips of four toes when his team bus crashed in Venezuela after playing a qualifying match in the Copa Libertadores regional club tournament, officials said.

Patricio Toranzo, 33, was one of six members of Argentine club Atletico Huracan hurt in the crash as the team headed to the airport after their match against local side Caracas FC.

A Caracas FC official citing doctors initially said Toranzo had four toes amputated but Huracan later said surgeons cut away just the very tips of the toes on his left foot, excluding the big one.

Team doctor Fernando Locaso and Huracan's president Alejandro Nadur said Toranzo would be able to play again soon.

"It is not such a serious injury. His toes will just be a bit shorter," Locaso said on Argentine radio.

Midfielder Toranzo is acclaimed for his skills and shooting with his right foot.

He formerly played for top Argentine side River Plate and for Shanghai Shenhua in China.

Huracan said on its Facebook page that all its members were "out of danger" but Toranzo, striker Diego Mendoza and one of the team's trainers Pablo Santella were still hospitalized in Caracas.

The bus crashed off a highway on the way to Simon Bolivar Airport near Caracas on Wednesday.

Huracan staff said the bus's brakes failed.

"The experts say the driver avoided a worse accident," said club physiotherapist Daniel Arias, arriving back with the team in Buenos Aires on Thursday.

"They are in good spirits, but still in shock," he told reporters.

Huracan had just qualified for the group stages of the Copa Libertadores with a two-match aggregate win over Caracas.

Barcelona and Argentina's star striker Lionel Messi sent the team a message of "strength and support" on Facebook.
Brussels (AFP) - The world's top brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev said Wednesday it had received an offer from Japan's Asahi to buy the Peroni and Grolsch beer brands it has pledged to sell as part of its tie-up with SABMiller.

Asahi Group Holdings has offered 2.55 billion euros ($2.85 million) for the Peroni, Grolsch and Meantime brands held by SABMiller, AB InBev said in a statement.

AB InBev said in December it wanted to sell the Italian, Dutch and British brands in order to ease competition concerns and win approval from regulators.

AB Inbev announced in November it had agreed to take over British rival SABMiller for $121 billion, the third largest acquisition in history, that would make it a juggernaut brewing three times as much beer as its nearest rival.

Japan's leading Nikkei business daily had reported earlier Asahi had offered $3.5 billion for the brands which have a long history in Asia-Pacific.

The acquisitions would allow Asahi to broaden its overseas strategy, the report said, as overseas sales only account for about 10 percent of Asahi's total sales.

If the deal goes through it would be be biggest ever by a Japanese brewer, the daily said.

AB Inbev said the sale would go through only if its merger with SABMiller is completed.
By Tina Bellon BERLIN (Reuters) - A 93-year-old former guard at Auschwitz goes on trial in Germany on Thursday accused of being an accessory to the murder of at least 170,000 people - the first of four such court cases that could be the last due to the very old age of the defendants. The three men and one woman accused are all in their nineties and will be tried over the next few months, starting with Reinhold Hanning in the western German city of Detmold. Hanning was 20 years old in 1942 when he started serving as a guard at the Auschwitz death camp in occupied Poland where more than 1.1 million Jews were killed by the Nazis. Prosecutors said he voluntarily joined the armed SS at the age of 18 and participated in battles in eastern Europe during the early stages of World War Two before being transferred to Auschwitz in January 1942. Accused by the prosecutor's office in Dortmund as well as by 38 joint plaintiffs from Hungary, Israel, Canada, Great Britain, the United States and Germany, Hanning will face the accounts of contemporary camp witnesses. One of them is Erna de Vries, who in 1943 at the age of 23 was deported to Auschwitz along with her mother. Considered a "Jewish crossbreed" as her father was Protestant, she was saved from the gas chamber and transferred to a labor camp. "I survived, but up until today I don't know how exactly my mother was killed," de Vries told Reuters ahead of the trial. "The last thing she said to me was, 'You will survive and tell what happened to us.' "I am not hateful but it somehow feels like justice to see this man, who was working there when my mother died, on trial," die Vries added. Investigations by Germany's special Nazi war crimes office in Ludwigsburg show that Hanning served as a guard at Auschwitz until at least June 1944. While Hanning admitted to his guard duties in a statement to the prosecution, he denied involvement in the mass killings. But investigators say he also served at Auschwitz's Birkenau sub-division where about 90 percent of more than 1.2 million killings in the camp were carried out in four gas chambers. Prosecutors maintain that the Nazis' killing machinery hinged on people like Hanning guarding the prisoners and accuses him of expediting, or at least facilitating, the murders. Precedence for such charges was set in 2011 when death camp guard Ivan Demjanjuk was convicted of being an accessory to mass murder. Given the age of the accused, trials are delayed due to lengthy procedures to determine whether they are fit to be in court. Hearings are also restricted to two hours per day. But Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff, responsible for war crime investigations at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said age should not be viewed as an obstacle to prosecution. "When you think of these cases, don't think of frail, old, sick men and women, but of young people who devoted their energies to a system that implemented the (Nazis' so-called) Final Solution and aimed to obliterate the Jewish people," Zuroff told Reuters by phone from his office in Jerusalem. (Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Sydney (AFP) - Australia said Thursday it will "carefully consider" if it can help the orphans of an Islamic State fighter and their Sydney-born mother, who both reportedly died in Syria, warning the children could pose a threat later in life.

Tara Nettleton, whose husband Khaled Sharrouf made headlines in 2014 when he posted an image on Twitter of his then seven-year-old son holding a severed head, died from appendicitis or a kidney condition, the Sydney Morning Herald and other media reported.

Sharrouf is widely believed to have been killed in a drone strike last year in Iraq, an attack in which fellow Australian jihadist Mohamed Elomar also perished.

The family's lawyer Charles Waterstreet told AFP the couple's five children, aged between five and 14, were trapped in an undisclosed part of Syria and in "grave danger".

The 14-year-old girl, named in Australian media as Zaynab, gave birth to a child two months ago fathered by Elomar and was also looking after her younger siblings, Waterstreet said.

"They are in grave danger. We've been in contact with them and there's bombs falling everywhere and people are starving in the streets," the Sydney-based lawyer said, adding the children told their grandmother Karen Nettleton they "want to get out" of Syria.

"Both their father and their mother are dead and they're victims stuck in a hellhole and they're Australians, and we should be doing everything we can to get them out."

Media reports said Nettleton might have died last year, with her mother only informed in the last two weeks.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said he was not able to confirm her death, although all Australians were provided with consular assistance regardless of their circumstances.

But he warned the children's experiences since they were taken to Syria by their mother in 2014 to join their father, who left Australia in 2013, could influence the government's decision on whether they could return home.

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"The conditions under which people are brought back into our country would have to be considered very carefully," he told Sydney radio station 2GB.

"Obviously any parent who is dangerous enough, crazy enough, to take young, impressionable children into that sort of an area obviously scars those children for life.

"So ultimately the government's clear objective is to keep the Australian public safe and we'd have to look at the individual circumstances to see what the kids may have been through, what they've been exposed to, whether or not later in life they pose a threat."

Up to 49 Australians have been killed in the conflict in Iraq and Syria, with an estimated 110 nationals currently fighting or working with militant groups, domestic spy chief Duncan Lewis told a parliamentary hearing this week.

Some 190 Australians were actively supporting IS back home through fundraising, and some also hoped to join such groups in the Middle East, Lewis added.
"They're allegories," George Miller says of his four Mad Max films  the first of which, Mad Max, was released in 1979, and the most recent of which, Mad Max: Fury Road, was released in 2015  as we sit down to record an episode of 'Awards Chatter.' The 70-year-old Aussie says of the latter, a $150 million action-thriller that unfolds over the course of one long chase scene, "You take from the world. Even though it looks like a helter-skelter, rambunctious film, virtually everything in the film has real-world connections, if not present-day then certainly historical." He adds, "I really wanted to see how much people could pick up on the run."

(Click above to listen to this episode now or click here to access all of our episodes via iTunes. Past guests include Lady Gaga, Will Smith, Amy Schumer, Samuel L. Jackson, Kristen Stewart, J.J. Abrams, Brie Larson, Ridley Scott, Kate Winslet, Ian McKellen, Sarah Silverman, Michael Moore, Benicio Del Toro, Lily Tomlin and Eddie Redmayne.)

The fact that Fury Road subtextually addresses issues ranging from feminism to water scarcity to suicide attacks, all while remaining immensely entertaining, may help to explain why it has received a warmer welcome than just about any "genre film" in history. Following its world premiere at last May's Cannes Film Festival, it opened to tremendous reception from critics (97% on RottenTomatoes.com) and audiences ($376 million worldwide). More recently, to Miller's surprise and delight, awards voters joined the love fest: the film landed a spot on the AFI's list of the top 10 films of 2015; was nominated for the top awards given by the Producers Guild of America and Directors Guild of America; and received a remarkable 10 Oscar nominations, including two for Miller: best picture and best director.

The filmmaker has come a long way from the first Mad Max, his feature directorial debut which, for better or worse, introduced Mel Gibson to the world. A practicing physician, he was making shorts on the side for fun, but knew that he could only have an alternative career if he attempted a feature. "I was really, really interested in the action movie, particularly the language of it," he says, citing Kevin Brownlow's seminal book The Parade's Gone By as a major influence. He had seen both sides of Australia's "road culture," which offered people a lot of fun, but also resulted in horrific injuries and death, "and that did affect me," he says.

With $600,000 that he raised from friends  too little to shoot on main streets, hence the setting of the story in a semi-apocalyptic world "a few years from now"  and using lenses left Down Under by Sam Peckinpah after The Getaway shoot, he made a film that quickly became an international sensation. "We tapped into some archetypes," he says of his wandering loner hero, who was a hit at box-offices around the world. "These are basically fables or allegories, and as in all storytelling they are metaphorical, and it's for us to read into them according to our worldview." (Incidentally, even with the film's great success, Miller didn't abandon his medical career for another five years  "I stayed registered because there was a requirement that you have a doctor on set if you're doing stunts," he says.)

In addition to directing Mad Max's sequels Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985), which were also hits, Miller ventured into Hollywood, where he had experiences good (directing a segment of 1983's The Twilight Zone) and bad (on 1987's The Witches of Eastwick "people mistook politeness for weakness" and tried to take advantage of him, and then his attachment to direct Contact fell apart and wound up in litigation). Consequently, he returned to Australia to produce a few films, including 1989's Dead Calm, which offered Nicole Kidman her big break, returning stateside only briefly to direct 1992's Lorenzo's Oil, for which Susan Sarandon received a best actress Oscar nom, before returning Down Under to make 1995's Babe, an instant-classic that was the result of five years of hard work, and for which James Cromwell landed a best supporting actor Oscar nom.

Over the ensuing years, Miller, the same guy who made the hardcore Mad Max films directed 1998's Babe: Pig in the City, 2006's Happy Feet and 2011's Happy Feet Two. Nobody could quite pin him down, although he says his career trajectory makes perfect sense: he made films for kids when his own kids were young, and once they had grown up he returned to edgier material.

He first started thinking about a return to the world of Mad Max some 17 years go, but fate kept getting in the way. He planned to reunite with Gibson, but then 9/11 tanked the economy and the actor blew up his career. He then hoped to fill the role with another intense Aussie, Heath Ledger, but before he could do so Ledger died of a drug overdose in 2008. And then, having recruited yet another intense actor for the part, non-Aussie Tom Hardy, he found that the Aussie desert on which he wished to shoot had experienced so much unexpected rainfall that flowers were blooming across it, ruling it out. After a year-long wait, he and Warner Bros. decided to uproot the production and relocate it to Namibia, where rain became the least of their worries.

"There's no real continuity," Miller says of the fourth Mad Max film in relation to the third, "just as there wasn't between the first three." Rather, he says, "This one came along and it was an opportunity to take what was there; repurpose it, in a way; and take into account all the ways in which the world has changed and I've changed and the technology's changed." In the new film, Max shares the screen  first as adversaries, then as allies  with a female badass, Furiosa, played by Oscar winner Charlize Theron. At the outset, Hardy (who would later apologize to Miller for failing to grasp the filmmaker's vision) and Theron (no shrinking wallflower) bucked heads. "The film [which was shot in-sequence] started off where Max and Furiosa don't really engage until 20 minutes into the movie, and that first scene is a fight where they're both basically trying to kill each other  and I think that seeped into the work in some way," he acknowledges. "But just as the characters develop a kind of positive regard for each other, and then only through that do they have any hope of surviving, I think that happened  it got better as it went on."

The bottom line? Miller  assisted by a crew comprised mostly of Aussies, including his Lorenzo's Oil cinematographer John Seale, who he talked out of retirement for the project, and Miller's wife Margaret Sixel, a film editor who made an astounding 2,700 cuts (versus 1,200 on 1981's Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior)  has given the world a film that feels like the work of a young man, even though he's now in his eighth decade. Rather remarkably, he insists he has no plans to slow down. "I definitely have an appetite for making films," he states firmly. "My family says, 'Can you do something a little smaller and quicker?' So that's my intention at the moment. But I'm still really interested in that world of Fury Road."
Ottawa (AFP) - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday marked Ottawa's renewed engagement on the world stage, which should translate into a larger role on climate change and in peacekeeping missions.

Trudeau signaled ahead of Ban's arrival that he wanted to restore Canada's "voice and leadership role" at the United Nations, casting the first visit of a UN chief in years as recognition of the new Liberal government's commitment to working in concert with other nations.

Whereas his Conservative predecessor, Stephen Harper, sought distance from the UN in order to carve out an independent and assertive foreign policy, Trudeau signaled that he intends for Canada to play an important and increased role beyond its borders through the New York-based global body.

"Prime Minister Trudeau has declared Canada's recommitment to the United Nations. I am here to declare that the United Nations enthusiastically welcomes this commitment," Ban told a joint news conference.

Symbolically, Trudeau invited Ban to Canada on the 100th day of his new Liberal government in office, on the heels of commitments to tackle climate change and resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of February -- both of which Ban praised.

During the secretary-general's visit, the pair discussed boosting Canadian contributions to peacekeeping missions around the world, as well as climate issues, the conflict in Iraq and Syria and its impact on neighboring countries, and improving women and children's health in poorer nations.

Trudeau said Canada would also seek a seat on the Security Council, hoping to erase the humiliation of its first failed bid in 2010 that was seen as a rebuke of the previous Tory administration's foreign policy shift.

"We're looking at a number of windows in the coming years" to mount a bid, Trudeau said.

- Canadians wanted for peacekeeping -

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On Monday, Trudeau announced the withdrawal of Canadian fighter jets conducting airstrikes in Iraq and Syria as part of the US-led coalition pushing back the Islamic State group, while pledging to triple the number of special forces training Kurdish militia in northern Iraq to about 210.

Thirty-six Canadian soldiers are currently deployed on UN peacekeeping missions in Haiti, Jerusalem, South Sudan, Cyprus, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Korea, down from a reported 3,000 at its peak in 1993.

French speakers in the Canadian military, said Trudeau, are in demand in hotspots in some former French or Belgian colonies, including Haiti and the Central African Republic.

On the environmental front, Trudeau made a splash at climate talks in Paris last December, vowing strong measures to curb Canadian greenhouse gas emissions in order to keep global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, but he left the meeting without announcing a firm target for cutting carbon dioxide emissions.

Trudeau is expected to begin hammering out details of a climate plan when he meets with his provincial counterparts on March 3. He must also, however, be mindful of the economic challenges facing oil producing regions, notably Alberta province where thousands have lost their jobs over the past year due to the plunge in oil prices.

Canada is the world's fifth largest oil producer.

Ban invited Trudeau to New York in April for the official signing of the climate accord reached in Paris.

Trudeau has also pledged to fight institutional discrimination against indigenous peoples, with plans to hold a public inquiry into 1,200 missing and murdered aboriginal women since 1980.

As part of an overall rapprochement with natives, he has said he would ratify and fully implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples -- again earning accolades from Ban.

Canada and three other countries -- Australia, New Zealand and the United States -- were the only nations to vote against the UN indigenous text in 2007.

Trudeau and Ban were expected to participate in a student assembly, visit a Syrian refugee welcoming center and dine at the Canadian Museum of History before the UN chief heads to Montreal, which is home to the UN aviation agency, for more talks Friday.
George Clooney on Thursday lost his cool with a reporter in Berlin when asked to detail what the actor and activist was doing, beyond making movies, to ease Europe's ongoing refugee crisis.

"I spend a lot of time working on these things, and it's an odd thing to have someone stand up and say, 'What do you do?' That's fine, knock yourself out," an annoyed Clooney shot back during a Berlin Film Festival press conference to promote his latest movie, Hail Caesar!. "I have gone to places that are very dangerous and I work a lot on these things."

The actor said he is meeting Friday with German chancellor Angela Merkel and some recently arrived refugees to highlight the issue. Id like to know what you are doing to help the situation? Clooney at one point asked the Mexican journalist.

The Hollywood actor and activist, who is accompanied in Berlin by his wife, Amal Clooney, sparked global interest in Sudan's Darfur crisis with a 2006 visit to the war-torn country. The Coen brothers and the cast of Hail Caesar!, including Channing Tatum, Josh Brolin and Tilda Swinton, are in Berlin to promote their homage to Hollywood's golden age just as Germany is consumed in debate over the country taking around one million refugees from a war-torn Middle East, the most of any European country.

Read More: When George Clooney Lost His Cool Over a Bad Review at Berlin

Joel Coen, co-helmer of Hail Caesar! along with brother Ethan, told the refugee-focused fest that the timely issue wasn't likely to figure in any of their movies anytime soon. "You're right  it's a very important issue," he said when asked whether he'd ever, as a celebrated director, make a movie about how people become refugees.

"It's something I'd be very interested to see movies address ... but it's absurd to say that anyone who happens to be in public life or in some creative endeavor, to point a finger at them, and say, 'You should be telling this particular story,'" Coen added, noting that Hollywood doesn't just make subject movies because they're politically important, they need to be the right creative vehicle.

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"It's a misunderstanding of how stories get written and made," he told a reporter. "Are those stories important? Yes. Does it make sense to say, 'You're a public figure, tell these stories  why aren't you telling them?' It's a funny question, frankly."

Clooney also turned aside a request by another reporter who hoped to see a sequel to his 2005 thriller Syriana produced. "There's a lot that has gone wrong, and we all know there's a lot of conversations that should be had and continue to be had," he conceded, before insisting the news media was best placed right now to address the European refugee issue.

"The unfortunate thing about the film community is we react to situations much more than we lead the way," said Clooney. News event happen, scripts are written and movies aren't made for a couple of years, he pointed out.

"I've often struggled to make a film about Sudan, about Darfur, a subject that's very close to me. But I haven't been able to find the proper script," he told the press conference.
As the first major film market of 2016 kicks off Thursday in Berlin, buyers are anxiously watching Netflix and Amazon to see what their next moves will be. Will Berlin see a continuation of the Sundance spending spree? And what will that mean for the traditional international film business, one built around theatrical releases and the middlemen of sales companies that sell movie projects country by country around the world?

Will they be a disruptive force, with producers bypassing sales agents to work directly with [Netflix and Amazon], or will they work with the traditional film players? asks European Film Market director Matthijs Wouter Knol, who notes that the streamers are sending a record number of buyers to Berlin.

Berlin marked the start of Netflixs aggressive move into the feature film business when, last year, it paid $12 million for Beasts of No Nation. But last month's Sundance fest was where the streaming buyers really caught fire, with Amazon dropping $10 million for U.S. rights to Kenneth Lonergans Manchester by the Sea and Netflix paying $7 million for the Paul Rudd-starrer The Fundamentals of Caring and $5 million for Tallulah, starring Ellen Page. Netflix also helped set off the bidding war for The Birth of a Nation when it offered $20 million for Nate Parkers slave epic, forcing eventual buyer Fox Searchlight to up its bid to a record-breaking $17.5 million.

Theres no way [Fox Searchlight] would ever have paid $17 million for that film without Netflix in the picture, said one international distributor. They are driving up the prices for the movies they go after.

However, Berlin is not Sundance. The films on offer at Park City are finished features, mainly U.S. independent productions. Berlin is a market for prestige international features  see Emma Thompson-starrer Alone in Berlin or John Michael McDonaghs War on Everyone, starring Alexander Skarsgard and Michael Pena  or mainstream films that are pre-sold on the basis of a script, cast and concept. The big deals coming out of this EFM will likely be for Steven Soderberghs new heist thriller Logan Lucky, starring Channing Tatum, or Suburbicon, the Coen Bros.-penned crime comedy that George Clooney will direct. That kind of big-budget fare is mostly uncharted territory for the streaming giants. Its also unclear whether the A-list talent behind them would be ready to give up a theatrical bow in exchange for a big check.

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Beasts of No Nation could prove a cautionary tale. Cary Fukunagas child-soldier drama starring Idris Elba netted critical acclaim, but it arguably had less impact, particularly during awards season, than it would have had if the film had been given a traditional release.

I think that if Beasts had done better theatrically and ended up getting an Oscar nomination or two, then it feels as if it would have been game over for the entire traditional industry, said Leo Pearlman, co-founder of London-based production house Fulwell 73. Netflix could have shown that they can buy a film, give it a theatrical release alongside its Netflix release and still get that credibility. Instead, says Pearlman, the release of Beasts worked out very well for traditional distributors, who can still argue they are indispensable for big awards-bait movies.
Zoe Kazan will join Silicon Valley's Kumail Nanjiani in The Big Sick.

Nanjiani wrote the script for the film with his wife, Emily V. Gordon. The story is based on their own relationship, and centers on the challenges a Pakistan-born man (Nanjiani) and his American girlfriend (Kazan) have to overcome to be together.

Hello, My Name Is Doris director Michael Showalter will direct the film, which is being produced by Judd Apatow and Barry Mendel. FilmNation is financing and selling the project to foreign buyers at EFM in Berlin, while UTA is handling domestic rights.

Nanjiani has been quickly rising in the comedy world. Along with starring in HBO's hit show Silicon Valley, he writes and executive produces Comedy Centrals The Meltdown and has appeared on popular series like Portlandia and Broad City. He'll co-host the Film Independent Spirit Awards with Kate McKinnon on Feb. 27

Kazans recent credits include Our Brand Is Crisis, What If and Ruby Sparks. She's got horror film There Are Monsters coming up along with My Blind Brother with Adam Scott and Jenny Slate. She's repped by UTA, Washington Square Films Management and Jackoway Tyerman.
London (AFP) - The brother of Democratic US presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders was named as the new health spokesman for England and Wales's Green Party Thursday, two days after his sibling's New Hampshire primary win.

Larry Sanders, who is 81 and has lived in Britain since 1969, is a retired social worker. He stood unsuccessfully as a candidate for the Greens in Oxford at last year's general election and has also represented them on the local council.

"Bernie's main platform is almost identical to the Green Party's," Larry Sanders said in a press release released by the Greens confirming his appointment.

On his brother's chances in the race for the White House, he added: "I wasn't so sure how he would do at first, but the way things have been going recently, can he do it? Yes he can."

Green Party policies at the 2015 election included increasing the minimum wage to 10 (13 euros, $14) an hour, introducing a wealth tax on the richest one percent of voters and ending austerity measures.

They have just one lawmaker in Britain's House of Commons.

Bernie Sanders, a senator from Vermont who describes himself as a democratic socialist, finished well ahead of rival Hillary Clinton in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary and is drawing strong support from voters, including many younger ones.
If you had any doubts that Beyonce was one of the best people in show business of all time, you can put them to rest. She reached out to New York Times magazine staff writer Jenna Wortham with flowers and a note after Wortham wrote about Beyonce's new track, "Formation."







Wortham took part in a critical dialog about the song and video with Jon Caramanica and Wesley Morris in a piece that ran on the front page of the Times' Arts section.



"[Beyonce's] idea of swag is keeping hot sauce in her bag while shes decked out in Givenchy," Wortham wrote. "Thats baller, and thats why the world slash Internet is going nuts. Its a dab in a video form, playing on a loop; its phenomenally delicious."



Beyonce reaching out to Wortham is a great example of a celebrity appreciating the people that engage in the industry of celebrity. She's been in the business long enough to recognize that strong critical reception goes hand-in-hand with huge album sales. It's also just about the most gracious thing anyone's ever done for a critic. Plus, look at "Formation." It's a near-perfect piece of radical social art that doubles as an insanely catchy song.



Someone asked if Wortham fabricated the note, and she responded perfectly.





.@brokeymcpoverty then why is the accent right on the card and wrong in my tweet lol  Jenna //\\ Wortham (@jennydeluxe) February 10, 2016





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By Doina Chiacu WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was endorsed by the Congressional Black Caucus on Thursday, a much-needed boost to her campaign as it competes for the important black voting bloc in South Carolina's primary this month. Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, have built strong ties to the African-American community over the past decades. Several lawmakers cited Clinton's long history of not only working on issues important to black Americans, but on getting Democrats elected and advancing the party's agenda. "Mrs Clinton has demonstrated her leadership skills. She has labored in various capacities all of her adult life and now she is ready to serve our country by occupying the highest office in our country," said U.S. Representative G.K. Butterfield. The group's backing will be important as Clinton seeks to recover from Tuesday's stinging loss to U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders in the New Hampshire primary. Black voters make up a large bloc in the Democratic primary in South Carolina and will be increasingly significant to the Democrats as the presidential contest moves from Iowa and New Hampshire to more demographically diverse states. The Congressional Black Caucus Political Action Committee planned to send a dozen members to South Carolina to campaign for Clinton over the weekend in advance of the state's Feb. 27 Democratic primary. Sanders, fresh off his victory in New Hampshire, had breakfast on Wednesday with one of America's most prominent civil rights activists, Rev. Al Sharpton, recognizing the need to broaden his base to mount a long-term challenge to Clinton. U.S. Representative James Clyburn, an influential African American from South Carolina, declined to make a personal endorsement before the caucus announcement in Washington. Appearing on CNN Thursday morning, Clyburn praised Sanders' voting record and had no criticism of the U.S. senator from Vermont. But his comments suggested he was leaning toward Clinton, whom he credited with significant contributions to issues important to black Americans, particularly universal access to health care and children's issues. Butterfield was more pointed in alluding to Sanders, who promises universal health care and free college tuition. "We need a president who doesn't simply campaign and just promise wonderful things but things that are politically impossible to achieve," he said at the caucus announcement. (Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Alistair Bell)
Brasilia (AFP) - Health authorities said Thursday they have identified a third death in Brazil linked to the Zika virus, but it is not clear if the disease was the sole cause.

The latest case "was communicated to the World Health Organization [WHO] and we are studying it in more depth because we have just received the information," Health Minister Marcelo Castro said during a news conference.

The victim, a 20-year-old woman, died last April, the ministry said.

Claudio Maierovitch, director of the ministry's communicable disease surveillance department, cautioned against drawing conclusions.

"It's not possible at this point to say that Zika was the sole cause of death," he said.

Pedro Vasconcelos, a doctor at the Evandro Chagas Institute, which is analyzing samples from the victim, said the woman had "very unusual respiratory symptoms" for Zika.

"It's possible she had pneumonia that was aggravated by Zika and she eventually died," he said.

Brazil last year announced that an adult and a teenager infected by Zika were known to have died.

The virus is transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito and causes only mild symptoms in most people.

However, Zika has been linked to a rapid rise in the number of children born with microcephaly -- abnormally small heads and brains -- to mothers infected during pregnancy.

There is currently no cure or vaccine for Zika.

Brazil has been most affected by the outbreak, with 1.5 million people infected since early 2015.

The country has confirmed 404 cases of Zika-linked microcephaly and 3,670 others are under study.

The WHO has declared the rise in Zika-linked birth defects an international emergency.

Confirmed cases have been found in 26 countries, spanning 7,000 kilometers (4,400 miles) from Mexico to Paraguay, according to the Pan-American Health Organization.

President Barack Obama on Monday asked for more than $1.8 billion in emergency funds to tackle the fast-spreading virus in the United States and beyond.

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The second most-affected country, Colombia, last week announced three deaths of Zika-infected patients who had also contracted Guillain-Barre syndrome -- a neurological disease that can cause paralysis in humans.

Colombia has reported more than 22,600 confirmed Zika cases.

However, the WHO has urged caution over linking the virus to Guillain-Barre syndrome.

Individual countries and regions are beginning to mobilize to limit the spread of Zika and are cooperating on developing a vaccine.

Castro, the Brazilian health minister, said 15 American experts arrived in the country to study Zika this week.

"The vaccine is not a Brazilian concern, but global," he said. "We could have a pandemic in the Americas with four million people infected by the Zika virus."

Despite fears about Zika in Brazil, experts say the Aedes aegypti mosquito also transmits dengue, which is endemic in the country and even more dangerous.

Some 863 people died from dengue in Brazil last year, up 82.4 percent from the year before, the government says.
Geneva (AFP) - Sarah, Duchess of York -- the ex-wife of Britain's Prince Andrew -- has begun the process of establishing residency in Switzerland, she told Le Nouvelliste newspaper in an interview published Wednesday.

The former Sarah Ferguson, widely known by her nickname "Fergie", said she wants to live in the ultra-chic ski resort village of Verbier, in the Canton of Valais, where she has been a frequent visitor.

"I want to officially become a Valaisian resident. The administrative process is ongoing," she told the paper.

She explained that she "discovered" Verbier as a 16-year-old, when her mother brought her to the Southern Swiss village for a holiday, and has regularly returned for family vacations since.

Sarah co-owns a chalet in the village with her ex-husband, Queen Elizabeth's second son from whom she divorced in 1996.

Britain's Embassy in Switzerland declined to comment on the duchess's attempt to establish Swiss residency.
A new red band trailer for The Brothers Grimsby manages to combine a reel of Sacha Baron Cohen's most well-known onscreen characters with a slew of fresh jokes regarding male genitalia.

The trailer first opens with clips from Cohen's Ali G Indahouse and Borat, and then zooms in on his new sibling-spy comedy co-starring Mark Strong. In this preview, the punch lines come from an intimate waxing session, heated car seats, Bill Cosby, balls that "look like Sir Ian McKellen" and lit fireworks that are for "celebrating responsibly."

To be fair, there is also a message discouraging kids from smoking cigarettes: "At your age, you should just be vaping."

Read More: 'View From the Bridge' to 'Brothers Grimsby': Mark Strong's Two-Year Genre Swap

The film, directed by Clash of the Titans' Louis Letterier, also stars Rebel Wilson, Gabourey Sidibe, Annabelle Wallis, Ian McShane, Penelope Cruz and Isla Fisher.

Sony will release the comedy on March 11.

Watch the trailer below.
New York (AFP) - Rock legend Bruce Springsteen will explain his rise to fame and the struggles behind his songs in a memoir to be released in September, his publisher announced Thursday.

The book will be entitled "Born to Run," named after Springsteen's 1975 song that both marked his rise to fame and lyrically explained his drive to get out of his home in Freehold, New Jersey.

The publisher, Simon and Schuster, said that Springsteen would tell stories behind the songs for the first time and show "why the song 'Born to Run' reveals more than we previously realized."

The memoir will relate the "poetry, danger and darkness" of his youth in Freehold and his "relentless drive" to become a musician as he started playing at a bar in nearby Asbury Park, the publisher said.

"Writing about yourself is a funny business," Springsteen, 66, said in a statement.

"But in a project like this, the writer has made one promise, to show the reader his mind. In these pages, I've tried to do this," he said.

The book will be released September 27 in 14 countries, with editions in French, German and Spanish.

The New York Post said that Springsteen received a $10 million advance for the book. Simon and Schuster did not comment.

One of the most successful artists in rock history, Springsteen made his name with legendarily energetic live performances and tales of the American working-class.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell said on Wednesday that no cases of the Zika virus had been passed by mosquitoes to people in the continental United States. In testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee about her department's budget request, Burwell said cases of the virus had occurred in travelers returning to the United States, and that there had been one case of sexual transmission in Dallas. The virus has been passed from mosquitoes to people in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, she said. President Obama is asking Congress for over $1.8 billion in emergency funds to fight Zika at home and abroad, and pursue a vaccine. Burwell said the government needed the money to prepare for mosquito control, especially in the southern states, as the country heads into the summer months. She said that of two kinds of mosquitoes thought to transmit the virus, "one is a very efficient transmitter; meaning it will bite four individuals in a meal." That mosquito is limited to the deep southern U.S. states, she said. The other mosquito can be found in about 20 states, and may be a transmitter, she said. Zika has spread quickly in South and Central America and the Caribbean, raising fears of the possibility of a birth defect known as microcephaly, a condition marked by abnormally small head size that can result in developmental problems. Most infected people have no symptoms or mild ones including fever and skin rashes. Burwell gave U.S. senators a closed-door briefing a day earlier about the Obama administration's battle plan for Zika, pushing back against Republican assertions that the administration had no immediate need for money and could divert existing funds from a longstanding campaign against Ebola in Africa. She said the government needs to ramp up preparedness and mosquito control in Puerto Rico, Florida, Texas and other Southern states while pursuing new research and an accelerated vaccine program. (Reporting by Susan Cornwell; Editing by David Alexander, Bernard Orr)
Los Angeles (AFP) - A massive gas leak near Los Angeles that forced thousands from their homes for months was brought under control, a utility official said.

The methane leak, the biggest in California's history, has been deemed an environmental disaster by several outside experts.

More than 4,500 families living in the affluent Porter Ranch area were forced to relocate after the leak was detected in October as residents reported getting ill from the noxious fumes spewing out of a damaged pipe.

Chris Gilbride, a spokesman for Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), told AFP that a relief well on Thursday had reached the stricken well and that workers had pumped mud and heavy fluid to plug the flow of gas.

He said the next step would be to pump cement into the damaged well over several days in order to permanently seal it.

"There is no more gas flowing from the well now," he said, adding that state regulators would eventually carry out inspections to ensure the leak was over.

The company said that once the well is permanently sealed, residents forced out of their homes would be able to gradually return to the area.

Thursday's breakthrough was welcomed by area residents whose lives were disrupted by the leak and who have expressed concern about the environmental and health impact.

"Most of the families in the community are very excited to get back, but they will not be distracted by the leak stoppage," Paula Cracium, head of the Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council, told the Los Angeles Times. "They still want to know that their homes are safe."

The gas leak over the past three months has spewed greenhouse gases that will significantly contribute to global warming, experts have warned.

Methane, which is colorless and odorless, is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

Officials attribute the headaches, nausea and nosebleeds reported by Porter Ranch residents to the odorant added to methane so it can be detected.

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But public health officials and the gas company -- a division of Sempra Energy -- insist the fumes pose no long-term health risks.

More than two dozen lawsuits have been filed against SoCalGas in relation to the leak which could cost the company billions of dollars.

A lawsuit filed by California's attorney general last week, alleging that SoCalGas violated state health and safety laws by failing to promptly contain the leak, seeks unspecified civil penalties.

It follows similar action taken in December by the Los Angeles city attorney.

Many Porter Ranch residents have also joined a class action suit against the gas company.
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's Finance Minister Bill Morneau supports the nomination of Christine Lagarde for a second term as the head of the International Monetary Fund, the finance department said on Thursday.

"I believe her proven leadership will continue to serve all IMF countries well as we all work together on pursuing policies that create inclusive growth globally," Morneau said in a statement.

The IMF said earlier on Thursday that Lagarde had been nominated for a second term as the agency's managing director.

(Reporting by Leah Schnurr; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
By Ben Gruber Cambridge, MASS (Reuters) - For diabetics, life is a constant struggle to maintain balance - keeping track of your carbohydrate intake, constantly monitoring blood-sugar levels, and injecting insulin. It's a never-ending cycle to stay healthy. But now major advances in engineering could end that cycle. Two labs are tackling diabetes very differently. At Harvard University more than two decades of research aims at automating diabetic care by developing an artificial pancreas. "You've got the sensor, the way that we measure the critical variable, in this case glucose. You have the actuator that is the agent of change, that's the thing that influences your dynamic system. In this case that is a pump delivering insulin and then you have the controller, the brains," said Frank Doyle, Dean of the Harvard School of Engineering & Applied Sciences. Insulin pumps and sensors are commonplace, but developing an algorithm to allow these two technologies to work together has proven difficult. But several trials and another one just beginning are putting the artificial pancreas within reach. "In essence, we use a patient model, a computational model, a mathematical model, to forecast into the future. So we get a sense of how past insulin affects future glucose, how the past trajectory of glucose is going to play out for the next hour or two," added Doyle, who has been working on the project for more than two decades. Within five years Doyle predicts a fully functional automated system for diabetes will exist. It wont be a single device, but a upgrades to devices biomedical companies already offer. Two miles away on the other side of Cambridge, Massachusetts, scientists at MIT are hoping to cure diabetes all together. They've already proven they can do it in mice. The pancreas is comprised of islet cells which monitor and regulate blood sugar levels by producing insulin. For type-1 diabetics - the immune system kills these cells. The engineers have figured out a way to hide them from an immune attack using a jello-like substance. "What we developed is basically a new material that acts like an invisibility cloak. It coats the cells but allows them to function and live but protects them from the immune system," said Daniel Anderson, an associate professor of chemical engineering leading the research. In recent years islets cell transplants and the ability to produce islets from stem cells has shown a lot of promise. But protecting these cells from an immune attack is still a major roadblock. "So far we have shown in diabetic mice we can take these human islets from stem cells and actually cure these diabetic mice for months. We have also shown that in primates we can put these little balls of new material in the abdominal space of primates and see that they don't form scar tissue which is an important step towards thinking of using them in people," Anderson added. Translating the successes in mice and smaller primates into human trials is still years away. The lines of research into cure and automated care will most likely compliment each other in years to come. Both camps agree that diabetics of the future will not have their lives dictated by their disease.
By Kim Palmer CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Ten hundred-year-old black walnut trees at a historical site in Barberton, Ohio, were cut down this week by would-be thieves apparently hoping to cash in on high prices for the precious lumber. The 50-foot-high (15-meter-high) trees graced the former estate of city founder, Ohio Columbus (O.C.) Barber, who made his fortune in matches and was known as America's Match King. Barberton Historical Society President Steve Kelleher said the illegal loggers, led by a man with a long white beard, cut down the trees in broad daylight on Monday. The crew left the logs and Kelleher believes they were aiming to come back for them, but a neighbor alerted the society. Barber's mansion about 38 miles (60 km) south of Cleveland was torn down in 1965 but a stone wishing well and the land with the surrounding walnut trees was purchased five years ago by the historical society for $60,000. Kelleher said the thieves cut all 10 of the property's black walnut trees into 20 separate 12-foot (3.6-meter) logs weighing about two tons each. He said the lumber is worth about $12,000 and that the historical society will sell it, albeit reluctantly. Barberton police are canvassing the area and the historical society is doing its own investigating as well. "We are pretty mad about this and we have people investigating lumber companies in the area," Kelleher said. "They really knew their trees," he said. "In the summertime you could identify black walnut by the leaves but there are no leaves now so they identified the trees by the bark." (Reporting by Fiona Ortiz; Editing by Sandra Maler)
Berlin (AFP) - George Clooney said he would meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and asylum-seekers about Europe's refugee crisis as he opened the Berlin film festival Thursday.

Clooney, an activist for many humanitarian causes whose new movie "Hail, Caesar!" by the Coen brothers is kicking off the 11-day cinema showcase, said he wanted to hear how he could use his star power to lend a hand.

"I'm having a meeting with Angela Merkel tomorrow to talk about and ask what messages and what things we can do... to help," said Clooney, who is in town with his wife Amal, a Lebanese-born human rights lawyer.

A spokeswoman for Merkel could not immediately comment on plans for a meeting.

The US actor said later that he would also meet with asylum-seekers, around 80,000 of whom arrived in the German capital in 2015 alone.

Europe is grappling its most serious refugee crisis since World War II, with Germany letting in nearly 1.1 million people fleeing war and poverty last year.

Merkel has come under fire for her welcoming stance toward the newcomers, just as European neighbours resist her calls to share out the burden.

Although the Berlin film festival is spotlighting around a dozen films focused on refugees, Clooney admitted it would take time before Hollywood would turn its attention to such stories.

"The unfortunate thing about the film community is we react to situations much more than we lead the way. News stories have to continue to happen and then scripts are written and it takes a couple years before people are actually making films about it," he told reporters.

"It's also very difficult to just make a subject film. You have to have a reason -- a character and a reason to make it."

Clooney said he had been frustrated in the past with his attempts to turn causes he cared about into movies.

"I've often struggled with the idea of trying to find ways to make a film about the Sudan and about Darfur which is something that's very close to me and I've spent a lot of time on," he said.

"But I haven't been able to find the proper venue or the proper script yet to be able to do it -- it's a tough thing to do."
By Nate Raymond

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. government owes nothing to a New York man, now in prison for aiding al Qaeda, who sought $7 million in damages for alleged medical malpractice that occurred after he was taken into custody, a federal judge ruled on Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods in Manhattan said Wesam El-Hanafi, 40, presented no evidence at his malpractice trial showing that the prison system failed to diagnose and treat a blood clot in his leg in a timely fashion.

"The plaintiff did not meet his legal burden of establishing any breach of duty of care or that such a breach was the proximate cause to his injury," Woods said in court.

El-Hanafi's lawyer did not respond to requests for comment.

El-Hanafi, a Brooklyn-born man who U.S. prosecutors say facilitated surveillance of the New York Stock Exchange, contended that his symptoms began shortly after his arrest in Dubai in 2010.

In a lawsuit filed in 2013, El-Hanafi said after his arrest, police in Abu Dhabi shackled his feet during his detention, and that on a 16-hour flight to Washington his leg use was discouraged.

His lawyer, Jake Harper, argued that after departing the airplane, El-Hanafi began experiencing pain in his right calf, initial symptoms of a blood clot condition called deep vein thrombosis.

Despite consistent complaints about feeling pain, Harper said El-Hanafi's condition went undiagnosed until being treated at a New York hospital in 2011, when ultrasounds were taken.

But lawyers under Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara argued those same ultrasounds and later ones showed the condition was in early stages at that time. They called El-Hanafi's condition hereditary and likely not preventable.

El-Hanafi, who sought $7 million in damages, pleaded guilty in 2010 to charges including that he provided material support to terrorists and was sentenced in January 2015 to 15 years in prison.

He worked as an information technology employee for Lehman Brothers at the bank's Dubai offices until his arrest.

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Prosecutors said El-Hanafi traveled to Yemen in 2008 and swore an allegiance to al Qaeda.

He then used his expertise to help advise al Qaeda contacts how to avoid detection while communicating online, and also sent money and equipment to al Qaeda contacts, prosecutors said.

At the direction of Yemen-based contacts, El-Hanafi also assigned an associate to perform surveillance of U.S. locations, including the New York Stock Exchange, as potential attack targets, prosecutors said.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by Tom Brown)
BOSTON (Reuters) - Bill Cosby's wife will have to talk to lawyers bringing a defamation lawsuit against the comedian but cannot be compelled to reveal private conversations with her husband, a federal judge in Massachusetts ruled on Thursday. Cosby's attorneys had asked that his spouse of 52 years and business manager, Camille Cosby, be allowed not to give a deposition in connection with a civil suit brought by seven women who have accused the man, once one of the United States' most beloved entertainers, of sexual assault. U.S. District Judge Mark Mastroianni ruled that Camille Cosby could be deposed but would have the right not to answer some questions. Cosby's lawyers had argued that there was a risk to her reputation if intimate details of the couple's relationship were revealed. "The right to refuse to answer certain deposition questions does not entitle a deponent to 'refuse to appear for any deposition whatsoever,'" Mastroianni wrote. "The court is not convinced that deponent should be permitted to avoid her deposition altogether or that its scope or timing should be modified." More than 50 women have publicly accused Cosby - best known for his role as the father in the 1980's television hit "The Cosby Show" - of raping them, often after plying them with alcohol or drugs in instances dating back decades. Most of the alleged assaults are too old to be criminally prosecuted, but Pennsylvania officials late last year charged the 78-year-old entertainer with sexually assaulting a women in 2005, with those charges coming just days before the statute of limitations was to expire. Cosby has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, but a Pennsylvania judge early this month rejected Cosby's request to dismiss the charges. [nL2N15I136] The Massachusetts lawsuit was filed in December 2014 by Tamara Green and later joined by six other women who contend Cosby sexually assaulted or abused and defamed them by calling them liars. Cosby's attorneys welcomed Mastroianni's order, calling it in a statement a "critically important decision by the court today ... affirming the confidential nature of and protection afforded to marital communications." Cosby's lawyers asked a judge on Tuesday to put the lawsuit on hold until the criminal charges were resolved. The court has not yet ruled on that. (Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
By Michele Kambas ATHENS (Reuters) - Peace talks in ethnically split Cyprus have shown progress on several fronts, but disagreements persist and work is still needed before a blueprint might be put to a public vote, the country's president said on Thursday. On-off peace talks between estranged Greek and Turkish Cypriots have shown promise since the election of a moderate Turkish Cypriot leader, Mustafa Akinci, in early 2015. "In spite of the remarkable progress achieved, time is needed before presenting a comprehensive solution to the people," President Nicos Anastasiades told Cyprus's parliament. Cyprus was ethnically split between its Greek and Turkish Cypriot populations in 1974, a move triggered by a brief Greek-inspired coup, but the seeds of partition were sown a decade earlier in a constitutional crisis which saw the breakdown of co-governance. Any agreement must be approved by the two communities in separate referendums. An earlier attempt failed in 2004, when Greek Cypriots rejected a plan prepared by the United Nations. The blueprint "should have no ambiguities", Anastasiades, who attends peace talks in his capacity as leader of the Greek Cypriot community, told lawmakers in a rare appearance in parliament. The Greek Cypriot south represents the whole island in the EU. The north is a breakaway state recognized only by Turkey. Specifying for the first time where progress had been made, Anastasiades said the two sides reached a "common understanding" on certain elements of power sharing, how to handle property claims from people displaced in past violence and how the legislature and judiciary of the future union would work. Territorial trade-offs have not yet been negotiated, and there were disagreements on a rotating presidency sought by the Turkish Cypriot side, he said. The earlier UN blueprint, which Anastasiades had supported as an opposition leader, had called for rotating terms in a presidential council. The Cyprus conflict reverberates beyond its small borders as a source of tension between NATO allies Greece and Turkey. It is also an obstacle to Turkey's joining the EU, since Greek Cypriots have veto rights over Ankara. In principle, the Cypriot sides agree to a loose two-state federation, but talks over the years have repeatedly foundered on the evolution of that union, ownership rights, territorial adjustments and security issues. Turkey has thousands of troops stationed in northern Cyprus, which the Greek Cypriots insist should be withdrawn. "Everyone - Greek and Turkish Cypriots - should understand that the solution sought must be the outcome of a dignified compromise ... and will not allow the imposition of the majority on the minority, or vice versa," Anastasiades said. Choosing his words carefully, Anastasiades avoided speaking of "convergences" in talks - a phrase which could be construed as the basis for an interim agreement on sectoral issues that are, however, deeply intertwined. "Nothing is agreed, until everything is agreed," he said. (Reporting By Michele Kambas, editing by Larry King)
Lima (AFP) - Keiko Fujimori, daughter of disgraced ex-president Alberto Fujimori, is leading among candidates for Peru's April 10 presidential election, a poll showed Wednesday.

The lawmaker, who is polling at 39 percent, is well ahead of her closest rival, Julio Guzman, who has 20 percent of the vote, according to the Datum poll published in the dailies Peru 21 and Gestion.

Following behind were economist Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (13 percent), billionaire Cesar Acuna (nine percent) and former president Alan Garcia (five percent), according to the survey, which was conducted February 5-8 and has a margin of error of 2.8 percent.

If no one candidate wins 50 percent plus one, a second-round vote will be held in June.

Current President Ollanta Humala cannot seek a consecutive term.

Alberto Fujimori, 77, is currently serving a 25-year prison term for corruption and human rights violations

The ex-president, who also holds Japanese citizenship, was first jailed in 2007 and convicted in 2009 for his role in killings by a death squad that targeted supposed members of the Shining Path guerrilla group in the 1990s.

He has also been convicted of embezzlement and bribery.

His children have asked Humala to grant him a reprieve on health grounds. But the president rejected the request in 2013, saying medical reports indicated Fujimori's condition was not sufficiently serious.
Santo Domingo (AFP) - An appeals court in the Dominican Republic upheld 20 year prison sentences for two French pilots who fled the country last year after being snared in a cocaine smuggling case.

Appeals court Judge Eduardo Sanchez turned down the appeal filed by lawyers for Pascal Fauret and Bruno Odos, who were sentenced in absentia last month on drug trafficking charges.

Fauret and Odos were arrested in March 2013 as they were about to depart from Punta Cana in a private jet that was found to be carrying 1,500 pounds of cocaine.

Convicted of drug trafficking in August, they were released pending appeal but barred from leaving the country.

Somehow, they managed to flee the Caribbean country and return to France, vowing to clear their names.

They were arrested in November near the French city of Lyon.
In news that should give both tomato-throwing protesters and his debate opponents pause, Donald Trump revealed to a French magazine that he always carries a gun on his person. The comment came in an interview with Valeurs Actuelles, which targets a very conservative audience in France.

His comments came in a discussion of the December terror attacks in Paris, where more than 120 people were killed and many more wounded by ISIS-inspired terrorists who targeted public spaces, including the Bataclan concert hall.

Related: Trumps Shocking Suggestion for What to Do About North Koreas Kim Jung-un

The only people who had weapons were the killers, he said, calling it an open bar for a massacre.

He added: "I always carry a weapon on me. If I'd been at the Bataclan or one of those bars, I would have opened fire. Perhaps I would have died, but at least I would have taken a shot. The worst thing is the powerlessness to respond to those who want to kill you," he said.

Trump has previously revealed that he holds a concealed-carry permit, and has said that he sometimes carries a gun. The claim that he now carries a weapon at all times seems to be new. Trump has a Secret Service detail protecting him at all times.

The magazines cover features a picture of a gesticulating Trump, possibly at a campaign rally, with the headline Trump Dit Tout  Trump Tells All. It also carries a quote from the interview, in which Trump says to the people of Europe, Youre going to be facing real revolutions.

Related: As Trump Comes Roaring Back, the GOP Reshuffles the Deck

Much of the interview focused on the question of immigration, which is roiling Europe as refugees from the carnage in Syria and other trouble spots in North Africa and the Middle East flood into the continent. France, in particular, has struggled with a large population of African immigrants, many of them Muslim, who have been both victims and perpetrators of violence and hate crimes.

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Trump also pointed to Germany, where Chancellor Angela Merkels open-door policy to Syrian refugees has led to both a deluge of asylum-seekers and massive public pushback.

My German friends no longer know where they are. They can't believe their eyes about what is happeningthey're desperate, Trump said.

What's happening in Europe can lead to its collapse. It's dramatic what she has allowed to happen, this flood, he said, and predicted that if the problem is not addressed immediately, then yes, it's the end of Europe.

Related: Did He Really Say That? Trump Hits a New Low in New Hampshire

The man who constantly promises that as president he would Make America great again, also seem to think that France needs the same treatment.

Unfortunately, he said, France isn't what it was, nor Paris.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
Monterrey (Mexico) (AFP) - At least 30 people died in a pre-dawn prison riot in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey on Thursday, as smoke billowed from the building, local media reported.

Riot police and ambulances were deployed at the Topo Chico prison while angry families of inmates seeking to enter the facility threw rocks over a gate.

The Televisa channel reported that 30 died while Milenio television spoke of 50 victims, with inmates and prison guards among them.

Milenio TV and Reforma newspaper reported that the riot broke out in an apparent escape attempt.

Authorities have yet to make any official statements about casualties.

Nuevo Leon state public security spokesman Antonio Arguello said the riot erupted at around midnight.

"The authorities formed a security cordon and nobody escaped. Everything was under control at 1:30 am," Arguello told AFP.

"We can't say how many people died until forensic services give us a report and the authorities finish counting inmates," he added.

Some relatives of prisoners formed a line to block a boulevard.

"We will stay here blocking this avenue until they give us an answer. We want to know how our relatives are doing because they are telling us that there are more than 50 dead and no authority is giving us answers," Ernestina Grimaldo, whose son is a prisoner, told AFP.

The incident erupted on the eve of Pope Francis' trip to Mexico, during which he is due to visit another notorious prison, in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez.
By Letitia Stein

(Reuters) - A corruption probe into Georgia state prisons led to the arrests on Thursday of 46 current and former officers who were indicted by a federal grand jury on drug and bribery charges, federal and state authorities said.

The arrests are the latest in a two-year investigation that has seen more than 130 current and former officers, inmates and civilians charged, U.S. Attorney John Horn for the Northern District of Georgia told reporters. The probe began examining problems with contraband and cell phones in one facility and uncovered issues in 11 of the state's 35 prisons.

"Given this magnitude of criminal activity in Georgia's prison facilities, our work is nowhere near done," Horn said at a news conference.

The Georgia Department of Corrections assisted federal agents in the undercover effort, which found prison officers offering protection for methamphetamine and cocaine trafficking in exchange for bribes, the agency said in a news release.

"Ridding our prisons of corrupt staff is one of our top priorities, said commissioner Homer Bryson in a statement.

The Georgia prison system oversees nearly 52,000 prisoners and about 10,500 employees, the news release said.

(Reporting by Letitia Stein; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Kinshasa (AFP) - Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) said Thursday they had made three arrests as Kinshasa seeks to dismantle a major ivory trafficking syndicate.

"We have netted three big fish... organisers," Cosma Wilungula, director of the Congolese Conservation and Nature Institute (ICCN) told AFP.

With the backing of conservation group WWF, Kinshasa has been cracking down on wildlife crime in the knowledge that thousands of elephants are poached annually.

The WWF estimates as many as 30,000 are killed for ivory every year.

The ICCN manages protected zones of the DR Congo and has policing powers to deal with poachers and illicit trade in fauna and flora.

Wilungula said the ICCN team had made the arrests on February 4 and seized some 30 kilos (65 pounds) of ivory tusks and ornaments.

Heralding a "significant blow to the illegal ivory trade" in the DRC the WWF said in a statement on its website that the crackdown represented a major step towards stopping wildlife crime.

"WWF congratulates the DRC government for successfully breaking up this ivory trafficking network," said Bruno Perodeau, WWF-DRC conservation director.

"This crackdown shows that ivory traffickers can no longer count on impunity for their crimes in this country, and demonstrates that with determination, we can be successful in the fight against wildlife crime, even in DRC."

Wilungula nevertheless expressed frustration that the fight to end trafficking was complicated by an "absence of cooperation between state services," charging that services including the police and the army "do not realise the importance of this fight."

Traffickers kill elephants to feed demand for ivory primarily from China and southeast Asia.

The WWF has repeatedly warned that the trade could see the species disappear, noting that the DRC is home to two-thirds of the Congo rainforest, home to the African forest elephant.

The organisation warned Thursday that if poaching continued "the species could all but disappear from the DRC in the near future, following in the footsteps of several other species, such as the Northern White rhino.
Jerusalem (AFP) - It took a century, but the theory from Albert Einstein handwritten neatly on paper that is now yellowing has finally been vindicated.

Israeli officials on Thursday offered a rare look at the documents where Einstein presented his ideas on gravitational waves, a display that coincided with the historic announcement that scientists had glimpsed the first direct evidence of his theory.

"Einstein devised this with pen and paper, but it took humanity 100 years to develop the tools to catch a glimpse of it," said Roni Grosz, curator of the Albert Einstein Archives at Jerusalem's Hebrew University, pointing to two pages.

One was the first document in which Einstein fully presented his theory of gravitational waves, while the other was a page from his 46-page theory of relativity, written in 1916 and 1915 respectively.

They were written neatly in German, with corrections made within the text.

The theory of gravitational waves was developed by the German physicist 100 years ago.

In a landmark discovery for physics and astronomy, international scientists announced in Washington on Thursday that they had glimpsed the first direct evidence of gravitational waves, or ripples in space-time.

Einstein's theory states that mass warps space and time, much like placing a bowling ball on a trampoline.

Other objects on the surface will "fall" towards the centre -- a metaphor for gravity in which the trampoline is space-time.

Gravitational waves do not interact with matter and travel through the universe completely unimpeded.

It was a central pillar of Einstein's theory of gravity, but had never been proven.

"(The discovery) is a very moving moment," Grosz said, wearing a tie with a picture of Einstein and his familiar bushy hair. "A smile from heaven after exactly 100 years."

- 'A new window' -

Einstein himself doubted gravitational waves would ever be detected given how tiny they are.

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Barak Kol, head of physics at the Hebrew University, explained the size of their impact can be as small as "one thousandths of the nucleus of an atom".

Kol, who had worked on trying to prove the theory, said the discovery was a historic day for scientists and those concerned with Einstein's legacy.

"It is the end of a part of the journey that took 100 years since it started with the idea of one person," he said.

"(But) it will open a new window to the universe. It will enable us to see processes in the universe."

He added that, as with other major scientific discoveries, it was likely to lead to many developments that "we cannot predict."

Einstein visited Jerusalem in 1923 to launch the university 25 years before the state of Israel was formed.

A German Jew, he was concerned by the restrictions on education for Jewish people in Europe, Grosz said.

"Einstein was very interested in the creation of what he called then a Jewish university in Jerusalem."

In 1952, then-prime minister David Ben-Gurion offered him the presidency of Israel but he rejected it.

"All my life I have dealt with objective matters, hence I lack both the natural aptitude and the experience to deal properly with people," he said in a letter.

When he died in 1955, Einstein left all of his works to the university -- making it the world's most extensive collection of his documents.
By Will Dunham and Scott Malone WASHINGTON/CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Reuters) - Scientists for the first time have detected gravitational waves, ripples in space and time hypothesized by Albert Einstein a century ago, in a landmark discovery announced on Thursday that opens a new window for studying the cosmos. The researchers said they identified gravitational waves coming from two distant black holes - extraordinarily dense objects whose existence also was foreseen by Einstein - that orbited one another, spiraled inward and smashed together at high speed to form a single, larger black hole. The waves were unleashed by the collision of the black holes, one of them 29 times the mass of the sun and the other 36 times the solar mass, located 1.3 billion light years from Earth, the researchers said. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have detected gravitational waves. We did it," said California Institute of Technology physicist David Reitze, triggering applause at a packed news conference in Washington. "It's been a very long road, but this is just the beginning," Louisiana State University physicist Gabriela Gonzalez told the news conference, hailing the discovery as opening a new era in astronomy. The scientific milestone was achieved using a pair of giant laser detectors in the United States, located in Louisiana and Washington state, capping a decades-long quest to find these waves. "The colliding black holes that produced these gravitational waves created a violent storm in the fabric of space and time, a storm in which time speeded up, and slowed down, and speeded up again, a storm in which the shape of space was bent in this way and that way," Caltech physicist Kip Thorne said. The scientists first detected the waves last Sept. 14. The two instruments, working in unison, are called the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). They detected remarkably small vibrations from the gravitational waves as they passed through the Earth. The scientists converted the wave signal into audio waves and listened to the sounds of the black holes merging. At the news conference, they played an audio recording of this: a low rumbling pierced by chirps. "We're actually hearing them go thump in the night," Massachusetts Institute of Technology physicist Matthew Evans said. "There's a very visceral connection to this observation." 'A NEW SENSE' "We are really witnessing the opening of a new tool for doing astronomy," MIT astrophysicist Nergis Mavalvala said in an interview. "We have turned on a new sense. We have been able to see and now we will be able to hear as well." While opening a door to new ways to observe the universe, scientists said gravitational waves should help them gain knowledge about enigmatic objects like black holes and neutron stars. The waves also may provide insight into the mysterious nature of the very early universe. The scientists said that because gravitational waves are so radically different from electromagnetic waves they expect them to reveal big surprises about the universe. Everything we knew until now about the cosmos stemmed from electromagnetic waves such as radio waves, visible light, infrared light, X-rays and gamma rays. Because such waves encounter interference as they travel across the universe, they can tell only part of the story. Gravitational waves experience no such barriers, meaning they offer a wealth of additional information. Black holes, for example, do not emit light, radio waves and the like, but can be studied via gravitational waves. Einstein in 1916 proposed the existence of gravitational waves as an outgrowth of his ground-breaking general theory of relativity, which depicted gravity as a distortion of space and time triggered by the presence of matter. Until now scientists had found only indirect evidence of their existence, beginning in the 1970s. Scientists sounded positively giddy over the discovery. "This is the holy grail of science," said Rochester Institute of Technology astrophysicist Carlos Lousto. "The last time anything like this happened was in 1888 when Heinrich Hertz detected the radio waves that had been predicted by James Clerk Maxwells field-equations of electromagnetism in 1865," added Durham University physicist Tom McLeish. Abhay Ashtekar, director of Penn State University's Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos, said heavy celestial objects bend space and time but because of the relative weakness of the gravitational force the effect is miniscule except from massive and dense bodies like black holes and neutron stars. A black hole is a region of space so packed with matter that not even photons of light can escape the force of gravity. Neutron stars are small, about the size of a city, but are extremely heavy, the compact remains of a larger star that died in a supernova explosion. The National Science Foundation, an independent agency of the U.S. government, provided about $1.1 billion in funding for the research over 40 years. (Reporting by Will Dunham in Washington, Irene Klotz in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Scott Malone in Cambridge, Mass.; Editing by Tom Brown)
Ankara (AFP) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to send the millions of refugees in Turkey to EU member states, as NATO pledged to deploy ships to the Aegean Sea to ease the migrant crisis.

Erdogan stepped up his denunciations of Western policy on migrants in a speech in Ankara, confirming he had threatened EU leaders at a summit meeting in November that Turkey could say "goodbye" to the refugees.

Alarm is growing in EU capitals that thousands of migrants are still crossing the Aegean daily from Turkey after over a million made the perilous journey last year.

NATO has agreed to send a naval group to the Aegean to crack down on people-smugglers feeding the influx of migrants, while Greece is considering sending anyone picked up in the waters back to Turkey.

Turkey, already home to some three million refugees, is also under EU and UN pressure to take in tens of thousands of Syrian refugees fleeing regime advances in the Aleppo region.

Erdogan said Turkey had every right to turf the refugees out of the country if it so wished.

"We do not have the word 'idiot' written on our foreheads. We will be patient but we will do what we have to. Don't think that the planes and the buses are there for nothing," Erdogan said.

- 'Defended Turkey's rights' -

Greek website euro2day.gr had reported that Erdogan made the threat to EU Commission president Jean Claude Juncker in November, quoting him as saying: "We can open the doors to Greece and Bulgaria anytime and put the refugees on buses."

"I am proud of what I said. We have defended the rights of Turkey and the refugees. And we told them (the Europeans): 'Sorry, we will open the doors and say 'goodbye' to the migrants'," Erdogan said in his speech Thursday.

Turkey is already hosting 2.5 million refugees from Syria's civil war and hundreds of thousands from Iraq and is increasingly bitter it has been left to shoulder the burden.

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The EU has agreed to give Ankara three billion euros ($3.3 billion) in financial aid for the refugees, but the funds have yet to be handed over two-and-a-half months after they were agreed.

Erdogan said Turkey had already spent some $9 billion on hosting refugees and lashed out at the UN for pressing it to let in tens of thousands of Syrians fleeing fighting in Aleppo massed on its border.

The NATO deployment follows a request this week by alliance members Germany, Greece and Turkey for assistance in tackling Europe's biggest migrant crisis since World War II.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), by February 7, 70,365 migrants arrived by sea in Greece from Turkey, an average of 2,000 a day. It said 319 perished on the way.

- Send them back -

Among them was an eight-year-old girl, whose body was found by Turkish security forces Thursday washed up on the shore close to Didim in the Aydin region.

She had been dead for some 15 days, had no clothes and her body was starting to rot, the Radikal online daily said.

Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO is "now directing the standing maritime group to move into the Aegean without delay and start maritime surveillance activities".

"This is not about stopping and pushing back (refugee boats)... but about critical surveillance to help counter human trafficking and criminal networks."

The group comprises three ships that are currently under German command.

German Defence Minister Ursula Von der Leyen said "there is a clear accord with Turkey that any refugees picked up will be sent back to Turkey".

Greece, meanwhile, is also considering sending back migrants picked up in the Aegean Sea to Turkey.

A government source told AFP Athens is mulling whether to declare Turkey a "safe third country" which would allow it to return any asylum seekers picked up in the waters.

"No decision has yet been taken", but "it is being looked at", the source said, adding that while Greece might make the decision unilaterally, Turkey would have to agree to it to be put into practice.
By Jan Strupczewski, Alastair Macdonald and Gabriela Baczynska BRUSSELS (Reuters) - British and EU negotiators agreed much of a reform package on Thursday to help keep Britain in the European Union, leaving Prime Minister David Cameron to settle tricky final issues, notably on migration, at a summit next week, diplomats said. After talks in Brussels among officials from all 28 member states to review mostly minor amendments to proposals made by European Council President Donald Tusk last week, an EU source reported "good progress" in clarifying technical, legal issues. "But main political issues are still outstanding and they will have to be dealt with by leaders next week," the source added, referring to a summit on Feb. 18-19 where Cameron hopes to clinch a final deal with his European peers on which he can campaign at home to keep Britain in the bloc at a referendum. Diplomats said the main outstanding issues were over how long Britain would be able to stretch EU rules by denying equal social benefits to workers from other EU states - an "emergency brake" intended to help Cameron cut immigration - and the wording of pledges to enshrine reforms on euro zone rules and national sovereignty in future treaty amendments. A British spokeswoman said "we are in a good place" with an amended draft, seen by Reuters. It made concessions to French concerns about British banks gaining advantage in the euro zone and to broader grumbles that doing favours for London will water down other nations' commitments to deeper European integration. East Europeans felt less satisfied after the talks, saying their demands for tighter limits on plans to curb benefits paid to their citizens working on low wages in Britain were not met, lining up a showdown with Cameron next week on EU migration. However, there was a consensus among diplomats and officials who spoke to Reuters that, while there was much detailed wrangling still to come, no one seemed willing to derail a deal to help keep the EU's second biggest economy from quitting - or to drag out negotiations to delay the referendum. Many believe Cameron wants the vote in June, requiring a deal by early March. One diplomat said east European states were pressing their demands on benefits hard: "But we are not ready to die for it." EASTERN CONCERNS Cameron, who faces tight opinion polls and a deep split in his own party, made securing reforms a condition for campaigning to keep Britain in the EU. Eurosceptics mock the changes as trivial - a view shared privately by many EU diplomats who are however anxious to help the prime minister win his case at home for fear Britain's departure could start unravelling the bloc. The most contentious element gives Britain the "emergency brake" to protect its welfare system from a threat by denying non-British workers equal benefits for up to four years after they arrive from other parts of Europe to take up jobs. Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, known as the Visegrad Group, have pushed to limit the total duration of that emergency period to four years. The current EU text leaves the limit blank for the leaders to determine at their summit. British officials suggest the brake should be able to be applied for at least seven years. Britain allowed Poles and others to come to work in Britain as soon as their ex-communist countries joined the EU in 2004 - unlike most other states which used an EU rule to bar them from jobs for seven years. Tusk, who on Wednesday warned that the negotiating process was "very fragile", travels to Prague and Bucharest on Monday and Tuesday to try and shore up political support for the deal ahead of the summit. He will also be in Paris and Berlin. The revised text incorporates language on Britain's rights in respect of the euro zone and euro zone banking rules to assuage French concerns that the original proposal might give a competitive advantage to London's financial institutions. Also amended was language to appeal to European federalists, underlining that many Europeans support further political integration despite British concerns to shield themselves from that. It highlighted, too, that unlike Britain most non-euro states are obliged at some point to adopt the currency. (Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
By Jan Strupczewski, Alastair Macdonald and Gabriela Baczynska BRUSSELS (Reuters) - British and EU negotiators agreed much of a reform package on Thursday to help keep Britain in the European Union, leaving Prime Minister David Cameron to settle tricky final issues, notably on migration, at a summit next week, diplomats said. After talks in Brussels among officials from all 28 member states to review mostly minor amendments to proposals made by European Council President Donald Tusk last week, an EU source reported "good progress" in clarifying technical, legal issues. "But main political issues are still outstanding and they will have to be dealt with by leaders next week," the source added, referring to a summit on Feb. 18-19 where Cameron hopes to clinch a final deal with his European peers on which he can campaign at home to keep Britain in the bloc at a referendum. Diplomats said the main outstanding issues were over how long Britain would be able to stretch EU rules by denying equal social benefits to workers from other EU states - an "emergency brake" intended to help Cameron cut immigration - and the wording of pledges to enshrine reforms on euro zone rules and national sovereignty in future treaty amendments. A British spokeswoman said "we are in a good place" with an amended draft, seen by Reuters. It made concessions to French concerns about British banks gaining advantage in the euro zone and to broader grumbles that doing favors for London will water down other nations' commitments to deeper European integration. East Europeans felt less satisfied after the talks, saying their demands for tighter limits on plans to curb benefits paid to their citizens working on low wages in Britain were not met, lining up a showdown with Cameron next week on EU migration. However, there was a consensus among diplomats and officials who spoke to Reuters that, while there was much detailed wrangling still to come, no one seemed willing to derail a deal to help keep the EU's second biggest economy from quitting - or to drag out negotiations to delay the referendum. Many believe Cameron wants the vote in June, requiring a deal by early March. One diplomat said east European states were pressing their demands on benefits hard: "But we are not ready to die for it." EASTERN CONCERNS Cameron, who faces tight opinion polls and a deep split in his own party, made securing reforms a condition for campaigning to keep Britain in the EU. Euroskeptics mock the changes as trivial - a view shared privately by many EU diplomats who are however anxious to help the prime minister win his case at home for fear Britain's departure could start unraveling the bloc. The most contentious element gives Britain the "emergency brake" to protect its welfare system from a threat by denying non-British workers equal benefits for up to four years after they arrive from other parts of Europe to take up jobs. Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, known as the Visegrad Group, have pushed to limit the total duration of that emergency period to four years. The current EU text leaves the limit blank for the leaders to determine at their summit. British officials suggest the brake should be able to be applied for at least seven years. Britain allowed Poles and others to come to work in Britain as soon as their ex-communist countries joined the EU in 2004 - unlike most other states which used an EU rule to bar them from jobs for seven years. Tusk, who on Wednesday warned that the negotiating process was "very fragile", travels to Prague and Bucharest on Monday and Tuesday to try and shore up political support for the deal ahead of the summit. He will also be in Paris and Berlin. The revised text incorporates language on Britain's rights in respect of the euro zone and euro zone banking rules to assuage French concerns that the original proposal might give a competitive advantage to London's financial institutions. Also amended was language to appeal to European federalists, underlining that many Europeans support further political integration despite British concerns to shield themselves from that. It highlighted, too, that unlike Britain most non-euro states are obliged at some point to adopt the currency. (Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - Former El Salvador President Mauricio Funes will face a civil trial after he was not able to verify the source of more than $700,000 found in his personal bank accounts, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday. The court ordered a freeze on four of Funes' accounts, a stop to any transfers to third parties, and an investigation into his assets. A former TV journalist who ruled El Salvador from 2009 to 2014, Funes denied the accusations. In his Twitter account, he said just days ago his lawyer had sent the court proof that the money came from a legal source. The former president does not face prison and would have to pay a fee or return any unverified funds if he is found guilty. Funes himself had accused another former president, Francisco Flores, of embezzlement. Flores was awaiting his trial under house arrest when he died from a stroke last month. (Reporting by Nelson Renteria, writing by Anna Yukhananov; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
By Matt Siegel SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's government has directed senior officials on how to respond to questions about political turmoil and alleged corruption in Nauru, where it has an asylum seeker detention center, documents obtained by Reuters under a Freedom of Information (FOI) request show. The diplomatic cables, ministerial talking points and classified emails between Australian officials cover a tumultuous period that began with the 2014 sacking of Nauru's independent judiciary by President Baron Waqa and end in October 2015 with an Australian Senate hearing on the arrests of opposition Nauru lawmakers. In recent months, some critics have said Australia was downplaying concerns about human rights and the erosion of law in its smaller Pacific neighbor, where more than 500 men, women and children who had sought asylum in Australia are held. In emailed comments to Reuters, a spokeswoman for Foreign Minister Julie Bishop rejected the view that a desire to maintain the detention center outweighed human rights concerns, and stressed that Bishop raised such matters directly with President Waqa "on several occasions last year." "The Australian government's position in relation to the Regional Processing Centre on Nauru has no bearing on the stance we take on domestic human rights issues in Nauru," the spokeswoman said. Several documents among the 115 pages released to Reuters on Wednesday show Department of Foreign Affairs officials advising staff and ministers to deliver a muted response to events in Nauru. For instance, weeks after Nauru ordered its sole Internet provider to block access to Facebook in April 2015, which critics including former Nauru Chief Justice Geoffrey Eames said was an attempt to stifle dissent, Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs advised officials to call political debate there "robust", a May 14 document showed. In talking points prepared by the department for staff including Bishop, officials are directed to defend Nauru's rights to make new laws if asked about the ban by journalists. "Nauru is a sovereign nation able to establish its own legalframework," the document says. Weeks earlier, Nauru Justice Minister David Adeang initially explained the Facebook block on the grounds of limiting access to child pornography. In May, Nauru made it illegal to make a statement "likely to threaten national defense, public safety, public order, public morality or public health", punishable by up to seven years in prison. The Nauru government declined to comment on what it called "internal matters of the Australian government," spokeswoman Joanna Olsson said in response to Reuters queries, adding "any suggestion that the rule of law is not respected in Nauru is false." POLITICAL TURMOIL In 2010, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) began investigating an Australian company, Getax, over allegations it paid bribes to Nauruan officials to secure more favorable rates for Nauruan phosphate. In June 2015, the Australian Broadcasting Corp, citing leaked emails, reported that the investigation involved a former Getax official paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to Waqa and Adeang. In talking points about both allegations of human rights abuses and corruption at Getax, Bishop, the prime minister's office and other Australian senior ministers are instructed by the Department of Foreign Affair's Pacific Affairs Division to respond to the question of what the allegations mean for the bilateral relationship. "I expect Australia's good relations with Nauru to continue," say the talking points in a June 10 document. "Our longstanding bilateral relationship covers trade, people to people links and cooperation on regional and international challenges, including people smuggling." Olsson, the Nauru government spokeswoman, said the government was not aware of any AFP investigation. She added the corruption claims had been "dealt with and found baseless". An AFP spokesman said the Getax investigation is ongoing. A spokeswoman for Getax declined to comment. Reuters was unable to reach Waqa, Adeang or the Getax official, or to independently confirm the accusations. A Nauru government spokesman previously said the accusations were "a slur on the character of our president and offensive to our nation." PROTESTS, ARRESTS Another FOI document dated June 24 advised senior officials how to respond after protests related to the suspension of three opposition lawmakers outside Nauru's parliament last June resulted in the arrest of the lawmakers. If asked: "Is the Australian government ignoring the erosion of law in Nauru?", acceptable answers included: "It is understandable that the protests ... are attracting some attention" and "We recognize and respect that these are domestic issues for Nauru." Jenny Hayward-Jones, a regional expert at Sydney think-tank the Lowy Institute, said it was in Australia's interest to maintain the asylum seeker center on Nauru and keep the government there operating as effectively as possible. "To do that, I think the Australian government assesses that it's better not to criticize the Nauru government," she said. The FOI documents were heavily redacted, in many cases citing an exemption where disclosure could damage Australia's international relations. In redacted notes regarding a call from Bishop to Waqa dated Sept. 3, Bishop notes "continuing strong interest" in the arrest of the opposition lawmakers, and adds she is "encouraged to hear that legal hearings are progressing." On the same day, New Zealand suspended NZ$1.2 million ($801,600) in annual aid for Nauru's law and justice sector citing concerns about "civil rights abuses." (Reporting by Matt Siegel; Editing by Ian Geoghegan and Lincoln Feast)
By Sanjeev Miglani NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The United States and India have held talks about conducting joint naval patrols that a U.S. defence official said could include the disputed South China Sea, a move that would likely anger Beijing, which claims most of the waterway. Washington wants its regional allies and other Asian nations to take a more united stance against China over the South China Sea, where tensions have spiked in the wake of Beijing's construction of seven man-made islands in the Spratly archipelago. India and the United States have ramped up military ties in recent years, holding naval exercises in the Indian Ocean that last year involved the Japanese navy. But the Indian navy has never carried out joint patrols with another country and a naval spokesman told Reuters there was no change in the government's policy of only joining an international military effort under the United Nations flag. He pointed to India's refusal to be part of anti-piracy missions involving dozens of countries in the Gulf of Aden and instead carrying out its own operations there since 2008. The U.S. defence official said the two sides had discussed joint patrols, adding that both were hopeful of launching them within the year. The patrols would likely be in the Indian Ocean where the Indian navy is a major player as well as the South China Sea, the official told Reuters in New Delhi on condition of anonymity. The official gave no details on the scale of the proposed patrols. A Pentagon spokesman, Commander Bill Urban, said the United States and India "continue to explore ways to deepen defence cooperation, including in the area of maritime security", but no decisions had been made on joint patrols. There was no immediate comment from China, which is on a week-long holiday for Chinese New Year. China accused Washington this month of seeking maritime hegemony in the name of freedom of navigation after a U.S. Navy destroyer sailed within 12 nautical miles of a disputed island in the Paracel chain of the South China Sea in late January. The U.S. Navy conducted a similar exercise in October near one of China's artificial islands in the Spratlys. MARITIME COOPERATION Neither India nor the United States has claims to the South China Sea, but both said they backed freedom of navigation and overflight in the waterway when U.S. President Barack Obama visited New Delhi in January 2015. Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also agreed at the time to "identify specific areas for expanding maritime cooperation". More than $5 trillion in world trade moves through the South China Sea each year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan also claim parts of the waterway. In December, the issue of joint patrols came up when Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar visited the U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii, an Indian government source said. "It was a broad discussion, it was about the potential for joint patrols," said the source, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. India has a long-running land border dispute with China and has been careful not to antagonise its more powerful neighbour, instead focusing on building economic ties. But it has stepped up its naval presence far beyond the Indian Ocean, deploying a ship to the South China Sea almost constantly, an Indian navy commander said, noting this was not the practice a few years ago. The commander added that the largest number of Indian naval ship visits in the South China Sea region was to Vietnam, a country rapidly building military muscle for potential conflict with China over the waterway. India has extended a $100 million credit line for Hanoi to buy patrol boats and is training Vietnamese submariners in India, while Hanoi has granted oil exploration blocks to India in waters off Vietnam that are disputed with China. Still, the idea of joining the United States in patrols in the region was a long shot, the Indian officer said. The Philippines has asked the United States to do joint naval patrols in the South China Sea, something a U.S. diplomat said this month was a possibility. (Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick and David Brunnstrom in Washington and Megha Rajagopalan in Beijing; Editing by Dean Yates)
On Wednesday night, the FBI moved one step closer to bringing down the hammer on the last remnants of the Oregon occupation, surrounding the encampment and pushing toward a final resolution. The ragtag band of domestic militia have occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Burns, Oregon, for 40 days.

To that end, the FBI also arrested Cliven Bundy, the father of protest leaders Ryan and Ammon Bundy. The elder Bundy had himself been involved in a long standoff against the U.S. government over land grazing and achieved near-legendary status among anti-government groups for successfully rebuffing a previous effort by the bureau of land management to arrest him in 2014. Bundy was taken into custody by the FBI shortly after landing in Portland, reportedly on his way to Burns. Jail records indicate he was booked just before 11 p.m. Pacific on Wednesday night.

It was that night that authorities surrounded the refuge, and prepared what first seemed to be the final assault on the compound. The occupiers were first made aware of the FBI's movements when one occupier left the barricade and spotted agents cordoning off the area.

What ultimately unfolded was a frantic four-hour phone call between a number of occupiers and Nevada Assemblywoman Michele Fiore who was en route to Burns alongside Ammon Bundy's lawyer. Over the course of the conversation, Fiore and the oc

BREAKING @VoteFiore, w/occupiers on phone, leaves PDX w/Ammon Bundy's attorney. Not sure where to. #OregonStandoff pic.twitter.com/zF8naWIN8X

The entire call was livestreamed over YouTube, at one point to over 60,000 listeners.

A number of occupiers said that should the FBI storm the compound that evening, they would fight to the death; but otherwise they would . Highlights from the call were captured in real time on Twitter.

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"We are not surrendering, we're turning ourselves in," a militiaman identified by the Guardian as Sean Anderson said on the call. "It goes against everything we believe in, but we're going to do it."

"I need you alive, OK?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOlrSain0lk ... #Oregonstandoff

Occupier: "God has taken us on this path..." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOlrSain0lk ... #Oregonstandoff

"Kill us and get it over with" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOlrSain0lk ... #Oregonstandoff

"Let's pray again, OK?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOlrSain0lk ... #Oregonstandoff

"If we're dead, the American people are going to be mad as hell" "You're not going to die. I'm not going to let you die" #Oregonstandoff

"In order to stay alive, I have to submit and be a slave. Remember Braveheart?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOlrSain0lk ... #Oregonstandoff

In the end, the FBI does not appear to have made any decisive movement on Wednesday and thus far, no shots have been fired. "The FBI has negotiated with patience and restraint in an effort to resolve the situation peacefully," Greg Bretzing, the FBI's Oregon chief told CNN, explaining the agency's decision to surrounding the encampment.

"We reached a point where it became necessary to take action in a way that best ensured the safety of those on the refuge, the law enforcement officers who are on scene and the people of Harney County who live and work in this area," he said.

Most of the Oregon occupation leaders, including Ryan and Ammon, were apprehended by authorities in January during a highway traffic stop, which also led to the death of the group's unofficial spokesman LaVoy Finicum. Since being taken into custody Ammon Bundy has called on the remaining holdouts at the refugee to surrender.

The ranch was first occupied to protest the Dwight Hammond and his son Steven. The men both served time for arson, but were later ordered back to jail by a judge who said their sentences had not been long enough under federal law. More broadly, the occupation took issue with the extensive land holdings of the U.S government in Oregon. More than half the land in the state of Oregon is owned by the federal government, and activists have long wanted that ownership devolved to the local level.

With the sun now rising over the Beaver State  the final conclusion of the Oregon occupation may be at hand.
On Thanksgiving Day 2015, an Amman-based representative of Chemonics International Inc., a U.S.-based private government contractor that works in developing countries across the world, was awoken by a call from a Jordanian government official. Bread prices in Daraa, the southern Syrian province that shares a border with Jordan, had doubled in a matter of days. The Jordanian government called to urge Chemonics to make an emergency delivery of flour.

The panicked appeal represented an abrupt about-face. One week earlier, the Jordanian government, which keeps tight control of its border with Syria, had not allowed Chemonics to deliver its usual shipment of flour to rebel-controlled areas. It cited security concerns, according to a Chemonics employee. Now, it feared that unrest near the border fostered by increased bread prices could threaten Jordans stability.

This story that neatly illustrates the odd alliances, warped supply chains, and cross-border dealings that many Syrians now depend on for survival. Such endeavors help prevent a humanitarian crisis, stem the flow of hungry refugees, and foster a modicum of social stability in a war-torn country. But theres a good chance these short-term successes will come at the expense of long-term political stability for Syrians.

Most recently, international attention has been fixed on the starving residents of the besieged town of Madaya. But millions of Syrians outside blockaded areas continue to rely on international assistance for basic sustenance. In 2015 alone, humanitarian organizations helped feed nearly 7 million of an estimated 16.6 million Syrians inside the country.

Most emergency food aid remains under the remit of the U.N. World Food Program (WFP), whose problems distributing assistance in Syria have been well chronicled. But a significant portion of assistance is now being channeled through government contractors like Chemonics. A self-described international development company more accustomed to teaching irrigation techniques or promoting microfinance than running humanitarian operations in a war zone, Chemonics is now at the forefront of efforts, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, to feed Syrians in opposition-controlled areas of the southern Syrian region of Daraa. That means it also sits on the front lines of the military battle for the loyalties of food-insecure Syrians.

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The provision of food, and especially bread, has been a source of fierce contention throughout Syrias civil war. Both the opposition and the Assad regime have tried to engender support for themselves  and deprive it from their enemies  by regulating civilian access to subsistence goods. Bread is an essential for life, explained an activist in Daraa, and the price of bread  heavily depends on the delivery of flour from Jordan.

Since 2011, the Assad regime has made concerted efforts to maintain its provision of subsidized bread, a key holdover from the countrys prewar welfare system. Even now, as the value of Syrias currency continues to plummet and foreign reserves collapse, subsidized bread remains widely available in large swaths of territory under regime control. This is hardly happenstance. Assads wartime government has steadily imported large quantities of wheat from Ukraine and Russia. It has also paid local farmers, even in areas beyond its control, above-market prices for their harvest to deprive the rebels of supply and shore up its own stores.

Various opposition groups have attempted to mimic the governments provision of public services as a way of demonstrating their desire and capacity to replace the Assad regime. Although rarely discussed in Western media, providing bread helped the Islamic State gain a foothold in towns and villages previously held by other rebel groups during its initial emergence in late 2013. The Free Syrian Army, by contrast, neglected these duties and found itself vulnerable to the Islamist groups that made a concerted effort to supply bread. The al Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front, for instance, won wide support in Aleppo by organizing bread delivery routes that successfully avoided regime airstrikes. Qatar and Saudi Arabia are also well aware that bread is central both to the lives of civilians and the success of rebel groups. They have coordinated efforts to provide flour to opposition-controlled territory.

During the first years of the conflict, U.N. agencies were frustrated by the Syrian governments unwillingness to grant them access to rebel-held areas. Eventually, the international community decided to simply bypass the Syrian government. In 2014, the U.N. Security Council passed Resolution 2165, which allowed cross-border humanitarian aid from Jordan, Turkey, and Iraq to reach Syria without Assads consent. Although frequently thwarted, these cross-border deliveries  the majority targeting opposition-controlled territory  have helped civilians temporarily secure their survival, albeit for only as long as the supplies last.

The United States has been the largest food donor in the Syrian conflict, working closely with the WFP to provide more than $1.4 billion in food assistance since the outbreak of the crisis. Such donations have contributed to food voucher cards for Syrian refugees in neighboring countries like Turkey and Jordan, and supplementary nutritional food for children inside Syria. But Washingtons most innovative contribution might be USAIDs flour-to-bakeries program. Since 2013, USAID has been working with local groups to provide flour to 230 bakeries across six rebel-controlled provinces, with flour sent from Turkey and Jordan.

Such well-intentioned efforts, however, have not been immune to the complications of war. In the projects pilot program in Aleppo, USAID partnered with the Assistance Coordination Unit (ACU), a group affiliated with the Syrian National Coalition (the collection of opposition groups recognized by many countries as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people since 2012). The ACU, however, quickly developed a reputation for nepotism and corruption. Activists and local communities accused the organization of pocketing money meant to support subsidized bread and the delivery of emergency food. Since those allegations arose, USAID and government contractors running the program have tried to distance themselves from the ACU. (Although ACU, for its part, has recently made efforts to refurbish its reputation.)

But it is important to recognize that Washingtons reliance on local organizations to complete the delivery of assistance will never be bereft of problems. Those who partner with the United States to transport flour into Syria are inevitably part of a complex web of competing political, military, religious, and personal agendas that is, at best, only minimally regulated by the programs administrators.

In addition to complications inside Syria, flour deliveries are also subject to thorny political dynamics in the countries from which this aid is dispatched. Turkeys government has maintained a porous border with Syria, allowing supplies  from arms to oil to flour  to enter and exit, until it suffered a recent spate of jihadi attacks. In Jordan, however, the government has kept an iron-clad grip over its northern border since the beginning of the Syrian conflict. The Hashemite Kingdom fears both further influxes of refugees as well as the prospect of Jordanian citizens crossing the border to fight alongside the unsavory Islamist forces who have called for its downfall.

This has resulted in restrictions that hamper the cross-border activities of humanitarian organizations based in the country. In a series of anonymous interviews, aid workers outlined the decisions in Jordan that affect how  or whether  Syrians receive their daily bread. All organizations must first gain the approval of the Jordanian Foreign Ministry and intelligence services, which have never fully disclosed their relationship with the assorted opposition forces now controlling key parts of southern Syria. Interviews with Syrian aid workers in Daraa indicate that the only organization with the Jordanian governments formal authorization to distribute the flour in Syria are made up of the remnants of a Jordan-based branch of the ACU. This group has become the principle facilitator of aid deliveries in the south. Anything [related to flour] that enters Daraa goes through [the ACU], one Daraa-based aid worker explained. After receiving flour purchased in Jordan by Chemonics with USAID funding, the ACU then distributes it to various local governing councils in opposition-held parts of Daraa, which then distribute the flour to local bakeries that sell bread at reduced prices.

The result of this dizzying dance of funding and distribution has been an apparent, if at times precarious, stabilization of bread prices in opposition-controlled parts of Daraa. Although many militias continue to sell stolen or co-opted emergency food aid at war-inflated prices, reports and interviews with residents in Daraa indicate a noticeable decrease in the cost of bread in areas supplied by Chemonics over the past 12 months.

In theory, this assistance has given opposition groups an opportunity to offer services reliably and equitably, which helps foster allegiance among Syrians living in the territory they control. But the dependence on foreign organizations for basic resources creates its own litany of problems. Opposition authorities cannot develop trust or legitimacy with local communities, as their capacity to implement essential public services relies on foreign support that could dry up at any moment. It also encourages local councils to think of one another as competitors for subsistence goods. At worst, reliance on foreign donors can facilitate violent military conflicts over external resources, and cultivate lasting divisions among communities subject to radically different forms of wartime governance. Rather than helping the Syrian opposition unify  which the United States claims is a prerequisite to a lasting solution for the war  humanitarian efforts may be contributing to such divisions.

Herein lies the crux of the problem for USAID and other humanitarian organizations. Their attempts to fulfill short-term needs can create patterns of dependence and conflict that worsen the ongoing war and its aftermath. If public services are indeed crucial for popular support, the key question becomes: To whom exactly is USAID channeling support? Without close scrutiny of who controls the assistance it offers, or which groups claim a mandate through the distribution of bread, external assistance can be easily co-opted by forces uninterested in civilian livelihoods or a political solution to the Syrian war.

Syria need only look to its conflict-ridden neighbor Lebanon to understand the long-term impact of welfare distribution patterns stemming from civil war. If only in this regard, the experience of Lebanon, whose civil war lasted from 1975 to 1989, proves instructive. Indeed, postwar welfare practices in the country have been highly divisive, in large part because of how they developed during the war, which undid most social welfare institutions established only 20 years earlier. As armed violence deepened, welfare activities became a parallel battleground for the various factions  a means of building support among constituents. Over time, armed groups developed their own systems for delivering public services, which often catered exclusively to their respective followers. Following the 1989 Taif agreement that brought an end to the conflict, these highly partisan patterns and practices of distribution developed into institutionalized agencies with local offices and networks. As the vested interests in these arrangements increased, reforming them has become increasingly difficult.

To this day, public services in Lebanon remain unequally distributed, poorly implemented, and subject to the whims of key interest groups. At present, nearly half of Lebanons schools, hospitals, and clinics are operated by religious charities or political parties with exclusionary orientations. These organizations tend to favor their own when distributing services, which can lead to uneven coverage and inequalities that further entrench societal divisions. Last years #YouStink protests in Beirut, for example, offered a poignant reminder of the importance of such public services, not just for the well-being of citizens, but also for fostering centripetal political loyalties in divided societies. The same is true for Syria.

It is popular among Syrian activists and certain foreign analysts to say that the so-called liberated areas of the country are free only militarily  in places like Raqqa or parts of Daraa, the Assad regime continues to pay state salaries and support local infrastructure (though these practices may soon cease, as the government continues to buckle under increasing financial pressure). But USAIDs flour-to-bakeries program has created another unhealthy form of dependence in opposition-controlled areas like Daraa. Instead of the Assad regime, it is the United States, Jordan, and the for-profit development organization Chemonics that civilians in Daraa are beholden to.

The verdict is still out on USAIDs flour-to-bakeries program and other efforts like it. On the one hand, the availability of affordable bread in rebel territory reduces local dependence on the Syrian government and helps ensure that civilians do not flee to regime- or Islamic State-controlled parts of the country (or, importantly for Jordan and Turkey, to neighboring countries) to survive. In doing so, the program saves lives, alleviates suffering, and ensures a minimum level of social stability. On the other hand, without a well-defined, inclusive opposition group, it is unclear to whom civilian loyalties are being redirected.

Although such forms of external assistance may be tactically astute in the short term, they will be politically meaningless if they do not come in the context of a cohesive strategy to end the Syrian conflict. By fostering a dangerous dependency on external assistance and further fragmenting the countrys welfare apparatus, they may even make the war and its aftermath worse. Predictably, it is the countrys citizens who will continue to bear the brunt of the conflicts furthest-reaching consequences.

Photo Credit: Anadolu Agency / Contributor
By James Mackenzie KABUL (Reuters) - Pressure is growing on the U.S. military to do more to help Afghan forces repel the threat posed by Taliban militants, and commanders in Washington and Kabul agree that enhanced air power may be where it can make the most difference. With fewer American soldiers on the ground and their rules of engagement limited, the outgoing commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, General John Campbell, believes broader authorization of force is the best way of supporting stretched local troops. That includes attacks from the air, which dropped sharply in 2015 after NATO, whose presence in Afghanistan is dominated by U.S. armed forces, formally ended combat operations to switch to training and assisting local troops. Some senior Afghan officers are worried. "Only air support and air strikes break the Taliban," said General Daud Shah Wafadar, commander of the Afghan army's 205th Corps, based in the southern city of Kandahar close to some of the fiercest fighting in recent months. His calls for more bombing raids are not new, but the debate has gained urgency since Taliban insurgents made significant territorial gains, particularly in Kunduz in the north and swathes of the southern province of Helmand. "I think we've seen this year that they (the Taliban) have taken advantage of the reduction of the number of coalition aircraft," Campbell told the House Armed Services Committee last week. The United States carried out around 400 air strikes last year from some 1,100 in 2014, when it was in full combat mode. U.S. aircraft did conduct 12 air strikes in two days in Helmand last month in an unusually heavy engagement. The strikes were used to help relieve a dozen U.S. special forces soldiers serving on the ground on a mission with Afghan counterparts. "That's quite a bit in terms of what we've used down there recently," said Brigadier General Wilson Shoffner, U.S. army spokesman in Kabul, referring to the battle in which one Green Beret was killed. "That's the kind of thing that's happening down there." REINFORCEMENTS TO HELMAND In a sign of alarm over events in Helmand, hundreds more American troops are heading there, although the U.S. army specified their role would be to train, advise and assist, and "not to participate in combat operations". U.S. forces' rules of engagement limit them to defending U.S. troops from attack, although they may take action "in extremis" to avoid "detrimental strategic effects to the campaign", according to a Pentagon report to Congress. "If the Taliban are attacking coalition forces, then I have everything I need to do that," Campbell said. "To attack the Taliban, just because they're Taliban, I do not have that authority." "Realistically, the thing that I can make a difference on is authorities as we go forward," he said. U.S. troops were recently given broader authority to hit Islamic State fighters in Afghanistan. The withdrawal of most NATO troops by the end of 2014 has been keenly felt on the ground. More than 140,000 foreign soldiers once fought the Taliban, a hardline Islamist militant movement attempting to regain power in Kabul. U.S. forces are set to be cut from 9,800 to 5,500 by the end of 2016. "There used to be dozens of foreign military advisers who played a key role and helped us with all issues, but now there is only one with me," said General Wafadar. He added that local forces were, however, largely coping without their allies. With no immediate prospect of adding "boots on the ground", others have joined Campbell in suggesting looser terms of engagement and stressing the importance of air operations. In a recent editorial in the Washington Post, one of Campbell's predecessors, David Petraeus, said Washington should "unleash our air power in support of our Afghan partners". James Dobbins, a senior fellow to the RAND Corporation and a former Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said combat air support, casualty evacuations and intelligence and surveillance were among the priorities. "Those are all air assets essentially. And at least some of them don't need to be based in the country." For graphic on areas under Taliban Control - http://reut.rs/1PDMrxm For graphic on NATO troops levels in Afghanistan - http://reut.rs/1PDMAAX (Editing by Mike Collett-White)
The anxieties of a new mother are reflected in her uneasy relationship with a stroller-pushing acquaintance in My Friend From the Park, a deceptively simple and reflective feature from the Argentine polymath Ana Katz, who directed, co-stars and co-wrote. (She shared a Sundance special jury prize for screenwriting with her scripting partner, Ines Bortagaray.) More of a character study than the low-boil thriller it sometimes appears to be turning into, its the sort of film that improves significantly with post-viewing consideration, as one works ones way back through it. Beyond festival audiences, the pic, released in Argentina last fall, has modest potential to score with arthouse crowds everywhere.



Liz (Julieta Zylberberg, in a movie-carrying performance), a writer who works in publishing, is consigned to a stretch of single-parenting while her husband (Daniel Hendler, seen in video chats) is in Chile shooting a documentary about a volcano. He has left her with their newborn son, Nicanor (Andres Milicich). Liz, still recovering from her mothers recent death, sneaks cigarettes. She asks a doctor if her baby can sense that shes worried. She feels inadequate because shes unable to breastfeed, which leads to heightened tensions with a new, older nanny (Mirella Pascual) who has already proved herself a successful parent.

At the park near her apartment, Liz meets Rosa (Katz), a factory worker who is there with a newborn as well. Liz senses that something is amiss with Rosa when, as Liz prepares to exit a cafe where theyve been eating, Rosa pockets the cash that Liz has given her and ropes her into leaving without paying. Rosa also has a sister, Renata (Maricel Alvarez), whose boyfriend is more than 100 miles away in Saladillo.

Lizs park friend Cora (Malena Figo) warns her that the so-called R sisters are not like you and me, a statement that may be as much of a reflection of Cora and Lizs snobbery as it is of Renata and Rosas craziness. The possibility is raised that Rosa is conning Liz for the use of her car, something it appears she has done before. Renata is plotting a move to Saladillo, a choice that Liz sees, for various reasons, as an abdication of responsibility  an affront to her sense of duty as a mother. Liz is also alarmed when she finds a gun in Renatas belongings.

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But if the behavior of the two sisters sometimes seems flighty or erratic, the movie is deliberate in the way it reveals events largely from Lizs perspective, a vantage that is blind to the point of paranoia. As a director, Katz sometimes strains to achieve that limited p.o.v.; one of Rosas flakeouts, which leads Liz to think that Nicanor has gone missing, seems particularly cheap. But at its best, the movie shows a mature understanding of its characters miscommunications. Seemingly inscrutable actions come to seem, if not admirabdle, a bit more comprehensible when looked at from a different angle.

The languid, uninflected visual style and bland, widescreen digital palette at first merely seem uninspired, but they do help to create the sense of a placid surface beneath which quite a bit is going on. The score, evoking a kind of nursery ambience, is unnecessarily cute.

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(Reuters) - Crew members of a fishing ship that caught fire south of Hawaii on Wednesday were rescued after they abandoned their vessel, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The 42 crew members of the American Eagle, a 258-foot U.S.-flagged fishing vessel, abandoned ship at 10 a.m. local time about 1,800 miles (2,900 km) south of Hawaii and got into two life rafts, four boats before they were recovered seven hours later, the Coast Guard said in a statement.

No injuries were reported, the Coast Guard said.

The Coast Guard received notification of a fire aboard the ship at about 8:30 a.m. local time. Before rescue crews arrived, the captain and eight crew members reboarded the vessel and extinguished the fire. They also restarted the ship's generator, communication systems and electricity, the Coast Guard said.

A Coast Guard airplane arrived at the scene at about 5:15 p.m. local time and dropped a pump, flash lights and flares to the crew. The Fong Seong 888, a Tuvalu-flagged oil tanker, arrived a short time later and recovered the 33 other crew members, according to the Coast Guard.

American Eagle's sister ship, American Victory, is expected to arrive in three days to relieve the oil tanker, the Coast Guard said.

(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)
To say that the Republican primary fight overshadowed the stunning news of Americas first four-trillion-dollar budget almost trips over the point. The rhetoric leading up to the New Hampshire primary offered plenty of debate over repetition in political messaging, the relative merits of executive experience versus transformational activism, and the authenticity of various Republicans in the field.

Most of those themes continued to play out Tuesday, while almost no one noticed that President Barack Obama used the foofaraw of primary day coverage to release his proposed FY2017 budget, with $4.1 trillion in spending and more ballooning of the deficit and national debt.

Related: As National Debt Hits $19 Trillion, a Spending Showdown Looms in Congress

About the only mention of the federal budget came in the post-primary speech from Donald Trump, who crushed his competition in the Granite State  and even that was in reference to the previous years budget. I mean, what's going on? What's going on? The budget, Trump said near the end of his speech. The last budget that was approved is an absolute disaster for everybody in this country. We owe $19 trillion as of today. We just crossed the $19 trillion mark. We're going to very shortly be at $21 trillion because of the budget."

It might come sooner than Trump thinks. According to the Office of Management and Budget, as reported by USA Today, the new proposal increases the deficit to 2.8 percent of annual GDP. That will push the national debt from its current $19 trillion, as Trump accurately stated, to $27.4 trillion by the end of the decade. And even that rests on a number of highly questionable assumptions regarding federal spending and revenues.

For instance, those numbers include Obamas proposed $10-per-barrel oil tax, intended to cover the cost of new green-energy initiatives, funding for which Obama doubles in this proposal. Washington hasnt been able to enact immigration reform for over a decade after the 9/11 Commission urged it as a national-security issue, but Obamas budget assumes it as a fait accompli  and counts on $170 billion in new revenue from its passage. As ISIS continues to metastasize and threaten American and regional interests, the budget foresees the ability to cut war funding by over $600 billion in the next ten years. It also envisions $2.8 trillion in tax hikes in the same period, double the amount Obama sought last year and failed to win.

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Related: Why Is the Government Spending $310 Billion on Unauthorized Programs?

This budget  like others from Obama during his presidency  will go nowhere. Speaker Paul Ryan of the Republican-controlled House, made it clear that it will be dead on arrival. This isn't even a budget, Ryan said, so much as it is a progressive manual for growing the federal government at the expense of hardworking Americans.

Put aside the components of the budget, though, and focus more on the astounding expansion of it during the years in which Obama controlled the outcomes of the budget. The final federal budget signed by a Republican president was FY2008, when Democrats negotiated with George W. Bush on the spending plan. For FY2009, Democrats passed a series of continuing resolutions to exclude Bush from exercising his authority on the budgets, delaying it until Obama could sign an omnibus bill in March 2009 to complete the budget process.

In FY2008, the federal government had outlays of $2.98 trillion, amounting to slightly over 20 percent of GDP for 2008. By FY2015, outlays had risen nearly 24 percent, while economic output during the same period rose only 10.1 percent. The population grew only 5.3 percent in the same period. The FY2016 budget pushed the increase in outlays to 32.4 percent of the FY2008 budget, nearly a third more spending in just eight years and an increase of 7.1 percent over the previous year  when the economy grew at only 2.4 percent.

Those who claim to be mystified by the rise of anti-establishment populist fervor need look no further than this. While spending has escalated out of control, more and more evidence emerged that Americans hardly got their moneys worth out of it. The Veterans Administration paid itself massive bonuses based on widespread fraud that cost veterans their lives. China hacked into the Office of Personnel Managements computers and stuck around a year or more before anyone knew about it.

Related: Sharp Divide Over Spending and the Debt Could Renew Budget Warfare

Despite having more than three years and a half-trillion dollars to set up the kind of online insurance portal that private-sector firms had used for years, HHS implementation of Obamacare turned into its own disaster. ISIS went from being jayvees to sweeping across Syria, Iraq, and Libya, creating a terrorist quasi-state while the US appeared incapable of dealing with the crisis.

The budget and its deficit has special resonance for voters, however. Obama knew this in 2008 when he accused George Bush of being unpatriotic for adding $4 trillion to the national debt in eight years. Obama has added ten trillion dollars to the national debt in the same time, and his latest budget proposal would make that worse even if he got all of the tax hikes it contains.

Younger voters are especially sensitive to this. While conducting research for my book Going Red in New Hampshire in 2015, I spoke with a young man who had cast his first two presidential votes for Obama. Recently, though, the rapid increase in national debt has frightened him  as does Obamas insistence that the proper response is to spend more. It needs to be fixed, he told me.

Related: Clinton Attacks Sanders $14 Trillion Health Plan as Wishful Thinking

But where are the proposals to scale back the budget and eliminate deficits? Neither party in Washington has seriously proposed a plan to fix this, which means younger voters will inherit the fruits of their parents and grandparents profligacy. Both parties have contributed to the rapid increase of federal spending. That leaves voters with few choices but radical disruptors such as Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, or maybe Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio, as outsiders willing to take on entrenched interests to end the debt cycle and get back to fiscal responsibility.

Barack Obamas budget gives the populists four trillion reasons to demand systemic change. The eventual budget agreement will only offer an incremental  and likely very small  reduction of that number. If the electorate has begun toting pitchforks and torches, Americas political leadership has only itself to blame.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
Paris (AFP) - Jean-Marc Ayrault, who resigned as French prime minister two years ago to take the blame for a sputtering economy, has been rewarded for his loyalty to embattled President Francois Hollande with the foreign affairs portfolio.

Seen as a safe pair of hands but with little diplomatic experience -- or charisma -- the understated Ayrault, 66, will be expected to negotiate diplomatic minefields including Syria and Libya, as well as EU talks to ward off a potential "Brexit".

The social democrat's mastery of German -- Ayrault is a former German professor -- will be an asset as the European Union dossier becomes ever trickier.

But the appointment of Ayrault, who was an unknown quantity as the deputy mayor of northwestern Nantes when Hollande tapped him as prime minister in 2012, only to dump him two years later, came as a surprise.

Of several names mooted in recent weeks as possible successors to Laurent Fabius, who stepped down on Wednesday as Hollande overhauls his cabinet to prepare his 2017 re-election bid, Ayrault's emerged only early this week.

Leading among the also-rans was the much higher-profile Segolene Royal, the president's former partner and mother of his four children who is currently environment minister.

- Gracious scapegoat -

Lacking in charisma, the blond and blue-eyed Ayrault has a poker face that can mask insecurity as well as irritation.

"He has a kind of solidity," a lawmaker said of Ayrault. "When things are going badly he doesn't seem affected, and when things are going well he can't seem to excite people."

One of Ayrault's greatest assets may be his lack of presidential ambition, unlike many prime ministers before him, observers say.

He will join a government now led by the pro-business Manuel Valls, who was the main instigator of Ayrault's ouster in the spring of 2014.

Ayrault was a gracious scapegoat, saying: "The message the voters have sent is very clear and must be clearly heard."

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While he steadfastly refrained from recriminations towards Hollande after being pushed out, he has not been shy about criticising Valls.

In December he spoke out against measures championed by the former interior minister in the aftermath of the November jihadist attacks on Paris -- notably a bid to strip convicted terrorists of their French nationality.

However he stepped back into line by voting with the majority in favour of the measure on Wednesday.

Born January 25, 1950, to a working-class family, Ayrault is married with two daughters and three grandchildren and still takes his family on camping holidays in a Volkswagen minibus.
Paris (AFP) - French President Francois Hollande reshuffled his cabinet Thursday, naming Jean-Marc Ayrault foreign minister and adding ecologists to the government as he seeks to widen his support base ahead of an re-election bid in 2017.

Ayrault, a 66-year-old former prime minister, becomes France's top diplomat after veteran politician Laurent Fabius bowed out of politics to take up a post at the Constitutional Council.

A fluent German speaker, Ayrault's understanding of the language and culture will be seen as an advantage in dealing with Berlin and the most pressing issues facing the European Union, such as the migrants crisis.

In a surprise move, he was chosen over environment minister Segolene Royal, the mother of Hollande's four children, who was touted as a candidate for the high-profile post.

Hollande also named a member of the French Greens Party (EELV), Emmanuelle Cosse, as housing minister and included two other ecologist politicians as under-secretaries in the new government.

"It is a government that must act, that must reform, that must move forward," Hollande said in a TV interview.

The move to draft in the ecologists was widely seen as an attempt to rally those on the left of the political spectrum ahead of the 2017 election, in which the deeply unpopular Hollande is thought likely to seek a second term.

Hollande "must increase his political base at all costs", a source close to the president said ahead of the reshuffle announcement.

"We can't face a presidential election without a Socialist family rallied behind their candidate and without the ecologists," said a source close to the president.

France's Greens Party refused to take part in government in 2014 after Manuel Valls -- considered to be on the right of the Socialist Party -- was named prime minister, and has been divided ever since over whether they should return to the fold.

There was no change in other key posts. The reform-minded Emmanuel Macron remains economy minister and Michel Sapin stays on as finance minister.

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- Torrid first term -

The 61-year-old Hollande, elected in 2012, has had a torrid first term, lumbered with record unemployment, a sluggish economy and France's worst-ever terror attacks.

He already carried out a major government shake-up in 2014 after the Socialists suffered a drubbing in municipal elections.

Ayrault was ditched as prime minister in that reshuffle after two years in the job in favour of Valls, his new boss.

Regional elections in December 2015 did not go much better, with the centre-right Republicans of former president Nicolas Sarkozy coming out in front.

The most unpopular French president in history, Hollande saw his star rise after the jihadist attacks against Charlie Hebdo newspaper and a Jewish supermarket in January 2015.

It rose again after he took a tough line on security following the attacks by gunmen and suicide bombers that killed 130 people in Paris in November.

However this time his rise was short-lived, as praise for his post-attacks approach quickly turned to criticism both from within his own party and the conservative opposition.

Efforts to enshrine tough new security measures in the constitution, and a hotly contested reform to strip convicted terrorists of their French nationality, have been deeply divisive.

- Rebellious fringe -

Attempts to kickstart a flagging economy with a raft of reforms last year led to accusations of a shift in ideology, with a rebellious fringe of the Socialists accusing the Valls government of being too pro-business.

The dissent in the corridors of power has left voters cold. An opinion poll by the Liberation newspaper published this week showed some 75 percent of people do not want Hollande to be re-elected.

Record unemployment figures of about 10 percent are also haunting Hollande, who vowed at the start of his mandate that he would not run again if he failed to improve the jobless rate.

In another blow to the president's hopes to unite the left ahead of the 2017 election, the leader of the radical Left Party, Jean-Luc Melenchon, who won 11 percent of votes in 2012, announced Wednesday he would run for president.
By Ingrid Melander and Elizabeth Pineau PARIS (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande on Thursday broadened his cabinet to include the heads of two smaller left-wing parties, looking beyond his Socialist party in a bid to improve his faltering chances of re-election in 2017. Dogged by deep unpopularity and public anger over unemployment, Hollande hopes the reshuffle will widen his voter appeal and discourage other leftist candidates from running against him. But one left-winger just declared his intention to be a candidate in 2017 and analysts swiftly cast doubt on the possible impact of a reshuffle that brings in no charismatic heavyweight and does not change the government's policy agenda. Besides handing portfolios to the Greens and the centre-left Radical Left Party, Hollande recalled his former prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, seen as a safe pair of hands, to head the foreign ministry. The appointment of the veteran German-speaker was immediately welcomed by Berlin. Michel Sapin stays on as finance minister and Emmanuel Macron as economy minister, and the government is expected to largely stick to the pro-business line it switched to two years ago. "This government must act, reform, move forward," Hollande told French television. He said his new three-pronged focus would be on fighting unemployment, now at 10.6 percent, ensuring security after France was hit by Islamist militant attacks that killed 130 people in November, and protecting the environment. "There is no change of course, but Hollande is trying to broaden his appeal by bringing on allies, expanding his base beyond the Socialist party to boost his chances to qualify for the presidential election run-offs," Ifop pollster's Jerome Fourquet said. In French presidential elections, only the top two candidates in the first round make it to the run-off. As of now, Hollande is far from certain to reach the second round. "Opinion polls now show that the National Front's Marine Le Pen will most likely make it to the second round so it's crucial for Hollande to do all he can to boost his chances in the first round," Fourquet said. FIREBRAND DISSIDENT Another problem for Hollande is that left-wing firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon said late on Wednesday he would run for the presidency again next year, a move that risks splitting the left-of-centre vote. Besides, the nomination of Greens leader Emmanuelle Cosse, who joins as Housing Minister, is controversial within her own party. Two party spokeswomen said in a statement that the party disapproved of her joining the government and that this meant that she was de-facto no longer party chief. Two dissident ecologist lawmakers, who left the divided Greens party last year precisely because it was becoming increasingly critical of the government, also joined the cabinet as secretaries of state. The head of the small Left Radical Party, Jean-Michel Baylet becomes minister for local authorities. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said: "I'm happy that Jean-Marc Ayrault, the former prime minister, who has strong ties with Germany is now the successor in the foreign ministry. I say to Jean-Marc: welcome and looking forward to our cooperation in the future." After two years as prime minister at the start of Hollande's mandate, Ayrault was dropped in favour of the younger and more thrusting Valls. He replaces Laurent Fabius, who is leaving to head France's top constitutional council. (Additional reporting by Brian Love and Emmanuel Jarry in Paris and Shadia Nasralla in Munich; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Alister Doyle and Ralph Boulton)
By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican George W. Bush on Monday will seek to generate a fresh burst of enthusiasm for his brother Jeb Bush's White House bid in South Carolina, marking the former president's first appearance on the campaign trail this year. George W. Bush will appear with his younger brother at a rally in North Charleston, S.C., the Jeb Bush campaign said on Thursday. The 6 p.m. EST event will be held at the North Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center. The 69-year-old former president is highly popular in the Republican Party, particularly among South Carolina Republicans, who supported his 2000 and 2004 races for president. George W. Bush's decision to go to war in Iraq in 2003 remains a topic of debate in the race to find a successor to President Barack Obama, with Republican front-runner Donald Trump noting that he had opposed the war. Bush's image has improved among Americans in the years since he left office in 2009. A CNN/ORC poll last June found that 52 percent of adults had a favorable impression of him, compared with about a third of Americans when he left office. The Bush campaign believes the ex-president can have a positive impact in South Carolina, which has a sizable number of U.S. military facilities and military veterans who have supported the former commander-in-chief. It will be the most public role George W. Bush has taken to date in his brother's campaign. Jeb Bush, whose father was also president, played down his famous family roots for most of last year in his pursuit of the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, but in need of a boost, he has been relying more heavily on his family ties. His 90-year-old mother, Barbara Bush, campaigned with him last week in New Hampshire. George W. Bush has headlined several private fundraisers for him and reporters were allowed in at one of them, in Houston last October. On Wednesday his voice was heard on a radio ad in South Carolina. "We need a strong leader with experience, ideas and resolve. Theres no doubt in my mind that Jeb Bush will be a great commander-in-chief for our military," the former president says in the ad. Jeb Bush has drawn large crowds during his appearances in South Carolina on Wednesday and Thursday after experiencing something of a comeback with a fourth place finish in New Hampshire. He has some ground to make up in South Carolina, however, with Trump enjoying a big lead there ahead of the Feb. 20 primary vote. "President Bush has been incredibly supportive of his brothers campaign and Governor Bush is excited to have him out on the trail," said Bush spokeswoman Kristy Campbell. (Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
London (AFP) - A top Google executive was left struggling for words when he could not remember his own salary at a grilling by British MPs on Thursday over the US tech giant's controversial tax bill.

Matt Brittin, head of Google Europe, Middle East and Africa said he would provide the figure at a later date after Meg Hillier, head of the public accounts scrutiny committee, demanded it four times.

"You don't know what you get paid?" the lawmaker said.

"Our there, taxpayers, our constituents, are very angry. They live in a different world, clearly, to the world you live in if you can't even tell us what you are paid," said the Labour opposition MP.

She accused Brittin of having "tin ears".

Britain's tax agency announced last month that Google would pay a 130 million (166 million euro, $187 million) tax settlement for 10 years' operations in Britain where it makes 11 percent of its global sales.

Finance minister George Osborne hailed the agreement as a victory.

But there was a barrage of criticism, including from within Prime Minister David Cameron's own Conservative Party as the announcement coincided with a key tax filing deadline for many Britons.

It later emerged that Google had made profits of 106 million on revenues of 1.18 billion in Britain in the last 18 months alone and the Labour opposition claimed the giant was paying only "three percent tax".

"Do you hear the anger and frustration out there that with these huge figures you settled for a figure of 130 million?" Hillier asked Brittin.

He replied: "I understand the anger and understand that people, when they see reported that we are paying three percent tax, would be angry. But we're not. We're paying 20 percent tax".

Tom Hutchinson, Google Inc's vice-president for finance, told the committee hearing that the 130 million was the largest tax settlement following audit ever paid by Google outside the United States.

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The company thought it was "fair", he said.

Brittin also dismissed British press reports of higher tax payments being demanded of the company in France and Italy, where it has less business.

"They are just statements from politicians asking us to pay more money," he said.

The European Commission has said it could examine Google's British tax settlement and has announced plans to stamp out tax avoidance by multi-national corporations as anger against the tech giant has spread to other European countries.
Nicosia (AFP) - President Nicos Anastasiades addressed parliament Thursday to try to convince Cypriots that a UN-backed peace deal is possible for the divided island, in a rare move by a Greek Cypriot leader.

He said there were still difficulties in UN-sponsored peace talks with the Turkish Cypriots launched last May but that the overall atmosphere was "positive".

The Turkish Cypriot side wants to discuss the crunch issue of territorial adjustments last for fear of leaks that could derail the process, Anastasiades revealed.

The president also said he still needed more time to secure a solution to put before the Greek Cypriots to ensure it had no "ambiguities".

Any peace accord must be ratified by Cypriots at the ballot box in separate referenda.

The last time this happened Greek Cypriots rejected a UN blueprint in 2004 that Anastasiades had supported, before he became president.

But he stressed it was now time for both the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities to realise that going down the road of peace was their only option.

"Though the solution of the Cyprus problem interests the international community, the European Union and Turkey for various reasons, those who should be most interested are the Cypriot people," Anastasiades told parliament.

He said Greek and Turkish Cypriots should consider with "sobriety" what their future would be in a divided country compared to the mutual benefits of a reunited Cyprus.

"No matter what our ideological differences, no matter what our disagreements, what certainly does not find us divided is the common vision of our countrys liberation and reunification," he said.

Last month, Anastasiades and his Turkish Cypriot counterpart Mustafa Akinci made an unprecedented joint appearance before global business and political leaders in Davos, Switzerland to proclaim their peace building credentials.

For Cyprus talks to move beyond where they have failed in the past, hard decisions must be taken on prickly issues such as territorial adjustments, power sharing and property rights.

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The leaders are working on a formula to resolve the issues of property, security guarantees and territorial adjustment that would create a united, federal Cyprus.

Many believe the good chemistry between Anastasiades and Akinci can create a climate of trust in order for an elusive deal to be reached.

The long-stalled UN-brokered peace talks are seen as the last best chance to reunify Cyprus after four decades of division.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops occupied its northern third in response to an Athens-inspired coup seeking union with Greece.
(Reuters) - A man suspected of seriously wounding a North Dakota police officer was found dead on Thursday after an eight-hour standoff that started with a domestic dispute, local media reported.

The wounded officer was not expected to survive, WDAZ television, an ABC affiliate, reported, citing Fargo Police Chief David Todd.

The suspect, identified as 49-year-old Marcus Schumacher, appeared to have died from gunshots, Todd said at a news conference, according to WDAZ and Forum newspaper of Fargo-Morehead. It was not immediately known if Schumacher's wounds were self inflicted or if he had been shot by police.

In 1988, Schumacher, then 22, was found guilty of negligent homicide in the shooting death of a teenager, the Forum reported.

Fargo police could not be reached for comment.

Police officer Jason Moszer, 33, who is married with two children, suffered an extremely serious gunshot wound after responding to a domestic disturbance at the home on the northeast side of Fargo on Wednesday night, WDAZ reported. The Forum reported that he was a six-year veteran with the Fargo police.

If Moszer does not survive, he would be only the second police officer shot to death in the city's history, local media reported. An investigation is being handled by the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Cass County Sheriff's Office.

Local media had reported that an unidentified man armed with several weapons, including a long rifle, started shooting at police from the home when they approached at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

Nearby residents were told to stay in their homes and go into their basements for shelter, WDAZ reported.

(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Additional reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit; Editing by Katharine Houreld and Bill Trott)
By John Clarke

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Maryland gunman who killed two sheriff's deputies in a lunchtime shootout at a busy restaurant near Baltimore was trying to avoid arrest on two outstanding warrants, authorities said on Thursday.

The killings on Wednesday marked the first time the Harford County Sheriff's Office has lost a deputy to a shooting since 1889, Harford Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said at a press conference.

"It's absolutely devastating," Gahler said. "There are no words."

The gunman, identified as David Brian Evans, 67, was also killed in the incident.

The slain law enforcement officers were identified as Patrick Dailey, a 30-year veteran of the force and volunteer firefighter, and Mark Logsdon, a 16-year veteran. The men, whose ages were not released, were both were military veterans.

They were killed while responding to a disturbance report around 11:25 a.m. on Wednesday at a Panera Bread restaurant in Abingdon, about 25 miles northeast of Baltimore, Gahler said.

Evans, described as homeless man who lived in his car, shot Dailey in the head when he approached the man to start a conversation, Gahler said.

Logsdon chased Evans to a car outside the restaurant where they, along with two other deputies, exchanged gunfire. Logsdon was shot during the exchange and later died.

Police recovered a semi-automatic handgun from inside the vehicle.

It is our belief that because he knew of the warrant out for his arrest and what the ultimate outcome would be, Gahler said, thats the reason he took action.

Evans had two outstanding warrants, including a criminal warrant from Florida for assaulting a police officer and fleeing, Gahler said. The other was a civil warrant issued by Harford County Circuit Court.

The two surviving deputies, who have not been identified, have been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation, Gahler said.

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Cynthia Osterman)
Cairo (AFP) - On the night of August 13, 2013, Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Gehad Haddad sat in a stairwell of a building next to Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque, and said: "We need a miracle."

Police moved in to disperse a sprawling Islamist protest camp in the mosque and an adjacent square the next morning, and within 12 hours about 700 demonstrators had been shot dead.

Gunmen among the crowds killed around 10 policemen.

Thousands of Islamists, including Haddad and much of the Brotherhood leadership, have been arrested since.

No one in what remains of the organisation, now torn by internal rifts, seems to know how it can recover.

Only five years ago, the Brotherhood was in a very different position.

Its nemesis, the autocratic president Hosni Mubarak, had been overthrown on February 11 in a popular uprising.

The group went from being banned by the regime to winning a presidential election that brought Mohamed Morsi to power in 2012.

A year later Morsi was overthrown by the military after millions demonstrated against his divisive rule.

Islamists staged a sit-in at the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque to support him, setting off the countdown to the carnage.

Morsi was subsequently sentenced to death after a trial. He has filed an appeal and is now in prison.

-'The body has a pulse'-

"The youths can't see a horizon, nor a leadership that can achieve anything for them in the face of regime repression," said Amr Darrag, a senior Brotherhood member exiled in Turkey, and a leader of a faction that opposes the group's old guard.

"Were we ready to confront the government after Morsi? No. The sit-in should have been disbanded to save lives. We could have held sit-ins in other places," said Ali, a seasoned Brotherhood member in Cairo.

Ali -- not his real name -- has been protesting ever since. He helps organise small, quick demonstrations in the dusty alleys of a working class Cairo neighbourhood, with lookouts spread across the area to warn them of police movements.

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"You have to send a message that the revolution is continuing. As long as the body has a pulse, it can still live," he said.

Not everyone in the group shares his equanimity. In his Brotherhood cell, known as an usra (family), which comprises about 10 people, some despair.

"Some are depressed. But if someone is depressed, he can talk to someone else who raises his morale."

Ali has escaped the crackdown by keeping a low profile.

His priority is to maintain a semblance of the Brotherhood's organisation, even as its members are caught in a confusing struggle between leaders in prison, in exile or in hiding.

-'Circling the drain'-

The disorganisation has opened the Brotherhood to charges that it is participating in a militant insurgency that has killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers since Morsi's ouster, in attacks often claimed by jihadists who also oppose the group.

It has been banned as a terrorist organisation by Egypt and its allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

"In this atmosphere it is plausible that things (attacks) get attributed to you. It's also plausible that it is you and you don't know it. Communications on administrative levels are very hard now," Ali said.

Darrag, whose faction has been accused by the group's traditional leaders of leaning towards violence, says the struggle is really over having a more representative leadership than the old guard, now mainly represented by the London branch.

"The real reason (for the divisions) is failure," said Wael Haddara, a former senior adviser to Morsi who is now in Canada.

"People have failed to resolve the situation, to win. The country is lost, circling the drain. No one has been able to put forward a realistic path."

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who as army chief led Morsi's overthrow, signalled a zero-sum war with the Brotherhood when he suggested the group would be eradicated.

The government has lobbied other countries, especially Britain, to ban the group. Britain ordered a review of the group's alleged links to violence in Egypt, but apparently uncovered no hard evidence.

Police say there is evidence to suggest Brotherhood members -- current and former -- have taken up arms against policemen, and bomb electricity towers. But it is unclear whether these are local initiatives by Islamists who have given up on protests and want revenge.

"Those who are inclined to engage in armed violence are by definition not a constituency that is going to wait for a green light from the leadership," said Mokhtar Awad, a research fellow at the Program on Extremism at George Washington University.
Golden Globe winner Taraji P. Henson is being linked with a lead role in an upcoming film adaptation of "Hidden Figures," the story of a team of NASA mathematicians who proved essential to the Space Race.

Few may have known her name until recently, but NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson was an integral part of the US's space agency's 20th century endeavors, from its first manned space flight, to the Apollo 11 moon landing, and the Apollo 13 rescue mission.

The ex-schoolteacher's story is to be told in September 2016 biography "Hidden Figures: The Story of the African-American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race," and pre-production on a movie adaptation is already well underway; "Empire" lead Taraji P. Henson is now confirmed in the lead role.

Henson's acting career has seen her feature in musical drama "Hustle & Flow," Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett film "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Steve Carell and Tina Fey romcom "Date Night," the Jackie Chan, Jaden Smith reboot of "The Karate Kid," and Chris Rock's "Top Five."

Most recently, she re-united with "Hustle & Flow" co-star Terence Howard, playing opposite him in TV series "Empire," clinching an Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe award for her performances as record label co-founder Cookie Lyon.

After she was linked with "Hidden Figures" in July 2015, Henson has now been confirmed for the film's leading role as Katherine Johnson.

Three more main roles still await announcements. Margot Lee Shetterly's forthcoming book profiles the impact of not only Johnson but also a half dozen fellow African-American NASA colleagues including leading lights Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Kathryn Peddrew, Sue Wilder and Eunice Smith.

To that end, three other actresses had been named in relation to the project back in 2015, and may yet find themselves among its cast: Viola Davis (Emmy Award, "How to Get Away with Murder"), Octavia Spencer (Academy Award, "The Help") and Oprah Winfrey (SAG nominee, "The Butler") were said to have been in the mix at the time.

Ted Melfi, who found favor with 2014's Bill Murray, Melissa McCarthy and Naomi Watts comedy "St. Vincent," is to direct; "Hidden Figures" is currently set for release January 13, 2017.
MANCHESTER, New HampshireOne lesson from Hillary Clintons stumbling start in the Democratic presidential race is that shes unlikely to fully regain her footing without challenging not just the feasibility, but also the desirability, of Bernie Sanderss ambitious liberal agenda. And to do that, shell likely need to take a page from her husbands 1992 presidential campaign.

So far, Clintons principal criticism of Sanderss expansive and expensive agenda has been to declare that it cant become law in todays polarized political environment. Thats a reasonable argument. But, just as in her 2008 race against Barack Obama, it has trapped Clinton in an electoral cul de sac.

Clinton wants to present herself as a doer who can produce incremental progress, while her opponent offers unachievable dreams. The problem is that, as in the 2008 race, this positions her as the dour chaperone at the party, offering half-measures while glumly raining on the transcendent change her opponent promises.

Recommended: Judgment vs. Experience at the Democratic Debate

Thats hardly an inspirational messageparticularly for the younger voters who have flocked to Sanders in stunning proportions across Iowa and New Hampshire. Just as damaging, Clinton has allowed a campaign dialogue to develop in which the only way for her to demonstrate that she is not a timid tinkerer, or a callow captive of special interests is to endorse the most liberal solution to any challenge.

Even after her New Hampshire collapse, Clinton still has significant advantages, particularly predominant support among minority voters. But if Sanders continues to drive the campaign argument, those defenses will face increasing strain.

The Sanders team, in fact, believes it has boxed Clinton into an intellectual corner. If she portrays Sanderss agenda as unrealistic, they believe they can accuse her of limiting Democratic ambitions only to the ideas acceptable to the Republican Congress. If she attacks Sanderss ideas head on, they believe she will be forced to adopt conservative critiques that grate on most Democrats.

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Is there a way out for Clinton? The answer might be found in Bill Clintons 1992 campaign. With his New Democrat agenda, Bill Clinton squarely confronted the idea that only ideologues could offer big change. Instead, with ideas like welfare reform and national service, he insisted that it was possible to both reinvigorate and reform Washington and to reconcile government activism with fiscal discipline.

Recommended: The 2016 Presidential Cheat Sheet: Fiorina and Christie Drop Out

Hillary Clinton faces a tougher puzzle than her husband did because the Democratic coalition has grown more liberal since his day (with Millennials and minorities replacing older and blue-collar whites.) But, even so, the Clinton campaign appears overly pessimistic about its ability to challenge Sanders over his agenda, or to rally Democrats around an alternative case for widening opportunity without lurching to the left.

By Sanderss own calculations, his program would increase government spending by $1.7 trillion annually. Thats roughly a 40 percent increase over todays federal budget. Sanders universal single-payer health care program (at $1.4 trillion annually) accounts for most of that increase, but he would also devote about $300 billion ever year to ideas like free public college tuition, more Social Security benefits and an ambitious infrastructure program. Sanderss calculations dont even include his plans for expanded pre-school and day care, which could push his programs yearly cost toward $2 trillion (even before considering whether he has lowballed his health plans cost, as some analysts argue). If his entire program were implemented, federal spending as a share of the economy would soar to easily its highest level since World War II.

Is there a way out for Clinton? The answer might be found in Bill Clintons 1992 campaign.

It doesnt require parroting Paul Ryan to ask whether the economy can absorb that big an increase in federal expenditures (even with the savings in private health insurance premiums Sanders plan would create). Or to question whether the federal government could spend that much more money effectivelyespecially without the kind of reform agenda that Bill Clinton championed. "It's easy to promise to make government bigger or smaller, says Bruce Reed, Bill Clintons chief White House domestic-policy adviser. At a time when Americans are fed up with all the institutions that have failed them, it's much bolder to make government and Washington work."

Nor do all progressives consider a government-run single-payer system a step forward. Princeton University sociologist Paul Starr, the co-founder of the liberal American Prospect magazine and a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian of American health care, says that to remain even remotely affordable, a single-payer system would require less spending on technology and eventually on services. It would also inexorably shift control over health-care decisions, like covering new procedures or drugs, into the political system. I would be very hesitant to do it, he says. We ought to be wary of the degree of concentration of power that the single payer proposal implies, because it really does imply that Congress would be allocating all money for everybodys health care.

Clinton has questioned some of Sanderss plans, particularly his proposal for free public college. But she hurts not only herself by refusing to engage more of her rivals proposals. She also does Sanders no favors. If he wins the nomination, he can be sure Republicans wont be so demure.

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Paris (AFP) - French President Francois Hollande called Thursday for Russia to halt its military action in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"We need to ensure that Bashar al-Assad leaves power and at the moment, helped by the Russians, he is massacring some of his own people, even if he is also taking action against a certain number of terrorists," Hollande said, adding: "I ask that Russia's actions stop."

As Hollande was speaking, the main players in the Syrian conflict were meeting in Munich to attempt to persuade Russia to agree to a ceasefire.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said as he began talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry that Moscow had made "propositions for a ceasefire that are quite specific".

Russia has refused to confirm reports that its ceasefire would not take effect before March 1, allowing another three weeks for an ongoing regime offensive against Aleppo, which the UN says could leave 300,000 people under siege.

Bombing from Russian planes is assisting Syrian forces.
The Berlin film festival, one of Europe's top cinema showcases, will get underway Thursday, bringing a galaxy of stars to the wintry German capital.

More than 400 films will be screened during the 11-day gathering, alongside a slew of special events.

Here's a list of Berlinale highlights already generating buzz:

CLOONEY IN A MINISKIRT: Germany harbours a special love for Hollywood charmer George Clooney, a frequent and honoured guest at the Berlinale.

The festival will open with a gala screening of his new movie, Joel and Ethan Coen's "Hail, Caesar!", and Clooney is expected on the red carpet with his wife Amal along with co-stars Channing Tatum, Tilda Swinton and this year's jury president Meryl Streep.

In what the Coens have called the third in a "Numbskull Trilogy" with Clooney, the actor plays a dimwitted 1950s movie star appearing in a swords-and-sandals epic.

The German papers say hearts are already aflutter at the prospect of Gorgeous George in a Roman soldier's metal miniskirt.

MASTER CLASS WITH MERYL: Streep will be doing her first stint at film festival jury duty.

But on February 14, Valentine's Day no less, she will take a break from sizing up the 18 contenders for the Golden Bear top prize to give a master class to a few hundred lucky young actors.

The festival's Talent Campus says the three-time Oscar winner, master of accents and feminist icon will impart "her experience from decades at the top of the acting profession".

CINEMA AS ENDURANCE SPORT: The German language, of course, has a word to describe the patience and perseverance required to sit through something extremely long: Sitzfleisch.

A Filipino contender by director Lav Diaz weighs in at more than eight hours long, with an hour's break scheduled around the halfway mark.

It is the longest entry ever to vie for the Golden Bear in the festival's 66-year history.

"A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery" is described as a tableau of the tumultuous political history of the Philippines and will occupy the Berlinale Palast main venue for an entire day.

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Streep may be pronouncing Sitzfleisch with an impeccable German accent before the screening is out.

FALLADA RETURNS: Many call Hans Fallada's 1947 novel "Alone in Berlin" the greatest work of fiction ever set in the German capital.

The Nazi-era thriller, based on a true story, depicts German parents whose only son falls in battle, prompting them to mount a daring resistance campaign against Hitler.

The first English-language film adaptation of the international bestseller stars two-time Oscar winner Emma Thompson and Irish actor Brendan Gleeson as the pair who risk everything to take a principled stand.

ONE-TWO PUNCH: Two of the most outspoken voices in US filmmaking, Spike Lee and Michael Moore, will give back-to-back press conferences on February 16 after the European premieres of their latest films.

Lee will sit down with reporters to discuss "Chi-Raq", a music-infused satire of gun violence in Chicago.

But no prizes for guessing that the conversation will also hit the Oscars race controversy, gun violence and the US presidential race.

And while Moore will be plugging his documentary "Where to Invade Next", expect him to hold forth on the Syrian refugees he has taken in to his Michigan home and the Flint water contamination scandal, to name just two issues.

PERSONAL STORIES: Biopics are all the rage this year so expect long queues for these high-profile releases:

Don Cheadle, perhaps best known as Robert Downey Jr's sidekick in the "Iron Man" films, will appear in his own passion project about jazz icon Miles Davis, "Miles Ahead", for which he raised a large chunk of the financing on crowdfunding website Indiegogo.

In "A Quiet Passion", "Sex and the City" star Cynthia Nixon takes an unlikely turn as mysterious 19th century American poet Emily Dickinson.

Meanwhile Germany's first feature on the Jewish teenage diarist Anne Frank, who died at Bergen-Belsen, will have its world premiere.

And Oscar winner Colin Firth leads an all-star cast in "Genius" portraying American literary editor Max Perkins who polished the manuscripts of Thomas Wolfe (played by Jude Law), Ernest Hemingway (Dominic West) and F. Scott Fitzgerald (Guy Pearce).
The fourth season of Netflixs highly praised House of Cards premieres on March 4th and its promising a lot more twists and turns than last season. The company released a few teaser trailers for the new season and even put up a special website for Frank Underwoods presidential election campaign that looks like what youd expect from candidates this year. But the latest trailer for House of Cards is a heart-pounding one-minute clip that will send chills down your spine.

DONT MISS: This unofficial Tesla commercial is jaw-dropping

Netflix packed a lot of quick blink-and-you-miss-it scenes in this one-minute clip, so youll have to keep pausing it to figure out whats happening, especially that you also have to pay attention to Franks monologue in the background.

The clip shows us some of the main characters of House of Cards, including new additions to the cast, suggesting theres plenty of action left in this one. We expect murder, deceit, and lots of conflicts, including the Frank vs. Claire disputes. Check the full trailer below.

House of Cards Season 4 launches March 4th, so theres enough time to catch up on the first three seasons in case you havent seen them.

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By Alex Whiting LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Hundreds of schools in eastern Ukraine have been attacked by both Ukrainian government forces and their Russian-backed militant opponents in the past two years, forcing many of them to close, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday. Schools on both sides of the line of contact which separates the combatants have been hit, and many, especially in rebel-controlled areas, remain too damaged to reopen, HRW said. Both sides have deployed forces in and near schools, turning them into military targets. Even schools that were not being occupied have been attacked, the rights organization said. "Civilians, including children, on both sides of the line of contact have been bearing the brunt of this protracted war," said Yulia Gorbunova, Ukraine researcher at HRW. "All parties to the conflict have a responsibility to protect children and to make sure that their hostilities don't cause further harm to their safety and education," Gorbunova added. More than 9,000 soldiers and civilians have been killed since the conflict broke out in April 2014, when pro-Russian separatists rose up following Russia's seizure of Ukraine's Crimea region. Fighting continues despite a year-old ceasefire agreement. Last week the head of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which monitors implementation of the ceasefire deal, voiced deep concern over escalating violence in eastern territories. When military forces occupied schools, they often destroyed school furniture and equipment and left behind heavy artillery or unused munitions, HRW said. In one case, HRW researchers found undetonated landmines in the school grounds, apparently thrown off a supply truck while it was parked in the schoolyard. Progress has been made in repairing and reopening damaged schools, particularly in government-controlled areas of Luhansk and Donetsk regions, thanks in large part to leadership by parents and teachers, HRW said. But local authorities and school administrators in many places told researchers the risk of renewed fighting made them reluctant to fund or carry out school renovations. Ukrainian authorities do not recognize school documents issued in rebel-held areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, so some parents in rebel-held areas send their children to schools in areas under government control, HRW said. The journey across the line of control is slow because of travel restrictions imposed by the Ukrainian government, and can be dangerous, due to sporadic shelling and the presence of mines, HRW said. "Teachers and parents on both sides of the contact line have shown tremendous commitment to continue children's education despite the war," Gorbunova said. "The warring parties should also do a lot more to avoid irreparably harming children's safety and education," she added. The researchers visited 41 schools and kindergartens between September and November 2015, in both government-controlled areas and territory controlled by Russia-backed militants. (Reporting by Alex Whiting, 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 http://news.trust.org)
Jerusalem (AFP) - The International Monetary Fund said Thursday that economic growth in the Israeli-occupied West Bank slowed to an estimated 2.8 percent in 2015 and was likely to remain below 3.0 percent this year.

In a statement concluding a week-long visit to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the IMF said Gaza rebuilding after the destruction of the 2014 summer war with Israel gave some boost to the coastal strip's economy.

But it said that the recovery was "hampered by slow aid disbursements and (Israeli) restrictions on imports of construction materials, and the humanitarian situation remains dire."

"Unemployment remains stubbornly high in the West Bank and higher still in Gaza, where two-thirds of young people are without a job," it added.

Aid officials say a lack of coordination between Hamas, the Islamist movement that rules the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, dominated by rival Fatah, have also contributed to the slow pace of reconstruction.

"Uncertainty continues to cloud the economic outlook," the IMF statement said.

"Investment remained weak, donor aid declined sharply," it said of the West Bank.

The United Nations warned Wednesday that humanitarian needs elsewhere in the Middle East were a potential threat to funding for the Palestinians.

"GDP growth in the West Bank and Gaza will likely reach 3.3 percent in 2016, with sub-3 percent growth in the West Bank and 5 percent growth in Gaza reflecting continued rebuilding," the IMF said.

"Real GDP in Gaza will not likely return to pre-conflict levels before 2018."
India and the United Arab Emirates on Thursday signed deals in fields ranging from space technology to renewable energy during a visit to New Delhi by Abu Dhabi's crown prince, the Indian foreign ministry said.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi signed the deals following talks in the Indian capital New Delhi.

"The 4 Agreements are in the field of cybersecurity, infrastructure investment, renewable energy & space cooperation," foreign ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said on Twitter, without giving further details.

The space cooperation pact comes as the UAE seeks India's expertise for its first interplanetary expedition, according to the Press Trust of India.

The Emirates Mars Mission orbiter is scheduled to touch down on Mars in 2021 in a mission to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the UAE.

Other agreements covered skill development, insurance and culture, Swarup added in another post on the social media site.

Modi posted on Twitter after meeting Al-Nahyan that the two leaders had enjoyed a "productive interaction".

"Avenues of India-UAE cooperation are immense," he tweeted.

Trade between the countries reached $59 billion last year, but UAE state minister for foreign affairs Anwar Gargash said ahead of the visit that the countries were seeking to boost this by 60 percent within five years.

The crown prince, deputy chief of the UAE armed forces, arrived for the three-day trip -- his first visit to India -- late Wednesday accompanied by a large business delegation.

The trip comes six months after Modi became the first Indian premier in three decades to visit the UAE, underlining India's push to forge deeper ties with the oil-rich state.

Abu Dhabi is the largest of seven emirates that make up the UAE, which is India's third largest trading partner, after the US and China.

The UAE is also home to around 2.6 million Indians who mostly work on construction sites -- the largest expatriate community in the country.

Al-Nahyan is scheduled to head to India's financial capital Mumbai on Friday before wrapping up his visit.
ANKARA (Reuters) - President Hassan Rouhani urged Iran's faction-ridden elite on Thursday to seek consensus after a hardline watchdog body disqualified thousands of moderate candidates from two elections this month, state television said. Rouhani, a popular pragmatist now reestablishing ties abroad after last year's nuclear accord with global powers ended economic sanctions, spoke to crowds in Azadi Square in Tehran marking the anniversary of Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution. The anniversary came amid intense infighting after the powerful Guardian Council barred the moderate candidates from running for parliament and the Assembly of Experts, which will choose the country's next supreme leader. State television said millions turned out nationwide at revolution rallies in all main cities marked by the traditional anti-U.S. and anti-Israel slogans and burnings of those two countries' flags. "Political factions should put aside any confrontation ... we need consensus now," Rouhani told the Tehran crowd. "Don't turn your backs on the ballot boxes." Rouhani also defended the nuclear deal, which hardliners oppose as a concession to pressure from Washington. He said it protected the Islamic Republics rights to nuclear power and strengthened the country's international and regional position. "Iranians will never yield to any pressure," he said. "Our nuclear victory showed to the world that Iranians are capable of winning any battle, including diplomatic battles." Iran emerged last month from years of isolation when crippling economic sanctions were lifted in return for Tehran complying with the nuclear deal to curb its nuclear ambitions. It is holding elections on Feb. 26 for the 290-seat parliament and the 88-seat Assembly of Experts. Moderates have criticized the Guardian Council, a clerical body that oversees all elections, for barring thousands of their candidates who might have enjoyed support at the polls because of Rouhani's success in lifting sanctions. Among those barred from running was Hassan Khomeini, 43, a grandson of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who led the revolution that overthrew the U.S.-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and created Iran's Islamic Republic. The Council said Hassan Khomeini "does not have enough Islamic knowledge to help designate the next supreme leader" as a member of the Assembly of Experts, according to Iranian media. (Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Tom Heneghan)
Since the Paris attacks last November and the San Bernardino shootings a month later  the first directed by ISIS and the latter inspired by the terror group - the 2016 U.S. presidential candidates have offered more details on their plans to counter the Islamic State. The presidential hopefuls have presented an array of opinions, with some urging a more aggressive posture, including American boots on the ground in Syria and Iraq.

The Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary have so far resulted in six frontrunner candidates: For Democrats, the candidates are former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders; for Republicans, the leading candidates are billionaire Donald Trump, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, and Ohio Governor, John Kasich. One of those six will likely be the next U.S. president.

Related: Former Defense Secretary Slams Trump and Cruz on ISIS Policy

ISIS actually cares about the identity of the next American president. The actions of one U.S. president helped create ISIS in the wake of the Iraq war; the non-action of another U.S. president allowed the group to emerge as the political and military power that we know now. Like voters, ISIS prefers candidates who serve its objectives.

Although the Islamic State has not made its preferences about the candidates known, theres no doubt that some of the contenders appeal to the group more. More than anything, ISIS wants a president who will play into its hands by inspiring more recruits to join the fight against the West. Perhaps the best recruiting tool ISIS could hope for would be having more American soldiers on the ground fighting against the self-proclaimed caliphate. Other potential recruiting points include discriminatory regulations aimed at Muslims in the West, the explicit use of torture, more aggressive alliances with Shia military groups, and indiscriminate bombing.

Here's a roundup of how the candidates say they'd manage the threat from ISIS and what ISISs response might be for each of them.

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Related: White House Wants Billions More to Fight ISIS

Trump: Trump has argued that the U.S. should temporarily prevent all non-American Muslims from entering the U.S. He also said that he would consider shutting down mosques at home. Trump recently said he would bring back waterboarding, a form of torture used by the CIA in the Iraq War, and used by ISIS. He also said he would use methods that go beyond waterboarding. His approach to defeating the terror group is to bomb the hell of them. He said he would even consider sending 10,000 U.S. troops to Syria and Iraq. Trump has also praised Russia for its attacks against ISIS. He has pledged to deport all Syrian refugees who resettle in the U.S. if he is elected president.

ISIS: Trumps controversial statements on Muslims and his family members Jewish ties definitely rank him as ISISs most preferred candidate. His consideration of sending 10,000 U.S. troops to fight ISIS is another reason for the terror group to wish him luck in his presidential quest. We know that the Somali terror group al-Shabaab that is affiliated with al-Qaeda has already used his statements against Muslims in one of their propaganda videos. With Trump in the White House, ISIS would likely try to attack the U.S. homeland to provoke Trump to take more radical positions than he already has, to encourage him to send as many U.S. troops as possible to the battlefield.

Related: Will Bernie Sanders' Foreign Policy Stumbles Derail His Campaign?

Sanders: The Vermont socialist wants to build a global coalition to take on ISIS, saying that he would even be open to working with Russia and Iran to defeat the extremist group. Sanders says the coalition should include Western powers, Muslim nations and Russia. He also called on Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar to play a greater role in the campaign against ISIS. In terms of the U.S. military role, Sanders says that military force should be a last resort, not a first move.

ISIS: Among the six candidates, Sanders position is the least militarized. This will look to ISIS as a continuation of the Obama administrations approach. However, his Jewish background would be a great propaganda tool for a terror group from the Arab world, where anything and everything wrong is blamed on a Jewish conspiracy. For these reasons, he could very well be ISISs most preferred candidate.

Cruz: Senator Cruz considers the Kurds the boots on the ground that could finish the job of defeating ISIS. He has called on Congress to pass a bill he introduced in 2014 that would allow government officials to take away U.S. citizenship for anyone suspected of supporting terror groups. Cruz has said that the U.S. should reject Muslim refugees from Syria but allow Christians to enter. He also thinks the president must declare war against the group and step up the existing bombing campaign. He said during a speech in Iowa on Dec. 5, "We will utterly destroy ISIS. We will carpet bomb them into oblivion. I don't know if sand can glow in the dark, but we're going to find out."

Related: Most Americans Want Obama to Send Ground Troops to Battle ISIS

ISIS: Cruz favors Christian Syrians over Muslims and his constant support for Israel could make him another preferred candidate for ISIS. His has a bill pending in Congress to designate the Muslim Brotherhood, the oldest and the largest Islamic political movement in the Middle East, a terrorist organization. That would be music to ISISs ears. His opposition to arming the Syrian rebels will make him even more appealing. If Cruz were elected, ISIS might try harder to attack the U.S. homeland and Israel in the hopes of forcing him to send U.S. troops to the front.

Rubio: It is worth noting that the Florida senator is the only candidate among the six who has a detailed and specific plan for combating ISIS on his website. Rubio said that the U.S. will need a significant number of special operators to supplement a majority Sunni ground force (made up of Sunni fighters from Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia and Sunnis from Iraq and Syria) to defeat ISIS militarily and ideologically. He has called for the United States to provide both air support and logistical support.

Rubio has also said the U.S. should stop the flow of Syrian refugees to the United States by enforcing no-fly zones in Syria, restore the NSA's data collection powers and reverse mandatory defense spending cuts. He says he would demand that Iraq's government give greater autonomy to Sunnis. At home, Rubio has suggested that the U.S. should shut down any institution where radicals are being inspired. Rubio has also called for the removal of al-Assads regime in Syria by arming the Syrian rebels. Another strategy put forth by Rubio is his plan to have U.S. special operation forces destroy ISIS training camps, and have the forces film these attacks in order to humiliate ISIS.

Related: Clinton Distances Herself from Obama in the Fight Against ISIS

ISIS: Many of Rubios suggested actions to counter ISIS are closer to Clinton than Trump. However, his statement on the clash of civilization (indicating an ideological war between the Christian West and Islam) is exactly what ISIS has been promoting for years. If he is elected president, ISIS might find a use for that statement as an introduction to every propaganda video the terror group produces. ISISs reaction to his election would likely be an attack on the U.S., thereby bringing Rubios (and ISISs) views on the clash of civilizations to fruition.

John Kasich: The Ohio governor calls for a worldwide coalition, including NATO countries, along with other Middle East nations to become involved in fighting ISIS. He also supports no fly-zones and arming the Kurds. But he, too, has called for boots on the ground to defeat the group. He offered an odd non-military solution in an interview last Nov. 18 with NBC News when he said, We need to beam messages around the world about what it means to have a Western ethic, to be a part of a Christian-Judeo society. He then announced his plan to create a new federal agency tasked with supporting the Jewish and Christian traditions around the world. Kasich said his new agency would have a clear mandate to promote core Judeo-Christian, Western values that we and our friends and allies share.

ISIS: Kasichs approach to defeating ISIS is something between that of Sanders and Cruz. ISISs reaction to his election for the U.S. presidency would be likely mean attacks on the U.S. homeland.

Clinton: Clintons strategy calls for more air strikes on the group's strongholds in Iraq and Syria. But she said it would be a mistake to send in American combat troops, even if there is an attack on U.S. soil. Instead, Clinton has said she would work to persuade more Iraqi Sunnis to join the fight, arm them if necessary, and convince Turkey and Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar to partner with the U.S. She advocates for a no-fly zone over northern Syria to protect civilians from the violence, but says the U.S. should admit refugees after they pass rigorous background checks.

ISIS: For ISIS, U.S. presidents with no foreign affairs experience are a gift. Among the six contenders, Clinton is the only one with that experience, thus, least preferred of all five. Clintons commitment not to send U.S. boots on the ground and her argument for increasing air strikes against the terror group  which is a major demand for those who fight ISIS in Iraq and Syria  make her more problematic for ISIS. Because of her strategy, ISIS might step up its efforts to target the U.S. homeland and Europe to pressure any upcoming Clinton administration and its European partners to send U.S. and Western troops to Iraq and Syria.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
Jerusalem (AFP) - Israel on Thursday charged two Arab Israeli schoolgirls with the attempted murder of a security guard last week, saying they expected to die in the attempt and become martyrs for Islam.

A police statement quoted the charge sheet as saying that the two girls were both aged 14, from the mixed Arab-Jewish town of Ramle, and had been influenced by a wave of Palestinian violence since October.

"On February 3, 2016, after a stabbing attack in which three terrorists were shot dead at Jerusalem's Damascus Gate and because of the wave of terror, the accused agreed to meet the next day, equipped with kitchen knives, to carry out a nationalist stabbing attack," it said.

"They conspired to become 'martyrs' and die in the war for religion."

On February 4, "one of the accused suggested to the other that they go to school first and carry out the stabbing attack in the afternoon," it added.

"Nevertheless the other accused persuaded her that they should mount the attack in the morning instead of going to school."

It said the girls took knives from their home kitchens and hid them in their school bags, then set out for Ramle's shopping mall with the intention of killing an Israeli soldier.

According to the statement, when they could see only civilians they decided to target a private security guard at the mall entrance.

The two then pulled knives and stabbed the guard in an arm and his legs, lightly wounding him before they were overpowered by a second guard and a soldier.

They were charged in juvenile court on Thursday with attempted murder, conspiracy and possession of knives, the police statement said.

The attack underlined the unpredictable nature of the wave of stabbing attacks that have targeted Israelis since October.

Many of the attackers have been young people, including teenagers, believed to be acting on their own.

More than four months of violence has claimed the lives of 26 Israelis, as well as an American and an Eritrean, according to an AFP count.

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Among them was a 19-year-old Israeli policewoman killed in the February 3 Damascus Gate shooting and stabbing attack that authorities say influenced the schoolgirls.

In addition, 166 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, most while carrying out attacks but others during clashes and demonstrations.

A number of Arab Israelis have carried out attacks. Arab Israelis hold Israeli citizenship, though they largely see themselves as Palestinians.
Istanbul (AFP) - Top officials from Turkey and Israel have begun new closed-door talks on a deal to normalise ties more than half a decade after relations were downgraded, a report said Thursday.

Delegations led by powerful Turkish foreign ministry undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu and Joseph Ciechanover, an advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Israeli National Security Advisor Jacob Nagel started talks in Geneva late on Wednesday, the Turkish NTV television channel reported.

Israeli officials declined to comment and the Turkish foreign ministry said it would neither confirm nor deny the talks.

NATO member Turkey was a key regional ally of Israel until the two countries fell out in 2010 over the deadly storming by Israeli commandos of a Turkish aid ship, the Mavi Marmara, bound for Gaza.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan further raised hackles in Israel with his sometimes inflammatory rhetoric towards the Jewish state.

But the atmosphere was transformed following the revelation in December that the two sides had met that month in secret talks to seek a rapprochement.

The Geneva talks are the first since the December meeting, NTV said.

Turkey has repeatedly made clear three conditions for a normalisation: the lifting of the Gaza blockade, compensation for the Mavi Marmara victims and an apology for the incident.

Israel has already apologised and negotiations appear to have made progress on compensation, leaving the blockade on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip the main hurdle.

Omer Celik, the spokesman of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), said Thursday the negotiations were "going well", without confirming the new Geneva talks.

But he emphasised the importance of Israel fulfilling all the conditions for a deal to be reached. "Details are very important in these negotiations," he told reporters in Ankara.

Meanwhile, Israel's Haaretz daily reported Thursday that Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon is demanding that any reconciliation agreement with Turkey includes the return of the bodies of two Israeli soldiers declared killed in the Gaza war in the summer of 2014.

According to Haaretz, Yaalon has adopted a hardline stance in the face of the reconciliation efforts, contributing to a hesitation on the part of Netanyahu.

Analysts have suggested that Turkey's desire for a rapprochement has been accelerated by the need for Ankara to make up for the crisis in its ties with Moscow after the shooting down of a Russian warplane, with a particular eye on Israel's gas reserves.
Jerusalem (AFP) - A military court in Israel has sentenced a soldier to seven months in prison for abusing captured Palestinians, following the outbreak last October of anti-Israeli attacks, the military said Thursday.

A statement in response to an AFP query said the man was found guilty Wednesday "on multiple accounts of mistreating apprehended individuals".

"The Israel Defence Forces (army) see in these extreme incidents a total violation and disregard of the IDF's Code of Conduct and strongly condemns these actions," it said.

The statement did not disclose the offences but news website Ynet said the soldier "on two occasions beat and abused detained Palestinians and also took part in giving electric shock to one of them".

The army statement said the court had yet to rule on "other suspects involved in these extreme incidents".

Ynet said the first incident -- involving a Palestinian arrested on suspicion of militant activity -- took place in October when a wave of Palestinian attacks erupted.

The second took place about a week later, with a different prisoner, it said.

The violence has since claimed the lives of 26 Israelis, as well as an American, a Sudanese and an Eritrean, according to an AFP count.

And 166 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since October 1, most of whom were carrying out attacks while others died during clashes and demonstrations.
(Reuters) - JetBlue Airways Corp <JBLU.O> said on Thursday it launched a venture capital unit that would invest in technology startups in the travel and hospitality industry.

The company has set aside a "multi-million dollar investment" to start funding ideas that have the "right strategic fit," Bonny Simi, the president of the unit, told Reuters on Wednesday.

Simi did not specify how much JetBlue exactly intends to set aside for the fund.

The unit, JetBlue Technology Ventures, will operate from the GSVlabs campus in Redwood City, California.

The low-cost airline, known for introducing satellite TV and free onboard Wi-Fi Internet, said it would partner with other venture capital firms, universities and organizations inside and outside Silicon Valley to scout for startups.

Simi, who is also a JetBlue pilot, will report to Eash Sundaram, the company's chief information officer and the head of JetBlue Technology Ventures advisory committee.

(This version of the story corrects dateline to Feb 11 from Feb 10.)

(Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
Photo: The Indian Express

NEW DELHI: Students affiliated to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) staged a protest outside the office of the Vice Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) here on Wednesday to vent their ire over a programme describing the execution of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru as judicial killing, reported ANI.

The varsity witnessed violent clashes between two students groups last night over this programme following which the police personnel were deployed on duty to maintain the law and order situation in the campus.

Bharat ki barbaadi tak jung rahegi, jung rahegi



The incident was followed by the cultural evening organised at the Sabarmati Dhaba by ten students, who were earlier members of the Democratic Students Union (DSU).

While the organisers originally got the permission to hold this event, it was withdrawn after the ABVP complained to the administration. The ABVP had called for a protest outside the 247 dhaba opposite the venue, against the anti-national activity in the campus.

Some students, under the guise of freedom of speech, raised slogans in favour of Afzal Guru, who was hanged for his involvement in the Parliament attacks. Some screamed slogans favouring Azadi for Kashmir and said that they would keep fighting till India is destroyed.

The ABVP has also demanded that the ten students behind the event must be rusticated with immediate effect.

Meanwhile, The Indian Express reported that the JNU administration on Wednesday ordered a disciplinary enquiry into holding of an event on campus against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru despite cancellation of permission saying any talk about countrys disintegration cannot be national.

The universitys move came in wake of protests by members of ABVP outside the VC office demanding expulsion of students who misled the university about nature of the event.

Maintaining that the act by students amounted to indiscipline, the university authorities said the committee headed by the Chief Proctor of JNU will investigate the matter and come up with its report.

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The permission for the programme was sought by giving incomplete information, so it is an act of indiscipline. A committee headed by the Chief Proctor will examine the footage of the event and speak to the witnesses. It is on basis of the report, the varsity will take appropriate action, JNU Vice-Chancellor Jagdeesh Kumar said.

Briefing about the incomplete information, the varsity Registrar Bhupinder Zutshi said, There was nowhere mentioned in the permission request that the event will be on Afzal Guru, they just said that they wanted to organise a cultural event. How can any talk about disintegration of nation be national?

The student organisers of the event had pasted posters across the campus inviting them to gather for a protest march against judicial killing of Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhatt and in solidarity with struggle of Kashmiri people for their democratic right to self determination at varsitys Sabarmati dhaba on Tuesday.

Members of the ABVP objected to the event and wrote to the Vice-Chancellor that such kind of marches should not be held on campus of an educational institution, prompting the university administration to order cancellation of the march as they feared that it might disrupt peace on campus.

But the organisers went ahead with the programme despite the cancellation of the permission and held a cultural programme, art and photo exhibition on the issue rather than a protest.

Agitated over the issue, ABVP members gathered outside VC office and shouted slogans demanding expulsion of the students who contributed to the anti-national activity.

JNU students union joint secretary Saurabh Kumar, who is the only ABVP member in the union, said, How can an event on Afzal Guru, who attacked the temple of democracy, be held here? We are demanding expulsion of those who organised it.

This was an anti-national event. When we tried to stop them from holding a march, I was shown a gun. They raised anti-India slogans and for freedom of Kashmir, he alleged.

However, this is not the first time that JNU students have organised an event on death anniversary of Afzal Guru. The varsity registrar said, if once a wrong thing has happened it does not mean it has to happen again and again. We had denied the permission earlier too and those who were found defying instructions by the probe committee were penalised.

The decision of ordering an enquiry was taken by the VC after he met the agitating students. The VC has told us that an enquiry has been ordered and based on the report action will be taken. But we will approach the HRD ministry as well as the Home Ministry demanding that the students who contributed to this anti-national activity be expelled, said Alok Singh, President of ABVPs JNU unit.

The organizers alleged ABVP terms everything controversial and against their own ideology as anti-national.

This is a set pattern where we get permission but then ABVP comes right on the day of programme and administration cancels it last moment. Even screening of movies on controversial issues are considered anti-national.

This is replication of what happened in Hyderabad University where ABVPs actions forced Rohit to commit suicide, said Anirban Bhattacharya, one of the organizers.

Meanwhile, police officials said that a complaint in this regard has been received from the agitating students and the matter is being looked into.
Remember Arnold Schwarzenegger and Carl Weathers' first scene together in Predator  the one where a long-time-no-see handshake becomes an outright arm wrestle? Most action movie junkies dream about shaking those hands one day; Josh Holloway actually got to do it.

It was a meeting at a gun range years ago, when Holloway and Schwarzenegger were working together on David Ayer's Sabotage. "It was just me and him, walking side-by-side blowing off shotguns," he tells The Hollywood Reporter. "It was surreal. Here I was, blowing off shotgun rounds next to the Terminator!"

Nowadays, Holloway is working alongside the Dillon to Schwarzenegger's Dutch, Weathers, on Colony, USA Network's science fiction series about an alien occupation in modern-day LA. Beyond his growing collection of Predator encounters, Holloway can now also count Tom Cruise and Harrison Ford as co-stars. Holloway describes these as "wow moments," the times he feels like a kid all over again. "That never changes," he says.

Read More: 'Colony': Four Ways 'Lost' Inspired USA's Josh Holloway-Carlton Cuse Drama

But Holloway has changed. The Georgia native spent his early years as an actor booking music videos and bit roles (literally "bit," in the case of his guest-starring spot in the series premiere of Angel) before landing Lost, the show that paved the road for his future Schwarzenegger shotgun session. Holloway starred as confidence man James "Sawyer" Ford, easily one of the most popular characters on the jungle mysteries series, even if he didn't start out with the audience on his side.

"I remember seeing some early testing ABC had done in the beginning, and Josh's character tested way down at the bottom," says Carlton Cuse, executive producer of Lost and one of the co-creators of Colony. "And of course he did! He was a self-serving con man who was happy to torture a whole group of people over an asthma inhaler in order to get a kiss."

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Over six seasons of Lost, Sawyer transformed from self-serving scoundrel to outright hero, ending as "the highest-testing character" on the show, according to Cuse. The character rose from the background ranks of Oceanic 815 to one of the foremost players, and it felt like Holloway's life after Lost would follow suit. When the show ended in 2010, Holloway hit the big-screen in movies like Sabotage, Paranoia, and Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol  and it was Holloway's work as an ill-fated operative in the latter film that put him back on the path to television.

"I really developed that character, and when he was killed off, I went, 'I have a spy in me,'" says Holloway. "It was something I wanted to do. I wanted to go to the opposite end of the spectrum as an actor, get really in shape, be clean shaven, get rid of the hair, and be different."

The result: Intelligence, Holloway's CBS series in which he played a secret agent with an all-powerful computer chip in his brain. The show lasted longer than Holloway's Mission: Impossible hero, but not by much, canceled after only one season.

"I wanted to give it a shot, and I did," he says. "The chips fell where they may. It happens."

But Holloway's dream to occupy a spy role didn't die with Intelligence, thanks to Cuse, who came along with an offer for the lead role on Colony, which was renewed for a second season after only three episodes.

"I love Carlton's mode of storytelling," Holloway says. "The audience knows what we know. They're on the ride with you. It's very immediate. He's so good at holding tension and creating mystery. That's the storytelling I'm attracted to."

Read More: 'Colony': EP Carlton Cuse Breaks Down Show's First Major Death

On Colony, Holloway plays Will Bowman, a fugitive hunter forced to collaborate with the aliens oppressing Los Angeles, in order to protect his wife and kids. He sees Bowman and Sawyer as opposite ends of the same coin: "Sawyer lived in the darkness and was reluctantly pulled to the light, while Will's a family man and patriot reluctantly thrown into the darkness."

The similarities more or less end there. Unlike Sawyer, Bowman values family above all, and boasts enough maturity to hold multiple government jobs. On the family front, Holloway relates to Will now in a way he couldn't during Lost, given his real-life role as a husband and father of two children.

"I think I had an aspect of Will back then, but I did not truly understand the stakes this guy is facing until this point in my life," he says. "I've been with my wife for 17 years, and we understand that you can both have the same goal, but go about it completely different  which is what Will and Katie (Sarah Wayne Callies) are doing. That's marriage! The stakes are different now. They're immediate for me now."

Some things haven't changed since Lost, like Holloway's relative disinterest in knowing the bigger picture of his show's mythology. As was the case back then, Holloway is less concerned about the mysteries on Colony, and more concerned with finding the truth of his character.

"I like to shoot from the hip," he says. "I love mysteries  just in an old school way."

Perhaps it's best not to dwell too much on the mystery of how Holloway went from hoarding guns on the Lost island to shooting guns with Schwarzenegger in Sabotage to wielding guns for extraterrestrial employers on Colony. At least, he doesn't think too much about it. "So far, the alchemy is working perfect," he says, and that's about as far as he's willing to observe. But what would the Holloway of 2004 think of the experiences he's collected over the past 12 years?

"I think he'd kick back with a bottle of whiskey and a big shit-eating grin on his face and say, 'Well, alright! Things are going alright, son,'" Holloway says with a big laugh. "I think he would be pleased."

Colony airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. on USA Network.
By Kevin Murphy

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (Reuters) - The Kansas Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the state's funding system for public education is unconstitutional and said it must be replaced by June 30 if schools are to remain open.

The court found in an 80-page ruling that the system approved by lawmakers in the Republican-controlled state legislature last year was inequitable, saying it had come up $54 million short in funding for schools in poor districts.

The court upheld a challenge by four school districts to the so-called block grant system, which replaced per-pupil funding, finding that system does not comply with the Kansas constitution.

Lacking a constitutional school finance system, schools in Kansas will not be able to operate after June 30, the court stated.

"Accordingly, the legislature's chosen path during the 2016 session will ultimately determine whether Kansas students will be treated fairly and the schoolhouse doors will be open to them in August for the beginning of the 2016-2017 school year," the court ruled.

Kansas lawmakers are debating the budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

The Kansas Supreme Court ruled almost two years ago that the state was breaching its mandatory duty to fully fund public schools. Plaintiffs in a lawsuit at that time said the state was under-funding education by at least $129.1 million for the year.

Republican Governor Sam Brownback and the legislature argued that lawmakers, not the courts, should establish public school funding levels. Some Democrats and other critics have said public school students are paying the price for tax cuts approved in recent years.

Brownback's office did not immediately respond with comment on Thursday's state Supreme Court ruling.

The Supreme Court ruling upholds a state court of appeals finding in favor of four school districts who argued that the block grant system of funding worked to the disadvantage of poor or under-achieving students.

The state Supreme Court held that lawmakers have relied on "wealth-based" disparities to deny certain districts money to which they were entitled.

(Reporting by Fiona Ortiz; Editing by Tom Brown)
By Denis Dyomkin and Shadia Nasralla MUNICH (Reuters) - Major powers began a new round of Syria talks on Thursday focusing on calls for a ceasefire and access for aid, but the mood was dour with Moscow showing no sign of calling off its bombing in support of a massive new government advance. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev raised the specter of an interminable conflict or even a world war if powers failed to negotiate an end to the fighting in Syria, which has killed 250,000 people, caused a refugee crisis and empowered Islamic State militants. With the Syrian opposition saying it cannot accept a truce because it does not trust the Russians, diplomats saw little chance of progress at the meeting in the German city of Munich. The first peace talks in two years between belligerents in Syria collapsed last week before they began in the face of the offensive by President Bashar al-Assad's forces, one of the biggest and most consequential of the five-year war. Thursday's meeting was meant to allow powers to coordinate support for ongoing negotiations, but instead has turned into a desperate bid to resurrect them. Ministers wrangled over three core issues: a gradual cessation of hostilities with a firm end date, humanitarian access to cities being besieged by both sides and a commitment that Syrian parties return to Geneva for political negotiations. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has repeatedly urged Moscow since peace talks broke down in Geneva to halt its bombardments in Syria in support of Assad. Moscow, however, had proposed a truce that would begin only from the start of next month, giving its Damascus allies 18 more days to recapture Aleppo, once Syria's largest city. "Here we need something of a breakthrough," said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. "Today, we will try what has not been achieved so far especially, to get better supplies to people locked in Syria and link this to first steps in a significant reduction of violence." But a senior Western diplomat gave a pessimistic outlook: "This meeting risks being endless and I fear the results will be extremely small." Russia's intervention on the battlefield since last year has swung the momentum. Government forces and allies have routed rebels and come close to encircling Aleppo, a divided city half held by rebels for years. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow had submitted proposals for a ceasefire and was awaiting a response from other powers. But Western officials do not expect Moscow to accept the immediate halt to bombing that Washington seeks. Kerry said he expected a "serious conversation". "Obviously, at some point in time, we want to make progress on the issues of humanitarian access and ceasefire," Kerry said. Riad Hijab, chief coordinator of the main Western-backed Syrian opposition, told reporters he hoped to see progress quickly, including a "working group" to press ahead on the core issues. He warned that there was little trust of Russia among the opposition. "What Russia, the regime, Iran and the sectarian militias supported by Iran, do doesnt serve the peace process, quite the opposite, it hinders the peace process," he said. Russia is widely viewed as unlikely to halt support for the government advance until Damascus achieves its two main objectives: recapturing Aleppo and sealing the Turkish border, for years the lifeline for rebel-held areas. That would amount to its most decisive victory of the war so far, and probably put an end to rebel hopes of removing Assad by force, their goal throughout years of fighting that has driven 11 million people from their homes. "The goal is to totally liberate Aleppo and then to seal the northern border with Turkey," said Ivan Konovalov, director of the Center for Strategic Trend Studies in Moscow, explaining the Russian government thinking. "The offensive should not be stopped - that would be tantamount to defeat." TURKISH BORDER Turkey has already taken in 2.6 million Syrians, the world's largest refugee population, and has agreed to help keep them from traveling into Europe in return for aid. Erdogan warned that Turkey could "open the gates" for refugees into Europe if it did not receive enough help. The United Nations and the European Union, which has agreed a 3 billion euro fund to improve conditions for refugees in Turkey, have both urged Ankara to admit those fleeing the fighting. "They struck Aleppo so we fled. First we escaped to another village. We've gone to every village. But they're bombing everywhere so we came here," said Musa Ibrahim Isa, one of the tens of thousands of people at Bab al-Salama, on the Syrian side of the Turkish border. "Our only wish from God is that these gates be opened." President Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech that Turkey's patience may run out and Ankara may have to take action, but gave no details of what he meant. Erdogan called on the United Nations to prevent "ethnic cleansing", saying as many as 600,000 more refugees could arrive. The NATO alliance announced a new sea mission to help Turkey and Greece crack down on criminal networks smuggling refugees into Europe from Turkey, after thousands drowned and hundreds of thousands made the journey last year. Washington is leading its own air campaign against Islamic State militants in eastern Syria and northern Iraq, but has resisted calls to intervene in the main battlefields of Syria's civil war in the west of the country, where the government is mostly fighting against other insurgent groups. That has left the field to the Russians, who support Assad against an array of rebel groups backed by Turkey, Arab states and the West. The United States pressed allies to contribute more to the U.S.-led military campaign against Islamic State, which it said must be accelerated regardless of the fate of diplomatic efforts to end Syria's civil war. (Additional reporting by John Irish, Warren Strobel and Sabine Siebold; Writing by Giles Elgood, Peter Graff and Alistair Bell; Editing by Peter Millership, Andrew Heavens, Toni Reinhold)
Brussels (AFP) - Talks on a deal to keep Britain in the EU will go down to the wire at a leaders summit next week after negotiators failed to reach a breakthrough on the key issues on Thursday, European sources said.

The main sticking points include Britain's demands for protection for countries that do not use the euro currency and the length of time it can limit welfare benefits for European Union migrant workers, they said.

Negotiators made "good progress on technical, legal clarifications" to proposals that EU chief Donald Tusk made last week to try to meet British Prime Minister David Cameron's reform demands, an EU source said.

"But main political issues are still outstanding... and they will have to be dealt with by leaders next week," an EU source told AFP on condition of anonymity after the talks wrapped up in Brussels.

Tusk, who visits Berlin, Paris and other capitals next week for talks on the deal, will "intensify his consultations with leaders" in a bid to "ensure broad political support for the settlement," the source added.

Cameron wants a deal at the February 18-19 summit before holding a referendum on Britain's membership of the EU, probably in June.

In a sign that one of the most controversial issues is Britain's demands for safeguards for so-called "euro outs", Tusk on Thursday met Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijssebloem, European Central Bank official Benoit Coeure and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker to discuss the "Brexit" talks.

- 'Brake not watered down' -

A British government spokeswoman said that the main proposals for Britain remained "on the table untouched"

"We think we are in a good place, although there is more work to do and more details to be nailed down, and that work will continue," the spokeswoman told AFP.

"Crucial for us is that the proposal for the emergency brake on welfare benefits has not been watered down."

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With time running out, Tusk said Tuesday that he had cleared his diary until the summit to hold more talks with EU leaders. He added that he still hoped for a deal but warning that the process was "very fragile".

Tusk meets Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel in Brussels on Friday and will travel to Berlin and Paris for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande on Monday or Tuesday.

He will also meet Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, as well as the President of Romania and the Czech Prime Minister, who currently heads the "Visegrad Group' of eastern European states, which oppose the migrant benefit changes.

A text of the draft being discussed by diplomats, obtained by AFP, shows some elements watered down to address the concerns of France in particular about the protections for non-eurozone nations.

It also ties the four-year "emergency brake" on welfare benefit payments for EU migrant workers more specifically to Britain, to make it harder for other countries to try to win a similar concession.

It does this by limiting the brake to countries that failed to take advantage of temporary immigration controls after eastern European states joined the EU in 2004 -- of which Britain was one of the only two.

A key question -- how long Britain will be able to keep the brake system in operation -- remains blank in the draft.

Several countries are also concerned about plans to change the EU's treaties to reflect the British demands, with some saying it should be enough that a summit agreement is made legally binding, the sources said.
US lingerie and loungewear brand Aerie has named longtime #AerieReal girl and UK pin-up Iskra Lawrence as its new #AerieReal Role Model.

The plus-sized model and National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) advocate has been modelling with the US brand for one year, starring in its famously unretouched campaigns. She is known for championing body positivity and acceptance.

"Aerie shares my values in uplifting women, building their confidence and embracing the unique qualities that make us all beautiful," says Lawrence, who has been vocal about encouraging natural beauty on her social media accounts and fashion and beauty site RunwayRiot.

"I got told I wasn't good enough and I could never make it and then Aerie told me I was beautiful because I was me," she explains in a new video. "You don't need to be retouched because the real you is beautiful."

Since the launch of its #AerieReal unairbrushed campaign concept in 2014, Aerie has featured Emma Roberts in an unretouched intimates campaign and partnered with Gray Malin to shoot a grand-scale unretouched selfie atop Miami Beach, featuring hundreds of real women in Aerie swimwear.

Lawrence's new role will see her put in appearances at the brand's upcoming pop-up truck touring US colleges February 28 - March 20, 2016, in stand-alone Aerie stores to meet and greet customers and at brand events nationwide to bring exciting experiences directly to Aerie girls. She will also share her fitness and lifestyle tips on www.aerie.com.

American Eagle Outfitters-owned Aerie, which offers "bras, undies, swim and more for every girl" and has sworn off using supermodels in its campaigns, is just the latest in a long line of brands shunning Photoshop. Last December fashion label & Other Stories unveiled a headline-grabbing lingerie campaign that featured non-professional models with underarm hair, tattoos and scars and went viral almost immediately. This week, lingerie brand Lane Bryant once again made waves when it unveiled its latest campaign, "This Body", encouraging women to embrace their bodies and celebrates the female form in all its sizes.
London Fashion Week (LFW) is going nationwide this February, with plans to screen the style extravaganza to more than 35 million people across the UK.

The British Fashion Council (BFC) is teaming up with media company Ocean Outdoor to show LFW footage on 60 outside screens across the country in cities including Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle as well various London locations. The footage will be broadcast from February 15-23.

In the run up to LFW the screens will play footage from the Spring/Summer 2016 shows, celebrating the city's fashion scene through daily round-ups of the shows and presentations.



"At a time when many conversations are taking place around connecting fashion weeks with consumers, this is a perfect opportunity to reach both new and existing fashion fans throughout the UK," said Caroline Rush, CBE, CEO, British Fashion Council.



Ocean Outdoor has a strong history with LFW, presenting the UK's first shoppable billboard in association with Twitter and Topshop and broadcasting the Autumn/Winter 2015 Hunter Original London Fashion Week show across The Grid, a network of outdoor screens across the UK.



Additional highlights for this season's LFW include "London Fashion Weekend", which will see Emilia Wickstead, Holly Fulton, Mary Katrantzou and Temperley London present their SS16 collections at the Saatchi Gallery across the four days. The event will also feature a talk series including fashion designers Charlotte Dellal of Charlotte Olympia, Emilia Wickstead, Katharine Hamnett, Nicholas Kirkwood and Pam Hogg.



The "London Fashion Week Talk Series Presented by American Express" will give audiences the chance to listen to designer Gareth Pugh, Spanish editor Luis Venegas and Norwegian fashion photographer Slve Sundsb, while a Sunglass Hut Pop-Up will offer fans the chance to personalize their very own sunglass case, designed by the brand House of Holland and illustrator-designers Julie Verhoeven & Kate Moross.



Elsewhere, The May Fair Hotel will be celebrating London Fashion Week with a new cocktail collection which will be on sale at the May Fair Bar from February 19-29 and an afternoon tea at the May Fair Kitchen, while The Museum of London is holding a free exhibition on tattooing in London's long and rich history.
This story first appeared in the Feb. 12 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.

Best director Oscar nominee Mad Max: Fury Road's George Miller shared his perspective on a pre-scandal Mel Gibson, who toplined his 1979 original cult classic, with THR's Kim Masters (on KCRW's The Business airing Feb. 15). In addition to noting that Gibson never retreated to his trailer and instead constantly studied the action on set, Miller shared that the actor would act "edgy" because "he felt very invaded" by fame. In particular, when Gibson learned that the local Catholic church didn't celebrate a traditional Latin mass, "he got angry," said Miller.

Eventually, the action star was able to master his nervousness, explained Miller, but "then the alcohol came." Gibson would blame booze for his anti-Semitic tirade during his 2006 DUI arrest that became public. "When I heard those tapes, I cried," said Miller. "There is no question that he's a lovely person [who was] really struggling. Since then, he seems to be doing a lot better." Gibson recently directed the army drama Hacksaw Ridge, expected to be released this year.

Read More: George Miller Named Cannes Jury President
Paul LePage wears many hats: governor, anti-press crusader, fount of racist innuendo, advocate for vigilante justice. Now he plans to add Maine education commissioner, too.

On Thursday, he said he would withdraw the nomination of acting Education Commissioner William Beardsley for a permanent role, citing insurmountable Democratic opposition in the state legislature to Beardsleys elevation.

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The Plot Against Paul LePage

I will be the commissioner, LePage said. Or as the governor might say in his native French, letat, cest moi.

Senator Rebecca Millett, the top Democrat on the education committee, accused LePage of making a mockery of the role of commissioner and the important responsibilities that fall beneath the commissioner and seriousness of educating our children. Asked what might have motivated LePage, she told the Portland Press Herald, I cant explain why the governor does anything.

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Beardsley is currently serving as acting commissioner, and when that appointments runs out, he will return to being deputy commissioner, while LePage will lead the office. His answer was prompted by a question from the superintendent of Lewiston schools, who asked when the education department might get permanent leadership, the Sun Journal reported. Its perhaps not quite what the superintendent had in mind.

Education has been a hotly contested issue during LePages term. The Republican is a major proponent of charter schools, and signed legislation authorizing them in Maine. He also, by his own admission, used state funds to pressure a charitable organization into rescinding a job offer to the Democratic state house speaker, a vocal opponent of charter schools.

Its already been a banner week for LePage, whos prone to outrageous and offensive comments. He followed through on a threat not to deliver a state of the state address, instead sending a letter to the legislature, which the Bangor Daily News characterized as terse and insulting. For example, LePage wrote, For the past year, socialist politicians in Augusta have been dragging my Administration's employees before a kangaroo court and plotting meaningless impeachment proceedings. While your colleagues were engaged in these silly public relations stunts, Mainers were literally dying on the streets.

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A group of legislators attempted to impeach LePage last month, but came up short.

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This week he also returned to the racist comments he made in January about drug dealers by the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty who come up here, they sell their heroin, then they go back home. Incidentally, half the time they impregnate a young, white girl before they leave. He also suggested bringing back the guillotine to publicly execute drug dealers and called for vigilante justice against pushers: Everybody in Maine, we have constitutional carry. Load up and get rid of the drug dealers. (Capital punishment for drug trafficking might be unconstitutional; extrajudicial killing is definitely unconstitutional.)

On Tuesday, he argued that the remarks had all been part of a larger plan to get attention for the heroin epidemic in the state.

"I had to go scream at the top of my lungs about black dealers coming in and doing the things that theyre doing to our state," he said. "I had to scream about guillotines and those types of things before they were embarrassed into giving us a handful of DEA agents. That is what it takes with this 127th [legislature]. It takes outrageous comments and outrageous actions to get them off the dime."

As the Press Herald noted, however, the latest rationale is at odds with LePages earlier insistence that his critics, and not he, had injected race into the matter.

Its been a tough week for LePage: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, whom he had endorsed for president, dropped out of the race. Yet Christies exit seems to clear the way for LePage to back Donald Trumpa soul sibling in the hunt for every more offensive speech.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
Albert Einstein was a pretty smart guy. OK, thats understating it just a tad: He was a genius who completely changed our knowledge of how the universe works. However, when Einstein was coming up with his theories for how the universe worked, he had to rely on mathematical thought experiments since there was no way at the time to physically test his ideas. In fact, one of Einsteins wildest theories was last year observed for the first time ever thanks to the work of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration.

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So what was this theory? Essentially, Einstein posited that when a gigantic catastrophic event occurs somewhere in the universe such as an exploding star or two colliding black holes, it will produce gravitational waves that travel through the universe and ripple the fabric of space itself.

To get a sense of this, imagine that you are swimming in a pond when someone drops a giant rock into it. However, instead of simply bobbing up and down with the resulting ripples, imagine that the ripples physically caused you to get larger and smaller as they passed through you. Thats essentially what happens when gravitational waves pass through space in the universe.

While this theory has been seen as mathematically sound, we never observed these gravitational waves until this past fall. As The New York Times explains, the scientists at LIGO achieved in September 2015 when they heard and recorded the sound of two black holes colliding a billion light-years away after its resulting waves vibrated a pair of L-shaped antennas in Washington State and Louisiana.

Until now, we scientists have only seen warped space-time when its calm, LIGO scientist Dr. Kip Thorne of the California Institute of Technology explained to the Times. Its as though we had only seen the oceans surface on a calm day but had never seen it roiled in a storm, with crashing waves.

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If you want to learn more about gravitational waves, this PBS video explaining them is a really good resource:

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This article was originally published on BGR.com
London (AFP) - Manchester United expect to make more than 500 million ($719.5 million, 635.2 million euros) in the 2016 financial year, the club announced on Thursday, despite continued underperformance on the pitch.

Second-quarter revenues rose by 26.6 percent to a record 133.8 million, with commercial revenues up 42.5 percent to 66.1 million and broadcasting revenues climbing 31.3 percent to 37.3 million.

Sponsorship revenue also rose by 1.6 million, keeping the club on track to generate between 500 million and 510 million in revenues for the current financial year.

"Our strong commitment to investing in our squad, youth academy and the broader club are ultimately underpinned by our financial strength and the hard work and dedication of everyone at the club," said executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward in a statement.

"Our solid results off the pitch help contribute to what remains our number one priority -- success on the pitch."

Despite Woodward's upbeat message, uncertainty continues to swirl around United manager Louis van Gaal, who has battled speculation about his future for several months.

United limped out of the Champions League in the group phase and face a battle to qualify for next season's tournament as they currently lie six points below the top four in the Premier League.

They remain alive in the FA Cup and Europa League, but were knocked out of the League Cup by second-tier Middlesbrough.

Reports emerged last week that United have opened talks with Jose Mourinho, sacked by Chelsea in December, to replace Van Gaal as manager.

But Woodward was not asked about Van Gaal's position in a conference call with investors on Thursday.

One investor asked about the difference between the recruitment strategies of United and Leicester City, who are flying high at the Premier League summit despite operating on a relative shoestring budget.

"Leicester is a fantastic reference point for everyone," Woodward replied.

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"Some players are bought by other clubs with an eye to them developing into something special, whereas there's more pressure on the bigger clubs to bring in players who'll hit the ground running."

Woodward said that United were operating in a "slightly different market" and needed to sign players who will be "world-class almost immediately".

He said it was "difficult to predict" what impact the emergence of the Chinese Super League would have on the close-season transfer window, but said: "If nothing else, it's a useful market if we're looking to sell players."

Woodward also addressed fears that United have fallen behind some of their rivals, notably cross-town foes Manchester City, in terms of their youth academy.

"Manchester United has an unmatched record of player development," he said. "There's a runway for first-team opportunities. It's very different to some of our competitors."
A man who suffered three bouts of persistent hiccups, lasting a few days each, over the span of one month finally learned the true reason for his health problems  a large tumor in the back of his neck, a new case report reveals.

The case was unusual because it's fairly uncommon for the cause of such long-lasting hiccups to turn out to be a tumor, said Dr. Mark Goldin, an internal medicine hospitalist at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, New York, and a co-author of the case report, published online Jan. 28 in the journal BMJ Case Reports.

The reason the man had intractable hiccups  which are hiccups lasting longer than two days  was that his tumor was compressing his phrenic nerve, which is the neural pathway that goes to the diaphragm, the muscle just below the lungs that is involved in controlling breathing. The nerve was sending disturbed signals to the diaphragm, causing the muscle to contract involuntarily, leading to the hiccups, Goldin said.

Anything that can irritate the phrenic nerve, including certain infections and medications, might trigger a bout of persistent hiccups, he said. [15 Weird Things Humans Do Every Day]

According to the case report, the first two bouts of the persistent hiccups were annoying to the 35-year-old man, but both times when he went to the hospital, he did not have any other symptoms that alarmed the doctors, Goldin said. The man was given a medication to ease his hiccups, and although it didn't seem to provide any relief, the hiccups eventually stopped.

But in the third episode that struck during that month in the fall of 2014, by the time the man came to the emergency room, he had been hiccuping and vomiting for five days.

The man was also experiencing tingling and numbness in his left arm. However, he thought the symptoms were due to an old injury  a slipped disc in his neck  and did not suspect they were connected to his hiccups. But doctors would soon discover the cause of these seemingly disconnected symptoms, and that cause did not involve the slipped disc.

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Tumor discovered

Within a few hours of getting to the hospital, the man started to have other neurological signs that were getting worse, Goldin told Live Science. He developed weakness, tingling and numbness in his legs, and he also had trouble walking, swallowing and maintaining his balance.

By this point, doctors knew that something deeper was going on, Goldin said, so they ordered an MRI of his brain and spinal cord.

These images showed that he had "a large and complex tumor" known as a hemangioblastoma, Goldin said.

The tumor was compressing the majority of nerve roots leading to the neck region of the man's spinal cord, Goldin said.

Neurosurgeons successfully removed the entire tumor, which cured the man, Goldin said.

The man had no family history of this type of tumor, and this is not a type that typically comes back, Goldin said. He credited his case report co-author Zachary Hahn, who was a third-year medical student working on the case, for picking up on the signs and symptoms in the man that led down the path of diagnosing his tumor.

One day after the man's surgery, he received both physical therapy and occupational therapy; and four days after it, he left the hospital. Since then, the man has had frequent MRIs, and none of them have showed any signs of the tumor recurring. [16 Oddest Medical Cases]

Goldin said he last saw the man a few months ago and that he has not had any symptoms and is back to his usual activities.

Cases of intractable hiccups should always be a cause for concern, Goldin said. "Even when they occur in a healthy person, there has to be an underlying cause for them," he said.

Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Originally published on Live Science.

Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
A new product called Foria Relief offers marijuana compounds in the form of a vaginal suppository, and its makers claim it can relieve menstrual cramps. But is this product safe?

Experts say that, because of the lack of studies on the product, there's no clear evidence that it is safe to use, or that it works.

Foria Relief contains 60 milligrams of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and 10 mg of cannabidiol (CBD), along with cocoa butter. Both THC and CBD are active ingredients in marijuana; THC is responsible for producing the "high" effect of the drug.

The product became available last month in Colorado, where the recreational use of marijuana is legal, and California, where people need a physician's recommendation to obtain marijuana for medical purposes.

The company says that THC and CBD can relax muscles and that, as such, these compounds may help with menstrual cramps, which are caused by the contraction of the uterus muscles. The compounds can also act on the nerve endings of the uterus, cervix and ovaries to block pain, the company says.

However, Foria Relief has not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, meaning that the effectiveness and safety of the product have not been proven. The company notes in a disclaimer that information on its product is "based on patients' reported experiences." Because the product is not FDA-approved, it cannot be marketed to treat or cure any disease.

What's more, there's little scientific research on the effect of any type of marijuana on menstrual cramps.

"With exception of a study in the 1800s, I see no evidence in the medical literature that supports that use" of marijuana for menstrual cramps, said Dr. Ranit Mishori, a professor of family medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine. Although there are barriers to studying marijuana in the United States, "the alternative isn't to recommend a treatment in the absence of evidence," Mishori told Live Science. [11 Odd Facts About Marijuana]

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There is also a lot of concern about the safety of marijuana-based products  including Foria, as well as edible marijuana products  because these products have little regulation, said Dr. Scott Krakower, assistant unit chief of psychiatry at Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, New York.

"You don't know what these products contain," Krakower told Live Science. A study published last year of 75 edible marijuana products found that just 13 of these products accurately listed the amount of THC on the label.

And because there are no safety studies on the new product, the risks are unknown, Krakower said. For instance, it's not clear how much, or how fast, the drug would be absorbed into the bloodstream through the vaginal route. "It's a mistake to market this, until these agents are studied further," Krakower said.

Although the company markets Foria as a "natural alternative" for menstrual cramps, people should remember that marijuana is "still a drug," and can have side effects, Krakower said.

The company says on its website that most users of Foria Relief do not report experiencing a high when using the product, either vaginally or rectally.

The company also says that users should ask their doctor whether Foria is safe to use with other medications, including over-the-counter painkillers. It does not recommend using Foria during pregnancy, or while trying to become pregnant.

Live Science attempted to contact the company for a comment through its website but was not successful.

Follow Rachael Rettner @RachaelRettner. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.

Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Berlin (AFP) - Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has condemned German Chancellor Angela Merkel's liberal policy on migrants as "quite simply stupid", in an interview due to appear this weekend.

"It's quite simply stupid to open Europe's doors wide and invite in everyone who wants to come to your country," Medvedev said in an interview with the economic daily Handelsblatt.

"European migration policy is a total failure, all that is absolutely frightening," Medvedev added.

Merkel's immigration policy has sparked a heated public debate in Germany about the country's ability to integrate the nearly 1.1 million asylum seekers it took in last year.

In late summer 2015, she announced that Germany would stop expelling Syrian refugees and in September agreed with Austria to let in tens of thousands of migrants who were stuck in Hungary, which rejected asylum requests.

The moves were followed by a surge in asylum seekers travelling from Turkey to Greece and then up through the Balkans to Hungary, Austria, Germany and northern Europe.

Medvedev said he placed "great value on humanity" and wanted "to help refugees" who had been displaced by war.

But he added: "Among these people, there are also many, perhaps hundreds, or even thousands, of thugs who have come to Europe on a 'countdown mission'. Now they wait to be called and then they will act like robots" against Europe.

Merkel modified her position on refugees last month after a spate of assaults during New Year's Eve celebrations in Cologne blamed on asylum seekers.

Turning away from her mantra of "we will manage this" over the huge migrant influx, she has now backed changes to the law to make it easier to expel any migrants convicted of crime.
BERLIN (Reuters) - Every effort must be made to try to secure peace in Syria, including at talks later on Thursday in Munich, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. "The international environment around Iraq is very complicated and therefore we agreed that all efforts need to be made, for example today in Munich, to have talks on the future of Syria and to bring about peace in the region," said Merkel. She also said that low oil prices posed a problem for Iraq's budget. (Reporting by Caroline Copley and Madeline Chambers)
Photo credit: AFP/File



Philippine negotiators and the countrys largest Muslim armed group have agreed to move forward despite congress failure to pass a law creating autonomy, a move that analysts have warned could trigger violence.

In a joint statement issued Thursday, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the government said they met in Kuala Lumpur to re-assess means of moving forward after the legislative debacle they blamed on congressmen fearful of a public backlash in May, when the mostly Catholic country goes to the polls to choose national leaders.

Today could have been a much happier occasion, if only we had the law that would have moved our road map forward in leaps and bounds. But we do not have the law  yet, chief negotiator Miriam Coronel Ferrer said.

Philippines government chief peace negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer (3rd R) speaks at a joint news conference of the Government of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur, January 31, 2015. (Reuters/File)



She said they had exerted extraordinary efforts to try and get Congress pass the Bangsamoro Basic Law, which was supposed to pave the way for the establishment of an expanded autonomous region envisioned under the 2014 peace pact.

We saw the session days in Congress wither away, without a BBL in sight, Ferrer said.

Both the House of Representatives and the Senate went into recess on February 5, and will not reconvene after the May 9 national and local elections when Filipinos choose a successor to President Benigno Aquino, elect half of the upper chamber and the entire membership of the lower house.

The BBL now has been archived by Congress, meaning it has to be refiled in July when sessions resume, officials said.

Ferrer said the peace pact remains the countrys most viable road map to achieve peace in Mindanao, the countrys southern third where decades of fighting left many areas poor and under developed.

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The next administration would be foolhardy to wage war, and [have] everything to gain by upholding this pathway. It will have enough time to see, the peace process through, she said.

MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said the group remained committed to peace, but stressed congress must enact the law before disgruntled members take up arms again.

There is widespread frustration on the ground by our people and members of the MILF. They accused the government of resorting again to delaying tactic and just managing the conflict in Mindanao, Iqbal warned.



Iqbal said the MILF will jointly seek ways to address this dangerous situation and avoid actions that may increase frustration.

Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace negotiator Mohagher Iqbal and Teresita Deles, presidential adviser on the peace process, arrive for a forum with foreign correspondents based in the Philippines, on the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) that would pave the way for the creation of a new autonomous political entity that would replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in southern Philippines, Friday, Sept. 18, 2015 at suburban Mandaluyong city, east of Manila. (AP/File)



While he did not specifically outline the threats, other groups have opposed the peace talks and have carried out attacks. The military has said earlier it was closely watching members of the splinter Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, as well as the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf and foreign militants who have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.

The peace process was supposed to be a legacy by the Aquino government, but a botched police operation last year that left 44 gunmen dead inside an MILF territory forced many legislators to withdraw support for the bill.

That clash did lead to the death of an international terrorist at an MILF camp, but the police offensive was not properly planned and kept rebel forces in the dark in violation of the peace pact. It also broke the relationship of trust enjoyed by both parties, the MILF had said.

Iqbal said the MILF would continue to adhere to the peace deal, but in the wake of the congressional debacle stressed they would continue their right to self-determination.

The Bangsamoro (Muslim) is on the right side of history, he said.



#Philippines
Jerusalem (AFP) - An Israeli parliamentarian has drawn ire and ridicule after suggesting "Palestine" is a borrowed term that Palestinians themselves cannot pronounce.

"The letter P doesn't exist in Arabic, so the borrowed term Palestine is worth debating," Anat Berko from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party said during a parliamentary debate on Wednesday.

"There is no 'puh' sound (in Arabic)," she repeated several times.

In Arabic, the word is written with an F and is pronounced "Falesteen".

Palestinians and Arabs not fluent in English often use the letter B as a substitute for P when speaking the language.

Berko reportedly said later she was alluding to the fact the Romans referred to the region as Syria Palaestina, but her comments were ridiculed.

"Don't you have a brain?" a parliamentarian from the left-wing Meretz party asked.

Jamal Dajani, a spokesman for the Palestinian prime minister's office, said it was an attempt to "dehumanise Palestinians."

Israeli media on Thursday quoted Berko defending herself.

"The Romans called this place Palaestina," she said.

"The Palestinians who took the name borrowed it, but could not pronounce it properly. They distorted it. No one said that there is no Palestinian people."
If gold vending machines aren't enough to bring joy to the people of the United Arab Emirates, perhaps the government's latest move will.

On Wednesday, UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed appointed the country's first-ever minister of happiness, Ohood Al Roumi. The designation came with Mohammed's announcement of the entire 12th UAE cabinet on his Twitter page, but he took a moment to talk about the country's new leadership position.

"National happiness isn't a wish," Mohammed tweeted. "Plans, projects, programs, indices will inform the work of our ministries to achieve happiness."

National happiness isn't a wish. Plans, projects, programs, indices will inform the work of our ministries to achieve happiness

In case you're wondering what kind of credentials you need to be in charge of an entire nation's happiness, here are Al Roumi's:

She's already been serving as the director-general of the prime minister's office, a role she will continue as minister of happiness, according to Al Jazeera. Last year, Al Roumi also became the first Arab member of the United Nations Foundation's Global Entrepreneurship Council.

Currently, the UAE ranks 21st on LiveScience's list of the world's happiest countries. To gather the results for the report, researchers interviewed over 146,000 people from around the world and asked them to evaluate their social relationships, their sense of purpose, community involvement, financial circumstances and physical health. LiveScience established the rankings based on the percent of the population reporting that they were "thriving" in three or more categories  30.8% for the UAE.

Mohammed didn't only put his confidence in Al Roumi for bringing positive change to the country. Overall, the new cabinet boasts five new women ministers, the youngest of which is 22-year-old Shamma Al Mazrui as minister of state for youth affairs. Mohammed tweeted, "The energy of youth will fuel our government in future."
More than 30 protesters appeared in court in Hong Kong Thursday charged with rioting after the worst clashes the city has seen since mass pro-democracy protests.

The violence erupted after officials tried to clear illegal street hawkers from the busy commercial neighbourhood of Mong Kok late Monday night.

Protesters gathered to defend the stallholders and police tried to disperse the crowds -- the ensuing confrontations left over 100 people hospitalised and shocked the city.

Police fired warning shots in the air during the clashes -- a very rare occurrence in Hong Kong -- while demonstrators levered up bricks from pavements, charged police lines with homemade shields and set rubbish on fire.

Each of the 37 protesters at magistrate's court Thursday faced a single charge of participating in a riot, with a sentence of up to 10 years.

Many of the defendants shielded their identities with masks and hoods outside court and friends and relatives packed the hearing.

Some had visible head injuries and their lawyers said they wanted to lodge complaints against police.

"A plain-clothes officer hit him in the chest three times at the police station," one lawyer said of his client Chan Ho-man, 17.

All were granted bail but were banned from parts of Mong Kok. They will next appear on April 7.

A 15-year-old boy faces a rioting charge in juvenile court Friday.

Student leader Joshua Wong, a key organiser of the 2014 pro-democracy rallies, observed the hearing -- he did not participate in Monday's protests.

"The pro-establishment side needs to reflect on why some of the youth were ready to be put in jail for a maximum 10 years by joining the riots," he told AFP.

"If more activists are arrested... it will just motivate more of the new generation to continue to have more radical action," Wong added, saying some of the arrests were unfair as a number of the participants were non-violent.

- 'Fishball revolution' -

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Wong said fellow activist Derek Lam, from his Scholarism student protest group, was arrested at Hong Kong airport Wednesday on his way to Taiwan with his family over the riot, and was being held by police.

Wong said Lam had been a peaceful participant in the demonstration. Police said they would not comment on individual cases.

At least four journalists were injured in the violence. One was filmed being beaten by officers and has reported the incident to police.

The battles have been dubbed the "fishball revolution" after a favourite Hong Kong street snack and reflect underlying tensions over the erosion of the city's traditions.

Demonstrators included "localist" activists who want to restrict Beijing's influence on the city.

Semi-autonomous Hong Kong was returned by Britain to China in 1997 with its way of life protected for 50 years by a joint agreement.

But there are fears that freedoms enshrined in the agreement are being eroded by Chinese influence, including the recent case of five Hong Kong publishers known for titles critical of Beijing, four of whom it is confirmed have been detained on the mainland.
New York (AFP) - Morgan Stanley agreed Thursday to pay $3.2 billion to settle US accusations it hid high risks in mortgage securities in actions that contributed to the 2008 financial crisis.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said his state and the US Justice Department had reached agreement with the large US bank in the longstanding probe on abuses in residential mortgage backed securities (RMBS) that suffered trillions of dollars in losses in the crisis.

Schneiderman's office said in a statement that Morgan Stanley had misrepresented the strength of the RMBS it sold investors, pitching them as higher quality when it knew the securities carried substantial risks from the low-quality home loans which underpinned them.

Contrary to its upbeat marketing of the mortgage bonds, "Morgan Stanley securitized and sold RMBS with underlying mortgage loans that it knew had material defects," the New York attorney general's office said.

The announcement cited internal Morgan Stanley communications which showed the staff knew of the deep risks in the securities and deliberately masked and misreported them.

In the settlement, Morgan Stanley acknowledged that it had misrepresented the quality of the products it sold to RMBS investors.

The collapse of the market for RMBS and other mortgage-based securities exacerbated the collapse of housing prices that began in 2006, leading directly to the crisis that devastated the financial industry in 2008 and plunged the United States into deep recession.

The $3.2 billion includes $550 million specifically for New York state, including $400 million worth of consumer relief and $150 million in cash.

"Today's agreement is another victory in our efforts to help New Yorkers rebuild in the wake of the financial devastation caused by major banks," Schneiderman said in the statement.

"Today's settlement will deliver resources to the families and communities that need them the most, while helping New Yorkers avoid foreclosure, and spurring the construction of more affordable housing units statewide."

Morgan Stanley shares fell 4.6 percent to $21.66 in morning trade.

Three large US banks, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup, have already agreed to pay nearly $37 billion dollars to resolve probes into their abuses of mortgage-related bonds and other toxic securities that led to the crisis.
YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's outgoing President Thein Sein has at the last minute canceled plans to attend the U.S.-ASEAN summit in California next week, his office said late on Thursday, giving no reasons for the decision. While no official delegation from the Myanmar side had been announced before, experts expected the trip to be Thein Sein's last chance to highlight his reformist legacy in front of President Barack Obama and Southeast Asian leaders. Thein Sein's Union Solidarity and Development Party was crushed by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy in a November election, kicking off a lengthy transition process that will end on April 1 when the new government's term begins. "Vice president Nyan Htun will visit the United States on behalf of president Thein Sein," an announcement by the President's Office read. "President Thein Sein is not visiting the U.S. because he has other business to attend to, that's all we can say," said Zaw Htay, a senior official at the President's Office contacted by phone. Myanmar's military, which is guaranteed 25 percent of seats in parliament and three security ministries under the constitution, is negotiating the terms of the transition with Suu Kyi. Details of those talks remain murky. Thein Sein's decision will likely intensify already frantic speculation over the state of behind-the-scenes negotiations in Myanmar's capital, Naypyaitaw. The parliament decided on Monday to begin its election process for the new president on March 17, pushing back the NLD's original plans by about three weeks and suggesting talks between the party and the military have hit a snag. In 2011, Thein Sein's semi-civilian government replaced a military regime that had ruled Myanmar for 49 years, ushering in political and economic reforms. International observers lauded Thein Sein for organizing credible elections. Leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will meet Obama at a summit in the Californian resort of Sunnylands on Feb. 15-16. (Reporting by Hnin Yadana Zaw; Writing by Antoni Slodkowski; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)
Fox is making good on its holding deal with Nasim Pedrad.

The network has greenlighted Chad: An American Boy, a single-camera comedy pilot written by and starring the Mulaney and Saturday Night Live alum.

Pedrad will star as a 14-year-old boy in the throes of adolescence who is tasked with being the man of the house, which leaves him with all the responsibilities of being an adult without any of the perks.

Read More: Candice Bergen to Star in ABC Comedy Pilot 'Pearl'

Pedrad will pen the script alongside Rob Rosell (New Girl, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia). Michael Rotenberg and Dave Becky of 3 Arts as well as Jason Winer will exec produce, with the latter on board to direct the 20th Century Fox Television pilot.

"I'm thrilled to be able to portray a Middle Eastern family not working for or against Jack Bauer on network TV, Pedrad said Wednesday in a statement. Also, a big thank you to Fox for understanding that my true essence is that of an awkward and misguided 14-year-old boy."

Chad stems from a talent holding and development deal the network and studio counterpart 20th TV inked with the actress in March. Under the pact, Pedrad was poised to create, write and star in a comedy produced by the studio and 3 Arts.

The deal expands her relationship with the network after having left Saturday Night Live for a co-starring role on Fox's short-lived John Mulaney comedy.

For Fox, Chad becomes the network's eighth comedy pilot this season  on par with last year. All of its comedy pilots this season are single-camera  up two vs. a year ago.

Chad also becomes the latest high-concept comedy pilot this season as broadcasters look to emulate the success Fox had last season with The Last Man on Earth.

Keep up with all the latest pickups, castings and eventual series orders with THR's handy guide to pilot season.
Native Americans are often represented in the media as drinking far more excessively than other racial and ethnic groups in the U.S.  but new research shatters that damaging stereotype.

Native Americans' binge-drinking habits are on par with those of white people, according to a study by researchers at the University of Arizona. What's more, the study also found that Native Americans are more likely than white people to abstain from drinking alcohol.

To reach their findings, the researchers examined data on 4,000 Native Americans and 170,000 white people between 2009 and 2013  originally collected as part of a survey by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, according to Science Daily. They also looked at a survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention measuring how many times Native Americans and white people had drunk excessively in the past month.

Binge drinking  having five or more drinks at one occasion, one to four times a month  was comparable among the two groups  17.3% among Native Americans, and 16.7% among whites.

A majority of Native Americans  nearly 60%  had abstained from drinking alcohol in the past month. Among white people, abstinence from drinking was the minority, at just 43.1%.

"In contrast to the 'Native American elevated alcohol consumption' belief, Native Americans compared to whites had lower or comparable rates across the range of alcohol measures examined," the study concluded.

"Of course, debunking a stereotype doesn't mean that alcohol problems don't exist," lead author James K. Cunningham said, according to Science Daily. "All major U.S. racial and ethnic groups face problems due to alcohol abuse, and alcohol use within those groups can vary with geographic location, age and gender."

Alcoholism is still a problem in Native American populations around the country. A 2008 federal report found that 11.7% of deaths among Native Americans and native Alaskans were alcohol-related  more than three times higher than the national average of 3.3%, according to NBC. The greatest number of alcohol-related deaths reportedly occurred in Montana and South Dakota's Northern Plains region.

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Why the disparity, if Native Americans' drinking habits are comparable to other groups'? For folks living on reservations, there can be significant hurdles to accessing treatment for alcohol abuse.

"Native Americans as a group have less access to medical care, safe housing and quality food, which can amplify health problems connected to alcohol," Teshia A. Solomon, an author of the study, said, according to ScienceDaily.

For folks living on reservations, there can be significant hurdles to accessing treatment for alcohol abuse.

Wrongly assuming that certain groups  such as Native Americans  drink more heavily than others can have a number of damaging consequences, Cunningham said.

"For example, some employers might be reluctant to hire individuals from a group that has been stereotyped regarding alcohol," he said. "Patients from such a group, possibly wanting to avoid embarrassment, may be reluctant to discuss alcohol-related problems with their doctors."

Stereotyping a racial or ethnic group's alcohol habits can also have major health consequences. Consider the case of Lydia-Molly Tayara, an Inuk woman from the Canadian province of Quebec. For years, Tayara complained about her crippling stomach pain to doctors at a local medical clinic, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

"When the doctors' questioning changed from whether she drank, to how much she drank, she understood it to mean she was being profiled as yet another aboriginal person in Canada being accused of drinking herself sick," CBC reported.

"My first assumption was that they thought I was drinking and that I was probably spoiling my stomach, because that was the last diagnosis I got," Tayara said, according to CBC.

Tayara eventually learned, upon visiting a hospital in Montreal, that she had colon cancer that had spread to her liver and was beginning to spread to other organs. Doctors told her it could have been treated 15 or 20 years ago.

"That was the first time somebody mentioned cancer," Tayara said. "I couldn't believe it."

"Negative stereotyping of groups of people who have less access to health care creates even more health disparities," Dr. Myra Muramoto, another author of the study, said, according to Science Daily. "Based on a false negative stereotype, some health-care providers may inaccurately attribute a presenting health problem to alcohol use and fail to appropriately diagnose and treat the problem."
Brussels (AFP) - Defence ministers from the US-led coalition striking the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria vowed Thursday to redouble their efforts to defeat the jihadists and accelerate the difficult campaign.

Their pledges came during a special summit convened in Brussels by Pentagon chief Ashton Carter, who for months has been lobbying partner nations to bring more to the 18-month operation.

Discussions were "very successful and productive," Carter said, noting that the vast majority of the 27 nations he met with had either committed more assets or promised to ask their parliaments to do so.

The contributions include a Saudi promise to renew its long-neglected air operations in Syria, a pledge from the Netherlands to carry out air strikes in Syria, and Canada's recent announcement it would send additional trainers to work with local forces.

The campaign is primarily centered on air strikes, but coalition commandos are also working with local forces in Iraq and anti-IS fighters in Syria to tackle the jihadists.

"The coalition is clearly intensifying the counter-ISIL campaign," Carter said, using an alternative acronym for the IS group.

"Saudi Arabia and its regional partners have a clear stake in this fight, and I hope its neighbors in the Gulf also intensify their counter-ISIL campaign in the coming days," he added.

Additionally, he said NATO was "exploring the possibility" it would join the coalition. Though the anti-IS operation already comprises all the NATO member states, it is not yet in the alliance in its own right.

As a result of the stepped-up efforts, the coalition should see "tangible gains" in the coming weeks, Carter said without elaborating.

The coalition, which comprises 66 nations, has since August 2014 been carrying out air strikes in Iraq and Syria to push back IS jihadists after they swept across vast parts of the two countries.

Officials say the campaign is making the most progress in Iraq, where local security forces have retaken the city of Ramadi and clawed back some 40 percent of territory previously held by IS.

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But the situation in Syria remains more challenging, thanks to its raging civil war and the ongoing Russian air bombardment of forces opposing President Bashar al-Assad. Moscow insists is also targeting the IS group.

"The fight to defeat ISIL should matter to all of us, and each contribution matters to this fight," Carter said.

"ISIL's activities are an affront to our common human dignity and to the common set of values that brings this diverse coalition of nations together."

- 'Lost the initiative' -

During the closed-door meeting, Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland, who is overseeing the anti-IS effort, gave an overview of the situation on the ground.

A senior US defence official who was present said MacFarland described how the IS group has "lost the initiative" in the fight, thanks to more than 10,000 coalition air strikes and a series of attacks on the jihadists' oil and financial infrastructure.

But large-scale progress remains elusive, and Carter and President Barack Obama face growing criticism at home over the campaign's pace.

Assaults to recapture the key IS bastions of Mosul in Iraq and its self-proclaimed capital in Syria's Raqa are still many months away, while at the same time thousands of IS fighters have streamed into Libya.

Carter said defence ministers had discussed the situation in Libya, where former colonial power Italy is being positioned to take the lead in any eventual operations.

"Nobody wants to see Libya on a glide slope to the kind of situation that already engulfed Syria and Iraq," he said.

Carter's summit came at the conclusion of a two-day meeting of NATO defence ministers that dealt with a range of separate issues.

NATO has until now had no official role in the anti-IS fight, although all of its 28 members play some part, and officials indicated the alliance could be increasingly called upon to help.

"There are lots of opportunities that are being considered," NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe Philip Breedlove said.

Breedlove's comments came after NATO said it was willing to support a German, Greek and Turkish request for help in monitoring Turkey's Aegean Sea coast for migrant smugglers ferrying refugees, mostly fleeing the Syrian conflict.

And the alliance has agreed "in principle" to a US request to deploy its AWACS air surveillance aircraft to help out in the fight against IS.

The NATO planes would not be directly involved in monitoring the jihadists, but would instead fill in for US and allied aircraft that would be re-tasked to gather intelligence over IS hotspots.
By Ulf Laessing ZARIA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Piles of rubble are all that remain of the residence of Nigeria's most prominent Shi'ite Muslim leader after it was demolished by bulldozers in the northern city of Zaria. Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky's compound was leveled after three days of clashes between the army and Shi'ite residents of the city in December in which rights groups say hundreds of Shi'ites were killed. The army declined to give a Shi'ite death toll but said one soldier was killed and five were wounded. The violence and its repercussions could further fracture a country battling a northern insurgency by hardline Sunni group Boko Haram, a secessionist movement in the southeast, militancy in the oil-rich Delta, as well as a growing economic crisis. The clashes were the deadliest in living memory involving security forces and the minority Shi'ite community, say some Shi'ites and rights groups. "We feel dehumanized and betrayed by the Nigerian government," said Muhammadu Samaru, a Shi'ite religious leader, sitting in his Zaria home. "There can never be any trust and any cordial relations between us and the soldiers unless they change their ways. This is not the first time they are killing us." Diplomats said the violence risked spawning a radical Shi'ite militant wing - much like the Boko Haram uprising began in 2009 after security forces killed hundreds of its members and its leader Mohammed Yusuf died in custody. Boko Haram, which has pledged allegiance to Islamic State, has killed thousands of people and driven more than 2 million from their homes in Nigeria's poor north. After the Zaria clashes, the army detained a wounded Zakzaky. Sensing the explosive situation, the government flew him abroad for a few days for medical treatment to avoid creating a martyr like Yusuf, according to diplomats. He remains in custody. "Whether tensions escalate or not will depend on the government's response," said one Western diplomat. "There are parallels with the start of the Boko Haram insurgency when their leader died in custody so the government needs to make sure it investigates the violence with impartiality." Africa's most populous nation, led by President Muhammadu Buhari, is home to around 180 million - roughly evenly split between Christians, mainly in the south, and Muslims, mostly in the north and predominantly Sunni. Shi'ites are estimated to number under 4 million, according to a 2009 report by the U.S.-based Pew Research Center, but there are no official figures. Zaria, 270 km (170 miles) north of the capital Abuja, is a predominantly Sunni city with a population of about 500,000. It is a focus for inter-community tensions because it is also the spiritual center of Shi'ite sect the Islamic Movement in Nigeria as home to its leader Zakzaky. Human Rights Watch estimates there are around 3 million members of the sect, a religious and political movement inspired by Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, which would represent most Shi'ites in the West African country. DISPUTED EVENTS What provoked the December violence is disputed. The army said members of the Shi'ite movement had blocked the convoy of its chief of staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, as it traveled through Zaria on Dec. 12, and tried to assassinate him. It said a shootout and street battles ensued and that it was forced to call in reinforcements. Army officers showed Reuters pictures of guns, machetes, petrol bombs and swords with which they said sect members had attacked soldiers. "With the Shia (Shi'ite) group ... we always have problems with those violent extremists among them, who should be brought to justice and caged," said Major General Adeniyi Oyebade, who led the army operation. "There are many moderate Shia. In the military there are Shia officers and soldiers." But members of the sect, which says it is a peaceful movement, and some rights groups say the army launched an unjustified attack, with the motive unclear, and opened fire on civilians. Some Shi'ites showed Reuters videos on their phones of the dead and wounded. The sect says more than 1,000 Shi'ites could have been killed - it says the army had taken more than 400 bodies to several morgues and that 750 other people were missing. "I saw soldiers pour fuel on bodies of our brothers and set it on fire, then later they removed the bones," said 19-year old Shi'ite Aliyu Tahir, who said he was shot in the leg near the sheikh's house but managed to escape. Zaria residents say bulldozers demolished Zakzaky's residence, a Shi'ite shrine, a prayer hall, clinic, cemetery and offices in the day and weeks that followed. A Reuters reporter saw the ruins of several sites during a visit last week. The army declined to comment on the demolition of Shi'ite sites. Buhari - himself a Sunni - has launched an investigation into the violence and its cause, and the destruction of the Shi'ite sites. It is unclear whether the bulldozers that entered Zaria were sent by the government or military. The president said civilian deaths could not be justified, but also accused the Shi'ites of creating "a state within a state", though he and his government have largely declined to comment until the inquiry reports its findings, which is likely to take several weeks. Human Rights Watch said tensions could swiftly escalate if there was any perception of bias in the inquiry, which ministers said would be conducted by an independent commission of experts. "If no one is held accountable for this excessive military action, the risks of radicalizing some of those who lost relatives are high," said Mausi Segun, Nigeria researcher at the rights group. "This is a lesson Nigeria ought to have learnt from the killing of Muhammed Yusuf, Boko Haram's founder." GROWING ANGER There have been sporadic clashes between Shi'ites and security forces since the 1980s in Nigeria. Zakzaky has been jailed several times, often for anti-government rhetoric. But many Shi'ite residents of Zaria said tensions had never been this bad, and that officials' refusal to give a death toll or hand over dead bodies, as well as the destruction of the holy sites, was fuelling growing anger. Adding a foreign dimension, the Islamic Movement in Nigeria has links to Shi'ite power Iran, which is locked in a struggle with Sunni kingdom Saudi Arabia for pre-eminence in the Middle East. Zakzaky traveled after the revolution before returning to found his sect, though the nature of the links are unclear. Following the Zaria violence, Tehran denounced the killing of Shi'ites and urged Nigeria to protect the minority group. Meanwhile there is deep resentment for the Shi'ite sect among some Sunni residents of Zaria who say members of the movement had regularly carried out attacks in the city in the past year - charges denied by the sect. "They hired some thugs who came and were macheteing people," said Mohammed Bello, a Sunni who lives next to the sheikh's razed house said of one alleged attack. While he was talking an angry crowd gathered, with many telling similar tales. "They macheted two of our motorcycles. When I tried talking to them they wounded me here on my head," said Salisu Mohammed, another Sunni. The army detained more than 200 of Zakzaky's followers along with the sheikh after the clashes. Some other members of his sect have left Zaria or gone into hiding. In a sign of the tensions gripping the city, several anti-Shi'ite slogans have sprung up in recent weeks on buildings used by the sect, some denouncing those detained. "We're glad they are gone. We want them out of Nigeria," said Idris Mohammed, a Sunni living in the neighborhood of the sheikh's destroyed compound, where walls are daubed with slogans reading "Do not release Zakzaky". (Editing by Pravin Char)
There is "no reason to doubt" that North Korea's army chief of staff was executed, a US State Department official said Thursday following reports of the death.

"This is, again, par for the course in North Korea, that you've got a leader who carries out purges of his cabinet, or of his administration periodically," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said, but stopped short of confirming an execution.

South Korean media reported Wednesday that Ri Yong-Gil, chief of the Korean People's Army (KPA) General Staff, had been executed earlier this month for forming a political faction and corruption.

"We've seen it, as you said, before, so we have no reason to doubt that this is the case this time -- that this individual was killed, executed," Toner said.

Reports -- some confirmed, some not -- of purges, executions and disappearances have been common since Kim Jong-Un took power following the death of his father Kim Jong-Il in December 2011.

The US government, which has no diplomatic relations with Pyongyang, did not "have much visibility" on the execution's broader implications for the North Korean regime, Toner said.

The report of the execution comes at a time of highly elevated tensions on the divided Korean peninsula following the North's recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has said a nuclear-armed North Korea poses an "overt threat, a declared threat to the world."

The top US diplomat tried to convince China in January to put more pressure on its North Korean ally and to hammer out a UN Security Council resolution to impose new sanctions against Pyongyang.
Helsinki (AFP) - Finnish telecom equipment giant Nokia's net profit fell by 29 percent in 2015, to 2.45 billion euros ($2.8 billion) ahead of acquiring its French-American rival Alcatel-Lucent, the company said on Thursday.

The drop was due to the 2014 results including 5.4 billion euros Nokia gained from selling its unprofitable handset unit to Microsoft.

But the company said operating profit grew last year by 20 percent and its net revenue by six percent.

Nokia has just gone through two and half years of radical transformation. In 2013 it bought 50 percent of its network activities from Germany's Siemens, in 2014 it divested its mobile phone business where it had been the world's number one brand, and in 2015 it sold its mapping unit Here and took control of Alcatel-Lucent.

Net profit from its "continuing activities" after the divestments and before its acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent was finalised last month, fell by 56 percent last year, to 1.19 billion euros, the company said.

Total revenue went up by 6 percent, to 12.5 billion euros.

The company hailed in a statement a "continuation of strong operational performance in Nokia Networks and solid growth in Nokia Technologies", its intellectual property unit.

But chief executive Rajeev Suri warned that Nokia saw a rough start of the year ahead.

"We do expect some market headwinds in 2016 as 4G/LTE rollouts in China and some other markets start to slow.

"The first quarter, in particular, looks quite challenging as customers assess their capex (capital expenditure) plans in light of increasing macro-economic uncertainty," he said in the statement.
Again, again! Thats what a child might exclaim when hes doing something fun. North Korea (the DPRK) tested its fourth nuclear device on January 6, 2016; its now toasted Lunar New Year with a missile launch, a day ahead of its announced window beginning February 8, 2016. Pyongyang is reaching for the stars while it has trouble growing enough food in its soil to nourish its citizens.

And what is the response from the outside? Another round of the same: expressions of grave concern and promises of severe consequences. Again, we see efforts to expand and tighten sanctions. We dont know what the UN Security Council will manage to negotiate, given Chinas reluctance toward giving more punch to the sanctions regime. But the governments of South Korea, Japan, and the United States are certainly making headway toward unilateral and multilateral sanctions.

But no matter how many exclamation points we add to words of disapproval, and no matter how many sanctions we generate, they are not likely to change North Koreas nuclear ambitions. Even though Banco Delta Asia (BDA) sanctions imposed in 2005 were deemed successful in hurting North Koreas access to funds, there is good evidence that North Koreans learned to circumvent the financial blockade. Plenty of shadow banks and cash-only transactions in China happily service North Korea, and the latter country managed to increase international trade in the years following the imposition of the BDA sanctions, even achieving a current-account surplus in 2011 for the first time in in its history.

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We need to discard or substantively revise old scripts to make sure that words and sanctions arent ignored in Pyongyang. Otherwise, like what happens to Bill Murrays character in Groundhog Day, the cycle will repeat itselfand the repetition itself will become the new normal.

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There have been a few changes this time around in response to the alleged H-bomb test and the possibility of a rocket launch, and most of them would destabilize the region even more. The call for South Korea to develop its own nuclear arsenal (and not just rely on the U.S. security umbrella) has re-emerged and is gaining traction. After the February 2013 North Korean nuclear test, polls showed about 60 percent of respondents in South Korea believing their country should go nuclear. A Korea Gallup Poll revealed on January 15, 2016, that 54 percent favor developing nuclear weapons, with 38 percent against. But this time, more political leaders are also joining the nuclear bandwagon.

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In Japan, the missile-defense system and naval destroyers have been readied to shoot down incoming North Korean missiles, providing the Japanese government with a useful justification for an offense-capable military establishment and posture to face urgent contingencies.

The trouble is, Kim Jong Uns regime is determined to advancing its nuclear ambition. His mentality means international punishments dont deter him or his leadership. If sanctions reduce the volume of luxury goods available to Kims supporters, who would complain, lest his or her head roll like those of so many others in recent years? Dry up North Koreas access to financial networks to slow down the nuclear program? The regime will squeeze its population more. Yesterday just keeps repeating itself.

Well-targeted sanctions and enforcement are no doubt in order. In addition to reducing access to hard cash, reducing the availability of materials for the nuclear program is key. However, much of the flow goes across the Chinese-North Korean bordernot because the Chinese government wishes it, but because export controls in China are weak. Even legitimate trade in parts and technology, for example, between Germany and China, gets diverted to the North.

Kim Jong Un seems to want nukes for the sake of nukes; more and faster is better without a clear strategic or diplomatic goal.

The United States and South Korea have repeatedly expected China to produce a better-behaved DPRK. But the United States was wrong from the outset, starting with the George W. Bush administration, to rely on China. The countrys own interests, not bilateral ties and regional stability, are what drive Beijing when it comes to the DPRK. Unless Chinese territory, the health of its citizens (through radiation exposure), and political stability are threatened, China will not act. We have no idea what the Chinese red line would be.

Inside North Korea, new realities arent auspicious for international cooperation. Kim Jong Un is not his father, Kim Jong Il. With the latter, other countries might have been able to negotiate a nuclear freeze or reduction in the long term, because the nuclear program was a means to an end: getting security assurances from the United States and economic access internationally. America had a genuine opening toward this end at the close of the Bill Clinton administration. But Kim Jong Un may not have a clear sense of means and ends, nor of the complexities of geopolitics and diplomacy. He seems to want nukes for the sake of nukes, without a clear strategic or diplomatic goal; more and faster is better.

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Groundhog Day made viewers yearn for a way outhow do we make tomorrow different from today?

Heres an idea: Throw North Korea out of the United Nations. The DPRK worked so hard to be admitted into the prestigious international club in 1991, but has flagrantly violated many of its rules and norms. Chapter II, Articles 5 and 6 of the UN Charter sanction suspension and restoration of the exercise of the rights and privileges of membership. Also, a member which has persistently violated the Principles contained in the present Charter may be expelled from the Organization.

North Korea seems to care more about international than bilateral ties, since it prizes the limelight and glamor of the global stage.

Of course, this would involve a lot of controversy and politics. China and Russia would certainly oppose. But the point is this: Disregarding and disrespecting club rules should have severe consequences. North Korea seems to care more about international than bilateral ties, since it prizes the limelight and glamor of the global stage. When the World Economic Forum dis-invited the DPRK from its January meeting in Davos, Pyongyang was visibly upset.

European countries, in addition to Brazil and Malaysia, who have diplomatic ties and trade with the DPRK, could also recall their ambassadors from Pyongyang to make explicit their disapproval of its nuclear activities. And the gatekeepers of the Svalbard Treaty, which allows the exploration of the rich mineral resource and fish stocks in part of the Arctic, should consider revoking the DPRKs recent entry.

These would be clear messages that even pro-engagement advocates have their limits. Let North Korea consider what its fate would be like if the world truly turned its back on the country.

This article appears courtesy of the Brookings Institution. Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
Seoul (AFP) - North Korea on Thursday expelled all South Koreans from the jointly-run Kaesong industrial zone and placed it under military control, saying Seoul's decision to shutter the complex had amounted to a "declaration of war".

Pyongyang said it was seizing the assets of all the 124 South Korean companies operating factories in Kaesong, which lies 10 kilometres (six miles) across the border inside North Korea.

It also cut two key communication hotlines with Seoul, preventing any further official discussion of the situation at the complex.

All 280 South Koreans ordered to leave Kaesong finally crossed the border back into South Korea shortly before 10:00 pm (1300 GMT), easing concerns for their safety amid speculation that some might be detained.

After their return, Seoul cut off electric power transmission to the complex, a measure that would also lead to the water supply being stopped, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said citing officials.

The North's aggressive measures marked a significant escalation of cross-border tensions that have been elevated since North Korea carried out a nuclear test last month and a long-range rocket launch on Sunday.

Seoul had announced on Wednesday it was closing down operations at Kaesong, and the North said it would now experience the "disastrous and painful consequences" of its action.

- 'Last lifeline' snapped -

By shutting Kaesong, the South had destroyed the "last lifeline" of North-South relations and made a "dangerous declaration of war," the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) said in a statement.

Relations between the two Koreas have always been volatile, but analysts said the current situation risked turning into a full-blown crisis.

"Now we can say that all strings between the Koreas have been cut and that there are no more buffers," said Ko Yoo-Hwan, a professor of North Korean Studies at Dongguk University in Seoul.

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"An escalation of tensions is inevitable, and I see further trouble ahead with Kaesong and the issues of seized assets, especially if North Korea militarises the zone," Ko said.

All South Koreans were ordered to leave Kaesong by 5:00 pm Pyongyang time (0830 GMT) and told they could take nothing but their personal possessions.

The North also said it had ordered a "complete freeze of all assets," including raw materials, products and equipment.

The owners of the South Korean companies in Kaesong had sent more than 100 empty trucks into the North on Thursday morning in the hope of bringing out as much as they could.

- Goods left behind -

"I only brought back about one-thirtieth of what was there," Kang Sung-Ho, the manager of a shoe company said as he crossed the border.

Although there had been a rush to leave after the expulsion order came, Kang said the North Korean officials had been quite reasonable.

"They didn't give us a hard time because we've known each other for a long while," he said, reserving his anger for the South Korean government's original decision to close Kaesong operations.

"We had to leave our finished products untouched and we will have to provide financial compensation to our buyers. I feel terrible," he said.

Despite the ban on removing anything beyond personal belongings, a few trucks that managed to cross the border earlier in the day had managed to bring out more materials.

Defending its decision to halt operations at Kaesong, Seoul said North Korea had been using the hundreds of millions of dollars in hard-currency that it earned from the complex to fund its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.

The move was slammed as "utterly incomprehensible" by the Kaesong company owners who said their businesses were being destroyed by politics.

Born out of the "sunshine" reconciliation policy of the late 1990s, Kaesong opened in 2004 and proved remarkably resilient, riding out repeated crises that ended every other facet of inter-Korean cooperation.

The United States signalled its own unilateral moves against North Korea, with the US Senate on Wednesday unanimously adopting a bill expanding existing sanctions.
By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A satellite put into orbit by North Korea at the weekend does not appear to be transmitting, but it is worrying that the rocket that took it there delivered twice the payload of Pyongyang's previous launch, the head of the U.S. Army's Missile Defense Command said on Wednesday. "If you look at the previous launch and the payload it put into orbit  just the increase in weight is I think an important factor," Lieutenant-General David Mann told a seminar on Capitol Hill organized by the Hudson Institute think tank. "Whenever you are able to put something into orbit, that's significant," Mann said. "I don't think it's transmitting as we speak, but it does reflect a capability that North Korea is trying to leverage in terms of its missile technologies," he said. "That kind of capability and then also the collateral usages for that technology are obviously very, very concerning to nations around the world in terms of ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) capabilities." Mann said the payload carried was almost twice as large as that carried in North Korea's previous satellite launch in 2012. He did not give a figure for the weight of the latest satellite, but South Korean officials have put it at 200-kg (440-lb). Sunday's launch, which followed Pyongyang's fourth nuclear bomb test on Jan. 6, was condemned by the United States and countries around the world, which believe it was cover for development of ballistic missile technology. The United States and South Korea immediately said they would begin formal talks about deploying the sophisticated U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, to the Korean peninsula "at the earliest possible date." South Korea had in the past been reluctant to begin formal talks on the Lockheed Martin Corp missile defense system due to worries about upsetting China, its biggest trading partner, which believes it could reduce the effectiveness of its strategic deterrent. Asked when THAAD might go to South Korea, Mann said there was no timeline for a possible deployment, but added: "I think both governments are going to begin conversations looking at the feasibility of THAAD and we will see what happens from there." On Wednesday, Russia's Foreign Ministry said U.S. plans to for a missile shield in South Korea could trigger an arms race in Northeast Asia. (Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Sandra Maler)
London (AFP) - The Northern Ireland regional assembly voted against relaxing strict abortion laws on Wednesday, despite a ruling by the Belfast High Court that the legislation breaches human rights.

After a debate that ran to almost midnight, members of the Stormont Assembly voted 59 to 40 against a proposal to allow terminations in cases of sexual crime or fatal foetal abnormality -- when the baby has no chance of survival after birth.

The reform was proposed by representatives of the centrist Alliance Party, including Trevor Lunn, who recalled his family's experience of trying to access abortion in the case of a fatal foetal abnormality.

"The pain of that decision lives with us today," he told the Assembly.

"This is important. It is important to women and to men and it is important for the self respect of this little country. Sooner or later we are going to have to do something about it."

The rejection was expected after the right-wing Democratic Unionist Party, the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party indicated they would oppose the reform, saying more time was needed to examine the issue.

Unlike the rest of the United Kingdom, the law in Northern Ireland currently bans abortion unless it is required to save a woman's life or if there is a serious risk to her health.

Hundreds of women travel out of socially conservative Northern Ireland for terminations each year.

In November, the Belfast High Court found that Northern Ireland's legislation was in breach of human rights law, but any reform would have to be decided by the Assembly.

Ahead of the vote, rights group Amnesty International said moves to oppose the reform were a "betrayal of women and girls".

"Northern Ireland's abortion law dates from Victorian times, is among the most restrictive in the world and is in urgent need of reform," Northern Ireland programme director Patrick Corrigan said.
WASHINGTON  US President Barack Obama will deliver a tough message to China during a summit with Southeast Asian countries next week that disputes in the South China Sea must be resolved peacefully and not with a big nation bullying smaller neighbors, the White House said on Tuesday.

Obama will also address North Koreas provocations, a nuclear test last month and a rocket launch over the weekend, when he hosts the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in California on Monday and Tuesday, aides said.

Ben Rhodes, Obamas deputy national security adviser, said the president will reiterate that territorial disputes over the area, where China and several Southeast Asian states have conflicting and overlapping claims, must be handled through negotiations and consistent with international norms.

Though China will not be represented, Obamas aides made clear that Beijings actions in the South China Sea, where it has proceeded with island building that US officials suspect could be turned to military use, will be one of the focal points of the summit at the Sunnylands estate near Palm Springs, California.

The president will call on all claimants to halt land reclamation, construction of new facilities and to carry out no militarization of outposts in the South China Sea, Dan Kritenbrink, Obamas top Asia adviser, told reporters on a conference call previewing the ASEAN talks.

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of world trade is shipped every year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.

Rhodes said part of Obamas message at the summit will be the need to avoid efforts to resolve those disputes through one nation, bigger nation, bullying a smaller one, uphold freedom of navigation and avoid inadvertent and unnecessary military action in the South China Sea.

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A US Navy destroyer sailed within 12 nautical miles of an island claimed by China and two other states in the South China Sea in late January to counter what Washington deems unacceptable efforts to limit freedom of navigation, prompting an angry reaction from Beijing. It was the second such US military exercise carried out last year.

Obama will specifically discuss with Southeast Asian leaders his concerns about Chinas recent test flights on a newly constructed runway on the Fiery Cross (Kagitingan) Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands, Rhodes said.

But even as Obama seeks to reassure Southeast Asian leaders of his resolve, he is expected to face divisions within the 10-nation bloc on how far they are willing to go in angering China. The Philippines and Vietnam have taken a harder line while Cambodia and Laos are more reluctant to confront Beijing.  Reuters
Paris (AFP) - World champion Sebastien Ogier blasted Rally of Sweden organisers as "idiots" on Wednesday after the race had eight stages cut due to lack of snow and rising temperatures.

The classic winter rally, traditionally fought out over kilometres of deep-lying snow, is this year faced instead with mud and gravel with organisers fearing that the studded snow tyres would severely damage the country's roads.

As a result, the 21 planned stages between Thursday and Sunday, have been reduced to 13.

"This is of no use to anybody, I don't know what we are going to do here," triple world champion Ogier fumed to the Varmlands Folkblad newspaper.

"I don't know who took this decision but he's an idiot. The two best stages in the race will be in Norway (where Friday's stages take place) but the rest of the route is not passable.

"I don't understand why we are even doing the 'recce'. It has become a gravel rally, we are destroying the roads for no reason."

The 1.9km super-special stage, which was to open the race on Thursday night at the Karlstad racecourse, has been cancelled with the event put back to Friday.

In total, there will be 240km of timed action rather than the scheduled 330km.

Meanwhile, the rally director of the international federation, the FIA, Jarmo Mahonen, said there was no intention of calling off the race despite the reservations of Ogier.

"We are running as scheduled," Mahonen was quoted as saying by www.autosport.com.

"We have already been working for a few days to try to resolve the situation and we remain positive.

"The teams, the FIA, the rally organisation and the promoter are all committed to support competition."
By David DeKok

HARRISBURG, Pa. (Reuters) - A Pennsylvania teenager pleaded guilty on Thursday to first-degree murder in the killing of her mother last year and was sentenced to spend at least 35 years in prison after agreeing to testify against her former boyfriend, prosecutors said.

Jamie Silvonek, 14, of Upper Macungie Township outside Allentown, appeared before Lehigh County Judge Maria L. Dantos, entered her plea, and was immediately sentenced to 35 years to life in prison, the Lehigh County district attorney's office said in a press statement.

The district attorney's office said it could make no further comment because a gag order issued by the court was still in effect. Silvoneks lawyer, John Waldron of Allentown, did not return a call seeking comment.

Silvonek agreed to cooperate in the prosecution of her co-defendant and former boyfriend Caleb Barnes, 21, a soldier from El Paso, Texas, who was stationed at Fort Meade, Maryland. He is scheduled to go on trial April 16., according to the statement.

The girl, then 13, had met Barnes, then 20, at a concert in Philadelphia, but told him she was 16. In the months that followed, they developed an online relationship that soon became sexual, authorities said.

Her mother, Cheryl Silvonek, 54, tried to break up the relationship when she learned Barnes was 20. Authorities said the two began plotting by text to kill her, with Jamie Silvonek urging Barnes to do it.

Despite her misgivings about Barnes, Cheryl Silvonek agreed to drive the couple to a concert in Scranton on the night of March 14. When she returned home with the couple at 1 a.m. on March 15, Barnes grabbed the mother from behind, choked her, and slashed and stabbed her in the neck until she died, authorities said.

They buried the body in a shallow grave several miles from the house but were spotted by a neighbor, which led to their arrest. Police found the bloody car, then found Silvonek and Barnes naked in bed together at her home.

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Jeffrey Dimmig, senior deputy district attorney, said prosecutors deemed a minimum sentence of 35 years as appropriate for Silvonek because of the degree of criminal sophistication she displayed, among other factors.

After the 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling barring mandatory life sentences for juveniles, Pennsylvania enacted a law requiring either a life sentence for juveniles under 15 who commit first-degree murder, or a sentence of at least 25 years to life imprisonment.

(Reporting By Frank McGurty; Editing by Toni Reinhold)
Brussels (AFP) - Pentagon chief Ashton Carter and dozens of defence ministers from the US-led coalition striking Islamic State jihadists meet in Brussels on Thursday to take stock of the difficult campaign.

More than 18 months after the United States and the quickly assembled alliance began bombing IS targets, Carter hopes renewed alarm over IS attacks around the globe and the jihadists' growing footprint in Libya will result in greater military and financial commitments from partners.

Carter has taken a two-pronged approach to garnering such support, using a combination of private diplomacy and public shaming, accusing some unspecified members of the 66-nation coalition of doing "nothing at all" to help the fight.

Thursday's meeting in the NATO headquarters will see Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland, who is overseeing the anti-IS effort, give an overview of the situation on the ground.

A senior US defence official said Washington is looking not just for pledges of military support and cash, but ideas too.

"The secretary will, frankly, give a call to his fellow ministers to be creative, to speak up to contribute to the thought leadership in the campaign," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "There's no monopoly on good ideas."

The assessment comes after the coalition has carried out more than 10,000 air strikes in Iraq and Syria at a cost to the United States of nearly $6 billion (five billion euros).

The effort has dealt some significant blows to the jihadists: the Pentagon estimates IS has lost about 40 percent of the territory it once held in Iraq, and about 10 percent of the land it claimed in Syria.

But despite losing control of the Iraqi city of Ramadi, assaults to recapture key IS-held Mosul and Raqa in Syria are still many months away, and thousands of IS fighters have streamed into Libya.

- Bearing fruit -

Carter's efforts appear to be bearing some fruit. Canada, for instance, announced Monday it would triple the number of special forces training Kurdish militia in northern Iraq to about 210.

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And Slovenia has said it would start sending military trainers to work with local forces trying to push back the IS group.

"There are a number of other (countries) who are in the final throes of trying to figure out if they can also make that leap," the official said, noting that several other nations are "very seriously" considering additional contributions but first need parliamentary approval.

In all, 27 coalition members who have contributed militarily to the 18-month fight will join Carter's delegation in Brussels. Another 21 coalition countries are attending as observers.

The summit comes at the conclusion of a two-day meeting for NATO defence ministers that focused on new commitments to boost the alliance's presence along eastern Europe and act as a deterrent against aggression from Russia, which seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

NATO is also considering a request by key members Germany and Turkey to help cope with a massive influx of refugees, mostly fleeing the Syrian conflict.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in Ankara on Monday that Turkey and Germany want NATO to help police the Turkish coast to prevent smugglers from packing migrants into boats for the perilous crossing to Greece.
DURHAM, N.C.No one doubts the sincerity of Vice President Joe Bidens cancer moonshot initiative. Thats the cause that Biden announced hed pursue in October, when he decided not to run for president, and its one inspired by the life and death of his son Beau Biden, who died of brain cancer last year.

But is the plan even really a moonshot? After all, the Obama administration has asked for just $1 billion in funding for the initiative in this years budgeta budget that is already more aspirational than realisticand top researchers have questioned the impact that amount can really have. (For reference, $1 billion is between a third and a fifth the cost of a new pharmaceutical.) In a visit to Duke University on Wednesday, Bidens first since the budgets release, he offered a glimpse of what he hopes to do. The vice president isnt proposing a massive new government effort to fund or conduct researchlike a second Apollo programbut rather, promising to cut through red tape and bring together various players to enable greater cooperation.

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Bidens Bid for a Legacy: A Moon Shot for Cancer

The science is ready, Biden proclaimed, a phrase he repeated a half-dozen times over the course of 80 minutes. I believe we can make much faster progressas an outsider looking inif we seek greater collaboration, greater sharing of information. In short, breaking down some of the research that is trapped inside of silos, and share information with drug companies, and drug companies being willing to be more forthcoming in sharing information.

The vice president suggested that what he lacks in scientific knowledgehe joked that hed become an attorney because he wasnt smart enough to be a scientisthe makes up for in his ability to marshal federal government resources and use his office to bring together disparate parties, a skill honed over four decades in Washington.

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Maybe the only thing I'll be able to do with any dispatch is be a convener and maybe help negotiate some of the transitions that have to take place, he said. Biden said the president had told his Cabinet, Do what Joe tells you.

During last months State of the Union address, Obama announced that he was giving Biden wide latitude to pursue the project. 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, the president said. 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.

Bidens remarks came during a roundtable discussion at the Duke Cancer Institute. Before that, he toured laboratories and met with three Duke doctors, including Paul Modrich, who shared the 2015 Nobel Prize in chemistry. (The publicity-shy Modrichwho declined pleas to return from vacation for a press conference when he won the Nobelattended the roundtable but did not participate. A pool reporter overheard him telling the vice president, Im just a biochemist.)

Money is necessary and critical, but it's not the answer to do what we have to do, Biden said, though he also claimed to have spoken with three philanthropists who wanted to donate $1 billion or more to cancer research. He said a common story hed heard during meetings with hundreds of oncologists since embarking on the moonshot went something like this: There are two drugs made by two different companies that treat the same cancer, both somewhat effectively, but the clinicians think the pair would be most effective in concertif only they could get approval. The overwhelming inclination of all of you is if you combine the two it may be better, but getting that done is like, yknow, getting a nuclear deal with Iran, only we were more successful. The science is ready. We have to figure out a way to share information more.

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Biden also lamented the many parallel efforts to achieve the same goals that were going on in the cancer space. In some cases, there are several drug companies working on similar drugs to treat similar cancersall spending huge sums, but not working with each other, all in hopes of reaping a windfall. Several participants spoke about the need to make it easier to let patients join clinical trials. And a common theme was the necessity of better sharing of crucial data that allows breakthroughs. There many troves of such information, but little mechanism for combining them. Biden, fresh from the World Economic Forum, offered one example.

Getting that done is like getting a nuclear deal with Iran, only we were more successful. The science is ready. We have to figure out a way to share information more.

I met in Davos with three, four incredibly competent, advanced groups that  are all about to spend hundreds of millions of dollars, in aggregate well over a billion dollars, for them to have their own data collection, he said. And I asked them all whether or notand they're gonna meet with me a week Fridaywhether they'd be willing to meet with me alone in a room at the vice president's residence and answer a question: Why? (Biden added an entirely unnecessary disclaimer: I'm not being facetious. I'm being deadly earnest.)

The vice president sees himself as a vanquisher of red tape. Alluding to Ronald Reagans famous formulation of the nine most terrifying words in the English language, Biden said, I'm from the federal government. We need advice on where we can be helpful. He begged researchers to bring intractable problems to him. Where you view the government as being a bureaucratic stumbling block ... I promise you I will clear it away, he said. One participant praised the Food and Drug Administrations relatively recent Breakthrough Therapy Designation, which fast-tracks review and approval of promising treatments. I promise we're going to do more, Biden said.

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Despite his repeated insistence on being an outsider, the vice presidents immersion in the language of cancer treatmenta product of his sons illness and his own involvement sincewas clear throughout the conversation, and during the lab tour he expressed familiarity with the researchers work.

Biden being Biden, there was also plenty of time for folksy expressions and stories. I hang around with a lot of Nobel laureates, Biden said. Actually, I've gotten to know more Nobel laureates than you can imagine. It's one of the great advantages of this job as vice president, they hang out with you. Later, when a roundtable participant noted that she worked at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Dukes arch rival, Biden cracked that he deserved a Nobel Peace Prize for bringing the two schools together. He gushed over the role of nurses and practically glowed as he repeatedly pointed to a young woman who had been cured by injecting modified poliovirus into her glioblastoma, a type of brain tumor similar to Beau Bidens.

Whether Biden can really do as much to break down the barriers between academic disciplines, between different drug companies, between drug companies and researchers, and between all of them and the federal government, remains to be seen. But theres something to be said for the approach. While it might be derided as incrementala dirty word these days in the Democratic presidential race that Biden opted not to joinmany of the highly lauded government wars (against poverty, against cancer, against terror, against drugs) have proven to be ignominious failures.

Im not naive, I didnt think we could end cancer. Im not looking for a silver bullet. There is none.

I said I believe that we need an absolute national commitment to end cancer as we know, Biden said. I'm not naive, I didn't think we could end cancer. I'm not looking for a silver bullet. There is none.

That could be taken as a recognition of reality, or it could be taken as a cop-out, a surrender to political limitations. But its hard to question Bidens commitment. He said he intends to devote the rest of his life to the cause, even after leaving office. He also told a story about a letter hed received from Victoria Reggie Kennedy, Senator Ted Kennedys wife, after Beau Bidens death. She had sent him a letter that Joe Kennedy, Teds father, had sent to a grieving friend whod lost his son. Joe Kennedys son and namesake had died during World War II when his plane went down. Joe Kennedy counseled his friend that there was no way to kill the pain of losing a son, but that he had found solace in trying to work for the things that had made Joe Jr. tick. For Joe Biden, working to knock down the silos of the cancer-research world seems to be the best way to keep Beau Bidens memory alive.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
Authorities in Texas and Arizona believe they've closed a 55-year-old murder case with the arrest on Tuesday of an 83-year-old former priest, authorities tell PEOPLE.



John Feit was a visiting Roman Catholic priest in 1960 when he allegedly killed onetime beauty queen Irene Garza, then 25, according to Chris Hegstrom, a spokesman for the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office in Arizona.



The 25-year-old schoolteacher was last seen at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in McAllen, Texas, where police claim Feit heard her confession.



Five days later, police found her body face down in a canal, according to officials.



When he was questioned more than 55 years ago, Feit allegedly told police that Garza had left the rectory following her confession, and he'd last seen her standing outside the church.



Autopsy results shows Garza had been raped while in a coma and died from suffocation.



 Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.



The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office arrested Feit on a murder charge out of Texas, according to a statement. Feit plans to fight his extradition to Texas, officials say.



Detectives are not yet commenting on what evidence led to Tuesday's arrest of Feit, who doesn't yet have an attorney.
By Rich McKay

ATLANTA (Reuters) - A police officer was shot and killed at an apartment complex in suburban Atlanta on Thursday morning while trying to serve a warrant on a drug suspect, Clayton County police officials said.

Riverdale Police identified the officer as Major Greg "Lem" Barney, a longtime member of the department. He had been working with officers from Clayton County when he was shot as he and others tried to make an arrest in Riverdale, about 12 miles south of Atlanta, police said.

The suspect ran out of an apartment's back door when officers arrived at the front, according to a report from WSB-TV in Atlanta. Other officers were waiting out back, which is where the Riverdale officer was shot, the news station reported.

The suspect then ran through the complex where he was shot and wounded by Clayton police, officials said.

Both the suspect and the officer were taken to separate, area hospitals. Barney died in surgery, officials said.

The name and condition of the suspect was not immediately available.

(Editing by Mary Wisniewski and Sandra Maler)
Feb 11 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Financial Times. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

Headlines

WORLDPAY RAMPS UP GLOBAL EXPANSION WITH LAUNCH INTO CANADA

(http://bit.ly/1mtAVfI)

FOUR UK CASES OF ZIKA REPORTED THIS YEAR

(http://bit.ly/1mtB1E9)

BP OFFERS POSITIVE OUTLOOK DRIVEN BY SURGE IN DEMAND

(http://bit.ly/1mtB3Mi)

NHS PRODUCTIVITY FALLS FOR THIRD YEAR

(http://bit.ly/1mtB8zG)

Overview

* Worldpay Group Plc is launching into Canada partnering with Peoples Trust Company, which gives Worldpay a domestic licence for its customers to accept card payments in Canada. It looks to replicate this deal with other customers that it has previously been unable to serve in Canada.

* Four cases of Zika have been reported in the UK since January and the number is likely to rise as travellers return from endemic areas of Latin America. Public health officials said seven UK cases had been diagnosed in the past three years and most had occurred since the start of 2016 as the virus.

* BP Plc said oil producers in the United States will recover from the collapse in crude oil prices and pump millions of barrels a day more over the next two decades even though there is resilient growth in energy demand.

* According to official data, productivity in NHS hospitals has fallen for the third year now. This will now intensify the debate over whether the service can survive without more funding.

(Compiled by Sangameswaran S in Bengaluru)
By Gabriela Lopez MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) - A battle between the feared Zetas drug cartel and rivals at a prison left 52 people dead in the northeastern Mexican city of Monterrey, authorities said on Thursday, days ahead of a planned visit by Pope Francis to another jail in Mexico's far north. The incident was one of the worst in a series of deadly riots in recent years to rock the countrys overpopulated prisons, some of which are largely controlled by cartels. Fighting broke out before midnight in two areas of the Topo Chico prison between supporters of a gang leader known as "Zeta 27" and another group, Nuevo Leon state Governor Jaime Rodriguez said. "Topo Chico is a...very old prison. A prison with very difficult security conditions," said Rodriguez, who survived two assassination attempts while opposing drug cartels as mayor of a suburb of Monterrey, Mexico's third most populous metropolitan area and home to many of the country's largest corporations. A 2014 human rights report faulted Topo Chico for not preventing violent incidents. The prison has long housed members of the Zetas, known for extreme violence. One Zetas leader was stabbed to death there in September. It was not immediately clear how the victims died but Rodriguez said there was no gunfire. Flames licked the night sky after inmates set light to food storage areas. Milenio TV reported that inmates' relatives who had been within the prison's premises for conjugal visits had seen inmates with burns. Twelve people were injured, five seriously, the state government said. Speaking to local radio, Rodriguez acknowledged the public perception that the Zetas dominated the facility and said the prison system was one of his principal concerns. The problem is they have people like my brother living with narcos," said an angry relative of an inmate doing time for robbery, waiting for names of the victims at the prison gates. The state government released the names of 20 victims. The names of Zeta 27 and a rival known as El Credo were not among them. Rodriguez said the fighting had been brought under control at about 1:30 a.m.(0730 GMT) on Thursday and ruled out a prison break. Worried family members at one point forced open the prison gates and threw timber and stones at riot police inside, television images showed. Rodriguez said no women or children were hurt. Pope Francis is set to begin his first visit to Mexico as pontiff on Friday. Next week, he will visit a prison in border city Ciudad Juarez, once one of the world's most violent cities. Both Monterrey and Ciudad Juarez are more peaceful than at the peak of the war between rival cartels for control of routes to nearby Texas. For much of the last decade, the Zetas spread terror across Mexico before being debilitated by arrests and deaths of their founding members. Juan Pedro Saldivar Farias, or Zeta 27, has been mentioned in local media as a suspect in the 2010 murder of U.S. citizen David Hartley. Thursday's riot was a blow to Nuevo Leon, where many were uplifted when Rodriguez, a blunt, outspoken rancher with a penchant for cowboy hats known as "El Bronco," or "the gruff one," defeated President Enrique Pena Nietos ruling party last year, becoming Mexico's first independent candidate to win a governorship. In 2012, at least 44 inmates died in another Nuevo Leon prison when members of the Zetas plotted with prison guards to stage an elaborate escape. (This version of the story corrects Zeta 27 leader name to Saldivar from Salvidar in paragraph 16) (Additional reporting by Alexandra Alper, Cyntia Barrera and Christine Murray; Editing by Simon Gardner, Frank Jack Daniel, Bernadette Baum and W Simon)
Falling oil prices may cost overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) their jobs, and the government is preparing to absorb those who decide to return home for good.

Programs are in place to allow returning OFWs to choose between local employment or livelihood opportunities, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said yesterday.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the DOLE also has enough funds for repatriation and other forms of assistance that can be given to OFWs who may be affected by plunging crude oil prices.

She said her office is collaborating with the private sector, including Coca Cola FEMSA Philippines, to develop programs and initiatives geared for employment matching, livelihood enhancement and technical or business training for returning OFWs.

This agreement indicates that convergence with the private sector is important. Partnerships in laying down concrete programs and services for returning overseas Filipino workers who intend to be locally employed or to set up their own livelihoods, or to enhance their knowledge and skills through technical training, could produce positive results and great impact, Baldoz said.

Baldoz said DOLE recognizes the importance of giving OFWs sufficient and meaningful opportunities for local employment and livelihood to encourage them to stay in the country permanently.

We just have to pin down which of our respective programs can be identified as possible areas of collaboration, develop OFW-tailored programs and services and direct these to OFWs for their own choosing, Baldoz explained.

Once these employment and livelihood programs are identified, Baldoz said DOLE would enroll them in the Assist W.E.L.L. program, which is the agencys convergence assistance program for OFWs welfare, employment, livelihood and legal concerns.

She added that DOLE is also pursuing similar collaborative agreements with other private sector partners, such as the Philippine Plastics Industry Association, Philippine Association of Local Service Contractors, Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines, Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines, Aerospace Industries Association of the Philippines and Ayala Land.

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As for repatriation, Baldoz said DOLE has enough funds for the purpose and that it can also seek the help of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) if funds would not be enough.

OWWA chief Rebecca Calzado said government agencies, like DOLE and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), are continuously monitoring the situation in Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East.

In case there will be displacement, the affected workers cannot return immediately because they will have to process their exit visas which will take some time. So, we are already discussing possible assistance the government will have to provide while they are still abroad, Calzado noted.
(Reuters) - One of the last four holdouts occupying a wildlife refuge in Oregon pledged in an audio stream on the Internet on Thursday to surrender unarmed while holding an American flag.

"We are going to be unarmed and peaceful," the man, who did not identify himself, said during a phone call with Nevada state Assemblywoman Michele Fiore and evangelist Franklin Graham, the son of Billy Graham, on a live phone call streamed over the Web. Negotiations continued past 8 a.m. PST, the time protesters previously said they planned to surrender to the FBI.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
(Reuters) - The Puerto Rico senate has approved the PREPA Revitalization Act, intended to restructure the country's debt-laden power utility, a spokesman for PREPA said. The bill now moves to the Puerto Rico House of Representatives, which would need to approve it before it could become law. "This legislation provides PREPA with critical tools to make PREPA the modern utility that Puerto Rico needs and deserves," the company said in a statement on Wednesday. PREPA, with more than $8 billion in debt, reached a restructuring deal in December with about 70 percent of its creditors. That deal hit a roadbump in January when Puerto Rico's lawmakers failed to meet a Jan. 22 deadline to pass necessary legislation. However, the agency and bondholders agreed to extend a crucial deadline to Feb. 16. (Reporting by Shivam Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Sunil Nair)
MONTREAL (Reuters) - Quebec said on Wednesday it would consider contributing further to Bombardier Inc's CSeries jet, after making a $1.3 billion investment in the troubled program last year, Canadian media reported. Quebec's Transportation Minister Jacques Daoust said in the province's provincial parliament that he would be willing to help Bombardier once again if the Canadian government failed to invest in the Canadian plane and train manufacturer by March 31. "If by March 31 the federal government isn't there, the Quebec government will have a decision to make. But we have always supported Bombardier. It is a jewel of our economy and we will make sure it continues that way," said Daoust who was quoted by the French-language Journal de Montreal. Bombardier accounts for about 40,000 direct and indirect jobs in Quebec, with average salaries almost double the provincial average, according to provincial data. Daoust agreed to invest $1 billion in the 100-160 seat CSeries jets in October when he was Quebec's economy minister.. The CSeries is expected to enter service this year, after years of delays and snowballing costs. Canada's Liberal government is now considering whether to invest in the program, which has not had a new order in more than a year. On Jan. 27, shares of Canadian train and plane maker Bombardier closed below C$1 for the first time since 1991, putting the company at risk of being pushed out of major Canadian indices. (Reporting by Allison Lampert; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Lima (AFP) - At least 12 indigenous children in Peru have died from rabies after being bitten by blood-sucking bats, which locals at first blamed on witchcraft, health officials said.

The children aged between eight and 15 died between September and February in two indigenous communities in the Amazon region of Loreto, regional health official Hermann Silva said.

"From the symptoms and medical reports it was determined that the 12 children from the Achuar ethnic group died from an outbreak of wild rabies," Silva told AFP.

"The victims were bitten by blood-sucking bats, animals that drink blood, in the Yankuntich and Uncun communities in the jungle" 1,100 kilometers (684 miles) north of the capital Lima.

She said indigenous local authorities told health workers that "the community thought the children's deaths were due to witchcraft, and that was why they didn't report the outbreak in time."

The latest death of a child from rabies was reported on Wednesday. Two other patients, a boy of nine and a woman aged 22, were recovering from the illness.

Peru's health minister Anibal Velasquez said on television that the government had declared a health emergency to get medical aid to the region quickly.

Silva said vaccination teams had been sent urgently to the remote region.
New York (AFP) - New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on Wednesday ended his bid for the US presidency, further whittling down a once-crowded Republican field led by billionaire real estate tycoon Donald Trump.

"I leave the race without an ounce of regret," Christie said in a Facebook post, one day after finishing sixth in the New Hampshire primary with only 7.4 percent of the vote. In the Iowa caucuses last week, he finished in 10th place.

With such bleak results, it was unlikely that Christie would have been invited to participate in the next Republican debate on Saturday. And his campaign funds were drying up -- a situation that often sounds the death knell for a presidential run.

"While running for president, I tried to reinforce what I have always believed -- that speaking your mind matters, that experience matters, that competence matters and that it will always matter in leading our nation," Christie said.

"That message was heard by and stood for by a lot of people, but just not enough and that's ok."

The 53-year-old Christie, a father of four, has a larger-than-life personality that endeared him to voters, especially when he fiercely stood up for residents affected by Hurricane Sandy, which caused unprecedented damage in New Jersey in 2012.

He scored perhaps his most triumphant moment on the campaign trail last weekend, when he skewered Republican rival Marco Rubio during a debate for robotically repeating his talking points.

But Christie bet big on New Hampshire and it did not pay off. He went to the Granite State more than 30 times, and held more than 150 events with voters.

The former federal prosecutor is a moderate Republican running a largely Democratic state who was once seen as one of the party's best hopes in 2016.

His image suffered in late 2013 after revelations emerged that senior aides ordered the closure of some lanes of the George Washington Bridge, a vital conduit between New York and New Jersey.

"Bridgegate" was interpreted by some as a reprisal against a local mayor who declined to endorse Christie for re-election.

His departure leaves six Republicans in the race: Trump, Rubio, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, former Florida governor Jeb Bush, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Ohio Governor John Kasich.
Washington (AFP) - Two more Republicans have ended their White House runs, whittling down the field as the party's remaining candidates and Democrat Hillary Clinton look to blunt the momentum of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders down south.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina both called time on their presidential bids, one day after finishing sixth and seventh, respectively, in the New Hampshire primary.

Trump and Sanders -- two political outsiders with vastly different ideologies, but who have a common campaign credo of speaking what they say is truth to power -- served notice in the Granite State on Tuesday with their resounding victories.

Sanders almost doubled Clinton's tally and Trump bested second place Ohio Governor John Kasich by almost 20 percentage points.

Both results shocked the party establishments, virtually guaranteeing bitter and drawn-out races for the Democratic and Republican nominations.

New Hampshire was the second stop in the months-long process to choose the two candidates who will vie to succeed President Barack Obama on Election Day, November 8.

"I leave the race without an ounce of regret," Christie said in a Facebook post, noting that while his message had been heard by many, it was "just not enough and that's ok."

Fiorina, the only woman in the Republican field, said she would "continue to travel this country and fight for those Americans who refuse to settle for the way things are and a status quo that no longer works for them."

- 'Work to do' for Clinton -

So where do the other candidates go from here? South Carolina and Nevada, where both parties will stage nominating contests before month's end.

The upcoming votes will be crucial for Clinton, the former secretary of state who admitted in an uneasy concession speech that she had "some work to do, particularly with young people," to revitalize her campaign.

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Clinton is seen as enjoying strong support among black voters and Sanders, realizing the need to boost his standing with African Americans, met Wednesday with prominent civil rights activist Al Sharpton in New York.

"My concern is that in January of next year, for the first time in American history, a black family will be moving out of the White House," Sharpton said.

"I do not want black concerns to be moved out with them."

Clinton said she recognized the American electorate's fury with establishment politics.

"People have every right to be angry," she said. "But they're also hungry, they're hungry for solutions."

- 'Kitchen sink' -

Sanders has signaled he is in the race to win and expects the coming weeks to be even more closely fought. The next battle is in Nevada on February 20, followed by South Carolina.

"They're throwing everything at me except the kitchen sink, and I have the feeling that kitchen sink is coming pretty soon," he said in a buoyant victory speech.

Beefing up his ability to take the fight to Clinton for the long term, the Sanders camp announced he raised $5.2 million in the 18 hours following his New Hampshire win.

For now, he reigns supreme with young voters: Clinton received just 16 percent of the vote among people under 29, according to New Hampshire exit polls.

- 'Glaring differences' -

If the Democratic race is poised to take a more confrontational turn, then Republicans are set for all out internecine warfare.

Trump's visceral assault on American politics brought him his debut victory after a second-place showing in last week's Iowa caucuses.

It was a must win for Trump, after his embarrassing performance in the Hawkeye State called into question his frontrunner status and brand as a winner.

But similar levels of support for Kasich, Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Marco Rubio and former Florida governor Jeb Bush left the field in turmoil. The last remaining candidate, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, finished farther off the pace.

Now the fight moves to South Carolina, a state with a lingering reputation for bare-knuckle campaign tactics.

Even before the candidates arrived, the state's airwaves were being flooded with negative attack ads, with each man hoping to emerge as the mainstream answer to Trump.

"They've written me off in this campaign, over and over again," Bush told supporters in Bluffton, South Carolina, arguing that his campaign got a new lease on life even though he finished fourth up north.

Cruz, challenging Trump for prominence in the anti-establishment far-right lane, highlighted their "glaring differences" during an appearance in South Carolina.

"The only candidate who can beat Donald Trump is me," he said.

Speaking to reporters in Washington, Cruz eyed a potential boost from Christie and Fiorina backers.

"I hope to earn the support of each of their supporters," he said. "I'm grateful that they ran."

Rubio, who hoped to match or better his third-place Iowa finish, stumbled to fifth after he took a drubbing in the last debate before the vote, where he robotically repeated his talking points.

He could only offer supporters a mea culpa.

"Our disappointment is not on you. It's on me," he said. "We did not do well on Saturday and so listen to this: That will never happen again."
By Ginger Gibson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former business executive Carly Fiorina ended their presidential campaigns on Wednesday, narrowing the field challenging front-runner Donald Trump in the race for the 2016 Republican nomination. Christie, 53, said in a Facebook post he was leaving the race "without an ounce of regret," a day after the combative Republican's sixth-place finish in the New Hampshire primary raised doubts about his viability as a candidate. Fiorina, 61, a former Hewlett-Packard chief executive, said in a Facebook post she would suspend her campaign. The only woman in the Republican field placed seventh in New Hampshire, one of a series of state-by-state nominating contests for the Nov. 8 election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama. Trump's remaining opponents, most of them mainstream Republicans, will likely benefit from their departures, which leave seven Republicans from a field that once had 17 candidates. Trump won the New Hampshire Republican primary by almost 20 points. The fifth-place finish of U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who had hoped to emerge as Trump's main rival after a surprise third-place showing in Iowa last week, leaves Trump without a clear challenger among the so-called establishment candidates. On the Democratic side, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a democratic socialist, easily defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the New Hampshire primary. The victories in both parties by candidates considered outsiders, testified to the sizable share of American voters upset over the slow economic recovery, immigration and America's place in the world and who are willing to shake up Washington. Trump, 69, a billionaire businessman, has a double-digit lead over conservative Senator Ted Cruz of Texas in opinion polls for the next Republican contest, the South Carolina primary on Feb. 20, according to a Real Clear Politics average of opinion polls. Christie poured much of his campaign's resources into New Hampshire and had considered a good showing there critical. He won only about 7 percent of votes on Tuesday, despite a pugnacious performance at a Republican debate last weekend. "Christie needed to drop out. In short, he does not have the money or organization to be viable in South Carolina and beyond," said Monmouth University pollster Patrick Murray. "Christie was certainly hurt by Trump stealing his 'telling it like it is thunder,' but Christie was also out-organized in the ultimate retail politics state," Murray said. SANDERS COURTS AFRICAN-AMERICANS Trump's victory in New Hampshire showed pundits were wrong to think he would quickly self-destruct based on his penchant for insults and imprecise plans for the presidency. He had lost last week to Cruz in the first nominating contest, the Iowa caucuses. Ohio's Republican governor, John Kasich, finished second in New Hampshire, followed by Cruz, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Rubio. The odds of Trump winning the White House, once seen as an extremely long shot, improved significantly after his victory in New Hampshire, online betting site Ladbrokes PLC said. Trump is now at 9/2, compared with 7/1 last week, meaning his chances of victory in November are now 18 percent. Clinton still had the best odds of becoming president at 50/50, Ladbrokes said. On the Democratic side, Sanders, 74, courted the African-American vote on Wednesday, having breakfast with civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton at a restaurant in New York City's Harlem neighborhood. Clinton, 68, currently has strong support from black voters, who will be crucial in the Democratic primary in South Carolina on Feb. 27. Sharpton and Obama met at the same restaurant during Obama's successful 2008 presidential campaign - a piece of symbolism for Sanders as he tries to expand his appeal beyond liberals in the U.S. Northeast. My concern is that in January of next year for the first time in American history, a black family will be moving out of the White House," Sharpton, a Baptist minister and television talk-show host, told reporters afterward. "I do not want black concerns to be moved out with them. We must be front and center and not marginalized. And Senator Sanders coming here this morning further makes it clear that we will not be ignored," he said. Sharpton discussed a spate of police shootings of black males and other issues with the senator. Sharpton said he would not endorse a candidate until he met with Clinton. The Congressional Black Caucus will endorse Clinton on Thursday and its members will be active in supporting her campaign, the Washington Post reported, citing U.S. Democratic Representative Gregory Meeks of New York, chairman of CBC's political action committee. Clinton has a long history of support for civil rights. She also has benefited from husband Bill Clintons popularity in the black community during his presidency, although that became strained during her fierce 2008 primary battle with Obama. Clinton's campaign, highlighting her popularity among black and Latino voters, said in a statement on Tuesday: "It will be very difficult, if not impossible, for a Democrat to win the nomination without strong levels of support among African-American and Hispanic voters." (Writing by Alistair Bell and Eric Beech; Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu and Eric Walsh; Editing by Howard Goller and Peter Cooney)
With scandal in the rearview mirror, Rielle Hunter says former Senator John Edwards has become a "great dad" to their daughter Frances Quinn, whom he fathered while still married to the late Elizabeth Edwards.



"She's amazing. She sings all the time, she's just always got a happy little tune going on," Hunter tells Steve Harvey on his talk show on Tuesday of the 7-year-old, while sharing new photos.



Edwards was a presidential hopeful when it was revealed that his extramarital affair with Hunter, a filmmaker hired to work on his campaign, had produced Frances Quinn. The former North Carolina senator didn't admit paternity until January 2010. His wife then officially announced their separation, and died later that year from breast cancer.



"I thought the whole thing was insane," Hunter, 51, tells Harvey of initially hiding the relationship in 2006 and 2007. "But why I went along with it, was I was afraid that my daughter, who was unborn at that time, would not have a dad. And I also didn't want to hurt anybody. It was in the middle of a campaign. I didn't want to be the one to bring down an entire campaign."







Despite an ongoing relationship with Edwards, Hunter later released a book about the affair in 2012, called What Really Happened: John Edwards, Our Daughter, and Me.



In fact, Hunter says the couple stayed together on-and-off until February 2015 and were "madly in love."



"This was not a frivolous relationship," she says. "I mean, we were together for nine years. And we still love each other. We're not together, but we still love each other."





Rielle Hunter Shares New Photos of John Edwards' Love Child, Frances Quinn, Says 7-Year-Old is Aware of 'Her Reality'| Paternity Disputes, Sex Scandals, politics, Elizabeth Edwards, John Edwards, Rielle Hunter, Steve Harvey



Hunter says Edwards, who also has four other children, sees his daughter as "often as they can," and that Frances Quinn understands the situation surrounding her upbringing.



"This is her history. This is her life," she explains to Harvey. "She grew up with paparazzi chasing her from day one. That's her reality."





VIDEO: Awkward! Steve Harvey Accidentally Crowns the Wrong Winner of Miss Universe After Misreading His Cue Card





Regardless of "weather[ing] the storm" to become "a really loving family," Hunter says she understands the public uproar.



"I never meant to hurt anybody. I am really sorry," she says. "I really truly did not mean to hurt anybody, and I wasn't thinking of anybody but myself. And I was absolutely wrong. Absolutely."



But she now focuses on the bright side: "[We] came out the other side with this beautiful child, who is amazing. And I've forgiven myself and we've moved on."
(Reuters) - Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of Democratic presidential candidate Robert Kennedy in 1968, was denied parole for the 15th time on Wednesday, a California prison official said. Sirhan, 71, had a suitability hearing at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility near San Diego, the California Board of Parole Hearings said on its website. Sirhan will be up again for parole in five years, said Luis Patino, a spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The Palestinian-born Sirhan is serving a life sentence for gunning down Kennedy, 42, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968. The shooting occurred minutes after the U.S. senator from New York and former U.S. attorney general gave his victory speech after winning the California Democratic primary. Kennedy died the next day. Sirhan was sentenced to death in 1969. His sentence was commuted to life in prison after California banned the death penalty. Paul Schrade, a 91-year-old Kennedy confidant and among the five people wounded in the shooting, told the board that Sirhan should be granted parole since evidence showed that a second gunman killed Kennedy. "The evidence clearly shows you were not the gunman who shot Robert Kennedy," Schrade said in remarks prepared for the hearing. Sirhan fired in front of Kennedy but the candidate was struck in the back by three bullets, including a fatal shot to the back of the head, Schrade said. An analysis of an audio recording shows that 13 shots were fired, but Sirhan's gun held only eight rounds and he had no chance to reload, Schrade said. Schrade alleged misconduct in the investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department and called for a new probe of Kennedy's killing. A federal judge last year rejected similar arguments by Sirhan's lawyers, who had sought to have him released, saying he was innocent. Sirhan has said that he had no recollection of the killing, although he has also said he had fired at Kennedy because he was enraged by his support for Israel. Sirhan was last denied parole in 2011. He is imprisoned in San Diego. Kennedy's older brother, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in 1963. (Reporting by Ian Simpson in Washington and Mary Wisniewski in Chicago; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli, Dan Grebler and Peter Cooney)
BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania's prime minister sacked the head of the tax authority and his deputy on Thursday, a day after anti-corruption prosecutors said they were being investigated as part of a wider probe into alleged misappropriation of European funds. The government press office confirmed Gelu Diaconu and his deputy Mihai Gogancea-Vatasoiu had been dismissed after Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos said he was waiting for Finance Minister Anca Dragu to propose replacement tax chiefs. "For me, what is most important is that the tax authority remains a credible institution," Ciolos told reporters. Diaconu and Gogancea-Vatasoiu had been asked to resign by Dragu on Wednesday, but declined to so. In a statement published on the tax authority's website, Diaconu denied any wrongdoing and described the case as "Kafka-esque". "One prosecutor's actions are destabilizing an institution that is vital to the Romanian state," he added. Gogancea-Vatasoiu could not be contacted for comment on Thursday. Prosecutors said on Wednesday that two Romanian lawmakers and eight other persons had allegedly defrauded two projects worth a total 27.25 million lei ($6.91 million) aimed at supporting the underprivileged Roma minority. They allege that Diaconu and Gogancea-Vatasoiu signed papers that exempted those involved in the projects from tax. Romania's anti-graft prosecutors have been praised by Brussels for their efforts and last year had a conviction rate of over 90 percent. The tax authority has been through an overhaul aimed at helping it combat widespread tax evasion, and collection improved in 2015. Romania is seen as one of the European Union's most corrupt states and its justice system is closely monitored by Brussels, which has suspended payment of development funds several times due to irregularities. Its reputation for graft has deterred foreign investment while tax evasion and bribery are a drain on public finances. Anti-corruption prosecutors have cracked down hard on high-level abuses in recent years, investigating lawmakers, cabinet ministers, mayors and even former prime minister Victor Ponta. (Reporting by Luiza Ilie and Radu Marinas; Editing by Catherine Evans)
Damascus (AFP) - Russian cargo planes have delivered humanitarian aid to regime-held neighbourhoods in Syria's eastern Deir Ezzor city, a monitor said Thursday.

They carried out the air drops on areas besieged by the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group on Wednesday, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

State news agency SANA quoted a Syrian Arab Red Crescent official as saying "37.5 tonnes of food aid arrived in Deir Ezzor" in the first batch of an expected 90 tonnes of aid to reach the city.

The jihadists control 60 percent of Deir Ezzor city, where more than 200,000 people still live.

Around 70 percent of its remaining residents are women and children, according to the United Nations.

IS has controlled most of the oil-rich Deir Ezzor province since 2013, with the regime clinging on to parts of its provincial capital and its airport.

Nearly half a million people live under siege in Syria, the UN said in January.

Russia launched air strikes in support of Syria's government on September 30.

Syria's conflict has claimed 260,000 lives and displaced half the population since March 2011.
By Tom Perry and Laila Bassam DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Russian mediators are helping the Syrian government to broker deals with rebels seeking to lay down their weapons or to relocate to insurgent strongholds, as Moscow plays a role underwriting local truces with besieged opposition fighters. National reconciliation minister Ali Haidar also said escalating military pressure was forcing more rebels to seek out deals that have resulted in some moving from areas of Damascus and Homs to insurgent strongholds in Idlib and Raqqa. Haidar's comments in an interview with Reuters reflect the dramatic shift in momentum in the Syrian war since Russia began air strikes in support of President Bashar al-Assad on Sept. 30. As the United States struggles to advance diplomacy toward securing a wider ceasefire, so-called local reconciliation agreements represent the government's preferred tool for making peace on its terms from a position of strength, area by area. Such agreements - a feature of the conflict for some time - are often described as a means for the government to force surrender on insurgents, and have typically followed lengthy blockades of rebel-held areas and the civilians living there. "The truth is that since the presence of the Russians on Syrian land, they can play the role of mediator in some areas," Haidar said at his offices in Damascus. "Sometimes it is the militants who request mediation by the Russians," he said. Those wishing to relocate wanted guarantees of safe passage to rebel strongholds, and those wishing to stay wanted to be sure they wouldn't be killed later on, he said. Haidar described the process as purely Syrian even if there had at times been help from Russia since the start of its intervention in the war. "It isn't the mediation that plays the important role. The important role is the achievements of the army in military operations, closing the path in front of these groups. The horizons are closed and this is what makes them head toward the other solution," he said. CONTACTS IN ALEPPO With the government gaining ground backed by Russian air power, international diplomacy is struggling to make headway toward an overall negotiated settlement to the war that has killed 250,000 people and forced 11 million from their homes. Major powers with influence over the conflict are meeting in Munich on Thursday. A Western official said on Wednesday Moscow had presented a proposal envisaging a truce in three weeks' time, though Washington has concerns about parts of it. Peace talks between the government and opposition factions were aborted in Geneva last week before they really began, with the opposition withdrawing as government forces backed by allied militia made a dramatic advance north of Aleppo. Haidar said contacts had begun with groups in Aleppo, a city divided into zones controlled separately by the government and opposition, with a view to concluding local agreements there. The government has vowed to recapture Aleppo. "We have started contacts with some of the militant commanders via mediators, we are seeking to arrive at solutions that keep civilians out of any coming military action," Haidar said. "This is happening in the Aleppo countryside, the districts of Aleppo, and rural Homs, and rural Damascus now," he said. The secret contacts in Aleppo had got underway less than two weeks ago, he said. In one local agreement, some 270 gunmen from the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front left the last opposition-held district of Homs for the insurgent stronghold of Idlib in December. The buses were provided by the government. Others have left suburbs of Damascus for both Idlib and Raqqa province, Islamic State's stronghold in Syria. Haidar said talks were under way for the evacuation of a total of 1,800 militants from suburbs of southern Damascus to both Idlib and Raqqa. He declined to give details because of the sensitivity of the talks. Haidar described it as a military tactic by insurgents who, feeling that are under pressure, are being forced to move fighters to areas such as Idlib "for the coming battle". "As their horizons close, and they feel ... they can no longer wage battles across all Syria, they have started to head toward gathering their forces in certain areas," Haidar said. Haidar said more than 50 local deals had been concluded, though not all of them had been implemented in full. "We have a plan that can achieve reconciliations covering another million people within six months," he said. While welcoming deals that save lives, the United Nations says many have failed to improve conditions for civilians. "It is always a good thing when the guns go silent because it means lives can be saved. However, many local agreements, after they were concluded, have fallen short because free movement for civilians, free access for humanitarian aid, or restoration of basic services did not become reality," Yacoub El Hillo, UN Humanitarian and Resident Coordinator in Syria, said. "(Mouadamiya) is an example of how the agreement did not materialize as originally envisioned. It is imperative that these agreements have an immediate dividend that is felt by the people in these locations," he said. Haidar said rebels had breached the ceasefire in Mouadamiya, southwest of Damascus, which was concluded in 2013. The army is currently mounting an attack to separate Mouadamiya from nearby Daraya. Haidar said: "We are seeking the departure of the remaining gunmen from Mouadamiya and its return to (normal) life." (Editing by Giles Elgood)
Munich (Germany) (AFP) - Russia has made a "quite specific" proposal for a ceasefire in Syria and is awaiting a US response, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday.

"We made propositions for a ceasefire that are quite specific," he said as he sat down for talks with his US counterpart John Kerry in Munich.

"We will wait for the American response before we take it to the (International Syria Support Group)."

The UN says 51,000 Syrians have fled the bombardment of the city of Aleppo by government forces, backed by Russian bombers and Iranian fighters.

"We're going to have a serious conversation about all aspects about what's happening in Syria. Obviously, at some point in time, we want to make progress on the issues of humanitarian access and ceasefire," Kerry said.

Kerry and Lavrov will host foreign ministers from the 17-nation Syria contact group later Thursday, for a meeting billed as a moment of truth for the floundering peace process.
Munich (Germany) (AFP) - Foreign ministers were locked in late-night talks in Munich on Thursday, seeking a way to revive a floundering Syrian peace process as Russia warned of the possibility of a "new world war".

An onslaught on the key rebel stronghold of Aleppo by Syrian troops, backed by Russian bombers and Iranian fighters, derailed peace talks earlier this month and has triggered an exodus of over 50,000 refugees.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he had "made propositions for a ceasefire that are quite specific" as he sat down for talks with US counterpart John Kerry.

But the mood in Munich was downbeat, with rumours that Russia had only offered a ceasefire from March 1, giving another three weeks for an offensive which the UN says could place 300,000 people under siege.

The bombardments on Aleppo have left the opposition there virtually encircled and observers say 500 people have died since they began on February 1 -- the latest hellish twist in a five-year war that has claimed some 250,000 lives.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, meanwhile, warned that any move by Gulf nations to send in troops to support the rebels would risk a "new world war".

"The Americans and our Arabic partners must think hard about this: do they want a permanent war?" he told Germany's Handelsblatt newspaper.

- 'Russia intensifying conflict' -

US diplomats hit back at Russia's support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and said any ceasefire should be "immediate".

"It has been Russian support for the Assad regime over the past months, and most recently in the siege on Aleppo, that has exacerbated, intensified the conflict," said State Department spokesman Mark Toner.

French President Francois Hollande added his voice to the criticism.

"Helped by the Russians, (Assad) is massacring some of his own people, even if he is also taking action against a certain number of terrorists. I ask that Russia's actions stop," Hollande said.

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Russia and Iran have repeatedly labelled the rebels in Aleppo as "terrorists" and suggested there can be no settlement until they have been militarily defeated.

"Those who are outside Syria should help the peace process and not seek to impose conditions on the Syrian people," Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif told Iran's state TV after arriving for the talks.

- US 'Plan B' -

A first round of talks between the Syrian government and the opposition in Geneva collapsed earlier this month over the attacks on Aleppo.

The rebels say they will not return to talks, pencilled in for February 25, unless government sieges and air strikes end.

Washington has threatened an unspecified "Plan B" if talks fail, as tension mounts with Moscow over its air campaign.

The two sides traded accusations on Thursday about bombing in Aleppo, with the Pentagon claiming two hospitals had been destroyed, and Moscow saying US planes had struck the city -- which was flatly denied by Washington.

Analysts see little hope of reconciling differences.

Syria is a crucial ally and military staging post for Russia and Iran, while a growing number of observers say Moscow has benefited from the chaos created by the war, particularly the refugee crisis in Europe.

"The goal of Russian President Vladimir Putin is to destabilise and weaken the West," Koert Debeuf, a research fellow at the University of Oxford, told the Carnegie Europe think tank.

But they also see little chance of a decisive victory for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"The idea of a full reconquest... seems neither credible nor durable. It will simply turn into a terrorist or guerrilla situation," said Camille Grand, of the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris.

- Strained relations -

Many have criticised the United States for not doing more to support the rebels.

Washington has been reluctant to involve itself in another war after the quagmires of Afghanistan and Iraq, and has sought to focus more on combatting the Islamic State group than getting involved in the civil war between Syria's regime and rebels.

"The US has given up the idea of toppling Assad," said Grand. "Kerry seems willing to accept pretty much anything to resolve the crisis."

The conflict has also strained relations between Turkey and its Western allies.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has slammed Washington's increasingly close alliance with the Kurdish militias in the fight against IS, saying it was turning the region into "a pool of blood".
Moscow (AFP) - Russia's defence ministry on Thursday accused the United States of bombing the Syrian city of Aleppo after the Pentagon said Moscow's air strikes had destroyed two hospitals in the city.

Moscow furiously denied the US claim, charging in return that Washington had sent ground-attack planes to bombard Aleppo, an allegation the US said was a "fabrication".

"Just before 2 pm Moscow time (1100 GMT on Wednesday), two US Air Force A-10s flew into Syrian airspace from Turkish territory," defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.

After reaching Aleppo by the most direct route, the US planes "conducted strikes against targets in the city," Konashenkov claimed.

Spokesman for the US-led coalition Colonel Steve Warren in Baghdad rejected this. "There were no Coalition airstrikes in or near Aleppo on Wednesday," he said in an emailed statement.

"Any claim that the coalition had aircraft in the area is a fabrication."

The Pentagon on Wednesday said that Aleppos two main hospitals had been destroyed by Russian and Syrian government attacks this month in the Russian-backed regime offensive, warning of an "increasingly dire" situation in the city.

Russia's defence ministry said Thursday that its air force had hit 1,888 "terrorist targets" in eight regions including Aleppo, Latakia, Hama and Homs provinces over the past week.

However, the defence ministry spokesman insisted that the air force's closest bombing target to Aleppo on Wednesday was more than 20 kilometres (12 miles) outside the city.

The ministry vehemently denied accusations that civilians had been targeted in the strikes, saying that "Russian aviation and Syrian government forces will never launch strikes on the civilian population."

Russia said Thursday it was ready to discuss the possibility of a ceasefire in Syria as foreign ministers gathered in Munich in a bid to restart peace talks.

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"We are ready to discuss the modalities of a ceasefire," deputy foreign minister Gennady Gatilov told journalists in Moscow, quoted by TASS state news agency. "That is what we will talk about in Munich."

US Secretary of State John Kerry warned earlier this week that Russia's bombing of opposition targets could further derail diplomatic efforts to end Syria's brutal civil war.

Kerry was set to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Munich to host talks with a 17-nation contact group designed to get the talks back on track.

But US frustration with Russia's bombing in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime is growing, as fears mount that the opposition will refuse to join UN-led peace talks while their cities are under fire.

Russia launched a bombing campaign in the war-torn country last year at Assad's request, saying strikes are aimed against the Islamic State group and other jihadists.

But the West has accused Moscow of targeting more moderate groups that oppose Assad's regime.

International talks to end the five-year civil war that has killed more than 260,000 people broke down earlier this month amid accusations from the West and Syrian regime opponents that Russia's air strikes in Aleppo were targeting opposition groups and civilians.

The talks were temporarily suspended until February 25, but Russian deputy foreign minister Gatilov said Thursday that they could "possibly start earlier."
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Defence Ministry said on Thursday that two U.S. aircraft had bombed the Syrian city of Aleppo on Feb. 10, and that Russian planes had not been operating in the area. A Pentagon spokesman had accused Russian and Syria government forces on Wednesday of destroying Aleppo's two main hospitals with air strikes, though he did not specify when the strikes were alleged to have taken place. The Syrian army has made rapid advances near Aleppo in recent weeks with the help of Russian air strikes. But Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement that "only aviation of the anti-ISIS coalition flew over the city yesterday", referring to the U.S.-led alliance of countries fighting the Islamic State militant group. "At 1355 Moscow time, two U.S. Air Force A-10 attack aircraft entered Syrian airspace from Turkish territory. Reaching Aleppo by the most direct path, they made strikes against objects in the city." He said the Russian targets on that day had been at least 20 km (12 miles) from the city. When asked on Wednesday whether the U.S.-led coalition could do more to help rebels in Aleppo or improve access for humanitarian aid to the city, Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said that the coalition's focus remained on fighting Islamic State, which was "virtually non-existent in that part of Syria". Capturing Aleppo, Syria's biggest city before the war but now divided between rebel- and government-held sectors, would represent a major military victory for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and a symbolic prize for his ally, Russia, to help justify its bombing campaign in Syria. Members of the United Nations Security Council pressed Russia on Wednesday to stop bombing Aleppo in support of the Syrian military offensive and allow humanitarian access ahead of a meeting of major powers in Germany on the conflict. (Reporting by Maria Kiselyova; writing by Jack Stubbs,; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
Moscow (AFP) - Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny announced he had filed a lawsuit against President Vladimir Putin on Thursday over alleged graft, accusing him of ordering huge loans to a firm owned by his son-in-law.

"I sued Putin over Putin's son-in-law and I am sure that I will win," Navalny wrote on his blog, accusing the Russian leader of violating anti-corruption legislation to benefit Kirill Shamalov, who recently married the Russian leader's daughter Katerina.

Citing public records and statements, Navalny said that Shamalov came to own a stake in petrochemical company Sibur shortly before Putin allegedly ordered that it be provided with $1.75 billion in cheap financing from Russia's national welfare fund.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists Thursday that the president was not aware of the lawsuit.

Putin has kept his family life private but media reports have linked Shamalov and Putin's daughter Katerina, who is believed to be the woman named Katerina Tikhonova who works at Moscow State University, heads a fund and is a former rock-and-roll dancer.

Kirill Shamalov is the 33-year-old son of Nikolai Shamalov, a shareholder of the Rossiya bank which is blacklisted and identified by the US Treasury as "the personal bank" for senior officials owned by "members of Putin's inner circle."
Washington (AFP) - The United States on Thursday accused Russia of worsening the brutal Syrian conflict with its military action in support of President Bashar al-Assad, as international talks unfolded in Munich on ways to resolve the crisis.

"It has been Russian support for the Assad regime over the past months, and most recently in the siege on Aleppo, that has exacerbated, intensified the conflict," State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.

Toner's comments came after Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev warned that any move by Gulf nations to send troops to support the rebels in Syria would risk the outbreak of a "new world war."

The State Department spokesman said that Moscow, with its air strikes begun on February 1 over northern Syria, had "put the political process in jeopardy" as world powers try to put a stop to a ferocious civil war that has dragged on for nearly five years.

Foreign ministers gathered in Munich struggled to make any headway on Thursday on efforts to obtain a ceasefire. US Secretary of State John Kerry was among those present, along with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

"It is very concerning," Toner said.

Kerry has "spoken to the fact that given the disparate groups on the ground in Syria, the different factions and the different elements on the ground fighting each other, that this could worsen and could become a broader conflict," he added.

In response to a question about Medvedev's warning, Toner said: "If that is Russia's concern, then they should look at what they're doing to support the Assad regime."

For a week, the United States has been calling for an immediate ceasefire in Syria and humanitarian access to besieged rebel cities but has threatened an unspecified "Plan B" if talks fail.

Moscow has refused to confirm reports that its ceasefire would take effect only on March 1, giving another three weeks to an offensive which the UN says could place 300,000 people under siege.
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Saudi Arabia has asked the United Nations to move aid workers away from rebel-held areas in Yemen as the Riyadh-led coalition presses on with air strikes against insurgents, according to a letter seen by AFP Thursday.

The United Nations flatly rejected the request and reminded Saudi Arabia of its obligations to allow humanitarian access in Yemen, where coalition warplanes have been pounding Shiite Huthi rebels for nearly a year.

UN aid chief Stephen O'Brien said in a letter to Saudi Ambassador Abdallah Al-Mouallimi that relief organizations were "delivering life-saving assistance as per internationally recognized principles and will continue to do so."

Responding to O'Brien, the ambassador renewed the coalition's request that "humanitarian and relief organizations relocate from areas close to bases for military operations by Huthis and supporters" of ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

"The coalition's request is consistent with its obligations under international humanitarian law, and, in no way, can be misinterpreted to indicate any hindrance to humanitarian access and the delivery of humanitarian assistance in Yemen," wrote Mouallimi on Monday.

The United Nations has had several disputes with Saudi Arabia over aid access in Yemen, where 80 percent of the population is facing dire food shortages.

O'Brien told Saudi Arabia that aid workers would continue to inform coalition authorities of their movements.

UN and international aid workers have passed on their coordinates to coalition military authorities to ensure they are not inadvertently targeted.

The Saudi-led coalition is backing Yemen's government in its war against Iranian-backed rebels who overran the capital Sanaa in September 2014.

More than 6,100 people have been killed in the conflict since March, about half of them civilians, according to UN estimates.

The United Nations is pushing for a ceasefire and political talks in Yemen.

A first round of UN-brokered negotiations in Switzerland in December did not yield any breakthroughs.

The UN Security Council will discuss the crisis in Yemen at a meeting on Wednesday.
Shu Uemura has collaborated with Seoul-based fashion label Kye on a new makeup range reports WWD.

The 24-piece Kye for Shu Uemura collection will include eye liners, lip colors, blushers, brow products and haircare, as well as the brand's famous cleansing oils. Tools and accessories such as eyelash curlers, false eyelashes, and a compact will also be included in the range, which will feature bright, vibrant colors and Kye's quirky and unique illustrations, all linked to Korean culture and lifestyle, which are a key part of her clothing collection.

The collection is due to launch in May in 18 countries including China, Korea, Taiwan, Australia, Canada, the UK, Ireland, France and Belgium.

In the US, products are to be sold via e-commerce only.

Kye, who first launched her brand in 2011, will show her fall collection at New York Fashion Week Thursday.
Paris (AFP) - At least six children were killed when a school minibus crashed into a truck in western France on Thursday, police said, a day after another road accident involving a school bus left two youngsters dead.

The head-on smash with a lorry carrying rubble happened at around 7:15 am (0615 GMT) in Rochefort in the Charente-Maritime region.

The school bus was carrying about 17 people, and three children suffered minor injuries in the accident, a police source said.

President Francois Hollande expressed his condolences to the victims and their families and said everything possible would be done "to shed light on the causes of this tragedy", according to a statement from his office.

On Wednesday two children, aged 12 and 15, died when a school bus veered off a road in snowy conditions near the Swiss border in eastern France.

The school bus was carrying 32 children on its daily trip to the village school in Montbenoit when it "left the road", a police source in that case said.
Ottawa (Canada) (AFP) - The scion of a wealthy Canadian beer family was sentenced Thursday to life in prison for murdering his father, following a long and sensational trial in New Brunswick province.

But he may seek parole after 10 years behind bars.

Dennis Oland, 47, was found guilty in December of second-degree murder against his father, Richard Oland, who was part of the locally prominent family that owns Moosehead Breweries.

The 69-year-old father was found dead in a pool of blood in his office on July 7, 2011. His body bore numerous stab and blunt-force wounds to the head, neck and hands. Police said his son was the last person to see him alive.

Dennis Oland pleaded not guilty at trial and continues to deny involvement in the killing.

In arguing its case, the prosecution pointed to the younger Oland's financial problems, suggesting that he had grown violent when his father refused a demand for money.

It argued that a brown jacket belonging to Dennis Oland bore small blood splatters and traces of DNA that experts said almost surely came from his father.

Moosehead is Canada's oldest independent brewery, based in Saint John.
By Laila Kearney

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York clothing salesman known as the "Son of Sal" serial killer was convicted on Wednesday of three counts of second-degree murder in the 2012 shooting deaths of three shopkeepers in Brooklyn, prosecutors said.

Salvatore Perrone, 67, faces a maximum prison sentence of 75 years to life for the killings of Mohamed Gebeli, 65, Isaac Kadare, 59, and Rahmatollah Vahidipour, 78, who were shot from July to November 2012.

Perrone has maintained he was framed by a business associate. His attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.

Perrone was arrested the month of the final shooting when a witness matched his likeness to a security camera image circulated to the public by police.

On arresting Perrone, police said a .22-caliber rifle was recovered in a duffel bag belonging to him at his girlfriend's apartment, and that ballistic tests found shell casings retrieved from the three crime scenes were fired from the same rifle.

Perrone's fingerprint was found on the weapon, and he made statements implicating himself, police said.

Each shooting occurred near closing time when the victims were alone in their shops.

The heads of all the victims "were covered by either cardboard or clothing" when they were discovered, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

Perrone, who worked as an independent seller of apparel, was known to neighbors of his dilapidated three-story Staten Island home as an eccentric with a combative personality.

He was dubbed "Son of Sal" by neighbors, presumably after serial killer David Berkowitz, who went by "Son of Sam," and was convicted of murdering six people in the 1970s, according to local media.

(Reporting by Laila Kearney; Editing by Peter Cooney)
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African opposition parties on Tuesday asked the country's top court to rule on whether President Jacob Zuma broke the law by spending 250 million rand (then $23 million) on a state-funded security upgrade to his home. The constitutional court will decide in the next few days if it will hear a case to decide whether a report from South Africa's anti-graft authority, accusing Zuma of misusing state funds, was legally binding. The 2014 report from the public protector said that Zuma had personally benefited from some of the refurbishments to his country home in Nkandla, which included a cattle enclosure, swimming pool and amphitheatre. After months of denying any wrongdoing, Zuma said last week that he would pay back money spent on improvements that did not relate to security and asked the auditor general and finance minister to decide an appropriate figure. The Democratic Alliance (DA), the main opposition party, and the radical left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) do not believe Zuma's concession goes far enough. They are hoping that a case in the constitutional court will put pressure on Zuma and the ruling African National Congress (ANC) ahead of municipal elections this year and help them win control of some cities, including the capital Pretoria. Thousands of EFF members, led by former ANC youth league leader Julius Malema, were expected to march on Tuesday to the constitutional court to protest against Zuma's leadership. With a sharp economic slowdown causing widespread hardship, Zuma has faced mounting criticism of his leadership since he secured a second term in office in 2014. "The only acceptable solution for us is if Zuma resigns," said EFF-member Alpheus Mogashoa, dancing and singing with crowds of anti-Zuma campaigners outside the court. "Zuma is the problem with South Africa." (Reporting by Joe Brock; Editing by Louise Ireland)
By Denis Dumo JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudans President Salva Kiir has re-appointed his rival Riek Machar as vice president, a decree said on Thursday, the culmination of a deal to try to end months of civil war in the world's newest nation. The announcement returned the presidency to where it was soon before fighting erupted between supporters of the two men in December 2013 - a conflict that went on to kill thousands of people and force more than two million to flee. Both sides, under pressure from Washington, the United Nations and other powers, signed an initial pact in August, and agreed to share out ministerial positions in January. But that accord has repeatedly broken down and a U.N. report last month said both leaders qualified for sanctions over atrocities in the conflict. The decree read out on state TV said Machar would be first vice president, his position before he was sacked in 2013, the move that eventually triggered the violence. There was no immediate announcement from Machar. Oil-producing South Sudan split away from Sudan in 2011 amid mass celebrations and promises of aid and good will from most of the developed world. But its regional and Western backers were dismayed when fighting erupted, often along ethnic lines. Last month's confidential report by a U.N. panel that monitors the conflict in South Sudan for the Security Council stated that Kiir and Machar were still completely in charge of their forces and were therefore directly to blame for killing civilians and other actions that warrant sanctions. According to the report, those violations include extrajudicial killings, torture, sexual violence, extrajudicial arrest and detention, abductions, forced displacement, the use and recruitment of children, beatings, looting and the destruction of livelihoods and homes. The report described how Kiir's government bought at least four Mi-24 attack helicopters in 2014 from a private Ukrainian company at a cost of nearly $43 million. It added that Machar's forces were trying to "acquire shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles to counter the threat of attack helicopters, specifically citing the need to continue and indeed escalate the fighting." (Reporting by Denis Dumo; Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
By Denis Dumo JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudans president Salva Kiir has re-appointed his rival Riek Machar as vice president, a decree said on Thursday, sealing a deal to try to end months of civil war in the world's newest nation. The announcement returned the presidency to where it was soon before fighting erupted between supporters of the two men in December 2013 - a conflict that has killed thousands of people and forced more than two million to flee. The decree read out on state TV said Machar would be first vice president, his position before he was sacked in 2013, the move that eventually triggered the violence. Oil-producing South Sudan split away from Sudan in 2011 amid mass celebrations and promises of aid and sgood will from most of the developed world. But its regional and Western backers were dismayed when fighting erupted, often along ethnic lines. Under diplomatic pressure, including the threat of sanctions, Kiir and Machar signed a peace deal in August and agreed in January to share ministerial positions in a transitional government of national unity. The accord has repeatedly broken down since August and analysts say there are doubts about how much control the leaders have over militias on the ground. (Reporting by Denis Dumo; Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
Barcelona (AFP) - It's low season and the sun in Barcelona shines only timidly, but Noel Sheehan's cycling tours are doing a roaring trade as holiday-makers shun their usual Mediterranean tourism hotspots after a spate of jihadist attacks.

As the world's third tourism destination after France and the United States, Spain has already beaten records in the number of foreign visitors for three years in a row, and 2016 is expected to follow the same trend.

"I've been doing this for 16 years and 2015 was our best year," Sheehan tells AFP in the office of his tour company, tucked away in a small, pedestrian alley in the picturesque Gothic quarter of this Mediterranean city -- the most visited in Spain.

"We've been working well during winter too and we're receiving more calls to ask for information or bookings for the high season," says the bearded Irishman as he prepares bikes for the next tour.

He adds that for some time now, Europeans have for a large part replaced Americans in his client list, thanks to the expansion of low-cost airlines and sporadic unrest in many Mediterranean countries.

- 'Don't go now' -

Jihadist attacks on tourists in Tunisia last year and the IS-claimed October crash of a Russian plane which took off from the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, as well as a suicide bomb in Istanbul, have seen travellers shun these once-favoured vacation destinations.

People like Florian Grohe and Saskia Oetzmann, a young couple from Munich in Germany who had originally planned to go to Istanbul, but ended up in Barcelona.

"Our parents were saying all the time 'don't go now, don't go now, look for something else' and flights to Barcelona were cheaper," said Oetzmann.

"We were not scared but we did not want them to worry and I am a big supporter of FC Barcelona, so it was a good choice as well," added Grohe.

Oetzmann and Grohe are but a drop in the ocean of tourists in Spain. Some 68.1 million foreign travellers visited in 2015, nearly five percent more than the previous year.

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And that number is expected to swell in 2016.

"Just in January, we've registered 25 percent more reservations for Spain than the previous year," says Maria Sierra, spokeswoman for eDreams, one of the main European online travel agencies headquartered in Barcelona.

It's the same story for Anna Vives Begliomini, owner of Look Barcelona, which rents out luxury flats and guest houses on Barcelona's most expensive Paseo de Gracia street, where works by Spain's famed architect Antoni Gaudi abound.

"We're getting a lot of reservations in advance. At the end of the year, we had some of the places almost full for April, May or June," she says, pointing also to the increasing number of Chinese and South Koreans coming to visit.

- TUI notes Spain shift -

And apart from the classic urban destinations of Barcelona and Madrid, tourist zones along Spain's sunny coasts are also doing well, particularly the Canary Islands off northwest Africa and the Balearic islands in the Mediterranean.

"We've had an increase in bookings particularly for the summer period," says Manuel Valenzuela, deputy head of Catalonia Hotels, which has some 50 establishments across Spain and saw its turnover increase by 15 percent last year.

Even TUI, the world's biggest tourism group, has noted this shift to Spain on the back of jihadist attacks.

On Tuesday, chief executive Fritz Joussen said 2016 summer bookings in Turkey had dropped by 40 percent in the wake of a January suicide bombing in Istanbul that killed 11 German tourists.

"Our own hotels in destinations outside Turkey such as Spain and in particular the Canaries are benefitting from this shift in demand," he said.

And Giovanni Cavalli, commercial director for theme park Port Aventura south of Barcelona, said he was expecting to get more tourists on the back of the Turkey attack.

"Turkey worked a lot with the Russian, German and British markets," he says.

"I'm pretty sure that these tourists will be looking for a more peaceful place, and this place is Spain."
However worrying Tuesday was for the success of xenophobic politics in America, it might have been more worrying for the planets climate.

In the early evening, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked the implementation of the Obama administrations Clean Power Plan, a set of Environmental Protection Agency regulations which would limit greenhouse-gas emissions from the power sector.

Issued last summer, the rules are the centerpiece of the White Houses climate-change-fighting agenda, and they play a big part in the recent, tepid optimism about global warming. Without the proposal of the plan, the United States couldnt have secured the Paris Agreement, the first international treaty to mitigate greenhouse-gas emissions, last December. And without the adoption of the plan, the United States almost certainly wont be able to comply with that document. If the world were to lose the Paris Agreementwhich was not a total solution to the climate crisis, but meant to be a first, provisional stepyears could be lost in the diplomatic fight to reduce climate-changes dangers.

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The plans ultimate legal future is unclear, for reasons Ill get into in a minute, but the ruling is possibly devastating for the climate on a short-term basis. Moreover, it represents an early weakness in the new global strategy to mitigate climate change.

Heres why: It had long been clear that many states would challenge the EPA regulations. Within hours of the rules final publication last fall, two dozen states sued the government to stop their implementation; eventually, 29 states in total joined the lawsuit. But some climate advocates hinted that these legal protests wouldnt matter. Simply by existing, they said, the rules communicated that America was moving its energy system away from fossil fuels. Global investors would have to follow suit, they said, and divest from fossil fuels. In other words, even if the Supreme Court eventually struck the Clean Power Plan down, the damage would be done.

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The idea wasnt for naught. Coal stocks tanked over the last year, and many of the largest American coal companies have filed for bankruptcy. In fact, opponents of the plan cited this exact effect in their brief: The EPA hopes that, by the time the judiciary adjudicates the legality of the Power Plan, the judicial action will come too late to make much if any practical difference, said one brief from the Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe. He called the plan a targeted attack on the coal industry.

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The courts stay means that that effect might go on pause, at least domestically. It could also push the entire timeline for the regulations forward. Previously, states had to submit compliance plans by this summer, though they could request an extension to 2018. But now, the D.C. circuit isnt scheduled to hear the EPAs case until June, and any appeal wouldnt wind up in front of the Supreme Court until the fall at the earliest. By that time, of course, the White House will have changed handswhich means, short of defending this regulation, the Obama administration is running out of ways to push climate in the direction it wants.

How much danger is the Clean Power Plan ultimately in? The Courts stay is so unprecedentedeven The New York Times calls it that, in stolid reporter voicethat no one knows for sure.

On the one hand, the high court has never before blocked federal regulation while a case about it was being heard by an appeals court. On the other, the Supreme Court is the reason why the Clean Power Plan could exist in the first place. The EPA issued the rules under the Clean Air Act, a 1970 statute that forms much of the basis of federal environmental law and which requires the government to limit air pollutants that might harm public welfare. In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that greenhouse gases fit well within the Acts capacious definition of air pollutant and thus the EPA was obligated to regulate them. The Bush administrations EPA never quite got around to it. But the Obama administration eventually did, and quite ambitiously. Since 2010, as well, this presidents EPA has won most of its fights about the act.

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Somewhat oddly, if the Clean Power Plan gets sullied by the Court, a future (Democratic) presidents EPA could take a more direct approach. Legal challenges to the rules have tended to focus on their mechanism under the Clean Air Act, not their ultimate target. If this plan gets thrown out, the act would allow the agency to more directly command and control carbon-dioxide emissions. The agency took a broader, gentler approach with its current plan; if its compelled to stick closer to the letter of the law, it could order far deeper cuts.

In a way, the Clean Power Plan mirrors the worlds approach. The worlds post-Paris climate strategy has been to talk a better game than it was actually playing. By adopting an ambitious climate agreement, and implementing incremental carbon-mitigating rules in many countries, the international community hoped to tell investors that it was time to get out of the fossil-fuel business. As John Kerry put it, by sending a message to the global marketplace, the world would transition away from coal, oil, and gas far more easily than a directly regulated (and politically impossible) change. But in the United Statesthe home of the only major political party that rejects climate sciencesome of the sellers in that marketplace are talking back.

The Clean Power Planand the EPAs resolve to regulate greenhouse gasesdepends on the same ultimate mechanism it always did: that Democrats win the White House in November. If they win, they can defend the regulation, alter it as needed, and they have time to favorably adjust the Courts balance on future cases. And if the Republicans win? Who knows what happens, but its worth noting that no remaining GOP candidate supports regulation to halt climate changes advance. Donald Trump and Ted Cruz dont even think its real.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
By J.R. Wu TAINAN, Taiwan (Reuters) - When an earthquake struck the Taiwanese city of Tainan in the early hours of Saturday morning, Wu Hsiu-chi's unit in the seven-storey Wei-guan Dragon Door World Family Building shook hard, but survived with little damage. In another taller apartment block, built by the same developer in the same neighborhood, scores of residents were not so lucky. The lower floors of the Wei-guan Golden Dragon Building collapsed on top of each other during the 6.4 magnitude tremor, before the entire U-shaped complex toppled in on itself. At least 63 people were killed and more than 50 others are still trapped in the wreckage, with hopes of survival all but gone. Prosecutors took the developer behind the collapsed building, Lin Ming-hui, into custody on Tuesday, holding him and two men, Chang Kuei-pao and Cheng Chin-kuei, identified as architects also involved in the building's construction, on suspicion of professional negligent homicide.The three men have not been charged as the investigation into the building's collapse is ongoing. They have not made any comment since being taken into custody. Lin's Wei-guan Construction built three other buildings in Tainan, Taiwan's oldest city, including Wu's home. Concerned about improper building techniques identified at the Wei-guan Golden Dragon and irregularities in Lin's business dealings, officials say they are now looking at those buildings. "I am thinking about (moving), but it's a money issue," Wu said, when asked what she thought about living in a complex built by the same company behind the collapsed building. INSPECTIONS Tainan Deputy Mayor Tseng Shu-cheng said the city would inspect the remaining buildings with links to Lin's Wei-guan Construction. "Only if we determine it is a dangerous building" would the local government be able to consider providing assistance to residents who may want to leave the properties, Tseng added. The citys Public Works Bureau said they were working through a list of at least 40 buildings to inspect, and planned to examine two of the surviving Wei-guan buildings this week, said Wu Chao-min, who handles building usage and management issues at the bureau. The Public Works Bureau did not have records of structural and safety assessments of either of the buildings conducted previously, he said, adding that such assessments were usually done at the request of the building management or residents and were not required to be filed with the local government. The 17-storey Wei-guan Golden Dragon, completed in 1994, was the only major high-rise in the city of two million people to have completely collapsed. Lin Ming-hui's lawyer, Li Meng-che, told Reuters his client felt he had done nothing wrong. "He said he followed procedures. The project was so big he could not have done the structure or design all by himself," Li said, adding he was not able to comment on other buildings Lin was involved in. The local court said Chang did not yet have legal representation, while the lawyer for Cheng, the other architect, could not immediately be reached for comment. The Tainan District Prosecutors Office said it suspected Lin of cutting corners during construction of the Wei-guan Golden Dragon building. The design of the construction did not match calculations made in its structural and steel blueprints, the prosecutors office said in a statement. At least half of the main beam joints were missing compared to the building's structural calculation books, the prosecutors office said. "The structural system of the building was pretty poor," said Sheen Mau-song, a professor of civil engineering and member of the Taiwan Civil Engineering Association who is part of the government's team investigating the collapse. "There were very few pillars on the first floor, the pillars were quite scattered about, and the materials, from the weakest side, were destroyed." Reuters was not able to reach Lin or his lawyer to comment on those findings. Prosecutors and city government officials are also investigating Lin's business practices. "It is clear that this individual has a routine of changing his name and opening a company and closing a company," Hsiao Po-jen, director of the legal affairs department of the Tainan City government, told Reuters, without providing evidence. Reuters was not able to independently confirm those details and Lin's lawyer declined to comment on the possible name changes and companies he used. (Additional reporting by Joseph Campbell.; Editing by Lincoln Feast)
Dar es Salaam (AFP) - Nine Tanzanians have been charged in connection with the murder of a British conservationist whose helicopter was shot down while he chased suspected poachers, a court official said Thursday.

Roger Gower, 37, died when suspected poachers gunned down his helicopter during a patrol of the Maswa Game Reserve in northern Tanzania, close to the world famous Serengeti National Park, on January 29.

Photographs of the crashed helicopter show twisted metal, apparent bullet holes in the fuselage and smears of blood on the pilot's seat.

"Four of them are charged with murder, while others face charges of economic sabotage and unlawful possession of firearms," senior government prosecutor Yamiko Mlekana told AFP by phone.

The four men charged with murder are Shija Mjika, 38, Njile Gunga, 28, Dotto Pangali, 42, and Moses Mandago, 28. They have not yet entered any plea, as their case will be tried in the high court.

The other five will be tried in a lower court on lesser charges.

"Some of the accused pleaded guilty of being in unlawful possession of firearms and elephant tusks, while others denied the charge," Mlekana said.

Gower, who worked for the Friedkin Conservation Fund, had been tracking poachers after spotting the carcasses of recently killing elephants.

It is estimated that more than 30,000 elephants are killed for their tusks every year across Africa.

Their ivory is prized for jewellery and decorative objects and much of it is smuggled to China, where many increasingly wealthy shoppers are buying ivory trinkets as a sign of financial success.

Tanzania's natural resources and tourism minister Jumanne Maghembe this week announced the government would set up a special task force for anti-poaching operations.

"Poaching is now done using sophisticated machinery and heavy weapons including AK-47s," Maghembe said.

"We are going to set up a force comprising different security forces and the army."
A talk about New Mexican culture after the Civil War, the territorial history, and the struggle for statehood.

El Rancho de las Golondrinas and the New Mexico Museum of Art present Speaking of Traditions: New Perspectives on Old Traditions. "Chasing the Santa Fe Ring" a free public lecture by author David L. Caffey. Second in a series of three lectures on subjects in New Mexico history.

Chasing the Santa Fe Ring: "Anyone who has even a casual acquaintance with the history of New Mexico in the nineteenth century has heard of the Santa Fe Ring--seekers of power and wealth in the post-Civil War period famous for public corruption and for dispossessing land holders. Surprisingly, however, scholars have alluded to the Ring but never really described this shadowy entity, which to this day remains a kind of black hole in New Mexico's territorial history. David Caffey looks beyond myth and symbol to explore its history. Who were its supposed members, and what did they do to deserve their unsavory reputation? Were their actions illegal or unethical? What were the roles of leading figures like Stephen B. Elkins and Thomas B. Catron? What was their influence on New Mexico's struggle for statehood?
By Jon Herskovitz

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is being probed for ethics violations for telling county clerks that they could deny marriage licenses to same sex-couples, another potential setback for the state's top lawyer, who is already facing felony charges.

The State Bar of Texas ordered its Board of Disciplinary Appeals this week top look into Paxton, his office and Houston attorney Eddie Rodriguez said on Thursday. If Paxton is found to have an ethics violation, he could be disbarred, which means he could no longer serve as attorney general.

Attorneys who asked for the probe said Paxton acted illegally in asking that state officials violate the U.S. Constitution by refusing to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples, in defiance of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that made gay marriage legal nationally.

"Attorney General Paxton has a right to disagree with a ruling of the Supreme Court. Lawyers do that every single day. What makes a difference is that you cannot encourage people to violate that ruling and that law," said Rodriguez, who led the call for the probe.

Paxton's office said in a statement: "This complaint has always lacked merit, and we are confident the legal process for resolving these complaints will bear that out."

Under its rules, the State Bar of Texas cannot confirm that a probe has been launched.

A day after the Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in June legalizing same-sex marriage, Paxton put out a statement saying county clerks could deny the licenses to same-sex couples on religious grounds.

He also said numerous lawyers were ready to help clerks who cited religious liberty as a reason to deny a license. He added the Supreme Court ignored the Constitution.

"I will do everything I can from this office to be a public voice for those standing in defense of their rights," he said. Only one county publicly said its office would not issue the licenses, but it soon reversed course.

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In a separate case, Paxton, a Tea Party Republican, is facing three felony charges relating to securities fraud. If convicted of the most serious charge, he could face up to 99 years in prison.

Paxton has denied any wrongdoing. He is seeking to have the charges thrown out.

(This version of the story corretcs name of "Texas Bar Association" in sixth paragraph to "State Bar of Texas")

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Steve Orlofsky and Frances Kerry)
Thailand's pro-democracy "Red Shirt" movement will vote against a new junta-scripted charter in a looming referendum, their leader said Thursday, a move that could deepen the country's political impasse.

The political play comes a day after the military, which seized power two years ago from a civilian government, said it will hold a plebiscite on their proposed charter in July.

The country's nearly century-long struggle with democracy has seen a dozen military takeovers since absolute monarchy was abolished in 1932, with constitutions torn-up and rewritten every time power changes hands.

The Red Shirts support toppled premiers Yingluck Shinawatra and her brother -- the self-exiled billionaire Thaksin.

The Shinawatra family and its allies have won every Thai election since 2001, powered to victory by rural votes in the poor but populous north and northeast.

"The Red Shirts will vote to reject this charter in the referendum," chairman Jatuporn Prompan told AFP Thursday.

"We will see on referendum day," he said when asked if he thought the movement's supporters would come out in sufficient numbers to knock down the charter.

A draft of the latest document has already been pilloried as undemocratic by the Red Shirts and even some prominent supporters of the 2014 coup.

If passed, the charter would allow for an unelected prime minister, create a fully-appointed Senate and strengthen the courts -- which have knocked out three premiers in the last decade.

The Red Shirts have played a key role in the nation's bitter street politics since Thaksin was toppled as premier by an earlier coup in 2006.

Four years later scores of their supporters were killed in a military crackdown in central Bangkok, led by Prayut Chan-O-Cha who is the current premier.

The Red Shirt leadership has complied with a junta ban on all political activities since the last coup.

But observers are closely watching for any movement ahead of the upcoming referendum.

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The charter's military-appointed drafters have billed their work as an "anti-corruption" weapon that will tame shady politicians and populist governments.

Critics say it is a crude instrument to stop the Shinawatra's political ascendency on behalf of a Bangkok-based, royalist elite.

In a drive to promote the document, the junta said it will dispatch soldiers and teenage cadets across the country to "educate" people on its benefits.

The military government has not clearly stated what will happen if voters reject the charter.

But junta chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha has vowed to hold elections in July 2017 whatever happens at the referendum.
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's nomadic fishermen on Thursday urged the government to help resolve a dispute over access to ancestral shrines on land taken over by developers, following violence in which dozens were injured last month. The "Chao Lay", or "people of the sea", drew public attention in 2004, when most of them managed to escape the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami that killed more than 250,000 people by relying on their intimate knowledge of the sea. The nomadic fishermen, who live on the shores of Thailand and Myanmar, have been embroiled in a dispute with Baron World Trade Ltd, which is developing property on the tourist island of Phuket, about 840 km (520 miles) south of Bangkok, the capital. Officials of the company, which says it owns the land, did not immediately reply to an e-mail from Reuters to seek comment. Representatives of the groups, which are also known as the Moken and Urak Lawoi, traveled to Bangkok to urge the Ministry of Justice to resolve the dispute and investigate last month's attacks. "They want the government to look into their rights, expedite their land cases and look into the harm done to them," said Preeda Kongpaen of the Chumchon Thai Foundation, which campaigns for the land rights of indigenous communities. Justice ministry officials did not provide any immediate comment. In a report last year, Human Rights Watch said the Moken, often dubbed "sea gypsies", face extortion and other abuse by authorities and are particularly vulnerable, because most are stateless as a result of their nomadic lifestyle. The investigation into last month's violence had made little progress, said Sunai Phasuk, a Thailand researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Despite clear evidence, including news footage and eye witness accounts, there is no progress by police as to whether they can identify those who attacked the Chao Lay," Sunai added. Police said charges had been filed against six people over the attack. "We're still investigating," said Noppadon Thiraprawat, superintendent of the Chalong police station, which is handling the matter. (Reporting by Amy Sawitta Lefevre; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
Imagine what youd do with all that extra legroom. (Photo: iStock)

A congressman is fighting for your right to sit more comfortably on a plane. This week, Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., introduced the Seat Egress in Air Travel (SEAT) Act, demanding that the Federal Aviation Administration set minimum seat-size standards.

Fliers have been complaining about shrinking seat space for years as airlines find more and more dehumanizing ways to cut costs. But the issue got a boost last fall when consumer journalist Christopher Elliott, the co-founder of advocacy group Travelers United, wrote an op-ed piece in the Washington Post. After the essay was published, he told Yahoo Travel about the readers who reached out to him: After the Washington Post story, I heard from so many people who said, I was on a flight and didnt have any room, People are saying its about time someone said this because we dont feel were being treated like people.

Related: Cramped Airplane Seats: Are Airlines Violating Our Human Rights?

Now, Congressman Cohen seems to be taking up the cause. In an announcement about the bill on his website, Cohen noted that seat width has shrunk from 18 inches to 16.5 inches in the past 45 years, and that the distance between seat rows has shrunk from 35 to 31 inches. His concerns are both health related and safety focused.

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He explains: Shrinking seats raise safety and health concerns, and its time for the FAA to take action. The FAA requires that planes be capable of rapid evacuation in case of emergency, yet they havent conducted emergency evacuation tests on all of todays smaller seats. Doctors have also warned that deep vein thrombosis can afflict passengers who cant move their legs during longer flights. Consumers are tired of being squeezed both physically and fiscally by airlines.

Related: Passenger Almost Kicked Off Plane for Being Too Big

Cohen plans to add his SEAT Act to the FAA Reauthorization bill coming up in the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (of which he is a member) on Thursday. After that, well have to wait and see if this big idea takes off  and what passengers will have to pay for it.

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WATCH: Behind the Scenes: How an Emergency Airplane Evacuation Works

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Follow Billie Cohen on Twitter and Instagram at @billietravels.


Warsaw (AFP) - Around 3,000 Polish grocers on Thursday gathered before the Polish parliament to protest against a turnover tax planned by the new conservative government, which could see smaller domestic retailers taxed the same as large foreign supermarkets chains.

The Warsaw protesters carried banners with slogans like, "The government is stabbing traditional Polish retailers in the back" and "This is the death of Polish retailers".

They claim the planned tax, generally described as a supermarket tax, could bankrupt grocery stores often run by families on a franchise basis.

"Were this tax to come into effect, it would be a disaster for us, our stores will go bankrupt," said Danuta Ziaja, a sales clerk at a store within the Leviatan franchise.

"Supermarkets will hang on but not our small stores," said Ziaja, who made the 500-kilometre (300-mile) journey from the western town of Zagan to voice her anger at the government led by the righ-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party.

"By taxing us, the government is desperately looking for money for its child allowance programme," she told AFP, referring to the monthly 500 zlotys ($130, 110 euros) promised per child to each family, starting from the second child.

The planned turnover tax would see retailers with annual profits higher than 300 million zloty taxed at 1.3 percent of their earnings, while companies earning less will have to pay 0.7 percent.

Retail sales made on weekends and holidays will be taxed at 1.9 percent to the frustration of small retailers, who earn most of their revenue on Saturday.

The finance ministry hopes to net some two billion zloty through the levy in 2016.

"They're treating foreign supermarkets the same as small 100-square-metre stores," said protester Artur Bogacki, owner of two small stores belonging to the Livio franchise.

"If the government doesn't change its plans, I'll have to close shop," said Bogacki, who employs eight people in the central city of Konin.

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Following talks with protesters, government representatives promised to re-think their plans in order to protect small retailers, the Polish PAP news agency reported.

The PiS won an unprecedented majority in October's general election thanks in part to promises it would tax foreign-owned hypermarkets while cutting taxes for small and medium-sized businesses.

It also vowed to lower the pension age, introduce generous family benefits and impose taxes on banks.

The plans have drawn sharp criticism, with analysts warning they could destabilise public finances and the banking sector.
Istanbul (AFP) - Turkish forces have ended an almost two-month military offensive backed by a curfew against Kurdish rebels in the southeastern town of Cizre, the interior minister said Thursday.

"The operations in Cizre have been successfully completed as of today," Efkan Ala told state-run TRT television, adding that the round-the-clock curfew imposed when the operation began on December 14 would nonetheless continue a little longer.

"Control has been re-established in Cizre and over the terrorists there," he said, referring to the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK).

"But the curfew will remain in place for some time as there might still be traps and mines in some areas that could hurt our citizens," he said.

Turkish authorities imposed curfews in Cizre and other towns in the Kurdish-dominated southeast in a bid to root out PKK rebels from urban centres where they had erected barricades and dug trenches.

Ala said anti-PKK operations in the historic Sur district of Diyarbakir, the largest city in the majority-Kurdish region, were also drawing to a close.

The curfew in Sur has been in place since December 2 and there is considerable concern over the damage inflicted on its historic buildings during the bitter clashes.

The army said Thursday that 18 rebels had been killed in Cizre a day before the operation ended, bringing the total number killed in the town to 603 since December 14.

It said a total of 184 militants had also been killed in Sur.

Kurdish activists claim the campaign has cost dozens of civilian lives and that the army figure for the number of militants killed is grossly exaggerated.

The pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democracy Party (HDP) said last week that at least 200 civilians had been killed in curfew-hit areas since August, including 70 children, and that as many as 100,000 of Cizre's 120,000 residents had fled.

The PKK has killed dozens of members of the Turkish security forces in bomb and gunfire attacks since a two-and-a-half-year truce collapsed in July.

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The violence has destroyed hopes of fresh talks to end a conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives since 1984.

Over 40,000 people have been killed since the PKK took up arms in 1984 demanding an independent state for Kurds. Since then the group has narrowed its demands to greater autonomy and cultural rights.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu promised Friday to invest the equivalent of eight billion euros in the southeast to revive the area.
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Turkey and Greece have agreed to ask for a NATO mission to monitor refugee flows in the Aegean Sea and combat people smugglers, a senior German government official said late on Wednesday. "Turkey and Greece are both asking NATO to develop an overview of the situation with the national coastguards and Frontex," the German official said, referring to Europe's border protection agency. Struggling to stop refugees streaming into Greece despite a deal between Ankara and the European Union to combat the flood, Germany and Turkey surprised partners this week by saying they would raise the issue with NATO. Turkey has also said it is prepared to take back refugees who are rescued at sea or picked up by NATO, the official said. Information gathered by NATO should also be passed on to Turkish authorities to go after people smugglers, the official added. "It is not NATO's remit to push back or stop refugee boats," the official said. NATO allies already have ships in the eastern Mediterranean, part of efforts to shore up Turkey's air defenses against missiles from Syria and Russian airspace violations. (Reporting by Tom Koerkemeier and Sabine Siebold; Writing by Caroline Copley; Editing by Peter Cooney)
ANKARA (Reuters) - Talks between Turkey and Israel to mend fences are going well but a deal has not yet been reached in efforts to improve relations and increase energy cooperation in the eastern Mediterranean, Turkey's ruling AK Party spokesman said. "We have information that the talks are going well but unless we see practical implications of the talks, we cannot say it's a done deal," Omer Celik told reporters in Ankara. Turkey was once Israel's closest regional ally but ties collapsed in 2010 over the killing by Israeli marines of 10 Turkish pro-Palestinian activists who tried to breach the Gaza blockade. Though Israel accused the Islamist-rooted AK Party of siding with Palestinian Hamas militants, Israeli and Turkish leaders reconciled in a 2013 phone conversation arranged by U.S. President Barack Obama. A formal restoration of relations has proven elusive, however. Diplomats say Turkey wants an end to the Gaza blockade that Israel deems necessary for preventing Palestinian arms-smuggling, while Israel wants Ankara to disengage from Hamas. "Turkey is supporting Hamas, generally speaking. It should be, of course, discussed," Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon told reporters during a visit to Switzerland. "I'm not sure that we are going to reach settlement. It may be, but they have to address our conditions for any political settlement in order to overcome this obstacle." (Reporting by Ercan Gurses; Writing by Ece Toksabay and Dan Williams; Editing by Nick Tattersall)
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's patience may run out over the crisis in Syria and it could be forced to take action, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday, calling on the United Nations to do more to prevent what he said was "ethnic cleansing" in the country. Erdogan accused the United Nations of insincerity in calling on Turkey to do more to help Syrian refugees instead of taking action to prevent the bloodshed in its southern neighbor. Russian war planes have been bombing around the Syrian city of Aleppo in support of a Syrian government offensive to recapture the city, sending tens of thousands of people fleeing to the Turkish border. "There is a chance the new wave of refugees will reach 600,000 if air strikes continue. We are making preparations for it," Erdogan said in a speech to a business forum in Ankara. "We will show patience up to a point and then we'll do what's necessary. Our buses and planes are not waiting there in vain," he said, adding that Turkey had information that Iran-backed forces in Syria were carrying out "merciless massacres". Turkey, already home to more than 2.6 million Syrian refugees, has long pushed for the creation of a safe zone in northern Syria to protect displaced civilians without bringing them over the border into Turkey. The proposal has so far gained little traction with Washington or NATO allies who fear it would require an internationally patrolled no-fly zone which could put them in direct confrontation with Assad and his allies. Erdogan said the Syrian crisis could not be resolved without safe zones, and said that ways of keeping Syrians in their country needed to be sought. He also said he had previously told the European Union's two top officials, Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk, that the time could come when Turkey would open the gates for migrants to travel to Europe. "In the past we have stopped people at the gates to Europe, in Edirne we stopped their buses. This happens once or twice, and then we'll open the gates and wish them a safe journey, that's what I said," he said on Thursday. A Greek news website said on Monday that Erdogan, in a meeting in November with Juncker and Tusk, had threatened to flood Europe with migrants if EU leaders did not offer a better deal to help Turkey manage the refugee crisis. (Reporting by Daren Butler, Ece Toksabay and Asli Kandemir; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by David Dolan)
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish security forces have completed operations against Kurdish militants in a border town after weeks of fighting, Interior Minister Efkan Ala said on Thursday, raising hopes that a lockdown could be lifted. Authorities imposed a round-the-clock curfew on Cizre, near Turkey's frontiers with both Iraq and Syria, on Dec. 14 in a bid to root out armed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants who had dug trenches and erected barricades. Fighting there has killed at least 79 civilians, according to the opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), the biggest party in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast. Another 66 bodies are now at a morgue or trapped in a basement but have yet to be identified, the HDP said. The PKK have traditionally concentrated on rural areas in their battle for greater autonomy, but moved it to urban centers like Cizre last year, raising the civilian death toll. Six PKK fighters were killed in Cizre on Wednesday, while 12 corpses of militants who were killed earlier were recovered, the military said on Thursday. In Diyarbakir, the largest city in the region, five PKK fighters were killed on Wednesday, it said. A curfew in Diyarbakir's Sur district has been in effect since Dec. 2 and showed no signs of easing. At least 129 civilians have perished in Sur, Cizre and the nearby town of Silopi since December, the HDP said. Dozens of militants and police and soldiers have also been killed. "The operations in Cizre were completed in a very successful fashion," Ala said in comments broadcast live by TRT channel, without going into further detail. "The curfew will continue for a while longer. There are traps and mines in certain areas that could harm people. Closing the ditches and removing barricades will take a bit of time." A ceasefire with the PKK collapsed in July, wrecking a 2-1/2 year peace process that had been widely seen as Turkey's best chance at ending three decades of strife in the restive southeast. About 40,000 people, mainly Kurds, have died since the PKK took up arms in 1984. (Reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Andrew Heavens)
By Laila Kearney

(Reuters) - A Royal Caribbean cruise ship battered by an Atlantic storm returned to its New Jersey port late on Wednesday, where the U.S. Coast Guard plans to investigate what went wrong.

The Coast Guard said in a statement it could conduct an investigation together with authorities from the Bahamas where the ship is registered to determine "causal factors or lessons learned from this event that could help prevent injuries or damage in the future."

An ABC news broadcast showed the ship coming into port on Wednesday night at about 9 p.m. EST, with airhorns sounding and passengers waving.

The Anthem of the Seas left on Saturday with 4,500 passengers and 1,600 crew from Cape Liberty, New Jersey, for what was supposed to have been a seven-night cruise to the Bahamas.

On Sunday it was hit by high winds and 30-foot (9 meter) waves off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, cutting short the cruise.

At least four people suffered minor injuries as the storm toppled furniture, collapsed ceilings and shattered glass on the vessel.

Royal Caribbean said the storm was more severe than expected.

The company said in a statement that the ship's operation was not affected, but concerns about more rough weather prompted the decision to return to port rather than continue.

Among other duties, the Coast Guard said it would inspect the ship to determine the extent of the damage and ensure all repairs are made before the vessel's next trip.

Coast Guard spokesman Charles Rowe said such inspections and investigations are not unusual.

The vessel is set to dock at about at 9 p.m. EST (0200 GMT Thursday).

(Reporting by Laila Kearney in New York and Mary Wisniewski in Chicago; editing by Bill Trott and Tom Brown)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Republican-controlled U.S. House panel on Thursday turned back a Democratic attempt to head off a drive to privatize the U.S. air traffic control system.

A measure offered by Representative Peter DeFazio, top Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, sought to protect the Federal Aviation Administration from funding disruptions and to address other issues that Republicans view as reasons for transferring air traffic control from the FAA to a new private, nonprofit corporation.

The committee voted 34-25, along party lines, to reject the measure as an amendment to a six-year bill that would privatize air traffic control and authorize FAA funding for the next six years.

The panel was expected later on Thursday to send the FAA bill to the floor for a possible vote by the full House.

Republicans, including House transportation chairman Bill Shuster of Pennsylvania, say air traffic control must be transferred to the private sector to protect the system from deficit reductions and government shutdowns, and to ensure timely upgrade of decades-old technology.

DeFazio's measure would have made FAA funding mandatory, protecting it from political squabbles over the budget. It would also have required reforms to ensure adequate controller staffing and the more efficient FAA adoption of new technology.

(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by David Gregorio)
BANGUI (Reuters) - The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic is repatriating three military officers on suspicion they committed human rights violations during political unrest in their home country, Burundi, an internal document showed. Ten months of violence triggered by President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid for a third term has left more than 400 people dead in Burundi, which emerged from an ethnically charged civil war in 2005. He won a disputed poll in July. A fax dated Feb. 5 sent by the U.N.'s Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) in New York and seen by Reuters on Thursday notified the Central African mission, MINUSCA, of the decision to send the officers home. "(The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights) has raised serious concerns about alleged human rights violations committed by the officers during the violent demonstrations in Burundi," the document stated. Officials in Burundi, which contributes more than 1,200 soldiers and police to U.N. peacekeeping missions, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the repatriations. It is fairly common for troops to be sent home for alleged abuses committed while serving with a U.N. mission. MINUSCA has repatriated members of several contingents amid a wave of sexual abuse and rape accusations over the last year. However, the repatriation of troops over allegations of abuses committed in their home countries is extremely rare. A spokesman with MINUSCA confirmed the three men were being sent home but declined to give details of the allegations against them. "Assessments have been conducted. Following the assessments, this decision was taken," Vladimir Monteiro said. "The mission is doing everything to ensure that they return to Burundi." (Reporting by Joe Bavier)
By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The U.N. human rights investigator for Gaza and the West Bank called on Israel on Thursday to investigate what he called excessive force used by Israeli security against Palestinians and to prosecute perpetrators. Makarim Wibisono, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, also told Israeli authorities to charge or release all Palestinian prisoners being held under lengthy administrative detention, including children. "The upsurge in violence is a grim reminder of the unsustainable human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the volatile environment it engenders," he said in a final report to the Human Rights Council. Twenty-seven Israelis and a U.S. citizen have been killed since October in near-daily Palestinian attacks that have included stabbings, shootings and car-rammings. Israeli forces have killed at least 157 Palestinians, 101 of them assailants, according to Israeli authorities. Israel's foreign ministry dismissed the report as biased. "The report reflects the one-sidedness of the mandate and its flagrant anti-Israel bias. It is this one-sidedness which has made the rapporteur's mission impossible to fulfill, hence his resignation," spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said. "COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT" Wibisono announced his resignation from the independent post last month, effective March 31, accusing Israel of reneging on its pledge to grant him access to Gaza and the West Bank. Wibisino said on Thursday the upsurge of violence came against a backdrop of "illegal" Jewish settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, construction of a wall, and Israel's blockade of Gaza that amounted to a "stranglehold" and "collective punishment". Israel must address these issues to uphold international law and ensure protection for Palestinians, he said. Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed East Jerusalem, declaring it part of its eternal, indivisible capital, a move never recognized internationally. About 5,680 Palestinians were detained by Israel as of the end of October 2015, including hundreds of minors, Wibisono said, citing figures from the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem. Regarding those under administrative detention, he said: "Hundreds of Palestinians being held, now including children, often under secret evidence, and for up to six-month terms that can be renewed indefinitely, is not consistent with international human rights standards." "The government of Israel should promptly charge or release all administrative detainees." (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; additional reporting by Dan Williams in Jerusalem; Editing by Ralph Boulton and Andrew Heavens)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has "significantly" increased its air strikes against Islamic State in Afghanistan since President Barack Obama granted commanders broader authority last month to target the group there, a U.S. military spokesman said on Thursday. Islamic State is a relatively new force in Afghanistan and the militant group has violently challenged the much larger Afghan Taliban movement in pockets of the country. Obama granted the U.S. military the authority to strike Islamic State, also known as ISIS, ISIL, or Daesh, in January, with concerns mounting about the group's increasing global reach. U.S. forces could previously strike Islamic State in Afghanistan but it was under more narrow circumstances, such as for protection of troops. "We have significantly increased our pressure and the number of strikes we've conducted against Daesh in Nangarhar province over the past three weeks," Brigadier General Wilson Shoffner, a U.S. military spokesman, said in a briefing to reporters. "The change in authorities has given us additional flexibility." Shoffner declined to give specifics on the number of strikes but said combined with pressure from Afghan security forces, they had succeeded in containing Islamic State in the southern part of Nangarhar province, in eastern Afghanistan. According to the Afghan interior ministry, Afghan and international forces conducted nearly 20 joint operations against Islamic State in Nangarhar in January. Islamic State is not yet able to conduct operations in more than one place at a time in Afghanistan, Shoffner said, but was attempting to establish a base of operations in Nangarhar and carry out low-level recruiting in various parts of the country. In eastern Afghanistan, Islamic State numbers some 1,000 to 3,000 members, he said. Those joining Islamic State are typically former members of the Afghan Taliban or the separate Pakistani Taliban, known as TTP, Shoffner said. Nangarhar borders the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. "In terms of motivation what we see are generally former TTP who believe that associating with Daesh or pledging to Daesh will further their interests in some way," he said. NATO aircraft struck an Islamic State radio station in Nangarhar this month. The station had been broadcasting up to 90 minutes a day in the Dari and Pashto languages. (Reporting by Yeganeh Torbati; Editing by Dan Grebler)
By Dan Levine SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Uber has agreed to pay $28.5 million to settle litigation brought by customers who alleged the ride hailing service misrepresented the quality of its safety practices and the fees it charged passengers, the company said on Thursday. The two proposed class action lawsuits said Uber charged passengers a "Safe Rides Fee" of as much as $2.30 per trip to support its "industry leading background check process." However, Uber does not use fingerprint identification which is required by taxi regulators, court filings said. The cases, filed in a Northern California federal court, were brought after district attorneys in Los Angeles and San Francisco made similar allegations in separate 2014 litigation. Uber asked a San Francisco state judge to dismiss most of that lawsuit, saying the prosecutors are improperly seeking "tens of millions of dollars" in penalties and restitution. At a hearing on Thursday, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Mary Wiss said she had tentatively decided to reject Uber's dismissal request. The cases are part of a range of legal and regulatory issues facing Uber. A lawsuit filed by Uber drivers seeking to be classified as employees and entitled to benefits is scheduled for trial in June. As part of the $28.5 million rider settlement, Uber also agreed to rename the "Safe Ride Fee" a "Booking Fee." Around 25 million riders could qualify to participate in the settlement, Uber said. A San Francisco federal judge will have to approve the deal. Uber said technology helps safety efforts but no means of transportation is 100 percent safe. "Accidents and incidents will happen," the company said in a statement. "That's why it's important to ensure that the language we use to describe safety at Uber is clear, precise and accurate." The consolidated class action lawsuit in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California is Matthew Philliben et al vs. Uber Technologies Inc and Rasier LLC, 14-5615. (Reporting by Dan Levine; Editing by David Gregorio)
By Elias Biryabarema KAMPALA (Reuters) - The Ugandan military said on Thursday that a senior commander in warlord Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army had surrendered, a move analysts say showed disarray in rebel ranks and strengthened the possibility of Kony's capture. The militia is notorious for extreme violence, including chopping off limbs as a form of punishment, and abducting young girls and boys for use as sex slaves and child soldiers. It first took up arms in the 1980s, but left Uganda about a decade ago after a military crackdown by Kampala. Since then, it has roamed across lawless parts of Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Central African Republic, eluding international efforts to defeat it. Uganda maintains a contingent in the Central African Republic and South Sudan to hunt for the group and capture Kony, with the help of U.S. special forces who provide intelligence and non-lethal logistics. A Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) statement seen by Reuters on Thursday said Lt. Col. George Okot, who was abducted in northern Uganda aged 10, had surrendered to them in recent days. "George Okot ... has finally defected to UPDF in CAR (Central African Republic)," it said. The statement said Okot had fallen out with Kony after the rebel chief learnt he had aided the defection of Dominic Ongwen, another LRA commander who surrendered in January 2015 and is now standing trial at the Netherlands-based International Criminal Court for war crimes. "Before things went sour on him, he was in charge of food gathering and protection of Kony's family. He was relieved of his duties and put in the cells after news leaked to Kony that he aided Ongwen's escape," the statement said. UPDF said Okot escaped as Kony's fighters prepared to execute him. Kasper Agger, field researcher at the Washington-based rights group Enough Project, said Okot's surrender showed "a gradual breakdown in the LRA leadership structure and gives great hope that LRA leader Joseph Kony is running out of options and can be captured soon." (Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; editing by George Obulutsa and Katharine Houreld)
LONDON (Reuters) - The British government said on Thursday it would force through pay and working condition reforms for English doctors without the agreement of their trade union in a push to end a dispute that has resulted in strikes. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt made the announcement shortly after the second in a series of 24-hour strikes, the like of which had not been seen in Britain for 40 years. During the strikes, junior doctors, or doctors-in-training, provided only emergency care. Hunt said the government would have preferred a negotiated solution and accused the doctor's union, the British Medical Association (BMA), of being unwilling to compromise. "In such a situation, any government must do what is right for both patients and doctors," Hunt said in parliament. He said the decision to impose the changes on doctors was taken on the advice of senior health service officials. The dispute has brought Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative government into conflict with doctors who work in the state-funded National Health Service (NHS), which delivers free care for all and is typically one of the most important issues for voters at elections. The BMA, which has argued that the changes do not provide proper safeguards against doctors working dangerously long hours, responded by saying it would seek new ways to fight the reforms. "Junior doctors cannot and will not accept a contract that is bad for the future of patient care, the profession and the NHS as a whole, and we will consider all options open to us, said Johann Malawana the BMA's junior doctor committee chairman. The new contract is part of moves by the government to deliver what it says will be a consistent service seven days a week. Studies show that mortality rates are higher at weekends when staffing is reduced. Junior doctors represent just over half of all doctors in the NHS. The new deal gives them a pay rise, but some anti-social hours for which they are currently paid a premium would be considered to be standard. The reforms apply only to the NHS in England. The regional governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have direct responsibility for their own health services. (Reporting by William James; Editing by Elizabeth Piper and Gareth Jones)
London (AFP) - Britain's government said Thursday it would impose new contracts on junior doctors to force an end to strikes over changes to their working conditions.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt told the House of Commons that the decision had been taken after negotiations with doctors' union the British Medical Association (BMA) failed.

The announcement came after nearly three years of negotiations and the day after a second 24-hour strike led to nearly 3,000 operations being postponed in England.

Hunt said he would be "proceeding with the introduction of a new contract" seen as "safer for patients and fair and reasonable for junior doctors" on the recommendation of the chief of the government's negotiating team.

Junior doctors are recently qualified doctors often aged in their twenties and thirties who work in the National Health Service (NHS) while completing their professional training.

Hunt said they would now receive a 13.5-percent increase in basic salary which he insisted would lead to three-quarters getting an overall pay rise, despite a lower pay premium for working on Saturdays under the new contracts.

He also announced a review on how to improve morale among junior doctors.

Prime Minister David Cameron's centre-right government argues that the reforms are needed to help create a "seven days a week" NHS where the quality of care is as high at the weekends as on weekdays.

Johann Malawana, chairman of the BMA's junior doctor committee, said they "cannot and will not" accept the contract and would "consider all options open to us".

"Junior doctors already work around the clock, seven days a week," he said.

"If the government want more seven-day services then, quite simply, it needs more doctors, nurses and diagnostic staff, and the extra investment needed to deliver it."
By Tom Bergin LONDON (Reuters) - UK lawmakers accused Google on Thursday of trying to fool Britons into believing it was a proponent of tax reform while remaining a prime beneficiary of loopholes in existing rules, and said if it was sincere the company would be more transparent over its tax affairs. Google's president for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Matt Brittin, told the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee that the company had paid all the tax that it should but wanted the international tax system reformed. But Stewart Jackson, a Conservative member of the committee, questioned claims that the company was trying to be open about its affairs and supported a rewriting of antiquated tax rules which allow it to shift its profits into Bermuda. You sort of pose as an enlightened helper to the public debate ... And that the wicked awful tax system across the world somehow just happened to Google, whereas actually youve made a choice to avoid tax and set up structures specifically so to do, he said. Brittin was appearing before the committee for the third time in four years, just weeks after Google had announced a controversial 130 million-pound ($187 million) backtax deal with the UK. News of the deal met with a public outcry, with critics saying the payment of 130 million pounds to cover the last 10 years of earnings was too little, even though finance minister George Osborne initially described the settlement as a major success for the government's work on tackling tax avoidance. The opposition Labour party and some members of Osborne's own Conservative party criticized the settlement, which brought Googles total tax bill for 2005 to 2015 to around 200 million pounds whereas its UK revenues amounted to 24 billion pounds. Tom Hutchinson, Google's vice president for tax, also told the committee the dispute with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) reflected the complexity of tax law, rather than any attempt not to pay the right amount and that this was echoed in the fact the settlement included no penalty. Google pays an effective tax rate of around 5 percent on non-U.S. profits by channeling earnings from clients in EMEA and Asia into a Bermuda-based, Irish registered company, a Reuters analysis of company filings shows. Meg Hillier, a Labour member of parliament and chair of the committee, said Google should follow the examples of companies like Norway's Statoil and UK bank Barclays which itemize their earnings and tax payments by country. The European Union is debating whether to make such country-by-country reporting mandatory across all industry sectors. In the course of increasingly heated questioning on Thursday, Hillier asked Brittin several times to say how much he was paid. He declined, saying he didn't know the exact figure but would provide the figure to the committee later, prompting laughter. (Editing by Greg Mahlich)
(Reuters) - British prompt wholesale natural gas prices edged higher on Thursday as colder temperatures pushed heating demand higher, while the system remained oversupplied. Gas for next-day delivery rose 0.15 pence at 29.05 pence per therm by 1039 GMT from the previous settlement, while gas for immediate delivery was 0.10 pence higher at 29.20 p/therm. Britain's gas system was oversupplied by 9.2 million cubic metres (mcm), with demand forecast at 324.7 mcm - above Wednesday's level of 314 mcm, National Grid data showed. Flows from the UK Continental Shelf have increased after planned maintenance in the North Sea was completed. But the send-out of liquefied natural gas has fallen slightly. "It's a bit colder and there's a bit more demand, but overall not much changed, the prompt could simply by tracking the front-month contract," in the absence of other fundamental drivers, a UK-based gas trader said. The month-ahead March gas contract traded 0.15 pence per therm higher at 28.65 p/therm. Temperatures are forecast to decline by a couple of degrees Celsius by the weekend, according to Britain's Met Office. But milder temperatures are set to return from Feb. 20, according to Thomson Reuters meteorologist Georg Muller. The benchmark summer 2016 gas contract fell 0.05 p/therm at 27.05 p/therm. In the Netherlands, the day-ahead gas price at the TTF hub dipped by 0.20 euro per megawatt-hour to 11.98 euros/MWh. In the European carbon market, front-year EU allowances declined by 0.19 euro to 4.70 euros a tonne. (Reporting by Oleg Vukmanovic; Editing by Tom Heneghan)
Kiev (AFP) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and his wife Maryna took the unusual step Thursday of defending a disabled man who was pushed out of a restaurant because of his "suspicious" behaviour.

The incident in Ukraine's ancient western city of Lviv sparked outrage in the social media and provoked a rare debate about the treatment of physically disadvantaged people in a country often criticised for its discriminatory customs and habits.

"I fully support the resentment of the Ukrainian people," Maryna Poroshenko said in a video that the president later posted on Facebook.

"Such an act toward a person with a disability is ungodly," she said.

The incident occurred to a 35-year-old taxi driver who turned out to be one of the 1.5 million people displaced from their homes in war-torn eastern Ukraine.

Cabby Roman Kislyak told Ukrainian media that he had developed cerebral palsy and came to the restaurant for a planned meeting with a reporter.

The eatery's owner later explained that the waiter had stopped Kislyak and pushed him in the back toward the door because of his "suspicious" walk and manners.

The restaurant also issued an apology and called the entire case "an unfortunate chain of misunderstandings".

But the incident gained still further attention when Kislyak gave a heart-wrenching television interview in which he questioned whether his life was worth living at all.

"I know that I am ugly," he told one of Ukraine's rolling news channels.

People "are squeamish," he added. "I do not want to live, because I am a burden on society."

The comments prompted Maryna Poroshenko to tell Kislyak personally in her video message that "I would love to meet you over a cup of coffee."

Kislyak wrote on his Facebook page Thursday that he was delighted to accept.

"Let's have coffee!" he wrote.

He also urged people to join a "coffee with a friend" campaign launched by social media users who want disabled people to feel less shackled by social stigmas and have the freedom to go out.
Chicago (AFP) - The US Department of Justice said Wednesday it is taking the city of Ferguson, Missouri to court after council members rejected necessary reforms following the police shooting of unarmed black teen Michael Brown.

"I am profoundly disappointed," Attorney General Loretta Lynch told reporters.

"The city of Ferguson had a real opportunity here to step forward, and instead they chose to step backward."

Brown's 2014 death sparked weeks of sometimes violent protests and ignited a national debate about race relations and law enforcement in the United States.

Ferguson was required to reform its police department and courts after federal investigators found a widespread pattern of racial discrimination and multiple violations of citizens' constitutional rights in the St. Louis, Missouri suburb.

Police officers in the town of 21,000 "routinely" pulled over motorists without reasonable suspicion, carried out arrests without probable cause, and used "unreasonable force," Lynch said.

"They made enforcement decisions based on the way individuals expressed themselves and unnecessarily escalated non-threatening situations," she said.

They were driven by "racial bias" and "encouraged by the city in the interest of raising revenue."

After 26 weeks of what Lynch characterized as "painstaking negotiations" city officials signed off on a 131-page consent decree which outlined necessary reforms. Council members voted 6-0 on Tuesday to send negotiators back to the table in hopes of reducing potential costs.

"The city was well aware that by deciding not to accept it they would choose litigation. This was their choice," Lynch said.

"Residents of Ferguson have suffered the deprivation of their constitutional rights  the rights guaranteed to all Americans  for decades. They have waited decades for justice. They should not be forced to wait any longe," she stressed.

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Lynch noted that the justice department was "sensitive to cost" and had been providing Ferguson with free training and technical assistance in order to help implement reforms and avoid a costly court battle.

"We do not believe there is a price to be placed on our constitution," she added.

"We think all citizens are entitled to what everyone enjoys by birth in this country: the right to be free from excessive force and the right to be free from discriminatory policing."
Washington (AFP) - US Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday expressed concern about signs of renewed conflict in eastern Ukraine, while calling on the country's shaky coalition government to unite and implement reforms.

In a call with Petro Poroshenko, the White House said Biden and the Ukrainian president "expressed serious concern about the worsening security situation in eastern Ukraine," as fighting ticked up after a months-long lull.

More than 9,000 people have been killed and 20,000 injured since conflict broke out in 2014 between the pro-Western government and forces backed by Russia.

The Ukrainian government has struggled in the face of war that has ravaged the economy and deepened long-standing political divisions.

The country's economy minister Aivaras Abromavicius resigned earlier this month in a sign of tensions that have slowed efforts to reform the country's corruption and patronage-ridden economy.

Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has also threatened to resign and the IMF has warned that crucial financial aid may be at risk "without a substantial new effort to invigorate governance reforms and fight corruption."

Biden "urged the governing coalition to quickly establish unity to allow Ukraine to move forward with reforms, in line with the commitments in its IMF program."
The battle for marijuana legalization in Utah has been an intense fight on both sides. Sen. Mark Madsen, who sponsored a bill in 2015 that would legalize the use of medical marijuana, has to face an even more challenging opponent: the Mormon church.

"Along with others, we have expressed concern about the unintended consequences that may accompany the legalization of medical marijuana," The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spokesman Eric Hawkins told the Salt Lake Tribune in a statement Monday. "We have expressed opposition to Senator Madsen's bill because of that concern."

Since the announcement, the Utah senator said that he lost one or two votes from policymakers after the Church made their decision not to support the bill, according to KU-TV.

A recent poll conducted by the Salt Lake Tribune has found a 10 percent increase in support for the use of medical marijuana.

"The polls says 61% of Utahns or registered voters are supportive of the idea of legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes," Salt Lake Tribune reporter Robert Gehrke said on weekly radio program, Behind The Headlines, according to Utah Public Radio. "It's kind of interesting because this shows, and we asked the same question about a year ago, and the support then was 51%, so there is a 10% swing, and a shift in the public's attitude about this."

Sen. Madsen, who has been serving in office since 2005, almost died in 2007, when a patch for back pain exploded and the medication seeped into his bloodstream. According to the Utah Department of Health, 288 Utah residents died overdosing on pain medications, KU-TV reports.

His own near death experience, as well as those overdoses, encouraged him to seek alternative methods. "I realized there were people out there who were suffering," the senator told KU-TV.

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However, the current governor of Utah, Gary Herbert is not ready to concede just yet. In January, the governor offered some controversial comments on the marijuana discussion.

"I think the discussion is now at hand, the time is nigh," Governor Herbert said, according to Fox 13 NOW. "But I'm not interested in having Dr. Feelgood out there say 'ya, ya, que pasa, here's your doobie for the day and you'll feel better.' That's probably not where I want to go."

Another bill, proposed by Sen. Evan Vickers and Rep. Brad Daw, would "treat cannabis like a medicine," the two policymakers told the Health and Human Services Interim Committee in October. The Utah State Legislature is considering both bills.
ALMATY (Reuters) - The United States is giving Uzbekistan an excuse to crack down on activists who expose forced labor in the cotton industry by praising Tashkent for what it calls progress in this area, a local rights group said on Thursday. In an attempt to improve its ties with Tashkent, the U.S. State Department elevated Uzbekistan from the bottom tier of violators in its 2015 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report issued last July, although its analysts called forced labor "endemic" during the cotton harvest, according to a Reuters investigation. This week, local media quoted Pamela Spratlen, the U.S. ambassador to Uzbekistan, as saying there have been positive changes in the cotton sector. Ezgulik said such comments could imply that "Uzbek activists, who monitored forced labor in the cotton harvesting campaign and published monitoring results, (were) liars." Its statement added: "Following positive U.S. acknowledgement a small number of Uzbek activists would become slanderers in the eyes of the Uzbek government." No one at the U.S. embassy was immediately available to comment. Human rights groups say Tashkent is concealing a state-orchestrated forced labor system that underpins its position as the world's fifth-largest cotton exporter. They allege regular arrests, intimidation and harassment of activists. Washington is seeking closer ties with Central Asia's most populous nation, looking for help in preventing the spread of Islamic militants, stabilizing Afghanistan and offsetting Russian influence in the region. (Reporting by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)
By David Gaffen

(Reuters) - In a conference call after the company's disappointing results on Tuesday, Viacom Inc <VIAB.O> Chief Executive Philippe Dauman, among other things, said he was "focused on getting Viacom's stock price back" to levels it had been "just a short time ago."

He has his work cut out for him. Shares of Viacom are down 64 percent from their peak in July 2014, a period when it was heavily repurchasing its shares.

Companies frequently tout buybacks as a way of delivering value to shareholders when other investment opportunities are scarce. But Viacom spent nearly $10 billion on buybacks at a time when the company's stock was on the rise and at levels much higher than it is now.

Buybacks have been criticized as a poor use of funds, particularly as many companies tend to increase their purchases as their stock price is rising, as Viacom did in this case. The company's free cash flow, a measure of financial health, has declined in the last couple of years.

A recent Reuters analysis showed that many companies are spending on share repurchases at a far faster pace than they are investing in long-term growth through capital spending. At the same time, they are reducing their cash levels, only to find their financial flexibility limited in the future.

Others, however, argue that with weak economic growth and lackluster demand, companies are better served by repurchasing their shares and sending cash back to shareholders rather than investments that later turn out to be unproductive.

Between October 2012 and March 2015, Viacom spent about $9.7 billion on buybacks, at an average cost of $73.58 per share, based on company filings - or about 55 percent more than the current stock price now.

Viacom's busiest quarter of share repurchases was in the quarter ending September 30, 2013, when it bought back about $2.7 billion in stock at an average price of about $80 a share.

Viacom suspended its share repurchase program in the quarter ending June 30, 2015.

The company's free cash flow has dipped in the last two years, falling to $2.17 billion for fiscal 2015, which ended in September, from $2.92 billion at the end of fiscal 2013.

(Reporting By David Gaffen; Editing by Bill Rigby)
(Reuters) - Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc , the largest U.S. drugstore chain, threatened to terminate its relationship with Theranos Inc unless the blood-testing company quickly fixes the problems found by federal inspectors at its laboratory in California, the Wall Street Journal reported. The drugstore chain gave the warning in a letter to Theranos late last month, the Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter. A spokesman for Walgreens declined to comment. Walgreen had suspended laboratory services by Theranos on Jan. 28 after the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said that Theranos' deficient practices at its Newark lab posed "immediate jeopardy to patient health and safety". Theranos has been in the spotlight after reports in the Wall Street Journal suggested that its blood-testing devices were flawed and had problems with accuracy. The 40 Theranos "wellness centers" at Walgreens stores in Arizona are the primary source of revenue for the blood-testing company and its conduit to consumers, the newspaper said. Theranos was unavailable for comment outside regular U.S. business hours. (Reporting by Parikshit Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)
If theres one thing that fires up Bernie Sanders supportersand makes his detractors roll their eyesits his call for a political revolution. To his base, its the very point of his anti-establishment, anti-elite candidacy. To his critics, its the very embodiment of his campaigns naive impracticality and vagueness.

But now that voters in Iowa and New Hampshire have spoken, its time to take the idea of political revolution more seriouslymore seriously, indeed, than Sanders himself appears to have. Its time to ask: What exactly would it take?

It starts with Congress. And here its instructive to compare Sanders and Donald Trump. Both rely on broad, satisfying refrains of Were gonna: Were gonna break up the big banks. Were gonna make Mexico build the wall. Were gonna end the rule of Wall Street billionaires. Were gonna make China stop ripping us off.

The difference is, Trumps refrains are more plausible. Thats because todays Congress is already willing to enact many of his proposals, whether repeal of Obamacare or severe restrictions on immigration. And if Trump became president, the 115th Congress would very likely be more conservative than the 114th.

Recommended: Judgment vs. Experience at the Democratic Debate

For Sanders to deliver on his Were gonna pledges, he needs an entirely different Congress. How to get it? Thus far, Sanders has laid out a theory of action that is basically, If I come, they will build it. That is, if he electrifies enough voters to win, then presumably those voters will have upended Congress as well. Hes banking on an electoral flood tide a la 1980, 1964, or 1932.

Thats possible, but its not a plan. If hes serious about political revolution, the first priority for Sanders now should be to cultivate a crop of Democratic candidates who can oust Republican incumbents. House Democrats, at their lowest numbers since 1947, need 30 seats to regain a majority. If Sanders launched a Bernies 30 effort, to persuade his formidable base of small donors to give money and time to a slate of candidates who can win a targeted set of seats now held by the GOP, that would help effect the actual institutional change his presidency would depend on.

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A second step for a true revolution would be a common policy agenda for all these candidates. Here he could take a page from Newt Gingrichs playbook and issue a progressive Contract With America that prioritizes 10 easy-to-digest legislative goals (Wall Street reform, campaign reform, single-payer health care, and so forth). Historians and commentators differ on how much the Contract truly caused the tectonic 1994 GOP takeover. But it did nationalize, and standardize, congressional campaigns in a way that Sanders would need to do.

Recommended: The 2016 Presidential Cheat Sheet: Fiorina and Christie Drop Out

Third, Sanders should also take a page from the Obama 2008 playbook. That campaign organized young people more systematically than any presidential campaign in history. Across the country, it held Camp Obama trainings, in which young people taught each other Marshall Ganzs story-centered methods of community organizing. Sanders has the young people; now he needs the machinery to amplify their force.

Fourth, Sanders would have to learn from Obama 2008 how to catalyze culture makers. Every presidential campaign knows enough now to enlist celebrity musicians or artists. But Sanders could invite artists from all around the country, famous or not, to create work that spreads the message of his campaign. Culture shapes norms: about inequality, racism, violence. And culture that isnt made by the campaign but by the people packs a punch.

Fifth, Sanders would have to link up to other organic movements that are arising in parallel with his own campaign. The Democracy Awakening coalition, led by the NAACP and Public Citizen with dozens of other progressive organizations, for example, is planning a national rally in Washington for this spring. But Sanders should look beyond obviously progressive movements. If he wants a revolution, he needs also to invite in the segment of Trump supporters who arent racist xenophobes but who simply feel left behind by a changing country. That would be revolutionary.

Recommended: Facebook and the New Colonialism

Sixth, the Sanders campaign should study the Tea Party closely and learn from it. Its too easy for progressives to dismiss the Tea Party as a creation of the Koch brothers. The more complex and instructive reality is that, especially early on, there were many thousands of Americans self-organizing on conference calls and Facebook and in person. What was their leadership structure? How did they communicate? What lessons do their grassroots leaders have about dealing with the party establishment?

Seventh, Sanders should be building a web of city leaderselected and notwho will push policies in sync with his national agenda. Cities are increasingly the locus of civic innovation, whether on the sharing economy or living wages or criminal-justice reform. A true political revolution would activate citizens in every city of scale to provide the foundation from which federal reforms could arise.

Of course, Hillary Clinton could adopt some of these strategies, too. But her disadvantage is that she does not have many young voters. More crucially, she does not seek transformational change. The only other candidate who wants such change, Trump, sees his voters as an audience, as customers, as fans. Not so much as citizens. He loves them the way Il Duce loved his people. He wants to exercise power in their name, not to empower them to shape their own futures.

Which brings me back to the Sanders opportunityand what I think of as an American opportunity. I supported Obama in 2008, and Ive supported Clinton this time. But I am genuinely excited about the energy Sanders has activated, and I believe its good for the country if that energy gets converted to productive civic action.

So the message now to Bernie Sanders from Americans of every stripe should be this: You say you want a revolution? Help us make one.

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A womans holiday plans were ruined after Thai authorities refused to let her into the country - because shed used her passport as toilet paper.

Faye Wilson had hoped to spend a month in Thailand before heading to Australia to work for a year.

But her dream quickly turned into a nightmare when Thai officials clocked the missing pages in her passport and sent her packing.

Faye, 28, from the Lake District, said: Thai immigration opened my passport and started looking through it, and asked whats happened here?

"I just said that I had lost the pages because I was too embarrassed to explain the real reason.

"Before I could explain more, they had deported me back to Dubai and then to Glasgow and confiscated my documents.

Shame-faced Faye was then escorted back to the UK with a security guard.

Back in Blighty: Faye hopes to return to Thailand as soon as possible (SWNS)

But baffled Faye has used the passport up to eight times in the five years since she ripped out the pages, with her past only coming back to haunt her last month.

Faye recalls: We were walking from one bar to the next and we must have been desperate for a wee and obviously didnt have any toilet roll.

"We decided it would be a good idea to use my passport, which is obviously really stupid. It was maybe two or three pages. I was a bit drunk so didnt even think about the consequences.

Faye has applied for an emergency passport since returning home, and plans to head back out to meet the friend she left behind in Thailand.

She added: My friend had to stay in Thailand while I was rushed back home.

I felt like I was a criminal - people were looking at me wondering why a border official was sat with me the whole time. I dont know what a criminal looks like but Im not one.

Frustrated Faye explained that had she been told in Glasgow that she could not enter the country, she would have had it sorted right away.

She said: I am baffled. If I was stopped and told in Glasgow, I could have just postponed my flights instead. I cant wait to get back out there.
Exit, Chris Christie: The New Jersey governor is expected to suspend his presidential campaign after his disappointing sixth-place finish in last night New Hampshire primary.

A warning from the Fed: Janet Yellen, the U.S. Federal Reserves chairwoman, said financial conditions in the United States have recently become less supportive of growth. But, she added, other factors will ensure that economic activity will expand at a moderate pace  [and] labor market indicators will continue to strengthen. Global markets rose following her remarks to Congress.

French citizenship law: Lawmakers approved a controversial measure that would strip convicted French terrorists of their citizenship. The measure was introduced following the deadly Paris attacks last November.

News from the morning here.

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This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
The feds sue Ferguson: U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced that the Justice Department is suing the Missouri city where a white police officer shot and killed an unarmed 18-year-old black man in 2014. The complaint alleges that Ferguson police routinely violated federal civil-rights laws by, among other things, conducting stops and arrests without legal justification, using excessive force, and discriminating against black residents. Update: More here

The race to understand Zika: European researchers say they have discovered an abnormal brain in a fetus whose mother experienced symptoms of the mosquito-borne virus at the end of her first trimester while she was living in Brazil, the AP reports. Researchers have been scrambling to determine whether Zika can lead to microcephaly, a condition in which babies are born with small heads.

The 2016 GOP roster shrinks: Carly Fiorinawho finished seventh in the New Hampshire primaryand Chris Christiewho finished sixthhave dropped out of the race. So who is left?

Obama goes to Illinois: The president returned to the city where he announced his White House candidacy on this day nine years ago. Speaking to the Illinois state legislature, Obama said his inability to change politics has become his greatest failure. Russell has the story here.

News from this afternoon here.

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Why Asset Managers, Financials Are the Worst-Hit by the Slowdown

(Continued from Prior Part)

Fastest-growing economy

Indias economy has shown fundamental resilience. The nation is benefiting from lower oil prices and is improving its domestic economy, which is driven by infrastructure and consumption. Indias economy grew by 7.3% in the December quarter, backed by 12.6% growth in manufacturing and 6.5% growth in mining.

India is the only country among major economies to report strong growth in manufacturing as the economy benefits from a new government led by Narendra Modi. The government forecasts 7.6% growth for the year ending March 31, 2016. Indian equities have been the best performers in 2016, with a collective fall of 5.8%. Institutional investors have deployed funds into India to take advantage of a long-term growth story.

Companies that would benefit from a bullish trend in emerging market equities include BlackRock (BLK), Goldman Sachs (GS), HSBC Holdings (HSBC), and Blackstone (BX).

Chinas slowdown

Indias growth story is not offsetting a fall due to the slowdown China. Chinas Shanghai Composite Index has fallen by 22% in 2016. Chinese vice president Li Yuanchao, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, said that Chinas markets are not yet mature, and the government will boost regulations in an effort to limit volatility.

Fang Xinghai, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, also assured investors that his government is prepared to intervene again to stave off any large liquidity problems that could lead to systemic risks.

Chinas gross domestic product for 2015 came in at 6.9% against the governments 7% target. In 4Q15, China saw growth of 6.8%. China has set a target growth rate of 6.5% for 2016, since its transition from an export- and investment-led economy to a service- and a consumer-driven economy is expected to take some time.

The persisting slowdown in China has put additional pressure on commodity prices. This has resulted in lower exports from Brazil and Russia. Russias economy has been badly hit by a fall in crude oil prices. Overall, emerging markets (EEM), except for India, are in a recessionary mode.

Browse this series on Market Realist:
Millennials have heard it before: People born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s are the most narcissistic, individualistic and self-absorbed generation in recorded history.

Plenty of people have tried to explain this shift, pointing fingers at coddling parents and social media. But research actually suggests that millennials aren't especially awful, as generations go. In fact, American culture has been getting increasingly individualistic for at least a century, and it's likely that socioeconomic structure is to blame.

Researchers reporting in 2013 in the journal Psychological Science found that socioeconomic changes preceded changes in individualism, particularly the change from a blue-collar manufacturing economy to one full of white-collar office workers. Meanwhile, cross-cultural research suggests that countries with greater income inequality tend to have citizens with higher self-regard. Income inequality has been on the rise in the United States since the 1970s. [7 Things That Will Make You Happy]

"Part of the answer has to be these socioeconomic processes and the distribution of wealth within the country," said Yoshihisa Kashima, a psychologist at the University of Melbourne in Australia who studies how cultures are formed and maintained.

How the generations have changed

Research presented in January at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology in San Diego found that millennials don't really like being called narcissistic and entitled. However, research suggests that these labels are, indeed, true  though not necessarily to the extent that the media and marketers make them out to be.

Though American culture has been getting more individualistic, the changes are small from generation to generation.

For the past century, cultural indicators of individualism  such as self-focused words in books, unique baby names, and less enmeshed family structures and living situations  have been on the rise, said Igor Grossmann, a psychologist at the University of Waterloo in Ontario who published findings to that effect in 2015 in the journal Psychological Science.

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"Each generation probably viewed the younglings as the most egocentric as opposed to older adults," Grossmann told Live Science. "That was probably true for people in the 1930s as it is true now."

Meanwhile, research on large, reoccurring surveys of Americans that have been ongoing since the 1960s find trends toward greater self-regard. Compared with Americans of the same age in previous generations, today's youth are more entitled and narcissistic, according to research pioneered by psychologist Jean Twenge of San Diego State University. [7 Personality Features That Are Bad for You]

It can be tricky to interpret these surveys, Kashima told Live Science, because they weren't necessarily designed to measure personality traits like narcissism, and because people in the past might have interpreted questions, as they were worded, differently than people today would. Nevertheless, he said, when combined with other cultural measures of individualism, the majority of the research points to the same go-your-own-way trend.

One 2012 paper published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, however, does suggest that there may be some exceptions to the rule. That study found that Americans value obedience in children less than in the past and see social contribution as less important for a good life  both signs of individualism. But Americans are no less likely today than in the past to value friends and relatives, and are more likely to believe in unconditional love for their parents, which are communal values.

Why generations change

Even more difficult than measuring generational change is determining why it happens. Joshua Grubbs, a doctoral candidate at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, has surveyed millennials to see how they respond to being labeled as entitled and narcissistic. As part of those surveys, he asked millennials for their opinions on why the generational gap might exist. Those data have not been analyzed, Grubbs told Live Science, but common responses include changes in parenting and technology. Scientists have proposed other possibilities, including urbanization, secularism and even the number of natural disasters (the theory being that people have to band together in the face of major events).

But what's really to blame?

The most likely culprit, according to Grossmann's research, is the economy. Grossmann and his colleagues looked for cultural shifts that occurred before individualistic culture markers, like baby names and words in books, started to change. They found only a small effect of urbanization, but the real predictor of a shift toward a more me-first society was the change from blue-collar to white-collar jobs. This urbanization shift is tied up with the overall economic trend, Grossmann said, because office buildings tend to be packed into denser urban areas than sprawling factory complexes.

The timing of the changes can't prove that one caused the other, Grossmann said, but it's the closest that psychologists can get to showing causation.

Kashima agreed that the middle-class office-worker lifestyle seems to be driving the individualism trend. But the rise in narcissism and self-esteem is not necessarily the same thing as a rise in individualism, he cautioned.

These self-regard measures seem driven by another economic shift: rising income inequality. Research across different nations finds that countries whose citizens see themselves more positively (rating themselves as "above average" compared with their fellow citizens, for example) also tend to be those with the widest gaps between rich and poor.

In the post-World War II United States, the middle class grew, but that change was soon followed by a rising income gap, such that the bottom level of the income spectrum stayed steady as the top pushed ever upward, Kashima said. As these changes have developed over the decades, it's possible they've subtly altered people's behavior.

"One of the speculations there is that the income inequality tends to make salient this sort of status difference," he said. "So a status difference means that basically, you want to feel superior to other people rather than saying, 'I'm just like other people.'"

Another question is how the oft-cited culprits of parenting and technology might play into this equation. Changes in parenting that might translate to more individualistic kids could stem from socioeconomic change, Kashima said. Modern parents are no longer likely to expect their kids to grow up to be farmers or factory workers, for example.

"Parents, I think, might be trying to prepare their kids for the increase in individualism and decline in collectiveness in their parenting style, and that might have an impact," Kashima said. [10 Scientific Tips for Raising Happy Kids]

Technology's impact is also murky. Typically, media like books and newspapers exaggerate cultural trends rather than reflecting them perfectly accurately, Kashima said. But there is at least one way that tech has changed how generations relate to one another.

"Other generations didn't have the Internet, where everyone and their mom could jump on the bandwagon," said Grubbs, who was born in 1988 and qualifies as a millennial. "We're the first generation where 'kids these days get to be talked about ad nauseam online by everyone from their peers to people two to three generations removed from them."

Unfortunately, Grubbs said, no one knows whether all this chatter makes millennials want to shake off the stereotype  or throw up their hands and embrace the narcissistic urge.

Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.

Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
With Zika virus continuing to extend its reach across the Americas, and a growing body of evidence suggesting that the virus may be responsible for increases in cases of two neurological disorders, demands for a vaccine are urgent.

Infections with Zika are usually mild. Officials' primary concerns about the virus are over its possible links to a birth defect called microcephaly, which causes babies to be born with underdeveloped heads, and Guillain-Barre syndrome, which affects people of any age and can cause muscle weakness and paralysis.

But the road to a vaccine is typically long and expensive, paved with decades of research and testing to confirm a vaccine's protective abilities and safety, said Alan Barrett, director of the Sealy Center for Vaccine Development in Texas. [Special Report: Zika Virus News]

"It takes about 20 years and costs about $1.5 billion," Barrett told Live Science.

However, for Zika virus, existing vaccines and research on other mosquito-borne viruses that are closely related to Zika could greatly expedite the process, Barrett added.

How to make a vaccine

To create a vaccine, Barrett explained, researchers must first identify which parts of the virus can stimulate the immune system enough to trigger it to start cranking out antibodies to provide protection. Then, they must test out injecting these virus parts into animal models, to confirm that the vaccine candidate does indeed induce the immune system to make antibodies, and also that it is safe.

Only then can researchers progress to testing in humans, which goes through several stages: first in groups of 10 to 20 people, then in groups of several hundred, and finally in more than 10,000 people, to show that the vaccine works in large populations, Barrett said.

For vaccines, testing and approval takes longer than for many other drugs because of how long vaccines are expected to remain active in the human body, he added.

"We want it to give you that protection and safety for at least one year, maybe lifelong, so that's why it takes so long to go through the studies, because it's such a high bar you're trying to meet in terms of safety and efficacy," Barrett said.

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Thirty-three countries are now reporting local transmission of Zika virus and there are six more with local transmission suspected, according to a Zika Situation Report released Feb. 5 by the World Health Organization (WHO). The first Zika cases reported in the Americas date to January 2014, and since then, the virus's spread from country to country has been steady and swift, the report stated. [Video: Zika Virus - What You Need To Know]

Scientists have been aware of Zika since the 1940s, but as its symptoms are typically mild, the virus wasn't high on the list for vaccine research, Barrett told Live Science. "So our basic knowledge of the virus is very limited, and we're trying to move up from ground zero," he said.

Researchers are working to better understand the possible links between Zika virus and either microcephaly or Guillain-Barre, which have not been proved.

But, meanwhile, there may be groundwork for a Zika vaccine already laid: Researchers have developed vaccines for other flaviviruses  the virus family that includes Zika. This means they may be a few steps closer to finding a vaccine that works on their cousin.

"That's the big hope," Barrett said, "that we can reduce the time to develop a vaccine by taking the work done on these other vaccines and applying them to Zika."

In the works

Sanofi Pasteur, a vaccine development and production company, announced the launch of a Zika vaccine development project on Feb 2. The company's work on vaccines for other flaviviruses  such as those that cause Japanese encephalitis, yellow fever and dengue  provides valuable headway toward a Zika vaccine, said Nicholas Jackson, Sanofi Pasteur's global head of research.

Dengue and Zika share 60 percent of their DNA, and Sanofi Pasteur's recently licensed dengue vaccine, Dengvaxia, is expected to help accelerate the development of a vaccine for Zika, Jackson said. "We can leverage that similarity. We can take the same vaccine technology used in our dengue vaccine, drop in the structural face of Zika and test that very rapidly," Jackson said.

Jackson said that Sanofi Pasteur's researchers have general familiarity with the virus family, and an established infrastructure for testing dengue vaccines also helps. "That gives us a jump-start in what's otherwise a big effort to get going," Jackson told Live Science.

Zika vaccine initiatives were also announced by other companies in recent weeks. Bharat Biotech in Hyderabad, India, says it has two vaccine candidates currently in development. One of those is "an inactivated vaccine, that has reached the stage of pre-clinical testing in animals," the company said in a statement on Feb. 3. GeneOne Life Science in South Korea and Inovio Pharmaceuticals in Pennsylvania are collaborating on a DNA-based Zika vaccine, a new approach proven to have a shorter development track than traditional viral-based vaccines.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is also pursuing "at least two approaches to a Zika vaccine," Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of NIAID, said at a Jan. 28 news conference. The agency is researching one vaccine made using the virus' DNA, and another made using live (but weakened) Zika virus.

None of these has reached the stage of testing in human subjects.

"While these approaches are promising," Fauci said at the conference, "it is important to understand we will not have a widely available safe and effective Zika vaccine this year and probably not in the next few years."

Follow Mindy Weisberger on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.

Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Cape Town (AFP) - South Africa's charismatic leader Jacob Zuma is a former herdboy who was once known as the "Teflon president" -- but no longer.

Late US president Ronald Reagan first earned the sobriquet Teflon -- "nothing sticks" -- for surviving a series of scandals while in office, and 73-year-old Zuma did much the same through a very different set of problems.

Now things are getting sticky for him.

A past freedom fighter, Zuma has kept his political career alive despite a trial on charges of raping a family friend as well as allegations of corruption, abuse of power and misusing $24 million of state funds to refurbish his private residence.

As leader of the late Nelson Mandela's African National Congress (ANC), which has won every election since South Africa became a democracy in 1994, Zuma was an easy victor when securing a second five-year term in 2014.

The son of a domestic worker, Zuma has "a very strong appeal" to the working class and the poor, says Sdumo Dhlamini, head of the Confederation of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), an ANC ally.

"He is a people's person and he has grown through the ranks of the working class. He knows the suffering of the ordinary folk."

- Grassroots support -

Born on April 12, 1942, in the rural outpost of Nkandla in the north of the coastal province of KwaZulu-Natal, Zuma had a meteoric rise in politics though it was marked by controversy.

Popularly referred to as "JZ", he enjoys loyalty from millions of ANC grassroots supporters awed by his journey from uneducated cattle herder to president, with a 10-year stint as an apartheid-era political prisoner along the way.

When he took the reins of the ANC in 2007 in a putsch against ex-president Thabo Mbeki, Zuma inherited a party riddled with divisions that had festered under Mbeki, who was accused of being out of touch with the masses.

Tensions have since deepened further as poverty and unemployment levels continue to blight the country more than 20 years after the end of white-minority rule, and the ANC has been accused of losing its moral compass.

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As criticism of his reign mounted, Zuma maintained a jovial public facade, often giggling and laughing as the allegations against him built-up.

But he has made two significant U-turns recently to head off the most damaging lines of attack, and has been significantly weakened.

In December, he was forced into a climbdown after firing a respected minister of finance and appointing a man widely seen as a stooge.

As the local rand currency went into freefall, Zuma bowed to pressure and reappointed an admired former finance minister to the key post.

And last week he finally agreed to pay back some of the public money spent on his rural residence at Nkandla -- backing down after two years of resistance.

- Zulu warrior gear -

Zuma's private life is as colourful as his political career.

An unashamed traditionalist, he often swaps his suits for full leopard-pelt Zulu warrior gear, engaging in energetic ground-stomping tribal dances during ceremonies in his village.

At ANC rallies, he is often the first to break into song.

In the past, he loved leading supporters in the rousing anti-apartheid struggle song "Umshini Wami" (Bring Me My Machine Gun), which became his signature tune.

The teetotaller and non-smoker has four wives and at least 20 children, making Zuma the only president in sub-Saharan Africa who is an open polygamist.

Before taking office, Zuma dismayed the nation during his 2006 rape trial when he told the court he had showered after having sex with his young HIV-positive accuser to avoid contracting the virus.

He was head of the country's national AIDS council at the time.

Zuma was acquitted of rape but is mocked in newspaper cartoons -- where he is often depicted with a shower nozzle sprouting from his bald head -- and in art.

An infamous painting called "The Spear", which showed him in a Vladimir Lenin pose with his genitals exposed, stirred a racially charged storm when senior ANC officials campaigned to have it removed from a gallery and it was vandalised.

During Zuma's time in power, South Africa has also been rocked by increasing social unrest over a failure to provide enough housing and basic services such as electricity and water to end the inequalities of apartheid.

Despite the stalling economy and the many calls for him to stand down, Zuma may well see off his critics and stay in office until his term ends in 2019.
CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq  A U.S. Marine Corps 7-ton truck rolled over in a flash flood near Al Asad April 2, resulting in five Marines dead, one injured, and two Marines and one Sailor missing. The deaths were not a result of enemy action.

The vehicle was on a combat logistics convoy in Al Anbar Province with eight Marines and one Navy corpsman on board.

Our thoughts are with the families, and we are using all the resources available to find our missing Marines and Sailor, said Marine spokesman Lt. Col. Bryan Salas.

Two of the missing are assigned to 1st Marine Logistics Group and the third is assigned to Regimental Combat Team 7.

The injured Marine was transported to Al Asad Surgical for observation and was returned to duty.

The names of the deceased and missing are being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Department of Defense.
Minister, Ambassador in investments talk

The Trade and Industry Minister commenced the meeting with the words, what can we do to make you continue to invest in Trinidad, directed to Siman, whose 94-yearold family-owned business operates a number of franchises locally. Siman spoke at length about his companys business interest in the Caribbean and Latin American region, stating that, Trinidad has been an excellent opportunity, while outlining future local expansion plans.

Also present at the meeting were Norris Herbert, Permanent Secretary (Ag) in the Ministry of Trade and Industry); Karlene Roach, Deputy Permanent Secretary; Racquel Moses, President of invesTT Limited; Wayne Punnette, Director of Investment, TI; Yolande Agard -Simmons , Manager of Corporate Communications at the Ministry and Victoria Wharton-Lake, Advisor to Minister Gopee-Scoon
First Citizens reports $220M profit

This was disclosed by group chairman Anthony Smart in the groups unaudited financial statements for that period. Smart said this profit represented a growth of $5.7 million or 2.7 percent when compared to the corresponding period in 2014.

Profit after tax in that period was $179.9 million.

Smart also said the groups total assets amounted to $36.3 billion as of last December.

This represents a decline of 3.2 percent as compared to September 2015 which was mainly the result of the repayment of the TTNGL IPO proceeds of approximately $2.6 billion, he stated.

Smart further indicated that non-interest income increased by 33.7 percent over the compared quarter in 2014, in keeping with First Citizens income diversification strategy, due to increased contributions from fee-based business lines.

He said the impact of lower oil prices on the domestic economy, makes proactive asset management critical, and we are therefore continuing to-deploy assets to achieve higher yields. Smart added, The impact of this strategy is evident in reduction in loan notes and increases in loans to customers. Recalling that First Citizens was awarded the Bank of the Year 2015 from Bankers Magazine in the last quarter, Smart said this underscores the strength of the First Citizens Group.

Our balance sheet is well capitalised and shows strong liquidity buffers and a diversified funding base, he declared.
Cops kill bandit in shootout

The dead man was identified as Sunra Driskell, who is in his early forties, and lived in Couva.

According to reports, at about 2.30 am yesterday, Driskell and three others went to the used car dealership north of the Munroe Road, Flyover and Uriah Butler Highway and robbed the watchman of his cell phone. The watchman managed to raise an alarm and officers who were on patrol responded almost immediately and saw the four suspects attempting to escape in a black Nissan Almera car.

Officers gave chase resulting in a shootout with the bandits in the getaway car.Three of the suspects managed to escape after the car crashed a short distance away. Officers found Driskell bleeding from gunshot wounds and a pistol was found in his possession.

He was rushed to the Chaguanas Health facility where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Yesterday, head of the Central Division Senior Superintendent Jayson Forde commended the officers for their swift response which led to the demise of one of the robbery suspects
5 held in $1.2M drug bust

According to reports, shortly after 10 pm, WPC Ramkissoon and PC Ragbir of the Moruga Police station were on enquiries at La Rufin Road, Moruga when they observed a gold coloured Nissan Sylphy car parked along the roadway.

As the officers approached, the car sped off. The officers gave chase in their police vehicle and radioed for backup.

Sgts Pacheco and Farell along with Cpl Ramsingh, PCs Ramdass and Guerra from the Eastern Division Task Force responded and the vehicle was intercepted in Bois Jean Jean.

A search was conducted and the officers discovered 14.2 kilos of high grade marijuana concealed in the car.

Two suspects from California in Central Trinidad were arrested.

One of them is said to be the son of a well-known underworld figure.

And three hours later the same team of officers intercepted a green Almera motor car proceeding along Moruga road and seized 9.3 kgs of high grade marijuana. Three men from central Trinidad ranging in age from 27 to 37 were taken into custody.

Meanwhile, Southern Division Police are describing the various police exercises carried out in the southern Division during the two days of Carnival as successful citing a peaceful celebration in the second city.
Drunk woman fined $5,000

Ginelle Hercules was fined $2,000 and ordered to pay compensation of $3,000, by Deputy Chief Magistrates Mark Wellington in the San Fernando Magistrates court yesterday.

She pleaded guilty and the magistrate heard from the court police prosecutor, Police Constable Cleyon Seedan, that it was at about 10.30 am when police officers were on duty at Library Corner, and, they observed a commotion at the entrance of Royal Castle across the road.
Guns found in Maloney

During a press briefing at the Maloney Police Station, Snr Supt David Abraham yesterday commended the officers for their hard work, but expressed concern about the high number of firearms found in his division.

He also issued a warning to all criminals in the division telling them to cease their criminal activities.

I am telling all those who are involved in criminal activity,to put down the guns and turn your life around away from crime.

Make a change because we will be arresting you and coming after you Abraham said.

Abraham said two persons were arrested in connection with the seizure of the shotguns  a 63-year-old man from Cumuto, and a 23-year-old St Joseph man.

The AK-47 and a 9mm handgun were found in abandoned lots of land in different areas in the division. Police also found and seized 19 rounds of assorted ammunition. In all, 31 people were arrested, eight for drunk driving, three for narcotics, eight for possession of weapons and the rest for outstanding warrants, and other offences during the Carnival period.
Fine for brandishing cutlass on Jouvert morning

Yesterday, a magistrate fined him $200. He pleaded guilty before Deputy Chief Magistrate Mark Wellington in the San Fernando Magistrates court, upon his arrest at about 10 am on Carnival Monday at the corner of Rushworth and Cipero Streets, San Fernando.

The magistrate heard from prosecutor PC Cleyon Seedan, that it was at about 9.20 am when police officers on duty, saw Griffith dancing with a cutlass upraised in his right hand.

He was approached by Police Constable Teeluck of the San Fernando CID, who enquired from Griffith, why he was dancing with the cutlass. Prosecutor Seedan said that the defendant answered, That is to defend myself. He was charged with having a weapon for the purpose of committing an arrestable offence.

Wellington asked Griffith why he had the cutlass and from the dock, he answered, I had a coconut stall nearby. The magistrate told him he was blatantly lying and ordered Griffith pay the fine by today.
MAS WOMAN DEAD

Up to press time, it was not clear whether she was murdered or died of natural causes.

On the basis of a wrist band the woman was wearing, police believe she played in the Legacy mas band, but in an immediate response following queries by Newsday, Legacy band leader Mike Big Mike Antoine said the woman could not have been playing with his band as he personally made checks on his system, and all masqueraders were accounted for.

In a release by the TT Police Service, officers said they have ascertained the woman is of Asian descent and was wearing a wrist band which they said was from the Legacy band. Police added that the woman is about 5 feet, 3 inches tall, with a petite built, weighing about 120 lbs. She has a light complexion with brown shoulder length hair, black eyebrows and appears to be between 20 to25 years old.

Police also said in the release that the womans body was clad in a yellow and teal coloured bikini- type costume and the Legacy wrist band had the name of a section called Rhythm. Antoine said he has no section in his band named Rhythm and none of his sections had yellow bikini costumes.

We have a green section, a pink section and a blue section, Antoine said. We did not use yellow in any of our sections this year because we used it last year. Police also revealed the woman was wearing a gold-coloured ring with a small blue gem on the left middle finger, a silver chain hand band on the left wrist with translucent gems attached and a clear coloured glasslike band on the right wrist. I conducted a personal investigation and scanned our files myself as we have the names, numbers and sizes of all members who played with our band. And all persons who played with us are well and accounted for, Antoine told Newsday.

It is an unfortunate situation regardless of which band she may have played in. Its a sad situation for the whole country because we do not send for people to come and play mas so they could get killed.

But this had nothing to do with Legacy mas. I do not want my band to be blamed for something of which it is innocent, Antoine said.

He added that his band crossed the stage at 10.30 am on Tuesday after the Ronnie & Caro mas band and finished playing at about 7 pm.

Antoine said if family members identify the woman and confirm she was playing with the band Legacy, he would be able to progress from that point with more information.

At about 9.30 am yesterday, Geoff Adams, a 64-year-old man of Tamana was passing along the Queens Park Savannah and upon nearing Queens Royal College, he came across a man who was shouting and gesticulating wildly.

He said there was something under the tree, Adams recalled. I thought it was a manicou or iguana the man saw, but when I checked, I saw it was a woman wearing a yellow bikini, Adams said. The woman was found lying in an awkward position, slumped over exposed roots of the massive tree with one hand behind her back. She bore minor lacerations on one of her elbows and on her face and her hair was tousled.

Adams immediately alerted the St Clair Police and officers arrived and cordoned off the area. Crime Scene Investigators processed the scene and the body was removed to the Forensic Science Centre in St James. The Police Service release indicated the body was found at the Queens Park Savannah by cleaners employed with the Port-of-Spain City Corporation at 9.30 am.

Checks by Newsday with a number of city hotels especially those in the vicinity of the Queens Park Savannah, revealed no reports of any missing guest. An autopsy will be done after formal identification is made and police are calling on anyone who knows the woman or knows of any female missing to contact the nearest police station to help in identifying her or contact the Homicide Bureau of Investigations (Region One) at 624-5230 or 625-8234.

Investigations are continuing.
Prayers on Ash Wednesday

Monsignor Pereira likened the idea of changing ones perspective to the action of a videographer with his tripod, adjusting his lens for a better view of whatever he is videotaping. In fact, to his large audience comprised of both primary school students  St Gabriel Girls RC and San Fernando Boys RC  and parishioners, Pereira explained that the tripod for Christians in this Lenten season should be prayer, fasting and alms-giving.

In doing so, he said, parishioners will draw closer to God and exhibit his ways more. See the things which God wants us to see. Our tripod is called prayer, fasting and alms giving.

On those three points, we as big people, and as young people, must seek to change, and adjust the way we look at life, so that we can really begin to see how God wants us to see. If you notice those men operating the cameras, sometimes they turn something, and they try to get their lens correct. Well, we Christians who are beginning lent on the tripod of prayer, fasting and alms giving, have to keep looking and changing, and adjusting the way we look at things, so that we can see exactly what God wants us to see. The other leg is the leg of alms giving. I know throughout the years, people do very many kind things to help others, in our schools, in our offices, sometimes staff members will take up a little collection to help somebody in distress, or somebody in need. We have our St. Vincent de Paul; we have our breadline; coming to the end of the year we have our Good Samaritan fund. There are many little ways in which we give assistance to others. But more so at this time, we are called upon to look at ways in which we can be more concerned about other people., he urged.

On the topic of fasting, Pereira noted that the church expects people between 14 years and 60 years to be more concerned about fasting.

But it is also possible for people who are under 14 and people who are over 60, to also, do some kind of depriving ourselves, some kind of doing without, some kind of giving up something...basically, the big sacrifice that we are called to make, the big fasting that we are called to do, is to try to fast from those things which harm other people. We have to fast from our negative things. Pereira warned parishioners they must understand that they are ambassadors for Jesus Christ, and must exhibit the goodness and righteousness of God.

Following the sermon parishioners received ashes on their foreheads as a sign of repentance.
Ash Wednesday cooldown at Maracas

The sound of the lifeguards shrill whistles could be heard as they instructed people to swim between the red flags placed along the shore of the bay. One lifeguard Allister Livingston said the waters were moderate to rough and the 14 lifeguards on duty were kept busy ensuring the safety of the people.

While the water was moderate to rough, we have had some strong currents, so we have to keep everyone within the safe zones, sometimes they are just not paying attention, he said.

He added that over the Carnival weekend, there were between two to four rescues. Those who stayed away from the water, spent their time enjoying the cool sea breeze and relaxing with friends and family.

One group of nine women from Brooklyn and Connecticut in the United States told Newsday that this years Carnival was their first and they could not wait to return next year. We played with Ronnie and Caro and it was an amazing experience... they really took good care of us, Latoya J. Baptiste said. The costumes were exquisite, Christina Soutar said.

The women said they also went to several fetes, including Sunny Side Up and Beachouse Cooler fete; They played Jouvert which they said was a lot of messy fun.

Also speaking to Newsday were three cousins who are originally from Trinidad but live in Maryland and North Carolina in the United States. They said going to the beach is always a plus before and after Carnival. They said they played with The Lost Tribe and that it was a good experience for them.

It was real mas and there werent that many people in the Savannah, but when we hit the streets and saw how excited everyone was to see us in our costumes, it was really good, Ann Marie Nicholls said. Dozens of police officers were on duty together with members of the army who kept a close eye on the days activities, with some police officers directing traffic
School attendance poor

A media release from the Ministry of Education described student attendance as low in all educational districts with the hardest hit district being the St Patrick district at the secondary school level while North Eastern Educational District recorded the lowest level in primary school attendance.

Students attendance at the secondary level was low in all educational districts, ranging from 13.3 percent in St Patrick to 33.6 percent in Port-of-Spain and environs with a national average of 22.8 percent, the Ministry stated.

At the primary level, attendance was also low in all districts, ranging from 17.8 percent in North Eastern Educational District to 39.7 percent in Victoria with a national average of 31.0 percent, the Ministry continued.

Regarding teacher attendance, the Ministry noted that attendance at secondary school level ranged from 74.9 percent in South Eastern Educational District to 80.7 percent in St George East Educational District with an average attendance of 78.5 percent nationally. At the primary level, teacher attendance varied from 62.5 percent in St Patrick Educational District to 86.5 percent in South Eastern Educational District with a national average attendance of 78.7 percent, the Ministry stated. Parents and guardians are expected to send out their children to school on Thursday and Friday in order to take advantage of the educational opportunities provided for them, the Ministry stated.

However, in a telephone interview yesterday, TTUTA second vice president Lynsley Doodhai, described the low student attendance as a, major cause of concern as this would impact the completion of the curriculum to students. As a union, this is cause of serious concern and parents are shirking their responsibility to ensure their children are in school, Doodhai said.

He also noted that in additional to a low student attendance on Ash Wednesday, there was also a significant low student turn out on the week preceding Carnival and which was magnified on Carnival Friday. Apart from Ash Wednesday, the day with the lowest turnout was Carnival Friday but for that whole week, there is a low student turnout and this is something that must be addressed, he said.

Meanwhile, student and teacher turnout at Naparima Girls High School, San Fernando was described as normal for the time of year with the school recording a student attendance of 571 out of 812 students while 50 teachers had reported to work.

The school has a teacher enrolment of 56 teachers
Farrell retires tomorrow

Farrell was appointed as Registrar after the retirement of Albert Atkins in September, 2006. Before both men, the post was held by Angela Brathwaite.

(Prior to 2001, when legislative reform of the Commission occurred, the body did not have a Registrar, but rather a Secretary, normally taken on secondment from a government ministry, or the Office of the Prime Minister.) While Farrell is due to retire on Friday it is not clear whether a replacement has been selected.

Farrell has been an element of certainty at the Constitutional body which has faced much turmoil over the years. He was Registrar when the Commission resigned in 2009 in the wake of a damning High Court ruling in relation to a probe of Diego Martin West MP Dr Keith Rowley (now Prime Minister). Farrell was not the Registrar when the Commission, on August 7, 2006, referred a report to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in relation to Rowley without giving Rowley a chance to respond. (He was then an administrative officer.) Farrell was also Registrar through the years which saw a series of resignations including of chairmen Fr Henry Charles and Dr Eric St Cyr; and under the tenure of Ken Gordon which saw that chairman criticised for a meeting with Rowley at Gordons private residence when Rowley held the post of Opposition Leader.

Farrell was also Registrar when the current chairman, Justice Zainool Hosein, took office and when a series of Commission members resigned over the Commissions handling of the email allegations raised by Rowley in the Tenth Parliament, as Opposition Leader.

Asked by Newsday on Tuesday how he felt with his tenure coming to an end at the Commission, Farrell declined comment, but simply smiled.

In the Integrity Commissions Annual Report for 2015, Hosein paid tribute to Farrell. I would...like to thank my fellow members of the Integrity Commission, senior management and staff, led superbly by Registrar, Martin Farrell, for their outstanding contribution to the growth of the Integrity Commission, Hosein said.

The Registrar of the Commission fulfils an important role under the statute governing the body. The post-holder attends each meeting of the Commission, records the proceedings and keeps minutes. The officer, drawn from the public service, is also delegated such tasks as the Commission may require in relation to its work.

The Registrar is also the accounting officer of the Commission and, as such, arguably has some accountability to the Ministry of Finance, and to the Parliaments Public Accounts Committee.

It is unclear how soon a new Registrar will be appointed, though there is precedent for an acting Registrar. Under Section 9 of the Integrity in Public Life Act staff of the Commission are public officers and the Commission, shall appoint or employ, on such terms and conditions as it thinks fit, any such other officers and employees as it thinks necessary for the proper carrying out of its functions under this Act. However, The appropriate Service Commission may approve the transfer of any public officer to any office within the Commission and any public officer so transferred shall, in relation to gratuity, pension or other allowances, be treated as continuing in the service of the Government.
COP mourns Pal Joey

His contribution to the treasury of our musical heritage has been remarkable not only for its versatility, but also, for the many years over which Joey made our people dance in community centres to concert halls. His music was not seasonal, but for all seasons.

Joeys big-band sound was in the Carnival, at Christmas and every major festival on our cultural calendar. Weatherhead said recordings of Lewis music can today be found on everything from wax records to CDs.

Joey Lewis music was the music that made our people dance from the days of the brass band in Carnival and in the dance hall to today. In many communities, particularly in South Trinidad posters advertising Pal Joey Dances can still be seen, observed Weatherhead.

Like many of our cultural icons, we are again called to mourn the passing of a giant contributor to our culture in the midst of our Carnival revelry. As Sparrow put it, Pal Joey We will always remember. Pal Joey We come out with real fire this year.

Thanks for the music and the memories. .
BESS pays tribute to Joey Lewis, Jit

BESS, which placed fifth in the Senior Band of the Year (Small) category with A Touch of Nature, played Lewiss music as the band traversed the parade route on both days. Lewis was awarded the Hummingbird Medal (Gold) in 2002 for his service to the field of music. BESS also paid tribute to the late pan maestro Jit Samaroo, playing Samaroos favorite tune, Bees Melody by Lord Kitchener as it passed Renegades pan base on Charlotte Street, Port-of-Spain, on Tuesday night. Among those in the band were former Minister of National Security John Sandy, and former ACP Wellington Virgil
About a month ago, Shaun and I got a chance to be the hosts for some VIP guests, our friends Dustin and Lexia. It was great to be able to be the host and s...

10 years ago
 Dorney Park

 Dorney Park

 Dorney Park

 Dorney Park

 Dorney Park

 Dorney Park

 Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters

Just recently Dorney Park announced some major changes to Thunderhawk, their wooden roller coaster that dates back to 1924, for the 2016 season. One of the largest changes to the coaster, aside from a sparkling white coat of paint, are a pair of brand new trains fabricated by Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters (PTC).Dorney Park sent some great photos, included in this post, of those new trains being fabricated at PTC. Above are some of the front panels, complete with hold bars already installed.PTC is building 8 three-seat articulating cars for Thunderhawk, with each of the two trains using four cars (a total of 24 riders per train). The new trains are featuring a classic-inspired paint scheme, alternating in color pattern to differentiate the two trains. One will predominantly feature a deep red color and be accented by a golden yellow, the other train will swap the two. This photo shows off both of those schemes at play in the finished side panels for the cars.Here is a closer view of the completed side panels, giving a really nice look at the new train colors. These will really pop against the newly painted white structure of the coaster.In this photo at left is Jim Schneck, Dorney Park's Graphic Services Manager and PTC's President Tom Rebbie inspecting the progress of one of the train's front car panels. The park chose to go with a somewhat open design for the front of the trains, which is a throwback to classic wood coaster trains of the past. The front will also feature the Thunderhawk logo, as shown in the park's concept art for the trains.Moving on from the front and side panels of the trains, the true "guts" of the cars are also quite far along. Here is a photo of the base components of the trains laid out in PTC's shop, already painted in a jet black colors. I'm not a expert on the mechanics of wood coaster trains, but you can see that some of the wheel assemblies have been applied to the bases.Here is one more final close up look at one of the train bases. It's so wonderful to see Dorney Park put such effort into keeping one of their legacy rides in great shape. I can't wait to try these out when the park opens this Spring.The park also sent to us this original contract document that PTC shared with them, from when Thunderhawk (then known just as The Coaster) was going to be built. You'll have to click for the larger image to read it, but this is a wonderful find for those who appreciate roller coaster history!The contract is between PTC and Richard Rusk and R. L. Plarr of Dorney Park for "all the cars, machinery, plans, specifications, etc." needed for the instillation of the coaster. The total for the ride's train, machinery and chain and the ride's plans came to a cool $9,673. In addition, the contract covers the services of ride designer Herbert Schmeck at $17 a day plus expenses. Such a neat document to be able to read!Many thanks to Dorney Park and Mike Fehnel for these items, and you can keep up to date on the new trains' progress via the official PTC website
What you need to know about the Octagon Art Festival on Sunday in Ames

news
DRAFTING GIRLS AND TURNING AMERICANS INTO TERRORISTS



By Chuck Baldwin

February 11, 2016

NewsWithViews.com

Breitbart.com recently reported, "President Barack Obamas administration is now deliberating whether to direct women to sign up for the Selective Service, because of its progressive preference for gender-blind policies. The administration has already forced the military to assign willing and unwilling women to combat tasks, where they are required to carry heavy loads, to quickly recover from routine injuries and to be engaged in direct combat."

But Barack Obama is not the only one supporting the idea of drafting America's young women into the armed forces (should the draft be reinstated). Republican presidential candidates Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, and Marco Rubio have also signed on.

The Republican establishment hopefuls in the 2016 race want the government to make women sign up for the modern version of the emergency military draft.

Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), Jeb Bush, and Gov. Chris Christie all offered support during Saturday nights ABC News 2016 debate for a federal mandate that would force young women to register for the Selective Service System.

The Selective Service System was formed in 1917 and keeps a database on male U.S. citizens who are available for military conscription in some future emergency. Women are currently exempted, thanks to a 1981 Supreme Court decision that declared Congress men-only rule did not thwart the Fifth Amendment requirement of equal treatment.

See the report here.

But the 1981 Supreme Court decision notwithstanding, the U.S. government is seriously considering making Americas young women eligible for the draft. A PBS report states, The government is deliberating whether to propose Selective Service changes that would make women eligible for the military draft, the White house said Friday, a day after the Pentagon said it would no longer bar women from combat jobs.

The Defense Department has prepared an analysis of how the Pentagon change could affect the U.S. Military Selective Service Act, said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

Were going to work with Congress to look at that analysis, to review it, to get others opinions and determine if additional reforms or changes are necessary in light of this decision, Earnest said.

The report concludes, The Selective Service Act requires eligible men to register for the draft when they turn 18 or face fines. Registrants can be called up for compulsory service until they are 26 years old, though none have been drafted in decades.

Carter has previously said he supports a review of the draft based on the growing role women play in the military.

See the report here.

The idea of placing women in combat and now possibly drafting women into the armed services is the mark of a nation that has truly lost its way.

My daughter is above draft age, but my granddaughters arent; and I can promise you that it will be a cold day in Hades before my daughter and son-in-law allow their girls to be drafted. If our government really wants to create a resistance movement in this country, just start telling mommas and daddies that their daughters are going to be drafted into war. For starters, begin by asking our combat veterans if they are willing to offer their daughters to the horrors of war.

You can rest assured that the daughters of Barack Obama, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, and Marco Rubio will never know one day of combat--law or no law.

Yes, I realize that countless American wives and mothers valiantly defended their homes and families when under attack--whether from the French or British in Colonial America or from Indians on the trail west--but are we now prepared to force our young women into combat on foreign shores? What a horrible thought!

Our government is counting on Americas technological superiority on the sea and in the air as the impenetrable wall of protection for our country. Therefore, they feel free to use our military for social radicalization. But one day we are going to face a REAL enemy (as opposed to the phony ones we have been fighting for the past umpteen years), and when we do, we are going to learn once again that REAL wars are won face to face and man to man. And when that day comes, God help us if our armed forces have already filled half or more (there are more girls than boys, you know) of its combat ranks with young girls.

I shudder just thinking about it.

And on another note: I am on record as warning the American people that a war on Islam could quickly become a catalyst for big-government toadies to use the same definitions and protocols against the American people.

Watch my three-message DVD on The Muslim Problem here.

It didnt take long to be proven right.

Countless television and radio talk shows, Internet blog sites, and churches all across America have spent the last two or three years regurgitating a hate-filled, anti-Muslim message. Both Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have repeatedly injected the anti-Muslim message into their presidential campaigns. Tens of thousands of pastors and thousands of conservative talking heads have made anti-Muslim vilification a daily staple. And of course, the solution to the Muslim problem isyou guessed it: MORE GOVERNMENT.

Since early 2014, U.S. laws have become very broad and very strict in prosecuting anyone who is connected or associated with alleged Islamic terrorists. People who are convicted of providing material support (federal prosecutors are able to define that phrase in just about any way they want to) face median sentences of over fifty years in prison.

John Carlin, the Justice Department's chief of national security, recently said in a Reuters news interview that his counter-terrorism team, including a recently hired counsel, is taking a thoughtful look at the nature and scope of the domestic terrorism threat and helping to analyze potential legal improvements and enhancements to better combat those threats.

The Reuters interview continues saying, The counsel, who was appointed last October and has not been named publicly, will identify cases being prosecuted at the state level that could arguably meet the federal definition of domestic terrorism, a Justice Department official said.

That would give the department a direct role in more domestic extremism cases.

The report began by stating, The U.S. Justice Department is considering legal changes to combat what it sees as a rising threat from domestic anti-government extremists, senior officials told Reuters, even as it steps up efforts to stop Islamic State-inspired attacks at home.

Extremist groups motivated by a range of U.S.-born philosophies present a clear and present danger, John Carlin, the Justice Department's chief of national security, told Reuters in an interview. Based on recent reports and the cases we are seeing, it seems like were in a heightened environment.

See the report here.

In other words, the U.S. Justice Department wants to start treating American citizens who are deemed to be domestic terrorists in the same way that Islamic terrorists are being treated.

Not coincidentally, the featured article in the current issue of Newsweek magazine is entitled Right Wing Extremists Are A Bigger Threat Than ISIS. Of course, in the jaded world of the publishers of Newsweek, the SPLC, and scores of liberal think tanks and news outlets, there is no such thing as Left Wing Extremists.

And prominently displayed in the Newsweek article is a large photograph of LeVoy Finicum, the man who was recently shot by an Oregon state police officer (or officers) for allegedly reaching for a handgun after having resisted arrest on a remote Oregon highway. Finicum--along with Ammon Bundy and about twenty others--had illegally mounted an armed occupation of a group of empty buildings on a national wildlife refuge outside the small town of Burns in protest over continued mistreatment of western farmers and ranchers by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

Unfortunately, the death of Mr. Finicum has served to fuel more anti-government passions with comparisons to Waco and Ruby Ridge abounding--which, in my opinion, such comparisons do not exist. All this does is to play right into the hands of a U.S. Justice Department already looking for an excuse to pull American citizens--especially right wing Christians (albeit Bundy and Finicum both claimed Mormonism)--into the same category as Islamic terrorists.

To say that we Americans are living in jeopardous days is an extreme understatement. Very understandably, the American people are increasingly distrustful of their government, their news media, and even their future. We desperately need cool heads and wise hearts to peacefully and successfully navigate these troubled waters. And what we need most is leadership from Americas pulpits. But its the lack of pastoral leadership that has mostly created this mess to begin with. The good news is Americas pastors could help lead our country out of this morass. If only they would.
Days of intense bombing that could soon put the critical city of Aleppo back into the hands of Syrian President Assads forces. The USA says there could be no military solution to Syria. The Russians may be proving the United States wrong. There may be a military solution, one senior American official conceded Wednesday, just not our solution, but that of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

The Russian military action has changed the shape of a conflict that had effectively been stalemated for years. Suddenly, Mr. Assad and his allies have momentum, and the United States-backed rebels are on the run. If a cease-fire is negotiated here, it will probably come at a moment when Mr. Assad holds more territory, and more sway, than since the outbreak of the uprisings in 2011.

Mr. Kerry enters the negotiations with very little leverage: The Russians have cut off many of the pathways the C.I.A. has been using for a not-very-secret effort to arm rebel groups, according to several current and former officials. Mr. Kerrys supporters inside the administration say he has been increasingly frustrated by the low level of American military activity, which he views as essential to bolstering his negotiation effort.

At the core of the American strategic dilemma is that the Russian military adventure, which Mr. Obama dismissed last year as ill-thought-out muscle flexing, has been surprising effective in helping Mr. Assad reclaim the central cities he needs to hold power, at least in a rump-state version of Syria.

Battle maps from the Institute for the Study of War show, in fact, that it is: The Russians, with Iranian help on the ground, appear to be handing Mr. Assad enough key cities that his government can hang on.

SOURCES  NY Times, Institute for the Study of War
According to the Thai Ministry of Energys Integrated Blueprint, up to 5 per cent of the countrys energy requirements will be met by nuclear power by 2036. Nuclear power has advantages over fossil fuels in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, yet the Fukushima disaster reminded the world of the dangers associated with fission plants  radiation during their operation and radioactive waste to subsequently dispose of. There is, however, an alternative: nuclear fusion. Given global climate change, the increased health costs and proven loss of life from air pollution emitted by the Mae Moh and Map Ta Phut coal plants in Lamphang and Rayong, and ongoing protests against the proposed coal-fired plants in Krabi and Songkhla, the other nuclear option bears revisiting.

ITER is due to be completed in 2019 but will never produce commercial energy. It is a research facility designed to produce 500MW of fusion power from 50MW of energy input for up to 1,000 seconds. In 2033 it is due to be replaced by a new-generation reactor that could produce 2,000MW of fusion energy. However, this will still only be a prototype and will require yet another generation of reactors before fusion becomes commercially viable, around 2050.

Faster nuclear fusion development pathways may be realized sooner. While ITER and its descendants will be tokamak reactors  giant doughnuts using magnetic confinement, encased in liquid lithium and water layers to produce steam as with conventional reactors  there are alternatives. The main one employs inertial electrostatic confinement, or polywell reactors, which look like cubes.

Polywell reactors have been championed by EMC2 Inc, funded by the US Navy for over 20 years. This and similar projects, such as Lockheed Martins proposed reactor, use a variety of rapidly evolving technologies. Alternatives to polywells, such as magnetised target systems, also exist.

About a dozen companies are currently exploring low-end versions of fusion, with EMC2 and others expecting proof of the concept in 2018-2020

Thailand has actually safely operated a nuclear fission reactor for decades. The TRIGA (Training, Research, Isotopes, General Atomics) Thai Research Reactor 1/Modification 1 (TRR1/M1) at the Institute of Nuclear Technology in Bangkok was installed in 1962. is presently building a second, latest-generation TRIGA at the Ongkharak Nuclear Research Centre. The TRIGA reactor, which uses a very low-risk fuel and emits little radiation, enables Thailand to be self-sufficient in basic nuclear materials like isotopes for scientific institutions, universities and private commercial research.

A Thai polywell reactor programme would complement the TRR1/M1 and achieve the same effects as it did when the TRIGA was first launched. It would herald a new age of Atoms for Peace, invigorate the Thai scientific community, and advance the country. Even if the dozen companies currently chasing low-cost nuclear fusion reactors are all overly optimistic, and commercial fusion energy cannot be achieved within the next decade, Thailand, by developing fusion reactor technology, will be in a position to capitalise on a tokamak reactor when the design becomes commercially viable.
If someone were to be asked about self-driving cars 20 years ago, they probably wouldnt be able to say much. Now, these cars are the prime example of what kind of cars are seen today. While self-driving cars are convenient, they arent the safest to use. Big car companies, such as Tesla and
PRINT | EMAIL | PERMALINK Reel World Short night Santa Fes Jean Cocteau Theatre will host a special screening of New Mexico-made film shorts on Thursday, Feb. 11. Danger: A Short Night will start at 8pm. Anchoring the lineup is Danger, a short film written and directed by Andres Segura and starring local actors Sarah Minnich, Brytnee Ratledge and Matt Peterson. The film follows a down-and-out artist who tries to rid himself of his ex-girlfriends pet fish in the wake of a particularly nasty break up. Also screening that night will be John M. Broadheads Those That Play Your Clowns, Joshua Sallachs Larsons Field, Scott Hovliks Thicker Than Water and Mauricio Valdez Sense. Following the screening there will be an after party hosted by Cowgirl featuring free appetizers and happy hour drink specials. Tickets are $5 and are available for sale, in advance, at jeancocteaucinema. com. The Jean Cocteau is located at 418 Montezuma.

Distribution solution DocuMentors will be conducting How to Sell Your Film: A Comprehensive Film Distribution Workshop on Saturday, Feb. 13, at the Hotel Santa Fes Kiva Room C (1501 Paseo de Peralta). Heading the workshop are Anna Darrah (an experienced film buyer who has negotiated with and licensed over 800 films in her 12 years working with Gaiam and Spiritual Cinema Circle) and Jilann Spitzmiller (cofounder of DocuMentors and an award-winning filmmaker whose work has been broadcast around the globe on BBC, NBC, Sundance Channel, PBS and Discovery Networks). From 9am to 5pm, participants will get a crash course on how to identify your audience, what platforms of distribution you should be aiming for, how to land digital platforms, selling and pitching at markets and forums, negotiating contracts, broadcast sales, corporate grants, DIY educational distribution and plenty more. This one-day workshop will set you back $235. Space is limited, so register as soon as possible. For more info go to howtomake- a- documentary. com/ distribution- workshop or call (213) 595-0533. View in Alibi calendar
An Israeli labor court Wednesday found Sara Netanyahu, spouse of Israeli Prime Minister, guilty of employee abuse.

Jerusalem labor court convicted the Israeli first lady for abusing a member of her housekeeping staff. The court also found the Netanyahus environment unwelcoming for housekeeping staff due to the behavior of Mrs Netanyahu and her attitude towards staff.

According to the court, Mrs Netanyahu engaged in irrational demands, insults, humiliation and outbursts of rage.

Caretaker Meni Naftali sued Sara Netanyahu for the abuses. At a press conference Naftali claimed in one instance that she called him at 3am to complain that he had bought milk in a plastic storage bag instead of a cardboard pack.

He also indicated that in another case, she threw a vase of day-old flowers on the floor, scolding him that they were not fresh enough. Also according to the former member of the staff, Sara Netanyahu occasionally sounded racist.

Naftali received $42,000 in compensation and in court fee from the court.

The Netanyahu couple made no comments yet but Prime Ministers office had previously rejected Naftalis accusation calling them outrageous.

Sara Netanyahu made news on many occasions and is known for her lavish lifestyle. She first caught the limelight in the late 1990 when her husband ascended to Premiership. She was criticized for abusing and firing a nanny as well as meddling in state affairs.

Reports also say that another member of staff accused her of using abusive language and forcing her to shower several times a day to ensure a sterile environment.

The Netanyahus are also accused of using state funds to outfit their residence.

In another development, former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert last week admitted to obstructing justice in a series of graft-linked trials. He faces 18-month-jail sentence beginning from February 15 after he was convicted of bribery. He reportedly received a separate jail sentence for corruption and fraud.
Tunisia has reaped over 450 million from the sales of part of ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Alis assets, announced Wednesday Tunisian Finance Minister Slim Chaker.

Following Ben Alis ouster in 2011, the new authorities had seized his assets, as well as those of his spouse, other relatives, close aides and some senior politicians and government officials.

The huge fortune amassed by Ben Ali and his clan was estimated before his fall at more than 10 billion (business, real estate, luxury cars and jewelry etc.)

The Finance Minister said the returns of the sales were used to pay debts and cover some budget expenses. He said there are still some technical and administrative difficulties hampering the seizure and sale of some other assets.

Chaker said the money raised so far from the sales minimized state borrowing as the amount was injected in the national budget.

Tunisia, which has a stand-by loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund, is still facing financial difficulties and the series of terrorist attacks it suffered last year have crippled its vibrant tourism sector.

Chaker voiced hope that the paperwork, expert assessments and calls for tenders that are slowing the sale process of the confiscated assets would be surpassed.

During his 23-year long reign, Ben Ali and co were leading a luxury lifestyle in a country plagued by nepotism and corruption. At the start of the Arab Spring that was ignited from his country Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia.
Europe and the United States continue to consider a military intervention in Libya to neutralize the threat posed by the Islamic State (IS) group but the lack of a unity government is delaying their plans.

Nevertheless, Washington has not ruled out intervening if the need arises and its envoy to the coalition against ISIS Brett McGurk told the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs committee that the Libyan branch of the extremist group is the greatest cause for concern.

Libya has two rival governments and there could likely be a third since the unity government to be formed by the presidential council under the Libya Political Agreement is not unanimously accepted.

McGurk argued that IS poses a threat to US partners neighboring Libya; Tunisia and Egypt. He said the allies of the coalition are making progress in the Middle East but warned that it will not always be linear, and we should expect setbacks and surprises.

Defense ministers of NATO members will be meeting to discuss actions against IS later this month, making it the first time since the US-led campaign began in September 2014.

Tunis declared this week that it is not planning military intervention in Libya after constructing a wall and trenches along its border while Libya, while Cairo said a military role should be spearheaded by a Libyan government. The presidential council was to announce a new cabinet at the beginning of the week but requested an additional week delay.

Some European countries hope that the approval of a new cabinet under the UN led dialogue by the Tobruk-based parliament will be followed by a formal request to intervene in the country.
Algerian newspaper El Khabar hailed on Thursday the spectacular growth and development achieved by rival neighboring Morocco, a country which has neither oil nor gas.

Morocco has undoubtedly laid the foundations for an economic takeoff similar to that of Turkey, 20 years ago, said the daily recalling the partnership agreements negotiated by Morocco with the European Union (EU.)

These agreements have enabled Morocco to accomplish a series of strides leading to current spectacular boom unleashed in Morocco, added the Algerian paper.

Morocco has built a highway with international standards and at a half cost of the motorway we have built with Algerian standards, deplored the columnist, noting that the motorists fees and returns generated contribute to the repayment of international loans.

The North African Kingdom has also a high-speed train though the country has not an extensive railway network as neighboring Algeria, wherein decision-makers are driving the country with a snail-speed.

While the Algerian government has shelved its ambitious renewable energy project, Morocco has built a gigantic solar plant, said the newspaper, making reference to the Noor solar project.

In the car industry, Morocco is currently producing tens of thousands of vehicles and exporting the surplus, creating thousands of job opportunities, added the columnist.

Regarding the political situation in Morocco, the Algerian daily commended the political openness, saying that Moroccan opposition can travel freely to neighboring Algeria to discuss the land borders closure between the two countries without being accused of treason as is the case for the Algerian opposition whenever it undertakes political action on the national or international scene.

The Algerian newspaper also cited the position expressed by late King Hassan II in 1992 when he spoke in favor of letting the Islamists, who won the elections, test political powers, a stand which irked some Algerians.

Today, Morocco has empowered the Islamists and let them govern the country, an experience which is yielding a political and economic miracle concluded the Algerian paper.
The familiar emergency alert system, the one where we in the U.S. occasionally hear a radio or television broadcast interruption that...
Last update 10:40 a.m. Friday, March 27

U/D Manhattan: *4 Alarm Fire* 125 2 Ave 2 Buildings on fire. Multiple Civilians missing. #FDNY #BREAKING pic.twitter.com/F9is9yj6ap  NYC Scanner (@NYScanner) March 26, 2015

A ground-floor explosion just triggered a major building collapse on Second Avenue near East 7th Street in the East Village. Although initial reports indicate that the building in question is 125 Second Avenue, it looks like it's actually 121 Second Avenue. Police and firefighters are on the scene, and there are reports of injuries and multiple civilians missing. The building caught on fire after the explosion, and the fire spread to the neighboring building, 123 Second Avenue (the home of Pommes Frites), which now appears to have completely collapsed. The flames have been mostly subdued (edit: that is apparently not the case) as of the writing of this post (4:09). We'll update with more information as it becomes available.

U/D Manhattan: 125 2 Ave 30 People injuired multiple still trapped. 5th alarm transmitted. #FDNY #BREAKING pic.twitter.com/HVcsNZfxYI  NYC Scanner (@NYScanner) March 26, 2015

UPDATE (4:18): Eater reports that the business on the ground floor of 121 Second Avenue was Sushi Park, and that reports indicate at least 30 people were injured.

'Hard to capture the volume of emergency responders' #EastVillage Photo by peter radley pic.twitter.com/53ZDAAh2Pa  evgrieve (@evgrieve) March 26, 2015

Just had another explosion from building pic.twitter.com/CmSDpsF5Rs  UFA (@UFANYC) March 26, 2015

UPDATE (4:36 p.m.): It appears in a photo posted to the Uniformed Firefighters Association Twitter account that the fire has spread to the building directly to the south, 191 Second Avenue. The caption is, "Just had another explosion from building."

UPDTATE (4:52 p.m.): It is now being reported that at least 30 people are missing, not injured. According to a CBS reporter, the FDNY said there are 12 injuries, all civilians. Three are reportedly critical.

UPDATE (5:21 p.m.): "Several law enforcement sources told CNN that there is no indication that this was related to terrorism -- all said it appeared to be a gas explosion."

UPDATE (5:30 p.m.): The Times writes, "Stephen Davis, a spokesman for the Police Department, said construction work was being done at the two buildings involved, 121 and 123 Second Avenue, near Seventh Street, and workers from Consolidated Edison had been working at the site all day."

UPDATE (5:58 p.m.): Mayor De Blasio held a press conference about the explosion and collapse:

The explosion here in the East Village affected four buildings. They are 119, 121, 123 and 125 2nd Avenue. The actual explosion occurred in 121, caused it to partially collapse, and 123 collapsed as well.



Preliminary evidence suggests a gas-related explosion. That investigation is ongoing. The initial impact appears to have been caused by plumping and gas work that was occurring inside 121 2nd Avenue. FDNY and all our first responders have responded. It is now a seven-alarm incident for FDNY, so they've been battling heavy fire conditions  so far, have contained the fire in those four buildings. That's an ongoing operation.

The mayor also said that they currently know, three of whom are in critical condition.

UPDATE (3/27/15 7:45 a.m.): The Times reports that at least 19 people are injured, including four critically and four firemen. At least one person, 23-year-old Nicholas Figueroa, has been reported missing. Figueroa had a lunch date at Sushi Park around the time of the explosion. Additionally, the Times reports that building at no. 119 is in danger of collapse.

This morning there is nothing left but rubble. pic.twitter.com/I6A70Cl0oX  Scott Westerfeld (@ScottWesterfeld) March 27, 2015

UPDATE (3/27/15 10:40 a.m.): Number 119, at the corner of Second Avenue and East 7th Street has also collapsed.

The Observer reports that two people are unaccounted for, while the injury count has climbed to 25 people20 civilians, four firefighters, and one emergency medical services worker. Four of those people are injured critically.

Meanwhile, a contractor, Dilber Kukic of the Bronx, was at the scene when the explosion occurred and miraculously survived, and the Manhattan District Attorney's Office and other city agencies are looking into whether he played a role, according to DNAinfo. Kukic had been at the building earlier to perform a plumbing inspection and entered the basement to investigate a gas odor. "I just happened to be in the area," he said. "We smell gas in the basement. We walk down. We opened the door and, explosion, [we] fell down. I don't know what happened." Kukic was also arrested last month after allegedly bribing an undercover city investigator posing as an HPD inspector with $600 to dismiss two building violations on properties he owns in Washington Heights.
The City Council has now heard two days of public testimony on Mayor Bill de Blasio's controversial new zoning proposals, Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) and Zoning for Quality and Affordability (ZQA). As expected, Council members had several questions for the Mayor's plan, which was defended at the hearing by Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen; the commissioner of the Department of Housing and Preservation, Vicki Been; and the chair of the City Planning Commission, Carl Weisbrod.

The most pertinent of them related to the loss of parking, how "affordable" the affordable units would be, and changing the architectural characteristics of neighborhoods, as has been detailed in the New York Times, City & State, and in some very specific detail in DNAinfo. The key questions:

 The Council had questions on the band of affordability proposed as part of MIH. At present the lowest range of affordability starts at 60 percent of AMI, but council members were concerned that could exclude large groups of people seeking affordable housing in the city. In response, the administration said developers could offer a range of affordable units in a specific building, allowing them to price anywhere between 40 and 80 percent of AMI, to use an example.

 There was concern, in regards to ZQA specifically, that it would eliminate parking, and Council members weren't entirely convinced by the de Blasio administration's selection of neighborhoods they deemed to have a good access to mass transit. The de Blasio administration wasn't too keen to come to a compromise on that.

 The Council questioned the size of the apartments that would be created under ZQA, some of which could be as small as 275 square feet.

 The Council also had problems with increasing the height of buildings for senior affordable housing, especially in neighborhoods where those buildings would be taller than the neighboring ones. To that, the administration said it was more important that seniors had access to affordable housing and that there was an ability to install elevators to allow for greater mobility.

The City Council now has until next month to vote on both the rezoning proposals.

 Here's What the City Council Wants to Change in de Blasio's Rezoning Plan [DNAinfo]

 CITING BENEFITS FOR SENIOR CITIZENS, DE BLASIO ADMINISTRATION CALLS FOR ZONING CHANGE [City & State]

 At Council Hearing on de Blasio's Housing Plan, Many Voices Rise [NYTimes]

 Change de Blasio's Rezoning Plan or We'll Kill It, Council Tells City Hall [DNAinfo]

 NYC's Controversial New Affordable Housing Proposals, Explained [Curbed]
#allthatremains - the morning after an #explosion and #fire destroyed two 100+ year-old #tenement buildings in #manhattan's #eastvillage neighborhood, all that remains is a pile of smoking rubble #breakingnews #photojournalism A photo posted by Photography by JB Nicholas (@thehouseofnick) on Mar 27, 2015 at 5:52am PDT

Four people are facing manslaughter charges in connection with the East Village explosion last March, according to a press release from the New York County District Attorney's Office. The explosion led to the death of two people, left several people injured, and caused three buildings on Second Avenue and East 7th Street to collapse,

Among those charged are the owners of the building where the explosion occurred, Maria Hrynenko, and her son, Michael Hrynenko. The New York Daily News was the first to report on the indictment. The two others charged with manslaughter are a general contractor, Dilber Kukic, and plumber, Athanasios Ioannidis, who are being accused of illegally installing a gas delivery system into the building on the order of the owners, which ultimately led to the explosion.

A fifth person, Andrew Trombettas, has been charged with providing false paperwork to the plumber, who did not have the requisite license to carry out the work that he did in the buildings.

"The seven-alarm fire that killed two people and engulfed three buildings in March 2015 was caused by a foreseeable, preventable, and completely avoidable gas explosion," Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., the Manhattan District Attorney, said in the release. "As alleged in the indictment, the defendants created a deadly inferno fueled by an illegal gas delivery system installed at 121 Second Avenue, leading to the loss of two young lives, and leaving more than a dozen others with serious, permanent injuries."

The indictment alleges that on the instruction of Maria Hrynenko, both Kukic and Ioannidis tried several ways to illegally provide gas to the residents at 121 Second Avenue. They also allegedly tried repeatedly to hide that work from Con Ed employees, despite having already had the gas cut off to 121 Second Avenue almost a year earlier for unsafe installation. In fact, the indictment alleges, on the day of the explosion, both Kukic and Ioannidis tried to manipulate the gas delivery system to avoid suspicion by the Con Ed inspectors who were arriving that day. That constant tweaking with the gas equipment on part of the plumber, the contractor, and one of the owners ultimately led to the explosion, the indictment alleges.

Around 3 p.m. that day, March 26, 2015, an employee at Sushi Park, the restaurant located on the ground floor at 121 Second Avenue, called Maria Hrynenko and informed her of a strong gas odor. Surveillance footage showed Kukic and Maria's son, Michael, entering the building, and then swiftly running out without informing anyone in the building, according to the indictment. The explosion killed one of the diners at the restaurant, Nicholas Figueroa, and an employee of Sushi Park, Moises Locon. Thirteen other people were seriously injured. The buildings at 119, 121, and 123 Second Avenue all collapsed in the aftermath, and 125 Second Avenue sustained serious damages as well.

"The individuals involved in the East Village gas explosion showed a blatant and callous disregard for human life," Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a press release. "We are heartened that today these defendants will be brought to justice and forced to answer for their criminal actions. New York City lost two of our own in this tragic explosion  and New York City's Bravest put their lives on the line to battle this seven-alarm fire. These indictments will hopefully bring Mr. Figueroa and Mr. Locon's families some closure following this tragic event."

Each of the four individuals charged with manslaughter are facing several other charges related to the explosion as well. A full rundown of the events that ultimately led to the explosion can be found at the Manhattan D.A.'s website.

 General contractor, home owners, plumber face manslaughter charges in connection to 2015's deadly East Village explosion [NY Daily News]

 Explosion Leads to Building Collapse on Second Avenue [Curbed]
It all started out so friendly. Photo: Justin Sullivan/2016 Getty Images

Still cant decide if you prefer your Democratic candidate hopelessly idealistic or boring and practical? On Thursday night, youll get a chance to see Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders face off yet again, just a week after their last debate. At this point you may feel like if youve seen one debate, youve seen them all, and we cant promise you that Clinton wont declare shes a progressive who gets things done as Sanders pivots back to his gripes with Wall Street whenever possible (in fact, were almost 100 percent positive that those things will happen). However, last weeks seemingly unnecessary MSNBC debate turned out to be one of the best of the 2016 race so far, and after Sanders beat Clinton by 22 points in New Hampshire, they have a lot to talk about. Heres a guide to get you up to speed, and be sure to tune in later for Daily Intelligencers liveblog and complete coverage of the debate.

When and where is the debate being held?

Thursday at 9 p.m. EST at the University of WisconsinMilwaukee.

Why is this debate being held?

This is one of the original Democratic debates, not one of the four debates added last week. Yes, its hard to believe that the DNC scheduled a debate for a weeknight, but the GOP had already called the Saturday of Valentines Day weekend.

How can I watch it?

The debate will air on local PBS stations and you can stream it on PBS.org here. CNN will also simulcast the debate and stream it on CNN.com.

Hasnt CNN had enough of its own debates?

Yes, its already sponsored three debates since September (not to mention several town halls), and its set to do three more in the next few weeks. The Washington Post reports that CNN approached PBS after previous debates drew high ratings. The cable-news network is paying NewsHour and producing station WETA of Arlington an undisclosed sum to license the debate. Theres only one intermission, so CNN has to run all of its ads during that break. CNN has no editorial input.

Rick Schneider, president of NewsHour Productions and WETAs chief operating officer, said the deal works for PBS because fees paid by CNN will allow the outlet to come close to break-even on production costs. He also thinks the simulcast will bring more viewers to PBS. I think the PBS audience will watch on their PBS station, and CNN will expose our debate to [CNNs] audience, he said. It will raise awareness of PBS NewsHour and our anchors  Im not worried that it will cannibalize our audience.

Who will be there?

This will be the second debate in which Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders go head-to-head. Despite finishing fourth in New Hampshire, sadly Vermin Supreme did not qualify.

Whos moderating?

PBS NewsHour co-anchors and managing editors Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff. PBS has partnered with Facebook, and you know what that means: Undecided voters were invited to submit questions via the social-media site, and during the debate, NewsHour will incorporate live Facebook data into the conversation.

Next up at 11 EST, @JudyWoodruff and I with the latest #NHPrimary result. Live on your @PBS station. pic.twitter.com/Yh63sfkW24  gwen ifill (@gwenifill) February 10, 2016

What will the stage look like?

Surprisingly, theyre going with a red, white, and blue motif.

Tune into @NewsHour tomorrow night at 9PM ET for the sixth democratic debate. Here's a preview of the stage: pic.twitter.com/eJMICKiNoa  Rachel Wellford (@rachelwellford) February 10, 2016

How are the candidates preparing?

Clinton is getting ready by completely rethinking her campaign strategy and message. Okay, thats actually about her loss in New Hampshire and near-tie in Iowa, but we may see a slightly different Hillary onstage tonight. The New York Times reports that Clinton turned to old friends and advisers from the White House years and previous campaigns to help her better frame her candidacy in light of Sanderss success. She also reportedly received additional media training to address complaints that she shouts. Shes competing against the shoutiest man in politics, but thats a problem for some reason (sexism).

Meanwhile, Sanders spent the one-day lull between political events raising lots of money. His campaign said that since the polls closed on Tuesday, its raised $5.2 million.

Will there be a lot of fighting?

Signs point to yes. The last Democratic debate was probably the most substantive of the 2016 race so far, with Clinton and Sanders delving into their competing visions for the party. Their matchups have also been increasingly heated, with Clinton telling Sanders last week enough is enough. If youve got something to say, say it directly.

Since then, the Democratic race has only gotten more contentious. Clinton has a small lead over Sanders in Wisconsin, and a much easier path to the nomination, but Sanderss recent successes have exposed Clintons weaknesses, particularly with young people and women. Last weekend, Bill Clinton tore into Sanders (without mentioning his name), and now the pair are beginning to fight for the support of minority voters, who are key to Clintons success.

Its possible Hillarys new strategy will entail killing Bernie with kindness, but with the Vermont senator stealing her momentum, it seems more likely that shell step up her attacks on Thursday night. Though, in a sign of how bizarre this race has become, we have to note that youll never hear the two Democrats hurling vulgar insults at each other.
First Christie, now Fiorina. Photo: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg Finance LP/Getty Images

Only a few hours after Chris Christie announced he was ending his presidential campaign, Republican candidate Carly Fiornia also called it quits. Ive said throughout this campaign that I will not sit down and be quiet, she said in a statement released on Facebook. Im not going to start now. While I suspend my candidacy today, I will continue to travel this country and fight for those Americans who refuse to settle for the way things are and a status quo that no longer works for them. (Sound familiar?)

Today, I am suspending my campaign. My full statement is here: https://t.co/8QElLZoc1W  Carly Fiorina (@CarlyFiorina) February 10, 2016

The former Hewlett-Packard CEO saw an early surge in popularity largely thanks to Donald Trump  when he insulted her during the second GOP debate, her comeback earned her both respect and name recognition. But shes been fading ever since: She failed to qualify for the ABC News debate earlier this month, and it was unlikely shed earn the numbers to participate in the upcoming debate this Saturday. A poor performance in the New Hampshire primary (she earned just 4.1 percent of the vote) finished her off.
Tamir Rice.

The city of Cleveland has taken a horrible, depressing situation and made it so much worse. In 2014, police fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice while he was playing with a pellet gun in the park, sparking outrage across the country. Now the city wants his grieving family to pay the bill.

Whatever your criticism of Cleveland might be, you cant say it doesnt have its accounts in order. The city government decided it should charge the Rice family for the costs incurred on his ambulance ride after their employee shot the boy to death.



Specifically, they are seeking $450 for the advanced life support their dying child received, and $50 for the mileage  you know, like a rental car.



Heres Subodh Chandra, a Rice family attorney saying what everybody is thinking: That the city would submit a bill and call itself a creditor after having had its own police officers slay 12-year-old Tamir displays a new pinnacle of callousness and insensitivity  This adds insult to homicide.



Chandra also said that the family considers the bill a form of harassment.

Related Stories Grand Jury Decides Not to Indict Ohio Officers in Tamir Rice Case

Even the head of the Cleveland Police Patrolmens Association, which is supporting the officers, was appalled. Subodh Chandra and I have never agreed on anything until now, Steve Loomis, president of the police union, told CNN. It is unconscionable that the City of Cleveland would send that bill to the Rice family. Truly disappointing but unfortunately not surprising.



Perhaps the city government is getting financially nervous because of the Rice familys pending lawsuit against it? If Cleveland is so cash-strapped maybe they can dip into all the funds they saved by not prosecuting Timothy Loehmann, the officer who killed Rice. Or they could always charge the family a bullet fee.
Bernie Sanders and Barack Obama during happier times, in 2009. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

When faced with attacks from Bernie Sanders  on her financial ties to Wall Street, her foreign-policy record, her positions on health care and financial regulation  Hillary Clinton has tied herself to President Obama. Campaign reporters have generally interpreted this reflex as a pure campaign tactic, using a president popular with the party base as a shield against Sanderss populist thrusts. And it is that, in part. But it also cuts to the heart of perhaps the most fundamental rift within the Democratic primary: Has the Obama presidency been a rousing success, or a disappointment?

Progressive dismay has stalked the Obama administration from the very beginning, when liberals bemoaned the $787 billion stimulus, signed into law a few weeks into Obamas presidency, as underwhelming. Essays like this one by Rick Perlstein, bemoaning the Obama presidency as a lost opportunity, appear regularly. The liberal pundit Bill Press has a new book, Buyers Remorse: How Obama Let Progressives Down, the thesis of which is self-explanatory. One blurb reads, Bill Press makes the case why, long after taking the oath of office, the next president of the United States must keep rallying the people who elected him or her on behalf of progressive causes. That is the only way real change will happen. Read this book. The author of the blurb is none other than Bernie Sanders.

To say the least, I do not share that assessment. As I wrote in 2011, every Democratic president from Roosevelts time onward has faced disenchantment from the base, which inevitably regards the president as an uninspiring compromiser. Liberal disappointment is a natural, even inevitable, feature of Democratic presidencies, and Sanderss disposition toward Obama reflects the sentiment many members of his party feel. He does not dislike the president  indeed, his personal regard for him outstrips his assessment of his prowess. Nor does he oppose Obamas program (Sanders reliably voted with Obama in Congress) or even consider him hapless. His indictment is that Obama has achieved very little.

That assessment is widely shared by Sanderss constituency. New Hampshire Democratic-primary voters who want the next president to continue Obamas policies supported Clinton by 25 percent; those who prefer the next president change to more liberal policies went for Sanders by a 63 percent margin. It is not actually true that Sanders has inspired an unusually enthusiastic turnout  Democrats this year cast fewer votes in both New Hampshire and Iowa than they did in 2008. (This fact, by the way, cast doubt on Sanderss claim that he can upend Washington by inspiring mass turnout at the polls.) This suggests that disillusionment with the status quo may matter more than any positive attachment to Sanders.

And the premise that Obama mainly tinkered around the margins is the foundation upon which Sanderss candidacy rests. When Sanders says it is too late for Establishment politics, he is grouping together Clinton, the Obama administration, and Republicans into the single category of the Establishment. Sanders does not deny the existence of conflict within the Establishment, but he dismisses its importance. And he has attracted and embraced caustic left-wing Obama critics, like Cornel West. Instead, the conflict he frames as central is the one pitting big, monied interests, which corrupt all Establishment politicians to varying degrees, against the people.

Sanderss fixation with reversing Citizens United, which gutted campaign-finance restrictions, provides an important window into the different perspective he has on Obama-era politics. Other Democrats have denounced the Supreme Court ruling, but Sanders presents it as nothing less than a turning point in American history, which has left in place a government that is just an oligarchy, with unlimited political bribery being the essence of getting the nominations for president or to elect the president. Sanders is implying that the six years since Citizens United have been a period of tightening oligarchy rather than, as Obama would see it, one of liberal reform.

The differing assessments of the Obama presidency likewise frame their differing approaches to electability. As Ed Kilgore notes, the small minority of Democrats who prioritize a candidate who can win in November favor Clinton overwhelmingly. Clinton has presented electability as vital for vouchsafing the Obama legacy. All the Republican candidates, Establishment and anti-Establishment alike, have committed to repealing Obamacare, Dodd-Frank, tax increases on the rich, and Obamas climate regulations. If you consider these reforms a towering liberal achievement, then protecting them is a worthy ambition for a president (who will otherwise face a Republican Congress opposed to anything liberal), and the risk of losing is too great to bear.

But if, on the other hand, you see Obamas achievement as tepid half-measures, then the risk of having them reversed is not terribly frightening  and the gamble must be taken if the only real thing at stake is revolutionizing the political system. The Democratic primary will be fought over the question of whether the Obama presidency proved that progressive reform within the system is possible, or whether it proved the opposite.
Cliven Bundy has been reunited with his sons, in jail. Photo: David Becker/Getty Images

After 41 days, the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon is finally being ceded back to the birds and trees. Of the final four holdout militiamen, three surrendered to the FBI this morning following a tense overnight standoff. David Fry resisted until just after 2 p.m. He didnt come quietly, either  in a series of exchanges conducted with FBI agents on his doorstep and broadcast live via YouTube, Fry told militia activists Gavin Seim and KrisAnne Hall he was feeling suicidal, that he was holding a gun to his head, that hed been deprived of his marijuana, that UFOs are real, and that President Obama is a traitor. Then, after a final cookie and one last cigarette, he walked out, joining his three compatriots in FBI custody.



Also, Cliven Bundy, whose son Ammon Bundy led the occupation, was arrested on Wednesday night at Portland International Airport en route to Burns. Back in 2014, the 74-year-old Nevada rancher had his own armed standoff with federal officials over the use of public lands. Hes been charged with conspiracy to interfere with a federal officer, the same charge his sons now face, over the earlier incident.

Militants first took control of the federal building on January 2, but on January 26, Ammon Bundy and four other group leaders were arrested and spokesperson Robert LaVoy Finicum was killed in a confrontation with the FBI. Other occupiers fled, and Sandy Anderson, her husband Sean Anderson, Jeff Banta, and David Fry were the only ones left.

The FBI said the incident began when one of the occupiers rode an ATV outside the barricades surrounding the property at about 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The driver sped off when the agents tried to approach, prompting them to close in on the area where the occupiers are camping. The occupiers initially insisted they should be allowed to leave with no repercussions. The only way were leaving here is dead or without charges, said Fry, who also told the FBI to get the hell out of Oregon.

.@thomasboyd photo from outside Malheur National Wildlife Refuge tonight. Lights are seen from the Narrows roadblock pic.twitter.com/9kiuIPDZi8  Maxine Bernstein (@maxoregonian) February 11, 2016

Fry seemed increasingly agitated in his conversation with an FBI negotiator. You guys killed LaVoy, he yelled at one point. You let Obama bring terrorists into this country. You continue to let Hillary run for president. On Sunday, the four occupiers posted videos taunting the Feds on YouTube.

It has never been the F.B.I.s desire to engage these armed occupiers in any way other than through dialogue, and to that end, the F.B.I. has negotiated with patience and restraint in an effort to resolve the situation peacefully, Greg Bretzing, special agent in charge of the F.B.I. in Oregon, said in a statement. However, we reached a point where it became necessary to take action in a way that best ensured the safety of those on the refuge, the law enforcement officers who are on scene, and the people of Harney County who live and work in this area.

On Thursday morning armored vehicles were on the scene and agents were heard demanding over a loudspeaker that the occupiers come out with your hands up. Sean Anderson said that after negotiations with the FBI, he and the three others agreed to hand themselves over at an FBI checkpoint at 8 a.m. Thursday. Were not surrendering, were turning ourselves in. Its going against everything we believe in, he said. As for Fry, he walked safely into FBI custody hours later after requesting officers say Hallelujah. No shots were fired in his arrest

This post has been updated throughout.
Mike Brown Sr. and his supporters attend a Ferguson city council meeting on February 9, 2014. Photo: Bryan Sutter/Corbis

Good morning and welcome to Fresh Intelligence, our roundup of the stories, ideas, and memes youll be talking about today. In this edition, Ferguson gets sued, everyone drops out of the 2016 race, and Kanye keeps tweeting nonsense. Heres the rundown for Thursday, February 11.

WEATHER

Freezing temperatures with lots of snow persist in the Great Lakes with no sign of letting up. Despite this being the warmest winter on record, temperatures are frigid clear across the country and New York is no exception: Tomorrow should be cold but dry. [Weather]



FRONT PAGE

Feds Go Through With Ferguson Threat

The Department of Justice filed a civil-rights suit against the city of Ferguson, Missouri, yesterday after the city rejected a planned agreement to make changes to its police force and criminal-justice system. The federal government was brought in to reform Ferguson following the police shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in 2014, which lead to widespread protests and rioting. Fighting the suit will cost the beleaguered municipality millions of dollars. [NYT]

EARLY AND OFTEN

Chris Pulls a Carly

All the rumors were true. The New Jersey governor, the man who would not be president, has dropped out of the race after coming in sixth in New Hampshire. Christie sure could use a hug about now  wheres Obama?



Carly Pulls a Chris

The countrys hopes for a woman president were dashed yesterday when Carly Fiorina officially ended her campaign. The one-time candidate must have been watching a lot of Kung Fu reruns; she said she plans to wander the country helping people in trouble. I will not sit down and be quiet, she said  then she stopped talking and took a seat.



Ta-Nehisi Coates and Michelle Alexander Endorse Not Clinton

The fight over the black vote is getting serious. As the congressional black caucus prepares to endorse Hillary Clinton, the attention is mostly on influential black writers Ta-Nehisi Coates and Michelle Alexander, who tentatively came out in favor of Sanders.



Bush Compares Trump to Popular Two-Term President

Jeb Bush is done playing nice. In South Carolina yesterday, the presidential heir-not-apparent compared Trump to Americas number one enemy, current President Barack Obama. Bush said under Trump, we would be worse off than we are now. Maybe hed only add 10 million new jobs. [Politico]



THE STREET, THE VALLEY

Toy Car Company Impresses Doubters

Despite the rapidly declining price of oil, it seems there are still plenty of people who are willing to make the switch to electric  very rich people mostly. Elon Musk, the mellowest mad scientist, just announced Teslas deliveries should go up by 78 percent worldwide this year. [Bloomberg]



Gold Worth Its Weight in Itself

Gold is totally killing it. Everyones favorite tooth filler is now worth more than $1,200 an ounce, making it one of the best performing commodities this year. The growth spurt followed news that Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen hinted that the U.S. central bank may delay further interest-rate hikes. Get those Krugerrands! [Bloomberg]



Twitters Wings Clipped

The best way to check in on Tyga has fallen on hard times. The last bit of bad news in whats been a rough year for the company: For the first time in its history, no new users joined the service this quarter. [Reuters]



Encryption Battle Heats Up

The battle between the government, tech companies, and privacy activists over encryption technology took a turn yesterday when two congressmen, Ted Lieu, a Democrat from California, and Blake Farenthold, a Republican from Texas, introduced a bill that would make it impossible for states to restrict the sale of encrypted devices. [CNet]



MEDIA BUBBLE

Kanye Chooses More Annoying Album Title

World-famous rapper, reality-television personality, and sweatpants collector Kanye West has changed the name of his upcoming album once again. What was first called Waves before the name was changed to BILL COSBY INNOCENT !!!!!!!!!!, is now called The Life of Pablo. Hes so mysterious and/or dumb.



We Only Have Great Things to Say About James Woods

James Woodss case against an anonymous Twitter troll can go forward. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge decided to let the actors case against a Twitter user who called him a cocaine addict proceed, despite some pretty hefty First Amendment concerns. [Hollywood Reporter]



YouTube Debuts Shows Starring Cat, Fetty Wap, or Something

YouTube has joined the ranks of everyone else in offering original programming. The video-sharing sites first original shows  offered only on its paid service  aired yesterday. Judging from these titles, House of Cards doesnt have a lot to be worried about: Scare PewDiePie, A Trip to Unicorn Island, and Lazer Team. Were so old. [AdWeek]



PHOTO OP

This Is What a Power Breakfast Looks Like

Bernie Sanders sat down with Al Sharpton at Sylvias in Harlem for breakfast yesterday  a meal with fresh importance as Bernie and Hillary continue to compete for black voters. Also, have you noticed that after that Beyonce song hot sauce is everywhere? That is some hip product placement, Bernie.

Photo: Andrew Renneisen/2016 Getty Images

MORNING MEME

For such a funny man, how many times have you seen Larry David laugh? Really laugh? Well, heres your chance. David in hysterics trying to say Can a bitch get a donut? will warm your heart.

OTHER LOCAL NEWS

Tongue Will Wag

One mothers nightmare is a pretty good superhero-origin story. After giving birth to a healthy baby boy, hospital staff in Lebanon, Tennessee, accidentally performed unnecessary surgery on the wrong tyke, cutting the connective tissue under his tongue. Nate should be just fine. [CNN]



Springsteen Derails Childrens Education

You gotta love this father who put a sweaty evening with the Boss above his daughters future. One thing hes not is a liar, sending his daughters into school late with a note explaining that they had to stay up for the three-and-a-half-hour Bruce Springsteen concert because thats what youd do [I]f God were to suddenly appear. Oh? Could God have written Atlantic City? [UPI]



HAPPENING TODAY

Black Caucus Not Feeling the Bern

The Congressional Black Caucus will formally endorse Hillary Clinton for president today, entering the fray in the struggle between her and Bernie Sanders for black votes. [WaPo]



Heavy Stuff

A massive scientific breakthrough will be announced today. Details are fuzzy, but it looks like scientists have found gravitational waves in something called the cosmic-microwave background. Basically it is a huge piece of evidence backing up the theory of the Big Bang. [Popular Mechanics]



In Case You Missed the Last Five

The sixth Democratic debate will go down Thursday night in Milwaukee. Hosted by PBS in partnership with CNN, we may finally learn who the most progressive candidate is. [PBS]
Refugees and migrants aboard an inflatable dinghy. Photo: Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP/Getty Images

NATO has heeded the pleas of allies and will now patrol and monitor the sea between Turkey and Greece to deter human smugglers from bringing migrants and refugees to Europe. A NATO official said ships and aircraft will start policing the Aegean almost immediately.

This is the first time NATO has officially interceded in the migrant crisis, after calls by Greece, Germany, and Turkey for help in curtailing the flood of people streaming across their borders. More than 76,000 people have risked the crossing to Europe so far this year. Slightly more than 400 have died in the attempt. The vast majority (more than 70,000 people) are fleeing from Syria and other parts of the Middle East to Turkey and then to the islands off the coast of Greece. NATO will target those routes and amp up rescue efforts to prevent more deaths.

NATO officials stressed, however, that they are policing not the migrants but the traffickers, who have turned desperation into a booming business. This is not about stopping or pushing back refugee boats, assured Jens Stoltenberg, NATO secretary-general. The alliance will also monitor the border between Turkey and Syria to gather intelligence on smugglers routes, reports the Times.

But NATO officials admit they put together the plan in haste, and they are working out many of the logistical details. The alliance must still figure out how to actually deal with refugees they encounter at sea. Right now the specific protocols are unclear, though a German defense minister said that rescued refugees would be returned to Turkey, now a temporary home to more than 2.5 million Syrian refugees.

In October, the European Union launched anti-smuggling operations in the Mediterranean. That mission focused on intercepting boats full of migrants embarking from the coast of Africa  mostly Libya  and bound for Italy. But the center of the humanitarian crisis, if measured by nothing more than the sheer mass of people, is the Turkey-to-Greece route.

NATO steps in at a moment when the crisis in Syria seems to be getting worse. As many as 60,000 people have fled Aleppo in the past week as Russia ramped up air strikes in support of Bashar al-Assads government forces. Most rushed to the border with Turkey, and some tens of thousands were stranded there over the weekend. Turkey has said it will open its door to them, but cautioned that in doing so its effectively allowing Bashars forces to purge Syria of opposition. Every refugee that we accept helps their ethnic cleansing policy, Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu warned.

Those Russian air strikes also derailed peace talks on Syria before they ever really began. United Nations discussions in Geneva are supposed to resume February 25, after many previous delays. But as a besieged Syria further unravels, so fades the prospect of any sort of real accord.
South Koreans left the complex in trucks. Photo: Ed jones/AFP/Getty Images

North Korea must really hate K-pop. After South Korea punished its estranged neighbor for allegedly testing a hydrogen bomb by deafening its border patrols with Hot 100 hits, North Korea struck back by launching a long-range rocket on Sunday, triggering a United Nations Security Council meeting and unnerving everyone else. South Korea responded to the rocket launch by announcing it would suspend operations at the jointly run Kaesong industrial complex, a series of factories where North and South Korean workers labor side by side in a gesture of cooperation. North Korea called the suspension a dangerous act of war, and Thursday morning Pyongyang froze all South Korean assets at the complex and deported all 280 South Korean workers.

From 10 p.m. on February 11, [the North] will seal off the industrial park and nearby military demarcation line, shut the western overland route and declare the park as a military off-limit zone, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK, or North Koreas official name) said in a statement reported by the Korea Herald, calling Seouls move a provocative measure that is a declaration of an end to the last lifeline of South and North Korea.

A total of 124 South Korean firms run factories in the Kaesong industrial zone, and 55,000 North Korean factory workers are employed there  Pyongyang reportedly collects about $100 million in hard currency via Kaesong. On Wednesday evening an additional 130 South Koreans entered the zone to help their fellow southerners pack up, and trucks brought all of them back over the border within hours.

The zone has been shut down once before: in 2013, when North Korea took issue with a military drill performed by South Korea and the United States. It was reopened several months later, and both sides pledged the zone would not be affected by political situations under any circumstances.
WARNING: Assassinations Prohibited. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

In yet another attack on the Second Amendment, the president is taking away the right to keep and bear arms in the State Dining Room. Last month, reports USA Today, new signs appeared outside the White House guard shacks by the metal detectors reading WARNING: WEAPONS PROHIBITED.



The signs are new, but the law making it a Class A misdemeanor to bring a firearm or any sort of weapon into a government building has been on the books since 1988. If a person has a gun and intends to commit a crime, the charge becomes a felony. However, the law stipulates that penalties have to be posted conspicuously at each public entrance to each federal facility. Without the signs, a gun-toting tourist cannot be prosecuted. The signs were put up literally because we have to by law, David Iacovetti, the Secret Services deputy assistant director of public affairs, told USA Today. The only way we can search somebody and have those charges stick is have the sign posted. Since 1995, when the law became enforceable, the only person charged with bringing guns into a federal building in D.C. has been James Wenneker von Brunn, the man who shot a guard at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2009.

Needless to say, this outrage against our constitutional rights cannot stand, at least on Twitter:

@bizeybee

1 TY

2 its my house and my rights.

2a. O wants to ban guns 4 me but not for him? Hmmm.  Anti Social-ist (@SovereignGuy) February 11, 2016

@USATODAY ISIS will be glad to hear that or is it the tea party 80 something terrorists.  Conrad (@Racoon2013) February 11, 2016

@USATODAY On one hand I agree with this but the point being missed here is it will only stop the already law abiding. Criminals don't care.  Peter L. Berghold (@bluecowdawg) February 11, 2016

Because the only thing that can stop a bad White House tourist with a gun is a good White House tourist with a gun. Or the Secret Service, or an FBI agent, or the D.C. police.
According to Politico Jeb Bush is plunging his rivals into a bloodbath! Photo: Getty Images

I cant vouch for other readers, but the headline (Bush plans scorched-earth attack on Kasich, Rubio) and the lede of an Alex Isenstadt piece at Politico today got this droogie all primed for some political ultraviolence:

Jeb Bush is already laying the groundwork for a brutal South Carolina campaign against establishment rivals John Kasich and Marco Rubio. In an internal memo circulated late Tuesday evening, the campaign distributed talking points to top campaign aides and surrogates, highlighting lines of attack they plan to take against both candidates.

Maybe Right to Rise is finally unleashing the carpet-bombing of other candidates that Mike Murphy has been intermittently threatening for a good while! What will the Bushies go after? Did Rubio bounce a lot of checks at the liquor store back in the day? Did Kasich abuse his congressional office budget? Did either of them employ an undocumented immigrant?

Here it is, in all its raw, brutal power. Dont let the kiddies read this:



The memo suggests that Kasich, who campaigned extensively in New Hampshire, does not have a realistic path to winning the Republican nomination. Governor Kasich has little to no chance in South Carolina, and does not have a national organization that can compete, the memo says. Kasich has consistently supported gutting the military and has no viable path in the Palmetto State. The memo also outlines hard-hitting avenues of attack against Rubio, who for months has been in Bushs crosshairs: Senator Rubio has lost momentum and has been exposed as completely unprepared to be president, it says, repeating an argument that Bush has used frequently against Rubio. It adds: Rubio has demonstrated no respect for the nomination process and expects this to be a coronation.

Wow. Kasichs not electable. Rubios lost momentum and, worse yet, has disrespected the nomination process. If this is a scorched earth message, it has to be the lowest-energy scorched earth message in history.

We have no way of knowing whether this is Isenstadts doing or that of his editors, though Id guess its the latter given other story lines in Politico Wednesday alluding to South Carolina as a bloodbath and a knife fight.

Suppose somebody gave a bloodbath and nobody noticed? It could happen in South Carolina between now and February 20.


Marco Rubio now seems to see his path to the White House involving chaotic convention scenes like this one from 1968. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images; C-Span

Marco Rubios poorly timed bad debate performance just as New Hampshire Republicans were making up their minds has already entered the annals of major blown political opportunities, certainly right up there with Barack Obamas failure to put away Hillary Clinton in the same state eight years ago.

But it may be worse than we thought. In 2008 Obama had to look forward to a long string of primary and caucus contests before winning the prize that seemed so close after the Iowa caucuses. According to a report from the Associated Presss Steve Peoples, Team Rubio thinks it may take longer than that:

The best hope of the Republican establishment just a week ago, Marco Rubio suddenly faces a path to his partys presidential nomination that could require a brokered national convention. Thats according to Rubios campaign manager, Terry Sullivan, who told The Associated Press that this weeks disappointing performance in New Hampshire will extend the Republican nomination fight for another three months, if not longer. Its a worst-case scenario for Rubio and many Republican officials alike who hoped to avoid a prolonged and painful nomination fight in 2016. We very easily could be looking at May  or the convention, Sullivan said as Rubios charter jet traveled from New Hampshire to South Carolina this week. I would be surprised if its not May or the convention.

Keep in mind that as calendar maven Josh Putnam has calculated, half of the total number of Republican delegates will be chosen by March 15, and three-fourths by April 26. So if the fight extends until May, yeah, we could be looking at a contested  the word brokered has never made much sense because it assumes the existence of brokers  convention. The funniest part of the Peoples piece, though, involves Rubios warning that Republicans might want to get their act together before the general election is held:

[W]hile he called on his party to unite behind his candidacy Thursday in South Carolina, Rubio seemed to offer a broad definition of quickly. If we dont come together quickly, we cant win, he said. If we are still fighting with each other in August, and September and October, we wont win. The Republican Party holds its presidential nominating convention in July.

Now, for all I know Rubio and his people are just going the extra mile in lowering expectations before the next round of contests. Maybe the brokered convention talk is simply a matter of putting it all in a very long perspective if Marco finishes third or fourth in South Carolina and Nevada.

But without question, serious talk about a brokered convention  the first contested GOP convention since 1976, and perhaps the first multi-ballot convention for either party since 1952  is going to get the media all lathered up with excitement and ready for an insane scene in Cleveland. I mean, can you imagine? Rumors of a backroom deal between Trump and John Kasich to put the Ohioan on the ticket in exchange for the latters handful of delegates. Rubio and Bush twisting arms and making threats to flip Florida once the legal obligation to follow the primary results expires. Dark-horse unity candidate reports ranging from Mitt Romney to Nikki Haley to Mitch Daniels. Game Change authors Mark Halperin and John Heilemann might ascend to heaven out of sheer joy. Politico could get its mojo back.

And, apparently, Marco Rubio could rediscover his path to the nomination.
Vermont senator B-Money $anders. Photo: Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images

For a self-avowed socialist, Bernie Sanders is extremely good at making money.

Within 24 hours of his victory in New Hampshire, the Vermont senators campaign raked in more than $6 million in new contributions, doubling its previous record for a single day of fund-raising. That haul puts Sanders in prime position to out-raise Hillary Clinton for a second straight month  a prospect that once seemed about as likely as a former reality star becoming the Republican front-runner.

Sanders has raised far more money through small-dollar donations than any other 2016 candidate. By the end of 2015, the insurgent had taken in $54 million in contributions of $200 or less, accounting for 72 percent of his total fund-raising. Clinton, by contrast, raised roughly $18.5 million from small-dollar donors, with the rest of her $116 million war chest coming from big spenders.

This week, Sanders plans to redistribute $1 million from those middle-class donors to Nevada television stations. According to Ralston Reports, Sanderss big new ad-buy brings his total spending on the Silver States airwaves to $3.6 million  twice Clintons investment.

The central premise of the Sanders candidacy is that unabashed economic populism can mobilize disengaged voters and sweep a democratic socialist into the White House. That premise may still seem far-fetched, but Sanders has already proven that such populism can mobilize yuge amounts of contributions. If the senator achieves nothing else in his 2016 run, he will have illustrated the financial benefits of refusing large corporate donations. As Politicos Kenneth Vogel argues, Sanderss great fund-raising innovation has been been turning his method of bankrolling into a central plank of his campaign.

Its more than a means to an end, Vogel writes. It is the purpose of his campaign  the vehicle for regular people to buy into the idea that they can fight back against a moneyed elite that has tilted the scales against them.

That vehicle has proven popular enough to keep a septuagenarian socialist  one opposed by virtually every institution and elected official in his party  competitive in the money primary with one of the best-bankrolled Establishment candidates in American political history.

Sanders is a long way from enacting his vision of campaign-finance reform. But the socialist senator may be outlining a free-market solution to runaway corporate giving  turning down Wall Street money appears to sell quite well.
Quartz, The Atlanticaffiliated business-news publication, just launched a clever new iPhone news app, described in its announcement as an ongoing conversation about the news, sort of like texting. Its stories, written in conversational, emoji-laden English, are delivered to users like text messages; when you open one up, its presented as a speech bubble to which you can respond.

Quartzs wont be the last conversational news app or interface we see this year. The BBCs Trushar Barot has predicted the botification of news, mentioning chat bots specifically. The New York Times just released an election bot that integrates with the enterprise chat software Slack; not only does it automatically deliver news and results about the presidential elections to an integrated chat room, but users can ask the bot questions that will be forwarded, it claims, to the Times election desk.

News is well suited for bots that can express themselves in natural language (in other words: bots that can write), but in most ways the publishing industry is just following its peers elsewhere in tech: Quartzs app and the Times bot are part of a growing trend in software whose main interface is conversation (or conversational)  software that acts like a personal digital assistant, like Siri, or Microsofts Cortana. Instead of knowing exactly which buttons to push and menus to click to get what you want, you can now (or soon) just ask a computer using natural language.

Whats interesting about this, particularly for media, is that software alone isnt quite up to the task yet (and may never be)  so humans are forced to become a part of the bot experience. What you interact with isnt necessarily a bot or a human, but a mix of both. Customer service was a proving ground for this a few years ago. Have you ever visited a website and immediately encountered a customer service pop-up asking if you need help? The odds are pretty good that if you use it, youll start the conversation with a bot and, somewhere within the process, quietly transition to a human operator.

Sometimes, this is happening along vectors that you dont even notice. Bots are responsible for churning out automated articles on data-heavy topics  things like corporate earnings and  earthquakes. But for more, well, human topics, the question of how information is presented to users is less certain. Facebooks Trending Topics are the best example of this  the process of exactly who (or what) curates them is unclear, and what results is a stilted mash of automated input and extraction and creative human knowledge.

On the flip side of Facebooks detached list is Quartzs new app. Its tone is resolutely, almost aggressively human (its written by a team of editors), but there are simulated touches that drive it into the uncanny valley. In particular, the app, though it doesnt need to, simulates the three-dot speech bubble that signifies someone is typing. The iconography is key here. When a smartphone (or at least an iPhone in this case) is transferring data, the standard indicator is that small spinning wheel in the status bar at the top of the screen. The three-dot bubble is different. It indicates, very clearly, another human is typing at the keyboard. This isnt, on one hand, entirely wrong  a human did write what will soon arrive on your screen  but its also not right: No one is typing on the other end. Compellingly, eerily, and in a way that I would not be surprised to see catch on, Quartz is equating downloading data with actual human interaction.

Its still fairly easy to tell when youre talking to a computer (spinning wheel), or a human (floating dots). But its getting harder not simply because humans are increasingly reliant on algorithmic input, or because software is getting better at mimicking human behavior, but because the things we interact with tend to involve both human and bot input at multiple levels of operation. We have humans mimicking the cold, to-the-point news presentation of algorithms like Facebooks, and bots mimicking the folksy, brands saying bae tone of our modern media economy. What comes out the other end is less a bot that sounds like a human, or a human that sounds like a bot, than an uncanny hybrid.
The Me Decade, revived. Photo: Tommaso Boddi/WireImage, Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images(2)

Ever since Hedi Slimane took up the mantle at Saint Laurent, hes inspired love-it-or-hate-it reactions. Like last year, when Independent critic Alexander Fury accused him of dishonoring the house of YSL. Its unclear if the 93-look collection Slimane showed last night at the Palladium in Los Angeles was a response to that chatter  along with the ongoing rumors that hes leaving the fashion house  or simply where Hedis head is at right now. (And since Slimane isnt the type to gush about his process in the press, well likely never know.) However, this year marks the 50th anniversary of Yves Saint Laurents groundbreaking Rive Gauche collection, which made him the first couture designer to enter the ready-to-wear market  a moment that redefined French fashion, and was referenced in the shows program notes. That seems to be what prompted Slimanes deep dive into the houses past.

Slimane mined the archives, though not in a literal Mondrian-print-and-le-smoking way. A musical-note print from the early 80s got resurrected on a skirt and embellished the back of a jacket. Even the looks that werent directly inspired by the houses history tapped Yvess most louche, 70s vein  pussy-bow blouses, leather culottes, and Jardin Majorelleready caftans fit for Betty Catroux. The male models wore skinny suits that channeled David Bowie, but Slimane also crammed in other references to the time period, like bandleader jackets, Gram Parsonsesque Western embroideries and fringe, and bohemian looks that evoked Graham Nash (like a fur-trimmed tapestry jacket).

The show notes referenced Slimanes own history, as well, casting the show as a kind of personal greatest-hits lineup including the skinny silhouettes he favored in the 90s, and his glam-rock collection for fall 2005 at Dior Homme. There was even a nod to his Psych Rock capsule from 2013, suggesting he has a pretty relaxed approach to what constitutes retro. Apart from his design gestures, though, one moment in particular stood out. The press-shy Slimane uncharacteristically took a bow at the end of the collection (to a standing ovation), which gave the collection a sense of finality. Was it meant to convey anything? Were sure the speculation wont end anytime soon.
Australian wine category facing up to a brave new retail world

The Australian wine category will nosedive in a brave new retail world obsessed with everyday low pricing if it does not adapt and improve its average price point, according to Hardys supplier Accolade Wines.

Australia has enjoyed strong growth in recent years and is up 3.4% in value to 1.18 billion (Nielsen, year to November 2015), but the average price point has fallen and now sits at 5.20, below the average price of 5.38 for a bottle of still wine.

Grocers are streamlining ranges and abandoning price promotion strategies in favour of everyday low prices to fight the emergence of Aldi and Lidl, and Australia now risks being overwhelmed by countries that have a better clarity of offer and can trade shoppers up to premium tiers, according to Accolade.

Rob Harrison, who has taken over as UK boss at Accolade after Paul Schaafsma became global chief executive, wants Australia to take a leaf out of Chiles book. He told OLN: Its a really aggressive market at the moment. A couple of ambitious discounters are aggressively trying to get in and Australia is right up there on footfall drivers and has been hit hard by that.

There are seismic changes in the retail market. What we have seen is unprecedented. There has been a huge change in pricing and promotions, and range rationalisation is going on right now.

He added: We have moved away from deep discounting quite heavily in the past six months. Deep discounting was where Australia was really growing. Brands did a good job on that, consumers trusted them and it worked. But now 3-off, save a third, half-prices are largely gone. Australian wines are dropping into a concertinaed segment that is cluttered.

Chile is doing better in this new landscape. Over Christmas it enjoyed growth at 5, 6 and 7. It is more fit for purpose in this new environment.

Up to a third of some of the supermarkets ranges are coming out. They take out products with the lowest sales. Unfortunately for Australia, thats a problem. You go to the safe Old World classics  the Rhones and Bordeaux.

One or two countries, such as Chile with its clarity of offering, are doing it better in this new landscape.

We need to up our game on premium, fight against consolidation, and communicate the value of our wines through packaging, liquid and making sure customers understand the regionality. Consumers understand Marlborough and Mendoza better than Barossa.

We need to get a message out to consumers that there is a trade-up and Australia offers different styles. We should learn from products from Chile, New Zealand and Argentina, see what theyre doing well then go above that.

Chile has caught up with Australia on packaging and communication. We have decent competition now and that has made us need to sharpen up a little bit.

Brands have to exist without price cuts. This is the new retail landscape. There will be everyday low prices and some shallow discounts of around 1. Brands have to work on a headline price rather than a promotional price.

The 3-4 segment of Australian wine is up 32.2% in volume and the 4-5 category is up 10.5% in volume, but 5-6 is down 1.1%, 6-8 is down 2.2% and 8-plus is down 2.2% (Nielsen, year to November 2015).

Harrington said: We need to give consumers the confidence to step up. We need to work harder on the education piece. As an industry we have focused on the volume prize too much and we need now to build the structure for the 6-8 wines.

We have an amazing stable of premium brands in Australia. They are really good brands with great winemakers, great history and great heritage, but the day job has probably got in the way in the past couple of years. You end up focusing on the wines that move the most boxes.

It was only a few months ago that the retail landscape really started to shift and we saw some very different results over Christmas. We are still in the learning phase  learning how our brands work with customers in a different landscape. Hardys is still a really strong proposition and we will find the right sweet spots. We are confident brands such as Hardys will start to really stand out in an environment where there are fewer products.

We welcome the opportunity for our brands to be given the breathing space on shelves to perform, because we believe they will perform. From our point of view, getting that right in terms of the tiers and structure is crucial, but if you get it right brands such as Hardys should really kick on.

OLN caught up with Andreas Clark, chief executive at Wine Australia, at the generics recent tasting in London, and he said success in Asia has given him confidence in the countrys ability to sell premium wine to UK shoppers.

He said: Australia is very strong in the off-trade at the price points around 5. Our export numbers show some growth at some of the upper segments, albeit from a low base. In the 11-13 range we are up 30%.

Its a matter of constant education around what we have to offer and the quality of whats in the bottle and what sits behind it. Australia is not just a homogenous whole. We can present lots of styles from different regions. Its just convincing UK shoppers to back that Australia story like others are doing globally, as we are seeing in places such as China and South Korea.

Clark believes it is key for Australia to promote regionality, and he hopes quirky varieties will help counter negative preconceptions.

He said: We offer exceptional quality at very reasonable prices. Barossa and McLaren Vale continue to be strong. There is an exciting story out of Tasmania, which is producing some fantastic Riesling, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Margaret River is making great Cabernet and Chardonnay. Places such as the Riverland are doing great. We have only just scratched the surface there. We need to break down preconceptions.

Riverland is a major production centre, but it makes small volumes of things like Fiano and Montepulciano and there are really interesting wines coming from that part of the world.

Shiraz, Chardonnay and Cabernet are leading the charge, but there is amazing growth in Tempranillo. There were 187,000 litres exported from Australia to the UK in 2014, and 440,000 litres in 2015. Nero dAvola sold 30 litres in 2014 and 112,000 litres in 2015.

These disrupt the preconceptions. There is a new breed of young winemaker coming through prepared to do really interesting things. The challenge is to explain it to the consumer.

Laura Jewell MW, who heads up Wine Australia in the UK, is equally bullish. She told OLN: Big retailers control 70% of the market and they are driving the growth of Australia. It has been driven by big, half-price offers and by the brands themselves, great brands such as McGuigan, Yellow Tail, Wolf Blass and Hardys.

We still have some pain to go through. Thats not just Australia, thats all countries, but Australia is disadvantaged because it was driven quite heavily by half-price, as was New Zealand.

There are always challenges but this year there has been a real buzz around Australia, a lot of positive press. I am seeing quite a number of wineries coming back to the UK or looking at the UK for the first time.

Ninety per cent of the wines at the annual London tasting are above 5 and very few will make it on to a supermarket shelf. It is about showcasing whats out there for independents, specialists and so on.

We have a clear focus on trade education. If we can get the trade enthused, they will tell people about it.

Export numbers are very positive in quite a few other markets. The UK is a mature market but for Australia to still be growing is great.

Jewell has received mixed reports from independent wine merchants, with some saying Australia is storming and others saying its really hard to push.

Andrew Bewes, managing director at Hallgarten Druitt, believes independents will be crucial in convincing shoppers to discover premium Australian wines as they require a hand-sell.

He told OLN: They have the basic wines that people come in and ask for every day, but there is a lot more opportunity to go down the route of if you like that, try this.

They dont have the limitations of the on-trade. They dont have to produce a wine list and they can sell a couple of cases and move on to the next interesting thing.

It is the independent and the internet mail order section that can really show the diversity of Australia.

AUSTRALIAN WINE BY NUMBERS

22.7%

The amount of the UK off-trade market accounted for by Australian wine. It has grown significantly since the 1980s. In 1984 it accounted for just 0.4% of the market.

1.18bn

The current value of the off-trade Australian wine category after growing 4.5% in volume and 3.4% in value in the past year. The overall off-trade wine category dropped 1.9% in volume and 1.6% in value to 5.37 billion.

5.20

The average price of a bottle of Australian wine in 2015. Volume is growing ahead of value and the average off-trade price dropped from 5.26 in 2014. This compares to an average price of 5.38 for a bottle of still wine in the off-trade.

2.4%

The value growth of Chilean wine, one of four top 10 countries in growth in the UK off-trade. It is in seventh place, ahead of eighth-placed New Zealand (up 11.2% in value) and ninth-placed Argentina (up 24.1%), although Australia is bigger than those three put together. Italy, France, the US, Spain, South Africa and Germany are all in decline.

11%

The proportion of Australian wine sold in the on-trade, down from 12.5% a year ago, illustrating that the off-trade is driving growth in Australia.

28.8m

The value that brands have added to the category in the past year. Hardys is the bestselling brand, followed by McGuigan, Jacobs Creek, Yellow Tail, Wolf Blass, Lindemans, Banrock Station, Oxford Landing and Andrew Peace. Brands sell for an average of 5.39.

3.6m

The amount of value added by retailer exclusives, which sell for an average of 4.56. Own-label has grown by 8.8 million and bottles sell for an average of 4.27.

32.2%

The 3-4 category is up 32.2% in volume and the 4-5 category is up 10.5% in volume, but 5-6 is down 1.1%, 6-8 is down 2.2% and 8+ is down 2.2%, showing growth is coming from lower price points, where retailer exclusives and private labels are strong.

16.6%

Tesco is up 16.6% in value on Australian wine, Morrisons is up 11.2%, but Waitrose is down 0.4%, Sainsburys is down 3.2% and the Co-operative is down 4.3%

Source: Nielsen, year to November 2015

Related articles:
Not gonna lie, but Jess and Rory better get together

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What a great time to get back on set with some friends. #JessIsBack @warnerbrostv @netflix. MV pic.twitter.com/VQAt2Lrumr  Milo Ventimiglia (@MiloVentimiglia) February 10, 2016





And I think Jared's going to be too busy with SPN to do this, which is okay, because as much as I love him, I fucking hate Dean Forester.



Really excited about this and Matt's return because I loved both Rory/Logan and Rory/Jess. Yes!And I think Jared's going to be too busy with SPN to do this, which is okay, because as much as I love him, I fucking hate Dean Forester.Really excited about this and Matt's return because I loved both Rory/Logan and Rory/Jess.

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I rewatching all episodes and I love it :)

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FUCK JESS TBH!!!!!

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Stoked. Hope they don't ruin him.

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yasssss. i'm really excited for this

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As long as he's the jess from the later seasons, im good with it. Ugh school jess wasnt my fave.

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mte

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agreed

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mte

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YESS. I think they would most def workout together that way

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I'm re-watching it now and I actually didn't remember him being AS big of an annoying asshole as he was at first, but wow. I love what he turned into, but man it's rough being Team Jess when you watch those early episodes.

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Exactly. He'd better not be an asshole again.

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I did think that whole thing where he got 'beaked' was hilarious tho lmao

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But not Heroes :(

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He was smart. Spotted that sinking ship from miles away.

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I couldn't get past the first episode.

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reborn was a chore

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Jess sucks

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I hated Jess omg

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YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS

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this moment was SO CUTE. awww, the little head kiss.

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When they were cute, they were CUTE.

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God, this still makes me squee

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This moment still gets me.

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you looked it up

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Four episodes of two guys fighting over ~~perfect girl Rory.

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The four episodes are supposed to span a year, though, if that helps.

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oh wait Rory... don't know why I read it as Alexis' exes.



Edited at 2016-02-11 03:39 am (UTC)

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he's so oddly attractive

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Yay. I always hated Dean and was meh to Logan. Dean kind of creeped me out.



I like Jess but not the moody, asshole version. Hopefully it's the mature Jess that told Rory to get her shit together.



Edited at 2016-02-10 11:15 pm (UTC)

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I never get why people love that scene? Rory was figuring herself out. She'd been under a lot of pressure to excel in academics for all her life and suddenly realized it might still not get her to her goal easily after Mitchum told her she did not have It. One yelling session doesn't suddenly change a person's mind; she would eventually have gone back to Yale anyway without the unnecessary "This Isn't You" speech. Everyone was always trying to tell her who she was or should be, leave the poor girl alone to figure her shit out for a semester or two geez.

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It was a good scene because she needed to hear it. Lorelai just got frustrated, understandably and they stopped talking and her grandparents at the time were coddling her ass. Jess was the first one to really ask her what the hell she was doing. And I'm sorry, that whole storyline made me realize how much I disliked Rory when I got older and watched the series with a mature perspective. She was a pampered little princess who had her ass kissed her whole damn life (every guy fell in love with her, everyone told her how smart and special she was) and so the first time someone told her an honest opinion that didn't align with how special she was, she freaked out and quit.



To me all Rory did then was prove Logan's father right. She was an entitled little brat who needed to get over herself and realize the world wasn't going to think she was oh so special and the brightest, most amazing ever. Yes, she eventually got her shit together but I rolled my eyes so hard during that whole mess. And let's not even talk about that Dean hookup. Girl actually told her mother after fucking married Dean, "he was my boyfriend first..." Yes your boyfriend you dumped for Jess and who is married now. But again, if Rory wants it well that's okay.



Edited at 2016-02-10 11:42 pm (UTC)

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YES. I mentioned it in this post too but basically everyone points to that moment as the reason Jess was the best boyfriend ever because he yelled at her and made her realize what a sham her life was, but watching that episode now and being older, this kind of attitude about her right there (basically "oh Rory you're amazing and can do no wrong HOW DARE YOU SCREW UP!!!!!!!) is why that whole thing with the boat and dropping out of Yale happened. Like, there was the stuff with the internship and Mitchum, but everyone's expectations for her and the fact that she consistently made them was probably super exhausting, I don't blame her for going nuts for a bit at the first sight of adversity and needing the time off. Paris had that sex/Harvard freakout but Rory never had anything and has been pretty self contained, I'm not surprised she needed a break. I went through kind of the same thing (except I didn't steal a boat lol) and having people smother me and yell about what a failure I was when I really, really needed the time off was not helpful at all.



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I never said I loved the scene tho? My point was I'd rather have that Jess who shows some actual emotion/concern for others for once vs moody, irrational, mopey Jess. Because IMO that Jess is far less insufferable.



Also - while I agree she's been under pressure all of her life I personally didn't think it was a bad thing when Mitchum didn't fawn all over her. Nobody ever really told her she wasn't always going to be a special snowflake before. The "poor girl Rory" act could only go on for so long before I had little sympathy for her. Especially in college where you're not coddled.

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yesss now mark hamill can have actual dialoge this time



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There better be more Luke.



And for a Rey and Finn reunion scene. <3



Edited at 2016-02-11 01:58 am (UTC)

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finn/rey hookup

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yessssssss





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every time i see your icon, i'm reminded of my coworker who's a dead ringer for (dark haired) luke. i was going to smash but we haven't worked together in weeks </3

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dagobah luke is so hot. that tank top...fap-fabulous

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Super late to this, but +++++1. I am dying for a training montage with Luke and Rey. And a Rey/Finn reunion, 'cause that will be super adorable.

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aww your icon <3



I wish they would bring her back to the franchise

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really? it was obvious to me that disney bought the rights to milk every last drop out of the franchise, warranted or not

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Eunice Olumide also has a role in it, apparently

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omgggg i had no idea my bb diego was going to be in it

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bow @ this racial diversity and the female lead

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Excited to see Diego and Forest. :D

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So. Many. Dudes. Idg why they managed to have at least a few women in TFA and then this, like... what happened.

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yes @ riz

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i really hope they realize it's a bad idea and scratch it. i mean there is still time, right?

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But is Queen BB-8 going to get a droid girlfriend in Ep8? I want her to find love in space.



I know she was thirsting a bit for R2, but lbr Threepio won't accept anyone encroaching on his man that way.



WHEN WILL THESE SALACIOUS DEETS BE RELEASED?



(also, will Poe approve? He is the protective sort, afterall.)



Edited at 2016-02-11 02:07 am (UTC)

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Her one true love is Poe lets be honest.

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Well YES, naturally, but she deserves a romantic subplot!



It won't be a forever love, that really is reserved for Poe, but it'd be a shame if she didn't get to use her natural charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent to get some mechanical flirtation in at the very least.



And Poe would never wish his Queen to limit herself.

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I want her to fall in love with the imperial toaster droid so it could be a ~forbidden romance~

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Isn't BB-8 a boy tho? I rly wanted her to be a girl :/

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lol @ this list of flop directors. i don't expect them to hire auteurs but at least jj abrams had some cred

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rian is fine but colin is the one im iffy about

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Just give me a damn Rogue One teaser trailer.



with actual footage and plot. No more of the teaser that leaked last year. Give me war and death and Donnie Yen.

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AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!



Give me lots of Luke, Finn/Rey and Finn/Rey/Poe pls :D

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The last film in the sequel trilogy will be directed by Colin Trevorrow (Jurassic World and Safety Not Guaranteed)



drop ha

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seriously he's shit. i read they already started production though :/

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I hope it's gonna be better than TFA! Maybe I expect too much or it's just the excitement after the flopped 2nd trilogy.

TFA was just alright, love the casts and my queen BB8 but that's about it.



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Darth Jar Jar is the villain we deserve but all we get is bland ass Snoke.



Looking forward to more First Order, mainly Phasma and Hux because Domnhall is fun and I like that he over Kylo's shit.

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I'm hoping for more Captain Phasma.

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Jar Jar is Phasma.

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Your icon OP. <3

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Aw, thank you. I am waiting for digital release to get a gif one. As someone said, he went to Galadriel's school of elegant reveals. :)

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"As someone said, he went to Galadriel's school of elegant reveals."



I love that! Looking forward to your upcoming animated icon. :)

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All I want are some actual scenes Poe and Rey share together

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breaaaaaaaach, i need oscar isaac to have some romance scenes or else my brain will die

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like a whale?

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mte

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i really liked safety not guaranteed but i can't believe it got colin trevorrow gigs like star wars and jurassic park. i still haven't seen jurassic world, i'm too afraid to be disappointed since i love the original trilogy (i've accepted the cheesiness of jp3 and embraced it)



Edited at 2016-02-11 02:07 am (UTC)

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JW is so bad I really wouldn't watch it unless you want to get angry at everything.

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i'm expecting one of the female star wars characters to be killed brutally and cruelly by that dbag

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If you love raptors, you'll like JW. I love them, so I have a soft spot for the stupid movie.

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Skip Jurassic World sis



just look for the end fight with the og Queen T-Rex and that's all you need to get your life

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I liked JW just for the "OMG DINOSAURS" factor, but the plot is stupid and pretty much every character is unlikable. I basically rooted for the dinos to just band together and take over the island for good.

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I just watched JW for the dinosaurs but it was generally unbearable

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I can't wait to hear the title of it.

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backstage politics in wrestling is disgusting. and there's two sides to the nasty coin: the "bigger is better" carny good ol' boys who refuse to acknowledge its not the 80s anymore AND the stuck up, ascended fanboy indie darlings who think you're not legit unless you performed flippy shit in bingo halls for three people. i can't imagine working in that environment.



Edited at 2016-02-11 08:57 pm (UTC)

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Mhm the Benoit investigation really didn't do much except expose who was a user. The stupid Titus O'neil suspension is proof enough of how antiquated WWE and general wrestling politics are.

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i hope it's getting better, but tbh reading up on how the locker rooms used to run in the 90s made me lose respect for a lot of veterans like Taker who took part in stupid jock mentality shit like wrestler's court.



just reading about what happened to the miz, for instance, made me sick.

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eh, i'd say the benoit thing did help shed a light on concussions. i mean, it did kind help daniel bryan from doing further damage to his head. but yes, i do believe that there's still a long way to go from preventing further injuries to their stars. proof alone is the fact that half the main roster is sidelined with injuries.

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Wait, something happened with Titus?

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This is so not okay. Do you think she's not pressing charges because people would make it hard for her to advance in her career?

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Yes especially since it's The Rock's family.

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Ugggggh. I hope he doesn't condone this type of bullshit. :/

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i'd imagine. in wrestling, it's very "hush hush" and frowned up to let on about what goes on backstage. newbies, especially newbies who didn't come in through the independent circuit and "paid their dues" like it says in the OP, are basically shat upon in all directions unless they're being groomed to be a star or are related to a big name. women's wrestling is already considered a joke by a lot of people in the industry, too. she may feel like she doesn't want to be a squeaky wheel if she even wants to get a foothold in this company.

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wtf



that's not ok

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what the fuck

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Fuck anyone who shoots on anyone to prove how 'badass' they are.



After what happened to Act Yasukawa last year I have no patience for that bullshit.

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That poor woman, everything she went through to get into the business and then it's all taken away from her by an asshole that's still getting bookings! Yoshiko should've been arrested.

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My thoughts exactly.



It's so heartbreaking because Act sacrificed so much to get into wrestling and someone just took it away from her over a damn belt. I'm still furious about it.

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this Tonya Harding realness omg! but why they attacked her?!

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basically, wrestling is a big exercise in stage combat. you use sleight of hand and cool acrobatics to look like you're actually fighting. some wrestlers, however, can be giant dicks and either work "stiff" - which can be a good thing, because that means you're rougher and the impacts look better and more realistic, but it can also be bad, obviously - or they "shoot," aka fight for real. usually this is a form of hazing.

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oh god so they were practicing for real with her?

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People want to say that pro-wrestling has gotten better with this kind of thing, but it's still very much steeped in the old carnie way of hazing and punishing people. Like, I'm glad Bill DeMott got what was coming to him, but there are quite a few people that defend what he did as okay since that's what was done in the old days. Like, no, that shit was out of line then and out of line now. Especially crap like the Wrestler's Court.

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Like, I'm glad Bill DeMott got what was coming to him, but there are quite a few people that defend what he did as okay since that's what was done in the old days.



I'm still disappointed in Jericho for that one tweet about it.



Bullying/Hazing does not equal training and the sooner these guys realize that the better.

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Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in Hello! Your entry got to top-25 of the most popular entries in LiveJournal!Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in FAQ

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That is such bullshit. There is a huge difference between a few stiff hits and actually beating on someone to the point of injury.

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Thank you for letting us know she's a sexy Brazilian, op...



Always important to have a sexy context to the story of a woman's assault otherwise nobody would care.

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yw but u should move along because thats literally her gimmick.

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Wtf? Who beats someone up?

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That's awful :(

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Omg, damn. Hope her recovery is fast

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Hope she recovers soon. I only watched some of the early Tough Enough episodes during her season, and I liked her better than the winner.

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That is so awful and scary. I'm glad she's alright and I admire the compassion she seems to be maintaining for those sick and without resources.

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Hollywood is scary as fuck. I never walk when I'm around there, especially at night. Thank god she got away!

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Yeah, seriously.



good thing she's ok.

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well shit

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wow that is terrifying

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Damn, she's right though. Most people that are homeless are also mentally ill. We need facilities to take care of these people.

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"We need to support our cops"



no thanks

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mte. Support mental health care and adequate housing.

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I side-eyed the fuck out of that too. The ones that aren't out killing and attacking people for no reason, we do support.

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I stopped right there

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my face changed immediately

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seriously

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That part makes her sound like one of those people who fake an attack to push their agenda

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hmmmmm

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meep

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well someone said she's crazy.....

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oh come on, she was traumatized by this and cops are the ones with guns/ability to incapacitate people (for correct or incorrect reasons). that's all she's saying.

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Wow. On any other thread, people would be jumping on you for saying a victim was faking an assault.

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Mte, side eyeing her letter.

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The friend who came and helped her is a cop.

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Police officers probably deal with mentally ill people more each day than anyone else. We don't provide sufficient training to police officers on how to deal with mentally ill people. Plus they arrest mentally ill people who often end up right back on the street with no treatment. A mentally ill homeless man who is often outside the building I work in was arrested yesterday for running in the street throwing stuff at cars. I checked the jail website, and he was released 15 minutes after getting in the jail. He was right back on the street within a matter of minutes. When police officers arrest mentally ill individuals like the man I described they have no where to take them but jail. If they haven't committed a violent crime, the jail simply releases them because they don't have the room or staff to handle them. We need to provide police with better training and facilities where they can take mentally ill people rather than arrest them.

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yeah, she lost me there.

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seeing as they probably deal with homeless mentally ill people more than anyone i'd say they do need the support and training. ONTD and its black and white understanding of everything. Y'all disappoint with the over simplification sometimes

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"my beloved homeless people that i spend my life protecting"

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ikr *blink, blink*

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i rolled my eyes reading that

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ngl I feel really bad for her but there are a lot of things in this i was a bit chatzythinkingface on like "walking to my new guest house i just bought"



that said I do really feel terrible that this happened to her







Edited at 2015-11-13 06:32 pm (UTC)

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Maybe she does a lot of charity for homeless people or something? idk I don't pay attention to this chick she's on CBS

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i know but substitute any other class of people into that phrase and see how it sounds

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that guy with the dog is a huge asshole.

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Is he tho? Have you ever been to LA/Hollywood? I've literally walked over someone passed out on the sidewalk wiht his has bleeding all over the place. You just keep walking lol I don't get involved in shit that's not mine

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yes, he is lol

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yes he is and u are too lmaooo

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I hope you'd appreciate it if the same were to happen to you.





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what?! don't brag about this on the internet

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uhhhhh

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I wanna go in on the melodramatics, but fuck, if that were me I'd be Brian Wilson-ing for the rest of my days.



I have a fear of deranged folk. They sometimes manifest as "Homeless", but it really could be anybody. If the wrong person becomes down on their luck, anything can happen.



I'm very compassionate, but the "fight or flight" is strong with me. If I see somebody rocking back and forth and talking nonsense to themselves. My compassionate soul is right there mpathizing when them, but my physical being is running in the opposite direction.



Hope she is alright, and that the guy gets the care he needs.

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same

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her beloved homeless people?





That sounds scary as shit :/

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I live in a small city of about 120,000 in Ky. I work downtown, and over the last few months the number of homeless people has exploded. Downtown went from no homeless people to several within a few months. Some of them have been confrontational. Some just keep to themselves. One man who is frequently around the building I work in must suffer from mental illness. He often stands on the sidewalk screaming at people and sometimes just stands there talking about how god has brought him there. Yesterday he was arrested after running in to the street screaming and throwing stuff at cars. He fought with police in the middle of the street. We definitely need better mental health treatment in this country.

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Come to Louisville and you'll see that all over the downtown area. A few weeks ago I was taking a walk on break at work and there was a homeless man passed the fuck out in front of the convention center. A cop was there trying to get him up and off the building's steps but he was totally out of it. It was so sad to watch.

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glad she's ok but fuck the police now and forever

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not surprised, what a fucking asshole

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Those crazy tweets last week... I can't Unrelated to this instance which is obviously awful--Pauley Perrette is an insufferable nutt job. I'm obsessed with Julie Klausner's "fued" with her.Those crazy tweets last week... I can't https://twitter.com/julieklausner/status/661946657790164992

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oh my godddd, i'm DYING

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hahah yes -- i do think she should be more chill about this situation (take a 'higher ground' so to speak now that she has a larger profile) but this 666 stuff last week was NUTS

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Lmaoooo I love julie

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omg lmfao

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oh my god https://twitter.com/julieklausner/status/665209602494087168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

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lol yes, i love julie

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Details please!

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also julie klausner

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The coal mining industry is in trouble and the Supreme Court holds the industries fate in its hands. Coal has been suffering for years under the dual attack of environmentalists and low natural gas prices. Environmentalists have been pushing utility companies to stop using coal, while low natural gas prices have led many utilities to switch to that cleaner burning and now cheaper fuel as a power source.

In an effort to please environmentalist supporters after his election to a second term, the Obama Administration put in place what might be a death sentence for coal mining east of the Mississippi river when it chose to push forward with a new set of regulations under the auspices of executive action and the EPA. Related: France To Build 621 Miles Of Solar Roads

The new plan, labeled the Clean Power Act, required very strict environmental controls to limit emissions from power plants. With inaction in Congress, and the Republicans controlling both House and Senate, President Obama directed the EPA to use its authority under the Clean Air Act to propose new regulations. Since that time, 27 states and a battery of industry advocacy organizations have challenged the new plan at the Supreme Court.

Last week that coalition of states and industry asked the Supreme Court to allow them to hold off on implementing the Clean Power Plan until after the Supreme Court has ruled on its legality. The Supreme Court granted a stay on the Clean Power Plan, giving hope to the coal industry and its allies such as Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell.

McConnell, the Senator from Kentucky is fighting what might be considered a rear-guard action to try and help coal miners in his state, West Virginia, Southeastern Ohio, and Western Pennsylvania. Coal mining is a barely economical business at this point with natural gas having a distinct cost advantage over coal for generation purposes. Neither McConnell nor anyone else can change that. But the Clean Power Plan makes coal consumption for power generation so prohibitively difficult that it would essentially wipe out the last remnants of the industry in Kentucky and West Virginia. (Powder River Basin Coal in Wyoming burns cleaner and may remain around for a while yet.) Related: Oil Glut Compounded By Cracks In Global Economy

McConnell has pretty much single handedly marshalled the support of more than half of all U.S. states to challenge Obamas actions in court. Now the final decision is very likely to rest with the Supreme Court. Federal appeals courts are still hearing challenges to the plan, and it is possible they will strike it down, but however the Appeals Courts rule, the issue is almost certain to end up before the Highest Court as a proxy for the limits of Executive Actions.

For investors and coal industry execs alike, the next year will likely determine if the industry has a future. If the Clean Power Plan is not struck down, coal is probably finished as a major source of fuel for the future. Even if the plan is eventually struck down, if the legal review process takes too long and most States and companies have already complied with the CPP, it would still mean the end of coal. Coals odds are looking long here, but for contrarian investors its possible this is an opportunity.

Michael McDonald Of Oilprice.com

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U.S. energy policy has endured relatively unchanged since 2008. That being said, U.S. energy is not what it was seven years ago.

U.S. crude oil production is up some 88 percent, or nearly 4.5 million barrels per day (mbpd); U.S. natural gas production rose 27 percent in that span. For its part, total renewables production grew nearly 35 percent. Further, how we generate and consume electricity is rapidly evolving. Change is on the horizon however, and an election year, an energized Obama, and general market turmoil are conspiring to shape energy movements toward 2020. Related: Who Would Be The Best Presidential Candidate For Energy Companies?

To be sure, reform wont come easy  just look at the long-fought lifting of the crude export ban. For a more recent example see the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015. The bipartisan legislation, drafted by Alaska Senator and Energy Committee chairwoman Lisa Murkowski and Washington Senator Mary Cantwell, has fallen flat after lawmakers came to an impasse over a $600 million amendment to confront the water crisis in Flint, Michigan.

Of note in the proposed legislation are its stipulations on infrastructure modernization, liquefied natural gas (LNG) export permitting, and hydroelectric generation. Of course  and as a result of its bipartisan origins  the bill skirts more contentious issues like advanced climate change mitigation and enhanced oil and gas production. While the welcomed bit of pragmatism has been stymied for a time, several of its provisions are worth an extended fight.

United States electricity infrastructure is old  on average, past its expiration date. The nation endures blackouts at a rate greater than, and duration longer than, its developed peers, and the costs are immense; power outages cost Americans at least $150 billion each year. Weather-related outages remain the most serious, and growing, concern, but cyber threats are more real than ever. Related: IEA: No Oil Price Rally In The Short Term

U.S. investigators confirmed earlier this month that a first-of-its-kind cyber attack brought down parts of the Ukrainian power grid late last year. The U.S. system is believed to be similarly vulnerable. Senator Murkowskis legislation offers no immediate fix, but does attempt to establish a more rigorous framework  and give ground to research  to properly address such risks as our grid matures and facilitates more and more two-way data and power flows.

Moving on to LNG, the first shipment from the lower forty-eight is expected later this month or in early March, though the journey for Cheniere Energy and others has been a slog. The modernization bill aims to expedite a permitting process that, because of its hoops, has slowed investment in the burgeoning LNG export sector, delaying gratification for what could be a very potent political and economic instrument for the United States.

The U.S. Department of Energy has approved projects capable of sending up to 10 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/day) abroad to non-FTA countries by early next decade; potential additional capacity totaling more than 30 bcf/day is still awaiting approval. As it stands, global growth is outpacing that of demand, a trend that is likely to continue for the next decade. LNG spot prices in Asia and Europe have gone the way of oil, limiting U.S. exports ultimate profitability. Related: Hopes Fall on Emergency OPEC Meeting

Still  as Gazprom waffles and Asian markets look to diversify  there are market opportunities to be had if acted upon quickly. Domestically, higher prices at Henry Hub  only $0.17 higher under a high-export scenario  could support production growth of as much as 5 percent between 2026 and 2040.

Regarding green energy, the bill eschews more proper renewables like wind and solar in favor of hydro. More specifically, the legislation seeks to extend production incentives and improve the backlogged regulatory process, though care will be necessary to ensure state and federal renewable standards are not diluted. Hydro faces stiff domestic competition from natural gas, solar, and wind, but properly incentivized, significant minimally invasive opportunities exist to expand hydropowers role as Americas renewable backbone.

The path to Americas secure energy future is a work in progress  one taking many different forms. Its route is almost certainly not straight ahead. With little care and further inaction it will soon be behind us.

By Colin Chilcoat of Oilprice.com

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The rumors over a coordinated production cut between OPEC and Russia continue.

On Wednesday, the head of Russias state-owned oil company Rosneft floated the idea of participating in a production cut. Or did he?

Rosnefts chief Igor Sechin, arguably the most important voice from Russias energy sector, said major oil producers should cooperate to remove some of the supply overhang.

"A coordinated supply cut by major exporters by around 1 million barrels per day would sharply reduce uncertainty and would move the market towards reasonable pricing levels," Sechin said on February 10 at the International Petroleum Week conference in London, as reported by Reuters. On its face, that sounds as if he is expressing a willingness from Moscow to participate. But Sechin was careful not to say who, exactly, should do the cutting. Related: ISIS Forced To Cut Wages As Oil Revenues Tank

Who are we supposed to be talking to about cuts? Will Saudi Arabia or Iran cut production?" Sechin said to reporters when asked if Russia would participate in coordinated cuts. The FT took this as a rejection of Russias possible participation.

In the past, Sechin has clearly stated that Russia would not cooperate with OPEC on production cuts, saying that it could outlast other competitors in a downturn. It is also difficult for Russia to turn its oil fields on and off, especially in winter. Sechin has laid the blame for the oil price crash at the feet of OPEC and U.S. shale before, although at this weeks conference he was more measured. Related: Oil Prices Down Again On Energy Debt And Inventories Data

Separately, Sechin also dismissed the long-term viability of U.S. shale, noting that elevated output would be a temporary phenomenon. "Shale oil production has its limitations in scope and time ... U.S. shale oil production will reach its peak in 2020," he said.

In short, Russia appears no closer to cooperation with OPEC than before, despite the support for such a move from other oil executives in Russia. Without a clear statement from Russian President Vladimir Putin, the markets may continue to react to comments from figures such as Sechin.

By Charles Kennedy of Oilprice.com

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When it comes to gold in northern Africa, the focus has always been on places like Ghana and Burkina Faso. With growing exploration activity pushing into neighboring countries like Cote dIvoire the last few years.

But news this week suggests that potential in this region may now be opening up across a wider area.

For one thing, the Democratic Republic of Congo announced this week that its 2015 gold production increased 30 percent as compared to 2014  hitting 820,000 ounces for the year.

As the map below shows, this big jump in gold output comes a long way southeast of the traditional Ghana gold-producing region. With the DR Congo lying about 1,500 kilometers away. Related: Are We Nearing A Transition Point In Oil Production?

Surging gold production in the DR Congo (lower right) comes a long way from northern Africas traditional producing areas in Ghana and Burkina Faso (top left)

And there may be an even bigger prize lurking here  right in between the two areas. Related: IEA: No Oil Price Rally In The Short Term

Thats in Nigeria. Where the government said this week it is hoping to jumpstart the exploration business across one of the largest nations in the region  measuring almost a million square kilometers in area.

Nigerias minister of solid mineral development, Kayode Fayemi, said Monday that the government has completed a comprehensive review of mineral licenses across the country. And will now look to bring new life to exploration areas  by stripping licenses from firms that have been inactive in advancing these projects.

Fayemi said that some licenses could be revoked as early as March 1. Potentially bringing prime ground out of the woodwork, and into the hands of new operators. Related: Could Gasoline Drop Below $1 Per Gallon?

The move comes as Nigeria is looking to diversify its economy away from oil. Giving a serious push to reforms in the country  which is well-positioned geologically, but hasnt seen a lot of comprehensive exploration work due to regulatory issues.

Watch for the results of the governments review  which will reportedly be revealed next week.

Heres to moving things along

By Dave Forest

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Citing anti-Russian sentiment in Eastern Europe, Russian Lukoil is selling some 240 gas stations in Lithuania, Latvia and Poland, as it seeks to optimize its retail assets in the oil price downturn.

The prospective buyer is Austrias AMIC Energy Management, and the deal could close in the second quarter of this year, though final approval from the authorities is still pending.

Anti-Russian sentiment is running high in the Baltic States, and the new sale follows a similar move last summer in Estonia to divest 100 percent of its Estonian subsidiary Lukoil Eesti to a local energy company, Olerex.

But its not just the Baltics. In 2014, Lukoil also sold off its gas stations in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia.



Related: OPEC Will Not Blink First

While Poland is scheduled to shed the Lukoil name sometime in 2016, the Latvian and Lithuanian stations will likely retain the Lukoil brand for the next five years. New buyers will have to distance themselves from the Lukoil brand in some other way in order to keep anti-Russian clientele from filling up elsewhere.

Poland, under a new government since October 2015, is no friend to Russia, and the new powers at the helm are fanning the flames of anti-Russian sentiment more than ever. There are even suggestions that the ruling party believes the plane crash that killed the Polish presidents twin brother, former president Lech Kaczynski in 2010, was the result of Russian sabotage.

Its all been bad for business from where Lukoil is standing. And the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, plus rumblings in Georgia, will only make matters worse.

While Lukoil has said that the decision to sell the gas stations was part of a program to optimize Lukoils retail asset structure in Eastern Europe, more broadly speaking, the optimization is necessary because of anti-Russian sentiment.



Related: Could Gasoline Drop Below $1 Per Gallon?

The decision to withdraw from the Baltics, according to Lukoil CEO Vagit Alekperov, was based on the fact that the company began to lose money and felt a negative attitude towards them.

Alekperov also told Russian TV station Russia-24 that the Lithuanian and Latvian assets were being sold because of what he called a fairly serious anti-Russian sentiment.

All in all, its been a tough year for all oil companies, and for Lukoil this has meant a number of things.



Related: Rising OPEC Oil Production Worsens Glut

Earlier this week, Lukoil said its proved oil reserves were down to 12.585 billion barrels. The same period last year they were at 13.6 billion barrels. Lukoils total proved hydrocarbon reserves are down this year as well, to 16.6 billion barrels of oil equivalent. For the previous year they were at 17.59 billion barrels.

And while the company is courting a return to Iran, its pulling out of other big projects.

Earlier this week it announced that it was definitively withdrawing from its offshore Ivory Coast, where its been since 2006, after suggesting withdrawal in mid-January.

On Tuesday, shares of LUKOIL (OTCMKTS:LUKOY) opened at 29.65, compared with a one-year low of $25.88 and a one-year high of $53.78.

By Julianne Geiger of Oilprice.com

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Economic hopes are rising in Armenia that the country can serve as a trade conduit for Iran now that international sanctions against Tehran are being lifted.

Armenia has long-standing ties to Iran, and is a member of the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), a factor that potentially increases its attractiveness as a trade partner for Tehran. Yerevan is an important avenue for both Iran to export through Armenia into that large combined market [EEU], and as a platform for Western engagement in the now opening Iranian market, noted Richard Giragosian, director of the non-governmental Regional Studies Center in the Armenian capital, Yerevan.



The World Banks country director for Armenia, Laura Bailey, told RFE/RLs Armenian service in January that stalled energy partnerships between Iran and Armenia could be the first sector to take off.



Related: OPEC Will Not Blink First



Indeed, National Iranian Gas Exports Company Managing Director Alireza Kameli announced on February 7 that Iran is considering increasing five-fold the 1 million cubic meters of gas it sends daily to Armenia, state-run Iranian media reported. At the same time, plans for a new power line to increase Armenias electricity exports to Iran are developing.



The gas deal appears to fit into a larger, regional scheme. In December, quadripartite talks took place during which Armenia, Iran, and the Black Sea countries of Georgia and Russia agreed to establish a coordinating group on establishing an energy corridor linking the four countries.



We should spare no efforts to connect the Persian Gulf with the Black Sea [via Georgia, Armenias northern neighbor], Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told his Armenian counterpart, Serzh Sargsyan in a January 24 phone conversation, Irans MehrNews agency reported.



Negotiations already have occurred between Iran and the Georgian government about sending Iranian gas to Georgia via Armenia, Iranian state media reported Kameli, the Iranian gas official, as saying in early January.



Some Armenian experts are tempering their optimism with caution. Russian-owned companies control an estimated 80 percent of Armenias energy sector. Energy giant Gazprom runs the gas pipelines from Iran and on to Georgia, and it tends to look askance at competitors who might try to muscle in on their markets. At the same time, no clear sign has emerged that Moscow opposes an increase in Iranian gas exports to Armenia. The Sputnik news agency, a Kremlin mouthpiece, promptly reported Kamelis announcement on February 7.



Iranian affairs specialist Armen Vardanian at Yerevans Armenian Institute of International and Security Affairs believes that Russia will embrace the projects that will not contradict its national interests.



Related: T. Boone Pickens On Obama Oil Tax: Dumbest Idea Ever



For example, he continued, Gazprom, as the owner of the involved pipelines, will benefit from the export of Iranian gas to Georgia and would not raise objections to it.



Last month, Georgian Energy Minister Kakha Kaladze claimed that Russia had raised the prospect of ending its own gas exports to Armenia via Georgia, and instead having Iran provide the supplies.



Given Russias energy positions, Vardanian downplayed the possibility that Armenia could become a transit country for significant shipments of Iranian gas to Europe. Russia would strongly oppose it, he said. Gas is the last weapon left in Russias political arsenal that is a means of putting pressure on some European countries, and the Kremlin will not want to lose it.



Gazprom accounts for a majority of gas supplies to several European Union members.



The prospect of Iranian gas flooding the EU market, creating downward pressure on prices, is a major disincentive for Russia, added Giragosian. He also expressed caution when it comes to Iranian gas exports to Armenia, even via a Gazprom-run pipeline.



There will be little incentive for allowing Armenia to escape the Russian orbit so easily. And given Armenias pronounced dependence on Russian gas imports, the potential of an expansion of Armenian-Iranian energy ties will be the first target of Russian pressure, Giragosian said.



Related: Rising OPEC Oil Production Worsens Glut



Despite these obstacles, Yerevan, he advised, should pursue a role for engaging Iran.



Success could provide a much-needed financial boost for landlocked Armenia, which is subject to an economic blockade by two (Azerbaijan and Turkey) of its four neighbors.



Officials and experts believe that hydropower is a sector with great potential for growth. According to an official report from Armenias Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, a large-scale electricity exchange program between Armenia and Iran is planned to start in 2018. Power will also be exported north to Georgia.



The groundbreaking for a hydropower plant on the Aras River, which flows along the Iranian-Armenian border, took place in 2012, but the freezing of Irans international financial assets stopped further work.



Some officials have expressed hope for an expansion of transportation links. But so far, progress in this area has been slow. In late January, Armenia and Iran signed an agreement about a transportation corridor that would link Iran to Georgia. The Georgian government on February 8 announced plans to cancel visa requirements for Iranians, but Tbilisi has not, as yet, signed the transportation agreement.



Meanwhile, Armenia has started talks with China to have a proposed multi-billion-dollar, 470-kilometer-long Iran-Armenia railway included in the Beijing-promoted Silk Road project. So far the discussions have not yielded any results.



In [the] post-sanction era, the path towards expanding economic cooperation has been unblocked, Iranian President Rouhani told Sargsyan during the pairs phone chat.

By Gayane Abrahamyan via Eurasianet

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About Give - Aways

All Give-Aways posted on the Oklahoma Transient Blog are sponsored and purchased by me, Sandy, as a special gift to say Thank You.




It was President George W. Bush (43) who created the "Axis of Evil", label by trying to awaken Americans to the dangers posed by the triumverate nations and their leaders in Iran, Iraq and North Korea. Since Bush identified this trio, Iraq has been invaded and is re-occupied by some US troops and Iran has become a lukewarm ally. Therefore, the Evil Axis trio must be refreshed. Tragically, the triumvirate today is even worse than the trio Bush described.





Kim Jong-un is the epitomy of the Axis of evil, using sheer terror to rule like a diabolic maniac over North Korea

Kim Jong-un was born January 8, 1983- (his death is to be determined).





Today's Axis of evil is led by Kim Jong-un, the lunatic president of North Korea. He's a monster of an man who is has become as close to being a weirwolf as any human has ever known.

President al-Assad is the second angle in the evil triangle.

Assad was born September 11, 1965- (his death is to be determined)

North Korea's bizzare leader rules by using sheer terror over his own people. Equalled with the weirwolf is Bashar al-Assad, the evil president of Syria. This diabolic man has caused tens of thousands of Syrians to flee their homes because of the carnage, death and destruction Assad showered on his own people, without justifiable reason.





Completing the Axis triangle is Vladimir Putin, who is president and perhaps the newest Czar of Russia. There's little doubt about Putin's ambitions to somehow rule the world according to him. In my opinion, if Putin's Russia had the money to do it, he would sign Kim Jong-un and al-Asssad to a blood pact to conspire for world dominance. He'd bribe both of them until he didn't need them anymore in which case they would likely be fed tea tainted with plutonium.

Vladimir Putin is the king-pin of the Axis of Evil. If Russia's currency could sustain his evil ambitions, it's likely Putin would engage in even more international agression.

Putin was born on October 7, 1952- (his death is yet to be determined)

Probably, the curret low cost of world oil is further tanking the worthless Russian ruble (just like it's hitting hard at the stock market).





Possibly, if the long term purpose of the world's current oil glut is to take down Russia's economy, then the sacrifices made by small Wall Street investors might be the price we all pay to pull the rug out from Putin's evil expansionist ambitions.





The Guardian reports from the Syrian Centre for Policy Research, that human development in Syria has been ruined after 45% of the nation's population has been displaced. Syrian humanitarian genocide by Assad over his own people is now estimated to have taken 470,000 lives or 11.5 percent of the nation's people. reports from the Syrian Centre for Policy Research, that human development in Syria has been ruined after 45% of the nation's population has been displaced.





almost obliterated by the catastrophic impact of nearly five years of conflict, a new report has found. Fatalities caused by war, directly and indirectly, amount to 470,000, according to the



In all, 11.5% of the countrys population have been killed or injured since the crisis erupted in March 2011, the report estimates. The number of wounded is put at 1.9 million. Life expectancy has dropped from 70 in 2010 to 55.4 in 2015. Overall economic losses are estimated at $255bn (175bn).



A devastating and stark account of the Syria's wars toll came as warnings multiplied about Aleppo, Syrias largest city, is in danger of being cut off by a government advance aided by Russian airstrikes and Iranian militiamen. The Syrian opposition is demanding urgent action to relieve the suffering of tens of thousands of civilians.



The International Red Cross said on Wednesday that 50,000 people had fled the upsurge in fighting in the north, requiring urgent deliveries of food and water. Obviously, Russia is supporting Assad under the cover of providing relief for the Syrian people but the alternative motive is to control the outcome of the war. This humanitarian carnage won't likely be resolved in any of our lifetimes, because generations of misplaced and murdered people will eventually have their horror stories revealed with demands for justified reparations. Syrias national wealth, infrastructure and institutions have beenof nearly five years of conflict, a new report has found. Fatalities caused by war, directly and indirectly, amount to 470,000, according to the Syrian Centre for Policy Research (SCPR)  a far higher total than the figure of 250,000 used by the United Nations until it stopped collecting statistics 18 months ago.In all, 11.5% of the countrys population have been killed or injured since the crisis erupted in March 2011, the report estimates. The number of wounded is put at 1.9 million. Life expectancy has dropped from 70 in 2010 to 55.4 in 2015. Overall economic losses are estimated at $255bn (175bn).A devastating and stark account of the Syria's wars toll came as warnings multiplied about Aleppo, Syrias largest city, is in danger of being cut off by a government advance aided by Russian airstrikes and Iranian militiamen. The Syrian opposition is demanding urgent action to relieve the suffering of tens of thousands of civilians.The International Red Cross said on Wednesday that 50,000 people had fled the upsurge in fighting in the north, requiringdeliveries of food and water. Obviously, Russia is supporting Assad under the cover of providing relief for the Syrian people but the alternative motive is to control the outcome of the war. This humanitarian carnage won't likely be resolved in any of our lifetimes, because generations of misplaced and murdered people will eventually have their horror stories revealed with demands for justified reparations.





Kim Jung-up in North Korea is causing his own unimaginable carnage. In fact, rumors of a coup by the North Korean army against Jung-un was reported, especially since a senior North Korean military leader was executed for "factionalism, misuse of authority and corruption," reports CNN, from a South Korean government official with knowledge of North Korean affairs.



The official, who spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity, declined to give further details on how or when General Ri Yong-gil, chief of the North Korean Army's general staff, was executed.





What does this Axis of Evil mean for Americans? Well, to me it looks like the future of civilization as we know it is at a crossroad.





Therefore, as the US Presidential 2016, campaign advances, it seems like Americans are "whistling past the graveyard", trying to remain aloof, by ignoring the "Axis of Evil" refresher.

Labels: Bashar al-Assad, Kim Jong-un, North Korea, President George W. Bush, Syria, The Guardian, Vladimir Putin
Will Senator Bernie Sanders plan for health coverage really raise taxes? No- but people must learn to understand how his health care coverage is supposed to work.

Sanders policies are not tax dependent if his plan supports "Medicare for All"





If the Sanders plan is "Medicare for All", the methodology is already in place for his plan to work without increasing any taxes. On the other hand, Universal Health Care would certainly increase taxes, because this methodology involves blanket coverage with little actuarial ovesight; whereas, Medicare requires beneficiary plus employer contributions to cover the health care costs.





Americans need to understand how Medicare works. It's not rocket science. Rather, Medicare is a single payer health insurance where beneficiaries earn the coverage by contributing to the Social Security/Medicare trust fund for 40 quarters of their employment years - in other words, for 10 years. Yet, the beneficiaries who pay the 40 quarters with employee matched contributions must wait until they are 65 years old to receive the benefits.





In my opinion, "Medicare for All" should include everybody who contributes the 40 quarters towards the qualifications for benefits but should not be held back until the beneficiaries are 65 years old. Why not receive the benefits when the 40 quarters are achieved? Moreover, paying into the Medicare trust fund doesn't stop after the 40 quarters are paid. In fact, the Medicare trust fund continues to grow for as long as employees and their employers pay into the benefit. Therefore, after the 40 quarters are paid by each qualified beneficiary, the contributions will continue; but under "Medicare for all", the beneficiary can receive coverage as soon as the qualifications are met. "Medicare for all" is not universall health care and it isn't "welfare". Instead, "Medicare for all" is a mandated contributions paid health insurance plan where the federal government becomes the single payer and absorbs the risk when a beneficiary has exceeded the actuarial evaluation, meaning, beneficiaries rates don't increase if health costs exceed premiums.





"...Chelsea Clinton, campaigning for her mother in New Hampshire, took a question from a teacher at Miss Porter's School (Jacqueline Bouvier's alma mater), whos pro-Clinton students were in need of a talking point to counter their "Bern-feeling" contemporaries. "Senator Sanders wants to dismatle Obamacare, dismantle the CHIP program, dismantle Medicare", Chelease said."That could strip millions and millions and millions of people of their health insurance."





Yikes, that's just not fact! In my opinion, "Medicare for All" doesn't strip anybody of their current health coverage but will exapand access to beneficiaries who pay into the trust fund.

As for the Childrens Health Insurance Plan (CHIP), this program could benefit from expanding the risk pool of those who are covered by including more children when parents or guardians can pay for the benefits. Right now, only income qualified beneficiaries receive the limited benefits. But, people who don't now qualify for the CHIP coveage could pay to receive it, like a graduated payment insurance plan. Children who need coverage provided by the CHIP plan could have their premiums adjusted, according to income.





Senator Sanders is a Medicare beneficiary. Given his credentials as a liberal democratic socialist, it's extremely unlikely he will dismantle Medicare. In fact, his intention are to expand and improve Medicare coverage, but to do so with the benficiaries premiums, not expanded taxes.





Americans aren't willing to pay for health insurance like Universal Health Care, with tax money, because, frankly, the business of selling coverage is just too lucrative for the capitalistic system to forgo. As a matter of fact, Senator Sanders says he's running a campaign against the Wall Street controllers of our nation's economy, but he should look over his shoulder at how major insurance companies are positioned to dismantle any attempt to change their profit margins.







Why Americans Cant Have Universal Healthcare Like Europeans By



Americans aren't interested in paying significantly higher income taxes to have government-provided' healthcare. By Rmuse on Wed, Feb 10th, 2016Americans aren't interested in paying significantly higher income taxes to have government-provided' healthcare.





If Europeans can do it, why cant Americans? After all, America the greatest nation on Earth and should be able to do everything Europeans do, only better.



That may be true, except Americans are unwilling to pay to do much of anything better, much less catch up with Europe and offer universal healthcare.

all but ensures single payer is not in the near future; and no political revolution is going to change that fact.



Americans aren't interested in paying significantly higher income taxes to have government-provided healthcare. National health insurance, or single payer, is a dream for many Americans, but if they actually comprehended what it will cost them, and the rest of the taxpayers, they may pause and reconsider.



For example, Britain has a relatively well-regarded universal healthcare system that every citizen pays for through national income tax. The tax rate for income tax and National Health Insurance in the United Kingdom (England) in 2015-16 for all citizens earning between zero and 31,785, considered basic-rate (flat rate) taxpayers, is a whopping 20 percent of their entire income. It is a full 15 percent more than Americas middle class tax rate and would entail a 20 percent tax hike for 45 percent of Americans who pay nothing now.



If a British citizen earns just one pence over that basic threshold, their income tax rate jumps to 40 percent up to 150,000. For income over that number the rate is 45 percent; all to cover the National Health plan administered solely by the government with a form of rationing.



For a comparison, and one reason why many Democrats are reticent to go all-in to support enactment of single-payer in America, in 2015, 20 percent tax bill will embrace being poorer to have basic healthcare when they will be unable to eat or pay rent.



Many of those 45-percenters are in poor Republican states and already complain they are taxed enough already; it is just one reason they reliably vote for Republicans pledging to cut taxes, get rid of Medicare and Medicaid, and get government out of the healthcare business.



For middle class Americans, the federal income tax rate stands at about It is as laughable that Americans paying nothing in income taxes will support a 20 percent increase as it is the middle class supporting a 34.7 percent tax hike for universal healthcare; not when they already have healthcare insurance or can buy a Cadillac policy and still have money to eat, pay rent, take a vacation, and still afford their 5.3 percent federal income tax bill.



For the richest one-percent of income earners, the average After briefly perusing some tax statistics in America and England, it became immediately apparent that although a single payer, or universal healthcare system is a dream come true, the cost to the peopleandAmericans aren't interested in paying significantly higher income taxes to have government-provided healthcare. National health insurance, or single payer, is a dream for many Americans, but if they actually comprehended what it will cost them, and the rest of the taxpayers, they may pause and reconsider.For example, Britain has a relatively well-regarded universal healthcare system that every citizen pays for through national income tax. The tax rate for income tax and National Health Insurance in the United Kingdom (England) in 2015-16 for all citizens earning between zero and 31,785, considered basic-rate (flat rate) taxpayers, is aIt is a full 15 percent more than Americas middle class tax rate and would entail a 20 percent tax hike for 45 percent of Americans who pay nothing now.If a British citizen earns just one pence over that basic threshold, their income tax rate jumps to 40 percent up to 150,000. For income over that number the rate is 45 percent; all to cover the National Health plan administered solely by the government with a form of rationing.For a comparison, and one reason why many Democrats are reticent to go all-in to support enactment of single-payer in America, in 2015, 45 percent of Americans with earned income paid zero income tax. One cannot comprehend how nearly half of the population living in poverty and barely making it and then saddled with ato have basic healthcare when they will be unable to eat or pay rent.Many of those 45-percenters are in poor Republican states and already complain they are taxed enough already; it is just one reason they reliably vote for Republicans pledging to cut taxes, get rid of Medicare and Medicaid, and get government out of the healthcare business.For middle class Americans, the federal income tax rate stands at about 5.3 percent for tax year 2015.not when they already have healthcare insurance or can buy a Cadillac policy and still have money to eat, pay rent, take a vacation, and still afford their 5.3 percent federal income tax bill.For the richest one-percent of income earners, the average effective federal income tax rate is just 24.7 percent. That group is still screaming bloody murder over the slight 2.9 percent tax increase at the end of 2012. Imagine, without laughing, their outrage at paying 45 percent of their annual incomes, about a 20 percent increase, so all Americans can have universal healthcare.

Even more laughable is imagining a Democrat, any Democrat, submitting a bill in any House or Senate committee to raise taxes on the poor by 20 percent, raise middle class taxes by 35 percent, and saddle the wealthy elite with a 20 percent tax hike.





Now imagine the Republican majority House laughing like banshees at whichever Democrat proposes epic tax hikes on all Americans; especially when Republicans pledge to cut taxes as is their bases demand.



The grand Republican plan is a two-tiered flat tax, rate schedule with about a 10 percent flat tax on all Americans up to what most consider a very-upper middle class income; effectively a tax hike on every American who is not in the wealthy class. The highest rate for the wealthy elite is proposed at around 20 percent that does not account for the special deductions and breaks only the wealthy get. Their effective rate will be approximately 5 to 8 percent; a decrease of about 15 percent and less than the poorest American paying 10 percent.



Now, some argue that to account for outrageously higher taxes and a much-desired single payer, Democrats will use charm and a political revolution to mesmerize Koch Republicans in Congress to raise the minimum wage to make up for monumental tax hikes on the poor and middle class. Keep in mind, the same Koch Republicans who want to get rid of Medicare, Obamacare, and any kind of healthcare also want to abolish the minimum wage; not raise it. If they were inclined to do right by American workers, they would have passed a minimum wage hike seven years ago when President Obama started begging them to help American workers.



It is curious that few Americans wonder why Republicans are pouring no small amount of super PAC money into ads attacking Hillary Clinton using rhetoric lifted directly from the Sanders campaign. They want an election pitting a Republican, almost any Republican, against a candidate pledging to raise taxes substantially on everyone. Despite what many pundits say, the candidate that terrifies Republicans is Mrs. Clinton. If that were not the case, the Kochs and Karl Rove would be using their resources now to attack the candidate promising to raise taxes.



Americans are not Europeans; they are rugged individualists and not interested in paying higher taxes for the good of the nation, much less their fellow Americans. It is not that Europeans are any better than Americans, they just care about their fellow citizens and comprehend that being taxed at higher rates benefits the entire population.



Remember, this is America and the people have been programmed to hate the federal government for over three decades. Add in the past seven years of Republican conditioning that being selfish and greedy is an American Christian virtue, and the idea of paying higher taxes so every American has basic healthcare is, although working out well in Europe, a pipe dream in America no matter who proposes it.



On the other hand, "Medicare for All" need doesn't require tax increases to be successful, because the program works efficiently just the way it's currently administered.

Labels: Amy Davidson, CHIP, politicususa, The New Yorker, Universal Health Care
The latest

4 new features you'll find at the refreshed Cafe Hollander in Tosa

In addition to refinished hardwood floors, additional reclaimed wood accents and new paint throughout the restaurant, there are numerous new features which diners can enjoy during their next visit ... or during the upcoming Tour de Tosa progressive dinner on Jan. 26.
As we close out 2020, we wanted to share some of our favorite stories from the last decade. We hope you enjoy reading these stories as much as we enjoyed telling them. Click here to see the rest of our picks of must-reads and happy new year, Milwaukee!

Thanks to Milwaukeean and photographer Adam Levin, who found a treasure trove of old Kodachrome half-frame slides of Milwaukee in an antiques store, we can offer up these gorgeous photos of the city as it appeared in the mid-to-late 1970s.

Levin  who runs the Old Milwaukee group on Facebook and has posted some of the images there  found the pictures, taken by Ray Szopieray. The Milwaukee County Historical Society actually has a collection of more than 25,000 of Szopieray's images, documenting the Milwaukee area from 1935 through 1985. As for the slides of Szopieray's shots Levin found at the antiques store, he nabbed four boxes at a 10-spot a box. Lucky dog.

Enjoy this walk down memory lane ...

1. Third & Wisconsin

This entire block came down soon after and was replaced with the Henry Reuss Federal Plaza, including the 1940s-era Esquire Theater. In these days, there was no Grand Avenue Mall, and 3rd Street went through between Wisconsin and Michigan.

2. 4th & Wisconsin

Seems kinda bustling doesn't it? You can see the Wisconsin Hotel lingering there in the background. Through a gap at left, you can see the building that was long home to Radio Doctors.

3. 5th & Wisconsin

Looking northeast toward 5th and Wisconsin. There's the old Strand Theater, as well as a pizza by the slice place that was definitely gone by the time I got here in 1983 and found a pizza slice desert. Some of us remember when City News was Motown Beauty Supply. And look at Schwartz Bookshop over there on the corner, before it moved to the Iron Block in the '80s.

4. Voom Voom Room

This spot on the northwest corner of 5th and Wisconsin was the Voom Voom Room strip club. But it was also a live music venue for many years before that. More here.

5. 500 block of West Wisconsin Avenue

Looking east on Wisconsin Avenue from roughly the southeast corner at 6th Street, we get a wider view  you can spy The Pabst Building in the distance  of photo No. 3.

6. Wisconsin Avenue bridge

Speaking of The Pabst Building, you can see it at right in this photo showing the construction of the new Wisconsin Avenue bridge over the Milwaukee River. The Pabst and its northerly neighbor were demolished and replaced, after a period of inactivity, with 100 East Wisconsin.

7. 5th & Wisconsin

Another view of 5th and Wisconsin, this one looking northwest and showing Schwartz and the Voom Voom Room, but, best of all, offering a look at the Carpenter Building, with the old Wisconsin Theater  which opened in 1924  and its then-extant sign for the rooftop ballroom. The theater also had a 15-lane bowling center in the basement. I remember my grandfather telling me that the draft office was in the Carpenter Building during World War II (with an entrance on 6th Street). It was demolished in 1986.

8. Brady Street

Just goes to show you it has always been party time on Brady Street. Here's a great show looking toward the lake from just east of Humboldt.

9. North Water Street

Back when Trocadero was Under the Bridge and the only thing separating North Water Street from the Milwaukee River running parallel to the north was a long stretch of Gallun tannery buildings, seen at left. Those have all been razed, and new developments are under construction there right now.

10. 10th & Mitchell

A nice little look back at the city's second busiest shopping street and the South Side's very own Main Street, this one has a great art deco facade, a First Wisconsin Bank branch AND a TYME machine!

Click here to see 10 views of 1960s Milwaukee
Travel media company Lonely Planet recently unveiled its sixth annual "Best in the U.S." list, a ranking of the 10 most exciting, intriguing and up-and-coming destinations to visit in the upcoming year as selected by the company's U.S.-based editors and travel writers. And for 2016, Milwaukee made the list.

The Cream City placed at number 10 in Lonely Planet's rankings for 2016, with this to say for its selection:

Chicago may cast a big shadow, but Milwaukee is enjoying its moment in the sun. Synonymous with beer since the 1850s thanks to an influx of German immigrants, the citys beery side still bubbles strong. Brew-loving travelers can tour both the Miller and the Lakefront breweries, have a draft at Best Place in former Pabst headquarters and sample the new wave of craft brews at the many local pubs. The German history also comes through in the local obsessions with sausages and dairy: get brats and beer cheese soup at Milwaukee Brat House and sample local cheeses at Uber Tap Room. Have your camera ready for the Milwaukee Art Museum, with the Santiago Calatrava-designed Quadracci Pavilion that looks poised to take flight over Lake Michigan at any moment.

This marks the second list to vote Milwaukee as a top place to visit, as the Boston Globe previously chimed in naming Milwaukee as one of 2016's "hot travel destinations" (though, considering the current temperature outside, maybe not literally).

As for the rest of Lonely Planet's list, Philadelphia landed in the top spot this year, with Natchez, Mississippi and Yellowstone National Park taking home silver and bronze.

To read the rest, click here.


Huge Crowds, Huge winning margins in state primaries won't matter if the Democratic party steals the primary election with superdelegates

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It's true. Bernie earned 15 delegates by winning 62.5% of the Democratic vote-- the bottom up democratic way. But Hillary also received 15 delegates. The difference is, she earned 9 delegates because people voted for her. But the anti-democratic, top down Democratic Party provides a system that prevents the people from electing candidates. The DNC enabled her to have six superdelegates. That makes the New Hampshire delegate count a tie-- 15 to 15.



As it stands, Bernie Sanders could continue to win popular votes in more early primary states and lose or tie elections because the DNC gives Hillary superdelegates. This is comparable to intra-party gerrymandering.

This is bullshit, an outrageous obscenity against justice and Democracy. It should go no further.

I demand that the Democratic party eliminate superdelegates ASAP.

For Democrats, superdelegates fall into two categories: delegates seated based on other positions they hold, who are formally described (in Rule 9.A) as "unpledged party leader and elected official delegates" [2] (unpledged PLEO delegates); and

(unpledged PLEO delegates); and additional unpledged delegates selected by each state party (in a fixed predetermined number), who are formally described (in Rule 9.B) as "unpledged add-on delegates" and who need not hold any party or elected position before their selection as delegates.[2] We live in a time where the system tries to disconnect us from participation in influencing how things are decided. A handful of elites are in charge of a very top down system and they like it that way. Superdelegates are an invention of the Democratic party-- designed to prevent popular candidates from winning primaries. Superdelegates are elected officials-- members of the senate, the house of representatives. Here, Wikipedia provides more details:

"There is no fixed number of unpledged PLEO (Party Leaders and Elected Officials) delegates. The number can change during the campaign as particular individuals gain or lose qualification under a particular category. The unpledged PLEO delegates are: all Democratic members of the United States Congress, Democratic governors, members of the Democratic National Committee, "[a]ll former Democratic Presidents, all former Democratic Vice Presidents, all former Democratic Leaders of the U.S. Senate, all former Democratic Speakers of the U.S. House of Representatives and Democratic Minority Leaders, as applicable, and all former Chairs of the Democratic National Committee." And here's who the superdelegates are, according to Wikipedia

Originally, Superdelegates made up 14% of the total delegates. It has crept up to 20%, with the additional delegates appointed by powerful people in the party. This has always been bullshit. This is what elites holding top down power do when bottom up movements threaten their power.

It is essential that we the people, independent of Bernie Sanders or his organization, take action to force the Democratic party to get rid of the superdelegate system.

If the DNC does not get rid of superdelegates I believe there will be a mass exodus by the people who are supporting Bernie. They will leave the Democratic party. There will be a meltdown and a massive repudiation of the Undemocratic party. Bernie's enthusiastic supporters, especially the young ones, who Bernie has inspired to get involved in politics, will not show up on election day. If Mike Bloomberg runs, he will get some of their votes, Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate will get some of their votes. A Hillary win through superdelegates will lead the Democratic party down a primrose path to defeat-- a well deserved defeat.

"Change never takes place from the top down. it always takes place from the bottom-up" Bernie Sanders The Democratic party go down in flames. I don't want that to happen. I want the Democratic party to live up to its name. Bernie Sanders is the only declared candidate who can make that happen, the only candidate who embraces bottom up as the way to make change happen.

What is bottom up? It's a way of seeing, doing and relating, a metaphor that we see in systems that are interconnected and interdependent, a metaphor through which life exists and change happens. The opposite of bottom up is top down. That's the way Hillary Clinton has always operated.

The leaders of the Democratic party may just be willing to lose this election rather than give up their top down control. Some of my most experienced political colleagues believe that to be the case. it is up to the grassroots voters to take ownership of the Democratic party. Insurrection is in the air in both major parties. Bernie Sanders has already achieved far more than the party leaders feared. Now, they are freaking out. It is time to make it clear to them that they will lose the White House and lose their shot at taking back the Senate if they don't terminate the superdelegate system, one that should have never been instituted in the first place.

The future is bottom up. If the Democratic party's superdelegate system is not ended, the Democratic party will not be a viable part of the future.

Sign my petition. Tell the DNC to get rid of the anti-democratic Superdelegate system

Read more about the superdelegate threat here:

Update: Some people say that superdelegates are not locked in, like delegates based on votes. That's true. They can change their minds. But we the people should not have to worry about whether a batch of former senators, congresspeople and governors and a nebulous collection of party leaders and people the elected people appoint can decide who wins the primary. It's wrong.
Duluth, Minnesota (OpEdNews) February 10, 2016: After President Harry Truman dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the English novelist George Orwell wrote his dark dystopian novel Nineteenth Eighty-Four (1948) -- a kind of dark sequel to the English novelist Aldous Huxley's dystopian novel Brave New World (1935).

Huxley's dystopian novel involves a satirical view of the consumerism that Pope Francis critiques in his recent eco-encyclical.

Orwell's dark dystopian novel contained his critique of English socialism and Soviet communism. Orwell based his fictional figure of Big Brother, at least in part, on Stalin.

After World War II ended, most Americans were anti-communist. All Republican and all Democratic politicians were anti-communist. Because the Soviet Union had officially outlawed religion, most American religionists were anticommunists. As a result, many Americans read Orwell's dark dystopian novel and relished his critique of communism.

In the spirit of the Cold War, Republican politicians tended to characterize Democrats as soft on communism, despite their official anti-communist rhetoric.

Moreover, the radical forces in the Republican Party had long railed against President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. Furthermore, they tended to reject President Dwight D. Eisenhower's as a moderate Republican, because he did not work feverishly against FDR's New Deal and Social Security -- as the radicals wanted to.

In their radical conservative imagination, so-called Big Government was as ominous as Big Brother in Orwell's dark dystopian novel.

As a result, in due time, the radical conservatives in the Republican Party supported Senator Barry Goldwater from Arizona for president in 1964. One of Goldwater's star supporters in 1964 was Ronald Reagan, who at a later time led the radical conservatives in the Republican Party to victory, when he was elected president in 1980.

The liberal American journalist E. J. (Eugene Joseph) Dionne, Jr. (born in 1952; D.Phil. in sociology, Oxford University, 1982), who grew up as a conservative in a conservative family, recounts the ups and downs of the radical conservatives in the Republican Party in his new book Why the Right Went Wrong: Conservatism -- From Goldwater to the Tea Party and Beyond (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2016).

Dionne says that the right went wrong by following the radical conservatives such as William F. Buckley, Jr., Goldwater, and Reagan, instead of following the moderate Republican President Eisenhower.

Dionne says, "Goldwater's victory [in the 1964 Republican presidential primary] was built on the conviction that the Republican Party's establishment had betrayed its conservative loyalists for a generation" -- by repeatedly not handing the Republican presidential nomination to the conservative Senator Robert A. Taft (page 16). According to Dionne, Goldwater's spirit of rebellion against the Republican Party's establishment has survived over the decades up to the present time in the Republican Party.

In the book A Nation of Outsiders: How the White Middle Class Fell in Love with Rebellion in Postwar America (Oxford University Press, 2011), Grace Elizabeth Hale details how white middle-class Americans fell in love with imagining themselves as cultural outsiders, as the radical conservatives discussed by Dionne did as they saw themselves as standing over against the Republican establishment.

In the book Decade of Nightmares: The End of the Sixties and the Making of Eighties America (Oxford University Press, 2006), Philip Jenkins details how radical conservatives have capitalized on anti-60s rhetoric to promote radical conservative candidates and causes. Unfortunately, Dionne does not mention Hale's and Jenkins' books.

Nevertheless, it should please Rob Kall that Dionne explicitly refers to bottom-up change, which he explicitly differentiates from top-down change. Let me explain.

Dionne says, "The civil rights, and moral revolutions of the 1960s created the [anti-60s] backlash that helped the conservative movement grow between 1964 and 1988, prompting the shift of white southerners to the GOP, the rise of Reagan Democrats, and the birth of the religious right" (page 7).

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(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
Reprinted from Alon Ben-Meir Blog

A courtesy of Prime Minister of Netanyahu





The demagoguery of Prime Minister Netanyahu seems to have no limit -- demagoguery in a sense that he says and acts on anything to buttress Israel's hold on the West Bank in the name of national security. This time around, Netanyahu came up with another absurd idea, proposing, as he stated, a "multi-year plan to surround Israel with security fences to protect ourselves in the current and projected Middle East."

Netanyahu went on to say that: "In our neighborhood, we need to protect ourselves from wild beasts." Knowing Netanyahu and his sentiment toward the Palestinians, using inflammatory language is customary for him, as he views every Palestinian as a would-be beastly terrorist.

It is obvious from everything we know that the purpose of building such a fence, which runs through a significant portion of Palestinian territory, is to make the expropriation of Palestinian land permanent.

At the same time, he continues to expand settlements in the West Bank and more than likely will build new ones while providing more than 10,000 soldiers to protect the settlers, ensuring that Palestinians will never establish (under his watch) their own state; of course, all of this is in the name of national security.

Netanyahu knows only too well that no fence, however high and regardless of the material it is made of, will prevent a determined terrorist from finding a way to penetrate it.

True, he will introduce the newest technology to detect any attempt to pierce through the wall; however, he seems to ignore the fact that Palestinian militants have perfected the art of building tunnels through which insurgents can still wage attacks on Israeli civilians or military personnel, even at the expense of getting killed in the process.

Netanyahu himself raised the question of the tunnels, stating: "If you're thinking of erecting a fence there you have to take into account that they could tunnel underneath it. The people who said that there is no significance to [retaining] territory in the modern age should go to Gaza."

Let us go to Gaza then; what do we find? Hamas has been able to build scores of tunnels underneath the fence that separates Gaza from Israel, and have successfully been able to go through the tunnels and attack Israeli forces and civilians.

Although Israeli forces found many of these tunnels during Operation Protective Edge in July 2014 and destroyed the majority of them, Hamas is now at work building new tunnels, knowing that no matter what security measures Israel takes, it will not find all the tunnels. Hamas is still in a position, should they chose to do so, to cross the fences from underneath.

Netanyahu also seems to ignore the fact that no fence, however sophisticated it may be, can stop rockets from being fired at Israel. During that same operation, Hamas was able to rain more than 3,000 rockets, which reached much of Israel's urban areas and caused tremendous havoc.

True, most of these rockets were intercepted; however, it was not the fence that intercepted them but the Iron Dome air defense system, demonstrating the ineffectiveness of the separation wall.

Netanyahu appears to ignore another reality in northern Israel along the Lebanese border, where Hezbollah is in possession of tens of thousands of short and medium range advanced rockets that can reach just about every part of Israel. What kind of fence, one might ask, does Netanyahu have in mind to stop Hezbollah from firing dozens of such rockets simultaneously?

Of course, Netanyahu conveniently did not talk about Hezbollah in Lebanon, because he has no plans to occupy any part of Lebanon.

In reaction to Netanyahu's plans to build a wall that encircles Israel, one of his main coalition partners, Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who is far more to the right than even Netanyahu, stated "The prime minister spoke today about how fences are needed. We are wrapping ourselves in fences. In Australia and New Jersey there is no need for fences."

Coming from an individual who is sinister and dangerous, Bennett is not against the wall because he feels that walls will not be effective, but because he believes that all of the West Bank belongs to Israel. Given the opportunity, he would annex much of the West Bank outright -- why then build a wall in one's own land?


Sheila Bair, Ex-head of the FDIC. Now President of Washington College and in a spat with the local town council over the payment of property taxes

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Former head of the FDIC, Sheila Bair, who was once ranked by Forbes as the 15th most powerful woman in the world, is pleading poverty in a spat over paying property taxes in her new job as President of Washington College, Chestertown, on the eastern shore of Maryland. However, in addition to fairness, equity, and economic sustainability, such a PILOT agreement would help to address two other inefficiencies in the local economy. Firstly, reduce the incentive for the college to have a relatively high ratio of capital and land to labor, and secondly, the propensity for the college to own property instead of leasing from local businesses & residents, which has traditionally restricted the traditional trickle-down economic benefits of a local college to the wider community.

Washington College is being gently led kicking and screaming by the ever-so-polite courtship of the local Town Council, who want the private university with a budget of about $64 million and annual fees of $54,000 per undergraduate to start paying a share towards the provision of public services.

The recent economic downturn in the USA has focused interest across municipalities, especially small college towns like Chestertown, in the PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) concept. Municipalities that are home to higher educational institutions, such as Washington College, are increasingly being squeezed as they have to fund a wide range of public services without the property-tax revenue that such tax-exempt organizations are able to avoid.

The college is able to take free advantage year round of a very wide range of public services for which it generally doesn't directly contribute in a financially transparent, equitable, or accountable way.

The college has made small donations towards the cost of the local fire department but this is actually a remarkably cheap expense to protect itself from a major catastrophe and the institution makes little or no contribution towards the many other public services that it currently freely takes advantage of; i.e., police, emergency services; water & sewerage infrastructure, waste-management services, roads & footpaths, street lighting, street cleaning, snow removal, community development, planning services, parks & recreation, public works & administration. Not forgetting any debt burdens incurred in the management of these same activities.



Washington College currently owns $70 million of tax-exempt property in the town (nearly half of of the total). This share is actually increasing yearly as the college buys up more properties within the town, thereby reducing even further the town's potential income from property taxes.

Not only are Chestertown tax-payers subsidizing the college's share of public services, they are also underwriting the $65.5 million revenue bond (Washington College Project 2008A), which was issued in May 2008.

Without the legal artifice provided by the Maryland Economic Development Revenue Bond Act and the good offices of the Municipality (i.e., the local tax-payers), the college would simply not be able to borrow sufficient funds at very low interests rates in order to exist, never mind expand. In effect, the town has facilitated the very expansion of the college that helps to erode the local property tax base.

Although 'the bond & interest are the obligation of the Town payable solely from the receipts & revenues from the loan made to Washington College', it does not change the fact that these huge figures remain every year on the 'Long-term Debt' page of Chestertown's 'Notes to the Financial Statement'. Claims by legal advisers and bonding agents that any potential default by the college would have no consequences for the tax-payer are somewhat economical with the truth and are unsubstantiated. No precedents actually apply and recent experiences have proved rating agencies to be highly unreliable sources for credit affirmation.

This fact should not be lost on President Bair, who in her former career was head of the FDIC, which underwrote the savings of bank depositors within the shaky financial system. The tax-payers of Chestertown now do a similar favor for the college bond issues. Bair had no trouble getting paid for such services by the FDIC but baulks at making any reimbursement to the people of Chestertown.

Chestertown has only very limited options to counter the relentless pressure on its finances. It can cut public services, raise taxes, increase user charges for local residents, increase its debt level, or have a combination of the aforementioned.



Another option is the introduction of a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) agreement with the college, which sees it paying an annual fee in return for the public services it currently receives for free. Such a system is currently (2012 figures only) in place in about 117 municipalities across 18 states -- mainly in the N.E. United States. Clearly this is a highly sensitive issue but one that can no longer be swept quietly under the carpet.


US Senator of Vermont Bernie Sanders

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After Bernie Sanders' convincing win in the New Hampshire primary, many establishment Democrats are renewing the argument that Bernie cannot win in November because he is too liberal. It doesn't hold up.



In her February 5th column, Washington Post writer Ruth Marcus expressed the establishment case:"The success of Sanders's full-throated progressivism among the party faithful is no surprise, especially in liberal-leaning Iowa and New Hampshire. But, notwithstanding the current head-to-head polls that he likes to cite, Sanders at the top of the Democratic ticket threatens a general-election disaster, and not just for the top spot. True, more Americans overall identify themselves as liberal -- up from 17 percent in 1992 to 24 percent in 2014, according to Gallup. But that leaves the vast majority with a different outlook, 34 percent who describe themselves as moderate, 38 percent conservative. How, exactly, are they going to respond to a democratic socialist's call for a political revolution?"

Of course, what happens if Bernie is the Democratic nominee will depend upon whoever the Republican Presidential nominee is. If the GOP proffered Donald Trump -- a nominee with historically high unfavorability ratings -- the outcome might be different than if the GOP nominee was Governor John Kasich, for example.

But setting aside the context of voters' decision, Ruth Marcus argues that Sanders is too liberal for the 2016 electorate and uses a 2014 Gallup poll to support this contention. But more recent polls paint a more complex picture. A January 2016 Pew Research Poll found that the electorate is very polarized: Democrats have shifted to the left and Republicans have shifted to the right. "94 percent of Democrats are more liberal than the median Republican." "92 percent of Republicans are more conservative than the median Democrat."

The most recent Gallup Poll found that, over the past 16 years, Democrats have increasingly embraced the "liberal" label and there are now more liberals (42 percent) than moderates (38 percent) and conservatives (17 percent) in the Party. (Dems are considerably more liberal now than they were during the Clinton presidency, 1992-2000).

A May 2015 Gallup Poll found that the 31 percent of all voters described themselves as "very liberal/liberal" on social issues and another 31 percent described themselves as "very conservative/conservative" on social issues.

This implies that if Sanders wins the Democratic nomination, he will have about one-third of the electorate behind him (Democrats and fellow travelers) and one-third of the electorate dogmatically opposed (Republicans and fellow conservatives). Therefore, he and the other Democrats running for public office will have to attract vote from the middle third.

Bernie could attract independent/moderate voters on an issue-by-issue basis.

At the moment, the number one voter issue is the economy. If this trend continues, it plays to Bernie Sanders strengths. In the January 17th Democratic debate Sanders said: "Our campaign is about" thinking big. It is understanding that in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, we should have health care for every man, woman, and child as a right. That we should raise the minimum wage to at least 15 dollars an hour, that we have got to create millions of decent paying jobs by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure. So what my first days [in office will be] about is bringing American together to end the decline of the middle class, to tell the wealthiest people in this country that yes they are gonna start paying their fair share of taxes, and that we are going to have a government that works for all of us and not just big campaign contributors." Sanders identified five key issues: healthcare, minimum wage, new jobs repairing our infrastructure, taxing the wealthy so they pay their fare share, and reducing the influence of money in politics.

How do Americans feel about these issues?

Recent polls indicate that 68 percent of Americans are in favor of raising taxes on individuals with incomes over $1 million. (This plurality includes 53 percent of Republicans, 63 percent of Independents, and 87 percent of Democrats.)

Recent polls show that 75 percent of Americans favor raising the minimum wage to $12.50 by 2020 and 63 percent favor raising it to $15. (Among those who favor raising it to $12.50 are 53 percent of Republicans, 73 percent of Independents, and 93 percent of Democrats.)

Recent polls show that a majority of Americans (58 percent) favor a single-payer, Medicare-for-all system.

Recent polls indicate that spending millions to repair America's crumbling infrastructure was a high priority for 65 percent of respondents.

Finally, recent polls indicate that an overwhelming majority of Americans want a change in the campaign finance system: 48 percent think the current system should be scrapped and 38 percent believe it needs "fundamental changes."

These polls indicate that Bernie Sanders is running a campaign based upon issues. And his positions on the key issues resonate with the majority of Americans, Independents as well as Liberals. He is not "too liberal" to be elected.
Reprinted from The Unz Review

Nearly every western country has an Israel lobby





Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom recently suggested an inquiry into a surge in Israel's reported extra-judicial killing of Palestinian demonstrators after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for a harsh response and told his police and soldiers that those opposed to the continued occupation of the West Bank were "terrorists." Almost immediately, the Israeli government denounced Wallstrom as engaging in "political stupidity," banning her from travel to Israel, while one newspaper close to the government suggested that she might be assassinated, as fellow Swede Count Folke Bernadotte was by Jewish militants in 1948, because anti-Semitism appears to be in the Swedish DNA.

All of that outrage and personal ridicule is pro forma for an Israeli government that reflexively smears and denigrates any and all critics, but the more interesting epilogue was the unanticipated discovery by the Swedish and international media that Wallstrom has not been paying the full rent on the subsidized government apartment that she occupies.

The revelation follows a familiar pattern, where critics of Israel suddenly find themselves being discredited for something completely unrelated to the Middle East. President George H. W. Bush (the good Bush) suffered a similar come to Jesus moment in 1991 when he went on national television to denounce the pressure tactics of the Israel lobby. The Israeli government was demanding U.S. Treasury backed loans to construct illegal settlements. President Bush, who was running for reelection and far ahead in the opinion polls, suddenly was confronted by a well-funded and organized opposition raising doubts about him and his record. And President Bush was not reelected, presumably learning along the way that one does not trifle with the Israel Lobby, to be replaced by the enthusiastically Zionist Bill Clinton.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is also wondering about Israel's alleged commitment to peace. On Tuesday he said "it was human nature to react to occupation," following up with a comment on Wednesday regarding Israel's "stifling" occupation of Palestine. Netanyahu reacted with his usual over the top rhetoric, stating that Ban "was encouraging terror." One might also anticipate, as in the case of Wallstrom, a well-orchestrated media blitz questioning Ban's motives or explaining how he has always been a closet anti-Semite. It is par for the course and fully expected when one criticizes Israel.

Indeed, it is a global phenomenon. Wherever one goes -- Western Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States -- there is a well-organized and funded lobby ready, willing and able to go to war to protect Israel. Most of the organizations involved take at least some direction from officials in Tel Aviv. Many of them even cooperate fully with the Israeli government, its parastatal organizations and faux-NGOs like the lawfare center Shurat HaDin. Their goal is to spread propaganda and influence the public in their respective countries of residence to either hew to the line coming out of Tel Aviv or to confuse the narrative and stifle debate when potential Israeli crimes are being discussed.

Israel's diaspora allies are backed up by a formidable government organized machine that spews out disinformation and muddies the waters whenever critics surface. The Israeli Foreign Ministry has a corps of paid "volunteers" who monitor websites worldwide and take remedial action and there is a similar group working out of the Prime Minister's office. That is why any negative story appearing in the U.S. about Israel is immediately inundated with pro-Israel comments, many of which make exactly the same coordinated points while exhibiting the same somewhat less than perfect English. On sites like Yahoo they are actually able to suppress unwelcome comments by flooding the site with "Dislike" responses. If a comment receives a large number of dislikes, it is automatically blocked or removed.

The sayanim, local Jews in their countries of residence, are essential to this process, having been alerted by emails from the Israeli Foreign Ministry about what to do and say. The reality is that Israel has lost the war of public opinion based on its own actions, which are becoming more and more repressive and even inhumane and so are difficult to explain. That means that the narrative has to be shifted by Israel's friends through subterfuge and the corruption of the information process in each country. In some places the key media and political players who are engaged in the process can simply be bought. In other places they can be intimidated or pressured into taking positions that are neither in their own countries' interests nor morally acceptable. In large countries like the United States, Britain and France a combination of friendly suasion and coercive elements often come together.

In all cases, the objective is the same: to repress or misrepresent any criticism of Israel and to block any initiatives that might be taken that would do damage either to the Israeli economy or to the country's perceived standing in the world. In some countries Israel's advocates work right out in the open and are highly successful in implementing policies that often remain largely hidden but that can be discerned as long as one knows what to look for.

Recent Israel Lobby activity in the United States has included legislation at state levels to make illegal divestment from Israel or to promote boycott of Israeli products. A trade pact with Europe will reportedly include language requiring the United States to take retaliatory action if any European country tries to boycott Israel, to include the West Bank settlements, which the empowering legislation regards as part of Israel proper.

Israel is also working to create a mechanism for global censorship of the internet to ban "incitement," which clearly is a euphemism for material that is critical of its policies. Recently Facebook has begun to delete from its site any "hate speech" and "terrorism" related material but what has not been widely noted is that the apparent restrictions also have involved sites critical of Israel including Christians United for Peace.

Many prominent critics of the American Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC) are unaware that AIPAC exists in various forms in a number of other countries. BICOM, the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre, is located in London. The French equivalent is the Conseil Representatif des Institutions Juives de France (CRIF). In Canada there is a Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), in Australia a Zionist Federation of Australia and in New Zealand a Zionist Federation of New Zealand.

While AIPAC is specifically focused on the U.S.-Israel relationship, its counterparts in Europe often deal with a whole range of issues that they define as Jewish, but protecting Israel is always part of their agenda, particularly for those groups that label themselves as Zionist. The political power and financial muscle of the groups gives them access to government far beyond the actual numbers of their supporters. In France this has led to the legislation of hate crimes that de facto exist to protect Jews that have been also been interpreted as limitations on one's ability to criticize Israel. In its most recent test, a French court declared that a peaceful protest promoting Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) directed against Israel was illegal.

Many believe that France now has less free speech than any other European country. Recently, the alleged humor magazine Charlie Hebdo, ran a revolting cartoon showing the little Syrian boy Alan Kurdi who drowned in Turkey last summer as all grown up and sexually assaulting a woman in Germany. There was considerable outrage throughout the world but no sign that the French government will do anything to prosecute the magazines since it was Muslims who were being ridiculed. Charlie Hebdo frequently insults Muslims (and also Christians) but rarely lampoons Jews.

In Britain, Jewish organizations uniquely are allowed to patrol heavily Jewish neighborhoods in police-like uniforms while driving police type vehicles and there have been reports of their threatening Muslims who enter the areas. Prime Minister David Cameron's government, which is responsive to a Conservative Friends of Israel lobbying group, has also done its part to create official barriers to any spread of the BDS movement. It is proposing legislation that will enable it to overrule decisions by local government councils that seek to cut business or investment ties with Israel and, more particularly, Israeli settlements, under the pretext that such action interferes with the conduct of foreign affairs. The British government is also considering its own brand of hate speech legislation, banning from social media any commentary that is considered to be anti-Semitic, which will almost certainly extend to criticism of Israel.

Canada's government has also threatened to use hate speech laws to block criticism of Israel and forbid BDS related activity. Australia meanwhile, has ceased referring to east Jerusalem as "occupied" and is apparently leaning towards similar "non-pejorative" language relating to the militarized occupation of the West Bank, preferring the neocon favored dodge "disputed."
Bernie Sanders asked Professor Friedman, a University of Massachusetts Amherst economics professo., to estimate the cost of Sanders' Medicare-for-all plan -- which came out to $13.8 trillion over 10 years. This totally aligns with my analysis. Here's the math.



Currently, Medicare and Medicaid cost 23% of the budget, or about 800 billion, and ER care for the uninsured costs 168 billion (source: American Association of Emergency Physicians); the overhead costs for everyone else insured is 450 billion (at 15% overhead) for private insurers: that totals a little over 1.4 trillion,and subtracting the 50 billion for Medicare overhead (1.3% overhead), we arrive at just about what Professor Friedman arrived at. We can insure 100% for the same costs now being spent, which is like getting 30 million insured at no cost, by cutting out the parasitic middle man and eliminating the ER last resort services for the uninsured.

Now, that suggests that we can insure everyone without spending an extra dime. The cost insuring those 30 million uninsured currently. using the existing system would cost an extra 150 billion. We can save that money by using Medicare for All. Another 300 billion a year can be saved, according to Professor Friedman, by eliminating tax breaks for health insurance premiums each year. That 300 billion could expand Medicare to 100% coverage plus vision and dental.

Another 75 billion would be saved ($1300 per Medicare client) by ending the current $105 a month Medicare payments. Plus, many seniors pay another

$120-200 a month for the 20% coverage Medicare currently does not cover---a gift within Medicare to the private insurers.

Conclusion: Medicare for all would expand coverage to all at 100% including dental/vision with a likely surplus. The only losers would be the parasitic private insurance industry, which continue to provide private insurance for those willing to pay price, as is the case in Germany and the UK, where the private market is about 10%.



Even doctors and hospitals would save money by having to deal only with one single payer thus eliminating a mountain of paperwork.

By what logic does it make sense to pay more for less?
Reprinted from Wallwritings

Two weeks before the Iowa caucus, New York magazine's Frank Rich delivered a campaign analysis for New York magazine under the headline, "Getting serious about Bernie".

Rich admits, "I have never believed -- and still don't -- that [Bernie Sanders] can be elected president even though I prefer almost everything about his views and record to Clinton's."

Rich pointed to three problems Sanders would face in a national election:

"He's 74; he can be stigmatized as a nominal 'socialist' (though that nomenclature may not carry much weight, negative or otherwise, to 21st-century American voters, beyond the claque who think every Democrat is a socialist); and he's Jewish, a fact that few want to discuss as a possible hindrance to a national general-election candidacy."

Breaking through those three barriers in his first two campaign contests with Hillary Clinton, Sanders exceeded all expectations, narrowly losing in Iowa, and handily winning the New Hampshire primary (to use one of his favorite adjectives) by a "huge" 60%-38% margin over Clinton.

Beaming with home team pride, the Jewish News Agency eagerly reported:

"In New Hampshire on Tuesday night, he handily won the Democratic Party contest, becoming the first Jew to win a presidential primary. In Iowa, he became the first Jewish presidential candidate -- the first non-Christian, even -- to win delegates in a major party's caucus or primary. . . "What's more significant is that he's the first Jew to mount a credible campaign for the White House. "It's not that credible Jewish politicians haven't run for president before. There was Republican Sen. Arlen Specter in 1996 and Democratic Sen. Joseph Lieberman in 2004. But they were out of step with their parties and their candidacies went nowhere. (Both later quit their parties.)"

By winning his first primary in New Hampshire, Sanders is poised to go somewhere, not nowhere. Could he prove Frank Rich and other uneasy progressives wrong, and become the first Jewish president?

And if the White House does await Sanders, what are the implications for future U.S.-Israel relations?

There is a good case to be made that Sanders' Jewishness would be a positive force toward resolving the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

New Hampshire, which is next to Sanders' home state of Vermont, did not need to "discuss" Sanders' ethnicity. His huge margin suggests that Democratic voters who already knew Sanders were not deterred from supporting him because he is Jewish.

This could be a sign that voters want to judge Sanders on his political record, not on his ethnicity. Divorce and membership in the Catholic or Mormon religious groups no longer are barriers to the White House. Jewishness, religious and secular, might now be added to that list.

If Sanders fails to defeat Clinton in future party primaries and caucuses, his presence in the race could still nudge Clinton away from her long allegiance with the state of Israel.
This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here.

Here's my little joke of the month: How do you spell Pentagon? M-O-R-E.

Whether it's funny or not, it couldn't be more accurate. And that urge for more is fed endlessly by an American military that has increasingly become the only "option" on that mythical "table" in Washington where all options are supposedly kept. Recently, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter previewed the proposed new Pentagon budget for 2017, and one thing is evident: war is in the money. The Obama administration wants to double the funding for the war against the Islamic Stateis $7 billion, money to be ponied up by a Congress that refuses to declare war on the Islamic State.

At the same time, the proposed budget calls for a quadrupling to $3.4 billion of what might be considered next-war funding. Think of it as financing for a prospective future European face-off against Vladimir Putin & Co. Yes, Russia, a rickety energy state facing plunging oil prices and rising discontent, turns out, according to Carter, to be America's latest looming enemy du jour. The defense secretary is planning to use that $3.4 billion to "stockpile heavy weapons, armored vehicles, and other military equipment" across Central and Eastern Europe, station "a full armored combat brigade" (4,000 or more troops) in the region, and "construct or refurbish maintenance facilities, airfields, and training ranges in seven European countries: Bulgaria, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania." (All of them, except half of Germany, were once part of the Soviet bloc.)

Leaving the money aside for a moment, consider how perfectly this latest announcement caps the varying strategies of the Obama administration and the Pentagon over the last half-decade. If you remember, way back in 2011 the Iraq War officially ended and U.S. combat operations in Afghanistan were winding down. At that moment, the Obama administration proclaimed a new global strategy. Washington, which had been bogged down in the Greater Middle East for the previous decade, was going to turn the page and shift its emphasis to the planet's rising power, China. Who doubted, after all, that the U.S. had a military duty to confront, deal with, and contain that country?

This new militarized strategy was called a "pivot to Asia." Of course, Washington had never left Asia. Still, troops and new weaponry were to be moved into the region, a policy the Obama administration initiated with the highly publicized deployment of, or sale of, major weapons systems to places like Singapore and Indonesia and the highly publicized stationing of new U.S. troops (in relatively small numbers) in Australia. All this had barely begun, however, when, from Afghanistan to Iraq, not to speak of Libya, Syria, Somalia, and Yemen, things began to go awry. And soon enough, Washington would find itself pivoting back to the Greater Middle East big time (though without stopping its slow build-up in Asia).

Meanwhile, the U.S. military had also begun pivoting to a place where it had been largely absent in the past: Africa. In the last few years, as Nick Turse has reported at this site, it has acquired a network of 60 small bases, outposts, and access points across that continent; American drones are now in African skies and its drone bases there multiplying; and U.S. special operations teams seem to be training proxy forces everywhere on the continent. Although this has been happening largely under the media radar, there can be little question that a "pivot to Africa" is underway.

Which brings us back to that proposed 2017 Pentagon budget. The skyrocketing funding to move new U.S. troops and equipment into the former Soviet areas of Europe and build (or build up) yet more "facilities" there means that, in 2016, we may be witnessing a "pivot to Europe" as well. You could think of it all collectively as the Pentagon's pivot to more or less everywhere, or just spell it out as M-O-R-E and be done with it.

In the spirit of all this, retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and TomDispatch regular William Astore accompanies the Pentagon to its yearly medical checkup and returns with a diagnosis. Tom

The U.S. Military Suffers from Affluenza

Showering the Pentagon with Money and Praise

By William J. Astore The word "affluenza" is much in vogue. Lately, it's been linked to a Texas teenager, Ethan Couch, who in 2013 killed four people in a car accident while driving drunk. During the trial, a defense witness argued that Couch should not be held responsible for his destructive acts. His parents had showered him with so much money and praise that he was completely self-centered; he was, in other words, a victim of affluenza, overwhelmed by a sense of entitlement that rendered him incapable of distinguishing right from wrong. Indeed, the judge at his trial sentenced him only to probation, not jail, despite the deaths of those four innocents. Experts quickly dismissed "affluenza" as a false diagnosis, a form of quackery, and indeed the condition is not recognized by the American Psychiatric Association. Yet the word caught on big time, perhaps because it speaks to something in the human condition, and it got me to thinking. During Ethan Couch's destructive lifetime, has there been an American institution similarly showered with money and praise that has been responsible for the deaths of innocents and inadequately called to account? Is there one that suffers from the institutional version of affluenza (however fuzzy or imprecise that word may be) so much that it has had immense difficulty shouldering the blame for its failures and wrongdoing? The answer is hidden in plain sight: the U.S. military. Unlike Couch, however, that military has never faced trial or probation; it hasn't felt the need to abscond to Mexico or been forcibly returned to the homeland to face the music. Spoiling the Pentagon First, a caveat. When I talk about spoiling the Pentagon, I'm not talking about your brother or daughter or best friend who serves honorably. Anyone who's braving enemy fire while humping mountains in Afghanistan or choking on sand in Iraq is not spoiled. I'm talking about the U.S. military as an institution. Think of the Pentagon and the top brass; think of Dwight Eisenhower's military-industrial complex; think of the national security state with all its tentacles of power. Focus on those and maybe you'll come to agree with my affluenza diagnosis.

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Students Are Not Commodities; Corporations Can't Teach Public education is the cornerstone of a vibrant democracy. Attempts to privatize public education--by corporations seeking profit at the expense of the taxpayer--undermine democracy. Rebuilding our public education system to educate all students will result in a stronger democracy. We live in the richest nation in the world and can afford to educate our children. If we want real democracy, we need to address corporate rule. Tuesday, November 11, 2014Public education is the cornerstone of a vibrant democracy. Attempts to privatize public education--by corporations seeking profit at the expense of the taxpayer--undermine democracy. Rebuilding our public education system to educate all students will result in a stronger democracy. We live in the richest nation in the world and can afford to educate our children. If we want real democracy, we need to address corporate rule.

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Does a community have a right to clean air and water? We cannot deny the power big, multi-national corporations hold in our democracy and economy, but we don't have to accept corporate rule as a way of life. CoCRN organizers are taking matters into their own hands in an effort to pass the Colorado Community Rights amendment, but the powerful extraction industries are not sitting still. Monday, October 27, 2014We cannot deny the power big, multi-national corporations hold in our democracy and economy, but we don't have to accept corporate rule as a way of life. CoCRN organizers are taking matters into their own hands in an effort to pass the Colorado Community Rights amendment, but the powerful extraction industries are not sitting still.

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In the Absence of Accountability, General Motors Kills Hundreds of People for Profit Corporate executives at GM have gotten away with negligent murder by willfully covering up design defects in their automobiles and delaying recalls. Any ordinary person responsible for hundreds of deaths would be tried in a court of a law. Not so for "corporate persons," who pay a small fine and continue with business as usual. Friday, October 24, 2014Corporate executives at GM have gotten away with negligent murder by willfully covering up design defects in their automobiles and delaying recalls. Any ordinary person responsible for hundreds of deaths would be tried in a court of a law. Not so for "corporate persons," who pay a small fine and continue with business as usual.

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'Then They Fight You': Plutocrats on the Defensive Against Social Justice Movements American plutocrats have launched a disinformation campaign to fight back against the growing democracy movement. Their absurd contentions would be laughable, if they were not so dangerous to our economy and political system. Monday, October 20, 2014American plutocrats have launched a disinformation campaign to fight back against the growing democracy movement. Their absurd contentions would be laughable, if they were not so dangerous to our economy and political system.

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"Rob Kall demonstrates how the Bottom-Up revolution has ushered in a business, political and social upheaval the likes of which we've never seen. Bottom-Up: Tapping the Power of the Connection Revolution is a must read book that you need, to understand how this revolution affects every area of your life and the opportunities it is creating."



Jim Donovan, author, happy@work - 60 Simple Ways to Stay Engaged and Be Successful
Saudi Arabia has been using paid mercenaries from around the world to gain a competitive edge in it's failing offensive in Yemen, including, according to a Yemeni Army Spokesman, the infamous BlackWater.

Private military contractors have been an integral part of Saudi Arabias strategy to win its ground war in Yemen, something the inexperienced Saudi military has been unable to accomplish.

A spokesman for the Yemeni army told Russian media that hundreds of mercenaries are fighting in his country on behalf of Saudi Arabia and its allies.They hire poor people from around the world to take part in the hostilities. Among them are Somalis and people from Sudanese tribes, Brig. Gen. Sharaf Ghalib Luqman told the state-operated Russian news agency RIA Novosti, according to a Jan. 19 report from Sputnik , the agencys international arm.However, there are also Europeans, Americans, Colombians. These are contractors from a structure known as Blackwater. This division includes around 400 people.The private security firm formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide became notorious for providing thousands of mercenaries to the U.S. war in Iraq, some of whom were later implicated in war crimes. In September 2007, Blackwater mercenaries opened fire at an Iraqi checkpoint, killing 17, in what would become known as the Nisour Square massacre. Four former Blackwater employees were convicted of the killings in October 2014.Despite Luqmans assertions, the employers of the mercenaries fighting in Yemen remain somewhat unclear. Blackwater became Xe Services in 2009. Following a company restructuring and change in ownership, the company was renamed the Academi in 2011. At that time, founder Erik Prince officially left the company but retained the rights to the name Blackwater.A Dec. 10 report from Irans PressTV, citing Yemeni news sources, claimed that  15 Blackwater foreign fighters  were killed in clashes with Houthi forces, who currently control the Yemeni government. PressTV reported that  80 Saudi-led troops, including 42 Blackwater mercenaries , were killed in a ballistic missile attack on Dec. 13. And a Jan. 31 report claimed that a Blackwater commander, Nicholas Petros, was killed along with a group of mercenaries fighting for the Saudi regime in its war on Yemen. Kane Hippisley-Gatherum , writing in December for Middle Eastern news site Al Bawaba, noted that the Academis website makes no mention of these recent deaths, although press releases have been issued when other mercenaries are killed . Hippisley-Gatherum suggests that the mercenaries were hired from another global security corporation by an ally of the Saudis in their war against the Houthis:Ultimately, Hippisley-Gatherum concludes: Press TV may have reported that they were with Blackwater, but given that the company in charge is actually R2, and that Prince allegedly doesnt hold a role there anymore, that is clearly not the case.Regardless of who issues their paychecks, it does seem clear from multiple media reports that foreign mercenaries are fighting  and dying  in Yemen. Their deaths are part of a bloody conflict thats also claimed the lives of at least 6,000 people, including over 2,800 Yemeni civilians , since the Saudi-led war began began in March 2015.Source: http://www.mintpressnews.com/213579-2/213579/
The West still doesnt understand how Iran rules the Middle East.ran, the number one state sponsor of terrorism by far, has bludgeoned its way into controlling Lebanon and Gaza, and has become the backbone of Syrian terrorism. Iran also bombed and butchered its way into the dominant role in Iraq and Afghanistan (after America thought it had won those wars), and now is empowering the Muslim Brotherhood terrorists to get control of Egypt.Now America and the West have paved the way forIranian victory in Libya. We are rejoicing about the overthrow of Libyas Muammar Qadhafi, while we should be mourning. Libyan chaos is now the ideal setting for Iran to bring that nation into its deadly terrorist web. The government that replaces Qadhafi will be a thousand times worse.And you can prove this is going to happen! (More on that later.)Egypt is rapidly moving into the Iranian camp. That means Egypt, which borders Libya, will now help bring that nation into Irans terror network.Already violence has broken out between Israel and Egyptafter 30 years of peace. Why the big change since President Hosni Mubarak resigned due to massive protests? That is a subject the mainstream media doeslike to discuss.The Muslim Brotherhood has joined forces with the powerful Egyptian military. It clearly is the dominant force inside Egypt, and is getting more control daily.That means Egypt is in for a radical change, which we have been prophesying for 20 years.President Mubarak was severely warning U.S. diplomats about the Iranian cancer spreading throughout the Middle East in 2009. Not only did our governmentheed the warning, but at the same time, President Obama was meeting with the Muslim Brotherhood in the White House!hat information should send shivers through the body of any merican who understands what is happening in the iddle ast!ith the upheaval in gypt, the only successful iddle ast peace treaty is in jeopardy, William L. Gensert wrote inThe Egyptian border crossing into Gaza is now open and Hamas is very happy; its so much easier getting weapons without the prying eyes of the Israelis. Iranian warships, banned since 1979, have been allowed to transverse the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean.  gypt, once considered a strong merican ally, is now drifting within the ranian orbit. For years, Iran has been an ardent supplier of arms in Afghanistan to al Qaeda and the Taliban. Weapons and bombs supplied by Iran were used to kill American soldiers, yet our president says nothing (August 14).President Obama even claimed some of the credit for Mubaraks expulsion. What weve seen so far is positive, President Obama insisted at a press conference a few days after Mubarak resigned. I think history will end up recording that at every juncture in the situation in Egypt that we were on the right side of history.On the right side of history?Historians could think that America actually supported worldwide terrorism and nurtured nuclear war!There should be no doubt that Iran is going to start a war. That is why its getting nuclear weapons is such a critical issue.ore than any other nation, merica has helped the terrorists succeed!Thewrote in its August 20 edition, The crisis has been the sharpest signal yet that the revolution that toppled President Hosni Mubarak in February is transforming the three-decade-old relationship between Egypt and Israel that has been the cornerstone of iddle astern politics.This newspaper is right in saying that the 30-year relationship between Israel and Egypt has been the cornerstone of Middle Eastern politics (not just between those two nations). The cornerstone means the basic element or foundation of Middle East politics. That means when this relationship unravels, the foundation of Middle East politics unravels!That is no small problem because Iran is reaping most of the benefits.Thesees this crisis as the sharpestyet that the revolution in Egypt is the peaceful relationship between Israel and Egypt into an Israeli nightmare!But its much worse than that. It shows that Egypt is already allying itself with Iran in its bloody terrorist war.his has the potential to cause the iddle ast to explode and drag all the arths inhabitants into orld ar iii!Thearticle had this headline in that August 20 edition: Nations Race to Defuse Crisis Between Egypt and Israel.to help solve this problem because they know how deadly the potential is for the entire Middle East to explode.There have also been five bombings of an Egyptian pipeline, which delivers vitally important natural gas to Israel. All of the bombings have happened since the revolution began in Egypt. That is another sharp signal that this part of the Arab Spring has already produced some bitter terrorist storms!And this is only the beginning of sorrows!Before he left office, Hosni Mubarak had this to say: They [the dissenters] may be talking about democracy, but the result will be extremism and radical Islam.ow precisely prophetic that statement was. But we dared not listen toMubarak.He spent his whole 30-year reign suppressing radical Islam in his own country. So he should understand this better than any man alive!Libya today is in total chaos. Reports say there are al Qaeda fighters there along with Hezbollah terrorists and even some militants from Afghanistan and Iraq.Another report said that about 20 percent of the suicide bombers in Iraq came from Darnah, a city in eastern Libya.knows almost nothing about who these dissenters are and who will rise to power. But always lurking in the background is an oil-rich Iran with the will to send some of its leading warriors into Libya. Still, wants to just bomb Libya and go home. This makes Irans bloody work much easier!That nation has the proven will to do whatever is required to win. The only thing the U.S. has left is a broken will. Nobody at this stage has the will to stand up to Iran. (Request our bookletAll of our literature is free.)The king of the south, Iran, is about to clash with the king of the north, a European Holy Roman Empire. The book of Daniel was writtenfor this end time (Daniel 12:4, 9).And at the time of the end shall the king of the south [Iran] push at him: and the king of the north [the Holy Roman Empire] shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. He shall enter also into the glorious land [Jerusalem], and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land ofshall not escape. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and theand the Ethiopians shall be at his steps (Daniel 11:40-43). The Moffatt translation states that at his steps meansEgypt is not going to escape the king of the north because it is allied with Iran. The same applies to Libya and Ethiopia (which will probably be the next Middle East explosion, which Iran is going to exploit).Libya was the worlds 12th-biggest producer of oil before the uprising began in February. It provided 1.4 million barrels a day to EuropeItaly, Germany and Spain.That means crisis in Libya causes a certain panic in Europe. The Europeans know that Iran could get enough control in Libya to use the oil as a weapon against them. Also, Libya is in a very strategic location on the Mediterranean Sea, through which the Middle East oil flows.Iran knows how much more clout an oil-rich country can add to its power in the Middle East.We have warned since 1992 about Iran getting some control of the oil in Iraq. Now Iran has the greatest influence in Iraq of any country.All of these events are going to cause the European Union member nations to go from 27 kings to 10, so they can become a united and aggressive superpower (Revelation 17:12-13). Then Europe will clash with Iran and win. (Request our free bookletThese terrifying events lead to the most exciting event ever to occur on this Earth or in the universe: the return of Jesus Christ (read Daniel 12). He must return or there would not be one man, woman or child left alive (Matthew 24:21-22).What a magnificent future we have awaiting us. But before that happens, we are going to experience the greatest suffering ever on Earth.Source: https://glblgeopolitics.wordpress.com/2016/02/11/egypt-and-libya-to-join-irans-terror-network/
In the wake of 9/11, the story of U.S. support for militant Islamists against the Soviets became something of a touchy subject. Former CIA and intelligence officials like to suggest that the agency simply played the roles of financier and quartermaster. In this version of events, the dirty work  the actual management of the campaign and the dealings with rebel groups  was left to Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). It was Pakistans fault that at least 70 percent of total U.S. aid went to the fundamentalists, even if the CIA demanded audited accounts on a regular basis.

[I]n 2014, in a speech at Harvard, Vice President Joe Biden confirmed that we were arming extremists once again, although he was careful to pin the blame on Americas allies in the region, whom he denounced as our largest problem in Syria. In response to a students question, he volunteered that our allies were so determined to take down Assad and essentially have a proxy Sunni-Shia war, what did they do? They poured hundreds of millions of dollars and tens, thousands of tons of weapons into anyone who would fight against Assad. Except that the people who were being supplied were al-Nusra and Al Qaeda and the extremist elements of jihadis coming from other parts of the world.

In the spring and summer of last year, a coalition of Syrian rebel groups calling itself Jaish al-Fatah  the Army of Conquest  swept through the northwestern province of Idlib, posing a serious threat to the Assad regime. Leading the charge was Al Qaedas Syrian branch, known locally as Jabhat al-Nusra (the Nusra Front). The other major component of the coalition was Ahrar al-Sham, a group that had formed early in the anti-Assad uprising and looked for inspiration to none other than Abdullah Azzam. Following the victory, Nusra massacred twenty members of the Druze faith, considered heretical by fundamentalists, and forced the remaining Druze to convert to Sunni Islam. (The Christian population of the area had wisely fled.) Ahrar al-Sham meanwhile posted videos of the public floggings it administered to those caught skipping Friday prayers.

This potent alliance of jihadi militias had been formed under the auspices of the rebellions major backers: Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar. But it also enjoyed the endorsement of two other major players. At the beginning of the year, Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri had ordered his followers to cooperate with other groups. In March, according to several sources, a U.S.-Turkish-Saudi coordination room in southern Turkey had also ordered the rebel groups it was supplying to cooperate with Jaish al-Fatah. The groups, in other words, would be embedded within the Al Qaeda coalition.

A few months before the Idlib offensive, a member of one CIA-backed group had explained the true nature of its relationship to the Al Qaeda franchise. Nusra, he told the New York Times, allowed militias vetted by the United States to appear independent, so that they would continue to receive American supplies. When I asked a former White House official involved in Syria policy if this was not a de facto alliance, he put it this way: I would not say that Al Qaeda is our ally, but a turnover of weapons is probably unavoidable. Im fatalistic about that. Its going to happen.

The determination of Turkey (a NATO ally) and Qatar (the host of the biggest American base in the Middle East) to support extreme jihadi groups became starkly evident in late 2013. On December 6, armed fighters from Ahrar al-Sham and other militias raided warehouses at Bab al-Hawa, on the Turkish border, and seized supplies belonging to the Free Syrian Army. As it happened, a meeting of an international coordination group on Syria, the so-called London Eleven, was scheduled for the following week. Delegates from the United States, Europe, and the Middle East were bent on issuing a stern condemnation of the offending jihadi group.

The Turks and Qataris, however, adamantly refused to sign on. As one of the participants told me later, All the countries in the room [understood] that Turkeys opposition to listing Ahrar al-Sham was because they were providing support to them. The Qatari representative insisted that it was counterproductive to condemn such groups as terrorist. If the other countries did so, he made clear, Qatar would stop cooperating on Syria. Basically, they were saying that if you name terrorists, were going to pick up our ball and go home, the source told me. The U.S. delegate said that the Islamic Front, an umbrella organization, would be welcome at the negotiating table  but Ahrar al-Sham, which happened to be its leading member, would not. The diplomats mulled over their communique, traded concessions, adjusted language. The final version contained no condemnation, or even mention, of Ahrar al-Sham.

Over the past year and a half, the United States and other military coalition members have launched nearly 10,000 strikes in Iraq and Syria.Zooming out, the United States military has spent nearly the entire 21st century engaged in an amorphous war on terrorism, in which the whole world is a potential battlefield, from Yemen to Somalia to the now-expanding war in Afghanistan. Lurking beneath the surface of the seemingly endless series of military campaigns is the contradictory U.S. historical legacy of direct support for some of the very extremist combatants the war on terror is allegedly predicated on fighting.A recent in-depth investigation published in Harpers by journalist Andrew Cockburn finds that the U.S. is teaming up with Al Qaeda, again," suggesting that this sinister legacy is alive and well and raising disturbing questions about the logic underlying over 15 years of continuous war.Cockburn is not the first to point out the United States' role in backing such forces, and some prominent voices are even openly calling for the U.S. to embrace Al Qaeda. But what his account does offer is a devastating illustration of the historical symmetries, from Afghanistan in the 1980s to Syria in the 21st century, underlying what he calls the U.S. governments cold-blooded calculations.Cockburn writes:Fast-forwarding to more recent history, Cockburn notes that U.S. officials have been eager to blame transgressions on allies:But Cockburn cites specific examples in which U.S. involvement was far more direct.And in another example, Cockburn writes:Cockburns piece underscores the seemingly obvious point that there is a contradiction between the U.S. governments supposed war on terror and its backing of such forces.The Syrian war alone has killed nearly a quarter of a million people. According to a report released by the United Nations this summer, one out of every 122 people on the planet has been forcibly displaced by war and persecution. Meanwhile, many from within the region have argued that, in the wake of the Arab Spring, the U.S. and allies like Saudi Arabia played a profoundly counter-revolutionary force against grassroots movements seeking real, democratic alternatives to authoritarian regimes.In the past year and a half, ISIS has expanded to over 20 countries. The Global Terrorism Index , produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace, estimates that global terrorist incidents have significantly increased since the U.S. war on terror began.As Iraqi-American activist Dahlia Wasfi told AlterNet over the phone, "The people who live in these countries that the U.S. has determined will be the battlefieldthose are the people who are suffering.If the dealings Cockburn highlights in his report stem from well-thought-out and calculated policies, they are extremely dangerous. If they are merely the product of incoherence, we are already seeing who pays the price.Source: http://www.alternet.org/world/major-investigation-reveals-disturbing-connection-between-us-intelligence-and-al-qaeda-911
DG Ehtesab Commission KP resigned

PESHAWAR: Retired Lt Gen Mohammad Hamid Khan, the director general of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission, resigned on Wednesday in protest against promulgation of an ordinance by the provincial government that drastically amended the Ehtesab Act of 2015.



The ordinance, promulgated on Tuesday, makes approval of the five-member commission mandatory for arresting a suspect and reduces the maximum period of physical custody of a suspect from 45 to 15 days.



The ordinance provides that no legislator will be arrested by the commission without prior intimation to the Senates chairman or the speaker of the national or provincial assembly, as the case may be. Similarly the chief secretary will have to be informed before the arrest of a civil servant.



Gen Khan sent a three-page resignation letter to KP Governor Sardar Mehtab Ahmad and said that the amendments had rendered the post of director general redundant, made the accountability process controversial and questionable and negated the autonomy of the accountability watchdog.



Gen Khan, who was appointed in Oct 2014, said: In less than two years, the commission has conducted 90 inquiries and 43 investigations and filed 13 references. For the first time in KPs history, powerful ministers and senior bureaucrats have been arrested on corruption charges and their cases are being processed in court.



The letter said: Firstly, there are serious differences between the undersigned (the DG) and the commission (members) on the interpretation of the Act, which has resulted in persistent interference in operational matters which is against the law. This issue cannot be resolved because of non-existence of any mechanism for this purpose.



According to him, the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) was to become part of the Ehtesab Commission, but changes were made in the law to enable the ACE to continue working as an independent entity.



Besides, he said, there is (an) issue of the National Accountability Bureaus jurisdiction which, after 18th Amendment, should restrict its activities to federal agencies only. However, the government is not taking notice of the undersigneds assertion, resulting in regular disputes between the two agencies which if anything is benefiting the accused.



He also said that the amendments made to the act had diluted powers of the director general.



On Feb 4, Hamid Khan sent a letter to Chief Minister Pervez Khattak requesting him to drop the idea of making amendments which, he said, would undermine the principle of an independent and transparent accountability process.



In another letter sent to the chief minister on Tuesday, he raised several legal points which, according to him, would affect the performance of the commission.



The ordinance has enhanced powers of the Ehtesab Commission comprising five members and placed checks on powers of the DG, particularly regarding arrest of suspects and filing of references in accountability courts.



Under the amendments, the commission is bound to complete an inquiry in 90 days and an investigation in 30 days. An inquiry may be converted into an investigation with the approval of the commission. A suspect will be arrested only during the investigation stage and not during inquiry.



Another important amendment stipulates that all persons appointed in the directorate general before the promulgation of the ordinance will be examined by a scrutiny committee to be constituted by the government.



Another amendment provides that no inquiry will be launched on an anonymous complaint and a fine imposed over a frivolous complaint will not be less than Rs 500,000 and more than Rs2 million.



Furthermore, on completion of an inquiry or investigation, a prosecution conference will be held in seven days. The conference will be presided over by chief Ehtesab commissioner and attended by two commissioners, DG and prosecutor general. It will determine charges to be framed and references to be filed in the court. A decision will be made through majority of votes.



Meanwhile, a spokesman for the provincial government has said that the changes in the Ehtesab law would render accountability process more meaningful, robust and speedy and strengthen the commission as an institution.



Many cases filed in haste in the past had not yielded positive results, he said in a press release. The amendments empower the commission to acquire services of experts in different fields to ensure just and efficient decisions.
Terrorists being funded externally by hostile intelligence agencies: Raheel Sharif

ISLAMABAD: Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif again raised a red flag about external financing of terrorist groups and their domestic support network and called for sustained fight against terrorism.



Terrorists are being funded externally by hostile intelligence agencies and have their sympathisers at home who provide them shelter and refuge, Gen Sharif told corps commanders at their monthly conference that reviews internal and external security situation.



This is the second time in the past seven days that Gen Sharif has called for focus on the sympathy factor for terrorists within the country. He had pointed out the same when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited ISI Headquarters last week for a security briefing.



Gen Sharifs reiteration of the threat came on the day when the head of Intelligence Bureau, Aftab Sultan, testified before a Senate panel that local extremists had a soft corner for the militant Islamic State (IS) group, also known by its Arabic acronym Daesh, which is now considered an emerging threat for the country.



It is unclear if Gen Sharifs repeated reference to the internal threat was a prelude to start of some major crackdown on sympathisers of terrorists. There have been reports that an operation against Punjab-based extremist groups is in the offing.



A prevailing perception that the National Action Plan on Counter-Terrorism is not progressing well also forms an important context of this repeated assertion.



Gen Sharif also cautioned that despite the successes in Operation Zarb-i-Azb, which has decreased the level of terrorist violence in the country, the fight is complex and far from having been won.



But, at the same time, he sounded optimistic about ultimately defeating terrorism.



We will defeat the nefarious designs of our enemies and eliminate terrorists from Pakistans soil. Resilience of the whole nation and professionalism of our security forces are our real assets and I am optimistic that we will succeed in bringing enduring peace in Pakistan, a statement issued by ISPR quoted Gen Sharif as saying.



Military spokesman Lt Gen Asim Bajwa said the purpose of repeatedly highlighting the issue of local facilitators was to express the determination and resolve to deal with the issue of extremism and terrorism. He said that a number of facilitators had already been netted.



The military top brass further discussed the Afghan reconciliation process which Pakistan is facilitating as part of a quadrilateral framework, which includes Afghanistan, US and China. Direct talks between Taliban and Afghan government are likely to begin before the end of this month.
USA,India to held joint naval patrols

NEW DELHI: The United States and India have held talks about conducting joint naval patrols that a US defence official said could include the disputed South China Sea, a move that would likely anger Beijing.



Washington wants its regional allies and other Asian nations to take a more united stance against China over the South China Sea, where tensions have spiked in the wake of Beijings construction of seven man-made islands in the Spratly archipelago.



India and the United States have ramped up military ties in recent years, holding naval exercises in the Indian Ocean that last year involved the Japanese navy.



But the Indian navy has never carried out joint patrols with another country and a naval spokesman said there was no change in the governments policy of only joining an international military effort under the United Nations flag.



He pointed to Indias refusal to be part of anti-piracy missions involving dozens of countries in the Gulf of Aden and instead carrying out its own operations there since 2008.



The US defence official said the two sides had discussed joint patrols, adding that both were hopeful of launching them within the year. The patrols would likely be in the Indian Ocean where the Indian navy is a major player as well as the South China Sea, the official said in New Delhi on condition of anonymity.



A Pentagon spokesman, Commander Bill Urban, said the United States and India continue to explore ways to deepen defence cooperation, including in the area of maritime security, but no decisions had been made on joint patrols.



There was no immediate comment from China, which is on a week-long holiday for Chinese New Year.



China accused Washington this month of seeking maritime hegemony in the name of freedom of navigation after a US Navy destroyer sailed within 12 nautical miles of a disputed island in the Paracel chain of the South China Sea in late January.
From Greg Swank, 12-4-2 You are about to read a list of 45 goals that found their way down the halls of our great Capitol back in 1963. As...
13 F. high in St. Cloud Wednesday.

25 F. average high on February 10.

28 F. high on February 10, 2015.

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Bottoming Out Saturday Morning - Then Thawing Out. European guidance shows a cold start Saturday as the center of Canadian high pressure drifts right over Minnesota. A return southerly flow on the backside of this fair-weather bubble, coupled with a weak clipper, may spark a couple inches of snow on Sunday. By midweek it may be mild enough aloft for a sloppy mix with a chance of 40s within a week.

S-S-Saturday Chill. Models are in amazingly good agreement showing a wake-up temperature (6 AM) Saturday close to -10F. The urban heat island will keep the downtowns and close-in suburbs a few degrees milder, with outlying suburbs dipping into the -10 to -15F air temperature range. Thankfully winds will be light so wind chills won't be much colder. Source: Aeris Enterprise.

Atmospheric Correction. Goosebumps linger into Saturday, but next week will feel more like late February or early March, with a streak of days in the 30s. The GFS solution isn't quite as mild as ECMWF, but there's little doubt that many Minnesotans will be breathing a collective sigh of relief, especially the latter half of next week.

Predicted Snowfall by Sunday Evening. NOAA's GFS model brings some 6" amounts into far southern Minnesota Saturday night into Sunday with the best chance of a plowable snowfall south and west of the Minnesota River. Metro? Maybe a couple inches. Keep expectations low. Map: AerisWeather.

Wobbles and Dips. This is still a pale imitation of the "Polar Vortex" we enjoyed 2 years ago, but subzero weather (hot pink color above) rotates across Minnesota Friday night and early Saturday, before a shift in the pattern pulls milder, Pacific air east of the Rockies next week.

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Homes in the Links at Gettysburg in Pennsylvania were designed with high insulation levels to keep out drafts.

High Performance Homes.

California and Massachussets Lead U.S. Solar Boom. Here's a clip at . Here's a clip at ThinkProgress.com : "

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54 Million Americans Incorrectly Labeled as Unhealthy. This vaguely reassuring article is courtesy of This vaguely reassuring article is courtesy of Quartz ; here's an excerpt: "Body Mass Index is used by everyone from insurers to health professionals to determine whether someone is at a healthy weight. According to the index , which is calculated by dividing a persons weight by the square of the persons height, someone with a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 is healthy, whereas a BMI of 25 to 29.9 is classed as overweight and a BMI of 30 or higher is categorized as obese. But these numbers do not directly correlate with physical health, according to a study of 40,420 people published this week in the International Journal of Obesity ..."

U.S. Military: Robot Wars. Financial Times has a must-read story focused on the future role of the military and the use of robotics; here's an excerpt: "...The underlying objective of the new strategy is to find weapons and technologies to ensure US forces can fight their way to the fight as one official puts it  to evade the layered missile defences both China and Russia can erect, to defend bases against attack from precision-guided missiles and to be able to operate carrier fleets at a much greater distance from an enemy. For some Pentagon planners, the long-term answers will be found in robotics  be they unmanned, autonomous planes or submarines that can surprise an enemy or robot soldiers that can reduce the risk to humans by launching attacks. Mr Work, who once co-wrote a paper called Preparing for War in the Robotic Age, said in December: Ten years from now, if the first person through a breach isnt a fricking robot, then shame on us...

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An alligator on the kitchen floor of a Florida Wendys after being thrown into the drive-through." (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission).

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Climate Stories...

Obama Climate Initiative: Supreme Court Calls Halt.

In reaching this decision is the court looking out for the common good, or special interests? The price of energy is vitally important, so are short-term health implications and longer-term climate impacts. Here's an excerpt from The BBC : "

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US power stations are the country's largest source of greenhouse gases." AP.

Obama's Clean-Power Plan Put on Hold by U.S. Supreme Court. Bloomberg Business has more perspective; here's an excerpt: "

Photo credit above: " A coal-fired power plant behind homes in Poca, W.V., in 2014. " Credit Robert Galbraith/Reuters.

New Study: Yep, Thermometers Do Show Global Warming is Real.

The latest bit of contrived scandal is "satellites show no warming; we can't trust the thermometer record!" Slate explains why NOAA's recent calibrations of the thermometer record strengthen the case for warming; here's an excerpt: "...

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No Climate Conspiracy: NOAA Temperature Adjustments Bring Data Closer to Pristine.

Here's the intro to a story at The Guardian : "

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Cruz's "Pseudoscientific" Climate Claims.

No, the satellite record isn't the best measure of tropospheric warming because it only infers temperatures at various altitudes, and the onboard sensors are peering through a cooling stratosphere, another symptom of AGW; here's the intro to a fact-checking story at FactCheck.org : "

Cruz claimed none of the alarmists say global warming anymore  now its climate change.  Thats inaccurate. Scientists still use both terms, but tend to use climate change more often because, in addition to warming, it refers to phenomena such as sea-level rise and changes in precipitation patterns.

Cruz also said climate change is the perfect pseudoscientific theory because it can never, ever, ever be disproven. This is false. It could be, but the chances are slim. Climate change rests on the veracity of the greenhouse effect, a theory which has been repeatedly verified since it was first proposed in 1824..."

The Pentagon Just Issued Marching Orders on Climate Change. Here's the intro to an update from . Here's the intro to an update from VICE News : "

: Mizpah picks up 13 inches of snow in a storm.Welcome to Minnesota. Yes, we have running water, electricity and cable. You don't have to plug in your vehicle, but most winters you can drive on the lakes, if you get the urge.To put things into perspective a friend, Dan Lilledahl, told me about the freeway message that greeted drivers in Atlanta. "Winter Weather Alert. Snow Flurries. Use Extreme Caution." Alerts for flurries?To be fair southern states see more ice than snow, creating one giant skating rink. But still.Minnesota and the Dakotas see the biggest swings in temperature and moisture in North America; the most extreme weather whips up near the center of continents, well away from the moderating influence of oceans.A reinforcing shot of bug-free air arrives; after starting out near -10F in the suburbs highs creep into single digitsunder a bright, ineffective sun.A couple inches of snow may fall, but next week will feel like early March with a string of 30s; maybe 40s within a week.All things considered it's been a fairly easy winter. What can possibly go wrong?. I envision a milder than average spring, based on the current El Nino, which is now bigger than the one that hit in 1997-98. The spring of 1998 brought a rash of extreme weather and severe thunderstorms with large hail; I vaguely recall nearly $2 billion in damage in1998, much of that hail-related. Does that automatically mean a similar spring is imminent. No. Every El Nino is different, with varying symptoms and impacts, but don't be shocked if we see more severe storms (earlier than usual). Here's a clip from AccuWeather.com : "...However, that will change as April progresses and storms track from the Southwest, leading to increased severe weather in the central and southern Plains, Mississippi Valley and Midwest. "Intense warmth ahead of these storms comming out of the West is going to promote severe weather. Those are the ingredients you need," Pastelok said. "The thing that worries me the most is that it could turn into heavy rain producers that could lead to flooding. And we've seen lots of flooding already over this past winter season in the Mississippi Valley..."Pacific-fueled storms have whacked the Pacific Northwest and northern California, but it's still abnormally warm and (mostly) dry across SoCal. Here's a clip from The Los Angeles Times : "...Southern California is still well below average rainfall, with downtown L.A. reporting 52% of normal since Oct. 1. But deluge after deluge to the north has built back the snowpack  it's 105% of normal in the Sierra Nevada  and begun to refill drought-depleted reservoirs. For Southern California, the strong El Nino "hasn't been a great predictor so far this winter," said Stanford University climate scientist Daniel Swain, and "hasn't been influencing the atmosphere in exactly the same way that we have seen." A massive ridge of high pressure is keeping much of California dry and warm this week. In Southern California, that brought dry winds and temperatures that approached 90..." (Graphic: L.A. Times).. The jury is still out. Here's an excerpt at Texas Climate News : "...But what about the deadly Texas downpours of last May, when the ENSO was developing? Was global warming partly to blame? Utah State University researchers assert that it was. They said greenhouse gas emissions brought a significant increase in abnormal rainfall in Texas and Oklahoma. Others arent convinced. Even if global warming is strengthening the atmospheres response to El Ninos  unproven, Nielsen-Gammon said  the current one needed little help..."above: "The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration provides this summary description of the phenomenon that produces El Nino and La Nina conditions: El Nino and La Nina are the warm and cool phases of a recurring climate pattern across the tropical Pacificthe El Nino-Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. The pattern can shift back and forth irregularly every two to seven years, and each phase triggers predictable disruptions of temperature, precipitation, and winds. These changes disrupt the large-scale air movements in the tropics, triggering a cascade of global side effects.. I find this fascinating, how with smart design and materials you can, in fact, build a home that is more storm-resistant as well as energy-efficient. Here's an excerpt from The Washington Post : "...According to the Resilient Design Institute, a nonprofit organization based in Vermont, resilient design is the intentional design of buildings, landscapes, communities and regions in order to respond to natural and man-made disasters and disturbances as well as long-term changes resulting from climate change, including sea-level rise, increased frequency of heat waves and regional drought. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to creating a resilient home  solutions vary from region to region. For example, siding could be formulated to be resistant to moisture and freeze-thaw in the North or for resisting hail and flying storm debris in the South..."above: "Solar energy is ballooning across the United States with California and Massachusetts leading the way, according to a Solar Foundation report unveiled Wednesday. The U.S. solar industry now employs slightly over 200,000 workers, representing a growth of 20 percent since November of 2014. Whats more, last year the industry added workers at a rate nearly 12 times faster than the overall economy...": AP Photo/Chris Carlson.. Here's an interesting blurb at Gizmag : "Boeing has delivered a new type of fuel cell to the US Navy for testing that can both store energy and generate electricity. Called a "reversible solid oxide fuel cell," it's designed to absorb energy from renewable sources, such as wind and solar, then release it as required to provide commercial and military users with a cleaner, more sustainable source of power...": "Boeing's reversible solid oxide fuel cell system in operation in Huntington Beach, California." (Credit: Boeing) Greentech Media takes a look: "The impressive numbers for renewable energy in 2015 keep coming. Just as there has been a tipping point globally in clean energy , the same is true in the U.S., according to new figures from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) and the Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE). The fourth annual Sustainable Energy in America Factbook highlights the record year for utility-scale and distributed solar, huge gains for wind energy , and a shift away from coal toward natural gas (which has a smaller carbon footprint although it is hardly clean). The result is an energy industry that is decarbonizing across the board..." TIME has a look at energy platforms for each candidate; here's an excerpt: "A Trump presidency would help conventional energy investors, while a Clinton presidency may add boost to renewable energy sectors As the 2016 presidential race starts to heat up it is time to take a look at the remaining serious candidates and what each one might mean for energy policies and energy companies in the U.S. While a lot can happen in the next couple of months, the current leaders for the Republican Party are Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio...": Arnold Schwarzenegger.. Here's another day-brightener, courtesy of MinnPost : "Researchers at the Mayo Clinic have discovered a new species of bacteria in the Upper Midwest that causes Lyme disease . They have named the bacteria Borrelia mayonii, after the two brothers, William and James Mayo, who founded the Rochester, Minnesota, clinic. Before this finding, which was published Monday in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases , the only species believed to cause Lyme disease in North America was Borrelia burgdorferi...": Blacklegged ticks, Minnesota Department of Health.. What a crock, and another reason to tread carefully in the Sunshine State. Here's an excerpt from The Washington Post : "Authorities in Florida have arrested a man accused of throwing a live alligator through a restaurants drive-through window. Investigators identified Joshua James, of Jupiter, Fla., as the man who tossed the 3-foot reptile into a Wendys last fall, according to a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission incident report...": ": Partly sunny, chilly. Winds: SW 7-12. High: 17THURSDAY NIGHT: Clear and cold. Low: 8: Mix of clouds and sun with a cold wind, feels like -10F. Winds: NW 10-20. High: 11: Cold start, bright blue sky. Wake-up: -9. Winds: SE 3-8. High: 9: Couple inches of snow possible. Winds: S 10-20. Wake-up: 7. High: 24: Mostly cloudy. Hooray for "average". Wake-up: 16. High: 31: Flurries or light mix? Milder. Wake-up: 19. High: 33: Slow clearing, not bad at all. Wake-up: 25. High: 31...Introduced by the president last August, the plan set carbon reduction goals for each state and it was up to the states themselves to come up with proposals to meet those goals. A group of 27 states, utilities and coal miners sought to block the proposal in the courts. They argued that the plan was an infringement on states' rights. An initial attempt to halt the implementation of the plan until legal challenges were heard was thrown out by a US appeals court in Washington in January. However the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to suspend the plan pending the outcome of the litigation..."above: "A divided U.S. Supreme Court blocked President Barack Obamas sweeping plan to cut emissions from power plants, putting on hold his most ambitious effort to combat climate change. The 5-4 order Tuesday halts the Environmental Protection Agencys Clean Power Plan until at least the final months of Obamas presidency -- and casts doubt on its ultimate fate before the nations highest court by suggesting concern among a majority of the justices. Utilities, coal miners and more than two dozen states say the agency had overstepped its authority and intruded on states rights..."but in the new study the researchers looked at more modern stations that are known to be quite accurate and compared them to the data from nearby older stations during the 12-year period where the two different systems were both in operation at the same time. As was expected, the uncorrected data from the older stations didnt match the newer ones well. However, when the corrections were applied, the older stations did in fact match the newer ones much better. This shows that the corrections being applied are in fact making the data more accurate...": "The average monthly temperature anomalies (deviations from an average) from 20042015. The new station readings are in green; the old ones using the correction are in orange.. Here's an excerpt from Think Progress : "...He was very sympathetic about the house loss, but clearly dismisses climate change as a reality, Boschert said. It makes me very angry. I do not see it as a political issue. Its a personal tragedy. Boscherts New Hampshire meeting wasnt her first attempt at convincing Cruz to sit down with Texas flood survivors to discuss climate change. Immediately after the floods, a group of flood survivors traveled to his office to present signatures from thousands of people around the country asking that Cruz meet with constituents to discuss climate change. Boschert, who was a part of that group, never received a response from Cruzs office...": ClimateTruth.org/Youtube.. Here's a clip from a story at The Guardian : "Airline flights are known to worsen climate change but now climate change is set to worsen flight times, according to new research. The work shows faster jet stream winds will delay transatlantic flights, adding thousands of hours a year to journey times and millions of dollars to airline fuel bills. Earlier work showed other impacts of rising temperatures on aviation, including bumpier, more turbulent flights and reducing the weight planes can carry ..."above: "Climate change is increasing the speed of the jet stream, which blows west-east across the Atlantic." Photograph: Andrei Orlov/Alamy. Climate Home has the story - here's an excerpt: "Michael Bloomberg is on the warpath. In his sights: corporations who fail to disclose the risks climate change poses their business model. The billionaire founder of media giant Bloomberg LP, UN climate envoy and former mayor of New York is heading a taskforce to boost the quality of climate reporting. Set up on the sidelines of the COP21 Paris talks last December, the Financial Stability Board-backed initiative met for the first time this week. In just over a month, it releases its initial findings..."above: "Michael Bloomberg, Secretary-Generals Special Envoy for Climate Change, speaks at the 2016 Investor Summit on Climate Risk." (Pic: UN Photos).Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX) has embarked upon a witch-hunt against climate scientists at NOAA , accusing them of conspiring to fudge global temperature data. However, a new study has found that the adjustments NOAA makes to the raw temperature data bring them closer to measurements from a reference network of pristinely-located temperature stations. Before delving into the new study, its worthwhile to revisit the temperature adjustments that Lamar Smith disputes. Volunteers have been logging measurements from weather stations around the world for over 150 years, and climate scientists use that data to estimate the Earths average surface temperature..."above: "The U.S. Climate Reference Network consists of 114 stations, including this one in Capitol Reef National Park, Torrey, Utah." Photograph: NOAA.While on the campaign trail in New Hampshire, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz gave a speech to local residents that contained inaccurate and misleading claims about climate science and its terminology:. Concern grows about climate volatility and weather/water/crop disruption as a "threat multiplier", accelerating global challenges and conflicts, many of which invariably blow back on the USA. Here's an excerpt at Climate Home : "US military planners have been ordered to war game climate change scenarios, focusing on geopolitical and socioeconomic instability linked to extreme weather. A new directive says forces need to undertake joint training exercises with allies to enhance capacity and improve tactics for tackling impacts linked to global warming. Mission planning and execution must include identification and assessment of the effects of climate change on the DoD [department of defence] mission, it reads..." (Image source: U.S. Military, Flickr).A bit over a year after identifying climate change as a "significant challenge" for the US military, the US Department of Defense has given its top officials orders for handling the hazards posed by a warming world. The boring-but-important 12-page document issued in January tells the armed service chiefs and top civilian officials to identify how climate change will affect their missions, figure out how to manage any risks it poses, and factor those into their planning. It gives specific tasks to various Defense Department offices and regional commands, from determining how higher sea levels or longer droughts affect US bases to what new gear might be needed to work in a thawing Arctic...". Here's an excerpt from a post by climate science communicator Greg Laden : "Over the last several years, ice fishing contests, which are a big deal in Minnesota, have been repeatedly cancelled due to insufficient ice thickness on the relevant lake. Some of these contests have been permanently cancelled because the annual cancelations were becoming more frequent. Just now, the Maple Lake Ice Fishing Derby has been cancelled . Thats bad. But even more disturbing is this : Ice conditions for the Eel Pout Festival have created enough concern to prompt vehicle restrictions, according to the Cass County Sheriffs Office..."
13 F. high in the Twin Cities Wednesday.

27 F. average high on February 10.

29 F. high on February 10, 2015.

February 11, 1932

on Tuesday

Friday

Sunday

on Sunday

Bottoming Out Saturday Morning - Then Thawing Out. European guidance shows a cold start Saturday as the center of Canadian high pressure drifts right over Minnesota. A return southerly flow on the backside of this fair-weather bubble, coupled with a weak clipper, may spark a couple inches of snow on Sunday. By midweek it may be mild enough aloft for a sloppy mix with a chance of 40s within a week.

S-S-Saturday Chill. Models are in amazingly good agreement showing a wake-up temperature (6 AM) Saturday close to -10F. The urban heat island will keep the downtowns and close-in suburbs a few degrees milder, with outlying suburbs dipping into the -10 to -15F air temperature range. Thankfully winds will be light so wind chills won't be much colder. Source: Aeris Enterprise.

Atmospheric Correction. Goosebumps linger into Saturday, but next week will feel more like late February or early March, with a streak of days in the 30s. The GFS solution isn't quite as mild as ECMWF, but there's little doubt that many Minnesotans will be breathing a collective sigh of relief, especially the latter half of next week.

Predicted Snowfall by Sunday Evening. NOAA's GFS model brings some 6" amounts into far southern Minnesota Saturday night into Sunday with the best chance of a plowable snowfall south and west of the Minnesota River. Metro? Maybe a couple inches. Keep expectations low. Map: AerisWeather.

Wobbles and Dips. This is still a pale imitation of the "Polar Vortex" we enjoyed 2 years ago, but subzero weather (hot pink color above) rotates across Minnesota Friday night and early Saturday, before a shift in the pattern pulls milder, Pacific air east of the Rockies next week.

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Homes in the Links at Gettysburg in Pennsylvania were designed with high insulation levels to keep out drafts.

High Performance Homes.

California and Massachussets Lead U.S. Solar Boom. Here's a clip at . Here's a clip at ThinkProgress.com : "

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54 Million Americans Incorrectly Labeled as Unhealthy. This vaguely reassuring article is courtesy of This vaguely reassuring article is courtesy of Quartz ; here's an excerpt: "Body Mass Index is used by everyone from insurers to health professionals to determine whether someone is at a healthy weight. According to the index , which is calculated by dividing a persons weight by the square of the persons height, someone with a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 is healthy, whereas a BMI of 25 to 29.9 is classed as overweight and a BMI of 30 or higher is categorized as obese. But these numbers do not directly correlate with physical health, according to a study of 40,420 people published this week in the International Journal of Obesity ..."

U.S. Military: Robot Wars. Financial Times has a must-read story focused on the future role of the military and the use of robotics; here's an excerpt: "...The underlying objective of the new strategy is to find weapons and technologies to ensure US forces can fight their way to the fight as one official puts it  to evade the layered missile defences both China and Russia can erect, to defend bases against attack from precision-guided missiles and to be able to operate carrier fleets at a much greater distance from an enemy. For some Pentagon planners, the long-term answers will be found in robotics  be they unmanned, autonomous planes or submarines that can surprise an enemy or robot soldiers that can reduce the risk to humans by launching attacks. Mr Work, who once co-wrote a paper called Preparing for War in the Robotic Age, said in December: Ten years from now, if the first person through a breach isnt a fricking robot, then shame on us...

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An alligator on the kitchen floor of a Florida Wendys after being thrown into the drive-through." (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission).

TODAY

FRIDAY

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Climate Stories...

Obama Climate Initiative: Supreme Court Calls Halt.

In reaching this decision is the court looking out for the common good, or special interests? The price of energy is vitally important, so are short-term health implications and longer-term climate impacts. Here's an excerpt from The BBC : "

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US power stations are the country's largest source of greenhouse gases." AP.

Obama's Clean-Power Plan Put on Hold by U.S. Supreme Court. Bloomberg Business has more perspective; here's an excerpt: "





Photo credit above: " A coal-fired power plant behind homes in Poca, W.V., in 2014. " Credit Robert Galbraith/Reuters.

New Study: Yep, Thermometers Do Show Global Warming is Real.

The latest bit of contrived scandal is "satellites show no warming; we can't trust the thermometer record!" Slate explains why NOAA's recent calibrations of the thermometer record strengthen the case for warming; here's an excerpt: "...

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No Climate Conspiracy: NOAA Temperature Adjustments Bring Data Closer to Pristine.

Here's the intro to a story at The Guardian : "

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Cruz's "Pseudoscientific" Climate Claims.

No, the satellite record isn't the best measure of tropospheric warming because it only infers temperatures at various altitudes, and the onboard sensors are peering through a cooling stratosphere, another symptom of AGW; here's the intro to a fact-checking story at FactCheck.org : "

Cruz claimed none of the alarmists say global warming anymore  now its climate change.  Thats inaccurate. Scientists still use both terms, but tend to use climate change more often because, in addition to warming, it refers to phenomena such as sea-level rise and changes in precipitation patterns.

Cruz also said climate change is the perfect pseudoscientific theory because it can never, ever, ever be disproven. This is false. It could be, but the chances are slim. Climate change rests on the veracity of the greenhouse effect, a theory which has been repeatedly verified since it was first proposed in 1824..."

The Pentagon Just Issued Marching Orders on Climate Change. Here's the intro to an update from . Here's the intro to an update from VICE News : "

: Mizpah picks up 13 inches of snow in a storm.Welcome to Minnesota. Yes, we have running water, electricity and cable. You don't have to plug in your vehicle, but most winters you can drive on the lakes, if you get the urge.To put things into perspective a friend, Dan Lilledahl, told me about the freeway message that greeted drivers in Atlanta. "Winter Weather Alert. Snow Flurries. Use Extreme Caution." Alerts for flurries?To be fair southern states see more ice than snow, creating one giant skating rink. But still.Minnesota and the Dakotas see the biggest swings in temperature and moisture in North America; the most extreme weather whips up near the center of continents, well away from the moderating influence of oceans.A reinforcing shot of bug-free air arrives; after starting out near -10F in the suburbs highs creep into single digitsunder a bright, ineffective sun.A couple inches of snow may fall, but next week will feel like early March with a string of 30s; maybe 40s within a week.All things considered it's been a fairly easy winter. What can possibly go wrong?. I envision a milder than average spring, based on the current El Nino, which is now bigger than the one that hit in 1997-98. The spring of 1998 brought a rash of extreme weather and severe thunderstorms with large hail; I vaguely recall nearly $2 billion in damage in1998, much of that hail-related. Does that automatically mean a similar spring is imminent. No. Every El Nino is different, with varying symptoms and impacts, but don't be shocked if we see more severe storms (earlier than usual). Here's a clip from AccuWeather.com : "...However, that will change as April progresses and storms track from the Southwest, leading to increased severe weather in the central and southern Plains, Mississippi Valley and Midwest. "Intense warmth ahead of these storms comming out of the West is going to promote severe weather. Those are the ingredients you need," Pastelok said. "The thing that worries me the most is that it could turn into heavy rain producers that could lead to flooding. And we've seen lots of flooding already over this past winter season in the Mississippi Valley..."Pacific-fueled storms have whacked the Pacific Northwest and northern California, but it's still abnormally warm and (mostly) dry across SoCal. Here's a clip from The Los Angeles Times : "...Southern California is still well below average rainfall, with downtown L.A. reporting 52% of normal since Oct. 1. But deluge after deluge to the north has built back the snowpack  it's 105% of normal in the Sierra Nevada  and begun to refill drought-depleted reservoirs. For Southern California, the strong El Nino "hasn't been a great predictor so far this winter," said Stanford University climate scientist Daniel Swain, and "hasn't been influencing the atmosphere in exactly the same way that we have seen." A massive ridge of high pressure is keeping much of California dry and warm this week. In Southern California, that brought dry winds and temperatures that approached 90..." (Graphic: L.A. Times).. The jury is still out. Here's an excerpt at Texas Climate News : "...But what about the deadly Texas downpours of last May, when the ENSO was developing? Was global warming partly to blame? Utah State University researchers assert that it was. They said greenhouse gas emissions brought a significant increase in abnormal rainfall in Texas and Oklahoma. Others arent convinced. Even if global warming is strengthening the atmospheres response to El Ninos  unproven, Nielsen-Gammon said  the current one needed little help..."above: "The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration provides this summary description of the phenomenon that produces El Nino and La Nina conditions: El Nino and La Nina are the warm and cool phases of a recurring climate pattern across the tropical Pacificthe El Nino-Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. The pattern can shift back and forth irregularly every two to seven years, and each phase triggers predictable disruptions of temperature, precipitation, and winds. These changes disrupt the large-scale air movements in the tropics, triggering a cascade of global side effects.. I find this fascinating, how with smart design and materials you can, in fact, build a home that is more storm-resistant as well as energy-efficient. Here's an excerpt from The Washington Post : "...According to the Resilient Design Institute, a nonprofit organization based in Vermont, resilient design is the intentional design of buildings, landscapes, communities and regions in order to respond to natural and man-made disasters and disturbances as well as long-term changes resulting from climate change, including sea-level rise, increased frequency of heat waves and regional drought. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to creating a resilient home  solutions vary from region to region. For example, siding could be formulated to be resistant to moisture and freeze-thaw in the North or for resisting hail and flying storm debris in the South..."above: "Solar energy is ballooning across the United States with California and Massachusetts leading the way, according to a Solar Foundation report unveiled Wednesday. The U.S. solar industry now employs slightly over 200,000 workers, representing a growth of 20 percent since November of 2014. Whats more, last year the industry added workers at a rate nearly 12 times faster than the overall economy...": AP Photo/Chris Carlson.. Here's an interesting blurb at Gizmag : "Boeing has delivered a new type of fuel cell to the US Navy for testing that can both store energy and generate electricity. Called a "reversible solid oxide fuel cell," it's designed to absorb energy from renewable sources, such as wind and solar, then release it as required to provide commercial and military users with a cleaner, more sustainable source of power...": "Boeing's reversible solid oxide fuel cell system in operation in Huntington Beach, California." (Credit: Boeing) Greentech Media takes a look: "The impressive numbers for renewable energy in 2015 keep coming. Just as there has been a tipping point globally in clean energy , the same is true in the U.S., according to new figures from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) and the Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE). The fourth annual Sustainable Energy in America Factbook highlights the record year for utility-scale and distributed solar, huge gains for wind energy , and a shift away from coal toward natural gas (which has a smaller carbon footprint although it is hardly clean). The result is an energy industry that is decarbonizing across the board..." TIME has a look at energy platforms for each candidate; here's an excerpt: "A Trump presidency would help conventional energy investors, while a Clinton presidency may add boost to renewable energy sectors As the 2016 presidential race starts to heat up it is time to take a look at the remaining serious candidates and what each one might mean for energy policies and energy companies in the U.S. While a lot can happen in the next couple of months, the current leaders for the Republican Party are Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio...": Arnold Schwarzenegger.. Here's another day-brightener, courtesy of MinnPost : "Researchers at the Mayo Clinic have discovered a new species of bacteria in the Upper Midwest that causes Lyme disease . They have named the bacteria Borrelia mayonii, after the two brothers, William and James Mayo, who founded the Rochester, Minnesota, clinic. Before this finding, which was published Monday in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases , the only species believed to cause Lyme disease in North America was Borrelia burgdorferi...": Blacklegged ticks, Minnesota Department of Health.. What a crock, and another reason to tread carefully in the Sunshine State. Here's an excerpt from The Washington Post : "Authorities in Florida have arrested a man accused of throwing a live alligator through a restaurants drive-through window. Investigators identified Joshua James, of Jupiter, Fla., as the man who tossed the 3-foot reptile into a Wendys last fall, according to a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission incident report...": ": Partly sunny, chilly. Winds: SW 7-12. High: 17THURSDAY NIGHT: Clear and cold. Low: 8: Mix of clouds and sun with a cold wind, feels like -10F. Winds: NW 10-20. High: 11: Cold start, bright blue sky. Wake-up: -9. Winds: SE 3-8. High: 9: Couple inches of snow possible. Winds: S 10-20. Wake-up: 7. High: 24: Mostly cloudy. Hooray for "average". Wake-up: 16. High: 31: Flurries or light mix? Milder. Wake-up: 19. High: 33: Slow clearing, not bad at all. Wake-up: 25. High: 31...Introduced by the president last August, the plan set carbon reduction goals for each state and it was up to the states themselves to come up with proposals to meet those goals. A group of 27 states, utilities and coal miners sought to block the proposal in the courts. They argued that the plan was an infringement on states' rights. An initial attempt to halt the implementation of the plan until legal challenges were heard was thrown out by a US appeals court in Washington in January. However the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to suspend the plan pending the outcome of the litigation..."above: "A divided U.S. Supreme Court blocked President Barack Obamas sweeping plan to cut emissions from power plants, putting on hold his most ambitious effort to combat climate change. The 5-4 order Tuesday halts the Environmental Protection Agencys Clean Power Plan until at least the final months of Obamas presidency -- and casts doubt on its ultimate fate before the nations highest court by suggesting concern among a majority of the justices. Utilities, coal miners and more than two dozen states say the agency had overstepped its authority and intruded on states rights..."but in the new study the researchers looked at more modern stations that are known to be quite accurate and compared them to the data from nearby older stations during the 12-year period where the two different systems were both in operation at the same time. As was expected, the uncorrected data from the older stations didnt match the newer ones well. However, when the corrections were applied, the older stations did in fact match the newer ones much better. This shows that the corrections being applied are in fact making the data more accurate...": "The average monthly temperature anomalies (deviations from an average) from 20042015. The new station readings are in green; the old ones using the correction are in orange.. Here's an excerpt from Think Progress : "...He was very sympathetic about the house loss, but clearly dismisses climate change as a reality, Boschert said. It makes me very angry. I do not see it as a political issue. Its a personal tragedy. Boscherts New Hampshire meeting wasnt her first attempt at convincing Cruz to sit down with Texas flood survivors to discuss climate change. Immediately after the floods, a group of flood survivors traveled to his office to present signatures from thousands of people around the country asking that Cruz meet with constituents to discuss climate change. Boschert, who was a part of that group, never received a response from Cruzs office...": ClimateTruth.org/Youtube.. Here's a clip from a story at The Guardian : "Airline flights are known to worsen climate change but now climate change is set to worsen flight times, according to new research. The work shows faster jet stream winds will delay transatlantic flights, adding thousands of hours a year to journey times and millions of dollars to airline fuel bills. Earlier work showed other impacts of rising temperatures on aviation, including bumpier, more turbulent flights and reducing the weight planes can carry ..."above: "Climate change is increasing the speed of the jet stream, which blows west-east across the Atlantic." Photograph: Andrei Orlov/Alamy. Climate Home has the story - here's an excerpt: "Michael Bloomberg is on the warpath. In his sights: corporations who fail to disclose the risks climate change poses their business model. The billionaire founder of media giant Bloomberg LP, UN climate envoy and former mayor of New York is heading a taskforce to boost the quality of climate reporting. Set up on the sidelines of the COP21 Paris talks last December, the Financial Stability Board-backed initiative met for the first time this week. In just over a month, it releases its initial findings..."above: "Michael Bloomberg, Secretary-Generals Special Envoy for Climate Change, speaks at the 2016 Investor Summit on Climate Risk." (Pic: UN Photos).Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX) has embarked upon a witch-hunt against climate scientists at NOAA , accusing them of conspiring to fudge global temperature data. However, a new study has found that the adjustments NOAA makes to the raw temperature data bring them closer to measurements from a reference network of pristinely-located temperature stations. Before delving into the new study, its worthwhile to revisit the temperature adjustments that Lamar Smith disputes. Volunteers have been logging measurements from weather stations around the world for over 150 years, and climate scientists use that data to estimate the Earths average surface temperature..."above: "The U.S. Climate Reference Network consists of 114 stations, including this one in Capitol Reef National Park, Torrey, Utah." Photograph: NOAA.While on the campaign trail in New Hampshire, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz gave a speech to local residents that contained inaccurate and misleading claims about climate science and its terminology:. Concern grows about climate volatility and weather/water/crop disruption as a "threat multiplier", accelerating global challenges and conflicts, many of which invariably blow back on the USA. Here's an excerpt at Climate Home : "US military planners have been ordered to war game climate change scenarios, focusing on geopolitical and socioeconomic instability linked to extreme weather. A new directive says forces need to undertake joint training exercises with allies to enhance capacity and improve tactics for tackling impacts linked to global warming. Mission planning and execution must include identification and assessment of the effects of climate change on the DoD [department of defence] mission, it reads..." (Image source: U.S. Military, Flickr).A bit over a year after identifying climate change as a "significant challenge" for the US military, the US Department of Defense has given its top officials orders for handling the hazards posed by a warming world. The boring-but-important 12-page document issued in January tells the armed service chiefs and top civilian officials to identify how climate change will affect their missions, figure out how to manage any risks it poses, and factor those into their planning. It gives specific tasks to various Defense Department offices and regional commands, from determining how higher sea levels or longer droughts affect US bases to what new gear might be needed to work in a thawing Arctic...". Here's an excerpt from a post by climate science communicator Greg Laden : "Over the last several years, ice fishing contests, which are a big deal in Minnesota, have been repeatedly cancelled due to insufficient ice thickness on the relevant lake. Some of these contests have been permanently cancelled because the annual cancelations were becoming more frequent. Just now, the Maple Lake Ice Fishing Derby has been cancelled . Thats bad. But even more disturbing is this : Ice conditions for the Eel Pout Festival have created enough concern to prompt vehicle restrictions, according to the Cass County Sheriffs Office..."
We want to offer to your company our wood chips of eucalyptus wood. We have wood chips to export from Brazil to your country. Our wood chips has many quality and we are only able to export from southeast brazilian ports. This product it will to make bioenergy and we can also suplly wood pellets. Shipment at the Port: 10.000/MT per day Installed: 450 Kg/M3 Output : 2.500 Kcal/Kg / 2,91 MWh/Ton Wood Chips for export :50.000 MT (We can to export very more than it) Power Production: 1.200.000 MT / year SIZE: For each 50,000 tonnes will be 139,000 m3 of chips. Humidity from 25 to 35%, can reach humidity between 12 to 13%.



DENSITY: 6mm + / - 1mm

WIDTH: 22mm + / - 3 mm

LENGTH: 30mm + / - 5 mm

- HEAT: 2500 to 4000 Kcal / Kg

- CHEMICAL COMPOSITION: Oxygen Approx..........47% Hydrogen Approx....... 5,8% Nitrogen Approx......... 0,3% Sulphur Less............. 0,003% Chlorine Less than ......0,1% Carbon.................... 52% PH........................ 5,7%
Exceptionalism: the condition of being different from the norm; also: a theory expounding the exceptionalism especially of a nation or region.

There are many theories surrounding the origin of American exceptionalism. The most popular in US folklore, being that it describes Americas unique character as a free nation founded on democratic ideals and civil liberties. The Declaration of Independence from British colonial rule is the foundation of this theory and has persevered throughout the often violent history of the US since its birth as a free nation.

Over time, exceptionalism has come to represent superiority in the minds and hearts of Americans. Belief in their economic, military and ideological supremacy is what has motivated successive US governments to invest in shaping the world in their superior image with little or no regard for the destruction left in the wake of their exceptional hegemony.

In considering itself, exceptional, the US has extricated itself from any legal obligation to adhere to either International law or even the common moral laws that should govern Humanity. The US has become exceptionally lawless and authoritarian particularly in its intolerant neo-colonialist foreign policy. The colonized have become the colonialists, concealing their brutal savagery behind a veneer of missionary zeal that they are converting the world to their form of exceptionalist Utopia.

Such is the media & marketing apparatus that supports this superiority complex, the majority of US congress exist within its echo chamber and are willing victims of its indoctrination. The power of the propaganda vortex pulls them in and then radiates outwards, infecting all in its path. Self-extraction from this oligarchical perspective is perceived as a revolutionary act that challenges the core of US security so exceptionalism becomes the modus vivendi.

Just as Israel considers itself the chosen people from a religious perspective, the US considers itself the chosen nation to impose its version of Democratic reform and capitalist hegemony the world over. One can see why Israel and the US make such symbiotic bedfellows.

The fatal war for humanity is the war with Russia and China toward which Washington is driving the US and Washingtons NATO and Asian puppet states. The bigotry of the US power elite is rooted in its self-righteous doctrine that stipulates America as the indispensable country ~ Paul Craig Roberts: Washington Drives the World Towards War.

So why do the American people accept US criminal hegemony, domestic and foreign brutal tyranny & neo-colonialist blood-letting with scant protest? Why do the European vassal states not rise up against this authoritarian regime that flaunts international law and drags its NATO allies down the path to complete lawlessness and diplomatic ignominy?

The psychological term Gaslighting comes from a 1944 Hollywood classic movie called Gaslight. Gaslighting describes the abuse employed by a narcissist to instil in their victims mind, an extreme anxiety and confusion to the extent where they no longer have faith in their own powers of logic, reason and judgement. These gaslighting techniques were adopted by central intelligence agencies in the US and Europe as part of their psychological warfare methods, used primarily during torture or interrogation.

Gaslighting as an abusers modus operandi, involves, specifically, the withholding of factual information and its replacement with false or fictional information designed to confuse and disorientate. This subtle and Machiavellian process eventually undermines the mental stability of its victims reducing them to such a depth of insecurity and identity crisis that they become entirely dependent upon their abuser for their sense of reality and even identity.

Gaslighting involves a step by step psychological process to manipulate and destabilize its victim. It is built up over time and consists of repetitive information feeds that enter the victims subconscious over a period of time, until it is fully registered on the subconscious hard disk and cannot be overridden by the conscious floppy disk. Put more simply, it is brainwashing.

Overall, the main reason for gaslighting is to create a dynamic where the abuser has complete control over their victim so that they are so weak that they are very easy to manipulate. ~ Alex Myles

Victims of Gaslighting go through 3 stages, disbelief, defence and depression.

The first stage depends upon trust in the integrity and unimpeachable intentions of the abuser, a state of reliance that has been engendered by the abusers artful self-promotion and ingratiating propaganda. Once this trust is gained, the abuser will begin to subtly undermine it, creating situations and environments where the victim will begin to doubt their own judgement. Eventually the victim will rely entirely upon the abuser to alleviate their uncertainty and to restore their sense of reality which is in fact that of the abuser.

The second stage, defence, is a process by which the abuser isolates the victim, not only from their own sense of identity but from the validation of their peers. They are made to feel that their opinion is worthless, discredited, down-right weird. In political circles they would be labelled a conspiracy theorist, a dissident, a terror apologist. As a consequence, the victim will withdraw from society and cease to express themselves for fear of ridicule, judgement or punishment.

This stage can also be compared to Stockholm Syndrome where a hostage or captive is reduced,by psychological mind games, back to infantile dependency upon their captor. Narcissistic abuse bonds the victim to the aggressor via trauma. Stockholm Syndrome bonds the victim to the aggressor via regression to an infantile state where the abuser/aggressor becomes the parent who will rescue the victim from imminent annihilation. Both methods tap into the victims survival mechanisms to gain and maintain control.

The final stage is depression. A life under the tyrannical rule of a narcissist drives the victim into a state of extreme confusion. They are stripped of dignity & self-reliance. They, ultimately exist in an information vacuum which is only filled by that which the abuser deems suitable or relevant. This can eventually invoke symptoms of PTSD [Post Traumatic Stress Disorder]. Flashbacks, constant apprehension, hyper vigilance, mind paralysis, rage and even violence. The process is complete and the victim has been reduced to a willing accomplice in the abusers creation of a very distorted reality.

We are currently seeing the transformation of US exceptionalism into an abusive Narcissism. The gargantuan apparatus of mind bending and controlling is being put into hyper drive by the ruling elite. We are inundated with propaganda that challenges our sense of reality but only after being tenderized by the fear factor. Fear of terror, fear of war, fear of financial insecurity, fear of gun violence, fear of our own shadow. Once we are suitably quaking in our boots, in comes the rendition of reality that relieves our anxiety. If we challenge this version of events we are labelled a conspiracy theorist, a threat to security. We are hounded, discredited, slandered and ridiculed. We are isolated and threatened.

Wars are started in the same way. Despite the hindsight that should enable us to see it coming, the process swings into motion with resounding success. The ubiquitous dictator, the oligarch who threatens to destroy all that the US and her allies represent which of course is, freedom, equality & civil liberty all wrapped up in the Democracy shiny paper and tied with the exceptionalist ribbon.

Next the false flag to engender fear, terror and to foment sectarian strife. The support of a legitimate organic, indigenous revolution conveniently emerging in tandem with US ambitions for imposing their model of governance upon a target nation. The arming of freedom fighters, the securing of mercenary additions to these manufactured proxy forces. All this is sold in the name of freedom and democracy to a public that is already in a state of anxiety and insecurity, lacking in judgement or insight into any other reality but that of their abuser.

Then in addition, the Humanitarians are deployed. The forces for good, the vanguard of integrity and ethical intervention. The power that offers all lost souls a stake-holding in the salvation of sovereign nations that have lost their way and need rescuing. A balm for a damaged soul, to know they can leave their doubts and fears in such trustworthy hands as HRW, Amnesty International, they can assuage their deep sense of guilt at the suffering being endured by the people of far flung nations because they can depend upon the NGOs to provide absolution with minimal effort on their part. They dont realise that NGOs are an integral part of their abusers apparatus, operating on the leash of neo-colonialist financing and influence. NGOs provide the optic through which the abuser will allow the victim to perceive their world and once absorbed into this flawed prism the victims own cognitive dissonance will ensure they do not attempt a jail break.

In this state of oppressed consciousness the victim accepts what they are told. They accept that the US can sell cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia that obliterate human beings and lay waste to essential civilian infrastructure in Yemen. They accept that the US financially, ideologically & militarily supports the illegal state of Israel and provides the arsenal of experimental weapons that maim and mutilate children and civilians on a scale that is unimaginable. They accept that a crippling blockade of the already impoverished and starving nation of Yemen is necessary to resolve the issues of sectarian divisions that only exist in the minds of their Congressional abusers.

The majority of Americans accept mass murder under the pretext of the right to protect, because their ability to form rational and reasoned opinions has been engineered out of them. This is now the definition of US exceptionalism. It is their ability to manipulate the world into accepting their lawlessness and global hegemony agenda. In seeking to impose its own image upon our world the US has drifted so far from its founding principles, one wonders how they will ever return to them. They have employed a recognised form of torture to ensure capitulation to their mission of world domination which entails the mental, physical and spiritual torture of target civilian populations.

In conclusion, the US has indeed achieved exceptionalism. The US has become an exceptional global executioner and persecutor of Humanity. Imperialism is a euphemism for the depths of abuse the US is inflicting upon the people of this world.

Our only hope is to break the cycle of abuse with empathy for the victim and with appreciation for the years of brainwashing that precedes their agonizing passive-aggressive apathy towards crimes being committed in their name.

This was an email I received recently from one courageous young American girl whose epiphany is testament to the resilience and survival instinct of the human spirit.

My name is Caroline and I am a 22 year old US citizen. I only fairly recently discovered the truth about Empire/NATO's activities in Syria and Libya and so many other countries (thanks to writers like Andre Vltchek, Cory Morningstar, Forrest Palmer). I am sickened when I remember that I signed some of those Avaaz petitions and I feel horrified at knowing that I have Syrian and Libyan blood on my hands. I want to believe that I'm not "really" guilty because I really thought (as I had been told) that I was not doing something bad at the time, but still, what I did contributed to the suffering of those people and I want to do something to atone in at least some small way, even though I probably can't "make up" for what I did or erase my crime. If it's not too much trouble, could you please tell me what you think I should do, if there is anything?

She deserves an answer
My literate readers will recognize this blog title as the title of a book by Ralph Bellamy a notorious American socialist. He advocated the same ideas as modern socialists 150 years ago.

Maybe with Bernie Sanders doing so well running for president as a socialist on the Democrat Party ticket, Bellamy is relevant. Bellamy fully understood the nature of socialism. He showed that a redistribution of income would make every American able to live in the same luxury as the very richest in 1887.

That is how idealized socialism would work. And most importantly we would be living in 1887 with outdoor toilets, no electricity, horses and bikes as our transportation, everyone living with farm animals to provide most of their food and preparing it themselves. Life spans of 60 years, only few occupations and intense pain from countless medical nightmares. Etc.

For 50 years after Bellamy, all of Europe contributed to technology and modernity. Only America has been making a significant contribution to modernity since 1945 when socialism conquered Europe. The war technology and the meritocratic world of commerce in America since then has produced the modern miraculous world.

Strange to say, modern American youth are uneducated fools. The people in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, who lived under socialism for 45 years chose modern commerce for their lives in 1992 when the yoke of Russia lifted off their lives.
On December 30th, we embarked on our 5 week trip through Panama & Costa Rica. Our first stop was none other than Panama City. We stayed at the Balboa Inn, a five minute taxi ride to Casco Viejo and a 30 min ride from the airport. A taxi from the airport will set you back $35. During our first night, a tree fell on our hotel, but I slept soundly and didn't hear a thing. Simon and Rosie are British and run the inn with ease and smiles. They are extremely friendly and can set up any tours you might need. It is not your fancy hotel but it is homey and in a very safe neighbourhood. Fun fact: El Chorillo lies between us and Casco Viejo (our first stop on our itinerary). We cannot get there without taxi. El Chorillo is a slum area that tourists are NOT allowed to enter on foot. There are police on every corner. It is full of gangs, now everyone tells us that these gangs will kidnap us and rob us if we try to set foot inside El Chorillo. The sad part of this is while we are driving through, it seems like one of the best places for both food and photos. We asked all taxi drivers if they would walk there and most of them said they had never been on foot, that it is too dangerous for them. A note on taxis, beware, they are not metered so you need to agree on a price before getting in to the taxi. Fun Fact #2: We forgot to change all out money at the airport so we are walking around with useless Canadian Dollars. The currency in Panama is the US$$, yes $$, I didn't know either!! It is new years, no banks are open for days and we forgot to call our banks back home to tell them we are travelling. Great start to our day but all we need is some wifi to sort this out.

I could spend days wandering through the pretty streets of Casco Viejo. This area is basically a tourists dream with pretty buildings, gorgeous facades and at least five pretty old churches. Here's the thing, some days were dead quiet in this area and some were packed with tourist buses coming in for a few hours. Another thing, it is so hard to find Panamanian food in Casco Viejo, we managed to find one small place down an alley. They are called Fondas. It is basically beans, rice, chicken that falls off the bone and some pasta salad. Pasta salad comes with all the dishes. Weird right? After spending days waltzing around Casco Viejo, we found another fonda. At a fonda you can also find bone broth stew, beef and pork with all the usual trimmings. Most of the restaurants around the area are western style food and that's not what I came here to eat, although on our last night I did have some of the best pizza of my life at a place called Barrio. You can find all the tourist gifts you need in this area. Coffee, panama hats, magnets, cigars. (Quick side note, Panama is HOT!! An average day was 37deg celsius).

This man was making these props for restaurants to use for new years

A Panama hat. This photo was taken by Farah Khan

It was new years while we were in Panama city so downtown was basically closed for 75% of our time there. Literally nothing was open except a casino, although to be fair there isn't much downtown anyways except high rises, hotels and fast food chains. There is another fun part of town called Cinco de Mayo, it is a huge shopping street where we spent new years eve. It's bustling with hundreds of stalls, people selling fruit, clothes, shoes, belts, toys, fire crackers, coconuts, ice cream, and especially textiles for the Guna Yala & Embera. This area is full of Guna Yala tribe women who wear colourful outfits which you will see in a future post. You can find the Guna Yala all over Chinatown and Cinco de Mayo. Chinatown has a restaurant called Kwang Chow which featured on Anthony Bourdain. We went there on new year's eve because noodles and long life come to mind but I can safely say that I had the best Wonton Soup of my life. Worth a trek if you are in Panama and craving some Chinese food. At first look this place looks dirty and dingy, but after you get over the dirty floors and old ass furniture, your taste buds will be happy. This is one of the oldest china towns in Central America. Like most china towns I have visited it is lined with hardware stores. The one thing that stood out was the old man selling his chickens. People would pick a chicken and he would weigh it old school and then they would just head home with their live chicken and take it from there. This is a fun spot to wander around and all within walking distance from Casco Viejo.

In addition to all of that the fish market is really close by as well and definitely an experience. You'll notice walking around that most of the stall names inside the fish market are religious. Again, it was jointed on new years eve, but that's all part of the experience. Stalls line the fish market dishing out every kind of ceviche. If you just want to sample some, get the smallest portion of the combination ceviche for $1, you can't go wrong. They also have fried fish and patacones served with lime $8 and Panama Lights $2, another super traditional Panamanian dish. This might be the cheapest food in the city. Stroll about but mind the smell, some corners are real fishy.

What better way to spend new years day than with a trip to the Panama Canal. We watched the ships come in & the ships go out. Miraflores is the first set of locks a ship will pass through from the Pacific side. They travel through three sections because the Pacific Ocean is at a lower sea level than the canal and the canal is lower than the Atlantic. 100,000 litres of water is released to fill each of these locks. After Miraflores they will pass through two more locks, the last one being Gatun on the Caribbean side. It takes about 12 hours for a ship to pass through the entire Panama Canal. This one ship in my photos called the Jalma set sail from China and was carrying nothing but salt and was headed for the east coast of America.
Joliet - The City Council Land Use and Legislative Committee continues to work on a vicious dog ordinance. And the basics are already in place.





Joliet City Attorney Marty Shannahan presented a proposal to the committee Tuesday night. And while some fine-tuning is still needed when it comes to verbiage and enforcement, committee member Jan Quillman says the idea of taking extreme last resort action such as euthanization is in there; when its a dog that has been determined to cause servere injury or even death to another animal or a person. This would happen after three major incidents.Meanwhile, if there is a first incident, there would be an official dog registration, where neighbors moving in could see if there are dangerous dogs nearby. But Quillman points out that the dog owner would be able to appeal the incidents to a hearing officer.





Another important thing, Quillman says, would be judging each situation individually. Because sometimes, as we know, dogs are provoked; by children or by adults.





Quillman added that this is not designed to protect people from specific breeds, its designed to protect people from irresponsible dog owners. And first and foremost, its still a matter of getting township, city, and county authorities together; so that if something happens after the township animal control office is closed, immediate action can be taken. The committee hopes to have a final ordinance before the City Council in the near future.





Read more:




State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia has been putting a lot of miles a state-owned vehicle  about 20,000  since she took over as the state schools chief last July.

Her latest stop was in Saratoga Springs, Queensbury and Glens Falls. She visited Jackson Heights Elementary School in Glens Falls, where students in first-grade teacher Patty Parmelees class were being led in a song by guitarist John Farrell about the number 100. The students were communicating via Skype with a school in Colorado.

Elia was very interested in learning about the schools technology. Students in Brian Donohues fourth-grade class were researching explorers on the Internet to complete a worksheet.

Donohue said he is actively using the Google Classroom platform with his students. Students can complete assignments in the program and he can review them. He likes that he can log in from home and check to see if a student needs help. I can respond back to them right away. Were kind of in constant contact, he said.

Elia said is nice the teachers have ready access to student work, so they can review and see how they are doing.

Techology was the theme of Elias visit earlier in the day to SUNY Adirondack, where she heard from students about the Early College High School program.

Students can earn between 28 and 32 college credits and receive industry certifications through programs in electrical technology and advanced manufacturing or information technology and computer networking. They spend half the day at the college and half the day at their home school.

Commissioner Elia said she was impressed by the students presentation skills and maturity, which shows the benefits of programs such as these. Students are getting on a path to college and learning about the soft skills that are important in the job market.

Elia is seeking $7 million in the next state budget to provide sustainable funding stream for the Early College High School programs, of which there are currently 24 throughout the state.

She is also seeking $18 million to continue the Pathways in Technology (P-TECH) program including the one in Ballston Spa, which prepares students for careers in renewable energy, energy efficiency and advanced technology.
The lawyer for a Hudson Falls man who was arrested Sunday for allegedly going into an apartment and sexually abusing a young girl as she slept on a couch said Wednesday that foul play may have caused him to wind up inside the apartment.

Jeffery T. Tillman, 32, faces felony counts of sexual abuse, burglary and misdemeanor unlawful imprisonment in connection with a shocking turn of events before dawn Sunday morning.

His lawyer, Tucker Stanclift, said something doesnt add up with how Tillman came to be at the Broad Street home at about 5 a.m. Sunday. He is accused of fondling a 10-year-old girl as she slept on a couch. The girls mother discovered him passed out on the couch next to the girl, whom he did not know.

The girl was not physically injured.

Police said Tillman was intoxicated and had been drinking at bars in Hudson Falls on Saturday night and early Sunday, but had no recollection of how he came to be in Glens Falls or of any contact with the child. He had a facial injury and had bled around the victims home.

Stanclift said he was exploring how Tillman made his way to Glens Falls, and said, We are investigating the possibility that foul play played a role in his presence at the scene.

He declined to comment further as he looks into the circumstances.

Stanclift said he also may pursue an intoxication defense. Under state law, intoxication can be an affirmative defense to whether a person intended to commit a crime, although case law differentiates between child sex offenses and other charges.

Glens Falls Police Detective Lt. Peter Casertino said police were contacted by a relative of the defendants who believed Tillman was taken to the home by someone, but could not say who.

He said police have not been able to find anyone who brought him there, nor any connection between the family whose home Tillman entered and the people he was with earlier in the night.

A Warren County grand jury began hearing evidence in the case Wednesday, but Warren County District Attorney Kate Hogan said she could not comment on the matter.

Tillman, who has a criminal record of alcohol-related offenses in Fulton County and Florida, remained in Warren County Jail for lack of bail as of Wednesday.
WILTON  A man whose serial burglary spree in Florida nearly three decades ago garnered national attention has found his way to Saratoga County and is apparently still committing home burglaries.

John F. Morgano, 69, of Athens, Greene County, was arrested Feb. 2 after residents of a Wilton apartment complex spotted suspicious activity and called police, authorities said. A man appeared to be tampering with locks and entered an apartment after he was fiddling with a lock.

Neighbors provided a car description and license plate number for a man who had fled after an apparent daytime burglary on Rennaisance Way, and Saratoga County sheriffs Deputy Scott Schelling spotted the Subaru sedan minutes later on the Northway near Exit 12, said Saratoga County sheriffs Lt. Jeff Brown.

Brown said Morgano was believed to have stolen cash from the home and had no known connection to the owner. He did not cooperate with police, so they do not know whether he was involved in any other local thefts.

Its a weird case, Brown said. He seems to be a professional burglar. The neighbors saw someone going into the home and got a good description of him and the car and license plate number.

Morgano has quite a storied history in Florida, where he was known as Johnny Blue Eyes by police in the 1980s as they investigated a massive home burglary spree around south Florida, a case in which he was linked to an estimated 2,000 burglaries over a period of years.

Media reports show he was sentenced to 15 years in state prison in 1988 after he pleaded guilty and cooperated with police around Florida to close out hundreds of unsolved burglaries.

After his release from prison there, the New York City native resurfaced in the Empire State and netted a 15-year prison sentence in 2000 for two home burglary convictions in Westchester County.

He was released from prison in January 2012, and within 18 months was convicted of attempted burglary in Orange County and sentenced to an additional 2 to 4 years in state prison.

Morgano was paroled in that case Oct. 29. Less than five months later, despite being just weeks shy of his 70th birthday, he was facing another burglary rap.

A Saratoga County grand jury indicted him on Wednesday on a felony charge of second-degree burglary and misdemeanor count of possession of burglar tools. He is being held in Saratoga County Jail without bail.

Sheriffs Investigator Tim Brown made the arrest.
GLENS FALLS  State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia was able to talk to students in Glens Falls and Colorado at the same time on Thursday.

Elia visited Jackson Heights Elementary School, where students in first-grade teacher Patty Parmelees class were being led in a song about the number 100 by guitarist John Farrell. The students were communicating via Skype with a school in Colorado.

Five, ten, fifteen, twenty , the students sang all the way up to 100 in increments of five, as they moved their palms forward and back with each number.

How much is one hundred? Farrell sang. One hundred is a lot.

Elia jokingly teased the Colorado children about how fast they sang the numbers. I think the students in New York did it a little bit faster, she said. Was I right?

Yeah, they admitted.

Elia could have traveled to Colorado and back 11 times, with the 20,000 miles she has put on her state-owned vehicle, visiting schools around the state, since she became commissioner last July. Her latest stops were in Glens Falls, Queensbury and Saratoga Springs.

Elia was interested in learning about the schools technology. Students in Brian Donohues fourth-grade class are researching explorers on the Internet to complete a worksheet.

Nine-year-old Amelie Nassivera is researching Henry Hudson.

Hes one of my favorite explorers, she said, adding that she picked him because of the nearby river.

Donohue said he is actively using the Google Classroom platform with his students. They can complete assignments in the program and he can review them. He likes that he can log in from home and check to see if a student needs help.

I can respond back to them right away. Were kind of in constant contact, he said.

You know whats great is the principal gets to see it, too, said Principal Carrie Mauro.

Technology was the theme of Elias visit earlier in the day to SUNY Adirondack, where she heard from high school students about the Early College High School program.

Students can earn between 28 and 32 college credits and receive industry certifications through programs in electrical technology and advanced manufacturing or information technology and computer networking. They spend half the day at the college and half the day at their home school.

During the first year of the two-year program, students learn about electrical technology, computer-aided design, problem-solving and public speaking.

It really gets you ready for the work place, said 17-year-old Warrensburg senior Tyler Toolan.

Hudson Falls senior Katie Clouse, 17, said that continues in the second semester with lessons in robotics balancing sessions on resume-writing and interviewing skills. The third semester continues with building and programming robots and making items with injection molding and 3D printing.

The fourth and final semester asks students for a capstone project that incorporates everything they have learned. Last year, students built a working model village, complete with a train that had bridges stretching across four tables, according to 18-year-old Jacob Edwards.

Students also take field trips to businesses such as GlobalFoundries, Irving Tissue and AngioDynamics, according to 18-year-old Jacob Durkin of Lake George.

Were exposed to those places during the school year, so we know what its like, he said.

Edwards said, on one such field trip, a worker was asking how much the students knew about 3D printing.

We already knew that, so he said, My speech is halfway over already, Edwards said.

Elia said she was impressed by the students presentation skills and maturity, which demonstrates the benefits of programs such as these. Students are getting on a path to college and learning soft skills that are important in the job market.

Elia is seeking $7 million in the next state budget to provide a sustainable funding stream for the Early College High School programs, of which there are currently 24 throughout the state.

She is also seeking $18 million to continue the Pathways in Technology (P-TECH) program, including the one in Ballston Spa, which prepares students for careers in renewable energy, energy-efficiency and advanced technology.

Elia also visited Maple Avenue and Lake Avenue schools in Saratoga Springs and was the featured speaker at the Adirondack Area School Boards Association meeting at the Queensbury Hotel.
MOREAU  Five disgruntled Moreau employees, supported by Judge Jeffrey McCabe, came en masse to Tuesdays Town Board meeting, where they argued that their salaries were unfair.

Supervisor Gardner Congdon agreed and said he would do a pay scale analysis to find any inequities.

I campaigned on that, he said. I pointed out the board was spending too much time nickel and diming employees and spending too much on outside consultants.

He added that he expects the analysis to show serious problems that must be addressed in the next budget.

I will show you great discrepancies, he said.

The complaint began with a proposal on the agenda to pay the supervisors new confidential secretary exactly the same amount that the last confidential secretary received.

Congdon had argued strenuously for the $33,000 salary, saying he couldnt get an experienced person for less and that paying less than that would be unreasonable for a college graduate.

He also noted he had added responsibilities to the job. In an executive session debate last month, he was able to persuade the rest of the Town Board. They voted in favor Tuesday, 4-0, with member Bob Prendergast absent.

The vote upset some employees who had not been given their predecessors salary when they were hired.

Deputy Town Clerk Tammy Daley said it wasnt fair.

When I came in, they wouldnt give me Leeanns pay, she said, referring to Leeann McCabe, who was promoted to town clerk.

McCabe did not speak during the discussion, but Daley brought up her salary, too, saying that McCabe did not get paid as much as the previous senior deputy town clerk.

You say (confidential secretary) Liz (Lanfear) is qualified for the job so youre giving her the money, Daley said. Are you saying Leeann wasnt qualified to do that job? Is that why she couldnt get that pay?

Court Clerk Jen Miller said she, too, was not started at her co-workers pay, but got about $2,000 less.

Judge McCabe spoke up to defend his employees, saying they were experienced enough to deserve more pay. They got 2 percent raises this year.

As for the new confidential secretary, McCabe counseled against paying her $33,000.

To have someone come in at another persons salary is demoralizing, he said.

Congdon objected, and the two men began to shout at each other.

Youre saying Liz has no experience? Congdon demanded.

McCabe responded, Im saying Terry had 13 years experience and worked her way up to that salary.

Terry McGuire is the current confidential secretary. She plans to retire Feb. 29.

McCabe and Congdon butted heads repeatedly, interrupting each other and shouting at times. Town Board member Alan Van Tassel interceded several times during the contentious meeting.

The employees were mollified by Congdons promise to do a pay scale analysis. But they continued to criticize the rest of the board for insisting on lower pay when they were hired, and Congdon repeatedly took offense, believing they were still criticizing him.

At one point, when remarks had been made in reference to the entire board as you, Congdon said in frustration, Again, judge, I wasnt there. I really resent 

Its not pointed at you! McCabe said.

It is! Congdon answered.

Some residents attending the meeting also called for the employees to get raises.

Lets not worry about the confidential secretary. Lets worry about those people who are underpaid, said resident Debbie Fitzgibbon.

Daley added that she didnt object to the new secretary.

This is nothing against Liz, she said. Our problem was the other three board members who agreed to it when they wouldnt give everyone else that pay.

Congdon eventually ended the 45-minute discussion by reminding the public that he would do as the employees asked and complete a pay scale analysis.

Ive agreed to look at it, he said.
Its uncomfortable when youve defined yourself as a champion for business, fighting to roll back state workplace safety, environmental and other regulations, and then you find yourself at a press conference with the governor, advocating for state and federal intervention by the very agencies whose rules you have campaigned against.

That is the circumstance in which state Sen. Kathleen Marchione has found herself now that the public water supply for her constituents in Hoosick Falls turns out to have been contaminated, probably by runoff from a business in the community  the Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics plant.

The plant is a large local employer, the sort of place Marchione has championed while decrying the regulatory environment created by agencies like the federal Environmental Protection Agency and Occupational Safety and Health Administration, state Health Department and Department of Environmental Conservation.

In 2013, Marchione was put in charge of a Senate commission charged with reviewing regulations and making recommendations for revision and repeal. She took to the task with zeal, promoting the effort on her website and in press conferences. The commission ended up recommending the rollback of more than 2,000 state regulations, alarming environmental and consumer advocacy groups such as Consumer Union (publisher of Consumer Reports), New York Public Interest Research Group and Environmental Advocates of New York.

Environmental Advocates awarded Marchione its oil slick award that year, given annually to a state legislator who, in the groups opinion, has done the most damage to the cause of environmental protection.

The bill Marchione sponsored that would have led to the repeal of the state regulations did not pass. A letter sent to legislative leaders urging its defeat was signed by more than 50 advocacy groups, from Adirondack Mountain Club to Common Cause, the Hunger Action Network, Long Term Care Community Coalition and the Police Benevolent Association of New York State.

She managed to unite a broad and diverse coalition, not for her cause but against it.

Those so-called regulations are actually what protects peoples lives, said Travis Proulx this week.

Proulx is a spokesman for Environmental Advocates.

Public health regulations guarantee clean water and clean air and keep people from getting sick, he said.

He referenced Flint, Michigan, along with Hoosick Falls. Our worst problems are not caused by regulatory red tape with which businesses have to contend but by the failures of government to enforce those regulations.

Its par for the course for politicians after the fact to be against the contamination, Proulx said, referencing Marchiones recent advocacy for residents of Hoosick Falls.

Whats really important, he said, is preventing such things. The way you do that is not by gutting government regulation but by enforcing it.
South Carolina's support for Clinton is losing some steam as black voters begin to consider Sanders. Younger voters among them have switched to Sanders. Older voters in the same communities for whom the Clintons are this era's Kennedys are also "intrigued," according to the New York Times, by Bernie Sanders. The ground is shifting.

When Helen Duley was asked whom she would be voting for in the South Carolina primary, she answered as if the very question were absurd. What Im seeing is a bunch of confusion, hearsay and foolishness, said Ms. Duley, 60, a retired nursing assistant who is African-American, shortly after finishing breakfast here at the downtown McDonalds. What I also see is a veteran whos already been in the White House eight years. A veteran: Hillary Clinton. But that was late January. Interviewed again on Tuesday as Mrs. Clintons rival, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, was surging toward an overwhelming victory in the New Hampshire Democratic primary, Ms. Duley found herself suddenly intrigued by a candidate she barely knew. It makes me feel good, she said, chuckling, that young people are listening to the elderly people. Ms. Duley now said she was an undecided voter and planned to do some homework on Mr. Sanders, despite respect for Mrs. Clinton that spans nearly a quarter-century. ...NYT

Among those are many still loyal to Hillary. The report also notes that respect for Hillary increased during the Benghazi hearings -- another bad move on the part of Republicans. She remained unruffled. White male conservatives may be reaching an all-time low, surpassing even the fallout they experienced following in the aftermath of the rogue Senator McCarthy's hearings.

Clinton is still the favorite. But she's no longer, it seems, the surefire winner in South Carolina and Nevada. In an update on the Democratic race in Nevada, the Times reports on the post-New Hampshire political mood.
According to the group, numbering around 7000, in spite of 'round table discussions, promises and reassurances' by the Ministry of Employment and Labour relations to have all of them paid by December 2015, only 30 percent of its members have been paid so far.

But, in a press statement released on Thursday, February 10, 2016, the group said even though it is yet to receive full payment of salaries as promised, it has suspended its nationwide strike following pleas from its mother association, the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives' Association to rescind the decision.

"In this regard, and in consideration of the fact that innocent lives are endangered and so many calls are made to call off our strike, the COALITION hereby declare "officially" resumption of duty by all striking nurses and midwives effective Thursday 11 February 2016," the statement said.

The group has however called on government to speed up payment processes, adding that "the COALITION shall take an "unpleasant" action if detected disparities in the payment of the deferred and withheld salaries of our affected members are not addressed with immediate effect. We also call on the employer to attend to all outstanding issues of salary (both new entrants and promotional arrears)."

Below is the full statement:

COALITION OF UNPAID NURSES AND MIDWIVES

PRESS RELEASE: STRIKE ACTION- CALLED OFF

Members of the Press

Good people of Ghana

As you have all been witnessing, Coalition of Unpaid Nurses and Midwives (comprising of over 7,000 nurses and Midwives who have issues with their salaries and arrears; both new entrants and promotional arrears) across the country have embarked on strike for a week now.

In 2015, The leadership of the COALITION was "PROMISED" by the Ministry Of Employment and Labour , Ministry Of Health and "assured with much hope" by our mother association, Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives' Association (GRNMA) that our salaries and outstanding arrears will be paid latest October 2015.

Today is 10th February 2016 and It may interest the public that this promise was "not fulfilled"

Our strike has affected the health of this nation negatively.

So many calls have been made by our mother association, GRNMA, Directors of Nursing, Nurse Managers, Senior Colleagues in the most noble profession and other health stakeholders. Others were in tears on phone as they express how our strike has exerted pressure on them, endangering innocent lives at the various health facilities.

The leadership of the COALITION toured some health facilities and we felt sad for such inconveniences, but the blame "must" be directed to our:

employer; for not ensuring we are been paid duly within 6 months as enshrined in the labour act,

the Human Resource Directors; for delaying submission of documents leading to expired financial clearance, others requesting for money and the likes before they work on our documents,

the MOH IPPD and controller; for creating much "errors"(technical or deliberate) leading to so many anomalies in the arrears payment and first 3 months payment,

Finance Ministry; for always introducing new forms to be filled for our monies, yet nothing happens and also not releasing much financial clearance fully to clear monies owed,

Government; for the introduction of this "3 months payment directive" which has led to strikes resulting from frustrations and stress, and failure to provide the MOH IPPD a SERVER to ensure unlimited period for "keying in" to make more entries and resolve anomalies in salary payment at anytime, as it happens at the Ministry of Education.

It has come to our notice that some HRs are refusing to fill this template forms and submit , others are requesting for official notice from MOH before they perform such duty. Hence the COALITION pleads MOH and regional HRs to communicate effectively to all facility HRs to that effect.

We also put it on record that the "Finance Ministry" has not been fair to us at all. The Finance Minstry is traumatising us psychologically but if we consider the unfair treatment from this ministry, so many lives will be lost.

Reason being that some HRs are refusing to fill the templates because Ministry Of Finance gave them a "list containing only some few names" and

according to our source, only names in that list must be allowed to fill the templates.

We therefore ask "Ministry Of Finance" to be PASSIONATE and revert such directive to ensure we are all being paid duly. This delay tactics in payment may be "chaotic". We strongly believe "Ministry Of Finance" is the MAIN cause of our sufferings.

The question the COALITION members are asking is that, if Ministry Of Finance is able to secure fund for other Ministries to do things of less priority why can't this same Ministry Of Finance secure fund for Minstry Of Health to pay all nurses and midwives the monies government is owing?

Is it fair to use monies for other things of less priority while you owe nurses and midwives their salaries and arrears?

God is the best JUDGE

In this regard, and in consideration of the fact that innocent lives are endangered and so many calls are made to call off our strike, the COALITION hereby declare "officially" resumption of duty by all striking nurses and midwives effective Thursday 11 February 2016.

This is however to be considered as a retreat in a purposeful strike action and not an end to all issues. Our resumption is not base on promises by authorities because the COALITION has lost "trust" in authorities.

The COALITION shall take an "unpleasant" action if detected disparities in the payment of the deferred and withheld salaries of our affected members are not addressed with immediate effect. We also call on the employer to attend to all outstanding issues of salary (both new entrants and promotional arrears).

The COALITION renders appreciation to the striking Nurses and Midwives for their commitment, cooperation and tolerance as they endured the undesirable pain and anxiety of such ill treatment and also for showing respect for the leadership of their COALITION and GRNMA.

We express our gratitude to our mother association, GRNMA for calling on us to spearhead our course.

We thank you also the members of the Press for your great demonstration of professional excellence in communication.

LONG LIVE NURSES AND MIDWIVES!
The yet-to-be-named suspect was arrested in an operation led by the Accra Regional Police Commander, COP Dr George Akuffo Dampare, on Thursday, February 11, 2016.

According to the Communications Director, Nana Akomea who spoke to Joy FM, "We congratulate the Ghana Police for the excellent work that they've done so far... We are very gratified with its silver-lining and its whole sordid. We are extremely grateful to the Ghana Police with the kind of energy they've brought to this matter."

According to COP Dr George Akuffo Dampare , the team mounted a thorough search last night and subsequently arrested the suspect at his hideout.

He told the media the suspect has confessed to committing the crime and has mentioned the names of his co-conspirators.
Answering questions from journalists throughout Africa via an online press conference on February 10, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield said there are currently about 39 African countries signed up with the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a United States Trade Act enacted in 2000 which significantly enhances market access to the US for qualifying Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, of which Ghana is one.

AGOA builds on existing US trade programmes by expanding the (duty-free) benefits previously available only under the countrys Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) programme.

However, Thomas-Greenfield said the States wants to see different products traded though it.

We want to see there be a diversification of the products that are being sent under AGOA, and were working with countries to bring them into a better economic place so that they can benefit from the AGOA benefits. Its a work in progress, but we are seeing some efforts improve.

Were seeing more countries take advantage. Were seeing more products being brought into the marketplace that are benefiting from AGOAs eligibility. And we hope that we continue to see those benefits increase.

She was joined by USAID Assistant Administrator for Africa Linda Etim, where the two also discussed attending the African Union Summit which they described as intense.

They attended a number of meetings on South Sudan, over its ongoing conflict between government and opposition forces.

Thomas-Greenfield said the meetings were extraordinarily frustrating and extraordinarily disappointing because there is a peace agreement, and the two sides have not taken the necessary steps to implement that peace agreement.

Thomas-Greenfield said these leaders have to care about the impacts of this war on their people, and we cant care more than they care.

Etim added the leaders of South Sudan havent put the peoples lives before their political infighting, and the world did not have adequate resources to respond because of other crises like Syria.

We have been sending very strong messages to the leaders in South Sudan to say that we are right now at a breaking point, and that for the sake of their people they need to come up with some sort of political dispensation to allow humanitarian assistance to flow through, Etim said.

The US representatives also attended a number of meetings at the AU Sumit on Burundi, which has been hit by civil conflict since President Pierre Nkurunziza decided to stand for a third term last April, since then violence erupted through the country, killing more than 400 people while at least 240,000 have fled the country.

Speaking on Boko Haram, Thomas-Greenfield said the US had been working closely with Nigeria and surrounding countries on helping them to address the terrorist threat that Boko Haram has posed.

We see this as a multifaceted effort. Its not just about dealing with the security issues, but its also dealing with root causes. So we have assisted all four governments on the security side, beefing up and providing training, providing intel support, providing coordination and advisory support".

The US is also working on addressing the humanitarian challenges that have resulted from the Boko Haram attacks.

'More than a million Nigerians have been forced from their homes. Close to 100,000 Nigerians are living outside of Nigeria as refugees. Thousands of families, ordinary people, have been impacted by Boko Haram. And these people have serious concerns that need to be addressed.
According to the ICU in a suit filed at the Human Rights Court in Accra, the decision of the executive of the Union of COCOBOD if allowed to stand would amount to a breach of the fundamental human rights of its members and the ICU as a whole.

Read more: ICU accuses GES of intimidation

It further claimed that the executives of of the COCOBOD workers Union took the sthe decision without the approval of their members.
Spokesperson for the community, Haruna Dramani told Accra-based Joy FM that the agitated youth took the action upon provocation from the Fulani herdsmen.

"About four Fulani herdsmen came to the town to threaten the youth in the area. They told them that if they came anywhere near their cattle, they will deal with them. The youth subsequently rose to the challenge and went to kill about eighty of the cattle.

"So we are calling on the security agencies to intervene immediately so that the fulani herdsmen will not kill the young men," he added.

The Fulani herdsmen over the years have also clashed with Agogo residents for damaging their crops and farms. The Fulani herdsmen have been accused of engaging in robbery, rape and the murder of residents in the process.
The NMC, in a statement signed by the Chairman Kwasi Gyan-Apenteng said, "The nation has rightly condemned the behaviour of the two. However, the NMC notes further that the exchanges represent an example of outrageous breach of the standards of decency required in public electronic communication."

Read more: Kennedy Agyapong threatens to deal with Afia Schwarzenegger

It would be recalled that Afia Schwarzenegger reportedly insulted Mr Agyapong for allegedly insulting the mother and siblings of President John Dramani Mahama for the latters appalling performance in governance.

But Mr Agyapong reacting to the remarks said he will deal with Afia Schwarzenegger.

He added that if not for a fact that he had a lot of respect for Dr Osei Kwame despite, owner of Okay FM, he would have dealt with the station as well.

But the NMC noted that "The behaviour of broadcasters in this matter demonstrates the existing weaknesses in gate-keeping and professionalism in the industry. It highlights the concern of the Commission that our nations search for peace, development and enlightenment could be heavily undermined if substantive democratic regulatory interventions are not put in place."

Below is the full statement:

NATIONAL MEDIA COMMISSION CONDEMNS THE USE OF INDECENT LANGUAGE IN BROADCASTING

The National Media Commission (NMC) has noted with dismay the recent exchanges between a radio presenter Valentina Afia Agyeiwaa (aka Afia Schwarzenegger) and the Member of Parliament for Assin North, Hon Kennedy Kwame Ohene Agyepong, on Okay FM and Oman FM, which has subsequently been rebroadcast on other radio stations and on social media.

The nation has rightly condemned the behaviour of the two. However, the NMC notes further that the exchanges represent an example of outrageous breach of the standards of decency required in public electronic communication.

See also: Afia Schwarzenegger replies Kennedy Agyapong with insults

The behaviour of broadcasters in this matter demonstrates the existing weaknesses in gate-keeping and professionalism in the industry. It highlights the concern of the Commission that our nations search for peace, development and enlightenment could be heavily undermined if substantive democratic regulatory interventions are not put in place.

When the people of Ghana voted for a liberal constitution with progressive provisions on free expression, it was the collective expectation that freedom would lead to a search for knowledge, progress and peace, which would uplift the standard of life of the people and champion the nations development. It was not freedom to destroy the fabric of society; it was not freedom to explode the basest elements of uncontrolled emotions; and it was not freedom to socialize private anger.

Indeed, while the NMC views the recent incident with grave concern, we are aware that it is not an isolated incident but forms part of a growing disregard for decency and good standards of behaviour in the media, especially broadcasting. It was to cure this menace that the NMC enacted the National Media Commission (Content Standards) Regulations, 2015 (LI2224), which discourages offensive content including material that is sexual, violent, aggressive and humiliative.

The Commission would like to remind all operators of electronic communications networks that their freedom to carry content comes with responsibility. It is important to protect our freedoms and not take them for granted. We must therefore take strong steps to ensure that we do not allow a minority of people to destroy our freedom on the altar of parochial commercial, personal or partisan political interests. We particularly call on the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA) to take steps to bring its members to order and to ensure that Ghanaians are fed with decent content.

Read related: Ahmed Toure denies dating Afia Schwarzenegger

The Electromagnetic spectrum on which broadcasting is carried out is a scarce and precious national resource. Hence, the persistent abuse of the media space constitutes an abuse of a national resource, which the Commission will not continue to tolerate.

In this regard, the Commission is pleased that the Despite Group of Companies has issued an apology for the use of indecent language on Okay FM. Although this is a good step, it is not enough. Operators of public electronic communications must ensure that such behaviour is prevented from occuring in the first place.

The NMC wishes to assure all Ghanaians that the Commission is alive to its responsibilities and continues to work tirelessly to ensure that the nation aspires towards the highest standards of performance in the media.
His comments come on the back of recent clashes in Obuasi in the Ashanti region between illegal miners and some staff of AngloGold Ashanti (AGA), resulting in the death of the Communications Director of the company,Mr John Owusu.

Some churches and a mosque have reportedly been attacked in clashes at old Tafo in Kumasi in the Ashanti region.

This was after some residents of the Muslim community at Tafo in Kumasi on February 10, 2016, clashed with some loyalists of the Tafo traditional council over disagreements on a piece of land at the Tafo cemetery, killing two people and injuring many.

Already, there have been reported cases of clashes in Bunkprugu where the Jamong family, which is claiming title to the Bunkpurugu skin, has come under attack from the ruling Jafog family.

These wake of clashes, Dr. Anin believes requires a collaborative engagement between community members and security agencies about how to better protect themselves.

"More often than not, security agencies have to struggle to get access to information. But were they to stretch out their hand and say, look we need to engage, can you engage, can you ask the frontline people in your community, can you share things with us so we can respond?", Dr. Anin stated.
The identity of the suspect is yet to be revealed.

Meanwhile the killer is being interrogated by the police to find out who his accomplices are.

Joy News is also reporting that the suspect whose identity is being protected for now confessed to police interrogators he stabbed the MP.

Three mobile phones were retrieved, two of them confirmed to belong to the slain MP.

The third phone, the source said, is password protected.
The late JB Danquah Adu was stabbed to death around 1.00 am on February 9, 2016 at his Shiashie residence in Accra.

However, after granting bail to the five suspects arrested in connection with the crime, one is still being held by the police after 48 hours.

Asked whether the suspect is not unlawfully being held beyond 48 hours, the police source said "It matters though but we have every reason. If we think we need more time, we will remand the person. But there are cogent reasons for keeping whoever."

This explanation seems to contradict Article 14(3) of the 1992 Constitution which provides that a person arrested, restricted or detained shall be brought before a court within forty-eight (48) hours after the arrest, restriction and detention.
Addressing members of the Appointment Committee of parliament on Thursday during his vetting, Mr. Bani observed that security at the law-making chamber is rather poor.

I will tell you an observation; I drove around parliament and the State House early morning on two different occasions and nobody asked me anything.

So one of the immediate decision I will take when given the nod is to work with leadership to secure parliament, he added.

He further denied suggestions that his appointment as Interior Minister is a demotion.

I stand here as an individual offering myself to serve and my service of Chief of Staff for two years was part of serving and so if the President deems it necessary for me to serve in another capacity I cant say no.One should be able to serve anywhere...and that is why I am not taking this appointment as a demotion, Mr. Bani indicated.

Mr Prosper Bani is a senior manager and specialist in international peace-building and development processes.
Read more: Arthur Simpson Kent agrees to be extradited to UK for trial

Arthur Sampson Kent who appeared in court on January 26, 2016, submitted himself voluntarily to be sent to the UK for trial.

This was made known by his lawyer Justice Sai.

Justice Sai told the court his client wanted to the court to waive the extradition processes so he can return to the UK voluntarily.

The revelation caused some surprise in court which made presiding judge, Justice Merley Wood ask Mr Kent whether that was indeed t his request. Mr. Kent in return answered in the affirmative, confirming the comments by his lawyers.

The court in response ordered the AG to expedite the process of deportation while Arthur Simpson Kent is kept in BNI custody.

Mr. Simspon Kent who has been charged with murder, was brought before a magistrate court a fortnight ago for extradition processes begin, but the case was transferred to High Court on the Second hearing of the case where these revelations were made.

Officials of the United Kingdom submitted the necessary documents needed for the extradition of British fugitive Arthur Simpson Kent who is alleged to have committed murder.

According to the state prosecutor who announced this in Court, Rebecca Adjalo, the state received the deposition in the case, authenticated by judicial officials from the UK and have subsequently forwarded it to the Ministry of Interior for the necessary action to be taken for his extradition.
Some residents of the Muslim community at Tafo in Kumasi on Wednesday, February 10, 2016, clashed with some loyalists of the Tafo traditional council over disagreements on a piece of land at the Tafo cemetery.

The clashes was reported to have resulted in two deaths and many injured.

A number of vehicles and other properties were also reportedly destoyed.

This prompted the security to imposed a curfew in the area following the clashes.

The clashes were said to have been ignited by an order from the Tafo chief for a fence wall which was being constructed around the Muslim section of the Tafo cemetery to be demolished.

According to reports, the Tafo chief claimed he was not informed about the construction, and so asked that the construction be halted.
William Owuraku Aidoo, MP for Afigya Kwabre South who spoke on behalf of the minority MPs at a presser said: As has been stated earlier by the communications directorate of the NPP, it does appear that the contract is bloated by between 2 and 3 billion US dollars to the disadvantage of Ghana.

In doling two billion dollars out, God knows how much somebody in government will be taking as kickback The agreement stinks, it is a rip off and cannot be allowed, he added.

The NPP, through it communications director called on the Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, to review some terms in the ENI-Sankofi deal to maximise mutual benefits from the project during his visit to Ghana.

The party said: "The negotiated gas price of $9.8/MMBtu for gas from the Sankofa fields is too high by world standards, of between $5-7/MMBtu. It is even higher than the price of gas sold to Ghana from Nigeria, which stands at $8.3/MMBtu, delivered at Takoradi. It is even more expensive than our own Atuabo Gas price of $8.8/MMBtu delivered at Takoradi."

READ MORE

Government denied any wrong doing in the contract in a press statement issued by the Petroleum Ministry.

Matteo Renzi during his visit to Ghana gave assurance that the OCTP Sankofa Gas Project will continue despite tumbling crude oil prices.

Addressing Parliament in Accra Tuesday 2 February, 2016, Matteo Renzi said "We know this is a moment very difficult for oil prices, but Im here and I host in the delegation, the CEO of ENI to give a message of continuation and presence of Italian investors in this country."

"Let me be very clear, ENI has a historical connection to Ghana, but this project, a new project will be a game-changer for power generation in the country, bring benefits from here to 2086," he added.

The OCTP Integrated Oil and Gas Project includes the combined development of the Sankofa Main, Sankofa East,Gye Nyame, Sankofa East Cenomanian and Sankofa East Campanian fields.
Mathias Mokono Wilson is demanding an amount of GH175,150.50 in damages and loss.

See also: Asiedu Nketia slams George Boateng over nomination forms

In a writ dated February 10, 2016, he said his monthly salary was GHc 3,574.50.

The former accountant who has worked with the NDC over twenty years and was dismissed by the party prays the court to order the NDC to pay him his annual leave.

Background

It would be recalled that two officers at the National Headquarters of the NDC who sold Presidential nomination forms to President John Mahamas contender, George Boateng in the partys Presidential primary in September 2015, were sacked.

The two, were the accountant who issued the receipt for the nomination forms and the administrator who handed over the forms to Mr George Boateng.

It is only the General Secretary who is mandated to endorse and issue presidential nomination forms.
In a press briefing organized Thursday morning to clarifying the issue, The National Communications Authority categorically denied assertions by IMANI Ghana that the evaluation process for the bid for switching, routing and operation of an Interconnect Clearing House to Afriwave was fraudulent.

The head of the Technical Evaluations Panel maintained that the source of IMANI's document is questionable given that no member of the Technical Evaluation Panel could have leaked it to IMANI Ghana.

According to him, no member of the committee had access to the document, and therefore could not have leaked it.

Not only is IMANI Ghanas document is false, its source cannot be verified. The content are also questionable. No one on the panel could have leaked the document, first of all, because every member of the panel was made to sign a non- disclosure agreement.

The head of the panel also disclosed that none of the panel members had access to the final document.

All the panel did was to give their expertise on the matter, sign off and then hand it over to the NCA Board. There is no longer any interaction with the panel at that point, and no document is exchanged from the board to any member of the panel. So the document, which IMANI Ghana is wielding around, which has remarks for the Board Chairman the signature of the board could have come from the panel.

IMANI Ghana, on Tuesday, charged the NCA for fraudulently awarding the license to Afriwave to operate the interconect Clearinghouse.

According to IMANI the Technical Evaluation Board awarded fake marks to Afriwave Telecom Ghana Limited in order for it to emerge winner of the license at the expense of seven other companies in the bid.

IMANI also asserted that the NCA, in its bid to award the contract to Afriwave Telecom Ghana Limited, awarded them higher marks than attainable in some of the criteria.

But Mr. Eric Appiah refuted those allegations. He said, although there were errors noticed at some point in the document, it had nothing to do with the rating of Afriwaves performance.

 That again is utter falsehood. We do not know what document IMANI has, and where they got it from, but it certainly isnt the evaluation we did. There were petty errors in our document before the final edit, but it had nothing to do with the Afriwaves rating.
Lou Moon is the only beach resort with a private and safe swimming beach in Ghana. It is located on a 24 acres land covered by jungle and forest, and lies amid a beautiful bay surrounded by sandy beaches.

2. Royal Senchi

Royal Senchi is a 4-star resort in Akosombo with spa, outdoor pool, free breakfast, free WIFI and free parking.

3. Busua Beach Resort

Busua Beach Resort is the home of the ultimate beachfront vacation destination located in Busua Beach, Ghana. Enjoy the beautiful, coastal view of the Atlantic Ocean while relaxing on your very own private terrace. These spacious beach fronting rooms offer complimentary WIFI, satellite TV and complimentary buffet breakfast.

4. Elmina Bay Resort

Elmina Bay is a new hotel in the Cape Coast/Elmina area, in the heart of the historic Central Region of Ghana. The resort, about 10 minutes drive from Elmina and 25 minutes from Cape Coast, is designed to the quality and standard you want, with the Atlantic Ocean as its centre piece.

Elmina Bay offers you a peaceful and tranquil retreat, with 26 rooms, a beachside conference and function room, and wifi.

5. Aqua Safari
"We can confirm that John Owusu was killed on Saturday," AngloGold Johannesburg-based spokesman Chris Nthite said.

Owusu died when a dispute between artisanal miners working on part of the Obuasi site and pressing for access to a larger portion of the mine escalated into a riot, senior union leader Samuel Dwamenah said from Obuasi.

Africa's top gold producer said earlier it would not look for a new joint venture partner for Obuasi until it had an investment agreement with the government.
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! 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!
Opening the show was former GBT Audition winner Young Star - 12 year old rap sensation, super confident he wowed the guests who stood up from their tables to applaud his natural talent and lyrical verses.

This was followed by Trex and former Gbt winner Squi who engaged the crowd with amazing performances.Surprise fashion segment had veteran Nigerian designer based in USA Jimi King celebrating 30 year milestone in the fashion industry showcased traditional African contemporary urban chic collection.

Surprise host of the night & awesome job by reigning Miss Nigeria Lessi Peter-Vigboro - a natural anchor/host eloquently spoken & brimming with confidence with co-host support Kessiena Eboh.

Further live performances from Tinsel star Tomi Odunsi whose performance electrified all present and Ladies man Tolu Fame whose voice hit the high notes effortlessly.

The LoudNProudLive 'ONE SOUND' band were on top form, performing throughout the show with artists - a medley of genres from soul, Jazz, RnB, soul and Afrohouse.

An anniversary edition to remember with ceremonious cutting of the birthday cake by NMO Management & PR MD/CEO Ngozi Omambala who thanked and name checked those for their valuable support over the years & paid tribute to those in attendance including special guest Chairman Daily Times Newspapers- Mr Fidelis Anosike.
The two lovers are facing a two-count charge of conspiracy and stealing.

The police prosecutor, Sergeant Tubi Olajide, told the court that the accused committed the offences on January 25, 2016, at Otodogbame Community in Eti-Osa Local Government Area of the state.

Olajide said the accused burgled the house of one Hassan Idris, their neighbour, and stole N600, 000. He said that the offence contravened Sections 285 (1) and 409 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

When the charges were read to the accused, the however, pleaded not guilty and their Helen Ibeji, had urged the court to grant her clients bail on liberal terms.
According to Zim HMetro, Makusha who is from Mkoba region, was riding with her friend, Rachael Nyanyiwa, when she stylishly stole $40 from her bag and hid it in her private parts.

This is what the site wrote about the theft:

Makusha was given a lift by Nyanyiwa from town to Mkoba. On their way, Nyanyiwa was stopped by the police and they asked to see her fire extinguisher.

She was forced to get out of the car and show police the fire extinguisher which was in the boot.

The two proceeded with their journey and on the way, Nyanyiwa detoured to the service station for a fuel top-up.

She asked Makusha to give her a bag which was next to her as it contained the money she wanted to use. When she got the bag, she found the zip open, and the money was nowhere to be found.

She asked Makusha if she had taken the money and she professed ignorance. Nyanyiwa did not believe Makusha and she drove straight to the police station and reported the matter.

Makusha was questioned by the police and she denied stealing the money. She was also searched by female officers, and even stripped naked and nothing was found on her. The police then referred Nyanyiwa for an extensive search by a doctor.
It was gathered that Umar had hidden her pregnancy from all and when she was due, she delivered the child on her own, killed it and attempted to throw the baby over the school fence, but the corpse got caught on the fence by the female hostel where it was discovered.

Confirming the sordid incident, the State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Zubairu Abubakar said Umar has been arrested in connection with the crime.

Abubakar added that the school's Vice Principal reported the matter to the police.

"At about 1.15pm, the Vice Principal of FGC, Malali,, reported at the station that the corpse of a new born baby suspected to have been delivered by a student, wrapped in a white cloth was thrown over the school fence.

The corpse of the baby was left dangling on the school fence until the police came and removed it. After taking picture of the scene, it has been deposited at the mortuary.
Yotamu of Savala Village in the area of Traditional Authority Mwambo, was arrested after being reported to have thrown a newly born baby she had just given birth to into the septic tank.

The police spokesperson in the district, Patricia Sipiliano, said Yotamu was arrested at Domasi College of Education campus where she was working as a housemaid to one Mrs. Mercy Maduka.

"Facts are that we had a report from who stays at Domasi College of Education, that her housemaid had concealed an eight-month pregnancy.

According to Mrs Maduka, the maid was suspected to have been pregnant for the past months and she admitted upon being asked.

On February 3, 2016, Mrs. Maduka had information that there was blood in her housemaids room and she rushed to see but found out that the house had already been cleaned.

At around 6:30 pm, she was also told by neighbours that there was a baby in a septic tank close to her house and she went and saw the baby in the tank.

She reported the matter to Domasi Police Station who came to rescue the baby but it died upon arrival at Domasi Rural Hospital and the remains were buried close to the health facility.
Read more: China confirms first case of Zika Virus

A child had similarly returned to the country with the virus after a family trip to Samoa, and another woman came back infected, too, having vacationed at El Salvador.

The Australian government had earlier cautioned pregnant women and those who were trying to become pregnant, telling them to avoid travelling to countries with recurrent occurrences of the virus which has been heavily touted as the cause of , a birth defect prominent in Brazil and some other South American countries.

In all the cases yet recorded in the country, the victims had all been exposed to the virus at locations abroad. Despite the success of the state at considerably keeping out the virus, the health minister, Cameron Dick said he still expects more people of the state to be infected

I expect that there will be more positive tests in Queensland  we need to be ready for that, he said last friday.
The group stated this yesterday, February 10, 2016, while addressing newsmen in Nnewi, Anambra State.

After the group's meeting to review its activities and to determine options that will be followed to check the incessant killing of the members for engaging in peaceful protests, the IPOB Media and Publicity Officer, Mr. Emma Powerful, warned the police and soldiers to desist killing its members.

We wonder what these soldiers and policemen who are killing our innocent members because they embarked on peaceful demonstration to demand the unconditional release of our leader and Director of Radio Biafra Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, are doing in the South East when their marksmanship is needed in the North East to check the activities of the Boko haram insurgents who are killing people on daily basis", he said.

He continued:The case of our leader has exposed the emptiness of APC government in Nigeria and some ex presidents of Nigeria who are supporting the extra judicial killing of harmless IPOB members who have not carried guns or any dangerous weapons for a day.

If the present government of APC in Nigeria is responsible, law abiding, respectful to Nigerian constitution, and the orders of court of competent jurisdiction, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu has no business still being incarcerated. No IPOB member or anybody should be shot while engaging in peaceful protest but because this is a government of frustrated, confused and power hungry people who never thought that they will ever lead Nigeria for one day, they use intimidation to shoot people as if they are still in the military era.

We know the activities of a former president of Nigeria who has been visiting and interacting with the Abia State Governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, on how to deal with IPOB members in Abia state.The former President has been romancing with the APC and we are looking forward to seeing him declaring for APC. Let him be bold enough to do that instead of working with Abia state Governor to push out IPOB members for their pay masters in APC. We know their role in the killing of our members and very soon we will ask them questions.

We must make sure that all the past and present Nigerian presidents who are killing our members extra judicially are tried for genocide. The international community is watching. They should remember what happened to the former President of Liberia and his Ivorian counterpart who were killing people while in office, and now nemesis has caught up with them. They are answering questions on the people they killed and the same thing will happen to these heartless Nigerian leaders who are not anything better than the Boko Haram insurgents because of their approval and order to the security agencies to shoot at sight, IPOB and other Biafra agitators and people who embark on protest to air their grievances".

The Abia State Police Command however confirmed the killings in Aba, the state capital, yesterday, February 10.

The state Police PRO, DSP Udeviotu Onyeke stated that two members of a pro-Biafran group were shot dead in Aba on Tuesday, February 9, alleging that the deceased were disturbing students in their school, but the group claims 22 of its members were confirmed dead after the shooting.

Confirming the groups involved as members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), and Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Onyeke said "Police was only there to ensure they did not come to cause break-down of law and order on the street", but it all changed when soldiers arrived the scene.

He said: Some of our men that were on convoy patrol got information that the pro-Biafra groups were harassing students. Then, the Aba Area Commander, Mr Peter Wabara ordered the policemen on ground to go there and make them to leave the place as the schools were in session and if they had wanted to hold their meeting, they should have found another place in order not to disturb anybody.

So when the police entered the place, they found that the pro-Biafra groups were relatively calm, so the police took positions to ensure that they did not do any harm. Police was only there to ensure they did not come to cause break-down of law and order on the street. But just as the Police was trying to persuade them to leave the place, soldiers drove in and arrested five of their members and began to take them away but the group members blocked the way of the military personnel. That was when they started shooting at them.

Before the police left the place, they picked two dead unidentified persons from the ground and arrested 20 others while one who was badly injured was taken to the hospital.

The PRO denied knowledge of more deaths but admitted it was a possibility, stressing that the police only recorded two deaths before leaving the scene.

Reacting to the killings, the Ohanaeze Youth Council (OYC) threatened to drag the security operatives to the International Court of Justice at The Hague.
According to SaharaReporters, the Presidential jet left London for Abuja at exactly 13.45hrs GMT.

It was reported that the Syria Donor Conference Buhari attended in London on Friday, after which he proceeded on vacation, was a cover a medical visit to his doctors.

While in London, he stayed at an apartment in the Knightsbridge area of the city, but sent his aides back to Nigeria, SaharaReporters claim.

The news platform also reported that the President rested in his apartment following meetings with his doctors for over two days.

However, the President's spokesman, Femi Adesina, has since dismissed the reports that Buhari is sick, noting that he took the break just to rest, having worked for eight months non-stop.
Lawan said his while speaking with State House correspondents after visiting Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

He, therefore, urged Nigerians to support the President in his quest for a "corrupt-free society.

"I think the President (Muhammadu Buhari) is fighting a very good and necessary war and he deserves the support of every Nigerian in this respect.

"Nigeria has passed through a period of corruption like in no other time and the kind of revelations that we have so far heard are mind-boggling

"And we are yet to go into some of the areas that could possibly have even more serious breaches of trust by public officers.

"So, I support the President personally and I will continue to do that because I believe that what he is doing is right and I will like Nigerians to give the President all the support he requires.

"We need to have a corrupt-free society.

"What we need more is not money that we desperately talk about.

"What we need is prudence, economy and efficiency in the way we use whatever little of theresources we have and you can only achieve that if you have very little or no corruption in your country.

The senator said critics of the present administration were "unfair in their comments about the ongoing war against corruption.

According to him, it is not unusual for those being arrested to be members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the party ruled for 16 years.

"There is nothing sectional about this.

"I am praying that as Nigerians we should look at issues very dispassionately and very patriotically.

"I dont think it is right to reduce this anti-corruption fight to a party or partisan affair.

Lawan, who joined the Senate in 2007, urged the government to re-introduce civic education from kindergarten/ primary school levels for proper orientation of young generation on the evils of corruption.

"Corruption is an evil which must be taught as that, he said advising Nigerian to examine the calibre and integrity of persons asking for elective positions before they cast votes for them.

"When you want to elect leaders, please shine your eyes, and elect the right leaders who fear God, people with integrity and history of probity and transparency.

"But I believe it is something that we cannot deal with in one year, two years or even 10 years.

"So as we continue to fight what is manifest now, we should also be mindful of bringing up our children in the proper manner.
The legislators were said to have made the allegation after accusing the Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Paul Boro of misappropriation of funds, ThisDay reports.

The president claims to be fighting corruption while his aides are already swimming in corruption, one Senator, who chose to remain anonymous, said.

Can you imagine a Special Adviser using a bullet proof Lexus car worth N55 million as an official car at a time the president is trying to stop us from buying our own official cars worth about N5 million each? he added.

We expected him to restructure the budget he inherited from his predecessor at the Amnesty Office to fit into current economic realities and in line with the anti-corruption crusade of President Buhari. Unfortunately Boro is just spending recklessly, another Senator told ThisDay.

Boro is alleged to have further acquired one Toyota Land Cruiser VX V8 at the cost of N25.85 million; four Toyota Camry 3.5L V6 cars and four Toyota Hilux 4WD buses at the total sum of N75.35 million for his office.

Members of the National Assembly recently came under fire over a plan to purchase 469 vehicles despite the economic situation in the country.

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A statement issued by the Coordinator, Joint Media Campaign Centre,

The JTF commander while calling on members of the public to help his team with relevant information, warned all pipeline vandals to desist from their illicit act.

You will recall that a middle-aged man, Bukar Abacha, suspected to be a member of the Boko Haram sect has been apprehended in Sapele , Delta, by officers of the 19 Battalion of Nigerian Army.

Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa state also issued a warning to kidnappers and pipeline vandals, asking them to desist from their illegal act.
An eye witness in the village, Malam Idris Shuaibu, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that seven bodies had been recovered by some fishermen and local farmers in the area.

He added that in the process, the girls in a canoe that wanted to rescue the others who were mostly teenagers, jumped into the water due to fear and got drown too.

The witness although no one could ascertain the number of passengers in the two canoes, a parent in the village had been crying that he had not seen his two daughters who boarded one of the canoes.

The Police Public Relation Officer in the state, Mr Abdul Jinjiri, had confirmed the incident.

Jinjiri, however, said that the unfortunate incident only involved a canoe that carried 12 passengers and that six had died.
Channels Television reports that the prosecutor, Bayero Dari urged the court to remand the sect members in court, till the report of the analysis of the weapons found on some of them, is released.

Dari said The large arms and ammunition recovered from the suspects caused the delay of expert report which will be used as evidence against them during trial.

Our investigations almost completed. Police has already granted administrative bail to women and young offenders. Police handed them over to a credible sureties who will at any time provide them in court. We are for justice and we will not object granting bail to young offenders.

Reports also say four minors were granted bail by the trial Judge, in the sum of N100,000 each, with two sureties.

Granting them bail, the Chief Magistrate Auwal Musa-Aliyu said The young offenders are hereby granted bail with the sum of 100,000 Naira. He must provide two sureties and one must be his blood relations.

Each surety must deposit two size passports and one of the following; staff identity card, drivers license, international identity card or voters card.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a total of N1.3bn is expected to be spent over the next few years as part of UNICEF's programme of providing basic education and increasing child survival rate in developing countries.

Bello said that the agreement was in fulfilment of his campaign promise of improving the livelihood of the people.

"This MOU is a supportive programme from UNICEF.

In his remarks, Mr Utpal Moitra, the Chief of Field Office, UNICEF Kaduna, said that the partnership would focus on providing assistance in the areas of health, education, adequate nutrition and safe drinking water to children in the state.

"We, at UNICEF Kaduna, are working together with three states and Niger is one of them.
Minister of Information and Culture,

The militarys reaction was given by Director of Defence Information, Brig.-Gen. Rabe Abubakar during a recent appearance on Africa Independent Television (AIT).

What I know is that we are using equipment which is okay for us. We have been achieving results, he said.

What I know is that we have equipment that can take us to where we are goingHowever, you cannot say you have everything you need for your operations.

Even the developed nations Armed Forces lack one thing or the other, Abubakar said.

Mohammed had made the allegation after Jonathan claimed that the present administration was winning the war against terror with weapons purchased by his government.

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The statement was signed by Princess A. N. Eluwa -Solicitor General of Imo, for the government, Chairman NLC in Imo, Austin Chilakpu, Chairman, TUC, Ezeji Ezeji and eight others for NLC.

Wabba directed the workers to suspend the protest and go back to work.

According to the agreement, government would fund its operations with not more than 30 per cent of the verified revenue for the month.

The committee would apply the balance of 70 per cent in the settlement of salaries of public servants and pensioners.

Economic and social activities had come to a halt in Owerri following a mass protest organised by the NLC.

The organised labour had shut down the Sam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport, all ministries and offices including the LGAs and the state Secretariat as workers trooped out for the protest.

The protesters were led by the National President of NLC, Ayuba Wabba and other national leaders including the state chairmen from South/East, South/South and North.

They matched from the secretariat of the Nigeria Medical Association on Port Harcourt road, toward Imo Government House, where they blocked all major entrances.

Wabba had demanded for immediate recall of all sacked workers and stopping further sack of workers in the state without following laid down procedures.

Meanwhile, the National Chairman of APC, Chief John Oyegun has appealed to Gov. Rochas Okorocha to adopt the spirit of flexibility in handling issues concerning workers.
Punch Reports that the Head, of the CCT Public Relations, Mr. Ibraheem Al-hassan, confirmed receipt of the letter, saying: I have confirmed from the registrar and he confirmed to me that Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), wrote the letter, informing the tribunal that the Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal that was stopping the trial from going on. He attached a copy of the judgment to the letter.

The letter will be considered and a hearing notice will be issued later on.

Following the apex courts ruling, the Senate President issued a statement saying he was disappointed by the judgement, adding that he will have his day in court.

The Senate also condemned call by some Nigerians, calling for the resignation of the Senate President.
Saraki, in a statement issued in Abuja by his Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Mr Yusuph Olaniyonu, condemned the recent attacks in IDPs camps by the Boko Haram insurgents.

The statement was in reaction to the suicide bombing in an IDPs camp in Dikwa, Borno, where scores of persons including women and children were reportedly killed.

While sympathising with victims of the attack, the Senate President in the statement advised security forces to step up intelligence gathering activities in order to prevent future attacks on defenceless citizens.

"My heart goes out to those that lost their lives and loved ones in this tragic event of Tuesday in IDPs' camp in Dikwa, Borno, the statement quotes Saraki as saying.

"We cannot continue to live in the fear and agony of insurgency in our father land.

"The government is doing its best and likewise, our security forces are working hard and we sincerely acknowledge their efforts so far.

"We can feel the positive impact and effects; but as a country, we need to do more."Our call goes to the world powers to come to our aid; we need help regarding terrorism, it said.

It called on Nigerians to collaborate with the Federal Government in its efforts to eliminate terrorism by relaying relevant information to security agencies spearheading the fight against terrorism.
He also said mocked President Buharis war aginst corruption saying How can President Buhari say he is fighting corruption when he is surrounded by people of questionable characters, a group of people who were part of the government he is criticizing.

Adding that Democracy should be able to address our problems, unite us and not to put fear in the land, compelling people to be pretending to be what they are not because they dont want to be imprisoned.

Lamido also said Nigerias problem is not only corruption.

He said majority of the current crop of APC members were in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), when it was in power.

The former Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido and his two sons, Mustapha and Aminu, were arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over money laundering charges.

Lamido also reportedly named former Vice president, Atiku Abubakar and Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso are the real enemies of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The warning follows the shock resignation last week of economy minister, Aivaras Abromavicius, which highlighted deep divisions within the ruling coalition and the patchy performance of Ukraine's reform drive under the $17.5 billion IMF programme.

In a statement, Lagarde said she was concerned about Ukraine's slow progress in tackling graft and reducing the influence of vested interests in policymaking.

"Ukraine risks a return to the pattern of failed economic policies that has plagued its recent history. It is vital that Ukraine's leadership acts now to put the country back on a promising path of reform."
The mass defection occurred on Wednesday, February 10, 2016 in the Bwari area, Leadership reports.

The defectors were received by the State APC Publicity Secretary, Usman Adaji.

With the numbers of decamped members in Bwari today, that means definitely victory is sure for APC, not only in this council, but in the entire FCT, he said.

Because, on record, we have over 10,000 decamped PDP members and we know that more are still coming, he added.

The PDP has witnessed a mass exodus of its members since losing its ruling party status during the 2015 general elections.

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This was disclosed by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory, Senator Dino Melaye while speaking to journalists on Wednesday, February 10, 2016, Vanguard reports.

With this administration of change, it is no longer going to be business as usual, Melaye said.

Permit me to remind FCT administration again by stating that this committee will not hesitate to ensure that all administrative anomalies, misappropriation of funds or misapplication of laws as the case may be, occasioned by the past administrations of FCT, are fully addressed. This is what justice demands in these circumstances; to right the wrongs.

Therefore, the committee is worried and frowns on satanic and misleading advice and recommendation to convert very important and beautiful natural endowments or features which are very scanty like the world acclaimed Maitama Hills, popularly known as Ministers Hills, which could serve as a tourist attraction to the residents of FCT.

I want to state here again that if the bourgeois of this country need a special allocation, a new district can be dedicated to them and not destroy the beauty of the city centre, a national monument like the Maitama Hills," he added.
Reports say it is connected to

The party, has however announced that a new acting BoT chairman, Senator Walid Jibrin steer the ship for now.

Jibrin, reports say, will be in acting capacity, till a chairman is appointed.

He was formerly the secretary of the BoT.

Some officers of the party also asked the PDP spokesman, Olisa Metuh to resign.

The Board meeting came as a surprise to many party members because reports said the party moved its National Executive Committee, National Caucus and Board of Trustees meetings till next week.

Meanwhile, Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti state has described Nigeria as PDPs inheritance.

He said "If we put our house together, if we stay together, if we put the past behind us, we will take back our inheritance, it is our inheritance taken by deception, taken by propaganda, taken by hidden agenda,
Daily Independent reports that since it was proposed, it has generated lots of opposition from different quarters, particularly the trade and labour unions in the country.

During a press briefing at the CAN annual Inter-Denominational Divine Service (IDDS), the Lagos CAN Chairman, Apostle Alexander Bamgbola said that Nigerians should be prepared to pay the electricity bill recently hiked by the government and power providers.

While noting that he would never support paying for services not enjoyed, he said that consumers should be prepared to pay for electricity services.

He also urged the government to ensure they provide electricity supply across the nation in line with consumers' demand.
Yunusa was reportedly arrested in Kano. He was in preparation to embark on a journey to join an ISIS terrorist training camp in Libya, with other Nigerians whom he recruited for the group.

According to a statement by Tony Opuiyo of the DSS, other ISIS loyalists in the country, including 17-year-old Mohammed Aliyu Ndako, an undergraduate student of a tertiary institution in Kwara State; and a lady, Zainab Mohammed, were arrested by the Service in January.

It is quite concerning that the educational environment could be a possible breeding ground for terrorist organisation. Filled with youths who and in the process of self discovery, it makes sense that these groups could take advantage of their young, curious mind and sway their belief.
The action resulted in the disruption of academic and business activities in the institution, Punch reports.

The protesters reportedly accused the university authorities of denying them promotion to 200-level.

According to them, the University set up new rules which prevented them from proceeding to the universitys College of Medicine, Idi-Araba to continue their programme.

The protesters also argued that the new scheme was to allow the authorities to admit diploma students to the faculty. The protesters alleged that the diploma students paid handsomely for the offer.

However the authorities said the professional bodies regulating the study of medical programmes in the country, introduced a fresh index system to regulate the quota allocated to individual university.

The UNILAG Head, Information Unit, Mr. Toyin Adebule, made this known in a statement on Wednesday night.

According to him, UNILAG authorities will not want to flout such directive, as those admitted outside the quota will not be allowed to practice after graduation.

The statement read in part, This year, the professional bodies have insisted on the enforcement of the quota upon which accreditation is hinged and hence the college has had to conform. What this means is that only students that are indexed will be registered by the professional bodies to practice after graduation.

Senate at its meeting held on Wednesday, 27th January, 2016 had approved the implementation of the re-arrangement to conform to the professional bodies quota in order not to lose accreditation. This has regrettably meant that we have only been able to receive students into the college only up to the number the College of Medicine is allowed by the quota.
This is contained in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) by the Head, Public Relations Unit of the college, Mr Charles Oni, in Lagos on Wednesday.

According to the statement, she had developed a crisis in the afternoon of Tuesday, Feb. 9 and was on temporary admission at the College of Medical Centre under close watch of the Centres Management.

It said she was, however, discharged when her condition became stable so that she could prepare for examination on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016.

Practical examinations began round the college last Monday as a precursor to the main general examination scheduled for Monday, Feb. 15.

Dazan relapsed around midnight and her roommates rushed her back to the medical centre where precautionary medical attention was given to her, with a promise to refer her to Federal Medical Centre at Ebute Metta at dawn.

She was being conveyed to the Federal Medical Centre early this morning when she gave up the ghost.

Students immediately cashed in on the death of Dazan to engage in opportunistic clamour for the extension of the semester.

They demanded for the extension of the semester for two weeks contrary to the College calendar.

Unfortunately, many students do not prepare for examination until such examinations are a week or three days away, and customarily, they always plead for extension until the management put a stop to such opportunism about two years ago.

"The hydra-headed clamour sprang up again Wednesday because of the death of Miss Dazan.
In an interview, he also said that current financial market volatility is not justified by the economic conditions.

In a previous stint as finance minister, in 1992, Sapin witnessed firsthand the humiliation of his British counterpart Norman Lamont, when London was forced to leave the European exchange rate mechanism, the precursor of the euro.

In a package of proposals aimed at persuading Britain to remain in the EU, European Council President Donald Tusk has offered London a way of slowing down euro zone legislation that it does not like while being careful not to give it a veto.

"It's perfectly legitimate that we take each side's interests into account, but nothing must block the deepening of economic and monetary union in the coming years," Sapin said.

With France and Germany planning proposals on strengthening the euro zone before the end of the year, Sapin said more coordination was needed, specifically on structural reforms.

But the priority was not setting up a common euro zone finance ministry as the German and French central bank heads suggested earlier this week, Sapin said.

"It's time to move in the coming months by taking strong initiatives," he said, adding France was in favour of changes that did not require rewriting EU treaties in 2016 or 2017.

Brought to the brink of breaking up over Greece, the euro zone's debt crisis forced its members to strengthen in particular supervision of the banking sector. But some officials, particularly at the European Central Bank, say that much remains to be done to avert any future crises.

Sapin said he was confident that the Greek government would live up to its reform promises with a review of its efforts underway, which has to be completed before talks on easing its debt burden can be launched.

MARKETS

With financial markets once again gripped by a bout of volatility, Sapin said that the euro zone was this time much more resilient due to members' reform efforts in the recent years.

Finance ministers from the Group of 20 economic powers would address the issue of volatility at a meeting this month in Shanghai and stress that markets must reflect underlying economic fundamentals.

"Today's volatility does not seem very legitimate to me. There's a yoyo effect that doesn't reflect real trends in the world economy," he said.
Struggling to stop refugees streaming into Greece despite a deal between Ankara and the European Union to combat the flows, Germany and Turkey surprised partners this week by saying they would raise the issue with NATO.

One idea could be for NATO to monitor the flow of migrants from Syria trying to reach Europe across the Aegean and pass the information on to Turkish authorities to go after people smugglers.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday he had spoken with both Germany and Turkey and that "we will take very seriously the request to look into what NATO can do."

Pressed for details about what NATO might do, Britain's Defence Minister Michael Fallon said: "Anything that helps save lives in the eastern Mediterranean and helps disrupt the criminal business model behind this trafficking is extremely welcome."

More than one million people arrived in Europe last year, fleeing war and failing states in the Middle East and North Africa. Numbers show little sign of falling, despite the winter.
Habre, who ruled Chad from 1982 to 1990, went on trial in the Senegalese capital last July and a verdict is expected this year. It is the first time a domestic court system in one country has tried a former leader of another on rights charges.

Rights advocates say the case offers an alternative avenue for justice to the International Criminal Court based in The Hague. Many African leaders have voiced scepticism about the ICC on the grounds that it has investigated abuses mainly in Africa.

Habre was deposed in a coup in 1990 and fled into exile in Senegal. He was detained in 2000 and in 2012 a Belgian judge obtained a ruling from the United Nations' top court, the International Court of Justice, ordering Senegal to try or extradite him.
North Korea's fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6 and Sunday's "long range missile launch" direct violations of U.N. resolutions and "serious provocations against the international community."

They said they agreed to firmly respond to Pyongyang's actions through "trilateral information sharing" and "to coordinate further on mutual security issues to enhance peace and stability in the region."

U.S. Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, met in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, with Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano, head of Japan's Self-Defense Forces, while Army General Lee Sun-Jin, chairman of the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, joined them by video teleconference.

It was the second meeting among the defense chiefs of the three countries since July 2014, said U.S. Navy Captain Greg Hicks, Dunford's spokesman.

He said the discussions, which were first scheduled after Pyongyang's fourth nuclear test in January, underscored the three countries effort to better coordinate and share information, given North Korea's recent actions.

Hicks said Lee decided to stay in Seoul to "maintain readiness posture in the peninsula" after the recent actions.

The three officers agreed to meet again before the end of the year, and said they would look to increase participation in military exercises and other activities to deepen their security ties, a U.S. official familiar with the situation said on Wednesday.

Sunday's launch, which followed Pyongyang's fourth nuclear bomb test on Jan. 6, was condemned by the United States and countries around the world, which believe it was cover for development of ballistic missile technology.

The United States and South Korea immediately said they would begin formal talks about deploying the sophisticated U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, to the Korean peninsula "at the earliest possible date."
Aimed at boosting incomes and improving food security, the project plans to help 1.5 million small-scale farmers across Africa, Asia and Latin America over the next three years with contracts to buy their crops, signed before they are planted, worth $750 million.

The World Food Programme (WFP) and its partners - including agribusiness giants Bayer and Syngenta, the World Bank's International Finance Corporation, Rabobank and Norwegian fertiliser producer Yara International - will also offer farmers access to agricultural inputs, loans and insurance.

"The platform will enable some of the most marginalised farmers to access reliable markets for the first time," WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin said in a statement as the programme was launched in Davos, Switzerland, late last month.

Half of the world's 795 million hungry people are farmers, according to the WFP, and in some African countries up to 90 percent of the population are smallholder farmers.

The U.N. agency said the pre-agreed purchase contracts with local, regional and international buyers, together with financing and other resources, would enable more than 1 million of the world's poorest farmers in 25 countries to shift from subsistence farming to market-oriented agriculture.

Experts said that, for the programme to succeed, climate change should be a key factor in deciding which crops to plant.

"Current climate risks which are affecting countries are a big player in the low level of agro-productivity in sub-Saharan Africa," said John Recha, a specialist with the CGIAR Research Programme on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS).

"But I'm not seeing mention of (this) programme being tied to the risks which come aboard because of the changing climate," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation from Kenya.

Global warming has led to shifts in rainfall, Recha said, meaning farmers should have the opportunity to grow a range of crops, such as sorghum, cassava or sweet potato, which are more drought-tolerant than the staple maize.

In Rwanda and Tanzania, where the "Patient Procurement Platform" - so-called due to the long-term commitment required from producers and buyers - began in December, maize was the main crop covered by the contracts.

"If you promote more of the maize at the expense of the drought-tolerant crops like finger millet or cassava, then you are not helping these farmers adapt to climate (change)," Recha said.

Mack Ramachandran, who leads procurement for the WFP, said participating farmers would have access to climate-related training, including water management and conservation.

"There will be a significant component of climate-smart agriculture," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation from Rome.

'HOOKED' ON FERTILISER

CCAFS' Recha said it made sense to bring the private sector on board to support small-scale farmers and raise their yields by providing them with access to fertilisers, which are under-used in Africa.

But Teresa Anderson, a researcher with development charity ActionAid, warned of the risk that farmers could end up reliant on chemical inputs.

"Once you start adding fertiliser, it actually kills off the natural fertility (of the soil), so then you become dependent on it," Anderson told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"Unless you use fertilisers, your yields will go down, so you can't just use fertilisers and then stop: you get hooked."

She said the hybrid seeds farmers may be encouraged to buy from the WFP partners needed a lot of fertiliser, as well as reliable rainfall. That could leave farmers facing a disaster when rains - and their crops - fail, she added.

While insurance may enable them to survive extreme weather, it will not help them adapt their practices to shifting climate risks, she said. Many farmers are now going back to traditional methods, she noted.

According to Ramachandran, farmers in the WFP programme will be able to buy seeds from whichever supplier they prefer, but they will receive recommendations on which seeds are best for their soil and water conditions.
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The redevelopment plan for the former Case-New Holland site in East Moline is being reinvented with a new co-branded Hyatt hotel, new building designs, lower price tag and a new name for the project.

After five years of planning and various delays, developers say the riverfront project  now named The Bend on the Mighty Mississippi  is moving forward to an anticipated groundbreaking as early as the second quarter of 2016.

NAI Hiffman, an Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., commercial real estate firm, has been awarded the land sale, build-to-suit and financial assignment to market the 132-acre multi-use development project. The project already has plans for a Hyatt Place and Hyatt House hotel development as well as three, upscale apartment buildings and a public park to be developed by Great River Property Development LLC.

"There's been a lot of chapters to this," said Jim Russell, president of Russell, Davenport, who was hired as a paid consultant and became a co-developer. "It has been totally reinvented in terms of the hotel and apartments and reconfigured to match the market."

The previous hotel designs, which included separate hotel buildings and all-glass fronts, "was too grand," he said. "So it has been fine-tuned to the marketplace. Everything was a little higher than the market would bear, and at the end of the day, if you can't get the financing, you can't get a project born.

"I was engaged to help get the baby born, that was my role," said Russell, who is not an owner, but whose firm has been retained to build the Hyatt and apartments. "Our job often is to get everyone in the room and talk reality, and that's what we did."

The new ownership group, Great River Property Development, is a partnership of East Moline businessman Dan Murphy, former owner of Precision Pipeline, and former state Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-East Moline. They were part of the original ownership group of local entrepreneurs, led by Murphy, that bought the Case site in 2010. The original group, known as River Eagle Investments, first introduced the project as Fountainhead of the Quad-Cities. Original investors also included Frank Coyle, Matt Stern and Mike VanDeHeede.

With a once-in-a-lifetime chance to build an exciting development on the scenic Mississippi River, we are taking our time to get this right, Murphy said in a news release. "We feel our current design process has produced final plans that will help spur progress heading throughout the year."

With a more traditional hotel, designed by Legat Architects, the developers have decreased their financial commitment by nearly $20 million. The redesigned hotel now will cost $38 million vs. the original $47 million. The multi-family units now will cost $10 million less, or $44 million. The $80 million investment does not include other developments that will follow the hotel and apartments.

Joe Collins, the developer's construction manager, said the lower costs were necessary to get financing for the project.

"It's been a long road," he said. "We've had some setbacks; every project like this is going to have them. We've overcome them."

Russell said the project secured private financing for the hotel from Quad-City-based Triumph Bank and expects to close on the loan in March or April. The project also is working to secure funding from a private equity firm for the apartments.

Collins said the hotel has been redesigned into a single, nine-story building that connects the extended-stay Hyatt House with the Hyatt Place. Together, the hotels will have 233 guest rooms. They originally were separate buildings.

"This design takes advantage of the river, and the old design was only four floors," Collins said. With a ninth-floor lounge and restaurant planned, "It takes advantage of the view and the river. We know that's going to be a big hit."

Perry Higa, senior vice president of NAI Hiffman, was hired in December to market the property for other mixed uses as well as help on the debt side of the project.

"The driver on this is the Hyatt as well as the multi-family, and once those get going, other development will follow," said Higa, who brings more than 30 years of real estate experience to the project team. "There have been a lot of positive things that have happened in a two-month time frame."

He said NAI Hiffman is just beginning to create all its marketing materials for the project to distribute to prospects in the Quad-Cities as well as in Chicago and beyond. With 90 acres left to market, he envisions the other uses will include retail to complement the Hyatt and apartments, restaurants, a banquet hall or a commercial office development.

We are very excited about breaking ground and beginning construction, which will ultimately unleash other parts of the redevelopment of this site and keep the vision moving forward, Higa said. "It's a rare, but interesting opportunity. We're excited, positive and ready to make deals."

Over the past year, Collins said the site has been prepped by the removal of the surface concrete with the exception of a few roads. The material has been stockpiled on site to be recycled as fill and rock, in roadbeds and for elevation changes, he said.

Russell said the project has had a lot of work going on behind the scenes.

"But people probably won't see anything on site for four or five months as all these financing sources line up," he said. "But all of it is on schedule to converge in late June or July."

East Moline Mayor John Thodos said he is encouraged by the progress, particularly the group's decision to hire Russell.

"Jim has a great track record and understands our market," he said.

Among Russell's other Quad-City projects is his recent acquisition of the former Lodge Hotel & Conference Center in Bettendorf, which he plans to demolish and redevelop, as well as downtown Bettendorf's Town Square development.

"I've always known the project could work even through its many different forms," Thodos said. "I can say progress is being made, but when I put a shovel in the ground, that's when I'm happy."
The attorneys for a former Bettendorf High School student accused of stabbing a classmate will ask a Scott County judge on Tuesday to acquit him of the charge.

Judge Joel Barrows declared a mistrial Jan. 25 after a Scott County jury said they were hopelessly deadlocked after 20 hours of deliberations in the case of Drew W. Romkey, 18.

Prosecutors have said they will retry Romkey on one count of willful injury causing serious injury, a Class C felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. A trial date has not yet been set.

A pretrial conference is scheduled Friday.

Assistant Scott County Attorney Steven Berger argued at trial that Romkey stabbed Jacob Woodard, also 18, four times on April 11 in a cul-de-sac in the 6100 block of Lakeshore Circle, Davenport.

Romkey testified at trial he acted in self-defense and that Woodard had been the aggressor.

At the end of both the state's case and the defense's case, Romkey's attorneys made standard motions for acquittal. Both were denied by Barrows.

Robert Rosentiel, one of Romkeys attorneys, filed a motion Feb. 3 asking Barrows to acquit Romkey of the charge.

Rosentiel wrote in his motion that prosecutors did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Romkey acted willfully or with the intent to cause serious injury to Woodard.

He further wrote that attorneys and Barrows learned from jurors after the trial that they agreed that he was not guilty of willful injury, but they could not agree that he was guilty of any lesser included offense.

The hung jury, as well as jurors agreeing that Romkey was not guilty of willful injury, indicates that prosecutors did not meet their burden, Rosentiel wrote.

He also wrote that Romkeys testimony concerning details of the incident with Woodard were entirely uncontested. That, coupled with a lack of forensic and video evidence, would not lead a reasonable jury to unanimously find him guilty, Rosentiel wrote.

Berger filed a motion Feb. 4 in opposition of the motion for acquittal and wrote that because Barrows denied Romkeys motion for an acquittal before the case was given to the jury, the court lacks any authority to grant a renewed motion for that relief.

Berger further wrote that the fact that the jury was unable to come to a unanimous verdict is not grounds for rendering any decision other than scheduling a new trial date.

Jury deliberations have no bearing on the issue of whether substantial record evidence was introduced for all of the elements of the charged crime, to the lesser included offenses, under that charge, by the state at trial, he wrote.
There is no shortage of enthusiasm among the seven candidates, from diverse backgrounds, who are seeking the opportunity to join the Davenport School Board.

The election is Tuesday, after central-city activists, concerned that someone would be appointed by the board to fill the open position without public input, collected signatures on petitions to force the special election.

Maria Dickmann resigned from the board after being elected to the Davenport City Council in November. Her school board term expires in 2017.

The seven candidates include two high school students, community activists, retirees, labor union members and school volunteers. There are four women and three men in the mix.

One issue that has riveted the board's attention is the district's budget. Administrators say between $3 million and $5 million must be cut in order to balance the budget. Currently, school representatives are urging the state Legislature to enact a change that would provide the district with almost $3 million in additional funding under the complicated per-pupil spending formula.

This is the "Worth-Less" campaign, started in 2015 and credited with drawing attention to school funding issues in Iowa by its focus on Davenport.

The school board and all board candidates are supporting Superintendent Art Tate's efforts to change the state school funding formula.

The candidates:

Andrew DeNoyer, 18, son of Jason DeNoyer and Kara O'Conner, is a senior at North High School.

DeNoyer, who is class president and has two part-time jobs, plans to attend college in Davenport. He hopes to make the district "a place where students want to go, where parents want to send their children, and where the best teachers want to teach," he said.

If the budget does need to be cut, DeNoyer cites three areas he hopes to maintain: teacher positions, block scheduling at the high school level and the teacher-student ratio in classrooms.

Erika Kall, 51, of Davenport. Married to Ed Kall, she is a longtime school volunteer and the parent of two college-age children who are district graduates.

Self-employed as a therapist, Kall has a flexible schedule that allows her to be available for meetings and the duties of a board member. She has been encouraged to run for the board, she said, because of her family values and community pride. Kall has been a volunteer in the schools for 20 years, continuing after her children graduated.

In terms of the budget, Kall is concerned about the district's declining enrollment and thinks that the cuts that had to be made have been made.

"I plan to fully evaluate all of the options on the table, as well as present any new possibilities that may come up," she said.

Elaine Kresse, 75, of Davenport, is a retired teacher who spent her career in both the Davenport and North Scott school districts. Her husband, Sam, taught at Central High School.

Kresse said concern for students has been her focus for her entire career. She plans to support the district's position on diversity and questions plans that put, for example, English language learners in one central location rather than having them attend school where they live.

"With more than 20 different languages now in the school population, how does it aid diversity to group them together?" she asked.

Kresse got interested in serving on the board after what she saw as too much emphasis on test-taking as the measure of student or school success.

As far as budget cuts are concerned, Kresse endorses positions taken by the teachers in 2014 that cuts would include administrators. She also called on the public to "put pressure on Des Moines" to help with the issues faced by the district.

Megan Long, 38, is the mother of four children who attend school in Davenport. She is a pediatric occupational therapist.

"I have a passion for working with children and helping them, as well as their families," she said.

Long, whose husband, Tyson, is a teacher in Davenport, has an interest in children with special needs and would like to see an improvement in services for these students. Children in the Long family are 5-13 years old, and she is also supporter of the district preschool program.

In terms of the budget, Long suggests parent surveys as a way to assess interest in specific programs. She also questions why the administration and staff have grown in the past three to five years and wants to look at the frequency of curriculum changes.

"Educational supplies for a new curriculum are costly," she said.

Clyde Mayfield, 64, would return to the school board after serving on it three decades ago. He and his wife, Julie, are district graduates, as are their six adult children.

The Davenport district has given much to the Mayfield family, he said, and he wants to give back.

Mayfield cites his 35 years of working in the district as the reason others should support him and said he will bring a different perspective to the board.

In the district budget, Mayfield would retain funds to educate students, face the problem of declining enrollment and make sure adequate funds are available for classroom proficiency.

Ileaser Parker-Tatum, 20, a student at Mid-City High School, has volunteered for four years for the Iowa Youth Congress, and that's what prompted her to run for the board.

She hopes to use her "wisdom, intelligence, creativity and significant background to create a difference in the district."

Parker-Tatum points out that in her work with the youth congress, she actually has placed bills before the Legislature to help with the school funding issues.

On possible budget cuts, Parker-Tatum said the focus should stay on classroom needs. She also calls on the Legislature to set allowable-growth formulas for two years at a time, as required by law.

Bruce Werning, 59, is regional director of the Carpenters' Union. He is a graduate of West High School, lives in central Davenport and got into the race because of state funding issues.

Werning advocates for students in the trades and notes professional positions can be attained without attending a four-year college.

Werning, who also has volunteered in the schools, cites state funding and parity as his top budget concerns. If cuts have to be made, they should be equitable, across departments and programs.

"This will allow for all to share in the burden," he said.
SPRINGFIELD  President Barack Obama returned to Springfield on Wednesday to call on members of the Illinois General Assembly to work together toward a less divisive, more civil politics.

The speech, delivered nine years to the day after Obama launched his White House bid on the steps of the Old State Capitol, came amid an unprecedented state budget impasse between first-term Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Democratic-controlled Legislature, led by House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton, both of Chicago.

While alluding to the standoff, Obama focused his remarks on the larger issue of the increasing political polarization in Springfield, Washington and across the United States.

"The situation we find ourselves in today is not somehow unique or hopeless," he said, speaking in the current Capitol, where he began his political career in 1997 as a state senator from Chicago's South Side. "We've always gone through periods when our democracy seems stuck, and when that happens, we have to find a new way of doing business.

"We're in one of those moments. We've got to build a better politics, one that's less of a spectacle and more of a battle of ideas, one that's less of a business and more of a mission, one that understands the success of the American experiment rests on our willingness to engage all our citizens in this work."

To build that "better politics," Obama highlighted four areas where work needs to be done:

 Limiting influence of big money in politics.

 Changing the way congressional districts are drawn.

 Making it easier for voters to register and cast ballots.

 Engaging in more respectful political discourse.

"We can't move forward if all we do is tear each other down," he said.

The president said his belief in the importance of bipartisanship and civility has its roots, in part, in his days in the Illinois Senate.

As a newcomer in the then-minority party, Obama had to find ways to work with Republicans if we wanted to accomplish anything. He formed a bond with Kirk Dillard, then a GOP senator from Hinsdale and now chairman of the Chicago-area Regional Transit Authority, with whom he worked on issues such as ethics reform and combating racial profiling.

He also took the time to get to know downstate Republicans away from the Statehouse, playing cards with people such as Sens. Dave Luechtefeld of Okawville and Bill Brady of Bloomington.

"Away from the glare of TV or the tweets of the GIFs of today's media, what we discovered was that, despite our surface differences  Democrats and Republicans, downstate hog farmers, inner-city African-Americans, suburban businesspeople, Latinos from Pilsen or Little Village  despite those differences, we actually had a lot in common," he said. "We cared about our communities. We cared about our families. We cared about America.

"We fought hard for our positions. I don't want to be nostalgic here. We voted against each other all the time, and party lines held most of the time. But those relationships, that trust that we built, meant that we came at each debate assuming the best in one another and not the worst."

He added, "And we didn't call each other idiots or fascists who were trying to destroy America. Because then we'd have to explain why we were playing poker or having a drink with an idiot or a fascist who was trying to destroy America."

Despite Obama's message, there were times when partisan divisions were on full display in the House chamber. For example, Democrats stood and cheered when he mentioned the importance of collective bargaining rights, as did Republicans when he mentioned redistricting reform.

Obama acknowledged his disappointment that partisan discord has gotten worse during his presidency and, hinting at his post-presidential plans, said this work "will be a focus of mine over the course of this year and beyond."

Obama arrived Wednesday morning aboard Air Force One at Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport, where he was greeted by Rauner, among others. The two spoke briefly before the president got into his limo and made his way to the Capitol  after a brief stop for barley soup at The Feed Store, a restaurant just steps from the Old State Capitol.

Following the speech, the president shook hands with many on the Republican side of the aisle before departing the House chamber.

Upon leaving the Capitol, Obama greeted a group of about 500 supporters a few blocks away inside the Hoogland Center for the Arts. After that, he was back aboard Air Force One, en route to San Jose, Calif.
CLINTON  Raymond L. (Ray) Myers, 89, of Clinton, passed away peacefully Feb. 3, 2015, at the Alverno, Clinton. A memorial service will be 10:30 a.m. Friday at First Union Presbyterian Church in Clinton.

Ray was born March 12, 1926, in rural Kinross, Iowa, the son of Joseph and Ethel (Moody) Myers. In order to serve his country, Ray enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II after attending high school. During his time in service, Ray was assigned to the 872nd Engineer Aviation Battalion in the Asiatic Theater of Operations as a heavy truck driver and dispatcher, assisting in the construction of air strips. He was stationed in Luzon (Leyte), Philippines, and in Okinawa, Japan.

Following his return from service, Ray was united in marriage to Evelyn Wulf on Oct. 12, 1947, at Union Presbyterian Church in Lost Nation, Iowa. Ray and Evelyn then moved to Clinton, where they raised four children.

Ray retired from DuPont in Clinton after many years of service, working in the maintenance department as a sheet metal worker and welder. After retirement from DuPont, he worked for AirControl. Ray was also a member of AMVETS Post 28. Ray enjoyed traveling all over the country with friends and family, enjoying many of those trips on his motorcycle.

Ray is survived by three daughters, Teresa (Denny) Miller, Dubuque, Linda (Mike) Pedersen, Bellevue, Iowa, Donna (Dave) Schmitt, Dickeyville, Wis.; one son, Charles Myers, Clinton; and seven grandchildren.

Preceding Raymond in death were his former wife and friend, Evelyn, and two sisters, Marion Schiebel and Janeene Adam.
SPRINGFIELD  Illinois House Democrats have revived an effort that would send stalled contract talks to binding arbitration and prohibit a state worker strike or lockout.

The move comes after Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration took steps to have negotiations with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees declared at an impasse. The 38,000 state employees AFSCME Council 31 represents have been working under the terms of their previous deal since it expired June 30.

On a party-line vote Thursday, the House Labor and Commerce Committee approved a bill that would apply to contracts that have expired or will expire between June 30 and June 30, 2019. That would cover AFSCME and six other unions that currently don't have contracts with the state.

Rep. Chris Welch, D-Hillside, who is sponsoring the bill, said it represents a major concession on the part of labor unions because they would be giving up the right to strike.

"I also think, from a legislative standpoint, we want to prevent the administration from locking out state employees, who are providing important services across this state, and basically shutting down government," Welch said. "That's our responsibility as legislators."

Rauner has said in the past that he will not lock out workers.

Republican opponents of the bill said AFSCME, which is backing the measure, is attempting change the rules in the middle of the process.

"Going to the General Assembly for legislation specifically designed to try and direct things in your favor is not something I can be supportive of," said Rep. Dan Brady, a Bloomington Republican who serves on the committee.

Before the committee hearing began, the Rauner administration distributed a statement attacking the bill.

Rauner's statement called the move "a second bite at the failed attempt" to pass the bill.

The General Assembly passed a nearly identical bill last year, but Rauner vetoed it. House Democrats fell three votes short of overriding the veto.

Since then, the governor has accused AFSCME of bargaining in bad faith and asked the Illinois Labor Relations Board to determine whether the talks have reached an impasse. If the board sides with him, it could clear the way for the state to impose the terms of its contract offer.

"Instead of lobbying for yet another version of the failed legislation from last Fall, AFSCME should defend its proposals before the Labor Board," the governor's statement said.

Rep. Mike Smiddy, D-Hillsdale, who also serves on the Labor and Commerce Committee, said he thinks part of the reason the override effort failed last year was because Rauner promised to stay at the bargaining table with AFSCME. The union says the administration has refused to negotiate since asking for the impasse declaration earlier this year.

"This (bill) will hopefully prevent a shutdown of state government, either through strike or lockout," Smiddy said. "We do not need services shut down in the state of Illinois due a strike or lockout."

If the bill is approved, it would send stalled contract talks to mediation and then, if necessary, to a panel of independent arbitrators, who would decide on an issue-by-issue basis which side has made the more reasonable offer.

A similar process is in place for police officers, firefighters and other public safety workers, including correctional officers represented by AFSCME.
A roundup of legislative and Capitol news items of interest for Wednesday, Feb. 10:

SHELTER RATE HIKE: The Iowa House voted 96-0 to increase the fee paid to juvenile shelter care providers 5 percent from $14.63 per day to $148.48 of approximately $276,000 this year. There is no fiscal impact on the state, according to the Legislative Services Agencys fiscal bureau, because the change reflects the difference in costs counties were to pay in fiscal 2016.

RETIREMENT PLAN: State Treasurer Mike Fitzgerald and Sen. Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines, rolled out a retirement plan that would give employees of small business that dont offer retirement plans an opportunity to participate in a plan managed as a public trust by the state.

Retirement Savings Iowa would be run similar to College Savings Iowa, which offers 529 college savings plans, Fitzgerald said.

About 42 percent of Iowas private sector employees dont have access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan, according to AARP. Retirement Savings Iowa would not require employer contributions. Through payroll deductions, it would put 3 percent of an employees wages in the plan unless the employee chose to opt out. The plan would have tax advantages similar to an IRA, Fitzgerald said.

The plan, which needs legislative approval, is important for all workers, especially women whose Social Security benefits are less because they earn less and are out of the workforce more time than men, Peterson said.

I just see it as a no-brainer for our state to get the ball rolling, Petersen said.

MORE SOLAR SAVINGS: A Senate subcommittee unanimously approved SSB 3080 to expand solar energy tax credits in Iowa from $5 million to $7.5 million per year.

Sen. Rob Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids, said the state has provided $11.6 million in tax credits to support 1,821 projects in 92 counties, which has leveraged $85 million in investment. Also, he said 700 jobs have been created in Iowas solar energy industry.

This is a win for jobs, for farmers, for businesses, for consumers and for the environment, Hogg said.

CHILDRENS MENTAL HEALTH: The Senate Human Resources Committee approved SSB 3109 appropriating $300,000 to the Department of Human Resources for planning grants for the development and implementation of childrens mental health crisis services.

The plans must be based on recommendations submitted in December by a childrens mental health and well-being work group. They must address existing services as well as recommendations for standard requirements for childrens mental health crisis services.

The bill also directs DHS to study and collect data on emerging, collaborative efforts in existing child well-being programs. Also, the department must select three to five existing program to be designated learning labs to enable the department to engage in creating an expansive structured learning network.

DEATH WITH DIGNITY: Legislation that would permit terminal patients to request life-ending medication did not pass a Senate subcommittee Wednesday. A panel of three state lawmakers declined to advance the legislation, which is known as a death with dignity bill. Supporters say it allows terminal patients to end their end-of-life suffering. A nurse who testified at the hearing said she has treated patients who pleaded for death. Sen. David Johnson, R-Ocheyedan, called the bill government-sanctioned suicide and said he believes it is not the governments role to permit someone to end their own life. Four other states have death with dignity laws, according to the organization that advocates for the laws: Oregon, Washington, Vermont and California.

PIPELINE HEARING: A state regulatory panel moved closer Wednesday to deciding the fate of a proposed underground oil pipeline a Texas-based company wants to build across Iowa.

The three-member Iowa Utilities Board finished its review of 296 parcels where landowners have not reached voluntary easement agreements with officials from Dakota Access LLC, a subsidiary of Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners. Much of the opposition from landowners focused on concerns about terraces and tiles and how a pipeline might impact water flows or cause other disruptions to parcels in the 18 counties affected by the project.

After nearly two hours of discussion, the board members went into closed session to discuss issues pertaining to the pipeline permit, eminent domain authority and how much leeway regulators might have in altering the companys proposed 346-mile route from Lyon County in northwest Iowa through Lee County in southeast Iowa.

The panel is slated to resume its deliberations in open session at 1 p.m. Thursday in Des Moines.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: Until we put resources out there, this is another one that will sit out there until it rots, Sen. Bill Dotzler, D-Waterloo, talking about childrens mental health and childrens well-being plans called for in SSB 31009.

 Times Bureau
DES MOINES  Public school funding and the state budgets catch-all spending bill would get increases, but all other state departments would face cuts under spending targets declared Thursday by Republicans in control of the Iowa House.

House Republicans will use the targets when their budget committees break out in coming weeks to set spending for the fiscal year that starts July 1. They set an overall spending number of $7.32 billion, roughly a 2 percent increase over their estimated budget for the current fiscal year.

The Republicans proposal calls for a 4.6 percent increase in the area of the budget with school funding and miscellaneous spending, including a 2 percent increase in funding for public K-12 schools.

The targets include spending decreases in the remaining areas, including health and human services, post-secondary education and justice systems. Where those cuts are made will be determined by the individual department budget committees.

This budget has been put together in a mindful manner to make sure we are living within our means but also funding the priorities of Iowans, said Rep. Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford, who chairs the House budget committee.

The House Republican proposal spends $89 million less from the states general fund than proposed by Democrats in control of the Senate and $92 million less than proposed by the governor.

House Democrats issued a statement critical of the budget targets.

For years, Republicans have been funding corporate tax cuts at the expense of Iowa schools. The Republican budget will lead to higher class sizes and increased property taxes, Rep. Chris Hall, D-Sioux City, the Democrats leader on the House budget committee, said in the statement. House Democrats believe we can balance the state budget and make public schools our top priority again.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, called the Republicans proposal one of the worst budgets for education funding that he has seen.
PIERRE | A rules maneuver on Wednesday stopped the most highly anticipated action thus far in the 2016 legislative session: a House of Representatives vote on the governors proposal to increase the state sales and use tax.

Teachers, students, school board members and other educators crammed the House gallery hoping to see a historic debate followed by a vote that could have advanced an ambitious effort to raise the pay of public school teachers.

Instead they received a lesson on how opponents can legally delay consideration of a piece of legislation.

The vote is now likely to take place late next week.

The rules maneuver came in two steps. First, Rep. Jeff Partridge, R-Rapid City, offered an amendment to the governors legislation. Then Rep. Jim Stalzer, R-Sioux Falls, asked for a delay under rule 5-17.

The rule suspends debate so legislators can consider a pending amendment. The rule provides for one intervening day until debate resumes.

Enough House members stood in support of Stalzer  the numbers and names arent recorded in the House journal on procedural motions, however  for the rule to take effect.

Debate can resume Tuesday, after lawmakers return from a four-day weekend.

Gov. Dennis Daugaard's Chief of Staff Tony Venhuizen said the administration sees the delay as a sign that opponents "know that they don't have the votes to kill it."

Lawmakers probably wont talk for long on Tuesday, as the 5-17 delay can be used twice during consideration of a measure.

After the Partridge amendment is decided, another amendment probably will be offered on Tuesday. At that point rule 5-17 can be invoked again.

The final vote then would be put off until Feb. 18, according to Rep. Lee Schoenbeck, R-Watertown.

Thats no secret, Schoenbeck said.

Later Wednesday afternoon House Speaker Dean Wink, R-Howes, apologized to the few people still in the House gallery.

He said he was sorry they didnt get to witness what they came to see, but what had occurred was within the Legislatures process. And, Wink said, it is a good process.

Wink said after the House adjourned that he expects another 5-17 motion Tuesday.

The legislation would increase the state sales and use tax rate to 4.5 percent from the current 4 percent. The change would generate an estimated $107 million for the first year.

Daugaard wants the increase to take effect June 1. Typically state laws take effect July 1.

House Republican leader Brian Gosch of Rapid City tried to amend Daugaards plan to remove the emergency clause and start the tax increase July 1. Gosch said the situation doesnt qualify as an emergency.

But other House members disagreed. Losing one month of revenue during the heart of the tourism season would be damaging, argued Rep. Dick Werner, R-Huron.

Schoenbeck directly answered Gosch, saying school districts in his area of northeastern South Dakota have trouble filling vacancies.

This is an emergency. It needs to be addressed now, Schoenbeck said.

Wink couldnt clearly tell which side was louder on the voice vote on the Gosch amendment. Supporters of the amendment were asked to stand. After the hand count, Wink declared the motion lost.

Partridge offered his amendment next. He wants state government to reduce the tax increase if the treasury starts receiving tax collections on sales made over the Internet.

His proposal calls for repealing one-tenth of 1 percent of the sales tax for every $20 million of Internet tax collections.

Partridge said afterward his amendment is serious. He said he didnt know Stalzer would invoke rule 5-17.

Before the House convened for the afternoon, Wink told reporters that 5-17 had been used once previously in the House during the 2016 session.

In past decades the 5-17 rule frequently came into play on legislation when opponents wanted more time to try to get more lawmakers on their side.

Daugaard needs a two-thirds majority in each chamber to pass the tax increase. In the House that means 47 ayes.

In background conversations a variety of House members, administration officials and lobbyists said the vote Wednesday would have been close.

The average salary for a teacher in South Dakota last year was just over $40,000. Daugaard wants the average salary to be $48,500.

He appointed what he labeled as the Blue Ribbon Task Force on teachers and students last year. The large group of legislators, state officials, educators and business people held field meetings and a series of formal meetings.

Their recommendations formed the foundation for the governors proposal.

Of the $107 million that would be raised from the tax increase, $40 million would be designated for property tax relief, $5 million for various statewide teacher programs and efficiency incentives, and $62 million for additional state aid to public schools, with the requirement that 90 percent of the money go to teacher salaries.

Rep. Jacqueline Sly, R-Rapid City, explained the proposal to open the House debate. She is chairwoman of the House Education Committee and was a co-chairwoman of the Blue Ribbon Task Force.

Sen. Deb Soholt, R-Sioux Falls, the other co-chairwoman of the task force, watched Wednesday afternoon from the back of the House chamber.

It has to be long-term, ongoing, Sly said about the revenue source for the governors proposal. We need to know that source of revenue goes on and on. It is future-focused.

Sly said South Dakota has been last in the nation for 25 years in average teacher salary.

Many of the teachers and other educators in the House gallery wore buttons that showed a slash through the number 51.
Before reaching his 10th birthday, Micah Albonico, of Spearfish, has suffered the equivalent of many decades of health woes, and on Wednesday his crying mother pleaded with a South Dakota Senate committee to give medical marijuana a chance to afford him a normal life.

Such pleas for compassion from medical marijuana advocates, mixed with criticism from opponents, filled an entire Senate Health and Human Services Committee meeting, and the discussion is still far from finished.

Senate Bill 171, the focus of the meeting, would "permit and regulate the compassionate use of cannabis and provide penalties therefor." At the end of two hours the committee took no action and will resume the hearing next Wednesday.

Proponents of legalizing medical marijuana ranged from parents of children with seizure disorders to adults with chronic pain, and they spent nearly 90 minutes telling sometimes emotional stories to the committee.

Angie Albonico, Micah's mother, broke down in tears and was unable to speak for more than a minute while presenting her testimony.

Micah, 9, is a leukemia survivor and now has rumination syndrome, a condition that causes vomiting after eating.

During the Wednesday meeting, bespectacled Micah sat patiently, smiling broadly while his mother spoke about his condition.

Angie Albonico said sometimes the vomiting starts minutes after eating, other times hours later. Little is known about the disease, she said, but she added medical marijuana could help keep his food down and help him live a more normal life.

Micah, she said, no longer is able to go out for recess and run and play with other children at lunch because he is "constantly by the trash can throwing up."

After Micah was diagnosed with leukemia at 17-months-old, Angie Albonico said, he received treatment and seemed to emerge cancer-free. Then came the heartbreak of rumination syndrome.

Albonico said the worry of her son throwing up in his sleep and choking is enough to keep her awake and stressed throughout most nights.

"Imagine if this was your story," she said as she wrapped up her testimony. "Imagine if this was your child. Imagine if this was your daily struggle."

Former Rapid City Mayor Jerry Munson's passionate testimony drew applause from the crowd. He told of how medical marijuana could have helped his mother after she had a leg amputation necessitated by a circulation problem. She died in 1997.

He said because of the pain medications to deal with her amputated leg, his mother lost her appetite and her strength.

"She died a horrible long and painful death," Munson told the committee.

He said he was compelled to make the early-morning trip from Rapid City to testify to tell her story and how medical marijuana could have helped her.

"When you watch a loved one go through that pain and die that way, you start to realize this is not just about you," Munson said in an interview after the meeting. "I just couldn't sit by knowing this was happening and say 'I have a story to tell, but I am not going to tell it.'"

During Munson's testimony he brought up the fact that his political affiliation should not be an issue on this subject.

"As a conservative and a Republican, I am still a human like everyone else. We all have nerve endings, we all feel pain, and we all have a propensity for cancer," Munson said. "I'm still a Republican, but I think the people of South Dakota are suffering, and it is time to do something."

Albonico wasn't the only parent testifying on behalf of a child. George Hendrickson, of Sioux Falls, spoke about his son Eliyah, who was born in 2012 with a genetic disorder that leads to a seizure condition called Dravet Syndrome.

Hendrickson, a former police officer, said the last time the medical marijuana bill was on the ballot, he voted against it. But then he researched it, and after consulting with his son's doctors in Denver, he thinks medical marijuana oil may be the only way to give his son some semblance of normalcy.

One of the last proponents to speak was the bill's author, Melissa Mentele. Wearing a white sweater with a green pin in the shape of the molecular form of THC, marijuana's active chemical, she told the committee, "A tiny twist of fate and you could be in our shoes."

"You could be us, these children that are here with seizure disorders, those could be your grandchildren, those could be your children."

Time constraints left opponents of the bill little time to speak on Wednesday.

Day County Sheriff Barry Hillestad spoke out against the bill because it "flies in the face of me doing my job." He brought up the issue that marijuana would still be illegal under federal law, but under SB 171 he could not investigate a person with a medical marijuana card.

"I am a compassionate person," he said. "There may be some things out there that these folks have mentioned and talked about that could work. But the bill in its present form would not allow me to do my duty to uphold the Constitution of the United States."

During next Wednesday's meeting more opponents of the bill will be able to speak, and there will be ample time for rebuttal, according to Committee Chairman Bruce Rampelberg, R-Rapid City. The Health and Human Services Committee brought the bill forward last week after the time for individual sponsors had passed.

Rampelberg said he knew testimony was going to be long and passionate, in part because of the volume of emails and phone calls he has received on the issue, which he described as an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object.

"These people are really in dire need of help, and there is nothing worse than watching a kid that you just can't help," he said. On the other hand he is hearing from law enforcement here and in other states that this could be a real problem.

"Our challenge will be how do we establish the framework that can be built and developed upon where we can move into a medical available prescription for this drug while still being within the law," Rampelberg said.

Mentele reiterated that medical-marijuana advocates are ready to work with legislators and law officers to amend out the bill's problems.

"We will be back next week with statistics and ways this could create tax revenue," she said.
In 2007, the residents of five municipalities in Salt Lake County, Utah, voted to divide their 80,000 students between the existing Jordan School District and a new one dubbed the Canyons School District. It was, according to the Salt Lake Tribune, the first time in 100 years a new school district had been created in Utah.

Tracy Cowdell, who became Canyons first school board president, remembered the humble beginnings, when Canyons had only one employee who was tasked with building the district from the ground up.

That one employee was Superintendent David Doty.

Imagine the herculean task of having to hire everyone, from the senior staff to the bus drivers, Cowdell said in a phone interview. And there was no curricula to speak of, all that had to be done in the first year.  Doty got us through that. It was really extraordinary.

On Wednesday, Doty was the fourth and final candidate to interview for the job of superintendent of Rapid City Area Schools.

The guys a rock star, Cowdell said. The Rapid City School Board should hire Dr. Doty. In his short time with us, he dramatically moved the needle and raised the bar for all students.

Doty's interview Wednesday afternoon with a panel of local residents included discussion of his sometimes controversial tenure as superintendent in Canyons.

Depending on the source in his former district, Doty is either an educational reformer of the highest caliber, a tyrant, or a combination of both. All parties agree, however, that the situation Doty found himself in during the formation of a brand new district with 34,000 students was highly political and extremely pressurized.

It was baptism by fire for me, Doty told the local residents. There was a lot of politics, there was a lot of anxiety and a lot of uncertainty.

Speaking to his interviewers on Wednesday, Doty characterized the district split between Jordan and Canyons as a divorce, complete with the divvying up of buildings, resources and students.

When you look at the creation of our district, said Canyons Education Association President Jen Buttars over the phone, it was a perfect storm to create an environment that presented a lot of challenges for district leadership, the school board and school employees. (Doty) deserves credit for bringing a lot of innovative ideas to the district. We are a cutting edge district now. But its been hard to get here.

The education association is the union representing teachers.

Some teachers and employees at Canyons have alleged in Utah news reports that Doty used intimidation tactics to manage the district.

Google my name, Doty said to his interviewers. Youll read some stuff about me. I dont like that its out there. ... I had a few employees, primarily administrators, who didnt want to play on the team and were actively undermining me and the board and doing some things that were unprofessional. I had to take some action. I didnt fire anybody, but I took action.

Sharon Okumaura, a teacher and principal in the Sandy area for almost 30 years, was one of the district employees who publicly criticized Doty after he issued her a letter of reprimand around the time she announced her retirement.

Its been four years since then, and while Okumura is still wary, her views on Doty have softened.

He did amazing things for creating a new district. He had vision. He had determination, Okumura said over the phone this week. I was real impressed with that. His fault (was) in, and I still believe this, he struggled understanding the education community.  I felt his management style did not fit the educational climate of the district. And I think the people in education will understand that when they read it.

While a few of his employees criticized him, Doty maintained the support of the Canyons School Board and a host of high-ranking district administrators up to and beyond his resignation on June 30, 2013.

In response to some of the negative reports in local media about Doty, 18 administrators signed a letter in support of their superintendent in April of 2012.

Far from sponsoring a culture of fear and intimidation, an excerpt from the letter reads, Dr. Doty not only invites dissenting points of view, but he expects that they be brought forward and given fair consideration.

Former board president Cowdell in particular is quick to defend Doty from the accusations against him, describing them as embellishments, innuendo and only part of the larger story.

I can tell you, and I can say this unequivocally, Cowdell said, that I never felt like, from my personal experience and being involved, very involved, with Dr. Doty on a daily basis, I never felt like he was a bully or used any kind of intimidation or unreasonably disciplined anyone. Dave is one of the most kind and gentle people I know, and thats why those allegations are so disconcerting, because its the antithesis of who he is.

Cowdell credits Doty with heralding substantive changes in the district, including the passage of a $250 million bond to refurbish old school buildings and the introduction of a differentiated diploma program that he described as a raising of the bar for all the students.

If your board of education wants a change and a step forward, Cowdell said, then theyll hire Dr. Doty. I dont even need to know who the other candidates are. If theyre interested in maintenance of the status quo, then perhaps an internal candidate would be more appropriate.

Doty told his interviewers that his main priority is student achievement, and everything else is secondary.

Im someone who believes that everything thats done in a school district, whether its the budget, facilities, whatever it is, it has to be focused on academic outcomes. I think sometimes we get that wrong in public schools. We get distracted by peripheral stuff. We need to be focused on academic achievement. Thats critical.

Doty didnt mince words during his interview: If he became Rapid Citys new superintendent, he would be a strong and decisive leader, one who would take the time to collaborate while not talking things to death.

You have to know when to put your hands on the wheel and when to take them off, Doty said. I would say thats an art, not a science.
PIERRE | State lawmakers from both major political parties united Wednesday in rejecting a resolution that urged the return of some lands in the Black Hills to Native American tribes who were forced onto reservations in the late 1800s.

The House State Affairs Committee voted 13-0 against the request from state Rep. Shawn Bordeaux, D-Mission, who said he serves on the Rosebud Sioux Tribes treaty council.

As he began to testify, Bordeaux said he didnt have a copy of his resolution.

But, he continued, he had a copy of the 1868 treaty that gave the tribes the vast lands west of the Missouri River to the Big Horn mountain range, covering big parts of South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado.

He quoted the 1980 U.S. Supreme Court decision that called the loss of the lands by tribes an illegal taking.

The resolution called for fair and full compensation, the return of select lands in the Black Hills National Forest and creation of a national commission.

The resolution specifically excluded private lands and homes and said essential federal lands such as Mount Rushmore, national park properties, U.S. postal lands, Ellsworth Air Force Base and other lands essential for the national interest shall be undisturbed.

Bordeaux said the tribes arent ready to manage it and would need a partner such as state government.

Im not sure if you all know whats at stake here, he said, noting the tribal territory began a few blocks away from here on the west bank of the Missouri River.

No one else testified for the resolution, and no one testified against it.

Bordeaux said there are 11 acres of tribal trust land just across the river at the Wakpa Sica site that was to be a home for a proposed tribal Supreme Court.

I dont know why there isnt a casino there already," he said, adding, "Im just kidding.

Bordeaux said tribes in South Dakota would like to tell the story from our view if they could get a few acres here and there.

He said land could be used for religious observances and to make presentations to tourists about tribal culture, struggles, opportunities and religion, such as the origin story that Native American people emerged from Wind Cave.

Just as much as the snake talks to Eve," he said, "we have our own belief system.

The Black Hills, if we could get 1 acre back, would be a big thing for our tribe and for the generations to come, he said.

Bordeaux referred to the 1990 year of reconciliation proclaimed by then-Gov. George S. Mickelson and the subsequent century of reconciliation that now should be at 125 years.

One of the House committee members was Rep. G. Mark Mickelson, R-Sioux Falls, a son of the governor. Mickelson told Bordeaux said the theme of the resolution is something you would find broad support for but the phrase select federal lands brings unease.

The Black Hills are important to a lot of people, Mickelson said. What are you looking for in terms of select federal lands?

Bordeaux said "all" but added thats not likely to happen.

Somewhere in the middle the great negotiation is waiting to happen, Bordeaux said. I see this as a win-win for South Dakota.

Rep. Mike Stevens, R-Yankton, called for the resolution to be killed.

Stevens said some pretty significant things that would need to occur such as overcoming public challenges and making changes in state and federal laws.

I think its premature at this point for it to be a meaningful resolution, Stevens said.

House Minority Leader Spencer Hawley, D-Brookings, spoke against it too.

We really have a bad history, obviously, Hawley said. The problem with the resolution is the open-ended of it.

Hawley continued, How much can you go back today and repair history that was done is the question.

The resolution, HCR 1010, had only Bordeaux and Sen. Jim Bradford, D-Pine Ridge, as its sponsors.
A bill limiting transgender students' use of bathrooms and locker rooms is headed to the full Senate against the urging of transgender people who testified, some clergy members and advocacy groups.

The Senate Education Committee approved a measure Thursday that would require students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond to their biological sex at birth. The House has already passed the measure, which advocates argue is meant to protect the privacy of students, but opponents say discriminates against vulnerable adolescents.

Under the plan, schools would have to provide a "reasonable accommodation" for transgender students, such as a single-occupancy bathroom or the "controlled use" of a staff-designated restroom, locker room or shower room.

Thomas Lewis, a transgender student at Lincoln High School in Sioux Falls, set down two thick binders with a loud thud Thursday before addressing the committee. The binders were filled with thousands of signatures from opponents of the proposal.

The bill isolates transgender students, said Lewis, who is a senior.

"It makes me feel like I'm not a human being," he said. "It makes us feel like we're all alone in the world and that the stigma that we face already is real."

The American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota and the Human Rights Campaign oppose the measure and say South Dakota would be the first state to pass such a law.

"This outrageous legislation is a blatant attack on transgender children," Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin said in a statement.

Advocates have also criticized some lawmakers' comments about transgender people.

"I'm sorry if you're so twisted you don't know who you are," Republican Sen. David Omdahl said at a recent event when asked about the bill. "I'm telling you right now, it's about protecting the kids, and I don't even understand where our society is these days."

Republican Rep. Fred Deutsch said his bathroom plan is a reasonable solution to "a complex social issue." He said the proposal is about respecting children's privacy.

"Do we want our boys and girls to shower together, change clothes together and use restrooms together?" Deutsch said.

The plan is a response to changes in the Obama administration's interpretation of the federal Title IX anti-discrimination law related to education, he said.

Federal officials have said that barring students from restrooms that match their gender identity is prohibited under Title IX.

Schools that don't comply run the "very real risk" of losing their federal funding, said Libby Skarin, policy director at the ACLU of South Dakota.

The bathroom bill is one of several measures introduced this session addressing transgender rights. Some legislators this session are also attempting again to void a high school activities association policy allowing transgender student athletes to request playing on the team of their choice.

It isn't clear when the bathroom bill will be taken up by the Senate, which could vote to send it to Gov. Dennis Daugaard.

The governor offered a positive reaction to the bill "at first blush," but said he would likely review testimony so he fully understands both sides of the issue before making a decision.
Now that the interviews of the four candidates have been completed, the task falls to the School Board to decide who will be the next superintendent of Rapid City Area Schools.

The board is meeting in executive session at 5:30 p.m. today to review the findings of a battery of interviews each candidate went through with students, employees and other groups. School Board Vice President Dave Davis said the hope is to identify a suitable candidate to replace superintendent Tim Mitchell, who is leaving at the end of June.

Though Davis said he has personally been impressed with each of the candidates, the board is keeping all the options on the table, including launching a new search if a consensus cant be reached as to which of the four to tap for superintendent.

Its that uncertainty factor, Davis said, that makes it impossible to nail down a concrete date by which the decision will be made. While the hope is to have a candidate picked by the end of today, the announcement probably wont come until next week, Davis said, and the process may take longer than expected, possibly warranting further discussions in other meetings.

It might take 10 minutes," Davis said, "or it might take 10 days.

Brian Maliske is a member of the community committee, a small group of residents that has been involved in the superintendent search and vetting of candidates. He said he has found the process refreshing and engaging.

Im really impressed that the School Board has reached out to our committee and others, Maliske said. Its much more open and transparent than it has been in the past. And I appreciate the fact theyre allowing us to give our input. Were small enough of a city that the superintendent plays an important part of the community.

The four candidates interviewed were: David Doty, of Sandy, Utah; Daniel Frazier, of Litchfield, Minn.; Darci Mohr, of Oak Creek, Colo.; and Lori Simon, of Hudson, Wis.

Speaking before the fourth and final interview with Doty, Maliske said he is pleased with what he has heard from the candidates.

Im impressed with the three weve had so far and Im excited to meet the fourth, Maliske said. If hes as good as the other three, the School Board is going to have a real tough decision on its hands.
Suppose you sent your son or daughter away to school and they died there. Then suppose their remains were never returned home. Thats what families of the Rosebud Sioux  and other tribes  have endured for more than a century.

For the Sicangu people of South Dakota, the issue rests with The Carlisle Indian Industrial School. It came to light after a group of students on a journey to the nations capital detoured to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, for a visit to the countrys first federally funded boarding school.

The strict educational facility was founded in 1879 by U.S. Army Captain Richard Henry Pratt, who fought for the Union during the Civil War.

Pratts focus at Carlisle was kill the Indianto save the man.

Micah Lunderman, a suicide prevention mentor for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, was with the tribal youth group.

After touring the grounds, the Sicangu students visited the cemetery  which contains 186 graves of Native American children who attended the school. At least 10 of those are from Rosebud, ranging in age from 10 to 18 years at the time of their deaths (1880-1886).

Before leaving, Lunderman and those in her charge offered a prayer, sang a prayer song and left a piece of candy on each students grave.

As they departed the cemetery was overrun with fireflies. For the Lakota, this was a sign their prayers had been heard. Prayers that asked for the return of those whove been away from their homeland and the circle of their families for too long.

Once back in South Dakota and spurred on by adult and youth members of the tribes Defending Childhood Initiatives Sicangu Lakota Youth Council, an intensive effort was made to identify the students from Rosebud whod died at Carlisle.

After petitioning the tribal council to support the project, the group contacted other tribes whose children were buried at Carlisle  including the Northern Arapaho and the Oglala Sioux.

Of course, knowing the students remains are there is one thing. Getting approval to repatriate them may be quite another.

According to Rosebud Sioux Trial Historic Preservation Officer Russell Eagle Bear, correspondence from the Department of the Army notes paperwork requirements that include proof of relationship, proof of consent and authority on behalf of the family, an affidavit or court order showing all of the family is represented and consents to the proposed course of action, consent of the tribe or Indian nation involved, a waiver of any liability against the federal government and the list goes on.

Furthermore, the decision on whether or not to permit the repatriation rests with the commanding officer of what is now the U.S. Army War College at Carlisle, because the site is an active military base.

The Rosebud Sioux Tribe has contacted the South Dakota congressional team for assistance with the repatriation and plans to ask President Obama to intercede.

Whether or not they receive the required help may rely on how well politicians can answer just one question: Its 2016. Do you know where your children are?
Prosecutor seeks 6 months in jail for author of petition on Latvias accession to Russia

MOSCOW, February 10 (RAPSI) - Latvian prosecutor has demanded a six-month prison sentence for Maxim Koptelov, a local resident who was allegedly collecting signatures under a petition to integrate the republic with Russia, RIA Novosti reported Wednesday.

According to prosecutors, the defendant published a petition on Latvias joining Russia in March 2014. The same month, a criminal case was opened on public appeal for abandoning Latvias sovereignty in order for the republic to accede to a foreign state.

The Latvian resident who distributed the petition was detained on February 25, 2015. The investigation included a search and the confiscation of his computers and data storage devices.

Koptelov was charged with public calls for destruction of Latvias independence and its integration into another state. Such crime is punishable by up to three years in prison, community service or a fine.

He has pleaded not guilty.
A district judge ruled Tuesday that Ravalli County will be required to pay attorney fees on a lawsuit that nullified the countys largest subdivision.

In his ruling, Ravalli County District Judge James Haynes said the county commission repeatedly ignored or brushed aside information from the public opposed to the Legacy Ranch Subdivision.

An award here is just when the court balances the publics virtuous efforts with the commissions recalcitrance, Haynes wrote.

The nonprofit organization, Bitterrooters for Planning, sued the county and developers of the Legacy Ranch Subdivision shortly after the county commission approved the subdivision in July 2013.

The group claimed the commission had not adequately addressed the concerns of the public in placing the large subdivision in a rural area north of Stevensville.

Ravalli County District Judge James Haynes reversed the commissions decision to approve the subdivision in a ruling released last August.

Haynes 46-page ruling denied the developers preliminary plat. As a result, the developers, Donald and Alexandra Morton of Sunnyside Orchards LLC, would be required to restart the subdivision process if the couple opts to move forward with the project.

The Legacy Ranch subdivision would have created 639 residential units on 368 acres just east of the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge over a 30-year period.

In his ruling this week, Haynes said the county is required to pay reasonable attorney fees and costs to Bitterrooters for Planning.

Bitterrooters for Planning will have 10 days to supplement its statement for the fees and costs to the court.

Ravalli County Commissioner Greg Chilcott said the commission knew that it was going to get sued from one side or the other on the Legacy Ranch Subdivision.

In an effort to do everything possible, Chilcott said the commission opted to bring in outside counsel to help it work through the process. The commission spent 27 hours in deliberation and received about 185 comments on the proposed subdivision.

When its close, prudence dictates that we lean toward approving a subdivision to protect taxpayers, Chilcott said. As we learned from the lawsuits in the Eight Mile area, court ordered damages to developers come in the six and seven figure range.

The wrongful-approval decision on the Legacy Ranch is one the largest the county has faced. Chilcott expects attorney fees and costs will be about $70,000.

The amount to settle this lawsuit pales in comparison with the costs incurred by the county in the wrongfully-denied lawsuits in the Eight Mile area, Chilcott said.

Bitterrooters For Planning Executive Director Jim Rokosch said the lawsuit sends a strong message to all Montana county governments to take a hard look at the public health and environmental impacts of land developments.

Citizen voices matter, Rokosch said, and in this case, the commissioners dogged adherence to their misguided view of private property rights continues to rack up costs to taxpayers.

This is a wake-up call, not only for governments, but for citizens as well, he added. Every right we have comes with a responsibility, and that responsibility requires citizens to maintain a clean and healthful environment and to participate in the decision-making processes of our governments.

Quoting from the court order, Rokosch said it is incumbent upon private citizens to exercise their citizenship by engaging in public policy decisions in order to guard the guardians.

Citizens empower government officials to guard the publics interests and the public trust, Rokosch said. When those officials abuse that trust, they need to be taken to task. As Thomas Jefferson told us many years ago, The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.
A Florence physician facing 400 felonies was told Wednesday that his case is moving forward whether he finds legal representation or not.

Dr. Chris Christensen appeared without counsel for the second status hearing in three weeks before Ravalli County Judge Jeffrey Langton.

At his last status hearing in January, Christensen told the Langton that he planned to file bankruptcy and then reapply for a public defender.

At Wednesdays hearing, Christensen said the bankruptcy filing was on hold. He offered a letter from his accountant that stated he would need to reconstruct 2014 tax data before he could proceed with that filing.

Christensen also said he had contacted four lawyers to gather estimates on potential legal costs for his case. Those estimates came back between $150,000 and $500,000.

I dont have the means to afford any of those, Christensen told Langton Wednesday.

Christensen was arrested in August for allegedly providing hundreds of illegal prescriptions to patients, including two who died from an overdose.

Initially, he was appointed a public defender. After reviewing Christensens financial records, the state Office of Public Defenders rescinded that appointment about six weeks ago. Langton concurred with that decision following a review of the financial records, saying Christensen does not even come close to meeting the definition of indigent under the law.

At Wednesdays hearing, Ravalli County Attorney Bill Fulbright said his office has already extended deadlines due to Christensens lack of legal representation.

With the trial set for October, Fulbright said the fact that Christensen remains without legal counsel raises a number of concerns.

It feels like nothing much has changed in six weeks, Fulbright said.

Langton told Christensen the case is moving forward whether he has an attorney or not.

You are, whether you like it or not, your own attorney right now, Langton said to Christensen. If it gets down to it, I will expect you to represent yourself.

Christensen said he had no intention of representing himself in the case. He told the judge that he had been diligent in seeking legal representation, but was under the impression that he needed to file bankruptcy before he could reapply for a public defender.

I am not interested in dragging my feet, Christensen said. My feet have been held to the fire.

Christensen was arrested following a 16-month investigation that found his business in Florence operated almost exclusively in cash, earned about $2,500 a day and grossed more than $500,000 annually, according to an affidavit in the case.

The 400 felony charges against Christensen include two counts of negligent homicide that stem from the death of two of his patients who were prescribed methadone.

Christensen, 67, faces a maximum penalty of 388 life sentences, plus 135 years in prison and fines of $20 million. He remains free on a $200,000 bond.

On Wednesday, Christensen also asked permission to leave the state for two months in June to attend his sons graduation from Stanford and upcoming marriage.

Christensen said he had already signed a waiver of extradition and surrendered his passport.

Langton granted his request.
A Washington State man arrested in whats been called the largest heroin case in Ravalli County accepted a plea bargain agreement Wednesday.

Mason Gregory Skerbeck, 23, of Port Angeles, Washington was one of three people arrested last Halloween when members of the Ravalli County Sheriffs Office acted on a tip and stopped their vehicle in the Florence area.

The three were ordered to exit the car at gunpoint.

A subsequent search of the vehicle found nearly a half-pound of heroin and a similar amount of methamphetamine. Law enforcement estimated the five different types of drugs found in the car had a street value of $250,000.

Officers also found a loaded .380 Ruger pistol, $1,730 in cash, and five cell phones.

An affidavit filed in the case said Skerbeck and Marlen Ravelo, 47, had driven from Washington to Montana with the intent to see if there was a market for the drugs. Once they arrived in Montana, they met Crystal Lee Griffin, 21, of Stevensville, who brokered drug deals at the University of Montana and in Stevensville.

The trio was arrested while traveling to Stevensville to complete that transaction.

On Wednesday, Skerbeck pleaded no contest to conspiracy to distribute dangerous drugs and guilty to criminal possession of dangerous drugs as part of a plea bargain agreement that dropped eight felony drug charges.

If District Judge Jeffrey Langton decides to accept the terms of the agreement, Skerbeck will be sentenced to a 15-year commitment to the Montana Department of Corrections, with 10 years suspended.

Crystal Lee Griffin, 21, of Stevensville pleaded guilty in January to conspiracy to distribute dangerous drugs in a plea bargain agreement that included a 15-year commitment to the Montana Department of Corrections with 12 years suspended.

Ravelo also appeared in court Wednesday.

Court documents said Ravelo also plans to accept a plea bargain agreement in Ravalli County. Her attorney said that would have to wait a week while federal attorneys in Washington State complete another plea bargain agreement on the federal charges she faces.

Skerbeck and Griffin may be required to each pay a fine of $78,750 that would be deposited in the state general fund. That amount is 35 percent of the estimated market value of the dangerous drugs that were in their possession.

Both of their plea bargain agreements allow them the right to argue that the fine should be waived or modified.

Langton agreed to reduce Skerbecks bond from $100,000 to $10,000 after learning that Skerbecks father had moved to Corvallis.

Skerbecks attorney, Gregory Dee Birdsong, said this was the first major crime that his client had committed and that his father was willing to vouch for him.

Langton required Skerbeck to sign up with a supervision service and wear a drug patch once he was released from the detention center.

Skerbeck will be sentenced April 13. Griffins sentencing was set for March 2.
Masters Of War

Come you masters of war You that build all the guns You that build the death planes You that build all the bombs You that hide behind walls You that hide behind desks I just want you to know I can see through your masks. You that never done nothin' But build to destroy You play with my world Like it's your little toy You put a gun in my hand And you hide from my eyes And you turn and run farther When the fast bullets fly. Like Judas of old You lie and deceive A world war can be won You want me to believe But I see through your eyes And I see through your brain Like I see through the water That runs down my drain. You fasten all the triggers For the others to fire Then you set back and watch When the death count gets higher You hide in your mansion' As young people's blood Flows out of their bodies And is buried in the mud. You've thrown the worst fear That can ever be hurled Fear to bring children Into the world For threatening my baby Unborn and unnamed You ain't worth the blood That runs in your veins. How much do I know To talk out of turn You might say that I'm young You might say I'm unlearned But there's one thing I know Though I'm younger than you That even Jesus would never Forgive what you do. Let me ask you one question Is your money that good Will it buy you forgiveness Do you think that it could I think you will find When your death takes its toll All the money you made Will never buy back your soul. And I hope that you die And your death'll come soon I will follow your casket In the pale afternoon And I'll watch while you're lowered Down to your deathbed And I'll stand over your grave 'Til I'm sure that you're dead.------- Bob Dylan 1963
Sagarmatha Network Pvt. Ltd. is the organization dedicated in the field of printing, publishing service since 2001. As part of media, we've been publishing Review Nepal, an English medium weekly registered at District Administration Office (DAO) Kathmandu with registration number 130-162-163 and reviewnepal.com as an online digital newspaper, with registration number 849-075-076 at Department of Informational and Broadcasting (DIB) from Kathmandu, Nepal since 2003.
My latest publications, essays on various topics, such as Cajun Louisiana and the Cumberland Plateau, book reviews, and commentaries about the life of the spirit are included among the blog postings. Poems excerpted from my books, and portions of my sermons over the years are included also.
(Published in Manila Bulletin under the Business Option column, February 11, 2016)





In my November 11, 2015 article, I posited that creativity is our nations core competency  a set of skills and expertise that our country has, rooted from a long history and rich heritage of artistry, making us different and a cut above others. This is evidenced by the abundance of Filipino creative talents anywhere you go  Filipinos performing in Broadway, hotel lounges, and bars; or programmers, illustrators, digital media and advertising professionals working in large companies like Marvel, Google, Disney, etc. Even Filipino architects, painters, writers, actors, fashion and interior designers are renowned all over the world.





But theres another core competency that our country can nurture and harness further to achieve our vision of inclusive growth. That is hospitality  a recognized trait and quality by foreigners the world over. It is our disposition of receiving and treating guests and strangers in a warm, friendly, generous way. It is deeply rooted in our culture of helping others, which sets us apart from many countries.





In fact, with minimal government intervention, the services sector has risen due to this distinct core competency. Most notable is the stellar performance of the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, which has witnessed double-digit growth for more than a decade now; and is expected to employ 1.3 million and generate $25 billion in total revenues in 2016.





More than half of this sector is the customer contact services industry or more commonly called call center industry, making our country the call center hub of the world. Foreign companies choose Filipino call center agents due to their polite and calm disposition. When an irate customer yells, the Filipino agent coolly sales Im sorry sir/mam, and instead tries to fix the problem oftentimes going out of his or her way to do so.





Another noteworthy growth area is the hospitality industry. New players like Novotel and Conrad hotels have added more than 4,600 rooms in 2015. This is more than double the rooms added the previous year and four times the average increase in the last four years, according to Colliers International Philippines. It is forecasted that room additions in the coming years will exceed 3,500 annually, mainly driven by Casinos.





These are all happening despite the stunted growth in tourism inflows; and why? Because foreign industry players recognize the inimitable geniality and helpfulness of Filipino workers  from security guards to hotel staff.





The list of evidence goes on. Filipino nurses and caregivers are highly in-demand abroad. Filipino seafarers are still the most in demand in the world making our country the manning capital. Filipino helpers are prized by foreign families. Anywhere you go in any part of the globe, you will see a Filipino working in hotels, casinos, hospitals, stores, and households.





Combine the Filipino hospitality and creativity core competencies with that of another, which is our faculty for the English language, then we have probably the most distinctive and matchless competitive advantage in the world!Unlike other countries core competencies, such as the manufacturing know how of Japan, the low cost of labor of China, and the innovativeness of the US, the hospitality-creativity-English speaking triad of the Philippines is hard to imitate as it is an innate quality of its people.





But a key challenge of our government is to develop, upgrade, and support our competencies into a sustainable competitive advantage.





There are four areas, based on Michael Porters Competitive Advantage of Nations, which should be considered by the coming new administration, namely:





Factor Conditions. The nations position in factors of production, such as expertise or skilled labor or infrastructure. To sustain the development of a creative talent pool, our country needs to support the establishment and growth of schools that offer hospitality-creativity-English courses. It goes without saying that the pressing issue on roads and transport infrastructures need to be addressed.





Demand Conditions. The local demand for hospitality-creative-English speaking talents such are high given the consumer-driven nature of the economy and the growth in the BPO and hospitality sectors.





Related and Supporting Industries. This relates to presence or absence in the nation of supplier industries and other related industries that are internationally competitive. In the hospitality creative sector, these are the supporting industries such as education and training, real estate, and telecommunications. There should be a concerted effort to develop these supporting industries.





Firm Strategy, Structure, and Rivalry. These are conditions in the nation which governing how companies are created, organized, and managed. While its laudable that the BPO sector in the country is well-organized, other creative sectors such as entertainers, artists, and designers are highly fragmented, lessening their individual bargaining power. There is a need to organize and better manage these types of talents to gain scale and access larger markets abroad.





Our countrys competencies should be the linchpin of our governments program to sustain economic growth in this competitive global economy. Its high time that we deliberately harness our innate talents as a people.





***





The author is a senior executive in an information and communications technology firm. He also teaches strategy, management, and marketing courses in the MBA Program of the Ramon V. del Rosario College of Business, De La Salle University.




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BY ALPHEA SAUNDERS Senior staff reporter saundersa@jamaicaobserver.com Thursday, February 11, 2016

THE Election Centre, which is co-chaired by the political ombudsman and the director of elections, has asked the police to immediately ban political campaigning in the volatile St James community of Flanker in the wake of the shooting death of four people between Sunday evening and Tuesday.

Jubilant Jamaicans out in support of their respective political

parties on Tuesday, Nomination Day.

In a release issued yesterday, Political Ombudsman Donna Parchment Brown said both political parties have agreed to immediately cease marches, motorcades, spot meetings, political gatherings, as well as the use of town criers and loudspeakers in Flanker.

A release outlining details of the recommended ban came shortly after the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) issued its own statement yesterday calling on both political parties to rein in their supporters and threatening to ask the relevant authorities to put a stop to motorcades.

The ECJs call, however, was not specific to Flanker. The Electoral Commission challenges the political parties and their supporters to bring greater discipline to the campaign process, failing which we will recommend to the political ombudsman and the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) that the use of motorcades, political rallies and tours be curtailed, the commission stated. On Tuesday, Nomination Day for candidates contesting the February 25 General Election, an eight-vehicle Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) motorcade was shot up, leaving one person dead and three injured. That incident came just two days after another shooting incident in the midst of the JLPs rally in Sam Sharpe Square, involving five people and resulting in two deaths.

Citing the incident as a major concern, the ECJ said it featred that these occurrences could undermine the advances made in the electoral system over the past 35 years and which could threaten the democratic process in Jamaica.

General secretary for the Peoples National Party (PNP), Paul Burke, insisted yesterday that the PNP had voluntarily decided to stop campaigning in Flanker in light of the tensions. We werent requested (to do it) we voluntarily agreed, we took that position, he told the Jamaica Observer in an interview.

At the same time, he said that, while he fully agrees that there have been breaches of traffic laws by supporters on both sides of the political fence and that greater discipline must be enforced, there was no need to shut down motorcades as a whole because of one incident.
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Greetings! I am a political scientist , specializing in International Relations , my research and teaching focus on ethnic conflict and civil-military relations . I watch way too much TV, and I like movies as well so I tend to write about both and find IR stuff in pop culture. I rant alot about American politics and sometimes about Canadian politics. I like to take ideas I once learned a long time ago and apply them to whatever strikes my fancy.


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November 19, 2004

Judge Cassell's remarkable, and remarkably disappointing, decision in Angelos

I have finally had a chance to give Utah US District Judge Paul Cassell's decision in the Angelos mandatory minimum case a careful read (basics here). I am glad to see that the decision has the editorial pages humming, with strong pieces in the LA Times, the Daytona-Beach News Journal, and the Salt Lake Tribune (and I will be doing this NPR radio show on the topic tonight).

I was particularly pleased to see Judge Cassell's home paper, the Salt Lake Tribune, assail Judge Cassell for having "passed the buck." For though the Angelos opinion is remarkable in many respects, the opinion is also remarkably disappointing in its fairly summary treatment of Weldon Angelos' strongest claim  namely that his sentence constituted cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment.

Part of what makes the Angelos opinion remarkable was that Judge Cassell spends 40 pages considering whether the 55-year gun enhancement was "irrational" (which seems like a stretch in light of deterrence arguments), but then he spends less than 10 pages considering whether this enhancement is "cruel and unusual" (which seems far more plausible in light of the modern proportionality/retributivist understanding of that provision). Moreover, after explaining for 5 pages that "the three Harmelin factors ... lead to the conclusion that Mr. Angelos' sentence violates the Eighth Amendment," Judge Cassell in two pages summarily concludes that, because in Hutto v. Davis, 454 U.S. 370 (1982), the Supreme Court upheld 40-year sentence in a marijuana case, Mr. Angelos' "Eighth Amendment challenge must be rejected."

With all due respect to Judge Cassell, the truncated analysis here suggests the Judge simply got tired. Even beyond the fact that Hutto is arguably not good law after Solem and Ewing (a point which Judge Cassell notes), and even beyond the fact that the scope of the Eighth Amendment "is not static [and] must draw its meaning from the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society," Trop v. Dulles, 356 U.S. at 101, the holding and facts in Hutto are readily distinguished. As a matter of context, the Hutto ruling (as well as Harmelin and Ewing) is influenced by principles of federalism not implicated in the review of a federal criminal sentence. And, even more tangibly, the defendant Davis in the Hutto case "previously had been convicted of selling LSD, and the two offenses for which Davis had just been found guilty were committed while on bail pending appeal from the previous conviction for selling LSD." Thus, in Hutto the court considered a true repeat offender, which readily distinguishes that case from the case before Judge Cassell.

November 19, 2004 at 02:56 PM | Permalink

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Now wait a minute. As a matter of policy, the result in Angelos is wretched. Furthermore, you are correct that there were federalism issues swirling about in Ewing, etc. However, it is difficult to blithely ignore the sentence in Hutto and Harmelin. The recidivist nature of Hutto is relevant but it does not make the case go away. Furthermore, Angelos was a marijuana case with a gun. That matters. Finally, I do not believe that Harmelin was a recidivist case. There was more cocaine there but no gun. Sure, Judge Cassell could distinguish these cases (perhaps they were even decided on a different day of the week in a different time zone) but he would not be true to their intent. Many people (including me) believe that the Eighth Amendment does evolve, as you noted from Trop, but do we really want District Court Judges throwing over comparatively recent Supreme Court precedent on this basis alone?? I think not.

I do not believe that Judge Cassell got tired. I think that he knew where the constitutional analysis was going to lead (didn't we all? Really. Be honest.). As such, he devoted his time to making the POLICY case that this was an irrational sentence that President Bush should commute and/or the Congress should fix. This may be a fool's errand but it is an honest one that respected binding Supreme Court precedent -- even if that precedent if flawed. His only other choice, as Ghandi suggested long ago, would be to have resigned his commission. I, for one, am glad he did not follow that path.

Posted by: What | Nov 19, 2004 3:16:17 PM

But Judge Cassell expressly says "the three Harmelin factors ... lead to the conclusion that Mr. Angelos' sentence violates the Eighth Amendment." Ergo, it seems that, applying Harmelin (a decision that post-dates Hutto by 9 years), Judge Cassell finds an 8th A violation. But then he says he must disregard that conclusion because of the force of Hutto. That seems curious, since the decision is 22 years old --- hardly a "comparatively recent Supreme Court precedent" --- AND a decision cut back by Solem and Harmelin even perhaps Ewing.

Moreover, a careful review of Hutto makes clear that the case was mostly about the 4th Circuit's failure to follow Rummel after a remand: "Because the Court of Appeals failed to heed our decision in Rummel, we now reverse... [because] a precedent of this Court must be followed by the lower federal courts no matter how misguided the judges of those courts may think it to be."

Further still, note that Hutto involved a defendant sentenced BY A JURY to 40 years based on evidence he "that respondent had knowingly sold drugs to be smuggled into prison, had sold drugs to an inmate's wife who was alone with an infant child, and had himself been imprisoned in the past." Given that we say the 8th A is to be informed by the views of juries, the fact that the defendant in Hutto was sentence by a jury to 40 year, while the jury in Angelos on average wanted 18 years, also seems quite significant in the 8th A analysis.

My point is simply that, after Judge Cassell expressly states that Harmelin supports Angelos' claim, I need a bit more explnation for why a factually distinguishable precedent from 9 years early should disrupt that conclusion. Add also the fact that the 55-year sentence which Angelos is contesting is not the marijuana conviction, but rather the 924 gun parts (a point Judge Cassell stresses at pp. 54-55), and I think citing Hutto to summarily dismiss the 8th A challenge is not convincing (at least to me).

Posted by: Doug B. | Nov 19, 2004 5:18:30 PM

So then you are actually making a more cutting criticism. He did not get tired. In your view Prof., he got scared and lacked the moral courage to do what he himself thinks it right. If so, shouldn't you remove him from your Hall of Fame?

Posted by: what | Nov 19, 2004 7:29:03 PM

Even Babe Ruth grounded out sometimes. ;-)

Posted by: Doug B. | Nov 19, 2004 9:16:31 PM

But let's look at this, instead, from a slightly more political perspective. Here's a judge nominated by conservatives concerned with "judicial activism" who presides in the home state of the former chair of the judiciary committee whose most notable contribution while on the bench was to be the first judge to declare the guidelines unconstitutional in their entirety--not exactly the paradigm of a non-judicial activist. (What is the negative of judicial activist? judicial pacifist?)

Judge Cassell's opinion in Angelos seems to fit within that non-activist mindset -- it sounds exactly like what my Federalist Society friends in law school would say: (1) Limited view of judicially created constitutional rights (with a distain for "evolving standards" language) (2) Extreme deference to stare decisis (it's still good law until someone REALLY says it's not) (3) Respect for federalism and separation of powers (4) "Law-based" rulings, regardless of "unjust" outcomes. Thus, the opinion is much more in line with what you'd expect from an "FS-brand" of judge--even if you don't like the result, if precedent demands (or highly suggests) it, and another branch of government can correct it, then it's not your responsibility to change the law to correct it.

I'm not suggesting that Judge Cassell wrote this opinion to get favor back from those who appointed him--it appears from what little I know of the man that he is a fantastic, independent jurist; what I am suggesting is that such an opinion seems more politically aligned with the modern "conservative" views (and thus perhaps more aligned with the Judge's "judicial philosophy" or "fundamental principles"?).

And with this hands-off approach that many jurists (and tons of politicos) approve of, the Eighth Amendment portion of the opinion is not the result of a "tired" jurist or a thin analysis but rather a recognition of such a "hands off" jurisprudence. After, all, as a district court judge, he may not want to be "Making Love Out of Nothing At All."

Posted by: District Clerk Battling Blakely | Nov 22, 2004 5:26:43 PM

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January 10, 2006

Tenth Circuit affirms 55-year mandatory minimum sentence in Angelos

In a decision that is not surprising but is still disappointing, the Tenth Circuit has affirmed in US v. Angelos, No. 04-4282 (10th Cir. Jan. 9, 2006) (available here), the sentence given to Weldon Angelos, a first offender who was begrudgingly sentenced to 55 years' imprisonment by Judge Paul Cassell for marijuana sales under federal mandatory minimums. Back in November 2004, the Angelos case made headlines because Judge Cassell wrote a lengthy opinion in which he lamented being compelled to impose a sentence he considered to be cruel, unusual, and irrational. (More background on Judge Cassell's initial remarkable decision is here, and commentary here and here.)

The Tenth Circuit in Angelos concludes "that this is not an 'extraordinary' case in which the sentences at issue are 'grossly disproportionate' to the crimes for which they were imposed." In a remarkable passage, the Tenth Circuit faults Judge Cassell for having "erroneously downplayed the seriousness of Angelos's crimes":

Although the district court concluded that Angelos's sentence was disproportionate to his crimes, we disagree. In our view, the district court failed to accord proper deference to Congress's decision to severely punish criminals who repeatedly possess firearms in connection with drug-trafficking crimes, and erroneously downplayed the seriousness of Angelos's crimes. Although it is true that Angelos had no significant adult criminal history, that appears to have been the result of good fortune rather than Angelos's lack of involvement in criminal activity. The evidence presented by the government at trial clearly established that Angelos was a known gang member who had long used and sold illicit drugs. Further, the government's evidence established that, at the time of his arrest, Angelos was a mid-to-high drug dealer who purchased and in turn sold large quantities of marijuana. In addition, the government's evidence established that Angelos possessed and used a number of firearms, some stolen, to facilitate his drug-dealing activities. Lastly, the evidence established that although Angelos had some involvement in the music industry, he failed to financially profit from that involvement and indeed never reported any positive earnings to the Internal Revenue Service. Thus, the only reasonable inference that could be drawn was that Angelos's sole source of income was his drug-trafficking operations.

To my knowledge, the allegations that Angelos was a tax cheat or possessed stolen guns or sold large quantities of marijuana have never been proven to a jury. But, of course, that would only matter in some alternative universe in which lower federal courts actually take the principles of Blakely seriously. In the Tenth Circuit, apparently a defendant's reputation, and not simply the crimes of conviction, are central to an analysis of the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishments.

Early press coverage of the Tenth Circuit's decision in Angelos is available from the AP and from the Salt Lake Tribune. Though overshadowed by the Alito hearings  and I cannot help but cynically wonder if the timing is not a mere coincidence  the Angelos case will likely get a new round of media attention. But, to echo my recent comments about the dynamics of sentencing reform, I wonder if anyone in the libertarian/conservative crowd, which claims to champion liberty and small government, will speak out against what seems to be an excessively long punishment.

January 10, 2006 at 06:21 AM | Permalink

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 10th Circuit Affirms Angelos' 55 Year Sentence from TalkLeft: The Politics of Crime

by TChris The conservative judge who imposed the mandatory sentence thought it was excessive. Twenty-nine former judges and prosecutors agreed, joining a brief that asked the Tenth Circuit to reverse the sentence. Yesterday the court ruled: A federal a... [Read More]

Tracked on Jan 11, 2006 11:11:20 AM

 10th Circuit Affirms Angelos' 55 Year Sentence from TalkLeft: The Politics of Crime

by TChris The conservative judge who imposed the mandatory sentence thought it was excessive. Twenty-nine former judges and prosecutors agreed, joining a brief that asked the Tenth Circuit to reverse the sentence. Yesterday the court ruled: A federal a... [Read More]

Tracked on Jan 11, 2006 12:04:13 PM

Comments

Does anyone know what Angelo's pretrial plea offer was? I just settled a case in the Kansas, exact same charges and facts and forced my client to take one 924(c) to avoid risking a mandatory 55 years. The District Court would have had no discretion otherwise.

Posted by: Ronald Richards | Jan 10, 2006 7:06:24 AM

I am pretty sure Angelos was offered 15 years.

Posted by: Doug B. | Jan 10, 2006 7:33:56 AM

And even if all those unproven accusations were 100% true, would it somehow make a 55 *year* sentence something other than cruel and excessive? Maybe not "unusual" -- a sad commentary on our current standards and politics.

Posted by: Peter G | Jan 10, 2006 10:22:22 AM

Prof. Berman's post appears to be mildly disingenuous, because there was no Blakely issue in the Angelos case. Even Judge Cassell, who "grudgingly" imposed the 55-year sentence, correctly reasoned that, under current precedent, the sentence did not violate the Eighth Amendment. It is bad public policy, perhaps, but Congress is within its rights to punish these crimes severely.

Much of Judge Cassell's opinion went well beyond what was strictly necessary to reach the correct legal outcome. Can one criticize the Tenth Circuit for redressing the balance? Their point is that Angelos is a big-time criminal -- precisely the kind of offender Congress was thinking about when it enacted these sentences.

Posted by: Marc Shepherd | Jan 10, 2006 10:32:00 AM

Marc, I really do not think I am being "disingenuous" when I complain that heavy reliance on uncharged and unproven crimes to uphold this sentence runs counter to the "principles of Blakely." You say with great confidence that Angelos is a "big-time criminal." If that claim was properly alleged and established in a court of law (or admitted by the defendant) this case never would have garnered any attention.

But this case has prompted so much attention --- and caused obvious concern for Judge Cassell --- because the government only alleged and proved at trial a few small pot deals. You may not care about this fact because you (and the 10th Circuit) are so confident that Angelos is a "big-time criminal." But Blakely at least suggested the principle that the Founders cared about ensuring that a defendant should first have to be charged and a jury convinced before we lock someone away essentially forever based on just the executive branch's allegations.



Posted by: Doug B. | Jan 10, 2006 10:56:34 AM

I'll take the bait.

From a conservative's point of view, 55 years' imprisonment is probably about right for gun-carrying drug dealers. The only reason for carrying a gun during and in furtherance of a felony is to use it to kill someone. We may disagree about the proper sentence for Mr. Angelos' drug-dealing (and we probably do), but his carrying of a firearm during this felony deserves SEVERE punishment. I, for one, am tired of representing accused murders who bring guns along "for a little protection" and then kill innocent people. Maybe our felons should just deal drugs without bringing the guns along -- many more innocent people would be alive. 55 years for knowingly engaging in illegal conduct that often leads to murder sounds about right to me -- and the elected members of Congress.

To answer your question directly: Conservatives believe in keeping government as small as possible, because limited government maximizes freedom for innocent, law-abiding citizens. Make no mistake, however, that ALL conservatives believe that government must be large enough, strong enough, and, most importantly, WILLING to protect our society from felons -- as the first priority of government. After we've taken care of this priority, then we can move on to others. (Note: requiring that criminal laws and sentences be approved by an elected legislature, that indictments be sought by elected District Attorneys or U.S. Attorneys under the oversight of elected Presidents, that indictments be authorized by a Grand Jury, and that convictions be based on the unanimous decision of a petit jury are simply ways that we protect ourselves from potential thugs in the legislatures, executive offices, and judges' chambers in our society, as well. That's why, from a conservative's perspective, the criminal provisions of the Bill of Rights are part of the FIRST priority of government.)



I'd like to know: What kind(s) of freedom do American liberals believe in? Are liberals interested in protecting the freedom, lives, and property of innocent citizens? For liberals, what is the FIRST priority of government?

Congress and the Tenth Circuit are quite rational, reasonable, and responsible in making the protection of our society from Angelos a high priority.

Simple question: are you willing to bet your life that Angelos won't commit another felony in the next 55 years if he's released back into society before then? If not, and if you think that Angelos' sentence is too long, then at least be honest and admit that you are willing to bet the lives of your fellow citizens when you're not willing to bet your own life. That's the essence of the abdication of civic responsibility.

If, however, you are willing to bet your life that less than 55 years protects society (really even if you aren't -- it's a free country), then feel free to write your Congressman and try to get this mandatory minimum reduced by Congress. But, please, let's agree that we should reduce the mandatory minimum ONLY to a level that reasonably assures the protection of society, and that a debate and vote in Congress is the only legitimate way to reach this outcome in our democracy.

Mark

Posted by: Mark | Jan 10, 2006 12:40:12 PM

Here is perhaps the key point of disagreement, Mark: the Angelos jury (which heard all the evidence at trial) and Judge Cassell (who had additional evidence he could consider) both reached the reasoned conclusion that 18 years for Angelos would "reasonably assure the protection of society." Also, by the way, the federal prosecutors in this case, whom I hope are concerned about "reasonably assuring the protection of society," offered a plea deal for a 15 year sentence.

My "first priority" of good decision-making is to trust people with the most information, and all of those folks believed a sentence much lower than 55-years would do the trick in the Angelos case. Obviously you do not agree, and I have no idea what my view would be if I'd heard all the evidence.

Skipping all the rhetoric about liberals and conservatives, my core concern is good government (i.e., I want the government making sensible and effective use of my tax dollars). I believe that we'd all be a lot safer by putting the money that will be spent warehousing Angelos after he turns 50 into more police on the street or into other law enforcement interests.

I heartily favor severe punishments for people who deserve them, and I understand your concern about the risks of sentences that are too lenient. But are you not at all concerned about sentences that are too harsh?

Posted by: Doug B. | Jan 10, 2006 1:03:44 PM

My analysis is set forth at length at my blog (http://washparkprophet.blogspot.com). The highlights:

"Common sense tells us that people are supposed to be sentenced for the crimes of which they have been convicted, not based on other crimes for which they have been acquitted or with which they have not been charged. Juries exist, not just to distinguish the totally innocent from those who are guilty of something, but to determine for which crimes someone should be punished. To do otherwise is to make a mockery of due process. Why have the American Cadillac criminal justice system due process protections, if you are simply going to allow them to be grossly circumvented in a sentencing hearing?"

and

"Habitual offender sentences such as the ones applied in the Angelos case can make some sense in a case where an individual has been convicted, spent many years in prison where he has been given an opportunity to mediate on the gravity of his crimes, and gone out into the world on notice that another mistake puts him at grave risk of a draconian sentence (although even then the idea is flawed). This is how the habitual offender enhancements in Colorado's drug laws are drafted. But, it makes no sense at all, when an individual such as Angelos is charged with three offenses, that are part of the same overall pattern of activity (low level drug dealing over a short time period), at the same time.

Habitual offender laws only have a deterrent effect on people who know that they are prior offenders, not on people who have no prior convictions when they are arrested."

and

"[T]here is nothing soft on crime about wanting serious crimes to have longer sentences than less serious crimes. . . .

Reasonable people can differ about the seriousness of making a couple of modest sized marijuana deals while secretly having a gun on your person. Maybe it shouldn't be a crime at all, maybe it should be about as serious as a shoplifting incident involving the same amount of money, maybe it should be a serious as a burglary. But, reasonable people ought to be able to agree that simply having a gun on your person is less serious than brandishing the gun or firing it or harming someone with it. Likewise, reasonable people ought to be able to agree that a modest sized marijuana deal is less serious than a rape, an armed robbery in which guns are brandished and millions of dollars are stolen, a kidnapping in which the victim is harmed by not killed and a large ransom is collected or an unaggravated murder."

and

"The impression that even minor drug offenses can put in in prison for life also puts cops at risk. You might not be willing to risk kill a cop to keep yourself out of jail for a few years. But, if the word gets out that even a minor marijuana bust results in life in prison, many minor dealers will consider it worth taking the risk to kill a cop to prevent themselves from being apprehended."

and

"Why should the federal government be prosecuting and setting sentences for intrastate drug deals and gun possession at all? This case could easily have been prosecuted by state prosecutors in a state court. These cases happen every day. It isn't legal to conduct marijuana deals involving 8 ounces of pot in any state of the Union. Indeed, there is a very reasonable likelihood that the marijuana in this case was grown in the state where it was sold (marijuana is a hearty plant and also often grown indoors). The gun was also likely procured in the state where it was found. The prosecutors certainly didn't prove any interstate activity in this case."

Posted by: ohwilleke | Jan 10, 2006 1:34:30 PM

I think Marc's comment about being "mildly disingenuous" with regards to _Blakely_ is that all of Angelos's 55 years come from statutory mandatory minimum sentences, not the sort of relevant conduct sentences common under the Guidelines (IIRC - it's been a while since I read Cassell's opinion and haven't made it to the 10th's yet). So while the jury may have agreed that 55 years is too harsh, this was not a case where the jury found 1 fact, the judge found a dozen more, and the combination of them resulted in a huge increase in the sentence.

What the jury was expressing was a disagreement with Congress over mandatory minimums in cases like this (with which I happen to agree, BTW). But I'm not sure that the "principles of _Blakely_" are violated by not following their suggestion.

Posted by: JDB | Jan 10, 2006 1:53:46 PM

I think the post was disingenuous in its treatment of Blakely, but it does strike me (as a conservative) that 55 years is a very long time.

I understood the ONLY holding of Blakely to be that a judge's sentencing discretion within statutory bounds cannot be reduced other than by proof before a jury beyond a reasonable doubt of facts presented in an indictment.

I don't think there was any Blakely holding that long sentence should only be meeted out based on facts proven to a jury - for what constitutional reason should a judge not be allowed to consider the type of material presented for years in guidelines sentencing hearings? Sometimes (as here) that material is unfavorable to the defendant because it suggests a wider pattern of criminal activity. But we all know that such material often makes a defendant more sympathetic.

That being said, I don't understand on what theory of conservatism 55 years is not an extraordinary sentence. Certainly much longer by orders of magnitude than sentences at the founding. I don't know what's the "right" sentence for a multiple drug-gun offender. But as a conservative, I think we need to keep in mind in sentencing that the convict is a citizen as well. 55 years is an awfully long time.

Posted by: Cheburashka | Jan 10, 2006 2:18:21 PM

Professor,

I only brought up the "conservative/liberal" stuff because you asked the question.

I am concerned about sentences that are too harsh (as well as sentences that are too lenient). When it comes to the harshness of minimum sentences, the forum for my opinion is Congress. Not the judge. Not the jury. Not the prosecutor. Not the appellate court.

Juries are, and should be, a check on society. (I strongly believe in nullification.) But once a petit jury says "guilty," I have no problem with a judge sentencing the defendant within the limits set by Congress. Our society gets its say about guilt through the jury, AND it gets its say about an appropriate sentence through the legislature. Our society, through the legislature, may decide to give judges sentencing discretion. But if society, through the legislature, decides to limit the judge's discretion (for example through minimum sentences), that ultimate power rightfully belongs to society acting through its elected legislature.

In the end, my personal opinion matters only so much as the opinion of any other citizen. Personal opinion only becomes legitimate policy through the exercise of majority vote (first for representatives, then by representatives). You may think 55 years is too harsh. I may agree with you. A majority of the House and Senate, however, may think 55 years is appropriate. In our democracy, the view of the majority of the House and Senate is the "right" policy. Our individual opinions lack political legitimacy. Obviously, you can (and should) voice your opinion in an effort to try to persuade the legislature, but once the vote is taken, each of us must give the will of the legislature its due. In particular, if we lawyers don't openly acknowledge the legislature's heightened legitimacy over our own individual opinions (and, it should be added, the individual opinions of unelected judges), then we threaten the very essence of democracy and, in the end, the Rule of Law.

Personally, I think 55 years is probably a little too long. Based on my experiences in life, judgment, opinions, attitudes, and education, I think that 30 years should be the minimum sentence for this defendant's crime. What do you think? What does any other person think?

In the end, Congress gets to decide a number. (Or to decide not to give a minimum number -- indeterminate sentencing.) I believe -- strongly -- that their number is a lot more politically legitimate than my number. Or your number. Or anyone else's number. We lawyers must acknowledge this fact, or we risk all that we hold dear (unless our own power is the thing that we hold most dear).

Mark



Posted by: Mark | Jan 10, 2006 2:22:21 PM

Mark, part of my concern with the Angelos case is that there is little reason to believe the jury here was able to serve as the sort of check you recommend. Had they known Angelos faced 50+ years, they might have nullified.

Cheburashka, the Blakely holding has limits, but its principles that I referenced come from Justice Scalia's powerful assertion that the jury should "function as circuitbreaker in the States machinery of justice" and should not be "relegated to making a determination that the defendant at some point did something wrong, a mere preliminary to a judicial inquisition into the facts of the crime the State actually seeks to punish." In this Angelos decision, the court upholds Angelos' sentence based in part on the 10th Circuit's "judicial inquisition" about what it thinks Angelos really did, rather than on what Angelos was duly convicted of doing.

Posted by: Doug B. | Jan 10, 2006 3:46:55 PM

The problem Mark with your defer to Congress argument is that:

(1) The Constitution did not envision the Courts giving total deferrence to Congress with regard to long sentences for minor crimes. The 8th Amendment was enacted precisely for the purpose of forcing the Courts to give Congressional judgments in this regard a hard second look when faced with particular cases.

Congress likely did not foresee the kind of situation that arose here (where someone got two subsequent mandatory minimums at the same time that he received his first mandatory minimum) in a case where the gun involvement was so unaggravated, even if they could have had they been imaginative. Judges are not robots. The 8th Amendment opens the door to considering, on a case by case basis, if a particular Congressional statute, as applied, may be unconstitutional, even if it isn't in the usual case or on its face. Indeed, I fault the trial judge in this case for not making that determination, even though he came very close.

(2) Likewise, there is nothing clear about the notion that the Constitution intended this kind of decision to be made by Congress at all. Congress is not the only legislature in the United States. The Utah legislature took a more lenient stance towards the same set of facts. Why should Congressional views prevail over those of the Utah legislature?

(3) Also, why shouldn't the Utah legislature's determination be a reasonable starting point for making a reasonableness determination under the 8th Amendment? The cruel and unusual standard has usually focused on the cruel element, because most 8th Amendment cases arise in state court where the vast majority of criminal cases are prosectued and everyone in state court is subject to the same set of laws. But, here we have a Defendant whose case has been cherry picked to receive an extraordinarily high sentence that would not have been available. Doesn't this make the sentence not just cruel but unusual.

The President also has a constitutional obligation (admittedly non-justicable) to use his pardon and clemency power to commute sentences which are cruel or unusual. The 8th Amendment is primarily enforced by the Courts, but this does not mean that the Executive Branch can ignore it.

Posted by: ohwilleke | Jan 10, 2006 4:09:47 PM

I don't think the Tenth Circuit's discussion of Angelos's unindicted conduct is actually crucial to their decision. It appears they're just chastising the trial judge for an opinion they viewed as overly sympathetic to a defendant not deserving of such sympathy.

Judge Cassell clearly was looking for a way to pierce the mandatory minimum, but after wading through the controlling precedent (with which he apparently disagreed), concluded that he had no choice in the matter.

As far as I can tell, the comments for which Prof. Berman chastises the Tenth Circuit are dicta. They come near the end of the opinion, and don't appear to be essential to the result. In essence, the Tenth Circuit is mirror-imaging Judge Cassell, who went on for pages and pages about why the sentence was unfair, only to impose it anyway.

To be clear, as a matter of public policy, I disagree with mandatory minimums; I don't think Angelos is the kind of defendant Congress was trying to punish; I am offended by the gross disparity of the plea offer (15 years) and the final sentence (55 years); and, I think this is the kind of prosecution that belongs in the states.

But the court was obligated to rule as it did, given Harmelin's "narrow proportionality principle." Whether Harmelin was itself correctly decided is a whole other question, but it remains the law of the land.

Posted by: Marc Shepherd | Jan 10, 2006 4:30:38 PM

Ohwilleke calls this a minor crime. In my experience, he is so wrong it's not even funny. Carrying firearms in connection with drug dealing is a big deal. People die when felons carry firearms with them to commit their felonies.

Also, Ohwilleke says that the Eighth Amendment "opens the door" for "as applied" judicial review in particular cases. I know of no precedent that uses "as applied" judicial review under the 8th; I'd love to see it, because I don't think that such jurisprudence makes any rational sense.

The problem with Ohwilleke's Eighth Amendment analysis is that it is IMPOSSIBLE to implement with any legitimate, rational foundation when looking at prison terms for felonies. "I call it the way I see it" is the approach taken by monarchs and dictators, not unelected judges in a democracy. If a majority of Congressmen think that fifty years is an appropriate minimum sentence for a felony, and a district judge thinks that 18 years is appropriate, by what rational legal standard does the judiciary decide that the majority of Congress is wrong as a matter of (constitutional) law?

That's why "cruel and unusual punishment" cases deal with prison sentences for non-felonies, along with conditions of confinement and bodily injury for felonies and, finally, capital punishment issues. The courts are simply incompetent to decide whether a given prison term for a felony is "too harsh."

As for the Congressional Power arguments at the root of Ohwilleke's other comments; those arguments go to the validity of Angelos' conviction, not his sentence. I have an opinion on that matter, but I'll leave it for a "Separation of Powers and Federalism" Blog.

Mark

Posted by: Mark | Jan 10, 2006 5:20:54 PM

I want to add a perspective I have not seen, from a paralegal who served more than 15 years in federal prison. I was sentenced to 235 months as a first-time offender after trial; the plea offer was for 8 years and the additional 11 years and 7 months was paying rent on the courthouse. To be in Angelos position at sentencing, Ive been there, a defendant does not see any distinction between 30 and 55 years, it is too enormous to imagine, because there is a point when it does not matter any more. To change a prisoners way of thinking, he must have a sentence with a possibility of release or hope of release, then he can make his mind up to do something in prison to keep his mind active. Short sentences of 1 to 5 years make any number of months important, but the difference between 30 and 55 years to a prisoner beginning a sentence is unremarkable. If judges and Congress want to change the way a prisoner thinks, let him believe he must serve 30 years and in the first 2 to 5 years, after he gets over the initial anger, he will establish a busy schedule to keep his mind and body active planning on doing the time and being a better person when he leaves, but give a man 55 years and he may give up all hope of release, and time will be hard on him and those who guard him. No sentence need exceed 60 years, the maximum amount of time anyone could probably live after an adult conviction, so set 60 years as the maximum for the most dangerous criminals and use this as a guide when sentencing those society is just mad at.

Posted by: Barry Ward | Jan 12, 2006 8:38:49 AM

Hey mark

It seems illogical to argue that a crime that "leads to" murder (i.e. possessing a gun at a drug deal) should have a punishment worse than murder itself. Specifically, you argue that Angelos should receive a sentence of 30 years or so. But murder typically results in a sentence of 10 years or so. Would you care to explain why a nonviolent crime (i.e. selling marijuana while possessing a gun) should receive such an extreme sentence? Also, perhaps you could explain why this crime should receive a sentence longer than hijacking (25 years), rape (5-10 years) and other serious offenses? perhaps you think these sentences are too short? Should rape and murder have sentences longer than 30 years? if you believe this, then you are essentially arguing that virtually any violent crime, and even many nonviolent crimes, should be punishable by life imprisonment. In my view, this is certainly cruel and unusual. It is an extremist view and denies the possibility of rehabilitation.

This sentence is utterly outrageous.

Repeatedly rape a child in vermont and get 60 days. Sell marijuana while possessing (but not using or brandishing a gun) and get 55 years. That makes so much sense. What do you legal professionals that come up with these decisions do all day anyway?

Posted by: dan steinberg | Feb 1, 2006 10:27:04 PM

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Posted by: | Oct 14, 2008 10:21:36 PM

A couple of you have made comments about our "democracy." The Founders did not establish for us a democracy. "A republic, madam, if you can keep it." I consider this relevant because convicted criminals are just one of the minorities that were to be protected from the oppression of the majority that inevitably occurs in a democracy, as evidenced by the specific protections in the founding documents.

I would like to observe that when my family visited Colonial Williamsburg we learned that the Founders' principal concern with "cruel and unusual punishment" was lengthy incarceration. Dan is not the only one who thinks a life sentence falls under the Eighth Amendment.

Another concern I have with our "justice" system in general is the usurpation by the national government of jurisdiction in criminal matters from the states. I believe that originally the national government was to only have jurisdiction over specific crimes like treason and counterfeiting.

Driving a car fast also can lead to fatalities. Shall we make the penalty for speeding comparable to that for manslaughter?

There is so much wrong with the "justice" system today I don't know where to stop.

Have any of you seen the film "Minority Report"?

Duane M.

Engineer

B.S. Physics, '84

Posted by: Duane | Dec 9, 2008 11:27:16 PM

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December 3, 2007

Weldon Angelos files 2255 motion

Regular readers will recall the name Weldon Angelos; Angelos faced a mandatory minimum sentencing term of 55 years following three small hand-to-hand marijuana sales. Some months ago, Weldon's sister asked if I would help with his 2255 motion. Aided by a great legal team working pro bono, this motion was completed and filed in federal district court today. The full 50-page motion, which makes an array of constitutional arguments, can be downloaded here:

Download angelos_2255_motion.pdf

Because I am essentially counsel of record, I do not plan to discuss or debate the merits of the motion on this blog. But I cannot help but use this forum to try to solicit amici support. Persons concerned with any number of criminal justice issues  ranging from extreme mandatory minimum sentences, prosecutorial charging and bargaining practices, convictions based solely on informant testimony, the reach of the Second, Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Amendments and principles of equal justice  should find the Angelos case interesting and perhaps worthy of some "friendly" brief writing.

UPDATE : The Salt Lake Tribune reports on the filing in this article.

December 3, 2007 at 09:41 PM | Permalink

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Comments

Good luck.

May I suggest you close the comments on this thread? Nothing good can come from them and there's no need to give opposing counsel some ideas in the form of potential responses in the comments. I'm sure any of your normal contributors who have something helpful to say can e-mail you.

Posted by: Confused | Dec 4, 2007 1:43:18 AM

Question: Rule 2(c) of the Rules Governing Section 2255 Cases in the United States District Courts clearly states that 2255 Motions must follow the standard form:

Standard Form. The motion must substantially follow either the form appended to these rules or a form prescribed by a local district-court rule.

Whenever I file 2255 motions, I always fill out the standard form (unless the district court provides a different one, which I've yet to encounter) and include a lengthy "memorandum in support" which I file as an exhibit to the standard-form 2255 motion.

I noticed that you did not use the standard 2255 form for your 2255 Motion. Am I the only attorney who actually takes rule 2(c) seriously? I've filed many 2255 motions on the standard form with a supplemental brief, and I assumed everyone did it that way.

Posted by: bruce | Dec 4, 2007 5:17:22 AM

Bruce, I have been filing 2255's for more than 25 years in Cal., Hawaii, Alaska, and Oregon and have never used the standard form. Haven't had a problem yet.

Posted by: Mike Levine | Dec 4, 2007 8:07:42 AM

I think the standard form is just for prisoner pro se purposes so that some semblance of order can be maintained in processing the influx of habeas and the like (e.g., 2255s).

Posted by: SPD | Dec 4, 2007 9:17:52 AM

SPD: Someone once told me they thought that too, but other than the general statement that 2255 motions are "for people incarcerated under federal sentence" (to paraphrase) there is no indication that that one subsection of that one rule is only for pro se prisoners. Out of an abundance of caution I've always filled out the form and then filed my own brief along with it.

Also, in Texas state court, ALL writs of habeas corpus have to be on a similar rule-provided form. Whether you are a pro se inmate writing it in your own feces or a $2000/hr lawyer, the court will kick it back to you if you don't use the current form. And they change the form once a year or so. So when I see a rule that says "The motion must substantially follow ... the form appended to these rules..." I fill out the form (and then file a brief along with it).

But it is interesting to know that others have not used the form with no problem. Maybe next time I'll jump into the deep end and forego the form.

Posted by: bruce | Dec 4, 2007 11:22:37 AM

I was sentenced to 3 months in prison for Violation of Federal Probation, for failing to satisfy court ordered restitution. I would like to request house arrest, because if I lose my job, I will never be able to pay my restitution. I was at the end of my 2 year probation. I served 25 months in Federal Prison of a 30 month. I was a whistleblower, I started the investigation, and though my employer did get 236 months. I just want to know is a 2255 the correct motion to file, Pro Se, to see if the judge will change my sentence.

Posted by: Donna Sottile | Dec 7, 2008 6:16:40 PM

Dear Law Professors, On October 15th, 2004, in the little town of Oracle, AZ, I exercised my 1st Amend. rights to freedom of speech/religion/opinion/and

expression after a bitch/abusive woman postal worker refused to sell me one .47 stamped envelope. I got tired of her verbal abuse and we had a "war of words." I looked at her and said, "od, I pray a bomb falls on your stupid fucking head!" (Basically, I was praying to God in a post office and using Imprecatory Prayer, i.e., yelling and screaming down curses upon my enemy! See - Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444 - "The act of praying often involves body posture and movement as well as utterances. It is nonetheless protected under the Free Exercise Clause.") Ya, right!! I am now a "convicted terrorist" under Title 18 U.S.C. 2332a - Use of Weapons of Mass Destruction. I served four years of prison HELL being tortured and terrorized. I need serious help and assistance with a 2255. I have no money, no income, no car, no housing, nothing! My SSI was even taken away from me after fifteen years of being disabled and chronically-ill. Will someone please help me to right this gross legal wrong and travesty of justice??? Thank you. Contact:schipkemary@AOL.com or Mary @(520)908-8510.

Posted by: Mary Elizabeth Schipke -innocent victim of the "justice" system | May 16, 2009 1:09:55 PM

I read it as frequently as I possibly can. For the past 15 years, I have used the form and filed an accompanying memorandum of points and authorities. l

Posted by: a armstrong | Jun 23, 2009 3:42:31 PM

GPS tracking systems are only a small part of what it takes to keep our children safe from sexual predators. First of all, legislators need to ensure that these sex offenders cannot reside anywhere near children. Police need to spend less time hiding with their radar guns to give speeding tickets and more time monitoring areas where sex offenders reside. GPS tracking bracelets are a must! The people monitoring GPS trackers most be competent and knowledgeable.

Posted by: jordan shoes 1 | Nov 29, 2010 3:06:32 AM

The 2255 form is a Supreme Court form required for all (not just pro se) filers. However, for some reason, most courts do not require attorneys to use it. Nonetheless, recently here in the S/D FL a 2255 was kicked back by the court for failure to submit the completed form, filed by none other than nationally-recognized post-conviction specialist Benson Weintraub, Esq.!!

Posted by: J.L. Murphy | Apr 15, 2013 4:00:12 PM

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September 15, 2008

An argument that the Second Amendment and Heller should help Weldon Angelos

Regular readers should recall the name Weldon Angelos; Angelos was subject to federal mandatory sentencing terms of 55 years because of gun possession linked to three small hand-to-hand marijuana sales in a public parking lot. Regular readers may also recall from this post that, upon the request of Weldon's sister, a pro bono legal team (of which I am a part) filed a lengthy 2255 motion in December 2007 making an array of constitutional arguments on Angelos's behalf. (The original motion is available at this link, and the government is scheduled to file its response in the near future.)

Today marks another chapter in this legal story because this same legal team has just filed a motion for partial summary judgment based in large part on the Second Amendment as it is now understand after Heller. The 20-page memorandum filed in support of this motion is available for download below. As I have indicated before, because I am essentially counsel of record, I do not plan to discuss or debate the merits of the motion on this blog. However, I am hopeful that everyone interested in the meaning and reach of Heller and the Second Amendment will take the time to read and reflect upon the arguments we make in this motion. Here is how we introduce these arguments from the memorandum:

Though the government may eventually dispute some facts set forth in the 2255 motion, there is no dispute that Angelos had no adult criminal record prior to the instant case and that he was subject to 55 years of mandatory federal imprisonment based principally on allegations of possession of firearms in his home, in his car, and on his person. Specifically, the firearms providing the basis for one 25-year mandatory sentencing term were those present within Angeloss home. And though there is a dispute concerning whether Angelos possessed a firearm during the marijuana sales engineered by the governments informant, there is no evidence whatsoever or even any serious allegation that Angelos actively utilized firearms to facilitate three uneventful hand-to-hand marijuana sales. Nevertheless, on the basis of (suspect and perhaps incredible) testimony of a single government informant, who belatedly asserted that Angelos possessed a firearm during two marijuana sales, the district court felt obliged under statutory sentencing provisions to impose another 30 years of federal imprisonment. In light of the Supreme Courts broad and forceful recognition of the right of all citizens under the Second Amendment to possess firearms to effectuate the inherent right of self-defense, District of Columbia v. Heller, 128 S. Ct 2783, 2817 (2008), the extreme sentence imposed upon Angelos for gun possession are now clearly unconstitutional and his 55-year sentence must be at least partially vacated. As explained more fully below, the Supreme Courts landmark Heller ruling as applied to the unique facts of this case render unconstitutional (1) the Governments pursuit of a superseding indictment threatening a 25-year mandatory prison sentence based on the presence of guns within the Angelos home, and (2) the imposition of 55 years of federal imprisonment Angelos is now serving based on his gun possession. In addition, the Heller ruling, considered together with the Supreme Courts most recent explication of Eighth Amendment jurisprudence and its application in Kennedy v. Louisiana, 128 S. Ct. 2641 (2008), confirms that the 55-year federal prison term that Angelos is serving based on the possession of firearms is constitutionally excessive. Indeed, the combined force of the Heller and Kennedy rulings, along with the notable and constitutionally significant public reactions to both decisions, make plain that the sentence Angelos is now serving violates the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society. Id. at 2664 (quoting Trop v. Dulles, 356 U.S. 86, 101 (1958)).

Download angelos_v. U.S. - Memo re MSJ.pdf

A few related posts on the legal history of the Angelos case:

September 15, 2008 at 03:14 PM | Permalink

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Comments

Was Angelos eligible to serve in the militia, the national guard, in his home state. If so, I would argue that all words of the Second Amendment be read together. If he was eligible to serve in the militia, then his right to bear arms may not be infringed. He is "people". A well regulated militia is necessary to the security of the free state of California. These interests are truncated and his rights erased if his right to keep and bear arms is infringed.

The people living along the road to Concord during Paul Revere's ride would understand these basic premises. Keeping arms and bearing arms are two separate forms of conduct. Neither keeping nor bearing is "flourishing". Angelos' weapons at home were merely keeping. If he had a weapon on his person at the time of the hand to hand pot sale, did he flourish? Was the gun on his person confiscated? Was it operable or capable of lethal use?

Sending someone to prison for 30 years because they had a gun at home when they sold pot elsewhere is tyrannical. The NRA needs to get some of its act together and pressure Congress to repeal these unconstitutional laws. The NRA reminds me of AARP in their Divided We Fail ad campaign. They talk a game but do nothing for healthcare. The NRA is good at getting bumper stickers on the back of pickup trucks but does little to repeal these oppressive laws.

Keep up the good work Doug.

Posted by: mpb | Sep 16, 2008 6:15:25 AM

Wow! How can these prosecuters sleep at night knowing that they gave a first time non violent offender a life sentence for marijuana. This is not Justice!

Posted by: BS | Sep 16, 2008 9:45:52 AM

The judge didn't have to impose the 55-year sentence. Sentencing guidelines are guidelines, not mandatory, as the SC has ruled.

More importantly, the due process and jury rights of the accused were almost certainly abused by not allowing all issues of law (except those that cannot be made without revealing evidence properly excluded) to be made in the presence of the jury (assuming there was a jury, since the U.S. Constitution states: "The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury." III:2:3).

See Stettinius v. United States, 22 F. Cas. 1322 (1839); 5 Cranch C.C. 573  Defense in criminal trial has right to argue law before jury until bench rules on motion. http://www.constitution.org/usfc/fc/22/Stettinius_v_US.htm

Posted by: Jon Roland | Sep 16, 2008 3:11:21 PM

There is a discussion on this at the Volokh Conspiracy blog. http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2008_09_14-2008_09_20.shtml#1221591195

Posted by: Jon Roland | Sep 16, 2008 3:14:02 PM

An interesting and inciteful book on this issue is Stephen Halbrook's: Freedmen, The Fourteenth Amendment & The Right To Bear Arms. Greenwood Press. Out of print, available in law libraries. This scholarly work studies the Congressional archives and demonstrates that the Committee of 15, intended that the 14th Amend incorporate the Second Amend and intended, as evidenced by statutes then passed concurrently, that freed slaves have the rights of the "people" to keep and bear arms.

The Angelos case demonstrates how the government uses gun laws arbitrarily to tyrannize minority communities. One never sees the feds going out to homes of wealthy white collar criminals (Scooter Libby, Marc Rich, "Kenny Boy" Lay from Enron) to check for guns so that they can gas up their sentences on the charges of perjury or thefts of billions.

Posted by: mpb | Sep 17, 2008 5:08:16 AM

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September 18, 2008

NYU Center files amicus in Angelos case

I noted in this recent post the launch of New York University School of Law's Center on the Administration of Criminal Law. I am pleased to spotlight the active role that the Center is starting to play in important criminal justice litigation. (As detailed on this page, "the Center's litigation practice concentrates on cases in which exercises of prosecutorial or governmental discretion raise significant substantive legal issues [and works] in partnership with some of the nations most prominent law firms as part of the firms pro bono commitment.")

I am especially pleased to report that this week the NYU Center has filed an amicus brief in the Angelos mandatory minimum case in which I am involved (background here and here). Here is how the NYU Center describes the case and the issues its brief takes on:

Whether a prosecutor should charge a defendant with no criminal record in a manner that, upon conviction, requires a 55-year mandatory minimum sentence for twice selling approximately $350 of marijuana while armed to a confidential informant and for possessing a gun in his home on another occasion, in contravention of the Eighth Amendment, separation of powers principles, Department of Justice charging standards and practices, and the expressed opinions of the trial judge and jury. This brief was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Utah, in partnership with the law firm Jenner & Block.

This potent introductory line of the amicus brief highlights why I remain hopeful that Weldon Angelos will get some relief in this case: "Weldon Angelos was sentenced to 55 years in prison because the prosecutors in his case elected to exercise discretion in an arbitrary, irrational, and ultimately unconstitutional manner."

Related posts on the legal history of the Angelos case:

September 18, 2008 at 03:41 PM | Permalink

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"There are certain vital principles in our free Republican governments, which will

determine and over-rule an apparent and flagrant abuse of legislative power. . . .

An ACT of the Legislature (for I cannot call it a law) contrary to the great first

principles of the social compact, cannot be considered a rightful exercise of

legislative authority." Calder v. Bull, 3 U.S. (3 Dall.) 386, 388 (1798).

Posted by: | Sep 18, 2008 10:14:36 PM

Anyone out there familiar with the Ravenel case? Charles Ravenel, scion of the noted political family and Giuliani campaign chairman in South Carolina, was convicted of possessing about 500 grams of cocaine. Somehow or another, the fact that he admitted to giving cocaine away as opposed to selling it was used to make the distribution end of the case disappear - try that with your own client sometime and see where it gets you.



He got an incredible deal - kind of like Cindy McCain - ended up with a 9 month Federal sentence. The notion that someone of his demographic and personal background did not possess numerous firearms is laughable. It never came up in the charges, though.

I think he got a reasonable deal, assuming one sees a need for cocaine to be illegal at all, which is arguable. What about the rest of us?

Posted by: chip sommer | Sep 19, 2008 11:06:52 AM

If I were a secret millionaire, I'd go into all of the bad neighborhoods and buy up all the crack, and then destroy it, so that there could be no crackheads.

Would that be possession? And if so, how do I get Charles Ravenel's lawyer's number?

Posted by: Priscilla Jayne | Dec 4, 2008 5:00:28 PM

The Ravenel you're thinking of is Tommy Ravenel, son of Arthur Ravenel. They are both Republicans. Charles Ravenel (no relation) is a Democrat who was convicted of some banking-related crimes and was pardoned by Bill Clinton in January 2001.

Posted by: Rob | Jun 5, 2009 2:17:12 AM

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 Supreme Court takes up intriguing capital case involving mental retardation | Main | Implementing the new crack guidelines retroactivity in Connecticut 

January 16, 2009

A request for a commutation for Weldon Angelos

Regular readers will recall the name Weldon Angelos; Angelos was sentenced nearly five years ago to a federal mandatory minimum sentencing term of 55 years in prison following three small hand-to-hand marijuana sales to a paid government informant. I became directly involved in Weldon's case when his sister asked if I would help with his 2255 motion. Aided by a great legal team working pro bono, we are continuing to litigate this motion. And, as detailed in this new report in the Salt Lake Tribune, this team has also now filed a clemency petition requesting President George Bush to commute Weldon's extreme sentence. Those interested in the clemency petition (which is very long because we added some court filings in the appendix) can download it below:

Download Angelos Clemency Petition (Bush)

Related posts providing some of the legal history of the Angelos case:

January 16, 2009 at 03:28 PM | Permalink

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If ever there was a someone who got a bad break this guy would certainly qualify-Talk about a draconian sentence. 55 years for three hand to hand marijuana sales.

Posted by: Anon | Jan 16, 2009 6:54:22 PM

Perhaps, but he did have a gun. Not sure he should get out after 5 years.

Posted by: federalist | Jan 17, 2009 9:32:05 AM

It is a constitutional right to have a gun, so I don't see how that reflects negatively upon him. That's like saying he has a mouth.

Posted by: DK | Jan 17, 2009 12:25:07 PM

I know you can never really tell but in this case after reading the clemency petition Mr Angelos seems like a perfect candidate for his sentence to be commuted. It seems unreal that a person could be sentenced to 55 years for marijuana offense even with a gun. I hope he is successful in this request.

Posted by: BS | Jan 17, 2009 12:41:32 PM

He has a constitutional right to have a gun--he doesn't have a constitutional right to deal drugs while armed.

Posted by: | Jan 17, 2009 1:01:46 PM

Who said he had a constitutional right to deal drugs? But you can't draw a negative inference from his carrying of a gun (a protected Second Amendment activity) any more than you can from his having a mouth and using it (a protected First Amendment activity).

Posted by: DK | Jan 17, 2009 1:05:35 PM

His real crime was exercising his constitutional rights. That's a heinous felony in most parts of this here United States. Gotta send a message to others who would dare to the same.

Posted by: George | Jan 17, 2009 2:24:16 PM

"But you can't draw a negative inference from his carrying of a gun (a protected Second Amendment activity) any more than you can from his having a mouth and using it (a protected First Amendment activity)."

Ahhhh. But you can draw such an inference. In a rational society you would be laughed at. But a person can do it.

I was reading an article a few weeks ago about a man who was walking alone in a suburb of London at night. He was carrying a hammer with him. He claimed it was for self-protection. But the police arrested him for "carrying an instrument of burglaring". He was convicted by a judge and given a fine.

That's our future, don't kid your yourself, and Heller be damned.



Posted by: Daniel | Jan 17, 2009 2:58:47 PM

Above all else, the problem with this case is the interpretation of "second offense" in 924(c). Congress should amend the statute to make it clear that each separate act of possession can be charged as a five year offense and give the court discretion on consecutive or concurrent for more than one conviction (i.e. first count must be consecutive, two or more can be).

I would like to know the back story on this case. Of course the AUSA can't get on his blog and tell his view of the case - the DOJ won't let him. The bare facts of this case as ably presented on this blog and in the court filings make the whole thing look bizarre - why did the government decide to handle the case this way?

As a prosecutor I think it is important to remember that just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.

Posted by: AlanO | Jan 18, 2009 3:14:53 PM

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 Diverse perspectives on victims having diverse perspectives on sentencing | Main | Smarter Sentencing Act passes Senate Judiciary Committee by 13-5 vote 

January 30, 2014

"White House Seeks Drug Clemency Candidates" ... like Weldon Angelos and Chris Williams?

The title of this post is drawn the headline of this notable new New York Times article, which includes these excerpts:

The Obama administration, in its effort to curtail severe penalties in low-level drug cases, is taking the unprecedented step of encouraging defense lawyers to suggest inmates whom the president might let out of prison early. Speaking at a New York State Bar Association event Thursday, Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole said the Justice Department wanted to send more names to White House for clemency consideration. This is where you can help, he said, in remarks the Justice Department circulated in advance. Prison officials will also spread the word among inmates that low-level, nonviolent drug offenders might be eligible to apply for clemency. The clemency drive is part of the administrations effort to undo sentencing discrepancies that began during the crack epidemic decades ago. Offenses involving crack, which was disproportionately used in black communities, carried more severe penalties than crimes involving powder cocaine, which was usually favored by affluent white users.... There are more low-level, nonviolent drug offenders who remain in prison, and who would likely have received a substantially lower sentence if convicted of precisely the same offenses today, Mr. Cole said. This is not fair, and it harms our criminal justice system.

Like lots of lousy crime and punishment reporting, this piece fails to highlight the important realities that (1) any and every federal defendant is "eligible to apply for clemency," but that the Obama Administration (like prior administrations) is historically disinclined to bother to consider seriously any of these applications, and (2) according to this official accounting, there are currently over 3,500 pending pardon and commutation applications at the White House right now.

I am pleaed that a DOJ official is now talking about defense lawyers suggesting inmates whom the president might let out of prison early, but I sense that defense lawyers are doing this a-plenty. In addition, the US Sentencing Commission surely has a list of all the persons who would benefit from the FSA if it were made fully retroactive. The White House already has plenty of information (and so many ways to readily find additional information) concerning who could and should sensibly be considered for clemency relief. The problem is not information, but the courage to walk the walk (rather than just talk the talk) about correcting excessively harsh prison sentencing politicies and practices that are "not fair ... [and] harm our criminal justice system.

As the rest of the title of this post is meant to highlight, good candidates for clemency are not only crack dealers. Especially in light of recent reform of state marijuana laws, I think one can validly argue that there are constitutional problems with the sentences being served by federal marijuana offenders like Weldon Angelos and Chris Williams, both of who are current serving lengthy prison terms for doing essentially what is now being done by dozens of licensed marijuana marijuana dealers every hour of every day in Denver. Constitutional arguments aside, I think both should quickly go to the very top of the White House clemency list ASAP, especially if Prez Obama really believes what he says about marijuana being really no more harmful than alcohol.

January 30, 2014 at 12:54 PM | Permalink

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I wonder if it is worth noting that the vast majority of clemency grants are made to persons who are not represented by lawyers?

Posted by: P.S. Ruckman, Jr. | Jan 30, 2014 12:57:20 PM

Upon release, one will encounter the following choices. Minimum wage job, with stunning rates of taxation, working for Anglos. Substantially higher, tax free profit from drug dealing, working for one's homies. Even with the high ethical standards imparted in prison, this choice will not be easy.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Jan 31, 2014 6:34:16 AM

I was not aware that "dozens of licensed marijuana dealers" were carrying firearms and laundering money, like Mr. Angelos was. See US v. Angelos, 433 F.3d 738, 742 (10th Cir. 2006) ("Defendant Weldon Angelos was convicted of multiple drug, firearms, and money laundering offenses..."). Let's at least give the appearance of making apples-to-apples comparisons.

Posted by: anon | Jan 31, 2014 3:17:48 PM

Actually, anon, the now-state-legal marijuana dealers in Colorado (and elsewhere) are now often being serviced by other businesses ready/eager to provided armed protection and "money laundering" for the cash-based (and federally prohibited) marijuana business activities now afoot in Colorado, as shown via these links:

http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20140131-909352.html

http://www.denversecurityguardservices.com/services/denver-mmj-security/

http://globenewswire.com/news-release/2014/01/28/605229/10065740/en/Medical-Marijuana-Inc-s-Wellness-Managed-Services-Launches-MPSI-as-Nation-s-First-Cannabis-Industry-Armored-Transport-and-Security-Provider.html

Angelos was not convicted of brandishing or discharging firearms in connection with his hand-to-hand marijuana sales, and everyone dealing in cash in the state marijuana business is, technically, engaged in money laundering of the proceeds of federally prohibited funds/contraband.

In short, the comparison for FEDERAL CRIMINAL PURPOSES is apples-to-apples. Of course, Angelos was not seeking to comply with state laws or regulation, and thus I am not asserting he should be pardoned. But he has now served more than a decade in federal prison for the same basic activities now taking place every day in Colorado (and soon to be taking place in Washington).

If you want to make a claim that Angelos should serve the full duration of his 55-year mandatory minimum term, go for. But he (like Chris Williams) was convicted of being a low-level pot dealer, and I think he has served more than enough time for that crime. (Of course, I am biased in part because I provided pro bono help as Angelos sought review of his conviction through a 2255 motion. Because I do not know who you are, anon, it is impossible for me to know whether you have any personal information or a distinct perspective driving your concerns about my claims in the post.)

Posted by: Doug B. | Jan 31, 2014 3:57:45 PM

HI,TO WHOM THIS MAY CONCERN I AM WRITING ON THE BEHALF OF A YOUNG MAN WHO HAS ALREADY DONE 26YRS FOR STEALING,AND SELLING DRUGS NOT KILLING SOMEONE HIS RELEASE DATE STILL 12YRS FROM NOW 7/29/28(HOW)THIS MAN HAS A FAMILY AS WELL ALL HIS CHILDREN GROWN AND IN COLLEGE,GRANDKIDS AS WELL.THE PROBLEM I HAVE WITH THIS IS THAT YOU GET OUT FASTER IF YOU KILL SOME ONE FAKE DRUGS PETI THEFT COMING ON.I WENT TO PRISON MYSELF 8YRS 9MONTHS 29DAYS ALL BECAUSE OF DRUGS,BUT GOD GAVE ME ANOTHER CHANCE TO GET IT RIGHT THE SYSTEM IS SO MESS UP UNTIL IT'S A SHAME TO TAKE SOME ONE FREEDOM FOR THIS LONG AND STILL HAVE 12 MORE TO GO.PUT YOURSELF OR ONE OF YOUR FAMILY MEMBER IN HIS PLACE FOR A FEW YEARS THEN ASK YOURSELF WHY.PLEASE CONTACT ME SO I CAN TELL YOU MORE,BESIDE BEEN OUT 16YRS CLEAN TRYING TO HELP SOME ONE ELSE.I DO PRISON MINISTRY TRYING TO HELP PEOPLE NOEW I NEED HELP WITH THIS YOUNG MAN SO HE CAN TELL HIS STORY TO HELP SOME ELSE DRIVING,COMPUTERS,CELL PHONES,MONEY STREET CLOTHES,DINNER WITH FAMILY,FRIENDS,CHURCH,WORKING,SLEEPING IN HIS ON BED,COOKING,ETCS JUST A FEW THINGS TO SEE HOW THE REAL WORLD FEELS AGAIN THIS MAN DIDN'T HURT/KILL NO ONE DRUGS HE SMOKE MORE THAN HE SOLD,BUT IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS YOU DON'T LOOK AT AND PROBALY CAN'T READ THAT WELL,BUT THE STATE CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT SITUTATION LIKE THIS.WELL I REALLY WANT TO TALK TO SOME BODY ON THIS YOUNG MAN BEHALF AND I WANT GIVE UP HERE HE DESERVE A PARDON AS WELL NOT JUST FEDERAL INMATES/STATE TOO.THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME.INSPIRED BY LOVE PRISON MINISTRY.BRO ISSAC WILLIAMS

Posted by: ISSAC WILLIAMS | Mar 10, 2016 1:16:35 PM

THE YOUNG MAN IS RICKY DAWSON AN INMATE SERVING TO MUCH TIME#881797

Posted by: ISSAC WILLIAMS | Mar 10, 2016 1:18:04 PM

My boyfriend got 20 years the max on everything after he was crying out for help ....he's not being treated right please help him he's in Marshalltown Iowa jail his name is Isaac Lopez

Posted by: theresa handsaker | Aug 31, 2016 3:44:29 PM

My boyfriend got 20 years the max on everything after he was crying out for help ....he's not being treated right please help him he's in Marshalltown Iowa jail his name is Isaac Lopez

Posted by: theresa handsaker | Aug 31, 2016 3:44:30 PM

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 Some marijuana reform developments (with seasonal politics) via Marijuana Law, Policy and Reform | Main | Pennsylvania, thanks to Montgomery, now forced to struggle through Miller retroactivity 

February 11, 2016

Based on Johnson, split Fifth Circuit panel finds another simlar provision of federal law is unconstitutionally vague

A helpful reader alerted me to a notable new split ruling handed down by the Fifth Circuit yesterday in US v. Gonzalez-Longoria, No. 15-40041 (5th Cir. Feb. 10, 2016) (available here). Here is how the majority opinion gets started:

And here is how the dissent gets started and sums up its differing analysis of Johnson's impact here:

It is the uncertainty that charms one. A mist makes things wonderful. Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray. Perhaps true for Oscar Wilde, but not in the criminal law, where too much uncertainty denies defendants fair notice and permits arbitrary enforcement of the laws. See Kolender v. Lawson, 461 U.S. 352, 357-58 (1983).... In summary, we should not strike Congressional law, 18 U.S.C.  16(b), because, first, the concerns raised by the Court in Johnson with respect to ACCAs residual clause are less implicated by Section 16(b); second, because Leocal is precedent only the Supreme Court should adjust; and, third, because Section 16(b) does not involve the interplay of interpretative method and statutory text causing the double indeterminacy that was the due process muddle rejected in Johnson. Gonzalez-Longoria was on sufficient notice that his prior crime of Assault Causing Bodily Injury with Prior Conviction of Family Violence is one society condemns as violent because it involves a substantial risk that, in the course of its commission, force will be used against another. I dissent.

February 11, 2016 at 11:58 AM | Permalink

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Why does the majority continually refer to "section 16" as being unconstitutionally vague, when the only the language 16(b) is at issue? I don't think that the panel means to say that, because subsection (b) is impremissibly vague, the entirety of 16 is as well.

Posted by: Da Man | Feb 11, 2016 1:14:23 PM

 second, because Leocal is precedent only the Supreme Court should adjust .

  CCA judges are unable to reason ? 

Posted by: Docile Jim Brady  the Nemo Me  Impune Lacessit guy in Oregon  | Feb 12, 2016 3:20:31 AM

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 Paul Cassell, the former federal judge who sentenced Weldon Angelos to 55 years, writes directly to Prez Obama to support his clemency petition | Main | Some marijuana reform developments (with seasonal politics) via Marijuana Law, Policy and Reform 

February 11, 2016

Notable data on racial and gender dynamics of recent changes in incarceration rates

This new Wonkblog post via the Washington Post reports on provides an interesting analysis of modern incarceration data under the headline "Theres been a big decline in the black incarceration rate, and almost nobodys paying attention." Here are the details:

After decades of growth, the U.S. imprisonment rate has been declining for the past six years. Hidden within this welcome overall trend is a sizable and surprising racial disparity: African-Americans are benefitting from the national de-incarceration trend but whites are serving time at increasingly higher rates. The pattern of results, evident in a series of reports from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, is most stark among women. Since 2000, the imprisonment rate among African-American women has dropped 47 percent, while the rate among white women has risen by 56 percent. These trends have combined to shrink the racial disparity in womens imprisonment by two-thirds. A similar pattern emerges for men, who compose a much larger share of the prison population. The rate of imprisonment among African-American men remains very high, but nonetheless it has tumbled 22 percent since 2000. The rate for white men in contrast is 4 percent higher than it was in 2000. As a result, the racial disparity has shrunk by nearly one quarter. In responding to the data, Fordham University Professor John Pfaff echoed several criminologists when he said thatThis is one of the most surprising pattern of results I have seen in corrections in a long time. Pfaff said that law enforcement attitudes getting tougher in rural areas and softer in urban areas may be contributing to this change." Adam Gelb, who directs the public safety performance project of the Pew Charitable Trusts, suggested that changes in drug use and enforcement over the past 15 years could be at play. Gelb said the methamphetamine, prescription opioid and heroin epidemics have affected whites more than did the crack cocaine epidemic, which increased incarceration among blacks in the 1980s and 1990s but has since waned. Stanford Law School Professor Joan Petersilia noted another possible cause: sex offenders, who are disproportionately white and tend to receive long sentences, are a new target for the war on crime. Consistent with this explanation, a larger proportion of white inmates have been convicted of sex crimes (16.4 percent) than have black inmates (8 percent).... Whatever cultural and macroeconomic forces are producing these changes could conceivably also be driving increased involvement in the criminal justice system by whites, including rising imprisonment in an era of de-incarceration.

February 11, 2016 at 10:12 AM | Permalink

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If you pour water out of one jug into another then the ratio in each jug changes. Too many people spoil the broth. Lock up immigrants.

Posted by: JackMehoff | Feb 11, 2016 10:32:42 AM

Along with this, another important trend in incarceration numbers is age. It's not easy to see, as the BJS statistics are not broken out this way on their site.

Looking year by year there is a remarkable decrease in incarceration rates of younger people in every race/sex category over the last 10-15 years, and a continuing increase in rates for older people.

Posted by: Boffin | Feb 11, 2016 2:49:04 PM

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 "The State of Sentencing 2015: Developments in Policy and Practice" | Main | Notable data on racial and gender dynamics of recent changes in incarceration rates 

February 10, 2016

Paul Cassell, the former federal judge who sentenced Weldon Angelos to 55 years, writes directly to Prez Obama to support his clemency petition

As reported in this Washington Post article, headlined "Former federal judge to President Obama: Free the man I sentenced to 55 years in prison," former US District Judge (and now Prof) Paul Cassell has now written directly to the President to urge him to "swiftly commute his sentence." Regular readers likely know a lot about the story of Weldon Angelos, whom I once helped represent as he pursued collateral appeals, and the Post article provides some of the details and context behind his current push for clemency:

Calling the sentence one of the most troubling that I ever faced in my five years on the federal bench, Paul G. Cassell, now a professor at the University of Utahs law school, said the mandatory minimum sentence he was required to impose on Angelos was one of the chief reasons he chose to step down as a judge. I write you as the judge who sentenced Weldon Angelos to a 55-year mandatory minimum prison term for non-violent drug offenses, Cassell wrote to Obama. It appears to me that Mr. Angelos meets all of the criteria for a commuted sentence. Cassell was appointed to the bench in 2002 by former President George W. Bush. In December, Obama granted clemency to 95 drug offenders as part of his continuing effort to give relief to drug offenders who were harshly sentenced in the nations war on drugs. But Angelos, who is behind bars at the Federal Correctional Institution at Mendota, was not on the presidents list. The president has commuted the sentences of 184 federal inmates, more individuals than the past five presidents combined. But sentencing reform advocates say that hundreds  and potentially thousands  of inmates who meet the Obama administrations criteria for clemency, including Angelos, are still behind bars.... Angelos, the son of a Greek immigrant and the 36-year-old father of three, is one of the nations most famous nonviolent drug offenders and a symbol of the severe mandatory sentences. His case has been widely championed, including by Utahs Republican Sen. Mike Lee, former FBI Director Bill Sessions, the group Families Against Mandatory Minimums and conservative billionaire Charles Koch. Judge Cassells letter articulates well the grave injustice involved in Weldons prison sentence, said Mark Holden, general counsel and senior vice president of Koch Industries, who has urged attention to the Angelos case. Like many inmates, Angelos has missed being with his children as they grew up. His 18-year-old son, Anthony, was six when he was sent to prison. His son, Jesse, was 4. His 13-year-old daughter, Meranda, was an infant. In an interview, Angelos said he had hoped the president would grant him clemency in time for him to see Anthony graduate from high school in June. Angelos was sentenced to 55 years without the possibility of parole after he sold marijuana to a police informant three times in 2002, each time charging $350. Prosecutors alleged that Angelos, the founder of Utah hip-hop label Extravagant, was a gang member and a drug dealer. Angelos denied the allegations and declined a plea bargain offered by prosecutors. Angelos never used or pulled a gun, but the informant later testified in court that he saw one in Angeloss car during the first buy. He said that during the second buy, Angelos was wearing an ankle holster holding a firearm. Officers later searched his home and found a gun. The sentence Angelos received as a nonviolent first-time offender fell under a law called 924(c). Federal drug laws require 5- to 30-year mandatory minimum sentences for possessing, brandishing or discharging a gun during a drug-trafficking crime. For each subsequent gun conviction, there is a mandatory sentence of 25 years that must be served consecutively. This is often referred to as gun stacking, which is why Angelos received 55 years without parole. He received five years for the gun in the car; 25 years for the second gun charge, having one in an ankle strap; and another 25 years for a third firearms charge, the gun police found in his home. He got one day for the marijuana. In 2004, when Cassell sentenced Angelos, he wrote a lengthy opinion, comparing Angeloss sentence (738 months) with the guideline sentences for the kingpin of three major drug trafficking rings that caused three deaths (465 months), a three-time aircraft hijacker (405 months), a second-degree murderer of three victims (235 months) and the rapist of three 10-year-olds (188 months).

Related prior posts providing some Angelos case history:

February 10, 2016 at 05:24 PM | Permalink

Comments

Judge Cassell is a good man, following up on a case he felt bad for hsving to do what he dudnt want to do. Long after he is no longer in that position, he still uses his good judgement to write the President, after all he was the sentenceing judge.

I am truely impressed with this man. Much the same as Inam with Judge McConnel I think who dissented in the Begay case and helped lower the sentence if many. No diubt some of these guys also got another drop with drugs -2. With the career offender tag being removed, they would not be eligible.

I hope Pres Obama frees Weldon and he does well, hopefully in time to see his son graduate. Hang in there Weldon, it will happen, gurantee it.

Posted by: MidWestGuy | Feb 10, 2016 8:03:45 PM

Cassell would have been a better man to pull a Weinstein and say that the sentence was disproportionate and refused to have imposed it. Appeals be damned.

I don't like this guy and am highly suspicious of him.

Posted by: Fat Bastard | Feb 10, 2016 8:28:50 PM

Weldon Angelo has an egregious sentence that should be commuted. There are many nonviolent marijuana offenders serving life sentences or virtual life sentences just like Weldon who will not receive sentencing relief with the current or pending legislation. They all need commutations.

Posted by: beth | Feb 10, 2016 8:51:50 PM

Let us see what President Obama does. Or does not do. Time will tell. Time is a wasting. Do it know. Be right and be proud.

Posted by: Liberty1st | Feb 10, 2016 10:09:42 PM

funny how people who bring guns to drug deals are "non-violent"--certainly, it's possible to characterize people who do that in that manner, but "non-violent" covers up for a serious crime. I am not saying that Angelos necessarily deserved 55 years, but I am not losing sleep.

As for the sentences of the other criminals---seems to me that they were undersentenced--a rapist of three 10 year olds gets a little more than 10 1/2 years--that's sick, and I wonder why there is no outrage about that, but there is outrage about a guy who used guns in the course of his drug dealing.

Posted by: federalist | Feb 11, 2016 8:45:25 AM

When is Obama going to let this guy go?

Posted by: JackMehoff | Feb 11, 2016 9:36:31 AM

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The recent announcement that the upcoming development at 2655 Bush Street in Lower Pacific Heights has turned from apartments into condos may mean bigger thingslike more new condos rather than apartmentson the horizon for San Francisco. As recently as early January, the lot on the corner of Bush and Divisadero was owned and being readied for the construction of 81 apartments by Thompson Dorfman Development. However, as construction was about to begin, KB Home swooped in to purchase the lot with plans to build condos instead of apartments. Condo prices have risen about 20% in the past year in San Francisco, which means the move to condos is a valuable one.

Brett Betzler of Moran & Co., which represented KB Homes in the deal, told Globest.com that the rise in condo prices has upped the purchasing power of condo developers and made KB Home's takeover of 2655 Bush possible. He also sees this deal as a possible sign of things to come, saying, "It could be the beginning of a trend in which condo developers will outbid apartment developers."

As for 2655 Bush Street, the project will retain both its planned 81 units and 3,800 square feet of retail space. Construction has already begun.

 New Rendering and Details Revealed for 2655 Bush Street [Curbed SF]

 Condo Developer Outbids Apt Developer [Globest.com]
The last time we heard about the building planned for 2655 Bush Street in Lower Pacific Heights, it had been bought by developer KB Homes and was transitioning from apartments to condos. Now, the building has a hip new nameThe Districtand those condos are officially up for sale for prices between $1,250 and $1,500 per square foot.

The building's main draw is its location on a prime Lower Pacific Heights corner near both the busy Divisadero corridor and not too far from Fillmore Street and Alta Plaza Park. It's the building's size81 unitsand that location that are defining its target audience. "It will be a community, and people are actually going to live here, know their neighbors and raise families," says Chris Apostolopoulos, president and regional general manager of KB Home Northern California. "It's not 700 units in downtown towers, and we see that in our sales office. People are coming in with their families."

Units range from a compact 575 square feet up to 1,600 square feet for a two-bedroom-plus-den penthouse on the top level. Pricing begins around $1 million, and there are a smattering of two-bedrooms on the MLS right now for prices between $1,279,200 and $1,418,575. The building has one-to-one parking, a rarity in San Francisco these days, and units boast big Thermidor built-in refrigerators, Bosch stainless steel appliances, and Caesarstone countertops. There are three different color finishes across the units to keep them from all feeling identical.

The condos sit around an interior courtyard that will be landscaped with planters and bamboo, and around 90 percent of the units will have their own outdoor space. There's also a fitness center, an owners' lounge, an attended lobby, and a sky terrace with views stretching across the surrounding neighborhoods. Prospective buyers can take hard hat tours and visit both an on-site model unit and the location of their potential purchase rather than having to rely on a remote sales center. The building is still very much under construction, but first move-ins are expected by August.



 Is the Apartment-to-Condo Move of 2655 Bush a New Trend? [Curbed SF]

 The District SF [Official Site]
The aesthetic of some lofts doesn't stand up to the test of time. Unit 406 in the Oriental Warehouse at 650 Delancey Street isn't one of them. The property hit the market today with an asking price of $1.95 million, and frankly, it reminds us why these kinds of industrial spaces appeal. The historic, 1867-era building has landmark status; and this unit skillfully mixes exposed brick and old timbers with modern architectural details.

Back in the day, the warehouse was a holding spot for importers. Tons of tea, coffee, rice, spices, and silk where stored here before being sold to the citizens of old San Francisco. In 1996, the building was converted to 66 residences and now has landmark status.

Unit number 406 has echoes of what the building used to be, but The 1,428 square foot, one-bedroom, one-bathroom home also has very modern touches.

For instance, the kitchen. A black-and-gray kitchen doesn't sound inviting, but the wood floor and those raw wood timbers warm the cool space. It includes a built-in, illuminated quartz table. The kitchen opens to a high-ceilinged living room with large windows that overlook a courtyard and rough brick wall.

Upstairs, the bedroom is a blue-carpeted oasis with a master bathroom that's home to an exceptionally large skylight that makes the spaces bright.

Location is also on the loft's side. Its transportation score is a perfect 100.



 650 Delancey Street [Official Site]
A SoMa business owner is fed up with the homeless camped near his business, and has printed flyers urging his customers to contact San Francisco elected officials in order to demand some sort of response.

Sebastyn Jacovics owns the Fitness SF located at 9th and Division Street, a location in the news recently for the large homeless encampment that has sprung up under the overpass on Division. In an interview with KTVU, Jacovics shared his frustration regarding the people living on the streets near his business.

"Every intersection, wherever you look is just overrun with homeless people," he told the channel. "What's going on is just not acceptable. We need a plan. We need a plan of action that works."

Jacovics, perhaps skeptical of city officials' efforts to effectively get those living on the streets into shelters, has taken action to step up the pressure on City Hall.

"ATTENTION MEMBERS," a sign he has posted in his business reads. "The homeless encampments surrounding our gym, neighborhood, and community are a public health and safety crisis. The City of SF has refused to address this crisis in a meaningful and permanent manner."

The flyer continues that "[we] need your help in bringing this emergency to the immediate attention of our elected officials. Please contact them," it instructs, before listing the phone numbers and emails of the Mayor, all eleven Supervisors, the Assistant District Attorney, the DPW Director for Operations, an SFPD Captain, and the Deputy Director of the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services.

Whether Jacovics's efforts will result in increased calls to City Hall, and a resulting response from elected officials, remains to be seen. Furthermore, what said response might even look like is unclear  San Francisco's efforts to open a new low-threshold shelter" shelter on Pier 80 have so far been more or less shrugged off by area homeless.

However there is one response, we surmise, that Jacovics is not in favor of: Buying the homeless more tents.

Related: Amid Storms And Super Bowl Displacement, Crowdfunding Campaign Launched To Buy Tents For Homeless
San Francisco State just welcomed back the first gay fraternity on campus in almost a quarter of a century. The fraternity, Delta Lambda Phi, is a national organization founded by gay men in 1987, but has not had a chapter at SF State since 1992.

Essentially our goal is to create a brotherhood like all the other fraternities, but we really feel like creating a home for the large queer male population at SF State, Kyle Mears, president of Delta Lambda Phi, told the Golden Gate Xpress.

The new chapter became official in December, and its members spoke with the paper about their intentions on the campus of almost 30,000 students.

We're kind of redefining Greek life in a way, one member of the fraternity, Austin Farley, explained. Were just a group of diverse queer people standing at a table willing to welcome anybody. For those people who can't go out and experience queer life in San Francisco, its really important for them to feel welcomed and at home at SF State," he added.

And while Delta Lambda Phi is definitely a gay frat, students don't need to be queer to join  Xpress reports that the only qualifier is that the pledge must identify as male.

The fraternity was founded in 1987 by Vernon L. Strickland III in Washington DC, and the first pledge party drew 150 people.

Related: Cleve Jones: We Have To Preserve Gayborhoods Because They Save Lives


Obama is coming, yet again, to the Bay Area, and will be touching down at Moffett Field near Mountain View at 7:30 p.m. Googlers be warned: There will be extra motorcade-related traffic.

Also, this often means a temporary grounding of planes at SFO to clear the airspace, so you might want to look out for flight delays there too.

According to ABC 7, the President will spend Wednesday and Thursday night in the South Bay, and he has two fundraisers down there tomorrow.

There's always the possibility, of course, that he'll be popping into SF for an event too, but that has not been announced. The President was last here in October when he attended that fundraiser with Kanye West at The Warfield, and last year at about this time he dropped into SF to have dinner with Elon Musk and some other tech CEOs at Spruce.

According to his published schedule, the President spent the day today in Springfield, Illinois where he addressed the state's general assembly and gave remarks at an arts center.

In related news, President Obama today asked Congress to allocate $125 million in next year's budget to go toward the project to electrify Caltrain, as KRON 4 reports.

Previously: Video: The SF Giants Get All Dressed Up And Hang Out With President Obama
Rapper Equipto, a name in the West Coast hip-hop scene, has been taking on a new role in the last six months: bete noire to Mayor Ed Lee. He's heckled the public official on multiple occasions  you'll recall him calling Lee a "disgrace to Asians" last October, to his face, and disrupting the mayor's speech on MLK day  and most recently, the Chronicle reports, he tried to disrupt a speech Lee was giving at a private event held in the Fairmont yesterday. There, 48 Hills adds, he was among three hecklers arrested and charged with trespassing and disturbing a public meeting."

The events occurred before 800 guests at the annual Mayor's Economic Forecast breakfast, an event hosted by the San Francisco Business Times at the Fairmont Hotel. As soon as the mayor stood up up to say his first words, a guy in the back with a loud voice got up and started talking over him, and lectured the mayor for an uncomfortably long time, a guest told the Chronicle.

Others in the back appeared to be part of the protest, and supporters attempted to drown out their cries with applause. In the end, the Mayor was forced to wait for security to make them leave. According to a spokesperson for him, the Mayor made an effort to address every one of their concerns and was unfazed by the interruption. Equipto and the two others who were arrested at the Fairmont said they had purchased tickets for a total of $460 to enter the event.

The root of the protestors anger was again Mario Woods' death, a subject on which Lee was mostly silent and through which he seemed to support SFPD chief Suhr. That is, until recently calling the police shooting "horrifying" and a "firing squad."

Nevertheless, Lee's seeming complacence has gotten him heckled now three times at speeches. Keeping track, that's his inauguration, at which he was drowned out by boos and calls to fire Chief Suhr, and at that MLK event last month.

Equipto first confronted Lee on camera in a coffee shop last October, months before Woods' death, calling the mayor a "disgrace to Asians" and deriding his policies around housing, prior to the November election. Ed Lee is, of course, the first Asian-American mayor of San Francisco.



Previously: [Update] Video: Mayor Lee Shouted Off Stage By Protesters At MLK Day Event
Listen up fans of Pirate's Booty and Charles Shaw, Trader Joe's may be in the process of a downtown expansion. The grocery store chain reportedly has its eyes on a spot at 4th Street just off Market, and has made official moves to determine what city permits would be required to open up such a store.

So reports Hoodline, which notes that the address of 10 4th Street listed in the requested project review corresponds to the vacant storefront pictured above. The publication reached out to Trader Joe's, who has not returned their requests for detail.

The downtown storefront, should it ever become a Trader Joe's, would likely compete with the Whole Foods down the street on 4th just shy of Harrison.

San Francisco, it seems, may be hungry for another TJ's. In fact, just last summer the 200-page Castro Retail Strategy report specifically recommended that the Southern California-based chain move into the neighborhood. This recommendation was in spite of the fact that the company had already spiked plans to move to the Castro in 2011.

The potential new 4th Street location, downtown and in area that is particularly hard for private automobile traffic to negotiate, would perhaps mark a departure for the company that has highlighted the importance of easy car access for their business. When the grocery store backed out of plans to open the Castro location way back when, Supervisor Wiener highlighted this very point.

"After two years of on-again-off-again consideration of the site," wrote the Supervisor on Facebook, "Trader Joe's decided that the location was not going to work for its business model, one that is fairly reliant on automobile visits."

So has Trader Joe's as a whole become less reliant on car-driving customers, or would a potential 4th Street store represent some new kind of TJ's that is designed with the pedestrian in mind (think TargetExpress). Either way, if it sells cheap wine, we're sure it will do just fine.

Related: Trader Joe's Opens Today In Nob Hill [Updated]
[Updated 06/03/2021] San Francisco real estate is - as I'm pretty sure the saying goes - an enigma burried in a mystery wrapped in a tortilla. When you are outbid by an all-cash offer that's more than $1 million over list price, you will understand the above metaphor as well I do. And, like every field, there are superstar real estate agents and then there are those infamous realtors who have managed to cast a negative light on the whole business. Nobody should have to go through a house search with an agent who is simply interested in making a quick buck, so SFist has assembled the top agents below. Why is this list free? Are you an agent in SF with a great track record? Click here!

Nick Chen

Featured SF Coldwell Banker Real Estate Agent

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Nick Chen, a San Francisco native who grew up in Pacific Heights, can offer unique insights into the hyper-local, neighborhood-by-neighborhood real estate markets of SF. In fact, over his 30+ year stint in the community, Nick has personally lived in every quadrant of The City - as well as regions of Marin and Sonoma - giving him extremely personal expertise & understanding wherever you may be looking to buy or sale. Over his career in real estate, Nick has been involved with flipping his own properties, property management, remodels, buying, and selling. Nick specializes in working with both homeowners who are thinking about moving to a new property, as well as residential buyers looking for their dream house or condo.

Lance King

Featured King Realty Broker / Agent

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Lance King has been in the real estate business for over 15 years and has lived in San Francisco for around 30 years. Today, Lance is the founder and managing broker of King Realty. He has also already founded and managed two other successful businesses, and his latest enterprise, King Realty, has evolved into a thriving Bay Area brokerage. Lance King is one of San Francisco's best residential real estate service providers - not just because of his attention to his customers' specific needs, but also because of his experience in building construction and development projects. King can assist buyers in finding the ideal house and can provide detailed information on house improvements for fixer-uppers.

Miriam Wells

Featured SF Realtor At Sotheby's International

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Miriam Wells is a tenacious negotiator who works tirelessly on behalf of her clients to achieve their real estate goals. Raised in Marin County and San Francisco, Miriam possesses in-depth market knowledge and extensive networks on both sides of the Golden Gate Bridge. A former professional journalist, Miriam holds a Masters degree from Columbia University. She leverages her expertise in digital and social media to position her clients for success in the fiercely competitive Bay Area real estate market. Miriam is driven by her journalistic values of ethics and integrity and always puts her clients needs first.

Aviva Kamler, a fifth generation San Franciscan with extensive market knowledge and skill in digital marketing and real estate technology, works with buyers and sellers to achieve their real estate objectives in one of the world's most complicated, yet successful, real estate markets. Aviva uses her unique resources, access to local, national, and worldwide contacts, and Sotheby's marketing prowess to assist each of her clients in navigating the San Francisco Bay Area real estate market.

As one of the founding members of Compass in San Francisco, Neal Ward generally only manages the most expensive listings in San Francisco. For roughly three decades, discerning clientele have sought out Neal to assist them with the purchase and sale of some of the San Francisco Bay Area's best houses, including many of the highest value properties that you may have ever seen. Neal emphasizes that each customer is treated as if he or she is his sole customer - each listing handled with the utmost care and greatest attention to detail. Neal is known throughout SF's real estate industry for his integrity, stand-up reputation, and consistency as a top producing agent in the city for the longevity of his career. Neal has managed roughly $500 million in listings and transactions here in SF and was among the top 25 agents nationwide - the #1 in production in San Francisco.

Craig Ackerman

Leading Ackerman Realty Broker / Agent

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Craig Ackerman got his start in real estate assisting his father by stripping drywall and banging nails as a youth. With a contractor's license under his belt, he supported his father in the purchase, renovation, and sale of real estate. Craig has seen firsthand how simple modifications can transform a property and increase its value. He's been using that expertise, as well as a decade of record-breaking success in corporate sales and marketing, to his work with discriminating Bay Area home buyers and sellers since 1999. Craig built Ackerman Realty to outperform, and sales are regularly in the top 2% of all San Francisco Realtors. He has a strong eye for recognizing cost-effective upgrades that increase the value of a house.

Jennifer Rosdail

Featured SF Keller Williams Real Estate Agent

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Jennifer Rosdail is a well-known San Francisco real estate agent. Jennifer is not just in the top 1% of SF realtors, but she has previously been in the top 10 agents in the city based on the amount of transactions done in a year. Jennifer has a slew of other impressive statistics to back up her performance in Bay Area real estate, but it is what her customers have to say about her that has earned her a position on our list. With 5 star reviews from Yelp!, Google, Zillow, and others, you'd be hard pushed to find a buyer or seller who didn't have a positive experience with Jennifer.

Doug & Eddy are a full-service, community-based real estate firm that sets the standard for real estate in the Bay Area. This dynamic combination blends their abilities and expertise flawlessly, surpassing expectations at every turn due to their unwavering commitment to their clients, their ethics, and their professionalism. Doug's decades of expertise in the San Francisco real estate sector, along with Eddy's vast background in digital marketing and consumer behavior, enable them to provide customers a comprehensive and customized experience from beginning to end.

Patrick Lam

#3 of 21 Top-Notch Real Estate Services in SF

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Patrick Lam has received numerous accolades and recognitions over his distinguished real estate career. Patrick was the top producer for Century 21 in Northern California for three years in a row, has been recognized as one of the top ten agents in the country, and is a member of the Top Agent Network, which previously verified that he is in the top 10% in San Francisco and San Mateo. Patrick assists in making the selling process as simple as possible, especially when dealing with intricate situations including trusts or numerous intermediaries. He is recognized for going above and above for his clientele, many of whom return in the future when they want other real estate services.

Anthony Navarro

#4 of 21 Best Real Estate Agents in SF

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Anthony Navarro's intuitive yet data-driven approach has garnered him several awards, including the Best of HomeLight Award 2018, which placed him in the top 5% of agents nationwide. He was dubbed a HomeLight Elite Agent in 2020, which is only given to the top 1% of agents in the country. This certification allows his sellers to trade in their homes when upgrading or downsizing, and it provides his buyers additional negotiating leverage by allowing them to make all-cash bids. Always an early adopter who keeps ahead of the curve, Anthony has also teamed with Harcourt's Auctions, an exceptional auction firm for non-distressed houses that claims a 31% greater success rate and 6-8% higher prices than the MLS.

Andrea Swetland

#5 of 21 Leading SF Real Estate Agents

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Andrea has been a pioneer in the highly competitive SF Bay Area residential real estate market since she became an agent in 1993. She is currently ranked in the top 1% of area agents. Andrea is a Certified Residential Specialist noted for her in-depth market knowledge, aggressive pursuit of possibilities, and individual service. Andrea is pleased that the majority of her sales are from returning customers or recommendations. Andrea, a native San Franciscan, has a unique perspective on local trends and market conditions. Andrea's strong reputation and long-standing ties with other brokers provide her customers a distinct advantage when it comes to finding their dream home.

Todd Wiley

#6 of 21 Top-Notch Realtors in San Francisco

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Todd Wiley, a resident of the Bay Area, has had a lifetime love affair with San Francisco, which he considers to be the best city in America. Todd opted to pursue a career in real estate in 2004 after completing SF State and spent his post-college years in software and business services professions. His decision was motivated by his love for the City by the Bay. Todd has built a solid reputation as a terrific communicator, strong negotiator, and a man of his word in both personal and commercial matters. Todd considers his customers' demands to be his own, and he is a firm believer in creating realistic objectives.

Jessie Lee

#7 of 21 Best Real Estate Services in SF

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Jessie Lee, who was raised in Korea by real estate investors, is an award-winning realtor who ranks in the top 1% of Bay Area real estate agents. Anyone who has dealt with Jessie knows she is tenacious and has strong negotiating skills. She is well-informed, well-connected, and has been a top earner at her brokerage since 2010. Jessie focuses on high-rise condominiums, urban lofts, corporate and personal investments, multi-family apartments, and single-family houses. She has developed valuable customer connections over the years, which have helped her business grow through recommendations.

Jessica Branson

#8 of 21 Best SF Real Estate Agents

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Jessica Branson, a top 20 San Francisco agent, is passionate about real estate, a business shark, and has an impeccable reputation. She began her career in journalism but has since evolved into a real estate juggernaut, securing hundreds of millions of dollars in concluded transactions for her clients. As a result, she is consistently ranked in the top 1% of San Francisco Realtors. Jessica's sales figures are unrivaled, and her selective clientele  ranging from famous singers to company founders to law firm partners  frequently sing her praises.

Anna G. Spathis and her husband Dennis Stavropoulos work together in real estate. Dennis is a key figure in the San Francisco luxury real estate market. As a real estate agent, developer, and designer of luxury residences, he constantly sets yearly sales price and volume records. Anna finds her customers' exact objectives and goals through in-depth interactions and discussions with them and passionately pursues them, utilizing her business knowledge, smart negotiation abilities, and marketing abilities. Her considerable knowledge as a developer and designer provides the procurement and sales process with extra value.

William Freeman

#10 of 21 Top-Notch Real Estate Agents in SF

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William Freeman is a full-service realtor in San Francisco who is passionate about real estate and people. For all transactions, William brings each customer with the greatest professional standards. The care each customer deserves is offered. William has experience in all facets of home sales, and is a certified real estate specialist. William is distinguished by innovative marketing methods, ethical standards and exceptional negotiation abilities. William's expertise as an agent and previous mortgage lender leads to innovative solutions when single deals emerge. You may be confident that you will obtain results based on experience and the greatest platform in the business.

Daryll and Neil are the Canlas Brothers real estate group's co-founders. They were both born in San Francisco and have been certified realtors in California since 2006. Neil is renowned as the agent of choice in San Francisco's premium market, having been trusted by discriminating clients to exercise discretion and produce results. He constantly puts his customers' interests first and works tirelessly to make his customers' real estate aspirations a reality. Daryll will provide a unique mixture of skills to get you the best bargain possible, owing to his significant history in real estate investing and marketing tactics. He brings negotiating and investing techniques to the table.

Dino Zuzic

#12 of 21 Leading Realtors in San Francisco

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Dino Zuzic, a second-generation real estate agent in San Francisco, specializes in residential and multi-unit transactions. Dino adapts his efforts to each client - whether Buyer, Seller, or Investor - in order to assist in meeting their unique real estate goals and has been engaged in over 200 real estate transactions totaling over $400,000,000. Dino and his team are knowledgeable on tenant/landlord issues, building codes, innovative financing, and the myriad subtleties that come with purchasing and selling property. You can be confident that you will receive unrivaled experience, managed solutions to any difficulties that may occur, and direction that is aligned with your best interests.

Cynthia Cummins

#13 of 21 Top-Notch Real Estate Services in SF

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Our primary sanctuary is our home. It is also our primary means of accumulating riches. As the founder and owner of Kindred SF Homes, Cynthia Cummins is guided by these dual values. As a counselor, economist, and strategist, Cynthia brings extensive knowledge, experience, and responsiveness to her work, which she has refined over three decades of service to homeowners in San Francisco and the Bay Area. Cynthia is a top-tier Realtor that achieves excellent outcomes for clients, but what truly distinguishes her is a calm, focused approach that makes the process stress-free and gratifying. Cynthia provides insight and carefully advises clients to ensure that they make wise, conscious decisions in the midst of what might overwise be the most stressful transaction of their lives.

C.M. Foo

#14 of 21 Top SF Real Estate Agents

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CM has been in love with real estate since purchasing his first home in 1988. He got his real estate license in 1991 and started investing in San Francisco real estate while working full-time in Silicon Valley. It was only natural for CM to pursue his interest in real estate after retiring from a fulfilling high-tech profession in 2005. CM has represented hundreds of buyers and sellers over the last 15 years. CM's success as a perennial top producer can only be attributable to his enthusiasm for real estate and devotion to his clients. Whether you are selling a $1 million apartment or purchasing a $10 million house, CM has the knowledge and talents to make every transaction a pleasurable and gratifying experience.

Ron Abta

#15 of 21 Leading Realtors in San Francisco

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In terms of sales volume, Ron Abta is consistently ranked among the top ten agents in San Francisco. He has closed over a billion dollars in deals, representing over 700 completed deals for both buyers and sellers. He adds great sales, marketing, and negotiating abilities to every deal and always prioritizes his clients. Ron hails from a real estate family, with his mother a developer and his father a mortgage broker. He is skilled in improving or modifying properties on behalf of his clients, either to increase the value of their properties before to sale or just for his clients' enjoyment and usage after the sale.

Vicki Valandra

#16 of 21 Top-Notch Real Estate Services in SF

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Vicki Valandra, a Top 1 percent San Francisco Realtor, likes assisting her customers through the sometimes-complex process of purchasing and selling houses. Vicki is a highly successful agent who made the Top Producer list in her first year in the industry. Vicki has also reached the Top Producer list every year since then, and she was recently voted Zephyr's #3 Top Producing Agent. Vicki cultivates trusting connections with her clients while getting the work done. Vicki's dedication to her clients is evidenced by the fact that more than 90% of her business is repeat business or recommendations from current clients. Vicki has a Stanford MBA and excellent analytical and negotiating abilities.

Amy Clemens

#17 of 21 Best Real Estate Agents in SF

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Amy Clemens is widely regarded as one of San Francisco's most dependable and experienced real estate professionals. Amy has been a committed professional since 1998, mastering the complexity of real estate contracts and negotiations from the ground up. Amy has successfully guided her clients through the volatile San Francisco real estate market, even during the most uncertain economic circumstances. Pacific Edge Real Estate is consistently placed in the top 1% of San Francisco teams and has finalized hundreds of deals totaling more than $400 million under her guidance.

Dona Crowder

#18 of 21 Leading SF Real Estate Agents

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Dona Crowder worked as an Assistant Manager from 2010 to 2015, and she is now a senior broker associate with Coldwell Banker Pacific Heights. She formerly worked as a senior marketing broker for Pacific Union Christies International. Her experience ranges from basic residential sales to estates and luxury residences, as well as development prospects. She adds over 35 years of expertise to her job as a regular Top Producer, having managed her family's real estate business for 20 years. She has sold some of the most expensive luxury properties ever sold in San Francisco, including modern sleek high rises and classic cooperatives, as well as historic stately houses, neighborhood designer treasures, and new home developments.

Paula Y. Rose is a San Francisco native who has sold approximately $200 million in real estate throughout the course of her career. She owes her success to her innate ability to understand her customers' requirements, allowing her to assist them in achieving their real estate goals and effectively completing deals. Paula can handle any circumstance, whether it's a buyer's or seller's market. She is resourceful and tenacious, and she has service provider relationships all around the business to help her overcome any obstacles. Throughout her career, she has been a top producer, and she has served on a special committee for the San Francisco Association of Realtors for many years.

Amanda Jones

#20 of 21 Best Real Estate Services in SF

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Amanda is one of the top 1% of Realtors in San Francisco, working with both buyers and sellers to achieve better-than-average outcomes. She understands what it takes to be successful in this very competitive profession and applies that knowledge to each client's unique circumstances. Amanda and her team have extensive expertise in all aspects of real estate, including new construction projects, single-family houses, and condominiums, as well as tenancies in common and multi-unit apartment complexes around San Francisco. Amanda is the epitome of a hands-on Realtor. She gets involved early in every project and does everything she can to relieve her clients' stress.

Nina Hatvany

#21 of 21 Best SF Real Estate Agents

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Nina Hatvany has over 30 years of expertise and has represented clients in over $3.5 billion in sales transactions. Her comprehensive understanding of all facets of San Francisco real estate is simply unparalleled. Nina has been named the top individual agent in San Francisco on multiple occasions, and she was named in the Wall Street Journal as one of the top 35 sales agents by volume nationwide across all firms from 2009 to 2015, reaching as high as #9 during that time period. Nina founded Team Hatvany in 2016 with her family of attorneys and East Coast real estate agents. They reflect all property kinds and price points in San Francisco as a whole.

 Are you one of San Francisco's great real estate agents, but you aren't listed here? Let SFist's team review your Featured Real Estate Agent submission! 

WHY THIS LIST IS FREE TO USE

The above list includes real estate agents that SFist believes actively provides superior services. In some cases, they are among the most successful teams in San Francisco. In some cases, variable, sponsorship listing fees effect the ranking position of the agents - labeled as "Featured," but every one could be considered as a strong contender among the top realtors in San Francisco. To learn more about SFist's classifieds listings read more here.

SFist / Best of San Francisco / Best SF Real Estate Agents
Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo may be the greatest movie of all time. It wouldn't be in that conversation without great acting performances by Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak, and a sumptuous score by Hollywood composer Bernard Herrmann. It's a soundtrack so haunting, so beautiful that the SF Symphony will perform it live this Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., with the movie projected above the stage. In addition, at 7 p.m. both nights there will be a pre-performance Q&A with Novak, who is flying down from Oregon where she retired from acting to devote herself to painting.

Bernard Herrmann's scores are everywhere, he wrote music for Citizen Kane and Taxi Driver, among others. But he reached iconic status with Alfred Hitchcock: You can hear the violin screams of Psycho in your head right now, can't you? For Vertigo, Herrmann wrote a lush romantic score, with a Wagnerian love theme which borrows the delayed chord resolution of Tristan and Isolde to coincide with Kim Novak appearing, transformed, before Stewart. Conductor Joshua Gersen will make sure the orchestra and movie reach their apex at the exact same time. We chatted with Kim Novak ahead of her appearance in San Francisco.

Did you have any idea of the music as you were shooting the movie?

You know, Alfred Hitchcock met a lot with Bernard Herrmann. He knew exactly what it was going to sound like. He was very aware of every aspect of what the film was going to look like, sound like. He thought out everything in advance and planned on it. We didn't know what it was going to be like. Everybody that knew him knew he had all that figured out in advance, because of the way he worked.

For instance, the scene in the staircase going up in the bell tower, he worked that with a metronome, believe or not. The dialogue had a certain pace and rhythm to it. I'm sure he had worked it out musically as well, so it had the rhythm. Bernard Herrmann at the same time watched that scene as we did that. He had in his mind the rhythm for that scene. Knowing that he did, you had the confidence the whole thing had a feeling to it musically, because you were aware of the music, you had a sense it was orchestrated. Everything by Alfred Hitchcock was orchestrated.

He tried as much as he could to keep a rhythm in the whole piece. The way he blocked out, you could see these large cardboard worksheets he drew out. It was all blocked out for him. You'd be on the set, and see the worksheets of the set. You would see all the bits and pieces that were prepared before you were actually there. It was like looking at a map that was plotted before you got there. You saw where it was going. You never did that in other movies. Other directors did not have that map in front of them.

I found that so fascinating, he was the only director I've worked with he who worked with his map. It was very important that you follow his map. By the same token, I'm sure he did that with Bernard Herrmann as well. He also allowed you, all the artists involved, whether Bernard Herrmann or the actors, he would allow them to bring their own interpretation. You were allowed to go your own speed, slow down or speed up, you interpretation could adapt to it, but you still had a map to follow. And I loved that, it was a wonderful thing. He brought in the people who could bring these colors to it.

Did you know Bernard Herrmann personally, you said he was on the set?

On rehearsals, he would come and visit. We met him. I didn't know him other than meeting him there. He intensely watched as we performed. I would have liked to know him better indeed. He was part of the making off the film, part of the make-up of the motion picture.

In the kiss scene, the embrace seems rather cold by today's movie standards, but the music makes it very passionate and sexy. Do you feel that way?

The scene was very strong. He wanted to build the passion that was felt, and make it very strong as far of the colors of the characters, and establish the music for both characters. There was a strong identification musically in bringing them together. We didn't know how he was going to do that until we saw the film. But we saw how much he was planning for that, how much he met with Bernard Herrmann. I was more aware of what he was doing with the camera. Musically, it was, oh my God, it was a great surprise to me and for Jimmy too, when we saw the film, how wonderful they did musically. I got to see the symphony orchestra in Toronto and it just gave me goosebumps to see that music live. It's going to be such a thrill to hear the SF orchestra. I'm going to be there, and do a Q&A on stage.

When the movie The Artist used the Vertigo music, you condemned their use of the music. Why is it important to you?

I was upset, for one thing, it was a wonderful movie. Why do they need to use it? Why borrow somebody else's music, why not use their own? There is a pride of ownership for Vertigo's music. For one thing, it's the love theme, it's my love theme, you know, I was hurt! They didn't need to, I was offended. I felt very bad about it.

What they were doing was borrowing the feelings of that scene, all of the sudden the passion that happened in that scene, using emotions that was arose in a scene by Jimmy Stewart and myself. Hitchcock worked up to that scene. They had their own emotions, they didn't need that. Why steal it from us? You don't want at that moment to think suddenly about our love scene. I love that movie. All of sudden, to hear my theme, it hurt. It felt like a rape. I was raped as a girl. It felt distasteful to me.

You are retired from movies, what keeps you busy nowadays?

I'm an artist, I paint, you can check out my website at www.kimnovakartist.com, I'm a visual artist, I'm a wonderful artist. I would never give up the arts. I can express myself completely as I feel it. I don't have to use someone else's interpretation. I express completely what I feel about what I'm painting. As I go to the SF Symphony hall, I'll bring a picture I made about Vertigo. It's called Vortex of Delusion. It's a picture of Alfred Hitchcock, Jimmy Stewart and myself and the Golden Gate Bridge. I'm displaying it in the Symphony hall. I was influenced by Hitchcock in my art, I do rather surrealistic art, there is a lot of mystery in my paintings.
About this blog

The original idea of this blog is to point A-level politics students in the direction of UK and US political stories that will help support their A-level studies. I am reviving it in November 2021 for that purpose. There is, admittedly, a little meandering as well.
This Blog brings Archivists, Museum Specialists, and Librarians around the Smithsonian to write about their new collections, current works in progress or whatever catches their eye. It is our goal to bring our readers collection highlights, unveil hidden collections as they become online, and relate to current events with historical artifacts, art work and research materials from the past. We encourage conversation, questions, and comments.
Efficiency is one thing I admire about Singapore and its people. Ive seen it everywhere: at the hospital, at the train, at school and at work. I imagine rows of desks documenting processes and procedures for a whole lot of scenarios and possibilities.At work, we have a term for clients who are overly bureaucratic  wed say theyre. Well-defined processes are good but can sometimes be stifling. Experience teaches us that efficiency doesnt always mean effectiveness. I keep coming back to a project we did a few years ago as an example. The client, a huge bank, had outsourced its IT operations to one of the Big Boys. The Big Boys were huge on processes and often used bureaucracy to their advantage but to the detriment of the project. A job that could be done in 15 minutes took 65 hours just because the process gave them the leeway of one to three days to take action on a request.On that same project, where about seven vendors were collaborating, it was the Big Boys who refused to lift a finger if something was not explicitly stated in their Scope of Work (SOW) even though the rest of the team was trying to find a solution and were willing to go the extra mile, and even if the client was actually prepared to pay extra if necessary. Instead of welcoming the possibility of more business, the Big Boys were constantly slamming the door at the face of the client.I have another example of how processes can sometimes cause anxiety to the ones meant to benefit from them, especially if the big picture is not clear to the everyone involved. Say youre moving houses and need to update the address on your NRIC (National Registration Identity Card). To make the example more specific, say youre moving from Pasir Ris to Sengkang. You surmise that the best way to go about the address change in your NRIC is to head to the Sengkang Neighborhood Police Center. There you meet Ramjoo, a policeman whos attentive enough to ask you what you need. After stating your case, he asks you to hand him all the necessary supporting documents. He takes a look at the ICs and goes over the tenancy agreement. After flipping the pages a few times, he asks you where the list of occupants is, which he says is supposed to be part of the tenancy agreement. You realize you dont have it and quickly apologize. Ramjoo tells you he can only update the IC of your husband because only his name is mentioned in the document. You try to plead your case by politely explaining that youre a family and gently pointing out the same surnames in your IC as proof of that, but its not good enough for Ramjoo, whos already shaking his head. You try to explain that its only logical that a husband, wife and an only child would live together under a single roof, but are quickly met with more unrelenting, dismissive shaking of the head. Never mind that you brought along your passports, marriage certificate and your sons birth certificate. Whats not written explicitly in the process manual cant be considered. You finally realize the futility of the situation and simply agree with the alternative.As Ramjoo explains what will happen, you argue with yourself about the validity of your logic. You convince yourself that there is indeed the slight possibility that a family of three would live in separate houses, no matter how unlikely that sounded. Then you begin to think that maybe its a problem with the heart, that people are maybe trained to follow processes, not to be considerate or to excel in customer service. Maybe thats why Ramjoo isnt very accommodating. Maybe thats why Ramjoo doesnt waste any second trying to flash a smile. And then suddenly, the word service triggers something in your head  maybe the police motto is, in that strict order. But then, a quick few glances here and there shows you exactly what you need  you read that the mission of the police is. After a few more minutes of rumination, you successfully convince yourself that whatever transpired was probably best for your own protection, that Ramjoos job is not to make you happy but to protect the citizens and residents of the state.You say to yourself that its not a very bad day after all as you walk out of the police center and into the outside world under the bright blue sky where all hope is certainly not lost.

Labels: processes, singapore
SPEARFISH, S.D. | The non-trophy bison hunting season is underway at Custer State Park.

Though it typically takes place in the fall during the annual Buffalo Roundup, this year's non-trophy season began Jan. 25.

The non-trophy hunt is meant to remove excess cows and bulls from the herd. The cows are selected on fertility and average 1,000 pounds, while the bulls primarily are 2 years old and average about 950 pounds.

A non-trophy bull permit costs $2,256, and a cow permit costs $1,756. Permits are available to South Dakota residents and people from outside the state.

There are 15 non-trophy bull and 10 cow permit holders this season. Each of them gets to keep the meat, head and hide of the bison they kill.

Gary and Cole Blom, a father and son from Yankton, were the first permit holders to take a shot this season, guided by a buffalo herd manager at the park, the Black Hills Pioneer reported. They were taking the meat back to Yankton to be processed, and planned to send the hides to Michigan for tanning.

The non-trophy bison season is scheduled to go through March 11.

Trophy bison hunts are a management tool to remove the oldest breeding bulls from the herd. Those hunts typically are limited to bulls over 10 years old and about 2,000 pounds.

A trophy bull permit costs $5,000. The number of trophy licenses has dropped from 10 to eight over the last couple of years because the older bulls can have a fairly high mortality rate after the summer rut from injuries, meaning fewer are necessary to cull.
The commander in chief is the epitome of power and grace, so its only natural that parents throughout history have been inspired to name their little ones after the presidents of their time.

Using data from the Social Security Administration, MooseRoots studied the names of each president since 1880 to explore the impact of presidents' names on nationwide naming trends.

By comparing the average frequency per one million babies of a presidential name in the four years before his inauguration and during his term, MooseRoots uncovered a patriotic pattern: The nations commander-in-chief is responsible for popularizing uncommon names, such as Barack and Woodrow, but leaves little mark on already common names.

We sorted 23 U.S. presidents from most negative to most positive impact on baby names during their command. Perhaps these notable presidents will provide name inspiration for soon-to-be parents right in time for Presidents Day. Current name rank and popularity data is also provided.

Note: The names William and George repeat to reflect changes in popularity during William McKinley and William Howard Taft, and George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush's presidencies, respectively. Presidents before 1880 are omitted because the U.S. Social Security Administration does not report data before that year.

#23. Ronald

Percent Change in Popularity: -26.96%

Average Frequency per Million During the Four Years Before Presidency: 3,383

Average Frequency per Million During Presidency: 2,471

President: Ronald Reagan

Years in Office: 1981-1989

Ronald was most prevalent in the 1940s, when it was the ninth most common male name nationwide. It has been on the decline over the past decade, however, ranking No. 397 in 2014, with 780 male newborns named Ronald.

#22. Gerald

Percent Change in Popularity: -24.29%

Average Frequency per Million During the Four Years Before Presidency: 1,941

Average Frequency per Million During Presidency: 1,469

President: Gerald Ford

Years in Office: 1974-1977

Gerald reached its peak in 1939 as the 19th most popular name, but has since experienced a significant decline: In 2014, Gerald ranked only No. 816, with 275 baby boys given the name.

#21. Richard

Percent Change in Popularity: -21.99%

Average Frequency per Million During the Four Years Before Presidency: 19,163

Average Frequency per Million During Presidency: 14,949

President: Richard Nixon

Years in Office: 1969-1974

The name Richard boasts a long history in the U.S., but has experienced a significant decline over the past 10 years. From its peak in the 1930s when it ranked No. 5 nationwide, Richard has fallen to No. 141 today, with only 2,857 baby boys given the name in 2014.

#20. Jimmy

Percent Change in Popularity: -16.37%

Average Frequency per Million During the Four Years Before Presidency: 1,611

Average Frequency per Million During Presidency: 1,347

President: Jimmy Carter

Years in Office: 1977-1981

Though the pet form of James or Jim is currently on the decline in the U.S., it was recognized in the 1940s as the 44th most common name nationally. Jimmy reached peak popularity in 1945 when it ranked No. 41. In 2014, the name ranked No. 523  quite the fall from ubiquity.

#19. Harry

Percent Change in Popularity: -14.56%

Average Frequency per Million During the Four Years Before Presidency: 3,729

Average Frequency per Million During Presidency: 3,186

President: Harry S. Truman

Years in Office: 1945-1953

Harry hit its peak in the 1890s when it was the 10th most common name in the U.S. Over the past decade, it has experienced a significant decline in popularity, ranking No. 714 in the U.S. in 2014.

#18. George

Percent Change in Popularity: -12.34%

Average Frequency per Million During the Four Years Before Presidency: 1,553

Average Frequency per Million During Presidency: 1,361

President: George W. Bush

Years in Office: 2001-2009

This Old French and Latin name means "earth; farmer." The name, borne by early saints and monarchs was also the name of the first U.S. president George Washington, who is not part of this list.

#17. Bill

Percent Change in Popularity: -9.41%

Average Frequency per Million During the Four Years Before Presidency: 62

Average Frequency per Million During Presidency: 56

President: Bill Clinton

Years in Office: 1993-2001

This nickname for William was not commonly used until the 19th century. Only 46 newborns in 2014 received the name in the U.S., ranking it at No. 2,605.

During President Clinton's tenure, the name became less popular among parents by nearly 10 percent.

#16. Dwight

Percent Change in Popularity: -7.78%

Average Frequency per Million During the Four Years Before Presidency: 1,061

Average Frequency per Million During Presidency: 978

President: Dwight D. Eisenhower

Years in Office: 1953-1961

The name Dwight surged in popularity after World War II, as a nod to American general and eventual President Dwight D. Eisenhower. It peaked during his presidency in the 1950s, ranking No. 147. Over the last decade, however, the name dropped to No. 1,334 in 2014, with just 129 baby boys given the name.

#15. William

Percent Change in Popularity: -6.21%

Average Frequency per Million During the Four Years Before Presidency: 58,848

Average Frequency per Million During Presidency: 55,196

President: William McKinley

Years in Office: 1897-1901

The name William is widespread in the U.S. and means desire, helmet, protection, will. During the past decade it has seen steady popularity, ranking No. 5 in 2014, with 16,687 baby boys given the name.

William was most prevalent during the 1880s, when it was the second most common name for male newborns in America. By the time President William McKinley entered office, the name had dropped a bit in popularity.

#14. George

Percent Change in Popularity: -6.07%

Average Frequency per Million During the Four Years Before Presidency: 2,229

Average Frequency per Million During Presidency: 2,093

President: George H.W. Bush

Years in Office: 1989-1993

In 2014, a total of 2,988 male newborns in the U.S. carried the name George, earning it the rank of No. 134. Though it has experienced a decline over the past decade, it was the fourth most popular male baby name it the 1880s.

#13. William

Percent Change in Popularity: -2.90%

Average Frequency per Million During the Four Years Before Presidency: 44,929

Average Frequency per Million During Presidency: 43,628

President: William Howard Taft

Years in Office: 1909-1913

William has a long legacy of use in the U.S. and remains ubiquitous, ranking No. 5 and boasting a total of 16,687 baby boys with the name in 2014. It was at its most popular, however, in the 1880s when it was the second most common name nationwide.

William's decline in popularity during President McKinley's command continued, but to a lesser degree, during President Taft's tenure.

#12. John

Percent Change in Popularity: 4.19%

Average Frequency per Million During the Four Years Before Presidency: 36,036

Average Frequency per Million During Presidency: 37,546

President: John F. Kennedy

Years in Office: 1961-1963

John is a contracted form of the Hebrew name Johanan, meaning God is gracious, and is historically one of the most widely held Christian names.

During the 1880s, it was the single most popular name for baby boys in the U.S. Over the past decade, however, its fallen from its top status, ranking No. 26 in 2014, with 10,600 baby boys given the name.

#11. Benjamin

Percent Change in Popularity: 4.68%

Average Frequency per Million During the Four Years Before Presidency: 4,558

Average Frequency per Million During Presidency: 4,771

President: Benjamin Harrison

Years in Office: 1889-1893

The name Benjamin has recently experienced a surge in popularity, ranking No. 12 in 2014, with a total of 13,687 baby boys in the U.S. receiving the name. The Biblical name, meaning year, has Bosnian and French roots.

#10. Herbert

Percent Change in Popularity: 8.15%

Average Frequency per Million During the Four Years Before Presidency: 4,120

Average Frequency per Million During Presidency: 4,455

President: Herbert Hoover

Years in Office: 1929-1933

Herbert experienced significant popularity in the 1900s when it boasted a rank of No. 36, but the name was at its pinnacle in 1929  the year he was elected president  when it ranked No. 25 nationwide. Today, the name remains obscure, ranking No. 1,936 in 2014 with just 74 baby boys given the name.

#9. Lyndon

Percent Change in Popularity: 24.71%

Average Frequency per Million During the Four Years Before Presidency: 94

Average Frequency per Million During Presidency: 117

President: Lyndon B. Johnson

Years in Office: 1963-1969

The most notable bearer of this Old English name Lyndon, meaning hill, lime tree, linden, was President Lyndon B. Johnson. The name reached peak popularity in the U.S. during the 1960s while he was president, when it had an average rank of 600. Its use has declined since then, but 146 male newborns still received the name Lyndon in 2014, earning it a rank of 1,235.

#8. Grover

Average Percent Change in Popularity: 26.38% (+94.20% in first term; -43.33% in second term)

Average Frequency per Million During the Four Years Before Presidency: 2,104 in first term; 2,047 in second term

Average Frequency per Million During Presidency: 4,086 in first term; 1,160 in second term

President: Grover Cleveland

Years in Office: 1885-1889; 1893-1897

Originally a local name for someone who lived near a group of trees, Grover grew in popularity during President Grover Cleveland's first term. However, while in his second term  which wasn't served consecutively  the name experienced a drop in popularity.

Today the name Grover rests in obscurity, ranking only No. 5,780 with just 15 male newborns receiving the name in 2014.

Calculation and data presentation varied due to the nature of President Grover Cleveland's terms, which weren't served consecutively.

#7. Barack

Percent Change in Popularity: 46.46%

Average Frequency per Million During the Four Years Before Presidency: 7

Average Frequency per Million During Presidency: 10

President: Barack Obama

Years in Office: 2009-present

Despite its presidential fame, the name Barack remains uncommon among baby boys. In 2014, it earned the rank of No. 7,071, with only 11 baby boys given the name out of more than 2 million born that year.

#6. Franklin

Percent Change in Popularity: 78.73%

Average Frequency per Million During the Four Years Before Presidency: 1,193

Average Frequency per Million During Presidency: 2,133

President: Franklin D. Roosevelt

Years in Office: 1933-1945

Franklin, a name meaning free, hit its peak while President Roosevelt was in office during the 1930s, when it had an average rank of 85. It enjoyed steady popularity over the last decade, ranking No. 453 in 2014 with 649 baby boys bearing the name.

#5. Chester

Percent Change in Popularity: 81.82%

Average Frequency per Million During the Four Years Before Presidency: 1,419

Average Frequency per Million During Presidency: 2,580

President: Chester Arthur

Years in Office: 1881-1885

Chester, meaning legionary camp, was most common during the 1910s when it had an average rank of 55. Over the past decade, it has become increasingly uncommon; just 83 baby boys named Chester in 2014, earning it the lowly rank of No. 1,782.

#4. Warren

Percent Change in Popularity: 109.32%

Average Frequency per Million During the Four Years Before Presidency: 1,963

Average Frequency per Million During Presidency: 4,108

President: Warren G. Harding

Years in Office: 1921-1923

Warren, meaning guard, is on the rise among male newborns, ranking No. 432 in 2014 with 693 babies carrying the name. However, its quite a fall from its pinnacle in 1921  the year President Harding was elected into office  when it earned the No. 24 rank.

#3. Theodore

Percent Change in Popularity: 122.54%

Average Frequency per Million During the Four Years Before Presidency: 2,181

Average Frequency per Million During Presidency: 4,854

President: Theodore Roosevelt

Years in Office: 1901-1909

Theodore, a name derived from the Greek name Theodoros, hit its peak during the prime of his presidency in 1904, when it was the 30th most common name for male newborns in the U.S. After years of steady decline, it has experienced a surge, ranking No. 126 in 2014 with 3,191 baby boys given the name.

#2. Calvin

Percent Change in Popularity: 193.48%

Average Frequency per Million During the Four Years Before Presidency: 770

Average Frequency per Million During Presidency: 2,258

President: Calvin Coolidge

Years in Office: 1923-1929

Originally a French surname meaning little bald one, Calvin has a legacy of use in the United States for baby boys. Most popular in the 1920s while he was president  when it ranked No. 91 on average that decade  the name has become increasingly common, ranking No. 182 in 2014.

#1. Woodrow

Percent Change in Popularity: 308.91%

Average Frequency per Million During the Four Years Before Presidency: 359

Average Frequency per Million During Presidency: 1,466

President: Woodrow Wilson

Years in Office: 1913-1921

Woodrow was originally a local name for someone who lived in a row of houses by a woods, but became popular as a given name after Wilsons rise to the White House. The name Woodrow peaked in 1913  the year he was elected president  when it was the 44th most common male baby name in the U.S. Today, however, it ranks No. 2,034, with only 57 babies bearing the name.
SIOUX CITY | Joey Alberts offered to pay for his victims' counseling and medical expenses. He apologized and said he was willing to undergo any therapy or treatment the judge felt appropriate.

His remorse was not enough to keep him out of prison.

District Judge Jeffrey Neary on Wednesday sentenced Alberts to seven years prison for impersonating a police officer, enticing young girls toward him and touching them.

"There are some offenses and some activities that take place that cry out for something more than a suspended sentence," Neary said.

Alberts, 31, Sioux City, pleaded guilty in Woodbury County District Court to enticing away a minor, indecent contact with a child and three counts of impersonating a public official. Ten other charges were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.

Alberts apologized to the victims and their families, none of whom were present in the courtroom.

"I made a big mistake, what I did to those victims. I messed up," Alberts said. "I know what I did was wrong to those girls."

Alberts was arrested in March 2014 after approaching girls on at least three occasions in 2012 and 2013 and telling them he was a police officer. Court documents said that in separate incidents, he inappropriately touched a 13-year-old girl, lifted up the shirt of another 13-year-old girl and tried to lure a 12-year-old and 13-year-old girl into his car in separate incidents.

Neary said the crimes could forever affect how the victims view police officers. It's the type of crime that "shakes us to our core," he said.

"These are the kind of things I can't imagine happening to a young girl or any child," Neary said.

Since the last incident on Oct. 20, 2013, Alberts has sought counseling, quit drinking and changed his life, said his attorney, Robert Pierson.

"I seriously believe he does not present a serious risk, substantial risk or minimal risk to others," Pierson said.
SIOUX CITY | The City Council wasn't entirely sold on Police Chief Doug Young's proposal on Wednesday to add two officers to the police department in fiscal 2017.

Young said the two officers, if approved, will be allocated to the police traffic unit. He called the department's current traffic enforcement "inconsistent." The request was made during the city's operating budget meeting at City Hall.

Council members Dan Moore and Rhonda Capron supported Young's proposal, citing a growing need to address public safety in Sioux City. Moore referenced the officer-involved shooting on Sunday. Isaiah Mothershed, 18, is charged with shooting Officer Ryan Moritz, a 13-year veteran of the department.

Moore said it was alarming that police shootings have become more common in Sioux City. The incident on Sunday was the third officer-involved shooting to occur in nearly three years. Officer Kevin McCormick was shot in April 2013, and Officer Jill Ohm was shot in October 2014.

"It frightens me," Moore said.

Adding two officers, Young said, will cost about $269,000. In total, the city's proposed fiscal 2017 police operating budget is $21 million. The proposal is higher than the approved fiscal 2016 police budget of $19.8 million. The police share is a portion of the citys total fiscal 2017 operating budget of $193.9 million, which is an increase from $180.1 million in fiscal 2016.

Capron said the city needs to be "proactive" and not "reactive" when making decisions to increase police personnel. The department has 123 officers. The two proposed hires would join an existing traffic police sergeant and officer.

Mayor Bob Scott and Councilman Keith Radig opposed the idea. Scott asked Young to transfer officers from its drug unit. Radig said he didn't see any noticeable changes to public safety given past additions to the department.

Councilman Pete Groetken, a former Sioux City police officer of nearly 38 years, did not say during the meeting whether he supported the proposed hires.

Young said he expects the City Council to make a formal decision on the two positions by the end of February.

"I feel confident that the council will do their due diligence, and I'll wait out the decision," Young said. "I think they're receptive of the idea."

NEW PORTABLE POLICE RADIOS, BODY CAMERAS

In other budget discussion Wednesday, Young said the police department is still exploring the purchase of 156 portable radios for police, fire and emergency first responders as part of its capital improvement budget. They would be compatible with future police body cameras.

Police Capt. Marti Reilly said the citys current Motorola radios, purchased in 2005, will no longer be supported by the company in 2018. Additional radio costs will include battery chargers, extra batteries, lapel mics, base stations and specialty microphones.

"The radios we're purchasing will be adaptable so we can use the body camera and microphone for the portable radios," Reilly said. "It's Bluetooth-enabled."

The police department has proposed to spend $2.5 million over two years to replace the radios for the citys police and fire departments. The radio costs will be about $1.5 million for police and about $953,000 for fire personnel.

As proposed, the total costs will be split between fiscal years 2017 and 2018. The first year will be paid with revenue from Sioux City traffic cameras.

In regard to property taxes, city officials said the proposed tax levy will not increase and will remain $16.11 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.

In a letter to the City Council, City Manager Bob Padmore said the increase to the overall operating budget was due to rising health insurance related costs, employee compensation and payroll costs due to an extra payroll period occurring in FY17.
DES MOINES | Coverage of autism services would be required in insurance plans offered by some large businesses under legislation that advanced Wednesday in the Iowa Senate.

The legislation would add required behavioral analysis coverage for autistic Iowans who are not already covered by Medicaid or the state employees health care plan, which covers autism services.

Maria Valdovinos, a certified behavioral analyst from Des Moines who teaches at Drake University, testified Wednesday at a subcommittee hearing at the Capitol that for autism patients, access to behavioral analysis services is necessary and so important.

Roughly 3,000 Iowans receive autism services through the state health insurance plan, a Department of Human Services official said at Wednesdays hearing.

A Human Services spokeswoman did not immediately know how many Iowans receive autism services through Medicaid, and a federal official deferred to the state.

Some Iowa children may receive autism services through a state-funded plan operated by Magellan, but only 11 are being served, a state official said.

The bill would attempt to fill any gaps left by those programs, although neither legislators nor lobbyists knew how many people the legislation would affect.

The mandate would apply to businesses with more than 50 employees.

Lobbyists for business and insurance groups that oppose the bill suggested it would not apply to large businesses that fund their own health insurance plans and are regulated by the federal government. But Iowa Sen. Brian Schoenjahn, D-Arlington, said he was not sure that is accurate and is seeking clarification.

A representative of the Iowa Association of Business and Industry said the legislation would require coverage for a small number of people but would be paid for by all employees.

Paula Dierenfeld, with the Iowa Federation of Insurers, said the organization has resisted including behavioral analysis coverage because its not a proven therapy.

Valdovinos and Threase Harms, a lobbyist speaking on behalf of the Epilepsy Foundation and Easter Seals Iowa, disagreed.

We have seen when coverage is provided that it does improve the quality of life of folks living with autism, Harms said.

Senate Democrats advanced the bill, which will be heard by the Senate Commerce Committee. A duplicate bill has been introduced in the House but has not yet received a hearing there.
PIERRE, S.D. | Education advocates plan to use an extra handful of days pressing lawmakers to support Gov. Dennis Daugaard's proposed half-cent sales tax hike for increasing teacher pay after House legislators postponed a vote Wednesday on the bill.

The chamber briefly took up the sales tax measure before a group of legislators used a procedural move to delay further consideration until next week. Spectators had packed the House chamber's upper gallery to watch the debate.

Momentum has been building to raise South Dakota's teacher pay, which a state task force studying education funding said is the lowest of the 50 states and District of Columbia.

Education organization representatives, members of the Daugaard administration and teachers sporting buttons decrying South Dakota's standing among other states spoke with lawmakers much of the day before the planned vote.

The bill faces a substantial political test in the House, before potentially treading an easier path through the Senate. It takes two-thirds support in each chamber to pass a tax hike.

Daugaard's office said he is "optimistic" about his proposal's chances. The governor stepped out of a meeting to talk with a group of teachers and advocates in the state Capitol rotunda, asking them to return next week if they can.

He told them not to give up.

"This just gives us more days to continue to take that message out, and so we'll be out in the communities this weekend talking to people," said Mary McCorkle, president of the South Dakota Education Association, a professional organization with more than 5,000 members.

Lorrie Esmay, superintendent at Jones County School District, said she plans to use the time to contact lawmakers and will return to the Capitol next week for the vote.

Her son, Jordan Esmay, is a teacher in Belle Fourche. Esmay said he used a personal day to be at the Capitol for the debate.

"Like normal, we don't see anything happen," Esmay said.

Republican Rep. Jim Stalzer, who made the procedural motion, said he wanted more time to digest proposed amendments to the legislation. Stalzer said he supports an increase for teachers, but not necessarily a tax increase.

Tony Venhuizen, the governor's chief of staff, said the administration sees the delay as a sign that opponents "know that they don't have the votes to kill it."

Meanwhile, Americans for Prosperity South Dakota State Director Ben Lee said in a statement that lawmakers should use the time to figure out how to reprioritize existing funding for teacher pay rather than raising taxes.

Republican Daugaard's 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.

South Dakota's average teacher salary of $40,023 in 2013-2014 lagged an average of six states that border it by $11,888 a year and was $8,643 behind the next lowest neighbor, North Dakota, the state task force found.

About $62.4 million from the sales tax hike would go toward teacher salaries and about $40 million would go to property tax relief, according to the governor's office.

House Republican leader Brian Gosch is pursuing a teacher pay hike without increasing taxes.

"I think it would have been really close, one way or the other," he said of the vote.
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Constant Contact, a company known for providing email marketing services for small businesses, has just been acquired by one of the largest providers of hosting and other online business services. The acquisition was valued at $1.1 billion.

Endurance International is announcing the completion of the acquisition of Constant Contact first announced in November 2015. Both are based in Massachusetts and have deep connections with the small business community.

Gail Goodman, CEO of Constant Contact, said in an interview with Small Business Trends, Our roots go way back. As early as 1999, when Endurance International was still called BizLand, we were part of a CEO breakfast group.

Constant Contact was founded in 1995 as Roving Software. Back then, email was just a way to communicate with friends, but the company foresaw that email could be a useful tool in marketing. The company saw rapid growth and added new products such as Event Marketing and Social Campaigns. Constant Contact also eventually opened offices in San Francisco and the U.K.

Goodman says that by combining the two companies, there is potential to help small businesses build a contact list from day one.

Hari Ravichandran, president and chief executive officer of Endurance, agrees.

He adds, We know that once small businesses have a Web presence, they look for other products and services that will help them to grow their business. We see an opportunity to help our growing subscriber base meet their goals through an integrated suite of solutions, and we are excited to add this talented team to our roster.

Endurance International, founded in 1997 as BizLand, began a Web hosting business. The company grew over the years by acquiring others, such as Accel-KKR and GS Capitals.

The companys stable of brands now includes HostGator, BlueHost, Typepad, Mojo Marketplace, SEO Gears, iPage and more.

Acquired companies have been kept operating under their original brands, as is intended to be the case with Constant Contact. In an email to friends and supporters following the announcement, Goodman announced her attention to leave the company to do some consulting and reconnect with the Boston startup community.
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
He denies rape but prosecutors say DNA evidence links him to the crime

She told the court that her attacker asked her afterwards if it was 'good'

His victim, 25, said he shouted 'if Allah wills it' during her horrific ordeal

The 37-year-old Algerian man is on trial in Hannover, accused of rape

An Algerian man who almost killed his 25-year-old student victim shouted out 'if Allah wills it' in Arabic as he raped her in a darkened alley, a court has heard.

The man, identified only by his first name Rheda, is accused of following the student as she walked home from a nightclub at 5am in Hannover, Germany.





Afterwards, with his victim badly beaten, he is alleged to have climbed off her and asked her if she enjoyed it.

+2 +2 After the attack had ended, the Algerian man allegedly asked his victim if she had 'enjoyed it', the court heard

+2 +2 The woman was attacked while walking home from a nightclub about 5am in Hannover (pictured), Germany



The shocking details were revealed at the trial of the 37-year-old asylum seeker from Algeria who has denied rape. Prosecutors say DNA evidence links him to the crime.





The young woman, identified only by her first name Lara, said it was the worst moment of her life when she was attacked.

She said: 'He asked me in broken German if I had [the] time. Before I could reply he then grabbed me by the arm and pulled me down an alleyway.



'He told me "I need sex". I opened my mouth to scream but he put his hand over my mouth. I had a pepper spray, and I tried to spray it at him but he grabbed it off me, and used it on me instead.





'Then he threw me onto the ground, and tried to pull off my trousers but he couldn't do it. Then he started screaming at me to get undressed.'





She told the court she had tried to win time by begging him to leave her alone and hoped that someone would come past.





Nobody did, and when she tried to scream again he started beating her in the face and he sprayed the pepper spray on her face again.





He had banged her head on the ground repeatedly until she was almost unconscious, and she thought she was going to die.





She said: 'He put his hand over my mouth and closed my nose, and I thought I was going to suffocate. I then indicated to him that I had given in, and would do what he wanted if he let me breathe.'





He then raped her and she said that throughout he was talking to himself, shouting 'Inshallah' - which is Arabic for 'if Allah wills it'.





She said: 'Afterwards he asked me if it was good, and if I had enjoyed it.'





Her voice then broke as she added: 'I never would have thought something like that could happen to me. I just couldn't comprehend it. I thought I was going to die.'




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.
ANNAPOLIS (Feb. 10, 2016)Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., Calvert, and House Speaker Mike Busch, Anne Arundel, on Wednesday announced two new gun control bills and one enforcement-related bill, alongside Democratic sponsors and cosponsors in the House and Senate. This comes days after the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals sent Maryland's assault weapon ban back to a lower court for strict review.



One bill bans guns on college campuses; one (HB 1000) bans anyone on the FBI's enigmatic and extrajudicial terrorist watch list from purchasingand prohibits them from being issued a permit to carry, wear, or transporta gun in Maryland; and the third requires judges to inform anyone convicted of a domestic violence offense that they must surrender their weapons.



Miller said he has six grandchildren on college campuses, and he wants them to be "gun-free sanctuaries."



"None of us want our children to be exposed to gun violence when they're off at school, whether it's walking into kindergarten or walking into graduate school," said Sen. Richard Madaleno, D-Montgomery, who is sponsoring the legislation that would ban guns on all college campuses in Maryland. Delegate Ben Barnes, D-Anne Arundel, is sponsoring the bill in the House.



Delegate Kathy Szeliga, a Republican from Baltimore County, said she was not convinced that banning guns on college campuses would keep people safer.



"My aide, her son was at Virginia Tech when the shooting occurred," Szeliga said. "Her reaction was if someone had a gun, maybe lives would've been saved."



Madaleno warned against only thinking of mass shootings when considering gun safety. He said he was more concerned with individual instances, like suicide or relationship violence.



"We need to dispel this Hollywood-driven myth that any of us can turn into James Bond and respond to some sort of incident," he said.



Another bill in the package, sponsored by Sen. Jamie Raskin and Delegate Will Smith, both Democrats from Montgomery, is meant to keep guns away from people convicted of domestic violence.



Currently under Maryland law, felons and those who have been convicted of abuse aren't allowed to own or buy guns, but Raskin said the problem is enforcement.



This law would require judges to inform those convicted of domestic violence that they have 48 hours to surrender their guns to law enforcement or a licensed gun dealer, and five days to produce written proof that they have done so.



Though the law has no penalty for judges who do not comply, Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh said merely providing a legal mechanism will be enough.



"They're not doing it now because it's an oversight. If the legislature lays out a clear path for them to follow, they'll follow it," Frosh said. "Judges follow the law."



Lastly, legislation sponsored in the Senate by James Rosapepe, D-Prince George's, and in the House by Luke Clippinger, D-Baltimore, would prevent anyone who is on the federal terrorist watch list from buying a gun prohibit the sale, rental, or transfer of a regulated firearm, rifle, or shotgun to a person who is on the Terrorist Watchlist maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and prohibiting the Secretary of State Police from issuing a permit to carry, wear, or transport a handgun to a person listed on the Terrorist Watchlist.



"We're protecting people in Maryland, and really people across the country, by preventing people on the terror watch list from buying guns," Clippinger said.



The law is modeled after a similar one in New Jersey, signed by Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican.



Frosh said he didn't anticipate a constitutional problem with restricting gun ownership for people who may be on the list but haven't been convicted of a crime.



A spokeswoman for Gov. Larry Hogan said Wednesday afternoon the governor had not seen the bills yet and didn't know whether they would reach his desk, so he had no comment. She also noted that in a meeting with the governor Tuesday about legislative priorities, Miller did not mention his plans for these bills.



This announcement came a week after the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a lower court ruling upholding an assault weapon ban that was part of the Maryland Firearm Safety Act in 2013.



The court's ruling does not overturn the act, instead the case goes back to the U.S. District Court to apply a "strict scrutiny" test on whether the FSA violates the Second Amendment. Frosh said his office will appeal the ruling, and meanwhile, the assault weapon ban is still in effect.



Delegate Susan Krebs, a Republican from Carroll County who has supported gun rights in the past, said at first blush, the new legislation seems unnecessary.



"All they want to do is restrict, restrict, restrict, instead of getting to the root of the problem, which not the guns, it's the people," she said.
Fiscal Year 2017 applications to sell an agricultural easement to the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation (MALPF) are now being accepted by St. Mary's County Government.MALPF is the State funded easement program in which more than 11,500 acres of farmland have been preserved in St. Mary's County alone. In Fiscal Year 2015, eighteen applications were submitted to St. Mary's County. Each were reviewed, scored, and ranked. MALPF limited each County to eight submittals for consideration. Of the eight applications St. Mary's County received easement offers, six were accepted. Those properties are expected to be enrolled into easement sometime this spring or summer. MALPF has yet to announce the total number of applications a County may submit for the upcoming cycle.The application to apply is quite extensive, and the answers on the application could have an effect on the future use of your property should an easement be purchased. As in the past, the Department of Economic Development's Agriculture Division will assist landowners with completing the application. Applicants are asked to contact Donna Sasscer no later than April 29, 2016 so there is adequate time to prepare the application. The St. Mary's County deadline to return the completed and signed application is May 27, 2016. As a reminder, if you have completed an application in the past it does not automatically carry over to the next cycle.A NEW APPLICATION MUST BE SUBMITTED EVERY CYCLE FOR YOUR PROPERTY TO BE CONSIDERED FOR EASEMENT.The ranking of St. Mary's County applications is expected to be completed by the end of June, after which applicants will be notified if their application has proceeded to the state for review. Please note, per the Maryland Code Ann. 2-510(m)Agriculture Article, your ranking, asking price, and Foundation offer must remain confidential until the end of the cycle, as determined by MALPF.MAPLF requires that participating properties: Have a minimum of 50 acres, unless the adjoining property is already protected Have a soil quality of at least 50% class I, II, III soils or Woodland Groups I and II Cannot be within the County's 10 year Water and Sewer Plan Have remaining Development RightsIf you own property that meets the above criteria and would like to submit an application for easement or need more information, please call Donna Sasscer at 240-309-4021 or by email to donna.sasscer@stmarysmd.com. You may also seek additional information about the MALPF program on their website at mda.maryland.gov/MALPF February is African American History Month which serves as an opportunity to share the historic and present contributions of African Americans in the community. The Commissioners of St. Mary's County recognized the occasion with a proclamation ceremony during their weekly business meeting.African American History Month began as "Negro History Week" in February 1926 as a supplement to the school curriculum, through the work of African American scholar Dr. Carter A. Woodson. In the 1960's, the week expanded into Black History Month to commemorate a more balanced and accurate picture of Black History. African American History Month is celebrated each year during the month of February as it coincides with the birthday of the great black leader Frederick Douglass and President Abraham Lincoln."St. Mary's County recognizes the significant contributions and tremendous advances African Americans have made and continue to make in our community," said Commissioner Tom Jarboe (1st District). "This is evidenced by the United States Colored Troops Monument in Lancaster Park, the State of Maryland and the world."In proclaiming February 2016 African American History Month, the commissioners encouraged citizens to honor the many contributions made by African Americans throughout the Southern Maryland region.Each day in our community, volunteer emergency responders answer the call of our families, friends and neighbors who are in need of assistance. From car accidents to heart attacks  and from house fires to technical rescues, volunteer emergency responders are there to protect lives and property.In response to the growing need for new volunteer fire and emergency medical service providers, St. Mary's County Volunteer Fire Departments and Rescue Squads are recruiting interested citizens to learn how to "answer the call" and serve their community.Becoming a volunteer emergency responder can be the most rewarding experience of your life. Together, we can ensure someone is ready to "answer the call."Join Today! Call 301-475-4200 ext. *2114 or email emergency.services@stmarysmd.com for more information.All St. Mary's County Government administrative offices, and three St. Mary's County Library locations, will be closed on Monday, February 15, 2016, in observance of Presidents Day. Administrative offices and libraries will reopen for normal business hours on Tuesday, February 16.The St. Andrews Landfill and the six Convenience Centers will be open for normal hours of operation on Monday, February 15, 2016. In addition, the St. Mary's Transit (STS) will operate its normal routes and hours of operation. However, the Statewide Specialized Transportation Assistance Program (SSTAP) will not provide services for the Senior Nutrition Centers and SSTAP appointments.All three Senior Activity Centers will also be closed and there will be no Meals on Wheels deliveries.The Town of Leonardtown office will be closed on Monday, February 15, for President's Day. The town will hold the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting on Tuesday, February 16, at 4:00 p.m.
Tiffany Taylor, a chemistry teacher at St. Charles High School.

LA PLATA, Md.

(Feb. 11, 2016)Tiffany Taylor, a chemistry teacher at St. Charles High School, was recently named a recipient of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Robert E. Yager Foundation Excellence in Teaching Award. The award is given annually to six science teachers nationwide who demonstrate excellence in teaching and innovation in the field of science education. Eligible awardees include science teachers who work with students in grades kindergarten through 12.Taylor has been teaching with Charles County Public Schools for the past five school years and started her career at Mattawoman Middle School, where she taught life and physical sciences. She transitioned to the high-school level in 2014 when St. Charles High School first opened for students. Taylor said she is humbled by her selection for a national award.I never thought I would be chosen for a highly sought after National award. Not because I am a poor educator, but because the pool of great teachers is so large. It goes to show, even after 11 years of teaching, that the only way you wont get something is to do nothing, Taylor said.As an award recipient, Taylor was invited to attend the NSTAs National Congress on Science Education in Denver this summer to present. During the Congress, she will be honored during a formal award presentation ceremony. The award honors Robert Yager, a retired professor of science education at the University of Iowa and the Iowa Academy of Education who spent his career advocating for science education, inquiry-based teaching methods for students and making science education accessible for all students.Recipients are selected by an awards committee based on criteria that includes excellence in the field of science education; effective planning and presentation skills; the ability to motivate and challenge students; proficiency in science education; participation in professional growth and leadership roles; and demonstrated support of the next generation science standards.Taylors career in science education started in a Prince Georges County Public Schools Biology classroom in 2005. It was her first year as a teacher after a career change from working in a pharmaceutical lab and Taylor said she used experiences from her former career to connect her students with classroom content. My experiences opened the door to their curiosity about Biology and thus engaged their desire to learn more, even beyond the walls of the classroom, she said. One of her priorities as a teacher is to engage the curiosity of her students through science. To support this goal, Taylor incorporates technology into her lessons and provides students with access to several hands-on activities so they can learn by doing.She attends workshops at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and uses her experiences to develop activities for her classes. She recently went to a workshop at the Milwaukee School of Engineering to learn about molecular modeling and three-dimensional printing. Taylor incorporated what she learned in to a lesson on molecular designs in which students had to present on the biological action of a molecule based on its structure.These activities help support another goal Taylor has as a teacher: building student engagement. All of these experiences of enriching students learning with hands-on and inquiry activities has allowed me to increase my students engagement in the sciences. By presenting them with these opportunities, we can then have more in depth conversations about content in the classroom, she said.Taylor applied for the award earlier this school year and received several letters of recommendation from colleagues in support of her application. Monique Wilson, director of the James E. Richmond Science Center, first met Taylor when she was teaching at Mattawoman. In her letter of support for Taylors application, Wilson describes her as an enthusiastic teacher who puts the love of student learning at the forefront of all that she does.In the classroom Miss Taylor motivates and challenges her students. Over the years, she has shown enthusiasm, extreme content knowledge and the love of students and learning. She integrates music, robotics and poetry to stimulate her students, and expects them to speak and work like a scientist. In the classroom Miss Taylor motivates and challenges her students, Wilson wrote.Taylor will also receive a $1,000 award, travel expenses toward attending the NSTA National Congress on Science Education and a plaque. Taylor has a bachelors degree in Biology and a masters degree in curriculum and instruction with a concentration in educational technology. In 2014-15, Taylor served as a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) cohort at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in which she worked with other teachers to build lessons for use by the Maryland State Department of Education.In 2015, Taylor attended a Modeling the Molecular World workshop at the Center for Biomolecular Designs at the Milwaukee School of Engineering and worked with biochemists. She is also active in the American Chemistry Society as a ChemClub Sponsor and received a Hach Professional Development Grant from the organization last year.
On Friday, February 12th, Scripps South Florida will hold a lecture titled, HIV/AIDS Pursuing the Cure. During this forum, attendees can learn about some of the most cutting-edge drug discoveries from top experts looking for a cure.

Its part of this years What If Discovery Lecture series looking at some of the most deadly diseases that touch all of our lives. Learn what is being done to turn treatments into cures and how you can help us realize the goal in our quest to make the world a healthier place to live.

Speakers include two scientists from Scripps Research Institute in Florida. One is Michael Farzan, Ph.D. He is the Vice Chairman and Professor Department of Immunology and Microbial Science at Scripps Florida Campus. He is leading the research on a multi-million dollar grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop a revolutionary HIV/AIDS alternative vaccine that has demonstrated great potential in animal models.

Farzan takes an innovative approach to combating HIV. His lab works by coaxing muscle cells into producing inhibitor proteins that block key sites on the viruss surface used to attach and invade human immune cellsfooling the virus into thinking it is binding to a human cell.

Mario Stevenson, Ph.D., is also part of the discussion. He is Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases within the Department of Medicine. Stevenson is an internationally known HIV/AIDS researcher. He spent twelve years as the Director of the Center for AIDS Research at the University of Massachusetts. He has also been Adjunct Trustee for the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) as well as Chair of their Scientific Advisory Board for the past five years. In 2000 he was recognized by the National Institute of Health by receiving their Merit Award for his significant research efforts.

Susan Valente will also sit on the panel. She is an Associate Professor Department of Immunology and Microbial Science at Scripps Florida Campus. Valentes research focuses on identifying the molecular interactions that occur within a host cell that are critical for viral replication, and on understanding mammalian genes that have evolved to block that replication. This research could lead to therapeutic targets for combating a number of viruses, including those that might be used as bioterrorism agents.

Jackson Kaguri is the featured special guest. He was born and raised in Uganda in the small village of Nyakagyezi. He was a young student from an early age and eventually went on to study at and graduate from Makerere University in Kampala. In 1996, Jacksons life took an unexpected turn. His brother died of HIV/AIDS, leaving Jackson to care for his three children. One year later, his sister died of HIV/AIDS, also leaving behind a son. It was through his own personal experience this native Ugandan saw the plight of orphans in his village of Nyakagyezi. He took the $5,000 he had saved for a down payment on his own home and built the first Nyaka School. Jackson later became a visiting scholar at Columbia University where he studied Human Rights Advocacy. Over the years he has been involved extensively in international community efforts as a human rights advocate, fundraiser, and inspirational speaker.

When: Friday, February 12th at 4:00pm

Where: Scripps Florida Fink Auditorium, 120 Scripps Way

The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) is one of the worlds largest independent, not-for-profit organizations focusing on research in the biomedical sciences.. For more information, see www.scripps.edu.
The Gay Mens Chorus of South Florida released final figures of their Magic of Music gala held last month at the Hyatt Pier 66 in Fort Lauderdale.

Chorus officials report the gala raised $50,680 and was attended by 370 people. The gala featured performances by chorus members under the direction of interim conductor Harold Dioquino, a brunch and auction.

Additionally, GMCSF announced the hiring of Michael A. Mendillo as director of development. Mendillo comes to the chorus from Shenandoah University Conservatory in Winchester, Va., where he earned a bachelors degree in vocal performance and a masters in arts leadership and management.

The chorus does so much for the community to change hearts and open minds through music, Mendillo said. I am so thrilled to be joining such a talented group of men.

Up next for the chorus is a program by its elite ensemble group, Tropical Wave. On Feb. 20 at Sunshine Cathedral, 1480 S.W. 9th Street, Fort Lauderdale, Tropical Wave presents Whats Love Got To Do With It?: A Valentine Musical Showcase. Tickets ($25 to $40) remain for the 8 p.m. concert time. To order, visit gaymenschorusofsouthflorida.org or call 954-763-2266.

The 165-member chorus returns to perform Love American Style March 18 and 19 at Sunshine Cathedral. The program aims to tell the story of America through musical genres of classical, gospel, country, rock, disco, Broadway and more in a patriotic and romantic fashion.
Aaron Schock, the disgraced U.S. Congressman from Illinois, has been presented with a way to work off his mounting debt.

TitanMen.com is offering Schock a $1 million contract to perform in a series of exclusive hardcore gay porn films. Schock has yet to make a public statement regarding the offer, although it has been reported by several mainstream media organizations.

TitanMen has a history of signing iconically handsome men with both brains and brawn and Aaron Schock fits that profile to a T, said TitanMen.com Vice President Keith Webb, in a news release. Despite Schocks scandal over allegedly misappropriating campaign funds, he has much more to offer our fans. What were offering is a win-win situation, giving him the opportunity to break free and come out in a whole new world.

As a congressman, Schock captured media attention for his chiseled good looks and high flying lifestyle. The 5-foot-8, 165-pound Republican posed shirtless for Mens Health Magazine and often posted pictures to his Instagram account of good times from far-flung exotic destinations.

Ultimately, Schock was driven out of office amid questionable spending habits. According to recent Federal Election Commission filings, Schock has amassed close to $2.5 million in legal fees after his departure from Congress in March of 2015.

The 35-year-old Schock, a bachelor, has repeatedly stated he is not gay.

If Schock agrees to join the TitanMen family, he will be in good company, Webb said.
Florida Considers Anti-Discrimination Bill for LGBT Rights

by Brendan Farrington

(AP) When it comes to LGBT issues, Florida's Republican lawmakers are known more for trying to keep transgender people out of bathrooms, protect pastors from marrying same-sex couples and seek exemptions for private adoption agencies who don't want to place children with gay and lesbian couples.

But this year, some Republican lawmakers are backing a bill that would give lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents the protection against discrimination.

"It's a breakthrough for the South. It's of huge significance that a Southern state -- the third largest in the country -- is taking this up. It is the first time that a Southern legislature will be contemplating passage of a bill that affirms rights, not takes them away," said Nadine Smith, CEO of Equality Florida.

In a sign that Republican attitudes on LGBT issues are shifting, the Senate Judiciary Committee will consider the bill during a meeting Monday. Similar measures have been filed for about a decade and neither chamber of the Republican-dominated Legislature has given it a hearing until now.

Instead, expansion of gay rights such as same-sex marriage and allowing gay and lesbian couples to adopt children has been achieved through the courts.

It's not that Republicans as a whole have suddenly become gay friendly. Far from it. While the anti-discrimination bill would be the most far-reaching gay rights legislation enacted in Florida, there is a Republican-sponsored bill that would allow health care providers and hospitals to refuse treatment of gays based on religious beliefs. The same bill would allow any individual to refuse service to gay customers based on their personal religious beliefs. And there are House and Senate bills that would change Florida law to say churches can't be forced to marry same-sex couples.

"You have my bill on one side, and you have their bill(s) on the other side," said Republican Rep. Holly Raschein, the House sponsor of the anti-discrimination bill, which has nine Republican co-sponsors. "Sometimes you take two steps forward, three steps back, but that's all part of the battle."

While the bill prohibits any discrimination against the LGBT community, supporters are focused on its economic impact. The bill is being called the "Competitive Workforce Act" and a group running a campaign to promote it is backed by AT&T, Wells Fargo, Marriott and Carnival Corporation. The argument is that Florida will be able to attract corporations that provide high-paying, high-skilled jobs and the workforce to fill them if it has clear anti-discrimination laws.

"Republicans are able to see that this is not only the thing to do, but it's also the right thing to do from a competitive standpoint," said Patrick Slevin, the campaign manager for Florida Businesses for a Competitive Workforce. "It's not just the employees that we're trying to recruit, it's also their families. When they're looking at job offers across the country, it's going to be taxes, it's going to be education, it's going to be safety and it's also going to be diversity."

New York Moves to Halt 'Conversion Therapy' for Youths

by Jennifer Peltz

(AP) New York is taking steps to stop therapists from trying to change young people's sexual orientation, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Saturday, joining a number of states that have acted against what's known as gay conversion therapy.

The Democratic governor's move, announced Saturday, comes as gay rights advocates have campaigned state by state with mixed results to try to ban a practice that major mental health organizations have repudiated.

Using executive power in a state where legislative bids to ban the therapy have stalled, Cuomo announced planned regulations that would bar insurance coverage for the therapy for minors and prohibit mental health facilities under state Office of Mental Health jurisdiction from offering it to minors.

"Conversion therapy is a hateful and fundamentally flawed practice" that punishes people "for simply being who they are," Cuomo said in a statement.

It's unclear how prevalent the practice is in New York. Cuomo's office didn't immediately respond to inquiries Saturday; nor did a handful of New York mental health organizations. A spokeswoman for the New York Health Plan Association, an insurers' group, was unsure.

Insurers will wonder whether the new regulations will obligate them to investigate whether any given mental health visit was for conversion therapy, spokeswoman Leslie Moran said.

Nationwide, there are no firm figures on the extent of conversion therapy. But proponents and critics have said it is not rare for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youths to undergo some sort of program aimed at changing their sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.

The American Psychological Association and other mental health groups say conversion therapy, sometimes called reparative therapy, wrongly treats being gay as a mental illness and may make young people feel ashamed, anxious and depressed. Democratic President Barack Obama's administration called last year for an end to the practice.

Chad Griffin, president of the gay rights group Human Rights Campaign, commended Cuomo's action.

"No young person should be coerced or subjected to this dangerous so-called therapy," Griffin said in a statement.

Cuomo was presented with the group's National Equality Award on Saturday night and told an audience his action "rejected fundamentally the absurd notion that being gay is a psychiatric disorder."

But supporters of the therapy say prohibiting it limits treatment options and undermines religious liberty.

Minors "should have access to professionally based, ethically directed care that assesses, clarifies and aligns with their deeply-held values, faith and life goals," Carrie Gordon Earll, the public policy vice president of the conservative Christian ministry Focus on the Family, said by email Saturday. She said the group opposes efforts like New York's.

California, Oregon, Illinois, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., and Cincinnati have outlawed the practice. But efforts to ban it have fallen short in several other places, including Colorado, Nevada and Iowa.

In New York, a ban has passed the Democrat-controlled state Assembly twice. But it has gotten nowhere in the Republican-led Senate.

The new regulations wouldn't apply to counseling that discusses but doesn't try to change sexual orientation or gender identity.
Whether or not my good friend, Paul Shanley, dies in prison, the global sex scandal in the Catholic Church, and in other denominations, will never be over until the Church changes its sexual ethics and publicly apologizes for improperly molding the minds and hearts of its sexually abusive and abused priests, nuns, religious brothers, and lay people. That means everyone raised Catholic.

Indoctrinated since birth with the message that having sexual thoughts and feelings, and expressing yourself sexually with yourself or with another (before heterosexual marriage), are gravely sinful, and grounds for spending eternity in hell, Roman Catholics are transformed into molesters, deviants, and repressed, immature, ignorant, and sexually non-functioning individuals.

The most damaged were people like me, who grew up in a sexually-repressed, Irish Catholic family, and who went to Catholic schools for sixteen years. Priests, such as Paul Shanley's classmates, entered the seminary and a life of celibacy after eighth grade, at age 14. Most nuns and brothers entered the religious life of chastity after high school, at age 18.

Was it nobody's fault that we became among the most sex-negative and sexually-obsessed people in the world? It was as if the Church took a litter of puppies and trained them to be afraid and aggressive. The adult dog bites a child and is put down. But no one looks at the trainer. The Catholic Church has been, and remains, the trainer of sexually damaged people.

This atrocity will continue until the Church stops teaching its children that sexual thoughts are impure and need to be repressed, that masturbation kills potential babies, condoms and birth control pills interfere with God's plan, and that genital sex with another is only permitted with a person of the other sex to whom you are married. Even then, certain sexual acts, such as anal sex, are forbidden.

Those messages create sexually deformed people who are prone to do damage to themselves and to others. Until the Catholic Church, and other religious groups, change their sexual message, we will continue to have sex-related abuse of children and adults, sex-related alcoholism, drug abuse, and suicide, and sex-related emotional breakdowns.

Paul Shanley was one of those sexually damaged people, but he fought hard against the messages and training he received. He preached tolerance and acceptance of those condemned by the Church. He started a ministry to street kids, runaways, hustlers, drug addicts, and gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender children.

He successfully lobbied to get himself appointed as the first official minister of the Church to LGBT people. His message was that gay is good, bi is good, and straight is good. He was frequently featured in the Boston Globe, and on radio and television. He was handsome, masculine, very intelligent, and defiant of authority, be it Church or State. He dared to go where no other priest was willing to step, including a meeting of men who claimed to be lovers of boys. Having worked extensively with gay hustlers, Paul felt he had a relevant perspective to offer.

Paul is 85, and may never leave prison despite more than a decade of incarceration for a crime he couldn't have committed. He was no saint, but he's not a pedophile. Yet, with his poor health, and trembling hands, he is the Sacrificial Lamb of both the Catholic Church in Boston, which will oppose his release until his death, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which wants to look tough on the crimes of the Catholic Church. He is in protective custody because of the witch-hunt created by the Boston Globe's Spotlight team, canonized in the film Spotlight. The hysteria created by the constant drumbeat of the media resulted in the beating to death of an old, feeble priest in prison, prior to Paul's incarceration.

Paul Shanley's former boss, Cardinal Bernard Law, instead of being in prison for shuffling abusive priests from parish to parish, fled to Rome where he has a cushy job in the Vatican at a prestigious parish. The current head of the flock in Boston has refused for 10 years to meet with Paul in prison. Nor has any other diocesan priest, all former friends and classmates of Paul, visited him.

According to Paul, the District Attorney, Martha Coakley, offered him a plea deal just prior to the trial. If he would plead guilty to a lesser charge than raping a six-year-old every Sunday for several years, he wouldn't spend any time in jail. He said, "no," because he was innocent and didn't want to be listed as a child molester.

There was no evidence he committed the crime, only the "recovered memory" of a very disturbed man, who after reading the Spotlight's stories on big money paid to victims by the Church, claimed that he just remembered that 40 years ago he was molested by Fr. Shanley. But the jury wanted to find the priest, whom the Spotlight team repeatedly focused on prior to the trial, guilty of something. So, the man featured in People magazine as the hippie street priest, was sent to prison, and everyone hoped that was the end of the story, and the bad press.

Why aren't Catholics taught that all feelings are natural? Why wasn't I told that being gay wasn't something to be ashamed of, or secretive about? Why weren't priests, nuns, and brothers taught to be healthy role models of sexual maturity? Why isn't masturbation, or self-pleasuring, described as normal and a healthy way to relax and relieve sexual tensions? Why are condoms and birth control pills not seen as effective ways to prevent the birth of an unwanted child, and a way to allow sexual pleasure to be experienced without fear of consequences? Why are condoms different from pot holders? Is it God's will that we be burned?

The Catholic Church owes some apologies: to me for what it did to me, to the people who abused me, and to the people I impacted negatively. The Church needs to take responsibility for how it trained us, and for the results of its training. Defrocking or excommunicating us doesn't end the problem. We're not the problem. The priests in prison are not the problem. The Church's non-sensical sexual theology, and its highly-destructive mind- and heart-molding methods, are the problem.
LEADER of the opposition Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OLaNO-NOVA) party Igor Matovic has called on Prime Minister Robert Fico to undergo a polygraph test with him.

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At a press conference on February 10, Matovic said that if Fico finds the courage to take the test, he will give him the 121 million Slovak crowns (about 4 million) that Fico claims the opposition politician embezzled from his own company.

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Matovic promised to answer any of the PMs questions and said that he would take the opportunity to ask him questions as well. He also stated that the sale of a company called Igor Matovic-regionPRESS in 2008 was properly taxed at more than 15 million Slovak crowns. He produced a copy of his tax return to confirm this.

The OLaNO leader said, as quoted by the TASR newswire, that he was filing a criminal complaint against Pavol Vandak, to whom he sold the company, in response to false allegations.

Pavel Vandak (Source: SITA)

Matovic denied that he had embezzled money from his own company and commented on the accusation that he sent the money to his own account. Fico apparently doesnt know that its logical to sell ones firm and transfer the money to ones own account, he told media. To legally sell ones property without debts, to pay tax on one's income, is this embezzlement? Fico has been using the word "embezzlement" for eight years now. Embezzlement means stealing from the state at the publics expense, overpriced purchases, not the sale of ones own company and subsequent taxation of income. Robert Fico is unable to earn money legally, so he makes a fraud out of everything legal.

Matovic denied that Vandak was actually a so-called white horse (a straw-man), saying that Vandak performed a service related to the exaction of receivables. I also deny that I destroyed account books, he added. I handed the complete documentation to Vandak. Vandak allegedly took over all of the documentation. After about three days, when Vandak said that he didnt have the room to store them I took the accounts for 1997-2001, Matovic claimed. There was no obligation to preserve this data, and the documentation for 2003 and 2005-08 were kept in a Mercedes Vito van. I stored the accounts properly, and for several years this vehicle was parked at my grandmothers house in the village of Borova [Trnava region]. Everyone who visited that house over those years was a witness. I still have the accounts at my grandmothers house, he said, asking whether someone would keep accounts in a public place if he wanted to commit fraud. The remaining two years, 2002 and 2004, were taken care of by Vandak, he said.

Matovic described Vandaks testimony to the police over the weekend as a fairytale. Smer has overdone this, said, as cited by TASR. If there were fewer details in the testimony, it would be more realistic and more credible. Its richness confirms to me that it was created on Sumracna Street [the location of Smer headquarters]. What is more, Vandak contradicts himself in the testimony. In one section he says that he had no idea about the companys receivables. Seven lines below, it is written that he did have knowledge of the receivables. Such is the plausibility of the whole testimony, so Im filing a criminal complaint.

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Vandaks claim that Matovic promised him a lifetime monthly payment of 1,500 for his cooperation was also refuted. I think that he will have such money after this testimony, but not from me, and it will be higher, the latter said. If someone had promised him 1,500 a month, wouldnt he have missed eight years of this money? Over eight years, it amounts to four million Slovak crowns [around 144,000]. And he remembers only now that someone promised him that? the opposition politician asked.

The police have confirmed that they are looking into information that Fico published about Matovics business.

At a briefing on February 5, Fico claimed that Matovic is a tax fraudster who uses white horses to cover up his illegal activities. In order to dodge a tax audit, he transferred Igor Matovic-regionPRESS to a white horse, destroyed the accounts for the entire history of the company and laundered the 121 million, according to Fico who also said that Vandak worked for Matovic as a contractor and that Matovic opted out of the contract two months after the transfer of the company.

The PM said on February 10 that he would not react to Matovic's challenge to join him at the polygraph, calling his proposal a circus act, adding that evidence speaks for itself and that it is now up to the criminal prosecution bodies to assess the potential crime.

Fico investigates things that are absolutely outside of the competences of this office, said leader of extra-parliamentary opposition party Siet, Radoslav Prochazka, in response to the dispute, TASR wrote. Prochazka continued, that instead of patiently and dynamically disclosing cases of huge economic criminality and political corruption  as promised before his first election victory in 2006; or instead of looking at looting in health care, at stagnating education system and bullying of those wanting to change things, the premier instead engages personally in an issue which would, in a functional country, come under the remit of the Financial Administration or criminal prosecution bodies.
THE EXTRAORIDNARY session of Slovak parliament on hot issues of education and the health-care sector could not be opened on the morning of February 11, as not enough MPs were present.

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At the first check, only 67 MPs were present, and during the second check, 76 of them were in the parliament. However, for a session to take place, at least 76 MPs must be present, the TASR newswire wrote.

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Although MPs of the ruling Smer were in plentiful in the auditorium, only 10 of them reported their presence. Of the opposition MPs who initiated the session it would be necessary for 57 of them to register, but one had already announced before the start she would not come; yet there were still more of them absent: ten during the first check, and five during the second.

If this is your priority, you should be at your workplace, Speaker of Parliament Peter Pellegrini sent a message to opposition MPs, stressing that for the third attempt, still only 10 Smer MPs would report their presence.

IN the meantime, an altercation took place also on the balcony reserved for the public: nurses and teachers came to attend the session which concerns their fate a lot, but they say they had been kept too long at the reception, and then they were told there is not enough space on the balcony for all of them. When it gets full, guards do not let any more people in. It was filled by pensioners instead. After vivid arguments, Pellegrini told teachers and nurses they could watch the course of events from the screening room.

In total, there are 67 opposition MPs (so only one of them can be missing for the extraordinary session to take place), and the proposal was signed by 35 of them (from Christian-Democratic Movement-KDH, Most-Hid, Freedom and Solidarity-SaS and Ordinary People and Independent Personalities-OLaNO-NOVA), the SITA newswire wrote.However, even some MPs of these parties were missing during the first check (Jan Figel and Monika Gibalova of KDH; Daniel Lipsic of OLaNO-NOVA caucus; Lucia Nicholsonova and Martin Poliacik - both SaS), as well as independent MPs Maria Ritomska, Stefan Kuffa, Daniel Krajcer, Miroslav Beblavy and OLaNOs Eva Horvathova  who excused herself in advance.

A third attempt to open the session was, finally, successful, starting at 10:55. It opened with a speech of Education Minister Juraj Draxler, the Sme daily wrote, adding that opposition MPs were dissatisfied with its contents  allegedly failing to address the most pressing issues.
THE RULING Smer may not continue in its one-party government after the March 5 general election, recent polls indicate.

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Though Smer is maintaining its leading position in the polls, harvesting much greater support than its political rivals, its support has fallen from around 40 percent last autumn to current 30-35 percent, reducing its chances to rule alone.

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One of the reasons, according to analysts, is change in the campaign topics. While about a month ago it seemed there will be no greater debate before the elections and Smer will determine the topics, things have now changed, says Olga Gyarfasova of the Institute for Public Affairs (IVO).

The pre-election campaign now focuses more on domestic topics, especially health care and education, which was determined by resignation of nurses and strike of teachers, Martin Slosiarik, head of the Focus polling agency, told The Slovak Spectator.

Moreover, the politicians started to reveal various corruption scandals, which caused that the refugee topic predominantly used by Smer to recede.

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Smer keeps falling

While the polls carried out at the turn of September and October 2015 showed Smers popularity oscillating around 40 percent, in the recent Focus poll conducted between January 31 and February 7 the ruling party harvested only 34.1 percent, down by 2.2 percentage points from January.

Also the MVK poll carried out between January 22 and 28 showed the dropping support of Smer. It was supported only by 32.1 percent of respondents, which is by 2.4 percentage points less than in January survey.

This may come as a result of the gradually weakening importance of the partys main campaign topic: refugees and strengthening of Slovakias security which simply is not working, analysts agree.

Several groups in society warned that the four-year rule was not as successful as Smer tries to present, Gyarfasova told The Slovak Spectator.

People care more about everyday problems which were not addressed by the ruling party. Not even by the packages of social measures, on which Smer based its campaign, improved the publics opinion, added Pavel Haulik, head of the MVK polling agency.

Fico may also lose votes due to the recent strikes of teachers and nurses, as well as the scandal with the steep increase in profits of a chain of clinics owned by Pavol Kostka during the past four years, Slosiarik says.

As a result, it is now less probable that Smer will continue ruling alone after the March 5 elections, according to analysts. It, however, still cannot be ruled out as there is still a group of undecided voters who may change the final results as they did in previous elections, Haulik reminded.

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Siet and SNS successful

Unlike Smer, the support for Slovak National Party (SNS) keeps increasing. In the Focus poll, it received 8.1 percent (up by 0.8 percentage points compared with January), while in MVK it harvested 10.1 percent (the same as in January).

The party may have attracted some voters who in the previous elections supported the ruling Smer, according to Slosiarik.

Meanwhile, Siet is gradually stabilising its position as the second strongest party. In the Focus poll it won the support of 13.7 percent of respondents (up by 0.7 percentage points compared with January) and the MVK showed it would receive 14.6 percent of the vote (down by 0.1 percentage points).

If these parties confirm their positions also in the March 5 elections, they may be some kind of associated winners of the vote, Haulik says.

According to Gyarfasova, it will be interesting to see how big the difference between the first two parties will be.

As for other parties, the preferences of Most-Hid increased compared with previous months, especially thanks to new topics in the campaign, Slosiarik told the Sme daily. The party would harvest 7 8 percent in Focus poll and 6 percent in MVK poll.

Haulik noted that most opposition parties have begun to stagnate. It will be interesting to see how the preferences of Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OLaNO) will be impacted after Prime Minister Robert Fico accused leader Igor Matovic of tax fraud concerning the 2008 sale of his regionPRESS company, he added.

Though the opposition parties realised the importance of topics like education and health care, there is a question whether voters will like the alternatives they offer, Gyarfasova opines.

I do not think they are strong enough to persuade Smer voters decision in favour of opposition parties, she said.

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Small parties may surprise

Another party reporting a significant increase in preferences is Sme Rodina (We Are Family) led by businessman Boris Kollar, which harvested 4.1 percent, up from slightly more than 3 percent in previous polls. One of the reasons for his success may be that he is relatively well known among the Slovak public, Sme wrote. Another reason may be that it offers different topics than the traditional parties, according to Gyarfasova.

Despite good result, it is still not clear whether the party will make it to the parliament.

These are protest votes, Slosiarik told Sme. These voters are not firmly decided they will vote for him on March 5.

The analysts agree there is a big group of voters who will make a last-minute decision. This may impact especially smaller parties which oscillate around 5 percent or less.

If the votes from undecided voters concentrate around one party or small group of parties, it may significantly impact the election results, Haulik opines.

The ruling party will probably not benefit from these voters as it did in previous elections. The Smer voters who are disappointed by its performance during the past four years will opt not to vote rather than support another party, Gyarfasova says.

On the other hand, the recently launched civil society campaigns may persuade some young and first-time voters to support some of the already established parties, like Siet, Most-Hid, OLaNO or SaS, she continued. Though the number will not be significant, it may have an impact.

It is necessary to realise that small differences are decisive, Gyarfasova concluded.
Critics cite need for more systemic changes.

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Unemployment has decreased and Prime Minister Robert Fico keeps reiterating that his government's created 130,000 jobs during its latest term. While the Labour Ministry ascribes the positive developments to measures designed to support employment of people up to 29 years of age and the RE-PAS project focusing on re-qualification, others are not so sure.

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In general, working conditions in Slovakia have not improved any significantly; in some places they even worsened, Branislav Ondrus, the state secretary of the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family told The Slovak Spectator. Some companies have to stop looking at employees as machines, from which they squeeze maximum and then replace them.

According to Ondrus, this is a very serious challenge, because it can happen to us that we improve qualifications, reduce unemployment, but people would leave [Slovakia] for better working conditions abroad.

A closer look

HR experts and employers say the government's policies do not address systemic changes and credit the new jobs to general economic growth.

All these jobs certainly were not created only thanks to the cabinet; they often came about in spite of its measures as for example the change in the Labour Code, the Law on Services of Employment or introduction of extension of collective bargaining agreements, Lubos Sirota, CEO and general director of McROY Group, told The Slovak Spectator. Support for job creation from the side of the cabinet has been limited in a large extent only to short-term subsidy programmes while positive systemic changes are missing. Thus it was the global economic revival behind the increase of employment than the steps of the cabinet.

Robert Chovanculiak, an analyst at the Institute for Economic and Social Studies (INESS) think tank, remarked that the cabinet can create new jobs only in the public administration with money it takes from the private sector. In the private sector it influences creation of jobs through taxation and regulatory policy.

If it lowers levies or taxes, if it supports graduates, then it de facto only removes the obstacles it has built, Chovanculiak told The Slovak Spectator.

While Sirota is not able to identify any positive systemic measure, he listed short-term measures like employment for young people (on-the-job training of graduates) and the long-term unemployed (forgiving of levies) that compensated companies for the cost of training as positive projects.

Michal Palenik, the head of the Employment Institute, praised payroll tax deductions for low-income earners, but criticised the technical side of this measure. Chovanculiak added that this measure had prospects to be a successful measure, but its bad technical implementation and the fact that it did not mimic development of the minimum wage have harmed its impact.

On the other hand, measures like the increase of income and payroll taxes imposed on limited time agreements have not resulted in higher employment as expected, according to Sirota, and the extension of collective bargaining agreements has not improved the position of employers.

Ivana Molnarova, executive director of the biggest job portal in Slovakia, Profesia.sk, highlighted of systematic conditions for doing business and improving the business environment.

Employers support measures that target the long-term unemployed and graduates. Rastislav Machunka of the Federation of Employers Associations (AZZZ) highlighted the launch of dual education. Among other measures he listed the payroll tax deduction, but he criticized the increase in the minimum wage.

Ondrus said the increase can help boost all wages.

It is not only people who are failing to find a proper job in Slovakia that have a material motivation to leave Slovakia, but also those whose qualifications give them a chance for an income several times higher abroad, said Ondrus. Thus the goal cannot be a high employment based on cheap labour force. This is not only short-sighted but this also does not remove the motivation to migrate for work.

Martin Hostak, secretary of the Republic Union of Employers (RUZ) believes that making competitiveness the priority of any cabinet would not only help the Slovak labour market but also the whole business environment.

It is actually the only tool by which we can affect the performance of the economy and thus also employment, Hostak told The Slovak Spectator adding that Slovakia lost monetary tools when it adopted the euro and fiscal possibilities are also limited.

More than 100,000 jobs

Fico promises that if his Smer is a member of the cabinet during the next election term, it will create 100,000 new jobs.

Ondrus specified that the ministry used 2015 to prepare systemic changes to be implemented in 2016 that should lead to higher employment including employment of those out of work in the long term. The ministry plans to change the system of re-qualification. He also points out that about 80,000 registered jobseekers work with short-term contracts and thus very little is needed for them to find their way back to a full time job.

Palenik does not see the Ficos promise as realistic. He estimates that the cabinet would need 2 billion annually to meet this promise.

Chovanculiak believes that will be the biggest determinant of future job growth.

A possible Fico cabinet can only strengthen or weaken this trend, depending on its approach to reforms of the business environment, said Chovanculiak.

Sirota expects that employment in Slovakia would continue to grow, and estimates that the number of the employed would increase annually by about 25,000-30,000 and thus 100,000 jobs might be created over a four year term.

But the reason would be rather economic than the policy of the Smer party, he said.
OLaNO leader latest in an ignoble Slovak tradition of pre-election takedowns.

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No offense to Igor Matovic, whose return of serve against Prime Minister Robert Fico yesterday was at least entertainingly cheeky. But while his press conference answered the most important question concerning the sale of his regionPress company in 2008  whether he paid tax on the money he took from it  it did little to refute the damning testimony of Pavel Vandak, that Matovic tricked him into buying the firm as part of an undisclosed tax scam.

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We dont know, for example, why Matovic chose to store such important documents as the regionPress companys accounts in the back of a car parked on his grannys property in the village of Borova. We dont know why, according to Matovic, Vandak should have been responsible for the missing accounts for the years 2004, 2006 and 2007, when he didnt buy the company until 2008. We dont know why Vandak appears to have been paid for taking over regionPress (one million crowns was left on account, as well as 15 million crowns in claims), or why Matovic was so (temporarily) anxious to divest himself of a company that had 4 million in cash at the time of its transfer. We dont know why the humble Vandak was selected as the new owner, given that he demonstrated zero business acumen and little intellectual curiosity during his police interview. And of course we dont know why regionPress was allegedly transferred back to the Matovic family after only two months of Vandaks stewardship  but in this were not alone: Matovic said he doesnt remember either.

Matovics cocksure response to Fico  take a lie-detector test with me, and Ill pay you 4 million  may be enough to reassure his voters, but for the majority of the electorate it will probably confirm their long-held beliefs that politics in general is a filthy business, and that Igor Matovic in particular is well past his best-before date.

Fico, of course, doesnt come out of this looking any nobler, with his unapologetic use of confidential police documents and weekend witness interviews to torpedo a political opponent just in time for elections. But hes hardly the first to withhold important information until it suits him  four years ago we had Gorilla to digest only weeks before elections, while in 2010 it was the SDKUs secret Swiss financing and the voice similar to Ficos.

Indeed, while the prime minister has less moral right than most of this countrys citizens to point fingers, its a little disappointing to see Fico faulted for his cynical sense of timing. One senses that if it had been Matovic making the allegations, and Fico having to present the thin evidence of his probity, most of us wouldnt have objected.
THERE are some obvious similarities between the life stories, and also main motif of works by two painters now exhibited in the Bratislava City Gallery (GMB), Hungarian Lajos (Ladislav) Szalay and Slovak Koloman Sokol. Some of the drawings exhibited show striking similarities.

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Additionally some of the symbols, aesthetic perception and even time junctions connect these two with the third artist, whose works are sparse, though: Spanish Pablo Picasso.

Pablo Picasso: Bull Fights (Source: TASR)

When I saw Picassos drawings/engravings at a previous exhibition in GMBs Mirbach Palace, I immediately thought: What about adding Picasso to these two? co-curator Lila Szabo (with Noemi Szabo and GMBs head Ivan Jancar) told the Slovak Spectator. But for me, it was no coincidence, and it was great that the two partners of the exhibition, the Art Foundation of Gabor Kovacs and the city gallery, immediately saw the connection and agreed.

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Szalay might have even met Picasso during his stay at a peace conference in Paris in 1947, the curator added. He worked there for a whole year for the leftist newspaper Les Lettres Francaises, for which also Picasso drew. I am going to explore this possibility more in detail for the next event, in Budapest, she added. (After the exhibition closes in Bratislava on March 13, it will proceed to Budapest.) Sokol, on the other hand, was evidently influenced by some of Picassos periods of creation  as was, by some other styles, Szalay. But Picasso, after all, influenced the whole 20th century, she summed up.

Curator Lila Szabo (Source: TASR)

Apart from some visual similarities of their works and of the leitmotifs that kept appearing, there are also some other connections: all three artists were rather leftist-inclined, although at least two of them, Szalay and Sokol, who got in touch with the real-life application of these ideals, escaped them not only mentally, but virtually  they moved abroad, finally even to other continents.

Koloman Sokol: Don Quijote (Source: TASR)

Koloman Sokol, after a period spent in Mexico (and a post-World War II attempt to return to Czechoslovakia) ended up in the USA, while Szalay wandered to Argentina, although he finally found his rest in Miskolc, Hungary.

Their social feelings and engagement, sensitive reactions to current events, as well as their themes focused on family, but also female nude portraits, horses, bulls, erotic motifs and Minotaurs connect not just Sokol and Szalay; but, in a way, impact the Slovak and Hungarian art, respectively, of the 20th century.

Lajos Szalay: Bull (Source: TASR)

The exhibition opening and the curatorial lecture on January 22 were attended by George Sokol, the son of the Slovak artist, who helped explain some of the details of his fathers works, as well as some of the familiar, recurring motifs.

George Sokol, son of Koloman Sokol (Source: TASR)

More information can be found at www.gmb.sk.

What: Lajos Szalay  Koloman Sokol  Pablo Picasso

Where: Bratislava City Gallery, Palffy Palace, Panska 19

When: daily except Monday, 11:00-18:00 until March 13

Admission: 2-4
BILATERAL Slovak-American relations and current migration crisis were issues, Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajcak and US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Hoyt Brian Yee spoke about on February 11 in Bratislava.

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They also discussed the situation in Ukraine and the other countries of the Eastern Partnership and the latest developments in the Western Balkans, the TASR newswire reported.

Lajcak noted the strong partnership between Slovakia and the USA and reiterated Slovakias interest in intensifying political dialogue at top levels. With respect to Ukraine, he emphasised the need for stability and unity of the governing coalition and for the reforms to continue.

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The two sides agreed to continue supporting Ukraine on its way to modernisation and Europeanisation. They also spoke about Belarus and its role in relation to the EU in the context of European geopolitical developments.

Lajcak told Yee about the preparations for the Slovak presidency of the EU, and described Slovakias priorities in relation to its presidency.

The duo also discussed energy security in view of the controversial Nord Stream 2 project of the new gas pipelines which will increase capacity along the Baltic Sea route from Russia to Germany bypassing Ukraine as well as Slovakia. Slovakia views this as going against the EUs interests and its energy goals.
THE PARLIAMENTARY education, youth, science and sport committee and the health committee on February 11 rejected resolutions drafted by the opposition that were supposed to represent the result of a special parliamentary session on the situation in the education and health-care sectors.

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The extraordinary session of parliament was initiated by 35 MPs, who found it important to discuss these issues before the general election on March 5, the TASR newswire reported.

After 15 hours of discussion the parliament rejected both resolutions.

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Precitajte si tiez:

Precitajte si tiez: Health care and education harm Smer Read more

The education part of the session was supposed to end with a resolution expressing serious concern over the Governments long-term disregard of problems in the education sector.

This situation resulted in a wildcat strike by educators that was launched on January 25, 2016, stated the opposition, as quoted by TASR.

The parliament was also supposed to express its support for teachers and other employees of the school sector whose demands, according to the opposition, are well-founded.

The draft stated that parliament should point to the fact that education is one of basic pillars of every developed country, but that the Slovak school sector suffers from acute underfunding.

Opposition MPs also wanted the government to hold talks with representatives of the Slovak Teachers Initiative (ISU) as soon as possible and to adopt satisfactory measures to end the teachers strike and improve the situation in the Slovak school sector.

Precitajte si tiez:

Precitajte si tiez: Teachers, pupils, university students protest in Bratislava Read more

The opposition stated that it hopes that the health section of the special parliamentary session will lead to a resolution stressing the need to observe patients rights and to provide full health care in the current difficult situation.

With regards to the interests of patients and the protection of their rights, the opposition emphasised the need to hold talks addressing nurses justified demands and to adopt strategic measures aimed at stabilising their professional and social status.

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Precitajte si tiez: Nurses lost their fight for salaries Read more

The social and moral significance of nurses must be rewarded with a fair salary and dignified working conditions in all types of health-care facilities, read the draft resolution.

Parliament was further supposed to state that the health-care sectors debt is constantly deepening, thereby endangering the smooth running of health-care facilities. It was expected to point to serious suspicions concerning the mismanagement of public resources in the health-care sector, which has a negative impact on the quality of provided health-care services.

The draft resolutions failed to receive backing in their respective committees because only opposition MPs voted for them. However, this concerned only a recommended position, and the final say was in the hands of the parliament.
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Finding the right piece of coffee equipment can be daunting. For those not willing to drop hundreds of dollars into every new gadget they can get their hands on, figuring out that one perfect and exciting brew device to best suit their tastes is hard. Never mind actually finding a place nearby that stocks it. But for Dallasites, the task has become much less daunting with the opening of Oak Cliffs Coffee Goods, a storefront dedicated solely to coffee brewing and coffee brewing accessories.

Oak Cliffs Coffee Goods, or OCCG for short, is one of the newest side projects of Oak Cliff Coffee Roasters owner Shannon Neffendorf (the other being MotoKofe, a three-wheeled motorcycle with a Bosco two-group lever machine built into the sidecar). The store sits adjacent to Oak Cliff Coffees flagship cafe, Davis Street Espresso, occupying the front quarter of the roasterys green coffee storage facility.

The 400-square-foot showroom has it all: pour-over devices, presses, grinders (both hand and electric), kettles, filters, even the unsexy but very necessary cleaning supplies required to keep any size of coffee setup humming. The collection is thoughtful, with no small brewing niche left unserved. But what is most impressive is the sheer volume of goods at OCCG, best visually surmised by what can only be described as The Chemex Walla shelf covering the westernmost wall displaying a variety of Chemex brewers and their associated bleached filters (PSA: friends dont let friends use unbleached filters).

General Manager Will Riggs tells me the shop grew out of necessity. Wed constantly have people wanting to have really in-depth conversations [at Davis Street] about brewing coffee at home, and it would always be on a busy Saturday, making it hard for our baristas to juggle drink service and sales service. Coffee Goods gave us the space to expand options, bring in some unique brewing devices and gear, plus it is a dedicated space to really talk about what people want out of their home coffee and how we can get them there.

Though they focus primarily on filter coffee equipment, OCCG will also serve as a retail outlet for a variety of home espresso machines, which will come as no surprise to anyone who has seen Neffendorfs collection of single-group machines in the back of Davis Street. Currently, only the Rocket Giotto is available in store, but Riggs tells me they will be carrying the La Marzocco Linea Mini, as well as the lever-operated one-group Bosco Sorrento, in the near future.

Having all this gear under one roof opens up a ton of hands-on instructional opportunities upon which Riggs and OCCG look to capitalize in the coming months. Instead of offering weekly brewing classes that have become somewhat common, OCCG will be able to provide customers with ad-hoc one-on-one training with the brewing device they are looking to purchase. A small bar area with water and electricity is currently in the works, allowing OCCG to demo just about anything they sell in-store.

The hope for the space is to absolutely be a wonderful learning environment, Riggs says. We havent quite nailed down what that looks like from a customer training perspective, but all our folks here are always excited to hand out their favorite Chemex recipe or talk through THE BEST AeroPress method theyve ever done.

Oak Cliffs Coffee Goods represents the next step in the evolution of the home coffee geek. Gone are the days of feverishly searching through internet forums to glean some small insight into why your brews are running too long or tasting too astringent. Perhaps it will lead to a more informed consumer base, which could then create a better coffee culture at large and make cafes step up their game. Or maybe itll just be a local spot where I can (finally!) buy bleached round Chemex filters. Im happy with either result.

Zac Cadwalader is a Sprudge.com staff writer based in Dallas, Texas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
About Me

I became involved in SPUC after graduating, when I established a branch in south London in 1974. I have worked full-time for SPUC for 42 years. I became chief executive of SPUC in the UK in 1996, having been general secretary since 1978. I was elected vice-president of International Right to Life Federation in 2005. At UN conferences in Cairo, Copenhagen, Beijing, Istanbul and Rome, I helped coordinate more than 150 pro-life/pro-family groups resulting in pro-life victories in Cairo, Istanbul and Rome. I was educated at Salesian College, London, before going to Oxford where I graduated in English Language and Literature. I qualified as a teacher, becoming head of English at a secondary school. I am married to Josephine. We have a grown-up family and we live in north London.


Divisions over trade issues with China would cost Washington dearly, as according to some estimates almost 40 percent of the state's employees are working in jobs related to global commerce.

China is the State of Washington's top export partner, as almost 23 percent of its $20.7 billion in exports were sent to China in 2014, the International Trade Administration said.

Washington Governor Jay Inslee has urged the two parties to settle the dispute. He has stated that REC Silicon "is now unfairly caught in an international trade dispute that threatens its survival," and underscored that this was "a disappointing development." During his latest meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Seattle last September, Inslee raised the question once again.

In 2012, the US slapped new tariffs on China, which it accused of dumping solar panels below cost on the US market. A year later, China retaliated by imposing tariffs on American polysilicon. Now Chinese producers who want to buy from REC Silicon must pay a 57 percent import duty, which makes the Norwegian firm's US-made products prohibitively expensive.

Democratic Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell said on Monday that they had also met with top Chinese trade officials in an attempt to put an end to the dispute.

"This is too important for workers and our local economy to wait any longer," Murray said.
NEW YORK (Sputnik)  US banking giant Morgan Stanley will pay upwards of $550 million to the state of New York for engaging in deceptive practices that lead to the 2008 financial crisis, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement.

"Todays agreement is another victory in our efforts to help New Yorkers rebuild in the wake of the financial devastation caused by major banks," Schneiderman stated on Thursday.

The funds will provide "community-level relief" to New York residents seeking loan reductions to avoid foreclosures as well as resources to transform code enforcement systems to prevent the origination of faulty loans in the future.
The latter goal segues in nicely with what the US wants to do, which is to kaleidoscopically fracture hitherto largely homogenous European societies via provoked and prolonged Hobbesian conflict between the locals, refugees, and host governments. It's aware that the civilizational dissimilarity between the native Europeans and the migrating Muslim masses will inevitably lead to multifaceted tension, and it aims to perpetually exploit the resultant identity cleavages in order to conveniently craft various Color Revolution scenarios in keeping certain governments in check and away from pragmatic cooperation with Russia and China (e.g. Nord Stream II, Turkish/Balkan Stream, and the Balkan Silk Road).

Qualifying Caveats And The Smoking Gun Pattern

It's useful at this moment to point out that while there definitely are some legitimate refugees reaching Europe's shores, many of the newcomers are economic migrants that aren't even from Syria, and that a highly disproportionate number of the people who have come to the continent are draft-age young males. This is why the author collectively and more accurately refers to these people as immigrants and not "refugees". Russian Defense spokesman Igor Konashenkov, American Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and French Minister of Defense Jean-Yves Le Drian have all recently warned that Daesh terrorists are actively infiltrating borders under the guise of being "refugees", so there are absolutely some legitimate concerns about the types of people getting into Europe undetected.

Another thing is that "Islamist" isn't a synonym for Muslim (as it's commonly mistaken to be), but rather a label in referring to those that seek to impose Islam on others, such as Muslim Brotherhood and Wahhabi sympathizers. These individuals don't have to be instructed on how to stir up problems in their host countries because their Islamist ideology naturally inspires them to clash with the locals, which thus organically satisfies the US' 21st-century "Operation Gladio" plans. Regrettably, the sexual terrorist attacks in Cologne and other cities leave no doubt that many of these undesirable immigrants have already gotten into the EU, confirming that the US and Turkey's destabilizing geopolitical plans are already in full swing.

Most Europeans figured out on their own that something was amiss about the whole immigrant crisis, questioning why so many of the new arrivals, if they were genuine refugees, would behave with such arrogant, ungrateful, and callous disregard for the host population that literally (as they were led to believe) saved their lives. The smoking gun of Erdogan's transcribed threat, proving the degree of control that he has over the floodgates and his willingness to leverage this in as self-interested of a manner as possible, showed many Europeans that they weren't wrong for questioning the mainstream media's narrative on this whole matter.
PARIS (Sputnik)  The introduction of EU sanctions against Russia and countermeasures by Moscow may cost the French economy several billion euros and about 160,000 jobs, the Russian ambassador to France said Thursday.

"The restrictions imposed by the European Union and the Russian retaliatory measures, of course, inflicted significant damage on our relations. It has been estimated that the direct damages to the French pig-breeding industry, as of the middle of 2015, were 100 million euros [$113 million], to fruit and vegetable producers  50 million euros, dairy products  over 109 million euros. The overall French losses could reach several billion euros and 160, 000 jobs," Alexander Orlov told RIA Novosti in an interview.

In the first three quarters of 2015, bilateral trade compared to the same period in 2014 decreased by almost 42 percent, dropping to $7.5 billion dollars, he stated.


BRUSSELS (Sputnik)NATO has agreed to provide support in assisting with the refugee and migrant crisis in Europe in response to a joint request from Germany, Greece, and Turkey, NATO Chief Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday.

"We have just agreed that NATO will provide support to assist with the refugee and migrant crisis. This is based on a joint request by Germany, Greece, and Turkey. The goal is to participate in the international efforts to stem the illegal trafficking and the illegal migration in the region," Stoltenberg said at a press conference in Brussels.

NATO's standing maritime group deployed in the region would be tasked with reconnaissance, monitoring and surveillance of illegal crossings in the Aegean, he added.
"I was in a crowd of demonstrators and felt someone grab me, that is, the police dragged me tooth and nail. A few seconds later was on the ground, and three police officers tried to do something to me which I did not understand, because it happened very quickly, and at some point I lost consciousness," Firat told Sputnik.

"When I woke up, I was covered in blood, my pants were completely covered in blood. I panicked, I did not understand anything, and then I was told that it was not my blood, but the blood of another person," she added.

She then saw another activist, Morad, who was lying face-down on the ground, bleeding from his head. Morad apparently tried to protect Berivan from the police, and was beaten.

"In total, they have arrested 25 people, handcuffed us and led us directly to the Turkish Embassy, to the doors. We stood there for around 40 minutes in handcuffs, in front of the Turkish Embassy doors. I think, I'm sure that, in this way they wanted to say to the Turkish Embassy, "We arrested them, here they are, brought them to you," Firat told Sputnik.
'Dangerous International Precedent'

The criticism follows the publishing of two other parliamentary reports from the Science and Technology Committee and the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), which were also heavily critical of the bill, dubbed the Snoopers' Charter.

Responding to the parliamentary findings, Harmit Kambo, campaign director at Privacy International, told Sputnik that the passing the bill in its current form would set a dangerous precedent and give legitimacy to other nations looking to establish similar "intrusive" pieces of legislation.

"It's going to be a race to the bottom. If we pass legislation like this it enables every other country in the world to pass similar legislation and the future of the Internet is in peril."

While noting the need for up to date legislation in the area, Mr Kambo said the government should use the recent parliamentary findings as a "roadmap" to make "very substantial revisions" to the bill.

"They need to go back to the drawing board. They need to do a fundamental root and branch rewrite of this piece of legislation and make it far more clear, far more transparent and need to make sure that privacy is the backbone of this legislation."

Concerns Over Bulk Data Collection

Mr Kambo has called for the protection of Internet privacy to feature as the backbone of the bill, highlighting concerns raised by the recent ISC report.

"Given that it was meant to respond to the massive public concerns that arose after the Snowden revelations, it's remarkable how little attention it pays to privacy safeguards."

On top of the MPs' concerns, there has been a widespread public outcry and criticism from major tech companies against Britain's proposals, particularly in regards to measures that would oblige tech companies to weaken encryption services by offering a 'backdoor' for intelligence agencies to access the communications of people suspected of being involved with terrorism or criminal activities.

Three strikes against the #IPbill https://t.co/425uuIrBHW  three UK Parliamentary committees have now given their verdict  Free Snowden (@couragesnowden) February 11, 2016

Hitting back at the criticism, the government has argued that it needs to be able to access the communications of the population in order to help it combat security fears.

The issue of bulk collection of Internet data is of huge concern to activists however, with Mr Kambo pointing to the ISC's recent findings.

"The ISC has taken evidence from the security agencies, Theresa May and her officials in closed sessions and they have been unconvinced by the use of bulk powers. That is a massive and deeply important point  that they have made no case for mass surveillance, which is what bulk powers in effect are."
Germany's Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs has requested another half a billion euros for the integration of refugees and migrants this year, a revelation that could stoke further social tensions; on Thursday Germany's Ministry of the Interior released data showing a sharp rise in right-wing offenses in 2015.

The figures show the amount of right-wing extremist offenses in Germany increased in 2015 by one third in comparison with 2014, and the number of right-wing extremist violent offences increased by almost half.

In 2015 there were 13,846 right-wing extremist offenses, up from 10,541 in 2014. The number of violent right-wing extremist offenses increased even more sharply, from 496 in 2014 to 921 in 2015. The majority of the violent attacks, 612, were motivated by xenophobia.
BRUSSELS (Sputnik)  The first phase of the review was "as satisfying as possible," Moscovici said at a Thursday press conference, as quoted by Bloomberg, adding that it is possible for the review to be concluded before Easter (March 27).

Earlier on Thursday, Finnish Finance Minister Alexander Stubb said that the review of the Greek reform program could be completed "in the coming weeks."

The Greek economy has been severely strained for several years, because of the countrys multibillion debt accumulated after the 2008 world economic crisis.
A la dignidad de los companeros no las va a doblegar con denuncias ni con decretos. pic.twitter.com/uwUBdnitru  Milagro Sala (@SalaMilagro) 14  2016

The recent news prompted a public outcry as leading Argentinian churchman Bishop Jorge Lozano suggested that he could mediate a negotiation with Macri to secure her release.

"We must be careful not to slip into what Francis calls subtle xenophobia' under the noble guise of the battle against corruption," wrote the Bishop in a recent newspaper column.

President Macri is scheduled to meet with Pope Francis on February 27 in the Vatican, and discussing Sala's case is reportedly on their agenda.

Sala first met Jorge Bergoglio, the future pontiff, some years ago in Argentina when he visited poor areas and she assisted the working class people known as 'decamisados'. The woman paid him a visit in 2014 in Rome, where she presented the Pope with coca leaves as a gift.

En este momento la policia de Gerardo Morales me esta deteniendo, esto es como en la dictadura. #Jujuy  Milagro Sala (@SalaMilagro) 16  2016

Sala and her comrades set up an organization which successfully lobbied for a budget of $50 million in Argentina's poorest neighborhood. She was able to secure better housing for 70,000 Tupac Amaru members and has employed 5,000 workers throughout her leadership of the organization.

However, her strong-arm tactics have earned her many enemies. The center-left governor of her region considers her group and its Che Guevara-inspired ideas a threat to the civic order; two young members of the group attacked him in 2009 when he was a senator representing the region.

Tensions flared last year when Governor Morales demanded that the state cut funding to the organization, prompting its members to stage a permanent demonstration outside his office. "They wanted to throw me out of office," Morales told the press. "They wanted to overturn the (provincial) government."

Controversy surrounding the militant self-styled neighborhood association isn't limited to its conflict with the local government. According to the Guardian, "allegations against it include the death of a five-year-old girl in a shootout involving Tupac Amaru members, involvement in drug-trafficking, and violent attacks against a judge, a newspaper and police stations."

On 16 January, Sala was arrested and the vigil in Jujuy was eventually moved to Buenos Aires, where Sala supporters have built tents in front of windows of Macri's presidential office.

Supported by Amnesty International which claimed that Sala "is being criminalized for peacefully exercising her rights to freedom of expression and protest," Argentina's human rights activists demand for Sala's immediate release.
LATAKIA (Sputnik)  The cargo was parachuted by Syrian aviation on Wednesday night from a height of 4,000 meters (over 13,000 feet) to the government-controlled areas of the seventh largest city in Syria.

The total weight of the humanitarian cargo was over 50 metric tons.

"In Russia, cargo is dropped from a height of 600 to 1,000 meters, but this was generally not the case here. The choice of a height of 4 kilometers was due to the extremists possessing air defense systems, as well as a range of other factors," a representative of Russian air forces in Syria told journalists.
According to Erdogan Karakus, the head of Turkey's retired officers' association and retired air force general, border monitoring by other NATO members is normal and provided for by Article Five of the treaty.

"Because of that, I would not consider a proposal on the implementation of the control and monitoring of our borders by NATO countries a violation of our national sovereignty," Karakus told Sputnik Turkiye.

Some NATO members maintain that Turkey is a sponsor of Daesh and to blame for the European migrant crisis, and claim that the prospect of confrontation with Russia are behind Turkey's proposal, according to Karakus. Border monitoring then would allow NATO members to verify their claims on Turkey's Daesh connection, said Karakus.

Gurbuz, however, believes that NATO is itself a danger when it comes to confrontation with Russia. He also accused other NATO countries of supporting both Daesh and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is banned in Turkey as "terrorist."

"In my opinion, Turkey's biggest problem is NATO military bases established on our territory. It is because of these bases that we have been threatened by our neighbors. They contribute to the deterioration of our position in the region and cause harm to our relations with countries in the region," Gurbuz told Sputnik Turkiye.
With the Obama administration apparently "on the verge of taking action" against Daesh in Libya, and the deployment of a 6,000-strong Italian-led, British-supported brigade discussed in recent weeks, it seems that what Western nations are waiting for now is the formation of the UN-brokered Libyan national unity government in order to receive a formal invitation to intervene.

The body charged with naming the government now has until Sunday to form the new government, which needs the internationally recognized Tobruk-based parliament's approval to take office.

Ostensibly, Western powers are concerned over the establishment of a strong Daesh terrorist presence in the coastal city of Sirte; Daesh was able to gain a foothold in the country in 2014, following a 2011 intervention by Western powers against Muammar Gaddafi which led to years of instability and civil war.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Last week, Saudi Arabias Ministry of Defense said it was ready to deploy ground troops in Syria to fight Islamic State jihadist group. On Sunday, the United Arab Emirates made a similar statement.

"A ground operation would involve all participants in a war. Therefore, the Americans and our Arab partners must consider well whether they want a permanent war. They are wrong if they think they could win this war quickly, especially in the Arab world where everybody fights against everybody," Medvedev said in an interview with Germany's Handelsblatt newspaper ahead of his Munich visit.

Medvedev provided examples of Afghanistan and Libya, and noted that ground operation in Syria would lead to a conflict that could last for decades.
Ultimately, Whitney notes, "a victory in Aleppo will change the course of the war by restoring government control over the densely-populated western corridor. This is why the Obama administration is frantically searching for ways to either delay or derail the Russian-led juggernaut and avoid the impending collapse of US policy in Syria."

The peace talks in Geneva, the journalist says, "were convened with one goal in mind: to prevent Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and loyalist forces from retaking Aleppo. The negotiations failed, however, when Washington's mercurial allies, the so-called 'moderate' rebels, refused to participate."

With the Wall Street Journal explaining that the opposition had withdrawn "under pressure from Saudi Arabia and Turkey, two of the main backers of the rebels," Whitney recalled that "the WSJ's admission was later confirmed by Secretary of State John Kerry who, according to a report in the Middle East Eye, 'blamed the Syrian opposition for leaving the talks and paving the way for a joint offensive by the Syrian government and Russia on Aleppo.'"

"Don't blame me," an exasperated Kerry said last week. "Blame the opposition. It was the opposition that didn't want to negotiate and didn't want a ceasefire, and they walked away."


PARIS (Sputnik)There has been a noticeable improvement in Moscow-Paris relations and a new outlook for the resumption of cooperation has emerged recently, the Russian ambassador to France said Thursday.

"There have been positive trends in [French-Russian] relations in recent months. One begins to sense that France has begun to grow tired of the current unhealthy situation. A gradual rethinking of the events surrounding Ukraine is occurring. People are beginning to understand that US interests in this crisis are not identical to the interests of Europe. The senselessness and counterproductiveness of the sanctions that have boomeranged on French business are becoming more and more obvious. The determination to normalize bilateral relations with Russia is becoming more apparent," Alexander Orlov told RIA Novosti in an interview.

He pointed out that in October and November 2015 meetings were held between the Russian and French presidents, a regular dialogue at the level of foreign ministers has continued and in a few days, the first meeting of the heads of government of the two countries, Dmitry Medvedev and Manuel Valls, will take place in Munich, Germany.
At the same time, the official welcomed the Pentagon's proposal to increase its 2017 military budget, including the quadrupling of outlays on spending for its European garrison.

Predictably, Russian officials responded to the announcement on the new buildup by noting that NATO is "trying to draw [Russia] into a state of Cold War," adding that Moscow "will continue to strengthen its defensive potential" and "to improve the deterrent potential of nuclear weapons."

Unfortunately, even the plans for 'enhanced rotational deployment' will not satisfy some of the more hawkish of NATO's members, particularly Poland, defense analyst John R. Deni suggests.

In an article for foreign policy magazine The National Interest, Deni, a research professor at the Carlisle, Pennsylvania-based Army War College's Strategic Studies Institute, noted that NATO's plans for a rotating presence in Poland will leave Poland's leaders, desperate for a permanent, large-scale NATO presence, disappointed.

"The NATO alliance is treating Poland and other allies in the region like a buffer zone, refusing to permanently station troops there and hence provide the same level of security that has long been accorded other allies to the West[These] were the very public words of Andrzej Duda, the recently elected president of Poland," the analyst recalled.

"Unfortunately," Deni writes, "major obstacles  political and economic  stand in the way of NATO establishing permanent troop concentrations in Poland or elsewhere in Eastern Europe. Nevertheless, Duda's comments and his relentless, vocal pursuit of permanent NATO forces on Polish soil mean that, by diplomatic standards, the upcoming NATO summit in July [in Warsaw] is likely to be downright riveting."
In addition to attempting to hold Ottawa accountable for the Liberals' election promises, Turp and his students refer to defense exports guidelines adopted by the Canadian government 1986 (under a conservative government, no less), which state that "Canada closely controls the export of military goods and technology to countrieswhose governments have a persistent record of serious violations of the human rights of their citizens, unless it can be demonstrated that there is no reasonable risk that the goods might be used against the civilian population."

"Saudi Arabia," an Open Letter by Trup and his students reads, "has committed and continues to commit such serious violations, and there is a real risk that the light armored vehicles manufactured by General Dynamics will be used to commit abuses against the civilian population of Saudi Arabia and its neighboring countries."

Subsequently, Nelson notes, the group will argue in court that Ottawa is violating its own arms-exports rules, and ask the court to rescind the export permits.

"A recent poll by Nanos Research suggests that most Canadians are opposed to the $15 billion arms sale. The survey 'showed [that] nearly six in 10 feel it is more important to ensure arms are going only to countries 'that respect human rights' than it is to support 3,000 jobs by selling weaponized armored vehicles to Saudi Arabia.'"

So far, the journalist notes, Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion "has offered weak explanations for the Trudeau government's refusal to cancel the contract."
The journalist calls attention to the fact that a few days ago the British Defense Ministry announced that it was going to close the independent Iraq Historic Allegations Team (IHAT). The organization was established to inquire into allegations of abuse of Iraqi civilians by UK armed forces personnel in Iraq during the period of 2003 to 2009.

Today IHAT lists about 1,500 cases under investigation, including unlawful killings, accusations of assault, ill treatment and systematic abuse of Iraqi detainees by British military servicemen.

However, 57 investigations into British soldiers' alleged crimes in Iraq were dropped in late January 2016 following David Cameron's proposal to stop soldiers "being hounded by lawyers over claims that are totally without foundation."

Cameron slammed the organization for creating "an industry trying to profit from spurious claims lodged against our brave servicemen and women who fought in Iraq."

Berger recalls that the British elites have repeatedly tried to throw a wrench into the investigation of Tony Blair's decision to lure Britain into the war against Iraq.

But that is not all.

"Lately Amnesty International has been vocal in condemning the UK role in the Yemeni conflict, while directly pointing to the shameful support of routine brutality that the Saudi regime has been exhibiting," the journalist points out.

UN reports UK implicated in Saudi savaging of Yemen: appalling civilian casualties: UK weapons: Are UK Military advisors on the ground?  Jon Snow (@jonsnowC4) 6  2016

Indeed, in December 2015 a group of lawyers, including Professor Philippe Sands QC, Professor Andrew Clapham and Blinne Ni Ghralaigh of Matrix Chamber issued legal opinion commissioned by Amnesty regarding the lawfulness of UK's arms supplies to Saudi Arabia.

The experts confirmed that the British government is breaking national, EU and international law by supplying weaponry to Riyadh in the light of its bombing campaign in Yemen.

@jonsnowC4 UK military officers ARE on the ground, in command room in Riyadh according to the incessant bragging of @adelaljubeir  Arabellastory (@Arabellastory) 6  2016

"For the reasons set out in this opinion, on the basis of the evidence available to us, any authorization by the UK of the transfer to Saudi Arabia of weapons and related items within the scope of the Arms Trade Treaty, the EU Common Position and the UK Consolidated Criteria, in circumstances where such weapons are capable of being used in the conflict in Yemen, including to support its blockade of Yemeni territory, and in circumstances where their end-use is not restricted, would constitute a breach by the UK of its obligations under domestic, European and international law," the report said.
"After meeting Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington on Monday, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said: 'The coalition will operate the way it has operated in the past, as an international coalition, even when there is a ground force contingent in Syria. There would be no international coalition against ISIS [Daesh] in Syria if the US did not lead this effort."

"Riyadh," Lauria writes, "knows better than anyone that it doesn't have the military capability to do anything beyond pounding the poorest Arab country into dust, that would be its neighbor Yemen. And it can't win that war either. But when Saudi Arabia's ambitions outsize their capabilities, who do they call? The 'indispensable nation', the United States."

For Better or for Worse, It Comes Down to Obama

So far, the journalist noted, President Barack Obama has "resisted direct US combat involvement in the Syrian civil war, despite longstanding Saudi, Israeli and neocon pressures. They clamored for intervention after the chemical weapons fiasco in Ghouta in the summer of 2013," an incident which, incidentally, is likely to have been "a 'false flag' provocation by the rebels to draw the US military into a war on [the rebels'] side."
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  The primary US embargo against Iran remains in place, despite an end to the nuclear-related sanctions that were lifted following Tehrans compliance with the nuclear agreement, the US Department of the Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Acting Director John Smith stated on Thursday.

"OFAC continues to administer a robust sanctions regime targeting Iran outside of the nuclear arena, and its troubling activities. Broadly, the US primary embargo on Iran is still in place," Smith told the US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs.

"Of the more than 400 individuals and entities that were taken off the SDN [Specially Designated Nationals] List on Implementation Day, roughly 200 of those were placed on a new OFAC list to indicate that they remain blocked persons under US law," Smith noted.
On November 3, Henry emailed the DEQ's Laboratory Director George Krisztian and requested all lead testing results from Freeman Elementary, saying that his email should be treated as a FOIA request. Krisztian declined the request however, claiming that the samples collected from the school on October 24 presented an "incomplete picture of the plumbing system" and that additional samples collected on October 31 wouldn't be ready until November 4.

"I am hoping to either have a conference call or a meeting in Flint with all the partners to review the results and discuss how we will present the information to the public," Krisztian wrote.

On November 6, Henry sent out another email stating that Krisztian told him that he was instructed to withhold the information until the FOIA deadline of Dec. 2.

"MDEQ reminds me of a stubborn 2yr old child," Henry wrote. "Instead of doing what is right, they'll willfully take another spanking just to be defiant."

Luckily, county health officials took action instead of waiting around for the results to be released to them, and Henry stated on the 6th that he was directing county health staff to visit Flint schools, meet with administrators and make sure no one was drinking the water to reduce the risk to students.

Three days later, the information was released.

"The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality informed Flint Community Schools that of 31 samples taken at the school on Oct. 24, samples from nine fixtures indicated water with lead exceeding 15 parts per billion, the threshold considered safe by the federal government," the district wrote in its press release on the 9th. "The MDEQ informed FCS that the high lead levels were not detected in plumbing, but only in nine faucets and heads of drinking fountains."

Meanwhile, Snyder has taken to Facebook to adamantly deny the contents of the emails:
Others presumed that Russian involvement would be ineffectual, or that Russian support for Assad was weak.

"There's no question that Islamic State (Daesh) has been weakened in Syria, as well as the position of the other terrorist, or rebel groups, whatever you want to call them," Abrahms said. He cited their loss of territory and oil revenue as well as waning budgets for fighters and propaganda as proof of their growing weakness.

"More and more the leadership of the Islamic State (Daesh) is saying to foreign jihadis, don't even come here, go to Libya."

Another consequence of Russia's air operation is a change in the US political outlook towards Syria, Abrahms said. The White House has changed its rhetoric on regime change, and the fortunes of US presidential candidates with differing policies regarding the future of Assad is indicative of changing public perceptions.

"A lot of Americans think that they're stuck between a rock and hard place: do they want to see Islamic State and al-Qaeda and groups like that gain strength or do they want to see the growing influence of Russia and Iran and Assad? So I think a lot of Americans aren't very clear on whether they think Russian involvement has been a good thing or a bad thing."


MOSCOW (Sputnik)The Russian Interior Ministry said earlier on Thursday that it had asked Interpols Secretary General to place Khodorkovsky on its international wanted list. The informed source clarified that Khodorkovsky is wanted on charges that fall under three articles of the Criminal Code, including murder, criminal complicity and attempted crime.

"A number of formalities are required for an actual search within the framework of the international organization to begin. Firstly, Russias notification of other member states as reported today. Second, the General Secretariat should approve the decision without blocking it for political reasons, for example," the source said.

The source stressed that Interpols constitution forbids the organization from political, military, religious or race-related interference to maintain neutrality. That is why the General Secretariat headquartered in Lyons reviews high-profile wanted list requests individually and has veto power in its decision, the source added.


WASHINGTON (Sputnik)The United States will present a plan to members of its anti-Daesh coalition, outlining necessary contributions from the member countries to accelerate the defeat of the terrorist group embedded in Syria and Iraq, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said at the counter-Daesh ministerial meeting in Brussels on Thursday.

"I will present for your consideration our proposed coalition military campaign plan, this is a strategic document I have prepared with my commanders," Carter said. "It is a campaign plan that outlines the way forward and the resources and the capabilities we will need to hasten ISIL's lasting defeat."

Carter explained that the new campaign plan would focus on more contributions from coalition partners to the anti-Daesh campaign and on further steps to reclaim the cities of Mosul and Raqqa, as well as to prevent Daesh from spreading into other countries.




In this blog, I use quite a bit of materials from other sources. To a large extent, I am systematic about making sure the reader immediately knows that these are not mine. The good thing is that most graphics, cartoons in particular, have the copyright information embedded in them, which makes it convenient for me when blogging.
James Kennedy, who is quickly approaching driving victory No. 1,000, will attempt to get closer to that plateau on Saturday at Cal Expo when he guides the up-and-coming Midnight Adventure in Saturday nights California Sire Stakes for pacing colts.

Kennedy comes into the program with 991 trips to the charmed enclosure, and three of those scores have come with Midnight Adventure, who carries the banner of his breeders, Mark Anderson and Debra McCarthy, and calls the Gordie Graham barn his home.

Hes got a lot of talent, for sure, Kennedy related when asked about the pacer. He was still a little green in that second start, making a break when I tried to get him into a hole and he got upset, but now hes pretty much push-button.

Midnight Adventure has won his last two starts impressively, including the Lonnie Beck Series final. During both of his most recent wins he engaged in heated stretch exchanges with Allmyxsliveintexas. Theyve had a couple of real good battles, the pilot noted.

As for being on the verge of 1,000 victories, James admits he never could have dreamed of such a thing when he first started driving. I dont know if you remember, but I went something like 0-for-165 before I got my first win. It was a horse named Watch Me Dream for my dad.

Despite that less-than-stellar start, Kennedy has established himself as one of the top drivers and trainers on the grounds, currently housing nine performers in his shedrow. Among that group is Im An Athlete for Ronald Rettig-Zucchi, who has rattled off three straight Open victories.

I enjoy getting behind my horses, and went I dont have one in a race, I like driving for other people. If I could, Id love to be in every race every night.

Pair of Sire Stakes Matching Sophomore Pacers

Two $10,000 California Sire Stakes for three-year-old pacers highlight the Saturday night card at Cal Expo, with Midnight Adventure and Allmyxsliventexas heading the colt division, while Little Emma looms large in the filly contest. A 12-race card is on tap with first post set for 6:25 p.m.

Midnight Adventure is homebred son of Kents On Nuke out of KBs Midnight, who races for Mark Anderson and Debra McCarthy, hails from the Gordie Graham barn and will once again have James Kennedy in the sulky.

The dark-hued performer earned his graduation papers in his January 9 debut, then lost all chance in his next start in the opening leg of the Lonnie Beck Series after making a break.

Midnight Adventure has been all business in his last two appearances, however, with a game victory in the Beck finale followed by a lifetime-best 1:55.1 score in a conditioned event last weekend.

Allmyxsliventexas is a Wayne and Rod Knittel homebred son of Hi Ho Silverheels who takes his lessons from Bob John and will have Mooney Svendsen handling the lines. He romped in the Lonnie Beck opening leg and has been Midnight Adventures most immediate victim in the Beck final and that conditioned contest last week.

Rounding out the cast will be Rock Of Ages with Luke Plano; Mathachusetts, to be guided by Steve Wiseman; and One More Chance, who has the services of Chip Lackey.

Looking at the filly division, Little Emma is coming off a solid come-from-behind score in her third trip to the post. The Little Steven homebred races for Thomas, Haness and Reider with George Reider training and David Siegel at the helm. Sassy Catitude, Plain Awsome and Moonstone Beach complete the field

(Cal Expo)
On Wednesday, February 10 in Kentucky, the House Agriculture and Small Business Committee voted in favour of a piece of legislation that calls for taxes on agricultural items related to the horse racing industry to be eased.

As an article by the Lexington Herald-Leader explains, the bill would deem horse owners exempt from having to pay a state tax on certain items used in their operations, including machinery, feed and fertilizers.

The piece explains that other livestock sectors in the state are already exempt from paying the state tax in question.

The article has quoted Republican Rep. Steven Rudy as saying "it is ridiculous that for this many years, our signature industry has been treated like a stepchild."

The article has described the piece of legislation as a longshot bill. The legislation will now be be referred to the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee.

(With files from the Lexington Herald-Leader)
Hall of Famer William B. Weaver III, who bred influential trotting sire Valley Victory as well as several division champions, passed away on Wednesday, February 10 at the age of 79.

Weaver owned horses since the late 1960s, and finished second with The Prophet in the 1969 Hambletonian. He made his mark as a breeder in 1988 when his Valley Victory won the Breeders Crown and the Dan Patch Award as the Two-Year-Old Colt Trotter of the Year. Valley Victory won 11 of 14 lifetime races before being retired at age three because of illness. His offspring include Hambletonian winning colts Victory Dream and Muscles Yankee as well as filly Continentalvictory. Victory Dream and Muscles Yankee also produced Hambletonian winners, with Muscles Yankee sons Deweycheatumnhowe, Muscle Hill and Muscle Massive and winning the sport's top trotting race in consecutive years (2008-10).

In 2012, the Weaver-bred colt trotter Wheeling N Dealin and filly trotter To Dream On were Breeders Crown winners and divisional two-year-old champions, a feat last accomplished 22 years prior.

Other notable horses bred by Weaver and his Valley High Stable include U.S. and/or Canadian division champions Chocolatier, Laddie, Was It A Dream, plus millionaire trotting mare Elusive Desire. Others include Fun And Strokes, Sugar Trader, Juliets Fate, Quick Credit, Count The Goal, China Princess and Pampered Princess.

Weaver was inducted into harness racing's Hall of Fame in Goshen, NY, in 2014. Introduced by fellow Hall of Famer Bill O'Donnell at the induction ceremony, Weaver remarked, "I am humbled, happy and surprised to be here today." He then added, "I know the reason I'm here is because of Valley Victory."

Weaver reminded his audience that Valley Victory was the first horse he bred, and he recalled the serendipity of his decision. He had only one broodmare and for a reason unbeknownst to him, he was on a mailed solicitation to buy a share in the new stallion Baltic Speed. He and his close friend and trainer Vernon Dancer purchased the share in the stallion 50-50 and Weaver began breeding horses under the banner of Valley High Stable.

As for his accomplishments as a breeder, Weaver candidly said, "It's a crapshoot. I don't want to tell anybody to get in the breeding business. I take pride in it, but no responsibility."

Funeral arrangements for Weaver will be posted when available.

Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of William Weaver.

(Harnessracing.com)
San Diego Rescinds Ban on the Term 'Founding Fathers'

Contact: Brad Dacus, Pacific Justice Institute, 949-422-0395



SAN DIEGO, Feb. 11, 2016 /Standard Newswire/ -- The City of San Diego recently rescinded its order that employees not mention the term "Founding Fathers." This reversal occurred after Pacific Justice Institute staff attorney Matthew McReynolds sent a demand letter informing the City that such a mandate was an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment.

The City had cited the phrase as "gender biased" language in the city manual and had recently affirmed this policy to its employees.

Brad Dacus, President of PJI stated, "We are glad to see the City of San Diego revoke this type of censorship and PC insanity. At a time set aside to honor American icons to whom we owe our constitutional freedoms, it is offensive and indefensible that the City of San Diego had directed its employees not to even mention the term 'Founding Fathers.' You can be assured that we'll continue to monitor the City to ensure that such censorship does not continue."
Er is iets heel griezeligs aan de gang in Nederland. Dat wij geleidelijk aan in een totalitaire 'democratie' wegzinken wordt steeds ...
...they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Acts 17:11 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. Isaiah 8:20 "Whatever it is, I'm against it. No matter what it is or who commenced it, I'm against it." Groucho Marx, from Horse Feathers
My Cooter's History Blog has become about 80% World War II anyway, so I figured to start a blog specific to it, especially since we're commemorating its 70th anniversary and we are quickly losing this "Greatest Generation." The quote is taken from Pearl Harbor survivor Frank Curre, who was on the USS Tennessee that day. He died Dec. 7, 2011, seventy years to the day. His photo is below at right.
The Mustangs go into their 'warrior zone' to defeat fifth-seeded Lakewood in the first game of pool play in the CIF-SS Division 1 playoffs.
Chris London hopes that writing and directing a comedy set in a funeral home will lead to a lively career in movies.

London, a 2010 graduate of Mark Morris High School who now lives in New York, is the writer and director for Uncle Gareth, a short film in production. He hopes to finish the movie in time to enter in film festivals in March.

As a high school student, London was active in plays at Mainstage Theatre.

Chris has always been very creative, innovative and driven, even when he was in high school, Mainstage director Susan Donahue said in an email. Watching the clip of Uncle Gareth, I know that Chris is doing great work and doing what he loves, she said.

London graduated from the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, where he mostly studied acting for film.

I started getting interested in how you can work behind the camera, said London, 24. Since then, hes worked both in front of and behind the lens.

Londons first film appearance was in Shabbat Dinner, a 2012 short film that garnered awards from festivals around the world. As another measure of success, its received 180,000 views on YouTube.

Shabat Dinner deals with Judaism and homosexuality, which London said are not two topics that get drawn out together very often.

I was the only person on set who wasnt gay or Jewish, he said. It was a very eye-opening experience.

London has appeared in at least a dozen other short films. Because I have big eyes I get cast a lot as a kid who gets beat up a lot so people feel sorry for him.

London said he got the idea for Uncle Gareth  A Comedy about Corpses from another director and refined it over time.

Its about a young man who inherits the family mortuary after his parents die. Gareth discovers that hed rather talk to the corpses than the still-living. Hes afraid to talk to people but he doesnt want to be alone, so this is a nice compromise that he finds, London said.

The situation gets even stranger when Gareths young niece comes to visit. Then theres the nosy neighborhood watchman to contend with, too.

I think the overall resolution is that he figures out hes not the only one who feels guilty of being lonely, London said. He gets to make a connection and decides hes going to work through his issues rather than putting them off.

London cast a friend, Miles Neuvirth, as the lead and did a casting call for other roles.

The movie was filmed at a bed and breakfast and a real funeral home on Staten Island. Near the end of five days of filming, the crew had to hurry because the business was about to get a real deceased person. The owner said, Dont worry about it. Theyre already dead, London said. He loves people coming in. He loves being a part of movies.

The 15-minute films visuals are done and now the films composer and colorist are working on it. March brings deadlines to enter the Sundance and Palm Springs film festivals.

Meanwhile, London hopes to raise another $3,000 on Kickstarter by noon Friday to reach his goal of $8,000. That will enable him to pay the editor and composer a fair wage, he said.

As for his own income, London, who lives in eastern Brooklyn, works at a restaurant at Columbus Circle, which is next to Central Park in Manhattan.

The end goal with a short film is to show that you can make a really good film, London said. It will open the doors to film studios that want larger projects.

He cites Wes Anderson as an example of a director whose short films led to a Hollywood career with such film as The Royal Tenenbaums and The Grand Budapest Hotel.

I want to make movies that deserve to be made that havent been made that communicate something, London said.

I love writing. I like having this ensemble of people that I love to work with.

London, who visits his hometown a couple times a year, hopes to shoot a feature film in Longview.

Its an adaptation of a play by a Washington writer, though London said he cant be more specific.

Its about a kid in a small Northwest town. Theres talk about going down to Portland. Its the restless small town Northwest thing.

Just like the story of Chris London.
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Editors note: Todays editorial originally appeared in The Wenatchee World. Editorial content from other publications is provided to give readers a sampling of regional and national opinion and does not necessarily reflect positions endorsed by the Editorial Board of The Daily News.

The United States government offers subsidies for solar power. If you want to install photovoltaic panels on your roof, dont be put off by the price because the taxpayers will kick back 30 percent in a tax credit. I mean tax incentive.

China offers heavy subsidies to solar power. It wished its manufacturers to make a great many subsidized solar panels, which they did, so many that the world market was flooded and prices plunged. This was not such a big problem for the Chinese, as subsidies make profit less of a concern. This caused an explosion in solar installations in the United States, fueled by cheap Chinese panels and government incentives.

Solar panel makers here did not want to lose their market share. In 2012 the United States, which subsidizes the solar industry and wants us all to rejoice in its success, imposed steep tariffs on Chinese solar panels, to punish China, jack up the price and make U.S. panel manufacturers somewhat profitable again.

It was a trade war. Trade wars produce little of value and often have profoundly negative unintended consequences, the editorials and financial commentators warned.

Well, yes. China was dumping its solar panels on an ungrateful world. The United States was asked to level the playing field, a cliche-riddled request for protectionism and more market manipulation that should have made us all shudder.

Move forward now to Moses Lake, where a Norwegian company REC Silicon invested a billion dollars building a facility to manufacture polysilicon, the key ingredient in solar panels. The plant made use of the Columbias abundant clean and inexpensive energy and its own efficient design to become a key world supplier and employ 720 people. It was a great success, until China imposed a 57-percent tariff on U.S. polysilicon, in retaliation for the U.S. solar panel tariffs. China was 80 percent of RECs market.

REC Silicon announced Monday it was curtailing production of polysilicon at its Moses Lake plant, due to negative effects from an ongoing trade dispute between the U.S. and China, said the Columbia Basin Herald. Some 400 affected employees will remain on the payroll in a maintenance capacity. The shutdown will last until June. Forbes called it a major victory for trade warrior China.

State elected officials immediately issued statements of concern.

We need a settlement that covers both Chinese solar panels and U.S. polysilicon in order to support industries in both countries and the transition to a clean energy economy. This is too important for workers and our local economy to wait any longer, said Sen. Patty Murray.

I will continue to work to urge a negotiated resolution to this trade impasse, said Rep. Dan Newhouse.

We can avert a permanent shutdown but only if the Chinese and U.S. governments, and the polysilicon and solar panel industries in both countries, agree to resolve this long-running dispute, said Gov. Jay Inslee.

Yes, yes and yes. It wont change the fundamental stupidity of this unnecessary trade war. Its not a magic trick where government waves its wand and creates thousands of jobs. The livelihoods of real people, and immense investments by real stockholders, are genuinely at stake. Let us all, China and the United States, resolve to stop playing this convoluted protectionist game.
This blog aims to nurture a supportive and enthusiastic network of educators committed to place-based learning and teaching Montana history. Here you will find tips on using primary sources in the classroom, information about resources for teaching Montana history, examples of exceptional heritage education projects, and notices about professional development opportunities.
Nash David

After a persistent debate on Free Basics, we read more on the topic yesterday when Silicon Valley investor and member of the Board of Directors at Facebook, Marc Andreessen criticised India's opposition to Facebook's offering. He went to the extent of comparing the opposition to anti-colonialism which wasn't taken too well by Indian netizens.

The series of tweets and the resulting outrage prompted Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to put up a post on his Facebook page dissociating from Andreessen's views. He termed the comments as 'deeply upsetting and doesn't represent the way Facebook or I think at all.'

In view of the raging debate on social media, we reached out to users on Twitter to get a feel of the popular sentiment.

https://twitter.com/tech2eets/status/697650252329910273

We received close to 400 votes in the first hour of the poll. 82 percent of the votes said it was time Facebook wound up Free Basics. Approximately 80 votes or 18 percent of the votes seemed to suggest that Free Basics by Facebook deserved a second chance.

Meanwhile, a Facebook spokesperson told Firstpost that "Free Basics is no longer available to people in India."

Recently, TRAI had banned the concept of Free Basics, or differentiation by telecom operators on the basis of content. Non-compliance with the announcement could result in a heavy penalty.

Given the vast user base in India, the stand taken by TRAI is a significant setback for Facebook, which had changed the internet.org campaign to Free Basics to position it as a noble idea of connecting a billion users around the world who have no access to Internet.

Stiff opposition from activist groups in India and across the globe as well as opposition by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the world wide web resulted in a public debate on the subject. The result was an immediate ban on Free Basics.
hidden

India's decision to effectively ban Facebook's pared-back free Internet service is a major blow to the social network's plans, and may prompt other regulators to demand equal online access for their users.

Facebook will have to reconsider its approach in the light of India's new rules preventing Internet service providers from having different pricing policies for accessing different parts of the Web, analysts said.

"This is a major setback for Facebook," said Naveen Menon, lead analyst at A.T. Kearney in Singapore. "Not only because India was expected to be such a critical piece of the overall Internet.org success story, but more so because it has potential dangerous knock-on effects for the universal access initiative in other markets."

Internet.org is Facebook's umbrella initiative to bring Internet access to the unconnected. Part of that is the Free Basics program, which Facebook has launched in around three dozen emerging countries. The service has been criticized outside India, too, with Facebook accused of infringing the principle of net neutrality - the concept that all websites and data on the Internet be treated equally.

Critics and Internet activists argue that allowing free access to a select few apps and Web services disadvantages small content providers and start-ups that don't participate.

Ram Sevak Sharma, chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), told Reuters he hoped its ruling would clarify ambiguity about net neutrality and "that India has set the record straight that will be followed [the] world over."

In Facebook posts after Monday's ruling, founder Mark Zuckerberg said Free Basics was just one part of a larger initiative that includes solar-powered planes, satellites and lasers, and pairing with local entrepreneurs to provide wireless hotspots.

Expanding these approaches with or without the operators was one option for Facebook now, as well as legal workarounds where the service is repackaged, said Martin Geddes, a UK-based telecoms consultant.

Facebook could also challenge the ruling in the courts, but a more likely move, said Marc Einstein, Asia-Pacific director at Frost and Sullivan, would be to sit down with the TRAI "to try to come up with a solution that's deemed a little more neutral."

Facebook executives were not immediately available for comment, but India-born Karthik Naralasetty, whose blood donor matching service Socialblood is available in more than 20 countries via Free Basics, said Facebook was already re-thinking its approach.

"Facebook is re-thinking what it's doing, coming up with better plans," he said by telephone. "Communications will have to improve. They have to get the buy-in of different governments before they go into those countries."

FIGHT GOES ON

It won't be easy.

For one thing, said Neil Shah, a director of Counterpoint Research in Mumbai, Free Basics made little headway in India before it was suspended in December, gaining 1 million users. Only 252 million of India's 1.3 billion people have Internet access.

Part of the problem, one expert said, is that Facebook implemented Free Basics in India following a playbook it has used in other developing countries without considering India's active civil society.

Indian activists and local businesses strongly opposed Facebook acting as the "gatekeeper" of the Internet, said Rebecca MacKinnon, director of the Ranking Digital Rights project at New America.

"India is not a place where Free Basics is going to be welcomed or work and (Facebook) might be better off thinking about another strategy to win over users in India," she said, such as focusing on telecommunications infrastructure or helping people access affordable devices with Internet connections.

Opponents of the service said they would continue to fight.

"Facebook is not going to take it lying down and they will try and figure out a way for it to happen one way or the other," said Sachin Bhatia, co-founder of Indian dating app TrulyMadly. "Our job is to keep at it non-stop to ensure Internet freedom is not threatened."

Regional telecoms operators which partner with Facebook, such as Indonesia's PT Indosat, controlled by Qatar's Ooredoo, and Globe Telecom in the Philippines, said the ruling would not lead them to reconsider the partnerships.

"The Indian experience is very isolated," said Vicente Froilan Castelo, general counsel of Globe Telecom.

Reuters
tech2 News Staff

The mobile VR space is going to heat up very soon as Google reportedly starts prepping a GearVR competitor to be launched sometime this year. The Verge reports that the device will feature a slew of new sensors, a plastic casing and add support for a wider range of smartphones.

Googles cardboard is already the most accessible and affordable form of VR available to the masses, but while cheap, its scope is very limited. The VR experience is limited to just a handful of in-built demos and YouTube videos. Samsungs GearVR takes this a step further by integrating a few advanced sensors into a relatively inexpensive plastic housing that will be compatible with most Samsung phones.

Oculuss Mobile SDK (currently at version 1.0), will be used to publish apps and games, making for a more compelling VR platform the Googles Cardboard. Google is reportedly planning to implement a similar system (headset, SDK, Play Store integration, et al.) with their own version of VR and as a result, open up the world of VR to a much wider audience (GearVR only works with a select few Samsung phones).

The device will reportedly feature better lenses and sensors and will probably integrate VR into Android itself and add support for a larger variety of handsets. This is exciting news indeed and were now eagerly looking forward to Google I/O (May 18-20) where we will, hopefully, get some more information on the project.
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By Asheeta Regidi

TRAIs announcements yesterday around banning differential tariffs for data services came as a huge victory for net neutrality supporters. From the time of the issue of the consultation paper, TRAI made it clear that it was only addressing the issue of differential tariffs. While this doesnt include all concerns around net neutrality, it is at its core. How adequate are the new regulations by TRAI in dealing with the issue of net neutrality? Heres how websites, apps and services that were accused of violating net neutrality principles will be impacted by the Differential Tariff Regulations.

Key Regulations

Differential tariffs refers to the charging of different data rates by data service providers such as Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance Jio. The differentiation needs to be made based on the content accessed by the user. For example, a higher charge for accessing one website, and a lower charge for accessing another. The key regulations are:

No differential tariffs

Data service providers cannot charge differential tariffs on the basis of content. Differential tariffs with any other criteria isnt governed by these regulations.

No indirect differential tariffs

The data service providers cannot enter into any arrangement which has the effect of differential tariffs  an indirect charging of different data rates.

Differential tariffs permitted on closed networks

Differential tariffs are permitted in a closed electronic communications network, such as intranet, or private networks. These networks do not use the global internet to function, and communication only happens between the members who have access to the network.

Lowered tariffs during emergencies

Lowered tariffs are permitted during emergency situations like natural or manmade disasters.

Facebooks Free Basics

While Facebooks Free Basics had already been suspended by TRAI, it is now completely prohibited by the Differential Tariff Regulations. Free Basics involves the partnering with certain data service providers, and offering a select group of websites and apps to that data service providers customers free of charge. This has the direct effect of accessing those select websites and apps without paying any data rates, while having to pay for accessing other websites and apps. This is a clear example of different data rates on the basis of the content accessed.

Airtel Zero

Airtel Zero is an open marketing platform, where customers can access certain mobile apps which are signed up with it. For these specific apps, the app providers will pay the data charges to Airtel for the use of their apps, and not the customers. The customers will therefore have free access to these apps. This is an example of an indirect charging of different rates. The arrangement between Airtel Zero and the app providers results in a differential tariff being charged to the customer for using those apps, which makes Airtel Zero illegal.

Aircels Free Facebook and Whatsapp

Aircels free Facebook and Whatsapp offer, which allowed subsidised date rates for accessing Facebook and Whatsapp, directly violates these regulations. Another offer made at the same time was giving customers an additional 10 MB per day for their use of Facebook and Whatsapp. The Explanatory Memorandum attached with the Differential Tariff Regulations explains that such practices, for example, the offer of a refund, are also illegal. They, in effect, make the access of certain content cheaper. Such practices will also amount to an indirect charging of differential tariffs.

Aircels Free Basic Internet

Aircel came out with another offer in 2015, of Free Basic Internet, which involves the provision of free internet, at a lower speed, for everyone. There is no restriction on which websites or apps are used by the people. Here, there is absolutely no difference in the data rates based on the content accessed, or on any other basis. The only difference arising is that some online activities such as video streaming and online gaming will not be possible because of the lower internet speeds. This offer will be legal.

The Explanatory Memorandum specifically mentions that it will not govern activities such as the provision of limited free data to access the entire internet. These are other forms of tariff differentiation, not based on content, and are outside the purview of the Differential Tariff Regulations.

Airtel Wynk

Airtel Wynk is Airtels in-house music app. While non Airtel users can also download this app, the subscription charge was waived for Airtel users. This waiver of the subscription charge by itself will not violate the Differential Pricing Regulations. This is because here, the difference in the price is based on the cellular network used by the user, and not the content, i.e., the app being used by him.

However, Airtel Wynk also allows Airtel users to access the music on the app at subsidized data rates. This subsidisation of data rates is in direct violation of the Differential Pricing Regulations, since an Airtel user will have to pay a lower charge for accessing Wynk, as opposed to other music apps.

If Airtel were to create a closed network, which allows only Airtel users to access the music through the Airtel network, and not using the internet, then such a system would be valid. However, if such a system is created specifically for the purpose of circumventing the Differential Tariff Regulations, it will not be legal.

Reliance Jio

Reliance Jio proposes to bundle bandwidth and talk-time, instead of separate data packs, as is the practice today. Under the scheme, users will pay a one-time monthly fee for all uses, including access to online content. Since there is no restriction on what content can be accessed by the Reliance Jio users, this is not violative of the Differential Tariff Regulations.

The Differential Tariff Regulations are quite comprehensive in their coverage of differential tariffs, and effectively wipe out all schemes that have been under the net neutrality scanner so far. As per the Regulations, no new schemes violative of the Regulations can be launched, and all existing schemes have to be phased out within 6 months.

The author is a lawyer with a specialisation in cyber laws and has co-authored books on the subject.

Editor's note: Reliance Jio is owned by Reliance Industries, which also owns Network18, publishers of Firstpost.com (Tech2).
tech2 News Staff

Android 6.0 Marshmallow has started rolling out for the Moto G (2nd Gen) smartphone in India. The update offers features such as Doze, Google Now on Tap, app permissions and more. The company had kicked off a small-scale Marshmallow update soak test for users in India and Brazil back on 22 January.

The company says, "We are excited to announce a new software update for Moto G (2nd Gen.) by Motorola. This update brings Android 6.0 Marshmallow to your phone along with other improvements. Android 6.0 Marshmallow improves your mobile experience with battery-smart features and new app permissions that give you even more control." However, one feature that will not be present is the Moto Assist, which Motorola deprecated in favor of the Do Not Disturb functionality from stock Android.

Some of the new features such as App Standby helps to reduce the drain of the smartphone by putting the seldom-used apps into a reduced activity state. With App Links, one can decide what the right action is for each of your apps when you tap a web link. Android Marshmallow also enables the smartphone's SDcard to fully extend device internal storage rather than just being used for media files. With Do not disturb, you can now easily configure interruptions by tapping the Do not disturb button in the quick settings panel.

If you have not received a notification message for this update, you can follow the steps below to manually update your phone. Select the Settings icon in the apps menu and then select "About phone". Select "System updates" and then select "Yes, Im in". After the software is downloaded, select "Install now". After the software is installed, your phone will re-start automatically. Your phone will then be updated to Android 6.0.
Kingston, a brand well known for its flash memory products recently launched a line-up of gaming headsets. Why does a memory manufacture specialist bother with headsets? This comes as a direct response to their HyperX sponsorship of competitive eSports teams.

Kingstons headset line-up includes HyperX Cloud Core, Cloud, Cloud II and, of course, Cloud Drone which we are reviewing today. This brings me to their naming conventions which not only sound too similar but are downright confusing. When searching for these products online, youd easily get mixed up as to which product you are looking, especially on online e-commerce stores that often get products mixed up in their listings.

Build and Design: 6.5/10

The HyperX Cloud Drone is a stylishly subtle headset. It thankfully stays away from in-your-face styling some headset manufacturers put their headsets through (looking at you Razer). The red padding breaks the black design well while the logo, as well as the black-red duo colour, is unmistakably Kingston branding colour.

HyperX Cloud Drone is made of lightweight plastic and is perfect when gaming for a long time. I get an earache with my heavier (though more durable) Audio Technica M50 but not with this. The ear cup design is quite comfortable, it has a memory foam cushion with leatherette ear pad and around the ear cup design which is much more comfortable than on the ear designs. Though for a lightweight headset youd expect it to be more portable but it isnt; the earcups dont rotate fully (Audio Technica M50 do) and neither is it collapsible to easily carry it around in your backpack.

Surprisingly there is no marking of right or left on the ear cups, however, the design demands the mic on the left. The mic can only be turned on by pushing it all the way down which makes an audible click sound. The cord is malleable so you can bend the mic towards you.

Unexpectedly, the right ear cup has a volume control. This is the only headset in the HyperX Could series to feature this. While the feature is nice to have, it isnt exactly a suitable one, as one can easily forget or change the volume level while handling the headset. Also, in the future volume knobs invariably tend to have static pop noise after much use, though nothing that good old WD 40 cant fix.

The braided cable is a nice touch, it is not only tough withstanding a lot of jerks and yanks, but its also tangle-free.

Kingston has thoughtfully included a cable extension with the HyperX Cloud Drone for the mic as well as headphone connect.

Performance: 6/10

In perceptible listening tests, the headphones sound decent overall. They have a nice sound stage, a decent bass but nothing punchy. The highs are average, youll miss the crispness of sound that Sennheiser HD180 (under Rs 1000) can deliver. The headphones do edge a lot more towards the mids as these come out the strongest.

The average performance obviously lends to games too. While nothing bad, dont expect enhanced audio experience, like pinpointedly be able pick up footsteps of enemies creeping behind you. The headset provides the convenience of a mic and headphones in one package together.

We played games like Assassins Creed: Black Flag (the massive ship cannons firing), Sniper Elite 3 (gun sounds) and Left for Dead (team talk) with the headset. Since the headset edges towards mid sounds, there is no doubt that gun sounds, explosions, voice commands stand out more. The colouration of sound can help though youll tend to miss out on the wholeness when compared with better headphones.

On the music side, it was an enjoyable listening experience through Hyperx Cloud Drone, the headphones are on the warmer side (which I personally prefer). Due to the headphones edging towards mid-range, sounds like voice, drums, etc. will stand out more, punchy even. Youll tend to miss the deeper bass and crispness of highs.

Surprisingly, the HyperX Cloud Drones volume level is considerably low. Youll need to pump up the volume at your end to get a respectable listening volume.

Voice Quality: 6

The voice quality of the mic is decent; the person on the opposite end can hear you well without any distortions. The mic isnt over-sensitive; it could catch what is being said rather than background noise. Since the headset favours mid-range sounds, hearing voice commands shouted clearly is an added benefit in this headset.

Verdict and Price in India

Overall, HyperX Cloud Drone is a good package. It is by no means an outstanding product, it will not blow the socks off, but it does do its job well without issues. If not abused, the Cloud Drone will last you years.

Talking about years, HyperX Cloud Drone comes with two years warranty and a curiously advertised Free Technical support who can answer ones queries in English and Hindi.

The cost of HyperX Cloud Drone is Rs 3,999 MRP, which is too steep for this package. For a price under Rs 3,000, it would be an ideal fit for this product.

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NATO sends 'clear signal' to Russia with eastern presence

US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter (L) walks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday.

AFP, Brussels :

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday said the alliance had approved plans for an increased presence in eastern member states alarmed by a more assertive Russia, sending a "clear signal" to any aggressors.

Stung into action by the Russian intervention in Ukraine and shock 2014 annexation of Crimea, NATO has boosted its resources and readiness to meet any new threat but its nervous former Soviet allies in the east are pushing for more.

Former Norwegian premier Stoltenberg said the 28-nation alliance's defence ministers had agreed at a meeting in Brussels on plans for an "enhanced forward presence in the eastern part of our alliance".

"This will send a clear signal. NATO will respond as one to any aggression against any ally," Stoltenberg told reporters. "This will be a multinational (force) to show that an attack on one will be an attack on all."

He spoke of a "more assertive Russia which has used force to change borders" and said that NATO, formed in the depths of the Cold War, now faced the "most challenging security environment in a generation."

The force will likely involve between 3,000 and no more than 6,000 troops, NATO diplomatic source said, although Stoltenberg gave no further details as the project must now go to the military planners to be fleshed out.

They will rotate continuously through the three Baltic states -- Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, plus Poland, Romania and Bulgaria, the sources said.

Critics say the Ukraine crisis and the annexation of Crimea badly wrong-footed the alliance, which under-estimated Russia's ability to move so quickly and make such effective use of hybrid warfare.




50,000 Syrians flee Aleppo fighting Russia proposes truce talks on March 1

Syrian refugees wait for food near a refugee camp in Bab Al-Salama city, in northern Syria

Agencies, United Nations :

Russia is ready to discuss a possible ceasefire in Syria, an official said on Thursday, ahead of a crucial meeting of major powers in Germany on how to end the five-year-old Syrian civil war.

"We are ready to discuss the modalities of a ceasefire in Syria," Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov was cited by the TASS news agency as saying. "This is what will be talked about in Munich."

Citing an unnamed Western official, the Reuters news agency reported late on Wednesday that Russia proposed a ceasefire to begin on March 1.

International powers, including Russia, the US, Saudi Arabia and Iran, were to meet on Thursday in Germany in a bid to resurrect Syrian peace talks in Geneva that were postponed earlier this month.

A Syrian government offensive around the city of Aleppo - backed by Russian air strikes - has sent tens of thousands fleeing to the Turkish border, putting the Geneva talks in jeopardy.

Al Jazeera's Rory Challands, reporting from Moscow, said the United States and its allies would likely view Russia's truce offer with scepticism.

"The US concerns are that this gives the offensive that's currently ongoing in the Aleppo region more time to push the rebels back, possibly going so far as a full military victory," said Challands.

Meanwhile, the Russian defence ministry lashed out at the US-led coalition in Syria for refusing to provide intelligence on Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) targets there.

Defence Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said in a statement on Thursday that Russia has shared its own intelligence with the United States that it has "gratefully taken" - but has not reciprocated.

Konashenkov said Moscow has repeatedly asked Washington and its allies for intelligence in response to the accusations that Russians are targeting the "wrong objects".

At least 50,000 Syrians have fled the fighting in Aleppo, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Wednesday, adding that water supplies have been disrupted in some parts of the province.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Wednesday that at least 500 people have been killed since the Syrian government, backed by Russian air strikes, launched a major offensive from the north of Aleppo on February 1.

The Observatory said among those killed are "89 civilians, including 23 children, 143 pro-government fighters, 274 rebels and foreign fighters".

Russian air strikes that began in September have tilted the war in favour of President Bashar al-Assad's forces.

The Syrian government holds the west of Aleppo city, Syria's largest, while the rebels hold the east, but the situation is largely reversed in the countryside.




Female suicide bombers kill over 60 in northeast Nigeria

Nigerian soldier guarding at the scene of an explosion.

Reuters, Maiduguri :

Two female suicide bombers killed more than 60 people at a camp for people displaced by an insurgency of the Boko Haram group in the northeast Nigerian town of Dikwa, military and emergency officials said on Wednesday.

The attack occurred 85 km outside the capital of Borno state, centre of the seven-year insurgency, they said. It took place on Tuesday, but a breakdown in the telephone system prevented the incident being made public earlier.

The two female suicide bombers sneaked into an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp and detonated themselves in the middle of it, emergency officials and the military source said.

The chairman of the State Emergency Management Agency, Satomi Ahmad, added that 78 people were injured. No group claimed responsibility but the attack bore the hallmarks of Boko Haram, which has frequently used female bombers and even children to hit targets.

The militant group has recently increased the frequency and deadliness of attacks with three at the end of January. At least 65 people were killed outside Borno state capital Maiduguri on January 31.

Since it lost territory to a government counter-offensive last year, Boko Haram has reverted to hit-and-run attacks on villages and suicide bombings at places of worship or markets.

Boko Haram has only rarely targeted camps housing people displaced by the conflict and Tuesday's attack was the first one to kill victims in Borno state.

The military said militants made one abortive attempt on a camp on the outskirts of Maiduguri on January 31. Boko Haram hit a Nigerian IDP camp for the first time last September, in the Adamawa state capital of Yola.




China warns against Indo-US patrol plan of South Sea

A USS Boxer LHD travels at an offshore location in Goa.

Reuters, Beijing :China on Thursday responded to a Reuters report that the U.S. and India are discussing joint naval patrols in the disputed South China Sea, warning that interference from countries outside the region threatens peace and stability. "No cooperation between any countries should be directed at a third party," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in an emailed statement to Reuters, in response to a request for comment on the report published on Wednesday."Countries from outside the area must stop pushing forward the militarization of the South China Sea, cease endangering the sovereignty and national security of littoral countries in the name of 'freedom of navigation' and harming the peace and stability of the region."The United States wants its regional allies and other Asian nations to adopt a more united stance against China over the South China Sea, where tension has spiked since China's construction of seven islands in the Spratly archipelago.China lays claim to most of the South China Sea, while Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims.A U.S. defense official told Reuters this week the United States and India had held talks about joint naval patrols that could include the South China Sea.The Indian navy has never carried out joint patrols with another country and a navy spokesman told Reuters there was no change in the government's policy of only joining an international military effort under the U.N. flag.Neither the United States nor India have claims to the area, but the United States says it is concerned about shipping lanes running through the South China Sea, which carry an estimated $5 trillion of trade every year."We hope that the relevant parties speak and act with caution, refrain from intervening in the South China Sea issue, and especially avoid being manipulated by certain countries and ultimately harming their own interests."China illustrates its claim to almost the entire South China Sea with a "nine-dashed line" on maps, that loops far to the south, with sections far closer to the coasts of countries like the Philippines and Vietnam than to its shores.China's more assertive claim has included dredging to build up islands and the construction of air fields and shipping facilities on some reefs. It recently launched flights to one artificial island.The United States has responded by sending navy ships close to the islands China claims. China has condemned that as provocative.India has a long-running land border dispute with China, and has stepped up its naval presence far beyond the Indian Ocean in recent years, deploying a ship to the South China Sea almost constantly, an Indian navy commander said.
IMA offers study on maritime excellence



Campus Desk :



International maritime Academy (IMA), under the jurisdiction of Haque & Sons Company Ltd, has expressed its aspiration to provide quality education on maritime study in Bangladesh. IMA is situated at the outskirts of the capital Dhaka away from the hustle and crowd of city life near the bank of Ulukhola River in Pubail.

Teaching at IMA

Life in the sea requires well-trained personality along with proper mental strength and knowledge. In accordance with that requirement, the base of Nautical and Engineering Department of IMA represent skilled, experienced and robust picture comparing to any other maritime institutes in Bangladesh. The head of the institute constitutes country's best seafarers known as (Commandant) Capt Zaki Ahad, (Deputy-Commandant) Capt Kazi Ali Imam, (CNS) Capt JM Rakib, Capt Habibur Rahman Khan, Capt Babul Hossain (CES) Chief Engineer Abdullahel Kafi, Chief Engineer Abdul Majed, all are legend in marine sector in Bangladesh.

IMA has spacious seamanship lab, chart work and simulation room for the nautical cadets, engineering workshop, electrical training room for engineering cadets. Every year 20 ranked cadets are being awarded scholarship worth of USD 5000 after completing first certificate to become officer.

Training facilities

IMA has wide range of training facilities to prepare every single cadet for the sea. Strict routine bound life, regimental training made every marine cadet moral sky high, training provided through marine workshop, one of the country's best and govt approved institution. The fire fighting station, survival craft launching and maneuvering training, 200 seated auditorium, a marine library that contains vast varieties of books and Publications for marine studies. Besides, students are provided with efficient training for deck and engine ratings.

Job Placement

Job placement is one of the paramount issues before pursuing marine profession. At present many fraudulent practice is going on in the name of providing good company, good ship. In Bangladesh, Haque & Sons has a thriving background for manning seafarers in world-class companies around the world. At present IMA cadets are being recruited by some of the world class shipping companies like Tokyo Marine, Santoku Senpaku, and K-Line etc.

IMA has provided all its possible aspects to make every single cadet efficient to survive at sea and represent Bangladesh marine community to the world. Haque & Sons has the top notch as a manning company for the seafarers. The company provides post sea training and conducts ancillary courses both for Deck and Engine Department. The availability of course is flexible as well as cost effective and the instruments used are world class and equally approved the Bangladesh government.


Edexcel recognises GCSE, A Level achievers

Campus Report :



Pearson Edexcel, the largest Awarding body in the UK and a part of Pearson, in collaboration with the British Council, conducted its forth Academic Award Ceremony for the students who achieved outstanding results in their International-GCSE and A Level examinations in 2015. The Award Ceremony was held in the Hall of Fame, Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) in the city and more than 1500 attendees which include students, teachers, parents and distinguished guests attended the event.

State Minister for ICT Junaid Ahmed Palak, MP was the chief guest at the function and handed over the certificates to the awardees. Allison Blake, the British High Commissioner, Barbara Wickham, Director British Council and David Crowther, Director International Products and Global Partnerships, Pearson Qualifications was also present in the occasion as special guests.

State Minister in his speech, thanked both, Pearson Edexcel and British Council authorities for organizing this grand event. He said, recognizing the outstanding achievement of these brilliant students will work as a great encouragement for their future study and career through which, our country can be benefitted.

He also said that our country needs more scientists, doctors and more researchers who can help develop the economy of Bangladesh and change the quality of lives. He also added that the improvement in the education sector is high on Govt's agenda and we all need to come forward and think how we can improve the quality of education in the country.

Allison Blake congratulated all the Awardees and assured that UK Government is always trying to maintain the highest quality of UK qualifications, so that anyone doing a UK qualification can build their career and contribute the best to their country and society.

David Crowther congratulated all the awardees and also thanked the parents, teachers and Principals for their invaluable contribution for these students to achieve outstanding results. These achievements wouldn't have been possible without the encouragement and support from their schoolteachers and parents. Crowther also added that, Pearson Edexcel has been offering its International GCSE and A Level qualifications in Bangladesh for last 44 years with the support of British Council Bangladesh. More than 16000 students currently sit these examinations in Bangladesh twice a year.

Barbara Wickham highlighted that Pearson Edexcel is one of the largest awarding bodies in the UK and British Council have been conducting its examinations in Bangladesh for last 44 years successfully.

She also assured that they would continue to create opportunities for Bangladeshi students to get the best qualifications, so that they can create their better future.

Bangladesh is one of the key countries where large number of students sits Edexcel qualifications and every year and many of them go for higher studies in world's most prestigious Universities such as Harvard, Cambridge, MIT, LSE etc. A large number of these students are also studying in both public and private universities in Bangladesh.

Among others Deep Adhikary, Country Examinations Manager, British Council, Saidur Rahman, Country Manager, Edexcel Bangladesh and Abdullah Liton, Regional Development Manager of Edexcel were present on the occasion.
Shoma in big screen

Sheikh Arif Bulbon :

Lux star Shoma has been engaged with media for last three years. Her full name is Sadia Arjumand Banu Shoma. From the beginning of her career she had dreamt to work in big screen. After three years she got the opportunity.

Shoma started her career in big screen by a fully commercial movie Club D. Mizanur Rahman Labu directed in this movie she played in role of a Thai girl. She has already returned from Thailand after taking part in shooting of the movie.

While sharing her feelings about the movie Shoma told this correspondent, I have achieved an exceptional experience to work in this movie. For the first time I worked in a movie of big canvas. I am grateful to director Labu Bhai. My role is very challenging. I am really satisfied to work in the role. I strongly believe that viewers will enjoy the movie.

Today is Shomas birthday. But she will not get the scope to celebrate her birthday along with parents, relatives and friends because she has to stay in Coxs Bazar to take part in shooting of ongoing serial of ATN Bangla Nir Khonjey Gangchil. Her shooting will be finished tonight. For this reason, she will celebrate her birthday on the shooting spot. Director Mohon Khan and other performers have arranged to celebrate her birthday.


Ranveer Singh to celebrate Valentines Day with Deepika Padukone in Toronto

Ranveer Singh is a boyfriend any girl would love to have. The actor has traveled all the way to Toronto in Canada just to ring in Valentines Day with ladylove Deepika Padukone who is currently shooting in the country for her Hollywood debut xXx: The Return of Xander Cage with Vin Diesel and other stars.

Says a source, Ranveer has some time off before he starts shooting for Befikre. With Valentines Day around the corner, he didnt want to spend it alone and decided to surprise Deepika by flying all the way to Canada. He left yesterday by an early morning flight.

The actor was spotted in Toronto by a fan who clicked a picture with him and loaded it on Instagram.

We are sure Deepika would be overjoyed by Ranveers sweet gesture. Wonder if she would also take her rumoured boyfriend on sets and introduce him to her Hollywood co-stars.


Janata Bank's single digit lending rates is welcome

THE state-owned Janata Bank is planning to lower lending rates to single digit in 2016 to bring spur to investment by expansion of private sector credit at a time the banks are sitting with huge liquidity in hand. The other target to reduce the lending rate is to hold back local business houses from going to global banking system for low cost loans at almost half of the interest charged by local banks. High lending rates is invariably allowing spill over of idle cash in banks in absence of demand for investment in one hand and causing long stagnation to business on the other. This in turn is slowing down in new job creation and income generation for common people. The Bank of Japan has recently ruled that banks must stop holding idle cash; which would be charged with negative interest. Countries like Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland are also charging negative interest on banks to discourage holding excess cash without investment. They are also fighting economic stagnation, however sitting on a higher level of development. Meanwhile as it appears the switching of big corporate borrowers to global banking is causing big setback to the local banking sector poising big threat to local banks in term of losing both investment business and clients who were so far the driving force in charting out business expansion in newer areas. The country has more than 56 banks with other non-banking financial institutions and as per experts they are not sustainable by the very size of the economy where around a dozen banks could do better. These banks are partly sick with huge stuck up loans and also because of huge cash without much new investment due to high lending rates. The decision of Janata Bank to lower the lending rates to single digit is a welcoming step and we hope that other banks would take similar action to start with new business development plans. They must decide whether charging higher interest on term loan, which was over 16 percent in recent past is good or lowering of interest to encourage investors to go for more borrowing is good for them. Janata Bank officials have been quoted as saying they have already started slashing the rates and will continue it step by step. It is really encouraging that many commercial banks have also pulled down lending rates in recent times to 13 percent and in some cases down to 10 percent. Banks are also drastically reducing interest on deposits however making marginal savers worst affected by the move. It appears that saving money in banks is going to be discouraged to put them to investment. Economists have welcomed reducing lending rates as a significant development but equally laid emphasis on removing political uncertainty and other risk factors to business. They say gas and electricity connection must be easily available and law and order situation must improve.
Candidates demo for appointment

Successful candidates who deprived for appointment from earlier recruitment of Janata, Rupali and Sonali Banks staged demonstration in front of Bangladesh Bank on Thursday.

Staff Reporter :

The successful candidates in recruitment examinations of state-owned Sonali, Rupali and Janata Bank staged demonstration in front of the Bangladesh Bank demanding appointment on the basis of merit list on Thursday.

The candidates alleged that the bank management committees deprived them of getting jobs in the banks as they did not follow the merit list. They said that they tried to meet the bank authorities in this regard, but they were refused.

About two hundred candidates took part in the demonstration.

A candidate wishing anonymity told The New Nation that the Sonali Bank appointed such a candidate who was on the waiting list. But he did not get job from the merit list.

The candidates also requested the Governor of Bangladesh Bank to resolve the crisis.

They also threatened of tough movement if their demands were not met.
Court asks cop to take govt nod for inquiry

Court Correspondent :

The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Court of Dhaka ordered Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Kotwali Police Station in the capital to submit a report after investigation in the case filed by Assistant Public Prosecutor (APP) Mostafizur Rahman Dulal of Special Judge Court-9, with this court on Thursday morning for publishing stories on the alledged corruption of Awami League during 2007-2008. Magistrate Snigdha Rani Chakraborty recorded the depositions of the complainant and passed the order in the afternoon to submit the probe report on March 28. The court asked the OC to assign an inspector-level officer for conducting the investigation under section 196 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) subject to permission of the Government.

The order of the court also says that considering the significance and sensitive characteristics of the incident legal action needs to be taken considering the accuracy of the complaint. The case has been filed under sections 123(Ka), 124(Ka), 500 and 501of the Penal Code.

The complaint said, with an heinous attempt to implement the prescription of an agency Mahfuz Alam through his edited the Daily Star tried to bring an anti-democracy force to power during the period of 1/11. Besides, they wanted to make the democracy of Awami League leader-less to fulfill their desire. The accused has made the politics of Bangladesh unstable through the publication of lies, concocted and deviated information and such yellow journalism,

A number of people are critical about the Daily Star for allegedly 'backing' the army-backed government, led by Dr Fakhruddin Ahmad and armed with sweeping emergency powers that curbed the media and rights of the people.

Meanwhile, a defamation case was filed against The Daily Star Editor Mahfuz Anam in Gopalganj district on Thursday for similar reasons. Goplaganj unit, Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) organizing secretary Shariful Islam Munna filed the Tk 10 crore defamation case with the court of Judicial Magistrate Nusrat Jabin Nimmi.

Talking to reporters, complainant's lawyer Shawkat Ali Shikdar said taking the complaint into cognisance, the court asked the Officer-in-Charge of Sadar Police Station to submit a report after investigation.
Death sentence to Mufti Hannan, 2 others upheld

Staff Reporter :The High Court has upheld the death sentence of Mufti Hannan and two other militants in a case filed over the grenade attack on former British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Anwar Choudhury.The HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Amir Hossain pronounced the verdict on Thursday. The court also upheld the verdict of life term imprisonment to two other militants of the Harkat-ul-Zihad. Both the plaintiff and defence lawyers completed submitting their reports on February 3. Later on that day, the HC bench fixed Thursday for delivering the verdict. Attorney General Mahbubey Alam represented the state while Advocate AKM Fayez, Advocate Mohammad Ali and state appointed lawyer Advocate Hasna Begum stood for the appellants during the hearing at the HC. During the appeal hearing, Mahbubey Alam said that the militants were involved in the attack and their target was the-then British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury. Anwar Choudhury, the Bangladesh-born UK envoy, came under the grenade attack on May 21 in 2004 at the shrine of Hazrat Shahjalal (RA) in Sylhet after Jumma prayers. Three policemen were killed in the attack, while 40 people, including Anwar Choudhury and Sylhet's Deputy Commissioner, suffered injuries in the incident. Assistant Sub-Inspector Kamal Uddin died on the spot and constables Rubel Ahmed and Habil Miah died from their wounds later in a hospital.Two cases were filed in connection with the grenade attack. One was filed for murder and another under the Explosive Act. In the case for the murder, the Divisional Speedy Trial Tribunal of Sylhet on December 23 in 2008 awarded death sentence to Harkat-ul-Zihad leaders Mufti Abdul Hannan, Sharif Shahedul Alam Bipul and Delwar Hossain Ripon. Mufti Muhibur Rahman, who is Mufti Hannan's brother, and Mufti Mainuddin were awarded life term and fined Tk. 10,000 each.All five of the convicts are now in prison. The convicted prisoners through the prison authorities in 2009 filed separate appeals with the High Court against the trial court verdict that awarded them death penalty and life term imprisonment in the case. Anwar Choudhury was visiting the shrine of Hazrat Shahjalal (RA) during a three-day trip to Sylhet and Sunamganj, his birthplace, days after he came in Bangladesh as British High Commissioner to Bangladesh. The 700-year-old shrine jolted with the force of the blast with a big bang during the grenade attack, sending the devotees running for cover.
Identity of journalists in crisis

The free press in a democracy being the fourth branch or pillar of the government, there cannot be any democratic government without the free press.The opposite of free press is sycophancy and specialty of sycophancy is not to be sensible. A sensible politician is always cautious against the trap of the hangers-on.The journalists should be responsible and proactive in discharging their professional duty so called upon by President Abdul Hamid while addressing the pressmen and others in the city recently. But at the same time a journalist must call white a white and black a black, the President urged.It is not easy to appreciate that under our democratic Constitution the government means that in functioning of the executive, the parliament and the judiciary they must exercise their separate power separately and yet act in coordination as a full government. No one branch is to undermine the other. The free press, as the fourth branch, is to help keep the other three branches work in harmony for achieving for the people the results of good governance.For the press to be responsible does not mean the press has to be always right. Like everybody else the journalists do make mistakes and reach wrong conclusions.The press freedom is about public interest and the journalists are protected by law and the court if the source of the report is responsible and the opinion expressed is without malice.The journalists do not claim to be angels of truth but they have to be honest to claim that they have no vested interest in dealing with the truth.While publishing anything in a newspaper no editor or journalist can be fully sure of whole truth. That is the difficulty of dealing with public affairs where suppressing the truth comes easy. The usefulness of free press lies in the idea that through a clash of information and counter information truth comes out to serve public interest honestly and rightly.The situation is complicated when a journalist is also an activist of a political party or otherwise harbours political ambition, then his true identity is in crisis. A journalist is not a politician, he corrects the mistakes of the politicians.The President used all the right expressions to be found in the Constitution to justify the guaranteed right of the press freedom. Our Constitution says further that our free expression should be decent. That is to say the political language has to be civilised even when disagreeing.Not only the political leaders and the journalists but every citizen has to behave responsibly. That is the way the larger interest of the people remains safe and protected. The politicians have no divine right to govern to the exclusion of other players in public affairs. Democracy is participatory government and not a government of the politicians for the politicians. Unless they are elected representatives of the people they are usurpers. The country belongs to everybody and everybody is important. A true political leader would have done everything to prevent journalists from becoming activists of party politics while upholding the cause of press freedom. Now the journalists are divided and journalism has weakened. The identity of a journalist is in crisis.If intentions are good, beware of sycophancy.
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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


"There is a tide in the affairs of men. Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bou...
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Judge John DeGravelles

NEW ORLEANS (AP)  A federal judge in Louisiana has issued a new order blocking the state from enforcing a law that he says would keep most women from getting abortions.

Attorneys for the state immediately asked Judge John deGravelles to stay Wednesday's order while they appeal it and his Jan. 26 finding that the law is unconstitutional.

After a phone conference late Wednesday, the judge said he will decide whether to suspend his order after getting written arguments from lawyers for three abortion clinics, with 5 p.m. Friday as the deadline for those briefs. The state's attorney said he did not want to file briefs, deGravelles noted.

The law requires doctors who perform abortions to be able to admit patients to a hospital within 30 miles. Supporters say that would protect women's health. Opponents say it would make it impossible to get abortions.

DeGravelles said in January that of six doctors performing abortions in Louisiana, only two meet the requirement, and one of them has said he would quit if the law is enforced.

The remaining doctor performed nearly 30 percent of all abortions in the state, deGravelles said. He said forcing the other five doctors out of their clinics would therefore leave about 70 percent of the women who want abortions unable to get one.

Even if the second doctor who has admitting privileges continued to perform abortions, about 55 percent of the women who want the procedure would be unable to get one, deGravelles wrote.

The judge has not made a final ruling in the case. January's findings were about whether he could bar enforcement of the law until he does so. Wednesday's preliminary injunction replaces a temporary order.

Lawyers for the state said in Wednesday's request that they think the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will probably overturn deGravelles' findings for two reasons.

They said the judge's analysis of the number of women likely to be affected used a procedure very different from the one used by the same court when it upheld a similar law in Texas. The 5th Circuit's procedure would have indicated that the law is constitutional because more than 90 percent of all women of reproductive age are within 150 miles of an abortion clinic, the attorneys' motion said.

They also took issue with deGravelles' ruling that a third doctor's privileges do not meet the law's requirements even though Kathy Kleibert, who was then health secretary, testified that she would accept them.
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!
Apparently Ohio Governor John Kasich (yes, the so-called moderate GOP candidate of the bunch) is set to sign a bill which would strip funds from Planned Parenthood. I've already written the governor about my disappointment with regard to the announcement and why he should veto the bill. To do the same, go to the following link and either write or call the governor:



http://www.governor.ohio.gov/contact/contactthegovernor.aspx



In case you're curious, here's what I wrote Governor Kasich:



"While I don't fully align myself with any party, I am a progressive, so I tend to lean toward the Democratic side on election day. However, in saying that and having paid close attention this primary season (watching every debate), I do have to say I've been impressed with your campaign, appreciate you having a tendency to rise above the negative talk which commonly floods the airwaves, and have largely appeared to place partisan politics to the side in favor of getting things done. I respect that. It's refreshing to see and hear such a presence on the debate stage among the seemingly constant blather which derives from many of the other candidates' mouths. I'm keeping my fingers crossed (not permanently, of course) that you are the GOP nominee come election day.



Having said all that, however, I was disappointed to read this morning that you are planning on signing a bill which would cut funding to Planned Parenthood. While I'm not a strong proponent either way on the abortion issue, I think it's important to not look at things from an absolutist perspective, to try and compromise, and through that, attempt to decrease the number of abortions, yet not strip women of their reproductive rights. Study after study suggests comprehensive sex education and access to contraception decrease unwanted pregnancies, and with that, they decrease abortions. Planned Parenthood facilities provide education, contraception, and other (sometimes life-saving) health-related services to women. While Planned Parenthood facilities may provide abortions, studies have also suggested up to 97% of their services aren't abortion procedures. A recent Texas study indicated the defunding of these family planning facilities led to more unwanted pregnancies, and with that, more abortions. So while Planned Parenthood may be responsible for abortions, there's a great likelihood more abortions would take place without the presence of these facilities. I realize abortion is a very hot-button issue, but women's health should be as well. A conservative Christian friend of mine recently told me, "I was going to be a single mom, was broke, and I wouldn't have made it without Planned Parenthood." I hear these stories very regularly, so it breaks my heart to hear about politicians trying to defund these family-planning facilities due to edited videos, debunked talking points, and outside pressure. In a perfect world, abortions wouldn't exist, but sadly, we don't live in a perfect world, so why must we pretend to live in a perfect world by slowly stripping away women's reproductive rights, their options, and in essence, their freedom, when we could try to be realistic about this imperfect world, compromise, and attempt to decrease abortions without decreasing women's liberties? As far as I see it, the debate is largely about idealistic principle vs. realistic action. Many self-described "pro-lifers" support abstinence-only education, yet studies showcase such courses increase the likelihood of unwanted pregnancies and abortions. A number of "pro-lifers" don't approve of contraception, or at the very least, they don't approve of making contraception more accessible, yet unsafe sex increases unwanted pregnancies and abortions. Lastly, it seems a majority of self-described "pro-lifers" are ardently opposed to Planned Parenthood, yet once again, studies have shown unwanted pregnancies and abortions to increase without these healthcare facilities being present. So just how "pro-life" is a self-described pro-lifer if he or she is a supporter of measures which increase the likelihood of abortion? If one were to make rational sense, a self-described pro-lifer would support comprehensive sex education, support easier access to contraception, and support Planned Parenthood funding, because they would be saving far more lives than if they supported the alternative route."

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Pre-purchase property inspection is a relatively new thing in the United Kingdom. Its not something that most people have heard about, but it has become increasingly popular over the last few years with the rise in property prices and increased demand for high quality homes.

What are the benefits of pre-purchase building inspection? What can you expect to find out when you pay someone else to inspect your home before you buy it? And what should you look for during an inspection?

Many people want to know if theyre buying a house thats been well maintained or if its had any serious problems. If youve found a place on the market that seems attractive, but then discover some issues after moving in, you may not be as excited about buying it as you thought you were.

Its important to do your due diligence when looking at properties. A lot goes into making a property appealing to potential buyers, from the landscaping to the flooring to the kitchen appliances. The same applies when inspecting a property  there are many things that need checking over to make sure everything is running smoothly.

Here are some of the benefits of performing a pre-purchase inspection:

You get to see exactly what will happen to your money

When you go shopping for a new car, youll probably be shown several different models. You might even be shown one that looks like a great value, but doesnt fit around all of the extra features that you want. When it comes time to actually buy the vehicle, however, you wont have seen how your money will be spent on it once you drive it off the showroom floor.

Likewise, when you shop for a new home, you dont really know what youre getting yourself into until you move in. In order to get a feel for whether the home youre considering is what you want, you normally have to spend quite a bit of time inside it. This allows you to learn more about everything that youre going to be spending your hard-earned cash on.

A pre-purchase building inspection gives you much the same kind of experience without having to spend thousands of dollars. Since youre paying for the service, you can expect to see exactly what youre paying for, instead of just seeing a vague idea of what you might end up with.

You find out about potential major repairs

Some buildings are very expensive to maintain, which means that owners often neglect them for the sake of saving money. While youre paying for a building inspection, youre also paying for a professional who knows how to spot signs of trouble and repair work that needs doing.

If you notice that a particular area of your new home needs fixing right away, you can call in an expert to take care of it quickly. If you find that theres something wrong with your boiler, you wont have to wait weeks for a plumber to come over and fix it. Instead, youll have access to a solution immediately.

You can save hundreds of pounds by finding out about potential problems early on

One of the biggest expenses when you first buy a home is the cost of moving in. Many people dont realize this until its too late. Buying a home involves not only paying for the actual house, but also for moving costs, furniture, and other items that have to be moved along with the home.

Having a good idea ahead of time of what youre likely to encounter can help you avoid these kinds of costs. If you know youll need to replace the plumbing system, for example, youll be able to put together a budget for the expense and plan accordingly.

You can protect your investment by finding out if the homes been well cared for

While there are plenty of people who think that houses always look better when theyre newly built, youd be surprised at how well maintained older residences can still look nice. Sometimes, though, those homes need some additional maintenance to keep them looking their best.

This could involve repairs that arent so noticeable or small improvements that you wouldnt consider otherwise. Even worse, some houses have fallen into disrepair without anyone noticing. This is why having a professional perform a building inspection prior to purchasing a home is such a big benefit.

Not only will it give you insight into the state of the property, but it will also give you peace of mind knowing youre not getting taken advantage of. As long as youre aware of the potential pitfalls, youll have less reason to worry about the state of your new home.

You can use information gathered during a building inspection to negotiate a lower price

If youre worried about buying a home because you suspect that it may need extensive renovation work, you may already have a rough idea of how much work youll need to do to bring it up to scratch. That knowledge can come in handy if you decide to buy the home.

You can use all of the details that you gather during a building inspection to present a realistic picture of what the home is worth to prospective buyers. If a potential buyer thinks that the home is worth more than what you paid for it, you can try negotiating a lower price.

You can sell your home faster and for more money

If you decide to list your home on the market soon after buying it, youll need to price it accurately in order to attract buyers. But if youve already done a thorough building inspection, youll know exactly what work is needed and what the current market conditions are.

In other words, youll be able to make a more accurate estimate of the amount of money youve invested in the home and how much its worth. If you find that youre selling your house for close to its full market value, you can use this information to convince the potential buyer that your home is worth the asking price.

Even if youre planning to stay in the home for a while before you decide to sell, the fact that you did a thorough building inspection will give you more confidence when listing it. Prospective buyers will know exactly what theyre paying for.

Your home will hold its value longer

As mentioned earlier, the value of a home depends heavily upon the condition of the building itself. If your home is in bad shape, potential buyers wont be interested in buying it. On the other hand, if youve performed a thorough building inspection and know what sort of repairs are necessary, you can offer your prospective buyer a compelling reason to invest in your property.

When you buy a home, youre essentially agreeing to have it inspected periodically to ensure that it stays in top shape. Not only does this allow you to avoid expensive repairs down the road, but it can also increase the value of your home.

You can make smart decisions about property investments

Buying real estate isnt as simple as just driving a couple of minutes to pick up a house. There are lots of considerations involved, ranging from location to cost. The same is true when youre investing in property.

If you find a house that meets all of your requirements, youll want to make sure that you have a solid understanding of where it stands with regards to the rest of the market. If you havent spent enough time researching the area, you could inadvertently end up with a bad deal.

There are lots of resources available online that can help you determine the overall level of competition in your area. They can also help you figure out if there are any properties that meet your requirements that you didnt know about.

If you own rental property, you can use the information to identify tenants who might cause damage

If you own rental property and youve noticed that certain tenants consistently cause damage, you can use the results of a building inspection to identify them. You can then contact them directly to let them know that youre watching them closely and that you dont appreciate the problem theyre causing.

They might start taking better care of their homes, which would be good news for everyone. It could also be the case that youll find out that theyre responsible for previous damages that werent caught during a previous visit.

You can make smarter decisions about hiring contractors

If youve hired contractors to build or repair your home, you might want to ask them for references. However, unless you perform a thorough building inspection, you might not know exactly what to look for.

For instance, maybe you only checked the roof for leaks or the walls for cracks. You might not have looked underneath the foundation for anything that could cause a future issue. By performing a building inspection, you can ensure that you hire reputable contractors who will be trustworthy with your money.

You can avoid purchasing a home thats in poor condition

Of course, the main benefit of structural inspections perth is that it helps you avoid purchasing a home thats in poor condition. Before you make the decision to buy a home, you should do whatever you can to find out about the state of the building.

You can also ask your realtor about what sorts of inspections are typically recommended. Some agents say that its standard practice to check the heating system, the roof, the electrical wiring, and the floors. Others will tell you that they recommend that you check the entire structure.

Either way, if you choose to hire an inspector, youll find out exactly what needs to be fixed and how much it will cost to do so.

As a result, it can be concluded that a pre-purchase building inspection is highly important for the buyers because it provides transparency regarding the current conditions of the structure. Additionally, the building owner is made aware of any upgrades or repairs that are required, which could lead to a fair deal throughout the purchasing and selling process.
By AM Wednesday, February 10, 2016 Share Tweet Share Share Email

Frank O'Brien with more thoughts on US politics.is a long time resident of Troy, NY, USA, and former head of Clan na Gael in same city, and area.The late Gen.Hamid Gul was kind in describing Americans as being so innocent that it bordered on the gullible in the way they believe whatever is spoon fed to them by corporate mainstream media.But I have to be more harsh when referring to this kind of idiocy, but I can report to those in other countries here, that the latest statistics and studies have shown that Americans are increasingly going for their news to the large ALT news media available on the Net.Opinions of our government have been souring with an increasing rate, yet not getting reported on in the mainstream news, which isn't surprising given that CNN, MSNBC and Fox News lie on a regular basis in the most bold-faced way. If more Americans begin to find out about the euphemistically termed "collateral damage," on top of the "targeted killings" by drones that lead to these needless deaths and injuries, maybe they might better understand how the US is perceived now as the aggressor and terrorist amongst the populations in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Libya.As loyal as I am to my US armed forces, being a close brother and friend to a great fellow who is younger than me, and in the Army, I am upset at the top military brass for executive decisions that they make that puts their soldiers in a bad light amongst the populations of the countries they are serving in right now. In fact it is the totality of the many kinds of military actions that there have been, and soldiers have been involved in, that many, many times piss off the native peoples that are living around them, in countries like, take for instance, Afghanistan. In both Afghanistan, where US troops have been since late 2001, and in neighboring Pakistan, the top US military brass, CIA operatives and US State Department diplomats have coerced, threatened, bullied and intimidated the governments, intelligence agencies and police into doing their imperialist, and neocolonialist will, without thinking of the consequences of this kind of outrageous arrogance.Add to this the economic exploitation that comes from the IMF[International Monetary Fund], who loan, for instance, Pakistan, large amounts of money, and then charge them exorbitant interest on these loans, basically acting like some Mafia shyster. Greece in this past year learned their lesson in trusting in the good will of the IMF and World Bank, but it is even much more difficult on the farmers and other citizens of Pakistan, since they sometimes barely are able to get by economically, much like the "working poor" in the United States. In essence these Western financial institutions are out to exploit, and in a way, rule over these regular, average people in Pakistan.It is a capitalist/imperialist form of warfare meant to not only take advantage of their dire needs, but then to strong arm them into doing the bidding of these literal economic vampires. Many countries are targeted for their natural resources, the Western governments helping companies to exploit these resources that are not really rightfully theirs to exploit. These natural resources, like oil, are rightfully, and only in reality, the property of the people of the countries they are in, but the West doesn't care, running roughshod over the sovereignty of the native populations.America is part of this power bloc that deems it their right to not only gain access to other countries natural resources, but to also own them, which obviously isn't their right. All one need do is read the strictures of the new Trans-Pacific Partnership or TPP, to understand how little these companies, and conglomerates don't give a damn about their workers, or the populations in the countries that they are leaching off of. Just like the top brass of the US forces, CIA and US State Department do, these companies, and conglomerates use intimidation, coercion and even trickery to gain what they want or desire out of a given country. It is hegemony pure and simple, which is by any definition neocolonialist, imperialist and greed of the most sickening kind.With the US military having invaded, occupied and set up pro-American regimes now for 15 years, it has developed the reputation of being worse than even the most extremist Islamic groups like Daesh/ISIS/ISIL or Al Qaeda. There is ample evidence, and testimony of the CIA, US black ops groups and private US security companies[like Blackwater] benefiting from the trafficking of opium grown in Afghanistan, some of which goes into top secret and extralegal slush funds, which are off the books, and likely in the billions of dollars.This overreaching of authority or legitimacy only goes to piss off the local populations, and their leaders, both political and religious. This went on during the Vietnam War, in what is called the Golden Crescent, when drugs were secreted back into America in the caskets of dead soldiers, with the full knowledge of certain military and political people. It went on during the 1980s when the Iran-Contra Affair was in full swing, with Bill Clinton and George W. Bush having been complicit in it, like the Mena, Arkansas connection, besides their being cocaine addicts back then. Sen. John Kerry chaired an investigation into it, finding it to be true, but not surprisingly, no action was ever taken against these future Presidents.The same goes on now with the US government's involvement with the Mexican drug cartels, even though they've been espousing their supposed hatred of the drug trade, and pouring billions into arresting regular people for crimes, which they themselves are guilty of in spades. Is it no wonder then that the USA has been called the "Great Satan" by both Middle Eastern and Near Eastern people? You add all of this corruption, two-facedness, hypocritical and downright criminal stuff together, and what you have is the perfect storm for creating enemies, and terrorist extremists. The extra-judicial killings, economic exploitation and forced subservience only exacerbates an already strained relationship to the breaking point, and one more wrong step in the wrong direction could spell disaster, like a world war that former ISI Gen. Hamid Gul warned the West about before he passed away in 2015.The gullible American people must take responsibility for some of this, since they haven't so far made any efforts to overthrow their criminal deep state government, but instead throw their support behind a billionaire moron and bigot like Donald Trump. Yes Bernie Sanders has some potential, but he is also been all too cozy with the US arms industry, even though he is a so-called Left leaning social democrat. If Thomas Jefferson was alive today, he'd be definitely involved with efforts to start a new revolution against the elitists that now run the show in America. He'd be appalled at the actions of the military brass, the corrupt politicians and billionaire banksters on Wall Street, and would no doubt call for their immediate overthrow, besides prosecuting them for war crimes and war profiteering.So to finish up here, it is in the best interest of both the American people, and countries that have greatly suffered under the vicious thumb of the current American deep state, if and once these bastards are overthrown, prosecuted and sent off to prison for life.
The sextoy market is growing quite rapidly in India right now.

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.
HARRISBURG  Harrisburg schools were closed Wednesday because of a bomb threat message found the night before, Superintendent Michael Gauch said.

After lengthy discussion with authorities, I decided that I would like to have state police bring in their bomb task force and dogs to sweep our buildings, Gauch said in a website statement.

We were forced to cancel school due to the unknown length of the search.

Gauch was not immediately available to comment by phone but said in the message, posted Wednesday, that no bombs were found and that classes at all schools would resume Thursday on a normal schedule.

Gauch said the message was found at 10 p.m. Tuesday on a bathroom door wall at the middle school.

Once the task force arrived from Springfield at 3:30 a.m., Gauch asked authorities to search each school building to ensure the safety of all our children, he said.

Classes were canceled because it was not known how long the searches would take and whether they would be done prior to the districts deadline for busses to begin their routes, Gauch said.

We will continue the investigation into this incident and will always error on the side of safety for your children, he concluded.
CARBONDALE  In the nearly 20 years she's been at Southern Illinois University, Faith Y. Miller says she has seen maybe one African American man come through the university's School of Allied Health.

Recently, she said, she ran into a young woman -- an African American, a freshman -- who is a radiology student at the school.

"So I'm looking forward to seeing her" around the school, Miller said.

Miller, a guest speaker before the American Association of University Women, Carbondale Branch, told the group about the lack of African Americans in SIU's School of Allied Health, as she talked about ethnic makeup in the STEM fields  science, technology, engineering and math.

Miller said she was in the U.S. Army, on assignment having her teeth cleaned, when she became intrigued by dentistry. She told the group the dental hygienist did a very good job of explaining her dental health and explaining that the hard little chips removed from her teeth was plaque.

She refers to that moment as her "flux capacitor moment"  making a reference to the "Back to the Future" movie when the Doc Brown character received inspiration for creating the key device for his time-travel machine.

"When I got out of here (the military), I'm going to look that up," she remembered thinking.

She spent a decade in the U.S. Army, attaining the rank of staff sergeant, before returning to John A. Logan College and SIU to prepare for a career in the dental field.

"I'm not seeing anyone who looks like me at this time," she told the group.

She did have encouragement, though, to continue her studies from teacher Sue Knight Bryan who told her that she had the skills that would make her do well as a dental hygienist.

She has been at SIU since 1999, where she is associate professor of dental hygiene.

She said African American students should think about a career in the STEM fields and that their teachers should consider pushing them in that regard.

"So where are they?" she asked. "We need more persons of color in this profession."

She also noted that teachers might want to envision that disruptive students might be bored students who could benefit from being challenged to study STEM subjects and complete science projects in those areas.

She also showed the group the book, "Blacks in Science: Ancient and Modern," written by Guyana, South American-born African scholar Ivan van Sertima, that documented the many contributions of blacks in all areas of science, technology, engineering and math.

"This book tells me that children who look like me need not be afraid to challenge the teachers (to challenge them in these areas)," Miller said.
BENTON  A jury recently sided with an Olney man who alleged in a federal civil lawsuit he was the victim of excessive force by law enforcement during a stop near Benton on April 17, 2012.

The jurys verdict  following a four-day trial at the federal courthouse in East St. Louis  included a total of $32,092 for compensatory and punitive damages for 35-year-old Isaac Capps. Six officials were named as defendants in the case  three Illinois State Police troopers, two Franklin County deputies and a West Frankfort police officer. Attorneys representing the defendants said they are considering next steps. They have until months end to seek an appeal.

Capps claimed multiple officers made excessive use of their Tasers during the stop. Before the trial, Capps, through his attorney, Jude Redwood, based in St. Joseph, sought a settlement of $3.6 million. In a news release announcing the jury verdict, Redwoods office called Capps heroic.

Franklin County Sheriff Don Jones said he believes that all of the officers followed proper protocol in restraining an uncooperative suspect. The two who work for the sheriffs office did not and will not face any disciplinary action, Jones said. No criminal charges have been filed against the officers.

The incident

Officers pulled over Capps that April 2012 day after dispatch fielded a call from another driver stating it appeared Capps and a female passenger in his car were involved in a possible domestic dispute.

According to a video and video transcript of the incident, the trooper that approached the car asked Capps, So, what happened out there, to which Capps responded, What happened? The trooper then stated a report came in that he was choking the female passenger, and banging her head against something. Choking her? Capps responded, to which the trooper said: Yeah, thats why theres 15 of us here.

Capps then tells the officer that he was in West Frankfort to put his name on the list for the Tree Trimmers Association, and then the two headed out to Blue Sky Winery. As to what a witness phoned in about a possible domestic dispute, Capps said of his female passenger that she had like half a glass of wine or something and shes just like throwing it all around the car. Capps later told the officer she had the half-glass of wine at the winery, and at trial, he testified that the substance on him was an iced Cherry Coke that she was throwing around.

But the officer presumed, based on Capps statement, that the it being thrown around the car was a glass of wine. He told Capps that he is going to conduct a field sobriety test because hes obviously been drinking and has wine on your ear and all over your shirt and pants and everything else.

After the trooper submitted Capps to a field sobriety test, he stated that the last part of the test was a chemical breath test. The trooper explained to Capps that he needed to blow into the device until he was instructed to stop. At this point, Capps became uncooperative and stated, I mean, seriously? I mean, really? The trooper continued to instruct him on how to take the chemical breath test, and Capps asked, I mean, is this even legal? Look at this. I mean, really? With all these guys around.

Under Illinois law, a person has the right to refuse to submit to a chemical breath test, though an officer can still arrest a person suspected of being under the influence. At that point in the interaction, after Capps declined the field sobriety test, the trooper stated, Put your hands behind your back.

At that point, the situation escalated quickly. In the video, it appears another officer grabbed his arm to arrest him, and Capps spun around. This prompted several officers to surround him, take him to the ground, and during the incident three officers apparently activated their Tasers. During this time, Capps can be heard shouting in the video, I will do it. I will do it. I will do it.  I said I would breathe. I will breathe. Hey, hey, hey.

The incident was brief. After Capps was arrested and back on his feet, he said, I thought I was being respectful. The trooper told him, Man, you didnt have to get weird out there, you know.  Then, the trooper stated, You werent going with the program, partner  You should have done exactly what we told you to do, partner, not tense up, not be freaking out a little bit.

Capps was arrested at the time for DUI, resisting arrest and for have an open container of alcohol in the vehicle. He pled guilty the open container charge, and the Franklin County States Attorney dismissed the charges of DUI and resisting arrest. States Attorney Evan Owens could not be reached Wednesday afternoon for comment.

The case

The officers named as defendants in the case were: Illinois State Police Troopers Kevin Drake, Jared Freeman and Shawn Isaacs; West Frankfort Police Officer James Trogolo; and Franklin County Sheriffs Office deputies Kevin Roye and Brice Shaffer. The jury ordered they pay compensatory damages from these officers in the amount of $22,000. Compensatory damages can be covered by a departments insurance, while punitive damages must be paid by the individual officers.

Two officers, West Frankforts Trogolo and Franklin Countys Roye, were ordered to pay punitive damages to Capps in the amount of $5,000 each on Capps claims of excessive force and failure to intervene. The other four were awarded to pay $23 each on his claim of failure to intervene. Reportedly, officers from West City also responded to the scene, but were not named as defendants in the lawsuit.

Attorney General Lisa Madigans office represented the state troopers. Annie Thompson, a spokeswoman for Madigan, said the state is considering next steps. She had no further comment.

Franklin County Sheriff Jones said, I can tell you, I dont feel like my officers did anything wrong. He continued, A Taser is used to protect the individual as much as the police officer.

Jones said that while the video appears to show multiple officers firing their Tasers, thats because the first officers attempt at discharging his Taser was not fully effective.

Joe Bleyer, a Marion attorney who represented the two Franklin County deputies, said he was disappointed in the outcome of the case. We wouldnt have had a trial if Mr. Capps simply would have followed the instructions to put his hands behind his back when asked, Bleyer said.

Bleyer said that it should also be noted that Capps had informed the officers he was a mixed martial arts instructor. And to those who may watch the video and question why Tasers were necessary with so many officers on site, Bleyer said Capps continued to resist arrest and not follow instructions, and that officers followed proper protocol in safely bringing him under control, thereby avoiding a potentially more serious situation.

I wouldnt call him heroic, Bleyer said, referencing the press release from Capps attorney. He was an (allegedly) intoxicated driver who didnt follow instructions and had he simply followed instructions, nothing would have happened. My officers acted appropriate in response to his reaction.
SPRINGFIELD  President Barack Obama returned to Springfield on Wednesday to call on members of the Illinois General Assembly to work together toward a less divisive, more civil politics.

The speech, delivered nine years to the day after Obama launched his White House bid on the steps of the Old State Capitol, came amid an unprecedented state budget impasse between first-term Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Democratic-controlled Legislature, led by House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton, both of Chicago.

While alluding to the standoff, Obama focused his remarks on the larger issue of the increasing political polarization in Springfield and Washington and across the United States.

The situation we find ourselves in today is not somehow unique or hopeless, he said, speaking in the current Capitol, where he began his political career in 1997 as a state senator from Chicagos South Side. Weve always gone through periods when our democracy seems stuck, and when that happens, we have to find a new way of doing business.

Were in one of those moments. Weve got to build a better politics, one thats less of a spectacle and more of a battle of ideas, one thats less of a business and more of a mission, one that understands the success of the American experiment rests on our willingness to engage all our citizens in this work.

To build that better politics, Obama highlighted four areas where work needs to be done: limiting influence of big money in politics, changing the way congressional districts are drawn, making it easier for voters to register and cast ballots, and engaging in more respectful political discourse.

We cant move forward if all we do is tear each other down, he said.

The president said his belief in the importance of bipartisanship and civility has its roots, in part, in his days in the Illinois Senate.

As a newcomer in the then-minority party, Obama had to find ways to work with Republicans if we wanted to accomplish anything. He formed a bond with Kirk Dillard, then a GOP senator from Hinsdale and now chairman of the Chicago-area Regional Transit Authority, with whom he worked on issues such as ethics reform and combating racial profiling.

He also took the time to get to know downstate Republicans away from the Statehouse, playing cards with people like Sens. Dave Luechtefeld of Okawville and Bill Brady of Bloomington.

Away from the glare of TV or the tweets of the GIFs of todays media, what we discovered was that, despite our surface differences  Democrats and Republicans, downstate hog farmers, inner-city African-Americans, suburban businesspeople, Latinos from Pilsen or Little Village  despite those differences, we actually had a lot in common, he said. We cared about our communities. We cared about our families. We cared about America.

We fought hard for our positions. I dont want to be nostalgic here. We voted against each other all the time, and party lines held most of the time. But those relationships, that trust that we built, meant that we came at each debate assuming the best in one another and not the worst.

He added, And we didnt call each other idiots or fascists who were trying to destroy America. Because then wed have to explain why we were playing poker or having a drink with an idiot or a fascist who was trying to destroy America.

Despite Obamas message, there were times when partisan divisions were on full display in the House chamber. For example, Democrats stood and cheered when he mentioned the importance of collective bargaining rights, as did Republicans when he mentioned redistricting reform.

Obama acknowledged his disappointment that partisan discord has gotten worse during his presidency and, hinting at his post-presidential plans, said this work will be a focus of mine over the course of this year and beyond.

Obama arrived aboard Air Force One on Wednesday morning at Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport, where he was greeted by Rauner, among others. The two spoke briefly before the president got into his limo and made his way to the Capitol  after a brief stop for barley soup at The Feed Store, just steps from the Old State Capitol.

Following the speech, the president shook hands with many on the Republican side of the aisle before departing the House chamber.

Upon leaving the Capitol, Obama went to greet at group of about 500 supporters a few blocks away inside the Hoogland Center for the Arts. After that, he was back aboard Air Force One, en route to San Jose, California.

With the presidents visit come and gone, what remains is the question of whether his words will have any impact on the partisan atmosphere in Springfield or the states budget impasse, now in its eighth month.
SPRINGFIELD  Illinois House Democrats have revived an effort that would send stalled contract talks to binding arbitration and prohibit a state worker strike or lockout.

The move comes after Republican Gov. Bruce Rauners administration took steps to have negotiations with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees declared at an impasse. The roughly 38,000 state employees AFSCME Council 31 represents have been working under the terms of their previous deal since it expired June 30.

Rauner seeking impasse declaration in contract talks Gov. Bruce Rauner on Friday took the first steps toward having an impasse declared in contra

On a party-line vote Thursday, the House Labor and Commerce Committee approved a bill that would apply to contracts that have expired or will expire between June 30 and June 30, 2019. That would cover AFSCME and six other unions that currently dont have contracts with the state.

Rep. Chris Welch, a Hillside Democrat whos sponsoring the bill, said it represents a major concession on the part of labor unions because they would be giving up the right to strike.

I also think, from a legislative standpoint, we want to prevent the administration from locking out state employees, who are providing important services across this state, and basically shutting down government, Welch said. Thats our responsibility as legislators.

Rauner has said in the past that he will not lock out workers.

Republican opponents of the bill said AFSCME, which is backing the measure, is attempting change the rules in the middle of the process.

Going to the General Assembly for legislation specifically designed to try and direct things in your favor is not something I can be supportive of, said Rep. Dan Brady, a Bloomington Republican who serves on the committee.

Before the committee hearing began, the Rauner administration distributed a statement attacking the bill.

Rauners statement called the move a second bite at the failed attempt to pass the bill.

Rauner scores win in union fight SPRINGFIELD -- Gov. Bruce Rauner won a key battle against Big Labor Wednesday as Democrats f

The General Assembly passed a nearly identical bill last year, but Rauner vetoed it. House Democrats fell three votes short of overriding the veto.

Since then, the governor has accused AFSCME of bargaining in bad faith and asked the Illinois Labor Relations Board to determine whether the talks have reached an impasse. If the board sides with him, it could clear the way for the state to impose the terms of its contract offer.

Instead of lobbying for yet another version of the failed legislation from last Fall, AFSCME should defend its proposals before the Labor Board, the governors statement said.

Rep. Mike Smiddy, a Hillsdale Democrat who also serves on the Labor and Commerce Committee, said he believes part of the reason the override effort failed last year was because Rauner promised to stay at the bargaining table with AFSCME. The union says the administration has refused to negotiate since asking for the impasse declaration earlier this year.

This (bill) will hopefully prevent a shutdown of state government, either through strike or lockout, Smiddy said. We do not need services shut down in the state of Illinois due a strike or lockout.

If the bill is approved, it would send stalled contract talks to mediation and then, if necessary, to a panel of independent arbitrators, who would decide on an issue-by-issue basis which side has made the more reasonable offer.

A similar process is currently in place for police officers, firefighters and other public safety workers, including correctional officers represented by AFSCME.
CARBONDALE  In the absence of a state budget, Southern Illinois Universitys Small Business Development Center will be forced to close on March 31.

The center, which assists 600 Southern Illinois small and start-up businesses on average each year, receives all of its $350,000 budget through grants distributed by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. Without a budget, that money has been held up in Springfield since the beginning of the centers fiscal year in January.

The university has been funding the groups efforts since then.

Itll be a big loss to the region, Greg Bouhl, the centers director, said. Small business creates jobs and brings investment to our area.

SIU Small Business Development Center a wealth of resources CARBONDALE  Whether one is looking to start a new business, or needs expertise and advice a

The centers staffers not only help start-up companies develop business plans and find their footing, but they also assist more established outfits restructure their financing and stay in business during rough patches. In 2014, the centers staffers helped create and retain more than 300 jobs throughout Southern Illinois, while assisting 45 entrepreneurs create new businesses.

The center employs six full-time employees and several student workers, all of whom will lose their jobs at the end of March.

Bouhl said hell try to wait out the budget stalemate before finding other work, but hes not sure his colleagues will be able to do the same.

Nobody wants to go because we have a good mission here, he said. Were able to help the community we live in and make a positive impact. But financial reality has to come in at some point, too.

They have families to worry about, Bouhl added.

Bouhl said small-business development centers at several Illinois community colleges also have closed thanks to political deadlock in Springfield.

A small-business incubator housed in the same space at the Dunn-Richmond Economic Development Center will remain in operation, though its tenants will not have access to the advice and counseling that the Small Business Development Center offers.

For Pryor Jordan, president of Carbondale-based Saluki Screen Repair, the centers closing is a damn shame. Jordan first utilized their free services in spring 2013, just after hed founded his company and started repairing smartphone, tablet and laptop screens from his apartment.

The centers advisers helped Jordan develop a business plan. Soon thereafter, Jordan moved into the incubator, where he grew his business over 11 months.

SIUs economic development efforts earn national recognition SIU was recently designated an Innovation and Economic Prosperty University by the Associati

I wouldnt be in business today without them. Theres no question, he said. I didnt know what I was doing, and really once I found out about them and got hooked up with them, my business got on track and started growing very, very fast.

Saluki Screen Repair now operates from a brick-and-mortar storefront on East Grand Avenue in Carbondale. Jordan said he still utilizes the centers services. A staffer recently helped him put together a company valuation.

Karen Binder, co-owner of Grand River Spirits, also made use of the centers services. In 2009, she learned how to write a feasibility study as part of a center-sponsored class. That exercise affirmed her plans for Grand River.

Our SBDCs in Southern Illinois have proven their value repeatedly over the decades, she said. Probably more so than in any other part of the state, they have an active role in making Southern Illinois grow.
CARBONDALE  Azadeh Amiri and 14 compatriots in the Southern Illinois University Iranian Student Association had labored for two days in the kitchen to fill trays full of food.

By 11 a.m. Wednesday, eager diners began filing in, and Amiri and her team loaded plates with savory rice dishes, baghali polo and loobia polo; minty-fresh salad, shirazi; and Iranian staple, mast khiar.

For the guests who had gathered at the SIU International Food Fair, it was a chance to taste flavors from around the world. For Amiri and her team, it was a good chance to showcase some of our own food, our culture, she said.

The Iranian student group was one of 11 international-student societies to take part in the event, hosted Wednesday in the SIU Student Center Ballrooms.

The event is part of SIUs weeklong International Festival, which celebrates the universitys intercultural diversity. The final event of the week, a cultural show featuring performances by students from around the world, takes place at 7 p.m. Friday in the Student Center Ballrooms.

More than 1,800 students from at least 95 countries attended SIU in during the 2014-15 school year. Those students made up more than 10 percent of the universitys student body.

On Wednesday, at the Sri Lankan Student Associations table, diners loaded up on chicken curry and ice cream-infused avocado drink.

The Latin American Student Association served up carne asada and pico de gallo. Across the hall, baklava proved a popular dessert at the Turkish Student Association table, with visitors raving about the sweet, many-layered treat.

Meat pies, plantains and puff puffs at the African Student Council table proved so popular they were gone, along with most of the groups other offerings, a couple hours into the event.

We had a lot, and, like, everything is gone, said Asher Ogbebor, an SIU junior with roots in Nigeria.

Ogbebor said the groups organizers will use the money they earned in ticket sales to help fund Africa Week, a celebration of African culture, in April.

Across the hall, in the dining area, Nigerian student Idris Sanusi had just returned to his seat after piling his plates with seconds. He chose to pass up the African-food table  I can make African food at home, he said  in exchange for Indian cuisine.

Its very good, Sanusi said in between bites of chole, a chickpea dish. I mean, its a mini-world right here.
You know your child is adorable; now you can prove it in the City of Orangeburg's Most Adorable Children of 2016 contest fundraiser. The contest is a photogenic fundraiser fully benefiting the Orangeburg Queen of Roses Scholarship Fund.

The entry fee is $20 for the first photo and $5 for each additional photo entered. You may enter as many photographs as you wish in each of these categories: most beautiful, funniest and messiest. One child per photo entry, please. Be sure to include your child's name, date of birth and category of entry on the back of each photo.

Children, both boys and girls, from throughout Orangeburg County and surrounding counties in South Carolina are encouraged to participate. The age divisions are as follows: 36-47 months; 24-35 months; 12-23 months; and birth-11 months. Your child's age group is determined by his or her age on Jan. 29, 2016. A copy of the child's birth certificate must be attached to the entry form.

Applications are available at the Orangeburg Parks & Recreation Office, 367 Green St. Deadline for entry is 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 19.

For more information, contact Meredith Garris at meredith@worg.com or 803-516-8400.
In houses and office spaces across South Carolina, volunteers and interns for leading presidential candidates chatter on telephones amid stacks of fliers and posters while campaign banners loom large on the walls.LeadCandidatesP6_LG

The presidential race has become a race against time, with campaigners ramping up efforts to reach as many potential voters as possible before the states primaries February 20 and 27.

We have college students, down to high school students;, we have families come in thatll bring their youngest kids and put them on the phone and its really kind of cute to hear some of the calls, said Andrew Gray, an intern for the Ted Cruz campaign at the Gervais Street office. We have families that go door to door trying to support the cause, every demographic you can think of.

This is Grays first political campaign. He was looking for an internship to supplement his economics major during his senior year at the USC and researched Cruz before determining it was a good fit.

Hes just open and honest, said Gray, who had the chance to meet Cruz and his wife. Hes very down-to-earth, his family is very down-to-earth and they are very humble people.

Though Donald Trump is still favored in South Carolina, Gray is optimistic for Cruzs success in the state, especially coming off a victory in Iowa that Gray described as crucial to the Cruz campaign.

Elizabeth Wilson, who spends two nights a week making calls for the Clinton campaign, has noticed much more positive energy in the office leading up to the S.C. primaries.

From the other side of the aisle and the other side of Columbia, Hillary Clintons campaign office is also increasing energy and efforts leading up to the Democratic primary.

In a small bungalow on Richland Street, the Clinton office bustles with activity throughout the day and night. Lawn signs are piled high against the wall and decorated signs with slogans like Girls just want 2 have fundamental rights are propped on fireplace mantels. A cardboard Clinton cutout, adorned with a stars and stripes scarf, oversees the constant background hubbub of phone calls by volunteers and interns each night.

Things have amped up one hundred percent. Were all so motivated to do that last phone call at 8:59 or knock on that last door, said Megan Simmons, a part of the Clinton campaigns fellowship program. The teenager, an aspiring journalist, is counting down the days until the Democratic primary.

Simmons, 16, moved to Lexington from a Democratic town in Connecticut last year and said she was frustrated with the political conservatism of her new town. A call from the Clinton campaign in search of student volunteers gave her the outlet she needed and she took the opportunity to participate in a student phone bank last fall. From there, she applied and was accepted to become a fellow in January.

Simmons was drawn to the campaign because of Clintons policies on womens issues and gun control, and said she hopes to see Clinton shatter the glass ceiling by becoming the first woman to win the presidency.LeadCandidates_LG

Douglas Waites, another volunteer with the campaign, was also drawn to Clinton because she is the most in-line with his principles.

She is the only person I believe could handle the presidency at this point, said Waites, who tries to spend two nights a week making calls at the campaign office.

Waites said hes noticed theres even more positive energy in the office within the last two weeks as the primaries approach. A self-described extrovert, Waites said the energy of the room is helpful in motivating everyone to keep working hard for the campaign.

Now, in the last few weeks before the primaries, Simmons spends four or five days a week after school at the campaign office, calling potential voters.

Personally, Im working hard to make all my goals so I know Ive done everything I can to help Hillary get elected, said Simmons, a junior at River Bluff High School. Hillary is the original feminist!

Jamie Harrison, the South Carolina Democratic Party chairman, is especially encouraging younger citizens to make sure their voices are heard in the upcoming primaries. He said his goal is to ensure everyone registered to vote understands the process of the primaries to make sure their vote counts for the candidate that most reflects their values.

I think for young people, there are so many issues, not only student loan debt but health care and all these various issues that I believe can impact the quality of your life, said Harrison.

Im hoping that college students and young professionals in general will pay very close attention to what is being said by both parties and all the candidates in the parties and pick the best person that best reflects the values that we all have.
The current and former chiefs of the state Republican Party condemned him. New Hampshires only two Republican members of Congress refused to endorse him. The conservative owner of the states largest newspaper called him a con man on the front page.

Donald Trump won anyway  big time.

So, too, did Bernie Sanders, who left New Hampshire with the commanding victory one might expect of a front-runner blessed with the near universal favor of his party. Except all that establishment support belongs to Hillary Clinton.

Trumps 18-point victory and the self-described democratic socialists 21-point win are reminders of the limits of party power in an age of anger toward Washington and frustration with politics.

Many Republican Party leaders may be terrified by Trumps ascendance but have yet to divine a way to stop the billionaire real estate mogul. Clinton may have all the endorsements of her partys bold-faced names, but it is Sanders who is winning over the young people and independents who helped push Barack Obama to the White House.

On Tuesday, establishment-minded Republicans from New Hampshire expressed a mix of frustration and shame that it was their state that delivered Trumps first victory. I refuse to support him under any circumstance, said Fergus Cullen, a former New Hampshire Republican Party chairman. Trump would be a disaster.

Cullen likened Trump to Pat Buchanan in 1996, the divisive former Nixon aide and conservative commentator who also won the New Hampshire primary. GOP leaders quickly coalesced behind mainstream alternative Bob Dole, the former Republican Senate leader who went on win the nomination.

It wasnt because they loved Dole, Cullen said, but because they feared Buchannan would embarrass the Republican Party.

The party was able to stop Buchannan 20 years ago, Cullen said. Today, theyre incapable of doing it.

For those like Cullen who oppose Trump, it only gets worse.

Marco Rubios underwhelming performance in New Hampshire eliminates the prospect the Florida senator might emerge as the Republican establishments favored alternative as the race heads to South Carolina and the Super Tuesday states.

Competing for the support of the same group of Republicans, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Rubio won enough votes combined to handily beat Trump. But as they fought among themselves  four political insiders against the lone outsider  Trump won with ease.

John Jordan, a California winery owner who runs an outside group backing Rubio, said that candidate logjam is all going to break in one night, and suggested that night will be March 15, when Florida is among the states to hold their presidential primaries.

One of them will do better than the other, and it will be impossible for the relative loser to make the case to donors that he should continue, he said, referring to the states native sons, Bush and Rubio. Donors will simply move to whoever wins that state, and it will happen nearly instantly.

But between now and March 15 is South Carolina, Nevada and the more than a dozen states that vote on March 1  time that Trump, and Sen. Ted Cruz, can use to further their edge. Despite questions about the strength of his ground game, Trump continues to hold a commanding lead in many preference polls in the Souths first primary  and he could get a bump from his New Hampshire success.

In South Carolina, Trump isnt likely to find any GOP leaders eager to embrace his campaign.

Senior Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham has said that choosing between Trump and Cruz is like choosing between being shot or poisoned. South Carolina GOP Chairman Matt Moore lashed out at Trumps plan to temporarily ban Muslims from the United States as un-American and unconstitutional.

And South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley called on Republicans to resist the temptation to follow the siren call of the angriest voices, referring to Trump.

Yet even before New Hampshire results were final, Moore declined to condemn Trump when given the opportunity  a clear attempt not to alienate his supporters.

Trump is holding rallies and drawing crowds like weve never seen, which is really impressive, Moore told The Associated Press. Clearly hes brought a lot of new people into the fold. Well need those people to defeat Hillary Clinton.
Christine McFadden arrived early to John Hurst Adams Gym, neon H placard in hand, snagging a front row seat to see her favorite former President and hear about the woman she wants to see as her next president.

McFadden didnt need to be persuaded to cast her vote for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the upcoming Feb. 27 South Carolina Democratic Presidential Primary.

I love everything Clinton, McFadden said. And Bill still has it.

The former President took to the stage at Allen University with a round of applause and a wave, flashing a smile that looked energetic and charismatic. With the approach of South Carolinas primary, Clinton came to Columbia to assure his wifes supporters and lock in votes.

Hillary Clinton aims to lock down South Carolina after a narrow victory in the Iowa caucus against her closest competitor, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders. She lost the state in 2008 to Barack Obama, a key win on his way to capturing the White House.

The former president known for his confident, emotional speeches  addressed the crowd in a more mature, storyteller way Wednesday night.

And the crowd loved it.

McFadden, a woman who says she prospered under Bill, cheered as President Clinton wove his way from his early days in Arkansas to the tragedy in San Bernardino.

Economically and educationally I did well, said McFadden, who was a young, single mom raising a child on her own during Clintons two-term presidency.

Clinton dynastyJames Page, who described Clinton as a white Obama, appreciated the fact that Clinton came from a modest background. He also thinks President Clinton never lost his touch.

He made people who thought they didnt matter, matter, Page said. Today, he still has that magic.

President Clinton has been campaigning across the country to shore up support for his wife. Although Hillary Clinton is currently the South Carolina front-runner, Bill made sure to reinforce base voters.

Dr. Lonnie Randolph Jr., president of the South Carolina NAACP, praised President Clinton and his stage presence.

Comparing Clinton to a popular soda, Randolph said President Clinton is, and always has been, energetic.

Caffeine  Canada Dry never had that and never will, he said. Bills the opposite.
South Carolina State University is searching for a permanent president almost exactly a year after the previous board removed President Thomas Elzey.

After meeting for about four hours in two separate executive sessions on Wednesday, trustees emerged and Chairman Charlie Way announced the university will be going forward with a presidential search for South Carolina State.

Trustee Dr. Doris Helms, former provost of Clemson University, is heading the nine-member search team.

Its a very, very big responsibility, she said. I think that its an exciting time, ... a very crucial and important time for the university. Finding the next leader is a huge responsibility and one that I take very seriously. This will become the major focus of the next year for me.

While the team plans to take its time carrying out the search, Helms said she hopes to have a new president hired by this time next year.

We would hope that this time next year ... we will be already engaged with whoever it is, whether he or she is actually on campus or bringing them in on a consulting basis, she said. He or she will be hired, but may not be able to move here in the middle of the year, but wed really like to be interactive with him at this time, before this time next year.

The board wants to give the new president a running start by getting him or her involved in things like strategic planning, Helms said.

She says the best-case scenario would be to have the president in place in Orangeburg by June next year.

The committee will be hiring a search firm sometime this spring to help with the details of the search, such as writing a prospectus showcasing the university and an ad stating the criteria for the new president, she said. That selection has to be put up for bids, but the committee doesnt plan to take applications until June.

We still have a lot on our shoulders between now and June, she said. Its already the middle of February.

S.C. State is currently on probation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges and the agency will make a decision about the universitys status in June. The probation could be lifted, or the university could lose its accreditation at that time.

Thats still our first priority, making sure everything is ready to go for SACS and that we are successful there, Helms said. We expect to be accredited, but in order to do a presidential search, wed like to know that we are a fully accredited institution.

The boards decision to begin its search follows a statement by Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, urging the board to move forward with finding permanent leadership for the university.

The board has publicly told Interim President Dr. W. Franklin Evans that he is welcome to apply for the permanent position of president, but on Wednesday he said he has not yet made a decision about seeking the position.

When the legislature removed the previous board of trustees and put the current interim board in place last May, it set aside $2.5 million to be spent as the board sees fit. Cobb-Hunter said the money had been meant for a presidential search and other items, but the trustees used it to pay on the universitys bills.

Helms said she isnt sure how the search will be funded.

Thats something that were going to have to discuss as a group, she said. We just havent had time to get into the details, but we wanted to at least let the university and public know that we are actively entering a search.

Elzey served as president from June 2013 until February 2015, when a split board voted to place Elzey on paid administrative leave. In March 2015, the board voted 6-1 to fire him. The board gave no explanation other than to say he didnt respect them or communicate adequately with them.

Elzey sued and the university ultimately paid him $312,500 .

Way appointed the following members to the presidential search committee, in addition to Helms:

Trustee Milton Irvin

Trustee Donnie Shell

Trustee Steve Swanson

Trustee Jeff Vinzani

President of the S.C. State National Alumni Association

President of the S.C. State Student Government Association

President of the Faculty Senate

President of the Staff Senate
Claflin University President Dr. Henry N. Tisdale will testify at 10 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 11, before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Federal Lands. Tisdales testimony will be in support of H.R. 295, which will reauthorize the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Historic Preservation program.

The resolution is sponsored by Sixth District Congressman James Clyburn.

In 1998, the National Trust for Historic Preservation designated HBCUs nationwide as one of the nations 11 most endangered historic sites. According to a 1998 study by the Government Accountability Office, the historic preservation needs at HBCUs at that time were estimated to be $755 million, with 712 historic properties in need of repairs or structural renovations. That amount would be over $1 billion in todays dollars.

In the Sixth Congressional District of South Carolina, historic buildings at Allen, Claflin, and South Carolina State universities and Voorhees and Benedict colleges have been successfully restored. To date, 59 institutions in 20 different states have benefitted from the program. However, authorization for this program has expired, and no funds have been appropriated since the Recovery Act in 2009.

Claflin University has five buildings on the National Register of Historic Places: Trustee Hall (1895); Lee Hall (1898); Bowen Hall (1900); Tingley Memorial Hall (1908) and Ministers Hall (1913).
A special Black History Month event featuring the Rev. Connie Jackson, known as the Civic History Maker, will be held at 11 a.m. on Thursday, Feb.18, in Massachusetts Hall on the Voorhees College campus in Denmark.

Jackson is a trailblazer among women in the political arena, where she worked in governmental positions for 20 years. She is recognized as the first African American woman to be elected in a city council position in the 153-year history of Galveston County in Texas.

She has served in numerous other positions such as executive director of a community development corporation, global development consultant in South Africa, district chief of staff for the dean of the Texas Senate and primary elections administrator for the Texas Democratic Party.

Jackson earned a bachelors degree in government from the University of Texas at Austin and a masters degree in divinity from the Interdenominational Theological Center n Atlanta, Georgia.

She has been published in the Journal of the Interdenominational Theological Center and other religious publications. She was also published in Essence magazine online.

Jackson currently serves as assistant pastor at St. Johns United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas and as president of On the Edge Ministries Inc., which develops biblical studies curricula, leadership development and ministry training courses for religious organizations.

The Feb. 18 event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Megan Freeman, director of communications, at 803-780-1191 or at mfreeman@voorhees.edu.
Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
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DEXTER, Mich.  Thomson Reuters will host a free, hour-long webcast, Partner with myPay Solutions and Alleviate your ACA Worries. This session will provide an update on the latest Affordable Care Act (ACA) legislation and requirements impacting the payroll profession. It will also offer an opportunity to learn first-hand from a practitioner who partners their clients with myPay Solutions to help them navigate through ACA complexities and other payroll challenges.

During the free webcast, which is scheduled on two dates for attendees to select at their convenience either February 17 at 11:00 a.m. EST or February 18 at 1:00 p.m. EST, following a brief refresher from payroll experts on ACA regulations, the audience will be actively engaged in an open discussion to deconstruct common challenges and identify best practices.

Theres a lot of buzz about the Affordable Care Act (ACA) reporting and compliance, said Jim Paille, director of operations for myPay Solutions with the Tax & Accounting business of Thomson Reuters and president-elect of the American Payroll Association. Along with the buzz comes some confusion, and this webcast will help clear it up so that you can report accurately.

The myPay Solutions payroll processing service offers many resources to help tax and accounting professionals and their clients stay up-to-date on the latest payroll compliance developments. myPay Solutions works with accountants by providing ongoing payroll reports and data that integrates with their software, so they have a better ongoing understanding of business and financial needs.



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Thomson Reuters is the worlds leading source of news and information for professional markets. Our customers rely on us to deliver the intelligence, technology and expertise they need to find trusted answers. The business has operated in more than 100 countries for more than 100 years. Thomson Reuters shares are listed on the Toronto and New York Stock Exchanges. For more information, visit www.thomsonreuters.com

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BP expects production from Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field to continue at high level in 2016, BPs Regional President for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, Gordon Birrell told in an interview to Natural Gas Europe.



Shah Deniz continues its good production delivery. In 2015, the field provided reliable deliveries of gas to markets in Azerbaijan, Georgia, the BTC [Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan] Company and Turkey, Birrell said.

The field has been producing at the Stage 1 plateau level over the past few years including 2015 in which we produced around 10 billion cubic meters of gas and 2.3 million tonnes of condensate, Birrell said.



In 2016 we expect production from the Shah Deniz field to continue at this same high level, he added.



The reserves of the Shah Deniz field are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas. The contract to develop the Shah Deniz offshore field was signed June 4, 1996.



The shareholders in the contract are: BP, operator (28.8 percent), AzSD (10 percent), SGC Upstream (6.7 percent), Petronas (15.5 percent), Lukoil (10 percent), NIOC (10 percent) and TPAO (19 percent).



Birrell said that BPs future gas plans for the Caspian sea are currently focused on developing the next tranche of gas from Shah Deniz Stage 2.



Specifically, Shah Deniz Stage 2 is set to have 26 production wells at depths of over 6,000 metres, according to Birrell. Nine of these wells have already been drilled.



These wells will produce 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year, which will be delivered to markets across Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and South Eastern Europe, Birrell said.



The gas to be produced from the second stage of Shah Deniz field development is considered as the main source for the huge Southern Gas Corridor project.



In terms of timeline, Birrell said that the first gas from Shah Deniz-2 is targeting to be delivered to Turkey in 2018 and to by 2020 to Europe.



Paying a special attention on drilling, Birrell highlighted that drilling performance in both Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) block of oil fields and Shah Deniz are success stories.



Given that the Caspian basin represents some of the toughest drilling challenges in the industry, delivery of these difficult wells has required people and technology capable of tackling these challenges, he said.



To date BP has safely drilled around 190 wells in this challenging drilling environment, according to Birrell.



Specifically on Shah Deniz, drilling challenges in that field are related to its location in deeper waters than ACG - up to 550 meters - and the high pressures encountered in the reservoir. We have safely and efficiently drilled 145 kilometres on Shah Deniz including the deepest exploration well of 7,300 meters depth to-date drilled in the Caspian, Birrell said.



The contract for the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli development was signed in 1994. Shares in the contract are as follow: BP (operator) - 35.78 percent, Chevron - 11.27 percent, Inpex - 10.96 percent, AzACG - 11.65 percent, Statoil - 8.56 percent, Exxon - eight percent, TPAO - 6.75 percent, Itochu - 4.3 percent and ONGC - 2.72 percent.



The geological oil reserves on the ACG block amount to more than two billion tons. More than one billion tons of this volume account for recoverable reserves.

/By Trend/
Azerbaijan can redirect to Iran a part of oil volumes exported via Russia to the European market, head of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) Rovnag Abdullayev said.

He made the remarks to the reporters on the sidelines of the International Petroleum (IP) Week forum in London, Russian media outlets reported.

Answering a question about the possibility of redirecting a part of oil volumes from Baku-Novorossiysk to Iran, Abdullayev said it could happen.

Abdullayev went on to add that redirecting oil volumes is a diversification and isnt dangerous.

SOCAR exported 258 tons of oil via the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline in January 2016, compared to 169,510 tons in January 2015.

SOCAR transships the oil produced at its own fields, as well as the oil of joint ventures and operation companies working at Azerbaijans onshore fields through Russias Novorossiysk port. Oil is delivered to the port via the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline operated by SOCAR.

SOCAR exported 1.27 million tons of oil via the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline in 2015, compared to 932,160 tons of oil exported in 2014.

/By Trend/
Supply of Azerbaijani gas will contribute to Europe's energy security, Ambassador of Azerbaijan to the US Elin Suleymanov said.

He made the remarks during the Atlantic Councils discussion of Developing a Western Energy Strategy for the Black Sea Region and Beyond.

I would say that, first of all, the issue of European markets, it's not  it's not the amount of supply, he said. It's not the volume of gas which is available. It matters not how much gas you get, it matters the security and the uninterruptible supply of gas. I mean, that's the most important issue. Security of supply is perhaps more important than the volume set.

Diversity of gas supply means definitely its security, according to Suleymanov.

In these terms, of course, the Southern Gas Corridor is the underpinning and main project at this moment, and there is a need for interconnectors in the Balkan region and the Black Sea region, which are very important to be built to expand the infrastructure, he said.

The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority energy projects for the EU. At the initial stage, the gas to be produced as part of the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijans Shah Deniz field is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor projects. Other sources can also connect to this project at a later stage.

As part of the Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz development, the gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline and Trans-Adriatic Pipeline.

And we know we're not going to replace the Russian gas, but to understand that the more supply  the more secure supply, the more diverse of the European supplies would basically mean good things for all us, including Gazprom, who is also competing on the market, of course, Azerbaijani ambassador said.

The other thing is that the Azerbaijani approach has never been anti-Gazprom or in an effort to replace the Russian gas, Suleymanov said. Azerbaijani approach to European energy security and diversity is not anti-somebody, it is actually pro-European  pro-European energy security.

/By Trend/
/By Azernews/

By Gulgiz Dadashova

Although the rift between Riyadh and Tehran has quickly took the shape of the worst conflict in decades between the two sides, Irans Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh has said Tehran ready to negotiate with Saudi Arabia over the current situation on oil markets to find a way to bolster weak oil prices.

"We support any form of dialogue and cooperation with OPEC member states, including Saudi Arabia," Zangeneh told reporters.

The comments come amid intensifying efforts to persuade OPEC and non-OPEC members to consider output cuts. Earlier the cooperation between OPEC members and non-OPEC members to stabilize the global oil market was a topic of talks between Saudi Arabia's oil minister Ali al-Naimi with his Venezuelan counterpart.

Riyadh rejected the initiative to sit for early meeting of the suppliers, although six countries, including Iran, Oman and Russia have agreed to meet at a table of talks.

The long anticipated discussion is expected to shed a light on many issues of concern, but yet experts are not optimistic over the meeting.

Edward Chow, a senior fellow at CSIS Energy and National Security Program, says its hard to see how this can work when Iran will be trying to sell additional oil after the removal of international sanctions.

Any talks would be focused on Iran asking Saudi Arabia to cut production to allow room for new Iranian supply, he wrote in an e-mail to AzerNews.

Tehran resumed oil exports after Western sanctions over its nuclear program were lifted, and announced it plans to produce 0.5 million barrels a day. The move will add more pressure on an already oversupplied market, as the OPEC continues to refuse to cut its production.

Gal Luft, co-director of the Washington-based Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, shares the view that the agreement on the output cut is very unlikely.

Talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran are meaningless. Part of the Saudi strategy is to bring the Iranians to their knees by denying them revenues. Iran is and will continue to be Saudi Arabia's prime enemy, he wrote in an e-mail to AzerNews.

Asked about the possibility of any price rise following the OPEC meeting, yet no consensus have been reached among the OPEC and non-OPEC members, Luft said the OPEC meeting is unlikely to bring production cuts.

The Saudi strategy is working. The American producers are all in the red, rig count has dropped two thirds since 2014 and many producers are at the brink of bankruptcy. Meanwhile OPEC is increasing its market share which means that its influence over the market, he said.

Luft believes for oil prices to stabilize there needs to be creative destruction in the north American oil industry.

The Saudis will try to keep prices low enough for long enough for the industry to collapse. They still have enough money in their pockets to coast through two or three more years of low prices.

The American oil industry is becoming victim of its own success. The companies are highly leveraged and many are unable to recycle their debts. Those with relatively good balance sheets will probably survive but many others will collapse in 2016. Only then, as inventories dwindle and production slows down we will see upswing in prices - and a rather violent one, he said.

OPEC increased its total oil production by 131,000 barrels per day (bpd) in January even though oversupply has been a major reason for falling oil prices, according to data issued by the cartel.

Chow, for his part, reminded that the OPEC talks on a coordinated production cut were more successful in the past when the market is beginning to turn to a better balance, not when such a large gap exists between supply and demand.

Non-OPEC supply is declining very slowly and demand growth is weak in spite of low prices. Most observers expect supply and demand to come to better balance by the end of 2016. In the meantime, inventories continue to grow, he said.

He believes oil prices may be stabilizing around $30 in the short term, as price rise from current levels will require time for supply to decline and demand growth to recover.

The global oil market has been hit since the mid-2014, losing about 70 percent of its value. Oil prices have crashed from above $100 a barrel in July 2014 to under $30. The OPEC has refused to budge on the flooded market, keeping in place a 30 million barrel a day production ceiling.

OPEC will maintain its market share of around 40 percent, increasing output by 7 million barrels per day (bpd) to 44 million bpd by 2035, according to the recently published BP Energy Outlook.

OPEC is assumed to respond to the stronger growth in tight oil by increasing its own production in order to maintain its market share, BP said in a report.
/By Azernews/

By Amina Nazarli

Foreign companies have voiced their willingness in investing in the production of medical equipment in Azerbaijan.

This statement was made by General Director of Turkish-American Medical Centre clinic and Board Member of the Confederation of Entrepreneurs of Azerbaijan Ramiz Aliyev.

The companies have taken interest in manufacturing medical equipment in the country at different business forums held by the Azerbaijani Fund Export and Investment Promotion AZPROMO and the Economy Ministry, he added.

We met with representatives from Saudi Arabia, Poland and India," Aliyev said. "We have been in the World Hearing Center in Poland, which is desiring to cooperate with us, Aliyev said.

Medical equipment market opens huge opportunities for investors, as the country imports the medical devices from the U.S., Germany, Japan, France, Russia, and Turkey. Reportedly, Russian and Turkish firms provide lower-cost equipment, which has resulted in an increasing popularity of these equipment and supplies in the local market.

Aliyev believes the cooperation with foreign clinics and companies can be made in different directions.

The cooperation can be implemented both in the purchase of equipment and the establishment of joint enterprises. It is also possible to exchange experiences between staff. Up to 2008, for instance, some of our doctors worked in Saudi Arabia. Arabs again want to invite Azerbaijani doctors and medical staff, he noted.

Today, Azerbaijan with a growing population, constituting more than 9.6 million people,

makes many efforts, spending millions of manats for the development of its healthcare sector.

Increasing number of new medical institutions and departments make it necessary to provide them with modern equipment, thats why the country is very fertile ground for global investors in the health sector.



Annual international exhibition held in Baku by Iteca Caspian, the organizer of many largest exhibitions in the Caspian region, also attracts many leading manufacturers of medical devices, equipment and medicines, as well as professionals working in the field of aesthetic medicine.

Recently, Russia and Iran have offered to produce medicines in Azerbaijan.

Iran, which made great progress in health care, has discussed the possibility of cooperation in production of medicines by establishing an enterprise in Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijans medicine market by 97 percent depends on imported products, and some 57 percent of them come from Europe, 26 percent from the CIS countries, and 12 percent from Russia. The small proportion is produced in Asian countries.
Azerbaijani Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmar Mammadyarov has expressed his country`s keenness to expand relations with Latin American countries as he met with incoming Colombian Ambassador Marta Ines Galindo Pena. He stressed the importance of the Embassy`s role in this regard.

The Ambassador said she would spare no efforts to contribute to the expansion of relations between the two countries in a variety of areas, including political, economic and humanitarian ones.

They also noted the importance of holding political consultations between the two countries and continuing Spanish language courses organized by Colombia in Baku.

/By Azertac/
The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Baku celebrated the 37th anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution.

Iranian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mohsun Pakayin highlighting the development of Iran's revolution over the past 37 years noted that great progress has been achieved over the years in various fields. He said that the constructive cooperation between Iran and Azerbaijan is of strategic importance.

Expanding the existed relations between the two countries is one of the main objectives, he added. Recent high-level reciprocal visits, including meetings between the two countries, have given strong impetus to the further development of relations between the two countries.

Minister of Energy Natig Aliyev congratulated the people of Iran on behalf of Government of Azerbaijan.

Touching upon the strengthening of Azerbaijani-Iranian relations, the Minister said that friendly relations between the two countries are deeply rooted in ancient history. He emphasized the importance of reciprocal visits in expansion of economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation.

The event brought together officials, MPs, ambassadors of foreign countries to Azerbaijan and public figures.

/By Azertac/
The Governor of the U.S. State of Nebraska Pete Ricketts signed a proclamation condemning the Khojaly Massacre, which was committed by Armenias armed forces against the Azerbaijani civilians in 1992. With the document, Governor Ricketts proclaims February 26, 2016 as the Khojaly Remembrance Day in the State of Nebraska and urges all citizens to take due note of the observance.

The proclamation, which has been received by the Consulate General of Azerbaijan in Los Angeles, says: On February 25-26, 1992, the population of the town of Khojaly in Azerbaijan was subjected to a massacre, resulting in the death of over 600 innocent civilians, including many children, women, and elderly.

The renowned international human rights organization, Human Rights Watch, called this tragedy the largest massacre in the region, the document continues. This event in Khojaly is a sobering reminder of the terrible damage that can be inflicted in wartime and the enduring need for greater understanding, communication, and tolerance among people over the world, the proclamation states.

The proclamation was also signed by John A. Gale, Nebraskas Secretary of the State.

This is the first official document on the Khojaly Massacre adopted in Nebraska. Nebraska has become the 18th state in the United States to condemn the Khojaly Massacre, as well as to recognize and honor its innocent victims.

/By Azertac/
The first meeting of the Azerbaijan-UK intergovernmental commission for economic cooperation and a meeting of the working group on oil and gas kick off in London Feb. 11, the Azerbaijani ministry of economy said Feb. 11.

Azerbaijans delegation for the meeting is comprised of officials and businessmen. It is headed by Shahin Mustafayev, Azerbaijani economy minister, who co-chairs the intergovernmental commission.

Francis Maude, minister of state for trade and investment, is the co-chair of the commission from the UKs side.

The meetings of the working groups on trade and investments, finance and specialized services operating as part of the intergovernmental commission and a forum dedicated to the education have been recently held.

Economic ties between the UK and Azerbaijan and prospects for their expansion were discussed during the meeting.

Trade turnover between Azerbaijan and the UK stood at $564 million in 2015, according to the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee.

Some $553.33 million of this figure accounted for import of UK products.

/By Trend/
The EU has recently re-vamped its Eastern Partnership policy, taking into account the individual features of partner-countries, Dirk Schuebel, Head of Division for bilateral relations with the Eastern Partnership countries of the European External Action Service, said, EuroActive reported Feb. 11.

Schuebel was speaking at a conference organised by the EPC, the European Policy Centre.

EU still tries to find a magic formula on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Schuebel said.

Schuebel spoke in reply to comments by Svante Cornell, Director of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Programme of the John Hopkins University, who criticised the Commissions and the Wests dealings with Azerbaijan and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Cornell argued that since the development of the Azerbaijani nation in the late 19th century, Azerbaijan had constantly made the choice of being part of what could be called the modern world.

Importantly, this is a vision shared by the countrys leaders, and by the overwhelming majority of the countrys society, he said.

Today, Azerbaijan was a fundamentally modern, secular country that is oriented towards the West, though it was unsure at what speed it wants to adopt all principles of the Western states, and was increasingly suspicious of Western double standards, he said.

Cornell pointed out that modern Azerbaijan was born after 1991, out of the trauma of the Armenian occupation of 20 percent of the countrys territory and the ethnic cleansing.

Cornell said that the country recovered from this defeat and began to build a functioning state.

Another factor in Cornells words was the Wests decision to put Nagorno-Karabakh on the backburner and seek instead a normalisation of Turkey-Armenia relations.

That inevitably undermined the prospects for a solution of this conflict, because if the main cost incurred by Armenia for its occupation of Azerbaijan territory, which is the closure of the border with Turkey, if that was lifted, what would be the Armenian interest in resolving the conflict, Cornell said.

After the events in Georgia in 2008, the West practically reneged on its role in maintenance of sovereignty, security and conflict resolution, which are the most important issues for the government of Azerbaijan, Cornell said.

He further argued that Western rhetoric vis-a-vis Azerbaijan came to be entirely dominated by the issues of human rights and democracy.

But I notice that the Washington Post has published nine editorials on the human rights situation in Azerbaijan in the past two years, he said. I havent seen that about Saudi Arabia, about Vietnam, about Turkmenistan, about many other countries Azerbaijan looks pretty good in comparison to.

The more we focus only on human rights, the less we will achieve," he said.

Azerbaijan is important for the EU in the context of fight against anti-radicalisation and counter-terrorism, Schuebel said.

Schuebel acknowledged that the efforts to get closer were not just done on the EU side.

It was Azerbaijan who came forward with a proposal for a new Strategic Agreement, at the 2015 Riga summit, he said.

/By Trend/
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei has pardoned 1059 convicts on the occasion of the 37th anniversary of the Islamic Republic.

At the request of the head of Irans judiciary Sadiq Amoli Larijani, Khamenei agreed to declare an amnesty to pardon or reduce the sentences of 1059 convicts who were pronounced guilty in various Iranian courts including military, civil and revolutionary ones, ILNA news agency reported.

According to the countrys Constitution the supreme leader has the right to pardon or reduce the sentences of convicts upon the recommendation of the judiciary chief.

On Feb. 11, the Islamic Republic celebrates the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution of 1979 when the revolution leader Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran after almost 15 years of exile and took the control of the country after toppling the Pahlavi monarchy.

Each year on Feb. 11, a large number of Iranians take to streets carrying banners and images of the late founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, as well as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, to re-affirm their allegiance to the Islamic Revolution.

/By Trend/
Turkey hasnt appealed to any country with a request to mediate in the settlement of relations between Ankara and Moscow, a source in Turkish Cabinet of Ministers told Trend Feb. 11.

Diplomatic relations between Russia and Turkey soured after a Russian Su-24 was shot down by the Turkish Air Forces Nov. 24, 2015. Turkey said the warplane violated its airspace, while Russia dismissed the claims.

Following the incident, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on measures to ensure national security and economic measures against Turkey.

According to the source, the reports saying that the Turkish prime minister allegedly went on a tour for the heads of some countries to act as mediators for normalizing relations between Ankara and Moscow are untrue.

Earlier, some media outlets reported that Prime Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu was allegedly visiting a number of countries to find an intermediary for normalization of relations between Ankara and Moscow.

Turkey hasnt closed diplomatic channels for a dialogue with Russia, the source explained.

/By Trend/
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammadov discussed the implementation of joint projects with Afghanistan on energy and transport spheres with the countrys Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to Turkmenistan Mohammad Fazil Saifi.

In particular, the sides discussed the TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) gas pipeline project, Turkmen government said Feb. 11.

Implemented at the initiative of the Turkmen side large-scale projects in the energy and transport sectors of regional significance became an important step towards strengthening the foundations of civilian life in Afghanistan, said the government.

First of all, the construction of Asias largest TAPI gas pipeline and laying of the railway Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan (TAT), which are intended to be a symbol of mutually beneficial cooperation, were emphasized.

Berdimuhammadov noted that a special attention is given to the multifaceted Afghan-Turkmen cooperation, and emphasized that Turkmenistan will always support the inter-Afghan conflicts peaceful settlement.

Turkmenistan supplies electricity to Afghanistan on preferential terms, regularly sends humanitarian aid to the country, and builds social objects.

/By Trend/
Please note that the poems and essays on this site are copyright and may not be reproduced without the author's permission.






The UAE and India now have a solid platform from which to elevate their relationship to the next level, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, UAE's Foreign Minister, has said in an article.



The comments, in the Hindustan Times, were made on the occasion of the official visit to India by His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.



"The Indian Constitution set out to encapsulate the hopes, aspirations and ideals of the people following independence in 1947. It focuses on the principles of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity. The UAE, in its Constitution of 1971 and through the words and deeds of our founding father, the late Sheikh Zayed, was also founded on progressive principles, placing peace, prosperity, stability, tolerance and unity at the heart of our relations with other nations and cultures," he was quoted saying in the article by a Wam report.



When Sheikh Mohamed meets Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the two partners will reflect on shared values while considering the rich past and vast potential of this deep strategic relationship, he said in the article.



Mumbai once served as the UAEs primary gateway to India, a three-day boat trip across the Arabian Sea and a springboard for learning, medical treatment and opportunity to the East. In many ways, it was the UAEs window to the world. This stretch of water was the focus of our partnership, driving trade of textiles, food and gems, not to mention cultural and linguistic exchanges. Pearling, a key driver of our economy before the discovery of oil, was dependent on Indias access to international markets.



Today, the UAE has emerged as hub connecting the Indian Ocean region to other parts of the world thanks to the governments commitment to creating a leading business, industrial and transportation hub, driving regional connectivity and opportunity, he said.



While some of those traditional goods still make up part of our powerful trade relationship, the fact that it is today worth in excess of $59 billion per year demonstrates that the UAE-India economic ties continues to grow in step with the development of our two nations, Sheikh Abdullah said.



Supported by a range of dynamic economic initiatives driven by the Modi government, which have paved the way for the countrys future growth, Emirati investment in India is now valued at almost $10 billion. This visit is expected to help further increase in investment and overall trade figures once again. "Our mutual ambitions for our bilateral partnership are truly strategic," he said.



"And although India is already the UAEs largest trading partner, and we are Indias third-largest, we have an ambitious five-year, 60 percent bilateral trade growth target, which demonstrates the mutual confidence each country places on the others future and our shared commitment to elevate our partnership to new heights," he said.



This growth will be driven by areas as energy, aerospace, technology and infrastructure, he said.



Meanwhile, Sheikh Mohamed was welcomed at ceremony today at the Presidential Palace in New Delhi by India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior officials.



He also visited the memorial site of Mahatma Gandhi, who lead India's peaceful struggle for independence and planted a tree at the site and watered a tree that the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan had planted on a visit to India.



Sheikh Mohammed wrote in the guestbook: "The world is in much need today of the principles and values that Gandhi lived by. These values are based on justice, peace, equality and renunciation of violence. It is such values and principles that brought about the unity and development of the Indian nation, and they are the same values that we in the United Arab Emirates live by. They were sowed in our hearts and minds by a great man whose name is Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding father of the UAE."
Cathay Pacific Airways, the flag carrier of Hong Kong, is offering Emirates NBD cardholders a discount on Business, Premium Economy and Economy Class tickets to selected destinations.

Emirates NBD cardholders can get a discount of 10 per cent Business and Economy Class tickets when flying to Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Taipei, Tokyo, Seoul, Los Angeles and Vancouver.

The discount is also available on Premium Economy Class when traveling to Los Angeles and Vancouver.

The offer is valid on bookings made before March 15 for travel until June 30.  TradeArabia News Service
Middle East Specialised Cables (MESC) is making its debut at the Gulf Industry Fair being held in Bahrain where it is showcasing cable solutions that have been designed and manufactured to international standards.



The UAE-based company is looking to reinforce its position in the Bahrain market, where it has acquired a significant market share through its agent Al Moosawi Trading and other major distributors and authorised resellers including Kavalani and Sons, Power On Trading, Bilal Tower Trading and Teams Bahrain.



MESCs area sales manager K V Ramaseshan comments: MESC is well known in the oil and gas sector but it has now diversified and forayed into the power and construction businesses since it has a large capacity to produce the required cables and a wider approval.



At the fair, MESC is spotlighting its newly launched Pyro SI fire-resistant cables for fire alarm systems.



MESCs cables are being used in some major projects in its local market, including the Sustainable City in Dubai. For the project, the company is supplying its armoured flexible and single core cables and Cat 6 data cables worth more than Dh3 million ($816,782).



Another current project in Dubai is Mohammad bin Rashid City, where cables measuring a total of 200 km have been supplied by MESC including special flexible and low-smoke halogen-free cables to the tune of Dh2.5 million ($680,652).



In Abu Dhabi, its special rubber flexible cable, CU/EPR/SW4 is being installed on the Neighbourhood One Residences project in Masdar City. These cables have an operating temperature of 150 deg C.



In January, MESC launched a state-of-the-art fire performance laboratory at its UAE factory. The facility allows MESC to conduct rigorous and comprehensive validation of a cables resistance to fire and propagation in accordance with various international standards.



Commenting on Bahrains market, Ramaseshan says it is one of the brightest in the GCC despite its small size, and adds that MESC has the potential to meet 20 per cent of Bahrains cabling needs.

The Gulf Industry Fair, being held at the Bahrain International Exhibition and Conventions Centre, is organised by Hilal Conferences and Exhibitions (HCE).

 TradeArabia News Service
The current phase in the UAE real estate market is a slowdown and a relatively minor correction, rather than a major crash - with reduced supply coming through at a time of weak demand, allowing underlying dynamics to catch up with the pace of value growth, said a leading Middle East property expert.



"While the impact of reduced oil prices on the economy will lead to a short-term slowdown in demand, this is occurring at a time of minimal supply completions leading to relatively stable market conditions," remarked David Dudley, the international director at JLL Middle East and North Africa (Mena).



"The market experienced a major upswing from 2013 to 2014, led by the residential sales market, with prime residential prices growing at 25 per cent per annum. This pace of growth was unsustainable," stated Dudley, speaking ahead of his participation in the Abu Dhabi Market Overview, which runs on the opening day of Cityscape Abu Dhabi (April 12).



The UAE capitals largest and most influential property investment and development event, Cityscape Abu Dhabi will mark its 10th anniversary this year and will run untill April 14.



Dudley pointed out that the current shift was a sign of the real estate market maturing and that opportunities still existed for real estate development and investment focusing on end-user demand.



The UAE capitals largest property showcase gathers local, regional and international exhibitors and high profile speakers, amid a shift in the global real estate market.



"While liquidity has tightened, funding is still available for project finance and corporate level lending - it is just more selective. The good news is that demand growth continues from projects that started when oil prices were strong," remarked Dudley.



"Developments such as the airport expansion or the growth of Etihad airline have an economic multiplier effect, ensuring continued GDP growth, albeit at a reduced pace," he noted.



The upcoming event is expected to draw interest from investors, developers, government authorities and key decision makers overseeing both public and private real estate developments.



Wouter Molman, the director of Cityscape Group at Informa Exhibitions, the event organisers, said: "The current market dynamics will prompt exhibitors and industry leaders to debate alternative approaches to their investment strategies."



Market demand may be softening, but the economy is still predicted to grow, so we are confident that the industry leaders will see the event as an opportunity to develop new tactics and discuss alternative investment models, he added.



In addition to the capitals key developers and financial institutions, Cityscape Abu Dhabi will see new participants such as Yas International Development, SAPST (Morocco), Garanti Koza (Turkey) as well as returning organisations including Aldar, Eagle Hills, Tourism Development & Investment Company, Bloom Properties, Masdar, Manazel, Eshraq, Wahat al Zaweya and Mubadala on the show floor.-TradeArabia News Service
The US is pressing allies to contribute more to a US-led military campaign against Islamic State that it says must be accelerated, regardless of the fate of diplomatic efforts to end Syria's civil war.



US Defence Secretary Ash Carter is due to start talks on Thursday afternoon in Brussels with more than two dozen defence ministers, including from key ally Saudi Arabia, which has held out the possibility of sending special forces into Syria.



Carter's push came a day after France delivered a rebuke to President Barack Obama, demanding that Washington display a clearer commitment to resolving the crisis in Syria where Russia is tipping the military balance in favour of President Bashar Assad.



The talks take place as US Secretary of State John Kerry leads a diplomatic push in Munich to rescue imperiled peace efforts, which are taking place despite Russian bombing raids to bolster Syrian forces around the city of Aleppo.



Carter, speaking to reporters ahead of his talks, sought to draw a line between military and diplomatic efforts.



"Our focus here is going to be on counter-ISIL and that campaign will go on because ISIL must be defeated, will be defeated, whatever happens with the Syrian civil war," Carter told reporters, using an acronym for Islamic State.



"But it certainly would help to de-fuel extremism if the Syrian civil war came to an end."



The US hopes the face-to-face gathering of coalition defence ministers will allow it to secure more support for a military campaign that aims to recapture the Islamic State strongholds of Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq.



WARPLANES, TRAINING



Carter plans to offer a long list of required military capabilities -- which, beyond air power, include training Iraqi forces and help with intelligence and surveillance. Carter said countries that cannot contribute militarily can help in other ways, like by choking Islamic State financing.



"This is a terrific opportunity to have the acceleration that the United States and President Obama has committed to reinforced by all of the military members of the coalition," Carter said.



Still, Carter and US defense officials have sought to manage expectations about the talks, since many ministers will not be able to make new commitments without first winning support from their parliaments. The timeline for the campaign to retake Raqqa and Mosul is also unclear.



The head of the US Defense Intelligence Agency cautioned this week that Iraqi forces were unlikely to recapture Mosul this year, despite hopes by Baghdad. - Reuters



Carter only said securing Raqqa and Mosul needed to happen "as soon as possible". He also acknowledged the need to grapple with Islamic State's spread beyond Syria and Iraq. -



Nato announced on Thursday it will seek to help slow refugee flows through the Aegean Sea with a maritime mission to target criminal people smuggling networks. - Reuters
Turkey will be patient up to a point over the crisis in Syria and will then be forced to take action, President Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech to a business forum on Thursday.



Erdogan also said Iran-backed forces in Syria were carrying out "merciless massacres" and that the United Nations needed to do more to prevent "ethnic cleansing" in the country.



His speech in Ankara was broadcast live on television.

The warning from Erdogan came on a day when the Guardian newspaper reported that in the five years of civil war, 400,000 Syrians have been killed and another 70,000 have perished due to a lack of basics such as clean water and healthcare.



With those injured in the confict, that amounts to more 11 per cent of the population, it said, citing the Syrian Centre for Policy Research.



About 400,000 of the deaths were directly due to violence, while 70,000 died because they didn't have proper healthcare, medicine, clean water or housing, stated the Guardian report.



It said 1.9 million people had been wounded. Life expectancy has dropped from 70 in 2010 to 55.4 in 2015. Overall economic losses are estimated at $255 billion, it added.-Reuters
Some Opec countries are trying to achieve a consensus among the group and key non-members for an oil production "freeze", sources familiar with the discussions say, in an attempt to tackle the global glut without cutting supply.



Top exporter Saudi Arabia might be warming to the idea, though it was too early to say whether the kingdom would give its blessing because any deal depends mainly on a commitment by Iran to restrict its plan to boost exports, the sources said.



The proposal of a production "freeze" at current levels was floated by Venezuelan Oil Minister Eulogio Del Pino during his tour of producing countries this month which included Russia, Iran, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, they said.



"The Venezuelan oil minister wants to organise a meeting before Opec's June meeting if there is consensus on either a production cut or at least a production 'freeze'," one source familiar with the matter said.



"There is an ongoing discussion to meet soon for a freeze deal. That's what's happening now," the source said, adding that at least Russia and Qatar had given their initial agreement if there were a consensus among other producers.



Oil prices began a slide from above $100 a barrel in mid-2014, but the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has declined to trim output without help from non-members, which so far have refused to participate.



A production freeze could amount to a compromise in that it would limit further increases in the supply glut that sent prices to a 12-year low of $27.10 a barrel last month, while not requiring countries to cut supply and give up market share.



Venezuela's proposal was also discussed in Riyadh during a meeting with Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi and Del Pino on Sunday, a second source said.



While the idea was met with openness by Saudi Arabia, talks are still at an early stage and Riyadh will not commit unless Tehran agrees to restrict supplies, the source said. - Reuters



That appears to be a major stumbling block in the path of any agreement. A source familiar with Iranian thinking, asked whether a production freeze would gain much support in OPEC, replied that it would not.



Iran is reluctant to restrain supply as it wants to recover the market share it lost during sanctions that were imposed in 2012 because of its nuclear programme. The sanctions were lifted in January.



TEMPORARY SOLUTION?



With prices sinking further, senior officials from OPEC and Russia have stepped up vague talk of possible joint action to fix the supply glut.



Output of shale oil has slowed since OPEC's historic policy shift of November 2014 not to cut supply in the hope that low prices would curb competing production. But OPEC's own output has surged, led by Saudi Arabia and Iraq.



Supply from OPEC is likely to climb further as Iran has moved to restore relations with buyers, ordered a 500,000-barrels-per-day (bpd) rise in output and struck deals with European and Asian customers.



An OPEC source said freezing production might be a temporary compromise accepted by most producers that are already pumping at near capacity, which would support prices, but Iran remained the key to any deal.



"Everybody is already producing to their maximum capacity now, except for Iran," the source said.



"If the Iranians are willing to stick to, let's say, the rise of 300,000 bpd they said they have already committed to Europe and if U.S. shale production has slowed, then yes, a production freeze would be a positive sign to the market."



"It would help prices to recover," the source added. "But this is a temporary solution and needs the will to make it work."



On Wednesday last week, Iranian news agency Shana quoted Del Pino as saying six producing countries, including Iran and Iraq and non-members Russia and Oman, supported a meeting to agree steps to bolster prices.



Riyadh has said it was willing to cooperate on action to stabilise the market as long as all Opec members and key non-Opec producers joined in. Rising production by Iraq and Iran's statements about boosting output were, sources say, the main obstacles within Opec to a deal.



Another Opec source said an accord would be hard to reach. "I doubt that there is an easy agreement because it would be so sensitive for some countries," adding that Opec and non-Opec would need to agree. - Reuters
Jannah Hotels and Resorts is strengthening its foothold in the UAE with plans to begin construction work on a new five-star hotel in Dubais premium Creek area.



The UAE-based hotel developer and operator will break ground on its seventh hotel, Jannah Creek Dubai, and is scheduled to open in 2018.



Boasting 152-rooms, the new hotel is set to make the reception check-in queue a thing of the past.

Instead, travellers will be greeted by one of Jannah's renowned Karim - the guest's very own personal genie - who will carry out the check-in on a tablet device as he shows them to their room.



After enjoying their welcome drink, guests will be invited to use an ingenious QR code that once scanned, will take them to a video that will introduce the features and amenities of the room and the hotel.



Nehme Imad Darwiche, chief executive officer of Jannah Hotels and Resorts, said: As well as delivering a truly five-star product, Jannah Hotels and Resorts believes in embracing technology to provide an ultra-modern service that offers our guests more time to sit back, relax and enjoy their stay.



We wanted our guests experience to be as smooth and hassle-free as possible, right from the moment they arrive. What better way to eliminate the wait to check-in at reception than removing reception altogether?



Our Karim check-in service gives a personalised touch that is synonymous with Jannahs ethos towards an exclusive customer experience.



The Karim service, a unique feature of the Jannah brand, is available 24 hours a day to provide personalised attention to each guest without intrusion.



Jannah Creek Dubai is a partnership between Jannah Hotels and Resorts and the Abu Dhabi-based Al Rubayeh Group.  TradeArabia News Service


Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, has appointed Craig Thomas as general manager for the US.



Thomas, the first general manager for the US in the airlines history, will be based in New York where he will be responsible for all commercial activity for Etihad Airways, as well as further growing the airlines relationships with trade and corporate partners. Thomas will report to Martin Drew, senior vice president of The Americas for Etihad Airways.



Drew said: With the arrival of Etihad Airways Flying Reimagined A380 service, the opening of our new First and Business Class Lounge at New Yorks John F. Kennedy Airport, and strong demand for our services, 2015 has been a phenomenal year for our US operations. Craigs extensive experience with Etihad Airways has given him extensive global knowledge of commercial management and he will play a critical role in ensuring the continued growth and success of our world-class offerings in the United States.



Thomas most recently served as Etihad Airways general manager for Canada, based in Toronto. Previously, he served as regional general manager - Asia Pacific North and the Indian Subcontinent, and was based in Bangkok. He joined Etihad Airways in 2005 as the sales and marketing manager - Southern Africa and later served as the airlines General Manager  Thailand and State Manager of Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. Prior to joining Etihad Airways, Thomas held various management roles in airport operations at Virgin Atlantic and served as corporate travel manager at De Beers.



Thomas new position will help the airline continue to grow its commercial partnerships and deliver the highest standards of service excellence to its guests as the company continues to deepen its footprint in the US.



I am excited to take on this new role and continue my service with Etihad Airways in one of the airlines most dynamic and successful markets, said Thomas. I look forward to working with the team to find new and innovative ways of expanding and strengthening our strategic corporate and trade partnerships, strengthening our commercial ties and providing the world-class service, comfort, and hospitality that our airline has become known for and our valued guests have come to rely upon.  TradeArabia news Service
At INFODAD, we rank everything we review with plus signs, on a scale from one (+) [disappointing] to four (++++) [definitely worth considering]. We mostly review (+++) or better items. Very rarely, we give an exceptional item a fifth plus. We are independent reviewers and, as parents, want to help families learn which books, music, and computer-related items we and our children love...or hate. INFODAD is a service of TransCentury Communications, Inc., Fort Myers, Florida, infodad@gmail.com.
Friday's Highlights

Fun stuff happening Friday.

Friday support meetings

Alcoholics Anonymous: 6:30 a.m., 917 N. Beech; 10 a.m., 328 E. A St.; noon, 500 S. Wolcott, Ste. 200; 5:30 p.m., 456 S. Walnut; 7 p.m.,500 S. Wolcott, Ste. 200; 7 p.m., Glenrock, 615 W. Deer (downstairs); 7:30 p.m., Douglas, 628 E. Richards; 8 p.m., 917 N. Beech, closed; 8 p.m., 328 1/2 E. A St. (upstairs), closed. Unless otherwise noted, Casper info: 266-9578; Douglas info: 307-351-1688.

Narcotics Anonymous: Noon, 500 S. Wolcott, 12-24 Club; 6 p.m., 500 S. Wolcott, 12-24 Club; 8:30 p.m., 302 E. 2nd St., Methodist Church. Web site: www.urmrna.org.

Al-Anon Family: Noon, 500 S. Wolcott, Ste. 200, 12-24 Club. All ages welcome. Info: 377-7260 or 258-1444.

Super Fun Days at rec center

Super Fun Days at the Casper Recreation Center will be held from 7:20 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Friday and Monday. What a great way for kids to enjoy their days off from school! The Casper Recreation Center has some great activities planned for elementary school-age children (ages 5 to 12). Children are fully supervised at all times and leaders are available.

The program features a variety of activities including sports, arts and crafts, games and ice skating. The registration fee per Super Fun Day is $16 for Rec Center members ($18 nonmembers). Children will need to bring a sack lunch and a morning snack.

Preregistration for Super Fun Days is highly recommended as space is limited. Registration may be completed in person at the Casper Recreation Center, 1801 E. Fourth St., by phone at 235-8383 or online at www.activecasper.com.

Swim when school's out

Want to do something fun, that will keep you entertained while school is out? Come and swim at the Casper Family Aquatic Center from 1 to 5 p.m. Friday and Monday. Children 7 and under must be accompanied by an adult in the water. All regular facility rates and rules apply.

Dont spend your days off from school just sitting around. Get out of the house, get active and come have fun! For more information on this event or other recreation programs, please call the Casper Recreation Center at 235-8383 or check the website at www.casperwy.gov. Online registration for recreation and aquatic programs is available at www.activecasper.com.

Skate all day

From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday and Monday, the Casper Ice Arena will be hosting a Presidents Skate All Day. Come out to the Casper Ice Arena and salute your ice skating skills.

Admission for Skate All Day is $6 and skate rental is free. Participants can come and go throughout the session. Skating tutors are available for $3 each. Children 4 years old and under are free with a paid admission. The Casper Ice Arena  the coolest place in town!

Earth Angels gather

If you would like to bless our community through your sewing, snipping, stuffing, pressing, knitting and/or crocheting, join Earth Angels! Earth Angels meets once a month. It is a gathering of women who will meet from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday at 3420 S. Poplar St. to make bibs, lap covers, preemie baby gowns, caps for cancer patients, dolls, bears, quilts for preemie babies, heart pillows and any other items that will be of help to bless those who are hurting. Take a small luncheon salad to share at each monthly meeting (drinks are provided) as well as your scissors and your sewing machine if you own one. Please call Dolores at 237-2992 for additional information.

Free tax help offered

The Wyoming Free Tax Service (VITA) runs through April 13. Our hours will be Tuesday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. We will be closed on Sunday and Monday as well as Easter Weekend, March 25-26. Our location is the Aspen Creek Building, 800 Werner Court, Suite 180. This service is offered on a first-come, first-served basis so no appointments will be scheduled. Please bring your social security card, photo identification and appropriate paperwork, or we will not be able to assist you in your tax return.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call 307-315-1830 during our hours of operation or visit www.wyomingfreetaxservice.org.

Celebrate Recovery every Friday

Looking for a nontraditional approach to recovery from your hurts, habits and hangups? Celebrate Recovery meets at 5:30 p.m. Fridays at Highland Park Community Church, just south of Elkhorn Valley Rehabilitation Hospital on East Second Street. Join us in a welcoming, positive environment where you can come as you are! We start with a family meal, followed by praise and worship. At 7 p.m., there's either a lesson from Celebrate Recovery's planned curriculum or a testimony by a person who has found recovery through Christ. Then, people go to gender-specific small groups until 8:30 p.m., when dessert and fellowship conclude the evening. Child care is available at no cost. For more information, contact Chris at 265-4073.

Reception for photo exhibit

The Casper Photography Association is participating in an exhibit of photography at the Nicolaysen Art Museum through April 10. Members are sharing with the public some of their best photographs. They range from scenic to abstract to portraits and more. The reception is from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday. It is free and open to public, bring a friend!

This year's participants are Lyn Clark, Sam Sherman, Harry Buhler, Peter Ashbaugh, Marlene Sandri Ashbaugh, Nancy Patrick, Lolena Shambaugh, Dennis Shambaugh, Frank Neville, Rob Corbin, Jess Burgardt, Rose Fry, Sue Regennas, Neil Current and Bruce Nichols.

Mix coach gives presentation

Award-winning audio engineer Kevin Ward, known as the MixCoach, will present a free presentation for musicians, engineers, producers, composers and music enthusiasts at 7 p.m. at Wheeler Concert Hall in the Music Building at Casper College.

Sponsored by the Casper College Audio Program, Ward has garnered four Dove Awards since 2007. He is the author of Pro Tools 9: The Mixers Toolkit and has been working in the music industry since 1991. This is very exciting to have someone of Kevins talent in the recording industry come to Casper College. The focus will be on what it takes for musicians to record and engineers to mix, said Larry Burger, Casper College sound design instructor.

We have an amazing studio and recording facilities at Casper College that are comparable to any in the Rocky Mountain region, noted Burger, adding, So many people are knob twisters. Hopefully Kevins presentation will help fill in the blanks so that anyone can use their equipment to its full extent.

See 'The Odd Couple'

Casper Theater company is presenting "The Odd Couple." This classic comedy opens as a group of guys assembled for cards in the apartment of divorced Oscar Madison. And if the mess is any indication, it's no wonder that his wife left him. Late to arrive is Felix Unger who has just been separated from his wife. Fastidious, depressed and none too tense, Felix seems suicidal, but as the action unfolds Oscar becomes the one with murder on his mind when the clean-freak and the slob ultimately decide to room together with hilarious results as "The Odd Couple" is born.

Performance dates are this Friday and Saturday and Feb. 18 to 20 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 14 and 21, at 2 p.m. Casper Theater Company is at 735 CY Ave. Tickets can be purchased at Greater Wyoming FCU, Charlie T's Pizzeria and Casper Senior Center, adults are $13, seniors $10. For more information, please call 267-7243.

Daffodil deadline

Orders are currently being taken for daffodils, the American Cancer Societys flower of hope. Pre-order deadline Friday, and delivery will be made the week of March 8.

Relay For Life teams are taking orders this year. If you know someone on a team, or are on a team yourself, make sure to order some daffodils to help teams meet their goals, while raising funds to fight cancer. All proceeds above cost of flowers go to the American Cancer Societys ongoing fight against cancer. Orders may also be phoned in to the American Cancer Societys local office, phone 235-0044.

For over a quarter of a century Casper has been bringing the cheerful yellow bouquets to the community, a harbinger of spring to brighten the lives of folks in nursing homes, hospitals and cancer patients, as well as businesses and homes. The flowers arrive as 10 buds in a bouquet for a donation of $10. Delivery will be made for orders of five bunches for $40, or 10 bunches for $70. After arriving they are bloomed out as a fresh bouquet.

For information about cancer programs, please call the local office at 235-0044, the 24-hour answering service at 1-800-ACS-2345, or check online at www.cancer.org.
A legal assistant at the Natrona County District Attorneys office is facing a misdemeanor theft charge for allegedly stealing money from a co-worker, court documents show.

A special prosecutor from Sheridan County filed the charging document against Melanie Dunn last week in Natrona County Circuit Court. The document accuses Dunn of taking money out of a co-workers purse over a several month period.

The Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation began looking into the stolen money in October after Nancy Johnson, director of the Victim Witness Unit at the District Attorneys office, reported that small amounts of money were being taken from her purse while she was at work.

Natrona County District Attorney Mike Blonigen said Wednesday Dunn is no longer employed by his office.

Christopher LaRosa, an assistant district attorney in Sheridan County, was called in to prosecute the thefts.

Court records show Denver attorney Peter J. Young is representing Dunn.

According to the court documents, after her first meeting with a DCI agent, Johnson left a bank envelope in her purse containing fake money and a note saying, I got ya I know who you are and what youre doing. However, the envelope was taken and the thefts continued.

The DCI agent placed a motion-activated camera in Johnsons office, the documents state. He also photographed the serial numbers on several $20 bills and gave them to Johnson to put in her purse. The agent later reviewed the surveillance footage after some of the money had been stolen from Johnson when she left her purse unattended in her office. The footage showed Dunn in Johnsons office.

The agent interviewed Dunn on Dec. 15. She told him she had taken the money and had been stealing from Johnson for several months, according to the documents.

Dunn is set to appear Feb. 26 in Natrona County Circuit Court for an arraignment hearing.
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.




PHOENIX  A House panel voted Wednesday to stop Arizona from doing business with firms that boycott Israel, and to direct pension funds and the state treasurer to sell their shares in those companies.

The unanimous vote by the House Committee on Federalism and States Rights came at the behest of House Speaker David Gowan, who is trying to get traction in his bid for Congress. It could gain him the support of an important constituency: Every one who testified in favor of HB 2617 is Jewish.

Gowan, who is running in a crowded GOP race in Congressional District 1, said the legislation is a counter to a growing movement by supporters of Palestinians to convince pension funds to divest from companies that do business with Israel. He said those companies include Boeing and Caterpillar, firms that both have a presence in Arizona.

He said that movement is anti Semitic. This bill is aimed at showing Arizonas supportive of Israel, its strongest ally in the Middle East, he said. Nobody should be doing things for bigotry.

Former Republican state Rep. Adam Kwasman said the legislation will help buffer other Arizona firms that may be facing challenges because of their business contacts with Israel. He specifically cited Raytheon, which Kwasman noted helped develop the Iron Dome anti-missile system for that country.

The economic benefit to both the state of Arizona and to Israel has been tremendous, he said.
A 40-year-old woman intentionally set fire Tuesday night to the midtown Tucson house she was living in, destroying it, police say.

Sabrina Phillips was arrested and is facing charges of arson of an occupied structure, criminal damage and aggravated assault, said Sgt. Kimberly Bay, a Tucson Police Department spokeswoman.

Phillips, who failed to follow officers' orders at the scene, was stunned with a Taser and taken to a hospital, Bay said Wednesday. Her injuries were described as not life-threatening.

After Phillips is released from the hospital, she will be booked into the Pima County jail, Bay said.

On Tuesday shortly before 7 p.m., multiple 911 calls were made reporting a house fire in the 3400 block of East 28th Street, which is south of Reid Park and west of South Alvernon Way.

When firefighters arrived on scene, the house was fully engulfed in flames, said Capt. Barrett Baker, a Tucson Fire Department spokesman.

Firefighters requested assistance from Tucson police because there were reports that the fire may have been intentionally set, said Bay.

When officers arrived within minutes, they noticed that two people were attempting to detain a woman north of the burning house on the property. Officers were told that the woman "possibly set the fire," said Bay.

The woman was holding small lighters in each hand, police said. Officers gave multiple orders to the woman, but she refused to listen and follow their commands, said Bay.

An officer stunned the woman with a Taser and she was detained. She was evaluated by paramedics and then taken to a hospital.

Meanwhile, firefighters were battling the blaze.

"There was so much fire that the initial crew could not get inside the house," Baker said. He said multiple hose lines were set up to battle the flames and keep the "suspicious" fire from spreading to a house west of the scene.

It took firefighters about 45 minutes to bring the fire under control. A search was made inside the house, and no one was hurt in the blaze, Baker said. He said a man and two teen boys who lived in the home were not injured. The family animals  a dog, four cats and two birds  were missing.

The house is considered a total loss, but a damage estimate was not released.

Tucson police arson detectives and Tucson fire investigators remained at the scene throughout Tuesday night. Investigators said it appears the fire was intentionally set and began inside the residence, said Bay.

The woman had been inside the house and when she went outdoors, she attempted to burn other items in the yard before two people intervened and tried to detain her before officers arrived, Bay said.
Volunteers for Humane Borders found six of their water stations vandalized during a routine check Tuesday in an area near Arivaca.

One of the stations, at Cemetery Hill, had been shot, and a dead coyote was placed near the water tank, volunteers said.

It was gory and premeditated, said Juanita Molina, executive director of Humane Borders and the Border Action Network. Somebody had to put some thought into the message they were sending there.

Vandalism typically consists of stolen spigots, water drained from the 65-gallon barrels or bent flags, which signal to people where the water stations are located, Molina said.

The reality is that weve become accustomed to a certain amount of vandalism happening every day, she said. But this time it was different.

Joel Smith, Humane Borders director of operations, has been visiting water stations since 2009 and said he has never seen this type of vandalism.

I was horrified. Dumping dead animal carcasses and using bullets isnt normal, said Smith, who found the dead coyote next to the barrel. This is beyond expressing opinions.

Humane Borders volunteers said they have seen an increase in militia activity in remote areas in Southern Arizona in recent months and reported the incident to the Pima County Sheriffs Department and the Border Patrol.

But the sheriffs department, who confirmed receiving the report, had no information about increased militia presence in the area. Border Patrol did not respond to requests for comment.

Because these stations are placed in remote areas, Molina said, there are few people nearby, making it difficult to know who was involved.

Humane Borders provides humanitarian aid, food and water to people attempting to illegally cross the border between Mexico and Southern Arizona on foot. They are also involved in educating immigrants about the hazards they might face crossing the desert. The group has 48 water stations scattered throughout Southern Arizona and in Nogales and Sasabe in Sonora, Mexico.

Water stations are targeted because some people arent happy about immigration across the U.S.-Mexico border, Molina said, while others are annoyed or feel unauthorized immigrants take resources from the community.
Tucsons city manager is looking for more budget cuts after too few took a buyout offer.

The buyout encouraged workers who were eligible to retire by Feb. 5 and get a bonus check for three months of pay.

When the city made the offer, there were 443 eligible employees, including 206 paid from the general fund. City Manager Michael Ortegas goal was to get 90 of the general-fund workers to retire.

In the end, 110 employees retired, and 52 were paid from the general fund.

The goal was to save $6.2 million. The actual savings will be about $4.5 million, Ortega said.

The buyouts, along with hiring freezes and attrition, are part of Ortegas plan to eliminate the citys structural deficit within a few years. The projected general fund deficit for this fiscal year is $12.7 million, mainly because pension costs are growing faster than revenues. The structural deficit would grow to $42.3 million next year if the city were to do nothing.

Ortega said he is pleased with the results of the buyout program because it shrinks the citys middle management.

Most of those who retired were higher-paid managers and supervisors. The average savings per employee who took the buyout is $86,500, he said, compared to the $69,540 average cost for all city employees, excluding commissioned officers, who were not eligible for the buyout.

The money for the bonus checks comes from what was already budgeted to pay the workers salaries through the end of the fiscal year had they not retired. The savings comes from eliminating those workers from future fiscal years budgets.

The next part of the process is to try to move jobs paid from the general fund into areas paid for by enterprise funds or special revenue funds, Ortega said.

Shifting 40 jobs that way would fill $2.8 million of the general fund gap, Ortega told the city council in a December meeting. He will update the council on that effort later this month.

But to meet his goals for reducing expenses, Ortega will have to look for more ways to cut. He has asked department heads to bring him plans. He said he wont give departments specific goals for cuts and he wont start with across-the-board cuts.

City programs and services could face cuts, he said.

If jobs are eliminated, there could be some retraining opportunities, he said.

The organization will look different in the near future, and it has to in order to achieve a structurally balanced budget, Ortega said.

Ortega is trying to set an example by restructuring his own office.

Assistant City Manager Ron Lewis and Deputy City Manager Martha Durkin retired and will not be replaced.

The remaining assistant city managers are Albert Elias and Joyce Garland, who was promoted to chief financial officer and assistant city manager from her previous position as budget director.

Assistant City Manager Julianne Hughes will move to the City Attorneys Office in April.

To save $700,000 or more the city manager also cut vacant positions from his staff:

One of seven economic development positions,

Two of four positions in government relations

And two executive assistant positions.
OPINION: "Pima Community College belongs to the entire Tucson community. The governing board is the communitys way to hold the college accountable and to steer the institution toward best serving the greatest number of people. Help secure the brightest future for our community college and join us in supporting Theresa Riel for the District 2 seat on the PCC Governing Board," writes Makyla Hays, president of the Pima Community College Education Association.
PHOENIX  The No. 3 Republican in the state House lashed out Wednesday at a plan to revamp the pension funds for police and firefighters, saying its a bad deal and should be scrapped.

Majority Whip David Livingston, R-Peoria, said theres no need to ask voters to alter the system that determines what benefits are available to current and retired public safety employees.

He acknowledged the fund is about $6.6 billion in the red. But Livingston, a retired financial adviser, said legislation approved several years ago will reduce that figure to zero in two decades.

Mesa Mayor John Giles conceded the point. But he said that will occur only assuming that we are still alive as a city.

Giles, speaking on behalf of the League of Arizona Cities and Towns, said the schedule to pay down the pension deficits is forcing cities to cut back on other programs. And he said the numbers are so great that some communities could be forced to declare bankruptcy.

That contention was disputed by Justin Harris. He is the president of the Arizona Police Association, the one labor group representing firefighters and police officers that is not in support of the package.

Harris said his organization has no real problem with provisions that will change contribution rates and benefit packages for newly hired employees. But he strongly objected to a plan that would cap cost of living increases for current officers and those already retired at 2 percent a year.

The current system allows benefit increases of 4 percent, though that is contingent on the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System meeting certain earnings expectations.

While the fund has not met that target for the past two years, retirees have enjoyed 4 percent increases for two decades before that. And Harris does not want to foreclose that option.

Despite the objections, the House Insurance Committee approved the plan on a 7-1 vote. That sends the package to the full House, where there are likely more than enough votes for it.

But even if Livingston and Harris cannot kill the legislation, they have another remedy.

They could persuade voters to reject the required constitutional amendment to make the change. And that defeat would change the dynamics of the package  and the savings to the system.

Central to the issue is the undisputed fact that the assets of the pension system cover less than half of its liabilities.

Sen. Debbie Lesko, R-Peoria, helped pull together various interests and came up with the two-tiered plan. She said the package, if approved, would put the pension fund on solid financial footing in 19 years.

Livingston, however, said that will happen within 22 years even without the change  and without cutting pension benefits.

The difference between what the Senate approved and what Livingston wants, however, goes to the question of whether cities will be able to save enough money to make those payments.

Rep. Karen Fann, R-Prescott, said the pension costs for her city have now risen to 75 percent of what they pay in salaries. And the cost is going up.

Livingston, however, was unmoved, saying how cities will meet their obligations is a different issue.

Fann said city officials tried to resolve the problem by asking voters to approve a half-cent hike in sales taxes. She said that was rejected.

They think were paying too much to the pension programs for our public safety, Fann said. But she said the message from voters was to find some other way to deal with the assessments being used to pay off Prescotts share of the debt.

The cities are trying here, Fann said. But theyre getting shot down.
About Me Michael Dickens A northerner by birth, a southerner in spirt, a midwesterner at heart ~ and alive and well and living on the cusp of Washington, D.C. in Mount Rainier, Maryland. View my complete profile

My Blog Archive eclectic
Help India!

By Mahtab Alam,

Today is the third martyrdom anniversary of Advocate Shahid Azmi. Shahid was shot dead by some unidentified gunmen in his office late in the evening of 11th February 2010. Later, those gunmen were identified as the men of patriotic underworld Don Chota Rajan. Shahid was just 32 when he was martyred. At the age of 16, he was arrested by police from his home in 1994 for conspiring to kill Indias top politicians. The only evidence against this was a confession he had never made. Yet, he was given five years of imprisonment.

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While imprisoned at New Delhis Tihar Jail, Shahid enrolled himself for graduation and began helping other inmates to pursue their cases in the court of law. When released in 2001, he came home and enrolled for journalism and law school. Three years later, he quit a paying sub-editors job to join defence lawyer Majeed Memon as a junior at Rs 2,000 a month. Later, he started his own practice that made a lasting difference. In a short period of just 7 years of his career as a lawyer, he gained both fame and notoriety for his commitment for Justice. It would not be unfair to say that, he was a man produced, consumed and later set to his right place by the system.
Help India!

In the fourth of the five personal stories of half widows, Raqib Hameed Naik narrates the story of Dilshada Begum.

Zakura (Srinagar): On June 16, 1992, Bashir Ahmad Sheikh, then 40, started his day early. For the past three days, Sheikh, who used to paint vehicles and billboards to make a living, had kept his shop closed due to Eid-al-Adha celebrations. As he stepped into his shop in Sheikh Mohallah, Rakhi Zakura, located on the outskirts of Srinagar, only to find that the paint stock was insufficient for painting vehicles which had been due later in the day.

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Bashir Ahmad Sheikh

He went home to inform his wife Dilshada Begum, now 55, that he was visiting Lal Chowk, located in the heart of Srinagar, to purchase the paint boxes. It turned out to be the last time Dilshada saw her husband.

As Sheikh reached Lal Chowk, an Army crackdown, which was a frequent event during those days, was already in place due to a firing incident which happened in the Maisuma area of the city on the same day. He was there merely to buy paint, but in 90s Kashmir, intentions had no impact on the outcome and Sheikhs family had little idea of what was to follow.

For the next three days, Sheikh did not return home. Worried, Dilshada went to Lal Chowk to look for him, only to be told that he had indeed visited Lal Chowk, and last seen in crackdown, but there were no details thereafter: had he vanished in thin air? The answer, his family claims, was pretty clear: a married man with a family to take care of would not have run away for any reason: they were pretty sure that he was picked up by Army from the crackdown. The question was where was he now?

After a hectic search of six days, Dilshada approached the Zakura police station to file a missing complaint, and the officials promised to start an extensive search for him. She also approached local newspapers to publish her husbands photo so as to inform the general public of a missing person; hoping someone might provide her information. All this proved to be futile, as no one came forward with any conclusive details.

Extending her search, she even went to Jammu where they used to visit in winters to escape the sharp decline in temperature in the Valley. When my search bore no fruits in the Valley, I thought he might have gone to Jammu to purchase the paint boxes. But even after extensively searching every nook and corner of Jammu, he remained untraceable, recalls Dilshada.

Dilshada Begum

Dispirited, she came back and went to various police stations and army camps in valley, but there was no word about his presence in any of the security establishments.

With the bread winner of the family missing, Dilshada, despite suffering from various ailments, decided to work so as to feed her three sons.

In last 24 years, she toiled hard by working as a tailor and maid. When my husband went missing, my elder son was nine years old and the other two were much younger. With no one around to help us financially, I decided to work despite my failing health. Those years were very difficult for me, she says.

The disappearance of Sheikh had a detrimental effect on her second son, Reyaz Ahmed, who had been close to his father. After Sheikhs disappearance, Reyaz suffered from Post-Traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and in year 2011, he died after being mowed down by a vehicle in Batamaloo area of Srinagar at the age of 24. Dilshada came to know about his death after 12 days from a photograph of her deceased son published in a local newspaper by police officials.

That incident was catastrophic and broke me down completely. I couldnt have glimpse of his face for last time. He was buried as an unknown person in the Parimpora graveyard. Now, I have to face two sorrows, the missing of my husband and the death of my son. This is what conflict does to families in Kashmir, says Dilshada as she broke down in tears.

The eldest son, Altaf Ahmad Sheikh, had to drop out of primary school after his fathers disappearance and went on to work as a painter so as to save his mother and brothers from abject poverty. Now, the 34-year-old is working as a driver. We all were very close to our father. His disappearance has left a deep void in our lives which can never be filled, says Altaf.

The fate of the youngest son, Imtiaz Ahmed, was no different. He too had to drop out of primary school to help his elder brother in his work. Ahmed, 27, is now working as a cab driver plying on Jammu-Srinagar route.

Dilshadas son Imtiaz Ahmed

Now, I am little relieved that both of my sons earn. It may not be much, but it is good enough to feed the extended family as both of them are married, Dilshada explains.

Some years back, Dilshada suffered a serious heart attack which had left her bed-ridden for months. Every month, her medication costs Rs 3,000, which at times becomes difficult for her sons to arrange, especially during the lean seasons of the transport business. But the co-founder of Association of Parents of disappeared persons (APDP), Parveen Ahangar comes to their rescue. She sends me medicines every month. She has been helping me since for many years, says Dilshada.

In early 2000, her husbands case was screened under Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) 43 notified by J&K government in 1994 by district screening cum coordination committees (DSCCC) which were constituted at district level for the purpose of granting ex gratia relief in the favor of victim families. The process starts after seven years from the date filing of first report of missing the person, and the victim is presumed dead.

She received an ex gratia relief of Rs 1 lakh and assurance from the government that one of her son would be employed as a class IV employee, which is yet to materialise. The amount has to be refunded back if the victim turns out to be alive.

Twenty three years have passed since, and even the government says that he is dead. But how can my eyes believe it when I havent seen his mortal remains? If the government is saying that he is dead, then possibly there is a grave. But where? asks Dilshada.

Like all other women whose narratives were narrated in Part One, Two and Three , she too travels every month to Partap Park in Srinagar city to participate in monthly sit-in along with other half-widows and relatives of missing persons. Even though her health condition has worsened over time, the 22-km journey is a ritual she does not plan on letting go.

I have been participating in monthly sit-in since last two decades and I will continue to take part until I get my answers about my missing husband from the governments and the perpetrator forces, Dilshada adds.

Read Part-I here: Armed with a pictures that tell a thousand words: The protestors of Pratap Park

Read Part-II here: The half widows of Kashmir: A story of endless wait and hardships

Watch Short Film here: Half Widows of Kashmir

Read Part-III here: Married at 17, Half widowed at 18: Safiya Azad continues to wait even after 23 years

Read Part-III (2) here: 19 years and counting: the tale of Naseema Begums wait for her missing husband

Read Part-III (3) here: Half-widowed at 23, Rafiqa Mushtaq fights government, in-laws to ensure property rights for her children


Help India!

Kamaal Moula Masjid-Bhojshala row

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By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net

Bhopal: Dhar town in the Malwa region of western Madhya Pradesh state in central India is sitting on a tinderbox. This is due to the Hindutva brigades adamant stand not to allow Muslims to offer Fridays Juma prayers in Kamaal Moula Masjid by violating Madhya Pradesh High Court and ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) orders on the occasion of Basant (Vasant) Panchami festival which has been allegedly advanced by a day from February 13 to 12.

It may be noted here that right-wing Hindutva organisations have mischievously advanced the date of Basant Panchami festival by a day to February 12 to clash with Friday prayers of Muslims. The festival actually falls on February 13 which is also listed in the Madhya Pradesh Government calendar with optional holiday for its employees.

11th century monument Bhojshala is a notified Central Waqf protected monument under the supervision of the ASI which maintains it. The monument houses Kamaal Maula Mosque where Muslims are permitted to offer Friday prayers by the ASI. While an unused water tank meant for ablution in the complex wherein Hindus are allowed to celebrate their Basant Panchami festival.

This year the saffronite organisations are hell bent to offer puja at Bhojshala monument non-stop from sunrise to sunset with no interruption or recess, whatsoever, for Namaaz this year. The RSS through its organisational secretary Arvind Menon has reportedly warned the Madhya Pradesh Government headed by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan not to repeat the mistake of 2013 when the Dhar district administration using force stalled puja and extinguished Havan Kund (bonfire) by spraying water over it so as to enable Muslims to perform Namaaz.

It may be pointed out here that ASI in its order dated January 20, 2016 has allowed Muslims to offer Namaaz at the structure from 1-3 pm and Hindus to observe customary religious practices from sunrise to 12 noon and 3.30 pm to sunset. Such orders were issued by the ASI in 2006 and 2013 when a similar controversy cropped up due to Basant Panchami falling on Friday.

While Vishva Hindu Parishad(VHP) men have claimed thatNamaazcould not be allowed in Bhojshala on Basant Panchami when a yagna will be in progress. Neither can the yagna be stopped once it is started, they claimed, triggering a gridlock.

The security apparatus is in top gear which has converted the Dhar town into a fortress while barricading the Bhojshala, the bone of contention between Muslims and Hindus, from all sides to ward off any untoward incident and keep things under control. The district administration is on tenterhooks keeping their fingers crossed.

However, reports emanating from Dhar say the situation is at flashpoint and communal violence of the worst kind may flare up when Muslims are allowed to offer Namaaz in Kamaal Moula Masjid in the Bhojshala monument.

Drone cameras will be used to keep a tab on every activity in Bhojshala, while the Madhya Pradesh police have deployed more than 7,000 police personnel in Dhar to control any untoward incidents or violent activities in the city.

The Madhya Pradesh police have also deployed Special Action Force commandos and private guards in and around the shrine.

The whole city has been divided into sectors for police and administration.

There are seven administrative sectors and 29 police sectors. Each sector will be headed by senior police official and administrative officers. Two Deputy Inspector Generals (DIGs), a dozen IPS officers and two dozens of administrative officers will be camping in the city to control any situation at Bhojshala. Around 11 companies of Madhya Pradesh police will be deployed inside the building while more than 1,000 police personnel will be deployed outside to prevent any forces from entering on Vasant Panchami, police sources said.

Dhar district boundaries have been sealed and police personnel have been deployed there to prevent any forced entry.

DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION IS IN A FIX

In the face of flexing of muscles of saffron forces led by allegedly RSS affiliate Hindu Jagran Manch, which is spearheading the show of strength, demanding the right for exclusive access to Hindus to pray on Basant Panchami on Friday at Bhojshala monument and actively supported by the local BJP MP and MLAs, the district administration is in a fix. In 2013 top police officer in-charge of the Bhojshala affairs at the time when Basant Panchami fell on Friday had got cane-charged the marauding Hindutva activists to control the situation.

Meanwhile, All India Muslim Personal Law Board, (AIMPLB), executive member Arif Masood has written a letter to Dhar Collector to implement in letter and spirit the Madhya Pradesh High Court, (MPHC), order to enable Muslims to offer Namaaz in Kamal Moula Masjid on February 12, 2016. Arif Masood had moved the Indore Bench of MPHC to intervene and safeguard the Muslims rights to offer Namaaz in the mosque.

Amid a controversy over prayers by Hindus and Muslims at the Bhojshala Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has wondered who VHP activists worshiped at the ancient shrine. When there is no idol at the Bhojshala, who do the VHP supporters worship there, the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister wanted to know. While Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson K K Mishra has said that VHP decision is nothing but blackmail by the saffron units and will increase the political temperature in the entire Malwa-Nimar area.

The Bhoj Utsav Samiti wants district officials to exempt them from rules of worship at Bhojshala. They want to conduct an Akhand (non-stop) puja on Friday to mark Vasant Panchami  also known as Saraswati Puja  but this would mean barring Muslims from entering the Bhojshala to offer prayers.

This year may see worse violence with the Samiti warning the administration that it may have to face the devotees wrath. It held a 35,000-strong rally on Monday and is mobilising devotees across the Malwa-Nimar region.

Dharm Jagaran Vibhag, an outfit of the RSS, has decided to hold the puja outside the Bhojshala premises, a move being seen as an attempt to incite local anger against the incompetent administration and foment communal tensions.
BlogNews Weekly: Fastest Spin & Go Millionaire, 888Live Austria, and Much More

February 11 2016 Jason Glatzer

Each week, PokerNews brings you insight into the happenings at the major poker sites. Featuring the most popular blog posts, BlogNews Weekly is your one-stop shop for all your poker blog highlights.

This week, BlogNews Weekly brings you highlights from the latest PokerStars, 888poker, and Full Tilt blogs.

Two Minutes, Four Hands, and $1 Million!

Last year, 13 players won a $1 million jackpot playing the lottery style Spin & Go's. While no player won a seven-digit jackpot in January, it didn't take too long for someone to become filthy rich in February.

The PokerStars Blog titled Spin & Go Delivers First 2016 Millionaire discusses how not only did 25-year old Russian PokerStars player "Rainman751" win a life-changing sum in a $100 buy-in Spin & Go, but broke records while doing so.

He beat Canada's "Kman_AP2" and Mexico's "pablotenisis", who were each awarded $100,000 just for playing, but did so in the record time of just four hands over two minutes. This shattered the previous record of the 33 hands it took Australia's Anthony "GrindHeaps" Aston to win on December 14 and the time period of nine minutes and 37 seconds it took Canada's "Koovoon" to win on November 21.

Learn more on the PokerStars Blog about the record-breaking Spin & Go jackpot win.

Eliot Hirn Wins the 888Live Austria Main Event

888poker is more than just online poker. They also offer the unique chance to qualify into 888Live experiences around the world. The first 888Live event of 2016 just took place on the majestic ski-slopes of Austria when Eliot Hirn shipped the 888Live Austria Main Event to win 8,610 as part of a three-way deal.

In addition to playing poker, players were able to enjoy many winter activities when not playing. Some of the big names on hand for poker and fun included Team888's Dominik Nitsche and Sofia Lovgren.

Additionally, PokerNews strategy writer and well-known American poker player Alec Torelli joined in on the action, finishing in tenth place after being the one-time chip leader. Torelli shared with 888poker how he got involved.

"My wife and I were in Milan, and we decided to head up to Innsbruck as she always wanted to bring me here," Torelli explained. "We've heard about the first 888poker event of the year, so we said 'why not?'. I got here two hours late, but I think things went really went well for me today. I had an amazing run of cards and made a couple of good reads - so, here I am on top of the count!"

Head over to the 888poker eMagazine to read more about the 888Live Austria experience.

Unorthodox Last Hand of the Aussie Millions Main Event

The 2016 Aussie Millions Main Event featured two well-known American poker players in Tony Dunst and Ari Engel facing off against each other in heads-up action. Full Tilt Ambassador Ben Jenkins discusses the last hand of play, which he found to be less-than-normal in a few ways, in the Full Tilt Blog titled Hand of the Week: Dunst Goes Down Under.

The hand began in normal fashion with Dunst raising the action holding before Engel made a "not so standard" play by three-betting with the . Jenkins points out that the action on the flop and turn were both "very reasonable" on a board of when Engel fired out bets on both streets and Dunst called.

Here's where things got interesting according to Jenkins. When the appeared on the river, Engel shoved all in. Dunst eventually called the polarizing bet with just a pair-of-fours after thinking things through. Unfortunately for him, Engel wasn't bluffing and shipped the event for AU$1.6 million.

Discover more on the Full Tilt Blog about this hand or watch the video replay of it below.

Lead image courtesy of Fabian Grubler - Fabfotos

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Sharelines Learn about the fastest PokerStars Spin & Go millionaire, 888Live Austria, and Engel vs. Dunst in BlogNews Weekly.
Unibet Poker UK Tour Brighton Kicks Off February 12

February 11 2016 Matthew Pitt Editor

Head to the Rendezvous Casino Brighton this weekend and youll find it packed to the rafters with poker players looking to become the first-ever champion of the Unibet Poker UK Tour.

For 200+20, players in the inaugural Unibet Poker 2016 UK Tour Brighton Main Event receive 25,000 chips and have the opportunity to compete for a share of a prize pool guaranteed at 40,000. Two starting flights are available, one at 7:00 pm on February 12, with the second and final Day 1 commencing at 1:00 pm on February 13. The tournament concludes on February 14 after a 1:00 pm kick off.

The Main Event is played to a re-entry format, which means anyone busting on Day 1a of Day 1b can re-enter and take another shot at glory. Alternatively, players can opt to play on both starting flights and take their largest stack through to the final day on February 14.

Speaking of hosting the opening stop of the Unibet Poker 2016 UK Tour, the Venue Director at Rendezvous Casino said: We were thrilled to get such an overwhelmingly positive response to the poker tournament launch event last month at the Red Lounge. It has set us up as the number one destination for poker in Brighton and the South East. All eyes are now on this weekends Unibet Poker main event which features a phenomenal 40,000 guaranteed prizepool. With such high stakes on offer, Rendezvous Casino Brighton will offer the biggest buzz in town.

Tour Heads to Nottingham, Glasgow, and Manchester

Alea Casino in Nottingham is the next venue to play host to the new Unibet Poker 2016 UK Tour with this leg scheduled for April 15-17. Like all other legs, entry is 200+20, the starting stack is 25,000 and play revolves around a 40-minute clock.

Following the Nottingham leg is a return to the Rendezvous Casino from June 3-5, then the tour heads north of the border to Alea Casino Glasgow (October 7-9), before calling Manchester235 home from December 2-4.

Grab a Free 4 Qualifier Ticket

All new Unibet Poker customers from the United Kingdom receive a free 4 qualifier ticket for the fledgling tour in addition to the usual welcome bonus. Download Unibet Poker via UK & Ireland PokerNews and you receive a bonus of up to 200.

The bonus releases into your account balance once you hit certain rake milestones, as shown in the table below:

Level Rake Cash reward Reward % 1 2 1 50% 2 10 4 40% 3 50 15 30% 4 150 40 27% 5 588 140 25%

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Holdem with Holloway: Lessons To Be Learned When You Hit the Big Stage

February 11 2016 Chad Holloway

On Days 2, 3, and 4 of the 2016 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event, a little known Brazilian named Leonardo Pires finished as chip leader, his lead becoming more massive with each day. Heading into Day 5 with just 19 players remaining, Pires held 4.566 million, nearly twice as much as his next closest competitor.

Chip-wise, Pires was the favourite to capture the $833,260 first prize and secure his spot in poker history. However, given the level of competition  which included poker pros Mike Watson, Vladimir Troyanovskiy, and Matt Waxman, just to name a few  and the Brazilians unconventional style of play, there werent many who gave him much of a chance.

Unfortunately for him, he proved the naysayers right as he crashed and burned on Day 5, ultimately busting in 13th place for $45,860. It took just four hours for him to go from overwhelming chip leader to the rail, but in reality his demise came over the course of one level.

Pires actually got off to a good start when he played kings to perfection and got poker pro Fabian Ortiz to put his last chips in badly to finish 17th. But then things quickly turned around for Pires.

In Level 24 (12,000/24,000/3,000), a flop saw Pires fire out 214,000 into a pot of 224,000. Watson called from the hijack, two other players folded, and it was heads-up action to the turn.

Pires bet 500,000, Watson called, and the completed the board on the river. Pires moved all in and Watson hit the tank before calling off for 1.01 million.

Six, Pires said confidently while rolling over the . Watson then showed the better hand with the . Pires took a hit on the hand, but still had 5.49 million and remained in front.

Then in Level 25 (15,000/30,000/4,000), Pires lost the chip lead for the first time in days when he raised to 100,000 from early position and Troyanovskiy called from the cutoff. The flop saw Troyanovskiy call a bet of 150,000 from Pires, and then both players checked the turn.

When the completed the board on the river, Pires led out for 350,000 but snap-folded when Troyanovskiy raised to 750,000. With that, Pires dropped to 3.817 million, which means the new chip leader was Watson with 4.16 million.

Pires next lost a big pot to Ken Demlakian, then took another huge hit when he overplayed pocket tens, a hand that left him steaming heading into a break.

Mike Watson

Anyone smell a meltdown? Matt Broughton asked on the EPT Live stream. Everyone wondered whether Pires would be able to recover after the break, and he didnt make the crowd wait long to find out the answer.

In the first hand back, Watson raised to 90,000 from the hijack and Demlakian called from the cutoff. When action reached Pires in the big blind, he just moved all in for 1.65 million. Watson shoved all in over the top and Demlakian got out of the way.

Watson:

Pires:

Pires opted to shove with a weak hand, but he got a sweat when the flop paired his three. Unfortunately for him, the spiked on the turn to leave him drawing dead to Watsons set.

The meaningless was put out on the river, and Pires meltdown was complete. Those watching erupted in disbelief that a player could fall so quickly with so much money on the line.

For me, there were two lessons to be learned from Pires.

When Youre Up Against an Unexperienced Amateur, Find Spots to Play

The poker pros at the table were practically salivating as Pires began to bleed chips, and they were looking for any opportunity to mix it up with the Brazilian, who was clearly tilting and overplaying hands. That meant if they caught a part of the flop against him, they were likely to win some chips.

Take the last hand, for example. Watson picked up tens and put in a standard raise. Demlakian just called, and then Pires blew up by shoving all in. Of course he could have held a good hand, but history suggested otherwise. Watson knew it, and thats why he was willing mix it up with the tens. Fortunately for him, no bad beat materialized and he pulled out to a big chip lead.

Players like Pires are wild cards and can be difficult to play against. Some just arent willing to mix it up with a crazy player, but if you hope to chip up in a poker tournament, youd better be willing to take advantage when these rare spots creep up.

If Youre the Unexperienced Amateur, Tighten Up

Despite losing all the pots that he did  aside from the last one  Pires still had plenty of chips with which to play. He didnt need to shove with four-three, but by that point hed clearly lost control. Had he just kept his emotions in check and tightened up, he likely would have laddered up the payout structure. He might have even caught a rush of cards to put him back in contention. Instead, he threw away a great opportunity, which was being deep in a major poker tournament with life-changing money on the line.

Its hard to cope when you go from chip leader to short stack (Ive experienced it a time or two myself), but if you ever hope to recover, trust me when I say you must tighten up. Playing loose and fast isnt going to earn you back those chips. Theyre gone. You cant change the past. Realize it, accept it, and get back to playing the best poker you can.

Pires didnt, and now the poker world will remember him as the guy who blew up deep in the 2016 PCA Main Event.

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Sharelines In new Hold'em with Holloway, Chad Holloway explains how to learn to deal with the big stage.
Axia TP Expands Portfolio with UC

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By Paula Bernier

Executive Editor, TMC By Paula BernierExecutive Editor, TMC

Josh Ross (News - Alert), co-founder and managing partner of Axia Technology Partners LLC, was at ITEXPO last month talking about his company, what it offers, its successes, and trends in the business communications.





Axia TP is an IP services company that provides national phone services, Internet access at rates from 1.5Mbps to 1Gbps, colocation, LAN and WAN managed services and other solutions (including dark fiber and leased fiber), and a unified communications platform  which is its latest addition to the portfolio.

The UC offering, Ross explained, enables people on mobile devices like iPhones, iPads, and Android (News - Alert)-based devices to leverage their business communications tools in the same way they do at their office phones and computers. The Axia TP unified communications solution, he added, also brings business workflow into the mix.

Communication enabling existing business tools and workflows is, of course, a prominent trend in IT today. Some refer to it as meeting customers where they are.

Another key trend in enterprise communications is obviously the cloud. Ross said Axia TP is seeing businesses both large and small embrace the cloud.

We see a lot more folks are moving to the cloud, Ross added.

Prior to co-founding Axia TP Ross built and then sold a long-distance company. Hes also worked in senior sales and management roles at Affine Communications, AT&T (News - Alert), IQuest, and RJN Consulting.

Indianapolis-based Axia TP is one of the fastest growing companies in Indiana. It grew by more than 80 percent last year, which was its eighth year in operation.

Forbes in November 2013 ranked Indianapolis among the top 10 metro areas for technology job growth. The number of jobs at and value of tech companies in the state have experienced some of that growth in light of the fact that several of Indianas tech firms have been acquired by industry market leaders, which have opted to keep those operations in Indiana. Between 2007 and 2014, a dozen tech companies in Central Indiana were either acquired or have gone public, generating $4.5 billion in market value and creating more than 3,700 jobs in the state.

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Edited by Kyle Piscioniere
Visa to offer financial learning to millions Updated: 2016-02-11 14:56 By Zhu Wenqian(China Daily)

Visa Inc, the global card payment services company, plans to provide financial education and services to over 5 million poverty-stricken people in Northeast China, to raise their level of financial knowledge.

It will partner with China Foundation for Development of Financial Education to build China Financial Inclusion and Education International Demonstration Zones over the next three years, in Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces and the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

The focus will be education for the rural population, and improving knowledge within local financial service providers.

"Over the past three years, we have participated in rural financial education activities in central and western China," said Charles W. Scharf, Visa's chief executive.

"The launch of a series of financial education and capacity-building programs has demonstrated our full commitment to continuously supporting the development of financial inclusion in China."

Visa has also formed a partnership with the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation to conduct a mobile phone-based financial education pilot program in Inner Mongolia. Over the next three years, the payment giant will offer education to farmers and herders in eight poor counties in Inner Mongolia to promote Internet finance in the areas.

"The pervasive availability of low-cost technology, notably mobile phones, drives down the cost of transactions and provides convenient, safe and reasonably priced financial services to low-income individuals and communities," Scharf said.

In the past decade, Visa has been promoting financial education globally.

Last year, it made the commitment that by 2020 it will have provided another 500 million people with digital payment accounts as an entry point to the financial system.

China Foundation for Development of Financial Education said in addition to training, it would support rural financial infrastructure improvement, product innovation, payment channel expansion and credit system creation.

The China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation has developed a set of financial training materials, such as those on fraud prevention.

Liu Wenkui, its secretary-general, said: "Poverty alleviation relies on education.

"We are committed to providing financial services to the rural market. As our business expands, the project will be promoted across China."

zhuwenqian@chinadaily.com.cn

A Visa employee introduces the company's mobile payment technology to visitors at its stand at an expo in Shanghai.Yong Kai / For China Daily

(China Daily USA 02/11/2016 page15)
The school that serves up butlers Updated: 2016-02-11 14:59 By Li Yang(China Daily USA)

The number of wealthy Chinese continues to rise, prompting greater demand for highly trained domestic servants. Li Yang reports from Chengdu

'Can a newspaper really be ironed, and what for?" asked Pei Yuchen, an office clerk at a State-owned enterprise, after reading about a school for butlers in Chengdu in the southwestern province of Sichuan. The 30-something's second question was: "Can a butler really make 1 million yuan ($152,000) a year?"

Pei, who grew up in a rural family in East China's Shandong province, is now considering quitting her job, which describes as "boring and predictable", because she believes working as a butler for a wealthy family will not only fatten her purse, but also be an eye-opening experience.

Tang Yang, public relations manager of the International Butler Academy in Chengdu, said she often received phone calls from people such as Pei, after the media reported the opening of the school, the first of its kind on the Chinese mainland, in July 2014.

The academy is affiliated to the academy headquartered in the Netherlands run by a veteran butler Robert Wennekes, who was born into a butlering family. Wennekes established the academy in 1999 in a 14th-century castle, after recognizing the great difficulty of finding high-quality, professional butlers for his clients.

As more billionaires appeared in China, Wennekes opened the Chengdu school in 2014, in cooperation with a local businesswoman in the real estate industry.

Forbes magazine's 2015 edition of the China Rich List, published on Oct 28, identified a record 335 billionaires from the Chinese mainland, second only to the United States, a rise of 93 individuals, or 38 percent year-on-year. In the past two years, China has seen about three to four new billionaires every week.

"After mansions, cars, yachts, jets and bodyguards, wealthy Chinese families need butlers. Higher-end property projects are also in a dire need of senior butlers to improve the quality of their services," said Pu Yan, the school's marketing director.

"The level of butler service directly indicates the taste of the masters. And China's new rich will pursue higher tastes of etiquette and higher-quality family life, which entails quality butler services," she added.

The learning curve

The Chengdu school has two teaching sites - one in a luxury villa in the city's suburbs, the other in a private club in a high-rise in an up-market residential community in the city, with a grand view of the Jinjiang River.

Owned by Wennekes' Chinese business partner, the two sites provide a real-life household environment in which to instruct students.

After paying 40,000 yuan ($6,000) in tuition fees - enough to pay for eight years of college tuition in Sichuan - the trainee butlers receive six weeks' "intensive and professional" training from instructors from the US, Italy, Switzerland, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands, in addition to three meals a day and a butler's suit.

The first few days of training are the most interesting, according to Vincenzo Matarrese, an Italian instructor and former bartender at a five-star hotel in Europe.

He said that in the first few days, the Chinese students learn to become familiar with a whole range of Western etiquette and protocols, from personal grooming to laying tables and pouring wine. He displays different kinds of grapes on the table and explains the differences between various types of wines.

"In Europe, people have an understanding of wine. But in China, that knowledge is new," he said.

Liu Kecheng, former manager of a five-star hotel and now a travel consultant for wealthy Chengdu residents, attended the training sessions through his company's cooperation with the school.

"It was the first time I learned that it takes about two hours to clean a pair of shoes through 12 procedures. I realized how considerate, meticulous and good at handling multiple tasks a successful butler should be," Liu said. "It's life-changing experience, because the training not only gives me new status, but also a new angle to see hospitality work."

Cultural differences

Christopher Noble, an Ohioan who is director of training at the Chengdu school, graduated from the academy in the Netherlands in 2012. He said China was one of the first civilizations in history to have butlers, called guanjia, or "housekeeper".

"What we are reintroducing here already existed for hundreds of years," he said.

But the cultural differences between the West and China constitute a major obstacle for the instructors.

Noble, who worked as a consultant and a trainer for salespeople in the expensive residential community where the club is located before he joined the academy, has noticed that there are many differences between serving a Western employer and a Chinese one.

"Chinese businessmen and businesswomen tend to hold their household staff at arm's length. In the West, they give the butlers trust and the butlers are in the inner circle. Butlers sometimes even know more about their masters than the other family members do," he said. "I should know everything about you, and your personal life, not because I am nosy, because the knowledge can help me better serve you."

Although the Chengdu academy instructs trainees in Western standards, most of the students have to adapt to the practical circumstances in their future Chinese principals' homes.

Noble said it is unfortunate that servants are looked down upon in traditional Chinese culture: "It's a career, and there should be mutual respect between the butler and the employer."

Tang, the public relations manager, is optimistic that the relationship between butlers and employers is likely to improve gradually, as China becomes more open to other cultures.

"That the TV series Downton Abbey is popular on the Internet with Chinese audiences, especially the young who are fluent in English, proves that there is a lot of space for British-style butler services among Chinese employers, and their attitudes to servants will change gradually," said Tang.

High salaries

Although the tuition fees are expensive, the school attracts many Chinese lured by the potential of a high salary.

He Lianping, a 51-year-old babysitter from Henan province, paid the fees for the expensive training sessions herself. "I felt I would have been left behind by the times if I continued to work as a babysitter like before," she said, as an explanation of why she traveled from Henan province to Chengdu.

So far, about 40 four-term Chinese students have graduated from the academy. A new term for 10 students will start in early March, and places have been booked until early winter, according to the school's website.

Tang hopes the school will be able to open more branches in the next five years, in Beijing, Shanghai or Guangzhou in Guangdong province. "Most of the potential employers of our trainees are concentrated in big cities in East China," she said.

So far, the academy has not undertaken any advertising campaigns in China, she said, adding that apart from some trainees from its partner hotels and real estate sales centers, most candidates contact the school directly.

She said many of the candidates are quite young: "Some are college graduates, accompanied by their parents, who look forward to having a well-paid job as a butler."

However, the students' youth may be a disadvantage at times. "Chinese employers tend to look for more experienced butlers, older than 30, but our trainees are all in their mid-20s," Tang said.

She recently received a call from a wealthy businessman in Fujian province. "He had heard of our school and was looking for an experienced, veteran butler in his mid-30s or older to look after his two villas and large family. But our trainees are all in their mid 20s and did not meet his requirements," she said.

In addition, the media have exaggerated butlers' income and downplayed their sacrifices, she added" "A high salary comes from good service, and good service originates from a heart that values loyalty, passion and patience."

Contact the writer at liyang@chinadaily.com.cn

Vincenzo Matarrese, an instructor from Italy, demonstrates how to shine a pair of shoes in 12 steps during the opening ceremony of the school for butlers in Chengdu in 2014.

(China Daily USA 02/11/2016 page10)
Clearing doubts of others can help China get support Updated: 2016-02-11 14:57 By Fang Songying and Liu Wei(China Daily)

Although China has repeatedly emphasized that the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is a multilateral agency to meet Asia's development needs, the international community remains worried that it is setting low-level financing rules. And despite China's efforts to promote its Belt and Road Initiative as a win-win policy, some countries still doubt its intentions.

To dispel such worries and eliminate suspicions, China should expound its national interests more clearly in the diplomatic parlance. Until then, countries may find it hard to believe in the common interests that the AIIB and Belt and Road Initiative (which comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road) have been designed to serve.

China's explanation should be accompanied by proper actions to make the discourse more convincing and prompt other countries to appreciate its efforts.

Yet because of conflict of national interests, it is difficult for countries like China and the United States to dispel mutual suspicion even if they try their best to make their intentions clear.

The US does not believe that China will not challenge its global leadership, and China does not believe the US' growing presence in the Asia-Pacific region is not to contain its rise. Still, highlighting common interests in diplomatic discourse is an effective way to cultivate mutual trust and deepen mutual understanding.

Although China and the US are competing over security issues, they have many common interests, such as fighting terrorism and mitigating climate change. Therefore, they should try to transform their common interests into a kind of consensus through effective diplomatic dialogue, which is a prerequisite for a clear explanation of one country's national interests and responsibilities and for reducing other countries' suspicions.

While putting forward a diplomatic proposal, a country should also undertake other obligations. Therefore, apart from stressing the common interests behind its proposals, China should also explain why it is ready to employ the funds to serve other countries' interests. That is to say, China should directly answer the question: What it aims to achieve from its proposals?

Following that, it should help other countries clearly understand how they can benefit from these proposals and what the potential risks are.

Before the international community knows how China aims to protect its national interests in the future, it will be very difficult to transform these strategies from words to deeds.

China changed the key points in its promotion of the AIIB, and the change worked well. China now emphasizes the AIIB seeks returns from every investment it makes, and it will not offer subsidized or soft loans. China also stresses that it is responsible for all the fund contributors to the bank.

China now has 26.06 percent of the voting right in the AIIB after purchasing $29.78 billion worth of capital stock subscriptions according to the resettled rules agreed by all the co-founders of the bank. And it has said that with more countries joining the bank, its voting right will probably drop below 25 percent. The successful combination of explanations and actions is an important reason why the AIIB was established in a short time.

Besides, China should draw a lesson from the change in its AIIB diplomatic discourse, and use the experience to clear the international community's doubts over its Belt and Road Initiative. To make the initiative successful, it should express clearly how cooperation with other countries can help it serve its own needs, such as restructuring its economy and dealing with the overcapacity in some of its industries.

By clearly expressing its national interests, China can convince other countries of its analyses as well as expand the common interests of all relevant parties.

Fang Songying is a researcher in politics at Rice University, and Liu Wei is a researcher in international relations at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The article was first published on thepaper.cn on Jan 6.

(China Daily USA 02/11/2016 page12)
Students in China can now earn a law degree from an American university without leaving the mainland.

Last August, the University of Arizona (UA) and Ocean University in Qingdao welcomed students to a dual-degree law program based at the college in China. Upon successful completion of classes, students can graduate with an LLB from Ocean University and a bachelor of arts in law from UA.

'We currently have 77 students who have started the program. The goal is to eventually admit 80 to 100 students a year for the next four years who will basically earn two law degrees,' Brent White, vice-provost for international education at the University of Arizona in Tucson, said in an interview.

The program is the first US-China joint off ering in law available fully in residence in China. The idea is to produce Chinese lawyers who are knowledgeable about the US legal system, said White.

All required law courses will be off ered at UA's location on the Ocean campus in China. Students will have the option to complete a portion of their studies at UA's campus in Tucson.

All classroom instruction will be done in person by University of Arizona law school faculty members, White said. 'We expect to have about four faculty members in China. They will be joined by other faculty members who will go to China in the summer,'he added.

Tuition for the program in China is $8,000 a year. White said tuition to attend the James E. Rogers College of Law at UA is $29,000 a year.

'It's a great opportunity for students. We are trying to deliver a high-quality legal education and pricing it so a lot of students in China can take advantage of it,' White said.

He noted that Ocean University is providing infrastructure for the program. 'We are just delivering content and we are doing this as an educational endeavor,' continued White. 'Dual-degree programs are good for China and they are good for the US. They enable students to obtain skills needed in an increasingly globalized world.'

Applications to law schools in the US are declining as an oversupply of lawyers that started during the financial crisis continues. White said this program is not designed to address that issue. 'We have changed the mix of our class to refl ect the admission of more non-traditional JD (juris doctor) candidates,' said White.

'We have had global partnerships for some time. About 25 percent of our JD class is international students.'

He said Arizona has about 800 students studying for some form of a legal education, which is up from the usual 400.

Ocean was founded in 1924 and is a comprehensive university with strengths in oceanography and fisheries science, according to its website. With an enrollment of about 40,000, Ocean was one of the first universities approved to confer PhD degrees.

paulwelitzkin@chinadailyusa.com
Fashion designer Wang Tao (above); backstage at her show at The Dock in New York last season; and some of her latest designs (top). Provided to China Daily

Womens fashion designer looks beyond the runway

Like many of the best fashion designers in the world, Wang Tao wears two hats.

Leading an eight-designer team, she has been creative director of Shanghai-based womens wear brand Broadast:Bo for 12 years. And, once Broadast:Bo became a proven success, Wang debuted her namesake label Taoray Wang during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week New York in the fall of 2014.

I will be back for every season from now on, she said after the first Taoray Wang runway appearance.

Chinese designers have often used international fashion weeks as one-time promotional events for their names and brands and many dont get the chance or have the money to return.

So far, Wang Tao has kept her word.

For the fourth time, shes back in New York, this time with her 2016 autumn/winter collection. Departing from her past themes borrowed from popular movies  Black Swan, Fifty Shades of Grey, Out of Africa  this season Wang has taken inspiration from Victorian fashion and its patterns and tweeds.

Historically, tailoring was common for men, said Wang in a press release. But now it is providing the answer for modern women who want to be elegant, stylish and sexy. This season is filled with a combination of traditional heritage and modern silhouettes.

Wang said she wants to deliver a lineup for independent and international women.

I dont define my customers by race or nationality, she told China Daily. They have an international background. They embrace diversity and are open-minded to try different things. They are well-educated and well-traveled. They are multi-cultural.
Economic might intact: China experts

Updated: 2016-02-11 13:16 By By Chen Weihua in Washington(China Daily USA)

Top US economists have played down fears of China's economic slowdown and warned some Americans who wish to contain China economically.

Larry Summers, director of the White House National Economic Council in 2009 and 2010, said China is facing an enormous complex set of challenges but he does not believes this will be as disruptive as some think.

There is still enormous economic energy in China, and that it is reasonable to hope that it is not extraordinary disruptive slowing, he said on Wednesday at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

Summers believes that it is also a matter of broad national strategy for the US, saying 'this is exactly the wrong moment to embrace the views of those who believe we need to economically contain China'.

The US early rejection of the Chinaled Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the exclusion of China from US-led Trans-Pacifi c Partnership deal have been perceived by many as a US scheme to curtail the growing Chinese economic infl uence.

Summers said the US should position itself in ways to avoid the scenario of a weak Chinese economy rather than in ways that make the scenario more likely..

We should avoid doing anything to create a sense that we are nervous about the Chinese economic success, said Summers, a noted economist who had served as Harvard University president and former US Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton.

Summers believes that kind of nervous attitude at a time of China having diffi culties would undermine the important bilateral relationship between the two nations.

Stephen Roach, a senior fellow atYale University's Jackson Institute of Global Aff airs and former chief economist at Morgan Stanley Asia, said he has always been skeptical of those who take the turmoil in China's fi nancial markets to negatively interpret what it means for the real economy.

I think the Chinese economy is performing much, much better than your average market participant would want to conclude right now, he said on Wednesday at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

Roach cited urban job growth as a strong indicator, with an average of 11 million new jobs created per year over the last three years, compared with the Chinese government target of 10 million jobs.

He said the answer to the job growth under a slowing economy is the shift to labor- intensive services. Services in China generated about 30 percent more jobs each year.

Chinese official statistics put the annual job creation in the past three years between 12 million to 13 million each year.

'So its quite possible to actually have a slowing GDP growth, firm job growth, and the economy, you know, goes through the early stages of powerful structural transformation,' he said.

'I think the transformative process in China where mix of GDP is far more important than the overall GDP is really the key to the puzzle,' Roach said.

Realizing that the advancing Chinese economy will encounter challenges and problems along the way,Roach said the bottom line is that the transformation is intact and that the economy is not on the brink of a hard landing.

The Chinese government in the past few years has pledged more economic reforms and a transition to a more sustainable economic model, a model that is often described as New Normal. Under that model, economic growth will be moderately slower from the double digits of the previous three decades.

Acknowledging the poor performance of the fi nancial markets and the debt, Roach cautioned people not to underestimate the resilience and capacity of the real side of the Chinese economy to perform much better than many in the West tell people.

chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com
Bulgaria will not close its borders to refugees: Deputy PM Updated: 2016-02-11 21:44 (Xinhua)

SOFIA - Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister Rumiana Bachvarova said on Thursday her country does not intend to close its borders to refugees, after meeting with European Commissioner for Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos.

"We do not intend to change the regime of our borders," Bachvarova told a joint press conference while answering a question about possible closure of the country's borders.

In practice, Bulgaria is performing 100-percent control of its borders with Turkey and Greece, and this is probably "the most strict control carried out by any European country," said Bachvarova, who is also the country's minister of the interior.

Moreover, Bulgaria does not just control those entering the country, but also conducts additional interviews, she said.

Meanwhile, her ministry arrests illegal immigrants inside the country and near the border with Serbia, Bachvarova added.

Commenting on her meeting with Avramopoulos, Bachvarova said they agreed that common European solutions were needed because regional solutions have not led to the desired result.

In turn, Avramopoulos said Bulgaria is in a strategic position, neighbouring with Turkey and Serbia, and the country bears a big responsibility for protecting the external borders of the European Union.

According to data from the Bulgarian State Agency for Refugees, 59,883 foreigners sought asylum in Bulgaria since 1993. Among them, 11,081 applied in 2014, and 20,391 in 2015.
African Elephant Fund urges to address trans-border poaching threat Updated: 2016-02-11 21:54 By Lucie Morangi(chinadaily.com.cn)

The African Elephant Fund (AEF) is urging eastern Africa member states to forward joint proposals that address trans-border challenges facing conservation.

The fund, of which China is among the few sponsors, was established in 2011 during the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) meeting in Geneva with the aim of implementing the African Elephant Action Plan that strongly supports the long term survival of elephants. Other backers are Germany, France and Belgium.

According to Patrick Omondi, chair of the fund's steering committee, such proposals will be quickly approved for funding because the sub-region is made up of elephant range states where the animals traverse an eco system spreading across several countries. Having a joint strategy means that resources are aligned towards combating threats that are trans-border but similar in nature.

"These successes will build into our presentation during the CITIES meeting this year that is scheduled to be held in Johannesburg in September," said Omondi, noting that many of the countries in eastern Africa are listed among the eight identified as primary source, transit and destinations affected by the illegal ivory trade.

He was speaking during the first regional wildlife directors meeting that brought together 15 high leveled CEOs, heads of conservation and law enforcement units and policy makers from five East African States, Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia.

The meeting convened by the Lusaka Agreement Task Force (LATF) was sponsored by the AEF. It was aimed at building a mutual front for addressing challenges, formulating and facilitating the execution of strategies towards addressing the entire illegal ivory trade chain from poaching to illegal trade in ivory, parts or derivatives within the sub-region.

Kenya's Cabinet Secretary for the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Regional Development Authority Judi Wakhungu said that poaching of elephants in the region has reached unprecedented levels and there is need for joint action to decisively and swiftly reverse the trend.

"This problem is exacerbated by inadequate cooperation among states and agencies compounded by insufficient capacity to strengthen our efforts in addressing this vice which is rapidly soaring to worrying proportions in Africa," she said.

She lauded LATF efforts in fighting wildlife crime and assisting countries in capacity building and enforcement operations saying it has led to the arrest and successful prosecution of wildlife criminals in the region and beyond.

The director of LATF Bonaventure Ebayi said the initiative is designed to cultivate synergy, promote dialogue and bolster cooperation among the wildlife conservation stakeholders to effectively combat poaching and illegal wildlife trade in the east African region which is bearing the biggest brunt of the menace according to statistics.

"This is inspired by the need to bring wildlife directors/managers of these states that share ecosystems transcending their common political boundaries and face similar conservation dynamic and threads such as movement of wildlife contraband across borders to a consultative forum that will build common understanding of challenges and successes and formulate policies towards addressing poaching and illegal wildlife trade in the African sub-region," said the director.

The two day event also attracted representatives from INTERPOL, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and United Nations Environment Program.

Contact the writer at lucymorangi@chinadaily.com.cn
First Capitol billing for Lunar New Year Updated: 2016-02-11 13:16 By Hua Shengdun in Washington(China Daily USA)

From left: Mike Honda and Ami Bera, California congressmen; Grace Meng, New York congresswoman; Ted Lieu, California congressman, and Mark Takai, a US representative from Hawaii, attend the fi rst Congressional Lunar New Year Celebration and Reception in Washington on Wednesday. Dong Leshuo / China Daily

The symbolic meaning could not be overestimated, as Asian-American politicians praised the first celebration of the Lunar New Year in the US Capitol on Wednesday.

I think it is important to recognize that we have it celebrated in one of these Congress buildings, because it is a powerful statement that the US respects and honors the Lunar New Year, said Ted Lieu, a Democratic US representative from Californias 33rd District.

The First Annual Congressional Lunar New Year Celebration and Reception was sponsored by Asian- American and Pacific Islander organizations in collaboration with members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) at the Capitol Building in Washington.

The demographic of the US is changing. In decades, there will be 80 percent of American immigrants coming from Asian countries. The rate of immigration form countries like China and Philippines will outpace the immigration of Latin America in coming decades, Lieu said.

More than 100 guests attended the event. There was another first for Lunar New Year this week.

For the very first time, our public schools were closed for the Lunar New Year holiday in New York, said Grace Meng, a Democratic US representative from the 6th District in Queens, New York. We have been fi ghting for this for so many years.

I hope not only New York City but beyond that throughout the whole country, there will be more people to recognize this traditional festival, Meng said in opening remarks.

Mike Honda, a Democratic congressman from Californias 17th District, said: Every day that passes, there have been more and more respects to diff erent cultures, and the US welcomes them into the fabric of America. This is a great step forward.

Red lanterns were displayed in the ballroom, and a lion dance and Korean traditional dance were performed at the event.

The celebration is the proof that the US is a country of diverse cultures. It is diversity that gives our country the strength, said Ami Bera, a Democratic US representative from Californias 7th District.

I hope it can be a tradition every year in Congress, Lieu said. Lunar New Year is celebrated by one fifth of the worlds population. It is very important for Asian Americans to have our own holiday.

Pan Jialiang in Washington contributed to this story.
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The Virginia Tech Language and Culture Institute provides language-related programs and services for academic and professional development.
Mittu Chandilya, AirAsia India managing director and chief executive, is likely to step down twenty months after the launch of the airline, sources said.

Chandilya's contract ends later this month and sources said he is unlikely to extend it. Next month, the airlines board is expected to decide if he will continue with his responsibilities.

An airline spokesperson did not respond to an email seeking comment. Chandilya, who has been the chief executive since May 2013, has been the face of the airline since its launch. He was elevated to managing director last August. This coincided with the airline's shareholding rejig.

After initial euphoria, the airline has been unable to make its mark and has been dogged by intense competition, slow growth, and continuous losses. The airline has seen several other senior exits earlier last year.

There have been other concerns, too. In December, co-investor Arun Bhatia, who owns 10 per cent in the airline, threatened to go to court against the airline on the grounds that it is controlled by Malaysian shareholders. The airline's chairperson S Ramadorai had then denied strained ties and said there was no violation of any rules by the airline.

AirAsia Malaysia owns 49 per cent in the airline. Tata Sons owns 41 per cent, and Bhatia owns 10 per cent. Tata Sons is expected to raise its stake in the airline and acquire Bhatia's shares, but the deal has not come about so far because of valuation issues. AirAsia India has five Airbus A320s.

It had an India market share of 1.7 per cent in 2015. It started operations in June 2014 and now connects eight destinations. For long, the airline management has indicated it has not expanded operations because of a lack of clarity on civil aviation policy.
The Madhya Pradesh government has said Bhopal and Indore will have Metro rail systems two years before the state goes into Assembly elections in 2018.

The urban development department is working on tying up funds and finalising the detailed project reports for the two Metros. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has agreed to fund Rs 12,000 crore for the projects at nominal interest rates.

"Our effort is to issue the first tickets on the Metros in Bhopal and Indore by 2018. At least some portions will be open to commuters," Vivek Aggarwal, managing director, Madhya Pradesh Metro Rail project, said.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan recently visited Japan where he discussed the project. The Bhopal Metro will ferry 300,000 passengers a day, and this capacity may later be augmented.

The condition of JICA funding is that the special purpose vehicles for the Metro projects will procure 30 per cent from Japanese companies and another 30 per cent from the domestic market.

"JICA has agreed to fund the project at 0.3 per cent annual interest for 40 years with a moratorium of 10 years. We will soon finalise and forward reports for both the projects to the JICA for fund tie-ups," Aggarwal said. The Bhopal and Indore Metro rail projects were conceived in 2009. The Metros will have a 28 km stretch each in the first phase and will span 95 km and 103 km after completion. The first phase is estimated to cost Rs 14,000-15,000 crore, of which 20 per cent will be contributed by the central and state governments.

Japanese companies are interested in operation and maintenance of the Metros, supply of bogies, signalling and air-conditioning. "We see a lot of potential in the Bhopal and Indore Metro rail projects. We will participate in the bidding. We are interested in operation and maintenance," Hiroshi Kono, deputy director of the East Japan Railway Company, told Business Standard in Bhopal.

The Japan Overseas Railway System Association is also looking at participating in the projects. "We will be interested in supplying components, bogies and the signalling system. Our companies have technical expertise and competence in Metro rail projects," Tsutomu Murasaki, executive director of the association, said here.

The Bhopal Metro project will cost Rs 6,962.92 crore for which MP Metro Rail Company will chip in with Rs 4,177.80 crore, while the state and central governments will contribute Rs 392 crore each.

The Indore Metro rail project will cost Rs 7,100 crore for which MP Metro Rail Company will contribute Rs 4,260.30 crore and the state and central governments Rs 1,420 crore each.
Business process management company Aegis today said it will hire 7,000 people globally, of which around half will be in India, and open more centres in key markets like Malaysia and South Africa in 2016-17.

"We would be hiring about 7,000 people globally in the next fiscal. Of these, about 3,000-3,500 (hirings) would be in India," the company's Global Chief Executive Sandip Sen told PTI.

He said this is part of a three-year plan of taking the total number of employees to 55,000, from the present strength of 40,000.

In India, the e-commerce, banking and finance, and telecom verticals are the major engines of business growth, he said.

ALSO READ: Aegis to open second UK centre

At present, Aegis operates 25 centres in the country, of which seven in smaller cities like Karnal, Shimoga and Guwahati were added last year, he said.

The company is looking to open one to two centres in the country next fiscal, he said.

He said there are some difficulties when it comes to skill-sets in smaller centres, and added that government initiatives on skilling would help the industry.

Among its international markets, he said Malaysia and Saudi Arabia are witnessing good traction.

Aegis is targeting to open a third centre in Malaysia, in either Penang or Iskandar, entailing an investment of up to $4 million over a three-year period, he said.

Saudi Arabia, which contributes a fifth of its overall revenues, is also an important geography and the company employs about 2,500 people there at present, he said.

In South Africa, it may open one more centre in Durban, he said.

He said the company is targeting to close 2015-16 with revenue of $500 million, but declined to comment on the revenue growth in the next fiscal or over a medium-term.

Aegis would be able to outperform Nasscom's BPM revenue growth estimate of 10-12%, he said, but did not specify the number.

The company is cash-positive and reporting profits, he said, adding that it will utilise the money for its expansion projects.
Here I will share my feelings about America and her Future.



Let it be known to all the World, I love all Humankind, however the poor actions of the few that take away the Freedom's of the many wear on my soul. I don't hate them I feel sad for their foolishness before God and humankind.

Those leaders who seek to 'Keep their Oaths of office' and those who seek only self glory, power, tyranny and the destruction of America as it was founded, hoping to turn it into a Dictatorship, Marxist or other state of Tyranny.



For a long while I was unsure of putting a blog together with my thoughts on this, however Truth must be shared, if not to Awake American's to their dangerous situation then to record the folly of the ways of the wicked who do exist in the leadership of our Nation, States, Counties, Towns. Sad that I must add this page.

"We often search for things in life, yet seldom do we find.

Those things in life that really matter, until we make the time." S.T.Huls



God Bless the Republic of America!
North Korea military chief executed

SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  South Korea says North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had his military chief executed for corruption.

If true, the execution of Ri Yong Gil would be the latest in a series of killings, purges and dismissals since Kim took power in late 2011.

The report came as the U.S. Senate Wednesday unanimously passed legislation aimed at starving Pyongyang of the money it needs to build an atomic arsenal.

The Senate approved the sanctions bill 96-0 after lawmakers repeatedly denounced Pyongyang for flouting international law by pursuing nuclear weapons.

Shooting kills baby in her L.A. crib

LOS ANGELES (AP)  A 1-year-old girl lying in her crib at home in Compton was struck in the head and killed by a bullet likely meant for her gang-member father, Los Angeles County sheriffs officials said Wednesday.

The girl died in one of the most violent areas of Los Angeles County after a gunman got out of a car Tuesday evening and fired at least five rounds at a converted garage where the child lived with her parents.

The shooting sparked a plea from the mayor of Compton for residents to renew the fight against gang attacks.

2 female bombers kill 58 in Nigeria

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP)  Two female suicide bombers blew themselves up in a northeastern Nigerian refugee camp, killing at least 58 people, health and rescue officials said Wednesday.

A third woman bomber was arrested and gave officials information about other planned bombings that helped them increase security at the camp, said an official of the Borno State Emergency Management Agency.

Some 78 people were treated for wounds from the twin explosions that occurred Tuesday morning in a camp of some 50,000 people driven from their homes by the Boko Haram Islamic uprising.

Elephant rampages in east Indian town

KOLKATA, India (AP)  A wild elephant rampaged through an east Indian town Wednesday, smashing cars and homes and sending panicked people running before the animal was tranquilized to be returned to the forest.

As the frightened elephant ran amok, trampling parked cars and motorbikes, crowds of people gathered to watch from balconies and roof tops. Some followed from a distance as the elephant moved through the streets.

The elephant had wandered from the Baikunthapur forest, crossing roads and a small river before entering the town of Siliguri in West Bengal state.

Officials said the female elephant appeared to be a loner without a herd, and was likely searching for food when it strayed into the town.

Panel denies parole to RFKs assassin

SAN DIEGO (AP)  For the 15th time, officials denied parole for Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, after hearing Wednesday from another person who was shot that night and called for Sirhans release.

Sirhan answered questions from a California parole panel during a hearing that lasted more than three hours in a small, windowless conference room.

Commissioners concluded Sirhan did not show adequate remorse or understand the enormity of his crime.
WATERLOO  A Waterloo man who was convicted in the 1997 stabbing death of a railroad retiree has been indicted on weapons charges.

A federal grand jury handed up an indictment on Feb. 3 charging Steven Joseph Peterson, 35, with being a felon in possession of a firearm. Peterson appeared in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids on Monday and entered a not guilty plea.

Court records show that Peterson has felony convictions for charges of burglary and theft in 1998 and 1999, and in 2004 he pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges in the death of 83-year-old Howard Smith, a crime for which he served prison time.

On Oct. 28, 2015, Waterloo police were notified of a burglary at 1136 Scott Ave. where several pieces of jewelry were taken. A witness told investigators that Peterson had been at the house at the time of the break-in, and in November police found some of the jewelry at Caseys Coin on University Avenue where Peterson had sold it.

When police searched Petersons home at 215 Hammond Avenue on Nov. 10, they found a 9mm Hi Point pistol inside a backpack. Also in the backpack was Petersons clothing, court records state. He was detained on state weapons and burglary charges at the time.

Trial for the federal firearms charge has been scheduled for April.

Electrical problem caused duplex fire

WATERLOO  A Tuesday morning fire that damaged a damaged a Waterloo duplex started with an electrical problem, authorities said.

Officials with Waterloo Fire Rescue said the blaze appears to have started with an overheated circuit the ceiling that separates the first and second floors at 264 Western Ave. Residents told investigators that there had been blown electrical fuses on prior days.

A resident in the upstairs unit told fire officials he was working on his computer at about 4 a.m. Tuesday when he noticed smoke coming from the floor. Everyone made it out of the building without injury, but the fire caused extensive damage to the duplex.

After the flames were extinguished, firefighters decided to return to the scene on an hourly basis to check for possible flare-ups throughout the day.

Meanwhile, fire officials in Cedar Falls continue to investigate a Sunday night mobile home fire that sent a woman and her two children to the hospital. Cedar Falls firefighters said they havent determined the cause of the blaze at 2508 S. Union Road, No. 111. The mother, Ashley Calfee, remained at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City as of Wednesday.

Man indicted on drug charges

WATERLOO  A Waterloo man has been indicted for allegedly obtaining powder cocaine to cook into crack for sale.

A federal grand jury returned the indictment charging Earl Denson Mosley III, 33, with possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute and possession of cocaine with intent to manufacture crack.

The indictment was filed on Feb. 3 but remained sealed until Monday after Waterloo police arrested Mosley on Ankeny Street. He appeared in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids and pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Trial is tentatively set for April.

Mosley had been arrested on state drug charges in connection with the case in October.

Officers with the Tri-County Drug Enforcement Task Force used a GPS device to track Mosleys trips to Chicago, allegedly to obtain drugs.

On Oct. 23, 2014, Tri-County officers searched homes at 432 Center St., 611 Gable St., 611 Ankeny St. and 533 Beech St. and seized more than 50 grams of crack cocaine and more than 100 grams of powder cocaine, court records state.
DES MOINES  A proposal to keep juvenile criminal records confidential gained early approval Wednesday by a panel of state lawmakers.

Lawmakers advanced legislation that would make juvenile criminal records confidential unless otherwise ordered by a judge.

Roughly two dozen individuals and organizations spoke in favor of the legislation, which is one of multiple criminal justice reform proposals working through legislative channels this session.

Supporters say minor offenses on juvenile criminal records can hinder an individual later in life from gaining employment or housing.

It unduly harms childrens futures. It can keep them from getting jobs. It can hurt their prospects for college, said Julie Smith, a lobbyist for the Middleton Center for Childrens Rights. Once this information get out, its really hard to pull it back.

The proposal was one of a handful made by a task force convened last summer by Gov. Terry Branstad to examine potential criminal justice reforms.

Betty Andrews, president of the Iowa-Nebraska NAACP, was a member of that group and spoke at Wednesdays hearing in support of the legislation.

We think the state currently has it wrong, Andrews said.

As of 2014, nine states fully protected juvenile records from the public, while another 33 made only certain types of juvenile records public, according to the Juvenile Law Center.

Other than a few groups who had technical issues with the legislation, the only people who spoke in opposition represented media.

Lynn Hicks, the Des Moines Registers opinion and engagement editor, said the bill swings the pendulum too far in the direction of secrecy.

There is a reason why the court system and juvenile system is open. It needs to remain transparent and accountable, Hicks said.

A Branstad representative said the governor supports the legislations goal. Representatives for the state attorney generals office and county attorneys expressed support for the goal but concerns with the bill.

Kelly Meyers, a lobbyist for the Iowa County Attorneys Association, suggested the bill should exempt felonies so serious crimes are not shielded from the public.

Were supportive of the notion that a minor offense in a juveniles past should not haunt them for the rest of their life, Meyer said. That being said, this bill would make (juvenile records) confidential for a 15- or 16-year-old who committed murder.
Award categories include Business Partner of the Year, Nonprofit Staff Leader of the Year, Nonprofit Board Member of the Year, Koob Award for Collaboration, Gordon Mack Award for Student Leadership, Legacy Award, New Nonprofit Employee of the Year and Exceptional Nonprofit of the Year. The New Nonprofit Employee of the Year will receive a one-year membership to the Cedar Valley Nonprofit Association, and the organization recognized as the Exceptional Nonprofit of the Year will receive a cash gift of $1,000 sponsored by the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa in recognition for their outstanding efforts.
Offner wrong

JIM HASTY

DENVER  On Jan. 31, Jim Offner wrote another opinion piece disguised as a news article. During his rant about government regulations, he states last fall an estimated 94.6 million workers gave up their search for employment. Imagine that! I thought. There are only 320 million or so people in the country! Offner is claiming 29 percent of the entire population gave up looking for work last fall? He said he was quoting Bureau of Labor statistics. So I went to http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit and downloaded USDL-16-0001, which is the BLS newsletter for January. And there I found the following:

In December 2015, the civilian workforce was 158 million.

150 million were employed full time.

The unemployment rate was 5 percent.

There were 663,000 discouraged workers. Those who have given up looking for work. Not 94.6 million, as Offner claims.

The only thing that comes close to the quoted number is 94.1 million, which refers to people not in the workforce.

For Offner to play fast and loose with government statistics, to make them say something they dont, should be unacceptable to The Courier. It calls into question the credibility of the entire newspaper.

Stop puppy mills

JEN BRUCHER

WATERLOO  On Feb. 3, Gov. Terry Branstad signed a proclamation declaring Iowa Puppy Mill Awareness Day, which testifies to the bond between dogs and humans and the ways in which dogs benefit us all.

He followed with this: Whereas, these traditions have been compromised in our state by more than 200 large-scale commercial dog-breeding operations, approximately half of which are cited annually for violations to the federal Animal Welfare Act; and tolerating the inhumane treatment of adult breeding dogs and the sale of often unhealthy or genetically compromised puppies to consumers in Iowa and other states constitutes an abdication of the responsibilities of good citizenship; and greater transparency within and oversight of this industry will likely yield greater professionalism and better outcomes for dogs, responsible dog breeders (and) consumers.

The current system of infrequent, incredibly lax USDA inspections is not working. If you agree and want real change, tell your Iowa representatives to support SF502/HSB560 by visiting http://www.iowavca.org/votervoice/.
Q: On Alaska: The Last Frontier they say Atz Lee and Jane Kilcher have two children, but we never see them. Where are they?

A: The Kilchers have posted on Facebook that they are trying to keep their childrens lives private.

Q: Are the Waltons on anywhere?

A: The Hallmark Channel lists it as one of their regular shows, but we dont see it on the channel schedule right now. It may air on some other station as well.

Q: Is there a radio station in the area that carries Sean Hannity?

A: Hannitys website says you can listen on WMT 600 AM or at www.hannity.com.

Q: What do they mean when they want to privatize Medicare?

A: It is Medicaid the Branstad administration plans to privatize. Instead of state bureaucrats administering the program, select private insurers will reimburse health care providers for their services using government money. The theory behind the switch is the private sector is more efficient than government and will therefore save taxpayers money. Obviously, not everyone agrees with that premise.

Q: Is the doctor on Days Of Our Lives playing alongside Daniel the same guy that attacked Eric and Nicole in the building where the gas came on?

A: We dont think so  Australian actor Alexander Bruszt, who is playing Dr. Fynn Thompson, has just made his debut on Days.

Q: Where is the ITT tech school advertised on TV? What do they teach?

A: According to ITT, there are 130 locations in 38 states; the nearest one is in Clive. Online classes are offered as well. Programs include electronics, business, drafting and design, information technology, nursing and criminal justice.

Q: When I used to hunt years ago I could find 22-caliber rimfire ammunition anywhere. Why is it so hard to find these days?

A: Area gun dealers say ammunition availability varies. Best advice is to call dealers to see if a certain type of ammo is available.

Q: With the current plans for Cedar Falls reconstruction of University Avenue set to begin this spring, when will the city of Waterloo begin work on the stretch from Cedar Falls into Waterloo?

A: Waterloo City Engineer Eric Thorson replies: University Avenue in Waterloo is still under the jurisdiction of the Iowa Department of Transportation. The IDOT suspended negotiations with the City of Waterloo on a transfer of jurisdiction due to funding constraints. Cedar Falls will be working on the section of University in front of College Square mall and Black Hawk Village shopping center this year. The next section will be from there to Midway Drive at the Waterloo city limits.

Q: Will you continue to have the Whats Up column in the Thursday Courier? That was a brilliant idea  much easier to read.

A: Thank you. The Whats Up column is in every day.
The Wessex Institute blog contains information about the Wessex Institute of Technology (usually referred to as just Wessex Institute or WIT) and the conferences that it organises.
Margot Robbie is one of Hollywood's hottest talents, lining up blockbuster after blockbuster, and now the first photos have surfaced of her as Suicide Squad member Harley Quinn, she's on course to skyrocket to an even higher platform. The 25-year-old actress worked her way up from minor roles in her native Australia before moving to the US to pursue her acting career. She landed a key part in Martin Scorsese's widely-acclaimed The Wolf Of Wall Street alongside Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill and a host of stars, launching her into the spotlight. Since then, she has starred in Suite Francaise with Michelle Williams and Kristen Scott Thomas, as well as Z for Zachariah with Chris Pine, and Focus with Suicide Squad co-star Will Smith. Though Focus received mixed reviews, Robbie was singled out for widespread praise, as Rolling Stone magazine said: "Robbie is a wow and then some. The Aussie actress who made us sit up and take notice as Leonardo DiCaprio's wife in The Wolf of Wall Street shows a comic flair backed up with beauty and steel. Even when Focus fumbles, Robbie deals a winning hand." Now all eyes are on her devilishly stunning Quinn character in Suicide Squad as DC aims to replicate some of Marvel's commercial success, so let's take a look at 10 things you may not have known about the rising star.
U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin of the 2nd Congressional District said Wednesday that he is preparing to submit proposed legislation that would bar anyone convicted of association with a terrorist attack from ever receiving food stamp benefits. The bill, which Poliquin says he will file with U.S. House of Representatives staff on Monday, is called the No Welfare for Terrorists Act. It would close what Poliquin said is a loophole in qualification criteria for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, more commonly known as food stamps. That benefit is already banned for people convicted of violent crimes such as murder and rape. But according to Poliquin, the ban does not extend to people who are convicted of aiding terrorists.

In todays world, there are many risks good, God-fearing, patriotic Americans face. We know that Muslims- ALL Muslims, no exceptions- want to destroy us because they hate our freedom and the baby Jesus. How, then, are we to protect ourselves from the very clear and present dangers we face daily? How do we ensure our safety while also safeguarding the well-being of our loved ones?

Im not at all certain I have an answer to that question, but thanks to that brave, selfless patriot, Rep. Poliquin, we can rest assured hes all about protecting Americans from the threat of radical Islamic terrorismby denying them free lobster and other comestibles that fuel evildoers whod destroy America and institute Sharia law.

When it comes to sheer, unmedicated Stoopid in the name of effective Conservative governance, Rep. Poliquin has had to work hard to be noticed. After all, Maine is home to bat$#!%-crazy Republican Gov. Paul LePage, who really should be a walking, talking advertisement for Thorazine. The challenge for Rep. Poliquin has been conjuring up new and ever more interesting ways of being a dick to Mainiacs, who deserve better but for some reason insist on electing ignorant, knuckle-dragging sociopaths to represent them.

You may remember Gov. LePage as for his inspired leadership in trying to take away SNAP (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program) payments from those wealthy Mainiacs with more than $5000 in assets) In characteristic small-government Republican fashion, Gov. LePage has expressed a desire to regulate the kind of bologna the poors are allowed to purchase with public assistance money. He hasnt (yet) decided that creating separate but decidedly unequal grocery stores for the poors would be a TOTALLY bitchin idea, but Gov. Lepage knows from Tough Love  when it comes to protecting the sanctity of tax dollars.

Like any Republican worthy of the appellation, Gov. LePage and Rep. Poliquin have an innate understanding of the threat posed to the safety of the Homeland by the poor and indigent. They know that only by finding new, different, and ever more creative and heartless ways to embarrass and humiliate the poors can America ever hope to have any prospect of being safe from terrorism.

And no, you CANT have a higher minimum wagewhich is clearly an insidious Liberal plot put forward by socialists who hate America and the baby Jesus. Gov. LePage has principles to stand onand who will he demonize in order that Mainiacs will know how serious he is if people are allowed to make a living wage?

Rep. Poliquin, while something of a latecomer to the party, has demonstrated his own unique commitment to the cause of humiliating poor Mainiacs off the dole.
The tourist who last week became famous for driving all the way to Siglufjorur, North Iceland, looking for Laugavegur, was fooled again Friday by his GPS, Visir reports. You might have thought his five-hour-detour would diminish his belief in the GPS, but technology is technology, and in it we trust. So, when the now world-famous 28-year-old Noel Santillan from New Jersey decided to go to the Blue Lagoon, he put his trust in technology again. As he told Visir, I was going to the Blue Lagoon, relied on the GPS, and it led me to the wrong place. I ended up in an office building, walked into a meeting room, where there was a meeting in progress, and to my astonishment, there were the staff members of the Blue Lagoon. When I knocked on the door, they looked at me in surprise: What does this man want? I told them I was on my way to the Blue Lagoon, and then they asked whether I was the one who had driven all the way up north. I told them, Yes, and then they all laughed and wanted to pose for a photo with me.

This is a cautionary tale, a saga of what can happen when our reliance on technology becomes close to absolute and overrides even common sense. Having been to Iceland, I can relate to how our intrepid American traveler may have been led astray by GPS. However, having used GPS in a rental car to navigate Reykjavik and more remote areas of Iceland, its difficult to have much in the way of sympathy. Simply put, its not that hard to find your way around.

Laugavegur, as most anyone whos spent any time in Rekjavik can tell you, is the main tourist area, running from near the Iceland Phallological Museum past the harbor and the central square. Its pretty clearly markedand anyone who can read a map should easily be able to determine where they are in relation to it. In Santillans defense, I suspect his biggest mistake may have been a total reliance on GPS. Icelandic landmarks can prove challenging to find due to linguistic barriers- the language has characters not found in English, frinstance.

Even with that in mind, youd think common sense would take over at some point. When youre out in the middle of the Icelandic countryside, self-preservation, if nothing else, would seem to dictate checking a map or even stopping in a village to ask for directions. English is pretty much a universal language in Iceland, so it shouldnt have been that difficult for Santillan to determine early on that he was way off course.
Planning to Retire Soon!

If you are planning to retire in the Philippines soon, I suggest you visit several excellent websites on pro's and cons of retiring in the Philippines. However if you want to retire in the provinces, where life is simple, standard of living cheaper, less traffic congestion and pollution, availability of fresh seafood and vegetables compared to the big cities, my island province is the place for you! If this is your first time in my site, welcome. Some of the photos and videos on this site, I do not own. However, I have no intention on the infringement of your copyrights. The photo above is the front yard of Chateau Du Mer- Our Retirement Home in Boac, Marinduque, Philippines


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Moiyattu Banya is Editor-in-Chief and Founder of Women|Change|Africa. She has over 10 years plus experience on working on women and gender issues both on the African continent and in the diaspora and has lead digital campaigns, and communication strategies for a multiple of women owned brands and organizations. Out of her passion to tell stories both in the digital space and in writing, she created WCA in 2012. The platform has celebrated over 50+ brands, companies and organizations owned by African women living both in the diaspora and on the continent. In 2014 she was selected out of 200 women to participate in the African Womens Development Fund Creative Non Fiction Writing Course in Entebbe Uganda an experience that forever changed her writing journey. She is a social entrepreneur by training and has a masters in social enterprise and administration from Columbia Universitys School of Social work.
If youre looking to try out an online casino, there are several things that will help you make a decision. Heres what you should look for when choosing an online casino

 Are they regulated? A lot of the larger ones have licenses issued by the authorities in their respective regions, so its worth checking this first.

 Do they offer games from different software providers? Some casinos just use one software provider and limit your selection. This is fine if you like playing those types of games but you may want to check other casinos as well.

 What does their payout percentage look like? The payout rate refers to how much money you can expect to win after every bet. A high payout rate means youll be able to play more often without having to worry about losing all your money. Its also important to know the minimum and maximum bets allowed on each game. If youre going to play roulette, for example, then you probably dont want a casino with a minimum bet of less than $2.50 or even lower than that.

The players used to play the game slot online in the land based casinos in the past time. But now with time after the invention of the online casinos players play the game slot online. Online platform provide the players with the convenience in playing and even better winning. Even after keeping a good percentage of the profits, they distribute good funds to players.

 How many games do they offer? There are lots of different types of games to choose from. Roulette, blackjack and poker are some of the most popular options, but you might find slots, video pokers, video bingo and others as well. You can usually filter these games down to only show the ones that interest you best, so make sure that your list isnt too long!

 Is there a bonus offer? Many online casinos offer free bonuses as part of their welcome package  which includes new players being awarded 100% up to $10 instantly, for example. These offers are great but not everyone has access to them all the time (and some require you to deposit real money). If youd prefer to avoid paying a fee, some casinos offer no-deposit bonuses where you can get a certain amount of funds before you need to put any actual money into the account. These are usually offered alongside welcome bonuses, so make sure you read both parts of the terms and conditions carefully before signing up.

 Does it offer live dealer games? Live dealers are much preferred by many over regular virtual versions, so it pays to check this option out too. Most online casinos now offer live dealer games in addition to their regular offerings, allowing you to experience the thrill of the real thing without needing to leave home.

Now that youve got an idea of what to look for when choosing an online casino, heres some tips for making the right choice

It really comes down to personal preference. No two people are exactly alike, so everyone has an opinion on what they like and dislike about each casino. That said, here are some things to consider in order to narrow down your choices

 Popularity. Check out reviews, forums and Facebook pages to see what other people think of the casino. Also, ask around at work or friends houses who they would recommend to you. You could always take a look at the casinos website too, to see what kind of information they provide about themselves.

 Reputation. Find out what the general public thinks about the casino. Check out any customer reviews on sites like Trustpilot, Amazon and Google Play to find out more. As far as gaming goes, you can also check out the Better Business Bureau to see whether there have been any complaints against the casino.

 Security. Make sure the casino uses SSL encryption to secure its transactions, meaning that your private data stays safe during transactions. Other than that, look for security seals on the site itself and verify that theyre legitimate. You can also check out the casinos privacy policy to see how they handle confidential information.

 Payment methods. Its good to have multiple payment options available, especially if you plan to play frequently. Its also nice to find a casino that accepts cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. If youre worried about safety, you can always opt for a credit card or PayPal instead.

With all those criteria in mind, heres our top picks

Betway:

Betway is a relatively new UK casino offering online gambling to residents of the United Kingdom and European Union. They offer hundreds of games across both land based and digital platforms, with plenty of top software providers like Net Entertainment, Microgaming and Yggdrasil Gaming Network. With a generous welcome offer that gives players 100% up to 100, you really cant go wrong with Betway.

Coral Casino:

Coral Casino is operated by the same company that runs the famous Caribbean casino, Grand Reef. Like many casinos, Coral Casino offers a wide variety of games, including plenty of video slots and table games. New players can benefit from a huge 100% match bonus up to 1000, while existing customers enjoy 25% cash back on deposits made within 48 hours of opening an account.

Ladbrokes Casino:

Ladbrokes Casino is owned by the same company as the famous bookmaker that started life in 1921. With more than 500 games from leading software providers such as Amaya, NetEnt and Microgaming, you wont be disappointed by the quality of the games here. New players get a 200% match bonus up to 500, while existing customers can claim 35% cashback on their first three deposits.

Paddy Power Casino:

Paddy Power is another Irish-owned casino that operates throughout Europe. Not only does Paddy Power Casino offer traditional casino games like blackjack, roulette and slots, but it also provides a full range of sports betting, including football, tennis, boxing and horse racing. New players can receive a massive 100% match bonus up to 200, while existing customers can claim 35% cashback on their first three deposits.

William Hill Casino:

William Hill Casino is one of the biggest names in the industry, operating in Europe, Asia and North America. Founded in 1984, this online casino has more than 400 games to choose from, including slots and table games, with a wide array of software providers like WagerLogic, Big Time Gaming and Rival.

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If youre interested in trying out an online casino but arent quite ready to commit to one, why not try out one of the many no deposit casinos weve reviewed? You can test drive various casinos completely risk-free, so you can feel confident about your choice before you make a single penny deposit.
Feb 10, 2016 | By Kira

The United States Armed Forces has invested quite a bit into 3D printing technology as a tool for aircraft, defense, and weapons manufacturing. Just recently, the U.S. Air Force awarded Aerojet Rocketdyne a $6M contract to develop 3D printed rocket engines; the U.S. Navy has adopted metal 3D printing onboard warships; and a 41-foot Coast Guard boat has just been 3D scanned. Today, however, the U.S. Army has announced a much more personal use of 3D printing technology for its service members and their loved ones.

As part of a licensing agreement between Source3 and the U.S. Army, soldiers, service members, family, and friends will be able to design and order customizable, licensed keepsakes featuring official U.S. Army logos and personal photographs of proud U.S. Army service members. The ornaments are then 3D printed on-demand in full-color using Color Jet Print (CJP) 3D printing technology.

These 3D printed, officially licensed U.S. Army products are available now, and sold exclusively via the MyKeepsake marketplace. Current designs include an Army Bugler, Army Camo, the Army Seal, a Union Eagle, and more, with prices starting at $29.95. Users can also choose between various photo effects, and inspiring captions such as "A Loyal Soldier," "An American Patriot," "Duty, Honor, Country," and many others.

Source3 is a licensing and distribution platform for 3D printable content that develops customized, scalable licensing tools for creators, brands, marketplaces, service bureaus and other 3D innovators. Previously, for example, Source3 partnered with CD Baby, an independent music distributor, to produce short-runs of 3D printed band or musician merchandise.

As for MyKeepsake, it is a dedicated website that allows users to create personalized mementos and ornaments that combine their own meaningful photographs with artistic backdrops, or, in this case, licensed U.S. Army trademarks and logos. The website, created by 3D design and printing company Adamation, integrates patent-pending technology, curated 3D art, and in-house 3D printing technology to create full-color and fully-personalized 3D printed souvenirs.

"3D printing enables new categories of personalized products by presenting brands with opportunities to engage fans in the individualized ways consumers love," said Scott Sellwood, Co-Founder and VP of Business Development for Source3.

The U.S. Army is a longtime client of our agency and we are delighted to open up a whole new world of bespoke products for service members, family and friends of the U.S. Army through 3D printing technology with Source3," added Allison Ames, the CEO of Beanstalk, a global brand extension agency that facilitated the licensing agreement between Source3 and the U.S. Army.

By federal law, all licensing feeds paid to the U.S. Army for use of its trademarks provide support for the Army Trademark Licensing Pogram, whose revenue is in turn devoted to U.S. Army Morale, Welfare and Recreation programs, adding further significance to these touching keepsakes.

Posted in 3D Printing Application

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Feb 11, 2016 | By Benedict

Montana tech startup CowTech is planning to launch a Kickstarter campaign for its CowTech Ciclop, an open source 3D laser scanner. The scanner, based off the open source BQ Ciclop and made from 3D printed parts, will retail for $99.

Its no secret that 3D printing and 3D scanning fit together like lock and key. With a 3D printer, anyone can make plastic objects on their desktop using original 3D models or shared designs downloaded from the internet. Pair that 3D printer with a 3D scanner, and any physical object within arms reach becomes fully replicable. Its like something out of The Twilight Zone.

CowTech, a Montana-based startup comprised of multitalented high school friends Jason Smith and Weston Downs, firmly believes in the marriage between 3D printing and 3D scanning, and has developed the CowTech Ciclop 3D scanner, an open source RepRap laser scanner built using 3D printed parts. The budget DIY kit, available for just $99, promises to deliver an incredibly affordable, high quality, 3D laser scanner, and will soon be the subject of a Kickstarter campaign. The 3D printing revolution has come, and its time for 3D scanning to follow, says Smith.

The announcement of the CowTech Ciclop will be heard by many attentive ears within the maker community. A handful of DIY 3D scanners already exist, several of which use a photogrammetry method of 3D image capture, but the promise of a high quality, open source 3D laser scanner at such a low price could tempt many a 3D printing enthusiast into the 3D scanning arena. The CowTech Ciclop has even been meticulously designed with compact 3D printers in mind, with each of its plastic parts able to be 3D printed on a print bed measuring only 115mm x 110mm x 65mm (4.5 x 4.3 x 2.6in).

Unlike a few other DIY scanners out there, the CowTech Ciclop is a laser scanner, a type of 3D scanner which uses two line lasers, a camera, and a rotating turntable to capture its 3D object. As the lines of the lasers hit the scanned object, they trace the objects outline in red light. The camera captures the position of these laser lines at each stage of rotation, eventually building up a cloud of surface points which can be turned into a precise 3D image of the object.

The CowTech Ciclop takes its cues from the BQ Ciclop, another open source 3D laser scanner, but makes some crucial alterations to the BQ design. The CowTech model features a 0.5mm scan resolution, 2-8 minute scan time, and 200 x 200 x 205mm scan volume. It also uses an Arduino board, magnetic back cover, and sleek laser cut acrylic instead of threaded rod. Software is consistent between the old and new scanners, with the Ciclop adopting Horus, originally developed for the BQ. A nice aesthetic touch to the Ciclop is an internal LED which gives the 3D scanner a cool glow in darker environments.

The $99 Ciclop kit ($79 for the first 20 Kickstarter backers) will contain the following components: NEMA 17 stepper motor, 2x Class 1 red line lasers, Logitech C270 Webcam, CT Arduino Shield, Uno R3 development board, A4988 stepper motor driver, Right Angle USB cord, 1.5A power supply, laser cut acrylic parts, 6008Z steel bearing, adhesive scan table cover, calibration square, and LED strip. Thats everything except the 3D printed parts, which will be made available in STL format for home 3D printing. Alternatively, backers without 3D printing capabilities will be able to get the 3D printed parts included in the package for $149.

CowTech expects to ship its 3D scanner kits throughout April 2016. Well be keeping a close eye (or two) on Ciclop to see if it can meet its as-yet-unspecified target goal.

Posted in 3D Scanning

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Juanita wrote at 3/4/2016 1:33:53 AM:FANTASTIC ! ! ! How do I get one?Jason Smith wrote at 2/12/2016 2:05:08 AM:Campaign is live now: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/701089851/cowtech-ciclop-99-open-source-3d-scanner




Feb 11, 2016 | By Alec

Concept rendering of 3D printable laughter.

No tagline in movie history has been as influential as Aliens In space, nobody can hear you scream (1979). The same can be said for any kind of sound in space, but NASA has found a clever detour. For what will be the worlds first piece of art created in space, they will 3D print a physical representation of a persons laugh on their zero-gravity 3D printer. If you cant hear it, youll at least be able to see it. This #Laugh project is being realized through a collaboration with Israeli artist Eyal Gever, and is expected to be finished some time in 2016.

Its a fascinating project that not only follows an intriguing artistic avenue, but will also serve as a fantastic test for the zero-gravity 3D printer made by US-based company Made in Space. At the IMTM tourist conference on Wednesday, Israeli artist Eyal Gever told reporters that the main purpose of #Laugh is to take in-space 3D printing to the next level. Gever was selected for this collaboration as an expert on 3D printed art. Back in 2012, he gained international recognition for his 3D printed sculptures which capture snapshots of disasters, such as tsunamis hitting houses, bus crashes and oil spills. His other works combined realistic digital representations with 3D printed effects, such as an installation featuring a video of a watery dancer, a square of realistic ocean surface and a 3D printed surrealistic waterfall.

As you might know, Made In Space has been working on zero-gravity 3D printing since 2010. The companys CTO Jason Dunn said, at the time, that they were operating through the idea that people should be living in space now. 3D printing will obviously be a huge part of that future, as in-space production will be necessary to greatly decrease the costs of space travel and create a sustainable living environment. Though it sounds impossible, they actually announced that they will be launching their first commercially available zero gravity 3D printer back in the fall of 2015.

Dunn, in a video promoting the #Laugh project, revealed that this is a huge step both for their 3D printer as for art. One of the areas that we are excited a lot about is art and how we can design new types of art that maybe we cant even bring back to earth, because were building a sculpture that wouldnt even survive in gravity, he said.

And that artistic element is not neglected either, as Gever revealed that choosing to depict laughter was a very conscious decision, as something that is so human that it is absent in soundless space. I realized, you know, maybe I shouldnt even think about using a person or a certain language that has a political connotation or culture or time or race, and then a friend of mine said, Why dont you do a human laughter? Gever said. #Laugh is somewhat reminiscent of the Golden Records project of 1977, when cultural artifacts were sent into space, including sounds and scenes from earth, but then as modern as it can be.

So whos laughter will receive the honor of being the first to be 3D printed in space? Well, it could be you. People from around the world will be invited to record and submit their own laugh. Through a voting system, you can even select your favorite candidate. The project, which will be featured in a VICE documentary, will launch some time in 2016.

Posted in 3D Printing Application

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Feb 11, 2016 | By Tess

3D printing has been used in many ways to help children: to teach them about engineering and technology, to promote education in general to more disenfranchised communities, and now it is even being used to generate income for a childrens charity. A crowdfunding campaign has recently been launched for Monster Crayons, a product made with the help of 3D printing that its founders hope will become a solid source of income for Australia-wide childrens charity Act For Kids.

The idea, conceived of by two Australian advertising professionals, Ben Lees and Christian McKechnie, is to get enough funding from the public to get their adorable monster-shaped crayons manufactured, marketed, and retailed so that the profits from the sales can benefit Act For Kids, a charity dedicated to helping abused or neglected children through free art therapy processes.

As stated on Monster Crayons crowdfunding page, We are developing a product that will give childrens charity, Act for Kids, a source of income that doesnt rely on donations. We will use this product to establish a self-sustaining business, with all profits going to help abused children.

The monster-shaped crayons themselves were inspired by the many drawings of monsters made by children who are cared for at Act For Kids, a sad but insightful reality that has spurred on the slogan Taking away a childs monster. In a previous effort, Lees and McKechnie also helped to organize a pop-up art gallery for the charity where they sold childrens drawings and paintings of monsters to generate both income for the charity as well as awareness for their cause.

McKechnie explains of the monster drawings, It struck a chord with us so we thought, how can we use that to turn it around for the kids to make something good happen.

To create the crayons, McKechnie and Lees initially tried a variety of methods at home, though most were unsuccessfulLees admits to having ruined several saucepans in the prototyping phase. Finally, they enlisted the help of their friend Ian Anderson, a 3D designer based in Brisbane, Australia, who was able to create workable 3D models of the initial monster design which was then 3D printed to be used as a crayon mold.

Currently, the team behind Monster Crayons are working on finishing more 3D printed monster molds to make a total of 4 types of monster crayons, each of which was inspired by a different childrens drawing. The money raised by the crowdfunding campaignthey have a stated goal of A$20,000will go towards manufacturing the first batch of crayons, as well as packaging and distributing them to major retailers.

If their goal is reached, Lees and McKechnie expect to have their first run of Monster Crayons ready and shipped within four months. All the profits from the crayon sales will go to Act For Kids to help them help more children. Once we have sold the initial manufacturing run, we will take a percentage of our income to fund a second run, and all profits will go to help kids in need. We hope to continue like this indefinitely, they explain.

For a pledge of A$30 or more, you can receive your own 4-pack of Monster Crayons, though shipping is only included within Australia. The campaign runs until March 14, 2016. McKechnie commented on the whole charitable project saying, Why we love it is because its like art therapy, as every drawing takes away the childs monster.

It is always encouraging to see 3D printing technologies and professional talents being put towards such good causes, and though Monster Crayons is a local Australian effort, we hope the plan is a model for other innovative minds and makers to put additive manufacturing technologies towards such a constructive cause.

For more, check out the video below:

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Feb 11, 2016 | By Alec

Over the past few weeks the world has been shocked by the outbreak of the Zika virus. Carried by mosquitoes, it can cause microcephaly in unborn babies, leaving them with an abnormally small head and prevents their brain from developing naturally. Having already affected more than 4,000 newborn babies in Brazil alone, its a serious health concern. While biomedical scientists everywhere are looking for solutions, a team of students from the University of Texas are working on their own weapon: a 3D printed test kit that enables you to see if the mosquitoes in your area carry the virus.

If fact, this is just a fortunate coincidence, as a team of undergrads in the Freshman Research Initiative at the University of Texas were already working on a tool for testing the mosquitoes in your own backyard for various viruses. Then, I heard it in the news and I was like, Wait we're working on that!' says student Rachel Boaz. That this DIY tool can also be used to locate the Zika virus is thus a very lucky opportunity, but is therefore not less impressive. As student Nicole Pederson describes the project, It's just a quick and really efficient way of being able to identify whether or not a mosquito is carrying a disease, she tells reporters from KeyeTV.

Whats more, this tool is actually a viable option for use in Latin America  ground zero for the virus  as well, as it has been completely designed to be cheap, portable and easy to use. They'd be able to tell right then in that particular area what's going on, Rachel Boaz reveals. The project is overseen by Tim Riedel, a research educator and clinical assistant professor in the University of Texas College of Natural Sciences, who emphasized that the entire concept and the current prototype has been entirely developed by his students.

So what is it? Well, the currently prototype is essentially a 3D printed box, with a scanning system featuring a heat source and LED lights. The patient is pressed inside, though theres a low survival rate. Literally, just squish it in there and be able to tell if it has certain diseases such as Zika [and] malaria, explains Boaz. The machine will read the DNA of the mosquito, and about an hour later the results will be revealed, with a bright light going off if the virus is detected. We're trying to keep it as simple as possible, adds Riedel.

Though its already working well, the team is aiming to develop a commercial machine that can be brought to market within the next few years. My parents are in the healthcare industry. They're nurses and they work on sick people a lot so I thought, 'Why don't I try doing something that relates to how to make their job easier, adds Jessica Popoola. It is thus a tool for the general healthcare industry, rather than an epidemic-fighting tool. With the help of an app, the results could be analyzed and sent to public health agencies for monitoring. Theoretically, the same principle could even be extended to testing bodily fluids or food for bacteria, thus truly democratizing healthcare. But in the meantime it would be fantastic if concerned pregnant women can benefit from this 3D printed tool.

Posted in 3D Printing Application

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Diane Purkiss at The Times Literary Supplement:

What fascinates Copenhaver is the overlap between magic and science. His anthology probes the moment when the author of a scientific encyclopedia wrote that the skin of a hyena will ward off the evil eye. Drawing on Max Webers idea of a disenchanted world, Copenhaver uses the unusual form of the anthology to trace the arc of disenchantment. Magic, Weber thought, was ritual while religion is ethical; magic coerces, but religion supplicates. Yet, by Webers standards, Moses and Jesus were magicians (as Christopher Marlowe also noted, allegedly saying that Moses was but a juggler, and one Harriot, Wat Raleghs man, can do more than he). Copenhaver seems unaware of other recent responses to Weberian thinking, notably Morris Bermans The Re-enchantment of the World (1981), which takes a hard and critical look at Cartesian rationality and materialism.

Yet Copenhavers choice of texts does little to unsettle the assumption that Protestants are sceptical. While Protestant polemicists went to inordinate lengths to portray their Catholic opponents as either jugglers or as actual Satan-worshippers, these endeavours did not make them appear rational, but simply fearful. Later, the idea of Catholic demon-worshippers was turned into the equally fictive idea of Catholic witch-hunters, even though many of the worst witch-hunts took place in Protestant-dominated places. For Whigs, magic eventually collapses into science, and alchemy into economics and mercantilism, while household theurgies are displaced by insurance policies and the welfare state. But what about all the people for whom this doesnt appear to have happened?

more here.
Paul Halpern in Medium:

The LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) project was proposed by physicist Rainer (Rai) Weiss of MIT, along with Kip Thorne, Ronald Drever, Rochus Vogt and other researchers at Caltech. Born in Berlin in 1932 to a politically active family, Weiss emigrated with them at a young age to the United States to escape the terrors of the Nazi regime. Weiss received his PhD at MIT, in the field of atomic physics under the supervision of Jerrold Zacharias.

Zacharias had dedicated himself to building high-precision timepieces based on the predictable rhythms of atoms, an extraordinarily important endeavor with broad implications for a variety of scientific fields. As Weiss related, even Einstein in his final years, while engrossed in the search for a unified field theory, expressed interest in the MIT project to develop such clocks. If such devices could be perfected, one of their possible applications would be precise measurement of the effects of gravitation on time. This would help provide further confirmation of general relativity. Zacharias proudly introduced his project to Weiss.

Jerrold said to me, recalled Weiss, that he had made himself a clock called the fountain clock, which was a brand new idea involving tossing atoms high into the air and timing them. The idea was to get a long observation time on the atom. He kept telling me that if we could get the clock running, I would travel to the Jungfraujoch, a scientific observatory high in the Swiss Alps. He would be with his clock in the valley and we would measure the Einstein redshift. Thats what set the bee in my bonnet about relativity. But the clock didnt work; it was a total failure.

Nevertheless, Weisss interest in experimental tests of general relativity only grew.

More here.
General election voter registration deadline is Monday

Voters have until 5 p.m. Monday to register to voter for items on the general election ballot.


Williamson provides More Base Load Feed

Perth, Feb 11, 2016 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Blackham Resources Ltd ( ASX:BLK ) ("Blackham") is pleased to announce the latest upgrade in resources at the Williamson Mining Centre which is part of Blackham's Matilda Gold Project. The resource update includes a revision of the geological interpretation and additional drilling undertaken in late 2015.



- Williamson resource increased to 7.1Mt @ 1.6g/t for 360,000oz



- Indicated resources increased to 3.3Mt @ 1.6g/t for 171,000oz



- Williamson DFS metallurgical test work confirms strong recoveries



- 95% Indicated resource in optimised pit



- Williamson DFS pit grows in size



- Large scale gravity programme almost complete



The new Williamson resource estimate (including the Williamson South Deposit) is 7.1Mt @ 1.6g/t Au for 360,000oz of which 3.3Mt @ 1.62 g/t Au for 171,000oz is now in the Indicated category. The increased confidence in the Williamson block model was the result of the inclusion of 5 Diamond and 41 Reverse Circulation (RC) holes that were drilled in late 2015.



The Williamson/Lake Way area is expected to be an important source of base load free milling ore to extend the mine life of the project. Williamson is a bulk-tonnage gold deposit with geological similarities to Thunderbox (Saracen Mineral Holdings) and Gruyere (Gold Road Resources) elsewhere in the Yilgarn region.



The Company has recently measured and analysed a low-grade stockpile containing 100,000t @ 1.4g/t for 4,500oz. This material is ready for haulage and early production of gold.



The Williamson Gold Mine is located 26km south of the Wiluna Gold Plant and is situated on an extension of the Wiluna Mine Sequence under the shallow alluvial cover of Lake Way. The Williamson deposit was mined by Agincourt Resources Limited between 2005 and 2006. A total of 663,871 tonnes at 1.98g/t for 42,353 ounces were extracted during this time. Extensions of mineralisation were identified up to 200m below the surface however further exploration halted after the project changed ownership later in 2007.



DFS Metallurgy test work confirms strong metallurgical recoveries



Williamson ore metallurgical test work has confirmed that it is free milling and estimated recoveries of 95%. Oxide gravity results in the Williamson oxide has confirmed 65 to 71% gravity recoveries and total recoveries of 98.3 to 99.5% after 24 hours of leaching. Previous feasibility work at Williamson by the prior operator saw Williamson gravity recoveries of 31 to 65%. Blackham's processing flowsheet for the Wiluna Gold Plant will see the addition of a gravity circuit which should add significantly to the Williamson total process recovery.



A diamond core program of 5 holes was completed to provide metallurgical samples to support the current DFS metallurgical test work. Williamson pit was previously mined by Agincourt Resources over 15 months during 2005 and 2006 for 663,871t @ 1.98g/t Au and a significant body of data is therefore available for use in the recently completed PFS and current DFS. The Williamson ore was previously processed through the Wiluna Plant without the benefit of a gravity circuit which is expected to enhance total recovery.



Exploration programmes underway



Prior to Blackham's ownership, no systematic regional exploration had taken place on the Project since Agincourt sold the project in 2007. The majority of the Williamson region is considered to be under-explored, and Blackham is nearing completion of a detailed ground-based gravity and seismic reflection survey over the Lake Way area to locate additional Williamson-style Au deposits under the alluvial cover. BLK has a 100% interest in the tenure which encompasses the Williamson deposit.



The gravity survey will provide an additional layer of subsurface information to map geology, structure and regolith to assist with targeting gold mineralisation. The gravity technique will assist in detecting low-density Au-mineralised granitic bodies that are not detectable in magnetic surveys, along with deep paleochannel axes, greenstone units and structures. The passive seismic survey is expected to differentiate between prospective low-density granitoids and non-prospective low-density paleochannels. The gravity survey is nearing completion in approximately one week, and will be followed by data interpretation and identification of targets for subsequent drill testing.



Technical Information



Williamson mineralisation occurs as weakly disseminated sulphides within a broad anomalous envelope around the north striking/east dipping monzogranite. Higher grade sulphide and visible gold mineralisation is associated with the shearing on the contacts of the granite and also within the main west dipping shear that intersects the monzogranite. Mineralisation within the monzogranite body varies from broad low grade disseminated sulphides in the monzogranite to high grade veins formed within fractures (possibly conjugate) containing visible gold. Alteration ranges from weak carbonate chlorite alteration distal to the main structure to strong hematite carbonate silica pyrite alteration associated with high grade mineralisation.



Blackham's drill database which includes RAB, Aircore, RC and Diamond Drill holes. The database has been maintained by company employees and has been internally audited prior to estimation. The deposits have been largely defined by RC drilling with lesser Diamond holes and geologically logged to form the basis of the geological interpretation. The Company has audited QA/QC of previous drilling where available. Assaying has been conducted by numerous reputable laboratories by industry-standard fire assay.



The interpretation of the mineralisation was carried out using a methodical approach to ensure continuity of the geology and estimated mineral resource using Surpac software. All available geological data was used in the interpretation including mapping, drilling, oxidation surfaces and interpretations of high grade ore shoots.



Only Diamond and RC drilling samples were used in the final estimate however all available grade control data was used in the geological assessment.



The Williamson Resource Estimate was completed using ordinary kriging. The search ellipses were based on the ranges of continuity observed in the variograms along with considerations of the drillhole spacing and lode geometry.



The classification for this model was predominantly based on the estimation pass. With the first pass relating to an Indicated resource where the drill spacing was predominantly less than 20m by 20m and continuity was strong. This was generally confined to the main lodes extending beneath the existing open pit. The Inferred resource includes the down depth and across strike lode extension and is predominantly based on the second and third pass of the estimate where drilling is more sparse. The classification of the blocks was also visually checked and adjusted to remove any "spotted dog" effects. No measured resources were reported.



Williamson has been reported with a 0.6g/t bottom cut above the 1290RL and 2.0g/t below the 1290RL. Blackham believes this approximates appropriate cut-offs for open pit and underground mining.



Blackham's drilling and mining studies have been focussed on adding further confidence as well as extensions to the Matilda Gold Project resources totalling 45Mt @ 3.2g/t for 4.7Moz. Williamson will provide further base load free-milling ore for the 1.3Mtpa Wiluna Gold Plant. The DFS is expected to be completed in February 2016.



The Matilda Gold Project now has 45Mt @ 3.2g/t for 4.7Moz of resource all within a 20 kilometres radius of Blackham's 100% owned Wiluna Gold Plant capable of 1.3Mtpa for over 100,000ozpa gold production. The Matilda Gold Project includes four large geological systems within the Wiluna Goldfield including the Matilda, Quartz Reefs, Wiluna and Lake Way systems. Measured and indicated resources now total 21Mt @ 3.4g/t for 2.3Moz.



To view tables and figures, please visit:

http://media.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/ASX-BLK-752443.pdf





About Wiluna Mining Corporation Ltd





Wiluna Mining Corporation (ASX:WMC) (OTCMKTS:WMXCF) is a Perth based, ASX listed gold mining company that controls over 1,600 square kilometres of the Yilgarn Craton in the Northern Goldfields of WA. The Yilgarn Craton has a historic and current gold endowment of over 380 million ounces, making it one of most prolific gold regions in the world. The Company owns 100% of the Wiluna Gold Operation which has a defined resource of 8.04M oz at 1.67 g/t au. In May 2019, a new highly skilled management team took control of the Company with a clear plan to leverage the Wiluna Gold Operation's multi-million-ounce potential.
ACAs library of educational tools help members improve their business practices. ACA also holds the most popular industry conferences and offers credentialing for collectors, attorneys, and more. ACAs Training Zone subscription gives agencies access to almost all of our education for one low cost.
Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew has reportedly fired off a letter to officials in the European Union complaining about recent tax investigations of U.S.-based multinationals like Apple, McDonalds, Amazon and Starbucks.

The letter was sent Thursday to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager, according to Reuters.

While we recognize that state aid is a longstanding concept, pursuing civil investigationspredominantly against U.S. companiesunder this new interpretation creates disturbing international tax policy precedents, he wrote. We respectfully urge you to reconsider this approach.

The European Commission has been probing special tax deals that some U.S.-based multinational companies have set up with some European countries with low tax rates such as Ireland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg (see EU Sets Sights on Forcing Firms to Pay Nations Tax Where Due). Juncker has also threatened to investigate Googles parent company Alphabets arrangement with the United Kingdom (see Googles Tax Deal with U.K. May Be Next in Line for EU Probe).

Lew's letter was obtained by Accounting Today. In it, Lew acknowledged the United States shares the EC's strong interest in preventing major multinational companies from shifting income from higher-tax countries to low- or no-tax jurisdictions. President Obama has proposed a robust business tax reform plan that would address this problem, and he repeatedly has urged our Congress to enact it into law as soon as possible, he wrote. Moreover, the United States has played a leading role in the G-20 and the OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project. The BEPS project has produced a broad set of measures to prevent and deter international corporate tax avoidance. Countries and companies around the world are responding by reforming their policies and behavior.

However, Lew said the U.S. is disappointed that the European Commissions Directorate-General for Competition, or DG COMP, appears to be pursuing enforcement actions that are inconsistent with, and likely contrary to, the BEPS project.

First, DG COMP has sought to impose penalties retroactively based on a new and expansive interpretation of state aid rules, said Lew. We appreciate that the state aid doctrine is a longstanding component of EU competition law. We also recognize that the selective application of tax rules could potentially constitute impermissible state aid. Our team is not aware, however, of any previous instance-in the many decades of state aid jurisprudence- in which DG COMP has applied its current theory of selectivity. Instead, DG COMP appears to be adopting an entirely new legal theory and applying it retroactively in a broad and sweeping manner. This raises serious concerns about fundamental fairness and the finality of tax rulings throughout the entire European Union.

Lew also argued that the Directorate-General appears to be targeting U.S. companies disproportionately. The legal theory underlying its investigations logically should apply to all multinational firms, not just those based in the United States, he wrote. Yet three of the four current transfer pricing cases reportedly involve Member State arrangements with U.S. firms. In addition, public reports suggest that DG COMP is seeking billions of dollars in penalties from U.S. firms-far more than what it is seeking from non-U.S. companies.

Lew contended that DG COMP's approach appears to target, in at least several of its investigations, income that EU member states have no right to tax under well-established international tax standards. U.S. multinationals generally do not conduct the cutting-edge research and development that creates substantial value in the European Union, and as a result, comparatively little of their income is attributable to their European operations, he said. We recognize that the U.S. system will only tax this income upon repatriation, and many U.S. firms are choosing to defer paying tax liabilities by keeping income overseas in low-tax jurisdictions. This is a serious problem that we seek to address through President Obama's business tax reform plan and the BEPS project. This problem, however, does not give Member States the legal right to tax this income. Doing so would directly harm U.S. taxpayers. When U.S. companies repatriate revenue- as tax reform proposals from both U.S. political parties would require them to do within a fixed timeframe any assessments paid to Member States could be eligible for foreign tax credits. This loss of revenue would impose a direct cost on American taxpayers.

Lew said the Directorate-Generals approach could undermine U.S. tax treaties with EU member states. As you know, Member States have exclusive authority over income tax under EU law, he pointed out. Accordingly, the United States does not have an income tax treaty with the European Union. DG COMP's new assertion of authority raises serious questions about this relationship and the finality of income taxation-related dealings with Member States. We expect that this new uncertainty could damage the business climate in Europe and deter foreign direct investment.

Last month, Robert Stack, the U.S. Treasurys deputy assistant secretary for international tax affairs, met with EU officials and relayed his concerns about the probes.

While in the Starbucks case, the sums were relatively modest, 20 million to 30 million euros, they may be substantially larger, perhaps in the billions in other cases, Stack told Bloomberg News. The retroactive application of these new approaches calls into question the basic fairness of these proceedings.

Lawmakers in the U.S. have also begun sounding the alarm about the probes. Last month, a group of senators from the Senate Finance Committee wrote to Lew warning the European Unions state aid investigations could lead to retroactive taxation on multinational enterprises and have an adverse impact on U.S.-based companies. They included Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and committee members Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Our concerns are driven not only by these initial cases, but also by the precedent they will set that could pave the way for the EU to tax the historical earnings of many more U.S. companiesin some cases, the earnings in question could have been generated up to a decade ago, they wrote. We urge Treasury to intensify its efforts to caution the EU Commission not to reach retroactive results that are inconsistent with internationally accepted standards and that the United States views such results as a direct threat to its interests. We also ask that you consider, under section 891, whether U.S. corporations are being subjected to discriminatory taxation.
An Internal Revenue Service employee who worked for the Taxpayer Advocate Service, where her job was to help taxpayers resolve their identity theft problems, pleaded guilty to stealing identities and orchestrating a tax-fraud scheme involving up to $1.5 million in fraudulent income tax returns.

Nakeisha Hall, 39, entered her guilty pleas Monday before U.S. District Judge Karon O. Bowdre to theft of government funds, aggravated identity theft, unauthorized access to a protected computer and conspiracy to commit bank fraud and mail fraud affecting a financial institution. She acknowledged in her plea that the tax fraud conspiracy had an intended loss to the IRS of between $550,000 and $1.5 million. Hall agreed to restitution and forfeiture of $438,187, representing funds actually paid out by IRS as a result of the scheme. Halls sentencing is scheduled June 29.

Hall worked in the Taxpayer Advocate Service office in Birmingham from July 2007 to November 2011. Since November 2011, Hall has worked in TAS offices in Omaha, Neb., New Orleans, La., and Salt Lake City, Utah. TAS is responsible for assisting taxpayers who are having difficulties with the IRS. TAS works with victims of identity theft and assists them in removing fraudulent tax information from their accounts and in filing corrected tax returns, if necessary.

Ms. Hall used her IRS access to compromise taxpayers identities and try to steal more than $1 million dollars from the U.S. Treasury, said U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama Joyce White Vance in a statement. Taxpayers must be able to trust that IRS employees will protect their sensitive information, not steal it and corrupt it for personal gain. I thank the TIGTA and IRS-CI investigators who helped my office ensure that this crime was prosecuted and punished.

A federal grand jury in December indicted Hall, along with Jimmie Goodman, 37, and Abdulla Coleman, 37, both of Birmingham, Ala., on charges they took part in the scheme, which operated out of Birmingham between 2008 and 2011 (see IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service Employee Charged in Identity Theft Scheme). The scheme involved stealing personal identity information from the IRS to create fraudulent tax returns, and collecting the stolen refunds that were generated. A separate indictment charged another co-conspirator, Lashon Roberson, 36, of Pelham, Ala., with the conspiracy and four counts of mail fraud affecting a financial institution. Roberson is scheduled to plead guilty on Wednesday.

Goodman is scheduled for trial Feb. 29, and Coleman is to be arraigned on the charges against him on Thursday, after being arrested in Madison, Wis., and transferred to the Northern District of Alabama.

According to the indictments and Halls plea, Hall, Goodman, Coleman, Roberson and at least one other individual, conspired to defraud both the IRS and financial institutions, including Bancorp Bank, between January 2008 and November 2011, and used the U.S. mail to execute the fraud. Hall, Goodman, Coleman and Roberson also conspired to obtain money from Bancorp Bank and other financial institutions. Bancorp Bank and other financial institutions issue stand-alone debit cards for the purpose of accepting tax refunds.

According to prosecutors, Hall obtained individuals names, birth dates and Social Security numbers through unauthorized access to IRS computers. She used the personal identity information to prepare fraudulent income tax returns and submitted them electronically to the IRS. Hall asked the IRS to pay the refunds onto debit cards and directed that the cards be mailed to drop addresses that she controlled. She solicited and received drop addresses from Goodman, Coleman, Roberson and at least one other person. Her co-conspirators also collected the refund cards from the mail.

Hall activated the cards by using stolen identity information. She, Goodman, Coleman, Roberson and the unnamed co-conspirator allegedly took the money off the debit cards at ATMs or used the cards for purchases. If the fraudulent returns generated U.S. Treasury checks rather than the requested debit cards, Hall and her co-conspirators used fraudulent endorsements in order to cash the checks. Hall compensated Goodman, Coleman, Roberson and the fifth co-conspirator by giving them a portion of the refund money, or by giving them refund cards for their own use.

Abusing her position with the Internal Revenue Service, Ms. Hall stole the identities of taxpayers through unauthorized access to IRS computers and filed false tax returns seeking more than a million dollars in tax refunds, said Karl A. Stiften, special agent in charge of IRS Criminal Investigations St. Louis Field Office. This defendant systematically defrauded the government and blatantly disregarded the victims of her scheme.

The theft, aggravated identity, and unauthorized access counts relate to two specific taxpayers information that Hall accessed and used in 2010.

The conspiracy charge carries a penalty of up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The maximum prison penalty for theft of government funds is 10 years in prison. Aggravated identity theft carries a mandatory two-year prison term, which must be served consecutively to any other sentence imposed in the case, and unauthorized access to a protected computer carries a maximum five-year prison term. All three charges carry a maximum $250,000 penalty.

IRS Criminal Investigation and the Treasury Inspector Generation for Tax Administration investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Erica Williamson Barnes is prosecuting.
The Senate has included a permanent ban on taxes for Internet service within a larger trade enforcement bill that was passed Thursday.

The bill also included a prohibition on charging extra taxes for buying goods and services online rather than in a physical store.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., praised the inclusion of the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act within the larger trade enforcement legislation, known as the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015. He co-authored the original Internet Tax Freedom Act in 1998 with former Congressman Chris Cox, R-Calif.

The law has since been extended 11 times to extend the ban, but the new bill would permanently ban taxes on Internet access. The Senate approved the permanent ban by a 75-20 vote. The legislation has already been approved in the House and will head to President Obamas desk for his signature. He is expected to sign it into law.

Right now most Americans pay $0 in taxes to connect to the Internet, Wyden wrote in a post on the website Medium. And thanks to a bill that passed today, you will never have to pay taxes just to get online, or pay more taxes for goods and services just because theyre bought online.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has also long been an original co-sponsor of legislation to permanently bar state and local governments from taxing access to the Internet. Most people agree that Internet access is something we want to encourage, he said in a statement. Whether we use online access for work, education or recreation, we want the access, period. The more affordable Internet service is, the more people who will be able to get online. Making the state and local tax ban permanent is good news for consumers. It sends the message that a resource like the Internet ought to be available as widely as possible, and that taxes shouldnt be a barrier.

Proponents of legislation to standardize sales taxes for online purchases are still hoping to get their bill passed. The Senate passed the Marketplace Fairness Act in 2013, but it was never taken up in the House under former Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio. A retail industry group is pushing the current Congress, now led by House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ken., to revive the bill.

Leader McConnells commitment to work with Senate advocates of e-Fairness legislation and schedule a vote this year is a welcome sign for advocates of a level playing field, Retail Industry Leaders Association executive vice president of government affairs Jennifer Safavian said in a statement Thursday following passage of the legislation banning taxes on Internet access. Retailers want a true free market and a tax code that treats all businesses equally. Given the exponential growth of online and mobile retail, it makes no sense to continue subsidizing online-only sellers with special tax treatment. Every retailer should be given the opportunity to compete for customers on price, selection, convenience and customer service--government tax policy should not be picking winners and losers. We urge Speaker Ryan to make a similar commitment to allow his colleagues in the House to vote on legislation closing the online sales tax loophole by the end of this year."
Delivering the valedictory address at the 10th India Digital Summit of IAMAI, Minister of State for Finance, Shri. Jayant Sinha, reiterated the governments firm commitment of transformation of India. According to Shri. Sinha, There are 3 vectors for the transformation  Internet & Mobile; Green Technology and Transportation. All of them are inter-linked and technology is the secret sauce for Indias transformation.

During his address, Shri. Sinha said that because of the Jan Dhan programme, every Indian can have a bank account. He went on to say, If you look at it, it is technology which is driving most of the programmes of the government. The Social Security Platform, which the government is working on is dependent on technology. Technology will be pivotal for Social Security, as it will enable a transparent system with digital audit trail. Shri. Sinha stressed that protecting and safeguarding privacy of the data was paramount and the government will ensure it is protected.

Shri. Sinha highlighted once the architecture of the Social Security Platform is ready, the government will be reaching to various stakeholders for inputs. Touching on start-ups, Shri. Sinha said, India is going to be the entrepreneur engine catering to 6 billion people of the world.

Comment on net neutrality, Shri. Sinha said, Access to high speed broadband should be available to every citizen, without any restrictions.

Earlier during the day, addressing the India Digital Summit, Rajeev Chandrashekhar, M.P.  Rajya Sabha, said, Net neutrality as an issue was there for a while. What the regulator has done is great but differential pricing has not been defined properly.

Speaking at a session Saurabh Garg, Jt. Secretary, Ministry of Finance, More than 95% consumer transactions is cash form. Non-cash payments still to penetrate rural areas. There are various benefits of cashless transactions as the printing cost will also go down which is a win-win situation for both. Infrastructure of being able to use cards. Point of Sale machine needs to be get on place. There are many issues related to Security like theft which we will have to look into going forward.

Earlier in the day, a report titled Tapping the MSME Potential by IAMAI  IMRB, which talks about building online presence amongst MSME businesses in India. According to the Report 61% of the India MSMEs believe that it is important to have an online identity for their business.
WPP-Kantars brand, communications and media research unit, Millward Brown conducted its annual media gathering  Millward Brown Media Conclave 2016 in Mumbai. This years event focussed on the growing importance of Digital in the larger media mix and played host to some of the countrys top most CMOs, Media Heads and Media Insights leads.

From the complexities of consumer journey marketing, the constantly evolving media mix and the challenges in programmatic buying, there is an interesting content versus context battle underway. All of these were discussed as part of the conclave. In the words of Mark Henning, Head of Media & Digital, Millward Brown (AMAP): We at Millward Brown have focused on the growing importance for brands to manage content to be delivered in the right context. In India, we have invested in campaign measurement capabilities that will be available to advertisers, agnostic of whether their campaigns are static or programmatic.

The Media and Digital team at Millward Brown collated and mined close to 130+ Indian campaigns theyve evaluated in the recent past. A consolidated analysis of the studies, revealed some thought provoking insights. Some of the findings include,

 Digital adds newer audiences, incremental to the reach delivered by the traditional media channels

 Despite low internet penetration, digital campaigns tend to drive female audiences; especially favourability towards brands and Purchase Intent

 Performance of made-for-web ads has been observed to be far higher than repurposed ads for video campaigns

 Mobile ad campaigns perform as well as the Desktop ad campaigns

Ashish Karnad, Director, Media & Digital Solutions at Millward Brown (South Asia) said Marketers in India have not been able to keep up to speed with the growth of the Digital medium. While I see an intent to spend more on Digital, the actual spends tell a different story. We, at Millward Brown, have been doing studies on the efficacy of the digital medium for some time now. We now have quantified evidence to prove that Digital is a very cost efficient medium and can be very effective in building brand metrics across the purchase funnel.

At the event, Millward Brown also took the opportunity to launch the India chapter of its global partnership with ComScore to announce a joint offering. The partnership, to jointly offer vCE (validated Campaign Essentials) and Brand Lift Insight is designed to give brands a far deeper understanding of how their digital campaigns are performing.

Meheer Thakare, Head of Digital Solutions at Millward Brown (South Asia) said, The rise in programmatic media buying has fuelled the need for accountability of the overall media execution of digital campaigns. A successful digital campaign is a product of both, effective media delivery as well as the capability to change brand perceptions. And while everyone likes big and positive campaign numbers, chasing brand performances based on suboptimal media execution is like hoping for miracles.
BankBazaar.com, the leading online financial marketplace, has been adjudged as the Best Financial Website by the Internet and Mobile association of India (IAMAI). The award was announced at the 6th edition of the India Digital Awards held as part of the 10th India Digital Summit at New Delhi on 10 February 2016.

On the occasion, Adhil Shetty, CEO, BankBazaar.com said: I thank the jury for choosing us. We are happy to get this recognition from such a prestigious association like the IAMAI. We are a bunch of motivated, enthusiastic people, and awards such as this one encourage is to do more of what we are doing. This award is for the entire BankBazaar team, which has been working day in and day out to provide a seamless experience to our customers and make buying financial products as simple as shopping.

Rati Shetty, Chief Product Officer, BankBazaar.com, added: It has been our constant endeavor to deliver a simplified solution to those who are in the journey of personal finance shopping. With our core obsessions on the customer & focus on building a product that is simple, efficient, and goal-oriented, this award is a testimonial to our efforts. Were very grateful to have our efforts recognized and will continue to strive towards delighting our customers in their journey to find their financial products.

Founded in January 2004 by leading portals in India, the IAMAI is the only specialized not-for-profit industry body in India representing the interests of online and mobile value-added services industry. The association addresses the issues, concerns, and challenges of the Internet and Mobile economy, and takes a leading role in its development.With over 5,000,000 unique visitors a month comparing and applying for financial products from more than 50 financial institutions comprising the biggest nationalized and private banks, NBFCs, and insurance companies in India, BankBazaar.com is the largest online marketplace for financial products in India.

This is the first time BankBazaar.com is participating in the Digital India Awards by IAMAI. There were four other short-listed contenders in the Best Financial Website category. Apart from the Digital India Awards, the India Digital Summit also hosted a series of panel discussion. Some of the key takeaways included the constant need to listen to customers even when you are a mature organization and the importance of an organization having a clear-cut vision and purpose to impart to its employees to be able to hire and retain the best talent.
The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has announced that it will honour industry great Marcello Serpa with the Lion of St. Mark at this years Festival.

The Lion of St. Mark recognises individuals who have made significant and outstanding contributions to creativity across our industry, said Philip Thomas, CEO, Cannes Lions. Marcellos achievements are known the world over, but perhaps most notably he was responsible for taking home Latin Americas first Grand Prix in 1993. Hes since served on juries four times, twice as president, and during his tenure, AlmapBBDO won Agency of the Year three times.

After successes at GGK, DPZ and DM9, Serpa moved to AlmapBBDO in 1993, where together with Jose Luiz Madeira, they brought the agency out of deep decline and built it into one of the most successful agencies in Sao Paulo. Over two decades later, Serpa is recognised as the most awarded art director in Brazil, having won more than 160 Lions. His Grand Prix winning work has included the 1993 print campaign for Guarana and the 2010 print campaign for Billboard, Britney, Eminem, Marilyn, Bono and Amy.

Thomas continued, My strongest memory of Marcello is when he was President of the Press Jury in 2013  as the Jury introduced themselves one by one, they were clearly more honoured to have him as their leader than they were even to have been chosen for the Jury in the first place. He truly epitomises what this award stands for.

Speaking about the award, Serpa said, "My life and career would be completely different, and probably a bit boring, if Cannes Lions did not exist. Those small stairs to the stage are connected to me and I have always watched with envy and admiration some creative legends stand at the top of them. I feel honoured, dizzy and extremely happy to be recognised as a stand-out within the industry. This award is like giving a shot of adrenaline directly into the ego of anyone in the business.

Serpa will be presented with the Lion of St. Mark during the awards ceremony on Saturday 25 June. Cannes Lions offers an annual meeting place for the global creative communications industry and will take place from 18-25 June in Cannes, France.


Mumbai, February 11, 2016: HDFC Life and Leo Burnett have taken a strong step towards providing a new digital platform to the customers, enabling them to leave behind more than just money.

The digital platform called #MemoriesForLife allows the man of the house to record little anecdotes, words of wisdom and life lessons, so that he continues to guide his loved ones in his absence.

The idea comes from the customer understanding that, often, a lot is left unsaid in the strife for securing the future of loved ones. Heres how it works: Record your message on the #MemoriesForLife platform, set the date and time you want your loved one to receive it and HDFC Life is committed to ensure its delivery.

This is a strategic move to shift insurance from a transactional space to an emotional space, and to remind the man of the house that he means a lot more to his family than just money. This digital platform will be launched via an integrated campaign designed for both offline and online media.

With this, Leo Burnett continues to create acts and solutions that trigger a larger and much sought-after change for brands.

The agencys idea to roll this digital platform out received an instant nod from the leading life insurance company, making it the first ever brand in the banking and insurance category to pass on memories, helping the hard to replace man leave behind much more than his financial legacy.

Sanjay Tripathy, Senior EVP, Head Marketing, Products, Digital & E-commerce, HDFC Life, says, We at HDFC Life believe that todays hard-to replace individuals are far more important to their families than just their financial legacy. With #MemoriesForLife, we have made a strategic move to shift life insurance from a transactional space to a more emotional one in the form of a time capsule. Also, this bolsters our position as a leader in the digital space improving the online end-to-end customer experience. Most of all, #Memories ForLife is a new opportunity for us to reinforce our brand promise of Sar Utha Ke Jiyo in our customers lives where they can record lifes little and big lessons to help their loved ones lead a life of pride forever.

The brand film narrates the story of a young successful executive who forgoes a business trip to Singapore to spend his special day, his birthday with his mother. It is later revealed that it was after watching a poignant video of his fathers words of wisdom, recorded when he was 17 years old (10 years back), that propelled him towards this different path. The narrative emphasizes the power of the individual to guide his family through lifes many challenges, even in his absence.

RajDeepak Das, Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett, says, For HDFC Life, this year we are helping them launch a new product in form of a strong engagement platform. Memories for Life is a great example of how we are pushing the bar in bringing innovation, co-creation and creative thinking together to build HumanKind brands.

Our idea was to bring HDFC Lifes Sar Utha Ke Jiyo philosophy into practice. In our busy lives we often lose out on special moments with our loved ones. This film subtly reminds us about that, without losing the Sar Utha Ke Jiyo lens of the brand.


The General Body of the Asian Federation of Advertising Associations (AFAA) at its 19th General Body meeting held recently in Taipei elected Mr. Raymond So, representing the Taipei Association of Advertising Agencies (TAAA) as the Chairman of its Executive Committee for a period of four years. Mr. Srinivasan K Swamy representing the Advertising Council of India was elected (ACI) Vice Chairman. Mr. Ramesh Narayan also representing ACI was elected Chief Strategy Officer.



Raymond said I am delighted to be elected the new Chairman of AFAA. AFAA has taken many successful new initiatives in the past four years with the support of our members. Ill work to further unify our member associations to address key issues and opportunities in advertising in the new digital world. We will work together to use our professional knowledge and skills to bring meaningful contributions to both regional and national socio-economic development.



Mr. Swamy said It is an honour to be elected the Vice Chairman of AFAA. Our goal will be to take the excellent work done by AFAA members to new heights across Asia. I look forward to greater cooperation and participation from all member countries." He reiterated AFAA'S involvement in the IAA Olive Crown awards in India and said this was an example of how industry

associations could jointly work on issues of common interest. He also lauded the role of the Advertising Council of India in actively supporting AFAA 's FastTrack program that helps young professionals in our industry.



The new four-person Executive Committee consists of

Chief Strategy Officer: Ramesh Narayan Advertising Council of India

Chief Revenue Officer: Lee Soon Dong Korea Federation of Advertising Associations

Chief Knowledge Officer: Bharat Avalani Malaysian Advertisers Association

Chief Marketing Officer: Harris Thajeb Komisi Periklanan Indonesia



AFAA is well known in the Asian region for the biennial AFAA AdAsia Congress its members organize. AdAsia 2017 will be held in the magical island of Bali in November. AFAA has also helped incubate the DigiAsia (14-17 November, 2016 in Taipei) and the AFAA FastTrack, a professional training programme which will be held early next year in Kuala Lumpur.
First simulated F-35A deployment conducted at Mountain Home AFB

A much anticipated and important test mission for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program is underway with the "deployment" of six operational test and evaluation F-35s and more than 85 Airmen from the 31st Test and Evaluation Squadron, who arrived Feb. 8-9.



This is the first simulated deployment test of the F-35A Lightning II, specifically to execute three key initial operational capability mission sets: suppression of enemy air defenses, close air support and air interdiction.



The 31st TES will execute each of these in a limited scope from a "deployed" location for this test. The deployed location is Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho. The 31st TES at Edwards AFB falls under the 53rd Wing at Eglin AFB, Florida, which is leading the test design, management and execution of the F-35A deployment test.



The achievements of an F-35A squadron testing ability to deploy, employ and sustain operations will set the benchmark capability for the Air Force to declare F-35A initial operational capability scheduled for this fall, according to the 53rd Wing.



During the test at Mountain Home AFB, the aircraft will be engaged in simulated combat scenarios to exercise representative mission processes such as tasking, execution, debrief and intelligence reporting. The test team will be working to capture a broad spectrum of capabilities and limitations of the F-35 system to include both operations and maintenance. The team will focus on areas such as mission planning, scheduling, weapons building/loading, sortie generation, life support, mission employment, debrief and aircraft turn.



Nellis AFB in Nevada will serve as a simulated remote air operations center for the deployed environment. Mountain Home AFB is providing a secure location with ranges to employ fourth-generation aircraft as well. The F-35As will integrate with F-15E Strike Eagles from the 366th Fighter Wing at Mountain Home AFB and A-10 Thunderbolt IIs from the 124th Fighter Wing at Gowen Field, Idaho.



The entire test event is expected to last about a month.



(Editors note: Information for this article was provided by the 53rd Wing at Eglin AFB)
F-35 program moving forward, addressing challenges

The F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter Program is moving forward while addressing various challenges, the program's executive officer said Feb. 10.



"In the big picture, I would tell you that the program right now is accelerating, growing and changing," Lt. Gen. Christopher C. Bogdan said at a media roundtable in Arlington, Virginia.



He detailed a number of challenges in the program, including incorporating fixes to address the current flight restrictions on lightweight pilots.



"The mark of a good program is you find the problems, you solve the problems and you keep the program moving forward without derailing it," he said.



The development program, he said, is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2017.



"What we're trying to do right now is work toward that very large $50-plus-billion contract and turn that into a modernization program," he said, adding that the program will have to be more efficient than has been the case in the last 15 or more years.



Addressing issues, moving forward



The program currently has 419 deficiencies to be corrected, Bogdan said, explaining that the figure is "not that many." Despite the challenges, he added, the program is advancing.



"We are making progress, the general said. Sometimes it's not as fast as we want. Sometimes it's messy. Sometimes we have setbacks.



The problems include issues with software, hardware, and the Autonomic Logistics Information System. He noted that 700 to 800 deficiencies already have been addressed.



Possible dangers for lightweight pilots



Due to a possible risk of neck injury should ejection be necessary, lightweight pilots are restricted from flying the F-35s. For a pilot weighing between 103 and 136 pounds, Bogdan said, the odds of that person having to eject and then being injured in the ejection are one in 50,000.



The changes being implemented include a "heavy/light" weight switch, the general said. When in the "light" position, the seat would delay the parachute's extraction by milliseconds if the pilot had to eject, so the shock and stress on the neck would be reduced, he explained.



A restraining device also was sewn into the risers behind the parachute so that if a lightweight pilot were to eject at a "weird angle" it would stop the pilot's head from going backward, he added.



The head restraint and the seat switch have been tested, and they work, he said, adding that those fixes are ready to go into the field and in production by the end of the year.



Meanwhile, Bogdan said, the helmet's weight has to be reduced from 5.1 pounds to between 4.6 and 4.8 pounds. That change is lagging behind the other fixes by at least eight or nine months.



"I don't like that," he added, noting that all three solutions must be in place before the restriction on lightweight pilots can be lifted.



Air Force deferring orders



Bogdan said the Air Force's recent announcement that it intends to buy 43, rather than 48, F-35s in fiscal year 2017 is "almost a non-news event." The Air Force is deferring purchases, not cutting airplanes, he explained.



The Navy kept its fiscal 2017 C models of the jet at four, and the Marine Corps went from 14 to 16 airplanes for the B model, he said, noting that amounts to a net loss of three airplanes for the U.S. services.



The program plans to deliver more than 870 airplanes over the next six years, Bogdan said, adding that one can "barely measure" the reduction from the Air Force in that timeframe, he said.



The general said he is looking at the program "holistically," taking into account international partners as well as possible future customers.
A series of mobile applications developed by the 367th Training Support Squadron at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is giving Airmen ready access to Air Force standards, culture and basic doctrine.While the unit -- part of the 82nd Training Wings 782nd Training Group at Sheppard AFB, Texas -- typically focuses on computer-based training in support of aircraft maintenance, its unique skill set proved a perfect match when the Air Force was looking for a way to put the little blue book and other core Air Force documents literally into the hands of Airmen.Our focus is mainly on developing computer-based training or videos for maintainers on the flightline, said Tech. Sgt. Kaimi Pacheco, the app designer. So developing mobile apps is a little out of the norm for us, which is challenging. The other products we create are mostly linear, or step by step, in nature, but when youre developing apps you have to include functionality that lets the user go in many different directions.Still, the team was confident it could not only get the job done, but get it done quickly and exceed expectations.The little blue book was the first project, which they completed on a tight timeline to coincide with the books release, said Tech. Sgt. Zach Davis, the Android developer.It was definitely a challenge, he continued. But with our strong, cohesive teams and individual commitment to the project, we were confident we could satisfy all the requirements, and even exceed a few.One way they exceeded expectations was by adding audio narration for all the text included in the app.Thats not something we routinely incorporate into our products, said Master Sgt. Kasey Lynch, the project manager, and it did prove challenging. Once we started producing audio assets we realized how much work goes into producing a perfect vocal narration -- varying vocal inflections, correct enunciation of words, consistent volume and even consistent pauses.The most critical audio decision was choosing the voice actor.We needed someone with a pleasing sound, but who had a neutral accent that would appeal to the widest audience, Lynch said. Now we jokingly refer to our voice actor -- Staff Sgt. Scott Summers -- as The Voice of the Air Force.The variety of devices and screen sizes was another issue the team had to consider.Developing mobile apps requires a lot more graphics support than a computer-based product, because we have to produce multiple versions of the same image to ensure the app looks good and works correctly for every potential device, said Tech. Sgt. Rudy Gonzalez, a graphic designer.Despite the challenges, the team completed the application on time and ensured it was available for Apple and Android devices when the book was released to the Air Force."The team truly came together to deliver an excellent product for our Air Force and Airmen, said Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force James A. Cody, who worked with the team to finalize the app. Thanks to their hard work, our Airmen now have access to the little blue book in a format they often prefer.The success of the little blue book app led to three additional projects for the 367th TSS:- Air Force Instruction 1-1, Air Force Culture: Air Force Standards, which is complete and available on Apple and Android markets (search for AFI 1-1)- Air Force Instruction 1-2, Air Force Culture: Commanders Responsibilities, also complete and available for Apple and Android (search for AFI 1-2)- The Professional Airmans Development Guide, which is given to new recruits in delayed enlistment status to help them prepare for basic military training, is 80 percent complete and in validation by Air Force Recruiting Service.

To download these apps, go to the Google Play Store on Android devices or the App Store on Apple iOS devices.
Curing todays IT blues and building tomorrows cyber force

You have been at your desk for hours, typing away. Suddenly, your computer screen turns blue. Your palms start to sweat, knees grow weak, arms get heavy and heart starts beating faster than the speed of sound. You were so focused on the task at hand, you dont remember if you saved your work. You think you did, but self-doubt fills every ounce of your being.



Some, if not most, of us have been through this nightmarish scenario. And most of us turned to the reliable and hard-working professionals of the Air Force Reserve Commands A6 Communications Directorate for help.



AFRC A6 is there to provide assistance and solutions for every computer issue, from system migration and software updates to slow-running computers and log-in issues.



Perhaps the most well-known office in A6 is the Comm Focal Point, a help desk that assists customers in solving every computer problem imaginable. If you need help with SharePoint, A6 is there to help.



Headquarters personnel might think that A6 exists, for the most part, to help them.



Yet, there is more to A6 than meets the eye. The organizations mission extends well beyond the headquarters at Robins Air Base, Georgia.



The A6 Directorate helps the warfighter fly, fight and win domestically and in international operations through providing those highly equipped and highly trained cyber professionals to all the missions that the Air Force does globally, said Col. David Schilling, director of A6 and chief information officer for AFRC.



In addition to the myriad of information assurance tasks and responsibilities A6 performs for 35 wings and approximately 70,000 personnel located throughout the United States, the Directorate also works closely with the 24th Air Force, developing the team to man, train and equip the cyber Citizen Airmen of the Air Force Reserve.



These cyber Citizen Airmen enable counter cyber operations against our nations adversaries, offensive cyber operations support to combatant commanders, and defensive cyber operations for Department of Defense and Air Force networks.



We do our share of protecting the DoD information networks. So, as we begin to connect our network throughout the Department of Defense, there is an effort to inspect those networks to ensure that all the services are doing the best that they can to protect those networks, said Schilling.



Currently there are 127 Airmen integrated in three cyber protection teams.



Those cyber professionals, Reservists, are sitting right next to their active-duty counterparts, sitting on the cyber operations floor doing active missions within the cyber domain on a day-to-day basis, 24/7, said Schilling.



The mission of A6 is to ensure cyber Citizen Airmen remain an integrated, flexible and combat-ready force.



In todays fight, data is power! And the data resides within the cyber domain. So we need to work vigilantly every day to ensure that we are doing everything we can to protect the data within the cyber domain, said Schilling.



Whether troubleshooting and fixing information technology matters for the AFRC community or providing competent cyber Citizen Airmen to the active Air Force and the Total Joint Force, A6 is hard at work every day playing its part in building our future force to ensure the information security of our nation.



Stay tuned for more on how the information technology and communications professionals of this directorate ensure information assurance as well as offer cures for the case of the computer blues.


Air Force announces stand up of Integrated Wing

The Air Force will stand up an Integrated Wing pilot program at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina, according to Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James.



"The Air Force remains on its flight path toward increasing our effectiveness and efficiency as an integrated total force service while meeting our nation's military objectives," James said. "The Integrated Wing concept is an opportunity to more fully integrate and break down barriers between the components as we operate as one Air Force."



The I-Wing concept evolved from an extensive review and analysis of Congress National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force report, originally delivered in 2014. The I-Wing is an in-garrison model designed to better leverage the strengths of each component while balancing capacity, capability and readiness. Although there are several possible I-Wing models, all are designed to functionally integrate similar organizations and streamline chains of command in order to more effectively meet mission requirements. In our current fiscally constrained environment, initial analysis suggests this new total force construct could help the Air Force more effectively provide mission capability and capacity at best value.



The I-Wing is scheduled for initial operational capability in fiscal year 2017. If successful, this model has the potential, together with the highly successful unit associate program, to offer home station commanders another organizational construct to meet mission requirements. The testing phase is expected to take three years, but planners will adjust the timeline as necessary. Lessons learned from the initial I-Wing testing will influence the scope and timing of follow-on locations.



We are excited about this opportunity to test our highly successful active association at the 916th (Air Refueling Wing) with a new Integrated Wing model, said Lt. Gen. James F. Jackson, the chief of Air Force Reserve. This pilot program will determine whether additional synergies can be garnered at this unit during the test and whether any lessons learned are repeatable at other locations in the Air Force.



The I-Wing structure will not be identical, nor implemented, at every location due to the complexities inherent in each organization. It is also not designed to replace successful unit organizations. Factors such as location, mission, airframe, and composition will necessitate tailoring the exact structure and framework to effectively accomplish the mission while still taking care of our Airmen and families.



Currently, Air Reserve component and active component Airmen are working together in an active association at Seymour Johnson AFB. The 911th Air Refueling Squadron, an active component tanker unit, functionally falls within the organization of the 916th ARW, an Air Force Reserve Command wing, but reports administratively to the 6th Air Mobility Wing at MacDill AFB, Florida. Under the current construct, the organizations work together but are administratively separate, with two corresponding chains of command. In the new I-Wing model, all units will effectively function as a single organization to accomplish the mission.



"The Air Force is always looking for ways to better integrate our components, from the Air Staff to the tactical level. It's all about making the Air Force more effective and efficient," said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III. "We believe the Integrated Wing is one of the concepts that will take us to the next level of that effort."



Specific implementation details, such as final wing structure, unit manning documents, and required exceptions to policy are still in concept development, and courses of action will be finalized prior to the I-Wings initial operating capability date.


(This feature is part of the " Through Airmen's Eyes " series. These stories focus on individual Airmen, highlighting their Air Force story.)Winter is the busiest time of year at a black history museum here named after its founder -- a city native and retired Airman, who remains the driving force behind the collection of more than 5,000 items, most of them acquired locally.We have so many visitors in February for Black History Month that we cant handle them all, retired Chief Master Sgt. James Roosevelt Jack Hadley said. We have to ask some to come in March.The 79 year olds personal touch is all over the Jack Hadley Black History Museum, which is housed in a former elementary school. As part of its monthlong tribute to African-Americans, it will host a free Buffalo Soldier Heritage Festival 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 27. Dr. Tom Phillips, co-author of The Black Regulars: 1866-1898, will talk about the original Buffalo Soldiers, blacks who served in the Army on the western frontier in the ensuing decades after the Civil War. Buffalo Soldier re-enactors will participate at the fest, as will members of a national motorcycle club named after the historic black GIs.Hadley tends constantly to the collection, said retired Air Force Reserve Senior Master Sgt. Walter Leslie, a member of the museums board of directors.He is the go-to guy for local black history. Its his passion, Leslie said.Hadley grew up at Pebble Hill, a former Thomasville cotton plantation. Three decades after slavery was abolished, the property was purchased by an Ohio family who ran it for decades as a shooting estate where wealthy northerners hunted quail as an escape from frigid winters. It was still being used largely for hunting at the time of Hadleys birth in 1936. The property now hosts tours, arts events, weddings and other celebrations.Hadley joined the Air Force upon graduating Thomasvilles Frederick Douglass High School in 1956, eight years after President Harry Truman integrated the military services via an executive order.I was a supply guy, logistics, a box kicker, he said. I knew I had to bust my (butt), being black, to get recognized.He married a classmate, Christine Jackson, who had grown up on a different Thomasville plantation, Greenwood. They raised three children and moved 14 times during Hadleys 28-year career. He started to develop a deeper interest in the American experience and achievements of those from his race in the late 1970s when he helped his son, Jim, put together a black history project for a school assignment when the family lived in Wiesbaden, West Germany. Hadley later presented it at his squadron before storing it for future use.After retiring, the Hadleys returned to Thomasville, and the chief went to work for the U.S. Postal Service. He displayed the research project at a church, where it caught the eye of the director of the Thomasville Cultural Center for the Arts and Heritage Foundation, who invited him to participate in the citys Black History Month events. He started to collect local items of black history and eventually had so much that he began to think of how best to share it with others.Hadley signed a deed for the school property in 2003, paying $10 for the 7-acre site and $10 for surplus furniture. He raised $82,000 in the next few years, enough for the museum to open its doors in December 2006. He estimated that two-thirds of the collection is material from the surrounding area, giving visitors a feel for the lives of local African-Americans from slavery, through the post-Civil War Reconstruction period and into the Jim Crow era. Hadley experienced the latter firsthand as a child and teen. The museum features extensive information about early black educators in Thomas County and has a tribute to Dr. Carter G. Woodson, an author and historian who, in 1926, started a weeklong celebration of black history that expanded to Black History Month 50 years later.Hadley co-authored the 2000 book African-American Life On the Southern Hunting Plantation with Dr. Titus Brown, associate professor of African-American history at Florida A&M University, after conducting many interviews with his elders from Pebble Hill and surrounding plantations.Leslie, the museum board member and retired Airman, is a native of La Grange, Georgia. He moved to Thomasville, his wifes hometown, in 2012 after 26 years in California where he worked in information management before becoming a unit historian at March Air Reserve Base.I hated history in high school, Leslie said. The Air Force made me like it.An acquaintance introduced him to Hadley, who persuaded him to help at the museum.His enthusiasm was contagious. It was overwhelming. I couldnt say no to him, said Leslie, 56, who works at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University in Tallahassee, Florida.He occasionally shadows Hadley as he leads tours, trying to absorb all of his knowledge.Im not there yet, Leslie said. Sometimes the responses you get from kids are breathtaking. Some of the things you see (on display) in here are not encouraging.Hadleys goals for the museum include increasing visitors to make it sustainable and to recruit an executive director to succeed him upon his eventual retirement.Im into it for the kids, Hadley said. They say Wow. I do it so (they) dont forget their heritage, I really do. Its hard work, not easy. It costs $2,300 a month to keep the doors open.
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Leading private sector IndusInd Bank on Thursday said it had followed all regulatory guidelines while conducting a financial transaction for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist-turned-approver David Coleman Headley, but denied it had opened any bank account for him.

In 2006, the bank, under a money transfer arrangement, duly approved by regulators, handled a few inward remittances under the Money Transfer Service Scheme (MTSS), in the normal course of business, in October-November. As per the regulatory guidelines in force, cash was handed over to David Headley after completing due diligence, the bank said in a statement here.

The bank response came to certain media reports which claimed that payments were made to Headley through the IndusInd Banks Nariman Point Branch in south Mumbai.

Headley had revealed earlier on Thursday said before Special Tada court judge G A Sanap that he had received terror funds, including counterfeit currency, from various LeT and Pakistani spy agency Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) functionaries.

Since last Monday, he is deposing via videoconference from a US jail before the Special Judge Sanap on his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks and being grilled by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.

The bank asserted that it had obtained the requisite documents including a copy of Headleys passport issued by the US which was valid from March 2006-2016.
The EU piled pressure on Greece on Wednesday over Europe`s migrant crisis, telling Athens to improve conditions for refugees and to shore up its borders or risk a suspension of the bloc`s passport-free zone.

Brussels said Athens must treat asylum seekers better so that other overstretched European Union states can send back migrants who had originally landed in Greece, in line with EU rules.

Greece is bearing the brunt of concerns that the failure to deal properly with the biggest movement of migrants to Europe since World War II threatens the very fabric of the 28-nation bloc.

One million people entered Europe in 2015 and 3,500 died trying to reach it by sea. Another 70,000 have arrived so far this year, with more than 400 deaths.

EU migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, unveiling a report on the crisis ahead of a summit next week, urged Greece and other states to do more before a new surge of refugees expected this summer.

We have lost time already  this is a fact. And this is not acceptable, Avramopoulos told a news conference at the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU.

The EU`s Dublin regulations on migration say people must apply for asylum in the country where they first land, but that system has been thrown into chaos by the conditions in Greece.

A ruling by the EU`s top court in 2011 at the height of Greece`s debt crisis said conditions for asylum seekers in Greece were degrading, meaning that other countries could not send them back.

There are still key areas in the asylum process that need to be improved before the Dublin regulation can be fully applied to Greece again, notably in the areas of reception capacity and conditions, access to the asylum procedure, appeals and legal aid, the Commission said.EU states are due next month to debate changes to the Dublin rules.

If Greece fails to comply with the recommendations, Brussels could authorise EU member countries to exceptionally extend border controls within the Schengen area  including with Greece  for up to two years.

Greece has been told to improve registration procedures, including making sure migrants are properly fingerprinted and their documents checked against security data bases.

The envoys nodded through the plans, which must get final approval from EU ministers on Friday, European sources told AFP.

EU ambassadors in Brussels have, meanwhile, backed demands by the Commission for Greece to secure its sea and land border with Turkey, the access point for around 80 percent of migrants to Europe.

Berlin, Athens and Ankara have asked NATO to begin surveillance of the Aegean sea to provide a clear view of how people-smugglers are operating on the Turkish coast.

Germany, Greece and Turkey made a communal request for a surveillance mission in the Aegean sea, a German government source told AFP on Wednesday.

The head of NATO has said he will give very serious consideration to the plan, which would be a first time the alliance has got involved in Europe`s migrant crisis. But anger is growing in Greece too, with hundreds of people on the island of Kos protesting on Wednesday against plans to build a migrant registration facility voicing fears about its impact on tourism.

No to the hotspot on our island, read the banner leading the demonstration by traders and tourism business owners, referring to the facilities the EU wants built on the island of 30,000 inhabitants.

Avramopoulos, a former Greek minister, had earlier called on both Greece and Italy to urgently complete all the planned hotspots on their territory  with Greece having completed just one of five.

The criticism is certain to anger Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who on Wednesday compared the EU to the orchestra playing on the deck of the ocean liner Titanic.

Avramopoulos also hit out at European Union members for dragging their heels on easing the refugee burden for Greece and Italy. Just 479 out of a planned 160,000 people have been relocated to other states so far.
In a significant claim, Pakistani- American terrorist David Coleman Headley today said that Ishrat Jahan who was killed in an alleged fake encounter in 2004 in Gujaratwas actually a suicide bomber of Lashkar-e-Taiba terror outfit.

The disclosure is likely to ignite a fresh row around the controversial encounter.

Testifying via video-link from the US, Headley spilled the beans on the 19-year-old Mumbra girl and picked up her name when quizzed by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam about a botched up operation mentioned to him (Headley) by LeT commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi.

Headley told the court that Lakhvi had mentioned to him about a botched-up operation conducted in India by another LeT operative Muzammil Butt where a female member of the terror outfit was killed.

Prodded by Nikam to elaborate on the operation and the members involved in it, Headley said, (I was told) It was a shootout with police in which a (female) suicide bomber was killed.

To which the prosecutor prompted three names of which Headley picked up Jahan before telling the court that there is a female wing in LeT and one Abu Aimans mother headed it.

Four persons- Ishrat Jahan, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an encounter with Gujarat Police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

The city crime branch had then said that those killed in the encounters were LeT terrorists and had landed in Gujarat to kill then Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

The CBI, which took over probe from the Gujarat High Court appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT), had filed charge sheet in August 2013 saying that the encounter was fake and executed in the joint operation by the city crime branch and Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau (SIB).

In further disclosures, the 55-year-old, who recently turned approver in the 26/11 case, also told the court that that LeT operative Muzammil Butt was the head of his (Headleys) group before Sajid Mir.

He told the court that a person, whom he identified as Abu Dujuna introduced him to Muzammil.

Headley said that he and Muzammil had once visited Kashmir to fight against the Indian troops.

Earlier in the day, Headley exposed how ISI and LeT majorly funded terror operations in India and financed him from time to time and that Pakistan native Tahawwur Rana visited Mumbai before the terror strikes in November 2008, which left 166 people dead and 309 injured.
Pakistans former military ruler Pervez Musharraf on Thursday said ISI trains LeT and Jaish militants and terror attacks in India will not stop until New Delhi addresses the core issue of Kashmir.

Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) trains Jaish-e- Mohammad (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists, said Musharraf.

Pakistan army is not training civilians. Intelligence organisation on our side as well as on your side is involved, he said in an interview with news channel.

When asked if he sees any progress in the India-Pak peace process, Musharraf said, Everything will stop if you address the core issue. The unfortunate terrorists acts and the militancy will continue unless we address the core issue. That is what you dont want to do, he said.

Kashmir continues to arouse sentiments in Pakistan, the 72-year-old former president said as he defended terrorist activities in India.

Anyone who is fighting in Kashmir is a freedom fighter, he said.

I dont think we will move forward on the core issue. You dont want. You want to bulldoze us, you want to bully us and you want to dominate us. You only want to talk about issues concern you like terrorism, Mumbai and Pathankot. So I dont feel, core issues are moving forward, he said when asked to comment on foreign secretary-level talks that were postponed after Pathankot attack.

Speaking on Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley, who is currently deposing before a Mumbai court in connection with the 26/11 attack case, Musharraf said, I dont believe anything that Headley had said  Pakistan intelligence should interrogate Headley.

When asked about JeM chief Masood Azhar, who was involved in two attacks against Musharraf himself, the former military general said, Anyone who is doing any other act in Pakistan like, I know that he attacks me, is a terrorist certainly. Therefore I call him a terrorist.

LeT and Hafiz Saeed are not involved in terror activities in Pakistan, he said.

He said India derailed peace process every time and wants to discuss only terrorism.

You create hysteria in your country against Pakistan. Whenever we try to speak .You want to bulldoze us to whatever is your point of view.

He also accused Indias intelligence agency RAW for carrying out attacks in Pakistan from Afghanistan.
Ishrat Jahans sister Musarrat said that her family doesnt trust the statements made by Headley.

Ishrat Jahans sister Musarrat Jahan is unhappy with the statements made by Pakistani American terrorist David Headleys saying that Ishrat Jahan was a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative. Musarrat said that her sister was innocent. Ishrat Jahan was killed in an encounter that took place in 2004 by the Gujarat police. The incident had occurred when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat while Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah was the state Home Minister. The case led to the arrest of several high profile officers and the Narendra Modi government in Gujarat was under attack by the opposition.

Musarrat said that her family doesnt trust the statements made by Headley. She said, My sister is innocent and we cant trust the statements made by him. I sure truth will be unveiled soon. Headley may have some vested interest how can we trust him? The investigations have already proved that the encounter was fake.

Ishrat Jahans family lawyer Vrinda Grover said, It was a cold blooded murder. Theres political motive behind Headleys questioning. Ishrat doesnt possess any terror links.

Ishrat Jahans family has been alleging that it was a botched up operation by the Gujarat Police in which Ishrat Jahan, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed. The police alleged that Ishrat and her associates were Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives involved in a plot to assassinate the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi. Later, an investigation was launched into the allegations that Ishrat was killed in a fake encounter. After a long investigation, in 2009, an Ahmedabad Metropolitan court ruled that the encounter was staged. Human Rights group across the country claimed Ishrat was an innocent girl and was killed in a fake encounter by Gujarat police.

Meanwhile the Congress questioned the attempts to use Headleys court testimony to justify the fake Ishrat Jahan encounter which it said were not permissible by law.

The fundamental question remains whether Ishrat Jahan and her three accomplices were killed in a fake encounter in 2004. A probe into the encounter case found it to be fake, Congress leader Manish Tewari said

Mumbai Regional Congress Committee President, Sanjay Nirupam said, We never said that Ishrat Jahan is innocent but we were questioning the encounter which occurred in Gujarat. Our party has been saying that she was a terrorist. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to shield himself instead of taking the 26/11 probe forward.

NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad said that Headleys statement cant be taken at face value. He said, I will have to study this case carefully. I am unaware of the statements made by David Headley and first I will have to examine that. We will have to first verify the authenticity of the statements made by Headley.

The Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case was hugely politicised by opposition parties. Many political leaders had come forward to support her family. Awhad had offered financial assistance to Ishrats family.
Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds has been named Peoples Sexiest Dad Alive of 2016.

The 39-year-old Canadian actor has earned the top spot on the magazines annual list which also included last years champion Justin Timberlake.

The star appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and it was the host who announced the new title as he revealed Reynolds magazine cover in the middle of the show.

What?! I mean come on! I mean scientifically speaking, whats sexier than a man that produces children and then looks surprised about it, Reynolds joked about his cover photo.

Reynolds didnt talk much about his life at home, but he noted that his family was doing great and that his daughter James was walking and talking. The actor and wife Blake Lively welcomed their first daughter together back in December 2014, two years after they got married.
In a sort of relief to the youth planning to celebrate Valentines Day with fuss and fanfare, Shiv Sena has decided to keep the moral policing at bay this year.

Shiv Sena has given clear instructions to its supporters not to harass the lovebirds or else strict action would be taken against them.

Yuva Shiv Sena President, Aditya Thackeray has issued strict directions to not misbehave with any boy or girl on Valentines Day. He does not want assault or misbehaviour with youths. Shiv Sena is against western culture and we have communicated our message during past years. We are not going to assault any couple. If any worker will misbehave or assault any couple, he will be expelled from the party, said junior Thackeray.

Even, Bajrang Dals convener said that the acts that couples indulge in on roads and at public places on Valentines Day is similar to nature of animals and its futile to meddle with them.

It has been decided at the top level of the organisation that our workers will not disturb any couple anymore, he added.

Till last year, the supporters of Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena were assaulting the youth found at public places on Valentines Day. The activists also ransacked the shops which were found selling Valentines Day greeting cards and flowers.
A teacher in southern Saudi Arabia opened fire on colleagues on Thursday, killing at least six people and wounding two, state television reported.

The brief reports on the state television channels website and Twitter account did not

elaborate or offer a reason for the shooting at an education department building. It quoted an unnamed police spokesman for the information and said the suspected shooter was in custody.

The state-run Saudi Press Agency did not immediately report the shooting.

State TV posted a still photograph that showed ambulances gathered outside the building where the shooting took place in Jazan province.

Mass shootings are rare in the kingdom. Saudi Arabia has faced a series of recent attacks by Islamic State jihadists.

Saudi Arabia is leading a coalition of countries conducting airstrikes and ground operations in neighboring Yemen in support of the deeply impoverished countrys internationally recognized government.
Nowadays, crime against girls is on the rise. They are molested by their family members, teachers, security guards, neighbours and sometimes even by their father. My heart wrenches by seeing with which morals and values, todays society is living. What is wrong with people? What changed us so drastically that we refused to be human at times?

Since the start of 2016, there are numbers of shocking crimes we heard against females. I dont know what this government is doing? Modiji came to power with a slogan Band Karo Nari Par War and Beti Bachao. Has he forgotten his promises or this too was an election #jumla?

A teacher of a prominent International school in Jharkhand capital Ranchi was arrested for killing her student, who was reportedly in love with her daughter. Sapphire International School teacher Nezma Khatoon killed the class VII student because she was against him having friendship with her 11-year-old daughter. The boy named Vinay Mahto was found near the teachers quarters within the school campus. Khatoon stays with her husband, son and daughter in the schools quarters. Mahto was badly injured when he was taken to the hospital. CCTV footage helped the police to crack the case, which had become talk of the town ever since the incident was first reported.

Police said that the boy was seen in the CCTV footage walking towards the teachers quarters. A little later, a teacher spotted him outside the boys hostel with severe injuries. He later succumbed to his injuries at a local hospital.

In another incidence, a 17-year-old girl was burnt alive allegedly by a youth, who had been stalking her, when she resisted his rape attempt in Aurangabad town, Bihar. The incident occurred when the accused Bhola barged into the house of the girl when her parents were away and tried to rape her, according to a complaint filed by the girls uncle in Sadar Bazar police station. The victims uncle alleged that Bhola had been stalking the girl and would often pass lewd comments at her. The girl was a student of Class XI.

There is another shocking incidence from Ashok Vihar, Gurgaon where a 72-year-old principal and director of a private school, Aarsa Public School was booked under the POCSO Act for attempting to rape a 9-year-old minor girl. The incident came to light after the victim refused to go to school. When her mother asked her the reason behind her refusal, the minor narrated her ordeal. According to victims mother, the accused had called the Class 2 student to his office after the lunch hours to commit the crime.

Meanwhile, another incident from Delhi came to light in which a 44-year-old tantrik (occultist) raped a woman and duped her of Rs. 35,000 on the pretext of solving all the problems. He has been arrested. The accused has been identified as Sanjay Kumar, a resident of southeast Delhis Ambedkar Nagar area. He is married and has four children.

According to the police, the complainant who did not have a good relation with her husband wants to separate from him approached the tantrik. The tantrik took advantage of her vulnerability and persuaded her into conducting a ceremony which he claimed required the burning of an intoxicating substance.

During the ceremony, the woman fainted and when she regained her consciousness, she realised that she had been raped. The tantrik had also charged her Rs. 35,000 for the ceremony, claiming that it was the solution to all her problems in life. Based on a tip off, police laid a trap in Ambedkar Nagar and Sanjay Kumar was arrested on Friday. Kumar told the police that he targeted depressed persons who came to him for solutions. New Delhi and even North India has becoming den for crime against woman. Government needs to be serious about such incidences. Recently, various studies have indicated the seriousness of such cases, but here needs some action.

The study by the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) on special courts established under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in Delhi found that the behaviour of police, doctors and lawyers has not changed much since the law was passed. The report found that there were no courtrooms exclusively for child-abuse cases. Few courts had separate rooms for recording witness statements, and there were no waiting rooms or toilets nearby, despite the laws provisions.

With the introduction of a specific law to tackle child sexual abuse in 2012, till 2014, the number of crimes reported against children increased from 38,172 to 89,423. However, conviction rates were as low as 2.4%, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. The NLSIU report analysed special court verdicts between April and September last year and found that only one in six cases resulted in conviction. Convictions were handed down in 112 cases under the POCSO Act while 555 others ended in acquittal. In 46 cases, the accused was convicted under the Indian Penal Code, but acquitted under the Act.

The report said that about 28% of cases dragged on for longer than a year. In 67% of cases, the child victims gave up on the trials, changed their statements or rescinded their complaints because of threats from the families of those accused of sexual abuse. The report also said that except for Saket and Karkardooma courts, defence lawyers in most other special courts pose questions to the child directly. The POCSO Act prohibits the special public prosecutor and the defence lawyer from putting questions to the child directly. All questions during the examination-in-chief and cross-examination must be routed through the special court. The team studied 667 judgments passed by 20 judges from 1 January 2013 till 30 September 2015.

(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@afternoonvoice.com)
You vilify me online! You call me names! You say things about me that are false! You question my motives and claim I am doing this for money! I am not doing this for money, I do this to help children! You call me a millionaire vaccine industrialist! You have to stop!

I represent you fairly and accurately.

No you don't! You write about my motives! How could you possibly know what my motives are?! You don't know my motives! You don't know my motives!

I write about you only based on what you do and what you say.

No you don't! You call me a millionaire vaccine industrialist! How am I a millionaire vaccine industrialist?!

You made millions of dollars from the vaccine industry.

Millionaire vaccine industrialist implies motive! How could you be so stupid to not see that?!

It means someone who's made millions of dollars from the vaccine industry.

And how am I an industrialist?! Should I not have gone to a pharmaceutical company?! Should I have made the vaccine in my garage?!

No, but it didn't matter where it was made. It's still a conflict of interest with the vaccine industry.

His fury only escalated.

What are my motives?! What are my motives?!

He continued pointing at me, shouting. I continued moving back and he continued to move forward, seemingly wanting to physically intimidate me.

He yelled:

WHAT ARE MY MOTIVES?! WHAT ARE MY MOTIVES?!

I put my hands up, trying to calm him:

Easy, easy, I said.

WHAT ARE MY MOTIVES?! Tell me what you think my motives are!!!

Your motives are that you enjoy working on rotavirus vaccine development as you said at the NIH talk, and also for the money...

NO!! I do NOT do this for the money! That is wrong!!

You told American Medical News that protection from vaccine litigation improves vaccine industry profits. That's making money off the backs of vaccine-injured children.

Here is the exact line, from American Medical News, 2008:

But other advantages to vaccine production have become increasingly evident, Dr. Offit noted. "There is a fairly beaten path in how to make them, and there is, to some extent, protection from liability in children's vaccines," he said.

But he continued the abuse:

No, that is bullshit! I don't do this for the money! Get out of here!

And then he said:

Get the fuck out of here! Piece of shit!

He gestured to the door in a fashion similar to what he did at Yale when he threw me out.

Stunned, I walked over to the moderator, introduced myself and asked his name, shaking his hand.

He replied, Harvey Friedman.

I commented on how appalled I was at Offit's behavior.

He agreed with me that it was not right but also said, this is not the right forum.

I can't imagine what is. Then Paul Offit approached me again and continued to go at it:

You owe me an apology!

You owe me an apology for telling me to get the fuck out of here and calling me a piece of shit!

Of course, those aren't the only things he owes me an apology for.

Fine, I'm sorry! I'm sorry, now you apologize to me!

I'm not going to apologize to you for representing you accurately.

No, you do not represent me accurately!

Then someone came up to him and said:

He doesn't like to be shouted at; he has Asperger's.

Then Paul Offit attempted to undiagnose me:

No, he doesn't have Asperger's; he's got paranoid schizophrenia is what he has!

I was stunned.

Attempting to defuse the situation, the moderator then introduced me to the graduate student who asked the question after me during Q/A.

We walked out of the auditorium to a nearby Au Bon Pain restaurant. As we were walking, he told me his name was Jonathan. I didn't get his last name; he said it too fast. He did say he was involved in vaccine research.

But I was still shaken up by what just happened:

How could you listen to that evil man? How could you listen to him spread his lies on television and in print?

He agreed with me that what Offit said to me was wrong, but added that I clearly agitated him.

I told him that Paul Offit knowingly cites tobacco science and that Institute of Medicine of which he is a member said it would never come down that autism is a true side-effect of vaccination in a meeting that led up to the 2004 IOM Report.

Jonathan told me he never heard of the report  the bible for today's vaccine injury deniers! I brought up Marie McCormick's quote on the IOM's preconceived position on autism and vaccines that, ...we will never come down that it is a true side-effect...

So you're saying they already came to a conclusion before looking at any evidence?

Yes!

Well, IOM has done a lot of good things, but they are not an ancient organization. They also have some major flaws.

I asked him:

What was your name again?

I told you my name already.

I didn't get your last name.

He quickly tried to change the subject:

Let's go inside and get some coffee, referring to the Au Bon Pain restaurant we were right outside of.

After we went in, I had the displeasure of coming across the man who Paul Offit told I did not have Asperger Syndrome, but paranoid schizophrenia.

After telling me he read my writing, he commented:

I think you're a liar and I think you're despicable.

As I was writing down what he told me, he said:

Off the record.

Too late, I said back.

He sat down with Jonathan and me. His name was Jeff Bergelson.

Dr. Jeff Bergelson, he emphasized to me.

Then again:

Prof. Jeff Bergelson.

I'm glad you're not my professor, I told him.

I think that feeling is mutual, Jonathan observed.

After listening to Offit's abuse, I then had to put up with Bergelson's rant.

Age of Autism is nothing but complete bunkum!

He said this many times.

He added:

I don't know if you are completely misguided or lying, but your writing is complete bunkum!

How is it 'bunkum,' I asked him multiple times before he finally gave some examples, but they weren't much more specific:

It is anti-vaccine!

No, it isn't!

You advocate treating autism with nutrients!

And people have improved from that, I said, myself included.

You advocate homeopathy for autism!

Well, I don't advocate that. I think the one time that I brought up homeopathy was when I quoted Kevin Leitch of all people talking about how much it has helped his autistic daughter.

Homeopathy is complete and utter bunkum!

I turned to Jonathan and asked: Do I need to hear this after what I just put up with from Offit?

Jonathan replied, I think it's important.

I brought up Offit's abuse, but Bergelson went on What Paul Offit said to you was wrong, but the things you say about Paul Offit online are bunkum! He's done more for public health than everyone else in this room combined!

No, he has not.

Oh C'mon! I'm just expressing my views about Paul Offit! You'd probably say the same about Andrew Wakefield!

Well, you're right about that.

But he then went on to say:

Andrew Wakefield's work is a load of bunkum!"

Jonathan, who was mostly quiet during this exchange, said He did do it for money.

No, he didn't, I said, he donated that money to a project to build a new GI clinic for sick children.

Bergelson went on about Desiree Jennings, that crazy lady who claimed she got hurt by a flu shot! I know people who wouldn't get vaccinated against influenza because of her!

She did get hurt after it, she got dystonia!

She did not have dystonia!

Watch the videos of her!

She did not get dystonia! It's a load of bunkum!

At one point, I asked Bergelson if he can tone down his voice.

His excuse?

I'm a Jew! I make big hand gestures!

I was not commenting on his hand gestures, but his volume. Regardless, I was shocked that he used being Jewish to excuse his bad behavior. I am sure my maternal grandfather  who passed away last November and was Jewish  would have been disgusted by this.

Perhaps realizing his mistake, Bergelson quickly changed the subject to my great great grandfather, Captain Edward Crosby:

And I'm sorry your grandfather went down on the Titanic!

Great great grandfather, I corrected him.

Great great grandfather, he reiterated.

Thank you, I said.

Suddenly, Paul Offit showed up attempting to apologize again:

I'm sorry for what I said, I hope you can forgive me.

Okay, I said back, not that I forgive him, but that I hear him.

Offit left and then returned yet again, angrily apologizing I'm sorry! Okay? I'm sorry! That was probably when he realized the full extent of what he had done and how it could damage his reputation.

I just wanted him to go away, okay!

After bidding a happy farewell to Bergelson and his bunkum rants, I went outside with Jonathan and we continued our conversation. We walked to the train station while discussing Offit's rant about me.

I complained about how Paul Offit was probably hiding something by the crazed, angry way he was acting.

Jonathan said, Well, that's one way to look at it, but not the only way.

I told him:

Watch the video online of Andrew Wakefield's lecture at Brandeis and compare how he deals with critical questioners with what Paul Offit said to me today, and you'll find a stark difference.

Jonathan promised he would.

As we walked to the train station, we had a somewhat interesting talk  about how breast feeding has an inverse association with autism, about what we thought were the top three public health issues facing the world (I said they were chronic illnesses, living conditions and health disparities), and about his participation in the never-ending quest for an HIV vaccine. I told him HIV discoverer Dr. Luc Montagnier would be speaking at the AutismOne conference later this month.

As we were approaching the train station, I told Jonathan that Paul Offit tacitly admitted the MMR vaccine causes autism, having made an oxymoronic statement on Medscape about a compensated case of vaccine injury; Offit remarked that a case of measles encephalopathy can fall in the autism spectrum without being autism (even though a disorder that falls within the autism spectrum, by definition, would be autism).

So how do you define autism?

I said, Any collection of behaviors that would fall within the autism spectrum

Then he asked me, And you had the MMR?

Yes, I said.

Well, I had the MMR and I'm not autistic, he said.

That's because it only causes autism in certain susceptible people, I told him.

As we were entering the station, he rehashed the fact that I call Paul Offit a millionaire vaccine industrialist by comparing him to Jonas Salk, inventor of the first effective polio vaccine:

You know, you could argue Jonas Salk was a millionaire vaccine industrialist.

Jonas Salk was one of Jonathan's big heroes. Until fairly recently, I had been on the fence about Salk. Then I heard that he experimented on some disabled patients, giving them an experimental flu vaccine and then exposing them to the flu. That's when I decided Salk was no longer a hero.

I chose not to share my feelings about him with Jonathan, however, because I did not want to risk completely alienating him. So instead I brought up that famous interview Salk had with CBS See It Now news anchor Edward R. Murrow, who asked him who owned the patent on the vaccine, to which Salk replied, Can you patent the sun?

Jonathan admitted, Well, he was paid a lot of money to make that vaccine.

But Paul Offit did make millions from vaccine earnings, which he likened to winning the lottery.

Inside the train station, Jonathan and I finally parted ways.

I hope we will get back in touch some day, he told me.

I hope so, too, I said back, Good luck with your research!

I do hope he'll watch Dr. Andrew Wakefield's lecture at Brandeis.

If and when he does, he will not see a doctor who curses at his critics and lies that they don't have Asperger Syndrome, but paranoid schizophrenia. He will see a doctor who shows respect for his critics and fully answers their questions, unlike Paul Offit.

Jake Crosby has Asperger Syndrome and is a contributing editor to Age of Autism. Jake is a 2011 graduate of Brandeis University with a BA in both History and Health: Science, Society and Policy. He currently attends The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services where he is studying for an MPH in epidemiology.








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When people who are expected to know better decide to play around with very serious issues involving the lives of others, then there is something very wrong with the system. This is the main reason why the issue of Dr. Jerry Tenenbaums colleagues reportedly posting fake reviews about him on RateMds.com should be taken very seriously. Dr. Jerry Tenenbaums professionalism has been in disrepute and that has not been helped by the fact that it was his prescription of the drug Tylenol for Dezrin Carby-Samuels which has left her bedridden and unable to even perform activities like speaking and walking.

Clients who have had a personal encounter with Dr. Jerry Tenenbaum mostly do have something negative to say about his interpersonal relationship with them and his professionalism. The sad thing about this is that whenever actual clients of Dr. Jerry Tenenbaum post reviews on RateMds.com, his colleagues also post a lot of fake and inflated positive reviews to outnumber that of the negatives. This behaviour by Dr. Jerry Tenenbaums colleagues is a very serious one since it has misled a lot of people to going there for medical assistance which always lands them in uncomfortable situations in the end. "I am a healthcare professional as well, Dr Tenenbaum may not have a great bedside manor, every professional has their own strengths, and I am very glad to have him in my corner. Be your own advocate when it comes to treatment and do not be afraid to ask questions. I found that he doesn't fluff up the conversation, straight line to the answers. In 4 years as his patient I have felt valued as well as given a major contributor into my own treatment. This is one clear example of such an inflated review posted on RateMds.com by a colleague of Dr. Jerry Tenenbaum.

The sad thing is that clients who chance upon such fake positive reviews end up seeking for his assistance which always compounds their problems. A clear case of Dr. Jerry Tenenbaums lack of empathy and understanding for his patients is that of Dezrin Carby-Samuels. This is a once energetic and healthy old woman who was forced to take Tylenol, a drug known to cause serious brain damages, based on Dr. Jerry Tenenbaums prescriptions.

Comparing reviews posted by patients in Toronto to that posted by so-called patients in Victoria, there is a stark revelation of the deception that is being purported by Dr. Jerry Tenenbaum and his colleagues. Whereas patients in Toronto regard him as being very arrogant, always in a rush and not having adequate time for his clients, certain inflated positive reviews by some patients in Victoria portray him to be caring, sympathetic and very understanding to the plight of his patients. If the reviews by patients in Victoria were actually true, Dezrin Carby-Samuels should have been in a better physical condition rather than being bedridden and unable to even speak or walk.

It is therefore high time something serious is done about such instances where people are allowed to post fake positive reviews just to mislead unsuspecting patients.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 11, 2016  Many in agriculture have thrown their full weight behind the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but some are still deciding if the pact is in the best interest of their industries.

That became evident Thursday at a roundtable hosted by the Washington International Trade Association. Representatives of dairy, sugar and tobacco industries all said they wish they could have gotten more out of the agreement, but there were signs of potential support from some of the interested parties. Darci Vetter, the U.S. Trade Representatives chief agricultural negotiator, began the discussion by pointing to the hot-button nature of agricultural issues around the world.

You shouldnt underestimate the culture part of (agriculture), she said. Its true in our country and its true in all of the TPP trading partners. Agriculture is seen, and really is . . . a way of life. Take Japan, for example, she said, which after years of negotiations agreed to provide more access to its rice market.

The fact that Japan put rice on the table, thats not about dollars and cents, Vetter said. It really speaks to a deeper part of their identity. We took advantage of the opportunities we had to move the ball as far as we could and to get what was feasible given our own sensitivities in key sectors and the sensitivities of others. It was difficult to say the least.

Many in the beef, pork, and grain spheres are supportive of the increased market access they foresee through the agreement, but some other ag sectors are a little more cautious.

Jaime Castaneda serves as a private adviser to USTR stemming from his work with the National Milk Producers Federation, the U.S. Dairy Export Council and the Consortium for Common Food Names. Castaneda pointed to the unique position dairy holds with some of the TPP countries, including U.S. exporting rivals like New Zealand and Australia and customers like Canada, Japan and Mexico. Canada is known for dairy policies that are a hindrance to U.S. exports, and Castaneda said that the market access in the agreement to Canada and Japan is a little bit of a disappointment.

We certainly wanted to actually see a major opening of that market, Castaneda said, adding the qualifier that that doesnt mean the overall agreement may not end up as being positive for U.S. dairy.

Castaneda said the dairy industry is still reviewing the agreement and has yet to declare a formal position, but he expects a general national consensus on where were going to stand with respect to the agreement.

In terms of sugar policy, Mary Latimer, a former USTR official who now works with candy magnate Mars Inc., said she would have liked to see more (new) duty-free access for sugar into the United States, but understands the complexities of trade negotiations that led to the sugar language in the agreement.

We want to see this agreement enter into force, she said. We want to see it get the votes to pass the U.S. Congress.

Perhaps the touchiest issue of the day was how tobacco is handled in the agreement. Peter Thornton, with the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, expressed concern about what TPP would do to the states tobacco industry. In particular, he expressed concern with some language barring tobacco companies from using the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) process, which allows private companies to challenge laws in other countries.

If you cant defend yourself, you know youre not going to win, Thornton said. And if your opponents know you cant defend yourself, theyre going to attack.

Thornton painted a dismal economic picture for areas of North Carolina with prominent tobacco production. He said many of the areas were still feeling the hit from decreased textile and manufacturing jobs. Tobacco exports support about 18,000 jobs just in North Carolina, Thornton said, and the time to replace those lost jobs would be measured not in years, but in generations.

When tobacco companies are in trouble, they dont write contracts to growers, he said. And when they dont write contracts to growers, that affects North Carolina.

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When you see North Carolina legislators fighting against this, I know theres a big temptation to say, Oh, theyre just in the pocket of big tobacco, Thornton added. But from our perspective, theyre our last hope.

Vetter noted that while the agreement does bar the challenge of tobacco control measures through ISDS, existing dispute settlement provisions would remain in place. She pointed out that in many instances, the U.S. ISDS process isnt used because existing U.S. legal channels are instead utilized.

Where those avenues exist in our TPP countries, they would still exist and our tobacco companies could use them, Vetter said. We dont change the legal systems of those other countries.

She said, for example, that if a country were to bar U.S.-made cigarettes under the guise of an anti-smoking measure, the affected parties could go through traditional dispute settlement channels because of the measures protectionist nature.

Vetter also acknowledged that she was aware of issues raised by the National Pork Producers Council about a potential Japanese subsidy program for domestically produced pork, but said she was working with the Japanese government to figure out what that program might entail.

#30
WASHINGTON, Feb. 11, 2016 - The biotech labeling negotiations led by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack broke down over whether GMOs had to be disclosed on food labels or whether it would be enough to ensure that electronic disclosure would be adequate to serve consumers, he says.

Vilsack, testifying before the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee on Thursday, made his first public comments about two days of meetings last month with representatives of organic companies and conventional food manufacturers.

We did make progress in our conversations, we just didnt get to the last issue, Vilsack said.

The Grocery Manufacturers Association is lobbying Congress to preempt state GMO labeling laws and to allow food companies to disclose biotech ingredients on the web and through a smartphone-based system called SmartLabel.

The talks never resolved what else might be required, Vilsack said.

Do you then put something on the front of the package or the back of the package that says GMO;  or do you survey consumers to find out if they know how to use this information, if theyre interested in it? And if you show a substantial number of consumers already knowledgeable, then the question is what is the necessity of putting something on the package?

I think thats kind of where our conversation broke apart. Its something that Congress is going to have to address.

The first state labeling requirements take effect in Vermont this summer, and Vilsack warned that the law is going to create uncertainty and confusion in the market, as well as increased consumer costs.

The House passed a bill last summer that would have blocked such laws, but the industry has so far been unable to find enough Democratic support to move similar legislation in the Senate.

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Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, has been preparing to release a bill to increase pressure on uncommitted Democrats. Stay tuned, he said Thursday, when asked when it would be introduced.

The top Democrat on the committee, Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, told Agri-Pulse that she was working on a resolution. I think were going to have to come up with a compromise, she said.

The chairman of the House subcommittee, Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., told Vilsack that his department needs to step up its public education efforts to assure consumers of the safety of genetically engineered crops.

Vilsack said the industry needed to do more on its own and that he expected a more aggressive effort from this point forward.



#30
February 10, 2016

In the middle of Mostafa Mahmoud Square, one of Gizas busiest, Afifi, a 27-year-old taxi driver, was shouting his lungs out: Stop! Come join us, we are defending your rights.

On Feb. 4, Afifi, who asked that his last name not be used, was one of the few taxi drivers who responded to an anonymous call circulated on Facebook to protest the existence of unfair competitors.

As he tried to stop taxis passing through the square and persuade drivers to join him in protest, he talked to Al-Monitor about his complaint. He said, Taxis are losing business to companies such as Uber and Careem that operate illegally in Egypt.

Both Uber and Careem do not own any cars, nor hire any drivers. They are considered transportation network companies (TNCs), a term coined by the California Public Utilities Commission to define the business model in which companies use mobile applications to connect customers who need a ride with drivers willing to offer the service.

TNC's profit comes from getting a percentage from every rides fees.

These companies allow owners of private vehicles to operate as taxis, and this is simply not fair, said Afifi.

It cost Afifi 50,000 Egyptian pounds ($6,400) to acquire a taxi plate. He then got a 60,000 pound loan to buy the car.

He has to renew his car license every three months until he finishes paying his debts. Like all taxi drivers in Cairo and Giza, he pays up to 3,500 pounds annually in taxes, mandatory insurance and mandatory fees for a national syndicate that he said offers him nothing in return.

Afifi said he is angry that companies such as Careem and Uber open a backdoor for owners of private cars to circumvent the legal boundaries of the business and operate as taxis without paying taxes or going through all the hassles and inspections taxis do.

In late 2014, the $60 billion American multinational Uber launched its operation in Egypt. Soon after, the Dubai-based startup Careem expanded to Cairo and recently received $60 million in funding.

According to Ubers general manager in Egypt, Anthony El-Khoury, Uber delivered 1 million rides in its first year in the country, using more than 6,000 drivers.

Ubers expansion rate in Cairo surpassed any other city in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, Khoury told Al-Monitor.

Khoury enumerated the reasons behind the instant success.

We are adding an amazing layer of safety and security to both the driver and the customer, he said. In order for a driver to join Uber, he or she must have a clean criminal record. Drivers are subjected to random drug tests and are trained in customer service and the companys policy on sexual harassment.

Such training is a very good selling point in Cairo, where United Nations statistics say 99.3% of women and girls reported experiencing a form of sexual harassment and 82.6% didnt feel safe or secure in public transportation.

Both Careem and Uber offer riders and drivers a chance to rate each other once the ride is over; this allows the reporting of any form of harassment or mischief by either party.

Khoury said that while taxi drivers in Egypt are traditionally men, a little less than 100 female drivers joined Uber in a sign that the platform is enabling women to access a new job market.

According to Khoury, 40% of Uber drivers were unemployed before joining the company.

Hadeer Shalaby, Egypts general manager of Careem, said her company is helping the countrys economy during a time of recession and turbulence.

With many people losing jobs due to the decline of the tourism industry, we offer an opportunity.  You have a car, you get a job, she said.

Uber uses a dynamic pricing system in which the price of rides may increase or decrease based on supply and demand of drivers and customers throughout the day. Careem is reported to be 5% cheaper than regular taxis.

In the past, you either had bad quality service for a low price or good quality service for a very high price. Careem aims to offer good service for an affordable price, Shalaby said.

On the same day of the taxi drivers demonstration, Careem sent its customers a text message: All your next rides are now up to 15% cheaper  your Careem is now more affordable than ever.

The government decides the [taxi] fare; we can't control it, said Mohammed Wahdan, one of the demonstrating taxi drivers. How can the government force on us a specific price while allowing others to undercut us and decide their own fare?

However, Wahdan is aware that paying a cheaper fare is not the only reason many customers prefer Uber and Careem to regular taxis.

Some taxi drivers are not civil, they may refuse to drive customers to remote places; others do not turn on their meters, he said. But this calls for more regulations and punishments for bad drivers, not an obliteration of our only source of income.

Uber and Careem are licensed in Egypt as technology companies, not as transportation businesses.

"We never had a formal discussion with the government, Uber's Khoury said.

To provide legal cover for their drivers, Uber and Careem cooperate with limousine renting companies. For a small fee, the limousine companies give drivers stamped and signed work permits stating: This car is on a work assignment around Cairo on behalf of the company.

Originally, these work permits were for limousine drivers working in the tourism industry and not legally sufficient to turn a private car into a taxi.

Egyptian motor law prohibits using a car for a fundamentally different purpose than what is stated in its license and punishes the violation with the revocation of the drivers permit for 30 days for first-time offenders.

We are ready to cooperate with the government in discussing any legal framework. I believe that the [transportation] ecosystem has a place for more people to join in, said Khoury.

It is not the first time TNCs have provoked a backlash from taxi drivers. There have been anti-Uber demonstrations in England, China, India, Spain and France, to name a few.

Nagla Rizk, professor of economics at the business school at the American University in Cairo, told Al-Monitor that while she is aware that Uber might be demonized in other countries, one should not jump to conclusions when it comes to their operation in Egypt.

Context matters, she added.

Rizk, whose research areas include business models in digital economies, argued that these services are providing valuable additions to the Egyptian private transportation market such as privacy, security and transportation for remote areas that regular services may not cover.

It would make more sense to revise the law to allow for this successful business model to exist, she said.

The taxi drivers demonstration attracted less than 30 protesters. Most left quickly when a few police cars started to surround the perimeter.

This is not the end of it, Afifi said as he was getting ready to leave. If people are too afraid to protest in the streets, we are going to court very soon.
Only the educated are free. * Epictetus
February 10, 2016

To Iran, Saudi Arabia sending troops to Syria is suicidal, at least according to Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Mohammad Ali Jafari, who made the remark Feb. 6 at the funeral of a senior IRGC officer who was killed in Syria. Several other Iranian officials have also played down Saudi statements about an interest in contributing to the war on the Islamic State (IS) in Syria.

Its a joke, said an Iranian military source who asked not to be identified in a phone interview with Al-Monitor. We couldn't wish [for] more than that. If they can do it, then let them do it  but talking militarily, this is not easy for a country already facing defeat in another war, in Yemen, where after almost one year they have failed in achieving any real victory.

After meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told reporters Feb. 8, "There is a discussion with regard to a ground force contingent, or a special forces contingent, to operate in Syria [under the] international US-led coalition against [IS].  The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has expressed its readiness to provide special forces to such operations should they occur.

The Saudis might really take part in this war, suggested the Iranian military source. Such a decision might come from the rulers of the kingdom without taking into consideration the capabilities of their troops, and here is where the tragedy would occur. They are not well-trained for such terrain. Im not sure if they sorted out the supply routes they would use  this is assuming that they would only fight [IS]  but its obvious they [want to] implement their agenda, after their proxies failed.

The source explained that after major gains in Aleppo, northern Syria and Daraa in southern Syria, its clear that the Syrian government is strongly in control and all the terrorist groups are on the retreat. The Americans are aware that this is the end to their dreams in Syria  the Saudis too  so they are thinking [out] loud, but this is very dangerous for them.

Hostility between Iran and Saudi Arabia isnt something new, though it has been growing drastically since the start of the Syrian revolution in March 2011. Both countries have different points of view on the regime of the defiant Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Saudi Arabia has called on Assad to step down and has financed groups fighting against him. Iran has offered maximum political and military support to Assad, which at first involved Hezbollahs intervention in Syria, then Iraqi fighters and finally sending Iranian military experts who seem to be taking part in direct combat with anti-government groups, resulting in dozens of Iranian casualties.

If Saudi troops killed Iranian forces in Syria, that would create a whole new situation for the Saudi regime, said Mohammad Marandi, dean of Tehran Universitys faculty of world studies.

The Saud family would probably not survive for long in such a confrontation. They are destroying their economy, and they simply do not have the capability to launch another war, Marandi said in an interview with Al-Monitor. "A Saudi intervention in Syria would be illegal according to international law, and that would be a gift to Iran and Iraq to finally punish the Saudi regime.

On Sept. 30, Russia announced the start of its intervention in Syria upon the Syrian governments request. This came after a year of the US-led coalitions aerial intervention. Turkey started its airstrikes July 24. Four months later, Turkey downed a Russian Sukhoi Su-24, causing serious tension between the two countries and raising fears of additional implications. Now that Saudi Arabia is considering sending in ground troops, the main questions are where it plans to deploy those forces and whether it plans to have a presence in regions near Iranian troops, as this may add fuel to the fire.

This would mean a regional war, the Iranian military source told Al-Monitor. Mistakes cant be tolerated, especially with the tension mounting around the region. Its not about Iranians, but about all troops on the ground fighting with the Syrian army. How would the Syrian army deal with a foreign country on its soil, without its permission, and maybe aiming [guns] at them? That would be an occupation force. The source, who visits Syria frequently, added, Can the Saudis control their army? Who can guarantee that some of them might not defect and join [IS]? They have the same ideology and they hold the same beliefs, and many of them are already connected [to IS].

The source concluded, The Saudis are simply putting themselves in a very weird position that might have a very dark end. The worst thing is that the implications arent only going to affect the region, but world peace.
February 11, 2016

The secretary of Irans Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, said that Republicans in the United States had contacted Iran and asked it to push back the prisoner swap between the two countries until the US presidential election.

In January, Iran released four Iranian-Americans held in the country for various charges in exchange for seven individuals held in the United States for violating sanctions laws. The prisoner swap was the result of yearslong secret negotiations between Iran and the Obama administration that was reportedly accelerated after the landmark nuclear deal.

Shamkhani, who made the statement about the prisoner swap at a rally for the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, was attempting to draw a comparison between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the pre-revolution government before the revolution, which he accused of having a policy of capitulation.

Shamkhani said, On the topic of the prisoner swap between Iran and America, we showed that we will not be influenced by any type of pressure or be put under any type of foreign or domestic scenarios and we will firmly confront spies and penetrators.

Two of the Iranian-Americans held, Jason Rezaian, a Washington Post reporter in Tehran, and Amir Hekmati, a former US Marine who was visiting family when detained, were both accused of spying.

According to Shamkhani, the prisoner swap deal took place because this act was the result of a humanitarian approach and the request of their families and based on securing national interests and the freedom of our compatriots in America. The majority of the Iranians released in the United States are US citizens and were residents of the United States before their arrests. Most of them have chosen to remain in the United States.

Shamkhanis most startling claim was that during the talks on the prisoner swap, the Republican rivals of the current American administration, who claim they are humanitarians and support human rights, gave us a message to not free these individuals and delay the process until the eve of the presidential election. He added, But we pushed the process on our own independent will.

Shamkhani did not offer any more information on his claim that Republicans pushed to have the prisoner-swap delayed or how the message was sent. The release of Americans held by Iran was tied to a US presidential election once before: In 1981, just minutes after Ronald Reagan took over from Jimmy Carter, Iran released 52 Americans who had been taken hostage from the US Embassy in Tehran and held for 444 days.

While the US election is nine months away, Iran has its own parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections in two weeks. At a rally for the anniversary of the revolution in Tehran, President Hassan Rouhani said they would be fateful elections.

As usual with the anniversary rallies in commemoration of the revolution, which is called 22 Bahman in Iran, there was a sideshow to the rallies. This year, the head of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, was seen. Rumors of his death or injury in Syria were circulated widely by opposition media. There was also a re-enactment of the capture of American sailors by IRGC naval forces in the Persian Gulf.
February 4, 2016

The Saudi ambassador to Baghdad, Thamer Sabhan, who was appointed to this position by Saudi Arabia on June 2, 2015, has become the most infamous ambassador in Baghdad. Iraqis have been talking extensively about him in the past few weeks because of his statements about the Popular Mobilization Units. The State of Law Coalition considered these statements to be a threat to civil peace, while another Sunni bloc, the Alliance of Iraqi Forces, described Sabhans remarks as very natural.

On Jan. 23, Sabhan appeared in his first television interview with Al-Sumariya since he took office on Dec. 31, 2015. However, his statements sparked a wave of condemnation on both the popular and political levels in Iraq, prompting some political blocs to demand his expulsion from the country.

Sabhan said during the interview, The refusal by the Kurds and [the Sunni province of] Anbar to let the Popular Mobilization Units come to their regions shows that these units are not accepted by Iraqi society.

He also addressed a question to the Iraqi government, saying, Would you accept the presence of forces that are as [much] armed as the Popular Mobilization Units in Shiite areas? And why are the Popular Mobilization Units the only ones being armed?

The Saudi ambassador accused Iran of blatantly interfering in the Iraqi internal affairs and of forming armed militias, while stressing the need to reach a radical solution to [eliminate] the environment that contributed to the emergence of the Islamic State (IS) and terrorism.

He added, The groups behind the attacks in Muqdadiyah are no different than IS, which begs the question: Where do the Popular Mobilization Units stand with regard to the Muqdadiyah incidents?

Regarding the call of Bahraini Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa for the dissolution of the Popular Mobilization Units, Sabhan asserted that whoever listens to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistanis Friday sermons and Muqtada al-Sadrs statements can feel the threat that Shiite religious authorities pose.

The Iraqi division on the reopening of the Saudi Embassy in Baghdad  after Saudi Arabia had cut its diplomatic ties with Iraq following the invasion of Kuwait in 1990  had been present for a while. Before the Saudi ambassador took office, some political parties had certain reservations, while others welcomed him.

However, the ambassadors statements provided new material for the internal political conflict, which called for an intervention by the Iraqi Foreign Ministry. The ministrys official spokesman, Ahmad Jamal, said in a press release on the ministrys website Jan. 24 that the Saudi ambassador to Baghdad had been summoned the day following his statements.

Ambassador Sabhan criticized the Popular Mobilization Units that are fighting terrorism and defending the country's sovereignty, while operating under the umbrella of the [Iraqi] state and under the leadership of the commander in chief of the armed forces. The Popular Mobilization Units also have a parliamentary representation that makes them part of the [Iraqi] political system. In addition, [Sabhan] expressed his opinion to the media about the political position of some of the Iraqis. This is not his role as an ambassador to say such things, and this is an unacceptable violation of diplomatic norms, the press release read.

The Iraqi Foreign Ministry issued another statement on the same day, after Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari met with his Saudi counterpart, Adel al-Jubeir, during which the latter said, These statements  in reference to Sabhan's  do not reflect the Kingdom of Saudi Arabias official position toward Iraq.

The Saudi ambassadors statements also stirred mixed reactions from Iraqs political parties: The Union of National Forces, led by former parliament Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi, criticized the Iraqi Foreign Ministrys response to Sabhans statements and described it as inconsistent.

Meanwhile, Khalid al-Asadi, member of parliament for the State of Law Coalition headed by former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, expressed his discontent with Sabhans statements and told Al-Monitor, Sabhan violated the diplomatic norms and his functions that he should not overstep; he interfered in Iraqi affairs and spoke about the Popular Mobilization Units, which are fighting terrorist organizations that major countries failed to fight despite all their money and armies.

He added, Iraq is going through difficult circumstances that require everyones support, instead of attempting to divide [the states] ranks and undermine its victories against terrorism. This is why we cannot accept Sabhans statements, nor do we accept those who repeat them, because they do not serve the interest of either country; next time we will not remain silent, and we will do more than just hand him a written objection."

After the wave of denunciations against his statements, Sabhan said on Jan. 25 that his comments were altered, and he did not mean to interfere in the internal affairs of any state. Saudi Arabia does not accept any armed group outside the legitimacy of the state, whether it was Sunni or Shiite.

He had said during the same interview with Al-Sumariya TV, I felt anger coming from all the Sunni politicians that I met in Iraq against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They told me, You left us to face our fate all by ourselves.'

Sabhan wondered why there is so much anger on the part of Sunnis against us, while Saudi Arabia is getting involved in Iraqs internal affairs, knowing that the kingdom does not support a party at the expense of another and always stands by governments, not people or sects. The custodian of the Two Holy Mosques told me in a meeting to look at Iraq and Iraqis with one eye, one heart and one mind, as Iraq needs the help of its brethren. But at the same time the solution should be an internal Iraqi one only.

Likaa Wardi, a member of parliament for the Union of Nationalist Forces, told Al-Monitor, Each [political] bloc read the statements made by the Saudi ambassador according to their own policies. Some objected [to] them as the statements contradicted their policies, while others believed they were ordinary statements according to their reading of the situation in Iraq.

She added, Iraq and Saudi Arabia need their officials to make statements that serve as a new starting point for [building good] relations between them; they want to avoid any political crisis, and we  as the Union of Nationalist Forces  welcome a positive relationship between Iraq and Saudi Arabia."

During the opening of the conference for the Union of Islamic Parliaments in Baghdad Jan. 24, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi alluded to Sabhans statements, saying, We welcome all guests in Iraq, and everyone should respect Iraq's sovereignty and no one should incite to murder.

In an interview with Al-Monitor, member of the Foreign Relations Committee in the Iraqi parliament Samira al-Moussawi said, The Saudi ambassador to Baghdad is not qualified to head a diplomatic delegation as he works in the security field, and his statements showed a clear interference in Iraqi affairs.

She added, I expected the Iraqi Foreign Ministry to ask its Saudi counterpart to dismiss the ambassador it had recently appointed to Baghdad and replace him with a more diplomatic official who has a [clear] reading of the Iraqi situation. However, the ministry simply summoned [Sabhan] and handed him a written objection.

Not only was the political class divided over Sabhans statements, but the Iraqi street was also divided, as some were even dismissive of his presence in Iraq. A campaign was launched by anonymous activists on social media demanding the expulsion of Sabhan from Baghdad after his controversial statement, in which he also said, The Kurds and the residents of Anbar province do not accept the Popular Mobilization Units and rejected their entry to their provinces.

Meanwhile, Mushreq Abbas, head of the Iraqi Media House, told Al-Monitor, The Iraqi disagreement is not over the ambassador; it is a deep-rooted conflict about foreign relations and the management of the countrys affairs. Any conflict over a certain principle paves the way for any other disagreement, and we have not seen an Iraqi agreement over any issue for the past 10 years.

He said, Iraq has a problem with foreign relations, as it lacks an internal agreement on unifying the visions toward certain positions. When Iraqis [finally] find a mechanism to define the situation internally, then everyone will stand against any external [position] that violates the one they had agreed upon.

The Union for Nationalist Forces exploited the media attack against Sabhan and its member of parliament, Wardi, saying Jan. 25 to those who criticize him, We are surprised by the attack against the Saudi ambassador; where were you when provocative statements from Iranian officials were being made against Iraq?

The conflict between those who support the opening of the Saudi Embassy in Baghdad and those who object it is expected to last, which will create a new political conflict in Iraq that could develop into disputes affecting the internal files over which an agreement has yet to be reached.
February 10, 2016

Zeev Elkin, Israel's minister of Jerusalem affairs and immigrant absorption, began his political career in late Prime Minister Ariel Sharons party before deserting Kadima for the Likud in 2008. He is currently a member of the diplomatic-security Cabinet and one of the most incisive thinkers of the Likud and the entire Israeli political system. Elkin is a close associate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and viewed as one of Netanyahus most faithful and effective political operators, though tension has recently been detected between the two. Elkin also enjoys good contacts with Yisrael Beitenu leader Avigdor Liberman, the Israeli right's most uncompromising opposition to the current government.

Elkin was born in Ukraine, where he earned a bachelors degree in mathematics from Kharkiv University and then immigrated to Israel in 1990. He earned a masters degree in Jewish history from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. As a skilled Israeli politician, Elkin is affiliated with the ideological right, but he is also equipped with an open mind. Elkin holds diverse and sometimes surprising views, but unlike many others he does not hesitate to express his opinions. In an interview with Al-Monitor, Elkin prophesized, It will not be long until the Palestinian Authority is no longer.

The rest of the interview follows:

Al-Monitor: Minister Elkin, what do you mean by "not that long," and why are you so sure that the Palestinian Authority will disappear?

Elkin: It could happen in a month or in a year. And I am not referring to the option that President Mahmoud Abbas will retire; enough has already been said about that. I think that the Palestinian Authority will simply cease to exist.

Al-Monitor: How did you reach that conclusion?

Elkin: [Palestine Liberation Organization leader] Yasser Arafat had Abbas, but Abbas does not have an Abbas No. 2. He did not groom a successor, and in my opinion no one can fill his shoes. There is no one we can point to as a sure-fire successor or even a leading candidate for the job. What we are looking at is a personal as well as a social-historical process. We are seeing the total destruction of the Arab worlds hierarchical structure. It began with the phenomenon nicknamed the Arab Spring throughout the Middle East; now it is reaching the Palestinians. For the time being, they are turning their energies against us. That is to be expected. But if they didn't have Israel, they would be working against Abbas.

Al-Monitor: If they are acting against us and not Abbas, then why do you think the Palestinian Authority will disappear?

Elkin: Because Abbas is 82 years old. He is not so young and not so healthy, and his popularity is in the dumps. It's clear that he is nearing the end of his political career for one reason or another. He can't put the blame on anyone else for that, because he was the one who started saying hes reached the end of the road and thought out loud about retiring. After all his threats about retiring, he created a buzz on the subject and now people expect it to take place at some point. The problem is that he will leave a vacuum, which will breed chaos. If he had a clear, obvious successor, it would be a different story altogether. But there is no one.

Al-Monitor: So what will the day-after-Abbas scenario look like, in your opinion?

Elkin: Unfortunately, it will look bad. There are many destructive forces that will circulate on the ground with very harsh ramifications in the short term. Securitywise it will be very challenging, mainly with regard to the Jewish settlers in Judea and Samaria. Unfortunately we are ignoring this possibility, not preparing for it, unwilling to accept the reality and refusing to read the writing on the wall. We arent internalizing it; we just keep hoping that what we want to happen will come to pass. But life isnt always like that.

Al-Monitor: Nevertheless, something has to happen after Abbas is gone. What will the territory look like then?

Elkin: I reckon that there will be a form of anarchy and power struggles between different gangs. Local militias will form. This can go on for a long time, but meanwhile, governability will weaken greatly and the central government will crumble. That will be very dangerous.

Al-Monitor: Do you think theres a chance that Hamas will seize control over the West Bank, as it did in Gaza?

Elkin: Yes. But thats one thing that Israel cant accept. We wont allow a Hamastan to rise in Judea and Samaria under any circumstances.

Al-Monitor: Is this scenario certain, in your opinion?

Elkin: Nothing is certain in the Middle East, but I feel that the odds are very low that the Palestinian Authority, as we know it today, will survive over time. Its demise can take place in another year; it can also happen later on, but ultimately it will come to pass. This will have many repercussions, and Israel must begin to prepare for them.

Al-Monitor: What turns you into such a pessimist on this specific issue?

Elkin: We tend to believe that what was true in the past will hold true in the future. It is the human inclination to view ongoing situations as eternal, and then at the end we are caught by surprise. I am a "graduate" of the dismantling of the Soviet Union, and I was traumatized by that. At the time, it also seemed to us that the "Soviet Empire" was something stable and perpetual, but then it became clear to us that it was brittle, fragile and fleeting. The condition of the Palestinian Authority is far worse than that of the Soviet Union on the eve of its collapse.

Al-Monitor: Earlier, you talked about security-related challenges. What did you mean by that?

Elkin: Our entire discourse on the subject of terror must change. This structure that weve become accustomed to  of the organized security apparatus in the Palestinian Authority, of one law system and one set of weapons  all this can go up in smoke. I compare the situation to a pressure cooker filled with water that reaches the boiling point. We try to deal with the scalding water that boils over by placing a cover over the pot, but that wont help. Instead, we need to turn down or extinguish the fire. That is a simple law of physics.

Al-Monitor: How can that be done?

Elkin: Regrettably, it cant be done now. We are looking at a regional phenomenon that is crushing the entire Middle East and is not skipping over us. We cannot turn the clock back and make Abbas 30 years younger, and we cannot invent a successor to our liking. It doesnt work that way. Almost all the regimes in the Arab world are feeling the frustration and fury of their citizens, mainly the youths. In the Palestinian Authority, parts of this frustration and fury are directed at Israel, and from this point of view we are an asset for Abbas and we are saving him. But as I said before, this wont go on for long. Ultimately, he will also pay the price.

Al-Monitor: So what should we do now?

Elkin: We should be making preparations. Sadly, we and the Americans are currently working with the idea that it will survive forever, and we are focusing our efforts on resuscitating a dying body. We have to change our tactics and internalize the fact that an era is coming to an end. We have to ask ourselves: How will we live and function on the day after, in the new period? I admit that theres a chance it wont happen, but the odds are very high. We need to have a plan, and at the moment we dont have any at all.
February 11, 2016

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  Since the Palestinian Nakba, Palestinian women have faced countless challenges and abuses, starting with being forced to seek asylum in other countries following Israel's occupation of Palestine in 1948, all the way to the current daily violations such as killings and arrests, perpetrated against them by Israel.

Haifa al-Agha, Palestinian minister of women's affairs, talks to Al-Monitor from her office at the ministry in Gaza City about the challenges women face in Palestinian society. She said the accumulation of violence against Palestinian women has made them tough as nails and an example for endurance and the ability to adapt in the face of adversity.

Agha, 65, was born in the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip and completed her secondary education at Haifa High School in her hometown in 1968. She obtained a bachelor's degree in public administration from the Higher Commercial Institute in the Egyptian capital of Cairo in 1972, a master's degree in guidance and educational counseling from Oklahoma State University in the United States in 1978, and a doctoral degree from that same university in 1991.

Agha worked as a lecturer and head of the Department of Education and Psychology at Al-Aqsa University in Gaza. She served as the general manager of Internal Control at the Ministry of Education, and then as the general manager of the Public Education Department at the ministry, until she was appointed as minister of women's affairs in April 2014.

Agha opined that Palestinian women have faced many challenges that stand in the way of their continued attempts to showcase their presence and skills, commensurate with the level of sacrifice that they have made in Palestinian society by resisting Israel. Among those challenges is changing the stereotypical image that society has of women as mere housewives, competing with men in the political arena and fighting to bring about international protection for themselves from never-ending Israeli aggression.

In this context, Agha said that the Israeli aggressions against Palestinian women occur on all military, social and religious levels, and that during the Israeli war on Gaza in 2014, Israel killed 263 women. She added, "Palestinian women also suffer Israels cruelty at Israeli checkpoints erected at the cities entrances and roads in the West Bank. In December 2015, a woman who was on her way to the hospital was forced to deliver her baby at an Israeli military checkpoint in Hebron in the southern West Bank, after she was detained by Israeli forces at the checkpoint  that aims at impeding the citizens movement. In addition, Israel regularly issues decisions preventing a number of women from Jerusalem to enter Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The full text of the interview follows:

Al-Monitor: What is the task of the Ministry of Womens Affairs?

Agha: The Ministry of Womens Affairs has key responsibilities, both locally and internationally. Locally, it endeavors to change the stereotypical image that [Palestinian] society has of women, by allowing them to transcend their role as mere housewives, help them attain decision-making positions and assist them with the many challenges they face in society  such as honor killings, domestic violence and denial of inheritance rights  as well as empower them economically, socially and psychologically. These steps would thus allow them to face the repercussions of never-ending wars, during which they lost their homes, children and husbands, and of the ongoing siege imposed by Israel on Gaza, which forced them to work after their husbands lost their jobs.

Internationally, the task is to convey the suffering of Palestinian women to the international community, to guarantee them protection against the multitude of ongoing Israeli transgressions that affect them. For instance, politically motivated arrests such as the detention of member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestines political bureau and deputy in the Palestinian Legislative Council [PLC] Khalida Jarrar on April 2, 2015. We also aim to protect women from being killed. During the latest war against Gaza [in the summer of 2014], 263 women were killed and 2,220 injured, of whom unfortunately a third will remain handicapped for life. In addition, over 790 women were widowed and became their families sole breadwinners as a result of their husbands being killed in the war.

Al-Monitor: What inspired you to become a minister?

Agha: I served as director general of public education in the Ministry of Education and Higher Education. I did not aspire to become a minister, but I was selected for the post when an agreement was reached to form a national consensus government subsequent to the April 2014 Beach Refugee Camp agreement between Fatah and Hamas. What encouraged me to accept it was the role that I would be allowed to play in empowering Palestinian women. Furthermore, this government did not represent the views of a specific political party, and as a nonpartisan myself, I accepted the appointment.

Al-Monitor: How have the rights of women evolved since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority [PA] in 1993?

Agha: The status of women has greatly improved and developed since the emergence of the PA in 1993. The cumulative efforts of the Ministry of Women's Affairs and private sector womens organizations led to the betterment of the situation of women, especially in three different sectors: education, employment and political participation.

On the subject of womens education, it must be pointed out that for each 100 male students who graduate from high school, there are 125 female students  making the ratio 4-to-5 in favor of females  while there are 145 female students for every 100 male students who graduate from university  a ratio of 2-to-3 in favor of females, which reflects the major improvement made in the education of women in Palestine.

As for employment, 45% of public sector employees are women, which is a good percentage. But the unfortunate aspect of this statistic is that most of those employees hold low-level jobs, as only 12% of senior public sector positions  of general manager and above  are held by women. This is something that we are trying to change, and we aspire to see equal percentages of women and men in senior positions.

In addition, women are competing in businesses that have long been monopolized by men. In July 2015, two women were appointed as marriage registrars in Palestine, which was a positive development. But it is not enough and we aspire for much more.

A similar situation prevails in the political arena as well. When the first Palestinian legislative elections were held in 1996, five women were elected, representing 6% of the total number of PLC members. In the 2006 elections, we witnessed a positive development when 17 women were elected, representing 12% of the total number of members of parliament, which indicates a major step forward in the participation of women in politics.

Al-Monitor: What is your position vis-a-vis the participation of women in the Palestinian political process? Do you believe that said participation must be developed, and how can more women be encouraged to participate?

Agha: Palestinian women have yet to prove themselves when it comes to politics, though there are a few leading role models in this arena, such as Zuheira Kamal who holds the post of secretary-general of the Palestinian Democratic Union [FIDA] and Laila Ghannam who is governor of Ramallah and al-Bireh.

The quota of women in Palestinian legislative elections is 20% of the total number of candidates; our ambition is to see that percentage increase to 50%, as is the case for women in Tunisia.

To reach that level, we must change societys negative views concerning politically active women, because the local community finds this undesirable and puts its trust in men more than women, who are viewed as mere housewives. We strive to transform this reality by changing societys traditional stereotypical view of women.

On the other hand, we also strive to encourage higher female participation in political life, by providing them with the required support and developing their skills, knowledge base and awareness. This task can be achieved by expanding womens opportunities, consolidating their participation in society and allowing them access to the experiences of other countries. But the Israeli siege on Gaza has prevented any rapid progress in that regard.

Al-Monitor: Tell us about the most important initiatives that your ministry has worked on to advance womens rights?

Agha: When I assumed my responsibilities at the ministry in April 2014, I endeavored to improve the situation of women and protect them from transgressions. During that time, specifically in June 2015, the Council of Ministers ratified the national framework for the implementation of UN Resolution 1325 aimed at protecting women during armed conflicts. We are working on implementing said resolution on Palestinian territories and hold Israel responsible before international courts for its continued transgressions against Palestinian women.

We are also currently working on the ratification of the Family Protection Act, which aims to protect women and children from domestic violence. This act was submitted by three different ministries: the ministries of womens affairs, justice and social affairs. It is now in the final stages of deliberations in the Council of Ministers.

Al-Monitor: Since assuming the reins of the Ministry of Womens Affairs, what is the accomplishment that you are most proud of?

Agha: In addition to the achievements that I talked about earlier, I can say that I was honored to represent Palestinian women in many international, regional and local venues, the latest of which was my participation in the 7th session of the Committee on Women of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia [ESCWA], hosted by the Sultanate of Oman on Jan. 20, where Arab womens issues were addressed. I am also currently preparing to go to the United Nations in the middle of March, where I will give Palestines keynote speech. In addition, I will discuss the Palestinian cause and the issues of Palestinian women, especially in the Gaza Strip, which has been enduring great hardships as a result of the ongoing Israeli siege. That, in my opinion, is one of my greatest accomplishments.

Another achievement is my contribution in informing other people about Palestinian women. In that regard, at the ESCWA [7th] session one of the participants asked me about the hardships that Palestinian women have to endure. I replied that Palestinian women inherited strength and endurance from their mothers, who inherited those traits from their grandmothers following the suffering that they were subjected to when they were forced to emigrate and seek asylum during the Palestinian Nakba of 1948, the war of 1967 and successive painful periods that followed  particularly the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories in 1967, as well as the harsh living conditions that they endured, such as power cuts for 16 hours a day. This made it all that much harder to manage their households, but led to them becoming tough as nails.

Al-Monitor: How has the political split between Fatah and Hamas [in 2007] affected Palestinian women?

Agha: This issue is painful as much as it is shameful because the split has affected everything in Palestine. Its most painful and effective repercussion on Palestinian women was the continued paralysis of the PLC, which prevents us from adopting new pieces of legislation that advance the situation of Palestinian women and forces us to take improvised decisions in the absence of applicable legislation.

In addition, as a result of the split, laws in force in Gaza are different from those applicable in the West Bank. For example, the Alimony Fund Law  which guarantees financial remuneration to divorced women whose husbands are abroad  is subsidized by the government in the West Bank. But in Gaza such a fund does not exist, which indicates that the same laws pertaining to women are as a result of the political split enforced differently in the West Bank and Gaza.
February 10, 2016

On Feb. 4, Saudi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Ahmed Asiri announced that Saudi Arabia is now ready to send ground troops to Syria to fight the Islamic State (IS). Saudi Arabia is part of the international anti-IS coalition led by the United States since September 2014. However, when it launched the war in Yemen to fight the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels almost a year ago, its priorities shifted and its airstrikes on IS subsided. In December, it launched a new Muslim anti-IS coalition, but this, too, remains ambiguous as a strategy and may be interpreted as yet another attempt by the Saudi regime to seek Islamic backing against its rival and archenemy, namely Iran. It is important to understand why the Saudis announced they are now willing to venture into the troubled waters of Syria with ground troops, allegedly to fight IS.

The 2014 Saudi airstrikes on IS were viewed by many as a symbolic gesture to convince the international community of its commitment to fight terrorism. Saudi support for various radical rebel groups in Syria, together with the ideology of IS that resembles radical Saudi religious interpretations, had prompted some observers to doubt Saudi commitment to fight terrorism. Hence the announcement to launch airstrikes on IS came at a time when the Saudi regime became increasingly suspicious in the eyes of some international commentators. The occasional airstrikes took place when King Abdullah was still king, but by the time he died in January 2015, they became extremely rare and hardly publicized in the domestic and international press.

The war on IS remained a sidelined priority for the Saudi regime as long as it was engaged in a more important southern war in Yemen. The rise of King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud to power in January 2015 inaugurated a new era of direct military intervention in Yemen, which became the primary focus for his son, Mohammed bin Salman, the newly appointed young minister of defense and deputy crown prince.

It is doubtful that serious Saudi ground troops will be deployed in Syria despite the announced and heavily publicized promise. It must be mentioned that the regime struggled to assemble an Arab coalition willing to send ground troops to Yemen and seemed unwilling to go to war in Yemen alone. The regime counted on Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members, and only a handful of willing countries outside the GCC promised support. Saudis seem to have failed to convince major Arab countries such as Egypt to actively participate in any ground offensive in Yemen. Similarly, Pakistan was reluctant to join the Saudi war efforts for its own domestic reasons. So Saudi Arabia ended up fighting this war with the help of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and countries in Africa. The main strategy of this war remains airstrikes rather than ground offensives, perhaps because of the fear of serious casualties among Saudi troops should they be heavily deployed on the ground. Without substantial ground troops, the war in Yemen is still far from achieving its declared objectives, mainly the return of the exiled Yemeni government to Sanaa and the end of the Iranian-backed Houthi rebellion. Instead, the war has led to serious Yemeni civilian deaths and the near total destruction of the meager Yemeni infrastructure.

The Saudi army has not had extensive experience in fighting on the ground beyond its own borders and may find itself in serious trouble should its leadership decide to venture into Syria. The Saudi armys much publicized heroic performance during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 is not to be dwelled on too much given that almost 500,000 foreign, mainly US, troops took part in expelling the Iraqi army from the small Gulf emirate.

One does not need to be a military strategist to know that any Saudi troops on the ground in Syria will find themselves face to face with Syrian President Bashar al-Assads remaining army and under heavy shelling by Russian fighter jets. Moreover, Saudi ground troops in Syria will also be fighting the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah fighters, who had been supporting the Assad regime, together with other Shiite militia that had been supporting the Syrian regime and fighting IS and similar rebel groups. Needless to say that such military engagements will definitely be bloody beyond imagination given the rise in sectarian tension between Saudi Arabia, Iran and the Shiites in general in the Levant and beyond. The recent Saudi execution of the dissident Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr on Jan. 2 added to this tension that is now difficult to cool down or even contain.

But if the Saudi regime does send ground troops to Syria under some kind of Turkish umbrella as anticipated, from the very beginning their mission will have to be clear. The Saudi regime needs to decide whether its troops are there to fight IS or support various Syrian rebels who are now under tremendous pressure since the Russian airstrikes began in October 2015. The Russian intervention was clear from the very beginning when Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced on Oct. 2 that his strikes target terrorists who are broadly defined as if it looks like a terrorist, if it acts like a terrorist, if it walks like a terrorist, if it fights like a terrorist  its a terrorist. The Saudis do not have such a vision or definition of terrorism. Thus, it is difficult to anticipate who the Saudi troops will pledge to fight despite the announcement that ground troops will be fighting IS.

The shift in the balance of power between Assad on the one hand and the rebels on the other may have been seriously changed after the Russian intervention, which has prompted the Saudi announcement to send ground troops.

In any case, direct ground military intervention by the Saudis in favor of Syrian rebels or to fight IS may be unlikely given that the war in Yemen is far from being won. More important, the Saudi regime must seriously worry about sending its own troops to a conflict zone such as Syria where global and local fighters have been entrenched in what seems to be an unending sectarian war with no real winner on the horizon. The Saudi regime must also think about the repercussions if its own troops engage IS fighters on the ground. How would Saudi domestic opinion deal with such a possibility, albeit an unlikely one? Sending ground troops to Syria may become fatal for a regime that is yet to decide whether its aggressive regional interventions are actually beneficial or affordable. These are unanswered questions that the new Saudi leadership must think about before starting yet another adventure farther in the north.
February 10, 2016

Shiite militants helped save Iraq from the Islamic State, President Barack Obama's envoy to the anti-IS coalition told Congress at a Feb. 10 hearing.

Brett McGurk's blunt comments underscore the envoy's gargantuan task of juggling the competing interests of a broad array of forces that often seem more at war with each other than with their stated enemy. McGurk took turns praising Turkey, the Kurds, Shiites, Sunnis and the international community during the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, while urging all of them to put their differences aside and cooperate in Iraq and Syria.

Pressed by Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., as to whether he had deliberately excluded Iran-backed militias as a destabilizing force in his written testimony, McGurk responded by praising Iraqi Ayatollah Ali Sistani's June 2014 call to arms.

"It was a really critical moment," McGurk answered, "and had he not done that I think it would have been very hard to check what [IS] was doing, because they were on a rampage."

Of the 80,000 volunteers who rose up and joined the ranks, he said, "Maybe 10,000 to 15,000" are in militias that are answerable to Iran.

"This is a huge concern for us  and for the government of Iraq," McGurk said. "We don't want to paint all of these volunteers, many of whom are [Shiite], with the same brush, because that simply wouldn't be true."

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has publicly said that running militias in Iraq would be considered a "hostile act" by Tehran, McGurk added. And he pointed out that nine militia members were arrested last week in Diyala province, while papering over the fact that no one has yet been prosecuted or sentenced, according to US news agency Bloomberg.

"We do have revenges; some of these people volunteer because they lost their loved ones," the Washington representative of the so-called Popular Mobilization Units told Bloomberg. "Thats going to happen; we cant stop this.

McGurk also heaped praise on NATO ally Turkey.

"We've worked very closely with our Turkish partners  and they're doing quite a lot," he said. "They're building berms, they're increasing patrols, they're sharing intelligence, they're setting up risk-analysis and they're conducting cross-border artillery strikes."

McGurk left out that Erdogan personally called him out for his recent visit to Syrian Kurds in Kobani whom Turkey considers to be terrorists. Ankara is widely believed to be mulling a cross-border invasion as the anti-Assad rebellion collapses.

It's not just the Turks who are running out of patience with the US strategy in Syria.

Departing French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius slammed the Obama administration's "ambiguity" regarding Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"There are the ambiguities including among the actors of the coalition.  I'm not going to repeat what I've said before about the main pilot of the coalition," Fabius said, according to Reuters. "But we don't have the feeling that there is a very strong commitment that is there."

And the German ambassador to Washington said the United States has been "slow" to realize the scale of the disaster in Syria.

"The United States has been slow to recognize this is a much bigger thing than anything else weve experienced since the beginning of the European Union," Peter Wittig told The Washington Post. We didnt see it earlier, we were totally unprepared.  Were not blaming the United States. It takes time for this country to realize that its really that serious.

McGurk blamed Moscow for what he called the "humanitarian catastrophe" in Aleppo and across the country.

"The Russians claim that they're cutting off weapons supply corridors. But they're actually cutting off humanitarian corridors," McGurk said. "So at the very least they need to put their money where their mouth is and open up the humanitarian corridors immediately to all of these besieged areas that the UN has identified."

Later, he said that 70% of Russian bombs are falling on rebel positions and called Moscow's intervention in Aleppo a "huge problem" that has "peeled off" rebel forces that had been battling IS.

"What Russia is doing is directly empowering [IS]," he said. "This will be a very difficult three days coming up" in Munich, but the major powers must reach consensus on a political resolution to the 5-year-old conflict in Syria. On Feb. 11, the 20-nation International Syria Support Group is meeting in Munich; that will be followed by the Munich Security conference.

McGurk did credit Russia with agreeing that Assad must go for the war to end and Syria to remain united.

"In these conversations we have in Vienna, the Russians understand that. The Iranians don't seem to understand that. But it's a complete fantasy to think the Assad regime is ever going to be able to establish its writ over Syria."
February 11, 2016

Five years into the revolution, different ideologies have begun to rule different areas of Syria. Some areas are controlled by the Syrian regime, others by the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and some by extremist organizations. These organizations established Sharia courts to rule the areas under their control, and they run them based on their own interpretation of Islam to solve everyday problems in the absence of legitimate judicial bodies.

Since the Syrian regime lost swathes of land  including large parts of Aleppo province in northern Syria at the end of 2013, as well as Idlib province in northwestern Syria in March 2015  these areas have fallen under the control of rebel forces of different backgrounds and beliefs. Some factions, such as the FSA, aim to establish a civil state, while others, such as Jabhat al-Nusra, want an Islamic state.

In addition to losing all government services and living under the siege imposed by the regime, a major problem these areas faced was ensuring accountability and punishment. In Idlib, the citys judicial system was paralyzed.

In a Skype interview, Ahmad Sulaiman, a former Idlib city employee who currently sells electrical equipment there, told Al-Monitor, One of the main problems we face in the city of Idlib is the suspension of the judicial system by al-Nusra, which imposed the Sharia rule after the regime withdrew. Although it [the former judicial system] was never really effective because of the widespread corruption and favoritism, it did help in deterring violations and preserving security, to a point.

In a recent telephone interview with Al-Monitor, Brussels-based Syrian civil rights activist Iyas Kadouni commented on the rise of Sharia courts: The appearance of these courts is associated with the rise of Islamic groups holding sway in the areas outside the regimes control. It is known that these groups reject positive laws and rely on Sharia law as the sole reference for the judicial power. This new status quo is natural but temporary, as it will not be able to meet the needs of the civil and democratic Syrian people.

Kadouni added, Sharia courts [will fail since] every faction has its own court that differs from the rest, because each one follows certain interpretations and references.

These courts are reported to have been the scene of unfair, unlawful and retributional trials.

My son was tried in one of Jabhat al-Nusras courts in the city of Idlib for having fought alongside the Hazm Movement, which is a faction within the Free Syrian Army. Such an allegation is punishable by death, and had we not been able to extract him via some of our acquaintances, he would be dead now, said Abboud Sulaiman, the cousin of Ahmad Sulaiman, by phone from Istanbul.

Turkey-based lawyer Anwar al-Ahmad, who spoke by phone with Al-Monitor, offered a legal perspective on the ability of these courts to deliver justice: Sharia courts in Syria are far from being just, especially since many Sharia committees include members with no academic qualification, either in the field of Islamic jurisprudence or in civil law. In addition, the fatwas and sentences delivered by each court are based on the school ... the court adheres to.

Ahmad added, In most cases, the hudud [Sharia punishments] are applied, although they should be suspended in the cases of poverty and need, which is what the Syrian people are currently suffering from. For instance, if someone stole out of poverty, he or she must not be punished, but these [Sharia] courts punish these people by cutting off their hands."

He added, In the absence of the rule of law and with people resorting to the Islamic Sharia, justice is no longer served. Its application is now in the hands of armed individuals who act according to their own interpretation of the Sharia [and are] influenced by the school each adheres to, with no regard to the place and time, or to the state of poverty in which the majority of Syrians in rebel-controlled areas lives. And sometimes, using Sharia law is only intended to serve the interests of some fighters through exerting their influence.

In January, Jabhat al-Nusra's Sharia court in Idlib executed a woman on charges of adultery, without executing the man who was involved or revealing his whereabouts. This points to a judicial mistake, as the other party involved in adultery was not present during the trial and the evidencial requirements in terms of eyewitnesses were not met.

Most Syrians agree there is no place in their country for such actions, and many think this is only a phase the country is going through due to the increasing violence.
February 10, 2016

MUNICH  US Secretary of State John Kerry said he was preparing to test Russian seriousness about a Syria diplomatic solution after he and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke by phone about possible cease-fire arrangements ahead of an International Syria Support Group (ISSG) meeting here; the Feb. 11 meeting comes after Russian-backed Syrian army advances on Aleppo last week collapsed Syria peace talks in Geneva just days after they had begun.

What we're doing is testing their [Russian and Iranian] seriousness," Kerry said in an interview with The Washington Post. "And if they're not serious, then there has to be consideration of a Plan B.  You can't just sit there."

The latest high-stakes effort to cobble together common ground on Syria comes as the United States faced growing criticism from European and regional allies about its perceived shirking of leadership on Syria to stem the violence and slow the exodus of millions of refugees that could further destabilize the region and that increasingly risks fracturing European political unity.

"We don't have the feeling that there is a very strong commitment that is there, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told Reuters, referring to the US role in Syria, as he announced his retirement from the ministry Feb. 10.

There are words, but [US] actions are different and obviously the Iranians and Russians feel that, Fabius said.

Germanys envoy to the United States also expressed concern that the United States has been too slow to realize the degree to which the Syria refugee crisis is spurring a backlash that could threaten the European political order.

The United States has been slow to recognize this is a much bigger thing than anything else weve experienced since the beginning of the European Union, German Ambassador Peter Wittig told The Washington Post. Were not blaming the United States. It takes time for this country to realize that its really that serious.

The sharp words were striking for the unusually frank, and on the record, criticism by some of Washingtons closest allies. They expressed frustration that US credibility in the face of Russian action on Syria had been diminished, and thus reduced leverage going into new negotiations.

There are words, but [US] actions are different and obviously the Iranians and Russians feel that, Fabius said. When you add [Assad's] brutality, Russia and Iran's complicity and the ambiguity, you get the drama taking place in Aleppo.

The outgoing French foreign minister also said that despite Kerrys tough talk of a plan B if Russia reneged on a Syria diplomatic road map, he had doubts that US President Barack Obama would be pushed to take further action.

"I'm not sure that the end of Mr. Obama's mandate will push him to act as much as his minister [Kerry] declares [publicly]," Fabius said.

Amid the expressions of doubts by European allies, Kerry and Lavrov spoke by phone Feb. 10 as they prepared to hold a meeting of the 20-nation ISSG in Munich on Feb. 11.

Kerry and Lavrov concurred on the need to ensure a speedy cease-fire and humanitarian access to all residential areas under siege, a readout of the call from the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Washington has been reviewing a Russian cease-fire proposal for Syria, Lavrov earlier said.

"Without disclosing details, I will note that  we have suggested an absolutely concrete scheme in contacts with Washington," Lavrov said in an interview with Russian newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets on Feb. 9. "I hope that very simple proposals it contains will not take too long for Washington to consider them.

The Russian proposal would reportedly call for a halt to Russian bombing March 1, The Washington Post said.

Kerry arrived in Munich late Feb. 10 and was due to meet with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir and UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura after his arrival. He is expected to meet Lavrov and hold several other bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the ISSG meeting Feb. 11 before attending the Munich Security conference, largely focused on the related issues of global disorder, Syria, and the risk posed to Europe by Russia and the refugee crisis.
February 10, 2016

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey  At 11 p.m. Jan. 13, a powerful explosion jolted the town of Cinar in Turkeys conflict-torn southeast. The polices local headquarters and adjacent lodgings were under attack, hit by a truck bomb blamed on the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The emergency health service in Diyarbakir, the provincial capital some 30 kilometers (18 miles) away, went on alert, dispatching ambulances to bring the more than 30 wounded to the city hospitals. In the wireless communications, ambulance drivers were instructed to take the wounded policemen and their families to the Military Hospital.

The instruction, which this reporter heard, was repeated several times by the operator at the emergency dispatch center. Military hospitals in the southeast have long treated soldiers wounded in clashes with the PKK, but the treatment of police officers in the same hospitals is something new.

According to local officials, the policemen injured in the Cinar blast were taken to the Military Hospital because it was the closest. Yet, the treatment of policemen at the Military Hospital has become a general practice in the past several months as urban clashes between the security forces and militants of the PKKs youth wing, the Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG-H), drag on.

Officials say the roads leading to civilian hospitals are often risky, passing through conflict zones inside the city, whereas the vicinity around the Military Hospital is more secure. Yet, recent events suggest this may not be the sole reason. With the rekindled conflict further polarizing Turkey, some members of the security forces seem to no longer trust civilian hospitals in the region, whose staff is mainly Kurdish.

Sehmuz Gokalp, a Kurdish physician from Diyarbakir who sits on the Turkish Medical Associations Central Council, blames the problem on some prejudiced people and vitriolic media coverage.

Gokalp told Al-Monitor that the Emergency Health Service Coordination Center, which is subordinate to the governors office, used to direct the parties of the conflict to different hospitals to avoid any unpleasant encounters. Diyarbakirs Dicle University Hospital was the place where wounded security personnel were sent. Some prejudiced people, however, complained they were not properly taken care of at the university hospital. The press picked this up with headlines about terrorist doctors working in the hospital. And then [the policemen] began to be taken to the Military Hospital, he said.

The allegations Gokalp mentioned popped up in November. A police officer injured in clashes in Silvan, a town near Diyarbakir, complained he was not given proper care at the Dicle University Hospital, claiming that the staff accorded more attention to a PKK militant wounded in the same clashes.

The university denied the charges. Sait Alan, the chief physician, said no PKK militant had been hospitalized simultaneously with the policeman in the first place. He added, The claims that the policeman was not given attention or a room are not true. All our staff is both very experienced and sensitive on these issues. After all necessary interventions were made, the patient was transferred to the hospital of his choice.

The policemans allegations, however, spawned acrimonious headlines in the pro-government media. One newspaper, for instance, called the Dicle University Hospital a terrorist den, while another described the medical staff as PKK sympathizers doing their best to prevent the recovery of security personnel. The controversy grew further on social media and eventually led to the hospital change.

Gokalp says hospital statistics disprove the allegations. We have obtained figures from the hospital staff. Accordingly, 176 members of the security forces have been brought to the hospital [since the clashes began]. Three of them were dead and taken directly to the morgue. Six died on the way to the hospital. Four died in intensive care and another during surgery. The treatment of all others resulted in recovery, he said.

Changing the policemens hospital is an understandable security measure, but the way it was reflected to the public has offended the doctors, Gokalp said.

Once we put the white coat on, differences of gender, religion, ethnicity, language and ideas disappear for us. A measure like this [changing hospitals] is fine, but the notion of medical personnel discriminating between patients is out of the question, he said.

Being branded as terrorist doctors and shown as targets by the pro-government media has deeply hurt us. All medical workers understand the precaution decision, but we are all offended by reports suggesting we have failed to fulfill our duties. You may fail to save a person with a bullet in his brains, but beyond that, fueling a perception that doctors are not doing their duties is wrong, he added.

Vahhac Alp, another Kurdish doctor in Diyarbakir, also struggled to understand why local medics were vilified. He wondered whether this could be linked to the activism of White Forum for Peace, a platform of medics who advocate an end to the conflict as well as unrestricted medical help for the wounded, given the many cases of ambulances being barred from taking even civilians from besieged neighborhoods.

Is this happening because we are standing up against war and defending universal principles of human rights and medical ethics? I dont know. Civilian medics are being sidelined.  Perhaps they dont want the number of wounded and dead security personnel to be known. I have no clear idea on this, Alp told Al-Monitor.

The pro-government media has put medical workers in the crosshairs. Campaigns on social media have claimed the security forces are not being taken care of, that the medical workers here are terrorists and should not be trusted. Dicle University, however, has released statistics clearly showing the level of medical care, Alp said. Since the wounded are security personnel, the choice [of a military hospital] is fine. But turning this into a campaign targeting civilian medical staff is extremely wrong. It is a very offensive attitude that blights ones hopes in humanity.

After the bomb attack in Cinar, police repeatedly chided the emergency dispatch center, saying ambulances were too slow in transporting the wounded. Two days later, prosecutors launched investigations both into the emergency service and the fire brigade on charges they failed to properly carry out their duties.
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February 10, 2016

Since the Kurdish peace process collapsed in June, the death toll has been steadily mounting. Although there are no official numbers for casualties, on Jan. 21 it was reported that in the last seven months of 2015, Turkey lost 218 military personnel. The number of losses in the first 20 days of 2016 was reported as 24.

It would be no exaggeration to say that almost every day, Turkish TVs broadcast funeral scenes. In most cases, senior Turkish government officials are present. Before the November elections, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was criticized for his remarks glorifying martyrdom and using the funeral scenes to his political advantage. Since the elections we still see a heavy presence by senior AKP members at these funerals. In a recent drunk-driving accident, the police officer who was killed was given a martrys funeral in the presence of a provincial governor, mayor and high-ranking military officers.

In addition, the top brass frequently accompanies the Turkish president and prime minister during their foreign visits. On Jan. 31, the Turkish armed forces' Chief of General Staff Hulusi Akar was photographed in camouflage next to Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Saudi Arabia, generating speculation about the intended message of his outfit. Pro-government media outlets frequently publish news and op-eds praising the armed forces as well as the dead. Pages of photos from funerals are common in all the dailies as well. As young conscripts from all over Turkey become casualties or veterans, reports about which city has the most martyrs contribute to the rise of nationalistic fervor.

Considering that the AKPs rhetoric on military sacrifice has changed significantly over the last couple of years from rather reckless criticism to respectful commemoration, we need to question how the AKP became an ally of the armed forces so rapidly and what this newfound alliance means for the troubled civilian-military relations in Turkey.

The Turkish military has traditionally been seen as a rival to the civilian governments, flexing its muscles with coups every other decade up until the 1980s. Although the AKPs relations with the military have always been tumultuous because of ideological differences (the military traditionally has been staunchly secular), ties have deteriorated further due to years of complicated trials that significantly tarnished the reputation of the armed forces. Yet, the AKPs recent conflict with the movement of Fethullah Gulen, the end of the peace process with the Kurds and the Syrian civil war have compelled the armed forces and the government to collaborate. To many, it may seem that the Turkish government and the military have finally found a peaceful equilibrium. This view is common among prominent Kurdish activists, Al-Monitor has learned, though they hold that this balance was reached at the expense of Kurdish rights and liberties.

Although rumors of a possible coup are always popular among certain sectors of society, we must ask if the Turkish military as an institution has internalized a commitment to civilian control, or if we still fear a coup lurking in the background. The recent images and the dialogue between the armed forces and AKP elites signal that the decades of "suits versus uniforms" confrontation are over, at least for now. Also, although neither the AKP nor the military indicates a change in ideological approach, they seem to have reached a tacit agreement that the struggle over secularism is at a draw.

This alliance has clear goals, though its durability remains ambiguous. Al-Monitor spoke with 10 retired and active-duty officers with ranks of colonel or higher about the current state of civilian-military relations. Most of them asked not to be identified. A retired two-star general told Al-Monitor, Military-civilian relations are similar to two hands on a gun. Civilian authority should decide when to pull the trigger and the target; yet the precision is controlled by the military. Currently, we see that the government came to an agreement it cannot battle the [Kurdish Workers Party] and its offshoots in the southeast without the military. The military also understands it has to prove itself to the Turkish people that it respects civilian control. We do not have to agree on every aspect as long as we agree on the end result of curtailing terrorism.

An active-duty colonel told Al-Monitor, We can see the morale of an army from how the society treats its veterans and soldiers. The AKP has tried to destroy the trust in the Turkish armed forces in the eyes of the public, but it has backfired. Because we are an institution representing the people, because the majority of men in this country still remember their days in the military and the brotherhood. So yes, the army learned to respect religious beliefs, and the Turkish Islamists learned that if you treat your veterans and soldiers as victims, rather than proud men, the whole country loses. So if you call your martyrs a few fallen soldiers, then you can expect a reaction from the military. Al-Monitor also asked if the AKP can compensate for past mistakes. All the officers agreed that it could, but that just appearing at funerals would not suffice. They all voiced concern about helping veterans and the families of fallen soldiers when the funerals are over.

The military does not battle terror alone. Recently, it was reported that police forces have started training for urban warfare with the army. Military involvement in domestic affairs can produce mixed results for the government. Retired Col. Erhan Kutay told Al-Monitor, It took the AKP 13 years to learn that it has to pay sufficient attention to the military point of view when dealing with terrorism. Soldiers understand that urban warfare, with militarization of police or with armed forces, if prolonged, can generate serious unintended consequences for all of us. Hence, soldiers drag their feet on engaging in urban warfare. With that said, it is the civilian authority that makes these decisions, so that body should be prepared for the consequences.

It is also crucial to question to what extent the armed forces influence Turkish foreign policy. Sources close to the AKP told Al-Monitor that despite all political efforts, the Turkish military has resisted any adventure in Syria. We can see the unwillingness to get involved in the Syrian military conflict beyond NATO guidelines. Here, we must ask if Turkey's military is equipped for involvement in the Syrian civil war.

Another general, who served time in prison before being acquitted of the charges against him, told Al-Monitor, Looking from a distance, one may see the armed forces as unified force. However, take a look at the commentary on the chief of general staff in social media. You cannot find much praise. What you find is a portrait of a yes man, much like his predecessor. So on the surface they provide a happy picture of collaboration with the AKP. However, the current chief of general staff has not spent much time in the combat zones of eastern and southeastern Turkey. What you must ask yourself is whether the younger officers respect him. Can we assume the absence of a coup means healthy civilian-military relations?

With every image of coffins wrapped in Turkish flags surrounded by mourning mothers, children and spouses, one cannot help but wonder if the men in suits are finally ready to defend those in uniform.
February 11, 2016

Some 60,000 people trying to escape Syrian and Russian attacks in the province of Aleppo are amassed at Turkey's border, and concerns are rising that there are militants among them.

According to information provided by the Turkish military and Kilis governorate, there are many foreign fighters among those trying to cross into Turkey. A well-placed security source at the border provided profiles of the refugees: civilians fleeing from the Aleppo-Azaz area, families of opposition fighters who used to live in the liberated areas, fighters supported by Turkey in the Bayirbucak and Aleppo-Azaz areas and foreign Islamic State (IS) militants.

Turkey, which had suspended its open-door policy, is now more flexible at the Hatay-Yayladag border area for those fleeing from the Bayirbucak region.

The Cilvegozu border crossing, the only official crossing between Idlib and Jisr al-Shughour, is only allowing the sick and wounded to enter Turkey.

At the Oncupinar border gate near Kilis, which normally provides access to rural Aleppo, crossing is strictly regulated. Further east, the official crossing at IS-controlled Jarablus is closed.

A relief worker told Al-Monitor, Gates are closed, but fighters are using alternative crossings. It is impossible to seal all the border crossings used for illegal crossings. All strict measures taken block crossings to ordinary people, not the fighters, who know other routes.

Because of strict border controls at Reyhanli and Kilis, there has been a surge of refugees at Hatay. Hundreds of people in their muddy clothes congregate at the bus terminal trying to go somewhere. They marched through fields to escape.

Two different sources from relief organizations explained to Al-Monitor the situation regarding the concentration of refugees at the Hatay bus terminal.

The people crossing through Yayladag to Hatay are not Turkmens, but Arab, they said. Most of the Turkmens were earlier settled at two refugee camps at Yayladag or had moved in with their relatives. Some 10,000-15,000 refugees living in the Yamadi camp on the Syrian side arrived mostly after the start of Russian air attacks in November.

But Arabs, who know the border is open to Turkmens, also want to use the Yayladag crossing.

"These people who hail from rural Aleppo walk across mountains and cross fields and streams to get to Turkey," one relief source said. "Every day 300-400 people arrive via this route. Those who dont have refugee identification cards are stopped. Minibuses that transport refugees without cards are banned from operating, but people find a way to come at night  sometimes by paying two or three times the normal rate."

When they reach the bus terminal in the early morning, they take buses to other parts of Turkey, especially Istanbul, and some are transported by the state to camps in different parts of the country.

"Many adult men arrive at the terminal with women and children. Nobody knows if they are fighters because everyone claims to be a regular civilian," the source said.

Many wounded have been evacuated to hospitals in Hatay, Kilis and Gaziantep. None of them admit being fighters, despite their wounds.

Those who want to go to Kilis are accommodated at refugee camps set up between the Azaz and Bab al-Salameh border crossings in Syria because the border is blocked.

Local sources say the opposition forces that control the Syrian side of the Bab al-Hawa crossing at Reyhanli are cooperating with Turkish authorities to keep people away from the border. Refugee camps in Syria facing Reyhanli are supplied by the Turkish Red Crescent and other relief organizations.

BBC correspondent Selin Girit, who did research along the border at Kilis, shared her impressions of the situation with Al-Monitor.

The Kilis Oncupinar border crossing is as quiet as it can get  the only action is by media crews.  Every now and then an aid truck belonging to UNHRC [United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees], the Turkish Red Crescent or one of the other humanitarian agencies crosses into Syria carrying food, water, blankets and hygienic supplies to the thousands waiting on the other side of the border," she said.

She added, "For the time being, only medical emergency cases are allowed to cross into Turkey. The wounded are being treated at the Kilis State Hospital. One man who lost an eye in the latest attacks targeting the north of Aleppo, with 15 other shrapnel marks on his back, told me he had left his wife and three kids behind and he wanted to go back to get them. 'I dont understand why Turkey is keeping the borders shut,' he told me. 'There are dozens of airstrikes every day.'"

Suleyman Tapsiz, governor of Kilis province, told Al-Monitor that in the past three years Turkey had used relief aid to quietly build eight camps in villages within a mile of the border on the Syrian side. They were already taking care of 50,000-60,000 refugees," Tapsiz said. "Now we have increased the capacities of these camps to accommodate the newcomers. We are in the process of building a ninth camp, which has already received 10,000 people."

He recently said the camps had received 30,000-35000 people in just 48 hours. He added, "We dont have major problems. We can absorb the people on the Syrian side of the border. We meet their humanitarian needs. All nearby provinces are prepared for any eventuality.

The policy of keeping the refugees on their side of the border is actually part of the governments strategy to set up a safe zone on the Azaz-Marea line, according to Tapsiz.

There is a lot of talk about militants mingling with refugees, but the rumors are coming from people who don't really know much about it. A local source who did not want to be identified told Al-Monitor, Of course there are fighters among the people at the border, but it is difficult to give a number. I have heard that there are some fighters who fled the front line and showed up at the Oncupinar crossing. There are efforts by Syrian opposition groups to encourage them to return to the front lines. Some fighters from the Bayirbucak area also fled to Turkey. We keep hearing strong condemnation of fighters who have fled the fighting.

More telling information can be found in statements issued by the Turkish Armed Forces and the Kilis governor's office. Officials reported that numerous IS-affiliated people, both Turks and foreign nationals, have been captured trying to cross into Turkey illegally in groups of varying numbers, and sometimes traveling with children. The information suggests there is no recognizable pattern to such attempts. The most desperate travelers probably make deals with smugglers who specialize in human trafficking.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had bargained with EU officials Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk and agreed to keep the border under control in return for 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion). It has widely been reported that, according to alleged transcripts of a November meeting, Erdogan had unsuccessfully tried to double that amount by threatening, We will open the Greek and Bulgarian borders and fill buses with refugees.

But the looming question is what Turkey will do with all those fighters who will flee across the border when the Syrian army recovers the area. This is certainly a serious worry  and not just for Turkey.
February 11, 2016

On Feb. 3, the Syrian army and its allies dealt a strategic blow to Ankara when they cut the land route between Aleppo and the Bab al-Salameh border crossing with Turkey in the Turkish province of Kilis. Keeping this route to Aleppo open had been of vital importance for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu who, keen to topple the Damascus regime since 2011, have used every means at their disposal short of sending troops to Syria.

The route was crucial to Turkey for two related reasons. First, the fighters, weapons, munitions and various supplies that flowed via this route to Aleppo allowed the rebels to sustain their military presence in Syrias most populous city and therefore preserve their political ambitions in the conflict. With the route now cut, the Syrian regimes expected siege of Aleppo means the opposition forces' likely defeat.

Second, the ground the opposition holds on the battlefield and in any political solution process  thanks to its presence in Aleppo  would have given Ankara a foothold in Syria despite its aspiration of toppling the regime. Thus, with the fall of Aleppo, Ankara would find itself largely sidelined from the Syrian process.

So, the question now is: What will Erdogan do to preserve his foothold in Syria after his strategic loss in Aleppo? Will he concede defeat or will he use his means of last resort  in other words, will he send Turkish troops to Syria?

A day after the Aleppo route was cut, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed Turkey was actively preparing for a military invasion of Syria, adding, Were detecting more and more signs of Turkish armed forces being engaged in covert preparations for direct military actions in Syria.

Speaking at a press conference during a visit to Senegal the following day, Erdogan said, This attitude on the part of Russia is something I greet with a smile. Russia should first answer for the people it kills on Syrian territory.

Bashing Russia on moral grounds, Erdogans statement neither denied nor confirmed the alleged preparations for an invasion. No confirmation was expected anyway, but a categorical denial had been possible. Instead, Erdogan expressed  in indirect but clear enough language, his desire to send Turkish forces to Syria, stressing that the "mistake" of 2003 should not be repeated. He was referring to the Turkish parliaments rejection of a government motion that would have authorized the US militarys use of Turkish territory to invade Iraq and also the deployment of Turkish troops in northern Iraq.

We dont want to repeat the Iraq mistake in Syria, Erdogan said. The situation in Iraq would have been different [today] if  Turkey had been present in Iraq. Turkey would have been at the table if the motion had been approved. Being forward-looking is very important. Referring to the Russian intervention in Syria and the regimes ensuing gains, he added, Things in Syria can go on like this only for a certain period of time, but not after a certain point. Turkey has to protect its sensitivities.

By implying that a military intervention is the only way left for him to have a say on Syrias future, Erdogan is in fact conceding that his Syria policy has failed. The true meaning of his words is that Turkey will have no place at the Syrian negotiating table unless it sends ground forces to Syria in a war of unpredictable length and consequences.

Since the Turkish military cannot go to Syria to take Aleppo from the regime and hand it over to the jihadis, legitimate grounds for a unilateral intervention could be based on the pretext of battling the Islamic State (IS). In that case, the Syrian territory up for invasion is the IS-controlled border area stretching over some 90 kilometers (56 miles) from Jarablus west to the Harjalah-Marea line. One could safely assume that some adjacent territories deeper into Syria would also be occupied to secure control of the area.

Its obvious, however, that the real target of such an intervention would be not IS, but the Syrian Kurds Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed wing, the Peoples Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara sees as an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and therefore as a threat. Judging by its attitude so far, the United States will almost certainly oppose any Turkish action that turns into an operation targeting the YPG, which it sees as its most reliable local ally against IS.

Erdogan is now calling on the United States to choose between Turkey and the PYD/YPG, which he brands as terrorists. These calls, however, make no sense in the Syrian context because the Turkish military, as a foreign force, cannot serve as an alternative to the PYD, the primary local force in the battle against IS. Going along with Turkey, on the other hand, would amount to tacit approval of a lasting invasion that also affects the Kurdish regions. Hence, a Turkish invasion is bound to drive a wedge between Ankara and its Western allies, who would object to such a move.

Furthermore, the direct and indirect responses the Turkish troops would face from the Kurds, the Damascus regime, Russia, Iran and even IS are very likely to go far beyond objections and would be of a military nature. Ankara might eventually find itself fighting more than one enemy at the same time. Turkeys NATO membership cannot serve as deterrence in this war because Syria is not part of the Western alliances defense zone. NATOs activation of Articles 4 and 5 on collective defense is out of the question for any Turkish troops that come under attack in Syria.

So, all this boils down to whether the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) will put up enough resistance to Erdogans intention to drag Turkey into the war. The ultimate answer remains to be seen, but all indications so far suggest the army has been reluctant to participate in a military intervention since the Syrian conflict began. The latest reports indicate the military leadership is standing its ground. A front-page s tory Feb. 10 in Hurriyet conveyed the militarys hesitance about an intervention, referring to a senior official who was discernible as a military officer.

The General Staff has two important decisions concerning a military deployment by the international community in Syria. First, the United States is aware it cannot pass a [UN] resolution because of Russias attitude, and therefore it is not making any preparations to that effect. Second, the TSK is not going to set foot in Syria without a UN Security Council resolution, the report read.

Over the years, Erdogan has proved to be a leader who occasionally steps back but tends to never compromise, always playing a zero-sum game. In response to any loss of power, he reflexively resorts to using power again. His sense of grandeur and the cult of personality he has built around himself have only reinforced this political persona.

Having cornered himself in Syria, Erdogan again wants to use force to break free. And the only force he has at his disposal is the TSK, which seems reluctant to be exploited for that purpose. In short, the resistance the TSK puts up to Erdogan is the only mainstay that Turkey presently has to avoid an adventure doomed to drag it into a catastrophe.
February 11, 2016

The Obama administration is warning European countries and companies to shut out a sanctioned Iranian airline or risk US retaliation, Treasury officials told Al-Monitor.

US officials have long said that they retain the ability to sanction entities that do business with Mahan Air because of its alleged ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Those past remarks, however, have mostly focused on the sale of aircraft and parts as well as banking services, not on behind-the-scenes efforts to derail the airline's plans to further expand its flights to Europe and elsewhere around the globe.

"Treasury is engaging closely with stakeholders around the world, including our partners in Europe, regarding our sanctions targeting Iran," a Treasury official told Al-Monitor. "Regarding Mahan Air specifically, we are doing this by working with our partners to prevent Mahan Air from acquiring aircraft and aircraft parts and software, preventing the opening of new routes and working to get existing routes canceled."

The Treasury official made clear that despite the Iran deal, US sanctions officials "retain sanctions on Mahan Air for its support to terrorism and will continue to use this authority to target the airline." The deal, the official said, "does not preclude us from designating any entities that support Mahan Air or facilitate its activities."

A senior Iranian official professed surprise at the move to close the routes.

"I haven't heard anything to that effect," the official told Al-Monitor.

The remarks come as the administration is under growing pressure from Congress to punish foreign companies that flout US non-nuclear sanctions on Iran, notably by doing business with an airline that's been accused of transporting weapons to Bashar al-Assad's forces in Syria as well as Hezbollah. During a contentious hearing on the Iran deal's implementation the morning of Feb. 11, House Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., ripped into the administration for lifting international arrest warrants on two Mahan Air executives.

"Instead of more actions to ground these planes," Royce said, "the White House agreed to lift an Interpol notice."

Later, Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., demanded to know what the administration was doing to ground "the airline of choice for the [IRGC] and Quds Force to go into Syria and kill people."

John Smith, the acting director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, replied, "A number of agencies of the US government, including Treasury, State, Commerce and others, have been actively engaged to try to prevent Mahan Air from being able to fly."

Smith only got out the words "We have stopped" before Sherman interrupted him to ask where.

"I don't think I can say in this setting," Smith said, referring to the open nature of the hearing.

Sherman urged the Obama administration to double down on those efforts.

"Given how many cities in Europe and the Middle East that Mahan flies to," he told Al-Monitor after the hearing, "my guess is that our successes have been limited."

Mahan Air, which isn't sanctioned by the European Union, currently operates flights to Milan, Athens, the German cities of Dusseldorf and Munich, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and several other destinations in the Middle East and Asia. Mahan Air had announced that flights to Copenhagen, Denmark, were to start next month but the route opening was discreetly delayed last month.

The airline had been planning routes to Paris, London and many other cities in the future, according to its website. Treasury Department sanctions expert Adam Szubin traveled to Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom in December to discuss Russian sanctions as well as the Iran deal and its consequences for sanctions relief and enforcement.

Emanuele Ottolenghi, a senior fellow at the hawkish Foundation for Defense of Democracies, has long advocated for the United States to give European airport companies a choice between servicing Mahan Air aircraft or US carriers, which would be prohibited from working with them if they were targeted with secondary sanctions. He helps maintain  and disseminate  an open source list of such companies, which includes Milan's Airport Handling and Germany's AHS.

"If the U.S. Administration initiated legal action to impound aircraft landing at European airports and admonish companies providing ground services to Mahan Air that they might face steep penalties, Mahan Air could soon see its European routes cancelled," Ottolenghi told Al-Monitor via email. "Such a strategy would be very effective especially with companies in Europe that service both Iranian and U.S. airlines. Mahan would have no leverage against the threat of U.S. financial penalties and the potential pullout of U.S. customers."

That approach makes a lot of sense to lawmakers such as Sherman. He didn't foresee US airlines being shut out of any major airports if secondary sanctions are applied against Mahan Air service providers.

"The whole purpose of secondary sanctions is to say, you do business with the terrorists or you do business with us, but you don't do both," he told Al-Monitor. "In every case I'm aware of, people have chosen to do business with the United States rather than terrorists."
February 11, 2016

In an ironic twist, it was in the midst of horrendous days for Israeli peace activists and human rights organizations that the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did what all its predecessors had not done to advance the principle of equality. On Jan. 31, the Cabinet decided to allot a section of the Western Wall compound to non-Orthodox worshippers, including the Women of the Wall.

The decision was hailed as historic and unprecedented, but is it a harbinger of things to come? Is this the sign of a liberal Jewish Spring? Can the decision be viewed as the first sign of Netanyahu's fulfillment of his promise made last November in the United States to strengthen non-Orthodox denominations in Israel? At a meeting of the Jewish Federations of North America on Nov. 10, Netanyahu proclaimed, The Wall is a source of unity for our people, not a point of division.  I will always ensure that all Jews can feel at home in Israel.

One can understand the favorable reactions of the heads of the Reform and Conservative movements in Israel and the United States and the Jewish Federations, who applauded the Cabinet's decision. One can share in the joy of the Women of the Wall, many of whom are Meretz activists who hurried to wrap themselves in Jewish traditional prayer shawls and thank the government for its important gesture. It is highly doubtful, however, that the new prayer space will become a cornerstone for the creation of a new relationship between the Jewish state and the Jewish religion. The chances that this government will separate religion  to be precise, ultra-Orthodoxy  and the state are about the same as ultra-Orthodoxy separating itself from the Western Wall or the current government recognizing conversion, marriage or divorce by Reform rabbis or allocating funding for the Conservative movement to build synagogues.

An assault by the ultra-Orthodox parties on the tiny concession to the other Jewish denominations was anticipated and routine. Interior Minister and Shas Chairman Aryeh Deri asserted that faithful Judaism will not allow the Reform and Conservative movements to create breaches in the wall of faithful Judaism and violate the sanctity of a site from whence the [Divine Presence] does not depart. Knesset member Moshe Gafni, a Yahadut HaTorah leader, surprised no one when he promised, This group of clowns will never, ever receive recognition.

The most interesting statement was made by a Likud politician who has distinguished himself with his discriminatory attitude against non-Jews. At a government meeting, Yariv Levin, tourism minister and cabinet liaison to the Knesset, called the Reform community an existential threat to the Jewish people. He predicted, Within two to three generations  all the Reform Jews will become assimilated, referring to communities in the United States, since Reform communities in Israel are quite small. One must assume that as tourism minister, Levin knows that the Reform community is the largest Jewish denomination in the United States. Some heads of US Jewish organizations and generous donors to the state of Israel were married by Reform rabbis to women who went through Reform conversion.

An in-depth survey by the highly regarded Pew Research Center in 2013 found that among US Jews, 35% are affiliated with the Reform movement, 18% belong to the Conservative denomination, and only 10% define themselves as Orthodox. Also according to the survey, the second-largest group, 30%, encompasses more than a million Jews who define themselves as having no religion. We may presume that this group has no interest in prayer arrangements at holy places.

The point here, however, is not Levins familiarity (or lack thereof) with American Judaism, or even his rudeness toward this large community, which as tourism minister he is supposed to try to attract to visit Israel. Rather, Levin is playing the role of the small child who shouts that the emperor has no clothes. After his attack on Reform Jews, Levin voted in favor of Netanyahus proposal to allocate them a corner by the Western Wall. How did he explain his contradictory behavior?

His excuse was that if not for the compromise, the High Court of Justice  which is currently discussing a petition submitted by the Women of the Wall on the issue  would be more likely to render an even more amenable accommodation to the Reform Jews. This risk is why Levin said at the government meeting that the compromise advanced by Netanyahu is the lesser of evils. In other words, the compromise was crafted to avert a crisis in Netanyahu's relations with his ultra-Orthodox partners in Israel, not to nurture relations with liberal Judaism in the diaspora.

Levin is right. In April 2013, the Jerusalem District Court ruled that women cannot be prohibited from praying as they wish on the Western Wall courtyard. Judge Moshe Sobol rejected the appeal of the prior decision to free five women who were arrested and detained after praying while wearing prayer shawls on the site. Sobol wondered aloud why the Orthodox custom of praying is the only one acceptable at the site.

It is probably not a coincidence that to validate his forecast about the dissolution of American Judaism by Reform Jewry, Levin chose to mention the marriage of Chelsea Clinton to her Jewish partner, Marc Mezvinsky. A man who calls himself a Reform rabbi stands there with a priest and officiates at the wedding of the daughter of Hillary Clinton, and no one condemns it, and so it gets legitimized, Levin said. It is hard to believe that a minister known to be a close Netanyahu associate chose to denigrate Clinton's wedding without consent, or at least a wink, from the prime minister.

One can assume that the two of them took into account that the portrayal of the Clinton family as partners to the ostensible sin of assimilation will attract the attention of the American media at this point in time. It is no secret that Netanyahu, and of course his American patron Sheldon Adelson, will not put a note in the Western Wall next November asking the Lord to return the Clinton family to the White House.

Election results in the United States over the years show that the overwhelming majority of US Jews support candidates with pluralistic-liberal platforms. One segment of American Jewry has no special interest in Israel or connections to major Jewish organizations. Another segment identifies with leftist Israeli positions and organizations like J Street and the New Israel Fund. By contrast, US Orthodox Jewry has a common language with the components of the current government.

The reactionaries of all religions and all parties were and remain the natural partners of the Israeli right. By paying the pittance of a mixed-gender space at the Western Wall complex, something progressive Judaism and the Women of the Wall would have received even without Netanyahus good graces, Netanyahu was able to make a show of pluralism. Now he can set aside time to incite against the left, and in his spare time, throw barbs at his liberal friends on the other side of the ocean.

The good news about this affair is that by respecting the court's decisions, the government took one step forward in recognizing non-Orthodox Jewish denominations. Under the current circumstances, this step is cause for a small celebration.
February 9, 2016

Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi won over two prominent secessionist leaders by giving them positions of power in the current government. In doing so, he redirected rebel interests to align with his fight against the Houthis and his predecessor, Ali Abdullah Saleh.

In return for renouncing their secession demands, in December Hadi appointed Aidroos al-Zubaidi governor of Aden, the administration's temporary capital, and named Gen. Shallal Ali Shayae police chief of Aden. The high-caliber leaders of the Southern Mobility Movement (SMM), one of the most active forces in south Yemen, had been demanding secession since 2007.

The SMM leaders' participation in Hadi's government brought the idea of a federal regime to the forefront. But the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels attempt to control state institutions by force hampered all steps toward implementing this option. This solidified a large section of southerners to adapt by abandoning the demand of disengagement with the north to support Hadis regime. The southerners, most notably the SMM, strengthened their political alliances with Hadi supporters to create an axis in the southern arena to help support a new approach to Yemeni unity.

However, Hadi's decision to give the SMM positions of power was criticized in the north as setting the foundation for a progressive independence of the southern regions. But the move helped Hadi restructure the security and military institutions in the south, while also maintaining the north's antagonism toward the Houthis.

Yemeni author and political analyst Abdul Rakib al-Hadiani noted how Hadi's strategy helped to merge the popular resistance with the military and security official apparatus.

The SMM turned, after this decision, from an opposition force in the street into tools in the hands of the legitimate government," Hadiani told Al-Monitor.

He explained that Hadi took advantage of the circumstances to push the secessionist movement to help deal with the immediate threat of the Houthis. Regional players, represented by the countries of a Saudi-led coalition, were also an important factor in dissuading the SMM from demanding a revival of south Yemen, which was united with the north in 1990.

When it was discovered that Iran had supported the Houthi militants' invasion of the SMM stronghold in the south  while south Yemen was a prominent ally of Tehran  it sent the SMM into the arms of the Gulf countries supporting Hadi's legitimacy, Hadiani said.

The south's demand for secession was completely abandoned when those making the demand agreed to be part of the state administration, creating a strong alliance, Hadiani noted. It will not be easy to topple the existing settlement, now that the SMM is part of it, he said.

In Hadianis view, the secessionists had no choice but to accept the internationally recognized and militarily protected government, since any opponent would have to confront not only Yemini military, but other countries in the Gulf as well.

Adnan al-Aajam, editor-in-chief of Aden-based Al Omanaa weekly newspaper, which is loyal to the SMM, said the convergence between the SMM and Hadi was inevitable.

Secession by force has become unthinkable. Therefore, the SMM activists changed their struggle tactics by tightening their grip over the power in the south and agreeing to run some state institutions, as a provisional step toward the restoration of the former southern state and to find a real solution for the southern cause, Aajam told Al-Monitor.

One may say that the situation in Yemen paints a gloomy but versatile scene subject to numerous interpretations. However, the country in general is undergoing a profound, historic transition that will change the entire scene based on the outcomes of the conflict, which has taken on a regional and international dimension.
Activist jailed for inciting social hatred on Facebook, then released after apology, as dropping oil prices hit hard.

Something surprising just happened in Kazakhstan.

Not the fact that an opposition activist was jailed for two years for inciting social hatred on Facebook, but that he was freed within days, and only after publishing an apology on the same platform which got him into prison in the first place.

From the evidence against me, I fully admit my guilt and sincerely repent, Serikzhan Mambetalin wrote on January 29, and went on to add that his actions were not worth the tears of his parents or his five-month-old son.

Followers of his story were disappointed.

We didnt have time to finish our popcorn, one quipped. Be an example for Kazakhstan, and go eat prison swill!





Mambetalin has been barred from socio-political activities for five years and, as one rights observer put it to me, he emerged from detention a crushed man.

He and his co-defendant Yermek Narymbayev (serving a three-year sentence) had posted excerpts from an unpublished book and were convicted of fomenting social, ethnic or religious hatred and offending national honour.

Since 2012, dozens of Kazakhstanis have fallen foul of amendments to the countrys criminal code, which rights groups say has been used to silence dissent.

Many of those jailed  Mambetalin and Narymbayev included  have questioned Kazakhstans close relationship with its northern neighbour and trade partner, Russia, and the government is anxious not to allow any cracks to open up in the countrys multi-ethnic society, where some 20 percent of the population is ethnic Russian.

As in many post-Soviet countries, social media in Kazakhstan has become one of the last remaining mechanisms through which people can read alternative views and express their opinions.

Unsanctioned public gatherings are illegal, and traditional media is tightly controlled by the state. Opposition broadcasters, newspapers and websites have been shut down.

Oil price slump

I went to Kazakhstan to look at the effect the falling oil prices are having on the economy.

Like many oil producers, Kazakhstans main source of income has been drastically cut and this in turn has massively depreciated the local currency. The Tenge has lost more than 50 percent of its value against the US dollar in six months.

Naturally, people are worried. The price of imported food has soared, while many struggle to pay rent or loans, which are linked to the US dollar.

The risk of a fine or even prison hasnt stopped a small group of holders of dollar-linked mortgages from gathering in recent weeks in Almaty and in the capital Astana.

They have made a lot of noise (and some international headlines) banging pots and pans and wearing paper helmets printed with the slogan $0$. But publicly their anger is directed at the banks, not the authorities.





As if mindful of the publics mood, snap parliamentary elections have been called for March.

The governments English language newspaper Astana Times says it will give the authorities a mandate to deal with the crisis.

But it looks more like a smokescreen, to distract everyone from the elephant in the room. Namely, that the country has massive foreign debts to pay back and, as a presidential adviser tells me, a budget depleted by 40 percent.

Hundreds of thousands of state employees will no doubt be mobilised to make the election a logistical success, and based on previous votes the electorate will put the presidents Nur Otan Party firmly back in control of the rubber-stamp parliament.

President Nursultan Nazarbayev will turn 76 this year and while the country has enjoyed almost two decades of growth under his leadership, the economy is predicted to contract for the first time since 1998.

Negotiating the bumpy ride may not be suited to the top-down decision-making that emanates from his palace. One insider told me that those closest to the president are too afraid to tell him how serious the situation is.

Kazakhstan lacks political figures who can genuinely question the state of things  either in parliament, or on social media. Mambetalin and Narymbayev were vocal critics but, like the protesting mortgage-holders smarting from the hikes in their repayments, hardly political heavyweights.

President Nazarbayev has weighed in on the pot-wielding protesters, warning that he will stop any provocateurs who might scream from traffic intersections, threatening to take advantage of the economic situation.

Given the consequences for Mambetalin and Narymbayev, anyone frustrated by the way their government has been handling the crisis will think twice before taking to social media, or the street, to express their point of view.
The Vermont senator won New Hampshire, but he still attracts little support from the African American community.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders solid win in the New Hampshire primary election was widely anticipated but its scope accentuates his lethal threat to the candidacy of Hillary Clinton, the clear choice of the Democratic establishment.

Most analysts attribute Sanders victory to a general anti-establishment mood in the nation, a mood illustrated also by Donald Trumps sweeping victory in the states Republican primaries. But Sanders victory also has an explicit ideological edge: He is the first self-professed socialist to become a major party candidate.

His campaign stresses the evils of income inequality, the need to break up the big banks and the cabal of billionaires that buy elections and keep the masses of Americans mired in economic stagnation. Sanders calls for universal healthcare, a living wage for workers and tuition-free college; he vows to pay for those programmes by taxing Wall Street speculation.

Socialism: like a crucifix to a vampire

However, many within the Democratic Party establishment feel that the political stakes are too high to experiment with a septuagenarian socialist. Members of the millennial generation may be more accepting of the socialist label but most Americans are not, they argue. The word socialism once repelled Americans like a crucifix does vampires, and Democratic operatives fear the Republicans can easily reactivate that political antipathy.

Some Democrats prefer Clinton for her centre-left policy prescriptions and for her experience in the legislative and executive branches of government  she has served as a US senator and a secretary of state as well as a first lady. Others find her preferable simply because she offers the most plausible route to the first female president.

The hardcore partisans of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) see Clinton as the best chance to fend off a total Republican takeover of the federal government. Republicans already control the two houses of Congress and they want the most formidable candidate to protect the presidency as a Democratic Party bastion.

What is more, they argue, Sanders platform is nothing more than an idealistic wish list with little chance of becoming policy. I wish that we could elect a democratic president who could wave a magic wand and say, We shall do this, and we shall do that,' Clinton said recently in response to Sanders proposals. That aint the real world were living in.

There may be a logical argument that Clinton is a better bet than Sanders to fend off rampaging Republicans, but the numbers beg to differ. Most major polls suggest Sanders would defeat all of the Republican candidates, with the possible exception of Marco Rubio.

Clearly, there is something unprecedented about the surge of support for this two-term senator who is Congress longest-serving independent. Few expected him to become such a celebrity candidate. In one of many ironies of the Sanders campaign, the oldest candidate has become the darling of the youngest voters  in Iowas caucuses last week, Sanders defeated Clinton among voters aged 17 to 29 by 70 percentage points (84-14), and initial estimates put his New Hampshire percentages even higher.

Are African Americans sleepwalking towards Clinton?

Another irony is the lack of support Sanders attracts from the African American community, despite the fact that his programme most accords with what some have characterised as the black political consensus. Michael Dawson, a political science professor at the University of Chicago and author of several books on black politics, even compares black electoral sentiment to the Scandinavian social democrats Sanders often invokes. But those political affinities thus far have failed to move all but a few black Americans to Sanders banner.

Race in the US: Know your history

Many black organisers are trying hard to alter that relationship. Among those is activist and scholar Cornel West, who sees Sanders candidacy as an extension of Jesse Jacksons campaigns for the Democratic Party nomination in 1984 and 1988. West has also been acting as a Sanders surrogate, singing his praises in appearances at colleges and churches. The Vermont Senator has also attracted the support of Killer Mike, a hip-hop artist widely respected by black youth. But he has surprisingly sparse support among African Americans.

The black community is still in a post-Obama stupor and weve been a bit lethargic in organising our forces, said Will Cosby, a veteran political organiser in Chicago, who has spearheaded something called the Bernie Brigade because too many black people are sleepwalking towards Clinton.

Cosby is correct. According to recent polls Clinton is by far the favoured candidate for black Americans. For example, a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Marist poll shows Clinton leading in South Carolina, which votes on February 27, by a 37-point margin.

And that margin is heavily bolstered by the support of black voters, who prefer Clinton over Sanders by 74 to 17. Those kinds of margins are the reason Clinton supporters claim there is a firewall in some states that will stop Sanders bandwagon. Although it is also true that Sanders approval rating with minority voters climbed from 28 percent in July 2015 to 51 percent in February.

Cosby believes black voters will move towards Sanders once they hear that Bernie is talking about issues that directly affect our community and hes doing it fearlessly. The Bernie Brigade is dedicated to making sure they hear him.

Secular socialism: the hard sell

The importance of black support is clear to Sanders. His first trip following New Hampshire is Harlem, to meet with the Reverend Al Sharpton, the influential president of the National Action Network. The candidate realises that unless he can ignite the so-called Obama coalition of youth, people of colour, single women, etc, his likelihood of primary victories is slim in all but a sliver of states.

Sanders faces a problem that often confronts progressive mavericks who may excite segments of the white electorate but leave black voters cold; Eugene McCarthy, Paul Tsongas, Gary Hart, Jerry Brown, come to mind. These candidates often ignore the specific interest of black Americans with overly broad appeals.

Racism in the US: The melting pot is boiling

What is more, the black electorate tends to be exceedingly pragmatic when assessing the political prospects of idealistic candidates. Black voters even withheld enthusiasm from candidate Barack Obama until he won Iowa and proved he could attract white voters.

Adding to this traditional distance are Sanders old-school notions of secular socialism, which embrace the materialist idea that economics shape the sociopolitical agenda more than race or religion. This is a hard sell in African American communities crippled by anti-black biases and accustomed to clerical leadership. Sanders has altered his pitch to sharpen his appeal. It may not be too late.
The death of young scholars such as Regeni must be mourned for the promises that they point to, indicate and vindicate.

The appalling news of a young Italian graduate student being kidnapped, tortured and killed in Egypt has shocked the academic world in Europe and beyond.

The body of Giulio Regeni, according to a piece in The Guardian, was discovered in a ditch in Cairo on February 2, showing evidence of torture and of a slow, horrific death. Giulio was studying for a PhD at the University of Cambridge, and was carrying out research on the formation of independent trade unions in post-Mubarak Egypt. There is little doubt that his work would have been extremely important in his field, and he had a career ahead of him as an important scholar of the region.

The horrific news raises a far more absent question about Egyptian and other Arab or Muslim students and scholars kidnapped and harmed in their own country without it being given much attention in the global media.

The more the horrific story of Regeni gets the global attention it rightly deserves, the more blatant becomes the absence of the news about his Arab and Muslim colleagues and cohorts who are in a more direct line of attack by the same machinery of murderous repression in Egypt and beyond; and yet their fate is left entirely off the global radar. Why?

What is the news?

The issue, however, is even more deep-rooted and distortive of the reality that Egyptians and other Arabs and Muslims live and experience. What about those students, scholars and social and political activists who are not kidnapped, tortured, and killed? What about them? Do they not exist; do they not carry on with their principled moral and political positions and activities? Does a young scholar, Arab or non-Arab, have to be so brutally tortured and murdered to be noticed as a marker of our political realities, social conditions, and historic circumstances?

Who decides, and by what authority? What is the news? Where did this proverbial dictum that if it bleeds, it leads come from, and how accurate a barometer of our political circumstances is it?

There must be a massive social basis of labour abuse, economic malady, social injustice, political tyranny in the first place for a young scholar to have lost his life trying to study it. by

Such questions raise another and more structural problem of what makes it to editorial decisions in the newsroom, and the concomitant news cycles that are contingent on such questions.

Rethinking the news

The journalistic prejudice for what bleeds leads, the more violent the news the heavier the fonts announcing it, the violent theatrics of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the brute power of the military juntas, the frightful mobilisation of the counter-revolutionary forces of ruling regimes to invade countries, bomb what they call terrorists or else to defend mass murderers such as Bashar al-Assad all come together to cover up, camouflage, and distort a much deeper, much more enduring and much wider spectrum of grassroots changes that are happening in the Arab and Muslim world.

In these historic circumstances the old journalistic cliche of leading with the most violent news must be radically reconsidered. The real and more enduring changes affecting societies and polities, cultures and industries must take centre stage.

What is happening in Egyptian universities today; what the leading Arab scholars are thinking, researching, writing; what the ideals and aspirations of Muslim students around the world are; the way that Arab and non-Arab artists, intellectuals, critics  all of them happily alive and well  intelligently dodging the bullet of their illegitimate ruling regimes to live, to think, to paint, to write a poem or make a film, to stage a play or experiment with a new prose, and to rethink the fundamentals of civil liberties and political thought are infinitely more important than the murderous machinery of a ruling regime targeting an innocent student and cutting short his brilliant life.

The death of young scholars such as Regeni must be mourned and marked not just because of their own beautiful and short-lived promises, but because of what those promises point to, indicate, vindicate, celebrate, and anticipate.

There must be a massive social basis of labour abuse, economic malady, social injustice, political tyranny in the first place for a young scholar to have lost his life trying to study it. It is that social basis that requires much more consistent and enduring attention than a sudden tragic incident would otherwise indicate.

As an academic I mourn the vicious murder of Regeni as I would one of my own students, as I will honour the promise of his scholarly life by pointing to what his unfolding scholarship would mean for a free and thriving Egypt far beyond the control of a corrupt, incompetent, brutish, and nasty military junta that has the delusional nightmare that it is actually in control of an ancient civilisation, a deeply cultured and robust civil society, or, above all, the unsurpassed creative power of a nation.

Hamid Dabashi is Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Rights group says abuse inflicted on Guantanamo detainee has led to medical problems that have been ignored.

One of the alleged September 11 attack planners held at Guantanamo Bay is in desperate need of medical care after allegedly being sodomised by a foreign object and denied treatment, a human rights group says.

Saudi national Mustapha al-Hawsawi  one of the 9/11 Five accused of plotting the 2001 attacks that killed about 3,000 people  is suffering painful and humiliating rectal problems as a result of what Amnesty International said may have been torture.

The London-based rights group  in a letter to the Pentagon health affairs chief  demanded better medical care for the detainee.

Amnesty said Hawsawis problems may well be the result of torture by US government personnel: namely sodomy with a foreign object while in CIA custody.

The letter, which became public one week after it was written, added that Hawsawis lawyers determined he had received only minimal symptomatic treatment, such as over-the-counter pain medicine, for many of his conditions.

Pentagon spokesman Gary Ross declined to comment on the specifics of Hawsawis case. But he told the AFP news agency that all detainees are provided medical and dental care equivalent to that received by US service members at Guantanamo Bay.

The letter, which was signed by the groups interim US executive director Margaret Huang, said failure to ensure appropriate and continuing medical treatment and rehabilitative care for those deprived of their liberty, including those who have been subjected to torture or other ill-treatment, contravenes US international legal obligations.

Hawsawi has claimed in the past that he suffered damage to his rectum during aggressive CIA body cavity searches and has been denied surgery to correct it.

His lawyers have argued that the violence of the searches amounts to sodomy.

More than 14 years after the September 11 attacks, Hawsawi and his four co-defendants are still mired in endless military court proceedings.

Countless motions by the defence and the logistical headache of transporting the legal staff and other personnel for each hearing has prevented major progress.

Also among the 9/11 Five is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who has publicly admitted to being the principal planner of the September 11 attacks.

Al-Hawsawi and four co-defendants are due in court next week for a pretrial hearing in their long-stalled case.
Taliban claims responsibility after rogue officer guns down colleagues in latest green-on-blue attack in Kandahar.

Four Afghan policemen were killed and seven others wounded when a colleague opened fire on them at a checkpoint in Afghanistans southern province of Kandahar.

The gunman, who joined the police force two years ago, opened fire on his comrades when they were eating dinner on Wednesday, said Zia Durrani, a Kandahar police spokesman.

Durrani said the rogue policeman was later shot dead by another officer as he tried to flee.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in the Zhari district.

The shootings are the latest in a string of recent insider killings, known as green-on-blue attacks, in which Afghan soldiers or police turn their guns on international troops or colleagues in the country.





Another Afghan policeman was killed on Tuesday after opening fire on a NATO delegation at the entrance of Afghanistans Ministry of Commerce and Industries, the ministry said in a statement.

The gunman was wounded when NATO soldiers returned fire, according to NATO spokesman Michael Lawhorn, and later died in hospital.

No NATO forces were hurt during the incident

Last month, another rogue policeman in Uruzgan province drugged and shot dead 10 colleagues in an attack later claimed by the Taliban.

The Taliban considers Kandahar its heartland, along with neighbouring Helmand province, where poppy production accounts for much of the worlds heroin.

Fighters have attacked most districts across Helmand in recent months in an effort to reclaim and protect smuggling routes for drugs, minerals, arms and men.
Following violent protests, opposition members walk out of presidents much-anticipated State of the Nation address.

Opposition members have disrupted South African President Jacob Zumas annual State of the Nation speech, with some politicians walking out of the joint session at parliament.

Zuma had not yet stepped to the podium on Thursday when members of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party delayed proceedings by raising questions before the much-anticipated address.

After more than an hour of delays, Zuma began to read his speech, only to be repeatedly interrupted by members of opposition parties in chaotic parliamentary scenes.

We cannot listen to somebody who has broken his oath of office. He is no longer fit to lead our people, Mosiuoa Lekota, the leader of the Congress of the People party which split from Zumas African National Congress in 2008, said before being escorted out of the chamber.

EFF party members also walked out of parliament after being asked to leave or remain silent.

Al Jazeeras Fahmida Miller, reporting from outside the parliament, said that anti-Zuma protesters are angry at government corruption, the state of the flagging economy and the presidents use of public money to renovate his private residence.

Analysts are calling this Jacob Zumas toughest State of the Nation yet, Miller said.

The country is facing a number of issues, many of them centred around the economy, she continued.

The central bank has forecast that growth will reach only 0.9 percent this year and unemployment is at 25 percent. The worst drought in a century is forcing Africas top grain producer to import maize. The mining industry, hit hard by slowing demand from China, is shedding jobs and shutting unviable mines.

READ MORE: South Africa court reserves ruling on Zumas renovation

In his speech on Thursday night, Zuma said the government was working to attract foreign investment.

Our country seems to be at risk of losing its investment grade status from ratings agencies. If that happens, it will become more expensive for us to borrow money from abroad to finance our programmes, he said.

Zuma also announced that the government would implement austerity measures to cope with the weak economy and asked parliament to look into whether it could still afford state offices in both Cape Town and Pretoria.

However, he failed to address why he fired two finance ministers in one week in December. Minister Nhlanhla Nene was replaced by the relatively unknown politician David van Rooyen, sparking a selling frenzy in the markets. Zuma swiftly replaced van Rooyen with the respected Pravin Gordhan.

Earlier on Thursday, police had fired stun grenades to disperse crowds outside parliament in Cape Town as opposition followers clashed with Zuma supporters.





On Tuesday, South Africas Constitutional Court reserved its decision on whether Zuma should pay back state money he used to upgrade his residence at Nkandla.

The court said on Tuesday that it would announce the decision at a later date once it has been made.

Two opposition parties took the case to court over Zumas initial refusal to obey a ruling by the national ombudswoman that he repay some of the money lavished on his private home.

After months of denying wrongdoing, Zuma promised last week to repay money spent on improvements unrelated to security.

Opposition parties have asked the countrys top court to rule on whether the president broke the law.

The opposition is hoping public anger over the upgrade and the nations economic woes will translate into votes in forthcoming local elections.
Petition to bring Iranian asylum seeker from offshore prison to Australia made by advocates after his life threatened.

A politician filed a petition with 18,000 signatures on Thursday to have an asylum seeker receiving death threats at an offshore detention centre brought to Australia after he testified in a murder case.

Kurdish Iranian Behnam Satah said he witnessed the killing of his friend Reza Barati two years ago at the prison Australia uses on Manus Island, in neighbouring Papua New Guinea (PNG).

Last September, he testified against those accused of the murder, but that decision has come at a high cost to his mental and physical health.

Satah, 30, has received death threats, been threatened with rape, and periodically imprisoned in the notorious Chauka prison cells on the island.



Australia rules offshore detention legal

He has subsequently been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and severe depression.

On Thursday, politician Melissa Parke presented the petition to the federal parliament that called on the Australian government to accept its international obligations and bring Satah to Australia where hell be safe.

The ABF [Australian Border Force] has stated that Mr Satahs safety is a matter for Papua New Guinea  In fact, the PNG government does not run the Manus camp. It is run by contractors hired and paid for by Australia. Australia cannot contract out its international legal responsibilities, said Parke.

Repeated attempts for comment from immigration authorities were unsuccessful.

In July 2013, the Australian government decided that asylum seekers who tried to come to Australia by boat should instead be deported to Papua New Guinea or the Pacific island Nauru to be held in refugee processing centres.

It said that the move was a deterrent to keep people from making the dangerous and often deadly sea journey to Australia.

Locked up

Satah and Reza Barati were close friends. The men had met in Indonesia, bonding over their shared linguistic and cultural heritage. Both were Kurds from Iran and both had chosen to flee their homeland. They travelled together by boat, attempting to reach Australia and claim asylum.

Instead the men ended up imprisoned on Manus Island, an offshore processing centre for asylum seekers paid for by Australia but under the legal jurisdiction of PNG.

Do you know how much it hurts to see people kill your friend and you wouldnt be able to defend or do anything? Satah told Al Jazeera from Manus Island.

I testified against two locals [from PNG] and their family and relatives work at the centre. They were saying we will kill you and draw gesture with their thumb across their neck. I am very frightened. I have seen how easily they kill, he said.

Dr Barri Phatarfod is the convener of the medical advocacy group Doctors 4 Refugees, and has reviewed Satahs medical records.

A worker at the Manus facility, who cannot be identified for fear of repercussions, confirmed to Al Jazeera the threats made against Satahs life.

Behnam feels like he is under constant surveillance, he said. He has received death threats from PNG guards and local people either verbally or subtle gestures of a finger moving across their throat.

Satah has been subjected to arbitrary punishment since witnessing Baratis killing, the worker said.

In January 2015, during a hunger strike by asylum seekers on the island, Satah and a friend were accused of inciting a riot. Both were sent to Chauka, the prison-like holding centre on the island where detainees are kept in solitary confinement.

Chauka was a collection of three shipping containers inside an off-site compound, away from most staff, the worker recounted. Behnam was confined for a number of days in a small space without air-conditioning or a fan.

According to Phatarfod, Satahs mental and physical health is being compromised by not being removed from the Manus detention centre.

If something happens to this man, whether hes killed on the island or by his own hand, the Australian government will not be able to say they were not warned. The only reason he has not been strung up and killed is because some remote authority in Canberra has just a little bit of control over the situation.
Children of ISIL fighter and their Sydney-born mother reportedly caught up in Syrian war and trying to return home.

Australia is considering a possible rescue of the children of an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighter and their Sydney-born mother who have both reportedly died in war-torn Syria.

Tara Nettleton  whose husband Khaled Sharrouf made headlines in 2014 when he posted an image on Twitter of his then seven-year-old son holding the severed head of a Syrian soldier  has died from appendicitis or a kidney condition, Fairfax media reported.

Sharrouf is widely believed to have been killed in a drone strike last year in Iraq, an attack in which fellow Australian Mohamed Elomar also died.

They are in grave danger. We've been in contact with them and there's bombs falling everywhere and people are starving in the streets by Charles Waterstreet, lawyer

The familys lawyer Charles Waterstreet told the AFP news agency the couples five children, aged between five and 14, were trapped in an undisclosed part of Syria.

The 14-year-old daughter gave birth to a child two months ago, fathered by Elomar, and was also looking after her younger siblings, Waterstreet said.

They are in grave danger. Weve been in contact with them and theres bombs falling everywhere and people are starving in the streets, the Sydney-based lawyer said, adding the children have told their grandmother, Karen Nettleton, they want to get out of Syria.

Both their father and their mother are dead and theyre victims stuck in a hellhole and theyre Australians, and we should be doing everything we can to get them out, said Waterstreet.

Media reports said Karen Nettleton, who campaigned for the Australian government to allow her daughter, grandchildren and great-grandchild to be allowed to return to the country, was only informed of Taras death in the past two weeks.

It is illegal under Australian law for Australians to provide any kind of support to any armed group in Syria. It is also an offence under Australian law for Australians to enter or remain in the Syrian province of Raqqa  ISILs self-declared capital.

Peter Dutton, the Australian immigration minister, told journalists outside Parliament House in Canberra on Thursday that he was unable to confirm Nettletons death, although all Australians were provided with consular assistance regardless of their circumstances.

However, in an interview with a Sydney radio station, he warned the childrens experiences since they were taken to Syria by their mother in 2014 to join their father could influence the governments decision on whether they could return home.

Australia PM appalled by decapitation photo

The conditions under which people are brought back into our country would have to be considered very carefully, Dutton told Sydney radio station 2GB.

Obviously any parent who is dangerous enough, crazy enough, to take young, impressionable children into that sort of an area obviously scars those children for life, Dutton said.

So ultimately, the governments clear objective is to keep the Australian public safe and wed have to look at the individual circumstances to see what the kids may have been through, what theyve been exposed to, whether or not later in life they pose a threat.

On Thursday, military analysts told Fairfax Media that attempting a rescue mission into Raqqa to extract the children  should they still be based there  was too dangerous as it was controlled by ISIL.
Vermont senator in the spotlight after becoming the first Jewish candidate to win a US primary in New Hampshire.

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last year that he would address the US Congress to make his case against the Iran nuclear deal, Bernie Sanders was the first US senator to announce that he was boycotting the speech, standing up to the leader of Americas closest ally in the Middle East.

As Sanders advances in his bid for the US presidency, becoming the first Jewish American to win a primary in New Hampshire, his foreign policy credentials are suddenly under scrutiny.

Critics say he is not prepared for the international stage, while suggesting that his Middle East policy is anti-Israel.

But to those advocating for a Palestinian state, Sanders record offers no assurances that he can push back against the influential pro-Israel lobby in the US, and confront Netanyahu, as the presidential campaign moves forward.

WATCH: The US and the pro-Israel lobby

Rami Khouri, a Middle East expert and senior fellow at Harvards Kennedy School, said not very much is known about Sanders foreign policy, but that the Vermont senator would be forced in the coming months to address questions on the Middle East  especially if he continues to gain momentum against Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

He has not spoken very much about issues in the Middle East, including the issue of Palestinian statehood, Khouri said of Sanders, in an interview with Al Jazeera. So we cant judge him.

Khouri, however, said that based on Sanders domestic policies, there are positive indications that he would pursue a foreign policy anchored in justice and fairness.

So far, Sanders campaign has largely focused on income inequality in the US and other issues on the domestic policy agenda.

But on his campaign website, he also said that to resolve the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the U.S. must play a leading role in creating a two-state solution based on compromise.

The Palestinians must unequivocally recognise Israels right to exist, and hold accountable those who have committed terrorist acts. The Israelis must end the blockade of Gaza, and cease developing settlements on Palestinian land, he said.

As mayor of the city of Burlington, Vermont, Sanders had condemned Israels treatment of Palestinians in occupied territory in 1988, saying that it was reprehensible and an absolute disgrace.

But as senator he defended Israels ground invasion of Gaza in 2014.

Al Jazeera has contacted Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs to discuss the senators foreign policies but received no response.

Palestinian policies

Whether Sanders can face up to Israel and resolve the conflict with Palestine is another question, experts said.

Hamid Dabashi, a Middle East observer at Columbia University in New York, said that while Sanders may pursue a more moderate policy towards the recognition of Palestinian rights to self-determination, the political leadership in Israel will demonise him and block his every move.

I have no reason to believe that he will have that courage or political will, to take on Israel, Dabashi told Al Jazeera.

As for [him] being more effective in a resolution of the Palestinian cause, the answer is No, he will not, he said. The protection of the Israeli settler colony is integral to the U.S. imperial policies in the region.

Still, Dabashi said Sanders lack of foreign policy experience could be an advantage in dealing with Palestine, as he is not tied up to the institutional rootedness of the Oslo Agreement, which he said promotes the stealing of more Palestinian land.

Dabashi also said that Sanders would be a better president than Hillary Clinton, saying she has been deeply embedded in the catastrophic U.S. policies in the Middle East  from the time of the presidency of her husband Bill Clinton to her time as secretary of state.

Domestic president

Max Blumenthal, an author and journalist who has covered Israel and Palestine, said that the self-confessed democratic socialist politician would be more of a domestic president, if elected.

His agenda is entirely contingent on his ability to break up the big banks, and get radical change in policy on the financial system in the US, he told Al Jazeera, adding that Sanders would see the issue of Israel and Palestine as a distraction.





Blumenthal said neither Sanders nor his rival Clinton appeared willing to challenge the power of the pro-Israeli lobby, which he said was dedicated to preserving the special relationship between the US and Israel.

I can imagine that if Sanders, in the unlikely event that [he] gets the nomination, would face enormous pressure from the pro-Israel lobby that would seek to domesticate him, he said.

If Sanders were to resist such pressure, he would fall under sustained personal attack and would be called a self-hating Jew and a Jewish communist, Blumenthal warned.

He added, however, that what is clear in the current campaign is that many of Sanders supporters are not supportive of Israel.

Meanwhile, Blumenthal said that Sanders lack of experience on foreign policy will have no bearing on his performance as president, adding that when Barack Obama was elected in 2008, and Bill Clinton in 1992, they had no experience of foreign policy.

Sanders himself has openly acknowledged that his foreign policy experience is limited compared with Clintons. But he also said that judgement is important, citing his decision to oppose the invasion of Iraq, which Clinton supported.
Exits following poor results in New Hampshire primary leave seven candidates in Republican field.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has ended his bid for the US presidency, further whittling a Republican field led by billionaire real estate tycoon Donald Trump.

Christies exit on Wednesday came shortly after former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina also quit the race after posting disappointing results in Tuesdays New Hampshire primary.

Trumps remaining opponents  Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Jim Gilmore, John Kasich and Marco Rubio  are likely yo benefit from their departures in a race that leaves seven Republicans in a field that once had 17 candidates.

Christie finished a disappointing sixth in New Hampshire, despite devoting nearly all of his campaign resources in the state, which is considered more friendly to moderate Republicans than Iowa, where the first in a series of state-by-state nominating contests is held.

While running for president, I tried to reinforce what I have always believed  that speaking your mind matters, that experience matters, that competence matters and that it will always matter in leading our nation, Christie said in a Facebook post.

That message was heard by and stood for by a lot of people, but just not enough, and thats OK.

Christie, 53, scored perhaps his most triumphant moment on the campaign trail last weekend, when he attacked Republican rival Marco Rubio during a debate for robotically repeating his talking points.

The former federal prosecutor is a moderate Republican running a largely Democratic state who was once seen as one of the partys best hopes in 2016.

No female candidates

Fiorina, the lone female candidate vying for the Republican nomination for US president, dropped out earlier on Wednesday after coming seventh in the crowded contest.

While I suspend my candidacy today, I will continue to travel this country and fight for those Americans who refuse to settle for the way things are and a status quo that no longer works for them, the former CEO of the computer company Hewlett-Packard said in a Facebook post.





To young girls and women across the country, I say: do not let others define you. Do not listen to anyone who says you have to vote a certain way or for a certain candidate because youre a woman, she said.

Fiorinas candidacy briefly caught media attention after a strong debate performance last September, but it quickly fizzled out under intense attack by her opponents, including the leading candidate Donald Trump, who won the New Hampshire primary.

One of her most memorable moments was when she called Trump an entertainer, and confronted the New York real estate businessman.

In 2010, Fiorina also sought public office when she ran for a US Senate seat in California. But she lost the race to the incumbent Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer.
Nuevo Leon governor says 12 people were also wounded after a riot broke out in Monterreys Topo Chico prison.

At least 49 people were killed and 12 people wounded in a prison riot in the Mexican city of Monterrey, the governor of the northeastern state of Nuevo Leon has said.

Governor Jaime Rodriguez said that fighting broke out before midnight on Wednesday night in two areas of the Topo Chico prison, between a faction of the infamous Zetas gang and another group.

During the clash several prisoners set fire to the food storage and sleeping areas, Rodriguez told reporters at a news conference on Thursday.

It was not immediately clear how the victims died, but Rodriguez said there was no gunfire.

Al Jazeeras Adam Raney, reporting from Mexico City, said: The governor made a point of saying that no one had escaped; that this was not an escape attempt but it was this battle between two groups in the prison.

People are very agitated

Images broadcast by Milenio TV showed police vehicles patrolling the streets near the prison after unrest broke out in the early hours of Thursday local time.

Milenio TV reported that relatives who visited prisoners in the jail had heard gunshots and said a blaze had broken out. They also said they had seen inmates with burns and that authorities were hunting for escapees.

Witnesses said the fire started at about 12:30am (06:30 GMT) and appeared to have been extinguished shortly after sunrise, the Associated Press reported.

Earlier, local media had said the casualties included inmates and prison guards. Authorities had earlier put the death toll at 52 but later revised it down.

Families of the inmates rushed to the prison after reports of deaths. Some shook and kicked at the prison gates, demanding to be allowed in.

Police had to come out in riot gear and push these family members back, Al Jazeeras Raney said.

People are very agitated, he continued. Mexican prisons are often corrupt, crowded and very violent places  theres a whole history of protests and riots that get out of hand.
A prominent venture capitalist and Facebook board director has apologised for tweets that condemned the Indian government for anti-colonialism after it banned the social media giants free internet service.

Marc Andreessen, who often takes to Twitter to offer his opinions, said on Wednesday new rules imposed by the government have denied Indias poor online access.

Only 252 million out of Indias 1.3 billion people have internet access.

India introduced rules on Monday preventing service providers from having different pricing policies, effectively dismantling Facebooks Free Basics programme, which offers a pared-back version of the internet.

Denying [the] worlds poorest free partial internet connectivity when today they have none, for ideological reasons, strikes me as morally wrong, Andreessen wrote.

Anti-colonialism has been economically catastrophic for the Indian people for decades. Why stop now?

READ MORE: Indias relationship with Facebook and Free Basics

Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook chief executive, condemned Andreessens Twitter outburst in a Facebook post.

I found the comments deeply upsetting, and they do not represent the way Facebook or I think at all, Zuckerberg said, adding India was personally important to him and the company.

Dozens of Twitter users blasted Andreessen for his comments, which he deleted.

I apologise for any offence my comment caused, and withdraw it in full and without reservation, Andreessen wrote. I will leave all future commentary on all of these topics to people with more knowledge and experience than me.

Earlier this week, Zuckerberg said that he was disappointed with the Indian ruling, adding the company was still working to break down barriers to connectivity in India and around the world.

READ MORE: Why is Facebook so eager to woo India?

Regulators in India say that because Free Basics only allows access to selected websites, albeit free, it violates the principle that the entire internet should be available to everyone on equal terms.

While not ruling explicitly on net neutrality, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India decided not to allow what it called discriminatory pricing for different data platforms or content.
Occupation of wildlife refuge that began in early January comes to an end after arrest of four remaining occupiers.

The four remaining protesters occupying a wildlife refuge in the US state of Oregon have been arrested without incident, the FBI has said, ending an occupation that has lasted for 41 days.

FBI agents arrested the fourth man at 11am local time on Thursday, about two hours after the surrender of the other three protesters.

No one was injured, and no shots were fired, the FBI said in a statement. Agents arrested the remaining four occupiers as they walked out of the refuge to the FBI checkpoint.

The agents closed in on the group on Wednesday, saying that negotiations to end the standoff without violence were continuing.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the remaining protesters had said they intended to surrender while carrying American flags.

The four protesters were indicted last week, together with 12 others previously arrested on charges of conspiring to impede federal officers during the standoff at the compound.



What will stop Oregon standoff?

The takeover at Malheur National Wildlife Reserve, which began on January 2, was sparked by the return to prison of two Oregon farmers convicted of setting fires that spread to federal property in the vicinity of the refuge.

The occupation, led by Ammon Bundy, was also directed as a protest against federal control over millions of acres of public land in western United States.

Bundy and 10 others were arrested in January in Oregon, most of them during a confrontation with the FBI and state police on a snow-covered roadside where a spokesman for the group, Robert LaVoy Finicum, was shot dead. A 12th member of the group turned himself in to police in Arizona.

READ MORE: Militia leader urges occupiers to leave Oregon refuge

The FBI said its agents moved to contain the four remaining protesters on Wednesday evening after one of the occupiers drove an all-terrain vehicle outside the barricades previously set up by the self-styled militia members at the refuge.

FBI agents attempted to approach the driver, and he sped away back to the compound, after which federal agents moved to contain the remaining occupiers by placing agents at barricades both immediately ahead of and behind their encampment, the FBI said.

A number of the occupiers were giving their version of events as they unfolded via an independent internet broadcast, Revolution Radio, which is known to be sympathetic to the occupation.

One woman said FBI agents had moved to within 45 metres of the occupiers position in the compound. One protester  identifying herself as Sandy Anderson  reported seeing FBI snipers posted on a nearby hillside with high-beam vehicle lights trained on the compound.

If they tear gas us, its the same as firing on us, she said, adding: Dont come in. Dont do it.

An FBI statement said: It has never been the FBIs desire to engage these armed occupiers in any way other than through dialogue, and to that end the FBI has negotiated with patience and restraint in an effort to resolve the situation peacefully.
Four protesters say they intend to turn themselves in on Thursday, 41 days after occupying US government land.

The four remaining protesters occupying a wildlife refuge in the US state of Oregon have said they will turn themselves in on Thursday, ending an occupation that has lasted for 41 days, the Associated Press has reported.

FBI agents closed in on the group on Wednesday, saying that no shots were fired and negotiations to end the standoff without violence were continuing.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the remaining protesters said they intended to surrender while carrying American flags.

The four protesters were indicted last week, together with 12 others previously arrested on charges of conspiring to impede federal officers during the standoff at the compound.



What will stop Oregon standoff?

The takeover at Malheur National Wildlife Reserve, which began on January 2, was sparked by the return to prison of two Oregon farmers convicted of setting fires that spread to federal property in the vicinity of the refuge.

The occupation, led by Ammon Bundy, was also directed as a protest against federal control over millions of acres of public land in the western United States.

Bundy and 10 others were arrested in January in Oregon, most of them during a confrontation with the FBI and state police on a snow-covered roadside where a spokesman for the group, Robert LaVoy Finicum, was shot dead. A 12th member of the group turned himself in to police in Arizona.

The FBI said its agents moved to contain the remaining four remaining protesters on Wednesday evening after one of the occupiers drove an all-terrain vehicle outside the barricades previously set up by the self-styled militia members at the refuge.

FBI agents attempted to approach the driver, and he sped away back to the compound, after which federal agents moved to contain the remaining occupiers by placing agents at barricades both immediately ahead of and behind their encampment, the FBI said.

A number of the occupiers were giving their version of events as they were unfolding via an independent internet broadcast, Revolution Radio, which is known to be sympathetic to the occupation.

One woman said FBI agents had moved to within 45 metres of the occupiers position in the compound. One protester  identifying herself as Sandy Anderson  reported seeing FBI snipers posted on a nearby hillside with high-beam vehicle lights trained on the compound.

If they tear gas us, its the same as firing on us, she said, adding: Dont come in. Dont do it.

READ MORE: Militia leader urges occupiers to leave Oregon refuge

It was not immediately clear how much further law enforcement officers would go in the latest confrontation. Until Wednesday, FBI and police had largely kept their distance from the buildings occupied by the protesters, sealing off access to the refuge headquarters with roadblocks.

However, the standoff has reached a point where it has become necessary to take action to ensure everyones safety, Greg Bretzing, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon, said in a statement.

It has never been the FBIs desire to engage these armed occupiers in any way other than through dialogue, and to that end the FBI has negotiated with patience and restraint in an effort to resolve the situation peacefully, the statement said.
Kurdish fighters say they captured an airbase near Turkish border, as world leaders meet to discuss peace process.

The predominantly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by Russian air strikes, have captured a former military airbase near the border with Turkey after heavy clashes with rebel factions, a monitoring group and activists have said.

The fierce fight for control of Aleppo province continued on Thursday as diplomats from major powers sat down in Munich to discuss the Syrian peace process  including a proposal from Moscow for a nationwide ceasefire to start in March.

The Syrian government, backed by Russian air strikes, launched a major offensive from the north of Aleppo and captured several strategically important towns earlier this month.





The offensive has led to the displacement of more than 50,000 civilians from Aleppo, tens of thousands of whom have amassed in camps at the Turkish border.

On Thursday, Kurdish fighters captured a former military airbase near the rebel-held town of Azaz in Aleppo province, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

The Syrian Democratic Forces have captured the Menagh airbase following heavy clashes with Ahrar al-Sham and al-Nusra front, Taj Kordsh, an SDF spokesman, told Al Jazeera on Thursday.

Russian air strikes have backed and helped the SDF fighters capture this airbase which is close to the Turkish border.

Sami Kekhia, a Syrian activist on the Turkey-Syria border, confirmed to Al Jazeera that the airbase had been captured by the Kurdish fighters.

READ MORE: Syrias future shaped by Russian designs

The SDF was founded in Syrias mainly Kurdish northeastern region in October 2015, and is made up of at least 15 armed factions  mostly fighters from the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) and the Free Syrian Army.

The fighters include Christians, Arabs and about 500 foreign fighters, Kordsh said, adding that some groups in Aleppo and Idlib pledged allegiance to the SDF last month.

Ceasefire proposal





The latest clashes come as world leaders, including the U.S., Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iran, met in Munich on Thursday with the aim of restarting the peace talks between the government and Syrian opposition.

Russia has proposed a nationwide ceasefire and is waiting for a reaction from international powers, Russias Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday.

We have put forward our proposals on a ceasefire, which are rather concrete, Lavrov said before meeting US Secretary of State John Kerry, according to the TASS news agency.

We are waiting for an answer from the US before offering it for consideration of the International Syria Support Group.

Al Jazeeras Rory Challands, reporting from Moscow, said that the US and its allies would probably view Russias truce offer with scepticism.

The US concerns are that this gives the offensive thats currently ongoing in the Aleppo region more time to push the rebels back, possibly going so far as a full military victory, said Challands.

The Syrian government holds the west of Aleppo, Syrias largest city, while the rebels hold the east, but the situation is largely reversed in the countryside.

Thousands flee Aleppo

At least 50,000 Syrians have fled the fighting in Aleppo, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Wednesday, adding that water supplies have been disrupted in some parts of the province.

Salah Eldine, an activist in Aleppo, told Al Jazeera on Thursday that hundreds of internally displaced Syrians have arrived to the town of Daret Ezzeh.

They are sending people by bus from the town of Azaz, near the border with Turkey, to Afreen and finally to Daret Ezzeh.

We have all opened our houses to them, but we are running out of supplies as many buses continue to arrive. In the past 24 hours at least 50 buses full of people have arrived. They are in terrible condition, Eldine said.

The fighting around has intensified and has not stopped in days. The air strikes have not stopped either. Who knows, we might all have to leave here soon, he added.

The Observatory reported on Wednesday that at least 500 people, including 89 civilians, have been killed since the offensive began on February 1.
State media says attacker was arrested after opening fire at education department building in Jizan province.

At least six people were killed and two wounded after an attacker opened fire at an education department building in southern Saudi Arabia, a top Saudi official and state media have said.

Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman General Mansour Turki said that authorities were treating Thursdays attack in the kingdoms Jizan province as criminal.

He added that one suspect had been arrested.

Initial reports said the attacker was a teacher who had opened fire on colleagues.

But officials did not confirm later if he was a teacher, referring to him simply as the gunman.

The identity and motive of the suspect were unclear.

State TV posted a still photograph that showed ambulances gathered outside the building where the shooting took place.
Mission aims to gather intelligence on people smugglers to help curb flow of refugees from Turkey to Europe.

NATO is sending military vessels to the Aegean Sea to help Turkey and Greece tackle criminal networks that smuggle refugees into Europe, the 28-nation military alliance has said.

Jens Stoltenberg, NATOs secretary-general, said on Thursday, after the meeting of the blocs defence ministers in Brussels, that the mission would focus on gathering intelligence, but did not give many details.

This is not about stopping and pushing back [refugee boats]  but about critical surveillance to help counter human trafficking and criminal networks, he said.





Stoltenberg said that the refugee crisis, driven largely by conflict and turmoil in Syria, posed a major security threat to the alliance.

Germany said it would take part in the NATO mission along with Greece and Turkey, while the United States, NATOs most powerful member, said it fully supports the plan.

There is now a criminal syndicate that is exploiting these poor people and this is an organised smuggling operation, said Ash Carter, US secretary of defense.

Targeting that is the way that the greatest effect can be had  That is the principal intent of this, Carter said.

Denmark is also expected to contribute a ship.

Intelligence gathered about people-smugglers is likely to be handed over to Turkish coastguards to allow them to combat the traffickers more effectively, rather than having the NATO alliance act directly against the criminals, NATO diplomats said.

Greek-Turkish issue

German, Turkish, Greek and Canadian ships are already there, said Al Jazeeras Paul Brennan, reporting from Brussels.

The thing that has held up problems so far is the rivalry between Greece and Turkey. Neither wants the ships of the others navy in their territorial waters.

Greek and Turkish ships will remain in their respective territorial waters, given sensitivities between the two countries, and any refugees saved by NATO vessels will be returned to Turkey.

The European Commission welcomed the plan, but said it aimed to create its own border and coastguard system to fulfil the same function.





This is a decision we welcome. We hope that lives will be saved in the Aegean Sea, commission chief Jean-Claude Junckers spokesman Margaritis Schinas said.

We regard this as very much a sort of a forerunner of the European coastguard, going back to proposals made in December.

Turkish transit

Turkey was the main transit country for the more than one million people who reached Europe last year.

Having reached Greece, most of them made their way north to Germany and other richer countries in the European Union.

More than 70,000 made the dangerous crossing in January, with more than 400 dying, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Hundreds of thousands more are expected to follow this year, with no prospect of a negotiated solution to the war in Syria, which has killed more than 260,000 people and displaced half the population since March 2011.
Pyongyang expels Souths workers after Seoul shut down operations at Kaesong zone to punish North for weapons tests.

North Korea has expelled hundreds of South Korean workers from a jointly-run industrial park in response to Seouls decision to suspend operations at the complex over Pyongyangs recent rocket launch.

Pyongyang ordered a military takeover of the Kaesong zone on Thursday, freezing South Korean assets and pulling out tens of thousands of North Korean employees.

Seoul said its decision to suspend operations at Kaesong was an effort to stop North Korea from using hard currency earned from the park to pay for its nuclear and missile programmes.





North Korea tested what it said was a hydrogen bomb on January 6 and on Sunday launched a rocket, putting a satellite into orbit.

The United States, Japan and South Korea said Sundays launch was a ballistic missile test, and like last months nuclear test, a violation of UN resolutions.

I feel horrible. If it stops operating, companies like ours have to close business. Its difficult, said Yoon Sang-Eun, a driver, heading to South Korea.

I feel sorry for the North Koreans, because they are way more worried than we are, said another worker of the complex, Kim Soo-Hee, a nurse.

Al Jazeeras Harry Fawcett, reporting from the inter-Korean border, said that the response from North Korea on Thursday was expected but still came as a surprise as Pyongyang gave Seoul only half an hour to move the workers out of the complex with only personal belongings.

Kaesongs profitable arrangement

The factory park, which started producing goods in 2004, has provided $560M in cash to North Korea, South Korean Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo said.

Combining South Korean initiative, capital and technology with the Norths cheap labour, the industrial park has been seen as a test case for reunification between the Koreas. Last year, 124 South Korean companies hired 54,000 North Korean workers to produce socks, wristwatches and other goods worth about $500M.

South Korean businesses with factories at the park reacted with a mixture of disappointment and anger. In a statement, the association of South Korean companies at Kaesong denounced Seouls decision as entirely incomprehensible and unjust.

The park also allowed people from both Koreas to interact with each other and glimpse into lives on the other side of the border.
Humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate in occupied Palestinian territory and Gaza, according to a UN appeal.

Ramallah, Occupied West Bank  A year and a half after Israels last war on Gaza, the humanitarian crisis continues to grow in the strip as a result of water contamination, energy shortages and a stagnant unemployment rate, according to the United Nations.

On Wednesday, the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OCHA-oPT) launched an appeal, in co-ordination with the Palestinian Authority, to collect $571m for emergency services across the occupied Palestinian territories.

The Humanitarian Response Plan, an umbrella financing project in its 14th year, seeks funds from international donors for programmes run by 63 UN agencies and 144 non-governmental organisations, reaching 1.6 million Palestinians who are in immediate need of education, food, shelter, clean water and protection services during 2016.

This humanitarian operation in the occupied Palestinian territory is unique from other operations around the world, said David Carden, head of UNs OCHA-oPT office. It originates from the impact of nearly 50 years of Israeli occupation, the main driver of humanitarian need.

Most of the aid will target 1.2 million Palestinians in Gaza, more than half of the total population in the besieged coastal Mediterranean strip. The widest margin of the appeal, $300m, will go towards food for 1.6 million Palestinians, of whom 46 percent are children.

Another 1.7 million Palestinians do not have access to clean water throughout the occupied territory.

A further 1.5 million people have been displaced or are at risk of displacement as a result of a man-made and natural disaster, and are in need of shelter. Nearly 950,000 of those without stable housing live in Gaza.

READ MORE: Impoverished Gaza turns to crowd-funding to meet needs

In the food appeal, the UN said Palestinians would be given aid parcels, cash to make purchases themselves, and infrastructure development for the agricultural industry.
Former US ambassador to Nigeria Robin Sanders discusses the armed groups new tactics following deadly suicide bombings.

A young female suicide bomber was in military custody on Thursday in Nigeria after she aborted a plan to detonate explosives when two other girls blew themselves up and killed more than 70 people.

The double suicide attack  which also wounded nearly 80 others  targeted a camp for internally displaced persons on Tuesday in northeast Nigeria.

The detained girl told authorities she thought her parents might be in the camp and decided against the attack.

The bombings occurred in the town of Dikwa, some 80km northeast of Maiduguri, the birthplace of the armed Boko Haram group, which is fighting to create an Islamic state in the countrys northeast.

Al Jazeera spoke with former US ambassador to Nigeria Robin Sanders about Boko Harams changing strategy as Nigerias military pushes the group out of areas it once controlled.

Al Jazeera: Are we seeing a resurgence of violent attacks by Boko Haram?

Sanders: I think what were seeing is a difference in tactics. Boko Haram learns very quickly. Theyve moved a little bit from asymmetrical warfare, which the government was actually successfully trying to hinder in December, early January, to these guerrilla attacks that you see happening now  very similar in style to what Al Shabab is doing in East Africa.

So you do see this transition taking place and I think that the Nigerian army is going to have to adapt.

One other thing to add to the list of attacks is that there was also an attack in Zamfara, which is on the other side of the country. And it worries me that, possibly, Boko Haram is looking at doing two-front attacks in Nigeria  one in the west and one in the east.

READ MORE: Nigerian refugee camp hit by twin suicide bombings

Al Jazeera: Has the group lost any strength since the renewed international effort against it?

Sanders: I think that theres a couple of things that donors as well as Nigeria probably need to think about  its really more long-term strategic planning.

Groups like Boko Haram and al-Shabab and others; they have long-range planning. You even see that with ISIL. And certainly the connection now that Boko Haram has with ISIL is something to be concerned about.

Because my understanding from my sources is that the leadership of Boko Haram now  at least in terms of tactical efforts  is really being driven by its connection with ISIL, and some of that information is coming through contacts with those in Libya, those in Tanzania.

And even as far away as Al Shabab in terms of how they do things a little bit differently  moving from this asymmetrical framework to more guerrilla tactics where theyre not holding on to territory but theyre still terrorising individuals.

Al Jazeera: What does the government have to do now to fight them with their renewed tactics?

Sanders: The main thing that I think has not happened is that the multinational joint taskforce that was supposed to be stood up toward the end of last year  it was announced in July 2015 and it has yet to be stood up.

Its supposed to have about 8,700 forces. At the last AU [African Union] summit that happened a couple weeks ago  of the $700M that was pledged to the multi-national force, only $250M has been received, mostly from Nigeria and from France.

So, financially they dont have the money to stand up the force and if they had the force they could better share intelligence, they could better plan for long-term.

And when I say long-term planning Im talking about two or three years, not something thats just six months out because groups like Boko Haram have very long-term strategic planning  and the response has to be the same.
Train derails after crashing into concrete block on tracks south of Cairo, state media report.

Dozens of people were injured when a train derailed after crashing into a concrete barrier south of Cairo, Egyptian media reported.

Ambulances rushed to the scene early on Thursday to treat the wounded.

Deputy Health Minister Gamal Al Gohary told the Dot Masr website there were no deaths after the accident. He said 44 people had been injured and transported to Beni Suef Public Hospital.

The train collided with a concrete block that caused it to derail, lifting the front of one of the carriages several metres into the air, the government website al-Ahram reported.

Egypts roads and railways have a poor safety record and Egyptians have long complained that governments have failed to enforce basic safeguards.

In early 2015, a crash between a train and a bus carrying schoolchildren northeast of Cairo killed at least seven people.

Fifty people, mostly children, were killed when a train slammed into a school bus as it crossed the tracks at a rail crossing south of Cairo in 2012.
About 35,000 Syrian refugees are gathered near Turkeys borders, but this time its doors were firmly shut.

As Russian jets intensified air strikes on the rebel stronghold of Aleppo last week, around 35,000 Syrian refugees gathered at the Bab al-Salama border crossing like many of their predecessors, hoping to find a safe haven in neighbouring Turkey.

This time, however, Turkeys doors were firmly shut.

Since Syrias civil war began four years ago, Turkey has maintained an official open-door policy for the victims of the Syrian conflict, absorbing about 2.5 million refugees and spending nearly $8.5bn in the process. But today, Turkish officials say the country has reached its limit and its borders are, to all intents and purposes, closed.

As images of desperate women and children at the border gate appeared on TV screens around the world, Numan Kurtulmus, the countrys deputy prime minister, told the media: Turkey has reached the limit of its capacity to absorb the refugees.

While insisting that Turkey was still doing its utmost to ensure the safety of the refugees, a Turkish official told Al Jazeera that the border crossing was currently open only for emergencies. He added that several injured people had already been received by Turkish hospitals for treatment.

READ MORE: Can Turkey stem the refugee tide?

The European Union, like the United Nations, was quick to criticise Turkeys new position and urged Ankara to re-open its borders as soon as possible.

Turkey is trying to figure out how it will educate these people and find jobs for them, while the EUs biggest concern is to stop refugees from reaching its shores at any cost. by Murat Erdogan, Hacettepe University

Federica Mogherini, the EU foreign policy chief, said: There is a moral, if not legal, duty to provide protection. She emphasised that the support being provided by the EU to Turkey was aimed at guaranteeing that Ankara could accept and protect all Syrians fleeing the war-torn country.

Last year, the EU reached a deal with Turkey, offering it $3.3bn to care for Syrian refugees on Turkish soil.

But Turkish analysts told Al Jazeera that the EU was expecting Turkey to perform a miracle.

They emphasised that Turkey could not resolve this humanitarian crisis alone and said it was essential for Europe to carry its share of the burden. Regarding the refugee crisis, expectations of the EU and Turkey are miles apart, said Murat Erdogan, director of the Migration and Politics Research Centre at Ankara-based Hacettepe University.

Right now, Turkey is trying to figure out how it will educate these people and find jobs for them, while the EUs biggest concern is to stop refugees from reaching its shores at any cost, he said.

Last month, partially as a result of the pressure coming from the EU, the Turkish government declared that it would be offering Syrian refugees work permits for the first time.

The government claimed that obtaining work permits would discourage refugees from crossing illegally into the EU. But analysts are sceptical of whether this policy will work.

The work permits are really important. If you want to convince people to stay in Turkey, you have to give them the opportunity to live an honourable life. We have passed the point at which giving them a loaf of bread and a blanket is sufficient, said Erdogan.

The work permits are not going to change anything. Maybe some of the highly skilled refugees will manage to get a job and make a living, but the majority of Syrians will keep working illegally for unacceptable wages, as they do today. And as a result, they will keep trying to reach Europe.

READ MORE: Analysis: Is Turkeys open-door policy an illusion?

Other analysts concurred. Syrian refugees, according to Anna Tuson, director of communications for the Istanbul-based NGO Small Projects, are looking for low-skill employment. They do not have the language skills or the necessary support network, so they are forced into the unskilled job market. And that market is already saturated in Turkey. Employers will not be eager to hire them, said Tuson, whose NGO works with Syrian refugees.

Safaa Sayah, a Syrian refugee living in the Turkish city of Sanliurfa, echoed similar views. Even if a refugee can manage to secure a work permit, she said, he or she cannot overcome the language barrier, find acceptable work or afford decent accommodation.

Sayah, who currently works for an NGO in Sanliurfa, says that she has four siblings living in Europe and can see how much more European governments are able to offer those refugees who make it across their borders.

In Turkey, the government is providing you with nothing. But if you go to Europe and apply for asylum, you will get support from the government. Knowing this, what would you do? Would you stay in Turkey? Of course you would go to Europe.

Sayah argued that the recent developments in Syria were only making the refugees situation in Turkey worse.

The Turkish government is stuck. They cant improve the conditions of the Syrian refugees living in the country at the moment. Many Syrians in Turkey know that the only future they can have is in Europe.

IN PICTURES: Syrian refugees in Turkey

But, analysts also pointed out that most of the Syrians in Turkey wouldnt be making the journey to Europe, even though their living conditions in Turkey were dire.

According to Erdogan, who conducted research on immigration in Turkey, most Syrian refugees currently residing in Turkey are women and children who are not likely to take the risk of travelling to Europe illegally as their fathers, husbands and brothers did.

The latest estimates suggest that out of the 850.000 Syrian refugees who entered the EU during the past year, only 13 percent were previously registered in Turkey, meaning they had been in Turkish territory for a relatively long time.

Erdogan claimed that these statistics showed that the majority of Turkeys 2.5 million-strong refugee population would not be going anywhere in the near future. We need to understand that Turkey does not have the infrastructure to take care of them, let alone accept more.

Tuson agreed, saying that the recent developments in Europe and Syria have caused Syrian refugees to accept that Turkey may be their final destination.

A couple of years back, the majority of the Syrian refugees in Turkey did not think they would stay here for a long time. Because either they thought they would eventually return to Syria or they thought they would continue on to Europe, Tuson said.

But obviously, as the situation in Syria continues to deteriorate, most refugees are now accepting that they will have to build their lives in Turkey. And this is not easy, she said.

Tuson also criticised the EUs plan to give Turkey funds to deal with the immigration crisis on its own. This is not a plan that can work, she said. Turkey already has problems with its education system and the employment market is not in good shape either.

This burden needs to be shared between other countries, especially the European countries which have strong economies and job markets; they should take the refugees in. I think it is unrealistic to think that Turkey can deal with the majority of these refugees singlehandedly.
As it reaches the fifth anniversary of its first release, it seems a fitting time to reflect on how Intonema is progressing. Initially, the label attracted attention because it was based in St. Petersburg, on Russian soil, a novelty at the time. The early releases on the label featured Russian-based musicians, including the Intonema proprietors saxophonist Ilia Belorukov and bass guitarist Mikhail Ershov. Gradually the roster became more international, so that the third and fourth Intonema releases featured no Russian musiciansAxon (2011), by the Franco-German duo Myelin, and Concret (2012), by the Iberian trio Atolon. The expansion of the label's horizons has continued apace, but Intonema has still continued to feature an impressive array of Russian improvisers. And whatever the musicians' nationality, the quality of the label's releases remains highas is evident in the three latest releases...Songs1 & 2Intonema2015"Songs" is the name of the Berlin-based quartet consisting of the Argentinean bass clarinetist Lucio Capece (whose 2013 album Less is Less -Music for Flying and Pendulating Speakers is a past Intonema highlight), Malaysian-born trombonist and composer Rishin Singh, US-born violinist & vocalist Catherine Lamb and vocalist Stine Sterne. With two vocalists in the line-up (plus that group name) it is not surprising that the album's music actually consists of performances of two songs, both composed by Singh, intriguingly entitled "Six Scenes of Boredom" and "Three Lives," and running for fifteen and twenty-seven minutes respectively.The two pieces are called "songs" because they feature vocals, but in other respects they hardly justify the description as they have no recognisable song structure, no chorus and no bridge. However, the vocal performances are strong throughout, remaining the centre of attention and more than justifying that "songs" tag. Each piece features a series of sustained notes from the instruments and voices, notes which overlap and fit together well without constructing any particularly memorable melodies or harmonies. Despite the songs' intriguing titles, the vocals convey little meaning; the voices are laden with emotion and are a delight from start to finish, most notably when they both sing together on "Three Lives." The use of songs here does not represent a revolution for Intonema, this album being just as exploratory and adventurous as any in the label's catalogue. 1 & 2 is an album that demands to be heard; do not miss it!Badrutt, Belorukov, KocherRotondaIntonema2015This is the second Intonema album entitled Rotonda, following the 2014 album of that title by guitarist and electronicist Andrey Popovskiy. The reason for the duplication is that both albums were recorded in the same extraordinary space, the rotonda of Mayakovsky library, St. Petersburg. (See YouTube, below, for footage of this space.) Its circular shape gives the rotonda a naturally resonant acoustic which amplifies small sounds so they resound. With such an amazing resource available to record in, the duplication is not surprisingwe can doubtless expect more to follow... Where the previous disc featured Popovskiy solo, this time out the recording features the trio of Gaudenz Badrutt, on acoustic sound sources and live sampling, Ilia Belorukov, on alto saxophone and objects, and accordionist Jonas Kocher.The album was recorded in September 2014 and consists of just one forty-eight minute track entitled "Rotonda" (surprise!) In that month, the trio toured Russia, playing in Moscow, Yaroslalv, Tomsk, Kemerovo, Novosibirsk and St. Petersburg. Normally, such a tour makes players familiar with one another, leading to good improvising. But no amount of normal gigging could prepare any trio for a gig with the mercurial fourth memberthe rotonda! The great fascination of this disc is to hear the ways in which the players explore the effect of the space then adapt to and exploit it. Tentative at firstsounding single notes then leaving plenty of silence to hear the responses to themthey gradually come to terms with its characteristics and are then able to slowly build up a complex, richly satisfying drone, to which all four contribute component parts and then... silence. Then, a three-way exchange dominated by accordion but punctuated by electronic tones and strategic silences which become more and more frequent. Very engaging and atmospheric.Altogether, another triumph for the rotonda. More!Michael Pisaro, Denis SorokinMind is Moving IXIntonema2015Mind is Moving IX is a milestone release for Intonema, as it is the first Russian CD released by a Wandelweiser composer, namely Michael Pisaro. Its story begins in April 2013 when guitarist Denis Sorokina St. Petersburg nativeperformed the Russian premiere of Pisaro's "Mind is Moving IX" at the city's Teni Zvuka festival. After that, Intonema made several recordings of the piece in a variety of spaces, listened to them and discussed them with both Pisaro and Sorokin. Finally, in June 2015, the version that is featured on the released CD was recorded. After all the time and effort that was invested in this music, it is a pleasure to report that the version that has been released is a gem.Listening to the finished article, it is easy to understand how previous versions might have been deemed unacceptable. As with other Pisaro compositions, the placement of every soundincluding guitar, radio, stones, whistlesis crucial to the success of the whole; one wrongly placed sound could be grounds for rejection or, in concert, one extraneous sound could spoil an otherwise acceptable recording. It seems analogous to building a house of cardsone out of place can bring the whole thing tumbling down!The version here is a fine addition to Pisaro's discography, as it is textbook Wandelweiser, with carefully considered use of silence and every sound being heard from start to end so it can be properly savoured. The comparison of this disc with Rotonda, above, is fascinating as both employ silence to stunning effect, but Pisaro's silences sound planned and controlled while on Rotonda they just seem to happen, but still feel right. Neither is "better," they just represent different ways of working.Bravo, Intonema. Here's to the next five years...Tracks and Personnel1 & 2Tracks: Six Scenes of Boredom; Three Lives.Personnel: Lucio Capece: bass clarinet; Catherine Lamb: voice, viola; Rishin Singh: trombone, composition; Stine Sterne: voice.RotondaTracks: RotondaPersonnel: Gaudenz Badrutt: electronics, objects; Ilia Belorukov: alto saxophone, objects; Jonas Kocher: accordion.Mind Is Moving IXTracks: Mind Is Moving.Personnel: Denis Sorokin: electric guitar, radio, stones, whistling.
Following the well-deserved critical praise for his sextet debut, Worlds Put Together (BYNK Records, 2013), saxophonist/composer Matt Parker returns with a core trio and guests on Present Time. Former classmates from NYC's New School, bassist Alan Hampton and drummer Reggie Quinerly, join Parker on seven original compositions. One standard dating back to 1930 (and's first significant recording) along with a previously unrecordedcomposition fill out the program.Parker is a Florida native now residing in New York City where he fronts or plays in a host of groups. His move to NYC has afforded him the opportunity to form connections withand others while also playing synthesizer, flute and clarinet in Mikkel Hess' Danish band "Hess Is More." Parker's broad resume also includes performances with The Mingus Big Band and's Big Bop Nouveau Band. Only in his mid-thirties, Parker's resume is global in scope and quite impressive.Present Time opens with "Noah's Arc" and its bluesy swing is a great place to hear and appreciate Parker's deep fluid playing and mastery of rhythm changes. Switching from tenor to soprano on "New Horizons," Parker brings to mind the experimental approaches of. Inspired by, "One for Duke" has an exotic eastern feel while "Winter's Gone" is a soulful duet for tenor and's ethereal vocal. "I'm Confessing (That I love You)," the previously mentioned standard, is treated with a nostalgic respect but closes out in a freer and unexpected swing mode.Sue Mingus gave the title "Song To Keki" to her husband's unrecorded lullaby to their daughter but in the hands of Parker, Hampton and Quinerly, the piece expands into more avant-garde territory. Parker allows himself free rein to wail a bit on "Present Time" while Hampton and Quinerly have their own time to shine through the multiple time changes. An impromptu entry, "The Gong," uses the resonating tone of the instrument to introduce his improved solos on soprano and tenor. The album closes with "Sixteen," another brief number; this one channeling bothanddepending on where you drop the needle.On his debut album, Parker established that he is not married to a particular style or influence. Worlds Put Together does nothing to dispel that impression and yet with all the variety on this album, Parker ties together the loose pieces and complexity of his concept around the pliability of time. There's an ease to the working relationships of Parker, Hampton and Quinerly that becomes palpable in the listening experience.A sidebar: the order of the third and fourth tracks on the CD are reversed as printed on the jacket, as are the times for each of those tracks.
In 1959, Bryant E. Middleton attended the Florida School for Boys, a North Florida reform school.

Fifty-seven years later, he sat at a row of desks in UFs Law School Chesterfield Smith Ceremonial Classroom, listening to a reporter and a professor shed light on the mysterious deaths and abuses that happened at his former school in Marianna, Florida. The school was later renamed the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys.

We did not have criminals at that school, Middleton, 71, said. There were no murderers. There were no rapists. Most of us were young children that were at the school. It was a terrible place.

On Wednesday, UFs Levin College of Law school hosted Death at Dozier: Unearthing, Remedying, and Preventing Human Tragedies, a panel discussion of UF professors and experts who investigated the physical and sexual abuses and mysterious deaths that occurred at the reform school.

The school opened in 1900 and was shut down after a federal investigation in 2011.

Ben Montgomery, a Tampa Bay Times reporter, heard about Doziers story in 2008, when the state issued a plaque to honor the boys who were physically and sexually abused as consolation. The plaque caught Montgomerys attention, he said. From there, he reached out to Erin Kimmerle, a University of South Florida anthropology professor.

For six years, they fought resistance from the state to uncover the mysterious deaths of boys at the school. The state reported 31 bodies; Kimmerle found 50.

Along with Kimmerles graduate students, they got to work, reaching out to families of the boys who had died there. Boys as young as six were used to manage crop fields. To date, she said seven bodies have been positively identified and returned to their families.

Its not something you can say, Well this is history, she said. The past is really the present. Its not just something from long ago.

UF history associate professor Paul Ortiz said the culture of racism and corruption in the state allowed the atrocities at Dozier happen.

There are many Doziers throughout the American South, Ortiz said, adding that it takes multiple perspectives to explain systems like Dozier.

UF law professor Darren Hutchinson said the constitutional rights that protects U.S. citizens from cruel and unusual punishment may have been broken.

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Depending on how and when the boys died, the state couldve violated the boys Eighth Amendment rights, Hutchinson said.

For Middleton, the fight for justice continues.

You want to know you can do? he told the audience. Write your legislator, write the governor, ask for help. We did, and weve made great end strides to get things corrected.
Students will be able to view their final grades on a new website next week.

Student services, such as transcripts and degree audits, will move from ISIS to One.UF, UFs new online class registration system, on Feb. 19, Tracy Gale, UFs Information Technology communications manager, wrote in an email. Currently, students can access a version of the site to search for classes.

The changes are part of a campus-wide, multi-year program to modernize student services and make them easier to use, she said.

Students will be able to access the site on smartphones and mobile devices. Gale said the site will be easier to access on all devices and have a modern design with better technological support than ISIS has.

ONE.UF is a portal, and the plans are to move more student services (or apps) to the one.ufl.edu platform, she said.

Rachel Farmer, a UF mechanical engineering junior, said she hopes the One.UF mobile website will be easier to use than ISIS.

Its just not a good interface on the mobile, the 20-year-old said. Its just kind of eh.

She said she would like to see a One.UF app that is more compatible with her Android phone so she can check her class schedule more easily.

It would be really convenient if One.UF incorporated an app, she said.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @k_newberg.

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Sarah Freeman watched Florida Fun Bikes come to life from her job across the street.

I saw this place being constructed, so Im interested to see how it is, the 21-year-old UF elementary education senior said.

Today is the companys grand opening from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at 530 W. University Ave.

Co-owner Amber Shelton said the event includes free food, drinks and music, along with sample tours on the bike.

About 200 people RSVPd on the events Facebook page as of press time.

Shelton said the 16-person bike arrived from the Netherlands and allows riders to pedal in unison.

Its 100-percent human-powered, Shelton said.

She said the typical bar tour includes 20-minute pedaling sessions with drinking breaks in between. Other tours include coffee, food or mural sighting.

Her fiance and fellow co-owner, Derrick Robinson, is a Gainesville native who saw potential in bringing the bike to Gainesville.

Our bike is one of those things you just have to see to know how awesome it is, Shelton said.

Along with light strands and a sound system, Shelton said a disco ball is in the bikes future.

It lights up like a Christmas tree, she said.

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Drew Hacker, a 21-year-old UF finance senior, said he first heard about the concept from a friend who toured in Fort Lauderdale.

Im a large fan of alcohol and so is my friend, so Ill definitely try this out, he said.

Pictured above is a fun bike, a 16-person pedal bar that allows people to pedal together to get to bars. Florida Fun Bikes, located at 530 W. University Ave., will have its grand opening on Feb. 11, 2016, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
A secretary of state used algorithms to suppress Florida voters in 2012, Daniel Smith, a UF political science professor, said Tuesday night.

He said Kenneth Detzner, the current Florida secretary of state, helped single out legal citizens who were born outside the U.S. Letters were then sent to thousands of people, he said.

The message: Prove your citizenship or be removed from the voter registry.

During a presentation at Santa Fe College, Smith joined UF history associate professor Paul Ortiz to discuss similar issues of voter suppression in the past and present.

Santa Fes Democracy Commitment hosted the presentation in the Santa Fe Fine Arts Hall from 7 p.m. to about 9 p.m.

In a perfect world I wouldnt have to be up here to give a talk because voter suppression would be a thing of the past, but history likes to repeat itself, said Smith.

Ortiz said race, naturalization and citizenship are still at the core of Americas voter suppression issue.

When the concept of citizenship was first articulated in the U.S., it was articulated on racial lines, he said.

Along with ones citizenship, the voting systems allows votes to be rejected for a variety of reasons.

Smith said voters, especially minorities, who use an absentee ballot are more likely to have their vote rejected.

If the signature on an absentee ballot doesnt match the signature on someones voter registration, the vote is rejected, Smith said.

These are very subtle forms of disenfranchisement, he said.

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Using data collected from Alachua County absentee ballots in 2012, Smith found that a majority of the rejected votes correlated with signature misidentification.

Young and old voters are the most likely to have their votes rejected from absentee ballots, he said, because their signatures often change after registering to vote.

Stephanie Lima, a 21-year-old Sante Fe business sophomore, said she is shocked that absentee ballots are so unreliable.

It was prettying mind-blowing, she said.

Smith encouraged the audience of about 50 people to arm themselves with knowledge and avoid voter suppression.

You have to be proactive to be an informed voter, he said.
Huda Kattan, the Dubai-based beauty influencer whose lashes sell out at Sephora, is becoming ever-more popular in the United States. We've been covering her amazing makeup tricks for a while, then The New Yorker profiled her, and now W chatted with Kattan about all things makeup.

In the W interview, Kattan shared one particularly juicy tidbit: When she was growing up, she was the only person of Middle Eastern descent in her communities in Mississippi and Tennessee, so she looked to a Disney princess for beauty inspiration. "I used to look at Princess Jasmine [from Aladdin] for inspiration and relate to her. I loved her superlong hair and followed her makeup style, the Arab stylethe big liner and lashes," Kattan said in the interview. We've got to say, Princess Jasmine does have some impeccable liner.

Kattan also opened up to W about how social media has allowed Middle Eastern and Western beauty trends to converge. "With the introduction of Instagram, Facebook, and social mediathings have become more uniform across the globe. Women in the Middle East are starting to look more and more like women in the West and vice versa. In my opinion, Middle Eastern beauty trends have definitely had an effect on women on the Western side of the globe. We love more dramatic makeup, and you see that in some celebrities, so that becomes something that Arab women can relate to. And in return, Western women are interested in trying these dramatic looks. I think they've become more daring."

Head over to W to read the entire interview.

Inside the Allure Beauty Closet:
During a two day visit to Senegal, Mr Duddridge signed an Energy Africa Partnership Agreement with the Senegalese Minister for Energy. This Agreement will see the UK and Senegal work together to boost access to clean, affordable solar energy in Senegal. The Minister also met with the President and the Foreign Minister to discuss security []http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Appa-sourceTheAfric...










REACTION Open appeal to US Senator McCain to solve humanitarian crises in Syria

Alwihda Info | Par Hem Raj Jain - 11 Fevrier 2016





To

Your Goodness John McCain

United States Senator



Sub:- An open letter in the interest of solving humanitarian crises including refugee crises in Syria (and later on in NAME)



-- Your Goodness ( YG) being in public life, I take the liberty of reproducing relevant part of your reply of February 10, 2016 to my letter about global refugee crises. In said reply YG said - [Hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing their homes in the North Africa Middle East (NAME) to escape growing violence and unrest in the region. The vast majority of these refugees are from Syria, a country which has known little but death and destruction for four years. As Bashar al-Assad and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL / ISIS) fight to rule, cruelty and atrocity reign. Since 2011, well over 200,000 have been killed, one million injured, eight million displaced, and four million forced to seek refuge abroad. While they are risking their lives to escape the threat of abduction, sexual abuse, torture, and murder, they face an entirely new set of threats on this desperate journey for asylum. Many are navigating unsafe routes, suffering from starvation, facing the threat of human trafficking, and enduring debilitating psychological trauma.]



YG further said - [Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's brutal slaughter of innocent men, women, and children is the cause of the refugee crisis, which has led to hundreds of thousands of refugees flooding into Europe and causing such consternation in the United States. We must address the root cause of this crisis by ending the conflict in Syria and adopting a comprehensive strategy capable of defeating ISIL / ISIS and bringing stability and security to the region that will prevent the further displacement of their populations. The conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, and elsewhere in the NAME that have taken the lives of countless of desperate refugees are not only a crisis of conscience, but a serious threat to our safety and national security. This is why we must undertake stronger measures to stem the flow of refugees, prevent the radicalization of refugee populations, and bring stability and economic opportunity to the region.]



The purpose of my writing this open letter to YG is related to what YG further rightly said - [There is plenty that could have been done over the last four years to avoid the devastation currently wreaking havoc in the region, and there is still more that we can do today to respond to this growing crisis. The longer this violence goes on, the more difficult it will be to bring it to an end. We cannot ignore the millions of refugees fleeing merely to survive. But taking in refugees will not solve the problem. We must commit to a strategy to defeat the malign forces in the region that are propagating chaos and mass destruction. It is not too late, but failing to act now will leave us with even fewer options to rectify this terrible chapter in our history.]



YG, I also believe it is not too late and we must do something to rectify the situation for which I submit the following for your kind consideration in view of given below:-



(1)- Syrian problem has yet not been solved because so far everyone and every organization and every country has tried to solve it with the use of only military power but no one has used social / humane power for solving this problem especially which has an element of Shia - Sunni fight too. It is not merely ISIS, now Russia & Assad regime too have become hurdle in peace process by flouting December 18, 2015 UN resolution. Russia (with the support of Shia Iran, Iraq, Lebanon of Hezbollah) first by intervening militarily on September 30, 2015 in Sunni majority Syria and then by increased military offensive ironically after UN December 18 resolution in Aleppo etc. (with enhanced humanitarian crises) has further exacerbated Shia - Sunni fight. Hence without putting adequate number of committed people on ground (the human right volunteers who have moral influence on both Shias and Sunnis) the problem in Syria will not be solved. As per global norms of military, paramilitary and police personnel in any country even in troubled times in Syria the required number of Human Rights Volunteers (HRVs) in a country of ~ 22 millions will be less than 1 % which is maximum two hundred thousands.



(2)- YG is known all over the world for working tirelessly for last so many years for bringing succor to Syria / NAME. Hence it will go a long way in solving the problem in Syria if YG announces publicly that YG (through any existing Syrian Refugee Help Human Rights NGO or new SRHHRNGO under your leadership and control) will go to Syria with adequate number of committed HRVs for assisting UN to ensure free and fair elections in Syria as per UN December, 18 Syria Resolution.



(3)- In order to make this mission of SRHHRNGO feasible and economically viable following can be done :-



(i)- This SRHHRNGO should be registered with United Nations so that whatever help and assistance (including financial) can be got from UN (for assisting UN to ensure elections in Syria as per December, 18 UN resolution) can be availed of.



(ii)- Philanthropists and Philanthropic organizations all over the world (and governments) can be appealed to contribute generously to SRHHRNGO. For this first Philanthropists and Philanthropic organizations of USA can be approached. If YG considers it useful then I can come to USA to assist YG in contacting Philanthropists and Philanthropic organizations of USA



(iii)- This SRHHRNGO can appeal to HRVs from all over the world to become part of HRV team of ~ 200,000 HRVs who will work for Syria solution. If YG considers it useful then I humbly submit that myself with the help of my friends can (within a time period of 60 days) easily mobilize ~200,000 HRVs for Syria from India (Hindus, Muslims etc). Here it is in context to add that India is functioning secular democracy of ~ 1.25 Billion people with background of non-violence (as State policy) for thousands of years hence involvement of HRVs from India will be crucial for solving human rights crises in Syria (and later in entire NAME region)



(iv)- If YG still considers it better to mobilize Muslim volunteers from India (both Shias and Sunnis) so that they can being more effective pressure on violent Jihadis in Syria (ISIS, Al-Qaeda etc and their associates) then I have many Muslim friends in India who are committed to human rights and through them we can easily mobilize ~ 200,000 Muslim (both Shia and Sunni) HRVs for Syria.



(4)- Russia and Iran (leader of Shias) will see reason and will cooperate in bringing peace to Syria for the purpose of ensuring elections as per UN December, 18 UN Syria Resolution. In case otherwise then HRVs of SRHHRNGO can organize mass protest in Moscow and Tehran to constrain their governments to see reason.



(5)- For chalking-out the program of mobilizing ~ 200,000 HRVs (including and especially from India) It will be best if YG can come to India for detailed discussion. However if YG considers it better then I can also come to USA to discuss it personally with YG.



It is hoped Your Goodness will pursue above mentioned out-of-box solution by using non-violent Human Rights volunteers of your NGO (may be new SRHHRNGO) in the interest of bringing succor to tens of millions of profusely bleeding and weeping people in Syria (and later on in entire NAME region).



Regards



Hem Raj Jain



(Author of Betrayal of Americanism)



Presently at: Bengaluru, India.





Dans la meme rubrique : < > Mahamat Ahmad Alhabo : "je ne suis pas un cancre !" Tchad : "l'officialisation de l'anglais serait nefaste pour le pays" Tchad : suspendu de ses fonctions, le delegue de l'environnement du Salamat se defend Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena)




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

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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]
One Bank Closing the Pay Gap (And Why Is This So Rare?): UBS' investment banking arm is freezing employee pay pending a compensation review, in which it is comparing wages of its male and female employees. It is instructing managers to address any pay gaps it discovers. The goal is to curb the loss of female talent, a problem that is getting more emphasis among its Wall Street peers as well. UBS also is looking to hire more women, according to unnamed sources (women currently comprise 38% of its employees, its website says). Three of the five largest gender pay gaps in the U.S. happen in financial services jobs: financial managers, securities brokers and personal finance advisers, according to the U.S. Census. In the U.K., women in financial services earn about 55% less annually than their male counterparts, versus a 28% pay gap across all industries. In January, Sergio Ermotti, the CEO of UBS, said that women were "becoming more and more important as part of our management team." It's a nice change to see words like this backed up by real action, isn't it?

Women in Islamic Finance: Though the booming sector of Islamic finance traditionally has been dominated by men, women are in leadership roles in at least one country  Malaysia. "In fact, unlike other jurisdictions, or even some Western economies for that matter, the ubiquity of women in high-profile leadership roles in Malaysia is such that it is not even considered a rarity or novelty," says Fozia Amanulla, CEO of the Alliance Islamic Bank. What is so different about Malaysia that enables women to step up this way? Aida Othman, an Islamic finance lawyer, credits the education system, calling it the key to women's empowerment. Malaysia has the world's first university dedicated to the study of Islamic finance and there is a scholarship program for female students. Now banks across the Gulf countries are looking to Malaysia as an example and trying to attract more female staff. "We are seeing a lot of initiatives to get female customers in, as well as on the employment side, and the two are driving each other," says Ashruff Jamall, global Islamic finance leader at PwC Middle East. Islamic finance allows Muslims to invest in accordance with their religion. Over the past decade, sharia-compliant assets worldwide have grown at double-digit rates annually, from about $200 billion in 2003 to an estimated $2 trillion today, according to the IMF and World Bank.

On the Lack of Females at the Fed: The person at the head of the Federal Reserve is Janet Yellen, but nearly all of its other leadership roles are held by  white men. A report by the Center for Popular Democracy's Fed Up campaign points out that only two of the 12 Fed presidents and two of the five governors are women. The Fed has responded to the organization, which is putting pressure on the central bank over its lack of diversity on regional bank boards. Female representation on boards has risen from 23% in 2010 to 30% today, a Fed spokesman said, and 46% of regional directors now are either a woman or a member of a racial minority.

Adjusting in Japan: The president of Nomura Trust and Banking Co., Chie Toriumi, entered the workforce just as Japan's equal employment opportunity law took effect in 1986. Now Toriumi is among a small number of Japanese women who are in executive positions at major companies (women account for 9.2% of all managers in Japan's private sector). "I did not feel there was a glass ceiling," Toriumi says. "But I cannot deny that I have survived by adjusting to a male-dominated society."

Powering Down: The embattled Lynn Tilton is stepping down as collateral manager of all her credit funds. She will retain her position as the CEO of the private equity firm Patriarch Partners, in which the funds she managed, which total more than $2 billion, are invested heavily. Tilton was sued in October for allegedly defrauding investors in the funds. Patriarch collected $200 million in management fees it shouldn't have, according to a similar case brought by the SEC last summer.

Role Call

Comerica recently promoted Debra Van Hevele to southwest Michigan regional manager. Hevele, who is based in Grand Rapids, began her career at the bank 28 years ago, as a part-time teller in high school. This profile touches on how she helped create a networking group for local female leaders and why she thinks mentoring is important. She also notes that, to her, mentoring is more about helping people grow than merely being a cheerleader. "I enjoy it," she says of mentoring, "but I also want to make sure I'm adding value. So I want to challenge myself to dig in deep, push them outside of their comfort zone and push them to be stronger."

Pioneer Bank in Dripping Springs, Texas, has promoted Elizabeth Blose to chief financial officer. Her predecessor, Gary Cooper, plans to retire but will stay on for the time being to assist with Pioneer's pending merger with First Community Bank in Sugar Land. Blose will remain CFO at the combined company, which will retain the Pioneer name and move its headquarters to nearby Austin.

BSJ Bancshares in St. Joseph, La., has named Rebecca Vizard chairman. Vizard succeeds William Watson in that role. BSJ is the holding company for Cross Keys Bank.

In Case You Missed It

Would You Go to the Strip Club with the Boys?: Two women at Australia's ANZ Bank are far from the first female employees to feel it's better to shut up and play along rather than stand up to sexism.

Another Option: But as this article points out, an increasing number of women are choosing to quit instead. (Will this pressure companies to change? I propose asking UBS.)

A Woman's Point of View: The ANZ scandal is inspiring a lot of soul-searching. One woman who works in investment banking in London says, when she started her career 10 years ago, she was too young and inexperienced to realize how rampant the sexism in the industry is. Now that she's older and wiser she thinks the only solution is quotas.

Beyond Banking

Government Pressure: Legislation introduced this week by Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., calls for public companies to report to the Securities and Exchange Commission the breakdown of men and women serving on their boards, and for the SEC to disclose that data in an annual update. It also would require companies to disclose information about their recruitment strategies for getting more women into management and onto boards. Sweden, France and the U.K. have introduced quotas to accelerate board diversity, but the U.S. has so far resisted such regulatory nudges.

More Women, More Money: There is some new research that further bolsters the argument that having women in some portion of leadership roles has a positive impact on the bottom line. Having women on the board of directors also corresponds positively with higher earnings, but quotas apparently aren't the way to get there. This research found "no evidence that board quotas have any significant impact, positive or negative, on company performance." Nor does having a female CEO have any bearing on a company's earnings. The upshot is that companies should work on fostering a pipeline of female talent and look to have several female leaders across the C-suite  which amplifies the positive impact on earnings. This research, which included about 22,000 companies in 91 countries, shows that, among profitable companies, net profit margins were 15% higher for those where women make up at least 30% of leadership roles; among unprofitable companies, the positive effect was even more pronounced. "We haven't found the point of diminishing returns yet because we just don't have any firms where there are lots of women," says Marcus Noland, executive vice president and director of studies at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, which did the research with EY.

Please see our Women in Banking page and join our LinkedIn group.
Carbanak, a type of cybersecurity attack on banks, has been spotted in action again.

Kaspersky Lab, the Moscow-based security software company that announced the discovery this week, is calling this round "Carbanak 2.0." (The name is derived from the malware it's based on, the banking Trojan Carberp.) Last year, the so-called Carbanak Gang of hackers breached the networks of 100 banks in 30 countries and stole a reported $1 billion.

To be sure, Kaspersky Lab sells antivirus and Internet security software, and so might have a business motivation to stir up fear. However, the company's own reports show its software isn't always blocking Carbanak, and the detailed information it shares about attacks is as useful to noncustomers as it is customers. And several other security firms back up the Kaspersky Lab findings.

"It's a very real problem for the U.S. banks," said Richard Peters, managing director of Berkeley Research Group, an advisory firm in Emeryville, Calif.

"I can almost guarantee you there are compromised U.S. financial institutions today with similar types of things going on. It just hasn't been made as public as maybe we'd like it to be," he said.

Gary McAlum, chief security officer at USAA, calls Carbanak 2.0 "the flavor of the day."

"It was Zeus before, it was Trident, now it's Carbanak 2.0," McAlum said. "There's always a sophisticated form of malware out there. It typically gets into an organization through a phishing attack, maybe through a supply chain point of entry.  There will be another flavor of the day in the future once this one is under control. It's an arms race."

For Johan Gerber, executive vice president of security and decision products at MasterCard, Carbanak is high on the security priority list.

"It's definitely a big concern for us," he said. "I remember those attacks when they happened the first time. We're waiting for the next wave to hit us."

SafetyNet, MasterCards fraud monitoring service, is used by 80% of the brand's card issuers. It is rules-based, so it can be quickly adjusted to block suspicious transactions arising from Carbanak, Gerber said.

CSIS Security Group, a Copenhagen-based IT security advisory company, has also seen evidence of Carbanak in the U.S.

"We can confirm that Carbanak is still being used in targeted attacks and we can document it was dropped by Dridex [another bank Trojan] in a case we investigated back in September," said Peter Kruse, partner and security specialist at the firm.

When reports of Carbanak came out last year, industry groups like the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center and the American Bankers Association said the threat was overhyped and wasn't reaching U.S. banks. Kaspersky researchers countered that they had seen evidence of U.S. banks being compromised by such attacks.

This time around, a spokesman for the Washington-based FS-ISAC, which gathers security incident information from thousands of banks members, would not discuss Carbanak. "I don't think we have much to say on that vendor-driven report at this time," he said.

New Tricks

The cybercrime ring operates out of Russia and China, attacking banks by sending spearphishing emails (messages cleverly crafted to appear to be from a trusted source) to their employees and customers. By clicking on the email attachments, recipients unwittingly download malware onto their computers. The malware lurks for a long time, learning about the behavior of the user or processes at the bank, then steals money by emulating legitimate employee or customer activities, such as normal-looking online banking transactions. It thus avoids detection and fraud monitoring.

This year, the Carbanak Gang is using slightly different tactics. For one thing, it's more often targeting banks' corporate customers, making its fingerprints even harder for banks to detect.

"They're attacking the supply chain and indirectly affecting banks through their large-account customers," Peters said.

And two more groups have joined the gang, according to Kaspersky Lab. One group, called Metel, specializes in ATM fraud. In one case, Metel attackers drove around several cities in Russia, stealing money from ATMs belonging to different banks. Then they rolled back the ATM transactions in the banks' servers, so the money was instantly returned to the accounts after the cash had been dispensed from the ATMs. "The group worked exclusively at night, emptying ATM cassettes at several locations," Kaspersky researchers said in a blog.

The other new related gang, GCMAN, sends spearphishing emails with malware attachments that look like Word documents. Once the malware breaches the bank's network, it uses legitimate penetration testing tools to move around and finds a way to transfer money from the bank to digital currency, in one case sending $200 a minute. It has been found to lurk in a victim's network for a year and a half before activating a theft.

Advanced and Persistent

Carbanak and other advanced persistent threats continue to grow more sophisticated.

The spearphishing emails have become more credible. (Sometimes the term "business email compromise" is used to describe these emails that can fool people at the highest level of organizations.)

The malware has advanced to the point where it knows what antivirus software the bank is using and can change its own signature just enough to avoid detection, Peters said. Once the malware has infiltrated the bank's network, "it's just a matter of trying to pivot within the organization, trying to find users with elevated privileges  who has access to this side of the financial transaction, who are the system and database administrators?" he said.

The perpetrators have the benefit of time, Peters noted. "There's no concept of, 'This is going to take two weeks,' " he said. "It could take months to set this up. Once you've learned all this intelligence and gained privileged credentials, then it's just a matter of using the systems against the organization."

The exploit kits for creating these attacks are readily available, although the expertise behind them is not, Peters pointed out.

"You or I could go out and run these things," he said. "We'd get caught instantly; we're not putting in that extra effort. This is organized crime. They have all the time in the world. All they need is one mistake, one hole, one vulnerability, one problem, to get in. Whereas as defenders, we're putting out fires everywhere, we're wearing multiple hats, we don't know what we don't know. It's much easier being a bad guy."

Industry Response

In cases like Carbanak, the hackers have come and gone by the time a bank perceives the cybertheft and therefore can share information about it with the FS-ISAC. Although the FS-ISAC would not discuss Carbanak, Bob Carlson, the group's chief of staff, says that in general it is working to shorten the times between break-in and reporting of a breach back out to the community.

"When you alert others to a vulnerability or exploit, that will often prompt other firms to look for evidence of that threat indicator, and if they find something they in turn will also report to others about the threat and the steps they're taking to mitigate it," he said. "As you do that faster and faster, it makes it harder for the criminal gangs trying to execute fraud."

Meanwhile, there's little a bank can do to prevent Carbanak attacks. Educating employees and customers about the dangers of phishing emails is inadequate; people click on things they shouldn't on a regular basis.

Email authentication tools can help detect when the sender's email address doesn't match his identity, but cybercriminals also know how to get around these.

Antimalware software is a given, but it misses about 50% of malware, Peters estimated.

One thing his team thinks is helpful is "egress filtering" software that monitors outbound communications. Often in an advanced persistent threat, the malware sends information out to a command and control center, which gives it further instructions.

"A lot of organizations, not just financial institutions, do a poor job blocking outbound connections," Peters said. "Inbound we put up firewalls, we block stuff. Outbound, it's almost anything goes."

Whether or not Carbanak is going after your bank's network, hackers are trolling the Internet every hour of every day, looking for prey in every possible nook and cranny. I received three spearphishing emails in the day and a half I worked on this article. Kaspersky Lab and its cohorts are well worth listening to, even if there's self-interest mixed in.

Editor at Large Penny Crosman welcomes feedback at penny.crosman@sourcemedia.com.


In both politics and public relations, perception is reality -- and this was never truer than in the New Hampshire primary. The candidates, of course, cant shape their own perceptions. Just as Wall Street analysts set expectations for public companies performance -- and those companies are stuck with what the analysts say -- candidates are saddled with expectations created by the media.

To understand how the New Hampshire primary turned out, lets consider the candidates performance -- not in absolute terms of votes or percentages, but in terms of what the chattering classs conventional wisdom predicted. In other words, lets look at the perception, which shapes the reality in forthcoming primaries and caucuses.

Sanders and Clinton: Lets start with the easier campaign -- the Democrat dust-up. At the start of his campaign, Bernie Sanders was down in the polls 50 points against Hillary; however, by the time of Iowa, he was as high as 30 points ahead of Hillary in the polls. However, following Iowa, the polls showed that Hillary was closing in. While few pundits expected her to pull it out, the buzz suggested that she could close the vote to a single-digit loss, which she was prepared to spin into a victory. This was supported by the late-breaking and usually-reliable Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll, which had them within single digits of one another.

However Sanders ended up 22 points above Hillary, 60 to 38. Clearly, Sanders exceeded expectations and Hillary fell flat on her face. This unexpected result is so extreme that some pundits are actually pitching scenarios where Bernie might grab enough minority votes to give Hillary a decent run in Nevada and South Carolina, both expected to be Clinton states. New Hampshires results have not made it an open race -- Hillary is still the odds-on favorite (unless shes indicted) -- but Bernie is now much more real. Victories in primaries dont get much bigger than this.

Trump: In the Republican primary, Trump wiped away his under-performance in South Carolina by out-performing his poll numbers leading up to the vote. That same late-breaking poll showed Trump at 29 percent, yet the actual vote gave him 35 percent -- six points ahead of expectations, and more than twice as strong as the next-in-line candidate. This is a big, necessary win for Trump, whose sense of inevitability had been tarnished in Iowa. He is now once again seen as back-in-the-saddle. Hes leading in the polls in South Carolina, though these polls are pre-Iowa, but his victory in New Hampshire should shore up his leadership position in the Palmetto State.

However, the real excitement in the Republican Party can be found in the race for second, third, fourth and even fifth -- the fast-shifting ticket out of New Hampshire.

There were two big winners here, though only one of them will achieve any lasting benefit from the perception of a sub-Trump victory.

Kasich: Ohio Governor John Kasich bet everything on New Hampshire, and he won, coming in a strong second, at 16 percent. However, this will prove to be a pyrrhic victory -- his strong showing in New Hampshire is, in effect, a one-trick pony act.

Kasich did as well as he did in the primary because of the time he spent in the state -- more than 100 days -- as well as his superb ground-game organization and the money he invested in New Hampshire. Yet because of that single-minded focus, the Ohio governor has little or no organization, little or no money, and no time to spend time in South Carolina or the Super Tuesday states. Unless the establishment Republicans decide that hes their Trump-killer, he wont have time to raise money or build an organization in time to cash in on New Hampshire.

Cruz: The other winner in the under-card is Ted Cruz. He spent relatively little time in New Hampshire and spent just a half-million dollars for about 400 ads. By comparison, Jeb Bush, who got 0.7% less of the vote than Ted, spent -- with the Bush Super PAC -- more than $35 million dollars buying more than 11,000 ads. Ted was not expected to do well here -- because of the supposed dearth of evangelicals and hard-core conservatives, and because of his limited campaign -- which means that his 12 percent of the total vote will be seen as a win.

Carson and Fiorina: Now, lets look at the Republican losers. First, lets lump together the single-digit candidates as dead and gone, even if they refuse to acknowledge it. Carly Fiorina and Ben Carson -- with 4 and 2 percent of the votes, respectively -- are done. Firina is already out, and you can put a fork in Carson -- he's done. Both of them are good and decent people and strong conservatives, but this is not their year. However, despite the outcome, Ben Carson has already gone to South Carolina -- even as he cut his staff in half -- and he says hell stay in the campaign. I could see Carly as a Secretary of Commerce and Ben as either Health and Human Services or Surgeon General in a Republican administration, but thats a best-case scenario for the two of them.

Christie: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie learned -- to his chagrin -- that attacking another candidate doesnt automatically build your own standing in the polls. He certainly hurt Rubio, but he hurt himself even more, coming across as a bully. Worse, in attacking Rubio, Christie didnt say anything meaningful about why people should support him. His low-vote -- 8 percent -- means hes out at the plate.

Rubio: Florida Senator Marco Rubio came in well below expectations. Until Saturday night, he was on the rise, looking to be a shoe-in as the Number Two candidate. Then Christie took him down -- though in truth, this was a self-inflicted wound. Worse, he doubled-down, claiming after the debate that hed meant to repeat himself, and suggesting that hed do it all over again, which helped keep the story in play. This was so implausible that it hurt his perceived ability to win even more. However, he redeemed himself in his concession speech, where he admitted that hed blown it -- taking sole responsibility for the Saturday Night meltdown. He then promised that it would never happen again, and he did so believably.

Had Marco done this right away, the self-inflicted damage would have been limited. With luck, this admission will now stem the hemorrhaging. There are several reasons why this might happen. First, hes got an excellent organization and a good-sized political war chest he can use in South Carolina and the Super Tuesday states. Still, hes dug himself a deep hole, and it will take another Iowa to pull himself out.

Bush: This leaves the big question of the night: Jeb Bush. Did he win, or did he lose? Bush is New Hampshires Goldilocks candidate. He didnt exceed expectations, but he didnt come in below expectations, either. However, to achieve this, as noted, he and his Super PAC spent $35 million on more than 11,000 ads. He had to spend 70 times what Cruz spent to come in a bit behind the Texas conservative.

In South Carolina, Bush has a lot of money, and South Carolina has always been a Bush state. South Carolina Republicans helped both Bush Presidents to get their campaigns on track -- or back on track. The family has lined up to campaign for and with him, which can only help -- George W has a 77 percent approval rating among South Carolina Republicans.

However, the plan for the Jeb Bush South Carolina campaign -- as he announced Tuesday evening -- is not in line with the Bush image, and that makes it risky. He said hes going to run a scorched earth campaign -- but instead of taking on front-runner Donald Trump, he says hes going to go head-to-head with Cruz, Rubio and Kasich. While South Carolina is known as a brass-knuckle political state, this is so far away from the Bush brand that it could backfire. Worse, Christie has already shown that this kind of campaign doesnt work. Repeating Christies strategy makes little sense.

In handicapping the election returns, Fox Newss Brit Hume summed it up, indicating that Bush is coming out of New Hampshire with no momentum at all. The Goldilocks candidate didnt win, and he didnt lose. What he needs to do is spend all that money making a good case for himself. Instead, hes going to double-down on Christies mistake, focusing on attacking others without building up himself. Thats a fast-track ticket to losing in South Carolina.

New Hampshire has done some winnowing, but it did not live up to his reputation of thinning the field. This makes South Carolina even more important than it would otherwise have been -- it will indeed serve as the gatekeeper for Super Tuesday.

Among the Democrats, Sanders won bigger than expected, further shaking Clintons sense of inevitability. Shes still the safe bet, but after Iowa and New Hampshire, shes damaged goods. It appears that the minority vote will be the tie-breaker -- if Sanders can attract 20 to 30 percent of minority votes, Clinton will be in big trouble, and it could happen. Its not likely, but it could work. The far left Nation magazine is doing its best to help far left candidate Sanders by claiming Hillary doesnt deserve black support.

Ned Barnett is a constitutional conservative who has worked on three state-level Presidential campaigns, and dozens of other campaigns. In 2010, he served as Nevada Republican Party Director of Communications, riding on the Tea Party wave that briefly took over the states party. He has served as professor of public relations, marketing and business for two universities, and has published a dozen books on professional communications. The owner of Barnett Marketing Communications, he is currently working on a how-to book for winning elections.
The largest financial operation in the known universe is the United States federal government. For fiscal 2009, that operation ran a budget deficit of -$1.412T, the all-time record. Thats debt at more than -$3.868B a day, more than -$161M an hour, some -$2.686M a minute. Thats debt at -$44,774  a second.

Amazing, no? Surely others have also done that math. The only figure I got from the government is the -$1.412T deficit for 2009, which I got from Table 1.1 at the White House website. The other numbers I derived by already possessing the occult knowledge of how many days there were in 2009, and how many hours there are in a day, etc. If you wish to verify my math, multiply 44,774 by 60 (for seconds), then multiply that by 60, then multiply that by 24, and multiply that by 365. If your computers calculator works like mine, you should get a figure of 1411992864000, which rounds up to 1.412T, which is close enough for congressional work.

Obama & Co. ran four official back-to-back deficits of more than a trillion. Over at Treasury Direct, we learn that on Jan. 20, 2009, the day Obama was first sworn into office, the Total Public Debt Outstanding was $10.6T. Seven years later and that debt was $18.9T, an average of $1.185 trillion a year for seven years. The Debt Held by the Public (i.e. the hard debt) fared a bit better, but also averaged more than a trillion a year for seven years. The eyes glaze over at such numbers. However, after Republicans took control of the U.S. House in Jan. 2011, we began to see some control over spending, and deficits contracted.

On Jan. 19, 2016, the Congressional Budget Office reported in its summary of The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2016 to 2026 that for fiscal 2015, Congress ran a -$439B deficit (see Summary Table 1 on page 2). Thats nearly a trillion dollars of progress since 2009. However, the CBO also estimated that the federal deficit for fiscal 2016 will be -$544B. Of course, thats an estimate, and it could always be way off, but it appears we may be going in the wrong direction again. Worse still, the CBO predicts growing deficits over the next ten years, with the red ink again lapping over the trillion-dollar mark by 2022.

The issue of the federal budget deficit has receded as a priority issue since 2009, when the deficit first topped a trillion. Back then, the issue was so big that it helped spark the formation of the Tea Party. But weve gotten accustomed to monstrous deficits, (the feds will just print the money, right?). So those who fret about debt may seem to some like worrywarts, a bunch of old fuddy-duddies. Americans now care more about jobs, the economy, and ISIS beheadings of Americans than about the federal debt. The debt, however, could crush America.

The problem with balancing the budget is that the federal budget is a fraud. The fraud really ramped up in 1969 with the adoption of the so-called unified budget. Under the unified budget, there is the on-budget side and the off-budget side, (theyre listed in that CBO table). The on-budget side is said to be discretionary. It is the side of the budget for which appropriations are made, where all spending must be accounted for. The off-budget side of the budget is said to be mandatory. This is the part of federal spending that is not subject to the budget process, where spending is automatic, where spending must be done. The off-budget side is where we find entitlements, and thats where Congress must go if theyre ever to get control over spending.

There is one simple change to federal spending and budgeting that would force Congress to take the action needed to protect America from the runaway spending of one type of entitlement and it is this: require all entitlements that have their own dedicated taxes, like the payroll tax that funds Social Security and Medicare, to operate solely off of those taxes. Such entitlements would then become entirely separate from the rest of federal spending; revenues from dedicated taxes would not be used to pay for other programs. Every benefit would be paid for with revenue coming directly out of dedicated taxes.

That simple change need not stipulate any other changes, such as raising taxes, cutting benefits, and means-testing. But it would force some kind of action, for if the money hasnt come in, the checks wont go out. Medicare providers and retirees would have to wait for the tax revenue to come in.

Since 2010, Social Security has been cash-flow negative. That means the revenue from the payroll tax isnt enough to pay benefits. So, monies are transferred from the trust funds back to the Social Security Administration to pay for benefits. In A Summary of the 2015 Annual Reports, the SSA reports: The Trustees project that this annual cash-flow deficit will average about $76 billion between 2015 and 2018 before rising steeply.

The funds being paid back to the SSA to cover benefits are being borrowed. Yet Democrats persist in telling us that Social Security doesnt affect the deficit. If my remedy were enacted, wed see an immediate improvement of $76B in the overall deficit; the feds wouldnt have to borrow to pay back that $76B.

The change Im suggesting is a hard sell. Thats because government would have to admit to a massive fraud; theyve been lying to us for decades about the nature of federal finance. But remember that requiring Social Security and Medicare to operate solely off of cash-flow from their dedicated taxes is whats supposed to happen anyway when the so-called trust funds run dry. But the trust funds are frauds. Most of the content of the Social Security trust fund isnt from surplus revenue from the payroll tax  its from interest.

That interest is also a fraud. When money is borrowed in normal financial transactions, the borrower uses the borrowed funds to buy something, which has a marketable value, and which can be repossessed by the lender. If the SSA had used the payroll tax surpluses to buy, say, commercial real estate to rent out, theyd have an additional source of revenue. Conservatives wouldnt like such an intrusion into the private sector, but at least the surpluses would have been invested. Instead, the surpluses were spent in the years they occurred on everything from homeland security to agriculture subsidies to earmarks for cowboy poetry festivals.

Theres another type of entitlement, programs that are not funded by their own dedicated tax, such as Medicaid and the ObamaCare subsidies. Such programs are pure welfare and their spending presents a different problem for Congress. From page 3 of the CBO report:

Federal spending for the major health care programs accounts for a much larger fraction -- more than 60 percent -- of the projected growth in mandatory spending: Outlays for Medicare (net of premiums and other offsetting receipts), Medicaid, and the Childrens Health Insurance Program, plus subsidies for health insurance purchased through exchanges and related spending, are expected to be $104 billion (or 11 percent) higher this year than they were in 2015.

That $104B in increased healthcare spending happens to be almost exactly the size of the increase in the projected deficit for 2016. The CBO boosted its projections of federal outlays for Medicaid to reflect higher-than-expected spending and enrollment for newly eligible beneficiaries under the Affordable Care Act. The red ink will be even worse if more states expand Medicaid under ObamaCare.

Spending for Medicaid and ObamaCare subsidies isnt budgeted; its automatic; it just happens. If all the new Medicaid patients under ObamaCare have hepatitis C, AIDS, the Zika virus, Ebola, and sprained ankles, theyll all get treated, the feds will borrow the money. Its an entitlement, he explained.

If America elects a decent president this November, one of his/her first orders of business come 2017 will be urging Congress to balance the budget as soon as possible. But Congress will never balance the budget if they dont get control over the automatic spending of entitlements. We need to dispense with the very ideas of entitlement and mandatory spending. All federal spending, including welfare like Medicaid and the ObamaCare subsidies, should come under the budget process. Americans can have as big a damned welfare state as they want as long as they pay for all of it themselves each and every year.

Were still going into debt at a rate of about $1.5 billion a day, but Congress keeps postponing the reckoning, the fiscal Day of Judgment. There are many huge issues facing the voter this year, and the deficit is woven into each of them.

Jon N. Hall is a programmer/analyst from Kansas City.
Almost every day, pundits inform us about the voting intentions and habits of various groups in elections in the United States. Almost by decimal points they have identified the intentions of blacks, Jews, evangelicals, Presbyterians, seniors, gays, and others. Now, a new survey in January 2016 by the Pew Research Center has informed about the electoral intentions of Muslims in the U.S. as well as about attitudes of Americans toward Muslims.

The Pew survey, by chance, provides a useful opportunity to comment on the assertions made on February 3, 2016 by President Barack Obama in his first visit to a mosque in the United States. In his speech at the 47-year-old Islamic Society of Baltimore mosque, the president, after praising Muslim achievements in various activities in American life, exhorted his immediate audience, but in essence the American people as a whole, to do the right thing, and endorse religious pluralism.

Without mentioned the names of any current presidential candidates, and really referring only to their remarks about Muslims, Obama declared, "We have to reject a politics that seeks to manipulate prejudice or bias and targets people because of religion." No one can object to this as a general, non-political prescription pertinent to all religious faiths and beliefs, nor to Obama's admonition to condemn hateful, inexcusable rhetoric and not be bystanders to bigotry.

Yet, even if Obama did not seem to imply that Islam is immune from criticism, or that Islamic extremists have little to do with violence and terrorism, he might have clarified the difference between objective appraisal and criticism of certain aspects of Islam and what has been termed "Islamophobia."

This distinction is important in view of the findings of the Pew survey, which shows a division in the American public on attitudes, whether caution or bluntness, about Islam and Muslim behavior. Half of Americans think the next president should be careful not to criticize Islam as a whole when speaking of Islamic extremists, while 40 percent think the president should speak bluntly about Islamic extremists even if the statements are critical of Islam as a whole.

The two main political parties, as well as various American groups and segments of the population, differ on the issue. Blunt talk about Muslims is preferred by two thirds of Republican, by those who lean toward the Republican Party, and by 70 percent of conservatives, while 70 percent of Democrats and independents who lean Democratic, and 80 percent of liberals, say the next president should speak carefully. Among the American population, black Protestants, secular individuals, and post-graduates, as well as blacks under 30, believe that the president should be careful. About 60 percent of white evangelicals call for bluntness, and Catholics and mainline Protestants are evenly divided.

In his Baltimore speech, Obama assured his Muslim audience, "You fit in here [America]. Right here" and declared that only a small fraction of Muslims are propagating a perverted form of Islam. The figures, which can support or disapprove his argument, show that 77 Muslims have been charged in the U.S. with links to terrorist groups, and 22 have been convicted.

The Pew study shows that the opinion of many Americans on whether Muslims are indeed part of the American fabric differs from that of Obama. About half of the public believes that at least "some" U.S. Muslims are anti-American, including 14 percent who think that about half the U.S. Muslim population is anti-American. There is a partisan division on these issues. More than half of Democrats think that "just a few" U.S. Muslims are anti-American, while a third of Republicans think that at least half of Muslims are anti-American.

An earlier Pew study in December 2015 found that 46 percent of Americans think that Islam is more likely than other religions to encourage violence, and a similar number is "very concerned" about the rise of Islamic extremism in the U.S. About 14 percent think that some religious teachings encourage violence and that Islam in particular does this. This perception differs sharply from Obama's declaration that "in this [Baltimore] mosque and across the country and around the world, Muslim leaders are roundly and repeatedly and consistently condemning terrorism."

In view of these perceptions, it is not surprising to learn, in a survey of 2,000 registered Muslim voters in six large states, of the intentions of the 73 percent of Muslims who say they plan to vote in the current 2016 presidential primaries. In the 2012 election, more than 75 percent of Muslims voted for Obama. In 2016, about 67 percent plan to vote Democratic, 15 percent to vote Republican, 2 percent liberal, and 5 percent for other groups.

In general, Muslims have indicated their present personal preferences, though these may change: 52 percent for Hillary Clinton, 22 percent for Bernie Saunders, 7 percent for Donald Trump (because of his business background and his properties in Middle East countries), and 2 percent for Ted Cruz.

This preference for Democrats may relate to the fact that, after Islamist massacres in Paris and elsewhere, Democratic politicians including President Obama, with rare exceptions, do not refer to the events as the actions of "Islamist terrorists," but blandly as "violent extremism." It neglects the reality that, as Ayaan Hirsi Ali has remarked, the U.S. has "to engage with the ideology of Islamist extremism."

Another finding of the survey is the great difference between Muslims and the rest of the U.S. population on what they consider the most important issues. Among Muslims, they rank as follows: Islamophobia 30 percent, the economy 24 percent, health care 14 percent, and foreign policy 6 percent. This priority, so different from the agenda in the presidential primary debates, in which foreign policy has been prominent, is understandable in view of the Muslim disquiet about some political rhetorical excesses that candidates have made about Muslims. Nevertheless, the priority given to "Islamophobia" implies that criticism of Muslim beliefs  say, regarding sharia law and its customs, is to be equated with animosity or discrimination against Muslims.

The presidential candidates should take note of the findings of the Pew survey. Muslim voting may only be about one percent of the total vote, but they may be important, and perhaps decisive, in swing states such as evenly divided Florida, with its 29 electoral votes; Ohio; Virginia; and Pennsylvania.
For political pundits surprised that the 2016 election is not a traditional dynastic clash between the Bushes and the Clintons, the Chinese zodiac may provide an answer. The arrival of the Lunar New Year of the Monkey on February 8 may explain it all. The New Hampshire primary election was held the following day featured non-establishment politicians such as Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, and Ted Cruz in the winners circle. With their unconventional styles, these political outsiders seem to be perfect manifestations of the Year of the Monkey.

The monkey, as a sign of the zodiac, while clever, energetic, impulsive, and mischievous, is prone to risky behavior, swinging precariously from one tree branch to another. The addition of the zodiac element of fire to the year 2016 portends possible aggressiveness. The Red Fire Monkey also points to political conflict and transformation, as the fire element is both scorching and combustible. Monkey years can also bring upheaval. The eve of the Lunar New Year witnessed both a violent earthquake on Taiwan and the launching of a long-range missile by North Korea. The latter event drew attention in the recent Republican presidential debate.

Previous Monkey years heralded the American Revolution in 1776, the coming of war in 1812 and 1860, the military turning point in WWII with the D-Day landings in 1944, and the Lunar New Year Tet offensive in 1968. American elections in the Monkey Years of 1788, 1800, 1860, 1932, and 1980 saw the emergence of transformational American presidents, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan.

Political transformation, symbolized by Monkey Years, occurred in 1860 when Abraham Lincoln, a largely untested prairie lawyer, led a brand-new Republican Party to victory in a country on the brink of Civil War. Another example would be 1932 when, in the depths of the Great Depression, the American people turned to Franklin Roosevelt and his promise of a New Deal.

Monkey years also symbolize tumultuousness, as in 1968. The launching of the Tet offensive during that years Lunar New Year festivities was a turning point in the Vietnam War, creating a crisis which led directly to Lyndon Johnsons decision not to seek re-election. A sense of crisis escalated as Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in April, Bobby Kennedy in June, and the streets of Chicago turned into a battleground between anti-war protestors and the Chicago police during the Democratic National Convention in August. Election Day saw a political transfer as Richard Nixon led the Republicans to victory for the first time in eight years.

The next Monkey Year, 1980, was also a time of turmoil. With an economic slump and an ongoing Iranian hostage crisis, Ronald Reagan defeated incumbent Jimmy Carter in a landslide. The Monkey Year, 1992 saw a young Bill Clinton, coming seemingly out of nowhere to defeat incumbent President George H.W. Bush, previously considered invincible as Commander-in-Chief during the First Gulf War.

So what does this all signify for 2016, as the Red Fire Monkey enters the stage? Asian-American celebrants of the Lunar New Year make up the fastest-growing ethnic voting bloc in the United States. A January 7th article in the Los Angeles Times pointed to the growing political clout of these voters:

In 2014, a Virginia exit poll by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund showed that Asian voters sided with Sen. Mark R. Warner, a Democrat, over Republican Ed Gillespie by 2 to 1. At the time, Asians represented 3% of the electorate. Warner won by less than 1% of the overall vote, meaning that Asians alone roughly accounted for his victory even in a state without a huge Asian population.

This years mischievous Monkey could thus place control of the White House in a close election in 2016 in the hands of Korean-American voters in the swing-state of Virginia. Issues like immigration, taxation of small businesses, and terrorist threats will likely be critical for these voters.

Crises, from Syria to the South China Sea and from North Korea to Iran, will play prominently in this Monkey Year election. A sluggish economy will as well  remember the 1992 Monkey Year slogan: its the economy, stupid? As a result, a transformational figure rather than a traditional member of the political establishment will likely move into the White House on Inauguration Day in January 2017, just as the Year of the Red Fire Monkey comes to its raucous end.

Dennis Halpin, a former Congressional adviser on Asia, is a visiting scholar at the U.S.-Korea Institute (SAIS) and an adviser to the Poblete Analysis Group.
Congrats to Ted Cruz, who stunned pundits who said a conservative could not score high in New Hampshire, for finishing strong in the primary.

Okay, folks, here is why Ted Cruz is eligible to be president according to the Constitution. First, I wish to give a shout-out to my dear friend, Mike "Mr. Constitution" Holler, author of The Constitution Made Easy. Mike explained and confirmed Cruz's eligibility.

In a nutshell, the first immigration law passed by Congress and signed by George Washington says, "And the children of citizens of the United States that may be born beyond sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born Citizens[.]" An additional qualification is that the father of such children must have lived at some time in the U.S. There you have it, folks.

The Congressional Research Service published a paper on this question.

Considering the history of the constitutional provision, the clause's apparent intent, the English common law expressly applicable in the American colonies and in all of the original states, the common use and meaning of the phrase "natural born" subject in England and the American colonies in the 1700s, and the subsequent action of the first Congress in enacting the Naturalization Act of 1790 (expressly defining the term "natural born citizen" to include those born abroad to U.S. citizens), it appears that the most logical inferences would indicate that the phrase "natural born Citizen" would mean a person who is entitled to U.S. citizenship "by birth" or "at birth." Such interpretation, as evidenced by over a century of American case law, would include as natural born citizens those born in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction regardless of the citizenship status of one's parents, or those born abroad of one or more parents who are U.S. citizens (as recognized by statute), as opposed to a person who is not a citizen by birth and is thus an "alien" required to go through the legal process of naturalization to become U.S. Citizen.

While some question Cruz's eligibility out of respect for the Constitution, I suspect that others have ulterior motives.

GOP establishment elites are exploiting ignorance regarding Cruz's eligibility because they despise Cruz. Who does this guy think he is, bucking the system, standing up for The People against the Washington Cartel, getting into the face of GOP Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell? By the way, McConnell announced that the GOP will not oppose Obama in any way this year, fearful it would anger voters and hurt the GOP's chances of winning the WH.

McConnell's surrender gifted Obama free rein to continue regarding the U.S. Constitution as little more than toilet paper. Thus, our outlaw president will fast-track implementing as many anti-American and anti-God leftist dream initiatives as possible in his remaining time in office.

Ted Cruz has been and continues to be a rare voice sounding the alarm and pushing back against Obama repealing our God-given freedom and liberty.

Then there are those who simply do not believe that a true conservative can win the general election. They are using the bogus issue of Cruz's eligibility as cover for not supporting a fellow Christian and stand-up guy.

Voters who do not believe that a true conservative can win the presidency are, in essence, saying they believe we have lost our country. Righteousness, morals, and traditional values no longer rule the day. Thus, Cruz is too goody-two-shoes for the masses.

Well, I do not believe that, folks. I believe that if we rally behind Ted Cruz, a good man can still win the presidency in America.

Proverbs 29:2: "When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn."

Let's put the "righteous in authority," folks. Ted Cruz.
Two decades of scandals involving Catholic dioceses covering up allegations of sexual abuse of minors by clergy apparently hasn't made much of an impression on the Vatican.

The cover-ups have come close to destroying the Roman Catholic Church. And yet, a new policy guideline for bishops released this month state that it is not necessarily the duty of bishops to report accusations of clerical child abuse and that only victims or their families should make the decision to report abuse to police.

Guardian:

A document that spells out how senior clergy members ought to deal with allegations of abuse, which was recently released by the Vatican, emphasised that, though they must be aware of local laws, bishops only duty was to address such allegations internally. According to the state of civil laws of each country where reporting is obligatory, it is not necessarily the duty of the bishop to report suspects to authorities, the police or state prosecutors in the moment when they are made aware of crimes or sinful deeds, the training document states. The training guidelines were written by a controversial French monsignor and psychotherapist, Tony Anatrella, who serves as a consultant to the Pontifical Council for the Family. The Vatican released the guidelines  which are part of a broader training programme for newly named bishops  at a press conference earlier this month and is now seeking feedback. Details of the Catholic churchs policy were first reported in a column by a veteran Vatican journalist, John Allen, associate editor of the Catholic news site, Cruxnow.com. Allen noted that a special commission created by Pope Francis, the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, had appeared to play no role in the training programme, even though it is supposed to be developing best practices to prevent and deal with clerical abuse. Indeed, a church official familiar with the commission on abuse said it was the committees position that reporting abuse to civil authorities was a moral obligation, whether the civil law requires it or not. The official said the committee would be involved in future training efforts. The current guidelines written by Anatrella make only passing references to prevention policies. The French monsignor is best known for championing views on gender theory, the controversial belief that increasing acceptance of homosexuality in western countries is creating serious problems for children who are being exposed to radical notions of sexual orientation. He did not return a request for comment. The guidelines reflect Anatrellas views on homosexuality. They also downplay the seriousness of the Catholic churchs legacy of systemic child abuse, which some victims right groups say continues to be a problem today.

It's possible to read too much into these guidelines, but as a matter of public relations, it's a disaster. If a bishop is made aware of a specific case involving clergy and the molestation of a child, urging the family to report the crime to police simply isn't enough. That's been the problem in the past  that the church basically looked away while predator priests were allowed to continue their attacks  usually in another parish. Pressure was placed on families by the church hierarchy to let the diocese handle the problem.

The guidelines suggest some sort of internal investigation before going to police. It appears that the Vatican is trying to strike some kind of balance between the rights of clergy not to be falsely accused and the rights of victims. On paper, that may be acceptable. But in practice, it still looks like a cover-up  especially given recent history.

The guidelines fly in the face of what Pope Francis has been trying to accomplish with the abuse scandals. It is likely they'll be scrubbed and replaced by more stringent rules governing the reporting of clergy abuse to police.

Update from deputy editor Drew Belsky: It is important to note that neither The Guardian nor the Crux piece that it cites saw fit to link to or reproduce the documents both organizations' reporters used to write their reports. While it's necessary to avoid an ad hominem attack ("it's wrong because the intensely liberal and Church-hating Guardian published it"), one does have to make an extra effort to verify the information peddled by such a biased actor. Having the source material on hand would have gone a long way in doing that  and would have said more for these publications' credibility. (The Boston Globe, which runs Crux, is not exactly a crusader on Church matters, either.)

Regarding my colleague's allegations on what the unread document "apparently" says about the Church, it's worth mentioning that the Church has done much to deal with sexual abuse problems within her ranks  more, in fact, than other organizations that continue to have far more serious (yet much less reported) problems in this regard. It's also worth mentioning that the scandal of sexual abuse in the Church is closely tied up with homosexuality  a point one rarely hears among the jeremiads against "pedophile priests," as if most of the victims were prepubescent children (wrong) or evenly distributed among boys and girls (wrong again). So while The Guardian may delight in excoriating the Catholic Church, that same publication won't touch the real problem. That would not be politically correct.

A more extensive defense of the Church  which, by the way, did not "come close" to being "destroyed" by the sex abuse scandal any more than she did by the Arian heresy  would exceed the space of an addendum to a blog post. But the resources are out there. I advise our readers to do their own research. The Guardian and The Boston Globe, considering their lack of interest in providing their sources, may not be the best places to start.
John Yoo, law professor at UC Berkeley, has penned an important piece about Trump and Sanders being the Founders' worst nightmare.

He writes about Trump:

The men who met in Philadelphia in 1787 to write a new constitution designed it to prevent someone like Donald Trump from ever becoming president. One of their great fears was of a populist demagogue who would promise the people everything and respect nothing. As Alexander Hamilton, the key theorist of executive power during the Founding, warned in Federalist 67: "Talents for low intrigue, and the little arts of popularity, may alone suffice to elevate a man to the first honours of a single state.

And of Sanders he says:

The Framers would also be aghast at Bernie Sanders. His calls for a political revolution, fomenting of class hatreds, and desires for a socialist economy also run directly contrary to the Framers design. The Framers believed our Constitution and our government should not view or think of people as economic classes or special interests.

I would like to take the NH outcome in a slightly different direction: a moral one, which still relates to the Founders' vision.

If NH represents all of America, then she is in big trouble. The state just voted for a big government socialist who robs the future generation of debt-free living. Stealing their future is immoral. The moral choice -- that is, the biblical one -- is limited government and low taxes.

The state also just voted for a foul-mouthed, uncouth, rude and erratic showman who never met a liberal position he didn't like. He's a political professional wrestler, complete with the love of the spotlight and the hot chicks in the ring. It's still my belief that his destiny is not to occupy the White House but to sow dissension and confusion in America, particularly on the conservative side.

I still say Trump will fade, while Rubio will rise, because the majority of voters now realize Trump could win the nomination and, aghast, will turn against him. America will correct NH's course. So maybe America is not like NH, after all. But we shall see.

James Arlandson's website is Live as Free People, where he has posted Will breaking moral law break America?, So what's wrong with socialism anyway?, and The biblical case for limited government and low taxes.
Deep in the Masurian woods about 8 km from the small East Prussian town of Rastenburg, lies the ruins of Adolf Hitlers most secretive bunker, one that he called Wolfsschanze or the Wolfs Lair. This top secret, high-security bunker, whose name is derived from the self-adopted nickname of Hitler, was hidden deep in the forest far from any serviceable roads and urban areas. It was Hitlers key military headquarters during the war, in which he spent more than 800 days planning the German armys move eastwards.

Special care was taken in its construction and security. Buildings within the complex were camouflaged with bushes and artificial trees, and heavily guarded by multiple barriers of anti-aircraft guns, tanks, and land mines. Some of the walls of the bunkers were 2 meters thick. So paranoid was Hitler that he employed some fifteen or so women whose job was to eat Hitler's food before he ate it to make sure it wasnt poisoned.

Photo credit: tomasz przechlewski/Flickr

We had to eat it all up. Then we had to wait an hour, and every time we were frightened that we were going to be ill. We used to cry like dogs because we were so glad to have survived, recalls Margot Wolk, Hitlers only surviving food taster.

Despite being so well guarded, one of the most notable assassination attempts against Hitler was made in this very place. On 20 July 1944, German army officer Claus von Stauffenberg took with him a briefcase bomb to a conference meeting with the intention of putting it just a few feet away from Hitler. Unfortunately, a fellow German officer unwittingly pushed the briefcase away deflecting the blast away from Hitler. The Fuhrer survived with only minor injuries. This famed assassination attempt was dramatized in numerous movies and television documentaries, the most widely known of which was the 2008 movie Valkyrie, starring Tom Cruise as Stauffenberg.

By October 1944, the Red Army had reached the borders of East Prussia prompting Hitler to leave Wolfs Lair and ordering it to be destroyed. The complex was eventually blown up in January 1945. So hardened was the place that it took the Germans tons of explosives with one bunker alone requiring an estimated 8,000 kg of TNT. Even then, the buildings were only partially destroyed. It took over ten years for the surrounding ground to be cleared of over 54,000 land mines.

Today the site is a mess of toppled walls, crumbling bunkers and natural vegetation. Since the fall of communism in 1990 it has been attracting a steady stream of visitors. There is now a small exhibition room, and memorial plate for Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg.

Photo credit: tomasz przechlewski/Flickr

Photo credit: tomasz przechlewski/Flickr

Photo credit: petrOlly/Flickr

Photo credit: tomasz przechlewski/Flickr

Photo credit: petrOlly/Flickr

The view of destroyed interior of briefing room in Hitler's headquarter Wolfsschanze following the failed assassination attempt. Photo credit: unknown

Photo credit: tomasz przechlewski/Flickr

Photo credit: magro_kr/Flickr

Photo credit: tomasz przechlewski/Flickr
The Art Institute of Chicago has created a life-size replica of Van Goghs famous bedroom at his home in Arles, France, which he had immortalized in his iconic painting called Bedroom. The room is a faithful reproduction of the 1888 painting by the master artist featuring simple interior and bright colors, as it appears in the original, complete with thick brush strokes. The room is outfitted with the same furniture, the same bedspread and the same haphazard arrangement of paintings. The best part is that the room is actually available for rent through AirBnb at just $10/night.

The unusual accommodation was created in celebration of an upcoming exhibition Van Goghs Bedrooms, by the Art Institute of Chicago which will feature approximately 36 works by the artist, including paintings, drawings, and illustrated letters, as well as a selection of books and other ephemera that Van Gogh owned.

Van Gogh was so enamored by his own painting of his room that he produced three distinct version of the same between 1888 and 1889. The first of the three paintings was produced shortly after moving into his Yellow House in Arles, France, but when water damage threatened the composition he painted a second version while at an asylum in Saint-Remy in 1889. Van Gogh created a smaller third version as a gift for his mother and sister a few weeks after making the second. The three paintings are mostly identical yet distinct and unique from each other.

The first painting is located in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the second one in the Art Institute of Chicago and the third at the Musee dOrsay in Paris. This is the first time all three are displayed together in North America, offering a pioneering and in-depth study of their making and meaning to Van Gogh in his relentless quest for home.

via My Modern Met
Earlier this week, Sprint started offering a $200 trade-in discount for Galaxy S6 buyers, and now, it is the turn of AT&T, the nations second-largest wireless carrier to come out with an offer on the same device. According to the latest promo thats just been announced by AT&T, people buying any of Samsungs 2015 flagships will be eligible to get either a Galaxy S6 (32 GB model) or a Galaxy S6 Active for free. The smartphones on which the offer is applicable, include the Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy S6 Edge+ and Galaxy Note 5, alongside the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Active handsets themselves. For those not fancying the Galaxy S6 as the free device, AT&T says it will give $595 in 30 monthly bill credits of $19.84 each, as long as the primary smartphone happens to be one from the above list.

So for AT&T users wanting a new flagship smartphone, this may be as good a time as any to jump onto the bandwagon. The carrier, however, has an extensive set of terms and conditions that its users have to satisfy before they can get their free smartphone or the near-$600 bill credit. AT&T does not specifically mention how long the promo will run, but does say that it will be a limited-time offer. The carrier does however, say that the offer will be available until March 31st in Puerto Rico. Also, residents of Rhode Island, Connecticut and Miami Dade will not be eligible for the promo, although AT&T doesnt say why. In the rest of the country, subscribers will have to opt for AT&T Next 24, with the minimum qualifying plan being $70 per month on Mobile Share Value.

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Recently, offers are pouring out on 2015 flagship smartphones, now that many of the big brands are believed to be on their way towards launching their next-gen flagship smartphones. That being the case, the Galaxy S6 is not the only device that has been the subject of promo offers in recent times. Last month, Sprint started offering a $200 trade-in discount towards the LG G4, now that the G5 is being readied by the South Korean company for a launch this year.
Googles Maps and Street View services, along with user-submitted photos, have long allowed those who cant or dont want to travel to have a look at tons of famous landmarks and other places that they normally wouldnt see, such as the hustle and bustle of London, the Great Wall of China and the eclectic streets of Tokyo, Japan. On February 11, 2016, marking the 100th anniversary of the United States National Park Service, Google has announced that they are partnering with the National Park Service to bring the full natural glory of 40 different U.S. parks into Googles Street View service for the enjoyment of international audiences, students and all other variants of couch-bound world travelers.

Parks such as the Montezuma Castle National Monument and Alcatraz will be coming to the service. Thanks to the Google Cultural Institute, a digital collection spanning 3,800 different objects from over 350 different national parks will also become available for stationary roamers viewing pleasure, somewhat similar to the digital field trip service that Google recently rolled out for the scholarly crowd. Famous landmarks like the homes of Abraham Lincoln and Dwight Eisenhower have been stitched together from a combination of Googles own Maps and Street View data, scans of the area and photos. The result allows a virtual tour of the various landmarks involved.

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U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell, said of the new additions, This marriage of technology and history means that anyone, anywhere can see artifacts and sites that, provide a taste of the rich and diverse story of America Our hope is that this partnership will not only illustrate and elevate our nations history and culture, but inspire more people to visit the wonderfully diverse places that the National Park Service protects and preserves for current and future generations. A timeline for the upload and rolling out of the full collection was not announced, but the operation seems to already be underway. One such attraction, the aforementioned Montezuma Castle National Monument, is already up and running on Street View. Hit up the source link to check out the park and its natural wonders in full, 360 degree detail.
Data protection laws in Europe are tougher than they are anywhere else on the planet, and companies like Google, Microsoft and Facebook have often been at odds with privacy watchdogs and regulators in the continent because of stringent legislations. With the much talked-about Right to be Forgotten clause becoming a legal right across the EU thanks to a landmark judgment by the European Court of Justice in May 2014, Google has been besieged with 386,038 requests from individual citizens and organizations for altering its search results, to filter out false, outdated and/or potentially damaging information, as the case may be. While Google reluctantly accepts many of these requests to stay on the right side of the law, a number of EU data protection authorities have always argued that the company needs to do more.

Now, according to latest developments, the American tech giant seems to be falling in line with privacy watchdogs in the continent. The company has now reportedly agreed to implement a controversial clause of the act, under a clear and present danger of falling afoul of regulators, thereby invoking heavy penalties, or worse. While Google admits to having responded positively to 42 percent all data removal requests from citizens and organizations across the continent, the action was valid only on specific European domains of the search giant. Meaning, those results could still be accessed by just hopping over to the companys Google.com domain instead of using the Euro-centric domains of the company. That, however, is all set to change now, as the California-based company is updating its software to make sure that once a removal request is accepted from somebody from a particular country, nobody from that country will be able to access the information, irrespective of which domain theyre searching on.

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To accomplish this, Google says it will base its search results on the IP (Internet Protocol) address of its users rather than keep it domain-based, as was the case thus far. The change in policy, however, will only be applicable to users within the continent. For those trying to access the exact same information from outside Europe though, nothing changes. Anybody whose IP address identifies them as being from outside of Europe, will continue to have an uncensored and unrestricted free flow of information coming their way. Privacy watchdogs in both Britain and France sounded cautiously optimistic after Google informed all such agencies of its future course of action.
The Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge smartphones from Samsung are about to become history, as the company gets ready to announce their new flagship phone for 2016. However, these are still pretty amazing devices and the company keeps giving it some attention through software updates. Although its been months since Google introduced Android 6.0 Marshmallow, only a couple of weeks ago that Samsung started rolling out the update from Android 5.1.1 Lollipop for South Korean consumers. The new software will be made available to consumers around the world in the following weeks, but if you are eager to know what has changed in the system, here are some good news: an internal document from Samsung has leaked online, explaining with details some changes made to the newest version of Android.

Visually you will notice some differences, starting with the lock screen, which got colorful icons for the Phone and Camera shortcuts. Additionally, the clock is now centered and the weather information seems to be gone. If the device has an unlocking pattern, now it takes two steps to unlock the phone. Previously, the dots for the pattern were shown right away, but in this new version the user has to swipe the screen and then enter the unlock pattern, adding a second step to the process. Theres more added to the lock screen, most notably the increase of waiting time after 12 failed attempts to unlock the device. Additionally, a new setting named Auto factory reset will wipe out the phone if there are 15 failed attempts to unlock it.

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Now jumping to the user interface, Samsung has finally unified the visual outlines of their own icons, giving them a rounder look, so now the Phone icon doesnt look weird with other icons in the bottom bar. The company has also revamped the Quick settings panel. First, it seems that the colors have been changed to light gray instead of the previous blue. Second, the Edit button has been put behind an Extended pane, which shows all the icons available for toggling, and S Finder and Private Mode also made their way to this panel, instead of being persistently shown, taking up a lot of space. Other goodies include the ability to change individual app permissions, improvements in the Messages app, new emojis, support for the MIDI audio format, and much more. As mentioned before, the update started rolling out to South Korean users and should be made available for other countries in the coming weeks or months, so sit tight and keep tuned with us to stay up to date with the arrival of Marshmallow to your device.
Microsoft have struggled in the mobile device world. They have reinvented and tried new approaches several times  from Windows CE to PocketPC to Windows Mobile to Windows Phone and now to Windows 10 Mobile. Each platform has had its advantages and supporters, but throughout this period Microsoft has often seemingly had the wrong idea about how to treat the mobile device market. However, in the last couple of years weve started seeing signs of a new way of working with the mobile market: Microsoft realized that their greatest products are not the operating systems to run the applications, but the applications that run on whatever operating system the customer has. Thus, whilst Windows 10 is important to Microsoft, it has been offered free for customers. We have seen Microsoft develop and launch applications on other platforms  Android and Apples iOS  such as Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, OneDrive and Skype. Weve also seen the Cortana digital assistant and the Arrow launcher being released for Android too. And Microsoft have now released information about how many Android devices have or will come with Microsofts pre-installed applications.

For the spring 2015, Microsoft had thirty one device manufacturers offering Microsofts pre-installed applications on an Android device. For 2016, this number has been boosted to seventy four companies across twenty five countries. Microsofts blog on the subject explains how a number of high profile devices such as the LG G Pad 2, Samsung Galaxy S6 and Sony Xperia Z4 come with Microsofts productivity applications. This is an impressive and encouraging growth in less than a year and reflects on the new vitality and energy Microsoft has about it with its mobile applications, products and services. Weve seen these productivity applications taking massive strides over the last twelve months. And of course, Microsoft isnt doing this without a good reason: lets take Microsoft Office as one example, which is a good productivity package on the Android platform. Using Office means customers are encouraged to use OneDrive, and are also encouraged to use the premium, paid-for features of the applications. Googles Drive and companion applications offer a lesser set of features for nothing; its a competitive market and one that Microsoft is working hard to break into.

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However, the signs are encouraging. Recently, Microsoft bought Swiftkey, a very well respected Android (and now iOS smart keyboard, after Apple invented third party keyboard support!). Weve also seen Microsoft buying other software companies that produce well respected applications for Android, and sometimes iOS, devices. Microsofts approach is sounding similar to the old adage: in a gold rush, sell the tools.
It is that time of the year when Mobile World Congress (MWC) talk is in full swing and typical of this time, there are a number of unannounced smartphones that are currently being discussed. None more so than the latest flagship smartphone from Samsung. For this year, this is the Samsung Galaxy S7. This will be one of the most talked about devices all year and while we are still having to wait for the official announcement to come through, as per usual, there has been a good deal of information emerging over the last few months. Snippets here and there which collectively do provide quite a substantial overview of what we can expect from the latest flagship device from Samsung.

Before we get started though, two points that seem to be very much confirmed is the launch and the number of variants. Starting with the second point, it has been long thought there could be as many as four variants being announced, however that is not the case. At the time of launch, there will only be two devices unveiled. The first will be the main Galaxy S7 handset and this will be accompanied by the second handset, the Galaxy S7 Edge. In terms of the launch, Samsung has confirmed their Unpacked event will take place just ahead of MWC 2016 on Sunday Feb 21 in Barcelona.

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The Outside, Hardware & Design

Up until recently, Samsung has always had to take on some slack for the look of their Galaxy S range devices, more specifically, the lack of their premium parts and in spite of what was clearly premium prices. However, that all changed last year when Samsung introduced the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. Devices which not only came with premium parts, but the sum of those parts resulted in two extremely attractive devices. Constructed with metal and glass, these were (and still are) two of the most highly sought after devices. Needless to say, Samsung will want to capitalize on what was a winning design from the consumer point of view. In fact, if recent rumors are to be believed, the design will not differ that much at all from what was on offer last year. Instead, 2016 and the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge will be more about refined devices than revolutionary devices.

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Glass and metal does look to be largely back in play again. However as mentioned, this year is a refining process and this largely seems to evident design-wise in the curvature of the devices and especially with the Edge variant, as this is believed to be coming with a slight curvature on the top and bottom of the device, as well as its namesake sloping sides. It would not be too far of a stretch to assume this form factor will be common to both, so expect a slightly more curvy standard Galaxy S7 as well  curves which will be promoted as offering a more comfortable experience when held in-hand.

Moving to the display and the one common theme emerging is that the dual edges of the S7 Edge will not be the only defining difference between the two devices. It had been previously thought that (+) versions of both devices will be unveiled along with the standard versions. However, it is now starting to become clear that the Galaxy S7 Edge will be a plus version of the standard Galaxy S7. Plus in terms of battery (we will come to this) as well as the size. In short, the Galaxy S7 is largely expected to come touting a 5.2-inch (could be 5.1-inch) display, while the Galaxy S7 Edge will likely come with a larger 5.5-inch (could be 5.7-inch) display. In either case, it is highly anticipated that both devices will make use of a Quad HD (2560 x 1440) resolution. Displays which will of course, be Super AMOLED displays. Speaking of which, rumors are also highly suggesting that the Galaxy S7 display will make use of an Always On feature. In addition to the direct suggestions for the feature on the latest Galaxy handset, further evidence came through in recent FCC filings which noted Samsung was looking to trademark Always On Display. Timing alone would seem to suggest the feature will be in play on the S7 and/or S7 Edge. While this is a feature which is already in use on other manufacturer handsets, the AMOLED displays on the Samsung devices will be able to better utilize this feature, as they will not draw as much power when using Always On as an LCD display will.

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Moving to the back and while most of the appearance (based on the leaked images that have come through) looks to be the same as the Galaxy S6, there is a slight difference with the rear positioned camera. Consistent with last year, the camera on the back does seem to be one which protrudes, although the protrusion is one which is far less prominent this time around.

One interesting aspect of the design came to light quite recently and if true, will be an aspect which is very good news for consumers. Last year, one of the associated costs with Samsungs migration to premium was that the Galaxy S6 did not offer any waterproof or resistant elements. This might not be the case with the Galaxy S7 as a recent Indian import listing for Zauba notes that the Galaxy S7 has waterproof parts. If this is the case, then as well as a more premium build, less protruding camera and curvier design, the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge will be more durable as well.

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The Inside, Specs & Performance

So, what does the latest and greatest from Samsung have to offer beneath the surface? Well, unless any massive leaks emerge in the next week or two, we will have to wait until the final and official announcement to know for sure what to expect. Although, we do have a number of aspects to work with in the meantime.

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When it comes to Samsung, the processor is always one of the most talked about aspects and especially after last year when Samsung opted to use their own Exynos processor instead of the (at the time) flagship processor from Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 810. In terms of the Galaxy S7, things will be a little bit different this year. Yes, it does look like Samsung will include their own Exynos processor (Exynos 8890) in the twin Galaxy S7 devices, although, there is enough evidence to suggest that Samsung will also be releasing alternative versions which comes equipped with the latest 2016 offering from Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 820. The differentiating factor seems to be regional, with the U.S. variant likely to come in Qualcomm form and the International version likely to come in Exynos form. Either way, sporting a Exynos 8890 or a Snapdragon 820, the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge look to be hitting the market with the most powerful processors currently available.

Moving on and it is largely expected that the Samsung Galaxy S7 will come sporting 4GB RAM. It seems almost guaranteed that it will be no less than 4GB RAM and while there was some early rumors suggesting the RAM could be even higher, 4GB RAM is the sensible bet this time around. On the storage front, there is little-to-no information available. It is widely understood Samsung will continue their multiple variants and therefore, 32GB and 64GB models seem to be good candidates. In terms of any bigger, it stands to reason that Samsung will not announce a larger 128GB model like they did last year. Sales for the 128GB model were not thought to be that great and it make sense that they will forgo the larger option this year, at least at the point of launch. However, what is interesting is the rumor that they will re-introduce a microSD card slot on this years models. If that is the case, then this adds to the thinking that there is even less need for an 128GB model anymore.

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Battery life is always a big concern as devices are becoming more demanding and this is particularly of interest with the Galaxy S7, as last year Samsung opted to skip including a removable battery and with the small (comparatively speaking) 2,550 mAh battery that was on offer, Samsung could be looking to really bump up the mAh this time around. Which is exactly what seems to be the case. Recent FCC filings suggest that the battery on offer could be as much as 3,600 mAh. At least for the Edge version. Although, a point to note on this, as it is largely understood the Edge version will be a larger device, it will have more room to physically house a bigger battery. With the standard Galaxy S7 being smaller in size, it does stand to reason, the battery will also be smaller. How smaller will be the question, although a safe bet is that it will be in the 3000+ mAh range.

Moving on again and camera abilities are also another feature which is high up on the Galaxy expectation criteria and this is where we are seeing far less consistency in rumors. The Galaxy S6 came with a 16-megapixel rear camera and this does not seem to be the MP count that will be on offer this time around. On the one hand we have rumors suggesting the rear camera will be a 12-megapixel camera (12.2 MP). One which will come equipped with a BRITECELL sensor, which although is lower in MP count will consist of a bigger sensor, making use of an f/1.7 aperture compared to the f/1.9 aperture on last years model. There has however, also been rumors surrounding the possibility of a Sony IMX 300 sensor being included which would likely be a 23-megapixel offering, and there has also been rumors of a possible dual-camera setup. Although, of the rumors, the 12-megapixel option  which will be designed to offer greater low-light abilities, does seem likely to be the one. In contrast, far less focus (excuse the pun) has been placed on the front facing camera with most expecting either a 5 or 8-megapixel option to be on offer.

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The Software and Features

Lastly, the software on offer is far less of an issue. It is pretty much assured that the Galaxy S7 will come running on Android 6.0 (Marshmallow), likely in the form of Android 6.0.1. and will come with Samsungs own TouchWiz UI over the top. Although, similar to last year, the grapevine does seem to be suggesting that Samsung is further refining the software experience to be one which is more lightweight and closer to stock. How much thinner the software will be remains to be seen, although one thing you can count on is that there will be numerous Samsung dedicated features in play and especially for the Edge model.

A few months ago, there was a suggestion which came through that Samsung will be making use of a 3D Touch like feature on the Galaxy S7. This is a feature which can understand the pressure being applied when touching the screen and act accordingly with the level of applied pressure. While this was an early Galaxy S7 rumor and is a feature which has started popping up on other Android devices, since those early rumors there has been very little confirming this aspect. So, while this could still be a feature on offer, there is just not currently enough details to suggest this will be the case.

The Availability & Price

This is always a little harder to delve too deeply into. It is clear that Samsung will announce the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge on Feb 21 in Barcelona, although as to be expected, it is highly unlikely to be the date the devices will become available. Samsung will want to capitalize on the announcement and build as much hype as possible. Therefore, the debate is currently on how long after the announcement the two smartphones will become available. One date which seems to be gaining traction is March 11, with some suggesting that this could be the worldwide launch date with pre-orders opening when the devices are announced on Feb 21. Although, other rumors are pointing more towards April for availability. Either way, the eight week period following the announcement does seem to be the crucial time-frame in play. In terms of price, there is nothing really to go on here at all. Yes, if there are multiple storage variants, there will be multiple prices and there is no current reasoning to suggest prices will differ too greatly from what the Galaxy S6 launched for last year. It will be a premium priced device. However, it is worth noting that it has been said the price could be decreased by about 10-percent in comparison to the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. A decrease which if confirmed will be used to keep the Galaxy S7 competitively priced. Regardless of the actual cost at launch, it has also been rumored that Samsung intends to announce an upgrade plan at MWC for the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. A plan where you will be able to upgrade from one flagship to the next  a move which is likely to be a play to combat criticisms of the cost of the two smartphones. It has also been reported that buyers of the two new Galaxy S7 devices will receive a Gear VR headset as well. A bundle which will add more value to the overall price of the handsets.

The Wrap Up

Of course, it it always worth keeping in mind that much of what has been discussed here is still only rumors for now. While some aspects seem more likely than others, Samsung is a company who can at anytime announce anything and totally take the industry by surprise. Either way, with MWC 2016 getting a little closer each day, we will not have to wait too long to find out what the next big thing from Samsung will be. As always, we will be there on Feb 21 to hear, see and digest the news as and when it happens. In the meantime you can check out the video below which was put together based on some of the leaked information. As well as the various case images that have surfaced recently for both the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge.

Samsung Galaxy S7

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge
The amount of mobile payments systems available to consumers these days has more than doubled or tripled in the past couple of years. Last year in particular was a big year for the ability to pay things with our phones and say the release of Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay. All three finally went live last year, but only Apple Pay is currently active across the pond and in parts of Europe. Samsung Pay however, looks set to be launching across the Atlantic pretty soon, and the South Korean firm has teased that the launch could be happening during Mobile World Congress, which is only a couple of weeks away now.

During Samsungs European Forum 2016, Nathalie Oestmann, Head of Samsung Pay Europe, told those in attendance that Samsung Pay is coming to the UK and Spain very soon this year and that more details will be available at MWC. It makes sense that Spain is mentioned here and its a massive hint that the launch might be tied to the Galaxy S7, as theyre using the Spanish city of Barcelona as their launching pad for the Galaxy S7. Whether or not the rest of Europe will see a launch at the same time is unclear, but were sure Samsung has been working on this for quite some time. Samsung Pay has been big in the firms home nation of South Korea, and a different solution from their rival LG recently surfaced in the form of a smart credit card type of device.

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What makes Samsung Pay so attractive to the majority of card issuers and banks that have signed up is that due to the mag stripe tech inside the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy Note devices, users can pay with older terminals, simulating a card swipe. Samsung ended up buying the company behind the technology used in their 2015 flagships and it makes sense that the Galaxy S7 will continue to add new features and such. Well be in attendance during Samsungs 2015 press conference come Sunday February 21st, so well bring you all the announcements as soon as we can.
Sony is not known for updating their devices to recent versions of the Android operating system as fast as other manufacturers, but they keep giving support to a quite good amount of devices. For Android 6.0 Marshmallow, they selected some European users with a Xperia Z3 or Xperia Z3 Compact so they could install a conceptual build based on that version of the OS in order to test it for bugs or issues. This way, the company could fix some of them based on the feedback they got from those users. The software was somewhat unpolished, as it featured an almost stock looking version of Android with a few apps from Sony. This build was updated very frequently to add more features and users were quite pleased with the improvements that Marshmallow brought to their devices.

While we know which Sony devices will get updated to Marshmallow, we still dont know when the company will be releasing the final build for any of them. Yesterday, a few images from a Japanese carrier suggested that the company could be close to releasing the final version of the software and they even gave us a first look of the software. Now, Sony has released an app called Xperia Beta Program, further suggesting that the final version of Android Marshmallow for these devices is almost ready. The app is available for devices such as the Xperia Z3, Xperia Z3 Compact and Xperia Z2, but it is only available in a few regions including Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. The intention is letting applicable users test a pre-release version of the software so that Sony can release the final build to many more devices without as many errors.

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On the other hand, the Concept build will continue to work with the devices that are currently running it and even though it was reported that users would have to uninstall it in early 2016, new information suggests that a new update for that version is coming within a couple of weeks. We still dont know how much Sony has changed the whole interface now that it is based on Marshmallow, or if some of their apps will get any new features, but apparently (and hopefully), users wont have to wait much longer.
Watch Faces by Hyperflow is a collection of four different watch faces for Android Wear smartwatches that are designed to be minimal, good-looking and above all functional. The four watch faces are Nova, Pulse, Sphere and Chrono. Neatly spilt into a pair of watch faces that should appeal to those that prefer digital time and two that will appeal to those who prefer analog watch faces. Each one is a little different, but all four of them share common DNA as well as the ability to tweak the color accents to ensure a fully-customizable experience for those that enjoy a little tweak here and there. With four different watch faces all in one, there has to be something here for the majority of users, so lets find out.

Something to note here is that this is an Android app that will only work with Android Wear smartwatches, and wont work with smartwatches running Tizen like Samsungs or the Pebble line of watches. With that said, users can download Watch Faces by Hyperflow from the Play Store. Rather than this collection having a single app to control all of them, the watch faces are installed singularly onto your watch. To choose them on your phone, you just need to head on over to the Android Wear app and choose one of them by their names.

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Here, Ive selected Chrono  which I think is my absolute favorite, to be honest with you  and when choosing the settings icon (which can also be done on the watch, too) users can choose a different color accent to play with.

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Im a sucker for a light blue color, I really am and heres a little peak of how it looks on my watch:

What the above photo doesnt show is that the accent on the Chrono face is very subtle and only really appears on the second hand, which moves incredibly smoothly, its a real joy to take a look at, really. Now, this is my favorite but there are of course four different watch faces to choose from. Below is a small gallery giving you a taste of all them.

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Another look at a watch face on my wrist would be Pulse, which appeals to the Editor in me as well as someone who wants to know what the time is right away, but also looking for a little flare, too.

Again, the customization options here really help to make each one of these four watch faces stand out on your wrist, no matter what sort of look youre going for.

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Ive been using Android Wear for a long time now, since the original LG G Watch went on sale and since then Ive probably played around with more watch faces than I could possibly remember. Im now on my fourth Android Wear watch and Im amassed a collection of some of my favorite watch faces, I still try a lot of them, but rarely do I find those that Im interested in keeping in my rotation of sorts. This new collection has added a couple of new watch faces to that cycle of different watch faces. I really, really like Chrono face here and it reminds of an even more futuristic Braun watch face, while my second-favorite, Pulse, offers a nice mix of analog and digital with a little modern-day flare to it. The other two are good-looking, but theyre not really for me. Thats the beauty of having a selection of four different watch faces of course, especially for the price of one, as theres a little something for the majority of users here.

Ratings

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Speed (4/5)  All four of these watch faces run great, and as theres no proprietary app on the phone side of things, theres no more burden on your device.

All four of these watch faces run great, and as theres no proprietary app on the phone side of things, theres no more burden on your device. Theme (5/5)  I think these are some of the better-looking Android Wear watch faces that have come out for some time, and theyre modern while also being classy and understated all at the same time.

I think these are some of the better-looking Android Wear watch faces that have come out for some time, and theyre modern while also being classy and understated all at the same time. Features (3.5/5)  As good-looking as they are, some users will lament any extra options besides a handful of different colors and some extra features such as the temperature or step count would be nice to see.

As good-looking as they are, some users will lament any extra options besides a handful of different colors and some extra features such as the temperature or step count would be nice to see. Overall (4/5)  While these designs might not appeal to everyone, it would be hard to hear someone say they didnt like them at all, and theyre definitely worth looking into if you want something classy and modern all in the same collection.

Pros

Simple and easy to use, no need for an extra app on the phone or anything like that.

Four watch faces  Nova, Pulse, Sphere and Chrono  make this a great value collection.

Excellent look and feel to all four faces here, with a modern, minimal aesthetic that will appeal to a lot of users.

Customization options are thoughtful and good-looking.

Cons

Extra features, such as step count or weather would make these a little more useful.

Extra customization options beyond just color would be nice for demanding users to better express themselves.

Watch Faces by Hyperflow has a good selection of watch faces on offer, and while I wish that they were a little more feature full in what they offer, they sure do look great. While theres no free version available, this is a great price for four different watch faces, let alone just one. With some added features and more customization options, this collection will only get better and better. As it stands however, these are some great-looking watch faces that have a lot to offer.
Its no secret that Googles approach to international operations and taxes, especially routing all sales through their Ireland arm, is questionable at best, according to many applicable parties. Taxes in Ireland are lower than most other places for multinationals due to transfer laws, and allow Google to put out a lower budget, and thus pay less taxes, in areas of international operations where things may get a bit pricier, such as Asia and Europe. Operations are budgeted and taxed where they occur, whereas sales are apparently headed up and thus passed through Googles Irish offices in Dublin. On the heels of a 130 million settlement in the UK, local authorities think that Googles practices not only are questionable, but in need of intense scrutiny. That is exactly what they plan to do on Thursday, February 11. UK publication The Guardian weighed in on some of the key questions Google will have to answer, as well as those who may play a key role in the hearing.

According to The Guardian, the biggest question at hand was Googles routing of sales income through Ireland. To many, this is a textbook example of whats called a Double Irish layout, where a corporation transfers money or assets to a lower-tax area in order to decrease their total worldwide tax liability. Ireland passed a law in 2010 that was meant to close this loophole, but the law did not affect current operations of many entities, instead targeting future operations. The Double Irish has been in use by multinational conglomerates since the 1980s, but UK authorities, jilted by the relatively small figures reported by Googles UK arm, feel that Googles use of the Double Irish needs to be addressed and the recent 130 million settlement was simply not enough. Chancellor George Osbornes diverted profits tax, touted by Osborne as playing a big role in the settlement, is also laid out as a point of contention.

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The Guardian was very blunt about another issue, asking, Why do expert sales staff in Ireland earn less than half that of marketing support staff in the UK? With Google having admitted that most of their Irish sales force are on board because they know foreign languages and are not expert deal closers, and that most of their sales operations are automated, this very pointed question could very well be justified. The question of the disparity between Googles worldwide tax rate of 17 percent and their bigger tax leviers charging 35 and 20 percent was also brought up. In an especially pointed gesture, The Guardian asked outright if Googles use of lobbying and investment to pressure politicians was fair. The Guardian named Revenue and Customs chief Lin Homer, chair of the public accounts committee Meg Hillier and Google Europe director Matt Brittin as key figures in the hearing who may be able to steer the discussion toward or away from the questions that The Guardian feels should be asked.
Transfer Balls: Manchester United hire Mourinho to get Bale, Neymar, Muller, Pogba and sell Mata

Jose Mourinhos PR department is working overtime to convince everyone and anyone that he is the next Manchester United manager. Why Manchester United would want a divisive, man rejected twice by Chelsea is not something that bothers the Star which spots Joses 300m WAR CHEST.

Is that all the money Mourinhos earned in redundancy fees from Roman Abramovich? No. Its the cash United will give him to buy lots of players. Thats how good Jose is  just give him 300m to spend on new players and he will make Manchester United competitive. Sure, Claudio Raniei will do it for around 20m, but hes not got chronic small-man syndrome and an urgent desire to be the star. So Jose gets the cash to buy  get this  Neymar, Cavani, Thomas Muller, Paul Pogba and Raphael Varane.

Yeah, really. And so long as theyre happy to work in Joses shadow, theyll be on the fist plane to Manchester.

The Express says Jose will sign a three-year deal worth 15m a year and buy  deep breath  Neymar, Gareth Bale, Ross Barkely, Jamie Rodgriguez, and Aymeric Laporte.

The Mail says Joses first act will be to purge United of Juan Mata and Marouane Felliani.

No word on what hell do to the United medical staff.

But Jamie Jackson doe tell Guardian readers that, er, Mourinho may look outside the Premier League for his next job having not yet been contacted by United.

Such are the facts.

Anorak

Posted: 11th, February 2016 | In: Back pages, manchester united, Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
(ANSA) - Vatican City, February 11 - The Catholic Church must denounce crime, Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin said on the eve of Pope Francis's visit to Mexico. "The pope's presence in Mexico," he said, aims to "help rediscover and live, in daily life, the announcement and testimony of mercy", the cardinal said. The Church is called on "to denounce the evil that is present, raise its voice against all those negative phenomena starting with corruption, narcotrafficking, violence, and crime, which prevent the country from swiftly proceeding along the path of material and spiritual progress". The pope is leaving for Mexico Friday and will have a stopover at Havana airport where he will have an historic meeting with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill.


(ANSA) - New York, February 11 - President Sergio Mattarella on Wednesday spurred applause from Italian Americans by telling them, in English, "Today I'm a New Yorker!".

Stressing that his talks with President Barack Obama had highlighted the "indissoluble" link between Italy and the US, Mattarella raised applause from the Italian American community, chiefly represented by the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF), at the Guggenheim Museum. "Welcome to the club of the Sicilians", said New York Governor Andrew Cuomo who played host in the absence of Mayor Bill de Blasio, whom Mattarella, a native Sicilian, is expected to meet before travelling on to Houston, the last stage of his American tour.

While Mattarella reminded his audience that he was president of all Italians, Cuomo said the Italian Americans in the State, about three million of a US total of 15 million, are "proud to be Americans and just as proud to keep Italian traditions alive".

"I really feel at home," replied Mattarella who lauded the US capacity to welcome foreigners since the end of the 19th century.

He said that was a "real lesson of democracy" for a Europe that appears to have forgotten the values of solidarity and the dark times when so many Europeans were forced to leave the Old Continent.

Mattarella on Thursday will visit Ellis Island, the main gateway to the US since 1892 where almost four million Italians arrived, "fraught with fears and confidence," he said.

Today, all of their descendants are "proud Americans who love their Italian origins".

Mattarella's remark on "being a New Yorker" came after an "intense" visit to Ground Zero, where on September 11, 2001 almost 3,000 people died. Most of those who died were either immigrants or children of immigrants, he observed.

"Everyone comes from somewhere to New York and each piece of the mosaic that makes us up is unique," said the Italian president.


(ANSA) - Vatican City, February 11 - Pope Francis is set to face on his February 12-18 Mexico trip many of the ills he has been fighting since he was Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires.

In pitting the Church against the power of 'narcos' drug lords and addressing the woes of migrant dramas, Francis will tackle some of the multiple scourges afflicting the wounded giant of Latin America.

The closely watched trip, his first official visit to Mexico, will also be historic because of a stopover meeting at Havana airport with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill in a further step towards healing a 1,000-year schism.

On the eve of Francis's departure, on Thursday, Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin said the Catholic Church must denounce crime. "The pope's presence in Mexico," he said, aims to "help rediscover and live, in daily life, the announcement and testimony of mercy". The Church is called on "to denounce the evil that is present, raise its voice against all those negative phenomena starting with corruption, narcotrafficking, violence, and crime, which prevent the country from swiftly proceeding along the path of material and spiritual progress". In a year of more economic gloom and a steady news drip of horrific drug violence, the Mexicans are awaiting Francis with hope, reckoning he can build on the many trips to Mexico made by pope John Paul II. Each stage, each State to be visited by the pope has a different profile within a huge country with a population of 120 million and the world's second highest Catholic population, a Latina American colossus behind only Brazil.

Francis will have to show great diplomatic tact and also a firm hand in addressing institutions targeted by civil society on many fronts, from corruption to inefficiency to the infiltration of narcos power in the land and into finances.

This was confirmed by the June escape of narcoboss Chapo Guzman, captured a month ago, and the tragedy of 43 young people who disappeared in 2014 in the State of Gurerro.

Looming large in the background of the visit will be the two major national emergencies, migrants and narcotraffickers, as people trafficking to the United States becomes a business as lucrative as cocaine. The pope, who always highlights the importance of borderlands, will visit among others the southern frontier of the country, in Chiapas, bordering on Guatemala, and the northern one at Ciudad Juarez on the border with the United States. Immediately after arriving from Italy, after the Cuba stop to meet Kirill, Francis will find the megapolis of Mexico City with its 20 million inhabitants and numerous problems.

The next stage of the visit, Ecatepec, 30 km from the capital, is one immense periphery where there is crime, internal migrations, 'femicides', and an area of 'ciudades perdidas', the equivalent of Brazil's favelas. Then the pope will move onto Chiapas, the country's poorest State where he will find people who claim their descent from the Mayas - tzotziles, tzeltales, and lacandones, to name a few - as well as the entry point for central American migrants aiming for the US. Michoacan, then, is a State besieged by violence, where alliances between narcos and power are ongoing as well as clashes between the gangs and self-defence groups.

Finally, at the end of his trip, Francis will reach Ciudad Juarez, until recently considered one of the most dangerous places on Earth.

In that city he will visit the notorious Cereso 3 prison, which holds many of Mexico's most feared narcos hitmen.

On the eve of the pope's visit there was a mutiny at another ill-famed jail, at Monterrey, in which at least 52 people died. The pope's whole trip will be closely watched by the international media, but the preceding stage, the Havana meeting with Kirill, will perhaps be even more powerfully scrutinized.

Francis, who during his time in Buenos Aires established close links to the local chapter of the Russian Orthodox Church, will meet Kirill at Havana's Jose' Marti' International Airport, where the two religious leaders will sign a joint statement.

Kirill said last week he wanted to meet Francis outside Europe because "Europe is linked to the hard story of the divisions and conflicts between Christians," according to Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, head of the external relations department of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The question of the so-called Uniate churches, long a bone of contention between the two sides, could now be resolved, many hope.

Another wall may be coming down, according to observers of the two Churches.

The Havana meeting was hailed by Cardinal Peter Erdo of Hungary, head of Europe's bishops, who said it marks "a further step towards the unity and the common testimony of Christians".

Budapest Archbishop Erdo said in a letter to Francis and Kyrill that "this historic meeting, which happily sets the seal on decades of dialogue between the Holy See and the Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, also comforts the Council of European Bishops' Conferences (CCEE) in its choice of investing in this dialogue".

The meeting has been in the works a long time, said Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi.

"This meeting...is the first of its kind in history and will mark an important milestone in relations between the two Churches," the joint statement said.

"The Holy See and the Moscow Patriarchate hope it will also be a sign of hope for all men of good will".

Kirill, the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church since 2009, will be on an official visit to Cuba.

The meeting has been in the works for years and will be aimed at a further thaw in relations.

Once-frosty relations between the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches have seesawed in recent years.

The Holy See and Russia were able to formally upgrade their relations from 'official' to 'diplomatic' in December 2009 following a gradual thawing of relations between the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches.

The Russian Church had accused the Catholics of trying to lure people over to their brand of Christianity on their back yard, prompting unfriendly relations between the Holy See and the Russian state too.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was one of the few heads of state not to attend late pope John Paul II's funeral in 2005.

But the two Churches have been increasingly seeking to launch joint initiatives on areas of concern to them since the papacy of Benedict XVI, such as growing secularism in Europe as well as the increasing persecution of Christians around the world and especially in the Middle East.

Father Stefano Caprio, a lecturer at the Pontifical Oriental Institute for Russian History and Culture, told ANSA he thought Putin was also looking to the meeting to help end Russia's international isolation due to sanctions imposed after its annexation of the Crimea and involvement in the eastern Ukraine conflict.

The meeting between Francis Kirill will last approximately three hours, Russian news agency Interfax reported Thursday citing a source at the Moscow Patriarchate.

The meeting at Havana's Jose' Marti' International Airport will begin at 2.15 pm local time, with 15 minutes open to the public. At the end of the meeting the pope and Kirill will exchange gifts and sign a joint declaration, the contents of which were "agreed" on Wednesday evening, according to Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, head of the external relations department of the Russian Orthodox Church.

However, the declaration can be modified during the course of the meeting between the two religious leaders, Alfeyev said.


(ANSA) - Moscow, February 11 - The meeting between Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kyrill in Cuba on Friday will last approximately three hours, Russian news agency Interfax reported Thursday citing a source at the Moscow Patriarchate.

The meeting at Havana's Jose' Marti' International Airport will begin at 2.15 pm local time, with 15 minutes open to the public. At the end of the meeting the pope and Kyrill will exchange gifts and sign a joint declaration, the contents of which were "agreed" on Wednesday evening, according to Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, head of the external relations department of the Russian Orthodox Church.

However, the declaration can be modified during the course of the meeting between the two religious leaders, Alfeyev said. The "historic meeting" has been hailed as "a further step towards the unity and the common testimony of Christians", according to Cardinal Peter Erdo of Hungary, head of Europe's bishops.


(ANSA) - Grosseto, February 11 - A man who shot and wounded one of four Romanian thieves who came onto his land near Grosseto Monday was released from custody Thursday. Bruno Poeti, a 64-year-old former policeman, was accused of attempted murder but a preliminary investigations judge did not uphold the arrest warrant. Three of the thieves are being held for aggravated theft while the fourth is under guard in a hospital.

Poeti allegedly shot at the four Romanians with a 7.65mm caliber semiautomatic pistol after they broke in to his property and tried to drive off in his car, wounding one.

Ion Nicolai Farcas, 39, is hospitalized.

The incident occurred in the small seaside town of Marina di Grosseto in southern Tuscany.


(ANSA) - Brussels, February 11 - Italy has not been asked to contribute to a new NATO mission to fight human traffickers and illegal immigration in the Aegean Sea, Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti said on Thursday.

"I would say that we are doing our part in the fight against terrorism and traffickers," she said.

Pinotti said earlier this week that NATO should help Italy as well as Aegean nations combat people smugglers.

US Defense Ash Carter announced earlier on Thursday that a NATO defence ministers meeting had approved the Aegean Sea mission to fight the human traffickers, per a request from Turkey. The mission is to be carried out by Germany, Greece, and Turkey in cooperation with the EU, many of whose member States have offered vessels, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said. Its objective is to fight traffickers and not to "stop or send migrant vessels back where they came from," he said. Asylum seekers rescued by NATO will be taken to Turkey, he said. Vessels contributed by Greece and Turkey will operate only within their respective national waters. The mission will begin "reconnaissance, monitoring and surveillance of illegal border crossings immediately", he added. It will employ three vessels from Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 (SNMG2), a multinational maritime force that is permanently available to the Alliance for a range of tasks - from training exercises to crisis response and real world operational missions. Usually it is employed in the Mediterranean. NATO Supreme Commander General Philip M. Breedlove was "en route" to the SMG2, Stoltenberg said.


Migrants: Carter, yes to NATO mission in Aegean Joint Greece-Turkey-Germany operation against smugglers

(ANSAmed) - BRUSSELS, FEBRUARY 11- US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter has announced that a NATO ministerial meeting has ''recommended'' the approval of a mission in the Aegean Sea to confront the migrant crisis.



The military operation will be carried out by Greece, Turkey and Germany and will pursue the objective of dismantling the network of human smugglers ''exploiting'' migrants and refugees.



The Pentagon chief made the statements at a press conference held after the defense ministers' session focusing on the request for intervention presented by Turkey. (ANSAmed).




(ANSAmed) - BEIRUT - The decision by Saudi Arabia to send troops to Syria to fight against Isis is "irreversible," Gen. Ahmed al Assiri, spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen, was quoted Thursday by the panarab television channel Al Arabiya as saying.



Saudi Arabia is "ready" to fight in cooperation with the countries in the US-led anti-Isis coalition, Al Assiri underlined, though he added that details would be asked from Washington regarding every future operation on the ground.



The Saudi general also sent a message to Iran, the powerful Shiite rival to Saudi Arabia in the region, saying that if Tehran intends really to fight against the Islamic State, it must stop supporting "terrorism" in Syria (reversing charges made by Tehran) and in Yemen.



Iran is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al Assad and is present on the ground with its Revolutionary Guards, even if they officially are only military advisors.



Riyadh, in addition, accuses Tehran of supporting the Houthi rebel Shiite militias in Yemen.



Saudi Arabia announced last week its intention to send ground troops to Syria.

Gentiloni calls for immediate, very quick Syria cease-fire

Moscow should be more constructive and stop military escalation, Italian FM

A cease-fire in Syria "must be immediate or at least very quick, because it is clear that every day or week that passes, as shown by the interruption of contacts at Geneva until today, complicates the situation," Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Thursday.

Speaking in Munich where he was attending the International Syria Support Group, Gentiloni said "time risks favouring a military escalation rather than leading to a less tense situation. One needs to act as soon as possible to convince the two sides to accept this logic".

Gentiloni also appealed to Moscow to be constructive. "In the last 15 days there was an escalation of Russian intervention and it certainly can't be said that this has resolved the political and humanitarian crisis in Syria". "Therefore we address an appeal to Russia to share a cease-fire plan and a more constructive attitude," Gentiloni said. (ANSAmed).

UN expresses 'maximum alarm' at Aleppo 'grotesque situation'

Latest attacks displace 51,000 civilians, 300,000 risk siege

(ANSAmed) - GENEVA - The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, expressed Thursday "maximum alarm" over the worsening situation in the war-torn Syrian city of Aleppo, calling it "grotesque". "Some 51,000 civilians risk being displaced and 300,000 are at risk of finding themselves in a state of siege," following the start of the latest offensive last week by "government forces, accompanied by numerous attacks by Syrian and Russian aircraft," said Zeid in a statement. The situation in Syria "is spiralling down all the time" and the warring parties "apparently don't care at all about the death and destruction that they are provoking in the country," said Zeid, underlining that peace talks must start again as soon as possible. (ANSAmed).
Erdogan warned EU Turkey would open frontiers to migrants Threat in case of failure to reach agreement with Brussels

(ANSAmed) - ISTANBUL, FEBRUARY 11 - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the European Union he would open Turkey's frontiers to migrants if no agreement was reached with Brussels on the Syrian refugee crisis, he disclosed Thursday.



"In the past we stopped people at the gates to Europe, we stopped their buses at Edirne". "This happened once or twice. One day we will open the gates and wish them bon voyage. This is what I told them," Erdogan said.



On Monday the Greek web porta euro2day.gr published a hitherto unknown document it said was a transcript of talks between Erdogan and the presidents of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, and of the European Council, Donald Tusk, that took place the day after the G20 meeting at Antalya November 15.



According to that document the Turkish president threatened his counterparts in the context of the negotiations for the agreement on migrants, demanding 3 billion euros a year to manage the crisis instead of the 3 billion for two years proposed by Brussels.



"We can open the gates to Greece and Bulgaria at any moment and put the refugees on buses," Erdogan was quoted as threatening then. (ANSAmed).




BRUSSELS - The US Defense Secretary, Ash Carter, said Thursday that a ministerial meeting of NATO has "recommended" the deployment of a mission to the Aegean to alleviate the migrant crisis. The military operation will be carried out by Greece, Turkey and Germany and will aim to dismantle the network of people smugglers who "exploit" migrants and refugees.



The Pentagon chief made his remarks at a news conference after the ministerial defence meeting on the request for intervention presented by Turkey. The three countries that reached an agreement for the NATO mission in the Aegean Sea, said Carter, "have underlined" the importance of "passing quickly to action" because "there are lives at stake". The mission's ships will, under the agreement, take migrants who are rescued back to the Turkish coast.



However according to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a no-fly zone in the north of Syria is the only way to stop the flow of refugees fleeing to Turkey from raids by the regime of Syrian President Bashar al Assad and his allies.



In a speech in Istanbul in which he also again criticised the United Nations for requesting Ankara re-open its borders to Syrian refugees, Erdogan said that the UN, instead of making appeals to Turkey, should act to stop the attempted "ethnic cleansing" under way in Aleppo. The NATO mission for the fight against smugglers and illegal migration "will increase also the Alliance surveillance along the frontier between Turkey and Syria" by the naval forces already sent to the Aegean (currently three German, Turkish and Canadian ships) but also by "other forces" already deployed in the package of reassurance measures supplied to Turkey in December including "maritime patrol aircraft, AWAC radar-planes and air surveillance," said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, adding that the military component of NATO already has been ordered to study the details of the operation.



For Italian Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti, the "acceleration" by NATO in the Aegean of the struggle against smuggling and illegal immigration "responds operationally to a problem on the southern front of the Alliance" and is similar to the intervention that Italy also requested some time ago.
Fishing: 14 Sicilian firms in Algeria for cooperation Regional district representatives meet African minister

(ANSAmed) - PALERMO, FEBRUARY 10 - Representatives of institutions working in marine research and food security and of 14 companies in the Sicilian food and fishing sector have met in Algiers with economic and scientific operators to boost scientific and productive cooperation between the two countries.



The day was productive with business-to-business meetings to set the ground for commercial agreements in the fishing sector, from shipyards to fish trade, and in the food sector in general. In particular, a partnership was started in the sector of table olives between the Curaba group from Castelvetrano and Sgp, the State company operating in Algeria's agricultural development.



"The common objective - said Algeria's Agriculture Minister Sid Ahmed Ferroukhi - is to encourage the real economy of our territories through innovation and a blue economy model promoted over the past years by our Sicilian friends. Our cooperation must not end with the food sector but should expand to the fields of scientific research and training. I am thus happy of the visit to the fishing district that Algeria has eyed with great interest".



Finally, the Algerian minister has accepted an invitation of the president of the district Giovanni Tumbiolo to take part in the next edition of Blue sea Land-Expo of the food industry districts of the Mediterranean, Africa and Middle East to be held in Sicily on October 5-9. (ANSAmed).




Paris: Bataclan 'to reopen by end of year' Survivor refused loan, 'post-traumatic stress disorder'

(ANSAmed) - PARIS, FEBRUARY 11 - The objective of the Parisian Bataclan concert hall's management is to reopen by the end of 2016 after it was struck by a deadly terror attack on November 13.



''We have decided to renovate the Bataclan. We will do everything possible to host new performances before the end of 2016'', announced the Lagardere group which owns the theater, although renovation work has not started yet. At the beginning of December, the historic directors of the concert hall, Olivier Poubelle and Jules Frutos, had expressed the wish for the Bataclan to reopen before 2017. Located at 50 Boulevard Voltaire, in the heart of the French capital's rive droite, the right bank, the Bataclan can hold 1,500 people.



A total of 90 people died in the attack on the concert hall carried out by ISIS, including Italy's Valeria solesin, as they were watching a performance by Californian band Eagles of Death Metal.



Meanwhile an insurance company has refused a loan to a woman who survived the attack at the theater and who is reportedly suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. After the case was reported on local media, however, the insurance firm has re-contacted the woman saying it ready to ''renegotiate'' her case. (ANSAmed).




Italy cooperation programme to save Tunisian schools Kitchen equipment for 138 institutions thanks to Italian help

(ANSAmed) - TUNIS, FEBRUARY 11 - As many as 138 schools in Tunisia have received equipment for their kitchens purchased under a balance of payments assistance project by the Italian cooperation worth 95 million euros, the Italian agency for Cooperation and development representative in Tunis Cristina Natoli said.



Natoli together with a delegation from the Tunisian Education ministry visited four schools in the cities of Mnagaa, Zaghouane, Kelibia and El Haouaria where the equipment was installed.



Recently Italy pledged a further 50 million euros for the project taking its total value to 145 million euros.



The programme for helping Tunisia's balance of payments, financed through assistance credits, is aimed at contributing to sustainable growth of the Tunisian economy in terms of GDP and employment and to breaking even the balance of payments, supporting the government policy of mobilising "special external resources" to carry out the country's development policies.



The credit is earmarked for partial financing of public investments envisaged by the budget laws in the current period, through the acquisition of goods, plant and services of Italian origin by means of tender competitions managed by the beneficiary Tunisian administration addressed to Italian firms.



(ANSA
Serbia: 400 mln from EU to boost agriculture sector

(ANSAmed) - BELGRADE, FEBRUARY 11 - Serbia aims to boost its agriculture sector by 2020 thanks to the 400 million funds pledged by the EU, Agriculture Minister Snezana Bogosavljevic-Boskovic said.



"Some 175 million euro funds have been announced to help the farmers. These are EU funds and if we add to it the national co-financing of 25%, a total of 230 million euro will be available to the farmers," Boskovic said. She also said that in 2016 farmers will have 30 million euros from the EU funds at their disposal, adding that on average about 60% of the costs is refunded in line within the IPARD program. "This means that the farmers have to invest part of the funds, and it is expected that by 2020 investments in the agriculture sector only on that basis will be around 400 million euros," she added. (ANSAmed).




Green light for NATO Aegean mission against people smuggling With Greece, Germany, Turkey. Erdogan wants Syria no-fly zone

(ANSAmed) - BRUSSELS, FEBRUARY 11 - The US Defense Secretary, Ash Carter, said Thursday that a ministerial meeting of NATO has "recommended" the deployment of a mission to the Aegean to alleviate the migrant crisis. The military operation will be carried out by Greece, Turkey and Germany and will aim to dismantle the network of people smugglers who "exploit" migrants and refugees.



The Pentagon chief made his remarks at a news conference after the ministerial defence meeting on the request for intervention presented by Turkey. The three countries that reached an agreement for the NATO mission in the Aegean Sea, said Carter, "have underlined" the importance of "passing quickly to action" because "there are lives at stake". The mission's ships will, under the agreement, take migrants who are rescued back to the Turkish coast.



However according to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a no-fly zone in the north of Syria is the only way to stop the flow of refugees fleeing to Turkey from raids by the regime of Syrian President Bashar al Assad and his allies.



In a speech in Istanbul in which he also again criticised the United Nations for requesting Ankara re-open its borders to Syrian refugees, Erdogan said that the UN, instead of making appeals to Turkey, should act to stop the attempted "ethnic cleansing" under way in Aleppo. The NATO mission for the fight against smugglers and illegal migration "will increase also the Alliance surveillance along the frontier between Turkey and Syria" by the naval forces already sent to the Aegean (currently three German, Turkish and Canadian ships) but also by "other forces" already deployed in the package of reassurance measures supplied to Turkey in December including "maritime patrol aircraft, AWAC radar-planes and air surveillance," said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, adding that the military component of NATO already has been ordered to study the details of the operation.



For Italian Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti, the "acceleration" by NATO in the Aegean of the struggle against smuggling and illegal immigration "responds operationally to a problem on the southern front of the Alliance" and is similar to the intervention that Italy also requested some time ago.



(ANSAmed).




Migrants: Turkey, trial against Aylan smugglers starts today Bodrum prosecutors ask for 35-year jail term for two Syrians

(ANSAmed) - ISTANBUL, FEBRUARY 11 - A trial against two Syrians accused of smuggling migrants in a ship that sunk in the Aegean Sea - an incident in which three-year-old Syrian-Kurdish Aylan Kurdi died - kicked off on Thursday in Bodrum, on the western coast of Turkey.



The photo of the toddler's body later found on a beach shocked the world.



The defendants, who are on trial on human trafficking and multiple voluntary manslaughter charges, are Muwafaka Alabash and Asem Alfrhad. Prosecutors are seeking a 35-year jail term for each.



The Syrian citizens are suspected of organizing the trip aboard a rubber boat to the island of Kos last September 2, which ended in tragedy like many others along the route from Turkey to Greece.



The toddler's mother Rehan, his five-year-old brother Galip and two other people also died.



Investigations on the incident are ongoing as Turkish authorities suspect that six others were involved, including four Turkish citizens who are still at large. (ANSAmed).




Suspected smugglers accuse father at Aylan migrant trial 'We are innocent, he organised trip and steered boat'

(ANSAmed) - ISTANBUL, FEBRUARY 11 - Two presumed Syrian people smugglers pleaded not guilty Thursday on the first day of their trial on charges of causing the Aegean shipwreck in which three-year-old Aylan Kurdi drowned. The two accused the boy's father, Abdullah, of having organised the voyage and of piloting the boat that sank, the Dogan news agency reported.



In the accident Aylan's brother Galip also died together with their mother Rehan and two other people.



The prosecutor in the case asked the court to hand down prison sentences of 35 years each to the two accused smugglers, Muwafaka Alabash and Asem Alfrhad. (ANSAmed).




UN expresses 'maximum alarm' at Aleppo 'grotesque situation' Latest attacks displace 51,000 civilians, 300,000 risk siege

(ANSAmed) - GENEVA, FEBRUARY 11 - The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, expressed Thursday "maximum alarm" over the worsening situation in the war-torn Syrian city of Aleppo, calling it "grotesque".



"Some 51,000 civilians risk being displaced and 300,000 are at risk of finding themselves in a state of siege," following the start of the latest offensive last week by "government forces, accompanied by numerous attacks by Syrian and Russian aircraft," said Zeid in a statement.



The situation in Syria "is spiralling down all the time" and the warring parties "apparently don't care at all about the death and destruction that they are provoking in the country," said Zeid, underlining that peace talks must start again as soon as possible. (ANSAmed).




Egyptian NGOs launch 'Who killed Giulio' Regeni campaign Truth sought on perpetrators and motive, murder isolates Egypt

(ANSAmed) - CAIRO, FEBRUARY 11 - Egyptian organisations for the defence of human rights have launched a campaign entitled "who killed Giulio Regeni" demanding to "unveil the authors and reasons" for the torture and murder of the young researcher from Friuli, the Egyptian website El Bedaya reports.



The NGOs signing the campaign say that "Egyptian authorities must reply to these questions because they are responsible for security" of everyone on Egyptian territory.



The Regeni case "tarnishes the image of Egypt drawing a circle of isolation and fear around the country" and poses "terrifying questions on the extent of the circle," the appeal says.



Arguing that "this crime demolishes the reputation of the state of security," the statement recalls that the case already led to the cancellation of an entrepeneurial mission headed by Italian Economic Development Minister Federica Guidi and led to the "summoning of the Egyptian ambassador to Rome". (ANSAmed).




(ANSAmed) - ROME, FEBRUARY 11 - In what has been called the biggest such re-shuffle in its history, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has seen the appointment of five new women ministers taking to eight (out of 30 ministers) the number of women in the cabinet, with the youngest woman minister who is only 22-years-old, officials said.



Just a few days ago Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the UAE prime minister and head of state of Dubai, launched a twitter campaign for new ministers.



With the shake-up there are now 29 ministers in the new government of whom eight are women (the five just named and three others, with an average age of 38. Shamma Al Mazrui, 22, likely the youngest minister in the world, was chosen to head the ministerial portfolio for Youth and the National Council for Youth.



The Sheikh said that "the new executive will focus on the future, on young people, but also on development of education and the fight against climate change".



Mazrui graduated from Oxford University and also did a degree at New York University.



Her other colleagues appointed were Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, for minister of cooperation and development who becomes head of the ministry of Toleration, part of the Foreign ministry; Noura al-Kaabi was named minister of the National Council of federal affairs, Ohoud al-Roumi becomes head of the new ministry of Happiness and Najla bint Mohammed Al Awar becomes minister for economic development.
French cabinet re-shuffle to include Greens Azoulay replaces Pellerin as Culture minister

(ANSAmed) - PARIS, FEBRUARY 11 - French President Francois Hollande has reshuffled his cabinet to widen his government to include greens and left radicals as a political storm rocks France.



Former prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault returns to centre-stage as foreign minister to replace Laurent Fabius who was named head of the Constitutional Council Wednesday. Ayrault is a fluent German speaker, providing Paris with another card in dealings with Berlin.



The come back by Ayrault, who was close to Hollande until he was replaced by Manuel Valls two years ago, is important for the internal equilibria of the Socialist party.



Segolene Royal, former companion of Hollande and mother of his children, had high hopes of taking over the Quai d'Orsay but instead had her portfolio widended to include international relations on Climate as well as environment, energy and the sea.



In a surprise appointment Fleur Pellerin was replaced as culture minister by Audrey Azoulay, a faithful advisor to Hollande on cultural matters.



Greens leader Emmanuelle Cosse takes the place of Sylvia Pinel as housing minister and two ecologists, Jean-Michel Place and Barbara Pompili, become respectively secretaries of state for Reforms and for Climate.



The choice of Cosse, who takes the post that previously was held by ecologist Cecile Duflot, who subsequently resigned over political differences, underlines the split in the ecologist movement between the Greens who support the government and those in the opposition.



Among other appointments Annick Girardin becomes Minister for the Civil Service replacing Marylise Lebranchu. (ANSA).




Italian FM Gentiloni calls for immediate Syria ceasefire 'Time working in favour of military escalation'

(ANSAmed) - Munich, February 11 - Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Thursday that a ceasefire in Syria "must be immediate or in any case very quick, because it is clear that every day or week that goes by, as shown by the time elapsed since the interruption of the Geneva talks to today, shows that the situations becomes more complicated." Speaking at an International Syria Support Group meeting in Munich, Gentiloni said "time risks working in favour of a military escalation, not for a less tense situation." He said "we must move as fast as possible and convince the two sides to accept this logic". (ANSAmed).




AMMAN - Jordan has pledged to provide up to 200,000 jobs for Syrian asylum seekers over the coming years, but the government stressed the move would not be at the expense of Jordanian workers. The government has undertaken some measures to ease restriction on entry of Syrian refugees to the labour market including the industrial zones and agriculture sector, minister of labour Nedhal Qatamin said. It has already kicked off a scheme to attract foreign investment to provide up to 50,000 jobs during the current year, said the minister.

Generating jobs would stem from setting up investment in five development zones across the kingdom including; Irbid, Karak, Muwaqqar, Maan and Mafraq. Funding for the development zones is expected to come from donations and soft loans pledged by the international community during London conference.

"If Jordanians do not go for certain jobs, the priority will go to Syrians rather than other guest workers," said prime minister Abdullah Nesour during a meeting with journalists this week. Officials say Syrians will not be allowed to work in 18 sectors including engineering, medical, education, law, administrative and accounting. The prime minister said donors have committed to Jordan $700 million over three years (2016, 2017 and 2018) to develop sectors of health, education, water and municipal services as well as concessionary loans of $1.9 billion a year until 2018 and grants totaling $900 million over three years. The funds will allow growth in various sectors and provide thousands of jobs to Jordanians and Syrians.

The government said it has reached agreements with the private sector to give Syrian nationals priority to obtain jobs in sectors of construction, hospitality, agriculture and skilled labour. Official figures indicate that about 150,000 Syrians work in Jordan without proper permits and only 5000 have work permits, while the total number of guest workers, including Syrians and Iraqis is believed to be 800,000.
BRUSSELS - US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter has announced that a NATO ministerial meeting has ''recommended'' the approval of a mission in the Aegean Sea to confront the migrant crisis.

The military operation will be carried out by Greece, Turkey and Germany and will pursue the objective of dismantling the network of human smugglers ''exploiting'' migrants and refugees.

The Pentagon chief made the statements at a press conference held after the defense ministers' session focusing on the request for intervention presented by Turkey.


PARIS - One day after leaving his post as France's foreign minister at the end of a 40-year-long political career, Laurent Fabius once again blasted Syrian President Bashar al Assad.

"The situation is dramatic in Syria because Assad has the main responsibility for 260,000 deaths", said Fabius, who has been appointed president of the Constitutional Council. "Half of the population had to leave their homes".

According to the former head of the Quai d'Orsay, "the objective is to have a free Syria where everyone, regardless of their religion or ethnic group, can develop their own ideas. It is almost impossible with Assad". And Syria's allies, most of all Russia, have a responsibility, according to Fabius: "The Russians bomb civilians instead of Daesh. Aleppo, with its hundreds of thousands of residents, is almost surrounded with terrifying famine risks".
US opens screening centre for Syrian refugees in Amman

(ANSAmed) - AMMAN, FEBRUARY 11 - The US has opened a screening centre for Syrian refugees in Amman to speed up receiving up to 10,000 asylum seekers by year end, according to an official statement by the US embassy.



The centre will look to examine paper work for thousands of Syrian refugees in Jordan as part of the resettlement programme promised by Washington.



"As part of the effort to reach the President's goal of admitting at least 10,000 Syrian refugees to the United States by September 30, 2016, the United States has established a temporary refugee processing center near Amman," reads the statement. A strict security procedure has been placed near the reception centre as the embassy welcomed refugees to apply for asylum. "Operations are now underway. Access to the site is restricted by invitation to potential resettlement candidates," it adds.



Obama administration has promised to take honour its commitment of providing asylum to Syrian refugees as part of international efforts to ease pressure on host countries.



Jordan is hosting up to 1.2 million Syrian refugees, while Turkey is also home to more than 2 million and Lebanon is hosting up to 1 million. (ANSAmed).




Tourism: Tunisia invests in BIT to reconquer Italians Flights to Monastir and Djerba, Msc and Costa back in October

(ANSAmed) - MILAN, FEBRUARY 11 - Tunisia will work at international travel fair BIT in Milan to convince the Italian market to cross once again the Mediterranean. ''Tunisian tourism is going through a difficult time, like the whole country'', the marketing director of the national tourism agency of Tunisia, Riad Dakhli, told a press conference.



''We are very far from the numbers that we used to make (500,000 Italian visitors a year)'', he said, and 2015 closed below the 100,000-visitor threshold.



''We had not registered such low numbers in 30 years''.



But Tunisians are not giving up. ''We have raised security levels at airports and tourist resorts'', he assured.



After attacks at the Bardo museum in Tunis and in Sousse, arrivals plunged. A strategy considered to boost tourism from Italy is to increase connections with the peninsula in 2016.



''From Milan and Bologna towards Djerba and Monastir and from Rome to Monastir'', explained Ali Miaoui, general director for Italy of Tunisair. ''If we succeed in filling them up, we will consider opening scheduled flights'', he told ANSAmed on the sidelines of the meeting. Starting in October, meanwhile Costa and Msc - assured Dakhli - will resume cruises. ''Finally - concluded the marketing director of the Tunisian national tourism agency - on April 14-17 we have organized an education gathering for 300 Italian tour operators''. (ANSAmed).




The 21 APEC member economies are on the lookout for next generation innovators whose collaborative research in the Asia-Pacific is breaking new ground in efforts to feed the regions three billion people and support healthy, productive work forces needed to drive sustainable growth in the face of climate change.

Nominations are now being accepted for the 2016 APEC Science Prize for Innovation, Research and Education whose theme, Technologies for Food Security, spotlights the cross-border development of innovations that are boosting the accessibility, safety and nutrition of food supplies and being led by researchers from APEC economies under 40 years of age.

The theme of the award program, also known as the ASPIRE Prize, was announced by Peru as the Chair of APEC in 2016 and is an extension of deepening partnership between APEC economies to promote human development and quality growth across the region.

Achieving food security is a matter of priority and public necessity in Peru, and President Ollanta Humala will be addressing ways to improve the APEC food market during our APEC host year in 2016, noted Gisella Orjeda, President of Perus National Council for Science, Technology and Technological Innovation. Perus ASPIRE theme this year will serve as a platform to highlight technologies that our young scientists are developing to address the critical global issues of hunger, poverty and environmental degradation.

Climate change, including the El Nino that is radically affecting ocean temperatures and weather patterns at present, poses an increasing threat to agricultural and fishery sectors that are a lifeblood of economies in the APEC region, explained Dr Alan Bollard, APEC Secretariat Executive Director. The deployment of new technologies could play a sizeable role in mitigating emerging food security challenges, which the regions up-and-coming researchers are helping to take forward.

Entering its sixth year, the annual ASPIRE Prize recognizes the interaction between the APEC regions researchers, universities, research centers and business community in fostering ideas and technologies that promote resilient and sustainable growth.

Each APEC economy may nominate one individual for the ASPIRE Prize. Nominees must be from the region and under the age of 40. The impact of their work will be screened against scholarly publications and must involve cooperation with peers from other APEC economies. Relevant disciplines in 2016 include agricultural and environmental studies, sustainable development, agri-business management and nutrition, among others.

Technological breakthroughs in food security will be critical to feed a growing global population and ensure sustainable, healthy APEC economies, said Chen Linhao, Chair of the APEC Policy Partnership for Science, Technology, and Innovation, which administers the ASPIRE Prize. We look forward to seeing innovative research from young scientists in the region that is contributing towards an enduring food systema goal laid out in APECs Food Security Road Map Toward 2020.

The ASPIRE Prize will be awarded in Lima in August, ahead of the APEC Food Security Ministerial Meeting there in September to advance new policies for boosting the sectors development. Publishers of scholarly scientific knowledge are sponsors of this years prize.

The ASPIRE Prize honors those who work across the APEC region to help solve the grand challenges of our time, and food security is one of the most urgent and multi-faceted problems the world is confronting today, said Mark Allin, President and CEO of Willey.

Improving food security is a growing focus of cross-border and multidisciplinary collaboration, added YoungSuk Y.S. Chi, Chairman of Elsevier. This award provides a unique chance to spotlight the cutting-edge research and technologies being developed by young scientists from APEC economies to address food challenges. Our hope is that this recognition could help to build momentum for further breakthroughs with real global implications.

The winner of the 2016 ASPIRE Prize will receive USD 25,000 in prize money.

For more information please visit: http://www.apec.org/aspire.

# # #

For further details, please contact:

David Hendrickson +65 9137 3886 at [email protected]

Michael Chapnick +65 9647 4847 at [email protected]

More on APEC meetings, events, projects and publications can be found on www.apec.org. You can also follow APEC on Twitter and join us on Facebook and LinkedIn.
The conference will have a focus on the support that this growth will receive from MRO to safety management and there is massive potential for the aircraft interiors people as well. Iran will be looking to upgrade everything from its cabin seating and IFE through to its airports and ground support. There are still some legal minefields to cross - but rest assured these will be covered too.

With the first set of orders having been placed as Iranian airlines begin to realise their plans for fleet restructuring, it is now the hard work begins.

This is a view echoed by Mohammad Gorji, vice president executive affairs and fleet development at Iran Aseman Airlines. "This is the time where we are looking at consultants and others that will help. It is not like we are coming fresh into this business, there are many skilled operators and a wealth of experience in the airline business - there has had to be for us to have done what we have. But now we have new things to learn and experience."

Iran Aseman along with the other leading Iranian airlines will attend the Aviation Iran conference and exhibition.
Le CBD, cette molecule active du cannabis a aujourdhui le vent en poupe. Et cela est en grande partie du au fait quil permet...
AF announces stand up of Integrated Wing

The Air Force will stand up an Integrated Wing pilot program at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina, according to Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James.



"The Air Force remains on its flight path toward increasing our effectiveness and efficiency as an integrated total force service while meeting our nation's military objectives," James said. "The Integrated Wing concept is an opportunity to more fully integrate and break down barriers between the components as we operate as one Air Force."



The I-Wing concept evolved from an extensive review and analysis of Congress National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force report, originally delivered in 2014. The I-Wing is an in-garrison model designed to better leverage the strengths of each component while balancing capacity, capability and readiness. Although there are several possible I-Wing models, all are designed to functionally integrate similar organizations and streamline chains of command in order to more effectively meet mission requirements. In our current fiscally constrained environment, initial analysis suggests this new total force construct could help the Air Force more effectively provide mission capability and capacity at best value.



The I-Wing is scheduled for initial operational capability in fiscal year 2017. If successful, this model has the potential, together with the highly successful unit associate program, to offer home station commanders another organizational construct to meet mission requirements. The testing phase is expected to take three years, but planners will adjust the timeline as necessary. Lessons learned from the initial I-Wing testing will influence the scope and timing of follow-on locations.



We are excited about this opportunity to test our highly successful active association at the 916th (Air Refueling Wing) with a new Integrated Wing model, said Lt. Gen. James F. Jackson, the chief of Air Force Reserve. This pilot program will determine whether additional synergies can be garnered at this unit during the test and whether any lessons learned are repeatable at other locations in the Air Force.



The I-Wing structure will not be identical, nor implemented, at every location due to the complexities inherent in each organization. It is also not designed to replace successful unit organizations. Factors such as location, mission, airframe, and composition will necessitate tailoring the exact structure and framework to effectively accomplish the mission while still taking care of our Airmen and families.



Currently, Air Reserve component and active component Airmen are working together in an active association at Seymour Johnson AFB. The 911th Air Refueling Squadron, an active component tanker unit, functionally falls within the organization of the 916th ARW, an Air Force Reserve Command wing, but reports administratively to the 6th Air Mobility Wing at MacDill AFB, Florida. Under the current construct, the organizations work together but are administratively separate, with two corresponding chains of command. In the new I-Wing model, all units will effectively function as a single organization to accomplish the mission.



"The Air Force is always looking for ways to better integrate our components, from the Air Staff to the tactical level. It's all about making the Air Force more effective and efficient," said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III. "We believe the Integrated Wing is one of the concepts that will take us to the next level of that effort."



Specific implementation details, such as final wing structure, unit manning documents, and required exceptions to policy are still in concept development, and courses of action will be finalized prior to the I-Wings initial operating capability date.


SecAF, CSAF testify on FY 2017 AF posture

Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee on the fiscal year 2017 Air Force posture on Capitol Hill Feb. 10.



Both James and Welsh stressed that the need for airpower continues to rise and the gap between the U.S. Air Force and its closest pursuers is closing.



Bottom line here is that  we are fully engaged in every region of the world, in every mission area, across the full spectrum of military operations, James said. Put simply: we have never been busier on such a sustained and such a global basis.



The Fiscal Year 2017 Air Force Posture Statement states the presidents fiscal 2017 budget aims to build, train and equip an Air Force capable of responding to todays and tomorrows threats.



The United States cant fight, much less win, todays wars without airpower, Welsh said. Thats just the way modern warfare has moved. The demand signal for that airpower continues to rise. While we work hard to continually become more efficient, which we must, and to minimize the cost of effectively operating our Air Force, if less capability or less capacity or less readiness eventually means we lose even one more young American on the battlefield, well all wish wed made better investments.



In her opening statement, James outlined her three priorities: taking care of people, balancing readiness and modernization, and making every dollar count, which are the foundation of the presidents fiscal 2017 budget.



Airmen and their families are the Air Forces most important resource and our budget reflects this truth, James said.



The Air Force stopped downsizing and started right-sizing total force end strength to address a number of key areas to include cyber, nuclear, maintenance, intelligence, battlefield Airmen, and the remotely piloted aircraft community.



James stated her second priority is getting the balance right between readiness and modernization.



As we have explained in the past, less than half of our combat air forces are ready today for a high-end fight, James said. Our aircraft inventory is the oldest its ever been, and our adversaries are closing the technological gap on us quickly so we simply must modernize.



In 2013, sequestration put a strain on the Air Force, forcing the service to park jets, delay upgrades and halt training, which created a gap in readiness.



For the last two years we have been trying to rebuild that readiness but of course our Airmen have needed to respond to real-world events across the globe, James said. If we return to sequestration in (fiscal 2018), this will exacerbate the readiness problem and set us ever further back. If this happens, our Airmen could be forced to enter a future conflict with insufficient preparation.



In order to equip the force, the Air Force has invested in the F-35 Lightning II, KC-46 Pegasus and the long-range strike bomber, but modernization doesnt stop there.



The platforms and systems that made us great over the last 50 years will not make us great over the next 50, Welsh said. There are many other systems we need to either upgrade or recapitalize to ensure viability against current and emerging threats. Without additional funding, the only way to do that is to divest old capability to build the new. That requires very difficult, emotional decisions -- decisions that simply must be made if we are truly to provide for the common defense.



According to the Fiscal Year 2017 Air Force Posture Statement, as the challengers of the Air Force employ increasingly sophisticated, capable and lethal systems, the Air Force must modernize to deter, deny and decisively defeat any actor that threatens the homeland and its national interests.



Twenty-five years of combat operations have dramatically impacted our total force readiness, significantly aged our equipment and has shown the brilliance of our Airmen and the loyalty of their families, Welsh said. The world is changing, the threat is changing and our Air Force must change with it if were to remain relevant. Today, American airpower is a given and I believe its our job, collectively, to ensure this nations ability to deliver that airpower, when and where it matters most, does not diminish over time.



The posture reflects the third priority, which is the Air Forces commitment to preserving taxpayer dollars with a number of initiatives that include streamlined energy usage and cost saving ideas directly from our Airmen.
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In a challenge to the authorities, an activist group, the Association for the Defence of Religious Liberty, releases a report on violations of religious freedom in 2014 and 2015 affecting Protestants, Catholics (Redemptorists, Sisters) and non-official Buddhists. The countrys proposed new religious legislation is criticised as a step backward in terms of freedom and rights.

Hanoi (AsiaNews/EDA)  Over the past two years, Vietnams Communist authorities have committed dozens of violations and attacks on religious freedom, at both the central and local level, affecting in various ways, the countrys Catholic, Protestant and non-official Buddhist communities, a recent report indicates.

The detailed study that challenges government censorship and repression is based on quarterly surveys made in 2014 and 2015 by an activist group, the Association for the Defence of Religious Freedom, which includes members of civil society groups led by north Vietnamese Catholics.

According to the reports findings released on 5 February, the one-party Communist Asian nation has only 14 different religions and 38 religious organisations.

Out of a population of 90 million, 24 million are religious believers with about 78,000 "dignitaries" (clergy) who live in more than 23,000 places of worship scattered across the country.

After the official statistics, the reports authors cite the main violations of religious freedom committed in Vietnam in 2014 and 2015: 11 incidents in the first quarter of 2014, 14 in the second, 14 others in the third and 11 in the fourth. In 2015, the government committed some 50 violations.

Protestants are the most affected, particularly among ethnic minorities (like the Montagnards who have been persecuted for their collaboration with the United States during the Vietnam War), as well as smaller communities denied the permit to worship.

Another issue relates to ownership of land and places of worship, something especially important for Catholics who have been involved in long-running legal battles with national and local authorities.

More specifically, 2015 saw the Redemptorists subject threats, abuses, and seizures, as was the case for Ba Giang pond and Thai Ha convent. Other sites targeted were the Benedictine monastery in Thien An, near Hue, and the Congregation of the Sisters Lovers of the Holy Cross of Thu Thiem, in Ho Chi Minh City (ex Saigon).

Buddhists too suffered from expropriations, like in the case of Lien Tri pagoda.

Such violations of religious freedom flout Vietnams 2013 constitution, which protects, among other rights, religious freedom.

At the same time, by signing and ratifying international treaties, the Vietnamese government pledged to respect a series of rights, including freedom of worship.

Last year, the Vietnamese parliament consulted religious groups as part of the process of revamping the countrys religious legislation, a step Catholic leaders criticised because the draft bill represented a serious step backward with respect to religious freedom.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of Vietnam also spoke out on the issue, releasing a statement in which it presented its criticism, listing its objections to what it believes are violations in the proposed legislation.
by Ieromonaco Ioann

After centuries of waiting, a week after the announcement, the dream of John Paul II and Benedict XVI will become a reality. Among the reasons for the meeting, the Patriarchate emphasizes the defense of persecuted Christians by Islamic fundamentalism and the widespread secularization even in the Protestant world. An alliance "against". There are also "political" reasons: preparations for the pan-Orthodox Synod and the indirect blessing of Putin. Conservative fringes of the Patriarchate are against "minimalist" meeting. First part of an analysis by a personality of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - Tomorrow, February 12, Pope Francis will take part in a meeting in Cuba which his predecessors had only dreamed of: Benedict XVI and, above all, John Paul II. It is well known that apart from the long nurtured desire for a meeting between the Pope of Rome and the Patriarch of Moscow, such an encounter had been prepared and, at least on two occasions, came very close to being realized. However, Moscow held that there were no conditions for a meeting and the reasons adduced were, basically, accusations of Catholic proselytism in Russia and conflicting relationships with the Greek-Catholics, especially in Ukraine.

The persistence of these problems - especially the one with the Greek-Catholic - was underlined on February 5 in Moscow by Metropolitan Hilarion, head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, during the press conference given by the Russian Church officially announcing the Cuban meeting. A few days earlier, the Patriarchate had reacted sharply to a recently published document n which the Greek-Catholic Church of Ukraine sets out its ecumenical vision.

Nevertheless, the new situation of terrorism and Islamic extremism, or the fact that in various parts of the world "some extremists are perpetrating a genocide of the Christian population, requires urgent measures and greater interaction between the Christian Churches," said the Metropolitan. "In the current tragic situation it is necessary to put aside internal disagreements and join efforts to save Christianity in the regions where it is subjected to terrible persecution."

Against aggressive Islam

The first reason for the meeting between the heads of the two Churches is, so to speak, one of defense: faced with an aggressive Islam, or rather, the terrorism of the Islamic State, Christians must be more united. Ergo, offenses put aside.

The second reason is also "defensive" in nature. In recent decades "greater interaction between the Christian churches" has become increasingly problematic for the Orthodox because of the Reformed Churches different way of understanding moral life. The ethical positions of most of these churches, on issues such as homosexuality, genetic manipulation, women priests, euthanasia, abortion, makes collaboration extremely difficult for the Orthodox. Despite the injuries of history, past and present, for the Orthodox the Catholic Church is undoubtedly a much safer and more natural partner than Protestants. It was already the case from a canonical and dogmatic point of view, now it is so today from an ethical point of view. Therefore, the common difficulty with the Protestant world is bringing Orthodoxy and Catholicism together.

A third reason for the meeting, and the fact that it is taking place now, is found in the impending pan-Orthodox council, scheduled for June this year. Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople is in very good relations with the Holy See; he has repeatedly visited Rome and met with the Pope. The pan-Orthodox council, as, among other things, the recent meeting in Chambesy of the Primates of the local Churches showed, will not be an easy one, especially because of the tensions between Moscow and Constantinople. In this situation, certainly Moscow, the Third Rome, has an interest in arriving at the Council in a situation of better relations with the First Rome. Do not forget that one of the Councils agenda items is Orthodoxys relations with other Christian Churches. Arriving at the Council after the Cuba meeting Patriarch Kirill can hope to have greater authority on the subject.

Putin, protector of Christendom

The meeting of the head of the Russian Church with the head of Western Christianity assumes, whether we like it or not, great political significance under the current isolation of Russia. At a time when Western governments are imposing sanctions on Russia, and the Russian government is taking refuge in an increasingly extreme anti-Western nationalism, the two Churches signaling a strong will for rapprochement.

It has been said that the meeting with the Pope was "suggested" to Patriarch Kirill by the Kremlin. Someone pointed out the fact that the last visit of the Russian president to the Vatican was followed by a sudden unscheduled visit to Rome by Metropolitan Hilarion. No doubt the Cuba meeting is pleasing to the Russian government. In recent years, President Putin has increasingly assumed the role of protector of persecuted Christianity on the world stage, and the Russian military intervention in Syria is presented as a reaction to the genocide of Christians. Vladimir Putin also presents himself as a defender of Christian values in the face of moral relativism, secularism, the extreme liberalism of Western society. This image of the government and the Russian president is often conveyed well by some Western media. Now the Cuban meeting seems to give an implicit papal assent to that image of the new Russia, champion of Christianity and Christian values.

Moreover, it should not be forgotten that during the Cold War, in its ecumenical relations the Russian Orthodox Church simply repeated what the Soviet state said in the international arena. The "struggle for peace" was the slogan that the Moscow Patriarchate promoted at the World Council of Churches and everywhere else. However it is undeniable that Patriarch Kirill has tried to keep a distance and autonomy from the Kremlin, for example in the Ukrainian question.

The first meeting in history between the bishop of Rome and that of Moscow takes place in a "minimalist" style in neutral territory, on the other side of the globe, in an airport. The protocol is strictly secular, reminiscent of the meeting of two heads of state (greeting, private talks, signing of a joint declaration, the presentation of the two delegations), with no religious act: neither celebration nor common prayer (not even the Our Father ). As there will be none else present outside of the two delegations, the two successors of the apostles do not even have to issue any joint blessing ... unless specifically asked for by Raul Castro!

"Minimalism" and the future

This surprising "minimalism" is a precautionary measure of the Russian Church against the possible negative reactions from its most conservative fringe. The same precautionary reasons explain why a historic meeting that has been expected for centuries is taking place just one week by the public announcement.



As regards the choice of the place, in addition to the fact that the distance makes it almost impossible for visible reactions, such as protests and such, there are various interpretations. Cuba is definitely a place where the Russians feel at home, but it is also known by the Holy See: first of all for the vitality, enjoying a revival, of the Catholic Church on the island, as well as for the fact that from 1998 to date the country has been visited by three Popes. Finally, not least another reason is the "miracle" of Cuba's reconciliation with the United States in which Vatican diplomacy played an important part.

There is also a more positive reading for the choice of the place. Cuba is Latin America, which not only implies "the other side of the world" from which, in his own words, Pope Francis comes. America is the New World, the continent of hope. Old Europe was the scene of many wars between Christians, it is the continent that has suffered most from their division. Meeting in the New World (by the way, on the island that has defined itself "Island of Freedom") may be a sign of the will for a new start, for new relationships that are not too affected by the troubled past. In announcing the meeting at the Department of External Relations of the Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion expressed his hope that it "will open a new page in relations between the Churches".
On 9 May, 56 million Filipinos will elect their new president as well as local governors. Five candidates lead the pack for the office of president, including outgoing Vice President Binay, who has been accused of corruption, as well as two outsiders: iron fist Duterte, and rookie Grace Poe, whose right to run has been questioned.

Manila (AsiaNews)  The Philippines yesterday kicked off its election campaign to replace outgoing President Benigno Aquino, who was elected in 2010, as well 18,000 other office holders at the national, provincial and municipal levels, including 12 senators. Some 56 million Filipinos are eligible to cast their ballots on 9 May.

The presidential election itself is shaping up to be a very tight race, with none of the five major candidates able to boast of any significant advantage. The Election Commission has organised three presidential debates: 21 February in Mindanao, 20 March in Visayas, and 24 April in Luzon.

The first leading candidate is Liberal Party leader Manuel "Mar" Roxas, who is backed by the outgoing president. Son of a senator and grandson of a former president, Roxas, 58, is a former senator himself and a former member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines. Currently, he is the Secretary of the Interior and Local Government in the Aquino administration. Nicknamed Mr Palengke (market), he is considered the only candidate to have a good grasp of economic affairs. A conservative, Roxas, is not very charismatic for the office of the president, sources told AsiaNews.

Jejomar "Jojo" Binay, 73, is the outgoing vice-president and founder of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA). Binay has styled himself as the peoples candidate, a friend of the poor. However, he is suspected of graft dating back to the time when he was mayor of Makati City and served as the president of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines. Although he is the vice president, he has often clashed with President Benigno Aquino. He is especially opposed to the Bansamoro Basic Law, which would grant special status to predominantly Muslim Bangsamoro on Mindanao Island. A Catholic source said, If even one of the many allegations of corruption against him are true, he would be an unworthy candidate."

Running as an independent, rookie Senator Grace Poe is one of the favourites, although the Supreme Court has yet to establish whether she can run or not. An abandoned child, her adoptive parents are Fernando Poe, Jr., a prominent Filipino politician and, Susan Roces, a veteran actress. Poe, 47, grew up in the United States, where she became a naturalised American, giving up her Filipino citizenship. Upon returning to the Philippines, she gave up her US passport to become Filipino again. Shei is currently leading in early polls and enjoys the support of many businessmen and intellectuals, but she is also seen as "too inexperienced for Filipino politics."

Rodrigo Duterte is a member of the PDP-Laban Party and mayor of Davao City (southern Mindanao), which he has turned from a backward and dangerous place into one of Asias safest cities. Using an iron fist, he has eradicated crime from the city, imposing a curfew on young people and supporting the right to fire on suspects. Duterte, 70, is running as a law-and-order candidate, and many fear that he might turn the office into a new dictatorship. He also plans to transform the Philippines into a federal state to avoid the evils of centralised government.

Senator Miriam Santiago, 70, is a member of the People's Reform Party, with which she almost won the presidential election in 1992. On her third run, she was named one of The 100 Most Powerful Women in the World by The Australian magazine. Given her broad experience, she has a good base of support and is considered a reliable candidate, but early polls placed her in last place.
Raised funds will finance the upkeep of holy sites in the Holy Land, as well as pay for educational activities, housing for young couples, and aid for Syrian and Iraqi refugees.

Vatican City (AsiaNews)  Card Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches, has sent a letter to the bishops of the world, appealing for aid to the Church in the Holy Land.

Funds raised on Good Friday are needed for the upkeep of local shrines and for pastoral, educational, welfare, health, and social activities that allow parishes to operate, and provide support to educational facilities, financial aid to young families, and help for Syrian and Iraqi refugees.

In this Jubilee year, the letter says, we are urged more than ever to demonstrate our mercy and solicitude for our brothers in the Middle East. Refugees, displaced persons, the elderly, children, and the sick are all in need of our help.

In this land of the East, people are dying, being kidnapped and even killed. Many live in agony for their loved ones, or suffer when the family is divided on account of forced migration and exodus. They know the darkness and fear of neglect, of loneliness, of misunderstanding. It is a time of trials and challenges, even of martyrdom.

All this necessarily augments our obligation to help, to respond to emergencies, to reconstruct and to invent new ways of meeting the whole gamut of needs.

All the funds that will be raised will go to Jerusalem, Palestine and Israel, Jordan, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Ethiopia and Eritrea, Turkey, Iran and Iraq.

They include US$ 2.6 million for Bethlehem University and schools whose purpose is to improve educational achievements through local parishes.

They will also support seminaries, religious schools, and cultural organisations in the aforementioned areas.

Seminarians, priests, men and women religious studying in Rome will also benefit from scholarships (to pay for tuition fees, room and board, and health insurance). The same goes for some lay people from the region who will come back to teach.

Last year, US$ 1,204,171 were allocated for Syria and Iraq, especially for refugees from these countries living in Jordan and Lebanon.

A report from the Custody of the Holy Land Custody details a long series of steps undertaken for the conservation and revitalisation of Christian holy sites in the land of Jesus and across the Middle East.

Among the various objectives of the Franciscan mission, the report mentions the support and the progress of the Christian presence in the conservation and development of the archaeological sites and shrines, the interventions in cases of emergencies, the liturgy in the places of cult, the apostolic works and the assistance of pilgrims.

Money will also go for the installation of new illumination and audio facilities at the Gethsemane Church, new illumination for processions, along the boundary wall of the friary at Nazareths Basilica of the Annunciation, funds for 390 four-year scholarships divided between universities in Bethlehem, Jerusalem (Hebrew), Haifa, Bir Zeit, Amman and elsewhere. Subsidies will be also provided to 178 needy students.

Last but not least, money will also be used to provide help to ten craft businesses, ceramics labs in Bethlehem, and housing for young couples in Jerusalem, Jaffa and Nazareth.
by Santosh Digal

The survivors of the most ferocious massacre against the Christian community in India met for the first time. During the meeting they expressed solidarity with the suffering Christians in Syria and the Middle East. "As refugees, we can truly understand your pain." "The wave of violence directed at implementing an ethnic and religious cleansing against Yazidis and Christians is a crime against humanity."

Bhubaneswar (AsiaNews) - The survivors of the massacres in Kandhamal in 2008 have expressed deep solidarity with the persecuted Christians in the Middle East, particularly in Syria. They empathize with "the pain and suffering of those people who are murdered, assaulted, raped, mutilated, driven from their homes and from their places in such an unfair, cruel and barbaric manner".

For the first time, on 9 February, those who fled the fiercest pogrom against Christians ever perpetrated in the Asian country by Hindu radicals met in Kandhamal. The meeting aimed to "build solidarity" and "allow victims share stories of hope, faith and the fight for justice." They prayed for the Christians of Syria and appealed to Pope Francis and the international community to put an end to the humanitarian crisis in the Middle East.

In 2008, Hindu extremists set fire to the district accusing Christians of killing the guru Laxamananda Saraswati. The violence has caused 101 deaths and 75 thousand refugees. Here is the text of the declaration.

We, victim survivors of Kandhamal anti-Christian massacre of 2007 and 2008 numbering 115, express our deepest sympathy and stand in solidarity with the survivors of Middle East Christians, especially in Syria.

We make the following statement as we came together for the first time to share our struggles for justice, religious freedom and human dignity at Pastoral Centre, K.Nuagoan, on Feb 9, in Kandhamal district, some 275 kms, West of Bhubaneswar, state capital of Odisha, Eastern India.

The meeting aimed to build solidarity among Kandhamal violence survivors, who lost their loved ones. The event was organized to foster communion among the survivors. We shared our stories of hope, of faith and struggle for justice. The key features of the meet was paying silent tributes to those who lost their lives during the Kandhamal violence and securing justice for those who have laid down their lives for Christ.

Kandhamal district in eastern Odisha was the scene of the worst anti-Christian pogrom in the history of modern India in 300 years. The violence, which lasted nearly four months, caused the death of 101 deaths and 75,000 displaced people fled the respective homes and villages.

The deadliest outbreak of violence aimed ethnic and religious cleansing of Yezdi and Christian is crime against humanity and there are no parallels in the recent history. We could understand the unimaginable sufferings of the millions of people just because they follow different religious traditions and faith. We do feel anguished the unbelievable anguish and unspeakable crimes against the followers of Christ has worsened. The religious fundamentalists are the scourge of society without sparing children and women.

We cannot but express our sense of solidarity for the Syrians people who are facing huge crisis and their lives in danger. We pray for them that peace may be restored there and human rights and dignity might prevail over there soon. Violence in Syrian should end soon, said Christudas Nayak, one of the participants.

We do really feel pains and sufferings of those people who are being killed, assaulted, raped and maimed and driven out of their own habitations and own places in unjust, inhuman and barbaric manner. There are large scale of human trafficking of children and women, enslavement of women; beheading and burning of the followers without an iota of mercy.

We invite all the people of goodwill across the globe to join the efforts to protect and bring back the endangered fellow Christians and others who have become victims of violence. We call on the Nations and communities to respect and protect freedom of religion or belief as a fundamental human rights guaranteed by art of 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

We appeal United Nations, Vatican and ecumenical, interreligious bodies and civil society groups to work towards for promotion of peace, harmony and religious tolerance in every state, especially in the Middle East, especially in Syria.

We have sent a letter to Pope Francis expressing our solidarity with the suffering people and call for action by the international community to end humanitarian crisis in the Middle East at the earliest.

We pray fervently for the peace and religious tolerance in the world especially Syria.
by Melani Manel Perera

Today is the memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes. The Catholics of Sri Lanka share a deep reverence for the Virgin Mary, to whom they have entrusted the country, spared from the Second World War. The festival falls on February 4, but was celebrated on Sunday 7. Devotees tell AsiaNews stories of graces received from Mary.

Colombo (AsiaNews)  The Catholics of Sri Lanka have come in droves from all over the territory to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Lanka in the National Basilica of Tewatte, north of Colombo. About a thousand of faithful flocked to the shrine to the Virgin Mary (see video), where by tradition Our Lady of Lourdes is venerated, whose liturgical memory falls today.

Pope Francis spoke of the Tewatte Madonna during a visit of Sri Lankan faithful. The feast of Our Lady of Lanka is celebrated on February 4. This year, however, since the anniversary fell on a weekday, the celebrations were held Sunday, February 7th.

Several devotees told AsiaNews: "The love of Mary is really great. There is nothing like it in any other kind of love. Today we can feel this love watching over us. "

The Mass was presided over by Fr. Patrick Perera, vicar general of the Archdiocese, Fr. Victor Florence, administrator, and two other priests. In his homily, Fr. Perera said: "Mary is [greatest source of love], which we receive through God's mercy. We are fortunate to have this dear mother as our beloved Mother of the country. Loving God gave us two mothers. One is the one who gave us life and takes care of us, the other is the Mother who brings us the love of God. She is the loving Mother Mary. God has given us the Mother of our country as a protector. Every day this loving Mother blesses us, our families, and the nation. But we have to pray for her every day, we must love her and ask her blessing for our families and the country. "

The origin of the shrine dates back to the early 1900s, when Fr. A. Kieger OMI and two lay Catholics erected a small chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes in 1911, in an area belonging to the parish of Ragama. Later next to the cave he also built a church, which can accommodate an increasing number of pilgrims. In 1939, at the beginning of World War II, Msgr. Jean Marie Masson OMI, Archbishop of Colombo, made a vow to Our Lady promising that if Sri Lanka was spared the horrors of war, he would have built a votive sanctuary in her honor and would have dedicated to Our Lady of Lanka.

The country was only marginally touched by the conflict, acting as a base for the operations of the British soldiers against Japan. In 1946, Msgr. Masson obtained the Vatican's permission to build a church dedicated to the Virgin. In 1948 Pope Pius XII proclaimed the Blessed Virgin Mary as patron of Sri Lanka. The foundation stone of the National Basilica was laid there in 1951 and the following year the Pope blessed a statue of the Madonna, which was transported to the country. In 1974 the sanctuary was consecrated.

The feast of the Virgin attracts the faithful from everywhere. This year Kalyani Perera, a mother of 56 years, was also present, from the diocese of Kurunegala. She told AsiaNews: "I experienced personally the great love of Mary in 2013, when I had to undergo a stomach operation. I feared for my life. But before the operation I came here to the Basilica and I entrusted myself to the Virgin. I prayed for her to protect me during the surgery and for a quick recovery. I had to look after my three children. "

Another pilgrim, Vincent Fernando, a father of four, says: "This is my seventh year at the celebration. I came the first time because I had some painful family problems ". The man says he had trouble with his elder son, "that was of great concern to me and my wife. But then I came to the church and prayed to our beautiful Amma (Mother). After six months of intense prayers we received a great consolation. For this - he concludes cheerful - I vowed to come back every year, particularly for the feast day. "
Chris Christie And Carly Fiorina Give Up Campaigns

Trending News: Carly Fiorina And Chris Christie Are Donezo

Why Is This Important?

Because despite their respective bullying tactics and millions, they couldn't convince voters.

Long Story Short

After losing in New Hampshire, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Florina have called it quits on their respective campaigns.

Long Story

And then there were five (technically seven, but who the hell is Jim Gilmore and can somebody please wake up Ben Carson?).

Watch calm Ben Carson lull himself to sleep listening to his own voice. https://t.co/2jwiUB6q2H pic.twitter.com/ZCoUK7MVtL  Slate (@Slate) October 28, 2015

Two of the loudest Republican candidates  and that's saying a lot for the GOP  hung up their campaign hats today. The bridge-blocking governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, couldn't hold on any longer after coming sixth in the New Hampshire primary, and the lone female of 17 initial candidates (yea, 17), Carly Fiorina, bid farewell after finishing seventh on Tuesday.

Today, I am suspending my campaign. My full statement is here: https://t.co/8QElLZoc1W  Carly Fiorina (@CarlyFiorina) February 10, 2016

BREAKING: AP Sources: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie expected to drop out of 2016 GOP presidential race.  The Associated Press (@AP) February 10, 2016

You certainly can't fault Christie and Fiorina for trying. The highlight of Christie's campaign is arguably him laying the smackdown against Rubio, who turned into a robot, at the most recent debate.

"Marco, the thing is this," Christie said at the ABC debate at St. Anselm's College, as quoted by CNN. "When you're president of the United States, when you're a governor of a state, the memorized 30-second speech where you talk about how great America is at the end of it doesn't solve one problem for one person."

For Fiorina, whose low polling numbers prevented her from joining in that debate, her high point came back in September when she polled second to Trump in a CNN poll. But it was all downhill from there.

In her goodbye Facebook post, Fiorina spoke out to young women to choose for themselves who they'd like to see represent them. "To young girls and women across the country, I say: do not let others define you," she said. "Do not listen to anyone who says you have to vote a certain way or for a certain candidate because you're a woman. That is not feminism."

The still-alive five are Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and a re-invigorated John Kasich who finished a surprised second in New Hampshire.

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question: How many millions of dollars were spent keeping alive these hopeless campaigns?

Disrupt Your Feed: Say what you want about Fiorina and her campaign, but it was nice to see a woman confront the mix of mostly white dudes.

Drop This Fact: Carly Fiorina was the first woman to head a Fortune 50 company when she had the job at Hewlett-Packard.
Donald Trump Wants China To Make Kim Jong Un Disappear

Trending News: Donald Trump Just Said He Wants This World Leader Eliminated

Why Is This Important?

Long Story Short

Long Story

Because maybe, just maybe, threatening to kill another world leader will have serious repercussions. Fresh off his big win in New Hampshire , Trump did the morning TV rounds and said that, if elected, he would force China to make North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un disappear in one form or another very quickly. He wasnt specific about what, exactly, that meant.Still glowing from his victory in Tuesdays New Hampshire Republican primary, Donald Trump told CBS This Morning that when he becomes president, hell use his influence over China to force their leaders to ditch their North Korean puppet.

Trump was responding to a statement by James Clapper, the national intelligence director, that North Korea had replaced Iran as the worlds top nuclear threat, and that Pyongyang is seriously expanding its nuclear capabilities.

Taking his trademark blunt approach to tricky international problems, Trump said he would get the Chinese to make Kim Jong-Un disappear one way or another. When asked if that meant assassinating him, Trump simply shrugged and said, Well, Ive heard of worse things, frankly. He also described the North Korean leader as a bad dude.

Any young guy who can take over from his father with all those generals and everybody else that probably want the position, this is not somebody to be underestimated, he said.

(No kidding: KJU has made a habit of killing off his generals, sometimes spectacularly, according to reports. The latest victim is said to be Ri Yong Gil, the head of the North Korean military, executed recently on corruption charges.)

Trump argued that he would force China to do his bidding by stopping the mechanisms that allow the Chinese to suck the money out of us  something hes already promised to do, but would do it more forcefully when it came to North Korea.

But is a country that made an hangover-proof alcohol really all that bad?

Trump also stated his admiration for Russian president Vladimir Putins approach to the Syrian civil war, applauding their ongoing bombing campaign against ISIS  even though its believed Russian efforts are aimed at doing the exact opposite.

Own The Conversation

: How will the United States ever be taken seriously if Donald Trump is elected president?: If anyone has a better way of stopping North Koreas nuke program, nows the time to speak up.: Clapper told the Senate Armed Services Committee that North Korea could begin stockpiling plutonium within weeks to months.
An academic study of Indian technology firms concludes that some companies may use strategic corruption in order to gain competitive advantage. The research by New York states University at Buffalo School of Management says that contrary to the notion that entire countries or companies may be culturally corrupt, firms pick and choose when to ignore laws and regulations and pay bribes to government officials to compete with smaller rivals who are not formally registered.Author Rajiv Kishore, PhD said that when the formally registered Indian companies were competing with foreign multinational corporations, they chose to train their employees instead of engaging in corruption but when competing with the little guy they may resort to illegal tactics.Watson Farley & Williams has seen its revenue in Hong Kong surge in the 2014/15 financial year to more than AU$2 million compared with around half that in the previous year. Asia revenue was up 5.4 per cent overall to more than $46 million.A British transgender woman has been hailed as a pioneer after becoming a judge in the High Court. Dr Victoria McCloud is also the youngest ever High Court judge, at 46, and the Daily Mail reports that equality campaigners have praised her courage. Dr McCloud was called to the bar in 1995 and has also written various legal handbooks.Dentons has promoted 47 lawyers to its global partnership but there are none from Asia-Pacific offices as those promotions will happen later in the year. This round is focused on the North American markets with Europe, Africa and the Middle East also featuring.The court papers in bankruptcy proceedings involving some prominent US law firms have shed some light on the hourly billing for some partners. The Wall Street Journal says that elite firms which have acted in insolvency cases including Kirkland & Ellis and Akin Gump charged fees ranging from $1,200 per hour to more than $1,400.Warner Music Group will pay U$14 million in compensation to those who have paid to use the song Happy Birthday following a lawsuit challenging its right to do so. The US court ruling in 2015 was that the company did not hold the appropriate rights to the song, merely an arrangement of it, and was therefore not entitled to charge usage fees. Although the firm does not agree with the court ruling and has not admitted wrongdoing, the lawyers of both sides agreed that the song should be in the public domain.
The Sydney office of US-based firm Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom is to close in the first half of this year. The office, which opened in 1989, serves the firms Australian and New Zealand clients. Skadden will continue to have offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo. It is not known what will happen to the staff based in the Sydney office although Legal Business reports that Adrian Deitz, co-head of the corporate finance group, will remain in the city as part of the Singapore and Hong Kong team.Meanwhile, the AFR reports that two senior partners in Clifford Chance s Sydney office are leaving. Managing partner Mark Pistilli and partner Danny Simmons were part of the original boutique firm team that led to Clifford Chance Australias formation in 2011. The third member of that team, Diana Chang, will remain and lead the firm.A report by international law firm Eversheds along with business intelligence firm Winmark concludes that HR should be a bigger part of corporate strategy. The HR2020 study found that HR is often seen as part of day-to-day operations rather than strategic at board level. Eversheds HR practice says that with regulatory changes for the HR function having wider impact on businesses in terms of diversity, work-life balance and technology it is time for it to take a leading role in more areas.The legal services arm of PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC) has announced a number of senior hires from law firms. David Farmer joins PwC Legal s pensions practice from DLA Piper where he was a partner for 3 years; and Thomas Colmer joins from Osbourne Clarke, he has 16 years experience. The duo follow the recent hires from King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin, DLA Piper , Baker & McKenzie and Stephenson Harwood.
The failure to replace some retired Federal Court judges has been criticised by the legal community, who say it causes lengthy delays in the Family Court during custody battles. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Federal Circuit Court chief judge John Pascoe urged the Attorney-General to make timely appointments last year so that the court could handle its caseload.But Brandis told a Senate estimates hearing this week that he has filled the courts only two vacancies, pending the approval of Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove. The Family Court is still short one judge but is likely to lose five judges over the next two years as they reach the retirement age of 70. Six Federal Circuit Court judges will also hit 70 over the next two years.I wish I had more judges, Brandis told the hearing.I wish the aggregate number of judges was greater but there are resource implications. I wish I could offer judges a pension like intermediary state and territory judges receive, so as to regularise the arrangements of this court.Federal Circuit Court judges are the only federal judicial officers excluded from receiving a pension after they retire under the Judges Pension Act. The Herald estimated that a retiring Federal Court judge (who had been on the bench for a decade) would receive a pension of more than $250,000 per year but a Federal Circuit Court judge would get nothing.Brandis said the lack of pensions presents problems in recruiting judges to that court (and) keeping judges on that court.When asked by Greens senator Nick McKim why the Coalition didnt pass laws to introduce pensions and raise the limit on the total number of judges, Brandis said there was not much money in his portfolio and said the Coalition had a self-imposed rule against spending new money without offsets in the same portfolio.
Lloyd Rayney, formally a prominent Perth barrister, has won the right to resume his legal career after he was accused of intentionally disposing dictaphones relevant to a police investigation into the death of his wife.



Rayney, who was also accused of murdering his wife back in 2007, gave an undertaking he would not practise law while there were criminal proceedings against him. But after he was cleared of all charges, the Legal Practice Board cancelled his practice certificate.



Yesterday, Rayney was found to be a fit and proper person to practise law by a Perth judge.



Like anybody else, it would be nice to be able to earn a living, Rayney told reporters outside the State Administrative Tribunal.



But his lawyer, Martin Bennett, said the Legal Practice Board of Western Australia could appeal against the decision and attempt to strip Rayney of his right to practise law during the defamation case he was brought against the West Australian government.



Every time a charge has been made against Lloyd  be it criminal charge or now this attempt to prove criminal conduct to a civil standard  its failed, Bennett said.



Hes innocent and hes been acquitted yet again.



Rayney is still in the process of suing the state of a statement made by a police officer during a press conference where reporters were told Rayney was the only suspect and the prime person of interest. The couple was living together with their two daughters but in the process of separating.
Arriving in a country where you might not be familiar with the culture and the language can be daunting as can coping with basic things such as safety and security.Now the University of Queensland's Confucius Institute and the Queensland Police Service, Far North District, have joined forces to develop a safety brochure for Chinese people travelling to the area.The brochure is printed in English and Chinese and highlights the need for water safety, accommodation security and personal safety.Each year more than 190,000 tourists from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan visit Cairns and the surrounding area and the university's executive Dean Professor Tim Dunne said that there was a need for a public safety campaign after a number of tourist deaths in the past year."The Queensland Police Service and the Confucius Institute have worked to develop a proactive campaign which aims to highlight safety issues and build awareness," he explained."There has been strong support for the campaign from the Senior Executive at the University of Queensland, the Mayor's office in Cairns and the Consulate-General of the People's Republic of China," he added.The university's Provost and Senior Vice-President Professor Max Lu grew up in Shandong Province in eastern China, and has written a message for the brochure, as has the Queensland Police Northern Region Assistant Commissioner, Paul Taylor.As part of the campaign, 50,000 brochures have been printed and a large number of tourist operators have already received training on promoting water safety to international visitors.Dunne pointed out that the leaflet was ready in time for Chinese New Year this month when there is always an influx of Chinese tourists in north Queensland.
The carmaker could also bring the Picanto hatchback and the Sportage crossover to India.

Kia Motors Corporation, a sister company of Hyundai, is likely to set up a production base in Sri City in Andhra Pradesh. The capacity is believed to be around 200,000 units annually.

The manufacturer is likely to bring the Picanto hatchback and/or the Sportage crossover to India. Talking to our sister publication Autocar Professional, Michael Choo, general manager, Overseas PR Team, Kia Motors Corporation, said: We are continually evaluating potential locations for overseas manufacturing facilities, including India, to secure additional engines for future growth. However, as of now, no concrete plans have been finalised.

The new Picanto, which was shown at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show, is a five-door, A-segment hatchback, with an all-steel unitary construction bodyshell. It has a choice of three transversely mounted engines that drive the front wheels via the choice of a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmission. For other markets, excluding Europe, it gets two petrol engines: a 998cc, 68bhp, three-cylinder motor, and a 1,248cc, 85.7bhp, four-cylinder unit. The hatchback's measures 3,595mm in length, 1,595mm in width (excluding door mirrors), 1,490mm in height, and gets a wheelbase of 2,385mm wheelbase and ground clearance of 152mm.

The all-new Kia Sportage, now in its fourth-generation, made its debut at the Frankfurt motor show last year. It features an attractive, all-new interior and exterior design, as well as a host of advanced technology features. It is slated to go on sale in overseas markets during the first quarter of 2016.

The most significant change to the Sportage is the increase of 30mm in its wheelbase which is now at 2,670mm. The vehicle is now 40mm longer, at 4,480mm, with the front overhang expanding to 910mm ( an increase of 20 mm) and the rear overhang shrinking slightly to 900mm ( less by 10 mm). The latest model remains at the same height (1,635mm) and width (1855mm) as the outgoing Sportage.

Passenger space is increased, with headroom now at 997mm and 993mm for front and rear passengers respectively. Legroom has also expanded to 1,129mm ( increased by 19mm) and 970mm ( increased by 7mm). The third-generation Sportage sold over 1.6 million units worldwide between 2010 and 2015.

Global sales up 3.6 percent in January

Kia Motors Corporation announced its January 2016 global sales figures (export sales, domestic sales and sales from overseas plants) for passenger cars, recreational vehicles, and commercial vehicles, recording a total sales of 2,04,662 units. This figure represents a decrease of 3.6 percent year-on-year.

In January 2016, Kia posted year-on-year increase in sales in the domestic Korea market (4.6 percent growth with 38,505 units sold) and Europe (2.3 percent growth with 38,446 units sold), while China, general markets and North America experienced year-on-year decline of 13.2 percent (50,361 units sold), 6.6 percent (35,444 units sold) and 0.2 percent (41,906 units sold) respectively.

Kia's bestselling model in overseas markets in January 2016 was the Sportage compact CUV with 36,989 units sold. The B-segment Rio (known as 'K2' in China) was the second bestseller with 30,222 units sold, while the C-segment Cerato (known as 'Forte' or 'K3' in some markets), Optima D-segment sedan and Soul urban crossover followed with 23,947, 16,696 and 12,186 units respectively.
IIHS

Currently, there are only two mid-size CUVs that get the's best rating. By offering the third, Hyundai could significantly improve its disappointing sales in this segment.Last year, the Sante Fe got a Moderate score in the tough but fair small-overlap test. Hyundai thinks the 2017 model year will be much better and has also fitted it with numerous active safety systems, including lane departure warning, automatic high beam assist, and auto emergency braking with pedestrian detection. Only Subaru has this much stuff available right now.We've known about the facelift for quite some time since Korea gets every Hyundai a few months earlier. Most of the changes are concentrated on the front, and we think the Santa Fe looks different, not necessarily better. The grille is rectangular like Audi's and has dark chrome horizontal bars. The headlights look less natural, and each has two projectors that seem to float in the middle. The Sport model looks especially bold, thanks to a vertical bar with LED daytime running lights and a silver chin.Not much is happening under the hood. The basic CUV comes with a 2.4-liter rated at 185 horsepower. The 2-liter turbo still makes 240 horsepower while the three-row model is available with a 3.3-liter Lambda II V6 engine that produces 240 hp. Fuel consumption has improved by one mpg across the model range.Unfortunately, prices have also gone up, by $400 for the 2.4L models and $450 in the case of the turbocharged ones. The cash is partly justified by a standard reversing camera and a new steering system that responds to the Drive Mode selection of Sport, Eco and Normal settings.
Photo by Nissan.

Nissan will offer a redesigned half-ton Titan powered by a pair of gasoline engines that shares no chassis components with its bigger brother, the Titan XD. Nissan provided details about the truck at the 2016 Chicago Auto Show.

Nissan's half-ton Titan is approximately 228.1 inches long (14.7 inches less than XD) and 79.5 inches wide (same as XD) with the cab size shared between the two vehicles.

"The Titan and Titan XD do not share any common chassis components," said Rich Miller, Nissan's director of product planning for trucks, SUVs, and commercial vehicles. "Even the lug nuts are different."

The Titan will be available in rear-wheel or 4x4 drive configurations with three cab configurations  Crew Cab, King Cab and Single Cab  and three bed lengths  5.5, 6.5, and 8 feet. Similar to Titan XD, Titan will be available in five trim levels  S, SV, PRO-4X, SL and Platinum Reserve, according to the automaker.

The Titan will be powered by Nissan's 5.6L Endurance V-8 gasoline engine capable of 390 hp and 401 lb.-ft. of torque. This engine will be mated to a 7-speed automatic transmission. A V-6 gasoline engine will also be available, according to the automaker.

The Nissan Titan will be assembled in Canton, Miss., with the 5.6L V-8 gasoline assembled in Decherd, Tenn. The truck goes on sale in the summer.
Photo of 2017 Tacoma TRD Pro courtesy of Toyota.

Toyota has introduced a Tacoma TRD Pro model for 2017 with more off-road equipment and capability that the outgoing model, the company announced at the Chicago Auto Show.

The new TRD Pro is based on the Tacoma TRD Off-Road 4x4 Double Cab Short Bed model with either a 6-speed manual (with clutch start-cancel switch) or 6-speed automatic transmission. It will be available in three exterior colors including Cement, Barcelona Red Metallic, and Super White.

The exterior of each Tacoma TRD Pro model will also include 16-inch black alloy wheels with Goodyear Wrangler All-Terrain Kevlar-reinforced tires; an aluminum front skid plate; Rigid Industries LED fog lights; and projector-beam headlights with black bezels, LED Daytime Running Lights (DRL), and auto on/off feature.

Suspension and exhaust enhancements include FOX 2.5 Internal Bypass shocks tuned by TRD, TRD-tuned front springs with a 1-inch lift, and TRD-tuned rear suspension with progressive-rate off-road leaf spring.

The Tacoma TRD Pro will arrive at dealers in the fall.
In the last two years, more than 100 million vehicles were affected by safety recalls. To put this in perspective, there are 260 million vehicles registered in the United States. While a smaller percentage of those recalls affect rental fleets, the sheer frequency of recalls issued and the volume of models affected demonstrates the fleet management and customer service issues all rental companies are facing.



In this environment, the Raechel and Jacqueline Houck Safe Rental Car Act of 2015 passed in December as part of the larger transportation bill, which mandates by law the grounding of all recalled rental vehicles. The bill will officially become law on June 1.



The obligations set forth in the law, while seemingly straightforward, raise immediate questions and pose both compliance and operational challenges ahead.



The most pressing compliance issue may pertain to the laws requirement that recalled vehicles be grounded 24 hours (or 48 hours for fleets greater than 5,000 units) after the operator receives the safety recall notice. What constitutes legal receipt? According to the law, the clock starts ticking after receipt of the written safety recall notice from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).



But in the real world, recall information is made public weeks  or even months  before the written safety recall notice arrives on a car rental operators desk. The lag time between the release to the media and the mailed notice poses some challenges, from a potentially unsafe vehicle being made available to rent without the car rental companys knowledge to the customer service issue of a renter knowing the vehicle is recalled before the operator does.



The law has two stipulations pertaining to fleet size; the pertinent one from a compliance standpoint concerns the 35-unit threshold that dictates whether rental companies must comply with the law. How is fleet size measured  by average number of units per year? This may play a role in the event of an incident or a compliance check.



The retrieval of recalled rental vehicles presents its own set of challenges, specifically if a recalled vehicle is being driven by a renter when the notice is issued. This matters especially for smaller companies without a national network to rely on. For the renter who drove a few hundred miles away, to what extraordinary measures must the rental company undertake to get that vehicle grounded and make alternate arrangements for the renter?



Another compliance challenge is the ongoing task of processing recall notices and checking them against rental fleet inventories. Because most manufacturers mail one notice per VIN affected, a company with 50 recalled units would find 50 letters in the mail. Operators report that 50% to 80% of the notices they receive are erroneous  they pertain to vehicles theyve already sold.



But the biggest challenge for a car rental operator by far is dealing with recalled vehicles that do not yet have a remedy or parts available for that remedy.



No one said this would be easy.



Answering these questions will take a coordinated effort on the part of car rental companies, the American Car Rental Association (ACRA), NHTSA, auto manufacturers and their franchised dealers.



Many issues wont be resolved until the NHTSA defines and disseminates further guidelines. Other answers will come only as processes are refined in the real world.



If youre not already, familiarize yourself with NHTSAs publicly available recall database at www.safercar.gov. NHTSA has promised to improve and automate its recall VIN identification process. Lets actively engage with NHTSA to help update this system.



Its time to hone your recall process and communicate it to your staff. Be able to also communicate your policy to your renters.



Its time to foster relationships with the dealerships you will be relying on to repair the recalled vehicles. Its time to engage a manufacturers representatives to stay fully informed on potential recalls.



ACRA supported and lobbied for this legislation; I did, too. Some did not, for reasons I understand. But now that the legislation will become law, its time to set aside these differences and work together to find solutions.

Originally posted on Business Fleet
Toyota announced Thursday that it will start making its next generation hybrid engines this year in a venture that will be backed by a 7 million investment.

The new engines will be produced at the Japanese automaker's Deeside factory in Northern Wales, which consists of 540 employees, before being exported to Turkey to be built in a crossover based on the company's C-HR concept car, according to BBC News.

Toyota will build the 1.8 liter engines alongside current petrol and hybrid petrol engines for the Auris model, which the company sends to its Burnaston plant that produces the vehicle.

"This announcement is a big vote of confidence in the high skills, quality and commitment of our workforce," engine plant director Jim Crosbie said.

Crosbie added that Toyota picked Deeside to be their first European plant to manufacture a hybrid engine, WalesOnline reported.

European chief executive Johan van Zyl said at a news conference that Toyota's Turkish plant will experience several benefits from the investment, including the creation of over 1,000 jobs and an increase in production capacity from 150,000 vehicles to 280,000, Reuters noted.

"This is the first time somebody will make a hybrid vehicle in Turkey," van Zyl said. "The new model will be a crossover, a kind of SUV (sport utility vehicle), the entire world is moving to this kind of body style."

Toyota officials said that the company will announce the name of the new model at the Gevena auto show in March. Van Zyl said that Toyota will export the vehicle to 53 countries.
Married couple Scarlet Red and Tommy Pistol look to renew their sexual attraction to each other with the aid of kink in this very good Nick Orleans feature shot beautifully by AVN Hall of Famer James Avalon. Please note that bondage and sex occur together in this title and you should be aware of your local laws regarding this type of material.

Red wears a mink and sexy lingerie for a pre-marriage funk vag-fuck session. Marina Angel and Emma Evins dress and behave like cats during their light bondage scene with Richie Calhoun and Brad Knight in a dream of Reds. Pistol and Red get aroused spying on mistress Krissy Lynn dominating and getting fucked by Chad Alva, so Pistol and Red get it on in the house that they are looking to buy. Red is bound for a chunk of their spit-heavy oral scene.

Red and Pistol get the new home of their dreams and dedicate a room to their BDSM exploits. Red looks lovely in leather fetish wear and she enjoys the rough sweetness of the sex she has with Pistol here.
Hybrid Air Vehicles of England plans to test fly its Airlander 10 in March for the first time. The aircraft is a combination of lighter-than-air, airplane and helicopter concepts and resembles an airship. Its capable of high-altitude flight, although the first test will be limited to 4,000 feet over a two-hour flight, according to the Independent. Chris Daniels of Hybrid Air Vehicles told the UK newspaper the test will be a pretty gentle flight around the block and remain near home base at Cardington Airfield, Bedford.

The Airlander is designed to stay aloft for up to five days if manned or at least two weeks unmanned, according to the companys website. Its about 300 feet long and 85 feet high and is touted as hyper-efficient. Potential uses for private and military missions include surveying, communication, and cargo. The aircraft was set to become part of a U.S. Army project when the company won a $500 million contract in 2010, according to HAVs website. But military cuts resulted in the Airlanders return to England, and since then the company has obtained funding through European government grants and shareholders. While military use remains part of the business plan, the Airlander can be configured to carry up to 48 passengers in comfort, according to the Independents report. It will probably be the second aircraft we make that will be a passenger variant. Weve had a lot of interest in operators looking at luxury tourism and safaris and various sorts of leisure flying, Daniels said.
It feels like spring is a long way out for some, but The Weekender found some turf runways to head for on the SocialFlight calendar  snow is optional. Triple Tree Aviators will host the groups third annual Chilly Chili Fly-In and Lunch on Saturday to raise funds for their aerodrome in South Carolina.Arrive for lunch on the 7,000-foot grass strip. Advance tickets are required online, so book by Friday to get a spot. Also Saturday, Bensons Airport in Minnesota is hosting a free coffee and cake skiplane fly-in. The event will be held regardless of conditions. In case of snow, the turf runway is unplowed but groomed.

EAA Chapter 992 invites all to fly in on wheels or skis to Marshfield, Wisconsin, Saturday for homemade chili. The preferred ski landing area is the center of the field, east of Runway 34, between Runway 23 and the north taxiway from Runway 34. Areas north of the Runway 34 taxiway is a rough cornfield, where landing is not recommended. For those opting out of February flying, Bergstrom Aircraft in Pasco, Washington, will host a seminar on Sunday with a veteran A&P/IA who will discuss common problems often overlooked by aircraft owners and renters during the preflight.Topics include carbon monoxide, fuel sampling, windshields, water leaks and respecting the prop. For more on this weekends events, visit SocialFlight.
WHO WE AREMakers & Allies is an award-winning design and branding studio producing exclusively for the wine, craft, and spirits industry. Were a multi-talented creative crew that has learned how to play at the top of our game together. Were pre
11 February 2016 18:04 (UTC+04:00)

By Aynur Karimova

Azerbaijan, a historical transit center of the Eurasian continent located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, will demonstrate its transit potential in Tbilisi on February 12.

The managers of railways of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey will assemble in Tbilisi to discuss the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, and adopt an important decision for its completion in a short term.

During the meeting the sides will also consider the cargo transportation through the railways among the three countries, and prospects for future cooperation in this field.

The Tbilisi meeting will be a good venue to exhibit Azerbaijan's transport plans.

On the background of current economic situation in the world - decreasing oil prices and divergent monetary policies globally, it is a high time for Azerbaijan to realize its transit potential in the full capacity.

Azerbaijan enjoys favorable transportation opportunities, which can help it diversify the national economy.

The country has established good partner relations with regional countries - Iran, Russia and Turkey, has developed transport infrastructure, which paves the way for the country to become a regional transport hub, and is keen to pay significant attention to the development of railway transport and the implementation of major projects of international importance.

Thanks to its favorable geographical position, Azerbaijan is ready to bind the northern countries to the southern and western countries with the eastern. In this regard, development of the western segment of the North-South transport corridor is of significant importance. 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 as well.

Iran has started construction of the Gazvin-Rasht and Astara (Iran) - Astara (Azerbaijan) railway, which is a part of the international North-South corridor.

The North-South corridor, originating in India and stretching to Helsinki, is one of the most important routes for the region. It is a multimodal route for transportation of passengers and cargo from Russia's St. Petersburg to the Mumbai (Bombay) port. It is designed to carry transit cargo from India, Iran and other Persian Gulf countries to the territory of Russia (the Caspian Sea) and further - to Northern and Western Europe.

The North-South corridor with the length of 5,000 kilometers is designed to carry more than 20 million tons per year, which is quite a significant figure to make it significant.

The annual transit of goods from Iran to Russia via Azerbaijan is about 10 million tons, while between Europe and India it reaches about 25 million tons. The major part of these goods is exported by sea transport, which takes about 45-60 days. Implementation of the North-South project will reduce this time by 2-3 times, so the handling of cargo through the territory of Azerbaijan is more acceptable, and this route is more optimal.

Azerbaijan lacks a railway link with Iran and implements the vast majority of cargo traffic with this country by road transport. That greatly limits the possibilities of development of trade and economic relations between the two countries and their transit potential.

The construction of Iranian portion of the railway with a length of 8.5 kilometers will become an important step towards the realization of the North-South project. Its construction will be completed by the end of 2016.

The railway communication between Azerbaijan and Iran and the development of the North-South transport corridor is expected to open significant prospects for the development of cargo and passenger traffic between Europe and Asia.

Another important project is the Trans-Caspian international transport route. It connects China with Europe via the territory of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Georgia. This is a multimodal corridor which uses railway, maritime and road transport for transportation of goods.

The Trans-Caspian route enjoys an opportunity to become attractive and profitable for consignors from European countries. This route will transport approximately 300,000-400,000 containers by 2020, bringing hundreds of millions of manats in profit to Azerbaijan.

Three test container trains have already been sent from China to Europe via this corridor. This project, being very profitable, has involved even Ukraine, the territory of which will make the delivery of goods to customers even faster. The test train from Ukraine to China journeyed 18 days, and Kiev is working on reducing this period to 10 days.

Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Ukraine have signed a protocol on setting preferential tariffs for cargo transportation via this route, and the final document on resolving the technical problems is expected to be signed this February. Signing of this document will likely lead to full commercial operation of the Trans-Caspian route in March.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will become the major component of this corridor. The railway, constructed based on the Georgia-Azerbaijan-Turkish interstate agreement, will have the capacity of 17 million tons per year. At the initial stage, the figure will be one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo.

The Georgian section of the railway is completely ready, and Turkey has accelerated the construction works and promised to complete them in 2016. With the launch of this railway, cargoes can be delivered to the European consumers via Turkey as well.

Azerbaijan has already invested billions of dollars in the development of sea, railway, road and social infrastructure. Developed infrastructure and good business climate has paved the way to attract foreign direct investment in the country's transport sector.

Azerbaijan also applies the principle of "single window" for transport of transit cargoes through its territory via the railways, maritime transport, ports and terminals.

Azerbaijan has reduced transit costs by around 40 percent for foreign carriers heading to the Kazakh port of Aktau and Turkmenbashi port of Turkmenistan. The government applies a 30-percent discount on the services of transit of oil and oil products by railway and transshipment via the sea terminals.

It is believed that expansion of transport routes will further increase Azerbaijan's attractiveness for investors in terms of easy delivery processes.

Taking all these factors and taken steps into account, it is obvious that Azerbaijan reasonably expects to significantly increase the volume of cargo transportation through its territory. In 2015, the transport sector of the country transported 222.4 million tons of cargo, which is 0.2 percent higher than in 2014, but now the growth will be more significant.

With the operation of the corridors with full capacity, Azerbaijan's revenues can reach $1 billion by 2025, with a subsequent increase. And all the measures and reforms implemented by the government suggest that Azerbaijan is set to fully realize its transit and transport potential.

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

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11 February 2016 09:57 (UTC+04:00)

By Aynur Karimova

The newly-established public legal entity - the financial market supervisory body - will operate based on the principle of self-financing.

This was stated by Shahin Aliyev, the Head of Department of Legislation and Legal Expertise of the Azerbaijani President's Administration, on February 9.

He told Azertag state news agency work on the draft charter of the body is underway.

"This supervisory body is absolutely independent and does not depend on budget financing," he said.

According to the presidential decree, the draft charter of the body will be developed within a month

Azerbaijan has replaced the individual supervisory authorities in the financial sector with a single regulator to simplify procedures and enhance control. On February 3, President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on the establishment of a public legal entity - the financial market supervisory body - in Azerbaijan.

This body,which will be the heir of the entire property of the the State Committee for Securities, the State Insurance Supervision Service under the Finance Ministry, and the Financial Monitoring Service under the CBA, and handle all their functions, is expected to facilitate the CBA's work.

The mentioned structures will be liquidated on the date the financial market supervisory bodys Charter enacts.

Touching upon the possibility of coincidence of functions of the newly-established body and the Central Bank of Azerbaijan, Aliyev said all functions will be divided.

He also did not exclude the possibility of establishing a similar public legal entity in other sectors, including in the education field.

"The charters of schools and universities are being reviewed," he noted. "Public legal entity can provide both paid and free services. As I said, they can be financed and not financed from the state budget. This model can meet the requirements of state administration, it is a very flexible and elastic model which is able to empower the state even more."

Aliyev said Azerbaijan will make amendments to the relevant laws in this regard.

"The head of state has instructed the Cabinet of Ministers to submit proposals on bringing the existing legislation into conformity with the signed documents," he said. "We have based upon the best practices of the Western countries in the development of these documents."

The supervisory body was established within the framework of ongoing structural reforms to improve the business environment, promote transparency and increase efficiency of public administration.

This body will cover all aspects of regulation of financial and banking activities based on the best international principles.

It will be in charge of licensing, regulating and controlling activities of securities market, investment funds, insurance and credit institutions (banks, non-bank credit institutions, postal operator) and payment systems.

The financial market supervisory body will help to improve the control system to counteract legalization of money or other property received by criminal way and financing terrorism, as well as ensuring transparency and flexibility of the control system in these areas.

To ensure transparency the body will be managed in accordance with the principles of collegial governance, and the principles of operational and financial independence will be taken as a basis.

The charter, the structure and composition of the Board of the body will be determined within a month, according to the presidential decree.

The establishment of a financial market supervisory body in Azerbaijan will improve the management and regulation mechanisms of the financial market of the country, and open new opportunities for pursuing a unified policy and regulatory standards on the financial market.

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

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11 February 2016 10:41 (UTC+04:00)

The Iranian embassy in Baku celebrated the 37th anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution on February 10.

Iranian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mohsun Pakayin highlighting the development of Iran's revolution over the past 37 years noted that great progress has been achieved over the years in various fields.

He said that the constructive cooperation between Iran and Azerbaijan is of strategic importance.

Expanding the existed relations between the two countries is one of the main objectives. Recent high-level reciprocal visits, including meetings between the two countries, have given strong impetus to the further development of relations between the two countries, he added.

Energy Minister Natig Aliyev congratulated the people of Iran on behalf of the government of Azerbaijan.

Touching upon the strengthening of Azerbaijani-Iranian relations, the minister said that friendly relations between the two countries are deeply rooted in ancient history.

He emphasized the importance of reciprocal visits in expansion of economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation.

The event brought together officials, MPs, ambassadors of foreign countries to Azerbaijan and public figures

After Azerbaijan gained independence in 1991, Iran was among the first countries that established diplomatic relations with Azerbaijan. Since then, political relations between the two countries have developed tremendously.

Azerbaijan and Iran are focused on expanding economic ties in various fields, including industry, agriculture, energy, alternative energy, and transportation. In 2014, the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $186.6 million.

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11 February 2016 10:27 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has expressed his country`s keenness to expand relations with Latin American countries as he met with incoming Colombian Ambassador Marta Ines Galindo Pena.

He stressed the importance of the embassy`s role in this regard.

The ambassador said she would spare no efforts to contribute to the expansion of relations between the two countries in a variety of areas, including political, economic and humanitarian ones.

They also noted the importance of holding political consultations between the two countries and continuing Spanish language courses organized by Colombia in Baku.

The diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in September 1994. The sides repeatedly noted the necessity of expanding cooperation between the two countries in the fields of energy, agriculture, tourism, and engineering.

The relations between the two countries successfully develop in various areas, as well as in political sphere. Colombia supports the position of Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Colombia became the second Latin American country after Mexico, whose parliament recognized the Khojaly tragedy as genocide.

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11 February 2016 10:29 (UTC+04:00)

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11 February 2016 11:54 (UTC+04:00)

The governor of the US State of Nebraska, Pete Ricketts, signed a proclamation condemning the Khojaly Massacre, which was committed by Armenias armed forces against the Azerbaijani civilians in 1992.

Along with the document, Governor Ricketts proclaimed February 26, 2016 as the Khojaly Remembrance Day in the State of Nebraska and urged all citizens to take due note of the observance , Azerbaijans Consulate General in Los Angeles reported on February 11.

This is the first official document on the Khojaly Massacre adopted in Nebraska. The proclamation was also signed by John Gale, Nebraskas Secretary of the State.

Thus, Nebraska has become the 18th state in the US to condemn the Khojaly Massacre, as well as to recognize and honor its innocent victims.

The Armenian military, together with the 366th infantry regiment of Soviet troops stationed in Khankendi, committed genocide against the population of the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly on February 25-26, 1992. Among those 613 killed in the massacre, there were 63 children, 106 women and 70 old people.

Eight families were totally exterminated, 130 children lost one parent and 25 children lost both. A total of 487 civilians became disabled as a result of the onslaught. Some 1,275 innocent residents were taken hostage, while the fate of 150 people still remains unknown.

The event became the largest massacre in the course of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

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.

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11 February 2016 13:08 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan supports all communities in the country, regardless of their religious belief, stressed Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade, Chairman of the Caucasian Muslims Office.

Pashazade, addressing the International Winter School of multiculturalism "Multiculturalism as a way of life in Azerbaijan: teach, explore, share" on February 10, said the world faces a lot of confrontations now, while Azerbaijan has never experienced intolerance at confessional level.

Azerbaijan is a home to both Sunnis and Shias. The country is a place where representatives of other religions also enjoy freedom.

You have come from different countries to see how these people live in Azerbaijan. In our country, tolerance, inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogues are at a high level, he said.

Reminding that Azerbaijan declared 2016 the Year of Multiculturalism, he said that it is wrong to assume that Azerbaijan had not been multicultural country before.

"We always feel the support of the state. We have restored and built temples including mosques, churches and synagogues. The world community needs to know the truth about Azerbaijan. We look forward to you - young people - you can be our mouthpiece," Pashazade concluded.

The event was also attended by heads of the confessions in Azerbaijan, including Orthodox Community's Head Archbishop Alexander Ischein, Head of Mountain Jews Religious Community MilikhYevdayev, Coordinator of the Catholic Community Vladimir Fekete and Chairman of the Albanian-Udin Christian community, Robert Mobili.

Alexander Ischein, in turn, emphasized that good inter-religious relations in Azerbaijan are a result of the state policy.

Reminding that Azerbaijan is a multinational state, the Archbishop said about 98 percent of the Azerbaijani population is Muslim, and the country has never had any problems and religious conflicts.

Organized jointly by the Baku International Center of Multiculturalism, Knowledge Foundation under the Azerbaijani President and the Baku Slavic University, the International Winter School of multiculturalism will last until February 15 and will be held in Guba, Khachmaz and Gusar regions.

The winter school is attended by 55 students and some 43 of them are from Russia, Switzerland, Ukraine, Turkey, Italy, Portugal, Poland, the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Germany.

From time immemorial Azerbaijan, a country at crossroads of numerous cultures, religions and civilizations, was known as a bridge between Europe and Asia.

Here in Azerbaijan, the representatives of all religions and nationalities live as a family, in an atmosphere of peace, friendship, tranquility and mutual understanding. This is Azerbaijan's great heritage, a great advantage.

Today, the country is a model for many countries in the world for peaceful coexistence of members of different nations and religions.

The International Centre for Multiculturalism was established in Baku in 2014, as a concrete effort to promote the values of multiculturalism. Moreover, earlier in 2008, Azerbaijan launched the so-called Baku process, a dialogue between culture ministers, individuals and groups with different cultural and religious backgrounds, promoted as an antidote to violence.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



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11 February 2016 15:47 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

More than 40 poachers have been fined in excess of $25,000 and others could be fined following the investigation of the Ecology Ministry.

A raid launched by the Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry in January 2016 revealed 48 people engaging in illegal hunting. The ministry seized as many as 43 hunting rifles and 202 cartridges from them.

Some 41 of offenders were fined in the amount of 41,000 manats (about $25,900), 1,000 manat ($630) each for poaching.

Raids aiming to curb illegal hunting in Azerbaijan will be further continued, the ministry reports.

Azerbaijan that locates in nine of eleven possible climatic zones enjoys a great diversity of flora and fauna, and is kind of a heaven for hunters. Here, in the different periods of the year, hunters can hunt for Dagestan wild ox, wild pig, hare, wood pigeons, quail, partridge, waterfowl, sandpiper, woodcock, and chamois.

However, the country prohibits hunting in some areas of the country as well as the Caspian Sea islands, green zones, protected areas, near the cities and resort areas.

In order not to be among the violators, hunting enthusiasts should apply to the Baku Ecology and Natural Resources Department and the Ecology and Natural Resources Departments to acquire a hunting permit.

Foreigners can receive a permission to hunt on the territory of Azerbaijan by the decision approved by the Cabinet of Ministers in 2004 and the law On hunting.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



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11 February 2016 17:04 (UTC+04:00)

By Nazrin Gadimova

The United States believes that Azerbaijan's sustained military buildup coupled with declining economic conditions is raising the potential that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will escalate in 2016.

Following the report of James R. Clapper, Head of the U.S. National Intelligence, tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh remained high in 2015.

"...Armenias reluctance to give up territory it controls will continue to complicate a peaceful resolution," report says.

Armenia captured Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts from Azerbaijan in a war that followed the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and nearly 1 million were displaced as a result of the war.

The tensions have recently increased on the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops and more cases of ceasefire violations have been recorded.

Uzeyir Jafarov, a military expert, believes that until the problem is not resolved, resumption of active phase of hostilities in Nagorno Karabakh could not be ruled out.

The intensified Armenian provocations on the frontline indeed complicate the peace process, leaving less hope for the solution of the long-lasting bloody conflict

"These break ups are fraught with human losses for both sides, Jafarov noted.

He criticized the OSCE Minsk Group, the only format involved in brokering the conflict for over 20 years, which could not push the process from the deadlock.

The OSCE Minsk Group only simulates some kind of activity, but we have never heard the co-chairs representing the U.S., France and Russia to call things by their proper names. The UN Security Council's four resolutions, which clearly names Armenia as an aggressor and calls for immediate withdrawal from the occupied Azerbaijani territory, remain unfulfilled, Jafarov noted.

Armenia is satisfied with the current status quo, because they enjoy all resources in the occupied lands of Azerbaijan, he added.

The expert believes that theoretically active hostilities could resume, but given recent events, he doesnt think it is possible.

I do not see the grounds for any active operations. But I would emphasize that the Azerbaijani soldiers will have to say the last word, because this situation cannot continue endlessly, Jafarov added. "Statements published by the American, Russian or French diplomats express a concern on the beginning of active military operations and nothing else."

This way of approaching the negotiation process makes impossible any effective result for peacemaking activities, he concluded.

--

Nazrin Gadimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @NazrinGadimova

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11 February 2016 14:53 (UTC+04:00)

Since the development of the Azerbaijani nation in the late 19th century, Azerbaijan had constantly made the choice of being part of what could be called the modern world.

Svante Cornell, Director of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Programme of the John Hopkins University, made the remark at a conference organized by the EPC, the European Policy Centre on February 11.

Importantly, this is a vision shared by the countrys leaders, and by the overwhelming majority of the countrys society, he said. Today, Azerbaijan is a fundamentally modern, secular country that is oriented towards the West, though it was unsure at what speed it wants to adopt all principles of the Western states, and was increasingly suspicious of Western double standards.

Cornell pointed out that modern Azerbaijan was born after 1991, out of the trauma of the Armenian occupation of 20 percent of the countrys territory and the ethnic cleansing.

He emphasized that the country recovered from this defeat and began to build a functioning state.

Another factor in Cornells words was the Wests decision to put Nagorno-Karabakh on the backburner and seek instead a normalization of Turkey-Armenia relations.

That inevitably undermined the prospects for a solution of this conflict, because if the main cost incurred by Armenia for its occupation of Azerbaijan territory, which is the closure of the border with Turkey, if that was lifted, what would be the Armenian interest in resolving the conflict, Cornell said.

After the events in Georgia in 2008, the West practically reneged on its role in maintenance of sovereignty, security and conflict resolution, which are the most important issues for the government of Azerbaijan, Cornell said.

He further argued that Western rhetoric vis-a-vis Azerbaijan came to be entirely dominated by the issues of human rights and democracy.

But I notice that the Washington Post has published nine editorials on the human rights situation in Azerbaijan in the past two years, he said. I havent seen that about Saudi Arabia, about Vietnam, about Turkmenistan, about many other countries Azerbaijan looks pretty good in comparison to.

The more we focus only on human rights, the less we will achieve," he said.

The EU still tries to find a magic formula on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said Dirk Schuebel, Head of Division for bilateral relations with the Eastern Partnership countries of the European External Action Service, Euractive reports.

Schuebel made the remark while replying to comments by Svante Cornell, who criticized the Commission and the Wests dealings with Azerbaijan and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Azerbaijan is important for the EU in the context of fight against anti-radicalization and counter-terrorism, Schuebel said.

Schuebel acknowledged that the efforts to get closer were not just done on the EU side.

It was Azerbaijan who came forward with a proposal for a new Strategic Agreement, at the 2015 Riga summit, he said.

He said the European Union has recently re-vamped its Eastern Partnership policy, taking into account the individual features of partner-countries.

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11 February 2016 16:34 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijan is Turkeys important partner in the region from the first day of its independence, Ankaras Ambassador to Baku Ismail Alper Coskun said in an exclusive interview with Trend on February 11.



The relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan are not only friendly; Turkey trusts in Azerbaijan and counts on it, he said.



Azerbaijan and Turkey have great potential, he said adding that the two countries have jointly used this potential for over 20 years, which has led to the regional development.

Coskun stressed that the potential of Turkey and Azerbaijan is not directed against anyone.



The relations between the two countries have reached such a level that Baku and Ankara can together invest in third countries, and this is an obvious example of how the two countries can act in the globalizing world, he said.



Coskun further noted that Turkey and Azerbaijan are at the center of such trilateral formats, as Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey, Azerbaijan-Turkey-Iran and Turkey-Azerbaijan-Turkmenistan.



During the Turkish president's upcoming visit to Azerbaijan, the two presidents are expected to discuss issues on energy, transport, economy, as well as regional issues, he said.

He added that the discussion of other issues such as the development of relations in military, educational and cultural spheres is also expected during the visit.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to visit Azerbaijan in late February.



The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Turkey in 2015 neared $1.48 billion of which $1.17 billion accounted for import from Turkey, according to Azerbaijans State Customs Committee. The trade turnover between the countries reduced by 17.5 percent compared to the previous year.

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11 February 2016 17:00 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijan`s Permanent Representative to the African Union, Ambassador Elman Abdullayev has met the African Union Commissioner for Economic Affairs Anthony Mothae Maruping to discuss prospects for cooperation between the country and the organization.

Highlighting the major Azerbaijan-initiated energy and infrastructure projects in the region, Abdullayev said that the country has become the regional leader.

The ambassador emphasized that Azerbaijan has made great strides in many areas.

Hailing Azerbaijan's accomplishments as excellent, Commissioner Maruping expressed the Union's readiness to cooperate with the country.

He briefed the ambassador on Agenda 2063, which is considered the action plan of the African Union, stressing the importance of Azerbaijan's rich experience in the implementation of the action plan, Azertac state news agency reported.

The African Union is a regional international intergovernmental organization consisting of 52 African states, created in 2001.

The African Union has several main objects and goals: to rid the continent of the remaining vestiges of colonization and apartheid, to cultivate unity and solidarity among African States, to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of member states, and to promote international cooperation within the framework of the United Nations.

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11 February 2016 16:52 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

A group of Azerbaijani parliamentarians paid an official three-day visit to Israel to mull the bilateral bonds between the two countries.

The delegation, which included MPs Samad Seyidov, Asim Mollazade, Yevda Abramov, Sevinj Fataliyeva and head of the Israeli Center in Baku Emilia Khudiyeva, visited the Israeli Knesset on February 10.

They held a meeting with Chairman of Israel-Azerbaijan inter-parliamentary friendship group Avigdor Lieberman, who made a number of proposals to develop relations between Israel and Azerbaijan.

Lieberman also offered to involve non-governmental organizations in their efforts to contribute to the strengthening of the bilateral ties.

The Azerbaijani delegation also met with chairman of the Knesset Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense Tzachi Hanegbi, and Speaker of the Knesset Yuli Edelstein.

This years trip of Azerbaijani MPs is the first official visit of members of Azerbaijans Parliament to the Knesset in the history of the two countries` relations.

The Azerbaijani and Jewish peoples have a long tradition of tolerance and interaction. Estimated 9,000 Jews in the country are "fully part" of Azerbaijani society.

Several synagogues are operating in the capital of Azerbaijan, as well as in Guba and Oguz regions. Synagogue, opened in Baku in 2003 is one of the largest in Europe. In September 2003, the first Jewish school was opened in Baku.

Israel recognized the independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan very shortly after the official dissolution of the Soviet Union. Diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Israel were established in April 1992. The strategic relationship included cooperation in trade and security matters, cultural and educational exchanges.

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11 February 2016 15:38 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Foreign companies have voiced their willingness in investing in the production of medical equipment in Azerbaijan.

This statement was made by General Director of Turkish-American Medical Centre clinic and Board Member of the Confederation of Entrepreneurs of Azerbaijan Ramiz Aliyev.

The companies have taken interest in manufacturing medical equipment in the country at different business forums held by the Azerbaijani Fund Export and Investment Promotion AZPROMO and the Economy Ministry, he added.

We met with representatives from Saudi Arabia, Poland and India," Aliyev said. "We have been in the World Hearing Center in Poland, which is desiring to cooperate with us, Aliyev said.

Medical equipment market opens huge opportunities for investors, as the country imports the medical devices from the U.S., Germany, Japan, France, Russia, and Turkey. Reportedly, Russian and Turkish firms provide lower-cost equipment, which has resulted in an increasing popularity of these equipment and supplies in the local market.

Aliyev believes the cooperation with foreign clinics and companies can be made in different directions.

The cooperation can be implemented both in the purchase of equipment and the establishment of joint enterprises. It is also possible to exchange experiences between staff. Up to 2008, for instance, some of our doctors worked in Saudi Arabia. Arabs again want to invite Azerbaijani doctors and medical staff, he noted.

Today, Azerbaijan with a growing population, constituting more than 9.6 million people,

makes many efforts, spending millions of manats for the development of its healthcare sector.

Increasing number of new medical institutions and departments make it necessary to provide them with modern equipment, thats why the country is very fertile ground for global investors in the health sector.



Annual international exhibition held in Baku by Iteca Caspian, the organizer of many largest exhibitions in the Caspian region, also attracts many leading manufacturers of medical devices, equipment and medicines, as well as professionals working in the field of aesthetic medicine.

Recently, Russia and Iran have offered to produce medicines in Azerbaijan.

Iran, which made great progress in health care, has discussed the possibility of cooperation in production of medicines by establishing an enterprise in Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijans medicine market by 97 percent depends on imported products, and some 57 percent of them come from Europe, 26 percent from the CIS countries, and 12 percent from Russia. The small proportion is produced in Asian countries.

Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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11 February 2016 12:18 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Baku Shipyard LLC, the most modern shipbuilding and ship-repair facility in the Caspian Sea, has received an order worth $ 378 million to build a Subsea Construction Vessel - "Khankendi".

This was announced by Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev at the board meeting of the Ministry.

Baku Shipyard secured a contract from BP Exploration, the operator of the Shah Deniz gas field development, to design and build a vessel, which is expected to be deployed for the Stage 2 development of the Shah Deniz field, which lies some 70 kilometres offshore in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea.



The vessel is expected to be completed in April 2017.

Reminding that Baku Shipyard is one of the major shareholders of Azerbaijan Investment Company, the minister said it uses advanced technology meeting the latest standards. Currently, the plant is engaged in building of submarine and three passenger ships.

"Until now, Azerbaijan Investment Company has been involved in projects in the field of production of building materials, shipbuilding, production and processing of agricultural products, logistics and other fields, a total value of which is $1.1 billion, he said

Founded in 2011 by Azerbaijans oil company SOCAR owning 65 percent of its shares, Azerbaijan Investment Company owning 25 percent and Keppel Offshore Marine holding 10 percent, Baku Shipyard is strengthening the economic and industrial potential of Azerbaijan.

Baku Shipyard is capable of constructing various vessels ranging from offshore support vessels, general cargo vessels, tug boats, crane vessels, specialized vessels and passengers vessels to tankers.

The yard has a capacity to produce 25,000 tons throughput per annum of steel works for new buildings and able to undertake 80 -100 vessels repairs and conversion of various types.

--

Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



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11 February 2016 11:23 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijans state oil fund SOFAZ earned around 27 million pounds on real estate in London as of January 1, 2016.

The real estate, located at Saint James Street in London, was purchased by SOFAZ for 177.35 million pounds in 2012, the Company reported on February 10.

"After the real estate was leased until late 2015, SOFAZ received income worth about 27 million pounds, the statement said. Currently, this real estate is estimated at 213 million pounds. Taking into account the high liquidity on the real estate market in London, this asset can be sold at a specified price within a short period."

In total, as of January 1, 2016, the yield on this asset amounted to more than 30 percent.

For the first time SOFAZ bought the elite real estate in London and Moscow in 2012. SOFAZ also invested in real estate in Paris, Japan and Milan.

The assets of SOFAZ dropped by 6.38 percent as of October 1, 2015 and totaled $34.74 billion compared to early 2015 ($37.1 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 its assets abroad in order to minimize the negative affect on the economy, preventing the Dutch disease to some extent, promoting resource accumulation for future generations and supporting current social and economic processes in Azerbaijan.

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11 February 2016 16:47 (UTC+04:00)

By Aynur Karimova

Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia are working to create the North-South energy corridor among the three neighbor countries.

This was announced by Azerbaijan's Energy Minister Natig Aliyev on February 10.

He told journalists that the removal of the international sanctions from Iran will play a significant role in the development of Baku's relations with Tehran.

"The North-South corridor is being established not only in the transport, but also in the energy sector. It envisages the export of electricity from Russia to Azerbaijan and further to Iran. A special working group has been established. The energy ministers of three countries are working on this issue," he said.

In November 2015, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak confirmed the interest in linking the energy systems with Azerbaijan and Iran.

We also confirm the interest in continuing to examine the issue of linking the energy systems of Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan, and we consider it reasonable to resume the tripartite working group, Novak said.

In response, Azerbaijan confirmed the interest and readiness for resuming the meetings as part of the tripartite working group.

Oil & gas

Aliyev went on to add that Azerbaijan and Iran are implementing major projects in the oil and gas sector.

The issue of the Iranian gas transit through the territory of Azerbaijan is on the agenda, he said, adding: the use of Azerbaijani gas storage facilities by Iran and other areas of cooperation, which we will develop, are also on the agenda."

Baku has offered Tehran to use Azerbaijan's infrastructure for transporting energy resources to the world markets. Such an initiative, which was made at a summit of Gas Exporting Countries Forum held in Tehran on November 23, 2015, was welcomed by Iran.

Energy-rich Azerbaijan is considered by Tehran as a suitable route for the transit of Iran's massive natural gas resources to European consumers.

Iran, which holds 33.8 trillion cubic meters of proven natural gas reserves  or 18.2 percent of the worlds total proven reserves  has pursued multiple projects for years to pipe natural gas to Europe.

Irans geographical location makes it possible for the country to bring its gas to markets in Europe only via routes running through Turkey or Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan is already on the path to exporting not only its own natural gas to Europe, but Irans as well. It is believed that TANAP, which will later be linked to TAP, can become a reliable route for supplying Iranian gas to Europe. By joining TANAP, Iran is sure to strengthen Azerbaijans regional position as a transit country. This will not only bring economic benefits, but also political dividends that will be much more significant.

--

Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

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11 February 2016 17:30 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

The German-Azerbaijan cultural center Kapellhaus has hosted "Buddy Bear" award ceremony, Trend Life reports.

The event was organized by the German embassy in Baku along with the University of Culture and Arts, the Academy of Arts and Giz Galasi art gallery.

The contest was held to choose an artist, who will decorate a Buddy Bear sculpture, which has become a symbol for Germany. The sculpture is going to be installed near ISR Plaza business center.

Speaking at the ceremony, German Ambassador Heidrun Tempel shared the details of the contest. She said that the jury chose the best sketch out of 35 paintings.

The jury members announced the name of the winner. Guler Gashimova took the first place in the contest, where all submitted works were distinguished by their originality and exclusivity.

The jury also appreciated the works of Narmin Gumbatova and Fatima Imanova. The winners were awarded with symbolic figures of Boddy Bear.

The president of Azerbaijan State Academy of Fine Arts, Omar Eldarov, has expressed his greetings to the winners of the contest.

Later, all meeting participants enjoyed the exhibition of works by Azerbaijan State Academy of Fine Arts and the University of Culture and Arts.

The exhibition will run until February 14.

The Buddy Bear has become an unofficial ambassador for Germany and is a symbol of Berlin since 2001 The story of the Buddy Bears started with an artistic event in Berlin in 2001. Inspired by the idea of bringing art in the streets of a metropolis like the cow parade in Zurich and New York, the initiators of the Buddy Bears, Klaus und Eva Herlitz, decided to start a street art project in Berlin, which ended with creation of about 100 bears.

In addition to the Classic Buddy Bears presented far beyond Berlins city limits, the circle of United Buddy Bears came into being in 2002. Each bear in the circle represents a country acknowledged by the United Nations. The United Buddy Bears travel around the world promoting tolerance and international understanding  always standing together hand in hand.

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11 February 2016 15:15 (UTC+04:00)

By Gulgiz Dadashova

Although the rift between Riyadh and Tehran has quickly took the shape of the worst conflict in decades between the two sides, Irans Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh has said Tehran ready to negotiate with Saudi Arabia over the current situation on oil markets to find a way to bolster weak oil prices.

"We support any form of dialogue and cooperation with OPEC member states, including Saudi Arabia," Zangeneh told reporters.

The comments come amid intensifying efforts to persuade OPEC and non-OPEC members to consider output cuts. Earlier the cooperation between OPEC members and non-OPEC members to stabilize the global oil market was a topic of talks between Saudi Arabia's oil minister Ali al-Naimi with his Venezuelan counterpart.

Riyadh rejected the initiative to sit for early meeting of the suppliers, although six countries, including Iran, Oman and Russia have agreed to meet at a table of talks.

The long anticipated discussion is expected to shed a light on many issues of concern, but yet experts are not optimistic over the meeting.

Edward Chow, a senior fellow at CSIS Energy and National Security Program, says its hard to see how this can work when Iran will be trying to sell additional oil after the removal of international sanctions.

Any talks would be focused on Iran asking Saudi Arabia to cut production to allow room for new Iranian supply, he wrote in an e-mail to AzerNews.

Tehran resumed oil exports after Western sanctions over its nuclear program were lifted, and announced it plans to produce 0.5 million barrels a day. The move will add more pressure on an already oversupplied market, as the OPEC continues to refuse to cut its production.

Gal Luft, co-director of the Washington-based Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, shares the view that the agreement on the output cut is very unlikely.

Talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran are meaningless. Part of the Saudi strategy is to bring the Iranians to their knees by denying them revenues. Iran is and will continue to be Saudi Arabia's prime enemy, he wrote in an e-mail to AzerNews.

Asked about the possibility of any price rise following the OPEC meeting, yet no consensus have been reached among the OPEC and non-OPEC members, Luft said the OPEC meeting is unlikely to bring production cuts.

The Saudi strategy is working. The American producers are all in the red, rig count has dropped two thirds since 2014 and many producers are at the brink of bankruptcy. Meanwhile OPEC is increasing its market share which means that its influence over the market, he said.

Luft believes for oil prices to stabilize there needs to be creative destruction in the north American oil industry.

The Saudis will try to keep prices low enough for long enough for the industry to collapse. They still have enough money in their pockets to coast through two or three more years of low prices.

The American oil industry is becoming victim of its own success. The companies are highly leveraged and many are unable to recycle their debts. Those with relatively good balance sheets will probably survive but many others will collapse in 2016. Only then, as inventories dwindle and production slows down we will see upswing in prices - and a rather violent one, he said.

OPEC increased its total oil production by 131,000 barrels per day (bpd) in January even though oversupply has been a major reason for falling oil prices, according to data issued by the cartel.

Chow, for his part, reminded that the OPEC talks on a coordinated production cut were more successful in the past when the market is beginning to turn to a better balance, not when such a large gap exists between supply and demand.

Non-OPEC supply is declining very slowly and demand growth is weak in spite of low prices. Most observers expect supply and demand to come to better balance by the end of 2016. In the meantime, inventories continue to grow, he said.

He believes oil prices may be stabilizing around $30 in the short term, as price rise from current levels will require time for supply to decline and demand growth to recover.

The global oil market has been hit since the mid-2014, losing about 70 percent of its value. Oil prices have crashed from above $100 a barrel in July 2014 to under $30. The OPEC has refused to budge on the flooded market, keeping in place a 30 million barrel a day production ceiling.

OPEC will maintain its market share of around 40 percent, increasing output by 7 million barrels per day (bpd) to 44 million bpd by 2035, according to the recently published BP Energy Outlook.

OPEC is assumed to respond to the stronger growth in tight oil by increasing its own production in order to maintain its market share, BP said in a report.

--

Follow Gulgiz Dadashova on Twitter: @GulgizD

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11 February 2016 11:44 (UTC+04:00)

BP expects production from Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field to continue at high level in 2016, BPs Regional President for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, Gordon Birrell told in an interview to Natural Gas Europe.



Shah Deniz continues its good production delivery. In 2015, the field provided reliable deliveries of gas to markets in Azerbaijan, Georgia, the BTC [Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan] Company and Turkey, Birrell said.

The field has been producing at the Stage 1 plateau level over the past few years including 2015 in which we produced around 10 billion cubic meters of gas and 2.3 million tonnes of condensate, Birrell said. In 2016 we expect production from the Shah Deniz field to continue at this same high level.

The reserves of the Shah Deniz field are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas. The contract to develop the Shah Deniz offshore field was signed June 4, 1996. The shareholders in the contract are: BP, operator (28.8 percent), AzSD (10 percent), SGC Upstream (6.7 percent), Petronas (15.5 percent), Lukoil (10 percent), NIOC (10 percent) and TPAO (19 percent).



Birrell said that BPs future gas plans for the Caspian Sea are currently focused on developing the next tranche of gas from Shah Deniz Stage 2.



Specifically, Shah Deniz Stage 2 is set to have 26 production wells at depths of over 6,000 metres, according to Birrell. Nine of these wells have already been drilled.



These wells will produce 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year, which will be delivered to markets across Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and South Eastern Europe, Birrell said.



The gas to be produced from the second stage of Shah Deniz field development is considered as the main source for the huge Southern Gas Corridor project.



In terms of timeline, Birrell said that the first gas from Shah Deniz-2 is targeting to be delivered to Turkey in 2018 and to by 2020 to Europe.



Paying a special attention on drilling, Birrell highlighted that drilling performance in both Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) block of oil fields and Shah Deniz are success stories.



Given that the Caspian basin represents some of the toughest drilling challenges in the industry, delivery of these difficult wells has required people and technology capable of tackling these challenges, he said.



To date BP has safely drilled around 190 wells in this challenging drilling environment, according to Birrell.



Specifically on Shah Deniz, drilling challenges in that field are related to its location in deeper waters than ACG - up to 550 meters - and the high pressures encountered in the reservoir. We have safely and efficiently drilled 145 kilometres on Shah Deniz including the deepest exploration well of 7,300 meters depth to-date drilled in the Caspian, Birrell said.



He further noted that BP delivered 3.3 billion cubic meters of associated gas to SOCAR from the ACG block of oil and gas fields.

In 2015, the ACG delivered an average of around 9 million cubic meters ACG associated gas per day to SOCAR. The remainder of the associated gas produced was re-injected for reservoir pressure maintenance, he said adding that there are currently six gas injection wells at ACG supporting oil production.

In our operations, oil production output is a result of many factors including gas injection rate and therefore it is necessary to maintain the high rates of gas injection, Birrell said.

For this purpose, BP recently upgraded its gas injection compressor engines on the Central Azeri platform using a new engine design, which has allowed to inject gas at higher rates.

This upgrade returned immediate production benefits and now were seeing long-term value as we work to stem the decline of reservoir pressure. So, it is absolutely necessary to continue to re-inject gas into ACG reservoir at high rates, Birrell said.

The contract for the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli development was signed in 1994. Shares in the contract are as follow: BP (operator) - 35.78 percent, Chevron - 11.27 percent, Inpex - 10.96 percent, AzACG - 11.65 percent, Statoil - 8.56 percent, Exxon - eight percent, TPAO - 6.75 percent, Itochu - 4.3 percent and ONGC - 2.72 percent. The geological oil reserves on the ACG block amount to more than two billion tons. More than one billion tons of this volume account for recoverable reserves.

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11 February 2016 13:32 (UTC+04:00)

Supply of Azerbaijani gas will contribute to Europe's energy security, Ambassador of Azerbaijan to the US Elin Suleymanov said.

He made the remarks during the Atlantic Councils discussion of Developing a Western Energy Strategy for the Black Sea Region and Beyond.

I would say that, first of all, the issue of European markets, it's not  it's not the amount of supply, he said. It's not the volume of gas which is available. It matters not how much gas you get, it matters the security and the uninterruptible supply of gas. I mean, that's the most important issue. Security of supply is perhaps more important than the volume set.

Diversity of gas supply means definitely its security, according to Suleymanov.

In these terms, of course, the Southern Gas Corridor is the underpinning and main project at this moment, and there is a need for interconnectors in the Balkan region and the Black Sea region, which are very important to be built to expand the infrastructure, he said.

The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority energy projects for the EU. At the initial stage, the gas to be produced as part of the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijans Shah Deniz field is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor projects. Other sources can also connect to this project at a later stage.

As part of the Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz development, the gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline and Trans-Adriatic Pipeline.

And we know we're not going to replace the Russian gas, but to understand that the more supply  the more secure supply, the more diverse of the European supplies would basically mean good things for all us, including Gazprom, who is also competing on the market, of course, Azerbaijani ambassador said.

The other thing is that the Azerbaijani approach has never been anti-Gazprom or in an effort to replace the Russian gas, Suleymanov said. Azerbaijani approach to European energy security and diversity is not anti-somebody, it is actually pro-European  pro-European energy security.

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11 February 2016 15:28 (UTC+04:00)

The alternative sources of gas for Europe, first and foremost, are coming from the Caspian, that is Azerbaijan with a shot at the knees development, said Ariel Cohen, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center & Global Energy Center, Atlantic Council.

Cohen made this statement at the Atlantic Council.

Cohen said that this is a pipeline called TANAP, Trans-Anatolian pipeline, starting from the Georgian border into Turkey, and then its extension into Albania  or, Greece, Albania and Italy, called TAP, Trans-Adriatic Pipeline.

The overall capacity at the initial stage is only 16 billion cubic meters per year, he said. Comparing with the Russian overall exports of 160, it's only 10 percent.

Cohen said that Russia is taking measures to stop TANAP, adding that its construction is planned to be completed by late 2018.

He said that they're not saying they're trying to stop TANAP, but the initial South Stream project was aimed at providing a massive amount of gas, 63 billion cubic meters, initially from Russia along the Black Sea, making landfall in Bulgaria, and then taking it to Romania and into Europe.

Cohen said that at this point, the only pipeline project that is actually being built  bricks, mortars, pipes, whatever  is TAP-TANAP.

This corridor has a capacity to be expanded up to 30, 30-plus bcm, if you put additional compressor stations there, he said.

The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority energy projects for the EU. At the initial stage, the gas to be produced as part of the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijans Shah Deniz field is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor projects. Other sources can also connect to this project at a later stage.

As part of the Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz development, the gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline and Trans-Adriatic Pipeline.

---

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11 February 2016 16:23 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR and Italian KT-Kinetics Technology SpA signed a contract on licensing the construction of a sulphur production facility as part of modernization of the Heydar Aliyev Baku Oil Refinery, SOCAR reported on February 11.

The contract was signed by Elman Ismayilov, the director of the Heydar Aliyev refinery, and Michele Colozzi, the business development manager at Italian KT-Kinetics Technology S.p.A.

Addressing the contract signing ceremony, Rovnag Abdullayev, SOCARs president, said that the Heydar Aliyev refinery reconstruction project is currently one of the most important for SOCAR.

"As a result of the project implementation, the existing technological units are planned to be modernized and new units are planned to be constructed, he said. The processing capacity of the refinery is planned to be increased from six million tons to 7.5 million tons per year.

The catalytic cracking unit capacity is planned to be increased from two million tons to 2.5 million tons per year, he said, adding that the production of oil products meeting the Euro 5 standards will be established.

SOCAR has chosen KT-Kinetics Technology S.p.A as a licensor of the construction of the sulphur production facility, the statement said.

Earlier, SOCAR signed contracts with Austrian Porner Group, French company Axens and US UOP as part of the modernization of the Heydar Aliyev Baku Oil Refinery.

The process of modernization of the Heydar Aliyev Baku Oil Refinery will be completed by late 2018. After the completion of the reconstruction, the processing capacity of the refinery will increase from 6 million to 7.5 million tons of oil per year. The modernization is estimated at $1 billion.

SOCAR announced the liquidation of Azneftyag oil refinery and its merger with the Heydar Aliyev Baku Oil Refinery in January 2015.

This decision was taken as part of the work to improve and optimize SOCARs structure.

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11 February 2016 14:42 (UTC+04:00)

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has addressed people in a televised speech on the occasion of the 37th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Rouhani said that with the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) Iran managed to eliminate the Iranophobia project and the world now understands that Iranians are a peaceful and rational nation, IRINN TV reported on February 11.

He also called for achieving progress in the country and said the global powers had understood that the Iranian system is not a temporary government.

Speaking about the recent trips of the presidents of Russia and China to Tehran, Rouhani underlined that significant agreements were signed during those visits.

Rouhani also touched upon his own trip to Europe and said that important contracts were signed during the visit.

Calling for the development of the country, he underlined the need to attract foreign investment and technology saying we will build Iran.

We are capable of competing with the world in terms of economy and industry, he added.

Rouhani further called for cooperation with international community to advance the countrys industry and added that a way has been paved for cooperating.

The president also said Iranians are hardworking and educated, and the country has a large young workforce.

Further criticizing the countrys aged aviation and transportation system, Rouhani said Iranians dont deserve a worn-out transportation fleet.

Our people deserve the best aviation, railway and ground fleet, he added.

He also called for unity among the Iranian political groups and called for preparing a national plan aimed at developing the country, calling it the JCPOA 2.

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11 February 2016 16:20 (UTC+04:00)

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammadov discussed the implementation of joint projects with Afghanistan on energy and transport spheres with Afghan Ambassador to Ashgabat Mohammad Fazil Saifi.

The sides discussed the TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) gas pipeline project, the Turkmen government reported on February 11.

Realized at the initiative of the Turkmen side large-scale projects in the energy and transport sectors of regional significance became an important step towards strengthening the foundations of civilian life in Afghanistan, said the government.

First of all, the construction of Asias largest TAPI gas pipeline and laying of the railway Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan (TAT), which are intended to be a symbol of mutually beneficial cooperation, were emphasized.

Berdimuhammadov noted that a special attention is given to the multifaceted Afghan-Turkmen cooperation, and emphasized that Turkmenistan will always support the inter-Afghan conflicts peaceful settlement.

Turkmenistan supplies electricity to Afghanistan on preferential terms, regularly sends humanitarian aid to the country, and builds social objects.

The construction of the TAPI gas pipeline, via which long-term supplies of natural gas to the largest countries in South-East Asia will be carried out, will give a powerful impetus to economic development of the region, help to address social and humanitarian issues, strengthen peace and stability.

It is planned that the total length of the TAPI pipeline will be 1,735 kilometers. Some 200 kilometers will pass through the territory of Turkmenistan, 735 kilometers - Afghanistan, 800 kilometers - Pakistan up to Fazilka settlement on the border with India. It is planned to finish implementation of the project by late 2019.

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11 February 2016 16:07 (UTC+04:00)

Turkey hasnt appealed to any country with a request to mediate in the settlement of relations between Ankara and Moscow, a source in Turkish Cabinet of Ministers told Trend on February 11.

Diplomatic relations between Russia and Turkey soured after a Russian Su-24 was shot down by the Turkish Air Forces Nov. 24, 2015. Turkey said the warplane violated its airspace, while Russia dismissed the claims.

Following the incident, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on measures to ensure national security and economic measures against Turkey.

The source said the reports saying that the Turkish prime minister allegedly went on a tour for the heads of some countries to act as mediators for normalizing relations between Ankara and Moscow contradict the reality.

Earlier, some media outlets reported that Prime Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu was allegedly visiting a number of countries to find an intermediary for normalization of relations between Ankara and Moscow.

Turkey hasnt closed diplomatic channels for a dialogue with Russia, the source explained.

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11 February 2016 18:38 (UTC+04:00)

By Aynur Karimova

Energy-rich Iran, which is free of international sanctions, is returning to the world energy market with big strides.

The Islamic Republic, the fourth country with largest proven oil reserves of about 158 billion barrels, is now in talks with Brazil, Malaysia, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Indonesia and India to purchase shares in oil refineries of these countries.

Iran already holds a 30-percent share in construction of a refinery with a capacity of 250,000 barrels per day in Malaysia, and we are talking to buy a 40-percent share in another refinery in Indonesia with a capacity of 300,000 barrels per day, Hamid Sharif-Razi, the Managing Director at the National Iranian Oil Engineering and Construction Company, told local media.

He explained that Iran wants to purchase shares in foreign refineries to guaranty its oil exports.

Brazil showed willingness for Irans participation in building a refinery, as well as purchasing shares of a refinery in that country, he said but did not reveal the details.

Investing in overseas refineries is one of the most common ways used by oil producing countries to boost crude exports.

Currently, some littoral states of the Persian Gulf, which are among worlds major oil exporters, own a remarkable number of oil refineries in American, European and Asian countries, which has greatly increased their clout in global energy markets.

Therefore, the Iranian Oil Ministry is planning to invest in refineries in countries whose crude oil is being supplied by Iran.

The safest way to increase the exports is investment in refineries abroad. On this basis, the petroleum ministry wants to invest in refineries abroad, whose crude oil will be met by Iran, Abbas Kazemi, the head of the state-run National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Co., told local media on January 9.

In 2014, the Islamic Republic announced that it is preparing to construct five refineries in Indonesia with an aim to diversify own oil exports.

Local media reported earlier that Iran would build an oil refinery in Indonesia with a daily production capacity of 150,000 barrels of crude oil, in addition to five smaller refineries with daily production capacities of 30,000-50,000 barrels of gas condensate each.

In January, Spanish Foreign Ministry reported that Iran and Spain are negotiating a plan to construct a joint oil refinery at the Gibraltar Strait. The sides have agreed that this refinery will be finally owned by Iran.

--

Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

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Telefonica Lets Mexico Subscribers Tweak Mobile Plans

Mexico City - Spain's Telefonica SA, Mexico's second-largest wireless carrier, said Tuesday it would give subscribers more control over their phone plans, a sign that competition in the country's mobile market is heating up.

The service, called Movistar On, was launched using technology that allows users to manage their plans at any time from their smartphones.

Unlike traditional plans, the system gives prepaid users the ability to assign phone credit to minutes of airtime, broadband usage and messaging based on their individual needs. Users can also choose from a number of preset arrangements.





The rollout comes amid increased competition in Mexico's mobile market following the entry last year of AT&T Inc., which bought two wireless operators for $4.4 billion and began enticing consumers with cross-border benefits. Mobile-service prices in Mexico tumbled almost 17% in 2015.

Telefonica said it expects the service to encourage further adoption of smartphones among its clients. Currently, 40% of its wireless subscribers have the devices, almost double the percentage from a year ago.

Telefonica has enlisted ItsOn Inc., based in Redwood City, Calif., to provide a cloud-based platform. Subscribers can log in with an app and top up their plans at any time using a variety of payment methods, said ItsOn Chief Executive Greg Raleigh.

Conversely, subscribers can also switch to cheaper packages and have unused credit applied to their new plan. "They will know exactly what they used their balance on and pay for what they really use," Telefonica said in a news release.

The ItsOn platform is already used in the U.S. by Sprint Corp., and ItsOn last month signed an agreement with MTN Group, Africa's largest mobile provider. Its deal with Telefonica is the first of its kind in Latin America.
Valentine's Day is for Sweethearts at Daiquiri Dick's

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - It is time to wish Happy Valentine's Day to everyone we love. In the beginning, this day was associated with romantic couples only but in recent times the festival encompasses many more. Now, people take the opportunity to wish Happy Valentine's Day to anyone they love. It could be father, mother, siblings, friends, co-workers or just anyone special to them. The idea behind this tradition is to celebrate love, get love and give love to everyone around us.

Gather your loved ones for a superb Valentine's dinner right on Los Muertos Beach in Puerto Vallarta at Daiquiri Dick's Restaurant. Executive Chef Ignacio Uribe, Chef de Cuisine Hugo Mejia and Sous Chef Rogelio Garcia have developed a sweetheart of an extra special a la carte menu featured from February 12 to 14, 2016, and dinner is served from 5 to 11 pm. The regular a la carte menu is also available.

Daiquiri Dick's Special Valentine's Menu

Starters

 Soft Shell Crab in Tempura with Saffron Sauce and Wasabi Glaze with Brioche Crouton, Spinach and a Roasted Pepper Garnish

 Shrimp & Scallop Bisque with Toasted Cumin Scented Creme Fraiche

 Roasted Beet Salad with Apples, Goat Cheese and Candied Pecans

Main Courses

 Napoleon of Grilled Sea Bass and San Blas Shrimp with Grilled Red Bell Pepper, Zucchini, Spinach, Parmesan Tuille and Citrus Beurre Blanc

 Smothered Beef Medallion with Roasted New Potatoes, Grilled Asparagus and Sweet Onions with Crumbled Blue Cheese and Dijon and Rosemary Sauce

 Spaghetti with Shrimp and Octopus in a Lemon-Garlic Sauce

Dessert

 Tiramisu Heart

 White Chocolate Raspberry Cheese Cake

 Molten Chocolate Cake with Fresh Berries

The restaurant also features flaming coffees and dessert martinis that'll make your Valentine's dinner at Daiquiri Dick's an Exceptional Experience.

During the winter season reservations are recommended, 222-0566. Just a note about our reservation policy: reservations are held for a maximum of 15 minutes. They do not guarantee particular tables, although they make every effort to accommodate requests. This policy is in place to ensure the integrity of all reservations.

Open daily from 9 am to 11 pm, Daiquiri Dick's offers elegant dining in a relaxed atmosphere for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Visa, MasterCard and Banamex accepted. Reservations are recommended and can be made online at ddpv.com.
Treat Your Valentine to Something Sweet at OTFM-TC

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - What better way to kick off Valentine's Day than to stroll through Vallarta's favorite weekend attraction, the Old Town Farmers Market-Tianguis Cultural? Meet up with your sweetie, and enjoy a day of "make it, bake it, grow it" shopping, live music, chiropractic sessions and favorites from the International Food Court.

Pick up freshly-cut tropical flowers, greeting cards, wine bags and all-natural body products. Capture the spirit of Mexico with handmade Pre-Hispanic instruments, Huichol art and traditionally woven items. Pair up custom-made clothing and bikinis with handcrafted jewelry and sandals.

Then scoop up these must-haves for a romantic dinner: fresh produce, baked goods, meat pies, cheeses, deli meats, nut butters, fermented foods/natural vinegars, Greek yogurt, dressings, salsas, moles and organic coffee.

Don't forget the sweet stuff! Select from tasty cookies, fruit pies, sweet breads, and of course, the divine flavors of Xocodiva Artisan Chocolates.

Meet Xocodiva Artisan Chocolates





Since 2007, Xocodiva Artisan Chocolates () has delighted locals and visitors with the subtle aromas and incomparable decadence of their chocolates, confections, famous chocolate dipped bananas and homemade frozen hot chocolate bars ().

Xocodiva honors Mexico as the birthplace of chocolate by blending Mesoamerican mythology and tradition with European artistry. Xocodiva - "xoco" from the Mayan word xocolatl and diva for "god" in Latin - delivers the deliciousness of cacao, commonly hailed as the Mayan's "Food of the Gods."

Xocodiva's owners and chocolatiers, Charlotte Semple and Carole Fast, devote special attention to the artistry, ingredients, and flavor of their divine delicacies. Their unique blend of European couverture with fresh local ingredients excite the senses and caress the palate.

From luxurious truffles to creamy caramels, every Xocodiva artisan chocolate is carefully handcrafted in small batches right here in Old Town Vallarta. Tempting flavors range from the traditional classic dark truffle, passion fruit, espresso, lemon, tequila and champagne to the ever-so-popular chili and salt caramel.

An elegantly wrapped box of Xocodiva Artisan Chocolates is ideal for those who want to share something extraordinary. Whether you're searching for the perfect hostess gift, celebrating a special occasion, or bringing the "Food of the Gods" to a loved one this Valentines, the gift of Xocodiva chocolate will reflect your style and perfectly complement your sentiments.





Their variety of chocolates and confections make a great gift for those back home. Choose from a wide selection of hand wrapped bars, almond barks, chocolate covered coffee beans, butter pecan toffee, or raw cacao beans and nibs, direct from Tapachula, Mexico.

While shopping in town or for those planning to travel, ice packs are available to ensure that your chocolates arrive home in perfect condition, every time.

Visit Xocodiva Artisan Chocolates at the Old Town Farmers' Market-Tianguis Cultural on Saturdays or at their Zona Romantica shop, Basilio Badillo #168B, from 10 am to 10 pm daily. For more information, call (322) 222-3289 or join their Facebook community.

Don't forget to pop in next door, where Lix by Xocodiva is serving up delicious artisan ice cream by the scoop, in banana splits, sundaes and milk shakes. Go for the ever-popular cherries & chocolate, rocky road, salt caramel & candied pecan, triple berry, moka, peanut butter or one of their non dairy sorbets. Looking for a special treat? Try one of their famous gourmet bananas. Lix is open daily (noon to 11 pm) at 168C Basilio Badillo.

Love Yoga?

While at the market, join us for yoga classes (9:30-10:30 am) taught by instructors from Yoga Collective. We meet in the kiosk every Saturday morning through April 30th. Participation is by donation.

Meet the Market

The OTFM-TC is a North American style market that celebrates the tradition and culture of Mexico's outdoor Tianguis markets. It is also a registered non-profit/association civil organization that focuses on nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit of Puerto Vallartans. All OTFM-TC products are either locally grown or handmade within 75 kilometers of the city.

You're Invited!





The OTFM-TC will be open 9:30-2 every Saturday, from November 7, 2015, to April 30, 2016. You'll find us in Lazaro Cardenas Park, located in Vallarta's Emiliano Zapata neighborhood. For only 12 pesos an hour, you can park in the garage directly beneath park. Public buses and taxis also come this way with a Pino Suarez Street drop off.

Get Involved

Interested in becoming a new OTFM-TC vendor or volunteer? Stop by the information booth to pick up an application.
Pursuant to Article 29.3 of the Rules of the Warsaw Stock Exchange, Krka, tovarna zdravil, d.d., Novo mesto presents the report on compliance with the detailed principles of the "Best Practice for GPW Listed Companies 2016"Disclosure Policy, Investor CommunicationsI.Z.1.11. information about the content of the companys internal rule of changing the company authorised to audit financial statements or information about the absence of such rule;The Company does not apply this principle.The proposal to the Annual General Meeting is based on auditors references, their knowledge of the industry, quality of the audit team, and price. The Slovenian legislation and market practice, however, do not provide for any provisions which would require the rules on selecting auditors to be disclosed, thus the Company discloses them only verbally at Annual General Meetings.I.Z.1.16. information about the planned transmission of a general meeting, not later than 7 days before the date of the general meeting;The Company does not apply this principle.Not applicable due to non-compliance with IV.R.2.I.Z.1.19. shareholders questions asked to the management board pursuant to Article 428  1 or  6 of the Commercial Companies Code together with answers of the management board to those questions, or a detailed explanation of the reasons why no answer is provided, pursuant to principle IV.Z.13;The Company does not apply this principle.The company does have a section for frequently-asked-question on its webpage. However, not all shareholders questions and Companys answers are published.I.Z.1.20. an audio or video recording of a general meeting;The Company does not apply this principle.Not applicable due to non-compliance with IV.R.2.I.Z.1.21. contact details of the companys investor relations officers including the full name and e-mail address or telephone number.The Company does not apply this principle.The Company does have an investor relations e-mail and telephone number available on the web page. Three professionals within the company answer investor questions. Full names of the professionals and their contact details, however, are not published.Management Board, Supervisory BoardII.Z.8. The chair of the audit committee should meet the independence criteria referred to in principle II.Z.4.The Company does not apply this principle.The chair of the audit committee in the Company fulfils all independence criteria as set by the local Slovenian Code of Best Practice and Slovenian Directors Associations. She does, however, work in one of Companys shareholders that hold more than 5 % of voting rights in the Company.General Meeting, Shareholder RelationsIV.Z.2. If justified by the structure of shareholders, companies should ensure publicly available real-time broadcasts of general meetings.Zasada nie ma zastosowania.Not applicable due to non-compliance with IV.R.2.IV.Z.3. Presence of representatives of the media should be allowed at general meetings.The Company does not apply this principle.The practice in Slovenia is that only shareholders attend Annual General Meetings. Thus, the representatives of the media have been present only as shareholders of the Company on General Meetings.IV.Z.16. The dividend record date and the dividend payment date should be set so as to ensure that the period between them is not longer than 15 business days. A longer period between these dates requires a justification.The Company does not apply this principle.Pursuant to the tax legislation in Slovenia, dividends are subject to a withholding tax. Thus, the Company requires certain data from its shareholders which takes more than 15 days to obtain and process. The Company, however, strives to make the payments as soon as practicable.
A pioneer in the citrus industry has died.



Bill Mixon, 87, passed away last Friday. Hes the man behind Mixon Fruit Farms in Bradenton. Its one of the top tourist destinations in Manatee County.

Last week, he suffered a heart attack while planting trees and died a few days later.





Mixon's family said although he retired eight years ago, they couldn't keep him away from the groves. (Photo courtesy: Janet Mixon)



He was working and planting trees and had a heart attack, said Janet Mixon, his daughter-in-law. That would be the way hed want to go, and hes missed already.

Although he was retired, his family said they could not keep him away from the groves.

He retired eight years ago from active business, but he stayed involved, said Dean Mixon, his son. The 20-acres next to us was his playground.



Bill Mixon purchased his first grove at the age of 16. (Photo courtesy: Janet Mixon)



Mr. Mixon and his parents started Mixon Fruit Farms in 1939 and he bought his first grove at the age of 16.

Over the years, the family added a gift shop to their business and turned their groves into a tourist destination.

Mixon was born in Bradenton on May 26, 1928. He was a third generation Floridian.



Bill Mixon and his wife, Mary, were married in 1949 until her death in 2009. (Photo courtesy: Janet Mixon)



He was a lifetime member of Manatee United Methodist Church. He met his wife Mary at the church at the age of four and won her heart with Juicy Fruit gum.

They were married in 1949. Mary passed away in 2009.

He was Director and past President of the Manatee County Farm Bureau, Board member of Florida Citrus Mutual, founding member of the Florida Gift Fruit Shippers Association.

He is survived by his sons Don Mixon (Kathy) of Saluda NC., and Dean Mixon (Janet) of Anna Maria, Florida; grandchildren Stephen Mixon (Rachael), Lori Mixon Swindle (Josh), Rick Permuy, Julie Busa (Heath), Kaycee Huber; great grandchildren, Aubrey Mixon, Brinkley and Bryce Busa and Sullivan Huber.

Bills celebration of life will be held at Manatee United Methodist Church at 3 p.m. on Friday, February 12th at 315 15th St. E., Bradenton.



In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the American Diabetes Association.
Crisp, cool temperatures greeted people biking, walking and running along Bayshore Boulevard in Tampa on Wednesday night.

Loredana DiCosola and Nicole Pignotti are from Venezuela.



They are studying at the University of Tampa and said this weather is nothing like it is back home.

"I mean, it's so cold. My country is about 90 degrees right now and this is about 50 degrees so it's crazy," said DiCosola.



"I'm used to being in summer like weather every day and this is very different," said Pignotti.



People said they're determined not to let the cold throw them off their stride or ruin their exercise routines.



"To be honest, it's a challenge with my manager to see who can actually get in shape within a month so I'm out here trying to beat her and I won't say her name but it's a challenge to try and get fit and healthy for the summer," said Clinton Coles.

Joggers said they plan to enjoy it while they can.



"I can take this for another week or two, maybe a month, and then I'll be good," said Thomas Bernfeld.


An 18-year-old suspected of carrying a gun on a school bus has been arrested.

Hillsborough County deputies say a fellow passenger on the bus headed for Brandon Alternative School saw Jamarcus Simms, 18, loading the gun in his lap. The witness texted a relative reporting what he'd seen, and the relative called 911.

The witness continued to send text updates to the 911 caller, which included a description of Simms and where he attempted to hide the gun.

Deputies say Jamarcus Simms had this Smith & Wesson semi-automatic handgun on him when he was on the bus. (Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office)

Deputies stopped the bus and evacuated all seven students. They found the gun, along with a magazine loaded with 12 rounds and a black ski mask.

Deputies later determined that the gun was stolen out of Temple Terrace.

Simms is charged with possession of a firearm on school property, carrying a concealed firearm, and possession of marijuana.


Now that Iowa and New Hampshire are in the rear-view mirror, the Democratic presidential contest shifts to markedly different terrain in Nevada, where a largely urban and diverse electorate will test the breadth of Bernie Sanders' appeal and the durability of Hillary Clinton's coalition.

In contrast to the overwhelmingly Anglo electorate in the first two voting states, Nevada is 28 percent Latino, 9 percent African-American and 8 percent Asian-American. "We are much more representative of the national population and that makes us more of a harbinger of the final result than anything you've seen so far," said Rep. Dina Titus, a Las Vegas Democrat who backs Clinton.

That's not to say Nevada is soaking up all the attention. Sanders and Clinton are also engaged in diverse and populous South Carolina, whose Democratic faceoff follows Nevada by a week. Together, these states give Hispanic and black voters a potentially strong say in a national contest where Clinton is thought to be favored by minorities but Sanders is working hard to catch up.

But, before the fights for Nevada and South Carolina, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will take the stage in Milwaukee in a debate hosted by PBS NewsHour in partnership with Facebook.

Election 2016: Latest Headlines, Candidate Profiles, Voting Resources

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March 15 starting at 5 p.m.

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Clinton's campaign manager, Robby Mook, cut his teeth organizing her effort in Nevada's 2008 nominating contest, which she won. She installed seasoned operatives in Nevada last spring and made an early campaign stop in Las Vegas to announce her intent to expand President Barack Obama's program granting some immigrant deportation relief. She's won endorsements from many state powerbrokers.

"Hillary is still the favorite," said Billy Vassiliadis, a Democratic consultant who is neutral in the race. "But not as big a favorite."

That's because Sanders, whose impressive fundraising has put him on equal footing with Clinton, has invested heavily in a state that was hard-hit by the real estate bust. His campaign now boasts more offices than hers. He is outspending Clinton on the airwaves in Nevada. Though Sanders' first staffer arrived in Nevada in October, his campaign says it now has more than 100 here, bolstered by volunteers who had organized themselves for months, even going as far as to create their own campaign literature and buttons.

Finally, Nevada Democrats can register to vote at the caucus - even if they don't turn 18 until election day. That will also probably help Sanders, who does especially well among younger voters.

"I think we have a real shot at it," said Assemblyman Tick Segerblom, a Sanders supporter. "His message is so perfect for Nevada - $15 minimum wage, the banks basically destroyed Nevada, everyone lost their homes or is under water." Nevada has had among the highest foreclosure rates in the nation since 2008.

After Nevada, the Democratic contest shifts to South Carolina on Feb. 27, then the slate of Super Tuesday states on March 1, where Sanders is hoping a mix of caucus states like Colorado and northeastern ones like Massachusetts will give him an edge. Clinton is counting on the diversity and size of states in that bundle, such as Georgia and Texas, to boost her. The Republican contests are Feb. 20 in South Carolina and Feb. 23 in Nevada.

Like Iowa, Nevada votes through a caucus system. But unlike Iowa, Nevada is relatively new to caucuses and voters in this famously transient state often know nothing about those events. That's why a robust field operation is key. The Clinton campaign argues it has a head start.

"It's not an accident that we were here on Day 1," said Clinton's state director, Emmy Ruiz. "Nevada is not the kind of state you can participate in the last 30 days and expect to make a difference."

Beatriz Miranda, 61, appreciates Clinton's long history in both the state and public service. "She's focused on everybody," Miranda said as she called Spanish-speaking voters at a Clinton campaign office. "Sanders - I don't know him that well. He doesn't have the same experience as Hillary."

In appearances for Clinton this week, Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois recounted campaigning for Obama in Nevada's hard-fought 2008 contest. He couldn't persuade Latinos to vote against Clinton then, and he believes they will back her now. "She has a broader connection with a broader base of Americans" than Sanders, Gutierrez said.

Ingrid Lopez, 20, has occasionally been called a "communist" for backing the avowedly socialist Sanders, but she says the Vermont senator has much support in Las Vegas' immigrant communities. "I think Bernie has more of the Hispanic vote because he's a trustworthy guy," she said as she handed out Sanders literature on the University of Nevada-Las Vegas campus. "Hillary, she doesn't really stand her ground."

The Sanders campaign has been true to its youthful, unconventional nature in Nevada. At an Asian American and Pacific Islander Caucus meeting this week, Phillip Kim, 33, made his case for Sanders on the stage, with a ukulele and a song:

"There's this guy named Bernie, he lives in Vermont

He's running for president, we like him a lot

He stands for the people, he stands for the Earth

Paid sick leave and vakay, he'll put people first."

Clinton supporters in the crowd of Democrats challenged Kim and another Sanders backer, saying Sanders hadn't organized much in their community and some of his positions seemed the same as Clinton's.

Kim, a soft-spoken former union organizer, shrugged and said: "He's just somebody I trust."
Republican front-runner Donald Trump told a record-breaking crowd at University of South Florida Friday that he wants to strengthen our military, our borders and the economy.

The crowd liked everything they heard.



Thousands of people lined up for hours to see Trump before the doors opened at 5 p.m. Trump appear just after 7:30 p.m. to a rock star welcome.





A huge crowd is in place for Donald Trump's rally at the USF Sundome in Tampa Friday. (Wayne Acosta, Viewer)

It didn't take long for Trump to start laying into his political opponents, from Jeb Bush to even rising Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders, who Trump called a Communist.

Nearly 11,000 people attended the rally at the USF Sundome Friday night, which officials said was an attendance record.

Trump's visit indicates how serious the New York real estate billionaire is taking the March 15 Florida primary. Florida is a winner-take-all state in the election cycle, meaning a top showing here would be worth all of the state's 99 delegates.



Election 2016: Latest Headlines, Candidate Profiles, Voting Resources

Florida presidential primary coverage March 15 starting at 5 p.m. All presidential results plus your local races Tampa Bay local election results on Bay News 9 Central Florida local election results on News 13





Trump knows that and he also knows Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio will have a bigger voter draw in Florida than they did in other states.



Trump supporter and political pundit Tony Dimatteo said today's event could solidify Trump in a key part of Florida.



"Hes going to have more earned media," Dimatteo said. "And people just got out (of the race): Christie just got out. Fiorina just got out. Those votes have to go somewhere  and if they are undecided, this rally could be a determining factor."



Thousands of supporters filled the Sundome for the event - as well as hundreds of protestors. Word of detractors planning to show up outside the Sun Dome has been spreading this week on social media.



One student group even drafted a letter to the University asking the event be cancelled because of Trumps' remarks about women, Muslims and Latinos.
An unexpected shutdown of a sulfur unit at ExxonMobil in Beaumont led to the Jefferson County Courthouse taking a shelter-in-place precaution Wednesday for roughly 45 minutes, Emergency Management Coordinator Greg Fountain said.

ExxonMobil officials detected concerning levels of sulfur dioxide coming from the unit, which led to the precaution, according to Fountain.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the Beaumont Fire Department and ExxonMobil are still air monitoring, Fountain said.

Most of the sulfur dioxide went to Orange County, so officials there are also air monitoring in that area, according to Fountain.

There has not been a determination of what led to the unit's unexpected shutdown.Orange County Emergency Management Coordinator Ryan Peabody said plume models showed some of the Vidor region would be affected.

ExxonMobil is reducing its flaring and Peabody said no further impact is anticipated.

Some areas in Vidor may experience a chemical odor, but Peabody said it is residual from the burning and emergency management does not anticipate adverse health risks.

"A shutdown of this magnitude has not taken place in many years," Peabody said. "But we have been assured by industry and some of our partners in Jefferson County that all of the safety mechanisms did in fact activate during that time, which allowed the flaring to safely take place."

Just three weeks ago, a storm caused the ExxonMobil refinery just south of downtown to belch dark plumes of smoke layered with pollutants.

The refinery and its neighboring chemical plant lost power when an Entergy transmission line feeding the complex was either struck by lightning or damaged by wind, a spokesperson said at the time.

BScott@BeaumontEnterprise.com

Twitter.com/BrandonKScott
In response to the state's rating of its bilingual and English as Second Language programs as deficient, Beaumont ISD has scheduled training sessions this Friday and Saturday for teachers, who are unsure about what will be expected of them.

The Texas Education Agency has placed BISD's bilingual and ESL programs at stage 3 on a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 is lowest. The stages are based on state testing performance by targeted groups, like ESL and special education.

The ratings are released in the late summer and early fall after TEA reviews state test scores, TEA spokeswoman DeEtta Culbertson said.

The issues with BISD's bilingual and ESL programs go back a few years, and the district's current designation means it "has to step it up a little more," she said.

Teachers have been receiving notification of the upcoming training sessions since fall but are uncertain about who is supposed to become ESL-certified, said Greg Sholl, president of the Beaumont Teachers Association.

Sholl said he has been receiving phone calls from teachers for several months but was still unable to answer their questions as of this week, he said in a phone interview.

"There is a great deal of confusion about who is supposed to attend and why," he said.

BISD spokesman Ron Reynolds said the upcoming training sessions at West Brook High School are part of the district's efforts to improve the programs.

He also said BISD is conducting a mock audit of its bilingual and ESL programs to address weakness areas. The results are expected to be released next month, he said.

Superintendent John Frossard said Wednesday he didn't know details about the upcoming ESL training sessions.

Sholl said he believes all of the district's 1,200 teachers are expected to go through the ESL training. An economics teacher at Central High School, he said he is scheduled to participate both days.

Sholl said the district could be planning to have all teachers ESL-certified after this week's training to prevent ESL students from having to meet individually with qualified instructors for individual tutoring, he said. But he admitted that was speculation.

"It's been very frustrating. It's just all so vague," he said.

Read the complete story in the Feb. 11 print edition of the Beaumont Enterprise.

MLibardi@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/ManuellaLibardi
A 35-year-old Pflugerville dad was arrested for allegedly leaving his 3-year-old son, who is diagnosed with autism, at home while he spent hundreds of dollars at a strip club in Austin, according to court documents.

Lee Samuel Dobbins faces a second-degree felony charge of abandoning or endangering a child and is being held on a $100,000 bond.

RELATED: Mom drunkenly crashed into vehicle, injured child in North Texas school drop-off line

The incident occurred Saturday when a motorist flagged down police in Pflugerville. The driver told police that her co-worker called her from New York and asked her to check on her 3-year-old son. The mother was visiting her mother, who was dying of cancer, according to the arrest affidavit.

The mother said she noticed a withdrawal of a few hundred dollars from her fiances bank account, with the transaction taking place at a strip club, The Yellow Rose, according to the affidavit.

RELATED: Man arrested after three children in diapers allegedly found in alley

Dobbins had allegedly broken up with the mother while she was in New York. She had previously spoken with Dobbins, and when asked what he was doing when he got off work, he said, I get off at six. Im not going to sit at home being bored.

The mother gave the nanny permission to get into their home through an open window. The nanny assisted the police in checking on the child, who is severely autistic, according to the affidavit. The nanny advised the child cannot speak and is incapable of calling out for help if injured.

RELATED: Mom arrested in Alamo Heights after cops find cocaine in 4-year-old daughter's backpack

The police and nanny found the child asleep in the middle of a full-size bed with no railings.

Police were able to track down Dobbins vehicle in the strip club parking lot, and he was subsequently arrested on Sunday morning.

Dobbins faces up to 20 years in prison.

twhite@mysa.com

Twitter: @tylerlwhite
A federal appeals court has revived a lawsuit brought by the American Hospital Association, which centers on the controversial Recovery Audit Contractor program.

The RAC program's mission is to correct improper Medicare payments by identifying and collecting over- and-underpayments. Healthcare providers have the option of appealing recovery auditors' findings, and HHS' Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals administers hearings concerning denied Medicare claims. Claim denials that reach the third level (of five possible levels) of the appeals process are brought before administrative law judges (ALJs), who issue decisions regarding coverage determinations.

Due to a backlog in RAC appeals, OMHA announced a temporary suspension of most new requests for ALJ hearings concerning payment denials in December 2013. In May 2014, the AHA, Baxter Regional Medical Center in Mountain Home, Ark., Knoxville, Tenn.-based Covenant Health and Rutland (Vt.) Regional Medical Center filed suit concerning the backlog. They brought the matter to compel HHS to meet the statutory deadlines for ALJ review of Medicare claim denials.

The AHA and hospitals' legal claims were dismissed in 2014, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia reversed the dismissal on Tuesday.

The appeals court remanded the case to the lower court, and instructed the court to "consider the problem as it now stands  worse, not better." As of February 2015, the decisions ALJs were releasing had been pending on average 572 days.

The AHA is pleased with the outcome of the appeal. "Today's decision confirms that the agency [HHS] has a clear duty to comply with the congressionally mandated deadlines," said Melinda Hatton, AHA senior vice president and general counsel. "And, it refutes attempts by the agency to excuse compliance because of the Recovery Audit Contractor program, noting that congressional mandates trump discretionary decisions."

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How are healthcare organizations recruiting leaders in a space that has been recently turned on its head?

The Affordable Care Act has swept healthcare into a new era, in which increased access to care has made traditional reimbursement models unsustainable. The incredible growth happening in the revenue cycle job market is testament to healthcare's acute need for vocal, visible and engaged revenue cycle leaders  and a staffing firm in Chicago is helping healthcare companies find it.

John Reid, managing director of sales with LaSalle Network, spoke with Becker's Hospital Review about how LaSalle is helping healthcare organizations broker new conversations around leadership in the revenue cycle space.

"The revenue cycle today is fundamentally different from the revenue cycle of four years ago," says Mr. Reid, "but as the world around these leaders has changed, the thought process around hiring, finding and developing new talent has not."

LaSalle approaches revenue cycle recruiting with a criteria that preferences creativity over tradition and exposure over specificity. "In many cases, we try to identify talent with a comprehensive understanding of revenue cycle functions, rather than an individual who has zero-ed in on a particular specialty," says Mr. Reid. By hiring someone with an isolated skill set to address problems in a complicated and composite system, LaSalle believes hospitals may unwittingly decrease opportunities for innovation and creative problem solving.

And when it comes to selecting talent for RCM leadership roles, LaSalle encourages healthcare clients to potentially look outside of the healthcare box. "Rather than recruiting revenue cycle veterans with years of industry experience, we are asking our healthcare clients to consider those who may seem like non-traditional talent," says Mr. Reid. This may include financial leaders or administrative experts with proven success in innovation outside of the healthcare industry who can bring fresh insights to bare on the challenges in RCM.

As comprehensive revenue cycle education and fellowship programs become more popular, LaSalle also encourages healthcare companies to consider taking on and developing younger talent.

Since first entering the revenue cycle space, LaSalle has expanded their client base to include health systems, medical billing companies, third-party RCM vendors and healthcare clinics. LaSalle currently serves four major healthcare systems in Chicago, and anticipates their RCM staffing arm to grow by another 35 percent this year, says Mr. Reid.

Largely in support of their revenue cycle staffing arm, LaSalle will launch a new office in Denver. "Denver is a robust city for healthcare companies, and we look forward to expanding our footprint into new markets," Mr. Reid says.
Charlotte, N.C.-based Carolinas HealthCare System has appointed Eugene A. Woods president and CEO, effective April 28.

Here are eight things to know about Mr. Woods.

1. He was recently elected the next chairman of the American Hospital Association and will take on the role in 2017.

2. He has 24 years of healthcare leadership experience.

3. Currently, he is president and COO of Irving, Texas-based CHRISTUS Health, which has more than 50 hospitals and long-term care facilities, 175 clinics and outpatient centers, and 30,000 associates.

4. At CHRISTUS Health, Mr. Woods, who is fluent in Spanish, has had the responsibility of overseeing acute, post-acute and international operations for its facilities in the United States, Mexico and Chile, according to a news release.

5. Prior to joining CHRISTUS Health, Mr. Woods was CEO of Saint Joseph Health System in Lexington, Ky., part of Englewood, Colo.-based Catholic Health Initiatives. He also previously was COO of the Washington Hospital Center, a 968-bed teaching hospital in Washington, D.C.

6. Mr. Woods earned a bachelor's degree in health planning and administration, a master's degree in business administration and a master's degree in health administration from State College-based Pennsylvania State University.

7. Mr. Woods succeeds Michael C. Tarwater, who has served as CEO of Carolina's HealthCare since 2002. Mr. Tarwater announced his retirement in June 2015 and will remain with Carolinas HealthCare System until June 30, 2016, to ensure a seamless transition.

8. Edward J. Brown III, chairman of the Carolinas HealthCare board of commissioners, spoke positively of Mr. Woods' appointment, saying, "Gene is a proven leader with extraordinary experience. We know that he is the right person to lead Carolinas HealthCare System as we continue our journey as one of the leading healthcare systems in the nation, providing incredible care to all of the communities we serve."

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As president and CEO of the world's largest independently owned public relations firm, Edelman, Richard Edelman has come to understand the key attributes employees want in CEOs: "Trust, confidence, ethical, transparent and decent. What's not in that list? Visionary, deeply exciting, rockstar."

"They just want someone who will do a good job," he says.

Edelman's annual Trust Barometer shows a gaping divide in the trust of executives, especially CEOs, who are now seen as a class, not individuals. The survey shows 70 percent of the U.S. educated elite express trust in business, while only 51 percent of the general population does  a gap of nearly 20 percent.

This gap means employees are increasingly skeptical of their leaders, and as a result, less engaged. They believe their businesses and leaders can and should earn profits while making communities a better place to live at the same time.

At a meeting of The Executives' Club of Chicago, Mr. Edelman shared several behaviors and traits CEOs must master today to have an ounce of hope in gaining employees' trust.

1. Be a recognizable face. Increasing demands on leaders to stabilize their business and position the organization to succeed was heightened by and since the recession. However, a closed-off leadership style impedes success. When people don't know who their leader is, they tend to fill the void of information with their own perceptions and interpretations of their actions. "It's our hypothesis that there are so many CEOs who have kept their heads down since the recession," says Mr. Edelman. "It's time for CEOs to lift their heads and get back out there and lead."

More importantly, a CEO's humanistic qualities are lost on employees when he or she is absent. In addition to establishing a strong presence in the organization, the CEO must also clearly communicate the values to which they attribute the highest importance, and those which they expect their employees to emulate. "People aren't going to follow you if they don't know who you are or what your values are," says Mr. Edelman. "You must also share your stories with them. Employees are a critical group in the world of peer-to-peer discussion. If you don't tell your employees what you're doing, you're missing out on the best possible advocates for your case."

2. Understand the magnitude of the value of trust. Of all leadership traits, trust is by far the most essential. While reaching the top spot of an organization requires solid business acumen and a strong ability to lead, these skills do not automatically garner a CEO his or her employees' trust. "Trust in institutions is no longer granted on the basis of hierarchy or title. It has to be earned," says Mr. Edelman. "To earn trust, you have to do something. It must be substantive, tangible and real. It has to be done in the context of your personal values as a leader. It must be expressed by your employees, not just by you and your executive team."

Mr. Edelman pointed to Oscar Munoz, president and CEO of United Airlines, as a prime example. After his first month on the job, Mr. Munoz acknowledged that the execution of the airline's strategy when merging with Continental Airlines has been subpar. However, he made it clear that he would do everything possible to support the company's employees to empower them to build better relationships with customers. "That level of self-awareness, personal leadership and taking on the responsibility for the change he saw was necessary to succeed has made him iconic among employees and customers," says Mr. Edelman.

3. Recognize the correlation between trust in leaders and employee engagement. Leadership connotes influence. However, Edelman's trust barometer shows the average employee is far more trusted than a CEO or a government official, creating a separation between authority and influence. It follows that employee engagement is difficult if a CEO is not trusted as a peer. Trust has to be earned by directly engaging employees in peer-to-peer discussion or town hall-like meetings. When employees feel their voice is heard and their opinions matter, they have a stake in the company and are much more likely to be engaged in work.

"When you don't talk to your kids, you have a breakdown in the family. It's the same notion that should be considered by executives," Mr. Edelman says. "When you place employees last in the order of who you talk to for substantive information, that's also a complete breakdown in trust. Smart companies are putting employee communications in a strategic advantage category."

4. Lead on public issues. A crucial part of becoming a good leader lies in the difference between gaining name awareness versus preference. It is not enough to be known among employees. To gain trust and influence, CEOs must also be likeable. While this may seem obvious, it can be difficult to establish preference from the top-down. According to Mr. Edelman, one of the best ways to do this is to share a bit about yourself and your core values. This goes beyond philanthropy. CEOs must truly champion a cause, rather than simply throw money at it.

Mr. Edelman gave the example of Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who took up the issue of teen unemployment by launching a campaign to hire 100,000 young Americans. Other notable efforts include Allstate Chairman and CEO Thomas Wilson, who has been recognized for his efforts to help victims of domestic violence and financial abuse, or Citadel Founder and CEO Ken Griffin's commitment to early childhood education by helping create a charter school in Chicago.

5. Understand the distinction between leadership and management. Leadership and management are not interchangeable terms. "[M]anagement is a skill you learn to make numbers  to satisfy shareholders and directors," Mr. Edelman says. "Leadership is a skill you learn through hard experience. It applies to a broader population: employees, communities and customers."

Mr. Edelman stressed that when managers become CEOs, they have to be prepared to graduate to a higher level of leadership. It's far from easy, but understanding the difference between the terms will lead to myriad benefits, including a more innovative business structure and a better supply chain.

Above all, leaders do exactly what Mr. Edelman emphasized throughout his presentation: They share their story. Employees follow leaders  rather than managers  because they're willing to share their story and their values.

6. Get comfortable with the media. Plain and simple, the majority of CEOs aren't fans talking to the media and reporters. "They think it's all risk and no reward," Mr. Edelman says. "They also don't like being asked the hard questions."

But answering these hard questions is important, according to Mr. Edelman. While many CEOs stay under the radar, it's time to change that. "[G]oing through the ordeal of the media is part of your job," he says. Without transparency, CEOs cannot gain trust. CEOs have to talk to the media and let their voice be heard.

In addition, frequent discussions with employees falls under the category of transparency. "It's also part of your job to have direct channels to your constituents and to have frank conversations with your employees," Mr. Edelman says.

7. Find your own ways to be authentic and have fun. Most of the general population sees CEOs through a certain lens: as a class of people. But as leaders, CEOs must strive to be seen not as a class, but as human beings. To achieve this, CEOs need to tell their story and become more authentic. One problem with CEO trust "is that no one knows who you are because you don't talk because you're afraid to talk," Mr. Edelman says. Instead, "[y]ou need to put your head over the parapet and tell people who you are, what you do and why," Mr. Edelman says.

Overall, people look for a few key attributes in CEOs, including trust, competence, ethic, transparency and decency. They're not looking for a rockstar  they simply want someone who seems real and genuine.

There is no playbook for how to be genuine  executives have to take risks and find what works for them and their teams. Mr. Edelman shared his secret tip for boosting trust: He takes a selfie with employees at every office he travels to. Sometimes he stands in front of a group of individuals, and other times he climbs a ladder to get the perfect shot. Utilizing techniques like this results in myriad benefits. "It makes you human," Mr. Edelman says.
Vice President Joe Biden visited Durham, N.C.-based Duke University Wednesday after launching his "moonshot" initiative to cure cancer last month, according to WUNC, North Carolina's public radio station.

On his visit, Vice President Biden toured a research laboratory, spoke with last year's Nobel Prize winner in chemistry, Paul Modrich, PhD, and spoke with physicians from Duke and University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

"We need advice on how we can be more helpful and we will not hesitate to tell you where we think the community could be more helpful," Vice President Biden said, according to the report. "Where you view the government as being a bureaucratic stumbling block  I promise you I will clear the way. I promise you."

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Patrick Battey, MD, has only been CEO of Piedmont Atlanta Hospital for about a month, but he already broke ground as the first physician to serve in the role since the hospital opened in 1905.

Dr. Battey was named to this position after serving as co-CEO with Les Donahue in 2015.



Dr. Battey is also a practicing vascular surgeon with Piedmont Heart Institute. He plans to continue clinical practice on a scaled back schedule.

Here Dr. Battey discusses challenges, his goals for the hospital and his daily routine.

Note: The following responses were lightly edited for length and clarity.

Question: What's a challenge you're facing as CEO?

Dr. Patrick Battey: We're increasingly constrained with our capacity limitations. We've got some very strong service lines that continue to grow, bringing people into our sort of urban campus for tertiary and quaternary care, and we just have no room. We've been on diversion for medical/surgical beds, telemetry beds and ICU beds 80 percent of the time for the last three months, which means the only time we have beds are on Saturday and Sunday. So leading into that, we are embarking on a major facility expansion plan, and it is falling on me to help coordinate that. That's rather a large challenge to undertake.

Q: How do you approach the CEO role as a physician?

PB: When I get here every morning about a quarter to 7:00, I always go by the operating room to see what's going on, to talk to the staff  anesthesia, nursing staff  to see how constrained we are with our capacity. It gives me a window into the operations of the hospital that I think is pretty invaluable, to find out some of the things that we're asking our staff to do, what sort of pressures it's placing on them. It's a real presence. It's a great way for me to stay in touch with what happens on a daily basis on the floor.

Q: What was the last memorable thing you read?

PB: Over the holidays, I read All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. It's a story about a young, blind French girl and an orphaned German boy who are sort of running parallel tracks dealing with the horrendous conditions during World War II, and their paths come together on the coast of Nazi-occupied France. And in spite of all the things that happen to them, they wind up trying to help each other, which is reflective of people trying to help each other throughout these horrible times. Just a very moving story. The imagery is incredible through the eyes of a young girl who went blind when she was maybe 3 or 4 [years old]. She still remembers some of her old environment and has to become accustomed to a new environment in another city.

Q: What is one of your daily routines?

PB: I like to go to spin class every morning at 5:30. Before that, my wife and I  we like to do ballroom dancing. We'll actually get up and practice the tango or the salsa or the cha cha. One thing I do on a professional [level] would be the rounding in the operating room every morning. I still operate half-a-day a week, so I have my own cases. But I always try to go by on the days when I'm not operating and find out how the nurses are staffed, what's going on with their world, what's going on with anesthesia and what's going on with the admissions side of it.

Q: What are your goals for Piedmont?

PB: To be the destination referral center really in the Southeast for some tertiary and quaternary service lines  cardiovascular services, transplant, sort of orthopedics and neurology and spine in particular. So from a growth standpoint, or from a market standpoint, that would be No. 1. From an overall [standpoint], I would like to see us reduce our harm rate to zero so nobody in our hospital leaves with something they didn't come in with.

Q: What is one phrase you think we should use more in healthcare?

PB: Put the patient first.
Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Broward Health's board voted 5-2 to hold a meeting about a potential FBI corruption investigation in private, despite its status as a public hospital system, according to the Sun-Sentinel.

During what is called a "shade meeting," the board will review an email from corporate private investigator Wayne Black, who claimed an FBI investigation into Broward Health's affairs was being obstructed by its lawyers, according to the report.

The board is waiting to obtain a legal opinion that the plan will not violate Florida's laws for open meetings. It wants to keep the meeting private so as not to compromise the investigation or tarnish reputations of innocent people, according to the report.

The chairman of the board, David Di Pietro, opposed the shade meeting, and suggested he may resign if it the board chooses to move forward with it, according to the report. The Sun Sentinel editorial page editor, Rosemary O'Hara, also opposed the idea of a private meeting.

"It is our understanding that a shade meeting can be held when there is a matter of litigation that is facing you," she said, according to the report. "From our read of this, you have an email that you want to go behind doors and close and not let the public hear what is going on here."

Mr. Black says Nabil El Sanadi, MD, the late president and CEO of Broward Health, hired him to investigate security services and alleged kickbacks last spring. Dr. El Sanadi committed suicide on Jan. 24.

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The Miami Cancer Institute, part of Coral Gables-based Baptist Health South Florida, is joining the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Alliance to expand the New York City-based cancer center's renowned services to Baptist Health patients.

The MSK Cancer Alliance is an initiative designed to collaboratively guide community providers toward the most advanced cancer care. Some of the alliance's first members include Hartford (Conn.) HealthCare Cancer Institute and Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, Pa., in 2014.

The Miami Cancer Institute is currently being built, and construction on the $430 million hospital is slated to be completed in 2016.

As part of the alliance, MSK will guide the Miami Cancer Institute to improve its patient care and clinical cancer research programs. Patients of the Miami Cancer Institute will also have expanded access to MSK clinical trials.

The Miami Cancer Institute will share educational resources with MSK, including opportunities for its physicians to visit MSK's Manhattan facilities to observe new techniques and install the infrastructure necessary to measure outcomes data. Additionally, some Miami Cancer Institute physicians will have the opportunity to meet and discuss complex cancer cases with MSK physicians.

"Memorial Sloan Kettering chose Miami Cancer Institute for its commitment to delivering to our community the highest levels of innovation and precision in cancer care in combination with the renowned focus on patient experience for which Baptist Health is well known," said Brian E. Keeley, president and CEO of Baptist Health South Florida. "Our collaboration with MSK will save lives by bringing evidence-based, world-class standards to our network of seven hospitals and more than 50 outpatient facilities, serving thousands of patients in our community each year."
England's Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt has decided to move forward with a new contract for junior physicians in the National Health Service, despite its rejection by the physicians' union, according to The Guardian.

After months of negotiations, Mr. Hunt said the union, the British Medical Association, was being inflexible and blocking NHS' path to higher quality care seven days a week, according to the report. The contract would require junior physicians, or residents, to work more often on weekends without overtime pay, but it would increase physicians' pay 13.5 percent, up 2 percent from the initial contract offering, according to the report.

The BMA issued a statement that accused the government of "bullying" physicians and that it will not accept the contract. "This is clearly a political fight for the government rather than an attempt to come to a reasonable solution for all junior doctors," Johann Malawana, MD, BMA junior physician committee chair, said in the statement. He also suggested the move may lead many junior physicians to leave NHS.

"The government's shambolic handling of this process from start to finish has totally alienated a generation of junior doctors  the hospital doctors and general practitioners of the future, and there is a real risk that some will vote with their feet," Dr. Malawana said.

"Progress has been made on almost 100 different points of discussion with agreements secured with the BMA on approximately 90 percent of them. Sadly, despite this progress, and willingness from the government to flexible on the crucial issue of Saturday pay, Sir David wrote to me yesterday advising that a negotiated solution is not realistically possible," Mr. Hunt said.

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Chapel Hill-based University of North Carolina Health Care has signed a partnership agreement with Mercy Virtual, St. Louis-based Mercy Health's virtual healthcare program.

The Mercy Virtual Care Center, which opened last year, operates 24 hours a day and is staffed with more than 300 clinicians who deliver virtual care services to 600,000 patients across six states per year. Mercy has been providing telemedicine services and expertise over the last decade.

Under the partnership, Mercy will virtually monitor patients in 28 intensive care unit beds for one of UNCHC's hospitals. The partnership will expand over time to include additional facilities and programs.

"This isn't just about purchasing telemedicine services; we have been practicing telemedicine for several years," said Alan Stiles, MD, UNCHC's senior vice president of network development and strategic affiliation. "We were looking for a way to accelerate the development of a broader array of virtual services for our patients and medical staff. Working in tandem with Mercy Virtual, we believe we can transform healthcare."
Henry Lora, MD, the former director of a Miami-area medical clinic, has pleaded guilty for his role in a Medicare fraud scheme that cost the government more than $20 million.

Dr. Lora served as the medical director of Merfi Corp., a medical clinic in Coral Gables, Fla. The clinic employed physicians and other medical professionals who wrote prescriptions for home health services, according to the Department of Justice.

In a plea deal with prosecutors, Dr. Lora admitted he and his co-conspirators wrote Medicare beneficiaries prescriptions for home health services that were not medically necessary or not provided. He said they wrote the fraudulent prescriptions in exchange for kickbacks and bribes from home healthcare agencies. Dr. Lora also admitted to falsifying patient records to make it appear as if beneficiaries qualified for home health services.

Dr. Lora pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S., receive kickbacks and make false statements relating to healthcare matters.

In March 2014, the owner of Merfi, Isabel Medina, was sentenced to nine years in prison for conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, according to the DOJ.

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CDC officials have found traces of the Zika virus in the tissue of two babies in Brazil who had microcephaly and died.

"This is the strongest evidence to date that Zika is the cause of microcephaly," Tom Frieden, MD, PhD, director of the CDC, told a congressional panel, according to a HealthDay report.

Microcephaly is a condition in which a baby's head is much smaller than expected, causing neurological problems. While the new findings suggest a strong link between Zika virus and the birth defect, more tests are needed before the link is formally proven, according to a USA TODAY report.

Most people who contract the Zika virus, which is spread mainly through mosquitoes but has also been transmitted sexually, are not greatly affected by the virus. The main concern is protecting pregnant women and their unborn children, Dr. Frieden told the congressional panel, according to USA TODAY.

The World Health Organization declared Zika and its suspected link to microcephaly a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, and the Obama administration is seeking roughly $1.8 billion in funds to combat the growing Zika virus crisis.
The Texas State Board of Pharmacy can now obtain pharmacy financial records, according to The Dallas Moring News.

Here are five highlights:

1. The legislation was enacted to supervise financial deals between physicians and pharmacies resulting in possible kickbacks.

2. Republican Sen. Charles Schwertner proposed the law because of compounding pharmacies connecting with physician investors to increase business.

3. The government is interested if compounding pharmacies are illegally compensating physicians for prescribing their products.

4. The law demands pharmacies turn over financial records if complaints are filed against the pharmacy.

5. Grey area will exist under the new law, as it is legal for physicians to invest in pharmacies in Texas if they let their patients know.
Paul Bolger, MD, reached a settlement to pay a $10,000 fine for prescribing pain medication to unfamiliar patients through the Internet, according to The Des Moines Register.

Here are five things to know:

1. Dr. Bolger reached the settlement with the Iowa Board of Medicine last week.

2. In spring 2015, a CBS News crew investigating the sales of painkiller creams confronted Dr. Bolger. A CBS report had entered his information into a website, seeking medication for pain and scars as part of the investigation.

3. A California pharmacy sent the reporter the medication merely two weeks letter. The reporter found a notation that Dr. Bolger wrote the prescription. When the reported asked Dr. Bolger if he felt he did something wrong providing prescriptions without interacting with patients, the physician replied, "I couldn't disagree with that."

4. Following the CBS report, the Iowa Board of Medicine began investigating Dr. Bolger. As per the settlement, Dr. Bolger cannot participate in telemedicine until he proves he can do so in a safe manner and the board grants him approval.

5. The physician admitted to ordering the medication from New York despite not having a medical license to practice in the state.

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Columbus, Ohio-based Mount Carmel Health System acquired Central Ohio Neurological Surgeons in Westerville, Ohio, according to a Columbus Business First report.

Here are five things to know:

1. The health system acquired Central Ohio Neurological Surgeons after nearly half of the practice's six surgeons left for OhioHealth in Columbus.

2. OhioHealth opened a nine-story neurosurgery-focused expansion last summer.

3. The practice's remaining physicians are not employed by the health system, but they signed professional services agreement saying they would practice at only Mount Carmel facilities.

4. The health system has also assumed leases for the practice's main office in Westerville as well as satellite offices in Newark, Springfield and Marietta, all in Ohio.

5. Central Ohio Neurological Surgeons has been re-named Mount Carmel Central Ohio Neurological Surgeons.
Here five spine surgeons predict important trends in spine care and delivery in 2016.

Ask a Spine Surgeon is a weekly series of questions posed to spine surgeons around the country about clinical, business and policy issues affecting spine care. We invite all spine surgeon and specialist responses.





Next week's question: What are your professional goals in the coming year?





Please send responses to Anuja Vaidya at avaidya@beckershealthcare.com by Wednesday, Feb. 17, at 5 p.m. CST.

Question: What are some key trends we can expect to see in the spine industry in 2016?

William Taylor, MD, Director, Spine Surgery, Vice Chairman, Division of Neurological Surgery, University of California, San Diego: Continued consolidation will play a larger role in care delivery. Centers of Excellence will become essential for high quality innovative care.

Christian G. Zimmerman, MD, MBA, Saint Alphonsus Medical Group, SAHS Neuroscience Institute, Boise, Idaho: A not-so-unusual course of reminders continue to permeate the lives of uncertainty for physicians this election year. Cost containment and consolidation drive the spinal implant business as pharmaceuticals continue to come under the gun and the microscope for price augmentation. M&A fits the task for some larger companies to temporize small competitors, but the irregular scrutiny by insurers grows long in the tooth for all. Physician burnout is now front-and-center as the true balances in life become more meaningful and better realized. Specialty medicine is a privilege and, at the same time, a commodity. For this surgeon, that balance provides job satisfaction in any profession.

Brian R. Gantwerker, MD, The Craniospinal Center of Los Angeles: This year, I think we will see more changes in our CPT codes in an effort to squeeze more dollars back into the system. I would ask my colleagues to push back against this as it goes back to the devaluation of what we do. Additionally, seeing the trend towards deformity correction and endoscopic spine surgery we can expect more innovations and widespread adoption and, of course, market demand for those skill sets. I would not, however, expect to get paid more for increasingly complex procedures and better patient outcomes.

Andrew Casden, MD, Associate Professor of Orthopedics, Ichan School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York: I think spine surgery will continue to evolve rapidly in 2016. As navigation systems and intraoperative CT scans improve, the use of these modalities will certainly increase. Intraoperative scanning of instrumentation will increase as image clarity is improving and getting closer to regular CT scanners. Minimally invasive spine surgery will continue to expand as the indications and technology are expanding quickly. Young surgeons are pushing the envelope of minimally invasive surgery and its role in spine surgery still being defined. Biologics for fusion is another area of growth and we may expect to see new products available for fusion technology."

Samuel Cho, Associate Professor of Orthopedics, Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery, Ichan School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York: I think there are several exciting developments that are coming our way in the spine world in 2016. Minimally invasive surgery continues to evolve with better imaging and instrumentation. We still need to work out the details of whether MIS can achieve the same goals as conventional open procedures, but I remain optimistic that we can get there in the next few years. Biologic bone graft substitutes continue to receive attention. We need more osteoinductive options than rhBMP-2 and several companies are working on this. Outcomes and cost-effective studies are important to prove and justify the value of spine surgery to the payers, the government and, most importantly, to our patients.
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Neanderthal DNA could be responsible for some characteristics in modern humans

If you are a heavy smoker, overweight, depressed, and have survived a heart attack or stroke, it could be your Neanderthal ancestry that is to blame.

Scientists have shown that Neanderthal DNA is more than just an interesting souvenir of inter-breeding between ancient human sub-species.

It appears to influence around a dozen health-related traits - many of them not good.

One specific genetic variant inherited from Neanderthals significantly increases the chances of being addicted to nicotine, the study found.

Others influence the risk of depression, some making it more and some less likely.

Yet another variant makes it easier for blood to coagulate, thereby raising the risk of heart attacks, strokes, lung clots, and pregnancy complications.

People with "Neanderthal skin" are also less able to withstand the sun, leaving them vulnerable to a patchy, scaly skin condition called actinic keratosis that mostly affects fair, blue-eyed individuals.

The US team made the discoveries after identifying 135,000 single-letter variations in the genetic code that were highly likely to have originated from Neanderthals.

They then looked at how often these variants, known as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), appeared in the DNA of 28,000 Americans of European ancestry whose health records could be checked.

Lead researcher Dr John Capra, from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, said: "Our main finding is that Neanderthal DNA does influence clinical traits in modern humans: We discovered associations between Neanderthal DNA and a wide range of traits, including immunological, dermatological, neurological, psychiatric and reproductive diseases."

Our direct ancestors, early modern humans, are widely believed to have interbred with Neanderthals as they migrated out of Africa between 50,000 and 60,000 years ago.

The Neanderthals, also derived from species that first evolved in Africa, had already occupied Eurasia for around 200,000 years. But by about 40,000 years ago they were extinct, probably after losing out to the brighter and more adaptable newcomers.

Since 2010 scientists have known that between 1% and 4% of the DNA of people of Eurasian origin is inherited from Neanderthals.

But just what impact it has had on human biology has been unclear until now.

The new study, published in the journal Science, is the first to compare directly Neanderthal DNA from a significant population of adults of European ancestry with their clinical records.

Researchers who carried out the work presented their findings at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting taking place in Washington DC.

The investigation identified a large number of Neanderthal variants that were associated with psychiatric and nervous system effects including depression, mood disorders, and physical diseases with a neurological basis.

Doctoral student Corinne Simonte, also from Vanderbilt University, said: "The brain is incredibly complex, so it's reasonable to expect that introducing changes from a different evolutionary path might have negative consequences."
A new Cathedral Quarter hotel from the former owners of one of Northern Ireland's best-known gay venues has been recommended for planning approval.

The proposed 63-bedroom, four star venue is to be located at the War Memorial Building in Waring Street in Belfast.

It was snapped up by Kremlin Associates, led by Andre Graham and Seamus Sweeney, for around 1m last year.

The building had been bought by Frank Boyd's Killultagh Estates in 2007 for around 7m.

Kremlin Associates sold off the nightclub which made their name in 2014 for around 3m.

The new hotel plans have been recommended for approval at next week's meeting of the Belfast City Council planning committee.

Documents relating to the application describe the building as "an example of the modernist style with a modular, unembellished character".

The hotel will also have conferencing and leisure facilities.

According to a report which will go before the committee: "It is considered the proposed alterations, extension and refurbishment will enhance the appearance of the existing structure, which in turn will make a more positive contribution to the character of the Conservation Area at this location."

The building, at 9 to 13 Waring Street, is a 1950s office block which won a competition to become the official War Memorial Building, providing a home for charities linked to the Armed Forces.

It was formerly the Queen Anne Hotel, which was blown up during the Belfast Blitz in 1941.

It was reopened as the War Memorial Building by the Queen Mother in 1963 and has been used for office accommodation in the last few years.

The report says that no objections were received to the application.

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph last year, Mr Graham said the new venue would not be aimed specifically at the gay community, but that all would be welcome.

And the planning committee is also set to rule next Tuesday on an application for student housing on Dublin Road, which has drawn around 70 objections.

The accommodation of 156 studio rooms is a joint venture between Lacuna Developments in Holywood and Welsh firm Watkin Jones.

Those opposed to the plans - which would involve converting offices formerly owned by Willis Insurance - include Donegall Pass Community Forum and the area's wider community.

They've said the eight-story development will "overlook and overshadow" houses on Pakenham Street.

But planners have also recommended that the application should be given the green light.

And Co Tyrone developer McAleer and Rushe is also to hear the verdict on its plans for 476 student bedrooms at McClintock Street, which are also recommended for approval.

Along with a proposal for student accommodation at College Avenue, McClintock Street is one of two developments which the firm will sell to Queen's University upon completion, for a total of 70m.
Emmerdale's Tess Harris, played by actress Nicola Stephenson, has made waves in the village since she arrived last year

Emmerdale's Tess Harris has been dramatically killed off after being knocked down by Kirin Kotecha in a drink-drive incident.

The shocking exit for actress Nicola Stephenson, broadcast on Thursday, has stunned viewers of the ITV rural soap.

Birmingham-born actor Adam Fielding has also said he is leaving Emmerdale.

Hi s exit is likely to revolve around the repercussions stemming from the fatal crash.

Since arriving in the village in October last year, Tess has made waves by having an affair with Paddy Kirk (Dominic Brunt), unbeknown to wife Rhona Goskirk (Zoe Henry).

The sensational plot thread is set to unravel following the teaching assistant's death.

Asked if she was sad to see Tess go, the former Waterloo Road actress said: "Not at all!"

She added: "I've had an absolute ball doing Emmerdale so on the one hand I am sad not to be working with Dom and Zoe any more, but I'm always quite excited at the end of a job about what opportunities are coming next.

"I'm really looking forward to playing someone new."

The 44-year-old praised Emmerdale's writers and cast members.

"Genuinely it has been a lovely experience to do such a meaty storyline with such fine, dedicated, generous actors who are now good chums.

"It's been an absolute joy to come in and get such a juicy storyline straight away.

"The writers have created a fantastic story with great twists and turns that have kept the audience hooked in all the way along.

"I've been really lucky."

Asked whether she would continue to watch the show, Stephenson replied: "Of course, although I have to watch on catch-up as 7pm is bathtime in our house."

Meanwhile, Brunt told the Press Association how Paddy felt after hearing of his lover's death.

"He's devastated, but more than anything he's in shock as well," he said.

"Also because nobody knows about this affair .... he has to grieve in secret, almost.

"So he's struggling quite a bit."

The 45-year-old added: "He's rubbish at the affair and he's rubbish at keeping his emotions in check.

"He just can't do it so he gives away the affair (to Rhona)."
A man accused of stalking Gwyneth Paltrow's has testified that he had just wanted the actress to know he was available to marry her, if she wanted to.

Dante Soiu is reported to have been harassing Paltrow for 17 years, but he was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 2000, after allegedly bombarding her with sexually explicit messages and unwanted gifts.

He spent a number of years in a mental institution and was taken into custody again last year after reaching out to the mother-of-two once more.

However as he appeared in court on Thursday, Soiu told the jury that the 66 messages and packages he sent Paltrow between 2009 and 2015 were to show her that he bore no grudge about the previous case leading to him being institutionalised, reports The Associated Press.

He added that he wanted to propose the idea of marriage to Oscar-winner Paltrow. When Deputy District Attorney Wendy Segall asked Soiu why Paltrow would consider marrying him when he had sent so many messages and she had testified against him, he replied: "I was trying to show I had changed and I had become a different person. I wanted to show a new face towards her.

"I wanted her to say flat out, I dont want to marry you.' That way I would have a definite response from her.

None of the new messages that Soiu sent to Paltrow contained any of the pornographic material the ones before his first arrest did. He told the court that this was because he had been addicted to pornography at the time of his first arrest, but is now on medication for the alleged addiction and believes he is healed.

The gifts Soiu sent Paltrow included a pair of earrings for Christmas in 2009, a Weight Watchers cookbook, several religious books and some secondhand clothing.

One of his message disturbed the actress when it described her "bowing to death", but Soiu told the jury he had not been referring to physical death, but spiritual death.

Paltrow came face to face with the suspect in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday, when she was called to describe how she felt about his unsolicited correspondence on the first day of his new trial.

During her hour-long testimony, the 43-year-old admitted she had been left troubled by many of his letters.

"I felt very upset by it," Paltrow said. "This has been a very long and very traumatic experience already."

Soiu's attorney, Lynda Westlund, admits her client did send letters to Paltrow, but insists he is a Christian who never included anything explicit in the messages, which included forwarded notes he had also sent to U.S. President Barack Obama and fellow actress Angelina Jolie, who is now married to Paltrow's ex-fiance, Brad Pitt.

Soiu, from Columbus, Ohio, has pleaded not guilty to the new charges.
A new Harry Potter book is to be released, nine years after JK Rowling's final story The Deathly Hallows.

Rowling's website Pottermore confirmed that the script of new stage play Harry Potter And The Cursed Child will be released as a book on July 31, 2016, the day after the play's world premiere and, fans will note, Harry's birthday.

The Cursed Child is officially the eighth book in the Harry Potter canon and will be released in two versions: a Special Rehearsal Edition using the script performed in the play's previews, before being replaced later by a Definitive Collector's Edition.

The news will be a relief for fans worldwide who are unable to get tickets to the play, which at the moment has only been confirmed to show in London.

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows ended 19 years after the Battle of Hogwarts, as Harry waved his two eldest children off to the wizarding school.

The Cursed Child will pick up from that moment, focusing on Harry as a frazzled Ministry of Magic civil servant and his middle child Albus Severus, who is struggling under the weight of the family's legacy.

It will be the first tale in the Harry Potter canon not penned by Rowling. The two-part play has been written by Jack Thorne, although based on an original idea by Rowling, Thorne and the play director John Tiffany.

The History Boys' Jamie Parker will play Harry in the play, alongside Olivier Award-winning actress Noma Dumezweni as Hermione and Les Miserables actor Paul Thornley as Ron. The play will run into 2017, the 20th anniversary of the UK publication of Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone.

Fans will be able to collect a new edition of Hogwarts library book Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, along with new content by Rowling,and new editions of Quidditch Through The Ages and The Tales Of Beedle The Bard.

Before then, fans will be able to enjoy Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, starring Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander, a magizoologist who accidentally unleashes magical animals on New York.

The new movie is due to have its release in November 2016.
Bruce Springsteen is due to release his autobiography, Born To Run

Bruce Springsteen is set to release his first autobiography, Born To Run.

The singer, 66, has been privately writing the book over the past seven years, having started just after performing at the Super Bowl half-time show in 2009.

In Born To Run, Springsteen shares with the reader: "Writing about yourself is a funny business."

He adds: "But in a project like this, the writer has made one promise, to show the reader his mind. In these pages, I've tried to do this."

The autobiography will be released internationally on September 27 by Springsteen's publishers, Simon & Schuster.

Springsteen grew up in Freehold, New Jersey, and will write about the "poetry, danger, and darkness" that fuelled his imagination.

He will recount his desire to become a musician and the rise of his E Street Band.

The book will also reveal the unknown meaning behind his iconic song Born To Run - the single from his 1975 album of the same name.

This is not Springsteen's first publication: in 2014 he released an illustrated book with Frank Caruso, Outlaw Pete, based on the song of the same name from his album Working On A Dream.

Outlaw Pete uses the song's lyrics to tell the story of a baby bank-robber.

Springsteen and the E Street Band are at the start of The River Tour 2016, which will run until July.
Henry Cavill is one of the stars backing the Bafta campaign to encourage emerging talent to enter the film, television and video games industries

The UK will need to raise its game at Sunday's Bafta film awards to stop the US extending its lead in the battle for the top gongs.

American stars picked up almost all the top honours in last year's ceremony, with only Eddie Redmayne flying the flag for Britain by winning best actor for The Theory of Everything.

Redmayne has been nominated again this year for his role in The Danish Girl, but faces a tough battle against four big names: Matt Damon (for The Martian), Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant), Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs) and Bryan Cranston (Trumbo).

While Britain has a good track record of winning best actor, its poor performances in other categories has allowed the US to pull ahead in the overall tally of awards.

Since 2006, the UK has picked up a total of 30 of the top gongs, while the US has won 39.

The Press Association's analysis of Bafta winners in 10 key categories over the past 10 years reveals t he UK and US were level-pegging until 2010, since when America has moved ahead.

Big years for the US included 2013, when Ben Affleck won best director for Argo, which was also named best film, while Quentin Tarantino won best screenplay for Django Unchained and Anne Hathaway picked up best supporting actress.

In 2015 it was Boyhood's turn to take the bulk of the honours, winning best film, best director for Richard Linklater and best supporting actress for Patricia Arquette.

The UK's best performance in the past decade was back in 2008, when it picked up six of the top 10 awards, including best actor (Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood) and best film (Atonement).

A UK production hasn't been named best film since The King's Speech in 2011. This was the same year Britain also triumphed in the categories for best actor (Colin Firth), best supporting actress (Helena Bonham Carter) and best original screenplay (David Seidler), all for The King's Speech.

Alongside Redmayne, Britain's best chance for a win this year could be Dame Maggie Smith, who is nominated in the best actress category for her role in The Lady in the Van.

She is up against Alicia Vikander, Redmayne's co-star in The Danish Girl, plus Room's Brie Larson, Carol's Cate Blanchett and Brooklyn's Saoirse Ronan.

If Dame Maggie fails to win, Christian Bale may be Britain's next best hope. He is up for best supporting actor for his role in The Big Short.

This year's ceremony is taking place at London's Royal Opera House, and is being hosted by Stephen Fry.

It will be broadcast on BBC One on Sunday at 9pm.
The Titanic story has captured hearts and minds worldwide, arguably none more so than the love story between Jack and Rose in James Camerons Titanic movie.

Despite being based on fictional characters, the 1997 classic is still listed as one of the best love stories of all time.

As its Valentines Day on Sunday, Titanic Belfast has dug out a few of the best real life love stories from the ship.

The real heart necklace

Rose's 'Heart of the Ocean' necklace may have been the inspired by a real life couple who were hoping to start a new life together in America.

Kate Florence Philips (aged 19) eloped with the owner of the shop she worked for. He was 20 years her senior with a wife and child.

Her partner, Henry, gave her a sapphire diamond necklace set in platinum, called the Love of the Sea, which she wore proudly on board Titanic.

Henry did not survive the tragedy, however, Kate got onboard a lifeboat and brought the necklace with her. She gave birth to Henrys daughter a few months later.

Macy's owners Ida and Isidor

One of the most popular love stories was that of the owners of Macys Department Store, New York, Mr Isidor Straus, and his wife, Ida, who travelled back from winter in Europe onboard Titanic.

Once it was clear Titanic was sinking, Ida refused to leave Isidor and would not get into a lifeboat without him, apparently stating: "I will not be separated from my husband. As we have lived, so will we die, together.

Although Isidor was offered a seat in a lifeboat to accompany Ida, he refused seating while there were still women and children aboard. Ida also reportedly gave her maid, Ellen, her fur coat as she would no longer need it, and insisted that she got on a lifeboat.

A memorial plaque for them can be seen today at the 34th Street Memorial Entrance of Macy's Herald Square.

Honeymoon couples

There were 13 known honeymooning couples on board Titanics maiden voyage, including J.J Astor, owner of Waldorf Astoria Hotel (aged 47), and his nineteen year old wife.

According to the New York Times, Astor put up and owned more hotels and skyscrapers than any other New Yorker.

He was estimated to be worth as much as $200 million and was the richest man on Titanic as well as Nelle Stevenson & John Pillsbury Snyder, a relative of the Pillsbury Companys founder.
A Belfast man accused of exposing himself to female students in the University area of the city had his bail varied to allow him to attend Christian Fellowship meetings

A Belfast man accused of exposing himself to female students in the University area of the city had his bail varied to allow him to attend Christian Fellowship meetings.

Jason Leonard Shaw, from Coolfin Street, is facing four separate charges of exposing himself on several dates in August and October 2014.

The 45-year-old has already been granted bail with several conditions imposed - which include a ban on him entering an "exclusion zone" in the Queen's area where he is alleged to have carried out the offences.

Shaw's solicitor Jonathan Burke applied to vary his client's bail to allow him to enter the exclusion zone once a week to attend a Christian Fellowship meeting at premises on University Avenue.

Mr Burke said that during the meeting Shaw would be accompanied by a chaperone from the Christian Fellowship, adding Shaw used this service when he was a remand prisoner.

Crown prosecutor Simon Jenkins said police were objecting to the bail variation due to a fear he would commit further offences.

Mr Jenkins also expressed concerns that the chaperone may not be able to monitor Shaw during the entirety of the weekly meetings, adding the fear of further offending was set against a backdrop of Queen's University being "in session at present".

Judge Gordon Kerr QC expressed reluctance at denying someone the opportunity to attend such a meeting, and agreed to vary Shaw's bail to allow him to attend once a week.

The judge did, however, order that Shaw stay in the company of the chaperone, telling Mr Burke his client was "not allowed to leave the premises".
The DUP has lodged a formal complaint over a Sinn Fein councillor's selfie with the Queen's portrait.

Sinn Fein councillor Patrice Hardy took a picture of herself in the town hall chamber in Ballymena on Tuesday night with the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II in the background.

She posted it on Twitter with the caption "Big Liz says Dia dhuit", a common Irish greeting that means hello or, literally, God be with you.

Beside the text were shamrock and Tricolour emojis.

Councillor Hardy, who is vice chair of Mid and East Antrim Borough Council's planning committee, has since removed the post and apologised for any offence caused.

But the DUP has lodged a formal complaint with the council's chief executive, claiming the post was "inappropriate".

In a statement to the Belfast Telegraph, Councillor Hardy said: "I initially posted the photo as an attempt at humour however, on reflection, I decided to remove it as I felt it may cause offence, which was never my intention."

Confirming the complaint was lodged, DUP Alderman Greg McKeen told the Belfast Telegraph: "I didn't feel it was appropriate. Her position is vice chair of the community planning committee which suggests she is supposed to be representing the whole of mid and east antrim.

"And to put this inappropriate tweet out pre the meeting starting - I thought it was an insult to her Majesty the Queen in the context that it was put out."

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When asked if it was worthy of a formal complaint Mr McKeen said: "If you look at the code of conduct for councillors and behaviour it's potentially bringing the council into disrepute by putting that out and making such a joke and a laugh about the whole situation."

Mr McKeen added: "It was removed very quickly so I'm taking that by her hasty removal from it she is admitting that she was wrong in what she had done. I believe she should apologise to the full council and to the citizens of mid and east Antrim for her behaviour."

A spokesman for the Mid and East Antrim Borough Council said that photography is not currently prohibited in the Council chamber.

He said: "The matter is being examined internally in light of the Code of Conduct and the Social Media Guidelines for Elected Members."

Meanwhile the DUP have remained silent over two complaints lodged against its MLA Jim Wells.
The 'English votes for English laws' system could end up being a short-term experiment, say MPs

The Government's English Votes for English Laws (EVEL) system is too complex and likely to be scrapped in the future, MPs have warned.

The Public Administration Select Committee said the "hostility" with which the arrangements were viewed by parties other than the Tories suggested they could end up as a "short term experiment".

The EVEL rules also appear incompatible with the Barnett formula for distributing funds to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, according to the cross-party group.

The committee's report stressed that there was "strong English demand" for measures to address the "constitutional anomalies" that devolution had brought.

But it insisted the Government's response was "ad hoc" and urged a "comprehensive strategy" on forging a new settlement.

"The new standing orders do require further consideration and evaluation if they are to be anything more than a short-term experiment in the House's internal procedure," the MPs said.

"That former clerks of the House of Commons, individuals steeped in decades of learning about Parliamentary procedure, should have difficulty in discerning what these standing orders mean should raise serious further doubts about how sustainable they are."

The committee said it was "regrettable" that the rules had been "drafted like legislation, by Government Parliamentary draftsmen" instead of written by Clerks. Revisions should be made "by the House, for the House" to make the orders more "coherent and transparent".

The test for whether legislation was England-only was not "very simple" and risked "putting the Speaker in an unnecessarily controversial position", it added.

There were real concerns that decisions taken under EVEL would have funding implications for other parts of the UK.

"It is difficult to reconcile the implementation of EVEL and the continued retention of the Barnett Formula," the report said.

The committee added: "The stridency of the opposition to the new standing orders from the opposition benches underlines their vulnerability.

"With only the Conservative Party in favour of the new arrangements, these standing orders face a high risk of being overridden as soon as there is a non-Conservative majority in the House of Commons ...

"That the standing orders have attracted such hostility and can be removed on the basis of a simple majority must raise doubts as to whether they can ever be more than a temporary expedient, and currently they cannot be considered to be part of a stable constitutional settlement that will endure."

Committee chairman Bernard Jenkin said: "The proposed solutions to the problem of English Votes for English Laws have little cross-party support.

"The new standing orders should have been drafted by the highly-experienced clerks of the House of Commons rather than by Government officials.

"The Government should use the 12-month review period we are in now to develop some more comprehensible proposals that all parties can get behind."

A Government spokesman said: "The Government is committed to a stronger Union and a fair settlement for the whole of the United Kingdom, and English votes for English laws brings an important balance to the unprecedented powers that have been devolved to other parts of the country.

"We will be reviewing the operation of the standing orders later this year, drawing upon the work of both the PACAC (Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee) and the House of Commons Procedure Committee."
Exploris Aquarium in Portaferry has been saved following an investment of 1.5m.

The aquarium has been beset by problems and threats of closure for the past three years.

Ards and North Down Borough Council announced on Thursday that construction work will start on site after Easter.

It will reopen in the summer under a new operator, the company responsible for Crumlin Road Gaol in Belfast, following refurbishment.

The work represents an investment of almost 1.5m. 914,000 of this is from the Department of the Environment and the remainder is from the council and new operator. It is thought the investment will create around 35 jobs.

Crumlin Road Gaol Ltd will operate the aquarium and seal sanctuary on behalf of the council. The company has enjoyed success with Crumlin Road Gaol, which is one of the top three visitor attractions in Northern Ireland.

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Welcoming the announcement, Mayor of Ards and North Down, Alderman Alan Graham, said: "Ards and North Down Borough Council could not be more delighted to make this announcement and confirm details for the reopening of Exploris this summer.

"We are very pleased to have appointed such an innovative company as Crumlin Road Goal to operate the aquarium and seal sanctuary for us. Their proposals are robust and promise to deliver a first class visitor attraction that will contribute to public understanding of marine life and make a very strong contribution to the regeneration and economic life of Portaferry, as well as the wider Ards and North Down area.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Save Exploris campaigners: Tara Alana, Costa Rica. Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners. Caoimhe Clifford, Ulster Hospital. Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners: Karri Davis, American in London. Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners: D Max Sutton, Coney Island man in London. Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners: Damara Lee, Colorado, USA. Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners: Bella, Finaghy, Belfast. Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners: Kent and Regina Chou, Taipei, Taiwan. Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners: "Yes, this is dog". Jetta, Vancouver Island, Canada Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners: Xesus Varela, Xcalac, Mexico. Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners: Xana Blaauw, The Hague, Holland. Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners: Vanessa Blot, California, USA. Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners: Adam and Mary Clifford, Ardglass, Northern Ireland. Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners: Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners: Anna Jess, Banbridge, Northern Ireland. Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners: Krista Banks, Denver, Colorado. Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners: Gillian Brock, Trassey Road girl in Nigeria. Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners: Helder Perez, Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners: Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners: Carole Smith, Afghanistan. Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners: Emmy Lou, Auckland, New Zealand. Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners: Neil Harrison, Belfast. Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners: D Austin Deikeman, Texas, USA. Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners: Natasha Hull, Townsville, Australia. Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners. Love and support from Brussels, Belgium. Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners. Joel Jarvis, Colorado, USA. Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners. D Dusseldorf, Germany. Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners: Wu Yun Fei, Taiwan. Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners: Zoe Dodd, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners Image source: Twitter Save Exploris campaigners Image source: Twitter / Facebook

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Whatsapp Save Exploris campaigners: Tara Alana, Costa Rica. Image source: Twitter

He added: We are very grateful for the financial support provided by the Department of the Environment for the refurbishment works. We appreciate the support provided by Minister Durkin and his officials throughout the process of securing this grant.

Councillor Joe Boyle, who proposed the motion to approve the funding, said he was delighted.

"I've been campaigning on this issue for the past three years. It's good to see Portaferry getting back on its feet."

Cautiously optimistic about #Exploris news. Hopefully it can grow into its world class potential. Well done 2 everyone involved. #PositiveNI  Seanathan (@thejiffster) February 11, 2016

The contract with CRG Ltd is for a minimum of 25 years. CRG Ltd has committed to investing at least 2m into the facility during the life of the contract.

CRG has developed a partnership with Oceanworld Aquarium in Dingle, Co Kerry to assist with the development of specialist educational and conservation programmes around marine life at the aquarium.

Kieran Quinn, Managing Director with CRG Ltd, said: "Its going to be an exciting opportunity working with Ards and North Down Borough Council and other stakeholders in the Portaferry area to create a first class visitor attraction that will be entertaining and educational for visitors.

"With the expertise Kevin Flannery and his colleagues from Dingle Oceanworld we will have the right team in place to ensure the Aquarium becomes one of the best in Europe.

Environment Minister Mark H Durkan said the announcement was a "tremendous boost for the residents and businesses in Portaferry".

"I salute them and the Friends of Exploris Group for their successful campaign to keep the aquarium in their town afloat.

"They undoubtedly faced uncertain times and I was pleased to secure funding of over 900,000 which with council funding, now means work on the new aquarium can begin after Easter.

"This is also a tremendous boost for tourism in the North. A refurbished, modern aquarium will be yet another attraction to bring tourists to our shores.

"Well done to Ards and North Down Borough Council for reeling this in."

When news of the aquarium's closure was announced in 2013 it sparked a global 'Save Exploris' campaign on social media.

Thousands of people across the globe posted pictures of themselves posing with a 'Save Exploris' sign in a bid to earn a reprieve for the aquarium.

Sean Clifford, who organised the photo campaign, said photos had flooded in from as far afield as Honduras, Sweden, Australia, Afghanistan, Peru and Japan urging Stormont to step in to save the doomed marine conservation facility.

Tweeting with hashtag #saveexploris social media users asked people to sign petitions and recalled their memories of visiting the Portaferry-based aquarium.

Background

The axe started swinging above Exploris in September 2013 when the previous Ards Borough Council voted to give it two months to find funding or face being sold off.

A number of councillors argued that at 600,000 a year to run, the aquarium was too expensive for ratepayers to retain.

This sparked an outcry among supporters of Exploris, who staged protests outside council meetings and gathered petitions aimed at keeping it open.

Earlier that year private firm Livingstone Leisure submitted a bid to take over the aquarium, but it subsequently fell through.

Environment Minister Mark H Durkan stepped in pledging first support for the seal sanctuary attached to Exploris, then later for the aquarium itself.

In August 2014 Ards Council voted to accept an offer of money from the Executive of 914,000 capital funding and up to 120,000 revenue funding in principle, but to continue its equality impact assessment consultation on closing the facility.

The new Ards and North Down Council inherited the ongoing situation when it took over last April.

The aquarium has been council-run since it opened in 1987.

The seal sanctuary attached to Exploris has continued to help and rescue the animals throughout the aquarium's closure.
Veteran author Jack Higgins has revealed that growing up on Belfast streets riddled with sectarian tension was the springboard for his phenomenal success.

Higgins, real name Harry Patterson, said his understanding of how people in Northern Ireland behaved before and during the Troubles inspired The Savage Day, a turning point in his career after a decade of relatively unsuccessful detective novels.

He went on to sell over 300 million books, including Second World War classic The Eagle Has Landed, which sold 50m.

"What really got me going as a writer was that originally I came from Northern Ireland," said the now Jersey-based Higgins.

"I have a reputation in my books for writing about the Irish problems. When things got particularly bad in Northern Ireland in the 1970s, a number of relatives had a pretty bad time there.

"I had two cousins killed by IRA bombs. Having been raised there, I felt I actually understood why people were behaving in the way they did. The real turning point for me was that I decided to write a book about it."

The author, now 86, spent his formative years on the Shankill Road after his mother returned there following a failed relationship with his father in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where Higgins was born.

"After I wrote The Savage Day (about a man who attempts to recover gold stolen by the IRA in Belfast) I changed to using the name Jack Higgins," he told the Chichester Observer.

"I used Higgins as it was the name of my mother's family. It was the Higgins family that had raised me in Belfast. And I had an uncle Jack who was very much involved in Orange politics."

In an interview in The Guardian, Higgins recalled the obvious tension that existed between rival religions in Belfast when he was a boy.

"As a Protestant, I'd get beaten up by Catholics, and there was one occasion when shots were fired at the tram we were travelling in and my mother pushed me on the floor and lay on top of me," he said.

"On another, a Catholic priest patted me on the head and said: 'Poor wee boy, his black Orange soul will go straight to Hell'.

"Strangely, though, these experiences made me less, rather than more, sectarian.

"I came to see both religions as morally compromised and oppressed, and have written that ambiguity into two main characters, Liam Devlin and Sean Dillon, who have appeared in 17 novels.

"Many Catholics even assume that I am Catholic from the way I write."

Higgins returned to England after his mother remarried, and began writing novels in 1959.

After the commercial success of The Savage Day, Higgins wrote another IRA-influenced novel, A Prayer For The Dying, which would later form the basis of a Hollywood movie starring Mickey Rourke and Liam Neeson.

But it was The Eagle Has Landed, about a wartime German commando unit sent into England to kidnap Winston Churchill, which propelled Higgins to the top of the global best-sellers list in the mid-Seventies.
A junior doctor holds her daughter and a placard as she takes part in a picket outside Kings College Hospital in London yesterday

Junior doctors and their supporters taking part in a march in Newcastle against plans for a new contract

Junior doctors on the picket line outside Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital during Tuesday's strike

Junior doctors have held a series of protests over pay and conditions

Northern Ireland's health minister has said he has "no desire" to impose the new junior doctor contract here which is set to be introduced in England.

The new contract is set to be imposed on junior doctors in England after negotiations with the British Medical Association failed.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt addressed the Commons outlining how talks with the British Medical Association (BMA) have ended in a stalemate.

The Government drafted in Sir David Dalton - chief executive of Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust - to broker a deal but the deadlock could not be broken.

The news came as junior doctors concluded a second 24-hour strike in their long-running dispute.

Junior doctors in Northern Ireland did not strike, although they showed support for those in England who did.

The major sticking point in the dispute is over weekend pay and whether Saturday should be largely classed as a normal working day.

Currently, 7pm to 7am Monday to Friday and the whole of Saturday and Sunday attracts a premium rate of pay for junior doctors.

But the Government wants the Saturday day shift to be paid at a normal rate in return for a hike in basic pay.

In a statement Mr Hamilton said he had "no desire" to impose a contract on junior doctors here and said he wants junior doctors in Northern Ireland to "feel valued".

He said: "I am disappointed that a negotiated settlement on a new contract for junior doctors has been unable to be reached.

I continue to believe that a negotiated settlement is the best way forward, and I reiterate my long held view that I have no desire to impose a contract on Junior Doctors in Northern Ireland.

I have asked my officials to continue to engage in discussions with local BMA representatives with a view to developing an agreed way forward for Northern Ireland. I trust that we can work on a replacement for a contract which has been recognised as not fit for purpose and find a solution that is tailored to Northern Ireland's needs, is not punitive to local taxpayers and, most importantly, ensures a safe service for patients.

I want Northern Ireland to be recognised as a place where junior doctors feel valued and where they can have a rewarding career.

In response to Mr Hunt's decision the British Medical Association said it would "consider all options open to us".

Dr Johann Malawana, the BMA's junior doctor committee chairman, said: "The decision to impose a contract is a sign of total failure on the Government's part."

He accused Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt of "ploughing ahead with proposals that are fundamentally unfair" and warned that it had no plans just to accept the contract.

He said: "The Government's shambolic handling of this process from start to finish has totally alienated a generation of junior doctors - the hospital doctors and GPs of the future, and there is a real risk that some will vote with their feet.

"Our message to the Government is clear - junior doctors cannot and will not accept a contract that is bad for the future of patient care, the profession and the NHS as a whole, and we will consider all options open to us."

Mr Hunt told MPs that if just one doctor works one hour over the maximum shift rate, it can trigger a 66% pay rise for all doctors on that rota.

He said there was a "patent unfairness" to the existing contract but progress in reforming it had been "slow".

He said the Government's chief negotiator Sir David Dalton - who was drafted in to broker a deal - had told him a "negotiated solution is not realistically possible" with the BMA.

Mr Hunt added that with the backing of major NHS groups including NHS Employers and NHS England, Sir David "has asked me to end the uncertainty for the service by proceeding with the introduction of a new contract that he and his colleagues consider both safer for patients and reasonable for junior doctors.

"I have therefore today decided to do that."

Mr Hunt said the new contract will mean an increase in basic salary of 13.5% - higher than the previously stated 11% - and that three quarters of doctors will see their take-home pay increase.

No doctor working contracted hours would see a pay cut.

Furthermore, the new contract would cut the maximum number of hours worked every week by junior doctors from 91 to 72.

The maximum number of consecutive nights a doctor can work will also be cut from seven to four, while the maximum number of long days will also be reduced from seven to five.

No doctor will ever be rostered subsequent weekends, Mr Hunt added.

Under the new contract, 7am to 5pm on Saturdays will be regarded as a normal working day.

Doctors working one in four or more Saturdays will receive a pay premium of 30%. Mr Hunt said this was higher on average than that available for nurses, midwives, paramedics, fire officers and police officers.

Mr Hunt added: "While I understand that this process has generated considerable dismay among junior doctors, I believe that the new contract we are introducing - shaped by David Dalton and with over 90% of measures agreed by the BMA - is one that, in time, can command the confidence of both the workforce and their employers."

He said there was an "overwhelming consensus" that the standard of weekend services is "too low with insufficient senior clinical decision makers.

Mr Hunt also announced a review to examine junior doctors' morale, quality of life and wellbeing.
Northern Ireland house prices will rise moderately in 2016, industry experts have said

Northern Ireland house prices will rise moderately in 2016, industry experts have said.

The latest Residential Market Survey from Ulster Bank and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) also predicts strong sales growth in the coming three months.

However, surveyors also reported a fall in the number of new houses coming on to the market for a second time in three months.

At the same time, they said new buyer enquiries increased in January, albeit modestly, for the 47th month in a row.

RICS Northern Ireland residential property spokesman Samuel Dickey said an imbalance between supply and demand was pushing up prices.

"Supply remains the key issue in the market, particularly in the greater Belfast area," he added.

"Demand has been increasing, and good quality homes in good areas are very much strongly sought after, leading to bidding for properties.

"The reasonably strong economic data for Northern Ireland at the beginning of this year would suggest that the conditions are there for demand to continue rising.

"However, as we move into the traditionally busy time of the year, more properties should come on to the market as well, which should help alleviate the supply issue."

A net balance of 58% of surveyors reported an increase in prices in January, compared with 32% the previous month.

Meanwhile, a net balance of 30% also expect prices to rise over the next three months. Over the course of 2016, the RICS expects Northern Ireland house prices to rise by 5%.

Surveyors also indicated an increase in sales in January and said they expected the volume of sales to rise in the next three months.

Sean Murphy, regional managing director of branch and private banking at Ulster Bank, said the survey chimed with other economic indicators showing business activity rising in January.

"It also correlates with our own mortgage data which was strong in January, and which we expect to increase further as we move into the traditionally busy period for the housing market," he added.

In relation to the UK market, new buyer enquiries rose for the tenth month in a row in January, with the pace of growth in enquiries accelerating for a second consecutive report.

Survey feedback continued to suggest that the recent significant increase in demand is due to a rush of buy-to-let investors hoping to buy before the 3% Stamp Duty surcharge comes into effect in April.

Critically, 74% of respondents expect an increase of purchases by buy-to-let investors prior to the changes.
West Midlands Police's Chief Constable was yesterday ordered to produce any information surrounding a claim the force may have been tipped off in advance of the Birmingham pub bombings by an IRA mole.

A coroner made the order after hearing legal submissions on whether there was enough evidence to resume an inquest into the 21 deaths in 1974.

Louise Hunt, the senior coroner for Birmingham and Solihull, said she was adjourning proceedings because of an "evidential vacuum" around the mole claim.

Earlier, Ashley Underwood QC, representing three of the families, said: "There is reason to believe the murderers had an informant and that the police knew in advance. There is reason to believe police had time, between the warnings and the first bomb, to evacuate, and that emergency services could have arrived earlier, but that records were falsified."

The force's barrister, Jeremy Johnson QC, told Ms Hunt Chief Constable Dave Thompson had "no principled objection to the resumption" of the inquest but questioned if the coroner had the right to make such an order. But he added the police would comply with the order on documents.

On the night of November 21, 1974, devastating blasts ripped through the Tavern in the Town and the Mulberry Bush pubs, which were packed with pre-Christmas revellers. The attacks are believed to have been the work of the IRA.

A police investigation led to the wrongful convictions of the Birmingham Six, who were released in 1991. One of their number, Paddy Hill, was at the Coroners Court yesterday to hear proceedings.

Concluding the first of what was scheduled to be three days of submissions, Ms Hunt said she needed more information before a decision on the inquest.

Making her order, the coroner asked for any information held by the police "in relation to the timing of the bombings and any evidence that the state had advance notice of the bombings".

She also asked the force for any evidence held surrounding "whether or not there was an informant", and whether the response to telephoned bomb warnings was delayed.

A summary of the previous police investigations carried out since 1991 was also requested, along with a list of "lost" and destroyed evidence from the original criminal investigation. A police review ending in 2014 found that of 168 exhibits listed for the original trial, 35 could not be located.

All the information must be provided by March 4, along with a statement from a senior officer.

Addressing the families, the coroner said: "I know you've waited a long time, and it's never helpful to wait a little longer, but I want to get everything right."

Earlier, she described the events of that night as "a terrible atrocity resulting in the deaths of innocent people".

Outlining the current state of the police's criminal investigation into the bombings, Mr Johnson said there had been three developments in the case, including new potential forensic evidence, a book by former IRA spymaster Kieran Conway, and a first-hand account from now dead West Midlands fireman Alan Hill.

An inquest was opened and adjourned after the attacks but was never resumed after the convictions of the Birmingham Six.

Speaking outside court, Julie Hambleton, whose 18-year-old sister Maxine, was killed by the Tavern bomb, said the families had been "left in limbo".

A provisional decision date has been set by the coroner for April 6.
Sinn Fein MEP Martina Anderson has been barred from Gaza by the Israeli authorities for the fourth time in two years.

She was leading an EU cross-party delegation on a fact-finding mission when she was denied entry.

The Northern Ireland MEP said the purpose of her delegation's visit was to "assess the situation on the ground and the impact EU policies and assistance programmes are having on the lives of Palestinians".

"Despite stating clearly that the remit of this delegation has a purely social, economic and humanitarian focus, we continue to be blocked," she said.

Ms Anderson was leading a group from the European Parliament's Delegation for Relations with Palestine.

Last March Ms Anderson was held for two hours at Tel Aviv Airport after visiting Jerusalem before being told she could not enter Gaza.

She was also denied access in September 2014 and October 2013.
A Stormont debate on abortion yesterday went long into the night - although the chance of any immediate legislative changes at the end appeared slim.

MLAs were considering controversial proposals to permit abortions in cases where the foetus has no chance of survival outside the womb (fatal foetal abnormality) or where a sexual crime has been committed.

However, any change to the law here appeared unlikely well before the late night vote after the DUP and SDLP signalled their opposition.

The DUP wants Health Minister Simon Hamilton to establish a working group to examine the issue and report back in six months' time.

A spokesman said: "We believe that this issue should best be dealt with in a measured way, rather than in haste and without the benefit of appropriate scrutiny.

"Rushed law can often turn out to be bad law. Indeed, we understand that the Attorney General has concerns about these amendments. This Justice Bill was not intended for this purpose."

The vexed issue of abortion has long divided opinion in Northern Ireland, but was thrust back on to the political agenda when Sarah Ewart went public about having to travel for an abortion after being told her baby had no skull and could not survive after birth.

Following a landmark legal action by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission last year, a High Court judge found the failure to provide legal exceptions breached human rights obligations.

In cases of fatal foetal abnormality, Mr Justice Mark Horner concluded the mother's inability to access an abortion was a "gross interference with her personal autonomy", while a disproportionate burden was placed on victims when a sexual crime occurred.

The judge's declaration of incompatibility did not immediately lift the ban, but placed an onus on the Stormont Assembly to legislate.

SDLP MLA Dolores Kelly raised concerns that relaxing legislation could pave the way for "abortion on demand". She said: "This proposed amendment, what legislators may believe is a discreet and minor development of existing law, has also introduced a critical difference to the underlying philosophy of abortion legislation which will undoubtedly be focused upon by those who seek greater change."

The Ulster Unionist Party gave MLAs a free vote on the issue.

Party leader Mike Nesbitt said: "I am not comfortable standing here as a man discussing what a woman should do with her body.

"We all should agree this is a horrendous choice for these women, their partners and their families."

Before the debate, Stormont's top legal adviser, Attorney General John Larkin QC, raised concerns that changing the law on fatal foetal abnormality could breach obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

In a letter to Traditional Unionist Voice MLA Jim Allister, Mr Larkin said: "Providing for a criminal law exception for 'fatal foetal abnormality', as proposed by this amendment, provides unborn children diagnosed with such a disability with much less protection under the law of Northern Ireland than those without such a disability."

During the debate Alliance Party MLA Stewart Dickson said: "If we are to continue to fail women in Northern Ireland then we are abdicating our duties as representatives."

The UK's 1967 Abortion Act does not extend to Northern Ireland, where abortions are banned except where the life or mental health of the mother is in danger.

Anyone who performs an illegal termination could be jailed for life.

Every year hundreds of women travel to other parts of the UK for abortions.

Sinn Fein said its MLAs would support the amendments.

"There is no place at births for politicians," said Caitriona Ruane.

"We are supposed to make the law. It's the clinician, the woman and her family who should decide and that is key here today."

Timeline for how issue came back on agenda

Abortion has been a divisive issue in Northern Ireland for many years. Here is a timeline of significant events which have put it back on the political agenda.

October 2013: Sarah Ewart (24) goes public about having to travel to England to access abortion services after being told her baby had a fatal foetal abnormality and could not survive outside the womb. Her experience shines a public spotlight on the contentious issue and sparks huge public debate.

October 2014: The Department of Justice (DoJ) publishes a public consultation on proposals to amend the criminal law on abortion, to allow for termination of pregnancy in cases of lethal foetal abnormality, and sought views on sexual crime.

December 2014: The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) initiates legal proceedings against the DoJ, claiming the existing law violates the human rights of women and girls. The commission said the DoJ consultation did not go far enough and did not deal with cases of serious malformation of foetus.

February 2015: The NIHRC successfully applies for leave to judicially review the law on termination of pregnancy in Northern Ireland at the High Court.

April 2015: Northern Ireland's Justice Minister David Ford announces a recommendation to change the abortion law in cases of fatal foetal abnormality, but would not proceed with changes relating to pregnancy resulting from sexual crime.

June 2015: The NIHRC judicial review of the law on termination of pregnancy is heard by Mr Justice Mark Horner over three days at the High Court in Belfast.

November 2015: Mr Justice Mark Horner rules the strict abortion laws in Northern Ireland are in breach of human rights legislation.

January 2015: Mr Ford and Attorney General John Larkin QC indicate separately they are to appeal the High Court ruling.

February 10 2015: Assembly Members at Stormont debate amendments to the Justice Bill, which include proposals to relax the law on abortion in cases of fatal foetal abnormality and sexual crime.
George Best Belfast City Airport could become one of the UK's five noisiest if controversial expansion plans get the go-ahead, a Stormont committee has been warned.

More than 50,000 people across Belfast and north Down are affected by undesirably high levels of aircraft noise, the Regional Development Committee was told.

Residents want an independent aircraft noise regulator for Northern Ireland to be appointed and robust noise fines for airlines.

Belfast City Airport Watch (BCAW), an umbrella body of 13 community groups in affected areas, is calling for an airports strategy to be drawn up. It also wants airport planning agreements to be properly implemented and enforced.

In a briefing to MLAs, the group said Belfast City Airport had applied to amend its planning agreement in a way that would enable it to further expand operations and relax current noise controls which have not been properly implemented and enforced.

BCAW urged the Executive to reject the proposals and told the committee the airport's own figures showed that 51,910 people were already impacted by undesirably high aircraft noise in Belfast and north Down.

"Even in 2014, the number affected by City Airport's operations at the level considered by the UK government to cause serious community annoyance (4,107) was greater than Gatwick Airport (3,550) and Stansted Airport (1,400)," a spokesperson said.

"If the airport's proposals go ahead and noise levels rise to their permitted maximum, City Airport would become one of the five noisiest in the UK in terms of population impact.

"If the City Airport succeeds in expanding further, it is likely to be at the expense of Belfast International Airport, which would simply mean a transfer of both passengers and jobs from one local airport to the other.

A spokesman for Belfast City Airport said: "There are well-established noise regulations in relation to UK airports, of which Belfast City Airport is fully compliant. These were taken into account at the recent public inquiry into the removal of the airport's redundant seats for sale restriction, which heard evidence from all parties, including the Department for Regional Development and BCAW.

"Last week's Planning Appeal Commission report recommended that the removal of the seats for sale restriction should be accompanied by additional noise controls, and the airport will be making representations to the Department of the Environment in the timeframe requested."
Every week, 20 women from Northern Ireland will travel to England to access abortion services. Stock image

Bernadette Smyth from Precious Life, the largest anti-abortion group in Northern Ireland, rejects that women's lives are being put at risk by strict laws

Unlike other parts of the UK, the 1967 Abortion Act does not extend to Northern Ireland [Picture posed]

Northern Ireland Assembly members have clashed on the defeat of an amendment to the Justice Bill, which would have allowed abortion in the case of fatal foetal abnormalities.

Some are describing the vote's outcome as a missed opportunity while others said it was the right thing to do as more consideration was needed on the issue.

In a debate which went on late into the night, the amendment was defeated by 59 votes to 40.

Sinn Fein said the Assembly missed a "huge opportunity" and those that opposed the amendment were "against human rights" and that the current law was incompatible with those rights.

East Londonderry MLA Cathal O hOisin lost a child immediately after birth due to a fatal foetal abnormality.

He said he was disappointed with the vote's outcome, "particularly for the likes of Sarah Ewart and all those women and couples who have come forward and shared their experiences".

"They have been promised support, but that somewhat dissipated last night," he said.

"But I am sure this matter will be revisited."

Speaking after the vote, the DUP's Nelson McCausland told the BBC: "The Assembly made the right decision on what are very important issues.

"These are issues that should not be rushed and to throw in amendments at the last minute, without proper consideration and without allowing the Assembly to scrutinise them - that's not the way to go about things."

Speaking on the BBC Stephen Nolan show, the SDLP's Dolores Kelly, whose party voted against the proposal,called for the health minister to publish draft guidelines.

She told the BBC's Stephen Nolan Show: "The SDLP formed its view from the most senior clinicians in the north and from legal experts and we welcome the DUP's working group.

"There needs to be greater clarity, that's what clinicians tell us."

A fatal foetal abnormality diagnosis means doctors believe an unborn child has a terminal condition and will die in the womb or shortly after birth.

Anyone who performs an illegal termination could be jailed for life. The law has been the subject of a bitter legal battle and landmark ruling.

It's thought thousands of woman travel to the UK every year for an abortion.

Sarah Ewart's baby did not develop a skull and was brain dead, but she could not access a termination in Northern Ireland because of the legislation.

She said her personal tragedy had been turned into a "living nightmare" by Northern Ireland law.

The DUP has asked Health Minister Simon Hamilton to set up a working group to examine the issues raised by fatal foetal abnormality.

UUP leader, Mike Nesbitt, accused the DUP of using a mechanism to delay making a decision until after the forthcoming May Assembly elections.

The MLA - who voted in favour of the amendment - described the move as "Dickensian".

"This is Bleak House we are in today  in the chancery courts waiting day after day after day after day for a decision that never comes.

"How cruel to those campaigning because they want relief from us."

Although DUP leader and First Minister Arlene Foster dismissed the suggestion saying she was "confused" as there was no petition of concern lodged.

Justice Minister and Alliance leader David Ford described the working group proposal as a "fudge" that would allow the matter to be dealt with after the forthcoming vote.

Very convincing majority in favour of preserving life in the abortion vote: 59:40. Good outcome.  Jim Allister (@JimAllister) February 11, 2016

"It would appear that that is what some people want, that it was any excuse at all to avoid taking a decision last night so they can fudge the issue," he said.

Alliance MLA Stewart Dickson - who proposed the amendment alongside Trevor Lunn - expressed his disappointment over the vote's outcome.

"It was disingenuous for people to claim proper consultation was needed, when the Department of Justice did this extensively in 2014," he said.

"The campaign to take a major step forward for women's healthcare in Northern Ireland will not stop. I will seek to bring a private member's bill on FFA at the earliest possible opportunity, so we can reform the law and provide options that are not currently there for women."

While the Green's Steven Agnew described it as a "wasted opportunity to allow women to seek medical treatment in limited, but traumatic, circumstances".

Les Allamby, Chief Commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission said a political resolution was needed to make legislation "human rights compliant".
Northern Ireland's Human Rights Commission has accused the Assembly of neglecting women's rights after it rejected proposals to relax abortion laws.

However Christian campaigners said the existing rules provide vital protection for women, after Stormont members voted by a majority of 59 to 40 against amending legislation to allow terminations in cases of fatal foetal abnormality and sexual crime.

Unlike other parts of the UK, the 1967 Abortion Act does not extend to Northern Ireland, where abortions are banned except where the life or mental health of the mother is in danger.

Anyone who performs an illegal termination could be jailed for life. The law has been the subject of a bitter legal battle and landmark ruling.

Hundreds of women travel to other parts of the UK for abortions every year.

Chief human rights commissioner Les Allamby said: "The Northern Ireland Assembly has failed to act in accordance with the court judgment.

"Our elected representatives have neglected the fundamental rights of vulnerable women and girls facing the most difficult circumstances, when they could have resolved the situation."

In cases of fatal foetal abnormality, Belfast High Court judge Mr Justice Mark Horner concluded the mother's inability to access an abortion was a "gross interference with her personal autonomy" while a disproportionate burden was placed on victims when a sexual crime occurred.

A proposal to legalise the termination of pregnancies where the foetus cannot survive outside the womb was tabled by Alliance Party MLAs Stewart Dickson and Trevor Lunn.

Callum Webster of the Christian Institute lobby group said: "It is heartening that the majority of MLAs have voted to uphold the sanctity of life today at Stormont.

"T here has been a media campaign to undermine the legal protections afforded to our unborn children, but thankfully politicians have resisted that co-ordinated pressure."

Justice Minister David Ford brought forward the proposed change and said the matter could remain in limbo for some time.

Abortion has long divided opinion in Northern Ireland.

In 2013 young mother Sarah Ewart went public about having to travel for an abortion after being told her baby had no skull and could not survive after birth.

Last year Mr Justice Horner ruled that the failure to provide legal exceptions to the prohibition breached human rights obligations.

His declaration of incompatibility did not immediately lift the ban but placed an onus on the Assembly to legislate.

A date for a legal appeal against the ruling is to be set on Friday.

Stormont's chief legal adviser, attorney general John Larkin QC, is among those opposed to changing the law and has outlined concerns that the move could breach obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).

Mr Lunn accused opponents of lacking compassion and choked back tears as he recalled having to make the "painful" decision to access a termination because of a fatal foetal abnormality many years ago.

His baby died while arrangements were being made, the Assembly was told.

"The pain of that decision lives with us today," said Mr Lunn.

Ahead of Wednesday night's debate the DUP said it wanted the Health Minister to convene a commission to examine the issue of abortion and report back in six months.
The Irish Government's UK ambassador has said he is confident a deal will be done between Britain and the EU over Europe.

Proposals recently put forward in an effort to avoid a Brexit are "significant", Dan Mulhall added.

He said Ireland supports British efforts to improve competitiveness - promoting the single market; boosting the digital economy and tackling climate change.

He said: "I am confident, I am optimistic that a solution will be found that will enable the government to go to a referendum with a new set of proposals for the British public."

A summit of EU leaders on a Brexit is due next week.

Prime Minister David Cameron has been meeting key European Union figures over a draft deal put forward by European Council president Donald Tusk aimed at keeping Britain in.

Mr Cameron has called for greater British sovereignty and restrictions on in-work benefits for EU migrants known as an "emergency brake".

The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee of MPs has been holding an inquiry in to the effect of a Brexit on Northern Ireland.

Mr Mulhall told the committee the Irish Government supported Britain on welfare fraud reform but said the provisions were still being worked on.

He said Ireland had a similar proportion of its population born outside the state as Britain but there was not the same focus on resistance to migration or free movement.

The ambassador said the renegotiations reminded him of Ireland's experience after voters rejected the first referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, which reformed the EU, and the Republic had to seek further concessions.
Prominent republican 'Dee' Fennell has been ordered to stand trial, accused of encouraging support for the IRA.

Standing in the dock of Craigavon Magistrates Court, 33-year-old Fennell was formally charged with addressing a meeting "and the purpose of the said address was to encourage support for a proscribed organisation, namely the Irish Republican Army," on April 5 last year.

Fennell, from Torrens Avenue in north Belfast, faces two further charges alleging that he further encouraged and invited support for a proscribed organisation.

The charge relates to a speech he gave during a 1916 commemoration event at St Colman's graveyard in Lurgan, Co Armagh on Easter Sunday.

Previous courts have heard claims that when police officers searched Fennell's home on April 20, they recovered one page of the hand-written speech behind a kitchen microwave.

His address was recorded and broadcast on the internet, only to be removed following media reports that police were investigating the content.

Fennell, a spokesman for the Greater Ardoyne Residents Collective - which opposes Orange Order marches through his neighbourhood - was said to have been addressing an event by the Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association, but during police questioning, where he denied encouraging any terrorism, his lawyer read a prepared statement claiming his comments about the armed struggle and existence of the IRA were his personal opinion.

Yesterday, the prosecution lawyer submitted that Fennell had a case to answer based on legal papers before the court - a submission which his defence lawyer took no issue with.

That being the case, District Judge Mervyn Bates said he was satisfied there was a prima facie case against Fennell who, although he had been given the opportunity to comment on the charge or give evidence to the committal hearing, chose to remain silent.

Releasing Fennell on continuing bail, Judge Bates ordered him to appear before Belfast Crown Court for his arraignment on a date to be fixed.
Ken Lewis of the Irish Guards with his wife Kate and two eldest sons after he received the Military Medal

A Co Antrim war hero who won the Military Medal for courage under fire has died aged 74.

Ken Lewis was decorated for his part in a daring defensive operation during the Aden Emergency in 1967.

His commendation paid tribute to his "outstanding leadership" and "exceptional courage".

The Irish Guards were deployed to the area in 1966 to fight an insurgency in the then British-controlled territories of South Arabia, which now form part of Yemen.

Duties included establishing a cordon, carrying out search operations on board the HMS Fearless, keeping roads open, patrolling and setting up checkpoints.

Mr Lewis was a lance corporal when his patrol went into action in the Radfan Mountains in April 1967.

A band of guerrillas approached from an unexpected direction, out of the patrol's line of fire.

It fell to Lance Corporal Lewis as second in command to spring the ambush. Showing extraordinary bravery, he stood up in view of the enemy and opened fire at point-blank range.

His medal citation records that he continued to jump up and down from his position to bring maximum fire to the enemy and secure his flank - despite exposing himself to intense danger each time he rose.

Upon receiving the order to abandon the post, Lance Corporal Lewis ensured the withdrawal was carried out in an orderly fashion, despite continuing heavy fire from the enemy.

The citation commended his great calmness and firmness and described how the soldier held the position together at a critical point and prevented it from being overrun.

"His fearless exposure to enemy fire inspired his group to fight through to the bitter end," the citation said.

"In the withdrawal, by his calm and firm action, he rallied and steadied the patrol when it became apparent that severe casualties had been suffered.

"Throughout the engagement, Lance Corporal Lewis displayed outstanding leadership and exceptional leadership and exceptional courage.

"The success of the ambush, in which four dissidents were reported killed and seven wounded, owes much to the gallant and selfless actions of this non-commissioned officer."

The Lisburn man joined the Irish Guards at the age of 20 in 1961.

Aside from Aden, he saw service in Northern Ireland, Belize and Germany.

He left the Irish Guards in 1977 and after working for a time as an Army recruiter, he joined the Prison Service, where he ended up under fire again when he was on duty at the Maze on September 25, 1983.

Some 38 IRA prisoners - including Sinn Fein's Gerry Kelly - escaped after smuggling six guns into the jail before taking several warders hostage to prevent the alarm being raised.

A prison officer colleague who was a friend of Mr Lewis' survived being shot in the head by Kelly during the breakout.

Mr Lewis died last week, and was laid to rest with military honours following a service in Newtownards on Saturday.

His son Kevin spoke of his pride at his father's extraordinary service, and revealed that he had never spoken about his incredible life until just two weeks before his death.
An animal's tooth in jam, a beetle in a burger and a worm in a chicken nugget were among thousands of complaints made to food safety chiefs last year, they have revealed.

Other food contamination scares at restaurants and food outlets throughout the country included a snail found in a pick 'n' mix bag of sweets, a metal screw in a cake and a sharp piece of glass in a packet of frozen peas.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), which is charged with making sure traders serve food that is fit to eat, said it received 2,739 complaints from customers during 2015.

Other complaints included cases of mouldy bread being used to make sandwiches in food outlets, undercooked food being served, out-of-date food being sold in shops and strange tastes coming from food.

Edel Smyth, of the FSAI, said consumers are much less tolerant now of poor food hygiene and safety.

"In recent years, consumers have become much more conscious about the food they consume and are increasingly vigilant about food safety issues," she said.

"There is now a low level of tolerance around poor hygiene standards and food that is unfit to eat in particular.

"This is a welcome development and is reflected in the level of complaints we receive directly from consumers."

Ms Smyth said the FSAI encourages anyone who has had a bad food safety experience to report the matter to the authority.

All complaints are followed up and investigated by enforcement officers throughout the country, she added.

The number of complaints specifically about poor hygiene standards at food outlets jumped 14% last year - up to 643 - compared with the previous year.

There was a 10% rise in complaints about incorrect information on food labelling while the number of consumers who contacted the authority about food that was unfit to eat dropped 12%.

There was also a 4% dip in complaints about food poisoning, down to 510.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has condemned threats levelled against a number of journalists following reporting of the latest gangland killings in Dublin.

The Independent News and Media (INM) group said gardai had formally notified a number of its reporters that their safety was at risk from organised criminals.

The sinister development comes in the wake of widespread coverage in Ireland and beyond of two murders linked to a crime gang feud.

Mr Kenny said: "On behalf of the Government and myself I deplore and condemn any threat made to any journalist in this jurisdiction. One of the pillars of a functioning democracy is freedom of speech and in any self-respecting society, journalists must be afforded the freedom to go about their jobs without fear of reprisal. Those who engaged in the recent killings on our streets will be brought to justice and no resource will be spared in doing so.

"The journalists at whom these threats have been levelled have our full support as do all journalists bravely going about their daily duties."

INM said it was working with gardai to strengthen security around the threatened journalists and had taken every precaution to ensure their safety.

The organisation said it had decided, after consulting with the reporters, to make the threats public in order to highlight the danger posed to the media.

INM Editor-in-Chief Stephen Rae said: "This is an outrageous threat to the freedom of the press in Ireland and we are taking the threats with the utmost seriousness. The safety of our journalists is of paramount importance. It is disturbing that threats of this nature have emerged as we approach the20th anniversary of the death of our colleague Veronica Guerin, who was murdered by criminals for exposing their activities. Our media group will not be deterred from serving the public interest and highlighting the threat to society at large posed by such criminals."

Seamus Dooley, Irish Secretary of the National Union of Journalists, said: "We have learned with shock of threats against journalists working with INM. We are gravely concerned at this latest development, which follows the two recent senseless murders in Dublin. Journalists and media organisations will not be intimidated by such threats, which have no place in a democratic society.

"Our immediate thoughts are with those under threat and their families. No journalists should be placed under threat for doing their job. We remind all journalists to remain vigilant and to be mindful of their personal safety. Employers and editorial managers must continue to support, training and guidance to staff and freelance journalists covering dangerous situations. INM has told me it is supporting those under threat and is mindful of their obligations."

INM owns several newspapers including the Irish Independent, Herald and Belfast Telegraph.

Fianna Fail Leader Micheal Martin described the development as very sinister.

He said it will evoke memories of the very worst days of gangland violence and the murder of Veronica Guerin 20 years ago.

"It will add to the sense of vulnerability and chaos that many communities now feel and further confirms the total contempt that these thugs have for our society and the freedoms that we hold dear, he said.

"We must face this violence with resolute action and we must face these threats to journalists with more public scrutiny.

"I know that these individual journalists and their colleagues will be feeling worried. But I also want them to know that they do not stand alone and that all right thinking decent people in this country stand with them."

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said: There can be no place in society for threats to any journalists. It is clear that the thugs and gangsters behind the recent shootings in Dublin believe that they can act with impunity.

There is no place for them in our communities and An Garda Siochana must be fully supported and resources freed up to bring these gangsters to justice.

Renua Ireland leader Lucinda Creighton has called for campaigning to be suspended in the General Election on the back of the latest developments.

Ms Creighton said this evening that the Cabinet needs to meet to come up with an adequate response to the crisis.

The events of the last week now represent a threat to the security of the State, she said.

Irish Independent
England footballer Adam Johnson has been sacked by Premier League Sunderland after he admitted a charge of grooming and one of sexual activity with a 15-year-old girl.

The 28-year-old winger will go on trial on Friday at Bradford Crown Court on two further counts of sexual activity with the same girl which he denies.

Sunderland released a statement on Thursday evening to say his contract had been terminated.

The club said: "In light of Adam Johnson's guilty pleas, the club has today terminated his contract with immediate effect. The club will make no further comment."

The news came hours after his boot sponsor Adidas announced they had terminated his deal.

The 10 million player, signed by Sunderland from Manchester City, had denied all the charges against him up until Wednesday's hearing.

Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce had earlier confirmed that Johnson would not be involved in the squad for Saturday's Barclays Premier League clash with Manchester United.

The grooming charge he has admitted relates to a period between December 30 2014 and February 26 2015.

Johnson, capped 12 times by England, also admitted sexual activity on January 30 2015 which involved kissing and touching the youngster's body.

A jury was sworn in on Wednesday and was told the prosecution case will open on Friday morning.
Guidelines recommended men and women should consume no more than 14 units of alcohol per week

The UK's new drinking guidelines are "unlikely to cut drinking directly", an expert has said.

But the new guidance has raised awareness of drinking harms so may "shift public discourse on alcohol and the policies that can reduce our consumption," Professor Theresa Marteau argued.

Prof Marteau, d irector of the behaviour and health research unit at the University of Cambridge, and a member of the committee that produced the guidelines, said that there is little evidence for any effect of health-related guidelines on behaviour.

She added that few people oppose attempts to provide the public with information about health risks, but public support " ebbs away as interventions become more intrusive".

But she argued that "novel information" on risk can change behaviour - saying that smoking rates fell overnight following the research linking smoking with adverse health outcomes in 1962.

"The new UK alcohol guidelines present novel information on the link between alcohol and cancer," she said.

In an observation published in the BMJ, she added that following the publication of the guidance, Google Trends showed more searches for "alcohol and cancer" compared with the same week the previous year.

The guidance, issued last month, said no level of regular drinking is without risk to health and presented a link between regular drinking and cancer - recommending that men and women should consume no more than 14 units of alcohol per week.

"The new alcohol guidelines are unlikely to cut drinking directly," she wrote.

" But they may shift public discourse on alcohol and the policies that can reduce our consumption.

"As the debate around the guidelines continues, with references to the nanny state and the killing of joy, we should keep in focus the objective of alcohol policies: to reduce the blight without losing the delight that alcohol brings."
Private Cheryl James, who was found dead from a bullet wound at Deepcut Barracks in 1995

Trainee recruits at Deepcut Barracks were left "running around" taking illegal drugs and drinking while under age, an inquest has been told.

Private Cheryl James, 18, was found dead from a single bullet wound at the Army training base in Surrey on November 27 1995.

Warrant Officer Sarah Ditchfield, who carried out her training alongside Pte James, described Deepcut as "chaotic" and said there was not enough supervision for the young trainees.

She told Surrey Coroner's Court on the fourth day of the inquest in Woking: "We were 17-year-old kids who had money in our pockets, there was nothing else for us.

"We were 17, there was a bar, we could get drinks - that's what we done.

"There wasn't enough NCOs (non-commissioned officers) to control the amount of recruits they had at the time," she added.

"Recruits were running about and didn't know what we were doing from one minute to the next.

"We would tend to ourselves, there was no accountability."

She said arguments and physical fights broke out between the young female recruits.

"Deepcut was worse than Leconfield - in Leconfield we had a day-to-day job to do but in Deepcut there was no ownership on us, we were just left," she added.

She admitted taking illegal drugs with her fellow recruits at a nightclub and said Pte James had taken speed, a class B amphetamine.

"If she went out she would take something, she would take speed."

WO1 Ditchfield broke down in tears as she recalled being told about the death of her friend.

She said Pte James's boyfriend Paul Wilkinson was "in bits" after hearing the news.

"Everybody was upset at the time, of course everyone was in bits. It wasn't just one individual - she was a friend," WO1 Ditchfield added.

She described Pte James, who was having a second relationship with another recruit, James Carr-Minns, as "fun-loving".

"I don't think she wanted to let anyone down, she was a fun-loving girl, got on with everyone and found herself in a situation where she didn't want to finish with one of them and end the relationship," she said.

Pte James was one of four young soldiers who died at the barracks over a seven-year-period, and a fresh inquest into her death was previously told forensic evidence shows she may not have killed herself.

A second inquest into the death of Pte James, from Llangollen, North Wales, is examining evidence suggesting she may have been sexually exploited by senior ranks shortly before her death.

High Court judges ordered the fresh inquest in 2014 after they quashed an open verdict recorded in December 1995.

Privates Sean Benton, 20, James Collinson, 17, and Geoff Gray, 17, also died from gunshot wounds at the barracks between 1995 and 2002.

The inquest continues.

Former Deepcut recruit Marina Fawcett told the inquest Pte James was desperate to leave the army and had made comments about shooting herself in the head.

Pte James had told her friend she joined the army because she "had no life" and was afraid she would "end up on drugs" if she went home, the inquest heard.

She allegedly "didn't give a shit" about being a soldier and had asked Ms Fawcett to go awol (absent without leave) with her.

"It was more than a passing comment because it was what she wanted to do," Ms Fawcett said.

"It's what I wanted too but we couldn't buy ourselves out."

On another occasion Pte James "joked" about killing herself, she said.

"She literally mentioned 'we're going to shoot ourselves on guard duty one day aren't we?' and I said yes," she added.

"She was saying it as general banter... I don't know why she said it, it just sounded like a laugh like when someone says something stupid.

"What she said that day just went over my head. She said to me 'we'll shoot ourselves in the head'.

"Them words stick in my mind, I can't forget that.

"I can't remember if it was a few days before (her death) or a few weeks before."

She added: "She was happy all the time, she was always bubbly. It was almost like she was on something."

One of the training sergeants "had a bit of a thing" for Pte James and "basically wanted to get it on with her,"' Ms Fawcett said.

He had been saying "slimy stuff" to the teenager but she turned down his advances, she added.

"She said he was horrible," she said.

"They (the senior officers) were on a power trip and they got a buzz off it," Ms Fawcett said.

"They were a corporal or a sergeant and we were only recruits."

Pte James was being "given a hard time" over her relationships and had been called a "slag" by her fellow trainees, the inquest heard.

On the morning of her death she told Ms Fawcett to "eff off" after they had an argument about her love life.

"I said to her something along the lines of 'you need to decide who you're going to go out with' and she basically said 'eff off and mind your own business'," she said.

"I might have been winding her up but I knew in a couple of minutes she would be fine.

"That was the last time I seen her and we were all in the guard room and she just seemed her normal self, she seemed fine."
A junior doctor holds her daughter and a placard as she takes part in a picket outside Kings College Hospital in London yesterday

Junior doctors and their supporters taking part in a march in Newcastle against plans for a new contract

Junior doctors on the picket line outside Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital during Tuesday's strike

Several NHS chief executives who apparently put their names to a key letter used by Jeremy Hunt to justify imposing new contracts on junior doctors have withdrawn their support for such a plan.

The names of 20 health trust bosses in England were attached to a letter advising the Government to do "whatever it deems necessary" to break the deadlock with young medics.

But now at least nine say they never supported the idea of forcing junior doctors to accept new contracts and did not back the Health Secretary's move.

A number say they support the Government's contract offer but do not back doctors having to accept it.

In his letter to Mr Hunt on Wednesday, Sir David Dalton, the chief executive of Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust who was brought in to broker a deal, wrote: " Following consultation with chief executives and other leaders in the service, it is clear that the NHS needs certainty on this contract and that a continuation of a dispute, with a stalemate and without any clear ending, would be harmful to service continuity, with adverse consequences to patients.

"On this basis I therefore advise the government to do whatever it deems necessary to end uncertainty for the service and to make sure that a new contract is in place which is as close as possible to the final position put forward to the BMA yesterday.

"I can confirm that this position is supported by both the NHS Confederation and NHS Providers, together with support from chief executives across the country, and their names are supplied."

But it is unclear whether the chief executives saw the letter's text before it was sent to Mr Hunt, and many have now distanced themselves from imposed contracts.

Sir Andrew Cash, head of Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (FT), said: "I support the improved offer made this week as fair and reasonable, but I do not support imposition", while Andrew Foster, of Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS FT, said: "I have not supported contract imposition. I have supported the view that the offer made is reasonable."

Claire Murdoch, head of the Central and North West London NHS FT, said she was not even aware that her name was on the letter until it was published, and immediately asked for it to be removed.

In a statement to the Commons, Mr Hunt said the BMA had proved "unwilling" to show flexibility and compromise.

He said that with the backing of major NHS groups including NHS Employers and NHS England, Sir David "has asked me to end the uncertainty for the service by proceeding with the introduction of a new contract that he and his colleagues consider both safer for patients and reasonable for junior doctors".

"I have therefore today decided to do that."

But shadow health secretary Heidi Alexander later raised a point of order in the House of Commons to suggest that Mr Hunt may have "inadvertently misled" MPs when he made his announcement, because of the withdrawal of support by chief executives.

Junior doctors have pledged to fight on since the announcement and the British Medical Association (BMA) said it would "consider all options", raising the possibility of further strikes in the battle over pay and conditions.

Royal colleges and unions have expressed dismay at the Health Secretary's move, which comes after weeks of deadlock between the BMA, Government officials and NHS Employers.

Dr Johann Malawana, the BMA's junior doctor committee chairman, said: "The decision to impose a contract is a sign of total failure on the Government's part."

He accused Mr Hunt of "ploughing ahead with proposals that are fundamentally unfair". The BMA has already staged two strikes.

He said: "Our message to the Government is clear - junior doctors cannot and will not accept a contract that is bad for the future of patient care, the profession and the NHS as a whole, and we will consider all options open to us."

Strikes and legal actions are possibilities, while s ome junior doctors may refuse to sign new contracts which are due to be implemented from August.

The major sticking point has been over weekend pay and whether Saturdays should attract extra "unsocial" payments.

Currently, 7pm to 7am Monday to Friday and the whole of Saturday and Sunday attract a premium rate of pay for junior doctors.

But the Government wants the Saturday day shift to be paid at a normal rate in return for a hike in basic pay.

The BMA has rejected this and has urged Mr Hunt to accept its proposal to reduce the 11% rise in basic pay offered by ministers and instead have better premium rates on Saturdays.

Mr Hunt said the new contract will mean an increase in basic salary of 13.5% and that three quarters of doctors will see their take-home pay increase.

No doctor working contracted hours would see a pay cut while too many night shifts and long shifts will also be limited.

Under the new contract, 7am to 5pm on Saturdays will be regarded as a normal working day.

Doctors working one in four or more Saturdays will receive a pay premium of 30%.

Mr Hunt said: "While I understand that this process has generated considerable dismay among junior doctors, I believe that the new contract we are introducing - shaped by David Dalton and with over 90% of measures agreed by the BMA - is one that, in time, can command the confidence of both the workforce and their employers."

Ms Alexander told Mr Hunt: "Imposing a contract is a sign of failure, it's about time you realised that."

BMA council chairman Mark Porter said the move would be seen as "threatening and dictatorial" and warned nurses and other clinical staff to prepare for similar treatment, while Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said imposing contracts was " provocative and damaging."
Google has insisted that it pays a "fair" amount of tax in the UK, as one high-paid executive came under fire from MPs after admitting he did not know how much he earned.

Senior executives from the internet giant were grilled by the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee over a 130 million settlement with HM Revenue & Customs to cover taxes due over the past 10 years.

The deal was hailed at the time by Chancellor George Osborne as a "victory", but committee chairwoman Meg Hillier said ordinary taxpayers felt "anger and frustration" over the figure, when Google earned profits of 106 million on revenues of 1.8 billion in the UK the last 18 months alone.

Google's president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Matt Brittin, told the committee he understood public anger over claims that the deal amounted to an effective tax rate of just 3%, but insisted that the company in fact paid corporation tax at 20% on its activities in the UK like anyone else.

Ms Hillier told Mr Brittin he was "living on another planet". She demanded four times to be told what Mr Brittin was personally paid, but he responded: "I don't have the figure but I will happily provide it."

The committee chair responded: "You don't know what you get paid? ... Out there, taxpayers, our constituents, are very angry, they live in a different world clearly to the world you live in, if you can't even tell us what you are paid."

Mr Brittin replied: "I understand the anger and understand that people when they see reported that we are paying 3% tax would be angry. But we're not. We're paying 20% tax."

The 130 million figure was "the conclusion of a six-year rigorous, independent tax audit" in which Google offered "full transparency" to HMRC, he said.

The figures reflected the fact that c orporation tax is paid not on sales, but on the economic value of activities in the UK, said Mr Brittin. Much of the economic value driving sales in the UK was created by 20,000 engineers writing code in the US.

Google's 4,000 staff in the UK were outnumbered by the 5,000-plus in Ireland who processed business for the whole of Europe, the Middle East and Africa, he said. And h e insisted that Google's practice of channelling funds through Bermuda "has no impact on the tax we pay in the UK" and is "a commonplace arrangement for American companies".

But committee member Stewart Jackson (C Peterborough) told him: "You have made a choice to avoid tax and you have set up structures so to do. There is an element here of 'We are doing the UK taxpayer a favour by paying tax'."

And David Mowat (C Warrington South) said: "Our concerns are not that you should be taxed on sales, but that you have come up with a number of contrived mechanisms, such as the 'Double Irish', the 'Dutch Sandwich' and the use of Bermuda."

Google Inc's vice-president Tom Hutchinson told the committee that the 130 million paid to HMRC included 18 million interest, but did not include any fines or payments under George Osborne's diverted profits tax - nicknamed the Google Tax.

The figure was the largest tax settlement following audit ever paid by Google outside the US, and the company believed it was "fair", he said. Worldwide, Google was paying 19% tax - very close to the UK rate of 20%.

Mr Hutchinson said: "We are paying the fair amount of tax worldwide. It's up to governments to decide where we should be paying that tax. I would love to see the system more simple so we wouldn't have to come to hearings like this to explain it, but we need governments to work together to develop an overall worldwide system to take that 19% and split it in a simple way."

Mr Brittin acknowledged tax "will have come up from time to time as a question" in the company's meetings with Government ministers, but said Google "never sought or had a meeting" with ministers about the audit.

HMRC chief executive Dame Lin Homer denied that large companies like Google were given preferential treatment, telling the committee: "It is exactly the same system we apply to everyone ... We then apply exactly the same approach to expecting back payments and fines."

But HMRC's director general of business tax Jim Harra acknowledged that imposing fines on large companies was "quite a challenge", as taxmen have to prove not only that the self-assessment return was wrong - which he said it was in Google's case - but also that insufficient care was taken in preparing it.

Mr Harra said that the 130 million recouped from the HMRC investigation represented "a very substantial amount" of the total 196.4 million paid by Google in corporation tax and interest over the 10-year period.

There were already signs that large companies were paying more corporation tax to avoid the diverted profits tax, introduced in 2015 to impose levies at a higher rate on sums believed to have been shielded from corporation tax, he said.

Ms Hillier later told BBC Radio 4's World at One that she had not yet received details of Mr Brittin's salary, and a Google spokeswoman declined to disclose it to the Press Association.

The PAC chairwoman said Mr Brittin's responses showed Google was "detached" from taxpayers' concerns. She told World at One: "Most of us can say what we earn, because it rather matters because we have to pay the rent at the end of the month."

She added: "We know there are issues around the global tax structure, but that doesn't let Google off the hook ... They haven't changed the way they set up the company, they are promising to be different in the future. We will wait and see what happens."

Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "The tax system is a complicated mess and grandstanding for the TV cameras simply won't do the job of fixing it. The Treasury Select Committee is now investigating corporate taxes, so the time is right to implement major reforms to the entire system.

"Taxpayers deserve simpler, lower taxes as well as a system they can trust."

ActionAid tax justice adviser Anders Dahlbeck said Mr Brittin was right that the international tax system was "in desperate need of reform".

"Successful reform must take account of the poorest countries in the world," said Mr Dahlbeck. "It is often the poorest who are hit hardest by corporate tax avoidance, with the IMF estimating developing countries lose 200 billion US dollars a year.

"The UK Government should lead on securing a global tax system which tackles tax avoidance around the world, ends the race to the bottom on tax and supports developing countries to find a sustainable route out of poverty. Companies must also get their own house in order, adopt a more responsible approach to tax, and start acting as better corporate citizens."
A man who tripped up a suspected drug dealer running from police has been revealed as a soldier, who said his military training kicked in when he saw the chase.

Lance Sergeant Matthew Lawson had just treated his wife to an early Valentine's evening out in Kingston upon Thames, south west London, on Saturday when they saw the teenager running towards them, pursued on foot by police.

Footage of the moment Lance Sergeant Lawson is seen casually sticking out his foot, causing the suspect to fall, was shared online and has been viewed thousands of times.

Kingston Police appealed for the mystery man, who they dubbed a "legend", to come forward so they could thank him for his help.

The 37-year-old soldier from Derby is a euphonium player in the Band of the Scots Guards, and will play for the Queen on her 90th birthday in June.

Lance Sergeant Lawson, who is based in Wellington Barracks beside Buckingham Palace, said: "I heard a shout: 'Stop! Police!' And immediately my military training just kicked in.

"I saw the policemen chasing a guy and I thought: 'He's a bit of a whippet, they'll never catch him.' So I reckoned I'd buy them a few seconds, and just stuck my leg out to trip him up.

"The guy fell and as the police grabbed him, they called back 'cheers, mate, thank you' and my wife and I just continued on our way and thought nothing more of it."

Lance Sergeant Lawson said a friend sent him a message with the clip and the reaction had "just spiralled" from there.

Asked about all the attention since the footage appeared online, he said: "I'm trying not to think about it to be honest."

The solider, who has served in Iraq, Bosnia, Cyprus and Northern Ireland, has had to endure some banter since the incident, with his comrades attempting to post a trip hazard sign on his locker when the news broke.

He said: "I think I managed to catch them before they got round to it."

Pc Brendan Dexter-Beek, who is seen in the footage to detain the suspect after he tripped and fell, said he thinks he would have managed to catch the teen, but added that he is thankful to the soldier for his help.

Laughing, he said: "I reckon I'd have still got him, but that's my personal opinion. Opinions are varied back at the police station. But I'm grateful for the fact that he jumped in."

Glenn Tunstall, Borough Commander of Kingston Police, said while they are very grateful to the soldier for his actions they would not encourage untrained members of the public to intervene in similar situations "because the threat is unknown and the officers obviously have got the equipment and the training."

Lance Sergeant Lawson will be awarded a commendation from Kingston Police this summer for his "courage and bravery", Cmdr Tunstall said.

A 17-year-old boy was arrested after the incident on suspicion of possession with intent to supply Class A drugs.

He was taken to a west London police station and bailed until early April, police said.
Britain's top police officer has said he "can't really apologise" for his force's widely discredited investigation into sex abuse allegations against D-Day veteran Lord Bramall.

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said he had "genuine regret" if the former head of the Army had been "damaged" by the investigation but insisted the Metropolitan Police had been right to investigate the "serious" allegations.

The Met commissioner has said d etectives investigating historical sex crimes should not be ordered to believe alleged victims "unconditionally" in the future and has launched a judge-led review of Scotland Yard's controversial handling of claims of a VIP paedophile ring in Westminster amid mounting pressure over Operation Midland.

But Sir Bernard again refused to apologise over the handling of the investigation into Lord Bramall.

"I can't really apologise for investigating a serious allegation and that is what we have done," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"I have expressed regret and it's a genuine regret, if he, Lord Bramall, or his family have been damaged in this process, in this investigation."

The commissioner said if the inquiry found the force could have "done it better" he would "acknowledge" the criticism.

"It may be, of course, that he discovers there are things there that aren't in the public domain that affected the way the investigation went forward which didn't help Lord Bramall but was necessary for the overall investigation."

He added: " I can't look into every inquiry that we carry out. We have 800,000 crimes in London a year and if I only have to look into the ones that are pertinent to the press then I don't think that is a reasonable way forward."

In prickly exchanges, Sir Bernard disputed suggestions that the force had "trawled" for victims.

He said that treating allegations as though true had "confused" officers.

"I think we have really got hung up on this word of belief. It's confused officers. Of course we have got to be empathetic, we want people to believe we are going to listen to them, we want to be open minded."

Sir Bernard, whose contract is up for renewal, insisted he had not set up the inquiry to "divert attention" away from himself.

"I have been very consistent all along, ever since I came in in 2011, I said I would like to stay in the Met for up to seven years. I use those words because I don't think that any leader should give away when they are going because what happens in your final year is you are dismissed. I have no intention of being dismissed."

The findings of the review, to be led by former High Court judge Sir Richard Henriques, will be published later in the year, although the full report will remain confidential.

But it has been dismissed as a "PR campaign" by former Conservative MP Harvey Proctor, who was questioned under the controversial inquiry before facing no further action.

Operation Midland, which had cost 1.8 million as of November last year, centred on allegations by a man known as "Nick", which were described by a detective at the time as "credible and true".

An NSPCC spokesman said: "We are deeply disturbed that the proposed change of police approach to sexual abuse victims could be a serious bar to them coming forward. At a time when people have at long last found the confidence and courage to report these crimes, it would be a tragedy to bring this progress to a juddering halt.

"Victims of sexual abuse have the right to be believed just as much as anyone reporting a burglary or physical assault. Police officers should have an open mind and execute the normal tests and investigations to verify the veracity of what is being alleged.

"Telling those who have been sexually abused they will no longer be automatically believed seems to be a panic measure which could have an adverse effect on a crime the Government has classified as a 'national threat'."
Metropolitan Police commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe will remain in the post until at least September 2017

Britain's most senior police officer Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe will remain in his post for at least another 19 months after the Home Secretary awarded him a one-year contract extension.

The Scotland Yard chief has come under fire over the force's handling of historic abuse allegations.

Home Secretary Theresa May announced that she recommended that the Queen approve the one-year extension for the Metropolitan Police commissioner, whose five-year contract was due to expire in September.

Legislation allows for an initial extension of up to three years. This can then be followed by unlimited one-year extensions.

Mrs May said: "My recommendation recognises the vital work the Commissioner has done in fighting crime and in reforming the Metropolitan Police Service. He has been at the forefront of the vital and important challenge of policing London at a time of heightened security.

"The extension enables Sir Bernard to continue his programme of reform of the Metropolitan Police Service and the vital task of cutting crime and keeping London safe."

Mrs May said the extension to September 25 next year " provides continuity" for the Met during a change of political leadership in London.

A new mayor will be elected in the capital in May.

The Home Secretary said the extension will give the new mayor " the opportunity to take an informed view about any recommendation they may wish to make about the longer term leadership of the organisation".

Sir Bernard said: "I am proud to continue as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and proud of the confidence shown in the way my officers and staff work day and night to keep London safe and catch criminals."

The current mayor Boris Johnson, who had proposed a one-year extension, hailed the announcement as "good news for the Met and for London".

He said: " Over the last five years Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe and his dedicated officers and staff have overseen a significant drop in overall crime and kept the city safe in the face of the heightened terror threat.

"At the same time confidence in the force has significantly improved. I have a high regard for Bernard's abilities and he will now have a good chunk of time to keep crime coming down and to work closely with the new Mayor."

The decision on the commissioner's future has been the subject of intense scrutiny after the Met came under fire over its investigation into D-Day veteran Lord Bramall.

The 92-year-old was last month told he would face no further action over historical child abuse allegations almost nine months after he was interviewed under caution as part of the hugely controversial Operation Midland.

His home had been raided while he had breakfast with his terminally ill wife.

On Wednesday Sir Bernard announced a judge-led review would be carried out into Scotland Yard's handling of historical sexual allegations against public figures.

The Met came under intense pressure to apologise to Lord Bramall after he was cleared.

Sir Bernard told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I can't really apologise for investigating a serious allegation and that is what we have done.

"I have expressed regret and it's a genuine regret, if he, Lord Bramall, or his family have been damaged in this process, in this investigation."

He also said detectives investigating historical sex claims should not be ordered to believe alleged victims "unconditionally" in the future

Operation Midland had cost 1.8 million as of November last year.
The NHS is under increasing pressure and failing to hit key targets relating to A&E, tests for illnesses and referring patients for treatment.

The latest performance statistics for December show a worsening across several areas, with one missed target being for people to be treated within 18 weeks.

It is the first time the 18-week target - which refers to people receiving treatment within 18 weeks of being referred by a GP or other health professional - has been missed since it was introduced in April 2012.

In December, 91.8% of people were treated within 18 weeks against the 92% target.

Meanwhile, 91% of patients were admitted, transferred or discharged from A&E within four hours of arrival - below the 95% standard.

This is the second lowest on record. The lowest was December 2014 (89.9%).

On delayed transfers of care - which occur when patients are fit to leave hospital but services such as social care are not in place to look after them - there were 154,060 days of delays in December, the second highest on record.

Ambulance targets, which were missed for most of 2015, were also missed in December.

Some 72.6% of the most serious Red 1 calls - where patients are not breathing or do not have a pulse - were responded to within eight minutes against a 75% target.

About 67.2% of Red 2 calls - still serious, such as strokes or fits - were responded to within eight minutes, far below the 75% target.

On diagnostic tests such as endoscopy, just over 2% of patients had been waiting six weeks or longer from referral, meaning the target of 1% was missed.

It has not been met since November 2013.

Clare Marx, president of the Royal College of Surgeons, said: " Doctors in the NHS are working incredibly hard and surgeons delivered a record number of operations during 2015.

"It is therefore particularly disappointing that the NHS has now missed its waiting times target. In surgery, performance has been particularly affected for operations such as hip and knee replacements.

"Delayed treatment is extremely distressing to all patients. It is welcome that the Government has promised extra money in the comprehensive spending review but we also need a long-term, sustainable plan to address the increasing numbers of patients needing surgery.

'We are also increasingly concerned by the rising number of patients being delayed from leaving hospital to go home or alternative care environments.

"This not only places the patient at greater safety risk, such as falls, or immobility which can lead to infection, but also denies much-needed hospital beds to others. The increasing delays are, it seems, partly due to the consequences of a reduction in spending on social care. We urgently need a political consensus on the funding of social care."

The data showed the NHS is managing to meet seven out of eight cancer targets.

One target is for 85% of patients to receive their first definitive treatment for cancer within 62 days of being urgently referred with suspected cancer symptoms.

In December this target was met for the first time since April 2014, with 85.1% of patients getting treated.

In other data, quarterly A&E admissions for October to December (1,442,627) were the highest since current records began.

However the total number of people attending A&E in 2015 was slightly lower than in 2014 - 22.39m compared with 22.44m.

Richard Barker, interim national director of commissioning operations and information, said the NHS was doing better than last winter. This is despite key targets still being missed.

He said: "These figures confirm the NHS is performing significantly better this winter than last winter. Patients are being seen faster in A&E, with the percentage of patients treated within four hours rising from 89.9% to 91%.

"What's more, long trolley waits are down by 84%, and emergency ambulance calls are being dealt with even more swiftly. This is a tribute to the hard work of NHS staff right across the country."

Simon Bottery, director of policy and external relations at Independent Age, the older people's charity, said: "Of the 154,000 hospital bed days lost due to delayed transfers of care, it is deeply worrying that the lack of a home care package caused 27,500 of these.

"This problem, which typically affects elderly patients, looks set to soon become the single largest cause of lost bed days. Yet we have by no means reached the end of the cuts to social care which have contributed to the rise in elderly people stuck in hospital. Councils are being told they need to make even more efficiencies in social care, yet services are in danger of being made 'efficient' to the point of collapse."

Phil McCarvill, deputy director of policy at the NHS Confederation, said: "These figures reflect increasing pressure on all parts of the health service, including acute hospitals, community and primary care services."

He added: "Hospitals don't work in isolation and cannot solve issues like cuts to social care, which nevertheless lead to increased demand for hospital beds."

Downing Street said more patients were being seen within the four-hour A&E target.

The Prime Minister's official spokeswoman said: "What the statistics show is that the overwhelming majority of patients are treated or admitted to hospital quickly.

"If you look at those being seen within the four-hour A&E target you have got 2,100 more people being seen within that target every day over the last financial year as compared to 2009/10.

"Of course, we do know that the NHS is busy in all areas. We know that it faces particular pressure during winter months like December.

"That's why the Government took measures much earlier than before to look at what contingency plans and support we had in place for that and it is why in the longer term we are investing 10 billion in the NHS."
The head teacher included an item about 'toilet etiquette' in last week's school newsletter

A primary school head teacher has written to parents asking them to stop their children from urinating in the playground.

Kay Church said a "small number of pupils" had been seen relieving themselves on school grounds as their parents picked them up at the end of the day.

Mrs Church, executive head teacher of Hannah More Infant School and Grove Junior School in Nailsea, Somerset, called the behaviour "totally unacceptable".

She included an item about "toilet etiquette" in last week's school newsletter.

"Sadly it has been brought to my attention that at the end of the school day a small number of pupils are allowed by parents to urinate in the school playground," she wrote.

"Clearly this is totally unacceptable behaviour particularly as all pupils and families know where the toilets are in school."

Mrs Church said that there had only been one incident of a child urinating in the playground reported to her by parents.

But she is not the first head to write to parents about etiquette issues.

Kate Chisholm, head teacher of Skerne Park Academy in County Durham, wrote to parents asking them not to wear pyjamas and slippers on the school run.

At another school in Yeovil, Somerset, staff at St Michael's Academy wrote to parents about children arriving at school "dirty and unkempt".
Undated handout photo issued by Dorset Police of David Chadwick who was released from prison recently but breached his licence conditions on Tuesday, Dorset police said.

Police have released a photograph of a paedophile they are hunting after he breached his licence conditions.

David Chadwick from Weymouth was convicted in 2013 of sexual offences against children.

The 58-year-old was released from prison recently but breached his licence conditions on Tuesday, Dorset police said.

He is understood to have boarded a London-bound train from Moreton at around 12.40pm.

Police said he is a risk to the public and ordered people not to approach him.

He is described as white, of medium build, around 5ft 10ins tall, with short grey hair and a small scar on his left cheek.

He was wearing a dark Barbour-style jacket and glasses, and carrying A4 paperwork when last seen.

Detective Inspector Richard Dixey said: "I am releasing a photograph of David Chadwick in the hope that someone will know his whereabouts.

"Anyone who sees David should not approach him, as he presents a risk to the public, but immediately contact Dorset Police on 999.

"There may be various reasons why he has not complied with his licence conditions and I appeal to him directly to make contact with police at the earliest opportunity."

Det Insp Dixey said officers are "making every effort to find this man as soon as possible".
The law requires officers to record each stop and search and include the grounds on which it was conducted

As many as one in seven stop and searches carried out by police in a year may have been unlawful, a new report indicates.

The police watchdog Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) examined 100 stop and search records in each of the 43 police forces in England and Wales in the 12 months up to March 2015 and found that some 15% did not have reasonable grounds recorded, as required by law.

Out of the 4,259 records examined, only 17% of the items sought in stop and searches were found, highlighting the low success rate of the tactic, the HMIC's report into police legitimacy found.

HMIC said the findings were "disappointing" and showed that police were failing to meet this "litmus test of legitimacy" - despite the percentage having shrunk from 27% in 2013.

Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary Stephen Otter, who led the inspection, said the findings were "inexcusable" and that forces' good work risked being undermined if they failed to improve.

He said: "This is the third time we've looked at stop and search in the last three years and although there is some improvement, it's not happening fast enough.

"I am frustrated by the apparent lack of commitment by chief constables to ensuring stop and search is used properly and legitimately, and I am looking for police leaders to take action to address this within the next three months."

The Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) requires officers to record each stop and search and include the grounds on which it was conducted, which must be reasonable.

The inspection looked at around 100 stop and search records in each of the 43 police forces in England and Wales.

An overwhelming majority of the 15% had grounds recorded which were not reasonable, with very few having no grounds recorded at all.

Inspectors did not find a single force where all stop and search records contained reasonable grounds.

Figures revealed a huge disparity across the police - in Cleveland Police force almost two-thirds of the records assessed did not have reasonable grounds recorded, compared to Nottinghamshire police where all but three records were complete.

Only 11 out of the 43 forces were fully complying with guidance in a scheme launched by the Home Secretary Theresa May, despite all being signed up to it, and 13 were not complying with at least three of the scheme's five requirements.

The report recommended chief constables carry out reviews at least twice a year to ensure justifications for stop and searches were accurately recorded.

Mr Otter said: "If you don't have reasonable grounds then the stop and search may be unlawful.

"It doesn't mean they are unlawful, it indicates they might be.

"What it doesn't show is that they were lawful."

For some black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people, stop and search was "a symbol of their perception that there is a culture of unlawful discrimination within the police", the report acknowledged.

Mr Otter said: "Every single major report into disorder in this country since 1970 places stop and search as one of, if not the most important contributing factor, and those lessons need to be learned."

A lack of understanding and confidence about what reasonable grounds were was cited as a possible explanation.

He suggested that the decline in stop and search since 2010 could be due to police reacting to public perceptions that the tactic was used in a discriminatory way.

He said: "It does appear that this is a reaction to a concern about stop and search rather than a genuinely thought-through plan to better use the power."

The watchdog also highlighted that "the low proportion of stop and search encounters which result in an item being found does raise some concerns that the powers are not being used as effectively as they could be".

Mr Otter added there was no evidence to show that the rise in knife crime was linked to stop and search.

Overall, the report was promising. Some 37 out of the 43 police forces were rated as "good", while Kent Police achieved an "outstanding" grade.

Only five forces were rated "requires improvement" and none were branded "inadequate".

Police were applauded for using tasers fairly and appropriately in the first investigation to date into how police deploy the electric weapon.

Home Secretary Theresa May said: "Stop and search must be applied fairly, transparently and in a way which builds community confidence. That is why I introduced the Best Use of Stop and Search scheme.

"Forces who are signed up to that scheme must deliver on their commitments. It is unacceptable that 13 forces have been identified by HMIC as failing to comply with three or more requirements, and I have suspended them from the scheme with immediate effect.

"Those forces must now take this opportunity to improve their performance. Intelligence-led stop and search is an important police tool. But where it is misused it is unfair on the public and wastes police time."
Govia Thameslink - which is responsible for Thameslink, Southern and Gatwick Express services - is the worst affected operator

Almost one in 10 delays and cancellations on Britain's railways are caused by crew shortages, according to figures.

A lack of staff was responsible for 9.42% of the 1.93 million incidents of disruption that occurred between April 1 2013 and December 12 last year, data from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) shows.

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) - which is responsible for Thameslink, Southern and Gatwick Express services - was the worst affected operator with more than 62,000 incidents leading to 13.6% of its delays and cancellations.

London Midland and First TransPennine Express had the joint next highest rate at 13.5%.

The lowest proportion of delays caused by crew shortages was Virgin Trains East Coast at 2.6%, followed by Virgin Trains West Coast at 3.7%.

Southern accepted in December that it does not have enough staff to carry out day-to-day operations and training without asking crew to work on rest days.

A statement released at the time read: " There continues to be a risk of cancellations, in particular during periods of high annual leave - but we are steadily overcoming this."

The process of becoming a train driver takes more than a year. It includes a minimum of 240 hours in practical training and an additional 840 hours learning theory.

In September ScotRail revealed that it had received more than 12,000 applicants for 100 train driver jobs in a week.

A spokesman for train drivers' union Aslef said crew shortages are caused by rail firms not recruiting enough drivers.

"The train companies are not in the business of providing a public service but of making as much money as possible," he claimed.

The public performance measure used by the rail industry to calculate the proportion of trains that are on time only records long-distance services as being delayed if they arrive at their terminating station at least 10 minutes behind schedule, while commuter services must be at least five minutes late.

Under this measurement, punctuality has improved since 2002 but dipped slightly in recent years, reaching 89.2% for the last 12 months, according to Network Rail.

The Department for Transport said it closely monitors the number of trains that are cancelled or delayed due to a lack of crew and pledged to hold companies to account if " too many" are disrupted in this way.

A GTR spokesman insisted that the impact of crew shortages "is not the issue now that it was before Christmas".

He went on: "W e have the UK's biggest-ever driver recruitment and training programme.

"Since January last year we have trained up and brought into work 154 additional drivers and there are 271 more in training with more to follow. That's more trainees than we need for today's operation but we know we'll need more for new services and trains we'll be running in the future to give passengers better service."

A spokesman for the Rail Delivery Group, representing train operators and Network Rail, said : " Disruption to services, for whatever reason, means that train crews can be displaced and physically in the wrong place to crew a scheduled train. Other reasons, including sickness and annual leave, also have an impact."
Thomas Cook said underlying operating losses improved by 11% to 49 million in the three months to the end of December

Holiday firm Thomas Cook said it has switched to selling more Mediterranean trips as a response to recent terror attacks.

The group said underlying operating losses improved by 11% to 49 million in the three months to the end of December as holidaymakers sought alternatives to Tunisia and Egypt after terrorist attacks.

It described trading conditions as "challenging" in its typically less busy winter period.

Group bookings were 2% down on last year, though average selling prices increased by 4%.

The firm said there were "clear signs of recovery after customer confidence impacted by the tragic events of Paris and Istanbul".

The firm added its winter season is 82% sold across the group, broadly the same as last year. Its group summer programme is 29% sold, which is 2% below last year.

Chief executive Peter Fankhauser said: "It is clear that the awful attacks in Paris and Istanbul impacted confidence, leading some customers to delay booking their holidays.

"However we've seen clear signs of recovery in recent weeks - customers still have money in their pockets, and want to go on holiday."

Mr Fankhauser added the firm "acted fast" to offer alternative packages in the Mediterranean and Caribbean instead of Tunisia and Egypt, which contributed to a 1% rise in group revenues to 1.4 billion.

In the UK the firm said winter bookings were 2% down, but an uplift in long-haul travel saw average selling prices rise by 2%. Average summer prices in the UK are so far up by 4% after the group reduced its charter business and boosted online sales.

Analysts at Jefferies said the proactive changes to destinations, prices and volumes were helping it "navigate a tough operating environment".
A 94-year-old former SS sergeant has gone on trial in Germany on 170,000 counts of accessory to murder, based on accusations that he served as a guard in the Auschwitz death camp as hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews and others were gassed to death there.

Reinhold Hanning seemed in good condition for his age, walking into the court in the western city of Detmold without even the help of a cane and appearing to listen attentively as the indictment against him was read aloud. No pleas are entered in the German system.

Hanning, who ran a local dairy after the war until he retired in 1984, declined to give an opening statement to the court.

He showed no reaction as the first witness, Leon Schwarzbaum, a 94-year-old Auschwitz survivor, read moving evidence about his own experiences, then looked directly at Hanning and made an emotional plea.

"Mr Hanning, we are about the same age and we will both soon be before the highest court," Mr Schwarzbaum said, his voice quavering and hands trembling. "Speak here about what you and your comrades did!"

The trial is one of four expected this year against two other former SS men and one woman alleged to have served in Auschwitz. The 11th-hour prosecutions come after a new precedent was set in 2011, when former Ohio car-worker John Demjanjuk became the first person to be convicted in Germany solely for serving as a death camp guard, with no evidence of involvement in a specific killing.

Prosecutors successfully argued in the Demjanjuk case that simply serving in a death camp, and thus helping it operate, was enough to convict someone of accessory to the murders committed there. Although Demjanjuk always denied serving at the death camp and died before his appeal could be heard, prosecutors last year successfully convicted SS sergeant Oskar Groening, who served in Auschwitz, on 300,000 counts of accessory to murder using the same reasoning.

Hanning admitted to investigators when first questioned that he had served in the Auschwitz I part of the camp in Nazi-occupied Poland, but denied serving at the Auschwitz II-Birkenau section, where most of the 1.1 million victims were killed.

As the trial opened, however, his lawyers filed a motion asking to exclude that statement, saying that Hanning had been "surprised" when authorities showed up at his house and was not fully aware he was under investigation. It was not clear when the judges would rule on the motion. His lawyer, Andreas Scharmer, would not say whether the defence was planning to try to argue that Hanning did not serve in the camp at all if his statement was excluded.

Prosecutor Andreas Brendel said after the hearing that there was also other evidence that Hanning was there, including SS company lists.

Reading the indictment, Mr Brendel told the court that Hanning served in two different SS Death's Head companies in Auschwitz as a guard. He said those companies were used to guard prisoners used as slave labourers outside the camp, and were also called to Birkenau to help with the tens of thousands being brought in during the so-called "Hungarian action" in 1944 and unloaded from trains on to a ramp.

On the ramp, Nazis stripped the prisoners of their possessions and sorted them into groups: those who would be immediately taken to the gas chambers and those fit enough to be used as slave labour, and probably worked to death.

"The decision over life and death lay with the SS men on the ramp," Mr Brendel said.

Doctors have advised that the trial sessions can run no longer than two hours, in deference to Hanning's age and health.

Mr Schwarzbaum, one of about 40 Auschwitz survivors or their relatives who have joined the trial as co-plaintiffs as allowed under German law, had his evidence cut short before he could finish answering questions. He is due to take the stand again when the trial resumes on Friday.

After the proceedings, he said his main hope for the trial is that Hanning will tell his story so the world will better know what happened in Auschwitz and why SS guards did what they did.

"He's an old man," Mr Schwarzbaum said. "He should tell the truth."
Video grab showing security forces deployed in the northern city of Monterrey in Mexico where according to local media at least 30 people died in a prison riot on February 11, 2016. Riot police and ambulances were deployed at the Topo Chico prison as smoke billowed from the facility. Broadcaster Televisa reported that 30 died while Milenio television spoke of 50 victims, with inmates and prison guards among them. AFP PHOTO / FRANCISCO COBOSFrancisco Cobos/AFP/Getty Images

Video grab showing riot police and relatives of inmates of a prison in the northern city of Monterrey in Mexico on February 11, 2016. At least 30 people died in a prison riot on Thursday, local media reported. Riot police and ambulances were deployed at the Topo Chico prison as smoke billowed from the facility. Broadcaster Televisa reported that 30 died while Milenio television spoke of 50 victims, with inmates and prison guards among them. AFP PHOTO/FRANCISCO COBOSFrancisco Cobos/AFP/Getty Images

Video grab showing the prison in the northern city of Monterrey in Mexico where according to local media at least 30 people died in a prison riot on February 11, 2016. Riot police and ambulances were deployed at the Topo Chico prison as smoke billowed from the facility. Broadcaster Televisa reported that 30 died while Milenio television spoke of 50 victims, with inmates and prison guards among them. AFP PHOTO / FRANCISCO COBOSFrancisco Cobos/AFP/Getty Images

Video grab showing riot police officers deployed outside a prison in the northern city of Monterrey in Mexico on February 11, 2016 where according to local media at least 30 people died in a prison riot. Riot police and ambulances were deployed at the Topo Chico prison as smoke billowed from the facility. Broadcaster Televisa reported that 30 died while Milenio television spoke of 50 victims, with inmates and prison guards among them. AFP PHOTO / FRANCISCO COBOSFrancisco Cobos/AFP/Getty Images

Video grab showing a police vehicle outside a prison in the northern city of Monterrey in Mexico on February 11, 2016 where according to local media at least 30 people died in a prison riot. Riot police and ambulances were deployed at the Topo Chico prison as smoke billowed from the facility. Broadcaster Televisa reported that 30 died while Milenio television spoke of 50 victims, with inmates and prison guards among them. AFP PHOTO / FRANCISCO COBOSFrancisco Cobos/AFP/Getty Images

Video grab showing riot police outside a prison in the northern city of Monterrey in Mexico on February 11, 2016. At least 30 people died in a prison riot on Thursday, local media reported. Riot police and ambulances were deployed at the Topo Chico prison as smoke billowed from the facility. Broadcaster Televisa reported that 30 died while Milenio television spoke of 50 victims, with inmates and prison guards among them. AFP PHOTO/FRANCISCO COBOSFrancisco Cobos/AFP/Getty Images

Video grab showing riot police and relatives of inmates of a prison in the northern city of Monterrey in Mexico on February 11, 2016. At least 30 people died in a prison riot on Thursday, local media reported. Riot police and ambulances were deployed at the Topo Chico prison as smoke billowed from the facility. Broadcaster Televisa reported that 30 died while Milenio television spoke of 50 victims, with inmates and prison guards among them. AFP PHOTO / FRANCISCO COBOSFrancisco Cobos/AFP/Getty Images

Video grab showing police vehicles leaving a prison in the northern city of Monterrey in Mexico on February 11, 2016 where according to local media at least 30 people died in a prison riot. Riot police and ambulances were deployed at the Topo Chico prison as smoke billowed from the facility. Broadcaster Televisa reported that 30 died while Milenio television spoke of 50 victims, with inmates and prison guards among them. AFP PHOTO / FRANCISCO COBOSFrancisco Cobos/AFP/Getty Images

Relatives of inmates gather outside the Topo Chico prison in the northern city of Monterrey in Mexico where according to local media at least 30 people died in a prison riot on February 11, 2016. Riot police and ambulances were deployed at the Topo Chico prison as smoke billowed from the facility. Broadcaster Televisa reported that 30 died while Milenio television spoke of 50 victims, with inmates and prison guards among them. AFP PHOTO / JULIO CESAR AGUILARJulio Cesar Aguilar/AFP/Getty Images

Relatives of inmates gather outside the Topo Chico prison in the northern city of Monterrey in Mexico where according to local media at least 30 people died in a prison riot on February 11, 2016. Riot police and ambulances were deployed at the Topo Chico prison as smoke billowed from the facility. Broadcaster Televisa reported that 30 died while Milenio television spoke of 50 victims, with inmates and prison guards among them. AFP PHOTO / JULIO CESAR AGUILARJulio Cesar Aguilar/AFP/Getty Images

Security forces are deployed outside the Topo Chico prison in the northern city of Monterrey in Mexico where according to local media at least 30 people died in a prison riot on February 11, 2016. Riot police and ambulances were deployed at the Topo Chico prison as smoke billowed from the facility. Broadcaster Televisa reported that 30 died while Milenio television spoke of 50 victims, with inmates and prison guards among them. AFP PHOTO / JULIO CESAR AGUILARJulio Cesar Aguilar/AFP/Getty Images

Security forces are deployed outside the Topo Chico prison in the northern city of Monterrey in Mexico where according to local media at least 30 people died in a prison riot on February 11, 2016. Riot police and ambulances were deployed at the Topo Chico prison as smoke billowed from the facility. Broadcaster Televisa reported that 30 died while Milenio television spoke of 50 victims, with inmates and prison guards among them. AFP PHOTO / JULIO CESAR AGUILARJulio Cesar Aguilar/AFP/Getty Images

Relatives of inmates gather outside the Topo Chico prison in the northern city of Monterrey in Mexico where according to local media at least 30 people died in a prison riot on February 11, 2016. Riot police and ambulances were deployed at the Topo Chico prison as smoke billowed from the facility. Broadcaster Televisa reported that 30 died while Milenio television spoke of 50 victims, with inmates and prison guards among them. AFP PHOTO / JULIO CESAR AGUILARJulio Cesar Aguilar/AFP/Getty Images

Relatives of inmates gather outside the Topo Chico prison in the northern city of Monterrey in Mexico where according to local media at least 30 people died in a prison riot on February 11, 2016. Riot police and ambulances were deployed at the Topo Chico prison as smoke billowed from the facility. Broadcaster Televisa reported that 30 died while Milenio television spoke of 50 victims, with inmates and prison guards among them. AFP PHOTO / JULIO CESAR AGUILARJulio Cesar Aguilar/AFP/Getty Images

Video grab showing riot police and relatives of inmates of a prison in the northern city of Monterrey in Mexico on February 11, 2016. At least 30 people died in a prison riot on Thursday, local media reported. Riot police and ambulances were deployed at the Topo Chico prison as smoke billowed from the facility. Broadcaster Televisa reported that 30 died while Milenio television spoke of 50 victims, with inmates and prison guards among them. AFP PHOTO / FRANCISCO COBOSFrancisco Cobos/AFP/Getty Images

A riot and fire has broken out at a northern Mexico prison reportedly killing dozens.

According to local media reports the trouble is believed to have started this morning.

Witnesses said the fire broke out at about 12.30am (0630 GMT) amid shouts and sounds of explosions.

A thick cloud of smoke rose, apparently from inmates burning mattresses.

Mileno TV said at least 50 people including prison guards have been killed.

It has also been reported that some inmates have escaped from the Topo Chico prison near the city of Monterrey.

Riot police have been holding back concerned relatives of inmates who have gathered outside worried about family inside.

Some shook and kicked at the prison gates, demanding to be allowed in.

Officials have not yet confirmed the number of people killed in the riot.
A teenage girl strapped with a booby-trapped vest and sent by Boko Haram to kill as many people as possible tore off the explosives and fled as soon as she was out of sight of her handlers, it has emerged.

Her two companions, however, completed their grisly mission and walked into a crowd of hundreds at Dikwa refugee camp in north-east Nigeria and blew themselves up, killing 58 people.

Later found by local self-defence forces, the girl's tearful account is one of the first indications that at least some of the child bombers used by Boko Haram are aware that they are about to die and kill others.

"She said she was scared because she knew she would kill people, but she was also frightened of going against the instructions of the men who brought her to the camp," said Modu Awami, a self-defence fighter who helped question the girl.

Her story was corroborated when she led soldiers to the unexploded vest, Mr Awami said, speaking from the refugee camp, which holds 50,000 people who have fled Boko Haram's Islamic uprising.

The girl is in custody and has given officials information about other planned bombings that has helped them increase security at the camp, Satomi Ahmed, chairman of the Borno State Emergency Management Agency, told reporters.

Mr Awami said he had no information about how the girl came to be with Boko Haram. The extremists have kidnapped thousands of people and there are fears they may be turning their captives into weapons.

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An army bomb disposal expert said some suicide bombs are detonated remotely, so the carriers may not have control over when the bomb goes off.

Even two days later, it is difficult to say exactly how many people died at Dikwa because there were corpses and body parts everywhere, including in cooking pots, Mr Awami said.

"Women, children, men and aged persons all died," he said. "I cannot say the exact number as some cannot be counted because the bodies were all mangled."

The latest atrocity blamed on Boko Haram extremists was committed on people who had been driven from their homes by the insurgents and had spent a year across the border in Cameroon.

They had only returned to Nigeria in January when soldiers declared the area safe. The scene of the killings is about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the border with Cameroon and 85 kilometres (53 miles) north east of Maiduguri, the biggest city in the north east and birthplace of Boko Haram.

Such attacks make it difficult for the government to persuade people to return to their home areas, especially as there is nothing left for them. The extremists have razed homes and businesses, destroyed wells and boreholes, stolen livestock and seed grains that farmers need to start life again.

Boko Haram's six-year-old Islamic insurgency has killed 20,000 people, made 2.5 million homeless and spread across Nigeria's borders.
Refugees and migrants arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos after being rescued from the Aegean (AP)

Refugees and migrants arrive on a dinghy from the Turkish coast to the Greek island of Lesbos

The Nato fleet is being deployed to the Aegean Sea immediately in a bid to end the flow of refugees crossing the sea into Europe from Turkey.

Announcing the deployment, which will see refugee boats met by warships rather than coastguards, Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said action would be taken "without delay".

It comes after Greece declared Turkey a "safe third country", giving it the legal framework to turn back asylum-seekers and to actively deport those who have arrived back across the Mediterranean.

In a press conference, Mr Stoltenberg insisted the deployment of Nato's Standing Maritime Group 2 was "not about stopping or pushing back refugee boats".

The fleet, including warships from a range of Western countries and currently under German command, "will be tasked to conduct reconnaissance, monitoring and surveillance of the illegal crossings in the Aegean sea in cooperation with relevant authorities", he said.

The US Secretary of Defence, Ash Carter, said: "There is now a criminal syndicate that is exploiting these poor people and this is an organised smuggling operation.

"Targeting that is the way that the greatest effect can be had ... That is the principal intent of this."

At the same time, it was announced that Nato will step up its counter-terror efforts on the border between Turkey and Syria.

And Mr Stoltenberg said Nato would "step up" its efforts in the international coalition against Isis, following a request from the US.

"We have just agreed that Nato will provide support to assist with the refugee and migrant crisis," Mr Stoltenberg said.

"The goal is to participate in the international efforts to stem the illegal trafficking and illegal migration in the Aegean."

"It is important to respond swiftly," he said. "Because this crisis affects all of us."

Germany has said it will take part in the mission in collaboration with Greece and Turkey, while the US said it "fully supports" the plan.

It is initially expected to involve five warships stationed for Standing Maritime Group 2 currently near Cyprus, but Mr Stoltenberg indicated more ships could be moved to the Aegean if required.

A government source told Reuters Germany is expected to contribute at least one other ship.

The extent to which the Nato vessels will interact with refugee boats remains unclear.

Nato diplomats said that rather than direct intervention, intelligence gathered about people-smugglers is likely to be handed over to Turkish coastguards to allow them to combat the traffickers more effectively.

Yet there have been numerous incidents where interactions between larger coastguard ships and refugee boats have resulted in the latter being capsized, and it is not known how people smuggler captains will react to sighting a large Nato warship in their path.

Nato confirmed that any refugees it "saves" from the vessels will be taken back to Turkey. According to Reuters, the Greek and Turkish coastguards will continue to operate exclusively within their own territorial waters.

Adam Withnall, The Independent
Nato's European commander has ordered three warships to move immediately to the Aegean Sea to help end the deadly smuggling of migrants between Turkey and Greece.

Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato secretary-general, said the warships, now under German command, will conduct reconnaissance and surveillance to help end Europe's gravest migrant crisis since the Second World War.

Ships from Nato Standing Maritime Group 2 "will start to move now" on orders from US air force general Philip Breedlove, Nato's supreme commander in Europe, Mr Stoltenberg said.

"This is about helping Greece, Turkey and the European Union with stemming the flow of migrants and refugees and coping with a very demanding situation," Mr Stoltenberg said, calling the situation a "human tragedy".

Earlier this week, the International Organisation for Migration said 409 people have died so far this year trying to cross the sea to Europe, and that nearly 10 times as many migrants crossed in the first six weeks of 2016 as in the same period last year. Most come from Turkey to Greece and then try to head north through Europe to more prosperous countries such as Germany and Sweden.

The three Nato warships will provide "important information" to the Greek and Turkish coast guards and other authorities, Mr Stoltenberg said. According to Nato's website, the flotilla is composed of a German navy flagship, the Bonn, and two other vessels, the Barbaros from Turkey and the Fredericton from Canada.

"This is not about stopping or pushing back refugee boats," Mr Stoltenberg stressed. "Nato will contribute critical information and surveillance to help counter human trafficking and criminal networks."

Nato will also step up intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance activities on the Turkish-Syrian border, Mr Stoltenberg said.

US defence secretary Ash Carter said earlier that Nato military authorities will also draw up plans for how the alliance could further act to help shut down illegal migration and smuggling of people across the Aegean Sea.

Nato was responding to a request by Turkey, Germany and Greece for alliance participation in an international effort targeting the smugglers.

The International Organisation for Migration said 76,000 people - nearly 2,000 per day - have reached Europe by sea since January 1.

"There is now a criminal syndicate which is exploiting these poor people," Mr Carter said. "Targeting that is the greatest way an effect could be had."

During a visit to The Hague on Wednesday, Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu said he and his Dutch counterpart, Mark Rutte, agreed to work together with Nato and Frontex, the European Union's border agency, "against the human traffickers who exploit the Syrian refugees and pave the way for their deaths at sea".
North Korea has ordered a military takeover of a factory park that was the last major symbol of co-operation with South Korea, saying Seoul's suspension of operations at the jointly run facility was a "dangerous declaration of war".

Pyongyang said it is immediately deporting the hundreds of South Koreans who work at the complex just across the world's most heavily armed border in the city of Kaesong, pulling out the tens of thousands of North Korean employees and freezing all South Korean assets. The North also said it is shutting down two crucial cross-border communication hotlines.

An immediate worry in Seoul was whether all South Korean workers would be allowed to leave; some analysts speculated that Pyongyang would hold on to some to get all the wages owed to North Korean workers.

Some South Korean workers left Kaesong before the North's announcement, and a handful of others were seen leaving afterwards, but South Korean officials were not certain whether all its nationals had departed by Pyongyang's 5.30pm (Seoul time) expulsion deadline, or what would become of anyone who failed to do so.

The South's unification ministry, which is responsible for ties with the North, said about 130 South Koreans had planned to enter Kaesong on Thursday to begin shutdown work, and that nearly 70 South Koreans who had been staying there would be leaving.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency, citing a military official, reported that South Korea bolstered its military readiness and strength along the western portion of the border in the event of a North Korean provocation.

The North's moves, announced by the North's committee for the peaceful reunification of Korea, significantly raised the stakes in a standoff that began with North Korea's nuclear test last month, followed by a long-range rocket launch on Sunday that outsiders see as a banned test of ballistic missile technology. South Korea responded on Thursday by beginning work to suspend operations at the factory park, one of its harshest possible punishment options.

North Korea called the South's shutdown a "dangerous declaration of war" and a "declaration of an end to the last lifeline of the North-South relations". Such over-the-top rhetoric is typical of the North's propaganda, but the country appeared to be backing up its language with its strong response.

North Korea, in its statement, also issued crude insults against South Korea's president Park Geun-hye, saying she masterminded the shutdown and calling her a "confrontational wicked woman" who lives upon "the groin of her American boss". Such sexist language is also typical of North Korean propaganda.

North Korea has previously cut off cross-border communication channels in times of tension with South Korea, but they were later restored after animosities eased.

Seoul said its decision on Kaesong was an effort to stop Pyongyang from using hard currency from the park to develop its nuclear and missile programmes.
A teacher in Saudi Arabia has opened fire on colleagues, killing at least six people and wounding two, state television reported.

The brief reports on the state television channel's website and Twitter account quoted a police spokesman and said the suspected shooter was in custody.

State TV posted a photograph that showed ambulances gathered outside the education department building where the shooting took place in Jazan province.

Mass shootings are rare in the kingdom. Saudi Arabia has faced a series of recent attacks by Islamic State militants.

Saudi Arabia is leading a coalition of countries conducting air strikes and ground operations in neighbouring Yemen in support of the deeply impoverished country's internationally recognised government. It is fighting against Iranian-backed Shiite rebels and supporters of a former president, who control the capital and other parts of the country.

Jazan, on the kingdom's southern border with Yemen, has been targeted by missiles and cross-border fire since Saudi Arabia intervened in the conflict.

On Tuesday, authorities said they shot down a ballistic missile targeting the city and that a police officer in the surrounding province was killed in a separate shooting incident.

In October, two people were killed and another two were wounded when a gunman opened fire inside a bank in the city of Jazan.
A teenage girl strapped with a booby-trapped vest and sent by Boko Haram to kill as many people as possible tore off the explosives and fled as soon as she was out of sight of her handlers, it has emerged.

Her two companions, however, completed their grisly mission and walked into a crowd of hundreds at Dikwa refugee camp in north-east Nigeria and blew themselves up, killing 58 people.

Later found by local self-defence forces, the girl's tearful account is one of the first indications that at least some of the child bombers used by Boko Haram are aware that they are about to die and kill others.

"She said she was scared because she knew she would kill people, but she was also frightened of going against the instructions of the men who brought her to the camp," said Modu Awami, a self-defence fighter who helped question the girl.

Her story was corroborated when she led soldiers to the unexploded vest, Mr Awami said, speaking from the refugee camp, which holds 50,000 people who have fled Boko Haram's Islamic uprising.

The girl is in custody and has given officials information about other planned bombings that has helped them increase security at the camp, Satomi Ahmed, chairman of the Borno State Emergency Management Agency, told reporters.

Mr Awami said he had no information about how the girl came to be with Boko Haram. The extremists have kidnapped thousands of people and there are fears they may be turning their captives into weapons.

An army bomb disposal expert said some suicide bombs are detonated remotely, so the carriers may not have control over when the bomb goes off.

Even two days later, it is difficult to say exactly how many people died at Dikwa because there were corpses and body parts everywhere, including in cooking pots, Mr Awami said.

"Women, children, men and aged persons all died," he said. "I cannot say the exact number as some cannot be counted because the bodies were all mangled."

The latest atrocity blamed on Boko Haram extremists was committed on people who had been driven from their homes by the insurgents and had spent a year across the border in Cameroon.

They had only returned to Nigeria in January when soldiers declared the area safe. The scene of the killings is about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the border with Cameroon and 85 kilometres (53 miles) north east of Maiduguri, the biggest city in the north east and birthplace of Boko Haram.

Such attacks make it difficult for the government to persuade people to return to their home areas, especially as there is nothing left for them. The extremists have razed homes and businesses, destroyed wells and boreholes, stolen livestock and seed grains that farmers need to start life again.

Boko Haram's six-year-old Islamic insurgency has killed 20,000 people, made 2.5 million homeless and spread across Nigeria's borders.
Police in Texas investigating the murder of a teacher and beauty queen in 1960 have arrested the former priest who apparently heard her final confession.

The unsolved killing of Irene Garza, 25, who was last seen at church, has haunted the city of McAllen.

Her bludgeoned body was pulled from an irrigation canal and now, nearly 56 years later, police have arrested the man long suspected of her murder.

Using a walker, a frail-looking John Feit, now 83, appeared in court in Phoenix a day after being arrested at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona, on a murder charge. He is in custody on 750,000 dollars' bail (517,000) while he waits to be transferred to Texas, but has vowed to fight extradition.

"This whole thing makes no sense to me because the crime in question took place in 1960," he said.

Feit's arrest followed other investigations over the years, including a grand jury probe in 2004 that concluded there was insufficient evidence to charge him.

McAllen police would not comment on what evidence was gathered or presented to the grand jury that finally brought the charge.

"The arrest of John Feit is the first step in providing justice for the murder of Ms Irene Garza. After nearly 56 years, Ms. Garza's family and our community will finally see that justice is served," Hidalgo County district attorney Ricardo Rodriguez said.

Authorities said Ms Garza visited Sacred Heart Catholic Church in McAllen, where Feit was a priest, on April 16 1960. Ms Garza, who was Miss All South Texas Sweetheart 1958, had planned to go to confession that evening. She never returned home.

Her body was found days later and an examination found she had been raped while unconscious, beaten and suffocated.

Feit came under suspicion early on, telling police that he heard Ms Garza's confession - in the church rectory rather than the confessional - but denied killing her.

He later spent time at a treatment centre in New Mexico for troubled priests then became a supervisor and had a part in clearing priests for assignments to parishes.

Among the men Feit helped keep in ministry was child molester James Porter, who assaulted more than 100 victims before he was ultimately defrocked and sent to prison.

Feit left the priesthood in 1972, married and went on to work at the Catholic charity St Vincent de Paul in Phoenix for a number of years, training and recruiting volunteers and helping oversee the charity's network of food pantries, said executive director Steve Zabilski.

He said the charity knew about the suspicion that followed Feit surrounding the killing, but he remained an employee and Feit always denied any involvement.

Mr Zabilski said he was shocked by Feit's arrest "because John is one of the most kind and caring and truly compassionate people that I've ever met. And anyone would say that".

Among the evidence that pointed to Feit as a suspect over the years was his portable photographic slide viewer which was found near Ms Garza's body.

Two fellow priests told authorities Feit confessed to them and one said he saw scratches on Feit soon after Ms Garza's disappearance.

Feit had also been accused of attacking another young woman in a church in a nearby town just weeks before Ms Garza's death. He eventually pleaded no contest and was fined 500 dollars.

Ms Garza's family members and friends had long pushed authorities to reopen the case and it became an issue in the 2014 district attorney's race. Mr Rodriguez had promised that if elected, he would re-examine the case.

Dale Tacheny, a tax adviser in Oklahoma City who had been a priest at a Missouri monastery where Feit had applied to live in 1963, said Feit had confessed to him that he had murdered a young woman, but it was not until years later that he learned that the woman Feit had described was Ms Garza.

He said he eventually told authorities around 2002 and that he had wanted to give evidence before the 2004 grand jury, but was not asked to do so by prosecutors. He said a prosecutor from Hidalgo County visited him to discuss the case last year, but he did not testify before the most recent grand jury.

Mr Tacheny said he had travelled in recent years to the McAllen area to support Ms Garza's family members' efforts to get the case reopened.
Tea and sympathy - Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, right, with the Rev Al Sharpton at a breakfast meeting in Harlem, New York City (AP)

Republican Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders are focusing their presidential election efforts on the next state battle for votes after decisive wins in New Hampshire.

Meanwhile the Republican field dwindled by two with announcements that Carly Fiorina and Chris Christie were dropping out of the White House race.

All signs now point to a drawn-out battle in the state-by-state contests following billionaire businessman Mr Trump's resounding victory in New Hampshire.

Florida senator Marco Rubio, under immense pressure to prove himself after a devastating fifth-place finish, was looking for a fight that could last for months or even spill into the first contested Republican national convention since 1976.

"We very easily could be looking at May - or the convention," Rubio campaign manager Terry Sullivan said.

If Mr Trump had Republicans on edge, Democrats were feeling no less queasy. Rejected in New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton sought redemption in Nevada, where a more diverse group of voters awaited her and Bernie Sanders.

Mr Sanders, a Vermont senator and self-proclaimed democratic socialist, raised more than five million dollars (3.4m) in less than a day after his New Hampshire triumph. The contributions came mostly in small-dollar amounts, his campaign said, illustrating the resources he will have to fight Mrs Clinton to the bitter end.

Both Mrs Clinton and Mr Sanders - the first Jew to win a presidential primary - worked to undercut each other among African-Americans and Hispanics with less than two weeks until the Democratic contests in Nevada and South Carolina. Mrs Clinton's campaign deployed South Carolina state congressman Todd Rutherford to vouch for her support for minorities.

"Secretary Clinton has been involved in South Carolina for the last 40 years," Mr Rutherford said. "Bernie Sanders has talked about these issues for the last 40 days."

Mr Sanders, meanwhile, met the Rev Al Sharpton, a civil rights activist, at a Harlem restaurant.

Texas senator Ted Cruz, the conservative firebrand and victor in the lead-off Iowa caucuses, returned to the centre of the fracas after largely sitting out New Hampshire.

He drew contrasts with Mr Trump as he told a crowd of 500 in Myrtle Beach that Texans and South Carolinians were more alike than not.

"We love God, we're gun owners, military veterans and we're fed up with what's happening in Washington," he said.

Far behind in New Hampshire voting, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Ms Fiorina dropped out, and a spokeswoman for New Jersey governor Christie said his race was over, too. But a sizeeable field remained.

Almost all the Republicans have spent months building complex campaigns and blanketing airwaves in South Carolina, which heralds the start of the Republican campaign's foray into the South.

After that primary on February 20, seven Southern states including Georgia and Virginia will anchor the Super Tuesday primaries on March 1, with a large number of delegates at stake.

Mr Rubio's campaign has looked forward to South Carolina, yet his path grew far trickier after a fifth-place New Hampshire let-down, which terminated talk of Republican leaders quickly uniting behind him as the strongest alternative to "outsiders" Mr Trump and Mr Cruz.

His campaign's suggestion that the race could veer a contested convention seemed to signal to mainstream Republicans that the party would be ill-served by allowing the Trump phenomenon to last much longer.

Republican officials have already had early discussions about such a July scenario, which could be triggered if no candidate secures a majority of delegates by convention time.

For governor John Kasich, whose second-place showing was New Hampshire's primary stunner, the task was to convert new-found interest into support in a state ideologically distant from his native Ohio. With a minimal South Carolina operation compared to his rivals, Mr Kasich must work quickly.

Heading into the final two-week sprint, Mr Trump was leading in South Carolina among all demographic groups, an NBC/Marist/Wall Street Journal poll showed, with Mr Cruz and Mr Rubio a distant second and third.

Already, more than 32 million dollars (22m) has been spent on TV ads there, according to CMAG/Kantar Media data - much of it by Right to Rise, the political action committee (PAC) backing former Florida governor Jeb Bush.

Though he was placed fourth on Tuesday, Mr Bush was hoping that Mr Rubio's slump would forestall his own removal from the race.
The US has dismissed a proposal by Russia for a March 1 ceasefire in Syria, saying Moscow is giving itself and the Syrian government a three-week window to try to crush moderate rebel groups.

Washington countered the proposal with demands for the fighting to stop immediately, US officials said. Peace talks are supposed to resume by February 25.

The talk of new ceasefire plans comes as the US, Russia and more than a dozen other countries meet in Munich to try to halt five years of civil war in Syria.

The conflict has killed more than a quarter of a million people, created Europe's biggest refugee crisis since the Second World War and allowed the Islamic State (IS) to carve out its own territory across parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq.

Russia says it is supporting Syrian president Bashar Assad's government as part of a counter-terrorism campaign but the West says the majority of its strikes are targeting moderate groups opposed to Assad and IS.

The most recent Russian-backed offensive, near Aleppo, prompted opposition groups to walk out of peace talks last month in Geneva, while forcing tens of thousands of civilians to flee towards the Turkish border.

One US source said America could not accept Russia's offer because opposition forces could suffer irreversible losses in northern and southern Syria before the ceasefire even took hold.

The officials said the US counter-proposal was a simple ceasefire effective immediately and accompanied by full humanitarian access to Syria's besieged civilian centres.

The Obama administration has been trying for months to clinch a ceasefire and pave the way for a transition government in Syria that would allow parties to the conflict to concentrate on defeating the threat posed by IS and the al Qaida-linked Nusra Front.

But after having long demanded Assad's removal, the shift in the US focus to combating terrorism has resulted in a confusing mix of priorities and a layered strategy in Syria that few understand, and even fewer see working.

Beyond Russia, the administration has often struggled to keep its own allies such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia in line.

"We will approach this meeting in Munich with great hopes that this will be a telling moment," US secretary of state John Kerry said. His peace push coincides with defence secretary Ash Carter's attendance at a gathering in Brussels to thrash out military options with Nato partners.

Brett McGurk, the Obama administration's point-man for defeating IS - also known as Isil and Isis - said Russia's Aleppo offensive was having the perverse effect of helping the extremists by drawing local fighters away from the battle against IS and to the war against Syria's government.

"What Russia's doing is directly enabling Isil," Mr McGurk told the House of Representatives foreign affairs committee in Washington.

But the panel's top Democrat echoed some of the frustration of his Republican colleagues with the larger US strategy.

"It seems as if we're only half-heartedly going after Isis, and halfheartedly helping the (rebel) Free Syria Army and others on the ground," said Eliot Engel of New York. He urged a "robust campaign, not a tentative one, not one that seems like we're dragging ourselves in ... to destroy Isis and get rid of Assad".

Mr Kerry emphasised on Tuesday that US officials "are not blind to what is happening" and said the Aleppo battle made it "much more difficult to be able to come to the table and to be able to have a serious conversation".

But Washington has staked its hopes for an end to the five-year civil war in Syria on the peace talks and Assad's eventual departure, saying the American public has no appetite for a military solution.

To that end, the US has tempered its calls dating back to August 2011 for Assad to immediately leave power - and to get Russia on board, it will now not even say that Assad should be barred from running for re-election if and when a new Syrian constitution is drafted.

The ambiguity has emboldened Assad's supporters Russia and Iran, while upsetting American allies in the Middle East, who are frustrated by a process that appears to lock the Syrian leader in place well into 2017 and perhaps beyond.

Meanwhile, Kurdish fighters and their allies have captured an air base in northern Syria, according to an opposition activist group .

Abdul-Jabbar Abu Thabet, a local rebel commander in the Aleppo province, said Mannagh air base fell to the People's Protection Units, or YPG, and their allies after fierce battles.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the offensive came as planes believed to be Russian carried out 30 air strikes in the area. It said the air base and a nearby village, also called Mannagh, fell late on Wednesday.

With Syrian troops backed by Russian planes waging a major offensive between the northern city of Aleppo and the Turkish border, the Kurds appeared to be exploiting the chaos to expand their nearby enclave, known as Afrin.
I would like to support Animal Aid (Write Back, February 8) in its "campaign for mandatory CCTV in slaughterhouses".

It is appalling to read it found evidence of cruelty and lawbreaking in nine out of 10 UK slaughterhouses... (including) "animals being kicked, burned with cigarettes and having their throats hacked at with a blunt knife".

But I would dispute Isobel Hutchinson's claim that "slaughter can never be cruelty-free", unless what she really means is "pain-free" - cruelty can never have a place in civilised society.

Unfortunately, certain groups claim the Jewish method of slaughter - 'shechitah' - is included in this behaviour. In shechitah the animal's throat is cut with an extremely sharp knife. As a result the blood flows out rapidly. In effect, it has been stunned.

As regards the other practices, they are forbidden by Jewish law. I only hope Animal Aid's campaign is not hijacked by those whom the prophet Hoshea (13:2) calls "slaughterers of humans who kiss calves" to agitate against it.

MARTIN D STERN

Salford, Greater Manchester
In the Belfast Telegraph (News, February 4), the Moderator-elect of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland was quoted saying that he was a "Gospel radical" and that he was a "Calvinist".

John Calvin states (in his Institutes, Book III, Chapter 23): "...eternal life is foreordained for some and eternal damnation for others".

This simply means that God created some people for Hell and some are predestined for Heaven.

Therefore, going to any place of worship is pointless if you were born condemned by God to Hell and with no hope of eternal salvation. This, surely, is very radical, but it is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

In John (6:40), Jesus Christ said: "For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life."

The Presbyterian Church in Ireland also subscribes to the Theory of Predestination through its support of the doctrine of the Westminster Confession of Faith.

Furthermore, it also supports the Westminster Confession of Faith, where it states that the Pope is the "Antichrist".

This is all false teaching and I would request the Moderator-elect to please be radical for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and reject this heretical doctrine.

Simply preach John 3:16.

BELIEVER IN THE HOLY TRINITY

Newry, Co Down
Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) optics technician inspecting one of LIGOs core optics (mirrors) by illuminating its surface with light at a glancing angle, prior to sealing up the chamber. Image: Caltech/MIT/LIGO LAB

LIGO co-founders Kip Thorne (R), and Rainer Weiss (L), embrace as they announce their discovery, observing the ripples in the fabric of spacetime called gravitational waves for the first time, confirming a prediction by Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, during a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, February 11, 2016. The machines that gave scientists their first-ever glimpse at gravitational waves are the most advanced detectors ever built for sensing tiny vibrations in the universe.The two US-based underground detectors are known as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory, or LIGO for short. / AFP / SAUL LOEBSAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

David Reitze, executive director of the LIGO Laboratory at Caltech, announces that scientists have observed ripples in the fabric of spacetime called gravitational waves for the first time, confirming a prediction of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, during a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, February 11, 2016. AFP/Getty Images

Gravity waves - ripples in spacetime - have been detected by scientists a century after Albert Einstein predicted their existence.

The discovery, made in the US, was described by one British member of the international team as "the biggest scientific breakthrough of the century".

Capturing gravitational waves could open a new window to the universe and even help scientists to watch the cosmos being born.

The subtle distortions of spacetime are generated by cataclysmic events such as the collision of black holes or super-dense neutron stars, or powerful stellar explosions.

As the waves spread out, they compress and stretch the very fabric of the universe.

Although astronomical observations have hinted at their presence, until now they have remained a theoretical concept based on Einstein's mathematics.

Scientists detected them using laser beams fired through two perpendicular pipes, each four kilometres long, situated nearly 2,000 miles apart in Hanford, Washington and Livingston, Louisiana.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Student Muzi Li at the Institute of Gravitational Research at Glasgow University holding a phone that shows a computer simulation of gravity waves - ripples in spacetime - which have been detected by scientists a century after Albert Einstein predicted their existence. PA PA Physicist Benoit Mours of France's National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) poses for a picture on the occassion of a press briefing of the CNRS on gravitational wave research by LIGO and VIRGO collaborations in Paris on February 11, 2016. In a landmark discovery for physics and astronomy, international scientists said on February 11 they have glimpsed the first direct evidence of gravitational waves, or ripples in space-time, which Albert Einstein predicted a century ago. Mours, who is leading the VIRGO team along with Italian colleagues, described the discovery as "historic" because it "allows us to directly verify one of the predictions of the theory of general relativity." / AFP / JOEL SAGETJOEL SAGET/AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images French Secretary of State for Higher Education Thierry Mandon addresses guests of a press briefing of the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - National Center for Scientific Research) on gravitational wave research by LIGO and VIRGO collaborations in Paris on February 11, 2016. In a landmark discovery for physics and astronomy, international scientists said on February 11 they have glimpsed the first direct evidence of gravitational waves, or ripples in space-time, which Albert Einstein predicted a century ago. / AFP / JOEL SAGETJOEL SAGET/AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images LIGO co-founders Kip Thorne (R), and Rainer Weiss (L), speak about their discovery showing the ripples in the fabric of spacetime called gravitational waves that scientists have observed for the first time, confirming a prediction of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, during a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, February 11, 2016. The machines that gave scientists their first-ever glimpse at gravitational waves are the most advanced detectors ever built for sensing tiny vibrations in the universe.The two US-based underground detectors are known as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory, or LIGO for short. / AFP / SAUL LOEBSAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images LIGO co-founders Kip Thorne (R), and Rainer Weiss (L), speak about their discovery showing the ripples in the fabric of spacetime called gravitational waves that scientists have observed for the first time, confirming a prediction of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, during a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, February 11, 2016. The machines that gave scientists their first-ever glimpse at gravitational waves are the most advanced detectors ever built for sensing tiny vibrations in the universe.The two US-based underground detectors are known as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory, or LIGO for short. / AFP / SAUL LOEBSAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images Guests attend a press briefing of the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - National Center for Scientific Research) on gravitational wave research by LIGO and VIRGO collaborations in Paris on February 11, 2016. In a landmark discovery for physics and astronomy, international scientists said on February 11 they have glimpsed the first direct evidence of gravitational waves, or ripples in space-time, which Albert Einstein predicted a century ago. / AFP / JOEL SAGETJOEL SAGET/AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images Discovery by scientists working with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) system could lead to huge steps forward in understanding how the universe was formed A screen displays a diagram showing the ripples in the fabric of spacetime called gravitational waves that scientists have observed for the first time by the LIGO detector, confirming a prediction of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, during a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, February 11, 2016. AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Student Muzi Li at the Institute of Gravitational Research at Glasgow University holding a phone that shows a computer simulation of gravity waves - ripples in spacetime - which have been detected by scientists a century after Albert Einstein predicted their existence. PA

Together they make up the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (Ligo), where the hunt for gravitational waves only began in earnest last September.

Making the announcement at the National Press Club in Washington DC, laser physicist Professor David Reitze, from the University of Florida, said: "Ladies and gentlemen, we have detected gravity waves. We did it."

He was greeted with loud applause.

British expert Professor James Hough, from the University of Glasgow, claimed the breakthrough was more important than the discovery of the missing Higgs boson, the so-called "God particle" linked to mass, in 2012.

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Expand Close Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) Co-Founder Rainer Weiss, left, and Kip Thorne, right, accompanied by Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) Exectutive Director David Reitze, bottom, hug on stage during a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016, to announce that scientists have detected gravitational ripples, just as Einstein predicted a century ago. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) AP / Facebook

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Whatsapp Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) Co-Founder Rainer Weiss, left, and Kip Thorne, right, accompanied by Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) Exectutive Director David Reitze, bottom, hug on stage during a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016, to announce that scientists have detected gravitational ripples, just as Einstein predicted a century ago. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

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Speaking in Washington DC, Professor Hough said: "Until you can actually measure something, you don't really know it's there.

"I think this is much more significant than the discovery of the Higgs boson. This is the biggest scientific breakthrough of the century."

To say gravitational waves are hard to detect is a gross understatement.

The Ligo lasers are designed to detect the way a passing wave causes minute changes in the lengths of the pipes. This results in the two lasers being slightly out of step, creating an interference pattern that can be measured.

The effect is very, very small - the equivalent of about one 10,000th the width of a proton, the heart of an atom.

Anything touched by a gravitational wave would be distorted the same way, even people. But normally the changes are not noticed.

Gravitational waves are predicted in Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, published in 1916, which links gravity to the curvature of spacetime by massive objects.

They can be produced in different ways - for instance, by black holes or neutron stars spiralling towards each other on a collision course, a titanic supernova, or exploding star, or even the Big Bang that gave birth to the universe.

The last possibility raises the prospect of peering behind the veil of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), a relic of radiation from about 4,000 years after the Big Bang.

Expand Expand Previous Next Close A picture shows a 3km-long arm part of the Virgo detector for gravitational waves that is located within the site of EGO, European Gravitational Observatory, on February 9, 2016 between Cascina and Pisa in Tuscany. AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images A picture shows a 3km-long arm part of the Virgo detector for gravitational waves that is located within the site of EGO, European Gravitational Observatory, on February 9, 2016 between Cascina and Pisa in Tuscany. AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp A picture shows a 3km-long arm part of the Virgo detector for gravitational waves that is located within the site of EGO, European Gravitational Observatory, on February 9, 2016 between Cascina and Pisa in Tuscany. AFP/Getty Images

Gravity waves could allow scientists to see what happened even before the CMB came into being.

The gravity waves detected by the Ligo team were from two colliding black holes 1.3 billion light years away.

Professor Martin Hendry, head of the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Glasgow, said: "Einstein's General Theory of Relativity is regarded as one of the most impressive scientific achievements of all time and the existence of black holes is one of the theory's most startling predictions.

Expand Close A picture shows a part of the 3km-long arm of the Virgo detector for gravitional waves located within the site of EGO, European Gravitational Observatory, on February 09, 2016 between Cascina and Pise. AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp A picture shows a part of the 3km-long arm of the Virgo detector for gravitional waves located within the site of EGO, European Gravitational Observatory, on February 09, 2016 between Cascina and Pise. AFP/Getty Images

"To see such clear and direct confirmation of this prediction, and moreover that the merger of two black holes converts enormous amounts of mass into the energy of gravitational waves, is a wonderful vindication of Einstein's masterwork a century after it was written."

Another Ligo scientist, Professor Gabriela Gonzalez, from Louisiana State University, compared the achievement to that of the 16th century pioneer of modern astronomy, Galileo Galilei.

She said: "It's monumental - like Galileo using the telescope for the first time."

The Ligo project involved 1000 scientists and cost an estimated 620 million dollars (429 million). After 25 years, success came barely a week after the facility underwent a 1 million upgrade to make it more sensitive.

Even then, it took months of careful checking of the data before the researchers felt confident enough to announce the news.

The measurements had very specific characteristics that were exactly what would be expected from two colliding black holes.

Prof Reitze, Ligo's executive director, said: "Our observation of gravitational waves accomplishes an ambitious goal set out over five decades ago to directly detect this elusive phenomenon and better understand the universe, and, fittingly, fulfils Einstein's legacy on the 100th anniversary of his general theory of relativity."

Explaining how the gravity waves were generated, he asked his audience to imagine two black holes, each around 150 kilometres in diameter, and each packed with 30 times more mass than the sun.

Accelerating to half the speed of light, they spiralled towards each other until they crashed together and merged.

"It's mind boggling," said Prof Reitze.

The wave front from the event spread out, like ripples from a stone thrown into a pond, across the vast expanse of the universe.

"When it gets to the Earth the gravitational wave is going to stretch and compress space," Prof Reitze added. "The Earth is jiggling like jello."

He said: "This was truly a scientific moonshot, and we did it. We landed on the moon."

Not only was it the first time anyone had detected a gravity wave, but the discovery also marked the first confirmation of two black holes fusing together.

Theoretical physicist Professor Kip Thorne, from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), who originally proposed the Ligo experiment in the 1980s, said the detection of gravity waves would make it possible to spot black holes tearing stars apart, and perhaps violent phenomena previously unknown to science.

He added: "Until now, we have only seen spacetime when it's calm. We have only seen the surface of the ocean on a calm day when it's quite glassy. We have never seen the ocean riled by a violent storm with crashing waves before."

Dr Ed Daw, from the University of Sheffield, who has been researching gravitational waves with Ligo since 1998, said: "'Discoveries of this importance in physics come along about every 30 years.

"A measure of its significance is that even the source of the wave - two black holes in close orbit, each tens of times heavier than the Sun, which then collide violently - has never been observed before, and could not have been observed by any other method. This is just the beginning."

Paying tribute to the UK's contribution to the discovery, Professor John Womersley, chief executive of the Science and Technology Facilities Council, said: "It has taken 100 years and the combined work of many hundreds of the cleverest scientists, engineers and mathematicians on Earth to prove that this key prediction of Albert Einstein is correct, and show that gravitational waves exist.

"Of course Einstein was always the smartest guy in the room. Today's results also remind us just how important the UK's contribution to world-leading science is. I'd certainly like to think that some of the smartest people on earth today are living and working in the UK."

Gravitational waves: Questions and answers

Scientists have detected gravity waves, 100 years after they were predicted by Albert Einstein.

Q: WHAT ARE GRAVITATIONAL WAVES?

A: They are ripples in spacetime, the very fabric of the universe. Albert Einstein predicted their existence in his General Theory of Relativity in 1916. Until now, they have only been a mathematical concept.

Q: HOW ARE GRAVITATIONAL WAVES PRODUCED?

A: Gravity waves are generated by cataclysmic cosmic events, such as collisions between black holes or super-dense neutron stars, or massive stella explosions.

Q: WHAT WAS THE SOURCE OF THE GRAVITATIONAL WAVES DETECTED BY LIGO?

A: Two black holes, each packed with 30 times more material than the sun, spiralling together, colliding and fusing, in a distant corner of the universe 1.3 billion light years away. They could be not seen - scientists figured out what happened by studying the nature of the gravity waves.

Q: HOW WERE THE GRAVITATIONAL WAVES MEASURED?

A: The Ligo facility consists of two four kilometre pipes laid out perpendicular to each other in an L shape. A laser beam is fired through each pipe. As the gravity wave passes, it distorts space, causing tiny changes to the lengths of the pipes and the laser beams. As a result, the two beams are slightly out of step, creating a distinctive interference pattern which is measured using a system of mirrors.

The effect is really small - the equivalent of one 10,000th the width of a proton at the heart of an atom. To avoid disturbance, the laser beams are placed in remote locations away from noise and vibration.

Q: WHY IS THE DISCOVERY IMPORTANT?

A: Scientists say it opens a whole new window on the universe. Gravity waves could help scientists investigate some of the most violent events in the universe, including phenomena that are currently unknown. They could also shed a new light on mysteries such as dark matter and dark energy. Since it is quite likely that the Big Bang generated gravity waves, they might provide a glimpse of the birth of the universe.
The number of active Twitter users failed to rise in the last three months of 2015, the social network has reported, as it continues to struggle.

The micro-blogging site used its latest financial earnings report to announce that monthly active users remain at 320 million, with analysts having predicted the figure to rise to 323 million.

In comparison, rival social network Facebook has over 1.5 billion users and recently reported record financial results of their own.

The site did however report revenue increases of more than 2 billion US dollars (1.3bn), up more than 50% on last year.

The news comes in the wake of chief executive Jack Dorsey being accused of misleading users after denying a new layout for the Twitter timeline was coming soon, only for the feature to begin appearing this week.

The lack of growth in user numbers has plunged the social network into crisis in recent months, with co-founder Mr Dorsey returning to the company and around 8% of the company's staff being cut.

But in the reporting of their latest financial results, the company remained defiant that it would continue to grow.

"We saw a decline in monthly active usage in Q4, but we've already seen January monthly actives bounce back to Q3 levels," said Twitter's report.

"We're confident that, with disciplined execution, this growth trend will continue over time."

Analysts are concerned for the future of the site, however.

Walter Price, from global investment firm Allianz, said: "I think Twitter is in a crisis and could be entering the internet graveyard that is populated by many other small internet properties that are used by people and have value to their users but are no longer growth companies.

"The management changes at Twitter and the revolving door at the top of the company is because they think they can grow but everything they try is not really working. In our view, the stock will continue to go down until they change their emphasis."

Twitter added that it has "five priorities" for 2016, including to deal with the "confusing" aspects of the site, such as how users can reply to messages both publicly and more directly using the site's existing rules. Improving live streaming video options, as well as making the site safer were also named as key areas of focus for the company in the coming year.
What attracted me to the first Taken (2008) filmfunnily enough for an action filmis that the story revolved around real issues, the (tragic) contemporary trafficking of humans sold into slavery and prostitution.

However, action films often have an issue somewhere in there, but trafficking is a subject that is rarely raised at the movies and never examined in real depth.The issue isnt there as food for thought in Taken, but works as a functional device for an action story.

CIA operative Bryan Mills fights his way to rescue his kidnapped daughter, leading him to Albania.

It is a shame and tragedy for a father to endure, and without Bryans special skills, there is not a potential salvaging of her life.

Hard to believe. Mills dispenses with traffickers with absolute conviction and vengeance, but which for an action film is par for the course and sets up a sequel that was released in 2012.

Trafficking is a major problem. Eradicating it through Mills methods is bound to make people working for justice squirm, but maybe understand.

I became aware of the issue a few years earlier so could put a finger on it. Based on that reason, I gave the film a 4-star rating in 2009 (as well as enjoying Liam Neeson in the lead).

But looking even closer the film is empty when it comes to seriously tackling the issue.

The Albanian perpetrators are living in poverty that appears to give them a reason for their trafficking of individuals. Inexcusable of course, but in terms of dealing with their issues, they are merely targets for Mills fists.

The Albanian perpetrators are not identifiable as human, their actions the whole of the person. Their behavior is never addressed. They are just punished.

We cant go any deeper. Taken was an action movie with a charismatic star who carried the film, but letting us down when the issue is present (causing me to praise it in 2009) but swept under the carpet.
A Dhaka court Thursday upheld death sentences for a militant group leader and two of his men who were convicted of trying to assassinate the British ambassador to Bangladesh 12 years ago, officials said.

A two-judge panel of the High Court rejected an appeal of a lower courts capital punishment sentence for Abdul Hannan, chief of the banned militant outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJI), and two of his accomplices, Sharfi Shahidul Alam (alias Bipul) and Delwar Hossain (alias Ripon), according to reports.

In 2008, a court in northeastern Sylhet sentenced three to die for their role in a grenade attack there on May 21, 2004 that injured British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury but killed a police officer and two other people. The attack took place as the Bangladeshi-born diplomat  now Britains ambassador to Peru  was visiting the Hazrat Shahjalal shrine.

Two other HuJI members, Mostafizur Rahman (also known as Muhibullah) and Mufit Moin Uddin (also known as Abu Zandal) were sentenced to life in prison for their roles in the plot

This is a historic day. We should all welcome such verdicts, Mizanur Rahman, a student of International Relations at Dhaka University, told BenarNews, saying that the attack on the foreign diplomat had given his country a bad name.

Mohammad Ali, a lawyer representing Hannan and the other two condemned men, said his clients would appeal Thursdays ruling.

The next step in the case would be heard by the nations Supreme Court, the Associated Press reported.

Previously, the Supreme Court rejected appeals from five men sentenced to death by Bangladeshs International War Crimes Tribunal for their roles in atrocities committed during the war of independence from Pakistan in 1971. Last year, three of those five men were executed after the court turned down their appeals.

In 2004, HuJI militants also carried out a grenade attack on an Awami League party rally in Dhaka that killed 20 people, including the wife of former President Zillur Rahman.

The guest of honor at the rally, Sheikh Hasina, the current prime minister who was then the leader of the opposition, narrowly survived the attack.
Supporters of Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim take part in a candle-light vigil outside the Sungai Buloh Prison, on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, Feb. 11, 2015.

On the first anniversary of Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahims incarceration, his wife and international human rights organizations demanded that the government release him from prison.

Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Ibrahims wife who is president of his Peoples Justice Party (PKR), said the international community recognized her husband as a leader of a popular movement to reform government in Malaysia as well as a political victim of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) party, which heads the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) alliance.

Yes, Anwar is inside the prison and still listening to our shouts for reform. He constantly reminds us to be strong and continue to unite against inhumane treatment, she told BenarNews on Wednesday.

He is our symbol of struggle and solidarity among opposition to the BN. We need to stand and fight," Wan Azizah said.

Along with requesting his release, the human rights groups on Wednesday asked that he be allowed to travel outside of the country for necessary medical treatment.

Anwar was taken into custody on Feb. 10, 2015, to begin serving a five-year prison sentence on a sodomy charge.

Last year, a Federal Court dismissed Anwars appeal and ordered him to serve the prison term after he was convicted of sodomizing a former aide, Saiful Bukhari Azlan, in 2008. Saiful issued a statement Wednesday, calling on Anwar to use his time in prison to seek forgiveness.

On Tuesday night, about 500 people, including PKR activists and other non-governmental organizations, gathered in front of the Sungai Buloh Prison near Kuala Lumpur to push for Anwars release.

Wan Azizah said her husbands condition was deteriorating.

"Anwar cant lift his right hand due to illness. He lifts his left hand  with his left hand he is still able to shout out reforms, she said.

During the rally Anwars wife released a dove as a symbol of freedom, while their children screened a video tribute to their father and read a poem, "Perjalanan Bu Aminah (The journey of Bu Aminah) by W.S. Rendra.

Malaysias conviction of Anwar Ibrahim was politically motivated, and hes already suffered through a year in prison from this travesty of justice, Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch said in a statement demanding Anwars release.

Other international organizations issuing statements in support of Anwar were Lawyers for Liberty and Worldwide Movement for Human Rights.

The U.N. Human Rights Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued an opinion in November calling Anwars imprisonment arbitrary and against international law, Lawyers group Executive Director Eric Paulsen said.

Any additional day Anwar spends behind bars is one more day of shame for the Malaysian government and further tarnishes its battered reputation, said Karim Lahidji, the Worldwide Movements executive director.

Blatant lies

In his statement, Saiful said people had been misled into believing that Anwar was a political prisoner, not a genuine felon.

I was the victim in this case. Am I not human, that my rights as a victim are denied by human rights groups, Saiful said.

To the outsiders, especially the foreign countries and international bodies that believe [Anwars supporters], let me tell you that he is not a political prisoner, Saiful added.

The former aide to Anwar wished his ex-boss good health and peace in prison, and expressed hope that Anwar would use his time in jail to reflect on himself and seek forgiveness.

This has nothing to do with democratic oppression. Stop giving support and funds because these are blatant lies, Saiful said.
The Cross-Cultural Foundation, the Duay Jai Group and the Patani Human Right Organization released this report on torture in Thailands Deep South, Feb. 10, 2016.

A group of human rights organizations is accusing Thai officials of systemic torture of suspected rebels taken prisoner in the restive Deep South, and is calling on the military-controlled government to work with them to end such abuses.

The accusation surfaced in a new report issued jointly on Wednesday by the Cross-Cultural Foundation (CrCF), the Duay Jai (Hearty Support) Group and the Patani Human Rights Organization (HAP). The groups released the report during a seminar at Prince of Songkla University in Pattani, a province in the Deep South.

Government officials challenged the reports findings.

The three organizations learned of alleged cases of torture from 2004 through the end of 2015, and are urging the government to use the reports findings to fix any wrongdoing, said Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, the director of the Cross-Cultural Foundation.

We want to join with the government to help solve the problem. We want the government to set up a credible committee we can trust to jointly solve the problem, Pornpen told BenarNews.

We are not accusing all officials, but we believe there are some officials who continue using torture. Not all officials, she said.

Somchai Hom-la-or, who directs one of Thailands largest rights advocacy groups, the Human Rights and Development Foundation, echoed the call by the three NGOs.

Separately, he warned separately that, if allowed to go on, torture could contribute toward undermining efforts to end the southern insurgency peacefully.

We want all security officials involved with arresting, detaining and investigating suspected individuals to halt torture at once. The government must punish the wrong-doers, give justice to victims and their families, otherwise it will severely affect the effort to solve the Deep South troubles, Somchai said in a news release.

A deputy spokesman for Internal Security Operation Command (ISOC) Region 4 in Pattani called the 49-page report inaccurate.

I confirmed that officials never torture suspects under custody. The officials strictly adhere by the laws, Col. Yutthanam Phetmuang told BenarNews by phone.

Torture claimed

The report by the three rights organizations is based on the accounts of 54 suspected insurgents between the ages of 19 and 48 who were held by the military.

Martial law, which is in force across the heavily militarized Deep South, allows for seven days of detention in a military camp, while an emergency decree allows seven days for similar custody in any special place. With a courts consent, officials may detain a suspected person for up to 30 days.

Although the laws granted special powers to the authorities to restrict certain freedoms and liberties of people in special circumstances, there is no law, both domestic and international, that grants authorities the power to inflict torture or cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment and punishment, the report said.

According to the report, all detainees are Muslim and Malay-speaking locals from the region. It also details cases of torture that occur upon arrest, and while the suspect is being transported and questioned.

The detainees are denied the opportunity to consult with relatives or a lawyer, and they are not allowed bail, have limited family visitation or are incarcerated in secret places, the report said.

The detainees under special laws went through inquiry process carried out by officials who asked them whether they had a hand in violence or are involved with any insurgent groups, said the report, claiming that torture was used to coerce confessions from suspects.

The report points to three methods of torture  psychological, physical and inhumane treatment.

Physical torture includes water boarding, Chinese water torture  where cold and hot water is poured over the forehead or other body part  electrocution and sexual assault.

While they were questioning me, they also attacked me by kicking, slapping and punching. Three out of seven officials took me to a fish pond in the Special Force Compound, then they dunked me in the pond, a detainee recalled about an incident in February 2007.

The CrCF said five detainees died while in custody since 2007. However, the most recent case of Abdullayi Dorloh, 42, who died on Dec. 4, 2015, showed no sign that he was beaten, according to a forensic doctor at Prince of Songkla University.

Prayuth: Thailand developing technology to detect perpetrators

Since 2004, more than 6,500 people have been killed and close to 12,000 injured in more than 15,000 violent incidents associated with the conflict in Thailands southern border region.

The statistics give Thailand a bad name, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha told an ISOC meeting in Bangkok on Wednesday.

When I met foreign counterparts abroad, they believed Thailand has terrorists and is most at-risk of terror attacks in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), he said.

Prayuth said insurgent attacks only took place in the Deep South.

And since the regional blocs 10 member-states formed the ASEAN Economic Cooperation zone to allow more freedom of movement, he said the Thai government was developing adequate technology, including cameras, to prevent people suspected of being involved in terrorism from crossing borders.

Watch out for extremists, he said, adding, I dont want Thailand to be a part of any conflicts. We want our country to be free, to make choices of our own of what we do, but still adhere to international obligations.

Dont think that our country is safe, because there are no safe countries, he said.


For Immediate Release, February 10, 2016 Contacts: Scot Quaranda, Dogwood Alliance, (828) 242-3596, scot@dogwoodalliance.org

Kevin Bundy, Center for Biological Diversity, (510) 844-7100 x313, kbundy@biologicaldiversity.org U.S. Groups Join Global Call to Remove Wood-based Biomass From

European Union Renewable Energy Directive Biomass Increases Carbon Pollution, Damages Land and Livelihoods in Communities Around Globe ASHEVILLE, N.C. More than 110 groups from across the globe joined a declaration today demanding that bioenergy be excluded from the European Unions next Renewable Energy Directive, or RED. The EU is considering renewal of the RED for 2020 onwards in a consultation ending today. A decision is expected by the end of the year. The RED will determine Europes path forward on meeting its carbon emissions reductions targets following the Paris agreement signed December 2015. Bioenergy already accounts for around two-thirds of energy classed as renewable in the EU, and the EU currently anticipates that industrial bioenergy will continue playing a major part in its renewable energy strategy. Burning wood for energy increases carbon pollution in the atmosphere for decades to centuries, published science shows. Indeed, so-called biomass is even more carbon-intensive than coal when measured at the smokestack. The EU, however, currently treats wood energy as carbon neutral despite contrary scientific evidence. This misguided policy has devastated communities and forests around the globe, including forests here in the United States, as European utilities compete for wood pellets and other biomass fuels. Rapidly increasing European demand for wood pellets globally, with the United States leading the way, is having a devastating impact on the forests and communities of the Southern U.S., said Adam Macon from Dogwood Alliance. We've joined with over 110 other groups to send a strong signal to the EU and the U.S. EPA that they must change their mind on bioenergy or risk doing far more harm than good. It's clear that support for bioenergy in the EU is directly impacting forests internationally and the people that depend on them, as well as incentivising even greater carbon emissions. In the U.S., the forest products industry and several states are pushing the EPA to classify biomass energy as a carbon neutral method of complying with the Clean Power Plans carbon pollution standards for power plants. Just last week the Senate adopted an amendment to a bipartisan energy bill that could force EPA and other agencies to ignore biomass carbon pollution despite the science. The science is clear that large-scale burning of wood to generate electricity will make the climate crisis worse, so it shouldnt be used in Europe or the U.S., said Kevin Bundy, senior attorney and climate legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. Native forests across the Southeast are being clearcut to satisfy European demand for wood pellets, all because the EU ignores climate pollution from bioenergy. The EU has to fix its anti-science mistake  and our own Congress has to avoid repeating it. The declaration submitted today demands that bioenergy not be defined and subsidized as renewable energy under the EU directive, citing growing scientific evidence that current EU bioenergy policy has done tremendous harm to people, forests and the climate. Industrial bioenergy is not renewable because biomass fuels are not replenished as quickly as they are consumed. Carbon emissions from burning biomass for energy are often greater than the emissions from the fossil fuels they are supposed to replace. Peer-reviewed studies and on-the-ground investigations have shown that industrial-scale bioenergy results in significant carbon emissions and fuels the destruction of biodiverse forests from North America to southeast Asia and eastern Europe. These forests are vital carbon sinks. Biofuels in particular have become a major driver for land-grabbing in the global south and are, in many cases, linked to serious violations of land and labor rights. To download the full declaration with a list of signatories, visit http://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/BioenergyOut-Declaration.pdf. For more information on the EU RED consultation process, visit https://ec.europa.eu/energy/en/consultations/preparation-new-renewable-energy-directive-period-after-2020. Dogwood Alliance (www.dogwoodalliance.org) is a regional nonprofit organization that is increasing protection for millions of acres of Southern forests by transforming the way corporations, landowners and communities value them for their climate, wildlife and water benefits.



The Center for Biological Diversity (www.biologicaldiversity.org) 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, February 11, 2016 Contact: Tom Wheeler, Environmental Protection and Information Center, (206) 356-8689, tom@wildcalifornia.org

Justin Augustine, Center for Biological Diversity, (503) 910-9214, jaugustine@biologicaldiversity.org California's Coastal Martens Gain Candidate List Protection

Under California Endangered Species Act SACRAMENTO, Calif. In response to a petition from two conservation groups, the California Fish and Game Commission today voted to make coastal martens a candidate species under the California Endangered Species Act. As candidates, coastal martens cannot be killed or harmed and will receive a year-long formal status review that will most likely lead to them being formally listed under the Act a year from now. Also known as the Humboldt marten, the coastal marten is a cat-sized carnivore found in the old-growth forests of Northern California and southern Oregon. The martens forest habitat has been decimated by logging, likely leaving fewer than 100 coastal martens left in California. This is great news for coastal martens, said Justin Augustine, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. Candidate species receive some immediate protection under the California Endangered Species Act, and this help could not come too soon, given how few of these martens are left in California. The Environmental Protection Information Center and the Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the state to protect the marten in June 2015, and the Department of Fish and Wildlife issued a report in December 2015 recommending that the martens be named as candidates under the Act. Todays vote from the Fish and Game Commission formally adopts that recommendation and allows the martens to receive the Acts protections. Over the next year the Department will conduct an in-depth review of the coastal martens status in California and issue a report recommending whether to formally protect the martens. The coastal marten also lives in southern and central coastal Oregon, where it has also undergone a drastic population decline. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to protect the marten under the federal Endangered Species Act in response to a petition from the two groups, a decision now being challenged in court. The historic range of the marten extends from Sonoma County in coastal California north through the coastal mountains of Oregon. Once believed to be extinct, the marten was rediscovered on the Six Rivers National Forest in 1996. Since that time researchers have continued to detect martens in California, but also determined that coastal martens declined substantially between 2001 and 2012 and have not rebounded. We once thought the coastal marten was extinct, said Tom Wheeler, staff attorney for EPIC. With its rediscovery, we have another chance to save the marten. We must act now to prevent it from drifting back toward extinction. Since 1977, the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC) has defended Northwest Californias forests and wildlife, including the rare and incredibly adorable Humboldt marten. 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, February 11, 2016 Contact: Micah Parkin, 350 Colorado, (504) 258-1247

Ruth Breech, Rainforest Action Network, (415) 238-1766

Taylor McKinnon, Center for Biological Diversity, (801) 300-2414

Jeremy Nichols, WildEarth Guardians, (303) 437-7663

Diana Best, Greenpeace, (415) 265-8122 Colorado Protesters Call for End to Federal Fossil Fuel Auctions DENVER Protesters today staged a climate rally outside of the Bureau of Land Managements office in Lakewood, Colo., calling for an immediate end to fossil fuel development on public lands. The group also delivered a letter to regional BLM Director Ruth Welch, asking her to cancel all future fossil fuel lease auctions and to keep fossil fuels in the ground on public lands. These climate auctions allow industry to bid on large swaths of public lands for drilling and fracking. The BLM had originally scheduled an auction today but the sale had been postponed due to ongoing tribal consultations. The rally today highlighted that delaying these auctions is not enough. It is time to end climate auctions for good to prevent catastrophic climate change and ensure a livable future for this and coming generations in Colorado. The rally is part of the rapidly growing Keep It in the Ground movement calling on President Obama to define his climate legacy and stop new fossil fuel leases on public lands and oceans  a step that would keep up to 450 billion tons of carbon pollution from escaping into the atmosphere. These auctions present a gross conflict between the administrations climate pledges and an energy policy that allows fuels that should be considered unburnable to be extracted from public lands. Federal fossil fuels  those that the president controls  should be the first taken off the table to mitigate climate damage. Similar Keep it in the Ground protests are planned for upcoming lease sales in Reno, Salt Lake City and New Orleans. Groups participating in todays rally included: 350 Colorado, 350 Fort Collins, Center for Biological Diversity, CO Peoples Alliance, Direct FRACK-tion, Earth Guardians, Flatirons Political Art, Food & Water Watch, Frack-Free CO, Greenpeace USA, Indigenous Peoples Power Project, Rainforest Action Network, WildEarth Guardians and others. Statements From Individuals and Groups:

At a time when countries around the world have agreed that we must keep the global temperature rise under 2 degree C to avoid devastating climate change and scientists tell us that means keeping 80% of fossil fuels in the ground, it's clear that the Obama administration's only responsible course of action is to stop auctioning off public lands for oil and gas fracking - and we intend to hold them to that," said Micah Parkin with 350 Colorado. Fossil fuel companies make millions off public land leases while wreaking environmental destruction, harming peoples health, violating Indigenous rights, and passing off massive clean up costs to taxpayers, said Ruth Breech, from Rainforest Action Network. President Obama should not just take a closer look at these corporate giveaways, but end them altogether. Its not enough to keep postponing these oil and gas lease auctions, they need to be halted permanently, said Taylor McKinnon of the Center for Biological Diversity. If we are to have any hope of meeting our climate change goals, the 450 billion tons of potential carbon emissions on public lands and waters must remain in the ground. "With each postponement, massive amounts of publicly owned fossil fuels stay in the ground a little longer, and the movement to keep them there permanently gets stronger. Now, the Obama administration must move quickly to stop all fossil fuel leasing on public lands and waters so we can focus on building the renewable energy economy," said Diana Best with Greenpeace, USA. Background:

Sixty-seven million acres of U.S. public lands are already leased to dirty fossil fuel industries, an area 55 times larger than Grand Canyon National Park, and containing up to 43 billion tons of potential greenhouse gas pollution. Nearly one quarter of all U.S. climate pollution already comes from burning fossil fuels from public lands. Remaining federal oil, gas, coal, oil shale and tar sands that have not been leased to industry contain up to 450 billion tons of potential greenhouse gas pollution. In September, more than 400 organizations called on President Obama to end federal fossil fuel leasing. In November, Senators Merkley (D-Ore.), Sanders (D-Vt.) and others introduced legislation to end new federal fossil fuel leases and cancel non-producing federal fossil fuel leases. Last month, the Obama Administration placed a moratorium on federal coal leasing while the Department of the Interior studies its impacts on taxpayers and the planet. Since November, the BLM has canceled or postponed oil and gas leasing auctions in Utah, Montana, Washington, D.C. and Wyoming. Download a copy of the letter to Director Ruth Welch here. Download the September Keep it in the Ground letter to Obama here. Download Public Lands, Private Profits, a report detailing the corporations profiting from fossil fuel extraction on public lands, here. Download Grounded: The Presidents Power to Fight Climate Change, Protect Public Lands by Keeping Publicly Owned Fossil Fuels in the Ground here. This report details the legal authorities with which a president can halt new federal fossil fuel leases. Download The Potential Greenhouse Gas Emissions fact sheet here.


For Immediate Release, February 10, 2016 Contacts: Chance Cutrano, Resource Renewal Institute, (415) 928-3774, ccutrano@rri.org

Jeff Miller, Center for Biological Diversity, (510) 499-9185, jmiller@biologicaldiversity.org

Karen Klitz, Western Watersheds Project, (510) 655-7892, kklitz101@gmail.com Conservation Groups Sue Over Missing Point Reyes Management Plan National Seashore Needs Plan for How Ranching Fits into Park, Not How Park Fits into Ranching SAN FRANCISCO The Resource Renewal Institute, Center for Biological Diversity and Western Watersheds Project filed a lawsuit in federal court today seeking to require the National Park Service to update its General Management Plan and prepare an Environmental Impact Statement, prior to adopting a proposed plan to extend cattle grazing leases in the Point Reyes National Seashore, in Marin County, California. The Point Reyes National Seashore is a national treasure, said Huey D. Johnson, president of Resource Renewal Institute and former California Secretary of Resources. The Park Service has delayed comprehensive planning and environmental analysis for decades, depriving the public of the right to weigh in on appropriate uses and activities within the park. This lawsuit is a last resort to try to get the Park Service to do its job. Under federal laws the National Park Service is obligated to ensure that wildlife and natural resources receive maximum protection and are left unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations. The lawsuit asserts that the Park Service is violating these requirements by relying on a badly outdated management plan, adopted in 1980, which fails to address current conditions such as climate change, increasing visitation and recreational use, and threats to wildlife. The lawsuit cites persistent drought and conflicts between cattle and native wildlife, particularly tule elk, among significant threats to park resources. Tule elk, once believed to be extinct, were successfully reestablished at the Seashore and exist in no other national park. Over the last two decades, the Park Service repeatedly announced its intentions to update its 35-year-old management plan for the Seashore, but abandoned the planning process without explanation. It is now moving forward on a Ranch Management Plan that could extend grazing permits in the park for up to 20 years. The Park Service needs to take a step back and look at the impacts of commercial ranching on the park overall, said Johnson, who in 1977 as president of the Trust for Public Land acquired more than 2,000 acres for the Seashore and Golden Gate National Recreation Area. According to Johnson, that land was intended for wildlife habitat and public recreation, but has been leased to private ranchers. After Congress enacted legislation establishing the Point Reyes National Seashore in 1962, the federal government purchased the ranches in the park at a cost of more than $70 million in todays dollars. Ranching was not mandated by the legislation, but rather allowed under two narrow circumstances: time-limited reservations of rights for former landowners or general leases with conditions to protect the park. Nearly all reservations and leases have expired. The Park Service has never prepared an Environmental Impact Statement on ranching at the Seashore. Nevertheless, the Park Service allows cattle grazing to continue. Fifteen ranch families currently operate on 24 lease units within the National Seashore, comprising more than 18,000 of the parks 71,000 acres. The Park Service continues to authorize commercial grazing permits at the Point Reyes National Seashore without an Environmental Impact Statement on how ranching impacts the park, which is needed to ensure protection of the parks ecosystems, said Jeff Miller, a conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity who lives in West Marin. Were filing this lawsuit because we love the park and believe its up to everyone to make sure the national seashore is managed sustainably so that future generations can enjoy it as we have. The law requires the Park Service to determine the environmental impacts at the Seashore and restrict any uses if they impair wildlife, natural resources or the publics use and enjoyment, said Karen Klitz, a board member at Western Watersheds Project. "Behind-the-scenes negotiations between a handful of ranchers and well-meaning conservationists is no substitute for an open and transparent planning process that includes public input." The groups are represented in the lawsuit by San Francisco attorney Jeff Chanin of Keker & Van Nest, and lawyers with Advocates for the West, a public interest environmental law firm. Background and Frequently Asked Questions Link to photos available for media use. View the RRI web page for more information on the lawsuit. Resource Renewal Institute is a nonprofit organization based in Mill Valley, California founded by Huey D. Johnson in 1985. Johnson was featured in the documentary film Rebels With a Cause, about the battles to protect the Point Reyes National Seashore and other public lands. He served as Californias Secretary of Resources from 1978 until 1982, and is the founder of The Trust for Public Land,the Grand Canyon Trust and the Environmental Liaison Center. 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. Western Watersheds Project is a nonprofit conservation group founded in 1993 with 1,500 members whose mission is to protect and restore western watersheds and wildlife through education, public policy initiatives and litigation.


No. 813, Feb. 11, 2016 Idaho Cranks Up Wolf-killing With Aerial Gunners

Troubling news out of Idaho this week: The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services is planning to send gunners in helicopters to start shooting wolves in the Lolo Elk Management Zone of the Clearwater National Forest.



The renewed wolf slaughter comes on the heels of a petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and allies that questions the accuracy of wolf population estimates by state officials and asks the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to keep monitoring wolf numbers in Idaho and Montana for another five years. The Service has yet to respond to our petition, which was spurred, in part, by a recent study published in the journal Science that also questions those numbers. The Idaho Legislature has also requested another $400,000 to kill wolves in the coming fiscal year.



"It is these aggressive tactics that caused us to file a petition to Fish and Wildlife Service to continue federal monitoring of wolves in the first place," said the Center's Andrea Santarsiere. "Idaho is making it clear that it has no intention to curb its attempts to decimate Idaho's wolf population."



Read more in our press release.

Millions Have Seen 'El Jefe,' the Only Known Jaguar in the U.S. El Jefe is a bona fide superstar. Last week the Center and our partners at Conservation CATalyst released video footage of the only known wild jaguar living in the United States. The video showed up on more than 800 TV stations and in outlets around the country, including USA TODAY, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, National Geographic, Time, Buzzfeed, Slate, the BBC, Wall Street Journal -- the list goes on and on. By our back-of-the-envelope calculations, El Jefe has been seen by more than 20 million people on TV alone.



The Center played a critical role in securing more than 750,000 acres of critical habitat for jaguars in Arizona and New Mexico in 2014. And we're continuing to fight one of the biggest threats to El Jefe and any other jaguars that may wander north from Mexico: Rosemont's open-pit copper mine, planned for the heart of this habitat.



Check out the El Jefe media frenzy and read more about the Center's work to save American jaguars.

Cliven Bundy Finally Arrested, Last 4 Militants Leave Malheur Compound

Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy was arrested Wednesday night in Portland, Ore., and this morning the final four militants walked away from the public building at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, at last ending the standoff that started Jan. 2.



"We're glad to finally see Cliven Bundy arrested and hopefully now brought to justice," said the Center's Kieran Suckling, who spent several weeks at the Burns standoff. "Not only does he owe the American taxpayers more than $1 million in unpaid grazing fees, but he's been a driving force behind the violent, racist militia movement that tried to take over Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and is now trying to export this same brand of armed theft of public lands elsewhere in the American West."



Learn more about our work to protect public lands. New Global Airplane Carbon-pollution Rules Too Weak to Protect Climate

The first international standards for carbon pollution from airplanes were recommended Monday in Montreal by the International Civil Aviation Organization -- a necessary step toward controlling those harmful emissions, but too weak to protect the climate. The proposed rules would barely trim carbon emissions from new planes and would not apply to aircraft already in service, which have operational lifetimes of 25 to 30 years.



Globally airplanes could generate 43 gigatonnes of planet-warming pollution by 2050, consuming almost 5 percent of the world's remaining carbon budget, according to a recent Center report.



The Center and allies petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2007 to regulate carbon emissions from aircraft under the federal Clean Air Act. Following a lawsuit the agency finally proposed last summer to determine that U.S. aviation emissions endanger human health and welfare; that proposal has yet to be finalized.



"These disturbingly weak recommendations put the Obama administration under enormous pressure to fight airplane pollution," said Vera Pardee, a Center attorney. "If we don't cut airplanes' fast-growing emissions, it will be much more difficult for the world to avoid catastrophic warming."



Read more in The New York Times. Pacific Fishers Released Into Wild, Caught on Tape -- Watch Video

This past weekend six captive-bred fishers were released into the wild in Washington's Cascades -- and the Center was there to help, watch and record the show.



Fishers are rare, plush-furred members of the weasel family that in the Pacific Northwest and California depend on old-growth forests for their survival. They're shy, elusive creatures -- but also ferocious, the only animals tough and clever enough to prey regularly on porcupines. Unfortunately, due to historical trapping and extensive logging and development, they're now in danger of extinction.



The Center has been working to save these creatures since 2000, when we and allies petitioned to protect Pacific fishers under the Endangered Species Act. Thanks to lots more work (including a lawsuit), these fishers have been proposed for safeguards. Now, to help them repopulate their old habitat, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Mount Rainier National Park and Conservation Northwest are releasing them into the wild. So far this winter more than 20 fishers have been set free.



Watch (and share!) our video of four fishers' first leaps out of captivity and onto the path toward recovery. Then learn more about saving fishers.

Study: Oil Industry Injections Caused California Earthquake Swarm A new scientific study underscores the risks of extreme oil production in seismic areas, showing that oil-industry wastewater injections are the culprit in a series of earthquakes in Southern California.



The research, published last week in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, is the first to link a sudden surge in wastewater injection and a series of quakes in 2005 near Bakersfield, Calif., that ranged up to magnitude 4.7.



"This study should push state officials to act immediately to protect Californians from oil industry-induced earthquakes," said Center scientist Shaye Wolf, who coauthored a 2014 report, On Shaky Ground, finding that most of the oil industry's wastewater injection wells are near active earthquake faults in California. "The more oil companies frack and drill, the more wastewater they inject into disposal wells near active faults. That's an absolutely unacceptable risk in our earthquake-prone state."



Read an abstract of the study and learn more in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Suit Challenges EPA's Failure to Release Public Records on Toxic Herbicide The Center recently sued the EPA for not releasing public records about its approval of Enlist Duo, a pesticide blend that's highly toxic to a wide spectrum of both terrestrial and aquatic species and has significant effects on human health.



Enlist Duo is a toxic combination of glyphosate and 2,4-D created by Dow AgroSciences for use on the next generation of genetically engineered crops, designed to withstand being drenched with the potent herbicide cocktail. But the EPA registered Enlist Duo for use in 15 states, claiming it would have "no effect" on at-risk species.



The Center first sent the EPA a Freedom of Information Act request two years ago seeking information on the agency's decision to approve this dangerous pesticide for use. We still haven't gotten a response -- so we filed suit last Wednesday.



"The EPA needs to be fully transparent about how and why it approves these toxic herbicides," said the Center's Lori Ann Burd. "They pose a serious threat to people and wildlife."



Read more in our press release.

More Than 2 Million Signatures: Halt New Offshore Drilling More than 2 million signatures were delivered to the White House last week with an unmistakable message to the Obama administration to limit offshore oil and gas leasing. Amassed by an army of organizations including the Center, the petitions call on President Obama to stop new oil leases in the Arctic, Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. The administration is preparing to release an updated five-year plan for offshore drilling in the three regions.



Offshore drilling is a dirty and dangerous business that threatens our coastal communities, wildlife and the health of our oceans and climate. We'll continue to fight relentlessly in the courtroom, in Congress and in the streets to protect all these things from dangerous drilling. Many of those who signed the petition were from communities on the front lines of offshore drilling. We're grateful to all of you for joining us in this fight.



Learn more about our campaign to halt offshore drilling.

Get Free 'Love Calls of the Wild' Ringtones for Valentine's Day -- Watch Video

What better way to declare your love for the wild than to fill the air with soulful, funny or fierce animal calls whenever your cell phone rings?



This Valentine's Day the Center is offering 25 specially selected, free ringtones that include wildlife mating calls and social calls -- hoots, chirps, growls and trills from animals across the planet. These ringtones have been selected from our year-round collection of high-quality, authentic sounds and images (we also offer phone wallpaper) of some of the world's rarest and most endangered species.



Love Calls of the Wild includes sounds from orcas, polar bears, pikas, spotted owls, whooping cranes, penguins, toads and prairie dogs -- such a wide variety that you can pick exactly the mating calls you're in the mood for this Valentine's Day.



Check out our free Valentine ringtones and then watch our video "How Do Endangered Species Say 'I Love You?' "

Wild & Weird: The Eerie World of Carbon-capturing Plant Pores

If you're breathing right now, you might consider taking a moment to thank stomata, the tiny plant pores that absorb carbon dioxide and push out oxygen. Stomata are all around you -- on the leaves of trees (and bushes and flowers and houseplants) all over the world -- you just can't see them with your naked eye.



But if you have a heart condition or take fright easily, you may not want to see stomata, at least not through an electron microscope. Plant cells, as depicted by photographer and environmentalist Robert Dash in his new series Show Me the Carbon, appear to inhabit a wondrous but grotesque world of mouths and horns and alien landscapes.



Take a peek into the bizarre world of plant pores at The Week. Kieran Suckling

@KieranSuckling

Executive Director View this message in your browser and share it on social media.



Photo credits: Wolf courtesy Flickr/Chris Smith; Nightly News with Lester Holt via NBC; Cliven Bundy courtesy Wikimedia Commons/Gage Skidmore; airplane courtesy Flickr/Richy Schley; wolves by John Pitcher; fisher courtesy Flickr/Bethany Weeks; earthquake damage courtesy Flickr/Richard Walker; monarch butterfly courtesy Flickr/Jason Skinner; brown bear (c) Robin Silver, Center for Biological Diversity; oil rigs (c) Drew Bird photography; rockhopper penguins courtesy Flickr/Pablo Fernicola; tomato leaf stomate courtesy Dartmouth College.



Donate now to support the Center's work.

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Jem's Birding & Ringing Exploits in the Eastern Province and elsewhere in Saudi Arabia
For those with nothing better to do, the livestream of the Cuadrilla public inquiry can be seen here. For everyone else who wants to see what Friends of the Earth are getting up to, there are daily summaries at Drill or Drop, a green tinged website that tries hard to present a balanced view of the shale gas story.

Although FoE haven't tried their "sand is a carcinogen" line yet, they do seem to have come up with some fairly wild claims. Like this for example:

[FoE barrister Ms Dehon] put it to [Cuadrilla planning witness Mr Smith] that if Roseacre Wood and Preston New Road operated together they would generate waste fluid that would amount to 65% of the UK waste treatment capacity.

They have also knocked the exploration operation for only creating 22 jobs and...wait for it...not being a tourist draw.

[Robin Green, the barrister for Roseacre Awareness Group] said: As a tourism draw, fracking is unlikely to be up there as a draw

For those who are interested, here are the tourism data for Pennsylvania.
To stay relevant, retailers should reinvent their brick-and-mortar locations brand identity every three to five years.

If your store is ready for a revamp in 2016, what are the key aesthetics you should incorporate to cash in on South Africas current consumer appetites?

Here are my three top smart retail design trends for 2016 that retailers should consider applying to their own spaces to maximise brand impact and improve slow sales in the current low-growth economic environment.

Smaller floor space

New eco-friendly and affordable retail outlets, such as Melvilles 27 Boxes container mall point to a long-term trend of retailers doing more with less space.

This trend has its roots in the pop-up shop explosion of the early 2000s, which trained consumers to appreciate innovative, smart design, and to be more comfortable shopping in tiny spaces.

Smaller retail outlets, done well, cut down on rent, one of the biggest cost factors for cash-strapped retailers trying to retain market share in the current stagflation economy.

Expect smaller retail spaces to become more commonplace  but not more common. The key to wowing consumers in a small space to to make sure that every square centimetre of the space maximises design ideas and merchandise showcases. Think about designing your space like a permanent pop-up shop.

South African perspective

South African retailers  even the large ones  are finally embracing the South African vernacular style in their outlets, rather than modelling their interiors on global design aesthetics.

The best South African retail designs of today have a distinctly unique, South African look and feel.

Key elements of this trend include the more obvious interpretations, such as shwe-shwe prints, wild animal motifs and retro Afrikaner kitsch, commonly found at Big Blue-type stores and a more mature design interpretation, pulling from the current crop of South African design talent, such as the distinct fabrics of Skinny la Minx or the uniquely South African furniture and objects d'art designed by Dokter and Misses.

South African shoppers live in South Africa for a reason - and they relate to brands and retailers who are as proud of their diverse heritage as they are.

Smart technology

Current retail design needs to embrace technology as part of the design itself. Technology, such as beacons, smart audio-visual advertising touchscreens and NFC (Near Field Communication) pay points can no longer be an add-on after the fact.

These technologies need to be mindfully incorporated into the store design right from the beginning to ensure a seamless, professional retail interior, both in terms of aesthetics and in terms of the desired customer journey.
The premise of a relatively new asset class, venture capital companies (VCCs) is that investors get tax benefits and strong returns. Clive Butkow, chief investment officer, recently launched Grotech, where investors are entitled to deduct the full amount of their investment from their taxable income in the tax year ending 28 February 2016. The tax relief is 41% for individuals and trusts and 28% for companies which mitigates the investment risk and significantly enhances the potential return.

Ion Chiosea via 123RF

A former COO of Accenture South Africa, as well as the former lead of its technology business, Butkow has 28 years of experience in management, technology consulting as well as venture capital. As a mentor to entrepreneurs, Clive says that the most frequent question he is asked is, How do I find the money to start or grow my business? In this article, he shares what he has learnt from sitting on both sides of the table so that you can increase your chances of raising capital for your business.

Clive explains that there isnt any magic, and contrary to popular myth, nobody is waiting in the wings to throw money at you just because you have a new and exciting business idea. He believes that the most important question you need to ask when building or scaling your business is not, "How do I raise venture capital?" but rather, "Do I need to raise venture capital?"

Key facts about raising capital in South Africa

1. Less than 1% of businesses raise start up venture capital and less than 2% raise capital from angel investors.

2. In 2014, R141 million was invested by venture capitalists in 34 transactions.

3. The average cheque size in 2014 was R3.4 million.

4. Most of these investments were made in high tech companies.

5. The VC industry today in South Africa manages around R1.87 billion across 168 active deals.

6. The VC asset class continues to expand in line with an increase in high tech activity in the market.

7. Exits are increasing.

8. Only 7% of businesses in SA reach their third birthday.

9. Most businesses in SA are self funded  only 3% are funded by VC or angels.

10 keys to the investors vault

Key lessons which I learnt about raising institutional capital from angels or venture capitalists

1. Million dollar entrepreneurs are in short supply. It is a myth that there is insufficient capital in South Africa in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. In fact, it is difficult to find suitable entrepreneurs to fund. There are millions of ideas but not many million rand entrepreneurs. There is an enormous skills gap between an entrepreneur and a scaleable entrepreneur, or gazelle. The world is not short of great ideas or products but the world is short of great entrepreneurs - there are many more R1 million opportunities than there are R1 million entrepreneurs.

2. Raising capital does not validate your business model; only customers do. Capital plays a critical role in the ability of a business to progress, but it is not the only catalyst for success - a bad business with or without capital is still a bad business, just one with more time to fail. Raising outside capital isnt the only way to grow a business - its only one way. The goal is to build something great, no matter how or whether you raise capital.

3. Investors back the jockey before they do the horse. Investors actually invest in people and not ideas, products or services. Investors prefer to invest in teams than in individuals, so you need to attract a team smarter than you. Its not what you do that will define your business but how you do it (innovation and marketing). Have you put the right team together? People are far more important than the idea or product. Money follows management in the world of business capital. Whilst many entrepreneurs have a great product or service, they do not demonstrate the business skills to build a successful business around that product or service.

4. One is not a team (100% of nothing is nothing). Do not try and take the journey alone. Decide if you want to be king and be in control or to if your desire is to create wealth? Dilution is less important than success because 100% of nothing is nothing. Rather have an abundance mentality. Every startup needs two types of people: the product development people and the sales people - someone that can make it and someone that can sell it. In tech speak, its the hackers (coders) and the hustlers (the folks that can sell). Product development and sales are on a par and every startup needs both. Hire the best team on the planet.

5. Bootstrap your company before you try and raise institutional capital. Funding the business yourself will help you avoid giving up too much equity too early. Rather focus on signing up customers to increase the value of your company. Get traction, or paying clients, before the investor pitch. The prototype or traction is one of the most critical steps in raising capital; not the business plan. Very few companies get seed funding without some kind of traction.

For VC, it provides early evidence that there is a problem and your solution or product is going to have a shot at addressing it. Incidentally, some people think that a bootstrapped business must by its very nature be a trivial one. They are wrong. Companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Microsoft, Apple, and eBay all started with a bootstrap model.

6. You are either running and building your business or raising capital. Raising capital is extremely time-consuming and it can be better spent getting customers and developing your market. Most businesses do not fail due to product development, they fail due to lack of customer and market development.

7. Think like an investor - make the deal attractive to the investor. Put yourself in an investors shoes and understand his business model. Investors look for scaleable businesses, so to raise finance you need to show your traction and how you will scale. Remember they are looking for a home run with every deal which equals a minimum 10 times the return. Are you a VC type of deal? VCs will look at your deal from three angles and you need three yeses to get capital:

 Are you investable?

 Is the deal investable?

 Is the risk investable?

Many viable businesses do not raise VC funds as even a good business does not equal an investable business. VCs know that out of ten swings at the bat, they may get seven strikeouts, two base hits, and if lucky, one home run. The base hits and the home run pay for all the strikeouts. They don't get seven strikeouts because they're stupid; they get seven strikeouts because most startups fail, most startups have always failed, and most startups will always fail.

So logically their investment selection strategy has to be a credible potential of a 10x gain within four to six years on any individual investment. This means that the winners will pay for the losers in the timeframe that their investors expect. From this, you can answer the question of which startups should raise venture capital and which ones shouldn't. Startups that can be sold or go public for a 10x gain on invested capital within four to six years from date of funding should consider raising venture capital.

8. Investor hot buttons. There any many ingredients required to make a startup successful. For me the most critical three ingredients are:

 Good people - have the best team on the planet.

 Make something customers want by confirming product market fit.

 The ability to sell and make getting and keeping customers your number one priority by adding more value to your customers lives than anyone else is adding. Your product or unique selling proposition needs to be ten times better than anything else on the market. Investors want to see early traction - some sort of indication that not only is your idea is great, but that you talked to customers, built a minimal viable product and you have some kind of traction, i.e., proof that you can do it and it may work.

Other hot buttons for an investor include:

 Potential for high growth

 Large market potential when you scale

 High margin business

 Repeat customers and annuity revenue

 Viable risk reward relationship

 Obstacles to competition.

9. Prepare well and make your forecasts realistic. To be ready to fundraise, you need to have strong knowledge of the problem you are solving, the reasons you started your business and your customers, the market opportunity, competition, distribution channels, break even and burn rates, runway that the capital injection will provide. Explain to the investor exactly how you will use their funds, but do not ask for high salaries as investors will not fund your lifestyle.

You are going to be asked lot of questions and if you are not prepared it will come through and it will be a big turn off. Do not use a top down approach when calculating your numbers; instead use a bottom up approach. Validate your financial figures and show that you have achieved product market fit. Your forecasts are a bunch of hypotheses or guesses  but for a startup it is more about market research, initial traction and the team.

10. Begin the discussions for money before you need the money. Investors don't want to meet you, they want to be introduced to you. Get a soft introduction to an investor if you are serious about raising money. This is about relationship capital - develop the relationships with VCs before asking for money. A soft introduction to an investor is the most effective one. Leverage your network for access. Grow your network at every opportunity. An entrepreneurs network is their net worth. The best way to manage your VC is to meet your projections. Remember venture capital is not for everyone, as every venture capitalist wants to fund the next Google.

Don't assume your VC can always add value - they have numerous investments and board positions and don't always have the time for your company. Have realistic expectations of venture capital. All investors are different. They like different verticals. They write cheques of different sizes. Just because they are an investor does not mean they are the right investor for you. Doing research, understanding what a particular investor likes and why you might be a fit is important. It is equally important to get an introduction from someone who knows you and knows the investor. People will decide quickly and the first couple of minutes is key to winning over the VC. Don't spend 15 minutes on the background!

11. Not all money is the same - you want smart not lazy capital. Every entrepreneur needs four types of capital to grow a successful scalable business. Firstly, mentorship capital: the exposure to experienced entrepreneurs that you will meet and who will provide mentoring though training, the pitching and judging process and many other interactions. Secondly, social capital: the access to the networks of these entrepreneurs to open doors to help you start and grow your business.

Thirdly, human capital: every business needs the best people and you will through this network have access to the right people to help you scale your business. Lastly financial capital: the capital awarded to the finalists as well as opening doors to other institutional capital like angel and venture capital. There is no shortage of money looking for a home but you need four types of capital from an investor and not only financial capital.

Five lies entrepreneurs tell VCs

 My forecasts/projections are conservative.

 I have no competition  no one else can do what we are doing. (If there are no competitors you are most likely building something no one wants.)

 Gartner says it will be a R10 billion industry in five years and all I need is to get 1% of the market.

 I have secured ten of the top JSE 100 companies and they are ready to do business with us.

 Hurry up because other investors are about to do the deal.

Five lies VCs tell entrepreneurs

 I liked your company but my partners did not.

 If you get a lead investor, I will follow too.

 We have lots of bandwidth to dedicate to your company.

 This is a standard contract, sign it quickly.

 We love to co-invest with other firms.

 Show us the traction and we will invest.

Both parties are prone to using these lines. The difference between the two is that the investors have money.
On Thursday, 11 February 2016, Biz Takeouts Marketing and Media Radio show host Warren Harding ( @bizwazza ) focused on two events happening in Cape Town next week from 17 February 2016.

2016 marks the 21st anniversary of the highly anticipated annual event, the Design Indaba, taking place from 17  19 February at the ArtScape Theater in Cape Town.

We spoke to the Design Indaba founder and managing director of Interactive Africa, Ravi Naidoo. We look at how the event has grown and changed over the last 21 years and also how Ravi uses the talent and profile of his companies to spearhead projects that also tackle social problems.

Hurry and get your hands on one the last few tickets available.

Episode 162: Ravi Naidoo takes us through 21 years of Design Indaba







Date: 11 February 2016 Length: 26:09min File size: 23.9MB Host: Warren Harding





We then take a closer look at another event taking place on 17 and 18 February at the CTICC in Cape Town, the annual Ecommerce Africa Confex. We chatted to event organisers, Kinetic Events joint managing directors, Terry Southam and Shannon Mackrill about the event, what attendees can expect and how the ecommerce landscape is changing.

Tickets are flying, so move now or miss out. Go here to get your ticket now.







Date: 11 February 2016 Length: 13:25min File size: 12.2MB Host: Warren Harding





The news roundup from Bizcommunity:

If you are interested in getting interviewed on Biz Takeouts, or want to suggest a show topic, email Warren Harding (@bizwazza) on moc.ytinummoczib@stuoekatzib.

Bizcommunity.com's Biz Takeouts Marketing & Media Show takes South Africa's biggest online marketing, media and ad industry platform to the airwaves and gives relevant, useful and interesting insights into all aspects of marketing in SA, Africa and beyond. Each week, the show features the movers and the shakers of the industry, current media trends, upcoming events and brand activities.

For more:
When one talks about trends it is important to look at who can deliver on them... how to implement these trends, says Pete Case, chief creative officer, Ogilvy & Mather South Africa.

Pete Case

There has been an amazing amount of change and it is sad to say that change is often forced by negative situations, for example, when agencies lose business for instance, they look to change their model, whereas they should be looking to change it before.

Integration

Its a wonderful word, integration and it makes sense to want integration. The push from the client-side this year will be bigger than before. The difference will be who can deliver on it. The catalyst is the agency that can deliver on a solution to a business problem. Point blank. Agencies should understand the whole value chain. True integration is the ability to deliver on a business problem for a brand, whatever the medium.

From a timing point of view, the market and consumers are moving so fast, that a client wants to work with one point of contact. In this increasingly complex market, for a client to need to work with 15 different agencies, is almost unreasonable. With or without the economy being in the negative state it is in, the agency has to become the conduit to bring in the right resources and mediums to solve the clients problem.

Customer engagement

Many of these problems that land in our lap are not even marketing. It is more about customer engagement. For us the conversation is not about advertising, per say, but customer engagement.

We have just opened a customer engagement lab, with everything from 360 degree glasses, point-of-sale, and so on. It is pushing our clients and teams into being Future Fit. We need all teams to understand this media-agnostic world.

The agency model is broken. We need to move spend along the value chain to wherever it might have to be to solve the business problem. That is a very exciting and powerful position to be in. And you can be truthful with clients, rather than only protecting your own bottomline.

Data

We cant skip data. Everyone started collecting data, but the power of data is what you do with it, the insights you gather. Mad as it seems, I dont see many people creating actionable insights from data. Data is not an added value. It is core to value. The ability to create actionable insights will be the future success of any brand. We will see a large amount of spend in that.

Internet of things

Brands are only starting to discover the power of the Internet of things (IoT). Be it the billboard connected to the internet, IoT allows you to use non-traditional marketing channels. Its incredibly exciting. We will see much more of that - stepping away from traditional channels into every touch point with consumers, this year.

Wearables within the Internet of Things is a mega trend. Technology is growing fast and there is a market for it and now everyone is investing. This year we will see a massive uplift in wearables and more people with them.

Mobile

We have been talking about it for a long time, but theres not more than a handful of mobile driven advertising or marketing initiatives originating out of South Africa, which is very few, considering mobile penetration in SA. This year will finally be the time when we can hold our heads up high. Mobile has been a word people have talked about. But I dont think brands have invested in it.

This is the year that agencies will deliver on mobile for the consumer, mass media and rich media. This year will be the time when we see some big case studies.

Content

The key trend here will be producing content at the speed of culture. The speed at which the consumer is moving and their trends, the things that are happening to them now. That is a whole different way of producing content for agencies and brands.

In agencies right now, we are sitting with people who can create beautiful long form stories. Then we need to create small bits of content for social media. We need to integrate these skills. Seamless integration is being able to create content that is right for the medium its intended for. Agencies also need to understand that brands dont have R2m to R6m to spend on a TV ad each time.

How agile agencies are to procure creation of content for brands and create a range of content on different applications, will be the test.

Utility and usefulness

Its a no brainer to understand that you cant keep bashing consumers with price points and products. As a brand you have to understand how you can bring usefulness to a customers life. Understand the customers life beyond your brand and how they interact with your brand.

BA brought out an app that saves me from checking in and saves me 40 minutes, every time I go to the airport. The best global example is Nike, which understands runners run on their own and it can be lonely, so they produced Nike Plus, a chip in your shoe that tracks your running patterns and which you upload to your computer where it maps you against all the other runners in the world who use the app. So it makes you feel part of a community.

Programmatic buying

Sky UK are starting to put programmatic buying of ads on TV with Sky Adsmart. They can get data about you as a user and marry that to your usage on TV and start delivering personalised ads to you via what they know about you through your phone, internet, TV usage. It will be a very interesting trend to come, with digitally connected TVs.

Ecommerce

The year of ecommerce is 2017 - were not quite there yet in South Africa. Woolworths, YuppieChef, Takelot will grow, but scale will create exponential growth in 2017. This will be the investment and proof of concept year.

Culture

Delivering on these trends is incredibly difficult for an agency and ties back into my original conversation  you cant deliver on these trends if you, as an agency, cant deliver on business solutions briefs and dance between divisions to answer the business problem. That is a culture to be grown as a collection of specialist agencies. We have redesigned entire floors of our agencies - every single creative is sitting in the same combined studio across the board. Programmers are sitting next to art directors, we mixed everyone together in our Future Fit studio.

It is OK to deliver on usefulness, but we (as an industry), need to crack utility. I think it is important that there is a discussion around integration and delivering on it.



*Pete Case was interviewed by Louise Marsland, Bizcommunity.com contributing editor & BizTrends 2016 Trend curator & editor.


For the 10th celebration of the South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAs), the event has a new logo and theme - 'Imagine'.

The refreshed dynamic visual identity pays homage to the thing that all film and television professionals are after, the Golden Horn, symbolising collective effort, community, and the recognition of the individual as part of a team - an experience inherent to the film and television industry, where collaboration is the cornerstone of successful productions.

Zama Mkosi, CEO at the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) of South Africa says, With gold we are celebrating the glamour and the solid hard work that thrives in this industry every day. The SAFTAs honour the excellence across the industry that, when fuelled by the magic of imagination, crafts characters and shapes worlds that enthral audiences within our shores and beyond.

We consider ourselves the backbone of the SAFTAs and the decision to imbue a new sense of progress and meaning to the identity affords us another opportunity to demonstrate our support. As we celebrate a decade of the SAFTAs, it was a fitting time to redefine the event and all the elements that make it a noteworthy annual gathering, concludes Mkosi.

The SAFTAs, managed under the custodianship of the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Arts and Culture, are an industry initiative governed by the SAFTAs committee and the body of industry representatives comprising of the broadcasters, SASFED and other key stakeholders.
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Freeloading rancher and man who said black people were better off under slavery Cliven Bundy has finally be arrested for crimes he committed in 2014.

The eldest Bundy apparently became a little overconfident and left the sanctity of the Freeloader Ranch. Bundy was arrested in Oregon last night.

Bundy, 74, was booked into the downtown Multnomah County jail at 10:54 p.m. He faces a conspiracy charge to interfere with a federal officer -- the same charge lodged against two of his sons, Ammon and Ryan, for their role in the Jan. 2 takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Burns. He also faces weapons charges.

Amusingly, Cliven Bundy now joins his secessionist brethren and cohorts under the roof of the same jailhouse.

Bundy still owes more than $1 million to the federal government in grazing fees.
CHICAGO  Illinois' elected leaders have plenty of advice about how to solve their budget problems, with no sign that they are going to take any of it.

A local think tank -- and even the President of the United States -- have offered road maps, but Illinois remains locked in a stalemate over its fiscal 2016 spending plan more than seven months after the year began, with the fiscal 2017 budget process about to begin.

The Chicago Civic Federation, a research organization, weighed in Thursday with a revised three-year plan that suggests spending cuts and tax hikes could stabilize the state's budget and eliminate its massive bill backlog in three years.

The report also reaches into pension funding issues, endorsing a constitutional amendment limiting state protection of benefits to those already earned and suggests pension help for Chicago public Schools be in the mix.

"Systemic payment delays and the ongoing budget impasse in Springfield have only exacerbated our state's financial woes, and there are no more politically popular solutions left to explore," warned federation president Laurence Msall. "Despite this dire situation, our roadmap shows that with dedicated action and shared sacrifice, it is possible to enact a comprehensive plan that will get Illinois back on sound financial footing by fiscal year 2019."

The report comes ahead of Gov. Bruce Rauner's fiscal 2017 budget address, slated for Wednesday, and follows President Barack Obama's hour-long speech this week to the Illinois General Assembly.

The president's speech commemorated the launch of his presidential bid nine years ago in Springfield; Obama used it to focus on the bitter political divide at the national level.

He called for leaders to find common ground and work with more civility and a willingness to compromise.

While speaking more broadly about the Washington climate, Illinois represents a clear example of how a political divide hinders government operations.

Obama suggested some potential avenues to an improved tenor including several issues that are on Rauner's governance and policy agenda.

Obama endorsed an overhaul in how legislative districts are drawn, something the Republican governor is pushing for at the state level, but also talked of his support for collective bargaining which he called "critical to the prospects of the middle class."

Rauner wants to curb collective bargaining powers at the local level but Democrats, who control the Illinois legislature, are opposed.

Democrats refuse to include the proposals in the budget mix and Rauner won't talk about tax hikes without concessions, leading to the eight-month-old stalemate. As the fiscal year continues, the state's liquidity worsens and unpaid bills mount.

The Civic Federation says it recommendations offer tough medicine for the state's woes but are needed to rein in the growing red ink.

Spending continues at fiscal 2015 levels under continuing appropriations and court orders but income tax receipts are down due to the partial expiration of a 2011 income tax hike a year ago.

That's led to a $5 billion deficit and could drive the state's bill backlog up to a new peak of more than $10 billion. Meanwhile, higher education institutions and social service organizations struggle to stay afloat without the benefit of their state support.

"If current revenue and expenditure policies continue, the state's backlog of bills could grow to $25.9 billion by the end of fiscal year 2019," the federation warns, citing the state's own three-year budget forecast released last month.

The report from the federation's Institute for Illinois' Fiscal Sustainability recommends a cut in the state's fiscal 2016 baseline spending by $1 billion.

On the revenue side, it suggests a retroactive increase of the income tax rate to 5% for individuals and 7% for corporations to Jan. 1, 2016. It dropped to 3.75% and 5.25%, respectively, Jan. 1, 2015. The group also suggests expanding the income tax to cover some retirement income. The state is one of only three among the 41 that impose an income tax that exempts all pension income.

The state also should broaden the sales tax base temporarily, suspending the exemption for food and nonprescription drugs, and enact a new general consumer services tax, the federation said. To offset the impact on lower earners of the tax hikes, the report suggests raising the state's earned income tax credit of 10% to 15%.

On pensions, the federation recommends folding the Chicago Teachers' Pension Fund and Illinois Teachers' Retirement System into one and "providing more equitable pension funding for all teachers and helping to stabilize Chicago Public Schools' finances."

The Chicago teachers fund carries $9.5 billion of unfunded liabilities but is better funded at 52% than the state teachers' fund, which carries $62.7 billion of unfunded liabilities and is 42% funded.

The report calls on the state to approve placing on the November ballot a constitutional amendment to make clear constitutional protections of pension benefits apply only to accrued benefits. The Illinois Supreme Court last year voided a package aimed at trimming the state's $112 billion of unfunded liabilities because the cuts violate constitutional protections.

Rauner and Senate Democratic President John Cullerton of Chicago have reached agreement on a plan crafted by Cullerton that asks current employees to make a choice in how salary increases are counted toward retirement income. Supporters believe it could pass legal muster but its savings are limited and it's unclear when the state will act given the budget gridlock.

The federation calls on the state to make supplemental payments, tapping revenue beginning in fiscal 2019 as the state pays off existing pension obligation debt and continuing until the five funds that make up the state's system are fully funded.

If the state fails to stabilize its finances, it faces further hits to its status as the lowest-rated state.

Moody's rates Illinois general obligation bond Baa1 with a negative outlook. Fitch Ratings rates the state at the same level at BBB-plus with a stable outlook, and Standard & Poor's assigns the state an A-minus rating and negative outlook.

Illinois' credit slide tacked on an estimated $43 million to its borrowing costs on a $480 million bond sale last month, according to a federation report.

The federation looked at what yields on what single-A rated credits paid in the market at the same time. The federation calculated the added interest cost at $43 million over the life of the bonds.

A separate analysis conducted by the University of Illinois Institute of Government and Public Affairs concluded that the sale generated nearly $53 million less than the state would received a decade ago when it carried healthier double-A ratings.

The report compared prices on the January sale  which brought actual prices that ranged between 98% and 114% of par value and 2006 prices of 104% and 127% of the par amount after making various adjustments to account to market factors.

"Putting a dollar amount on the impact of the state's financial condition hopefully helps policymakers and the public better understand the costs of the state's lack of action in improving its fiscal health," said Martin Luby, an IGPA visiting scholar.
WASHINGTON  Senate Finance Committee chair Orrin Hatch on Wednesday demanded Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla provide detailed financial information by March 1 and said he wants to come up with a plan to help the commonwealth by the end of that month.

The Republican from Utah made the request for detailed information in a letter sent to the governor. He explained his goals for a solution to Puerto Rico's fiscal and debt crisis during a Finance Committee hearing on President Obama's budget for fiscal year 2017 where Treasury Secretary Jack Lew testified.

The budget includes a previously released Treasury proposal that urges Congress to pass federal legislation allowing for commonwealth-wide restructuring and an oversight authority to address Puerto Rico's troubled finances and $70 million debt load, as well as the extension of healthcare and tax benefits.

Lew said any restructuring solution has to pass before Puerto Rico faces major bond payments in May and June and Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., criticized his Republican colleagues for not pursuing solutions as expediently as possible. In response, Hatch said he is not trying to make the situation political and that he is going to see what he can do by the end of March. Hatch's deadline lines up with the one imposed by House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. on committees in that chamber with jurisdiction over Puerto Rico.

Despite his support for some type of solution, Hatch used his opening statement at the hearing to argue that the administration is pushing for an "unprecedented debt-restructuring authority" for Puerto Rico that would give "an explicit preference for public pension liabilities over debt issued by the Puerto Rican government, even though the territory's constitution gives preference to some of [the] debt."

Treasury has said the restructuring could take the form of Chapter 9 bankruptcy protections, currently reserved for a state's public authorities, that are extended to the entire commonwealth or some other territory-specific legislation allowed under the U.S. Constitution's Territorial Clause.

Hatch's letter to the governor follows up on his and other Republican concerns that action should not be taken until Puerto Rico has audited financial statements and other key information for recent fiscal years.

Barbara Morgan, a spokesperson for the commonwealth, said Puerto Rico officials have received Hatch's letter and will reply in a timely manner.

"Unfortunately, it has been challenging to acquire recent verifiable financial information about Puerto Rico's financial condition," Hatch said in his letter. "I am writing to obtain information that will prove useful to Congress and other stakeholders as we continue to work to find measures to assist the people of Puerto Rico as the government of Puerto Rico continues to face financial and transparency challenges."

Melba Acosta Febo, the president of Puerto Rico's Government Development Bank, explained the delay in releasing the audited statements during a briefing with legislative staff and press at the Capitol on Feb. 5. She said that the financial statements for 2014 and 2015 are still undergoing frequent auditor revisions but that legislators can be confident that the numbers will show "the situation is as bad as ever."

Hatch focused on requesting up-to-date details about the island's three largest pension systems, the Puerto Rico Government Employees Retirement System (ERS), the Puerto Rico Teachers Retirement System (TRS), and the Puerto Rico Judiciary Retirement System (JRS). He said his understanding is that the systems are only 4% funded and that the commonwealth-wide bankruptcy regime Treasury has floated would give preference to those unfunded liabilities.

The Finance Committee chair asked the governor to answer a long list of pension-related questions, including: whether such a restructuring would be constitutional what current assets and contribution systems the pension plans have; and whether any of the pension systems are operating on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Hatch also asked Garcia Padilla for information on Puerto Rico's outstanding debt such as which authorities have issued debt and the amount of annual debt service they each have to pay, as well as the territory's expenditures on health, public housing and welfare, and education. An unaudited 2013 financial report for Puerto Rico said that expenditures on the commonwealth's Department of Education amounted to 25% of the general fund budget. Hatch said he wants to know what progress has been made to impose cost and expenditure controls for education and other departments.

The U.S. Treasury Department has extended technical assistance to Puerto Rico and Hatch asked for the specifics of what form that assistance has taken.
A stock exchange is a considerable reflection of a countrys economic diversity. As a pivotal institution in the national economy, the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) is a habitat to most of the economys powerhouses.

This can be noted from the several sectors of the economy that are represented by the companies listed on the BSE, their sizes and a vast range of businesses they are engaged in. At present, the BSE is a host to 22 domestic companies representing subsidiaries of multinational corporations as well as truly home grown companies.

In this count, the appeal is in the manner in which the homegrown companies have managed to pursue outward growth opportunities. Amongst the home grown companies, 12 companies have presence outside Botswana. Further, most of these companies have largely leveraged on the advantages presented by a listing on the BSE - of raising growth capital - to pioneer their regional expansion. Whilst some companies have raised capital through an IPO, others have utilized avenues such as rights issues and issues for cash to fund growth initiatives.





One of the BSE veterans, by virtue of being one of the first 5 companies to have listed on the BSE in the formative year of 1989, Sefalana, has operations across 2 more Southern African countries (Zambia and Namibia) in addition to diversifying the Groups business operations locally over the years. Indeed, the Group has made use of an assortment of funding options available on the BSE, such as rights issues and issues for cash, to enhance its coffers in funding regional expansion. Along that trajectory has followed several other companies that recognized the opportunity to expand their consumer markets beyond Botswanas 2 million people.

A distinctively aggressive Sub-Saharan expansion drive by any BSE listed company has been by Letshego which has expanded from Botswana into East Africa (Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Kenya), Southern Africa (Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Swaziland) and has recently completed its entry into West Africa (Nigeria). All of these regional subsidiaries commenced after the company listed on the BSE in 2002, with the first one commencing in 2005 in Uganda.

Furnmart, which listed in 1998, has transitioned not only in the spread of consumer segments it caters for but also in its footprint across SADC (South Africa, Namibia and Zambia). It is also worth noting that Furnmart has in some cases made use of rights issues to fund new stores during its expansion.

RDC Properties, listed in 1996 and currently operating in Madagascar, recently undertook a rights issue on the BSE to expand into South Africa, Mozambique and Namibia. Similarly, other property companies have steadily expanded their operations beyond Botswana and particularly post listing, into regional markets; Turnstar (listed in 2002) is present in Tanzania; New African Properties has since expanded into Namibia since listing in 2011 and PrimeTime ( listed in 2007) now has properties in Zambia.

Subsequent to its listing on the BSE in 2012, Choppies has since penetrated South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Kenya. Cresta (listed in 2010) leveraged on its profile to attain funding for growth opportunities beyond Botswana and entered Zambia in 2012 through credit. Wilderness (listed in 2010) operates in 7 other countries and Chobe (listed in 1999) owns a subsidiary in South Africa.

Perhaps a distinctive transaction in respect of regional expansion and as such worthy of note is the intended acquisition of a stake in a company listed on the Malawian Stock Exchange by Botswana Insurance Holdings Limited (listed in 1991). This is the first time that a BSE listed company has intended to pursue growth by investing in a publicly quoted company across the border.

Why is it necessary to narrate all these growth stories?

The fundamental message from the preceding is that the BSE provides a platform for companies to catalyze their growth and create value for shareholders.

An array of funding options available to BSE listed companies is perhaps the single biggest catalyst of growth. Whilst these companies are well established and profitable with sizeable earnings, they tend to augment their coffers through corporate actions which are not readily accessible, at a relatively cheaper cost, to unlisted private companies.

It has to be hammered home that a company listed on the BSE has a much appealing profile than a similar unlisted company. This deduction follows as a result of the perception associated with the companys conduct in relation to corporate governance. This feature feeds directly into the possibility of accessing funding at a reasonable cost. Moreover, once a company is listed it benefits immensely from its broad shareholder base in meeting its capital requirements through rights issues, issues for cash and even re-investing capital that could have otherwise been paid as dividends.

The message to unlisted companies, their founders, directors and management is that companies in Botswana need to see value in diversifying their revenue sources across different geographies.

In the wake of private sector being positioned as a driver of economic growth and economic diversification in Botswana, dependence on Government spending has to be diluted by other revenue streams. Botswana is known for its small population, and consequently its small capacity to absorb domestic products and services.

However, it has been demonstrated by majority of BSE listed companies which utilized the home base for raising capital that Botswana companies can successfully explore the abundant business opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa. The demographic edge, economic growth, improving political stability and ongoing investments in infrastructure are opening up previously inaccessible markets across Africa.



* Kopano Bolokwe is BSE Acting Product Development Manager



The BSE will host its Inaugural Listings Conference on 10th March 2016 at the GICC under the theme Opening the BSE to the Business Community  Creating Value through Listing. The Conference features a presentation by Ms Celeste Fauconnier, Africa Analyst at Rand Merchant Bank South Africa, on the subject of  From Botswana to Africa: what are the opportunities for local companies expanding into Africa.
Botswana Railways chief executive officer Dominic Ntwaagae says the Botswana dry port in Namibia remains unknown among Batswana. Known as Sea Rail, the 100 percent subsidiary of BR was registered last year in Namibia as Sea Rail (Botswana) Pty Ltd.

It was opened two years ago. As of May last year, BR opened a P100 million dry port facility in Walvis Bay. CEO Ntwaagae said in an interview with BG Business that the parastatal has to work hard at marketing it. Every time we go to the people, we realise that they dont know it. Only a few do, he said, adding that they have held three conferences in Gaborone and Francistown to sensitise stakeholders about the subsidiary.

Ntwaagae said they will have to take it to the people after the arrival of the passenger train in March. The dry port is the holding facility for goods destined to Botswana and other SADC countries. Currently, a Motswana citizen is employed as a port manager and is working with a Namibian assistant.





The P60 million-company is the fourth BR subsidiary. BR Properties (Pty) Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of BR was launched in 2008 with a core mandate of unlocking the potential of BRs real estate through sound property management and development practices.

The commercial subsidiary of BR is expected to manage BR real estate with an estimated value of approximately P600 million. These properties include developed properties and undeveloped land of different uses.

Much of the undeveloped land lies in major areas such as Gaborone, Francistown, Lobatse, Palapye and Mahalapye and is mostly located in very prime areas. The second subsidiary is JTTM, in which BR holds 67 percent shareholding. It owns the P350-million Rail Park Mall in Gaborone.

Lastly, there is Gaborone Container Terminal (GABCON), a subsidiary between Botswana Railways and Transnet. GABCON provides container handling facility and delivery services within its operating area. As a dry port, GABCON handles all containerised cargo from all over the world.
African Energy Resources (AFR) is working on finalising the selection of a development partner for its Mmamantswe power project in Botswana, the company has revealed.

South Africa recently requested registrations for its 2,500MegaWatts coal base-load independent power project procurement (IPP) programme, which is open to cross-border projects. The company has registered a 600MW power project at Mmamantswe into this programme. In the information presented at the investor conference in Cape Town this week, the AFR management revealed that cross border IPP proposals are likely to receive close attention.

Subject to necessary approvals, AFR will sell the project company to the development consortium for US$20million if the consortium wins the tender and is able to achieve financial close, the company said. AFR headed by Frazer Tabeart, as its Managing Director, indicated that a qualifying criterion and the documentation for cross border projects are yet to be released.





African Energy, which boasts a market capitalisation of more than P800 million at BSE is upbeat its proposals, will be considered based on a number of factors. The 1.25 billion tonne Mmamantswe coal project is only 20kmfrom the international border with South Africa and is close to the regional power transmission grid.

Mmamantswe has an approved Environmental Impact Assessment for up to 10Mtpa coal mining and up to 2,000MW of power generation. Mmamantswe also has an 8GL/a registered water well-field at Artesia which could provide enough water for such a project. Technical studies have demonstrated the suitability of Mmamantswe coal for processing into a power station fuel similar to that used in the adjacent Waterburg coalfield in South Africa.



Other AFM projects

Sese integrated power project comprises a power station complex with its own captive coal mine. The Sese coal licence contains 5 billion tonnes of low strip ratio coal providing significant potential for expansion of generation capacity. The initial development concept is centered on an initial 300MW power station (2 x 150MW CFB boilers) with a captive 1.5Mtpa coal mine. Additional 300MW developments are proposed as capacity is contracted.

Recently a Joint Venture Agreement was executed with First Quantum Minerals to develop power generation capacity at Sese. This agreement provides the company with a development partner with a strong track record in developing large-scale capital projects. It also provides a sound financial partner who is responsible for providing the necessary funding for the project development.



Mmamabula West

The 2.4 billion tonne Mmamabula West export coal project was acquired in late 2013 on the basis of its large size and export quality coal. Mmamabula West comprises two 4m to 6m thick coal seams, with the upper K-Seam averaging 105m depth below surface, and the lower A-seam 130m depth.

A Prefeasibility study for an underground mine based on a 200Mt portion of the A-Seam within the indicated resource has been completed. The study evaluated a 4.4Mtpa ROM operation producing up to 3Mtpa of 6,200kcal/kg export coal over a 20-year mine life. The study envisaged initial capital cost estimate of U$113M for an owner operated mine and processing plant, and an estimated ROM operating cost of U$17/t.
The last four armed occupiers of a national wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon said they would turn themselves in Thursday morning.

The developments came as Cliven Bundy, the father of the jailed leader of the Oregon occupation and who also the leader of a standoff with federal officials in Nevada in 2014, was arrested in Portland.

The tense standoff between law enforcement officers and the four occupiers was being livestreamed on the Internet by an acquaintance of one of the holdouts, David Fry.

On Wedneday night, Fry, 27, continually yelled at what he said was an FBI negotiator.

You're going to hell. Kill me. Get it over with, he said. We're innocent people camping at a public facility, and you're going to murder us.

The only way we're leaving here is dead or without charges, Fry said, who told the FBI to get the hell out of Oregon.

Fry said the group was surrounded by armored vehicles.

Fry and the three others are the last remnants of an armed group that seized the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Jan. 2 to oppose federal land-use policies. The three others are Jeff Banta, 46, of Elko, Nevada; and married couple Sean Anderson, 48, and Sandy Anderson, 47, of Riggins, Idaho.

Fry said Wednesday the group was surrounded by armored vehicles.

Cliven Bundy flew into Portland International Airport Wednesday night and was arrested by authorities. He was booked into the lockup just before 11 p.m. Wednesday, according to Multnomah County Jail records.

The 74-year-old Nevadan was at the center of a standoff in Nevada with federal officials over use of public lands. The Oregonian reports he now faces a conspiracy charge of interfering with a federal officer related to the standoff at his ranch in 2014.

The FBI confirmed Cliven Bundy's arrest but declined to provide a reason or other details, saying further information would be released by the U.S. Attorney's office in Las Vegas, which did not respond to a phone call early Thursday.

Ammon Bundy, his son, had been demanding that the Oregon refuge be handed over to locals when the occupation began.

A Nevada legislator, Michele Fiore, called in to try to get the occupiers to calm down. Fiore said she could help them only if they stayed alive.

I need you guys alive, said the Republican member of the Nevada Assembly who was in Portland earlier in the day to show support for Ammon Bundy, the jailed leader of the occupation. Fiore told occupiers Wednesday night she was driving to the refuge to try to help negotiate their exit from the refuge. The occupiers prayed with Fiore and others as the situation dragged on for hours Wednesday night. The refuge is south of Burns, Ore.

Sean Anderson said late Wednesday he spoke with the FBI and that he and the three other holdouts would turn themselves in at a nearby FBI checkpoint at 8 a.m. Thursday.

Anderson relayed the news to Fiore.

We're not surrendering, we're turning ourselves in. It's going against everything we believe in, he said.

Greg Bretzing, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon, said in a statement that the situation had reached a point where it became necessary to take action to ensure the safety of all involved.

It has never been the FBI's desire to engage these armed occupiers in any way other than through dialogue, and to that end, the FBI has negotiated with patience and restraint in an effort to resolve the situation peacefully, the statement said.

A neighbor who lives near the refuge told The Washington Post that residents were told to stay in their homes until the police give clearance.

The FBI said its agents moved to contain the remaining four holdouts Wednesday evening after one of the occupiers drove an all-terrain vehicle outside the barricades previously set up by the self-styled militia members at the refuge.

FBI agents attempted to approach the driver, and he sped away back to the compound, after which federal agents moved to contain the remaining occupiers by placing agents at barricades both immediately ahead of and behind their encampment, the FBI said.

The four remained at the refuge despite the arrests of group leader Bundy and others Jan. 26 on a remote road where a spokesman for the group, Robert LaVoy Finicum, was shot dead. A 12th member of the group turned himself in to police in Arizona.

Another occupier, Sandy Anderson, said Wednesday after the group was surrounded: They're threatening us. They're getting closer. I pray that there's a revolution if we die here tonight.

She reported seeing FBI snipers posted on a nearby hillside with high-beam vehicle lights trained on the compound.

If they tear gas us, it's the same as firing on us, she said, adding, Don't come in. Don't do it.

Her husband and fellow occupier, Sean Anderson, said in the livestream: We will not fire until fired upon. We haven't broken any laws, came here to recognize our constitutional rights. Help us.

The fate of Ammon Bundy and other members of the group who remain in custody has been clouded by the four holdouts. A judge has cited the continuing standoff as a major obstacle to the release of at least some of those who remain jailed on federal charges.

Wire services
The federal government sued Ferguson on Wednesday, one day after the city council voted to revise an agreement aimed at improving the way police and courts treat poor people and minorities in the St. Louis suburb.

The civil-rights lawsuit filed by the Justice Department alleges that Ferguson routinely violates residents' rights and misuses law enforcement to generate revenue  a practice the government said is ongoing and pervasive.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Ferguson's decision to reject the agreement left the department no choice except to sue.

Nearly a year ago, the Department of Justice released our findings in an investigation of the Police Department of Ferguson, Missouri. Our investigation uncovered a community in distress, in which residents felt under assault by their own police force. The Ferguson Police Departments violations were expansive and deliberate, Lynch said in a statement Wednesday.

After announcing their findings a year ago, the Justice Department negotiated with the city of Ferguson on a court-enforceable consent decree to bring about reform, Lynch said. The DOJ made it clear if the city did not enforce the reforms, the federal government would bring a lawsuit in the interest of Ferguson residents.

The residents of Ferguson have waited nearly a year for the city to adopt an agreement that would protect their rights and keep them safe, Lynch said in the release. They have waited decades for justice. They should not be forced to wait any longer.

Ferguson has been under Justice Department scrutiny since 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was black and unarmed, was fatally shot by white police officer Darren Wilson 18 months ago. A grand jury and the Justice Department declined to prosecute Wilson, who resigned in November 2014.

But a scathing Justice Department report was critical of police and a profit-driven municipal court system. Following months of negotiations, an agreement between the federal agency and Ferguson was announced in January. Ferguson spokesman Jeff Small declined to comment. Messages left with Mayor James Knowles III were not returned.

A recent financial analysis determined the agreement would cost the struggling city nearly $4 million in the first year alone. The council voted 6-0 Tuesday to adopt the deal, but with seven amendments.

Hours before the lawsuit was to be announced, Ferguson leaders said they were willing to sit down with Justice Department negotiators and hammer out a new agreement.

We ask that if they (the Justice Department) feel there needs to be some additional changes to the agreement, we sit down and talk, Knowles said.

That seemed unlikely from the outset. Within hours of the Tuesday vote, Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, said in a statement that the department would take "the necessary legal actions" to ensure Ferguson's police and court practices comply with the Constitution and federal laws.

Knowles said the seven amendments were formulated after the analysis showed the deal was so expensive it could lead to the dissolution of Ferguson. The analysis suggested that the first-year cost of the agreement would be $2.2 million to $3.7 million, with second- and third-year costs between $1.8 million and $3 million in each year.

Ferguson has an operating budget of $14.5 million and already faces a $2.8 million deficit. Voters will be asked to approve two tax hikes in April, but approval of both would still leave the city short.

A big part of the cost was the requirement that Ferguson raise police salaries to attract better candidates, including more minority officers. Removal of the pay-raise clause was among the seven amendments.

Lynch rejected claims by some Ferguson city officials that the reforms would cost the city too much.

We are always cost sensitive when we deal with municipalities, however there is no cost when it comes to constitutional policing, the right to be free from excessive force, unconstitutional costs and fine system breaking their back, Lynch said.

Another new provision states that the agreement will not apply to any other governmental entity that might take over duties currently provided by Ferguson. That means, for example, that St. Louis County would not be beholden to the agreement if it takes over policing in Ferguson.

St. Louis County police spokesman Brian Schellman said if the county were ever asked to take over policing in Ferguson, we would consider the implications of the consent decree before entering into such an agreement.

Knowles doesn't believe neighboring municipal departments would agree to cover Ferguson under the Justice Department's requirements.

Ferguson's defiance to the initial proposal wasn't surprising.

Days after Brown's death, then-Police Chief Tom Jackson released surveillance video showing Brown's involvement in a theft at a small grocery store just moments before the shooting, with the burly teenager pushing the store owner. The video's release only heightened anger among protesters.

Knowles has vigorously defended Ferguson. Even as protesters and civil rights leaders called for reforms, the mayor noted that Ferguson was already making changes to municipal courts aimed at easing the burden on people accused of minor violations. In fact, city revenue from court fees and fines has declined by hundreds of thousands of dollars since the shooting.

It's not uncommon for local governments to seek changes to agreements even after negotiations, but the overwhelming majority of investigations still end up in a settlement.

Samuel Bagenstos, the former No. 2 official at the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, warned that the federal agency is serious about bringing a lawsuit if they don't get a deal.

If Ferguson insists on making significant changes to the deal they've already worked out, that's probably not going to work out well for them, said Bagenstos, now a law professor at the University of Michigan. And I think at the end of the day, Ferguson understands that, and we'll probably see a deal pretty soon.

The Justice Department has initiated more than 20 civil rights investigations into law enforcement agencies in the last six years, including in Baltimore and Chicago. In the last 18 months, the department has reached settlements with police departments that included Cleveland and Albuquerque.

There have been occasional disagreements.

In 2012, the Justice Department sued Maricopa County, Arizona, after failing to reach agreement on allegations that the sheriff's office targeted Latinos with discriminatory stops and arrests. County officials voted in July to settle parts of that lawsuit.

The federal government also sued North Carolina's Alamance County following an investigation that alleged biased policing practices against Latinos there. But a federal judge last August ruled in the county's favor, saying the Justice Department failed to prove the sheriff ordered deputies to target Hispanic residents. That case is on appeal.

Al Jazeera and The Associated Press
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 11/02/2016 (2443 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Barring a positive test, cattle farmers near Riding Mountain National Park will finally see an end to the exhaustive, costly and often traumatic tuberculosis testing that their herds have been subjected to for years.

Veterinarian Dr. Allan Preston, who was charged with eradicating tuberculosis near Riding Mountain at the end of 2012, said the Canadian Food Inspection Agency indicated that negative tests in cattle and wildlife this season will result in the suspension of on-site testing for cattle.

Its very good news for the producers involved, Preston said. The most important thing is that this all hinges on negative results, so were really hoping that we get through this season with everything negative, and if we do, we will proceed to move away from live-animal testing.

The last positive TB test in cattle came in 2008, according to Preston, while the last whitetail deer was found infected the following year.

The last elk tested positive in 2014.

Hunters are encouraged to supply carcasses for testing after harvesting an animal in the area.

Preston said one of the largest blessings in the battle to eradicate TB has been the declining elk population.

That drop in population has contributed to the disease kind of dying out, he said.

Preston characterized TB as a tough disease to contract. It tends to build up in large populations of animals confined to small areas. The disease is most often spread through saliva after an infected animal feeds from a source such as forage or bales, which is then eaten by other animals.

Preston  along with representatives from CFIA, Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Parks Canada and Manitoba Beef Producers met with cattle farmers in Rossburn on Jan. 21.

MBP general manager Melinda German said a number of producers at that meeting described the hardships the testing process has had on their herds.

Its very trying and traumatic for the producers and the cattle to go through the testing, German said.

Farmers described scenes in which pregnant cows had abortions following the testing process, which requires animals to travel through a chute twice in a 72-hour time frame.

Other animals became ornery and more difficult to work with, something that adds time and cost to the bottom line of the farm.

Producers are paid $7 per animal as a mustering fee, according to German, but its not enough.

The true cost of the testing is much higher, she said.

Add in mitigation work producers undertook and the costs are even higher.

Many producers erected fences around feeding areas and purchased guard dogs in an attempt to prohibit wildlife from interacting with cattle. While some of the costs were covered through government grants, other were borne by producers.

Those efforts wont stop if testing does end, according to German.

Its important as we move to this stage where we think we can declare disease freedom in the domestic herd and were going to be able to stop testing in the domestic herd that we remain vigilant in our mitigation measures that minimize those interactions, she said.

German is hopeful that the testing will come to a conclusion, which could come as early as this spring; however, she pointed out that surveillance at slaughter facilities will continue to ensure Manitoba remains TB-free.

 ctweed@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @CharlesTweed
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VANCOUVER  British Columbias superintendent of real estate is denying that she has failed to take action on shadow flipping, saying she only learned of specific allegations from the media last week.

Carolyn Rogers said her office has not received any complaints in recent years about the assignment clause, which involves a real estate agent selling the same home multiple times before the sale closes to drive up the final price and collect several commissions.

The first I had heard it had become an issue and there were concerns about it was just over the last few days, she said in an interview Wednesday.

British Columbia's superintendent of real estate Carolyn Rogers, shown in this undated handout photo, says she was not aware of allegations of "shadow flipping" until they were reported in the media last week. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Financial Institutions Commission-Maryam Morrison

But its not a practice were unfamiliar with and its not a practice that weve been ignoring.

Opposition New Democrat housing critic David Eby has accused Rogers and the Real Estate Council of B.C. of turning a blind eye to what he calls fraudulent and unethical behaviour by some Metro Vancouver real estate agents.

But Rogers said she and the council moved quickly to launch an investigation this week following the reports. She will chair and appoint an independent advisory group to come back with interim recommendations in April.

She noted the assignment clause in contracts is not new and her office issued a consumer alert in 2008 warning that in a hot housing market, purchasers might transfer their contracts to other buyers at a higher price.

Rogers, a former public servant and financial-services professional, has held the position for six years. Her office is independent of the council and its mandate is to protect the public.

The superintendents office reviews the councils enforcement decisions, including those on contract assignments. Its unclear why those decisions didnt alert Rogers to any concerns about shadow flipping because she declined to comment on specific decisions.

She said the scope of the investigation has not yet been set but it will include a broad look at business practices and standards. Allegations have also emerged that some real estate agents are not properly reporting transactions to a federal anti-money laundering agency.

I think the concerns that have been raised extend beyond shadow flipping, Rogers said. They come down to whether or not Realtors are acting in the interests of their client and acting not just in a way that meets the letter of the law, but meets a high ethical standard.

Rogers said she doesnt know whether shadow flipping is widespread in Metro Vancouver but she hopes the review will help to determine the scale of the problem.

Darcy McLeod, president of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, said its not new or surprising that people are profiting from assigning contracts in a heated real estate market. He said the board had not received any complaints about shadow flipping.

The quote-unquote widespread problem isnt generating any complaints, he said.

The notion that realtors are driving up prices with this practice doesnt really make sense either, because ultimately its the buyer in the end who decides what price theyre willing to pay for a property.

The Real Estate Council of Ontario said it is not seeing the same trend play out in that market.

To the degree that we hear about assignment clauses  and it is rare  they have usually involved new construction houses and condos, not resales that have not yet closed, registrar Joseph Richer said in a statement.

The Ontario body noted that agents have an obligation to disclose if they have a financial interest in the purchase or sale of a home.

If the same brokerage were representing both the buyer and the seller in a transaction, and the buyer intended to assign the purchase to another buyer, the brokerage would have to inform the seller.

 With files from Alexandra Posadzki in Toronto
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In the design world, each new year brings with it the desire to escort out the old and overdone, and usher in some fresh and innovative inspiration. Fashion and architecture play a huge role in what you see popping up in showrooms and design magazines across the globe, allowing designers and DIY rebels alike to delve into the creative and cultural elements shaping national hype and style.

Take a look at some of whats hot for stylish living in 2016.

Italian retro influence

Submitted Crispin Butterfield takes a look at some of whats hot for stylish living in 2016.

Scandi-style with a more grown up twist, Italian 70s style is making a huge comeback this year in the furnishings market. Thick, chunky geometric console and side tables, heavily gilded mirrors and light fixtures, and even sleekly tailored upholstered pieces are making their way from overseas and into showrooms and online boutiques across North America.

Rose gold

A stunning finish, rose gold has been incredibly popular in the jewelry and fashion world for the past two years, and is just now carrying over into the home decor and design industry. Thanks in part to Rose Quartz and Serenity  Pantones 2016 ultra-coveted colours of the year  this glamourous finish is popping up as the finish du jour on everything from kitchen faucets, lamps, table legs, to picture frames, dresser hardware, and even dining room flatware.

Mixed cabinetry

Because most rules are made to be broken, well be seeing much more exciting finishes and textures collaborating in kitchens and bathrooms this year. Gone are the days you had to match your upper cabinets to your lowers, or fabricate the entire kitchen ensemble in a single stain colour. Combining sleek white millwork with a touch of walnut, or a soft gray painted finish paired with high gloss charcoal is not only a striking touch of spontaneity, it keeps your spaces fresh and interesting.

Fabric wall art

Attention all design aficionados: Robert Allen is paper-backing almost all of its textiles for a flat fee. What this means is the selection of fabulous wall covering options has become almost completely endless. Forego vinyl in the master bedroom or library, and instead opt for a luxurious paper-backed silk or damask for ultimate design style.

White hot

One of my favourite trends to date  theres nothing I love more than a beautifully layered, white hot living space. Paint giant Benjamin Moore has released its own colour trend for 2016, naming OC-117 Simply White its hue of the year.

The colour white is transcendent, powerful and polarizing  it is either taken for granted or completely obsessed over, said Ellen ONeill, Benjamin Moore creative director. The popularity of white, the necessity of white, the mystique of white is quantifiable in our industry. White is not just a design trend, it is a design essential.

Light and airy walls, layered with easy and ambient lighting, soft white neutral furnishings, and specialty decor pieces like white quartz shards, Mongolian lambs wool pillows, lacquered trays, and silky throws and floor coverings help to create the ultimate serene and peaceful atmosphere at home.

Crispin Butterfield owns Urban Theory Interior Design in Brandon; find out how she can help you with your own design projects.

 designchick.ca
Flint protesters could be heard chanting during the budget presentation before the House and Senate appropriations committees, local media reported.

Flint, a city of some 100,000 people, was under control of a state-appointed emergency manager in 2014 when it switched its source of water from Detroit's municipal system to the Flint River to save money.

That move provoked a national controversy and prompted several lawsuits by parents who say their children are showing dangerously high blood levels of lead.

Snyder noted that federal money for Flint only totals $5 million so far.

Under Snyder's proposal, Michigan would appropriate $195 million to provide health, nutritional, educational, water bill payment, and infrastructure aid to Flint on top of the $37 million already approved.

For DPS, Snyder asked for an immediate $50 million to enable the state's largest public school system to continue paying employees and vendors.

"The clock is ticking and action is required and would be greatly appreciated," the governor said.

Snyder is also seeking $72 million annually over 10 years to fund a plan to split DPS into an operating entity and a debt-paying entity. He said that money would come from Michigan's share of a nationwide settlement with U.S. tobacco companies and not from the state's school aid fund. Legislation to restructure DPS is pending before a Senate committee.

Flint Mayor Karen Weaver said Snyder's allocation of $25 million to remove lead pipes falls short of the estimated $55 million price tag.

"Governor Snyder's proposed supplemental appropriation is a down payment on lead pipe removal," she said in a statement.

Republican legislative leaders said they would work to secure more help for Flint. But Democrats said help was not coming fast enough.

"This cannot be a public relations-only win for the governor while the people of Flint continue to suffer daily. They cant wait another day, State Representative Pam Faris said in a statement.

The governor's proposed budget for fiscal 2017, which begins Oct. 1, increases funding for education and local governments. The $54.9 billion all-funds spending plan includes a $10.2 billion general fund budget.

Reuters
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VANCOUVER  Michael Buble says British Columbia has the potential to become the Nashville of Canada, and a new $15-million government grant will help foster a thriving local music industry.

The Metro Vancouver-born crooner joined Premier Christy Clark on Thursday to announce the B.C. Music Fund, which aims to help emerging and well-known artists with production, distribution and promotion.

Truly, its never been tougher to develop a career as an artist, Buble said. Thanks to you, premier, people who want to pursue a music career here will be able to do so and not have to leave home, which is pretty incredible.

Michael Buble shows British Columbia Premier Christy Clark pictures on his cell phone after announcing that the province will give 15 million to promote B.C. music during a news conference in Vancouver, B.C., Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

The announcement was part of the launch of a new Music Canada report, B.C.s Music Sector: From Adversity to Opportunity, which argues the province is filled with talent but its music industry is in serious decline.

The report makes 26 recommendations, including appointing a municipal music officer to serve as a liaison with industry and advocate for music tourism, land use planning that takes into account the need for new music venues and removing liquor-licensing red tape.

Buble said Nashville, Tenn., brings in billions in music revenue and the onus is partly on established artists like himself to promote B.C.

To be honest with you, they dont know yet. They havent met us yet, he joked, referencing one of his hits and drawing laughs and groans from the crowd.

The event was attended by B.C.-based music stars including Nickelback lead singer Chad Kroeger, well-known talent manager Bruce Allen and rocker Matthew Good.

Clark recalled her own fond musical memories, including going to see punk rockers D.O.A. at her first concert and watching Buble sing at a mosque when he was 16.

She said the $15-million grant from the province will support the creation of the fund, which will be managed by Creative B.C. and include money for music education, live venues and touring.

If we can become the L.A. of the world for film, why cant we become the Nashville of the world for music? she asked.

Clark said the fund could grow or change in the coming years, depending on how well it works. In contrast, the Ontario Music Fund was established in 2013 as a three-year, $45-million grant program and was later made permanent.

Juno Award-winning indie artist Dan Mangan asked Clark how the money will be disseminated to emerging artists, to which the premier responded that Creative B.C. would offer more application details soon.

Mangan said after the event that he would like to see a substantial amount of the money go towards touring and recording.

We have no program in place yet to help people record albums in this province, which is crazy. Every province in the country has it and we dont. Weve been a bit of a laughingstock, he said.

Let alone the housing cost, B.C. has been a very hard place to live and be a musician and make a living in the last number of years. (The fund is) good. I just want to see it spread out across a number of platforms.

 Follow @ellekane on Twitter.
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EDMONTON  Catholic leaders in Alberta are reiterating the churchs opposition to physician-assisted dying.

After the Supreme Court struck down the law against assisted suicide last February, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops said the church opposes any form of mercy killing.

The national organization wants the federal government to ensure that any changes to the law would not force health-care providers or hospitals to be involved in assisted dying.

The group has also asked Ottawa to ensure that the law would not be interpreted differently by each province and territory.

Albertas bishops want the province to consult with the public before taking any steps to comply with new regulations the federal government must develop by June.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta is proposing a standard that would allow physicians to say no to assisted dying, but would require them to refer a patient to another doctor.

The decision of the Supreme Court of Canada makes legally permissible in some circumstances what is morally wrong in every circumstance: the taking of innocent human life, Albertas Catholic bishops said Thursday.

This is unacceptable in a truly just and ethical society.

Bishop Douglas Crosby, president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, has told the federal government it should have considered using the Constitutions notwithstanding clause to postpone any implementation of physician-assisted dying for at least the next five years.

In a letter to the federal ministers of justice and health last month, Crosby said a delay would have provided time for calm reflection and consultation.

Many Canadians still do not understand that so-called assisted-dying is a deliberately misleading term for physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia, he wrote.

Crosby said the federal government should instead bolster palliative care services, provide more funding for research into pain relief and bring in a national suicide prevention plan.

Caring for the dying does not include killing them or helping them kill themselves, he wrote.
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VANCOUVER - The rate of syphilis in gay men has reached its highest level in 30 years in British Columbia, and Vancouver Coastal Health is urging regular testing.

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QUEBEC  Quebec wants nothing to do with selling marijuana, Finance Minister Carlos Leitao said Thursday, adding Ottawa cant force the province to help set up a distribution network if and when pot is legalized.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said his government will legalize and strictly regulate marijuana and will work with local authorities to come up with distribution methods, which could vary from province to province.

Trudeaus comments sparked suggestions that pot could be sold out of government-run liquor stores.

Even the union representing employees of Quebecs liquor authority had said it was favourable to the idea.

Leitao, however, said he has no plan, no idea, no intention of commercializing (marijuana).

Its up to the federal government to determine how to do it, he said. I will never have the obligation to commercialize (marijuana) even if it becomes legal. Its not up to the province of Quebec to do that.

When asked what distribution network the federal government could use in Quebec to sell pot, Leitao responded, theyll have to figure it out.

One of Trudeaus election promises was to legalize marijuana in order to make it more difficult for children to purchase as well as to decrease pot revenue streams to organized criminals.

In response to Leitaos comments, Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa he plans to work with provinces and municipalities with regard to the distribution and sale of marijuana.

And I look forward to starting those discussions, when the time comes, he said.
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This article was published 10/02/2016 (2444 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The getaway driver for two shopliftings from city stores has received probation.

She wasnt the one who entered the stores to try to swipe items, but she was responsible nonetheless.

Even if youre just driving the getaway vehicle, that makes you a party to the theft, Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta informed the offender.

Trina Marie Archie, 35, received 15 months of probation and 40 hours of community service on Monday after pleading guilty to two counts of theft.

The so-called booster  the woman who made the actual thefts, Jennifer Mini  recently pleaded guilty to these and two other thefts. She received six months house arrest and one year of probation.

On Jan. 20, 2015, Mini tried, but failed, to steal $416 worth of groceries from the west end Sobeys when she was caught by security.

Mini backed away from the goods and told security that she didnt want to be charged.

Archie whisked Mini away in a van, but store security managed to get its licence plate number and gave it to police.

Within minutes, police got a call from security at Walmart. They reported that a thief, later identified as Mini, had escaped with $250 in goods.

Again, Archie was the getaway driver.

During Minis sentencing, court was told that she had a prescription drug addiction. She would swap stolen items for drugs, or sell them to buy medications.

Judging by the court docket, shoplifting is rampant in Brandon lately, with Real Canadian Superstore and Walmart being the primary targets.

 ihitchen@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @IanHitchen
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This article was published 11/02/2016 (2443 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For those worried about the slumping Canadian dollar and the impact of oil prices, investment strategist Bill Chornous offers a simple message: This too will pass.

Chornous, vice-president with Investors Group, spoke to a crowd of approximately 250 people at the Brandon Chamber of Commerce State of the Economy luncheon on Wednesday.

I think that the biggest challenge that we all face as individual or professional investors is that theres just too much information out there, he said at the event held at the Victoria Inn Imperial Ballroom. Were constantly bombarded with it.

Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun Bill Chornous, vice-president and investment strategist with Investors Group, addresses the Brandon Chamber of Commerce State of the Economy luncheon at the Victoria Inn on Wednesday.

The presentation called The Great Disconnect touched on the recession of 2009. Chornous said he believes there is a residual hangover from the recession.

I dont think that individuals or professional investors have ever fully recovered, he said, adding people continue to talk about where that next big risk is and what its impact will be.

Chornous also spoke about the price of oil, how it has fluctuated over the past several decades and is impossible to predict.

I know that everybody who has tried to forecast the price of oil has been absolutely wrong, he said.

But the main message Chornous had for the group of Brandon business representatives is to build an investment plan with a long time frame, while understanding that asset prices are very, very volatile.

Over time, those plans will be successful if you build them properly and you allow them to work.

A lighter moment of the speech was when Chornous brought up the famous Barenaked Ladies song lyric If I had a million dollars  Id be rich.

You guys need a new song because I dont think thats fair anymore, he said. It probably used to be true, but isnt true today.

The returns on available investments are at historically low rates. As a result, investors have to think differently than they did in the past.

When I was a kid, if you had a million dollars saving, you  would be able to retire and you didnt have to worry about stuff.

Unfortunately, Chornous says, thats not true today. His best advice is to build an investment plan thats diversified, and is based on your individual ability to accept risk  because its all about risk  and then allow it to work.

You have to have a long-term vision, you have to understand your individual ability to accept risk and build an investment plan that reflects that.

Brandon Chamber of Commerce president Jordan Ludwig said he was impressed with Chornous way of taking macro level topics and explaining them in a digestible format.

He was really able to explain some of the inconsistencies in the market and how theres been a disconnect between prices of equities and investor sentiment, Ludwig said.

While there are challenges with the Canadian dollar and oil prices, Ludwig remains optimistic.

I think its important that we recognize that theres work to be done in our economy, he said. There still is opportunity out there, even if investor sentiment isnt 100 per cent great at the time  There are opportunities there if youre paying attention, and there are opportunities to capitalize on.

 jaustin@brandonsun.com

 Twitter:@jillianaustin
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On the centennial of Manitoba women winning right to vote, a Brandon-based womens organization has received an award in honour of one of the provinces most influential feminists.

The Manitoba Womens Institute was one of 10 recipients of the first-ever Nellie Awards presented by the Nellie McClung Foundation at its Centennial Gala on Jan. 28.

The foundation held a call for nominations  for any Manitoba women living that had contributed to social justice, democracy or human rights, board member Dana Oftedal said.

Photo courtesy Red Photo Co. Manitoba Womens Institute president Donna Young (second from left) and president-elect Ann Mandziuk pose with their Nellie award at the Nellie McClung Foundation Centennial Gala on Jan. 28. The Brandon based organization received the award for its 105 years of work to improve the lives of women through personal development and advocacy.

After the call went out, a panel of judges narrowed down the 66 applications and chose five deserving recipients from rural Manitoba and five from Winnipeg.

We really wanted to focus on how important rural communities were to Nellie McClung, Oftedal said, noting that the woman who fought for gender equality grew up in Manitou. What we wanted to make sure is that all women across the province were represented.

For MWI president-elect Ann Mandziuk, the award is validation for more than 105 years of work.

The award gala was a really exciting evening and I like to think that Nellie McClung was looking down on us and thinking, Yes, Womens Institute is still here and theyre doing things that are really important in our community, Mandziuk said.

The MWI was founded in 1910, inspired by a grassroots womens education movement that was taking hold in other parts of the country. One year after its inception, the organization held its first annual convention and McClung herself was invited to be one of the events keynote speakers.

It would be interesting to know what she said at that convention and why she was chosen as one of the speakers, Mandziuk said. I think they felt she had a good message and what she was trying to do in trying to get the vote for women was something that the rural women would appreciate.

While the MWIs provincial headquarters is located on Queens Avenue in Brandon, the organization has 28 branches, mostly in rural centres throughout Manitoba.

Mandziuk says the main goals of the institute are to provide women of all backgrounds with opportunities for personal development and to advocate for improvements within the larger community.

We look at education for women in their communities, but then the women take that education and they use it for the betterment of themselves and their communities, she said.

Longtime reeve of the RM of Rossburn, Shirley Kalyniuk, was also awarded a Nellie for her 31-year career in municipal politics.

While this year marks the 100th anniversary of womens right to vote in Manitoba, the work of the Nellie McClung Foundation and its award recipients isnt over yet.

While its the 100th anniversary, not all women received the right to vote. It wasnt until 1960 that First Nations received the right to vote, so were not that far out, Oftedal said. Its the continued work of people  like the Manitoba Womens Institute and the other Nellie winners  that are progressing the vision that Nellie McClung had.

 ewasney@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @evawasney
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This article was published 11/02/2016 (2443 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Police believed an infant was the victim of shaken baby syndrome when they began an investigation that would later be deemed a homicide after the child died.

Early details of the investigation have been revealed in documents filed in support of a warrant to search the girls Sioux Valley Dakota Nation home.

Haelin is still on life support, given no chance to recover due to devastating brain injury consistent with a shaken baby, not believed to be accidental, wrote RCMP Const. Brian Woytkiw of the Brandon Major Crime Unit, describing the girls condition two days after she was taken to hospital by ambulance.

Two-month-old Haelin Taliyah Taylor (documents had previously identified her by the surname Mecas) was taken to Brandon hospital on Jan. 4.

She was then transported to the Childrens Hospital at Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg where she was listed in critical condition and died on Jan. 23. Shortly thereafter, police announced they were investigating the case as a homicide.

On Wednesday, RCMP spokesman Sgt. Bert Paquet said the case continues to be investigated as a homicide, although there have been no arrests or charges laid.

The evidence we had originally has not changed, Paquet said. More pieces have been added to the puzzle since those first steps were taken.

Paquet said further pieces remain to be gathered before decisions can be made on how to proceed. That includes the analysis of some evidence and medical evidence.

Some results will arrive within the next few days and weeks, Paquet said. Once police have that information, theyll be able to decide what steps to take next.

Until thats done, Paquet said, its too early to say whether charges will be laid, although charges are not immediately pending.

We still believe someone is responsible for her death, someone is criminally responsible for her death, Paquet said. We have not confirmed who that person is, and we are still awaiting to receive medical evidence and medical reports to confirm exactly what happened to this little girl.

Meanwhile, warrant documents detail the early part of the investigation.

What follows is what investigators believed or suspected at the time they applied for the warrant on Jan. 6. Their assertions havent been tested in court:

On Jan. 4, around 9:55 a.m., an ambulance was dispatched to a Sioux Valley home for a report that a girl was having trouble breathing, warrant documents state.

Along the way, paramedics were told by dispatch that family members would meet them at the corner of the Trans-Canada Highway and Highway 21.

Near there, paramedics found an SUV. A man who identified himself as the girls father ran to the back of the ambulance with a child in his arms.

He was with a woman who paramedics presumed to be the mom.

Save her, whats wrong with her?  please help us, the parents said, according to one paramedic later interviewed by police.

The father said the girl had been crying the night before and had vomited, and paramedics didnt notice any external injuries. The girl and her parents were taken to Brandon hospital.

Both RCMP and the Dakota Ojibway Police Service were dispatched to the intersection,

but they arrived to find the ambulance had already left.

Police attended the Brandon hospital where the emergency doctor told them there was nothing suspicious at that time, and theyd be contacted later if needed.

At that point, according to medical records, Haelin was diagnosed with respiratory arrest and stomach flu. Prior to being life-flighted to Winnipeg, her treatment included defibrillation and a blood transfusion. A blood test had detected bacteria.

The next day, HSC staff called police to inform them that Haelin was there in critical condition and had internal bleeding.

On Jan. 6, the investigator received an update from an HSC doctor. Haelin was on life support with no chance to recover due to a brain injury consistent with shaken baby syndrome. She also had retinal hemorrhages, and it was noted that her injuries would have caused vomiting.

At first, the investigation was treated as an aggravated assault, and RCMP applied for a warrant on Jan. 6 and searched the familys bungalow the next day.

They seized a comforter, a sheet, blankets and a laptop computer, which they expected to contain unspecified evidence of an assault.

Within days of Haelins death on Jan. 23, police announced they were treating the case as a homicide.

Haelins family couldnt be reached for comment on Wednesday.

However, they have consistently maintained that they believed the girls condition was medical and expressed puzzlement over the police investigation.

Earlier this month, the childs mother and father told, The Brandon Sun that they dont know why police are treating the matter as a homicide.

In court documents, police noted that Haelins mom described the girl as a healthy, happy baby with no health concerns except for jaundice when she was born.

The day before the ambulance call, Haelin was smiling and posed for photographs, her mother told police.

Later that day, Haelin awoke from a nap and wouldnt stop crying, her mom said. At midnight, the little girl threw up what appeared to be milk or formula.

Around 9:15 a.m. the next day, Haelin was still at the family home when she wasnt breathing right and her father performed CPR.

A relative called 911 as the childs grandmother, mother and father wrapped Haelin in a blanket and jumped into the car. They continued CPR, at the direction of emergency dispatch, and met the ambulance on the highway.

The mother stated that, later at HSC, she learned that Haelins organs were working well but staff didnt know the cause of the bleeding. An MRI was done on the girls brain.

The family has expressed frustration over being left in the dark about the investigation.

Were not getting answers. Nothings adding up, Haelins grandmother recently commented during a conversation with a reporter a few weeks ago.

 ihitchen@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @IanHitchen
A 2014 report by the Brennan Center for Justice found, Of the 11 states with the highest African-American turnout in 2008, seven have new [voting] restrictions in place. Of the 12 states with the largest Hispanic population growth between 2000 and 2010, nine passed laws making it harder to vote.

Because voting is a fundamental right you want to make sure you dont burden that right unless there is a strong reason to do so, said Nina Perales, a voting rights expert and vice president of litigation at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. Perales, who worked to overturn a provision of Arizona law that required proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections found, very, very, very few people  a tiny handful  who were not citizens had ever registered to vote in Arizona. Noting that only nine out of 2.7 million ballots cast in the state between 2005 and 2007 were by noncitizens, Perales contrasted that with the much larger number of people the law turned away. In the Arizona case, she said, 31,000 people whose registrations were rejected for lack of citizenship proof received a letter asking for more documentation. Only about one third of them went ahead and sent in the material that they needed to get on the voter roll. The other two thirds just fell away.

Voter registration rolls themselves are notoriously incomplete and out of date. A 2012 report by the nonpartisan Pew Charitable Trusts found that 24 million (one out of eight) voter registrations in the country are invalid or inaccurate. In response, Pew Charitable Trusts, in partnership with a number of states, created the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), which features a robust data collection and analysis system with a very high rate of accuracy. It allows states to efficiently remove ineligible voters from their rolls yet also identify and engage the estimated 51 million eligible Americans who arent registered to vote.

As many as 20 Republican-controlled states, however, have been purging their voter rolls using data from Kobachs Interstate Crosscheck program. Provided free of charge to states, the program relies heavily on first and last name matches to the exclusion of more precise identification. As a result Crosscheck mistakenly flags high numbers of African-American, Latino and Asian citizens  groups for which identical first and last names are common  as being ineligible, according to documents obtained in an Al Jazeera America investigation.

State election officials with experience using both ERIC and Crosscheck cite significant differences in the reliability of data. Were much more confident in that data from ERIC because the program uses very sophisticated matching criteria, said Edgardo Cortes, Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Elections. With Crosscheck we end up having to do a lot of additional internal analysis to narrow down the field because the initial match is a fairly broad. Its a pretty substantial amount that were able to identify...as very unlikely matches.

Lori Augino, director of elections for Washington state, shared similar concerns about the accuracy of Crosscheck data, which relies heavily on first and last name matches. Crosscheck is a free program but you do have to spend a lot of your staff time vetting the information, she said. You may identify a potentially duplicate voter whose name is Pamela Smith because a Pamela Smith may also reside in another state. Its a pretty common name. So you have to do some additional due diligence to determine if thats truly the same voter. Those are steps that we dont have to take with the ERIC program.

As prevalent as attempts at limiting turnout may be, their critics see hope. I dont think that voter suppression is a sustainable long-term strategy, said Berman. Theres a very significant risk of alienating the fastest growing demographic groups in the country.

The makeup of the nations voters is only becoming more diverse. In the 2012 presidential election, turnout among African-Americans surpassed that of white voters for the first time, according to an analysis by the Associated Press. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that a record 27.3 million Latinos will be eligible to vote in the November election. Among the 10 states with the highest percentage of eligible Latino voters, six of them are led by a Republican governor and/or legislature.

These are attempts to nibble away at the electorate, Perales said. But the much larger issue is that of demographic change, and ultimately thats not going to be stopped by a voter ID law.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 11/02/2016 (2443 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

DELTA, B.C.  As Godzilla rises from the ocean depths and attacks the Golden Gate Bridge, movie audiences suspend disbelief at the captivating on-screen spectacle.

But strip out the immense monster thats clawing apart cables and whats left is a corps of actors in military fatigues and one gargantuan, inflatable green screen.

The unique screen, stretching more than 200 metres for the 2013 Godzilla film shoot, has garnered its Vancouver-area inventors Hollywoods highest honour  an Academy Award.

A green screen on the set of the film "Avengers: Age of Ultron" shot in London, England, is shown in a handout photo. Four partners ??? David McIntosh, Steve Smith, Mike Branham and Mike Kirilenko ??? have been named Oscar winners for engineering and developing the cutting-edge green screen, called the Aircover Inflatables Airwall. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Aircover Inflatables

Four partners  David McIntosh, Steve Smith, Mike Branham and Mike Kirilenko  have been named Oscar winners for engineering and developing the cutting-edge green screen, called the Aircover Inflatables Airwall. The Technical Achievement Award will be presented on Saturday at the annual Scientific and Technical Award ceremony in Los Angeles.

We took a huge risk. We built these units without knowing if theyd ever work. We all believed it was a good idea, but we didnt know, said Smith, CEO of Aircover Inflatables, based in the Vancouver suburb of Delta.

After the team demonstrated its invention to the director of photography, visual effects supervisor and producer, they got the nod to incorporate it into the blockbuster.

They loved it and they took a chance on us.

A green screen is a backdrop made entirely of one distinct colour  often green, but sometimes blue  that is mounted behind a scene during the filming of a movie. In post-production, the single hue is replaced by video footage or computer generated graphics, such as the enraged Godzilla.

The airwall has quickly amassed a roll of credits since its debut. Some other major motion pictures that used the visual effects tool include Tomorrowland, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, X-Men Apocalypse and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.

The invention was the brainchild of McIntosh, a key grip of 15 years who wanted to lessen the dangers of another device  an overhead frame  used by lighting and rigging technicians during filmmaking. They constructed one using air, and in the process realized the concept could be modified into a wall for visual effects. The inflatable green screen was born.

Its huge impact stems from a simple design. Giant, vinyl air mattresses that rapidly inflate to about 12 metres by seven metres by 2.5 metres are mounted on top of cargo containers. Multiple mattresses can be attached to meet the art directors specifications. Green or blue screen material is draped over the expanse.

The apparatus is considered innovative because it replaces an earlier concept: constructed green walls that involved scaffolding, stacked cargo containers or a phalanx of telephone poles.

Its faster, more versatile, Smith said of the inflatable version. We can do things you could never do with a solid structure.

For example, they easily deflated the airwall when the director sought more sky in a shot for Pirates of the Caribbean. And when high winds gusted through the Game of Thones production in Ireland, they released air until the stormy conditions subsided.

Dave describes it as a bouncy castle. Its his way of saying, Ah, no big deal,  Smith said of his colleague. But it is a big deal.

Seamus McGarvey, the cinematographer for Godzilla, said he believes the airwall will become the industry standard.

They are so quick to inflate and deflate when sections are not required and to minimize spill, he says in a testimonial posted on the companys website. I look forward to having them on every film. 

The team was elated upon learning of the academys accolade, said Smith. He doesnt mind that technical achievement winners are only presented with a certificate.

Im happy that were able to do this as grips in the industry, to say to other grips, Keep going, keep innovating, keep doing this. Because you could win an Academy Award,  he said.

I dont say (grips are) unsung heroes. But theyre a huge contribution to the film industry and rarely get any recognition for it.

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WINNIPEG - Outdoor exhibitions depicting women who have broken gender barriers are opening in two Canadian cities.

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Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 11/02/2016 (2443 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Five stories in the news today, Feb. 11, from The Canadian Press:



PM TRUDEAU HOSTS UN CHIEF IN OTTAWA TODAY

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is shown at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in London, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Dan Kitwood Pool via AP

Climate change, refugees and peacekeeping are among the topics up for discussion as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meets in Ottawa today with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The meeting is part of Trudeaus efforts to have Canada work more closely with the world body. Trudeau has criticized the former Harper government for diminishing the countrys role at the UN.



CLOSING ARGUMENTS BEGIN AT GHOMESHI TRIAL

Closing arguments are set to begin today at the sexual assault trial of Jian Ghomeshi. The 48-year-old former CBC Radio host, who has pleaded not guilty to sexual assault and choking charges, didnt testify and has maintained his silence ever since being arrested in November 2014. In their closing submissions, the Crown and the defence will highlight key evidence heard in court and summarize their arguments for Justice William Horkins, who will decide Ghomeshis fate.



FUNERAL PLANNED FOR TWINS WHO DIED ON JOYRIDE

A public funeral is to be held today at Calgarys Centre Street Church for twin brothers who died in an after-hours joyride down a bobsled run at Canada Olympic Park last weekend. Jordan and Evan Caldwell, both 17, were killed almost instantly in the crash that also injured six of their friends.



NORTH AMERICAN ENERGY MINISTERS TO MEET

Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr will be in his hometown today to talk climate change and energy with his counterparts from the United States and Mexico. The two-day gathering in Winnipeg will be the second time the trio has met since the Liberals took power in Ottawa last fall. Carr, Mexican Secretary of Energy Pedro Joaquin Coldwell and U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz met in Paris in November at the ministerial meeting of the International Energy Agency.



SENTENCING SET FOR TODAY IN OLAND MURDER CASE

Dennis Oland will be back in a Saint John, N.B., courtroom today as lawyers make arguments for sentencing on his conviction of second-degree murder in the death of his father. A jury found Oland guilty of the crime in December following a trial that lasted four months and captured widespread public attention.



ALSO IN THE NEWS TODAY:

 Telus Corp., TransCanada Corp., Yellow Pages Ltd., Molson Coors, Sun Life, Manulife Financial, CI Financial and Kinross Gold are just some of the companies who will issue earnings reports today.

 The Conference Board of Canada will host a conference on cyber security in Ottawa.

 Statistics Canada will update job vacancy and wage figures, plus the new housing price index for December.

 In Montreal, a bail hearing continues for seven of the 14 men arrested recently on various child-pornography charges.

 Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier will speak to the media about improved services for people filling out their tax forms.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 11/02/2016 (2443 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  The countrys allies have given their unqualified  even avid  political and military blessing to Canadas retooled mission against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan insisted Thursday.

Sajjan, who is in Brussels for NATO meetings, said Lt.-Gen. Sean MacFarland  the U.S. Army officer commanding the campaign against ISIL  considers Canadas new mission to be forward-looking.

Sajjan said MacFarland told him that the Trudeau governments plan to replace aerial bombing runs with beefed-up training efforts on the ground will help him better plan the next phases of the war, the centrepiece of which will likely be the step-by-step recapture of Mosul, Iraqs second-largest city in the Kurdish north.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, left, shakes hands with Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan prior to a bilateral meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. NATO defence ministers convene a two-day meeting to discuss current defense issues and whether the Alliance should take a more direct role in dealing with its gravest migrant crisis since WWII. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, Pool)

Iraqs defence minister, Khaled al-Obaidi, was also said to be enthusiastic about the assignment of a strategic team to the countrys defence ministry in Baghdad, where it will help restructure and mentor the support bureaucracy.

But it was the endorsement of MacFarland, also a veteran of Afghanistan, that stuck with Sajjan.

I can assure you we have set the example of what the actual mission needs for that region, Sajjan said during a conference call from Brussels.

Just hours earlier, the Dutch announced their jets would intensify the air campaign into Syria, one day after U.S. Defence Secretary Ashton Carter called for a stepped up bombing campaign.

Although Canadian CF-18s are due to be pulled from combat on Feb. 22, Sajjan was unable to say precisely when the bulked-up training mission, announced earlier this week, would be in place.

He emphasized, once again, that the fresh troops would not accompany their Kurdish trainees into battle the way Canadians did in Afghanistan.

Impatient for progress in the nearly two-year-old war against ISIL and frustrated with the strategy of letting demoralized Iraqis and ill-prepared Kurds attempt to recapture ground, some analysts in the U.S. and Canada have been calling for western troops to accompany local forces into battle.

In Afghanistan, so-called Operational Mentoring and Liaison Teams (OMLTs) proved successful in standing up an organized fighting force in a relatively short time, one that  despite being badly bloodied by the Taliban  held together better than the Iraqi army, which melted away in the face of extremists during 2014.

It was a harrowing, and occasionally deadly, training program that Sajjan insisted was not necessary and would be unwelcome in Iraq, where memories of the nearly decade-long U.S. occupation are still fresh.

We cant just take one example where were showing success somewhere else and (believe) its going to work, he said. We need to tailor for the area where were operating in.

In Afghanistan, they had to start from ground zero with fresh recruits, but in Iraq they can lean on training the U.S. did with local security forces years before, he added.

The comments are interesting in light of the investigation into the friendly-fire death last March of Canadian special forces operator Sgt. Andrew Doiron, which  aside from being blamed on miscommunication  exposed the absence of basic soldiering skills among the Kurds.

Also Thursday, NATO ministers have also agreed to send warships  including HMCS Fredericton  into the Aegean Sea to help Turkey and Greece crack down on criminal networks smuggling migrants and refugees into Europe.

Sajjan wasnt able to say precisely what the warships would do beyond helping to identify human smuggling boats for the Greek and Turkish coast guards.
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This article was published 11/02/2016 (2443 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is backing away from a campaign vow to balance the public books before the end of his governments four-year mandate  a pledge that was central to the Liberal election platform.

As a result of a weakening economy, the governments upcoming 2016-17 budget plan will show a deficit larger than the Liberals promised $10-billion shortfall cap, Trudeau told Montreals La Presse newspaper.

Just how big that deficit will be remains unclear.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, right, and Minister of International Development and La Francophonie Marie-Claude Bibeau arrive to a press conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa on Monday, Feb. 8, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

If the economy continues to deteriorate, it will be difficult for the Liberals to live up to their pledge to balance the books in 2019-20, Trudeau said in the interview published Thursday.

Less than two months ago, Trudeau insisted that the Liberal plan to make good on that key balanced-budget promise was very cast in stone.

The doubts raised by Trudeau offer a glimpse of the fiscal pressure faced by the Finance Department as it crafts the governments first federal budget, expected late next month.

If we look at the growth projections for the next three or four years, it will be difficult (to return to balance), Trudeau was quoted by La Presse as saying.

But everything were doing is aimed at creating economic growth. When predicting the level of growth four years in advance, governments often miss the target.

Trudeau said the Liberal government still intends to fulfil its other, more flexible fiscal anchor  lowering the debt-to-GDP ratio in every year of its mandate.

By zeroing in on debt-to-GDP, economists say the Liberals could run annual deficits of up to $25 billion in the coming years and still push the ratio downwards, as long as the economy grows at a decent pace.

The Liberals have promised to run deficits in the coming years in order to be able to spend billions on projects like infrastructure, which they predict will create jobs and help revive the economy.

Along with infrastructure spending, the Liberals have also pointed to their other economy-boosting plans. They include cutting taxes for middle-income earners  offset in part by raising taxes on the highest earners  and revamping child benefits so they help more families.

Those measures, however, will lower revenues destined for the public treasury over the coming years.

At a news conference later Thursday, Trudeau dodged questions about whether his government would be able to balance the budget in four years.

We continue to recognize that the Canadian economy is facing real challenges in terms of growth, in terms of jobs for the middle class, Trudeau said after a meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Our entire framework is about turning around the low-growth rates that Canada has been facing. And weve seen, with falling oil prices, that there is a trajectory that continues to look difficult for Canada.

Ottawas goal is to generate the kind of growth that will benefit not just the federal balance sheet, but the entire economy, he added.

During the fall election campaign, Trudeau promised to keep deficits below the $10-billion mark in 2016-17 and 2017-18 unless the economic situation got radically worse.

Yes, we will go over $10 billion, he told La Presse. By how much? We are in the process of examining that.

Interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose blamed out-of-control Liberal spending for breaking the $10-billion deficit promise.

Unfortunately, it is todays Canadian families  and generations to come  who will pay the price for Liberal mismanagement, Ambrose said in a statement.

In recent months, the Canadian economy has sputtered in large part due to the steep drop in commodity prices.

On Wednesday, a National Bank of Canada report said the countrys fading economic prospects could put the Liberal government on track for $90 billion in deficits over its four-year mandate.

Follow @AndyBlatchford on Twitter
Opinion

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This article was published 11/02/2016 (2443 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Liberal government has come under heavy political fire over its decision to adjust Canadas military role against Islamic State, particularly the withdrawal of six CF-18s that have been hitting targets in Iraq and Syria.

The partisan sniping, however, has failed to address the real question, namely: Will the new strategy be more effective than one that relied almost exclusively on aerial bombing?

The Harper government had made bombing the centrepiece of its contribution, with a small number of troops (69) dedicated to a training role. It might have been the right combination at the beginning of the operation in 2014 when Islamic State was overrunning large swaths of Iraq and Syria.

The extremist group needed to be stopped or slowed down and bombing was the best (and most politically palatable) means available. Neither Iraq nor Syria had the capability and the western allies were opposed to using their own ground forces.

Canadian jets flew about five per cent of the coalitions airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, but only 20 per cent of the missions flown by Canadians resulted in the dropping of bombs. One of Canadas first successful bombing missions was the destruction of a dump truck.

The fact is Canadas air power was far from vital to the coalition war plan, even at the beginning.

The Liberal governments new strategy is focused on training Iraqi forces, which for the first time will be provided with Canadian small arms and helicopters. The number of troops involved in training will be tripled to more than 200, while other ground forces will provide training in Jordan and Lebanon, for a total of more than 800 personnel in the region.

If theres one thing on which almost everyone agrees, its that Iraq and other Arab countries must take the lead in expelling Islamic State. There is a role for air power, but no one believes it alone can settle anything.

Of course, its hard to know today if anything will work against a cancer that is continually metastasizing. Islamic State has spread to Yemen, Libya and elsewhere, morphing into a global threat. It needs to be opposed wherever it appears, but Iraq and Syria remain the centre of its power and influence.

The U.S. war plan calls for Iraqi forces to reoccupy two cities before taking back the land occupied by Islamic State. That wont happen unless the Iraqis are properly trained, a task at which Canada excels. Canadian troops were noted for their training skills in the Afghan war, which, by the way, did not involve CF-18s, either.

The Americans also want Arab troops to provide policing and security once, or if, Islamic State is subdued. The idea of western troops providing those functions is a recipe for more failure.

Canada will continue to contribute to the bombing campaign by providing aerial reconnaissance, ground targeting and one refuelling plane, which critics say is evidence of hypocrisy or, at least, inconsistency.

Its true that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau never explained his opposition to bombing, except to say there was a better way to help.

If Mr. Trudeau wanted to score political points, it would have been easy to stick with bombing without suffering any loss of support. Polls show most Canadians wanted the CF-18s to stay and the prime minister could easily have justified such a decision following the attacks in Paris and the killing of six Canadians in Burkina Faso.

The bottom line is Canada is making an important contribution to the war against Islamic State and one that carries more risk than dropping 500-pound bombs.

Rather than retreating, Mr. Trudeau is sticking out his neck. Its not exactly what you might call good politics.

 Winnipeg Free Press
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 11/02/2016 (2443 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Selingers bloated public service works for me

In a recent Sound Off, there was concerns about Mr. Selingers priorities, bloated public service and union buddies. This sounds like a Harper disciple who would privatize everything and let big business have their way. I am very distressed by people not realizing that our government is there to represent and protect the common  and by common I mean the average  citizen who is just trying to make ends meet. The service that they are looking for is the public service, such as maintaining a vibrant health-care system, protecting our water supply and making sure standards are being met. What this translates to is our tax base, and for too long the middle class has been asked to supply this proportionately higher percentage of this and business  especially big business  has gotten away with not paying their fair share. Does the writer not realize what unions are for?  again, to protect the common average person. Where does big business make their huge profits?  by outsourcing jobs to countries where unions do not exist and the working conditions are deplorable. If bloated means more of a public service  service for the public  then lets applaud Mr. Selinger.

Better learn to drive defensively in Brandon

Recently while driving home during rush hour on Victoria Avenue, I honked to alert the driver beside me that he was drifting into my lane. His head was completely down as he was texting. He proceeded to give me the finger and mouth obscenities. On another day, while driving to work, I was left in an intersection as the light turned yellow. I started to move through the intersection slowly but stopped when a semi proceeded through on the solid yellow that changed to red. On my way home, I braked abruptly as the driver in front of me swerved into a parking spot without a signal. The driver behind me was forced to swerve to avoid hitting me. At the light, this young man proceeded to give me dirty looks and mouth comments about my driving. Guess we should all become defensive drivers and immune to obscenities!
American headline writers are never satisfied with a pun until they've beaten it to death. Their predilection for overkill was on full display Wednesday morning, after socialist underdog Bernie Sanders bested Hillary Clinton in New Hampshires Democratic primary, building momentum after his strong showing a week earlier in the Iowa caucuses. "New Hampshire feels the burn," cried The Nation. The Daily News echoed the sentiment, while Mashable opted for the more succinct, "Bern, baby, Bern."

The polls had been signaling for weeks that Sanders would win in New Hampshire, but observers in the press were still taken aback by his 22-point margin of victory. Just a few months ago, Clintons nomination appeared to be all but a foregone conclusion; as of this week, anything seemed possible. Guardian columnist Lucia Graves raved that Sanders had effectively swiped Hillary Clintons frontrunner status."

A double-digit victory in an early primary state is nothing to sneeze at, but Sandernistas would do well to curb their enthusiasm. Clinton remains the indisputable frontrunner for the Democratic nomination. Sanderss early success, remarkable as it is, has done nothing to change the underlying dynamics of the race.

The real test for Sanders begins in the next two primary states, Nevada and South Carolina, where demographics work heavily in Clintons favor.

Iowa and New Hampshire are 92 percent white and 94 percent white, respectively, according to 2014 Census estimates. Polls show that Clinton tends to perform better among black and Latino voters. Shell likely have the advantage in South Carolina, where more than half of 2008 Democratic primary voters were black, and in Nevada, where progressive activists have spent years targeting the Latino community with an aggressive voter registration campaign. Those states will provide a better sense of the Sanders coalitions chances than either Iowa or New Hampshire, which are two of the ten whitest states in the country.

Nevada and South Carolina will also test the longevity of the Sanders campaigns infrastructure. Clinton may have fallen behind her opponent when it comes to fundraising from direct campaign contributions, but she commands endorsements from some of the nation's biggest progressive activist groups, including the labor union SEIU, with its army of two million members, and support from a bevy of lavish super PACs. Sanders has nothing close to that level of institutional support.

With $163.5 million in overall contributions compared to Sanders's $75.1 million, the Clinton campaign has been able to lay its groundwork in these states well in advance. The first Clinton field office appeared in Nevada in April 2015, a month before Sanders even announced his candidacy. The Sanders campaign didn't set up its first office in Nevada until October.

Even measured by committed delegates  the narrowest possible measure of frontrunner status  Sanders is at a massive disadvantage. Yes, his campaign has netted a combined total of 36 delegates from Iowa and New Hampshire, narrowly edging out Clintons haul of 32 delegates so far. But thats not counting the superdelegates, a group of 370 Democratic potentates who can flock to their preferred candidates without being constrained by state primary outcomes. Clinton has the pledged support of 362 superdelegates to Sanderss eight, giving her an overall 394 to 44 delegate lead even before the next 48 states head to the polls.

That's not to say a Sanders victory is completely unthinkable. Primary electorates tend to be fairly small, and they sometimes confound expectations. In Nevada, where there hasnt been much polling of the Democratic race and grassroots labor activism could break in Sanders's favor, an upset isnt totally out of the question. But for Sanders to take the lead nationwide would be nigh miraculous. The Democratic primary may have been rattled, but its fundamentals all still point the same way  to Clinton.
Its a scenes that every household in Ireland could relate to this morning - trying to juggle school, job and family life while refreshing your four/five devices for those all important Bruce Springsteen tickets.

Not to imagine the chaos that will occur when the day of the concert finally arrives.

Well, one American father has it down and he's not sugar-coating it.

Patrick Pipino penned this hilariously honest letter to his 12-year-olds teacher explaining that she was late for school as she was up late last night at a Bruce Springsteen concert.

Simple as that.

"In the interest of honesty, I feel it my obligation to be straight with all of you as to the reason," the dad wrote.

"Last night Isabelle was lucky enough to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in Albany, and darned if he didn't play for three and a half hours."

Now, as a responsible parent he did go on to say that it may not seem like a good excuse but the scenario was similar to if God suddenly appeared: Well, something like that.

We can imagine plenty of letters like this could have been exchanged around the nation today.
Thousands of commuters have been faced wth disruptions this morning

For some Commuters walking tram line to work, cafe Mima Beechwood stop has foot massage with coffee! #luas strike pic.twitter.com/6xokAWgKR5  Ray Kennedy (@RayKennedyNews) February 11, 2016

After standing at a bus stop for 45 mins, the only option was to flag down a mini bus to get to work  #LuasStrike #hitchhiking  Aisling Butler (@aislingbutlerxx) February 11, 2016

Bus driver not enjoying luas strike.

"No, your luas ticket isn't valid. This is a bus mate"  Senator Dan Hicks (@danielwhickey) February 11, 2016

So of course, the 90,000 or so people who usually get the Luas had to find alternative transport to work and school - which meant bus services and taxi companies like Hailo had a busy morning of it.

Demand is crazy out there this morning, rest assured Team hailo are working hard to get you through the #LuasStrike pic.twitter.com/cvEopw3hbh  FREE NOW Ireland (@FreeNow_IE) February 11, 2016

And Hailo posted this Vine which really shows just how crazy their morning has been.

Yikes.

And there will be similar disruption tomorrow as Luas workers enter their second day of strikes.
Fiachra O Cionnaith, Political Reporter for Irish Examiner

Disturbing eye-witness footage of the scenes just moments after David Byrne was shot dead at the Regency Hotel last Friday have emerged, showing the assassins making their getaway and what happened before gardai arrived.

The Irish Examiner obtained the video on Wednesday evening as Government continued to face questions over why officers were not present at the event and why it took them so long to respond.

* Warning: Some viewers may find this video distressing.

The footage, which lasts for one minute and was taken on a mobile phone by a shocked bystander, shows Mr Byrne's bloodied body lying motionless beside the counter at the entrance of the hotel.

Locals attending the event then go outside, where they see a silver van slowly driving away.

"There's no way they're guards," one person is heard to say, while another shouts: "They're not cops, jeez, look at that young fella, they're not guards."

The person videoing the scenes then zooms in on the van, saying "they're stuck down with the yoke, they're trying to get out down there", in what is believed to be a reference to the hotel gates.

The situation is likely to lead to fresh questions about why it took gardai so long to arrive.

However, despite ongoing opposition criticism of what happened, at separate general election events on Wednesday both Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Tanaiste Joan Burton expressed "full confidence" in garda commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan.

The Fine Gael leader saying he hoped the new high visibility policing unit set up in response to fears of a gangland war in the capital by his party colleague Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald would "yield results", while Ms Burton said the "saturation" garda response is required.

However, Fianna Fail justice spokesman Niall Collins claimed the plans are just "repackaged" and involve taking officers from other less high-profile areas - putting additional pressure on other parts of the job.

Visit our 'Gangland Shooting' section HERE.
A number of reporters attached to Independent News and Media have been told by Gardai that their safety is at risk from organised criminals.

A statement from INM says the threats are understood to have emanated from criminal gangs in Dublin.

The threats are being made public in order to highlight the danger posed to the media.

INM is working with Gardai to strengthen security around these journalists and says it is taking every precaution to ensure their safety.

Independent News & Media issued a statement confirming that a number of their reporters had been told by Gardai that their safety is at risk from organised criminals.

They said: "INM is working with gardai to strengthen security around these journalists and taking every precaution to ensure their safety. The threats are understood to have emanated from criminal gangs in Dublin."

INM Editor-in-Chief Stephen Rae said: "This is an outrageous threat to the freedom of the press in Ireland and we are taking the threats with the utmost seriousness. The safety of our journalists is of paramount importance.

"It is disturbing that threats of this nature have emerged as we approach the twentieth anniversary of the death of our colleague Veronica Guerin, who was murdered by criminals for exposing their activities. Our media group will not be deterred from serving the public interest and highlighting the threat to society at large posed by such criminals."

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said: "On behalf of the Government and myself I deplore and condemn any threat made to any journalist in this jurisdiction. One of the pillars of a functioning democracy is freedom of speech and in any self respecting society, journalists must be afforded the freedom to go about their jobs without fear of reprisal.

"Those who engaged in the recent killings on our streets will be brought to justice and no resource will be spared in doing so.

"The journalists at whom these threats have been levelled have our full support as do all journalists bravely going about their daily duties."

Seamus Dooley of the National Union of Journalists says the threats are worrying, but reporters will not be intimidated.

He said: "We have learned with shock of threats against journalists working with INM. We are gravely concerned at this latest development, which follows the two recent senseless murders in Dublin.

"Journalists and media organisations will not be intimidated by such threats, which have no place in a democratic society.

Mr Dooley reminded journalists to remain vigilant and to be mindful of their personal safety.

He said: "Employers and editorial managers must continue to provide support, training and guidance to staff and freelance journalists covering dangerous situations.

"We would be reminding all journalists, particularly freelance journalists who work alone, to mind themselves and to take additional precautions.

"That having been said, journalists have faced down threats of intimidation before and we will not be intimidated by these tactics."

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, said: "The union's national executive committee is meeting tomorrow in London and we will be sending be a strong message of support to the journalists. We will also make it clear that intimidation of journalists will not be tolerated."

Minister for Justice, Frances Fitzgerald said: "Journalists play a vital role in our democracy, particularly in shining a light on wrongdoing.

"I regard any threat to the freedom of the press in Ireland as a threat to the State itself. An Garda Siochana are working closely with Independent News and Media to do everything possible to ensure the safety of their journalists."
The Green Party claims RTEs exclusion of Eamon Ryan from its upcoming leaders debates will damage the partys chances in the election.

A trustee has brought a legal challenge to the broadcasters criteria, which includes a minimum requirement of outgoing TDs for participating parties.

Mr Ryan says his party has a track record in both national and local politics and would play an important role in the election debate, particularly on issues like climate change.

Tom Kivlehan, a trustee for the Greens, brought this action because he feels RTE is breaching its legal obligations and claims the criterion which excluded Mr Ryan from two upcoming debates is unconstitutional.

He has also questioned the participation of two of the seven invited leaders in next Mondays televised debate, because their parties did not exist last time round.

Not including Mr Ryan will be "detrimental" to their campaign, he says.

RTE denies any wrongdoing, and insists the absence of some sort of cut-off point would have resulted in other parties and groupings to be included too.

Their barrister will be given an opportunity to expand on their defence when the case resumes in the morning.
TB levels in cattle herds have fallen to their lowest recorded level, according to a new report in the Farmers Journal.

Full-year figures for 2015 show a marked decline in the percentage of herds that have been infected and the number of individual TB cases detected.
A pernicious narrative seeking to blame the State for almost every atrocity in the North's Troubles must be challenged, the British Government has said.

Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers claimed a skewed view of history was being peddled, which had seen unsubstantiated allegations treated as fact and a disproportionate focus placed on the actions of police and British soldiers.

In a keynote speech on legacy issues in Belfast, Ms Villiers said there had undoubtedly been misconduct by some rogue security force members during the conflict, but she described claims it was rife or endemic as a deliberate distortion.

The Conservative MP stressed that paramilitaries were responsible for 90% of the deaths in the Troubles, with the State involved in 10%.

In her address at Ulster University, Ms Villiers paid tribute to the remarkable dedication, professionalism and courage of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the British Armed Forces, noting that 1,000 lost their lives.

Around 7,000 awards for bravery were made and, quite simply without the dedication of the security forces to keeping people here safe, the circumstances that enabled the peace process to take root would never have happened, she said.

Yet today we face a pernicious counter narrative.

It is a version of the Troubles that seeks to displace responsibility from the people who perpetrated acts of terrorism and place the State at the heart of nearly every atrocity and murder that took place  be it through allegations of collusion, misuse of agents and informers or other forms of unlawful activity.

For some, every allegation of wrongdoing by the State  or those working for it  is treated as fact, however unsubstantiated or whatever the source, and whatever the consequential distress to victims.

Ms Villiers comments came amid a continuing political dispute that is holding up a 150m package of measures to address the toxic legacy of the conflict.

The key logjam relates to the British Governments insistence on retaining the right to withhold certain classified files from the public domain.

A number of bereaved families and campaigners want the papers handed over to shine a light on the shadowy world of the security services, amid claims of paramiltiary collusion and misuse of agents.

But the British Government has insisted the release of certain top-secret documents could compromise national security, potentially benefiting Islamic extremists or dissident republicans.

Controversy also surrounds the extent to which state agencies are co-operating with dozens of long-delayed inquests into deaths linked to alleged security force misconduct and collusion.

Let me be clear, Ms Villiers told the audience of students and academics.

I am not going to say that over a period of 30 years there were no instances where members of the police and armed services fell below the high standards we expect of them.

Sadly we know that there are some truly shocking instances where they fell drastically short of those standards.

She added: But to suggest that misconduct by the police and our Armed Forces was somehow rife or endemic is, in the view of this Government, a deliberate distortion and a narrative of the Troubles that is not justified by the facts.

Ms Villiers said she would never agree with a version of the past that sought to legitimise terrorism or equate it with the actions of the security forces.

And I believe that there is a real risk that those who seek to justify the terrorist violence of the past risk giving a spurious legitimacy to the terrorist violence of the present, she said.

Ms Villiers said she did not seek to diminish the scale of tragedy suffered by those who lost a loved one as a consequence of State actions.

But over 250,000 men and women served in the RUC and the Armed Forces in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, she said.

I am convinced that in the vast, vast majority of cases they carried out their duties with exemplary professionalism, fully within the law.

Referring to some of the most notorious outrages of the conflict, she said: Remember this. It wasnt the RUC or the Army who planted the bombs at La Mon, Enniskillen, or the Shankill, or pulled the triggers at Loughinisland or Greysteel.

But it was the RUC and the Army who, often at great personal danger, foiled countless terrorist plots and attacks and in doing so saved hundreds of lives.
Two members of the Chicago City Council introduced an ordinance this week to eliminate the city tax on tampons and pads, saying the cost is discriminatory against women and unfairly penalizes them. Feminine hygiene products are currently taxed as luxury items, at 10.25 percent.

Edward Burke, the chairman of the councils finance committee, and council member Leslie Hairston want to exempt tampons and pads from city taxes by reclassifying them as medical appliances in the municipal code.

This tax only affects women. Is that fair? Especially when sanitary products are medical necessities? Burke said in a press release. These are not luxury items, and Chicago needs to lead the way in eliminating this unfair tax.

Burke introduced the ordinance after reading an op-ed published Monday by The New York Times editorial board, urging state legislators to eliminate the state tax on tampons and pads to make the items more affordable. Some women from lower-income families and the homeless struggle to afford the items, the board noted.

Removing the tax in Chicago and lowering it in Illinois would help to make these products more affordable to women, especially poor women, Hairston said.

On Wednesday, the proposal was sent to the finance committee chaired by Burke. If it decides to advance the measure, the City Council will vote on it as early as March 16, according to Donal Quinlan, Burke's spokesman. If a majority votes in favor of the proposal, the total tax rate could drop by 1.25 percent by mid-April, when the measure would be enacted and the city tax proportion of the total rate is scrapped.

Burke and Hairston also introduced two companion resolutions to urge state authorities to lower the total tax rate to 1 percent. The 10.25 percent tax rate on feminine hygiene products is currently composed of a 6.25 percent state tax, 1.75 percent county tax and a 1 percent Regional Transportation Authority tax.

While eliminating the city tax of 1.25 percent would only slightly reduce the items price, Burke hopes Chicago can take the lead in bringing this to the attention of other municipalities, Quinlan said, and join the movement."

Five states have already introduced legislation to scrap the tampon tax: California, Utah, Ohio, Virginia and New York.

In New York, Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras is also drafting legislation that would provide free tampons and pads to girls and women in public schools, prisons and shelters.
Manchester Uniteds performance on and off the pitch will come under the spotlight today when executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward faces questions from the clubs investors.

Woodward will take part in a conference call with investors at 1pm after the clubs first-quarterly financial results are announced.

Uniteds share price has taken a tumble since the start of the year. On Monday, the price of one share dropped below $14 for the first time since flotation in 2012.

At one stage on Wednesday afternoon, Uniteds shares were worth $13.70.

Woodward and his senior colleagues at United have pulled off some remarkable commercial deals recently, the biggest one being the world-record 750m 10-year kit deal with adidas.

But the teams performance on the pitch is clearly putting people off buying shares in the club.

United may have earned a creditable 1-1 draw at Chelsea last weekend, but they are now six points off the Champions League qualification places with 13 games to go.

The club have not denied reports that they have held talks with Jose Mourinho about replacing beleaguered manager Louis van Gaal, who has launched a series of attacks on the media recently.

Anthony Martial admits the team have not lived up to expectations in his first year at the club.

The teams results havent been of the standard wed have hoped for, the forward told Inside United.

But from now on I hope that we can quickly get back into the top three.

The 20-year-old Frenchman, who has been one of the few impressive players on display at Old Trafford this year, wants to put a smile back on the faces of the fans by winning some silverware.

I am very determined (to win something), the 36m signing added.

The key thing is that it is all about winning, so I hope I can be lifting some trophies as soon as possible.
A 94-year-old former SS sergeant has gone on trial in Germany on 170,000 counts of accessory to murder, based on accusations that he served as a guard in the Auschwitz death camp as hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews and others were gassed to death there.

Reinhold Hanning seemed in good condition for his age, walking into the court in the western city of Detmold without even the help of a cane and appearing to listen attentively as the indictment against him was read aloud. No pleas are entered in the German system.

Hanning, who ran a local dairy after the war until he retired in 1984, declined to give an opening statement to the court.

He showed no reaction as the first witness, Leon Schwarzbaum, a 94-year-old Auschwitz survivor, read moving evidence about his own experiences, then looked directly at Hanning and made an emotional plea.

94-year-old former SS guard at the Auschwitz death camp Reinhold Hanning at his trial. Pic: AP

Mr Hanning, we are about the same age and we will both soon be before the highest court, Mr Schwarzbaum said, his voice quavering and hands trembling. Speak here about what you and your comrades did!

The trial is one of four expected this year against two other former SS men and one woman alleged to have served in Auschwitz. The 11th-hour prosecutions come after a new precedent was set in 2011, when former Ohio car-worker John Demjanjuk became the first person to be convicted in Germany solely for serving as a death camp guard, with no evidence of involvement in a specific killing.

Prosecutors successfully argued in the Demjanjuk case that simply serving in a death camp, and thus helping it operate, was enough to convict someone of accessory to the murders committed there. Although Demjanjuk always denied serving at the death camp and died before his appeal could be heard, prosecutors last year successfully convicted SS sergeant Oskar Groening, who served in Auschwitz, on 300,000 counts of accessory to murder using the same reasoning.

Hanning admitted to investigators when first questioned that he had served in the Auschwitz I part of the camp in Nazi-occupied Poland, but denied serving at the Auschwitz II-Birkenau section, where most of the 1.1 million victims were killed.

As the trial opened, however, his lawyers filed a motion asking to exclude that statement, saying that Hanning had been surprised when authorities showed up at his house and was not fully aware he was under investigation. It was not clear when the judges would rule on the motion. His lawyer, Andreas Scharmer, would not say whether the defence was planning to try to argue that Hanning did not serve in the camp at all if his statement was excluded.

Prosecutor Andreas Brendel said after the hearing that there was also other evidence that Hanning was there, including SS company lists.

Reading the indictment, Mr Brendel told the court that Hanning served in two different SS Deaths Head companies in Auschwitz as a guard. He said those companies were used to guard prisoners used as slave labourers outside the camp, and were also called to Birkenau to help with the tens of thousands being brought in during the so-called Hungarian action in 1944 and unloaded from trains on to a ramp.

On the ramp, Nazis stripped the prisoners of their possessions and sorted them into groups: those who would be immediately taken to the gas chambers and those fit enough to be used as slave labour, and probably worked to death.

The decision over life and death lay with the SS men on the ramp, Mr Brendel said.

Doctors have advised that the trial sessions can run no longer than two hours, in deference to Hannings age and health.

Mr Schwarzbaum, one of about 40 Auschwitz survivors or their relatives who have joined the trial as co-plaintiffs as allowed under German law, had his evidence cut short before he could finish answering questions. He is due to take the stand again when the trial resumes on Friday.

After the proceedings, he said his main hope for the trial is that Hanning will tell his story so the world will better know what happened in Auschwitz and why SS guards did what they did.

Hes an old man, Mr Schwarzbaum said. He should tell the truth.
A man who tripped up a suspected drug dealer running from police has been revealed as a soldier, who said his military training kicked in when he saw the chase.

Lance Sergeant Matthew Lawson had just treated his wife to an early Valentines evening out in Kingston upon Thames, south west London, on Saturday when they saw the teenager running towards them, pursued on foot by police.

Footage of the moment Lance Sergeant Lawson is seen casually sticking out his foot, causing the suspect to fall, was shared online and has been viewed thousands of times.

Kingston Police appealed for the mystery man, who they dubbed a legend, to come forward so they could thank him for his help.

The 37-year-old soldier from Derby is a euphonium player in the Band of the Scots Guards, and will play for the Queen on her 90th birthday in June.

Lance Sergeant Lawson, who is based in Wellington Barracks beside Buckingham Palace, said: I heard a shout: Stop! Police! And immediately my military training just kicked in.

I saw the policemen chasing a guy and I thought: Hes a bit of a whippet, theyll never catch him. So I reckoned Id buy them a few seconds, and just stuck my leg out to trip him up.

The guy fell and as the police grabbed him, they called back cheers, mate, thank you and my wife and I just continued on our way and thought nothing more of it.

Read the original story and watch the video HERE.
North Korea has vowed to immediately deport all South Korean nationals and freeze all South Korean assets at a jointly run factory park in the North.

Pyongyang said it was also pulling all its workers from the Kaesong complex, just across the tense border, in response to the Souths suspension of operations there following North Koreas recent long-range rocket launch.

The Norths statement, by the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, was issued through the Korean Central News Agency.

North Korea said the Souths shutdown announcement was a dangerous declaration of war.

Pyongyang also said it was shutting down two crucial cross-border communications hotlines and it was putting the factory under its military control.

The statement by the North significantly raises the stakes in a stand-off that began with North Koreas nuclear test last month and rocket launch on Sunday.

North Korea, in its statement, issued crude insults against South Koreas President Park Geun-hye, saying she masterminded the shutdown and calling her a confrontational wicked woman who lives upon the groin of her American boss.

The statement said the South Korean move was a product of Park Geun-hyes inveterate sycophancy and abnormal confrontational hysteria kicked off by her at the prodding of the United States.

Seoul said it wants to stop Pyongyang from using hard currency from the park to develop its nuclear and missile programmes.

The closure is meant to punish North Korea for its launch of a rocket that the world sees as a banned test of ballistic missile technology.
The World Health Organization has been able to deliver over 20 tons of urgently needed medical supplies to Taiz, Yemen, which has been blocked off by fighting between Houthi rebels and forces loyal to the government.

Taiz, the country's third-largest city, has been under siege for about two months, and its hospitals have run out of medical supplies. Civilians in Taiz have run low on basic food supplies, such as rice and flour, because attempts at maintaining a cease-fire to allow in aid failed in recent months.

The WHO announced on Wednesday that it managed to deliver the supplies  including emergency health kits, dialysis solutions and oxygen cylinders  to four hospitals as of Jan. 31.

Hospital staff in Taiz city are desperate for medicines and medical supplies so that they can continue to offer the most basic medical care," said Dr. Ahmed Shadoul, a WHO representative in Yemen, in a statement released by the organization. "The delivery of these WHO supplies is a huge step that we are hoping will pave the way for the provision of more medical support to the city.

However, supplies have not reached all areas of the city, with three districts  Al-Mudhaffar, Al-Qahirah and Salah  remaining inaccessible. The WHO said that people there remain in "urgent need of food, safe water and lifesaving health services."

In April the U.N. and several nongovernmental organizations began expressing alarm over the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen, noting the rising number of civilian deaths, including many children, and an increasingly dire humanitarian crisis.

It is estimated that roughly 5,800 people have been killed since the Saudi-led coalition began its bombing campaign against anti-government forces in March.

Al Jazeera
Two retired social workers responsible for a sadistic regime of terror at a childrens home during the 1980s have been handed lengthy jail terms.

Alan Todd  who sexually abused two of his victims and taunted a vegetarian child with the carcass of a dead rabbit  was jailed for eight years and eight months for his grotesque ill-treatment of children.

Judge Alan Parker also jailed Kenneth Owen for four years and two months after describing the physical and psychological ill-treatment of male and female residents at Coventrys now defunct Wisteria Lodge Childrens Home as systematic and wicked.

A month-long trial at Warwick Crown Court heard that Todd and Owen, both aged 70, operated as a two-man team to intimidate and belittle children who were locked in time out rooms for hours at a time, verbally abused and often beaten.

Todd, of Stretton-under-Fosse, Warwickshire, was convicted of six indecent assault and five cruelty charges, while Owen, from Boston in Lincolnshire, was found guilty of five cruelty charges relating to five of nine complainants in the case.

The defendants accused a total of nine victims of collusion after officers from West Midlands Polices Public Protection Unit began an inquiry into claims made by a 42-year-old woman in 2013.

But Judge Parker told the defendants: There is, in my judgment, nothing that either of you wouldnt say or do in order to seek to avoid the consequences of your behaviour.

You were residential social workers or outreach workers and used your positions in order to physically abuse male and female residents.

The regime and conduct that you were both responsible for was nothing less than a regime of terror.

You were meant to protect children and yet you abused your respective positions to terrorise and cower some of the most vulnerable children that Coventry City Council were entrusted to protect.

The judge, who ordered Todd to register as a sex offender, added: The abuse of a child by any adult in any circumstances whatsoever is profoundly wicked.

In truth its barely comprehensible to right-thinking people but what happened here goes far beyond the depths of wickedness and depravity which inevitably characterises the abusive behaviour of an adult upon a child.
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NATO ships are on their way to the Aegean Sea to help Turkey and Greece crack down on networks smuggling refugees into Europe, Gen. Philip Breedlove, the alliance's top commander, said on Thursday.

Hours after NATO defense ministers agreed to use their maritime force in the eastern Mediterranean to help combat traffickers, he said he was working quickly to design the mission.

"We are sailing the ships in the appropriate direction," he told a news conference, and the mission plan will be refined while they are en route. "That's about 24 hours," he said. He added that NATO will monitor the Turkey-Syria border for people smugglers.

The plan, which was raised only on Monday by German and Turkey, took NATO's 26 other members by surprise and is aimed at helping the continent tackle its worst migration crisis since World War II. More than a million asylum seekers arrived in Europe last year. NATO will likely use the ships to work with the Turkish and Greek coast guards and the European Union border agency, Frontex.

"There is now a criminal syndicate that is exploiting these poor people, and this is an organized smuggling operation," U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter told reporters. "Targeting that is the way that the greatest effect can be had ... That is the principal intent of this."

The number of people fleeing war and failing states, mainly in the Middle East and North Africa, shows little sign of falling, despite winter weather that makes sea crossings even more perilous. A $3.4 billion deal between the EU and Turkey to stem the flow has yet to have a big impact.

Germany said it will take part in the NATO mission along with Greece and Turkey. The United States, the alliance's most powerful member, said it fully supports the plan.

Intelligence gathered about people smugglers will be handed to the Turkish coast guard to allow it to combat the traffickers more effectively, rather than have NATO act directly against the traffickers, diplomats said.

NATO and the EU are eager to avoid the impression that NATO, a military alliance, is now tasked with stopping the refugees or is treating them as a threat.

Wire services
Just days after peace talks to end the Syrian war collapsed, a new report from a formerly Damascus-based research outfit has tallied the conflicts death toll at over 470,000 people  with nearly 11.5 percent of Syrias pre-war population killed or injured since March 2011.

The alarming new figures, from the United Nations-supported Syrian Center for Policy Research (SCPR), are nearly double the 250,000 lives last tallied by the U.N. That number was last updated in mid-2014, when the U.N. announced it would give up trying to count the bodies in Syria due to lack of access and impossible-to-confirm reports coming out of conflict zones.

One possible explanation for why the SCPR numbers are so much higher than other estimates, including those from the conflict-monitoring Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, is that researchers also tallied indirect deaths from the conflict. Most of the 470,000 dead were killed in violence, but roughly 70,000 died from inadequate medical services to treat disease and malnourishment, which are especially rampant among those displaced by the war, the SCPR said.

Rabie Nasser, the reports author, told the Guardian that his team used very rigorous methods on the ground, adding that U.N. figures were too low due to lack of access to information during the crisis  a problem the U.N. readily acknowledges.

The SCPR, which purports to be an impartial, nongovernmental agency, has relocated from Damascus to Beirut in recent months to continue working. Alluding to the severely hostile environment for all independent human rights and media reporting within Syria, and the regime's penchant for torturing and killing dissidents, the Guardian noted that the center is still careful not to criticize the Syrian government or its allies, including Iran, Hezbollah and Russia. In the past, however, the U.N. Development Plan has deemed the center credible enough to collaborate on Syria-related research.

Regardless, findings in the report, which spanned Syrias economic and human devastation, fit a pattern of spiraling destruction in the country. In the week since the latest effort to rekindle Syrias peace process collapsed, Syrian and Russian planes have waged a brutal offensive on the devastated city of Aleppo. The aerial bombing has inched the rebels back, while sending upwards of 60,000 people fleeing toward the Turkish border.

On Thursday, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Raad Al Hussein, called the violence in Aleppo shocking and horrendous, accusing both sides of constantly sinking to new depths, without apparently caring in the slightest about the death and destruction they are wreaking across the country. Meanwhile, media reports of Syrias war struggle to describe how the bloodshed is somehow worsening: Syria, already a catastrophe, seems on the verge of an uncontrollable disaster, read a recent Washington Post headline.

The SCPR report put some numbers on that misery. According to the center, the average life expectancy in Syria has plummeted from 70.5 years in 2010 to an estimated 55.4 years  on par with deeply impoverished, war-torn Somalia. By the end of 2015, 45 percent of Syrias 22 million pre-war population was displaced or living as refugees outside the country. According to SCPR's projections for the end of 2015, the poverty rate will reach 85 percent, with 69 percent living in extreme poverty.

Since 2011, $163 billion has been slashed from the countrys GDP, largely due to the violence, refugee crisis, disrupted trade routes and loss of investment. Across the country, power cuts leave even the most stable neighborhoods in Damascus and the Alawite coastlands with just a few hours of electricity daily.

Still, the soaring costs of Syrias war will do little to persuade any of its myriad warring factions  including a divided opposition and the radical, nonaligned Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant  to pursue a compromise. After five years of sacrifice, Syrias rebels refuse to lay down their arms unless Syrian President Bashar al-Assad agrees to resign. That looks ever more unlikely since last years Russian military intervention no Assad's behalf, which has begun to pay dividends on the ground, including in the critical northern battleground of Aleppo.

Meanwhile, foreign agendas in Syria continue to dictate the terms of diplomacy. Those in the opposition camp, including the United States, Gulf Arab States and Turkey, accuse Russia of bombarding the rebels  and civilians trapped in their midst  to grant Assad more leverage at future peace talks.

Washington, which backs Syria's political opposition and has armed certain vetted "moderate" rebels, has called this week for an immediate ceasefire to end hostilities across the country, so that peace talks can proceed in good faith. But, in a microcosm of the geopolitical rivalries that undermine the push for peace, Moscow has rebuffed that call. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday submitted his proposal for a March 1 start date instead. With the regime confident it can keep rolling and the White House unconvinced that more aid for the rebels would do anything but prolong the war, the outlook for even that latter date may not be achievable.
The announcement was made in Washington by scientists from the California Institute of Technology, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the LIGO Scientific Collaboration.

Gravity travels in waves, like light and other forms of radiation. But with gravitational waves it is space itself that is rippling.

Detecting the gravitational waves required measuring 2.5-mile laser beams to a precision 10,000 times smaller than a proton.

The two laser instruments, which work in unison, are known as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). They are able to detect remarkably small vibrations from passing gravitational waves. After detecting the gravitational wave signal, the scientists said they converted it into audio waves and were able to listen to the sounds of the two black holes merging.

"We're actually hearing them go thump in the night," MIT physicist Matthew Evans said. "We're getting a signal which arrives at Earth, and we can put it on a speaker, and we can hear these black holes go, 'Whoop.' There's a very visceral connection to this observation."

The scientists said they first detected the gravitational waves last Sept. 14.

We are really witnessing the opening of a new tool for doing astronomy, MIT astrophysicist Nergis Mavalvala told Reuters in an interview. We have turned on a new sense. We have been able to see and now we will be able to hear as well.

The LIGO work is funded by the National Science Foundation, an independent agency of the U.S. government.

Einstein in 1916 proposed the existence of gravitational waves as an outgrowth of his ground-breaking general theory of relativity, which depicted gravity as a distortion of space and time triggered by the presence of matter. But until now scientists had found only indirect evidence of their existence.

Scientists said gravitational waves open a door for a new way to observe the universe and gain knowledge about enigmatic objects like black holes and neutron stars. By studying gravitational waves they also hope to gain insight into the nature of the very early universe, which has remained mysterious.

Everything we know about the cosmos stems from electromagnetic waves such as radio waves, visible light, infrared light, X-rays and gamma rays. But because such waves encounter interference as they travel across the universe, they can tell only part of the story.

Gravitational waves experience no such barriers, meaning they can offer a wealth of additional information. Black holes, for example, do not emit light, radio waves and the like, but can be studied via gravitational waves.

Scientists sounded positively giddy over the discovery.

"It is really a truly, truly exciting event," said Abhay Ashtekar, director of Penn State University's Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos. "It opens a brand new window on the universe."

"The LIGO announcement describes one of the greatest scientific discoveries of the past 50 years," Cornell University physicist Saul Teukolsky added.

Ashtekar said heavy celestial objects bend space and time but because of the relative weakness of the gravitational force the effect is miniscule except from massive and dense bodies like black holes and neutron stars. He said that when these objects collide, they send out ripples in the curvature of space and time that propagate as gravitational waves.

The detection of gravitational waves already has provided unique insight into black holes, with the scientists saying it has demonstrated that there are plenty of black holes in the range of tens of solar masses (the unit used to assess the mass of other stars), resolving the long debated issue of the existence of black holes of that size.

A black hole, a region of space so packed with matter that not even photons of light can escape the force of gravity, was detected for the first time in 1971. Scientists have known the existence of small black holes and so-called supermassive black holes are millions or billions of times as massive as the sun, but had debated the existence of black holes of intermediate size.

Neutron stars are small, about the size of a city, but are extremely heavy, the compact remains of a larger star that died in a supernova explosion.

Al Jazeera and Reuters
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Afghanistan is worse off today than it was before the 2001 U.S. invasion, according to a report released last month by the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).

The Taliban now controls about 30 percent of Afghanistan  more than it controlled at any other time since 2001. Public confidence in the Afghan national unity government is waning because of continued attacks in Kabul and the threat of violence from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The economy is in free fall. The partial withdrawal of foreign military infrastructure means that hundreds of thousands of people are now unemployed or soon will be. Corruption among government leaders remains rampant.

In Kabul people dont need a 230-page report to understand the deteriorating security situation. On Feb. 1 a Taliban suicide bomber killed at least 20 police officers in an attack near a police complex, wounding 29 others. It was the latest in a series of assaults in the Afghan capital this year and yet more proof that the U.S.-led war on terrorism is not working.

A more effective way to combat violent extremism is to offer something in its place, and I dont mean weapons. Every time a suicide bomber detonates his charge in Kabul, I am reminded that Afghanistan must do a better job on the battlefield of ideas. That is the only war in which we stand a chance of winning.

Young people in Afghanistan are looking for opportunities, hope and inspiration. And if they cant find those things, they will leave. They are already fleeing the country in unprecedented numbers. Afghans accounted for 20 percent of the million-plus migrants to the European Union in 2015, second only to Syrians fleeing their own civil war, the SIGAR report said. Afghanistan issued more than 2,000 passports a day in Kabul last year, a sixfold increase over 2014, mostly to men and women under the age of 30, according to SIGAR. And last fall Afghanistans Refugees and Repatriations Ministry launched a social media campaign in an effort to stop the exodus of young people.

Dont go, the ads implored. Stay with me. There might be no return!

But many Afghans would rather take their chances in another country than stay in or return to their homeland, where the odds are stacked against them. If 14 years of foreign intervention and billions of dollars in international aid have taught us anything, it is that answers to Afghanistans problems are not going to come from abroad. If we are to build a lasting and sustainable democracy, we will have to do it ourselves.

Afghanistan is on the brink. In some ways, the country has made great progress. Under Taliban rule, it had almost no independent media, and women were confined to their homes, deprived of the right to go to school, work or move about without a male companion. Today 28 percent of the Afghan parliament is made up of women. There are four female ministers in the unity government. And robust and diverse media are striving to hold leaders accountable.
Twitter, the under-pressure social media company, reported results on Thursday morning, and let's face it, they kind of sucked.

The company reported stagnant user growth (in fact it actually lost users during the quarter, once you exclude people, typically in emerging markets that use an SMS version of the service), with its all-important active user base steady at 320 million. Oh, and it lost $US90 million during the quarter and its shares sank by as much as 12 per cent in after-hours trading (they had recovered somewhat to be down just 3 per cent at the time of writing).

Twitter's results weren't great. Credit:Bloomberg

The only good thing about the result was the way it was communicated. For the first time, the company eschewed part of the traditional quarterly earnings call ritual that just annoys analysts, the media and investors.

Instead of reading out, word for word, a prepared statement that everyone who cares already has in front of them, outlining the quarter that was, Twitter issued a letter to shareholders and jumped straight to analyst Q&A. It was even broadcast on Periscope, the company's live video streaming service.
The first thing Australia's new Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins wants to do is listen.

In the wake of her appointment on Thursday, Ms Jenkins said she plans to consult women "from all walks of life" to work out "where my energies should go" over the next five years in the key role.

Senator Michaelia Cash congratulates Kate Jenkins on her announcement as the new Sex Discrimination Commissioner with Attorney-General George Brandis. Credit:Andrew Meares

But she is certain of one thing, her job will be to make sure Australia understands that gender discrimination "isn't just about a few [sexist] jokes".

"I think part of my job is not to over-catastrophise but to make sure that people more broadly understand," the former Herbert Smith Freehills partner in employment law said.
Last year there were 21 reported incidents of unwanted sexual attention at the Australian National University, according to new Vice-Chancellor Brian Schmidt, who has pledged to make the campus a safe and respectful place for women.

At a welcoming ceremony for new students on Thursday, Professor Schmidt said the incidents ranged from cyber bullying to unwanted advances and to unwanted sex.

Professor Brian Schmidt. Credit:Jay Cronan

"We know there are more that were not reported. This isn't a part of who we are, or who you should be. Led by the ANU Women's Department, our students created in 2012 a pledge that captures what type of community we are. "

"I will be asking all of you to join me in making this pledge I believe everyone should be safe from interpersonal violence, sexual harassment and assault. I believe harassment and assault are the fault of the person using violence, not the person subjected to violence. I pledge to help my campus be a safe place for everyone."
A former soldier has pleaded not guilty to breaking in to the RSPCA to retrieve his companion dog before assaulting police and an animal welfare inspector when they came to take it back.

There are ongoing mental health concerns about the man, who allegedly cut through three fences to get to his Belgian shepherd in the RSPCA's Weston Creek headquarters in late December.

Ex-soldier Shane Van Duren and his dog, Kalu, which has since been returned to him. Credit:Facebook

A previous court hearing heard the dog was used as a companion animal to help treat post-traumatic stress disorder.

The animal had been picked up after it was found wandering the streets by a member of the public.
Station volunteer and ACT Liberal MLA Vicki Dunne told the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday the funding freeze-out of disability service providers like 1RPH will become a "national problem" as the scheme rolls outs.

Print handicapped radio station, Radio 1RPH, is losing a quarter of its funding leading to a warning other stations will feel the cut. Robert Altamore who is vision impaired and also the vice-president of 1RPH's committee, listens to the station on his portable radio. Credit:Jamila Toderas

Canberra's print-handicapped radio station, Radio 1RPH will lose a quarter of its funding at the end of June this year, after its financial backing through Disability ACT is absorbed and redistributed under the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

A funding shortfall which may force a Canberra-based disability radio station to cut its services will impact other stations around Australia, the Member for Ginninderra has warned.

"The ACT [is] the first head to rest on the chopping block but with the rest of the rollout of the NDIS across other jurisdictions other radio for the print handicapped stations across the country will feel the cut in the time to come," Mrs Dunne said.

Radio 1RPH has an audience of about 50,000 people in a catchment area that includes Wagga Wagga and Junee, its president Lorraine Litster said.

But under the NDIS' new tiered model of funding, the station does not qualify for a slice of the mere $132 million allocated to agencies who provide services to people with disabilities.

A spokeswoman from the National Disability Insurance Agency told Fairfax Media on Wednesday they would continue to explore funding options for the radio station, which may include working with other federal and territory government agencies.

But ACT disability minister Dr Chris Bourke sidestepped Mrs Dunne's motion for the ACT Government to pick up the slack, instead promising to write to the federal disability minister.
With the price of oil sliding, you might expect demand for oil would be rising. Not so much. Demand is rising, but at a rapidly decelerating pace, roughly two-thirds lower than last year. Thats not good news, especially for jobs, which have grown in the U.S. for a record 71 straight months.

That the growth rate for oil consumption is down sharply tells us a lot about the global economy and the likelihood of continued market volatility. Companies and countries with the financial muscle to buy oil cheap and store it until prices rise have been taking the excess supply, but that must end soon because we are running out of places to store oil.

Underground storage, the cheapest way to hold oil once it gets past the wellhead, is pretty much full. The U.S. governments Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a giant salt dome, can hold about 715 million barrels of oil. Its at about 695 million barrels right now.

Aboveground oil storage tanks are so close to full that some companies and countries are storing oil at sea. More than 100 million barrels of oil are being stored at sea, sending the price of oil tanker charters soaring. Very large crude carriers have been renting for as much as $111,000 per day, up from a daily average around $20,000 in recent years.

We can expect panic selling once the world runs out of storage, especially expensive storage at sea. Unless some major oil producers shut down a lot of wells, at some point the owners of oil in the most expensive storage will be forced to sell, prompting a brief but dramatic drop in oil prices.

The price for a barrel of West Texas intermediate crude, an industry benchmark, fell below $28 in the spot markets this week. Thats tantalizingly close to the 1986 price of $22 in todays money. Dont be surprised if the spot price falls, briefly, under $20. (Wyoming sour crude, so called because it is laced with sulphur, is under $11 a barrel.)

Falling prices are destroying the fortunes of those who borrowed lots of money to cash in on oil prices when they were over $100 a barrel eight years ago. Banks are writing off billions of dollars of imprudent loans  a cost borne not by bankers but by investors in bank stocks. Wells Fargo, for example, has set aside $1.2 billion to cover expected defaults on $17 billion of oil loans. That 7 percent default rate will almost certainly worsen if oil prices fall further.

Oil company investors are getting pummeled too. A troubling sign of what may be coming can be seen in the latest financial report by Anadarko Petroleum. It rang up sales last year of $8.7 billion but lost an astounding $6.7 billion, or $13.18 per share. The stock trades at about $40, down 63 percent from its high in August 2014. CEO Al Walker warned shareholders last week that for 2016, greater market dislocation appears likely, so the company is slashing spending even more.

The awful news from Anadarko suggests that many more good-paying oil industry jobs will vaporize, at least until oil prices recover. Expect more announcements like this not just in the oil industry, suggesting that job growth is slowing and may even reverse for a while.
Former Essendon rookie Hal Hunter will receive more than 100 new documents about his health from the AFL, as he continues to battle the club through the court system.

The 22-year-old's barrister professor Patrick Keyzer told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that his client planned to sue Essendon over their controversial 2012 supplements program.

Hunter has said he does not know what was injected into him and he is worried about his health as a result.
Australian Securities and Investments Commission chairman Greg Medcraft urged banks involved in the alleged rigging of the bank-bill swap rate to plead guilty to avoid the force of the regulator's powers.

ASIC is reaching the end of its investigation into the alleged rigging, an ASIC executive told a Senate committee in Canberra. In June, Mr Medcraft expressed frustration over the response of one of the banks involved in the investigation, which was later revealed to be ANZ Banking Group.

ASIC chairman Greg Medcraft offered an endorsement of Mr Funke Kupper's character. Credit:Michele Mossop

When asked on Thursday if he was still frustrated with the way the investigation was going, he said: "Often there's a bit of a game that goes on. It has improved dramatically. I still think it has a way to go.

"I don't think they realise that we're quite serious," he said. "As I've said we can do this the hard way."
But with so much in the tax debate, all is not as it seems. Economists call it "unintended consequences". The problem with a lot of rich people is they are wiley. They didn't get all that money just by toeing the line and playing by the rules. New social experiments have shown wealthier people display more unethical behaviour. They are more likely to cut off pedestrians and other drivers at intersections, more likely to help themselves to more candy from a free candy jar and more likely to say it is OK to steal and overcharge in a business context. It's not clear whether being unethical explains why people get rich. Or, if, once rich, the normal penalties that apply are so small compared to your total wealth, you just don't care if you break the law. Probably both. The problem with trying to raising income taxes on the rich is that they see you coming. They have the resources to simply arm up with a fancy lawyer and accountant and start to hiding their income and assets, divesting them to family members or disguising personal income as company income. Likely, our tax evaders will set up a series of cascading trust arrangements where income is sheltered and distributed in a tax preferred way. It is very easy for rich business people, for example, to set up a company and pass off income as profits, taxed at the lower company rate of 30 cents.

Better yet, they can pass off personal expenses as business expenses  tax free business trip to Paris anyone? As long as our company tax rate stays well south of our top personal income tax rate  currently approaching 50 cents after the Medicare Levy and temporary budget repair levy  there is a strong incentive to relabel money as profit, not personal income. But increasing the company tax rate is not the answer either. It is little appreciated, but a higher company tax rate hurts wages, because it eats into a company's ability to give their staff a raise. Wages are by far the biggest cost most businesses face and hit with higher tax, it is the cost they will seek to constrain. So if we can't lift the company tax rate and lifting top income tax rates only encourages tax avoidance: what should we do? How do we hit rich people where it really hurts? The answer is surprisingly simple. We need to attack wealth, not income. Income is highly mobile and easy to shift around. Wealth is not. The major asset most people have is property, which is rather hard to disguise.

This gives the tax man an advantage: he might not know where your Bermuda billions are hidden, but he sure knows where you live. Shifting our focus to taxing wealth not income has become increasingly important as wealth inequality has risen. Inequality in earnings has risen, but it is this disparity in the ownership of assets  land, property and shares  that has really blown out over the past decades. If you want to tax rich people, you need to go after them where they sleep at night. Drive around the inner suburbs of Sydney; it's not hard to find the wealth. Almost all economists agree that a broad-based land tax, applied in a progressive way to tax high value land the most, is the most efficient and fair tax reform we could pursue. It hits the rich where it really hurts.

Of course, there needs to be protection for asset-rich, but cash-poor people living in rich suburbs but with little income to pay their land tax bill. No worries, it can be deducted from their estate when they die and the property is sold. If you really wanted to smooth the path for reform, you could exempt everyone living in a home they already own, and only apply the land tax to properties sold from now on. Better yet, abolish stamp duty, which would reduce the upfront cost of buying and replace it with a lower annual tax. Sound crazy, like it would never happen? Not true. The ACT government has executed just such a tax switch and will progress to a full land tax regime by 2020. Economists believe the ACT economy will get a boost from the move. Stamp duty, essentially a tax on transactions, stops people from moving, distorting activity in the economy. But land tax is hard to avoid, leading to less distortion of economic activity. And as a simple revenue raiser, land tax is hard to beat.
When we think Valentine's Day, we picture heart chocolates, red roses, unrequited yearnings and possibly an embarrassing unwanted advance. As Stan Grant recently reminded us, however, the politics of Australian courtship has a history that is less light and easy.

In the late 1950s, artist Arthur Boyd illustrated the fraught nature of frontier marriage in his Brides series. Yet, Australia's boundary-crossing lovers are still omitted from the historical memory of the nation. Despite their long-term, cross-generational legacies, these unions virtually became a secret of state.

Cartoon: The Black Predecessor, The Bulletin, 1894. Courtesy: National Library of Australia.

The violence, rapes and rapaciousness of Australian frontiers are more widely known now, but not so the romances between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. Some of these stories have been told individually, as in Shadow Lines, by Steve Kinnane. He recounts the story of his grandparents: Jessie Argyle, taken from her Aboriginal family at the age of five, and Edward Smith, an Englishman escaping the rigid strictures of London. They fell in love in a society deeply divided on racial lines but why did such couples have to flee like exiles?

Possibly it was because their unions threatened to expose a hidden fault-line of Australian colonialism - one whose legacies are with us today.
Take marriage equality. It is demonstrably true that right now allowing same-sex couples to marry enjoys vast public acceptance, and majority support in the Parliament  both houses. Yet, for nothing other than the internal political interests of the Liberal Party and of Turnbull's leadership itself, that vote will not take place.

Turnbull's new defence of a plebiscite that is not needed and which he never supported is to ask what the ALP has against democracy. As an argument uttered in the Parliament, the very fulcrum of Australia's representative democracy, it is embarrassing.

Beyond its different rhetoric and last year's high-profile but fiscally modest innovation statement, the Turnbull government is yet to achieve substantial policy differentiation from the Abbott period. Indeed even the transformative power of the innovation statement, with all its lofty aspirations for the knowledge economy, has been eroded after the fact by the continuation of Abbott-era policies such as refusing to commit to the final two years of Gonski education funding to the states, and the looming budget-driven job losses in the CSIRO  the very venue for the innovation statement in December.

While it is tempting for observers to blithely declare the honeymoon over, that will be up to the voters. Has the GST debate spooked them, or caused them to reflect on substance rather than spin?

That is not yet clear. But other events this week cannot have helped. The revelation that the government has quietly pushed ahead with another Abbott policy since forgotten, to outsource Medicare's payment system, is a sure vote loser  even if it makes sense. Justifying it will take all of Turnbull's prodigious advocacy skills.
For a few weeks around Christmas most years, Australia has an acting prime minister known to only one in five people. What's his name again?

Warren Truss, the Deputy Prime Minister and reluctant leader of the Nationals since 2007; a man who professes to having had little formal education; someone from among the poorest farming areas of the nation.

Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss leaves politics and the Nationals leadership having made important contributions. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Mr Truss wonders if he'll be the last from such a humble background to reach deputy PM. He, and we, hope not. We need more politicians with broad life experience and fewer apparatchiks.

Mr Truss leaves politics and the Nationals leadership having made important contributions, even if most people don't realise that. His steady, albeit rarely visible, hand during 12 years in the ministry will be missed by the government. He will be missed, too, by the country Queensland constituents he has helped find their way around bureaucracy and sort little problems like getting the pension.
All of us, especially parents, know full well what displacement can mean  a new community, new friends, new neighbours, a new home, and a new school. For many refugees, a move to Canberra will mean a chance to access support that they may not have had, and which many of us take for granted. We are having the important conversations we need to have with a cross section of our community, because being a Refugee Welcome City requires a community wide response. It requires a community who extends great generosity when the need arises. Canberra is this kind of community.

I have met with over 40 representatives from our local refugee service providers to get a sense of their capacity to support an increase of refugees over and above their current numbers. I also spoke with the Canberra Business Chamber and the Real Estate Institute to plan for the jobs and housing which will need to be available for these people. We have been and we will continue to build the capacity of our city to meet its responsibilities as a Refugee Welcome Zone.

The Australian Government is responsible for identifying and processing new refugees and I have been in contact with my Commonwealth counterparts in advocating for those people we expect to see arrive in coming months. When they do arrive, I remain confident in our community's readiness to settle and support them.

With other states and territories raising the question of what each of us across the nation can do to encourage the Australian Government to offer a more generous and a fair response to refugees, we have the chance to look at the big picture. I see it as a great measure of our city's character that we have been able to lead the nation in creating a widely embraced culture of providing vital support and services for those who need them most. The ACT is a Refugee Welcome Zone, and Australia must be too.

Yvette Berry, Minister for Multicultural Affairs
Love, winning All snark aside, there's been some genuinely wonderful news from South Australia. And it handily illustrates the biggest problem for those who oppose marriage equality using the popular argument "B-B-But What About The Children?" It's normally phrased as "children deserve a mother and a father" or some variation thereof, which appears to rest upon the peculiar premise that a child's emotional wellbeing is somehow dependent on proximity to a diverse range of parental genitals. However, there's the fairly important fact that legalising same-sex marriage involves changing a couple of words in the Marriage Act - and the Marriage Act doesn't have anything to do with parenting whatsoever. Indeed, the Marriage Act 1961 (amended in 2004 to explicitly exclude gay people, thanks to PM John Howard and then-Attorney-General-now-Ironic-Human-Rights-Ambassador Philip Ruddock) is comprehensively concerned with the legal definition of marriage, the conditions under which marriages can take place, what people are authorised to perform them, that sort of thing.

Kids are not mentioned at all, beyond making clear that they can't get hitched since "marriageable age" is 18 years. Conversely, the vast majority of laws regarding parental rights aren't under the purview of the federal government at all. They're covered by laws passed by the states. Which brings us to today's excellent news: South Australia just passed laws allowing both same-sex partners to be recorded as a child's natural parents on birth certificates, thereby giving legal protection and certainty to parents and children alike. For the record, joint parental rights (under adoption law) is already the case in NSW, the ACT, Victoria, Tasmania and WA, and while joint adoption's not legal in Queensland, individual adoption is. So about your above-mentioned argument, marriage equality haterz: if you genuinely were super-gosh-darn concerned about the special precious rights of the children then a) you're opposing the wrong legislation, and b) you've already pretty much lost.

One is that Joyce was not exactly backwards in slamming the Liberals when he was overridden by "Environment" Minister Greg Hunt, who approved the massive Shenhua Watermark coal mine amid the prime agricultural land of the Breeza Plains in June last year - an area in Joyce's electorate of New England, which said much about the respect that the government had for him both as MP and Agriculture Minister. There's also an enduring theory that Ian Macfarlane's attempted (and failed) defection to the Nationals in December was orchestrated by both the Liberals and Nationals as a way of potentially preventing Joyce from becoming leader. The bigger problem for Joyce, though, isn't whether the Coalition has been actively working against him. It's the ghost of New England: independent former MP Tony Windsor. He's Like the Wind(sor) The much-loved Windsor held New England with a staggering 21 per cent margin until his retirement before the 2013 election.

Joyce comfortably won the seat in the absence of any serious challenger, but after the Shenhua Watermark debacle Windsor started appearing in the media again, suggesting that he might return. He was talking it up as recently as January, telling Farm Weekly "I'm still contemplating it and I'm not ruling anything out", while castigating Joyce for his absence in the electorate and lack of action over local concerns. And that has to be at the forefront of the Nationals contemplations. It's not a good look for an already-struggling party to have their leader lose his seat at the election - which would be a genuine possibility if Windsor ran. Even Windsor's great potential weakness - he made more than $4.5 million when his former property was bought by Werris Creek Coal in 2010 - is a strength in this campaign: firstly because Joyce can't bring the subject up without reminding constituents of his own more recent coal-related shenanigans, and secondly because it means that Windsor has a nice fat war chest to fund a political run. So this race might be about to get very, very interesting.
In "Survival Mode," "Fault Lines" examines the psychological toll of gun violence on children growing up in Chicagos most dangerous and neglected communities. The film airs on Sunday, Feb. 14, at 9 p.m. Eastern time/6 p.m. Pacific on Al Jazeera America. | Click here to find Al Jazeera in your area. In 2015, an average of one person every three hours was shot in Chicago, more than than any other city in the U.S. Over the course of the calendar year, there were nearly 3,000 shooting victims in the Windy City. According to an American Academy of Pediatrics study released this past June, 14 million, or 1 in 5, children in the U.S. is exposed to violence involving a weapon between the ages of 6 and 17. "Fault Lines" spoke to several young people living in some of Chicagos most dangerous neighborhoods who say the threat of violence is ever-present. is certainly home to a sizeable chunk of that number. If you dont know somebody thats gotten shot or thats gotten killed, youre weird or something, said Rosalyn Collins, a 15-year-old high school student from Englewood. Nearly two decades ago the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Kaiser Permanente initiated a groundbreaking investigation in the field of childhood trauma, the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study. The research showed that traumatic experiences such as emotional and physical abuse during childhood are major risk factors for adult onset health problems including substance abuse, depression, heart disease, diabetes and cancermaking them a public health concern. A hospital-based program aimed at helping victims recover from trauma, Healing Hurt People, is attempting to sever the connection to those illnesses, as well as to help sufferers regain their lives. Bradley Stolbach is the clinical director for Healing Hurt People-Chicago, as well as a psychologist at The University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children's Hospital. The effort is split between Comer on Chicagos South Side and John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County on the Near West Side. Stolbach says the program, which serves about 250 people per year, is based on a model developed at Philadelphias Drexel University after doctors began noticing a pattern among patients who would go to the hospital with gunshot or knife wounds. The common thread for many of them was that they were exposed to so much violence in their communities and for so much of their lives that they were, a lot of them, walking around traumatized, Stolbach said. And yet the impact of the violence that they had been through was never addressed. "Fault Lines" spoke to Stolbach about the effect of the frequent violence on young people in some of Chicagos most dangerous neighborhoods. An edited version of the conversation follows.

What is the model of Healing Hurt People? The real goal in engaging people at the time of their injury is to try to connect them with services that are going to support trauma recovery. And the idea is that, if they can address the trauma and have some support around it and somewhere to go with how to deal with it, that they will be in a better position to make changes that will lower their risk for future violence. What were you seeing in the hospitals of Chicago that illustrated the need for this kind of program here? Well, what Ive seen over the years that Ive been there and working exclusively with children whove experienced trauma, is that over the years the violence goes up and down, but what seems to have been increasing in the last decade or so is how many very young people are involved, how many very young people are getting hurt and also how random some of it seems. And so, this has really moved to, you know, for me and my work, a central place and a priority in terms of addressing the violence thats going on in Chicago, on our South Side and West Side. Over the years Ive worked with many children whove been injured in a lot of different ways, and Id say again, in the last decade, its almost all of them have been touched in some way by the violence thats going on our streets. So they know somebody whos been shot or killed or they have a member of the family whos been shot or killed or they themselves have been directly injured or theyve witnessed something. So it really affects, in addition to the thousands of people who are being shot every year, there are thousands and thousands who are directly affected by those shootings, even though they may not be injured. What is at the root of the violence on Chicagos streets? Were in the most economically and racially segregated place in the United States. We have people living in communities where they have very little opportunity, they have no access to a lot of the services that people in other communities havethe health care, education. So they are doing their best to survive. And for a lot of our young people, they would love to have viable, legitimate, legal ways to earn a little bit of money, to be teens, and those are not available. And even for older people, jobs are not available. The likelihood of some of our youth in our program being locked up is greater than the likelihood that they could have a job, even a half-time, 20-hour-a-week job.

Many of our youth and our families would meet the diagnostic criteria for PTSD, and theres actually, a lot of parallels to PTSD in people whove been in combat. Bradley Stolbach clinical director, Healing Hurt People-Chicago

What is the impact of the trauma that youre seeing young people go through? What are they likely to experience? One thing thats almost universal after something like that happens is that people will have reactions in their bodies as if theyre back there at the time that happened. That can be having almost like a panic attack kind of feeling. It can be feeling all of a sudden like you need to fight. It could be having almost like a flashback. It could be all the sudden feeling like you need to get away. And when people are having these reactions in their bodies, they can feel like theyre going crazy. And its not crazy at all. Its a completely normal, physiological reaction to a life-threatening event. So one of the things that were trying to do with people whove been traumatized, whether by an acute situation like this or by multiple types of trauma over long periods of time, is to help them know whats in the past and whats in the present. And if people can help their bodies to remember where they are now and to be in the present and to help themselves know whether theyre in danger or not, then theyre in a much better position to, number one, to remain calm, and number two, to make decisions about how and what they should be doing at any given time. How does this trauma impact a young persons development, especially if its cumulative and perpetual, as opposed to just one incident? For a lot of our young people, their development is really shaped around trauma and shaped around violence, and so really what a young person should be doing as theyre developing in childhood is taking in all kinds of information and using that information to figure out themselves and the world and figure out what the future could be. So their main purpose in childhood, should be learning. When youre constantly exposed to violence or constantly under threat, or you feel as though youre constantly under threat, the parts of the brain that are involved in learning get shut off, and what happens is the surviving brain takes over. And so theyre constantly in survival mode. That means the future is irrelevant, and in some ways the past is irrelevant, except as the looming threat. All that matters is What do I need to do now to survive? And not just here in Chicago, but anyplace where theres ongoing conflict, that is how people have to live. But its virtually impossible for a child to live that way and develop the skills and capacities that, under different circumstance, would be their main focus.

Under conditions like those in Chicago, what happens to their concept of safety? Many of our youth have either the concept that theres no safety available to them ever or that they think theyre safe when theyre not. So they end up having their capacity to identify cues related to safety and danger accurately, gets impaired. They may respond to things that dont pose a threat to them as if they are a threat. When a person has been through a lot of trauma, almost anything can be a triggerand by trigger that means that its something thats going to bring the trauma to the forefront, whether consciously or unconsciously. So the traumatic experience and the reactions to the traumatic experience are going to take priority over whatever else might be going on. That can be almost anything. It can be a smell for someone whos been in a fire, for example. They may be walking down the street and go by the barbeque place and get a certain whiff of the smoke coming out of there. That could trigger them. And then once youre triggered it can manifest in a lot of different ways. It could be complete shutting down. We have young people who talk about literally shutting off their feelings. Just completely shutting them off. And they can do this at will. But they also do it when its not under their voluntary control. So thats one reaction. Another reaction could be to be all of a sudden very frightened, to need to get away. It could be, again, wanting to fight or being ready to fight. When people are traumatized in their homes or in their neighborhoods, theyre reminded all the time. So someone who is shot or who witnesses a homicide around the corner from where they live or around the corner from their school literally cant do anything day-to-day without being reminded of that trauma. And when theres no support for the processing of that experience, the integration of that experience, when theres no place to go with it, no one to talk to about it, it can take on a life of its own. Is it fair to say that a lot of the young people you work with have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)? Many of our youth and our families would meet the diagnostic criteria for PTSD, and theres actually, a lot of parallels to PTSD in people whove been in combat. PTSD is not the best descriptor for a lot of our young people, because PTSD is a diagnosis that was originally created to describe adult combat veterans. There are a lot of young people who dont actually meet the criteria for PTSD because the criteria are really about adultsthe demands of day-to-day life that are put on adultsand they dont really take into account the development. We have been involved in an alternative diagnosis for young people dealing with complex trauma thats called developmental trauma disorder. Developmental trauma disorder is an attempt to describe the impact of trauma on young people whove been through ongoing repeated, extreme violenceand that can be violence in the community, it can be violence in the home, but the main thing is that its not a single episode kind of thing, its ongoing. So the violence and the threat of violence is ever-present. And then, in addition to that, theyre in attachments systems that are unable to provide protection, care and comfort.
In Broome, Cup Week is one of the sporting and social highlights of the calendar and locals and blow-ins alike take Ladies Day very seriously. It's a time to get frocked up and be noticed.

However, in Alana Valentine's new play, Ladies Day, it's not just the girls stepping out. A young man, Mike, glammed up to the nines in a fabulous dress, is the toast of the track.

Playwright Alana Valentine's Ladies Day focuses on being gay in Broome, Western Australia. Credit:James Brickwood

It's all you can do not to raise a glass to diversity and acceptance in regional Australia. However, something is about to happen that will drain all the fizz and frivolity away.

"In regional Australia, it's on days like these that the whole community is on show," Valentine says. "You see how tolerant a town really is."
Jungle, starring Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe, will begin pre-production in April, around the same time as the Chris Hemsworth star vehicle Thor: Ragnarok begins principal photography.

The state government announced today the third in a string of big films being shot in Queensland, starting with Kong: Skull Island, being shot on the Gold Coast at the moment.

Jungle is based on the memoir of Yossi Ghinsberg about four travellers who adventure into the Amazon jungle on a trip that becomes a nightmare.

The state government, through Screen Queensland, has tipped an undisclosed sum into the production to lure it to Queensland locations, as part of the deal at least 50 per cent of the film will be shot here with the majority to take place at Village Roadshow studios on the Gold Coast.

Producers are also scouting suitable jungle locations in far north Queensland.

Along with a financial contribution from Screen Queensland, Screen Australia has also chipped in to get the film off the ground.

Jungle will be produced by Arclight Films and local production company Story Bridge Films, the script comes from Justin Monjo, who wrote Seven's hit miniseries Never Tear Us Apart and will be helmed by Wolf Creek director Greg McLean.
Queanbeyan and south Canberra were battered with heavy rain and large hailstones on Thursday night causing disruption and in some case, destruction.

The Queanbeyan State Emergency Service responded to more than 140 calls for help as residents reported golf ball size hail stones across the town.

Kristel Shelley looks at the damage to her carport after a storm hits Queanbeyan. Credit:Melissa Adams

A section of the Woolworths store in Queanbeyan collapsed during the storm forcing management to close the store for several hours.

Kristel Shelley was driving with her two children in the car when a deluge of rain starting hitting her car and those around her. Terrified, she took shelter under a tree along with an elderly man who was caught while walking.
Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart has intervened this week to cancel a planned keynote speech at a Catholic Church conference by independent MP Cathy McGowan due to her support for same sex marriage.

Ms McGowan, the MP for Indi in Victoria's northeast, was booked last November to give the Mary MacKillop Oration at a Catholic Social Services Victoria conference later this month.

Independent MP Cathy McGowan has had her invitation to give the Mary Mackillop Oration withdrawn due to her views on same sex marriage. Credit:Andrew Meares

Her appearance, still listed on the conference program on Thursday morning, was cancelled at Archbishop Hart's instruction on the grounds her views were contradictory to church teachings. She has been replaced by barrister Julian McMahon, the 2016 Victorian of the year.

Ms McGowan, who was a co-sponsor of a marriage equality bill introduced into Parliament last year and describes herself as a practicing Catholic, said the decision to revoke her invitation was "very sad" and seemed at odds with Pope Francis' view the church's doors should be open to discussing issues.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has lashed out at suggestions that principals and others could be jailed for speaking out about the treatment of asylum seekers in their care, under tough federal laws.

So could you be locked up for doing so?

That really depends on who you ask.
Woolworths has a problem. Well, judging by the closure of Masters, a new advertising brief, and reports that it might shutter some of its upmarket Thomas Dux stores, perhaps more than just one problem. But despite those issues, there's one problem that is at the core of its troubles.

It's a "first class" problem, to be sure, but a problem nonetheless: It makes too much money.

Making too much money is a problem for Woolworths. Credit:Glenn Hunt

What? Surely making too much money can never be a problem? Unfortunately, as Woolies shareholders have found out, it can  particularly when the profits it makes are destined to be only temporary.

For almost a decade, Woolworths operated a quasi-monopoly. No, I haven't forgotten about Coles, but the latter's inept management, combined with a slick marketing message and strong sales momentum from Woolies, meant that there was no meaningful competition.
The prophecy is more than seeing into the future. For the prophecy sees without the element of time. For the prophecy sees things as they were, as they are, and as they always shall be.
Witnesses to a fatal collision between a mini motorbike and a woman on a zebra crossing might have to give evidence in court because the accused teen disputes parts of the most serious charge against him. Caleb Jakobsson, 19, faces a string of charges over the death of Andrea Lehane, 34, who was hit by a "monkey" motorbike outside a shopping centre in Carrum Downs on September 23 last year. Caleb Jakobsson outside the County Court on Thursday. Credit:Fairfax Media Ms Lehane, a mother of two, suffered critical head injuries when thrown up to seven metres, police allege. Her family had her life support turned off two days later.

Police say Andrea Lehane, seen here with her husband James was thrown up to seven metres after being struck on a zebra crossing. Prosecutors and Mr Jakobsson's lawyers have been in talks over the teen pleading guilty, Melbourne Magistrates Court heard on Thursday, but defence counsel Steve Parker said the first charge  culpable driving causing death  was still in dispute. Mr Parker applied to cross-examine witnesses to determine what they saw in the moments before the collision, and said he wanted to ask an expert witness about what injuries Ms Lehane would have suffered on impact with the bike and when she hit the ground. The lawyer told magistrate Donna Bakos it was also unclear whether Mr Jakobsson had the ability to stop at the crossing after the teen overtook a car which had slowed to allow Ms Lehane to cross. Ms Bakos said she was not ready to approve the cross-examinations, which could add to the trauma experienced by Ms Lehane's family and witnesses.
A woman named Maddi has caused nationwide mirth in the US after posting an email she says she received from Hillary Clinton online.

The email was apparently sent as poll results came in for a state primary or caucus. Ms Clinton came in second behind Senator Bernie Sanders in the crucial New Hampshire primary earlier this week as the two battle for the Democratic nomination.

In the email, Ms Clinton (or her team) says: "After tonight's results roll in, keep this in mind: most of the country casts their primary ballots by the middle of March.

"We absolutely, critically need to make sure Hillary comes out on top in the states that lie ahead.
Georgina Tsagas went to Sydney Australia on 1 February 2016 to attend the CLTA Conference and present her paper, 'Enduring Issues in, and Reflections on, Corporate Law and Policy over the Past 25 years'

Georgina Tsagas had the unique opportunity, with the support of the Law School, to share her current research on varieties of shareholders with renowned academics and practitioners from the University Of New South Wales Law School, Melbourne Law School, the University of Technology Sydney and the Centre for International Finance and Regulation Australia. Although Australia is a market based economy, it is characterized by a progressive outlook on how corporate governance of corporations can reflect on broader environmental and social concerns. Georgina presented her paper Varieties of Shareholders as a driver of company law reformat the 2016 CLTA Conference entitled 'Enduring Issues in, and Reflections on, Corporate Law and Policy over the Past 25 years' hosted by The University of NSW Australia (UNSW) School of Taxation & Business Law, Sydney Australia, sponsored by Lexis Nexis, University of New South Wales Business School and the Governance Institute of Australia (31st Jan-2nd Feb 2016). Georginas paper drew attention to the question of who the fictional shareholder to whom corporate managers owe a duty to is, by analysing the investor horizons and incentives of different types of shareholders. The paper provides a shareholder taxonomy that challenges the efficacy of the shareholder primacy norm prevalent in UK company law.

The conference represented the voices of the various corporate law scholars in Australia, New Zealand and the Asia Pacific region addressing topical themes, such as for example the difficulties in regulating corporations phoenix activity and a comparative study of the regulation of crowdfunding across different jurisdictions. At the conference special tribute was paid to Professor Paul Redmond, inaugural Sir Gerard Brennan Professor at UTS and Emeritus Professor of the UNSW (Dean of the Faculty of UNSW 1996-2002) for his contribution to Australian corporate law scholarship over the past 30 years.
NSW sees the largest declines in both property sales volume and aggregate value
Latest News Australia's record property market run comes to an end  PEXA NSW sees the largest declines in both property sales volume and aggregate value

MFAA offers cybersecurity resources to members Optus data breach a 'wake-up call' for businesses

Australian consumers are vastly underinsured, the results of a new survey have revealed, and brokers should bear some of the responsilbity.According to Mortgage Choice s inaugural Financial Confidence survey, over one in every five Australians dont feel it is important to insure their vehicle.When respondents were asked whether or not they had a form of car insurance, 21.6% of Australians said no.Of those surveyed in New South Wales, one in every three respondents said they did not have compulsory third party insurance. However, in New South Wales, compulsory third party insurance is not included in a vehicles registration fee and must be purchased separately.Mortgage Choice chief executive officer John Flavell said he was shocked about the blase attitude to insurance.It is clear many Australians take a laissez-faire attitude towards insurance. They do not consider insurance to be essential and as such, dont think about insuring their vehicles or other assets, Flavell said.It really makes you wonder how many Australians dont have the right insurance policies in place for their personal situation.According to Flavell, research conducted by the Financial Services Council also shows that just 31% of Australians have adequate income protection.While the majority of superannuation funds offer some level of income protection cover, this cover is often not adequate, he said.In the same way that it is important for Australians to properly insure their vehicle in the event that unforeseen circumstances arise, it is also vital for Australians to properly insure their income.There is a growing trend of underinsurance in Australia, which is simply not good enough. More education is needed to reverse this trend immediately.Flavell told Australian Broker that the responsibility of proper education also falls on brokers, who are in a position to help in a myriad of ways.Brokers need to be constantly educating their clients on the value of insurance and there are a couple of ways they can do this. In the first instance, they can have conversations with their clients about the real need for adequate insurance and explain the risks associated with not having the proper cover.Alternatively, if brokers do not want to discuss insurance options with their clients directly, they can speak to them about the benefits of seeking financial advice. From there, they can refer their clients to a trusted financial adviser who is perfectly positioned to teach those customers about the value of insurance.Finally, a great way to help educate clients on the value and need for adequate insurance protection is through blogs, newsletters and social media posts. Brokers can use their various client touch points and communication platforms (including their website, social pages etc) to espouse the value of adequate insurance protection.
Latest News Australia's record property market run comes to an end  PEXA NSW sees the largest declines in both property sales volume and aggregate value

MFAA offers cybersecurity resources to members Optus data breach a 'wake-up call' for businesses

The retail business of a leading aggregator has reported impressive uptake from brokers since its soft launch in September 2015.Speaking to Australian Broker, the head of iConnect Financial  the retail arm of Connective  said the new franchise is well on its way to achieving its growth targets for 2016, despite its official national launch still looming.We are still yet to launch it as an official franchise but we have had 52 brokers take up and join so far, Leith Wickstein told Australian Broker.[The brokers] are still operating as iConnect Financial but at the moment we have not specifically charged anything to operate under the iConnect brand. We are in the process of setting up all the franchise agreements so we are not officially a franchise.Wickstein says the official national launch is slated for April but with 52 brokers signed up, the franchise is more than half way to achieving its goal.I would be hoping that we would ne nudging 100 brokers by the end of the year, he said.The early adopters are predominantly from Sydney and Melbourne, says Wickstein, however there are iConnect Financial brokers operating in Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia at the moment too. Wickstein says the new retail offering has received very positive feedback.We have had very good feedback. [Our brokers] are loving the branding and the support that they are getting.The lead generation that is coming through  albeit we are very new in that space so we will keep building that over time to achieve more organic growth  has also been very positive and handy for our brokers.The structure around best practice processes within their business and software too  our brokers are all enjoying it.At the franchises soft launch in September, Connectives general manager of strategy distribution & digital, Steve Heavey, said a big part of iConnects unique offering would be the launch of a new comparison website, RateWatchers and online lender, OnlineHomeLoans.com.au  which will both generate leads for its iConnect brokers.Wickstein told Australian Broker that consumers and iConnect Financial brokers can expect these services to launch by the end of this year or early 2017.We are getting [leads] from our flagship website at the moment and through digital advertising and spending.We dont have a definite launch date for [RateWatchers and OnlineHomeLoans] at this stage, we are still working through the deployment of how they will go with the resourcing we have internally. But we would be aiming for the end of this year or early next year.
Chief Woodstock promoter Michael Lang is planning two free Woodstock concerts in Berlin, Germany and in New York in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the original 1969 festival. According to the press release, the New York show still doesn't have a venue, but will take place on the actual 40th anniversary of August 15th and 16th. The Berlin show will take place at the now-closed Tempelhof Airport on August 22nd and August 23rd.

Lang and his partners are hoping to snag some of the original participants that performed at Yasgur's Farm back in '69, including Santana, the Who, Joan Baez, Joe Cocker, Grateful Dead, Country Joe and the Fish, as well as current top acts. [The Rock Radio] (via)
GOAT @ MHOW 2013 (more by PSquared)



You can browse our full NYC show calendar for all of tonight's shows, but here are some highlights...

Goat, Holy Wave @ Webster Hall

Sweden's best psychedelic freakout, Italo-horror movie voodoo blood sacrifice soundtrack band bring their pagan disco to NYC. Fun!

Jungle, Beaty Heart @ Bowery Ballroom

Somewhat enigmatic dance duo Jungle turn out to be a traditional -- but good -- dancerock act live, filled out by a host of pro players. No denying "The Heat" is a killer single.

Nicole Atkins @ Madison Square Park

The kickoff to the Oval Lawn Series of free shows in Madison Square Park, Nicole Atkins will make for a nice early evening show.

Jean Grae, Corn Mo, Shellshag @ Matchless

While the music portion is over, Northside Festival is still going with its film portion. Tonight is a party for the Brooklyn Comedy Festival featuring live music in the back room with rapper Jean Grae, multi-hyphenate Corn Mo, and duo Shellshag. Free with RSVP.

Tigers Jaw, Pity Sex, Loose Planes @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

Tigers Jaw's new record, Charmer, is unlike anything they've done before, far mopier and more Smiths (or at least Smiths via Brand New) than any of their other records. Joining them are their labelmates Pity Sex, who took a similar path from emo to something more traditionally indie rock.

Little Racer, Painted Zeros @ Pianos

Brooklyn band Little Racer have been at it for a while now, making very catchy, UK-inspired guitar pop. Tonight's the third show of their June residency at Pianos.

The National, Lord Huron @ Prospect Park Bandshell

The National have a very impressive run of killer indie rock records, and despite their often-somber sounds, they're far from a boring live band. Night two of their three-night Celebrate Brooklyn! run.

Dave Chappelle @ Radio City Music Hall

Comedian Dave Chappelle is back in a big way, doing a whopping nine nights at Radio City Music Hall. This is the first.

Vasudeva, The Ambulars, Country Drop, Life Eaters @ Shea Stadium

If you're headed to this show at Shea tonight, one band we especially recommend catching is The Ambulars, whose most recent record, 2012's Dreamers Asleep At The Wheel, came out on Salinas Records (Swearin', Radiator Hospital) and is an excellent example of the kind of pop punk-leaning indie rock that label is known for.

Dave Hill, Valley Lodge, David Cross, Juliana Hatfield, Michael Che, Jean Grae, Kate Berlant, Marcus Monroe @ The Bell House

Dave Hill's monthly series, "Meet Me in the Bathroom and Tell Me All Your Secrets," moves from Union Hall to the Bell House for this extra large edition with a cavalcade of big names. Hill promises "an incredible night of comedy, music and gunplay."

Reggie Watts @ Town Hall

The multitalented Reggie Watts finally plays an NYC venue as big as his hair.

Bambara, Himomitsdad, Advaeta @ Union Pool

A good trio of local acts headlined by the gothy, very very loud Bambara.

Big Terrific @ Cameo

Max Silvestri hosts the free weekly comedy show in the back of Williamsburg's Lovin' Cup. No word on who's performing tonight, but Max usually lets us know via his Twitter.

For all of tonight's shows, and tomorrow's, check out our NYC concert calendar.

For laughs, check out the NYC Comedy calendar too.

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When I first started appearing on that show, I couldn't really get a sense of how it would impact my notoriety, my profile. But what I have experienced is there's a younger crowd especially--and this exists all over the world where I tour--they have discovered me through the "Gilmore Girls." They show up to my gig in Hamburg with their "Gilmore" DVDs. I think it's quite amazing. I don't know how else they would have discovered me otherwise, because this particular generation would've been too young to have seen the videos on MTV or heard the band on the radio. I mean, they might hear me on the radio now, but I feel like my career kind of exists despite the state of radio. It's not really what it's all about for me, these days. I'm very grateful for "Gilmore Girls," and the fact it's turned on a whole new generation to my stuff.
The chemistry of the current lineup is palpable and it's no wonder Tweedy hasn't altered the lineup since 2004 after making multiple changes over the course of Wilco's first decade. Guitarist Nels Cline had plenty of chances to shine as his "Impossible Germany" solo continues to be a highlight of Wilco performances and his work on "Art Of Almost" left many jaws on the floor. "Spiders (Kidsmoke)," which kicked off the post-Star Wars portion of the main set, showed Tweedy also has plenty of instrumental chops. The audience seemed to be filled with diehard fans as many tunes turned into singalongs.

By opening with Star Wars, material which came off better on the record than in concert, Wilco loaded the backend of the main set with one beloved classic after another. The band pulled from seven different albums following the presentation of their new LP, with four songs a piece from 2001's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and 1996's Being There to the delight of fans. Tweedy and his mates paced the show well as they mixed tempos throughout the 12 songs that came after Star Wars. The show built to a peak with barn-burning renditions of "I Got You (At The End Of The Century)" and "Outtasite (Outta Mind)" concluding the main set. - [Jambase]
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 ...
On this episode of Suits, Gods Green Earth, Mike goes to Scottie for help in dealing with Gibbs, a newspaper editorial causes headaches for Jessica and Louis and Gibbs pulls out all the stops in order to get Rachel to cooperate.

Now that Sheila Sazs has come forward (thanks in no small part to her conversation with Louis) all holy hell is about to break out at Pearson Specter and Litt as everyone scrambles to save their own asses. Harvey will undoubtedly be putting out fires left and right to try and keep Mike out of jail.

A Familiar Face Poses a New Threat



Harvey and Mike face Gibbs in court once again. Harvey wants Gibbs to hand over everything shes got on Mikey, even if it means moving up the date of the trial. Gibbs enters the courtroom with another attorney who Mike just happened to take the LSATs for. Mike freaks out, convinced that if the guy remembers him, hell narc him out to Gibbs, giving her more ammunition against him. Harvey points out the guy would be putting his own career in jeopardy by admitting this tidbit of information, making Mike more of a threat to him than the other way around.

The judge orders Gibbs to hand over her discovery to Harvey by the end of the day, so Gibbs asks the trial date be set for two weeks and the judge concurs.

Suits Recap: Who Turned Mike In? >>>

A Damaging Editorial

Thanks to Mike, Jack Soloff has had to put any and all plans for a coup on the back burner, but that doesnt stop him from still being a pain in Jessicas ass. He comes to her with information about an op-ed piece in the newspaper in which the writer claims There is no way on Gods green earth that at least one of the three named partners at Pearson Specter Litt didnt know what was going on under their own roof.

Jack wants to know what Jessicas plan is to help rehabilitate the firms reputation, which is taking a serious beating. Jack suggests that the firm take on some pro bono work, a series of cases of their clients most valued charities.

Jessica questions Soloffs motives, but Soloff swears hes been at the firm for his entire career, and hes fighting for it now. When Jessica asks if Soloff is questioning whether she has the same agenda, he points out that the whole reason the press is indicting the firm is because Jessica did know about Mike Ross, and theres no point in her denying it.

Mike and Harvey Disagree on Strategy

Gibbs lets Mike know that shes about to subpoena Rachel. She saved the best for last, hitting him where it really hurts.

Mike tells Harvey that its time for them to hire outside counsel, someone who can do some digging on Gibbs and go after who or what she cares about most. Harvey doesnt think the possible reward outweighs the risk. He promises to be there for Rachel every step of the way, but Mike has to focus on the monumental task at hand. He needs to go through everything Gibbs has on him, because if shes ready to go to trial, its a whole lot more than an email.

More Bad News

Drama-queen Louis brings Jessica more bad news. He declares that no matter the outcome, the firm will not survive Mike Ross. Louis has received three summer associate applications, and they are anything but the pick of the litter. Sheila is sending them the bottom of the barrel.

Jessica suggest that perhaps its time for them to start looking beyond Harvard which Louis equates with going to the mens room and shitting in the urinals. Jessica isnt suggesting state-school sludge. Shes suggesting candidates from Columbia, Yale and Stanford, hardly charm schools.

Louis doesnt want to break with tradition, but Jessica makes it clear that one way or another, they are going to keep this firm going. If Louis doesnt want to go outside of Harvard to do that, Jessica suggests he drag his ass up to Harvard and find a way to convince Sheila to start feeding them some worthy applicants.

Gibbs Tries to Strike a Deal with Rachel



Gibbs convinces Rachel to sit down with her in a less formal capacity a document stating their conversation would be inadmissible. She takes Rachel to her favorite cafe. Gibbs tells Rachel shes willing to pull some strings to get Mike into Columbia Law School, but Rachel balks at the idea Gibbs would or could do such a thing.

Gibbs warns Rachel that theres no way shell emerge from this mess unscathed. She and Mike arent married, so Rachel has no spousal privilege. This means Rachel will have to tell the truth and put her fiance away, or she can plead the Fifth. Rachel argues she could say Mike didnt do it.

Gibbs warns Rachel that perjury and pleading the Fifth promise to put her future career at risk. Some day, Rachel will have to face the character and fitness committee of the Bar, and they are unlikely to admit someone who did either.

Gibbs just wants the people actually responsible for this mess, and shell see to it Rachel and Mike can practice law for the rest of their lives.

A Tarnished Reputation

Louis goes up to Cambridge, but hes not cowering with his ample tail between his legs. He comes out swinging. He accuses Sheila of lying to him about not planning to come forward, but she swears they found her. Louis also calls her out about the pathetic candidates list, but Sheila tells Louis that also has nothing to do with her, it was an inevitability. Harvard students can read. Nobody is going to risk their career on a place that may not exist in a month.

Louis admits that since Sheila refused to take him back, the firm is all he has. He understands why she didnt give him a second chance, but he begs her to give the firm one now.

Sheila says even if she wanted to, it wouldnt work. Promising attorneys are going to come to her and ask if its a good idea that they go work for Pearson Specter and Litt, and shes not going to lie to them.

Mike Goes Behind Harveys Back

Mike finds out about the conversation between Rachel and Gibbs and loses his mind. He attacks Harvey for not being there for Rachel. Mike is still determined to go after Gibbs personally despite Harveys warnings that it could blow up in their faces. But Mike throws down the gauntlet, if Harvey wont do something, he will.

Mike goes to see Scottie. He wants her to bring an action against Anita Gibbs sister. After questioning his sanity, Scottie tells Mike now way. If she goes after Gibbs, Scottie might as well call Gibbs up and admit that shes in on Mikes whole bullshit thing too.

Scottie isnt entirely unsympathetic that Gibbs is going after Rachel, but shes no fan of Mikes.

Mike warns Scottie that Gibbs wont stop until she gets what she wants, and what Gibbs really wants is Harvey. Mike says hes not asking for her help for him and Rachel but for Harvey.

More Shady Tactics

Harvey, after some urging from Donna, decides to confront Gibbs. He accuses her of shady tactics from the get go: denying Mike access to counsel, fabricating charges against Donna and now, tampering with a witness.

Gibbs responds that tampering with a witness would only hurt her own case and why, on Gods green earth,  would she do that. The exact same turn of phrase used in the Wall Street Journal op-ed.

Harvey accuses her of planting the piece, which Gibbs obviously denies. Harveys got no proof. But Gibbs does say if she did plant the editorial, it would only be because theres no way not one of the partners didnt know what was going on, and shes going to dismantle the firm brick by brick until one of them admits it.

Rachel meets with the dean of her law school and is blindsided when he accuses her of having Mike take the LSATs for her. Where theres smoke, theres fire.

Rachels last scores were significantly higher than her last ones, and there are allegations circulating Mike took the test for others. Not to mention the far worse charges hes being indicted with.

The Dean tells Rachel that he has a responsibility to protect the reputation of Columbia, and he will expel any dangers to it, unless for some reason the allegations against Mike are dropped.

Rachel asks if Gibbs called him, and the Dean claims to not know what shes talking about. Hes simply letting Rachel know that if he has to choose between Rachels future or the universitys, Rachel will lose.

Scottie goes to see Harvey, incredulous that he would send Mike to tug at her heart strings. Of course, this is news to Harvey who swears he had no idea. The two rehash their break up and Mikes role in it, and then Scottie storms out, but shes definitely not going after Gibbs, even if it means saving Harveys ass.

Mike Takes Action to Save Rachel

Rachel tells Mike about her meeting with the Dean, but Mike isnt convinced Gibbs is behind the Deans threat. But once Rachel tells him the Dean brought up rumors of Mike taking LSATs for cash, an accusation that had yet to be brought to light, Mike realized Gibbs was the only possible source.That was one hell of a tell.

Mike immediately goes to Harvey with a plan to get Gibbs to stop pressuring Rachel, but Harvey is more interested in talking about Mikes visit with Scottie. Mike justifies his actions because he knew Gibbs would keep crossing lines, and thats exactly what she did. Mike tells Harvey about the Dean threatening Rachel, and how the man knew about the LSATs.

Mike thinks the lawyer they saw in court with Gibbs, David Green, told her, and she used that information to get the Dean to strong arm Rachel. Thats abuse of power.

Harvey still doesnt believe Green would risk his own career which leads Mike to believe Green must have come forward anonymously. Harvey says they still dont have proof that Gibbs contacted the Dean, but Mike has an idea of how to get it. Harvey thinks it could be a set up.

Mikes willing to take whatever risks necessary to help Rachel, even if it means tacking on a few years to his sentence. Harvey gives Mike his permission to do what he needs to do but warns him he better not get caught.

Mike tracks down David Green. Mike not only remembers Green, but he remembers his drivers license number and a copy of it as well. If thats not enough to put Greens career in jeopardy, Mike recalls every answer he gave on the 104 question test. Definitely enough evidence to make Green squirm.

Mike wants proof that Gibbs is pressuring the Dean of Columbia to expel Rachel. David offers up that Gibbs and the Dean went to law school together, but that isnt enough. Green tells Mike that if he does what Mike is asking, his career at the U.S. Attorneys office is over. But if Mike gives what he has to the D.A., Greens finished as a lawyer. Green argues Mike would only be implicating himself, but Mikes got nothing to lose, and that makes him dangerous.

Green questions what happens if he cant get the information Mike is looking for, and Mike says that while Green might not have the brains to ace the LSATs, he can certainly figure out how to get what Mike needs.

Green comes through. He provides Mike with an anonymous tip about Mike taking the LSATs for people along and a phone record showing a call placed from Gibbs office to the Dean not 10 minutes later. Gibbs doesnt back down, but Harvey says they have enough proof to sue the Dean for every dime hes ever made, and Harveys pretty sure the man will crack if put under that kind of pressure. Then the world finds out Gibbs colluded with an old law school buddy to intimidate a witness.

Gibbs has no choice but to sign a document stating that Harvey will drop a charge of malicious prosecution in exchange for her admitting a sanctionable offense; trying to coerce Rachel without her attorney present.

Suits EP Aaron Korsh on Consequences of [Spoiler] Turning Mike In and More! >>>

The Hits Keep Coming

Jessica is struggling to hold the firm together through this crisis, but shes not having much luck. Instead of taking Soloffs advice and playing nice by doing pro bono work, Jessica wants to poach a department of lawyers from a competing firm. When a shark smells blood in the water, you get it to back off by clubbing it in the face.

Jack tries and fails but gets himself a job offer in the process. Hed rather stick with a sinking ship in the hopes that if the firms survives this storm, he can become the new captain. If he goes somewhere else, hell never rise to a position of leadership.

Soloff goes to Jessica and tells her about the deal on the table. Jack is ambitious, and hes willing to stay if Jessica will make him partner. Jessica questions how they could ever trust each other, and Jack hands over an envelope. In it, is whatever the hell it is Hardman has on him.

Louis has expanded associate recruitment to include the countrys top 20 law schools, but nobody at those institutions is clamoring to come to the firm either.

Jessica and Louis are at each others throats. Louis is pissed and wants to light a fire under Jessicas ass. He cant fathom Jessica is desperate enough to make in-house enemy Soloff a a partner. The firms future is slipping away and offering Jack name partner or hoping Harvey gets Mike off isnt going to stop it from happening.

Louis gets a bit more than he bargains for after poking the lioness. She orders him back to Harvard to make damn sure Sheila doesnt testify.

Louis wastes no time and offers Rachel a ticket out of the country. She thinks hes doing it to protect himself, but Louis swears he cant stand the thought of Harvey ripping her to shreds on the stand, and then he gives her a taste of exactly what that would be like. Sheila breaks down and says shell go.

Its just too bad that Donna discovers Gibbs has found Trevor.

It isnt all bad news though. Rachel and Donna make up after their wicked fight, and they swear to stand strong, together.

Harvey and Scottie get some closure, and theres even the slightest glimmer of hope that the two could get together again.

Suits airs Wednesdays at 10pm on USA.

(Image courtesy of USA)
Theres a lot of trouble in the love triangles of Mystic Falls. Now that Damon and Stefan have been freed (temporarily) from the hells created for them by the Phoenix Stone, we can finally refocus our attention on their love lives for a bit. Specifically, lets go Pulp Fiction and talk about the Bonnie situation. We know that Bonnie ends up with Enzo later on down the road (via a flash forward scene), but why are there so much clear chemistry between her and Damon? Lets discuss this and who Bonnie should truly be with.

The Vampire Diaries Recap: Damon Makes a Life-Ending Mistake>>>

Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Vampire Diaries season 7.

Bonnie and Damon

Bonnie and Damon have too much chemistry for us to ignore. Yes, she ends up with Enzo in the future. That doesnt mean that their relationship is set in stone, nor does it mean we should discount Damon. He helped her find her mother, their banter is charming and they make an amazing team. With Elena out of the picture (also for now), why cant there be room for a little Bamon action?

It can feel weird to root for Bonnie and Damon, sure. They have a beautiful and seemingly platonic friendship, why jeopardize that? Their dynamic is fine, right? Wrong. Lets look at the facts  Bonnie and Damon started out as enemies and became friends. Damon fell in love with Elena, Bonnies best friend. Elena is asleep for 60 years. Bonnie and Elena have been through so much together and they both lost someone very close to them. According to the rules of angsty teen dramas, this means there should and will be some serious sparks there.

Bonnie and Enzo

On the other hand, we cant deny weve been waiting to see how the Bonnie Enzo relationship will play out. That flash-forward was a major tease and now were just left reading into every scene to see what the first major steps will be towards that. If theres one thing The Vampire Diaries is good at, its throwing the bait and dangling it for a long time. Maybe holding this tease over our heads will make us more drawn to the idea of Bonnie and Enzo ending up together. It certainly wont be happening anytime soon, as Enzos got more than enough to deal with outside of his love life. As you most likely know, Enzo was taken away by Matts people and hes currently MIA. Until Enzo returns, we cant really say for certain how well feel about his expected courtship of Bonnie. Time will tell.

The Vampire Diaries Spoilers: Stefan on the Run, Klaus Reacts to Carolines Pregnancy and More>>>

The Vampire Diaries season 7 airs Fridays at 8pm on The CW.

(Images courtesy of The CW)
The BMF has voiced concerns that builders merchants who are unwilling to take on apprentices may lose out when the UK government introduces the new Apprenticeship Levy in April next year.

A survey of BMF members revealed that while just over 51% employ at least one apprentice, 49% have no current apprentices, and of those, 92% of merchants who would be required to pay the new Levy had no plans to take on an apprentice in the future.

Details of the Apprenticeship Levy were announced in the Autumn Statement. Companies with a payroll of more than 3m will have to pay 0.5% of staff spending via PAYE to fund the system. The more apprentices companies take on, the more training will be available to them  in the form of digital vouchers - but they will have to pay the levy whether or not they take on any apprentices.

On average, BMF members employ 14 apprentices a year. However, that figure encompasses national multi branch groups with an annual three-figure apprentice intake to single branch operations that may recruit one apprentice every few years. While smaller companies will not be required to pay the levy, those in the middle range could be affected.

BMF managing director John Newcomb said: The Apprenticeship Levy is designed to ensure that businesses invest in skills and training, which should be a good thing, but we are concerned that some merchants will miss out. The Levy will not only affect national merchants. Many regional groups and larger independents with 150 plus employees will find themselves in the payroll bracket required to pay the Levy.

Responses to our survey lead us to believe that up to a third of our merchant members may be liable to pay the Levy. If they dont invest in the future of the industry and regularly employ apprentices in their own business, their hard earned cash will go to fund the training of apprentices in other industries. This is not a situation that anyone in the industry wants to see.

The BMF estimates that its members will recruit around 1,000 apprentices over the next two years. Over a third of members surveyed use the BMF Apprenticeship Scheme provided by Didac and specifically designed to deliver trained apprentices in the merchant industry. Others, mainly larger merchants, operate their own in-house schemes.

Sixty-one per cent of current merchant apprentices are studying for the more advanced NVQ Level 3 qualification, while 39% are following NVQ Level 2 courses. This is reflected in the ages of current apprentices: 16-18 year olds  who are most likely to take the Level 2 qualification  account for 30% of the total, 53% are aged between 19 and 23, while the remaining 17% are 24 or over.

Mr Newcomb said: The Apprenticeship Levy is designed to encourage employers to invest in developing new talent. It should not be viewed as an extra tax on employment, but a real incentive for merchants to take on apprentices and invest in the next generation. However, the Levy must not be used to replace public funding for secondary education. It is imperative that English Language and Mathematics learning continues to be met out of general taxation.
Home bakers are making South Jersey a butter place

New Jersey residents are pursuing their cottage food dreams following a year since the state removed its restrictions on selling home-baked goods.
PARLAMENTUL OLANDEZ NU NE VREA IN SCHENGEN

Aderarea tarii noastre, la inceputul anului viitor, la spatiul de libera circulatie pare un lucru imposibil
Government-owned Air India is mulling whether to resume non-stop flights between here and Toronto, Canada, a route it shut down in 2012 due to losses.

According to a senior AI official, it is considering the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner for the route.

We are looking at new routes where Dreamliners can be inducted. Toronto is one destination we are considering seriously, said the official. Its yet to be decided whether we will fly a Boeing 787 or 777-300 ER. Depending upon feasibility study, we will take a final call but with fuel consumption being lower in the Boeing 787 than other aircraft, induction of this on many of our routes has brought economic benefit.



While a 787 Dreamliner has 18 business class and 238 economy seats, a 777-300 ER has 35 business class and 303 economy seats.

Air Canada operates four weekly non-stop flights between Delhi and Toronto. Air Canada is operating a 787-9. So, we see good potential in operating the 787, the official said.

Delhi-Toronto was one of the highest loss-making routes for the airline. Now, however, fuel prices are down and the airline thinks it might be feasible to again ply to Toronto. "Routes that were earlier in losses have turned profitable. Nearly 95 per cent of our routes cover the variable cost of operation, the official said.

According to an estimate by consultancy firm CAPA, the airline's loss this year will be down to $600 million (about Rs 4,000 crore), lowest in many years.
In 2016, Carnival Cinemas intends to scale up its presence in tier-2 and tier- 3 territories, adding close to 150 screens organically.

For this, Shrikant Bhasi, chairman, Carnival Group estimates requirement of funds to the tune of Rs 200-225 crore. Setting up a screen in a tier-2 or -3 city/town would cost on an average Rs 1.5 crore. We will fund this organic expansion on our own. For expansion beyond these screens, we plan to raise around Rs 350 crore through PEs and VCs, says Bhasi. He adds that of this Rs 350 crore, Carnival has already secured some amount of funding from a PE with whom the company has signed the term sheet recently. He however refrained from naming the investor and the amount raised citing regulatory constraints.

The organic expansion is part of the companys Vision 1000 under which it aims to achieve a 1,000-screen presence across the nation by the end of calendar 2017. It is already at the 350-screen mark, and with another 150 screens, will reach 500 screens by the end of the current calendar. In the next calendar, it hopes to add another 100 screens, organically and/or inorganically.

The remaining 400 odd screens, Carnival intends to add by charting single screen movie houses in metros and non-metros. Charting refers to management partnerships or deals with single screen owners. Depending on the owner and his comfort, we will chart out the deals. In some cases, we may charge a retainer while in others, we may take a share of the revenues/profit. We already have a few screens under this model, explains Bhasi.

Carnival started its cinema exhibition journey with around 50 screens in the south decided to expand nationally a couple of years back. As a result, the first focus was to grow the chains footprint in the non-metro regions. After a point however, the company realised in order to scale up quickly, it will have to adopt the inorganic route.

In a year, Carnival added almost 300 screens to its portfolio by acquiring assets from three big players  HDIL, Reliance ADAG and Network's Glitz Cinemas  two regional and one national. The total value of these deals amounted to Rs 900 crore. In case of the Big Cinemas brand, Carnival took over some of Reliances debt in the business and paid the rest. In order to facilitate the inorganic growth, Carnival raised funds from a PE based in Singapore, offloading 9% stake in the exhibition business for a commitment of $30 million.

Apart from cinema exhibition, the company is also slowly stepping up its movie production and distribution business and its events and IP vertical. In case of production, Carnival focuses on films around the budget of Rs 20 crore and plans five odd films a year.
Data centre and enterprise cloud start-up, Pi Datacenters, is developing an Internet of Things (IoT) framework in a data centre standpoint, and is contemplating giving proofs-of-concept to various state governments to participate in their smart city projects, said its founder and Chief Executive Officer Kalyan Muppaneni.

"Data centres form the key infrastructure for providing services to smart cities. We will also be in a position to host the governments on our cloud solutions within the next one year," he told Business Standard.

Stating that IoT is still an evolutionary technology which has reached only 30% of its full potential, Muppaneni said the company was currently piloting the intellectual property-based IoT framework with three edge data centres in India. The frame work will be released in the market in a couple of months from now.

Pi Datacenters is setting up its first Tier-IV data centre at Amaravati, the new capital of Andhra Pradesh, with an incremental investment of Rs 600 crore over the next four years. Muppaneni said Phase-I of the 500,000-sft data centre, which involved an investment of Rs 60 crore, would be operational by July 2016.

The company had, in March 2015, announced its intent to raise Rs 540 crore from institutional venture capitalists to fund the data centre. Muppaneni, however, said the fund-raising plan was put on the backburner.

"The project will be self-funded as internal revenues will start kicking in from the third quarter of this year. We are also sharpening our focus on catering to customer-premise data centres for which we already have about 15 clients in the pipeline. This will be another source of revenues for us," he said.

Pi Datacenters has recently entered into a strategic partnership with Arista Networks, a US-based software-driven cloud networking solutions. Under the MoU, Arista and Pi will collaborate to leverage each other in delivering software-defined compute to customers in the Indian market.

Quoting a Gartner report, Muppaneni said the Indian data centre infrastructure market, comprising server, storage and networking equipment, is currently pegged at $3.7 billion. According to him, the company is looking for a suitable location for setting up a disaster recovery centre (DRC), which would be up and running by the end of 2016.
Apple Computer, Inc, the US multinational, could set up a large technology development centre in Hyderabad by July this year.

This would be the iPhone maker's first innovation and technology development facility outside its headquarters in Cupertino, California. In India, this would be Apple's second coming: the company shut down its tech support in Bengaluru in 2006. A senior Telangana government officer confirmed this development, and said the state was in talks with the company for some time now.

Sources said Hyderabad had been chosen after a thorough search, and it had emerged as a winner, like it did in the 1990s when Microsoft chose it to set up a software campus - the first outside the US. For the Telangana government, this is a big breakthrough in raising the profile of Hyderabad as a preferred information technology (IT) destination.

Last year, Google Inc. had signed a memorandum of understanding to set up its own campus on a seven-acre plot handed over by the government.

Apple is expected to take up 250,000 square feet office space in the Waverock IT towers, owned by US real estate development and consultancy firm Tishman Speyer in Gachibowli. The area, about 26 km west of the city, is also home to the offices of multinational and domestic IT and software development companies. A notified IT special economic zone, Waverock is spread over 1.5-million square feet. It was developed in two phases, in 2010 and 2014.

"Apple, as well as Tishman Speyer, would come out with a statement once the ongoing negotiations concluded," the official told Business Standard.

Hyderabad, with its well-developed infrastructure and lower property prices, began attracting the companies, after a prolonged political turmoil ended with bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh in June 2014.

Amazon, IKEA, Flipkart and others have already selected the city to build their facilities in the past year and a half. Knight and Frank, in a recent report, noted in the second half of 2015, office space absorption had doubled to 3.2 million square feet in Hyderabad, as compared to 1.5 million square feet in the first half.

BEARING FRUIT

Apple Computer is likely to set up a technology development centre in Hyderabad by July:

What it does for Hyderabad

Raises the profile of the city as an IT destination: at present, it is second after Bengaluru

Google has leased seven-acre office space at Gachibowli

Waverock IT towers, a special economic zone in HyderabadAbout 250,000 sq ftAbout 4,500 engineersApple Map
Management consultants such as Bain & Co, Accenture, Deloitte and The Boston Consulting Group were the biggest recruiters from the Indian Institute of Management here, hiring nearly a third of the 409 graduating this year.

Venture capital-funded e-commerce companies, toast of IIM placements in recent years, picked fewer students as they focus on stabilising their business models in the midst of a fund crisis.

Though there was a slight dip in e-commerce hiring, the consulting firms hired in larger numbers and helped accelerate the placements, said Ganesh N Prabhu, head of the institute's career development services.

Around 160 companies came and made 450 offers across 200 job profiles. Around 139 pre-placement offers were made, beside 136 lateral offers for experienced people.

"In fact, consulting companies would have hired more students this year if they were available," said a staffer.

Eighteen students were offered placements for global locations. Two forwent their pre-placement offers, which included one from a leading multinational financial services entity, to continue on an entrepreneurial venture.

Other companies included Goldman Sachs, Kotak Investment Bank, ICICI Securities, YES Bank, India Value Funds and Avendus Capital. Larger companies included the Aditya Birla Group, Reliance Industries, Mahindra Group, Larsen & Toubro and General Electric.

Prominent recruiters in information technology included Microsoft, Samsung and Infosys. In IT consulting, IBM and Capgemini recruited. E-commerce had Amazon and Flipkart making 16 and 11 offers, respectively. Other e-commerce recruiters included Uber, Ola, Paytm, Urban Ladder, AskmeBazaar, Hopscotch, and CarTrade.

In addition to the continued interest shown by traditional recruiters, we also saw close to 25 per cent first-time recruiters who hired in good numbers," said M Krishna, placement representative.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
India's rapidly growing air traffic has attracted a lot of investors into the sector, while falling oil prices have given a boost to profitability. After having given up its leadership position in the domestic market a few years ago, Jet Airways is charting a growth path yet again, as its financial performance has improved. In an interview with Aneesh Phadnis and Malini Bhupta, the airline's outgoing CEO Cramer Ball gives a sense of Jet Airways strategy.



There has been a renewed focus by Jet Airways on domestic market. Can you tell us what your plans are?



I think there was a certainly a view when I joined (Jet Airways) we had lost focus on domestic (market). And that has certainly turned around. We are very focused on the domestic market. We have increased our daily flying, our metro to metro flying. We are intensely focused on domestic as much as we are on international routes.



Jet Airways fleet has more or less remained constant at 115 aircraft. Is there a possibility of incremental fleet addition with dry leases?



Our focus has been on better utilisation of aircraft and that has a direct impact to bottomline. We are not averse to looking at more narrow body options. Our order book is for 75 Boeing 737 Max aircraft and we have an option of another 50 planes. We took an aircraft on dry lease in December and that was incremental addition. So there is a always possibility of dry leases.

Six Boeing 777 aircraft will return to fleet upon end of lease this year. What is plan regarding the planes. Does the airline plan to deploy or lease them again. Is the airline adding flights to London?



We are looking at number of very good options at moment. London slots are a constraint. But there are enough opportunities.

The number of international destinations in Jet Airways network has has more or less remained the same. Is there a plan to add new destinations?



There are significant opportunities within 3-6 hours from India. We are looking at frequency and capacity increases and also new destinations in Asia. But the key is about profitable operations. With consistent performance in all key parameters we are in a different situation from where we were 24 months ago.



There is a criticism that Jet Airways has turned into a feeder carrier for Etihad. How do you respond to that?



It is incorrect to say we are a feeder airline for Etihad. Abu Dhabi is just one of the destinations in our international network. If you look at the transfer traffic, Etihad gives us more business than what we give to them. The traffic growth between us continues to grow at triple digits and last quarter there was a growth of 90 per cent. The value is clearly there and that is a key part of our network strategy

Jet Airways is pulling out of US market. What is the plan regarding US market?



Our partnership with KLM and Delta gives customers more choice over Amsterdam and gives us more network. Out of Amsterdam we have a choice of seven destinations which are different from Brussels. But that does not mean that US is off the table for us. Partnerships are the key in airline business. We can fly to every destination ourselves. Emotionally it is great thing to do. But logically from a business perspective it does not make sense.



Is there a plan to raise more equity or debt from Etihad?



As of now there is no such plan. However we will continue to look at opportunities to refinance debt and reduce cost of debt.
The $28-billion business process management (BPM, which was earlier called business process outsourcing) segment is coming out of the shadow of the information technology (IT) services segment. BPM players, along with the Indo-US Chambers of Commerce and the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) hold first industry conference in the US in March. Industry leaders from the sector feel this give them the required exposure in their customer market.

Over the past two years, the BPM segment of the $108-billion IT-BPM sector had been undergoing a rebranding and spreading its wings in terms of differentiating itself from the IT services players.

Keshav Murugesh, chief executive officer, WNS, and chairman Nasscom BPM Council, believes the BPM segment has been represented in a poor light with phrases such as "low-end work", "nightshifts", call centre etc. "First, IT and BPM industries are two different segments. We need to ensure that people outside of our client environment know what work we are doing," Murugesh said.

The Indian BPM industry has moved away from just voice-based work to the use of technologies such as analytics. "We want to communicate the right value provided by the Indian BPM players. We want to showcase the skills that the industry is hiring, the work that the GICs (global in-house centres) are doing in India and much more," said K Vishwanathan, vice-president, industry and initiatives, Nasscom.

Of the total BPM market, about 40 per cent is pure call, but even this is evolving from pure call to media chat and digital. The industry believes about 50 per cent of the people who look at the segment believe it is still working on full-time equivalent (FTE) basis. An FTE is the hours worked by one employee on a full-time basis. The concept is used to convert the hours worked by several part-time employees into the hours worked by full-time employees.

"This is the first time that India is making a marketing programme outside of India," Vishwanathan said.

Mohit Thukral, senior vice-president and business leader, Genpact said: "There is a lot of activity happening between technology and BPM. Besides, it is also about how we have been about value and employment capability in the US." Of the $28 billion, $24.4 billion represent export revenues from the BPM sector, which are expected to grow by 13 per cent compound annual growth rate to touch $50 billion by 2020. Sandip Sen, global CEO, Aegis, the BPM arm from Essar, said the conference would debunk the myth that the Philippines has taken away the majority share of the BPM work coming from global customers.

"BPM or BPO segment has undergone a fundamental shift. We want to let the world know that when it comes to BPM, India is the default place to come to. We want to displace the myth that the Philippines is taking away business from India. We also want them to know that BPM also creates job opportunities in the key markets," Sen said.
The Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is offering discounts on diesel and petrol at a few fuel stations in Gujarat and the scheme may be widened if sales increase. Some retailers, however, fear the discounts could jeopardise their income.

Sources said RIL executives last week visited Gujarat to find out why sales at fuel outlets were not picking up. After their visit the company decided to launch the discount scheme. A questionnaire to RIL regarding the development did not draw a response.

RIL is offering a discount of Rs 2 per litre of diesel at a few company owned, company operated (COCO) retail outlets. If sales pick up, the scheme may be extended to other cities, said a RIL fuel retailer in Gujarat.

RIL had over 750 working retail outlets till December 2015. It has a 1,400 retail outlets in all. While diesel sales are up 64 per cent quarter-on-quarter, RIL said after its third quarter results it had achieved the highest retail outlet throughput of nearly 200 kilolitres per month compared to key competitors.

RIL said it re-secured its customer base with a 3.5-per cent market share. Diesel is RILs mainstay.

At its company owned, dealer operated (CODO) outlets, RIL is offering a discount of Rs 1 per litre of diesel and petrol. RIL has offered to bear 75 paise of the discount and the rest will be borne by dealers. The discount schemes, dealers said, would be in place till May 2016.

This way RIL will jeopardise our business. One, if it offers a Rs 2 discount at its own outlets, why will customers come to us? Two, if we are to bear 25 paise in the Rs 1 discount, it will further dent our income. RIL has not revised our commissions, which are 25 per cent less than what dealers of state-owned oil receive, said a dealer operating a retail outlet owned by RIL.

RIL pays a dealer commission of Rs 1.22 per litre on diesel and Rs 1.96 in petrol. Dealers have been asking for a raise but RIL has not heeded their requests.

Industry players said, given RILs handsome gross refining margins, the company could offer a larger discount to customers. The gross refining margin measures earnings from turning every barrel of crude oil into fuel.

RIL has been posting strong gross refining margins, defying the Singapore benchmark by $3-4.5 a barrel for two consecutive quarters. The October-December quarter saw its GRM increasing to $11.5 a barrel from $10.6 a barrel in 2014-15. A major factor, RIL said, was reduction in the crude oil basket cost.
In a significant U-turn in its approach towards the ongoing gas dispute with state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), the Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has decided to participate in the proceedings of the government-appointed Shah Committee that is looking into the matter.

The second meeting of the Shah Committee was held a couple of days ago. RIL attended the meeting and (its representatives) said we would like to participate. Niko Resources also participated, ONGC Chairman D K Sarraf told a media gathering while announcing the companys third quarter results. He was responding to a question on the status of the controversial gas dispute.

An RIL spokesperson refused to comment. The company did not respond to an e-mail query. The company had earlier told the panel it does not accept that the Government of India can appoint a committee, or the government can deal with any issues on the dispute by constituting a committee, according to officials. It had contended the Shah panel has no power to adjudicate any matters or issues concerning the claims of ONGC and its recommendations would not be binding on it.

Sarraf added the committee in the last meeting gave both RIL and NIko Resources three weeks time to submit their views on the gas row which will be shared with all the interested parties including the oil ministry, the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons, RIL and its partners, BP and Niko. ONGC has also been given a further two weeks time to respond, after which the next meeting will take place on 19 March, he said.

RILs other partner, British oil giant BP, had last month said it would cooperate in the proceedings of the panel in order to resolve the issue with the objective of delivering mutual value. BPs stand had fuelled speculation over a possible rift between RIL and BP over the matter.

Both RIL and ONGC are engaged in a battle over ONGCs claim that RIL extracted natural gas from ONGCs KG-D5 block in the Krishna-Godavari basin off the Andhra coast. The Delhi High Court had last year dismissed ONGCs appeal for compensation and gave the government six months to take action on a report on the matter by international consultant DeGolyer & MacNaughton.

D&M, in its November 30 report, established reservoirs in ONGCs KG basin blocks KG-DWN-98/2 (KG-D5) and the Godavari-PML are connected with Dhirubhai-1 and 3 (D1 & D3) field located in the KG-DWN-98/3 (KG-D6) Block of RIL. It said as much as 11.122 billion cubic meters of natural gas may have migrated from idling fields of ONGC to adjoining KG-D6 block of RIL.

The oil ministry had later set up the single-member judicial panel headed by A P Shah, former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, with the mandate to quantify unfair enrichment, if any, to the contractor of the KG-D6 block.
Kolkata-based Srei Infrastructure is looking for "strategic partners" among Russian companies to bid for VimpleCom's telecom towers for around $500 million. The bid will be one of the biggest investments by an Indian company in an overseas asset in recent times.

VimpelCom is selling 10,000-12,000 towers in Russia with at least three groups making a bid.

When contacted, a top Srei official also said Quippo also wants to be an advisor to other Russian companies for the sale. Quippo, a subsidiary of Srei, operates in equipment rental business for construction, oil and gas, and energy sectors.

"We have acquired some knowledge about the telecom tower industry with Viom Networks and we are using this in VimpelCom sale," said a Srei executive on Wednesday.

In January, the Kanorias had said they are looking for opportunities in telecom tower space in other geographies including Russia but did not share more details.

"We have built expertise in the tower business, and we see there are good opportunities in other countries Our tower business will be a completely independent venture under Quippo," Sunil Kanoria, vice-chairman, Srei Infrastructure Finance said on January 27.

Other bidders for VimpelCom assets are Vertikal - a consortium of Russian Towers and Goldman Sachs - and a consortium of Baring Vostok Capital and Mubadala - Russian Direct Investment Fund. Japan's Mitsui is also keen to join one of the consortiums.

Srei had received cash in October last year when American Tower Corporation (ATC), a New York Stock Exchange-listed mobile infrastructure company, acquired 51 per cent stake in Viom Networks for Rs 7,635 crore from Srei and Tatas. While Kanorias sold their entire 18.5 per cent stake in Viom to ATC for Rs 2,952 crore, Tata Teleservices sold 19 per cent stake, retaining 35 per cent shares in Viom Networks.

As per 'no-competition clause' in the agreement with ATC, Kanorias cannot enter telecom tower business in India. Srei Group had received Rs 600 crore over and above the deal price for agreeing to not enter tower business in India.

In December 2015, Srei announced that BNP Paribas Lease Group, a 100 per cent subsidiary of BNP Paribas Group, has decided to sell its entire 50 per cent stake in Srei Equipment Finance Limited (SEFL) to Srei Infrastructure Finance. In exchange, BNP Paribas acquired five per cent in Srei Infrastructure Finance, which will now be the parent company of SEFL.

The exit from Viom was Srei's first step towards a change in its investment portfolio.

As on September 2015, the company's strategic investment pool was of about Rs 1,969 crore, which included investments in telecom, communication, transportation, rural IT and energy, according to a presentation made by Srei to analysts.

The VimpelCom sale transaction is arranged by Merrill Lynch.

INTEREST IN THE BIZ



| VimpelCom is selling 10,000-12,000 towers in Russia with at least three groups making bids

| A top Srei official also said Quippo also wants to be an advisor to other Russian companies for the sale

| Other bidders for VimpelCom assets are Vertikal - a consortium of Russian Towers and Goldman Sachs - and a consortium of Baring Vostok Capital and Mubadala - Russian Direct Investment Fund

| Japan's Mitsui is also keen to join one of the consortiums
Ahead of Valentine's Day this Sunday, the usual discount spree has been complemented this year with a buying trend and rating 'love index' of cities from Amazon, the e-commerce major.

Amazon India on Thursday issued a list of the most romantic cities, based on sales of books, movies, music albums and other products in the romance category on its portal in the past year.

The National Capital Region topped the list across categories, followed by Bengaluru and Mumbai. Kolkata is in seventh place. Others in the top 10 were Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Nagpur.

In watches and jewellery, two most-sought gift products, Bengaluru has beaten all other cities. If buying movies and music albums are the yardstick, Mumbai has the title. In purchases of romantic novels, Delhi is on top.

"Last year, we saw the beauty, jewellery, health and personal care, books, grocery and gourmet categories emerge the most sought items during Valentine's Day,'' said Samir Kumar, director category management, Amazon India. While demand continues in these categories, some new trends emerged this year. There is an uptake for romantic music & movie titles, special Valentine's Day Amazon.in gift vards, chocolates and luxury beauty products."



In Delhi, Chetan Bhagat's Half Girlfriend was the top selling romantic novel. Consumers in Kolkata and Goa bought the most copies of the movie The Theory of Everything.

Snapdeal is offering reward points on purchases now that can be redeemed on Valentine's Day. Customers have to shop on its mobile application to earn the highest value promo codes, the amount of which can vary between Rs 50 and 200.

India's largest fashion portal, Myntra, is offering 35 per cent discount on 180,000 styles. Mobile payment platform FreeCharge has started a five-day shopping festival, 'FreeCharge Go Shopping Fest'. The company said this would see the best of online merchants across fashion, travel and food & beverage categories offering attractive deals.

"We have already crossed a milestone of half a million users within weeks of customer launch. Through this initiative, we intend to provide customers with more use cases and compelling reasons to shop," said Govind Rajan, chief operating officer.

MUSH FACTOR

1 Delhi & region2 Bengaluru3 Mumbai4 Hyderabad5 Chennai6 Pune7 Kolkata8 Ahmedabad9 Jaipur10 Nagpur
The disappointing performance of the public sector banks (PSBs) in the third quarter of FY16 puts the spotlight on the effectiveness of Narendra Modi government's seven pronged strategy Indradhanush, launched with much fanfare in August last year to revamp functioning of the state-run lenders. The measures included recapitalisation, performance-based incentives and professional appointments.

With most PSBs struggling with mounting non-performing assets (NPAs) - mainly from steel, infrastructure and power sector companies - questions are being raised if recapitalisation was sufficient to help PSBs tide over the inherent structural issues.

The seven elements of Indradhanush are - professional appointments, Banks Board Bureau, re-capitalisation, de-stressing, empowerment, framework of accountability and governance reforms.

In the third quarter of FY16, PSBs have seen a sharp rise in their NPAs and a decline in net profits. State Bank of India (SBI), the country's larger lender, saw a 62 per cent decline in net profits and fresh slippages worth Rs 20,692 crore during Q3. SBI's gross NPAs crossed five per cent of total loans. Similarly, Punjab National Bank (PNB) posted a 93 per cent decline in net profit in Q3 with NPAs rising to 8.47 per cent of total loans. Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) posted a net loss of Rs 424.6 crore in the quarter.

"The balance sheets are speaking for themselves. On the NPA issue, despite RBI putting in place a resolution mechanism, things have not improved since decision making, board processes and legal system are slow. Moreover, discipline around NPA recognition has been an area of improvement forever. Mounting NPAs do not come up overnight," said Shinjini Kumar, leader, banking and capital markets, PwC. The whole culture of wishing bad debts away and keeping them on books is ingrained into the banking system, partially because in the past these strategies have worked when business cycles have turned around, added Kumar.

Under Indradhanush, while the government's promise of recapitalising PSBs over a three-year period seems to be on track, it seems inadequate considering the scale of the stress. Of the Rs 25,000 crore meant for 2015-16, the government has pumped in about Rs 20,000 crore in 13 PSBs so far. The government will infuse another Rs 5,000 crore in the current financial year to strengthen the bank balance sheets. PSBs will get Rs 25,000 crore in the next fiscal, followed by Rs 10,000 crore each in FY18 and FY19.

INDRADHANUSH SO FAR

No appointment of private sector talent in PSBs, besides Canara Bank and Bank of Baroda

To be functional from April 1, 2016

Allocation of Rs 20,088 cr so far

Performance-based allocation of Rs 5,000 cr in March 2016

To develop vibrant corp debt market to reduce lending pressure on banks

Strengthening of asset reconstruction companies

Provide greater flexibility in hiring manpower to banks

Streamlining vigilance process for quick action for major frauds, including connivance of staff

ESOP scheme to be formulated for top management

Bank holding company

Other strategic initiatives such as consolidation

The 7-pronged strategy to revamp PSBs
Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley told the special court that Ishrat Jahan, who was killed in an encounter in 2004 by the Gujarat police, was working for Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar e Taiba (LeT). Three others were killed in the encounter along with the 19-year-old college girl. The four were accused of being involved in a plot to assassinate the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Headley, who is testifying in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack case from an undisclosed location in the US via video link, picked Ishrat's name when the prosecutor questioning him listed "options" of female members of the LeT.

However, Headley's statement led to political sparring between the BJP and opposition parties. The union minister of state for parliamentary affairs, without naming Congress and left parties, said "Political Champions of nation's security" should apologise to the country after David Headley's revelations about Ishrat Jahan.

Congress leader Manish Tewari retorted saying court-monitored investigations came to conclusion that this was a fake encounter.

File Photo of Ishrat Jahan. Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley claimed on Thursday that Ishrat Jahan was an operative of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba. Photo: PTI

Nationalist Congress Party spokesman Nawab Malik said his party did not support terrorism. ''Ishrat's family has already approached the apex court. Let the court decides whether it was a fake or real encounter in which she was killed. Let us hope that Headley's statement will be put up before the Supreme Court during arguments. BJP should not jump to any conclusion.''

Meanwhile, Ishrat's mother Shamima Kausar and her sister Musarrat dismissed Headley's revealation and said Ishrat was innocent. Kausar said the Surpeme Court has yet give its ruling on whether or not it was a fake encounter. They alleged that Ishrat's death was part of a larger conspiracy, with big names involved in the alleged fake encounter.
Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley on Thursday told a special court that Ishrat Jahan - a 19-year-old college student who was killed in an alleged fake encounter in 2004 in Gujarat - was an operative of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

Testifying via video-link from the US, Headley told the Mumbai court that LeT commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi had told him about a "botched-up operation" conducted in India by LeT operative Muzammil Butt, where a female member of the LeT was killed. When he was given three names by special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, Headley chose Ishrat Jahan.

After the hearing, Nikam told reporters, "I named three women suicide bombers associated with LeT - Noor Jahan Begum, Ishrat Jahan, Mumtaz Begum. When he heard the three (names), he said he had heard of Ishrat Jahan and that she was killed in a police encounter."



Nikam's claims were questioned by Ishrat's family lawyer Vrinda Grover, who said Headley, in his testimony, had said he only heard about a "botched-up" operation and that he did not know of any female suicide bomber. Grover said Headley's subsequent statement that he had heard the name of Ishrat Jahan after Nikam gave a "multiple choice question" cannot be treated as evidence. "It is not evidence. It is all mockery pointing to a conspiracy," she said.

Four persons, including Ishrat Jahan, were killed in an encounter with Gujarat Police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

The BJP demanded an apology from Congress for "targeting Narendra Modi" after the encounter. "Headley's deposition that she was a LeT's suicide bomber has unmasked those who do politics over terrorism. We do not expect any morality from Congress," BJP secretary Shrikant Sharma said and demanded an apology from Sonia and Rahul Gandhi.

Congress dismissed BJP's demands.
The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (Ligo), Caltech, announced on Thursday that it had detected gravitational waves, confirming a major prediction of Albert Einstein's Theory of General Relativity.

In his "field equations", also known as Einstein's Equations and first published in 1915, Einstein hypothesised that gravity worked as waves, causing distortions and warps in space-time.

Gravity waves pass through all matter. The effect is to cause changes in the dimensions of objects, which will be stretched in one direction and compressed in another by a given wave. However, the effects are very small and very hard to detect.

"We have detected gravitational waves. We did it," said David Reitze, executive director of Ligo, at a press conference in Washington.

The idea of Ligo - a laser system sensitive enough to detect such waves - occurred over 50 years ago. But the technology to detect such small variations in space-time (and to rule out interference) was developed very recently.

A noise heard at the Ligo labs, described by astronomers as a "chirp", confirmed the discovery.

There are two Ligo labs in the US - in Livingston, Louisiana and Hanford, Washington - where scientists from 16 countries, including some from India, are involved in interpretation data and results. Both Ligo facilities are constructed around two four-km-long tunnels, set in an L-shape, with each tunnel perpendicular to the other. Perpendicular waves do not affect each other.

A laser beam is split and pushed through the tunnels and bounced back and measured. "Interferometers" (instruments that can decompose or superimpose waves) are set at the intersection of the tunnels. If there's a perturbation caused by gravity waves, the dimensions of the tunnels vary slightly. The interferometers pick up those tiny changes.

Think of this as a very fine-tuned "smart" mirror, which will not reflect light if the tunnels stay exactly at their normal dimensions. But if the dimensions vary, light is reflected. In effect, that is what the apparatus does. On September 14, 2015, both the Ligo labs picked up the same signal, within milliseconds of each other. It could actually be heard as a noise, astronomers described it as a "chirp" and the signal was played out, slowed down for the audience. The dimensions of the tunnels had varied for 21 milliseconds by a distance that was unimaginably small (10 to the power of -21 metres) but nevertheless detectable.

The effect was caused by the merger of two black holes at a distance of 1.3 billion light years (a light year is the distance travelled by light in 365 days at 300,000 km per sec). That merger of black holes had released a huge amount of energy calculated at the same amount that would be released by annihilating the mass of three suns. The observations almost exactly fitted Einstein's calculations.

This is the first time the universe has been observed through a gravitational telescope as opposed to optical or electromagnetic ratio telescopes. It was also the first time a binary black hole has been found and studied.

The use of gravity to study the universe opens up an entirely new field. It could lead to many more fundamental breakthroughs. The next stage involves ramping up the Ligo sensitivity by 300 per cent and also the setting up of several new Ligo labs, including one in India.
Amid outrage over his appointment as Teris executive vice-chairman, R K Pachauri has proceeded on leave on Thursday and will skip Teri Universitys convocation on March 7 after a group of students refused to receive degrees from him. Facing the heat due to multiple sexual harassment charges, Pachauri, the chancellor of the university, was recently elevated to the newly created post, a move which triggered severe criticism from environment and women activists across the country.

On Thursday, it was revealed that as executive vice-chairman, Pachauri got Teri governing councils nod to focus on new national and international campuses. However, amid protests on Thursday, Teri governing council decided to hold an emergency meeting on Friday in Delhi to study the fresh allegations of sexual harassment against Pachauri.

Two well-placed sources said the governing council was reconsidering Pachauris continuation. This, however, could not be independently verified by Business Standard.

Pachauri, who has been accused of sexual harassment at workplace by two ex-employees, had been tasked by Teris governing council to focus on expansion of the organisations campuses within and outside the country in his new role.

Though the NGOs governing council, which includes industry stalwarts like Deepak Parekh and Naina Lal Kidwai, will meet in Delhi on Friday to review Pachauris appointment as executive vice-chairman and study the fresh allegations against him.

Pachauris replacement for the post of director general, Ajay Mathur, held a meeting with senior Teri employees on Thursday. Multiple sources who attended this meeting said no formal communication had been sent within Teri to employees about the division of power between the two executive top heads of the NGO.

This issue was raised at the meeting with the new director general. Sources said some senior employees had been orally informed that Pachauri had been asked by the governing council to look after setting up new offices and other external activities.

While queries sent to Pachauri remained unanswered, a Teri spokesperson said, the allegations made against Dr Pachauri are being carefully investigated by the police. He is on leave from Teri University and will not participate in the Universitys Convocation. Teri also confirmed Pachauris new role as executive vice chairman. As the Executive Vice Chairman of the Governing Council of Teri, Dr Pachauri will focus on special development projects and in expansion of national and international campuses. Mathur remained unavailable for a reaction.
Stepping up their cooperation, India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Thursday signed a wide-ranging set of seven agreements, including on cyber security, infrastructure investment and insurance after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

At their restricted as well as delegation-level talks here, the two leaders deliberated extensively on combating threat of terrorism, including from the Islamic State (IS), and explored ways to enhance bilateral cooperation in counter-terrorism, maritime security and defence.

The pact on cyber space will provide for greater synergy between security agencies of the two countries to combat efforts to radicalise youths through online platforms besides checking activities of terror groups.

Modi had visited UAE in August last year during which it was decided to elevate the relationship to comprehensive strategic partnership, providing for greater cooperation in strategic areas including defence and security.

Expanding economic engagement, particularly in oil and renewable energy sector and increasing UAEs investment in India, was a major focus area at the deliberations.

UAEs national oil company Adnoc has already agreed to store crude oil in Indias maiden strategic storage and give two-third of the oil to it for free. India is building underground storages at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Mangaluru and Padur in Karnataka to store about 5.3 million tonnes of crude oil.

Another pact was signed for creating a framework for facilitating participation of UAEs institutional investors in Indias infrastructure sector while a separate agreement provides for cooperation in the insurance sector.

A total of seven pacts were signed between the two sides out of which four were inked in presence of Modi and Al Nahyan. Another pact between Dubai Economic Council and Export Import Bank of India will be signed in Mumbai tomorrow.

UAE has a sovereign wealth fund of around $800 billion and India hopes to attract a sizable investment from it in several key sectors.

The pact signed will also provide for cooperation in areas of skill development, space and cultural exchanges.

Modi held talks with the Crown Prince for a restricted meeting at his residence before delegation-level talks at Hyderabad House later in the evening. They continued their discussions over dinner as well.

Both the leaders deliberated on range of key issues including threat of IS, radicalism and the situation in West Asia.

Productive interaction with H H Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Avenues of India-UAE cooperation are immense, Modi tweeted.

The Crown Prince also met President Pranab Mukherjee and Vice President Hamid Ansari. The President also hosted a lunch for the visiting leader.

Food security was another area which was discussed at length at the delegation level talks between Modi and Al Nahyan. UAE is keen to increase its import of food from India.

In the talks, the UAE side also mentioned about the contribution of the 2.6 million Indian diaspora in overall development of the country.

During Modis visit to UAE, it was decided to increase the current volume of bilateral trade by 60 per cent in the next five years and the issue figured in the talks on Thursday. The annual bilateral trade currently is around $60 billion.

India is UAEs number one trading partner while the Gulf nation is Indias third largest trading partner after the US and China. UAE is Indias second largest export destination.

For Indias energy security, UAE is an important country as it gets 9.4 per cent of total crude requirement from that country. The volume of supply in 2014-15 was about 16 million tonnes.

Economy of UAE, one of the leading producers of oil, has been hit hard by falling crude prices and it is expected that the Gulf nation would like to invest significantly in Indias energy and infrastructure sectors.

The two countries had already agreed to make bilateral investments in the petroleum sector and also take up joint projects in third country.

UAE has initiated a Mars mission for 2020 and India has agreed to assist that country in the project.

Earlier, Al Nahyan was accorded a guard of honour at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He also visited Rajghat and paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi.

Nahyan arrived last evening on a three-day visit to a warm welcome as the Prime Minister, breaking from protocol, received him at the airport.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday said that will be permitted to reckon government securities held by them up to another 3 per cent of their Net Demand and Time Liability (NDTL) under Facility to Avail Liquidity for Liquidity Coverage Ratio (FALLCR) within the mandatory statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) requirement for the purpose of computing their liquidity coverage ratio (LCR).



Hence, the total carve-out from SLR available to would be 10 per cent of their NDTL. For this purpose, it said that should continue to value such reckoned government securities within the mandatory SLR requirement at an amount no greater than their current market value.

State Bank of India, Chairman, Arundhati Bhattacharya said: "Instead of 5 per cent, we have asked for 15 per cent of SLR portfolio to be used for LCR."



Presently, the assets allowed as the Level 1 High Quality Liquid Assets (HQLAs) for the purpose of computing the LCR of banks include Government securities in excess of the minimum SLR requirement, and within the mandatory SLR requirement, government securities to the extent allowed by RBI, under Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) which is presently 2 per cent of the bank's NDTL and under FALLCR (presently 5 per cent of the bank's NDTL).
Banks must not wait for growth to clean their balance sheets. Rather, growth will come once the books are cleaned, said Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan on Thursday. He did so while rapping the lenders for abusing the tools offered by the central bank to fight bad debt, to instead hide the extent of bad loans.

The recent clean-up operation has the central governments blessings, he noted. Central bank officials had a series of meeting with the government, including at the highest, before coming up with its asset quality review (AQR) that is now causing havoc in banks quarterly numbers, throwing up heavy NPAs in the books, revealed the governor.

However, he made clear, this action was needed. While growth will help the system, it would likely be significantly impaired if we did not nudge the process of clean-up, Rajan said at the first banking summit of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Credit growth in private banks have been much more than public sector ones because the formers balance sheets are in better shape, allowing them to fund growth, he said. The most plausible explanation I have is that the stressed balance sheet of public sector banks (PSBs) is occupying management attention and holding them back, and the only way for them to supply the economys need for credit, which is essential for higher economic growth, is to clean up.



Added rajan: In sum, to the question of what comes first, clean up or growth, I think the answer is unambiguously, Clean up! Indeed, this is the lesson from every other country that has faced financial stress.



Rajan had as mentioned, scathing but veiled criticism of banks for misusing the tools RBI offered. After the 2009-09 financial crisis, it had allowed some regulatory forbearance for certain sectors. Yet, growth in those sectors remained elusive and, hence, RBI allowed banks to have tools like strategic debt restructuring, joint lenders forum, 5/25 loan schemes, etc. However, as in this case, a new tool can be used to deal with a problem but also perversely, to avoid it. So, after giving banks the tools, RBI ended forbearance in April 2015, and then started the AQR, to ensure banks were taking pro-active steps to clean up their balance sheets.



He cautioned, though, that not all bad debt was due to malfeasance. In fact, the greater part was of genuine NPAs and banks should help these to be nursed back to health. However, wherever there is evidence of malpractice by company promoters, it is extremely important that the full force of the law is brought against him, even while banks make every effort to put the project, and the workers who depend on it, back on track. The fraud detection and monitoring mechanism, as well as the new (to be enacted) bankruptcy code, would help on that, he said.

The recent plummeting in bank stocks, he noted, was not only because of global turmoil and weak equity market sentiment. RBIs aggressive AQR and resultant throwing up of bad debt numbers was also responsible.  part of the reason is that some bank results, mainly public sector banks, have not been, to put it mildly, pretty. Clearly, an important factor has been the AQR conducted by (us) and its aftermath.



Rajans deputy, S S Mundra, earlier said at the same event that had banks engaged in early recognition of their bad debt problems, the lenders would not have thrown such a huge adverse surprise.

Under the AQR system, RBI wants to clean bank balance sheets by March 2017. And, Rajan made clear, he did not want to see a repeat of such an exercise. The end game is clear to everyone and bounded. We do not envisage a sequence of AQRs, he said. Applying band-aids to the loan problem and keeping it current, hoping time and growth would set projects back on track, does not work most of the time but builds more stress.

If the bank wants to pretend that everything is all right with the loan, it can only apply band aids  for any more drastic action would require NPA classification, Rajan said in his keynote speech. Of course, we can postpone the day of reckoning with regulatory forbearance. But ,unless conditions in the industry improve suddenly and dramatically, the bank balance sheets present a distorted picture of health, and the eventual hole becomes bigger.



Under the AQR, the central bank forced identification of loans that were of concern, as well as those with potential weakness. Banks are attempting to regularise those that can be put back on track and classify those that cannot for deeper surgery  and making provision on their balance sheet in accordance with the degree of extant stress. They will also make provisions for loans that have weaknesses, so that the balance sheets are cleaned and fully provisioned by March 2017.

RBI teams are working with banks to ensure they are all broadly on the same page in terms of recognition and provisioning, even if each one has flexibility on individual cases.

This means that the December 2015 quarter results can be compared across banks to get a rough sense of the task each bank has to accomplish, Rajan said, adding some lenders were voluntarily moving faster in recognising the problem assets. There is also no final estimate, as it is a moving target.

It is important to recall that underlying many of these stressed loans is an economically viable productive asset, not ghost townships, Rajan said, adding the central bank had a series of meetings with the government at even the highest levels.

The government has been fully involved and supportive. We have mapped out a variety of scenarios on possible outcomes. The finance minister has indicated he will support PSBs with capital infusions as needed. Our estimate is that the government support that has been indicated will suffice.



Rajan dismissed some recent NPA numbers put out by some analysts as scare-mongering. In sum, while the profitability of some banks may be impaired in the short run, the system, once cleaned, will be able to support economic growth in a sustainable and profitable way, he said.

The market turmoil will pass, he concluded. The clean-up will get done and Indian banks will be restored to health. While we should not underplay the dimensions of the task, we should be confident that it is manageable and that the government and RBI will do what it takes to make sure that banks are able to support the tremendous growth that lies ahead.



RAJANSPEAK

While growth will help the system, it would likely be significantly impaired if we did not nudge the process of clean-upIn sum, to the question of what comes first, clean-up or growth, I think the answer is unambiguously Clean up! Indeed, this is the lesson from every other country that has faced financial stress.If the bank wants to pretend that everything is all right with the loan, it can only apply band-aids  for any more drastic action would require NPA classification
Thanks to the mounting asset quality pressures and the carnage in bank stocks on one hand and HDFC Bank's excellent track record on the operating and asset quality fronts, HDFC Banks market capitalisation (market cap) at Rs 2,55,881 crore pips that of all its domestic peers. In fact, it is bigger than the combined market cap of Kotak Mahindra Bank and ICICI Bank (Rs 1,22,285 crore and Rs 1,20,467 crore respectively). HDFC Banks outperformance is more startling when compared against the public sector (PSB).

The market cap top seven PSBs totals to Rs 2,02,059 crore, which still lags HDFC Banks market cap by a whopping 21% thanks to the meltdown in these public sector banks' stocks since January. The resilience of HDFC Bank suggests that its strategy of having a relatively stronger retail portfolio has paid off well. Raamdeo Agrawal, co-founder and joint managing director of Motilal Oswal Financial Services agreeing with this view adds that HDFC Bank may have foreseen the likely pain in corporate loan books and hence decided to go slow on the same. However, as every bank gets paid for what it does, the current levels suggest that there are bank stocks at cheaper valuation to HDFC Bank."





BANK OF BARODA 26,935.63 PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK 15,698.96 IDBI BANK 10,222.29 CANARA BANK 9,961.17 UNION BANK OF INDIA 8,472.71 BANK OF INDIA 7,339.70 HDFC Bank + HDFC Vs Global banks Market cap (In $ billion) HDFC BANK 37.68 HDFC LIMITED 25.96 Combined market cap 63.64 Combined market cap ^ 56.77 MORGAN STANLEY 44.40 DEUTSCHE BANK 23.16 BARCLAYS 39.30 CREDIT SUISSE GROUP 27.30 UBS GROUP 57.69 HDFC held 26.47% stake in HDFC Bank as on December 30, 2015 ^ Adjusted (cancelling) for HDFC's holding in HDFC Bank All figures as on February 10, 2016 Source: Bloomberg, Stock exchanges

Interestingly, the market cap of HDFC Bank ($37.68 billion) surpasses that of global majors, Deutsche Bank ($23.16 billion) and Credit Suisse ($27.30 billion). The list expands when the combined market cap of its parent HDFC Limited and HDFC Bank is considered. At a combined capitalisation of $63.64 billion, the two institutions surpass the market caps of Morgan Stanley, Barclays, and UBS as well. Even after excluding the stake HDFC holds in HDFC Bank, it is ahead of these global majors except UBS, albeit by a very small margin.
Albendazole a safe drug for deworming; there is no need for panic: J P Nadda . .

In view of reports in the media regarding some children complaining of nausea, gastric irritation and giddiness on being administered Albendazole tablets as part of the nationwide deworming initiative, the Union Minister for health & Family Welfare Shri J P Nadda assured that Albendazole 400 mg is a safe and effective drug for the treatment of parasitic worms. It is approved by the World Health Organization for treatment of worms and used globally. The Minister said: A total of 236 children among a target of 27 crore children have reported some mild adverse events from states of Bihar, Chattisgarh, Haryana, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. The children were hospitalised, kept under observation and discharged without any major or serious complications. This is as per our standard protocol". He assured that there is no need to panic. Such adverse incidences are noticed when the worm load is high among the children. Care needs to be taken that the children are administered this drug in presence of teachers or guardians, the Health Minister advised. .

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The National Deworming Day, a flagship initiative of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, was observed on 10 February 2016. It is the largest ever single-day public health campaign in the world targeting approximately 27 crore children aged 1-19 year throughout the country at risk of parasitic worm infection, through the platform of schools and anganwadi centres. The target population includes 8 crore and 19 crore children in the age group of 1-5 and 6-19 years respectively across 561 districts of the country. Over 900,000 education and health workers administered Albendazole tablet to crores of children in schools and anganwadis across India yesterday. 137 districts in 14 States have been excluded from the deworming initiative this year as they have already covered during Mass Drug Administration in Lyphatic Filarsis program of the Health Ministry. Robust systems of monitoring have been instated and health workers trained to administer the deworming tablets. .

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Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi calls on the President . .

HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of UAE Armed Forces called on the President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan today (February 11, 2016). .

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The President warmly recollected his meeting with the Crown Prince in May 2008 during his visit to UAE as the then External Affairs Minister. .

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Welcoming the Crown Prince, the President conveyed that India shares UAEs desire for a closer partnership between the two countries. India appreciates the vision of the Crown Princes father, HH Sheikh Zayed and the personal commitment of the Crown Prince to strengthen bilateral ties with India. President said it was a matter of great satisfaction that the two countries have decided to elevate their relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership. .

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The President said the Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to UAE has resulted in increasing mutual understanding and bonds of friendship between the two nations. The Joint Statement issued during that visit reflects the desire to intensify cooperation between the two countries in a wide range of sectors political, economic, security as well as on regional and multilateral issues. The President remarked the Crown Princes visit and its timing will contribute to this end. .

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The President expressed happiness over the establishment of good institutional mechanisms including a Joint Commission between India and the UAE. He said close collaboration through these institutional dialogues and mechanisms will address pending issues and progress cooperation to the desired levels. .

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On economic relations, the President said India attaches high priority to enhancing bilateral investment ties with the UAE. He added that through bilateral trade ties between the two countries are growing satisfactorily, UAE investment in FDI in India of about US $ 3 billion is far below the existing opportunities and potential. .

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The President said during the Prime Ministers visit to the UAE, the two countries had agreed that investment institutions in the UAE would be encouraged to invest in Indias infrastructure including through India-UAE Infrastructure Investment Fund and a target of US $ 75 billion is set for the same. India looks forward to working together with UAE to achieve this. .

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The Crown Prince warmly reciprocated the Presidents views and expressed his desire to create a strong bridge of friendship and cooperation between India and the UAE. .

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The President hosted a private lunch in honour of the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and other dignitaries from India and UAE as well as business leaders. In a special gesture, the President presented HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan a historical photograph of him calling on the Crown Princes father, HH Shiekh Zayed during the latters visit to New Delhi in 1975. .

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India Handloom Brand Goes Online

Government is committed to raise the market positioning of handloom products: Textiles Secretary

The integrated website of India Handloom Brand www.indiahandloombrand.gov.in was launched today by Mrs. Rashmi Verma, Secretary to Government of India, Ministry of Textiles.





The website is a one stop platform for all services to consumers, bulk buyers and handloom producers. The website will provide full details of all registered India Handloom producers which will facilitate verification of genuine India Handloom product by customers. They will able to verify the genuineness of the Brand logo through the registration no. which is printed on every label on the product. The website will also provide information about the retail stores and e-commerce platform from where India Handloom branded products can be purchased. It will also contain brief description of every product category and tips to identify genuine products. Contact details of India Handloom Brand producers are available for bulk buyers like retail stores, garment manufacturers who will able to directly access the handloom producers registered under the Brand. The web site has also a section where handloom producers can apply online for registration under the Brand and can also track status of their application.





While launching the website, Secretary(Textiles) said that the Government is committed to raise the market positioning of handloom products for development of handloom industry and for increasing wages of handloom weavers. She said that website will be an important platform for achieving these objectives and would be user- friendly both for consumers as well as handloom producing agencies.





India Handloom Brand was launched by Honble Prime Minister on 7th August, 2015, the first National Handloom Day, to endorse the quality of handloom products in terms of raw material, processing, embellishment, weaving, design and other parameters besides social and environment compliance. The main objective is to promote the production of quality products with new designs for winning the trust and confidence of customers by giving particular attention to defect free, hand woven, authentic niche products with zero defect and zero impact on environment.





The registration under the brand is given after stringent testing of samples in Govt. of India laboratory. By 10th February, 2016, 121 handloom producing agencies/enterprises have been given registration under the Brand in 33 product categories.Several e-commerce platforms and leading retail stores have been engaged for marketing of India Handloom branded products.





More than 43 lakh persons are engaged in this sector with annual production of 720 crore sq.mtrs which is 14% of the total textile sector. It provides livelihood to large number of rural women and backward sections of the society. Development Commissioner for Handlooms, Ministry of Textiles is responsible for development of sector in partnership with state governments. It is supported by 28 Weavers Service Centres and 10 Indian Institutes of Handloom Technology. National Handloom Development Corporation is responsible for supply of quality yarn, dyes and chemicals.





In order to address the main challenges of competition from powerloom sector, concerns of consumers about quality, and stagnant wages for weavers, new strategy aims at increasing production of high value good quality products leading to consumers satisfaction and remunerative earnings to the weavers. Block Level Cluster Approach to support quality production and India Handloom Brand for market positioning are two key elements of new strategy.





Documented success stories have established that number of handlooms alongwith new jobs have increased wherever market linked design intervention has been taken up for supporting weaving of quality handloom products. Such efforts are being further strengthened by launch of India Handloom Brand.





Shri J. K. Dadoo, Additional Secretary & Financial Advisor; Shri Alok Kumar, Development Commissioner for Handlooms and other senior officers of Ministry of Textiles were present on the occasion.




PM lauds the achievements in Rural Electrification . . Over 5000 villages covered in just 6 months

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Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has lauded the achievements in the field of Rural Electrification. .

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In a series of tweets he has said that Team India has done exceedingly well by achieving electrification in more than 5000 villages within 6 months. .

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From the ramparts of the Red Fort last year, I had called for the electrification of all remaining villages in 1000 days (18,452 villages). .

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Happy to share that Team India has done exceedingly well. Within about 6 months only (around 200 days), we have crossed the 5000 mark. .

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Already 5279 villages have been electrified. Excellent work has been done by the Power Ministry in Bihar, UP, Odisha, Assam and Jharkhand. .

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Power Ministry shares real time updates on rural electrification. Their dashboard is worth a look. http://www.garv.gov.in " , the Prime Minister said. .

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Shri J P Nadda launches the National Framework for Elimination of Malaria . . India stands committed to eliminating Malaria by 2030: J P Nadda . .

India stands committed to eliminating Malaria and is committed to allocating infrastructure and financial resources to this task", said Shri J P Nadda, Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare, here today. The Health Minister launched the(NFME) 2016-2030, which outlines Indias strategy for elimination of the disease by 2030. .

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Speaking on the occasion he said, This framework has been developed with a vision to eliminate malaria from the country and contribute to improved health and quality of life and alleviation of poverty". The Minister stated that the NFME document clearly defines goals, objectives, strategies, targets and timelines and will serve as a roadmap for advocating and planning malaria elimination in the country in a phased manner. Necessary guidance is expressed for rolling out the strategies and related interventions in each State/UT as per respective epidemiological situation. .

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Terming the launch of the national framework for elimination of Malaria by 2030 as historic in view of the public health challenge posed by mosquito-borne illnesses, Shri B P Sharma, Secretary (HFW) highlighted the importance of the segmented approach in tackling the issue. Eliminating Malaria will result in cutting down on expenditure on diseases control programme, and will help in reducing out-of-pocket expenditure too, he noted. He also added that the India has sturdy health systems with trained manpower, and the learning from the Polio and Elimination of Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus will help in eliminating Malaria too. He said that while diagnostic kits and medicines are available everywhere, the delivery mechanism has to be streamlined for better outcomes. .

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The objectives of the NFMEare to: 1) eliminate malaria from all low (Category 1) and moderate (Category 2) endemic states/UTs (26) by 2022; 2) reduce incidence of malaria to less than 1 case per 1000 population in all States/UTs and the districts and malaria elimination in 31 states/UTs by 2024; 3) interrupt indigenous transmission of malaria in all States/ UTs (Category 3) by 2027; 4) prevent re-establishment of local transmission of malaria in areas where it has been eliminated and to maintain malaria-free status of the country by 2030. The milestones and targets are set for 2016, 2020, 2022, 2024, 2027 and 2030 by when the entire country has sustained zero indigenous cases and deaths due to malaria for 3 years and initiated the processes for certification of malaria elimination status to the country. .

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The NFME 2016-2030 also defines key strategic approaches such as programme phasing considering the varying malaria endemicity in the country; classification of States/UTs based on API as primary criterion (Category 0: Prevention of re- introduction phase; Category 1: Elimination phase; Category 2: Pre-elimination phase; Category 3: Intensified control phase); district as the unit of planning and implementation; focus on high endemic areas; and special strategy for P. vivax elimination. An enabled environment and necessary resources would remain critical to realize the objectives in the pathway to malaria elimination. .

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In the short-term, i.e. by end of 2016, all states/UTs are expected to include malaria elimination in their broader health policies and planning framework; by end of 2017, all states are expected to bring down API to less than 1 per thousand population; and by end of 2020, 15 states/UTs under category 1 (elimination phase) are expected to interrupt transmission of malaria and achieve zero indigenous cases and deaths due to malaria. It is also envisaged that in states with relatively good capacity and health infrastructure, such as, Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra, accelerated efforts may usher malaria elimination sooner - within two to three years. As per the targets under the 12th Five Year Plan, the country is to achieve API<1 at state and district level by 2017 pave way to malaria elimination in subsequent years. .

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Dr. NafsiahMboi, Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance (APLMA) Envoy stated that the launch of the document demonstrates renewed commitment and strategic thinking on Indias part, and is a significant effort for the malaria elimination efforts and goals of the region and globally also. She highlighted the importance of community mobilization and sustenance of momentum of efforts. The elimination will produce multiple benefits, she said, adding that it will help to build systems to fight other mosquito-borne illnesses also. .

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The importance of this effort for Asia Pacific region was echoed by Dr. PoonamKhetrapal Singh, Regional Director, SEARO, WHO. She emphasized that investment on malaria control and prevention activities will result in almost 20 times gains in reducing healthcare cost in addition to bringing down the burden of diseases. .

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Acknowledging Indias leadership in the region in the health sector, Dr. Mark Dybul, Executive Director, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM)congratulated India on its various successes in the health sector, and stated that Indias efforts in eliminating Malaria is key to the global efforts in this direction. Also present at the launch function were senior officers of the Health Ministry including Dr. Jagdish Prasad, Director General of Health Services, Dr. SoumyaSwaminathanam, Secretary, Department of Health Research (DHR), and Shri K.B. Agarwal, Additional Secretary, MoHFW. .

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Shri R. S. Mooshahary delivers key-note address at 16th International Seminar on Counter IED Strategy . .

Shri R. S. Mooshahary, ex-Governor, Meghalaya and ex-DG, NSG and BSF addressed at the 16th International Seminar on Counter IED Strategy" here today. In his key note address, he said that NSG is not the first responder in case of an IED explosion, but NSG is the professional responder. The first responder looks up to NSG, he added. He said that the NSG is doing a wonderful work. .

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Shri R. S. Mooshahary said that procuring material for IEDs is no longer a difficult task. He said that it is sometimes very difficult to detect these devices. Its use is not limited to terrorists these days, even protestors are also using these devices, he said. He also said that some of the old mechanisms may not be able to detect the new generation devices and there is no fit-for-all situation, he added. He said that technology in the hands of revengeful hearts can be used for mass destruction. He appreciated NSG for its efforts and said that NSG has made the nation proud. .

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In his welcome address, Shri R. C. Tayal, DG, NSG said that IEDs are a deadly mixture of chemicals that can be assembled in many ways. He said that it is very easy to access this material and it is a very low risk and low cost venture for the terrorists. It is a deadly weapon that can cause huge damage to life and property. He said that we need to work in the direction of making it very high risk venture for the terrorists and organised criminals. IEDs are one of the most accessible material globally used to destroy critical infrastructure, he added. Because of this not only the civilian lives are lost, but security forces are also facing casualties. He said that in the year 2015, 268 incidents of IED blasts have taken place, which resulted in 117 casualties. He said that number of casualties could be curtailed primarily because of the proactive measures which intelligence agencies have taken to prevent some of the major incidents. He emphasised that a comprehensive approach is needed to tackle this most serious threat. Our procedures should aim at prevention, detention, effective neutralisation and mitigation of consequences in case any incident has taken place. Shri R. C. Tayal said that there is a sound policing system in India. If police stations are alert, they can play a crucial role in preventing such incidents, he said. He said that cooperation and information sharing between the friendly countries is very important to tackle such incidents. .

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On the occasion, the Chief Guest Shri R.S. Mooshahary also unveiled Bomb Shell Magazine, 2016 which contains details of various IED explosions that occurred in various parts of the world in the year 2015 besides articles by several experts. After the release of the magazine, media interaction with the experts was also held. .

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The two-day seminar is a platform to the national and international experts of police and armed forces/law enforcement/ security/ intelligence/forensic agencies and other allied organizations for exchange of expertise, ideas and experiences. This year, besides delegates from leading security agencies of India, experts from the US, Israel, France, Germany, Spain, Australia, Canada, Russia, Japan, Singapore, Philippines and Vietnam are also attending the seminar. .

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On the first day of the seminar held yesterday, the delegates witnessed a demonstration of Post Blast Operations & Analysis, case studies & analysis of counter-terrorism strategy besides a visit to the National Bomb Data Centre (NBDC) located at NSG Campus, Manesar, Gurgaon. .

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Boeing Co plans to cut jobs in its commercial airplane division, the company's largest business, as part of cost reductions intended to improve competitiveness.

The planemaker will first seek to trim executive and managerial positions, Ray Conner, chief executive of the Boeing unit, told employees Wednesday in a webcast. Involuntary cuts may be necessary as a last resort in addition to attrition and voluntary departures, he said.

Conner didn't specify how many jobs the company is seeking to eliminate. Boeing faces tough competition from Airbus Group SE even as economic turmoil threatens sales in key markets such as China.
In a landmark discovery for physics and astronomy, international scientists said on Thursday they have glimpsed the first direct evidence of gravitational waves, or ripples in space-time, which Albert Einstein predicted a century ago.

When two black holes collided some 1.3 billion years ago, the joining of those two great masses sent forth a wobble that hurtled through space and arrived at Earth on September 14, 2015, when it was picked up by sophisticated instruments, researchers announced.

"Like Galileo first pointing his telescope upward, this new view of the sky will deepen our understanding of the cosmos, and lead to unexpected discoveries," said France Cordova, director of the US National Science Foundation, which funded the work.

The phenomenon was observed by two US-based underground detectors, designed to spot tiny vibrations from passing gravitational waves, a project known as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory, or Ligo.

It took scientists months to verify their data and put it through a process of peer-review before announcing it today, marking the culmination of decades of efforts by teams around the world.

"Ligo has ushered in the birth of an entirely new field of astrophysics," said Cordova.

Gravitational waves are a measure of strain in space, an effect of the motion of large masses that stretches the fabric of space-time - a way of viewing space and time as a single, interweaved continuum.

They travel at the speed of light and cannot be stopped or blocked by anything.

Einstein said space-time could be compared to a net, bowing under the weight of an object. Gravitational waves would be like ripples that emanate from a pebble thrown in a pond.

While scientists have previously been able to calculate gravitational waves, they had never before seen one directly.

According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) David Shoemaker, the leader of the Ligo team, it looked just like physicists thought it would.

"The waveform that we can calculate based on Einstein's theory of 1916 matches exactly what we observed in 2015," David Shoemaker, the leader of the Ligo team, told AFP.

"It looked like a chirp, it looked at something that started at low frequencies - for us low frequencies means 20 or 30 hertz, that's like the lowest note on a bass guitar, sweeping very rapidly up over just a fraction of a second...

up to 150 hertz or so, sort of near middle C on a piano." The chirp "corresponded to the orbit of these two black holes getting smaller and smaller, and the speed of the two objects going faster and faster until the two became a single object," he explained



"And then right at the end of this waveform, we see the wobbling of the final black hole as if it were made of jelly as it settled into a static state." The L-shaped Ligo detectors - each about 1.5 kilometres (four kilometres) long - were conceived and built by researchers at MIT and Caltech.

One is located in Hanford, Washington, and the other is in Livingston, Louisiana.

A third detector, called VIRGO, is scheduled to open in Italy later this year. Tuck Stebbins, head of the gravitational astrophysics laboratory at NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center, described the detectors as the "most complex machines humans have ever built."



Both Ligo and VIRGO have undergone major upgrades in recent years.

Physicist Benoit Mours of France's National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), which is leading the VIRGO team along with Italian colleagues, described the discovery as "historic" because it "allows us to directly verify one of the predictions of the theory of general relativity." Physicists said the gravitational wave detected at 1651 GMT (2321 IST) on September 14 originated in the last fraction of a second before the fusion of two black holes somewhere in the southern sky, though they can't say precisely where.

Einstein had predicted such a phenomenon would occur when two black holes collided, but it had never before been observed.

An analysis by the MIT and Caltech found that the two black holes joined about 1.3 billion years ago, and their mass was 29-36 times greater than the Sun.

The wave arrived first at the Louisiana detector, then at the Washington instrument 7.1 milliseconds later. The two instruments are 1,800 miles (3,000 kilometres) apart, and since both made the same reading, scientists consider their discovery confirmed.

"Black holes are interesting because they do not give off any light and that is why these particular objects had never been seen before - because all of the astrophysical instruments to date use light," said Shoemaker.

"So this is one of the ways in which this tool is special and unique in the astronomical toolkit."



He said the new data "can really help to explain the formation of galaxies and overall large scale structures of the material in the universe."



Details of the discovery are being published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

Indirect proof of gravitational waves was found in 1974 through the study of a pulsar and a neutron star. Scientists Russell Hulse and Joseph Taylor won the Nobel Prize for physics for that work in 1993.

"Humanity has now another tool for exploring the universe," Stebbins told AFP.

"This is like the perfect outcome. The door is open to new discoveries," he added. "This is a new era in astrophysics."
tumbled yet again on Thursday, with the benchmark indices slipping over 3% in intra-day deals. The S&P BSE Sensex lost over 800 points to 22,937 levels, while the Nifty50 index skidded nearly 250 points to 6,942 levels.

The Nifty has breached the 7,000 levels for the first time since May 2014. The benchmark indices now have tumbled nearly 23% from their peak levels.



Also Read: FII shareholding falls to a three-year low in December quarter

 fell steeply on the back of continuing concerns about a global slowdown and the consequent impact on the financial sector. The US Fed also did not provide any further clarity on the possible interest rate movements. Quarterly results declared over the past few days have also not met up to the muted expectations and that also impacted sentiments," said Dipen Shah, Senior Vice-President & Head of Private Client Group Research, Kotak Securities.

"Going ahead, global concerns will remain at the centre-stage and will likely dictate market sentiments. On the domestic front, we need to closely watch the budget where the FM has a difficult task of supporting growth while maintaining fiscal prudence, he added.



Vinod Nair, Head-Fundamental Research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services, adds: "Surprisingly on a faster note, the bears pulled down the market below the 7,000 level which had until now been a strong support point. The market turnover is continuously coming down and the markets momentum is determined as per the traders trend. The continuous fall in risky assets across the globe and the the trend in liquidity moving towards safe haven assets like bonds and gold are expanding the negative implications on the Indian market. The turmoil in the domestic market also does highlight the possibility of margin pressure which may continue to disturb the market."

Here are 5 reasons why the Sensex slipped over 800 points on Thursday:

Janet Yellens testimony: Global lost ground in the morning deals itself, after the US Fed chair, Janet Yellen, in a testimony on Wednesday left the door open for more rate hikes in calendar year 2016 (CY16).

"Janet Yellens testimony to Congress yesterday was not what the markets had wanted to hear. The initial market response certainly seems to be that she fell short of expectations. Indeed, although the S&P closed little changed it gave back all the healthy gains it had made pre-Yellen. Indeed, overall it seems the Lady is still for hiking, just not as aggressively as the 25bp a quarter December dot plot had suggested just six weeks ago," analysts at Rabobank International said in a note.



Also Read: Market correction is an opportunity to buy: S Naren

Unsupportive global markets: Global markets, too, have been on a slippery slope with most Asian indices losing considerable ground on Thursday. In other Asian markets, Hong Kong closed 3.8% lower as investors there returned from a three day closure for the Lunar New Year. Markets in Tokyo are closed today for a public holiday. Major European indices fell sharply on Thursday over oil price concerns and after US Federal Reserve boss Janet Yellen raised concerns about the global economy. The FTSE 100, CAC 40 and DAX slipped 2.4% - 3.8%.

SBIs December quarter results: The fall in the market was aggravated after State Bank of India (SBI) declared 62% drop in its net profit for the December quarter at Rs Rs 1,115.34 crore against Rs 2,910.06 crore on the back of higher provisioning. Provisions, during the quarter under review, rose to Rs 7,644.62 crore versus Rs 4,810 crore in the same quarter last year.

"There was 82% rise in provisions due to higher NPA recognition. However, given the size of the balance sheet, SBI has fared well compared to other PSU banks. The bank certainly will need capital for meeting future growth; again on this count also it stands better than other PSU banks. Though stress is likely to persist in the system SBI is better positioned to meet the challenges given its decent capital adequacy of 12.45%. Hence, we have an ACCUMULATE Rating on the stock, said Vaibhav Agrawal, vice-president for banking research at Angel Broking.



Also Read: Is it time to buy govt banks' scrips?

Banking sector woes: The latest results of SBI has yet again rekindled fears that the worst may not be over for the banking sector as regards asset quality and non-performing assets. Banking sector was among the worst hit in trade on Thursday, with the Bank Nifty sliding nearly 4%, as compared to 3.5% fall in the Nifty 50 index. Canara Bank, Bank of India, Kotak Mahindra Bank, SBI, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank were some of the major losers that slipped 2.7% - 7%.



Also Read: Oil dips to 11-year low; Goldman Sachs, CLSA see $20 levels

Oil prices: Oil slid on Thursday, raising fresh concerns about the slowing world economic growth. Brent crude futures were down 31 cents at $30.53 per barrel at 0850 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $26.76 per barrel, down 69 cents and not far off from the $26.19 intraday low hit in January, which was their weakest price since 2003.
DERIVATIVE STRATEGIES



TATA STEEL: SELL

TARGET: Rs 218

STOPLOSS: Rs 241



SELL TATASTEEL FUTURES at Rs 237

[BELOW MOVING AVERAGES + VOLUME JUMP + MACD SELL + BELOW PREVIOUS CLOSE]

TCS: SELL

TARGET: Rs 2,232

STOPLOSS: Rs 2,300



SELL TCS FUTURES at 2,283

[STOCHASTICS SELL + VOLUME BUILD UP + BELOW MOVING AVERAGES]





Disclaimer: This report has been prepared by Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services Limited (GBNPP), here in after referred to as GBNPP. GBNPP, a publicly listed company, is engaged in services of retail broking, credit, portfolio management and marketing investment products including mutual funds, life and general insurance and properties. Each recipient of this report should make such investigation as it deems necessary to arrive at an independent evaluation of an investment in the securities of companies referred to in this report (including the merits and risks involved). This document is not for public distribution and has been furnished to you solely for your information and must not be reproduced or redistributed to any other person. Persons into whose possession this document may come are required to observe these restrictions. Opinion expressed herein is our current opinion as of the date appearing on this report only. While we endeavor to update on a reasonable basis the information discussed in this material, there may be regulatory, compliance, or other reasons that prevent us from doing so. Prospective investors and others are cautioned that any forward-looking statements are not predictions and may be subject to change without notice.
Following imposition of a minimum import price (MIP) on a range of steel products last week, leading domestic primary steel producers such as JSW Steel, Essar Steel and Jindal Steel & Power have raised product prices by up to four per cent effective Monday (February 8). Some of these companies have hinted at gradual but marginal price hike going forward.

We have raised prices by less than 4 per cent in the retail segment for both flat as well as long steel products from Monday, Seshagiri Rao, managing director and group chief financial officer at Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Steel told Business Standard on Thursday. Since we are in long-term contracts with OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturers), its not possible to raise prices for these customers, he added.

On February 5, the government announced MIP of 173 steel products to curb dumping of cheap steel by countries like China, Russia, Japan and South Korea.

We have marginally raised product prices from Monday but our overall price hike is going to be a gradual one, said Ravi Uppal, chief executive officer of Delhi-based Jindal Steel & Power.

Domestic steel companies had been selling products at distressed prices owing to cheap imports that flooded the market.

Steel prices in India had fallen by over Rs 8,000 per tonne over the last year, severely impacting the operations of steel companies. Though the government has fixed MIP at $445 per tonne for hot-rolled, keeping in mind interests of customers, we have increased prices by 4-5 per cent only, said a spokesperson of Essar Steel, the unlisted giant.

While the query sent to Tata Steel, Indias largest steel producer, were not answered till Thursday evening, Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) said it was yet to decide on the price hike. So far, we have not raised product prices since our meeting on pricing is yet to be held, spokesperson of state-owned SAIL said. According to industry insiders, product prices are not likely to go up drastically because soon domestic production will catch up with the demand.

With imports of 5-6 million tonnes out of market, there is place for domestic steel producers to raise capacity utilisation and produce more. Since production will jump from all producers, it will allow only marginal hike in steel products going ahead, said Rao of JSW Steel.

Rating agency Fitch holds a similar view. The agency estimates that MIP will allow domestic producers to raise product prices for most products by $50-$70 a tonne from current levels. The rating agency says because of weak domestic demand, capacity utilisation is unlikely to improve significantly. Hence, additional price increase, if any, would be similar to the current levels (4-5 percent) but spread out over the next three months. Consequently, Fitch expects profitability of steel producers to remain weak compared with FY15 level. We believe that further steel price increases and a significant improvement in steel producers profitability will depend on a strong revival in domestic demand growth, the report states. The agency continues to consider the increased government spending on infrastructure to be the key catalyst for acceleration in Indian steel consumption growth, which was at 4.7 per cent in the first nine months of FY16. This followed weak demand from key end-user industries, such as real estate.

Globally, supply continues to outstrip demand. The recent announcement by China, the worlds largest steel producer, that it would cut its steel production by 100-150 million tonnes fails to adequately address concerns. Chinas capacity is close to 1.2 billion tonnes, with an output of around 800 million tonnes in 2015.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs)'s shareholding in Indian companies dropped to lowest level in nearly three years at the end of the December quarter.

According to data compiled by Prime Database, percentage FII holding in 1,000-odd companies listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) stood at 18.67 per cent, lowest since March 2013.

Notably, FII ownership in Indian companies has declined for a fourth straight quarter. It has come off by 134 basis points during this period. FIIs' shareholding was down 55 basis points in the December quarter over the preceding September quarter. The fall in shareholding was despite muted outflows by FIIs. In the December quarter, FIIs had net sold shares worth only $334 million. The Sensex in the three months to December was almost unchanged.

FII shareholding is expected to come off sharply in the ongoing quarter, given the sharp sell-off. So far during the quarter, FIIs have pulled out over $2 billion from stocks, triggering a 12 per cent fall in the Sensex. If the selling pressure continues, the sell-off this quarter could top $2.6-billion selling seen in the September quarter.

Also, given the fall in the stock markets, value of FII holding is expected to drop further in the current quarter. The benchmark Sensex on Thursday ended at its lowest level since May 2014, with the Sensex dropping below 23,000. The value of FII holding in the June 2014 quarter was Rs 16.8 lakh crore, according to Prime Database.

HDFC remained the stock with the highest FII holding at 78 per cent, followed by Shirram Transport at 63 per cent, and Indiabulls Housing Finance at 57.5 per cent. Stocks which saw the biggest jump in FII holdings in one year to December were SE Power, where foreign investors increased their holding by 40.3 percentage points, followed by Cerebra Integrated and Rainbow Papers at 32.8 and 28 percentage points, respectively.

On the other hand, Max India, Jubilant Foodworks, and Amtek Auto, saw highest decline in FII holding at around 25 percentage points each.

Top foreign investors in terms of their exposure to Indian stocks included Europacific Growth, government of Singapore, and Oppenheimer Developing Markets Fund. Europacific had exposure of nearly Rs 45,000 crore to 13 Indian companies at the end of the December quarter. The government of Singapore has invested in 24 companies, with a total holding of nearly Rs 30,000 crore.
At an event here, P K Bindish, chief general manger at the regulatory body, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), said: We want the commodity futures market to bring risk management at par with the equity market before allowing new instruments and a new set of participants for hedging on commexes.



This implies Sebi might not allow instruments like options and indices to trade on a commodity exchange till these mitigation facilities are in place. While the commexes claim to already have a strong risk management system already in place, the recent suspension of castor seed futures by the National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) has restirred the issue. And, before the castor issue, NCDEX had to impose nearly a 100 per cent margin in chana (chickpea) trade.

Sebi chairman U K Sinha had said last September at the time of absorbing the erstwhile regulator, the Forward Markets Commission, that new instruments and participants would be allowed on commexes in only a few months. He'd indicated that participants such as banks, financial institutions and institutional investors would be allowed for hedging their commodities price risk.

Since then, however, Sebi has issued new regulations and tightened the grip on commodity traders, reducing circuit limits and the open interest leeway, to narrow the price hedging potential. And, suspended the forwards segment in commodity trade, the bridge between spot and futures.

Separately, Sebi is in talks with the Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority for a better system. Entry and exit of commodities in WDRA-accredited warehouses are being currently monitored by commexes.

The commodity futures market is driven by a very few participants. General investors remain away from commodity futures, except bullion. So, the commodities futures market needs to be driven by systems, said Bindish on Thursday. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had recently issued an advisory to banks, to ask their respective agri commodity clients for hedging of risk. There has been no progress thereafter. Existing law does not permit banks to hedge their price risk on commodity exchanges, said Deepak Mohanty, executive director at RBI.
Defence experts on Thursday dubbed the 26/11 terror attack as an 'act of war against India' by Pakistan, adding that post David Headley's deposition, there would be huge pressure on the Pakistan Government and the army to act firmly against terror modules on its soil, as also reworking strategies with regard to India.

"The revelations made by Headley indicate that the entire operation was planned and masterminded and executed by the Pakistani Army and the ISI. It was an act of war against India. However, the final implementation was carried through the LeT, so as to indicate to India and to the world that it was non-state actors who did this. In actuality, it was the state actors, the Pakistani Army which actually launched the military operation against India," Major General (retired) P.K. Sehgal told ANI.

"Pakistan is watching, thanks to modern connectivity. The Pakistani people, judiciary, Pakistani media as well as the international media and the international audience are pulling to what has been deposed. India has also told Pakistan that if they so desire, they can see the deposition for themselves, even if they wish to interact with Headley. How Pakistan will get out of it is something that is seen to believe. The evidence is so clinching that the pressure on Pakistan is going to be huge from everywhere," he added.



Sehgal further stated that evidence by Headley is critically important as it brings for the fact that at every point of time Headley had the backing of the ISI.

"It was the officers of the ISI, who were completely funding him. They constantly kept him sending money in fake currency. They are the ones who also introduced him to Rana, who he met in Chicago, and how Rana and he came to Bombay several times and opened an office in Tardeo," he said.

Resonating similar sentiments, another defence expert Qamar Agha said, "We know for quite some time that Pakistan was involved in these activities. We also understand that Headley works for the ISI. The ISI had sent him to LeT and then he worked for both the establishments. He was receiving funds from the ISI as well as from the LeT to conduct this operation. His testimony becomes important because he is giving it in a court of law in India."

Agha stated that now the Pakistani Army establishment as well as the government stands exposed in the community.

Now, it's up to the international community to see how Pakistan establishment acts," he added.

Headley, told a special Mumbai court earlier today that Ishrat Jahan, the 19-year-old girl who was killed in an alleged 'fake encounter' in 2004, was affiliated to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

While deposing before the court via video link from an undisclosed spot in the United States, Headley said that there was a women's wing in the LeT.

Deposing before the court, Headley claimed that the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attack, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi told him about a botched up operation of Muzammil in India.

"The operation was about shooting the police at some naka. One woman LeT named Ishrat Jahan was involved. Muzammil Bhatt was the head of our group before Sajid Mir," he told the court.

He, however, denied the involvement of any woman suicide bomber in the LeT but later named Ishrat Jahan as an LeT operative.
Opposing the expansion of the NDA Government's ambitious Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, Congress leader Ahmed Patel has said the scheme, which intends to develop model villages, has "fallen way short of expectations".

The Congress leader, who has adopted Dhumkal Group gram panchayat in Gujarat's Narmada district, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said: "Unfortunately, nearly two years later, we are miles away from an Adarsh village."

His opposition to the scheme came in the wake of the Ministry of Rural Development asking Members of Parliament (MPs) to adopt a second village.

Stating that he had written several letters to Union ministers on various issues, including the absence of mobile network, lack of an all-weather access road, setting up of fair price shops and insufficient employment under MGNREGA, Patel, who is a Rajya Sabha MP, said: "Despite my attempts to seek cooperation of central and state government agencies, none of the above-mentioned endeavours reached fruition, except for one primary school building in one of the villages."

Patel pointed out that there are two fundamental reasons as to why the scheme has fallen way short of expectation. "First, there are no special funds allocated for this scheme, which can be targeted to adopted villages. Second, ministries and departments concerned, both at the central and state level, have not been responsive enough to ensure all government schemes are executed at the highest priority level in the adopted villages, which was the original thinking behind the scheme," he added.
India's apex industry body ASSOCHAM and East Kazakhstan Oblast (EKO) today have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for boosting bilateral trade Investment to facilitate companies both in India and Kazakhstan today.

The MoU was signed between the two organizations by Nurymbet Saktaganov, First Deputy Governor, East Kazakhstan Region and ASSOCHAM.

The purpose of the MoU is to contribute towards fostering mutual economic development and friendly relations in both the countries through promoting co-operation.

"East Kazakhstan Oblast Region is today a preferred destination for Investors; it attracted investment upto to 8.3 billion U.S. dollars. The focus is on promoting public private partnership, attracting foreign investments through concession projects and the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development", said by Nurymbet Saktaganov, First Deputy Governor, East Kazakhstan Region.

K. Nagaraj Naidu, Director (ITP), Ministry of External Affairs said, during the visit of Prime Minister Modi to Kazakhstan in July 2015, the two sides inked five key agreements including a defence pact to enhance military cooperation and a contract for supply of uranium.

PM Modi said that in his vision for India's relations with Central Asia, Kazakhstan will play a "critical role". India greatly values its relationship with Kazakhstan. We have enormous synergies of markets, resources and skills for a strong bilateral relationship. There is a remarkable convergence in our economic policies, approaches and strategies in a number of areas.

India and Kazakhstan actively cooperate under the aegis of Multilateral Fora including CICA, SCO and the UN organizations. Kazakhstan's continued support for India's candidature for a permanent seat in a reformed United Nations Security Council and for a UN Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism is well appreciated.

Nagaraj also said, defence and security cooperation is an important dimension of strategic partnership between the two countries and both sides want to make it stronger, including in defence manufacturing. We welcome the recently signed Memorandum of Understanding on defence cooperation.

The MoU would further widen the scope of bilateral defence cooperation including regular exchange of visits, consultations, training of military personnel, military- technical cooperation, joint exercises, special-forces exchanges and cooperation in UN peacekeeping operations.

"Kazaksthan is also one of the first countries with which India has launched civil nuclear cooperation through a uranium purchase contract. The signing of the recent contract between "KazAtomProm" and NPCIL for a renewed long term supply of natural uranium to India to meet India's energy requirements, is the second contract that the two countries have in the minerals space and we hope to expand this cooperation in other minerals as well."

The ongoing bilateral discussions aimed at setting up a dedicated freight terminal in one of the western sea ports of India for trade with Kazakhstan along with the International North-South Transport Corridor will help improve surface connectivity.

The recent signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on Technical Cooperation in the sphere of railways between the NC Kazakhstan Temir Zholy JSC and India's railways ministry has added another layer to our economic cooperation.

Tourism is another area which presents immense possibilities. India has a rich and enterprising middle class who are eager to travel to new destinations and Kazakhstan presents an excellent location in the neighborhood of the country which, in addition to its unique steppes, lakes and hills, also offers snow clad mountains and ski slopes.

Kazakhstan will be host of the World Expo in 2017. It will be Kazakhstan's first world fair, as well as the first in Central Asia. The Expo is expected to redefine Kazakhstan's status as a and tourism destination.
Condoling the demise of Siachen braveheart Lance Naik Hanamanthappa, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has expressed deep shock and profound grief at the demise of Lance Naik Hanamanthappa.

"During his life, the brave heart son of India united the entire Nation in praying for him and has every citizen grieving for him today. He fought till his last displaying utmost valour, courage and determination, which is the hallmark of our Armed Forces,"she said.

Array

Gandhi extended her deepest condolences to Lance Naik Hanamanthappa's family and loved ones.

Party vice-president Rahul Gandhi said the lone Siachen avalanche survivor had shown the world meaning of 'perseverance and courage'.

Rahul took to micro-blogging site Twitter to express his grief.

"In his life and his passing Lance Naik Hanumanthappa has shown the world the meaning of perseverance & courage," he said in a tweet.

"His extraordinary spirit and tenacity, till the very end, is an inspiration for all. My thoughts & prayers are with his bereaved family," he added.

Meanwhile, expressing grief over Hanamathappa's demise, Congress leader Manish Tewari said, "It is extremely sad that after waging such a heroic battle, unfortunately this brave soldier passed away. Our condolences are with the family."

Congress leader Randeep Surjewala tweeted, "A greatful Nation pays last tribute to Siachen braveheart, Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad. He'll always be in our prayers & hearts."

Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad, who was miraculously found alive after remaining buried under huge mass of snow for six days at the Siachen Glacier, passed away at Army's Research and Referral Hospital at 11.45 a.m. today.

A medical bulletin released by Army's Research and Referral Hospital earlier today had said that Lance Naik Hanamanthappa slipped into deep coma despite 'maximal life support with aggressive ventilation and dialysis'.

Lance Naik Hanamanthappa, who hails from Karnataka, was flown to Delhi on Tuesday morning in a special air ambulance and admitted to the hospital.
David Headley made sensational revelations in his deposition on Thursday before the special Mumbai court, in which he took the name of Ishrat Jahan, who was killed in an alleged 'fake encounter' and said that he was informed by Muzammil Bhatt about a botched operation in Gujarat because of a female suicide bomber.

"David Headley has made many sensational revelations. The first revelation was made when we asked him how many wings does Lashkar have. He replied that Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi is the operation commander. Hafiz Saeed is the founder. He also named finance wing, women wing and a naval wing. We further asked him who the head of the women wing was, to which he said that Abu Hunja's mother was the head of the wing," special Public Prosecutor in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack case, Ujjwal Nikam told the media here.

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"We also asked him if he had any knowledge of a suicide bomber. He replied that Zakiur Rehman, in Headley's presence, had told Muzammil Bhatt that an operation had failed because of him. He further informed us that Muzammil told Headley that Zakiur Rehman was angry because of a failed operation in Gujarat because of a female suicide bomber. When we asked him if he knew the name of the suicide bomber, he denied remembering the name but said that Muzammil had told him the name," he added.

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Nikam further said that he named three women suicide bombers of the LeT for Headley to pick from.

"Then, I named three women suicide bombers associated with the Lashkar - Noor Jahan Begum, Ishrat Jahan, Mumtaz Begum. When he heard the three names, he said that he had heard the name of Ishrat Jahan and said that she was killed in a police encounter," he told the media.

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Nikam also said that when asked if Headley knew Ilyas Kashmiri, "he replied in affirmation and said that Kashmiri congratulated him after the 26/11 attack."

"He further informed us that Lashkar had carried out attacks in Gujarat and Maharashtra. When we asked him where in Gujarat, he said that Muzammil Bhatt was involved in the attack on the Akshardham attack," he said.

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Headley also recognised the picture of Abu Khafa and further informed that after the 26/11 attack, he met Sajid Mir and heard a recorded tape which had voices of three people out of which other than Mir two others were Abu Khafa and Abu Alkama.

"He also informed that the three were at a control room in Karachi from where they were talking to the terrorists in Taj. We had also got his information from Kasab, who said the same thing," he said.

After a day's break yesterday due to a technical snag in the video conferencing link, 26/11 terror attack convict David Coleman Headley's deposition continues today.

During the last two days of deposition, Headley revealed several names in Pakistani Army and the ISI who are working closely with terror outfits Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jamat-ul-Dawa (JuD) to carry out attacks in India.

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He informed about the ISI giving moral, financial and military support to the LeT and gave a detailed plan of modus operandi behind the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
Condoling the demise of Lance Naik Hanamanthappa, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju on Thursday assured government's full support to the Siachen braveheart's family.

"We are pained by this. After having survived for so many days buried under the snow, and now he is not with us. I would like to tell his family members that we are with them. I would like to pray that his soul rests in peace," he told reporters here.

Meanwhile, expressing his grief over Madras Regiment soldier's death, Chief of Army Staff General Dalbir Singh said, "The soldier in him will continue to inspire generations".

Hanamanthappa, who hailed from Betadur village in Kundagol taluk of Dharwad district, passed away at Army's Research and Referral Hospital at 11.45 a.m. today.

A medical bulletin released by Army's Research and Referral Hospital earlier today had said that Lance Naik Hanamanthappa, who was miraculously found alive after remaining buried under huge mass of snow for six days at the Siachen Glacier, slipped into deep coma despite 'maximal life support with aggressive ventilation and dialysis'.

Lance Naik Hanamanthappa was flown to Delhi on Tuesday morning in a special air ambulance and admitted to the Army's Research and Referral Hospital.
Former Australian fast bowler Ryan Harris has welcomed Jackson Bird's inclusion in the national squad after a gap of almost three years for the upcoming Test series against New Zealand, saying that he is most suited man to face green monsters.

Harris admitted that Bird is an extremely good player and that he would play well in the New Zealand's conditions, News.com.au reported.

Harris, who believes that Bird deserved a call-up as he had waited for so long, said that the 29-year-old would take over his previous mantle as the swing master of the Australian attack.

He further said that the team would be benefited from Bird's inclusion as he could attack as well as defend.

Earlier, James Pattinson's failure to prove his fitness paved way for Bird in the squad, who last appeared for his country during the Ashes series in 2013.

Australia, which suffered a 1-2 defeat in the three-match ODI series, will now aim to bounce back when they take on New Zealand in the two-match Test series, starting at Basin Reserve in Wellington from Friday.
India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will discuss ways to expand bilateral trade, investments and strengthen cooperation in defence, here on Thursday.

Issue of terrorism and threat of Islamic State terror group are also likely to figure during the meeting between visiting Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces General Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Hyderabad House.

The Crown Prince arrived in New Delhi yesterday evening on a three-day visit to India.

Prime Minister Modi received him at the Air Force Station, Palam calling him a 'close friend'.

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In a tweet, Prime Minister Modi described Sheikh Mohammed as a visionary leader saying his visit will add new vigour and momentum to comprehensive strategic partnership between India and UAE. The Crown Prince is being accompanied by a high-level delegation.

Earlier, Secretary East in the External Affairs Ministry, Anil Wadhwa told reporters that India and UAE have committed to raise their bilateral trade by 60 percent in the next five years.

He said, "The two sides are drawing an action plan to achieve this target. Bilateral trade amounted to 59 billion dollars in 2014-15, making UAE third largest trading partner of India."

"Agreements in various sectors including nuclear energy, oil, IT, aerospace, defence and trade are likely to be inked today after the talks between the visiting dignitary and the Prime Minister at Hyderabad House," he added.
A special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court on Thursday granted permission to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to take voice sample of gangster Chhota Rajan in connection with journalist Jyotirmoy Dey murder case.

Rajan has agreed for the same.

Earlier, the court sought Rajan's reply regarding the CBI's plea to obtain permission to collect the underworld don's voice sample.

Rajan, a former key aide of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, was arrested at the Bali airport in Indonesia on October 25 after he arrived from Australia, and was later deported to India.

He is facing around 70 cases in Maharashtra, which includes the J Dey murder case.

Dey, a veteran crime reporter, was shot dead in Powai by motorcycle-borne shooters on June 11, 2011 allegedly at the command of Rajan.
Kendall Jenner is suing a skin laser company, Cutera, for using her image in an acne advert without her permission.

The 20-year-old model has filed a lawsuit against the skin company for using her picture and name to promote their acne laser treatment, TMZ.com reports.

According to legal documents, the 'Keeping Up With The Kardashians' star would charge at least 10 million dollars for an endorsement deal.

Her attorney Todd Wilson said in a statement, the right to associate Jenner's name and likeness in connection with a product or service belongs solely to her and is protected by Federal and State law.

The ad features a picture of the reality star and claims their treatments improved her skin.

"Acne completely ruined" Kendall Jenner's self-esteem," the ad reads.

However, Kendall claimed that she never did a deal to promote the company, and said that she would charge well for a endorsement.

Interestingly, the reality star has graced the covers of the world's most prestigious fashion magazines, including Vogue, Vogue Paris, Vogue Japan, Vogue Brazil, Harper's Bazaar (shot by Karl Lagerfeld), Allure, GQ, Glamour, Marie Claire, LOVE, Interview, Paper, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Cleo, Garage, Dazed, Raine and BLANK among others.
The Sri Lankan Navy on Thursday apprehended 11 Indian fishermen and seized two trawlers near the Gulf of Mannar.

The fishermen were taken to Thalaimannar for legal action against them.

Since 2015, 21 fishermen from Pudukkottai district have been arrested by Sri Lankan naval personnel for allegedly fishing near the island nation's waters.
New Delhi, Feb.11 (ANI): Maqbool Bhat a resident of Trehgam in Kupwara District of Kashmir was hanged to death in Tihar Jail on 11 February 1984 on charges of committing a double murder.

Bhat entered the political arena of Kashmir with an ideology of Jammu and Kashmir existing as an independent state. To further his political agenda he founded the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) along with his friend, Hashim Qureshi and others.

Being young and impressionable, he came under the devious spell of Pakistan. He and his friends generated anti-India propaganda and committed a number of crimes, including hijacking and murder. They were too young to realise that Pakistan had no love lost for Kashmir or its people; its objective was to use the state as a tool to disintegrate India and seize its rivers.

As Maqbool Bhat spoke more and more about an independent Kashmir, free from both India and Pakistan, he became persona non grata for the Pakistani military establishment. He publicly stated that the military rulers of Pakistan had never supported the peoples' armed struggle in Kashmir for which reason he and his comrades became the target of brutal torture and humiliation. He was forced to flee from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) back to Jammu and Kashmir where he was arrested for his crimes, tried as per law and sentenced to death .

The ensuing events over the years have clearly established the errors in his ideology and the means adopted to fructify the same.

His first mistake was to opt for the path of violence as an instrument to realise his political goals. He also erred by not understanding the benefits that his people would accrue by aligning themselves with democratic tenets of the Indian nation. The biggest mistake, however, was his reliance on Pakistan for support.

Towards the end of his life he realised his mistakes. Sadly, by that time, it was too late for him to make amends.

The folly of Maqbool Bhat's misguided policies dawned on the people of Kashmir; the ideology of moderation and democracy, slowly but steadily, established ascendancy over extremist fundamentalism. A shining example of the change is the enthusiasm with which young boys of Kashmir come forward in thousands for recruitment in the army despite open threats from the militants to stay away from recruitment rallies.

Extremist idealism has made way for an overwhelming urge to enjoy the fruits of democracy in terms of peace, prosperity, progress and development. Hard line political postures are being replaced by political expediency to meet the aspirations of the people for a better quality of life. Separatist organisations like the Hurriyat are facing a potent threat of being politically marginalised.

Unfortunately, the approach adopted by Maqbool Bhat was wrong and he became instrumental in guiding his own family members and a host of young, impressionable and misinformed young boys towards a path which gave them nothing but hardship, disruption and finally death.

Maqbool Bhat's immediate family is fighting a hard battle for survival in POK. His son Showkat Maqbool Bhat is politically active. The family floated a political party, the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKNLF). Later on it was changed to Jammu Kashmir Liberation Council. The party holds regular demonstrations to highlight the glaring human rights violations being faced by the people of POK and Gilgit-Baltistan at the hands of the oppressive Pakistani regime, especially the Pakistan Army.

Showkat has, on many occasions, been arrested in Muzaffarabad in POK for leading peace marches to the UN office to highlight the sad plight of the people of POK and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Showkat has also been speaking against the use of POK for infiltration of terrorists into Kashmir. He highlights the insecurity that the people of POK feel with the barbarian Jihadis roaming across their land as they await their turn for infiltration. Also, the artillery shelling that is carried out to facilitate infiltration elicits a massive response from the Indian side which causes great damage and loss of life and property to the villagers who reside along the Line of Control.

"The fighters (terrorists) are there and they are regularly crossing into India. The local people are very scared - they believe the [terrorist] crossings are going to restart artillery exchanges between the Pakistani and Indian Armies," said Showkat in an interview to BBC.

Maqbool Bhat's old associate, Hashim Qureshi, who hijacked an Indian Airlines Fokker Friendship plane from Srinagar to Lahore in 1971, after 30 years in exile in Holland, returned to India and onwards to Kashmir in 2000 and entered the political arena. He has admitted that the hijacking of the aircraft Ganga was a mistake and has expressed his support for electoral politics with a clearly non-violent agenda.

In his recent interviews Hashim Qureshi has lambasted the Government of Pakistan for its brutal practices in POK. "It is not shocking for me because I've been through the atrocities and the people are still going through them. Pakistan only talks about issues which are prevalent in Indian part of Kashmir. Pakistani security forces are no better than the British colonialists," said Qureshi in an interview. He also praised India for its efforts to obtain and retain Kashmir in a democratic way.

The children of the so called Baba-e-Quam, as the separatist leaders of Kashmir address Maqbool Bhat, are today leading the outcry against what has been done to their homeland by the many Jihadi organisations and the large number of terrorists who form their cadre; by the Pakistan Army and its notorious Inter Services intelligence (ISI) and the apathetic Government of Pakistan.

Those who have made millions by politically exploiting Maqbool Bhat's death have not stopped attempting to do so by reviving his memory to their advantage. However, after achieving their objective they relegate him back to the shadows of his failed cause. They have made no attempt to ameliorate the emotional suffering of the family of their leader for whom they profess undying respect and loyalty.

It is vital for the people of Kashmir to take note of this development and ensure that their young boys do not become prey to Pakistan's vicious propaganda and take the path chosen by Maqbool Bhat which led to his death and plunged his family into the depths of misery for no reason whatsoever.

The views expressed in the above article are that of Col.
Former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf was admitted to hospital in Karachi on Thursday after complaining of sudden chest pain.

Musharraf was rushed to the PNS Shifa where he had been undergoing treatment for the last two years, the Express Tribune reported.

Doctors at the hospital were quoted, saying that they are yet to take a call on whether the former president would remain admitted in the hospital for a few days.

The All Pakistan Muslim League's spokesperson, Aasia Ishaque, confirmed the news of Musharraf's admission to the intensive care unit of the hospital.

Ishaque said doctors have conducted a few tests and would inform the family about medical prognosis.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and three service chiefs paid their last respect to Siachen braveheart Lance Naik Hanamanthappa at Brar Square here on Thursday.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia were also among those who paid their last respects to the Lance Naik.

Hanamanthappa, who was miraculously found alive after remaining buried under huge mass of snow for six days at the Siachen Glacier, passed away at Army's Research and Referral Hospital at 11.45 a.m. today.

Condoling the demise of Lance Naik Hanamanthappa, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju on Thursday assured government's full support to the Siachen braveheart's family.

A medical bulletin released by Army's Research and Referral Hospital earlier today had said that Lance Naik Hanamanthappa, who hailed from Betadur village in Kundagol taluk of Dharwad district, slipped into deep coma despite 'maximal life support with aggressive ventilation and dialysis'.

Lance Naik Hanamanthappa was flown to Delhi on Tuesday morning in a special air ambulance and admitted to the Army's Research and Referral Hospital.
The Delhi Police on Thursday filed a status report in the sexual harassment case filed by a 29-year-old research scholar against then The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) director general Dr. R.K. Pachauri after the victim alleged that the accused was trying to influence the witnesses.

Prashant Mehendiratta, the victim's lawyer, said that he had requested the Delhi High Court to cancel the anticipatory bail of Dr. Pachauri on four basic grounds.

"The first one being that he has been influencing the witnesses. We were able to show by concrete evidence that Mr. Pachauri had called one of the witnesses to the hospital while the anticipatory bail was pending before the sessions court and told him what exactly to go and tell the police, what documents to submit to the police," he told ANI.

"The second issue was he interfered with the investigation when he turned around. In fact, TERI sent photographers to the police station and record through photographs as to what exactly is being told by the officials of TERI to the Delhi Police," he added.

The victim's lawyer further said the third issue was that the Delhi Police has been saying that Teri has not provided the access to the internal servers till date and added that, "those servers which contain crucial evidence of sexual harassment in the form of e-mails. That access the TERI officials have not provided till date."

"The fourth important argument, which has emerged now during the pendency of this anticipatory bail application, is that one person who was the colleague of our client was approached by the directors of TERI and they asked him to ask the complainant, my client, to settle the matter with Dr. Pachauri," he said.

The Delhi Police was asked to submit a status report with regard to the points raised by the victim. According to the status report, the police had interrogated two senior TERI officers - Sanjai Joshi and Reena Singh, who had spoken to the complainant's colleague to settle the matter.

Joshi, who is the Senior Director at TERI, told the police that he talked with the victim's colleague in a 'very casual conversation' during his visit to the work station. He further said that 'it was stated only to save image of organisation before the media'.

Joshi further said that he had never been asked by Dr. Pachauri to talk for the settlement of the matter and added that he had not pressurised anyone.

Singh was also interrogated in her office, where she stated that she never talked about any settlement with the colleague who was giving his own opinion and she was only listening and reacting to his comments. She also added that the comments were made casually.

Reacting to the status report filed, the victim's lawyer said, "He says, he did it to save the image of TERI from the media. That's the sad part. How can you allow that? Tomorrow, in every criminal case, the main accused will not go and ask for settlement. He will send a subordinate to a friend of the complainant, asking him to settle the matter. If that is not direct interference in the investigation, exercising pressure on the complainant then what is?"

On the other hand, Pachauri's lawyer Ashish Dixit looked happy as he said, "They (Delhi Police) have clearly stated in the honourable High Court that there is no allegation on Dr. Pachauri and that there is no evidence to support that Dr. Pachauri has influenced anyone or has asked any of his colleagues to get the matter settled."

Dixit said that the Delhi Police was asked to file a status report on the last date, and added that they have investigated into these allegations.

"After recording these submissions of the prosecutor and of the complainant, the High Court has reserved the order to be pronounced on some given date," he said.

In a recent development in the case, the victim wrote an open letter on Monday reacting to the news that the organisation elevated the alleged perpetrator to the position of vice chairman.

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"Shamelessness abounds!" she wrote, in response to the news about Pachauri's promotion on Monday to executive vice chairman of TERI and his inclusion in the organisation's governing council. "The news of promotion of a man who stands booked on charges of sexual harassment at workplace, stalking and criminal intimidation by country's who's who makes my flesh crawl."

She concluded stating that the case remains and she is determined to see it to its logical conclusion.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday asserted that the revelations made by David Coleman Headley before a Mumbai special court has exposed Pakistan, adding that New Delhi would still prefer cordial relations with Islamabad.

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"I think Pakistan has been exposed. Even then, we would like to have a very cordial relationship with Pakistan," Singh told the media here.

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Deposing from an undisclosed location in the US, Headley had so far told the special court that the ISI was helping different terror outfits in Pakistan and was providing financial, military and moral support.

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Headley, who had conducted recce of the places in Mumbai which were attacked by 10 LeT terrorists on November 26, 2008, also revealed that the outfit had initially planned to attack a conference of Indian defence scientists in Taj Mahal Hotel.

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He also said he had also conducted a recce of the famous Siddhivinayak Temple and Naval Air Station on directions of LeT commanders.
Reacting to 26/11 conspirator David Coleman Headley's statement to a Mumbai special court that Ishrat Jahan was a Lashkar suicide affiliate, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday took indirect potshots at Nitish Kumar for referring to Ishrat Jahan as 'Bihar's daughter' saying the statements must be taken back.

"Those who were doing politics on her name and calling her martyr has got startling revelation today. After the encounter many leaders used to call her innocent and some were calling her Bihar's daughter. Today after Headley's statement those minister who had said it should take back their statements," BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain told ANI here.

Meanwhile, Hussain also said that Headley's revelations have put Islamabad under question.



"What David Headley is saying, India has been saying this for long time. And it has been revealed. Now it is confirmed that Pakistan was fully involved in 26/11. Now Pakistan has to give an answer to this," he added.

He further said that the Pathankot attack was also done by Pakistan but no action has been taken as yet.

"India hopes that Pakistan will take stringent action against those who are involved in the attacks," Hussain said.

The deposition of David Coleman Headley began before a special Mumbai court on Thursday where he is revealing the sequence of events and planning behind the 26/11 terror attacks.

He also named Ishrat Jahan and said she was a Lashkar suicide bomber.
Theatre or real life? This is what Qurban Ali Mirzaee asks himself, whilst sitting in a small flat in West Delhi.

Popularly known as 'Baba Mazari' in Afghanistan, this fifty-one-year old Afghan film maker has more than 100 films in his credit, acted in more than 150 TV serials and directed many plays. He is one of the thousands of refugees scattered across the world from the violent theatre of absurd, called Afghanistan. Ali had to flee with his family in last November after being threatened by Taliban.

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In March last year, a violent mob in the Afghan capital - Kabul, killed Farkhunda Malikzada, a school teacher, after falsely being accused of burning the Quran.

"I was totally disturbed by that killing. I decided to protest" says Qurban Ali.

His theatre group Simorgh ( means fabled bird ) organised a street play depicting the condition of Afghanistan women under Taliban dictate. This provoked Taliban and in July, Qurban Ali was kidnapped, taken to an unknown location and was brutally beaten. Somehow, he managed to escape, but the threat was evident. Not just for him, but for the whole family.

"Leave the country or die" that was the Taliban ultimatum... The Taliban burnt down his house in Behsood district, adjacent to Kabul.

"I can't put my family in danger, I had no option, but to leave. First I thought of going to Iran, because I was in Iran for some time during Taliban Era in 1990s. I lost all documents when Taliban burned down my house "says Ali. With the help of UNHCR, (United Nation High Commission for Refugees) Ali, along with 8 of his family members reached Delhi in November last year.

Delhi has become a refuge for many Afghanis. Rough estimate suggests that there are over 20,000 Afghanis living in Delhi. Due to the absence of job opportunities and social support, most of them are living in miserable conditions.

Ali has no complaints. "I feel peace here. At this age, that is most important for me".

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Ali was in Delhi in 2010 as manager of his theatre group Simorgh to participate in the South Asia Theatre Festival.

The troupe was performing a play called 'Salsal and Shahmam'. The play depicts the tragic story of the demolition of Bamiyan Buddha statues by Taliban. "Demolition of Buddha statues was one of the most painful incidents in my life. After coming to Delhi, whenever I see a huge statues of Hindu Gods, I remember the Buddha of Bamiyan", says Ali

Ali has been a popular performer in Kabul based TV channel, Negah TV. In his play he handled topics related to condition of women in Afghanistan, Taliban insurgency, corruption, suicide bombing etc.

"I am 51-years-old now. I have seen the Russian invasion in Afghanistan, seen their withdrawal, the rise of Taliban in 1990s and their fall. The America's aggressive search for Osama Bin Laden and now their withdrawal. Taliban is waiting on the side curtain now. They will be on the stage soon. Afghanistan is a theatre of absurd... Today, I am also becoming a character in that play," says Ali, sipping Afghan tea from the balcony of a small flat in Tilak Nagar in West Delhi.

Whenever Ali struggled for English words, his daughter in-law, Rehala helped him.

She says, "It is a pain to see him sitting idle. He always wanted to meet people and do something. But see here, he is alone and I don't know how long he will be able to sit like this."

When asked about Pakistan, Ali's reaction was violent. "Pakistan is responsible for what Afghanistan is today. They jointly, with America, created Taliban. Because of Taliban I had to leave the country today... so please don't ask anything about Pakistan."

"In Delhi we can feel peace. We can feel freedom. You don't understand the value of that when you have it. Even in Kabul, suicide bombings have gone up substantially . President Ghani and the CEO Abdullah Abdullah have no sense of direction about which way to govern. Both of them are sitting in the same car and driving in two directions..." Laughs Ali.

After a pause he added "In fact this was the idea for my next play. Even the title was clear - 'One Car, Two Drivers.'

But today, at this age I am standing all alone on a cross road. Don't know which direction to go. At the end, I myself have become a character in my own theatre of life.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former home secretary R.K. Singh on Thursday said his earlier assertion that Ishrat Jahan was a terrorist stands vindicated with 26/11 conspirator David Coleman Headley's revealing before a Special Mumbai Court that she was a LeT operative.

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"This has been my stand all along. I got into this because some IB officers were being prosecuted and as home secretary, I felt that they were wrongly prosecuted because these people were all terrorists," Singh told ANI.

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"Two of these people had come from across the border. She was with them and there was another man, an Indian origin terrorist, with whom she was living. We had no doubt at all that all these people were terrorist. That's why I stood for my officers and said that this was not a fake encounter and all these people were terrorists," he added.

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He also said that some people were playing politics at that time and portrayed Ishrat Jahan as an innocent lady.

The incident had occurred in 2004 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat while Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah was the state Home Minister.

Shah's name had cropped up in the Ishrat Jahan alleged fake encounter case. The CBI, however, in 2014 gave a clean chit to the BJP president citing insufficient evidence. The CBI had submitted that Shah was not named in the FIR.

It was on June 15, 2004, that Ishrat Jahan Raza and three others Pranesh Pillai (alias Javed Gulam Sheikh), Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an encounter by the Ahmedabad Police.

The Gujarat Police stated that Ishrat, along with three other people, had been gunned down near Ahmedabad by a police team belonging to the Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) of the Ahmedabad City Police.

The police claimed that the four were connected with the Lashkar-e-Taiba and had come to Gujarat to assassinate the then chief minister Narendra Modi in order to avenge the communal riots of 2002 which had led to the deaths of numerous Muslims.

A report was submitted by Metropolitan Magistrate S.P. Tamang in the Ahmedabad metropolitan court on September 7, 2009, which said that the four persons were killed in police custody.

The Ahmedabad metropolitan court ruled that Ishrat's killing was a fake encounter. Tamang's report said the Crime Branch police kidnapped Ishrat and the others from Mumbai on June 12, 2004, and brought them to Ahmedabad. Tamang said that there was no evidence to link the victims with the LeT. There was also nothing to indicate that they had come to Gujarat to kill Modi.

The Gujarat Government challenged the report of the metropolitan magistrate, saying that the policemen accused of fake encounter were not given an opportunity to present their side of the arguments. The Gujarat Government's petition in the High Court against Tamang's report said that it should be scrapped as it was 'illegal and doubtful'.

Gujarat High Court stated that Ishrat Jahan's encounter case was of importance and ordered the police witnesses to be posted where they would not be working as subordinates to officials accused in the case.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by Karnail Singh, was set up to probe the case further. The SIT sent four teams to Srinagar, Delhi, Lucknow and Nashik to probe Ishrat's alleged terrorist links.

On November 21, 2011, the SIT told the Gujarat High Court that the Ishrat Jahan encounter was not genuine. After the SIT filed its report, the High Court ordered that a complaint under Indian Penal Code Section 302 (murder) has to be filed against those involved in the fake encounter, in which over 20 policemen, including senior IPS officers, were involved.
David Coleman Headley, one of the prime accused in the 26/11 terror attacks, told a special Mumbai court on Thursday that Ishrat Jahan, the 19-year-old girl who was killed in an alleged 'fake encounter' in 2004, was affiliated to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

This is what happened back in 2004:

- It was on June 15, 2004, that Ishrat Jahan Raza and three others Pranesh Pillai (alias Javed Gulam Sheikh), Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an encounter by the Ahmedabad Police.

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- The Gujarat Police stated that Ishrat, along with three other people, had been gunned down near Ahmedabad by a police team belonging to the Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) of the Ahmedabad City Police.

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- The police claimed that the four were connected with the Lashkar-e-Taiba and had come to Gujarat to assassinate the then chief minister Narendra Modi in order to avenge the communal riots of 2002 which had led to the deaths of numerous Muslims.

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- A report was submitted by Metropolitan Magistrate S.P. Tamang in the Ahmedabad metropolitan court on September 7, 2009, which said that the four persons were killed in police custody.

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- The Ahmedabad metropolitan court ruled that Ishrat's killing was a fake encounter. Tamang's report said the Crime Branch police kidnapped Ishrat and the others from Mumbai on June 12, 2004, and brought them to Ahmedabad. Tamang said that there was no evidence to link the victims with the LeT. There was also nothing to indicate that they had come to Gujarat to kill Modi.

- The Gujarat Government challenged the report of the metropolitan magistrate, saying that the policemen accused of fake encounter were not given an opportunity to present their side of the arguments. The Gujarat Government's petition in the High Court against Tamang's report said that it should be scrapped as it was 'illegal and doubtful'.

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- The Gujarat High Court stated that Ishrat Jahan's encounter case was of importance and ordered the police witnesses to be posted where they would not be working as subordinates to officials accused in the case.

- A Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by Karnail Singh, was set up to probe the case further. The SIT sent four teams to Srinagar, Delhi, Lucknow and Nashik to probe Ishrat's alleged terrorist links.

- On November 21, 2011, the SIT told the Gujarat High Court that the Ishrat Jahan encounter was not genuine. After the SIT filed its report, the High Court ordered that a complaint under Indian Penal Code Section 302 (murder) has to be filed against those involved in the fake encounter, in which over 20 policemen, including senior IPS officers, were involved.

Know Ishrat Jahan and the other three:

- Ishrat Jahan Shamim Raza was a 19-year-old girl, who was a second year Bachelor of Science student at Mumbai's Guru Nanak Khalsa College. Ishrat used to work as the Secretary of Javed Sheikh (Pranesh), and used to handle his accounts.

- Pranesh Pillai alias Javed Gulam Sheikh was the son of Gopinatha Pillai, a native of Noornad in Kerala. Before his death, he had been booked for four assault cases in Mumbai and Pune, and had also been charged with involvement in a fake currency racket. Gujarat Police recovered two passports from Javed: one obtained using his original name Pranesh and the second one in his new name.

- Amjad Ali Rana, also known as Akbar or Salim, was originally a resident of the Haveli Deewan village in the Bhalwal Tehsil of Pakistan. According to the CBI chargesheet, he told the Gujarat Police that he was planning to commit a terrorist act in Ahmedabad.

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- Zeeshan (alias Jisan Johar alias Abdul Ghani), along with Amjad, is said to have been caught in a trespassing case in Srinagar in 2003.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi arrived in her parliamentary constituency Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday on a two-day visit.

The Congress president had last month postponed her visit to Rae Bareli.

Gandhi would be interacting with her party workers and also visit some areas in her parliamentary constituency. She would also be interacting with the local people of her constituency.
Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, who had constructed an illegal ramp outside his bungalow 'Mannat' in Mumbai, had to pay Rs. 1,93,784 as the cost of demolition revealed the reply by the Bombay Municipal Corporation to RTI activist Anil Galgali.

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Galgali had sought information from the municipal administration about the action taken on the illegally constructed RCC ramp outside Khan's bungalow. He sought information about the cost incurred and payment received if any.

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In a reply, Municipal Corporation Assistant Engineer (Inspection) of Bandra West ward informed Galgali that after the order of the Municipal Commissioner a seven days' notice was issued on February 6 to the actor.

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On termination of the notice period, the demolition of the RCC ramp was undertaken by the ward office on February 14 and 15.

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The municipal corporation had issued a demanded notice of Rs 1, 93,784 towards the cost incurred on the demolition of the ramp. They gave seven days' time for the payment of the amount. The actor made the payment through a cheque.
India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will discuss ways to expand bilateral trade, investments and strengthen cooperation in defence, here on Thursday.

The meeting between visiting Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces General Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Hyderabad House will witness talks on rapid and significant growth in economic, political, trade, investment, energy and cultural fields driven by millennia old bonds of friendship, mutual interests and people-to-people close contact.

According to a study by the UAE Ministry of Economy, India is the number one trade partner of the UAE with a relative share of 9.8 percent of the total UAE non-oil trade.

UAE-India bilateral trade continued to grow in strength with Indian exports of goods and commodities expected to surge to USD100 billion and two-way trade exchange to USD160 billion by 2030, making the UAE the largest trade partner to India in the world.

It also ranked first in the UAE's overall exports with a relative share of 14.9 percent and ranked second in the UAE's re-exports to the world accounting for 8.7 percent of the UAE's total re-exports. India also ranked third in the UAE's total imports with a relative share of 9.2 percent.

In terms of the UAE's imports, India is the third largest trade partner of the nation with imports from India touching nearly USD17.4 billion in 2014, a decline of 12.4 percent from 2013. Ten commodities accounted for 67 percent of imports from India during 2014.

The UAE is the largest Arab investor country in India, accounting for 81.2 percent of total Arab investments in India, and is ranked 11th in the world in terms of foreign direct investments in India.

The Small and Medium-sized Enterprises sector (SMEs) is also a promising area for joint cooperation.

The UAE has expressed interest in tapping India's expertise in SMEs to create a vibrant industrial base in the UAE, which could also be of benefit to Indian enterprises.

Narendra Modi's UAE trip produced significant strategic economic and political indicators as India views the UAE as a major economic powerhouse in the Arab World and a favorite market for Indian migrant workers. For its part, the UAE considers its strategic relations with India one of its foreign policies priorities.

The prime minister's visit was of strategic significance in bilateral relations and followed on the heels of growing diplomatic, economic, energy and defence cooperation between the two countries.

From a foreign policy and regional security perspective, the UAE has placed India at the forefront of its international partnerships and recognises the importance of broadening a comprehensive dialogue with India that deepens and diversifies areas of engagement.

Modi's visit to the United Arab Emirates in August 2015 at the invitation of His Highness Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed AI Nahyan, delivered a paradigm shift to the millennia old ties of friendship and cooperation bilateral and marked yet another milestone in the history of both UAE and India.

A Joint India-UAE statement issued at the end of the state visit said that an extensive framework of agreements, including economic, defence, security, law enforcement, culture, consular and people-to-people contacts constituted solid bedrock for elevating bilateral cooperation across the full spectrum of the relationship, and that His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to seize the historic moment of opportunity and shared responsibility to chart a new course in their partnership for the 21st century.
Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam on Monday downplayed Ishrat Jahan's lawyer Vrinda Grover's criticism that David Coleman Headley's version was not evidence as per Indian law as he was given a 'multiple choice question' by a 'Padma Shri' lawyer, saying that he posed the question based on information received from the concerned intelligence agencies.

"You might have noted that when I put this question to David Headley, then I was very clear that how many wings were operating in Lashkar and David Headley had clearly said that there was a women wing, finance wing as well as the overall militant operation wing then I did ask that who was the in-charge of the women wing. So, there was no question at all which would lead David Headley to say a particular answer," Nikam told the media here.



"When he had categorically said that Muzammil Bhat told him and he also said that as to why Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhavi was upset and annoyed by his botched operation. And, therefore, I did ask him how you came to know about that botched operation. Then he told that Muzammil Bhat told me that this had happened. In fact, I did not put any particular name of the woman attacker of LeT and in fact I had given in all fairness various options which I came to know from our investigating officers. And, therefore, I put three, four names; out of which, Headley selected one name," he added.

Nikam further said the NIA has already made investigation in this respect.

"I am not aware as to what David Headley told the NIA. I am only supposed to interrogate David Headley on oath and I had discharged my duty," he added.



Ishrat Jahan's lawyer has said that certain questions have been put to Headley by the prosecutor, which have nothing to do with the 26/11 case.

"I don't know why suddenly these questions were put. They can have a political relevance, but they can have no relevance to 26/11.The public prosecutor in a procedure which is wrong and illegal in law gives a multiple choice question to a witness and says 'now I will give you three names you select one name which will be that female LeT person'," said Grover.

"He gives this three multiple choices and he says 'Noor Begum, Ishrat Jahan and Mumtaz'. He (Headley) selects Ishrat Jahan. This is double hearsay and he is saying I have no personal knowledge," she added.

Throwing light on the Ishrat Jahan case, Grover further said, "We were told that there was an encounter on the outskirts of Ahmedabad in June 2004in which Ishrat Jahan - a young girl from a very poor family of Mumbra was found dead - and we were told that these were terrorists. That matter came up for investigation because her mother said my daughter is not a terrorist and she filed a petition in the Gujarat High Court. The Gujarat High Court after many years of our pursuance they investigated the matter. There was a Special Investigation Team set up by the Gujarat High Court."

"The investigation said this was a fake encounter, these people had been taken into illegal custody by the police, they were detained and then they were killed in cold-blood and the whole thing was a staged encounter. After that the CBI also investigated into it and found that it was a cold-blooded murder. Chargesheets were filed and they are pending in the Gujarat court against senior police officials of Gujarat as well as the IB officers that this was a larger criminal conspiracy," she added.

Grover further said investigation and the witnesses clearly point to political people, who were behind this conspiracy in this case.

"For reasons best known to the CBI, the investigation was abruptly closed and that line of investigation was not taken further," she added.

Ishrat, who was from Mumbra in Mumbai, was shot dead along with three men in Gujarat in 2004 by police officers who claimed that they were terrorists involved in a plot to kill Narendra Modi, then the Chief Minister.
Highly-contagious swine flu virus is refusing to die down in Rajasthan with 25 deaths reported in the state since the start of this year, an official said on Thursday.

"Since the start of this year till February 10, 25 people have died due to swine flu virus in the state. Besides this, 128 others have been found H1N1 positive," a medical and health department official told IANS here.

Maximum of 10 deaths have been reported from Jaipur, while four have died to the H1N1 virus in Ajmer and two in Churu and rest are from other cities.

Out of positive cases, 82 have been reported from Jaipur, 8 from Alwar and 6 from Ajmer while rest of the cases are from other cities.

"We are taking steps to curb the spread of the disease," said the official.

Looking at the spurt in the cases, the state government has directed to have separate out patient departments (OPDS), isolation wards and ICUs in all government-run hospitals for the persons suffering from highly contagious virus.

Hospitals all over the state have also been asked to keep full stock of medicines used for its treatment.

A survey of 50 houses situated near the house where a positive case of swine flu has been reported is also being undertaken.

In 2015, swine flu had hit the state hard as over 6,800 swine flu positive cases were reported in the state in the calendar year and death toll was 468.
A riot in a prison in the northern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon on Thursday left at least 52 prisoners dead, officials said.

At a press conference in state capital Monterrey, Governor Jamie Rodriguez Calderon said the riot erupted between two criminal gangs in the prison complex, Xinhua reported.

The riot left 52 people dead and 12 others injured, including five in critical condition.

A fire broke out inside the prison's storage facility, the governor said, refuting earlier reports that the blaze were set in the prison's area for women and children.

Gangs led by Ivan Hernandez Cantu, alias "El Comandante Credo", and Juan Pedro Salvador Zaldivar, alias "El Z 27" clashed.

Cantu is a leader of the Gulf cartel while Zaldivar is a member of the Zetas cartel.

The violence broke out in the early hours of Thursday, when a large number of prisoners took over parts of the facility, provoking a large-scale response from police.

According to Milenio TV, prisoners used furniture and garbage to set one of the prison's four buildings ablaze, a move likely to be done as a cover to help a group of prisoners escape.

No one has escaped the prison, the governor noted, while admitting that conditions in prisons across Mexico were often beyond the control of the authorities.

Some families of prisoners rushed to the scene for more information, but police cordoned off the streets near the prison. A crowd gathered outside, demanding updates on their loved ones.

"We only want information. We have been here since midnight, we have been asking to speak to the mayor or to anyone who can tell us what happened. We know many people have died, that many have been injured but they tell us nothing," a family member of a prisoner told the media.

"We saw the smoke, we saw the fire, we heard the gunshots and the screaming," he said.

At the press conference, Calderon said none of the bodies have been identified yet.
The AAP is instigating Punjab's people and the Congress will oppose Arvind Kejriwal's visit to Punjab this month if the AAP did not change its agenda for the border state, a Congress parliamentarian said on Thursday.

"Punjab is a very sensitive state and it has already paid a very big price after the emotions of the people were played upon. Kejriwal should not indulge in this kind of at all; otherwise, he will have to pay a big price for it," Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu said in a statement here.

"Kejriwal should not play with fire by inciting public sentiments in Punjab. It is a very dangerous style of indulged in by the AAP."

"The Punjab Congress will not allow Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to visit Punjab if the Aam Aadmi Party does not change its anti-national agenda for Punjab ahead of the next Vidhan Sabha elections,"

"I will lead a protest to stop him along with 35,000 families affected by terrorism in the state in the past. His cavalcade won't be allowed to enter the state," the Congress leader warned.

Kejriwal is scheduled to begin his week-long tour of Punjab on February 20 ahead of assembly polls in February next year.

The Delhi chief minister is expected to meet families of farmers who committed suicide in Punjab in recent years.

Kejriwal addressed a major AAP rally at the Maghi religious fair in Punjab's Bathinda district last month.

Bittu also questioned the "rise in the source of funding of AAP".

"This (funding) also raises serious doubts. The way this party is being funded, it is clear there is involvement of anti-social elements who are sponsoring them from abroad in a big way. Kejriwal should clear his stand on the source of funding," Bittu said.

The AAP is posing a political challenge to the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance and the Congress, which have dominated Punjab's political space in the past few decades.

Earlier, Kejriwal told the media in Delhi that the AAP is set to win the Punjab assembly elections, adding that he expected the Congress to finish a distant second.

"We are winning (in Punjab)," Kejriwal said at his residence in the national capital. "Delhi will be repeated in Punjab."

"The Akalis are in a bad shape," he added.

Kejriwal led the Aam Aadmi Party to a sweeping win in February last year in Delhi, where it secured 67 of the 70 seats.
Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, General Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is on a three-day visit to India, was on Thursday accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here.

"A day of engagements for the crown prince begins with ceremonial honours at the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan," external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup tweeted.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke protocol as he personally received the crown prince on his arrival here.

Modi welcomed Sheikh Mohamed with a warm embrace as the latter alighted from his aircraft at the Palam Technical Area here.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also called on Sheikh Mohamed soon after his arrival on Wednesday.

A slew of agreements, including on defence equipment manufacturing and civil nuclear cooperation, are likely to be signed between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during the crown prince's visit.

After the India-UAE relationship was elevated to comprehensive strategic partnership during Modi's visit to the UAE in August last year, the first by an Indian prime minister in 34 years, there is focus on new areas of cooperation like defence production in India, security, counter-terrorism, in nuclear and space sector, and in the energy sector.

The welfare of the expatriate Indians in the UAE, numbering around 2.6 million, is also likely to come up for discussion.

The crown prince is being accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising cabinet ministers, senior officials and business leaders.

Delegation-level talks between Modi and Sheikh Mohamed are scheduled to be held on Thursday evening following which the agreements will be signed.

On Friday, the crown prince will leave for Mumbai where he will visit the Bombay Stock Exchange and meet Indian business leaders.
New Delhi, Feb 11 (IANS/WAM) Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces General Sheikh Mohmed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Thursday called on Vice President Hamid Ansari on Thursday, the second day of his three-day visit to India.

The crown prince and Ansari discussed friendly ties and cooperation between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and India as well as ways to promote them in order to achieve common interests.

The meeting was held at the residence of the vice president on Maulana Azad Road here.

Prior to this, the crown prince held meetings with President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Earlier on Thursday, the crown prince, who arrived here on Wednesday, was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

He is being accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising cabinet ministers, senior officials and business leaders.

On Friday, he will leave for Mumbai where he will visit the Bombay Stock Exchange and meet Indian business leaders.

--IANS/WAM

ab/dg
Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, General Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is on a three-day visit to India, on Thursday called on President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here.

"Indian hospitality, Arab warmth. President Pranab Mukherjee receives crown prince at Rashtrapati Bhavan," external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup tweeted along with pictures of the two leaders.

Mukherjee hosted a private lunch in honour of the visiting dignitary.

Earlier on Thursday, the crown prince, who arrived here on Wednesday, was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

He then paid floral tributes to Mahatma Gandhi and also held a restricted meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the latter's residence at 7, Race Course Road.

A slew of agreements, including on defence equipment manufacturing and civil nuclear cooperation, are likely to be signed between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during the crown prince's visit.

After the India-UAE relationship was elevated to comprehensive strategic partnership during Modi's visit to the UAE in August last year, the first by an Indian prime minister in 34 years, there is focus on new areas of cooperation like defence production in India, security, counter-terrorism, in nuclear and space sector, and in the energy sector.

During Modi's visit, the Gulf nation committed $75 billion in investments in India's infrastructure.

The welfare of the expatriate Indians in the UAE, numbering around 2.6 million, is also likely to come up for discussion between the two sides.

The crown prince is being accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising cabinet ministers, senior officials and business leaders.

Delegation-level talks between Modi and Sheikh Mohamed are scheduled to be held on Thursday evening following which the agreements will be signed.

On Friday, the crown prince will leave for Mumbai where he will visit the Bombay Stock Exchange and meet Indian business leaders.
Actor Suresh Menon, who has starred in adult comedies like "Grand Masti" and "Mastizaade", feels that such films get better attention amongst the masses and the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) should have different characteristics to certify these type of films.

Interestingly a Delhi-based lawyer Gaurav Gulati filed a complaint against the cast and director of "Mastizaade" on Tuesday at the Adarsh Nagar police station in north Delhi, objecting to a scene in the movie wherein condoms are discussed inside a temple.

However, Suresh feels adults comedies are the ones which grabs viewer's attention faster.

Asked about the trend of sex comedies, Suresh said: "It's very simple, the biggest laughter comes when double meaning jokes are cracked. I feel a lot of films based on this concept work and lot of films don't work, but I think they are here to stay.

"I also feel they should give certification in a different manner for such films."

Suresh, best known for his roles in films like "Phir Hera Pheri", "Partner" and "Bheja Fry 2", feels proud that in a career spanning over a decade, he has been part of all kinds of projects.

"I got upset when senior journalists told me that I have done the same roles so many times. So, I actually went back and checked my track record and I am proud that I have done all kinds of films," Suresh said.

Post "Mastizaade", which was directed by Milap Zaveri and starred Sunny Leone in the lead, Suresh has given the nod to his next film.

"I am not allowed to talk about my next project, but all I can say is that it's a very big film and my role is different from my previous film. I am yet to sign the on dotted line," he said.
Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani said on Thursday that his government will continue to encourage the Taliban groups to join the peace talks and the national reconciliation process.

"The message of the peace is clear. We want peace, but we want peace with dignity, we want peace talks that must be stand on the basis of our constitution and that we want peace that must guarantee the rights of our people," Ghani told a gathering at an Afghan Air Force base here.

The comment coincides with the potential resumption of government-Taliban peace talks and the launch of the fourth round of four-nation meeting of Afghanistan, China, the US and Pakistan on Afghan peace process to be held in Kabul on February 23, reports Xinhua news agency.

The last meeting of the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) was held in Islamabad on February 6. The QCG agreed to set a date for the Afghan peace talks by the end of February.

The first ever direct talks between the representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban were held in Pakistan in July last year but the process was scuttled after the death of Taliban leader Mullah Omar.

"All Afghans want the peace to return to their country but members of opponents who decline to take part in political negotiations would only marginalize themselves, and they will only serve the enemies of the country," the Afghan president added.

Ghani and other leaders have repeatedly offered peace talks with the Taliban. But the insurgent group has rejected the offer, saying there will be no talks until foreign troops leave the country.

The US and NATO-led troops completed their combat mission in Afghanistan by the end of 2014, after 13 years of military presence.

They switched from combat to support mission, which focuses on training, advising and assisting Afghan forces since January last year.

Nearly 13,000 foreign forces are stationed in the country.
The condition of ailing All India Forward Bloc leader Ashok Ghosh has improved although he continues to be critical, doctors said on Thursday.

The 94-year-old Ghosh, the senior-most Left Front leader in West Bengal, was on February 2 rushed to a hospital following lower respiratory tract infection.

"Ghosh... is conscious, haemodynamically stable and obeying commands," the hospital said in a statement, adding that he was on oral feed.

However, he still remains critical, the statement added.

He was taken off ventilatory support on Wednesday.

Ghosh has for decades now been the secretary of the West Bengal unit of the party founded by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
The Austrian government will start deporting rejected asylum seekers via the military transport planes within a month, Defence Minister Hans Peter Doskozil announced.

He made the comments on Wednesday during a visit to a hangar of the planes at Hoersching in the state of Upper Austria, Xinhua news agency reported.

Doskozil said each plane normally carries 92 passengers, though for the purposes of the repatriations it will need to be adapted and its eventual capacity is likely to be smaller.

He noted using the military planes will be "substantially cheaper" than commercial airlines or booking charter flights.

According to officials data, a total of 90,000 asylum seekers registered in Austria last year.

New regulations issued by the Austrian defence ministry will enable the country to use its army to stop refugees intending to transit through Germany. Over 1,000 migrants with forged IDs are being turned around at the Austrian border each week.
The BJP and the Congress on Thursday sparred after terrorist-turned-approver David Coleman Headley's court deposition that Ishrat Jahan -- shot dead in a shootout along with three others in 2004 -- was a Laskhar-e-Taiba operative.

While the Bharatiya Janata Party demanded an apology from Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi, the opposition party questioned attempts to justify the "fake" Ishrat Jahan encounter which it said were "not permissible by law".

Ishrat, a 19-year-old college student, Pranesh Pillai alias Javed Gulam Sheikh, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed on Ahmedabad's outskirts in an alleged shootout with the police on June 15, 2004.

The police claimed that the four were LeT operatives plotting to assassinate the then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi.

"Jahan was an LeT member," Pakistan-American Headley said in his sensational disclosure while deposing before Special TADA Court Judge A. Sanap in Mumbai via video-conferencing from a US jail on Thursday.

Headley said the 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi told him about "a botched up operation in India" of shooting at the police at a check-post in Gujarat.

A LeT woman operative was involved, Headley sais while identifying her as Thane college student Ishrat Jahan, out of the three names -- Noorjehan Begum, Ishrat Jahan and Mumtaz Begum -- given by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.

BJP leader Shrikant Sharma said in Delhi that Sonia and Rahul should tender an apology following Headley's testimony.

"These Congress leaders should apologise to the nation and to the heroes who killed LeT terrorist Ishrat Jahan and her three accomplices," he said.

"Instead of praising the brave policemen, questions were raised on their sincerity and they were put behind bars. Now the mask has come off their faces," Sharma said.

He said the Congress hatched a conspiracy to politicise terror in order to defame the Bharatiya Janata Party and Modi.

On the other hand, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari questioned the attempts to use Headley's testimony to justify the "fake" shootout.

He said if the government wants to investigate further if Jahan and her accomplices were Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives or not, there was nothing which stops it.

"But the fundamental question remains: Whether Ishrat and her accomplices were killed in a fake encounter or not?" Tewari added.

Tewari said even if a person is a terrorist, he needs to be arrested and needs to be brought to justice like parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

"But to try and justify a fake encounter, I am afraid, is something which the law does not permit," the Congress leader said.

Headley's earlier testimony before a National Investigation Agency team in 2011 in the US claimed Jahan was a Lashkar terrorist.
Bonthu Rammohan, a youth leader of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), was on Thursday unanimously elected as the new mayor of Greater Hyderabad.

Baba Fasihuddin, a minority leader of the ruling party, was elected as the deputy mayor.

The two were elected during the first meeting of newly elected Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC). With a huge majority of 99 in 150-member body, TRS bagged both the post of mayor and deputy mayor.

As no other nominations were received for the posts, presiding officer Rahul Bojja announced their unanimous election. Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), which emerged as the second largest party with 44 seats, extended its support to the unanimous election of the mayor and deputy mayor.

Rammohan is the president of the youth wing of TRS. Known as a strong loyalist of TRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, he had actively participated in the Telangana movement. As many as 142 cases were booked against him during the movement and was in jail for four months.

The 42-year-old is the first mayor of Greater Hyderabad in the new state of Telangana. In GHMC elections held on February 2, he was elected as corporator from Cherlapally division.

Interestingly, Rammohan had spent four months in Cherlapally jail. Originally hailing from Warangal district of Telangana, he did LLB from Osmania University in Hyderabad and is currently doing PhD.

He was associated with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) before joining TRS in 2002.

Faishuddin, president of TRS' student wing in Hyderabad, has been elected to GHMC from Borabanda division. The 34-year-old had actively participated in the Telangana movement and was arrested on many occasions.

KCR wanted to have a Muslim as the deputy mayor and he chose Fasihuddin from five Muslim corporators elected on TRS ticket.

TRS scored a landslide victory in GHMC elections. It had no presence in the previous body, whose term ended in 2014.

Congress and MIM had shared power in previous body. Congress had Banda Karthika as mayor for first two years while MIM's Majid Hussain held the post for three years.
Rubbishing a British website's revelations asserting that Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose perished in a plane crash in 1945, author-researcher Anuj Dhar has claimed that even the British and Indian authorities disbelieved the main witness of the alleged crash.

While the theory of Netaji's death in a plane crash is mostly based on accounts given by his aide-de-camp Lt. Col. Habibur Rahman Khan, Dhar citing documents available at the National Archives in New Delhi says both the British and Indian security officials who cross-examined him disbelieved Khan.

"The crash theory is mainly based on the accounts given by Rahman, supported by contradictory statements of a few Japanese. But according to documents, the officials who cross-examined Rahman found several loopholes in his claims and did not buy the crash theory," Dhar, whose 2012 book "India's biggest cover-up" triggered the demand of the declassification of the Netaji files, told IANS.

"IB Deputy Director W. McK Wright who led the probe into Bose's reported death, on March 25, 1946, was informed by Colonel G.D. Anderson, who had supervised Rahman's interrogation at the Red Fort, that even after months, Rahman still adhered to his earlier attitude of ingenuous denial," says Dhar.

"Even if Rahman was in the know of Bose's plans, he would not disclose them. His manner is not very convincing. He talks in a secretive way even if no one is about," reads a hand-written note by interrogating officer Major Hyat Khan to Anderson, that was accessed by Dhar.

Prompted by Anderson's report, a re-interrogation of Rahman was carried out by Capt. Habibullah Malik.

Malik in his report wrote: "Throughout the protracted questioning, resentment was visible from B1269's (Rahman's) face and he made no bones about it."

"The results obtained are far from satisfactory and do not take us much further from the original position," reads the report by Malik.

Dhar says that after Rahman was released, he was questioned at length by ace lawyer and Bose's elder brother Sarat Bose, who then made a public statement that "Rahman had orders from Netaji to come out with a fake story".

Referring to the documents suggesting the authorities disbelief of Rahman as well as the Justice Mukherjee Commission which debunkd the air-crash theory, Dhar questioned the claims made by the London website set up to catalogue the last days of the nationalist leader.

"At a time when the Narendra Modi government has begun the process of declassifying Netaji files and also has been urging foreign governments to follow suit, the motive behind the claims by the website needs to be questioned," asserts Dhar.

Describing the revelations as "trite, hackneyed and even misleading", Dhar along with a section of Bose family members have been questioning the motive of the website which incidentally has been set up by Netaji's grandnephew Ashish Ray.

Citing testimonies of two Japanese doctors and a Taiwanese nurse who treated Bose, his personal interpreter and Habibur Rahman, the www.bosefiles.info. has been ascribing to the plane crash theory.
With its second edition vouching to be bigger and spicier, Asian Hawkers Market II -- a food festival bringing a confluence of South Asian delicacies -- is all set to spice up your Valentine's Day weekend starting on Friday.

The three-day festival will be held at Select CityWalk mall in Saket here.

With cuisines from Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, the market is open to 'Chinjabi' (a fusion of Chinese food with Punjabi style) food lovers as well.

In association with Veeba Food Services Pvt. Ltd, online restaurant booking and food ordering application (app) firm Zomato and Black Dog Sparkling Water, Asian Hawkers Market-II will feature Pa PaYa of Mumbai, promoted by restaurateur Zorawar Kalra, presenting its critically acclaimed dishes for the first time in Delhi.

Delhi-NCR's newest Asian restaurants -- Honk at Pullman-Novotel, New Delhi Aerocity, The Bento Cafe from Ashish Kapur, Dimsum Bros and Yo China will showcase their products for the first time at a food festival.

Vidur Kanodia of Shiv Sagar fame will test-market his forthcoming brand, Hawkers Chowk, and its unique range of Sichuan dosas, Chinese bhel and chilli idlis.

"In the spirit of startups in India, we hail these brands and their promise to make the Delhi-NCR dining scene more exciting than it has already become," Atul Sikand, co-founding partner of the Asian Hawkers Market, said in a statement.

Pan-Asian restaurants like Asia7, Chi The Asian Cookhouse, Fatty Bao, Mamagoto, Berco's, Jade from The Claridges, Joy Luck Moon, Latest Recipe from Le Meridien Gurgaon, Neung Roi from Radisson Blu Plaza, Social, Wow Momo and Yum Yum Cha will also offer their respective cuisines at the fest.

To cater to the sweet-toothed food lovers, Asian Hawkers Market-II will have Sugarama's famous soft-centered pralines and macaroons with unusual flavour combinations with ice creams and frozen desserts from the house of Hokey Pokey.
CPI-M leader P. Jayarajan was on Thursday denied anticipatory bail by the Kerala High Court for the murder of RSS activist Kathirur Manoj, making imminent his arrest by the CBI.

A former legislator of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, the 63-year-old Jayarajan had been refused anticipatory bail thrice by a lower court, following which he approached the high court.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), probing the murder case, vehemently opposed the anticipatory bail plea. High court judge Justice K.T. Shankaran upheld the CBI argument.

The CBI counsel on Thursday said bail must be given as the case was registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Manoj was one of those accused of trying to kill Jayarajan in 1999.

Manoj was in turn attacked by a seven-member gang on September 1, 2014, at Kathirur near Kannur. The assailants first threw a bomb on his vehicle and later hacked him to death.

Jayarajan, who was admitted to a hospital in Kannur after the lower court rejected his anticipatory bail plea last month, was likely to be arrested by the CBI, informed sources said.

The agency has so far arrested 23 people in the case. The CPI-M leader was questioned by the CBI last year but let off.

This is the second setback for Jayarajan and the CPI-M.

Earlier this week, the Kerala High Court ordered a CBI probe into the murder of Abdul Shukoor, an activist of the Indian Union Muslim League in which too Jayarajan is one of the 33 accused.
Leading private sector IndusInd Bank on Thursday said it had followed all regulatory guidelines while conducting a financial transaction for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist-turned-approver David Coleman Headley, but denied it had opened any bank account for him.

"In 2006, the bank, under a money transfer arrangement, duly approved by regulators, handled a few inward remittances under the Money Transfer Service Scheme (MTSS), in the normal course of business, in October-November. As per the regulatory guidelines in force, cash was handed over to David Headley after completing due diligence," the bank said in a statement here.

The bank response came to certain media reports which claimed that payments were made to Headley through the IndusInd Bank's Nariman Point Branch in south Mumbai.

Headley had revealed earlier on Thursday said before Special Tada court judge G A Sanap that he had received terror funds, including counterfeit currency, from various LeT and Pakistani spy agency Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) functionaries.

Since last Monday, he is deposing via videoconference from a US jail before the Special Judge Sanap on his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks and being grilled by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.

The bank asserted that it had obtained the requisite documents including a copy of Headley's passport issued by the US which was valid from March 2006-2016.

Earlier, there investigations by the Indian agencies between 2009-2011 and the bank had produced the KYC documents to them and declared that IndusInd had not opened any bank account in Headley's name or handled any other business for him.
Nepal's bid to import additional 80 MW electricity from India has been short-circuited by the price proposed to be charged by power supply utilities, the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has said.

NEA, the sole state-owned utility for generating and distributing power in the Himalayan country, said different prices quoted by India's National Thermal Power Corporation Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN) and Power Trading Corporation (PTC) to Nepal had hit the whole import process.

It has now sought intervention at the government-level to break the impasse.

Nepal had agreed to import 80 MW power through the newly-installed 400-kV Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur cross-border transmission line from February 16. The transmission line is scheduled to be tested from Saturday.

NEA managing director Mukesh Kafle said PTC was earlier supposed to supply 80 MW electricity at Nepali Rs.5.50 per unit (Indian Rs.3.45), but a demand for Nepali Rs.8.80 per unit (Indian Rs.5.50) had been raised.

"The issue came to the fore after a new power agency was brought on board to supply electricity to Nepal. We are doing our bit to resolve the issue at the earliest," Kafle said.

After NEA's appeal to Indian entities to abide by the earlier proposal on price failed, it has written to India's Power Ministry through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the issue though India was yet to respond to the Nepali request.

"We are sure the government-to-government negotiations will yield positive results," the NEA chief said.

Nepal purchases energy from the PTC at Rs.5.80 per unit on an average. The country is currently importing 200-230 MW electricity from India everyday. The import of additional power will help reduce load-shedding by around two hours daily, which currently is 15 hours.

Kafle said the NEA could not import additional energy until the price-related issue was resolved.

"It is a commercial deal and without clarity on price we simply cannot act," he said, adding that he was optimistic the issue would be resolved soon.

(Anil Giri can be contacted at girianil@gmail.com)
Actor Pulkit Samrat, who is gearing up for the release of filmmaker Divya Khosla Kumar's romantic drama film "Sanam Re", says he does not see any difference between a male or a female director.

Pulkit, who has mainly starred in films directed by male director till now, has been directed by a female director for the first time. He, however, feels that there is no difference between the two genders when it comes to direction.

"I don't see any different between a male or a female director. It's only about being a director and having the full control and do justice to the story," Pulkit told IANS.

"Divya is very prepped up and very passionate about her work. She wrote the characters so strong on paper that it made our job a little easier to depict them onscreen," added the actor, who has starred in films like "Fukrey", "O Teri" and "Bangistan".

"Sanam Re", which is slated to release on Friday, also stars "Vicky Donor" fame actress Yami Gautam.

Sharing his experience of working with the actress, Pulkit said: " She completely forgot us while shooting in the school at Chelsea in Shimla because that was the school where her school used to go for competitions. She definitely relived her childhood days there. She used to tell all her experiences there."

"For preparations we even had to go through each others' school photographs. It was a fun experience."

Apart from them, "Sanam Re" also stars veteran actor Rishi Kapoor and Urvashi Rautela.
Leading global health bodies, including India's Department of Biotechnology under the Ministry of Science and Technology, have committed to share data on the current Zika virus outbreak and future public health emergencies as rapidly and openly as possible, the global charitable organisation Wellcome Trust has said.

A joint declaration has been signed by organisations including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Medecins Sans Frontieres, and the US National Institute of Health, the Britain-based Wellcome Trust said in a statement on Thursday.

It is believed that soon, other such bodies will come on board to strengthen the battle against the Zika outbreak, it added.

"Research is an essential part of the response to any global health emergency. This is particularly true for Zika, where so much is still unknown about the virus, how it is spread and the possible link with microcephaly," said Dr Jeremy Farrar, director of the trust and a signatory to the declaration.

"It's critical that as results become available they are shared rapidly in a way that is equitable, ethical and transparent. This will ensure that the knowledge gained is turned quickly into health interventions that can have an impact on the epidemic," Dr Farrar added.

The joint declaration seeks to make "all content concerning the Zika virus free to access".

"Funder signatories will require researchers undertaking work relevant to public health emergencies to set in place mechanisms to share quality-assured interim and final data as rapidly and widely as possible, including with public health and research communities and the World Health Organisation," it said.

The Zika virus, native to parts of Africa and Asia, has for the first time been introduced into the Americas where it is spreading locally among people who have not travelled abroad.

There is currently no vaccine against the virus or antiviral treatment.

Zika is generally a mild illness, spread by a day-biting mosquito. However, there is a worrisome, but as of yet unproven, association of infected mothers in Brazil giving birth to babies with small heads and underdeveloped brains, said a research letter published in leading British medical journal The Lancet.

There has been a 20-fold increase in the number of babies born with this condition, known as microcephaly, since Zika first appeared in Brazil in May 2015, researchers said.

More than 22 countries in the Americas have reported the sporadic Zika virus infections, indicating its rapid geographic expansion.
Banks in Goa were on Thursday asked to beef up ATM security procedures after police said an international ATM racket has duped about 62 bank account holders of Rs.13 lakh over the last couple of months.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Serafin Dias told IANS that the direction to banks to upgrade their ATM security protocols was given at a meeting with bank managers in the state last week.

The banks were also asked to consider closing down unguarded cash dispensing machines, especially in rural areas.

"We have asked them to upgrade their security protocols and ensure that most ATMs have security guards stationed outside the kiosks. In places where guards are not posted, especially in rural and semi-urban areas, we have advised them to shut down the ATMs for the time being as a precaution," Dias said.

The first reported incident of sophisticated ATM theft occurred in January this year at the local branch of Dena Bank. Since then ATMs belonging to other banks, including ICICI and Axis, have been "skimmed" remotely, police claim, blaming an international racket.

Skimming involves insertion of a slim gadget into the ATM card slot, which memorises the ATM card users account and pin number. The same are then fed into a duplicate ATM card and money is then accessed remotely.

Police are also in the process of scanning through CCTV footage from ATM kiosks which were targeted by the racketeers.

According to Superintendent of Police (Crime) Karthik Kashyap, data collected by some of the banks whose machines have been skimmed, suggests that the money had been withdrawn using the skimmed data from UK and Bulgaria too.

"The ATM card holders are in Goa, but the money was withdrawn from foreign locations. We are investigating the case," Kashyap told reporters here.
A Goa court on Thursday granted conditional bail to 44-year-old chartered accountant Sameer Sardana, the son of a retired major general, arrested for suspected terror links.

On his release, Sardana, who was arrested by the Goa Police Anti-Terror Squad, said freedom was on the decline in India.

Sardana, whose family hails from Uttarakhand, has been asked to surrender his passport and report to the ATS every day for four consecutive days for questioning.

"All I want to say is, I have full faith in the courts. Justice has been served partially today. I am confident I will be fully cleared by the courts. I hope the Indian media keeps track of this so that India remains a free nation. Somewhere down the line the freedom has been lost," Sardana told reporters in South Goa's Vasco town.

He was arrested by the ATS on February 2 from the Vasco railway station, 35 km from Panaji, after railway police reported him for suspicious movement.

Police claimed to have seized five passports, including four which had expired, and several SIM cards. A scan of his laptop by cyber experts also revealed data about previous bomb blasts in Goa.

Police said Sardana had recently converted to Islam and suggested that he could allegedly have undergone radicalisation via internet.

Sardana's counsel S. Joshi claimed that downloading information from the internet was not a crime.

"There is nothing wrong with downloading information. My clients arrest and detetntion are illegal. He has been arrested and then they (police) tried to make out a case justifying the arrest," Joshi said.
This blog will begin with the twentieth century symbols in the Yemen and Turkoman silver jewelry but will drift backward in time to explore the ancestral symbols of Turkmenia in the ancient jade ritual ornamentation of New Stone Age Mongolia, the origin of the Turkmen.
India and the UAE signed seven agreements across various sectors on Thursday, the second day of the three-day visit to India of Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.

"The strength of a multifaceted relationship. The leaders witness the exchange of four agreements across various sectors," external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said after the agreements were exchanged by officials from both sides in the presence of Sheikh Mohamed and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The four agreements cover the fields of cyber security, infrastructure investment, renewable energy and currency swap arrangements, he said.

"Three more agreements have already been exchanged in the fields of insurance, culture and skill development," Swarup stated in another tweet.

An eighth agreement between EXIM Bank of India and Dubai Economic Council will be signed during the crown prince's visit to Mumbai on Friday.

Earlier on Thursday, after being accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan and paying floral tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat here, the crown prince held a restricted meeting with Modi at the latter's 7 Race Course Road here.

"Productive interaction with HH Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Avenues of India-UAE cooperation are immense," Modi later tweeted.

Following this, Sheikh Mohamed called on President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan

During the meeting, Mukherjee expressed "great satisfaction" at the elevation of the relationship between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to a comprehensive strategic partnership.

"Welcoming the crown prince, the president conveyed that India shares UAE's desire for a closer partnership between the two countries," a statement issued by the President's Secretariat said.

Mukherjee said India appreciated the vision of the crown prince's father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and the personal commitment of the crown prince to strengthen bilateral ties with India.

"President said it was a matter of great satisfaction that the two countries have decided to elevate their relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership," the statement said.

Mukherjee said Modi's visit to the UAE in August last year, the first by an Indian prime minister in 34 years, has resulted in increasing mutual understanding and bonds of friendship between the two nations.

"The joint statement issued during that visit reflects the desire to intensify cooperation between the two countries in a wide range of sectors - political, economic, security as well as on regional and multilateral issues," he said.

Mukherjee also expressed happiness over the establishment of good institutional mechanisms including a joint commission between India and the UAE and said close collaboration through these institutional dialogues and mechanisms would address pending issues and progress cooperation to the desired levels.

"The president said during the prime minister's visit to the UAE, the two countries had agreed that investment institutions in the UAE would be encouraged to invest in India's infrastructure, including through the India-UAE Infrastructure Investment Fund and a target of $75 billion is set for the same. India looks forward to working together with UAE to achieve this," the statement said.

The crown prince warmly reciprocated the president's views and expressed his desire to create a strong bridge of friendship and cooperation between India and the UAE.

"Although our relationship have crossed many milestones, that doesn't stop us from opening new horizons for this relationship to grow and prosper," WAM news agency quoted Sheikh Mohamed as saying.

"We expect all the mutual groups between the two countries to meet the desire of the leaderships of the two nations by working on creating new opportunities for economic, developmental and cultural partnerships," he said.

Sheikh Mohamed was accompanied in the visit by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, crown prince of Dubai, Lt. Gen. Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE's deputy prime minister and minister of the interior, and Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, chief of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince's Court among others.

Mukherjee hosted a private lunch in honour of the visiting dignitary which was attended by Prime Minister Modi, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, other dignitaries from India and the UAE as well as business leaders.

The crown prince later also met Vice President Hamid Ansari at the latter's residence here during which the two leaders discussed friendly ties and cooperation between the UAE and India as well as ways to promote them in order to achieve common interests.

The UAE is home to around 2.6 million expatriate Indians, 60 percent of whom are blue collar workers.
Star shooter Gagan Narang added the one international multi-sport medal missing from his cabinet as Indians went on to sweep all five golds on offer on the second day of the shooting competition at the 12th South Asian Games (SAG) here on Thursday.

Gagan struck gold along with Chain Singh and Surendra Singh Rathod in the team event of the men's 50m Rifle. But the Olympic medallist was upstaged by Chain Singh in the individual competition of the same event and had to settle for silver. Chain shot 204.6 points to Gagan's 203.7 in the final while Umar Siddique of Pakistan shot 182.2 to take the bronze.

In the 50m Rifle Prone team event, Chain, Gagan and Rathod shot a combined total of 1871.5 to win gold. Pakistan got the silver with a team total of 1838.2 while Sri lanka landed the bronze with 1825.7.

The third gold for India came through old warhorse Samaresh Jung who shot 580 in the men's Centre Fire Pistol to edge out another Indian veteran Pemba Tamang who scored 579. Olympic silver medalist Vijay Kumar made it a clean sweep for India by bagging the bronze with a score of 577.

In the final event of the day, the women's 50m Rifle Prone, the Indian team comprising Kuheli Gangulee, Lajja Gauswami and Anuja Jung shot a combined score of 1835.6 to win the gold ahead of Pakistan who managed a total of 1805.4. Sri Lanka took the bronze with a score of 1801.8.

Kuheli won the fifth gold of the day for India when she triumphed in the individual competition of the women's 50m Rifle Prone. She shot 619.9 to lead yet another clean sweep for India with Lajja bagging silver with 608.2 and Anuja the bronze with a score of 607.5.

With this performance, India's medals tally from shooting has gone up to 17 with eight gold, six silver and three bronze medals in their kitty.
Hafar Al-Batin, Feb 11 (IANS/AKI) An Iraqi national was put to death in Saudi Arabia for murdering a man from the United Arab Emirates, the interior ministry said.

In a statement quoted by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, the ministry said Wesam Abdulredha Hassan Al-Mahsanawi was executed in Hafr Al-Baten in the Eastern Province for shooting Mohammed bin Mubarak bin Saeed Al-Ameri dead with a machine gun and stealing his car.

A royal order was issued to execute Mahsanawi after Saudi Arabia's supreme court upheld the death sentence handed to him by an appeals court and a lower court, SPA said.

Saudi authorities have executed at least 57 people this year.

They put 47 people to death for "terrorism" on a single day in January including influential Shia cleric and political dissident Nimr al-Nimr.

Saudi Arabia executed at least 151 people between January and November last year, its highest recorded number of executions in two decades, according to Amnesty International.

Murder, drug trafficking, armed robbery, rape and apostasy are all punishable by death under the kingdom's strict Islamic legal code.

--IANS/AKI

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Rome, Feb 11 (IANS/AKI) The Islamic State jihadi group will lose against the international military coalition of countries fighting against it and will be defeated culturally, economically and diplomatically, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has said.

"The unscrupulous terrorists of IS must know they will lose their battle," Renzi told journalists in Rome on Wednesday after a meeting with his Iraqi counterpart Haider al-Abadi.

"Iraq and with Iraq the whole international community will overcome this challenge, not only through the international coalition but also culturally, economic and diplomatically," he said.

The international coalition is driving back IS and recapturing territory from the group and Italy is one of the countries leading the battle against it with over 700 security personnel deployed, Renzi noted.

More than Italian 100 paramilitary Carabinieri police officers are training police in Iraq, he said.

Abadi said Iraq aimed to defeat IS in Iraq "by the end of the year" calling for a "political solution" in his country and in neighbouring war-wracked Syria.

He thanked Italy for its support to the Iraqi government and urged Trevi, the Italian company that recently won a tender to undertake key repair work on Mosul's dam to "accelerate its arrival".

Rising water levels in spring, when the Tigris river is swollen by rain and melting snow could lead to the breach of the 3.6 km-long dam which was recaptured from the IS by Iraqi and Kurdish forces in 2014.

--IANS/AKI

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The controversial Ishrat Jahan shootout, which once sent current BJP president Amit Shah to jail for months, is back to cause ripples in India's political landscape after David Coleman Headley, a Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operative, on Thursday named her a member of the terror group.

Controversy has shrouded the action on the June 15, 2004 by a police team led by DIG D.G. Vanjara, amid claims and counter-claims about its authenticity. At least two investigations -- one by a metropolitan magistrate and the other by a court ordered special investigation team -- indicated that the shootout was staged and Ishrat had no terror links. She was alleged to have been killed in cold-blood.

Shah, was then Gujarat's home minister. He had to resign in the aftermath of the case. He was jailed for a few months before being given bail and was asked to live outside Gujarat.

Jahan, a 19-year-old college student, and her three associates, Pranesh Pillai also known as Javed Gulam Sheikh, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar, were killed near Ahmedabad in an alleged shootout with the police.

The Ahmedabad police claimed that the slain persons were Lashkar's suicide bombers and were in the city to kill Narendra Modi, the then chief minister. The police also claimed that the suspected terrorists were plotting to avenge the 2002 Gujarat communal riots, in which hundreds of Muslims were killed.

Months later, on September 7, 2009, metropolitan magistrate S.P. Tamang submitted a report in an Ahmedabad court saying that the four had earlier been arrested and killed in police custody. Tamang picked holes in the police theory citing a forensic report that showed the suspected terrorists were shot from a very close distance and at different times of the day.

Tamang's report said that there was no evidence to link them to the Lashkar militant group and nothing that indicated that they had planned to assassinate Modi. On the basis of Tamang's findings, the Ahmedabad court ruled it to be a staged shootout.

The government challenged the decision in the high court, terming Tamang's report "illegal and doubtful" because, the government said, it didn't have the response of 20 policemen, including senior IPS officers, involved in the shooting.

The Gujarat high court tasked a Special Investigation Team to probe the case further. The probe panel submitted its report on November 21, 2011 that the shootout was staged. The high court ordered murder charges to be framed against those involved.

However, in June 2013, an Intelligence Bureau report which appeared in the media told the PMO and the home ministry that the agency had enough evidence to prove that Ishrat was part of an LeT module which planned to kill Modi.

In 2004, a Central Bureau of Investigation report also denied that Amit Shah had any role in the shootout.

Headley's earlier testimony before a team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) came in 2011 when he reportedly told Indian investigators who had gone to the US that Jahan was a Lashkar terrorist. And on Thursday he repeated the assertion via video from the US before a Mumbai court that she indeed worked for the terror group that operates from Pakistan.

(Sarwar Kashani can be contacted at sarwar.k@ians.in)
Pakistani-American terrorist-turned-approver David Coleman Headley on Thursday said Thane collegian Ishrat Jahan, shot dead in an alleged shootout with police in 2004, was a Lashkar-e-Taiba member and hinted that she could be a potential suicide bomber.

"Jahan was an LeT member," Headley said in his sensational disclosure while deposing before Special TADA Court Judge A. Sanap via video-conferencing from a US jail.

Headley said the 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi told him about "a botched up operation in India" of shooting at the police at a check-post in Gujarat.

A LeT woman operative was involved, said Headley identifying her as Thane college student Ishrat Jahan, out of the three names -- Noorjehan Begum, Ishrat Jahan and Mumtaz Begum -- given by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.

Muzammil Bhatt was the head of their group before Sajid Mir took over, Headley said, replying to questions by Nikam.

The revelation came when Nikam asked whether there was a women's wing of the LeT to which Headley replied in the positive and said its female head (whose name he did not know) was the mother of an LeT operative Abu Aiman.

Reacting to the deposition, former Gurjarat Deputy Inspector General of Police D.G. Vanzara told media persons that Headley's testimony on Ishrat is "very important" and proved his contention it was "a genuine encounter (shootout)".

"She was from the LeT and the Gujarat Police knew it in 2004. She was a LeT suicide bomber; it has been told in the open court," said the 62-year-old IPS officer who is facing allegations of 'extra-judicial' killings in the case.

On June 15, 2004, Ishrat Jahan and three persons accompanying her - Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Zeeshan Johar and Amjad Ali Rana - were shot dead on a road near Kotarpur on Ahmedabad's outskirts.

The police team was led by Vanzara, who was later jailed for his alleged involvement in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case.

The police then claimed that Ishrat and her associates were LeT operatives plotting to assassinate the then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi.

Subsequently, investigations revealed in 2009 that the Ishrat shootout case was staged.
Israeli military forces on Thursday demolished 42 structures in the West Bank's Northern Valleys that were donated by the European Union, a media report said.

Mu'taz Bisharat, a government official in Tubas city, told Xinhua that the demolitions included "barns, solar panels and mobile sanitary facilities donated by the European Union (EU)".

Bisharat accused Israel of "carrying out a vicious demolition attack" in the Northern Valleys aimed at forceful evacuation of Palestinians.

He said 250 similar demolitions have taken place in the same area this year.

The EU Commission in Jerusalem told Xinhua that the organisation demands Israel stop its policy to demolish EU-sponsored projects for Palestinians, noting that they were either humanitarian aid projects or development projects.
Villabate, Feb 11 (IANS/AKI) A 54-year-old Sicilian man committed suicide by setting himself on fire inside his car after he lost his job.

Ferdinando Bosco's daughter Federica rushed to the square in Villabate town, where her father usually parked, after he sent her a text message saying "Forgive me", but his car was already ablaze on Wednesday.

Firemen feared the burning vehicle would explode and refused to allow Federica to approach it.

Police later recovered a petrol canister from inside the burned out car, reports said.

Bosco was fired last week by the haulers he worked for transporting fruit and vegetables and had recently separated from his wife.

He was "extremely close" to his daughter and sank into depression after losing his job, distraught relatives were quoted as saying by local daily Il Giornale della Sicilia.

"Condolences to the family. Such tragedies have sadly touched many Sicilians who find themselves from one day to the next without a job, forcing their families to live below the poverty line," Palermo's mayor Leoluca Orlando said in a statement.

--IANS/AKI

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Hundreds of people gathered at the house of Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad at Betadur village near here on Thursday night to mourn his tragic death at an army hospital in New Delhi earlier in the day.

When Koppad's mortal remains were brought on road from Hubbali airport around midnight, wrapped in a casket and draped in tri-colour, his extended family plunged into grief even as his brother and close relatives broke down.

The 33-year-old brave-heart lost the battle for life three days after he was rescued from a Siachen glacier at the world's highest and coldest battlefield where he was buried under 35 feet in ice for six days after an avalanche struck his camp on February 3.

State chief minister Siddaramaiah, opposition leader Jagadish Shettar and many dignitaries were present at the airport when an IAF AN-32 aircraft landed with Koppad's body at 10.30 p.m.

After laying wreaths and paying floral tributes, Siddaramaiah consoled Koppada's widow Mahadevi, mother Basavva, two-year-old daughter Netra and brother Govindappa, who accompanied the body from Delhi.

"Besides an ex-gratia amount, the state government will give Koppad's family farm land, a residential plot at Hubbali for building a house and a government job to his widow," Siddaramaiah told reporters at the airport, about 410-km from Bengaluru.

The state government will also pay hefty compensation to families of two other soldiers from the state-Sepoy Mahesha from Mysuru district and Subedar Nagesha from Hassan district who perished in the tragic mishap atop Siachen along with seven others last week.

"We are pained because we thought he will recover in one or two days and come back. We prayed to all gods but in vain. His family is shattered," Koppad's neighbour Manjunath told reporters, weeping inconsolably.

When news of Koppad's death reached his village on Thursday afternoon, many people also felt proud that he was martyred in the mountains while serving the country.

"Koppad will be laid to rest on Friday afternoon with full state honours, including 21-gun salute in the presence of army personnel and state reserved police.

Koppad belonged to the 19th battalion of Madras Regiment, which he joined 13 years ago after failing to get through into the army on three occasions in past.

Koppad was posted on the Siachen glacier since August 2015 and deployed at one of the highest posts (Sonam) facing Pakistan and where temperatures plunge to minus 40 degrees Celsius and winds blow up to 100-km per hour.

The 10 soldiers buried alive were maintaining the world's highest helipad in the area, which brought supplies for soldiers on the Siachen glacier.

While nine soldiers, including one junior commissioned officer, died, Koppad was the only one who survived for six days buried under tonnes of snow.
The Karnataka government is arranging a plane to fly the body of Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad from Delhi to Dharwad along with his family members, an official said on Thursday.

"The chartered aircraft will fly to Panjim (in Goa) or Hubbali by evening for taking it to (his native place) Betadur near Dharwad," the official told IANS here.

The 33-year-old soldier breathed his last at an army hospital in Delhi after battling for life for three days.

Koppad was miraculously rescued from the Siachen glacier where he was buried for under 35 feet of ice after an avalanche hit an army patrol on February 3.

Koppad's family members, including wife Mahadevi, mother Basavva, two-year-old daughter Netra and brother Govindappa, will accompany the body in the plane.

The last rites will be done on Friday with full state honours, the official said.

Meanwhile, a pall of gloom descended on the village near Dharward, about 430 km from here where Koppad's family lives.

Police made elaborate arrangements to regulate crowds as people in large numbers gathered at his house.

Koppad belonged to the 19th battalion of Madras Regiment, which he joined 13 years ago.

Koppad remained buried under 35 feet of ice for five nights before he was rescued in the Siachen glacier. He was brought to Delhi on February 9 and died early on Thursday.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi expressed shock and grief at the death on Thursday of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad, noting he had fought till the last.

"I express deep shock and profound grief the death of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. During his life, the braveheart son of India united the entire nation in praying for him and has every citizen grieving for him today. He fought till his last displaying utmost valour, courage and determination, which is the hallmark of our armed forces," she said in a statement.

Gandhi also extended her sympathies to Hanamanthappa's family and loved ones.

Koppad, who was rescued alive after being buried under snow for six days in the world's highest battlefield, the Siachen glacier, died of multi-organ failure at an army hospital here.
Daring, highly motivated and one who was always ready to stare death in the face, not flinching a bit. That was Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad, the doughty soldier who survived for six days under tonnes of snow at the Siachen Glacier, but finally lost the battle for life on Thursday at an army hospital in Delhi.

Aged just 33 and extremely physically fit, Koppad volunteered more than once for postings in inhospitable and difficult areas, serving in these areas for 10 years out of his 13-year-long army career.

At a personal level, Koppad was an ever-smiling person who shared cordial relations with his army colleagues and subordinates.

A resident of Betadur village in Dharwad district of Karnataka, Koppad enlisted in the Madras Regiment's 19th Battalion on October 25, 2002.

He was deployed in Mahore in Jammu and Kashmir from 2003 to 2006, where he was actively involved in counter-insurgency operations.

He again volunteered to serve the 54 Rashtriya Rifles (MADRAS) in Jammu and Kashmir from 2008 to 2010, where he displayed indomitable courage and gallantry in fighting terrorists.

The lance naik also volunteered to serve in the northeast from 2010 to 2012, where he actively participated in successful operations against the National Democratic Front of Bodoland and United Liberation Front of Assam.

Koppad was posted on the Siachen Glacier from August 2015. He was deployed on one of the highest posts where temperatures can plummet well below minus 40 degrees Celsius and winds of up to 100 km per hour batter the frozen landscape and army men deployed there.

He along with his team members were deployed at the army's Sonam Post - the highest permanently manned post in the world - when an avalanche engulfed their camp on February 3.

The 10 soldiers buried alive were maintaining the world's highest helipad in the area, which brought supplies for soldiers on the Siachen Glacier.

While nine soldiers, including one Junior Commissioned Officer, died, Koppad was the only one who cheated death, at least for a few days more than his colleagues.

The nine soldiers who died in the avalanche are Subedar Nagesha TT of village Tejur, Hassan district, Karnataka; Havaldar Elum Alai M. of village Dukkam Parai, Vellore district, Tamil Nadu; Lance Havildar S. Kumar of village Kumanan Thozhu, Teni district, Tamil Nadu; Lance Naik Sudheesh B. of village Monroethuruth, Kollam district, Kerala; Sepoy Mahesha P.N. of village HD Kote, Mysore district, Karnataka; Sepoy Ganesan G. of village Chokkathevan Patti, Madurai district, Tamil Nadu; Sepoy Rama Moorthy N. of village Gudisa tana Palli, Krishna Giri district, Tamil Nadu; Sepoy Mustaq Ahmed S. of village Parnapalle, Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh; and Sepoy (Nursing Assistant) Suryawanshi S.V. of village Maskarwadi, Satara district, Maharashtra.
Maharashtra Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao has appreciated actresses Juhi Chawla and Shabana Azmi-starrer drama movie "Chalk N Duster", calling it a "thought-provoking film".

Juhi, who plays the role of a teacher in the Jayant Gilatar-directorial, which released on January 15, had earlier requested Rao to watch a film.

The "Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak" actress on Thursday shared an image of a letter from Rao on Twitter.

The letter read: "'Chalk N Duster' is a remarkable film and I enjoyed watching it from the start to end. Truly, a thought-provoking film.

"There are many good teachers in society doing their job silently, diligently and efficiently, without expecting any reward or recognition, It is necessary that society realises their worth and stands by them when needed.

"I congratulate the producer, director, cast and crew of the film for the brilliant execution of the work and thank you for inviting me to watch the film."

Juhi captioned the image: "I am going to preserve this letter... So very happy and encouraged."

"Chalk N Duster", which deals with how commercialisation affects the education system in today's society, also stars Zarina Wahab, Richa Chadha, Divya Dutta, Samir Soni, and Jackie Shroff, among others.

For its social-awakening concept, the film received tax-free tag in Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar during its release.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday paid homage to Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad, who was dug out alive after being buried under ice for six days in the Siachen glacier.

The soldier breathed his last at Delhi's Army Research and Referral Hospital where he battled for life for two days. He died at 11.45 a.m on Thursday.

"Saddened by news of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. Brave soldier gave supreme sacrifice for the nation. Salute to him & his colleagues who died," Banerjee tweeted.
Nepal's Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli on Thursday asserted that he will not compromise with India against interest during his visit to the southern neighbour later this month.

"I will make sure that Nepal's sovereignty, independence, freedom, geographical integrity, self-respect and dignity are not adversely affected," affirmed Oli who, according to officials here, is scheduled to begin his maiden visit to India from February 19.

Oli, who is considered relatively soft towards India among the Communist leaders in the Himalayan nation, has been criticising India vehemently since he became the prime minister in October last year.



The reason for Oli spewing vitriol against India immediately after assuming office was possibly due to his facing hard days due to an anti-Constitution agitation by Madhesi parties in the southern Terai plains. The protest also led to blockading of key Nepal-India border points resulting in acute scarcity of essentials in the landlocked Himalayan nation.

Oli has also been asked by some organisations to talk to India about revising the "unequal" 1950 India-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship, to which Oli has responded that he will work for the welfare of the country.

Many leaders, however, have asked Oli to look at the bilateral relationship in its totality.

"This is not the right time for the prime minister to raise issues like amending of treaties or other controversial pending issues like the boundary row with India," said Rajan Bhattarai, a parliamentarian from Oli's party CPN-UML.

Bhattarai is also a member of the Eminent Persons' Group formed by the Nepal government to look into the totality of bilateral agreed to during the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in August 2014.

According to Bhattarai, during the visit, political issues, and strengthening of bilateral ties should be discussed at a time when Nepal-India ties have plunged to a new low.

Oli is likely to discuss strengthening cooperation in trade, tourism, as well as seek Indian investment, and implementation of past accords and various projects undertaken by India.

He will also discuss utilisation of the $1 billion line of credit announced by Modi in various infrastructure-related projects and another $1 billion aid and loan pledged by India for Nepal's reconstruction after the earthquake.

Foreign affairs expert Nischal Nath Pandey said it was "better to have implement the past understanding and commitment rather than carrying new wish list".

Maximum utilisation of the Indian line of credit, construction of the Nepal-India petroleum pipeline, expediting sub-regional cooperation under the Saarc framework, and construction of airports and mega-infrastructure should be the focus of the prime minister's visit, said Pandey.
Union Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Thursday assured that he will positively consider the demand of the Odisha government to provide more rice instead of wheat under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).

After holding a meeting with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik over NFSA implementation, Paswan said demands of the state regarding allocation of more rice instead of wheat would be considered positively.

He said Odisha also demanded supply of rice to inmates of SC/ST hostels at discounted rate.

The minister said he has received complaints regarding ration card irregularities in Odisha and assured to look into it.

Patnaik said Odisha was getting 1.43 lakh tonnes of rice and 26,000 tonnes of wheat on a 86:14 ratio before the implementation of NFSA in the state.

But, the state was now getting 1.27 lakh tonnes of rice and 34,000 tonnes of wheat after the implementation of the Act.

Informing Paswan that people of the state prefer rice to wheat, Patnaik urged the minister to allocate rice and wheat at the earlier ratio to the state.

The chief minister also urged to provide subsidised rice to 4.8 lakh inmates of SC/ST hostels.

Earlier, Patnaik had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Paswan demanding more rice and decrease in the wheat allocation for the state.
Pope Francis held talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi at the Vatican which centred on the rights of Christians and ethnic minorities in the Middle Eastern country, inter-faith dialogue and national reconciliation.

An official statement called the talks on Wednesday "cordial" and said Francis and Abadi referred during their meeting to the "good state" of bilateral relations between Iraq and the Holy See.

Francis and Abadi discussed the role of inter-religious dialogue and the need for religious communities to promote tolerance and peace, focussing on Iraq's ongoing reconciliation process and the national and regional humanitarian situation, the statement said.

Abadi, a Shia Muslim, met Francis in his study at the Vatican's Paul VI Audience Hall and later the Vatican's second-in-command, secretary of state, Pietro Parolin and its secretary for relations with states, Paul Gallagher.

After Italy, Al-Abadi will head to Germany to attend the annual Munich Security Conference on global security issues taking place from Friday-Sunday.

--IANS/AKI

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President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday expressed "great satisfaction" at the elevation of the relationship between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to a comprehensive strategic partnership.

The president's remarks came when Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of UAE Armed Forces General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is on a three-day visit to India, called on him at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here.

"Welcoming the crown prince, the president conveyed that India shares UAE's desire for a closer partnership between the two countries," a statement issued by the President's Secretariat said.

Mukherjee said India appreciated the vision of the crown prince's father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and the personal commitment of the crown prince to strengthen bilateral ties with India.

"President said it was a matter of great satisfaction that the two countries have decided to elevate their relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership," the statement said.

Mukherjee said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the UAE in August last year, the first by an Indian prime minister in 34 years, has resulted in increasing mutual understanding and bonds of friendship between the two nations.

"The joint statement issued during that visit reflects the desire to intensify cooperation between the two countries in a wide range of sectors - political, economic, security as well as on regional and multilateral issues," he said.

Mukherjee also expressed happiness over the establishment of good institutional mechanisms including a joint commission between India and the UAE and said close collaboration through these institutional dialogues and mechanisms would address pending issues and progress cooperation to the desired levels.

Stating that India attached high priority to enhancing bilateral investment ties with the UAE, Mukherjee said that through bilateral trade ties between the two countries were growing satisfactorily, UAE investment in FDI in India - of about $3 billion - is far below the existing opportunities and potential.

"The president said during the prime minister's visit to the UAE, the two countries had agreed that investment institutions in the UAE would be encouraged to invest in India's infrastructure, including through the India-UAE Infrastructure Investment Fund and a target of $75 billion is set for the same. India looks forward to working together with UAE to achieve this," the statement said.

Warmly recollecting his meeting with the crown prince in May 2008 during his visit to the UAE as the then external affairs minister, Mukherjee presented the visiting dignitary a historical photograph of him calling on Sheikh Zayed during the latter's visit to New Delhi in 1975.

The crown prince warmly reciprocated the president's views and expressed his desire to create a strong bridge of friendship and cooperation between India and the UAE.

"Although our relationship have crossed many milestones, that doesn't stop us from opening new horizons for this relationship to grow and prosper," WAM news agency quoted Sheikh Mohamed as saying.

"We expect all the mutual groups between the two countries to meet the desire of the leaderships of the two nations by working on creating new opportunities for economic, developmental and cultural partnerships," he said.

The two sides also discussed regional and international developments and exchanged views on issues of mutual interest.

Sheikh Mohamed was accompanied in the visit by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, crown prince of Dubai, Lt. Gen. Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE's deputy prime minister and minister of the interior, and Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, chief of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince's Court among others.

Mukherjee hosted a private lunch in honour of the crown prince of Abu Dhabi which was attended by Prime Minister Modi, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, other dignitaries from India and the UAE as well as business leaders.

Earlier on Thursday, the crown prince, who arrived here on Wednesday, was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

He then paid floral tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat and also held a restricted meeting with Modi at the latter's residence at 7, Race Course Road.

Delegation-level talks between Modi and Sheikh Mohamed are scheduled to be held on Thursday evening following which a number of agreements are expected to be signed.
Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Salaheddine Mezouar said on Wednesday that his country supports Saudi Arabia against any interference in its internal affairs.

"We reiterate our full support of Saudi Arabia against any interference in its internal affairs," Xinhua quoted Mezouar as saying during a joint press conference with his Saudi counterpart Adel bin Ahmad Al-Jubeir.

Mezouar said Morocco also stands with Saudi Arabia against the growing threats that undermine peace and stability in the Gulf region, and "firmly rejects any use of sectarianism as a tactic to interfere in Gulf countries' affairs".

For his part, Al-Jubeir stressed that Saudi Arabia's policy is "clear and constant," adding that it is based on respect of the principles of good neighborliness and building bridges of cooperation with many countries of the world with non-interference in each other's internal affairs.

Regarding the Syrian crisis, the Saudi minister said Geneva talks "have failed because of the Russian intransigence," revealing that he discussed with his Moroccan counterpart the possibilities of participation of ground troops in Syria.
Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad, who was rescued alive after being buried under snow for six days in the world's highest battlefield, the Siachen glacier, died on Thursday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: "Proud that martyrs like you served India."

Lance Naik Koppad, 33, was flown down to the Army Hospital (Research and Referral), where he battled for life for two days.

He died at 11.45 a.m. on Thursday, plunging his earnestly-praying family into gloom.

A doctor told IANS the soldier died of multi-organ failure.

The soldier's last rites will be performed at his home town in Karnataka, said an army spokesperson. He hailed from Betadur village in Dharwad district.

Koppad was found from under 35 feet of snow and hardened ice at an avalanche-hit army post in the Siachen glacier in Jammu and Kashmir -- six days after an enormous snow wall came crashing down with a massive roar on the post he and nine other soldiers were occupying.

The bodies of the other nine have been found.

Lance Naik Koppad's death was condoled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and the army chief, General Dalbir Singh.

Modi tweeted: "He leaves us sad & devastated. RIP Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. The soldier in you remains immortal. Proud that martyrs like you served India."

Parrikar offered condolences to his family and said: "The nation salutes him."

General Dalbir Singh said: "The soldier in him will continue to inspire generations."

Bollywood celebrities too offered their condolences.

Millions across the country had prayed that he recovers. But, that was not to be.

The soldier's health took a turn for the worse early Thursday.

Doctors in the morning said that he was extremely critical, with worsening multi-organ dysfunction.

Lance Naik Koppad suffered from pneumonia which had worsened and the blood clotting disorder showed no sign of reversal despite blood component support.

Koppad's family, including his wife, were staying in the hospital complex. He is survived by a two-year-old daughter.

The soldier was serving in the high altitude Siachen glacier from August 2015 and was chosen for deployment on one of the highest posts, encountering temperatures well below minus 40 degrees Celsius and winds up to 100 km per hour.

He, along with other soldiers, was at Indian Army's Sonam Post -- the highest permanently manned post in the world located at over 19,000 feet.

Koppad has served in difficult and challenging areas for 10 out of 13 years of his total service.

His postings include Jammu and Kashmir from 2003 to 2006, where he was actively involved in counter-insurgency operations.

He again volunteered to serve with the 54 Rashtriya Rifles (Madras) in Jammu and Kashmir from 2008 to 2010, and later in the northeast from 2010 to 2012 where he took part in operations against militants.

He was serving in the high-altitude areas of Siachen glacier from August 2015.

Siachen glacier is the world's highest battlefield, with both Indian and Pakistani troops stationed there.

Siachen glacier is one of the five largest glaciers in the Karakoram range, situated at an average altitude of 17,700 feet above sea level and is hotly contested by India and Pakistan. It separates central Asia from the Indian subcontinent, and Pakistan from China in this region.

A truce has been in place on the glacier since 2003.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. Armenpress state news agency introduces on the air of Lratvakan.am all that you will read, hear and see on todays news.

Armenian governments regular session is today, on February 11. The government plans to touch upon issues related to different sectors.

Tehran actively regulates its relations and outlines ways of cooperation with other countries conditioned by the cancellation of sanctions against Iran. In parallel, Armenian social, political and scientific sectors continue to discuss and analyze developments in the region and new opportunities emerged for Armenia. PhD in Historical Sciences, Associate professor Gohar Iskandaryan will present her remarks on the topic.

The discussions of domestic political issues increase due to the establishment of a possible coalition.

Cheated car importers against the state: facts and foundations. Car importer Kamo Marutyan is going to touch upon the mentioned topic.

The Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates Trndez (also Tyarndarach and Candlemas Day) on February 14.

There is a premiere in Moscow cinema today. Artyom Mikhalkovs Love at Stake movie is presented. The shooting was carried out in Russia and the United States.

More on these and other topics is available on armenpress.am. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad died here on Thursday, three days after he was found miraculously alive under 35 feet of ice for six long days in the treacherous Siachen glacier.

President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled his death as Koppad's body was flown to Hubbali in Karnataka in an IAF An-32 plane, accompanied by his grieving family. From there, the body will be taken to his village Betadur in Dharwad for the last rites on Friday.

Mukherjee called the 33-year-old a "hero who demonstrated exemplary will power and courage in the face of adversity".

Koppad died at 11.45 a.m. at Delhi's Army Hospital Research and Referral, where he was admitted on Tuesday, following multi-organ failure, disappointing millions in the country who had prayed for his recovery.

Koppad was found from under 35 feet of hardened ice at an avalanche-hit army post in the Siachen glacier in Jammu and Kashmir -- six days after an enormous snow wall came crashing down with a massive roar on the post he and nine other soldiers were occupying.

The bodies of the other nine have been found. Siachen, in Jammu and Kashmir, is the world's highest battlefield where more Indian and Pakistan soldiers succumb to the extreme climate rather than fighting. An India-Pakistan truce has been in place on the glacier since 2003.

Mukherjee added: "The nation shall always remember Hanumanthappa for his bravery and indomitable spirit."

Modi tweeted: "He leaves us sad and devastated. RIP Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. The soldier in you remains immortal. Proud that martyrs like you served India."

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar added: "The nation salutes him."

Indian Army chief General Dalbir Singh said: "The soldier in him will continue to inspire generations."

Besides the army chief and Parrikar, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal laid wreaths on the body at Delhi Cantonment. Koppad's wife Mahadevi and two-year-old daughter Netra were present.

When Koppad was found alive late on February 8 in Siachen, he was conscious but disoriented. The next morning, he was flown to Delhi where his health took a turn for the worse on Wednesday.

On Thursday, doctors said in the morning that he was "extremely critical", with worsening multi-organ dysfunction.

He had suffered from pneumonia and multi-organ dysfunction, and the blood clotting disorder showed no sign of reversal.

The soldier was serving in the high altitude Siachen glacier from August 2015 and was chosen for deployment on one of the highest posts, where temperatures fall below minus 40 degrees Celsius with wind speeds of 100 km per hour.

Koppad has earlier served in difficult and challenging areas for 10 of the 13 years of his military service, the army said.

His postings had earlier taken him to Jammu and Kashmir (2003-06 and 2008-10) and the northeast.

Siachen glacier is one of the five largest glaciers in the Karakoram range, situated at an average altitude of 17,700 feet above sea level and is contested by India and Pakistan.
Actress Richa Chadha has left for Amritsar along with the entire team of "Sarbjit" to begin shooting for the upcoming movie.

"Sarbjit" is a biopic on Sarabjit Singh, an Indian farmer who was convicted of terrorism and spying in Pakistan and was sentenced to death. He was attacked by inmates at a prison in Lahore in April 2013 and died a few days later.

Richa will begin the shooting for the final schedule of the biopic from Thursday.

"The actress will be shooting in Amritsar with the entire star cast for 'Sarbjit'. Richa, who was shooting for 'Cabaret' till the previous day, is now looking forward to this next schedule of 'Sarbjit'. Richa might even meet Sukhpreet Kaur sometime this week," a source close to the actress said.

In the biopic, the "Fukrey" actress will be seen as the protagonist's wife Sukhpreet Kaur.

The actress also took to Twitter, where she wrote: "Travelling to my holy birthplace... For Sarbjit... Ambarsariya".

Actor Randeep Hooda will be seen playing Sarabjit in the film, which will be narrated through the perspective of the victim's sister Dalbir Kaur, played by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.

"Sarbjit" is slated to hit the screens on May 19, a day before it was scheduled to release.
A Delhi Police constable suffered serious injuries when four people stabbed him in a road rage incident on Thursday evening, police said.

Police have arrested one of the four accused, identified as Sunil, while a hunt is on to nab his associates Pawan, Ashok and Ganesh. All of them are in their late 20s, a police officer said.

The incident took place around 4.30 p.m. in Trilokpuri area of east Delhi when constable Vikram was on patrolling duty with his colleague constable Kavinder, both deputed in the Mayur Vihar police station.

Vikram was stabbed in his back and thigh, but is out of danger, said a police officer.

Deputy Commissioner of Police B.S. Gurjar told IANS that two of the accused were involved in a heated argument with the constables, accusing them of hitting their motorcycle with their bike.

"Meanwhile, two other associates of the culprits joined them and they attacked the constables. In the melee, Pawan, one of the accused, took out a knife and stabbed constable Vikram," Gurjar told IANS.

Sunil was caught on the spot while his associates managed to flee.
Russia denied on Thursday its involvement in bombings in Aleppo, Syria's second largest city, that hit two hospitals, blaming US aircraft for the attack instead.

It said two US Air Force A-10 attack jets entered the Syrian air space from Turkey, flew to Aleppo and launched strikes against facilities in the city on Wednesday," the Russian defence ministry said.

Earlier on Wednesday, US military official Steve Warren said in Baghdad that Russian aircraft bombed the two hospitals in Aleppo, depriving some 50,000 Syrians of medical care.

The Russian ministry said no Russian aircraft operated near Aleppo on Wednesday and the nearest target hit by the Russian air force in Syria was located some 20 km away from the city.

A Russian spokesman said that only war planes and strike drones of the US-led coalition were seen above Aleppo.

He also denied accusations that Russian aircraft were launching strikes against civilians in Syria.

He said it were the terrorists who were threatening civilians.

Since October, Syrian government forces supported by Russian airstrikes have been launching offensives against rebels in Aleppo, which, according to Western media, have caused thousands of people to flee.
The Supreme Court on Friday is likely to hear Congress president Sonia Gandhi, vice president Rahul Gandhi and others' petition challenging the Delhi High Court order rejecting their plea against their summoning by a trial court here in the National Herald case filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy.

A bench of Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar and Justice C. Nagappan are expected to hear the matter as plea by the Gandhis, party treasurer Motilal Vora, Sam Pitroda and Suman Dubey is listed before them for hearing on Friday.

Besides challenging the high court order of December 7, 2015, both the Gandhis have sought the stay of the proceedings before the trial court till their plea was decided by the top court and grant of exemption from personal appearance before the lower court.

However, they have said that they would appear before the trial court as and when "desired by the magistrate in accordance with law".

The Congress leaders have also challenged the Delhi High Court order on the grounds of its going into the merits of the case and making adverse observations.

Sonia Gandhi, in her petition, has said that on "one hand, high court holds that the actions of the accused 'smacks of criminality', and in the same breath, goes on to hold that 'what species of criminal offence is made out is not required to be seen at this initial stage'".

The approach of the high court "is untenable in law. It is submitted that 'criminality' cannot be divorced from the offences prescribed under the Penal Code. If the ingredients of the offences alleged are not at all made out even prima facie, there cannot be any 'criminality'", she said in her plea.

On the question of locus of Swamy in agitating the matter, the Congress chief noted that "interestingly, a single judge (of the high court) himself raised the question of locus standi. Even before the petitioners went ahead with their arguments, the complainant was asked to assist in the matter qua the issue of locus standi".

Summons had been issued by the trial court on June 26, 2015 on Swamy's complaint alleging "cheating" in the acquisition of Associated Journals Ltd. (AJL) by Young India Ltd. (YIL) - "a firm in which Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi each own a 38 percent stake".

Swamy had claimed that the Gandhis, as majority shareholders of YIL, benefited from the acquisition of AJL.A

He had alleged that AJL had received an interest-free loan of Rs.90.25 crore from the Congress and that the party transferred the debt to YIL for Rs.50 lakh.

At the time, AJL, which had Vora as its chairman, claimed that it could not repay the loan and agreed to transfer the company and its assets to YIL.

The Congress, while challenging the summons before the high court, had contended that Swamy was a political opponent and the criminal proceedings were initiated only with an intent to secure an oblique political objective. They had contended that the complaint made by Swamy against them was only "allegations without any supporting proof".
South Korea began pulling its nationals out of an inter-Korean industrial complex on Thursday, which is located just across the North Korean border.

South Korea decided to shut down the Kaesong Industrial Complex, the last remaining symbol of inter-Korean co-operation, where a total of 124 South Korean firms are operating, EFE news reported.

"As North Korea has given its consent to Seoul's plan to remove its people from there, South Koreans staying there are able to smoothly enter and exit the complex," a Unification Ministry official said.

Seoul's decision, considered its strongest non-military measure, aims at cutting off the North Korean source of hard currency.

It comes on the same day as the US Senate approved a bill to impose sanctions in response to the North's launch of a satellite on Sunday, which many countries consider a disguised ballistic missile test.

Committees of the two Koreas in charge of running the industrial complex plan to hold talks over the suspension of the factory zone, including the removal of equipment.

"We plan to retrieve South Korean companies' equipment and finished products, but there should be discussions over this with North Korea," a ministry official said.

South Korean companies pay about $100 million in total to North Korean workers for wages every year.

The factories have served as a major foreign currency revenue source for the cash-strapped North, while South Korea has benefited from cheap but skilled North Korean labour
How about chomping on 'The Better Half', or sinking your teeth in 'Sweet Emotion'? For Valentine's Day, Delhi-NCR restaurants, cafes and bars have raised the 'love' quotient and 'spiced up' their menus for lovebirds.

With shades of red, pink, orange and other mushy hues interspersed in food, menu cards and decor, several eateries are ready to serve 'love' on a plate on the special day that falls on Sunday.

TabulaBeach Cafe, for example, has a special menu consisting of dishes named such as 'The Better Half' (Asparagus and smoked cheese rolls, Spanish peppers stuffed with goat cheese), desserts like 'Sweet Emotion' (fresh strawberries with cream and red velvet cake) and 'Better than Sex' (French chocolate tart and banana nutella cheese cake).

"We wanted the food menu to symbolise love and romance. So, we came up with innovative names for dishes for couples. We will be focussing equally on the food as well as the experience of Valentine's Day. A special themed decor to create an amorous ambience will be put up for the day," Sahil Gupta, partner at TabulaBeach Cafe, told IANS.

Now imagine heart-shaped pizzas! Gurgaon-based Italiano, a fine dining restaurant, will be serving these and more.

Presentation matters, says Sonia Puri, founder, Italiano, adding: "The focus is always on food, but on this day the emphasis is on the presentation of food to mark the special day. The decor and ambience will also add to the whole experience as the restaurant will have special decoration for this day."

There are many hotels and clubs too like Showshaa Nightclub at the Kingdom of Dreams, Chili's American Grill and Bar; Yauatcha, La Vie, Lanterns Kitchen & Bar; and En - The Japanese Restaurant, which have special plans for couples on Valentine's Day. And couples are lapping it up.

The newly opened Cafe Dalal Street will add drama to its setting with live music as well as a DJ who will get the party started in the later hours of the day.

"The restaurant is trying to bring the whole vibe of Valentine's Day by doing a couple of things. Although we do have a special focus on food, we also have a live performance to set the tone for the day by belting out some romantic numbers during the day time and a DJ, who is sure to get the couples shaking a leg at night," Vidit Gupta of Cafe Dalal Street, told IANS.

In fact, pre-booking is already in place for Rs.999 for a single person and Rs.1999 per couple.

Geet Arora, 29, says in the midst of busy days at work, it's a relief when there are ready packages available that can help him just whisk away his date and spend a quiet evening together without spending much time to pre-plan it all.

Some places like the Mehrauli-based Dramz Whisky Bar and Lounge have planned limited covers for the dinner so that couples get their personal space.

"We have planned to do only 60 covers for the dinner so that the restaurant and seating plan will be well spaced and tables will not be close to each other," said Sunil Aggarwal of Dramz Whisky Bar.

The package here, though priced at Rs.9,950, includes a bottle of sparkling wine, paired imported wines, a five-course dinner, a candlelight setting for two along with live saxophone and violin. If you don't want the wine, be ready to shell out Rs.6,500.

For some couples, the idea of stepping out of the house on Valentine's Day is tempting, but expensive.

"Why go out on such expensive packages and eat when you can do the same for a lesser cost on a regular day. Plus, the traffic woes, and the waiting queues at restaurants. It's better to spend time at home," said Aditi Singh, a 31-year-old housewife.

But here's a tempting deal -- North Delhi-based Bellagio will be serving complimentary drinks to ladies and will lighten up the night with a musical session, shared its owner Sameer Bhalla.

Can't get any better than having the right perfect person besides you along with some good wining, dining and great music!

(Durga Chakravarty can be contacted at durga.c@ians.in)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the parliament on Wednesday that the situation is not yet right for a two-state solution aimed at ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a statement from his office read.

In a speech during a special Knesset (parliament) session, Netanyahu said he supports the two-state solution, as he stated in his seminal 2009 Bar-Ilan speech in which he acknowledged it officially for the first time, but the Palestinians do not accept Israel's basic principles, Xinhua reported.

"I have clarified what is needed to end the conflict between us and the Palestinians, acknowledgment and demilitarization," Netanyahu said on Tuesday evening, according to a statement from his office.

He said the Palestinians must recognise Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state and the Palestinian state must be demilitarised, stressing that these are not "preconditions" but rather principles that must be fulfilled in the outcome of the peace talks.

He criticized the opposition's Zionist Union camp and its leader Isaac Herzog who had recently introduced his own plan to "separate" from the Palestinians.

"There is no security separation, such a thing doesn't exist. Israel must be the force in charge of the security in the territory," Netanyahu said, meaning continuing to militarily control the territories Israel occupied in the 1967 war and where the Palestinians wish to establish their own state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip territories.

The Israeli prime minister said that another reason the two-state solution appears less feasible at present time is the shifts of radical Islam throughout the region.

"I'm not interested in a bi-national state," Netanyahu said, adding that he fears the West Bank territories would turn into a "base of Palestinian and Islamist terror" which he said "seeks to destroy the state of Israel."

As for the ongoing wave of violence, Netanyahu said it is not the Israeli occupation responsible for the wave of violence, as the Palestinians charge.

His statements come shortly after a heated exchange with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who accused Israel's expansion of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank two weeks ago and said the Palestinian frustration under the occupation is understandable as it is the human nature to fight occupation.

Netanyahu, in response, said Ban's statements give a "tailwind" to terror.

The last round of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority took place between July 2013 and April 2014, and ended without results.
The Election Commission will take necessary action to update the electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu next month, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Nasim Zaidi said on Thursday.

Zaidi told reporters hee that measures will be taken next month to update the electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu as well as other poll-bound states.

Special camps will be conducted for the purpose, he said.

Zaidi met representatives of various political parties, who have demanded single-phase polling, apart from curbing of money and freebie distribution to voters.

He said there were around 5.79 crore voters in Tamil Nadu, and over 65,600 polling stations would be set up.
Turkey is keen to have direct flights to Hyderabad to connect to south India, said its consul general here.

Arda Ulutas, who took over in November last, on Thursday called on Telangana's Industries Minister Jupally Krishna Rao.

Ulutas told the minister that his country is interested in making Hyderabad a direct destination which could connect to the south. Presently, there are no direct flights from Turkey to south India and all flights are routed through Delhi or Mumbai.

He also informed about the readiness to sign the sister cities agreement with Telangana, said a statement from the minister's office.

The consul general said his country is looking for cooperation in the potential areas of construction, housing, metro and railway system etc.

He said he was keen to bring a delegation of Turkish construction union and exporters to Telangana to explore the possibilities of working together in several fields. He said a beginning would be made with micro, small and medium enterprises.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. The rival violated the ceasefire regime in the line of contact of the Karabakh-Azerbaijani opposing armies on February 10 and during the night of February 11. More than 500 shots from weapons of different caliber including RPG-7 and AGS-17 grenade launchers were fired in direction of the Armenian frontier troops during that period.

Armenpress was informed by the press service of the Ministry of Defense of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic that Defense Army frontier troops are in complete control along the frontline and make counterattacks if necessary.
The US Supreme Court's surprise decision to halt President Barack Obama's climate change regulation could imperil the Paris accord and raise doubts in India and China about US commitments, according to the New York Times.

The Paris Agreement committing every country to combating climate change, had as a cornerstone Obama's assurance that the US would carry out strong, legally sound policies to significantly cut carbon emissions, the influential US daily noted.

"But in the capitals of India and China, two of the world's largest polluters, climate change policy experts said the Supreme Court decision threw the American commitment into question, and possibly New Delhi's and Beijing's, too," it said.

"If the US Supreme Court actually declares the coal power plant rules stillborn, the chances of nurturing trust between countries would all but vanish," the Times cited Navroz K. Dubash, a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi, as saying.

Inaction by the United States has long been the chief obstacle to meaningful global climate change agreements. India and China in particular resisted action absent a climate change policy in the United States, the Times noted.

The Supreme Court decision temporarily blocked the Obama administration's rule to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants.

On the basis of those rules, Obama had won agreements from China and India to enact their own pollution reduction plans, and helped push other countries into signing on to the Paris measure, the Times noted.

Over the past year, Obama worked closely with the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, to bring India to the table for the Paris deal.

Modi and many within India were resistant; the prime minister's top priority is to make cheap electricity available to the 300 million Indians who live without power, it said.

If the United States reneges on its commitments, "it really would strengthen the hand of those who say Paris was ineffective and a bad deal for India," Dubash was quoted as saying..

American policy experts cited by the Times agreed that the Supreme Court decision might be the first of many fractures in the deal.

"The honeymoon for Paris is now definitely over," said John Sterman, a professor of management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who attended the Paris talks.

"This pushback is not something that's unique to the United States," he added. "It's happening all over the developed world."
The US, in response to the recent space rocket launch by Pyongyang, has sent a nuclear-powered submarine to South Korea, a spokesperson from Seoul's Armed Forces said on Thursday.

The USS North Carolina (SSN-777), a Virginia-class submarine with over eight years in service and with a cruising speed of 46 kph, can carry Tomahawk cruise missiles and submarine-launched torpedoes, Efe news reported.

With the deployment of this vessel in South Korean waters, the US seeks to "reassert its commitment to the defense of South Korea," and "send a warning message," to North Korea, the spokesperson added.

The spokesperson claimed the US is also considering dispatching two new combat aircraft with stealth capabilities, possibly a B-2 bomber and an F-22 Raptor fighter plane, to South Korea.

The dispatch of the submarine is being seen as a response to the North Korean space satellite launch carried out aboard a long-range rocket on Sunday, an action that was fiercely condemned by both Seoul and Washington, who believe it to be a veiled missile test in violation of UNSC resolutions.

The US deploys a permanent force of 28,500 troops in South Korea to defend its ally against North Korean aggression in an arrangement that dates back to the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said he saluted the bravery of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad, who died on Thursday after being buried under ice in the Siachen glacier.

"We salute his bravery. May his soul rest in peace. May god give strength to his family to bear this loss," he told the media.

Koppad was buried in 35 feet of ice for six days after an avalanche hit an army patrol in the Siachen on February 3 at an altitude of over 20,000 feet.

While the nine others were declared dead, Koppad was miraculously found alive on February 8 and flown to Delhi the next day. Despite best medical care, he passed away due to multiple complications on Thursday.
As rival presidential candidates turned to battles ahead, Republican Donald Trump basked in the glory of his huge win in New Hampshire as Democrat Bernie Sanders quickly cashed on his stunning win over Hillary Clinton. And after her 22 point blowout defeat at the hands of self-styled Democratic socialist, the Clinton camp sought to regroup focusing her campaign's energies on African-American voters ahead of the next caucus round in Nevada on February 20.

The same day Republicans will clash in South Carolina and make their choice in Nevada on February 23, while the Democrats will have their next primary in South Carolina on February 27.

The Republican presidential field meanwhile narrowed down to six with New Jersey governor Chris Christie and former HP CEO Carly Fiorina calling it quits after their poor sixth and seventh place finish.

But retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson gamely stayed on despite finishing at the bottom of the table while Florida Senator Marco Rubio the new establishment favourite prepared for his second act after the exit of his tormentor Christie.

Trump celebrated his victory by firing at other White House hopefuls from both political parties at a rally in Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina.

He mocked former Florida governor Jeb Bush saying "I hate to waste time on this guy because he's not going to win."

"Who thinks Hillary is going to make it?" he asked the crowd turning his ire at Clinton. "She's got to make it through this wacky socialist guy Bernie."

And "This guy Sanders is up ranting and raving like a lunatic that he won. I'm shocked that he won," said Trump. "What are we coming to? I just don't see a socialist as the head of our country."

After Clinton's poor performance, her spokesman Brian Fallon started lowering expectations in Nevada suggesting Sanders will "have the momentum coming out of New Hampshire presumably, so there's a lot of reasons he should do well."

Clinton also sent out a fundraising pitch to supporters. "Last night's results in New Hampshire weren't what we hoped for. But I woke up this morning ready to keep fighting for the issues you and I believe in. Are you with me?" Clinton asked.

President Barack Obama hasn't endorsed a candidate, but his former press secretary Jay Carney told CNN that Obama has a clear preference.

"I don't think there is any doubt that he wants Hillary to win the nomination and believes that she would be the best candidate in the fall and the most effective as president in carrying forward what he's achieved," he said.

Bernie Sanders, meanwhile, triggered a fundraising avalanche and plotted a nationwide campaign after his rout of Clinton.

He raised $5.2 million in the 18 hours after polls closed in New Hampshire, his campaign announced. He also met civil rights activist Al Sharpton in a New York City restaurant in Harlem Wednesday to win his support.

Clinton and Sanders will have their next showdown in a Democratic debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin Thursday, while Republican candidates will have their debate in Greenville, South Carolina, on Saturday.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
A 23-year-old woman engineer, working in the IT department at shopping website Snapdeal, has been abducted, police said on Thursday. Residents protested the crime, blocking roads and holding a sit-in.

Deepti Sharma, who works at the company's Gurgaon office, failed to return home in Kavi Nagar area of Ghaziabad on Wednesday night.

She usually took the Delhi Metro up to Vaishali station in Ghaziabad, and from there, she took an auto-rickshaw to her house, located around eight km from the station.

On Wednesday night, she left the Metro station around 8.30 p.m. and took a 'shared' auto-rickshaw along with three other passengers, including a woman.

After getting into the vehicle, she telephoned her father Narendra Sharma.

After travelling a distance of around 3-4 km, the woman co-passenger was reportedly forced to get down.

Sensing danger, Deepti called her father again and said the auto-rickshaw was taking her in a wrong direction. Her mobile phone was then switched off.

Her father along with some political leaders contacted police and filed a complaint.

Superintendent of Police (City) Salman Taj Patil said a case was registered and police launched a combing operation in the area, but nothing was found.

Ghaziabad residents on Thursday evening blocked traffic on national highway-24, and also staged a sit-in at the office of the senior superintendent of police.
A Ranchi court on Thursday sent a woman schoolteacher and her husband - arrested in connection with the murder of a Class VII student of a local school - to 14 days in judicial custody.

A court for handling juvenile accused sent their two minor children, arrested in the same case, to a remand home.

Police sources said they will seek police remand of the couple for further investigation.

Woman teacher Nazia Hussain along with her husband and two children were arrested on Wednesday for the murder of Vinay Kumar here. Police said Nazia, hailing from Madhya Pradesh, was angry over Vinay's friendship with her 11-year-old daughter.

"Her son, a class 11 student, lured Vinay to his house on February 4 night saying that his mother was cooking something special for them.

"Once Vinay reached their house, the teacher's son raised the issue of Vinay's friendship with his sister. After a heated argument, Nazia's son brutally beat up Vinay," a police official told IANS.

Police said that taking Vinay for dead, the woman teacher helped her son throw him down from the first floor of the building. She also informed her husband living outside Ranchi about the incident, police added.

Vinay's body was found near the teachers' hostel at the Sapphire International School here. Police said the boy suffered head injuries inflicted by blunt objects and his liver too was damaged due to severe beating.

The Jharkhand High Court on Wednesday issued notice to police, school and state government and sought details in the case along with the post-mortem report, Ranchi Abhibhavak Sangh general secretary Ajay Rai, who moved the high court on behalf of the association, told IANS here.

The association filed a public interest litigation to demand a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the student's murder.

Meanwhile, Prahlad Modi, younger brother of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Thursday met Vinay's family and assured them of pressing for a CBI probe in the case. Prahlad had come to Jharkhand for a private function.
Coal India's performance is being driven by a remarkable turnaround in volumes, which is driving growth in the current soft realisation environment. The company, which in the past had struggled to ramp up production and off-take (sales), is now not only seeing better production helped by mine clearances and new mines starting production, but is also easing bottlenecks on evacuation, leading to better off-take.

The company's production at 144 million tonnes (mt) was up 9.3 per cent year-on-year, whereas off-take surged 10.7 per cent year-on-year to 138 mt, which boosted its December 2015 quarter performance, even as coal prices remained weak.

Revenues at Rs 18,972 crore may have come slightly lower than Bloomberg consensus estimate of Rs 19,378 crore, but Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation) at Rs 4,820 crore was way ahead of Rs 4,017 crore estimated by analysts. Thus, net profit at Rs 3,718 crore was almost eight per cent higher than the estimate of Rs 3,455 crore.

For first 10 months of 2015-16, production and off-take are up 9.6 per cent and 9.8 per cent, respectively, ahead of expectations of about nine per cent. The company is likely to raise coal prices to better reflect the cost on gross calorific value on adjusted basis, say analysts at Motilal Oswal Securities. The exercise would lead to low-grade coal prices moving up, thereby adding to profits.

The new guideline for linkage coal auctions, where a reserve price is to be set (expected to be higher than notified price), has made analysts more optimistic on realisations. Analysts at Nomura say their FY17 earnings estimates for Coal India builds in a 6.1 per cent year-on-year uptick in blended realisation. They have a target price of Rs 401.

The consensus target price, according to Bloomberg, stands at Rs 405, for the stock priced at Rs 305. Overhang of government's share sale is keeping the stock under pressure.
This editorial was first published in Business Standard on Feb 11, 2016. It is being republished as Panagariya has quit as the vice-chairman of the NITI Aayog

A visible sign of change in the nature of policymaking under the Narendra Modi government was seen on January 1, 2015 when the 64-year-old Planning Commission was replaced with the ambitiously named National Institution for Transforming India (or NITI) Aayog. The hope then was that it would be a leaner outfit with more sector experts. It was also expected to perform the role of a think tank and advisor on social and economic policies for the prime minister. The appointment of the well-known trade economist, Arvind Panagariya, as vice-chairman, and two respected academics and a scientist as members - plus the sharp reduction of staff - suggested that Mr Modi was on the right track. Replacing a secretary for planning with a CEO for the organisation indicated a new direction in institution building. Yet, over a year on, NITI Aayog's usefulness and purpose remain unfortunately unclear.

On current evidence, NITI Aayog can best be described as a poor relation to the Planning Commission rather than a brave new initiative. As yet, no significant policy prescriptions have emerged from its pink-and-grey portals, nor does the political establishment - although it includes many first-timers in government - appear to access it for advice, even on matters such as trade negotiations regarding which NITI's experts are world-renowned. Then the usual problems that beset government institutions are already surfacing. Some in it argue for more members to distribute the workload. There also appears to be some variance over the responsibility of the office bearers. Are they supposed to be policy advisors, as their expertise suggests, or quasi-political liaisons with state governments?



Certainly, it was common knowledge that the Planning Commission had outlived its utility in that form once controls were relaxed and the states came to play a bigger role in economic decision making. In the last years of the United Progressive Alliance, the chief ministers of some of India's better-run states - Mr Modi in Gujarat and J Jayalalithaa in Tamil Nadu notable among them - were vocal in their objections to spending priorities being dictated by a centralised body. In addition, over the past few years several decisions devolved far greater decision-making powers to the states in terms of how they choose to spend central grants and funds for welfare schemes. This diminishes one of the Planning Commission's major roles. Another function, that of resource allocation, has been shifted to the finance ministry. Clearly, NITI Aayog should have been freed up to find an alternative role. But it is unfortunate that the political leadership has not adequately empowered it to do so, or structured it to fulfil its initial promise.

NITI Aayog would have been in an ideal position to provide the government, which suffers the lack of a sound advisory establishment, with the crucial research heft and intellectual underpinning for its many policy initiatives, making it a genuine and powerful agent of transformation. There is still time - many bemoan the lack of new ideas emerging from stultified Union ministries. The NITI Aayog could be freshly empowered to serve as an advocate for progressive, market-friendly reform, so the political leadership has additional input on whatever policy proposals may emerge from the traditional bureaucracy.
Strangely enough, it has taken India nearly seven years to properly initiate the process to protect Basmati rice. This premium, scented variety of rice deserves Geographic Indication (GI) status under the global intellectual property rights (IPR) regime. Indeed, this process is long overdue, given bids by other countries to eat into India's market share by offering their products under similar-sounding brand names - Kasmati, Jasmati and Taxmati being just some examples. India's apex IPR regulator, the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB), has now directed the Chennai-based Geographic Indications Registry to formally attach GI tag to the Basmati rice grown in specified areas of six northern states - Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and parts of Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Claims from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Odisha are still pending.
At least 12 Indian fishermen were arrested and their trawlers seized for allegedly poaching in Sri Lankan waters, Lankan Navy said today.

The fishermen, all hailing from Tamil Nadu, were arrested last night while poaching in Sri Lankan waters northwest of Thalaimannar, the Navy said.

They were handed over to the officials of the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources for further action.

Assistant Director of Fisheries Department in Rameswaram, Gopinath, said those arrested were fishing near Katchatheevu, an islet ceded to Sri Lanka in 1974. He said two boats were seized.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. Armenian community in Czech Republic will intensify efforts in issues related to the Armenian Genocide and Artsakh, President of Armenian-Czech Urartu company Alexander Sargsyan informed Armenpress. He emphasized they work with different MPs and have supporters in the parliament. We also try to find people who are more influential in Czech Government and use the opportunity to raise the issue of the Armenian Genocide once again. We worked rather actively in 2015. Major events were organized and 2500 Armenians marched to the Presidential residence, Alexander Sargsyan said adding they are actively working also with national minorities.

Alexander Sargsyan also presented a program according to which courses on the Armenian Genocide are held in the Czech Republic educational institutions. This process started in Czech Republic still in 2008-2009. Mutual visits were organized for students of Armenia and the Czech Republic. According to Alexander Sargsyan, they now seek to ensure the topic on Armenian Genocide to be included in textbooks.

He informs that the conference of Armenian Union in Europe will be held in Germany on March 4-6.
Air Traffic Controllers (ATCOs), manning the vast 2.8-million sq nautical mile airspace, which extends from Kuala Lumpur and Yangon in the east to Pakistan and Muscat in the west, are going to be less-burdened with some 200 new personnel joining the rank from next month.

These 200 ATCOs are in the final leg of their training and expected to join duties from March, a senior Airports Authority of India (AAI) official said today.

The induction of these ATC personnel is part of the AAI plans to induct 600 ATCOs by this fiscal to meet the shortage of manpower in critical areas such as air traffic management, he said.

"As many as 200 ATCOs have almost completed training and will be put on duty from March. Besides, 400 more personnel will be recruited shortly," the official said.

"Mumbai, which has acute shortage of ATC personnel will get 65 traffic controllers out of the 200, while the remaining 135 will be deployed on other airports to meet the shortage," the official said.

On an average, ATCOs at Delhi and Mumbai airports handle around 1,050 and 800 arrivals and departures, respectively, per day.

Government had last year said that there were nearly 1,600 posts of air traffic controllers lying vacant at different airports in the country while acknowledging that ATCOs are at times under stress at airports having high density operations but suitable measures were being taken to address such situations.

Out of total sanctioned strength of 3,890 ATCOs, the existing strength stands at 2,296, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma had informed parliament in December last year.

AAI owns and manages 125 airports, out of which 26 are civil enclaves and 30 are non-operational.
The prosecution in the 26/11 attack case today decided to challenge a Pakistan anti-terrorism court's rejection of their plea to form a commission to examine a boat used by LeT terrorists to reach Mumbai in 2008.

The decision was taken after the prosecution received the copy of the trial court's order regarding rejection of its plea.

"We have got the court order copy and now we will prepare a petition to challenge in the high court the rejection of our plea by the trial court to form a commission to examine the boat - Al-Fauz - used by alleged terrorists of Mumbai attacks," a prosecution lawyer told PTI today.

He said the boat should be considered a "case property and we will plead the high court in this regard".

According to the Federal Investigation Agency, the alleged attackers used three boats including'Al Fauz' to reach Mumbai from Karachi.

It said the security agencies had also traced the shop and its owner from where the culprits bought the engine and the boat. A bank and a money exchange company were also traced which were used for the transaction of money.

Meanwhile, the anti-terror court conducting the Mumbai attack trial postponed the hearing till February 17 as the summoned witnesses did not turn up to their record statement.

"The Anti-Terrorism Court Islamabad had summoned three witnesses for yesterday's hearing but none of them appeared. The court reissued their summons for next hearing on February 17. No solid reason was given in the court about witnesses skipping the hearing," a court official told PTI today.

In January 27 hearing too none of the four witnesses had turned up in the trial court.

The judge had expressed his annoyance over no turning of the witnesses and directed the prosecution to ensure their presence in the next hearing.

Pakistani authorities arrested seven Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) members involved in the planning of the attacks including the terrorist group's operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the mastermind of the Mumbai attack.

Six accused -- Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younis Anjum -- have been in Adiala Jail for more than six years in connection with planning and executing the Mumbai attack in November, 2008, that left 166 people killed.

Lakhvi, 56, secured bail in December, 2014, and was subsequently released from Adiala Jail on April 10, 2015, after the Lahore High Court set aside the government's order to detain him under a public security act.

A trial is underway against them at the ATC since 2009.
Around 4.5 million pupils in OECD countries have failed to attain a sufficient level of proficiency in either reading, maths or science at the age of 15, according to a new study released by the think-tank.

That figure equates to more than one in four of 15-year- olds in the 34 OECD nations.

Analysis of results from the OECD PISA study of education around the world between 2003 and 2012 revealed yesterday that few countries have seen improvements among low performers and nearly as many have seen their share of low performers increase.

In some countries, 50 per cent of students were falling behind in at least one of the key subjects.

The OECD says fighting poor performance at school will bring more to the countries than it will cost them to introduce the special measures needed to combat the problem.

And the wealth of a country need not be the main factor.

"It is education policy and practice that can help students clear this bar, not just per capita income," the report says.

The danger to countries' future economic health cannot be underestimated - students who perform poorly aged 15 face a high risk of dropping out of school and when a high proportion of the population does not have basic skills, "long-term economic growth is severely compromised".

Between 2003 and 2012, the OECD analysed nine countries that did not manage to reduce the number of pupils failing to achieve the basic level in maths - Brazil, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Tunisia and Turkey.

It found that all of the countries could improve pupils' performance, providing they take the necessary steps.

The OECD's first recommendation is that countries must prioritise reducing the number of low-performing students, using a "multi-pronged" approach.

For example, remedial support must be provided as early as possible in a struggling child's school career.

There is also an onus on governments to identify low- performing schools and attribute greater funding as quickly as possible.

And in a recommendation aimed at countries taking in high numbers of migrants, the OECD says special programmes must be offered for immigrant and minority-language students.

Germany, which last year took in more than a million people fleeing war and poverty, recently brought in a specially-tailored programme of language learning for immigrant pupils.
Four persons were arrested for allegedly possessing ivory articles worth Rs 1 crore in the international market, police said today.

Acting on a tip-off that 100-year-old ivory-made artifacts were being brought to the megapolis and the accused were looking for a buyer, sleuths of crime branch launched a manhunt, a police officer said.

Police tracked the four accused at a hotel in Grant Road in south Mumbai yesterday and approached them as customers, he said.

After the deal was finalised, the officials nabbed them. The accused were identified as - Hitesh Joshi, a share broker, Rajesh Dave, a travel agent, Pravin Soni, a jeweller, and one Dharam Gupta, police said.

A case under relevant sections of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 has been registered in this regard at the D B Marg police station, they said, adding investigations are underway.
52 inmates were killed and 12 injured in a brutal fight between two rival factions at a prison in northern Mexico today, the state governor said.

Nuevo Leon Gov Jaime Rodriguez told a conference the fight involved a faction led by a member of the infamous Zetas drug cartel.

Rescue workers could be seen bringing injured inmates from the Topo Chico prison in Monterrey, at least some with burns.

The riot broke out just six days before Pope Francis is scheduled to visit another Mexican prison, in the border city of Ciudad Juarez in Chihuahua state.

Images broadcast by Milenio Television showed flames leaping from the prison, with a crowd of people bundled against the cold gathered outside the prison. Some shook and kicked at the prison gates, demanding to be allowed in.

The fire appeared to have been extinguished by shortly after sunrise.

Witnesses said the fire broke out at about 12.30 am local time amid shouts and sounds of explosions. A thick cloud of smoke rose, apparently from inmates burning mattresses.

Mexico's official National Human Rights Commission reported in 2013 that the country's prison system is plagued by violence and cases of inmate control, symptoms of corruption and lack of resources.

The report, based on visits and interviews at 101 of Mexico's most populated prisons, found that 65 of the facilities were run by inmates, not authorities.

In one of the worst incidents in 25 years, 44 inmates died in a prison massacre in February 2012 in Apodaca, Nuevo Leon. After the incident, three top prison officials and 26 guards were accused of helping inmates escape in the confusion.

The governor of Nuevo Leon state says 52 inmates were killed and 12 injured in a brutal fight between two rival factions today at a prison in northern Mexico.
A man killed six employees at an education department office in Saudi Arabia today, the interior ministry said, describing it as a "criminal" attack.

The incident, in which two others were injured, occurred in the southern province of Jazan at about 2:00 pm (1630 IST), ministry spokesman General Mansour al-Turki told AFP.

"This is a criminal act," said Turki, adding that one suspect had been arrested.

He was unable to immediately confirm how the victims were killed but state television reported it was a shooting.

The identity and motive of the suspect were unclear.

The incident occurred in the remote community of Ad Dair, several kilometres from the Yemeni border.

Jazan and other southern border districts have been shelled by rebels in Yemen since last March when a Saudi-led coalition began air strikes and later ground operations to halt the advance of the Huthi rebels there.

More than 90 soldiers and civilians have been killed in shelling and skirmishes in the Saudi border region.

Elsewhere in the kingdom there have been mass shootings and bombings claimed by the Islamic State group against the Shiite minority community. IS has also targeted the security forces.

But criminal mass shootings are rare in Saudi Arabia.
At least 69 people were injured today when a speeding train overturned in the Upper Egyptian city of Beni Suef, officials said.

The train, which was coming from Aswan to Cairo, was derailed and two of its compartments overturned near el-Shennaweya village in Beni Suef, security officials said.

More than 40 ambulances were rushed to the place of accident. The injured were taken to the hospital, they added.

Deputy health minister Gamal El-Gohary said 69 people were wounded in the crash and sent to three local hospitals in the region. He said the relatively slow speed the train was travelling at reduced the magnitude of the crash.

No deaths have been reported until now, they said.

Mohamed Mohsen, the train's assistant driver, said the train's brakes failed as it approached a connection rail at 80 kph speed.

An official at the provincial governor office was quoted as saying by Al Ahram that most of those wounded suffered light injuries including bruises and scratches and are set to be discharged from hospitals later in the day.

Egypt's roads and railways are notorious for poor infrastructure and maintenance.

The country's official statistics agency said in December that over 2,800 people were killed in road and train crashes in Egypt in the first half of 2015.
Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan was today accorded a ceremonial welcome in the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan here.

Al Nahyan, who is on a three-day visit, was accorded a ceremonial Guard of Honour in the sprawling courtyard of the Rashtrapati Bhavan in what is his first state visit to India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley were present on the occasion.

Modi and Al Nahyan, who is also the Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE armed forces, later met at the Prime Minister's residence.

"An exceptional tete-a-tete. PM meets the Crown Prince for a restricted meeting at 7RCR before talks in the evening," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.

The two leaders will hold detailed deliberations today following which both sides are expected to sign a number of agreements.

Ways to contain radicalism, stepping up counter-terrorism cooperation and dealing with the ISIS are likely to figure prominently in the talks.

Before his ceremonial welcome, the Crown Prince also visited Mahatma Gandhi's memorial at Rajghat, laid a wreath and planted a sapling there.

Al Nahyan arrived here yesterday to a warm welcome, with the Prime Minister keeping aside protocol to receive the "special friend" at the airport with the hope of adding new vigour and momentum to India-UAE ties.
Adani Power on Thursday said it plans to make an investment totalling Rs 18,400 crore for setting up of 1,600 Mw thermal power projects and 1,000 Mw solar project in Karnataka.

"..We would like to submit that Udupi Power Corporation Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company has entered into Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Government of Karnataka to set up 2x800 Mw Coal based supercritical power plant in Karnataka with an investment of Rs 11,400 crores," Adani Power said in a filing to NSE.

In another disclosure to the bourse, the company said: "We would like to submit that Adani Green Energy Ltd, a subsidiary of the Company has signed Expression of Interest to set up 1,000 Mw solar power plant in Karnataka with an investment of Rs 7,000 crore."



The bourse had sought response from the company after certain media reports about its plans of investments in the state of Karnataka.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on February 10 accused the United States of creating a pool of blood in the region by failing to recognize the main Syrian Kurdish organizations as terror groups, Armenpress reports citing Asbarez website.

Hey America As you have never recognized them (as terror groups) the region has turned into a pool of blood, Erdogan said in a lacerating attack on US policy, referring to the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its Peoples Protection Units (YPG) militia.

His remarks escalated a growing row between Washington and key NATO member Turkey over the role of Kurdish fighters in the struggle against jihadists in Syria.

Turkey on February 9 summoned the US envoy to Ankara in protest after the US State Department spokesman said that Washington did not recognize the PYD as a terror group and would continue to support its operations in Syria.

Hey America! How many times have we had to tell you? Erdogan said in his fiery address. Are you together with us or are you with the PYD and YPG terror groups? Erdogan launched the attack in one of his regular speeches at the presidential palace to loyal local municipal leaders known as muhtars that have become known as the forum for his most vehemently anti-Western comments.

Turkey says that the Syrian Kurdish groups are simply a branch of the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is recognized as a terror group by the United States, and has carried out a string of deadly attacks in Turkey in the last months. Is there a difference between the PKK and the PYD? Is there a difference with the YPG? asked Erdogan.

We have written proof! We tell the Americans its a terror group. But the Americans stand up and say no we dont see them as terror groups.
An Afghan official says that a policeman in the southern province of Kandahar has killed four of his colleagues and wounded another seven.

Zia Durrani, spokesman for the provincial police, said today the rogue policeman was shot dead by another officer.

He says the shootings took place in the Zhari district late yesterday.

It is the latest in a string of recent insider attacks in Afghanistan. Last month a rogue cop in Uruzgan province shot dead 10 colleagues.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Taliban consider Kandahar their heartland, along with neighboring Helmand where poppy production accounts for most of the world's heroin.

Insurgents have attacked most districts across Helmand in recent months, in an effort to reclaim and protect smuggling routes for drugs, minerals, arms and men.
The Andhra Pradesh government today issued orders for construction of "Interim Government Complex" (a temporary Secretariat) at Velagapudi village in Guntur district in over 45 acres as part of its plans to shift the State Secretariat from Hyderabad by June this year.

The government initially planned to raise the buildings for the temporary Secretariat on 20 acres, but decided to increase the extent of the complex to 45.129 acres to suit its requirements, a Government Order (GO) issued today said.

In the 45.129 acres, the interim government complex would be located in 27.082 acres and 18.047 acres left for public facilities, it said.

"Government, after careful examination of the matter, hereby decides to modify the total extent from 20 acres to 45.129 acres for construction of Interim Government Complex in Velagapudi Village, Thullur Mandal, Guntur district, for shifting of AP Secretariat," the GO said.

The state government had decided that the secretariat would function from the new capital region from June 1 next year and asked all its employees based here to shift to Vijayawada region accordingly.

"All the departments of secretariat, heads of departments are hereby informed that secretariat and HoDs will function from the new capital region from 1st June, 2016," a circular issued by Chief Secretary IYR Krishna Rao said in December last year.
An alleged arms smuggler was arrested with 24 automatic pistols in his possession from Jamalpur police station area in the district today.

The police acted on a tip off and Mohammad Monu was arrested from the taxi stand area, Superintendent of Police Varun Kumar said.

Two dozen automatic pistols, an ATM card and a driving license were recovered from Monu, a resident of Hazratganj locality of Munger town.

During questioning, Monu said he had been working as an arms carrier for one Mohammad Mahtab, a resident of Maksudpur in the district, who has set up a factory in Malda district of West Bengal for manufacturing arms illegally, the SP said.
Army Captain Shikhar Deep, who went missing during a train journey from Bihar to Delhi four days back, continued to be untraceable even as massive hunt is underway by the army and various other forces.

The search operation for the officer posted in Jammu and Kashmir is being carried out jointly by Army, Bihar Police, Railway Police, NIA and IB in the Kanpur-Katihar-Delhi section, Defence spokesman said here today.

An FIR has been lodged and Army is expected to order a Court of Inquiry as criminal as well as accident angle cannot be ruled out.

"A search and investigation by state police, NIA, IB, Railway Police and Army authorities is going on. It is intensified," the spokesman said.

25-year-old Deep, son of an Lt Col Anant Kumar and hailing from Mahenderpur of Purnia district in Bihar, went missing while he was travelling by Mahananda Express from Kathihar in Bihar to Delhi on the night of February 6-7.

He was returning to duty after 30-day annual leave and



Wearing black and brown blazer, off-white T-shirt, blue jeans, green jungle shoes, the officer was travelling on a reserved berth in the train, the spokesman said.

He last contacted his relatives in the intervening night of February 6-7.

The luggage of the officer has been traced by Railway and Army authorities in Delhi and nothing except for the cash from wallet is missing from the luggage, the spokesman added.

The officer's unit has initiated numerous steps to trace the officer which include interaction with DGP Bihar Pramod Thakur, search efforts by two Indian Army units at Kanpur and Katihar as well as investigation and search operations by Railway Police of Delhi and Bihar, he said. The unit has also despatched a party led by a Junior Commissioned officer to Katihar to investigate the matter, the spokesman said.

"At this stage, criminal as well as accident angle cannot be ruled out however, search and investigation is on," spokesman said.

He said an FIR has been lodged by relatives of the officer at Railway Police, Katihar, and a Court of Inquiry (CoI) will be ordered by Army authorities as per the procedure.

The father of the officer is a serving Lt Col in the Army and presently posted at Ranchi, the spokesman said.
A three-day 'World Culture Festival' to be organised next month under the patronage of spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar's Art of Living today came under the scanner of National Green Tribunal, which sought the Delhi government's response on a plea seeking to stop holding of the event on Yamuna floodplains.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar issued notices to the Delhi government, Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and Art of Living Foundation seeking stoppage of ongoing construction work on the flood plains of Yamuna.

The green panel directed DDA to submit all the documents on the basis of which permission for the event was granted to the foundation. It also asked DDA to inspect the site in question along with Professor A K Gosain of IIT and submit a status report.

The event will be held from March 11-13 at Mayur Vihar in East Delhi to mark the celebration of 35 years of The Art of Living. The President and the Prime Minister have reportedly given their consent to the part of inaugural ceremony.

The Tribunal was hearing a petition by Manoj Mishra, convener of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan, alleging that the Foundation has recently started construction on the Yamuna flood plains for the festival in violation of NGT orders.

In a detailed judgement last year, NGT had prohibited any construction activity in the demarcated flood plains of Yamuna and asked its Principal Committee to identify structures which fall on the flood plain and recommend their demolition.

The plea, filed by advocate Rahul Choudhary, said "it is stated that Art of Living International Center has recently started construction on the Yamuna flood plains for organising the festival from March 11-13, 2016 and for which illegal and unauthorised dumping & construction in the active flood plains of river Yamuna in the NCT of Delhi is taking place over some 25 hectares upstream of DND flyway.

"Not only the site but in fact approach roads are also planned to be constructed from the Ring Road and the DND flyway which also involves dumping of huge amount of debris and clearing of the flood plains."



In his plea, Mishra has sought imposition of exemplary fine on government agencies and the Foundation for damaging the environment and their non-compliance of the orders of the Tribunal.

The petition has alleged that AOL has not taken mandatory



permissions from competent authorities like fire department, police and the Central Public Works Department (CPWD).

During the hearing in the NGT, where CRPF and Delhi police personnel were deployed after some Rashtrawadi Shiv Sena members threatened to hold demonstration, AOL also moved an application seeking four weeks time to deposit the fine and comply with all the directions of the tribunal.

AOL said being a charitable organisation, it is difficult for it to generate the huge amount in such a short period.

On being asked by the tribunal if the AOL had received the Rs 2.5 crore grant from the Ministry of Culture, the counsel for the foundation informed that Rs 1.68 crore had been disbursed to it out of the total amount.

The AOL had also sought that Rs 5 crore fine be taken as restoration amount for biodiversity park and not as a penalty.

The tribunal also pulled up Ministry of Water Resources for not doing anything to protect river Yamuna from pollution despite directions.

"What have you done? Have you inspected the river? Despite directions you have not checked pollution in the river," the bench said.

During the hearing, a member of Ojaswi Party was also thrown out of the court room for disturbing the proceedings with the NGT issuing a show cause notice to him for contempt of court.

Yesterday, the tribunal had directed AOL Foundation to pay the entire amount of Rs 5 crore by today saying law will take its own course if it fails to do so.

The green panel had also directed Central Pollution Control Board, Ministry of Environment and Forests to issue proper directions to the organizers of the event with regard to disposal of municipal solid waste and drinking water.

The counsel appearing for the DPCC had informed the tribunal that as directed by it, a committee is already visiting the site and if necessary, directions will be issued.

The NGT had earlier expressed its helplessness in banning the event, saying it was "fait accompli".

Nevertheless, it had imposed a fine of Rs five crore on AOL as environmental compensation after coming down on it heavily for not disclosing its full plans and also on the DDA and Environment Ministry for their role.

The tribunal, which found several environmental violations by the organisers, blamed the delay on the part of environmental activists in raising the issue before it which compelled it to grant permission for event.
For the 15th time, officials have denied parole for Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of Senator Robert F Kennedy, after hearing from another person who was shot that night and called for the release of Sirhan.

The decision came yesterday after Sirhan answered questions from the parole panel for about three hours in a small, windowless conference room.

Sirhan stuck to his previous account that he did not remember the shooting in 1968 at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

He said he recalled being in the hotel then going to his car and returning after realising he had too much to drink. He said he became interested in a female as he drank coffee.

Paul Schrade, now 91, told the panel that he believes Sirhan shot him but an unidentified second shooter killed Kennedy.

Schrade was a Kennedy confidante who was one of five people injured in the shooting after Kennedy won the Democratic presidential primary in California.
Reserve Bank's recent review of top defaulters has revealed that the asset quality problem is largely due to governance issues at state-run banks as well as borrowers and the government cannot be blamed for the mess, Deputy Governor S S Mundra said today.

"One thing has come out quite clearly, that the issues that we are seeing today have not much to do with the ownership of the banks. It is more a governance issue than an ownership issue," Mudra said at a banking conference organised by industry lobby CII here.

While there are external factors which have affected asset quality, internal ones are also as important and "governance deficit" is a big issue, he said, adding bank boards need to put in place risk management practices as per their appetite.

The comments come amidst rising criticism by ex-public sector bankers and government officials following a series of reports saying that between 2012-13 and 2014-15, 27 public sector banks have written off loans worth a whopping Rs 1.14 trillion.

Many of these officials have accused the government and RBI representatives on the banks' boards of not doing their jobs well and blamed the resultant lax lending practices at state-run lenders for the surge in bad loans.

It can be noted that Deputy Governor Urjit Patel and the banking secretary are on the SBI board while many EDs and GMs of the RBI and senior finance ministry officials are on the boards of other lenders.

Stressing on the need to look at the written-off assets, Mundra said the overall stress (including NPAs, restructured and written-off assets) surged to 14.1 per cent as of September 2015, up from the 13.6 per cent in March.

He said for state-run banks, the overall stress stands at 17 per cent, while for private ones it is 6.7 per cent and 5.8 per cent for foreign lenders.

According to reports, the RBI has come up with a list of 150 top accounts and asked banks to classify them as non-performing assets, which is expected to entail provisions of Rs 70,000 crore.

The regulator has given banks two quarters to identify the stress and all the lenders have reported a massive surge in stressed assets as a fallout of the exercise.

The state-run lenders have been blamed for poor



underwriting of loans, which leads to difficulties on the asset quality front.

Complimenting the lenders for cleaning up their balance sheets, Mundra, who was heading Bank of Baroda before moving to the RBI, asked borrowers to cooperate, saying it will bode well both for them and the economy in the long-term.

Hitting out at crony capitalism, Mundra said many promoters take loans without an ability to repay either the principal or service the interest, but just on the hope of improving conditions in the future.

Such "ponzi borrowers" start projects not with a long-term commitment, but with the knowledge that "in our country, there are specific issues which need skill-sets to put up a project...Which others cannot do".

Such promoters have been seeking to create quick value and sell-out, but are now forced to sell the assets in distress, Mundra said.

He also asked banks to use strategic debt restructuring (SDR) as the last resort.

Mundra expressed optimism that the ongoing exercise will lead to better days for the banking system in the future.

"We all should be optimistic about sustained recovery and continuous well-being hereafter," he said.

As for the ongoing results, where banks are reporting a surge in asset quality issues, Mundra said the numbers reflect divergence in the industry, where banks which recognised the stress early have started reporting stress now, while those who are late will report it later.

"That essentially reflects at what point of time the individual bank has started on this journey. If a bank has started on this journey a little earlier, probably the reflection is there in the result. It is also an indicator that those who are starting on the journey now can have a similar kind of outcome in future," he said.

On the prompt corrective action which the RBI has suggested, Mundra said it is a comprehensive framework which banks are still implementing and we should not form our views based on isolated instances.

"The banks are in the process, once the industry cycle is completed, we will have a relook and assess what has to be done going forward," he said.
At least 52 inmates were killed in a Mexican prison brawl today, as prisoners fought with bats, sticks and blades and ignited a fire in the overcrowded penitentiary.

12 others were injured during the "pitched battle" that lasted 30 to 40 minutes at the Topo Chico prison in the northern industrial city of Monterrey, said Nuevo Leon state Governor Jaime Rodriguez.

The fight erupted following a dispute between leaders of two rival groups, including one led by a member of the Zetas drug cartel, Rodriguez said.

"They used sharp weapons, bats, sticks," the governor told radio Imagen, adding that the 60-year-old penitentiary houses 3,800 inmates, twice its capacity.

During the brawl, inmates set a fire in a supply room. TV images showed flames coming out of the prison in the middle of the night.

The riot erupted on the eve of Pope Francis' trip to Mexico, during which he is due to visit another notorious prison, in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez.

Angry relatives flocked to the prison and tried to force their way in, desperate for information about loved ones caught in one of the deadliest Mexican prison riots in recent years.

Rodriguez told a conference that the clash erupted before midnight yesterday and that authorities brought it under control at 1.30 am today.

"We are experiencing a tragedy stemming from the difficult situation that they are living through at penitentiary facilities," Rodriguez said.

"We can confirm the deaths of 52 people. ... The process of identifying victims continues," he said, adding that all the victims were male inmates.

Five of the injured inmates were in serious condition.

Rodriguez rejected speculation that women or children may have been inside at the time of the riot.

Troops and federal police were deployed inside the prison to keep it under control. Rodriguez said no inmates escaped and no firearms were used.

Ambulances were sent to the prison while scores of relatives crowded at the entrance, throwing rocks and pulling the gate open as riot police blocked their way with a parked vehicle.

Other relatives shouted through a fence, hoping to hear information from the inmates.

Some relatives of prisoners formed a line by holding hands to block a boulevard.
Australia said today it will "carefully consider" if it can help the orphans of an Islamic State fighter and their Sydney-born mother, who both reportedly died in Syria, warning the children could pose a threat later in life.

Tara Nettleton, whose husband Khaled Sharrouf made headlines in 2014 when he posted an image on Twitter of his then seven-year-old son holding a severed head, died from appendicitis or a kidney condition, the Sydney Morning Herald and other media reported.

Sharrouf is widely believed to have been killed in a drone strike last year in Iraq, an attack in which fellow Australian jihadist Mohamed Elomar also perished.

The family's lawyer Charles Waterstreet told AFP the couple's five children, aged between five and 14, were trapped in an undisclosed part of Syria and in "grave danger".

The 14-year-old girl, named in Australian media as Zaynab, gave birth to a child two months ago fathered by Elomar and was also looking after her younger siblings, Waterstreet said.

"They are in grave danger. We've been in contact with them and there's bombs falling everywhere and people are starving in the streets," the Sydney-based lawyer said, adding the children told their grandmother Karen Nettleton they "want to get out" of Syria.

"Both their father and their mother are dead and they're victims stuck in a hellhole and they're Australians, and we should be doing everything we can to get them out."



Media reports said Nettleton might have died last year, with her mother only informed in the last two weeks.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said he was not able to confirm her death, although all Australians were provided with consular assistance regardless of their circumstances.

But he warned the children's experiences since they were taken to Syria by their mother in 2014 to join their father, who left Australia in 2013, could influence the government's decision on whether they could return home.

"The conditions under which people are brought back into our country would have to be considered very carefully," he told Sydney radio station 2GB.

"Obviously any parent who is dangerous enough, crazy enough, to take young, impressionable children into that sort of an area obviously scars those children for life.

"So ultimately the government's clear objective is to keep the Australian public safe and we'd have to look at the individual circumstances to see what the kids may have been through, what they've been exposed to, whether or not later in life they pose a threat."



Up to 49 Australians have been killed in the conflict in Iraq and Syria, with an estimated 110 nationals currently fighting or working with militant groups, domestic spy chief Duncan Lewis told a parliamentary hearing this week.
Australia has a new deputy prime minister, hours after his predecessor announced his retirement today, with the prime minister likely to announce a Cabinet reshuffle before elections due this year.

Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce was elected unopposed as leader of the Nationals party at a meeting of party lawmakers. As leader of the conservative government's junior coalition partner, Joyce automatically becomes Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's deputy.

Joyce was regarded as a maverick early in his political career, often voting against the wishes of his party on legislation in Parliament. He is expected to agitate for more influence for his party in government than his predecessor, Warren Truss.

Truss, minister for regional development and infrastructure, told Parliament that he will retire at the next election.

Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Robb announced yesterday that he too will leave politics at the same time.

Turnbull made a major overhaul of the conservative government's Cabinet in September after he replaced Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

He has yet to name a replacement for Minister for Cities and the Built Environment Jamie Briggs, who resigned in December over a drunken incident with a female public servant in a Hong Kong bar.

The future of another two ministers, Stuart Robert and Mal Brough, remain in doubt due to ongoing investigations.

Turnbull's department is investigating if Robert, minister for veterans' affairs, breached ministerial standards when he flew to China in 20014 to help a friend and Liberal Party donor secure a mining deal.

Brough stood aside as special minister of state and minister for defense materiel and science in December while police investigate allegations that he illegally accessed the diary of a former House of Representatives speaker.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. On 11 February Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan partook at the reporting meeting of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR) Public Prosecutor's Office summarizing the results of the structure's activities in 2015, Armenpress was informed from the press service of the Artsakh Presidents office.

Prosecutor general Arthur Mosiyan and responsible officials of the structure delivered corresponding reports.

The Head of the State rated the overall activity of Public Prosecutor's Office as satisfactory. According to the President as a result of cooperation within the entire legal system great and diligent work has been carried out in fighting against crime, as a result of which a high level of public security was maintained in the republic. At the same time President Sahakyan touched upon a range of issues the system faced noting the significance of their efficient solution.

"Over the past years we once again came to the conviction that we had achieved a stable development of our country and due to our traditions we have comparative advantages in terms of conscientiousness and respect for the law. This is the value, which should be maintained", emphasized Bako Sahakyan in his speech.
Australia's deputy prime minister announced his retirement today, with the prime minister likely to announce a cabinet reshuffle before elections due this year.

Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss, who is the minister for regional development and infrastructure, told Parliament he will retire at the next elections.

Truss also immediately resigned as leader of The Nationals party, the government's junior coalition partner. His replacement as party leader will be decided by his colleagues later today and the new leader will automatically become the deputy prime minister.

Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Robb announced on Wednesday that he too will leave at the next elections.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull made a major overhaul of the conservative government's cabinet in September after he replaced Prime minister Tony Abbott in a leadership ballot of lawmakers in the ruling Liberal Party.

He has yet to name a replacement for Minister for Cities and the Built Environment Jamie Briggs, who resigned in December over a drunken incident with a female public servant in a Hong Kong bar.

The futures of two ministers, Stuart Robert and Mal Brough, remain in doubt due to ongoing investigations. Turnbull's department is investigating whether Robert, minister for veterans' affairs, breached ministerial standards when he flew to China in 20014 to help a friend and Liberal Party donor secure a mining deal with the Chinese.

Brough stood aside as special minister of state and minister for defense materiel and science in December while police investigate allegations that he illegally accessed the diary of a former House of Representatives speaker.

Truss is expected to be replaced as Nationals leader and deputy prime minister by Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce, who is currently the party deputy.
A Bangladeshi court today upheld the death penalty against three Islamist militants for a 2004 attack on the then Bangladeshi-origin British envoy to the country that left three people dead.

"The (lower court) verdict is upheld," presiding judge of a two-member High Court bench Enayetur Rahman said confirming the death penalty for Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) chief Mufti Abdul Hannan and two other operatives of the banned outfit for their involvement in the May 21, 2004 grenade attack on Anwar Chowdhury, former British High Commissioner to Bangladesh.

According to the verdict two other HuJI operatives would serve life terms for their involvement in the attack which Chowdhury narrowly escaped with minor wounds.

Three policemen were killed and some 50 people wounded as HuJI operatives exploded grenades when Chowdhury was on a visit to a Sufi shrine in north-eastern Sylhet which is also his birthplace.

A speedy trial tribunal originally tried the case and gave its verdict in December, 2008, also sentencing HuJI leaders Sharif Shahedul Alam and Delwar Hossain alongside Hannan.

Hannan and seven other operatives of his outfit were earlier sentenced to death by another court in Dhaka for a deadly 2011 bomb attack that killed 10 people during Bengali New Year celebrations at a public park in the capital as HuJI considered the festival to be "anti-Islamic".

Twenty-one HuJI men including Hannan and an ex-junior minister of past BNP government are also being tried for a grenade attack on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2004.

The then opposition Awami League chief Hasina narrowly escaped the attack that killed 24 people.

The US earlier this year designated HuJi as a foreign terrorist organisation and "specially designated global terrorist".
The amputation of finger of a 2 month old baby at a state-run hospital in Asansol in Burdwan district last week triggered disciplinary action by state health department with three medical officials of the hospital suspended last night.

A top district health official said the baby's finger blackened due to pasting of leukoplast last week while being administered saline and finally had to be amputated at a Kolkata Hospital couple of days back.

Stung by the report, the health department conducted a probe and ordered suspension of the RMO of said Asansol Zilla Hospital - Asish Kumar Ghosh, and two nurses Karabi Das and Jayasree Konar last night, the official said.

They were charged with negligence.

The suspension notice was sent to the hospital already with immediate effect, the officer said.

He said for the sake of privacy of the family of the child, the baby's name and gender could not be made known but the finger has been re-attached.

This is the second such incident after a new born's finger was amputated at a Balurghat hospital in South Dinajpur district last year.
Two unidentified motor cycle borne miscreants fired at a bakery owner here in broad day light today, police said.

The bullet hit Joginder Pal (60), a bakery owner at Amar Pura near Kidwai Nagar here, in the back.

He was immediately rushed to CMC Hospital where he was stated to be stable.

Ludhiana ACP, Satish Malhotra said that the police is working on various theories.

The incident took place around 1 PM, he said.

Joginder Pal was working inside the factory when he was attacked, the ACP added.

Last month, two unidentified assailants had fired shots at a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh shakha but there were no casualties as the ground was vacant, at new Kidwai Nagar Park, here.
The Reserve Bank today said banks should follow accounting standard Ind AS converged with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) from April 2018.

"Banks shall comply with the Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) for financial statements for accounting periods beginning from April 1, 2018 onwards, with comparatives for the periods ending March 31, 2018 or thereafter," RBI said in a notification.

"Ind AS shall be applicable to both standalone financial statements and consolidated financial statements. Comparatives shall mean comparative figures for the preceding accounting period. Banks shall apply Ind AS only as per the above timelines and shall not be permitted to adopt Ind AS earlier," it said.

There will be an impact of new accounting norms on profit planning and budgeting, taxation, capital planning, and impact on capital adequacy, it said.

Ind AS implementation is likely to significantly impact the financial reporting systems and processes and, as such, these changes need to be planned, managed, tested and executed in advance of the implementation date, it said.

Banks are advised to set up a Steering Committee headed by an official of the rank of an Executive Director (or equivalent) comprising members from cross-functional areas of the bank to immediately initiate the implementation process, it said.

"Board shall oversee the progress of the Ind AS implementation process and report to the Board at quarterly intervals," it said.

Banks should assess the impact of the Ind AS



implementation on their financial position including the adequacy of capital, taking into account the Basel III capital requirements and place quarterly progress reports to their boards, it said.

RBI also said that banks also need to be in preparedness to submit proforma Ind AS financial statements to the Reserve Bank from the half-year ended September 30, 2016, onwards.

The RBI will also take steps to facilitate the implementation process.

To begin with, from April 2016, the RBI will hold periodic meetings with banks in this regard, it said.

The boards of the banks should have the ultimate responsibility in determining the Ind AS direction and strategy and in overseeing the development and execution of the Ind AS implementation plan, it said.
BJP today dismissed reports of a possible alliance with DMK for the coming Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu and said the exercise of forming a tie up with a party would be completed before the announcement of poll dates.

"It is a figment of one's imagination to think of an alliance with DMK...There is no information from high command on this. BJP will form an alliance for the Tamil Nadu Assembly polls before announcement of poll dates," party state president, Tamilisai Soundararajan said here.

She stated this when asked about reports of a possible alliance with DMK.

On February 4, BJP president Amit Shah had said in Kochi that the party was open to the question of alliance and that they were weighing all options.

He had said this when asked about alliance and his party leader Subramanian Swamy pitching for a new "DMK-DMDK-BJP" front.

Soundararajan said the interim budget to be presented by Tamil Nadu government on February 16 should be a 'people oriented' one. Government should also announce total prohibition in the budget session, she said.

On the subject, she referred to her father, senior Congress leader Kumari Ananthan being hospitalised on Feb 9 after he fainted while on a padayatra demanding total prohibition and said the state government should fulfill his demand, considering that he had undertaken such an exercise.

Ananthan had launched his padayatra on December 25, 2015 from Chennai to Kanyakumari.

The BJP leader said the party has urged Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu to expedite all pending projects in Tamil Nadu as announced in the last budget and also accord priority to the state in this budget.
Sweden-based air purifier firm Blueair plans to triple its retail network in the next six months as it aims to make India one of its top three markets globally in five years.

"We are looking at tripling our retail network in the next six months. For the first few years our focus will be on metro cities and later we will look at expanding dealership network across the country. India is a big future market for us and we expect it to be Blueair's top three markets globally in five years time," Blueair Business Head in India, Vijay Kannan told PTI.

Blueair's top three global markets are China, the US and Europe.

The company, which is targeting the upper middle class and expats in India, sells its premium air purifiers through 45 dealers in the metro cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Tier-II places such as Pune, Chandigarh and Ahmedabad.

Blueair today launched an air monitoring device priced at Rs 20,000 and an air purification device Blueair Sense+ priced at Rs 45,000. Both these devices can be used via smartphones.

According to reports, the total market size of air purifiers in India is 60,000 to 70,000 units and Blueair has a market share of 70 per cent in the premium air purifiers segment, Kannan claimed.

Blueair is selling air purifiers ranging between Rs 45,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh.

At present, Blueair is importing its products from Sweden. It has a total of three manufacturing plants in Sweden, China and the US.
Campaigning for Khadoor Sahib assembly seat by-election, where ruling Shiromani Akali Dal is the main contesting party as both Congress and AAP have not entered the fray, came to an end this evening.

The prominent contesting candidate left in the fray for Saturday bypoll is SAD's Ravinder Singh Brahmpura who faces six other candidates, including five Independents.

The poll campaign lacked the usual excitement as Congress had earlier announced "boycott" of the polls while new entrant AAP too had decided not to contest.

Last month, the nomination of Independent candidate Bhai Baldeep Singh, backed by Yogendra Yadav-led Swaraj Abhiyan, was rejected during scrutiny on the grounds that he was not a registered voter in Punjab.

The seat had fallen vacant after Congress' Ramanjit Singh Sikki, the sitting MLA had resigned over incidents of sacrilege in his constituency last year.

The Congress had recently announced boycott of the by-election, with Punjab Congress President Amarinder Singh maintaining "since the basic issue of the sacrilege, for which Sikki resigned, still remains unresolved, the Congress party decided there was no point in contesting the election".
Following their abysmal performance in the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former corporate honcho Carly Fiorina have ended their campaigns to seek the Republican US presidential nomination.

Both Christie and Fiorina stated their decision on Facebook, a day after the New Hampshire primary where they fared poorly in the poll won by Donald Trump by a huge margin while Ohio Governor John Kasich finished a distant second.

In a Facebook post, Christie said that the government needs to once again work for the people, not the people working for the government.

"I have both won elections that I was supposed to lose and I've lost elections I was supposed to win and what that means is you never know what will happen. That is both the magic and the mystery of politics - you never quite know when which is going to happen, even when you think you do. And so today I leave the race without an ounce of regret," Christie said.

In her Facebook post, Fiorina said while she suspended her candidacy, she will continue to travel the country and fight for those Americans who refuse to settle for the way things are and a status quo that no longer works for them.

"Our Republican Party must fight alongside these Americans as well. We must end crony capitalism by fighting the policies that allow it to flourish," said the former Hewlett-Packard CEO.

"We must fix our festering problems by holding our bloated, inept government bureaucracy accountable. Republicans must stand for conservative principles that lift people up and recognise all Americans have the right to fulfil their God-given potential," Fiorina said.

With Christie and Fiorina suspending their campaigns, the Republican presidential battle is now a six-man race.

Apart from Trump and Kasich, the other candidates still in the race are Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, and eminent neurosurgeon Ben Carson.

All these candidates are now campaigning in South Carolina where the next Republican primary is scheduled to be held later this month.
Chairman of AgriGold Farm Estates India A Venkata Rama Rao and managing director AVS Narayana Rao were tonight arrested by Andhra Pradesh Police in connection with an alleged multi-crore scandal.

They were placed under arrest after an 8-hour interrogation by the CID, and will be produced before court at Eluru tomorrow, sources said.

AgriGold was alleged to have duped several lakh gullible investors, who invested their money in many of the company's ventures, to the tune of Rs 22,000 crore.

A case in this regard is heard by the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad for the state of Andhra Pradesh and the state of Telangana, and is slated to come up for hearing tomorrow.

During the last hearing recently, the court came down heavily on the CID over the "slackness" in the investigation and its failure to arrest the company management.

It warned that the case would be handed over to the CBI.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the information that, according to the preliminary data, there are Armenians among the detained suspects, accused in the attack on Turkish-Armenian Demirci family in Istanbuls Sisli district, MFA spokesperson Tigran Balayan informed in the interview with Armenpress.

According to the preliminary data, there are Armenians among the arrested persons. Ability to provide consular assistance is limited by the absence of diplomatic relations, Tigran Balayan said.

Seta Ayda Demirci and Hagop Yakup Demirci were attacked on February 6 in their house on Cumhuriye Street in Sisli. Given the fact that the valuables in the house were stolen, it was thought that this is a robbery. However, Seta Ayda Demirci and Hagop Yakup Demirci were tied with hogtie and it seemed this might be a hate crime. Attacked by 3 people, Hagop Yakup Demirci was suffocated.

Seta Ayda Demirci was slightly injured in the attack and discharged from the hospital on February 7.

After the crime Turkish police made investigation to identify the attackers. Law Enforcement Officials were able to identify the criminals faces by the records of the areas cameras. It also turned out that the three persons, who carried out the attack, hired a car and travelled from Istanbul to Trabzon. It is here that the police arrested them. The criminals aimed at fleeing from Trabzon to Georgia with the theft. 5 persons who assisted them in several cases were also arrested.

Trabzon Chief Public Prosecutor's Office shared a statement that 8 suspects (5 women and 3 men), are Armenia citizens.
Networking giant Cisco today reported a 31 per cent rise in net profit to USD 3.1 billion for the December quarter on the back of strong growth in Asia Pacific region, including India and China.

The company had posted a net profit of USD 2.4 billion in the same quarter last fiscal. It follows July-June as its financial calendar.

The US-based firm saw its revenues grow two per cent to USD 11.8 billion (excluding SP Video CPE Business for all periods) in the quarter under review, helped by 23 per cent growth in markets like India and China (64 per cent).

It had guided its second quarter revenues to see 0-2 per cent growth year-on-year.

"We delivered a strong Q2, and are managing the business extremely well in a challenging macro environment. We're managing the company on two fronts. We're focused on continued strong execution in the near term while investing in the innovation to lead our customers into the future," Cisco CEO Charles Robbins said.

Cisco expects its revenues to grow 1-4 per cent year-on-year (normalised to exclude SP Video CPE Business for third quarter). In November last year, it had completed its divestiture of the SP Video CPE Business.

Talking about the growth drivers, he said Americas was flat and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) declined one per cent but Asia Pacific, Japan and China grew 17 per cent.

"Total emerging markets grew 7 per cent, with the BRICs plus Mexico (BRICM) showing strength at up 17 per cent, with China up 64 per cent and India up 23 per cent," he said.

Total emerging minus the BRICM countries was down three per cent, he said.

Cisco's India business has continued to grow at a steady pace over the last five quarters.

"We've talked a lot about what we've seen happening in India. We've seen tremendous success there. That's one of the key countries, that we have a country digitisation effort that John (Chambers) has been leading for us, and our business there continues to grow very well," he said.

Cisco's board of directors has also approved a USD 15 billion increase to the authorisation of the stock repurchase programme.
Members from Congress and JD(U) have submitted a notice in the Rajya Sabha for an adjournment motion in the upcoming Budget session to discuss Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula's suicide in Hyderabad Central University.

K C Tyagi from JD(U) and Bhalchandra Mungekar of Congress have sought suspension of the House business to discuss the issue when Rajya Sabha meets to transact its legislative agenda on February 24, a day after the beginning of the Budget session with President Pranab Mukherjee's address to the joint sitting of both the Houses.

Sources said, the leaders have sought to raise the issue of "discrimination" with Dalit students on University campuses.

There are indications that closing ranks on the issue, Opposition parties will try to corner the government in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav had described the Dalit student's suicide as a "national shame" and accused the government of working against the interests of deprived sections of the society.
Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley's deposition that Ishrat Jahan, who was killed in an encounter in Gujarat in 2004, was an LeT operative led to a political slugfest with BJP demanding that the Congress leadership should apologise for "targeting Narendra Modi over her killing at the cost of national security".

BJP accused Congress of politicising the encounter as part of its "hate politics" against Modi, then Gujarat chief minister, and said if its chief Sonia Gandhi and her deputy Rahul Gandhi had any "shame" left, then they must apologise to the nation.

Police personnel who fought terrorists risking their lives were put behind bars by the then UPA government and security agencies like CBI and IB were politicised, party secretary Shrikant Sharma alleged, saying it was done to "defame and fix" Modi as part of a "political conspiracy".

"Headley's deposition that she was a LeT's suicide bomber has unmasked those who do politics over terrorism. We do not expect any morality from Congress. But if Sonia and her son Rahul Gandhi, who is a champion in politics of conspiracy, have any shame left, then they must apologise to the nation.

"They should apologise to the police personnel' families who had to suffer after they were put in jail for killing these terrorists in encounter. Congress and its allies linked terrorists with religion to mask their corrupt governance," he told a press conference.

Congress sought to dismiss BJP demands for an apology in the wake of David Headley's claims that Ishrat Jahan was an LeT operative, insisting that the "fundamental question" was whether she and her accomplices were killed in fake encounter.

Sharma also cited comments of Congress leaders questioning the Batla House encounter and their allusion to RSS hand in 26/11 Mumbai attack to attack the opposition party. "It has become clear that Congress played with national security. It is height of hate politics," he said.

Immidiately after Headly's testimony, a battery of BJP leaders swung into action to attack Congress, claiming that its leaders dubbed Ishrat as a "martyr" only to "fix" Modi.

BJP cited a number of developments during the UPA's



tenure, including "contradictory" affidavits filed in court over Ishrat case and NIA's reported decision to omit Headley's statement to it in which he allegedly said that she was an LeT terrorist, to argue that Congress used her killing to target Modi and Amit Shah, then a Gujarat minister and now party chief.

Somebody had stated she was a college-going girl and somebody else said she was a martyr and all these people have been unmasked now, Sharma said.

It is clear that she and her associates were on a mission to kill Modi and attack religious places, he claimed.

BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain attacked the "secular brigade" and took a dig at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for using Ishrat's killing as an issue during then Bihar polls by terming her a 'Bihar ki beti'.

Another party spokesperson, Nalin Kohli noted that LeT had portrayed her as a "martyr" on its website but "government agencies at that time were put at war with each other and attempts were made at fixing individuals... Instead of finding the truth".

Kohli said Headley's testimony raises the important question as to what extent the national interest is served by portraying a terrorist and the enemies of the country as martyrs.
The Maharashtra Congress today criticised the BJP-led state government claiming it has reduced the amount it initially announced for repayment of farmers' loans taken from private money lenders.

Initially the government had announced Rs 377 crore for the purpose but that has been cut down to Rs 46.66 crore, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson Sachin Sawant said citing an RTI reply.

"Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had announced, on the floor of the House, that around 50 per cent farmers commit suicide as they cannot repay loans taken from private moneylenders. He had announced Rs 377 crore for the purpose," Sawant said.

According to initial government estimate, after the CM's announcement, Rs 604.88 crore were required to pay off farmers' loans, he added.

"Initial estimate said the money would be required to be paid to 4,899 money lenders, which would free 5,84,556 people from debt. However, the state administration later developed cold feet and cut down the numbers after coming to conclusion only Rs 46.66 cr are required to repay," he said.

Sawant said that out of Rs 46.66 cr, the government has so far disbursed only Rs 19.55 crore to private money lenders.

"The government has only decided to pay 12.5 per cent of Rs 377 crore that the CM promised, which shows that they are not trustworthy," he said.

"The facts revealed under RTI only show the government may make big announcements, but when it comes to working on ground, it develops cold feet," Sawant said.
A Delhi Police constable was stabbed by a youth in a road rage incident in east Delhi's Kalyanpuri today.

The incident took place when the constable, Vikram, who is posted at Mayur Vihar police station, and a colleague had gone to inquire about an incident in the Kalyanpuri area. Neither policeman was in uniform.

On their way back, Vikram's motorbike brushed another two- wheeler following which the other rider allegedly stabbed him with a knife, a senior police official said.

The accused, identified as one Sunil, turned out to be a proclaimed offender and was arrested after the incident.

Vikram, who received an injury on his thigh, was taken to GTB Hospital for treatment, the official added.
A Delhi court would next week scrutinise documents in a case filed by Income Tax (IT) Department against businessman Moin Akhtar Qureshi's wife for allegedly giving false information about her foreign bank accounts.

Counsel for Nasreen Moin Qureshi, the Pakistan-origin wife of meat exporter Qureshi, submitted in the court that he has not yet received several legible copies. The court had earlier asked the counsel for IT Department to supplythe deficitdocuments to the accused.

The Department's advocate, however, informed the court they have already supplied legible documents to the accused and showed the receiving copy.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Pritam Singh then fixed February 19 for scrutiny of documents and asked the defence counsel to inform it if he has received the required papers.

Nasreen was granted bail by the court on January 6 when she appeared before it and her husband stood surety for her. Qureshi is also facing prosecution in a black money case for allegedly not disclosing an income of nearly Rs 20 crore.

The court had earlier summoned Nasreen as an accused in the case after taking cognisance of the complaint filed by the IT department under the IT Act and the IPC.

It was alleged in the complaint that a search was carried out by IT Department in Nasreen's case and in other connected cases of Qureshi's AMQ Group on February 15, 2014.

In her preliminary statement, Nasreen stated on oath that she had only one account in HSBC and denied owning any asset in any foreign country, it has said.

"Evidence clearly showed that Nasreen Moin Qureshi has not disclosed deposits in JP Morgan Chase Bank in USA for income tax and such deposits represent her undisclosed income, not offered to taxation in returns of income filed by her, thereby causing huge loss of revenue," the I-T department has claimed.

It alleged that she made false statement in verification in her returns of income filed for the relevant period.

In her statement to the I-T department in April 2014, Nasreen said before her marriage, her father, a native of Pakistan, would have opened her bank account in Pakistan and other countries but no account was opened abroad after her marriage.

The complaint, however, said Nasreen's claim that foreign bank account was opened by her father was found to be false and investigation has confirmed that she maintained an account with the bank in the US.

It also alleged that Nasreen had signed the documents in April, 2010 to open two accounts in the US' bank and total deposit in them were over USD 3,02,599.

The complaint has said she used debit cards for expenses or withdrawal from the foreign account and had withdrawn USD 1,79,532.
Armed criminals today looted over Rs seven lakh from a Jharkhand Gramin Bank branch at Choutha under Bishnugarh Police Station of the district.

Five persons laced with firearms held the staff at gun point and looted Rs 7.75 lakh in cash, said Superintendent of Police, Akhilesh Kumar Jha.

According to the FIR lodged by the Branch Manager R Paswan, the criminals entered the bank at about 11.30 AM and started terrorising the bank staff and customers.

They then forced the cashier to open the bank's strong room, where the cash was kept and looted the money.

Two other criminals were guarding at the entrance, the SP said adding the criminals assaulted some of the customers and exploded a bomb to terrorise them.

"We have started a search operation to locate the criminals and have alerted all adjacent police stations," Jha added.
German commercial vehicle maker Daimler today said its sales rose by 37 per cent to 14,000 units in the domestic market on good demand for heavy-duty segment.

Daimler, which has introduced 20 products since its formal launch in 2012, had sold 10,200 units in 2014.

"2015 has been another successful year for us. With our portfolio of modern trucks, we have powered ahead on our growth course domestically in India and in our export business", Daimler India Commercial Vehicle Managing Director and CEO Erich Nesselhauf said in a statement.

The company last year also recorded the "four million" export mark of India-made parts to other Daimler Trucks facilities globally.

Stating that demand for products in 2015 grew, especially in the heavy-duty segment, the company said tailored products for mining and construction segments has resonated well with customers.

In 2015, Daimler unveiled its Rs 425 crore bus facility at its manufacturing plant in Oragadam near Chennai. It later introduced various models including BharatBenz branded high-powered engine trucks and heavy duty trucks.

"With important new BharatBenz product generations hitting the market in 2016, we are committed to sustainably grow our business as part of Daimler Trucks Asia", he said.

"Both in the medium and heavy duty segment we will once more raise standards and customer value. At the same time, India-made FUSO trucks will play a key role in opening up important growth markets in Asia, Africa and Latin America", he said.

Daimler India Commercial Vehicle sells nine tonne to 49 tonne trucks under the brand BharatBenz at the Oragadam factory set up at investment of about Rs 4,400 crore.

The company produces BharatBenz and Mercedes-Benz buses at the facility.
Scintillating photographs of breathtaking views from across the world shot by a senior employee of the Delhi Metro attempts to celebrate the creative spirit of man and the bewildering beauty of nature.

A five-day long selling exhibition of 80 pictures shot by Sharat Sharma, Director, Operations, Delhi Metro is currently is set to open at India Habitat Centre here on February 13.

Inspired by the sublime beauty of nature and artistic zeal of man, the show titled "Inspired to Inspire", promises a photographic tour across the world with a view of golden mountain tops during sunrise at Leh, scenic alpine villages in Switzerland, the historical Debod Temple against crystal clear water body in Madrid and unexplored havens of beauty in India.

Sharma, who is not a professional photographer, has nurtured the art of capturing near to perfect aerial shots over the years and the upcoming show is the second show by him, the first being held in the October 2014 at the same venue.

Sharma's wife Kamalnaini, a cancer survivor and qualified lawyer, has curated the show.

"Our first exhibition titled 'A Tryst with Divinity' got a very good response in 2014. The proceeds of the show will go to charities including Helpage India and National Association for the Blind," says Sharma.

An engineer by profession, Sharma who ensures safe and prompt transportation of over 28 lakh metro commuters, is also the president of Metro Adventure Club and Metro Culture Club in Delhi.

"What makes this exhibition unique is the experiment with photography and a beautiful merging of technology with art", says Sharma who presented a photographic production of Indian flowers on a glass display that can be back lit through LED lighting.

Under this experiment, the photographer says, different



mediums like canvas, tiles and glass can be used to bring out life like pictures of flowers or anything, shot in their natural environment.

"India itself needs to be explored through a lens, there are so many unexplored picturesque places that sit right into the lap of nature", says Sharma.

One of the images he has clicked a few years ago is a lifelike panoramic photograph of the Kedarnath mountains and another is an aerial shot of the snow clad mountains of Kazakhstan captured in a flight around 30,000 feet above.

"Having a tete-a-tete with hard to reach places in not everybody's cup of tea and there are financial and time constraints too. But my inspiration and motive has been to capture the most beautiful faces of nature and human civilization which is worth keeping in memory forever", he says.

For Sharma, photography is a stress buster and despite a busy schedule as a top official of Delhi Metro, he says he never forgets to take his lenses along, be it a official tour or a holiday.

"Our 2014 exhibition got a wide coverage, with a lot of young spectators", says Sharma.

Among the most curious and 'magical' aerial shots is the one taken flying flying over Iraq.

"It looks like a painting and draws a million thoughts in the first look", says Sharma who has captured some other brilliant photographs from Sikkim, Leh, Italy, Spain among others.

"Aerial photography is a photographer's real challenge. It requires perfect balance and camera adjustment. However, photography is a pure science but I have personally come across many people who don't know about the technicalities, but yet click stunning pictures."



"That's why I feel that it is also about the emotions and imagination of a person behind the lens", says Sharma who feels that life is much beyond the routine job and social relations.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to inaugurate the 'World Culture Festival' to be held from March 11-13 in the national capital.

The three-day event, based on the theme of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' (world is one family), is expected to be attended by among others, religious and spiritual leaders, political leaders, artists and peacemakers from different countries.

Former Pakistan Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani, besides leaders from a host of nations such as Sri Lanka, Iraq, Nepal and Afghanistan among others are expected to attend the event which will showcase the rich cultural traditions of dance, music and art from around the world as well as the ancient Indian art of Yoga.

"With the World Culture Festival, we hope to foster deeper understanding between people of different faiths, nationalities and backgrounds. The goal of the Festival is to make people from across the globe stand together and spread the message of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (world is one family)," the Art of Living Founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said.

He said the Festival was a celebration of The Art of Living's 35 years of service to humanity.

Over 35,900 artists are expected to perform at the Festival which will include 8,000 musicians playing 40 instruments in a musical symphony, 650 drummers from South Africa and several tribal artists from Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Sikkim.

A sizable number of guests from South America, Mongolia, Russia, US, Europe, Japan, Malaysia, Australia and Pakistan are expected to attend the Festival.
Jammu and Kashmir DGP K Rajendra today directed senior police functionaries in the valley to assist the civil administration and the people in snowbound areas to ease the problems of common masses.

In a communique, he alerted the range Deputy Inspectors General of Police and all District Superintendents of Police to work with the civil administration, local bodies and all the snowbound areas in clearance of roads leading to the hospitals and other important installations.

He issued instructions to work with the civil administration and make functional police control rooms round the clock so that the problems of the people are eased.

Rajendra also directed the traffic authorities to ensure smooth plying of traffic on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway and other district headquarters so that people don't face any inconvenience.

He said connectivity is must and police have to play an important role to reach inaccessible areas and provide succour to the needy people.
The Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities (CCPD) has asked the Railway Board to look into the alleged manhandling of visually-impaired students by a security guard on a Howrah-bound train.

The Commissioner has taken cognisance of a media report on February 7 about allegations of rough treatment of some visually-challenged students of National Institute for Visually Handicapped (NIVH), Dehradun, by a security guard in the Dehradun-Howrah Express train.

"When the train reached Haridwar, a man in a police uniform boarded the train and asked them to deboard the train. When the students requested that they be allowed to complete the journey, the man beat them up," CCPD said in a letter to Railway Board.

In his letter to the Secretary, Railway Board, CCPD has sought a report on the matter within 30 days.

The Office of the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities has been mandated to take steps to safeguard the rights of persons with disabilities under Section 59 of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights & Full Participation) Act, 1995.
At least 30 people died in a pre-dawn prison riot in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey today, as smoke billowed from the building, local media reported.

Riot police and ambulances were deployed at the Topo Chico prison while angry families of inmates seeking to enter the facility threw rocks over a gate.

The Televisa channel reported that 30 died while Milenio television spoke of 50 victims, with inmates and prison guards among them.

Milenio TV and Reforma newspaper reported that the riot broke out in an apparent escape attempt.

Authorities have yet to make any official statements about casualties.

Nuevo Leon state public security spokesman Antonio Arguello said the riot erupted at around midnight.

"The authorities formed a security cordon and nobody escaped. Everything was under control at 1:30 am," Arguello told AFP.

"We can't say how many people died until forensic services give us a report and the authorities finish counting inmates," he added.

Some relatives of prisoners formed a line to block a boulevard.

"We will stay here blocking this avenue until they give us an answer. We want to know how our relatives are doing because they are telling us that there are more than 50 dead and no authority is giving us answers," Ernestina Grimaldo, whose son is a prisoner, told AFP.

The incident erupted on the eve of Pope Francis' trip to Mexico, during which he is due to visit another notorious prison, in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez.
Gopinath Pillai, father of Gujarat encounter victim Pranesh Kumar who was among the four killed along with Ishrat Jahan, today expressed "doubts" over the deposition by Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley that she was an LeT terrorist.

"The incident occurred in 2004. Did Headley have to wait till 2016 to say this.. Or did someone make him say so?" Pillai asked while speaking to reporters here.

Pillai was reacting to Headley's startling deposition that Jahan was an LeT suicide bomber.

"Four people were killed. Some had made Gujarat police do this to destroy evidence," Pillai, who had all along maintained that his son Kumar alias Javed Shaikh was shot dead by Gujarat police in a "fake" encounter near Ahemadabad in 2004, said.

Headley today deposed before a Mumbai court via video link that Ishrat Jahan -- who was killed in an alleged fake encounter in 2004 in Gujarat--was actually a suicide bomber of Lashkar-e-Taiba terror outfit.
A section of lawyers today raised slogans against retired High Court Chief Justice L Narasimha Reddy while he was delivering a lecture on B R Ambedkar here, leading him to leave the venue midway.

The lawyers were objecting to his presence at the seminar in light of a verdict delivered by a division bench headed by him in a case related to killing of Dalits.

Reddy, who retired as Chief Justice of Patna High Court, was speaking at a seminar on "Dr B R Ambedkar's Clamour for National Integrity", organised by the local bar association at the District Court premises here.

Reddy was referring to a speech given by Ambedkar on November 25, 1949, when all of a sudden, a section of lawyers raised slogans against him.

These lawyers asked Reddy to "stop his speech" and "go out", saying he had no right to speak on Ambedkar as he had acquitted accused in the Chundur Dalits murder case.

They were referring to a verdict given by the Reddy- headed Division Bench of Andhra Pradesh HC in 2014.

A visibly annoyed Reddy stepped down from the dais and left the seminar venue. However, the protesting lawyers blocked his car by sitting on a dharna in front of it.

Bar association officials intervened and Reddy left the court premises in another car.

Later, talking to PTI, Reddy criticised the advocates for their behaviour and termed the incident as very sad and unfortunate.

Referring to the Chundur verdict, he said "it was a judgement given by a Division Bench. We heard the case for nearly 15 days and given its sensitivity, I asked the Special Public Prosecutor 'do you have any objection because I am a Reddy. The Special Public prosecutor said 'no objection'."



"We delivered our judgement to the best of our ability and it is now pending in the Supreme Court. A Judge cannot satisfy every section."



It may be recalled that eight Dalits were murdered at Chundur village in Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh in August 1991.

A Special Court, in August 2007, acquitted 123 out of the 179 accused named in the case. It sentenced 21 accused to life imprisonment and awarded one-year rigorous jail term to the 35 others.

The convicts went in appeal in the HC and the Bench headed by Reddy and also comprising Justice M S K Jaiswal later acquitted all of them.
Left parties today condoled the death of Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad and asked the Centre to offer "exemplary" compensation to families of the braveheart and other soldiers who were killed by an avalanche in Siachen.

"We convey our sympathy to the family of Hanamanthappa. He and the other soldiers of the Madras Regiment died in tragic conditions.

"The government must offer them exemplary compensation, not the normal type. It also must give employment to some of their family members," CPI general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy said.

Party national secretary D Raja also paid tributes to Hanamanthappa and termed the soldier's demise as "shocking" after the latter raised hopes of survival.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury tweeted,"Sad to learn about Lance Naik Hanamanthappa. Heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families of ten brave souls who are no longer with us."



Koppad was among 10 soldiers of 19th Battalion of Madras Regiment in a high-altitude military post which was struck by the avalanche and nine of them, including a Junior Commissioned Officer, died earlier.
A 94-year-old former Auschwitz guard will go on trial today for complicity in the murders of tens of thousands of people at the Nazi concentration camp.

Reinhold Hanning faces court in the western town of Detmold seven decades after the defeat of the Nazis, charged with at least 170,000 counts of being an accessory to murder in his role at the camp in occupied Poland.

The trial is the first of three scheduled this year against former SS men, as Germany races to prosecute ageing Third Reich criminals.

Christoph Heubner, vice president of the International Auschwitz Committee, said it was an opportunity to make up "for the failures of Germany's justice system".

Among the 6,500 former SS personnel at Auschwitz who survived the war, fewer than 50 have been convicted.

Holocaust survivor Angela Orosz, who will testify against Hanning, told AFP that all Auschwitz staff "were part of this killing machine".

"Without these people and their active support for the Holocaust, what happened in Auschwitz, the murder of 1.1 million people in just a few years, would not have been possible, and perhaps many of my family members would still be alive," said Orosz, who was born in Auschwitz just over a month before it was liberated on January 27, 1945.

After the charge sheet is read out Thursday against Hanning, the court will hear from three German plaintiffs -- Holocaust survivors Leon Schwarzbaum, Erna de Vries and Justin Sonder.

Hanning faces between three and 15 years in jail, but in view of his advanced age and the period required for any appeals, he is unlikely to serve time.

Sonder, 90, said that "this trial should have been held 40 or 50 years ago".

But "even today, it is not too late to look at what happened", said Sonder, who lost 22 members of his family under the Nazi regime and was sent to Auschwitz when he was 17 years old.

Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, agreed.

"Even 71 years after the liberation of Auschwitz, the wounds of the survivors are still fresh. Many of them are haunted every single day by the horrible experiences they and their family members went through," he told AFP.

"At the same time, there are still a few old men out there with blood of on their hands. For seven decades, they did not have to answer for their crimes.

"As long as it's possible to bring any of them to justice, it must be done," he said.
A top Google executive was left struggling for words when he could not remember his own salary at a grilling by British MPs today over the US tech giant's controversial tax bill.

Matt Brittin, head of Google Europe, Middle East and Africa said he would provide the figure at a later date after Meg Hillier, head of the public accounts scrutiny committee, demanded it four times.

"You don't know what you get paid?" the lawmaker said.

"Our there, taxpayers, our constituents, are very angry. They live in a different world, clearly, to the world you live in if you can't even tell us what you are paid," said the Labour opposition MP.

She accused Brittin of having "tin ears".

Britain's tax agency announced last month that Google would pay a 130 million pounds (166 million euro, USD 187 million) tax settlement for 10 years' operations in Britain where it makes 11 percent of its global sales.

Finance minister George Osborne hailed the agreement as a victory.

But there was a barrage of criticism, including from within Prime Minister David Cameron's own Conservative Party as the announcement coincided with a key tax filing deadline for many Britons.

It later emerged that Google had made profits of 106 million pounds on revenues of 1.18 billion pounds in Britain in the last 18 months alone and the Labour opposition claimed the giant was paying only "three percent tax".

"Do you hear the anger and frustration out there that with these huge figures you settled for a figure of 130 million pounds?" Hillier asked Brittin.

He replied: "I understand the anger and understand that people, when they see reported that we are paying three percent tax, would be angry. But we're not. We're paying 20 percent tax".

Tom Hutchinson, Google Inc's vice-president for finance, told the committee hearing that the 130 million pounds was the largest tax settlement following audit ever paid by Google outside the United States.

The company thought it was "fair", he said.

Brittin also dismissed British press reports of higher tax payments being demanded of the company in France and Italy, where it has less business.

"They are just statements from politicians asking us to pay more money," he said.
The government has begun search to fill up the post of a member of the Competition Appellate Tribunal (Compat), which has been lying vacant for over a year now.

Compat, which hears appeals against rulings of fair trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI), comes under the Corporate Affairs Ministry.

The posts of Compat's two members have been vacant since August 2014 when Rahul Sarin had retired. Prior to that, another member Parvin Tripathi superannuated in May 2014.

While former Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher was appointed to one of the posts in October last year, the other post remained vacant.

In a circular dated February 9, the Corporate Affairs Ministry sought applications from candidates for the post at Compat.

The applicant is required to have a professional experience of at least 25 years in competition matters, among others.

The member would have a tenure of five years from the date of appointment or till reaching the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier, as per the circular.

The last date for submitting application is March 7, 2015.

At present, Justice G S Singhvi is the chairman of Compat. Besides the chairman, the tribunal has two members.

In recent times, many CCI rulings have been challenged by the concerned parties at the tribunal.
Members of All India Government Nurses Federation will go on a relay hunger strike from Fenraury 12-27 demanding a hike in their salaries and other allowances.

Nurses across the country are also expected to go on a mass casual leave on February 26.

"We will protest against retrograde recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission. We demand that the entry pay grade for staff nurses should be enhanced to Rs 5,400 from the existing Rs 4,600. Also the nursing allowance should be enhanced by Rs 7,800 in the 7th Central Pay Commission. Risk allowance and night duty allowances should be given to all nurses as it is given to all other government employees.

"Operation theatre or intensive care unit allowance should continue as earlier," Federation's Secretary General G K Khurana said.

The memebrs have also demanded that railway nurses be given eight days of off in a month like all other nurses along with full pay during child care leave.

"We deal with the deadly infections daily but we are not provided enough risk allowances. If the demands are not met, we will go on an indefinite strike from March 15," Khurana said.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan threats to open the borders with Europe to millions of refugees and migrants unless Brussels accedes to his demands is proof that he is exploiting the crisis and blackmailing Europe, Armenpress informs that German magazine Der Spiegel reported about the aforesaid.

On February 8 Greek website Euro2day published confidential EU documents that reveal threats Erdogan made during a meeting with President of the European Council Donald Tusk and President of the European commission Jean-Claude Juncker in Antalya on November 16 during the G20 summit. "We can open the doors to Greece and Bulgaria anytime and we can put the refugees on buses," Erdogan said when Juncker told him Turkey would get 3 billion euros from the EU over two years rather than 6 billion as the Turkish government was demanding, according to the minutes of the meeting. "Erdogan says that the EU will be confronted with more than a dead boy on the shores of Turkey. There will be 10,000 or 15,000. How will you deal with that?" the minutes record the Turkish president as saying.
In a sudden reversal of stand, Defence forces have been allowed by the government to procure jammers for operational use under a new policy aimed at checking random proliferation of jammers.

Defence forces, who were last month excluded from the list of agencies eligible to procure jammers, have now been included, in addition to Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) like Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).

"Jammers can be procured only by Defence Forces, CAPFs, state police and jail authorities," the revised policy issued by the Cabinet Secretariat said.

Defence forces use jammers along the international border and Line of Control (LoC) to block wireless and telecom signals to check infiltration from across the border.

The new policy surprisingly excludes both internal and external intelligence agencies--Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW)--from procuring jammers.

However, central armed police forces fighting militancy in Jammu and Kashmir, naxalism in some states, and insurgency in north eastern states have, for the first, time been allowed to procure jammers.

Jammers can be bought only by states' police department, jail authorities, and central government's security agencies like RAW and IB, as per the old policy.

The Cabinet Secretariat has evolved norms for procurement and use of jammers by states, union territories, defence forces and central police organisations.

"Private sector organisations and or private individuals cannot procure or use jammers in India. These norms take into account the need to guard against random proliferation of jammers as well as to ensure that jammers installed do not unduly interfere with the existing mobile phone networks," the new norms said.
Government today welcomed Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley's revelations, including that Ishrat Jahan, who was killed in an alleged fake encounter in 2004 in Gujarat, was actually a Lashkar-e-Taiba operative, saying it was good for the country.

"Whatever revelations have come, all are good for the Government of India, security agencies and prosecution," Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju told reporters when asked to comment on Headley's remarks on Ishrat.

In his testimony before a Mumbai court today, Headley reportedly said Ishrat, who was killed in an alleged fake encounter in 2004 near Ahmedabad in Gujarat, was actually an operative of the terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba.

"His (Headley) revelations are giving right direction to the investigating agencies and prosecution. It is good for all of us," he said.

Rijiju, however, refused to disclose what steps the security and investigating agencies would take after Headley's testimony.

Testifying via video-link from the US, Headley spilled the beans on the 19-year-old girl from Mumbra near Mumbai and picked up her name when quizzed by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam about a "botched up operation" mentioned to him (Headley) by LeT commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi.

Four persons Ishrat Jahan, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an encounter with Gujarat Police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

The city crime branch had then said that those killed in the encounters were LeT terrorists and had landed in Gujarat to kill then Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

The CBI, which took over the probe from the Gujarat High Court appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT), had filed a charge sheet in August 2013 saying that the encounter was fake and executed in joint operation by the city crime branch and Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau (SIB).
The village of Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad plunged into grief as he passed away today after battling for life since his miraculous survival in Siachen, with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah leading the state in paying homage to the braveheart from Karnataka.

As the tragic of Hanamanthappa's demise broke, a large number of relatives, friends, villagers and media contingent gathered near his home at Betadur village in Kundagol taluk of Dharwad district in north Karnataka.

While Mahadevi, Hanamanthappa's wife along with his daughter and close relatives are in Delhi, the other family members in the village were inconsolable.

Siddaramaiah, who was addressing a rally in Bengaluru for the February 13 Hebbal Assembly segment by-polls, paid his homage to the brave soldier by observing two minutes of silence and said he had sacrificed his life for the country.

The CM said he has already spoken to officials at Karnataka Bhavan in Delhi and asked them to provide all assistance to Hanamanthappa's family, including making arrangements for a special flight to bring them back to the state.

Siddaramaiah said ex-gratia will be announced to families of all three soldiers' from the state - Mahesh from Mysuru, Nagesh from Hassan and Hanamanthappa, who died in the Siachen "tragedy".

"We are deeply pained because we thought he will recover in one or two days and come back. We prayed to all Gods... But I think God couldn't hear us.... The family is shattered...." said Hanamanthappa's friend Manjunath weeping inconsolably.

"Whole Betadur is immersed in grief...; All of us villagers prayed to Gods belonging to every religion for his recovery, don't know why God couldn't hear our prayer," a villager said.

Another villager said "we are in sorrow, but we are equally proud that he has martyred serving and securing our county, he is from our village."



Students of several schools in Dharwad district had been holding prayers for the recovery and return of Hanamanthappa ever since he was found alive after being buried under 25 feet of snow for six days following an avalanche that had hit his post at an altitude of 19,600 feet, where the temperature was minus 45 degrees Celsius.

The twin cities of Hubballi-Dharwad saw several organisations, political parties and schools conduct prayers for the recovery of Hanamanthappa.

Calling Hanamanthappa a "martyr", former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Jagadish Shettar said "I'm even more pained as he belonged to my native district of Dharwad. People wanted to know from him about his heroic will and learn about his experience during the days he was under ice.
"Shahid" director Hansal Mehta and its lead actor Rajkummar Rao today paid a tribute to lawyer Shahid Azmi on his fifth death anniversary.

Azmi, also a human rights activist, was assassinated in 2010 in Mumbai. The 2013 biopic was based on the lawyer, who died at the age of 32.

Mehta and Rao took to Twitter to remember Azmi.

"Remembering Shahid Azmi. Thank you," tweeted Mehta.

Rao wrote, "Remembering our Hero Shahid on his death anniversary. You will always be in our thoughts. Thank you @mehtahansal sir for sharing his story."



The movie earned Rao his maiden the National Film Award for best actor and Mehta bagged the best director honour at the ceremony.
Australia today announced the appointment of Indian-origin Harinder Sidhu asthe country's next High Commissioner to India.

Sidhu who has an Indian background had migrated to Australia as a child with her family from Singapore and will replace the outgoing High Commissioner Patrick Suckling.

Sidhu, a senior career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, has been also serving as First Assistant Secretary of the Multilateral Policy Division.

She has previously served overseas in Moscow and Damascus.

"India is one of Australia's closest and most significant partners in the Indo-Pacific region. It is our 10thlargest trading partner and our two-way investment is worth over USD 20 billion," Australian foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop said while announcing the new High Commissioner.

Bishop stressed that Australia would continue to push for the conclusion of a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement with India, designed to take "our economic relationship to a new level."



"Sidhu will also have non-resident accreditation to Bhutan. Australia and Bhutan enjoy a warm relationship, built on strong people-to-people links and growing cooperation on international education," Bishop said.

Australia also has strong strategic and defence ties with India, conducting its first bilateral maritime exercises in 2015.

There are also over 450,000 people of Indian descent currently residing in Australia driving our strong education, cultural and tourism links, Bishop said.

Sidhu's previous roles included First Assistant Secretary in the Department of Climate Change, Assistant Director-General in the Office of National Assessments and Senior Adviser in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

She holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Economics degrees from the University of Sydney.
Taking a serious view of the violence in Lucknow yesterday when advocates had clashed with police personnel, the Allahabad High Court today sought a report from Uttar Pradesh government on the matter. The court also banned the entry "inside any of the courts across the state" of a lawyer whose pictures wherein he was shown carrying a pistol during the agitation, has been published in newspapers.

The order was passed by a special seven-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, which has been reviewing security arrangements at courts across UP for the past one year.

The bench directed the Principal Secretary (Home) to submit a report on February 18, carrying details of CCTV footages and explaining the circumstances under which police were allowed to enter the court premises where lawyers had gone on the rampage in protest against the murder of a fellow advocate earlier this week.

The bench also took a serious note of the pictures that appeared in newspapers today in which one of the protesting lawyers was shown moving with a pistol in his hand.

On being told that the advocate's name was Vishal Dixit, the court promptly ordered that his entry inside any of the courts across the state be banned.

Meanwhile, advocates of the High Court here refrained from judicial work after lunch following a call to this effect given by High Court Bar Association president R K Ojha.

A statement issued by the UP Bar Council announced that lawyers across the state will boycott judicial work on Monday, February 15, "in protest against police atrocities against advocates in Lucknow".
Congress today dismissed BJP's demand for an apology by Sonia Gandhi in the wake of David Headley's claim that Ishrat Jahan was an LeT operative, insisting that the "fundamental question" was whether she and her accomplices were killed in "fake" encounter.

"If BJP wants to stand with those who have been accused by the CBI in a Gujarat High Court monitored process that they were accused or complicit in the fake encounter,... They can go and stand with them in a Court of Law."



"There is nothing which stops BJP from doing that. We are not a banana Republic, we are a country based on the rule of law and the rule of law does not permit fake encounters," party spokesman Manish Tewari told reporters.

He was responding to a question about the BJP attack on Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi in the wake of Headley's statement that Ishrat Jahan was an LeT operative.

Tewari said there are two separate and distinct issues which are involved - the first is whether Ishrat Jahan and her accomplices were LeT operatives or not.

"In the light of David Headley's statement, if the Government wants to investigate the matter further with regard to their credentials, there is absolutely nothing which is stopping the Government.", he said.

But, he said the "fundamental question" remained whether Ishrat Jahan and her accomplices were killed in a "fake encounter".

He said the Metropolitan Court in Ahmedabad first came to the conclusion that this was a "staged encounter - in other words - a fake encounter."



Subsequently, the matter went to the Gujarat High Court and for two years, the Gujarat High Court monitored the CBI investigation and the agency came to the conclusion that the encounter was indeed fake and they have filed charge-sheets against the accused in an appropriate Court of Law, he said.

"So, therefore, if the Government or the BJP wants to use David Coleman Headley' testimony to justify an encounter which a court monitored investigation has found to be fake, then, I am afraid, neither the Law and nor jurisprudence allows it."



"If a person is a 'terrorist', he needs to be arrested, he needs to be tried, he needs to be brought to justice like Afzal Guru was brought to justice or Ajmal Kasab was brought to justice. But to try and justify a fake encounter, I am afraid, is something which the law does not permit," he added.

In a significant claim, Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley today said that Ishrat Jahan --who was killed in an alleged fake encounter in 2004 in Gujarat--was actually an Lashkar-e-Taiba operative.
Trading cautiously over David Coleman Headley's claim that Ishrat Jahan was an LeT operative, CPI today said his "so-called" statement was "not clear" and insisted the 19-year-old's killing was indeed a "fake encounter".

"Headley's so-called comment is not clear. He was suggested three names and he picked up one of them. Whether she (Ishrat) had connections with terrorist or not...It was not an encounter. Encounter means there is cross-firing.

"She indeed was killed, it was like a cold-blooded murder. If she was a terrorist, she could have been arrested and kept in jail," CPI general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy said.

Reddy, without naming anyone, also stated that "those behind" the killing are behaving as if they are "vindicated" after Headley made the statement.

"Now they (those involved) say that they are vindicated, it is not a false encounter. It is a false encounter because there is no cross-firing in it," he added.

Pakistani-American terrorist Headley today told a special court in Mumbai that young college girl Ishrat, who was killed in an alleged fake encounter in 2004 in Gujarat, was an operative of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

Headley's deposition led to a political slugfest earlier in the day with BJP demanding that Congress leadership should apologise for "targeting" Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was Chief Minister of Gujarat when the alleged encounter took place, over her killing "at the cost of national security".

Congress sought to dismiss BJP demand for apology insisting the "fundamental question" was whether she and her accomplices were killed in fake encounter.
Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley's revelation that Ishrat Jahan was working for Lashkar-e-Taiba, has "vindicated" Gujarat police's stand that she was a terrorist and the gun-battle in which she was killed was "genuine", retired IPS officer D G Vanzara said today.

Ishrat, the 19-year-old college girl, and three others were killed in 2004 in an alleged fake encounter by police in Gujarat.

Vanzara, who was DCP with city crime branch when the encounter took place, was granted bail by a Mumbai court in February last year. Since he is barred from entering Gujarat by the court, he resides in Mumbai at present.

"The encounter was politicised and taken in another direction. Encounters were genuine but cases against Gujarat police were fake," Vanzara told reporters here.

"The lie that she was an innocent college girl, has been nailed with the Headley deposition," he said.

Agencies and people claiming fake encounter should know that such claims are to be proved or disproved by the court, he said.

"A chargesheet is not the final word," he said when pointed out that he was held guilty of a fake encounter in the charge sheet.

Asked what happened that day, he said that matter is subjudice. "I won't like to go into details," he said.

"Of the four terrorists killed, talk revolves only around Ishrat," he said.

Saying that he has all respect and regards for Ishrat being a female, he wondered "what was she doing with the terrorists two of whom were from Pakistan."



"There were inputs from Central agencies that they were terrorists," he said when asked how was he sure that Ishrat was a terrorist.

The Intelligence Bureau did not have "doubt" about it



then and IB does not have any doubt about it now, he claimed adding if there's firing, police has to retaliate.

There are political conspiracies and NGO conspiracies due to which Gujarat police is victimised, he alleged.

Asked if it was a Congress conspiracy, he said it is not necessary to name anyone. It's not necessary that there be a political party behind such conspiracies, he said.

"I will let you know at the right time," he said.

Headley's statement is a slap for those doubting the authenticity of the Ishrat encounter, the retired IPS officer said.

"She was a terrorist. There's no doubt about it. We don't need Headley's certificate for it," he said.

"The then CM (Narendra) Modi was the terrorists' target. Many other targets were also given to her," he said.

Asked if Headley's statement will be used in his case, Vanzara said it is for us to decide what to use and what not to use.

"Whether he is double agent or single agent he is an approver, and she can give her opinion," Vanzara said when asked about Ishrat's mother calling Headley a double agent.

Bullet for bullet action has procedural sanctity and Gujarat police didn't do anything wrong as far as the encounter is concerned, he claimed.

Asked if he was in touch with any Gujarat minister a day before the Ishrat encounter, Vanzara said all these are allegations.

(REOPENS BOM 31)



Meanwhile, Vanzara's kin welcomed the revelations made by Headley with regard to Ishrat Jahan.

Vanzara's son Prithvi said, "No doubt I am happy, as whatever my father was saying for the last ten years is finally accepted."



"However, it is equally unfortunate, as we are believing claims of a global terrorist (Headley) and ignored what innocent officers have been telling all these years," Prithvi said.

"This is the same thing my father as well as our government and intelligence agencies were saying all these years. But, since there was so much politics on this issue, no one listened," he said.

D G Vanzara's brother K G Vanzara, a retired state government officer, said Indians do not value opinions of the countrymen, but believe when a person from the US or Pakistan "gives certificate".

"Indians don't value the opinions and claims of our own countrymen. We only believe when someone from US or Pakistan gives us certificate. Such political system will prove very dangerous and India may have to suffer in terms of terrorism in future due to such approach," he said.

"If Vanzara was out, he would have become Additional DGP and government could have utilised his services. There were a total of 32 police officers who were sent to jail in in various encounter cases. They were actually fighting against terrorism and yet sent to jail," he said.

Headley, while testifying from US via video link before a Mumbai court for the third day today in connection with the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, said that Ishrat Jahan -- who was killed in an alleged fake encounter in 2004 in Gujarat -- was an operative of Lashkar-e-Taiba terror outfit.

Headley spilled the beans on the 19-year-old girl from Mumbra near Mumbai and picked up her name when quizzed by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam about a "botched up operation" mentioned to him (Headley) by LeT commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi.

Four persons Ishrat Jahan, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an encounter with Gujarat Police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

The city crime branch had then said that those killed in the encounters were LeT terrorists and had landed in Gujarat to kill then Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

The CBI, which took over the probe from the Gujarat High Court appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT), had filed a charge sheet in August 2013 saying that the encounter was "fake" and executed in joint operation by the city crime branch and Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau (SIB).
Union Home minister Rajnath Singh today asked the Congress, Left and other opposition parties if they were prepared to apologise to the nation for their "malicious campaign" against Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the killing of Ishrat Jehan in an encounter in Gujarat in 2004.

Addressing a huge rally here, he said Pakistani American terrorist David Headley in his deposition today had clearly admitted that Ishrat Jehan hadlinks with Lashkar-e-Taiba.

"You must have heard what Headley has said in his deposition. Using Ishrat Jehan's name, various allegations were made against our party leaders. On that matter, Headley has clearly stated that she (Ishrat) had links with LeT," he said.

"I want to ask Congress, Communists and other parties who had continuously launched a malicious campaign to mislead the people on this issue, whether they are prepared to tender apology to the people of the country," he said.

Earlier, he had told reporters at the airport that Headley's testimony had exposed Pakistan but made it clear India wanted to maintain cordial relations with that country.

"David Headley deposition has exposed Pakistan but we still want to maintain cordial relationship with the neighbouring country", he had said.

Singh is here to attend the concluding function of the state-wide Vimochana Yatra undertaken by BJP state President Kummanan Rajasekharan.

Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley today told a special court in Mumbai that Ishrat Jahan--who was killed in an alleged fake encounter in 2004 in Gujarat--was an operative of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba(LeT).

Headley, who testified via video-link from US, had picked up her name when questioned by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam about a "botched-up operation" mentioned to him (Headley) by LeT commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. National Assembly RPA faction member Artashes Geghamyan hails RPA-ARF cooperation. In an interview with journalists on February 11, Geghamyan stated that intellectual capacity of any political force must be maximally utilized under the light of the turbulent and difficult situation the world has encountered. In addition to having experience, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation also has cadre resources. Hence, I find it a right decision by the President to include them in state administration process in the near future, Armenpress reports, Geghamyan stated.

He mentioned that he has a positive stance on all those developments and added that this unification will mutually raise responsibility. We should not forget that Constitutional Rights Union, The National Unity Party and Christian-democratic party are also the allies of the Republican Party. It is an honor for us to work together for the sake of mobilization of the strength and knowledge of our country, Artashes Geghamyan mentioned.

To the question if he thinks that the RPA is ready to form coalition with ARF, which will give them an opportunity to avoid responsibility, Geghamyan answered, I do not share that opinion at all. There was time when I was extremely against the economic policy conducted by the Republican Party, but I can say that it is an exceptional party which is able to answer for the failures of others. Geghamyan clarified that the RPA has never blames ARF or Prosperous Armenia, while they could have done it as they were allies and had to share the responsibility for failures as well.
Radhika Vemula, mother of Rohith Vemula, the Dalit research scholar of Hyderabad University who committed suicide last month, today said she would continue her fight for justice for her son.

The grieving mother, who is yet to come to terms with her loss, said while Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi had come twice and consoled the family, there was no such response from the Prime Minister.

Vemula, who is in the city with her other son Raju to take part in a meeting organised by the Indian Union Muslim League, wanted a legislation to ensure that no one in the country faces the same fate as that of her son.

"Several leaders came. Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi came two times and consoled us. But there was no such response from the Prime Minister," she told PTI.

"We want justice. The persons responsible for Rohith's death should be brought to justice", she said, adding, "We do not want to name any persons---but you all know who they are'.

Raju Vemula, an MSC student, said they along with the Joint Action Committee for Social Justice (University of Hyderabad) would undertake a three-day 'Delhi Chalo' programme and Parliament march later this month.

He said that a campaign was going in campuses in Andhra Pradesh and Telengana for getting justice to Rohith.

To a question on reports that certain political parties have 'hijacked' their agitation, he said it was a propaganda and false campaign by BJP-RSS.

State Ministers M K Muneer and A P Anil Kumar also met Radhika Vemula and sought to know from her the situation that led to the suicide of her son.

Rohith Vemula, who committed suicide on January 17, was among five research scholars who were suspended by Hyderabad Central University (HCU) in August 2015 and also one of the accused in the case of assault on a student leader. They were also kept out of the hostel.
Senior officials from 16 Asian countries, including India and China, will hold wide ranging deliberations on issues, such as duty cuts in goods, as part of proposed mega trade deal RCEP during a five-day meeting at Brunei starting from February 15.

"This will be a crucial meeting of the member countries as all the members have exchanged their offers with regards to duty cuts in goods. Services and investment issues would also be discussed during the meeting," an official said.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a mega trade deal which aims to cover goods, services, investments, economic and technical cooperation, competition and intellectual property rights.

As part of its goods proposal, India has not offered any duty cut on steel to China, Australia and New Zealand in the proposed free trade agreement among the 16 Asian members.

This will be the 11th round of the negotiations. The RCEP talks started in Phnom Penh in November 2012.

The 16 countries account for over a quarter of the world's economy, estimated to be more than USD 75 trillion.

The RCEP deal is also important amidst the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement led by the US. Indian industry is apprehensive that this pact would impact Indian exports.

Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman too had said that TPP will certainly have an impact on India's exports in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, textiles and chemicals.

India already has free trade agreements (FTAs) with Asean, Japan and South Korea.

India has also offered to open its market the most for Asean countries -- with which it has an FTA in place -- and has offered to eliminate duties or tariffs on 80 per cent of items for the 10-nation bloc.

Similarly, for Japan and South Korea, it has offered to open up 65 per cent of its product space.

For Australia, New Zealand and China, New Delhi has proposed to eliminate duties on only 42.5 per cent of products. As India does not have any kind of FTA with these three countries, its offer is less.

Under FTA, duties on most of the products traded between the countries are either eliminated or reduced sharply to a zero-duty regime in phases.

The 16-member bloc RCEP comprises 10 Asean members (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos and Vietnam) and their six free trade agreement partners -- India, China, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

Such trade pacts are likely to help India raise its share in the global trade -- to 3.5 per cent by 2020, from the current 2 per cent.
India and the UAE today signed four agreements, including cyber security and currency swap, with a view to boosting bilateral economic ties.

The four agreements were signed in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan here.

"The strength of a multi-faceted relationship. The leaders witness the exchange of four agreements across various sectors," said Vikas Swarup, official spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs, in a tweet.

"The four agreements cover the fields of cyber security, infrastructure investment, renewable energy and currency swap arrangements," he said in another.

The Crown Prince arrived here last evening on a three-day visit.

Both the countries are expected to discuss ways to step up co-operation in a range of areas, including energy, economy and security.

The bilateral trade between the countries stood at USD 59.16 billion in 2014-15.

India received USD 3.30 billion as foreign inflows from the UAE between April 2000 and September 2015.
Public sector Indian Bank today recorded a plunge of 84.75 per cent in net profit at Rs 42.30 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2015 on higher provisioning for bad loans.

The city-based bank had registered a net profit of Rs 277.52 crore in the corresponding period of the last fiscal, Indian Bank Managing Director and CEO Mahesh Kumar Jain said.

For the nine-month period ended December, the net profit stood at Rs 626.89 crore as against Rs 799.01 crore during the same period of the previous year.

Total income for the quarter under review rose to Rs 4,438.40 crore from Rs 4,321.46 crore registered during the year-ago period.

"The difference in net profits in third quarter was due to higher provisioning as there were fresh slippages for about Rs 400 crore during the quarter (ended December 31, 2015)", Jain told reporters.

Stating that the bank is taking a cautious approach on its performance, he said the total business touched Rs three lakh crore with a CAGR of 11.44 per cent.

The Board at its meeting has approved issue of 1,100 bonds and the bank would raise it when the market was "conducive".

"We are self-sufficient in terms of funds. In terms of capital infusion, we will be raising it at the right time when the markets are conducive", he said.
A 41-year-old Indian construction worker was today jailed for four years with nine strokes of the cane for slashing his estranged girlfriend with a penknife after she ignored his phone calls.

Palaiyan Murugadass, pleaded guilty to a charge of causing grievous hurt by dangerous means, The Straits Times reported.

He was in a relationship with a 38-year-old domestic maid from the Philippines who has been working in Singapore since 2013.

She initiated a break up with him in July, 2015. But Palaiyan was unwilling, and began to call her up to 30 times a day following which she ignored his calls.

On August 23, 2015, Palaiyan armed with a penknife of a 7 cm blade attacked her, slashing her face, throat and wrist.

The victim was taken to hospital, where her windpipe was operated on. Cuts on her hand and wrist were also stitched up.

A medical report in December stated that her injuries will result in permanent disfigurement.

Palaiyan was jailed for four years with nine strokes of the cane but could have been jailed for life, or up to 15 years with fine and caning.
The family and the lawyer of Ishrat Jahan, who was killed in an alleged fake encounter in Gujarat, today raised questions over David Coleman Headley's testimony that she was an LeT operative, saying this was for the "political benefit of some big people" whose names have been "besmirched."



Musarrat, the sister of the 19-year-old college girl, and lawyer Vrinda Grover claimed that she had no terror links, hours after the Pakistani-American terrorist's deposition in a special court over a videolink from the US in the 26/11 case.

Grover also questioned prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam's tactics in the special court here, saying certain questions put to Headley by him had nothing to do with the Mumbai attack case and alleged they can have a "political relevance."



Musarrat expressed surprise over the claim made by Headley and said investigations have proved she was innocent but killed in a "fake encounter".

"It has been proved in investigations that it was a fake encounter. We are not saying this, it has been proved by the Indian investigators that my sister, Ishrat, was innocent. She was killed...It was a fake encounter and a political conspiracy," she said in Mumbai.

"Many big people are involved in it. Headley is saying all this because they will benefit politically out of it. I don't understand that despite investigations, which has proved she was innocent, why judgement in the case is taking so long. He himself (Headley) is a terrorist and is in jail in the US, how does his statement counts?" she asked.

"There are big people involved in this fake encounter I do not want to take any names. All I want to day is that what others say does not matter.

"We are fighting a legal battle for past 11 years and it has been proved that it was a fake encounter. What Headley is saying, I don't care. All I know and concerned is that my sister was innocent. We don't agree to what others say.

Ishrat's uncle Rauf Lala regretted that attempts were being made to link Ishrat's name with terror from Headley's testimony.

"This is just a ploy by those guilty who are powerful to try and salvage their names that have been besmirched," said Ishrat's mother Shamima Kausar.

Grover said she was surprised how suddenly the name of Ishrat Jehan was brought up by the prosecutor.

"They can have a political relevance, but they can have no relevance to 26/11. The public prosecutor in a procedure which is wrong and illegal in law gives a multiple choice question to a witness and says 'now I will give you three names(of female LeT suicide bombers that included Ishrat Jehan) you select one name which will be that female person," she said.

Grover said "the prosecutor gives three multiple choices and he says 'Noor Jahan Begum, Ishrat Jahan and Mumtaz Begum'. He(Headley) selects Ishrat Jahan. This is double hearsay and he is saying I have no personal knowledge," she added.

"It is not evidence. It is all mockery pointing to a conspiracy. There may be politics," she said.

Grover maintained that Headley in his testimony had said he only heard about a "botched-up" operation and that he did not know of any female sucide bomber.
Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley today told a special court here that young college girl Ishrat Jahan--who was killed in an alleged fake encounter in 2004 in Gujarat--was an operative of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba(LeT)



Testifying via video-link from the US, Headley picked up the name of the 19-year-old Mumbra girl when quizzed by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam about a "botched-up operation" mentioned to him (Headley) by LeT commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi.

Headley told the court that Lakhvi had mentioned to him about a "botched-up operation" conducted in India by another LeT operative Muzammil Butt where a female member of the terror outfit was killed.

Prodded for details about the operation, Headley said," "There was a female wing in LeT which was headed by one Abu Aiman's mother. Zaki sahab(Zaki-Ur-Rehman) told me about Butt's botched up operation in India. It was some shootout with the police.

I don't know which part in India. But there was one female who was killed in the shootout. I think she was an Indian national and not a Pakistani but was a LeT operative," he said.

The prosecutor then put up three names of which Headley picked up Ishrat Jahan.

Four persons--Ishrat Jahan, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Joha--were killed in an encounter with Gujarat Police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

The Ahmedabad city crime branch had then claimed that those killed in the encounter were LeT terrorists and had landed in Gujarat to kill the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

The CBI, which took over probe from the Gujarat High Court appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT), had filed a charge sheet in August 2013 saying that the encounter was fake and executed in the joint operation by the city crime branch and Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau (SIB).

In further disclosures, 55-year-old Headley, who recently turned approver in the 26/11 case, said LeT had planned attacks on the famous Akshardham temple in Ahmedabad to avenge the Babri Masjid demolition and that terror handler Abu Kahfa was in continuous touch with 10 of his members, sent to Mumbai to launch the 26/11 attack, from a control room in Karachi.

Headley also told the court how ISI and LeT majorly funded terror operations in India and financed him from time to time and that Pakistan native Tahawwur Rana visited Mumbai before the terror strikes in November 2008, which left 166 people dead and 309 injured.

Headley, testifying via video-link in the November, 2008



attack case, told the court that he had heard that Muzammil Butt had planned an attack on Akshardham temple in Gujarat.

"When I asked Muzammil about this, he said that since Indians demolished Babri Masjid (in 1992), it was justified for us to attack Indian temples also," he told the court here.

Headley also told the court that that Muzammil Butt was the head of his (Headley's) group before Sajid Mir.

He told the court that a person, whom he identified as Abu Dujuna introduced him to Muzammil.

Headley said that he and Muzammil had once visited Kashmir to fight against Indian troops.

The LeT operative-turned approver in the case, said that Abu Kahfa, who was also was part of the training programme before the brazen Mumbai seige, was in continous touch with the 10 terrorists who had sneaked into the city and held it to ransom for over three days.

"Along with Sajid Mir, Kahfa was talking to the ten terrorists from a control room in Karachi and was giving them instructions. Kahfa's nephew was one of the ten boys who had come to India," Headley told the court.

He further said that after the 2008 terror strikes, he met Sajid Mir in Rawalpindi where "he (Mir) told me that he was very happy with the attacks. "Even I felt very happy."



The 55-year-old convict, who had visited Mumbai seven times to scout for targets before the attacks, also told the court that he knew Haji Ashraf, a businessman in Lahore who was in-charge of the finance wing of LeT.

He also said that he knew Al-Qaeda's Ilyas Kashmiri and had met him once.

The LeT operative also said that RBI had turned down his request to open a bank account for their office in India.

Giving details of his funding, Headley said "before coming to India in September 2006, he received USD 25,000 from ISI's Major Iqbal."



"I also got 40,000 in Pakistani currency from LeT operative Sajid Mir between April and June 2008," he told the court, adding that Major Iqbal used to regularly send him money in instalments.

(Reopen DEL53)



Also, Major Iqbal gave me counterfeit Indian currency



once or twice in 2008, he said.

Besides Abdul Rehman Pasha, also from ISI, gave me Rs 80,000, Headley said.

"Tahawur Rana (Headley's associate and a Pakistani native who operated a Chicago-based immigration business) used to send me money from the US in September 2006 when I came to India to do intelligence work on instructions of LeT," he told the court.

He also said that "it was my idea to open an office in India. It was a part of my cover (as an immigration consultant). I had discussed about this with Major Iqbal and Sajid Mir and they both agreed to it."



"I also told Rana that Major Iqbal had asked me to do intelligence work in India. Iqbal told me that if Rana was reluctant to be associated with this (Headley's India operations) then he (Headley) should appeal to his (Rana's) sense of patriotism towards Pakistan," he testified.

"But Rana was not reluctant and he agreed readily for me to go to India," Headley said.

Headley also said that Rana had visited Mumbai before the terror attacks.

"I advised Rana to leave India before the attacks as I was afraid that he would be in danger," he told the court.

Headley also disclosed that Rana had asked Raymond Sanders (who ran an immigrant law centre in Chicago) to submit an application to RBI to open a bank account for their office in India.

The deposition of Headley, who is currently serving 35-year prison sentence in US for his role in the terror attacks, could not take place yesterday due to a technical snag in the video conference in the US.

Headley has committed the offences of conspiring with LeT for committing illegal acts in India, waging war against the government of India and offences under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

He has also been accused of intentionally aiding and abetting LeT in Pakistan for committing illegal acts in Mumbai, mischief by fire with intent to destroy Hotel Taj, Oberoi and Nariman House, offences under Explosives Act and Explosives Substances Act as also under Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.

Headley told the court that Zaki-Ur-Rehman Lakhvi,



Sajid Mir, Abu Kahfa and one member of the naval wing of LeT were present in a meeting in Muzaffarabad where it was decided that he would go to Mumbai and select landing sites.

Headley told the court that in April 2008, he had visited Mumbai and selected landing sites for the safe arrival of the ten terrorists. "In July 2008 I re-checked the landing sites," he said.

"I hired a boat to ride around and see the landing sites. Sajid Mir asked me to do so. I hired boat on four occasions - once from Gateway of India, twice from Badhwar Park in Cuffe Parade and the fourth one from Worli seaface. I was looking at locations which I felt would be safe for landing," Headley said.

He said Hafiz Saeed was the founder of LeT and he, along with Lakhvi, was the final authority in the terror organisation. "They did not micro-manage things. I don't know how much control they executed but they are the ones who decided everything finally," Headley said.

On Ilyas Kashmiri, Headley said that Jund-Al-Fida was set up by Kashmiri and it means 'Army of Fidayeens'.

"I spoke to Kashmiri about 26/11 terror attacks. He was very happy about it and said Sabaash (well done)," Headley said.

He also said that he knows one Captain Khurram who was earlier with the Pakistan Army but had left it as he was unhappy. "Khurram was unhappy with the army as he felt that Pakistan was assisting the US in its war against terror. Khurram joined LeT first but then joined Al-Qaeda claiming he was unhappy with LeT too," Headley said.

Headley also said that he had introduced Abdul Rehman Pasha with one Zeb Shah and his family to see if they would help to smuggle weapons to India. "After Zeb Shah's death, his sons expressed their willingness and interest but I do not know if any deal was struck later," he said.

Nikam told reporters outside the court after the deposition that Headley has revealed that LeT has several wings - military, female, naval, finance - and so on.

Headley further said that in his e-mail exchange with LeT operatives they used code language for the purpose of deception.
In a significant claim, Pakistani- American terrorist David Coleman Headley today said that Ishrat Jahan --who was killed in an alleged fake encounter in 2004 in Gujarat--was actually a suicide bomber of Lashkar-e-Taiba terror outfit.

The disclosure is likely to ignite a fresh row around the controversial encounter.

Testifying via video-link from the US, Headley spilled the beans on the 19-year-old Mumbra girl and picked up her name when quizzed by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam about a "botched up operation" mentioned to him (Headley) by LeT commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi.

Headley told the court that Lakhvi had mentioned to him about a "botched-up operation" conducted in India by another LeT operative Muzammil Butt where a female member of the terror outfit was killed.

Prodded by Nikam to elaborate on the operation and the members involved in it, Headley said, "(I was told) It was a shootout with police in which a (female) suicide bomber was killed."



To which the prosecutor prompted three names of which Headley picked up Jahan before telling the court that "there is a female wing in LeT and one Abu Aiman's mother headed it."



Four persons- Ishrat Jahan, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an encounter with Gujarat Police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

The city crime branch had then said that those killed in the encounters were LeT terrorists and had landed in Gujarat to kill then Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

The CBI, which took over probe from the Gujarat High Court appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT), had filed charge sheet in August 2013 saying that the encounter was fake and executed in the joint operation by the city crime branch and Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau (SIB).

In further disclosures, the 55-year-old, who recently turned approver in the 26/11 case, also told the court that that LeT operative Muzammil Butt was the head of his (Headley's) group before Sajid Mir.

He told the court that a person, whom he identified as Abu Dujuna introduced him to Muzammil.

Headley said that he and Muzammil had once visited Kashmir to fight against the Indian troops.

Earlier in the day, Headley exposed how ISI and LeT majorly funded terror operations in India and financed him from time to time and that Pakistan native Tahawwur Rana visited Mumbai before the terror strikes in November 2008, which left 166 people dead and 309 injured.
Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf on Thursday said ISI trains LeT and Jaish militants and terror attacks in India will not stop until New Delhi addresses the "core" issue of Kashmir.

"Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) trains Jaish-e- Mohammad (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists," said Musharraf.

"Pakistan army is not training civilians. Intelligence organisation on our side as well as on your side is involved," he said in an interview to India Today TV.

When asked if he sees any progress in the Indo-Pak peace process, Musharraf said: "Everything will stop if you address the core issue. The unfortunate terrorists acts and the militancy will continue unless we address the core issue. That is what you don't want to do," he said.

"Kashmir continues to arouse sentiments in Pakistan," the 72-year-old former president said as he defended terrorist activities in India.

"Anyone who is fighting in Kashmir is a freedom fighter," he said.

"I don't think we will move forward on the core issue. You don't want. You want to bulldoze us, you want to bully us and you want to dominate us. You only want to talk about issues concern you like terrorism, Mumbai and Pathankot. So I don't feel, core issues are moving forward," he said when asked to comment on Foreign Secretary-level talks that were postponed after Pathankot attack.

Speaking on Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley, who is currently deposing before a Mumbai court in connection with the 26/11 attack case, Musharraf said, "I don't believe anything that Headley had said... Pakistan intelligence should interrogate Headley."



When asked about JeM chief Mesood Azhar, who was involved in two attacks against Musharraf himself, the former military general said, "Anyone who is doing any other act in Pakistan like, I know that he attacks me, is a terrorist certainly. Therefore I call him a terrorist."



"LeT and Hafiz Saeed are not involved in terror activities in Pakistan," he said.

He said India derailed peace process every time and wants to discuss only terrorism.

"You create hysteria in your country against Pakistan. Whenever we try to speak ....You want to bulldoze us to whatever is your point of view.

He also accused India's intelligence agency RAW for carrying out attacks in Pakistan from Afghanistan.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. Armenian government approved the project of works on preparation of design documentation for the repair of new revealed damaged parts in Arpa-Sevan tunnel N2.

Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan mentioned there is serious work to be carried out in connection with Arpa-Sevan tunnel. It is being reconstructed for years but today we are able to move very little quantity of water but if we reconstruct the tunnel, we will be able to provide the Lake with 250 million cubic meters of water. Of course this decision was made after the discussion with the president. I instructed to quickly restore additional 500-600 meters. Therefore it is very important for us to gain money also from financial resources in order to finish the reconstruction, PM said, Armenpress reports.

According to him, the sooner the project is complete, the sooner the water will be moved as NGOs expressed great dissatisfaction in the National Assembly for 40-50 million cubic meters of water taking for irrigation. Therefore it is necessary to increase the number of water moved to Sevan.
Israel has appointed a new head of its shadowy Shin Bet internal security agency.

In a statement from his office today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Nadav Argaman would soon head the organization.

Argaman, 55, is the current deputy chief. He's been with the Shin Bet since 1983 and spent four years as its representative in the United States.

Netanyahu said he was confident the Shin Bet would "continue to safeguard Israel's security" under Argaman's leadership.

In his new position, Argaman will face pressure to quell a relentless five month-long wave of Palestinian attacks against Israelis. The Shin Bet is Israel's domestic spy agency. The Mossad is its international equivalent.

Argaman will replace current Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen. The statement didn't say when Argaman would begin his term.
Efforts are on to put electric propelling system for satellites to enable them to carry more payload, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre director Dr K. Sivan said here today.

"The efforts will help in cutting down fuel required for maneuvering the satellites in the orbit and more payload can be taken," Sivan said at the 10th International High Energy Material conference and Exhibits (HEMCE 2016) here.

He said GSLV Mark III will be launched in December this year.

The ISRO scientist said efforts will be made to launch 'Chandrayan 2', the country's second lunar exploration mission after 'Chandrayaan-1', with a rover as soon as possible.

On manned space flight, Sivan said they are coming up with a project called "Abbot Machine".

Earlier, Dr.K.P.S. Murthy, Director, High Energy Materials Research Lab (HEMRL), spoke about the development of high explosive detective technology which is being developed for concealed explosives by their laboratory.

Observing that high energy material technology is a highly-guarded technology, Dr. Satish Kumar, Director General, Missiles and Strategic Systems, DRDO, said, "scientists and technologists are moving forward and advancing towards total self-reliance in this critical area".

He said the high energy materials is a specialised field that "partly determines the status of the nation".

"For a given propellant energy level, there is a need to optimise the design to maximise the overall performance and minimise the losses in the futuristic aerospace mission," the Director General said.

He said the modular design and safer manufacturing techniques in high energy materials are the need of the day.

The conference was organised by the Hyderabad Chapter of the High Energy Material Society of India in association with the Defence Research and Development Laboratory and Advanced Systems Laboratory.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is likely to visit Australia next month and invite Pension Funds to invest in India, which offers vast opportunities, particularly in the infrastructure sector.

Jaitley is also expected to be a part of the 'Make in India' programme scheduled to take place in Australia at the end of March, said an Indian official here.

"The Finance Minister is expected to visit Australia during end of next month. He will be meeting Pension Funds and will invite them to invest in India's promising growth story," he added.

The trip is an extension of the state visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Australia in November last year, the first Indian premier to visit the country in 28 years.

Finance Minister's visit signifies the importance India accords to Australia as well as is part of India's efforts to meet with investors globally and explain to them about the investment opportunities in India, said the official.

Confirming the development, an Australian government official said, "We have been told that your Finance Minister is likely to come next month."



Relations between India and Australia have grown stronger in the last few years with both the countries signing some important deals, primarily the civilian nuclear cooperation agreement, which opens doors for the much-needed uranium supply for India's nuclear reactors.

Besides, both the countries are close to inking the Free Trade Area (FTA) pact. The talks for a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement (CECA) also known as FTA were started in 2011, which once cleared will open doors for more trade and investment between India and Australia.

Besides, both the nation swill be part of the 16-member Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which aims at reducing or eliminating tariffs, facilitating movement of professionals and providing a level-playing field to each other's investors.
Jennifer Garner testified in front of Kentucky lawmakers, urging them to preserve the budget for an early childhood education programme in the state.

The "13 Going on 30" star spoke during a Senate Education Committee hearing on behalf of the Save The Children organisation, for which she serves as a trustee and artist ambassador, reported People magazine.

Joined by Save the Children Action Network president Mark Shriver, she urged the lawmakers to continue the funding of an annual USD 941,400 state budget appropriation for literacy initiatives.

"I'm here because I believe so much in Save the Children's early childhood programmes, and I am hoping that you will continue to support them," Garner said.

The actress, who grew up in neighbouring West Virginia, also shared a story of a young mother she met a few years ago who was living in a trailer home in Berea, Kentucky with her four children.

Garner told the committee the kids "sprung to life" when a Save the Children home co-ordinator arrived with books, revealing the grateful mum "told over and over again how the programme had changed the course of these kids lives.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) today said it will provide technical assistance to government for development of national highways in mountainous regions like Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.

"JICA has signed a technical cooperation agreement with the government for 'capacity development project on highways in mountainous regions', it said in a statement.

The project will provide for strengthening of institutional capacity of organisations engaged in development of road network in mountain terrains, such as Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH), NHA, NHIDCL and state-level PWDs.

The road ministry has assigned high priority to the development of national highways in the mountainous regions to enhance local connectivity, especially in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and the North-East region.

"MoRTH is keen to adopt new technologies related to tunnels, bridges and slope stabilisation and enhance its capacities for disaster-resistant planning, cost-effective construction technologies and safety management in mountainous highways," the statement said.

Under the JICA's cooperation, technical guidelines will be prepared for design, development and management of road network in mountainous regions, including for tunnels, high-pier bridges, earthworks, slope protection and waterways for the drainage.

JICA will dispatch experts from Japan on highway engineering and management, and conduct technical training programmes for Indian engineers and technical personnel, in partnership with the Indian Academy of Highway Engineers, to enhance capacity of government in planning, construction and management of highways in mountainous regions.

The Agency has been continuously cooperating with MoRTH and other road agencies in their human resource development and improvement and construction of highways since early 1990s when JICA started dispatch of Japanese experts to those organisations, it said.

The newly-started technical cooperation represents JICA's attempts to further its cooperation in the transport sector, which would play a pivotal role for economic and social development in India.
BJP today took a dig at Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and his "friends" Arvind Kejriwal and Asaduddin Owaisi over their "silence" on an "anti-national" event in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and wondered if they will visit the varsity campus.

BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma condemned the march during which he said slogans against India were raised and Afzal Guru, who was hanged for his involvement in the Parliament attack, was called a "martyr".

"There is a handful of people who are trying to pollute the atmosphere in JNU. Slogans against India were raised and a terrorist was called a martyr. This is unfortunate and BJP condemns it in strongest terms. We hope that the university administration will take strong action against such people.

"I wonder when Rahul Gandhi and his friends Kejriwal and Owaisi will go there," he told the media.

JNU administration had yesterday ordered a disciplinary enquiry into holding of an event on the campus against the hanging of Guru despite cancellation of permission, saying any talk about country's disintegration cannot be "national".

Sharma used the opportunity to hit out at those who had criticised the Modi government over the 'intolerance' issue with many artistes and intellectuals returning their award over their silence.
A lawsuit filed by a group of caddies against the US PGA Tour for alleged mistreatment has been thrown out by a US District Court judge.

A group that grew to 168 caddies filed the lawsuit last February in San Francisco, claiming they are walking billboards -- forced to wear bibs with sponsor logos without any proceeds from sponsor contracts that were estimated at $50 million a year.

But in a Tuesday ruling, according to the network, judge Vince Chhabria found "the caddies' overall complaint about poor treatment by the tour has merit but this federal lawsuit about bibs does not."



"Caddies have been required to wear the bibs for decades, so caddies know when they enter the profession that wearing a bib during tournaments is part of the job," Chhabria wrote.

"For that reason, there is no merit to the caddies' contention that contracts somehow prevent the tour from requiring them to wear bibs."



Chhabria also tossed out caddies' claims of anti-trust and trademark violations and the notion their contracts with the tour were signed under duress.

In a statement, the PGA Tour said they were happy with the ruling.

"We are aware of the ruling made in our favor regarding the lawsuit filed last year by caddies and are pleased by the court's decision," the statement said.

"We look forward to putting this matter behind us and moving forward in a positive direction with the caddies.
Kerala government today rejected the CPI(M)-led LDF opposition's charge that there was a commercial motive behind holding of the Global Education Meet (GEM) at nearby Kovalam last month.

Education Minister P K Abdu Rabb told the assembly that the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industrywas invited to partner with the programme, considering its experience in organising such events and close connection with various educational institutions abroad.

He also said that the government has not taken any final decision to set up a special educational zone or open branches of any foreign university in the state.

"We organised the GEM to collect expert opinion on the matter. We have not taken any final decision in this regard. The government has no commercial interest in that," Rabb said during question hour.

Answering a question, the minister also admitted that the national higher education mission, RUSA, had suggested to remove former ambassador T P Sreenivasan, chairman of the state Higher Education Council, from the post.

"However, the government allowed him to continue in the post considering his valuable suggestions to improve the state higher education sector," he said.

The Department of Higher Education and Kerala State Higher Education Council, with the support of FICCI, organised the two-day GEM on January 29 and 30.

The core objective of the meet was to expand international cooperation in higher education.

The inaugural day of the event was marked by the attack against Sreenivasan by the activists of CPI(M)'s students wing Students Federation of India (SFI).
Kurdish forces backed by Arab rebel groups captured a strategic air base and the adjacent town in northern Syria from rival anti-government factions overnight, a monitoring group said early today.

The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and its Arab allies ousted Islamist and other rebel fighters from the Minnigh air base and the adjacent town, north of Syria's second city Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The advance comes after days of fierce clashes that saw YPG forces advance east from the Kurdish stronghold of Afrin and take over a series of villages before reaching Minnigh.

"With the defeat at Minnigh, Islamist fighters lost the only military airport they held in Aleppo province," observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.

"Minnigh airport lies between two key roads that lead from Aleppo city to Azaz" to the north, giving Kurdish fighters a strategic launching pad for offensives against jihadists further east, Abdel Rahman added.

Government forces lost control of the Minnigh airport in August 2013, two years after the uprising in Syria first erupted.

Rebel groups are facing a dual advance by both Kurdish forces coming from the west and regime troops - backed by a barrage of Russian air strikes - pressing an offensive north from Aleppo city.

More than 500 people have been killed since the government began its assault on February 1, the observatory said yesterday.

YPG forces regularly clash with Islamist and jihadist fighters in northern Syria, but its most active front is further east against the Islamic State extremist group.

Arab rebel groups have accused Kurdish fighters of ethnically cleansing towns to carve out autonomous Kurdish territories, a claim the YPG has fiercely denied.

More than 260,000 people have been killed and half of the population has been displaced.
Kurdish and Arab forces backed by Russian air strikes captured a strategic air base and the adjacent town in northern Syria from rival anti-government factions, a monitoring group said today.

The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and Arab allies yesterday night expelled Islamist and other rebel fighters from Minnigh air base and the adjacent town, north of Syria's second city Aleppo, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"The takeover of Minnigh air base and the adjacent town overnight was backed by at least 30 Russian air strikes," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.

"There's some coordination between the Kurds and the Russians in Afrin region," he told AFP.

The advance comes after days of fierce clashes that saw YPG forces advance east from the Kurdish stronghold of Afrin and take over a series of villages before reaching Minnigh.

"With the defeat at Minnigh, Islamist fighters lost the only military airport they held in Aleppo province," Abdel Rahman said earlier.

"Minnigh airport lies between two key roads that lead from Aleppo city to Azaz" to the north, giving Kurdish fighters a strategic launching pad for offensives against jihadists further east, he said.

Government forces lost control of the Minnigh airport in August 2013, two years after the uprising in Syria first erupted.

Rebel groups are facing a dual advance by both Kurdish forces coming from the west and regime troops -- backed by a barrage of Russian air strikes -- pressing an offensive north from Aleppo city.

More than 500 people have been killed since the government began its Aleppo assault on February 1, the Observatory said yesterday.

YPG forces regularly clash with Islamist and jihadist fighters in northern Syria, but its most active front is further east against the Islamic State jihadist group.

Arab rebel groups have accused Kurdish fighters of ethnically cleansing towns to carve out autonomous Kurdish territories, a claim the YPG has fiercely denied.

More than 260,000 people have been killed and half the population displaced in Syria's complex, multi-front war over the past five years.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian economy has reached a level of development that becomes attractive for American investors. Armenpress reports Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Armenia Richard Mills told about this in an online question and answer session.

President Obamas comments display the priorities of the embassy in Armenia and the US government in Armenia and the increase of American investments and trade. Important developments took place last year, including the launch of Vorotan Hydro Cascade which was the largest one-off American investment in Armenia. A framework agreement of trade and investments was also signed between Armenia and the United States. It aims to help the government of both countries mutually eliminate trade barriers, the Ambassador said.

In his words, lifting sanctions from Iran can be well used by Armenia as a platform to foster American business with Iran. Richard Mills mentioned that the goal of the embassy to attract more investments goes parallel with the works of cutting corruption in Armenia, which is carried out in collaboration with Armenian partners. Ensuring parity for all types of businesses, be they Armenian, foreign or Russian, is extremely important. We can attract investments assisting in reducing corruption for the benefit of all those who are engaged in business activities in Armenia, the Ambassador added.

Newly appointed Armenian Ambassador to the United States Grigor Hovhannisyan delivered his credentials to the US President Barack Obama on January 28, who mentioned at the meeting that the historic rise of American investments in Armenia in 2015 is just the beginning.
The International Monetary Fund said today that its managing director, Christine Lagarde, is the sole candidate for the new term that begins in July.

Named to head the IMF in July 2011 for five years, Lagarde officially entered her nomination for a second term on January 22. She has received numerous expressions of support from officials in Europe, the United States and Latin America.
IMF chief Christine Lagarde became assured today of a second five-year term after the global financial institution announced there were no other candidates for the position.

"One candidate, current Managing Director Christine Lagarde, has been nominated," the IMF executive board said in a statement. The new term begins in July.

The United States, the largest IMF stakeholder and long a strong supporter of Lagarde's leadership in steering the crisis lender through a critical time for the global economy, swiftly declared its official backing today.

Named to head the IMF in July 2011, Lagarde, 60, also has received numerous expressions of support from officials in Europe and Latin America.

No other candidate had emerged for the position by the time the nominating process closed yesterday.

The board, representing the IMF's 188 member nations, said it would hold meetings with Lagarde and wants to complete the selection process "as soon as possible."



It is expected to formally name her the next managing director by early March.

US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew announced Washington's support for Lagarde's second term, praising her for an "exceptional job" in leading the IMF over the last five years.

"I've known Christine for many years, and I've seen time and again her ability to bring people together on major global issues and drive toward solutions," he said.

"As in 2011, we are encouraged by the broad support she has secured among the Fund's membership, including from the emerging economies."



In 2011, Lagarde, a former French finance minister, easily won a contest with several developing country candidates to take over the IMF as Europe was sinking deep into economic crisis.

But her victory came amid criticism that the IMF's top job should not be locked down by a European, as it has since the institution was created in 1944.
Sri Lankan Parliament's Speaker has said he received death threats after refusing to accept a group backing former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as a separate entity in the legislature.

Karu Jayasuriya refused to identify the 'Joint Opposition' as an independent group in parliament separate from the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA).

"I have discussed the issue with my security personnel and they will be taking some action soon," Jayasuriya told parliament.

His remarks came in response to a query raised by an opposition legislator.

"In politics these things are not unexpected. I was not shattered by it," Jayasuriya said.

He said he had received death threats over telephoneon Tuesday nightfollowing his refusal to accept the group backing Rajapaksa as a separate entity in parliament.

Jayasuriya said the group needed to discuss the issue with President Maithripala Sirisena and decide if they wanted to leave the party and act independently in parliament.

The refusal sparked protests with Rajapaksa loyalists coming to the chamber well.
Surrounded by FBI agents in armored vehicles, the last four occupiers of a national wildlife refuge surrendered today, and the leader of a 2014 standoff with federal authorities was criminally charged in federal court.

The holdouts were the last remnants of the group that seized the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Jan. 2 and demanded that the government turn over the land to locals and release two ranchers imprisoned for setting fires.

Meanwhile, Cliven Bundy, who was at the center of a 2014 standoff at his ranch in Nevada, was arrested late yesterday in Portland after encouraging the Oregon occupiers not to give up. Bundy is the father of Ammon Bundy, the jailed leader of the most recent occupation.

Today, the elder Bundy was charged in the 2014 standoff. Federal authorities may have feared Bundy's presence would draw sympathizers to defend the holdouts.

A criminal complaint filed in US District Court in Las Vegas charged the 69-year-old Bundy with conspiracy, assault on a federal officer, obstruction, weapons charges and other crimes.

He's accused of leading supporters who pointed military-style weapons at federal agents trying to enforce a court order to round up Bundy cattle from federal rangeland.

It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer to represent him ahead of a court appearance in federal court in Portland.

Federal authorities say the Bundy family has not made payments toward a USD 1.1 million grazing fee and penalty bill.

The holdouts and 12 others connected with the occupation have been charged with conspiracy to interfere with federal workers.

A live stream of a telephone call indicated that the last four occupiers had surrendered today morning.

The occupiers were 27-year-old David Fry of Blanchester, Ohio; Jeff Banta, 46, of Elko, Nevada; and married couple Sean Anderson, 48, and Sandy Anderson, 47, of Riggins, Idaho.

In the live stream, Fry said the three others had surrendered but he refused to. He later said he was giving up. The FBI did not immediately confirm that the three surrendered.

The FBI began moving in on the holdouts yesterday evening, surrounding their encampment with armored vehicles.

Over the next several hours, the occupiers' panic and their negotiation with FBI agents could be heard live on the Internet, broadcast by a sympathizer of the occupiers who established phone contact with them.
Even as the Commissionerate Police today moved a time petition to defer the production of arrested Dhalasamanta brothers in Court as directed by the Sub-divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) here, the arrested duo's lawyer filed a petition apprehending that his clients might have been subjected to third degree treatment.

On a request from the Investigating Officer (IO) to allow polygraph test on the brothers, the SDJM court on Wednesday had directed the Police to physically produce the accused persons before it on the day to elicit their consent for the lie detection test.

But, instead of producing them in the Court, the Police did not allow their advocate to meet them.

"On the basis of our petition, the Court has sought an explanation from the IO and has posted the matter for hearing on February 15," said the duo's advocate Soura Chandra Mohapatra.

Advocate B B Mohanty, an associate of Mohapatra, who was earlier allowed by the Court to meet the brothers, had moved the Court alleging that he was prevented from meeting the accused persons and was also not informed by the IO about their whereabouts.

Apprehending that they might have been subjected to third degree treatment violating the court orders, Mohanty alleged the accused persons might have also been pressurised to give their consent for polygraph test.

The brothers were arrested on January 29 for their alleged involvement in an abduction and murder case.

When allowed for police remand, the court had specifically asked the IO not to subject the accused persons to any third degree treatment, among other things, during the remand period.

Mohanty in his petition had also prayed the Court to call for a report from the IO as to why the court orders were not complied with and also to seek a report regarding the health conditions of the arrested brothers.

A senior police officer of the Commissionerate told reporters at Bhubaneswar that a team of policemen had taken one of the arrested brothers outside of the state, while another team took the other brother to the scene of crime along with the forensic team.
Lawyers of the district court here today struck work protesting against the alleged murder of an advocate and subsequent lathicharge by police on the agitating legal practitioners in Lucknow yesterday.

We have abstained from work in protest against the killing of an advocate in Lucknow and subsequent police "atrocities" on the agitating lawyers there, said General secretary of Kanpur Bar Association Sandeep Singh.

Lawyers of the Allahabad High Court's Lucknow bench went on the rampage yesterday, torching a state transport bus and vandalising some vehicles after the body of 40-year-old advocate Sharavan Kumar Verma bearing injury marks was found in the state capital on Tuesday.

General secretary of Lucknow Bar Association R D Shahi alleged that police used force and lathi charged the agitating lawyers near Swastha Bhawan adjacent to the High Court in which some advocates were injured and their vehicles damaged.
Leaders cutting across party lines paid homage to braveheart Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad who died today, three days after being miraculously rescued from beneath tonnes of snow in Siachen Glacier, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying the soldier in him would remain "immortal".

The 33-year-old soldier of the 19th Battalion of Madras Regiment was extricated alive six days after an avalanche hit his post at a height of 19,600 feet burying him under heavy layers of snow. The triggering a wave of sympathy from across the country, as people prayed for his recovery.

His death today plunged the nation into grief.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled Koppad's demise and in his tribute said the soldier in him "remains immortal."



"He leaves us sad & devastated. RIP Lance Naik Hanamanthappa. The soldier in you remains immortal. Proud that martyrs like you served India," Modi tweeted.

President Pranab Mukherjee in his condolence message said, "I am deeply sad to learn about the passing away of your son, Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad. Lance Naik Koppad was a hero who demonstrated exemplary will power and courage in the face of adversity. He made the supreme sacrifice in the line of duty."



Vice President Hamid Ansari too joined in paying homage to the Siachen braveheart.

"A survivor of the mishap at Siachen, he had come to symbolise the grit, determination and the indomitable spirit of the Indian armed forces," he said.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi also expressed deep shock and profound grief over the death of the fallen hero.

"During his life, the braveheart son of India united the entire nation in praying for him and has every citizen grieving for him today," she said.

"He fought till his last displaying utmost valour, courage and determination, which is the hallmark of our Armed Forces," she said in a message extending her deepest condolence to Koppad's family and loved ones. He is survived by his wife Mahadevi Ashok Bilebal and two-year-old daughter Netra.

Koppad's body in a coffin wrapped in national colours, was later kept at the Brar Square of the Delhi Cantonment, where several leaders like Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi and top brass of the military including the three Service Chiefs, paid their respect by laying wreath on it.

Several civilians had also gathered at the Square to pay tribute to the hero, whose miraculous survival had left the nation in awe.

"In his life and his passing Lance Naik Hanumanthappa has shown the world the meaning of perseverance & courage," Rahul tweeted.

He further wrote on the micro-blogging site, "His extraordinary spirit and tenacity, till the very end, is an inspiration for all. My thoughts & prayers are with his bereaved family."



Army Chief Gen Dalbir Singh condoling the death of the soldier said "soldier in him will continue to inspire generations.
Lieutenant Governor is akin to a "lighthouse" without whose approval no ship can enter the harbour, the Centre today told Delhi High Court regarding the implementation of various decisions of the Delhi government.

"There is a pyramid comprising the council of ministers with the Chief Minister at its head and parallel to that is a tower, a lighthouse, without whose approval no ship can come into the harbour," Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Sanjay Jain told a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath.

The ASG was addressing arguments during final hearing on the issue of interpretation of Article 239AA regarding the powers of the LG on the governance of Delhi.

A total of eleven cases arising out of the spat between the LG and the Delhi government, are being heard together by the bench headed by the Chief Justice.

During arguments, ASG Jain said as per the transaction of business rules (TBR), LG has to be always kept in the loop.

He said the LG can intervene during the decision-making process, particularly when there is a difference of opinion between two ministries of the government, and the matter can be referred to the council of ministers for a resolution.

The ASG made it clear that despite the intervention at an initial stage of decision-making, the LG was still entitled to give his views with regard to the final decision taken by the council of ministers.

He also said the LG has to be mandatorily involved or kept in the loop from the start in all matters mentioned in the TBRs which carry the phrase - 'of administrative importance'.

The arguments remained inconclusive and would continue on February 15.

On February 4, the Centre had told the court that the LG



has the statutory power to disagree with the city government and when a decision is taken in his name, files have to be shown to him.

It had also submitted before the court that the Union Territory of Delhi was "a class in itself" but certainly not a state. Even today, Delhi is called a National Capital Territory but actually it is a UT, as per Article 246 of the Constitution, it had said.

On January 27, the Centre had said that Delhi remained in its control as it was not a full-fledged state.

The Delhi government on May 28 last year, had approached the high court challenging the Centre's notification of May 21 last year, giving the LG absolute powers to appoint bureaucrats in the city.

Along with this notification, Delhi government had also challenged the July 23, 2014 notification of the Centre which limited the Anti Corruption Branch's jurisdiction to Delhi government officials only.
A life-size art installation featuring over a dozen of Shakespeare's famous creations handcrafted from paper and cardboard to mark the legendary writer's 400 death anniversary, is causing much ado about 'something'.

The show at Birmingham City University (UK) which displays scale models over six feet tall, a three-meter-high balcony and even a walk-in tavern, has been made as a tribute to mark 400 years since the Bard's death.

Each piece in the installation was individually crafted by 22 first year students from the University's Design for Theatre, Performance and Events degree course.

They used techniques learned on the course to sculpt 780 meters of corrugated cardboard and nearly 5,000 metres of brown paper into the entire setting and characters.

Among the figures on show are a likeness of Shakespeare writing at his desk and full size replicas of some of theatre's most famous names - including Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear and Caliban.

The exhibition took nearly three weeks to create, with students working day and night to make each setting, character and item from scratch, as well as selecting music and lighting to complement each element.

The installation housed in the Shell space at the University's Parkside building in Birmingham city centre is open to the public until February 26.

Hollie Wright, Module Leader for the project, said: "The project is a simple yet extremely effective approach to experiential learning."



The tavern in the installation is intended to replicate London's historic Gorge Inn, where history's most famous playwright is believed to have penned many of his works.

Traditional Elizabethan music plays throughout the exhibition hall alongside words taken from 'Two Noble Kinsmen' - Shakespeare's final play - as a poignant tribute to his lasting legacy.

Marie Brennan, Creative Programmes Manager for The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, said: "The remit of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust is to help the world's understanding of the life and works of Shakespeare.
Senior IPS officer Malay Kumar Sinha on Thursday entrusted with the responsibility of closely monitoring security arrangements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Sinha, a 1981 batch IPS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, as Secretary (Security) in Cabinet Secretariat, an order issued by Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said.

Sinha is presently working as special director in Intelligence Bureau.

The Secretary (Security) is the administrative head of Special Protection Group (SPG) and is responsible for closely monitoring the security arrangements for the Prime Minister, former Prime Ministers and members of their immediate families in India and abroad.

He is also the nodal authority in respect of policy relating to procurement of jammers by the state governments and central police forces. All operational proposals of SPG are approved and processed by Secretary (Security).

It is pertinent to mention that Cabinet Secretariat has recently issued new guidelines for procurement of jammers.

Senior IAS officer Sanjay Kumar Srivastava was holding the additional charge of the post. Srivastava is presently Secretary (Coordination) in Cabinet Secretariat.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. Nagorno Karabakh conflict cannot have forceful solution, U.S. Ambassador to Armenia. Richard M. Mills said, answering one of the questions during the online answer and question session organized by U.S. embassy, Armenpress reports.

Increase of violations in the line of contact and military rhetoric is a serious cause for concern for USA. I consider realistic the increase of tension because of one mistake. Therefore, the Minsk Group (MG) co-chairs urged both parties to take steps which will reduce the level of violence in the front line, as well as put in charge mechanisms of monitoring the situation. This was the main topic of discussion when the presidents met in Switzerland, Bern on December. OSCE MG U.S. Co-chair James Warlick is in touch with other co-chairs in advancing the dialogue, Mills mentioned.
One person, allegedly a local



leader of the Trinamool Congress, was today arrested from Netaji Siubhas Chandra Bose International Airport in an attempt to murder case at Cossipore in the city.

Police personnel of Cossipore Police Station today arrested the man while he was returning the city from Bagdogra following two warrants and three cases, police said.

The man, who was allegedly involved in hurling bombs in front of a local youth's residence in connection with a property dispute, was absconding since last month, a senior police officer said.

He has been booked under IPC 307 (Attempt to murder) would be produced at Sealdah court tomorrow, he said.
A Tiger attacked and killed a 50-year old man at Kukra village in Mailani forest range.

Divisional forest officer south Kheri, Neeraj Kumar confirmed the incident and said the tiger attacked the man when the villagers were beside the Ulla river bank.

The tiger probably mistook the victim Rahees for a prey and killed him, the DFO said adding that the tiger disappeared into the forests after the attack when villagers raised alarm.

An ex-gratia relief of Rs 10,000 was provided to the aggrieved family while process would be initiated to award monetary relief as per government rules in case of casualty in tiger attack, the DFO added.
Masked gunmen suspected of belonging to Al-Qaeda killed three Yemeni soldiers in Aden today in the latest attack to target security forces in the southern city, an official said.

The soldiers were attacked as they walked down the main road in Inmaa district, the security official said, adding that the assailants managed to escape.

"They died instantly," he said.

Al-Qaeda controls parts of the port city where the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi has set up base in its battle against Shiite Huthi rebels.

With support from a Saudi-led coalition, Hadi's forces have driven the rebels out of Aden and four other southern provinces since last July but the Shiite rebels remain in control of the capital Sanaa and much of the north.

Al-Qaeda and the rival jihadist Islamic State group have taken advantage of the conflict to gain ground in southern cities such as Aden.

They have claimed a string of attacks and assassinations in recent months.
DMK Treasurer M K Stalin today described his meeting with spiritual Guru Sri Sri Ravishankar here as a "courtesy call" and denied it had any political undertones.

"He did not come for alliance. He did not come for politics. It was a courtesy call," he said while responding to reporters' queries in this regard here.

He also ruled out any poll pact between DMK and BJP for the coming elections, saying he had already spoken about this in a section of the media.

Ravishankar, Founder of The Art of Living, had called on Stalin at his residence here yesterday, creating a buzz in the state political circles.

Stalin's meeting with the spiritual guru came even as the DMK scion has been struggling hard to remove the 'anti-Hindu' tag associated with his Dravidian party.

Stalin's father and DMK President, M Karunanidhi had often courted controversies with his remarks aimed against Hindus and Hindu deities, besides ridiculing Hindu customs.

Stalin, whose party is facing a make or break Assembly polls after facing repeated routs since 2011 at the hands of arch rival AIADMK, has been of late insisting that his party is not against Hindus and that about 90 per cent of its members themselves were from the majority community, who frequent temples.

The leader had even paid a surprise visit to Sri Sowmya Narayanaswamy temple, a vaishnavite place of worship at Thirukoshtiyur in Sivaganga last year, raising eyebrows in the state political circles.
Global agency Moody's today downgraded credit ratings of Tata Steel on a weaker than expected operating performance in its key operating markets of India, Europe and Southeast Asia on account of persistently weak steel prices.

"Moody's Investors Service has downgraded Tata Steel Limited's corporate family rating (CFR) by two notches to Ba3 from Ba1. At the same time, Moody's has downgraded Tata Steel UK Holdings Limited's (TSUKH) CFR.... The outlook on all ratings is negative," Moody's said in a statement.

The rating actions reflect the weaker-than-expected operating performance of Tata Steel in its key operating markets of India, Europe and Southeast Asia as a result of persistently weak steel prices, it added.

Tata Steel said, "The sharp fall in international prices due to excessive exports from China and other countries and the challenging conditions facing the global steel industry has triggered a review of Tata Steel's credit rating."



Moody's said an upgrade of Tata Steel's rating is unlikely in near-term, given today's multi-notch downgrade and the negative outlook. Ba 3 indicates higher credit risk.

"With no respite expected from the downward pressure on international steel prices, we anticipate the company's leverage and coverage metrics to remain weakly positioned for the next 12 to 18 months," said Kaustubh Chaubal, Moody's Vice President and Senior Analyst.

"Consolidated reported leverage -- as indicated by debt/ reported EBITDA -- stood at approximately 9x at end December 2015, which is well beyond the tolerance level for a Ba category rating," the rating agency said.

Tata Steel's results for the nine months of the fiscal ending March 2016 were extremely weak, with reported consolidated revenue of Rs 876.4 billion and consolidated underlying EBITDA of Rs 56.2 billion, down 17 per cent and 49 per cent, respectively from a year ago.

The company's India business revenues and underlying EBITDA were also down 11 per cent and 38 per cent at Rs 276.9 billion and Rs 52 billion, over the same period, it said, adding that India business accounts for approximately 32 per cent of consolidated revenue and 92 per cent of underlying EBITDA.

"On a standalone basis TSI's (Tata Steel India) leverage -- as measured by adjusted debt to EBITDA - was approximately 6.5x at December 2015," it said.

The rating action also incorporates the impact of the recent government announcement of the imposition of a minimum import price (MIP) on certain grades of steel shipped into the country for a six-month period.

"While earlier measures by the government -- in the form of increases in import duties and the imposition of a 20 per cent safeguard duty on certain categories of HRC -- had proved inadequate, we expect the MIP to be more effective, given it covers some 173 grades of steel imports and the setting of minimum prices for such imports," Moody's said.

This measure should allow domestic steel companies to raise prices, although gradually," said Chaubal.

Noting that Tata Steel has implemented a price increase of Rs 1,500/tonne since the announcement of the MIP, Moody's said such increases -- combined with the 3 million tonne per annum (MTPA) Kalinganagar operation coming online -- will result in an improvement in TSI's operating performance in FY2017.

"That said, the continuing weak operating performance of Tata Steel's European and Southeast Asian operations, and the group's debt-laden balance sheet, will moderate any correction in leverage. We forecast consolidated debt/EBITDA for FY2017 to be around 6.5x-7.5x," Chaubal said.

Tata Steel's European operations reported net revenue of Rs 511.5 billion for April-December 2015, down 15 per cent, and an underlying EBITDA loss of Rs 2.41 billion versus EBITDA of Rs 32 billion over last year.

It said the downgrade of TSUKH's ratings reflects the downgrade of parent Tata Steel's ratings, the challenging industry conditions evident in Europe, with a stressed pricing environment caused by high levels of competition from cheaper imported products from Asia and Russia and Moody's expectation that TSUKH's credit profile will remain weak.

At the same time, TSUKH's ratings continue to benefit from a two-notch uplift for support from Tata Steel, it said.

Tata Steel remains one of the principal operating entities within the Tata Group, Moody's said, adding that Tata Sons' (unrated) participation in acquiring some of the Tata group holdings from Tata Steel earlier this year -- as a demonstration of financial support -- is already reflected in the one-notch rating uplift to Tata Steel's ratings.

Notwithstanding the recent positive measures implemented by the Indian government for the domestic steel sector, the negative outlook for all the ratings reflects our expectation that global market conditions will remain challenging, with a further risk to the downside, and that Tata Steel's consolidated credit metrics will remain pressured for the next 12 to 18 months, it said.

Moody's said it could downgrade Tata Steel's rating if its profitability remains weak, its ability to generate operating cash flows deteriorates and its financial metrics fail to show any signs of improvement over the next few months.

Stating that an upgrade in company's rating was unlikely, it said, "We could change the outlook on Tata Steel's CFR to stable if domestic steel prices continue on their recovery path, or on the back of an increase in steel volumes, Tata Steel shows a substantial improvement in profitability, with consolidated EBITDA/tonne in the Rs 6,000 -Rs 7,000 range".

On TSUKH's ratings, it said, "We do not anticipate any positive rating pressure. Moreover, the sale of the long products business and erasing the negative EBITDA impact of its UK facilities on TSUKH's credit metrics would be critical for us to consider revising the outlook to stable."



It said it could downgrade TSUKH's ratings further if there is a prolonged deterioration in market conditions in Europe.
A door-to-door salesman set himself on fire today in a public prosecutor's office in southern Morocco in protest at the judiciary's inaction on a complaint he filed, local media reported.

Mashahid website said the man "filed a complaint against a night watchman who had hit his car, but the court took no action, pushing him to take the action" in the city of Agadir.

Suffering second degree burns, the unnamed man was taken to hospital under police escort, said another Moroccan website, Lakome 2.

It said he was to be questioned to determine if he should face legal action.

Human rights activist Aziz Salami told AFP late today that the man was still being treated in an Agadir hospital.

His action mirrored that of young Tunisian fruit seller Mohamed Bouazizi who set himself alight in December 2010 and died a month later, sparking a revolution in his country and the 2011 Arab Spring.

In 2013, a door-to-door salesman in Marrakesh, in the centre of Morocco, a county where the World Bank says one in three young Moroccans are jobless, died after setting himself on fire to protest the confiscation of his merchandise.
The daughter-in-law of an assistant



police inspector, who had been missing since the last two days, was found dead in Navi Mumbai, police said today.

The body of Savita (32), daughter-in-law of Ramesh Naukudkar, attached to Tardeo police station in South Mumbai, was recovered last evening from a nullah near NRI complex in Nerul area, an official from Navi Mumbai police said.

Savita, who resided with her husband Rakesh in Worli's BDD chawl, went missing on February 9.

A missing complaint was filled at the Dadar police station yesterday.

Her body has been sent to post mortem and its report is awaited, he said.

According to police, a case under relevant sections of IPC is registered and investigations are underway.
North Korea today ordered all South Koreans to leave the jointly-run Kaesong industrial zone immediately and announced it was seizing all materials left in the complex.

The announcement by the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea followed Seoul's decision on Wednesday to shut down Kaesong operations as punishment for the North's recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch.

In a statement published by the official KCNA agency, the committee said it was closing Kaesong and declaring it a military area.

It also announced the cutting of all military communications with South Korea, including the main channel through the border truce village of Panmunjom.

It did not specify how long the links would be cut for.

"South Korean enemy forces will experience themselves the harsh and painful price they should pay for halting the Kaesong industrial complex," it said.

All South Koreans were ordered to leave Kaesong by 5:00pm Pyongyang time (0830 GMT) and told they could take nothing but their personal possessions.

"We seize all assets of the South Korean companies and related organisations including machinery, raw materials and goods," the statement said.
The veteran brewer who created Italy's best known beer, Nastro Azzuro, has given his blessing to the brand being sold to Japan's Asahi.

The premium lager is produced by Peroni, a one-time Italian family firm which is currently owned by SABMiller. It is up for sale to help win regulatory approval for the London-based group's proposed USD 121 billion takeover by Anheuser-Busch InBev.

AB Inbev announced yesterday that Asahi had offered USD 2.85 billion to acquire Peroni and the Grolsch and Meantime brands.

"Given that it has been a decade since Peroni was in the hands of the family, it's better it is being bought by Asahi, which is a very good brewer, than by an investment fund which would only have had a speculative interest," said Giorgio Zazio, 74.

"The important thing is that the company and those who work for it can look to the future with confidence."



Nastro Azzuro was first created in 1963 but was not an immediate hit, Zazio revealed in an interview with Italian daily La Stampa.

"It was very different from the current beer, it was too strong and not at all well received by our customers. We spent two years restyling it, changing the face of Nastro Azzuro, making it less bitter and reducing the alcohol level."



Nastro Azzuro, which means "blue riband" in Italian, is still produced exclusively in Italy and is exported to more than 50 countries around the world.

The light-coloured lager weighs in at 5.1 per cent alcohol by volume and owes its distinct taste to the unusual mix of grains used to produce it: three quarters barley to one quarter nostrano maize, a proprietary variety produced for Peroni in the Po plain of northern Italy.

The sale of Peroni and the other brands to Asahi will only go through if the AB Inbev-SABMiller tie up is finalised, the companies said.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today accused the NDA government at the Centre of "conniving" with his predecessor Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) government for the secret killings in the state.

"There was secret killing of innocent youths in Assam when Prafulla Mahanta (AGP) was in power and the BJP government was ruling at the Centre," claimed Gogoi at a press meet here today.

"Why was no instruction given then by the Centre to the state government to stop the killings? Because it was with the NDA government's connivance that the secret killings happened in Assam," he alleged.

Mocking BJP president Amit Shah who was at Kokrajhar to attend a function to mark Bodo Accord Day yesterday, Gogoi said he (Shah) had in his public speeches expressed concern over killing of rhinos but did not mention the secret killings.

"Shah giving importance to rhino killings is good but he made no mention of the 150 people who died in the floods here last year. Human life has no value for BJP," the chief minister said.

Extra judicial killings, popularly referred to in Assam as 'secret killings' were reported between 1998-2001 when relatives, friends and sympathisers of ULFA militants were assassinated by unidentified gunmen.

Mahanta was chief minister at the time and in-charge of the home ministry, with the AGP government always rejecting the accusation.

Gogoi said Shah's coming down to meet Bodo Peoples Front chief Hagrama Mohilary made the latter a bigger leader than the BJP president and Prime Minister Narendra Modi



"Hagrama comes to meet me here in Guwahati and not the other way round", the Chief Minister said.

Referring to Shah's promise to fulfill Mohilary's demand for Rs 1,000 crore for development of BTADC, he said "Let the Bodos get the money, but why not give funds for welfare of other tribal groups and backward communities in the state".

"I will write to the Prime Minister on it. Whatever amount and whenever the Centre has announced for Bodoland, I will give Rs 100 crore additional amount to it," he added.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. Baku Yasamal Court did not allow Leila and Arif Yunus to travel abroad for treatment, said their lawyer Elchin Sadigov, Armenpress reports.

According to him, Leyla Yunus is suffering from chronic hepatitis, hypertension, diabetes, and a stone in the gallbladder, causing excruciating pain. She needs urgent surgery. Arif Yunus suffers from a life-threatening hypertension and severe pain in the neck. According to expert opinion, the treatment of the couple requires highly qualified medicine. The lawyer said the court decision is illegal and added he will appeal.

Leyla and Arif Yunus, were sentenced to eight and a half years and 7 years respectively. Baku Court of Appeal appointed them a suspended sentence with a probation period of 5 years. The two human rights defenders were arrested for criticizing the government, and social activities.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has dropped out of the Republican nomination for president, a day after his disappointing sixth-place finish in New Hampshire's primary.

Campaign spokeswoman Samantha Smith yesterday said Christie shared his decision with staff at his campaign headquarters in Morristown, New Jersey, yesterday afternoon, and was calling donors and other supporters.

Christie on Tuesday night told supporters he was heading home to New Jersey to "take a deep breath," await the final tally of results from New Hampshire and decide what to do next. He said he was leaving New Hampshire "without an ounce of regret," but spoke of his campaign in the past tense at one point and canceled yesterday event in next-to-vote South Carolina.

Christie dropped out of the race the same day that Carly Fiorina announced on social media that she, too, was calling it quits. Fiorina, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, won just 4% of the vote in New Hampshire. Christie had 7%.

Christie had been banking on a strong finish in New Hampshire and spent more than 70 days campaigning in the state, holding well-received town halls and meet-and-greets.

But Tuesday's result appeared to be the final blow for a candidate whose campaign saw glimmers of hope at times, but had trouble from the get-go raising money and building support in a crowded Republican field dominated by another brash East Coaster, businessman Donald Trump.

While Trump posed a challenge to the entire Republican field, his dominance seemed especially damaging to Christie, who had branded himself the "telling it like it is" candidate.

When he returns home to finish his second term as governor, Christie will face a slew of unsolved problems and rock-bottom approval ratings from residents who, polls show, feel he neglected New Jersey to pursue his national ambitions.

Christie racked up a long list of notable endorsements from state legislative leaders in New Hampshire. At the end of 2015, he appeared to be breaking into the top tier after a video of him discussing a friend's struggle with drug addiction went viral.
Nigeria's army has arrested two soldiers allegedly caught trying to ferry a large quantity of arms and ammunition to Boko Haram Islamic extremists, a spokesman said.

Col Sani Kukasheka Usman yesterday said the two were sappers, or combat engineers, who worked in an explosive ordinance unit in the northeast where Boko Haram commits most attacks, and may have trained insurgents in bomb-making.

Some soldiers have told the AP that Boko Haram has infiltrated Nigeria's security forces and some fight with the army by day and with the extremists by night.

Usman spoke at a conference where he also reported that in recent days the military has killed 35 extremists and rescued about 300 civilians held by Boko Haram.

His statements come a day after Nigeria's Secret Service said it arrested an alleged recruiter for the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, identified as Abdussalam Enesi Yunusa. It did not give his nationality. The Secret Service said two Nigerians already are training in Libya with IS.

Boko Haram pledged allegiance to IS last year. IS propaganda has urged militants who cannot reach Iraq or Syria to go to Africa and fight in Libya or join Boko Haram, but there has been no evidence of IS fighters in Nigeria.

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari declared in December that Nigeria's military has "technically" won the war against Boko Haram, forcing the militants from towns and villages across a swath of the northeast where they had declared an Islamic caliphate.

Boko Haram has changed tactics, hitting soft targets like remote villages and carrying out multiple suicide bombings in cities. A twin suicide bombing Tuesday killed 58 people in a refugee camp. A January 30 attack on the outskirts of Maiduguri, the command center of the war on Boko Haram, killed 92 people.
The Naga Mothers' Association (NMA) has turned down the proposal of the Nagaland government for an out-of-court settlement on the issue of 33 per cent women's reservation in the elections to Urban Local Bodies (ULB) in the state.

"NMA has not accepted the proposal," NMA President Abeiu Meru said today.

The proposal was made in a meeting where the Chief Minister T.R Zeliang and senior bureaucrats met a 28-member NMA delegation yesterday, she said.

NMA, an apex body of the tribal women in the state, has filed a petition in the Supreme Court to direct the state government to conduct the election to ULBs with 33 per cent women's reservation in accordance with the Nagaland Municipal (First Amendment) Act, 2006.
Maharashtra government today told the Bombay High Court that no agreement beyond 1991 between the government and BJP for lease of the land at Nariman Point area here, where the party's state headquarters is located, could be found.

The court was hearing a PIL filed by Nariman Point Churchgate Citizens Welfare Trust alleging that some illegal alterations have been made at the BJP office and while the party had been allotted 2,682 sq ft of area, the existing building has over 9,000 sq ft area.

A division bench headed by Justice Abhay Oka had yesterday demanded to see the agreements executed between the state and the party for the lease of the land.

The government pleader today said that the only agreement he could "lay hands on" was for 1,200 sq ft of land for the period between 1989 to 1991; no agreement for further period could be found.

To the court's question, he also said there was no lease agreement pertaining to the additional over 1,400 sq ft area which was allotted to the party later.

BJP's lawyer S U Kamdar, however, said the government had granted extension for the lease from time-to-time and at present the party is paying over Rs 24,000 per month in rent to the government.

The petitioner has taken objection to offices of other political outfits in the area too.

The judges, referring to the submission by the petitioner's lawyer that it was time the political parties vacated the premises they are occupying in the area originally reserved as a green zone, remarked that "Bombay is short of open areas" and BJP and other respondents should consider this point and submit a reply.

The hearing was adjourned for further arguments to March 1.
Finnish telecom equipment giant Nokia's net profit fell by 29 per cent in 2015, to USD 2.8 billion ahead of acquiring its French-American rival Alcatel- Lucent, the company said today.

The drop was due to the 2014 results including 5.4 billion euros Nokia gained from selling its unprofitable handset unit to Microsoft.

But the company said operating profit grew last year by 20 per cent and its net revenue by six percent.

Nokia has just gone through two and half years of radical transformation. In 2013 it bought 50 per cent of its network activities from Germany's Siemens, in 2014 it divested its mobile phone business where it had been the world's number one brand, and in 2015 it sold its mapping unit Here and took control of Alcatel-Lucent.

Net profit from its "continuing activities" after the divestments and before its acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent was finalised last month, fell by 56 percent last year, to 1.19 billion euros, the company said.

Total revenue went up by 6 percent, to 12.5 billion euros.

The company hailed in a statement a "continuation of strong operational performance in Nokia Networks and solid growth in Nokia Technologies", its intellectual property unit.

But chief executive Rajeev Suri warned that Nokia saw a rough start of the year ahead.

"We do expect some market headwinds in 2016 as 4G/LTE rollouts in China and some other markets start to slow.

"The first quarter, in particular, looks quite challenging as customers assess their capex (capital expenditure) plans in light of increasing macro-economic uncertainty," he said in the statement.
The Obama administration opened a two-front campaign on Syria today with a push to end one war there and step up another.

As US Secretary of State John Kerry scrambled in Germany to negotiate the timing and conditions for a cease-fire between the Syrian government and moderate rebels, US Defense Secretary Ash Carter was in Belgium trying to rally new support for the fight against the Islamic State group.

Meanwhile, the United States and Russia traded allegations over the bombing of civilian areas around the besieged city of Aleppo as fighting there intensified, further fueling fears of a mass exodus of refugees.

The Russian Ministry of Defense rejected a Pentagon claim that Russian aircraft hit two hospitals in Aleppo and contended that US aircraft had operated over the city yesterday.

Ministry spokesman Maj Gen Igor Konashenkov said Russian jets hit targets no closer than 20 kilometers from Aleppo, and that two A-10 ground attack jets from the US Air Force had flown from Turkey to attack Aleppo.

US Army Col Steve Warren, the Baghdad spokesman for the US-led coalition against IS, called the Russian claim "a fabrication" and said the incident was an example of Russia's "indiscriminate" use of force.

The spat complicates Kerry's efforts with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to overcome deep differences between the two powers over a proposed cease-fire.

A truce is seen as critical to resuscitating peace talks between Syrian President Bashar Assad's government and the opposition. They stalled last month before really starting, due largely to gains by Assad's military with the heavy backing of Russian airstrikes.

Russia has proposed a March 1 cease-fire. The US and others see that as a ploy that only serves to give Moscow and the Syrian army three more weeks to try to crush Western- and Arab-backed rebels. The US has countered with demands for an immediate stop to the fighting, allowing peace talks to resume by February 25.

Neither Kerry nor Lavrov, who met hours before a larger gathering of the International Syria Support Group, would predict whether an agreement was possible.

"We're going to have a serious conversation about all aspects about what's happening in Syria," Kerry said as their meeting got underway.

"Obviously, at some point in time, we want to make progress on the issues of humanitarian access and cease-fire. We will talk about all aspects of the conflict.
Foreign currency worth more than Rs 1 crore have been seized from a Delhi resident at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here.

Officials said the incident took place late last night when CISF security personnel apprehended A Nagpal, who was supposed to take an Air India flight to Mumbai.

"On scanning Nagpal's baggage, currencies worth Euro 62,550, USD 39,500 and Japanese Yen 60,00,000 were recovered. We have transferred the case to Income Tax department authorities," CISF spokesperson Hemendra Singh said.

He added the Indian equivalent of the foreign currency is Rs 1,11,13,657.
The owner of a portal run from the district today lodged a complaint that his website was hacked by people in Pakistan.

"One Akash Shukla who runs 'shinenews.In' complained that his website was hacked this afternoon by a Pakistani hacker", inspector Kotwali Shahi Singh said, adding that the matter is being investigated.

Earlier, an website run from Kasganj was hacked in a similar manner.
Delhi Police has issued notice to a top official of TERI asking him to join interrogation in connection with the sexual harassment case over which the green body's Executive Vice Chairman R K Pachauri is in the thick of a legal battle.

The notice was issued to Senior Director of TERI Alok Adholeya, who is currently in the US, asking him to join interrogation as soon as he returns, a police source said.

Similar notices were also issued to TERI Director Sanjai Joshi and area convenor Reena Singh, who are facing allegations of approaching the victim's friend to convince her for an out-of-court settlement of the matter, the source said.

Delhi Police also informed a High Court bench today that it will file the charge sheet in the case within 15 days and the draft report has already been sent to prosecution branch.

In its station report submitted to the bench, police said that Joshi conceded during interrogation that he has indeed talked to victim's friend but maintained that he was never asked by Pachauri to do so.

The status report also said that TERI's area convener Reena Singh was interrogated in her office and she had stated that she had never spoken about any settlement with the victim's friend.

Meanwhile, a senior official said that Delhi Police is yet to receive a complaint from the former TERI employee who came out in public making similar allegations against Pachauri yesterday.

The woman, to whom Pachauri had allegedly made sexual advances more than 10 years ago, also slammed TERI for appointing him to a higher position, Executive Vice Chairman earlier this week.

Giving details of the case, her lawyer Vrinda Grover had said that they had first reported the complaint in February last year with police which did not do anything till date forcing her to come out in public with the charges.

"Pachauri would use the excuse of work assignments to repeatedly call me to his office room, even though there was no real work that he needed to discuss. This made me feel very uncomfortable and I used to try to dodge some meetings or ask my colleagues to go for the meetings," she told a TV channel.
On a day when RK Pachauri, who is facing charges of sexual harassment, proceeded on leave, TERI today said that the role of the environmentalist is to ensure a "smooth transition" for Ajay Mathur, who has been appointed the new Director General.

Amid outrage over Pachauri's appointment as TERI's executive vice chairman, the green body said that the governing council will meet tomorrow and decide on the "roles, responsibilities and leadership" of the organisation.

"The Governing Council has appointed Ajay Mathur as DG with full executive powers to run the organisation. Dr RK Pachauri's role is to ensure a smooth transition to the new DG.

"The Governing Council is meeting again tomorrow and will issue a detailed statement on the roles, responsibilities and leadership at TERI. Till then we urge you to avoid any speculation on the matter," a TERI spokesperson said in a statement.

Pachauri today proceeded on leave and will also skip TERI University's convocation on March 7 after a group of students refused to accept degrees from him.

Despite facing sexual harassment charges, Pachauri, the Chancellor of the University, was recently elevated to the newly-created post, a move which triggered severe criticism from the alumni and women activists across the country.

Some alumni of the 2013-2015 batch had on Wednesday written to Rajiv Seth, acting VC of TERI University, saying the "inaction" of the board of management at TERI University with respect to Pachauri had "deeply saddened" them.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. On February 11, Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan received defense minister of the Republic of Armenia Seyran Ohanyan. Armenpress was informed about this from the press service of NKR President Bako Sahakyan.

A number of issues related to army building and cooperation between the two Armenian states in this sphere were discussed during the meeting.

NKR defense minister Levon Mnatsakanyan was present at the meeting.
Pakistan's powerful army chief General Raheel Sharif has accused "hostile" foreign intelligence agencies of providing financial support to terrorists operating in the country.

"Terrorists are being funded externally by hostile intelligence agencies and have their sympathisers at home who provide them shelter and refuge," Raheel said while addressing the Corps Commanders Conference held in Rawalpindi yesterday.

"We will defeat the nefarious designs of our enemies and eliminate terrorists from Pakistan's soil," he said.

Raheel, 59, did not specify the agencies or the countries allegedly involved in supporting militancy in Pakistan.

This was the third time this month that Raheel, whose tenure ends in November this year, has accused foreign intelligence services of providing support to terrorists operating in the country.

Earlier last week, he had emphasised the role of foreign spy agencies in fueling terrorism in Pakistan during a meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

He also blamed "regional and global powers" for fighting proxy wars in Balochistan during a peace seminar in the strife-torn province's capital city Quetta.

He said that Pakistan has achieved significant successes in its military operation Zarb-e-Azb, but the war against terrorism was complex and required steadfast and unified response.

Military said in a statement that the conference reviewed internal and regional security situation including reconciliation in Afghanistan and security of the China- sponsored $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Raheel also said that all efforts and resources will be employed to bring about lasting stability and socio economic revival for prosperity and well-being of displaced people in terrorism affected areas.
The death sentences of 12 hardcore militants was confirmed today by army chief General Raheel Sharif, days after they were given death penalty by the military courts for committing "heinous offences relating to terrorism".

The convicts were found guilty of various acts of terrorism in the country, including breaking of Bannu Jail, attacks on armed forces, law enforcement agencies and civilians, army said in statement.

"Today Chief of Army Staff confirmed death sentences awarded to another 12 hardcore terrorists, who were involved in committing heinous offences relating to terrorism," it said.

The convicts were tried by military courts set up after attack at Peshawar school on December 16, 2014 which killed at least 150 people, mostly students.

The venue and timing of trial was kept secret due to security reasons.

Already several militants conceited by these courts have been hanged, including the facilitators of the Peshawar school attack.
Death sentences of 12 hardcore militants was confirmed today by army chief General Raheel Sharif, days after they were given death penalty by the military courts for committing "heinous offences relating to terrorism".

The convicts were found guilty of various acts of terrorism in the country, including breaking of Bannu Jail, attacks on armed forces, law enforcement agencies and civilians, the army said in statement.

"Today Chief of Army Staff confirmed death sentences awarded to another 12 hardcore terrorists, who were involved in committing heinous offences relating to terrorism," it said.

The militants were tried by military courts set up after attack at Peshawar school on December 16, 2014 which killed at least 150 people, mostly students.

The venue and timing of trial was kept secret due to security reasons.

Already several militants convicted by these courts have been hanged, including the facilitators of the Peshawar school attack.
Pakistan said today that it was in touch with India over all bilateral issues, including the probe into the Pathankot terror attack, and underlined that dialogue is the only way to resolve the outstanding matters.

"I do not have information about the conclusion of the investigation. However, both sides remain in contact with each other on all matters related to bilateral issues. If there is any update, I will share it with you," Foreign Office (FO) spokesman Nafees Zakaria said.

He was responding to a question about the sharing of details of Pathankot attack with India during his weekly press briefing.

"As to the Foreign Secretary-level talks, both sides understand that dialogue is the only way to resolve the outstanding issues between the two countries. Both sides are in contact to finalise the dates for the Foreign Secretary- level talks," he said in response to another question.

Zakaria said there was a realisation on both sides that dialogue must take place.

He said that Pakistan has consistently supported all regional and international efforts to combat terrorism and extremism and that is why it welcomed Saudi-led coalition against terrorism.
Acknowledging that decades of delay in passing Pakistan's Hindu Marriage Bill have been "truly embarrassing", a leading daily today said the parliament has "only done what it should have done decades ago".

"There is good for Pakistan's Hindus," begins an editorial titled 'Hindu marriage law' in The International, referring to a parliamentary panel unanimously approving the Hindu Marriage Bill on Monday.

"Seven decades after the creation of Pakistan, its parliament has worked out a mechanism to register marriages between Hindus in the country.

"While the law is good news, we must remember that parliament only done what it should have done decades ago," it said about the bill that will now be tabled in the National Assembly.

The bill is expected to be cleared with the backing of the PML-N government, and the Hindu minority community in Pakistan may soon have a marriage law after decades of delay and inaction. Resolutions in favour of such a bill had been passed by the Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa assemblies.

"A longstanding demand of Pakistan's Hindu community, the bill is aimed at regulating marriages and their termination among Hindu families," the article said.

After the bill is approved by parliament, a mechanism will need to be worked out to register Hindu marriages.

"The decades of delay in passing the bill have been truly embarrassing. This has meant that Hindu couples have had to resolve their disputes outside the ambit of Pakistan's legal system and there has been no formal recourse available to them. Whether registration will offer any new protections is uncertain as the law provides no new protections against the issue of forced conversions and marriages.

"However, the law has been pitched as a potential protection against forced marriages as proof of marriage will be available in case an already married Hindu woman is abducted. Controversially, however, the approved draft of the bill has a clause declaring a marriage between two Hindus to be nullified if either of them converts to Islam, which arguably negates the earlier protection," it said.
Pakistani play "Among Fog", scheduled to be staged today at NSD's ongoing Bharat Rang Mahotsav theatre festival, was cancelled due to visa issues.

The team of "Among Fog", an English and Urdu drama, could not make it to the Indian theatre festival on time but NSD is hopeful about the other play from Pakistan.

"We had announced earlier that artistes of 'Among Fog' won't be able to make it for the theatre festival. In the mail sent by NAPA (Pakistan), they had mentioned that they won't be able to participate as they haven't got the visa," Suresh Bhardwaj, chief controller of Bharat Rang Mahotsav, told PTI.

He said that the festival had sent the invitation and necessary documents well in advance but the delay was from their end.

"They themselves withdrew their participation despite our full co-ordination," Bhardwaj said.

The other Pakistani play 'Akhiyaan', by Azad theatre, is scheduled to be staged on February 19.

"'Akhiyaan' is still on. We are in touch with the high commission. We are very optimistic about it. They are in the process (of getting their visa)," he added.

In its statement today, National School of Drama, however, said that 'Among Fog' "has been cancelled due to unavoidable circumstances."



NAPA people were unavailable for comment.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs today visited the Pathankot airbase, over a month after it was attacked by terrorists, and other border areas nearby.

"Led by the Chairperson (and Congress MP) Shri P Battacharya, in all 13 members of the committee visited Pathankot air base and other border areas," its member and SAD MP Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra told PTI over phone.

He said the members also visited Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur Sector, Paharpur, Narot Jaimal Singh and other places on the Indo-Pak border.

"We went inside the airbase. We were told how the terrorists got in and where they were engaged. We also met the senior IAF officials who gave us details," Chandumajra said.

He said the Committee took note of the challenging conditions in which the security forces perform their duties.

"We were told that during winters the visibility drops considerably. The terrain is also difficult near the border areas we visited. We felt our forces must be equipped with modern technology and equipment. Besides, greater coordination should be there between Punjab police, Army and BSF to defeat the nefarious designs of the enemy," he said.

Chandumajra also said they found there was scope for improving the road infrastructure, especially as these roads have to bear the load of heavy traffic through the year.

"We also felt the need to have lesser gaps between police/security 'nakas', which are at a distance of 3 km in areas like Pathankot. These nakas can be set up like those in J&K - at a distance of 1.9 km," he said.

He also said professionals like doctors, teachers and others who perform their duty in border and difficult areas should be given special border incentives.
Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf was today rushed to the ICU of a naval hospital here after he developed high blood pressure and fainted.

The 72-year-old ex-commando-turned-politician was admitted to the Pakistan Navy Ship Shifa or PNS Shifa, a multi-speciality naval medical treatment facility.

Sources said Musharraf was sitting with family at his home in Karachi - where he lives with his daughter to seek medical treatment for a spinal condition - when he fainted.

He was rushed to the hospital amid tight security and his situation is being monitored. His personal physicians have also been called to the hospital.

However, Aasia Ishaq of his All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) party said there was "nothing serious" about Musharraf's condition.

"There is nothing serious with him as it was only high blood pressure. He is getting treatment in hospital," Ishaq said.

Last month, Musharraf was acquitted by an anti-terrorism court in the 2006 murder case of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, the first major relief to the ex-military ruler entangled in several high-profile cases.

He came to power in a bloodless coup in 1999, deposing then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Facing impeachment following elections in 2008, Musharraf resigned as president and went into self-imposed exile in Dubai.

The ex-army chief is facing a slew of court cases after returning from five years of self-exile in Dubai to contest the general elections in 2013 which he lost.

He is also facing trial in high treason case for abrogating the constitution in 2007 and illegal detention of judges same year. In January, 2014, Musharraf suffered a "severe heart attack" on his way to a special court to face the high treason charges following which he was admitted to an army hospital.

Musharraf has also been charged in connection with the 2007 assassination of prime minister Benazir Bhutto and the killing of a radical cleric in Islamabad in a military crackdown.

A Pakistani court has banned his foreign travels and he was also forced to limit his political activities.
"The soldier in you remains immortal," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today while condoling the demise of Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad who was extricated alive from a huge mass of ice on Monday, six days after an avalanche hit his post in Siachen Glacier.

"He leaves us sad & devastated. RIP Lance Naik Hanamanthappa. The soldier in you remains immortal. Proud that martyrs like you served India," Modi tweeted.

The soldier died today, four days after he was miraculously rescued alive from beneath tonnes of ice at a height of 19,600 feet after the February 3 avalanche hit.

Koppad was among 10 soldiers in the high-altitude military post which was struck by the avalanche and nine of them, including a Junior Commissioned Officer, had died earlier.

The government had assumed on February 4 that all of them had died, with even the Prime Minister expressing condolence over their passing away.

"Demise of soldiers in Siachen is very tragic. I salute the brave soldiers who gave their lives to the nation. Condolences to their families," Modi had tweeted on February 4, a day after the avalanche struck.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had also condoled the death of the soldiers.

"My heartfelt condolences to the near and dear ones of our brave soldiers who were martyred in the line of duty in the most difficult terrain of Siachen," he had said on that day.

Northern Army Commander Lt Gen D S Hooda had also issued a statement, saying, "It is a tragic event and we salute the soldiers who braved all challenges to guard our frontiers and made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty."



The 33-year-old soldier of the 19th Battalion of Madras Regiment is survived by his wife Mahadevi Ashok Bilebal and two-year-old daughter Netra Koppad.

A resident of village Betadur in Dharwad district of Karnataka, Koppad had joined the army 13 years back.

The condition of Koppad, who was admitted to Army Research and Referral Hospital here on February 9, had deteriorated yesterday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today condoled the demise of Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad, who was extricated alive six days after an avalanche hit his post in Siachen Glacier, saying he has left "us sad and devastated".

"He leaves us sad & devastated. RIP Lance Naik Hanamanthappa. The soldier in you remains immortal. Proud that martyrs like you served India," Modi tweeted.

The soldier died today, three days after he was miraculously rescued alive from beneath tonnes of snow at a height of 19,600 feet after the February 3 avalanche hit.

The 33-year-old soldier of the 19th Battalion of Madras Regiment is survived by his wife Mahadevi Ashok Bilebal and two-year-old daughter Netra Koppad.

A resident of village Betadur in Dharwad district of Karnataka, Koppad had joined the army 13 years back.

The condition of Koppad, who was admitted to Army Research and Referral Hospital here on February 9, had deteriorated yesterday.

(REOPENS DEL25)



Congress President Sonia Gandhi also expressed deep shock and profound grief over the death of Koppad.

"During his life, the braveheart son of India united the entire nation in praying for him and has every citizen grieving for him today," she said.

"He fought till his last displaying utmost valour, courage and determination, which is the hallmark of our Armed Forces," she said in a message extending her deepest condolence to Koppad's family and loved ones.

Condoling Koppad's death, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed her sadness.

"Saddened by of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. Brave soldier gave supreme sacrifice for the nation. Salute to him & his colleagues who died," Banerjee tweeted.

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Northern Army Commander Lt Gen D S Hooda also condoled



Koppad's death saying, "Hanamanthappa was a brave and highly motivated soldier. With his indomitable spirit, courage and unmatched human endurance, he survived the extreme cold and inhospitable conditions buried under the ice on Siachen.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. The monetary assistance rendered by the US President Barack Obama to Armenia during 2017 fiscal year displays US priorities in Armenia. Those priorities include agricultural development, reforms in energy sector, democratic governance and strengthening rule of law and implementation of economic reforms. Armenpress reports Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Armenia Richard Mills told about this in an online question and answer session organized by the US Embassy.

The Ambassador stressed the commitment in providing assistance to Syrian refugees. We have raised the funding in the recent years to help the Syrian refugees in Armenia. Though there was no special assistance for Nagorno Karabakh during the previous allocations, the USAID has directed financial means to Nagorno Karabakh within the framework of humanitarian aid. Mills mentioned.
Expecting global banks to weather the current turmoil, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan today asked them to keep the Indian central bank informed about any liquidity drain from their operations here.

"I do not see prima facie a case to start getting overtly worried at this point about the health of global banks," he said at a banking conference organised by CII.

"We are in touch with the players in the system, and if there is evidence of a drain of liquidity from local branches of foreign banks, we certainly would expect to be informed of such situations."



The comments come amid RBI's persuasion of global banks to operate as wholly-owned subsidiaries in the country rather than their current branch model.

The flight of money in times of a crisis is one of the biggest reasons why RBI wants them to operate as locally incorporated units, but only four banks have so far applied for it.

Speaking on the stress for the banking majors, Rajan today flagged concerns on possible loan defaults on depressed oil prices and the Chinese slowdown "even though we do not know the magnitude for the latter".

There are also worries surrounding the German banking major Deutsche Bank and the Coco bonds, he said.

"But to my mind, unless this persists longer, I am not excessively worried," he said, adding that the heightened capital requirements enforced after the 2008 financial meltdown will also be a source of help.

On domestic banking, Rajan said that after having kick-started the process of differentiated banking with payments banks and small finance banks, RBI is studying the concept of 'wholesale bank' now.

"We are contemplating that... We are studying it. I have asked our staff to look at the issue of wholesale banks and we will see what niche they could occupy and whether there is strength in that," he said.
The JNU students union today "disowned" the controversy over an event on JNU campus against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, saying it is an attempt by ABVP to curb the "democratic traditions" of the university.

The JNUSU has two members from the left-backed All India Students Association (AISA), one from All India Students Federation (AISF) and one from BJP-affiliated Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

The Left-backed parties in a joint statement issued today distanced themselves from the controversy saying that opposition against the Afzal guru event is ABVP's stand and not the student union's.

"We disown this controversy and are appaled at the way an uproar has been created over the issue and it is being projected as a JNUSU activity. We do condemn the undemocratic slogans that were raised at the programme but this is an ABVP propaganda to malign the image of the university as well as curb the democratic tradition of the university," said JNUSU President Kanaihya Kumar.

"Universities are spaces of dialogue and discussion and if a group is holding a peaceful programme with the administration's permission, the VC cannot simply get nervous and deny permission just because ABVP is flexing its muscles," the joint statement said.

The protests continued to rock the university for the second day with the two groups gathering outside VC office and shouting slogans against each other.
Russia's defence ministry today accused the United States of bombing the Syrian city of Aleppo after the Pentagon said Moscow's air strikes had destroyed two hospitals in the city.

Moscow furiously denied the US claim, charging in return that Washington had sent ground-attack planes to bombard Aleppo.

"Just before 2 pm Moscow time, two US Air Force A-10s flew into Syrian airspace from Turkish territory," defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.

After reaching Aleppo by the most direct route, the US planes "conducted strikes against targets in the city," Konashenkov claimed.

The Pentagon yesterday said that Aleppo's two main hospitals have been destroyed by Russian and Syrian government attacks this month in the Russian-backed regime offensive, warning of an "increasingly dire" situation in the city.

Russia's defence ministry said Thursday that its air force had hit 1,888 "terrorist targets" in eight regions including Aleppo, Latakia, Hama and Homs provinces over the past week.

However, the defence ministry spokesman insisted that the air force's closest bombing target to Aleppo on Wednesday was more than 20 kilometres (12 miles) outside the city.

The ministry vehemently dismissed accusations that civilians had been targeted in the strikes, saying that "Russian aviation and Syrian government forces will never launch strikes on the civilian population."



Russia said today it was ready to discuss the possibility of a ceasefire in Syria as foreign ministers gathered in Munich in a bid to restart peace talks.

"We are ready to discuss the modalities of a ceasefire," deputy foreign minister Gennady Gatilov told journalists in Moscow, quoted by TASS state agency. "That is what we will talk about in Munich."



US Secretary of State John Kerry warned earlier this week that Russia's bombing of opposition targets could further derail diplomatic efforts to end Syria's brutal civil war.

Kerry was set to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Munich to host talks with a 17-nation contact group designed to get the talks back on track.

But US frustration with Russia's bombing in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime is growing, as fears mount that the opposition will refuse to join UN-led peace talks while their cities are under fire.

Russia launched a bombing campaign in the war-torn country last year at Assad's request, saying strikes are aimed against the Islamic State group and other jihadists.

But the West has accused Moscow of targeting more moderate groups that oppose Assad's regime.

International talks to end the five-year civil war that has killed more than 260,000 people broke down earlier this month amid accusations from the West and Syrian regime opponents that Russia's air strikes in Aleppo were targeting opposition groups and civilians.
Russia has made a "quite specific" proposal for a ceasefire in Syria and is awaiting a US response, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today.

"We made propositions for a ceasefire that are quite specific," he said as he sat down for talks with his US counterpart John Kerry in Munich.

"We will wait for the American response before we take it to the (International Syria Support Group)."



The UN says 51,000 Syrians have fled the bombardment of the city of Aleppo by government forces, backed by Russian bombers and Iranian fighters.

"We're going to have a serious conversation about all aspects about what's happening in Syria. Obviously, at some point in time, we want to make progress on the issues of humanitarian access and ceasefire," Kerry said.

Kerry and Lavrov will host foreign ministers from the 17-nation Syria contact group later today, for a meeting billed as a moment of truth for the floundering peace process.
Russia is ready to discuss the possibility of a ceasefire in Syria, deputy foreign minister Gennady Gatilov said today as foreign ministers gathered in Munich in a bid to restart peace talks.

"We are ready to discuss the modalities of a ceasefire," Gatilov told journalists in Moscow, quoted by TASS state agency. "That is what we will talk about in Munich."



International talks to end the five-year civil war that has killed more than 260,000 people broke down earlier this month amid accusations from the West and Syrian regime opponents that Russia's air strikes in Aleppo were targeting opposition groups and civilians.

The talks were temporarily suspended until February 25, but Gatilov said Thursday that they could "possibly start earlier."



US Secretary of State John Kerry warned earlier this week that Russia's bombing of opposition targets could further derail diplomatic efforts to end Syria's brutal civil war.

Kerry is set to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Munich on Thursday to host talks with a 17-nation contact group designed to get the talks back on track.

But US frustration with Russia's bombing in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime is growing, as fears mount that the opposition will refuse to join UN-led peace talks while their cities are under fire.

Russia launched a bombing campaign in the war-torn country last year at Assad's request, saying strikes are aimed against the Islamic State group and other jihadists.

But the West has accused Moscow of targeting more moderate groups that oppose Assad's regime.

Russia's defence ministry said Thursday that its air force had hit 1,596 "terrorist targets" in eight regions including Aleppo, Latakia, Hama and Homs provinces in the past week.
Moscow said today it had made a "quite specific" ceasefire proposal for Syria as foreign ministers gathered in Munich, hoping to revive a floundering peace process amid warnings of a "new world war".

With Syria peace talks derailed by the regime onslaught on Aleppo, the UN said 51,000 Syrians had fled the northern city this month as government forces backed by Russian bombers and Iranian fighters left the opposition there virtually surrounded.

"We made propositions for a ceasefire that are quite specific," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said as he sat down for talks with US counterpart John Kerry.

Moscow has refused to confirm reports that its ceasefire would take effect only on March 1, giving another three weeks to an offensive which the UN says could place 300,000 people under siege.

Observers say the bombardments on Aleppo have killed 500 people since they began on February 1.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, meanwhile, warned that any move by Gulf nations to send in troops to support the rebels would risk a "new world war".

"The Americans and our Arabic partners must think hard about this: do they want a permanent war?" he told Germany's Handelsblatt newspaper.

US diplomats said that any ceasefire in the Syria conflict should be "immediate".

"This is an issue of commitments we all took, and that we have to respect," added EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini.

But Russia and Iran have repeatedly labelled the rebels in Aleppo as "terrorists" and suggested there can be no settlement until they have been militarily defeated.

"Those who are outside Syria should help the peace process and not seek to impose conditions on the Syrian people," Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif told Iran's state TV after arriving for the talks.

A first round of talks between the Syrian government and the opposition in Geneva collapsed earlier this month over the attacks on Aleppo.

The rebels say they will not return to talks, pencilled in for February 25, unless government sieges and air strikes end.

Hosted by Kerry and Lavrov, foreign ministers from the 17-nation Syria contact group came together late today for a meeting billed as a moment of truth for the floundering peace process.

Washington has threatened an unspecified "Plan B" if talks fail, as tension mounts with Moscow over its air campaign.
An FIR has been registered against Anirudh Prasad alias Sadhu Yadav, estranged brother-in-law of RJD president Lalu Yadav, for allegedly demanding extortion from a builder, charge he has denied as "baseless".

An FIR was registered in Kotwali police station here against Sadhu Yadav last night on the complaint filed by manager of builder Anil Singh, SSP Manu Maharaj said today.

He was booked under section 387 of IPC (putting person in fear of death or of grievous hurt in order to commit extortion), the Kotwali PS SHO Ramesh Kumar Singh said.

The complainant has alleged that Sadhu Yadav telephoned the builder and sought Rs 50 lakh as extortion.

While the SSP said police are investigating the matter Sadhu has denied the charge.

"It's a baseless allegation. I had telephoned the builder in good faith on request of a person who had booked a flat with him but not got it (the flat)," Sadhu told PTI.

Sadhu Yadav, a former Lok Sabha member from Gopalganj, was known for his strong arm tactics during the past RJD rule in the state. Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi have severed relations with him long back.

RJD spokesman and MLA Ramanuj Prasad said the party has nothing to do with Sadhu Yadav who is no longer its member.

Under the secular front government rule of law prevails in Bihar and the police is free to take lawful action against any wrongdoer, Prasad, RJD MLA from Sonepur, told PTI.
The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to restrain states from banning mobile internet, saying that such steps are necessary to maintain law and order.

A Bench of R Banumathi and Chief Justice T S Thakur dismissed an appeal challenging a judgment of the Gujarat High Court which had upheld the ban on mobile internet under section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure during Patidar agitation led by Hardik Patel.

It becomes very necessary sometimes for law and order. There can be concurrent powers, the Bench said, adding it is also necessary during the riot-like situation.



The appeal was filed by Gaurav Sureshbhai Vyas, who had opposed the governments decision to ban mobile internet when Patel had launched a movement last year demanding Other Backward Classes status for Patels in jobs and education.

The high court had in September last year rejected his public interest litigation saying that the decision of the state government was just and proper.

The Gujarat government had banned mobile internet services from August 25 night last year for almost a week as the Patel quota stir had turned violent.
Scotland Yard is considering reviewing its policy of automatically believing a victim alleging rape or sexual abuse to ensure neutrality and fair treatment to the suspect, it chief said today.

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the commissioner of Metropolitan Police, has launched a review of the force's handling of historic sexual abuse allegations against prominent public figures amid criticism over its handling of the case.

Today he wrote in the 'Guardian' newspaper that the UK Inspector of Constabulary's current guidance means that any complaint of sexual abuse must be immediately recorded as a crime and a victim should "always be believed".

"A good investigator would go and test the accuracy of the allegations and the evidence with an open mind, supporting the complainant through the process. This is a more neutral way to begin than saying we should believe victims, and I believe it better describes our impartial mindset," Hogan-Howe wrote.

"Emotionally, though, it may not be enough to give victims confidence in our approach. There's a tension there that's hard to reconcile, so I'd like it to be given due consideration as part of the independent review of how we investigate historical cases, which I announced yesterday," he said.

Operation Midland, launched to investigate a so-called VIP paedophile ring in the political corridors of London in the 1970s, was prompted by allegations from a single complainant known only as 'Nick'.

Critics say the allegations were not solid enough to warrant criminal investigation and the distress caused.

Alleged victims of sexual offences are granted automatic lifetime anonymity under current UK laws but there are no restrictions on naming suspected offenders.

In the 'Guardian' article, Hogan-Howe also calls for a new law banning organisations from naming suspects in sex abuse cases until they are charged.

"To ensure the suspect is treated fairly, I would only allow police to name a suspect in a sexual assault case after an application to a court, so that a judge can assess the public interest. The media could argue their case if they wished to name someone, as happens in other areas of the law," he wrote.
Capital markets regulator Sebi today ordered Blessing Agro Farm India to refund investors' money, which it had collected through unauthorised money pooling scheme, within three months.

Besides, the firm and directors have been restrained from the securities markets for four years.

According to Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), the company and its directors were engaged in an illegal fund mobilising activity by floating unregistered collective investment scheme (CIS).

They were allegedly running CIS in the name of sale and purchase of plot of lands.

The firm had collected around Rs 84.30 crore from 1,30,189 investors and claims to have paid back Rs 10.41 crore to 12,970 investors and that the outstanding amount is Rs 73.89 crore.

In an order passed today, Sebi said "Blessing Agro Farm India and its directors -- Innsaipillai Lurdpillai Joseph Jeyaraaj, Prakasam Sagaya Packia Santhi, Irudayaraj Manickam Pillai Jeyabalan and Santhanapeter -- shall wind up the existing CIS and refund the money... With returns which are due to its investors as per the terms of offer within a period of three months."



Thereafter, they have been asked to submit a winding up report to Sebi, including the trail of funds claimed to be refunded, bank account statements indicating refund to the investors and receipt from the investors acknowledging such refunds within 15 days.

Besides, they have been abstained from collecting any money from the investors or launch any CIS.

In case they fail to comply with the order, Sebi said the company and its directors will continue to be barred from securities market, even after the completion of four years of restrictions imposed on them till all the CIS are wound up and all the money mobilised through such schemes are refunded to its investors with returns which are due to them.

Further, it would make a reference to state government/ local police and register a civil/criminal case against SPCL and would make a reference to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs to initiate the process of winding up of the firm.

The regulator would also initiate attachment and recovery proceedings against the company.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. On the eve of the visit of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to Iran, scheduled for the end of February 11, the Iranian radio broadcast a critical report on the torture of believers in Azerbaijan's prisons, Armenpress reports.

Prison guards continue to torture prisoners believers, reported Radio IRIB. So, the relatives and the lawyer of Thale Bagirzade, the leader of the Movement of Islamic Unity, protested that he was being tortured.

The believers are not allowed to make pray and fasting and prison guards punish them for it. The authorities in Baku think they can change the convictions of believers-prisoners by torturing them. But this did not work.

Prior to that, the prison guards of the 11th and 12th the colonies, as well as the Gobustan prison tortured Movsum Samedov, trying to make him ask for clemency President Aliyev, but could not break him. In addition to the prisoners, pressure is made also on their families and relatives. However, the efforts of the officials of the prison system of Azerbaijan have failed. Believers  Muslims of Azerbaijan demand freedom, but Aliyev's regime prevents it by force.

Today, more than 150 Islamic activists, including 18 members of the clergy, serve their prison sentence in Azerbaijani prisons on trumped up charges, IRIB reported.
Security has been ramped up in and around Bhojshala monument, where Muslims too offer namaz, as a right wing organisation has stuck to its demand that the archaeological structure should exclusively be opened for Hindus to pray on 'Basant Panchami' tomorrow.

A day ahead of the Hindu festival, police today staged a mock drill as a part of their preparedness to face any situation at the Bhojshala tomorrow.

The controversial site here has been virtually turned into a fortress with MP police commandos in black uniform keeping a hawk's eye at the structure.

Nearly 6,000 security personnel, including 10 companies of Rapid Action Force (RAF) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) will be deployed at Bhojshala tomorrow to ensure that Hindus and Muslim perform prayers at different times as directed by ASI, Superintendent of Police Rajesh Hingkar told PTI.

He said that about 1,000 policemen are already manning the site. Besides, 140 CCTV cameras will be installed and two drone cameras will be put in place, he added.

Tension has been building up here ahead of the 'Basant Panchami' after right wing leader Vijay Singh Rathore demanded that Hindus be allowed "dawn-to-dusk" access to perform puja at Bhojshala, despite the order issued by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) last month.

The order stated that on Basant Panchami, Hindus will perform puja at Bhojshala from sunrise to 12 noon and from 3.30 PM to sunset, while Muslims will offer namaz between 1 PM and 3 PM.

Hindus consider Bhojshala as the temple of Goddess Wagdevi (Saraswati), whereas Muslims treat it as Kamal Moula mosque.

However, Bhoj Utsav Samiti (BUS) is sticking to its demand that Hindus should be exclusively allowed to enter Bhojshala to offer prayers on their festival tomorrow.

"We stick to our stance that only Hindus should be



allowed to worship at Bhojshala from dawn-to-dusk," BUS convener Rathore said today.

On the other hand, Muslims' Shahar (city) Qazi Waquar Sadique today said that his community should be allowed to offer Friday namaz at Bhojshala.

However, MP Home Minister Babulal Gaur said they would ensure peaceful celebration of Basant Panchami tomorrow.

"All preparations have been made to ensure that Basant Panchami passes off peacefully in and around Bhojshala," Gaur told
Seizing on Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley's claim that Ishrat Jahan was an "LeT operative", Shiv Sena today said all those who had supported her should now be booked and action taken against them.

"Headley has only repeated what he had first said in Chicago. At that time, some people made her (Ishrat) a 'Jhansi ki rani' and considered her a martyr. At that time we had said that these people will fall flat on their faces and the same thing has happened," Sena MP Sanjay Raut said.

"People who had supported her then should now be booked and action taken against them. Even the LeT has said that she was one of their operatives. A terrorist is a terrorist. There is nothing like a fake encounter with regards to a terrorist. What the Gujarat government and police did was right," Raut said.

Meanwhile, Congress spokesperson in Maharashtra Al-Nasser Zakaria said till now nothing concrete has been found against Ishrat Jahan.

"Nothing concrete has been found against Ishrat Jahan till now. Government agencies should not blindly believe Headley, who is a terrorist himself. Let the Courts decide what her background was. But, nobody should be targeted on the basis of their religion," he said.
In yet another action which could embarrass BJP, actor-turned-party MP Shatrughan Sinha has requested "dear friend" Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to release a book written on him.

Sinha, who is at odds with BJP after being sidelined in recent the Bihar Assembly elections, told PTI that he would also invite RJD president Lalu Prasad for the book launch.

Asked if leaders of his own party would be called for the book launch function in Patna, he quipped, "It concerns Art and Culture and not Agriculture. Only those who deserve would be invited for the function."



The book, "Anything but Khamosh", written by a Mumbai based journalist, was first released in Delhi by Sinha's "friend, philosopher and guide" and senior BJP leader L K Advani last month.

Sinha said he called on Kumar at his residence for nearly an hour yesterday during which he made the request to him for launching the book in Patna in third week of March, the date of which is yet to be finalised.

Sources close to the actor-turned-BJP leader who were present with him at the time of the meeting said Kumar showed a lot of warmth and acted as a perfect host by coming out and seeing off the BJP MP in his car.

When asked what other issues cropped up during the meeting, Sinha said, "propriety demands secret must be kept secret."



Sinha, popularly known as "Bihari Babu", had left BJP leaders fuming over his meeting with Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad separately two days back.

Prasad, accompanied by wife Rabri Devi, exchanged pleasantries with Shatrughan and his elder brother Lakhan Sinha and went for photo-op of the interaction on Tuesday at Patna Airport.

Prasad had lauded Sinha for single-handedly taking on the leadership of BJP for trying to sideline him (Sinha).
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) today said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is set to launch the 'Make in India Week' later this week, also need to "showcase" farmers' suicides in the state to global leaders.

NCP member and Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Dhananjay Munde claimed 189 farmers committed suicide in Maharashtra in January alone and alleged the government is misguiding the courts by stating false numbers.

"While the Prime Minister is coming here to inaugurate 'Make in India Week', he also needs to showcase farmers' suicides in Maharashtra to global leaders," he said.

The Prime Minister launches the 'Make in India Week' event here on February 13.

Munde also alleged the Maharashtra government is ignoring serious drought the state is facing.

"The CM had, on June 11, 2015, said he would chair a Cabinet meeting in Aurangabad and bring about a solution to the drought in Marathwada," Munde told reporters here.

"Urban areas in Latur district don't receive drinking water for 20 days, Beed district (doesn't receive water) for 15 days, while Parbhani district receives water once in eight days," Munde said, adding the distribution of water in rural areas is worse.

He claimed no district Guardian Minister has chaired a meeting on the drought situation in the last eight months and surgeries in government hospitals are being cancelled for the lack of water.

"The water mafia is looting the poor. Please do something to end the drinking water woes of people," he said.

On the issue of allotment of a prime plot to Bollywood actor and BJP MP Hema Malini, the NCP leader said the state government has not followed the Bombay High Court's order.

"The Bombay HC in 2011 stated that a piece of government land cannot be given away without proper e-auctioning. Here, the government has not followed the directive and still has the audacity to say the land has been allotted as per the law," he said.
Ending his two-day standoff with Aeromexico, Waris Ahluwalia has returned to New York onboard Mexico's flag carrier after he was barred by it from boarding a flight from Mexico City as he refused to remove his turban.

Ahluwalia, 41, landed in New York yesterday, after being allowed to board a new Aeromexico flight without removing his turban for a check.

"I was asked to rub it with my hand, then present my hand for swabbing, which I did. That had been the past security practice, he was quoted as saying by the New York Times.

Before takeoff, he posted a photograph online of himself inside an aircraft with his arms around the shoulders of what appeared to be two Aeromexico pilots.

"He told us that the check was smooth," said Harsimran Kaur, the legal director for the Sikh Coalition, a civil-rights group that worked to resolve the impasse while Ahluwalia spent two days at the airport.

Yesterday, Aeromexico apologised to Ahluwalia, saying it "recognises and is proud of the diversity of its passengers".

"We apologise to Mr Waris Ahluwalia for the bad experience he went through with one of our security personnel," Aeromexico said in a statement.

The airline said it works to maintain strong security measures while respecting its passengers' cultures and beliefs.

Ahluwalia felt "great" about the apology, but said there's more work to be done.

On Monday, Ahluwalia was not allowed to board the Aeromexico flight from Mexico City to New York, triggering the standoff and condemnation from the fashion community.

(Reopens FGN 9)



Ahluwalia later also told the media thatthe airline sent him an email, saying it had "issued a directive to its staff regarding the religious significance of the Sikh turban."



The airline also said it plans to consult with the TSA in the US on sensitivity training for airline and airport staff.

"Heading home this morning," he wrote on Instagram.

"Thank you @aeromexico for understanding the importance of religious and cultural tolerance. I am happy we were able to work together to come up with a resolution."



"That's all I wanted, and here it is in a few lines - it's right there in black and white," Ahluwalia said.

"I'm getting goosebumps right now that if this makes a difference for anyone travelling into the country or leaving the country, then it was all worth it."



Ahluwalia told ABC he wasn't angry about the incident: "The only way to combat that is with love, is with tolerance, is with understanding and is with education.
Six factory workers from Assam were injured when a boiler in which old tyres were being melted, exploded at a unit in Podanur area on the city outskirts today.

The factory was engaged in extracting oil from old tyres by melting them at high temperature in a boiler, police said.

The workers were putting the tyres in the boiler when they noticed that smoke was not emanating from the top and went to check it. However, it exploded, resulting in burn and splinter injuries to six of them, police said.

All the injured, hailing from Assam, were admitted to the government hospital here, where the condition of two of them was stated to be critical, they added.
At least six children were killed when a school minibus crashed into a truck in western France today, police said, a day after another road accident involving a school bus left two youngsters dead.

The head-on smash with a lorry carrying rubble happened at around 7:15 am (0615 GMT) in Rochefort in the Charente-Maritime region.

The school bus was carrying about 17 people, and three children suffered minor injuries in the accident, a police source said.

President Francois Hollande expressed his condolences to the victims and their families and said everything possible would be done "to shed light on the causes of this tragedy", according to a statement from his office.

Yesterday two children, aged 12 and 15, died when a school bus veered off a road in snowy conditions near the Swiss border in eastern France.

The school bus was carrying 32 children on its daily trip to the village school in Montbenoit when it "left the road", a police source in that case said.
BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi today hit out at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, alleging the state government has failed to meet its paddy procurement target.

"Against a target of procuring 27 lakh tonnes of paddy this fiscal, the state government has claimed to have purchased only 3.25 lakh tonnes so far," he said in a statement here.

"Even this claim is high as the actual procurement is even less than 2 lakh tonnes... The financial year will be over in one-and-a-half months time. Can the state government be able to procure rest 25 lakh tonnes in this time?" said Modi, who is Leader of Opposition in Legislative Council.

The BJP leader said Rs 3,807 crore was needed for paddy procurement but the districts have been provided only Rs 244 crore for the purpose.

He said two lakh tonnes of rice was deposited in the godowns of state Food Corporation, which is far short at 18,000 tonnes at present. "The state Food Corporation has neither bought sacks for collecting rice nor has officials to check quality of the rice," he said.

"After winning the election, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is unconcerned about farmers and is roaming in other states for cobbling up support of parties against BJP," he added.
TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu today said his party would overcome the crisis in the wake of its floor leader in Legislative Assembly and an MLA crossing over to ruling TRS in Telangana.

Recalling that TDP has faced several crisis in its 34-year history, Naidu told an extended meeting of the party's Telangana unit here that workers are the real strength of TDP.

TDP faced a lot of problems when it was in opposition for 10 years. The party would not be weakened with a few leaders deserting it, he said.

The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, who has of late shifted his base to Vijayawada, said he would give more time to guide the party in Telangana.

He asked the TDP leaders to come up with a plan of action to strengthen the party in Telangana.

In a major setback to TDP in Telangana, the party veteran Errabelli Dayakar Rao and MLA Prakash Goud joined the K Chandrasekhar Rao-led TRS yesterday.

With Dayakar and Goud joining the TRS, the total number of TDP MLAs, who switched loyalty to the ruling party in Telangana, rose to nine.

TDP won 15 Assembly seats in the 2014 Assembly elections, which were swept by TRS.

TDP had filed disqualification petitions with the Assembly Speaker against its MLAs who quit the party.

Some MLAs from the Congress and YSR Congress have also joined the ruling outfit since June 2014 when TRS government assumed office after Telangana became a separate State.
Three of the four armed occupiers of a wildlife refuge in Oregon turned themselves in today as the remaining holdout refused to surrender to federal authorities.

Jeff Banda, 46, of Nevada, Sean Anderson, 47, and his wife Sandy, 48, of Idaho, walked out of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in the morning.

But David Fry, 27, of Ohio, steadfastly rejected pleas to walk out of the remote refuge, vowing "liberty or death."



Meanwhile, Cliven Bundy, the Nevada rancher whose 2014 standoff with federal authorities over grazing rights inspired the 40-day siege in Oregon, was arrested late yesterday in Portland, Oregon, the FBI said.

Bundy, 74, was reportedly on his way to the wildlife refuge, in what increasingly appeared to be the denouement to the tense standoff.

The remaining holdouts at the remote refuge late yesterday indicated they planned to surrender, with a supporter broadcasting live on the Internet phone conversations with the three men and one woman.

The live stream, followed by thousands, continued through today with the holdouts reading Bible verses, singing gospel music and ranting against the federal government.

They said they would walk out of the refuge today bearing American flags.

The siege in Oregon began on January 2 when Ammon Bundy and some 30 followers, most of them from other states, took over the remote refuge to denounce federal land policies.

Ammon Bundy was among a dozen people arrested late last month but four of his followers remained holed up at the refuge, refusing to surrender.

Nevada congresswoman Michele Fiore, who has expressed sympathy for the occupiers, drove toward the refuge yesterday along with other officials in a bid to avert an escalation.

"I need you guys alive," she told them in a phone call which was live-streamed on the Internet, appealing for them to remain calm and reminding them that the call was being played to a live audience.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. Armenia will welcome the expansion of Czech capital in its economy. Minister of Economy of Armenia Karen Chshmaritian announced about this at the opening of Armenia-Czech Republic business forum. He stated that Armenia can become a prospective partner for the Czech Republic in terms of establishing reliable partnership. Our bilateral economic relations have development potentials. I can confidently state that a favorable business and investment environment has been formed in Armenia, Armenpress reports, Karen Chshmaritian said, adding that Armenia has already discovered a number of Czech companies and brands. He stated that Armenia is a country of opportunities with educated and hardworking human resources, as well as with favorable partnering ties with different countries.

The Minister informed the Czech colleagues that Armenia has a FTA with almost all CIS states, and became a EAEU member last year, as well as makes use of EUs GSP+ preferential regime. Armenias integration with the EAEU can open new opportunities for foreign investors, which can enter the mentioned market via Armenia undergoing a simplified procedure, Chshmaritian added.

Referring to the lifting of sanctions from Iran, the Minister noted that it is a new opportunity for local and foreign entrepreneurs operating in Armenia. Armenia is ready to become the center of world business interests, including Czech Republics, the Minister said, adding that the traditional Armenian hospitability and the living conveniences for the businessmen and their families are other options in addition to the friendly investment environment.

He suggested major Czech companies to study the opportunities of establishing headquarters in Armenia.

On February 11-12 Minister of Trade and Industry of Czech Republic Jan Mladek arrived in Armenia to participate in Armenia-Czech Republic business forum. Jan Mladek is accompanies by other relevant state officials and major businessmen.
US and India should deepen their already strong "commercial relationship" by collaborating on initiatives like smart cities, a senior US government official said today.

"The sheer size and dynamism of our two economies means that there is tremendous opportunity to expand bilateral trade and investment even further.

"Now is the time to deepen our already strong commercial relationship through collaboration on initiatives like smart cities," US Department of Commerce's Deputy Secretary Bruce Andrews said.

Noting that the relationship between the two countries is already "thriving", he said, "The two-way trade almost tripled in the last decade."



"American exports to India reached USD 37.2 billion in 2014 and imports (from India) totalled USD 65.7 billion," he said in his address at the 'Smart Cities - The Way Forward' conference, organised by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce.

He said smart cities represent the future of urbanisation, technology and sustainability, and added that "policymakers must address the demands when there is rapid urbanisation".

Pointing out that the Strategic and Commercial Dialogue and the US-India CEO Forum have been used as platforms to address issues like ease of doing business, infrastructure, innovation and entrepreneurship, he said, "We are at the halfway point between the last S&CD meeting."



"Our private sectors are a critical partners in driving our dialogue forward and holding our two governments accountable.

"Just as when we all came together in Paris to commit to addressing climate change, building 100 smart cities in India is going to require all of us to work together.

"India faces a challenging road ahead to achieve its economic and environmental ambitions. The US government and the American business community stand ready to be a partner," he said.

About 300 million people are expected to move to India's smart cities over the next 20 years, roughly about the entire population of the US, he said.

"United States is proud to call India a partner in the



world's fight against climate change. As both of our countries undertake the difficult work of living up to our shared commitments, we must make clear that dealing with a changing climate is not just critical to protect our citizens, but also good business," Andrews said.

US can be a valuable partner in helping India develop a 21st century, sustainable economy, and American companies are the backbone of that relationship, he said.

Andrews, who is leading a delegation representing about 18 companies, said, "Our presence here today underscores America's deep commitment to the US-India relationship."



"To help build India's smart cities, greater US private sector investment will depend on addressing persistent business challenges. For example, capital-intensive infrastructure projects are often delayed by protracted legal disputes and the inability to find financing.

"This can be addressed by improving firms' access to private capital, including through further development of India's capital markets and improvements to the framework for public-private partnerships," he said.

The good is that there are billions of dollars waiting to be deployed in climate-friendly solutions and attracting this money is a competition, he said.

"The question is whether India can out-compete rest of the world," he said, adding that doing business should be made easier when a country competes with other markets.
Two suspected people smugglers went on trial in Turkey today charged with causing the death in September of a Syrian toddler the picture of whose lifeless body washed up on a Turkish beach shocked the world.

The trial of Syrian nationals Muwafaka Alabash and Asem Alfrhad opened at the criminal court in the western Turkish resort of Bodrum, the Dogan agency reported. If convicted, they face up to 35 years in jail.

They are accused of smuggling migrants and causing the deaths of five people, including three-year-old Aylan Kurdi, his five-year-old elder brother Galip and his mother Rihan.

The victims were among some one million people who last year sought to cross the Aegean Sea from Turkey in a bid to reach EU member Greece.

But with the migrants crammed into unstable boats and equipped with sub-standard life jackets, the crossing is fraught with danger and like many others their bid hit disaster.

The photograph of Aylan Kurdi, in his toddler's clothes and face down in the sand, washed up on a Turkish beach, shocked public opinion in Europe and to a certain extent prompted greater action from EU leaders in the migrant crisis.

Dogan reported that Aylan Kurdi's father, Abdullah Kurdi, who survived the sinking of the boat, is also on trial in absentia over his role in the disaster. It was not immediately clear what charges he faces.

Abdullah Kurdi, from the mainly Kurdish Syrian town of Kobane on the Turkish border, is currently believed to be outside of Turkey.

Dogan confirmed he was not in court but the two Syrian suspects, who are currently in custody, were brought to the court by the police.

Turkey has become the major hub for Syrian, Afghan, Iraqi, Eritrean and other refugees and migrants seeking to undertake the risky crossing to the European Union in a flow that has caused huge alarm across the continent.

The Turkish government struck a deal with the EU in November to halt the flow of refugees, in return for three billion euros (USD 3.2 billion) in financial assistance.

But the deal and wintry weather in the Mediterranean do not appear to have deterred the migrants, with boats still arriving on the Greek islands daily.
Twelve Tamil Nadu fishermen were arrested by Sri Lankan Navy personnel today for allegedly crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line, a senior Fisheries Department official said.

They were fishing near Katchatheevu, an islet ceded to Sri Lanka in 1974, Assistant Director of Fisheries Department Gopinath said, adding, their two boats were also seized by the Navy personnel.

All of them were taken to Talaimannar, he said.

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Meanwhile, the 12 fishermen were produced before the Mannar court magistrate Alex Raja Grace and remanded to judicial custody till February 25.

They have been lodged in Vavuniya prison, officials in Rameswaram said.
Two hardcore militants, belonging to the ULFA and National Santhal Liberation Army's anti-talk faction, were apprehended by security forces in Assam's Kokrajhar district today.

Acting on specific information, a team of the Army and police launched a joint operation in Khashiabari village of the district last night and nabbed an ULFA militant this morning, a defence spokesman said here today.

The militant has been identified as Dipak Das and a 7.62 mm pistol along with some ammunition were recovered from his possession.

In another operation, the forces nabbed a National Santhal Liberation Army militant from Siyalmari village today.

The apprehended terrorist has been identified as Everest Tudu alias Jambua, a senior cadre of the banned outfit, and a pistol along with some ammunition and a mobile phone were recovered from his possession, the spokesman said.
A court here today gave two weeks' time to a petitioner to inform it under which law Pakistan could seek return of the famed Koh-i-Noor diamond from Britain that India has been trying to get from the UK for years.

Petitioner Barrister Javed Iqbal Jaffrey told the Lahore High Court that Koh-i-Noor diamond was "Pakistan asset" as it is in "illegal possession" of Britain.

"The British government had refused to hand over the diamond to India. Now Pakistan should lay claim on it as it is first entitled to have it. It is the Pakistani government's duty to bring it back," he said.

During the hearing of the case, Lahore High Court Justice Khalid Mahmood Khan asked the petitioner to give reference of the law under which the Pakistani government could seek the return of the diamond from the British government.

The court is hearing the maintainability of the case.

It directed the federal and Punjab law officers to appear on next hearing on February 25 and give arguments about its maintainability.

Last December, the LHC Registrar office had objected to the maintainability of the petition, saying the court had no jurisdiction to hear this case against the British Queen.

However, on February 8, the LHC overruled the objection and admitted the petition for hearing.

The British Queen, the British High Commission in Pakistan and the Pakistani government have been made respondents in the case.

Jaffery said the British had snatched the diamond from Daleep Singh, grandson of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh and took to the UK.

"The diamond became part of the crown of incumbent Queen Elizabeth-II at the time of her crowing in 1953. Queen Elizabeth has no right on the Koh-i-Noor diamond, which weighs 105 carats and worth billions of rupees," he said, adding Koh-I-Noor diamond was cultural heritage of Punjab province and its citizens owned it.

Reportedly, in 1849, after the conquest of the Punjab by the British forces, the properties of the Sikh Empire were confiscated.

The Koh-i-Noor was transferred to the treasury of the British East India Company in Lahore. The properties of the Sikh Empire were taken as war compensations. Even one line of the Treaty of Lahore was dedicated to the fate of the Koh-i-Noor.

The diamond was shipped to Britain on a ship where cholera broke out and supposedly the keeper of the diamond lost it for some days and it was returned to him by his servant.

The diamond was handed to Queen Victoria in 1850.

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The 105.6 carat stone adorns a crown that was last worn in 1953 by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother at the coronation of her daughter.

Originating in the Golconda mines of central-southern India, it passed through the hands of conquering Mughal princes, Iranian warriors, Afghan rulers and Punjabi Maharajas before being surrendered by a young Sikh prince to Britain following the conquest of Punjab in 1849.

"Mountain of Light", is a literal translation of Koh-i-Noor. It was re-cut from its original 189 carats in 1852 andcurrently it is on display in the Tower of London along with other precious ornaments that comprise Britain's crown jewels.

India has made regular requests for the jewel's return, saying the diamond is an integral part of the country's history and culture.

India says that Koh-i-Noor was illegally acquired and demands that it should be returned along with other treasures looted during colonial rule.

The Koh-i-Noor was mined in medieval times in the Kollur mine in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur district. The diamond was originally owned by the Kakatiya Dynasty, which had installed it in a temple of a Hindu goddess as her eye.

When Queen Elizabeth II made a state visit to India marking the 50th anniversary of independence in 1997, many Indians in India and Britain demanded the return of the diamond.

Britain has, however, consistently rejected India's claims on the gem and during a visit to India in 2010, British Prime Minister David Cameron had said in an interview on Indian television: "What tends to happen with these questions is that if you say yes to one, then you would suddenly find the British Museum empty.
Public sector United Bank of India today reported 59.31 per cent decline in net profit to Rs 17 crore for the December quarter despite decrease in bad loans.

The bank had posted a net profit of Rs 41.78 crore in the third quarter of the previous fiscal.

The total income declined marginally to Rs 2,827.91 crore during the quarter under review from Rs 2,934.66 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.

Decline in operating profit as well as net profit is due to reduced interest income and in trading profit, United Bank of India said in a statement.

The bank's Net Interest Income (NII) declined by 2.31 per cent to Rs 608.10 crore as against Rs 622.47 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal, it said.

Operating profit of the bank slipped to Rs 470 crore compared with Rs 602.77 crore in the year-ago period.

As far as bank's asset quality is concerned, gross NPAs as a percentage of total advances declined to 9.57 per cent from 12.03 per cent in the same quarter a year ago.

Net NPAs declined to 5.91 per cent from 8.50 per cent at the end of December 2014, it said.

Gross NPA in absolute terms declined to Rs 6,721.53 crore as compared with Rs 7,809.38 crore in the year-ago period.

As a result, total provisions, excluding for income tax, made came down to Rs 457.81 crore during the third quarter of the current fiscal as against Rs 520.42 crore in the year-ago period.

The fresh slippage during the quarter was Rs 1,159.84 crore as against Rs 1,621.77 crore in same period a year ago.
Uttar Pradesh Assembly today passed supplementary demands for grants totalling Rs 27,758.98 crore amid walkout by BSP, BJP and Congress members.

This includes revenue expenditure of Rs 14,206.52 crore and capital account of Rs 13,552.46 crore.

Under the supplementary grants, bonds of Rs 26,606 crore would be issued by the state government after taking permission of the Centre under 'Uday' scheme for financial reorganisation of power distribution companies.

The amount would be transferred to discoms to give grant, share and loan.

The amount of bond would be in addition to UP Budget Management Act 2004 as per the directives of the Centre.

An amount of Rs 904.52 crore is proposed against fund to be received from the National Calamity Relief Fund for drought.

After taking these amounts, there would be Rs 248.86 crore additional expenditure on the state government, which would be funded by reducing non-productive expenditures.

Earlier, Opposition BSP, BJP and Congress questioned the relevance of bringing the supplementary grant a day before the general budget for the next fiscal.

Leader of the Opposition and BSP leader Swami Prasad



Maurya cited statistics to stress that the government has not been able to adequately spend the existing budget and was seeking more funds.

"Barring the budget for milk development, sugarcane and cooperatives departments, the existing budget has not been adequately spent and in some departments up to 62 per cent budget money remained unspent.

"How will the government be able to spend additional over Rs 27,758 crore? ...This will lead to corruption, scams and result in misuse of money...This also proves lack of vision on the part of the government," he said.

Suresh Khanna (BJP) and Pradip Mathur (Cong) also said that government will get only 40 days to spend this amount.

Soon afterwards, members of these three main parties staged a walkout.

Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who tabled the supplementary grants, lashed out at the opposition saying it has been sought only for three main departments of Revenue, Cooperatives and Power which are directly connected with the people.

"The opposition, on one hand, charges us with doing nothing and on the other when we try to do something it walks out of the House," he said, adding that supplementary grants have been brought to meet the expenses of problems such as hailstorm and drought which the government could not foresee.

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The supplementary grant was later tabled in the



Legislative Council which returned it by voice vote after which the House was adjourned for the day.

Earlier, BSP and Congress members staged a walkout after the Chair rejected their adjournment notice on law and order situation in the state.

Chairman Om Prakash Sharma, however, directed the government to take necessary action on the issue raised by the members.
The US government has proposed a USD 31 million financial aid to Sri Lanka to encourage reconciliation efforts and support anti-corruption activities as the Island nation is undertaking major reforms after the historic political transition.

"Following the historic political transition after Presidential and Parliamentary elections in 2015, US assistance to Sri Lanka has entered a new era," said the budgetary proposals sent by US Secretary of State John Kerry to the Congress in which he proposed USD 31 million for Sri Lanka as part of New Silk Road and Indo-Pacific Economic Corridor initiatives.

Kerry has proposed a USD 31 million financial assistance to this island nation for the fiscal 2016-2017, beginning October 1 this year.

In fiscal 2017, US assistance will be used to strengthen governance, democratic reform, and the rule of law by promoting and protecting human rights, strengthening justice sector institutions, and supporting civil society organisations, the State Department said.

The resources will also be used to encourage reconciliation efforts and support anti-corruption activities - key foci as the government undertakes major reforms during this political transition, the State Department said.

"To help increase economic stability, US assistance will also work to improve economic governance and growth, while supporting livelihoods and promoting trade," it said.

President Maithripala Sirisena, 64, came to power last January with the backing of Sri Lanka's minority Tamils and Muslims in addition to the majority Sinhalese on the back of promises to ensure ethnic reconciliation and end the corruption and nepotism of his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Sirisena has won praise for starting to hand back land after the end of one of South Asia's longest and bloodiest ethnic wars, pitting the government against Tamil separatists.

But he is also under international pressure to do more to ensure reconciliation in the ethnically divided nation.
Describing Pakistan's activities as "immensely problematic", a powerful Republican Senator has vowed to block the sale of eight F-16 fighter jets to the country that is acting as a "duplicitous partner" and providing safe havens to terror groups.

In a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, Senator Bob Corker said he couldn't allow the Obama administration to use taxpayer funds to support the sale of the jets, given that the terrorist organisations like Haqqani network that attack US troops in Afghanistan enjoy safe havens inside Pakistan, The Wall Street Journal said.

In the letter dated February 9, Corker said Pakistan's activities are "immensely problematic" and contribute to the notion that Pakistan is a "duplicitous partner, moving sideways rather than forward in resolving regional challenges."



Corker shot off the angry letter to Kerry after his fifth trip to Afghanistan wherein he had a first-hand experience of the ground realties and attack on US troops from the terrorist organisations based in Pakistan.

The Senator wrote the letter to Kerry, the day on which the Secretary of State in his annual budget sent to the Congress proposed a financial assistance of $859.8 million for Pakistan, including $265 million for military hardware.

"I do not want US taxpayer dollars going to support these acquisitions," Corker was quoted as saying by the report.

"While we're spending tremendous amounts of US dollars and certainly tremendous sacrifice in our men and women in uniform and by other agencies, they are working simultaneously to destabilise Afghanistan," he said



Another Republican lawmaker yesterday opposed the sale of F-16.

"The pending sale of 8 F-16 aircraft to the Government of Pakistan is deeply troubling," said Congressman George Holding, Co-chair of the House Caucus on India and Indian-Americans.

Holding said Pakistan has continually proven to be an unreliable and unwilling partner for the US on numerous fronts - chief among them our effort to combat the growing threat of terrorism.

"It is difficult to see how this sale strengthens our national security and more importantly, how this sale would improve stability in the region. I believe this sale requires further assessment by Congress and urge the Administration to suspend any further action on this sale," Holding said.

However, the State Department refused to comment on the sale of F-16 to Pakistan.

"As a matter of policy, the Department does not comment on proposed arms sales or transfers until they have been formally notified to Congress," David McKeeby, a Spokesperson for the US Department of State's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, said recently.

"We place tremendous importance on our wide-ranging US-India defence partnership which our leaders have recognised as having long-term benefit to not only each other, but the world over," he said.
Vizag port in Andhra Pradesh is set to run its entire operations on solar power from next month, its chairman M T Krishna Babu said today.

Visakhapatnam Port Trust has already commissioned 2 MW solar capacity and will add another 8 MW by March 20, he said at a roadshow here ahead of Maritime India Summit 2016, to be held in Mumbai in April.

"We will be the first major port in the country to run entire port operations on solar energy," Krishna Babu said, adding VPT has spent Rs 60 crore to set up the plants.

Devendra K Rai, Director, Union Ministry of Shipping, said the target is to operationalise 135 MW of solar power projects by 2020 in eight major ports -- JNPT, Paradip, Kamarajar, Kandla, V O Chidambaranar, Visakhapatnam, Kolkata and New Mangalore.

He said 50 MW of wind energy projects are also planned to be developed in V O Chidambaranar, Chennai and New Mangalore ports during the period.

Speaking to PTI, Rai also said that consulting firm McKinsey has submitted a draft National Perspective Plan and made a presentation to Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari yesterday.

"It (the draft NPP) will be put on website for feedback very soon.

"This particular plan will guide us for the next 10-20 years as to how the maritime sector as a whole can grow," he said.

Rai added, "We are developing 78 lighthouses (including 34 island lighthouses) as tourist hubs and cruise terminals at Mormugao, Chennai, Mumbai and Cochin."



He said while ports have capacity to handle more cargo, "the situation regarding (inadequate) capacity of Railways is a major concern".

Director of Ports, Government of Andhra Pradesh, V Ravi Kumar, said development of four new ports is on the anvil in the state.

S N Venkatraman, Convenor, CII Telangana EXIM Panel and Vice-President, ITC Ltd, suggested to the government of Telangana, a land-locked state, to establish 'dry ports' and develop strong infrastructure to link it with the sea ports in Andhra Pradesh.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Hovik Abrahamyan received French company Veolia's vice-president for Central and Eastern Europe Malika Ghendouri on February 11. The interlocutors discussed the activities of Yerevan water water supplying organization established by Veolia in Armenia. Particularly, the sides discussed a range of issues referring to water supply and drainage of Yerevan and some neighboring communities.

As Armenpress was informed from Information and Public Relations Department of the Government of Armenia, Prime Minister Abrahamyan assessed the activities of Veolia as productive and highlighted the presence of such major companies in our country. For her part, Malika Ghendouri thanked the government of Armenia for close cooperation and detailed on Veolias plans.

The interlocutors also discussed future cooperation opportunities at the meeting.
Vodafone India today launched its high-speed 4G service inselect pockets of the city.

Remaining parts of the tech hub will be covered in a phased manner by March 2016, Vodafone India CEO Sunil Sood told reporters here.

The launch marks the completion of the firstphase of rollout of Vodafone's 4G service in Kerala, Karnataka, Kolkata, Delhi-NCR and Mumbai, Sood said.

Built on the efficient 1800 MHz band,



thisstate-of-the-art network would enable Vodafone 4G customers toaccess internet at high speeds across a range of smartdevices, he said.

Leveraging its global network, Vodafoneis currently the only telecom service provider to offer international roaming on 4G to its customers in India visiting UK, Germany, Romania, Spain and Netherlands,with many more countries to be added in the coming weeks, Soodsaid.

"Initial response from customers who haveexperienced our 4G services has been positiveand encouraging.

"Vodafone's global expertise and experience oflaunching 4G across 19 countries gives us a betterunderstanding of this technology and the needs of the 4Gcustomer," he said.
More young citizens would soon be able to enlist themselves as voters as the Law Ministry has drafted a bill to have multiple cut-off dates to ensure that people who turn 18 are able to register in the electoral rolls twice a year.

As of now, for an election to be held in a particular year, only an individual who has attained the age of 18 years as on January 1 of that year or before is eligible to be enrolled in the voters' list. Now, July 1 could be the second cut-off date.

While the Election Commission had been pushing for four cut-off dates to register as voters, the government has agreed to have two.

EC told the government that the January 1 cut-off date set for the purpose deprives several youths from participating in the electoral exercise held in a particular year.

The frequently asked question section on the website of Delhi Chief Electoral Officer explains the concept of cut-off or qualifying date.

"Which is the relevant date for determining the age qualification of 18 years? Suppose, you have completed 18 years of age today. Can you get yourself registered as voter?



"According to Section 14 (b) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, the qualifying date means the first day of January of the year in which the electoral roll is prepared or revised."



Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi had recently said that "as a result (of having one cut-off date), if a person is becoming 18 years on January 2, he cannot be registered. Therefore, a person who is turning 18 beyond January 1 will have to wait for next year to get registered."



At a meeting held last month between Zaidi had top Law Ministry officials, the government had agreed for two cut-off dates.

The Commission proposed that instead of only one qualifying date for enrollment, there should be four different dates (January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1) for enrollment



so that maximum number of people can be enrolled.

The Law Ministry suggested that instead of four dates, "we may introduce two dates. Accordingly, the Commission proposed that January 1 and July 1 may be specified as qualifying dates for enrollment by amending electoral laws", EC had said in a statement after the meeting.

EC's proposal had earlier run into legal hurdles as government was of the view that that it would need a constitutional amendment. But now, the EC and the Law Ministry have agreed that the Representation of the People Act would only have be amended by a simple bill.

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A proposal made in the early 1970s had suggested multiple cut off dates of January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1 for those attaining the required age to register as voters. But the proposal could not take off though a bill was ready for introduction in Parliament.

Interestingly, when the EC had earlier mooted the idea, it had sent a copy of the same to the Jammu and Kashmir government. The then Jammu and Kashmir government had in fact implemented the idea. Therefore, the state already has multiple cut-off dates for people to register as voters.

About 1.27 crore new voters in the age group of 18-19 years have been registered recently.

Till last week, the Law Ministry was planning to bring a comprehensive bill to amend electoral laws to have two cut off dates and to allow EC carry out a limited delimitation exercise in West Bengal to accord voting rights to people who came to live in the country following exchange of enclaves between India and Bangladesh.

But now, it is brining two separate bills, a senior Law Ministry official said.

The reason being that the term of the 294-member West Bengal Assembly ends on May 29 and elections are likely to be held before that. EC wants a month's time for undertaking delimitation exercise. Therefore, the government wants to push the bill on enclaves in the first days of the Budget session beginning February 23.

The bill on cut-off dates could be brought in the second part of the session from April 25 to May 13.
A 50-year-old woman construction worker was today seriously injured when she slipped and fell while filling concrete mixture for a pillar and landed on a steel rod at Madakootan near here.

The pillar was being raised as base for a building from a six-feet deep pit and the woman lost her balance and landed on the rod which pierced her stomach and came out at the rib side, police said.

Police said the woman, Arulprakasam, leaned to pick a steel plate which slipped out of her hand, and fell down in the process.

Fire service personnel rushed to the spot to cut the rod and rescued the woman who was admittedto the government Rajaji Hospital.

Doctors said the the vital organs have not been affected miraculously and she has to undergo a surgery.
A 25-year-old woman allegedly went missing after taking an autorickshaw from the metro station in Vaishali area in Ghaziabad, police said today as it launched a search operation in the jungles of Morti near Raj Nagar extension, where her last location was traced to.

Ten teams of Ghaziabad Police are trying to trace Deepti Sarna, who works with Snapdeal in Gurgaon.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, has instructed the Ghaziabad SSP to personally head the search operation.

"UPCM @yadavakhilesh has instructed SSP GZB to personally head the search operation of #HelpFindDipti. Several teams formed," said a tweet on his official Twitter handle.

Last night around 8.30 she became untraceable while travelling in an auto she had hired from outside Vaishali Metro Station, police said.

City SP Salman Taj Patil said that Deepti was on her way from Vaishali metro station to the old bus stand of Ghaziabad where her father Narendra Sarna, a resident of Kavi Nagar, was waiting to pick her up.

Sarna told the police that when the auto crossed the Hindon river bridge, Deepti called him and gave him the location.

She was also heard shouting at the auto driver for taking a wrong route, he said, adding thereafter her phone was switched off.

Upon information, police swung into action and launched a manhunt to search the girl.

Today morning, police started combing operation in the jungles of Morti near Raj Nagar extension under jurisdiction of Sihani gate police station. As per call details of Deepti's phone, that was her last location, Patil said.

Police is trying to trace Deepti by electronic surveillance and monitoring some other mobile numbers.

Some auto drivers were also summoned for questioning, the officer said.

Meanwhile, there were protests by people outside the residences of police officials.
The '181' helpline for women in Delhi will now function under the Delhi Commission for Women with the AAP government handing over its charge to the panel.

Panel"Women Helpline 181 handed over to DCW. Have very big plans for it. Soon it will be made most effective women's helpline in country," DCW chief Swati Maliwal tweeted.

So far the helpline was under the Delhi government but after the meetings in the last few weeks between the Women and Child Development department and Maliwal this decision was taken.

According to DCW sources, the helpline is likely to get a makeover under the Commission which is planning to increase the staff and the number of outdoor and indoor volunteers.

Also, more offices are likely to be opened so that the complaints received on the helpline could be acted upon as soon as possible.

The move is significant in the backdrop of a tussle between the helpline staff and the AAP government.

Recently, the head of the women's helpline had also protested outside Delhi Secretariat alleging she was being harassed by officials in the WCD department after she raised the issue of financial irregularities.

The helpline was launched by the then Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit after a 23-year-old physiotherapist was gangraped in a moving bus on December 16, 2012. She died at a hospital in Singapore on December 29.

Between 2013 and 2015, the helpline received 12,75,000 calls and 6,66,000 cases were registered.
Vidya Balan would love to star in a Bengali film but the actress, who calls Kolkata her second home, says she has to find the right script for it.

Vidya just wrapped up the shooting of the Amitabh-Nawazuddin starrer 'Te3n' which is directed by Ribhu Dasgupta and produced by Sujoy Ghosh. Shot in the city, the film has the actress making a special appearance.

Balan has signed the sequel of her 2012 superhit thriller Kahaani', which was based in the city, and will also be doing a Hindi adaptation of Srijit Mukherji's Bengali film 'Rajkahini'.

However, the Kerala-born actress, 38, is struggling to find a good script for a Bengali film.

"I have to find the right script. I get offers but I have not been excited by anyone so far. I am working with Bengali directors and I am shooting here so it's as good as working in a Bengali film I guess," Balan told PTI here.

She said the day she found the right script for a Bengali film she will sign it as she has been waiting for a long time since her acting debut in Goutam Halder's Bengali film 'Bhalo Theko' (Stay Well) in 2003.

Besides Sujoy Ghosh's 'Kahaani', 'Parineeta' and 'Bhool Bhuliaya' also had a 'Bong' connection.

"I enjoyed shooting for 'Te3n' because I got to shoot in Kolkata after a long time. It was the same team of 'Kahaani' with Sujoy Ghosh. The environment was same," said the actress who has picked up a little bit of Bengali language as well.

Shooting for 'Kahaani 2' will begin next month in the city.

"'Begum Jaan' is not a remake of 'Rajkahini' but it is based on the story of the film. I will be playing the role of Begum Jaan (a brothel owner)," the actress said, adding that the shooting will begin in the middle of this year.
Markets: What is behind the fall and what should you do

It isn't new, it isn't over

It isn't new, it isn't over

1. The panic is global India is merely a bystander getting dragged in. And, in all likelihood, the fall isnt over. In all probability, it might have just begun  at least optically. On a year-on-year basis, yesterday the Nifty was down 16%, the highest one-year fall for quite some time. As the chart below shows, the Niftys one-year returns peaked in August 2014 and have kept falling since. To put things into perspective, one-year returns on the Nifty have declined every month since September 2015, making February 2016 the sixth consecutive month. This fall will look ...

Anupam Gupta
By Manolo Serapio Jr

MANILA (Reuters) - Slow domestic demand growth and overcapacity will numb the impact on Indian steelmakers from a floor price just imposed on steel product imports to stem inflows from China, Fitch Ratings said on Thursday.

India set a floor price on imports of 173 steel products on Feb. 5, the first time it has taken such a step in more than 15 years, to deter mainly China from undercutting local mills.

The move should allow Indian steel producers to raise prices on most of their products by around $50-$70 a tonne, Fitch said.

"However, producers are unlikely to realise price increases of this much because of competition ... and weak demand," the ratings agency said.

Producers have only lifted prices by around $10-$15 a tonne since the government's announcement, Fitch added.

While India's steel production could rise by around 3-4 percent as imports drop, Fitch said capacity utilisation levels among steel producers are not expected to rise significantly as new capacities come online this year.

"We believe that further steel price increases and a significant improvement in steel producers' profitability will depend on a strong revival in domestic demand growth," Fitch said, with more government spending on infrastructure key to boosting steel consumption growth.

India was the world's No. 3 steel producer last year, with output of nearly 90 million tonnes. It was the only producer among the world's top 10 whose output grew from the previous year, based on data from the World Steel Association.

China, which accounts for half the world's steel output at just over 800 million tonnes, exported a record high 112.4 million tonnes of steel last year as mills shipped out surplus output to cope with shrinking domestic demand.

(Reporting by Manolo Serapio Jr.; Editing by Tom Hogue)
By John Chalmers and Kanupriya Kapoor

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia on Thursday opened dozens of sectors to foreign investors in what President Joko Widodo has described as a "Big Bang" liberalisation of its economy, Southeast Asia's largest.

President Joko Widodo's administration loosened foreign investment restrictions on everything from restaurants and agriculture to health facilities and movie theatres.

"Today's revisions represent our largest opening to international investment in 10 years," Trade Minister Tom Lembong told

"More international investment will bring more capital, more world-class expertise, more technologies to Indonesia. Domestic players must seize those opportunities."

Twenty-nine sectors including restaurants and the movie industry were removed from the "negative investment list" (DNI) altogether, meaning that foreigners can operate in those areas without restrictions.

The negative investment list sets out which parts of Indonesia's economy are partially or fully closed to foreign investors, who in recent years have complained of rising economic protectionism and nationalism as they look to expand into the market of more than 250 million people.

Widodo told in an interview on Wednesday he was opening up more room for foreigners in the latest of 10 policy packages since last September aimed at stimulating the economy, which grew by 4.8 percent last year, the slowest since the 2009 global crisis.

The investment revisions were supposed to come out in early January, but Widodo postponed the announcement because he was not satisfied that the reform was radical enough, Lembong said.

Thursday's announcement was not all about opening up Indonesia's industries, however. Nineteen sectors, including low-tech construction, were added to the list of industries with foreign investment restrictions.

Although foreign direct investment into Indonesia has risen in recent years, it remains among the lowest in Southeast Asia in relation to total investment and gross domestic product.

Foreign investors have pushed for years for a greater access to opportunities in Indonesia's vast domestic market, valued at some $840 billion.

Foreign businesses applauded the latest move as a sign that Widodo was moving in the right direction.

"This will help restore confidence that Indonesia is open for business," said Adrian Short, chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in Jakarta.

But he stressed that "implementation of the regulations will be key."

Lin Neumann, head of the American chamber, also said the reforms were a step in the right direction but the proof would be how investors arriving in newly opened sectors are greeted.

"We've gone through literally years of Indonesia closing down its economy to foreign investment, and so the leadership realises that in order to reach their goals they need foreign investors, but they have to make it possible for investors to be here, and that's not always been the case," he said.

Some local investors were less gushing about the reform, complaining that it had been rushed through without sufficient consultation.

"In my opinion, the timeline to discuss the DNI was too short," said Hariyadi Sukamdani, the chairman of Indonesian Employers Association (APINDO).

"Liberalisation may increase employment, taxes, etc. But we have to think about ownership, too."

(Additional reporting by the Jakarta bureau; Writing by Nicholas Owen and Randy Fabi; Editing by Kim Coghill)
By Nidhi Verma and Promit Mukherjee

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's biggest explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd posted a 64 percent drop in quarterly profit, hit by a a 40 billion rupees ($584.62 million) one-time impairment charge on producing assets due to a sharp fall in the crude price.

The state-owned company posted a standalone net profit of 12.86 billion rupees ($187.96 million) for the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with 35.71 billion rupees in the year-ago quarter, missing analysts' estimates.

Analysts had estimated a net profit of 36.06 billion rupees.

Net sales fell 2 percent to 183.97 billion rupees against 187.14 billion rupees a year earlier, the company said in a statement on Thursday.

ONGC, however, managed a higher realisation, or income on each barrel of crude oil sold, as the government exempted the company from paying subsidy to state-owned refiners during the December quarter.

Its realisations came in at $44.34 per barrel against $35.52 in the year-ago period. A year ago, the company had given a discount of $40.43 per barrel to the oil refining and marketing companies.

"Profits are down despite higher realisation on crude sales because we have provided 39.94 billion rupees towards provision for impairment," said the company's Chairman and Managing Director D.K. Sarraf.

The company's onshore oil and gas blocks posted a loss of 38.98 billion rupees. Analysts said the impairment taken by the company could be linked to the onshore business.

Sarraf said the company had earmarked 290 billion rupees for capital spending in the fiscal year starting on April 1.

Domestic gas prices are likely to drop 15 percent from April, he said, adding that could curb the company's plans to invest more on developing its high-potential Krishna-Goadavari basin block on the east coast of India.

Domestic gas is currently priced at $4.2 per million metric British thermal units (mmBtu).

ONGC hopes to agree new cheaper drilling contracts for its western offshore fields, two sources involved in the matter earlier told Reuters, in its biggest ever cost-saving drive in response to lower crude prices.

"We are not intending to negotiate service contracts," Sarraf said on Thursday, declining to give details.

($1=68.4200 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee and Adrian Croft)
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. The active participation of Czech businessmen in Armenia-Czech Republic business forum proves that they are interested in the Armenian market and have much to offer their Armenian partners in different spheres. Minister of Trade and Industry of Czech Republic Jan Mladek made such an announcement in Yerevan. We hope that this visit will have a positively effect on the economic relations between our countries. Though the trade and economic relations of our countries have a tradition of long years, the current economic cooperation is not in line with the potentials of both sides, Armenpress reports, the Czech minister mentioned.

In his words, the energy sphere of Armenia, with all its sectors, is promising. We see much space for cooperation in urban economy, IT, medical technologies, agriculture, tourism and other spheres.

Jan Mladek expressed happiness in relation with the launch of negotiations between Armenia and EU over the new agreement.

He also mentioned that the Czech Republic, like other countries, is interested in cooperation with Iran and hopes that Armenia can serve as a bridge between the Czech Republic and Iran.

Jan Mladek also informed that the next session of Armenia-Czech Republic intergovernmental commission will take place in Prague on April 25-26, the main goal of which will be fostering business contacts.

On February 11-12 Minister of Trade and Industry of Czech Republic Jan Mladek arrived in Armenia to participate in Armenia-Czech Republic business forum. Jan Mladek is accompanies by other relevant state officials and major businessmen.
MUMBAI (Reuters) - The Reserve Bank of India said on Thursday it will actively inject additional cash into the banking system in March, when liquidity conditions tend to tighten because it marks the end of the fiscal year.

The cash injections could come in addition to the current term repo system that provides cash to banks as short-term loans under the RBI's Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF).

The RBI also said it would allow standalone primary dealers to borrow via term repos, but only for the second half of March. Right now only financial firms with mandatory reserve requirements such as banks are allowed to participate.

"The Reserve Bank of India will inject adequate additional liquidity using a combination of appropriate instruments, while continuing with its normal Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) operations," it said in a statement.

The announcement comes two days after RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan met bankers to solicit their views on liquidity after cash conditions tightened significantly since December due to slow government spending.

Liquidity tends to worsen in March because banks conserve cash at the end of the fiscal year and because of tax outflows.

The RBI has thus conducted 300 billion rupees ($4.39 billion) worth of bond purchases since December, a step it has previously been reluctant to take.

Tight cash condition has been one of reasons cited by banks for their inability to lower lending rates even after the RBI cut its repo rate by 125 basis points last year.

Separately, the RBI said on Thursday it eased the requirements for banks to meet its liquidity coverage ratios under Basel III. See: http://bit.ly/1PoiMul

($1 = 68.3600 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Suvashree Dey Choudhury; Editing by Rafael Nam)
By Saeed Azhar and Anshuman Daga

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A private banker, caught up in Singapore's money laundering probe linked to 1Malaysia Development Bhd, was a key link between the embattled state investor, a Swiss private bank and a Malaysian businessman connected to the troubled fund.

Yak Yew Chee, a senior banker at Swiss-based BSI Singapore, has emerged for the first time as a key figure in Singapore's money laundering probe, according to documents released at Singapore High Court last week.

Yak was not personally at the Singapore High Court on Friday, when he sought to unfreeze his Singapore funds to pay taxes and legal fees. His lawyer agreed to withdraw the petition after the prosecutor raised no objection in allowing Yak to transfer S$1.76 million ($1.3 million) from his overseas bank accounts.

In an affidavit filed at the court, he denied any wrongdoing or getting unlawful benefits from managing the accounts of 1MDB or its affiliates.

Yak handled the lucrative 1MDB account after he joined Swiss private bank BSI in Singapore in 2009, a person who worked with him at the bank said. He was on unpaid leave for five months last year while BSI investigated him for alleged misconduct related to client accounts, the court documents say, but did not disclose details of the internal probe. Yak went back on BSI's payroll in October and was last paid his monthly salary of nearly S$83,000 on Jan 27, according to his court affidavit.

Singapore authorities are conducting a money laundering probe into bank accounts linked to 1MDB, whose activities have triggered legal action across three continents.

Some of the accounts Singapore is probing belong to Yak and have been frozen together with S$9.7 million of his funds, according to the court documents, the first to emerge from Singapore's probe into 1MDB announced last July. Malaysia said in March 2015 that 1MDB had transferred $1.1 billion from the Cayman Islands into BSI Singapore.

Yak did not respond to request for comments. BSI declined to comment.

The court disclosures about the money transfers in Singapore linked to 1MDB are another hit to the Malaysian government's efforts to put a lid on the scandal-hit fund, which is chaired by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Malaysia's Attorney General last month cleared Najib of any wrong-doing in the case, and 1MDB has denied the graft and money-laundering allegations. But Switzerland's chief prosecutor said a criminal investigation into 1MDB had revealed that about $4 billion appeared to have gone astray.

EYES ON ASIA

Yak was among 100 Asia-based bankers who left rival RBS Coutts mostly from its Singapore office in late 2009 for BSI, lured by promises of hefty bonuses, three banking sources in Singapore said. It was then the biggest such defection in Asia's private banking sector, they said.

BSI was turning to Asia at that time amid concerns a wide-ranging U.S. tax investigation into Swiss banks could weaken Switzerland's wealth management industry.

Yak started with an annual salary of S$500,000. His clients included Brazen Sky Ltd, a financial vehicle owned by 1MDB which was holding $1.1 billion worth of fund units in BSI Bank in Singapore, 1MDB says on its website.

The bank was making between $15 million and $20 million in fees from the Brazen Sky account, said a person familiar with the situation. could not independently confirm this.

Another client was Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, court documents show. Jho Low, as he is more popularly known, was an adviser to Terengganu Investment Authority, which later became 1MDB, but he never had any position with 1MDB, the Malaysian fund said in a statement. Jho Low did not respond to request for comment.

Yak said in his affidavit he believed the reason his bank accounts were seized was "due to ongoing investigations into Low Taek Jho". Singapore's Commercial Affairs Department declined to comment on whether Jho Low is under investigation.

ROCKETING BONUS

Yak's career blossomed at BSI Singapore. "He was a big success and the way he brought in business was constantly showcased," one person who has worked with Yak, told Reuters.

His bonus rocketed from S$649,294 in 2011 to S$10.44 million by 2014, according to his court affidavit.

BSI Singapore was also prospering. Its staff had grown to over 200 by end-2010 from 30 in 2009 to become the Swiss bank's biggest overseas subsidiary, the bank's annual report shows. In the 2014 annual report, BSI said its Singapore unit had almost doubled its net profit compared to 2013.

But the relationship between the banker and its star banker appeared to sour last year, the court documents show.

Yak asserted in the court documents that the bank was trying to terminate him and deny him some of the S$8.8 million of bonus that he says has not yet been paid.

BSI declined to comment on any aspect of Yak's case.

BSI has been put up for sale by its owner, investment bank BTG Pactual, which is rushing to sell assets to raise cash and shore up investor confidence following the arrest of its founder Andre Esteves in November.

($1 = 1.3876 Singapore dollars)

(Reporting by Saeed Azhar and Anshuman Daga in SINGAPORE; Additional reporting by Rujun Shen in SINGAPORE and Praveen Menon in KUALA LUMPUR. Editing by Bill Tarrant)
By Manoj Kumar

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India, concerned at being sidelined from the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), is stepping up efforts to reach agreement with an alternative trade bloc centred around China, and hopes to reach a deal this year.

New Delhi has long been seen by many countries as an intransigent player at the World Trade Organization (WTO), a multilateral forum that has struggled to find the consensus it needs to move forward.

Now, after 12 advanced economies accounting for 40 percent of the global economy signed a TPP deal this month, India's trade negotiators feel they need to get a move on.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has backed an export-focused 'Make in India' drive as the path to prosperity for Asia's third-largest economy, where per capita output is $1,688 a year, one fifth that in China.

With TPP out of reach - India was not invited to join - India's negotiators are focussing instead on a Chinese-led grouping called the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) that would improve its access to Asian markets.

Trade representatives meet in Brunei from Feb. 15-19 to iron out differences on tariffs.

A senior New Delhi official, who asked not to be named, told that India was hopeful of striking a tariff-cutting deal this year, in the clearest indication yet that India wants to accelerate progress on a bloc first launched in 2012.

Ganeshan Wignaraja of the Asian Development Bank said a breakthrough on RCEP would help mitigate the competitive disadvantage of India being absent from the TPP.

"Concluding an RCEP agreement would mark a key milestone for the Modi government," he said.

Experts caution that India has shown little appetite to open its market to imports, even as it seeks to ramp up exports, not least because of a gaping trade deficit with China.

"India is worried about opening up to China," said Professor Bernard Hoekman, a trade expert at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies in Italy, adding he very much doubted an RCEP deal would happen this year.

With the TPP lacking votes in Congress and likely to be put on hold if a Republican is elected U.S. president, any sign China is seizing the initiative in the trade arena could raise concerns over Washington's declining clout in Asia.

Beijing has already redrawn the financial map by launching the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, with backing from close U.S. allies like Britain.

LOSING BUSINESS

New Delhi fears the TPP, although years away from reality, could mean losing some textile and drugs exports to countries like Vietnam, which has embraced both the TPP and the RCEP.

It could also raise barriers to entry on labour, environment and intellectual property when it comes to seeking access to other markets, officials said.

"The TPP will certainly have an impact on India's exports," Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. "It is most likely to affect sectors like leather goods, plastics, chemicals, textiles and clothing."

Talks on creating the 16-member RCEP could be the last hope for some Indian companies to break into the global supply chain.

The group comprises the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.

If signed, the regional free trade agreement would create an economic bloc with a population of 3.4 billion and trade volume of over $17 trillion.

"We can't waste time," said Chandrajit Banerjee, director general of the Confederation of Indian Industry, which represents manufacturers. "TPP will basically change the landscape of global trade."

Successful export industries, particularly garment and drug makers, are urging Modi to speed up RCEP talks and wrap up trade deals with the European Union and Australia.

But steel, tyre and chemical firms want him to go slow, saying they have been undercut by free trade pacts already done with ASEAN, South Korea, Thailand and Japan.

Indian merchandise exports have fallen for 13 months in a row, depressed by weakening global demand and slumping commodity prices. To boost its stagnant 1.7 percent share of global exports, India needs to raise productivity and move up the value chain, economists say.

(Additional reporting by Tom Miles in Geneva; Editing by Douglas Busvine and Mike Collett-White)
The Right ridicules the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) as the last bastion of what is left of the Left.

Socialism is still sexy on this campus. Even the haters acknowledge the Left's heft here. The resurgent Right, now armed with that Modi might, is giving them a fight in the battle of narratives. The Right's favourite weapon: declare difference antinational. It literally sucked the life out of Rohith Vemula, the Dalit student who broke a billion hearts with a final Facebook note.

Shut Down JNU. This was the war cry on Wednesday as the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad launched a protest, fuelling a fire that spread to Twitter, the bipartisan battlefield of partisan polemic. It sounded as spurious as the regular right-wing "anti-national" whine. Or did it? The Left literally handed the Right the rare opportunity to cry 'wrong' and be right.

ABVP said 'JNU is anti-national'. JNU doesn't need to shut down over some seditious sloganeering, but it should give the administration, both on and outside the campus, some serious heebie-jeebies. Because it goes beyond petty politics.

This is what happened. Some students organised a cultural programme that progressed into an event to mark the 'martyrdom' of Afzal Guru, who was hanged for his involvement in the December 13, 2001 Parliament attack.

This had happened in Vemula's Hyderabad Central University too. Then too, some called it anti-national. No matter what the Right believes, India's Constitution gives her citizens an inviolable right to speech and belief. But soon, the slogans became shriller and bordered on being anti-India and quickly ended up crossing that border.

India, Go Back! This is a slogan we hear in the Kashmir Valley, now a post-Friday-prayers ritual in Srinagar. Not in New Delhi. JNU has never been a 'disputed' territory. JNU also does not have a history of demanding Azaadi from India. But the next slogan referred to a war that will go on till Kashmir is freed. "Kashmir ki Azaadi tak, jung rahegi, jung rahegi." This would have been enough to light a furious fire in the hearts of the "proud and patriot" crowd. But the JNU Djangos did not stop at that. They rhymed it with "India ki barbaadi tak, jung rahegi, jung rahegi". That means the war will go on till India is destroyed.

Rhyme and reason. Crime and treason. Or in common parlance, asking for it. In a free nation, you can demand freedom from that nation and that, however unpatriotic, will fall within the freedom of speech framework. Calling for a total destruction of that very free nation is misuse of the fundamental right the same nation's constitution affords us all. This is not bordering on incitement, this is incitement. So, this time when the ABVP called this anti-national, it was right.

Has the Left lost the art of intellectual war? Has the Left been appropriated by to the louts within? This is not progressive or aggressive - this is not the intellectual Left. This is regression into an uncharted territory for student politics in general and, JNU in particular. Universities are the only places where ideas, even pernicious ones, must be allowed to flourish. Since the recent rise of the raucous Right, India is fighting a battle to retain this character of our academic institutions.

The Left is leading that battle. The JNU incident has just pulled out a chunk of the intellectual high ground it lays claim to.
Crude prices may be days away from hitting $25 a barrel or even lower as weakening technicals put more pressure on a market already staggering from oversupply, chartists said.

US crude's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures settled at $27.45 on Wednesday, slightly more than $1 above 12-year lows hit last month. UK's Brent was at $30.84 a barrel, more $3 above its 12-year low of $27.10 hit on Jan. 20.

Matthew Sferro, technical analyst at New York's Informa Global Markets, said if WTI fell further, it would likely test a September 2003 low of $26.65 before a $25.04 support established in April that year.

"Based on typical movement, I'd say within a couple of weeks it would be conservative for this to happen," he said. "But it could also be in a few days, depending on how fast things accelerate."

After rebounding $5 to $7 a barrel from 12-year lows hit last month, oil prices have all but crashed in the past week as talk of production cuts by the biggest producers came to nought.

Data also showed OPEC was pumping more to make up for the output slack in countries drilling less oil due to uneconomic prices.

Analysts said WTI was in a weaker position to Brent, after record high stockpiles at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery point for US crude futures.

For Brent to descend into the mid $20 levels, it would have to take out the Jan. 26 intraday low of $29.27, and the $27.10 bottom set on Jan. 20, Sferro said.

From there, Brent's next target would be $24.36 based on a 100 per cent Fibonacci extension level, arrived at after deducting the difference between a Jan. 4 intraday high of $38.99 and Jan. 20 low of $38.99, and subtracting that further from a Feb. 21, 2004, peak of $36.25.

Fawad Razaqzada, technical analyst for forex.com in London, said if WTI does rebound, it will need to break a $29.35 resistance to attract potential buyers. "A decisive break below $27.50 however could pave the way for a move towards the next psychological level of $25."

Brent was also poised for a 61.8 per cent Fibonacci retracement of its most recent rally at around $30, he said.

"As the path of least resistance is to the downside for oil, bullish traders should remain nimble, for now."
The amount of cash across the euro zone rose to more than 1 trillion euros last year, with almost 30% of it hoarded in 500 euro notes, ECB data has shown, as nervous individuals keep more of their money at home or in a vault.

Cash in circulation is almost double the amount of 10 years earlier and has risen steadily throughout the debt crisis, a trend that reflects fears about the euro zone and its banks as well as exasperation with low returns on savings.

Cash across the 19-country bloc climbed to 1.08 trillion euros at the end of last year, roughly 8% higher than at the start of 2015.

The supply of money has also increased over this time, partly due to quantitative easing or money printing, although by nothing like the same amount.

The rush for cash effectively reduces deposits at banks, thereby weakening them. As cash in circulation rose last year, deposits edged up at only a quarter of the pace.

The phenomenon is partly due to nervousness about the euro zone and its banks. Capital controls prohibit large withdrawals in Greece, where savers have hoarded tens of billions, after big depositors lost money in the country's financial bailout.

One Cypriot central bank official told Reuters of a woman who had burnt cash in an oven after forgetting she had hidden it there. Other Cypriots stashed their lucre in washing machines and later sought to replace soggy notes at the central bank.

But the scale of the increase shows that hoarding is not limited to financially troubled countries.

"There are two issues: lack of trust in the banking system and concern about where to invest your money," said Stavros Zenios, an academic and former member of the Board of Directors at Cyprus's central bank.

The data comes amid a debate about scrapping the 500 euro note. The head of the European Anti-Fraud Office has suggested banning it because it is used by fraudsters. Benoit Coeure, an ECB policymaker, told Le Parisien newspaper on Thursday that the central bank was considering the future of its largest denomination.

Ditching the note, which could only be gradually phased out, may prompt savers to dissolve the more than 300 billion euros stored in 500-euro notes.

"It has a major impact on the economy," said Zenios. "This hoarding is working against what the ECB is trying to do - get more liquidity into the system." (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie

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The Director of Markets Supervision at the Central Bank, Gareth Murphy, yesterday attended the 5th Annual Funds Conference in London.

In his address, Murphy said that the coming years should be about implementing effective supervisory approaches, building a stronger culture of compliance focussed on investor outcomes and ensuring that financial authorities have the framework in place to identify risks and take appropriate action.

He also spoke about the growing potential for cyber risk, which he claims requires an ongoing commitment from both financial authorities and regulated entities as the threat adapts and evolves.



Director of Markets Supervision at the Central Bank, Gareth Murphy said, "Whilst regulatory policy developments have garnered significant and at times critical attention, supervisors are busy getting on with their important work.

"If previous years were about major policy debates and new European regulations, the coming years should be about the increased role of supervision: that means greater supervisory convergence across Europe, promoting a stronger culture of compliance in firms focussed on investor outcomes and ensuring that financial authorities have the framework in place to identify risks and take appropriate action. This will require commitment, experience, skill and data."



Source: www.businessworld.ie
Irelands largest indigenous pharmaceuticals manufacturer, Chanelle Group, have today announced that they are undertaking a 70 million investment programme that will see Chanelle Group expand manufacturing capacity at its Loughrea headquarters.

The new investment will result in 175 new jobs.

The Chanelle Group currently employs 375 people in Ireland, the UK, Jordan and India. It was founded in 1985 by CEO Michael H. Burke. They have plans to expand into new markets including the United States, Central and South America. Burke expects revenues to increase by 65% over the next five years.



Attending today's announcement, Taoiseach Enda Kenny commented, "I am delighted to welcome this 70 million investment by the Chanelle Group which is a vote of confidence in Ireland as a world class manufacturing location and as a leading centre for research and development in both human and veterinary pharmaceuticals."



Founder and Managing Director at Chanelle Group, Michael Burke added, "In the past five years revenue has grown 100% and employment has increased by over 200 people. This growth has been driven by research and development of new products and the expansion into new markets. We invest over 8million annually in research and development and this investment will continue as we launch 75 new products over the next five years in both human and veterinary products.

"Todays investment programme will double production capacity at our Loughrea manufacturing facility to ensure we can meet the global demand for both our - market-leading pharmaceuticals and the new products in development.



Source: www.businessworld.ie

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YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. Prominent Armenian actor, director Armen Jigarkhanyan has been taken to specialized cardiology hospital due to serious heart problems. Armenpress reports, citing Lifenews, he has been taken to Intensive Care Unit.

The wife of Jigarkhanyan, Valentina, informed that her husband will remain at hospital for one week. Doctors assess his condition as average.

Armen Jigarkhanyan is a People's Artist of the USSR, theater director, teacher and one of the most popular actors in Russia. He has made several dozen films, his legendary voice sounded in favorite cartoons of millions of viewers.
The Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) has today published their tourism policy document for the general election.



The plan seeks to ensure tourism remains a major engine for economic growth and employment over the next five years, targeting the creation of 40,000 new jobs during the life of the next Government.



The document indicates that Irish tourism has created 33,000 new jobs since 2011 and now employs over 205,000 people throughout the country, equivalent to 11% of total national employment. It accounts for 4% of GNP and last year generated 7.3 billion in revenues for the economy and 1.8 billion in taxes.



The Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) are seeking additional funding for tourism infrastructure as well as more investment in people, skills and training.



IHF President, Stephen McNally says, "Tourism represents an excellent investment for the country and its therefore vital that it remains at the heart of Irelands economic policy.

Were calling on the main political parties to commit to a range of pro-tourism policies that bolster Ireland as a leading destination for overseas visitors and holidaymakers. With the right support, this would generate up to 40,000 additional new jobs in tourism businesses across the country by 2021."

Source: www.businessworld.ie

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The Irish Exporters Association (IEA) yesterday opened its two day Export Leadership Forum.



The event has been designed as a thought leadership forum over two days with 8 streams.



Throughout the day, 30 Senior Executives addressed over 400 delegates across four streams: Innovation Economics, Life Sciences, Launch Export for SMEs and Export+ for Corporates at Croke Park.



The keynote addresses came from Director of Green Economy at the European Commission, Kestutis Sadauskas and Director at the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration at OECD, Pascal Saint-Amans.



In October 2015 the value of goods exports exceeded 10 billion for the first time in a single month. With a projected trade surplus of 38.6 billion for the first ten months alone, 2016 looks set to exceed the previous surplus record of 42.6 billion.

The key performing sectors in 2015 included life sciences, ICT, Food & Drink and Manufacturing. Looking at Europe as a whole, the Eurozone trade surplus increased to 23.6 billion in November of 2015 compared to a 20.2 billion surplus a year earlier.



Today's conference will focus on food & drink, the service economy, compliance and risk and the supply chain.



President of the Irish Exporters Association and Managing Director of GE Healthcare Ireland, Paschal McCarthy commented, "The Irish economy grew 7% year on year up to September 2015.

"With figures reminiscent of the Celtic Tiger years, Ireland is now, in fact, the second fastest growing economy in the world, lagging only behind India which achieved 7.4% growth. This sharp turnaround in the Irish economy is, in a large part, attributable to the performance of Irish exports and the resultant improving balance of trade."

He added, "2016 is already set to be a year of extraordinary change throughout the world. With growth challenges in emerging markets, particularly China, increased risk in the Middle East, stock market upheaval in most advanced economies, the UK referendum on Brexit, and a strengthening euro, there are definite concerns for Irish exports in 2016, but with that comes opportunity, our challenge is to identify these opportunities."

Source: www.businessworld.ie

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It was announced today that a host of businesses and influencers in Ireland are getting behind a campaign to raise awareness for hidden disability.



The campaign is entitled I See Beyond (#iseebeyond) and has been launched by Headway and Epilepsy Ireland on the back of research recently conducted, where it was discovered there is a shocking lack of awareness of hidden disability among both members of the public and businesses.



Organisations including Munster Rugby, IRUPA (Irish Rugby Union Players Association), Justeat.ie, Flogas, BDO and Energia are showing their support among many others.



Hundreds of thousands of people across Ireland are affected by hidden disability. Epilepsy and Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) are just two of many that the #iseebeyond campaign is setting out to highlight in Ireland. There are an estimated 30,000 people in Ireland living with an ABI and 37,000 people living with epilepsy.



Speaking at the launch at Headways headquarters in Dublin, Minister Varadkar said, "I am very happy to support the I See Beyond message. I think its a very important one. Its time for all of us to take a long overdue step towards a more inclusive society, and the best way to do that is through education."

He added, "A national survey on attitudes to disability by the National Disability Authority in 2011 showed that attitudes to people with disabilities have improved enormously, but less so for hidden disabilities such as epilepsy or acquired brain injury."



Source: www.businessworld.ie

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Irish Distillers have today released their financial results for the six months ending 31 December 2015.

Their portfolio of premium Irish whiskey brands, led by Jameson, continues to drive the global renaissance of Irish whiskey.



Jameson performed strongly for the first six months of the fiscal year with 11% sales growth and 8% volume growth. Over 50 markets are experiencing double- to triple-digit growth, with the top performing markets being USA, South Africa and Russia.

In the first half of the year Irish Distillers portfolio of prestige whiskey brands (Redbreast, Green Spot, Midleton Very Rare) saw volume growth of 30% and value growth of 32%.

This comes on the back of 19% volume growth and 26.4% value growth in 2015 and reflects the growing global interest in Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey, the style of whiskey that is unique to Ireland. The prestige brands are exported to 26 markets worldwide, with further expansion planned this year.



In the domestic market, Jameson is leading growth with +8% in value with strong performance also coming from the Paddy and Redbreast.

Chairman and CEO of Irish Distillers, Anna Malmhake said, "Due to accelerating demand for Jameson internationally, 16 full-time, permanent jobs have been created in our bottling operation in Dublin.

"Export success also translates into interest in our brand homes here in Ireland, which has led to 235,000 visits to Old Jameson Distillery in Dublin and the Jameson Experience Midleton for the period between July to December 2015, an increase of 7,700 compared to the same period in 2014."

Source: www.businessworld.ie

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By CEO of Aviva Health, James Parker.

Its normal to hear a lot about health and fitness at the start of the year  New Years Resolutions, promises to ourselves to take better care of ourselves and to balance our work and personal lives are all made in January and often a distant memory by February.

But this year, its different. The level of conversation is more intense and among individuals and increasingly employers, theres a sense of momentum and of commitment to putting health and wellbeing at the centre of the work environment.

At Aviva, we regularly visit our business customers to offer health checks for their employees. On top of that, weve spent the last 6 months working with health experts from DCU, IT Carlow and Ibecs Nutrition & Health Foundation to put together a programme to encourage fitness in the workplace.

Move Your Met is a campaign which uses a free downloadable app built to calculate a single score called MET, which is a scientific unit that measures your fitness. The average adult over 18 years old should have a MET score of at least 10 and our programme aims to encourage adults from all across the country to measure their MET score using the app and, over a six week period, to see if they can improve it.

Why health and wellbeing is important to businesses

According to Ibec, absenteeism costs the Irish economy 1.5billion, around 818 per employee. Its a problem that employers are always seeking to manage but also one where companies need to make it as easy for their employees to help reduce absence by ensuring workplaces are geared up to offer healthy choices and opportunities to be active. Research by Healthy Ireland shows that 40% of office workers get no physical exercise at all during the working week and the average person sits down for a total of 5.3 hours during the working day. Thats why the Move Your Met app can be used by individuals at any level of fitness, anywhere, at any time, as long as participants have an Apple or Android smartphone. The app will record how little changes, such as a 10 minute walk three times a day, choosing the stairs over the lift or holding a meeting with a colleague while standing up rather than sitting down, can improve an individuals MET score and therefore their overall health and wellbeing.

An increase of just one MET over the six week period will reduce an individuals risk of a cardiovascular incidence by 15% and risk of premature death by 13%.[iv] These are life-changing goals to set. From the health screenings that we carried out in 2015, we know that over half of men (55%) and 42% of women we screened had an above normal BMI and that around 1 in 20 have pre-diabetes. These statistics can be reduced through improved levels of physical activity, leading to better quality of life for people and to a more productive and engaged workforce.

What makes this programme different is that its for everyone, regardless of age, gender, where you work or what you do. Whether you are a regular jogger or do no exercise, we want to prompt employees to think that bit differently about activity levels in the workplace. We will also be providing advice to companies on how they can support their employees in being fitter, healthier and as a consequence, create a happier and more productive workplace.

As well as fit and healthy workers tending to be happier and more productive, there are a number of other reasons to encourage greater employee wellbeing. As our economy continues to recover, companies who are seeking to retain existing staff or recruit new employees for growth recognise that promoting a good work-life balance and having a programme that supports well-being can give them the edge over a competitor.

As the economy has improved, companies have returned to recruitment, to enhanced employment benefits and company perks and companies that will stand out, are those that demonstrate that they are supportive of their employees health and wellbeing. The programme is not just about involving employees, but getting employers to rethink the office environment, to encourage employees to be more active, to provide healthier food options and to support people in taking breaks during working hours.

We are delighted, that in the last month, over 130 companies have signed up for the Move Your Met challenge. While company registration is closed, anyone who still wants to participate can calculate their MET score by registering as an individual along with over 40,000 other people across the country who have downloaded the app so far. Good luck to everyone.

About us
The annual I WISH conference will be taking place today and tomorrow in City Hall, Cork.



I WISH is an award-winning partnership initiative between Cork Chamber, it@cork, and Cork City Council, supported by Science Foundation Ireland, Dell, Cork County Council, UCC and CIT.

The initiative was founded in 2014 by three Cork business women  Gillian Keating, Partner, Ronan Daly Jermyn Solicitors, Caroline ODriscoll, Partner, KPMG and Vice Chair of it@Cork and Ruth Buckley, Head of ICT & Business Services at Cork City Council.



In total more than 2,000 female transition year students will be shown what it is like to have a career in Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM) at the event.



Katie Taylor was on hand to meet and talk to students today about her experience of being a woman in a male-dominated sport. She also took to the stage for a frank question and answer session with Barrie OConnell, President of Cork Chamber and KPMG Partner.



Minister for Agriculture, Food, Marine and Defence, Simon Coveney TD welcomed students to the conference and took the opportunity to officially launch I WISH Imagines, a new series of events and opportunities under the I Wish banner.



General Manager at Dell Ireland, Niamh Townsend spoke about the wide variety of career opportunities that exist in technology and other STEM fields, she commented,  When it comes to encouraging female participation in STEM careers, we all need to work together to highlight the sheer variety of roles that are available.

"The technology sector requires those with a development background, but we also look for talented sales people and marketers, among countless other roles. Its not about fitting the mould or cohering to a stereotype of what someone who works in STEM might look like, but rather putting your own stamp on the position and bringing your ideas and individuality to bear.



Source: www.businessworld.ie

About us
The Cache Chamber of Commerce welcomed 142 new members over the past year. Chamber president and CEO Sandy Emile said the local organization was recently honored as the fastest growing chamber in the state in an award from the Utah State Chamber.

In a report to the Cache County Council Tuesday, Emile said the past year was extremely busy with 32 ribbon cuttings for new or expanding businesses. She said 626 new jobs were created last year at a rate of 11.9 percent and 46 new establishments were in the professions of scientific or technical services.

Emile said the chamber has been very involved in legislative affairs.

Our own business climate is very important to the chamber of commerce. We support our clean air initiatives and the initiatives of UCAIR, said Emile. We take all these initiatives very seriously because we know we cant grow businesses in a place where people dont want to live. Its just that simple.

Continuing, Emile said the chamber is working with local businesses to further enhance opportunities for electric vehicles.

We are working with Logan City to install more recharge areas for electric cars, she explained. We are working with a local automotive company to arrange for electric cars to be leased at a discount for our manufacturing entities.

Emile also said the chamber recognizes the need to give local businesses the connectivity they need in order to be global. Emile is serving as president of the State Chamber of Commerce this year and the local organization will host the state chamber conference this summer.
Each chapter of Art THINK contains from four to twenty-one relatively short essays on different aspects of learning to think like an artist. Originally written for an artists' online discussion group, these "ArtyFacts" (as they were first called) can be bitten off, chewed, and digested in as little as fifteen minutes. Some items are light and fluffy-brain candy. Some are snack food for thought. Some are downright chewy. And, a few are (gulp) stick-in-your-throat fruit-cakey. They employ humor, irony, a gentle dose of art history, common sense, conventional wisdom, and good old school-of-hard-knocks experience.
The abrupt deterioration of relations between Russia and Turkey, caused by the downing of a Russian warplane by a Turkish F-16 on the Turkish-Syrian border in late November, has had serious implications for the North Caucasian communities in both Russia and Turkey. While Russias imposition of extensive sanctions on Turkey has met displeasure among some of Russias Turkic-speaking populations, it has also led to a polarization among Russias North Caucasians, some of whom have favored Turkey, an emerging Sunni power, over the state in which they hold citizenship.

BACKGROUND: The late November incident turned Turkey, an earlier partner with whom Moscows economic and energy cooperation had been flourishing, into what many would term Russias main and  suddenly rediscovered  epic foe. While a number of leading Russian politicians have accused Turkey of allying with terrorists and called for a proper punishment for the backstabbing it committed by downing the Russian bomber, some intellectuals and public figures went so far as to demand a preemptive nuclear strike on Turkey or reclaim Constantinople, the age-old goal of Russian tsars. Against this background, severe sanctions were put in place on Turkey. These have ranged from restricting the activities of Turkish companies in Russia, restricting imports from Turkey and imposing a visa regime for Turkish citizens, to disabling Russias Turkic-speaking republics from partaking in Turkvision, a Eurovision-inspired song contest in which Turkic-speaking countries or republics are eligible to participate. Hundreds of Turkish students have been expelled from Russian universities, and Turkish husbands of Russian women have been prevented from entering the country and reuniting with their families. Aside from harming Russia more than Turkey, as some economic analysts have claimed, these sanctions have also endangered billions of dollars of Turkish investments made in the economies of some key Russian regions, for instance in Tatarstan.

In an unprecedented show of public dissent, Tatarstans president Rustem Minnikhanov has been one of the fiercest critics of Russias sanctions on Turkey, which Minnikhanov has termed a brotherly nation for his fellow Turkic-speaking Tatars at a time of heightened tensions. Appreciating the extent of Turkish investment in the autonomous republic, Minnikhanov implicitly challenged Moscows policies toward Ankara asserting that Turkish businesses would continue to operate in Tatarstan despite the anti-Turkish hysteria supported by the media. In the North Caucasus, authorities have kept a low profile in their criticism of Moscows approach to Turkey, even though Turkish businesses, particularly construction companies, have been a valuable asset to the regions stagnant economies. Yet what has been missing in the rhetoric of regional authorities has been enunciated in the concerns of North Caucasian patriotic organizations, uniting ethnic kin in both Turkey and Russia.

IMPLICATIONS: Turkey currently hosts hundreds of thousands  if not several millions  of North Caucasians, including Circassians, Chechens, Karachay-Balkars, Ossetians and Dagestani peoples. The roots of these communities run back to the second half of the 19th century, following the expulsion of the highlanders from their home areas to the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of Russias ultimate victory in a series of regional wars. Since then, many North Caucasians have assimilated into the Turkish ethno-linguistic mainstream. Yet others have preferred marriages within their ethno-linguistic communities, remaining conscious of their North Caucasian roots. In fact, since the early 1990s, which marked the opening of the once-sealed Turkish-Soviet borders, Turkeys North Caucasian communities have become increasingly interested in the heritage of their ancestors. Their travels to the North Caucasus have intensified, with thousands of Turkish citizens of North Caucasian origin rediscovering their ethno-cultural roots and reasserting torn familial ties. In this regard, the Georgian-Abkhazian war of 1992-1993 was a symbolic milestone in that hundreds of Turkey-born Abkhazians, Circassians, and Chechens volunteered in the war to support their kin.

Since the early 1990s, owing to the lifting of the visa regime between Russia and Turkey and various exchange programs, thousands of Turkish students of North Caucasian descent have come to study in the universities in Maikop, Nalchik, Vladikavkaz, and elsewhere. Turkish businessmen of North Caucasian origin have also been eager to look for business opportunities in their ancestral lands, which has provided an important stimulus for the local economies. As a result, the share of intermarriages between North Caucasians born in Turkey and in Russia has increased. For some North Caucasian peoples, not least Circassians, memories of the war and the forced exodus to Turkey in the 19th century are very much alive and the reunification of Turkey-born expatriates with their ethnic core in the North Caucasus has been of immense emotional and symbolic importance. The fact that thousands of North Caucasians could until recently travel to their ancestors native region has ensured that they have remained knowledgeable of their ethnic roots and avoided ultimate assimilation in Turkey.

Needless to say, Moscows recent sanctions on Turkish companies operating in Russia, as well as the imposition of a visa requirement for Turkish citizens have dealt a serious blow to the relations that North Caucasian organizations have cultivated between Turkey-born and Russia-born kin communities. Islambek Marzoyev, a senior researcher with the North Ossetian Institute of Humanitarian and Social Sciences, has asserted that after recently establishing cooperation with representatives of the North Ossetian diaspora communities in Turkey, several groups of Ossetian diaspora have arrived in Ossetia. They have been in touch with the republics authorities. We welcome students from our diaspora [to North Ossetia]. The young generation of Turkish Ossetians is happy to learn their language in their historical homeland and to get acquainted with their folklore. For 2015, we agreed on student exchange, but unfortunately, this is going to be problematic now. According to Naima Neflyasheva, a specialist on Circassian ethnography and a senior researcher with the Russian Academy of Sciences, contacts between Circassian communities in the North Caucasus, Turkey, and the Middle East will likely become complicated due to the ongoing Russian-Turkish crisis. Circassian lecturers from Russia have visited five Turkish universities so far. As far as I know, they are being called off. The Adygean University has severed all ties in Turkey.

Moscow has shown no willingness to make exceptions for Russias ethnic communities in maintaining contacts with Turkey. Despite all that is at stake for these ethnic communities and their extensive work to establish ties with North Caucasian diaspora communities in Turkey, no North Caucasian leader has followed Minnikhanov in challenging Moscows severing of economic, political, and cultural ties with Turkey. On the contrary, North Ossetias leader Tamerlan Aguzarov has put the entire blame on Ankara, claiming that the anti-Russian agenda is a direct blow to [Turkeys] own stability and secularism. It is a blow to the large [North Caucasian ethnic] minorities in Turkey.

CONCLUSIONS: Most North Caucasians, subjected to a fierce propaganda campaign in the Russian media, appear to be unequivocally siding with Moscow in the Turkish-Russian crisis. Yet an analysis of statements appearing in social media reveals that a growing share of North Caucasians disapprove of both Russias controversial military engagement in Syria and Moscows indiscriminate sanctions on Turkey and Turks. While the notion of Sunni solidarity has fueled these skeptical attitudes among the religiously-minded part of the North Caucasian population, particularly in Dagestan and Ingushetia, many secular North Caucasians question the all-encompassing nature of anti-Turkish sanctions that have affected ordinary people instead of Turkeys political and military elites for their decision to down a Russian warplane. For this segment of the local population, Moscows unscrupulous policies are considered inappropriate in that they, for fleeting political expediency, have made members of Turkeys North Caucasian communities co-responsible for the deeds of their nations leadership. Likewise, the attitude of the North Caucasian elites that have disassociated themselves from any efforts that would help save the highly regarded ties with Turkeys North Caucasian communities has been considered utterly unpatriotic. Whatever the further developments between Moscow and Ankara, the negligence of Moscow and local elites of the North Caucasians and their interests risks alienating a large segment of North Caucasians.

AUTHORS BIO: Emil Aslan Souleimanov is Associate Professor with the Department of Russian and East European Studies, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic (https://cuni.academia.edu/EmilSouleimanov). He is the author of Individual Disengagement of Avengers, Nationalists, and Jihadists, co-authored with Huseyn Aliyev (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), Understanding Ethnopolitical Conflict: Karabakh, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia Wars Reconsidered (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), and An Endless War: The Russian-Chechen Conflict in Perspective (Peter Lang, 2007).

Image Attribution: www.bilgesam.org, accessed on Feb 3, 2016
The recent ground-breaking ceremony of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline, was followed by several Indo-Russian Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) on energy during the 16th annual Indo-Russian Summit in Moscow in December 2015. These events add to Rosnefts decisions in 2014 to buy a 49 percent share in Essar Oil in mid-2015 and to cooperate with OVL, both Indians companies, on exploration and hydrocarbon production in Russias offshore Arctic. Also, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Central Asia in July 2015, particularly Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, to declare Indias growing importance as an alternative energy market in Eurasia, aside from the EU, China and Japan, and as a potential power in the energy-rich Eurasian space.

BACKGROUND: TAPI has come a long way after its initial conceptualization in 1995, promoted by the U.S. Yet the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the establishment of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, and later the U.S. and ISAF operations in Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks put this project on the backburner. The long delay testifies to how insecurity in one country affects regional security in a much broader sense and even inter-regional security in the long-term. The projects viability was only seriously considered after the signing of a tripartite agreement among India, Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2008 and the resulting agreement on a uniform transit fee and gas purchases among these countries in 2012.

Other proposals aiming to involve India in the Eurasian energy market have included the Russia-China-India (RCI) pipeline  an ambitious project linking Russia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Xinjiang and Ladakh (India) in 2003, bypassing Pakistan and Afghanistan, whose feasibility was nevertheless a problem. Another project was discussed during a visit of Kazakhstans Foreign Minister to New Delhi in March 2013, aiming to bring gas from Russia to India through a pipeline covering Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. OVL showed an initial interest in the project, but it could not be finalized due to the regional security situation and the resultant apathy of international energy companies. Russia has also supported the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline, intended to prevent Turkmenistan from entering the South Asian market, and as a counterweight balance to the U.S.-backed TAPI. However, the project fell under the U.S. sanctions against Iran and serious doubts existed regarding its feasibility. While India lost interest in the project (now transformed into an Iran-Pakistan-China pipeline project), it could potentially reconsider its participation after the lifting of sanctions against Iran.

On the other hand, it should be noted that India has already entered the Eurasian energy market through the 2001 Rosneft-OVL deal for a 20 percent stake in Sakhalin-1 and OVLS 2009 acquisition of Imperial Energy for fields in the Tomsk region, while the company in 2011 obtained a 25 percent stake in Kazakhstans offshore Satpayev field in the Northern Caspian Sea.

IMPLICATIONS: With an expected annual economic growth of over 7 percent, it is calculated that by 2030, Indias dependence on imported fossil fuels will exceed 53 percent of Indias total energy consumption. India therefore needs alternative energy suppliers, aside from its traditional ones in the Middle-East and North Africa. Simultaneously, Eurasian suppliers are in search of alternative markets to tackle diminishing demand in the EU and their over-dependence on China as a market. Indeed, diversification of sources and markets is essential to ensure the future energy security of both producers and markets.

Notably, PM Modis insistence during his visit to Turkmenistan on searching for multiple options for supply routes to make TAPI successful, including the land-sea route via Iran, demonstrated Indias renewed interest in Eurasia as a viable energy source. And for Turkmenistan, access to India, which displays the second fastest growing energy market in South Asia, would be highly beneficial. TAPI also promotes the idea of establishing energy interdependence between countries like India and Pakistan, which share a history of animosity, and with Afghanistan, with a troubled past and a struggling present. This project promotes sharing of economic benefits among the participants, and the gas volumes and the amount of transit fees from the pipeline assist economic restructuring in all the participating countries. A dedicated guard force for TAPI, seminar to that established for the BTC pipeline, should be organized by the partner countries to guarantee TAPIs security, and thus, its viability.

This experimental venture, if successful, could open up new possibilities for energy cooperation, involving other Central Asian states like Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in petro-energy and Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in the hydro-energy spheres. A mechanism for energy cooperation already exists in the form of CASAREM in South Asia, but it is imperative for this organization to go beyond the geopolitics of exclusion and to include India in the venture for the long-term viability of the project.

The recent Indo-Russian oil deals, such as Rosnefts sale of a 10 percent stake in Vankorneft to OVL for US$ 1.3 billion, are modest in monetary terms, especially if compared to Russo-Chinese energy agreements. But they remain significant in the current international energy scenario. Energy prices have dipped to a record low in international energy markets; demand is falling in the EU market; new energy suppliers have emerged like Iran and the U.S. after its historic decision to export shale gas; and Russia is reeling under the western economic sanctions after the Ukrainian crisis. All this provides strong incentives for countries depending on energy exports, like Russia, to engage Indias energy market, not least to balance its over-reliance on China.

These moves could also enable India, now a full member of the SCO, to choose more freely between pipeline projects and energy fields through the SCO Energy Club. But this also requires India to demonstrate much more resolute political will, suave diplomacy and strong economic prowess to prove its capability as a rising energy power in the region. To date, India has repeatedly been prevented from gaining stakes in Central Asias energy fields (most importantly in Kazakhstans Kashagan field in September 2013), in favor of others.

Significantly, geopolitics is at play at Eurasias grand energy chessboard. China, Japan and the EU compete for favorable deals and suitable routes, while Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan vie for their share of existing and new markets. Interestingly, the SCO Energy Club, hoping to be a formidable energy alliance in Eurasia, does not include Turkmenistan. India therefore needs to engage in a delicate balancing of competing interests, a game that China has been playing well for a long time, to make any inroad into the Eurasian market. This task is made all the more difficult by the security situation in South Asia. Any pipeline project from Eurasia to India would have to cross a neighborhood whose instability was most recently underlined by the simultaneous attacks against the Pathankote air base in India and the Indian Consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan in early January 2016. TAPI therefore still has a long way to go, and India also needs to consider optional pipeline routes and their cost-benefit ratio. India can only satisfy its growing energy needs through multiple options involving competing producers like Russia and Turkmenistan. For these producers, India in turn provides the option for balancing China.

CONCLUSIONS: India so far has a very limited presence in Eurasian energy sphere, which does not match the potential it possesses and the options it offers. Recently, the changing international energy scenario has opened up several opportunities for India to fuel and sustain its growth. Mutual recognition of the fact that sustainable energy security is not a choice but an imperative for both India and Eurasia is the need of the hour. In a long-term perspective, energy diplomacy will constitute Indias main claim to influence in Eurasia  it will lead the way for India to become actively engaged in the region and to develop a strategy to sustain its rise as an alternative great power.

AUTHORS BIO: Dr. Sreemati Ganguli is a Fellow at the Institute of Foreign Policy Studies, University of Calcutta, India. She is the author of two books; Indo-Russian Relations 1992-2002: The Making of a Relationship' (2009) and Russia and the Central Asian Republics: Post-Soviet Engagements (2012). She also edited the volume Strategizing Energy: An Asian Perspective (2014).

Image Attribution: www.defence.pk, accessed on Feb 5, 2016
Turkish-Russian relations have not recovered after the downing of a Russian jet last November. On the contrary, the tension is spreading into neighboring areas. Russia is pressuring the Central Asian countries, politically and economically, to constrain Turkeys activities in the region. Although Ankaras influence in the Central Asian Republics is limited, it developed good ties with almost all them after the collapse of the USSR. Turkey was the first country to recognize the new-born states; it has supported their independence and contributed to their integration into the international system. Under the AKPs rule, Turkey has also become a major donor for some of them. Central Asian countries now seek risk being dragged into the Turkish-Russian standoff.

BACKGROUND: The golden years of cooperation between Russia and Turkey ended when the Turkish air force decided to shoot down a Russian jet near the Syrian-Turkish border in November 2015. Russia responded by imposing economic sanctions, adopting restrictions and bans on Turkish imports, and on works and services provided by Turkish companies. The Russian government also suspended the visa-free regime with Turkey, banned charter flights and urged travel agencies to suspend the sale of holiday trips.

While the international community urges both sides to deescalate the tension, Russia retains a firm pressure on Turkey. Russias President Vladimir Putin described the incident as a stab in the back and expects a high-level apology and compensation. While Turkey insists that the jet was in its national airspace, claiming that Ankara used its right to self-defense, it has made some minor efforts to repair the relations. Putin, however, appears determined to make Turkey pay the price. Russia has now taken further steps at the international level and it is pressuring the Central Asian countries to take sides with Moscow against Ankara.

During the December 2015 Moscow Summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), calls were made on Turkey to apologize to Russia. Russia also closed the Eurasian Economic Unions (EEU) door to Turkey. Although Ankara did not make an official proposal, the Turkish side has openly shown interest and Kazakhstans President Nazarbayev had supported Turkish membership in the EEU. Yet in late December, during the meeting of the Intergovernmental Council of the Eurasian Economic Union, the Council announced that it will start working on a free-trade area agreement with Iran, and not with Turkey.

IMPLICATIONS: Azerbaijan is the only country in the region taking Turkeys side. Its official channels and news agencies have remained relatively silent on the jet issue and Azerbaijan was the only participating country that refrained from condemning Turkey during the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Inter-Parliamentary Assembly meeting. However, Azerbaijans President, Ilham Aliyev, expressed concerns over the tension and highlighted that, representing a country with historical and cultural ties to both parties, he is ready to do his part to improve the relations.

Azerbaijan has gained two important outcomes from the unexpected deterioration in Russian-Turkish relations. To punish Turkey, Russia closed transit across its territory for Turkish trucks carrying goods to the Central Asian countries, blocking them at the Russian-Georgian border. Given that the Armenian-Turkish border is closed, the only viable alternative transportation route for Turkish goods is through Georgia to Azerbaijan, and then via ferry from Baku to Aktau (Kazakhstan) or Turkmenbashi (Turkmenistan), and then on to final destinations across Central Asia. The Azerbaijan-Caspian Sea-Turkmenistan route is actually shorter than the one crossing Russia, but was previously discarded due to higher transportation costs.

Aliyev ordered the Azerbaijani route open for Turkish truck traffic and to facilitate the use of it, Azerbaijan reduced the transit costs (the Caspian Shipping Company reduced tariffs by nearly 40 percent for cargo transportation going to Aktau and Turkmenbashi); extended multiple visas for drivers of buses and large capacity vehicles for a year; and signed a protocol with Turkey on international road transportation, where they discussed the prospects for developing road transportation. By these measures, Azerbaijan aims to shift its alternative transportation route into a permanent one. The Azerbaijani route should be evaluated in its broader context: it would strengthen the development of the Trans-Caspian corridor, as a southern transportation and trade route between Europe and Asia.

A second outcome beneficial to Azerbaijan relates to its energy exports. In 2011, Turkey and Azerbaijan announced their will to construct the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) in order to become Europes fourth natural gas corridor. In March 2015, construction began on the Turkish section and the pipeline is expected to become operational in 2018. The deterioration of Russia-Turkey relations, which negatively affects Turkeys energy security, once again revealed the importance of Azerbaijani-Turkish cooperation in the energy sector. In fact, in the days following the jet incident, Aliyev and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu jointly announced their decision to speed up TANAP project. Both consider it vitally important to bring Azerbaijani gas to European markets; Azerbaijan will profit from its gas revenues and Turkey, as a transit country, will secure future non-Russian gas flows.

Kazakhstan, which has strong economic and cultural ties with Russia and Turkey, seeks to remain neutral while balancing both parties and avoids making strong statements that could hurt its relations with Moscow or Ankara. In an official announcement about the incident, Kazakhstans Ministry of Foreign Affairs defined the downing of the jet as a tragic incident that was regrettable. The statement continued by calling on Russia and Turkey to deescalate tensions and focus their attention on fighting international terrorism.

On a personal level, Kazakhstans President Nazarbayev has on several occasions urged Moscow and Ankara to find common ground and not ruin the relations that have been built over many years. Conscious of the possible negative repercussions for the entire region, Nazarbayev recommended both sides to stay calm and proposed the establishment of a joint commission to investigate the incident. So far, Kazakhstan has been the only country seeking to assume a mediator role between Russia and Turkey but neither Erdogan, nor Putin have accepted the proposal. However, according to Kazakh news agencies, the Turkish President phoned his Kazakh counterpart and expressed his will to meet President Putin to discuss the event. Furthermore, as in the case of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan stands to gain from the development of the Caspian trade route.

Turkmenistan also seeks to keep its distance from the issue. Until now, it has maintained a neutral position. This is in line with the countrys foreign policy, based on the principle of neutrality. While Uzbekistan and Tajikistan seem indifferent, Kyrgyzstan is the only country siding explicitly with Russia. After Putins call at the CIS meeting, President Atambayev criticized Turkey for shooting down the Russian jet and urged Ankara to apologize. This was unfortunate for Turkey, given that Atambayev and Erdogan have a very close and friendly relationship, and that Kyrgyzstan is one of the main Turkish aid recipients in Central Asia.

CONCLUSIONS: Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan seem to be the countries most affected by the current Russian-Turkish situation. From a political perspective, neither Kazakhstan, nor Azerbaijan are willing to take sides but in practice, especially for economic reasons, a certain alignment is taking place. While Russia seeks to damage Turkeys economy by imposing sanctions, Azerbaijans decision to reduce costs and facilitate visas for Turkish truck traffic has helped Turkey maintain its trade with the region. Furthermore, Turkey depends heavily on Russian natural gas. Finishing TANAP as soon as possible will, to a degree, decrease Turkish dependency on Russian gas. Regarding Kazakhstan, Turkey could use Nazarbayevs mediator position to gain political support from the other countries in the region. Most importantly, Turkey could take advantage of the unfortunate event to strengthen its trade and economic ties with the Central Asian countries. Now that Turkey faces economic sanctions from Russia, Ankara is searching for alternative markets to recover its loss. According to Haber 7 News, Turkeys Ministry of Economy has already expressed that it will prioritize Central Asian and Caucasian countries, especially the Azerbaijani and Kazakh markets. By combining access to the Azerbaijani trade route with an active trade policy, Turkey could finally build solid ties with the Turkic countries. However, how Russia would respond to this remains an open question.

AUTHORS BIO: Ipek Velioglu is an intern with the ISDPs Silk Road Studies Program. She holds an MA in International Relations and European Studies from the University of Florence and has previously held internships at the Mediterranean and Middle East Program, Istituto Affari Internazionali in Rome and at the European University Institute in Florence. Her research interests include Turkeys domestic and foreign policy, and oil and gas politics in the Eurasian region.

Image Attribution: www.tengrinews.kz, accessed on Feb 8, 2016
WHY IT RATES: You don't know how many truly wonderful, romantic escapes exist all over the world outside of the obvious. But Avanti knows. And you'll be surprised at the romance you can find in places not named Rome and Paris.  Rich Thomaselli, TravelPulse Senior Editor

Romance happens in the unlikeliest places. Tour operator Avanti Destinations reports strong romance travel growth in less conventional destinations, such as Iceland, Hungary, Argentina and Peru. Avanti offers customized FIT vacations in Europe, Central and South America and now Asia, sold exclusively through travel agents.

"While classically romantic destinations, such as Italy and France, remain our top sellers for honeymoon, anniversary and other romance-related vacations, last year we had 50-300 percent growth in romance travel to Argentina, Chile, Czech Republic, Hungary, Iceland, and Peru," said Harry Dalgaard, Avanti's president and founder. "The possibilities for romantic travel are as diverse as the two people who share the experience. More seasoned travelers in particular are always looking for something new and different to share. Avanti is unique in our ability to help agents create seamless, customized multi-destination itineraries that perfectly match the desires of each couple."

SEE MORE: Get The Most Out Of Your Avanti Destination

Overall, Avanti's bookings for romance travel in 2015 compared to the previous year grew 12 percent in Europe and over 130 percent in South America. In November 2015, the tour operator announced privately guided independent travel to six countries in Asia, opening the door for romance travel in China, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

Avanti's modular itineraries are designed to be combined and customized. Examples of unusual (and classic) romantic itineraries and concepts:

* Argentina  Wine, tango and 275 spectacular waterfalls makes the country a natural for lovers. Argentina Short & Sweet (6 days/5 nights, starting at $2,425* per person, double occupancy) combines exciting Buenos Aires with primeval Iguazu Falls. Add on a detour to Mendoza wine country to sample the famed Malbec, Cabernet, and other varietals.

* Chile or Peru soft adventure  Adventure-seeking couples have been booking a strenuous hike on Peru's Inca Trail to Machu Picchu or among the Torres del Paine in Chile's Patagonia. Both destinations offer romantic boutique accommodations and can be paired with city stays in Lima, Santiago or other natural and historical wonders in both countries.

READ MORE: Avanti's Second Coming

* Best of Czech Republic  6 days/5 nights combining Prague, Holasovice and Cesky Krumlov, a picture-perfect medieval town straight out of a fairytale. Includes private ground transfers, private driver for 2 days. Starting at $1189 per person.

* Iceland & Paris  Fly Icelandic to the City of Love and stop on the way to see the Northern Lights (Sept-April) and soak in the geothermal Blue Lagoon.

* Romantic Phuket (Thailand)  4 days/3 nights sharing secluded white sand beaches on a tropical island, including private airport transfers, snorkeling by long-tail boat, one dinner, flowers and wine or champagne, starting at $799 per person. Add this to a privately-guided vacation of Thailand's other sights.

* Santorini for Honeymooners (Greece)  4 days/3 nights at this perennial romance favorite, starting at $639 per person. Add this to Avanti's 8 day/7 night Classical Greece itinerary, taking in Athens, Nafplion, Olympia & Delphi.

Roundtrip air from and to North America may be added to any Avanti vacation.

PRICING NOTE: Rates quoted are per person based on double occupancy and subject to change, based on availability. For up-to-date prices and additional specifics, visit www.avantidestinations.com. Breakfast is included at most European hotels. Roundtrip air from North America may be added to any itinerary.

To book customized FIT travel, river cruises or small group escorted tours in Europe, Asia or Central and South America, log onto www.avantidestinations.com or call 1-800-422-5053 to speak with an expert travel specialist.

SOURCE: Avanti press release

Source: Beyond Valentine's Day: Avanti's Romance Options In Europe, Asia And South America
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By Jennifer Killin-Guadarrama of the Caller Times

Clint Black is ready to again embrace the Gulf of Mexico as he plans a May visit to Corpus Christi.

The country music legend is coming to Whataburger Field on May 31. Tickets are $30 each and seating is general admission. Tickets go on sale to the public Friday, Feb. 19.

The concert is presented by The Miracle League of Corpus Christi and YMCA of the Coastal Bend.

Black released his latest album, "On Purpose," in September. It's the 21st album from the man who famously sang about "sailing out of yesterday, and the Gulf of Mexico."
When is hurricane season? Here's what you need to know in South Texas
CALLER-TIMES FILE Passengers depart their plane at the Corpus Christi International Airport.

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By Fares Sabawi of the Caller-Times

It's always nice riding in a new car, but traveling the country in a new plane is better, airport officials said.

On Thursday afternoon American Airlines passengers at Corpus Christi International Airport will board brand new E-175 airplanes, according to a news release from the airport.

Half of the flights offered by American Airlines in Corpus Christi will be offered in new planes.

The planes include 12 first class seats, 20 seats with extra legroom and economy seating for 44 people. The overhead bins in the E-175 planes will also be bigger than the CR-9 planes they are replacing.

CR-9 planes make up the other half of the fleet, according to the news release.

Twitter: @Caller_Fares
COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES Edward Elizondo who is charged with murder in the shooting death of Robert Lee Garcia sits in court Monday, Feb. 1, 2016.

SHARE GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Edward Elizondo look at his family Wednesday after he was found guilty of manslaughter in the death of Robert Lee Garcia at the 105th District Court.

By Fares Sabawi of the Caller-Times

After more than nine hours of deliberations, a Nueces County jury found a man guilty of manslaughter in the death of Robert Lee Garcia.

Edward Elizondo, who was also found guilty of engaging in organized criminal activity, initially faced a first-degree murder charge.

The jury deliberated Tuesday and Wednesday, returning several notes to 105th District Judge Jack Pulcher with questions about exhibits of evidence and officers' testimonies, according to court officials. Two notes asked whether their verdicts must be unanimous and what to do if jurors could not unanimously agree. The verdict came after Pulcher urged the jury to keep deliberating.

Garcia's family felt the verdict was "bittersweet,"prosecutor Gary Barton said.

"Everybody wanted more," Barton said. "Unfortunately the jury came back with the decision they did and we have to respect that."

The state's case primarily relied on the testimonies of Gilbert Perez Jr., Jesse Salazar and Albert Suarez Jr. All three admitted involvement, but said Elizondo acted alone in shooting Garcia. The three men accepted plea deals in exchange for their testimonies against Elizondo.

"I think not only (was the jury) trying to reconcile the witness' testimonies, they were trying to reconcile the reasons those witnesses testified," said Elizondo's attorney, Matt Manning.

The trial's punishment phase will begin Thursday.

Garcia, 29, was found dead in August 2014 outside a home on Ruth Street. Prosecutors said he was killed over stolen goods.

Defense lawyers argued that multiple people could have a motive to kill Garcia, who had a lengthy criminal record that includes burglary and drug convictions.

Elizondo faces 2-20 years in prison for the manslaughter charge and up to life for engaging in organized criminal activity. At the minimum, jurors could give Elizondo probation. Elizondo previously rejected a 20 year plea deal.

Staff reporter Krista M. Torralva contributed to this report. Twitter: @Caller_Fares
GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Albert Villarreal attends his capital murder trial Thursday in 28th District Judge Nanette Hasettes court.

SHARE GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Albert Villarreal attends his trial for capital murder Thursday at the 28th District Court. Xadrian Martinez Albert Villarreal Nancy Martinez

By Krista M. Torralva of the Caller-Times

Xadrian Martinez's mother didn't want him.

The 6-year-old was disciplined more severely than his brother and sister. He was beat and forced to stand in a corner for a long time, his 9-year-old sister said. She was hit, too, if she tried to help Xadrian, she testified Thursday.

One time, to get rid of the bruises from a beating, their mother and her boyfriend wrapped duck tape around his wrists and ankles and dunked him in an ice bath.

His mother, Nancy Martinez, was fed up with Xadrian. So fed up, Martinez planned to send Xadrian to her mother in Houston on Aug. 29, 2014.

But a beating two days before was too brutal.

Martinez's boyfriend, Albert Villarreal, is on trial for capital murder. Martinez pleaded guilty to injury to a child and received a 35-year prison sentence in exchange for her testimony against Villarreal in 28th District Judge Nanette Hasette's court.

Defense attorneys dispute Villarreal did the killing and accuse Martinez, who has a history of endangering children.

Villarreal was watching Martinez's two sons while she and her daughter went grocery shopping. While away, Villarreal called Martinez and said Xadrian pooped on himself.

The 9-year-old girl said she heard her brother's screams from the walkway when she and her mother returned to their apartment.

Villarreal was holding Xadrian up by his arm when they got inside, Martinez said. The boy's Batman pajamas were soiled. Angry that poop was getting on the floor and wall, Martinez said she hit him with a tree branch she used to discipline him.

Villarreal put the boy in the shower. His body was covered in bruises from his face to his legs, Martinez said.

Martinez was tending to her other son when she said she heard a bang and went to the kitchen where Xadrian was lying face up, motionless on the kitchen floor. She didn't feel the boy's pulse in his neck or wrist.

His sister said she was in the living room nearby when she saw Villarreal grab her brother by his neck and slam him against the refrigerator.

The couple put the kids in a pickup to take Xadrian to Driscoll Children's Hospital, Martinez said, but they turned around after Xadrian fell off the seat and felt like "dead weight," Martinez said.

Villarreal then called 911 and screamed at the operator that his child was having a seizure. The call continued after Villarreal seemingly left the phone and the couple can be heard talking. Villarreal said something about jail and Martinez replied that she would be arrested too.

Martinez cried as the call was played for the jury.

"You realize this didn't have to happen and you could have given your son to your mom?" Prosecutor Courtney Hansen later asked.

Martinez nodded. She knew.

Twitter: @CallerKMT
COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES Danny Kollaja, in character as Lanky the Clown, addresses his class for the first time at the start of Del Mar Colleges clown school on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016.

SHARE COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES Denise Underwood (from left) of Odem takes a photo of Orlando Valdez; Danny Kollaja, in character as Lanky the Clown; Benjamin Woodard; Christina Moreno; Katie Lynn Underwood; Ben Abbott; and Mark Johnson, in character as Bingo, at the end of their first Clown Class on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2015, at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi. COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES The syllabus for Del Mar Colleges clown school taught by Danny Kollaja sits on a podium in front of the class on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES Danny Kollaja, in character as Lanky the Clown, walks through the parking lot of Del Mar Colleges Center for Economic Development on his way to teach the first class of clown school on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES Danny Kollaja, in character as Lanky the Clown, hands out cards to his class on the first day of Del Mar Colleges clown school on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. Related Photos Clown school back at Del Mar College after five-year absence

By Julie Garcia of the Caller-Times

Lanky is a lefty.

With a black dry erase marker, the man in a yellow wig and oversized shoes used his left hand to write "Danny Kollaja" on a white board in front of a room of 16 pairs of eager eyes in a room inside Del Mar College's Center for Economic Development.

But for the first class of Clown School, the man is not Danny or Mr. Kollaja. He's Lanky the Clown.

It's his mission not only to teach the students how to be clowns on a volunteer or professional basis, but to build back the clown alley in Corpus Christi, which has become inactive.

"We do go fast, and we don't take a break," Kollaja told his students. "We're crunching eight weeks of curriculum into five. If you have questions, please interrupt."

After a five-year hiatus, Del Mar is offering clown school as part of the college's Continuing Education program. The course was offered for 12 years in the 1990s and early 2000s, and it produced several clowns who have performed locally, a priest on sabbatical who ministered for an international circus, and at least one who went on to perform in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey's "The Greatest Show on Earth."

Currently, there are three clowns in Corpus Christi's clown alley (club), which at one time served most of South Texas, including the Coastal Bend, the Victoria area and close to the Rio Grande Valley. Though the individuals continue to clown around town, the organization has become inactive for a number of reasons, Kollaja said.

"Some have moved away, others have passed away, and I think there may be a lack of interest in clowning," Kollaja said. "There are some limitations because the network has become so small. For some of the community and civic events out there, they're having to do without a clown or just hire someone who will dress up like a clown and stand and wave."

The six-class course delves into much more than standing and waving while wearing whiteface makeup and striped socks.

In-depth makeup tutorials, balloon animal construction and juggling, characterization and voice training, skit development and a "Spit, Spray, Spew" session are part of detailed agenda. The class also will discuss how to handle coulrophobia, the fear of clowns.

What kind of people want to be clowns? It varies.

The class roster ranges in age from teenage to middle-age and features people from all walks of life. Each has a different reason for wanting to be a clown, but have one thing in common: a joy in bringing others joy.

Thelma Jaquez has always wanted to be a clown. She remembers skits by Carol Burnett and Lucille Ball from her childhood. "I wanna be just like them," she said.

A 7-year clown with Corpus Christi's Al Amin Shriners as a performing clown, Billy Bird or "Bling Bling" wants to learn more. Traveling to more than 25 hospitals and visiting ailing children is what he lives for everyday, Bird said. "Making someone else smile and laugh is really fun," he said.

Benjamin Woodard was the first to register for the course. When he was asked if he wanted to try clowning by his now-mentor Noisy the Clown, he said yes. He later realized he had been a clown his whole life, but only recently started putting on a costume.

One student asked why there isn't an official clown certification or accredited program. Kollaja said it's hard to make a quantifiable measure of a clown's experience.

"You're going to have to get naked in this class," he said and waved a hand over his face, meaning a face free of traditional makeup. "Your clown face is already there, we just have to find it."

Twitter: @Caller_Jules
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By Fares Sabawi of the Caller-Times

Motorists and businesses may notice emergency vehicles Downtown, but law enforcement said there's no reason to worry.

Corpus Christi police and firefighters will conduct an active shooter drill Thursday at the American Bank Center, according to a news release from the venue.

The drill is meant to prepare first responders for active shooter situations that mirror real-life events in San Bernardino, California, and Paris, France.

The drill, which will run from 1-6 p.m., will also include hospital staff.
SHARE Rep. Blake Farenthold, Rep, U.S. Rep Dist 27 (incumbent) Challenger Gregg Deeb

By Matt Woolbright of the Caller-Times

One candidate is a sitting U.S. representative whose actions in the nation's Capitol have earned endorsements and hefty donations.

The other is a retired Marine Corps pilot with no political experience aiming to unseat that incumbent.

On its surface the money race in the Republican primary for the 27th congressional district of Texas looks the classic David vs. Goliath. Challenger Gregg Deeb secured about $56,000 in 2015 after announcing in July, which is about a tenth of what U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold raked in last year.

Since Deeb entered the race, Farenthold, R-Corpus Christi, received and spent about $4 for every $1 earned and used by his challenger. But Farenthold's fundraising dropped sharply in the latter half of the year, and Deeb's first fundraiser wasn't until December.

"We've done exactly what we wanted to do," Deeb said. "The voters of the district are going to decide the race, not the amount of money spent."

Deeb's strategy stands in stark contrast to Farenthold, who believes that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's presence in the race necessitates heavier spending due to an expected surge in new voters.

"You have to broaden your reach and spend money to be places and connect with those new voters," Farenthold said. "This is a year you've got to include the Trump factor."

As nonestablishment candidates  like Trump, but also Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vermont  have excelled nationally campaigning against the status quo, Farenthold is devoting much of his time and money to distance himself from the ivory halls of the Capitol.

"I don't want to be lumped with Congress as a whole, so you got to remind people who you are and not who the media is portraying Congress as," he said.

It's a primary race that hardly compares in magnitude to the ever-changing races between Republican and Democratic presidential hopefuls, but that didn't stop donors from pouring more than a quarter of a million dollars into the contest in the latter six months of 2015. It also didn't dissuade the candidates from spending more than $310,000 to potentially represent this area when the 115th Congress convenes next year.

But some, like political science professor David Smith at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, don't believe that the funding nor spending disparity is quite as extreme as the 2015 reports indicate.

Smith said he noticed a steep uptick in advertisements from Deeb's campaign just after the start of the new year, which fell after the end of the 2015 reporting period. The most notable move has been the local ad placement during Republican presidential debates  like Saturday, when three Deeb ads ran, Smith said.

"Every Republican primary voter is watching, and he's really getting himself out there in a very positive way," Smith said.

It's a strategy that Deeb's campaign manager, Al Hinojosa, acknowledged was planned and carefully executed, but it's not clear how much funding his side secured just after the new year, because that report isn't expected to be public until next week  and Hinojosa won't be releasing the information early.

Still, Deeb anticipates being outspent. He just doesn't think it'll matter.

"It's not how much you spend  it's how you spend it," Deeb said.

Twitter: @reportermatt
Background

When it comes to burgers, McDonald's is the top choice for millennials in Malaysia. KFC on the other hand is for families and those who love their fried chicken.

Aim

In December 2015, KFC launched the Hot & Cheezy burger in response to the increasing trend among urban Malaysians who like spicy flavour. The aim was to attract the younger generation, and just like the changing habits relating to food, the KFC team at Ensemble, the content marketing arm of IPG Mediabrands, had to develop a marketing campaign aligned with what the younger generation liked to view.



Strategy

First, the team thoroughly researched the market to understand the content consumption habits and online viewing behaviour of millennials. YouTube was the go-to site for all millennials, and with that in mind, the big idea was to develop a campaign featuring a Hot & Cheezy burger, which spouted very cheesy pickup-lines based on the video they were watching.



With data at the centre to inform the intuition, programmatic technology became the bridge between creativity and analytics. Instead of developing one 30-second ad that would run on all forms of media, Ensemble decided to collaborate with Google and distribute more than 100 tailor-made preroll ads in response to the search results of the target audience on You Tube.



Built for the skip generation, These micro videos15 seconds or less in durationwere developed on a weekly basis using insights gleaned from real-time viewing behaviours and distributed to viewers across 10 verticals such as sports, music, K-drama, gadgets, Bollywood, food, politics and of course cats. Built for the skip generation, these short and snappy ads were and filled with wry, cheesy humour to drive home the message about the newly launched burger in a whimsical way.







Execution

Every week, new videos were added as per viewing trends. The production of this campaign involved close collaboration among four parties: KFC, Ensemble, UM and Google. Google provided real-time data, Ensemble wrote and produced the scripts and videos, KFC checked for brand integrity and UM distributed the videos via its programmatic engine.

Agility was crucial. New scripts were written and videos shot on a weekly basis to mirror the top 25 trending videos on YouTube. In a thrilling new experience with a whole new pace of work, the team functioned like a newsroom, deploying and optimising the campaign in real-time, based on how consumers responded to the prerolls, whilst removing those that had low view rates. The Ensemble team also released a series of contextual digital banners to match with the micro videos.



At the same time, it was important to ensure that the team was not sacrificing the quality of the work or integrity of the brand for the sake of speed.



Results

The ads and their renditions were served to millions of viewers during the campaign period, stretching over four weeks of December 2015. Viewing completion rates of these videos touched 35 percent, breaking Google Malaysias record for preroll view-through rates. The average view rate for any preroll campaign in Malaysia is only around 17 per cent.



Immediately after the launch of Hot & Cheezy campaign, burger sales increased by 16 percent week-on-week. The campaign did so well that KFC outlets had to stock up on the burgers faster than they were selling out. Hot & Cheezy has been the best performing burger for KFC in years.



Within two weeks of the campaign launch, Google Malaysia included Hot & Cheezy in its media gallery hall-of-fame, a repository of campaigns where people come for inspiration.



CREDITS

ECD  Woei Hern Chan, MUN (Ensemble)

Art  Norman Tang, Yves Wan (Ensemble)

Copy  RuZen Chung, Mo (Ensemble)

Head of Production  Loreen Lim (Ensemble)

Client Servicing - Sean Wong (Ensemble)

Strategy  Amit Sutha, Rina Low (UM)

Head of Tech- Marlo Ongpin (Ensemble)

Senior Executive Performance: Wong Jun Kang (Reprise)

Media  Senior planner : Laura Ajong, Lim Yee Wen,

Head of buying : Stephanie Chin,

Senior buyer : Alina Tan,

Planner : Alexis Hong (UM)

Social media specialist: Wong Nwan Jeng

Social Media Team lead : Aisha Tan

Production house  Effecthory

KFC Client: Angelina Villanueva Senior General Manager, Marketing
Today, content marketing is high on peoples agenda. It is a buzzword that has been making the rounds for the past couple of years with more and more brands investing. As more content is created, so too the competition for consumers attention increases exponentially.

The question often asked of marketers and marketing experts is how do we make sure content is relevant and resonant?. That is, how do we get the attention of the audience we want to reach?

The Economist Group has been in the content business for many years, although we havent always called it that. It started as a cottage industry of sorts, with core clients of The Economist Intelligence Units country analysis subscription products requesting customised reports that they could share with their clients. Since then we have grown into a well-oiled machine that produces huge integrated programmes for a range of clients, mainly multinational companies, both Western and Asian in origin, but also foundations and on occasion even governments. Most of what we do is in the B2B space, but we also address B2C and even what we call B2Gbusiness to government.

We are different from other content providers in that we have a well-respected brand to leverage, and the strength of The EIU behind usa global network of contributors, experts in econometrics and so on. We can produce new and compelling content that most others cannot.

Over the years I have seen a lot of changes. In the past, when we first started working with brands in such a way, they would commission a report, and that was it. There was no programme or campaign. They would do nothing with it. If people complain that good content is expensive today, it was even more expensive back then when clients did nothing with it.

Today, one of the main roles of any content business is not just to produce the content, but to remind and advise clients on how they can take that content to the next level.

The content business is rapidly evolving and we are learning new things every day. But there are some things which I think have yet to change. Here are three uncomfortable truths about content marketing:

1. You can't produce good content by committee

It is not uncommon for those commissioning content to put more emphasis on their own internal approvals than the execution of the content. There have been instances where clients have taken more time to review a project than the actual time taken to produce it.

This is understandable, of course, there are certain challenges in the financial and pharmaceuticals industries, for example, with their strict compliance rules. But I must say that in all my years of doing this I have never seen a lengthy review process lead to an improved outcome.

If a brand is to be serious about content marketing, then it is imperative that they get a system in place that can cope with the demands of producing regular interesting content. Which brings me to my next uncomfortable truth.

2. It is not easy to break free from the herd, but bravery is usually rewarded

Brands always say they want unique, attention-grabbing content, but when push comes to shove, they often chicken out. Those that do take the more daring path really reap the dividends.

We recently created a report benchmarking palliative care around the world. We suggested naming it The Quality of Death Index. This title took a lot of convincing, but in the end the client trusted us when we told them that if we used that name we could pretty much guarantee massive press coverage. It got fantastic pickup, including half a page in The Economist (which, by the way, we cant guaranteethey are on our media list like everyone else, and if they do cover our reports it is purely on merit).

3. Content marketing is about more than just digital ad units and websites

Brands come to us when their customers and audience are tired of hearing their usual marketing message. They need something new, and perhaps a new brand to ride beside in order to get peoples attention. People will look at our content because of the value they place on the EIU brand and all that it stands for.

Letting go of the strict control of the message can be hard, but it can be truly beneficial. We always strive to say something new and to create content that encourages a discussion. Clients often combine a research programme with custom meetings where an EIU editor presents the findings and chairs discussion. Our work is often used to earn media.

Recently NEC asked us what they could do to promote their technology products regarding cities. It would have been easy to go for a standard report on some aspect of city infrastructure, but we instead suggested creating a Safe Cities Index, which compared cities around the globe on various aspects of security, not only personal but also cyber-security. Again, massive engagement, as well as pickup in the media, including on social. We even had officials from city governments approaching us to ask how they could improve their scores.

Such programmes are obviously not going to be cheap. But done well, they can pay for themselves many times over.

Laurel West is Asia editorial director for thought leadership at The Economist Group. This column is based on remarks she made at The Marketing Society Asias 'Uncomfortable Breakfast' kicking off the media groups role as the societys official knowledge partner.
With cocunuts readily available fresh from street-side vendors, restaurants and hawker centres, it seems counter-intuitive that Southeast Asians would opt to buy pasteurised coconut water in a Tetra Pak.

But Vita Coco, which launched in Singapore, the Philippines and Brunei last year, believes that convenience, combined with education about the benefits of coconut water, will win consumers over. You cant put a coconut in your cars cup holder, and you cant fit a machete in your handbag, observes Prinz Pinakatt, VP of marketing and sales for South Asia and Pacific.

Jokes aside, Vita Coco has a tried-and-tested method for launching a new product category and creating demand in new markets, in which convenience and hygiene play a major role. First step is to convey the benefits, to get the message out via public relations that coconut water is healthy and hydrating, says Pinakatt.

Even in markets where coconut water has long been regarded as good for what-ails-you, education is still needed. They know that coconut water is cooling and healthy, but cant say why, he comments. Now we can confirm for them that the electrolyte content is both nutritious and hydrating. We also communicate it as part of an overall healthy lifestyle. This is a key pillar of success for us.

On the whole, however, Vita Coco isnt setting itself out to compete with fresh coconuts and is open to building the category as a whole, says Pinakatt. There are occasions when drinking from fresh vendor coconuts makes sense  but its not always accessible, such as when youre on your way to the gym or on the way to work.

When it comes to education and building awareness, the brand prefers on-the-ground and social activations to communicate this brand message. Point-of-sale is a major awareness generator. We create displays that bring to life the atmosphere most people associate with coconuts. Vita Coco was born on the beaches of Brazil and thats what we recreate  combined with massive sampling.

Keeping things fun, as shown in the tongue-in-cheek global campaign Stupidly simple, crafted for the brand by Droga5, is also really important. Healthy living can come off as a bit ascetic. We want to be happy-healthy.

While the global message is around hydration and healthy living, local activations of the campaign can advertise more functional aspects of the product, where relevant. In markets where coconut water is already embraced as a healthy drink, such as India or Thailand, local executions may focus on its functionality or hygiene.

In Southern Asian countries, food and health safety is a big issue, says Pinakatt. Im of Indian heritage, and from previous visits to India I know many people bring coconut water to hospitals. But hospitals there have started to ban coconuts from the venue because the husk or machete is not sterile. When repackaged in a safe Tetra Pak, however, coconut water will not have this issue.

In his experience, Pinakatt has also found that, in general, Asians prefer to be able to justify purchases based on functionality. If you ask someone in India why they bought a bag by Louis Vuitton, they will point to its craftsmanship and heritage as a luxury bag maker  even though they very likely bought it for the prestige.

Getting the message right is so important to the brand that it prefers to hire and train its own promoters and educators. We dont want a promoter from an agency who sells sausages one day and coconut water the next. They wont be able to convey our brand the way we want it to.

Much of the brands social media and digital work is also handled in-house, and the brand doesnt have a creative or media agency of record in APAC, choosing instead to work with local PR agencies. It is not to say that Vita Coco is against working with agencies altogether. The brands Asia-Pacific branch is looking for a regional partner. I do not foresee us hiring agencies left and right, explains Pinakatt. Id rather have a smart-hub type of agency that will help us run key initiatives. Well do the rest ourselves.

Last year, the company also launched a multi-million-dollar marketing campaign that included digital, print and out-of-home. In 2016, the company plans to invest in sponsorships and social media and the digital amplification of branded content. In an earlier interview with Campaign Asia-Pacific, Pinakatt declined to share details on media spend. Our partnerships will be designed to deliver brand experiences instead of mere awareness through association, turning influential consumers into ambassadors, he says. We will also significantly increase our investment in new platforms, formats and content types.

PROFESSIONAL CV

2015 VP, marketing & sales, South Asia & Pacific, Vita Coco

VP, marketing & sales, South Asia & Pacific, Vita Coco 2015 SVP, marketing, Americas, Vita Coco

SVP, marketing, Americas, Vita Coco 2013 Global director, alliances & ventures, The Coca-Cola Company

Global director, alliances & ventures, The Coca-Cola Company 2011 Global director, energy drinks, The Coca-Cola Company

Global director, energy drinks, The Coca-Cola Company 2010 Global director, RTD coffee & tea, The Coca-Cola Company

PERSONAL CV

Lives Singapore

Singapore Born Bochum, Germany

Bochum, Germany Family Wife, one daughter

Wife, one daughter Interests Just a normal guy: Cars, football and a cold beer while standing in front of a grill

This category-building formula has so far proven successful for Vita Coco. Euromonitor estimated Vita Cocos sales at US$420 million last year, ahead of rivals Coca-Colas ZICO and PepsiCos Kero Coco.

Last year, the Reignwood Group, which owns Red Bull China, picked up a 25-per cent stake in Vita Coco and announced major distribution plans for the beverage. According to Euromonitor, Red Bull China has vast retail connections, funds for advertisement and sponsorship, and the understanding of consumers growing demand for healthy beverages. Red Bull China has no formal business with Red Bull but has grown into a US$2.5-billion brand. If Vita Coco is promoted similarly, it could surpass sales in the US, Euromonitor said.

As of April 2015, Vita Coco was present in 15,000 stores in China with plans to expand distribution to 40,000 by the summer, The Wall Street Journal reported. Its expected that about 30 per cent of revenue will be generated outside the US in 2015.

The next big markets Vita Coco plans to launch in are Australia, India and Indonesia, all of which come with varying strategies. In Australia, the ready-to-drink (RTD) coconut water category has been quite established over the past four to five years, while in India, its non-existent from an RTD point of view. Indonesia is in its baby shoes and doing baby steps.

Markets are selected carefully, explains Pinakatt, with the firm asking itself if consumers there, aged 18-25, are ready for a new, premium, FMCG category. Malaysia, for example, was considered as coconut water is deeply embedded in the culture. But the economy isnt very great right now, so we decided we should maybe wait a little longer.

It was the challenge of expanding into Asia, combined with the prospect of creating a new product category from the ground up, that lured Pinakatt from Coca-Cola, where hed worked since 1997, most recently as global director of alliances and ventures. I was thinking of moving to Asia. I wanted to because its the growth engine of the world. Ive worked in the US and Europe and Ive recently missed the conviction that growth is possible and to be enthusiastic about it. He also wanted to be part of a brand and product that hes passionate about and proud of and wanted to work with a leadership team that inspired him. My boss at Vita Coco, Michael Kirban [the founder and CEO], and everybody else, totally ticks those boxes.

The vibrancy and can-do-spirit of the company culture also helped win him over. Vita Coco has been in this business for 11 years now. Weve fought hard. Weve got some bloody noses, because entering a market with a category that doesnt even exist has been tough. But were happy that other brands are following in our path and replicating our success because we believe that coconut water is a great beverage for a healthy and sustainable lifestyle.
| BY Lynchy |

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity will honour industry great Marcello Serpa with the Lion of St. Mark at this years Festival in June.

The Lion of St. Mark recognises individuals who have made significant and outstanding contributions to creativity across our industry, said Philip Thomas, CEO, Cannes Lions. Marcellos achievements are known the world over, but perhaps most notably he was responsible for taking home Latin Americas first Grand Prix in 1993. Hes since served on juries four times, twice as president, and during his tenure, AlmapBBDO won Agency of the Year three times.

After successes at GGK, DPZ and DM9, Serpa moved to AlmapBBDO in 1993, where together with Jose Luiz Madeira, they brought the agency out of deep decline and built it into one of the most successful agencies in Sao Paulo. Over two decades later, Serpa is recognised as the most awarded art director in Brazil, having won more than 160 Lions. His Grand Prix winning work has included the 1993 print campaign for Guarana and the 2010 print campaign for Billboard, Britney, Eminem, Marilyn, Bono and Amy.

Thomas continued, My strongest memory of Marcello is when he was President of the Press Jury in 2013  as the Jury introduced themselves one by one, they were clearly more honoured to have him as their leader than they were even to have been chosen for the Jury in the first place. He truly epitomises what this award stands for.

Speaking about the award, Serpa said, My life and career would be completely different, and probably a bit boring, if Cannes Lions did not exist. Those small stairs to the stage are connected to me and I have always watched with envy and admiration some creative legends stand at the top of them. I feel honoured, dizzy and extremely happy to be recognised as a stand-out within the industry. This award is like giving a shot of adrenaline directly into the ego of anyone in the business.
| BY Ricki Green |

AdFest has named Chris Chiu, Leo Burnett Singapores Chief Executive Officer & Chief Creative Officer, as Jury President of Promo Lotus and Effective Lotus at AdFest 2016.

Im looking forward to leading these two categories at AdFest this year. There are some incredibly exciting Promo ideas being created in this region, and as for Effective Lotus  some might say this is the most important category of any awards shows because it demonstrates the value of what we creative professionals do. Im curious to see who this years winners will be as they are setting the benchmark for the entire industry, said Chiu.

Over two decades, Chiu has enjoyed successful agency stints with JWT, DY&R, Batey Ads, Impiric, Ren Partnership and for the last 12 years, Leo Burnett, where hes been based in the Singapore, Jakarta and Bangkok offices, returning to Leo Burnett Singapore in April 2015.

It is great to have Chris join our illustrious panel of Jury Presidents. He is an industry veteran who has judged at all the worlds major awards shows, and I know hes bring this expertise and more to AdFest this year, says Jimmy Lam, AdFest President.

Through the years, hes managed to create work that has won Gold at Cannes, One Show, AdFest, Golden Drum and Spikes Asia to name a few key festivals.
Roe is gone, student debt is up, young people are mad. But will they vote?
The Big Mans moral indiscretions, like adultery, were tolerated. The people in the community would not lift their voice to speak against him fearing that he might withdraw his support.

During tribal fights, the young men went and fought fearlessly, knowing their Big Man would support them by paying compensation for those they killed in tribal warfare.

Through his enormous wealth, the Big Man gained influence in the community. He was regarded as a pillar and benefactor. The community gained economic confidence through the Big Man.

He married many wives, had many children, owned a lot of pigs and possessed huge wealth. The wives, children and extended family members were used to build his massive fortune.

IN THE traditional Papua New Guinea Highlands Big Man style of leadership, the leader was appointed based on his wealth and standing in the community.

The norm in the community if a Big Man showed moral failing was to ignore it. To cover his misdeeds the Big Man would give the biggest pig to those people he offended and he continued to remain the Big Man in the community.

In contrast to the highlands Big Man system, the democratic system of government was established to do away with the divine right of kings and diminish the absolute power which corrupted those who wielded it. Its principles were derived from Greek political theorists, British empiricists and French Renaissance free thinkers.

Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg address articulated the spirit of democracy as a government of the people, by the people and for the people. The democratic system has checks in place to hold those who rule to be accountable for their actions. When political leaders are perceived to abuse power and rule for self-interest, they are called to account.

So what style of leadership does Peter ONeill, the current prime minister of Papua New Guinea display? Is he using a highlands Big Man style or is he leading in the spirit of democracy?

From his conduct thus far, ONeill demonstrates that he is using the highlands Big Man style of leadership.

He has used his power and enormous wealth to shield himself from damaging allegations levelled against him. When he was grilled in Parliament over his role in the former National Provident Fund saga, he pulled strings to lure those who spoke against him.

When he was implicated during the Parakagate affair, he disbanded the corruption busting Task Force Sweep, a contradiction from the man who said he would fight against corruption.

ONeill makes ample use of litigation, continues to poach members from the opposition to maintain his governments numerical strength and tries to remove those who speak against his undemocratic conduct.

Along his avowed targets are Professor Ross Garnaut, who spoke against ONeills eagerness to raid the PNG financial nest, Don Polye for refusing his three billion kina loan, Dr Thomas Webster for speaking against his management of the economy and he maneuvered to end the tenure of the Chief Ombudsman for uncovering misconduct.

ONeills actions to date indicate that he wants to have absolute power with no accountability. But absolute power has the ability to corrupt absolutely.

In any democracy, perceived abuse of power by the leader calls for swift accountability. If those who reign are seen by the masses to be drunk with power and refuse to be accountable, the masses may revolt.

The people in PNG are fed up with ONeills constant gimmicks to save face and pretend that everything is well. Instead of covering up and using taxpayers money to buy political power, he should face the law to clear his name.

The highlands archaic Big Man system of tribal governance and modern western democratic ideals for nation building are incompatible. They are miles apart and cannot coexist. Transparency and corruption cannot dine together.

The prime minister is leading a modern democratic state and as such he should abide by the mechanisms established to protect this democracy.

His conduct whilst in power demonstrates he is working against the systems and principles that promote good government.

The writing is on the wall. His days are numbered. His demise from the political limelight will be his own making.

Simon E Davidson has a masters degree in theology and is an independent political and economic analyst and freelance journalist
Item No "x x x. The elements of the crime of theft as provided for in Article 308 9 of the Revised Penal Code are as follows: (1) t...
"It went well, the kids were calm. We have great teachers, great staff at this school, this is a classic case which goes to show how well looked after our kids are and how professional the staff are."
The US government, in September last year, asked that the information be passed on to prosecuting authorities so they could decide whether Mr Martz's evidence was relevant, and whether "the defense was apprised of the 1997 [Office of the Inspector-General] report".
It's official: Democrats have made U.S. Rep. John Katko a top target in the 2016 elections.

The 24th Congressional District is one of 21 races that have qualified for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's "Red to Blue" program. The initiative identifies competitive races the party believes they can win in November.

Typically, the DCCC names candidates to the Red to Blue program. But with three Democrats vying for the party's nomination in the 24th District, the group added the district to the list.

The Democratic candidates are: Colleen Deacon, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's former central New York regional director; Eric Kingson, a Syracuse University professor and Social Security expert; and Steve Williams, a Syracuse-area attorney.

"New York's 24th Congressional District, currently represented by vulnerable freshman House Republican John Katko, is a moderate district that has strongly favored Democrats in previous presidential elections," DCCC Chairman Ben Ray Lujan said.

"Whether it's his record of breaking campaign promises by repeatedly voting to defund Planned Parenthood or refusing to keep guns out of the hands of suspected terrorists, Katko has positioned himself as a rubber stamp for the House Republican agenda, and not on the side of central New York. That is why we are placing New York's 24th Congressional District in our competitive Red to Blue program."

In the 24th District race, Democrats are hoping to win back the seat they lost to Katko, R-Camillus, in 2014.

Two years ago, Katko defeated then-U.S. Rep. Dan Maffei by nearly 20 points. But that was a midterm election year. Democrats tend to fare better in presidential election years.

Maffei, D-Syracuse, won the 2008 and 2012 Syracuse-area congressional races. A Republican hasn't won in a presidential election year since 2004, when former U.S. Rep. Jim Walsh was re-elected to his ninth term in Congress.

With Katko, Republicans are confident they have a candidate who can snap that streak.

Chris Pack, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said Democrats should be more concerned about the primary between Deacon, Kingson and Williams.

"John Katko has had important bills signed into law by President Obama that have made our airports safer, helped secure hundreds of millions of dollars for central New York roadways and infrastructure and restored Centro funding," Pack said. "Bipartisan accomplishments like these are why John Katko will be re-elected in November."

The 24th Congressional District includes all of Cayuga, Onondaga and Wayne counties, plus the western portion of Oswego County.
The leaders of a New York State Senate task force are pushing legislation that would hold heroin and opioid dealers accountable if the drugs they sell cause a fatal overdose.

State Sens. George Amedore, Terrence Murphy and Robert Ortt, the co-chairs of the state Senate's Task Force on Heroin and Opioid Abuse, are urging the state Legislature to approve Laree's Law, a bill that would create a new crime of homicide by sale of an opiate controlled substance.

Under the legislation, the crime would be a class A-1 felony.

The measure is named after Laree Farrell-Lincoln, an 18-year-old from Colonie who passed away in March 2013 after overdosing on heroin.

"The state of New York is facing a heroin crisis, and we need to do everything we can to stop the flow of these deadly drugs into our streets," Amedore, R-Rotterdam, said in a statement.

"Our efforts to increase prevention, treatment and recovery to help those suffering with addiction need to go hand-in-hand with stronger penalties for those who are bringing these drugs into our communities."

In Cayuga County, the heroin problem has exploded in recent years. Last year, there were 17 drug overdose deaths in the county.

Heroin has been blamed in several deaths over the past few years. One notable case is Jessica Gentile, an Auburn woman who died of a heroin overdose in 2013. She was 25.

Joseph "Max Ferrara and Matthew Malenick faced drug charges in connection with Gentile's death. Ferrara pleaded guilty to third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance for selling Malenick heroin one night before Gentile overdosed on the drug. In connection with their cases, Ferrara is serving a four-year prison sentence while Malenick is serving a five-year term.

If Laree's Law was in place at the time, Ferrara could've been charged with homicide by sale of an opiate controlled substance.

The state Senate passed the bill by a vote of 53-9 in June 2015. Despite having bipartisan support in the Senate, the legislation wasn't voted on in the Assembly.

Murphy, R-Yorktown, hopes that changes this year.

"We need to protect our families through more stringent legislation that seeks to punish drug dealers peddling their poison," he said. "Of the 17 pieces of legislation the Senate passed last year, only one became a law. If we are serious about winning the war on drugs, the Assembly needs to act."
Just days after a federal prosecutor said that the political atmosphere in Albany continues to be a rancid culture of cronyism, legislative leaders dont seem too eager to get together on tougher rules designed to root out corruption.

Preet Bharara, whose investigations led to the convictions of the former leaders of the Assembly and Senate, told a group in Albany Monday that honest lawmakers do too little to challenge the leadership there, and that the problem with the Legislature is the Legislature itself.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed limiting the outside income of legislators as a means of cutting back on conflicts of interest for politicians. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said hes looking at the plan, but hes quick to point out that other ethics laws have been passed in recent years.

Republican Senate Leader John Flanagan, on the other hand, indicated on Tuesday that he isnt interested in talking about lawmakers income because he believes that people are more interested in the economy. Flanagan further stated that ethics is at the bottom of the priority list.

Sure jobs are important, but so are the environment, education and transportation infrastructure  and lawmakers in Albany need to be able to work on more than one thing at a time. Corruption needs to be one of those things.

And wed like to remind Flanagan of a recent Siena College poll showing that about 90 percent of New Yorkers favor passage of additional ethics laws to battle corruption. It appears, in fact, rather high on peoples list of priorities.

To that end, we urge the public to make themselves heard. Call or email your representative in the Assembly and Senate and make sure they understand the importance of working to end the cycle of corruption in Albany.
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SKANEATELES | Kay DiNardo's Vermont Green Mountain Specialty Co. on East Genesee Street in Skaneateles is many things to many people, but it can be boiled down into two categories  either a candy shop with coffee or a coffee shop with candy.

This year, DiNardo and her shop mark their 25th Valentine's Day in the village. She is always smiling. That's because she loves her shop. She said every day is a new adventure because of her many customers.

People come in for a little pick-me-up or to pick something up for their pantries or as gifts. But, there is human interaction that rings like poetry.

Take Walter McLaughlin. As far back as DiNardo can remember, he's been stopping in most afternoons for a cup of coffee. If he misses for a few days in a row, she and her shop girls will start to worry. He brought in a DVD of a concert he thought DiNardo might enjoy.

One gentlemen, Larry, walked in and never said a word to DiNardo, who poured him his regular brew and made the transaction while he remained on an important phone call.

Thom Felicia stopped in for his regular brew. It's definitely a coffee shop for the busy designer and author, who divides his time between Skaneateles and Manhattan. He said his Valentine's Day memories include his mother making chocolates at home.

She would pour melted chocolate into molds shaped as her children's favorite things. Felicia's were sailboats. And to this day, he still thinks a boat would make a sweet Valentine gift.

Mothers drop in with young children. Then, when school lets out, local children stop in on their own for a treat.

DiNardo's coffee shop is centered around Vermont's Green Mountain roasters, which was an early specialty roaster in the movement that brought fresh bean roasting back after years of instant coffee crystals.

She features many coffee and tea brews in several forms including specialty drinks. One can also purchase a variety of Keurig K-Cups, ground coffee beans or tea bags to take home. She is always on the lookout for something new, such as the latest coconut coco tea.

There also are pastries to munch alongside a beverage. For years, the scratch scones and cookies came from Pascale's Bakehouse.

When DiNardo heard the Pascale brothers were closing the Bakehouse in their move to operate Drumlins, she was beside herself as finding great baked goods wholesale is not easy in central New York.

Then, she got a call from Wendy Arledge, who was Pascale's head pastry chef for many years. She decided to set up her own wholesale operation. It was a great save for DiNardo and her loyal customers.

As a candy store, the Vermont Green Mountain Specialty Co. started with Green Mountain chocolates, which was an entirely different operation from the coffee roaster.

Over the years, DiNardo expanded her chocolate confections to include fudge options, chocolate-covered cookies, nutty buttercrunch, caramel confections, exotic truffles, peanut butter cups, chocolate encased salty snacks and classic creams. There really is something for everyone.

One of her biggest sellers are the sugary, colorful, candy fruit slices. She has a wall of Jelly Belly beans, along with jams and jellies, novelty and vintage candies, maple syrup and flavored popcorn, even mixed nuts.

DiNardo said customers come in from out of town for a beverage they have been thinking about since the last time they were in the village. Take for example the Hot Cafe Vermont, which is coffee, milk, maple syrup and whipped cream.

Jenn Scherrer, who moved back to town in October with husband, Tom, and their three boys, is working with DiNardo. Scherrer's stepmother, Mary Beth Horan, came in for a coffee and tried one of the escargots  a soft, one-inch caramel ribbon iced with marshmallow, wound up like a fruit roll and partially dipped in chocolate.

As Skaneateles senior Ellie Sherman was coming in for her shift, Megan Corona, an off-duty shop girl who goes to Le Moyne, stopped in to say hi to DiNardo. Michael Drake came in for a brew. His mother, Stacy, worked in the shop when she was pregnant with him.

The shop girls will continue to come back and check in with DiNardo, sometimes with their own children in tow. She said it is really neat to see the impact her shop has had on their lives,

"I have a mix of high school and college girls and moms such as Jenn who bring in so many good ideas and great energy," DiNardo said. "They make me still feel like I am their ages."

And even more exciting, DiNardo's 15-year-old granddaughter, Mia Pienkowski, is now working in the shop. Meanwhile, her sister, Carissa, 13, is waiting in the wings for her moment to also work in the shop.

Kay said everyone is usually smiling and happy when they come into her shop, and if not, they will be by the time they leave.
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 Canara Bank. Canara Bank is looking out for 1 post of Chief Security Officer. Details of the this recruitment is listed below.

Notification details

Notification No. : CB / RP / 1 /2016

Name of the post and Number of posts allocated

Chief Security Officer: 1 Post

Who is Eligible for the Chief Security Officer Post?

Qualification:

Canidates interested in the above mentioned post in Canara Bank, they need to be qualified by having following things. Canidate should be anyone of the following rank

Colonel or above rank in Army

Equivalent Rank in Navy

Equivalent Rank in Air Force

Deputy Inspecter General in police force

Equivalent rank in paramilitary forces

Candidates need to be retired or retiring on or before April 1st, 2016. Only the above rabnk people are eligible to apply for the post.

Age Limit: 55 years

How Candidates are Selected for Chief Security Officer post?

Candidates interested in the above job must be aware of the selection process of this organisation. Candidates will be asked to participate in group discussion which will be followed by an interview. These two factors determines the selection of the candidate

How to Apply for Chief Security Officer post?

Candidates who are interested to apply for the above mentioned job must see that they are eligible for this job. Do not forget to send the applications along with other necessary documents.

The address where the applications need to be sent is, "Canara Bank, Recruitment Cell, Human Resources Wing, Head Office, 113/1, Jeevan Prakash Building, J C Road, Bangalore-560002, Karnataka' . THis should sent either by speed post or registered post with a cover addressed as "Application for the post of Chief Security Officer in SMG Scale-V" in Canara Bank.

What is the Application Fee?

General & OBC : Rs 600

SC/ST/ PWD: Rs 100

Admit Card, Result and all other details can be found from the official website.

What are the Important Dates Associated with job/post?
SYRACUSE | The proposed merger between Onondaga County and the city of Syracuse is the most talked-about recommendation to come out of a government efficiency report issued by the Commission on Local Government Modernization.

But, said Neil Murphy  a co-chairman of the group called Consensus for short  that measure, which he later said would have to be approved by a voter referendum, is just one of 51 recommendations to come out of the report issued last month.

During a public meeting the commission hosted on its report Thursday at the Syracuse City Hall Commons, Murphy and Melanie Littlejohn  one of 19 commission members  spoke about the commission's report, its process and its focus and allowed people to make comments and ask questions.

The county-city merger, which the county's 34 towns and villages would be allowed to opt into, could save between $20 million and $40 million from a total $111 million spent on overlapping services, Murphy said, while bringing, on average, $200 back to each of the county's taxpayers.

"This is definitely a process," he said. "We think there are economic advantages."

He said central New York scored "a big win" with the $500 million Upstate Revitalization Initiative, which included $25 million in state funding toward modernizing local government.

"We are absolutely convinced those resources can help us do some of the things we absolutely need to do," he said.

Murphy pointed out some of the other 50 recommendations, many of which he said can be accomplished through administrative action.

One is standard purchasing and training agreements  "low-hanging fruit," he said, targeted at local fire departments and highway departments that perform the same services and use the same equipment.

Another is standard maintenance and planning geared toward both developing and maintaining infrastructure through coordinated metro agencies to be redundant services under one roof for the whole area.

Another is common software and record-keeping to gain "a much better understanding of what we're spending and what we're spending it on," Murphy said, through a common financial system that all partners use.

He also pointed to the need to cut costs through increased state assumption of public benefits, such as Medicaid, noting New York is the only state that burdens local governments with the costs of the programs, along with relief from state statutes and mandates that drive costs.

"Do not see today as an end. See today as a beginning," Littlejohn said, noting that the process will include more public meetings as well as a final report issued in March.

She encouraged people to visit the Consensus website  consensuscny.com  as well as call, email, fax or write with their comments, noting there are "multiple levels of engagement."

To hone in on the need for modernization, Littlejohn mentioned the issues facing the area  declining population, increasing poverty, a lagging economy and a difficult tax climate. Of the 34 towns and villages and the city, she said, 20 of those will face a fiscal deficit.

"That really isn't the real problem," she said. "The real problem is we're not growing. We're actually constricting."

With negative growth, she said, comes a loss of economic power and influence across the state. The area is seeing the size and cost of government increase despite shrinking tax bases.

"We're treading water, certainly, at best. We need to do better," Littlejohn said. "It's about all of us thinking about efficiency and what we might be able to do better across Onondaga County."

As a historical basis for modernization, Littlejohn noted the current government structure was created more than 200 years ago in the days of horses and buggies when local layers were needed because of the distance between each municipality.

Much has changed since then, she said, and Consensus wants to look at ways to make better use of the county's resources and funding.

"This is one phase in which you have that opportunity (to give feedback)," she said. "There will be another phase as well in which you will have the opportunity to weigh in."
Introduced for the 2013 model year on the Dodge Durango, the Blacktop Appearance Package has been made available on the 2014 model as well.



Featuring unique wheels, dual exhaust and Gloss Black accents throughout, the Blacktop package gives the Durango a sportier and more aggressive look.

The package includes Gloss Black 20-inch aluminum wheels, dual rear exhaust with bright tips, Gloss Black crosshair grille, Gloss Black side mirrors, Gloss Black badging, black headlamp bezels, and body color fascia and moldings. Additionally, there are also five options for exterior paint colors: Billet Silver, Bright White, Brilliant Black, Granite Crystal and Redline Red. The Blacktop Appearance Package is available on SXT, Limited and R/T models.

On the Durango SXT, the Blacktop package costs $1,590, while owners of Limited models have to pay $1,990 for the same features  however, they also get HID headlamps and LED daytime running lights. Finally, for the range-topping R/T model the Blacktop package costs just $295.

The Dodge Durango SXT Blacktop and Limited Blacktop are powered by the 295hp 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 engine mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission, while the Durango R/T Blacktop gets a 360hp 5.7-liter HEMI V8 engine. The 2014 Dodge Durango Blacktop will arrive in dealerships in October.

Besides the Durango, the Blacktop package is offered on seven of its 2014 models, including the Charger, Challenger, Dart, Avenger, Journey and Grand Caravan.

PHOTOS
Aggressively designed pickup trucks with increased off-road capabilities seem to be the new fad nowadays, but unlike Fords F-150 Raptor, Toyotas new Tacoma TRD Pro doesnt add any improvements under the hood.



Presented in a world premiere at the Chicago Auto Show today, the 2017 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro sticks with the same 278hp 3.5-Liter V6 powering the other models in the range (in comparison, Fords upcoming Raptor will get a 3.5L twin-turbo V6 with more power than the current 411hp 6.2L V8), with only an exhaust system enhancement. The V6 can be paired to either a 6-speed manual (with clutch start-cancel switch) or a 6-speed automatic transmission.

Where the Pro really shines in the Tacoma lineup is in the cosmetic and suspension departments.

Based on the Tacoma TRD Off-Road 44 Double Cab Short Bed, the Pro rides on new FOX 2.5 Internal Bypass shocks and TRD springs on the front with a 1-inch lift, and a TRD-tuned suspension with progressive-rate off-road leaf spring on the rear.

On the outside, it wears a tougher looking suite with 16-inch TRD black alloy wheels on Goodyear Wrangler All-Terrain Kevlar-reinforced tires, an aluminum skid plate on the front, LED fog lights and DRLs, and a classic Toyota emblem on the blacked out grille. Elsewhere, it gets color-keyed power outside mirrors with turn signal indicators and door handles, plus black fender moldings and hood scoop trimmings.

Inside, Toyota upgraded the TRD Pro model with leather-trimmed seats featuring the editions logo on the headrests, and TRD-branded shift knob and floor mats, while standard features include navigation, rear parking assist, Blind Spot Monitor (BSM) and Rear Cross-Traffic Alert.

Toyota said it will release pricing when the truck hits US dealers in the fall this year.

Photo Gallery

Video
The newest manufacturer to join the massive Takata airbag recall is Daimler AG, which was informed on the situation by the NHTSA.



There are approximately 840,000 affected vehicles in the United States alone, including roughly 705,000 Mercedes-Benz cars and about 136,000 Daimler vans, equipped with the defective Takata airbag inflators, which may explode and send shrapnel at occupants.

To rectify the problem, dealers will inspect the models and replace the front airbag inflators if necessary, free of charge. However, Daimler didnt provide an exact notification schedule yet or announced what vehicles may suffer from this condition.

It is estimated that the expense of this precautionary recall stands at about 340 million ($381 million equivalent) and will be recognized as a provision in financial year 2015, decreasing net profit to 8.7 billion ($9.8 billion). Dividend proposal, employees profit participation and earnings expected for 2016 financial year will remain unchanged.

Other models involved in the Takata airbag recall are from companies such as Ford, Mazda, Honda and Volkswagen, with millions of total affected examples.

PHOTO GALLERY
The new facelifted Hyundai Santa-Fe range made its first appearance, packing a fresher design and more onboard technology.



Both the Santa Fe and the Santa Fe Sport received a subtle redesign which includes a brushed-appearance front grille, new LED daytime running lights, updated headlights and taillights, dual exhausts and a new rocker panel trim design with silver detailing among others.

Hyundai has also added a lot more tech into the package by introducing more infotainment options with the latest connectivity features and an array of safety systems like a Smart Cruise Control, Lane Departure Warning, Automatic Emergency Braking with Pedestrian Detection and a set of adaptive lights with High Beam Assist.

Another new feature is the Drive Mode selection which offers three settings, Sport-Eco-Normal. Hyundai continues to offer the Santa Fe range in front- and all-wheel drive versions while the powertrain line-up remains as is, including a 185hp 2.4-litre and a turbocharged 245hp 2.0-litre petrol engine for the Sport, with the seven-seater Santa Fe using a 290hp 3.3-litre V6. All models are fitted with a six-speed automatic gearbox.

The new Hyundai Santa Fe and Santa Fe Sport continues to offer a long list of standard equipment which includes a Rearview Camera, automatic on/off headlights, remote keyless entry with alarm, bodycolor heated exterior power mirrors with drivers blind spot mirror, LED headlight accents, daytime running lights, steering-wheel-mounted audio and cruise control and Bluetooth hands-free smartphone system.

Hyundai also offers as an option their new Blue Link suite of connected safety and diagnostic features as well as the latest gadgetry meaning a Remote Start with Climate Control, Stolen Vehicle Recovery and Remote Door Lock/Unlock.

The new 2017 Hyundai Santa Fe and Santa Fe Sport is arriving at the dealers now with prices starting at $25,350 for the FWD Sport 2.4L model and $30,800 for the FWD Santa Fe SE model.

2017 Hyundai Sante Fe

2017 Hyundai Sante Fe Sport
Lamborghini seems to have a special Huracan edition in store for the next months Geneva Motor Show, which is currently referred to as the Avio.



There is no official info on the exotic, but a member of Lamborghini-Talk Forum has apparently ordered one of just two units that will become available in the United Kingdom, without seeing a picture of it, after his brother, who is more in contact with the dealers, told him about it. A total of 250 examples of the new supercar are believed to become accessible globally.

The name Avio, which means aviation in Italian, has not been confirmed as it might be an internal codename.

If the report turns out to be true, then we expect to see the new Lambo Huracan special edition on display at the Swiss event, on March 1, prior to its deliveries, which will start this summer.

Geneva will also be where the raging bull will introduce a new extremely limited supercar, currently known as Centenario, which is a follow-up to the Sesto Elemento, Aventador J, Reventon and Veneno and will be built in the honor of the 100th birthday of Ferrucio Lamborghini.

Note: Lamborghini Huracan Novitec Torado pictured

PHOTO GALLERY
This is the new Traveller i-Lab Concept, Peugeots vision for the future business transportation.



Addressing the growing need for mobile connectivity, the Peugeot Traveller i-Lab offers new solutions to help passengers stay connected while on the move.

The cabin has four individual seats at the rear, arranged opposite one another and a huge 32-inch tablet-like touchscreen in the middle, supported by an arch pivot. This allows the screen to be moved within the cabin for personal use or alternatively, it can split its surface into four individual screens for each of the rear passengers.

Peugeot collaborated with Samsung in the development of the screen, as well as the Wi-Fi hotspot and Bluetooth modules, the charging docks and the virtual reality headsets that are featured inside.

The PEUGEOT Traveller i-Lab makes everything so easy and streamlined, said Alessandro Riga, PEUGEOT Traveller i-Lab Interior Designer. The on-board technology is cutting edge transforming everyday life. The arch supporting the touch tablet embodies this versatility by fostering and encouraging exchanges between passengers while on the move.

Other onboard systems include Peugeots connected navigation with 3D mapping and real-time info and safety systems like automatic road sign recognition and driver inattention monitoring devices.

A trailblazer in emergency call systems, PEUGEOT is developing new connected services, said Brigitte Courtehoux, Connected Vehicles and Services Director. Connected navigation is available on the PEUGEOT Traveller from launch and is the first step towards an enhanced future.

The new Peugeot Traveller i-Lab Concept will make its official debut at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show.

PHOTO GALLERY
With an intoxicated brain after using psychotropic drugs, a truck driver went on a rampage in a city in Chile.



His adventure was captured on traffic monitoring cams and it started with him apparently trying to run away from something or someone, but nothing made sense anymore when his maneuvers took him back from where he came from.

Taking a closer look at the footage reveals that nobody was in pursue and it was just the illegal substance, which probably transported him into a different world, one where peoples lives can be put at stake and personal possession means nothing.

The mans joy ride ended when his truck got stuck under a bridge, but he couldnt just give up and the next step was for him to try and get new wheels. After several failed attempts, during which drivers and passengers who witnessed some of the incident locked their doors terrified, bystanders immobilized and retained him, until the police arrived.

VIDEO
Toyota has revealed its plans to offer a production version of the C-HR Concept and confirmed its debut for the 2016 Geneva Motor Show.



The vehicle will be built at the Toyota Motor Manufacturing facility, in Sakarya, Turkey, which will become the companys third plant to produce hybrid vehicles outside Japan, after the Burnaston, UK, where the Auris Hybrid and Auris Touring Sport Hybrid are assembled, and France, where the Yaris Hybrid is built.

Dr. Johan van Zyl, TME President and CEO, commented: We are entering the C-segment crossover market with a fantastic product and with a hybrid powertrain from the start. This will provide our European operations with further perspectives for sustainable growth.

TMMT (Toyota Motor Manufacturing Turkey) currently manufactures the Corolla and Verso and its total capacity will increase from 150,000 to 280,000 vehicles anually. The future crossovers annual production will depend on demand, but officials are expecting to increase its numbers from 3,000 to 4,000 in the months leading to its assembly start, planned for the end of 2016.

In order to introduce the C-HR-based crossover, Toyota has invested around 350 million ($394 million equivalent) for the project at TMMT, in a cumulative investment that will reach 1.7 billion ($1.9 billion).

The new compact rossover will be based on the TNGA (Toyota new global architecture) and it will become the eighth model produced by Toyota in Europe, for the local market, along with the Avensis, Auris, Yaris, Aygo, Camry and Corolla. The automobile will have its global premiere on March 1, in Geneva.

PHOTO GALLERY
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration informed Google of its decision to qualify the companys piloted driving system as the driver of the vehicle under federal law, in a bid to boost self-driving cars.



According to Reuters, Google submitted last November a proposed design for an autonomous car that has no need for a human driver.

NHTSA will interpret driver in the context of Googles described motor vehicle design as referring to the (self-driving system), and not to any of the vehicle occupants, NHTSAs statement said.

We agree with Google its (self-driving car) will not have a driver in the traditional sense that vehicles have had drivers during the last more than one hundred years.

Acknowledging a cars computer as the driver legally clears the way for Google and other companies to accelerate the development of autonomous technology. NHTSA pointed out that existing regulations requiring some onboard safety equipment cannot be suspended immediately, including requirements for braking systems operated by foot.

The next question is whether and how Google could certify that the (self-driving system) meets a standard developed and designed to apply to a vehicle with a human driver, NHTSA said in their statement.

NHTSAs decision sounds like a step towards the right direction but there are still significant legal issues to be addressed around self-driven vehicles.

Video
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Feb. 11, 2016

Contact: 404-420-5108, deanna.congileo@cartercenter.org

ATLANTAIn a ceremony today in Khartoum, Sudan, The Carter Center joined officials from the Sudanese Federal Ministry of Health to mark an official handover of supplies and equipment to improve the country's maternal and child health.

Since 2014, as part of a Sudanese Public Health Training Initiative, the Center has assisted the Federal Ministry of Health to build the skills and training capacity of frontline health workers to meet the health needs of mothers and children in rural areas.

"I congratulate all staff and technical experts, leaders, and donors who are making a real impact to improve maternal and child health in Sudan," said Stephen Blount, M.D., MPH, director of the initiative at The Carter Center. "They are strengthening the ability of Sudan's dedicated health professionals to better serve the rural communities."

The Center has worked with the Sudanese government to assess 49 health science training institutions, recommend key updates to midwifery and community health curricula, and train more than 90 health science educators. The ceremony today marked the official handover of donated supplies and equipment to serve eight institutions of the Academy of Health Sciences and Schools of Midwifery as well as the Continuing Professional Development Centers. Equipment includes skills lab models, mannequins, desktop computers, laptops, sound systems, printers, stabilizers, electric connectors, projectors, photocopiers, plasma screens, and white boards.

The initiative plans to train health science faculty, midwives and community health workers. The ultimate aim is to improve the learning environment of 50 health science institutions through customized training, revised curricula, and equipment upgrades.

According to World Bank indicator estimates, the maternal mortality ratio for Sudan in 2015 was 311 per 100,000 child births, with a decreasing trend over the years. Similarly, child mortality was reduced to 70 per 1,000 live births. The availability and accessibility of skilled frontline health workers is a priority in strategies adopted by the government of Sudan to improve the health of mothers and their children.

The Carter Center has worked since 1986 with the people of Sudan to help resolve conflict, negotiate peace, increase crop production, and improve health. After an initial focus on working with farmers, the Center expanded into additional programs, including the prevention or elimination of Guinea worm disease, river blindness, and trachoma.

###

"Waging Peace. Fighting Disease. Building Hope."

A not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization, The Carter Center has helped to improve life for people in over 80 countries by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy, human rights, and economic opportunity; preventing diseases; and improving mental health care. The Carter Center was founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, in partnership with Emory University, to advance peace and health worldwide.
Frozens head of animation Lino DiSalvo has joined ON Animation to direct Playmobil: Robbers, Thieves & Rebels, the $75 million CGI-animated feature based on the popular German toy brand.

DiSalvo, who had been with Paramount Animation as creative director since 2014, is taking over the helms from Bob Persichetti, who had been slated to both write and direct Playmobil when it was announced last fall. (Persichetti was head of story on DreamWorks Puss in Boots and ON Animations own The Little Prince.) News of the directorial change was first reported yesterday by Variety.

The Playmobil movie, which will be animated in Canada, is being produced by Dimitri Rassam and Aton Soumaches Parisian studio ON Animation, which also produced Mark Osbornes soon-to-be-released-in-the-U.S. The Little Prince.
Photo: Contributed - RCAF CP 140 Aurora

This week is a constituency week: The House of Commons is not sitting after having been in session for the previous two weeks. The House will resume next week for a three week session until the next constituency week. For the sake of interest between now and the House adjourning on June 23rd for the summer recess, there will be a total of six constituency weeks and thirteen sitting weeks remaining.

What happens during a constituency week? Contrary to the opinion of some, a constituency week is not a holiday for MPs or MLAs. Constituency weeks provide opportunities to meet with local citizens, as well as other groups and organizations in a Members home riding.

Constituency weeks also provide opportunities for Government Ministers, as well as Opposition critics, to travel into different regions of Canada to attend similar meetings.

In some cases, Government may also make announcements relevant to certain areas. We learned this week that the Government may choose to announce a major policy change during a constituency week, as was the case when Prime Minister Trudeau finally announced a new policy on Canadas mission against the terror group ISIS.

As was promised by the Liberals during the election, and also announced this week, our CF-18 fighters that have been part of the allied air coalition against ISIS will be withdrawn and returned to Canada.

However, these will be the only aircraft withdrawn, as our Polaris refueling and Aurora surveillance aircraft will remain in the region to assist the continued bombing operations by our coalition partners.

In addition, the current 69 members of our Armed Forces who are on the ground providing training and assistance with bombing activities will be increased almost threefold to 230 soldiers.

Another change is that small arms and related ammunition will now be provided to Iraqi security forces, along with the deployment of Canadian helicopters, to provide medical evacuations.

Over and above these changes, the current humanitarian aid currently provided to the region will be increased. As a result, the total cost of the new mission is estimated to increase up to $1.6 Billion, in total, over the next three years.

My thoughts? It is disappointing that the Prime Minister did not make this announcement in the House of Commons, where the original mission was announced on March 24th of 2015.

An announcement in the House allows the Opposition to directly question the Government, providing an opportunity to respond while also ensuring that the Prime Ministers comments are on the official record.

Why is this important? During his response speech to the current mission announced last year, Justin Trudeau, then leader of the third opposition party, stated (and I quote directly), We can, and we should, provide that training far from the front lines.

In reality, and as confirmed by Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Jonathan Vance, under the new Liberal announced plan our training soldiers will continue working near the front lines painting targets that, in turn, will be bombed by our allied coalition partners.

This raises another point of concern. Canada will continue to provide reconnaissance aircraft to locate targets, as well as aerial tankers so allied bombers can reach those targets, and, finally, troops on the ground to paint the targets to be bombed. This demonstrates the critical importance of aerial bombing to this mission.

Yet, while Canada remains implicitly and actively involved in the bombing of ISIS, the withdrawal of our CF-18s in essence suggests that we support our allies doing this heavy lifting, but no longer stand shoulder to shoulder carrying an equal load, as has always been the Canadian way.

I welcome your thoughts, questions and comments on this or any subject before the House of Commons. I can be reached at [email protected] or toll free at 1.800.665.8711.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
Did it ever occur to anyone that "Family Day" should be just that. A day where family can get together.

Who out there has all of their family in the town they live in? How about in the province they live in? I would love to use the long weekend to be able to travel to see my family in Alberta and Saskatchewan, but what is the point? They are working because they do not have the same "Family Day" as me!

I think that this sucks big time!

Karla Longacre
Last year, nearly $9 million in earned income tax credits was left unclaimed by eligible Coconino County families, according to the Internal Revenue Service, according to Tom Broderick from Northland Free Tax Assistance.

One-third of the population eligible for EITC changes each year as their personal circumstances change, said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.

But only about 25 percent of the people eligible to take the credit do, said IRS spokesperson Bill Brunson.

This year the IRS is partnering with its Volunteer Income Tax Assistance and Tax Counseling for the Elderly sites to get the word out about this underutilized tax credit, he said.

According to the IRS, last year, 11,385 taxpayers in Coconino County applied for and the IRS paid out $25.9 million in earned income tax credits to county taxpayers. In Yavapai County, 16,370 taxpayers applied for the credit and the IRS paid out $35.8 million and in Navajo County, 12,295 taxpayers applied and the IRS paid out $32.4 million. In the state of Arizona 567,000 claimed the credit and the IRS paid out $1.5 billion, with the average payout being about $2,576.

The credit is available to taxpayers who made $53,000 or less last year. These taxpayers could get a tax credit of up to $503. Families with three or more children may also be eligible for the tax credit and could get a maximum credit of more than $6,000. Taxpayers and families who are eligible for the tax credit may even a get a tax refund, even if they dont owe taxes.

In order to get the tax credit, you have to file a tax return, even if you dont make enough to be required to file. The amount of the credit depends on your earned income, the number of children you have and if you are filing as a married couple or single. Taxpayers who are married but filing separately are not eligible.

You can even refile your previous taxes, up to three years ago, if you find out that you would have been eligible for the credit but didnt take it in those years, Brunson said. The amount you get back from the IRS from the credit may also vary depending on if you owe taxes or child support.

Determining if youre eligible for the tax credit and filing to get it can be kind of complicated, so the IRS is offering taxpayers help through its website at IRS.gov/eitc and through its local Volunteer Income Tax Assistance and Tax Counseling for the Elderly partners.

The website also offers a free calculator to determine if you are eligible for the credit.

Northland Free Tax Assistance is one of the IRS local VITA partners. They provide residents with incomes less than $60,000 free tax preparation help. All of the volunteers are trained and checked by the IRS to do taxes. They will also check for deductions and credits that you might be eligible for, Broderick said.

All returns done by the volunteers are reviewed by a different more senior volunteer. They will also file your tax return electronically for you, he said.

The United Way of Northern Arizona, Goodwill of Northern Arizona, the city of Flagstaff, Coconino County and Flagstaff Unified School district have partnered with Wells Fargo to provide a series of free tax clinics

The IRS lists all of the free tax help clinics in the Flagstaff area on its website. Just type free tax help in the search bar at the top of the webpage.
Photo: The Canadian Press

As Godzilla rises from the ocean depths and attacks the Golden Gate Bridge, movie audiences suspend disbelief at the captivating on-screen spectacle.

But strip out the immense monster that's clawing apart cables and what's left is a corps of actors in military fatigues and one gargantuan, inflatable green screen.

The unique screen, stretching more than 200 metres for the 2013 "Godzilla" film shoot, has garnered its Vancouver-area inventors Hollywood's highest honour  an Academy Award.

Four partners  David McIntosh, Steve Smith, Mike Branham and Mike Kirilenko  have been named Oscar winners for engineering and developing the cutting-edge green screen, called the Aircover Inflatables Airwall. The Technical Achievement Award will be presented on Saturday at the annual Scientific and Technical Award ceremony in Los Angeles.

"We took a huge risk. We built these units without knowing if they'd ever work. We all believed it was a good idea, but we didn't know," said Smith, CEO of Aircover Inflatables, based in the Vancouver suburb of Delta.

After the team demonstrated its invention to the director of photography, visual effects supervisor and producer, they got the nod to incorporate it into the blockbuster.

"They loved it and they took a chance on us."

A green screen is a backdrop made entirely of one distinct colour  often green, but sometimes blue  that is mounted behind a scene during the filming of a movie. In post-production, the single hue is replaced by video footage or computer generated graphics, such as the enraged Godzilla.

The airwall has quickly amassed a roll of credits since its debut. Some other major motion pictures that used the visual effects tool include "Tomorrowland," "Avengers: Age of Ultron," "Captain America: Civil War," "X-Men Apocalypse" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales."

The invention was the brainchild of McIntosh, a key grip of 15 years who wanted to lessen the dangers of another device  an overhead frame  used by lighting and rigging technicians during filmmaking. They constructed one using air, and in the process realized the concept could be modified into a wall for visual effects. The inflatable green screen was born.

Its huge impact stems from a simple design. Giant, vinyl air mattresses that rapidly inflate to about 12 metres by seven metres by 2.5 metres are mounted on top of cargo containers. Multiple mattresses can be attached to meet the art director's specifications. Green or blue screen material is draped over the expanse.

The apparatus is considered innovative because it replaces an earlier concept: constructed green walls that involved scaffolding, stacked cargo containers or a phalanx of telephone poles.

"It's faster, more versatile," Smith said of the inflatable version. "We can do things you could never do with a solid structure."

For example, they easily deflated the airwall when the director sought more sky in a shot for Pirates of the Caribbean. And when high winds gusted through the "Game of Thones" production in Ireland, they released air until the stormy conditions subsided.

"Dave describes it as a bouncy castle. It's his way of saying, 'Ah, no big deal,' " Smith said of his colleague. "But it is a big deal."

Seamus McGarvey, the cinematographer for "Godzilla," said he believes the airwall will become the industry standard.

"They are so quick to inflate and deflate when sections are not required and to minimize spill," he says in a testimonial posted on the company's website. "I look forward to having them on every film. "

The team was elated upon learning of the academy's accolade, said Smith. He doesn't mind that technical achievement winners are only presented with a certificate.

"I'm happy that we're able to do this as grips in the industry, to say to other grips, 'Keep going, keep innovating, keep doing this. Because you could win an Academy Award,' " he said.

"I don't say (grips are) unsung heroes. But they're a huge contribution to the film industry and rarely get any recognition for it."
Photo: Contributed - forces.gc.ca HMCS Fredericton

NATO's European commander on Thursday ordered three warships to move immediately to the Aegean Sea to help end the deadly smuggling of migrants between Turkey and Greece.

Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO secretary-general, said the warships, now under German command, will conduct reconnaissance and surveillance to help end Europe's gravest migrant crisis since World War II.

Ships from NATO Standing Maritime Group 2 "will start to move now" on orders from U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, NATO's supreme commander in Europe, Stoltenberg said.

"This is about helping Greece, Turkey and the European Union with stemming the flow of migrants and refugees and coping with a very demanding situation," Stoltenberg said, calling the situation a "human tragedy."

Earlier this week, the International Organization for Migration said 409 people have died so far this year trying to cross the sea to Europe, and that nearly 10 times as many migrants crossed in the first six weeks of 2016 as in the same period last year. Most come from Turkey to Greece and then try to head north through Europe to more prosperous countries like Germany and Sweden.

The three NATO warships will provide "important information" to the Greek and Turkish coast guards and other authorities, Stoltenberg said. According to NATO's website, the flotilla is composed of a German navy flagship, the Bonn, and two other vessels, the Barbaros from Turkey and the Fredericton from Canada.

"This is not about stopping or pushing back refugee boats," Stoltenberg stressed. "NATO will contribute critical information and surveillance to help counter human trafficking and criminal networks."

NATO will also step up intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance activities on the Turkish-Syrian border, Stoltenberg said.

U.S. Defence Secretary Ash Carter said earlier Thursday that NATO military authorities also will draw up plans for how the alliance could further act to help shut down illegal migration and smuggling of people across the Aegean Sea.

NATO was responding to a request by Turkey, Germany and Greece for alliance participation in an international effort targeting the smugglers.

The International Organization for Migration said 76,000 people  nearly 2,000 per day  have reached Europe by sea since Jan. 1.

"There is now a criminal syndicate which is exploiting these poor people," Carter said. "Targeting that is the greatest way an effect could be had."

During a visit to The Hague on Wednesday, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said he and his Dutch counterpart, Mark Rutte, agreed to work together with NATO and Frontex, the European Union's border agency, "against the human traffickers who exploit the Syrian refugees and pave the way for their deaths at sea."
Photo: Twitter

Iranians started nationwide celebrations Thursday to commemorate the anniversary of the 1979 revolution that ousted a pro-Western monarchy and brought Islamists to power.

State television aired footage of rallies in Tehran and other cities and towns across the country, many of them in frigid winter weather conditions.

The demonstrators chanted traditional slogans against the U.S. and Israel, and the streets in many cities were decorated with anti-U.S. and anti-Israeli banners and posters.

Many Iranian leaders appeared in the rallies. Qassem Soleimani, chief of the Quds Forces of the elite Revolutionary Guard, made a brief appearance.

Some protestors made a point of taunting the United States. At one rally, a group of demonstrators reconstructed a scene from last month of 10 American sailors kneeling in Iranian custody. The sailors were captured after two of their boats mistakenly entered Iranian territorial waters; they were released the next day.

Authorities also displayed an array of weaponry and military hardware, including the Emad long-range ballistic surface-to-surface missile and a version of the Shahed drone which flew over a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf last month.

The rallies commemorate Feb. 11, 1979, when followers of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ousted U.S.-backed Shah Reza Pahlavi. The United States helped orchestrate the 1953 coup that overthrew Iran's popular prime minister, Mohammad Mossadegh, which brought Pahlavi to power and set the stage for decades of mistrust between the countries.
Photo: Contributed

In an announcement that electrified the world of astronomy, scientists said Thursday that they have finally detected gravitational waves, the ripples in the fabric of space-time that Einstein predicted a century ago.

Some scientists likened the breakthrough to the moment Galileo took up a telescope to look at the planets.

The discovery of these waves, created by violent collisions in the universe, excites astronomers because it opens the door to a new way of observing the cosmos. For them, it's like turning a silent movie into a talkie because these waves are the soundtrack of the cosmos.

"Until this moment we had our eyes on the sky and we couldn't hear the music," said Columbia University astrophysicist Szabolcs Marka, a member of the discovery team. "The skies will never be the same."

An all-star international team of astrophysicists used a newly upgraded and excruciatingly sensitive $1.1 billion instrument known as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO, to detect a gravitational wave from the distant crash of two black holes, one of the ways these ripples are created.

To make sense of the raw data, the scientists translated the wave into sound. At a news conference, they played what they called a "chirp"  the signal they heard on Sept. 14. It was barely perceptible even when enhanced.

Some physicists said the finding is as big a deal as the 2012 discovery of the subatomic Higgs boson, sometimes called the "God particle." Some said this is bigger.

"It's really comparable only to Galileo taking up the telescope and looking at the planets," said Penn State physics theorist Abhay Ashtekar, who wasn't part of the discovery team. "Our understanding of the heavens changed dramatically."

Gravitational waves, first theorized by Albert Einstein in 1916 as part of his theory of general relativity, are extraordinarily faint ripples in space-time, the hard-to-fathom fourth dimension that combines time with the familiar up, down, left and right. When massive but compact objects like black holes or neutron stars collide, they send gravity ripples across the universe.

Scientists found indirect proof of the existence of gravitational waves in the 1970s  computations that showed they ever so slightly changed the orbits of two colliding stars  and the work was honoured as part of the 1993 Nobel Prize in physics. But Thursday's announcement was a direct detection of a gravitational wave.

And that's considered a big difference.

"It's one thing to know soundwaves exist, but it's another to actually hear Beethoven's Fifth Symphony," said Marc Kamionkowsi, a physicist at Johns Hopkins University who wasn't part of the discovery team. "In this case we're actually getting to hear black holes merging."

Gravitational waves are the "soundtrack of the universe," said team member Chad Hanna of Pennsylvania State University.

Detecting gravitational waves is so difficult that when Einstein first theorized about them, he figured scientists would never be able to hear them. Einstein later doubted himself and even questioned in the 1930s whether they really do exist, but by the 1960s scientists had concluded they probably do, Ashtekar said.

In 1979, the National Science Foundation decided to give money to the California Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to come up with a way to detect the waves.

Twenty years later, they started building two LIGO detectors in Hanford, Washington, and Livingston, Louisiana, and they were turned on in 2001. But after years with no luck, scientists realized they had to build a more advanced detection system, which was turned on last September.

"This is truly a scientific moonshot and we did it. We landed on the moon," said David Reitze, LIGO's executive director.

The new LIGO in some frequencies is three times more sensitive than the old one and is able to detect ripples at lower frequencies that the old one couldn't. And more upgrades are planned.

Sensitivity is crucial because the stretching and squeezing of space-time by these gravitational waves is incredibly tiny. Essentially, LIGO detects waves that stretch and squeeze the entire Milky Way galaxy "by the width of your thumb," Hanna said.

Each LIGO has two giant perpendicular arms more than two miles long. A laser beam is split and travels both arms, bouncing off mirrors to return to the arms' intersection. Gravitational waves stretch the arms to create an incredibly tiny mismatch  smaller than a subatomic particle  and LIGO detects that.

"We are fairly certain that we will find more and more signals," Marka said. "This is just a start."
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Local children's book authors will read and share stories at a free Northern Arizona Book Festival event Saturday, Feb. 13, from 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. at Barefoot Cowgirl Books, 18 N. San Francisco St.

Authors and illustrators Shonto Begay, Matthew Henry Hall, Seth Muller and Seraphine Yazzie will read from their various titles and will also share the stories behind the stories. A meet-and-greet and book signing will follow.

Begay has been involved in several book projects as a renowned Navajo artist, Hall has been involved in two childrens books, Phoebe & Chub and The Lucky Hat. Muller wrote a middle-grade reader series called Keeper of the Windclaw Chronicles and Yazzie has written books with Navajo themes, such as Three Little Sheep.

For more information, call 440-5041 or visit barefootcowgirlbooks.com.

Share the love

Celebrate Flagstaff's diverse cultures at the inaugural Flagstaff Love-In Saturday, Feb. 13, from 11 a.m.-2 p.m., at the Montoya Community Center, 245 N. Thorpe Road. There will be an ethnic foods potluck, live world music, storytelling and cultural displays. The festival is free and open to all.

Following the event will be a We Are All Americans march and rally from Thorpe Park to City Hall from 2-3 p.m.

Up to 20 of Coconino Countys top spellers will battle for spelling supremacy on Saturday, February 13, 2016 at Coconino High School.

Student spellers to battle at the bee

The 2016 Coconino County Spelling Bee is set for Saturday, Feb. 13 when up to 20 of the county's top spellers will battle for spelling supremacy. Contestants include home, public, charter and private school-students from throughout the county who have won their school or district spelling bee.

The County Bee will begin promptly at 10 a.m. and will be held in the schools mini-auditorium at 2801 N. Izabel St.

Each year Rotary Clubs from Flagstaff, Grand Canyon and Williams contribute a cash prize and one member participates as a spelling bee judge. The three judges determine which contestants have spelled the words correctly and then present the prize check to one of the top three spelling winners.

The champion of our county bee, along with 27 other county bee champions, will advance to the Arizona Educational Foundation 2016 Arizona Spelling Bee to compete. The state bee is scheduled for March 19 in Phoenix. The winner of the state bee will represent Arizona at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. in late May or early June.

The public is invited to come and enjoy the show.
On Saturday, Feb. 6, Dan Akee, a 94-year-old Navajo Code Talker, got to go home to the house he built 60 years before.

After hundreds of volunteers completely renovated his four-bedroom home, he saw it for the first time after three months of watching from the trailer he was living in next to the house.

Six years ago he and his wife Margaret were forced to move into the trailer after the house had become uninhabitable due to a leaky roof, broken windows and no heat source. The WWII heros only wish was to go home and that somehow, some way his house would be restored for him to live there again before he died.

Red Feather Development Group, a Flagstaff-based nonprofit serving housing needs on the Hopi and Navajo reservations and the Western Agency of the Department of Navajo Veteran Affairs, made the Navajo Code Talkers dream come true by organizing fundraising and renovation efforts. More than 2,200 volunteer hours were donated, $30,000 raised through generosity.com and over $50,000 in materials were donated for the project.

When Akee saw the renovated house for the first time, onlookers said he was emotionally touched in front of over 65 family members and friends who had come to bless the house and celebrate this special moment. Russel Begaye, president of the Navajo Nation, thanked everyone and especially Red Feather for completing what had been started 90 days before.

Wow, the house is amazing and benefiting of a national WWII hero and inspiration of the Navajo Nation, Begaye said.

Dan Akee is one of 10 remaining Navajo Code Talkers from WWII.
Djenaba A. Joseph, MD1; Diana Redwood, PhD2; Amy DeGroff, PhD1; Emily L. Butler, MPH3 (View author affiliations) View suggested citation

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Summary Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer death among cancers that affect both men and women. Despite strong evidence of their effectiveness, CRC screening tests are underused. Racial/ethnic minority groups, persons without insurance, those with lower educational attainment, and those with lower household income levels have lower rates of CRC screening. Since 2009, CDCs Colorectal Cancer Control Program (CRCCP) has supported state health departments and tribal organizations in implementing evidence-based interventions (EBIs) to increase use of CRC screening tests among their populations. This report highlights the successful implementation of EBIs to address disparities by two CRCCP grantees: the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) and Washington States Breast, Cervical, and Colon Health Program (BCCHP). ANTHC partnered with regional tribal health organizations in the Alaska Tribal Health System to implement provider and client reminders and use patient navigators to increase CRC screening rates among Alaska Native populations. BCCHP identified patient care coordinators in each clinic who coordinated staff training on CRC screening and integrated client and provider reminder systems. In both the Alaska and Washington programs, instituting provider reminder systems, client reminder systems, or both was facilitated by use of electronic health record systems. Using multicomponent interventions in a single clinical site or facility can support more organized screening programs and potentially result in greater increases in screening rates than relying on a single strategy. Organized screening systems have an explicit policy for screening, a defined target population, a team responsible for implementation of the screening program, and a quality assurance structure. Although CRC screening rates in the United States have increased steadily over the past decade, this increase has not been seen equally across all populations. Increasing the use of EBIs, such as those described in this report, in health care clinics and systems that serve populations with lower CRC screening rates could substantially increase CRC screening rates.

Introduction Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. among cancers that affect both men and women (1). In 2012, the most recent year for which data are available, CRC was diagnosed in approximately 135,000 persons, and approximately 51,000 died from the disease (1). Evidence indicates that screening for CRC reduces its incidence and mortality (2). The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends screening average risk adults aged 5075 years for CRC with one of three options 1) a guaiac fecal occult blood test (FOBT) or fecal immunochemical test (FIT) annually, 2) a colonoscopy every 10 years, or 3) a flexible sigmoidoscopy every 5 years with a FOBT or FIT every 3 years (2). Despite strong evidence of their effectiveness, CRC screening tests are underused. In 2012, 65% of U.S. adults aged 5075 years reported being up-to-date with CRC screening (3). A larger proportion of Hispanics, American Indian/Alaska Native men, and persons living in nonmetropolitan areas (in comparison to non-Hispanics, white men, and those living in metropolitan areas) reported never being screened. A direct relationship between having been screened and educational attainment and annual household income level was also evident. A substantially smaller proportion of those that reported being uninsured or lacking a usual source of care were up-to-date with CRC screening. Since 2009, CDCs Colorectal Cancer Control Program (CRCCP) has funded states and tribal organizations to implement evidence-based population-level interventions to increase CRC screening rates in adults aged 5075 years and to provide limited direct CRC screening services to adults aged 5064 years who are uninsured or underinsured and below 250% of the federal poverty level. The goal of the CRCCP is to increase CRC screening prevalence to 80% in funded states and tribal areas. Program funds are used primarily to implement evidence-based interventions (EBIs) or strategies recommended in The Guide to Community Preventive Services (Community Guide) to increase use of CRC screening tests (4). These strategies include the following: 1. client reminders (telephone messages and written reminders advising clients they are due or overdue for screening); 2. high quality small media (videos or printed material such as letters, brochures, and newsletters informing and motivating persons to be screened for cancer); 3. reduction of structural barriers (noneconomic burdens or obstacles making access to screening services difficult); 4. provider reminder and recall systems (systems reminding health care providers that a patient is due or overdue for screening); and 5. provider assessment and feedback (interventions that evaluate provider performance in delivering and offering screening to clients and present providers with information about their performance). CRCCP grantees partner with various entities to implement one or more of these EBIs in clinic, health system, or insurer populations. CRCCP implementation of EBIs has increased over time, with client-oriented EBIs used most frequently (5). Patient navigation, an approach to assist persons to overcome barriers to screening, also has been used by most CRCCP grantees (6). Although patient navigation has not been reviewed by the Community Guide as an independent strategy, several studies supporting its efficacy for increasing CRC screening have been published (7). This report highlights the implementation of EBIs by two CRCCP grantees: the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) and Washington States Breast, Cervical, and Colon Health Program (BCCHP). Alaska Native persons have the highest incidence of CRC among all racial/ethnic groups in the United States, and their CRC mortality rate is twice that among whites (1). The proportion of American Indian/Alaska Native persons who are up-to-date with CRC screening is substantially lower than other racial/ethnic groups (3). Both the incidence of and mortality from CRC in Washington are below the national average; however disparities persist with blacks, having higher CRC incidence and mortality than whites or Hispanics (1). In 2012, 66.8% of adults aged 5075 years were up-to-date with CRC screening in Washington; a lower proportion of Hispanics, American Indian/Alaska Native persons, and persons with lower levels of education or annual household income reported being up-to-date with CRC screening (8). CDCs Office of Minority Health and Health Equity selected the intervention analysis and discussion that follows to provide an example of a program that might be effective in reducing colorectal cancer-related disparities in the United States. Criteria for selecting this program are described in the Background and Rationale for this supplement (9).

Methods Intervention Methods Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium ANTHC is a statewide, tribal, nonprofit, health services organization owned and managed by Alaska Native populations. ANTHC provides health services to members of the 229 federally recognized tribes in Alaska and supports the regional tribal health organizations (THOs) comprising the Alaska Tribal Health System. The Alaska Tribal Health System operates as a large system consisting of village-based clinics, regional hospitals, and a large secondary/tertiary care facility. Leveraging multiple resources, the Alaska Tribal Health System provides comprehensive care for approximately 143,000 American Indian/Alaska Native persons. Since 2009, the ANTHC CRCCP has focused on improving CRC screening rates by partnering with the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage and with five rural/remote regional THOs serving approximately 40,224 Alaska Native persons. To increase CRC screening, ANTHC facilitated implementation of provider reminders at three THOs and patient reminders at all five THOs and the Alaska Native Medical Center. ANTHC surveyed regional partner THOs to determine whether their electronic health record (EHR) systems had the capacity to generate provider reminders and found three partner regions with this capability. Because some EHRs did not contain information about CRC screening tests performed before implementation of the intervention or were missing information on tests performed elsewhere, dedicated CRC screening patient navigators reviewed medical charts and updated the EHR system with accurate CRC screening information. Patient navigators also were used at all five partnering THOs to implement client reminders as an outreach strategy to Alaska Native community members to encourage them to get screened. Additional methods used by patient navigators to increase CRC screening included one-on-one patient education, small media distribution, and reduction of structural barriers (e.g., assisting with transportation). Washington BCCHP has contracts with six regional contractors to administer program services across the state. Public Health Seattle & King County (PHSKC) is the regional contractor for Clallam, Jefferson, King, and Kitsap counties. In 2011, BCCHP funded PHSKC to implement EBIs to increase CRC screening in the counties served. PHSKC partnered with HealthPoint (http://www.healthpointchc.orgexternal icon), a network of nonprofit community health centers in the Seattle metro area serving historically underserved populations such as the uninsured and racial/ethnic minority populations, to provide funding for staff time and upgrades to the clinics EHR to support EBI implementation. The primary goal of the partnership was to increase the proportion of the HealthPoint clinic population aged 5075 years who were up-to-date with CRC screening. Patient care coordinators (PCCs) (who functioned as patient navigators) were identified in each clinic to coordinate staff training on CRC screening and to integrate client and provider reminder systems. Using clinic-based EHRs, PCCs identified active panels of patients who were eligible for CRC screening for each provider. PCCs attempted to reach eligible patients by telephone to remind them that they were due or overdue for screening and to schedule an appointment in the clinic. If the patients could not be reached after two attempts, a reminder letter was sent to the patients notifying them that they were due for screening. To implement provider reminders, medical assistants used the EHR to produce a daily report of patients coming to the clinic who were due for screening; they also ensured that each patient received a FIT kit with a preaddressed, stamped envelope for returning samples to the processing laboratory. HealthPoint waived the lab processing costs for all patients as part of the intervention. To increase FIT kit return rates, PCCs used the EHR to identify patients who had not returned their FIT kits within 2 weeks. Medical assistants then made two attempts to reach these patients by telephone, after which a reminder letter was sent. PCCs also tracked patients with positive FITs (i.e., positive for occult blood in stool) who were referred for colonoscopy to ensure complete follow-up. Data Collection and Analysis Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium The 1995 Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) is a law requiring all federal agencies to report performance data annually to the Office of Management and Budget (10). To meet this requirement, the Indian Health Service (IHS) provides data on 22 clinical performance measures with specified benchmarks, including one on CRC screening rates that was added in 2006. This measure represents an important source of national CRC screening prevalence data among American Indian/Alaska Native populations. The CRC screening definition used for the GPRA measure is based on diagnostic and procedure codes obtained from medical records. The numerator includes patients who have had any CRC screening, defined as any of the following: 1) an FOBT or FIT during the annual report period, 2) a flexible sigmoidoscopy or double contrast barium enema in the past 5 years, or 3) a colonoscopy in the past 10 years. Use of double contrast barium enema as a screening test was included in the screening measure until 2013, when it was removed to align the measure with changes in the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendations. Until 2013, the denominator included all living IHS patients aged 5180 years without a documented history of CRC or total colectomy with two or more visits to an IHS health facility within the previous 3 years and residing in the service area during the reporting period. Participation in GPRA reporting by Alaska regional THOs is voluntary and varies by THO. The 20052012 annual, Alaskan, statewide GPRA rates representing data from 913 regional THOs and the available annual region-specific GPRA rates from regional THOs participating in the intervention were used to evaluate differences in screening rates before and during program participation (20092012). Region A did not report GPRA data for 2009. Statewide rates from the 2012 Alaska Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System also were used to assess CRC screening rates in the American Indian/Alaska Native population and the general population in Alaska. Data from the 2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System cannot be used for comparison because of changes in the survey methods (11). Washington Demographic data for 2011, the year the intervention was initiated, were obtained from the Health Resources and Services Administration Uniform Data System, and include patients who had at least one clinical visit within the calendar year for the variables presented (12). Data from the clinics EHR were used to generate descriptive statistics of clinic-level CRC screening rates. CRC screening rates were calculated as the proportion of adults aged 5075 years without a documented history of total colectomy who had at least one visit to the clinic in the previous 18 months and had documentation of appropriate screening for CRC. Appropriate CRC screening was defined as documented colonoscopy within 10 years, flexible sigmoidoscopy within 5 years, or FOBT or FIT within a year of the reporting period end date.

Results Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium In 2009, before initiation of the program, the proportion of all adults aged 5180 years included in the statewide GPRA rate who were up-to-date with CRC screening was 50.9% (Figure 1). By 2012, this proportion had increased to 58.4%, with an average annual increase of 3.8% per year. Regional proportions for reporting THOs varied with Region A having the lowest proportion of eligible adults screened in 2010 (24.4%) and Region D having the highest proportion in 2009 (64.2%). All reporting regions showed increases. Region A had the largest increase in the proportion of adults who were up-to-date with CRC screening, increasing from 24.4% in 2010 to 67.6% in 2012, whereas Region D had the smallest absolute increase (64.2% to 66.8%). Data from the Alaska 2012 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System demonstrated that the proportion of Alaska Native adults aged 5080 years who were up-to-date with CRC screening was 59.8%. The proportion of all Alaskan adults aged 5080 years who were up-to-date with CRC screening was 58%. Washington In 2011, HealthPoint clinics served 65,582 patients, 59.7% of whom were aged 1864 years (Table). A substantial proportion of patients represented racial/ethnic minority populations; most had annual household incomes 200% of the federal poverty level (97.4%). Most of the clinic population was either uninsured (41.8%) or insured by Medicaid or the Childrens Health Insurance Program (44.8%). Among the seven participating clinics in 2011, the baseline proportion of adults aged 5075 years who were up-to-date with CRC screening was 24% (Figure 2). By 2014, this proportion had increased to 48%. The proportion of adults that were up-to-date with screening in 2011 varied by clinic and ranged from 17% in clinic E to 32% in clinic G. All clinics showed increases. Clinic D had the largest absolute increase in the proportion of adults who were up-to-date with CRC screening, increasing from 24% in 2011 to 53% in 2014, and clinic E had the smallest absolute increase (17% to 32%).

Discussion This report describes evidence-based activities implemented by health care organizations to increase CRC screening in historically underserved populations. In Alaska, use of client and provider reminders and patient navigators contributed to increases in the proportion of Alaska Native adults aged 5080 years who were up-to-date with CRC screening from 50.9% in 2009 to 58.4% in 2012. In Washington, the use of dedicated staff to implement clinic systems to support CRC screening and the use of client reminders helped to increase the proportion of adults aged 5075 years who were up-to-date with CRC screening from 24% in 2011 to 48% in 2014 in the participating clinics. By comparison, national data from the National Health Interview Survey indicate that 59.2% of adults of any race/ethnicity aged 5075 years were up-to-date with CRC screening in 2010, and 58.2% were up-to-date in 2013 (13). CDC encourages CRCCP grantees to implement one or more EBIs recommended by the Community Guide in health systems and other settings to increase CRC screening in the population. A systematic review of these interventions found their use resulted in median increases of 11%15% in completed CRC screenings (14). On average, CRCCP grantees have implemented three EBIs, with client-oriented interventions (i.e., client reminders and small media), which grantees report as easier to implement, being the most commonly used (15). CRCCP grantees were found to be more likely to implement EBIs than state health departments without CDC funding, suggesting that with sufficient programmatic support, these interventions can be widely adopted in various settings and, if implemented, can increase CRC screening (16). In both the Alaska and Washington programs, instituting provider reminder systems, client reminder systems, or both was facilitated by the use of EHR systems. Although efficient, embedding reminder systems in the EHR might require up-front costs and staff with the necessary skills. EHRs might contain inaccurate, missing, or outdated CRC screening information, or the information might be stored in data fields that cannot be queried systematically, resulting in the generation of inaccurate or misleading provider reminders. However, once properly established, these systems should be sustainable over time. EHR data also can be mined to implement provider assessment and feedback reports, another EBI appropriate for use in clinical settings. Assessment reports such as those displaying quality clinical measures, including CRC screening, could be produced to assess provider performance over time. These types of reports increase CRC screening rates and allow clinics and health systems to better monitor the health of their overall patient population (14). IHS clinics, clinics funded by Health Resources and Services Administration, and health maintenance organizations (HMOs) all have reporting requirements that include CRC screening rates. EBIs such as those used by Alaska and Washington, whether in individual clinics, health care systems, or insured populations, can help to meet established benchmarks. Patient navigation is increasingly used as an intervention to address disparities in use of cancer screening tests and to increase screening rates for several cancers, including CRC (17,18). Although shown effective in improving CRC screening adherence (6), patient navigation can be costly given the intensive, individualized approach. Few cost studies have been published; however, some have demonstrated cost savings for endoscopy centers because navigators can increase screening volume and reduce patient no-shows and cancellations (1820). Alaska and Washington implemented more than one EBI in their implementation sites. Rather than relying on a single strategy, using multicomponent interventions in a single clinical site or facility can support more organized screening programs and result in greater increases in screening rates. Most CRC screening in the United States is opportunistic (i.e., persons are often offered screening tests during a clinical visit conducted for other reasons). This method relies on the provider to remember to offer screening when patients appear in the office. Organized screening systems have an explicit policy for screening, a defined target population, a team responsible for implementation of the screening program, and a quality assurance structure (21). Implementing multiple interventions such as client and provider reminders and patient navigation often requires institutionalization of many of the aspects of an organized screening system. Consistent with findings described in this paper, these coordinated efforts can contribute to an increase in CRC screening rates above that seen with usual opportunistic care. Use of multiple interventions might require more time and effort at the outset to establish routines and collect and monitor data on screening rates and follow-up; however, once these routines are established and institutionalized, less staff time and resources might be needed to maintain these efforts. Maintenance of CRC screening as a priority in the clinical setting is necessary, although it might be difficult to sustain given competing priorities (e.g., multiple chronic diseases and lack of time or desire to address nonurgent health issues) for the target patients and their providers. At ANTHC, initiating use of provider reminders in the EHR was initially hampered by competing clinical priorities, which was resolved by requiring use of provider reminders as a condition of funding. In the absence of specific grant funding to support implementation of multicomponent interventions, alternative incentives are needed to prioritize support of these efforts, such as required reporting of CRC screening rates to insurers as a quality measure. By adhering to the principles of population management and data usage, health care professionals can apply these processes to prevent other health conditions or to manage chronic disease. Organized screening systems might increase the likelihood of the uptake and maintenance of the interventions in the absence of specific funding.

Limitations The findings in this report are subject to at least two limitations. First, CRC screening rates were not compared with a nonintervention group. The primary purpose of these interventions was to increase CRC screening in the targeted populations as measured by CRC screening rates before and after the intervention, rather than through comparison to a nonintervention group. Because the interventions implemented already have a strong evidence base demonstrating their efficacy, interventions were not evaluated with the intention of proving the effectiveness of the intervention itself. Assurance that the observed changes in CRC screening rates were due solely to the intervention alone cannot be provided. Second, systematic intermediate outcome data (e.g., the number of patients who scheduled or completed a CRC screening test after receiving a reminder, the percentage of FIT kits distributed that were returned, or the proportion of patients who received patient navigation services and completed screening) were not collected.

Conclusion Although CRC screening rates in the United States have increased steadily over the past decade this increase has not occurred equally across all populations. Increasing the use of the types of EBIs described in this report in health care clinics and systems that serve populations with lower CRC screening rates could substantially increase CRC screening rates. State health departments, tribal organizations, and other public health entities can play a key role in these efforts by partnering with health care providers to support the use of EBIs in clinical settings.

Corresponding author: Djenaba A. Joseph, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, CDC. Telephone: 770-488-3157; E-mail: dajoseph@cdc.gov.

1Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, CDC, Atlanta, Georgia; 2Alaska Native Epidemiology Center, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, Anchorage, Alaska; 3Breast, Cervical, and Colon Health Program, Washington State Department of Health, Tumwater, Washington

FIGURE 1. Percentage of American Indian/Alaska Native adults aged 5180 years who were up-to-date* with colorectal cancer screening, by region and year  Alaska, 20052012

Abbreviation: GPRA = Government Performance and Results Act. * Persons having fecal occult blood test or fecal immunochemical test within the past year, flexible sigmoidoscopy or double contrast barium enema within the past 5 years, or colonoscopy within the past 10 years.  Regions indicate different tribal health organizations.  Arrow indicates year of implementation of evidence-based interventions.

TABLE. Demographic characteristics and insurance status of the population* served by HealthPoint clinics  Washington, 2011

Characteristics % Age (yrs) <18 36.3 1864 59.7 65 4.0 Race/Ethnicity White 63.2 Hispanic 32.2 Black 16.1 Asian 12.9 American Indian/Alaska Native 1.1 Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander 4.3 More than one race 2.5 Income 200% FPL 97.4 100% FPL 52.1 Insurance status Uninsured 41.8 Medicaid/CHIP 44.8 Medicare 3.8 Other third party 9.6

FIGURE 2. Percentage of adults aged 5075 years served by HealthPoint clinics who were up-to-date* with colorectal cancer screening, by clinic  Washington, 20112014

* Persons having fecal occult blood test or fecal immunochemical test within the past year, flexible sigmoidoscopy within the past 5 years, or colonoscopy within the past 10 years.  Electronic health records provided by HealthPoint, which had the capacity to generate provider reminders, were used to collect data.

Suggested citation for this article: Joseph DA, Redwood D, DeGroff A, Butler EL. Use of Evidence-Based Interventions to Address Disparities in Colorectal Cancer Screening. MMWR Suppl 2016;65place_Holder_For_Early_Release:2128. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.su6501a5external icon.
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Summary Youth violence is preventable, and the reduction of health disparities is possible with evidence-based approaches. Achieving community-wide reductions in youth violence and health disparities has been limited in part because of the lack of prevention strategies to address community risk factors. CDC-supported research has resulted in three promising community-level approaches: Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) in Los Angeles, California; alcohol policy to reduce youth access in Richmond, Virginia; and the Safe Streets program in Baltimore, Maryland. Evaluation findings indicated that BIDs in Los Angeles were associated with a 12% reduction in robberies (one type of violent crime) and an 8% reduction in violent crime overall. In Richmonds alcohol policy program, investigators found that the monthly average of ambulance pickups for violent injuries among youth aged 1524 years had a significantly greater decrease in the intervention (19.6 to 0 per 1,000) than comparison communities (7.4 to 3.3 per 1,000). Investigators of Safe Streets found that some intervention communities experienced reductions in homicide and/or nonfatal shootings, but results were not consistent across communities. Communitywide rates of violence can be changed in communities with disproportionately high rates of youth violence associated with entrenched health disparities and socioeconomic disadvantage. Community-level strategies are a critical part of comprehensive approaches necessary to achieve broad reductions in violence and health disparities.

Introduction Racial/ethnic minority youth aged 1024 years are affected disproportionately by violence. The homicide rate in 2013 for non-Hispanic black youth (27.6 per 100,000) was 13 times higher than the rate for non-Hispanic white youth (2.1 per 100,000), 16.2 times higher than the rate for Asian/Pacific Islander youth (1.7 per 100,000), 4.3 times higher than the rate for Hispanic youth (6.3 per 100,000), and five times higher than the rate for American Indian/Alaska Native youth (5.5 per 100,000) (1). Homicide is the leading cause of death among black youth, the second among Hispanic youth, the third among American Indian/Alaska Native youth, and the fourth among Asian/Pacific Islander youth (1). Despite national decreases in youth violence since the 1990s, minority youth continue to experience disproportionate rates of violence, and the downward trends are less pronounced among this group (2). Decades of research have resulted in the development and implementation of evidence-based programs that aim at preventing violence, including among minority youth, by modifying individual or family risks (3). However, when these approaches are implemented in isolation, communitywide reductions in youth violence are limited because they do not address underlying community factors that exert a powerful influence on the development and epidemiology of violence. Community risk factors include high levels of neighborhood disorganization, availability of illegal drugs and firearms, weak economies, low community cohesion, and physical environments that increase the likelihood of violence (4). Comprehensive prevention strategies can have communitywide sustained impacts on violence and health disparities by simultaneously addressing individual, relationship, and community risks, and have broader reach (5). Few community-level strategies for preventing youth violence have been evaluated (5). Increasing the availability of these strategies is a primary focus for CDCs Division of Violence Prevention. Results are presented for three CDC-funded evaluations of economic, policy, and structural strategies implemented within communities with disproportionally high youth violence rates and minority youth. These evaluations demonstrate the growing opportunity for communitywide reductions in youth violence and health disparities in violence. The findings are summarized across the three previously published evaluations to highlight opportunities for promising community-level strategies for youth violence prevention. CDCs Office of Minority Health and Health Equity selected the intervention analysis and discussion that follows to provide examples of programs that might be effective in reducing violence-related disparities in the United States. Criteria for selecting these programs are described in the Background and Rationale for this supplement (6).

Methods Intervention Methods Business Improvement Districts Establishing Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) is an economic development strategy that includes the collection and investment of resources from local merchants or property owners into area service provision and activities such as place promotion, street cleaning/beautification, and public safety (7). During 19962003, a total of 30 BIDs were implemented in the city of Los Angeles, California, across 179 neighborhoods. Los Angeles is characterized by substantial racial/ethnic disparities in youth crime and homicide (7). During the study period, approximately 46% of residents were Hispanic, 11% of families lived in poverty, and the unemployment rate was approximately 10%. The Los Angeles City Clerks Administrative Services Division manages the citys BID program (8,9). An evaluation of the Los Angeles BIDs was conducted by the RAND Corporation through a CDC-funded cooperative agreement (7,9). Alcohol Policy Approximately 57% of the population of Richmond, Virginia, in 2003 was black, and 64% of youth aged 1024 years were black. The 2008 homicide rate (46.0 per 100,000 population) was nearly three times the national average (5.7 per 100,000 population). Most homicide deaths were among racial/ethnic minority youth aged 1524 years (10). Community leaders in Richmond examined data about violence-related injuries and alcohol use to develop a policy that restricted licenses for the sale of single-serve alcoholic beverages by convenience stores during JanuaryJune 2003 (10). Despite strong initial support for these license restrictions, enforcement ended after 6 months in response to opposition by grocery store owners. The timing of the licensing restrictions allowed researchers to evaluate its impact by tracking injuries before and during the restrictions, and after the restrictions were reversed. The CDC-funded Center of Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) collaborated with the Virginia Alcohol Beverage Control Board, the VCU Health System, the Richmond Medical Examiner, the Richmond Vital Registry, the Richmond Ambulance Authority, and the Richmond Department of Juvenile Justice to examine the policys impact (10). Baltimore Safe Streets Safe Streets is a street outreach and community mobilization strategy to interrupt the transmission of violence, change community norms about the acceptability of violence, and build positive community connections through community events (10). Safe Streets was implemented in four Baltimore, Maryland, neighborhoods that had rates of homicides and nonfatal shootings (NFS) within the top 25% in the city. The neighborhoods were populated almost exclusively by racial/ethnic minorities. One neighborhood began implementing Safe Streets in 2007, and the program was expanded to one additional neighborhood in February 2008 and to two more in November 2008. Monthly evaluation data span 20072010 for the first neighborhood, 20082010 for the second, and 20092010 for the third and fourth. To evaluate Safe Streets, the CDC-funded Center of Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention at Johns Hopkins University worked with the Baltimore City Health Department, Baltimore police, and community-based organizations, including the Park Heights Renaissance, Family Health Centers for Baltimore in Cherry Hill, and the Living Classrooms Foundation in McElderry Park (11). Data Collection and Analysis Business Improvement Districts RAND investigators examined before and after changes in the incidence or rate of violent crimes during 19942005 using a longitudinal analysis of neighborhoods exposed (n = 179) and not exposed (n = 893) to BIDs. Data included yearly counts of robbery and a violent crime index that included homicide, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault (7). Alcohol Policy VCU investigators used an ecological panel study to examine the impact of Richmonds alcohol policy on intentional-injuryrelated ambulance pickups during July 2001December 2004 (10). Investigators compared rates of ambulance pickups for violent injuries among youth aged 1524 years in five census tracts affected by the policy to rates in demographically similar control census tracts across three phases: 18 months before the policy was in effect, 6 months when the policy was in effect, and 18 months after the end of the policy. Investigators then analyzed changes in ambulance pickups for intentional injuries with a multilevel modeling approach in which the three phases were nested within census tracts. Baltimore Safe Streets Using a quasi-experimental design, JHU investigators examined Safe Streets impact on homicides and NFS within four Baltimore communities (11). Monthly panel datasets were created for homicides and NFS incidents for 39 police posts in Baltimore for January 2003December 2010; four police posts were inside the intervention neighborhoods while the remaining 35 were outside the intervention neighborhoods. Investigators estimated program effects using negative binomial regression appropriate for modeling outcomes represented as incident counts. Models estimated program effects by contrasting changes in target communities with changes in communities that did not have the program, while controlling for baseline levels of violence.

Results Business Improvement Districts Evaluation findings indicated that implementation of BIDs was associated with substantial reductions in violence. Evidence from police reports indicated that BIDs in Los Angeles were associated with a 12% reduction in robberies (one type of violent crime) and an 8% reduction in violent crime overall (12). Alcohol Policy The five census tracts (containing 18 stores) where license restrictions were in place represented the intervention communities, and five demographically similar census tracts were selected as comparison communities. Intervention and comparison communities at baseline did not differ substantially on neighborhood characteristics (e.g., proportion of residents who were black, living at or below the poverty level, or having less than a high school education). Evaluation findings indicated that the monthly average of ambulance pickups for violent injuries among youth aged 1524 years had a significantly greater decrease in the intervention (19.6 to 0 per 1,000 population) than comparison communities (7.4 to 3.3 per 1,000 population) when the alcohol policy was enacted (p = 0.011). During the 18 months after the policy was ended, the rate in the intervention communities increased to 11.4 per 1,000 population while the rate in comparison communities (2.5 per 1,000 population) was not statistically different from baseline (95% posterior probability interval -5 to 21) (9). Baltimore Safe Streets Evaluation findings indicated that in one of four intervention communities, Safe Streets was associated with a 56% reduction in homicides (incident rate ratio [IRR]: 0.44; p<0.001) and a 34% reduction in NFS (IRR: 0.66; p<0.001). Investigators found that the program was associated with decreases of 26% for homicide (IRR: 0.74; p = 0.003) and 22% for NFS (IRR: 1.22; p = 0.001) in a second community, no change in homicides and a 34% reduction in NFS (IRR: 0.66; p<0.001) in a third, and a 44% decrease in NFS (IRR: 0.56; p<0.001) in a fourth but a 2.7 times increase in the homicide rate (IRR: 2.70; p<0.001) (11). Several possible reasons might account for this increase, including the fact that the program was only implemented for 18 months in that particular community compared with 2 years in other communities, and high rates of gang activity at the time of initial program implementation. Additional information on program implementation, including the frequency of conflict mediations, can help explain variation in program effects across communities (11).

Discussion Results for CDC-funded evaluations of BIDs, alcohol policy interventions, and Baltimore Safe Streets suggest communitywide rates of violence can be changed in communities with disproportionately high rates of youth violence associated with entrenched health disparities and socioeconomic disadvantage. These evaluations are an important step forward in building the evidence base for community violence prevention strategies. If these community-level strategies are used in conjunction with other evidence-based individual and family prevention strategies, communities can have significant impact on the health and safety of minority youth (2). The potential national impact of community-level prevention strategies is enhanced by their ability to be implemented in different types of communities. Programs like Safe Streets are being replicated in many cities in the United States and internationally (http://cureviolence.org/partnersexternal icon). BIDs continue in over 30 communities in Los Angeles, and similar approaches have been implemented across the country, mostly in urban areas such as New York City, Philadelphia, Houston, Chicago, and the District of Columbia (13). Once these strategies are implemented, they often are sustained. For instance, a form of Safe Streets has been implemented consistently in Chicago since 2000, and BIDs have been implemented in Los Angeles since 1994. However, effective community change strategies are subject to competing community pressures. Despite the substantial promise demonstrated by Richmonds alcohol policy, it was ended after only 6 months of implementation in response to pressure from grocery store owners. The continued evaluation of scalable community-level strategies and the broad dissemination of findings are critical to helping communities make data-informed prevention decisions. CDCs National Centers of Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention and the Striving to Prevent Youth Violence Everywhere initiatives involve assistance to high-risk communities to select comprehensive evidence-based strategies and develop collaborative public health approaches to implement and evaluate strategies. Continued focus on identifying effective community prevention strategies and building implementation capacity can lead to implementation of policies and strategies that result in decreased violence-related health disparities.

Limitations The findings in this report are subject to at least two limitations. First, the evaluations used administrative measures from police or health records that do not include unreported incidents of violence. Second, although the studies provide support for the effectiveness of the prevention strategies, additional evaluations are needed to confirm and replicate these findings in other communities.

Conclusion Racial/ethnic minority youth are at particularly high risk for morbidity and mortality associated with violence, including homicide. These youth often live in communities that have disproportionately high violence rates and community conditions associated with violence and violent injuries. Community-level strategies are a critical part of comprehensive approaches that are necessary to achieve broad reductions in violence and health disparities. CDCs emphasis on evaluating these strategies is addressing a critical gap. CDC-funded evaluations of BIDs, alcohol policy to reduce youth access, and Baltimores Safe Streets program found significant reductions in violence associated with the implementation of these community-level strategies. These community-level strategies have potential for broader impact on health disparities by addressing important health-related community characteristics.

Acknowledgments Investigators for the National Centers of Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention at Virginia Commonwealth University and Johns Hopkins University, investigators at the University of Pennsylvania and RAND, and many community organizations and partners involved in violence prevention efforts.

Corresponding author: Greta M. Massetti, Division of Violence Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Telephone: 770-488-3943; E-Mail: gmassetti@cdc.gov.

Division of Violence Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, CDC

Suggested citation for this article: Massetti GM, David-Ferdon C. Preventing Violence Among High-Risk Youth and Communities with Economic, Policy, and Structural Strategies. MMWR Suppl 2016;65place_Holder_For_Early_Release:5760. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.su6501a9external icon.
A collaborative initiative among 14 states that examined the association between census tract-level poverty and incidence of influenza-related hospitalization found increasing rates of influenza-related hospitalization with increasing census tract poverty. This finding was present during two influenza seasons, among all 14 sites, all age and racial/ethnic groups, and for more severe outcomes of hospitalization (intensive care, respiratory support, and death).

Annual influenza vaccine is recommended for all persons aged 6 months in the United States, with recognition that some persons are at risk for more severe disease (1). However, there might be previously unrecognized demographic groups that also experience higher rates of serious influenza-related disease that could benefit from enhanced vaccination efforts. Socioeconomic status (SES) measures that are area-based can be used to define demographic groups when individual SES data are not available (2). Previous surveillance data analyses in limited geographic areas indicated that influenza-related hospitalization incidence was higher for persons residing in census tracts that included a higher percentage of persons living below the federal poverty level (35). To determine whether this association occurs elsewhere, influenza hospitalization data collected in 14 FluSurv-NET sites covering 27 million persons during the 201011 and 201112 influenza seasons were analyzed. The age-adjusted incidence of influenza-related hospitalizations per 100,000 person-years in high poverty (20% of persons living below the federal poverty level) census tracts was 21.5 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 20.722.4), nearly twice the incidence in low poverty (<5% of persons living below the federal poverty level) census tracts (10.9, 95% CI: 10.311.4). This relationship was observed in each surveillance site, among children and adults, and across racial/ethnic groups. These findings suggest that persons living in poorer census tracts should be targeted for enhanced influenza vaccination outreach and clinicians serving these persons should be made aware of current recommendations for use of antiviral agents to treat influenza (6).

Influenza causes annual epidemics in the United States resulting in an estimated 4,90027,000 deaths and 114,000624,000 hospitalizations per year (7). Influenza vaccination recommendations have evolved from focusing on persons at higher risk for severe disease and influenza-associated complications to a recommendation for vaccination of all persons aged 6 months (1). In addition to the recommendation for universal influenza vaccination, enhancing vaccination efforts in specific demographic groups that experience higher rates of serious influenza-related disease can reduce their vulnerability and minimize disparities.

Influenza surveillance data have generally not included individual measures of SES. Thus, any potential association between influenza, particularly severe disease, and SES was unmeasured until area-based SES measures began to be used. During 19982005, the Public Health Disparities Geocoding Project recognized the potential for using area-based SES measures to describe and monitor the association between SES and reportable disease incidence. After comparing numerous possible area-based SES measures to describe SES disparities for selected health outcomes, the census tract poverty level of case residence was recommended to be used as a variable in addition to age, sex, and race/ethnicity in routine surveillance data analyses (2). During 20032005, the 10 Emerging Infections Programs (EIP)* established active surveillance for influenza-related hospitalizations. Analyses of data from New Haven County, Connecticut, and eight counties in Tennessee indicated that, during multiple influenza seasons, including those when influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 predominated, influenza-related hospitalization incidence was consistently higher for children and adults residing in census tracts with higher percentages of persons living below the federal poverty level (35).

To assess the association between census tract-level poverty and influenza hospitalization at a national level, participating sites in the Influenza Hospitalization Surveillance Network (FluSurv-NET), including all 10 EIP sites, participated in a multisite analysis. FluSurv-NET is a national sentinel surveillance system established in 2009 that conducts population-based surveillance for laboratory-confirmed influenza-associated hospitalizations annually during OctoberApril. For this analysis, data were gathered from 78 counties in 14 FluSurv-NET states representing approximately 9% of the U.S. population. Each site geocoded the residential address of all influenza-associated hospitalizations for the 201011 and 201112 influenza seasons. Geocoded addresses were assigned to census tracts. Census tract poverty level, defined as the percentage of households in the census tract living below the federal poverty level, was determined from the 20082012 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Census tracts were categorized by their percentage of households living below the poverty level (<5%, 5%9%, 10%19%, 20%), and age-adjusted (2000 U.S. Standard Population) influenza-related hospitalization incidence overall and for each FluSurv-NET site was calculated, stratified by census tract poverty status. County and census tract-specific denominators were determined from the 2010 U.S. Census.

In total, 7,936 (96%) of 8,304 influenza-related hospitalizations were coded to census tract, including 5,624 in 20102011 and 2,312 in 20112012. For both seasons combined, the age-adjusted incidence of influenza-related hospitalizations per 100,000 person-years in high poverty (20% of persons living below the federal poverty level) neighborhoods was 21.5 (95% CI: 20.722.4), nearly twice the incidence in low poverty (<5% of persons living below the federal poverty level) neighborhoods (10.9, 95% CI: 10.311.4), with a gradient of increasing incidence as census tract poverty category increased (Figure 1). This relationship was observed in all 14 surveillance sites (Table), within groups defined by age (04 years, 517 years, 1849 years, 5064 years, and 65 years), within each racial/ethnic group (Figure 2) and during each influenza season. The relationship also was observed for age-adjusted rates for hospitalizations requiring intensive care, for those requiring mechanical ventilation, and for deaths during or within 30 days of hospitalization. The incidence rate ratios for census tracts with 20% versus <5% of households living below the federal poverty level were 1.96 [95% CI: 1.72.3] for hospitalizations requiring intensive care; 2.03 [95% CI: 1.62.5] for hospitalizations requiring mechanical ventilation; and 1.82 [95%CI: 1.32.7] for deaths occurring within 30 days of hospitalization. The overall percentage of hospitalized influenza patients who were vaccinated was inversely associated with census tract poverty level, from a high of 48% in the census tracts with the lowest poverty levels to a low of 35% in the census tracts with the highest poverty levels, a finding driven by differences in vaccination rates among persons aged 65 years, who accounted for 94% of hospitalized cases in the lowest poverty census tracts compared with 80% in the highest.
Hope to launch bagged cement product, UK

11 February 2016

Hope Construction Materials has announced the launch of its new bagged cement product. Its Professional Grade Cement, the newest entrant into a UK bagged cement market worth GBP180m annually, will be available to customers across the southern half of England later this year.



The newly-revealed product pack design, developed in association with Cognition Agency, features a large ram  a nod to the firms rich Derbyshire roots and the source of the raw materials used to make the cement.



Hope said the rams head is transparent to ensure the consistent colour of cement provided by Hope is clearly visible, something many potential customers said was important to them. "All the bags will be plastic, weatherproof and packed using the best equipment on the market, meaning merchants and builders will be able to confidently store the bags outdoors," it said.



Hope cement had previously been available in bags through a third-party supplier, but this launch marks the first time Hope cement will be in the firms packaging.



Hopes Professional Grade Cement and service offering is the culmination of an extensive 18-month research and development process, which saw hundreds of merchants and professional builders surveyed to ensure the product meets customer requirements.



The cement will be produced at the Hope Works in Derbyshire, which has been making cement for more than 80 years. It will then be transported by rail for bagging and distribution from Hopes new Dagenham plant which is set to open in the second quarter of 2016.



Gary Brennand, Hopes Commercial Director for Cement, said: Hope Works has been making cement for more than 80 years and has an outstanding reputation for consistent quality and service. We are delighted to be able to offer our product in our own branded bag to customers for the very first time.



For 18 months we have spoken at length to builders and merchants to understand their needs and how we can add value to them. Using this insight we have developed a full package which we believe will redefine the sector and are really excited about sharing it all. Revealing our Hope Professional Grade Cement branding is just the start.



We are also pleased that the product launch will see jobs created in the Dagenham area to ensure we are prepared to meet the anticipated demand for Hope Professional Grade Cement.

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Ariana Schneider, a Flagstaff student, was among the Arizona Distinguished Finalists honored recently at the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, a nationwide program honoring young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism.

Each of the six Arizona students named as Distinguished Finalists will receive an engraved bronze medallion.

Ariana, 18, a senior at Northland Preparatory Academy, led a composting awareness campaign, and helped to develop, build and secure funding for a functional composting water catchment system for the Flagstaff Federated Church and the local Head Start program. Ariana led town hall meetings, wrote articles, applied for grants and secured a team to build the system.
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To increase access to technology statewide, the Arizona State Library has set aside more than $45,000 for libraries to host Computer Coding Clubs for children.

The funding was made possible with federal funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Flagstaff City  Coconino County Public Library is among the libraries receiving funding.

With the money, libraries throughout the state will host free ongoing computer and science-related programming for children including coding by Prenda, and electronics with Arduino and snap circuits.
The Flagstaff Mountain Film Festival kicks off Thursday, bringing 105 independent non-fiction films to town for a four-day festival.

Mountain film festivals first focused on mountain themes, said festival board executive director John Tveten. Now they include outdoor adventure, conservation, socially conscious films, cultural, nature and wildlife themes. These are films that inspire and engage the audience and encourage people to become socially aware.

Films in the festival range from two minutes to two hours in length, and touch on a wide variety of topics, such as outdoor sports, travel, rites of passage and a full session featuring the Grand Canyon to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service.

Festival board members Amy Smith, Montana Johnson and Maria Campbell joined Tveten to speak about the festival, which they said takes about eight to nine months of work by the volunteer staff to put together. The festival is not for profit, so much of its funding comes from grants and corporate sponsorships.

New to the festival this year will be the womens session, which focuses on films made by women or on films about women, Smith said. In honor of Valentines Day, Sunday will feature a session celebrating passion for the arts, called Yard Dogs Road Show Night of LOVE.

This year the festival will also feature two student programs geared toward adolescent viewers that are open to the public. Traditionally there has only been one student session only open to students. A portion of the proceeds from the student program shows will benefit Flagstaff High Schools digital photography program.

As part of the Grand Canyon session, renowned conservationist, the late Martin Litton, will be honored on Saturday, which would have been his 99th birthday. Tveten said the anniversary for the National Park Service and Littons birthday made for the perfect storm for themes from the festival.

The film Martins Boat a 24-minute story about Littons legacy and those who continue his work will be shown at the festival. The film, which features scenes from dory boat trips inside the Grand Canyon, was directed by Peter McBride, who will be in attendance at the film festival.

The festival also dedicates sessions to local artists and local themes that are specific to northern Arizona.

James Q Martin, a Flagstaff filmmaker, worked on five films that will be showing at the festival.

Martin, a professional photographer as well as filmmaker, said he was drawn to making documentary and adventure type films because he wanted to tell the story of Patagonia, a region in South America shared between Argentina and Chile.

I wanted a more powerful tool to tell those stories, Martin said. My photos are not a fast enough medium to communicate the larger story.

Martin said he was deeply inspired by the Flagstaff Mountain Film Festival, and said the festival is an opportunity for everyone to see films made by local artists as well as telling stories from around the world.

Martin said films can take anywhere from three months to several years to make -- on average it takes about a year to make a film.

Im inspired by the places that I visit and the experiences Ive had with individuals or in those environments, he said.

Martin said the film festival will give the audience an opportunity to spend time with filmmakers, and have a cultural experience outside of what popular movies and television generally show.

Film festivals offer rare opportunities to get a glimpse of a world we often dream about from behind our desk, or to see something we think is unattainable, he said.

Most events will take place at the Orpheum Theater, Dark Sky Brewery or Flagstaff Bike Revolution. However there are various smaller events taking place throughout the city during the festival.
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PHOENIX -- Calling Israel "one of our greatest allies," a House panel voted Wednesday to stop doing business with firms that boycott the country.

And lawmakers directed pension funds and the state treasurer to sell their shares in those same companies.

The unanimous vote came at the behest of House Speaker David Gowan who also is trying to get traction in his bid for Congress. And it could gain him the support of an important constituency: Every one who testified in favor of HB 2617 was Jewish.

Gowan said the legislation is a counter to a growing movement by those who support Palestinians to convince pension funds to divest from companies that do business with Israel. He said those include Boeing and Caterpillar, firms that both have a presence in Arizona.

He said that movement is "anti Semitic."

"This bill is aimed at showing Arizona's supportive of Israel, it's strongest ally in the Middle East," he said. "Nobody should be doing things for bigotry."

Former Republican state Rep. Adam Kwasman said the legislation will help buffer other Arizona firms which may be facing challenges because of their business contacts with Israel. He specifically cited Raytheon who Kwasman said helped develop the "Iron Dome" anti-missile system for that country.

"The economic benefit to both the state of Arizona and to Israel has been tremendous," he said.

And former Republican state Sen. Barbara Leff, called the efforts by some to target companies that do business with Israel "part of a global movement to destabilize and destroy the state of Israel by economic means."

"It is economic terrorism," she told members of the House Committee on Federalism and States Rights. "This is not appropriate, this is not acceptable in a civilized society to be promoting policies that are to terrorize and destroy a country."

Leff, who has made several trips to Israel, also said that boycotts hurt not only Israeli citizens but also Palestinians living on the occupied West Bank who work at factories there.

"They were for the first time able to get good-paying jobs, full health benefits," she said.

"They were happy," Leff continued. "Their families were happy."

Gowan's original legislation had an escape valve of sorts to protect Arizona taxpayers.

It would have provided a waiver from the prohibition if the firm that boycotts Israel agreed to provide services to the state for at least 20 percent less than any other qualified company. It also would have exempted contracts of less than $1,000.

Gowan said he will have both provisions removed when the bill goes to the full House.
PHOENIX -- The No. 3 Republican in the state House lashed out Wednesday at a plan to revamp the pension funds for police and firefighters, saying it's a bad deal and should be scrapped.

Majority Whip David Livingston, R-Peoria, said there's no need to ask voters to alter the system that determines what benefits are available to current and retired public safety employees.

He acknowledged the fund is about $6.6 billion in the red. But Livingston, a retired financial adviser, said legislation approved several years ago will reduce that figure to zero in two decades.

Mesa Mayor John Giles conceded the point. But he said that will occur only "assuming that we are still alive as a city.''

Giles, speaking on behalf of the League of Arizona Cities and Towns, said the schedule to pay down the pension deficits are forcing cities to cut back on other programs. And he said the numbers are so great that some communities could be forced to declare bankruptcy.

That contention was disputed by Justin Harris. He is the president of the Arizona Police Association, the one labor group representing firefighters and police officers that is not in support of the package.

Harris said his organization has no real problem with provisions that will change contribution rates and benefit packages for newly hired employees. But he strongly objected to a plan that would cap cost of living increases for current officers and those already retired at 2 percent a year.

The current system allows benefit increases of 4 percent, though that is contingent on the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System meeting certain earnings expectations.

While the fund has not met that target for the past two years, retirees have enjoyed 4 percent increases for two decades before that. And Harris does not want to foreclose that option.

Despite the objections, the House Insurance Committee approved the plan on a 7-1 vote. That sends the package to the full House, where there are likely more than enough votes for it.

But even if Livingston and Harris cannot kill the legislation, they have another remedy.

They could convince voters to reject the required constitutional amendment to make the change. And that defeat would change the dynamics of the package -- and the savings to the system.

Central to the issue is the undisputed fact that the assets of the pension system cover less than half of its liabilities.

Sen. Debbie Lesko, R-Peoria, helped pull together various interests and came up with the two-tiered plan. She said the package, if approved, would put the pension fund on solid financial footing in 19 years.

Livingston, however, said that will happen within 22 years even without the change -- and without cutting pension benefits.

The difference between what the Senate approved and what Livingston wants, however, goes to the question of whether cities will be able to save enough money to make those payments.

Rep. Karen Fann, R-Prescott, said the pension costs for her city have now risen to 75 percent of what they pay in salaries. And the cost is going up.

Livingston, however, was unmoved, saying how cities will meet their obligations is "a different issue.''

Fann said city officials tried to resolve the problem by asking voters to approve a half-cent hike in sales taxes. She said that was rejected.

"They think we're paying too much to the pension programs for our public safety,'' Fann said. But she said the message from voters was to find some other way to deal with the assessments being used to pay off Prescott's share of the debt.

"The cities are trying here,'' Fann said. "But they're getting shot down.''

She said the reform plan approved by the Senate is the best way to resolve the problems.
WASHINGTON (TNS)  The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee is the latest to say that women should be registering for the draft.

While theres no expectation the U.S. military will return to conscription any time soon, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is siding with service chiefs who say that with all combat roles opened to women, the Selective Service system should include them, too.

As women serve in more roles across the armed forces, I support the recommendation of the Army Chief of Staff and the Commandant of the Marine Corps that women should register for Selective Service, McCain said in a statement provided to Roll Call. It is the logical conclusion of the decision to open combat positions to women.

On the presidential campaign trail, Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida have split on the question, with Cruz expressing vehement opposition to expanding the Selective Service requirement over the past several days.

Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, a frequent ally of McCain on national security policy, said earlier this week she had reached the same conclusion after hearing from the uniformed leaders of the Army and Marine Corps at an Armed Services Committee hearing last week on broader issues of women in combat.

All have stressed though that given the current structure of an all-volunteer force, registering for a draft doesnt mean there should be any expectation of one actually happening.

McCain said, It is important to point out that because of the resounding success of the All-Volunteer Force, it is exceedingly unlikely that a draft would ever be required again.
MANCHESTER, N.H. (TNS)  With a roar of discontent toward the political establishment, New Hampshire voters sent the presidential contest into what seems likely to be an extended march that will quickly move to territory far less hospitable to Tuesday nights big winners, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump.

After a riotous eight days that ended with the first successful Democratic insurgent win here since 1984 and the first Republican win ever by a TV host and real estate entrepreneur, the races now diverge. Tuesday marked the end of regional contests and the beginning of a national campaign, with all the financial and logistical demands that entails.

On Feb. 20, Democrats in Nevada and Republicans in South Carolina will vote. On Feb. 23, Nevada Republicans will make their picks, and four days later Democrats will compete in South Carolina. Then the race widens to more than a dozen states, many in the South, that vote on March 1.

And heres what were gonna do, Hillary Clinton said after her loss in New Hampshire, speaking for all the candidates Tuesday night. Now we take this campaign to the entire country.

The Republican electorate ahead will be mostly white, as it was in New Hampshire, but different from the suburban Northeasterners who controlled Tuesdays vote. Southern voters care about social issues, meaning the next rounds will mostly be fought on favorable ground for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, the Iowa caucuses winner, and, perhaps, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida.

In Nevada, about half the Republican voters are Mormons or evangelicals, a different face of religion than in the South and the opposite of New Hampshires extremely secular electorate.

Trump has led convincingly in early polls in both South Carolina and Nevada, although arguably it is only in the last two weeks that most of the other candidates in the race became more broadly known.

Surprisingly, given that his vote tally in Iowa was significantly lower than polls had projected, Trump if anything overperformed on Tuesday, suggesting that he won last-minute converts.

Trump has shown considerable strength in some parts of the South. The question for him will be whether he can expand his support beyond his core supporters. He won in New Hampshire by gaining about one-third of the GOP vote. That works well in a field with many candidates, not so well as the list grows shorter.

Often, New Hampshire serves as the contest that causes the list to shrink. Not this time, however. That should concern the establishment, nonpartisan analyst Charlie Cook said. While the results were great for (Ohio Gov. John) Kasich, they werent that great for the establishment that badly needed resolution.

Indeed, the biggest problem for all of the non-Trump candidates is all of the non-Trump candidates. With three  Cruz, Rubio and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush  bunched just a few points behind second-place finisher Kasich, none has an incentive to get out now.
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Observations and opinions essayed in pursuit of a sensibly cultured life.
Brown-Forman Corporation officials announced Wednesday expansion plans for the Jack Daniel Distillery. The $140 million investment will be used to construct two new barrelhouses as well as modify and expand the existing bottling facility to provide additional bottling and shipping capacity to meet future demand. As a result, 30 new jobs will be created in Moore County.

"Jack Daniels is a Tennessee tradition that was born in one of Tennessees smallest counties and has grown into a globally recognized brand," said Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam. "That says a lot about the quality and commitment of Moore Countys workforce. I thank Brown-Forman and the Jack Daniel Distillery for their continued investment in Lynchburg and bringing us closer to making Tennessee the No. 1 location in the Southeast for high quality jobs.

Tennessee is home to many brands known around the world, and of those brands, Jack Daniels certainly ranks among the top of the list, Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Randy Boyd said. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Jack Daniel Distillery and as one of the states most respected brands, we thank the company for its long history in our state and its continued contribution to Team Tennessee.

The Jack Daniel Distillery underwent a separate expansion less than three years ago which included the addition of stills, barrel warehouses and related infrastructure. The project represented an investment of $103 million and the creation of 94 jobs.

The bourbon and American whiskey category is booming, and we appreciate the support of our Tennessee state and economic development officials as we work to meet global demand for Jack Daniels, said Larry Combs, SVP general manager Jack Daniels Supply Chain. We are especially proud that this second expansion announcement comes as we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Jack Daniel Distillery, Americas Oldest Registered Distillery.

In addition to the new barrelhouses and bottling facility modifications, the current expansion will also involve renovations to the Visitor Center to support increased tourism and enhance the visitor experience. Last year, the Distillery received more than 275,000 guests from around the world.

Lynchburg is proud to be home to America's oldest registered distillery and a world class tourist destination, Metropolitan Lynchburg-Moore County Mayor Sloan Stewart said. Jack Daniels is an outstanding corporate citizen, and we appreciate all that they have done to give back to the community. We congratulate them on the expansion and look forward to many years of success in the future.

TVA and Duck River Electric Membership Corporation congratulate the Jack Daniel Distillery on its latest plans to expand and create new jobs and investment in Lynchburg, TVA Senior Vice President of Economic Development John Bradley said. Its always an exciting day when an existing company is committed to continuing growth in our rural communities. We are pleased to partner with the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, city of Lynchburg and Moore County to celebrate Jack Daniels ongoing business success and longstanding commitment to grow in the Valley.




Nearly 300 students from throughout the state will begin competing this month for the opportunity to represent their schools at Tennessee History Day.



Tennessee History Day is an affiliate of National History Day, an event that was started in 1974 to help students experience history outside of the traditional classroom setting. As part of History Day, students in grades six through 12 compete against each other by producing research papers, documentaries, websites, exhibits or performances of historical significance.



The winners of the district competitions this month and next month will be eligible to participate in a statewide competition in April.



The district competitions will be held Feb. 16 in Clarksville, Feb. 19 in Murfreesboro, Feb. 27 in Memphis, March 3 in Cleveland and March 4 in Knoxville.



The theme of this years contest is Exploration, Encounter, Exchange in History. The students projects must relate to that theme.



The district winners will qualify to participate in the statewide event, which will be held at the Legislative Plaza, War Memorial Building, Tennessee Tower and Nashville Public Library on April 9. The Tennessee Historical Society, with the continued support of Secretary of State Tre Hargett and Humanities Tennessee, will host the competition.



Im proud that our office is once again able to be a sponsor of this terrific contest, Secretary Hargett said. Every year, Im impressed by the hard work and creativity these students put into their projects. In the course of working on these projects, they learn research and problem-solving skills that will serve them well in college and in their careers. Research has also shown that students who participate in History Day are more likely to be more engaged in civil life after they reach adulthood.



The winners of the statewide competition are eligible to participate in National History Day, which will be held June 12-16 in College Park, Md.


A coalition of outdoorsmen, business owners, faith leaders, and conservationists Thursday praised a new bill introduced by Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) that would safeguard roughly 7,000 acres of the Cherokee National Forest in East Tennessee for future generations.

The legislation would add to the existing Sampson Mountain and Big Laurel Branch wilderness areas in northeast Tennessee. The U.S. Forest Service recommended these lands for wilderness status in a 2004 forest management plan for the Cherokee. Similar legislation, S. 755, to protect a larger number of acres in the Cherokee has been introduced four times over the past eight years by Tennessees two senators, Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker.

As a business owner and outdoorsman, I am very grateful to live so close to unspoiled wild lands in the Cherokee National Forest, said Scotty Bowman of Johnson City, Tenn. Its great for businesses and it attracts people to live and visit here. I want to thank Congressman Roe for doing whats right for East Tennessees economy and environment.

Wilderness status would not change public access to this land, which would remain open to hunting, hiking, camping, fishing, horseback riding, and other non-mechanized recreation. No roads would be closed as a result of the wilderness designation. Logging, mining, or road building would not be allowed.

I have been fly fishing since I was a kid, and there is no place like the Cherokee National Forest, said Chad Williams, fishing guide for The Smoky Mountain Angler in Sevier County. Passing the Tennessee Wilderness Act will preserve hunters and anglers time-tested traditions for generations to come. I want to thank Congressman Roe, along with Senators Alexander and Corker, for doing whats best for Tennessees natural and cultural heritage.

The proposal is popular in the state, with 74 percent of Tennesseans supporting designation of additional Cherokee National Forest land as wilderness. Only a small portion  10 percent  of the Cherokee is protected as wilderness in the National Wilderness Preservation System.

It is our responsibility to leave a better world to our children and grandchildren, said Rev. Jeff Wadley, a local United Methodist camp director. People from all walks of life and religious backgrounds go into nature when they need to find solace. We are so fortunate to have such an amazing retreat right in East Tennessee.

The legislation proposed by Rep. Roe and Senators Alexander and Corker would result in the first new wilderness for Tennessee in over 25 years, preserving wildlife habitat, land and water recreational opportunities, and clean drinking water to nearby communities. The Cherokee National Forest has long been popular with hikers, campers, hunters, anglers, horseback riders, paddlers, swimmers, and rafters. All of these activities will continue upon the passage of the Tennessee Wilderness Act.

Dawson Wheeler, owner of Rock/Creek Outfitters said, The Cherokee National Forest is our natural capital, and protecting Tennessees big back yard makes economic sense. My livelihood depends on the Cherokee National Forest being wild. I hope that Congress follows Rep. Roe, and Senators Alexander and Corkers leads and passes this important bill.

Outdoor recreation generates $8.2 billion in consumer spending each year and supports 83,000 direct jobs across the state.
The new edition of Playboy, the historic publication founded in Chicago 62 years ago, probably is a perfectly satisfactory example of something. We won't know for sure until it's more clear what that something is. Right now, the emperor is trying on a lot of different stuff to see what looks good.
Despite consistent government reports showing that women make less money than men in most occupations, and the drumbeat for equal pay on the presidential campaign trail, most people do not think there is a gender pay gap where they work, a new survey shows.

While the influence of millennials and technology, as well as a new federal proposal to boost pay transparency, may be eroding the secrecy shrouding salaries, some say a gap between perceived and actual pay remains an obstacle to parity.

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Seventy percent of U.S. employees believe men and women are paid equally at their company, though women, at 60 percent, are far less likely to think so than men, at 78 percent, according to the survey from job review site Glassdoor.

That contradicts government data showing that women's full-time weekly earnings are, on average, 82.5 percent of men's, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2014 data, and it is not just because women gravitate to lower-paying professions. A gap exists across all age groups, education levels and a wide variety of industries: The median weekly full-time pay of a female lawyer is 83 percent that of a male lawyer; female education administrators earn 81.4 percent of men with the same title; women computer programmers make 86.6 percent as much as their male counterparts.

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"There's a disconnect in reality meeting perception," said Scott Dobroski, career trends analyst at Glassdoor. "Employers are not communicating enough about their pay structure, and job seekers are either not researching pay information enough or (not) talking about it."

To boost transparency, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission at the end of January proposed requiring employers with at least 100 employees to report pay data to identify disparities and potential discrimination. The public would be able to see aggregate pay for job groups across industries and by gender, race and ethnicity. The data disclosures would start in September 2017.

Some companies already disclose employee salaries to foster trust  see the radical transparency at social media company Buffer, which has gone public with its salary formula and the thinking behind it plus the salaries of individual employees online for the world to see  but more commonly pay is kept under wraps either by company policies or the cultural taboo around discussing how much you make.

In a 2010 survey, nearly half of workers reported they were either contractually forbidden or strongly discouraged from discussing their pay with their colleagues, according to a report from the Institute for Women's Policy Research and the Rockefeller Survey of Economic Security.

Illinois is among about a dozen states with laws that protect employees from retaliation for disclosing, discussing or comparing pay. President Barack Obama issued an executive order in 2014 doing the same for federal contractors and subcontractors.

Technology is helping dispel the secrecy when company or government policies do not. Sites like Glassdoor.com, Salary.com and Payscale.com have made it easier for people to know the fair market value of their jobs, and a movement that launched last year on Twitter to get people to #talkpay led some to tweet out their compensation and experience level, so others can compare.

More than 90 percent of Americans say men and women should be paid equally for similar work and experience levels, according to the Glassdoor survey, which polled more than 8,000 employed adults in seven countries, including 2,000 in the U.S. When companies are perceived as not doing so, it could cost them talent, especially among women.

More than two-thirds of U.S. employees said they are not likely to apply where a pay gap exists between men and women for similar work, including 81 percent of women and 55 percent of men. Millennials are particularly sensitive to the topic: Among both men and women ages 18 to 24, 81 percent said they aren't likely to apply to such a workplace.

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The survey comes as another report out this week adds to the literature suggesting it behooves companies to have women in top positions. The working paper, from a collaboration between professional services firm EY and the Peterson Institute for International Economics, found that a profitable firm where women comprise 30 percent of the C-suite can boost profitability by 15 percent compared with an otherwise similar firm with no women leaders.

The study, which examined nearly 22,000 publicly traded companies in 91 countries, found no statistically observable impact on profitability from having a female CEO or female board members.

The impact of women in the workforce  and their pay  is top of mind as more women join the labor force. Last year, 55 percent of the 2.7 million jobs added to U.S. payrolls were filled by women, according to the Institute for Women's Policy Research. The number of women on payrolls has been rising steadily since the recession, and in January men held fewer than 2 million more jobs than women; before the recession, the gap was 3.6 million.

"It suggests a more permanent change than I thought (was happening) at the start of the recession," said Heidi Hartmann, an economist and president of the Institute for Women's Policy Research. Historically, women have been more likely than men to opt out of working to take care of family responsibilities, so "it is interesting to see whether the roles will become more similar," she said.

A pay gap can have a ripple effect. According to the National Women's Law Center, a woman who works full time over a 40-year period loses about $435,000 in lifetime income, which translates to lower income from Social Security and pensions, and lower savings.

Reasons theorized for the pay gap are complex and include the absence of family-friendly workplace policies, job choice, discrimination and a reluctance to negotiate salary. In a PayScale survey of 31,000 people, 31 percent of women said they feel uncomfortable negotiating salary, compared with 23 percent of men. And among women MBAs who asked for a raise, 48 percent received what they requested, compared with 63 percent of male MBAs, the survey found.

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According to the Glassdoor survey, 45 percent of U.S. respondents believe company policies around pay will improve the issue, while 39 percent named government legislation and 36 percent said clearer communication from senior leaders about how pay is determined would help close the gap. A third said sharing salaries for all roles would help.

But cutting through the taboo of talking pay remains a hurdle. According to a LinkedIn survey completed for The Washington Post last year, nearly 73 percent of workers said they aren't comfortable with the idea of discussing pay with anyone at work other than their boss or human resources department.

aelejalderuiz@tribpub.com

Twitter @alexiaer
Federal prosecutors had moved for minimum sentences for Tis and the other already-sentenced Freedom executives, arguing that they had helped with the prosecutions of their colleagues. In fact, they were all turning on one another. Former plant manager Michael Burdette, for instance, got off with probation and a $2,500 fine after fingering Tis and others, who he said knew full well that a dike designed to contain the MCHM was leaky and in desperate need of repair. Tis and the others then fingered Southern and Farrell. The latter two may have had no one higher up to finger, so perhaps they'll be "It."
Three O. Henry-esque stories from contempo Tehran are woven together with mixed results in "Wednesday, May 9," the debut feature of multihyphenate Vahid Jalilvand. Excellent acting from top star Niki Karimi in a decidedly unglamorous part in the first episode, and from sweet-faced newcomer Sahar Ahmadpour in the second, raises their tales of woe above mere melodrama. But the third story, about a would-be philanthropist who hasn't fully considered the best way to distribute his largesse, comes off as forced and awkward.

Early on the morning of Wednesday, May 9, long lines of the poor and afflicted wait outside an office building in an upscale Tehran neighborhood, drawn by an unusual advertisement in the newspaper offering 30 million tomans (about $10,000) to someone in need. Overwhelmed by the sheer numbers, the local police panic and try to disperse the crowds before driving off with Jalal (Amir Aghaei, the weak link in the acting department), the man who placed the ad. The shots of the crowd, consisting of the disabled, disfigured and truly distressed, register an almost documentary-like authenticity.

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Meanwhile, waiting apart from the throng, clad in a billowing black chador that marks her as working-class religious, Leila (Karimi) observes the goings-on with sadness before rushing to her job at a chicken slaughterhouse. Her husband, Ali (played by the directpr), is paralyzed and requires nearly full-time care, but an expensive operation might restore his mobility. In a turn of events that strains credibility, it turns out that Jalal is Leila's ex-fiance from long ago, who abandoned her when he had a chance to leave their village. He promises her the money, but the jealous Ali is opposed to accepting his help. In filming Leila and Ali's humble abode, veteran lenser Morteza Poursamadi uses tight compositions and framing within windows and doors to express the characters' sense of isolation.

Orphan Setareh (Ahmadpour) is another supplicant for Jalal's money. She lives with her strict aunt (Afarin Obeisi), whose son Esmaeel (Borzou Arjmand) nurses an unrequited passion for his pretty cousin that has turned to bitter jealousy. Without telling her relatives, Setareh marries Morteza (Milad Yazdani), a young man from an impoverished family, whose proposal her aunt has refused many times. When the truth comes out, Morteza accidentally breaks Esmaeel's nose in a fight and winds up in jail, hounded for 30 million tomans of blood money unless the now-pregnant Setareh agrees to a divorce.

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While the third episode supplies background on Jalal, finally revealing why he wants to give away this money  and where it came from  it never provides a satisfactory explanation of why he chose to do it in such a complicated and obtuse manner. Where the other two episodes feature lower-class women who are in thrall to their husbands, Jalal's wife (Kataneh Afsharinejad) doesn't hesitate to express her displeasure. Her angry monologue places Jalal's act of charity in another light entirely.

The script, written by Jalilvand with Ali Zarnegar and Hossein Mahkam, functions well as a societal critique, provoking some interesting questions about misguided charity and highlighting the suffering of women in this patriarchal culture. Perhaps the gimmick of the advertisement serves as commentary on the handouts to the poor that former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad used to boost his popularity; nevertheless, it plays as the least credible element of the narrative.

"Wednesday, May 9"  2.5 stars

MPAA rating: Unrated

Running time: 1:42

Opens: Saturday and Sunday only at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St., www.siskelfilmcenter.org
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VIRGINIA  If someone from out of town stops at the little village of Virginia, odds are good its because theyre planning to eat at Mencls Tavern. The small-town eatery has built a quality reputation for itself far beyond the local area.

The tavern, which also includes Terrys Steakhouse restaurant, is built into what was once the Virginia Hotel  a painting on the wall attests to this, displaying the building as it appeared in horse and buggy days.

The taverns interior blends historic, classic and modern. The ceiling is marked by green tile patterns characteristic of early 20th century buildings; portions of the dining areas sturdy wooden floor have been worn smooth by years of shuffling feet. That flooring bumps against the newer wood floor behind the bar counter, which itself has been expanded for more space.

On the wall behind the counter are dark, rich wood cabinets with glass panel doors displaying glasses and bottles, and one cabinet dedicated to a selection of candy bars on slanted display shelves. The wall opposite the counter is decorated with paintings of Virginia during the heyday of homesteading.

Owner Terry Mencl took over the tavern in 1992 from his uncle, who owned it for 45 years.

Mencl decided to steer the tavern away from being just a bar and expanded its food service. They prepare all the food from scratch in house, which Mencl said is what makes it well-liked.

We charbroil our steaks, so they have a different taste than grilling. We season and marinate our own steak, bread the fish  we cut our own salad, Mencl elaborated. Most of it is hand done.

Mencl said he even cuts his own meat. Making everything in house can take time, especially when something like spare ribs needs six to seven hours in a wood pellet smoker. But word of mouth about the taverns food has gotten widespread attention.

Mencl said customers come from far and wide  Hebron, Omaha, even Kansas City. One family scattered throughout Nebraska and Kansas City sometimes gets together with Mencls as their meeting point.

After several occasions of the tavern filling to capacity, Mencl upgraded his kitchen to include a faster grill and bigger fryer to better handle a high volume of customers.

Most of the traffic doesnt come to the tavern until later in the evening, Mencl said, and business is steadier during the summertime.

The tavern offers catering just about anywhere for different groups, Mencl added, including the local American Legion. Even though he offers food service at any town in the region, Mencl takes a very neighborly, rather than competitive, view of nearby establishments, like the one in Filley.

I dont want to compete with the tavern in Filley, Mencl said. They have their business and he has his. He would rather each business be successful. Small towns have to thrive on what we can get.

And when people are coming from Kansas City and Omaha to have your food, the gettin is good.
Myaser Semat, a teenage girl studying in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and Guo Rongbo, her peer in east China's Shanghai, are best friends.

Though separated by thousands of miles, the two share secrets and discuss their favorite books, movie stars and cartoons through letters.

From Guo's letters, Semat, of No. 92 Middle School in Urumqi, learned of Shanghai's bustling commercial center of Lujiazui and developed a dream of one day studying in the metropolis.

The pair started their pen-pal friendship in July 2014, when the Communist Youth League (CYL) launched a program matchmaking students in Xinjiang with youngsters in other Chinese provinces and regions.

The CYL said on Wednesday that 2.8 million students from 7,338 primary and middle schools around China have been involved in the scheme, designed to encourage use of Mandarin and cultural understanding.

"Do you know Xinjiang has a butterfly valley?" wrote a primary school student from Altay Prefecture of Xinjiang to his pen friend in Jiamusi, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

Aynur Mahset, secretary of Xinjiang's regional CYL committee, said it encouraged students to share information on ethnic festivals, culture and activities in their letters, and that the pen-pals are also in touch with each other through more modern tools -- social messaging services like WeChat.

One year after the program was launched in Xinjiang, it was extended to Tibet, another remote corner of China where many people don't speak Mandarin. According to the CYL, 27,500 students from 570 primary schools in Tibet have established pen-pal relations with 189,500 students from 725 schools in 17 provinces and municipalities.

In 2015, the CYL also sponsored 52 summer camps in 17 provinces and municipalities as opportunities for the pen-pals to meet.

Although living in the same city of Urumqi, Aliman of the Uygur ethnic group and Wang Litong of the Han group, both sixth graders, got to know each other from writing letters under the CYL program. During the Spring Festival this week, Aliman visited Wang and brought her gifts of a Chinese knot and couplets on red paper.

Aliman said she knew Han people celebrated the festival with such decorations, but she didn't know their meaning.

China carries out bilingual education in Xinjiang and Tibet, enabling students to study both their native language and Mandarin. Promoting Mandarin, the official language of China, is meant to enhance mutual understanding and open up career opportunities for the ethnic groups in Xinjiang and Tibet.
Democratic Progressive Party chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen [Chinanews.com]

Taiwan's leadership and legislative elections ended on January 16 with the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) losing the former by three million votes to the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the former and being almost trounced in the latter.

Since 2008, the KMT had made obvious contributions to the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations, but the election results show it needs to do more in the area of elective politics on the island, which is an issue commonly faced by Taiwan's political parties.

Why the KMT suffered such humiliating defeat has become a hot topic in academic and media circles. To regain its ruling status, the KMT needs to have a better understanding of public opinion and win the support of the majority of people. This defeat shows it has "lost the ardent support of the people".

Since it failed to fulfill promises made when taking office, the people have nursed many grievances and thus demanded a change in the status quo.

Take economic development for an example. Ma Ying-jeou put forward the so-called "633 Plan" which promised an overall economic growth rate of 6 percent, per capita GDP growth of 3 percent, and holding unemployment to 3 percent. None of these targets were achieved.

Statistics show that during Ma Ying-jeou's first term from 2008 to 2011, the economic growth rate in Taiwan averaged 3.39 percent. In his second term, the figure fell to about 2.31 percent. In 2015, the figure had fallen even more sharply to an estimated 1.06 percent from 4 percent in 2014.

In 2011 before Ma Ying-jeou ended his first term, Taiwan's per capita GDP stood at US$21,000 compared to US$17,596 in 2007. However, by 2013 the figure had dropped to US$20,930, the lowest among the "Asia's Four Little Dragons" - Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. The current overall unemployment rate in Taiwan is 4 percent, while the rate among young workers is surprisingly high to about 12 percent, a large number holding masters and doctoral degrees.

Not surprisingly, Ma Ying-jeou's support rate had continuously declined, with the figure standing at only 9 percent in 2013. Local media published articles saying he should assume responsibility.

KMT's incapability to handle economic affairs over the past eight years has highlighted the problems related to the people's livelihood and certainly aggravated their discontents. The people's demand for a change in political power helped Tsai Ing-wen win the election to a certain extent. The economic factor was confirmed in post-election opinion polls. The issue of cross-Strait relations was little mentioned.

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French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Wednesday that he was going to leave office after serving four years in the position, a local daily reported.

The top French diplomat told reporters he was attending his last cabinet meeting earlier in the day, Le Figaro said.

Fabius is expected to be nominated by President Francois Hollande as the president of the Constitutional Council -- the country's top constitutional authority, according to the newspaper.

Fabius' leave is expected to prompt a government reshuffle, which is likely to be announced by the end of this week.

Fabius, 69, is a veteran political figure of the French Socialist Party. He became France's youngest ever prime minister at the age of 37 in 1984 under President Francois Mitterand.
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The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has "strongly" called on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to comply with all the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.

"ASEAN follows closely the situation in the Korean Peninsula and shares common concern of the international community over the recent developments in the said region," said a statement dated Feb. 10 on the association's website.

"ASEAN strongly urges the DPRK to comply with all the relevant UNSC resolutions," the statement said.

The statement added that ASEAN reaffirms its support for the early resumption of the six-party Talks, and to bring about the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula through peaceful means.

The six-party talks were launched in 2003, but stalled in December 2008. The DPRK quit the talks in April 2009. The talks involve China, the DPRK, South Korea, the United States, Russia and Japan.

The DPRK state news agency reported on Feb. 7 that a Kwangmyongsong-4 satellite was successfully launched in DPRK's space center. The launch was widely seen as a disguised test of long-range ballistic missile technology.
A copy of the survey sent to Beijing

Technology and Business University.

(Photo: China Aid)

China Aid

Reported by Qiao Nong. Translated by Carolyn Song. Written in English by Brynne Lawrence.



(BeijingJan. 7, 2016) Authorities in Beijing and Chinas coastal Anhui province launched an investigation into the religious beliefs of university students, faculty and staff by issuing a survey with questions regarding religion.

The survey sent to Beijing Technology and Business University reads:

In order to implement the National Regulations on Religious Affairs according to the plans of the Party Committee, schools will collect statistics on faculty, staff and students.

1. Please designate if you have religious beliefs (if the answer is yes, please list what the religion is.)

2. If you are an academic advisor of postgraduates, please list the students involved in religions and get the statistics back before closing time on Dec. 23 via SMS, Fetion, WeChat, e-mail, telephone, etc. Please reply if you know someone [at the school] involved [in religion].

Similar surveys were also sent to schools in Chinas coastal Anhui province, according to students.

Each class monitor is required to check whether or not each student has religious beliefs, targeting Christians in general, Wang, a student at a Hefei, Anhui university, said. If you are religious, you have to go report everything about your church and other Christians.

Another document, titled Concerning the Plan to Investigate Graduate Students who participate in Shouwang Church, was issued on social media. The document demanded that all graduate students who attend Shouwang Church, which has a branch at a Beijing university, be investigated within one week. Furthermore, it requested that all graduate students who are members of the Chinese Communist Party be investigated for religious beliefs.

Christians suspect these measures are in preparation for a crackdown on house churches, with some church members claiming the government intends to launch another Cultural Revolution. Despite this pressure, Christians are refusing to provide any information about their churches to the authorities in order to prevent persecution.

Other levels of education have also been under scrutiny. The government commanded many kindergartens not to conduct Christmas-related activities. They stipulated that no Christmas decorations may be used and that school staff could only refer to a Christmas tree as a New Year tree in front of students.

China Aid exposes religious freedom abuse, such as that experienced by students and faculty in academia, in order to promote religious freedom and rule of law in China.

China Aid Contacts

Rachel Ritchie, English Media Director

Cell: (432) 553-1080 | Office: 1+ (888) 889-7757 | Other: (432) 689-6985

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.chinaaid.org
Christianity Daily

Feb 10, 2016 01:10 pm EST

 A Chinese pastor who was arrested for protesting against removal of crosses in Zhejiang province has been released from black jail, according to China Aid.

Pastor Huang Yizi had organized a prayer vigil against demolitions of crosses in Chinas eastern province, known for its high concentration of churches.

He had peacefully protested against the removal of crosses, but was put under criminal detention in September on charges of endangering national security, and stealing, spying on, buying or illegally providing state secrets for institutions and people outside the country.

The pastor was denied access to a lawyer, but was allowed to return home last week after about five months behind the bars.

Previously, Pastor Huang was detained in August 2014 for leading a public prayer vigil in July of the same year, and was charged for gathering crowds to disturb social order.

Chinese pastor Huang Yizi has been released from black

jail, where he was detained for the last five months for

opposing demolition of crosses. (Photo: Frank Yu/Flickr/CC)

He was protesting the removal of the cross outside Sjuitou Salvation Church, but police took to using iron batons to beat the crowd, and about 10 people were hospitalized. Onlookers had taken videos of the incident, showing police beating a group of churchgoers who were singing and praying, irrespective of their ages.

During that one year, the pastor was interrogated over 100 times, with each session lasting about 6 hours. In a letter published after his release, he said that he used his time at the prison as a Sabbatical where he got an opportunity to share his faith, and reach the prisoners with the gospel.

Bob Fu, founder and president of China Aid, told Christian Today that Pastor Huang had faced severe persecution and threats before his release.

We are glad Pastor Huang is released home for Chinese New Year after being arbitrarily detained for five months in a black jail, he said.

Both the previous one year criminal sentence and the past five months detention are absolutely part of political revenge against pastor Huangs public opposition against the barbaric forced demolition of crosses and his effort for organizing true Gospel mission independent of the government controlled religious body, the TSPM [Three Self Patriotic Movement].. I call upon the Chinese higher authorities to hold accountable those abusers of power (in its arbitrary nature of pastor Huangs detention) in Zhejiang and restore justice to pastor Huang.

China Aid Media Team

Cell: (432) 553-1080 | Office: 1+ (888) 889-7757 | Other: (432) 689-6985

Email: [email protected]

For more information, click here
A man holds a child outside of a branch

of the Guanai Center. (Photo: China Aid)

China Aid

Reported by Qiao Nong in Chinese. Translated by Carolyn Song. Written in English by Brynne Lawrence.

(Huizhou, GuangdongFeb. 9, 2016) More than 100 personnel from multiple government departments raided a Christian care center in Chinas southern Guangdong province on Thursday, seized 15 staff members and patients, including an infant, and relocated them to another shelter.

Under the pretense of conducting a medical check-up, authorities forced their way into a Huizhou branch of Guanai (Care) Center, a Christian facility established for the care of people with a variety of medical conditions, despite pleas from local Christians to leave the premises. They forced 15 staff members and patients into a vehicle and moved them to a shelter in Huiyang District.

According to national regulations, receiving assistance is voluntary, said Cao Nan, the founder of Guanai Center and director of its Shenzhen branch. It is not enough to be forcibly dragged into going [to a shelter]. When our people arrived at the shelter, they all expressed that they were unwilling to receive assistance, but the towns government dispatched public security personnel that did not allow them to return [to our care center], but forcibly contained them in the shelters lobby, restricting their personal freedom.

A Christian kneels in front of government

officials raiding the Guanai Center, begging

them to leave. (Photo: China Aid)

Additionally, Cao claimed that the patients transferred to the shelter included a person suffering from paralysis, two amputees and a two-month-old infant.

The patients engaged in a stand-off with the authorities until nightfall.

On both April 20 and May 15, 2015, Shenzhens government issued a Notice Regarding the Banning of Guanai Center in Xiyong Communitys Illegal Religious Activities and a Notice Demanding Rectification to the center, which has a branch in Xiyong Community. They indicated that it operated without registering or receiving approval from the relevant government departments, constructed a cross without permission and displayed Bibles, the Virgin Mary and Christian literature. As a result, they were ordered to immediately stop all religious activities.

On June 30, the Shenzhen government dispatched around 200 security guards and personnel from the public security bureau and the religious affairs bureau to the Xiyong Community branch of Guanai Center and cut through the buildings gate, taking 30 patients away. According to Cao, those 30 patients are still held in another shelter.

China Aid reports abuses of religious freedom in order to encourage religious freedom and rule of law in China.

China Aid Contacts

Rachel Ritchie, English Media Director

Cell: (432) 553-1080 | Office: 1+ (888) 889-7757 | Other: (432) 689-6985

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.chinaaid.org
A nurse takes care of a new-born baby in a hospital in Zaozhuang, East China's Shandong province, Feb 8, 2016. [Photo/IC]

HANGZHOU - Chinese traditionally believed babies born in the Year of Monkey to be smart and confident, due to their love of the animal because it is cute and resembles humans in many ways.

"In China, people are inclined to have children in auspicious years, such as the year of dragon, horse and monkey of course. The phenomenon is even more obvious in north China," said Zhai Zhenwu, president of the School of Sociology and Population Studies under the Renmin University of China in Beijing.

Spring Festival, which falls on Feb. 8 this year, marks the beginning of the Year of Monkey, according to the Chinese zodiac that assigns one of the 12 animals to each year. The monkey ranks the ninth in the cycle, proceeded by the sheep and followed by the rooster.

"Especially after the Year of Sheep, an animal believed by many means a sad life to babies born in the year," said Zhai."

Even more favorable for parents, both new and old, China dropped its one-child policy last year and allows each family to have two children.

"My wife and I hesitated at the beginning, but we soon made up our mind to have a second child as many friends have begun raising their second," said Zhang Yu who is in his 40s and working in a financial institution in Shanghai.

"Bachelors are normally nagged to get married by their parents during Spring Festival. If you are married, parents will continue nag you to have children," said Chen Yu, a resident from Hangzhou City.

According to Chinese family planning authorities, the two-child policy will add an estimated 3 million babies annually for a total of 17.5 to 21 million newborns each year in the next five years.

Beds are being booked out in most maternity hospitals and confinement nursing centers in many Chinese cities. In Jiaxing City, 100 kilometers from Shanghai, hospital beds for expectant mothers have run out for the first half of the new year.

Chinese tradition requires mothers to rest for at least a month after delivery. Confinement nursing centers in Jiaxing have already fallen behind demand.

"Some of our best nursing services charge as much as 24,000 yuan (3,600 U.S. dollars) for one month, but it is still difficult to secure a place," said a new father Chen in Jiaxing.

The demand for maternity nurses, who take care of the mother and new-born, is also on the rise. "I have to make reservation several months before the expected date of delivery for a professional matron," said a mother living in Hangzhou.

"And be prepared to pay huge," Chen said.

Harmonicare Medical Group owns 11 women and children hospitals across China. The group is currently upgrading its institutions in Beijing and central China's Wuhan City by adding more beds and recruiting more medical staff, as it expects the baby boom in the Year of Monkey.

Considering the strong consumption of parents, economic institutions and retailers are optimistic about industries related to infants and children, such as baby formula, diapers and skin care products.

Industry analysts estimated a total of 160 billion yuan of consumption dividends from the baby boom. Real estate market in first-tier cities, for example, is expected to experience a short prosperous period.

"The new-born population will fuel consumption, especially in cultural and service industries that deal with young customers," said Li Shaojun, chief strategist of Minsheng Securities.
URUMQI -- Tourists have been forbidden from entering glaciers in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, authorities said on Thursday.

"Glacier tourism brought in revenue of less than one billion yuan ($152 million) over the past dozen years, but the loss from shrinking glaciers is incalculable," said Li Jidong from the regional tourism administration.

According to the new regulation, tourists are only allowed to enjoy the sight of glaciers from a distance instead of walking on them.

Statistics showed the temperature of the region has risen 0.33 degrees Celsius to 0.39 degrees Celsius per decade over the past 50 years, almost three times the global average.

China has 46,377 glaciers, with 18,311, or 46.8 percent of the national ice reserves located in Xinjiang. Global warming, grazing, mining and tourism have accelerated destruction of the glaciers, and led to water shortages in several areas.

Glacier meltwater accounts for about 25 to 30 percent of Xinjiang's surface run-off, and the thawing of the glaciers could have a disastrous effect on the region, according to the Tianshan Mountains Glacier Observation Station under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

Approximately 120 km from the regional capital of Urumqi, Glacier No. 1 in the Tianshan Mountains is the closest glacier to a city in the world. The meltwater from the glacier has reduced after years of receding.

Small glaciers at low altitudes are more sensitive to climate change, said Chen Xi from the CAS.

"Glaciers in the Tianshan Mountains have receded by 15 to 30 percent in the last three decades." Chen said. "And they will continue to retreat by 60 percent in the next 20 years, and by 80 to 90 percent half a century from today."

To protect the city's water supply, Urumqi banned tourists from the glacier back in 2006, but visitors manage to find their way into the area.

More than a dozen families of herdsmen still inhabit the area and to make money, some herdsmen take tourists to the area by motorcycle.

A recent visit by Xinhua reporters found plastic waste scattered in many areas, indicating visits made by tourists.

All mining has ceased in a 948-sq-km protection zone. Vehicles on section of national highway near the zone are restricted and wild herb digging is banned.

Xinjiang has called for other countries and regions along the Tianshan Mountains to stop glacier tourism as well.
Chinese tourists take photo with lion dancers during a sea outing in the Maldives on Sunday at the start of the ongoing Spring Festival holiday.[Photo/ XINHUA]

Spring Festival traditionally is the most important time of the year for family reunions, but as China has become prosperous, an increasing number of wealthy Chinese are traveling abroad, bringing big business to global retailers.

In the Western world, the traditional shopping season usually lasts from Thanksgiving in November to Christmas in December. In recent years, however, Chinese consumers have added another month of shopping with the celebration of Spring Festival, which has become as big a deal as Christmas to US shopping malls.

At South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, California, the highest-grossing mall in the United States with $1.7 billion in sales last year, peak season begins the day after Thanksgiving and ends not at Christmas, but at the close of Chinese New Year celebrations.

This week at the sprawling shopping center, the scarlet red dresses that adorned mannequins at the windows of Carolina Herrera and Balenciaga were mainly intended to attract Chinese customers. Dolce & Gabbana is selling a monkey-print T-shirt, exclusive to the mall, in honor of the Year of the Monkey.

At this time of the year, many US malls, particularly those in West Coast cities with large Asian-American or Asian expatriate communities, feature Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations or decor. But South Coast Plaza is looking beyond its local clientele to a rapidly growing base of wealthy Chinese tourists spending serious retail money abroad.

The center has courted China since the early 2000s, long before the countrys boom in foreign tourism. It was the first shopping center in the US to accept China UnionPay bank cards. This was a prescient investment, since Chinese shoppers now make up 30 percent of the global luxury goods market, with about half of the spending done abroad.

The Chinese government estimates that 2.91 billion trips of all kinds will be taken over the Chinese Lunar New Years 40-day travel season, in what is thought to be the largest yearly movement of people in the world.

This year, overseas visits conducted by Chinese tourists are expected to reach a high of 6 million over the weeklong holiday season, which officially started on Sunday, according to Ctrip, a major online travel site in the worlds second-largest economy. That represents a 15 percent increase over the total of overseas visits conducted by Chinese tourists over the Lunar New Year season last year.

According to the China National Tourism Administration, Chinese tourists undertook more than 120 million visits overseas last year, many of which helped support growth in the countries of destination.

In 2014, Chinese tourists spent $165 billion overseas, the World Tourism Organization reported recently.

Besides the sales at US malls, Chinese tourists also helped to provide a significant boost to Japans economy. The Japan Tourism Agency confirmed in a report that Chinese tourists made up 40 percent of total consumption by foreigners last year, spending an average of $2,393.

In Kobe, celebration of the Chinese Spring Festival and visits by Chinese consumers this year have added vigor and vitality to Nanjing town, the second-largest Chinatown in Japan, as well as providing economic benefits to the region.
The male patient who is Chinas first case of the Zika virus has recovered, according to Jiangxi provinces Health and Family Planning Commission.

His symptoms, including fever, headache and dizziness, have subsided and the patient is recuperating. No one who has been in touch with the patient has shown any signs of infection, sources with the commission said.

The patient, who is age 34, had traveled to Venezuela and showed symptoms of fever, headache and dizziness on Jan 28, before returning to his hometown at Ganxian county of Jiangxi province, via Hong Kong and Shenzhen, Guangdong province.

Aggressive measures have been taken since the case was discovered. Anti-infection and epidemic experts rushed to Ganxian to help set up treatment centers and educate locals on how to prevent a breakout.

However, according to experts from the National Health and Family Planning Commission, thanks to low temperatures, the chance of the virus further spreading as a result of this imported case is extremely low.

The disease is believed to be transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, a species widely found in South China and in some northern parts of the country. Therefore, a major part of Zika prevention focuses on the elimination of mosquitoes, said officials from the Jiangxi provincial commission.

At the moment, steps have been taken to kill the mosquitoes in and around the patients home and the hospital in Ganxian where he has been quarantined and treated since Feb 6.

Keeping in mind the coming spring season, a time for mosquito elimination and epidemic control, experts from both the provincial and the national levels are working on a new, more effective plan.

A pilot field study using mosquitoes infected with bacteria is expected to be launched in South China, probably in March, according to Xi Zhiyong, a microbiology professor at Guangzhous Sun Yat-sen University who heads the study.

The move is aimed at reducing the local mosquito population, which could pass the Zika virus to humans, said Xi, who heads the study.

Xi said the researchers only release male mosquitoes, which dont bite. The eggs produced by females mating with Wolbachia-infected males are infertile, which leads to reduced mosquito populations. Last year, the team lowered the mosquito population by 90 percent during a trial using this method.

The World Health Organization has recommended studies of genetically engineered mosquitoes and those infected with bacteria to help reduction efforts.

The Zika virus, which has been linked to severe birth defects in Brazil, is spreading rapidly in the Americas. Besides fever, headache and dizziness, symptoms include joint pain, rash, conjunctivitis, muscle pain and eye pain.

The United States has reported a sexually transmitted Zika case, but the WHO said the case needs further investigation. Besides the imported Zika case, no other case has been eported in China so far.

Xinhua contributed to this story.

zhaoxu@chinadaily.com.cn
Half a century after they took the world by storm, the legacy of the Beatles earns $119 million a year for their home city of Liverpool. Moreover, the 'Beatles industry' in the city is growing at 15 percent a year.

That was the finding of the first academic study into the ongoing impact on Liverpool of the 1960s band which was made up of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

The report highlights the changing demographics of the Beatles' industry markets, particularly the Beatles' new popularity in China, Brazil and among a growing number of younger fans. The emerging markets add to the popularity of existing Beatles fans in Britain, Europe and the United States.

Collaboratively produced by Liverpool John Moores University and the University of Liverpool through the Institute of Cultural Capital, European Institute of Urban Affairs and the Institute of Popular Music, the report shows the Beatles 'industry' in the city supports 2,335 jobs.

The report has triggered the city's thinking on how to protect the legacy of the Beatles.

"In addition to the 81.9 million pounds a year generated by the band's heritage, the report reveals the Beatles-related economy is growing by up to 15 percent a year and there is further significant growth potential," said a spokeswoman with the Liverpool John Moores University.

The report says a key challenge for the city will be to 'curate' and maintain the authenticity of the Beatles heritage for both existing and future fans and visitors to Liverpool.
It would not only be the correct decision by Brussels, but also a historic one

Over the last four decades, China has successfully transformed itself from a planned economy into an open economy where almost all commodities are priced by market forces. More than 80 countries have recognized China's strenuous efforts in this regard by granting it market economy status.

However, the United States, the European Union, Canada and some other developed economies have yet to do the same, either to restrict the flow of China's low-cost exports into their markets, or to take advantage of their willingness to bestow such status as a bargaining chip when meeting Beijing at the negotiating table to discuss other issues.

China seeks market-economy status in the hope that the impact of antidumping duties on its exports will be diminished. If such status is given, these developed economies would not be allowed to levy anti-dumping taxes against China's exports by using a constructed value based on costs and prices from outside the exporting country. During previous years, exports of China's textile and solar products, clothes and bicycles to developed economies have been hugely affected due to them not accepting China as a market economy.

Though Beijing expects to "automatically" gain recognition as a market economy by the end of the year, there are still obstacles being put in its path.

Washington has basically opposed China's rise and it has even recently warned the EU not to "compromise" by granting China market economy status. In the EU itself, opinion is divided, although there are strong voices in favor of giving China such status.

It is reported that the European Commission, the executive arm of the 28-state union, will be giving its preliminary assessment next week. While most EU member states have recognized China's reform progress, countries such as Italy and France have expressed the difficulties they face should the decision go in favor of China.

Meanwhile, the US is trying every means to lobby the EU in favor of supporting its position, warning that if the EU grants China market economy status it will be "unilaterally disarming" itself.

Some European experts have expressed their opinion that giving market economy status to China needs coordination among the developed economies.

But Brussels needs to assert its "independence" in decision-making from the US. More importantly, Brussels should keep the bigger picture in mind when making its decision, which is that the EU and China have been expanding their cooperation with unprecedented momentum over the last few years and China is going to receive market economy status anyway. So why not give it a little early so the EU is able to get some benefits from China in return?

The Chinese government's interpretation of its World Trade Organization accession protocol is that China will be "automatically" granted market economy status 15 years after it entered into the global free trade system in December 2001.

Over the last two years, a lot of European countries have ignored Washington's will and joined the China-led Asian Infrastructural Investment Bank and supported China's currency being included in the International Monetary Fund's Special Drawing Rights basket of global currencies.

All these decisions are forward-thinking and benefit the world.

In return, China has become the first country outside the European Union to support the European Investment Scheme.

It would not only be the correct decision, but also a historic one, for Brussels to grant China market economy status.

And the sooner the better, because in Chinese philosophy: if you give me an inch, I may return a foot.

The author is China Daily chief correspondent in Brussels. Contact the writer at fujing@chinadaily.com.cn
Edward Tse believes companies like Alibaba are now the real drivers of the Chinese economy.

The founder and chief executive officer of Gao Feng Advisory, a management consultancy, insists they are not just changing the face of the world's second-largest economy but also having a major impact globally.

"Private companies are now the real strength and driving force of the Chinese economy," he says.

Edward Tse, the founder and CEO of Gao Feng Advisory, says young people in China increasingly have entrepreneurial ambitions. Zou Hong / China Daily

"The financial headlines this year are about China with fears of slowing growth and the fall in the stock market but it underestimates just how dynamic China's private sector has become."

Tse, regarded as one of China's leading management gurus, was speaking in the China World hotel in Beijing.

His latest book, China's Disruptors: How Alibaba, Xiaomi, Tencent and Other Companies are Changing the Rules of Business, was published in Chinese in December.

"People outside of China often wrongly assume that China is a state-controlled economy and that the success of the economy is dependent on state-owned enterprise reform. That is important and it is going to take time but it is the private companies that will lead the economy."

Tse, who was witness to the early beginnings of these businesses from the time he was China managing partner of Boston Consulting Group in the 1990s, says what stood out even then was their ambition.

"When they came to me what came through in our conversations was the genuine desire they had to be successful. We now have these very successful companies such as the BATs."

Tse admits he now shares others' concerns about Alibaba's recent diversification outside of the e-commerce sector, including the acquisition of South China Morning Post.

"They previously had what I termed a jumping strategy but they were jumping to other areas within e-commerce. But since their IPO (in 2014) they raised a lot of money and have diversified very fast, becoming very extended.

"I am not sure this is a good idea in my view because there is a question as to whether you have the management bandwith to handle so much at the same time."

Tse is more impressed by Alibaba's rival Tencent, the Shenzhen company behind WeChat.

"It has close to 100 percent penetration of China's 600 million Internet users. The reason why it is so successful is that is improving functionality all the time, if not every day, then certainly every month.

"WhatsApp has had very little innovation and the current configuration is not that much different from the initial design 10 years ago."

He believes Tencent's strategy to invest in and focus on its core business has been key to its success.

"They are more focused. The core of the business was games and it evolved into social media and now WeChat has become a real core to what they are doing across the board."

Tse quit as chairman, Greater China of Booz & Co (now Startegy&) in 2014 to launch Gao Feng, a pioneering consultancy based on the idea that Chinese companies were being badly served by the international consultancies that did not understand China-specific problems.

Previously the author of the highly acclaimed The China Strategy, his new book analyzes the disruptive effect a number Chinese companies are having on traditional modes of doing business.

He argues that they are following in the footsteps of Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook, Larry Page at Google and Jeff Bezos at Amazon.

"Disruptors are people who try and do things in a very different way, fundamentally different from what has gone before.

"I think these disrupters are now coming from just two places: one is Silicon Valley and the other is most definitely China."

He says young people in China increasingly have entrepreneurial ambitions in marked contrast to their counterparts in Europe.

"They want to be the next Jack Ma. Whereas 20 years ago graduates in China wanted to work for Procter & Gamble or Coca Cola, they now either want to work for one of the e-commerce giants or start their own business," he says.

Tse says that if they do start their own business there is no place in the world where they can scale up their operation so quickly.

"Even America cannot offer the same opportunities. This applies particularly in the technology sector because of the sheer size of the number of Internet users."
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., center, and his wife Jane, left, wave to the crowd as they take the stage during a primary night watch party at Concord High School, Tuesday, Feb 9, 2016, in Concord, N.H. [Photo/IC]

NASHUA -- As Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Bernie Sanders surged Tuesday to their victories in the New Hampshire primary, the second presidential contest in the US, voters are still unsure about their positions on economic issues, which are so far sidelined in the debates.

During the New Hampshire campaign, tons of questions were thrown to the candidates at the town hall meetings in the "Granite State" on a string of issues from anti-terrorism to gun control, while discussions about the economy was largely missing.

The same thing happened at the televised presidential debates.

This is in stark contrast with what happened four or eight years ago when economic issues dominated the campaign amid the worst financial crisis in decades.

Eight years on, the US unemployment rate fell to 4.9 percent, less than half of its peak during the crisis. The economic output grew 2.4 percent in 2015, quite remarkable among advanced economies.

After the bullish job data was released last Friday, President Barack Obama seized the opportunity and touted the United States has right now the strongest and the most durable economy in the world.

"The economy is doing reasonably well, although not spectacularly well," said Joseph Gagnon of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a Washington-based think-tank.

"So it's good enough for Republicans not to have an angle of attack, but it's not so good as Democrats can brag about it," he added.

Ted Luszey, who lives in Hudson town of New Hampshire for decades, said he did not find lives getting easier though the job data is improving.
A Republic of Korea (ROK) security guard stands guard on an empty road which leads to the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) at the ROK's CIQ (Customs, Immigration and Quarantine) in Paju, South Korea, February 11, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

SEOUL - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) decided Thursday to deport all of Republic of Korea (ROK) nationals from an inter-Korean factory park in its border city of Kaesong, while cutting off communication lines with ROK, according to Yonhap news agency report.

A statement from the DPRK's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said the DPRK will deport all of ROK residents staying at the Kaesong Industrial Complex by 5:30 p.m. local time.

Declaring the Kaesong industrial zone as a military-controlled area, the DPRK decided to shut down the factory park, which first started manufacturing products in December 2004, and to withdraw all of about 54,000 DPRK workers from there.

The statement said all assets of ROK companies and relevant agencies, including equipment, materials and products, at the jointly-run factory park will be frozen completely.

The deported ROK nationals are allowed to bring back only personal items, and the frozen assets will be managed by a DPRK committee, according to the statement.

Pyongyang will cut off military communications lines between the two Koreas and close off communication channels at the truce village of Panmunjom.

The military demarcation line near the Kaesong complex will be completely blockaded by the DPRK, and the land route linking to the factory park will be blocked.




China's Global Newspaper





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A Republic of Korea (ROK) security guard stands guard on an empty road which leads to the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) at the ROK's CIQ (Customs, Immigration and Quarantine) in Paju, South Korea, February 11, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

SEOUL -- All of nationals of Republic of Korea (ROK) on Thursday withdrew safely from a jointly-run factory park with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) after Pyongyang's decision to deport all ROK nationals from the park.

Seoul's unification ministry said on the phone that all of 280 ROK nationals having stayed at the Kaesong Industrial Complex crossed the military demarcation line (MDL) into ROK's territory.

All of the people, who had stayed in Kaesong to complete the shutdown of factories, returned to the south at about 10 pm local time (1300 GMT).

The DPRK decided Thursday to shut down the inter-Korean industrial zone and deport all of ROK nationals staying there. All of assets of ROK companies running factories there were frozen completely.

The move came a day after ROK announced its decision to stop operations at the industrial zone, which started manufacturing products in December 2004.

A total of 124 ROK companies had operated factories there, hiring some 54,000 DPRK workers. The industrial zone had been seen as the last remaining symbol of inter-Korean cooperation as it was launched as a result of a historic summit in 2000 between late ROK President Kim Dae-jung and late DPRK leader Kim Jong-Il.

Seoul's decision to shut down the factory park came in the wake of Pyongyang's long-range rocket launch on Sunday. On Jan 6, the DPRK tested what it claimed was its first H-bomb, the fourth of its nuclear detonations.
Scientists have for the first time observed ripples in the fabric of spacetime called gravitational waves, arriving at the earth from a cataclysmic event in the distant universe. It confirms a major prediction of Albert Einsteins 1915 general theory of relativity and opens an unprecedented new window to the cosmos, according to a group of scientists at a press conference in Washington on Thursday.

This is truly scientific moonshot. We did it. We landed on the moon, exclaimed David Reitz, executive director of the LIGO Laboratory at Caltech, at the conference in the National Press Club.

According to the National Science Foundation (NSF) experts, gravitational waves carry information about their dramatic origins and about the nature of gravity that cannot be obtained from elsewhere. Physicists have concluded that the detected gravitational waves were produced during the final fraction of a second of the merger of two black holes to produce a single, more massive spinning black hole. This collision of two black holes had been predicted but never observed.

The gravitational waves were detected on Sept 14, 2015 at 5:51 am EDT by both of the twin Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors, located in Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington.

Based on the observed signals, LIGO scientists estimate that the black holes for this event were about 29 and 36 times the mass of the sun, and the event took place 1.3 billion years ago. About three times the mass of the sun was converted into gravitational waves in a fraction of a second -- with a peak power output about 50 times that of the whole visible universe. By looking at the time of arrival of the signals -- the detector in Livingston recorded the event 7 milliseconds before the detector in Hanford -- scientists can say that the source was located in the Southern Hemisphere, according to a press release from NSF, which funded the research.

According to general relativity, a pair of black holes orbiting around each other lose energy through the emission of gravitational waves, causing them to gradually approach each other over billions of years, and then much more quickly in the final minutes. During the final fraction of a second, the two black holes collide at nearly half the speed of light and form a single more massive black hole, converting a portion of the combined black holes' mass to energy, according to Einstein's formula E=mc2. This energy is emitted as a final strong burst of gravitational waves. These are the gravitational waves that LIGO observed.

The existence of gravitational waves was first demonstrated in the 1970s and 1980s by Joseph Taylor, Jr., and colleagues. In 1974, Taylor and Russell Hulse discovered a binary system composed of a pulsar in orbit around a neutron star. Taylor and Joel M. Weisberg in 1982 found that the orbit of the pulsar was slowly shrinking over time because of the release of energy in the form of gravitational waves. For discovering the pulsar and showing that it would make possible this particular gravitational wave measurement, Hulse and Taylor were awarded the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physics.

The new LIGO discovery is the first observation of gravitational waves themselves, made by measuring the tiny disturbances the waves make to space and time as they pass through the earth.

Our observation of gravitational waves accomplishes an ambitious goal set out over five decades ago to directly detect this elusive phenomenon and better understand the universe, and, fittingly, fulfills Einstein's legacy on the 100th anniversary of his general theory of relativity, Reitze said.

LIGO research is carried out by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC), a group of more than 1,000 scientists from universities around the United States and in 14 other countries. More than 90 universities and research institutes in the LSC develop detector technology and analyze data; approximately 250 students are strong contributing members of the collaboration.

This detection is the beginning of a new era: The field of gravitational wave astronomy is now a reality, says Gabriela Gonzalez, LSC spokesperson and professor of physics and astronomy at Louisiana State University.

LIGO was originally proposed as a means of detecting gravitational waves in the 1980s by Rainer Weiss from MIT; Kip Thorne and Ronald Drever, both from Caltech.

The description of this observation is beautifully described in the Einstein theory of general relativity formulated 100 years ago and comprises the first test of the theory in strong gravitation. It would have been wonderful to watch Einstein's face had we been able to tell him, Weiss said.

With this discovery, we humans are embarking on a marvelous new quest: the quest to explore the warped side of the universe -- objects and phenomena that are made from warped spacetime. Colliding black holes and gravitational waves are our first beautiful examples, said Thorne.

chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com
Dont fall apart on me tonight

I just dont think that I could handle it

* * * *

I wish Id have been a doctor

Maybe Id have saved some life that had been lost

Maybe Id have done some good in the world

Stead of burning every bridge I crossed

Bob Dylan, from Dont Fall Apart on Me Tonight

About a year and half ago, I did a blog post entitled, How To Manufacture In AND Sell In China Without A WFOE, in which I talked about how our China lawyers have been drafting agreements to allow clients that manufacture in China without a China WFOE to sell their products in China via the following workarounds:

1. The foreign company and the Chinese manufacturer enter into a manufacturing agreement that protects the foreign companys intellectual property and deals with all other related manufacturing issues.

2. The foreign company enters into a separate license agreement with the manufacturer. This agreement provides that the manufacturer will sell the product within China to entities (distributors) selected by the foreign company. The sale to the distributor is made at an agreed price that includes profit to the manufacturer and a payment to the foreign company. We have characterized the payment to the foreign entity in various ways. In some cases, we characterized it as a license royalty, in other cases we characterized it as a sales agency fee. The characterization can also influence whether the agreement must be filed with the Chinese government, and where.

My friend and China consultant extraordinaire, Michael Zakkour, immediately called me to complain about this post. Michael has been intensely involved with China business for fifteen years as a China consultant and I respect him immensely. By way of a quick aside, he is also the author of a terrific book on China, Chinas Super Consumers, which if you havent read, you absolutely should.

Anyway, Micheal did not like my post because he thought it could lead companies that need a WFOE to justify not having a WFOE. My response to Micheal was a bit flippant and consisted of my (probably) saying something like the following:

I trust our readers and I am sure they will get help in figuring out when it is appropriate for them to have a WFOE and when they can get along without one. Our job as blogger is to give our readers their options and if they (rightly or wrongly) think they can without professional help figure out which of the options makes the most sense for them, thats their prerogative.

Not going to concede Michael was right but I am going to say we have in the last few months been getting a ton of companies coming to us with multiple wounds (any of which standing alone will likely eventually be fatal) asking our China lawyers for one or two or more band-aids, believing that is all they need.

The below is a composite of what our China lawyers have been getting of late:

Company comes to us that has been having its products made in China and then shipped back to the U.S. and then shipped back to China when sold to WFOEs in China owned by U.S. or European companies. These U.S. and European WFOEs are now telling the U.S. company they are no longer willing to buy from the U.S. company in dollars; they now will only buy from China and pay in RMB. This is happening for two reasons. One, the U.S. and European WFOEs want to pay less and they do not want to pay to have product shipped to the U.S. and back to China. And two, these U.S. and European WFOEs are having enough trouble getting money out of China (See Getting Money Out of China: What The Heck is Happening?) and they want to eliminate outgoing payments from their China WFOEs whenever possible. I tell these companies their best long term solution is to form a China WFOE that will allow them to get paid in RMB in China and sell its products from China to companies in China. This is potentially fatal wound number one. The companies often want us to fix their problem so their planned sale FOR NEXT WEEK can go through.

In addition to the above selling issue, the companies coming to us also tell us about one or more people they are using as independent contractors to help them in China and they want to know our thoughts on this. I immediately direct them to this article I wrote for Forbes, Chinas Tax Authorities Want You:

Chinese law limits hiring China-based employees to only Chinese legal entities. This means that if you are an American software company, you cannot hire someone in China to do your coding or to provide your support services. This means that if you are a Canadian company selling widgets, you cannot hire someone in China to sell widgets for you. Any person (as opposed to a registered business entity) performing employment-like services for you in China is your employee because China essentially does not recognize independent contractors  and you need to pay employer taxes and benefits on that employee. These employer taxes and benefits vary from city to city, but they usually total around 40 percent of an employees salary. Many foreign companies do not realize they have employees and they fail to pay required employer taxes and benefits.

I then explain how if they do not quickly do something about this independent contractor, situation they are in real danger of being hit with a massive China tax bill, plus interest, plus penalties, plus other even worse possible sanctions. This is potentially fatal wound number two. Once we explain the dire situation in which the company has put itself in China, they usually want us to fix this problem in a week or so as well. I usually explain various expensive and not terribly good short term remedies and then how their best long-term solution is to form a China WFOE and hire these independent contractors as employees.

As if the above were not enough, these companies often come to us with some unusual and potentially potentially fatal wound number three. I do not want to go into any specifics on this one for fear of anyone seeing themselves too in this post, but what this wound usually involves is the company doing something in China the Chinese government would likely view as constituting doing business in China, such that these companies doing these things without their having a Chinese corporate entity violates Chinese law. I tell the company it is at major risk of being taxed for all past business it has conducted in China, plus interest, plus penalties, plus other worse sanctions, and their only solution to stop doing these things (and hope they never get caught for what they did previously) or to form a WFOE to be able to do these things above board. This is potentially fatal wound number three and again, the company usually wants us to come up with something to staunch the bleeding while they figure out what to do and do it.

Dude, dont wait, just get a WFOE.
(Photo : Getty Images) DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missiles on parade.

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Fears over China's growing military strength -- along with the country's creeping seizure of contested territories in the South China Sea -- is driving an increase in military spending in Asia and the United States, according to experts.



The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London released a report on Tuesday indicating an increase in military spending in Asia even as average worldwide military expenditures fell by some 4.2 percent.



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"Asia now spends nearly $100bn more on defence than European members of NATO," according to the IISS Military Balance 2016 report.



"Widespread Concern"



China led the growth with an 11 percent increase in its defense budget last year. The Philippines followed, spending 10 percent more on the modernization and maintenance of its aging military assets than it did the previous year.



The IISS report suggests that worries over China's aggressive military posture in the South China and East China Seas have made "the military dimensions of the Asia-Pacific's international politics" more prominent than ever.



"They're having the effect -- and I don't know when this will dawn on them -- of causing widespread concern in the region, which makes others react, including others react by joining up with us," US defense secretary Ashton Carter said recently, describing China's military activities in the South China and East China Seas.



India -- which last year announced plans to conduct oil exploration off the coast of Vietnam -- spent $48 billion on its military in 2015. Pacifist Japan allocated $41 billion for its self-defense assets, while Australia -- which has openly challenged Beijing's authority over the South China Sea -- afforded its military force a budget of $23 billion.



China dominated defense spending in the region, however, investing $146 billion for its military forces in 2015. Beijing's military budget accounted for around 40 percent of all military expenditures in the region last year, according to the IISS.



Technological Competition



The US -- by far the world's biggest military spender -- invested around $560 billion on its defense forces in 2015, according to a US Department of Defense report.



The Pentagon allocated a significant portion of that money into efforts designed to counter China's military build-up, according to US officials.



Experts have said that Beijing's long-term political objectives in the Asia-Pacific calls for heavier investments in military research and development programs. These investments have allowed China to make tremendous strides in the field of ballistic missile and cyber warfare technology, among others.



"Western military technological superiority, a core assumption of the past two decades, is eroding," John Chipman, IISS director general, told the press in London earlier this week. "Slowing this emerging trend or reversing it will be a key preoccupation of western strategists in the coming decade."



For 2017, the Pentagon has proposed a budget amounting to nearly $583 billion, and again, US defense officials claim a substantial chunk of the planned outlay will go to defense programs that seek to outpace -- or at least match -- the modernization of China's military.



"We're making all these investments that you see in our defense budget that are specifically oriented towards checking the development of the Chinese military," Carter said when he unveiled the Pentagon's proposed allocations in January.



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(Photo : Getty Images) Dragon dancers perform in Chinatown during Chinese New Year celebrations on February 08, 2016 in London, England. This coming Sunday will see the largest Chinese New Year celebrations in Europe as performers and members of the Chinese community in the UK celebrate the Year of the Monkey.

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London's Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations this year will be the biggest outside of Asia. The celebration will be held on Feb. 14 with the New Year parade as the main highlight.



According to the Telegraph UK, the proper London celebrations will begin not on the actual New Year's Day, but on Valentine's Day, Feb. 14. Thousands of people are expected to flock the West End to mark the Year of the Monkey.



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This huge Chinese New Year celebration is expected to fill the West End with music, acrobatics, activities and pyrotechnics. The highlight of the celebration - a grand parade - will feature ten lion dance teams. The parade will start from Trafalgar Square at 10:00 a.m. en route to Chinatown. The parade may ply the road along Charring Cross Road and Shaftesbury Avenue before reaching Chinatown.



If the arrangement is still the same with the previous years, then an official opening ceremony will take place at midday in Trafalgar Square. This will be followed by various performances like acrobatics, traditional dance, theatre and song recitals by artists visiting from China.



There will be craft stalls, Chinese street food stands and lots of dancing on Wardour Street and Gerrard Street. An additional stage will be placed on Shaftesbury Avenue.



There will also be musical performances from Chinese Young Culture Ambassadors and a martial arts display. Crafts and art workshops will be available for everyone to enjoy.



Meanwhile, Regent Street will celebrate Chinese New Year with the traditional Chinese Wishing Tree which will be placed on Glasshouse Street. Legend says that if you hang your hopes for the coming year on a Wishing Tree, your dreams will come true.



Meanwhile, London has been selected as the first city outside the Far East to host the Magical Lantern Festival. This is a dazzling showcase of lights, music theatre, culture and art.



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TagsChinese Young Culture Ambassadors, Chinese New Year 2016, Trafalgar Square, Chinatown, London Celebrates Chinese New Year, London, Year of the Monkey, celebration, Magical Lantern Festival, Lantern Festival
(Photo : Reuters) The US Capitol, home of the US Senate, is seen in the above photo. The US Senate has passed a legislation that would impose hard-hitting sanctions on Kim Jong Un's government. Republican Senators were quick to use the occasion to blast Obama and China for failing to break an impasse on the issue in the UN Security Council.

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The US Senate on Wednesday unanimously passed a legislation that would impose hard-hitting sanctions on Kim Jong Un's government for its recent series of provocative actions.



The overwhelming vote is widely seen as an effort to force the international community to retaliate more aggressively against North Korea's rogue government, a move that China has consistently tried to avoid within its purview as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).



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Republican lawmakers were quick to use the occasion to blast both China and US President Barrack Obama for failing to break an impasse in the UNSC, where competing interests have kept member states from punishing North Korea despite the collective sentiment that its latest moves are out of line.



"The President should list North Korea again as a state sponsor of terrorism," Republican senator and presidential candidate Ted Cruz told the Washington Post on Wednesday. "The President needs to pressure China to rein in North Korea and stop pretending China is a friend on this."



"Partners"



The Obama administration has attempted to direct its response to Pyongyang through the UNSC, but Beijing has lately been sending signals that it will not support any measures that would exacerbate an already taut situation along its borders with North Korea.



"When we have 'partners', quote-quote, on the UN Security Council that are unwilling to take steps, it means even more so that this body... has got to be proactive," said US Republican Senator Bob Corker said in an apparent reference to Beijing's reluctance to impose crippling sanctions on Kim Jong Un's government.



China has approached the possibility of sanctions against its neighbor with painstaking caution, largely out of a concern that destabilizing North Korea would only create chaos in the region. Over the past years, a number of reports have suggested instances when starving North Korean soldiers crossed the border into China to steal food and money -- a scenario that no doubt weighs heavily on the minds of Chinese officials.



"We agreed that the UN Security Council needs to take further action and pass a resolution," said Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi last month when US state secretary John Kerry was in Beijing to discuss possible sanctions against Pyongyang. "In the meantime, we must point out that the new resolution should not provoke new tensions."



No Response



The US Senate's "North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act" seeks to punish anyone who engages in, facilitates or contributes to North Korea's proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, arms-related materials, luxury goods, human rights abuses, activities undermining cyber security and provision of material for such activities.



Reuters reports that the penalties include seizure of assets, visa bans and denial of government contracts.



The vote against North Korea was 96 to 0.



The US House of Representatives is said to have passed a similar bill last month. Senate Democrats have told the press that differences between the two pieces of legislation will be quickly resolved, and they expect Obama to sign the bill into law.



Curiously, the measure makes most of the sanctions mandatory, rather than giving Obama the option to impose them. The White House can waive the measures, but only if it can successfully argue that they threaten national security.



The White House has not moved for a veto, and an administration spokesperson said Obama had no immediate response to the bill.



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TagsUS-China relations, China-North Korea relations, UN sanctions
(Photo : Reuters) The Lenovo Vibe C will be launched in the Romanian and Croatian markets.

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Chinese tech company Lenovo has launched its latest smartphone called the Vibe P1 Turbo in Indonesia, as a variant of last year's Vibe P1 model. The new handset was initially called the Vibe P1 Pro when the Chinese company teased the device back in 2015.



The Lenovo Vibe P1 Turbo is currently available for pre-orders in the Indonesian market with a price tag of about $295. It comes in Graphite Gray, silver or gold colors.



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Specs-wise, the Lenovo Vibe P1 Turbo features a 5.5-inch display screen with a 1,080 x 1,920 pixel resolution (Full HD). The phone comes with the Android 5.1 Lollipop operating system pre-installed, along with dual-SIM functionality, support for LTE connectivity, and a fingerprint sensor.



As for the camera, the Vibe P1 Turbo has a 13 megapixel snapper on the back with dual-LED flash, and a 5 megapixel unit on the front.



Inside, the device packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of internal memory storage and a massive 5,000 mAh battery that supports the 24W Quick Charge 2.0. Other sources claim that the phone features only 2GB of RAM. In addition, the memory can be expanded up to 128GB via microSD card.



As of this time, it is unclear where the Lenovo Vibe P1 Turbo will head to next. In the meantime, a new tablet by Lenovo with the model number "TB3-710I" recently made its way into China's telecommunications equipment certification center (TENAA), after passing through the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the U.S back in October 2015.



Dubbed the Lenovo Tab 3 7 Basic, this device features a 7-inch display screen with a 1,024 x 600 pixel resolution, a MediaTek MT8127 chipset under its hood and only 1GB of RAM.



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TagsLenovo Vibe P1 Turbo Indonesia February 2016, Lenovo, Lenovo Vibe P1 Turbo Specs
The Chocolate Math of it All - v. 9/30/2022 Number of Days Since This Chocolate Bet Started: 5,860

Number of Chocolate Items Eaten: 5,860+

Number of different items combined with chocolate: 371 - from Absinthe to Zucchini)

Weight of Chocolate Eaten: ~ 5,860 oz. (366.25 lbs. or 166.12 kg)

Total Number of Chocolate Calories Consumed to date: ~ 879,000 (There are, on average, 150 calories in 1 oz. or 28.3 grams of chocolate.)

Number of Companies producing chocolate items I've eaten: Approx. 1,592; Number of bean-to-bar makers: 194

Number of Countries where chocolates were made: 66

Number of Pounds of Chocolate Americans Eat: Approx. 11-12 pounds per year; I eat 27 lbs. (more than 12 kg.)/year. Per capita chocolate consumption in Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Ireland: 8-9 kilograms (17-22 pounds)/year. Global demand has stayed high, despite economic fluctuations.

Cost of all these Chocolates: A lot of money, but worth every penny. Chocolates range from $1 to $20 each. Occasionally I receive gifts or samples. Copyright Information

All other product names, logos, trademarks, and product packaging designs belong to their respective owners.

Content and photos are by Corinne C. DeBra unless otherwise noted; all photos are posted in low resolution. Copyright (c) 2006-2021 Corinne C. DeBra, Chocolate Banquet
Should women be forced to sign up for the draft? Guest Reviewer | 11 February, 2016 by Michael Foust

CHICAGO (Christian Examiner)  Requiring women to register for Selective Service and then forcing them into battle defies not only "God's design" for the sexes but also "common sense," the president of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood says.

Owen Strachan, president of CBMW, made the comments after the top officers of the Army and Marine Corps told the Senate Armed Services Committee that they believe women should be required to register for the draft. As it stands now, only men  within 30 days of their 18th birthday  are required to register with Selective Service, which is a list of people potentially subject to the draft.

"I think that all eligible and qualified men and women should register for the draft," Gen. Mark A. Milley, chief of staff of the Army, said in response to a question from U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D.-Mo.) last week.

Gen. Robert B. Neller, the Marine Corps commandant, minutes earlier had made similar comments, and after the hearing emphasized his viewpoint.

"Now that the restrictions that exempted women from [combat jobs] don't exist, then you're a citizen of a United States," Neller told The Washington Post. "It doesn't mean you're going to serve, but you go register."

Conservative leader Tony Perkins called the thought of sending women into battle "cowardice."

Strachan, who also serves as associate professor of Christian theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo., bemoaned that another area of society is pushing the gender-neutral agenda.

"This grand project presents several problems for believers," Strachan told the Christian Examiner. "It diminishes the glory of God, who created man and woman, and who loves manhood and womanhood more than anyone. It also places women in harm, and all in the name of empowering them. A compulsory draft of women means that many will be forced to enter combat positions. This is a gross violation of God's design and common sense."

Scripture and basic biology make the issue clear-cut, Strachan added.

"Men are best able, on average, to bear the brutal responsibilities and duties of warfare," he said. "Women, by contrast, have struggled in limited samples to perform the minimal physical tasks necessary to battlefield survival. We know why: God made men differently than He made women  'male and female He created them' (Genesis 1:27). Men are made to use their greater strength to risk their lives for women and children. This is clear in the example of the great Davidic warriors, the 'mighty men' of Israel (see 2 Samuel 23). These men put their lives on the line for those God called them to protect, provide for, and lead."

Glenn T. Stanton, director of family formation studies at Focus on the Family, told Christian Examiner that a "virtuous nation and good soldiers protect women and children."

"They don't send their women off to battle," said Stanton, who also serves as a research fellow at the Institute of Marriage and Family in Ottawa. "The real issue here is the draft. There are highly skilled women serving in the military at very high levels and doing very important and dangerous tasks. A mother here at Focus has a daughter who is one of the Air Force's leading pilots of their biggest cargo planes. She rocks! But she chose to serve her country this way and she is making incredible contributions.

"Requiring women to register to defend their country is not virtuous," Stanton said. "Rosie the Riveter served her country heroically, but she didn't need to be drafted into the military to do it."

Meanwhile, some conservatives also are raising objections to women being drafted based on a 2015 RAND study showing that women are far more likely to be sexually assaulted or experience sexual harassment in the military. The data showed that 4.9 percent of women and 1.0 percent of men in the military reported being sexually assaulted in the past year. Additionally, 22 percent of women and 7 percent of men said they were sexually harassed in the past year.

The issue was the source of controversy at the most recent Republican debate, when three candidates  Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush and Chris Christie  shocked social conservatives by not opposing the idea of women being forced to register.

"I do believe that Selective Service should be opened up for both men and women in case a draft is ever instituted," Rubio said.

Asked if women should be required to sign up, Bush responded, "I do."

Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said Selective Service for women is only the logical next step after Defense Secretary Ash Carter ignored "the advice of his military chiefs" and chose to "bring women into the most dangerous, grueling roles in the service."

"What kind of nation forces its sisters, daughters and granddaughters onto a battlefield against their will?" Perkins asked in a column online. "That's not progress. It's the worst kind of cowardice. And what good is 'equality' if it's only setting women up for disaster and failure? As a Marine and the father of three daughters, I think the most pro-woman decision America could make is sparing them from policies that order them into harm's way."

Said Strachan, "Christians oppose measures like the draft for women because our view of womanhood is glorious. We believe God infused womanhood with dignity and beauty. The shallow, fierce, gender-neutral-gray vision of womanhood offered by the culture pales in comparison to what God calls women to be."
UPDATE: Graham plays role in ending Oregon siege; assures protestors 11 February, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , |

UPDATE: The standoff between armed protestors at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is over. The last four protestors left the compound and walked down the road to a green FBI armored car where evangelist Franklin Graham and Nevada assemblywoman Michele Fiore were waiting. Fiore told the protestors "America is watching" so they need not fear personal injury in surrenduring. Graham reportedly told the protestors, "We are proud of you and love you and look forward to giving you guys a big hug."

BURNS, Ore. (Christian Examiner)  Evangelist Franklin Graham is reportedly talking with the last of the occupiers of the federal land management office at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Ore., six weeks after the group took control of the vacant federal office.

Graham posted to his Facebook page that he had been "talking with the last four holdouts" in the Oregon standoff "every day by phone for the last week at their request and at the request of the FBI."

"Last night I was on the phone with them for several hours, was able to have prayer with them, and they have said they would come out today. I am on my way there and hope to be there by 7:00 AM their time. Please keep them, law enforcement officials, and all involved in your prayers, that everyone will be safe," Graham said.

Earlier, however, the holdouts in the standoff over citizens' land rights and federal land management claimed there would be no peaceful end to the controversy. A phone call between a third party identified as Gavin Seim and the occupiers, livestreamed on the web for four-and-a-half hours, contained profanity-laced tirades from the occupiers and shouts for the FBI agents to go away.

Protestors said on the phone call they feared they would "never see the light of day again" after they were arrested and would likely be killed on the way to jail. "They killed LaVoy," several of the protestors could be heard saying.

The protestors were referring to Robert "LaVoy" Finicum, spokesman for the protest group who was shot and killed when his vehicle was stopped at a road block near Burns Jan. 27. Finicum's vehicle very nearly hit a police officer as it skidded into the snow. Police shot him when they said he reached for a gun at his waste, but video shot from a plane above stoked conspiracy theories that Finicum had no gun and was executed.

David Fry, 27, Jeff Banta, 46, Sean Anderson, 47, and his wife Sandy, 48, remain at the site. Banta is from Elko, Nevada, and has requested Nevada Assemblywoman Michele Fiore participate in the surrender as well.

On Wednesday, FBI tactical units and armored vehicles moved in on the occupiers, telling them to put down their weapons and surrender. The units also reportedly infiltrated the compound at night and were already in buildings near where the holdouts were sheltered.

The increasing tension led Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, a hero to land rights advocates and the leader of an armed standoff two years ago over grazing rights, to make his way to Oregon. Bundy, however, was arrested by federal authorities as soon as he stepped off the plane in Portland.

Sandy Anderson told FBI negotiators as they tightened the ring of security around the compound, "You promised Franklin Graham you wouldn't do this."

Graham called into the compound, reaching Sean Anderson, who is from Idaho. He offered to come to the refuge to facilitate the surrender, but the FBI has not said if such an action is even possible.

"If they double cross us, all bets are off," Anderson said via the live stream call.
Temple Israel of Hollywood had some unusual guests during its Friday night Shabbat: a group of some 20 Korean American teenagers, a youth pastor, a Korean parent, and a few church youth group leaders.

The visit was the second in an exchange that Temple Israel participated in with Los Angeles Christian Presbyterian Church (LACPC), the first of which involved Temple Israels youth visiting LACPCs Sunday youth worship service in December.

For some, it may be easy to draw the connection as to why the two groups have decided to come together. After all, Jews and Christians share at least one thing in common: the Old Testament of the Bible. Pastor Joseph Kim, the youth pastor of LACPC, shared that one of the primary reasons he decided to say yes to such an endeavor with Temple Israel was out of his hopes that the experience would deepen the youths understanding of the Old Testament and of the Jewish customs the youth read about in the Bible.

I dont know much about Jewish culture except for what I read in the Old Testament of the Bible, and Ive never had the opportunity to interact with Jewish people or see how Jewish worship is done in their synagogues, modern day, Kim explained in an interview in December. And for our kids, having this kind of exposure really opens their eyes and would inform them as they grow into adults.

Right now, our kids have been going through Old Testament books for the past few months in their personal devotionals, and I thought it would be a cool experience for them to actually interact with the descendants of the people theyre reading about, Kim added.

Rabbi Jocee Hudson, the religious school director at Temple Israel, initiated the exchange for a slightly different reason. Hudson had had a growing desire to change the youth students curriculum and provide a space for them to engage with groups of other races and faiths, she explained, and ultimately collaborate on justice efforts together.

In fact, Temple Israel has pursued interfaith justice and community service efforts with other local religious groups on numerous occasions in the past. It collaborated with Islah Muslim Social Services to give food to some 200 homeless individuals, and hosted an interfaith service on Martin Luther Kings Day.

Interfaith connections are really important to change the city and the world for the better, Hudson explained. Forging these kinds of partnerships, and having these kinds of dialogues together, could ultimately lead to bigger things.

For many of the teens, it seems that they took the experience rather simply. The taste of a different religious service, and interacting with peers of a different religious community, was simply interesting and cool, as many of the teens said.

It was the first time many of the Jewish youth sang along to contemporary Christian songs or listened to a Christian pastors sermon. And likewise, most of the Christian youth had sat in on a Jewish Shabbat for the first time, listening to the Psalms they might have read in church being sung in Hebrew and to a sermon (called a dvar Torah) about the Jewish faith.

It was really cool for me to branch out and learn about other religions, said Lauren Freedman, a 13-year-old who attends Temple Israel and had grown up in a Jewish school. I would like to go back some time, she added, saying that she hopes more exchanges like this would happen again.

Ive never been in a synagogue before or a Jewish worship, said Daniel Kang, who was invited by a friend who attends LACPC. It was a cool experience.

Eric Choi, a 12-year-old from LACPC, said that the exchange challenged him to become more devout in his own faith.

The experience opened up my mind and showed me that others are working just as hard to have a good relationship with God, Choi said. And that reminded me that I shouldnt give up either.
Several faith leaders were asked to write brief comments about the future of Roe. I was glad to see that I was not the only person asked who sees life as beginning at conception and who is ready to see Roe overturned.
Update (Feb. 12): World Watch Monitor offers a summary of the history-making meeting between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill in Cuba's Havana airport.

Gathering for the first time in nearly 1,000 years to jointly address the record levels of modern-day persecution of Christians, the leaders of Roman Catholicism and Russian Eastern Orthodoxy wrote:

In our determination to undertake all that is necessary to overcome the historical divergences we have inherited, we wish to combine our efforts to give witness to the Gospel of Christ and to the shared heritage of the Church of the first millennium, responding together to the challenges of the contemporary world. Orthodox and Catholics must learn to give unanimously witness in those spheres in which this is possible and necessary. Human civilization has entered into a period of epochal change. Our Christian conscience and our pastoral responsibility compel us not to remain passive in the face of challenges requiring a shared response. ... We ...

1
Gospel for Asia Celebrates World Radio Day Global Ministry Broadcasts Christ's Word in More than 113 Languages



Contact: GFA Media,

972-300-3379,

gfamedia@gfa.org



WILLS POINT, Texas, Feb. 11, 2016 /Christian Newswire/ -- Gospel for Asia (GFA) is celebrating World Radio Day on Feb. 13, acknowledging the value of a technology that brings the message of Jesus Christ to millions who may wait years to meet a Christian ministry worker in person.



Photo: For 30 years, Gospel for Asia has been producing radio programs on a variety of topics that speak to the people of Asia about the hope found in Jesus Christ.



"We believe that everyone should hear the message of hope in the Bible, and we know that radio has and still can carry that message today into the farthest reaches," said K.P. Yohannan, founder and international director of GFA. "Radio remains a cost-effective, reliable and trusted tool to help isolated individuals and communities hear the good news of Jesus Christ and grow in their understanding of Scripture."



GFA's radio ministries began 30 years ago, and today they broadcast in more than 113 languages across South Asia. Yohannan's weekly Road to Reality radio program can be heard on radio stations throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.



Each year, GFA Radio receives more than a million inquiries from listeners who want more information about Jesus Christ. Each inquiry receives a personal response from a specially trained staff member or Bible school student, who responds with compassion and prayer.



UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, sponsors World Radio Day each year to acknowledge its power to reach the world's most remote and vulnerable populations. In 2015, more than 320 events were held in 80 countries across the globe to celebrate World Radio Day, with 19 radio stations broadcasting live from UNESCO headquarters in Paris.



"We've seen radio change lives," said Yohannan. "We know of prison inmates who found the Lord and of parents with sick children who found faith. And today, we give thanks for the technology that enables those transformations."



Gospel for Asia is a missions organization sharing the love of Jesus across South Asia. For more information, go to www.gfa.org.



To schedule an interview with a Gospel for Asia representative, contact GFA Media at 972-300-3379 or gfamedia@gfa.org.

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Organization Inspired by Frederick Douglass will Attend the Carolina Values Summit Dean Nelson, Chairman of the Douglass Leadership Institute, has a few questions for the 2016 Presidential Candidates



Contact: Regina Roundtree, Communications,



ROCK HILL, S.C., Feb. 11, 2016 /



With a 'soft launch' at the annual Values Voter Summit in Washington DC, this past September, DLI makes a bolder move with appearing on stage to ask questions of this year's Presidential Candidates at the Carolina Values Summit. The forum is design to "have a conversation with the 2016 Presidential candidates on key issues facing urban America" Rev. Dean Nelson, Chairman of DLI, will participate on stage with questions for the candidates.



"DLI is a values-based leadership organization that works in the community," said Nelson, "anytime we are given the opportunity to shed light on important issues we will take it."



Included in the Summit is an award ceremony. Rev. Nelson, along with Bishop Harry Jackson and others, will be presenting an award to the King Family Foundation in honor of their work on racial reconciliation. Dr. Alveda King will be accepting the award on behalf of the Foundation.



Look for DLI to make their mark in eight states (FL, VA, NC, MI, PA,, OH, GA and MO) this upcoming year through their first initiative Turning The Tide via community forums focused on the Black Family, Criminal Justice Reform and Economic Opportunity. More can be found on their



Contact:

Regina Roundtree

Communications

rroundtree@DLInstitute.org

860-593-8483

Share Tweet Contact: Regina Roundtree, Communications, Douglass Leadership Institute , 860-593-8483, rroundtree@DLInstitute.org ROCK HILL, S.C., Feb. 11, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- Douglass Leadership Institute (DLI) is a new 501c(3) organization launched in 2015 with the express purpose of educating, equipping and empowering faith-based leaders to embrace and apply biblical principles to life and in the marketplace.With a 'soft launch' at the annual Values Voter Summit in Washington DC, this past September, DLI makes a bolder move with appearing on stage to ask questions of this year's Presidential Candidates at the Carolina Values Summit. The forum is design to "have a conversation with the 2016 Presidential candidates on key issues facing urban America" Rev. Dean Nelson, Chairman of DLI, will participate on stage with questions for the candidates."DLI is a values-based leadership organization that works in the community," said Nelson, "anytime we are given the opportunity to shed light on important issues we will take it."Included in the Summit is an award ceremony. Rev. Nelson, along with Bishop Harry Jackson and others, will be presenting an award to the King Family Foundation in honor of their work on racial reconciliation. Dr. Alveda King will be accepting the award on behalf of the Foundation.Look for DLI to make their mark in eight states (FL, VA, NC, MI, PA,, OH, GA and MO) this upcoming year through their first initiative Turning The Tide via community forums focused on the Black Family, Criminal Justice Reform and Economic Opportunity. More can be found on their www.Facebook.com/DLInstitute and their website www.DLInstitute.org Contact:Regina RoundtreeCommunications860-593-8483
UNC excavation crew in Galilee region of Israel uncover first known depictions of biblical heroines An excavation team in Israel has discovered the first known depiction of two biblical heroines from the Old Testament.

World to reach 8 billion people in November, India to unseat China as most populous in 2023: UN By Nov. 15, the worlds population is projected to reach 8 billion, and by 2023, India is projected to surpass China as the worlds most populous country, according to a new report from the United Nations.

Single, non-religious young adults are most unhappy Americans post-COVID-19: report Young adults under 35 who are single and non-religious report the highest levels of unhappiness since the COVID-19 pandemic began and since 1972, when the General Social Survey began measuring levels of happiness among Americans, a new analysis from the Institute of Family Studies suggests.
It has been far too many years since the Woke theology interlaced its canons within the fabric of the Indoctrination Realm, so it is nigh time to ask: Does this Representative Republic continue, as a functioning society of a self-governed people, by contending with the unusual, self absorbed dictates of the Woke, and their vast array of Victimhood scenarios?

Yes, the Religion of Woke must continue; there are so many groups of underprivileged, underserved, a direct result of unrelenting Inequity; they deserve everything.

No; the Woke fools must be toppled from their pedestal; a functioning society of a good Constitutional people cannot withstand this level of "existential" favoritism as it exists now, unending.
Abortion vote: Northern Ireland votes against liberalisation of law

Abortion in Northern Ireland will remain illegal after assembly members voted down an attempt to allow terminations in the case of "fatal foetal abnormality".

The region's devolved assembly, Stormont, voted by 59 to 40 against the legislation proposed by two MLAs from the Alliance Party, Stewart Dickson and Trevor Lunn.

Unlike the rest of the UK, the 1967 Abortion Act does not extend to Northern Ireland where termination is only accepted if the mother's life is in danger or if there is a risk of permanent or serious damage to her mental and physical health.

After a heated debate which lasted beyond midnight, MLAs defeated a proposal that would extend that criteria to cases of "fatal foetal abnormality" and sexual crime such as rape or incest. A "fatal foetal abnormality" diagnosis means doctors believe the unborn child has a terminal condition and will either die in the womb or shortly after birth.

However a spokesman for CARE in Northern Ireland, a Christian charity who have campaigned against a change in the law, said it was not always the case the fatal foetal abnormality diagnoses result in immediate death.

Mark Baillie pointed to cases where "parents testify to how they have cherished the time spent with their children, whether it was weeks, months or in some cases even years".

"Had the amendments been passed, doctors would have become judges which is not only unfair on medical profession, it is also a dangerous precedent to set," he said.

"We do need to look at what support is currently on offer for victims of sexual violence and we certainly support pastoral help for those who experience the pain of sexual crimes committed against them."

However MLAs who brought forward the motion pointed to the case of Sarah Ewart, who publicly travelled to Britain to have an abortion after she was told her child had no chance of survival outside the womb.

"If we are to continue to fail women in Northern Ireland in this area then we are abdicating our duties as representatives," said Stewart Dickson, who proposed the amendment on fatal foetal abnormalities.

"The traumatic journey to England for many young women is becoming a shame on Northern Ireland and to force women with a fatal foetal pregnancy to look elsewhere for help and support make this worse."

Hours before the vote it was revealed Northern Ireland's Attorney General had raised serious concerns about the legality of the Alliance members' proposals.

"Providing for a criminal law exception for 'fatal foetal abnormality', as proposed by this amendment, provides unborn children diagnosed with such a disability with much less protection under the law of Northern Ireland than those without such a disability," John Larkin wrote in a letter to Trade Unionist Voice leader, Jim Allister.

At the end of the debate the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the main party in Northern Ireland, set up a working group to look into the issue. However other parties criticised the move as a "fudge".

Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt claimed the group, which will take six month to complete its work, was a "device" to delay a decision until after May's assembly election. He described the delay as "cruel" and "Dickensian".

"This is Bleak House we're in today, in the Chancery courts waiting day after day, after day, after day for a decision that never comes," he said.

However Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) MLAs joined CARE in expressing doubts doctors could accurately predict the survival chances of an unborn child.

SDLP MLA Dolores Kelly said clinicians had told her party that "there is no such definition" as fatal foetal abnormality.
BBC's decision to advertise suicide is a disgrace

BBC 2's "How to die: Simon's choice" told the story of Simon Binner, 57, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in January 2015. He decided, after months of deliberation, to go to the Eternal Spirit suicide clinic in Switzerland to end his own life. In the BBC's own words the film was a "dramatic and poignant story of one man facing the heart wrenching decision of whether to end his own life at a suicide clinic after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease". During the film, you can watch as Simon records a heartbreaking message for his wife, Debbie, and then turns on the drip to administer the lethal drug that will end his life.

Some may argue the BBC was right to show this moving film. Some might even say it was simply documenting the truth. But this film knowledgably touches on a very polarising subject. And the moment, therefore, the BBC decided to show this programme, the moment they took a stance by failing, repeatedly I might add, to show the other side of the debate is the moment they entered this issue by very clearly taking the side of assisted suicide campaigners. It would be utterly naive to suggest the BBC had no ulterior motives.

But what on earth was the BBC thinking? This is taking the principle of 'edgy' television to a whole new and gruesome level. Exploring sensitivities around death is one thing, but actually filming the last moments of someone's life and then allowing it to be broadcast to millions is something else entirely. And this is not exactly the first time the BBC has committed this cardinal sin of advertising assisted suicide. For years now they have been following the assisted suicide agenda with more than a hint of bias. Back in 2011, they showed a documentary by assisted suicide campaigner Sir Terry Pratchett which showed the final moments of a man helped to die. Then in 2013, the BBC gave full airtime to Lord Falconer to tell the world why he wanted to introduce assisted suicide into the UK. In 2014, the BBC came under fire again because they showed a television drama about a pregnant woman who prepared lethal drugs for her ill mother. Not once, during that programme, did they even mention that assisted suicide is against the law.

Have the controllers and producers simply given up pretending? The BBC's own guidance warns that 'Factual reporting and fictional portrayal of suicide, attempted suicide and self-harm have the potential to make such actions appear possible and even appropriate, to the vulnerable.' Before the film was even aired, the Samaritans contacted the BBC to suggest certain scenes should be removed, because of the disturbing nature of them. Perhaps the BBC should nail their colours to the mast rather than using words like 'powerful' and 'dramatic' to describe the very personal, sensitive and private last moments of an individual. By showing this programme at all, there is the suggestion that what Binner did is the norm in society today. But it is not and there is a real danger this programme will actually end up encouraging people to end their own lives. Anything that normalises suicide should be regarded as dangerous with potentially harmful consequences.

This film was emotional and it was very, very sad. But relying upon emotions and feelings to make laws is a very, very bad idea. Hard cases make bad laws, or so the saying goes. And it is absolutely true. For every Simon, there is a John, a Ruth, a George and a Michael who decide, no matter how bad the diagnosis, to choose an alternative and to receive hospice care and palliative care. Where are their stories? Why doesn't the BBC prepare a documentary telling the untold story of all the major disabilities groups who are opposed to assisted suicide?

Do you want to know what the woman who runs suicide clinic Eternal Spirit said to Mr Binner's wife when she visited the clinic and expressed doubts? Dr Erika Preisig asked Debbie if she wanted to keep her husband alive just so he could be her 'human pet'. That is a disgusting, insulting, rude and utterly absurd statement. Even considering it makes my blood boil. That is emotional blackmail, founded upon a deeply unsettling worldview. No motor neurone sufferer is ever, at any stage, a 'human pet'. No-one, no matter how debilitating their condition, is ever a 'human pet' because every life has value to it. This insensitive, crass question is unfair: it is designed to engineer guilt within those who disagree with assisted suicide. You should not feel guilty because you want nature to take its course, rather than trying to control death, with all that means for you and for your family.

This is not about choice. It is about how we as a society treat those with disabilities, with abnormalities, with terminal illnesses and those who are old. We don't want to be encouraging suicide. Shame on the BBC for showing this. Shame on them for advertising suicide. Shame on them for repeatedly failing to highlight the alternatives, such as palliative care and hospices. MPs voted down the last attempt to permit assisted suicide and did so by a clear and overwhelming majority. This documentary was deeply disturbing and it is a disgrace that the BBC chose to show it.

James Mildred works for CARE but writes in a personal capacity.
Deadpool: The Christian Today review

Last Valentine's Day it was Fifty Shades of Grey; this year superhero flick Deadpool is being pitched as the ultimate alternative date movie. The big screen adaptation of Marvel's most notorious comic book character is just as controversial, and just like Fifty Shades it's been hyped up in some countries and banned in others as a result. It's gory, violent, sweary and as sex-obsessed as the teenage boys at which it's aimed. So should it be initiating the same kind of moral panic that we saw last year? And does it contain anything redemptive at all?

Two decades ago, I went to a seminar at the UK Christian event Spring Harvest which focused on the question of what teenagers should and shouldn't watch and listen to. I was 15, but the advice from the front was not to use that as a justification for seeing anything labelled suitable for that age. The speaker drew heavily on Paul's 'whatever is pure, whatever is lovely... think about such things' speech from Phillippians 4, and suggested that since what we expose our minds to can profoundly influence the way we think and act, our movie viewing habits should definitely remain at the PG end of the market. I remember a genuine conversation about whether it was appropriate for a Christian teenager to watch Look Who's Talking Too.

I wonder what that seminar speaker would have made of Deadpool. A decade in the making, Ryan Reynolds' star turn as the wisecracking, profanity-spewing, morally ambiguous anti-hero is like a checklist of things that many Christians find abhorrent. Boundary-pushing sexual content: check. Almost rhythmic use of expletives: check. Gory, fetishised violence: check, check, check. Twenty years ago, Deadpool would have been picketed by evangelical Christians waving 'ban this sick filth' banners. Now, while the boundaries of what Christians seem to find acceptable have shifted somewhat since the mid 1990s, it's still pretty shocking. I can't possibly recommend it, and for some people: end of review.

However, while Deadpool might not be a wholesome movie, or a neatly redemptive story about good simply overcoming evil, it is an important movie to know about, and especially for anyone who works with or parents teenagers. Extraordinarily, the UK's Film Classification Board (BBFC) have seen fit to award the movie a '15' certificate, and without getting into a debate about slipping standards, that's a huge surprise given the content. What that means is that millions of teenagers will see the film, and I can guarantee they'll love it.

Because, while a moral interrogation of the movie finds it hugely problematic, a critical review has to concede that it's very well done. The fourth-wall-breaking self-referential tone is note perfect throughout, the action sequences innovative and impressive. Reynolds is compelling in the lead, and his relationship with love interest Vanessa (Homelands' Morena Baccarin) places a proper emotional story at the heart of all the surrounding madness. And while it's constantly profane, speaking objectively it's funny: really, really funny, with a joke hit rate way above what you'd expect even in a comedy. Judged against what it sets out to try and do, Deadpool is a total success.

Word of mouth about that quality  and all the 'cool' violence, killer lines and masturbation references  will spread fast. Other critics have suggested that Deadpool will become this generation's cult teen movie, pushing deeper into the footsteps of films like the then-controversial American Pie. So here's a basic summary:

Reynolds plays Wade Wilson, a soldier turned small-time rogue with a smart mouth, who undergoes three rapid fire conversions. First, his world turns upside down when he falls for prostitute Vanessa, and their relationship quickly develops; melting him entirely. Then, as soon as he's suggested they make their relationship permanent, he's diagnosed with terminal cancer and his life spins again as he faces up to his imminent death. And he's barely had time to process that shock when a mysterious man arrives offering to cure his illness and turn him into a superhero. He reluctantly agrees and the third big change occurs: he becomes Deadpool, but with terrible side effects that leave him hideously disfigured (hence the all-over body suit). He sets off on a quest to find the villain who did that to him, but what's interesting is that he's not driven by pure revenge, but by the dream that the process can be reversed, and that he can resume his relationship with Vanessa. He's arguably motivated by love, not hate.

He's no angel however. He might look a bit like Spiderman in that red suit, but the similarities end there. He's reckless, especially around other human life; he's unpleasant even to his closest friends. Other heroic characters are trying to convince him to join the X-Men (the wing of the Marvel comic universe in which Deadpool resides), but he's not really interested in true heroism. What he really wants is to be able to resume the life which cancer, and then its dubious cure, has stolen from him.

I think teenagers (and many others) will resonate with a character who just wants to get on with enjoying the best parts of life; the problem is that (unlike many teens) he's not motivated by the idea of helping others or putting them first. More basically than that though, they'll love the way he and the movie push at moral boundaries, and they'll think he's the funniest  and therefore most likeable  superhero they've ever come across.

Teenagers have always operated at the edge of culture; pushing to see what they're allowed to watch, listen to and get away with. Christians however are a different matter. A few right-leaning voices around the film industry aside, there's been no real outrage among believers about Deadpool, and perhaps that's a good thing; after all, we don't only want to be known for what we stand against. But here's a difficult confession: I watched the film, and while I found the language, violence and sex distracting, I did find myself enjoying large parts of it. I laughed at many of the jokes; I found myself caught up in the story  especially in the romantic plot. I wouldn't seek to justify that, but it does cause me to question: what's happened in the church, and more specifically within me, that means I no longer react with shock to those things which prove the very antithesis of Paul's Phillippians 4 list?

Make your own mind up about that, and whether you should see a film that's quite so Godless (and there's no sneaky secret redemptive subplot to use as a Get Out of Jail Free card I'm afraid). Regardless of that, Deadpool will be a huge cultural presence in the coming weeks and, given the predicted success of this movie and the post-credits promise of a sequel, for many years to come. Like him or not, he becomes a vital cultural reference point in youth culture, and perhaps another benchmark in how far certain boundaries have moved.

Martin Saunders is a Contributing Editor for Christian Today and the Deputy CEO of Youthscape. You can follow him on Twitter: @martinsaunders
Desperate Iraqis fleeing ISIS are hearing the gospel in refugee camps

In the face of escalating atrocities committed by Islamic State, faith is alive in northern Iraq where a Christian ministry is bringing the gospel to those living in refugee camps.

"We face our greatest challenges and our greatest opportunities," senior director of international operations at Leading The Way, Allan Guinan, told Christian Today.

Leading The Way has been working in Iraqi refugee camps, broadcasting the gospel 24/7 via satellite and radio, discipling new believers and meeting the practical needs of residents. To date, the team have directly worked with 7,700 people.

Having returned from northern Iraq recently, Guinan recalled meeting a woman who said to him: "I thank God for ISIS."

She said: "I was a lukewarm Christian, I might go to church occasionally and now I have this vibrant relationship with Christ."

Guinan said he was deeply encouraged by her faith.

"The persecution, undoubtedly unprecedented in modern times, that has been unleashed and caused this mass migration of people and the horrible things, has also brought with it a refining of Christian faith," he said.

"While we see this significant rise in persecution against believers, at the same time this presents a great opportunity to present Christ," he added.

"People are becoming challenged about Islam, disenfranchised by the radical Islam they have experienced and are seeking truth and answers.

"We seek to bring the holistic two hands of the gospel. We both proclaim and demonstrate the gospel. The foundation is that we want to present Christ to people in both word and dead."

George (last name withheld for security reasons), Leading The Way's regional director, said in a statement that God is using the crisis in the Middle East to draw closer to his people. "We've been visiting areas so close to where ISIS is controlling villages and cities. But the Lord is bringing Christ again to this land," he said.

"We've met so many families struggling through the harsh winter months living in tents. They are living in agony and when you present them with the gospel, you make a difference.

"I think this land will be exposed to the gospel more than any other time in history and the Lord is able to change many people because of our great church partners who are really sacrificing their lives for the Lord to see change happening."
Did Republicans ask Iran to delay Saeed Abedini's release until elections?

A senior Iranian official has made the astonishing claim that Republican members of Congress asked the Iranian government to delay the release of Pastor Saeed Abedini and three other American hostages until the 2016 elections.

Iran's Tasnim News Agency reports on an address to a rally held in the central city of Yazd to mark the 37th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, told the gathering: "In the course of the talks for exchanging prisoners, the Republican rivals of the current US administration who claim to be humanitarians and advocates of human rights sent a message telling us not to release these people [American prisoners] and continue this process [of talks] until the eve of US presidential elections."

"However, we acted upon our independent resolve and moved the process forward," he said.

Shamkhani said Iran's move to exchange prisoners was based on the country's "humanitarian approach".

Iran released the prisoners  Amir Mirzaee Hekmati, Jason Rezaian, Saeed Abedini, and Nosratollah Khosravi  on January 16. Abedini, a convert from Islam, had been in prison since 2012 accused of undermining national security by holding Christian religious gatherings in homes. His cause was taken up by Republican evangelicals including Franklin Graham, who accused the Obama administration of not doing enough to get him out. It was later revealed that his marriage was under strain and his wife Naghmeh has filed for a legal separation but has said she wants to be reconciled to him and for their marriage to work.

After he was released, Republican candidates expressed thanksgiving for his freedom but took the opportunity to criticise Obama for giving too much away in return.

Donald Trump said: "I am happy they are coming back, but it is a disgrace they have been there this long, a total disgrace." Ted Cruz, who had appeared alongside Naghmeh Abedini, said the release "reflects a pattern we have seen in the Obama administration over and over again of negotiating with terrorists, and making deals and trades that endanger US safety and security".

Marco Rubio said the hostages "should never have been there" and that Iran takes people hostage in order to take concessions. "And the fact that they can get away with it in this administration...has created an incentive for more governments to do this around the world."

The claims by Shamkhani that the Republicans deliberately attempted to prolong the ordeal of the hostages for their own electoral advantage will be dismissed by the candidates, who could argue that Iran is attempting to brief against them for its own purposes. The leaders in the Republican race have said they will revisit the nuclear deal that is seen as the major foreign policy achievement of President Obama's administration.
Three-judge federal panel rejects request to halt order invalidating 1st and 12th Congressional Districts

RALEIGH The U.S. Supreme Court will take a second look at a lawsuit challenging North Carolina's 2011 redistricting plan, as the state made an emergency appeal to the justices to stay a trial-court order invalidating the 1st and 12th Congressional Districts. Without a delay, it's unlikely congressional primaries can be held as scheduled March 15."We are disappointed in the federal trial court's decision because there is so much uncertainty on whether the primary election already under way can continue or whether a new primary election needs to take place - and whether votes that have already been cast can be counted. We hope the U.S. Supreme Court will recognize the urgency and gravity of these questions and issue a stay," said Sen. Bob Rucho, R-Mecklenburg, and Rep. David Lewis, R-Harnett, who chair the General Assembly's redistricting committees, in a statement announcing the appeal.On Friday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Middle District of North Carolina ruled that the General Assembly used race as the primary consideration in drawing the state's two majority-minority districts. The panel ordered the General Assembly to present new congressional maps by Feb. 19.The state on Monday asked the panel to stay its order, noting that thousands of absentee ballots have been mailed and hundreds returned. An affidavit filed by Kim Strach, the State Board of Elections' executive director, said that delaying or dividing the primary to accommodate new districts would require extensive staff retraining, additional costs to state and county taxpayers, and possible confusion from voters and candidates.The panel rejected that request, fueling the appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Chief Justice John Roberts presides over North Carolina's federal circuit, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and could decide to stay the order, let it stand, or ask the entire Supreme Court to review the request.The federal justices last year ordered the North Carolina Supreme Court to review the redistricting plan in the wake of a decision voiding Alabama's congressional maps on racial grounds. The state Supreme Court concluded in late December that - unlike in Alabama - North Carolina mapmakers used rules that honored the federal Voting Rights Act and the 14th Amendment to the Constitution and upheld the Tar Heel State's congressional maps.The plaintiffs - two voters in the 12th District and one in the 1st District - appealed, and the three-judge federal panel unanimously ruled that race was the primary reason for the composition of the 1st District, and two of the three judges said race was the dominant factor in the 12th District.If the federal justices do not issue a stay of the panel's order, the General Assembly will have to call a special session to redraw the district maps, delay the congressional primary, or both.
Former priest charged in 1960 rape and murder of Texas beauty queen

A former Catholic priest has been charged in a 55-year-old murder case in which he is suspected of beating and raping a beauty queen in south Texas shortly after taking her last confession, authorities said on Wednesday.

John Feit, 83, was arrested on Tuesday evening in Arizona in connection with the 1960 slaying of Irene Garza, 25, in McAllen, Texas, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office in Arizona.

He is being held on $750,000 bond pending extradition to Texas. During an initial court appearance Wednesday, Feit told a Maricopa County judge he will fight the return to Texas.

"This whole thing makes no sense to me because the crime in question took place in 1960," Feit said, in a court video posted on the county website. "I'm totally puzzled why something is coming up now, after the fact." Garza, a former Miss South Texas and second-grade school teacher, was last seen giving confession during Holy Week at Sacred Heart Catholic Church on April 16, 1960, according to the Texas Rangers cold case website.

Her body was found five days later in a nearby canal. An autopsy showed that Garza had been raped while comatose and died of suffocation.

Feit was long considered by authorities to be a suspect in the case but was not indicted. During a 2013 interview with CNN, he denied any involvement in Garza's death.

Shortly after Garza's body was found, Feit was ordered by his church superiors to leave McAllen, the Dallas Morning News reported.

He also had been implicated in the assault of another woman in the area a few weeks before Garza's disappearance. He pleaded no contest to aggravated assault and served no jail time.

Feit later left the priesthood and moved to Arizona, where he started a family.

Hidalgo County District Attorney Ricardo Rodriguez could not be reached for comment on Wednesday. After Feit was arrested, the McAllen Monitor newspaper asked Rodriguez what new information led to the charge but he declined to comment.

Garza's family, who set up a "Justice for Irene" Facebook page, posted on Tuesday: "Today Irene Garza gets to finally R.I.P. Justice has been served."
Hindu militants torture Christian accused of trying to convert Hindus to Christianity, parade him to mock Jesus in India

Suspected members of a Hindu militant group kidnapped and tortured a Christian resident in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, shaved his head and paraded him on a donkey for four hours, mocking Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem, for allegedly luring local Hindus to convert to Christianity, according to reports.

Awdhesh Kumar Savita, 35, however, denied that he had forced anyone to convert and has filed a police complaint against 25 alleged members of the Hindu fundamentalist group Bajrang Dal and 200 unidentified men, Charisma News reported.

"I have been practising Christianity for the last few years. But I have never insisted on converting anybody,'' Savita told police after he was rescued hours past, the Times of India reported.

In the police report he filed, Savita said a group of Hindu militants led by Akhilesh Diha kidnapped him from his house, mauled him, shaved his head and paraded him in the village on a donkey.

Superintendent of Police N. Kolanchi said Savita was rescued around 10 p.m. after he was paraded along the half-kilometre stretch in a village that includes two police outposts. More than 200 witnessed the torture, according to some reports.

Police said five members of the Hindu militant group were arrested on the basis of their identification from a video and photographs showing a crowd manhandling Savita, the Times said.

Aside from the one filed by the Christian man against the radical group, another police report was filed against Savita in connection with the Friday incident.

In his counter complaint, Sangam Jatav, who is close to Bajrang Dal, alleged that Savita forced him to eat beef so he could be converted into Christianity .

"He and his friends promised me a job and financial help if I agreed to visit Varanasi and meet some of his associates. But on reaching there, they took me to a church and forced me to walk on the posters of Hindu gods and goddesses and eat beef,'' the 30-year old said, adding that there were six persons in the church at that time and they declared that he had been converted to Christianity because he had eaten beef.

He claimed that the incident happened a month ago, and that he had approached the police soon after returning from Varanasi but was denied an audience. "I was upset and decided to inform the Bajrang Dal leaders."

Police said they had receive no such complaint.

The Bajrang Dal is a militant organisation closely linked to the Indian VHP party, according to their website. They have been linked to several attacks on Christians.
Indonesia: Muslim minority group faces 'harassment and intimidation'

A minority Muslim group has been banned from holding religious activities and had its mosque closed in Indonesia in the latest crackdown by district officials.

The Ahmadiyah religious community in Subang, a town in West Java province, is being harassed and intimidated by local authorities, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said today.

A letter was issued by four Muslim clerics and a number of police, military and religious officials on January 29, banning all Ahmadiyah activities in central Subang. The community's mosque was later closed, leading HRW to call on the Indonesian government to intervene.

Deputy Asia director at HRW, Phelim Kine, said Subang officials "seem oblivious to religious freedom".

"Indonesian officials should be at the forefront of defending rights protected under the constitution and international law, not issuing unlawful prohibitions that undermine them," he added.

The Ahmadiyah self-identify as Muslim and follow the teaching of the Qur'an but regard an Indian preacher, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, as a "messiah" who came after the Prophet Muhammad. This belief is considered heretical by Indonesia's mainstream Muslim population which is the largest in the world.

According to HRW, the Ahmadiyah community in Subang, comprised of about 400 people, has been the target of harassment and intimidation since October last year.

In January, a neighbourhood leader accused them of "blasphemy against Islam" and suggested that mainstream Sunni Muslims may retaliate with violence.

"We reject a blasphemous activity taking place in our neighborhood," a letter send to officials said. "We don't want our members to lose patience and to use violence if that activity is not banned."

Another Ahmadiyah community in Bangka island off South Sumatra was last month ordered to convert to Sunni Islam or leave.



A senior official in the local government told Reuters that "the Ahmadiyah have a right to live in Bangka", but "in a meeting with community leaders and religious figures, all of us have agreed that it is forbidden for them to conduct activities like spreading their faith."

A letter sent by the island's most senior bureaucrat said "Ahmadiyah followers in Srimenanti village must immediately repent in accordance with Islamic Sharia that there is no prophet after the prophet Muhammad."

Fearing that clashes would break out, the police subsequently evacuated Ahmadiya women and children from the island.

The threat marks an ongoing persecution against minority religious groups from Indonesia's hardline Muslims despite the constitution guaranteeing religious freedom.
ISIS may attempt to attack U.S. this year, infiltrate refugees to reach other countries, U.S. intel officials warn

A top U.S. intelligence official warned Tuesday that the Islamic State (ISIS) may plan to attack the U.S. this year and that the terrorist group may infiltrate refugees from Iraq and Syria to go to other countries.

Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), testified on Capitol Hill, saying ISIS "will probably conduct additional attacks in Europe and attempt to direct attacks on the U.S. Homeland in 2016," according to CNN.

"[ISIS] will likely increase the pace and lethality of its transnational attacks as infrastructure and capabilities mature. It will purposefully attempt to stoke sectarian conflict between Shia and Sunni, and between the West and Islam, to create the chaotic environment in which it thrives," Stewart said during the hearing.

He said the DIA expects ISIS leaders in Syria to be increasingly involved in directing attacks rather than just encouraging lone attackers.

"[ISIS'] foreign fighter cadre is core to its external attack capability, and the large number of Western jihadists in Iraq and Syria will pose a challenge for Western security services," he said.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who also attended the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, said violent extremists were active in about 40 countries and that there currently exist more terrorist safe havens "than at any time in history."

He said ISIS and its eight branches are the No. 1 terrorist threat and the terrorists are using refugees from Syria and Iraq to infiltrate other countries.

Clapper said ISIS was "taking advantage of the torrent of migrants to insert operatives into that flow," describing them as "pretty skilled at phony passports so they can travel ostensibly as legitimate travelers."

ISIS has reportedly seized Syrian passport facilities to make passports.

The "Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community" said "approximately five dozen" ISIS-linked people were arrested in the U.S. in 2015.

Clapper said more than 38,200 foreign fighters, including at least 6,900 from Western countries, have gone to Syria from more than 100 countries since 2012.

He also said "al Qaeda affiliates are positioned to make gains in 2016."

On North Korea, Clapper expressed concern about the January nuclear test and Saturday's satellite launch, saying that the Communist country was "committed to developing a long-range nuclear-armed missile that's capable of posing a direct threat to the United States."
ISIS supporter arrested for plan to 'shoot up' 6,000-member church in Michigan

A 21-year-old man from Michigan, who is believed to be a supporter of the Islamic State (ISIS), has been arrested by federal authorities after telling an undercover FBI agent that he wanted "to shoot up a church one day."

Authorities did not say which church was targeted by Khalil Abu-Rayyan of Dearborn Heights, but the suspect said the church he was planning to attack had a capacity of 6,000 people.

"I don't know the name of it, but it's close to my job. It's one of the biggest ones in Detroit. Ya, I had it planned out. I bought a bunch of bullets. I practised a lot with it. I practised reloading and unloading. But my dad searched my car one day, and he found everything. He found the gun and the bullets and a mask I was going to wear," Abu-Rayyan said, according to MSNBC and The Detroit News.

The FBI had been investigating Abu-Rayyan since May "regarding increasingly violent threats he has made to others about committing acts of terror and martyrdom  including brutal acts against police officers, churchgoers and others  on behalf of the foreign terrorist organisation Islamic State of Iraq and Levant."

He allegedly used Twitter to express his support for ISIS.

The suspect expressed frustration for not being able to carry out his plan to stage a massacre inside the church.

"Honestly I regret not doing it. If I can't do jihad in the Middle East, I would do my jihad over here," he said.

He also told the FBI agent that, "It is my dream to behead someone."

Despite his incriminating statements, Abu-Rayyan is not facing terrorism charges as of this time but only gun and drug charges stemming from an October 2015 speeding incident with a pistol, sleeping pills and marijuana, according to WDIV. Terror charges could be brought up later.

He was scheduled to appear in court Monday for a detention hearing.
Justin Welby: Religious leaders are the key to ending extremism

Religious leaders have to "own the problem and develop the solution" to extremism, the Archbishop of Canterbury said yesterday.

In a speech at Queen's University in Belfast, Archbishop Welby reflected "on the nature of religiously-justified violence, and as a case study, on the nature, particularly, of the conflict we are facing with Daesh, or ISIS."

"For the first time in centuries, we have been facing major and global conflicts which have a very clear religious content," he said.

"For many years we've faced conflicts which have religious content locally, but not this same sense of global conflict. And, however evil it may be  and it is profoundly evil  we are facing such conflict in many parts of the world."

He called for "clear support for mainstream religious leaders of all faiths, in which the theological and ideological aspects of the struggle, which in the end are the only ones that will enable the supply of fighters to extremist groups to be cut off, are pursued and promoted relentlessly."

"Religious leaders have to own the problem and develop the solution," he added.

Since becoming Archbishop, Welby and his wife, Caroline, have visited all 38 provinces of the Anglican Communion around the world. They have come across Islamic violence, Christian violence, Hindu violence and Buddhist violence. "So both the Abrahamic and the Dharmic religions are deeply involved in a growth of radicalisation," he said.

In December last year, the Archbishop expressed his reluctant support for UK air strikes in Syria, telling the House of Lords that the criteria of a just war had been met.

He yesterday echoed this sentiment. Acknowledging that the debate is ongoing within the Church on the legitimacy of armed intervention, he said: "What I would say is that where an action is developed as a quasi-policing intervention against a group that is committing great crimes under international law, and where the objective is peace building and the resumption of stable communities to which refugees and IDPs can return, then, within the Christian tradition, I would suggest that it is justifiable."

However, he also said it would be "utterly wrong" to use force alone or even as the primary measure in the struggle against Islamic State. Welby has previously called for a holistic approach to the war in Syria, and yesterday warned that the global community must "engage in the right way, or we will ourselves sow the seeds of future conflict".

"In a struggle which is deeply ideological and theological, the response that we give must be based in a narrative of relationship, of protection, of order and of human flourishing that overwhelms the demonic narrative of disintegration and monolithic demonisation of the other, which is what faces us," he said.

The Christian response, Welby added, must be one of reconciliation, which he said "is the gospel". He called for a generous response to refugees, "but always with a clear strategy, incentive and aim of enabling return".

"To empty the Middle East of Christians removes diversity and sows trouble for the future."

He said it was time to "overcome this upsurge in religiously justified violence, which by its nature, in all of the great world faith traditions, perverts and abandons its original host by exempting itself from ethical principles, and caring nothing for human life."

Also highlighted by the Archbishop was the way in which the Western world seeks to "impose rights" on Muslim-majority countries across the globe. "Rights for women, for LGBTI people, are good rights to uphold. At the recent Primates meeting of the Anglican Communion, we condemned criminalisation of gay people, and quite rightly," he said.

"But it is also, as it is put to us quite often around the world, experienced as an imposition. Human rights, in the language in which it is often couched, may be good, but is presented in and on Western terms.

"The effect of these and many other aspects of global relationships is for those who are the objects of them  whether they are good or bad and many of them are good  the effect is humiliation; and that leaves the invisible wounds which reconciliation is called to bind, and the invisible needs that reconciliation is called to meet."

He suggested that this humiliation can be exploited by extremist groups who "use the hook of religion" to garner support for their radical aims.

He also pointed to the historic role Britain has played in aggravating the conflict in Iraq and Syria.

"History recognises that the situation in Syria and Iraq is artificially aggravated by the Sykes-Picot line, which is no more than a line in the sand drawn by those dividing up the Ottoman Empire towards the end of World War I. 1916, as it happens".

The Sykes-Picot line was agreed between the French and British governments.

"Our own responsibilities must be faced and acknowledged," Welby said. He also pointed to the Gulf wars and the "complexity and background of motivations of those countries currently involved in the region" as bearing responsibility for ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

But while it is "easy to call for Government action," he added, "The Church has its own responsibilities."

"We must lead in prayer, in love, in hospitality, in seeking human flourishing, in gracious and courageous action that demonstrates the beauty and hope of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, through religious communities that stabilise and serve," he said.

"In this struggle, our lives must respond to the Spirit's call and equipping."
Letters of renowned 18th century preacher George Whitefield to be published for first time

The letters of 18th century evangelical revivalist George Whitefield are to be published for the first time.

Edited by historian Dr David Jones of Aberystwyth University and Dr Geordan Hammond of the Manchester Wesley Research Centre, the first volume will be published in 2018, with a further six volumes to be printed at a later date.

Born in Gloucester, Whitefield (1714-70) was an Anglican clergyman renowned for his charismatic preaching. After studying at Oxford University, where he was close to the Wesley brothers, he inspired a Protestant renewal movement; often preaching to large open-air crowds throughout Britain, and even across the Atlantic in America. He addressed some of the largest crowds ever recorded  often up to 30,000, and sometimes considerably more  as part of the Great Awakening that spread across Britain and the American colonies.

He is considered the mid-18th century's most famous and widely-travelled evangelical revivalist and became known as 'the apostle of the English Empire'. He was one of the founders of Methodism, and John Wesley preached at his funeral, on Whitefield's request.

The letters were written between 1735 and 1770, and are now located in Britain, North America and Germany.

Jones branded their publication "a major and exciting undertaking".

"The appearance of the letters in print for the first time has the potential not only to revolutionise understandings of Whitefield and the eighteenth-century evangelical and Methodist movements, but also the internal dynamics of the Atlantic World, and relations between Britain and America on the cusp of the Revolution," he said.
Palestinian Christians and Messianic Jews affirm unity in Christ

Palestinian Christians and Messianic Jews have released a statement affirming their unity as believers after a meeting in Cyprus.

Held under the auspices of the Lausanne Initiative for Reconciliation in Israel/Palestine, the conference aimed to bring together representatives of Christian communities that have widely differing visions of Israel.

Palestinian Arab Christians and Messianic Jews, who retain their Jewish identity while practising as believers in Jesus, are both minorities within their wider communities and can be regarded with suspicion and hostility. However, both are loyal to their national groups and share their fears and aspirations.

Alongside affirming the unity of Palestinian Christians and Messianic Jews as believers in Jesus, the Larnaca Statement recognises areas of challenge and theological disagreement. It calls for prayer and support from the wider family of believers.

It says: "In times of tension and violent conflict, relationships suffer, while suspicion, accusation and mutual rejection thrive. At such times it is even more essential that we who affirm our unity in the Messiah must uphold ethical standards of life that are worthy of our calling, in all our attitudes, words and deeds."

It also recognises that "we hold very different theological positions regarding the land, and also very different perspectives on the causes of the social, political and economic realities that impact the daily life of all who inhabit the land".

Nevertheless, it calls for "a generous theological stance, which makes room for and respects the conscientious convictions of others that they sincerely derive from their reading of Scripture" and for "every effort to maintain our fellowship with each other as a witness to the unity of the body of the Messiah and to the boundless love of God for all people".

The statement laments "the dividedness and divisiveness of our churches and organisations" and says "We will refuse to denounce, dehumanize, or demonise one another or our respective communities."

It says that the "historical narratives" of Messianic Jews and Palestinian Christians are "often in conflict with each other and in many cases are mutually exclusive, particularly in relationship to the events of the past 100 years and the establishment of the state of Israel and the events leading up to it".

While many Messianic Jews see the establishment of the State of Israel as a sign of God's faithfulness and believe its control over the Palestinian territories to be a part of God's promise to "greater Israel", many Palestinian Christians see the establishment of the State of Israel as a catastrophe for their people. The statement says: "They see the Palestinian refugee problem, the lack of equality within Israel, the ongoing occupation, and the expansion of settlements on Palestinian land, as illegal and unjust. They perceive their survival and duty to involve resistance to these injustices by peaceful, legal and non-violent means."

However, it says: "In spite of our different views, we commit ourselves to listen to one another, to learn from and respectfully challenge the narrative of the other, to critically evaluate our own narrative and to work towards an inclusive, bridging narrative."

Dr Munther Isaac, Palestinian Christian co-chair of the Initiative, said: "Despite our different convictions on many issues, we are able to affirm together the need for reconciliation, and to seek unity among believers across our divided communities. Our shared faith calls us to listen, respect and even challenge one another in a Christ-like manner. It also compels us to be advocates for reconciliation and just peace."

Dr Richard Harvey, Messanic Jewish co-chair, said: "It is important that a statement such as this is read and studied by Messianic Jews and Palestinian Christians, and all who pray for and work towards peace in the context of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Only by taking seriously the command of Yeshua (Jesus) to love our enemies can we begin to see the transforming power of His message of Good News in our lives and communities."
Sodomy outlawed in Michigan, joining 11 other states that have such ban deemed unconstitutional by U.S. Supreme Court

As residents of Flint, Michigan continue to suffer from their city's lead-tainted water, the Michigan Senate was focused on an entirely different issue: sodomy.

The state Senate voted to pass SB 0219 that would make animal abuse illegal in the state. It added a section that outlaws sodomy and makes it a felony punishable by 15 years in prison.

Section 158 of the bill states, "A person who commits the abominable and detestable crime against nature either with mankind or with any animal is guilty of a felony, punishable by imprisonment for not more than 15 years, or if the defendant was a sexually delinquent person at the time of the offense, a felony punishable by imprisonment for an indeterminate term, the minimum of which shall be 1 day and the maximum of which shall be life."

Michigan is one of 12 states that have existing laws against sodomy despite the 2003 ruling on Lawrence v. Texas of the U.S. Supreme Court that declared it unconstitutional and invalidated it in 13 states, according to Raw Story.

According to Michigan lawmakers, the law does not target gay people but applies to all.

The measure lumps sodomy in people with bestiality.

"While the legislature hopes to prevent cases of animal abuse, it is unclear if there is a rampant epidemic of bestiality in Michigan. A Google news search doesn't heed any results," Raw Story reported.

Anthropologist Margaret Mead studied the link between animal abuse and human abuse and concluded that animal cruelty could be a precursor to future violence.

"One of the most dangerous things that can happen to a child is to kill or torture an animal and get away with it... [as] such children, diagnosed early, could be helped instead of being allowed to embark on a long career of episodic violence and murder," she wrote in 1964.

Republican state Senator Rick Jones, who introduced the bill, urged his colleagues at the House not to try to delete the provision on sodomy as it could jeopardise the passage of the bill.

"The minute I cross that line and I start talking about the other stuff, I won't even get another hearing. It'll be done," Jones told the New Civil Rights Movement. "Nobody wants to touch it. I would rather not even bring up the topic, because I know what would happen. You'd get both sides screaming and you end up with a big fight that's not needed because it's unconstitutional."

The Michigan bill was named Logan's Law after a Siberian husky that died due to acid.
The Great Schism: Why it's taken 1,000 years for the Pope and the Patriarch to meet

The head of the Roman Catholic Church and the head of the Russian Orthodox Church are to meet for the first time in nearly 1,000 years tomorrow.

Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill will spend time together in Havana, where Francis will stop on his way to Mexico. It looks for all the world like a coincidence that they both happen to be in the same place at the same time, but in fact this meeting has been carefully choreographed: it's neutral ground, with no theological or historical overtones (it's an airport). The lack of history is really important; any meeting place has to avoid seeming to concede anything to one side or the other.

They will talk about Christian persecution and other important issues, but the most important thing of all is that they've actually met.

I'm a bit lost. Why is this such a big deal?

It has to do with history, theology, ecclesiology, pneumatology, Christology and politics, among other things.

Nothing trivial, then?

It depends on your point of view, but things certainly got very heated at the time, which was 1054.

That's a long time to hold a grudge. When I fall out with someone I'm usually OK after an hour.

You are admirably peaceable, then. But the Great Schism has lasted because there were so many problems on so many levels, and it was only the culmination of tensions that had been building up for centuries.

Such as?

For a start, the Orthodox Church was based in Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, where power had gravitated after Constantine divided the empire and made it his capital in 330 AD. The bishops of Rome had always been top of the ecclesiastical pecking order, but with the decline of the Western empire they began to lose their clout. Also, there was a language problem; the Romans spoke Latin and the Byzantines spoke Greek, so there was plenty of room for theological misunderstanding. The Popes tried to enforce practices like clerical celibacy on the East, which didn't go down well, and they disagreed about the date of Easter. The Latin church had also developed its own doctrine of the Trinity, with the Council of Toledo in 589 inserting the line that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son into the Nicene Creed (the 'filioque' controversy). Essentially, the Orthodox Churches said the Popes were first among equals, while the Popes said they were just first.

It does sound serious.

It was quite dramatic. Cardinal Humbert was sent to Constantinople by Pope Leo IX to assert his authority over the Ecumenical Patriarch, Michael Cerularius. According to the Orthodox Christian Information Centre, on a summer afternoon in the stupendous Church of the Holy Wisdom in Constantinople, as a service was about to begin, he and two other papal legates marched up to the altar and placed a Bull of Excommunication on it. On their way out, as he passed through the western door, Humbert shook the dust from his feet with the words: "Let God look and judge." A deacon ran out after him and begged him to take back the Bull, but Humbert refused and it was dropped in the street. Cerularius promptly excommunicated Leo as well.

It does seem like quite a lot to get over, but it was still quite a long time ago.

Theologians have long memories. But other things have happened too. For instance in 1204, the Crusaders decided that instead of having a go at the Holy Land they would sack Constantinople instead. The city was taken amid great slaughter in an event that was regarded as shameful even at the time. Those four lovely horses on St Mark's Church in Venice are loot from Constantinople. Though it later recovered and kicked the Crusaders out, the Byzantine Empire was fatally weakened and couldn't defend itself against the Ottoman Turks who eventually took it in 1430. Orthodox Christians have no reason to feel kindly toward Catholics.

Hang on a second: we are talking about the Russian Patriarch, not the Constantinople one.

Since we are now up to date, you had better call it Istanbul. But you're right. The Ecumenical Patriarch, as he is known, still has the pre-eminent position in the Orthodox world, and Ecumenical Patriarchs and Popes have met before; Francis and Bartholomew met in 2014. But there are now very few Orthodox Christians left in Turkey following a century of massacres and discrimination, and the Patriarchate is a shadow of what it was. The Russian Orthodox Church is by far the biggest and most powerful of all the Orthodox Churches, and that's why this is such an important meeting.

How many Orthodox Churches are there?

Fourteen, but it can depend on who you ask. These are the 'autocephalous', ie self-governing Churches. They are organised on national lines and national tensions and aspirations often have ecclesiastical ramifications; Patriarch Kirill has a big headache at the moment over relations with Ukraine, for instance. The herding cats metaphor is quite appropriate.

Alright, so they'll meet. What's like to come out of it?

In practical terms, very little  see your previous question. Pope Francis is actually notably collegiate in his approach, which is what the Orthodox have wanted for a thousand years, but whether the Roman Catholic Church would ever row back far enough from its traditional assertion of authority  as opposed to primacy  to satisfy them is anyone's guess. And the different Orthodox Churches are at different stages of ecumenical advancement, too. But as long as they get on, it's probably a step in the right direction.

Ah, yes  a journey of a thousand years begins with a single step.

I was going to correct you to 'miles', but judging by the length of time it's taken them to get this far I think you're probably right.

Follow Mark Woods on Twitter: @RevMarkWoods
U.S. Supreme Court declares Florida's death penalty law unconstitutional for allowing judge, not jury, to make decision

Florida's death penalty law has been ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court after it found that it requires a judge and not a jury to make findings that are needed to impose the capital punishment.

"We hold this sentencing scheme unconstitutional. The Sixth Amendment requires a jury, not a judge, to find each fact necessary to impose a sentence of death. A jury's mere recommendation is not enough," said the Supreme Court, according to its decision written by Justice Sonia Sontamayor.

The Sixth Amendment says that "in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury. . . ."

"This right, in conjunction with the Due Process Clause, requires that each element of a crime be proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt," the U.S. Supreme Court ruled.

The ruling was based on the case of Timothy Lee Hurst, who was convicted by a split jury who voted 7-5 for him to be meted the death penalty. At resentencing, the jury again failed to issue a unanimous verdict. Despite this, the judge sentenced him to death.

Hurst was convicted of the stabbing murder of his co-worker in 1998, according to NBC News. With the ruling, his case goes back to the lower courts.

The U.S. Supreme Court, voting 8-1, decided that "we hold that Hurst's sentence violates the Sixth Amendment."

There are 400 inmates on Florida's death row and it's not clear how the ruling could affect them.

"The substance of the ruling would affect the vast majority of Florida's death row inmates," according to Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, which opposes capital punishment. "The remaining question would be: Will the Supreme Court consider this to have retroactive effect and retroactive to when?"

He added, "Every defendant in Florida whose death sentence was imposed in this matter will be challenging the constitutionality of his or her death sentence under Hurst," Dunham said.

Connie Fuselier, the mother of Hurst's victim, said she can't bear the thought of more court hearings.

"It's been hell. When you get to thinking it's over with, it starts all over again. It's nerve-racking," she said.

At one point during the many appeals in the case, Fuselier said she told a prosecutor that a sentence of life without parole was fine.

"I just want it over with. I want to know he has no more appeals," she said.
Valentine's Day could be banned in Pakistan for being an 'insult to Islam'

Valentine's Day may be banned in Islamabad, according to local reports which suggest officials have clamped down on celebrations.

Sources told Pakistani daily The News International that interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had ordered a ban on anyone celebrating the day, which is observed on February 14, in the capital.

The district administration of Islamabad reportedly issued an announcement saying that it would crack down on anyone who tried to mark the day.

Reports suggest that this is because Valentine's Day is considered an "insult" to Islam by Muslim hard-liners.

The Times of India reports that supporters of Islamist political party Jamaat-e-Islami have previously "disrupted" Valentine's Day celebrations, but this marks the first time the state has intervened.

A number of other countries have officially cracked down on festivities, however. In the Indonesian province of Aceh, the only region of the country ruled by Sharia law, the celebration of Valentine's Day is banned, as is the sale of gifts.

In 2012, Malaysian authorities arrested more than 40 unmarried Muslim couples who were sharing hotel rooms on February 14. Government officials branded celebrations "unsuitable" for Muslims.

The Iranian government in 2011 declared the day a "decadent Western custom" and outlawed celebrations. "Symbols of hearts, half-hearts, red roses, and any activities promoting this day are banned," state media said. "Authorities will take legal action against those who ignore the ban."
Pope in Mexico: Francis expected to highlight war on drugs and plight of poor

Pope Francis' six-day visit to Mexico will see him touch down in a complex country facing enormous challenges because of social inequality and the violence attached to its powerful drug cartels. At the same time Mexico is financially vibrant, with the second largest economy in Latin America, and has a booming tourist industry.

The inequalities he will see will be of concern to Francis, who has made care for the poor a recurring theme of his papacy. According to the OECD, Mexico has the world's second highest degree of economic disparity between the extremely poor and extremely rich, after Chile; it also spends about a third of the average on poverty reduction.

It's this inequality that is fueling the drug war that the government shows no signs of winning; a large pool of low-skilled and poorly-educated people ensures a flow of foot-soldiers into the business. In 2012 it was estimated that Mexican cartels employed 450,000 people directly and a further 3.2 million people's livelihoods depended to some extent on the drug trade.

Some of Mexico's priests have been on the front line of the drug war. Others, including among the heirarchy, have been less keen to speak out. However, Pope Francis has made it crystal clear where he stands. In a video released by the Vatican last week he said: "The Mexico of violence, the Mexico of corruption, the Mexico of drug trafficking, the Mexico of cartels, is not the Mexico our Mother [Mary] wants."

In an interview with Mexican news agency Notimex State he said he hopes to be a messenger of peace, which must be fought for daily.

"Violence, corruption, war, children who cannot go to school because of their countries at war, trafficking, arms manufacturers who sell weapons so that the wars in the world can continue," he said: "More or less this is the climate in which we are living in the world today.

"It is obvious that I cannot do it alone, it would be crazy if I said that, but with all of you, an instrument of peace," he said, adding that peace is something that is "kneaded with your hands" every day through small gestures of charity.

"Peace is born from tenderness, peace is born from understanding, peace is born or made with dialogue, not in rupture," he said. However, this doesn't mean Francis is unwilling to confront: when he travelled to southern Italy in 2014 he made a point of excommunicating members of the Italian Mafia, and he made take a similarly strong line in Mexico.

He is scheduled to arrive in Mexico this evening after his historic meeting with Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church. He will meet Mexico's bishops and celebrate mass in the Basilica of Guadeloupe, where the Virgin of Guadeloupe is venerated. In Mexico City he will visit a paediatric hospital; he will spend time with indigenous people and young people, and visit a prison. The latter visit will come against the background of a recent tragedy: a battle between rival drug gangs at a prison yesterday killed 52 people in the northeastern Mexican city of Monterrey. The incident was one of the worst in a series of deadly riots in recent years to rock the country's overpopulated prisons, which often house inmates from different drug cartels.

He will also visit Cuidad Juarez, the border town known in the past for its horrific rate of murder and sexual violence, and celebrate an open-air cross-border mass there. About 200,000 people are expected to attend the Mass on the Mexican side of the border with some 50,000 more people in Texas. The mass will be seen as a challenge to the anti-migrant rhetoric used by Republican contenders for the presidential nomination and as a challenge too to the conservative elements of the Mexican Catholic Church, to whom the Pope's habitual outreach to the poor and marginalised is foreign.
So hot right now

Specialist Jacob Uecker surveys a selection of five works by artists who are enjoying a resurgence of interest  all offered in our Post-War and Contemporary Art online auction, 10-23 February

From Post-war German master Imi Knoebel  a contemporary of Sigmar Polke and Blinky Palermo  to American artist Jimmie Durham, each of these artists was born in the first half of the twentieth century and became a leading exponent in their respective field: Otto Piene co-founded the revolutionary Zero movement, Jesus Rafael Soto pioneered Kinetic and Op Art in Latin America, whilst Brice Marden created his own unique take on Minimalism. Another common factor is that each of these figures has experienced a resurgence of interest in recent years.

Otto Piene

Otto Piene (1928-2014), Hey Max, 1975 . Gouache and soot on card. 38 7/8 x 25 1/2in. (99 x 65cm.) Estimate: 20,000-30,000. This work is offered in the Post War and Contemporary Art Online , 10-23 February

In commanding the force of fire, Otto Piene found a way to encompass the power of the universe within his art: a quest emblematic of the cosmic aspirations of the 1960s Zero movement, of which he was a founding member. For Piene, the word zero meant a zone of silence and of pure possibilities for a new beginning.

In Hey, Max, a vortex of delicate veils billows out from a scorched encrustation of pigment. One glance at the sky, at the sun, at the sea is enough to show that the world outside man is bigger than that inside him, he wrote, that it is so immense that man needs a medium to transform the power of the sun into an illumination that is suitable to him, into a stream whose waves are like the beating of his heart

Iconic in his practice, Pienes fire paintings are held in key international museum collections, and his work appeared in an extensive 2015 survey at the Guggenheim New York entitled ZERO: Countdown to tomorrow, 1950s-60s .

Imi Knoebel

Imi Knoebel (b. 1940), Untitled (Red), 1957-1987 . Acrylic on board. 24 x 20 3/8 x 2 5/8in. (61 x 52 x 7cm.) Estimate: 10,000-15,000. Right: verso. This work is offered in the Post War and Contemporary Art Online , 10-23 February

Imi Knoebel constructs hybrids of painting and sculpture, shapes that are compelling in their irregularity and purity of hue. The seven-sided profile can be configured any number of ways, creating a dance of colour and edge, chaos and order.

Preoccupied with the interplay of colour and its material support, Knoebels geometric abstraction builds on the legacy of Mondrian and Malevich. His interests in light, colour and form are often traced to his study under Joseph Beuys at the Kunstakademie Dusseldorf, where he met  and shared a studio with  Blinky Palermo. This period, however, was predated by the Bauhaus influence of the Werkkunstschule (Art and Crafts School) in Darmstadt, where Knoebel learnt the colour theories of Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and Johannes Witten.

Imi Knoebel had his first exhibition in London at the White Cube Gallery in 2015.

Jimmie Durham

Jimmie Durham (b. 1940), My Blood, 1991 . Ink, crayon, oil, watercolour, felt-tip pen and paper collage on paper. 23 5/8 x 19 3/8in. (60.3 x 49.5cm.) Estimate: 3,000-4,000. This work is offered in the Post War and Contemporary Art Online , 10-23 February

My Blood (1991) confronts the underlying theme in Jimmie Durhams work: his search for authenticity as a Cherokee descendant, and the political and cultural forces that shape identity.

Autobiographical in genesis, the work testifies to Durhams general refusal to be bound by limiting categories, while also addressing the legacy of ethnocide.

Durhams work was selected for the 55th edition of the Venice Biennale and the Whitney Biennale in 2014. His solo exhibitions in Europe have included venues such as the Serpentine Gallery (2015) and the Musee dArt Moderne de la Ville de Paris (2009) . He was recently awarded the prestigious Gosslar Kaiserring for 2016 .

Jesus Rafael Soto

Jesus Rafael Soto (1923-2005), Untitled, 1962-94 . Silkscreen on paper on card. 16 1/8 x 13 5/8 x 3 5/8in. (41 x 35 x 9.5cm.) This work is number 109 from an edition of 130. Estimate: 2,500-3,500. This work is offered in the Post War and Contemporary Art Online , 10-23 February

Venezuelan-born Jesus Rafael Soto was a key figure of the Op and Kinetic art movements, and a major force in Latin American art. Along with Victor Vasarely, Jean Tinguely, Alexander Calder and Marcel Duchamp, he participated in the 1955 Le Mouvement exhibition at Galerie Denise Rene which helped establish kinetic art as a popular art form.

In this work, the suspended elements create optical vibrations and an illusion of motion. The intangibility of the vibrations contributes to a sense of the work dematerialising, allowing Soto to strike a mysterious balance: making the viewer aware of the works physical properties, while introducing an ethereal dimension.

Following the resurgent interest and revaluation of Latin-American Art, Jesus Rafael Soto has widely been accepted as one of its most prominent figures, particularly as one of the ringleaders in international Kinetic-Art. Galerie Perrotin presented a large work by Soto at Art Basel Unlimited in 2015.

Brice Marden

Brice Marden (b. 1938), Untitled, 1972 . Ink on paper. 11 5/8 x 7 1/2in. (29.5 x 19.3cm.) Estimate: 12,000-18,000. This work is offered in the Post War and Contemporary Art Online , 10-23 February

Brice Marden developed his rectangular, monochrome aesthetic at Yale in the 1960s; moving to New York in 1963, his style matured under Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg.

His monochromes restored the validity of the neglected medium of paint, and Marden described his early works as highly emotional and subjective. Untitled is a typical exploration  the black square filled with inked scribble instils movement in an otherwise static form. Glimpses of white paper emerge from beneath, reminding the viewer of the works two-dimensional plane. Created the same year that Marden exhibited at Documenta 5 in Kassel, Untitled prefigures the artists departure from Minimalism toward gestural abstraction in the 1980s.

Featured in some of the most prominent collections worldwide, Marden was honoured with a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art , New York, in 2006 (read New York Times review here), which travelled to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin
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Jerry Built Burgers is adding a third location in the Memorial City area.

The locally owned burger chain is known not only for its terrific burgers but its commitment to building them with quality ingredients. That means organic produce, hormone- and antibiotic-free beef and poultry and freshly baked breads.

RELATED: Alison visits Jerry Built Burgers for Burger Friday.

Located at 10405 I-10, the new 3,600-square-foot restaurant is expected to open towards the end of March.

More stores are on the way. Jerry Built CEO and president Chad Glauser said he hopes to quadruple the number of stores over the next four years.

The first Jerry Built opened on Holcombe in the West University/Bellaire area in February 2012 and a second location opened two months later in the Woodlands.

"I wanted to create an atmosphere that was not only inviting but also innovative," Glauser said in a release. "Customers should feel at home here and confident about what they're feeding their children and putting in to their bodies."

Browse the slideshow above to see other Houston restaurants and bars that will open soon.
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There was a time where you practically had to be to the manor born to enjoy the Manor House, the elegant John F. Staub-designed restaurant on the grounds of the Houstonian Hotel, Club & Spa. For decades the restaurant has operated as a private-dining venue for members of the Houstonian Club.

Not anymore.

This month the Houstonian quietly opened the lunch-only restaurant to the public. Now anyone with a hankering for a special meal in a very special building (George H.W. and Barbara Bush lived there  before it was a restaurant  while Bush was director of the CIA; the G-7 Economic Summit Treaties were signed there) can enjoy the Manor House experience.

FIND YOUR NEW FAVORITE RESTAURANT: Mini Houston restaurant reviews

The move comes as the Manor House marks its 30th anniversary, allowing foodies to experience a menu and level of service steeped in tradition. Executive chef Neal Cox who oversees all culinary operations at the Houstonian, including the Manor House, calls the menu Gulf Coast Creole built on French technique. "For the most part when people walk into the Manor House there's a degree of presentation and taste that is so classical," he said. "We've made a market for ourselves for people looking for that."

Beginning March 1, Cox is offering a new menu that embraces favorite dishes (lemon sole meuniere, salmon eggs Benedict, jumbo lump crab cake) while making room for new items including crawfish bisque; asparagus salad; baby kale and farro salad; Gulf snapper with Pontchartrain sauce; filet Oscar with crabmeat and charred asparagus; and veal short rib with fava bean risotto. Starters are priced at $10 to $15; salads $8 to $13; entrees $20-$30.

IMPRESSIVE DINNERS: The best and most expensive restaurants in Houston

The Manor House also is celebrating azalea season with a special menu offered 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 7-12. The three-course, prix fixe menu begins with a choice of Caesar salad or crawfish bisque; entree selection of lemon sole meuniere or grilled beef tenderloin with crab and asparagus; and dessert of classic cheesecake or German chocolate cake. The $40 lunch also includes a glass of rose wine. In conjunction with the azalea celebration, the Houstonian is offering an Azalea Trail Hotel Package March 10-12 that includes deluxe accommodations, Azalea Trail admission ticket, a three-course lunch, and complimentary valet parking ($249 single occupancy; $168 per person double occupancy).

For more information contact the hotel at 111 North Post Oak Lane, at 713-680-2626; Houstonian.com
A 4-year-old boy died Tuesday when a steel barbecue pit fell over onto him at a home in Liberty County.

The incident occurred about 1:50 p.m. in the 200 block of County Road 4893, according to the Liberty County Sheriff's Office.
ABC13

A driver who led Houston Police on a high speed chase through southeast Houston streets before coming to a stop and waging a 45-minute standoff has finally surrendered to police.

The chase began about 1:20 p.m. in the 8600 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, according to the Houston Police Department.
Amid tanking oil prices and energy workers being laid off by the thousands, perhaps you and your family would like an affordable way to get away for while?

Data visualization site HowMuch.net has illustrated more than a dozen different maps all showing where you can drive to on $50 worth of gasoline in a vehicle with 24 MPG fuel economy.
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Spring Break is just a few weeks away.

The University of Houston, Texas A&M, the University of Texas and Texas State all begin their free week March 12.

Many of those schools' student will head south to South Padre Island, which recently earned kudos from two national publications.

U.S. News and World Report said South Padre was second only to Miami Beach as the best spring break destination. The news site also gave it the first runner-up spot on its list of "cheap" spring break destinations.

Travel and Leisure also included South Padre among its recommendations for "most affordable" spring break experiences.

We continue to strive to be the best possible Spring Break and year round family destination in Texas and the Southwest. These types of articles are great affirmations of our destinations success in doing so. South Padre Island Convention & Visitors Bureau Director Keith Arnold said in a release.

Special events planned for spring breakers headed to South Padre include the electronic music festival, UME (March 16-19), the Beach Bash Music Fest (Wednesday in March) and the Ultimate Daily Beach Party (daily on the beach).

Find more information about Spring Break on South Padre here.

Browse the slideshow above to see scenes from Spring Break on South Padre Island.
The University of Houston will host the final GOP debate before Super Tuesday, the university announced on Wednesday.

UH had originally agreed to host the debate when it was to be aired on NBC, but the Republican Party ended its agreement with the network and signed a new one with CNN, calling into question whether the university would still play host.
The father of a 13-year-old girl who died after apparently jumping from a moving school bus has filed a civil suit against the Galveston Independent School District.

Darrell Thomas filed the suit Tuesday in the 56th District Court on behalf of himself and the estate of his daughter, My'Kayla Thomas, whose name was earlier reported as My'Kayla Hurst.

The girl died Dec. 9 at a Galveston hospital, two days after she was critically injured when she jumped from a moving school bus on the Gulf Freeway.

At the time of her death, Galveston County Sheriff Henry Trochesset said investigators had reviewed video from the bus security camera and determined that the teen had intentionally jumped.

Darrell Thomas, however, disputes that assessment, said his attorney, Eraka Watson of The Childs Law Firm in Houston. She requested the surveillance video but the district refused to provide it, Watson said.

An incident report of the accident that she received from Galveston County officials had most information redacted, including names of the driver and other students on the bus, who are potential witnesses, she said.

"Any parent would find it unacceptable for someone to say your child jumped off a bus and that parent is expected to say, 'OK,' " Watson said Thursday. "We want more details."

Trochesset, who saw the surveillance video himself, said he stood by his description of what happened and the investigators' conclusion that the act was intentional.

"She opened that door once and the alarm went off," the sheriff recalled. "Another student walked back and secured the door and went back and sat in his seat. She opened it a second time, and that's when she leaped out, almost like she rolled out."

The sheriff, a father of three, said he could understand a parent wanting to know what happened but said, "Is that really something a parent wants to witness? It's a sad and tragic situation."

According to the petition, My'Kayla was assaulted by other students on the bus, which transported special-need students. This particular bus was not to be operated without the presence of an adult aide and both video cameras working, the suit states.

"Had these GISD (Galveston Independent School District) employees not been negligent in operating the school bus without the extra adult aide, or by making sure the cameras were operational and/or reviewed daily, these assaults would not have occurred," the petition states.

Thomas alleges in the suit that, after his daughter died, he learned that "multiple assaults occurred for several days consecutively without any report to administration until this last deadly incident."

The petition states that the driver had requested an adult aide and should not have been allowed to operate the bus without the aide.

According to Trochesset's account of the incident, My'Kayla was among a group of students who boarded the bus about 3:30 p.m. Dec. 7 in Texas City at an alternative school. When My'Kayla and another girl began fighting, the driver pulled over and put Mykala in the back and the other girl in the front.

The bus was southbound on Interstate 45 at about 55 or 60 mph when the rear emergency door opened, setting off an alarm inside the bus, according to the sheriff's account. The alarm caused other students to look back and see My'Kayla jump from the bus, the sheriff said.

She was severely injured by the fall but was not hit by other cars, authorities said.

My'Kayla began attending Galveston schools and riding the school bus in first grade, according to the suit.
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Port Freeport commissioners presented Shintech Inc. with its "Partners in Environmental Stewardship Award" during the deep-water seaport's Dec. 17 commission meeting.

Shintech, a plastic fabrication company based in Houston, received the award for using the Heavy Lift Corridor as part of its operations. Port Freeport enables companies to carry the same cargo weight using fewer trucks. A permit allows port customers to exceed the traditional loading volume on a particular roadway using four containers instead of five. Companies using Port Freeport's defined Heavy Lift Corridor haul heavy loads to the seaport to be loaded and shuttled over water to Houston for international shipping.

The Heavy Lift Corridor lowers truck pollution by 20 percent to 22 percent, said officials. The goal, according to seaport officials, is to remove heavy truck loads from area highways, which also makes the roads safer for other motorists. Permit fees are paid by companies that utilize the corridor. The fees help pay for highway maintenance. Port Freeport started the Heavy Lift Corridor four years ago after a bill establishing the corridor was approved by the Texas Legislature in 2011.

"We want to thank Shintech and the Environmental Defense Fund for working with Port Freeport," said Ravi Singhania, the seaport's chairman, in a news release.

The Environmental Defense Fund is a nonprofit environmental advocacy group.

"We hope that industry in the local area will join with us and Port Freeport to use the corridor to lower emissions and provide a better quality of life for the people of Brazoria County, when possible," said Tim O'Brien, plant manager at Shintech, in a news release.

Port Freeport is ranked among the nation's top 35 ports. The channel serves Dow Chemical, Phillips 66, BASF, Tenaris, Vulcan Material, Mammoet, Freeport Liquefied Natural Gas, American Rice, Dole, Chiquita, Seaway, Mediterranean Shipping Co. and Hoegh Autoliners.

Builders group elects new officers, board

Associated Builders and Contractors of Greater Houston and the Construction and Maintenance Education Foundation named its 2016 officers and board members Jan. 20 during an organizational gathering at Marek Brothers Systems Inc. in Houston.

ABC elected five officers and 28 board members from greater Houston's industrial and commercial construction industry, as well as suppliers and associates to the building and construction trades.

Mike Holland of Marek Brothers Systems was elected 2016 chairman of the board, Warren Adamson of S&B Engineers and Constructors was elected chair-elect, Robert Burlesmith of E.E. Reed Construction LP was elected vice chairman, Brandon Mable with Performance Contractors Inc. was elected secretary and Todd Fry of Karsten Interior Services was elected treasurer.

ABC Greater Houston is a chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors Inc. It provides training, education and networking to member businesses throughout the Houston area, including the Bay Area and Pearland region. The Construction and Maintenance Education Foundation is an educational affiliate of ABC Greater Houston.

Roofing, construction firm joins chamber

After nearly four years in business, AmerTex Roofing and Construction recently joined the Friends-wood Chamber of Commerce, a nonprofit membership-based business networking and advocacy organization.

Chamber officials and members welcomed AmerTex owners Michael O'Brien and Steve Jackman to the organization's membership during a ribbon cutting ceremony held Jan. 15. The best friends started the roofing company in March 2013 in a small office in Alvin. As business increased, the owners moved their office to 107 S. Friendswood Drive in Friendswood.

"We have experienced huge growth without ever advertising," said Erin Flaterman, AmerTex Roofing and Construction's office administrator, in an email.

The growth in business, Flaterman said, is partially because of the value the company places on its customers.

"We strive to do everything possible to ensure our customers know who to call when a storm rolls in or they need a new fence or any type of construction or remodeling," she said.

To learn more about AmerTex, visit www.amertexroofing.com or call 713-422-2442. To learn more about the Friendswood Chamber of Commerce, visit www.friendswoodchamber.com or call 281-482-3329.

Women's petrochemical conference is Feb. 19

The oil and gas and petrochemical industries will need to replace up to 40 percent of current employees during the next decade due to plant expansions and an aging workforce, according to the American Petroleum Institute. That leaves plenty of openings for women to join and advance in the industries that currently have a 19 percent combined total employment.

The topic, and other issues impacting women in the petrochemical industries, will be discussed at a conference Feb. 19 in Galveston. Nine Gulf Coast area community colleges, working as the Community College Petrochemical Initiative, are hosting the "Women in Industry Conference." The community college partnership collaborates to educate the region's workforce and enhance college training programs.

During the conference, women who are working in the industry will discuss their job experiences, give advice on preparing for petrochemical careers, elaborate on the training that is required, and offer tips on networking with other women within the industry, according to a news release issued by San Jacinto College, a member of the Community College Petrochemical Initiative.

The daylong conference will be held at the Hotel Galvez in Galveston. This event is funded by a grant from ExxonMobil.

Cost to attend the event is $20 for students and $40 for professionals. Some scholarships are available. To learn more about the conference, visit www.womeninpetrochemconference.eventbrite.com.

New Bay Area Women's Imaging Center opens

Bay Area Regional Medical Center is hosting the grand opening of its new Women's Imaging Center from 6 to 8 p.m. Feb. 11.

The center is at 250 Blossom St., Suite 160, in Webster and offers mammogram screenings, diagnostic mammograms, bone density screening and breast ultrasound. The center offers 3-D mammography (breast tomosynthesis), a digital technology that helps physicians detect smaller cancer tumors earlier. Tomosynthesis takes several successive images at slightly different angles across the breast, resulting in more accurate screening results. Screening mammograms do not require a doctor's order.

"We are excited to be able to provide a warm, inviting atmosphere coupled with some of the most advanced imaging and diagnostic equipment at the Women's Imaging Center," said Tim Schmidt, CEO of Bay Area Regional, in a news release.

The hospital opened in July 2014 with 104 beds and is under construction to double the capacity, including expansion of the emergency room, operating room and cardiac catheterization lab, as well as a new Women's Center with a NICU. To schedule a mammogram, call 281-525-7950 or learn more at www.barmc.us.

Restaurant dedicates sales to crisis shelter

MOD Pizza raised nearly $2,840 to support the work of The Bridge Over Troubled Waters, a nonprofit emergency shelter for those affected by domestic violence and homelessness, during the restaurant's grand opening Jan. 9 in Pasadena.

MOD Pizza opened at 4541 Sam Houston Parkway S. Proceeds from all pizza sales on opening day were to be donated to support the mission of the nonprofit. In addition to the fundraiser, the first 52 people in line when the restaurant's doors opened at noon received free individual artisan-style pizza or hand-tossed salads.

MOD Pizza customers create their own pizzas and salads using any combination of more than 30 toppings, or they can choose from a menu of pizza and salad combinations. The restaurant also serves milkshakes, housemade lemonades and iced teas, and local craft beers and wine.

The Pasadena location is the company's sixth in the greater Houston area. The restaurant chain was founded in Seattle in 2008 and recently ranked seventh on Fortune's annual "20 Best Workplaces in Retail" list. MOD Pizza also was recognized as one of the "Fastest Growing Private Companies in America" by Inc. Magazine, among other business recognitions.

To learn more, visit www.modpizza.com.

Business group grades area legislators

The National Federation of Independent Business/Texas recognized several state legislators who represent the Houston Bay Area and Pearland area for their votes for or against proposed legislation that the nonprofit group considered to be impactful on small business during the last legislative session.

The association released Jan. 13 its list of state Senate and House members who voted 100 percent in line with the organization's stance on issues affecting its 24,000 small business-owning members.

Among the local legislators listed are senators Brandon Creighton, R-District 4; Joan Huffman, R-District 17; and Larry Taylor, R-District 11.

The local representatives listed are Dennis Bonnen, R-District 25; Greg Bonnen, R-District 24; Wayne Faircloth, R-District 23; Paul Dennis, R-District 129; and Wayne Smith, R-District 128.

Before the 84th legislative session began, the association polled its members on issues affecting their businesses, their employees and the state's economy. The group used the ballot results to formulate its legislative agenda.

To learn more, visit www.nfib.com.
Kim Christensen

Pearland residents are complaining of a strange odor that, as of Thursday, has no clear source.

More than 450 complaints from those who live in new master-planned community Shadow Creek Ranch  a fairly new community with homes ranging from the $240,000s to $500,000s  have been filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).
With tensions high and political relationships throughout Montgomery County somewhat rocky going in to the March 1 Republican primary, Precinct 3 Commissioner James Noack is facing a challenger, Jay Mac Sanders, who says he stepped into the race with the goal of repairing rifts that he believes have stunted progress.

"Being able to believe in your elected representatives is important," said Sanders, a residential real estate broker and resident of The Woodlands. "I didn't feel like we have that with the current commissioner."

Sanders points to two federal complaints filed against Noack for alleged workplace discrimination along with feedback Sanders says he's heard from residents that Noack's office is not accessible and broken relationships with other area officials as indicators that it's time for a change.

The two complaints that were filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleged that Noack fired and demoted, respectively, two women because of their age and gender. In 2013, Noack said those decisions had been made because he "raised the bar," expecting more from employees than his predecessor. One of the cases was settled for $26,000 in 2014.

More Information Early voting Where: South County Community Building, 2235 Lake Robbins Drive in The Woodlands and the George and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Library, 8125 Ashlane Way in The Woodlands When: Feb. 18-19, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.; Feb. 20, 7 a.m.-7 p.m.; Feb. 21, noon-5 p.m.; Feb. 22-26, 7 a.m.-7 p.m. See More Collapse

"People don't typically run against an incumbent unless there are serious problems," said Sanders, who lost a bid for Jeff Long's seat on The Woodlands Township board in 2012. "(Noack has) not kept his promises of transparency."

But Noack says he's proud of what he's accomplished in his term so far, including publicly opposing the controversial Woodlands Parkway extension and tolling the flyovers at Texas 242 and Interstate 45, turning off red-light cameras, introducing flashing yellow left-turn arrows at intersections, increasing funding for law enforcement and special task forces and helping to develop the South County Mobility Plan.

"(I've) always represented the voice of the people, not the politicians," Noack said. "My opponent's campaign is based on lies and personal attacks. He has not detailed any plans to the voters; he simply attacks. My plans are based upon the voice of the people, sound engineering, facts, and figures; not rumors and hearsay."

Parkway project

One of the most debated issues of 2015 in Montgomery County was the plan to extend Woodlands Parkway to Texas 249. The Precinct 2 project had been part of the county's future mobility plan for decades, proponents of the extension said, and County Judge Craig Doyal worked to obtain the rights-of-way necessary for the project when he was commissioner of Precinct 2. But an engineering study that Noack requested found that the extension would increase traffic along Woodlands Parkway and exceed the road's capacity within three years.

The debate between those in favor of the parkway extension, which Precinct 2 Commissioner Charlie Riley says is needed to help mobility for his west county residents, heightened throughout the year. A number of Woodlands residents rallied around Noack and director of The Woodlands Township board Gordy Bunch to vote down the proposed $350 million road bond that included funding for the project in May. A revised $280 million bond that dropped the funding for the parkway extension passed in November.

The issue has again created tension at recent commissioners court meetings, where Noack has had heated exchanges with Riley and Doyal over the fact that Precinct 2 still plans to move forward with the parkway extension using alternate funding.

"I represent Precinct 3, and will be their voice at the table. Many times it is me alone, but that doesn't bother me," Noack said. "They elected me to be their voice, so that is the position I take whether it is the popular one or not."

Relationship issues

Noack's supporters praise him for standing against others on the commissioners court. He's garnered endorsements from the two local tea party groups, the Texas Patriots PAC and the Montgomery County Tea Party, Precinct 3 Constable Ryan Gable and former Montgomery County Judge Alan Sadler,

"He's glad to discuss viewpoints and opinions that are new. That's been a really refreshing instance on the court," said Julie Turner, president of the Texas Patriots PAC. "We can have debate on how to move forward  (previously) there's been walking in lockstep - no discussion needed. He's making things more transparent."

But Sanders sees Noack's stand-alone opposition differently.

"You can disagree without being disagreeable," Sanders said.

What Sanders has observed, he says, appears more to be creating discord and burning bridges than representing constituents. He's afraid the current climate is creating a The-Woodlands-versus-the-rest-of-the-county mentality.

"Those relationships are broken," Sanders said. "You're never going to always agree, but you may be on the same side of an issue tomorrow. You shouldn't be burning those bridges."

"We definitely need a change," said former Precinct 3 Commissioner Ed Chance, who has endorsed Sanders. "(Noack's) inability to get along with members of county court - in Montgomery and Harris counties - it's very detrimental to the county."

Chance also said that he's heard complaints from his former constituents that Noack is difficult to reach.

"I've talked to probably 30 people in the last month that have called that office multiple times, sent emails, and get no response, and if they did it's from other people in the office," Chance said. "You have to have someone that is customer-oriented; their job is taking care of thousands of people ... Jay Mac (Sanders) is an upstanding young man. He has a reputation of meeting all his commitments. He's a small business owner, he understands the need to take care of customers."

Turner disagreed about Noack's accessibility.

"The experience I've had, James (Noack) bends over backwards to be accessible," Turner said.

Looking ahead

If he were elected, Sanders says he would make it a priority to foster relationships, instituting a quarterly meeting with representatives from The Woodlands and the South County cities of Oak Ridge North and Shenandoah. He'd also like to develop a comprehensive long-term plan for mobility in The Woodlands and take a second look at how to fix the thoroughfare issues on the east side of Interstate 45.

"We need to have that dialogue," Sanders said.

Noack says he intends to follow through with steps he's already taken to improve the community.

"I will continue to be the voice of taxpayers on commissioners court," Noack said. "I will follow through with the bond projects, complete Kuykendahl bridge (widening) and continue to solve mobility issues. My commitment to law enforcement will continue and my excellent relationships will ensure that Montgomery County is prepared for challenges as we grow."
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Searching for the positive in everyday life
The scholars special duty is to turn the written signs in which old poetry or philosophy is now enshrined back into living thought or feeling.

Gilbert Murray
One criminal is off the streets and Texas' 10 Most Wanted Fugitive list.

Sureno 13 gang member Gilberto Ruvalcaba, 29, is in custody after being captured Tuesday morning in Houston, authorities said.
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A female former teacher at an all-boys prep school in Fort Worth has been arrested on multiple charges stemming from an alleged sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student.

Alina Leung, 29, is charged with unlawful restraint (after allegedly taking the boy to an Oklahoma hotel and spending two nights there), improper relationship between a teacher and student and sexual assault of a child under 17, according to the arrest warrant affidavit.

Leung, who taught sixth and seventh grades at P.L. Dunbar Young Men's Leadership Academy, was arrested Wednesday and released Thursday from the Mansfield City Jail on bail totaling $35,821, a jail employee said.

According to the arrest warrant affidavit, the victim was a freshman at the college prep school that is part of the Fort Worth Independent School District and offers grades six through 12.

He told a forensic interviewer that he began hanging out with Leung in her classroom, helping her grade papers when other students were in the classroom.

In October, the boy and Leung began emailing and using Facebook messages as a way to communicate outside school, with each expressing feelings for the other, the affidavit states.

After about a month, they began going to the teacher's apartment about 5 or 6 p.m., records state. They started out watching movies together and then began cuddling and kissing, culminating in having sex shortly before Thanksgiving.

The boy told the interviewer that the teacher had said she wanted to wait to have sex until 2017 when it would be legal but he continued asking and she finally agreed, the affidavit states.

During the first week of Christmas break, Leung took the boy to Oklahoma and spent two nights in a hotel. During the day, they toured the University of Oklahoma in Norman and went to a go-cart racing business. According to the affidavit, the boy's parents were unaware Leung took him on the trip.

The relationship came to light on Jan. 20, when the boy's father opened the family laptop computer and found his Facebook page, with messages from Leung, such as, "I mean it when I say I love you and want to be with you forever."
Felipe Dana/STF

The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston has signed a letter of intent with the Brazilian Ministry of Health to help develop and test a Zika vaccine, university officials confirmed Thursday.

Brazilian Health Minister Marcelo Castro announced the government will invest $1.9 million in the research, to be conducted by UTMB and the Evandro Chagas Institute in the Brazilian city of Belem, the Associated Press reported. The collaboration aims to have a vaccine candidate ready for clinical trials in humans within 12 months, according to the report.
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SAN DIEGO - For the 15th time, officials denied parole for Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, after hearing Wednesday from another person who was shot that night and called for Sirhan's release.

The decision came after Sirhan answered questions from a California parole panel during a hearing that lasted more than three hours in a small, windowless conference room.

Commissioners concluded Sirhan did not show adequate remorse or understand the enormity of his crime.

During the hearing, the 71-year-old Sirhan stuck to his previous account that he did not remember the shooting in 1968 at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after Kennedy won the Democratic presidential primary in California.

He said he recalled being in the hotel then going to his car and returning after realizing he had too much to drink. He said he became interested in a female and they drank coffee in a hotel pantry.

"It's all vague now," Sirhan told the parole panel. "I'm sure you all have it in your records, I can't deny it or confirm it, I just wish this whole thing had never taken place."

Depp to portray The Donald on humor website

LOS ANGELES - Johnny Depp has played a loopy pirate, a mad hatter and a demon barber. But will he be a convincing Donald Trump?

The humor website Funny or Die on Wednesday began streaming a 50-minute comedy that finds Depp portraying the businessman turned politician, full-blown comb-over and all. Kept a secret for months - no small task in Hollywood - "Funny or Die Presents Donald Trump's The Art of the Deal: The Movie" was released to coincide with Trump's victory Tuesday in the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary.

"It was a crazy, completely nuts idea that somehow we pulled off," said Adam McKay, a co-founder of Funny or Die, which also counts Will Ferrell and Judd Apatow as principal partners and produces exclusive material that often features well-known stars. McKay, director of "The Big Short," which is a contender for best picture at the coming Academy Awards, added that the site's newest skewering of Trump will "with any luck" annoy the presidential hopeful.

A Trump spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.

Aeromexico issues apologyin turban dispute

MEXICO CITY - An Indian-American actor and designer who was turned away from an airline flight after refusing to remove his Sikh turban during a security check said he's "thrilled" that Aeromexico is vowing to overhaul its screening protocols.

Waris Ahluwalia also expressed gratitude for the outpouring of support on social media that he believes helped pressure airline executives to change and apologize. He said the agreement had been worked out by lawyers for Aeromexico and the Sikh Coalition in New York and the deal had not yet been made public.

On Monday, after passing through an airport security checkpoint, he said, he was pulled aside at the gate. He was asked to remove his turban but refused to do so.

Ahluwalia said he was then told he would not be boarding any Aeromexico plane and should arrange to fly with another carrier.

Gun owners urge NRA board to remove Nugent

Gun owners are pressuring the National Rifle Association to boot longtime board member Ted Nugent from the organization's leadership ranks after the rock star's social media outburst that depicted prominent American Jews as the men and women "really behind gun control."

Nugent posted a photo on Facebook this week calling Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., "Jew York City Mayor Mikey Bloomberg," former Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, among many others, "punks" who would "deny us the basic human right to self-defense ..."

An NRA spokeswoman said Wednesday that "individual board members do not speak for the NRA."

Bob Owens, editor for BearingArms.com, wrote online Tuesday that Nugent should have realized that he "stepped in it" when gun advocates criticized his posting.

From wire reports
Sen. Ted Cruz's presidential campaign on Thursday announced a hefty team of official Texas supporters to court and draw out voters ahead of Super Tuesday, when the Lone Star State will be the main attraction in the nation's largest primary voting day.

Cruz's team includes nearly a third of the Texas Legislature  43 state representatives and 11 state senators  plus seven U.S. representatives from Texas, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and former Gov. Rick Perry.
THE LEAD: An update in Stickland v. Fisher

-- Fierce GOP fight for HD-92, by the Star-Telegrams Anna Tinsley. The future of the Republican Party lies in Tarrant County. And depending on how a few heated primary battles here turn out, it could help determine whether the party  and, more broadly, the Legislature  becomes more conservative or moderate.

Case in point: the contentious fight for House District 92, which pits uber conservative and outspoken Tea Party firebrand state Rep. Jonathan Stickland against Scott Fisher, a local pastor who is backed by establishment Republicans.

Welcome to Thursday, folks. Just in case you want more politics in your life, check out the trailer for the new season of NetflixsHouse of Cards, which was released yesterday. Reach me at bobby.cervantes@chron.com or tweet me @bobbycervantes.

-- Thoughts from a Trump watch party, by the Chronicles Mike Ward. For the Coburns and five other couples who gathered after work to watch primary night returns -- actually, they're all friends and generally get together once a week anyway -- Tuesday's victory for the Manhattan business tycoon is something to shout about, a win that cements Trump's place as a viable candidate and a signal that he has a chance of doing well in the March 1 GOP primary in Texas, in the heart of Ted Cruz country.

-- Judge orders release of PACs records in Pasadena voting-rights case, by the Chronicles Mihir Zaveri. Attorneys representing the group of Hispanic voters suing Isbell and the city for allegedly diluting their voting rights had subpoenaed the documents from Citizens to Keep Pasadena Strong, which include internal emails between Isbell and a political consultant as well as draft campaign materials for the years 2013 to 2015.

They said the documents would help shed light on an alleged scheme by the city to change its election system, which they contend is discriminatory and violates the Voting Rights Act because they say it keeps Hispanic voters from electing candidates of their choice.

-- After NH, Bernie Sanders supporters see opening in Texas, by the Morning News Bobby Blanchard. Clintons ties to Texas are as strong, if not stronger, than her ones to New Hampshire. All but a handful of elected Democrats have officially endorsed her. Just one state lawmaker  Rep. Marisa Marquez, D-El Paso, has endorsed Sanders. Clinton also won Texas in 2008 against Obama.

-- WATCH the Ted Cruz ad released this week that portrays Donald Trump as a childs action figure.

SPEED READ

Grieder: What NH means, Texas Monthly

Paxtons gay marriage ruling spurs probe, Associated Press

Railroad Commission candidates make pitch to Midlanders, Midland Reporter-Telegram

UTSA task force working to finalize campus carry report, San Antonio Express-News

Greg Abbott launches research initiative, pivoting away from Perrys priorities, The Dallas Morning News

Houston man accused in deputys shooting declared incompetent, Houston Chronicle

Karl Rove group wins IRS tax exemption, Politico

Rubio adds ex-Rep. Jim Pitts, Hispanic activist to roster of Texas backers, The Dallas Morning News

Austin mayor: Hillary has a lot of friends in Texas, The Dallas Morning News

Friend of Texas man shot by police wants public's attention, Austin American-Statesman

Abbott claim on federal fishing rules hits a snag, Houston Chronicle

Report: Sandra Blands mother will campaign with Hillary Clinton, The Dallas Morning News

Unwelcome wagon: Trump, Cruz rhetoric likely to discourage Hispanics from voting for GOP, The Dallas Morning News

President's budget seeks $19 billion for NASA, Houston Chronicle

Officials: Reduced drug sentences hold promise, Houston Chronicle

Paxton on SCOTUS win: Impossible Clean Power Plan a blatant overreach, Texas Observer

Ted Cruz blocks ambassador appointments to make a point because he can, Texas Monthly

QUOTE TO NOTE

What were seeing by both Trumps victory as well as Bernie Sanders victory is that Americans are very frustrated with the way things are going.

-- Greg Abbott at a Tuesday night Lincoln-Reagan Day dinner. Read more about this appearance.

RACE TO 2016

-- 5 things to watch in tonights PBS debate, by Politicos Gabriel Debenedetti. Bernie Sanders is swaggering into the sixth Democratic debate. After a humbling, 22-point defeat in New Hampshire Tuesday, Hillary Clinton is staggering in. Sanders spent Wednesday on something of a victory tour in New York, filming television shows and meeting with Al Sharpton as part of an outreach effort aimed at minority voters. On Thursday, hell be looking to prove at the PBS Newshour debate at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee that hes no fluke  that Team Clintons contention that he ran well in Iowa and New Hampshire because Democratic voters in those states are heavily white and heavily liberal (like Wisconsin) is nothing but an excuse.

-- Warning: The dirty tricks are about to start, by Politicos Darren Samuelsohn. As the White House hopefuls descend on South Carolina, site of the crucial Feb. 20 GOP primary and then the Democratic contest a week later, they're also heading straight into what might be the seamiest underbelly of American politics. This is a state famous for telephone pollsters implying John McCain had an illegitimate child, and the bogus Mitt Romney Christmas card with controversial quotes from the Book of Mormon. Fliers dropped on South Carolina doorsteps have told people the wrong date to vote; this is where political rivals have bantered openly with racial slurs and innuendo about sexual trysts.

-- For Cruz, its still all about Rubio  and cash, by CNNs Teddy Schleifer. Ted Cruz's associates, allies and donors are preparing for a streetfight in South Carolina and long slog to the Republican nomination, remaining as concerned as ever about the long-term threat posed by Marco Rubio despite the damage inflicted to him in New Hampshire.

Cruz's orbit is eyeing an eventual three-man race between the Texas senator, Donald Trump and Rubio that shows no signs of consolidating quickly, according to conversations with nearly a dozen people tied to the campaign.
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.
The Fish and Wildlife Commission on Thursday unanimously approved a first-of-its-kind channel migration easement allowing the Yellowstone River to roam, though concerns of how it may affect a downstream user almost stalled the proposal.

The easement, approved at the commissions meeting in Helena, will release funds from Western Area Power Administration to pay the Navratil family in Richland County not to rip-rap the bank on 89.5 acres of their property along the Yellowstone.

This is just one of a whole bunch of pearls we plan to string together along the Yellowstone, said Tom Hinz, of Montana Aquatic Resources Services, which has facilitated the easement along with the Montana Land Reliance, which would hold the easement.

A hearing held last month in Sidney to discuss the easement drew a variety of public opposition. Among them was the concern from an adjacent downstream landowners lessee who was concerned that erosion of the Navratil property could harm a ditch the lessee used for irrigation.

With that in mind, Fish, Wildlife and Parks backed off its original proposal to pass the agenda item until it could discuss the lessees concerns. But that prompted disapproval from people attending the meeting and some commissioners.

This is a private property rights issue, said Kendall Van Dyk, representing MLR, and others echoed that statement.

Tourtlotte said denying the easement was ridiculous, calling the easement the Navratil familys legacy that FWP should respect.

It should be done because its the right thing to do, he said.

The easement passed unanimously with commission chairman Dan Vermillion recusing himself because of his association with the Montana Land Reliance as a board member.

Allowing the river to roam is seen as a natural process that adds silt and nutrients to the river that keep it healthy and also benefit native fish species like the endangered pallid sturgeon. The cost of the easement was valued at $69,000, 25 to 30 percent of the fair market value.

According to the environmental assessment prepared by FWP, more than 226 miles of the Yellowstone have been hardened or armored to date. About 540 miles of the Yellowstone runs through Montana.
The Montana Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that Billings police officer Grant Morrison acted correctly in his handling of a 2013 drug arrest.

Dean Jason Ballinger, 37, had appealed his conviction after claiming Morrison illegally detained and searched him on Sept. 28, 2013. The drug evidence obtained after Ballinger's arrest on an outstanding warrant led to a charge of criminal drug possession and a five-year prison sentence.

BPD reprimands Morrison for obtaining unauthorized information Cleared in two fatal shootings and investigated for illegally keeping animals including pot-

Morrison had responded to a call from a woman who said her neighbor's door was left wide open. She said she had seen people moving out of the house earlier that day but hadn't seen anyone in the past few hours, according to the appeal filed by Ballinger's public defender.

Morrison responded to the house on the 200 block of South 33rd Street about 43 minutes later. When he arrived, he saw Ballinger and a woman named Julie Ramirez walking down the street behind his patrol car. Morrison said he believed they were headed to the home with the open door.

Morrison questioned the pair. They said they were walking from Ballinger's home to the home of Ramirez's mother, according to court documents.

Morrison didn't believe them and asked for their identifications. That's when he discovered Ballinger had an outstanding arrest warrant for a partner or family member assault charge.

Ballinger was handcuffed and frisked. He acknowledged having a pocket knife on him, but nothing illegal, and Morrison did not remove the items.

After taking Ballinger to the Yellowstone County Detention Facility, Morrison said he searched the back of his patrol car and found a small baggie containing meth.

State reprimands BPD for officer's unauthorized data requests The Montana Department of Justice issued Billings Police Department a sanction letter Tuesda

When he returned to the jail, Ballinger insisted the drugs weren't his. Morrison said no one else had ridden in his patrol car that day, and he had searched the car thoroughly before his shift.

Yellowstone County District Judge Russell Fagg ruled against a motion filed by Ballinger's attorney to suppress the evidence on the basis that Morrison did not have a "particularized suspicion to conduct an investigatory stop of Ballinger."

The Montana Supreme Court affirmed Fagg's ruling.

The Ramirez woman with Ballinger is the sister of Richard Ramirez, who was shot and killed by Morrison about six months later.

Morrison was cleared in that shooting, as well as a second fatal shooting. He has also been investigated for illegally keeping animals, including pot-bellied pigs and a fawn, on his residential property. Morrison has also been reprimanded for obtaining criminal justice information for his own use.
CASPER, Wyo.  A legal assistant at the Natrona County District Attorneys office is facing a misdemeanor theft charge for allegedly stealing money from a coworker, court documents show.

A special prosecutor from Sheridan County filed the charging document against Melanie Dunn last week in Natrona County Circuit Court. The document accuses Dunn of taking money out of a coworkers purse over a several month period.

The Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation began looking into the stolen money in October after Nancy Johnson, director of the Victim Witness Unit at the District Attorneys office, reported that small amounts of money were being taken from her purse while she was at work.

Natrona County District Attorney Mike Blonigen said Wednesday Dunn is no longer employed by his office.

Christopher LaRosa, an assistant district attorney in Sheridan County, was called in to prosecute the thefts.

Court records show Denver attorney Peter J. Young is representing Dunn.

According to the court documents, after her first meeting with a DCI agent, Johnson left a bank envelope in her purse containing fake money and a note saying, I got ya I know who you are and what youre doing." However, the envelope was taken and the thefts continued.

The DCI agent placed a motion-activated camera in Johnsons office, the documents state. He also photographed the serial numbers on several $20 bills and gave them to Johnson to put in her purse. The agent later reviewed the surveillance footage after some of the money had been stolen from Johnson when she left her purse unattended in her office. The footage showed Dunn in Johnsons office.

The agent interviewed Dunn on Dec. 15. She told him she had taken the money and had been stealing from Johnson for several months, according to the documents.

Dunn is set to appear Feb. 26 in Natrona County Circuit Court for an arraignment hearing.
CASPER, Wyo.  A judge ruled Wednesday a 23-year-old Gillette man should serve time in prison for threatening a Wyoming State Trooper and other people with a knife last year.

Natrona County District Judge Daniel Forgey sentenced James Lynn Johnson to 10 to 20 years in prison.

Johnson previously pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault and one count of felony possession of methamphetamine for the May 1 incident on Interstate 25, just outside Casper.

His defense attorney, Rob Oldham, told the judge the crime was driven by Johnsons addiction to meth. Officers who searched Johnsons car on the day of the incident found more than 22 grams of the drug in his trunk.

Johnson threatened a trooper, who had stopped to help him after his car had broken down, when the trooper told Johnson he had an outstanding warrant. After lunging at the trooper with the knife, Johnson attempted to stop passing vehicles and slashed the knife at a driver who had stopped. No one was injured.

I wouldnt do that on a sober day, Johnson told Forgey just before the judge sentenced him. That wasnt me.

Forgey recommended Johnson undergo substance abuse treatment while he is incarcerated.

Johnson apologized to the trooper, who was sitting in the courtroom during the sentencing.

Prosecutor Dan Itzen asked that Johnson receive a lengthy prison sentence, while Oldham requested Johnson be given the opportunity to participate in a boot camp program aimed at rehabilitating young offenders.

The trooper stopped on I-25 about 30 miles from Casper when he saw Johnsons car had broken down, according to court documents. The trooper asked for Johnsons information and realized Johnson had a warrant for driving under suspension.

When the trooper told Johnson about the warrant, Johnson took a knife from the center console of his car and lunged at the trooper, the documents state. Johnson then attempted to stop passing vehicles while holding the knife.

One vehicle stopped and Johnson opened the drivers door and demanded a ride, according to the documents. He then slashed at the driver with the knife but hit the car door instead. Johnson held onto the vehicle as the driver tried to leave. The driver then stopped the car, and he and his passenger climbed out the passenger side, taking the keys.

Johnson climbed into the vehicle, and troopers were able to arrest him.
Un microbuz special a fost transmis de Uniunea Europeana si Fundatia Soros Moldova Centrului de zi pentru copiii cu dizabilitati din Cahul
The federal government is once again considering cutting hours at Montanas 24-hour port-of-entry with Saskatchewan.

Montanas congressional delegation is joining trade groups in opposing the move, which they say is bad for the economy.

Every day, the communities surrounding the Port of Raymond see trucks carrying grain, cattle, sugar beets, oil and countless other commodities that stop up and down Main Streets, said Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont. This commerce brings sustainable businesses to hotels, restaurants and shops in Plentywood, Scobey, Froid, Culbertson and the other towns along the way. I am concerned that a reduction in hours at the Port of Raymond will push this commerce across the border and into North Dakotas communities.

Tester prepared his comments for a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol town hall meeting Thursday in Plentywood, where the senator will be represented by staff. Thursday, CBP spokeswoman Lynn Hurst said the agency will discuss a test closure period and ask meeting attendees for input about which hours of closure work best. Hurst said she couldnt offer details about how long the port would operate under limited hours during the test.

Testers staff said CBP was working on closing the port for six hours a day. The Plentywood meeting comes less than two months after Customs and Border Patrol officials said there would be no reduction in hours. CBP last November proposed cutting Port of Raymond hours, but then backed off after Tester and Montana Republicans U.S. Sen. Steve Daines and U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke objected.

Daines staff said it learned of the CBP reversal a week ago. The cut hours were to be from 1 a.m. to 7 a.m. for 60 days beginning March 1.

In a letter to CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske, Daines and Zinke said that more than 25,000 Montana jobs were related to Canadian trade, which made a 24-hour port crucial. Canada purchased about $564 million worth of Montanas goods in 2014.

The Ports-to-Plains Alliance, which relies on the Port of Raymond as part of a trade corridor from Canada to Mexico said the volume of trade through Montana and North Dakota ports to Canada have growing importance to U.S. trade.

The ports of entry serving the Ports-to-Plains corridors in Montana and North Dakota are serving a growing value of goods moving between the U.S. and Canada, said Joe Kiely, Ports-to-Plains Alliance spokesman. Between 2004 and 2014 the value of goods moving by truck from the 10-state Ports-to-Plains region through these ports have grown by 162 percent. Value of goods moving by truck through the Port of Raymond from the same region has grown 160 percent in the same period with exports increasing 455 percent.

There have already been gates installed on the U.S. side of the crossing, said Mike Jensen, who owns Cousins Family Restaurant in nearby Plentywood. Jensen said word of the CBP town hall meeting has been slow to get out. The communitys weekly newspaper will first print the notice Thursday morning.

The CBP meeting in the basement of Montana State Bank will take place at 2 p.m.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has implemented new safety procedures, including a new task force, as a result of the fatal crane collapse that occurred a week ago.

On Monday, February 7, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio held a press conference to discuss the details on the incident as well provide information on new policies being implemented relating to crane safety.

Theres a full investigation going on to review everything that happened on Friday, to determine exactly what caused this accident, and to determine changes that may be necessary in policies as a result of it, said de Blasio. The investigation is underway, it will take weeks for sure, some elements may take several months.

The NYC mayor outlined the known facts. Just before 8:30AM on Friday morning, a crane collapsed here along Worth Street between West Broadway and Church.

A 38-year-old man, David Wichs, was killed as a result of the collapse and three others were injured.

The Department of Buildings personnel visited the worksite the prior morning and found it to be in proper order, the mayor said.

The workers on Friday morning did not begin work on the site, but immediately seeing the winds, made the move to secure the crane, so their timing was appropriate. Upon arrival, they immediately determined the need to secure the crane, the mayor said.

Investigations underway now, including by NYPD and the Department of Buildings, and there is a forensic investigation underway looking at the equipment itself.

The day of the crane collapse, NYC officials ordered all 376 crawler cranes in the city as well as 53 larger tower cranes be secured because of the wind gusts.

Commissioner Rick Chandler, Department of Buildings, explained that a crawler crane is a crane that has tracks on it, like a tank, as opposed to a mobile crane which has wheels.

New safety policies effective immediately, according to de Blasio, include restrictions on crawler cranes, added sidewalk protections and notification procedures, as well as the establishment of a new task force to gauge crane safety standards.

The new restrictions on crawler cranes mandates that they must cease operation and go into safety mode whenever steady winds are forecast to exceed 20 miles an hour or gusts are forecast to exceed 30 miles per hour, said de Blasio.

The mayor offered an example where there is a forecast for high wind levels the next work day, crawler crane operators will be required put them in secure mode the day before. If crane operators fail to comply they could be cited and ordered to pay fines.

Well send advisories to crane engineers when wind conditions warrant it, and engineers will be required to certify that they will indeed cease operations, de Blasio said. If we dont receive this certification, we will be issuing violations and we will raise the base penalty for failure to safeguard a site from the current $4,800 dollars to $10,000 dollars.

The Department of Buildings, Department of Transportation, the New York Police Department and the Fire Department for the City of New York will team up to ramp up enforcement of pedestrian protections, the mayor said.

In any situation where there will be a securing of a crane and pedestrians are not supposed to pass in the affected area, of course, well require the work crews to ensure that thats not happening. They are liable for violations if they do not do thaton top of that, well be sending in uniformed city personnel to ensure that pedestrians are kept safe, de Blasio added.

Another new policy is that neighboring residents and businesses will be notified when a crane will be moved into a secure position.

Previously, operators were only required to notify the community when a crane was first installed. We will now require notification of the surrounding community when a crane is being put into a secure position, de Blasio said.

Lastly, the NYC mayor emphasized the crane accident investigation will be thorough and a new task force will consider the investigation results in determining if new safety measures are needed.

Were putting a task force to propose additional regulations and additional best practices to make sure New York Citys cranes are the safest in the world. Over the next 90 days, the task force will work to evaluate Fridays collapse and to determine if we need additional safety strategies, de Blasio said.

Recent data on crane collapses is scarce.

According to a 2008 report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics that looked at 2006 data, there were 72 crane-related fatal occupational injuries, which was a decline from an average of 78 fatalities per year from 2003 to 2005. The report noted that mobile, truck, and rail mounted cranes, and overhead cranes represented the type of crane involved for the majority of fatalities.

An alert issued by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in 2006, following investigations conducted by the agency, suggested workers may not be fully aware of the hazards that can occur when operating or working near mobile cranes. The alert stated that crane tip-overs can result from operating a crane outside the manufacturers recommended safe lifting capacity. Booms can collapse for reasons such as overloading, improper disassembly procedures, and improper rigging. Both crane tip-over and boom collapse can result in workers being struck by parts of the crane or uncontrolled hoisted loads.
XL Catlin Unveils Workplace Violence Coverage for US Businesses

XL Catlin announced a new insurance policy to help mid-size companies in the US respond and recover from such incidents.

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) estimates that nearly 2 million American workers are victims of workplace violence each year, with still more cases going unreported. According to OSHA, workplace violence is the second leading cause of work-site deaths in the US.

With liability limits up to $25 million, XL Catlins Workplace Violence and Stalking Threat insurance covers expenses related to public relations counsel, psychiatric, medical or dental care, employee counseling, temporary security measures, and rehabilitation expenses, personal accident, legal liability and business interruption expenses.

The policy includes legal liability coverage to address legal expenses or lawsuits that can result from an incident. A special endorsement is also available to provide the company and its employees coverage for an off site incident, an act of workplace violence that may occur at a client or vendors facility for instance.

Location, Inc. Introduces New Index to Assess Structure Fire Risk Based on Human Negligence

Location, Inc., a provider of location-based data and tools used by corporations for risk analysis, introduced a new risk index to help insurers address one of the biggest challenges in insurance today: structure fire losses due to human negligence.

Every year structure fires cause billions of dollars in insurance losses. In 2014 alone, U.S. fire departments responded to 494,000 structure fires (one every 64 seconds), resulting in approximately $9.8 billion in property damage.

Insurers often associate structure fires with catastrophic events, such as wildfires or infrastructure failures (e.g. heating system faults). In order to gain a better understanding into these low frequency events insurers often factor in credit scores or public fire protection capabilities.

While the data sources above may provide some additional insights into structure fires, they do not fully address behavior-related incidents, such as arson or accidents involving cooking, improper appliance use, smoking, chimney, electrical, and other negligence- and property maintenance-related incidents.

FIRE RISK Index allows underwriters and agents to factor in human negligence when assessing structure fire risk. Based on millions of policy years of fire loss data and over 20 proprietary geospatial models, the index generates an easy to read risk score from 1 (lowest risk) to 10 (highest risk) for any address in the United States.

To highlight the capabilities of FIRE RISK, Location, Inc. is offering a free fire risk analysis on up to 25,000 policies for a limited time. To sign up for your free analysis, visit http://www.locationinc.com/fire-risk-trial or contact Paul Ptashnick at paulp@locationinc.com

RMS Releases Cyber Modeling System Created With Industry Support

RMS is debuting a new cyber modeling system, according to a formal announcement of the release made on Feb. 2, that it developed in collaboration with the Cambridge Centre of Risk Studies, and also with support from Amlin Plc., Aon Benfield, AXIS Capital, Barbican Insurance Group, Canopius Managing Agents Ltd. and SJNK Inc., RenaissanceRe Holdings, Talbot Underwriting and XL Catlin.

The RMS Cyber Accumulation Management System includes a new software system, framework for cyber exposure reporting and a series of cyber catastrophe scenarios for loss modeling.

In a related matter, the Cambridge Centre for Risk Studies, working with RMS, also released a new cyber-related report that zeroes in on concepts to help quantify accumulation risk to help firms reveal their portfolios loss potential.

The report notes five common cyber loss processes that can trigger the use of cyber insurance: the systemic release of confidential customer records, denial-of-service attack, cloud service provider failure, cyber attacks that compromise financial transactions and cyber extortion.

IDT911 Revamps DataRiskStages Product

IDT911 announced significant enhancements to its DataRiskStages data breach mitigation and remediation service to better support insurers and their commercial policyholders. The platform has been enriched with three new features: Ins.breachresponse.com to help avoid and manage a breach, CyberClaims911 for more efficient claims handling and new analytics for more accurate cyber underwriting.

For commercial policyholders, breachresponse.com from DataRiskStages offers comprehensive pre-breach risk awareness education and post-breach remediation guidance. Users have access to data protection tips and education guides, breach scenarios, easy-to-use risk calculators, timely and current information security content, planning guides and templates and information regarding risk regulation and compliance. Additionally, the platform provides commercial customers with intuitive post-breach response guidance designed to quickly connect an organization experiencing a breach with IDT911s data breach response team and resolution advisors.

CyberClaims911 focuses solely on cyber claims processing to provide strong management over losses and reduce operating expenses. The product provides handling claims for all aspects of cyber coverage  from first to third party coverages, including incident response, business or network interruption, liability exposures and more. The service is designed for carriers just entering the cyber insurance space or looking to reduce claims, handling costs and inefficiencies.

Advanced analytics and reporting aggregates anonymized cyber and data breach data to help make informed underwriting and pricing decisions. As the database grows, IDT911 will supply insurers with aggregated reports and analysis directly relating to the data they contributed, as well as information from the larger pool of aggregated data collected for industry-wide comparisons and information.

To learn more about DataRiskStages, visit www.IDT911.com/DataRiskStages.
Chipotle Mexican Grill closed all of its U.S. restaurants during prime lunchtime hours on Monday to hold staff meetings on food safety guidelines, sparking offers from rivals eager to poach customers of the burrito chain as it recovers from several foodborne outbreaks.

More than 50,000 Chipotle employees crowded into rented movie theaters and other locations to hear live video feeds of co-Chief Executives Steve Ells and Montgomery Moran laying out their program to improve restaurant safety.

They described plans, already outlined to investors, to central processing of ingredients like tomatoes and bell peppers, increase testing of ingredients and to discourage sick workers from coming to the restaurant by offering paid sick leave.

Chipotles shares have lost nearly a third of their value and sales have plunged about 30 percent since November, when first reports of E. Coli sickness linked to the chain emerged. E. Coli sickened more than 50 people in 14 states.

Chipotle also faced two separate norovirus outbreaks, and the company said earlier this month it was the subject of a national criminal investigation, related to an outbreak.

Ells said he was deeply sorry that some people became ill after eating at Chipotle and was committed to make sure it wont happen again, according to company tweets.

Posters on Chipotle store windows offered a free raincheck burrito to customers who could not get lunch.

Still, rivals including online food delivery service GrubHub and Moes Southwest Grill, sought to grab customers. Were open, especially on February 8, Moes wrote in an ad on twitter and USA Today.

The Chipotle executives also said the company would spend about $10 million to help local suppliers adhere to the companys new safety measures.

One Chipotle worker, Francisco, 23, who said he worked on New York Citys Upper West Side, described the meeting as going well and said that colleagues had asked questions about how to prepare food more safely.

Excerpts of the meeting were broadcast over Twitter Incs live-streaming app Periscope and in tweets. The meeting started at 11:00 a.m. ET and restaurants opened at 3 p.m.

Last week, the chain reported its first decline in quarterly same-store sales as a public company, hurt by a sharp drop in customer visits due to the outbreaks.

(Additional reporting by Kylie Gumpert in New York; Editing by Peter Henderson, Savio DSouza, Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Bernard Orr)
Daimler has said it is to recall 840,000 U.S. vehicles with Takata airbag inflators that could be defective, resulting in a charge of 340 million euros ($383 million) for the German automaker.

Daimler said late on Tuesday it had decided to recall about 705,000 Mercedes-Benz cars and about 136,000 Daimler vans, without giving details on which models were affected.

Daimler said it would account for the cost by revising its 2015 financial results published last week, lowering the net profit to 8.7 billion euros and group earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) to 13.2 billion euros, from 8.9 billion and 13.5 billion euros respectively.

This (340 million euros) is quite a big shortfall but the main message is that the current financial year will not be affected, said Frankfurt-based Bankhaus Metzler analyst Juergen Pieper who keeps his buy recommendation on Daimlers stock.

The Stuttgart-based group on Tuesday reiterated expectations that earnings from the continuing business would increase only slightly this year after making big gains in 2015, reflecting higher investments and a more moderate rise in sales in China.

Last month Takata Corp said it was declaring 5.1 million additional inflators defective after new testing and following the death of a driver in December in a 2006 Ford Ranger after an airbag rupture.

Takatas inflators can explode with too much force and spray metal shrapnel into vehicle passenger compartments. They are linked to at least 10 deaths worldwide and more than 100 U.S. injuries. To date 14 automakers have recalled a total of about 24 million U.S. vehicles involving about 28 million Takata airbag inflators.

Takata said other automakers involved in the most recent expansion include Honda Motor Co, Volkswagen AG and its Audi unit, and Mazda Motor Co, American Honda Motor Co, BMW AG and Saab.

Honda has recalled 2.23 million U.S. vehicles in the most recent Takata expansion. Ford has recalled 361,000 Ranger trucks and Mazda called back nearly 20,000 2004-2006 B-Series trucks.

In December the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration named a former Justice Department official as a monitor to help regulators supervise one of the biggest and most complex safety recalls ever undertaken in the U.S. automotive industry.

In November U.S. regulators fined Takata $70 million and is still undergoing an investigation by the Justice Department.

(Additional reporting by Andreas Cremer in Berlin; Editing by David Gregorio, Greg Mahlich)
School lockdowns, and preparing for a possible intruder, have become a fact of life for many metro Atlanta, Ga., schools.

School safety has changed in recent years with mass shootings such as the 2012 incident at Sandy Hook Elementary School, where 20 students and six staff members were killed by a gunman, still fresh in the minds of many Americans, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

In most cases, a school lockdown is ordered by a principal or school resource officer when there are armed suspects nearby or a fight between students gets particularly violent, the Atlanta newspaper reported. In less urban areas, lockdowns have been ordered when a hunter errantly encroaches on school property.

Metro Atlanta schools not only conduct fire drills and tornado drills, but most now teach students  from elementary school upward  what to do during lockdowns.

Many of them treat it the same as math class, said Shannon Flounnory, executive director for safety and security in the Fulton County School District. Its a part of school now. Its a part of the times that were in now.

In Fulton County, there are soft lockdowns and hard lockdowns, authorities said. A hard lockdown includes not allowing anyone to leave a classroom.

In Cherokee County, students are taught to stay away from windows and doors and to move near cinder block walls in a dangerous situation.

DeKalb County has three levels of lockdowns, officials said. The protocol for the most serious lockdown level includes locking classroom doors, turning lights out and possibly barricading the doors.

The general theory in DeKalb County and other school districts is that if we are going to err, we are going to err on the side of caution, said Don Smith, the DeKalb County school districts public safety director.

In north Fulton County, Johns Creek High School student Andrew Liang said he and his classmates are trained for lockdowns once every few months. The drills, he said, typically last about 10 minutes. Liang said half of the students stayed home from school one day last school year when rumors of a mass shooting spread through the school. School officials handled the situation well, he said, but Liang said hed like to see more drills.

Our school should practice lockdowns more often, and make them second-nature for students and teachers, he said.

Some Parent Teacher Association groups have helped pay for systems that lock classroom doors during a lockdown. One thing the states PTA leader would like to see parents do is be more vigilant about providing contact information so they can be notified if there is a school lockdown.

Law enforcements ability to communicate is as good as the information parents give them, said Georgia PTA President Lisa-Marie Haygood, who has a daughter in the Cherokee County school system.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
HELENA  A Republican state lawmaker says Montana Auditor Monica Lindeen and her chief counsel, Jesse Laslovich, illegally used a state worker as a campaign staffer while the pair sought election to separate offices in 2012.

Laslovich and Lindeen, both Democrats, told an auditors office staffer to make deposits on behalf of Lindeens re-election campaign, according to a complaint sent Monday to the states commissioner of political practices.

The complaint, authored by Rep. Matthew Monforton, R-Bozeman, goes on to allege Laslovich, Lindeen and other auditor's office staffers conducted campaign fundraisers and strategy sessions during work days while on state premises.

It seeks both Democrats removal from upcoming primary and general election ballots. Laslovich is looking to take his boss' spot as state auditor. Lindeen is campaigning for secretary of state.

Monforton said Deputy Securities Commissioner Lynne Egans alleged handling of campaign checks amounts to her unregistered enlistment as Lindeens campaign treasurer, a post that must be registered with the political practices office under Montana law.

That allegation rests heavily on a nearly four-year-old deposition taken from a former auditors office staffer who said Egan, a Lindeen campaign volunteer, received checks delivered by Laslovichs campaign manager and meant for the candidate.

Egan, in a separate deposition, admitted depositing campaign funds on Lindeens behalf, but denied doing so on state time or equipment.

Lindeen, speaking through a state Democratic party spokesman, couldnt help but remark on the timing of Monfortons complaint.

"It's unfortunate that some people are choosing to play politics with legal matters that occurred in this office four years ago that were resolved by the Montana judiciary, Lindeen said. I welcome an investigation and believe the complaint is based on petty politics and not merit. My record of protecting consumers is clear and stands on its own."

Laslovich's campaign manager Brandon DeMars echoed those concerns, calling the filing a desperate attempt to distract from whats at stake in the auditors race.

Reached for comment Monday, Monforton shrugged off questions surrounding the complaints timing, explaining he would have brought it forward sooner if not for the wishes of one of his legal clients  Harris Himes, a Hamilton pastor investigated by the auditors office and eventually convicted of securities fraud.

Deposition testimony cited in Mondays political practices complaint was taken down in the run up to the Himes trial. Monforton, who is not running for re-election to House District 69, said he simply wanted to respect his clients wish not to reveal those allegations until after Himes fraud case closed in mid-January.

But he didnt deny there may be political consequences to dropping the complaint just months ahead of Junes primary election.

Lindeen and Laslovich are unfit for office and its important that evidence of their malfeasance be presented to voters, Monforton said.

Commissioner of Political Practices Jonathan Motl said Wednesday he's not yet received the complaint. He'll have five days to decide whether to accept or reject the filing upon its arrival at his office.
Jesse Cook Begins 'One World Tour' in Portland, Sits Down with Classicalite for Exclusive

(Photo : Strictly Photography/Steve Strickland.)

(Photo : Photo by Strictly Photo/Steve strickland)

(Photo : (Strictly Photography/Steve Strickland))

(Photo : Photo by Strictly Photography/Steve Strickland)

(Photo : Photo by Strictly Photography/Steve Strickland)

Aladdin Theater, Milwaukie Street, just off busy Powell Boulevard in Southeast Portland, Oregon. This was where I would meet the man who has been dubbed one of the most influenial figures in nuevo Flamenco music, the very affable and witty Jesse Cook. The guitarist's charm and easy sense of humor reminded my date and me of another performer we had seen recently--the slightly more famous Hugh Laurie. Jesse began a new version of his One World Tour on an unseasonably warm day for Portland. But before anything else could happen, the globe-trotting guitarist had to be dad and put his kids to bed in Toronto.

Classicalite - If Jesse Cook were to introduce himself to a crowd who didn't know what his music was like, how would he describe his style?

Jesse Cook - Kind of a fusion world music. I grew up with three music traditions. I started in flamenco. As I got better, at the Guitar Academy in Toronto, where I was passed onto classical teachers, I studied classical for a number of years. I didn't really like it as much. In my teens, I wandered into jazz. I ended up going to Berkeley College of Music. Now, I really don't know what I like to do. I like to mix it up a bit. Try and mix my weird guitar style with other styles of world music.

Classicalite - When did you know guitar was the voice you wanted to speak with?

Jesse Cook - It was one of those cases where I started so young with the guitar I really don't remember. My mom said I had a guitar when I was two that I used to strum. I have a couple of young kids now myself who like to make "noise" so I doubt it sounded like much. I started lessons when I was six and knew guitar was always going to be a part of my life. I've been very fortunate that I've been able to play guitar for a living. I don't really have a voice for singing.

Classicalite - Speaking of singing, during the sound check, I heard you singing. Is this new?

Jesse Cook - Yes, it's something I've been enjoying more and more. I've tried to avoid it as much as possible, let Chris (band member) sing the songs until finally, out of necessity, I had to. On one tour, our drummer couldn't make the show, so I filled in and loved it. I realized that it's a very different experience than playing an instrument. When you sing, you are the instrument.

Classicalite - What is the one piece of advice you'd give to a beginning guitarist?

Jesse Cook - For me, guitar has always been a lifetime love affair. I really have two ways of answering that. I generally tend to tell young people to chase your dreams. I have been fortunate in that I have been able to support myself. A lot of great and talented musicians have not. I think it's very important to stay true to your reasons for chasing the dream, whatever it may be.

Classicalite - Your music is very visual. I know your father was a film director. Did he influence your way of approacing composing?

Jesse Cook - I was surrounded by artists growing up. My mom was also a film director. I came from that culture. I originally thought I would become a painter. I had a girlfriend in high school that told me, "Jesse, you're really good at guitar, art not so much." If my albums sound cinematic, it is because those are the types of albums I loved. Dark Side of the Moon lived on my turntable for a year straight.

Classicalite - On your new CD, One World, speaking of visual, one song "Bombay Slam" really stuck out. I cover Bollywood for Classicalite and I could close my eyes and visualize a whole routine around your song.

Jesse Cook - It's interesting you say that. I am a closet Bollywood fan myself. It's totally Bollywood. Interestingly enough, I had a song of mine, "Mario Takes a Walk", get plagiarized by a Bollywood movie called Dhoom. The main song, the hit single, was my song, spliced with an Indian-type beat. It was a weird feeling seeing my music become popular in a whole other part of the work I greatly admire. I was just so blown away by it and it was like I wanted to do more of this.

Classicalite - On one of your previous tours, you opened for B.B. King. Did you get to meet him?

Jesse Cook - I opened for him a couple of times. I was pretty young in my career. One of the times, he was about to go on and I told Mr. King that my father is a huge B.B. King fan. He didn't have to say this, but he said, "You tell you're dad I wish him well and can't wait to see him at an upcoming concert."

Classicalite - Do you still learn from other guitarists or are you pretty much set in your ways?

Jesse Cook - Oh, yes. I am always learning, but not just about guitar. It's funny. People tend to view me as a guitarist. First and foremost, I am a composer and a producer, then a guitarist. The producing, recording, worrying about how this will sound. It all factors in. The guitar playing takes a couple of days, but it is only a small piece of a much bigger puzzle.

Classicalite - Because you have such a wide range of influences, how do you refine your ideas?

Jesse Cook - When I was younger, it was tough. I was like, "Look you could do this. You could do that." It's very much the dilemma of young composers. You want to show off your chops but really don't have an identity yet. Now, I refine it down to a specific geologic space, so to speak. A place you want to take time and explore.

Classicalite - You've done nine studio albums as a leader of a band. I'll read them off. Say the first thing that comes to mind with each. Tempest?

Jesse Cook - Four tracks. I had very limited technology.

Classicalite - Gravity?

Jesse Cook - "Mario Takes a Walk."

Classicalite - Vertigo?

Jesse Cook - Buckwheat Zydecco.

Classicalite - Free Fall?

Jesse Cook - "Fall at Your Feet".

Classicalite - Nomad?

Jesse Cook - Cairo.

Classicalite - Frontiers?

Jesse Cook - My son.

Classicalite - The Rumba Foundation.

Jesse Cook - Columbia.

Classicalite - The Blue Guitar Sessions?

Jesse Cook - Melancholy.

Classicalite - One World

Jesse Cook - Fun.

Yes, it was. Special thanks to Jesse Cook, Steve Strickland, for his beautiful photography, and my Little Fische, for her infinite wisdom.

 2016 The Classical Art, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

TagsJesse Cook, One World Tour, EXCLUSIVE, Classicalite Q&A
AKRON, Ohio -- The bank that would one day occupy Akron's tallest building, the iconic art deco FirstMerit Tower, started on a Medina street corner in 1845 with the name Old Phoenix Bank.

The company that grew out of it would become one of the most respected giants in the national banking sector. Known for acquisitions and reliable profits, FirstMerit was a favorite among stock-pickers on Wall Street.

In a tale of big fish meets bigger fish, FirstMerit's meritorious run as Akron's largest bank and third-largest employer came to an end Monday as Columbus-based Huntington announced it would buy FirstMerit and its estimated $25 billion in assets.

Here's a look back at FirstMerit's long list of catches.

1981 - First National Bank of Ohio, based in Akron, merges with Old Phoenix National Bank of Medina to form First Bancorporation of Ohio, which would eventually become FirstMerit Corporation.

1982 - In its first major acquisitions, First Bancorp acquires Twinsburg Banking Company and Exchange Bank of Canal Fulton. The company's total assets grow to $1.9 billion. (Newswire)

1985 - First Bancorporation acquires 18 branches from First National Bank of Cleveland, picking up $300 million in deposits. The branches are First Bancorp's first Cuyahoga County locations. (American Banker)

1988 - First Bancorp merges with First National Bank of Massillon. Assets top $2.6 billion. (American Banker)

1990 - The company acquires with Peoples Savings Bank of Ashtabula.

1994 - First Bancorporation makes Crain's list of Ohio's largest public corporations, at 41st. It is the sixth-largest public corporation in Akron, behind Goodyear (no. 1), Roadway Services (no. 5), B.F. Goodrich (no. 7), Ohio Edison Company (no. 10) and A. Schulman Inc (no. 26).

The company tops $4 billion in assets and completes two more major acquisitions, Life Federal Savings Bank, of Florida, and Great Northern Financial Corporation.

1995 - Shareholders agree to change the name of the company to FirstMerit Corp. The name "better reflects the geographic scope of the Corporation," a press release says.

1997 - FirstMerit acquires its first non-banking company, insurance firm Abell and Associates. The deal was a ''major step'' in FirstMerit's effort to become a ''total financial services company,'' CEO John Cochran told Crain's.

Later in the year, the company bought Elyria-based Cobancorp for $256 million. The New York Times reported assets of $5.2 billion.

1998 - FirstMerit buys Wooster-based Signal Corporation, expanding the company's Ohio footprint by 32 locations and adding the first Pennsylvania locations to the bank.

2009 - After a quiet decade, FirstMerit takes advantage of struggling banks in the Great Recession. Its first major acquisition, First Bank of St. Louis, gives the company 24 branches in the Chicago area and $1.2 billion in deposits.

FirstMerit's net assets grow to $10.2 billion, according to American Banker.

2010 - The company continues its moves on Chicago, picking up George Washington Savings Bank and MidWest Bank and Trust from the FDIC. First Bank branches are rebranded FirstMerit.

The new acquisitions don't initially help FirstMerit's bottom line, as revenues fell 39 percent. FirstMerit is included in a list of banks that "defy the Great Recession." (The Street)

2012 - FirstMerit buys Citizens Republic Bancorp of Flint, Michigan, for $952 million, picking up 220 branches and 2,800 employees. Assets top $14 billion. FirstMerit now a presence in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

2016 - Columbus-based Huntington Bank picks up FirstMerit for $3.4 billion. FirstMerit's assets are now valued at over $25 billion, making it the 30th largest bank in the nation by asset value.

Huntington promises to keep most of the company's 2,000 Akron employees at home. The company will become what the New York Times called "a banking giant in Ohio."

This story has been corrected to reflect the relative size of Huntington and its competitors. Key Corporation, of Cleveland, will remain the second largest bank in Ohio behind Fifth Third Bank.
AKRON, Ohio -- A Kent man admitted Tuesday to pretending to be an FBI agent when he and another man burst into a suspected drug house with a machete.

Sean McNulty, 33, pleaded guilty to robbery and impersonating a federal agent, both third-degree felonies. Summit County Common Pleas Judge Christine Croce will sentence McNulty on March 8.

Doris Smith, 46, is accused of driving McNulty and co-defendant Maurice Duley on July 25 to an apartment in the 100 block of East Lowell Avenue. Both Smith and Duley, 39, are from Akron.

McNulty carried a machete and Duley an AK-47 when they kicked in the front door, according to court records. Both were wearing FBI shirts.

McNulty threatened a man inside the apartment identified as Freadie Nelson, 41. The duo stole a large garbage bag filled with marijuana from Nelson, records show.

Akron police arrived and said they saw McNulty and Duley walking out of the home with the marijuana and weapons. The two ran, but McNulty was caught, police said. Duley, who escaped, has not yet been arrested.

McNulty admitted to police he took part in the robbery, according to court records.

Akron police went to the apartment and found a large amount of marijuana and packaging materials consistent with a drug-dealing operation, court records say.

They also found three guns inside the home-- two shotguns and a handgun. Nelson denied knowing about the guns and drugs and told police he was house-sitting for a friend.

Nelson, however, refused to name the friend or cooperate with officers. He is charged with 22 counts of aggravated drug possession, lying to police and possessing guns despite being a felon.

Duley faces charges of aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary and impersonating a federal agent. Smith has pleaded not guilty to complicity to aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary.
Student poets and jazz musicians will collaborate Thursday at Montana State University Billings in an artistic exploration of water.

As a part of FLOW: An Interactive Exhibition and Community Project, organized by Billings artist Sherri Cornett, creative writing students will read their poetry in the Northcutt Steele Gallery starting at 5 p.m., after which music students will reply with improvised jazz pieces.

The free event on the first floor of the Liberal Arts Building at MSUB, called Words on Water, will also feature readings of well-known water-related poetry written by other poets, including Thirst, a sonnet by Harlem Renaissance poet Claude McKay.

MSUB professor of English and former Montana poet laureate Tami Haaland will also read, and MSUB assistant music professor of low brass John Roberts will perform.

I like collaborative projects and am always willing to be involved in this way," wrote Haaland in an email Wednesday. Haaland has worked with musicians, dancers, actors and visual artists, she wrote.

Haaland's students prepared by responding in writing to some of Cornetts sculptures in the gallery, which also features art from MSUB students and alumni, before reflecting on personal experiences with water and studying of more famous examples of poetry concerned with water.

Students Tyler Briceno, Juanilla Chavis and Drew McDowell will play the drums, bass and guitar. Haaland's students who are participating are seniors Desiree Kling, Sierra Parcell and Amelia Bacon; junior Sarah Williams; and sophomore Thomas Mendenhall.

A reception is scheduled to follow.

The FLOW exhibit will remain on display until March 18. The project is described in media releases as a socially engaged project where the art exhibition offers a framework and jumping off point for a series of community conversations about water issues, rights, and usage and their impacts on regional lives and livelihoods.

FLOW continues Feb. 18 with a library film screening of "Mixing Oil and Water" and Feb. 24 with a symposium and community discussion called "Voices of the River."
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Paul Zuravel (right) sits next to Attorney Donald Milarcik in trial at Stow Municipal Court Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016.

(John Harper, cleveland.com)

STOW, Ohio -- A Stow man who was arrested in July standing outside the entrance to City Hall while waiting for planning documents, has been found guilty of criminal trespass and sentenced to pay $100.

Mayor Sara Drew had written a letter banning Paul Zuravel from City Hall indefinitely after an April 30 visit, and ordered city workers to call police if he showed up. Zuravel was put in handcuffs and taken to jail on July 2, after receiving an email from the city's planning director saying that plans he had submitted for approval were ready.

A jury found Zuravel guilty on a charge of criminal trespass after hearing nearly six hours of testimony from city employees who described Zuravel as being red faced and agitated during in April.

Zuravel said Wednesday that he is considering plans to appeal his case. He thinks that the mayor's letter, which banned Zuravel indefinitely, is unconstitutional.

"It's an unconstitutional ban of my right to go into a public building and have access to it," Zuravel said. "There's a lot riding on this case, really. Should the mayor be allowed to write an arbitrary letter, indefinitely banning me from city hall?"

Judge Lisa Coates, who oversaw the jury trial, left the jury to decide if Zuravel's actions on April 30 could be perceived as a threat, as the city's attorney's had argued, or if Zuravel was merely a nuisance.

Courts have decided in the past that a nuisance is not justification for someone's removal from a public building.

Two city secretaries testified separately that, during his heated April 30 meeting, they heard Zuravel mention a "CCW," or concealed carry weapon, in the hallway outside the bathroom. Zuravel says that he was asking a friend in the bathroom whether he had gotten a CCW, but the city's prosecutors argued that shouldn't matter.

"Would you walk into an airport and talk about a CCW? I think not," Attorney John Scavelli, who was representing Stow in lieu of Law Director Amber Zibritosky, told the jury.

While no one at the city testified that Zuravel directly threatened them, those three letters proved enough to convince the jury that Zuravel, in fact, was a threat and shouldn't have come back to City Hall.

Drew did not return phone calls requesting comment Wednesday afternoon.
Car fire, West Bagley Road: A 2006 Jeep caught fire at about 8:30 a.m. Feb. 9 outside Sylvester's Auto & Light Truck, 356 West Bagley.

The Jeep's owner, a 51-year-old Berea woman, said she was driving on Ohio Route 237 past the I-X Center when she smelled gasoline. She pulled off the road, parked and saw a puddle of red liquid under the Jeep.

The woman drove the Jeep to Sylvester's, which is near her home. She asked workers there to check her vehicle. As she walked back to the Jeep, she saw sparks and smoke. Then the Jeep became engulfed in flames. Firefighters doused the blaze.

Dog attack, Slate Drive: An unleashed mastiff attacked a boxer dog at about noon Feb. 7.

A Berea woman said she was walking her boxer on Slate when she noticed a man walking his mastiff across the street. The man was holding a leash but it was not attached to the dog.

As the dogs drew closer to each other, the mastiff ran across the street and jumped on the boxer. The mastiff growled and bit the boxer. The woman yelled at the man, who pulled his dog off the woman's dog.

The woman asked the man why the mastiff was unleashed. The man said the dog did not want to wear a leash that day. The woman told police that several residents have complained about the unleashed mastiff, and they are worried that it will attack their children or pets.

Police later learned that the man doesn't own the mastiff but takes dogs for therapeutic walks. The city's animal warden is investigating.

Vandalism, West Bagley Road: Two glass panels were smashed in the main entrance of Ritbearing Corp., 744 West Bagley. It happened late Feb. 9 or early Feb. 10. The building owner said someone had broken a window in the same business about two weeks ago. He didn't know who might have caused the damage but said a neighboring business has allowed its customers to park in Ritbearing's lot and has dumped trash in Ritbearing's Dumpster.

Driving with a suspended license, Bagley Road: A Columbia Station man, 45, and a Litchfield woman, 25, were arrested at about 8:30 p.m. Jan. 30 after the man was caught driving with a suspended license. Also, both the man and woman were carrying pills.

Police saw the man's car drift left of center while southbound on North Rocky River Drive. After stopping at CVS Pharmacy, the man continued driving on North Rocky River, then turned west onto Bagley. An officer checked the license plate number and discovered the owner's license was suspended.

The officer, after stopping the car, found Xanax, a sedative, in the woman's purse. She admitted having Vicodin, a narcotic pain reliever, and Soma, a muscle relaxer, in her bra. The officer later determined that the woman was carrying several types of pills, including Carisoprodel, a muscle relaxer, Acetaminiophen, a pain reliever, and Valium. The man was carrying what he said were Viagra pills.

Operating a vehicle under the influence, Bagley Road: A Berea man, 44, was arrested at about 10:15 p.m. Jan. 29.

Another driver called police after seeing the man driving erratically on northbound Prospect Road. An officer arrived and saw the man, driving a Kia Rio, turn right onto Bagley. The man stopped at a red light, but his car inched forward, almost bumping the rear end of a pickup truck, which was also waiting at the red light. After the light turned green, the Rio drifted left of center.

The officer stopped the car and recognized the driver as someone he had arrested several weeks ago. The man failed field sobriety tests.

OVI, Front Street: A Berea man, 60, was arrested at about 10:30 p.m. Jan. 13.

Police saw the man's car move left of center as it turned from Prospect Street onto West Bridge Street. The car weaved on West Bridge, then proceeded straight through the Park Street intersection, even though it had entered the turn lane. The car continued to weave on Front.

The man told police he had consumed one beer. He failed field sobriety tests.

OVI, Valley Parkway: A Marshallville man, 40, was arrested at about 6:15 p.m. Feb. 8.

The man was driving a Chevrolet Trailblazer eastbound on West Bagley Road. It was dark, but the sport-utility vehicle didn't have its lights on. As the man turned onto Valley, his Trailblazer almost went off the right side of the road.

When told his SUV's headlights were off, the man increased the speed of his windshield wipers. He did not have a driver's license. The officer asked if he had been drinking, and the man said he had one beer three hours earlier.

Theft, Barrett Road: An iPhone charger was stolen between 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Jan. 16 from a car parked outside Tower in the Park Apartments, 55 Barrett.

Someone used a chunk of cement to break the driver's-side window. The car's interior was rummaged through. The victim suspects his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend.
Elections officials in four Montana counties are set to bring early voting options to folks living far from the county seat.

Roosevelt, Glacier, Rosebud and Big Horn counties have confirmed that they will offer residents the opportunity to cast absentee ballots at satellite locations in reservation communities. The satellite offices will be open for certain hours during the 30 days before the June and November elections.

Choteau, Pondera, Blaine, Hill and Valley counties were still in discussions with tribal governments, Secretary of State Linda McCulloch said last week.

In Big Horn County, elections administrator Dulcie Bear Dont Walk plans to operate two satellites  one in Crow Agency and one in Busby  along with the regular office in Hardin.

Bear Dont Walk worked in the states first satellite office in the month leading up to the November 2014 elections when she registered voters and provided absentee ballots at the Crow Tribal Building in Crow Agency. Three hundred eighty voters used that satellite. A large number were disabled or elderly residents, she said.

A lot of the older residents dont trust the vote by mail, Bear Dont Walk told The Gazette in a telephone interview this week. They like to vote at the polls; its more of a social thing.

The satellite officers wont replace polling places. They simply add another location for voters who want to cast ballots before Election Day. Voters still have the option of requesting that absentee ballots be mailed to them.

Its important to have options that encourage people to vote. Bad weather, poor health, lack of transportation or a busy schedule can interfere with people getting to the polls on Election Day. Rural voters, such as those in reservation communities, often have more miles and more challenging road conditions between themselves and their polling place.

The satellites didnt develop simply because they are convenient and helpful. They are a result of a voting rights lawsuit contending that distance to ballot boxes has been an undue burden on Native American voters. The 2014 settlement included a provision that McCulloch would direct counties to set up satellite voting sites.

"If you think about it, there's high poverty and high unemployment in Native American communities. A lot of them don't even have cars," Marci McLean, executive director of Western Native Voice told the Associated Press. "Bringing this service to their communities will help make voting more equitable for Native communities."

The satellites are arranged with tribes providing office space and basic electronic services such as phone and Internet, while counties provide staff, voting equipment and supplies.

The three early voting locations are feasible because the Big Horn County acquired three Balator ballot printing machines. The county paid for the equipment, and was reimbursed through a grant from McCullochs office. The machines allow the elections staff to print out the correct, consecutively numbered ballot for any voter in the county who wants to vote absentee.

Bear Dont Walk herself will be traveling between Hardin, Crow Agency and Busby. She and one part-time clerk are the entire Big Horn County elections department.

I think its great, Bear Dont Walk said of satellite voting. Im glad to provide the service.

She and Montana's other county satellite pioneers are to be commended for reaching out to distant voters, especially when office resources are so limited.
The future cant be denied. Eventually, the waves of change will wash over even the most entrenched interests that cling desperately and irrationally to the past. Beaten and pitched back and forth by the breaking waves and their backwash, such interests lose their bearing. This seems to be the state of Montanas coal industry, despite proactive efforts during the 2015 legislative session to consider how coal fit the new energy future.

In a classic rear-guard action some of our state senators are now pleading with Washington state to apply pressure to private energy companies to keep Colstrips coal-fired generators operating contrary to prudent business plans or their customers interests. It is ironic that these senators typically argue that government should stay out of the way of the private sector.

Lobbying other states to deny private companies the right to proceed without undue governmental interference is but one example of how ill-prepared Montana is for the inevitable new energy future.

Indications that the states coal industry has a short future have been obvious and undeniable for some time. For example:

Coal companies across the country have been and remain in serious financial trouble. Close to home, the energy giant Arch Coal, a notable operator in Montana, recently declared bankruptcy.

The best available science, which has been available for some time, indicates that 80 percent of the worlds coal reserves must remain unused to meet the critically important threshold for temperature increase to avoid catastrophic consequences from climate change.

2015 continued the decadal trend of record setting temperatures.

This trend relates directly to atmospheric concentration of CO2 which is now higher that it has been for millions of years. Burning coal is a central source of such CO2. Because of this energy users around the world are turning away from coal-generated power.

The worlds willingness to use coal is ending. This has created waves of change that will persist regardless of the rear view and myopic perspective of some Montanans. It matters not one whit that some Montanans deny that market forces are now strongly and almost certainly permanently aligned against coal. Clinging to a past when Montanas coal was king is at best fanciful leadership, at worst its deeply harmful.

President Barack Obama has made clear that continued reliance on coal does not fit any energy future that has a fighting chance of advancing peace, prosperity, and justice. The president used his executive authority to pass rules limiting carbon pollution from new and existing coal plants, orchestrated an important emission-limiting agreement with China, and played an important role in the historic climate agreement reached in Paris.

Montanas leaders should similarly be willing to lead. A good start would be initiating the work necessary to ensure that Montanas approach for complying with the federal Clean Power Plan is the best that it can be. Gov. Steve Bullock is due credit for his willingness to engage to that end. The Clean Power Plan Advisory Council that he has assembled has a real chance to craft an energy future that serves Montana well.

Rather than wasting precious time pleading with state legislators in Washington to enact misguided policies to force continued operations at Colstrip, our states leaders should begin focusing on the work needed to ensure that Montana is not beaten silly by the waves of change of the new energy future. It has, after all, become our reality.
Barack Obama's Department of Interior recently announced a moratorium on federal coal leases, and few states will be hit harder than Montana. Not only is our state home to more than one-third of all coal reserves in the United States, but about half of the coal production in our state happens on federal land. Halting all future leases means that much of this coal is untouchable.

Montana has already lost hundreds of jobs as a direct result of the federal actions aimed at stopping coal mining. We stand to lose thousands more in the coming years unless those policies are reversed.

The state of Montana receives half of the royalties that the federal government collects from federal coal production. That amounts to between $40 and $50 million each biennium. This is above and beyond the taxes paid by coal producers to the state that go to fund schools, infrastructure, and law enforcement across our state.

Think about it this way, the coal owned by the federal government is owned by all of us. By producing our public coal we create high-wage jobs and we reap tax revenue that benefits each and every Montanan.

About one in 10 of the tax dollars collected by the state of Montana is connected to our coal industry. That windfall could disappear, but the needs of Montanans wont. Filling a budget gap of that magnitude would require some combination of service cuts and steep tax hikes.

One has to ask: why are we doing this? The presidents own plan to shut down coal-fired power plants around the country results in about a 1 percent reduction in global carbon emissions. Thats a tiny, barely worth mentioning, benefit compared to the severe economic pain that Montana is already starting to feel as a result of his plan.

For all of the moves Obama has made against the coal industry, the fact remains that they will have no impact on Montanas climate  no impact on drought or rainfall, on temperatures or weather events.

The biggest effect of all these measures that I see is a forthcoming shift in our tax base away from natural resource taxes to higher income and property taxes.

To paraphrase Hemingway, the way you go bankrupt is slowly, then all at once. Right now Montana is slowly losing jobs and slowly seeing a shrinking tax base due directly to the Obama administration. The way the trends are going isnt pretty.

So what can we do about it? Fortunately, most of the moves by President Obama were done unilaterally by executive order, without congressional approval. That means the next president can undo them with the stroke of a pen. For Montana, that makes the next election all the more important.

But more immediately, we need all our Montana elected officials united against the president and the environmental groups fueling this anti-coal agenda. That isnt happening right now Sen. Jon Tester and Gov. Steve Bullock are too-often backing the president in his plans.

No one is saying that we should go back to the days of irresponsible natural resource production (those of us who make their living off the land have the greatest incentive to protect it)  but we shouldnt go in the direction of incredibly overzealous environmental policy either. We can find middle ground on these issues. We have to  Montana has too much at stake to let one-sided policies destroy our coal industry.
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Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg has denounced comments made by key Facebook investor Marc Andreessen that appeared to support the colonization of India.

The high-profile Silicon Valley venture capitalist took to Twitter on Tuesday evening local time to defend Facebook's Free Basics program, which recently failed to garner support with Indian regulators. In his initial tweet, he said it was "morally wrong" to deny free partial-internet connectivity to the world's poorest people.

Tweet 1 Things went south when Andreessen responded to a user who compared Free Basics to "Internet colonialism." He replied in a tweet that has since been deleted, "Anti-colonialism has been economically catastrophic for the Indian people for decades. Why stop now?" Users on Twitter were, unsurprisingly, upset. Tweet 2

Tweet 3

Tweet 4 Facebook was quick to denounce the comments by Andreessen, who was an early investor in Facebook and has been a board member since 2008. The company said on Wednesday, "We strongly reject the sentiments expressed by Marc Andreessen last night regarding India."

In a separate post on Facebook, Zuckerberg called Andreessen's comments "deeply upsetting."

Marc Andreessen, co-founder and general partner of Andreessen Horowitz David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Zuckerberg wrote, "India has been personally important to me and Facebook," and that Andreessen's comments did not represent the way he, or the social media giant, thought. The Facebook founder said his travels in India solidified his understanding that "when all people have the power to share their experiences, the entire world will make progress."

Zuckerberg ended his Facebook post by saying, "I've been inspired by how much progress India has made in building a strong nation and the largest democracy in the world, and I look forward to strengthening my connection to the country."

India was under British colonial rule since the middle of 1700s till 1947.

Andreessen has since apologized for his gaffe, saying his comment was "ill-informed and ill-advised." He added, "To be clear, I am 100% opposed to colonialism, and 100% in favor of independence and freedom, in any country, including India."

Apology 3 Facebook's Free Basics is a program that offers free internet access to a limited number of websites.
A Bearcreek resident is suing the city of Red Lodge claiming law enforcement officers illegally searched her home and arrested her and that she was injured while in police custody.

The lawsuit, filed by Tiffany McKinney of Bearcreek, claims general damages of not less than one million dollars for civil rights violations and seeks a jury trial.

And in a related action, Bearcreek Mayor Jim Moore sent a letter to Montana Attorney General Tim Fox on Monday expressing the towns concerns about the search and asking Fox to look into the issue.

McKinneys attorneys, Tony Kendall and Raymond Kuntz, both of Red Lodge, filed the complaint and supporting documents on Feb. 5 in state District Court in Carbon County. The case is assigned to District Judge Blair Jones.

The suit names as defendants the city of Red Lodge, Police Chief Steve Hibler, police officer Greg Srock and others.

McKinneys suit alleges civil rights violations under the Montana Constitution, including the right to privacy, to be free from unlawful search and seizure and due process.

The complaint also alleges false arrest and imprisonment, assault and battery, trespass, negligence and negligent supervision.

Kendall declined Wednesday to comment on the lawsuit but said, I can prove every allegation I made in the complaint.

Billings attorney Sam Painter, who represents Red Lodge, could not be reached for comment.

McKinneys lawsuit comes after a controversial search by the Red Lodge Police Department of 112 N. First St. in Bearcreek the night of Jan. 23-24. Bearcreek is a small incorporated town about six and a half miles east of Red Lodge and within Carbon County. Police officials executed a search warrant as part of drug investigation and placed two people into custody. The city attorney later dismissed charges and referred the case to the county attorney for possible felony charges.

In a strongly worded letter to the Red Lodge mayor on Jan. 27, the Carbon County attorney and sheriff said they had serious concerns about the application for and execution of the search warrant and accused Srock of misrepresenting himself as a sheriffs reserve deputy when seeking the warrant.

Carbon County Attorney Alex Nixon further advised Red Lodge officials, the police chiefs in Fromberg and Bridger and other law enforcement officials that search warrants from city police departments to be served in the county will need approval from the sheriff or county attorney prior to application.

Hibler, who participated in the Bearcreek search, and City Attorney Joel Todd both have denied that the city or Srock did anything wrong. Srock, they said, did not misrepresent himself when he sought the warrant as a police officer.

Srock, who also had served as a reserve deputy until he was terminated from that post as a result of the Bearcreek search, followed the judges instruction to include on the search warrant application that he also was a reserve deputy, Todd said earlier.

McKinneys lawsuit alleges Srock falsely represented himself to be acting as a reserve deputy when applying for the search warrant and that no Red Lodge officials informed county law enforcement of the warrant application.

The suit also claims there was no probable cause to support a search of McKinneys residence and that the search warrant was not for her residence, but for a separate residence next to McKinneys.

Srock shouted to McKinney, Search Warrant! and gained entrance without McKinneys consent, the complaint said.

Srock, the complaint continued, arrested McKinney, who was not a threat to him or any other officer, by forcing her to her knees and handcuffing her wrists behind her back.

The officer accused her of being affiliated with a woman who was living in the residence that was the intended target of the search warrant. Other than that, he gave no reason for her arrest, the complaint said.

Srock then took McKinney out of her house and while cuffed, and in his custody, she fell on the icy ground and sustained injuries, the suit said.

Srock picked McKinney up and placed her in a locked patrol car. She later went to the local hospital, where she was treated for injuries and for extreme anxiety, which was caused by the defendants action, the suit said.

McKinney still suffers from and is being treated for anxiety attacks as a result of the defendants actions, the complaint said.

Hibler said earlier that McKinney was detained until her involvement could be determined and that she was subsequently released. McKinney slipped and fell on the ice while being escorted by Srock to a patrol car, he said.

McKinney initially told Hibler and Srock that she wasnt injured and declined medical attention, Todd said. When the city learned later that McKinney sought medical attention, the city notified its insurance company and has an adjuster.

The Bearcreek town council also responded to the Red Lodge search by directing its mayor to send the Montana attorney general a letter regarding what it called a drug raid.

Bearcreek does not have its own police department and relies on the Carbon County sheriffs office for law enforcement.

The Bearcreek community, Moore said, asked Fox whether the Red Lodge Police Department has the authority to enter Bearcreek to conduct a search and whether the officers who conducted the search violated any laws.

What assurances do our 70-some residents have that they wont be subjected to similar treatment in the future? Moores letter asked.
Negotiations between London and other EU states to help keep Britain in the European Union are "very fragile", European Council President Donald Tusk said on Wednesday, though he said he still hoped for a deal at a EU summit next week.

"I am in a process of intensive talks about my proposal for the UK settlement," said Tusk, who last week brokered a draft accord and will chair the summit in Brussels on Feb. 18-19.

"I am confident that this is a balanced and solid proposal and I hope to finalize it next week in the European Council.

"However, let me be clear: This is a very fragile political process," added Tusk, announcing he will visit the leaders of Germany, France and the Czech Republic among others early next week "to secure a broad political support for my proposal".
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French advertising agency Publicis reported a 25 percent increase in full-year net profit but Chief Executive Maurice Levy highlighted concerns that the European economy is "not taking off." Publicis reported full-year organic sales growth of 1.5 percent to 9.6 billion euros ($10.8 billion). Net profit for the year came in at 901 million euros. However Levy told CNBC that concerns still surrounded the uneven state of the European economy.

Publicis CEO Maurice Levy Getty Images

"We are concerned about the situation in Europe," he told CNBC. "If you look at the macroeconomics, they are expecting GDP (gross domestic product) growth of 1.6 per cent - which is rather low." "Germany is doing well. The U.K., from a macro standpoint is doing extremely well. Less so in our own situation and we are improving our position." Last July, Publicis cut its 2015 sales forecast, warning that tougher conditions in the U.K. and Latin America could hurt an improvement that had been seen in the first half of the year. It also reduced its full-year agencies market growth forecast to 2.5 percent from 3 percent and said its own sales would remain "in line" with the trimmed outlook.

Levy said he had noticed a drop in French business since the terrorist attacks in Paris last November but the French economy was "starting to take off progressiveley." Nonetheless he warned that Europe in 2016 would see uneven growth. "I don't believe (we'll see) a very bright EU market in 2016," he told CNBC. "There will still issues with the unbalance between of countries and the fact that there will be some contrast. Unemployment is a big issue in Europe and the economy is not taking off. That is the reality."



Balint Porneczi | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The difference in 2016, Sweeney said, is that even though the is down more than 10 percent in 2016, the inflows are stronger than they have been for the past couple of years.

The fourth-largest asset manager in the U.S., according to Institutional Investor, Fidelity typically sees strong inflows at the beginning of the year as investors will put money in their IRAs, or invest discretionary bonuses distributed at year-end.

"We have about 30 percent more buyers than sellers," said John Sweeney, Fidelity's executive vice president of retirement and investing strategies for personal and workplace investments. "People are taking advantage of some of the choppiness in the market."

Instead of panicking about the sell-off, a lot of the Boston-based company's clients are putting more money to work.

Given the stock market's rocky start to the New Year, you would think that the phones at a big mutual fund company like Fidelity Investments would be ringing off the hook, but that assumption would be wrong.

"It shows the investor has confidence in the market," he said.

It also shows retail investors are more savvy about buying on the dips, and are more disciplined about their long-term strategies.

Sweeney attributes the stronger-than-usual inflows to a number of different factors.

Read More These 8 stocks pay crazy dividends



First of all, he said, Americans are saving 2 percent more of their income than they have in the past. Second, the job market has stabilized and incomes are starting to creep up, leaving investors with more money to put in the stock market or bonds. Lastly, he believes people are taking more control over their retirement investments.

"You have the baby boomers, who when they reach 50 can catch up contributions to their retirement savings because of a raise or a bonus payment," he said. Fidelity is also seeing millennials put more money to work. The company's Retirement Savings Assessment study found in 2015 millennials were saving 7.5 percent of their salaries each month, up from the 5.8 percent they were putting away in 2013.

Driving the increased savings rate among this group, Sweeney said, are expectations they will live longer lives and that today's "gig" economy will mean they will have more employers in their lifetime, though not necessarily more employee-funded retirement savings.

So what have these investors been buying? Sweeney said the added inflows are going into equity funds as well as fixed income funds, suggesting the aging baby boomers recognize they need to have a balanced portfolio of growth and income as they near retirement.

Certainly, the stock market's swings have investors checking in. Sweeney said the most common question asked to Fidelity representatives is, "What's going on in the market?"

Read More This could be the market savior this year



While Fidelity will walk investors through some of the issues overshadowing the markets these days, like slowing growth in China and the impact persistently low oil prices have on energy companies, Sweeney said the mutual fund encourages its clients to zero in on what their goals are if they feel skittish about the markets.

Sweeney said Fidelity's clients typically fall into three categories.

Nervous investors do not have a plan, so when they call concerned about the market, the firm will work with them to guide them to the appropriate strategy. The second category, confident investors, understand they have different tools in the toolbox they can use to reach their goals, so here Fidelity will go over the structure of their portfolio and help them adjust it if it's needed.

The last category is the bold investor, or the traders, who are looking at valuations and asking if certain investments are at a price point now that make them an attractive long-term investment.
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In a little over a century powered flight has moved from the miraculous to the everyday. Now, the aviation industry is planning for the next step.

As the 21st century progresses, a new era of aviation seems to be upon us, with flights powered by solar and biofuels no longer seeming like science fiction. Last year, Solar Impulse 2, the solar-powered aircraft, completed a record breaking non-stop flight from Nagoya in Japan to Hawaii, which lasted over 117 hours. In May 2014 Dutch airline KLM launched a series of transatlantic flights from Amsterdam to Aruba and Bonaire. During these flights, an Airbus A330-200 was powered by a mixture of fossil fuels and sustainable biofuel.

Jean Revillard | Getty Images

There is still work to be done, however. According to the Air Transport Action Group (ATAG), more than three billion people took to the skies in 2013.

ATAG states that aviation is responsible for 12 percent of CO2 emissions from transport sources, compared to 74 percent from road transport. Going forward, ATAG has set itself ambitious goals, and is targeting a 50 percent reduction in net aviation carbon emissions by 2050, compared to 2005 levels. Creating planes that are both fast and environmentally friendly is a key goal for the aviation industry, and the way that planes are being designed is also changing. "What we're moving towards now in the 21st century are more novel materials being used on wings," Mudassir Lone, from Cranfield's Center for Aeronautics, told CNBC. The Center for Aeronautics is one of the world's biggest centers for postgraduate education and research into aerodynamics and aircraft design. "So, consequently the wings can be made far more lightweight. At the same time the actual wing geometry is changing, because we want to minimize drag and hence improve efficiency of the aircraft," Lone added. The use of carbon composites in aeroplanes is another innovation that could also transform flight. "Carbon composites is one of the big developments: being able to make very efficient structures, very lightweight, to imbed systems into the structures themselves," Iain Gray, director of aerospace at Cranfield, said.
(The following article is a CNBC Pro free preview. Click here to subscribe).



Stocks are falling on concerns over European banks, the plunging price of oil and the first-ever negative Japan 10-year bond yield this week. How can traders play the global march to negative yields and the rising volatility?

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen attempted to reassure the market as she reported to the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday, a day after a session with the House Financial Services Committee. In her speech Wednesday, she stated the Fed is closely watching the global financial market turmoil and said it could delay the future path of rate hikes if it hurts the economy.

However, investors are worrying that loose central bank policies have finally gone too far as bond yields are reaching unprecedented levels.

Japan on Tuesday became the first G-7 country whose 10-year debt went past zero, which means holders are actually paying the government for the privilege of lending it money. And the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield is falling precipitously, declining to 1.53 percent Thursday morning, the lowest level since August 2012.

CNBC Pro asked top Wall Street strategists and money managers how investors should position their portfolios in the global march to negative bond yields.

For shorter maturities, this trend of negative yielding debt has been around for a while. Societe Generale estimates that global negative yielding debt of all durations has increased to $7 trillion from $2.6 trillion a year ago.



Read More Attention Investors: Don't behave like traders



"(Central banker) plan worked for a while, but it has now failed. Investors are hoarding capital and taking a defensive stance. Negative rates have weakened the European and Japanese banking system," BKCM's Brian Kelly wrote in an email earlier this week. "What should investors do? Exercise extreme caution until markets digest the loss of confidence in central bankers."

And others agreed this is a bad signal for most assets.

"Negative rates are a sham. Pricing and policies are manufactured in a vacuum," Old Blackheath's Jeremy Hill said in an email. "For global risk assets this likely means that gains made in the now will be repaid via higher volatility in the future. That keeps money at bay and complicates all risk management models."

All isn't lost however, as investors do believe there are opportunities to make money in this uncertain environment.

"It's hard to find decent risk-to-reward propositions right now, but for the credit inclined, select (corporate) investment-grade bonds look attractive and for equity investors self-help or meditation books are easy enough to source," Hill added.
The best-performing hedge fund in 2015 came from an unusual place: London.

That's according to Institutional Investor's Alpha's rankings of last year's best performing firms released Thursday. The analysis put Marshall Wace, a relatively little-known $22 billion firm in which KKR took a 24.9 percent stake last summer.

Another U.K.-based fund took second place. The Children's Investment Fund was "rewarded for several years of hard work revamping its relationship with investors following a year of bad performance and a rash of redemptions," according to the publication's analysis.



Rounding out the top five receiving "A" grades were Boston-based Adage Capital Management, Ken Griffin's Chicago-based Citadel, and the stellar Two Sigma fund, based in New York.



Read MoreInsana: Here's the problem with Citadel deal



The lowest-ranked funds were Brevan Howard Asset Management, Perry Capital, David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital and BlueCrest Capital Management.

See Institutional Investor's report here.


FARGO, N.D.  A Fargo officer shot Wednesday night during a standoff in north Fargo is not expected to live, and the suspected shooter also is dead, Police Chief David Todd said.

Police on Thursday morning identified the shooting suspect as 49-year-old Marcus Schumacher.

Authorities said Schumacher held police at bay for about 11 hours, firing numerous rounds at law enforcement.

Todd said at a 2 a.m. Thursday news conference at police headquarters that Officer Jason Moszer, 33, is a six-year veteran with the police department. He was shot by Schumacher in a standoff with police at a north Fargo residence, just blocks from the police department.

Tonight the Fargo Police Department is mourning the loss of our brother officer, Todd said.

Moszer would be only the second Fargo police officer fatally shot in the line of duty in the citys history, the only other death coming in 1882.

Court documents show that Schumacher has a previous conviction for disorderly conduct in January 2013. He received a 30-day suspended jail sentence and served a year of probation. No further details were immediately available.

In a press conference at 7:30 a.m., Todd confirmed that the suspected shooter has died, either from gunfire from police or by suicide. Police haven't identified the suspect publicly but believe they know who he is.

Todd also said he believes the gunman was purposely shooting at police while barricaded inside a north Fargo home, noting a police cruiser nearby was also shot multiple times.

"I don't think there was anything random about it," he said.

Because of the Fargo Police Department's involvement, the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Cass County Sheriff's Office will take over the investigation of the shooting, Todd said.

"Right now my job as the chief is to take care of our officer's family and to take care of my officers," he said.

Todd said Moszer has a wound that is not survivable. He is married with two children, he said.

"His family is with him, they're saying goodbye to him," the chief said.

The area near the standoff in the 300 block of Ninth Avenue North is still considered the scene of an investigation and travel there will be limited Thursday, both on foot and by vehicle, Todd said.

The standoff lasted around eight hours. In a statement shortly after 6 a.m., Todd said the standoff in north Fargo has been resolved and there was no longer a threat to the public.

Deputy Chief Joe Anderson, a Fargo police spokesman, said at 4 a.m. he did not know if Moszer had died, but said he wont pull through.

What initially began with a report of a domestic disturbance at 308 9th Ave. N. about 7 p.m. escalated quickly.

The armed man holed up in the north Fargo home opened fire on officers and continued to unleash bursts of gunfire in a residential neighborhood as authorities tried to negotiate with him, police said.

Anderson said at 4 a.m. that the operation was still ongoing and it was unclear if the suspect was alive or dead.

As far as I know we havent even made it inside yet, Anderson said. At this point, were treating it as if he is still alive.

No additional gunfire was heard from the home since an initial media briefing around 10:40 p.m. Wednesday, Anderson said. There had been no other officers injured, he said around 4 a.m. Thursday.

The SWAT team used two robots, gas and smoke to try to flush the suspect from the home, Anderson said, though the robots were having battery and other malfunctions. Temperatures hovered in the single digits above zero early Thursday.

At a 5:30 a.m. news conference, Todd said authorities did have negotiations with the suspect and that a SWAT operator "did engage him with gunfire. it is possible the suspect was hit with gunfire. We do not know what his status is."

Earlier in the night, Moszer was hit by the suspects gunfire and was seen by a neighboring resident lying in an alley nearby a police cruiser, Todd said.

At the 7:30 a.m. news conference, Todd said Moszer was one of the officers who had set up a perimeter around the house and that he was shot before the SWAT team arrived.

Officers moved in with an armored BearCat vehicle and took Moszer to the hospital, said Todd, who went with Moszers wife to the hospital where they were informed he was mortally wounded.

Tonight were losing a brother, one of our fellow officers, Todd said, choking back tears.

Moszer graduated in 2001 from Fargo South High School and from North Dakota State University in 2009.

In 2012, Moszer and fellow officer Matthew Sliders were awarded the departments Silver Star Medal for pulling two children from an apartment fire.

"He was a guy who came to work with a smile on his face every day," Todd said. "He loved working out on the street with his fellow officers, they loved working with him. He was just an all-around great guy. It's a terrible loss,"

Lt. Joel Vettel said a funeral for Moszer is expected to take place late next week.

Todd said the suspect is believed to have threatened his wife in the home and possibly shot at her. The couples son made the initial call to police, Todd said. Family members were able to escape the gunfire unharmed, Anderson said.

When police arrived and established a perimeter around the home, the man opened fire on officers, said Anderson.

Shots continued to be heard as police, including SWAT team members, tried to resolve the situation. It was uncertain what sort of guns and ammo the man had access to.

"He has possibly multiple long guns, but that's not confirmed at this point, but we do know that he is obviously shooting rounds out of his house," Anderson said.

About 9 p.m. Wednesday, police sent out an emergency alert to north Fargo residents warning them to stay in their homes and go into their basements. Some homes in the area were being evacuated about 9:30 p.m.

"If the individual is firing a long rifle, those rifle rounds can go through houses, go through wood," Anderson said.

Around 12:30 a.m. Thursday, SWAT team officers were going door-to-door in the neighborhood, asking residents if they were OK and telling them to remain in the lower level of their residences. That sweep appeared be completed around 1:45 a.m., scanner traffic indicated.

The home where the standoff was taking place was just north of Sanford Medical Center, hospital spokesman Darren Huber said.

Huber confirmed the downtown hospital was on lockdown at one point. He said patients and families could still enter on the south side escorted by security.

A short distance to the west, near First Lutheran Church, at least a dozen police vehicles were staged, including Fargo and West Fargo police, North Dakota Highway Patrol, Cass County Sheriff's Office and the Red River Regional SWAT team command truck.

Last police officer shooting death in 1882

There's been only one Fargo officer to be shot and killed in the line of duty. Frederick D. Alderman was slain July 5, 1882, after just two months on the job.

According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, Alderman, 25, was shot as he attempted to follow a suspect who had used stolen property to pay a fine. With no issued lantern, Alderman mistook a neighboring home for the suspect's residence in the dark. After receiving no response to a knock on the door, Alderman forced the door open and the resident opened fire on him, killing him at the scene, the website report said.

A woman was charged with murder but a jury ruled against the charge upon learning Alderman did not identify himself as a police officer at the door.

Moszer, fellow officer honored in 2012

In 2012, Moszer and officer Matthew Sliders were awarded the departments Silver Star Medal for pulling two children from an apartment fire.

Responding to a disturbance call in November 2011, the officers found two children trapped and screaming inside a burning apartment bedroom.

Risking their own lives, the two officers entered the room and saved the children from the fire, and then helped extinguish the blaze in the apartment.

At the ceremony, then-Police Chief Keith Ternes said all officers recognized had gone above and beyond what is normally required of them.

"Some of the events these officers were summoned to - we don't teach people to run into a burning building, we don't teach people to save lives," Ternes said. "They did that because of who they are."

Rob Beer contributed to this report.
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For Ting Li, life in Beijing means navigating through sticky gray smog. To avoid harmful pollution particles, she must carry a mask and check the air quality every day. The thick, heavy air has been so bad that Li sent her son  who suffers from the infamous Beijing cough, caused by breathing harmful pollutants  to live outside Beijing, where air quality is better. "Even with air purifiers in homes, pollution exceeds the norm," said Li, who is a chief representative for the Rocky Mountain Institute in China. "It's severe and really scary. We can't go outside much."

It's too early to tell if the war on pollution is working. Elizabeth Economy director for Asia studies, Council on Foreign Relations

Beijing isn't alone, though. It's one of nearly 300 cities in China that badly failed air-quality standard measurements in 2015, according to data collected by Greenpeace. And the effects are devastating: More than 1.6 million people per year die in China from breathing toxic air. To fight back, China's leaders have been waging a tough war on pollution by rolling out new technologies, capping coal use and using more renewable energy, such as solar and wind. "It's too early to tell if the war on pollution is working," said Elizabeth Economy, director for Asia studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. "But the intention is there. Top leadership has made a commitment to address the problem for the first time in decades." She estimates that visible results won't be seen for three to five years. Air pollution is clearly very costly, though, to its $11-trillion-plus economy. It dings China's GDP about 6.5 percent annually, according to RAND Corp. estimates. Those costs are mainly driven by lost productivity, since factories are shut down on bad air days to avoid the dangerous health effects of breathing the dense, toxic air. "Sick days and hospital visits all take a toll on the urban economy," said Anders Hove, associate director of research at the Paulson Institute. High levels of pollution are linked to serious chronic illnesses, like heart disease and lung cancer, which are costly to treat. And air pollution also affects tourism and outdoor recreation, he added.



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China's crops are damaged, too, said Hove. Some 20 percent of China's soil is contaminated. And the country's largest rice-growing province, Hunan, has soil that's laced with heavy metals from factories. This pollution taints the country's food supply, according to reports. There are lots of bright spots among the gray, though. And China has committed to improving air quality 10 percent by 2017. Strict new laws crack down on polluters. And 2,500 small polluting firms will be shuttered this year in Beijing alone. Other violators are getting stiff penalties. Coal use is being capped and cut for heating and heavy industry, said Hove.

China's air quality is being strictly monitored by the government as well, and the country is even launching carbon-tracking satellites to help track and reduce carbon emissions. And though Beijing issued its highest red pollution alert last December, its air in 2015 was cleaner than it has been for several years, according to Paulson Institute studies. "Even fireworks have been controlled for their contribution to air quality," Hove said. But, he added, even burning crop waste can affect air quality, which makes cleaning up pollution complex.

Innovative solutions

China is also trying all types of innovations to clean up its air. Some big, polluted cities, like Guigang, are using mist cannons, which shoot into the air a spray that disperses smog particles. And China has launched a $7.6 billion fund to combat air pollution. IBM has been testing a system called Green Horizons, which uses artificial intelligence that can predict how bad pollution will be in Beijing 10 days in advance. It crunches large amounts of varied data based on pollution drivers, like traffic, weather, industrial production and the like. "This way, the government can take actions to reduce potential risk," said Dr. Meng Zhang, a research scientist at IBM Research-China. "Weather patterns can be leveraged."
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Silicon Valley is bracing for layoffs at some of its biggest venture-backed companies, according to recruiters and tech insiders. "People are obviously very unsettled these days with the news," said Greenhouse CEO Daniel Chait, whose company provides recruiting software. "I had a call with a handful of CEOs on another topic, but it quickly turned to the state of the markets." Recent turmoil in tech stocks, including LinkedIn and Tableau , is reverberating around the Valley. "It trickles down to the venture capital community, then to the start-up world," said Chait. "Everybody is talking about how their companies are reacting, what's going on in boardrooms and how people are planning."

Getty Images

In the past week, electronic health records start-up Practice Fusion  targeting an IPO next year  laid off 25 percent of its staff, and troubled human resources start-up Zenefits announced it has installed veteran tech exec David Sacks to right the ship.

Zenefits' valuation had tumbled over the past year, along with employee sentiment. Just 52 percent of its employees believe the future of the business is bright, according to review site Glassdoor. "No one wants to say anything, but you hear it from investors and from other founders," said Vlad Rikher, CEO and co-founder of Zenput, an app for enterprises to collect and aggregate product data. "Toward the middle end of this year, there will be a cleaning out of employees at some of the bigger start-ups." The bad news goes beyond start-ups. Yahoo on Wednesday began cutting up to 15 percent of its workforce, Re/code reported, citing sources. Read MoreSilicon Valley's reality: The party is over

Volatility in the job market for tech workers is one of many signals of a cooling in the funding environment for venture capital backed start-ups. Management teams are meeting behind closed doors with investors to try to figure out how best to protect companies forced to focus on creating sustainable businesses, rather than growth alone. "Any time one sees a seismic shift, as we are seeing in the market, it affects hiring," said Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner Juliet de Baubigny. "I really like markets like this, as painful as they are, because it allows for really good hygiene and discipline."

Between December 2014 and December 2015, 15 percent of Internet professionals switched jobs, more than double the U.S. average of 7 percent, according to LinkedIn Talent Solutions. For the most part, those people stayed within the industry, though there was some migration to financial services. "Uncertainty in the tech industry is really pushing people back towards more certainty  working at a mutual fund, a bank, a hedge fund," said Vivienne Ming, executive chair of edtech start-up Socos and a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley. Ming studied job volatility prior to the dotcom market crash of 2000. "As things tighten up you are going to see people jumping around a lot and then even the opportunity to jump around is going to dry up if the funding doesn't stabilize," she said. Read MoreTwitter 'bloodbath' will end soon



Any time one sees a seismic shift, as we are seeing in the market, it affects hiring. KPCB partner Juliet de Baubigny

Margaret Quigley, 27, a techie with some coding experience, is on the hunt for a job in San Francisco. "I don't really see the value in a lot of start-ups. I am on AngelList and there is literally Airbnb  for cats!" she said. "When I apply for jobs, I am actually thinking, 'Do I see value in the platform?'"

Quigley, who previously worked at a popular consumer start-up, has been job hunting for five months. She recently rejected one start-up's offer, a one- to two-month tryout  without pay. Quigley said she has also rejected multiple sales job offers and an offer that was in the right field but came in too low. At this point, setting up her own consulting business or moving to New York  where her resume is attracting more attention  may be her best options. "I think the tech industry there is a little more palatable," she said.

Thomas Barwick | Stone | Getty Images

It's a tough time to be job hunting in Silicon Valley, and things are about to get a lot harder for individuals with certain skills. "If you're an engineer you probably have no problem," said Rikher. "If you're an entry level marketer, it might be starting to get a bit tougher."

Tech workers considered nonessential at struggling start-ups are the first to be shown the door as CEOs seek to rein in spending and stretch investor dollars. In doing so, they buy time to recalibrate the business or pivot to a new product, often requiring a different blend of employees.

This was the case for two San Francisco-based tech workers who each held marketing positions at struggling start-ups. Neither felt comfortable sharing their name or the name of the companies where they had worked because the details have not been made public.

One of the workers, who was laid off in September along with all but the core engineering team, has already found another job, and believes she is better off. The start-up is simply going through the motions until the money runs dry, or executives find a product customers will pay for. "They are basically a Zombie company right now," she said.

Toward the middle end of this year there will be a cleaning out of employees at some of the bigger start-ups. Vlad Rikher Zenput CEO and co-founder

Recruiters and jobs experts echoed that sentiment, saying that Silicon Valley is poised for a realignment, barring a shift in the public markets re-opening the IPO window or bullish moves from blue chip venture capitalists to alleviate fear. "It's not just the tech companies, it's ... big law firms," said Ming. "They sit on top of the money that comes out of these start-ups and the funding events, and if its not healthy, you'll see them pulling back also." Don't expect layoffs at the hottest handful of unicorns or well-funded start-ups with strong business models though. "There's a little bit of a dichotomy," said Carolyn Betts Fleming, founder and CEO of Betts Recruiting. "Some companies have been doing layoffs and taking a step back to focus on their product and others are actually being more aggressive." "We have seen a lot of pressure from some sales leaders and CEOs to make hires as quickly as possible in Q1," she said.

Many VCs see the current market as an opportunity. Kleiner Perkins has placed four C-level executives at its portfolio companies since January. "It allows you to take a step back and think about who you add and how you add and not rush, and have this frenzied hiring environment that we have had for the last few years," said de Baubigny. "We didn't lose a single candidate." "The quality engineers and execs will flock to the quality start-ups, and it's going to take a lot of heat out of the market," she said.

Jurgen Ziewe | Getty Images

A hiring manager at a well-funded enterprise software as a service start-up recently retracted a job offer when the prospective employee started making too many demands. The candidate wanted more money, the opportunity to work from home three days a week and to set the hours. Six months ago the company scrapped free in-office yoga and massages. For start-ups hoping to lure employees with Google-style perks, it is time to re-examine spending, said insiders. Many noted that quality employees are attracted to a companies mission and culture, not free lunchtime wood-working classes.

"People who had been hiring based on perks, fun times and careless hypergrowth I think are feeling really panicked," said Greenhouse's Chait. "You see lots of companies who  when the business depended on endless venture capital to fill the kitchen with free Kind bars and get everyone in on this promise of endless growth  those folks are the first to overreact the other way."

"Everyone wants to be Google , and the idea of having perks is really highly treasured in the Valley, so you might actually see companies going out of business before they will give up their perks," said Jon Bischke, CEO of recruiting software platform Entelo.

On the other hand, said Bischke, "you might actually see an increase in the number of really scrappy start-ups doing something genuinely different just because there is no one paying them just to be another Uber for teddy bears." Read More Uber's latest round taps retail investors: Sources

Lucy von Held | Blend Images | Getty Images

So far, there has not been a mass exodus from start-ups to big public tech companies but that could change, experts said. "We might start seeing ... more tempered conservatism come into the decision making about whether to join a start-up or not, but we haven't really seen that yet," said de Baubigny. "Anyone who was in it just for the money  those are the people that are going be running for the larger organizations," said Betts Fleming. Certainly, joining public companies may start to look a lot more attractive to top talent as unicorn start-up equity becomes less liquid.

You might actually see companies going out of business before they will give up their perks. Jon Bischke Enteo CEO

For the tech giants, skittishness about start-ups opens up an opportunity to snag top talent at lower prices. LinkedIn CFO Steve Sordello highlighted the battle for top talent at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco on Tuesday. "We are competing in an environment where talent is expensive," he said. "We have a lot of private companies throwing equity at talent." "Over time stock-based compensation will scale down," he told analysts and investors.
Student.com, an online booking platform to help international students find accommodation in other countries, has raised $60 million from investors including Spotify's founders and the fund of one of Asia's richest men. The investment was led by VY Capital, with Horizons Ventures  the venture capital fund of Li Ka-Shing, the Hong Kong tycoon  also participating. Spotify founders Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon and Hugo Barra, Xiaomi's vice president of international, were also involved. Student.com operates a Booking.com-style service, specifically for university accommodation. The start-up expects to have properties in 426 cities globally in close proximity to over 1,000 universities.

Founder Luke Nolan told CNBC that the money would be used to market Student.com to grow its user base and the star-studded investor lineup was chosen as the participants have all overcome challenges in the markets the start-up is trying to expand into. "The reason we raised the money is to fund the platform, growth in terms of marketing, building the tech platform and growing people," Nolan told CNBC by phone. "We wanted to find investor to help us grow the business. They are international investors. Every single one of them had challenges in exactly the same market we are operating in from China to India. Those challenges are the ones they have been through time and time again."
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The United States and India have held talks about conducting joint naval patrols that a U.S. defense official said could include the disputed South China Sea, a move that would likely anger Beijing, which claims most of the waterway. Washington wants its regional allies and other Asian nations to take a more united stance against China over the South China Sea, where tensions have spiked in the wake of Beijing's construction of seven man-made islands in the Spratly archipelago. India and the United States have ramped up military ties in recent years, holding naval exercises in the Indian Ocean that last year involved the Japanese navy. But the Indian navy has never carried out joint patrols with another country and a naval spokesman told Reuters there was no change in the government's policy of only joining an international military effort under the United Nations flag.

He pointed to India's refusal to be part of anti-piracy missions involving dozens of countries in the Gulf of Aden and instead carrying out its own operations there since 2008. The U.S. defense official said the two sides had discussed joint patrols, adding that both were hopeful of launching them within the year. The patrols would likely be in the Indian Ocean where the Indian navy is a major player as well as the South China Sea, the official told Reuters in New Delhi on condition of anonymity. The official gave no details on the scale of the proposed patrols. A Pentagon spokesman, Commander Bill Urban, said the United States and India "continue to explore ways to deepen defence cooperation, including in the area of maritime security", but no decisions had been made on joint patrols. There was no immediate comment from China, which is on a week-long holiday for Chinese New Year. China accused Washington this month of seeking maritime hegemony in the name of freedom of navigation after a U.S. Navy destroyer sailed within 12 nautical miles of a disputed island in the Paracel chain of the South China Sea in late January.

The U.S. Navy conducted a similar exercise in October near one of China's artificial islands in the Spratlys. Maritime Cooperation Neither India nor the United States has claims to the South China Sea, but both said they backed freedom of navigation and overflight in the waterway when U.S. President Barack Obama visited New Delhi in January 2015. Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also agreed at the time to "identify specific areas for expanding maritime cooperation". More than $5 trillion in world trade moves through the South China Sea each year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan also claim parts of the waterway. In December, the issue of joint patrols came up when Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar visited the U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii, an Indian government source said. "It was a broad discussion, it was about the potential for joint patrols," said the source, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.

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SYRACUSE, N.Y.  AT&T, Inc. (NYSE: T) is looking to fill nearly 20 jobs in Syracuse, including retail sales and customer-care positions.

The company has both full-and part-time positions available that include what AT&T considers competitive wages and benefits, according to a news release the company issued Monday.

AT&T continues to expand its customer base in Syracuse and invest in our network to ensure we are providing the high level of service customers have come to expect, Marissa Shorenstein, AT&Ts New York president, said in the companys release. As part our commitment to this level of customer service and to support our growth in the area we are pleased to have the opportunity to welcome nearly 20 residents to the AT&T family.

AT&T currently employs more than 3,000 employees throughout New York, the company said.

Anyone interested can visit www.att.com/jobs for more information on the openings, the company said.

Headquartered in Dallas, AT&T, Inc. provides telecommunications services to consumers, businesses, and other providers in the U.S. and internationally.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
SYRACUSE, N.Y.  St. Josephs Health has named Neil Andersen director & information security officer.

This position will oversee the information security program at St. Josephs Hospital Health Center, St. Josephs Physicians PC, the Franciscan Companies, and any future partners, the organization said in a news release.

Andersen brings more than 30 years of experience in information technology in multiple technical and managerial roles in access control, telecommunications & network security, information security & risk assessment, software development, cryptography, operations, business continuity and disaster recovery, and physical security.

He comes from Trinity Health and most recently served as the regional information security officer for Sisters of Providence Health System, now a part of Trinity Health  New England. Andersen has been part of the Trinity Health system since 2013.

Andersen earned a masters degree in computer information systems with a concentration on cyber security at Boston University, in addition to his bachelors degree in information technology. He is a certified information systems security professional and certified ethical hacker.

St. Josephs Health is a nonprofit regional health-care system based in Syracuse, serving patients throughout Central New York and northern Pennsylvania. It is affiliated with Franciscan Companies and St. Josephs Physicians and is part of the Trinity Health system.

Contact The Business Journal News Network at news@cnybj.com
, N.Y.  U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (DN.Y.) is promoting a bill that she contends would boost manufacturing jobs in upstate New York.

The proposed Made in America Manufacturing Communities Act would create a permanent program that designates local regions as manufacturing communities, Gillibrands office said in a news release.

Such a designation would put them in the front of the line to receive federal economic-development funding specifically for the purpose of investing in manufacturing.

The senator on Monday promoted the bill during a visit to Feldmeier Equipment, Inc. in the town of DeWitt.

U.S. Representative John Katko (RCamillus) and local economic-development leaders joined Gillibrand as she talked about the proposed legislation.

In her release, Gillibrand acknowledged that New York has struggled with manufacturing-job losses despite manufacturing-job growth in other areas of the country.

To spur more growth in the New York manufacturing industry, Gillibrands bill would create a permanent program to competitively award regions with the manufacturing community designation.

It would give communities preferred consideration when applying for up to $1.3 billion in currently available federal economic-development funding for manufacturing.

The bill encourages a regionally-driven approach to strengthening the manufacturing industry.

To compete for funding through this program and earn the manufacturing communities designation, communities would create regional partnerships with key stakeholders such as local and state economic-development officials, local governments, manufacturers, labor organizations, and higher education or other training providers.

In order to earn the manufacturing communities moniker, communities would need to demonstrate the significance of manufacturing in their region and develop strategies to utilize their designation in making investments in six areas.

Those areas would include workforce training and retraining, advanced research, infrastructure and site development, supply chain support, and promotion of exports and foreign direct investment.

They would also include operational improvement and capital access for manufacturers that supports energy or process efficiency, equipment or facility upgrades, and the development of business incubators, among other activities.

Upstate New York has one of the greatest manufacturing traditions in the country, and we need to help ensure that our local communities have the chance to become leading national manufacturing hubs in the 21st century, Gillibrand said in the news release. This bipartisan legislation will unlock millions of dollars in federal economic development funds for smart investments in high impact projects and leverage public-private partnerships to help create good-paying manufacturing jobs, jumpstart new businesses, and grow our economy for years to come.

Gillibrands bill is cosponsored by Senators Mark Kirk (RIll.) and Jerry Moran (RKan.), and a bipartisan House version is led by U.S. Representative David Cicilline (DR.I.) and cosponsored by U.S. Representatives Katko, Richard Hanna (RBarneveld), Tom Reed (RCorning), and Tim Ryan (DOhio), according to Gillibrands office.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
FARGO, N.D.  A North Dakota police officer died Thursday after being hit by a gunshot that authorities suspect was fired by a man later found dead in the home where the officer had responded to a domestic disturbance call.

Officer Jason Moszer, a six-year police veteran with a wife and two children, died at 12:45 p.m. from a single gunshot wound, a police spokesman said. Family members visited him in a hospital earlier in the day to say goodbye, Fargo Police Chief David Todd said.

The shooting began on Wednesday evening when the suspect, identified by police as Marcus Schumacher, fired at officers responding to the domestic disturbance call. A standoff ensued overnight and when the firing stopped, police discovered Schumacher dead inside the home. It wasn't immediately clear whether he killed himself or died from police gunfire, they said.

The violence shook Fargo, which is North Dakota's largest city but has a low crime rate. Police said an officer had not died in the line of duty in more than a century. The only other Fargo police officer killed in the line of duty was Frederick Alderman, 25, who was shot to death July 5, 1882, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page, a national nonprofit group that keeps records of fallen officers.

Schumacher, 49, was found dead shortly before dawn inside the home where he had barricaded himself, Todd said.

Schumacher appeared to have died from a gunshot wound but "we don't know if that was from us engaging him or something self-inflicted," Todd said. Todd said earlier that Schumacher had exchanged gunfire with a SWAT officer.

Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney said the suspect fired "a number of rounds" and that officers were going house to house in a six-block area "to find out where they all went."

Todd said a squad car at the scene had been fired upon and that he believes the suspect was targeting law enforcement. Police said no one else in the neighborhood was hurt.

Moszer, 33, was among officers who responded to the home Wednesday evening. A SWAT team in an armored vehicle retrieved Moszer and took him to a medical facility, where he died.

Police said they tried to communicate with Schumacher through negotiators, but that he didn't respond and the SWAT team eventually entered the house and found the body.

Officers responded after Schumacher's son called dispatchers and said the suspect had fired a gun at his mother, Schumacher's wife. The caller and his mother were able to escape the home unharmed.

Sarah Stensland, 26, lives less than a block from the suspect's home. She said she and her girlfriend locked the doors, turned off the lights and hunkered down in the basement for the night.

"We were scared. We could hear gunshots very clearly, even from the basement," she said. "I felt like my nerves were on edge all night. I'm just exhausted."

Students and staff at nearby Horace Mann Elementary School were shifted to another school Thursday so as not to impede the investigation, Fargo Public Schools said in a statement. The move was made at the request of the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which is handling the case.
CASPER, Wyo.  Casper police arrested a man in his 20s Wednesday afternoon at Taco John's on CY Avenue after he made threats with a gun, said Sgt. Ryan Dadney.

No shots were fired, and no one was injured, Dadney said. He did not release the mans name and said he did not know why he was making threats.
Jacob Anglesey, 34, called emergency crews March 9, 2009, and told them the boy, Konnor Allen, was unresponsive following a fall. The boy had suffered head trauma and died the following day.

An investigation did not lead to charges at the time, but the case remained open with the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation. In 2015, DCI agents presented evidence to the Sweetwater County Attorney's Office they say shows Anglesey was inconsistent when describing how the boy was injured. Medical reports stating the injuries were caused by non-accidental trauma also were included.
Terminal ready to take flight

The new Columbia Regional Airport terminal is open for business. Flights will start next week.
Maggie Smith stars in the British import "The Lady in the Van." (Sony Pictures Classics)

SHARE Where to Invade Next is the latest rabble-rousing nonfiction work from filmmaker Michael Moore. (Dog Eat Dog Films) Jafar Panahi's "Taxi," the most recent film from a celebrated Iranian master, screens at the Brooks Museum of Art. (Kino Lorber)

By John Beifuss of The Commercial Appeal

A showcase for Dame Maggie, a documentary by Michael Moore and an ingenious mini-masterwork from Iran are among the independent movies arriving this week in Memphis.

'The Lady in the Van'

(Rated PG-13 for adult themes and a brief disturbing image.)



A vehicle (in more ways than one) for Maggie Smith, this adaptation of Alan Bennett's autobiographical stage and radio play allows the venerated British actress to exchange her "Downton Abbey" Dowager Countess finery for the stained rags of an eccentric, possibly crazy and certainly odoriferous (or so we are told, repeatedly) homeless woman. But if the Victorian lace is gone, the lacerating wit and intimidating demeanor that are Smith signatures remain.

Smith is "Miss Shepherd," a neighborhood fixture of "vagabond nobility" and mysterious origin who lives in a van on the well-to-do 1970s streets of Camden, London, until Bennett (an excellent Alex Jennings) allows her to park in his driveway  an arrangement that lasts for 15 years, thanks largely to Bennett's guilt over his treatment of his mother (Gwen Taylor). (As Bennett observes, he gave an old woman he barely knew a home, while putting the other old woman into a home.)

Scripted by Bennett, the film retains the narrative gimmick of dividing the playwright into two characters, one who "lives" and another who "writes," based on the experiences of the first. This clever variation on the traditional voiceover-narrator convention enables the two Bennetts (who share the frame via digital trickery) to debate their motives and otherwise acknowledge the hard truths that are glossed over by Nicholas Hytner's direction, which occasionally verges on the cute. Still, there's plenty to enjoy here, especially for moviegoers who get a kick out of watching well-behaved people with lovely British diction enunciate polysyllabic words in quaint and charming locations.

"The Lady in the Van" opens Friday, Feb. 12, at the Malco Ridgeway Cinema Grill.

'Where to Invade Next'

Rated R for profanity, violent images, the depiction of drug use and nudity.



"I will invade countries populated by Caucasians with names I can mostly pronounce," declares Michael Moore at the outset of his latest documentary, a funny/serious travelogue-style tour that finds the proudly slovenly writer-director planting Old Glory at the site of various progressive ideas that he wants to claim for America's use.

For example, Moore visits a school in France where students are fed healthy meals of Camembert and scallops with curry sauce; he travels to Italy, where workers enjoy eight weeks of paid vacation, and a factory boss declares: "There is no clash between the profit of the company and the well-being of the (workers)"; he goes to Slovenia, where college is free, even for foreigners. He discovers that students in Finland receive almost no homework, and that Portugal never arrests its citizens for the possession of illegal drugs.

Playing dumb (i.e., in this context, American), Moore feigns astonishment at the counterintuitive success of these ideas. How can the unplanned pregnancy rate in Normandy, where graphic sex education is part of the public school curriculum, be lower than it is in Texas, a state that requires the teaching of abstinence? How can German companies increase profits when they are not allowed to contact employees who are on vacation? "Human dignity is the backbone of our society," a police officer in Portugal tells Moore, explaining why capital punishment was outlawed. "School is about finding your happiness," a math teacher tells the filmmaker, who looks as astonished as if the man had pulled a wombat from his mouth.

A typical loosely organized and constructed Moore production (as usual, archival news and public domain footage is repurposed for easy comedy), "Where to Invade Next" doesn't pretend to offer "balanced" reporting; it doesn't acknowledge any data that might make some of these enlightened overseas programs unworkable in the United States. Instead, it's a provocation, a conversation starter, and  in this most distressing of presidential election years  a plea for compassion and innovation in a nation that seems to prefer punishment to rehabilitation, and that stubbornly clings to old ideas (the "war on drugs," for example), even when they are proven failures.

'Where to Invade Next' opens Friday, Feb. 12, at the Malco Ridgeway Cinema Grill.



'Jafar Panahi's Taxi'

(Not rated; contains brief violent content.)



Shot on the streets of Tehran with a swiveling dashboard camera of limited range, "Jafar Panahi's Taxi" was  like the director's previous two films  created in secrecy by an auteur who has been banned from making movies by his home nation of Iran, where Panahi is under house arrest.

One might expect a grim or angry work from a filmmaker who was imprisoned for committing "propaganda against the Islamic Republic," but the genius of "Taxi"  which makes its Memphis debut Wednesday at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art  is that it essentially is a comedy, if a very rueful and purposeful one. The movie's episodes demonstrate that human compassion is irrepressible, and that art  even in the form of bootleg DVDs  is unkillable.

Panahi's first "house arrest" feature, "This Is Not a Film" (2011), was shot inside his apartment. The conceit of "Taxi" is that Panahi is impersonating a cabdriver, so that he can make a movie from the vantage of his taxi; as he picks up various customers, their interactions transform the film into a loose anthology of tales with moral, cultural and political messages. The result is a "docufiction": The passengers actually are collaborators (amateur actors who are not identified, for reasons of safety), and their stories are plotted, if not exactly scripted.

Some of the passengers include a vendor of bootleg American and international DVDs, who claims his illegal business is a "cultural activity" ("They don't show these movies in Iran  without me, no more Woody Allen"); a young man who favors Iran's reliance on capital punishment; a pair of old women carrying a goldfish in a bowl; and Panahi's young niece, Hana, a budding filmmaker learning in school about what makes a "distributable" film ("no sordid realism" is one of the regime's rules). Wielding her own portable camera, Hana is "looking for a story," and "Taxi" is very much a movie about the origins and action of its own creation. "I think all movies are worth watching," Panahi tells a film student, in apparent sincerity; later, a progressive lawyer lays a rose near the dashboard camera, with the comment: "This is for the people of cinema." For audiences, "Jafar Panahi's Taxi" is just such a rose.

'Jafar Panahi's Taxi' screens at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 17, at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. Tickets: $9, or $5 for students or museum members. Visit brooksmuseum.org.
By Jody Callahan of The Commercial Appeal

One person was killed and a suspect was apparently injured in a robbery attempt at a hair store Wednesday, police said.

The incident happened about 4 p.m. at the Bundles of Hair shop at 5090 Millbranch in Whitehaven, police said. According to police, two men dressed in black and wearing ski masks entered the store.

Someone in the store opened fire on the suspects, police believe, and the suspects fired back. A male worker in the store was killed, and police believe one of the suspects was injured. A suspect also left a shoe behind as he fled.

Police said the suspects stole a box containing hair weaves.
By Jody Callahan of The Commercial Appeal

Memphis police officials Wednesday night identified the two officers involved in a fatal shooting two weeks ago.

Clement Marks, 29, and Alexander Fleites, 26, shot and killed Johnathan Bratcher at 888 Kerr on Jan. 27 after police said Bratcher pointed a gun at them and opened fire.

Both officers are assigned to the Airways Station, and both remain relieved of duty with pay as the investigation into the incident continues. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is leading that inquiry.

The incident began about 2:30 p.m. that Wednesday when officers in two cars tried to stop a Chevy Impala for a traffic violation. The driver fled and crashed into a curb by St. Andrew A.M.E. Church at 867 S. Parkway. Two men in the car ran in separate directions and police chased on foot.

At that point, police said, Bratcher pointed his weapon and opened fire at the two officers. Both fired back. After the shooting, Bratcher collapsed and died behind a church building. A witness recorded some of the action with his cell phone camera, and that video appears to show police brushing away a pistol lying next to Bratcher's body.

Marks has been with MPD since October 2010. Fleites has been with MPD since September 2014.
CHEYENNE, Wyo.  A state Senate committee has endorsed a proposed bill that would prohibit K-12 teachers and school officials from prying into students' private personal social media accounts.

The unanimous action Wednesday by the Senate Education Committee sends Senate File 14 to the full Senate for further consideration.

Committee member Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, said nothing in Wyoming caused lawmakers to propose the legislation, but other states had been dealing with the issue. "We've heard of some problems in other states," Rothfuss said.

The goal of the proposal is to give school districts clear rules on how to handle student social media accounts, he said.

Under the proposal, school district employees could not require or ask a student to provide his or her login information for access to private emails, text messages or other social media belonging to the student.

Social media accounts created in association with school business would be precluded from the privacy protections. Officials would still be allowed to access a student's public account, and the bill would not inhibit law enforcement investigations related to information on students' online accounts.

In addition, school officials could ask a student's parents or guardian to see the social media information.

Brian Farmer, executive director of the Wyoming School Boards Association, said he had concerns about the bill being too restrictive on school officials, especially if there is imminent risk of danger to the student or others. "The timeliness becomes an important issue," Farmer said.

But Rothfuss said dangerous situations should involve police, who must adhere to separate laws regarding privacy. "The teachers, the administrators in schools are not law enforcement," he said.

The bill also directs the state Department of Education to help develop guidelines on the collection, access, security and use of student data by districts and standards for protecting information in data that might identify individual students.

Separately, the state House on Wednesday gave preliminary approval to a bill regarding the private emails of K-12 and college students. The bill would declare such correspondence as not being a public record that must be made available to anyone who requests to see it.
By Ryan Poe of The Commercial Appeal

A rival manufacturer claims in a lawsuit that Memphis' police body cameras supplier bribed officials in six cities  including Memphis  to get lucrative city contracts.

Body cameras supplier Digital Ally on Feb. 2 amended a patent infringement lawsuit against competitor Taser International to include the bribery accusation. Digital Ally's lawyer, Jim Daniels, said his client will "almost certainly" seek records from the city related to the contracts, and would "likely" depose anyone involved.

In the lawsuit, which was first filed in U.S. District Court of Kansas in January, Kansas-based Digital Ally claimed Taser sweetened a deal last year to provide Memphis with 2,000 body cameras by hiring a marketing firm owned by Deidre Malone, who at the time was running the reelection campaign of then-mayor A C Wharton. Taser will get $9.4 million if the contract is extended over the full five-year term.

Digital Ally cited news reports about an $880,147 subcontract with Malone's firm, which was canceled in October. But the suit doesn't provide any new, hard evidence to back up its claim.

Daniels said that evidence could surface during the discovery phase of the lawsuit.

"The facts are, they do speak for themselves," he said of the news reports.

Malone declined to comment other than to say, "It they ask me, I'll definitely provide any documents that I have."

In addition to Memphis, Digital Ally said Taser gave bribes consisting of "compensation or other things of value" to Albuquerque, New Mexico; Ft. Worth, Texas; New Orleans; Los Angeles; San Francisco; and Salt Lake City. Taser hasn't been indicted on any federal bribery-related charges. Digital Ally is seeking court-ordered reimbursement from Taser for "lost profits, costs and expenses," among other financial compensation.

The lawsuit pulls together media reports and government audits from around the country in an attempt to show that Taser has sweetened its no-bid city contracts in various ways, including by hiring retiring police chiefs and giving all-expenses paid training trips.

Toney Armstrong, who retired as police director at the end of January to take a job at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, was invited to a conference last year by Taser. Another city official responded, asking Taser not to send any invitations during contract negotiations.

Armstrong said Wednesday he did not accept any invitations to attend conferences through Taser.

When Taser and Malone broke off their agreement, Taser said Malone didn't disclose her role, and that she was hired after Taser had been chosen by the city.

Taser officials said in a statement Wednesday that Memphis determined the company offered the best solution in a competitive bid.

"We patently deny the frivolous accusations by Digital Ally and we'll address their claims appropriately in the court room," Taser's statement said.

Wharton has said he wasn't told about the subcontract and denied any wrongdoing.

The body cameras' rollout was put on hold in January by Mayor Jim Strickland.
Keith Williams of Memphis, a pro-voucher advocate, speaks to the House Finance Subcommittee while Rep. Bill Dunn (R-Knoxville), right, listens. Dunn is sponsoring the voucher bill in the House.

Sponsor says it's unlikely to return this session

By Richard Locker of The Commercial Appeal

NASHVILLE  The controversial school voucher bill was halted on the floor of the House of Representatives Thursday morning after its sponsor, Rep. Bill Dunn, acknowledged he still lacks the 50 votes needed to pass it.

Dunn (R-Knoxville) told reporters after the floor session that he could resurrect the bill, but only if he sees the votes are there  and he indicated he doesn't see that as likely before the General Assembly adjourns in late April.

"I think we kind of hit a high water mark today and people are going to move on to other issues," he said.

State Rep. Antonio Parkinson (D-Memphis), a vocal opponent of school vouchers, tweeted Thursday morning that the issue was "dead," though he said later in the day that it could be brought up again.

Dunn's postponement of the bill was the second this week. It had originally been scheduled for a House vote on Monday but he deferred it until Thursday to give an army of lobbyists, mostly for out-of-state "school choice" groups, more time to try to sway enough votes for passage.

On Wednesday, voucher advocates made a last-ditch effort by advancing an amendment that would have limited vouchers  at least initially  to low-income students in the Shelby County Schools system, on an experimental basis. Under that plan, the state comptroller's office would have evaluated the pilot voucher program, and the legislature could expand it at any time.

Parkinson called the amendment limiting the program to Shelby County "morally unacceptable" and said it gave legislators in other districts "cover" to approve a voucher program without it affecting their constituents.

"To me it looked like you were dumping on Shelby County yet again," said Parkinson, who has long-argued that the state-run Achievement School District unfairly targets Memphis for school takeovers.

Mendell Grinter, Tennessee state director for the Black Alliance for Educational Options, said failure to pass the bill Thursday morning was "legislators dropping the ball."

"I think the feeling going into this morning was that we were definitely going to be able to pass the bill," Grinter said.

Still, he was confident they would have another shot to pass the voucher bill next year.

Vouchers allow parents to take public school funding to pay private school tuition, on the same per-pupil funding level  an average of $7,000 statewide  as public schools receive from state and local appropriations.

Dunn accused opponents of vouchers of "lying" about the bill and particularly about the controversial Shelby-only amendment. The amendment's wording referred in parts to schools in the bottom 5 percent statewide but in other parts to just the Shelby County Schools pilot program, and opponents charged that it could be read as applying statewide.

"The whole path to this bill has been attacked by lies lies that said there was no accountability when the bill clearly said that. They said it has never worked before, when there were dozens of studies that showed that it had. Truth didn't win out today," Dunn said.

He said he had worked hard to gather enough support to pass the bill and did not call for a vote out of courtesy to his colleagues.

"I feel sorry for the parents who have children in failing schools," he said. "All we were doing was trying to help them and unfortunately for another year they're going to be on the path to failure."

He also argued that the Shelby-only amendment did not make Shelby students "guinea pigs" for a study of vouchers in Tennessee.

"We have a long record, decades and decades, of schools that fail students, that have graduation rates below 50 percent ... and by golly we're trying to find a cure for that. No state that has enacted a voucher program has rescinded it and I think that says a lot."

Staff writer Jennifer Pignolet contributed to this report.
SHARE William Shappley/The Commercial Appeal files Dr. Cary Middlecoff (right), now being called the worlds No. 1 golfer by many discerning critics, is putting his views on the game in a book to be published by Prentice-Hall of New York. Editing the material for Cary on Feb. 11, 1956, is Tom Michael, night city editor for The Commercial Appeal, and amateur golfer. The scene of their creative labor is the den of Carys home at 460 Greenfield Road.

Feb. 11

25 years ago: 1991

It was the kind of sendoff the guy with the big nose, the big heart and the big dream would have loved. The house was packed and a group of children sang. What Danny Thomas would have loved most about it was the promise his family and friends made to carry on his most important work and make St. Jude Children's Research Hospital even bigger and better. It was the last hurrah for the popular entertainer, who died Wednesday at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif., where two former presidents and a string of show business personalities paid their respects before his body was flown to Memphis for final rites and burial.

50 years ago: 1966

The city tentatively plans to start razing the Main Fire Station at Union and Front on April 1 to make way for a new headquarters. Fire and Police Commissioner Claude A. Armour said bids have been sought on the $650,000  $700,000 project and a contract is expected to be awarded next month. The contract will cover both the demolition of the present headquarters building, which dates from 1889, and the construction of the new two-level, concrete, steel and glass structure.

75 years ago: 1941

Mr. and Mrs. George Tayloe will leave this week to visit Mr. Tayloe's sister, Mrs. Nellie Tayloe Ross, director of the United States Mint in Washington. They will also visit New York.

100 years ago: 1916

The cooking class of the Nineteenth Century Club, of which Miss Mary Rose Edgington is chairman, will meet this morning to prepare and serve spaghetti, spinach cooked without water, sweet potato pudding baked in a glass dish, lemon pie, raisin pie and muffins.

125 years ago: 1891

The last festival of the ecclesiastical year, Shrove Tuesday, was celebrated yesterday and today will begin the Lenten season of penance and sacrifice.
February 10, 2016 - Education Commissioner Candice McQueen converses with Cornerstone Prep 6th grade student LaKenya Fields, 11, during a visit Wednesday afternoon. McQueen's drop in comes in the wake of several calls locally and in Nashville to slow or abolish the ASD. (Yalonda M. James/The Commercial Appeal)

SHARE February 10, 2016 - Education Commissioner Candice McQueen converses with Cornerstone Prep 7th grade student Messiaya Baldwin (CQ'D), 12.5 years, during a visit Wednesday afternoon. McQueen's drop in comes in the wake of several calls locally and in Nashville to slow or abolish the ASD. (Yalonda M. James/The Commercial Appeal)

By Jennifer Pignolet of The Commercial Appeal

Tennessee Education Commissioner Candice McQueen met Memphis students on their level Wednesday, crouching on carpet for in-depth discussions ranging from animals to Antarctica.

McQueen visited Libertas School and Lester Prep, both schools in the state-run Achievement School District, to meet with teachers in round-table discussions and hear from school leaders on their plans to turn around Memphis' toughest schools.

But her visit also comes in the wake of seemingly endless calls from local school and government leaders to put a halt to the ASD.

Last week, Memphis City Council joined the Shelby County Commissioners and Shelby County Schools Board of Education in calling for the General Assembly to put a moratorium on the ASD's expansion.

Lawmakers in Nashville have taken those calls a step further. Bills sponsored by Rep. Antonio Parkinson (D-Memphis), and Sen. Frank Niceley (R-Strawberry Plains) propose a full abolishment of the ASD.

McQueen refused to dismiss those concerns or to write them off as misconceptions during her visit Wednesday.

"What people are feeling is real," McQueen said. "Whatever they're feeling is a real feeling. So what I would bring to that is, we have to talk. We have to sit down, we have to talk through what's behind that, what can we do to actually work together going forward."

McQueen said she and ASD superintendent Malika Anderson have been meeting with the vocal opponents of the ASD to understand the specifics of people's concerns.

"We know that anything that would look like a state takeover is a problem, because people perceive that we are trying to pull something out of your community, when the reality, we're actually wanting to build capacity for the community," McQueen said. "And if it's sensed as something different, then we've got to work together to change that."

Growth of the ASD has been a sensitive subject in Memphis, with four additional takeovers confirmed for next year.

The SCS board voted unanimously in December to lobby for a moratorium on ASD takeovers for any more schools "until they show consistent progress in improving student academic achievement."

Last month, the Shelby County Commission approved as part of its agenda for the Tennessee Legislature a resolution that asked for a three-year moratorium on ASD takeovers.

The divided commission, which approved the resolution in a 7-4 vote, debated the ASD's poor performance and lack of accountability against taking away options for parents whose children are in failing schools.

The Memphis City Council voted Feb. 2 to approve a resolution asking for a moratorium on the districts' expansion until they show "significant" academic progress.

Only four council members voted for the resolution, which was sponsored by Super District 8-3 member Martavius Jones, a former SCS board member. The other council members present either abstained or recused themselves.

Jones said the loosely structured achievement school districts can't adequately keep up with the 33,000 students that change schools at least once each academic year.

McQueen said the state has taken a step back, with the appointment of ASD Superintendent Anderson and conversations about how the ASD will grow.

"We obviously are looking at the big picture of what is our next step with the ASD, where do we want to move in terms of quality for all of our ASD schools," she said.
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By Daniel Connolly of The Commercial Appeal

A Collierville committee studying ways to reduce crowding at Schilling Farms Middle School has recommended redrawing zoning lines to shift some students to the town's other school for that grade level, Collierville Middle.

The plan won't be final until a public meeting and a vote by the school board.

The committee is recommending the school system allow current Schilling Farms Middle students to stay there until they finish.

A section of southeast Collierville between U.S. 72 and Byhalia would be rezoned. At the moment, students who live in that area attend Schilling Farms Middle but in the future they would attend Collierville Middle.

The new zoning would take effect for the students who are in fifth grade today and who are slated to start middle school as sixth-graders this fall. The school system says 35 fifth-graders will be affected.

The rezoning plan also would change district lines for the elementary schools that feed into the middle schools. In one of the most significant changes, 37 students who attend Bailey Station Elementary would switch to Sycamore Elementary in the fall, Mike Simpson, chief operating officer for the school system, said.

Letters were mailed to the affected families Monday and the school system has posted proposed maps and other information here.

A public meeting to gather input on the proposals will be held at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 18 at Collierville Middle School. Following the public meeting, the school zone changes will be presented to school board members. A date for the vote has not been set.

Amy Flood with the Collierville Middle School Parent Teacher Association said based on conversations with friends, the zoning changes don't seem very big. She also said the school system appears committed to trying to let parents know where their children will go to school for the next several years.

"I think parents are real happy about that," she said.
Republican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves.

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By Ron Maxey of The Commercial Appeal

The Mississippi Senate's Education Committee passed legislation Wednesday that would require appointment of school district superintendents statewide, a move that would affect DeSoto County, where the superintendent is elected every four years.

This isn't the first time senators have pushed appointment, but the measure has always failed in the House. Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, who presides over the Senate, thinks this year might be different.

"I believe this is the year Mississippi finally takes that crucial step in improving district management," Reeves, a Republican, said in a prepared statement.

It's an increased GOP majority in the House that gives Reeves and other supporters added optimism this year. Republican Gov. Phil Bryant, the Mississippi Board of Education and the Mississippi School Boards Association also support the change.

If approved by the full Senate and then in the House, the bill would take effect Jan. 1, 2019, but superintendents elected before then would be allowed to serve out their term. Also, boards could choose to appoint a previously elected superintendent to continue.

In DeSoto County, an affluent and populous district where performance has never been an issue, the idea of appointing superintendents has never gained much traction.

State Sen. Chris Massey, R-Nesbit, one of two DeSoto senators on the Education Committee, said Wednesday he is not likely to support the measure when it comes to a full vote in the Senate unless it includes a provision allowing a local option on whether to elect or appoint.

"What you hear is that (the process of) elected superintendents doesn't work, but the process has worked in DeSoto County," Massey said.

Massey did not participate in the committee vote.

DeSoto's other Education Committee member, state Sen. Kevin Blackwell, R-Southaven, said he supported the measure and told DeSoto Superintendent Cory Uselton, elected last November, when Uselton was running that he thought the position should be appointed.

"There is little doubt in my mind that in four years he (Uselton) will be the board's appointment should the bill pass," Blackwell said.

Uselton said in a statement he thinks DeSoto residents appreciate having a voice in selecting the school superintendent.

"There may be some parts of the state where appointed superintendents are needed, but elections for Superintendent of Education have always worked well in DeSoto County," Uselton said. "Voters told me (last) summer that they liked having a voice in selecting their superintendent."
January 22, 2015 - DeSoto Schools Supt. Cory Uselton, who replaced three-term superintendent Milton Kuykendall on January 4, says hes beginning to realize just how different it is managing Mississippis largest public school district, more than 33,000 students on 42 campuses countywide, as opposed to a single high school. (Stan Carroll/The Commercial Appeal)

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By Ron Maxey of The Commercial Appeal

A bill requiring that Mississippi school superintendents be appointed rather than elected cleared the full Senate Thursday, moving the state a step closer to a major change in the way many local school districts are governed.

The approval of Senate Bill 2438 by a 40-9 vote, with bipartisan support, came a day after the Senate's Education Committee approved the bill. If OK'd by the House, where similar legislation has stalled in the past, superintendents in all of Mississippi's 144 school districts would be appointed by local school boards beginning Jan. 1, 2019.

Superintendents elected before then could serve out their term. Also, boards could appoint a previously-elected superintendent to continue.

Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, who oversees the Senate, expressed appreciation to senators for approving the measure.

"Limiting the pool of qualified educators to political boundaries hampers many school districts' opportunities for success," Reeves said in a statement. "Districts should be able to perform broad searches to find leaders who will inspire teachers and encourage students to learn."

DeSoto County Schools, the state's largest district with more than 33,000 students in 42 schools, is one of 55 Mississippi districts with an elected superintendent. Cory Uselton was elected in November.

State Sen. Chris Massey, R-Nesbit, said Wednesday he would not support the measure without a provision allowing districts to choose between electing and appointing. The county's other senator on the Education Committee, Kevin Blackwell of Southaven, supported the bill.
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By Clay Bailey of The Commercial Appeal

We open todays trip Outside the Loop with some inflammatory comments from a couple of Houston High students claiming the recent Battle of the Brains competition was rigged  contending the math and science event was more of a publicity stunt to promote the cultural diversity in the school system rather than a valid competition.

The comments attack the winners, their culture and their projects.

The griping pair (white males) did not finish in the top three, so the reaction can be characterized as bad losers, but the words were well-stocked with venom toward everyone involved in the annual competition.

The correspondence drew a quick response from school leaders about making the student reaction a teachable moment.

In other matters, we also will explain the new connection between the Bartlett and Germantown Municipal Courts and provide you links to some quick reads of recent news from Shelby Farms, Collierville and a couple of items from Germantown.

GERMANTOWN

BASHING BATTLE OF THE BRAINS: Seems a couple of Houston High students didnt win the recent Battle of the Brains competition, and they were none too pleased about the snub.

The two students claimed the math and science competition was a sham focused on highlighting cultural diversity in the suburb rather than selecting the best project. In a complaint sent to Mayor Mike Palazzolo, the city aldermen, Houston High Principal Kyle Cherry and others, including Germantown reporter Jane Roberts who covered the competition, the pair questioned whether the event was a Cultural Diversity Public Relations Stunt and picked apart the winning entries, saying they were either not innovative or not germane to Germantown.

There were several projects that were actually better than the top three winners of the competition, the students wrote. These projects had the same thing in common that our project did. They were all designed, made and presented by white males.

The complaint outlined the demographics of the winning teams, noting various compositions of Asian and Indian students, along with a team of all white females.

The discrimination was obvious to those that competed and attended the event, the students wrote.  ... Being politically correct does not help anyone.

Finally, they asked for a "formal apology" from the organizers of the event and called for the resignation of the suburbs Education Commission and Dino Palazzolo, who started the event and is one of its sponsors.

 ...(T)hese people clearly demonstrated racist and sexual attitudes that have no place in our community, the pair said in closing.

WOW!

The complaint certainly didnt go unnoticed, but their grousing probably didnt draw the reaction the students were seeking. In an email, Cherry said he was deeply sorry, for the letters tone, and administrators would have a very serious conversation with the students about the content. Cherry emphasized the letter provides a teachable moment to discuss the matter.

Alderwoman Mary Anne Gibson, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen liaison to the Education Commission, said the students comments were disappointing and lacked merit. The accusations were dramatic from students upset over not placing in the competition, and the complaint sullied the celebration of all of the competitors work. Those are very smart kids, every one of them, Gibson said.

The Germantown Municipal School District also issued a statement later, saying:The principal (Cherry) met with the students to address their concerns. We will continue to partner with the Education Commission for wonderful events like Battle of the Brains in the future.

BARTLETT

JUDGE FRANCAVILLA PRESIDING. PLEASE BE SEATED: The selection of Tim Francavilla as the new Bartlett Municipal Judge (at least until November) really wasnt much of a surprise. By all accounts, he and Phillip Walker, were the front-runners among the eight applicants all along.

Francavilla was chosen Tuesday night by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen to replace the late Freeman Marr  who died in December  as the suburbs Division 1 judge. The selection came on the first ballot among the six aldermen with W.C. Bubba Pleasant, David Parsons, Bobby Simmons and Paula Sedgwick, providing the four votes necessary. Aldermen Emily Elliott and Jack Young supported Walker.

Ive always thought I wanted to be a judge, Francavilla said after the vote, adding he delayed seeking a position on the bench previously to gain experience and knowledge. I wanted to make sure I was legally sound on the law and felt competent on any legal matters that came before me. Probably over the past five years, I feel like Ive reached that level.

When Judge Marr passed away, it opened an opportunity. I would never run against Judge Marr. I had too much respect for him.

Francavilla is an associate attorney with the Brannon Law Firm, which also includes Robert Brannon. Thats right, Robert Brannon. As in Germantown Municipal Judge Robert Brannon.

There are a number of instances where Criminal Court judges honed their chops in the district attorneys office before moving to the bench.

It seems the path to suburban judgeships may run through the Brannon Law Firm.

SHORT TRIPS

ACROSS THE TOP OF SHELBY FARMS: Later Thursday, the Land Use Control Board will consider an application for the Parkside at Shelby Farms planned development on the north side of Mullins Station west of Whitten. Business writer Tom Bailey (no relation) outlined the specifics and will have reports on the discussion at the LUCB meeting.

COLLIERVILLE EXIT: The Collierville School Board is considering a redrawing of middle school boundaries in hopes of shifting some Schilling students to Collierville Middle. Collierville reporter Daniel Connolly explained the reasoning earlier this week.

GERMANTOWN EXIT: With all the checking of IDs for beer these days, I remain amazed businesses still regularly get caught selling suds to minors. But three in Germantown outlets received $500 fines this week for selling to underage customers in a November sting.

POPLAR EXIT: The state voucher program under consideration in Nashville is drawing attention from parents of students at Madonna Learning Center.

Germantown reporter Jane Roberts talked to several parents regarding their concerns the legislation language eliminates the possibility of them qualifying for the vouchers.


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By Carl Leubsdorf

Riding the expectations game is a bit like riding a tiger: It's hard to keep on top for very long.

That's what Marco Rubio learned in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary.

Eight days ago, the Florida senator's close third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses sparked fears among fellow GOP candidates he might outflank them to become Donald Trump's major rival and concern among Democrats that the Republicans might actually nominate their strongest potential standard-bearer.

But Rubio froze under the pressure of a fierce verbal assault from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in last Saturday's GOP debate. When New Hampshire Republicans voted Tuesday, Trump won easily and Rubio's hopes of running second faded to a disappointing fifth place finish behind the billionaire builder, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and two others.

As a result, Rubio faces an uphill fight in the upcoming South Carolina primary and Nevada caucuses. And Democrats concerned about polls showing he might be their strongest general election rival might feel a bit better than after the Iowa voting.

To be fair, the New Hampshire results showed that Democrats have their own serious problem. The breadth of Sanders' decisive victory over Hillary Clinton signaled a long, drawn-out primary battle in which the former secretary of state's onetime inevitability no longer seems so inevitable.

That can hardly please the Democratic establishment, which is heavily committed to Clinton and worried what would happen if the party nominated a 74-year-old self-styled democratic socialist.

But that fear was offset, at least for now, by the fact that, once again, two of the three GOP leaders were Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who even Republicans fear would be weak general election candidates.

Trump's smashing victory, in which he more than doubled the vote of his closest rival, confirmed his position as the Republican to beat. And though New England is hardly favorable territory for the outspokenly conservative Cruz, the Iowa winner showed he remains someone to be reckoned with by finishing third.

Still, the total for Kasich, Bush, Rubio and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was far more than Trump got, suggesting Republicans could be headed for a lengthy three-way race if one of them could consolidate that support.

Christie, after finishing sixth, is reportedly suspending his campaign, and Carly Fiorina dropped out. But both Bush and Rubio headed for the Feb. 20 South Carolina primary, and Rubio vowed he won't repeat last Saturday night's halting debate performance, in which he responded to Christie's charge he was too young and inexperienced and too programmed by repeating the same criticism of President Barack Obama, nearly word for word, three more times.

The fact that Kasich, Bush and Rubio all remain will make it hard for any of them to beat either Trump or Cruz in the Palmetto State. Foreshadowing the bitter campaign for survival about to unfold, Rubio aide Alex Conant suggested Trump can't be beaten if Bush stays in the race, and a Bush staffer disparaged Kasich's long-term chances.

Still, by finishing an unexpected second, Kasich kept alive his hope of maintaining his candidacy until the race reaches Michigan and his home state of Ohio next month. But the reality is he received a smaller percentage of the GOP vote than former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. did in 2012. His candidacy, with a moderate tone markedly similar to Kasich's, flamed out after he finished third in New Hampshire.

Kasich has a stronger financial base and is a more substantial figure within the GOP than Huntsman, but confronts significant obstacles in South Carolina and other even more conservative Southern battlegrounds.

Still, the night's biggest Republican loser was Rubio, whom Democrats have long targeted as the most formidable potential GOP rival.

"Young Marco Rubio is in trouble," noted Republican strategist Alex Castellanos, a fellow Cuban-American who has been highly critical of Trump and Cruz and friendly to Rubio. "He was exposed, even though he is right and Chris Christie is wrong: Barack Obama was not too young to be an effective president."

Carl Leubsdorf is the former Washington bureau chief of the Dallas Morning News. Contact him at carl.p.leubsdorf@gmail.com.
CHEYENNE, Wyo.  A legislative committee advanced a bill that would create another requirement on the states ballot initiative process, already one of the toughest in the country.

Senate File 30, which cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, would require initiatives be written in the form of a legislative bill. The measure is sponsored by Management Council, a group comprised of legislative leadership of both chambers and political parties.

SF30 was written after the Legislative Service Office, the Legislature's nonpartisan staff, spent about 250 hours helping a group of marijuana advocates draft an initiative that would legalize medical marijuana and industrial hemp, said Sen. Eli Bebout, R-Riverton, a member of Management Council.

Bebout said thats too much time, and that initiatives should be presented on the ballot in a manner that would fit into existing state statute if adopted by the voters.

If youre going to bring (an initiative), go through all the trouble to get the signatures, you ought to do it right, Bebout said. And if it passes, it ought to conform and fit within our statutes.

Bebout insisted SF30 is not meant to create another roadblock to passing a petition. He said its not just the marijuana initiative. Previous initiatives have been problematic, too.

In Wyoming, people who want to change the law at the ballot box must gather enough signatures to total 15 percent of people who voted in the last general election. Signatures must also represent 15 percent of people who live in two-thirds of the states 23 counties.

Those requirements make initiatives and referendums among the hardest to pass in the country.

Marguerite Herman of the Wyoming League of Women Voters said her organization supported the bill because it was unfair to expect 250 hours from the Legislative Service Office, which drafts all the bills for lawmakers.

Groups can hire an attorney, or perhaps even contract with the Legislative Service Office to write an initiative, she said.

The League of Women Voters thinks other parts of the initiative process are onerous, but those are not addressed in the bill, Herman said.

I would have to say, having watched the process for 35-plus years, not every bill that comes out of (the Legislative Service Office) from legislators is perfect that they are drafting, she said. I would hope the standard is not perfection but just simply in statutory bill form."
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) 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)

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Four bipartisan members of Congress introduced legislation this week to preempt a potential patchwork of state and local government laws banning encryption on smartphones.

The measure, called the ENCRYPT (Ensuring National Constitutional Rights for Your Private Telecommunications) Act of 2016, is intended to ensure a uniform national policy for encryption technology, according to a statement from the lawmakers.

U.S. Rep. Ted W. Lieu (D-Calif.), joined Reps. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas), (Suzan DelBene, D-Wash.) and Mike Bishop (R-Mich.) in sponsoring the measure.

The lawmakers are worried initially about bills sponsored by state legislators in California and New York that would ban encryption on any smartphone sold in their states.

Encryption is used on many smartphones, including recent iPhones and Android phones, and is designed to protect a users personal data, such as private financial and health information, from snooping eyes. A decryption key is needed to open encrypted data, and that key is not typically available to smartphone makers and is only available to the phone user, often through a passcode. As a result, smartphone makers like Apple have told intelligence officials, the FBI and others that they cannot decrypt data on the latest smartphones, which are protected by full-disk encryption.

The ENCRYPT bill arrived as FBI Director James Comey and others have tried to persuade tech giants to share encrypted data, especially on smartphones, to help them investigate crimes and terror attacks.

Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday that a phone used by one of the terrorists in the San Bernardino, Calif., shootings is still encrypted and cannot be hacked. He also said a woman killed in Louisiana last April used an encrypted iPhone that could provide clues to her killer.

The proposals in New York and California, if passed, would require manufacturers of encrypted smartphones to enable decryption of data on the phones made after 2017.

A patchwork of 50 different encryption standards is a recipe for disaster that would create new security vulnerabilities, threaten individual privacy and undermine the competitiveness of American innovators, Lieu said in a statement. It is bad for law enforcement, bad for technology users and bad for American technology companies. National issues require national responses. The ENCRYPT Act makes sure this conversation happens in a place that does not distrupt interstate commerce.

Trade groups including Information Technology Industry Council and Internet Association and Internet Infrastructure Coalition quickly endorsed the ENCRYPT measure.

New York Assemblyman Matthew Titone introduced a bill in June to block encrypted smartphones in that state. California Assemblyman Jim Cooper introduced a similar bill affecting smartphones sold in California in January. Both legislators are Democrats.
When Zac Goldsmith publishes his manifesto I suspect we will see a good set of policies that he will promise to implement should he be elected Mayor of London on May 5th. His temperament will be to offer measures that are innovative but credible.

Yet however important they may prove, should Goldsmith take charge of City Hall they will probably achieve little traction with the electorate before-hand. What will attract more attention is the negative stuff. The warnings about what might happen if his Labour opponent, Sadiq Khan, were to triumph at the polls.

The Prime Minister expressed the point colourfully by cautioning Londoners against being lab rats in the first Corbyn economic experiment in public life.

The Goldsmith campaign team has produced some costings of the alternatives on offer to Londoners. The document concludes that Sadiq Khans fares pledge leaves a 1.9 billion black hole and adds that it would be filled by either:

Hitting families with a 175 Council Tax hike for the typical London household;

Hitting public services by halving the amount of Mayoral Council Tax money going to the Police and Fire Service;

Hitting drivers with a massive western expansion of the Congestion Charge Zone  costing motorists up to 650 extra a year; or

Hitting the transport network by scrapping vital planned investment on road, rail and town centre regeneration projects  causing delays, overcrowding and congestion.

There are certainly huge efficiency savings that could made in Transport for Londons bloated budget. The difficulty is that Khan does not have the credibility to deliver them  not least due to his financial dependency on the trade unions. He claims to have business experience but that seems to consist of being a partner in a firm of human rights solicitors.

When Khan has been challenged as to where he would find the savings, this document claims his response has been unconvincing:

Phantom Saving 1

 scrap the Emirates cable car.

This wont save a penny. The cable car is making a profit and cancelling the contract would incur a penalty of 20 million.

Phantom Saving 2

 Khan wants to freeze the purchases of new Routemaster buses.

Khan cant cancel Routemaster buses because the final order will be delivered before the election.

Phantom Saving 3

Khan claims he can make efficiency savings by cutting agency staff.

This will cost more than it will save. Agency staff reduce costs, as the trade unions who fund Sadiq Khans campaign admit: since 2010 TfL has been employing non-permanent labour / agency staff in permanent call centre roles as a means to save money and undermine trade union representation.

So far Khan has failed to provide a clear answer as to where the 1.9 billion will come from. When challenged by the media over the figure his response has sounded petulant and rattled. This makes it all the more likely that the question will continue to be raised. It is also difficult to see him coming up with a proper answer given his union paymasters have a veto on his policies.
Last night, the new Conservatives for Reform in Europe group sent out an email to Tory councillors seeking their support (the full text of which is copied below). Having only recently launched, CRE is in a race to catch up with the pro-Leave Conservatives for Britain, which has been recruiting Eurosceptics since last summer.

There are four interesting things to note about the email:

1) Its from Eric Pickles  a figure who continues to be popular among the grassroots. As a former Party Chairman, and someone who is stylistically very different from the sometimes more remote style of the leadership (and much of the pro-EU movement), hes a canny choice for them to try to maximise their appeal to Conservative councillors.

2) Its openly in favour of a Remain vote. There has been a bit of a spat going on around CRE in recent days  their founder, Nick Herbert, has left open the door that if we cannot secure the reforms Britain needs many of us would be prepared to leave, but Guido reported yesterday that the group had formally registered with the Electoral Commission as a campaign to Remain. Any lingering pretence of reserving judgement is rather blown out of the water by the emails declaration that we believe that on balance it is better for Britain to remain in a reformed Europe rather than out on our own  before the EU reform package before it has been finalised, never mind agreed by the European Parliament and others.

3) Theyre careful not to breach Party neutrality. Evidently the authors of the message are aware that more than a few of those they are writing to will be supporting Leave, and they are therefore careful not to break any rules, going out of their way to state: As you will be aware, the Conservative Party will not officially campaign on either side for this referendum. Every Association will have members who want to stay in Europe and those who want to leave the EU. The usual channels are therefore closed and one of the many challenges for our campaign is to build our own network. That is why I am contacting you using an email address available in the public domain  not one supplied by the Party or indeed your Local Association.

4) The pitch is about personal loyalty to Cameron. The email is shot through with attempts to frame the referendum as a verdict on the Conservative leader  we support the Prime Minister in his battle, Our Prime Ministers proposed reforms, If you support the Prime Minister and our campaign, Signing up is a show of support for the Prime Minister. That may work on some recipients, but its equally likely to irritate those who might feel it implies backing Leave somehow makes one a disloyal Conservative.

Dear Councillor,

I am writing to you as Patron of Conservatives for Reform in Europe, a campaign launched a few weeks ago by a group of Conservatives who believe that change and reform of the EU is vital for the future of Britain. We support the Prime Minister in his battle to achieve a better deal with our European partners.

Many of us are deeply sceptical about the EU, but we believe that on balance it is better for Britain to remain in a reformed Europe rather than out on our own.

The proposed reforms

Our Prime Ministers proposed reforms will:

Protect our sovereignty by removing the UK from ever closer union

Boost competitiveness to create jobs and help British business

Keep us out of the single currency and secure the pound

Control immigration from the EU and end something for nothing welfare

Getting in touch

As you will be aware, the Conservative Party will not officially campaign on either side for this referendum. Every Association will have members who want to stay in Europe and those who want to leave the EU. The usual channels are therefore closed and one of the many challenges for our campaign is to build our own network. That is why I am contacting you using an email address available in the public domain  not one supplied by the Party or indeed your Local Association.

Support our campaign

If you support the Prime Minister and our campaign, I would love to hear from you. To join our campaign, visit our website to sign up. And if youd rather we didnt use your Council email address you can input a different one there too. If youd like to email me direct, I can be reached at eric.pickles@reformineurope.org.

When the Prime Minister announced the referendum, he was fulfilling a pledge we, as a Party, made to the British people before last years General Election. If the current media speculation is accurate, this referendum will be in June, within weeks of the May elections in which I know you will be campaigning in and playing your part. You can read more about what Brexit would mean for Britain in this excellent speech delivered by my chum the Rt Hon Nick Herbert MP earlier this week.

I do hope you will join me and support our campaign.

Yours sincerely,

The Rt Hon Sir Eric Pickles MP

PS: Signing up is a show of support for the Prime Minister and his proposed reforms  we hope that you will join us.
Garvan Walshe was National and international security policy adviser to the Conservative Party until 2008.

Last week some pictures, taken by a drone, emerged of the devastated city of Homs. Every building had been damaged. Consumed by internal fires, only concrete structures survived. A lone white car drove through dirt tracks between the buildings where there had once been roads. No people disturbed the silence. If the scene looks like Warsaw after the Nazis put down the uprising there, its because the tactics employed were the same.

To this war crime under Moscows protection will soon be added another. Stiffened by Russian air power and Iranian and Hezbollah ground forces, the regime, which MPs at the time were told by informed government sources was on the brink of collapse, has managed to regain ground. It now surrounds three quarters of Syrias second city, and could soon be in a position to besiege it.

The Geneva process has failed because the regimes opponents were not strong enough to force the regime to the table. Now that Russia has got properly involved the rebels regional backers havent been able to protect their clients. The West, which could have, has neglected its responsibility; reacting to the terrorist attacks in Paris as though it had been one of Lynton Crosbys brilliantly effective dead cats  focusing on the distraction and losing sight of the main event. Even then it hasnt even taken serious steps to tackle IS. The public would rather chase terrorist phantoms among refugees than have to accept that whole societies are collapsing, or, as in Syria and Libya, have already collapsed completely. Old and revived regimes hang on in Egypt and Algeria, relying on naked force and the fear of civil war to stave off disaster.

Angela Merkel has at least attempted to take action: but she has erred twice. First by overestimating her ability to bend Europe to her will  Germany is only first among equals, not the arbiter of Europe. A million refugees across a continent of 500 million can easily be accommodated; admitting the same number to Germany alone is extremely tough. Second, Germany has not put in place the new housing, training and integration programmes needed to manage the new population in an atmosphere of order and trust, absent which, the sex attacks in Cologne sparked sedulously incited panic. Now she is reduced to offering Turkey money in exchange for not letting them come to Europe.

It is not however just money that Syrians need (impressive as the sums pledged at the London conference last week were) but security as well. Diplomacy without arms, one of Merkels predecessors reflected, is like music without instruments.

We have long understood that the security of Europe to the east depends on both strong military capability and the extension of good government, to build genuine support for resistance to Moscow eastwards. That is why Marshall aid was offered to the Eastern Bloc, and accepted by Yugoslavia, and why Ukraine and the states of the caucasus are involved in Western security and economic institutions.

But to the south and south east we relied on local strongmen to keep the population down. Only in Turkey and arguably Morocco, have states been sufficiently competent to give them something of a future.

As for the rest, Arab nationalism has been an unqualified failure. The Iraq war just brought forward the regimes inevitable fall, and without it we would be agonising over the Iraqi, instead of the Syrian, civil war. Islamism, in both peaceful and violent forms, has proven equally bankrupt because Islam is the solution makes a good slogan but offers no guidance for public administration.

Since 2001 the West has been able to mount dramatic interventions: the Taliban were removed from power; Saddam Hussein and Gaddafi were also toppled. It has failed however to follow the initial military hit with sustained construction of institutions to provide people security and evidence to underpin hope for a better future. Syria shows that we have learned the wrong lesson from that failure, which is not that the act of military intervention can never work in narrow tactical terms, but that it will fail strategically unless accompanied by a serious commitment to stay and rebuild.

The disaster in Aleppo as well as the rise of IS in Iraq, Syria and Libya testify to the failure to secure political support for the kinds of interventions that deliver results, as they have in Kosovo, Sierra Leone and East Timor. Neither military force alone, nor what seems to have replaced it, humanitarian aid accompanied by narrowly focused military assistance are able to succeed. Understanding how to rebuild the institutions of this shattered region will, together with deterring further Russian aggression, be the main requirement for security in our part of the West for the decade to come.
A cautionary note at the start. This is Januarys survey, taken at the end of the month, as is usually the case. The draft EU deal proposal was published towards the beginning of this month, February. The poll therefore doesnt take either it or reactions to it into account.

None the less, the direction of events is clear. Our latest Cabinet League Table yesterday found that those members associated with Brexit  such as Chris Grayling and Priti Patel  are seeing their ratings rise sharply if their previous standing in it was relatively low.

This pattern is echoed in this months Next Leader Survey. Liam Fox goes top for the first time. The progress of the only non-Minister in the survey (other than Boris) is less astounding than it seems. Over two-thirds of our Party member readers are for Brexit, according to this latest poll and its predecessors. Since Fox is the only declared pro-Brexit entrant in this part of the survey, its perhaps only surprising that his rating isnt even higher.

The renenegotiation and referendum debate is also raising his profile in the media. He was all over the France and Calais story this week, and I can see no reason why his rating next month shouldnt climb further. But mention of scores raises a very important point about context.

Foxs 21 per cent is the joint lowest total since I became editor of this site in 2013. Boris gained the same total immediately post-election last June, at a time when enthusiasm for a new leader among respondents was even lower than usual, for obvious reasons. Fox has a fifth of the vote, and is only two votes clear of Theresa May, who has been top of the list recently. That fifth might be thought of as representing the hard right of the Party.

All in all, this part of the survey is in flux, and so I expect it to be for the duration of the referendum campaign  for example, I would expect the Home Secretarys hint that she will be for Remain to affect her ratings. Fox, May, Boris and Gove are up a point each. Osborne is down two, Javid is down one. No-one is in a dominant position.

Hunt and Morgan are not really troubling the scorers. Given the speculation of members of the 2010 intake other than the latter entering the field, we may make some changes to it next month, though I dont want to return to the pre-General Election period when there was a mass of runners and riders.

84 Party member respondents to the poll as a whole refused to answer this question, continuing no doubt to see it as premature. 699 took a different view.
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More than 100 physicians from CHI St. Alexius Health in Bismarck filled the Boniface Auditorium on Wednesday to discuss emerging information on the Zika virus.

A panel of North Dakota Department of Health officials and infectious disease experts fielded questions from physicians on the disease, including new guidelines on when to test patients for the virus and what to tell women who are wanting to become pregnant and planning to travel to Zika-affected areas.

The Zika virus, which is similar to the West Nile virus, is caused by a mosquito bite and is associated with microcephaly and Guillain-Barre syndrome. Microcephaly is a birth defect that causes babies to have smaller than normal heads and can cause incomplete brain development.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends pregnant women, symptomatic or not, should be offered testing two to 12 weeks after returning from Zika-affected countries.

The CDC originally advised only pregnant women displaying symptoms of the virus to be tested, but added guidelines Friday to include all pregnant women with or without symptoms.

Health officials urged doctors to tell their pregnant patients who are planning to travel to areas where the Zika virus has been found, including Central America, South America and the Caribbean, to postpone travel plans.

"CDC has made it paramount that women who are pregnant should avoid travel to areas where Zika virus transmission is occurring, Kirby Kruger, director of the health departments Division of Disease Control, said.

The Zika virus, with symptoms that include fever, rash and joint pain, is found in urine, semen and saliva. Four out of five people with Zika will have no symptoms.

Dr. Jerry Obritsch, an obstetrician/gynecologist who works at the Mid Dakota Clinic Center for Women in Bismarck, said he hasnt tested any of his patients yet for the disease, but anticipates testing them soon.

Doctors can test a patients blood to see if the virus is present, Kruger said.

Until that timeframe passes, youre probably in a vulnerable area, he said.

The CDC also recommends men who travel to Zika-affected areas should abstain from sexual intercourse or use condoms with their pregnant partners.
Close

The real trigger for the huge E. coli outbreak at Chipotle stores last year has not been clear. Yet, the norovirus outbreaks at many of its locations were probably due to its own sick employees, says Time.

This was announced at Monday's company-wide meeting, even as Chipotle branches all over the U.S. closed for a few hours so that the company could talk to its employees.

Norovirus is spread mainly through human touch. Food can get contaminated. Chipotle announces that the company can expand the allocated sick days for employees. Earlier, just two days of bed rest were given to sick Chipotle employees, though the leave was insufficient.

Now the company will provide five paid sick days to employees who show symptoms such as nausea, explosive diarrhea, vomiting and other similar symptoms, reports Gizmodo.

Hence, Chipotle is struggling to get to its feet and lure back its customers.

See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare
Close

Black-box may issue warnings regarding the dangers of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medications. But they could be inaccurate, and indicate serious negative consequences leading to youth suicide, said researchers at the University of Montreal.

Such warnings are contrary to what current research unearths, they say.

"Health Canada has issued a series of black-box warnings about the suicidal potential of ADHD medications," said Alain Lesage, co-author of the study, in a press release. "However, these warnings have failed to take into account epidemiological studies showing the opposite, that increased use of this medication has been associated with reduced suicide risk in adolescents."

In the last decade, while ADHD medical treatment tripled in Quebec, about 9 percent of boys aged 10 or older and 4 percent of boys aged 15 or older were being treated. Yet, suicides among Quebec's 15 to 19-year-olds were reduced by almost 50 percent around this time, unlike the warning given out by Health Canada.

"Clearly, the increased use of ADHD drugs indicates that they might actually reduce rather than augment the risk of suicide," said Edouard Kouassi, co-author of the study.

ADHD medication not only reduces hyperactivity but also enhances school performance and self-esteem. It brings down conduct disorder, female pregnancy and drug abuse, said researchers.

Worryingly, Health Canada's black-box warnings may lead to a reduction in the medication, even though they may be advantageous.

"The silence from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) is especially worrying in a context in which it has been called on to prepare a national suicide prevention strategy for the government of Canada under Bill C-300. We wrote this correspondence hoping to sound the alarm about the warnings published by Quebec's health authorities, as elsewhere in Canada, which might lead to a decrease in this effective medical treatment," the study concludes.

However, more research is needed to strengthen the link between the medication and teen suicide rates.

The findings were published in the December issue of The Lancet Psychiatry

See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare
Netanyahu Wants Apartheid Wall Around Israel To Keep Out 'Wild Beasts'

By Andrea Germanos

11 February, 2016

Commondreams.org

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has proposed a plan to encircle his entire country with a fence as protection against "wild beasts," referring to those in neighboring Arab states.

He made the comments Tuesday while visiting an 18-mile stretch of fence already under construction on the Israel-Jordan border.

"At the end of the day, in the State of Israel as I see it, there will be a fence like this one surrounding its entirety," he said, according to a statement on the Prime Minister's website.

"They tell me: Is this what you want to do, defend the villa? The answer is yes. What, are we going to surround the entire State of Israel with a fence, a barrier? The answer is yes, unequivocally. In the environment in which we live we must defend ourselves from the wild beasts."

He added that it would be a multi-year project, multi-million dollar project.

"Perhaps the most notorious of Israel's walls built for 'security purposes' runs within the occupied West Bank," as Al Jazeera reports. It was deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004.

Haaretz columnist Asher Schechter argues that "Israel is already not even trying to function like a democracy," and writes that Netanyahu's statement is "a display of everything wrong with Israel under his leadership. Israel circa 2016 is fearful, hateful, and paranoid, self-involved to a degree even Donald Trump would find distasteful, and soon it might have big walls surrounding it from every which way, quarantining it, and a political system where only Jews need apply.

On Wednesday Netanyahu also spoke to the Israeli parliament and referred to the existing fence along the border with Egypt, saying that it prevented Israel from being "overrun" with migrants.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License




American Muslim Community One Year After The Murder Of Three NC Muslim Students

By Abdus Sattar Ghazali

11 February, 2016

Countercurrents.org

The Muslim American community observed Wednesday (Feb. 10) the first death anniversary of three North Carolina University Muslim students amid rising anti-Muslim bigotry and hate crimes.

On February 10, 2015, Deah Barakat, Yusor Abu-Salha, and Razan Abu-Salha were brutally murdered simply because they were Muslim. A neighbor, who had expressed anti-Muslim animus in the past, fatally shot each of them in the home that newlyweds Deah and Yusor shared.

Sadly, in the year since their senseless deaths, too many other people have lost their lives in communities across our country, says Farhana Khera adding: "And too many people in America have been living in fear after acts of vandalism and violence in their communities. In less than three months since the tragic attacks in Paris, weve seen more than 70 documented incidents of anti-Muslim hate violence."

Amid mounting anti-Muslim rhetoric, President Barrack Obama visited Baltimore mosque on Feb. 3 where the President called on Americans to embrace their common humanity and reject the inexcusable political rhetoric emanating from the presidential campaign trail.

The President said: "In this era of heightened rhetoric during the Presidential election season, along with the rise of anti-Islamic propaganda, it is important for our elected officials to stand with the Muslim community to show solidarity with the more than 6 million Muslim Americans. Our nation was founded on religious tolerance and common ethos which requires us to stand together as Americans."

Is is easy to look at the dangerous pattern of anti-Muslim hate in our nation. The year 2015 was perhaps the deadliest year on record for the American Muslim community, with 63 recorded attacks on mosques till the first week of December.

Tellingly, 17 of those attacks took place in November after the Paris terrorist attacks. At least six attacks and vandalism against the mosques were reported after the San Bernardino, CA terrorist attack on December 2nd when Syed Rizwan Farook killed 14 people and wounded 21 at a meeting of public health officials that doubled as a holiday party.

Anti-Muslim fever goes viral after the Paris and San Bernardino attacks. To borrow Andrew Ohehir of Salon, Muslim fever has spread through our national bloodstream and replaced all thought. Many U.S. leaders have unleashed discriminatory rhetoric in the name of counterterrorism.

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum argued that the U.S. Constitution does not protect Islam the way it does Christianity. Donald Trump said that he would strongly consider shutting down American mosques and that he wants surveillance of certain mosques if thats okay. Thirty-one governors said that Syrian refugees were not welcome in their states. Jeb Bush suggested that refugees should be allowed into the United States if you can prove youre a Christian.

Carl Ernst, a Kenan professor in the UNC Department of Religious Studies and a scholar of Islam, told The News & Observer of NC, that because Muslims are such a small minority in the country, most people are only encountering Muslims in the media, which almost inevitably means in stories about conflict. The only Muslims who make it in to the news are people who do something that is violent or questionable in some way. Hollywood movies are the other sources of information, and they just reinforce those stereotypes.

With no independent knowledge of Islam, Ernst said, people readily accept stereotypes and what he calls anti-Islamic propaganda that is espoused on the Internet. There are about 100 anti-Muslim groups on the Internet, Ernst said, many of them using identical literature saying Muslims want to take over the United States.

Ernst said most people dont know that Muslims have been in America at least since the 1700s, when they were brought from Africa as slaves. Even among those who are more recent immigrants  some of them now doctors, engineers and attorneys  many are so well integrated into American culture that most people dont realize they are Muslim.

Anti-Muslim propaganda plays to Americans tendency to want to unite against common enemies, Ernst said; throughout its history, the U.S. has scapegoated Native Americans, different immigrant groups, Jews, Communists, African-Americans, and gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

In the Chapel Hill, NC, case, police charged Craig Stephen Hicks with shooting Barakat and Yusor and Razan Abu-Salha and quickly announced that investigators believed the killings stemmed from Hicks rage over the use of parking spaces at the condo complex where they all lived. Barakat and his wife, Yusor, both graduates of N.C. State, were enrolled at the UNC dental school. Razan was a design student at NCSU. Both sisters regularly wore the hijab, or Muslim womens head covering.

The FBI launched its own investigation into the crime but has not announced its findings, according to the News & Observer.

Hicks, who could face the death penalty if convicted, has not been assigned a trial date.

Abdus Sattar Ghazali is the Chief Editor of the Journal of America (www.journalofamerica.net)






Death Sentence Is Tehran's Answer To Ahwazi Calls For Freedom



By Rahim Hamid

11 February, 2016

Countercurrents.org

The human rights situation has been worsening quickly in Iran. More than 2,000 people have been hung during Hassan Rouhanis tenure as President of the regime. This is the biggest scale of executions in the past 25 years. These mass executions will be added to the black pages of the Iranian regime's history of human rights violations since the Iranian revolution in 1979. The large-scale execution of political and ideological prisoners has resulted in Iran being named one of the top countries committing executions per capita during the past few years.

Unlocked from its sanction-based constrictions, Iran is now fully free to underwrite terror and carry out more executions against Ahwazi Arab and throughout the country. Five Ahwazi are facing imminent execution in public. The names of these Ahwazi Arab prisoners are QaisObeidawi, HamoodObeidawi, Mohammad Helfi, Mehdi Moarabi and Mehdi Sayahi.

The five men were condemned following a trial filled withheinous violations of the judiciary process by the Revolutionary Court of mullahs in Iran. These prisoners were arrested in April 2015 and on Tuesday, June 16, 2015, were brought in front of television cameras of Press TV by Ministry of Information to make public confessions of about their fictional crimes. Farhad Afsharnya, the regimes supposed Chief Justice for the AL- Ahwaz region saidthe execution of the five Arabs was confirmed, it will be ratified by the court and execution will be carried out in public.

These Ahwazi activists were only concerned with advancing cultural and social awareness for the cause of Ahwaz people and were not connected to an armed struggle against the state. The Iranian regime has stepped up its ferocious crackdown against Ahwazis and all none- Persian activists after the tension between Iran and its neighbours heightened as a result of Irans involvement in Middle Eastern wars, such as in Syria and Yemen. Similar sentences have been issued in closed rather than public court proceedings, give a substantial reason to conclude that the Iranian judicial system only pay lip service to any idea of due process. Furthermore, it becomes apparent that human rights are overlooked by any president while the judicial system is not independent. These executions might occur anytime soon after Iranian parliamentary election at the end of February.

The Iranian regimes massive hypocrisy in condemning Saudi Arabias questionable human rights record is breathtaking. Any use of the term moderate in connection with Irans president Hassan Rouhani is ludicrous hyperbole; he is simply the president elected from the list of candidates chosen for the position by the Guardian Council, consisting of 12 Islamic theologians and Jurists, according to the Iranian constitution.

Under the constitution, secular candidates or those who fail to embrace the Islamic Republics theocratic hardline Shiite values are nominally capable of being selected but, in reality, are not.

The parliament or Masjid has little power over the regimes religious courts to stop or even slow down the rate of executions, with the courts routinely issuing verdicts without even hearing evidence or investigating the charges against accused individuals as might be expected under legal systems elsewhere in the world.

One example of the Iranian regimes legal system is the common charge of muharebeh or enmity to God, routinely used against human rights activists and dissidents, which invariably receives the death penalty, often administered in public by stoning or mass hangings by cranes. Many of those hanged take up to 20 minutes to die slowly and painfully of strangulation. The victims bodies are left for some time before being removed as a way of intimidating the public into silence.

Since Hassan Rouhani took office in 2013, over 2,000 Iranians, including women, many of them Ahwazi Arabs, Kurdish and Baluchi Sunnis, have been executed, almost all after ludicrous kangaroo trials in which they were unrepresented and not allowed to submit any evidence in their defence. Recently, six of 33 Sunni men currently on death row were publicly executed in a mass hanging, while another woman was sentenced to death by stoning. This is the moderate Iranian regime.

This report sheds light on this failure of the Iranian regime to respect the rightsof the Ahwazi Arab people in Al-Ahwaz, the south and south west part of Iran.

Conducted behind closed doors, before biased judges and in the absence of legal representation, the unfair trials of Arabs in the AL-Ahwaz region are part of a long-standing persecution of this oppressed people in Iran.

Despite the fact that this recurring miscarriage of justice is in flagrant violation of the Islamic Republic's constitution, Iran's jails are filled with Ahwazi political prisoners who face brutal punishments, a lifetime in prison or execution.

Over the past decade, hundreds of Ahwazi Arab prisoners ranging from poets, teachers to bloggers and human rights activists have been executed on trumped up charges in kangaroo courts.

Rather than finding reasonable evidence for the commission of a crime, judges generally rely on confessions, which have been drawn out from the accused through physical torture and psychological duress. Meanwhile, friends and relatives of the accused are kept in the dark, often not informed of where their loved one has been imprisoned, or even buried.

As we follow carefully the history of Ahwazi Arab people of repression, violence and capital punishment, we see that they have a long record of systematic crackdown over decades.

Meanwhile, the execution of Ahwazi intellectuals historically has inflicted an irreversible blow to the liberty movement of this occupied nation that has been struggling to achieve its fundamental rights of self- determination for years.

The executions of early leaders of Ahwaz liberation movement in 1963, the oppressive policies of Islamic Republic of Iran against Ahwazi people in every phases of their life, the tragic bloody massacre of Mohammareh city in 1979, and the severe crackdown of popular uprising in 2005 provide ample evidence that the intellectual, Ahwazi public figures, and the political class of this nation repeatedly have been targeted for imprisonment, repression and execution.

The largest popular uprising of Ahwazi people broke out on 9 April 2005 when people from several cities turned out into the streets and protested against the distribution of circular(petition) attributed to Mohammad Ali Abtahi, former vice president-parliamentary legal affairs of the president Mohammad Ali Khatami.

The latter events of popular uprising in April 2005 in Ahwaz which was a nonviolent demonstration against the wicked policy of central government focused on altering the demography of Ahwazi Arab people reminded the nation of the catastrophic massacre when so many people were killed in the course of the widespread peaceful demonstration, so many people massacred in the street by Iranian squad riot forces.

At the time, many civil and cultural activists were executed and many clean-handed and innocent young protesters were killed under tortures, their bodies discovered in Karoon River. These bodies were wrapped up in plastic and their hands were tied up behind their backs by rope. After the massacre, terrible panic and suffocating climate dominated in the region and subsequently, the executions of highly educated, intellectuals, and civil and political activists started again.

Notably, in 2005, dozens of teachers and cultural activists were arrested and after unfair trials and without access to legal representation, they were charged with vague charges such as acting against the national security, enmity with God, corrupting the earth and blasphemy , and then condemned to execution or life imprisonment. As an example, MR. ZamellBawi, who was studying law at senior semester at university and was waiting for his graduation ceremony, was arrested by intelligence security and under physical and psychological tortures was forced to incriminate himself falsely.

After a show trial in revolutionary court in Ahwaz he was sentenced to death and his verdict confirmed by the higher tribunal in Tehran. Additionally six immediate members of his family who were mostly students and cultural activists, were sentenced to life imprisonment and exiled to far- away prisons outside Ahwaz.

In 2005, Ali OudaAfravi , Mehdi HantoushNavaseri, in 2006, Ali Matori, Malik al-Tamimi, Abdullah Soleimani (Kaabi), Abdul Amir Faraj Allah, Mohammad Lazem Kaab, Khalaf DhrabKhazraei , Ali Reza Asakereh, in 2007, QasemSalamat, Majed Albughbish, Razi Zargani, RaisanSawari, AbdolrezaHantoushNavaseri, Muhammed Ali Sawari ,JaafarSawari, in 2008, Hussein Asakereh, Abdul Hussein Al -hareibi, Ahmad Meramzy, ZamellBawi,in 2009, Khalil Kaabi and Said Sadon were sentenced to death on false charges of "enmity against God" and after months of torture in solitary confinement in secret prisons secretly were hanged. It is noteworthy that all these executed people were the educated and the political and cultural activists of the Ahwaz nation and the bodies of these people had not been handed over to their families.

Hashem Shabani, an Ahwazi Arab poet and human rights activist was executed for being enemy of God and threatening national security. In reality, he spoke about against brutal treatment of Ahwazi Arabs, apparently he was campaigning for the Ahwazi people who are oppressed, mocked and treated as third citizens by Iranians. We have to keep in mind that if somebody is an Arab, then they are not the same as being an Iranian Persian because of their ethnic background. There is a cultural bias against Ahwazi Arabs in the mainstream Persian population.

In 2011, the brothers Heydariyan (3 people) along with their friend, Ali Sharifi, were arrested in the wake of civil protests in Ahwaz. According to credible reports, they were charged with enmity with God and at were sentenced to death after confessing under torture. They were denied a fair trial and judicial proceedings and in 2012 were hanged in secret. Ali Chbyshat and Khalid Mousavi were arrested in 2011 and were kept for seven months in solitary confinement by the Intelligence Service without access to lawyers and then convicted to death penalty and hanged in secret.

Because of the severe repression, censorship, lack of freedom of the press and the judicial system's lack of transparency and lack of coverage for any of the non-Persian prisoners, there is no possible way to give exact figures of all the death sentences among non-Persian ethnic groups in Iran. Iran not only has the world's highest execution rates but the executions have mostly been carried out against ethnic groups such as Ahwazis, Kurds and Baluchis who are struggling to achieve their national and linguistic identity and self-determination rights.

There are thousands of underage prisoners who have been executed in Iran. According to the International Covenants on Human Rights, the death penalty is forbidden for people who commit crimes while under eighteen years of age. Waging war against God is one of the leading charges used by the Iranian regime to justify the inhuman executions of ethnic groups in Iran.

Since the 80s, the clerical regime used it as a weapon to suppress many political and ideological opponents. Most executions of prisoners who were accused of "enmity against God" belong to none-Persian ethnic nationalities in Iran, mostly Ahwazi Arab, Baluch, and Kurdish activists.

The regime defies international law by holding all the bodies of the executed prisoners. Hundreds of Ahwazi prisoners bodies have been withheld by the Iranian authorities. Many human rights organisations called on the regime authorities to hand over the bodies of the executed political prisoners to their anguished families.

This is a part of the regimes collective punishment policy against the Ahwazi Arab people, Iran has refused to deliver the bodies of hundreds of Ahwazis executed since 2005 to date under the pretext that their families will hold funerals for them, which will serve as a catalyst for Ahwazi uprising. This reflects the racism of the Iranian regime against Ahwazi Arabs.

Finally one must question the purpose of the regime behind the high number of executions and the human tragedies. In a country where most of fraud and administrative and financial corruption are committed by the regime officials, while the oppressed nations are living in extreme poverty, why is it that these officials have not been prosecuted or executed?

It can be concluded that the executions of non-Persian prisoners have political and security aspects in a bid of the ruling regime in Iran to expand its domination and control over the occupied and oppressed nations of Ahwaz, Kurdistan, Baluchistan and other peoples in the country.

When the Iranian regime learned that its agenda has been failed to put out the peaceful resistance of Ahwazi people the Iranian authorities with the help of their deeply flawed criminal justice system began to prioritize the death penalty of Ahwazi prisoners, amid warnings from the human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International.

Since the Ahwazi uprising, the death sentences and executions are being imposed and carried out on Ahwazi prisoners even more extensively, after procedures that violate human rights standards.

Iranian television stations like Press TV continue to broadcast self-incriminating testimonies of Ahwazi detainees even before the opening of a trial, undermining the fundamental rights of defendants to be considered innocent until proven guilty.

Is it just Ahwazi political prisoners who must be executed for using their pens, the only weapons they raised in the struggle for the rights of the Ahwazi people? Why is it a crime in the Iranian state to write about the lack of basic rights to a decent existence for the Ahwazi people who live below the poverty line, while their land is teeming with natural resources such as oil, natural gas, mining stone and running water? All remain inaccessible to the people of Ahwaz, including the right to clean drinking water.

Where is the justice when the Ahwaz region, the so-called heart of Iran's economy, is considered one of the poorest regions in Iran?

From 2003 to date, the climate in Ahwaz has dramatically deteriorated due to air pollution caused by Iran's industrial activities in Ahwaz. Ahwaz is one of the most polluted areas in Iran and the larger Middle East, and it is an area where there is a visible increase in the number of people dying from pollution related diseases.

One has only to visit the out-patient department in hospitals in the Ahwaz to find them filled with patients suffering from cancer and other pollution related chronic lung diseases. If our political prisoners have established campaigns, it is only because they could not close their eyes and remain silent to the horrific sufferings of their people.

The world is learning slowly that Ahwazi political prisoners are quickly sentenced to death after unjust show-trials where they are charged with "enmity against God", or that they post a risk to national security, or militant activities and secession. The vast majority of Iranians, the pro-Iranian Mullah regime who view themselves as human rights advocates who claim to be distraught over the rivers of blood flowing in Syria and other Arab nations are weeping crocodile tears if theyre honest, having remained silent for decades on the plight of the Ahwazi Arab peoples and other brutally oppressed ethnic groups in Iran who are murderously subjugated and brutalised solely for claiming their lawful rights.

Iran by dominating on the wealth of this nation has increasingly plundered it and as a result of it, the villages and towns of Al-Ahwaz were destroyed day by day. The chauvinist policies of Iranian governments have had to try to completely deny the existence of Ahwazis. In return, when Ahwazis protest at the ongoing oppression, they will be dealt with live fire or arrest and then execution. It seems that execution sentence is the Irans last resort to liquidating Ahwazi prisoners.

Rahim Hamid, Ahwazi Arab freelance journalist and human rights activist




Assanges UN Victory And Redemption Of The West



By Nozomi Hayase

11 February, 2016

Theindicter.com

Image credit - Carlos Latuff @LatuffCartoons

Last week, the United Nations Working Group (UNWG) on Arbitrary Detention ruled that journalist Julian Assange had been subject to arbitrary detention by the Swedish and British governments and that it must end. The Center for Constitutional Rights noted the significant precedent in the law of detention and the larger implications this has, not only for Assanges case, but also for the protection of whistle-blowers and refugees around the world.

For the last five and half years, Assange has been detained without charge (first in solitary, then house arrest and now confined in the Ecuadorian Embassy). Over these years, the prosecutor's repeated refusal to interview Assange has denied him the right to defend himself, even though the interviewing of suspects in the UK is a normal Swedish legal practice. His case became complex, revolving around allegations that were largely fabricated. Swedish authorities indicate that one of the women involved felt the police made up the charges and railroaded her. Assange was cleared of the suspicion of rape by a chief prosecutor in Stockholm before it was then reopened by another prosecutor.

Renowned investigative journalist John Pilger called this case a farce and an obstruction of justice. CIA analyst Ray McGovern described it as not simply a miscarriage of justice, but an abortion. There are undeniable facts that clearly show the politically driven nature of what has been presented to the world as a legal process.

As the lies spread, sometimes a picture speaks a thousand words. This image by political cartoonist Carlos Latuff below pierces the veil of complexity and reveals what this case is all about.

After a 16 month independent investigation that accounted all evidence submitted by Sweden and the UK, this highest authority of the UN on detention came to the conclusion that the United Kingdom and Sweden has been refusing to recognize Assanges right of asylum or offer any guarantee that he will not be extradited to the United States, a country that detains without charge and even tortures.

Assanges attorney Melinda Taylor stated how this ruling dispels the myth that Mr. Assange is either a fugitive from justice or that he could just walk out of the embassy and affirms that he is a victim of injustice caused by both Sweden and the UK.

Both Swedish and UK authorities rejected the decision of the UN panel. British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond immediately called the ruling ridiculous and dismissed it, saying it would have no effect on their actions. A disturbing fact emerged when Norwegian Professor Mads Andenas, who heads the Working Group, revealed that the UK and Sweden put enormous pressure on members of this group leading up to the decision. As UN human rights chief, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein described, the Working Group based its decision on binding international law and that Britain and Sweden both need to abide by its findings. By refusing to recognize this determination, both the UK and Sweden are undermining the UN system for which both countries signed binding treaties.

While much of the mainstream media has echoed this arrogant defiance in the UK and Swedish governments response to the finding of the UNWG, Prime Minister David Cameron also chimed in this week. Speaking to Parliament, he repeated the old lies, claiming that Assange, who has never been charged, was wanted for trial. He held to the official line, calling the working groups decision ridiculous, blaming the victim and jeopardizing his own countrys reputation for justice.

Why is this kind of arbitrary detention happening on UK soil, in a country that gave birth to the Magna Carta eight hundred years ago? This foundational document seeded the notion of due process, which found its flowering in the US Constitution.

In chapter 39, King John promised that:

No free man shall be taken or imprisoned or disseized or exiled or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him nor send upon him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.

Another British man, George Orwell reminded us of the promise of liberty. He once said, If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. Upholding this liberty and defending freedom of speech is exactly what WikiLeaks has done. They did this by publishing secret government documents that are embarrassing and inconvenient to those who have blood on their hands.

Through the methods of transparency, this whistle-blowing site made it possible for ordinary people to challenge the legitimacy of elected officials, and tell those in power what they do not want to hear. Assange, who became a lightning rod for liberty, has been attacked by a triage of US, Swedish and UK governments for more than 5 years, and as well by an army of Western media that acts as a Guardian of power.

With Assanges UN win, it is now clear that in the case of Julian Assange, serious violations of due process have been committed. Injustices against this publisher of last resort are not against this one individual alone, but are by extension an assault against free speech around the world and a travesty against the fundamental rights that so many in democratic societies cherish.

History has repeatedly shown that humans are not perfect. We are all fallible and dont always know what is right. But history also offers humanity the grace to correct their mistakes and alter the course of the future. The verdict of this UNWG is now giving us all such an opportunity.

UK and Swedish governments can shift the course of history if they choose to. They can repent past wrongdoing, like their collusion with illegal wars and atrocities of the warlords and corporate puppets in Washington. They can remedy some of the harm that has been done. They can redeem the basic principle of human rights by implementing these UN recommendations; to start with, return Assanges passport or issue a new one, so he can walk free.

After the UN announced their position, Assange gave a speech on the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy. He acknowledged the good will of many people, saying how the victory of this ruling came about as a result of many people struggling for it; governments, the president of Ecuador who offered asylum from US extradition, his legal team and a swath of citizens in the UK, Sweden, US, Australia and other countries.

Fundamentally it is up to all of us to continue to carry on this struggle, to resist adversarial forces working against democracy. Many have already taken such steps. For example, a law professor at Oxford voiced support for the decision of the UNWG. Such courage creates a path for others to follow.

It is not too late for the West to step onto the right side of history. We can all respond to this call to show the rest of the world how we can become nations that honor the enlightenment values and realize the promise the West once made to the world.

Nozomi Hayase, Ph.D., a native of Japan, is a columnist, researcher, and the First Amendment advocate. She is a former contributing writer to WL Central and has been covering issues of free speech, transparency and the vital role of whistleblowers in global society. Her writing has appeared on diverse outlets such as Counterpunch, CommonDreams, Dissident Voice, Truthout, Global Research and Antiwar.com. Her work has been published in the At Issue Series; The Occupy Movement by Greenhaven Press, Global Issues, Local Arguments by Pearson Education and Krytyka Polityczna Global Activism by Autonome Universitat Berlin. She currently resides in the SF Bay Area and is a guest writer at Falkvinge &Co. on Infopolicy, where she explores the role that Bitcoin and other decentralized platforms play in strengthening civil liberties. Nozomi Hayase is member of The Indicters Editorial Board. Twitter: @nozomimagine.




Global Terrorism Destroying The Humanity: How To Change The Future?

By Mahboob A Khawaja

11 February, 2016

Countercurrents.org

Nobody can predict which way the Arab Awakening will turn this year Over the decades of unchallenging aggressive adventures in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and now in Syria, West and North Africa and soon in Saudi Arab, America has earned the distinction of being a leader in intrinsic and endless corrupted wars to dismantle, humiliate, kill and destroy the Arab people and maintain the surge for more bloodsheds anytime  anywhere. Iraq? Its own latent civil war will go on grinding up the bones of civil society while we largely ignore its agony; there are days now when more Iraqis are killed than Syrians, though you wouldnt know it from the nightly news. And the Gulf? Arabia, where the first Arab awakening began? Where, indeed, the first Arab revolution  the advent of Islam  burst forth upon the world. There are those who say that the Gulf kingdoms will remain secure for years to come. Dont count on it. Watch Saudi Arabia. Remember what that British diplomat wrote 130 years ago. Even in Mecca... (Robert Fisk Could Saudi Arabia be Next? The Independent).

Superpowers are Complacent in the Destruction of the Arab world?

For centuries, the Europeans (British, French, Italian and Dutch) built empires by colonizing the Islamic world. They used millions of subjugated people to fight the First and 2nd World Wars. They viewed the subjects as unworthy creature at the ballot box and imposed Whitemans superior thinking, culture, language and laws on the colonized Muslim people. Out of favors, loyal tribal agents were transformed into kings, royals, presidents and dictatorship role. This is how Britain stole Palestine from its people. Now the people are awakened to pursue democratic change and the absolute rulers are a liability. The US led few West Europeans want to replace the historical dummies to articulate a different future of their own. All the superpowers are collaborating military operations to destroy the entire Arab region under the pretext of war on terrorism. This planned scheme of things will sideline the core issue of the Arab Middle East - freedom of Palestine and normalization of relations with the State of Israel. After the US planned destruction of Afghanistan and Iraq, Syria is virtually a collapsed country. Its economic, civic and political infrastructures are in ruins. Millions of Iraqi and Syrian civilians are victims of insanity because of the authoritarian regime of Bashar-al-Assad, Al-Abidi or the coalition of the US-Russia and Europeans. Most West Europeans except Germany, used the Arabs as soldiers during the Two World Wars are now treating the refugees as animal herd to be barricaded under razor wires. Is there a responsible global governance to safeguard the mankind?

The UNO is fast becoming a wait and see institution - just to make declarations, the same chronic sickness that caused the downfall of the League of Nations and brought about the catastrophic curse of the 2nd WW. Complacency joined by wickedness, authoritarian Arab leaders are engaged in wars that make no sense to rationality of intent and purpose. Yemen, Libya, Egypt are targeted to be politically destabilized and torn apart by sectarian conflicts. Iran and Saudi Arabias reactionary policies are flaring up more disastrous sectarian killings. Many Iranian-backed extreme groups including Hezbollah are fighting in Iraq and Syria to maintain the cruelty of sectarian warfare. Their support to Al-Assad dynasty and fighting against fellow Muslims are a shame to the unity and teachings of Islam. Nothing looks optimistic if these countries could ever recover what is destroyed and was built since the ancient time. Unpredictable but paranoid and vengeful political monsters have incapacitated the human faculties of rational thinking across the Arab-Muslim world to be morally and intellectually crippled nations in global affairs. The Western coalition and Russia are collaborating, it is planned and aimed at large scale deaths and annihilation of the entire Arab world. After the WW2, it was Palestine, now the entire Arab Peninsula will be occupied by the superpowers. Russian-American bombing are destroying the masses and habitats. If few millions  just the numbers are abstracted from the population data, it is statistic and nothing about human casualties. Arabs are vanishing somewhere, not the Americans or Russians. The police apparatus planned and managed by the Western nations have dehumanized the Arab population with fear and hatred of the authoritarianism. The Arab citizens are just helpless statistic. They could be easily broken and slaughtered. The civilians are escaping the insanity of foreign bombing and tyranny of authoritarianism.

The wars against the oil enriched Middle East are a distraction from the home-based political and economic issues, be it the US or Russia. U.S. Spy Chiefs Think The World Is Pretty Much Going To Hell reads the headlines of the Foreign Policy (February 9,2016)..from the Islamic State gaining strength in Libya to Kim Jong Un shopping some of the worlds most dangerous weapons, here are the top takeaways from a grim day with the nations top spooks. The magazine wonders, Why are Russian Engineers Working at an Islamic State-Controlled Gas Plant in Syria? The world knows Russia and the US are collaborating the Middle East warfare for their own interests. Secretary Kerry alleges that Russia is not helping in peace talks. One wonders, who has the focused mind and rational agenda for peacemaking in the Arab world? The need is urgent for the informed global community to intervene and to stop the daily carnage happening across the Middle East. Pepe Escobar (Empire of Chaos Preparing For More Fireworks in 2016 Global Research: 12/24/2016), an independent geopolitical analysts and author of Empire in Chaos (2014), explains that The Empire of Chaos, today, is not about complacency. Its about hubris  and fear. Ever since the start of the Cold War the crucial question has been who would control the great trading networks of Eurasia - or the heartland.. Whatever happens in the so-called Syrian peace process the proxy war between Washington and Moscow will continue.

Terrorism is a Political Myth of Action vs. Reaction

What is more alarming in the 21st century when the corporate worlds hired big affluent minds and news-making intellect offer fabricated facts of history to keep the masses under constant fear and red-alerts that American and other Western societies face outrageous trends of extremism and terrorism coming from the Islamic societies. In a rational perspective terrorism does not grow out of any particular land or culture but it is a global historical phenomenon of action vs. reaction game. It was best explained by British author and producer Adam Curtis (The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear: BBC documentary challenging the American version of the War on Terrorism), spells out the myth with clarity: international terrorism is a fantasy that has been exaggerated and distorted by politicians. It is a dark illusion that has spread unquestioned through governments around the world, the security services and the international media.

Let us be absolutely clear that the US-led forces including the Europeans were not sent to Afghanistan or Iraq to defend democracy, freedom, human rights and liberty but to occupy those nations and exploit their natural resources and in some instances to test new and invisible weapons on easily available civilian targets. The mankind all over the planet is the net casualty of this horrible crime. Who gained most out of the planned miseries, bloodbaths and cruelty to fellow human beings? The Western oil companies, Washington-based military-industrial complex and the weapon manufacturers in the US and Western Europe.

Across the globe, terrorism whether it originates in the Western political culture or reactionary terrorism fast growing in the Muslim societies, the problem is critical and consuming too much time and energies which should be used for the good of the mankind living in peace not in adversity and continuing warfare. Do the Americans or other allied with warrior cliche know or have the ability to opt out of the degenerating warfare and its consequential ripple effects for the future of the mankind?

We Need New Vision and Proactive Thinking for Change and Adaptability to the Future

Aggressiveness, police raids and irrational harsh legal judgments do not articulate cooperation and respect for human dignity or social harmony and peace in human society but divide people in hatred, fear and more conflicts. You cannot change a society with law and order dictum. When a problem is misunderstood, its diagnostic approach will be wrong. An out of the official box approach to understand the problem is urgently needed. The major news media corporations in North America and Western Europe are aligned to the establishments and tainted with biased coverage as they get paid via ads and secret dealings. None of this is helpful to foster change and societal advancement for a peaceful future. The mankind looks for change in strategic thinking and actions. In the name of System Change, Not Climate Change, points out Paul Street (For Intelligent Civilizations on Earth) we can rescue and preserve humanity and livable ecology through mass resistance and a revolutionary transformation that takes us beyond the worlds unelected and interrelated dictatorships of money, profit, empire, and eco-cide.

Most egoistic leaders once triumphed into political powerhouses; they ignore primary human values of peace, co-existence, freedom and liberty? If Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln were alive, their moral and intellectual souls must have been painfully disturbed - how George W. Bush, Blair and Obama tortured the innocent people at Guantanomo Bay and Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

The future generations must not be entrapped by the vengeful reactionary politics of the post 9/11 decade. Human decency and futuristic priorities would deserve rethinking and change in global policies and behaviors. Time and emerging opportunities warrant new societal thinking and approaches, and new visions for change and the future-making. But change and creativity and new visions will not emerge out of the obsolete, redundant and failed individualistic absolutism of the few insane leaders. Intelligent and effective leaders offer hope and optimism in situations of adversity and share proactive vision, and demonstrate flexibility for navigational change when facts of life warrant a change; and eagerness to learn the art of good communication and to do the best for the mankind.

The informed global community wishes to see meaningful dialogue, reconciliation and opportunities for peaceful settlement of the merging conflicts in the Arab world. Have the Two World Wars resolved any problems facing the humanity? What is the cure to raging indifference and cruelty to the interests of the whole of the mankind? The 21st century new-age complex political, economic, social and strategic challenges and the encompassing opportunities warrant new thinking, new leaders and new visions for change, conflict management and participatory peaceful future-making. Is the 21st century political genius more redundant, backward and unable to speak against the political drudgery and wickedness of the few sadistic warlords to destroy the humanity? Perhaps, Robert Burns - the poet (Mans inhumanity to Man, from his poem Man was made to Mourn: A Dirge, 1785), knew better and had unraveling and passionate moral and intellectual understanding of the human nature and interests of the global mankind to clarify:

'Many and sharp the num'rous ills

Inwoven with our frame!

More pointed still we make ourselves

Regret, remorse, and shame!

And Man, whose heav'n-erected face

The smiles of love adorn, -

Man's inhumanity to man

Makes countless thousands mourn!

(Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja specializes in global security, peace and conflict resolution with keen interests in Islamic-Western comparative cultures and civilizations, and author of several publications including the latest: Global Peace and Conflict Management: Man and Humanity in Search of New Thinking. Lambert Publishing Germany, May 2012).






Ukraine, Masks Of The Revolution

By Paul Moreira

11 February, 2016

Countercurrents.org





Without them, there would have been no Ukrainian revolution.

In February 2014, paramilitary groups fought against the police in the streets of Kyev and ousted President Yanukovych. They settled a new government.

According to western media, they were the revolution heroes. They fought on the right side.

But they are actually extreme-right militias. And they are now heavily armed.

The Right Sector, Azov or Svoboda created parallel irregular forces that easily go out of control. In Odessa, in May 2014, they were responsible for a mass killing without facing any charges. 45 people burnt to death. A massacre that didnt get much attention.

How come western democracies havent raised their voice in protest?

Most likely because these Ukrainian nationalist militias actually played a significant role in a much larger scale war. The Ukrainian revolution was strongly supported by the US diplomacy.

In the new cold war that opposes Russia to the USA, Ukraine is a decisive pawn. A tactical pawn to contain Putins ambitions.

Ukraine, masks of the revolution by Paul Moreira sheds light on this blind corner.




Gaza Patients Battle Cancer And Israeli Siege

By Isra Saleh el-Namey

11 February, 2016

The Electronic Intifada

Palestinian cancer patients protest in Gaza City in December 2014. (Ashraf Amra/ APA images)

Umaimah Zamalat assumed her papers were in order.

The 52-year-old woman from Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip had already undergone one radiation session at the Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem for her aggressive breast cancer.

But when she got to the Erez checkpoint at the boundary between Gaza and Israel, ready to go for a second treatment, she was stopped.

My permit allows me to travel to Jerusalem until I finish four [radiation therapy] sessions. But when I tried to cross Erez for my second session they told me I am no longer allowed, Zamalat told The Electronic Intifada.

The Israeli military authorities at Erez gave no explanation when they turned her back. Patients from Gaza are not allowed to stay in Jerusalem or Israeli hospitals for the duration of their treatment and must return between sessions. This leaves them at risk of sudden, unexplained and apparently inexplicable permit revocations.

That, in turn, has inevitable consequences on patients health.

I am extremely worried. Doctors told me that my case is very sensitive to delays, Zamalat said.

Little hope

Zamalat has reapplied to get another permit to complete her radiation therapy. But she holds out very little hope.

Our problem is not just being cancer patients. It is with the bitterness of an occupation that we feel in every tiny detail of our lives, even in our illnesses, she said.

Health care professionals in Gaza have documented a disturbing rise in incidences of cancer in the impoverished strip of land.

Dr. Mohammed Abu Shaban is a Palestinian oncologist who works at different hospitals in Gaza. Over the last two years, he said, citing statistics from the Gaza ministry of health, the number of cancer diagnoses reached some 14,600.

Every month, we see at least 120 new cancer patients in Gaza, the doctor told The Electronic Intifada.

Abu Shaban alleged a direct relationship between the increase in the number of patients with cancer and the three wars launched on Gaza over the last eight years. Doctors in Gaza and foreign health professionals have long suspected that Israel has used new forms of weaponry over Gaza, including Dense Inert Metal Explosives (DIME) or ammunition laced with radioactive material.

Israeli forces have used illegal weapons with lethal radioactive materials that transfer to the soil, Abu Shaban said. People who live next to areas that have been shelled risk being exposed to these materials. That enhances the risk of cancer for these people.

Leukemia is the most pervasive cancer in Gaza, according to the doctor. Abu Shaban estimates that some 25 percent of cancer-related deaths among children are due to the condition.

In addition to the difficulty of gaining access to treatment is the cost. With poverty and unemployment rates both near 40 percent, Palestinians in Gaza rely on government assistance.

People cannot afford the exorbitant prices of health care services, Abu Shaban said. We are in acute need of more funds to cover extra expenses for our patients.

Rafah not an option

Amina Ahmads condition dramatically deteriorated eight months ago. Diagnosed with lung cancer in 2012, the 46-year-old from Gaza City applied for referral to one of the specialized hospitals in the West Bank or inside Israel six months ago.

But she needs the permit.

I have my medical reports and all the necessary papers to enable me to move to the West Bank as an urgent humanitarian case. But I have not gotten Israeli approval yet, Ahmad said.

A delay in obtaining a permit to enter Israel can have dire consequences. If appointments are missed, patients will have to go through the whole application process again. We are left to die in silence, Ahmad said.

The situation would be different if the Rafah crossing to Egypt was open, she said. Egypt offers care that Gaza hospitals cannot and, if nothing else, she said, at least she would not be hostage to the whims of the Israelis. But Egypt has kept the crossing closed, with only a few dozen days of partial opening, since late 2014.

The siege Israel has imposed on Gaza since 2007 has depleted a health care system that was already under pressure from poverty, overcrowding and rapid population growth.

Under the blockade, said Dr. Ahmed El Shorafa, head of the tumor clinic at the European Hospital in Rafah, the situation can only be described as catastrophic.

Gaza suffers a serious shortage of medicine, medical supplies and equipment as well as trained and specialized personnel. We use the same machines and the same protocols as we did 14 years ago. We have not been able to develop anything, El Shorafa said.

As a direct result, Gazas hospitals are unable to offer radiation or chemotherapy treatments  hence the need for the many referrals to West Bank or Israeli hospitals.

Fear and anger

What we have observed in the last five years is that the annual referrals of Gaza patients have only risen by only 1.3 percent despite a significant increase in the number of patients, El Shorafa said. The very restricted movement has reduced the options open to Gaza patients for specialized care.

In the first 10 months of 2015, the administrative arm of the Israeli military occupation administration  the body known as the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories, or COGAT  denied 1,035 Palestinians in Gaza permission to exit so that they could receive necessary medical treatment in the occupied West Bank, Israel or Jordan.

This represents almost twice as many denials as were issued the entire previous year.

Six-year-old Sahar Abd al-Aal was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. She is currently undergoing radiation treatment at the al-Rantisi pediatric hospital in Gaza City. Hafiza, her mother, waited anxiously for her doctors verdict on treatment going forward.

My daughter has to undergo the last session before doctors assess her case and whether she will need to be transferred, Hafiza said.

I am afraid that my daughter will have to be transferred and the Israelis will not allow us, she added.

In January, dozens of female patients staged a protest to voice their anger over the draconian restrictions, which Israel threatens to tighten, on patient movement.

One of the protesters, Rawan Lubad, has lived with breast cancer for 10 years. The 61-year-old is in constant pain. She has twice applied to get a permit for referral. She was twice denied.

I am dying here. I feel that I have been sentenced to death, she said.

Isra Saleh el-Namey is a journalist from Gaza.






Printer Friendly Version Peoples Movements And CSOs Write To PM On AIIB By National Alliance of Peoples Movements 11 February, 2016

Countercurrents.org New Delhi: In a letter to the Prime Minister sent today, peoples movements and other civil society organisations demanded a transparent process while making Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) operational. They said, Banks with a focus on investing in infrastructure, need to ensure that the investments do not bring in displacement and deprivation to the poor and vulnerable communities. (Full text of letter appended) The letter is signed by over 40 organisations. Prominent among them are National Alliance of People's Movements, Narmada Bachao Andolan, National Fish Workers' Forum, Indian Social Action Forum, Socialist Front and All India Kabadi Mazdoor Mahasangh. The need for infrastructure development is one that cannot be discounted in a rapidly growing economy like our country. These developmental projects would have the positive impact that the government wishes, only when proper safeguards and accountability mechanisms are in place, the organisations said. They demanded an open debate both within and outside the Parliament on its role in and implications for India, face-to-face consultations with the civil society groups, independent accountability mechanism in AIIB and consultations with people likely to be harmed and seek their free, prior and informed consent before investing in large infrastructure projects. They also demanded that the safeguards should match the international best practices, and be legally binding on member states. Contact: Madhuresh Kumar: kmadhuresh@napm-india.org ---

February 10, 2016 To

The Prime Minister,

Government of India

New Delhi Honble Prime Minister Mr. Modi, We, the representatives of peoples movements and other civil society organisations, would like to bring to your notice certain pertinent issues regarding the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). India is one of the founding members that has played a crucial role in the formation of AIIB right from its announcement and is the second largest investor of the Bank. With its membership ratified on 11th January, 2016, India was elected to the 12 member Board of Directors with 10.34% voting rights on 16th January, 2016 and now also shares the Vice Presidential post and the post of Chief Investment Officer. It is unfortunate that the ratification of Indias membership to the Bank was done without a public debate. This deprives the citizens of a platform to raise their concerns and apprehensions about the functioning of the Bank, while the impact of the investments would be borne by the them. There are news reports stating that India would receive half of the $1.2 Billion the bank would disburse for infrastructure projects by the end of 2016. Further we are aware that AIIB has promised quick disbursal of funds with high efficiency at low cost and takes pride in its lean, green and clean policy. While the Bank seems a little too eager to start its investments, the same does not reflect on ensuring a strong set of safeguard policies. At this juncture the AIIB is to finalize its Environmental and Social Framework (ESF) and we strongly feel that this demands a serious debate. We would also like to remind you that the first draft proposal negotiations were all on-line and only in English, leaving a large number of people out of the consultations. There were no face-to-face consultations. Further, the draft itself came under criticism for outsourcing the responsibility for Environmental and Social Standards to the clients and for looking at ESF as risk management among other things. The need for infrastructure development is one that cannot be discounted in a rapidly growing economy like our country. These developmental projects would have the positive impact that the government wishes, only when proper safeguards and accountability mechanisms are in place. This could only be achieved if the new banks, especially AIIB, moves away from the traditional thinking that safeguards are merely risk management measures and have them as mere formalities. The launch of SDG and the agreements in Paris by now make it clear that economic ambitions cannot be achieved by endangering the environment. In a country that houses large populations that have been displaced without proper rehabilitation and facing serious and irreversible damages to its natural resources cannot afford to repeat the same mistakes. In short, we would like to urge you to: 1. Ensure an open debate both within and outside the Parliament on role in and implications for India, and Environment and Social Framework that the Bank would uphold. 2. Insist on face to face consultations with the civil society groups during all stages of finalizing the ESF 3. The safeguards should match the international best practices, and legally binding on member states 4. Ensure independent accountability mechanism in AIIB, to look into the non-compliances of policies. 5. Ensure proper consultations with people likely to be harmed and seek their free, prior and informed consent before investing in large infrastructure projects. Banks with focus on investing in infrastructure need to ensure that the investments do not bring in displacement and deprivation to the poor and vulnerable communities. We demand that the government should take appropriate measures to adopt a transparent process while making AIIB operational. Signed by:

1. National Alliance of People's Movements 2. Narmada Bachao Andolan 3. National Fish workers' Forum 4. Indian Social Action Forum 5. International Rivers 6. Samajvadi Samaagam 7. Socialist Front 8. South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People 9. All India Kabaadi Mazdoor Mahasangh 10. Bharat Jan Vigyan Jattha 11. Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, Assam 12. Delhi Forum, New Delhi 13. Bhumika Womens Collective, Telangana 14. Campaign for Peace and Democracy, Manipur 15. Domestic Workers Union, Karnataka 16. Feminist Learning Partnerships, Haryana 17. Garment Labour Union, Karnataka 18. Global Human Rights Communications 19. Hazards Centre, New Delhi 20. Indigenous Perspectives, Manipur 21. Institute for Democracy and Sustainability, New Delhi 22. Machchhimar Adhikar Sangharsh Sangathan, Gujarat 23. Maatu Jan Sangathan, Uttarakhand 24. Manthan Adhyayan Kendra, Maharashtra 25. Odisha Chas Parivesh Suraksha Parishad, Odissa 26. Public Finance Public Accountability Collective 27. The Research Collective, New Delhi 28. Jan Jagran Shakti Sangathan, Bihar 29. Jan Sangharsh Vahini, Delhi 30. Khudai Khidmatgar, Haryana 31. Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, Madhya Pradesh 32. Kosi Navnirman Manch, Bihar 33. Lok Shakti Abhiyan, Odisha 34. Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti, Odisha 35. Paryavaran Mitra, Gujarat 36. Paryavaran Suraksh Samiti, Gujarat 37. Srijan Lokhit Samiti, Madhya Pradesh 38. Tamilnadu Pondy Fisherpeople Federation 39. Unorganised Sector Workers Federation, Tamilnadu 40. Environics Trust, New Delhi 41. Environment Support Group, Bangalore





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Bismarck School Board President Lawrence King has announced his candidacy for another four-year term on the board.

The school board has two seats open  one occupied by King and another by Heide Delorme, who has also filed for re-election. A third candidate, Rick Geloff, is running for one of the seats as well.

King was first elected to the Bismarck School Board in 2008 and again in 2012. He served as school board president from 2010-12 in addition to the current school year.

His time on the board has coincided with a jump in student enrollment, prompting the district to build new schools, expand existing facilities and implement other upgrades. He said growth will continue to be a challenge the next few years.

"It's important to have continuity and experience and leadership to go through that," he said.

Another priority is to create equity among schools, particularly in regard to technology, he said. Legacy High School students, for example, are each assigned a Chromebook laptop to complete coursework.

King said students at Bismarck and Century high schools do not yet have access to individualized Chromebooks. He said he views the laptops at Legacy as a pilot project and indicated he would like to see them offered to students at the other high schools.

King, who is 50 years old, has three children who have attended Bismarck's public schools: an eighth-grade son at Horizon Middle School, as well as a son and a daughter who graduated from Century High School.

King is a managing partner at Zuger Kirmis & Smith, a law firm specializing in civil litigation. He also serves as the southwest director on the board of the North Dakota School Boards Association and sits on the North Dakota Educational Technology Council.
Trojan Horse Arguments And The GMO Issue: Indian Food And Agriculture Under Attack

By Colin Todhunter

11 February, 2016

Countercurrents.org

In 2013, Indias former Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar accused US companies of derailing the nations oilseeds production programme. Similar claims had been made before. For instance, we could revisit the 1998 mustard oil tragedy. At the time, Rajasthan Oil Industries Association claimed that a conspiracy was being hatched to undermine the mustard oil trade and charged that the invisible hands of the multinationals were involved (see the article Monsanto and the Mustard Seed).

India was almost self-sufficient in edible oils by the mid-1990s. Its farmers met 97% of domestic need. However, its edible oil import bill has increased dramatically since then. By 2013, India was the worlds second biggest importer of edible oils. Food and trade policy analyst Devinder Sharma notes that between 2006-07 and 2011-12 alone edible oil imports rose by 380%.

Sharma asserts self-sufficiency was not palatable to international financial institutions, and that, under pressure from the World Bank, India began to reduce the import tariffs on edible oils and imports then began to increase. The impact has been felt by millions of farmers. Instead of paying Indonesian, Malaysian, American and Brazilian farmers from where India imports edible oils, he argues the effort should be to support domestic farmers.

India meets more than half its cooking oil requirements through imports, with palm oil shipped from Indonesia and Malaysia and soybean oil from the US, Brazil and Argentina. Notwithstanding the environmental damage resulting from industrial-size mono-crop plantations (see this on palm oil in Indonesia and this on soy in Brazil), soybean imports are expected to grow even more and further threaten domestic cultivation.

In an editorial piece for Kisan Ki Awaaz (National Voice of the Farmers) in November 2015, Kishan Bir Chaudhary highlights the trend to undermine indigenous production by noting the move to completely wipe out Indias soybean cultivation. The large-scale import of soybean meal is being contemplated at cheap prices from South America, China and USA, which would flood the Indian market. This is despite there being a more than adequate quantity of soybean meal available from locally produced soybean.

Currently, the import of soybean meal is freely permitted, with a low customs duty. Soybean prices in the exporting countries are between 30% to 40% lower because of huge subsidies. This could leave few outlets for indigenous production.

Although current laws do not permit the import of any GMO-based food or feed item into India, the fear is importers may ship in GMO soybean and soybean meal at cheap rates, which will get cleared at ports without testing for the presence of GMOs.

Chaudhary notes Indias soybean farmers are under pressure due to: the import of GM cheap soybean meal; a clamour for the import of soybean itself; the discouragement of soy cultivation by political leaders; and the active involvement of foreign seed and pesticide companies in promoting GM Soy cultivation.

He calls for an immediate ban on soybean imports as well as for customs officers to uphold the law of the land with regard to prohibiting the import of GMOs by carrying out proper checks in government laboratories.

With risks of GM entering India via imports clear, we are also currently witnessing the push to get GM mustard (and other crops) commercialised and grown in Indian fields. The justification being put forward for this if that GM mustard is a high-yielding crop, but, more importantly, it would diminish the reliance on edible oil imports.

These arguments are little more than smokescreens to divert attention from 1) the actual reality of increased import costs and the associated running down of indigenous agriculture, which stem from trade policies driven by the vested interests of global agribusiness, and 2) myths about the efficacy of GM. Such Trojan horse logic is being used to ease the entry of GMOs into India.

And such entry is at risk of being done by by-passing proper processes and procedures in what Aruna Rodrigues calls a case of "unremitting fraud" and by side-lining four high-level reports advising against the adoption of these crops in India (the 'Jairam Ramesh Report' of February 2010, imposing an indefinite moratorium on Bt Brinjal; the 'Sopory Committee Report' [August 2012]; the 'Parliamentary Standing Committee' [PSC] Report on GM crops [August 2012]; and the 'Technical Expert Committee [TEC] Final Report' [June-July 2013]).

As far as the claim GM producing better yields, Devinder Sharma points out that in the US, crop yields of GM soy have been found 4% to 20% less than non-GM varieties. Whether it concerns soy, mustard or just about any other GM crop, the claims that GM produces increased yields is a myth.

If GM cannot increase yields even in the US, where high-input, irrigated, heavily subsidized commodity farming is the norm, it is irresponsible to assume that it would improve yields in the Global South, where farmers may literally bet their farms and livelihoods on a crop.

The above quote is from the report GMO Myths and Truths, which provides evidence in support of Sharmas claims.

And farmers have indeed 'bet' their farms and livelihoods on a crop  and have lost (see this report from India's The Statesman newspaper) or are being taken for a ride (see this on GM cotton, illegal royalties and financial distress).

Where, therefore, is the logic in promoting GM varieties which produce less than existing improved varieties that are not genetically modified?

Improving production should not be based on a supposed GM techno quick-fix, which the pro-GMO lobby would like us to believe in. The answer lies in adopting appropriate trade policies that favour indigenous production and local farmers and which, as Devinder Sharma notes, provides assured procurement and assured prices to farmers.

The fact that GM is not wanted or required, leads us to question why GMOs are being forced into the country (and are in fact already being consumed in terms of cotton seed oil). But it doesnt take a genius as to why this might be.

Rajesh Krishnan, Convenor of Coalition for a GM-Free India argues that GM mustard is a backdoor entry for various other GM crops in the regulatory pipeline.

He adds:

GM mustard hybrid has been created mainly to facilitate the seed production work of seed manufacturers whereas farmers already have a choice of non-GM mustard hybrids in the market, in addition to high yielding non hybrid mustard varieties. There are non-GM agro-ecological options like System of Mustard Intensification yielding far higher production than the claimed yields of this GM mustard This is clearly one more GMO that is unwanted and unneeded and is being thrust on citizens in violation of our right to choices, as farmers and consumers.

Little wonder then that most state governments have been unwilling to take up field trials.

From research institutes, regulatory agencies and decision-making bodies riddled with conflicts of interests to strings-attached trade deals and nuclear agreements and pressure from the World Bank, the answer to why India is trying to pursue the global agribusiness-backed GM route is plain to see.

Colin Todhunter is an independent writer. His website is here




Printer Friendly Version Zionist And Nazi Moral Disengagement By Vacy Vlazna 11 January, 2016

Countercurrents.org To be an effective activist it is important for me to understand the nature of human evil. In that endeavour, I was drawn to read Hannah Arendts own discoveries about what she coined, the banality of evil in her book, Eichmann in Jerusalem , reporting on the zionist trial of Adolph Eichmann who oversaw the deportation of Jews to ghettoes and concentration camps. Arendt concluded that unspeakable evil is not committed by human monsters but by normal people in a systematic unthinking manner devoid of moral qualms and codes. The banality of evil i.e. bureaucratic psychopathy is rendered acceptable through what Albert Bandura terms, moral disengagement achieved by perverse moral justification, minimising/ hiding cruelty and dehumanising and blaming the victims. The concentration and repetition of this faux information on the masses leads to the normalisation of war crimes, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, torture, extrajudicial killings and genocide. Today, moral disengagement is the corrupted norm of most governments, whether democratic or totalitarian, and the zionist government has, ironically, out-mastered the Nazi mechanisms of moral disengagement or in a word, Hasbara. Heres a small insight into how it works; take MK Yair Lapid, leader of the Yesh Atid party that is in coalition with Netanyahus Likud party. Lapid recently spruiked to 30 EU ambassadors, We will never be like them [Palestinians], because Israels power comes first of all from its morality. The difference between us and our enemies is our values. That is why we can ask the world: Why are you continuing to embrace those who support vile murderers? Of course any intelligent person knows that in the laying waste of the rights of indigenous people of Palestine, zionist values are void of morality: the zionist values of imprisoning and torturing children, of unjustified mass incarcerations, the zionist value of apartheid, of demolishing homes, of stealing Palestinian land, of testing high-tech weaponry on Palestinian families trapped in the zionist siege of Gaza. Then there are the zionist values of immolating a teenager and a sleeping Palestinian family, of destroying Palestinian agriculture and livelihoods, of the extrajudicial killings of youth throwing stones and carrying invisible knives, of deliberately blocking ambulances and paramedics to treat the wounded, of calculatedly bringing hunger striking Palestinian prisoners, such as Mohammed Al-Qiq, to the brink of death before granting, if at all, a release from imprisonment for crimes never committed. According to non-practising Israeli, Dr Marcelo Svirsky, moral disengagement is rife among the occupiers, The majority of Jewish-Israelis do not critically reflect on their lasting commitment to their collective beliefs, ideas and practices and hence they do not take notice that these are vehicles of privilege and oppression. In other words, most Jewish-Israelis choose, unconsciously or not, to live in peace with the misery they cause. After Israel:Towards Cultural Transformation And when Palestinians show true values of sumoud - steadfast and courageous resistance to zionist values and violence, they are falsely labelled terrorists or vile murderers. On reading Arendt, I wonder if the zionist deprecation of Palestinian resistance is rooted in deep shame. Arendt points out that the Eichmann trial revealed the shocking extent of the collaboration of Jewish leaders (Judenrate) with Eichmann and the Nazis and their knowingly withholding from fellow Jews the horrific consequences of deportation to the concentration camps. What was new and especially provocative in Arendts account was the insistence on challenging Jewish communal leadership. What might they have done differently? Her answers, offered only tentatively, derived from her view of the function of truth in politics. Should the Judenrate have told the Jews the truth, when they knew it, about where they were being deported to? How many might have been able to save themselves somehow had they known the truth? Why were the Judenrae notables so disciplined and servile to authority? Insofar as they had moral authority, why didnt they advise the Jews to run for their lives or try to go underground? If there had been no Jewish organizations at all and no Judenrate, Arendt suggested, the deportation machine could not have run as smoothly as it did. If the Judenrate had not been so Germanically disciplined, if they hadnt compiled detailed lists of potential deportees, if they hadnt supplied the Nazis with these lists, if they had refrained from collecting the keys and detailed inventories of vacated apartments for the Nazis to hand over to Aryans, if they hadnt summoned the deportees to show up on a certain day, at a certain hour, at a certain railway station with provisions for a three- or four-day journey, would fewer people have died? Others had asked such questions before. But Arendt went further, implying that Jewish leaders had inadvertently allowed themselves to fall into a fiendish trap and become part of the system of victimization. In effect, the Judenrates, i.e. mainly zionist Jews, collaboration with the Nazis contributed to Jewish dearths and crushed resistance like the undermining the Jewish boycott in the USA of Nazi products which was undermined by, There existed in those first years a mutually highly satisfactory agreement between the Nazi authorities and the Jewish Agency for Palestinea Haavarah, or Transfer Agreement, which provided that an emigrant to Palestine could transfer his money there in German goods and exchange them for pounds upon arrival. It was soon the only legal way for a Jew to take his money with him (the alternative then being the establishment of a blocked account, which could be liquidated abroad only at a loss of between fifty and ninety-five per cent). The result was that in the thirties, when American Jewry took great pains to organize a boycott of German merchandise, Palestine, of all places, was swamped with all kinds of goods made in Germany. Nevertheless Jews resisted the Nazi scourge by way of armed Jewish partisan groups, uprisings in the Treblinka and Sobibor camps, rebellions in ghettoes including the famous Warsaw Ghetto ( wherein, shock-horror, food was smuggled through underground tunnels! ), The glory of the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto and the heroism of the few others who fought back lay precisely in their having refused the comparatively easy death the Nazis offered thembefore the firing squad or in the gas chamber. And the witnesses in Jerusalem who testified to resistance and rebellion, to the small place [it had] in the history of the holocaust, confirmed once more the fact that only the very young had been capable of taking the decision that we cannot go and be slaughtered like sheep.  The glorious resistance of the young calls to mind the present Palestinian youth Intifada against 68 years of zionist brutality at the hands of holocaust survivors and worshippers and against the 21 years of Palestinian Authority/PLO collaboration ( like the Judenrate) with the zionists that has facilitated the growth of zionist colonial expansion and the crushing of Palestinian resistance. Undaunted, Palestinian resistance is in the breath of daily life under the zionist jackboot; going to school is an act of resistance where children are harassed by the savagery of the deviant zionist colonists who prey on them like wild jackals. These deviants reflect the pathological sickness that is zionism. Resistance illuminates the dignified ultimatum of Palestinian hunger-striking prisoners, al-Issawi, Adnan and Al-Qiq, for freedom or death, resistance is heard in the dangerous digging of life-blood tunnels, resistance raises money by impoverished Palestinians to rebuild the demolished homes of martyrs, it is smelt in the baking of bread and felt in the shaking of olives from ancient trees, in the indefatigable care and courage by doctors, paramedics and rescuers during the 51 day zionist onslaught of Gaza and in the soothing of terrified children traumatised by drones, bombs and ubiquitous death. There was a tremendous uplift of pride for the young Gazan men who valiantly resisted the military might of Operation Protective Edge in 2014. That spirit is being acted on by Palestinian youth today while the leaders squander Palestinian dignity and the crucial strategy of unity by either collaborating with the zionists or crawling on their knees to Arab states that don't give a damn about Palestine. So how can we resist the banality of evil to protect the rights of Palestinians and further peace in Palestine for all? Zionist values and the hasbara machine dread empathy. Empathy engages with suffering and survivors of Nazi atrocities and their descendants have the privileged capacity to realise there is no difference between suffering under the Nazi or the zionist jackboot - both of which made and make strides because the machinations of moral disengagement duped the German people back then, just as the Jewish people are duped today along with British, Canadian, American, European, Australian citizens whose governments grant impunity to the zionist scourge in Palestine. Empathy is power. Empathys identification and connection with the Other evokes profound understanding of the interdependence of humanity which transforms moral concern into actions, like BDS, that, individually and communally, can defeat moral disengagement and the banality of evil. Dr. Vacy Vlazna is Coordinator of Justice for Palestine Matters. She was Human Rights Advisor to the GAM team in the second round of the Acheh peace talks, Helsinki, February 2005 then withdrew on principle. Vacy was convenor of Australia East Timor Association and coordinator of the East Timor Justice Lobby as well as serving in East Timor with UNAMET and UNTAET from 1999-2001.







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Work has ceased on a state compliance plan for federal emissions rules a day after the U.S. Supreme Courts decision to halt implementation until court challenges are resolved, according to the North Dakota Department of Health.

Were going to take a step back and see what this all means, David Glatt, head of the environmental section of the North Dakota Department of Health, said Wednesday.

The nations highest court ruled 5-4 Tuesday to halt implementation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys emissions rules for new and existing power plants.

The concern is if we get too far down the road and changes are made  the work may have been for naught, Glatt said.

Halt garners support

State officials quickly came out in support of the Supreme Courts decision.

Coal-fired power plants provide about 80 percent of North Dakotas residential and commercial energy supply while also providing power to surrounding states. These plants continue to reduce emissions, but unworkable rules will only eliminate jobs and jeopardize consumers access to reliable and affordable energy, Gov. Jack Dalrymple said in a statement.

As far as work being done by utilities, Great River Energy has contracted with California-based nonprofit Electric Power Research Institute to study the economic affect the rule would have, said Vice President and Chief Generation Officer Rick Lancaster.

Lancaster said GRE also has hired a Kansas City-based engineering firm to look for ways to make the company's power plants more efficient.

"Were still continuing those things," Lancaster said. "The stay is just a delay; it's not going to make the rule go away."

Requirements in the original rule from June 2014 called for North Dakota to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 11 percent from 2012 levels by 2030. The final rule moved that target to 45 percent, drawing sharp criticism from industry, North Dakotas congressional delegation and state officials.

Under the rule, North Dakota chose the option to come up with its own plan for compliance and was working toward that until Wednesday.

"Weve been talking to the Department of Health," Lancaster said. "Well continue to work with them to the degree they want to and have time to. We're really glad they're interested in getting input from industry."

Halting development of a state implementation plan may slow progress for GRE, Lancaster said, as the company will need to know what mandates to meet when it begins making investments to come into compliance.

"We are going to be re-evaluating our next steps but expect we will be having continued dialogues with the states as we move through this process," spokeswoman for Basin Electric Power Cooperative, Mary Miller, said of the health department's announcement.

Miller called the stay of the rule "good news" and a "step in the right direction," but the cooperative is still analyzing the Clean Power Plan as it exists and will continue to determine a plan of action for meeting it, though timelines may shift.

Basin provides power to cooperative members across the upper Midwest and has four coal plants  two in North Dakota and two in Wyoming.

"While we will continue to study compliance options, this is an appropriate pause in this process. The targets in the states in which we provide service were extremely high, and this pause will hopefully allow for a more thorough review of potential cost impacts to our customers and how emission reductions should be handled," Mark Hanson, spokesman for Montana-Dakota Utilities Co., said in an email.

MDU has coal-fired power plants in Mandan and Montana and partial ownership of plants in South Dakota and Wyoming that serve customers in the upper Midwest and Pacific Northwest.

A federal fight

The state is involved in lawsuits in federal court against the EPA over the rules for both new and existing plants; the state is arguing that the EPA has overstepped its authority in the Clean Air Act.

More than two dozen states as well as industry groups are opposed to the rules.

Sierra Club of North Dakota spokesman Wayde Schafer said, while hes disappointed in the courts decision, he wasnt deterred.

The administration had looked at all the legal angles . I think eventually it will be allowed through the courts, Schafer said.

Glatt said, once the lawsuits are over, he believes the mandate will either be ruled illegal or will be sent back to EPA for significant changes.

Obviously, well be asking for a re-set, Glatt said of the timeline for compliance if the rule isnt stopped.

Schafer said hes also disappointed by the health departments delay in working on a plan.

I would hope the health department would be looking at areas where we can make improvements in the meantime, said Shafer, adding that improvements to energy efficiency statewide are one option.

Members of the North Dakota Public Service Commission supported the courts move in remarks at their regular commission meeting Wednesday.

I think for North Dakota it really allows everyone to step back  and consider what the EPA has proposed, Julie Fedorchak, chairwoman of the PSC, said.

Fedorchak said the EPA plan isnt the only way to reduce emissions. The state of North Dakota has reduced emissions by about 11 percent from 2005 to 2014.

Commissioner Randy Christmann said the courts decision was a good sign of things to come, adding that objection to the plan doesnt mean anyone is opposed to any option in dealing with carbon.

Senators note action

Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., both supported the courts action in separate statements Tuesday.

I believe the coalition of 27 states, including North Dakota, made a powerful case for halting implementation of the rules. Clearly, the cost to coal companies and utilities to comply would be crippling and costly to consumers, Hoeven said.

Heitkamp agreed.

Its irresponsible to put policies in place that dont provide a viable path forward for coal and dont invest in clean coal technology, Heitkamp said.

Heitkamp said there is growing support in Congress for research in coal technology, and Hoeven is pushing a bill to protect consumers from rate increases and states from having federal highway dollars withheld if not in compliance with the rules.
I read with interest the Tribune's Feb. 1 opinion stating that University of North Dakotas process for selecting a company to lead the development of a graphic identity for our new nickname is wrong. While much of the article is informative about the process to generate a new name and logo, the major beef of the editors seems to be that some of the process for selecting a company has been closed to the medias observation.

I would like to assure the people of North Dakota that the process is open and fair and transparent. For competitive reasons, some portions of the committees meetings to select the company that will drive the logo development process were closed to the media, but all votes have taken place in the open portions of the meetings. This is done to ensure a process that is fair to all the firms vying for selection.

For instance, if a companys ideas about a logo were to be discussed publicly during the presentations, a competitor could grab the information and use it for their own ideas. Or, if the finalist firms were allowed to attend other live presentations occurring before their own, they could note any questions, concerns from committee members, gaps, or confidential client information mentioned, and they could modify their own presentations -- creating an unfair advantage. Because of those risks and the problems they present for businesses responding to the RFP, that part of the process needed to be done in private.

I have attended the meetings as an observer and I have seen media come and go and provide the public with good, solid information about the committees work. The people have the right to know what is going on and how their money is being spent, and I believe they will have all the information they need.

I have to say that I am not a big fan of committees. But as I have interacted with this group of people that includes students, administrators, purchasing and legal experts, communications folks and athletes, I have become impressed with the capability and experience they bring to the table. I am confident that these people, who are volunteering their time to help make the selection of the company that will guide the University of North Dakota to our new image and culture, are doing the best possible job for the people of North Dakota and the family of UND.

(Ed Schafer is a former two-term governor of North Dakota, former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and the interim president of the University of North Dakota.)
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By Susan Orr of the Courier and Press

Lower oil prices lead to lower plastic prices  and that's generally a good thing for Berry Plastics, which uses plastic resins as its primary raw material.

The one exception to that rule is Versalite, Berry's new recyclable foam product  and the Evansville-based company has done some staff shuffling as a result.

Berry makes Versalite products at its Madisonville, Kentucky plant.

Because Versalite growth has slowed, some Madisonville production workers have been shifted to Evansville.

"That's the normal course of business," Berry Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jon Rich told the Courier & Press Wednesday.

Berry is still "really, really excited about Versalite," Rich said, and production in Madisonville will continue. "We have no plans other than to keep the business growing in Madisonville."

Rich said Berry has enjoyed exponential increases in Versalite sales since it introduced the product in the fall of 2013, Rich said. Berry does not report sales figures for individual product lines.

The company positions Versalite as an alternative to polystyrene foam, which is not recyclable. To date, Berry has won business from Subway, Dunkin' Donuts and 7-11, all of which use Versalite insulated drink cups.

The cost of Versalite is higher than the cost of polystyrene, Rich said, and when oil prices drop as they have recently, the price gap widens.

When Berry introduced Versalite, oil was trading above $90 per barrel. For the past few months it has consistently traded below $50 per barrel. That means Versalite has seen its growth slow, because polystyrene is considerably cheaper right now. That, Rich said, is causing some potential customers to hold off on switching to the new cups.

The company also released its first-quarter earnings report on Wednesday.

For the quarter ended Jan. 2 the company reported net income of $4 million (3 cents per share), down from $13 million (11 cents per share) during the same period a year earlier.

The company closed on its acquisition of specialty materials maker Avintiv on Oct. 1. This acquisition, Berry said, increased both sales and expenses for the quarter.

Net quarterly sales totaled $1.6 billion, a new quarterly record for the company.

Operating EBITDA  earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization  also hit a quarterly record. Berry recorded $276 million in operating EBITDA, up from $182 million during the same period the year before.

"We're very pleased with the quarter," Rich said.

Wednesday afternoon, shares of Berry (BERY) were trading at $31.65 on the New York Stock Exchange, up $1.69 (6 percent) from Tuesday's close.
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Pollux Systems Inc., an Evansville-based company involved with national revenue cycle management, medical billing and consulting for the health care industry, has acquired Phoenix Imaging.

Phoenix Imaging, also located in Evansville, provides sophisticated systems and technology which translate paper based documents into electronic systems and computer files. The company, located at 1415 N. Royal Ave., has 16 trained technicians who will remain on the Pollux staff.

This is Pollux's second acquisition of a document, management and technology provider. In 2013, Pollux acquired Documents 2 Digital LLC. These technologies, along with Payment Lockbox and Hardware, allow the company to provide unprecedented document management and lockbox market services to clients throughout the nation.

"The Phoenix acquisition furthers our strategy of not only offering our health care clients world-class technology but also providing other sectors including financial institutions, school systems and government agencies with an expanded menu of services," said Jeff McGowan, Pollux Technology Division president.

Pollux has locations in Evansville, Paducah, Kentucky and Philadelphia.
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Continuing

'Alvin & the chipmunks:

the road chip'

Through a series of misunderstandings, Alvin, Simon and Theodore come to believe that Dave is going to propose to his new girlfriend in Miami and dump them. They have three days to get to him and stop the proposal, saving themselves not only from losing Dave but also possibly from gaining a terrible stepbrother. Stars the voices of Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler and Jesse McCartney. (PG)

'the boy'

An American nanny is shocked that her new English family's boy is actually a life-size doll. After violating a list of strict rules, disturbing events make her believe that the doll is really alive. Stars Lauren Cohan, Rupert Evans and James Russell. (PG-13)

'Bridge of Spies'

An American lawyer is recruited by the CIA during the Cold War to help rescue a pilot detained in the Soviet Union. Stars Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance and Alan Alda (PG-13)

'the choice'

Travis (Benjamin Walker) and Gabby (Teresa Palmer) first meet as neighbors in a small coastal town and wind up in a relationship that is tested by life's most defining events. (PG-13)

'daddy's home'

A mild-mannered radio executive strives to become the best stepdad to his wife's two children, but complications ensue when their freewheeling and freeloading real father arrives, forcing him to compete for the affection of the kids. Stars Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg and Linda Cardellini. (PG-13)

'dirty grandpa'

Right before his wedding, an uptight guy is tricked into driving his grandfather, a perverted former Army general, to Florida for spring break. Stars Robert De Niro, Zac Efron and Zoey Deutch. (R)

'the 5th wave'

Four waves of increasingly deadly alien attacks have left most of Earth decimated. Cassie is on the run, desperately trying to save her younger brother. Stars Chloe Grace Moretz, Matthew Zuk and Gabriela Lopez. (PG-13)

'fifty shades of black'

An inexperienced college student meets a wealthy businessman whose sexual practices put a strain on their relationship. Stars Kali Hawk, Marlon Wayans and Jane Seymour. (R)

'the finest hours'

The Coast Guard makes a daring rescue attempt off the coast of Cape Cod after a pair of oil tankers are destroyed during a blizzard in 1952. Stars Chris Pine, Holliday Grainger and Casey Affleck. (PG-13)

'the Good Dinosaur'

An epic journey into the world of dinosaurs where an Apatosaurus named Arlo makes an unlikely human friend. Stars the voices of Jeffrey Wright, Frances McDormand and Maleah Nipay-Padilla. (PG)

'hail, caesar!'

A Hollywood fixer in the 1950s works to keep the studio's stars in line. Stars Josh Brolin, George Clooney and Alden Ehrenreich. (PG-13)

'hotel Transylvania 2'

Dracula and his friends try to bring out the monster in his half human, half vampire grandson to keep Mavis from leaving the hotel. (PG)

'the hunger games: mockingjay Part 2'

As the war of Panem escalates to the destruction of other districts by the Capitol, Katniss Everdeen  the reluctant leader of the rebellion  must bring together an army against President Snow, while all she holds dear hangs in the balance. Stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth. (PG-13)

'joy'

Across four generations, a woman rises to become founder and matriarch of a powerful family business dynasty. Stars Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro and Bradley Cooper. (PG-13)

'Kung Fu Panda 3'

Continuing his "legendary adventures of awesomeness," Po must face two hugely epic, but different threats: one supernatural and the other a little closer to his home. Stars the voices of Jack Black, Angelina Jolie and Dustin Hoffman. (PG)

'pride and prejudice and zombies'

A zombie outbreak has fallen upon the land in this re-imagining of Jane Austen's classic tale of the tangled relationships between lovers from different social classes in 19th century England. Stars Lily James, Sam Riley and Jack Huston. (PG-13)

'the revenant'

Leonardo DiCaprio stars as a 19th century fur trapper who seeks vengeance against the companions who robbed him and left him for dead following a vicious grizzly bear attack. (R)

'ride along 2'

As his wedding day approaches, Ben heads to Miami with his soon-to-be brother-in-law James to bring down a drug dealer who's supplying the dealers of Atlanta with product. Stars Ice Cube, Kevin Hart and Tika Sumpter. (PG-13)

'sisters'

Two sisters decide to throw one last house party before their parents sell their family home. Stars Amy Poehler and Tina Fey. (R)

'star wars: the force awakens'

A continuation of the saga created by George Lucas and set 30 years after the events of "Return of the Jedi" (1983). Stars Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley. (PG-13)
FILE -In a Jan. 28, 2016 file photo, an officer with the Oregon State Police moves a cone to establish a roadblock along one of the routes to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Harney County, Ore. The FBI said Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016, that it has moved to contain the last few occupiers of an Oregon wildlife refuge who were part of a protest that began more than a month ago over federal land policy. (Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian via AP, File) MANDATORY CREDIT

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By Keith Ridler And Scott Sonner Associated Press

YouTube live stream from media personality Gaven Seim

The four armed activists who on Wednesday night were surrounded by the FBI at a wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon have remained on the site despite the arrests of group leader Ammon Bundy and others Jan. 26 on a remote road outside the refuge. Wednesday's tense standoff between the FBI and the four occupiers was being livestreamed on the Internet.

Ammon Bundy led the group that seized the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Jan. 2 to oppose federal land policies and has repeatedly asked the holdouts to go home. The Associated Press has not been able to contact the remaining occupiers, but they have said in online statements and interviews that they want assurances they won't be arrested.

Like most of the occupiers, none of the holdouts is from Oregon. Here are details about them:

___

JEFFREY BANTA

The 47-year-old has lived in Elko, Nevada, the last several years and worked in construction most of his life, his ex-wife said.

Banta graduated from Yerington High School in the rural town of Yerington, about 70 miles southeast of Reno, said Angela Ellington Banta, who still lives there.

His father, Willard Banta, 73, said all of his children grew up hunting and fishing at an early age.

"I had them out in the hills with me as soon as they were old enough to walk and out of diapers," he said Wednesday.

The elder Banta said he had talked to his son "once or twice" since the standoff began but declined to provide details.

"He just said, 'I'm all right,'" Willard Banta said. "I'm wondering if he is going to make it out. I'd like to see my son come home. I hope he does, but I have my doubts."

Jeffrey Banta and his ex-wife have two children, the eldest a 23-year-old woman who is married and has a child living in the Reno area.

Ellington Banta said she doesn't really know what her ex-husband has been doing in recent years and doesn't want to discuss the standoff because she has "two kids who have been really affected by all this."

___

DAVID FRY

The 27-year-old from Blanchester, Ohio, formed an online friendship with Robert "LaVoy" Finicum and helped the Arizona rancher self-publish a novel. Finicum became a recognizable spokesman for the armed group before he was shot and killed by police in a confrontation last month.

Fry traveled, apparently unarmed and against the advice of his father, to the refuge, where he often posted online updates. He told Oregon Public Broadcasting in mid-January that he planned to say goodbye to Finicum and return home before his father got back from a vacation.

Within two weeks, Finicum was dead, shot as authorities moved in to arrest Bundy and others on a remote stretch of road outside the refuge.

Fry has rejected Bundy's call to leave, saying federal authorities might be forcing him to make the request.

"We're still here," he told an online talk show Monday that airs on YouTube channel Revolution Radio. "I never saw myself as a leader. ... We're waiting for some kind of miracle to happen."

In Ohio, Fry has several convictions for disorderly conduct, as well as possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia.

___

SEAN AND SANDY ANDERSON

The husband and wife moved from the town of Janesville, Wisconsin, within the last several years to Riggins, Idaho, where Sean, 47, opened a store for hunting, tactical and survival gear. Sandy, 48, worked at a gas station.

Idaho County, where they live, and Harney County, 290 miles away where the refuge is located, are similar in many ways. Both have large portions of land managed by federal agencies and populations chafing at restrictions put on that land.

Idaho County Sheriff Doug Giddings said the Andersons are good residents, though he didn't know as much about Sean as he did about Sandy.

"She's a good person, she's just upset with the government," he told Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Sean Anderson is facing misdemeanor charges in Wisconsin for resisting an officer, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of THC, the intoxicating chemical in marijuana.

He also has pleaded guilty to a series of misdemeanors in recent years: domestic abuse in December 2010, disorderly conduct in 2008, criminal trespass in a dwelling in 2002, and disorderly conduct in 1999.

A friend of the couple, Lindsey Dipo, told the Lewiston Tribune newspaper that the couple recorded their will on Dipo's cellphone before departing for Oregon.
Photos by MIKE LAWRENCE / COURIER & PRESS Anne Taylor (left) listens as about 200 University of Southern Indiana students and staff attend the Most Rev. Charles Thompsons Ash Wednesday Mass at Carter Hall.

SHARE The Most Rev. Charles Thompson offers communion to University of Southern Indiana students and faculty attending the Ash Wednesday Mass at the schools Carter Hall. MIKE LAWRENCE / COURIER & PRESS The Most Rev. Charles Thompson leaves University of Southern Indianas Carter Hall after he lead a Ash Wednesday mass for students and faculty, February 10, 2016. MIKE LAWRENCE / COURIER & PRESS Bishop Charles Thompson places ashes on Mandi Fulton's forehead during a Ash Wednesday mass held at University of Southern Indiana's Carter Hall, February 10, 2016. MIKE LAWRENCE / COURIER & PRESS (L-R) Brian Tenbarge, Ryan Holm, Veronica Stumpy and Mary Kate McCann perform during the Ash Wednesday Mass at the University of Southern Indiana's Carter Hall, February 10, 2016.

By John Martin of the Courier and Press

A hushed audience of about 200 University of Southern Indiana students and staff filed into Carter Hall at noon Wednesday to receive ashes and a hear plea to be merciful during this season of Lent.

"We're very quick to judge other people's faults and failures, and point out other people's sins. That comes pretty easy," said the Most Rev. Charles Thompson, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Evansville. "But this period is a time when we look inside ourselves and say, where is my sin? Where do I need healing and reconciliation? Where do I need to be touched by the mercy of God, by the grace of Jesus Christ?"

Thompson, in his fifth year in Evansville, conducted Ash Wednesday mass for local Catholic school students in the morning and at the University of Evansville in the evening. During the noon hour at USI, he told the assembled students that Lent "is not about how we lose a few pounds to get ready for spring break," bur rather "a great moment for us to take inventory of our lives."

Students from the USI Newman Catholic Community plan to do just that. Rachel Davis from Columbus, Indiana, plans to read the Rosary every day, in addition to giving up meats except chicken.

Alyssa Ralph of Owensboro, Kentucky, said she's not going to give up anything, "but I am going to be reading a passage from the Bible every day and hopefully get through at least a full book."

Thompson said Pope Francis has declared this a Jubilee Year of Mercy, and those who seek mercy must be prepared to give it.

Lent in the Catholic Church is 40 days, excluding Sunday. Easter Sunday is March 27.

"The ashes are not about what we do; the ashes are about acknowledging what we need, and that we are nothing without God, without that grace that he gives us," Thompson said.

Students coming to the mass stacked their backpacks and winter coats at the rear of Carter Hall. As Thompson noted, many of them skipped lunch to celebrate Ash Wednesday and to scurry off quickly afterward to make 1 p.m. classes.

Such a display of faith is inspiring, the Bishop said.

"Their faith is vibrant," Thompson said of young people today. "A lot of people take that for granted and don't see it. I think the great turnout today shows they take their faith seriously and their own willingness to sacrifice in a culture today that doesn't place a high value on these things we talk about  prayer, fasting and almsgiving."
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Larry Meritt

Evansville

I found several shortsighted statements in a recent letter to the editor.

Even though pronouncements were made that refugees would not be welcome in Indiana, once admitted into the United States they are free to live where they please. The state has no authority in matters of immigration or refugee status. Our country is made vibrant by the input of new ideas and concepts of immigrants and the vigor they bring. We all have ancestors who came from another culture. Such unwelcoming language hearkens to a time that saw the rise of the Know Nothing movement and the Ku Klux Klan.

To accuse them of being diseased and not speaking English is pure xenophobia. Legal refugees and immigrants undergo thorough medical as well as criminal background vetting. I'm sure that many U.S. citizens have forebears who did not speak English when they arrived.

As for the American taxpayer being overburdened, if working Americans would elect a Congress that was not owned by Wall Street and (if) big corporations were made to pay their share of taxes, there would be resources for children, veterans, the homeless as well as refugees and legal immigrants. Working men and women have been fooled by the rhetoric of the far right that says America's woes are the fault of these people who struggle for a better life for their families. This is scapegoating. Our country has been made great because it is a historical melting pot whose resulting product is an alloy stronger than the sum of its parts.
LISBON -- Billy Holladay's family filled a row in the Ransom County Courthouse on Wednesday afternoon, their eyes teary and locked on Paul Miller, the man accused of killing him.

Randi Holladay, Billy's sister, wore a blue T-shirt, printed with a picture of her brother and the words, "Rest in Peace Billy."

Miller, 28, is accused of shooting Holladay, 28, early Sunday morning in downtown Enderlin, a quiet town of about 900 in the north of Ransom County.

Miller, charged with murder and reckless endangerment, had his bail set Wednesday at $1 million cash during his initial court appearance.

Wearing glasses and with messy blond hair, Miller said little during the hearing, and his attorney, Cash Aaland of Fargo, did not object to the state's request of a high bail.

In granting the bail, Ransom County District Court Judge Jay Schmitz cited Miller's ties to the community and the danger he allegedly poses to it.

"This is a very serious charge that has been filed here," Schmitz said.

Miller shot Holladay several times about 2:30 a.m. Sunday in the 200 block of Third Avenue as Holladay dropped off his 2-year-old nephew, court documents say.

Authorities found Holladay dead at the scene.

Miller confessed his involvement in the crime to family members, documents say, and was arrested later Sunday in Fargo.

The crime has rattled the small community of Enderlin, Ransom County Sheriff Darren Benneweis said after Wednesday's hearing.

"The community is still in shock. It's still unbelievable, this type of thing," Benneweis said, noting the investigation into the crime is continuing.

Ransom County State's Attorney Fallon Kelly, attorney Aaland and members of Holladay's family declined to comment after the hearing.

Asked about possible tensions between Holladay and Miller, Miller's father Steve said he couldn't say, other than that "after the investigation, I'm sure it will come out."

If convicted of the murder charge, Paul Miller could face a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole.

A preliminary hearing for Miller has not yet been set.
Researchers are aiming to backfill a deep hole of suspicion over plans to drill 3 miles down into crystalline rock in Pierce County south of Rugby.

The $35 million Department of Energy project is intended to learn whether the basement rock is stable for storing nuclear waste, but locals are worried that drilling the hole will automatically lead to storing the waste there.

That worry has led to opponents circulating a petition, a moratorium by county officials and a planned public meeting.

The project was awarded to Battelle Memorial Institute, which teamed up with the Grand Forks-based Energy and Environmental Research Center for the drilling.

Representatives of both, along with the DOE, will make their case at an informational meeting from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Cobblestone Inn in Rugby. Everyones invited.

Battelles project lead Rod Osborne said researchers want to answer questions and provide assurance that the borehole will only be a laboratory for gathering scientific data about the basement rock and nothing more.

We believe we can overcome that fear if we tell the story of the work we are planning to do with a big emphasis on whats not going to be done. There will be no nuclear waste as part of this project or any follow-on project, Osborne said.

He said the DOE wants to develop a nuclear storage program, thus the borehole to see what potential the crystalline formation  prevalent beneath much of the country  would have. He said storage would be part of a consent-based process that would have communities self-identify their interest.

DOE will not force storage on any jurisdiction, Osborne said.

EERC researcher John Harju said North Dakotas Century Code prohibits nuclear waste disposal.

Peoples biggest fear isnt even legal under state law," he said.

The experimental borehole would be plugged and abandoned, according to the proposal.

The two were in Rugby this week meeting with local residents, and Harju said opinions run the gamut, from people who are supportive to others who have already decided, to others still contemplating the topic.

Harju, Osborne and DOEs Andy Griffith, an official with the nuclear fuels program, also will be at a second public meeting called by the Pierce County Commission. That one is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at Dakota Farms Restaurant.
LARIMORE -- For lunch Tuesday, Larimore elementary students stopped by the salad bar before piling meatballs onto their plates.

For several schools, a salad bar for their youngest students isn't a big deal. But for the first time in Larimore, students have access to more fresh vegetables every day, thanks to serving units bought by the school last year, Superintendent Roger Abbe said.

Kitchen equipment may be one of the last items school districts consider at budget time, but it also affects every single student in a school, one cook said. Efficient kitchen equipment is necessary to feed thousands of hungry students throughout North Dakota, where U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., has supported modernizing equipment to meet new, healthier standards for meals.

Last year, Heitkamp's office cited a 2014 study that found 74 percent of state districts need at least one piece of new kitchen equipment, and more than one third of the districts need changes in kitchen infrastructure in at least one school. According to The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, $28.1 million worth of food service equipment is needed in the state to better serve healthy foods.

Throughout the region, some school administrators and cooks had a varying response: Some schools could use updates, others were fine and some could simply benefit from more space.

In Grand Forks, South Middle School is nearly ready to replace some ovens, said Emily Karel, director of the district's child nutrition program. The equipment has not been updated since 1999, when the school was rebuilt. Ovens last about 15 to 20 years, she said.

"When our equipment isn't updated, we run into more maintenance issues, which slows down our day," she said. "If we needed the oven for three sets of chicken nuggets, maybe we can only get two through. (Then) we just kind of change our schedule throughout the day."

For now, the ovens work fine, but if the district waits another 10 years to replace it, that could be pushing it, she said.

In Manvel, elementary students start the lunch process in the school's main hallway and wind downstairs to a gym to eat.

One by one, first-graders lined up Tuesday for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches served in the kitchen, which is across from the school office. Then they walked a short distance to the salad bar, offered twice a week, in a separate room.

A lack of space is the main problem for school lunches here.

"We can't offer a big selection like they would in a large school," Superintendent Richard Ray said.

Homemade chicken noodle soup and salad sat on student trays as Vicki Lofthus, the sole school cook for 27 years, stood at the end of the bar and served their favorite: mandarin oranges.

Despite the small kitchen she works in, she can still create healthy homemade meals, she said.

She prepares all of the main entrees herself for 160 students. Once a year, she also prepares food for and serves 140 people for a special breakfast.

"It's a little school, but it's a big job," said Ray.

In Langdon, Superintendent Mark Mindt said the district could update its steam cookers to transport food between schools, add a commercial freezer and buy more lunch trays. No major problems have happened because of a lack of nonfunctioning equipment, he said.

However, with a large number of students served daily--the district has 389 students--anything that can be done to support the process is welcome, he said.

"That time for cooking and prep and serving, that's such a crucial time," he said.
Chaz Davies says he would welcome Casey Stoner with open arms to help test the Ducati Panigale R but won't be inviting him to race in World Superbikes any time soon.

Davies says was thrilled to see the former two-time MotoGP world champion return to Ducati having split from Honda during the winter.

The Australian has been involved heavily in both private and public MotoGP tests with the factory Ducati squad at Sepang, ending the final day of the public test fifth quickest overall and fastest Ducati rider.

Stoner also continues to be linked with wildcard entries in MotoGP at Phillip Island, Mugello and Misano which would mark an intriguing comeback after retiring from racing in 2012 but no racing comeback has been confirmed.

As well as working with the MotoGP team, Stoner may also test the World Superbike-spec Ducati Panigale R this year alongside Davies and his team-mate Davide Giugliano which the Welsh rider would openly welcome.

"I'm happy and I think it is only a benefit to have Casey," Davies said at the Aruba.it Racing Ducati team launch. "With Casey you are going to see the limit of any motorcycle that you put him on very quickly, normally two or three laps!

"The character of Casey with his feedback is always very precise so it can only be a benefit to everybody in Ducati, including myself and Davide, with our bike so for me it would be interesting."

Davies also joked that although he would be thrilled to have Stoner as a WSBK test rider he isn't prepared to see the Australian compete against him in the production bike series.

"He is obviously very experienced and I don't need to tell you how fast he is," he said. "So I would be interested to see him on this bike - only on a test not a race!"

The Aruba.it Racing Ducati rider is gearing up for the final pre-season test at Phillip Island in preparation for the 2016 curtain raiser in Australia on the 26-28 February.
A petition for a proposed ballot measure that would legalize marijuana in North Dakota was submitted Wednesday to the secretary of states office.

The committees petition for the statutory measure was received by the North Dakota Secretary of States office at about 4 p.m. Wednesday.

Group members are looking to remove from North Dakota Century Code all references to marijuana and substances deriving from cannabis as being illegal drugs as well as possession of marijuana paraphernalia.

If approved, the measure would also set a legal age of 21 for possession of marijuana and paraphernalia as well as the growing of it. Taxation of marijuana by local or state government would be capped at 20 percent sales tax.

We dont think the reasons for a prohibition are legitimate, committee chairman Eric Olson of Fargo said in a phone interview.

Olson said smoking marijuana is a lifestyle choice that the public shouldnt be punished for, adding that it being illegal has led to increased numbers of incarcerated people and an enormous black market for the product.

He referred to arguments about marijuana being dangerous as propaganda and said he believes the public has largely become accepting of the substance if given the chance to vote on it.

The secretary of states office has five to seven business days to produce a petition title and approve it for style and format. Being a statutory initiative it would require 13,452 legitimate signatures at least 120 days before the election. The deadline for the November election is July 11, 2016.

Olson said the group plans to get the measure on the November ballot.

Wednesdays measure is the second marijuana initiative submitted for this election cycle.

Last fall a group pushing for a medical marijuana initiative was submitted. After initially being rejected it was approved and signature gathering is underway.

Olson said having two potential marijuana measures on the ballot isnt a problem. He said people can vote for one or the other or both.

Olson said the group will begin to get petition circulators and begin working on a formal campaign after petition approval is granted.

Lawmakers rejected two pieces of medical marijuana legislation last session.

In February a bill to legalize medical marijuana to those with a prescription failed by a 26-67 vote. In March a resolution for an interim study of legalization of medical marijuana for those with serious medical conditions failed by a 32-61 vote.
IT security research body Cybersecurity Ventures has released the second annual Cybersecurity 500 list of the top security companies in the world.

The research firm ranks the security industry based on innovation, rather than size or revenue.

The list was dominated by US companies, with Colorado-based consulting firm Root9B topping the list, followed by Lancope, AlienVault, Dell SecureWorks and IBM Security.

The highest ranking non-US company was AVG Technologies, headquartered in The Netherlands. Last years winner FireEye came in seventh.

Three Aussie businesses managed to make this years list, one more than last year.

[The full 2016 Cybersecurity 500 list]

Data protection vendor StratoKey was the highest-ranking Australian company, placing 71st overall. The Tasmanian-based company had a huge 2015 highlighted by its expansion into the US.

StratoKeys flagship product is a cloud data protection solution that acts as an encryption gateway to the cloud. It intercepts communications between users and cloud software-as-a-service applications to encrypt private content.

This also provides real-time monitoring and behavioural analytics on users for threat detection.

Last year, StratoKey expanded into the US, and now as a sales team in Texas as well as a new partner program.

Chief executive Anthony Scotney noted that his company was one of the few vendors writing security software in Australia.

"We have a complete solution in the CASB [cloud access security broker], some of our competitors dont have the complete suite," said Scotney.

"The company started off doing this, we didnt pick up a report and start trying to implement this."

Canberras QuintessenceLabs made the list for the second time, maintaining its 231st ranking. QuintessenceLabs claims to be the world's first vendor to "harness the quantum properties of lasers" to deliver cryptography.

Sydneys Wontok came in at 305th for its anti-malware solutions. Wontoks technology tackles malware at kernel level to intercept and protect any system.
Many of Australia's biggest distributors remain anxiously awaiting the outcome of Hewlett Packard Enterprise's huge distribution tender.

The vendor had told bidders to expect a decision last Friday, CRN understands, but this deadline was pushed back.

"We would like to advise that no decision has been reached today and we appreciate your patience and support through the evaluation period," read a note sighted by CRN and understood to have been sent to distributors by Hewlett Packard Enterprise South Pacific.

Some distributors told CRN they are hopeful an outcome will be reached today.

Even with the delay, it would mark a quick turnaround for such a mammoth tender, given the hundreds of pages of proposals lodged in tenders of this magnitude.

A huge volume of business is at stake for all of the HPE and Aruba disties asked to tender. While HPE did not respond immediately to CRN's enquiries, the decision will shed light on where the company's focus lies.

Will HPE lean toward its highest-volume partners? Dicker Data is acknowledged to hold the volume crown in Australia, doing hundreds of millions of business across HPE and HP Inc, though HPE also works with Australia's two biggest disties, Ingram Micro and Synnex.

The Ingram relationship is a global alliance that has been in place for many years. In fact, when global chief executive Meg Whitman rung the bell to debut Hewlett Packard Enterprise on the New York Stock Exchange, she was joined by Ingram Micro CEO Alain Monie.

Added in August 2014, Synnex is HPE's newest distributor  though it was already a distributor for the PC and printer range  and its appointment to the enterprise portfolio was perhaps the biggest channel move under the tenure of now-departed channel manager Kaaren Lewis. While Synnex may be 'last one in' among HPE's distributors, the company is a force to be reckoned with in the Australian channel. The fact Synnex overtook Ingram Micro as Australia's largest distributor suggest capability to help HPE achieve its revenue targets.

Will local prowess carry weight in Hewlett Packard's decision? Sydney's Lynx Technology might not be a global name but it has proved its mettle in the local market with the vendors server, storage and networking range for many years, having represented Hewlett Packard storage range for over two decades.

Will HPE make a statement about its converged infrastructure ambitions? In this case, Avnet stands out. The distie has been bolstering its hyper converged portfolio with the likes of Nutanix and also has enterprise infrastructure solutions vendors like IBM, Oracle and EMC, which it plucked from Westcon in August.

How much stock will HPE hold in the networking disties brought across through its Aruba buyout? It is understood that the Aruba acquisition has been the major catalyst for the distribution review.

Distribution Central and Westcon are both in the mix here, along with POS specialist Sektor, and CRN understands that the networking business is a strong performer, while the server and storage market in general are more challenged.

But stepping up from HP's networking business to manage the entire enterprise product range will be no mean feat. Distribution Central has been rapidly moving up the ranks to become the country's sixth-largest distie, but it remains largely an ANZ operation the proudly specialises in disruptive technology, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise would mark the biggest broad-based IT vendor on its books.

Westcon, on the other hand, already sells HPE's biggest rival, Cisco, as well as enterprise vendors such as NetApp and VMware, not to mention having been a major EMC distributor until it lost the storage vendor to Avnet.

Dropping any distributors from the roster would have a big impact on their revenues and product mix, given Hewlett Packard's market footprint and rich solutions stack across compute, storage, networking and software.

There's always a chance HPE will decide to retain all its distributors; this would be a bittersweet outcome, with no clear losers but neither any reduction in the competition faced by distributors on the current, crowded roster.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has issued a warning over an SMS scam targeting mobile banking users in Australia and New Zealand.

The short text messages contain URLs that direct the recipient to a fake mobile banking website, which looks similar to the real one, where their login credentials or personal details may be stolen.

We are warning all mobile phone users of a persistent and sophisticated SMS phishing campaign currently underway that is targeting mobile banking customers in both Australia and New Zealand, ACMA said in a statement.

The sophistication and scope of the campaign is indicated by the extensive use of internet domains that closely resemble the legitimate domains of Australian and New Zealand banks. Often these domains will be active for only a very short time, replaced shortly thereafter with another plausible bank domain.

Customer of many major banks, including ANZ, Bank of Queensland, Bendigo Bank, GE Money, Heritage Bank, Macquarie Bank, NAB, St George and Suncorp Bank, have been the focus of the scam.

Many banks are being targeted by this constantly evolving campaign and the criminals behind this campaign are constantly refining their messages and the associated fake imitation banking websites to increase their chance of success, according to the regulator.

ACMA has warned users not to open these text messages or emails from unknown or suspicious sources, to never follow hyperlinks contained in these messages and always check on the authenticity of a website that requests credentials.

ACMA is a government authority within the Communications portfolio that is tasked in ensuring media and communications works for all Australians through various legislation, regulations, standards and codes of practice.
VMware on Wednesday US time unveiled a major upgrade to its hyper-converged infrastructure software stack, and in the process signaled the possible end of its EVO:Rail product.

The new edition, Virtual SAN 6.2, is also expected to be part of the software stack for a new hyper-converged infrastructure appliance slated to be introduced next week by VMware parent VCE. VCE and VMware are sister organisations in the EMC Federation.

Gaetan Castelein, senior director of storage and availability product marketing at VMware, said that EVO:Rail is still available, but acknowledged that the "focus going forward will be on VSAN Ready Nodes and on VCE appliances".

Virtual SAN, commonly referred to as VSAN, is VMware's software-defined storage solution. VSAN combined with VMware vSphere and VMware vCenter Server forms VMware's complete hyper-converged infrastructure software stack, which the vendor terms VMware HCS.

VMware now offers two hyper-converged infrastructure software stacks, both with the same software applications. The VMware HCS solution is designed to deploy on industry-standard servers by server vendors, said Castelein.

EVO:Rail, which includes the same software applications, is packaged specifically for deployment as part of an integrated appliance by OEM partners, Castelein told CRN USA.

By all accounts, the VMware EVO:Rail stack, which counts more than a dozen server and storage OEMs as partners committed to building integrated appliances based on the software, has not lived up to expectations

One of VMware's major server partners, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, in August admitted to CRN USA that it discontinued its EVO:Rail solution.

Channel sources working with different OEM partners told CRN USA they have seen limited use of the EVO:Rail software stack by their vendors, and expect the solution to disappear.

With the updated VMware HCS featuring the new VSAN 6.2, VMware plans to offer it via three different target routes to market.

The first is the Virtual SAN Ready Nodes, which in the past was a program for precertified solutions but has now been extended to server OEMs that can preinstall the software, bundle all the necessary licenses and offer their own support, Castelein said.

"Server OEMs can pick and choose how they deploy Virtual SAN Ready Nodes," he said. "We provide them with flexibility. They get the same software, but can take different approaches to market."

Virtual SAN Ready Nodes has been certified to run on x86-based servers from several vendors including HPE, Dell, Fujitsu, Cisco, Lenovo, Hitachi, Supermicro and Huawei, Castelein said. Three of those partners - Dell, Fujitsu and Supermicro - will likely be first to market, he said.

The second target market for VMware HCS is via engineered appliances via the EMC Federation. Castelein said this includes integrated appliances that will be announced soon from sister company VCE.

Castelein declined to provide details about planned VCE releases based on VMware HCS. However, EMC has for some time been building buzz about a 16 February unveiling of a new hyper-converged infrastructure offering combining VMware and EMC technology under the VCE banner.

The third target route to market is the EVO SDDC (software-defined data center) integrated system, which combines VMware HCS, VMware vRealize cloud management, VMware NSX software-defined networking and the EVO SDDC manager as an integrated system in limited availability.

VSAN 6.2 is the first version of VSAN that includes deduplication and compression technologies at the disk group level for significantly reducing the amount of capacity required for storing data, Castelein said.

It also introduces erasure coding as a way of protecting against data loss. Castelein said erasure coding is available with both RAID-5, which ties the data across a minimum of four hosts to ensure uptime if one host is down, and RAID-6, which ties the data across at least six hosts to ensure uptime if two hosts are lost.

The new deduplication, compression and erasure coding are targeted primarily at hyper-converged infrastructure solutions based on all-flash storage systems, Castelein said.

"Virtual SAN 6.2 supports hybrid flash arrays," he said. "But the focus on space efficiency is really for all-flash storage solutions. We see adoption of all-flash storage picking up quickly in 2016. The use of dedupe, compression, and erasure coding must be done carefully in hybrid solutions depending on the application. It makes sense to support them in all-flash solutions."

VSAN 6.2 also includes new performance and capacity monitoring tools, he said. Also new are support for pure IPv6 networking environments, and the availability of end-to-end checksum capabilities to detect and resolve disk errors.

This article originally appeared at crn.com
Channel programs News

ScanSource Targets More Government Business Via Channel After Solid Quarter

Jimmy Sheridan

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ScanSource will look to build its local, state and federal government business through its reseller customers after the distributor reported huge success for its latest quarter after its acquisition of Cisco distributor KBZ.

In its second quarter 2016 earnings call, held after the close of the market Tuesday, Greenville, S.C-based ScanSource said the acquisition was directly responsible for landing a deal that pushed revenue about $13.5 million past the top edge of its guidance estimate for the quarter. That deal was worth $38 million.

ScanSource CEO Mike Baur said in an interview with CRN that the company will reevaluate its investment in the local, state and federal government verticals thanks to the success it saw in the space from October to December. He added that the company will look to its resellers to pick up that extra business.

[Related: ScanSource To Buy $225M Cisco Videoconferencing Distributor]

"That platform - to go after government business through resellers - we believe we can deploy through our other vendors and other technologies. That is one area we will be looking at more in 2016 and 17," he said.

ScanSource acquired KBZ in August 2015, buying the $225 million Cisco videoconferencing distributor boost its alignment with Cisco offerings in North America.

KBZ utilized the stability and strong back-office solutions of ScanSource to sign a deal that, according to Baur, it might not have been able to sign previously.

"KBZ, before our acquisition, maybe wouldnt have been able to pull off this deal," he said. "We really saw the synergy."

Although ScanSource generally leaves acquired companies to run their own sales and marketing engines, Baur said, his company adds a strong balance sheet and back-office efficiencies that allow companies such as KBZ to go after more sophisticated, larger transactions like the one they won during the quarter.

ScanSource stock jumped about 17.5 percent Wednesday, a day after its earnings were released.

In its second-quarter report, the company said revenue rose 23 percent to $993.5 million from $807 million in the second quarter of 2015. Earnings also rose 23 percent, to $20.7 million from $16.8 million.

Baur said ScanSource saw growth across the board with the company's continued success in South America sales and with North American POS and security business sales.

Baur added that one of the most promising areas for ScanSource is coming from "chip and pin" technology, a business that has doubled over the same quarter last year. ("Chip and pin," is replacing VeriFone technologies throughout all point-of-sale machines.) But Baur added that some market research suggests that 65 percent of the market has yet to buy the technology.

"This will be a multi-year opportunity for our channels," he said.


Cloud News

Rackspace Debuts Red Hat OpenStack For Private Clouds

Joseph Tsidulko

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Rackspace may have put OpenStack on the map, but Thursday it introduced to its private cloud portfolio another vendor's version of the open-source technology.

The managed cloud company out of San Antonio is making Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform available to customers and partners deploying private clouds either in Rackspace data centers or on their own premises, according to Bryan Thompson, senior director of product management for Rackspace's OpenStack practice.

The new Rackspace-Red Hat product nexus, envisioned to appeal to customers who like Rackspace's hosting credentials but are committed to the Red Hat technology stack, was revealed at the Rackspace::Solve event in New York.

[Related: 5 Ways Rackspace Is Transforming Its Business Through Cloud Partnerships]

As Rackspace looked upmarket with its private cloud practice, it saw that many enterprises had already made a technology decision around Red Hat. That makes sense, Thompson said, given that the Raleigh, N.C.-based open-source software company has almost 60 percent of Linux market share among enterprises.

Those organizations have standardized on and are looking for that fully certified Red Hat stack  from hypervisor to guest layer to middleware to application  that they know meets their compliance and security needs, he said.

But they also want the technology delivered as a service, highly available and with world-class technical support.

"Customers are coming to us for that operational experience and expertise. Our real focus is really around deploying and operating these clouds," Thompson said. "We are managing hundreds of thousands of nodes and have a great wealth of experience."

Red Hat's OpenStack distribution, as opposed to the one native to Rackspace, comes with some other perks that Red Hat customers might prefer.

Rackspace's native OpenStack is closely aligned with the OpenStack community, and moves with the OpenStack Foundation's six-month release pace  only backward supporting the version prior to the latest. (Most distributions align with that kind of n-1 support stance.)

"For many enterprise organizations, that rate of change is actually uncomfortable," Thompson told CRN.

Red Hat is unique in offering a long-term support model, he said.

Red Hat OpenStack also includes Platform Director, a tool for life-cycle management, from discovery to provisioning the control plane to provisioning cloud nodes.

Enterprises might also find comfort in the product's tight integration with Red Hat's platform for both block and object storage and its snapshot tools for disk imaging.

The partnership has a lot of history behind it.

Red Hat was an early investor in Rackspace, and the two companies have been formal partners for more than a decade. Red Hat even named Rackspace its Cloud Partner of the Year in 2015.

The two companies have been working together for several months to bring the private cloud option to market as a managed service with a high-availability SLA; the offering comes with a 99.99 percent API uptime guarantee.

With the greatest barriers to OpenStack adoption being the complexity of the technology and lack of expertise, Rackspace sees offering a Red Hat-powered cloud as another way to remove an obstacle to OpenStack implementation and further drive adoption, Thompson told CRN.
Mobility News

The HP-Compaq Merger: Partners Reflect 10 Years Later

Rob Wright

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When HP and Compaq announced a $25 billion merger agreement 10 years ago this week on Sept. 3, 2001, it shocked the industry and sent apprehension and anxiety rippling through the channel as naysayers predicted a very painful and even disastrous integration.

Big technology mergers weren't thought of very fondly by the channel, and many HP and Compaq partners were fearful the proposed merger would put both IT vendors in jeopardy and also cause a major disruption to VARs' businesses. Channel partners weren't the only ones concerned; the value of the deal fell $5 billion the day after the announcement as investors soured on the news.

But fast-forward a decade, and solution providers say the historic merger was a surprising success and ultimately helped their businesses. And the bold move ultimately produced what the two companies promised  a worldwide technology powerhouse with top revenue positions in servers, PC and printers (go here for the official HP-Compaq merger press release).

"You look back now, and Carly [Fiorina, former HP CEO] was right  there was a lot of synergy between the two companies," Tommy Wald, CEO of White Glove Technologies in Austin, Texas, said. "The merger worked out well in retrospect. I think they turned the combined company into a strong channel company, which is what we were all concerned about as partners."

Wald was one of many HP/Compaq partners who, at the time, were skeptical of the move. Wald's company Riata Technologies (which merged with White Glove Technologies in 2010) was a loyal Compaq partner, and Wald didn't want to see his top vendor become part of HP. He was greatly concerned about the potential disruption in the channel, too.

Some of those fears were realized; Wald said the taxing Compaq integration negatively impacted Riata's business as HP struggled to find the right channel strategy for the combined company. "HP started taking Dell's approach and began selling more direct, which gave us some heartburn," Wald said.

But after the integration was completed, Wald said HP refined its partner program and increased support for its enterprise product lines. "That's when we saw the real potential," Wald said. "Eventually HP pulled back from that direct sales push and really listened to partners. To their credit, the folks at HP continued to invest in the channel and in the relationships with partners."

HP said the merger paved the way for it to become the No. 1 IT company in the world.

"The combination of HP and Compaq built a business that achieved more together much faster than either company could on its own and built the foundation for the worlds largest technology company," HP said in a statement to CRN.

Fiorina and Michael Capellas, the head of Compaq at the time of the merger, could not be reached for comment.

Don Richie, CEO of Sequel Data Systems in Austin, Texas, was another partner who was highly skeptical of the move. He admits that when he heard the announcement that day, he was in "a state of panic" and feared the merger would be a disaster. A Compaq partner prior to the merger, Richie said the memories of another big IT merger were fresh in his mind. "We had just gone through the Digital Equipment merger, and that was very painful," he said.

But his fears began to erode slowly as HP began to integrate Compaq. In particular, Richie said he was impressed with how the two companies assimilated their respective partner programs into a combined effort that worked for both sets of partners. "In retrospect, yes, it was a good move for HP and for the partner community," Richie said. "I was wrong, and I'm glad they proved me wrong."

NEXT: Benefits of the HP-Compaq Merger

Looking back at the historic merger, partners say one of the biggest pluses  if not the biggest  was the enterprise focus Compaq brought to HP.

Geoffrey Lilien, president of Lilien Systems in Mill Valley, Calif., was one of the few partners at the time who favored the merger. A longtime HP partner, Lilien believed the addition of Compaq would make HP stronger, especially in the enterprise market.

It was a risky bet for Lilien Systems , an HP Elite partner that did most of its sales with the vendor. Like many solution providers, Lilien's company saw revenue fall during the 2002 recession, and if the merger didn't succeed, it could have had devastating consequences.

But Lilien said the addition of Compaq vastly improved HP's presence in storage and industry-standard servers, which in turn helped his business grow into a nearly $40 million solution provider today. "I think it was a fantastic move," Lilien said. "I thought it was a fantastic move at the time, too. HP would definitely not be where it is today without Compaq."

Richie said the merger exposed Sequel Data Systems to new products -- and also opened his eyes to existing ones. Richie built a successful practice around HP StorageWorks products, which helped the solution provider increase sales during the merger integration and eventually reach annual revenue of more than $30 million. While StorageWorks was a Compaq product line, it was HP that made storage a priority during the integration and promoted the technology to channel partners like Sequel Data Systems.

It wasn't just Compaq's enterprise technology, either. Some solution providers believe the merger deal was more like Compaq buying HP because Compaq's sales approach and enterprise focus also became dominant. "I think you definitely saw more of Compaq's culture taking over at HP," Wald said.

Lilien agrees, saying the Compaq merger fundamentally changed how HP went to market. "It was more of Compaq acquiring HP in terms of the overall sales strategy and philosophy," he said.

A hidden benefit of the merger, according to partners, was that the merger enabled partners that preferred to stay vendor-exclusive to grow their line cards without having to sign up with additional vendors. "The merger allowed us to get into new ventures and new product lines without breaking my golden rule, which is to stick with one vendor," Richie said.

Jane Cage, COO of Heartland Technology Solutions , an HP Elite partner in Joplin, Mo., said that while the Compaq integration caused some issues in the channel, the merger ultimately made life easier for her company. "The merger turned out to be a good thing for us because we got a bigger line card and expanded our products but still got to deal with one vendor instead of three or four," Cage said. "There were some administrative headaches, of course, but overall they did a very good job with the integration."

NEXT: Changes For HP's PC Business

Ironically, the 10th anniversary of the HP-Compaq merger announcement comes just weeks after HP revealed that it was exploring "options" for its Personal Systems Group, a $40 billion division largely comprised of PCs. Todd Bradley, executive vice president of PSG, recently told CRN that he wants HP's board of directors to spin off the PC business quickly rather than sell PSG to another vendor.

While HP got many different assets of out of the Compaq purchase, one of the biggest assets was Compaq's enormous PC business. Compaq was the worldwide PC leader for several years before 2001  when Dell's surging business began to take market share away from Compaq as well as HP and other major PC players. In fact, Dell had overtaken Compaq as the PC market share leader in the fourth quarter of 2001, according to market research firm IDC.

If HP does indeed leave the PC business behind, either by sale or spin-off, will it lead to second guessing about whether buying Compaq was the right move? Partners say no.

Lilien believes that regardless of what HP does with its PC business today, the Compaq merger was still a great move that dramatically changed HP. Plus, he said, HP will still have a strong enterprise product line, courtesy of Compaq. "I don't think it matters what happens to PSG. HP got a lot out of the merger," Lilien said. "The merger gave them such a big boost in Intel servers and storage, and it really propelled HP into the enterprise space."

Cage agrees, arguing that the Compaq merger not only gave HP valuable product lines and market share, but it also eliminated one of HP two largest competitors and allowed the company to go head-to-head with Dell. "What better way to increase your market share than by taking it from your top competitor?" Cage asked. "I don't think HP would be as strong today without Compaq."

Even though HP was in a heated rivalry with Dell in the PC market, Richie said Compaq's PC business was only a small part of the deal. "I don't believe the PC business was ever the reason HP bought Compaq," he said. "In the end, it was Compaq's enterprise products."

If HP does rid itself of the PC business, it will likely continue and even accelerate the trend the Compaq merger started 10 years ago of HP becoming more enterprise focused. And partners like Wald won't be sorry to see PSG split off from HP. "It's probably a good move for HP since PCs are commoditized these days," he said. "PCs just aren't strategic for us anymore."

Other partners, however, would like to see HP keep all its products under one roof rather than spin off its PC business. "I'd be sorry to sell them sell off the PSG business because we like getting everything from one source," Cage said, adding that Heartland sells PC, servers, switches, printers  pretty much everything HP has to offer.

Whatever the future holds for HP and its PC business, partners agree that the Compaq merger was a historic move that changed the IT industry.

"I think HP and Compaq proved that big technology mergers like that can work," Lilien said, "and can benefit partners."
BAUDETTE, Minn. -- A Baudette woman who was charged with stealing from a GoFundMe account she set up to help the families of three men who went missing on Lake of the Woods is in a Bemidji, Minn., hospital, according to law enforcement.

Retina Rayellen LaValla, 28, was arrested Tuesday night and was charged with two counts of felony theft, according to a news release from the Lake of the Woods Sheriff's Office. She was being held at the Lake of the Woods County Law Enforcement Center, but on Tuesday she was taken to LakeWood Health Center in Baudette and later flown by helicopter to a Bemidji hospital, according to the release.

The Sheriff's Office did not release any further information, including why LaValla was taken to the hospital or her condition.

The Sheriff's Department began investigating LaValla after a report of a "possible theft from the GoFundMe account" on Jan. 11. During the investigation, LaValla said she used some of the donated money to pay for various bills and groceries, according to a criminal complaint.

LaValla set up a GoFundMe account in the aftermath of a boating accident in which three men went missing on Lake of the Woods. The bodies of Justin Kelly Haugtvedt, 22, and Cody Joseph Ostendorf, 24, were found about a week after they were reported missing on Oct. 3, and the third boater, Keith Ayers, 28, is still missing. Their boat was found capsized on the northeast corner of Flag Island, which is just south of the Canadian border on Lake of the Woods.

Funds raised through the GoFundMe account were intended to go to the families of the boaters. In addition to the GoFundMe account, which appeared to be deactivated Tuesday, the families were supposed to receive money from a fishing pole benefit that raised more than $400, according to the criminal complaint.

LaValla faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail and $40,000 fine on the charges.
Costa Crociere is the latest cruise line to cancel calls in Turkey, opting to drop Istanbul for 2016.

In response to the ongoing guest concerns, Costa Crociere has decided to alter the itinerary of Costa neoRivieras cruises from March 28 to Nov. 8 by replacing the calls originally scheduled in Istanbul with calls in Rhodes, said Costa, in a statement released to Cruise Industry News.

Dropping Istanbul, passengers flying in to board the neoRiviera in Turkey will now embark in Rhodes.

The neoRiviera is part of Costas neoCollection, which features ships sailing so-called slower cruises featuring smaller and more unique ports.
by Myra Dsouza

KUWAIT, FEB 11, 2016: Over a hundred catechists attended an inspiring retreat conducted by Father Franco Pereira, the Catechetical Director for the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia, on February 6.

The yearly catechists retreat is one of the highlights of the catechetical year. This year, as in previous years, Father Pereira, assisted by Francis Sam, once again prepared a spiritual banquet for those present.

Each retreatant was given a cup with an image of the face of Jesus. The cup was engraved with the theme of the retreat, 'The cup of my life' as well as a verse from Scripture taken from 1 John 4:16, 'God is love, and those who love abide in God and God abides in them'.

Priests from the parish were available for the Sacrament of Reconciliation and many retreatants made their confession. The retreat concluded with the celebration of Holy Mass.

Father Pereira invited those present to put all their intentions and desires into their cups and to place them on the tables in front of the altar, so they could be offered to God who would receive them and fill our cups with His blessings.

Before the final blessing, each took back their cups, which were blessed by God. The cups would remind them to constantly examine their lives and to empty themselves of all the clutter, in order to be filled with the love of Christ.

"It was a great experience. What touched me and those in my group most was the line, 'May God be enough for you'. I came here with an empty cup. I return home with my cup full of Jesus," Gregory Pereira, a retreatant, said.

"This retreat has helped me to let go of the inhibitions which restrict me from experiencing the true compassion of God. It has also helped me realise that in turn, I too can find ways to be more compassionate to others," Mark Roberts, another retreatant, said.

"The retreat helped me see how something as normal and trivial as a cup, can have so much meaning. Like a cup, although I may be chipped in places, stained and filled with things not of God's Kingdom, a retreat like this teaches me to empty myself, so I can be filled with the life that Jesus wants to give me," Sasha D'Souza said.

Evelyn D'Souza echoed a similar sentient, "The retreat had a deep and profound effect on me. The reflections on God's infinite Mercy were an eye opener and the group sharing helped to build each other up. We realised that each of us is uniquely designed by the Potter to hold inside the cup of our life, the very life of His Son," she said.
When it comes to books, romance novels arent exactly considered top-shelf contributors to the worlds great literature. But guess what? The romance genre has a rabid fan base and grosses more than a billion dollars a year  outselling mystery, science fiction and fantasy combined.

And there are good reasons for that. One is this: Womens feelings and emotions matter. Another is the funny and vibrant community of writers and voracious readers behind the powerhouse industry.

Love Between the Covers is an award-winning documentary that explores this somewhat invisible community. It reveals how writers and readers get what they want and need to keep those pages turning  in 34 languages on six continents.

The film will be screened at the Danbury Palace on Sunday, Feb. 14. The Valentines Day event includes complimentary chocolates and a chance to meet film director/producer Laurie Kahn, as well as some published authors from the Romance Writers of Southern Connecticut and Lower New York  the local chapter of Romance Writers of America, which has almost 10,000 members.

Hearsts Movie & A Martini is pairing with the Danbury screening, which will be the first in a series of Sunday meet-ups. Writer/film enthusiast Joe Meyers will be at the Palace to see the film and chat with the group afterward. (The next meet-up will be Sunday, March 13, featuring a new documentary about Janis Joplin.)

Kahn shared more on her film in a recent interview:

More Information Palace Theatre, 165 Main St., Danbury. Sunday, Feb. 14, 1 p.m. $15. Free parking behind theater. 203-794-9944, thepalacedanbury.com, blueberryhillproductions.com, bit.ly/1StY9Ri See More Collapse

Q: Love Between the Covers is a delightful look at the funny, savvy female community of writers (and readers) who have turned romance novels into big business. What inspired you to explore this unique subject?

A: As a documentary filmmaker, I want to bring the lives and work of compelling women to the screen, because any industry dominated by women is typically dismissed as trivial and merely domestic. My previous films  A Midwifes Tale and Tupperware!  are very different from one another, but were both shaped by my desire to look honestly at communities of women who havent been taken seriously (but should be), who deserve to be heard without being mocked. When I learned that the romance fiction community is global, successful and almost entirely female, that caught my interest.

Q: Readers who love romance books often say the genre is addictive. One author in your films trailer said she has so many characters in her head they are like planes circling over a major airport. Why do you think theres such passion surrounding the subject?

A: Love stories are universal. ... Romance novels have been written primarily by women, for women and about women. They have been successful, I believe, because romance fiction is one of the few places where female characters are always center stage, where justice prevails in every book, where women get what they want and the broad spectrum of desires of women from all backgrounds are not feared, but explored unapologetically.

Q: What is at the heart of a great romance novel? Must there be heaving bosoms on the cover?!

A: I asked all of the romance readers and writers I interviewed, what makes a romance novel a great romance novel? Their answers varied from great believable characters, to the excitement of jumping into a different world, to reading a story that gives them hope. ... You ask whether heaving bosoms on the cover are a requirement. Well, that was once the case (back in the Fabio days). But since the 1980s, the spectrum of romance fiction has exploded  it now reaches all the way from evangelical Christian romance to erotic and BDSM (bondage, dominance, sadism and masochism) romances, and everything else in between. So you will find women in rural settings with Amish caps (on the covers of Amish romances), vampires and werewolves (on the paranormal romances), cartoon chick-lit images (on the contemporary romances), men and women in historical costumes (on the historical romances), etc. Covers are designed as signals, telling readers from across the room what sub-genre that book belongs to.

lkoonz@newstimes.com; Twitter: @LindaTKoonz
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HARTFORD  A bill before the General Assembly would legalize marijuana for adults and add Connecticut to a short list of states where recreational use is allowed.

State Rep. Juan Candelaria, D-New Haven, introduced a bill to legalize possession and use of weed by anyone 21 and older. Adults would not be able to grow marijuana under the legislation, Candelaria said, although language now on file would allow growing.

Im going to change that, Candelaria said, referring to removing the grow permission from the bill. If you allow people to grow it you cant regulate it.

Later in the day on Thursday, Candelaria joined nine other Democratic legislators  including Ezequiel Santiago, D-Bridgeport  in sponsoring another legalization bill that offers more specific requirements, such as child-safe packaging, regulatory oversight and a ban on public use.

Candelaria said legal pot would produce huge tax revenue for the state, free up law enforcement for more important work and provide dollars for drug abuse prevention.

Im going to push pretty hard, said Candelaria, who introduced a similar bill last year. The legislation stalled in the judiciary committee and was not voted on.

I want to have a conversation about this and hold a public hearing, Candelaria said.

Only Alaska, Washington, Colorado and Oregon have legalized possession and recreational use of marijuana by adults.

In contrast, 24 states, including Connecticut, have legalized medical use of marijuana, and many have decriminalized possession, including Connecticut.

Still, Devon Pegulia, a spokesman for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, said the governor is not interested in legalizing weed for adults.

Its not something the governor is comfortable with but every member of the Legislature is entitled to his or her opinion, Puglia said, adding Malloy supported decriminalizing marijuana and legalizing it for medical use.

Candelaria said the states medical marijuana dispensaries could grow weed for recreational use. If demand exceeds supply, he said more growing operations could be licensed and opened.

Its a generator and would reduce crime in our cities and in Connecticut, Candelaria said. There is a large underground market for marijuana and we need to regulate it.

According to various media reports, a group of Massachusetts lawmakers recently visited Colorado to review its marijuana law and several Rhode Island legislators plan to introduce a bill this year to legalize it.

In 2014, the New Hampshire House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill to legalize weed, but the movement stalled and the law was not enacted.
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BRIDGEPORT Councilwoman Denise Taylor-Moye summed up her feelings Thursday upon learning that a plan to close the coal-fired plant in her South End district could move forward.

Woo-woo! Taylor-Moye said as she took her turn at the podium outside of the Atlantic Street facility.

Taylor-Moye and her colleagues on the City Council recently voted for a deal that supported plant owner PSEGs effort to replace the coal operation  the last of its kind in Connecticut  with a gas-fired one by mid-2021.

But PSEG needed authorization from ISO New England, which oversees the electric grid for Connecticut and five other states. That approval was granted this week and formally announced Thursday morning, first by ISO in a telephone call with reporters, then by the city and PSEG at an outdoor press conference.

I dare say this may be the largest single investment in the city of Bridgeport in its history, said Mayor Joe Ganim. Im gonna say it slow  its $550 million dollars.

And that, city officials said, means $5 million in annual tax revenues.

More Information Cost of PSEG's proposed gas fired power plant: $550 million Anticipated annual tax revenues to city: $5 million Gas would eliminate the coal plant by: July, 2021 See More Collapse

Black mark

Sworn in Dec. 1, Ganim actually inherited a negotiation with PSEG launched a year earlier when the City Council, under increasing pressure to demand the plants closure, instead sought a compromise that would preserve jobs or tax revenues.

The legislative body passed a non-binding -- meaning unenforceable  resolution calling on PSEG to phase out the plant at the earliest possible date and to remediate the property (50 acres) for the next use.

The council also had then-Mayor Bill Finch set up a 14-member task force of community leaders to work with PSEG on a plan to retire the plant.

The result was a community benefits agreement which swapped coal for gas. PSEG also committed to hiring minorities, women and veterans and local businesses for the construction, and to invest $5 million toward renewable energy and $2 million for a Community Environmental Benefit Fund.

You've gone beyond what many corporate citizens do, Ganim gushed.

The 47-year-old coal plant has remained a literal black mark on Bridgeports growing reputation as a leader in green industry and conservation.

The plant is a well-known landmark along the Connecticut coastline; its 450-foot, red-and-white-striped smokestack has been a handy navigational aid to boaters on Long Island Sound for decades.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy in a statement Thursday called PSEGs announcement incredibly positive news.

Our state continues to show that we can meet our energy needs while decreasing our carbon footprint  we are leaders in combating global warming, Malloy said. I applaud the residents of Bridgeport, city officials, and proponents whose advocacy over the last several years helped bring about the change that were seeing today. And I thank PSEG for making this decision.

Soft victory

The next step is for PSEG to receive authorization from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. During the Thursdays conference call, the ISO said that, based on about a decades-worth of experience, the risk of the the federal government turning the project down is very low.

PSEG would then need to seek the necessary permits and approvals from the state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and from Bridgeports Building Department.

We expect to have permits we need to start construction mid-2017," Mark Strickland, PSEGs director of fossil environmental affairs, said at the Bridgeport press conference.

The community benefits agreement commits the city and community groups to back the gas plant. Though David Kooris, Bridgeports economic development director, acknowledged Thursday which community groups are in or out is still to be resolved.

For example, the deal was backed by the Connecticut Coalition fo Environmental Justice, which was particularly concerned about the loss of jobs should PSEG completely pull out of Bridgeport.

Onte Johnson, who, while head of the Sierra Club's Bridgeport branch, was a vocal critic of the plant, participated in the negotiations with PSEG until moving out of state last year.

Johnson was glad to hear about Thursdays developments but added, Its a soft victory.

We have to really fight toward a clean energy future and cant do that swapping out one fossil fuel for another, Johnson said.

And while eliminating coal, PSEG confirmed Thursday the plant will use oil as a back-up under certain circumstances, such as if the price of natural gas is too high.

That price is often dependent on availability; PSEG will tap into an existing gas line.

But ISO New England on Thursday said, We have run a number of studies and continue to see a need for new gas infrastructure of some sort as our regions gas needs continue to grow.

ISO New Englands announcement about Bridgeports plant also included the news the entity had approved what is perhaps the dream alternative of the coal and gas critics -- a wind farm.

But it will be built off of Block Island, Rhode Island, not in Bridgeport.
BRIDGEPORT  Four high school students are facing criminal charges after beating up a special-needs freshman.

Michael Giannotti, the citys soon-to-be-former public safety spokesman, said that four students ages 14 through 15 ganged up on the 15-year-old victim.

Medics responded to the scene, but Giannotti could not say for certain whether the victim was hospitalized.

There were no weapons or anything, but they were charged with breach of peace and assault, Giannotti said of the suspects.

Those charges  breach of peace and third-degree or assault  may be adjusted, he added. The four alleged attackers were released on promises to appear in court.
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DERBY-Mayor Anita Dugatto ordered all city flags to fly half-mast beginning Thursday at 2 p.m. to Friday at 11:59 p.m. in tribute to James J. Butlers, a veteran firefighter and former fire chief who died following a call Sunday.

During these next few days, we mourn the loss of...an experienced leader in the fire department, a long-time coach, and a dedicated volunteer in Troop3 of Boy Scouts of America.Our thoughts and prayers are with the Butler family as we grieve together.

Hundreds of firefighters from across the state are expected to attend Butlers 10 a.m. Friday funeral in Holy Rosary Church, 10 Father Salemi Drive, Ansonia.

As a result Ansonia Mayor David Cassetti, who worked with Butler at Century Construction years ago said Beaver Street will be closed to two-way traffic for the funeral Friday morning.

The 50-year old Butler spent 35 years as a volunteer firefighter in Derby. He followed his father James R. Butler as chief of the citys four departments.

The younger Butler became ill after returning home from a smoke alarm alert at the Dew Drop Inn on Super Bowl Sunday. He later died at Griffin Hospital from a suspected heart attack.

At the time of his death, Butler was the citys deputy fire marshal and that morning was at city hall pulling files on buildings that needed to be inspected.

Butler was an active member of the Paugussett Hook & Ladder Co. #4 on Route 34. He was an instructor at the Valleys volunteer firefighter training center as well as a member of the Valley Fire Chiefs Assocation; the Connecticut State Firemans Irregular Association; the Connecticut State Fire Marshals Association and the New Haven County Fire Marshals Assocation.

He is survived by his father who is a member and past chairman of the citys Board of Apportionment and Taxation; a son James A. Butler of Derby; two daughters, Sara and Julianna and two sisters Barbara S. Bulter of Otisville, N.Y. and Janice Butler of Newtown.

The wake will take place Thursday from 3-8 p.m. in the Spinelli-Ricciuti/Bednar-Osiecki funeral home, 62 Beaver Street, Ansonia while the funeral will begin Friday at 10 a.m. at Holy Rosary church, 10 Father Salemi Drive, Ansonia. Burial will take place in Mount St. Peter Cemetery on Route 34. In lieu of flowers the family has asked that contributions be made to the Butler Children Scholarship Fund Attention: John Hooker c/o Wells Fargo Advisors, 93 Lake Avenue extension; Danbury, Ct. 06810.
BRIDGEPORT  The music teacher at Thomas Hooker Elementary School was arrested after police said she assaulted a special education student.

Lydia Struble, 51, of Stratford, was charged with third-degree assault and released on a promise to appear in court.

Interim Superintendent of Schools Fran Rabinowitz said Struble has been removed from the school.

We took immediate action, and the incident is under investigation, she said.

Reached by phone Wednesday, Struble declined to comment.

Police said on Feb. 4, the parents of a 13-year-old girl  who is a special education student at the school  complained that their daughter was assaulted by Struble during music class.

The girl said the teacher had been picking on her during class, calling her names and yelling at her, police said. When the girl got up to leave at the end of the class period, police said, Struble grabbed girls right wrist very hard and pulled her over to her chair. She then grabbed the girls left shoulder and forced her into the chair, police said.

After music class, the girl went to her art teacher and complained about the incident, and the art teacher contacted Assistant Principal Lorraine Woschik. Police said the girl had bruising and scratches on her wrist, and a bruise that appeared to be a handprint on her shoulder. She was taken to Bridgeport Hospital.

The art teacher told officers the girl is a good student and does not have behavior issues in school, police said. Police said Woschik later told them other students in the music class had confirmed Strubles actions with the girl.

In an interview with police Lt. Paul Grech, Struble said the students had been loud and not listening to her. She said the girl had told her not to yell at her, but denied singling her out for discipline or putting her hands on the girl, police said.
Heads of the Orthodox and Catholic churches will meet in Havana

Pope Francis and the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, will meet February 12 in Havana during a brief stop-over by the Holy Father in his route to an official visit to Mexico.

According to the Vatican, this will be the first time ever that heads of the Orthodox and Catholic churches will meet, which is considered a first step for a possible visit by Pope Francis to Russia.

Pope Francis and the Patriarch Kirill will hold a personal meeting at Havana's Jose Marti International Airport and later they will sign a joint statement, the Vatican announced.

The meeting, which has been prepared for a long time, will become a milestone in bilateral relations between the two ecclesiastic institutions.

source: www.cibercuba.com




Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment to visit the US

The Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment (MINCEX), Rodrigo Malmierca, will pay a working visit to the United States on February 15-18, heading a delegation composed of officials of the MINCEX, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Central Bank of Cuba, the Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of Cuba, and executives of Cuban companies, the Cubaminrex Web site reported.

During his stay in that country, Minister Malmierca will be received by his counterpart, the Secretary of Commerce of the United States, Penny Pritzker. They will inaugurate the second meeting between officials of both nations to hold exchanges about the scope of the regulations in force of the embargo on Cuba and its impact on bilateral economic and commercial ties. Also, the top Cuban official will hold meetings with members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as well as with representatives of the business, political and academic sectors in that country.
Russian Patriarch Kirill arrives today in Havana

Submitted by: Juana

Havana

Religion

Personalities

02 / 11 / 2016



His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia is expected to arrive in Havana on official visit today afternoon in his fourth trip to Cuba, but with the particularity this time that he will meet with Pope Francis at Havanas International airport on Friday, as the Pope makes a stop-over in route to Mexico.

The visit to Havana by His Holiness Kirill has been considered a signal of hope for all good-will people.

The meeting is a new and significant step towards the improvement of religious links and will have a positive impact on only on relations between the Catholic and the Orthodox churches, but also will favor peace in the world.

The encounter between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill will also ratify Cubas role as a fertile land for dialog, where other delegations have also negotiated peace.

During his stay in Havana, Kirill will hold official talks with President Raul Castro.

source: www.cibercuba.com
What's going on in and around Somerset County?
Ian relief: Deadline extended for property tax payments

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an executive order delaying the payment of property taxes across 26 Florida counties struggling from impact of Hurricane Ian.
One of the popular targets of foreign aid is education, and understandably so. Yet as with most solutions sprouting from Western planners and do-gooders, the reality on the ground is a bit different than we typically imagine. Likewise, the solutions are often closer than were led to believe.

In his book, The Beautiful Tree, James Tooley chronicles his own investigative journey throughout the developing world, seeking to uncover the local realities of educational opportunity. Originally commissioned by the World Bank to investigate private schools in a dozen developing countries, Tooley began with the assumption that such schools were designed for and confined to the middle classes and elite.

What he found, however, was a situation far more rich and varied.

Beginning in the city of Hyderabad, India, Tooleys targets initially appeared as expected: private schools designed for the prosperous and privileged. One day, however, on a holiday off from his usual research, he ventured into the citys slums, spontaneously stumbling on a private school created by and for the local community. He soon met the schools headmaster, who explained the widespread dissatisfaction with public schooling, from over-crowded classrooms to chronically absent teachers to the severe lack of accountability or parental control.

With this new friendship, his journey took a surprising shift, leading to trips to more than 50 under-the-radar private schools in impoverished areas throughout the city. These were not the schools on his original list. These were not schools for the rich and privileged. These were small start-ups in the poorest parts of Hyderabad, and they were growing. There seemed to be a private school on every street corner, just as in the richer parts of the city, Tooley writes. I visited so many, being greeted at narrow entrances by so many studentsBut did they really deliver a quality education? I needed to find out.

And so, the journey began, proceeding across India and into many other countries, from Nigeria to China to Ghana. The result: Unbeknownst to the prevailing elites, private schools were bubbling up right under their noses, emerging spontaneously and organically in some the poorest and most destitute communities. Founded by local entrepreneurs and educators and funded by parents dissatisfied with the government alternatives, the schools were flourishing. As for Tooleys questions about quality, the results were astounding.

See the following excerpt from the PovertyCure series:

Whereas many Westerners are tempted to approach these challenges by offering handouts or implementing top-down initiatives, Tooleys research demonstrates the power of bottom-up action and initiative. Although resources from the West can surely be put to proper use, we should recognize the far more powerful and transformative impact of the countless entrepreneurs, teachers, and parents already on the ground.

Rather than dwelling in lack and scarcity and struggle, these are people who are seizing whats already in their hands, stewarding it for the growth of their communities and the flourishing of their children. These are people not waiting for the system to change or for the insulated and privileged few to rescue them via policy or donations. Instead, these communities are innovating solutions and creating opportunity from the ground up.

These are searchers, through and through.

This isnt to say that such areas arent still struggling with severe problems, whether in educational opportunity or otherwise. Its also not to say there arent specific ways the West can leverage its wealth and resources in fruitful ways. But it is worth noting that, regardless of the resources we might have to offer, these communities have plenty to teach us as well.

In America, we complain about our own educational system at nearly every level of society. We have plenty of our own educational slums where the poor suffer under the power of elites and a bloated bureaucracy thats indifferent to the plight of the student or the single mother. Even in areas where education is deemed acceptable, we find plenty of room to wage policy warfare over public schooling and the shape and contour of curriculum.

These are important, necessary battles, and much of our effort and energy is well spent on winning them. The unjust power and control of unions and government power brokers is a tangible target and a primary obstacle to the flourishing of our children and society at large.

But what else might we do from the bottom up, regardless of how that pans out? What can we be doing in the meantime, with our own children, or the children of our own neighborhoods, and what sacrifices might that entail?

What else might we give and build and cultivate right here, right now, to ensure a better future for our kids?

As the inspiring entrepreneurs and educators in Hyderabad might ask: What are you waiting for?
Whats going on?

Tomorrow, for the first time in history, a Roman Catholic pontiff and the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church will meet face to face. According to the joint press release of the Holy See and of the Patriarchate of Moscow:

The Holy See and the Patriarchate of Moscow are pleased to announce that, by the grace of God, His Holiness Pope Francis and His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia will meet on February 12. Their meeting will take place in Cuba, where the Pope will make a stop on his way to Mexico, and where the Patriarch will be on an official visit. It will include a personal conversation at Havanas Jose Marti International Airport, and will conclude with the signing of a joint declaration.

The meeting is scheduled to last about two hours. Cubas President Raul Castro will join the two religious leaders during the exchange of gifts.

Why are they meeting?

According to Vatican Insider, Metropolitan Hilarion said in a recent press conference that the historic meeting between the Patriarch of Moscow and the Pope had been in the making for about 20 years but was speeded up by the Christian genocide being caused by terrorists. In the face of what is going on and is causing concern to both Churches, the two spiritual leaders simply had to meet.

Vladimir Legoida, head of the Synodal Department for Church-Society Relations and the Mass Media, said the meeting is called for by the need to exert joint efforts in giving help to Christian communities in the Middle East countries.

Although many problems in relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church remain unresolved, the protection of Christians in the Middle East against the genocide is a challenge that requires urgent united efforts.The exodus of Christians from the Middle East and North Africa countries is a catastrophe for the whole world.

Why are they meeting in Cuba?



Cuba was reportedly chosen because its a neutral territory and a place where Christianity is developing.

Why have the leaders of each church never met before?

Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches split and broke communion in the 11th century. The reason for the EastWest Schism (sometimes referred to as the Great Schism) is complicated, but as George T. Dennis, professor of history at Catholic University of America, explains:
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Leaving the Chamber after PMQs, David Cameron exchanged merry words with three of his young Cabinet adherents.

They sat next to one another: Communities Secretary Greg Clark, Energy Secretary Amber Rudd and Education Secretary Nicky Morgan, three little goodie-goodies sitting in a row, radiating excitement.

The trio gave a girly giggle (that will have been Mr Clark), a puffins smile (Miss Rudd) and a faintly startled, owl-like stare (Mrs Morgan, who often has the look of a woman whose bottom has just been tickled by a bishop).

Mr Cameron is very much The Prime Minister at present. He occupies the office in a way Gordon Brown and John Major never did. When he enters the House, he does so with chin and brow lifted, a folder pressed to his chest, a drollery poised on his lips. Everything is going swimmingly

From my snipers seat I could not hear what Mr Cameron said to them but it was probably something headmasterly, along the lines of jolly good, jolly good.

He does effortless superiority marvellously well. No doubt he tells the Queen she is coming along nicely and could have a goodish career if she plays her cards carefully.

Mr Cameron is very much The Prime Minister at present. He occupies the office in a way Gordon Brown and John Major never did. When he enters the House, he does so with chin and brow lifted, a folder pressed to his chest, a drollery poised on his lips. Everything is going swimmingly.

PMQs yesterday was again easy for him, Jeremy Corbyn devoting all his questions to the off-bulletin topic of housing. Speech! cried some of the beerier Tories as windy Mr Corbyn ate into the sessions 16th minute.

Mr Corbyn held pages of script at the despatch box. Fatal. His PMQs team should limit him to a single sheet of paper and cut down his bullet points. At present he uses five where two would suffice.

Ive had a letter from Rosie, he announced. Hoots. MPs wondered if it was from his Chief Whip, the Mrs Slocombe lookalike Rosie Winterton. She primped her fringe and gave a Carry On smile. Rosie is in her 20s, said Mr Corbyn. MPs: Ooooh!

Any vestiges of Labour competence disappeared when Mr Cameron quoted the Tweet of a pro-Trident Labour MP who had just heard Shadow Defence Secretary Emily Thornberry. It went: Oh dear, oh dear, OMG, oh dear, oh dear, need to go rest in a darkened room.

While Mr Cameron read this, to Tory guffaws, Miss Thornberry pretended to be engrossed in conversation with a neighbour.

Amazingly, no one mentioned Brussels, the doctors strike or even Mr Camerons mother who has signed a petition against certain spending cuts in Oxfordshire.

There was no point looking to the Scots Nationalists for enlightenment. Their Commons leader, Angus Robertson, has become a crashing bore  clad yesterday in an atrocious pair of pale-brown shoes that should have had no place in London on a weekday.

Westminster is perhaps more than anything a hierarchy and that explains the lack of Tory opposition to Mr Camerons weak-as-milk EU deal. Tory MPs revere the institution of the leadership. But this is bad for them and for Mr Cameron.

Any secure Prime Minister hits a danger point of belief in his or her brilliance. It happens when his powers of patronage (ie his ability to sack people) outweigh any threat from outside. As we can all too clearly see, Mr Corbyn is not much of a threat.

A PM, in these circumstances, feels he can ignore the nay-sayers who sharpen his arguments. He indulges his favourites. As happened yesterday, he hears wild hurrahs behind him in the Chamber. He thinks he is immortal. He thinks he can ignore the party in the country.

So it is that the Clarks and Morgans (Miss Rudd is marginally more independent) prosper. They stroke the PMs vanity. They tell him his EU deal is a marvel. As it is  a marvel of underachievement.

If the EU referendum goes badly for Mr Cameron, it may be the Clarks and the Morgans whom he will have to sacrifice to accommodate the Eurosceptic wing of the Tory Party. Yesterdays laughter may become late summers tears.
Theres being early and having a surprise birth, but the arrival of baby Joshua, the fourth child of Sydney couple, Kerri and Anthony Tarabay, might just take the biscuit for the most unexpected and unconventional delivery yet.

The couple, from Guildford in Sydney, had to take super speedy action last week when Kerri started experiencing abdominal pain, with father Anthony helping to deliver Joshua in their Ford Ranger ute on the way to the nearby hospital.

When Kerris stomach started to hurt, she was told to come in for a check-up, calling her husband, Anthony, who then came home from work before hopping into the ute to drive her to Westmead Private Hospital.

Early birth: When Kerri Tarabay (left) experienced labour pains, she had no idea she would give birth so quickly

Hospital visit: She was advised to go to hospital anyway for a check-up and asked her husband to drive her

I'd been having false labour pains through the week, so I didn't think much of it when I woke up with more, she says.

I had six days until my due date so I knew I needed to be on standby, but that morning felt like most others. I got up and took the kids to school and daycare. Someone there said I didn't look very well so I phoned my husband, Tony, and said I thought I was going into labour. He said he would come home and drive me to the hospital.

'We set off at about 10.15am - the hospital is only a 15-minute drive from our house - but the pain was getting worse. I remember saying to him "Babe, drive safely, but get me there quickly, yes?". We were both trying to be as calm as possible.'

Special delivery: Little did dad Tony know that we would deliver the baby in his ute before they got there

Midwife Tony: While the midwife section was left blank, nurses at the hospital call Tony 'midwife Tony' since

However, things didnt quite go as planned when Kerri started having contractions in the front seat next to her husband:

Suddenly I felt that my waters had broken, she says.

Joshua's head was crowning and I could feel him coming out, his shoulders too. I told Tony we were going to have to stop as it became clear that the baby was not going to wait.

Scary experience: Both the couple say it was a scary experience, but they already look back and laugh

The couple pulled over close to a nearby job site where Tony started frantically running around and screaming for an ambulance, but before any professional help could get down, Tony was helping to guide his newborn baby into the world.

It was terrifying when Joshua did eventually come out, Kerri says.

He wasn't breathing. But Tony had seen it before in the hospital with our other kids - my last baby was a slow starter too - so he patted and rubbed Joshua into breathing normally.

Surprise birth: Joshua isn't the couple's first unusual birth - his brother, Joseph, was born in an ambulance

Relief and shock: Kerri says that the experience was so scary that she didn't realise they had a boy at first

Healthy boy: But despite a shaky start, baby Joshua is now more healthy than ever and has put on weight

Tony then ripped off his shirt and wrapped it around their newborn son, before driving Kerri and their baby to Westmead Private Hospital.

'I remember it took at least five minutes for Tony to say "hang on, we've got a boy", says Kerri.

We were both so scared and relieved the baby was okay we hadn't noticed yet!.

When they walked into the hospital, which, during the unconventional delivery was only about 800 metres away, Tony ran inside shirtless and screaming.

I know it sounds dramatic but when a group of five nurses hurried to me outside in the car they were glowing like angels,' Kerri says.

'I felt instantly calmer. When we got inside everyone in the hospital was giving us a standing ovation.'

Great experience: Meanwhile, Kerri says it was an experience and praises her husband's calm nature

Cool under pressure: She says that both of them are naturally calm people and they were lucky

This is not Kerri and Anthony's only unusual delivery - Kerri gave birth to their second child, Joseph, in the back of an ambulance.

I'm just so happy Joshua is alive and healthy, as that's all I prayed for in the weeks leading up to his birth, she says.
A single mother has revealed the lengths she goes to in order to have her son privately educated.

Kelly Rose Bradford, 42, from London agrees with the Good School's Guide editor that parents must be prepared to make 'extraordinary sacrifices' to afford school fees.

Kelly, who admits to being more than 10,000 in debt, neglects maintenance around the home and has even cancelled insurance policies to fund 12-year-old William's education.

Here she tells FEMAIL why she believes the struggle is worthwhile...

Kelly Rose Bradford, 42, from London pays out 20,000 a year for her son, William's education which has left her 10,000 in debt

When the editor of the Good School's Guide, Lord Lucas, told Radio Four's Today programme that parents were prepared to make 'extraordinary sacrifices' to pay for private education last weekend, I couldn't help but mutter 'don't we just'.

I was 20 minutes into a 40 minute dish-washing session whilst listening  standing at the sink for the best part of an hour twice a day having become a ritual over the past 18 months as I cannot afford to get my dishwasher repaired.

Much in the same way I can't get the damp treated in my sitting room, the cracked plaster skimmed on my son's bedroom wall, or indeed his radiator fixed.

Thankfully, my Mother bought him a thicker weight duvet for his bed, so at least he is no longer complaining of being cold every night.

Kelly Rose has had to sacrifice getting the damp treated in her home or her radiator fixed in order to send her child (pictured left and right at two of the establishments he has attended) to private school

And it's entirely because of school fees that I am living this bizarre hand-to-mouth existence, one that finds me scouring the yellow-stickered reduced produce aisles at 9pm in the supermarket, and constantly having to say no to anything that isn't a necessity.

As a single parent with just one income coming in, and the sole payer of my 12-year-old son's circa 20,000 a year education costs, it's fair to say that money isn't just tight, it's practically non-existent.

And all this is despite working full time as a journalist and broadcaster and constantly cutting corners.

Unlike many single parents, I am not in receipt of any state handouts beyond child benefit. We struggle hugely, yet my resolve to keep my son at his all-boys' school in west London never weakens.

William might get heartily fed up with me being constantly attached to my phone or laptop, typing away furiously on a feature, or dragging him out of bed at 4am to accompany me to an early broadcast job, but he knows that if I don't do those things, the private education he has loved and enjoyed since he was four will be over.

When William was just four years old, Kelly and her partner decided to put William in a small prep school near their home and she says he is still enjoying private education eight years on

And for a child who is used to tiny class sizes, strict discipline and a traditional-style education, the thought of him ever having to be schooled by the state fills us both with fear.

I had an appalling time as a child in the state system, with inconsistent teaching, strikes and several changes of school - and it wasn't an experience I was ever prepared to repeat for my own child.

When William was four, myself and my then partner decided on a small prep school near our home.

William flourished academically, and now, eight years on, and in his second year of senior school, continues to love learning and takes his studies very seriously.

Our lifestyle might now be far removed from the early days of his education, where he had two parents and two incomes to support him, but regardless of our finances and family set-up, my belief that private schooling is the only option for him has not changed.

So Lord Lucas's comments about 'sacrifice' more than resonated. Martyr-like as it might sound, it really is the only word that describes what I do to keep William in the style of education he has become accustomed to.

As a result, I can't remember the last time I bought anything for myself or the home, or spent any money frivolously or for fun.

Kelly says that William does have to put up with a lot, including being woken up at 4am in order to accompany her to early broadcasts, but is prepared to live with it in order to pursue his education

Every penny I earn goes on fees, bills and food  and thanks to the precarious nature of my work and constant cash-flow problems, debts and bank charges.

On my last glance (I try not to look too often, and just make a payment as large as I can each month) my credit cards topped the 10,000 mark, thanks to having to put some of my tax bill on them as well as food shopping.

Next month, I will be taking my car off the road when the MOT is due because I know it needs work I will not be able to afford.

Haircuts are done at home, holidays are no longer taken beyond day trips or long weekends to the coast, usually funded by generous friends or as part of work trips, and even our pet insurance and private dental care has been forgone.

And yes, I know I will be accused of complaining about a situation I could easily change by taking my son out of his school, putting him in the local comp and freeing up what for many would be an annual income in itself, but it really is not as simple as that.

I am just not prepared to ruin my only child's education and undo all the good work his independent schooling has so far afforded him just because of money worries.

Kelly says that there is no state school that would give her son the option to study Latin or classics - and she admits that the idea of it fills them both with 'fear'

Where in the state system could he have been studying Latin and Classics for the past eight years? Or benefited from amazing overseas educational trips?

Not to mention the one on one pastoral care he gets from his small school environment, where the term 'family' is used to describe the pupil body.

The way I see it, William will not be at school forever, and I will eventually be able to claw everything back and pay off my debts.

And while it is hugely upsetting to think about spending future inheritances this way, or almost wishing my son's childhood away for a time where I will be money-worry free, I know I am not alone and the scenario is a modern fact of life for many middle class families.

At the end of the day we do just about scrape by  on occasion that has been thanks to hugely-generous donations from my father and other relatives, those who too value the amazing opportunity William's school affords him, and who have helped to keep him there when I just haven't been able to make ends meet because of late payers or having to take time off work through illness.

But as school fees and the general cost of living increases year on year, what 'extraordinary sacrifice' will I have to make next is a question never far from my mind.
There were just three weeks to go until the birth of her first child when Heidi Eldridge set off for a routine midwife's appointment.

It was the 35-year-old administrator's last day at work before maternity leave, and colleagues had organised a leaving party to celebrate her baby's impending arrival.

'I was in a state of ignorant bliss,' says Heidi. 'It never occurred to me anything could be wrong.'

It was just three weeks to go until the birth of her first child when Heidi Eldridge, above, set off for a routine appointment. However, tragedy struck when the midwife failed to find the 35-year-old's baby's heartbeat

But when the midwife failed to detect her baby's heartbeat, Heidi was sent to hospital. There, a scan revealed the worst possible news. The baby boy she was expecting had died inside her.

The shock was indescribable, says Heidi. 'I just kept thinking: 'He's not going to be in his Moses basket or his nursery.'

'I couldn't believe it was happening. This is the 21st century. I didn't think babies died like that any more.'

Heidi is just one of around 2,200 women in the UK each year who suffer stillbirth - a baby born dead after 24 weeks of pregnancy. But her grief was compounded when she later learned that hers might have been avoided if her pregnancy had been better monitored. Sadly, Heidi is by no means alone.

A scan revealed the worst possible news. The baby boy Heidi was expecting had died inside her

A major study published in The Lancet this month claims about 720 of those babies - one in three - could have been saved if their mothers had received better care.

Even more disturbingly, the UK's stillbirth rate of about one in 200 births is one of the worst, ranking 21st out of 35 of the world's wealthiest nations, behind countries including Poland, Croatia and Slovakia.

Study leader Professor Joy Lawn, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, is outspoken on the failings of our antenatal care: 'These parents should not be grieving in silence. The message is loud and clear - shockingly slow progress on stillbirths is unacceptable.'

While the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has admitted there is still 'much to be done', for women like Heidi, who had to give birth to her son Aidan knowing he was no longer alive, these disturbing statistics translate into a heart-rending ordeal.

She describes the overwhelming grief that she and her husband Steve, 38, a civil servant, faced as their lifeless son was placed in their arms on May 15, 2009, and the trauma of returning to the empty nursery at their home in New Haw, Surrey. They had held Aidan for just 30 minutes.

'The silence of his birth will always stay with us,' she says. 'We left the hospital surrounded by parents carrying their new babies. And then a few days later my milk came in and I had no baby to feed. The pain is beyond anything you can imagine. You never get over it.'

Three months later, the couple's grief was compounded by the results of a post-mortem examination at St Peter's Hospital in Chertsey, Surrey.

Aidan's death was marked as 'unexplained', although tests showed he had suffered hypoxia and the placenta had failed, meaning it had stopped delivering enough food and oxygen to him.

'They didn't know why it had failed,' says Heidi. 'The consultant told us it was 'one of those things'.'

The same glib explanation was given to Nicole Regan-White, a 31-year-old City worker, and her husband Aaron, a geography teacher from Beckenham, Kent.

Her 'textbook' pregnancy ended on Christmas Eve 2013 after she went into labour at 41 weeks.

At the Princess Royal University Hospital in Orpington, Kent, a midwife struggled to hear her baby's heartbeat.

'I didn't think much of it at first,' says Nicole. 'It had often taken a few minutes to find her heartbeat. Then suddenly the room was full of doctors and midwives and they hooked me up to a 3-D scanner.

'I could see she wasn't moving and that her heart wasn't beating. I remember putting my hands up to my face and the doctor saying to me: 'I'm sorry for your loss but your baby has died.'

'It didn't seem real. Aaron and I just held each other and sobbed.

A study published in The Lancet this month claims about one in three still born babies could have been saved if their mothers had received better care. Heidi Eldridge's son Aidan was stillborn at 37 weeks of pregnancy in 2009. She has since had two more children, above, Tilly, 2, and Tobiah, 5. Left: When pregnant with Aidan

'I was frightened about having to give birth to her, but I saw it as my way of paying tribute to her.'

Nicole gave birth at 10.45pm. A midwife briefly took Jessica away to clean her and dress her in one of the outfits Nicole had bought.

'She was beautiful,' says Nicole. 'We only had two hours with her and we couldn't take our eyes off her. We were just looking at her fingers and toes, trying to create enough memories to last a lifetime.

Like Heidi, right, Nicole Regan-White, left, a 31-year-old City worker, went into labour on Christmas Eve 2013 at 41 weeks, but there was no heart beat. It was ruled that Nicole's placenta had failed. The UK's stillbirth rate is one of the worst, ranking 21st out of 35 of the world's wealthiest nations, behind countries including Poland

'A hospital chaplain came to bless Jessica. Then she was taken away and we never saw her again.'

A post-mortem concluded that Jessica's death was 'inconclusive'.

'It was as if nothing could have been done,' says Nicole. 'All I could do was blame myself.'

In fact, better care could save hundreds of babies' lives each year, with an audit published last November after a UK-wide study of stillbirths finding that many were caused by failings in monitoring and treatment.

'It was as if nothing could have been done,' says Nicole, left, 'All I could do was blame myself'. Nicole's daughter Jessica was stillborn. She is pictured right at 39 months pregant with baby Jessica. She has since had a son called Tristan born a year to the day of Jessica's death

It found national guidance for monitoring unborn babies was not followed in two thirds of cases, and that problems with the placenta - a common cause of stillbirth - were frequently missed.

According to obstetrician Professor Jason Gardosi, director of the Perinatal Institute in Birmingham, there is still a 'conspiracy of silence' around stillbirth.

'Many cases are not examined thoroughly enough and valuable lessons are not learned,' he says.

Left: Jessica's hand and foot prints. An audit published last November after a UK-wide study of stillbirths finding that many were caused by failings in monitoring and treatment

Professor Gardosi adds the answer to reducing the UK's shameful stillbirth rate is 'not rocket science'. While not all stillbirths are avoidable, the key lies in effective monitoring. One of the easiest ways to detect all is not well with a pregnancy is a lack of growth.

'If this is detected, something can be done about it,' says Professor Gardosi. 'The baby can be delivered before it comes to harm. Evidence shows that most babies who die because of growth restriction are dying when they are already mature, often in the last few weeks of pregnancy.

'But growth restriction is still not being detected in many cases.'

Clearly our antenatal system isn't working

This was certainly true for both Heidi and Nicole. Heidi's son Aidan weighed 5lb when he was born at 37 weeks - which was small for his gestational age. This wasn't picked up, even though at 16 weeks Heidi had been diagnosed with gestational diabetes, a condition that increases the likelihood of stillbirth and should have meant she was treated as a high-risk pregnancy.

'I wasn't offered any extra scans,' she says. 'I was told by the midwives that I didn't need to worry.'

Similarly, Nicole's daughter Jessica weighed 5lb 10oz - also below average weight. An extra scan at 32 weeks, when doctors suspected the placenta might be blocking the birth canal, revealed that while Jessica's size was still within normal parameters, her growth rate had slowed. Yet no one picked up on this.

'Clearly our antenatal system isn't working,' says Nicole.

Michelle's baby son Louie was stillborn and last November she won a legal battle against Northampton Hospital who finally admitted 19 failings which resulted in his death

A spokesman for King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust told the Mail that staff were 'deeply sympathetic to her (Nicole) for the loss of her child'.

He added: 'For women who have restricted growth confirmed during pregnancy, we initiate additional observations, including ultrasound scans, alongside routine monitoring.'

Professor Gardosi claims regular monitoring of a baby's size is needed to save lives. 'One-off scans don't work,' he says. 'The only way to reliably detect growth restriction is by sequentially measuring the growth of the baby until it is born. This should be done with a tape measure for low-risk mothers and by scans in high-risk pregnancies.

'And the measurements ought to be recorded on individual charts. Only then can you spot problems and intervene before it's too late.'

In 2013, he set up the Growth Assisted Protocol (GAP), a scheme that has already been adopted by 73 per cent of UK hospital trusts and health boards.

Costing hospital trusts just 50p per pregnancy, the scheme involves training staff in the use of personalised growth charts for mothers-to-be, taking into account factors such as height, weight and ethnicity, as well as a standardised method of measuring the fundal height of the baby - the size of the mother's 'bump' - with a tape measure at every check-up.

Mothers with high-risk pregnancies, meanwhile, should be scanned more regularly.

The award-winning GAP scheme has already resulted in a significant improvement in detection rates.

In the West Midlands, where it was first adopted, stillbirths have fallen by 22 per cent. Other health regions following the scheme have recorded their lowest ever levels of stillbirth. While it is estimated that GAP is already saving 500 babies' lives each year, Professor Gardosi says he wants to see that number doubled.

'Better monitoring of growth saves lives,' he says, 'and the extra cost is minimal. There's no excuse.'

Yet with about 11 stillbirths every day in the UK, when things do go wrong, mothers are still often given the impression that their babies' deaths were somehow unavoidable.

To make matters worse, stillbirths are only investigated by the hospital where they occur. Such deaths do not fall under the jurisdiction of coroners, so no inquest is held.

This was a problem Michelle Hemmington, 38, encountered after the death of her son Louie in May 2011. He was pronounced dead 30 minutes after his birth at Northampton General Hospital and later declared 'stillborn', so the only investigation into his death was by the hospital.

Having had a normal pregnancy before going into labour when she was nine days overdue, council worker Michelle and her partner Paul Buckley, a design teacher, refused to let the matter lie.

Her labour had been long and difficult. When her baby became distressed, she asked three times for a Caesarean in vain before a midwife performed an episiotomy [a surgical incision between the vaginal wall and perineum] to help the baby out. Louie was placed briefly on Michelle's stomach before pandemonium broke out.

'They took him off to resuscitate him behind a curtain,' says Michelle. 'Then after about half an hour a doctor said: 'Your son has died. If we'd continued, he'd be brain-dead.'

Michelle Hemmington, 38, endured the death of her son Louie in May 2011. He was pronounced dead 30 minutes after his birth at Northampton General Hospital and later declared 'stillborn'. Stillbirths are investigated by the hospital and do not fall under the jurisdiction of coroners, so no inquest is held

A post-mortem revealed lack of oxygen to the brain as the cause of death. Michelle says she and Paul were told their son's death was simply 'one of those things'.

'We still couldn't understand how it could have happened to a healthy baby boy,' she says.

In the end, the only way they could get answers was to take legal action. This month, the NHS trust finally admitted liability for the death.

Michelle, who went on to have a baby daughter, Lulah, now three, has set up Campaign for Safer Births, a group calling for improvements in maternity services, inquests for stillbirths, and birth and death certificates for stillborn babies.

LOST LIVES Only one stillborn baby in ten has a congenital defect that means he or she could not survive Advertisement

'Louie shouldn't have died and the same mistakes are happening over and over again,' she says.

Professor Gardosi believes there is now hope on the horizon.

'Over the past four years, the UK stillbirth rate has dropped at its fastest rate ever thanks to the hospital trusts that have taken up the GAP scheme,' he says.

The scheme has now been adopted by the three trusts where Heidi, Nicole and Michelle gave birth.

At St Peter's Hospital in Chertsey, where Heidi had Aidan, the GAP scheme was implemented a year ago. 'All midwives, obstetricians and sonographers are fully trained on the programme,' says spokeswoman Jane Urben.

A year to the day after Jessica's death, Nicole gave birth to a baby boy, Tristan, now 13 months old. 'I love Tristan,' she says, 'but there is always a tiny part of me holding back because my heart is broken.'

Heidi, above, now a mother to three-year-old Tobiah and Tilly, two, runs a charity called MAMA Academy. The group is asking all UK NHS trusts and health boards to sign up to the Perinatal Institute's GAP programme, and provides 'wellbeing wallets' to expectant mothers. Every year, the Eldridge family mark Aidan's birthday with a trip to Legoland or a party at home

Heidi, now a mother to three-year-old Tobiah and Tilly, two, runs a charity called MAMA Academy. The group is asking all UK NHS trusts and health boards to sign up to the Perinatal Institute's GAP programme, and provides 'wellbeing wallets' to expectant mothers.

Every year, the Eldridge family mark Aidan's birthday with a trip to Legoland or a party at home.

'I think a lot about the milestones I am missing,' says Heidi. 'His first steps. His first day at school. I will never see him get married.
Every time Natasha Vigille sips a glass of cold water, she winces in agony. Its the price shes paying for years of diligent brushing of her teeth.

For Natasha, like millions, loved the fresh, smooth feeling a blast with a powerful electric toothbrush gave her. So much so, that she wore away the protective layer of her tooth enamel, and exposed the sensitive root, with inevitable, painful consequences.

Natasha, a 40-year-old carer, was swayed into swapping her manual brush for an electric three years ago.

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Electric toothbrushes wear away the protective layer of her tooth enamel, and expose the sensitive root, with inevitable, painful consequences. Dentists say that people are brushing too hard and fast with them and its causing damage. They advise returning to old-fashioned, manual brushing (stock image)

I was caring for a lady with cerebral palsy at the time and used to watch her clean her teeth, and it looked amazing, recalls Natasha. An electric toothbrush seemed to clean her teeth thoroughly with hardly any effort.

Natasha bought one and started using it twice daily. After a year, however, she started noticing alarming changes.

On my bottom front teeth, my gums were noticeably receding, she says. This was when the sensitivity started, too. Whenever I drank anything very hot or cold, it hurt so much my eyes would water.

She assumed a cavity or abscess was to blame - even though shed always prided herself on her perfect teeth.

The dentists diagnosis came as a shock. She blamed my electric toothbrush, says Natasha, from London. I am a fastidious brusher and the dentist said it was likely I was over-brushing: using the brush too vigorously or brushing for longer than two minutes.

Enamel fillers, inserted into the depleted areas of her teeth, and costing 50, were her only option. It was the first time Natasha ever had to have a filling and she was understandably upset.

Natashas story is not uncommon and marks a rise in the backlash against the use of electric toothbrushes, which have become more powerful over the years.

Some now provide up to 8,800 oscillations per minute and theyre getting more expensive, too, with devotees paying up to 170 for them. As a result, more and more dentists are advising a return to old-fashioned, manual brushing.

Im seeing an increasing number of patients with abrasion cavities and gum problems after using these powerful electric gadgets in the wrong way, says Dr Beeta Salek-Haddadi, a cosmetic dentist at Smile Solutions in London.

People are brushing too hard and fast with them and its causing damage.

Invented in Switzerland in 1954 by Dr Philippe-Guy Woog, the electric toothbrush was hailed as a great innovation.

Not only were they more efficient at removing plaque, dentists said they could also reduce incidents of gingivitis - an inflammation of the gums that can lead to tooth loss - by more than 17 per cent in three months.

But not everyone was convinced. A study published in the Journal of Clinical Periodontology as far back as 2003 was already highlighting problems with electric brushes, claiming it was practically impossible for the average person to be able to tell if they were applying too much pressure.

Consequently, dentists started seeing patients with permanently damaged teeth enamel and gum recession.

Dr Sameer Patel, clinical director at Elleven Dental in London, says that its not the electric toothbrushes that cause the damage, but the way people use them. Hardly anyone uses them correctly, he says. Youre meant to hold it next to the tooth surface, angling the brush towards the gums at a 45-degree angle' (stock image)

If Martha Davis, 24, had known this, she would have reconsidered putting an electric toothbrush on her Christmas list in 2013.

For three months later, she was experiencing some alarming problems with her teeth. My gums started to bleed as I was brushing and often Id be spitting out bloody water into the sink, says the full-time mother-of-one from Margate, Kent. My teeth would ache after brushing, too, and I could feel my fillings shaking as I used the brush.

Eventually, they started to come loose, then in the space of one week all the fillings fell out one after the other. I was convinced I was brushing my teeth properly and brushing morning and night.

Martha went to see her dentist, who replaced the fillings and suggested she swap to a manual toothbrush for a while until things calmed down. But Martha decided to make the switch permanent.

My teeth would ache after brushing, too, and I could feel my fillings shaking as I used the brush

It was obvious there was a connection between the electric toothbrush and the damage in my mouth, she says. The bleeding has stopped and my teeth dont ache any more. The electric toothbrush was obviously far too vigorous for me and I wont be going back.

Dr Sameer Patel, clinical director at Elleven Dental in London, suggests its not the electric toothbrushes that cause the damage, but the way people use them.

Hardly anyone uses them correctly, he says. Youre meant to hold it next to the tooth surface, angling the brush towards the gums at a 45-degree angle.

But most people use it like a manual toothbrush and will furiously move it across the teeth themselves, causing the enamel to thin out and the gum to be pushed down, making it more sensitive.

And once enamel has gone, its gone for ever. It cant repair or regrow, adds Dr Salek-Haddidi. We have to use fillers or reposition the gum, which can be costly and uncomfortable.

The way forward, she believes, is either re-learning the proper brushing technique with the help of a dental hygienist or returning to manual brushing using softer brushes, which bend on contact and can easily get into the grooves between tooth and gum.

When you select your manual toothbrush, look for a one with very soft bristles, explains dental hygienist Edith Maurer Bussink.

A study published in the Journal of Clinical Periodontology as far back as 2003 was already highlighting problems with electric brushes, claiming it was practically impossible for the average person to be able to tell if they were applying too much pressure. They should be held next to the tooth angled towards the gums

The most common mistake people make when brushing their teeth is to choose a medium or hard-bristled toothbrush, and then apply a large amount of pressure on to the teeth and gums, which leads to enamel erosion and receding gums.

Also, people often brush their teeth right after eating - when theres a lot of acid in the mouth, which intensifies erosion.

According to Bussink, the best way to clean your teeth is to use as little pressure as possible, and to move your brush in small circular movements at a slight angle, half on the gum and half on the tooth.

Cleaning the gum line is vital, as bacteria accumulates here and form deposits, she says.

Children, in particular, should never be given an electric toothbrush, warns Dr Salek-Haddidi.

It would like be giving your child a calculator instead of letting them learn how to do sums from scratch, she says. Theyd never know how to brush their teeth properly if they didnt use a manual brush.

If, as an adult, you are still wedded to the idea of an electric toothbrush, Dr Patel and Dr Salek-Haddidi agree that a sonic version is your best bet.

Though pricier, around 100, they use vibration to buff teeth and force toothpaste between them. They also have a pressure sensor which beeps if you overdo it.

Natasha, meanwhile, has given up using her electric toothbrush for good.
School gate stereotypes have been at the centre of countless arguments, friendships and jokes for years - from the super mum and the gossips, to the dreamy single dad and glamour mum.

But one fed up mother has detailed a number of the common stereotypes created by parents, and says the judgement finally needs to stop.

'Its the Lorna Jane gym mum, the immaculate yummy mummy, the overly involved P&C mum, the stressed working mum and the slummy mummy with a two year old on her hip wearing stained yoga pants (with no intention of going to yoga),' Robyna May wrote for Australian parenting website Mumtastic.

Stereotypical? School gate stereotypes have been at the centre of countless arguments, friendships and jokes for years - from the super mum and the gossip to the dreamy single dad and glamour mum

'Its the Lorna Jane gym mum, the immaculate yummy mummy, the overly involved P&C mum': One fed up mother, Robyna May, has detailed a number of the common stereotypes created by parents and says the judgement needs to stop

WHAT ARE THE SCHOOL GATE STEREOTYPES? The overly-involved P&C mum

The Lorna Jane gym mum

The immaculate yummy mummy

The slummy mummy

The stressed working mum Advertisement

The 36-year-old mother-of-two, from Brisbane, Queensland, has noticed a lack of more realistic stereotypes highlighted in blogs and online quizzes.

'I look around for the sleep-deprived, not sure what shes doing, loves her kids more than anything, is just trying to do her best option but it doesnt exist,' she said.

'Truth is I could be any one of those mums depending on the day.

'Truth is I have never met a single person at the school gate that fits into one of those boxes.'

Any could relate: 'I look around for the sleep-deprived, not sure what shes doing, loves her kids more than anything, is just trying to do her best option but it doesnt exist,' Ms May said

Controversy: In January, mother Karen Routh (pictured), 49, attended her child's school dressed in red snowflake pyjamas in protest after the head demanded mothers stop wearing pyjamas for drop-off

Robyna May founded the blog Mummy and the Minx

'And by person I mean the mums, the dads, the aunts, the uncles, the baby-sitters, the nannies, the older siblings, the friends and the grandparents that are at the school gate every morning and afternoon.'

Ms May told Daily Mail Australia that she was inspired to write the post after seeing a number of posts on 'the types of mothers to avoid at the school gate' after the start of the new school year.

'My experience doesn't reflect that and often I think your view on others is triggered by how you view yourself and issues with insecurities,' Ms May said.

'Once you make the effort to get to know someone beyond that original first impression you realise there is so much more to them...at the end of the day we are all in the same boat.'

Look deeper: 'Once you make the effort to get to know someone beyond that original first impression you realise there is so much more to them,' Ms May (pictured) said

'We all laugh at the stereotypes but they don't reflect reality and at the core we all want the best for our child and the best for them is that we have a great, supportive school community.'

Ms May explained that at her kids' school, many parents are always willing to help her out, loan hats and support each other and revealed that stereotypical labels are laughed at and often challenged.

'The late mum arrives breathless and embarrassed, announcing themselves the worst mother ever. Then everyone laughs and challenges the title,' Ms May wrote.

'There is community and camaraderie  rather than cliques and stereotypes.'

Women shared their support of the post on social media, with many relating to the stereotypes and opinion shared by Ms May.

Stand together: 'We all laugh at the stereotypes but they don't reflect reality and at the core we all want the best for our child and the best for them is that we have a great, supportive school community,' Ms May said

What to wear? Ms May said that while she believes there's nothing wrong with donning a tracksuit for the school run, pyjamas is perhaps too far

'Fab, couldn't agree more! I've been very lucky to have met a great set of mums over the last year and all of us are 'doing our daily best' and no one is ever just a stereotype,' one woman wrote.

'Absolutely! We're all in the same boat, some of us just remember both paddles one day, forget them the next or trying to fix a hole in the bottom on another,' said another.

In January, the head of a school in Darlington, UK, asked parents to 'dress properly' after noticing a number of mothers dropping their children off in pyjamas.

In protest, mother Karen Routh, 49, defied the letter and attended the school dressed in red snowflake pyjamas.

'I love clothes and love to dress up': Ms May said that while tracksuits are fine, pyjamas could be misleading to children who are taught to dress nicely and wear a uniform to attend school

Ms Routh said it didn't matter what parents chose to wear on the school run, it was about getting your child to school on time.

Ms May said that while she believes there's nothing wrong with donning a tracksuit for the school run, pyjamas is perhaps too far.

'I love clothes and I love to dress up as I believe what you wear is an expression of creativity but if some women want to wear trackies then hey, nothing wrong with that at all,' she said.

'That said, part of school is instilling in children how to behave in public and to wear a uniform and to represent the school in a positive light.'
Ivanka Trump has had a busy few days helping her dad Donald secure a victory in the New Hampshire primary, but that hasn't stopped her from enjoying her final few weeks of pregnancy - or from celebrating her blooming baby bump.

The 34-year-old shared an image of herself on Instagram, taken during an office photoshoot, in which she can be seen with her body turned side-on to the camera, while she hugs her baby bump in both hands in order to showcase it full effect.

'I crashed a shoot taking place in our office this week for our new apparel collection and my team snapped me walking past the set,' she wrote alongside the picture. 'Wow, has this bump popped!'

Pop! Ivanka Trump shared this image of herself on Instagram on Wednesday afternoon, noting just how much her baby bump has 'popped' in the last few weeks

Something he said: The 34-year-old, who is due in a matter of weeks, has been helping her father Donald with his presidential campaign and was by his side during the New Hampshire primary this week

She added: 'Baby no 3 will be here so soon - I cannot wait!'

Ivanka, who is currently expecting her third child with husband Jared Kushner, also 34, has no doubt had little time to stop and think about the upcoming arrival of her newborn, as she has been busy campaigning alongside her father during the lead-up to his victorious run in the New Hampshire primary.

Although she is just weeks away from her due date, the soon-to-be mother-of-three braved the elements on Monday and took the family's private jet to snowy New Hampshire where she attended her father's rally in Manchester.

The blonde beauty took to Instagram after her arrival to share a photo of herself looking chic in a navy winter coat and black boots despite the blustery weather.

'Hello New Hampshire! I'm so excited to be here!' she captioned the image, which sees her standing on an airstrip in front of several private planes.

And soon she was hitting the campaign trail with her family. During her father's event, Ivanka was proudly holding her baby bump as she watched her father address the crowd.

She later posted a photo of herself with Jared, her father, her stepmother Melania, her brothers Donald Trump Jr. and Eric, and their respective wives Vanessa and Lara Yunaska at a restaurant for dinner after the rally.

Doting daughter: On Tuesday night, Ivanka visited her father Donald's campaign headquarters in Manchester, New Hampshire ahead of primaries

Proud parent: After winning the New Hampshire primary, Donald thanked Ivanka, who made seven campaign stops despite being eight months pregnant

Celebrations: Ivanka shared this picture of her and her husband Jared Kusner at a New Hampshire diner on Tuesday night. She was also with brothers Donald Jr. and Eric, and their wives, Vanessa and Lara

'Enjoyed a wonderful family dinner tonight in New Hampshire. What a great way to end an exciting day!' she wrote.

It was thought that Ivanka and Jared's daughter Arabella and son Joseph, two, likely stayed in New York City while their parents are busy supporting their grandfather.

Ivanka made seven campaign stops ahead of Tuesday's primary, traveling to New Hampshire even though she is eight months pregnant. And after it was revealed that Donald had won the New Hampshire primarily, Ivanka proudly stoon on stage with her dad during his victory speech, in which he thanked Ivanka and the rest of his family.

The former model looked radiant in a long-sleeve black dress featuring a cream floral print, and later that night she and her siblings headed to a diner in New Hamsphire before they flew back to New York.

'Ending an exciting day with my siblings at the Airport Diner! #nh,' she captioned a photo of her and her husband joined by her brother's Donald Trump Jr. and Eric and their respective wives Vanessa and Lara Yunaska.

After she arrived home, the businesswoman shared a belated Chinese New Year message with her Instagram followers courtesy of her four-year-old daughter Arabella, who has been speaking Mandarin since she was a toddler.

On Wednesday morning Ivanka shared a short video of her little girl wearing a red Chinese-embroidered dress as she sings a poem in Mandarin. The clip was filmed on Sunday, the day before the start of the Year of the Monkey, which lasts until January 27, 2017.

Multi-cultural family: Ivanka also shared this adorable video of her four-year-old daughter Arabella singing in Mandarin to celebrate the Chinese New Year on Wednesday

Bedtime! Ivanka shared this heartwarming photo of herself cuddling with Arabella and her two-year-old son Joseph during story time last Thursday

Family of five: Ivanka, who is pictured with her husband and their children at the Trump Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, is expecting her third child in early spring

'Arabella wanted to have a pre-bedtime #ChineseNewYear party this past Sunday evening,' Ivanka captioned the video. 'She got all dressed up and performed songs and poems for Jared, Joseph and me.'

'It was pretty adorable #yearofthemonkey#happyChineseNewYear,' she added.

In the short clip, Arabella can be see standing on the coffee table in front of the Chinese New Year decorations hanging from the windows behind her.

Last week, however, the businesswoman was able to spend some valuable time at home with children, who happily cuddled their mother's growing baby bump during story time last Thursday.

Ivanka shared a sweet photo herself sitting in Arabella's bed with her arms wrapped around both of her children.

The next morning the children were photographed staring outside the window of their New York City apartment in awe as they watched snowflakes fall from the sky.

'Waking up to snow!' Ivanka captioned the sweet photo of Joseph watching his big sister as she pointed out the window.

And while Ivanka appears to have her work-life balance figured out, she admitted that she is concerned about dividing her attention between three children when her new baby is born this spring.

'I have such special bonds with Arabella and Joseph,' she explained to The Tot. 'Naturally, I worried about this when Joseph was born as well, and I know Ill learn to navigate this again with the new baby.'
Citizens and judicial candidates turned out Feb. 8 for Decision 2016, a Jefferson County Judicial Candidate Forum co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Greater Birmingham and Upsilon Eta Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.

All 2016 Jefferson County judicial candidates, those on both the Primary and General Election ballots, were invited; and a solid majority of the candidates were present.

In standing room only at the Birmingham Public Central Library Auditorium in downtown Birmingham, citizens came in windy, below freezing temperature, to hear what judicial candidates had to say.

Voters were eager to hear the candidates' views and learn their background. League moderators Ida Tyree Hyche and Yvonne Brakefield asked questions that are appropriate for judicial candidates, questions that do not violate the Alabama Canons of Judicial Ethics.

The questions were "How have your training, legal experience, and interests prepared you to serve as circuit/district judge?" and "What do you consider the three most important attributes of a judge? "Voters met with candidates one-on-one following the forum and asked their own questions. The "empty chair" candidates, though not allowed to answer the questions, were able to greet the citizens and speak with interested citizens one on one outside the Forum assembly room.

The Birmingham League provided each citizen a compilation of candidates' short biographical summaries in the form of a Decision 2016 booklet. The booklet, titled "Decision 2016 A Jefferson County Judicial Candidate Forum," is available on the League's website at www.lwvgb.org.

Birmingham League President Tyree-Hyche, Esq. stated, "The way in which a judge interprets the law and the decisions they make influence our daily lives, and yet many do not know enough about these candidates. We do not advocate or oppose any political candidate or party. Our purpose is to increase citizen interest and involvement in judicial elections. We want the voters of Jefferson County to be informed about the candidates' experience and qualifications and to give the voters some insight on the judicial demeanor that each candidate would bring to the bench."

Opportunities to register to vote or change registration information were provided at the forum.

Rachel Lindley, WBHM 90.3 FM news director, was present at the forum to record the proceedings and interview candidates. Be sure to tune in to WBHM to hear more about the forum. Depending on the recording sound quality, excerpts may be broadcast.

The League of Women Voters of Greater Birmingham and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Upsilon Eta Omega Chapter extend special appreciation Angela Fisher Hall, Director, Birmingham Public Library System for use of the library auditorium, an excellent venue for the event, and for the library's full support of this public service.

The League of Women Voters is a citizens' organization that has fought since 1920 to improve our government and engage all citizens in the decisions that impact their lives. It operates at national, state and local levels through more than 800 state and local Leagues, in all 50 states as well as Washington, D.C., the Virgin Islands and Hong Kong.

Formed from the movement that secured the right to vote for women, the centerpiece of the League's efforts remain to expand participation and give a voice to all Americans. The League of Women Voters does this at all three levels of government, engaging in both broad educational efforts as well as advocacy. The League's issues are grounded in our respected history of making democracy work for all citizens.

For more information about the League of Women Voters of Greater Birmingham, visit their website at www.lwvgb.org.

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated is an international service organization that was founded on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C. in 1908. It is the oldest Greek-letter organization established by African-American college-educated women. Alpha Kappa Alpha is comprised of more than 293,000 members in approximately 993 graduate and undergraduate chapters in the United States, Liberia, the Bahamas, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Germany, South Korea, Bermuda, Japan, Canada, and South Africa. Led by International President Dorothy Buckhanan Wilson, Alpha Kappa Alpha is often hailed as "America's premier Greek-letter organization for African-American women."

For more information on Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and its programs, log onto www.aka1908.com.
Crown Princess Mary and Prince Frederik stole the show at the annual Danmarks Indsamling [National Collection], a charity telethon to raise money to end poverty.

The royal couple attended the five-hour live event and concert at Tivoli Concert Hall in Copenhagen, Denmark, and participated in the event wholeheartedly.

The 44-year-old Princess was the picture of elegance at the event, donning a sheer black lace Julie Fagerholt blouse and black suit as she chatted to and sat amongst the celebrities and guests taking phone calls.

In the spotlight: Crown Princess Mary and Prince Frederik recently stole the show at the annual Danmarks Indsamling (National Collection), a charity telethon to raise money for poverty

Involved: The 44-year-old Princess was the picture of elegance at the event, donning a sheer black lace Julie Fagerholt blouse and black suit as she chatted to and sat amongst the celebrities and guests taking phone calls

Passionate: The royal couple attended the five-hour live event and concert at Tivoli Concert Hall in Copenhagen, Denmark, and participated in the event wholeheartedly, with Prince Frederik even taking calls

The Australian-born beauty also wore the stunning blouse and a similar suit in November, when she attended the Ultra Gala Show in Denmark.

Mary was snapped laughing and engaging in conversation with a number of guests and celebrities at the event - the funds raised going towards the UN's development goals which are very strongly supported by Princess Mary through her work with Women Deliver.

The Princess, who wore soft curls and neutral make up for the occasion, was also seen chatting to and hugging her good friend TV host and Danish model, Caroline Fleming, who was taking calls.

Engaged: Mary was snapped laughing and engaging in conversation with a number of guests and celebrities at the event

Class: The 44-year-old Princess was the picture of elegance at the event, donning a sheer black lace Julie Fagerholt blouse and black suit

Good friends: The Princess, who wore soft curls and neutral make up for the occasion, was also seen chatting to and hugging her good friend TV host and Danish model, Caroline Fleming, who was taking calls

An animated Prince Frederik went far beyond a generous donation to the cause and was pictured grinning and mingling with attendees before jumping in a taking a phone call himself.

Dressed in a bright blue suit and smart black tie, the 47-year-old donned a headset, crouched beside one of the attendees and chatted to the caller, who was ringing to donate.

The active Prince took a genuine interest in the event and was also seen asking questions to various guests, greeting people and spent time listening to the stories of many people.

Animated: An animated Prince Frederik went far beyond a generous donation to the cause and was pictured grinning and mingling with attendees before jumping in a taking a phone call himself

Here to help: Dressed in a bright blue suit and smart black tie, the 47-year-old donned a headset, crouched beside one of the attendees and chatted to the caller, who was ringing to donate

All about charity: As one of the biggest fundraising projects in Denmark, the couple showed their generosity and commitment to charity by donating funds to the cause, which go towards alleviating poverty, infant deaths and medical care

As one of the biggest fundraising projects in Denmark, the couple showed their generosity and commitment to charity by donating funds to the cause, which go towards alleviating poverty, infant deaths and medical care.

The funds will also go towards widespread access to drinking water in schools.
Prince Harrys ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy has found her true calling after quitting her law job for a career with more sparkle.

The 30-year-old Zimbabwean blonde, who left top City law firm Allen & Overy in 2014, will launch her ethically sourced jewellery line, Aya Africa, this year.

The items, made from African emeralds, will be sold at Chelsea lifestyle boutique Baar and Bass.

Chelsy has been really committed to this, says a friend. She spent a long time in Zambia learning about the mining process and the history of the emeralds.

Sparkle: Prince Harry's ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy has quit her job in law to launch an ethically sourced jewellery line

'Shes really excited to launch it because it means a lot to her.

Shes been working with schools and local communities in South Africa, as a lot of the money she makes from sales will go there.

Move over, Kate! Leggy Lottie leads fashion set

PICK OF THE PARTIES

OCCASION

Opening of Vogue 100: A Century Of Style, hosted by British Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman and designer Leon Max at the National Portrait Gallery.

Among the guests were Elizabeth Hurley, Earl Spencer, Ben Goldsmith and his wife Jemima, photographer Mario Testino and model Jerry Hall.

Celeb-spotting: Yasmin and Simon Le Bon (left) and Lottie Moss (right) attend the opening of Vogue 100: A Century of Style at the National Portrait Gallery

SARTORIAL U-TURN

Sophie Dahl has given up fur. She tells me: This jacket [pictured right] is faux-fur 1975 Marks & Spencer. Im not a fur-wearer any more. I love animals and it just doesnt seem right now to wear it.

LEAST STYLE SAVVY

Former BBC creative director Alan Yentob showed off his trainers. Ive never been in the list of best-dressed men. I like comfortable clothes. Lately, Ive been wearing what others might call pyjamas, but I wouldnt call them that. Theyre just very comfy clothes.

NEW MAN

Instead of her husband, Benedict Cumberbatch, Sophie Hunter arrived with another dashing escort, Nicholas Drake. Hes my stylist. He helps me look good, she said, wearing Erdem.

Suki Waterhouse arrives at the fashionable event, while Sophie Dahl and Jamie Cullum pose for a picture

NO MAN?

Presenter Donna Air, girlfriend of Kate Middletons brother James, said: I dont dress for a man, or for other women  I dress for myself!

BIGGEST PARTIER

Erin OConnor was also celebrating her 38th birthday. Proving models do eat, she added: I got a hedgehog cake from my parents. Its a family tradition and it was received very well.

Will Smith may regret expressing an interest in visiting Butlins. The actor was mesmerised when fellow Graham Norton Show guest Catherine Zeta-Jones recalled her experience as a finalist in a talent contest at Butlins Minehead resort in 1979. If you can find me a nice place, Id definitely come and visit, promised Smith. Butlins MD Dermot King says: We can always find a nice place for Will.

Interviews were held yesterday for the post of Political Editor at the BBCs flagship current affairs programme, Newsnight, but will the successful candidate be second choice?
Not every little girl dreams of growing up to marry a prince, wear a tiara, and live 'happily ever after' in a castle - particularly not Princess Marie of Denmark, who did just that.

But the Prince Joachim, 46, who married Princess Marie in 2008, has spoken of their fateful first encounter and how - despite being married himself - the pair bonded by chance at a dinner party.

Speaking to Hello! magazine, the royal, who was married to Alexandra Manley, Countess of Frederiksborg, explained that his first encounter with Princess Marie was 'pure coincidence'.

Prince Joachim of Denmark reveals how he and Princess Marie bonded 'by pure coincidence' at a dinner party when he was still married to his first wife

Prince Joachim, who has two sons with his ex-wife, recalled: 'I was married at the time. But because we happened to be the only two French-speaking people at the dinner, our host seated us next to each other.

'And as Marie had never been to Denmark it was fun to talk to her. Our romance, however, started much later.'

The loved-up Prince went on to hail his wife, with whom he has two children, as 'extremely attractive' and that there is 'something very profound' about her.

The royal also explained that he and Princess Marie try to give their young children a normal upbringing and aim to ensure that they never feel too different to other children.

Now married to Joachim since May of 2008, she has two children, Prince Henrik and Princess Athena, pictured, and two step-children, Princes Nikolai and Felix

Prince Joachim of Denmark and Princess Marie of Denmark, Countess of Monpezat, pictured after they got married at the Mogeltonder church on May 24, 2008 in Mogeltonder, Denmark

Princess Marie, who lives with her husband in Schackenborg Castle recently admitted she was actually quite hesitant to get involved with the royal back when they were dating, and definitely wasn't looking for a fairy tale.

'I had a great life - I didn't need to be rescued by some prince from Denmark,' she told the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, according to People.

That isn't to say that she wasn't interested in Joachim when they met at a party thrown by mutual friends, or when they were seen vacationing together in Avignon, France in 2005.

Marie, who was born to a wealthy family in Paris, fell for the recently-divorced royal, but didn't love the idea of getting caught up in his world.

A self-sufficient woman, Marie had held jobs in PR and advertising before landing a gig as an executive secretary in ING Numismatic Group SA, where she worked until her engagement to Joachim.

'There was no doubt in my heart that I loved him, but I had my life. I was happy, and I had my pride. I simply was not ready to get married and take on the responsibility it would be to become part of the royal family,' she said.

The 40-year-old had a career and independent life, but suddenly found herself getting unwanted attention

By the time Joachim popped the question in 2007, though, she had apparently decided that it was worth it, after all. She now calls him her 'soulmate' and attributes part of that to the fact that he gave her a sense of stability, which she had been lacking since her parents' divorce when she was 11.

After her mother and father split, she moved with her mother to Switzerland, attended boarding school, and went on to colleges in Massachusetts and New York, living a fairly rootless life.

Now married to Joachim since May of 2008, she has two children, Prince Henrik and Princess Athena, and two step-children, Princes Nikolai and Felix.

She's adjusted to life in the public eye, with a little help from her prince.

'Prince Joachim has been so understanding and patient in helping me appreciate where we are. I've come to understand his position, and how important the royal family is for the Danes,' she said.

She also revealed that she is consciously working to ensure her own kids don't feel the same unsteadiness that she did as a child, and wants to make their home a place where they 'feel safe and develop their confidence'.

And as for her decision to forsake some of her independence to live with the man she loves, she insists she has no regrets - even if it took a while to get there.
It was a love at first sight of sorts for a young couple who have become the first to get married after meeting on Snapchat.

Nathan Treweek, 18, and wife Gabrielle, 20, tied the knot last year after a courtship which took place almost entirely online over an app that deletes pictures after seconds.

British Nathan and American Gabrielle spent the first year of their long-distance relationship exchanging messages across the Atlantic - and now they are believed to be the first Snapchat married couple.

Nathan, 18, (right) from Cornwall and Gabrielle Treweek, 20, from Seattle (left) have become the first known couple to marry after meeting over photo sharing app Snapchat

After talking online for eight months Nathan proposed to Gabrielle over Skype before she traveled to Cornwall where he proposed again

They came across each other's usernames through humour website Tickld in June 2014 and Gabrielle from Seattle was the first to make contact with Nathan from Truro, Cornwall.

Cake decorator Gabrielle said: 'The first snap ever was from myself to him, and it said 'Hello fellow Ticklr!'

'It was just a black picture though, we were both quite cautious as to what we sent when we first met as anyone should be when meeting new people.

'His first message was an actual picture of himself sitting up in bed as it was very early and I had woken him up. He responded in the same way saying 'hello fellow Ticklr!'

Following that, they began talking across other platforms and Nathan even proposed to his girlfriend, who he had never met in real life - on Skype.

He then sent her a diamond ring in the post before they'd ever met face-to-face.

The pair were married at Gabrielle's Grandmother's home in Washington and Nathan Skyped members of his family from there (pictured)

Gabrielle in some of the captioned images she sent Nathan. The pair came across each other's Snapchat's profiles on humour site Ticklr and it was Gabrielle who first began sending pictures to her now husband

Speaking to student newspaper The Tab, graphic designer Nathan said: 'Technically I proposed twice, once over Skype, and once in person eight months after we met.

'The first time I pushed the camera away, got down on one knee and asked, to which she said "yes".

'I sent her a diamond ring for Christmas that she wore.'

The pair, who now live together in Seattle, decided it would be best to meet face-to-face before their wedding day, so Gabrielle went to visit her partner at his family home - just a year after they'd begun chatting on June 8 2015 - where Nathan popped the question a second time.

Nathan said: 'We decided that being apart from each other was getting very difficult and that it would be easier if we had met at least once to see if things between us could work.'

They then wed on September 17 at Gabrielle's late grandmother's home in Washington.

Nathan has since moved to Seattle to live with Gabrielle following the whirlwind romance and says he couldn't be happier. They spent the first year of their romance exchanging messages and photos

Speaking of the first time they met, Nathan said he was surprised how small she was.

He said: 'I found her stunning, and fell in love with her then and there - though I still don't really believe in love at first sight.

'I remember noticing she was incredibly small. I knew her height - 5ft 4in - but being able to actually see and feel it made it real.'

But he added that his parents remained dubious about the couple's future.

He said: 'It was difficult explaining to both families that we were a couple. Even harder when I proposed.

'Generally my family supported us, but had doubts that anything would ever last between us, telling me not to 'get my hopes up' as she may not be who I think she is.

Nathan says that when they first announced their plans to wed, his family had their doubts but have supported him. He said: 'I would move anywhere for my wife. To experience more happiness and finding someone that thinks, feels and lives how I do is something I will never regret'

'My mother met her several times over Skype and she eventually came to terms with me moving away with someone, who in her mind, was a stranger.'

Gabrielle believes that their unique meeting makes their relationship special.

She said: 'I think being apart for so long really made a very strong base for our relationship, based entirely on the companionship of the other person and not just about having someone around.

'It made us very close and has made things a lot easier because we relied on each other completely emotionally and were able to build on that.'

But she added that there was no time for taking things slow - after they had decided to spend their life together, things moved pretty quickly.

She said: 'We never really had a chance to take things slowly. It was never a question of how fast or slow we should move in together, we just did because that's all we could do. It's not like we could stay over for a weekend.'

Overall Nathan is delighted with the pair's marriage, and his decision to move to the US to be with her.
A Brooklyn man created his own handy 'guide', pointing all the negative ways alcohol can effect men, too

Many labeled the guidelines as 'sexist', saying that it placed blame on women only for spreading STDs and having unplanned pregnancies

came under fire for publishing a guide cautioning women to take birth control if they drink

Last week, new guidelines for alcohol use among women were published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in which doctors and nurses were advised to recommend birth control for women who consume alcohol and are also sexually active  while saying nothing at all about men's drinking habits.

Critics were quick to point out that the guide was both 'patronizing' and 'sexist', holding women solely responsible for unplanned pregnancies and STDs while leaving men's actions out of the equation entirely.

To counter that, Brooklyn-based designer Chris Giganti rethought those guidelines with guys in mind, pointing out that alcohol can have just as many negative consequences on the male population  if not more.

Alcohol is risky: As a rebuttal to a 'sexist' guide released by the CDC, Brooklyn-based designer Chris Giganti created an infographic detailing the risks men face if they drink

Equals: The guide used much of the same language as the original CDC infographic, highlighting the fact that both men and women are responsible for their actions when they drink

The CDC's guide, which falls under the title 'Alcohol and Pregnancy', starts off reasonably enough, spotlighting the ill effects that alcohol consumption while pregnant can have on an unborn child.

The first infographic details the symptoms of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, as well as the cost that drinking while pregnant has on the US each year.

But it's the second set of warnings that had media outlets and social media users up in arms. Here, the guide strays from simply advising women not to drink while pregnant, going so far as to recommend policing their behavior while they're not pregnant, too.

In the first step, it advises doctors and nurses to assess all female patients' drinking and counsel those who drink too much. It does not mention men.

In the second step, the guide tells medical professionals to 'recommend birth control if a woman is having sex, not planning to get pregnant, and is drinking alcohol'.

'Review risk for pregnancy and importance of birth control use,' it goes on. 'Discuss full range of methods available. Encourage her to always use condoms to reduce risk of sexually transmitted diseases.'

Patronizing: The original guide, released last week, came under fire when many pointed out that it didn't just focus on the alcohol use of pregnant women, but all women

A little lopsided: The guide told doctors to advise any woman who drinks to take birth control

In Chris' infographics, though, it is pointed out that men have just as much of a responsibility in conceiving children and transmitting STDs as women do  and they can also behave badly in a lot of other ways if they overdo it on the alcohol.

First, it lists the possible risks of drinking for men 'with violent tendencies', which include: aggression, domestic violence, assault, rape, and murder.

For 'any man', there are risks, too, like injuries, violence, heart disease, cancer, importance, and  just like for women  STDs and unplanned pregnancies.

The cheeky copycat guide also offers some advice for medical professionals who counsel men, echoing the sexist talking points for women.

Smart: The designer behind the satirical infographic used much of the same language in his reimagined guide

Ironically  or perhaps not so ironically  the first tip is exactly the same as the one doled out on the women's guide: Doctors and nurses should assess male patients' drinking and counsel those who drink too much.

The second step gets a bit more sarcastic, telling doctors to 'recommend self control', as opposed to birth control, for men who drink. It also says to encourage condom use.

'Advise a man to stop drinking if he is violent or not using self-control with sex,' reads the third step, followed by a fourth and fifth step that are, once again, copied verbatim from the original guide.

Since the infographics were shared by the online magazine Brokleyn earlier this week, men and women have shared the satirical artwork and once again pointed out the ridiculousness of the CDC's original guide.
Filmed at Camp Wahanowin in Orillia, Ontario, the kids offer a variety of tips and tricks on the best way to ask someone on a date

Kids offer up hilarious - and sometimes insightful - dating advice in a new video that shows how things that may seem complicated to adults are much simpler in a child's eyes.

The clip, created by Canoodle Content, sees host Toronto actor Dave Keystone ask a gaggle of adorable children whether or not he should text or call a girl he likes.

The tykes' varied responses is always backed up with some of their own adorable logic that has already gained the video over 150,000 views in just three days.

Getting the story: Kids give Toronto actor Dave Keystone advice on whether to text or call a girl he likes in an adorable new video

A variety: The boys and girls seem totally divided on whether or not Dave should phone or text

The video is the latest in a series of videos by the company entitled Kids On, which include videos asking kids about a myriad of dating woes such as the waiting game and the approach.

Recorded at Camp Wahanowin in Orillia, Ontario, the clip sees Dave consulting the kids while enjoying various outdoor activities such as fishing, sailing and just relaxing in the wilderness.

As for the calling versus texting issue, the kids seem to be totally divided on what they think Dave should be doing.

'I think call. Because if you text, you don't know if she says bye - if she says it in a nice way or a mean way,' explains one little boy.

Not the best plan: The kids are totally divided on the subject, with some telling Dave he should call because 'you don't know if she says bye - if she says it in a nice way or a mean way' or texting to give time to think

All you gotta do is ask: There are plenty of other differences in opinion between the kids, including this girl who tells Dave (left) not to ask too many questions, but this boy (right) tells Dave to ask plenty

Chilling out: This little boy spends much of the clip teaching Dave breathing exercises to quell his nerves

But another young man disagrees, saying: 'Text them first because if you call them then you don't know what to say really.'

Another boy champions calling simply because 'you don't have to type word after word after word after word. All you have to do is type in the number!'

As for the little girls, most of them thought that texting was the best answer, with one brown-haired youngster adding that Dave should wait 'a week or two' before asking her on a date.

When Dave says he may be worried that the person might not be interested any more after a week or two, to which the little girl responds: 'Well if you have that problem, then just wait about five days'.

Word for word: The kids follow up their advice to Dave with plenty of hilarious strange logic

From experience: Not all of the kids are new to the dating world, as this youngster claims he 'had four girlfriends when I was seven'

Making the move: At one point, Dave stages a trial conversation with his potential paramour

A boy on a bench spends much of the video sweetly showing Dave how to relax his nerves before asking out a girl by doing breathing exercises.

A bubbly girl insists that Dave should avoid asking too many questions because 'she will be annoyed' while a cute blonde boy recommends he call the girl and ask: 'Have you been thinking about me? Are you gonna call me? Are you gonna text me back?'

Not all of the little ones were devoid of any of their own experience, however, with one boy explaining: 'I know you think Im a kid and not good with girls but I had four girlfriends when I was seven.'

'One of them was for, like, three or two months, one of them was for a year, one of them was for eight minutes - don't ask.'
Traces of Zika virus have been found in the brain of an aborted fetus, strengthening the link between the virus and a serious birth defect, scientists revealed today.

An autopsy showed the fetus was suffering microcephaly - a smaller than normal head size, as well as severe brain injury and high levels of the virus in brain tissue.

The level of Zika was higher than would normally be seen in blood samples, according to researchers at the University Medical Center in Ljublijana, Slovenia.

The findings 'strengthen the biologic association' between Zika virus infection and microcephaly, experts at Harvard noted in an editorial accompanying the study.

Scientists in Slovenia have found traces if Zika virus in the brain tissue of a fetus aborted after scans revealed it was suffering microcephaly and severe brain damage. Experts say while it is no proof of a link between the virus and the birth defect, it 'strengthens the biologic association'

The pregnant mother, who was from Europe, became infected with Zika virus at 13 weeks gestation, while she was working in northeastern Brazil.

She subsequently returned to Europe when she was 28 weeks pregnant.

Scans performed a week later revealed her unborn baby had a small head and brain calcifications, as seen in other cases linked to Zika virus.

It was also noted that the fetus had stopped moving as much.

After consulting experts, the woman chose to terminate her baby.

During an autopsy, it was noted that the fetus's brain was 'grossly diseased'.

The researchers said genetic consultation, including a detailed family history, revealed no suspicion of genetic syndromes or disease that was likely to trigger microcephaly.

Therefore, they concluded the birth defect was caused by the mother's Zika infection.

They note two other cases where fetuses were found to have microcephaly, and Zika was found in the amniotic fluid surrounding the unborn child - providing more evidence of transmission in the womb, across the placenta.

In an editorial, experts at Harvard, say: 'The findings of this case report do not provide absolute proof that Zika virus causes microcephaly.'

But they add: 'This case report makes the link stronger.'

The researchers at the University Medical Center in Ljublijana, noted the baby had numerous calcifications in t he brain (see arrows). The pregnant woman was scanned after returning from Brazil, where she caught Zika at 13 weeks gestation. After consulting doctors she chose to terminate her pregnancy at 32 weeks

They said much about the possible links remains unknown, but warned it is likely many more women will be affected during the outbreak.

'We do not know whether the timing of the infection during pregnancy has an effect on the risk of fetal abnormalities, nor do we have any idea of the magnitude of that risk,' they said.

Last week the World Health Organization declared the Zika outbreak, spreading through the Americas, an international health emergency over fears of a link between the virus and microcephaly.

So far up to 1.5 million people in Brazil have become infected with the virus, and around 4,000 cases of microcepahly have been linked to the disease.

The case report, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, comes as thirty of the world's leading scientific research institutions, journals and funders today pledged to share for free, all data and expertise on Zika to speed up the fight against the virus.

We do not know whether the timing of the infection during pregnancy has an effect on the risk of fetal abnormalities, nor do we have any idea of the magnitude of that risk Harvard experts respond to the Slovenian case report

'The arguments for sharing data and the consequences of not doing so (have been)... thrown into stark relief by the Ebola and Zika outbreaks,' said a statement issued by signatories from across the world.

Specialists welcomed the initiative, saying it showed how the global health community had learned crucial lessons from West Africa's Ebola epidemic, which killed more than 11,300 people and saw scientists scrambling to conduct research to help in the development of potential treatments and vaccines.

Zika, a viral disease carried by mosquitoes, is causing international alarm as an outbreak in Brazil has now spread through much of the Americas.

'In the context of a public health emergency of international concern, there is an imperative on all parties to make any information available that might have value in combating the crisis,' the signatories wrote.

Much remains unknown about Zika, including whether it may cause birth defects or other neurological problems.

Brazil is investigating a potential link between Zika infections and some 4,000 suspected cases in newborn babies of microcephaly, a condition in which an abnormally small head size can result in developmental problems.

Medical and scientific research teams around the world have stepped up efforts to find out more about the disease, including how vaccines or treatments might be developed to fight it.

The World Health Organization declared the Zika outbreak sweeping through the Americas an international health emergency after concerns over links with microcephaly

Mark Woolhouse, a University of Edinburgh professor of infectious diseases, said the open sharing of data commitment was 'one of the most welcome developments' he'd seen in decades.

'If acted upon, this declaration will save lives,' he said.

Signatories to Wednesday's agreement to share the fruits of that research included the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Health Organization (WHO), France's Institut Pasteur, the UK Academy of Medical Sciences and the Wellcome Trust global health charity.

Scientific journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Nature, Science and The Lancet, pledged to "make all content concerning the Zika virus free to access".

Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust and a signatory of the statement, said research is an essential part of the response to any global health emergency.

'This is particularly true for Zika, where so much is still unknown about the virus, how it is spread and the possible link with microcephaly,' he said.
A teenager nearly died when her appendix burst and doctors discovered her bowels were riddled with gangrene.

Atlanta McBride, from Halifax, West Yorkshire, went to to hospital after feeling severely unwell - to be told the organ had ruptured.

She was immediately rushed for a life-saving operation, in which doctors drained her stomach of the poison released from the burst organ and removed the gangrenous flesh.

They said had surgery been delayed for even a day, she would have died.

The then 14-year-old was left with a five-inch scar and spent years avoiding wearing bikinis and embarrassed to show her stomach.

But she learned to accept her body and rebuilt her confidence by competing in beauty pageants, eventually being crowned Miss Eco UK.

Atlanta McBride, 19, nearly died from gangrenous appendicitis after the organ burst. She began taking part in beauty contests after her ordeal and has been crowned Miss Eco UK (promoting eco tourism worldwide)

Miss McBride, who was left with a five-inch scar after her ordeal, kept her body hidden for years. She says competing in beauty pageants has allowed her to accept her appearance and rebuild her confidence

Miss McBride, now 19, said being left with a scar really ' knocked her confidence', although she knew she was lucky to be alive.

She said: 'The surgeon had told my mom I was very lucky because if they had postponed my operation to the next morning like they had planned, I would have died from poisoning.

'As I was 14, I would not wear bikinis on family holidays and was embarrassed to let anyone see my stomach.

'At first I thought the scar was going to affect me but the buzz of been onstage was far stronger than worrying about what people were thinking about my scar.

'I do sometimes get asked why I have my scar but I don't mind people seeing it as much now.'

She credits her self-acceptance and confidence on competing in beauty pageants.

She said: 'My confidence has grown and each time I'm on the stage it gets stronger.'

'I probably would never have done pageants had I not tried gangrenous appendicitis as I went into them to try rebuild my confidence back up.'

The appendix is a hollow worm-like structure attached to the cecum, the first part of the large bowel, on the right side.

It aided our ancestors' digestion, but it has withered away due to disuse over the course of evolution.

Appendicitis occurs if it gets inflamed - red, swollen and congested - but it is not yet known what causes this.

Miss McBride went to hospital feeling ill, and it was there doctors found her appendix had burst and her bowels were matted with gangrene, forcing them to operate immediately

They drained the poison from the burst appendix from her stomach, leaving her with a five-inch scar which later became infected. She is pictured now it has healed

Miss McBride said: 'I want other girls to realise you are who you are and no one is perfect. We all have something we are not happy with and would like to change but beauty comes from the inside'

Miss McBride had barely any symptoms and had no idea she was suffering from appendicitis.

She began feeling ill and went to hospital, where doctors discovered that not only her appendix had burst, but that her bowels and intestines were matted with gangrene.

When the appendix or bowels become gangrenous, often turning black, they can perforate, releasing poison into the abdomen.

WHAT IS GANGRENOUS APPENDICITIS? The appendix is a hollow worm-like structure attached to the cecum, the first part of the large bowel, on the right side. It aided our ancestors' digestion, but it has withered away due to disuse over the course of evolution, though for animals such as rabbits it still plays an important role. For us, however, it has no function and if it gets inflamed - red, swollen and congested - this is called appendicitis. It is not known what causes this to happen. There are degrees of appendicitis from mild to severe. On the mild end of the spectrum, it may simply resolve itself. Alternatively, it may remain inflamed and an abscess will form and that will have to be drained. More seriously, it may become gangrenous, becoming black, and could then perforate, releasing poison into the abdomen. Then the patient might get peritonitis - where the lining of the abdomen becomes inflamed - which is quite serious. This is why suspected appendicitis is treated as an emergency. Advertisement

This can lead to peritonitis - where the lining of the abdomen becomes inflamed - which is serious, hence whis is why suspected appendicitis is treated as an emergency.

Immediately, Miss McBride had life-saving surgery to drain her stomach.

She was left with a five-inch scar, but, knowing she was lucky not to have died, became determined to recover.

She began noticing holes appearing in her scar, and doctors realised that not all the poison had been drained from her stomach, and so her body had forced it out through the new wound.

They had to operate again, creating holes for nurses to treat the infection on a daily basis.

She was put on three separate courses of antibiotics to combat the infections, and was in hospital for a week.

For a further six weeks, she could not go to school as nurses had to clean her scar, and was unable to exercise for more than a year.

Describing her new scar, Miss McBride said: 'When it healed over I had a large dip where there was no muscle left where the hole had been. I had to have plastic surgery to try rebuild the muscle by having it taken from a different part of my stomach.

'Although it was an improvement it was still unsightly. All my confidence had gone until I changed my outlook and knew I was never going to be perfect so learned to live with my scar as it's part of me.

After spending years learning to accept her body again, Miss McBride began competing in beauty pageants.

She said: 'I know was lucky to have survived so having a scar was not as bad as what could have happened.

'So that's when I decided to get into pageants knowing I would have to show my scar while onstage.'

Doctors told Miss McBride had she come to hospital a day later, she would have died. She spent an entire week in hospital and a further six weeks away from school, having her wound cleaned daily by nurses

After being crowned Miss Eco UK, Miss McBride has been promoting eco tourism in China and will soon travel to Egypt to represent the UK at the International Miss Eco event

Last year was crowned Miss Elegance at the Yorkshire Prom Show and Miss West Yorkshire Galaxy.

She was also runner up in Miss UK Beautiful before winning the title of Miss Eco UK.

Since being crowned, she has been promoting eco tourism in China before heading to Egypt in March to represent the UK at the International Miss Eco event.

If they had postponed my operation to the next morning I would have died from poisoning Atlanta McBride, 19

The pageant will be Miss McBride's first global contest and she was put forward for the UK heat after impressing judges at Miss UK Beautiful.

Miss McBride said competing in these events helps build her confidence.

She said: 'I have tried modeling a few times but nothing makes me more comfortable in my own skin like beauty pageants do.

'I would also love to win an international beauty pageant but that maybe be a goal I reach further in my pageant career as I still have a lot to learn.

'I want other girls to realise you are who you are and no one is perfect. We all have something we are not happy with and would like to change but beauty comes from the inside and that reflects true beauty.
Little understood virus previously thought to cause only minor symptoms

Virus previously detected in two adults who died in June and October

Three people died from complications linked to the Zika virus, Brazilian health officials said today.

Scientists found the virus in the body of a 20-year-old woman who died last April from respiratory problems, a spokesman for the country's health ministry said.

The virus was previously detected in two adults who died in June and October of suspected Zika complications, he added.

The little understood virus was previously believed to cause only minor symptoms, including a fever, rash and muscle aches, and often no symptoms at all.

Brazilian health officials said three people have died as a result of Zika-related complications since an outbreak of the virus began to spread through the Americas last year

The virus, which is carried and spread by the Aedes mosquito, pictured, was found in the body of a 20-year-old woman who died last April from respiratory problems. And traces of Zika was previously detected in adults who died in June and October of suspected Zika complications, officials added

There is scant evidence in the limited studies on the disease of it being linked to fatalities.

Fears have been raised over a link between the virus and a serious birth defect that causes babies to be born with unusually small heads and in many cases brain damage.

The authorities in Brazil are investigating more than 4,000 suspected cases of microcephaly.

Such is the concern over the possible, though as yet unproven, link, the World Health Organization was moved to declare the Zika outbreak an international public health emergency on February 1.

Yesterday, a study revealed more evidence giving weight to the theory that Zika is responsible for a sharp rise in microcephaly cases in Brazil in the last year.

Researchers in Slovenia uncovered evidence of the virus in the brain of a fetus whose mother suffered Zika symptoms at the end of the first trimester while she was living in Brazil.

It is thought the woman became infected with the virus at 13 weeks gestation.

At 28 weeks pregnant she returned home, from where she had been living in north eastern Brazil.

There, scans at 29 weeks gestation revealed problems with the baby.

After discussions with doctors, the woman chose to abort the fetus at 32 weeks.

The Zika virus is now believed to have spread to 20 US states, as well as Washington, DC - the majority of cases are in people who have traveled to Zika-affected regions, with one sexually transmitted case reported in Texas last week

The World Health Organization declared the Zika outbreak an international public health emergency on February 1, over fears of a link between the virus and the severe birth defect microcephaly. Pictured, Daniele Santos, 29, holds her son Juan Pedro who is two months old and was born with the disorder, which is characterized by an abnormally small head and in many cases brain damage

Researchers said an autopsy revealed the fetus had an extremely abnormal brain, not only a fraction of the proper size but also lacking the usual crinkly neural folds.

While the case, reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, does not prove the link between Zika and microcepahly, it 'strengthens the biologic association', experts said.

Dr Michael Greene, of Massachusetts General Hospital, who with colleagues from Harvard reviewed the findings in an accompanying editorial, said: 'This fetus was really devastated.'

Last month the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced finding Zika genetic material in brain tissue from two Brazilian babies who had died, and in the placentas from two miscarriages.

Together, the findings offer important evidence but still, 'there are more questions than there are answers at the moment', Dr Greene said.

In a bid to answer more of the vital questions surrounding Zika, leading scientific journals yesterday pledged to rapidly share data.

The Obama administration has asked Congress for $1.8 billion in emergency funding to fight Zika.

Meanwhile, health officials in the US, are urging pregnant women to avoid traveling to Zika-affected regions.

But, CDC director Dr Tom Frieden told a congressional committee on Wednesday that much of the effort must be on mosquito control too, particularly in southern parts of the US that harbor the mosquito that carries and spreads Zika.

CDC director Dr Tom Frieden, pictured with Dr Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health, addressed a congressional hearing, telling officials efforts must be focused on eradicating mosquitoes, particularly in areas of the South where the Aedes mosquito is found

A worker in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, is pictured fumigating to try and eliminate the Aedes mosquito population and bring the spread of Zika under control

Officials said they do not expect large outbreaks in the US, but have warned there could be limited local transmission, small clusters, in those areas.

However, Dr Frieden warned that 'we will likely see significant numbers of cases in Puerto Rico', based on how quickly the similar chikungunya virus spread through the territory in 2014.

To protect women of child-bearing age in Zika-stricken countries, a vaccine will be important because the virus is a 'flash infection', disappearing from the mother's bloodstream in days, Dr Anthony Fauci, of the National Institutes of Health said.

That means other ways of fighting maternal transmission likely wouldn't work.

He hopes small safety studies of an experimental vaccine might begin late this year, but said how long it would take to prove a candidate shot really worked depends in part on whether the Zika outbreak is still going on next year or burns itself out.
A toddler is lucky to be alive after he swallowed a battery which burned a hole through his throat.

Logan Stiff, two, needed emergency surgery and spent weeks in hospital after ingesting the 'button' battery.

He can now only eat through a tube and must have regular treatment to stretch open his oesophagus.

It is thought the toddler put it in his mouth thinking it was a sweet after it fell out of the back of a remote control.

Within hours of being picked up from nursery, he was struggling to breathe and began vomiting.

Logan Stiff, two, needed emergency surgery and spent weeks in hospital after ingesting the 'button' battery

Logan pictured in November last year aged 23 months after the drain was removed and his neck was healed

His parents, Jackie, 38, and Andrew, 34, who had no idea what was wrong, rushed him to Children's Colorado Hospital - where doctors spotted the deadly battery on an x-ray.

'When we saw Logan in intensive care that was the first time we really understood what had happened to our son - the damage and the long road ahead of us in the healing process,' said Mr Stiff.

'Most people would know to keep other obvious things away from children - chemicals and medicines - but button batteries don't cross their minds.

'We had no idea how dangerous these batteries could be, nor did most of our friends and family.

'It was a shocking realisation and we wanted to make sure everyone we knew could learn about this too.'

Logan was 17 months old when he swallowed the battery at a home daycare centre in Colorado.

There has been no indication of negligence or health and safety breaches on the part of the daycare centre, which has not been named.

An A-ray showing the lithium button battery which became lodged in Logan's throat before doctors removed it (right in tub). It burned a hole in his oesophagus and he has needed various surgeries

Logan spent three weeks in hospital after a battery burned a hole in his throat. It is thought he put it in his mouth thinking it was a sweet. His parents are now warning others about the dangers of them

When Mrs Stiff, a secretary, picked him up after work he was vomiting and had a fever.

WHY ARE THEY SO DANGEROUS? The slim type of battery are dangerous because children can mistake them for sweets and the size causes them to get stuck in the throat. When the battery gets stuck, it sets up an electrical current when it comes in contact with the lining of the throat, creating a build-up of caustic soda which causes horrific burns. Even after the battery has been removed it can continue to cause serious injury and burns. Although new batteries are more toxic, even ones that no longer work are dangerous and parents are being advised to store and dispose of them carefully. A demonstration on a hot dog, designed to replicate human flesh, showed how it burns and melts away in three hours. Source: Paediatrician Dr Katie Parkins, North West and North Wales Advertisement

She assumed he had caught a bug from another child but within an hour he was lethargic and struggling to breathe.

When doctors discovered the cause, his parents had no idea how serious the situation was.

Lithium batteries react with saliva - creating an electrical current which causes a build-up of caustic soda.

This burned a hole in Logan's oesophagus and he spent weeks in intensive care after having an operation to remove the battery.

He was fitted with a feeding tube and spit fistula to drain his saliva but struggled to breathe on his own.

Further surgery was needed to separate his oesophagus from his trachea and began to breathe independently.

Amazingly, as he recovered and became able to speak softly again.

He underwent another operation in September to reconnect his oesophagus.

It is also prone to closing so must be stretched back open regularly with an inflating balloon-like device.

Logan is still mainly fed through a tube after his throat was damaged by the battery. Lithium batteries react with saliva - creating an electrical current which causes a build-up of caustic soda and burns through the skin

The toddler is now able to eat and drink but is still fed primarily through a feeding tube and has some loss of functionality in one of his vocal cords.

'We are very happy to see Logan recovering so well and just being a happy kid again,' said Mr Stiff.

Most people would know to keep other obvious things away from children - chemicals and medicines - but button batteries don't cross their minds Andrew Stiff, 34

'We always believed he would get better, but the lowest point was when he failed to breathe on his own.

'It was frustrating as a parent to not be able to do anything at all to help him.

'Now he can speak just fine, and if you watched him run around you'd never know anything was wrong with him.

'He is a fighter - he is resilient and will continue to thrive.'

The couple share updates on Logan's condition on a dedicated Facebook page - Logan and the Button Battery -in a bid to raise awareness of the dangers of the batteries, often used in key fobs, hearing aids, children's toys and musical greetings cards.

Mr Stiff said 'We feel very lucky as there have been children who have died from swallowing button batteries when they caused a burn to an artery.

HOW TO KEEP CHILDREN SAFE AND WHAT DO DO IF THE WORST HAPPENS 1. KEEP OUT IF REACH: Keep devices with button batteries out of reach if the battery compartments aren't secure and lock away and loose or spare batteries 2. TAKE THEM TO HOSPITAL: If a child swallows a button battery or gets one stuck in their nose or ear take them straight to the nearest A&E department 3. NIL BY MOUTH: Do not let them eat or drink anything and do not try to make them sick 4. GET HELP FAST: It is important to get to hospital as soon as possible and the sooner the battery can be removed the less chance of permanent damage 5. SHARE THIS MESSAGE: Campaigners want people to spread the word so people know what to do if the worst does happen Advertisement

'Our main advice is to be aware of everything that uses these batteries. It's impossible to watch a child every second of the day and things can happen quickly.

'We can't prevent all accidents but we can come close by getting information to everyone.'

The UK Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) is concerned by the dangers posed by button batteries, which have caused deaths in Britain.

Sheila Merrill, RoSPA's public health advisor, said: 'Young children are naturally inquisitive, and explore the world in part by putting things in their mouths.

'As more and more electronic items are introduced into the family home, the potential for children to swallow button batteries increases, and this can lead to choking or poisoning.
Then had her abdomen washed out with a chemotherapy bath

Sandra Currie, 44, needed 19 gruelling hours of surgery to remove the a one-stone tumour cancerous tumour and six organs

A mother who woke up looking pregnant one morning was devastated to be told she had a huge cancerous tumour.

Sandra Currie's growth weighed one stone and was putting so much pressure on her lungs she struggled to breathe.

The 44-year-old needed 19 gruelling hours of surgery to remove the 'one in a million' mass- and six organs.

Doctors took out her gall bladder, spleen, omentum (fatty tissue that insulates the abdominal organs,) appendix, part of her diaphragm, ovaries, and uterus.

The surgery was followed by a chemotherapy 'wash' treatment - which could only be carried out in England.

Mrs Currie, from Dunfermline, Fife, has made a remarkable fight back to fitness and health since the surgery in 2014.

Now the digital marketing consultant, has decided to share her story in a bid to make the same treatment available in Scotland.

Her problems began when she gained three stone in two years and felt generally 'under the weather'.

But one morning she woke, looked down and was horrified at what she saw.

'It had flared up into a big pregnancy shape overnight - I literally measured three months pregnant overnight and that was in February.'

A date for exploratory surgery was set for 1st April 2013 and Sandra was admitted to Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, Fife.

Fortunately, the surgeon had previously encountered a rare form of cancer called pseudomyxoma peritonei, or PMP, and was able quickly to diagnose Sandra's massive tumour.

The cancer, the same one that killed screen legend Audrey Hepburn in 1993, typically starts in the appendix.

Cancerous cells produce a mucus, jelly-like fluid that then invades the abdomen causing tumours to form.

Mrs Currie said: 'They told me the prognosis wasn't good and of course I went home and Googled it, which was the worst thing I could ever have done.

'I was told I needed surgery, and needed it as soon as possible.'

Nowhere in Scotland offered the treatment she needed, so she was forced to go to hospital almost 500 miles away in Basingstoke, Hampshire, in July 2014.

Afterwards, surgeons poured a heated chemotherapy fluid into the abdominal cavity to kill off any remaining cancer cells.

The pioneering 'chemo bath' treatment is only available at the hospital in Basingstoke and the Christie Hospital, Manchester.

During surgery, doctors took out her gall bladder, spleen, omentum (fatty tissue that insulates the abdominal organs,) appendix, part of her diaphragm, ovaries, and uterus

Mrs Currie said: 'When I woke up after surgery it was the worst I'd ever felt in my life,.

It was horrible. There was tubing everywhere and I had 60 staples in my stomach. I was so determined to get home for the kids and I got back in less than two weeks, which is virtually unheard of.'

But her recovery was long - and it wasn't until six months had passed that she began to feel normal again.

She is now cancer-free but is understandably worried the disease will return and has regular scans.

Last week it was revealed the 'chemo bath' treatment, which cures up to 50 per cent of certain types of cancer previously thought to be terminal, will be rolled out across England.

Mrs Currie is now campaigning to get the same facilities in Scotland.

She said: 'It's an amazing treatment for people who were fit and healthy before.

'It's definitely worth it for the life you can get back.'
Grit may become more important after 16 when forming lifelong goals

Said sticking to old goals may get in the way of learning new knowledge

Pupils are often told the importance of never giving up and battling against obstacles.

But new research finds that having grit  the ability to persevere - only contributes to 0.5 per cent of academic achievement in their exams.

Teaching pupils to be persistent in the face of setbacks known as character education in the teaching profession  has been thought of as a fruitful way of boosting educational performance both in the UK and the US.

But researchers have found it makes only a small contribution to exam success at 16.

Schools aim to teach pupils 'grit' - the ability to persevere - but it only contributes to 0.5 per cent of academic achievement in their exams, a study has found (file photo)

The findings may disappoint education secretary Nicky Morgan, who announced a 5million plan in 2014 to encourage teaching character and resilience in schools  specifically looking at making Britains pupils grittier.

The authors of the study from the Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College London looked at how important grit was to academic success.

Defined as perseverance and passion for long-term goals, the personality trait has previously been found to be linked to success in specialist areas such as spelling competitions in the US.

When it comes to GCSE exams, the new study, used a sample of 4,500 16-year-old twins found grit only accounted for 0.5 per cent of success at GCSE.

The twin study was used as a way of accounting for the role of personality differences educational success.

As identical twins share the same genes, studying differences in their personalities can help to show what effect this has on their educational attainment.

The researchers found that overall, personality factors, including grit - overall only accounted for about six per cent of the differences between GCSE results.

SHOULD WE BE TEACHING PUPILS GRIT? Grit is defined as perseverance and passion for long-term goals, and has previously been found to be linked to success in specialist areas such as spelling competitions in the US. In the UK, education secretary Nicky Morgan, announced a 5million plan in 2014 to encourage teaching character and resilience in schools  specifically looking at making Britains pupils grittier. But new research finds that having grit  the ability to persevere - only contributes to 0.5 per cent of academic achievement in their exams. The biggest predictor of GCSE success is intelligence which accounts for roughly 40 per cent of achievement. Behaviour, home and school environment and motivation add up to roughly another 4 per cent. A further 50 per cent of success cannot be predicted, the Kings College researchers said. Advertisement

The other personality measures looked at were extroversion, conscientiousness, neuroticism, agreeableness and openness  known to psychologists as the Big Five. Conscientiousness was found to partly overlap with grit.

Grit was measured by a questionnaire that measured perserverance of effort and consistency of effort.

The test asked whether the respondent agreed with statements such as setbacks dont encourage me and I have a difficulty maintaining my focus on projects that take more than a few months to complete. Other statements used included I often set a goal, but later choose to pursue a different one.

The authors say that it is possible grit becomes more important after age 16 and becomes increasingly important when individuals understand what their lifelong goals as well as their interests are.

They also say that sticking to old goals may get in the way of learning new knowledge.

They write: although it is good to keep focused and interested in the task at hand, it is also sometimes more adaptive to focus on new ideas and projects without distraction.

They also suggest that it may be better to nurture intellectual curiosity  as a hungry mind can lead to greater perseverance and effort.

The studys first author, Kaili Rimfeld from the Institute of Psychiatry said: Until now there has been very little evidence about the origins of differences between children in grit and its influence on academic achievement, despite the fact that it plays an important role in UK and US education policies.

The biggest predictor of exam success is intelligence which accounts for roughly 40 per cent of achievement

Our study suggests that grit adds little to the prediction of academic achievement when other personality factors are taken into account.

This does not mean that teaching children to be grittier cannot be done or that it is not beneficial.

'Clearly children will face challenges where qualities of perseverance are likely to be advantageous.

'However, more research into intervention and training programmes is warranted before concluding that such training increases educational achievement and life outcomes.

The research also found that how gritty we are is 37 per cent down to our genes.
Nicotine-free e-cigarettes were found to cause biggest changes to genes

Women switching to e-cigarettes could be harming their unborn babies, new research suggests

Women who switch to e-cigarettes when pregnant may be unwittingly damaging their unborn baby, scientists have warned.

The devices harm learning, memory, co-ordination and behaviour, it is feared. Even fertility may be cut, the worlds leading science conference has heard.

The researchers, who were shocked by their results, said that women who smoke often switch to e-cigarettes when pregnant, in the misguided belief they are safer than tobacco.

Around one in eight British women smokes while pregnant  but the figure rises to one in four in some parts of the country.

Professor Judith Zelikoff, of New York University, said: Women may be turning to these products as an alternative because they think theyre safe. Well, theyre not.

The professors research adds to a growing concern about the safety of electronic cigarettes.

Used by an estimated 2.6million Britons, they vaporise nicotine to provide a smokers high without exposure to the tar and other cancerous chemicals found in cigarettes.

Recent studies have linked them to everything from cancer to disabling lung damage.

However, with health officials declaring them safe enough for use in pregnancy and giving the go-ahead to prescribe on them on the NHS, many people believe them to harmless.

Professor Zelikoff compared baby mice exposed to e-cigarette vapour in the womb and shortly after birth with pups whose mothers had breathed in clean air.

Both normal e-cigarettes and nicotine-free varieties were used.

When she looked at the creatures brains, she found distinct differences in their genes, with up to 2,630 genes more or less active in the mice that had breathed in e-cigarette fumes.

Females were more affected than males and nicotine-free e-cigarettes caused the biggest changes, the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences annual conference heard.

Professor Zelikoff said: We were shocked. But what people dont realise is that even without nicotine there are many things that are given off when you heat up and vaporise these products.

She then applied knowledge from previous studies to try to find out what the changes might mean.

Problems with learning, memory, co-ordination and hyperactivity are all possible, she said.

Using e-cigarettes can even cut fertility, adding to a growing concern about the safety of electronic cigarettes

In another experiment, the professor linked e-cigarette exposure in the womb to cuts in male fertility.

Pups who breathed in the vapour made half as much sperm as normal and those they did make struggled to swim.

The professor said: We were very surprised. We didnt expect to see such a dramatic effect.

Describing her results as ground-breaking, the researcher said that the safety of e-cigarettes has been under-researched.

E-CIGS CAN MAKE PEOPLE VULNERABLE TO COLD AND FLU E-cigarettes could make people more vulnerable to colds and flu, it is feared. Study of tissue from the inside of the nose between smokers and non-smokers, including users of electronic cigarettes. Their samples showed the biggest changes with several genes key to fighting off infections suppressed. It is thought the flavourings added to e-cigarettes may be behind the additional changes, with cinnamaldehyde, the chemical that makes an e-cigarette taste like cinnamon, shown to damage cells in a dish. Researcher Ilona Jaspers, of the University of North Carolina, in the US, said while such flavourings may have been judged safe to eat, they may be harmful when inhaled. She told the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences annual conference: The digestive systems and respiratory systems are very different. Our stomachs are full of acids and enzymes that break down food and deal with chemicals; this environment is very different than our respiratory systems. We simply dont know what effects e-cigarettes have on our lungs. Advertisement

Professor Zelikoff said: We have to make people more aware of the risks. The major point is that these e-cigarettes need more safety testing.

The perception is that e-cigarettes are completely safe for pregnant women and vulnerable groups like infants, but we cant say that.

Are they safer than cigarettes? The answers not there but they dont appear to be.

One has to assume that these products are not safe for this particular population. Our studies should give pause to people who are pregnant and using these products as an alternative.

Our findings should open peoples eyes by showing that this is something that potentially can be harmful if used during pregnancy.

It should lead to much more research - this is just the beginning.

This is not just a product thats cool to use and is not going to have health effects.

Her co-researcher Dana Lauterstein said: Most people do view e-cigarettes as a safe way to smoke.

For women who are pregnant, this could be dangerous. They could be unwittingly endangering their child.

Last year, Public Health England said at least 76,000 lives could be saved annually if smokers went electronic.

But it later emerged that the claim relied on a study partially conducted by scientists with links to the e-cigarette industry.

There is also concern that vaping makes smoking appear glamorous to the young - and that once hooked on nicotine, they will move on to conventional cigarettes.

The chief medical officer, Professor Dame Sally Davies, has warned they may make smoking seem normal again.

The devices harm learning, memory, co-ordination and behaviour, experts at the worlds leading science conference said

The devices are banned from some public areas, including railways stations, and have caused bomb alerts on buses, leading to motorway closures.

Professor Adam Balen, chairman of the British Fertility Society, said: Whilst e-cigarettes may help some people to stop smoking real cigarettes, one cannot escape the reality that various chemicals are still being inhaled that have potentially harmful effects both to health, fertility and also the non-consenting participant, the baby.

We have to make people more aware of the risks. The major point is that these e-cigarettes need more safety testing Professor Judith Zelikoff, New York University

It may therefore be wrong to switch during pregnancy and best to avoid all kinds of smoking.

Dr Patrick OBrien, of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: E-cigarettes are becoming a popular alternative to tobacco smoking, but at the moment what is in them is not controlled and some have been found to contain harmful substances as well as nicotine, as this study in mice demonstrates.

As the long-term risks for the developing baby from using them are not known, we do not recommend women use these products in pregnancy.

Tom Pruen, of the Electronic Cigarette Industry Trade Association, said that while e-cigarettes ideally shouldnt be used during pregnancy, using them is likely to be better than smoking.
The number of people diagnosed with dementia has dropped by 20 per cent in each of the past four decades, scientists have revealed.

The decline in dementia cases was most significant in women  and the average age of initial diagnosis has increased from 80 to 85 since 1970, according to a new study.

Scientists believe the drop in dementia could be attributed to an increase in prescriptions of heart disease medication  which can also keep the brain healthy.

Additionally, a fall in smoking rates is also thought to play a role in the decreasing rates of dementia.

Study author Dr Sudha Seshadri, of Boston University, said: Our study offers hope [that] some of the dementia cases might be preventable, or at least delayed.

Scientists revealed the number of people diagnosed with dementia have decreased by 20 per cent each decade - for the past four decades. The decrease likely stems from an increase in heart medication, and offers hope that dementia may be preventable. Pictured here, a brain scan of a dementia patient

The study, published in New England Journal of Medicine, mirrors research in the UK last year that found the population of elderly people with dementia has dropped.

The UK study suggested that the decrease could be attributed to better education and heart health.

Similarly, a past US government-funded study found that Americans over the age of 60 are now half as likely to develop dementia as someone of a similar age 30 years ago.

However, dementia rates have been expected to soar over the next several decades because of the ageing population.

The number of Americans over the age of 65 with Alzheimers disease is projected to reach 7.1 million in 2025.

Thats a 40 per cent increase from 5.1 million affected by the disease in 2015.

And by 2050, Alzheimers cases in people over the age of 65 are projected to triple to 13.8 million.

Effective prevention could diminish in some measure the projected explosion in the number of persons affected with the disease in the next few decades Dr Sudha Seshadri, of Boston University

In contrast, the World Health Organization estimates global cases of dementia currently total 47.5 million.

Yet, the number of worldwide dementia cases is expected to reach 75.6 million in 2030, and 135.5 million by 2050.

The study utilized data from the Framingham Heart Study  which began in 1948 and follows people in a Massachusetts town.

The scientists found there was an average reduction of 20 per cent of dementia cases per decade since the 1970s  which is when the data was first collected.

The decline was most pronounced with a type of dementia caused by vascular disease, such as stroke.

The study also found that there was a decreasing impact of heart disease  suggesting the importance of effective stroke treatment, as well as blood pressure and cholesterol lowering drugs.

But, the decline was only seen in people with a high school education  or above.

Dr Seshadri said: Effective prevention could diminish in some measure the projected explosion in the number of persons affected with the disease in the next few decades.

The decrease in dementia cases was most prevalent in women - and the average age of diagnosis hiked from 80 to 85. But, because people are starting to live longer than ever before, there may be an increase in the number - but not the percentage - of people with dementia

In the study, scientists looked at the rate of dementia at any given age and attempted to explain the reason for the decreasing risk over almost 40 years.

They considered factors, such as education, smoking, blood pressure and medical conditions.

Dr Carole Dufouil, of French Institute of Health and Medical Research in Bordeaux, said: Its very likely primary and secondary prevention and better management of cardiovascular diseases and stroke - and their risk factors - might offer new opportunities to slow down the currently projected burden of dementia for the coming years.

However, this discovery does not mean the total number of persons with dementia will decrease anytime soon, scientists cautioned.
Richard Bowman wrote the impassioned post on Facebook after a shift where he said he cared for 100 patients in one night

A junior doctor has condemned Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt for 'trying to turn patients against them' in an emotional post on social media.

Richard Bowman describes being the 'sole doctor' caring for more than 100 cancer patients last night during a 24-hour walk out.

Writing on Facebook, the 27-year-old describes how some patients 'couldn't breathe' while others were fighting overwhelming infections at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

'One had bleeding in their head, one had a blockage in their bowels. If I made a mistake because I was tired, any one of these patients could've died,' he wrote.

'There was not a single manager in the whole hospital. Last night, I ran the oncology service for the whole south Birmingham region from inside the biggest teaching hospital in Europe.

'Apparently I have no transferable skills to find a different job.'

His post has already been shared thousands of times the same day Mr Hunt said the new contracts would be imposed on junior doctors after a bitter dispute lasting three years.

Mr Hunt said the process had created 'considerable dismay' among junior doctors but he felt that given time, the contract would be accepted as a good thing.

But the decision is likely to anger the thousands of doctors who said they were left with no alternative but to strike.

In his post made before today's announcement in the Commons, Mr Bowman predicts the outcome and warns the health secretary the fight is far from over.

'Screw you Jeremy Hunt. We never asked for thanks. All we do is for our patients, how dare you try and turn them against us,' he writes.

'All of this is your government's fault. Well you've picked a fight with the wrong crowd.

The junior doctor described caring for patients who 'couldn't breathe' and were 'fighting overwhelming infections' before joining the picket line with other striking medics

He warned Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt had 'picked a fight with the wrong crowd' and criticised him for 'turning patients against us'

Thousands of junior doctors went on strike for the second time yesterday in protest over the new contract Jeremy Hunt today announced would now be imposed

Go on, announce imposition, and just see what the most resilient, driven, passionate, intelligent group of people in Britain do next. Bring it on.'

Jeremy Hunt today announced the Government would impose the new contracts

Mr Bowman claims he finished his shift before joining the picket line yesterday. He said his shift was what 'countless other junior doctors' do every day on the NHS.

He says he works 60 hours a week, claiming only to be paid for 48, but mocks the Government saying he 'lacks vocation, I'm overpaid and I need to work harder'.

He mocked the Government's argument about the new contract being needed as part of a seven-day working across the NHS.

'Apparently I lack vocation, I'm overpaid and I need to work harder,' he said.

Supporters of his post, wrote 'well said' while others told him to 'keep fighting.'

Adam Mason wrote: 'As someone who knows nothing about healthcare, thank you.

'In your day job, you're saving the lives of the sick and the needy today... at the picket line, you're saving the lives of the sick and the needy of tomorrow.'

Following today's announcement, Mr Hunt said there would now be a review by Dame Sue Bailey, President of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, into the wider issues of morale and quality of life for junior doctors exposed by the dispute.

It is unclear whether the British Medical Association (BMA) will now stage further strikes in protest at the new contract.

BMA chairman Dr Mark Porter said the union would 'reflect' on its next steps as its current mandate for strike refers specifically to the 'threat of imposition' - a threshold which has now been crossed.

A spokesperson for University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust said Mr Bowman had 'significantly misrepresented' the situation.

'Patient safety is our number one priority at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham,' she said.

'We consider Dr Bowman has significantly misrepresented the situation surrounding patient care on Monday night.

'A registrar was supporting Dr Bowman in caring for patients at the hospital until 12.30am and was available to continue that support should he have needed it.

'There was a Consultant Oncologist on-call and the hospital has a site management team who are present in the hospital 24 hours a day, seven days a week, running the site.
Increased vaccination could reduce the need for antibiotics  and combat the rise of drug-resistant superbugs, a report revealed.

Thus, more focus must be placed on existing vaccines and developing new ones, according to a review commissioned by the UK government.

Antibiotics promotes the development and spread of multi-drug-resistant infections  or superbugs.

However, vaccines can reduce cases of infection and lessen the need for antibiotics, noted British treasury minister Jim ONeill, the head of the review.

Mr ONeills report said: There are vaccines available now that could have a massive impact on antibiotic use and resistance, as well as saving more lives if used more widely.

Placing more of a focus on existing vaccines - as well as developing new vaccines - could help reduce the need for antibiotics and combat the rise of drug-resistant superbugs, a report revealed

Vaccines that protect against a bug that causes pneumonia  called Streptococcus pneumonia  should be given worldwide, he noted as an example.

That bacteria kills more than 800,000 children each year.

Mr ONeill said: Universal coverage with a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, something that is already used in many parts of the world, could largely prevent the 800,000 yearly deaths of children under five caused by Streptococcus pneumonia.

It could also prevent more than 11 million days of antibiotic use in these children, reducing the chance of resistance developing.

Currently, the drug companies Pfizer and GSK make vaccines that are designed to protect people of all ages against Streptococcus pneumonia.

Mr ONeills report was merely his latest into the topic of so-called antimicrobial resistance.

In his first report, the politician estimated that antibiotic and microbial resistance could kill an additional 10 million people each year.

Furthermore, he estimated that the problem could cost up to $100 trillion by 2050 if not controlled.

Drug-resistant bugs are continuing to rise - and could end up killing an additional 10 million people a year and costing $100 trillion by 2050 if not controlled, the review said. But, vaccines that protect against bugs, such as Streptococcus pneumonia (pictured), could help save money - and lives

He was asked in 2014 by Prime Minister David Cameron to review the problem and ways to combat it.

Mr ONeill is set to make his final recommendations in May  in which he will develop action plans to combat drug-resistance globally.

A former chief economist at Goldman Sachs, Mr ONeill noted in his latest report that vaccines can also protect livestock and fish from infections.

He said that the current use of antibiotics in farming is a major part of the problem.

The European Commission has stated that its policy-makers are also looking into strategies to combat superbugs.
JONATHAN UNLEASHED by Meg Rosoff (Bloomsbury 14.99)

JONATHAN UNLEASHED

by Meg Rosoff

(Bloomsbury 14.99)

Rosoffs transition from childrens fiction (How I Live Now) to adult fiction is a triumph.

The main character of this hilarious, thoughtful, touching novel is Jonathan, oddball underling at a New York ad agency. But the real heroes are some dogs called Dante and Sissy.

They belong to Jonathans brother, whos working in Dubai, and they move into Jonathans tiny apartment and become the guiding spirits of his life.

They are joined in this by Greeley, a non-gender-specific secretary and fount of all human wisdom.

But even Greeley and the dogs cant prevent Jonathans ill-starred marriage to straitlaced Julie and his subsequent nervous breakdown.

Its wonderfully romantic as well as brilliantly satirical; glossy mags, office culture and hipster city living are among the many comic targets.

An absolute delight from start to finish.

THE FORGOTTEN SUMMER by Carol Drinkwater (Michael Joseph 10)

THE FORGOTTEN SUMMER

by Carol Drinkwater

(Michael Joseph 10)

A lovely book packed with the sunshine, scents and savours of the South of France.

Timid translator Jane is married to sexy filmmaker Luc. His family home is a gorgeous Provencal farmhouse set amid vineyards, ancient olive trees and devoted retainers. Its heaven on Earth, except for the mother-in-law from hell.

Why does Clarisse hate Jane so much? Gradually, we discover their history of ancient grudges and unhealed wounds. And when tragedy strikes, Jane has a further horrible surprise.

Plenty of page-turning drama, then, but also mouthwatering descriptions of Paris and Provence. Enough to make you rush straight to the Eurostar.

COMETH THE HOUR by Jeffrey Archer (Macmillan 20)

COMETH THE HOUR

by Jeffrey Archer

(Macmillan 20)

The Clifton Chronicles have reached the Seventies and the charismatic family are busier than ever.

Fragrant company director Emma is branching out into politics, having fallen under the spell of Margaret Thatcher.

By way of ideological contrast, her novelist husband Harry has just ghostwritten the memoirs of a Russian dissident. Will the book win the Nobel prize?

Theres more Iron Curtain action when a honeytrap goes wrong, plus lots of bank and boardroom double-crossing.
Yukiko would be in her late 80s now, if she is still alive

MEMOIR

PLEASE ENJOY YOUR HAPPINESS

by Paul Brinkley-Rogers

(Bluebird 16.99)

A shy, bookish 19-year-old Englishman stood shaking above a 31-year-old Japanese woman lying on a bed in a shabby motel room in the Japanese port of Yokosuka. It was the summer of 1959.

Her arms and legs were spread wide and she wore a simple white dress with a string of red plastic beads around her neck. Her wrists were caked in dried blood and, when he bent down, he found her cheeks cold to his touch. 'I don't want to die,' she said. 'I don't want to cause you big trouble.'

Paul Brinkley-Rogers had met Yukiko only a few months earlier. She would leave him mysteriously only a few weeks later. They never even kissed. And it has taken him until his mid-70s to realise that she was the love of his life.

Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent has released his haunting memoir of their intense summer romance with the complex Japanese Yukiko, who he admits was the love of his life. Above: Paul Brinkley Rogers

In his haunting memoir of their intense summer romance, the Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent admits: 'I was an idiot in my youth. I made no real effort to look for you. It is only now, after my marriages, that I appreciate who you were and what you did for me.'

Two months after emigrating to America from England, the young Brinkley-Rogers enlisted in the U.S. Navy and set sail on the USS Shangri-La, an aircraft carrier whose mission was to patrol the South China seas.

Yukiko, who had lived in Hiroshima, could never quite get over the fact that her sweetheart's ship was named after a mythical paradise but loaded with nuclear weapons. 'I remember you pulled out a dictionary and found the word 'irony',' he recalls.

They met in a Yokosuka bar called the White Rose, where Yukiko worked as a reluctant hostess. Passionate about Gershwin, Debussy, Ravel and Miles Davis, she hated the noisy Johnny Cash records they played to lure in the sailor custom.

But she was thrilled to see Brinkley-Rogers arrive with a book by Dylan Thomas in his hands, and told him he was, without doubt, the first man in the history of the U.S. Navy to enter a Japanese country-and-western bar with a book of poetry.

'I was so inexperienced and tongue-tied,' he remembers. 'I did not know what to say. I still remember the mix of fragrance and heat, and it still has the same effect on my ageing body as it did when I was young.'

The pair would meet in bars and cafes to discuss their shared passion for books and music. The older woman encouraged her young sweetheart's literary ambitions. He would correct her English and 'watch like a captive' as she applied her make-up.

These chaste scenes have an elegant eroticism that continues to burn. 'I use a perfume I make myself that only releases its fragrance when I make love,' she told the virgin trembling in the shadows of her room.

She shook his hand and left a letter in which she wrote, for the first time, that she loved him and that their affair would last for all eternity

As their friendship deepened, Yukiko's attempts to pretend her life was happier than it was began to crumble. Born in Manchuria, her brutal father had worked for the Imperial Japanese Army, conducting hideous experiments on political enemies.

After his death in World War II, the highly educated Yukiko became the plaything of Hiroshima's wealthy criminals. She escaped from one 'boyfriend' who abused her, but kept a short sword wrapped in violet silk for the inevitable day when the gangster tracked her down.

Brinkley-Rogers later found out she had a daughter. It was this child's death - and not her doomed love for him - that prompted the motel room suicide attempt.

'I am a blue woman,' she wrote to him aboard the ship where his officers warned him against getting caught in the web of Japan's 'spider women'. Between 1947-1959, 31,080 Japanese women became war brides.

But Yukiko was not among them. She vanished after one final dance - Brinkley-Rogers's white uniform pressed against her black dress - before the Shangri-La sailed for good.

She shook his hand and left a letter in which she wrote, for the first time, that she loved him and that their affair would last for all eternity.

Re-reading the letter in 2014, Brinkley-Rogers started sobbing. He wished he could thank her for all she taught him, and tell her his writing enjoyed the success she predicted.

Yukiko would be in her late 80s now, if she is still alive. Having thrown away the envelopes in which she sent her letters, her sailor boy did not have her full name and so could not trace her.
Despite India's wealth of culinary traditions, and the depth of our bio-agricultural diversity, we have shied away as a nation from projecting our food heritage to the world.

Culinary tourism, or agri-tourism, may be a worldwide employment and revenue generator (even if our Ministry of Tourism doesn't think so), yet no one here has thought out a strategy to channel the magnetic attraction of our kitchens or our farms.

Rajeev Samant, founder and CEO of Sula Vineyards, therefore deserves the accolade of seeing a growth opportunity - not only for himself, but for the community around him - where his older compatriots did not. And heres how he did it.

Nashiks Sulafest, a wine and food festival curated by Sula Vineyards founder-CEO Rajeev Samant, has set the ball rolling for wine tourism in the country, and it may spur on efforts to promote culinary tourism

After putting Nashik, Maharashtra, on the countrys wine map - it was until then a district town famous only for its oldeconomy industries (notably Samsonite) and its proximity to three religious destinations (Shirdi, Timbakeshwar and Igatpuri) - Samant was smart enough to figure out that he had created a worldwide interest in the destination.

Located on the right bank of a colonial-era dam in the village of Gangapur, Nashiks wine country looks beautiful in a superwaif sort of way (gaunt yet quite an eyeful), surrounded by nine rocky foothills of the Sahyadri range, which are responsible, along with the expansive lake of the dam, for its unique microclimate.

No matter how hot it gets during the day, Nashiks wine country cools down as the sun goes to sleep behind the hills. In the wine world, this 'deviation in diurnal temperatures' is considered extremely desirable for growth of grapes, and as we know by now, a wine is as good as the grapes that are used to produce it.

Its stark looks, the lake nearby and the romance of wine turned out to be a heady combination for Nashik. Samant cashed in on it, added music of the Goa trance kind, plus food from Mumbais trendy restaurants, and launched Sulafest nine years ago.

Around the same time, he first opened a tasting room to encourage thirsty souls from Mumbai and Pune to head to Nashik to quench their thirst and satisfy their curiosity, and then a boutique hotel named Beyond.

Before the world could say Sauvignon Blanc (the white wine grape variety that Samant popularised in India), Sulafest became a big footfall magnet and hefty sponsorship followed.

It has also carefully nurtured its image of being squeaky clean (not even a whiff of drugs, unlike in other major music festivals) and safe for women (coming from Delhi, it was a culture shock for me to see young women walking fearlessly late at night in short skirts and shorter shorts on the narrow, dark lane leading up to the parking lot).

A couple of years ago, Samant upped the ante by getting Goas La Plage restaurant to open an outlet named Soleil in his vineyards. The sleepy narrow rural road leading up to the vineyards started seeing traffic snarls for the first time in their history.

Today, as Sulafest heads towards its 10th anniversary next year, wine tourism has become the companys second biggest revenue earner, and its neighbours are following in its footsteps, changing the face of this rural outpost once famous for being Asias largest onion market.

York, a winery run by the suave and passionate Gurnani brothers (Kailash and Ravi), now has a tasting room and restaurant named Cellar Door, which receives an average of 50 guests a month.

A little farther away, Pradeep Pachpatil has turned his not-so successful Soma Winery into a hotel with a popular restaurant (Culture Kitchen) and villas for families who wish to live in greater comfort, and its sprawling lawns have become a popular venue for weddings.

For Sula, though, it must have been a moment to savour when its old rival, Grover Vineyards (the countrys oldest-running wine company), launched the Great Grover Wine Festival on the same days as Sulafest in its backyard in the rural hinterland of Bangalore.

Wine tourism has taken off; it is time for culinary tourism, limited now to sporadic private initiatives, to find its place in the sun.

From financial whizkid to winemaker

Financial analyst-turned-winemaker Karan Vasani is among a rising number of young Indians who let their passion drive their career switches

It was at Sulafest that I met Karan Vasani, the winemaker responsible for the superlative reds being produced by Sula Vineyards.

The bright-eyed youngster from Mumbai started his working life as a financial analyst at the well-known credit rating agency, Crisil, and after four years, he decided to pursue an MBA in America.

When he was preparing for his GMAT, he found himself reading up the greatest wine writers of the English-speaking world, starting with Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson, instead of poring over guides and assessment tests.

That sealed his decision to make a career switch. He chose to become a winemaker, quit his job and moved to New Zealand to become a student of viticulture and winemaking at Lincoln University.

Thereafter, he worked as winemaker in New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, and hes now at Sula. Why is it that guys in the financial world forsake their proverbial world of fast cars and glam girls to take up more demanding career tracks, such as being a winemaker or running restaurants?

I am good friends with two of them who are doing exceedingly well in the restaurant sector  Ashish Kapur, formerly of GE Caps, and the founder of the Yo! China franchise, now best known for The Wine Company, and Sid Mathur, formerly of Citibank, now director and food and beverage head at Impresario Hospitality.

They work much harder now and they have to deal with such daily irritants as obnoxious lower-level officials demanding their haftas and other sundry favours, but theres something about the restaurant business that gives them the kind of adrenaline rush that makes them feel on top of the world after a hard day at work.

In the case of Vasani, it was the anticipation of delicious discoveries that made him trade the comfort of a financial analysts life for the financially less rewarding career in winemaking.

Kapur, with the benefit of hindsight, says he would have burned out in his mid-30s. Instead, hes in a business where fame, money and peoples goodwill come in equal measure and together, these more than make up for the occasional adventure with a cop or an excise official.

Delicious cheese produced from goats in wine country

Morgan Rainforth, the chef among the trio that founded La Plage in Goa (and now also run Soleil by La Plage at the Sula Vineyards), has made some of the finest goat's cheese that I have eaten in a long time.

Lusciously creamy and without the salt attack of feta (the worlds most famous feta cheese produced in Greece), Rainforths creation is a welcome addition to the expanding repertoire of European cheeses made in India.

They come from places as diverse as Flanders Dairy at Brijwasan near Delhi, Himalaya International Co. in Paonta Sahib, Himachal Pradesh, ABC Farm in Pune, Acres Wild in the Nilgiris (by Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak director and Aamir Khans cousin, Mansoor Khan), and Le Ferme Cheese in Auroville.

Chef Morgan Rainforth, who is among the trio that founded La Plage in Goa, is making goat's cheese

I was curious to find out about the quantity of milk produced by the goats being reared in Dhindori, a winerich tehsil of Nashik.

Rainforth said it could be a kilo or two per day and he got about 2.5 kilos of cheese from 10 litres of goats milk.
Manohar Parrikaran met various BJP leaders to discuss his Ministry's work

Under an increasing opposition onslaught over the performance of the Modi government, the BJP is demanding regular interaction between its leaders and Union ministers.

Party leaders and spokespeople have already met Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu as part of the exercise to communicate the work done by the Centre.

Presentations were made about the achievements of the two ministries and their focus areas.

Supreme Court a forum for Lokayukta pleas?

It seems the Supreme Court is fast becoming the forum for filing complaints against states which are not appointing Lokayukta, the anti-corruption ombudsman, despite several reminders.

After it appointed a Lokayukta for Uttar Pradesh when the state refused to act, a fresh petition has been filed in the apex court seeking a direction to Uttarakhand to appoint the ombudsman.

Chief Justice TS Thakur has sought a copy of the 2011 Uttarakhand law on Lokayukta from the petitioner.

Amit Shah takes on Gogoi government

BJP chief Amit Shah accused the Congress government in Assam of destroying the state.

He alleged Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had done nothing else but indulge in family promotion for years.

'For the last 15 years, there is Congress government in Assam.

'But I regret that the state is lagging behind due to corruption and family promotion,' Shah said on the occasion of Bodo Accord Day.

Sonia Gandhi writes to jawan's mother

As the nation prayed for the quick recovery of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa, who is battling for his life at an Army hospital after being buried for days under snow, Congress president Sonia Gandhi reached out to his family.

In a letter to his mother Basamma, Gandhi said she prayed for good health and a long life for the soldier.

'I pray to god that such a brave soldier should be fit and fine at the earliest and get back to his routine with his family and serve the nation,' she wrote.

Amit Shah on a 'young' mission

BJP chief Amit Shah has embarked on a mission to give a young profile to the party.

To embellish BJP ideologue, that Deen Dayal Upadhyay was an icon of the young, the party chief would be launching a book on Wednesday titled, Yuvaon Ke Deen Dayal or Deen Dayal of the Young.
Heading home this morning. Thank you @aeromexico for understanding the importance of religious and cultural tolerance. I am happy we were able to work together to come up with a resolution. (See link in bio for more details.) #lovenotfear #fearisanopportunitytoeducate A photo posted by Waris Ahluwalia (@houseofwaris) on Feb 10, 2016 at 6:31am PST

Victory. On Wednesday morning, after a two-day standoff in Mexico City, Sikh American actor, designer and activist Waris Ahluwalia boarded an Aeromexico flight back home to the United States.The airline initially barred Ahluwalia from flying because he refused to remove his turban, an article of his Sikh faith. But after Waris took a stand, calling for better sensitivity and training regarding passengers with religious headwear -- attracting a ton of media attention in the process -- Aeromexico relented.After spending two extra days grounded in Mexico City, Ahulwalia was allowed to board a new Aeromexico flight without removing his turban for a security check. In addition to issuing an apology to Ahluwalia, the airline agreed to initiate staff training about how to deal with passengers wearing religious head coverings.

On Monday, Ahluwalia was prohibited from boarding the 7:15 AM Aeromexico flight from Mexico City to New York City. After being flagged for a secondary security check, he was held back until all other passengers had boarded while security personnel searched his bag, swabbed him and patted him down.



When they asked Ahluwalia to take off his turban, he refused.



"I responded matter-of-factly that I won't be taking off my turban," Ahluwalia told the New York Times. "It is a symbol of my faith. It is something that I wear whenever I am in public."



An airline employee told Ahluwalia that he would not be getting on his flight, or any other Aeromexico flight, until he met their security demands. So he missed his flight and immediately contacted the Sikh Coalition, which quickly devised a campaign to address the violation of Ahluwalia's civil rights.



In addition to sharing his story with over 600 media outlets, the Sikh Coalition contacted Aeromexico on Mr. Ahluwalia's behalf, submitted a detailed complaint letter to their legal counsel and engaged in extensive negotiations over the past two days. They requested a public apology, Sikh awareness training for airline employees, and training on protocols for screening passengers with religious headwear.





Good morning from Mexico City. On this day, and each day hereafter we must remember that our struggle against fear and ignorance is fought with love. That is the only way forward for humanity. #fearisanopportunitytoeducate #lovenotfear A photo posted by Waris Ahluwalia (@houseofwaris) on Feb 9, 2016 at 10:11am PST

Mr. Ahluwalia refused to make other arrangements on another airline and decided instead to remain in Mexico City until the Aeromexico responded to his demands. This was about more than just a personal inconvenience. The incident became an opportunity to highlight both his mistreatment and that of Sikh Americans and other minority groups in the current climate of fear.



Late Tuesday night, the Sikh Coalition received confirmation that Aeromexico had accepted their demands.



"In addition to publicly apologizing for Mr. Ahluwalia's mistreatment, Aeromexico has issued a directive to its staff regarding the religious significance of the Sikh turban and plans to make a formal request to the TSA and the Mexican government to implement religious and diversity sensitivity training regarding screening of passengers with religious headwear into airport security training curriculum," said Harsimran Kaur, legal director of the Sikh Coalition.



"We apologize to Mr. Waris Ahluwalia for the unfortunate experience he had with one of our security guards during the boarding process," Aeromexico said in a statement. "This incident inspires us to make sure that we strengthen the customer service protocols of our safety personnel in respectful accordance with the cultural and religious values of our customers."



As for Waris' flight home, everything apparently went smoothly. He did not have to remove his turban for secondary screening, made it through security, and flew back to New York City without incident. And everybody's hopefully a little bit wiser.



Waris apparently even made friends with two Aeromexico pilots.







The Sikh Coalition says it also plans to contact the U.S. Transportation Security Administration to demand clearer and consistent guidelines for foreign airlines when screening passengers with religious headwear. Sikhs are not required to remove their turbans during domestic travel unless the article of faith triggers an alarm, and only then as an option of last resort and in private. Foreign airlines that fly into the U.S. -- and must comply with TSA procedures -- should be subject to the same rules.



More here: #StandWithWaris Campaign Leads to Airline Training & Global Education






The unwillingness of IPS officers to move out of the capital has resulted in an acute shortage of officers in north eastern states like Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram.

It's a situation which has also forced Delhi Police to create a host of new posts to accommodate its growing number of senior officers, sources have claimed.

'Earlier, Delhi Police used to have no DG-scale rank but to accommodate senior officers, they created the post of senior special CP.

Delhi Police is said to be creating a host of new posts for senior IPS officers due to their reluctance to leave the capital for other areas

'After Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung expressed his concerns, they withdrew the rank and replaced it with special CP (DG scale),' sources said.

Up until January 1, Delhi Police had six extra special commissioner rank officers and one DCP rank official. Currently, it has four director-general rank officers.

An official said: 'Currently, Arunachal Pradesh has not received an ADG/ special commissioner-rank officer or a joint commissioner/IG rank officer though state has five sanctioned IG-rank posts and one ADG rank post.

'The state is also facing a shortage of mid-level officers. As it is a sensitive area, no officers are ready to go there.

'No mid-level officers have joined over the past year. Similarly, Mizoram is also facing a crunch in senior IPS officers. The state has not got any ADG and IG-rank officers for many months.'

In February, Delhi Police divided the law and order post into two. Soon, Delhi Police will have special commissioners for two newly-created zones - southern and northern.

A senior police official said: 'Recently, Delhi Police placed a proposal that the city must be divided into two zones and each zone would be looked after by a special commissioner. Both zones will report to a special commissioner (DG scale). But implementation of this proposal will take time'

According to another top official, Delhi Police requires more senior officers and everything is being done to ensure policing in Delhi remains at a high level.

'The reason behind creating these posts is to ensure good policing in Delhi. We need at least five senior-ranked officers to look after different units. DG-rank officers will look after special CP and special CP will oversee joint commissioners.'

According sources, the Joint Cadre Authority is also not very keen to create a balance between Delhi and other states as they are facing pressure from senior IPS officers.
ShutdownJNU became one of the most trending Twitter hashtags on Wednesday.

This came in the wake of clashes between student organisations that rocked the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus on Tuesday after a group of students organised a protest meet to celebrate Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front co-founder Maqbool Bhat.

The varsity administration ordered a probe into the incident on Wednesday.

ABVP activists protest outside the JNU vice-chancellors office over a demonstration in the campus which hailed Afzal Guru as a 'martyr'.

Mail Today was the first to report that organisers went ahead with the programme even though the varsity administration had revoked permission for it after a complaint was filed by right-wing students body ABVP.

While the administration claimed the organisers had couched (the event) as a cultural one, the denial led to clashes between ABVP and Left organisations that supported the organisers.

The protesters allegedly flashed guns on campus. Police had to be called in.

The incident also sparked a massive debate on social media sites as several videos of the night were shared and posted on Facebook and Twitter.

Kashmiri militant Afzal Guru left 14 people dead in a 2001 attack on India's Parliament

Slogans like Kashmir ki azadi tak jung chalegi, Bharat ki barbadi tak jung chalegi were reportedly raised at the protest meet.

Meanwhile, the police told Mail Today that they were going through the video footage of the entire incident.

We have recorded the entire incident and now we are in the process of scanning the footage to find out what kind of slogans were raised and identify those who raised them. If there is anything anti-national, we will act according to the law. We are also recording the statement of students, said PS Kushwaha, additional DCP (South).

The JNU administration ordered the inquiry after the ABVP staged a protest outside the VCs office demanding rustication of those involved in the incident.

The inquiry committee is to be headed by the chief proctor of JNU. The ABVP, meanwhile, has given a seven-day ultimatum to the administration to complete the inquiry and take action.

Misleading

JNU vice-chancellor M Jagdesh Kumar claimed the the administration had been misled by organisers.

The permission for the programme was sought by giving incomplete information. So it is an act of indiscipline. A committee headed by the chief proctor will examine the footage of the event and speak to the witnesses. On the basis of the report, the varsity will take appropriate action, he said.

The registrar of the varsity, Bupinder Zutshi, said: It was nowhere mentioned in the permission request that the event will be on Afzal Guru. Organisers said that they wanted to organise a cultural event. How can any talk about disintegration of nation be in national interest?

The ABVP is in no mood to let the matter die down anytime soon. It is preparing to write to the Centre for appropriate action.

We have decided to bring the matter to the notice of the Home Ministry, the Ministry of HRD and the Prime Ministers Office to appeal for action against such incidents of anti-nationalism, said Saurabh Kumar Sharma, the joint secretary of JNU Students Union (JNUSU) and the lone SU member from ABVP.

Other members of the JNU students union, who belong to left-backed organisations, disowned the protest against the event, saying it is ABVPs stand and not that of the JNUSU.

Who's stirring the campus cauldron

By Kamlesh Singh

The Right ridicules the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) as the last bastion of what is left of the Left. Socialism is still sexy on this campus. Even the haters acknowledge the Lefts heft here.

The resurgent Right, now armed with that Modi might, is giving them a fight in the battle of narratives. The Rights favourite weapon: declare difference anti-national.

It literally sucked the life out of Rohith Vemula, the Dalit student who broke a billion hearts with a final Facebook note.

Shut Down JNU. This was the war cry on Wednesday as the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad launched a protest, fuelling a fire that spread to Twitter, the bipartisan battlefield of partisan polemic.

It sounded as spurious as the regular right-wing anti-national whine.

Or did it? The Left literally handed the Right the rare opportunity to cry wrong and be right. ABVP said JNU is anti-national.

JNU doesnt need to shut down over some seditious sloganeering, but it should give the administration, both on and outside the campus, some serious heebie-jeebies. Because it goes beyond petty politics.

This is what happened. Some students organised a cultural programme that progressed into an event to mark the martyrdom of Afzal Guru, who was hanged for his involvement in the December 13, 2001 Parliament attack.

This had happened in Vemulas Hyderabad Central University too. Then too, some called it anti-national.

No matter what the Right believes, Indias Constitution gives her citizens an inviolable right to speech and belief. But soon, the slogans became shriller and bordered on being anti-India and quickly ended up crossing that border.

India, Go Back! This is a slogan we hear in the Kashmir Valley, now a post-Friday-prayers ritual in Srinagar. Not in New Delhi. JNU has never been a disputed territory.

JNU also does not have a history of demanding Azaadi from India. But the next slogan referred to a war that will go on till Kashmir is freed.

Kashmir ki Azaadi tak, jung rahegi, jung rahegi. This would have been enough to light a furious fire in the hearts of the proud and patriot crowd. But the JNU Djangos did not stop at that. They rhymed it with India ki barbaadi tak, jung rahegi, jung rahegi. That means the war will go on till India is destroyed.

Rhyme and reason. Crime and treason. Or in common parlance, asking for it.

In a free nation, you can demand freedom from that nation and that - however unpatriotic - will fall within the freedom of speech framework.

Calling for a total destruction of that very free nation is misuse of the fundamental right the same nations constitution affords us all. This is not bordering on incitement, this is incitement. So, this time when the ABVP called this anti-national, it was right.

Has the Left lost the art of intellectual war? Has the Left been appropriated by to the louts within? This is not progressive or aggressive - this is not the intellectual Left. This is regression into an uncharted territory for student politics in general and, JNU in particular.

Universities are the only places where ideas, even pernicious ones, must be allowed to flourish. Since the recent rise of the raucous Right, India is fighting a battle to retain this character of our academic institutions. The Left is leading that battle.
Pre-natal sex determination has raised its ugly head in Delhi once again.

In what could be the tip of the iceberg in the nexus between private hospitals and doctors running an illegal sex determination racket in Delhi and neighbouring Haryana, a doctor was caught red-handed on Monday conducting a pre-natal sex determination test.

The doctor was arrested and an FIR was registered against him.

The sting operation was conducted by a team of doctors and officials from Jhajjar district, following a tip-off. (Picture for representation only.)

A team of doctors and officials from Jhajjar district in Haryana sent a decoy customer to Bahadurgarh as they had prior information about a tout, Akash, who was helping people get sex determination tests done.

After the operation, a doctor from MSG super-specialty hospital in Punjabi Bagh was arrested and six ultrasound machines were sealed.

The operation assumes significance as Haryana has the dubious record of being the worst state across the country in terms of sex ratio, with just 879 females per 1,000 males.

In the list of the top 100 districts with the worst sex ratios, 12 are from Haryana.

According to sources, Akash charged Rs 11,000 from his customers to get sex determination tests done.

We got information about him (Akash) from our sources and we decided to do a sting operation to get to the root of the racket. We were shocked to find that a private hospital from Delhi was helping him, Dr Rakesh Kumar, deputy civil surgeon, Jhajjar district told Mail Today.

He added that the team followed Akash from Bahadurgarh.

The PCPNDT Act, 1194 was enacted to stop female foeticide and arrest the declining sex ratio in the country. Prenatal sex determination is banned under the Act.

He took the woman in an autorickshaw to Shivaji Park Metro Station, Rakesh said.

While the duo were waiting at the station, a car stopped in front of them. Sources said a woman came out of the auto and made a mark on the decoys wrist.

It seemed like a code, Rakesh said.

When the woman reached MGS hospital, a doctor immediately took her inside for examination.

The doctor congratulated me and said its a boy, the woman told officers.

We have terminated the doctors services. We were not aware that he was resorting to such illegal practices in the hospital. We were shocked, Dr RK Mathur, medical superintendent of MGS hospital, told Mail Today.

Officials from west Delhi district administration were also present in the hospital during investigation.

We found that the hospital did not follow many guidelines laid down under the PCPNDT Act. Six ultrasound machines have been sealed and the doctor has been arrested, a Delhi government official told Mail Today.

Under the PCPNDT Act, a pregnant woman is considered innocent of the act of sex determination unless proven otherwise.

Medical personnel, responsible people at the facility, mediators who may abet the pregnant womans access to such information, the husband and relatives of the woman, and anyone advertising sex selection in any form are the ones who can be held liable.

In a similar incident, a doctor conducting a sex determination test at the Bhatnagar Hospital in Gurgaon was apparently caught red-handed on Sunday.

The district administration of Gurgaon has started a helpline number (8010088088) where one can provide information on hospitals or individuals involved in sex determination tests.

According to Delhi government data, in 2014, the Capital had a sex ratio of 896 females per 1,000 males.
A threefold increase in establishment cost, including employees salaries, and the consistent failure of the BJP-ruled MCDs to boost revenue generation, are the main causes of the civic bodies' ongoing financial crisis.

Splitting the MCD into three entities increased the expenditure on wages by three times, while the revenue collection from the civic bodies' internal sources remained more or less constant. This led to a cash crunch, officials claim.

According to figures, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, which came into existence with a cash deficit of Rs 760 crore in 2012- 13, is presently dealing with a deficit of nearly Rs 2,700 crore.

The civic bodies' fund crunch resulted in non-payment of staff salaries, prompting garbage woes in the Capital as sanitation workers went on an indefinite strike

Similarly, the East Delhi Municipal Corporations deficit has increased from Rs 441 crore to Rs 2,196 crore.

On the other hand, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation had a surplus budget in 2012-13 but the present financial statement shows a loss of Rs 200 crore.

The unified MCDs expenditure on salary was nearly Rs 2,000 crore, a figure that has gone up to Rs 6,563 crore for the three MCDs for the current year.

There are nearly 1.5 lakh employees in three municipal corporations of which 65,000 workers are employed in the sanitation department.

On employees wages, the North MCD spends the maximum of Rs 2,883 crore annually, followed by South MCDs Rs 2,200 crore and Rs 1,480 crore by East MCD.

But the salary bills of the two cash-strapped civic bodies surged so much that they could not be met through the agencies resources.

In 2015-16, the North MCD earmarked only Rs 545 crore for salary expenses, while the East MCD made a provision of Rs 331 crore for the same.

Moreover, the Delhi government gave Rs 893 crore to North MCD and Rs 466 crore to the East MCD as part of global share for 2015-16.

But as the crisis aggravated and MCD employees went on an indefinite strike, the Delhi government announced a loan of Rs 551 crore - Rs 314 crore for the north body and Rs 237 crore for the East MCD.

Moreover, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also released Rs 142 crore of stamp duty for North MCD, increasing the amount in MCDs kitty to Rs 693 crore. However, the fund crunch continued despite the government respite.

As a result, the two civic bodies were forced to divert money from other heads, including conversion charges and security, to pay employees' salaries.

North MCD and East MCD have cleared the salary and arrears till January this year. However, doubts remain over the issue of payment of wages for the coming months.

Ravinder Gupta, Mayor, North MCD said: For the month of January and February we will manage with funds from the state government and DDA. For March, salary will be credited from the next financial years budget. However, if there is once again a crisis of funds for the payment of salaries, we will once again be forced to ask Delhi government for it.

Owing to constant financial losses, the East and North Delhi Corporations have also discontinued paying old age pension and arrears.
According to recent reports infiltration by militants in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has come down to zero this year and militancy has become less lethal.

But the J&K government is in no mood to take it easy. It has decided to keep up the pressure on militants by increasing the cash-for-kill incentives.

Sources said the government has increased the reward money for killing A++ militants from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 12.50 lakh. Likewise the reward amount for the A+ category militant has been increased to Rs 7.50 lakh from Rs 5 lakh.

The J&K government has raised the cash-for-kill incentive for members of the security forces

For A-category militants the amount has been increased to Rs 5 lakh from Rs 3 lakh. For B-category militants it has gone up to Rs 3 lakh from Rs 2 lakh, and for the C-category, the cash-for-kill incentive has gone up from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh.

The reward money is released by the Jammu and Kashmir Police Headquarters to the Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) of a district where a militant has been killed, usually within a week after the killing. The SSP then distributes the money to the team which carried out the operation.

However, sources said the categorising a militant from A to A+ and from A+ to A++ is a decision taken by the Inspector General of Police (IGP).

Sources said the reward money given to the SSPs is always properly accounted for and an audit also takes place to make sure the money goes to the right people.

The decision to increase the reward, according to sources, was taken during the regime of the previous Peoples Democratic Party and the BJP government.

Since January 2015, 38 militants have been killed in four districts of south Kashmir. Most of these militants have been killed inside their hideouts during counter-insurgency operations lead by security forces.

The cash-for-kill incentive for security forces had come under strong criticism during the Machil fake encounter case in 2010.

On the night of April 29, 2010 three youths, Shezad Ahmad (27), Riyaz Ahmad (20), and Mohammad Shafi Lone (19) of Nadihal village in North Kashmirs Baramulla district were killed in Kalaroos village of Machil sector, Kupwara on the Line of Control (LoC) by army in a fake encounter.

The youths were lured to the LoC by former Special Police Officer (SPO) Bashir Ahmad, his associate Abdul Hameed, and a territorial army jawan Abas Shah who had promised the three men money and jobs.

The former SPO and his two associates allegedly received Rs 50,000 each from the army for handing over the three youths to them.
Still fighting: Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad is receiving critical care in Delhis Research and Referral hospital

It was a miracle that Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad survived after being trapped under almost 25 feet of solid ice for six days. But at the time of going to press, the brave jawan is still battling for his life in Delhis Research and Referral hospital.

Doctors are hoping for another miracle to revive Koppad, whose condition deteriorated on Wednesday.

His army base at Siachen was hit by an avalanche that buried him and nine of his colleagues. The army and the air force braved the worlds toughest frontier to extricate the bodies and rescue Koppad.

He continues to remain extremely critical with evidence of oxygen deprivation to the brain on CT scan, said a medical bulletin issued by the hospital on Wednesday evening.

There is evidence of pneumonia in both lungs. His multi-organ dysfunction state continues unabated. His condition has deteriorated despite aggressive therapy and supportive care, said the bulletin.

The doctors had claimed on Tuesday that the next 48 hours would be crucial for the soldier and he was kept under intensive care.

Koppads condition has taken a turn for the worse on Wednesday, but the team of critical care specialists are unanimous about the line of treatment for the future.

Apart from army doctors, experts from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences were also consulted for Koppads treatment plan.

Army chief General Dalbir Singh visited the hospital on Wednesday morning and took stock of the efforts being made to revive the brave soldier.

Indian students pray near a sand sculpture of Hanumanthappa Koppad at Puri beach, 65km from Bhubaneswar. The tribute was created by Sudarsan Pattnaik.

Schoolchildren in Jammu remember those killed in the Siachen Glacier avalanche, and the ongoing struggle of survivor Lance Naik Hanumanthappa.

Koppad is suffering from organ failure and pneumonia in both lungs, and doctors have warned his condition is still precarious. Medics claimed on 9 February that the next 48 hours would be crucial for the soldier.

Rescuers hacked through 25 feet of ice to reach the buried jawan when his presence was detected by radars flown to the glacier.

Chairman of the chiefs of staff committee Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha also visited the hospital amid a national outpouring of prayers for Koppad.

Beating all odds, Koppad was rescued after all the 10 soldiers of the Madras regiment trapped in the avalanche were pronounced dead by authorities.

The rescuers found him alive when his presence was detected by radars flown to the glacier to trace missing soldiers on the Saltoro Ridge surrounding the glacier.

As Koppad battles for life, the army is trying to bring back the bodies of nine of his colleagues. Their remains could not be flown out of the glacier on Wednesday due to inclement weather. Another attempt will be made on Thursday, said officials.

Koppads family arrived at the hospital on Wednesday. The 33-year-old soldier belongs to Betadur village in Dharwad district of Karnataka and had joined the 19th battalion of the Madras Regiment in 2002.
The secret to forging trade routes that last is long-term relationships. So it is unfortunate that the post of trade minister has been passed around so much by a government supposedly committed to boosting exports.

Mark, soon to be Lord Price, will become the sixth incumbent in seven years when he swaps Waitrose for the robes of office in April. For his predecessor, Lord Maude, it was barely worth joining a frequent-flier programme.

What Price will learn when he digs into the figures is that the razzmatazz of ministerial trade missions has not proved effective at loosening the purse strings of overseas buyers.

New role: Outgoing Waitrose boss Mark Price has been named new trade minister

In fact, total trade exports went backwards last year, falling 1billion to 512billion.

Only partly can the blame be laid at the door of the strong pound. The sale of services, including those provided by bankers and lawyers, showed a record surplus of 90billion. But we are struggling at touting our goods, with a record trade deficit of 125billion nothing to write home about.

For all the talk of tapping emerging markets, the UK brings in more money from Denmark than Brazil.

China, a smaller export market than Ireland, still accounts for less than 5 per cent of the total.

Price should write off George Osbornes target of boosting exports to 1trillion by 2020. Targets only work if there is some hope they can be achieved.

The grocer is resolutely jolly, having steered Waitrose through the toughest of price wars, even if his ruse of offering free cups of coffee to lure shoppers raised eyebrows.

Less is known of his own export success. On his watch, the supermarkets goods went from being on sale in 20 countries to 57.

In addition to own-label brands, a number of small food producers were able to piggyback on Waitroses expansion.

Rather than speed-dating on foreign soil, British firms need solid advice and financing help if they are to go to the trouble of cultivating new customers.

Misery glut

The oil barons who have descended on London for International Petroleum Week knew it would be a muted affair.

Dinner-party carousing is off the agenda while the industry drowns in a glut of pessimism that the oil price will remain at little more than $30 a barrel for the foreseeable future.

Russian frustrations are clear as Igor Sechin, President Putins close confidant and boss of the state-controlled oil major Rosneft, lashed out at all and sundry for the plunge in prices. It is rich of him to welcome the part-privatisation of Saudi Arabias oil giant Saudi Aramco if it succeeds in diluting political influence in the boardroom.

With production cuts co-ordinated by Opec looking fanciful, BPs annual energy outlook could be viewed as containing more hope than expectation. Certainly, BP chief Bob Dudley must believe that the industry can rebalance itself soonish after he opted to maintain the companys dividend.

Fast forward to 2035, and BP presents a world in which fossil fuels still provide 80pc of the worlds energy supply, with the attendant rise in carbon emissions. Low prices will boost demand, especially in China and India.

Bank of England escapee Spencer Dale, now BPs chief economist, is used to choosing his words carefully, but it is clear he thinks that a return to the halcyon days of $100 a barrel is not impossible.

It is a case of how we get there. BPs prediction of a shale oil boom that will help the US achieve oil self-sufficiency by 2030 should stiffen the resolve to keep pumping no matter what. More of a surprise is that renewables will finally have their day, gaining market share from 2020 onwards at a rate to match oils rise in the early 20th century  the period when Americans began to fall in love with the motor car.

Strong Arm

If a clue were needed to the continued success of microchip designer Arm Holdings, look no further than the small fortune it pours into research and development.

Last year it spent 278million perfecting new designs, a whacking 29 per cent of revenues.

Such outlay is no flash in the pan. Five years ago it was investing 34 per cent, but Arms explosive growth means that the sum total was almost exactly half as much.

Although Britain is a laggard when it comes to R&D spending compared with its European peers, Arm stands out.
Slowdown concerns: China accounts for 5 per cent of ARMs sales

Tech-maker ARM Holdings shrugged off cooling demand for iPhones by focusing on the growing demand for gadgets linked up to the internet.

ARM posted a strong rise in full-year sales and profits because of the growth in connected items or the internet of things, where devices such as central heating can be switched on by someones mobile phone.

It dodged a slowdown in the crucial Chinese market and managed to avoid the slump suffered by rival Imagaination Technologies.

ARM said more than half of the worlds smartphones produced over the past three months contained its most powerful processor technology.

But despite this, shares fell yesterday 41p, or 4.4 per cent, to 899p.

Some of ARMs biggest customers, have been raising concerns about demand in China and Apple, which, experts say, accounts for 5 per cent of ARMs sales, forecast its first drop in revenue in 13 years last month.

The business posted a 31 per cent rise in pre-tax profit to 414.8million from 316.5million on sales of 1.4billion, up 15 per cent.
The Independent and Independent on Sunday newspapers are to stop running print editions later this year, leaving only an online-edition, owners Alexander and Evgeny Lebedev have confirmed.

Announcing the 'digital-only' move, ESI Media said 'some redundancies among editorial employees' would be made.

ESI has also confirmed it will sell its sister title, i newspaper, to Johnston Press, subject to approval from Johnston's shareholders.

Over: The Independent and Independent on Sunday newspapers will stop their print editions in March

Evgeny Lebedev, ESI's owner, said: 'This decision preserves the Independent brand and allows us to continue to invest in the high-quality editorial content that is attracting more and more readers to our online platforms.'

The last print edition of the Independent will be published on Saturday 26 March, while the last Independent on Sunday will be on 20 March.

Media commentator Roy Greenslade said: 'It is quite clear that the digital revolution is eating our news print industry and it's just a matter of time before it swallows the lot whole.'

Father and son: Rumours are rife that the Ledbedevs want to exit the British media industry

It was first announced yesterday that Johnston Press was eyeing up a takeover for the i newspaper.

The Lebedevs, who also own the Evening Standard and the London Live TV station, launched the i in 2010 as a cheap spin-off from the Independent newspaper.

When the i was launched it was billed at as the UK's first quality daily newspaper to be released since 1986, when sister title The Independent hit the streets.

The publication made underlying earnings of 5.2million in the year to the end of September.

If the deal is completed, Johnston - which owns more than 200 titles including the Yorkshire Post and The Scotsman - would become the UK's fourth largest print publisher with more than 600,000 paid copies a day.

Johnston said there are opportunities to launch new online products associated with the i, target new markets and for advertising cross-selling.

Johnston added that the i has growing circulation revenues - no mean feat in a declining wider print publishing market.

Troubled: The British newspaper market has been in decline for many years and shows no signs of returning to past glories

News of the 'late stage' discussions between Johnston and the Lebedevs over the i comes after it was revealed the title had been put up for sale at the end of last year.

Independent Print Limited, the publisher of the Independent and i, reported an operating loss of 5.9million in the year ending September 2014 - down from 17.5million two years earlier.
British industry suffered a dismal end to the year as storm clouds gathered over the global economy, official figures showed yesterday.

The Office for National Statistics said industrial production in the UK fell 1.1 per cent in December  the worst performance for three years  as factories, North Sea oil explorers and electricity generators struggled.

Industrial output in the UK is still 9.8 per cent below the pre-crisis peak reached eight years ago  leaving the economy worryingly reliant on the services sector for growth.

Pledges: The figures piled pressure on George Osborne ahead of next months Budget and make a mockery of his pledge five years ago that Britain would be carried aloft by the March of the Makers

A separate report by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research said the economy grew by just 0.4 per cent in the three months to the end of January.

The figures piled pressure on George Osborne ahead of next months Budget and make a mockery of his pledge five years ago that Britain would be carried aloft by the March of the Makers.

The crisis in British industry is likely to be underlined tomorrow when Rolls-Royce is expected to slash its dividend payment to shareholders for the first time in 24 years. The cut will be a blow to workers saving for their retirement as Britains leading pension funds are among the biggest shareholders in the FTSE 100 engineering giant.

Rolls-Royce has issued five profit warnings in the past two years and chief executive Warren East is likely to use the companys annual results to warn of tough times ahead.

Gloom: AP Moller-Maersk reported an 84 per cent plunge in profits as a slowdown in global trade hit business

Anxiety about the state of British industry comes amid mounting concerns about the global economy. French industrial production fell 1.6 per cent in December and Germany suffered a 1.2 per cent fall. Italy saw output drop 0.7 per cent.

Adding to the gloom, AP Moller-Maersk, the worlds biggest container-shipping company, reported an 84 per cent plunge in profits as a slowdown in global trade hit business.

The Danish conglomerate, whose oil and gas business has been hammered by the slump in crude prices, said profits fell from 3.45billion in 2014 to 544million last year. It is worse than 2008, said chief executive Nils Andersen. The oil price is as low as its lowest point in 2008-09 and has stayed there for a long time. The external conditions are much worse but we are better prepared.

The ONS report into British industry showed manufacturing output fell 0.2 per cent in December and is still 6.5 per cent below the pre-recession peak reached in early 2008.

Industry in crisis: Rolls-Royce has issued five profit warnings in the past two years and chief executive Warren East is likely to use the companys annual results to warn of tough times ahead

Factory output has now fallen for three months in a row for the first time since 2009 during the depths of the Great Recession.

The oil and gas sector saw output fall 4.6 per cent as the slump in the price of crude, from around $115 a barrel in summer 2014 to just above $30 last night, took its toll.

Scott Bowman, UK economist at Capital Economics, described the figures as dismal, adding: 2015 was a poor year for the manufacturing sector. And the near-term prospects dont appear much better.

James Warren, a research fellow at NIESR, said: The softening of growth in the three months to January was primarily driven by weakness in the production sector at the end of last year.
As a Christian would you want to financially support a business involved in pornography or a major Las Vegas casino complex? These are the kinds of baited questions that are posed by those who tout so-called "morally responsible" investing. Investment screening on the basis of a political or philosophical agenda originally gained popularity among environmental activists who avoided companies with poor environmental track records (the secular phraseology in their cases is "socially responsible"). For several years now, Christians have entered into their own brand of philosophical investing, usually called "morally responsible." You can name your cause and, nowadays, there is likely a mutual fund to be found that will uniquely address it, in terms of the company stocks it chooses to includeas well as excludefrom the fund portfolio.

Unfortunately, adherence to a genuinely morally responsible position on investment selection is basically untenable. I wish that were not the caseit would be a pretty terrific (investment) world if we could both invest well and do so in a way that is truly characteristic of moral responsibilitybut accomplishing that is next to impossible, when it comes right down to it.

One of the biggest problems with trying to realize a morally pure investment portfolio has to do with the complex relationships between businesses and other organizations. Here is a quick example: American Express, like most major corporations, gives money to a large number of non-profit organizations annually. Among those it has financially supported over the years is Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood is widely known for its "pro-choice" views, views with which I, of course, do not agree. However, should I use this as the reason to avoid investing in the stock of American Express or any mutual fund that may purchase shares of this large multi-national financial firm?

This is just one tiny example of how this problem of investment purity can evidence itself. Think of all the companies in the world that have relationships with countless numbers of other entities of all types, and then ponder if it is realistic, from an investment perspective, to be able to truly cull the morally responsible companies from those that are not.

These noted complexities exist in a variety of economic sectors, at a variety of levels: grocery store chains seem harmless enough, in one sense, but most now sell alcohol and tobacco, as well as some salacious magazine material; major media companies obviously produce all kinds of programming that is in conflict with our Christian values; book store chains (well, those that are left) carry pornographic magazines, as well as other objectionable magazines and books; the Internet is riddled with pornography and unwholesome web sites; and medical and pharmaceutical companies are involved, one way or another, with medical procedures with which we disagree.

How about banks and other lending institutions? On the surface, these kinds of businesses certainly do not appear to be engaged in morally irresponsible practices, but think more fully on this - your bank is lending money to the same businesses mentioned above. With whose money are they making these loans? Yours, if you are one of their depositors.

You see my point. We can find something objectionable in the products or practices of almost every company, in virtually every industry. If we do not have an issue with what they manufacture or sell, we may easily have one with regard to their policies, or perhaps with their choices on behalf of the charitable contributions they elect to make. Aside from all of that, we may learn that the CEO or founder has different political affiliations than we do, or has been divorced, is an atheist, or has been sexually immoral, etc.

Christians Can't Agree On What Companies To Avoid...

Take for example the firearms industry. Some Christians consider companies involved with the sale of guns and ammunition as ungodly, while others are staunch proponents of gun ownership and the 2nd Amendment. What about companies that profit from the design and sale of military grade weapons to the U.S. government? Some Christians would take the position that any company involved in profiting from military weaponry is immoral, while others believe that our country should have a strong national defense. What about the environment? Some Christians would avoid investing in any company involved with oil exploration, nuclear energy, or other activities that might hurt the environment (such as fracking), while others have a much more tempered view, and see a balance between man's needs for resources and protecting the environment. One faith based fund even goes so far as to screen out companies that offer corporate benefits to same sex partners of their employees (which is very much becoming the norm, even though as Christians we disagree).

Morally Responsible Funds and Portfolios Just Dont Perform Terribly Well

While I do not mean to trivialize our need as Christians to stand for important values and virtuous standards, I think we must approach this matter with balance and reason. The performance results of morally or socially responsible investing are generally poor. Virtually all of the mutual funds involved in this kind of screening of investment selections have underperformed the market year in and year out. I believe the reason for this is simple: if an investment company has to spend most of its time deciding what not to invest in, it ends up having very little time or resources left to devote to finding profitable opportunities for its investors. Furthermore, these firms have to avoid so many of the best blue chip companies for the aforementioned reasonsthat they stand very little chance of being able to truly compete in the investment marketplace.

By the WayYou are NOT Giving Money to a Company When You Buy Its Stock

Something else worth noting: In the vast majority of cases, when you purchase stock in a company, you are participating in what is called the "secondary market." For example, if I were to go out today and purchase a used Ford minivan, I would be participating in a secondary market of Ford vehicles. In my example, would Ford receive even $1 of my money if I purchased a used Ford van from another individual? No. Likewise, if you or I purchase shares of Disney stock through a stockbroker today, we are buying those shares from another investor and not from Disney. This means that Disney would not receive one cent of our money. The only exception to this would be if you purchased shares of a new issue of stock. Being invited to participate in an initial or secondary offering of stock is a very rare occurrence. These offerings are usually made to a firms largest and best customers, since they are almost always very profitable within a few hours of their issuance. The average man on the street will likely never have an opportunity to buy newly issued stock. He will end up like 99 percent of all investors, purchasing stock that has already been owned by someone else first. When you buy stock in a given company you are not giving it your money; you are simply becoming a shareholder by purchasing the interest of another investor.

The Solution: Rather than Limiting Your Investments to Companies That Espouse 100 Percent of Your Values, Try Something Like My 80/20 Principle

We Christians know that even within our various denominations there are profound disagreements about significant issues of our faith. How then can we expect a secular company to reflect our Christian values? Follow my 80/20 principle to arrive at a reasonable balance with this issue.

Even though I know that, in almost every case, my money is not going to actually "support" companies in which I buy stock, I still try to avoid any unnecessary associations with overtly objectionable businesses. Although this is not a scientific approach, I will generally read several analysts reports on the company I am considering investing in and apply my personal 80/20 principle. This principle simply asks, "Is the company doing business with more than 20 percent of its focus in areas objectionable to my beliefs and values?" This means that even though Kroger (a grocery store chain) sells alcohol and tobacco, it is not the main focus of its business. I would still consider buying its stock. It also means that since a company like Playboy Enterprises (no longer publicly traded) which focuses virtually all of its business activities on pornography, I would pass on the stock regardless of how "profitable" it looked. I would pass on casinos and gaming companies as well. I could still buy stocks like Disney, AT&T, General Electric, as well as those of most Internet businesses and media companies (note that I am not recommending any of the aforementioned companies; I am only pointing out that I personally feel comfortable as a Christian purchasing these stocks since I have concluded that no more than 20 percent of their business activities are inconsistent with my values and beliefs). This kind of common sense screening is fairly easy to apply if you are buying individual stocks.

Additionally, in my capacity as an actual shareholder, I can try to effect change within the company by writing letters to the board of directors. I can assure you that this carries much more weight than being just a member of the general public.

Ultimately, this is an area that is highly personal. I do not believe that it is my place to act as your conscience and advise you on a stock-by-stock basis about which stocks could be ethical to invest in. However, I do suggest that if a morally responsible outlook is important to you when it comes to investing, approach the task on a best efforts basis, rather than dogmatically; try to avoid being overly legalistic about this issue, and seek to exclude from your consideration only those companies that are blatantly in contradiction with your moral views.

Helping you make the most of God's money!

James L. Paris

Editor-In-Chief ChristianMoney.com

Follow Me on Twitter Twitter.com/jameslparis

Christian Financial Advice

Jim Paris 24 Hour Radio
The boss of one of Britains insurers has described the Chancellors proposals for Isa-style pensions as a reckless gamble which could turn millions off saving.

Royal London chief executive Phil Loney aired fears that George Osborne will tamper with the pensions system in the Budget on March 16 to balance the books.

The Treasury has been considering plans to axe pensions tax breaks which encourage saving and are worth worth 34billion a year to help it plug the UKs 94.7billion annual deficit.

Pension reforms: The Treasury has been considering plans to axe pensions tax breaks

The most radical option is to transform pensions into a type of retirement Isa, where savers do not receive tax relief at all on their contributions.

Speaking as Royal London announced a 40 per cent jump in life and pensions policies to 6.8billion last year, Loney said: Switching to a pension Isa system would be a reckless gamble which could turn millions of people off saving for the long-term.
A teenage computer wizard with links to bomb threats against schools all over the world has been released by police in France.

Vincent Lauton, an 18-year-old who still lives with his parents, was being questioned by detectives in Paris over the bomb hoax threats which spread fear from the UK to Australia with 'You Will Die' messages that prompted mass security operations.

Lauton has since been been released without charge and now has the status of an 'assisted witness' in the investigation.

Described by French police as 'a sophisticated computer operative', Lauton is linked to the 'Evacuators 2K16' bomb hoaxers, who called on children to Tweet if they want their school shut down.

Arrested: Vincent Lauton, pictured, 18, was quizzed by anti-terror police in France over a series of Twitter bomb threats to schools. He has been released without charge and is being treated as an assisted witness

Quizzed: Louton, 18, runs a 'dark web' site called darkness.su where shadowy organisations can operate online anonymously and with impunity. Evacuators 2K16 behind bomb hoaxes used his site

Clue: Anonymous hoax group Evacuators 2K16, called schools across the globe, from Britain to Austrailia, claiming there is a bomb in their classroom. The Twitter group called on kids who wanted to get out of class

The result was the anonymous web anarchists made fake threats to schools around the world, including at least 14 in Britain, and more in Paris, Amsterdam and Tokyo.

On Tuesday morning heavily armed police swooped on the half-a-million pound home where Lauton lives with his parents in the picturesque Burgundy village of Marsannay le Bois, near Dijon.

His astonished father Daniel Lauton, a 67-year-old engineer businessman, said: 'He's not a criminal  he's not the kind of person who puts bombs in schools.

'He's a teenager like any other  a little angry maybe, but not a criminal. When the police arrived they went straight to my son's room, where they said he had been threatening people. I was very surprised.'

An armed convoy took Lauton to a secure police station in Paris, some 150 miles away, and his custody was extended under emergency powers. He has since been released without charge and is said to be helping the on-going investigation as a witness.

France has been under a high state of alert since last year's terrorist attacks in Paris, when gunmen and suicide bombers linked to Islamic State and al-Qaeda murdered 130 people.

Since then, there have been numerous threats made against targets across France by so-called cyber-terrorists.

A MailOnline investigation found Lauton, who was believed to be studying at Burgundy University, was the administrator of the darkness.su domain - behind which the hoaxers are hiding.

The dark web exists on overlay networks that require specialist software and authorisation to access it.

The domain allows shadowy organisations to operate anonymously and with impunity on the dark web by hiding their IP addresses.

Held: The group hid behind Lauton's dark website that he ran from the home he shared with his parents. Lauton has been released by police in France without charge. He has the status of an assisted witness

Terror: Evacuators 2K16 targeted more than a dozen schools in Britain, including Four Dwellings Upper School, in Birmingham, above. They were charging children to say there was a bomb in their school

Its content - much of it highly offensive and potentially dangerous - is not indexed by mainstream search engines, and locating its source can baffle even the most technologically advanced specialist police units.

And Lautons darkness.su site was the perfect place for 'Evacuators 2K16' to set up shop.

From there, the group had planned to start charging for its bomb warning service  with prices starting at $5 for a school, rising to $50 for a major' sporting event.

But in the beginning, the group suggested their motivations were less about money, and more about a hatred of America, while they pledged allegiance to Syrian dictator Bashar Al Assad. They also posted a smirking photo of his ally Russian ally Vladimir Putin as their Twitter profile picture.

Another picture was of a flag linked to Lebanese Islamist group Hezbollah.

'We do what we do for a few reasons,' the web group said in a statement.

'We hate the American government, we hate authority and we LOVE to cause mayhem,' was another message.

Their bomb threats began two weeks ago, when three schools in Birmingham were evacuated following hoax calls.

Seven days later, six schools in Birmingham were threatened, along with four in London and Cornwall respectively.

The same day, pupils and teachers were also told to evacuate five schools in Paris and Lyon. Sinister messages including the words 'You Will Die' were delivered.

All the alarms turned out to be false, but the evacuations and searches cost hundreds of thousands of pounds.

There were similar threats against educational establishments in Amsterdam, Tokyo and Sydney.

Shadowy: The Twitter anarchists left messages, which said: 'We LOVE to cause mayhem and 'We hate authority' as their reasons for targeting schools

Now detectives in Paris are trying to piece together whether Lauton is also the brains behind Evacuators 2K16.

Known to police for previous acts of piracy, Lauton was 'so well respected' as a hacker, that detectives sometimes turned to him for advice.

A source close to the current investigation told Mail Online: 'He is known as a brilliant computer operative. He can get into pretty much any system, and is a master of the dark web.'

A man claiming to be Lauton's brother says the computer expert is suspected of being behind the classroom chaos.

The man, calling himself William, a student based in Ireland, added he had arrested 'under false charges that he took part in fake bomb alerts in secondary schools in France'.

He wrote on Facebook: 'I can't believe that the police would frame this on him. I think it's disgraceful.

'All I can do for now is hope that they will release him quickly but apart from the story being covered by all news companies in the country and other charges being brought up and blamed on him, I sincerely doubt that having any hope at all at this stage is pointless.'

He stated: 'I am almost sure he will end up in jail without a chance to ever live a normal life again.'

Wizard: A police source told MailOnline Lauton is a well respected hacker. They added: 'He is known as a brilliant computer operative. He can get into pretty much any system, and is a master of the dark web''

Raid: Armed police raided Lauton's home in the village of Marsannay le Bois, near Dijon on Tuesday. His brother William, in Ireland, said: 'I can't believe that the police would frame this on him. I think it's disgraceful.

Confirming Lauton's arrest, a Paris police source said he was being 'questioned at length'.

He confirmed that the investigation was an anti-terrorist one, but could supply no further details 'for operational reasons'.

No other suspects had yet been located or arrested in connection with the bomb threats, the source added.
The principal of one the Australias most disadvantaged schools has fought for 10 years to get just half the $20 million he needs to fix two rundown campuses.

Essendon Keilor College principal David Adamson says the East Keilor and Niddrie schools both need multiple repairs  including two classrooms which are now so decayed they need to be demolished.

He laughed when asked what he could do with $20 million in Commonwealth funding the Malek Fahd Islamic School could not account for last year  part of a staggering $85 million handed to the school in the last five years by the federal government.

Disrepair: Brick walls at the Essendon East Keilor College campus are falling apart and pavers are lifting in the playground as the public school awaits more funding for maintenance

Broken light fittings are a common problem for teachers and students at the Essendon East Keilor College

The basketball courts at the Niddrie campus are in a state of disrepair with the circles showing the uneven and worn areas, including a gaping break (far right) in the concrete

David Adamson (left), principal of Essendon Keilor College. Images from inside the Niddrie site (right) show timber framing around windows rotting away. 50-year-old classrooms there are considered beyond repair and will have to be demolished

Warped playground seating and broken pavers are a problem at the Melbourne school's East Keilor campus

More than 2,400 students are enrolled at the Islamic school at Greenacre in Sydney's south-west. It has just had $20m in annual Federal Government funding withdrawn after a review on where it was spent

The prayer hall inside the Malek Fahd campus complete with impressive light fittings and new carpet

After years of government neglect, the two campuses at the 100-year-old school 15 kilometres north of the Melbourne CBD need more than $20 million in maintenance work.

It's the same figure which will be stripped from the Malek Fahd Islamic School at Greenacre in Sydney's south-west, following allegations the Federal Government money was not being used for solely for education.

A year ago, after the Melbourne school's decade-long battle, $10 million was promised by the new Victorian Labor Government.

ESSENDON KEILOR COLLEGE'S $10M REPAIR BILL Buildings need bulldozing Multiple leaking roofs Broken light fittings Cracked brick walls Broken brick walls at the Essendon Keilor College Windows falling off hinges Damaged laboratory benches Ripped and worn vinyl floors Faulty air conditioning units Old smelly carpet Rotting outdoor seating Rusted leaking downpipes Broken playground pavers Holes in perimeter fences Advertisement

Almost five years ago his Niddrie and East Keilor campuses were identified in a Victorian Education Department audit as being among the country's most neglected schools.

In that same period, school finance reports have revealed Malek Fahd has received up to $85 million in Federal Government funding.

Of the 1340 faults identified across the Essendon Keilor Colleges there are cracked playground walls, leaking roofs, windows which are falling off hinges, smashed light-fittings and rusted down pipes.

Some buildings are so decayed they will have to be bulldozed.

'I've been able to finally scrounge together about $10 million in funding but that's probably only about half of what we would need,' said Mr Adamson.

'We do have a fair bit of work on here.

'It's not just maintenance, we'll have to do some demolition too.'

Some classrooms, including 122, 123 and 129 were identified as having multiple faults.

'The buildings are almost 50 years old and were built to last 20 to 30 years and they will be demolished in 2017,' said Mr Adamson.

His schools have finally received $10 million from the Victorian State Government.

'We are very happy about it but have three campuses so $10 million is about half of what we really need to provide facilities for the 21st century,' he added.

'To get the $10 million it took me seven years of lobbying and a change of government, to get something that the students and staff should have had 10 years ago.'

Malek Fahd Islamic School's Greenacre campus, which has more than 2,400 students, could be forced to close its gates after the Federal Government said it would withdraw $20 million in recurrent annual funding.

On Monday, the Department of Education issued a notice to the Islamic institution - revoking its Commonwealth funding - with the move placing hundreds of teaching jobs on the line.

Education Minister Simon Birmingham said that the funding will be axed as of April 8 after the school had failed to address how the money was being spent, as required under the Education Act.

Broken footings holding up awnings and damaged light fittings at the Essendon Keilor College campuses

Some classrooms at Essendon Keilor College campuses, like this one, are beyond repair and will have to be demolished according to school principal David Adamson

Some buildings on the Essendon Keilor College grounds are more than 50 years old and cannot be repaired

The school, about 15 kilometres north of the Melbourne CBD, has waited for $20 million in government funding for more than 10 years which is less than half what is needed to bring it 'into the 21st century'

The revocation order came after a review into six schools authorities affiliated with the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC) after concerns were raised about their financial management and governance.

'I am committed to ensuring that all school authorities meet the requirements to ensure that our taxpayer dollars and any private investment by parents is being spent to benefit Australian students,' Mr Birmingham said in a statement to Daily Mail Australia.

'Unfortunately, the authority that operates Malek Fahd Islamic School was not able to demonstrate to my department that they had addressed the significant concerns about their financial management and governance arrangements raised during the formal compliance review of their operation.'

'Last year, the department issued a formal compliance notice when it found that the school authority was not complying with fundamental governance, financial and accountability requirements of the Australian Education Act 2013.'

Sydney-based Malek Fahd Islamic School (pictured) has been stripped of $20 million in federal funding following allegations the money was not being used only on education

The federal government has withdrawn millions of dollars in funding for Australia's largest Islamic school

The Islamic school received about $85 million in funding from the Federal Government in the past five years
Most recent pay rise is higher than the typical workers increase of 624

Takes wage of Commons members to almost 75,000 a year, plus expenses

They will receive 962 extra just a year after a controversial 10% increase

MPs will benefit from another salary increase of almost 1,000 this April.

Just a year after a controversial 10 per cent rise, they will receive an extra 962.

The rise is higher than the typical workers increase of 624. And  at 1.3 per cent  it is higher than a public servants limit of 1 per cent.

MPs will benefit from another salary increase of almost 1,000 this April, with the basic wage of House of Commons members climbing to almost 75,000 a year, plus expenses (file picture)

It will take the basic wage of Commons members to almost 75,000 a year, plus expenses.

Last night Labours Gloria de Piero said: Im concerned that yet again this looks like our pay is going up quicker than other public sector workers like police, nurses and teachers. If their pay is capped at 1 per cent, why shouldnt ours be?

John Mann, a fellow Labour MP, said: We shouldnt be getting a rise that is bigger than anyone elses. This will go down very badly with the public.

Bosses at the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, which decides MPs pay, agreed the figure in a meeting two weeks ago, according to The Sun. They will confirm the decision next month.

Labours Gloria de Piero (left) said she was concerned about the pay rise, while John Mann, a fellow Labour MP, said: We shouldnt be getting a rise that is bigger than anyone elses. This will go down badly with the public'

Ian Kennedy, who chairs IPSA, said: We were very aware of the views of many members of the public and by some MPs.

We listened to those views and made an important choice.

It was right that we made this one-off increase.

He said it formalised a link to the public sector average earnings rise, put by the Office for National Statistics at 1.3 per cent.

Some MPs also voiced unease about how the pay increase would be viewed by voters. Shadow Cabinet minister Gloria de Piero said: Im concerned that yet again this looks like our pay is going up quicker than other public sector workers like police, nurses and teachers. If their pay is capped at 1 per cent, why shouldnt ours be?

In the run-up to the election, David Cameron described the planned rise as simply unacceptable and threatened to scrap Ipsa unless it backed down. But after being returned to office he bowed to the demands of his backbench MPs and dropped the issue.

Downing Street yesterday indicated that the Prime Minister would take the latest pay rise himself, saying that MPs pay was a matter for Ipsa. Under the terms of the new deal, MPs pay is meant to be tied to the rest of the public sector. But it emerged that Ipsa has based its calculations on Office for National Statistics data on the public sector pay bill.
It is the ideal outcome of security experts the world over - being able to pinpoint suspicious activity before an actual crime is committed.

But how well do these so-called 'smart cameras' work in being able to identify deviant behavior?

A new series of images by Dutch photographer Esther Hovers looks at how the cameras - which have been installed in Boston, Chicago, and Washington D.C., and in Atlanta's transit system - work, reports Wired.

Hovers interviewed security experts in the Netherlands about the systems, who identified to her the red flags the cameras look for.

These include people loitering too long, moving too fast, standing on a corner, looking over their shoulder, going against the flow of foot traffic or abandoning something, and clusters of people suddenly breaking apart and synchronized movements between people.

In each of the photos below, see if you can spot the person or object that a camera may red-flag as potentially suspicious.

They are actually ordinary photos of everyday situations that Hovers has taken herself in popular areas of Brussels.

The idea came while working in Paris, where Hovers realized a lot of her photos taken in public spaces looked like surveillance images.

The point Hovers hopes to make is that most of the 'deviant behavior' captured by cameras does not precipitate a crime but merely picks up regular people who just happen to be doing irregular things.

However, according to the BBC, crime rates in Shanghai have dropped by 30 percent since the city introduced smart surveillance. On average, police are able to arrive at the scene of suspicious activity in three minutes and assess the situation.

Under each photo, Hovers has identified what it is you should be looking for if you were in a surveillance team using the smart cameras.

She decided to call her series False Positives,The Washington Post reported.

ANOMALY 1 - Standing still

When a person is seen stationary in an area where pedestrians are normally moving freely, that can raise flags for surveillance teams.

Typically, such 'suspicious activity' is shown in color on black and white monitors, alerting security technicians in the control room.

The dispatchers then decide whether to call in police.

In the photo above, Hovers picks out a man who is standing still as someone that security cameras would flag up if the photo had been taken by them. She has made a silhouette of him and named it 'Anomaly #01'

ANOMALY 2 - Fast movements

A sudden change in speed, such as breaking into a run, is sometimes deemed as suspicious.

They could be running away or towards something.

'Combining this interest for 'normal' or socially accepted behavior with a surveillance approach has led me to create work specifically about intelligent surveillance cameras,' Hovers told Fotografia.

In this picture that Hovers has taken of an ordinary scene on an ordinary Brussels street, she singles out the men who are running as people who would be deemed 'suspicious' by security cameras

ANOMALY 3 - Lonely objects

A suitcase is seen standing up next to a street sign. No one is around trying to claim the piece of luggage.

It could have been left there innocuously, but could also have something inside - such as a bomb.

'However understandable, we are moving more and more toward a society that wants to control,' Hovers said.

'I hope my project doesn't answer questions, but raise them instead.

Can you spot the suitcase that looks as though it has been abandoned in the photo taken by Hovers above? It would immediately alert surveillance teams to suspicious activity if it had been taken by a smart camera

ANOMALY 4 - On a corner

If pedestrians are standing still - they are normally waiting to cross the road or at the curb trying to hail a taxi.

But someone standing against the corner is deemed suspicious, according to security experts.

When smart cameras were first introduced in Chicago, around 2006, officials referred to them as the 'equivalent of hundreds of sets of eyes', The New York Times reported.

Someone standing against the corner of a building is deemed suspicious, according to security experts

ANOMALY 5 - Clusters breaking apart

A group of people walking together may suddenly cause concern by breaking apart.

Were they saying going goodbye after having lunch, or are they splitting up after committing a crime?

Dispatchers operating the smart camera systems usually can tilt or zoom the cameras, some of which magnify images up to 400 times, in order to watch suspicious people and follow them from one camera's range to another's.

ANOMALY 6 - Synchronized movements

Groups of people walking in a coordinated way or pace may also register as suspicious behavior.

Are they just businessman on their way to a meeting, as the below picture suggests, or is there more to the situation that should be studied?

As Hovers said, many of the red flags appear to be innocuous.

The Washington Post reported that, like many new technologies, smart surveillance systems may contain worrying consequences for privacy and public freedom.

ANOMALY 7 - Repeatedly looking back

Like a lonely object sitting on the sidewalk or in a terminal, an obvious red flag is a person constantly looking over back or over their shoulder, especially while walking.

Hovers says that nine out of 10 alerts that these systems issue today are 'false positives', which is how she came about the name of her collection of photos.

'Not every type of deviant behavior is criminal behavior, and Im happy about that, actually,' Hovers told The Post.

ANOMALY 8 - Deviant directions

Lastly, smart cameras attempting to isolate deviant behavior can spot it fairly easily when everyone appears to be walking in one direction, and someone is going the other way.

According to the BBC, crime rates in Shanghai have dropped by 30 percent since the city introduced smart surveillance.

On average, police arrive at the scene of suspicious activity in three minutes.
A mysterious red-bearded Chechen commander is reported to be leading the ISIS fight in Libya.

Local intelligence reports said a convoy of 14 cars protected by armed vehicles entered the ISIS stronghold of Sirte on the Libyan coast on Monday night.

Among them is believed to be the Chechen commander, Georgia-born Abu Omar al-Shisani, who has recruited many foreign fighters to the terror group, including some Britons.

Killer: Chechen commander Abu Omar al-Shishani (pictured) is believed to have arrived in the terror group's stronghold of Sirte, Libya along with a band of the ISIS's foreign fighters on Monday

Feared: It has been repeatedly reported that red-bearded ISIS fighter Abu Omar al-Shishani (left and right) has been killed but new reports suggest he is now living in the terror group's stronghold of Sirte

Al-Shishani, 30, real name Takhan Tayumurazoch Batirashvili, recruited British jihadist Mohammed Emwazi, the ISIS executioner known as Jihadi John, is now one of the world's most wanted terrorists.

Although it has been repeatedly reported that he has been killed in U.S. air strikes in Syria or captured by Iraqi forces, the mysterious al-Shishani remains as elusive as ever.

His presence in Libya follows the movement of a number of ISIS commanders away from Syria, where they are facing twin targeting by American and Russian aircraft.

Al-Shishani carved out a barbaric reputation in northern Syria where he led a brigade of foreign fighters responsible for a series of beheadings and operations involving suicide bombers.

This week the new ISIS commanders in Sirte wasted no time in establishing their particular brand of terror in the Libyan city.

Infamous: Abu Omar al-Shishani (right) is pictured here with Ibrahim al-Mazwagi (centre), the first British jihadi known to have died in Syria. Al-Shishani has carved out a barbaric reputation in Syria and will no doubt build on that in Libya, where the new commanders are already instilling fear in locals

Recruiter: Abu Omar al-Shishani (right) is pictured here with a man believed to be Jihadi John. Shishani is known to have recruited many foreign fighters to the terror group, including Britons

Threat: Abu Omar al-Shishani's image featured in ISIS propaganda showing the Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament in London burning. The computer generated image was a direct threat to the UK

The day after the arrival of the reinforcements, two lists of names were read out to the local people - one identified those to face execution and the other named individuals singled out to undergo amputations as punishment, according to reports by the Libyan news service Al Wasat.

At least two of the commanders had red beards', a local intelligence source told the agency.

The possible sighting of al-Shishani follows Libyan intelligence reports of the arrival of a mysterious new ISIS leader who uses the alias Abu Omar'.

In the weeks leading up to the arrival of the Libya-bound ISIS force, a number of suspected spies were arrested and then publicly crucified.

British fighters are also thought to be among the influx of foreign fighters to Libya.

The transfer of British jihadists to the country follows a call by a prominent ISIS jihadist who used social media to persuade foreign fighters to avoid the tight border controls around Turkey.

Omar Hussain  nicknamed the Supermarket Jihadi because he was once a security guard at Morrisons in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire  said getting into Syria was now virtually impossible after the Turkish military tightened the border.

Executioner: Jihadi John (pictured left and right) was himself reported to have spent time in Libya before he was killed in a drone strike in Raqqa last year. He was recruited by Abu Omar al-Shishani

Call to arms: Omar Hussain, nicknamed the Supermarket Jihadi, said getting into Syria was now virtually impossible and tried to persuade fighters to avoid the tight border controls around Turkey and head to Libya

Hussain, 27, sent a message to followers which read: Come to Libya, come to Nigeria, and be part of those who build the Khilafah [Islamic caliphate] with your skulls, bones and blood.'

Later he specifically encouraged fighters to choose Libya.

A number of battle-hardened British jihadists fighting in region first took arms against Colonel Gaddafi in 2011 before switching to Syria.

At least two British jihadists have recently reportedly been killed in fighting for ISIS in Libya. And Emwazi himself was reported to have spent time in there before he was killed in a drone strike in Raqqa last year.

Western intelligence estimates that the group's fighters in the country now number between 5,000 and 6,500.

To counter the threat America and Britain are considering military action against the jihadists before the ISIS advances become irreversible.

The formation of the Islamic State branch in Libya was a deliberate and strategic' move by the group's leadership in Syria, meant to leverage the chaos in the country to its advantage, concluded a report published this month by security consultants, the Soufan Group.

Ever since it took control of Sirte in May, the Islamic State has staged high-profile executions and posthumous crucifixions; with rumours of direct foreign military intervention in the works, it is probable there will be a noticeable rise in killings of accused spies,' said the report.

Bloodthirsty: In Sirte an ISIS fighter in a wheelchair is pictured next to a man kneeling in an orange jumpsuit before a 'crucifixion'. New commanders in the city have announced names of the condemned to be executed

Al-Shishani is an ethnic Chechen jihadist, born in Georgia, and known for his signature red beard.

He is a veteran of the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. When he later arrived in Syria he was the leader of a rebel group of foreign fighters known as Katibat al-Muhajireen (Emigrants Brigade), also known as the Muhajireen Brigade, which included Emwazi.
Former Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca has agreed to plead guilty to lying to investigators during a federal corruption probe that tainted his career, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Baca stepped down from the helm of the nation's largest sheriff's department in 2014 amid the probe that led to charges against underlings for beating inmates and for trying to thwart a subsequent FBI investigation.

Baca signed a plea agreement that said he ordered deputies to intimidate an FBI agent and 'do everything but put handcuffs on her'.

Former Los Angeles sheriff Lee Baca (file image) has agreed to plead guilty to lying during an FBI probe into beatings carried out by his subordinates

Baca (file image) acknowledged lying in court today, saying he made a mistake and was ready to accept responsibility for his actions

Baca later lied to federal prosecutors and the FBI that he wasn't privy to discussions about trying to derail the investigation.

Baca was scheduled to plead guilty later in the day to a single count of lying to federal investigators. He could face up to six months in prison under the deal.

He would be allowed to withdraw his guilty plea if the judge decided he deserves a longer sentence. In that case prosecutors would proceed to obtain an indictment.

'This is not a day of celebration for us,' U.S. Attorney Eileen Decker said during a news conference.

'It is a sad day when a leader of a law enforcement agency fails to honor his oath and instead of upholding justice chooses to obstruct it.'

Baca, who ran the department for more than 15 years and traveled the world to speak about policing tactics, had said he was out of touch with what was going on and he denied knowing about efforts to stifle the probe by hiding an inmate who was an FBI informant.

U.S. Attorney Eileen Decker (pictured on Wednesday) announced Baca's decision to plead guilty today, saying it was 'not a day of celebration' adding that it is always a sad day when a sheriff 'fails to honor his oath'

David Bowdich (pictured on Wednesday), the FBI's Los Angeles chief, said Baca had continuously denied playing a role in the corruption even as his rank-and-file deputies faced prison time

Baca avoided charges for years as prosecutors moved up the ranks to indict a number of officers and, eventually, his second-in-command.

In May, when former Undersheriff Paul Tanaka and another high-ranking member of the department were charged with obstructing justice, prosecutors declined to comment on whether Baca was under investigation.

Tanaka is facing trial, but his co-defendant, former Capt. Tom Carey, pleaded guilty and agreed to testify in related court proceedings. It's not clear if that included providing grand jury testimony against Baca.

In January 2014, Baca sidestepped questions about whether he was worried he might be indicted but acknowledged that more of his employees may face charges.

'I'm not afraid of reality. I'm only afraid of people who don't tell the truth,' Baca said at the time.

Seventeen members of the department have been convicted of federal crimes, including beating inmates, obstructing justice, bribery and conspiracy.

Baca (file image) is due to be sentenced in May with prosecutors agreeing to demand no more than six months in jail as part of his plea agreement

The convictions stem from a grand jury investigation that began in 2010 into allegations of abuse and corruption at the downtown Men's Central Jail.

Deputies tried to hide an FBI jail informant from his handlers for weeks in 2011 by shifting him from cell to cell at various jails under different names and altering jail computer records. The FBI wanted the informant to testify to a grand jury.

After Baca learned of the investigation, he met with Tanaka, Carey and a lieutenant in September 2011 and told them to approach Special Agent Leah Marx, one of the inmate's handlers, according to court documents.

The next day officers threatened to arrest Marx for intervening in their jurisdiction.

David Bowdich, the FBI's Los Angeles chief, said Baca had continuously denied playing a role in the corruption even as his rank-and-file deputies faced prison time.

'He had the opportunity to lead,' Bowdich said. 'He did not lead ... There's no excuse for the decisions that were made.'

Tanaka retired from the department in 2013 and ran unsuccessfully to replace his former boss, losing by a wide margin to Jim McDonnell.
He said Laster did not seem

A young man in Oklahoma has been arrested after allegedly shooting and then decapitating his grandmother and her husband.

Quinton Dashawn Laster, 20, is facing two complaints of first-degree murder for the death of 59-Sharon Reed and 78-year-old James Earl Reed who were found in their Oklahoma City home.

The two own and operate a day care out of their home, and three children were also found when police discovered the bodies.

They had not been harmed or hurt.

Behind bars: Quinton Dashawn Laster (above) allegedly killed his grandmother, 59, and her 78-year-old husband

The couple were found dead after being shot and decapitated inside their Oklahoma City, Oklahoma home (above)

NBC 4 reports that the children, whose ages have not been released, were found in the garage area of the home and have been safely returned to their families.

Police arrived on the scene Tuesday afternoon after they received a call from a neighbor to check on the welfare of the couple.

Laster was outside the home when they arrived and he was taken into custody.

Gerald Lyon, who lived next door to the couple, told Fox 25 that Laster came to his door shortly before 2pm on Tuesday.

'I said "What is it?" and he said, "Somebody killed my grandma,"' said Lyon, who noticed that the young man had a gun.

'I said, "Well you need to call 911 if you've done that," and he said, "I'm thinking about it." I said, "Thinking about it? You need to do it."'

Laster then returned to the home, at which point Lyon called 911, noting the boy did not seem violent but 'frightened.'
His account has been suspended while university says it is investigating

Also lashed out at critics, calling them 'c***s' and threatening more attacks

A student has been condemned online after threatening to smash a classmate's computer because it had a Donald Trump sticker on it.

The man, identified online as Clifford Durand, a student at St John's University, New York, posted at 10am threatening to 'smash this b**ch's computer' if his message was retweeted 7,000 times.

After the message went viral, attracting more than 20,000 shares as of Wednesday evening, Durand boasted about getting into a fight with the girl, who has yet to be identified.

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A student at St John's University, named online as Clifford Durand, has been condemned today after threatening to break this female student's laptop because it had a Trump sticker on it

Durand, whose Twitter account has now been suspended, later bragged about getting into a fight with the woman - saying she got 'shoved in the neck' after throwing a coffee at him

In a now-deleted message at around 4pm, Durand wrote: 'She threw her Starbucks at me and got shoved in the neck.'

According to students at the college, who spoke to the New York Daily News, the fight broke out in a corridor after the woman saw the message about her.

Sources told the news site that the woman asked for the post to be taken down, to which Durand responded 'make me'.

During the altercation witnesses said Durand hit the woman in the chest, and she threw a cup of coffee at him. It is unclear what order these events took place in.

While thousands of people appear to support Durand's actions online, he was also bombarded by hundreds of tweets from critics.

In response Durand, whose Twitter account has now been suspended, lashed out with a series of vicious counter-tweets, branding people 'c***s' and threatening to 'stomp' his opponents.

After Durand's initial tweet went viral, attracting more than 20,000 retweets before his account was taken down, he followed up with another threat before saying the woman had seen his original image

While St John's University did not confirm the attacks, a spokesman said this afternoon that public safety was investigating 'the incident' adding that 'safety is our top priority'

In one message, accompanied by an image of a Trump supporter's badge pinned to a shirt, a man asks: 'If I put on a dress will you attack me please?'

Durand responded: 'Nah, I'll beat yo a** as you are.'

St John's University did not respond to a request from the Dailymail.com for comment, but instead posted a short response on Twitter.

Without directly referencing Durand's messages, it says: 'Thank you to everyone who reported the incident to us. This type of behavior will not be tolerated. Public Safety is handing the situation.

'Safety is our top priority. Any student in violation of our Code of Conduct is subject to our conduct process.'

Dailymail.com also reached out to Durand for comment, but had not received a response at the time of publication.

Donald Trump has been conducting a victory lap today after winning the New Hampshire primary by a margin of more than two to one over second-place John Kasich.

After Durand was criticized for his message, he sent out more threats of violence, calling some people 'c***s' while pledging to beat up others

While Trump's campaign has previously drawn attention for his bombastic approach and stinging attacks on rivals, today he adopted a more moderate tone - perhaps sensing the need to be cautious after losing in Iowa to Ted Cruz.

Speaking to Matt Lauer on NBC's Today show, Trump was asked who is the favorite candidate to claim the Republican nomination.

He responded: 'That, I don't know. I don't want to talk about favorites. People want to see a smart country. They want to see us take the country back. This country doesn't win anymore.'

Pressed again about who is biggest competition was he replied: 'Great question. I think all of them.

'They're all accomplished people. They're governors and senators. They're all very good people. Maybe, you know.
Caris Strestik technically died for 28 minutes after she managed to cut the femoral artery in her leg while cooking.

Her body had completely drained of blood but a team of doctors saved the 20-year-old Perth mother, carrying out blood transfusions and surgery, and a 'miracle' and eight days later, she left hospital.

The trauma began when she was in her kitchen, talking to partner Adam-Ross Carter, and accidentally stabbed herself in the leg with a knife, cutting a major artery.

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Ms Strestik snapped this selfie in hospital as she recovered from her ordeal during which she was clinically dead for 28 minutes and lost five litres of blood

Doctors had to operate on Ms Strestik. On Facebook, she said they had to cut open her lower leg to release pressure (shown is a healing scar from the surgery)

Ms Strestik shows a picture of some of the scars she had on her leg after the ordeal. The cut from the knife was only 1.5cm long, much smaller than the scars from surgery

In a Facebook post, she described how she could 'feel the blood emptying from her body' and starting to lose consciousness, despite the injury being only 1.5cm long.

Mr Carter ran for help and she put pressure on the wound, before police and paramedics arrived and took over.

By the time she was in an ambulance, she passed out.

Although she can't remember anything until two days later when she woke up in hospital, she knows she lost about five litres of blood, that even her heart had been empty, and that doctors declared her clinically dead for 28 minutes.

Ms Strestik with her partner, Adam-Ross Carter and three-year-old son Matthew

When she passed out, she went into cardiac arrest, and doctors began six hours of surgery and blood transfusions to save her life before placing her in an induced coma, The West Australian reported.

Doctors expected her to suffer brain damage and organ failure, but she survived with a loss of taste and smell.

The Armadale Hospital's blood bank had been used up while trying to give her blood and fill her heart, WA Today reported.

'She basically had no blood in her system,' Dr Ash Mukherjee said.

'I came back after the weekend and I saw her on the phone having breakfast and I was absolutely stunned - it was a miracle.

'It's very rewarding for us to bring someone back from the cusp.'

When she woke up she had no idea what had happened to her.

At first, she did not believe it had occurred, thinking it was still the day the accident happened.

On Facebook and while speaking to media, she thanked medical staff who had worked to save her life.

'Thank you so much for not giving up on me. Twenty-five minutes is usually the time they give up.'

Ms Strestik, son Matthew and partner Adam-Ross reunited as a family after her ordeal
PASCAGOULA, Mississippi-- The City of Pascagoula is launching a "Best of Pascagoula" program to acknowledge its many community assets and to honor the small businesses that go above and beyond to make the community successful.

"We have a lot to celebrate in Pascagoula," said Community & Economic Development Director Jen Dearman. "We are starting the 'Best Of' list as a way to create awareness of the many things that Pascagoula has to offer."

Nominations cover numerous categories such as shopping, dining, best local attraction, best event and best free children's activity.

Contest organizers are hopeful the feedback provided through the nominations process will give them some insight into how to best develop the city.

"We are also hoping that this will spark our creativity as developers," Dearman added. "The goal is to see what elements are contributing to Pascagoula's character as a community and how to add to it."

The campaign started Tuesday. Residents have three weeks to nominate their favorite local businesses through the City of Pascagoula website. Nominations will close at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, March 2.

Voting on the top five nominees in each category will begin at 9 a.m. on March 4 and will close on March 25. Winners will be announced at the April 5 city council meeting.
The father of a 13-year-old Virginia girl who was found murdered has revealed that he found out about his daughter's death on TV.

David Lovell said authorities forgot to tell him before they told reporters that his missing daughter Nicole had been found dead.

But he added that he did not blame officials, saying that it was a 'screw-up' and they had apologized for the oversight.

During an episode of Dr. Phil that aired on Wednesday, Lovell also questioned whether the tragedy could have been avoided if he was more involved in his teenage daughter's life.

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David Lovell (pictured talking to Dr Phil) said authorities forgot to tell him before they told reporters that his missing daughter Nicole had been found murdered

Nicole Lovell, 13, vanished after sneaking out of her bedroom window in Blacksburg, Virginia, on January 27

Police say Nicole vanished after sneaking out of her bedroom window on January 27. Her body was found after a four-day search just over the state line in North Carolina and authorities say she was stabbed.

Virginia Tech student David Eisenhauer, 18, has been charged with abduction and first-degree murder in Nicole's death.

Another Virginia Tech student, Natalie Keepers, 19, is charged with accessory before and after the fact and with illegally dumping Nicole's body just across the state line in North Carolina.

Lovell told host Phil McGraw that police have not explained a possible motive for his daughter's death.

He also said he had raised concerns about his daughter's online conversations with older men, but partially blames himself for not putting an end to it.

'If I would've been there, maybe she wouldn't have went looking for acceptance from older guys,' said Lovell, who gripped a stuffed panda bear and wore a blue ribbon on his jacket in his daughter's memory throughout the hour-long episode.

'There's regrets that I have that I'll never get over.'

David Eisenhauer (pictured left) has been charged with abduction and first-degree murder in Nicole's death. Natalie Keepers (right) is charged with accessory before and after the fact

When shown a picture of Eisenhauer, David Lovell told MGraw that it's difficult to look at the man's face.

'I would like to get locked up in the same cell with him,' he said. 'I'm pretty sure I could get answers out of him. He took my little girl.'

Now, Lovell has pledged to make it his mission to ensure that parents know the dangers of social media.

He said he found out about his daughter's conversations with older men online before Christmas and her phone was taken away, but she later got it back.

'How can it go from being my wonderful, happy daughter to she was murdered a few days later? I talked to her about a week before she went missing and everything was normal. She was my little baby girl,' he said.

He said he wishes he could have done more.

'I wasn't there for her when she needed me,' he said, his voice quivering and tears in his eyes. 'There's no way to roll back the time.'

Clutching a stuffed panda, Lovell told Dr Phil that he knew about his daughter's online conversations with older men and had previously grounded her from her phone and all social media

Lovell and Nicole's mother Tammy Weeks are no longer together. His wife - Nicole's stepmother - Terri Lovell also appeared on Dr. Phil.

Authorities believe Nicole met Eisenhauer on anonymous messaging app Kik. Sources close to the investigation have revealed that the pair had an 'inappropriate relationship' and that he may have killed her to prevent her from revealing it.

A neighbor told The Associated Press recently that Nicole had told her eight-year-old friends before she vanished from her mother's home that she planned to sneak out to meet her 18-year-old 'boyfriend', a man she said was named David.

A friend and classmate told The Washington Post that Nicole had talked about running away and starting a family with Eisenhauer.

Natasha Bryant, 13, said she was unaware of his age at the time, but that Nicole had described Eisenhauer as 'funny and really nice' shortly before her disappearance in Blacksburg.

'She always talked of running away with him,' she said. 'She used to talk to a lot of older guys. A lot of people told her not to. I told her it's not safe. I told her she was going to be hurt or kidnapped or something.'

Nicole used social media to seek validation from strangers, said her father, after suffering years of bullying over the scars from a liver transplant she had at the age of five.

'You could tell these older guys had fake profiles,' Lovell told Dr. Phil. 'Some of the things they said were way too grown up for the picture they had.

Nicole's mother Tammy Weeks (left) leaves the Montgomery County Courthouse on Thursday, February 4

Meanwhile, more than 100 people gathered Monday evening in Blacksburg for a vigil in Nicole's memory. Weeks spoke to the crowd about her daughter, whom she called 'Coley'.

'As I stand here tonight, my family and I are broken,' Weeks said. 'God, I miss you, Coley.'

Friends and others who know Eisenhauer and Keepers have described them as motivated young people who seemed to have a bright future before their arrests.

But at a bond hearing last week for Keepers, Montgomery County Commonwealth's Attorney Mary Pettit said the defendants met at a fast-food restaurant and carefully plotted Nicole's death.

Eisenhauer and Keepers, who both are from the Maryland suburbs of Washington, are being held without bond.

Their next court appearance is set for March 28. Neither the spokesman for the Blacksburg Police Department nor an attorney for Keepers immediately responded to an email seeking comment on Wednesday.

An attorney for David Eisenhauer said in an email this week that he is not commenting on the case.

Tim and Sara Keepers (left), the parents of Natalie Keepers, leave the Montgomery County Courthouse in Christiansburg on February 4
Incident comes after the actress was attacked by a 'psychotic homeless man' in November that left her fearing for her life

NCIS star Pauley Perrette has claimed that 'yes, again', she had another encounter with a homeless man while she was on her way home from work - the second time in less than three months.

The 46-year-old actress recounted the Tuesday evening ordeal on social media which she said left her feeling 'scared.'

She said she was at a stop light on Cahuenga Boulevard, Los Angeles, during rush-hour traffic when saw the 'pretty off homeless guy' asking for money.

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NCIS star Pauley Perrette pictured last September. She has claimed that she had another encounter with a homeless man while she was on her way home from work - the second time in less than three months

Early Wednesday, the 46-year-old actress recounted the Tuesday evening ordeal on social media (shown above) which she said left her feeling 'scared'

Perrette then grabbed a dollar bill from her glove compartment, rolled down her window to give it to him when he grabbed her wrist, stuck his whole head inside her car and asked for the time.

'He grabbed my wrist and put his whole head inside my car,' she wrote in an explanation of the incident, which she posted to Twitter on Wednesday.

'He held my arm and then said, "what time is it?" He was in my car and I was scared. I looked at my dashboard and first said, "I rebuke you Satan in the name of Jesus Christ" then said to him "it's 5.37."'

Perrette said the homeless man held her wrist for a moment before releasing it and leaving.

'I have a tactical knife and a taser in my car next to me, but I thought about that dollar to give him first. Did not arm myself,' she wrote.

Perrette, who plays a forensic scientist on the hit show (pictured), said she was giving the man a dollar when he grabbed her wrist, stuck his whole head inside her car and asked for the time

Shortly after writing about the ordeal, she wrote a follow up tweet noting she was 'totally ok' and that the incident was 'just incredibly weird'

She added that she is learning to be smarter in these types of incidents.

'I kneed to know both sides, be SMART and be safe and give. But all of them at once. Be smart and safe. I am learning.'

The actress, who plays a forensic scientist on the hit show NCIS, also said she wondered if any of the other people in the cars at the red light had seen the incident but did nothing.

Shortly after she posted the explanation of the ordeal, she tweeted she is 'totally ok' and that the incident was 'just incredibly weird.'

Tuesday night's incident comes nearly three months after Perrette was attacked by a 'psychotic homeless man' in November who she said punched her repeatedly in the face and made her fear for her life.

Tuesday night's incident comes nearly three months after Perrette was attacked by a 'psychotic homeless man' in November who she said punched her repeatedly in the face and made her fear for her life. Suspect David Merck, 45, (pictured) has since been charged in connection to that attack

During that brutal encounter, which Perrette also recounted on Twitter, she said she was walking on a street near her home in Hollywood when a man suddenly grabbed her and struck her on the nose and forehead while threatening to kill her.

Perrette - who has also appeared in such films as The Ring and Almost Famous, and has performed in a rock band - later drew a sketch of the suspect for police, which helped lead to his arrest, she said.

Suspect David Merck, 45, has since been charged with one count each of making a criminal threat and false imprisonment, in connection to that attack.
Margaret Thatcher would have campaigned for Britain to quit the EU, a loyal friend revealed last night as he released an extraordinary letter written 23 years ago by the former Prime Minister.

In the never-before-seen correspondence, Lady Thatcher attacked the EU project as 'contrary to British interests and damaging to our Parliamentary democracy'.

Tory MP Sir Bill Cash, who was personally handed the note in 1993, said it was therefore 'simply inconceivable' she would have done anything other than campaign to leave in the upcoming referendum.

He said Lady Thatcher had given the letter to him with specific instructions to make it public if there was ever any doubt over whether or not she would have signed up to the 'European project'.

Sir Bill said now was that time.

Margaret Thatcher would have campaigned for Britain to quit the EU, a loyal friend revealed last night as he released an extraordinary letter (pictured) written 23 years ago by the former Prime Minister

Tory MP Sir Bill Cash, who she gave the note to, said it was 'inconceivable' that Margaret Thatcher (right) would have backed David Cameron's (left) renegotiation and voted to stay in

His move follows a hugely controversial claim by Charles Powell, who was Lady Thatcher's private secretary during much of her time in Downing Street, that she would have backed David Cameron's renegotiation and voted to stay in.

The revelation came on another day of drama and fevered speculation at Westminster and Brussels ahead of the expected June 23 referendum. Yesterday:

The president of the European Council said the continent's migrant crisis could lead to Britain voting to leave the EU.

Donald Tusk also warned that Europe was facing 'a dangerous moment' in its history similar to the 'day before World War One'.

The head of Nato said the migrant crisis was the 'most challenging threat' to the security of the military alliance in a generation.

A survey by ICM found the Leave and Remain campaigns are deadlocked at 50 per cent to 50 per cent among voters who have made up their minds  a two-point rise for Leave and a similar dip for Remain.

A senior eurocrat said the PM's emergency brake on benefits would do nothing to curb mass migration.

The head of the Conservative backbench 1922 committee predicted 100 MPs would vote against Mr Cameron's deal.

The lawyer wife of Boris Johnson attacked the renegotiation for not doing enough to curb the power of EU judges.

Lady Thatcher's letter to Sir Bill (pictured) was sent in the aftermath of the bitter parliamentary struggle over the Maastricht Treaty

Lady Thatcher's (left) private secretary during much of her time in Downing Street, that she would have backed David Cameron's (right) renegotiation and voted to stay in

Lady Thatcher's letter to Sir Bill was sent in the aftermath of the bitter parliamentary struggle over the Maastricht Treaty  which effectively gave birth to the modern EU, and put it on a course towards political and economic union. By 1993, Lady Thatcher had stepped down as PM and was no longer an MP, so did not vote.

Her note says: 'I understand it is being suggested in some quarters that I would have agreed to the Maastricht Treaty. May I make it clear that I would NOT (underlined) have done so.

Lady Thatcher's (right, with David Cameron) letter to Sir Bill was sent in the aftermath of the bitter parliamentary struggle over the Maastricht Treaty

'In my view it is contrary to British interests and damaging to our Parliamentary Democracy.'

Sir Bill, one of the PM's most trusted followers, said her comments on Maastricht should leave no doubt that she would wish to leave the EU the Treaty had gone on to create.

Releasing a copy of the letter to the Daily Mail, Sir Bill said: 'When she handed this note to me personally, she told me I was to produce it any time when there was a serious question about whether or not she would have signed up to the European project.

'It is inconceivable she would not have wanted to leave the EU. If you are going to veto Maastricht, you are saying you are not going to go ahead with the European project.

'She gave the letter to me for a specific purpose and she had trust in me that I would do what she wanted. I am now doing that. There has never been the same degree of necessity to (release it) as there is now.'

In an article in the Sunday Times, Lord Powell  who was Lady Thatcher's chief policy adviser in the mid-1980s  said she would have 'gone along with what is on offer' and backed Mr Cameron. He added: 'Margaret Thatcher's heart was never in our membership of the EU. But I am convinced her head would continue to favour staying in on the conditions now on offer.'

But Sir Bill, who enjoyed family holidays with Lady Thatcher, flatly dismissed this claim.

He said: 'I was very disturbed and deeply concerned that somebody who knew her so intimately should believe that she would have gone along with what is a completely undemocratic project. It is just inconceivable.'

Lord Tebbit, who served in Lady Thatcher's Cabinets from 1981 to 1987, said: 'Powell has forgotten what Thatcher did say about Europe in the House of Commons, memorably to the Delors plan  which is still the plan for Europe  and that was, 'No no no'.'

Lady Thatcher (right) attacked the EU project as 'contrary to British interests and damaging to our Parliamentary democracy'

The early-1990s battle over Maastricht  which almost toppled the John Major government  was one of the most bitter in the history of the modern Tory party.

The treaty, which led to the European Community being renamed the European Union, was a massive step towards political and economic union.
Lauren, Connor and Mirran Duffy have become the first set of triplets to serve in the Army at the same time

As children, all three preferred toy tanks and soldiers.

So it came as little surprise to their mother when triplets Lauren, Connor and Mirran Duffy enrolled in the military.

Now the 16-year-olds have become the first set of triplets to serve in the Army at the same time.

Born just a minute apart, they have spent their lives together, through school and even the Farnborough Military Preparation College.

But the teenagers are now pursuing separate paths within the Army and they will have to be split up for the first time when Mirran and Connor go to Harrogate, Yorkshire, for training.

An Army spokesman said the triplets would be the first to serve simultaneously.

The Army was always bound to be a career path for at least one of them  their father Mark, 39, is a Warrant Officer for the 16 Medical Regiment based in Colchester while their mother Traci, 40, served in Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps and is now a receptionist at a defence firm.

Mirran wants to become a combat medic in the Royal Army Medical Corps, following in her father's footsteps.

Connor wants to serve in the Army Air Corps and eventually fly while Lauren wants to become an air despatcher for the Royal Logistic Corps and go into dog training at a later stage.

Their mother, from Aldershot, Hampshire, said yesterday that she was a 'proud mummy'.

'There's never a dull moment with them. I might finally get some peace and quiet when they move out,' she said.

'We're a military family and so it's nice that the children are continuing the family tradition.

'I'm a proud mummy but all that matters is that they're happy. We'd have been just as happy if they'd have wanted to become painter and decorators.

'They are so close and so used to each other so it'll be hard for them splitting up for the first time but it'll also be good for them.'

Lauren is the eldest, followed by Mirran and then Connor, she said, adding that she referred to them collectively as the 'trio'.

'Lauren is reserved, she is quite shy but opens up when she gets to know you. We call her Lollipop,' her mother said.

Born just a minute apart, the trio have spent their lives together, through school and even the Farnborough Military Preparation College

Pictured, from left, Lauren, Connor and Mirran Duffy with father Warrant Officer Mark Duffy and mother Traci

'We call Mirran Squirt because she's the little girl. She claims she's cursed with middle child syndrome. Connor is called Bagpuss because he used to stretch out like a cat when he slept.'

She revealed that as children, they would all battle over the tank and gun toys and were happiest playing in the mud outside.

'They are not girly girls,' she said of her daughters. 'There were no Barbies in our house. Make-up and dresses were never for them.'

The triplets said that they were highly-competitive with each other, arguing about the number of sit-ups each had done and their achievements, but still loved each other dearly.

'We are very competitive  that comes with being a triplet in the same sector,' Connor said, but added that they were the best of friends.

The triplets were born in Middlesbrough but have lived everywhere from Catterick and Germany to Colchester, Essex

As children, the triplets would all battle over the tank and gun toys and were happiest playing in the mud outside

'We never get lonely, we always have each other,' Mirran added. 'My brother is a little angel as he always has good advice while my sister is a little devil.'

All three said their main inspiration for joining the Army was seeing their father walk through the door in uniform and decked out with medals.

'It was so exciting seeing him come home in uniform,' Connor said. 'We were always asking him what he had been up to that day and it sounded so exciting.'

Lauren said she was 'nervous and upset' about being separated from her siblings but added that she was looking forward to her new role.

She revealed that she was the 'first with her fists' and protected her younger brother and sister from any trouble they had at school.

The Army was always bound to be a career path for at least one of the three  their father Mark, 39, is a Warrant Officer for the 16 Medical Regiment based in Colchester while their mother Traci, 40, served in Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps and is now a receptionist at a defence firm

Connor and Mirran will begin training next month and Lauren is currently waiting for her selection date as she started later than her siblings

The triplets were born in Middlesbrough but have lived everywhere from Catterick and Germany to Colchester, Essex.

Sadly, their father was posted to Colchester, while the rest of the family remained in Aldershot, Hampshire, while the children did their exams.

But there's a chance their parents, who have been married 19 years, will be reunited after the children go to Harrogate.

Connor and Mirran will begin training next month and Lauren is currently waiting for her selection date as she started later than her siblings.

All three teenagers yesterday received awards to mark their progress at a ceremony at Farnborough Military Preparation College.

The triplets are shortly set to feature in a national Army recruitment campaign.

The Military Preparation College is a free college funded by the Government and the European Social Fund.
Said reforms sought by PM 'don't come anywhere near' to what is needed

As many as 100 Tory MPs will line up against the Prime Minister and campaign for Britain to leave the EU, it was claimed last night.

Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 committee of backbench Tory MPs, said he expected 100 MPs to vote against Mr Cameron's deal.

He said: 'The reforms that are being sought by the Prime Minister, while all welcome changes, don't come anywhere near to that fundamental reform of the nature of our relationship with the EU.'

Mr Brady  one of the most senior figures in the Tory party  told this week's new Statesman magazine that the UK 'has got to redefine its relationship in a meaningful way.'

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Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 committee of backbench Tory MPs, said reforms being sought by David Cameron (pictured) 'don't come anywhere near' to what is needed

He added: 'I've always thought that a clear majority of Conservative members of parliament are deeply unhappy about the shape of the current European Union. And probably a clear majority would have a preference of leaving the EU as it is today.

'I suspect that roughly 100 will declare that they're campaigning for Britain to leave. But many more will be very sympathetic to that objective.'

Mr Brady turned up the pressure for the Prime Minister to hold an early Cabinet meeting once his deal is secured in Brussels next Friday.

Eurosceptics will remain banned from speaking out until the meeting takes place  potentially handing Mr Cameron 72 hours in which to 'sell' his deal unanswered.

'What is important is that once the deal is done things should be brought to a conclusion as rapidly as possible.

'I hope there will be a cabinet meeting, if not on the Friday after the Prime Minister returns, then on the Saturday morning, [so] that the cabinet can agree its collective position and also agree that those who don't share that view are free to say so and free to campaign.'

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond (pictured) said that a deal on the so-called emergency brake on welfare payments to migrants was close

In evidence to MPs yesterday, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said that a deal on the so-called emergency brake on welfare payments to migrants was close.

Mr Hammond, who met foreign ministers from the EU's 27 other member states last week, said: 'I think we have got the balance about right.

'Broadly the mood was that those countries that could have been expected to be critical were impressed with the way the European Council had found a solution which addressed the UK's needs without trampling their cherished principles.'

Mr Hammond surprised MPs on the Commons European scrutiny committee by revealing that the Government does not believe any of the changes negotiated by Mr Cameron require treaty change to take effect.

Speaking in January last year, before the General Election, Mr Cameron said his demands were so far-reaching they would require 'proper, full-on treaty change'.

But Mr Hammond told MPs yesterday: 'Nothing in this package requires treaty change.'

Mr Brady turned up the pressure for the Prime Minister to hold an early Cabinet meeting once his deal is secured in Brussels next Friday

He insisted the changes would still be legally binding, and said the European Court of Justice would have to 'take account' of the deal when ruling on clashes between the UK and Brussels.

But MPs questioned how the changes could be binding if they were not laid down in the EU's treaties.

Former Labour minister Kate Hoey said the fact treaty change was no longer needed demonstrated the 'minimal' nature of the deal.
No doctors sacked for exposing care scandals have been given their jobs back at the same level, it emerged yesterday.

Senior medical figures accused Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt of failing to act on a landmark report into NHS whistleblowing.

In a dramatic intervention, 14 medics and campaigners wrote to a national newspaper saying there had been 'no meaningful change' a year on.

'To our knowledge, not a single sacked whistleblower has been found comparable reemployment,' they claimed.

Referring to the hounding of doctors and nurses by hospital managers, they added: 'Not a single trust director has been reprimanded under the fit and proper persons regulation.'

Senior medical figures accused Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt of failing to act on a landmark report into NHS whistleblowing

Hospital staff say the punishments for speaking out are Kafkaesque  and make them feel as if they are living behind the Iron Curtain.

Andrew Percy, a Tory member of the Commons health committee, called for a parliamentary inquiry. 'There is a lot of evidence that whistleblowers are not being protected, that many staff in the NHS are being intimidated or are fearful of coming forward,' he said.

'This is totally unacceptable and is evidence of why our committee needs to look at this again. The Department of Health needs to be cognisant of the concerns on this.'

Sir Robert Francis compiled last year's report warning of a culture of 'fear, bullying and ostracisation' within the NHS that punished doctors and nurses who dared speak out.

DR MINH ALEXANDER WORKED: Consultant psychiatrist with Cambridge and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, a mental health service provider, from 2007 to 2013. BLEW WHISTLE ON: How instances of patient harm, including suicides and deaths in custody, homicides, rape and arson were sometimes not reported through the appropriate channels. CONSEQUENCE: Took redundancy by 'mutual agreement'. Told British Medical Association she thought it was going to be the end of her career. EFFECT ON NHS CAREER: Has not applied for more NHS work over fears she has effectively been blacklisted. SHE SAYS: 'The suppression of staff will not go away until decision-makers truly accept it is better to run a service in which staff and patients have a voice. Otherwise, the unhealthy culture, financial and human cost will continue My decision to report concerns did not make me popular.' Advertisement

EDWIN JESUADOSON WORKED: Alder Hey Children's Hospital. BLEW WHISTLE ON: 'Unnecessary' fatalities among children who had had surgery. What he felt was a bullying culture in theatres with staff afraid to raise concerns, and lessons from errors not being learned. CONSEQUENCE: Faced opposition from senior colleagues and, he believes, the trust itself. Left the hospital. Marriage broke down due to the stress. EFFECT ON NHS CAREER: Has applied for NHS jobs and not been shortlisted. Fears he has been blacklisted as a troublemaking whistleblower. Now working in academic research in Melbourne, Australia. HE SAYS: 'It took a great deal for me to become a whistleblower. It was not a step I took lightly. The whole experience has been utterly administrating.' Advertisement

It told how whistleblowers were too often derided as 'snitches, troublemakers and backstabbers'.

Sir Robert, a barrister who chaired two major inquiries into the Mid Staffordshire hospital scandal, said many were unable to find work because of an 'effective blacklist'.

The Government promised to enforce all his 20 recommendations, which were aimed at changing NHS culture to protect whistleblowers from reprisals. One measure was to ensure all trusts appointed a guardian to deal with concerns from health workers. But in the letter to The Times yesterday the guardians were described as toothless  often simply establishment candidates appointed by trust bosses.

And the signatories pointed out that the national guardian, Dame Eileen Sills, has a restricted remit with no real powers in law. Appointed in January, she is also part-time, covering just two days a week.

The letter was organised by Professor Sir Brian Jarman, the former BMA president who did pioneering work on hospital mortality rates.

It was signed by seven NHS whistleblowers, including Dr Stephen Bolsin, who highlighted death rates at Bristol Royal Infirmary and Dr Kim Holt, who lifted the lid on safety concerns at Great Ormond Street.

The signatories demanded the establishment of an independent body with 'powers to investigate and remedy poor whistleblowing governance by public bodies'.

DR RAJ MATTU WORKED: Heart surgeon at Walsgrave Hospital in Coventry. BLEW WHISTLE ON: In 2001, exposed the fact two patients had died in dangerously overcrowded bays where staff had difficulty reaching life-saving equipment. CONSEQUENCE: A year later, suspended on full pay for seven years after being accused of bullying. Dismissed in 2010. EFFECT ON NHS CAREER: Claims he was unable to return to old job and experienced increasing hostility from trust managers. Health deteriorated. Sacked while in his hospital bed. Won 1.22million damages after employment tribunal. HE SAYS: 'The way I have been treated is nothing short of an outrage and a scandal  trust managers tried to destroy me. It was a form of torture.' Advertisement

GARY WALKER WORKED: Chief executive at the United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust. BLEW WHISTLE ON: Concerns targets were a higher priority than patient safety. CONSEQUENCE: Sacked and forced to sign 500,000 gagging contract. Broke silence with Daily Mail to hold individuals to account over Mid-Staffs scandal. EFFECT ON NHS CAREER: Applied for around 150 jobs in NHS in England. Shortlisted for only two in five years. Now working for a health regulator in Northern Ireland. HE SAYS: 'Nothing has changed. We have more whistleblowers than ever on the unemployment lines and not one of them has been re-instated in their job. I would never advise anyone to whistleblow, unless they can do it anonymously.' Advertisement

They called for a new appeal mechanism against ineffective local investigations by employers, full reform of whistleblower protection legislation and reform of NHS disciplinary processes.

Health minister Ben Gummer insisted good progress was being made on making the NHS safe for whistleblowers, and that all hospitals had been told to take action to support those who spoke out.

But yesterday one of the signatories, Professor Narinder Kapur, who was sacked after he raised safety concerns at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, told the Mail he had struggled to find work afterward and felt he was blacklisted.

The neuropsychologist is now working three days a week as a locum in Leeds, hundreds of miles from his family home in Harrow, north-west London. He said: 'It's the only job I could get.

'The only way that NHS trusts will take back whistleblowers is if their willingness to do so is part of their appraisal by the health regulator.

'Whistleblowers lose their jobs and their incomes, their physical and mental wellbeing suffers and their family life is ruined.

DR KEVIN BEATT WORKED: Cardiologist at Croydon University Hospital. BLEW WHISTLE ON: Told an inquest in 2013 he was forced to carry out part of a heart operation without nursing assistance, which contributed to the patient's death. Concerns over inadequate equipment, bullying and harassment of junior employees, removal of key staff, a lack of competent nurses and the failure to properly investigate serious incidents. CONSEQUENCE: Suspended shortly after the inquest and then dismissed. EFFECT ON NHS CAREER: Won unfair dismissal case but finds it impossible to get an NHS job. HE SAYS: 'I've applied but never got shortlisted. 'It's akin to being in an Eastern Bloc country in the Cold War years.' Advertisement

DR STEPHEN BOSLIN WORKED: Anaesthetist at Bristol Royal Infirmary. BLEW WHISTLE ON: Reported concerns about infant deaths at the hospital in 1990. Bosses were dismissive and Dr Bolsin began to count the number of children dying, which showed the death rate was twice the national average. The next year, heart operations at the hospital were stopped. The cardiac unit was dubbed the 'killing fields'. CONSEQUENCE: He initially continued working in the NHS but felt ostracised and was passed over for private work. EFFECT ON NHS CAREER: Dr Bolsin and his wife moved to Melbourne, Australia, where he has practised ever since. HE SAYS: 'In the end I just couldn't go on putting those children to sleep, with their parents present in the anaesthetic room, knowing that it was almost certain to be the last time they would see their sons or daughters alive.' Advertisement

'It's like getting four life sentences for standing up and doing the right thing.'Another whistleblower, Gary Walker, who was sacked as an NHS trust chief executive after he raised concerns that hitting targets was a higher priority than patient safety, told the Mail he had applied for around 150 NHS jobs and was shortlisted only for two.

He said: 'The NHS has such a culture of command and control that it can't cope with anyone speaking out. It's a terribly bullying culture and that has not changed. If anything it has got worse.

'We have more whistleblowers than ever on the unemployment lines and not one of them has been reinstated in their job. I would never advise anyone to whistleblow, unless they can do it anonymously.'

A retired police inspector brought in to investigate allegations of misconduct against a whistleblower at one NHS trust told how he was himself sacked after raising concerns that the accusations were unfounded.

The former officer said: 'I was expected to be the assassin. I had had a distinguished career and had retired from the police with unblemished character. 'The trust's own policy said that such investigations had to be completed fairly but I would say the allegations were unfounded.'

DR OTTO CHAN WORKED: Consultant radiologist at Barts and the London. BLEW WHISTLE ON: X-ray files and scans belonging to thousands of patients were dumped unchecked in boxes. CONSEQUENCE: Dismissed in 2006 after trust management carried out a 'clipboard exercise' to quiz his colleagues for any other instance of possible misconduct. Branded a 'troublemaker'. EFFECT ON NHS CAREER: Was offered work at another hospital  until his old trust got in touch with its executives. Now back in the NHS, working part-time at the Royal Free and Whittington hospitals in London. HE SAYS: 'It's almost impossible to get future employment in the NHS if you're dismissed. Chief executives of different trusts stick together.' Advertisement

PROFESSOR NARINDER KAPUR WORKED: Neuropsychologist at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge. BLEW WHISTLE ON: The use of under-qualified staff in clinics, which he warned was putting patients at risk. CONSEQUENCE: Sacked in 2010. A tribunal ruled he was unfairly dismissed but he was not reinstated. EFFECT ON NHS CAREER: Professor Kapur said he was effectively blacklisted as a 'trouble-maker'. He is now working three days a week as a locum in Leeds, hundreds of miles from his family in North London. HE SAYS: 'Whistleblowers lose their jobs and their incomes, their physical and mental wellbeing suffers and their family life is ruined. It's like getting four life sentences for standing up and doing the right thing.' Advertisement

He said that when he reported concerns about the investigation into the whistleblower, he was initially ignored then 'I became the whistleblower, I became the problem'. Following his dismissal he received an out of court settlement after launching his own unfair dismissal proceedings.

Only last week, Dr Raj Mattu was granted 1.2million in damages after a tribunal found he had been wrongly dismissed for exposing the deaths of two patients in dangerously overcrowded bays at his hospital.

He was hounded for over a decade in a 'witch-hunt' costing the taxpayer more than 10million. He has since been unable to get a job in the NHS.

He told the Mail: 'This letter should be a very serious warning to the chiefs of the healthcare system in England, that despite many soundbites and promises of protecting patients and then whistleblowers, there has been no palpable change since the Francis report.

'I would strongly caution anybody who is thinking of whistleblowing from doing so.

'I would want to protect them and their families from enduring the nightmare that I have had to live with for 15 years, and their lives and careers being ruined.'

And Dr Minh Alexander, forced out after she exposed suicides at a mental health trust in Cambridgeshire, said: 'The suppression of staff who speak up is a very old problem and will not go away until decision makers truly accept that it is better to run a service in which staff and patients have a voice.'

DR KIM HOLT WORKED: Consultant paediatrician at St Ann's Clinic in Tottenham, North London. BLEW WHISTLE ON: Was one of four doctors who warned that understaffing and poor record-keeping posed a serious risk to patient safety in 2006. CONSEQUENCE: The warning was ignored and Dr Holt faced bullying then suffered depression and went on leave. EFFECT ON NHS CAREER: Dr Holt says she was offered 120,000 to sign a confidentiality contract but refused. She was eventually allowed back to work after her clinic was transferred to a different NHS trust. She received a formal apology from her former trust. SHE SAYS: 'The whole culture towards whistleblowers is pretty toxic. It's a miracle that I'm back in my job.' Advertisement

LADY MAHA YASSALE (NO PICTURE) WORKED: Chief pharmacist for Berkshire Primary Care Trust. BLEW WHISTLE ON: Patient safety concerns about prescriptions, made in protected evidence which cannot be disclosed. CONSEQUENCE: Suspended and dismissed after numerous allegations were made unrelated to Lady Yassaie's work. Launched employment tribunal proceedings but received an out-of-court settlement before the case was heard. EFFECT ON NHS CAREER: Lady Yassaie lost another NHS job in 2014 after, she believes, management found out about her earlier case. SHE SAYS: 'There is nothing to protect whistleblowers at all. None of my concerns have ever been looked into properly.' Advertisement

Justin Madders, Labour's health spokesman, said: 'Jeremy Hunt cannot dismiss these concerns any longer and needs to start taking whistleblowers' rights seriously. Unfortunately, reports of bullying and harassment in the NHS are still too commonplace.'

A spokesman for the Department of Health said some cases against managers under the Francis rules were ongoing with none declared unfit yet.
The pay packages of dozens of university bosses have soared by more than 10 per cent in the past year, figures show.

Vice-chancellors are also spending an average of 9,000 a year on air travel and 2,990 on hotel rooms. Half of all flights were first or business class.

The figures were obtained through requests under the Freedom of Information Act, from which universities have been lobbying to exempt themselves.

Pay increase: The highest paid was former Oxford vice-chancellor Andrew Hamilton (pictured), who took home a total package of 462,000, up from 454,000 the previous year

A total of 23 vice-chancellors enjoyed increases of 10 per cent or more to their six-figure salaries despite complaints of funding pressures in higher education.

The figures were obtained by the University and College Union, which represents academics and staff. Its general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: The huge disparities in the levels of pay and pay rises at the top expose the arbitrary nature of senior pay in our universities.

While some continue to enjoy inflation-busting pay hikes and all the trimmings of first-class flights and luxury hotels, staff pay continues to be held down.

The Freedom of Information Act, which has exposed numerous public sector scandals, is under threat from the Government. Ministers claim it is too costly to administer and have ordered a review.

CAMPAIGN AGAINST YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW Universities are fighting for exemption from Freedom of Information laws, which would let them hide details of six-figure salaries paid to senior staff. Nicola Dandridge, of the umbrella group Universities UK, has said revealing how much some staff earn is damaging and makes it harder to recruit staff. She added that universities spent 10million a year answering requests for information. She was speaking last month to the Independent Commission on Freedom of Information, a government body considering whether to reform the law. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is also considering whether universities should be exempt from FoI requests. In a recent consultation, the Russell Group of 24 elite universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, said they should be exempt because they are not public bodies. Universities will get 3.9billion in government money this year, in addition to private funding and tuition fees. Most tuition fees are funded by government-administered student loans, but the Russell Group says this should not count as public money. Advertisement

The figures showed that in the past five years, vice-chancellors salaries have risen by an average of 14 per cent, compared with 5 per cent for other staff.

In the past year, the average salary of university heads grew by 3 per cent to 272,432. The highest paid was former Oxford vice-chancellor Andrew Hamilton, who took home a total package of 462,000, up from 454,000 the previous year.

Oxford said this reflected the universitys vast research output, huge annual turnover and institutional complexity.

At Kings College London, Professor Edward Byrne earned 458,000, compared with his predecessors 324,000 package the previous year.

Kings said Professor Byrnes salary included one-off relocation costs from Australia to the UK, adding the university is a complex organisation with an annual turnover in excess of 680million.

The Freedom of Information Act compels public bodies to respond to questions from members of the public, journalists and other organisations.

But some universities have claimed they are not public bodies, despite the sector receiving almost 4billion a year from the Government on top of tuition fees paid for with taxpayer-backed loans.

One in ten of the 159 institutions contacted did not respond to requests for information about vice-chancellors pay and perks.

Miss Hunt said: We will continue to campaign for a proper register of pay and perks at the top of our universities. This information must be made readily available and no university should be allowed to get away with not responding to a Freedom of Information request.

The UCU asked universities and colleges a series of questions about vice-chancellors pay packages, including benefits and pensions, as well as money spent on air fares, hotel accommodation and personal expenses, for 2014/15.

It said the data shows bosses took home almost seven times more than the average staff wage.

While 23 had pay rises of 10 per cent or more last year  compared with 18 the previous year  47 university leaders enjoyed increases of 5 per cent or more.

Bonus: Oxford said this reflected the universitys vast research output, huge annual turnover and institutional complexity. Pictured, Christ Church college in Oxford

Extras: At Kings College London, Professor Edward Byrne earned 458,000, compared with his predecessors 324,000 package the previous year (file image)

Salford and Durham universities paid much higher amounts than the previous year because they had two different vice-chancellors during the year, the report revealed.

At Salford, Martin Hall, who spent five months as vice-chancellor and six on sabbatical, received 252,000. Interim vice-chancellor Helen Marshall took over the reins for half a year on a salary of 204,000.

Salford said the salaries were low for the sector and that the total figure of 516,000 for the pair included one-off compensation payments for loss of office.

Professor Chris Higgins and Professor Ray Hudson shared the leadership of Durham University with a total pay package of 511,000. The university declined to comment.

The figures show the average market value of vice-chancellors accommodation  provided by their university  was 1.2million,

Overall, there was a drop in expenditure on both flights and hotels between 2013/14 and 2014/15, the report suggested.

Universities UK said: The remuneration packages of vice-chancellors are determined by independent remuneration committees at each individual institution and are publicly available.

The salaries of university leaders in the UK are in line with those in competitor countries and comparable to similarly sized public and private organisations.

On travel, a spokesman said: University heads act as ambassadors for their universities and are expected to travel extensively to forge links with overseas universities and to promote the university.
The boss of Waitrose supermarkets has been appointed a trade minister by David Cameron.

Mark Price, who calls himself the Chubby Grocer, replaces Lord Maude who is stepping down after less than a year in role.

The 55-year-old has the uphill task of trying to reverse Britains dismal record on exports, on which the Government is way off its 1trillion target set for 2020.

He follows in the footsteps of other business leaders in this role, which was held by former HSBC chairman Lord Green from 2011 to 2013 and then BT chief Lord Livingston who stood down at the General Election.

New role: Waitrose boss Mark Price, who calls himself the 'Chubby Grocer' has been appointed a trade minister by David Cameron, after Lord Maude resigned from the role after less than a year

It was announced yesterday that he will be made a life peer, as Lord Price, and will start his new role  split between the Business Department and the Foreign Office  from April.

The resignation of Lord Maude  a former cabinet minister who has been in politics for 30 years - came as a surprise to Downing Street. Three weeks ago, he admitted in a newspaper article that the export target would be missed.

Lord Maude, a close ally of Mr Cameron and one of his early supporters, wrote to the Prime Minister to say: When I accepted the position, I made it clear that I did not want to stay in Government for much longer. I now want to move on and it is a good moment for my successor to take on this task of implementation.

He said work he had begun in his new role to boost the UKs flagging export performance would take several years.

Lord Maude (right), a close ally of Mr Cameron and one of his early supporters, has been on Mr Cameron's front bench team for every day of the Prime Minister's more than 10 years as Tory leader

The Prime Minister wrote back to thank him for his many years of exemplary service on the frontbench, and his role as a candid friend and a loyal colleague who stood by him through thick and thin.

Lord Price stood down as managing director of Waitrose in October because he was applying to be chairman of Channel 4, but was overlooked for the role.
A Sumatran female tiger was killed at the Sacramento Zoo by her mating partner Wednesday after the two felines were put in the same enclosure for breeding, zoo officials said.

The male tiger became aggressive with the 15-year-old Baha minutes after a physical introduction, the zoo said in a statement.

Staff monitoring the introduction from outside the enclosure used a water hose and fire extinguishers to separate the animals.

Sacramento Zoo officials say Sumatran tiger Baha (pictured) was killed by her mating partner Wednesday, after the two felines were put in the same enclosure for breeding

The Sacramento Zoo said on Facebook Wednesday: 'As soon as staff were able to get the male tiger into a secure location veterinarians rushed to care for Baha, but unfortunately she had already passed, veterinary staff tried to resuscitate her but were unsuccessful.'

They say that since arriving at the zoo from Tennessee in December, the 12-year-old Mohan had had visual contact with Baha.

Staff decided to introduce the felines because the tigers' behavior indicated it was the proper time, the zoo said.

The Sacramento Zoo wrote on Facebook: 'Since the arrival of the male tiger in December 2015, staff had been monitoring his and Baha's behavior daily as they had visual contact with each other.

'Both tigers' behavior indicated that this was the proper time for physical introductions.

'Based on knowledge and experience from past successful introductions, staff decided to physically introduce the tigers on Wednesday morning.'

Mohan (pictured), who is on loan from a zoo in Memphis as part of a tiger breeding program, had also successfully bred before with other partners, the zoo said

Baha had been at the Sacramento Zoo since 2002 and had successfully bred with three other partners, giving birth to five offspring.

Mohan, who is on loan from a zoo in Memphis as part of a tiger breeding program, had also successfully bred before with other partners, the zoo said.

Matt McKim, the zoo's animal collection director said in a statement: 'We are truly devastated at the passing of Baha.

'Not only was she a wonderful ambassador and a truly attentive mother, she was a one-of-a-kind tiger that inspired many.'

The Dallas Zoo expressed its condolences in the comments section of the Sacramento Zoo's post.

It wrote: 'We are so very sorry for your loss.

'Our beloved Kipling is Baha's son, as beautiful as his mother.

'We know you take excellent care of these cats; but they are, after all, wild animals, and we understand all too well how things like this happen.

'Our staff sends yours much love, and you are in our thoughts.'

The Sacramento Zoo responded: 'We can't thank you enough for your post. It means so much to us.'
Schools are suffering from a teacher shortage driven by rising pupil numbers fuelled by immigration, figures suggest.

A report by the Government's spending watchdog found that while the number of teachers in the system has increased over the past ten years, pupil numbers are also growing.

The National Audit Office said that recruitment of teachers would have to increase over the next few years to keep up.

Local councils have repeatedly complained that they are struggling to accommodate a bulge in primary school numbers caused by a baby boom following high immigration.

Schools are suffering from a teacher shortage driven by rising pupil numbers fuelled by immigration, figures suggest. A report by the Government's spending watchdog found that while the number of teachers in the system has increased over the past ten years, pupil numbers are also growing (stock photograph)

The swelling of primary school numbers is set to transfer onto secondaries and council leaders have warned of an urgent need to expand schools.

The NAO report said while secondary school teacher numbers had remained stable since 2005, the number of primary teachers has increased by 19,000, 'reflecting changing pupil numbers'.

It warned that a similar increase was needed in secondary schools soon, but that teacher recruitment is now more difficult because of the improving economy.

The report said: 'Between 2011 and 2014, the number of pupils increased by 7 per cent in primary schools and fell by 3 per cent in secondary schools.'

It added: 'Primary schools have had to recruit more teachers to keep up with rising pupil numbers. Secondary schools may now have to do likewise as pupil numbers start to increase.'

The watchdog also said that more teachers were now leaving before retirement age, suggesting 'retention' was likely to become an issue.

It said: 'Overall, the number of teachers has kept pace with changing pupil numbers.

'There were 21.6 pupils to every teacher in primary schools in 2008 compared with 21.0 in 2014.

'In secondary schools the pupil teacher ratio was 16.2 to 1 in 2008 compared with 15.8 to 1 in 2014.

Last year, the head of Ofsted Sir Michael Wilshaw (pictured) warned that schools were struggling to cope with an influx of migrant pupils and needed more 'capacity'

'There are, however, growing signs of shortages. Most commonly discussed are shortages in maths and certain science subjects.'

Last year, the head of Ofsted Sir Michael Wilshaw warned that schools were struggling to cope with an influx of migrant pupils and needed more 'capacity'.

In 2013, a leaked paper prepared by the Department for Education revealed that a steady increase in the number of babies being born has helped fuel the schools places crisis. The report said there were 120,000 more born in 2011 than in 2002, in addition to a 'threefold increase in net long-term migration since the mid-1990s'.

The document cited evidence collected by the Home Office that the 'impact of immigration has been substantial', adding that it was seen 'as an important contributory factor, through both the arrival of migrant children and the high birth rates of some migrant groups'.

It said an additional 35,000 secondary places will be needed by 2015, adding: 'This shortage of places is the direct result of the increase in the birth rates since 2002 and the surge in net migration since the mid-1990s.'

Official figures released last year showed the proportion of primary school pupils who do not have English as a first language increased from 18.1 per cent to 18.7 per cent. In secondary schools, the proportion rose from 13.6 to 14.3 per cent.

More than a fifth of British 15-year-olds are so poor at maths it could hinder their ability to take part in society, according to an international report.

Twenty-two per cent were 'low performers' in arithmetic  while 17 per cent had fallen behind with reading and 15 per cent in science.

One in ten of this age group struggled across all three subjects, the study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development found. They were classed as low performers if they scored below Level 2 on tests by the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment.
Salinas-620x326.jpg

The body of 22-year-old Lauren Moss was found inside a parked car at a Walmart in Salinas, Calif., where it has apparently been for months.

(Coutesy photo/KSBW-8)

SALINAS, California -- The body of a missing woman was found inside a car in a Walmart parking lot, where it had been at least since December, according to numerous media reports.

Lauren Moss, 22, of Seaside, Calif., was reported missing in November. Her body was found in a parked car at the Salinas, Calif., Walmart last week.

A toxicology report is being compiled, but local police believe Moss committed suicide. Her sister told local media a drug needle and a note were found inside the car.

Walmart employees told police the vehicle had been there for some time and Walmart security footage, which is only stored for 60 days, shows the car was there since at least December.

The vehicle had dark-tinted windows which made it difficult to see inside, but after realizing the car had been there for some time, employees last Wednesday looked into the vehicle and realized a body was inside.

The body was badly decomposed, indicating it had been there for an extended period, Salinas Police Cmdr. Vincent Maiorana told local media.
Reprising the role you played 15 years ago is enough to strike fear into the heart of even the most confident actress.

But not so Gillian Anderson, who this week returned to the nations screens as her most famous TV character, FBI agent Dana Scully from the science-fiction series The X-Files.

With her glowing, dewy skin, full pink lips and miraculously wrinkle-free skin, the actress barely looked a day over 30  let alone her full 47 years.

Alongside her co-star, American actor David Duchovny, 55, she was positively girlish, barely seeming to have aged since first appearing on the series in 1993.

BotoX Files: Fans took to social media to question how Gillian Anderson maintainer her ever-lasting youth

Her look was so striking that viewers soon began questioning whether Ms Andersons eternal youth was entirely natural - or down to the surgeons needle.

The aliens clearly implanted a lot of Botox in Scullys face, wrote one commentator on the social networking site Twitter.

Loving the return of X-Files, even if Scully physically cant move her face, said another. Is she happy, sad, nostalgic? Who knows?

The new series, previously shown on the US network Fox, aired on Channel 5 on Monday night.

The eagerly-anticipated debut episode drew almost 3.5 million viewers, giving the channel its highest-rated show in over a year.

It marks Ms Andersons biggest primetime role since playing DCI Stella Gibson in the BBC Two crime drama The Fall, starring actor Jamie Dornan, over two series in 2013 and 2014.

Little Change: Gillian Anderson appears to have retained her youthful looks. Above, pictured in 1996

She also had a part in the much-acclaimed BBC One remake of Leo Tolstoys War and Peace, which ended last Sunday, in which she played glittering society hostess Anna Pavlovna.

But it is the actresss return to the role of Agent Scully in The X-Files, one of the most iconic TV hits of the Nineties, which has led to closer inspection of her youthful appearance.

Ms Anderson herself tackled the thorny issue of plastic surgery in an interview in 2013, admitting that it does cross my mind.

She added: I remember a couple of years ago looking in the mirror, I noticed some changes. I was so shocked that for a few seconds I convinced myself Id eaten something I was allergic to.

As The X-Files show returned to TV after a 14-year hiatus, fans took to social media to declare the biggest mystery was how FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully didn't appear to have aged a day

[I had a] period of time thinking, Surely something can be done without having to be cut into? Then eventually you think, Oh, theres not.

So, has she finally given in and gone under the knife  or is it all just clever make-up?

We asked the experts to solve the mystery of Ms Andersons age-defying face...

FIRM FOREHEAD

Smooth, shiny and remarkably line-free, her forehead hasnt changed in two decades.

Unusually for a woman in her forties, she bears no deep frown lines and there is no sign her skin is sagging at the hairline.

The light reflected off the right hand side of her forehead suggests the skin is stretched very tightly across her temple  which is often a tell-tale sign of muscle-freezing Botox injections.

Dr Al-Ayoubi, one of Britains leading plastic surgeons, from the London Medical and Aesthetic Clinic, says her enviable forehead has certainly had a little help along the way.

She has the classic look of well-administered Botox. Her forehead is very smooth and wrinkle-free, with only three tiny lines above the right eyebrow. Leaving gentle lines on the forehead keep her looking natural.

Electric: Her eyes have no visible crow's feet, baggy skin or dark circles and a top surgeon suspects she's had fat pockets removed from around her eyes

Lee Garrett, Britains leading skin expert, believes she may have had other complementary skin treatments.

We lose around 10 per cent of collagen  the natural protein that gives our skin its elasticity  every year from our faces, but Gillians face has a great amount of volume and a smooth look to it.

She may have had ultherapy, a non-surgical way to lift and tone using ultrasound technology.

The lack of wrinkles, he adds, are likely due to broadband light treatment, a popular A-list procedure which involves tiny pulses of light being directed on to the skin to fill fine lines.

ELECTRIC EYES

She is blessed with striking grey, almond-shaped eyes, with no visible crows feet, baggy skin or dark circles.

Dr Costas Papageorgiou, a Harley Street facial plastic surgeon, suspects she has had surgery on her lower eyelids, called a blepharoplasty, to remove fat pockets around her eyes.

The procedure has smoothed the contour of the lower eyelids but has left the area looking rather hollow, he says.

Nariman Pouranpir, resident makeup artist at Mayfair salon Michael John, says her ageless eyes have also had help from a clever concealer.

To stop them looking deep-set shes used lots of matt colours around the eyes and darkened her lower lash line to open the eyes up.

Theres also highlighter under her eyebrow bone which makes her eyes look wider, and her youthfully arched eyebrows lift her whole face.

SMOOTH CHEEKS

With naturally pale skin and red hair, Ms Anderson has worked hard to stop her fair appearance being withered by the sun.

She admits to using a night-time scrub by Clarins and an Estee Lauder repair serum, while she lathers on Clinique face cream and Laura Mercier tinted moisturiser in the day.

But Dr Ayham Al-Ayoubi says make-up alone wouldnt give such impressive results.

The defined, enhanced cheekbone in a woman of her age is a clear hint that she has had a dermal filler, he adds. Her skin is nicely tightened, too, which could be achieved by having a chemical peel.

Radiant: Experts have said Ms Anderson is a dab-hand at age-defying make up, but she also has signs of cosmetic filler

LUSCIOUS LIPS

She knows a pink hue suits her pale complexion and so always opts for the same shade of lipstick.

Clever use of a nude lip liner and matt, natural colours give her lips instant volume, says makeup artist Nariman Pouranpir. She looks like shes pouting without having to try. That takes years off.

But Dr Al-Ayoubi says the eagle-eyed may spot something extra making her lips look so peachy.

She has a tiny shadowing in the middle part of the upper lip, suggesting that she has had a dermal filler, he explains.

CONTOURED CHIN

Ms Andersons oval-shaped face means she has a strong, tapered chin. Although in most women this would sag with age, hers retains all its youthful contours.

She always had a well-defined jawline and chin which in itself is a powerful feature to counteract the ageing process, says surgeon Dr Papageorgiou.

But she could have had ultherapy, which is ideal for patients in their forties and early fifties, and targets the face and neck.

The light reflected off her chin also gives a radiant glow  achieved, say make-up experts, by applying a dot of liquid highlighter on the chin. This gives a flawless finish and draws the eye away from her lower face.

SAG-FREE NECK

Crepe-like, mottled skin around the neck and shoulders is a telltale sign of ageing, yet Ms Andersons decolletage is smooth and blemish-free.

This, says skin expert Lee Garrett, suggests she has had a cosmetic procedure to tighten loose skin and perhaps a peel to get rid of veins and wrinkles.
Police sources said 'the gun is silver, it looks real and we are treating it as such'

During the newscast the smiling man is seen flashing what appears to be a silver pistol before running off

Police are searching for the man who ambushed a live newscast on Wednesday and waved an object resembling a firearm

Police are searching for a man who was captured brandishing what appeared to be a silver pistol during a live broadcast outside of a New York court.

The man is seen with the object resembling a firearm before running off as he ambushed NBC 4's newscast on Wednesday afternoon in front of the Brooklyn Supreme Court.

At the time, correspondent Michael George was reporting on the trial of rookie NYPD Officer Peter Liang who shot dead unarmed Akai Gurley in November 2014, the New York Daily News reported.

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Police are searching for a man who was captured brandishing what appeared to be a silver pistol as he ambushed NBC 4's live broadcast outside of the Brooklyn Supreme Court on Wednesday

The smiling man is pictured above as he flashes the object resembling a firearm during the broadcast

During the incident, the smiling man apparently tapped George with the object before walking into the shot and waving it in the camera with his right hand. Moments later he ran off.

Police sources told the New York Daily News that cops are actively searching for the man appearing in the video with the object, noting 'the gun is silver, it looks real and we are treating it as such'.

The newscast was being aired as jurors in court deliberated on whether Liang would be criminally charged in the death of 28-year-old Gurley.

Liang is on trial after shooting Gurley to death in an unlit housing project stairwell on November 20, 2014.

Gurley was struck by a bullet that ricocheted off the wall in the stairwell.

The officer, who was on the job for 11 months before the shooting, testified on Monday that his gun went off accidentally and that he did not realize someone was below him in the stairwell.

The prosecution argued Liang fired his weapon indiscriminately because he had heard a noise below.

The Chinese American police officer was charged with manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, assault, reckless endangerment and two counts of official misconduct. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
Responsibilities: Archbishop Justin Welby criticised both historic and modern Western influence in the Middle East in a lecture in Belfast

The Archbishop of Canterbury said yesterday that Britain must confront its historic responsibility for conflict in the Middle East.

The Most Reverend Justin Welby said our own responsibilities must be faced and acknowledged and singled out Britains behaviour during the First World War and its aftermath.

The Archbishop also pointed to the British Empire, the global trading system, American culture and even Western championing of womens and gay rights as factors which cause humiliation and disaffection among some Muslims.

His criticism of both historic and modern Western influence in the Middle East came in a lecture in Belfast in which the Archbishop said David Camerons decision to bomb ISIS in Syria was justifiable.

But he added that it would be utterly wrong if warfare and armed force alone were used against ISIS.

The Archbishop told an audience in Queens University in Belfast: Our own responsibilities must be faced and acknowledged, especially those arising out of the history of the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the time of the British and French mandates, as well as more recent wars and events.

His list of Muslim grievances which Briain should face included the legacy of empire in the Victorian era and during and after World War One.

In Muslim countries, Archbishop Welby said, it is often pointed out to me that only one Muslim country was not colonised by Western powers in the 19th century: Saudi Arabia. By 1920, the worlds principal ruler of Muslims was King George V.

The Archbishop added that western attitudes to the Prophet Mohammed and the media perception of the Muslim community were often mentioned to me with savage and bitter anger.

He added that we see economically a global trade system that was set up so it is impossible to engage in it without using interest, or usury. Since World War Two, American culture and products are pervasive and dominant.

The environmental crisis is out of the control of countries it affects, the Archbishop said.

We seek through aid budgets to impose rights, he added. Rights for women, for LGBTI people, are good rights to uphold. At the recent Primates meeting of the Anglican Communion, we condemned criminalisation of gay people, and quite rightly.

But it is also, as it is put to us quite often around the world, experienced as an imposition. Human rights, in the language in which it is often couched, may be good, but is presented in and on Western terms.

The effect of these and many other aspects of global relationships is for those who are the objects of them  whether they are good or bad and many of them are good  the effect is humiliation.

Conflict: Justin Welby's list of Muslim grievances which Briain should face included the legacy of empire in the Victorian era and during and after World War One. Pictured, ISIS fighters in Aleppo, Syria

The Archbishop said that feelings of unfairness could be exploited by people who use the hook of religion.

He said that you could not tell young men they were disadvantaged because of 19th century struggles, colonialism, the education system or globalisation because they would not follow the argument.

Among the alleged evils of Britains behaviour in World War One, Archbishop Welby singled out the Sykes-Picot agreement.

This deal between Britain and France in 1916 has been a particular target of Islamic State propaganda.

In 2014 ISIS put out a video which said: This is the so-called border of Sykes-Picot. We dont recognise it, and we will never recognise it. Inshallah, this is not the first border we will break. Inshallah, we break other borders also, but we start with this one, inshallah.

Discontent: In Muslim countries, Archbishop Welby said, it is often pointed out to me that only one Muslim country was not colonised by Western powers in the 19th century: Saudi Arabia. By 1920, the worlds principal ruler of Muslims was King George V'. Pictured, ISIS fighters in Aleppo, Syria

Historians argue over whether the agreement to carve up the Turkish Ottoman Empire in the Middle East between Turkeys enemies Britain and France was the basis of modern borders, in particular the border between Iraq and Syria. Britain and France held mandates which gave their empires sway over the Middle East after the Ottomans collapsed in 1918.

Archbishop Welby said: History recognises that the situation in Syria and Iraq is artificially aggravated by the Sykes-Picot line, which is no more than a line in the sand drawn by those dividing up the Ottoman Empire towards the end of World War I. 1916, as it happens.
Loony Leftie Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell made a song and dance about publishing his income the other day, proudly putting his tax return on display.

The image posted on his Twitter feed showed Jeremy Corbyns right-hand man had been paid 61,575 as an MP in 2014-15, and shelled out 14,253 to HM Revenue & Customs.

But the full document, slipped out much later on his website, showed that is not quite the whole story. McDonnell, who read from Chinese communist leader Chairman Maos Little Red Book in a House of Commons exchange with Chancellor George Osborne, also received a 14,421 pension from his days in local government.

Loony Leftie Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell (pictured) made a song and dance about publishing his income the other day, proudly putting his tax return on display

Since the period covered by the return, he has been handed the 10 per cent MPs pay rise, taking his salary to 74,000 per year, and total income to 88,421.

And when he turns 65 in September, he will be entitled to the state pension of 8,000 per year, plus hell be sitting on a final-salary Commons pension pot worth up to 35,150 by that date.

So in the year the old Marxist finally retires, he could enjoy a total income of more than 100,000: comfortably enough to put him in the countrys despicable top 1 per cent.

He published his tax return at the end of last month as he challenged Osborne to be open and transparent about his own income.

The move came after the Governments agreement with U.S. tech giant Google to see the company pay 130 million in back taxes covering the past decade. Osborne hailed the deal a major success despite disquiet among members of his party.

I published my full tax return . . . as I believe if you aspire to be in charge of the nations finances, you should be as open and transparent about your own income as possible, McDonnell said. Hopefully, it will encourage George Osborne to release the details of his Google tax deal.

Now Burton blasts Oscars

Some of his films have been Oscar-nominated but he has never won the bald, naked man, as he once referred to the gold statuette.

So its perhaps no surprise director Tim Burton (Edward Scissorhands; Corpse Bride) was so disobliging about the Academy Awards this week. I dont give a s*** about the Oscars, he told a Brazilian paper. I hate these award ceremonies.

Show: Director Tim Burton has slammed the Oscars, claiming he doesn't 'give a s***' about them. Pictured, Johnny Depp in Burton's film Sweeney Todd (2007)

Asked about this seasons diversity row, he replied: They should be happy because they dont have to attend that s***.

Oh dear. Hell never win one now.

There was no sign of Lady Antonia Fraser at the launch of Joan Bakewells memoir Stop The Clocks on Tuesday at Daunt Books in Marylebone.

Lady Antonia made it plain that Dame Joan would not be welcome at the memorial service of her late husband, Harold Pinter, in 2009.

Bakewell, 82, had a passionate seven-year affair with the playwright when she was a young presenter of the BBCs Late Night Line-Up. While this took place before Pinter and Fraser were married, the relationship was later the subject of a controversial play, Betrayal.

There is no hostility, Bakewell assures me. Why would there be? I have often seen her since Harolds memorial service, but I didnt invite her.

Chancellor George Osborne is alleged to have once remarked that he didnt know what it was like to turn right upon boarding an aeroplane. His ally, Business Secretary Sajid Javid, knows the feeling. He has just declared an upgrade that he was given on two Emirates Airlines flights he travelled on with his wife, Laura, over Christmas. His entry in the House of Commons Register of Members Interests gives the perk as being worth between 4,700 and 9,800.

Kathryn Blair joins the circus

Kathryn Blair, the only daughter of former Prime Minister Tony and Cherie, is clearly in need of light relief.

She was among the guests who turned out to Zippos Cirque Berserk! at the Peacock Theatre in London and posed for photographers with the acrobats.

Kathryn Blair, the only daughter of former Prime Minister Tony and Cherie, turned out to Zippos Cirque Berserk! at the Peacock Theatre in London and posed for photographers with the acrobats

Kathryn, 27, was called to the Bar in 2012 and joined New Court Chambers as a pupil in 2014. Her father and Cherie famously met when they both joined the chambers of former Lord Chancellor Derry Irvine.

Cherie, who came top of her year in her Bar exams in 1976, was appointed Queens Counsel in 1995. She became a part-time judge four years later.
She has not been out of prison long, but Teresa Giudice says she already knows who she is voting for in the upcoming election.

The Real Housewives of New Jersey star - who came in fifth place on Celebrity Apprentice in 2012 - did not flinch when asked who she was endorsing on Watch What Happens Live this week.

'Of course I'm gonna vote for Donald Trump,' she told host Andy Cohen.

'I think he's amazing. I think he'll make a great president.'

Unfortunately, Giudice appears to be misinformed about her voting rights. As a convicted felon, she won't be able to cast a vote in any election until she finishes her parole.

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'Of course I'm gonna vote for Donald Trump': Teresa Giudice in one of her first interviews since her release

Candid conversation: Chat show host Andy Cohen (pictured) grilled Teresa about her time in a federal prison, and expressed shock when she said she intended to vote for Donald Trump

Giudice was released from prison on December 23, after spending 11 months behind bars on several fraud convictions. She was released early, and was recently let off house arrest, but she still has two years of parole before she'll be allowed to register to vote again in February 2018.

Giudice's answer seemed to take Cohen aback. Giudice then asked who he would be voting for.

'I haven't decided yet, but I'm pretty sure I'm not voting for Donald Trump,' he said.

'Oh, my God!' Giudice exclaimed.

It was the 43-year-old's first interview with Cohen since getting out of prison, which she said was the hardest thing she has ever had to do.

'I felt like I was dying, in reality, that's how I felt,' she said on Tuesday night, the first of the two-part interview.

One more vote: On top of other questionable celebrities who have recently endorsed him - such as Tila Tequila - Donald Trump has got another endorsement, this one from Teresa Giudice

The boss: Guidice (front row, second right) was a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice in 2012 and came fifth in Donald Trump's show

'I was numb, I was going through the motions, when you first get there, they strip search you, you have to bend down, cough, I felt humiliated,' confessed the 43-year-old reality star of her first days behind bars.

While she praised her fellow inmates as 'really nice' she described some filthy conditions.

'There was urine stains and blood stains on the mattress, it was disgusting. The other girls helped me make my bed, I was exhausted,' complained the reality star who has just served an 11.5 month sentence at a federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut.

She was incarcerated after pleading guilty in 2014 to multiple offenses, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bankruptcy fraud.

Previously she had told her husband Joe, 43, that the prison was like a 'low budget spa' where she had time to 'work out every day'

'I really just told him that so he wouldn't worry,' said the brunette, who left behind four daughters: Gia, 15; Gabriella, 12; Milania, 10, and six-year-old Audriana.

'It wasn't really like that,' she backtracked.

Giudice was released from prison on December 23 and was kept under house arrest until last Friday.

She wore a burnt orange jumpsuit to the interview.

'I thought you'd never want to see another jumpsuit,' joked Cohen, 47, who is executive producer of the colossal Real Housewives franchise.

Giudice was on the show to tout her new book Turning The Tables.

New book: The reality star was promoting her new book, Turning The Tables: From Housewife to Inmate and Back Again

Talking of the amount of 'lady banging' that was happening in the prison she said she'd nicknamed one area the 'boom boom room'.

She even had a message for her former convicts.

'I love you girls, I miss you,' she cooed, blowing kisses to the camera.

Mother of four: Teresa left behind four young daughters when she went to prison

'I hope they're watching,' she said, while noting that the Bravo channel was played in the prison 'all the time'.

Still unwilling to admit that she knew about her husband's large scale fraud she said: 'I'm going to make sure I understand fully before signing any other papers in the future'.

'No one is perfect in life, we all fall down,' she frowned, while claiming that she 'never' felt resentful of her husband, who committed the crimes and is due to serve his sentence next.

'I live with the man. I know he didn't mean to harm me in any way,' she said.

No resentment: Andy asked Teresa if she resented her husband Joe (pictured) and she said that she didn't

She then rebuffed all rumours that Joe had been cheating on her  noting that one 'friend' of theirs had framed her husband with 'a blonde girl' in order to sell the story.

'We found out that he was having money problems,' she explained.

'So you didn't believe any of the reports?' asked Cohen.

'NoIf I didn't want to be with Joe I wouldn't be with Joe,' she said.

On release Giudice had come home to a new Lexus from her husband  a flashy move that had caused some controversy with viewers.

Special guest: Teresa was appearing on a two-part special One-on-One on Bravo

The car was decorated with a giant red bow.

'He [Joe] didn't put the bow on itLexus did it, they knew a lot of paparazzi would be there so they got a lot of publicity out of that,' she said calling the car makers 'smart'.

The TV personality said that watching the spin-off show Teresa Checks In was traumatic for her.

The miniseries documented how her family was managing while she was locked up.

'Breaks my heart,' she sniffed, wiping her eyes.

'I prayed for them every day,' she breathed, while noting that her husband 'did good' at looking after everyone in her absence.

Constant prayer: The reality star said she constantly prayed for her family while incarcerated

Cohen described his interview with her sister Melissa Gorga  where she said she hadn't been approved for a visit.

'Things weren't the greatest between us,' admitted Giudice, while conceding that she loves her brother 'and Melissa' and appreciates the help they offered to Joe and her children.

While inside Giudice said she crocheted a Jewish star onto a bookmark as a gift for Cohen.

'I didn't get it,' he complained.

After eating basic food in the clink she said she was thrilled to have lobster for her first meal as a free woman.
Hanlon's dream was to create world's most spectacular prehistoric attraction in Britain

Science writer Michael Hanlon has died from a heart attack shortly after leaving a board meeting for his ambitious plan to create the world's most spectacular prehistoric attraction in Britain.

The 51-year-old journalist and author was taken to hospital after collapsing in London on Tuesday, but doctors could not save him.

A former Science Editor of the Daily Mail, he also worked for other newspapers and magazines and wrote six popular science books including the best-selling Science of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Michael Hanlon (pictured), who died aged 51, wrote six popular science books including the best-selling Science of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

But his recent passion was Jurassica, a project to recreate the Dorset of 150million years ago, complete with animatronic marine reptiles, in an old limestone quarry on the Isle of Portland.

He had persuaded broadcaster Sir David Attenborough to become the project's patron.

Last night Sir David led the tributes to Mr Hanlon, saying: 'Michael was a great visionary with a wonderful idea to bring the past to life, an idea without parallel.'

Sir Tim Smit, founder of the Eden Project in Cornwall, who is on Jurassica's board of trustees, said: 'It's absolutely tragic. He was on the verge of doing something that was going to make Britain very, very proud.'

He said it was 'far too early' to discuss who will pick up the baton for the project.

Sir David (pictured) said Michael Hanlon, whose dream was to create the world's most spectacular prehistoric attraction in Britain 'was a great visionary with a wonderful idea'

Another Jurassica trustee, Anthony Browne, chief executive of the British Bankers' Association, said: 'Mike grew up in Dorset and spent his youth hunting for dinosaur fossils along its Jurassic Coast.

'He had a dream of setting up a major dinosaur attraction and after he left full-time journalism he dedicated his time to turning the dream into reality.'
Ayesha Elomar is a two-month-old Australian baby girl stranded in war-torn Syria, to be raised alone by her 14-year-old mother, who is herself now an orphan.

Baby Ayesha is the daughter born in Syria to former Sydney schoolgirl Zaynab Sharrouf and the teenager's 31-year-old ISIS terrorist husband Mohamed Elomar, who was killed in fighting last year.

The infant girl is also the granddaughter of Khaled Sharrouf, Elomar's fellow jihadi who also died last June, and his wife Tara Nettleton, who it has now been revealed died from appendicitis in Syria last September.

The deaths of Nettleton, Sharrouf and Elomar have left Zaynab an orphan and widow, abandoned to give birth to a baby she will now have to bring up on her own in a war zone.

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Zaynab Sharrouf reportedly gave birth to baby daughter Ayesha (pictured) around eight weeks ago after becoming involved with her father Kahled's jidahi friens, Mohamed Elomar

Zaynab Sharrouf, pictured in Syria over a year ago, is now a 14-year-old mother of an eight-week old baby daughter, herself now an orphan stranded in crisis-torn Syria, as well as an ISIS widow

From dreamy teen to girl soldier: The photograph from 14-year-old Zaynab Sharrouf's social media account entitled 'Soldier of Allah' showed her (centre) cloaked in black and with two guns and a knife as her Islamic 'coat of arms'

Targic death: Zaynab's grandmother Karen Nettleton (left) and her mother Tara more than a decade before Tara tragically died from appendicitis in Syria due to lack of proper medical care

Just over two years ago as a Sydney primary school student, Zaynab Sharrouf was posting on social media about her pre-teen crush on an American pop star.

Today she is fending for herself, her baby and four younger siblings in a Syrian city racked with disease, violence and food and water shortages.

With news of Tara Nettleton's death, which could have been easily preventable in a first world hospital system, and teenager Zaynab's birth to baby Ayesha, a grim picture of their future has emerged.

With seven months to go before she turns 15, Zaynab Sharrouf is now the oldest in the family of Sharrouf siblings left alone in the Syrian ISIS stronghold of Raqqa, and has six mouths to feed.

Raqqa, the self-proclaimed capital of the the ISIS caliphate is, according to insider reports, suffering a food shortage and has only intermittent electricity supplies and running water.

In the ISIS stronghold brutality and violence happen daily, with executions, beheadings, arrests and torture ongoing events.

Third world hospital standards and a lack of medical supplies may have caused the death of Zaynab's mother, and the situation in Raqqa is now made worse by the recent outbreak of a fatal and unknown virus sweeping towards the city.

It has now emerged that when Zaynab's mother Tara took her five children to Syria in early 2014 to join husband, former Sydney thug Khaled Sharrouf, she went to the war zone with a pre-existing kidney condition.

At first, the Sharroufs appeared to prosper, with Khaled given a role in the ISIS hierarchy and the family living in a large house on the banks of the Euphrates River.

Zaynab Sharrouf, pictured with her grandmother Karen Nettleton, who is fearful for her grandchildren and new great-granddaughter, Zaynab's baby Ayesha, abandoned in Syria now that Karen's daughter is dead

Underage bride: Zaynab Sahrrouf, 14, married her father's friend Mohamed Elomar (above) who died in battle and she has now given birth to his baby daughter

Zaynab and her sister Hoda, who is now aged 13, and their brothers Abdullah, 11, Zaqawi, 10, and Humzeh, 5

On social media in her early days in Syria, Zaynab still sounded like a typical Australian girl, declaring she loved 'The Walking Dead. Also celebrities' as well as 'jewellery and phone cover shops'

A photograph of Zaynab Sharrouf (tight) taken within the last couple of years before she became radicalised and married her father's best friend 17 years her senior and gave birth to his baby daughter following his death

Zaynab Sharrouf was posting on her social media page two years ago (above) about how she was in 'love' with teen pop star Austin Mahone and how she loved beach holidays, but now she's stranded with a baby in a war zone

Also living in the house was Khaled Sharrouf's friend from Sydney, onetime boxer turned Islamic extremist Mohamed Elomar.

While Sharrouf and Elomar fought with ISIS extremists, the family that had just been uprooted from a comfortable life in the Sydney suburbs to the war zone appeared to lead a relatively normal life.

Zaynab, sister Hoda, 13, and their brothers Abdullah, 11, Zaqawi, 10, and Humzeh, 5 did not appear to be attending school in Syria.

But on social media in her early days in Syria, Zaynab still sounded like a typical Australian girl, declaring she loved 'The Walking Dead. Also celebrities' as well as 'jewellery and phone cover shops'.

She had a crush on US boy band star, Austin Mahone. Her favourite colour was pink, she was addicted to her iPad and wanted a pink Lamborghini.

She claimed her favourite actor was Sandra Bullock and repeatedly said she loved riding horses, a pastime she is believed to have taken part in while visiting her maternal grandmother on the NSW central coast.

Little girl lost: The teenager's new Twitter identity in 2015 (above) as 'Umm hafs' says 'Zawji' or 'her husband' is Abu Hafs al australia, which was 31-year-old Mohamed Elomar 's ISIS identity

Zaynab Sharrouf is believed to be among these black-cloaked women posing with Kalashnikov rifles, an ISIS flag and a white BMW in Syria, where the 14-year-old is living with her four siblings, parents and Mohamed Elomar

Zaynab is now 'mother' to her four younger siblings including brother Abdullah (above) in the picture that shocked the world, posted by his father Khaled Sharrouf holding a severed head with the caption 'that's my boy'

She also said she wished to learn Spanish, liked cooking pancakes and was concerned about air pollution and that if 'we don't ,make an improvement in out planet. We will die'.

In early 2014, she said online her favourite thing to do in summer was 'to spend time with my family on the beach' and that her 'perfect honeymoon destination' would be the Queensland resort, Hamilton Island.

Then Zaynab's brother Abdullah was photographed holding the severed head of a Syrian military official, and when father Khaled posted it online, the image went viral.

A photograph of Mohamed Elomar with two severed heads followed. After this the tone and content of Zaynab's postings on Twitter, kik.com and other social media accounts turned dark.

Orphaned: With the death of Zaynab's father, former Sydney muscle-for-hire Khaled Sharrouf (above) and his friend Mohamed Elomar, the 14-year-old was fatherless and a widow, but now her mother Tara has also died in Syria

New wife: Mohamed Elomar (pictured last year in Syria holding severed heads) may not have been able to wait for his first wife to join him and has instead married the 14-year-old daughter of his Australian ISIS friend Khaled Sharrouf

Mohamed Elomar had been trying to get his Australian wife Fatima with their four children over to Syria, but when Ms Elomar tried to follow in Tara Nettleton's footsteps in May 2014, she was arrested at the airport.

Facing charges for supporting terrorism, for which she has now pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing, Fatima Elomar had her passport confiscated.

At some point after this, Zaynab became romantically involved with her father's fellow jihadi, Mohamed Elomar, who was 17 years her senior.

On Twitter she posted that she was 'Chillin in the khilafah, loving life'. She also declared herself a 'Solider of Allah' on a different social media account, illustrated with two guns and a knife as a type of coat of arms.

Then it emerged in May 2015, that she had become the second wife of Mohamed Elomar, and she became preoccupied with the ISIS fight and radical Islam.

Zaynab liked a photo-shopped image posted by her father online of the World Trade Centre in flames with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, militant Islamist and late founder of al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Sharrouf captioned the image with the post: 'September 11 is the best day of my life. Our brothers gave there life to establish the deen of Allah on earth and they fulfilled what is mandatory on every Muslim to terrorise the enemy of Allah'.

The news came in June last year that both Zaynab's father Khaled and husband Mohamed Elomar had been killed in an air strike while fighting for ISIS in neighbouring Iraq.

Zaynab's baby daughter born eight weeks ago is the half sister to the four children of Mohamed Elomar's furst wife, Fatima (pictured, above)who is awaiting sentence on charges of supporting terrorism

The old Zaynab loved 'the walking dead and celebrities' and posted happy goi lucky things on her old Twitter page, but this has now given way to talk of the 'prophet' and ISIS

Changing: Zaynab Sharrouf's old Twitter account appeared to show a shift in her focus from teenage interests to radical Islam when she posted last year this picture of a group of men with weapons and the ISIS flag

Technically a 'war widow' at an impossibly young age, Zaynab was also pregnant. If reports are accurate, the baby is now around eight weeks old, Zaynab would have become pregnant in around March last year, prior to her 'marriage' to Elomar.

Then further disaster struck the family, with the death of Zaynab's mother Tara from complications of her kidney disease and little hospital care available or medication for infections.

Zaynab and her younger brothers and sister have now been living alone for almost five months in Raqqa where, according to an ABC report 'it's very hard to live under ISIS.

'The water and electricity cut all the time. Even if you got injured there is not a lot of doctors or not a lot of hospitals and even ISIS make sure that their fighters getting the best doctors and the best hospitals but they don't care about civilians and make their civilians like a human shields.'

The newly radicalised teenager Zaynab Sharrouf posted this photograph believed to be of her youngest brother (right) and a captured Yezidi boy (left) posing with rifles and an ISIS flag. The girl crowed about the fact the captive boy had 'converted' to ISIS
A man who spent 30 years in jail after being wrongly convicted of rape has been set free today.

George Perrot, now 48, was arrested in 1985 aged 17, accused of raping 78-year-old Mary Prekop at her home in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Despite Prekop testifying that Perrot was not her attacker, he was convicted two years later largely because of FBI analysis surrounding a single hair found at the crime scene.

The FBI has since admitted that its analysis was based on bogus science, leading to Perrot's conviction being overturned last month.

At a bail hearing on Wednesday, Judge Robert Kane ruled that Perrot should be allowed to go free.

George Perrot, now 48 (pictured outside court on Wednesday with his mother Beverly Garrant), was jailed in 1987 aged 17 for raping 78-year-old Mary Prekop at her home in her Springfield, Massachusetts

Perrot's conviction was quashed in January after the FBI admitted that evidence used to put him away was based on bogus science (pictured, Perrot hugs his mother Wednesday after being freed)

Judge Kane said he is 'reasonably sure' Perrot did not rape Prekop, adding that it is unlikely prosecutors will be able to secure another conviction.

It is unclear whether prosecutors will be appealing the judge's decision, or whether they will be seeking another trial for Perrot.

Following the ruling, Perrot gave his mother, Beverly Garrant, a long embrace as tears filled their eyes, adding: 'Come on, Mommy. Let's get out of here.'

Garrant said she was 'so happy' her son was going home, adding: 'I'm just so glad that the Lord gave him another chance.'

Perrot's case dates back to 1985 when a man broke into the home of Mary Prekop before beating and raping her, the latest in a spree of similar attacks in the city of Springfield.

Officers arrested Perrot and initially accused him of a string of violent rapes, though DNA evidence and witness testimony excluded him from most of these crimes.

He was eventually charged with the rape and beating of Prekop, despite the fact that she failed to pick him out of a lineup.

An emotional Perrot in court on Tuesday after a judge ordered him to be released on bail

At Perrot's initial trial, The FBI testified that he must have committed the crime because microscope analysis of the hair found at the scene matched his own (pictured, Perrot hugs his attorneys on Wednesday)

The FBI has since admitted that the science behind the hair test was bogus, and that almost all testimony given by its experts is defunct (pictured, Perrot breaks down in court today)

Prekop also repeatedly described her attacker as being clean shaven, while Perrot had a beard and mustache at the time of the attack.

She also testified at trail that Perrot, who had gown up in her neighborhood, was not her attacker.

The only other piece of evidence linking Perrot to the crime scene was a single hair that DNA analysis showed had the victim's blood on it.

At his initial trial, FBI agent Wayne Oakes presented microscopic analysis of the hair found at the crime scene, and told jurors that it had to come from Perrot, and only someone 'with lesser training' would concluded otherwise.

Prosecutor Francis Bloom told jurors that the evidence was so strong, the only way that Perrot could be innocent was if police had planted a strand of hair at the scene.

Perrot also signed a confession in which he admitted breaking into Prekop's house, but was interviewed without any attorney or parent present, despite being a minor.

He was eventually convicted and ordered to serve to concurrent life sentences, one for aggravated rape, and the other for burglary and assault.

However, Perrot later retracted his confession, saying he was under the influence of alcohol and Valium when questioned, and did not remember giving it.

Perrot (pictured in court last year) shed tears after being freed today, before telling his mother: 'Come on, Mommy. Let's get out of here'

Perrot's conviction was based almost solely on evidence surrounding the hair after two subsequent retrials showed evidence of prosecution misconduct and forged confessions (pictured, Perrot in 1985)

Bloom was also found to have fabricated a confession from Perrot and forged his signature on it, alongside that of a detective, to pressure two teens into confessing that they helped during the break-in and rape.

Perrot was granted a second trial and but was convicted again largely due to evidence surrounding the hair, with his original sentence reinstated in 2003.

Since that second conviction, microscopic hair analysis has been shown as a bogus science when conducted without other fail-safes, such as DNA testing.

The FBI itself has acknowledged that nearly every examiner in that forensic unit gave flawed testimony in almost all trials in which they offered evidence.

In 2014 the agency wrote to Perrot saying there had been errors in the expert testimony in his case, which formed the basis for another appeal in September last year.

Perrot's conviction was overturned on September 24, with Judge Kane saying that justice may not have been done because of the introduction of evidence that exceeded the foundational science.'

Kane also criticized agent Oakes saying he 'departed from his role as a neutral expert and slipped into the role of a partisan for the government.'

After her son was freed today, Beverly Garrant (pictured) said: 'I'm just so glad that the Lord gave him another chance'

Prosecutor Bloom was also blasted by Kane, who said Bloom 'despised Perrot' as shown in diary entries in which he called Perrot 'inherently evil' and 'a sociopath.'

At Perrot's bail hearing today, assistant district attorney Elizabeth Dunphy Farris asked the judge to keep Perrot locked up and deny him bail, citing his lengthy disciplinary record in prison, which included 44 reports for fighting with other inmates and use of drugs.

She also cited several escape attempts by Perrot and an incident in 2003 when Perrot fled to Maine after the Massachusetts Appeals Court overturned a judge's ruling granting him a new trial.

The judge acknowledged Perrot's record of disobeying rules in prison but said Perrot has a strong support network of friends and family to help him.
Feel the Bern: Bernie Sanders has the momentum

Feel The Bern, runs the slogan on T-shirts and posters brandished across America.

And his misty-eyed young fans yesterday were all saying resoundingly that they can.

It is impossible to ignore how Bernie Sanders, a septuagenarian senator from Vermont, and the only self-proclaimed socialist in Americas Congress, has electrified the race for the U.S. presidency.

A year ago, Hillary Clinton seemed the inevitable Democrat contender to replace Obama.

Now, after Mrs Clinton just scraped to victory in the Iowa primary poll last week, only to be devastatingly beaten by Sanders in New Hampshire yesterday, even the most ardent Clintonite has had to admit they have a serious Bernie problem.

The battle for Democratic nomination is now a two-horse race  and the momentum is with Sanders.

British voters may have a feeling of deja vu about the sanctimonious, grey-haired Leftie in the crumpled suits who has attracted a rabid following among idealistic voters. For Bernie Sanders is remarkably like Jeremy Corbyn.

Both are politicians who have spent their careers on the sidelines, free to trot out whatever ideas take their fancy in the luxury of knowing they will never be put to the test. Which is all very well, except that neither has had real experience of governing.

At 74, Sanders is discovering late in life that his unbending socialism is suddenly finding a ready audience. What is especially appealing to millions of voters is his no-nonsense delivery  which comes across in stark contrast to Hillary Clintons jaw-dropping lack of charm or trustworthiness.

Sanders got a thumbs-up yesterday from his brother, Larry, 81, a long-time UK resident, who clearly shares his siblings Left-wing world view, having stood  unsuccessfully  as the Green Party candidate for Oxford West and Abingdon in last years general election.

Many Americans are gobsmacked by the lurch to the Left in U.S. politics signalled by Sanderss success so far, but his brother was not surprised. I knew he would make a huge splash, he told the BBC, explaining that rising inequality was a concern shared by many.

We know Bernie hates the super-rich  such as his potential Republican opponent Donald Trump  and the bankers of Wall Street.

He would break up the big banks into smaller entitities that would be forced to loan more money to small businesses. Naturally, income tax for high earners would go up.

He says he would introduce universal, government-provided healthcare, free college education for all, and has called for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, Afghanistan and the war against Islamic State as soon as possible.

Sanders has also called for the elimination of Americas free trade agreements and would most likely replace them with higher tariffs on imported goods, and other such protectionist policies.

Socialist: He plans to introduce universal, government-provided healthcare, free college education for all, and has called for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, Afghanistan and the war against Islamic State as soon as possible

In the UK, many of his political proposals would find favour with the more old-fashioned elements of Labour and the Lib Dems.

But in the U.S., with its traditions of smaller government, low regulation and self-advancement, his vision is nothing less than revolutionary.

As Mrs Clinton sees the youth vote leaking away from her, she stresses that her plans are sensible and achievable: in other words, Sanderss ideas are not.
M&S Bank has slashed the rewards paid to customers who shop using its credit card - and it says the EU is to blame.

Currently for every 2 customers spend outside M&S stores they receive one reward point worth 1p.

But yesterday customers were told that from February 29 they will need to spend 5 for each 1p in rewards.

To build up enough reward points for a 10 voucher, which can only be spent in M&S stores, customers will need to spend 5,000 - up from 2,000 today.

In the letter seen by the Mail the bank, which is owned by HSBC, says it 'very much regrets' the move and blames 'European Union legislation'.

It explains that under new rules from Brussels all European banks have been banned from charging shops hefty fees when customers use their debit or credit cards.

M&S Bank has slashed the rewards paid to customers who shop using its credit card - and it says the EU is to blame. In a letter seen by the Mail the bank, which is owned by HSBC, says it 'very much regrets' the move and blames 'European Union legislation'

The move to scale back perks, which will take effect next month, comes after similar moves by Santander, Tesco Bank, RBS and others credit card providers.

In the letter M&S Bank said: 'You may have heard about a new piece of European Union legislation, which came into effect in December 2015, which reduces the income paid by businesses to banks every time a credit card is used. This historically contributed to the running of customer accounts.

'Consequently banks and credit card companies are reviewing their loyalty schemes and what they can offer on their credit card products.'

The bank is still advertising the more generous reward rate on its website to new customers but says the details will be changed imminently.

Credit card customers will continue to earn one point for every 1 they spend in M&S stores.

As now, these points will be converted every three months into M&S reward vouchers, which can be spent in store.

And customers who have M&S Premium Club or a Premium Current Account will continue to earn triple points on their shopping in store and online at M&S.

James Daley, founder of consumer campaigners Fairer Finance, said: 'Credit card reward schemes are not what they once were and are close to going extinct.

'There are still rewards to be had but they are not as good as they used to be and there are strings attached.

'Banks are choosing more and more to offer cards with interest-free deals instead - and claim the money just isn't there to reward people as well.'

In December, new rules were introduced limiting the fees banks can charge retailers for each debit card and credit card transaction to 0.2 per cent and 0.3 per cent respectively.

Retailers were estimated to save 500 million a year in card fees and it was hoped they would pass some of these savings onto customers in form of lower prices.

But the catch is that card companies claim they used this money to help fund their loyalty schemes and had to pare back these perks as a result.

In December Tesco Bank halved the number of Clubcard reward points its credit card customers can earn.

When shopping in stores other than Tesco customers now have to spend 8 to earn just one point instead of 4.

Nectar has also slashed its reward scheme. Shoppers now only get one point for every 1 they spend instead of two - and they no longer receive a bonus point for using one of their own carrier bags.

RBS and NatWest pulled its popular Your Points scheme last July and Capital One has stopped paying cashback to its credit card customers.
RIVERDALE, Georgia -- Police in an Atlanta suburb say an officer was shot twice by a suspect who also was wounded by gunfire during a law enforcement operation.

Riverdale police Assistant Chief Michael Reynolds told reporters that his officers were assisting Clayton County police with an operation at an apartment complex in Riverdale late Thursday morning. He did not give details about the assignment.

Reynolds said the Riverdale officer was struck twice by gunfire, and the suspect was also hit. He did not release any details about what led to the shooting, but said the officer was in surgery early Thursday afternoon.

Riverdale is a city of about 15,000 people just south of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Two foreign women who survived an horrific attack on a deserted beach were pictured enjoying their time in Australia lying next to a kangaroo and posing by the water before a man tried to kill them.

The women, who cannot be identified, were travelling with a man they had just met when he allegedly attacked them at Coorong National Park in Salt Creek, south-east of Adelaide, at around 6.30pm on Tuesday.

One of the young backpackers was forced to run naked and bleeding from sand dunes as she tried to escape.

A 23-year-old South American woman has since been released from hospital, while the other European woman and is still receiving treatment,Seven News reports.

The women, who cannot be identified, were travelling with a man they had just met when he allegedly attacked them at Coorong National Park in Salt Creek, south-east of Adelaide, at around 6.30pm on Tuesday

A 23-year-old South American woman has since been released from hospital, while the other woman is believed to be from Europe and is still receiving treatment

She and her friend, both aged in their 20s, had only met their 59-year-old alleged attacker the previous day and had plans to drive with him from Adelaide to Melbourne.

The trio had stopped off at Coorong National Park to camp overnight on Tuesday when their savage encounter started to unfold.

The two backpackers suffered horrific injuries with one of the women later saying one was hit over the head with a hammer, while the other was run over in a in a vehicle, Seven News reports.

They split up trying to escape the clutches of their alleged would-be killer, with one of the women getting away to alert nearby fisherman.

But the second woman is believed to have been recaptured and she was found later by rescuers barely conscious and unable to speak.

She is understood to have suffered the most serious injuries, but both were quickly airlifted to Flinders Medical Centre.

A 59-year-old man, who was pictured on his Facebook holding a gun, has been arrested and charged over the attack on two foreign women at Coorong National Park in Salt Creek, south-east of Adelaide, on Tuesday

Two foreign women have survived an horrific ordeal after a 59-year-old man (pictured) they were travelling with allegedly tried to kill them while camping at Salt Creek, south-east of Adelaide, on Tuesday

While police will not reveal the exact injuries the women suffered, it is understood at least one of the women were tied up.

Police later found a fishing knife and hook that had been left behind at their campsite.

Ali Mohammed and Abdul-Karim Mohammed, two fisherman who were driving through the dunes nearby, spotted one of the women running naked towards them screaming she was going to be killed.

'She ran straight to the car yelling. She opened the back door, jumped straight in and like, 'get me out of here, get me out of here. He's going to kill us all',' Abdul-Karim Mohammed, told Seven News.

'She had some scratches and that on the legs, looked like she'd been pulled around, dragged around and that.

'She had a bruised eye; maybe would have punched her or something.'

One of the young backpackers was forced to run naked and bleeding from sand dunes where they were camping at Coorong National Park in Salt Creek, south-east of Adelaide, on Tuesday to escape

The women had only met their 59-year-old alleged attacker the previous day and had plans to drive with him from Adelaide to Melbourne. They stopped off at Coorong National Park to camp overnight on Tuesday

The two backpackers suffered horrific injuries when they were attacked at the campsite with one of the women later saying one was hit over the head with a hammer, while the other was run over in a in a vehicle

'Her and her friend split up. They were running different directions... She got away and she said 'I want to find my friend',' he said.

'We were just shocked when we seen her and then we go 'there's something bad going on here' we were there perfect timing, if not it would've been worse.'

Meanwhile, another fisherman who was camping about five kilometres away said he saw a car - believed to be the alleged attacker's - speed past him with a screaming woman in the passenger seat.

'Looks like he captured them again and unfortunately she was the one who sustained the serious injuries,' the fisherman said.

The two fisherman who found the first backpacker managed to make a 'panicked' call to the owner of Salt Creek Roadhouse, Adam Stewart, who then alerted police.

Police found and arrested the 59-year-old man soon after in a nearby campsite soon after. It is unclear if the second woman was located with the man.

The man's car was splattered with blood.

Police found and arrested the 59-year-old man soon after in a nearby campsite soon after. It is unclear if the second woman was located with the man

He was pictured on the ground with his arms behind his back as he was arrested by two officers. He was wearing a black and white t-shirt and grey pants

He was pictured on the ground with his arms behind his back as he was arrested by two officers. He was wearing a black and white t-shirt and grey pants.

The man faced Adelaide Magistrates court on Wednesday charged with kidnapping, rape, causing aggravated harm to another and attempted murder. Seven News reporters say he was chained to the wall and was dressed in a white hospital gown.

A magistrate ordered that his identity be kept secret while investigations are under way.

The circumstances in which the backpackers met the man and the car he drives has also been suppressed.

The man has several profiles on dating websites looking for women between '22 and 56' and describes himself as 'respectful to women' and able to 'get along with anyone, well almost', according to The Advertiser.

The two women split up trying to escape the clutches of their alleged would-be killer, with one of the women getting away from the campsite to alert nearby fisherman

The campsite and blood spattered car is now a crime scene as police continue their investigations

He didn't speak during his court appearance but on the dating website he says his ideal woman 'can cook Chinese food, loves kids, be well presented, slender, respectful and honest'.

He writes that he hopes the new woman in his life will share his love of the outdoors, camping, walks on the beach and fishing and has eerily shared photos on his social media accounts of himself at the beach.

He also declares himself to be down to earth, kind, thoughtful and not racist.

Photos of him on his Facebook page shows him posing with a gun and shows previous trips to the area with his son.

Salt Creek locals said the man had been visiting the area for 'decades'.

Adam Stewart, the owner of nearby Salt Creek Roadhouse, said he alerted police to the incident after receiving a 'panicked' phone call from a group of fishermen who were on the beach
A 35-year-old American woman who was found wandering down a Spanish street completely naked has been arrested on suspicion of stabbing her baby daughter.

Police were called yesterday after receiving reports an unnamed woman was wandering around the Spanish town of Utrera in Seville swearing at and assaulting passers-by who tried to help her.

Two police officers arrived at the scene but when they took the woman back to her home to get some clothes on they discovered her 10-month-old baby daughter covered in stab wounds.

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Police were called after receiving reports a naked woman (pictured) was wandering around the Spanish town of Utrera in Seville swearing at and assaulting local residents who tried to help her

A bloodied knife was found at the scene and Spanish media reports say the woman then confessed to the crime.

Several people called the Civil Guard after spotting the woman walking down the streets completely naked while cursing at and insulting passers-by, as well as trying to attack them.

Eye witnesses claim she was shouting words like 'kill' and 'Jesus' in English.

It is understood her husband is employed at a nearby American military base and was at work at the time of the incident.

A 35-year-old American woman who was found wandering down a Spanish street completely naked has been arrested on suspicion of stabbing her baby

Neighbours said the police went into the house with the woman but one almost immediately came running out with an injured baby in his arms.

The little girl was rushed to hospital in a serious condition but is said to be in a stable condition.

The officers involved are being praised for their swift actions which may have saved the baby's life.

'It all happened so quick,' said one local resident.

The American woman was arrested and taken to the psychiatric ward of the Hospital Virgen del Rocio in Seville.

Council spokesman Francisco Campanario said everyone in the town was very shocked and there had been no record of any previous problems with the family.

Two police officers arrived at the scene but when they took the woman (pictured) back to her home to get some clothes on they discovered her 10-month-old baby daughter covered in stab wounds
Landlords are rushing to sweep up properties before they are hit by an increase in stamp duty.

Surveyors reported a surge of interest from buy-to-let investors eager to buy before the tax hike comes into force in April.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said the level of new buyer enquiries increased for the tenth month in a row in January.

Three quarters of its members are expecting to see a further increase in buy-to-let purchases before the changes kick in.

Landlords are rushing to sweep up properties before they are hit by an increase in stamp duty (file photo)

Its report comes as the UK's largest chartered surveyor, e.surv, revealed a growth in buy-to-let mortgage approvals had pushed lending on homes to its highest level in nine years.

House purchase approvals jumped by 20.6 per cent between December and January, up 39.3 per cent on January 2015.

It said: 'After a consistent run of annual increases, this yearly spike in house purchase lending signals the short-term impact of a surge in buy-to-let borrowing amid the wider strength of the lending market.'

The boom in interest has proved profitable for builders, with major property developer Bellway yesterday reporting it sold 4,188 homes in the six months to January 31, up 11.6 per cent on the same period last year.

Average selling prices rose 17 per cent to a record 257,000, driven by London flats  which typically are sought after by buy-to-let investors.

George Osborne announced in his November Autumn Statement the decision to increase stamp duty on buy-to-let purchases by three percentage points.

The move was designed to curb the booming buy-to-let market but estate agents and mortgage brokers have reported a stampede by investors rushing to buy before the increase comes into force.

Despite an increase in the number of homes coming on to the market in January, RICS said it was not enough to meet the growth in demand from buy-to-let investors - which was also pushing house prices higher.

London saw the biggest increase in new properties but there remained an average of just 46 properties per branch nationally, down by 21 per cent on the same time last year.

Concerns have been raised that rents could increase after the stamp duty increase kicks in because landlords will be put off investing in new properties so there will be fewer available to let.

Surveyors reported a surge of interest from buy-to-let investors eager to buy before the tax hike comes into force in April (file photo)

RICS found surveyors expected rents across the UK to increase over the next 12 months and the coming five years.

Its chief economist Simon Rubinsohn said: 'With buy-to-let investors rushing to get into the market ahead of the stamp duty hike, the near-term pressure on prices is if anything intensifying despite a higher level of supply.'

Richard Sexton, director of e.surv, said the 'race' to beat the tax hike had boosted overall house purchase approvals as landlords rushed to complete before April.

He added: 'Buy-to-let approvals contributed to the growth in January home lending. Concerns about the sector's growth have sparked a wave of legislation but as stamp duty changes come into effect this April, there's been a rush to get buy-to-let loans approved.

'Many have predicted a narrowing of the buy-to-let sector but actually what we' re seeing in lending quarters appears to be the opposite.'

Yesterday economists Standard & Poor warned home ownership was likely to decline over the next few decades, creating widening inequality in the UK.

It said first-time buyers aged 25 to 44 were finding it harder and harder to afford a home, causing a wealth divide between younger and older generations.

Economist Jean-Michel Six, of S&P, said: 'Younger low- and middle-income households (would-be first-time buyers) are the ones affected most.

'As buying a home becomes ever more expensive, they are increasingly forced to rent, spending a large share of their income on accommodation and unable to save to buy a home or otherwise accumulate wealth.
This is the moment one journalist went undercover to investigate a plumber who has allegedly scammed his elderly clients out of nearly $100,000 total.

Glenn Harris has been accused of ripping off one woman of more than $50,000 - and her son blames him for the stroke that killed her.

Lisa Guerrero of CBS' Inside Edition went undercover, donning a mask and holding a cane, to see if the claims were true after she heard Jason Sutphin's story.

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Inside Edition journalist Lisa Guerrero went undercover as a grandma to investigate allegations Tennessee plumber Glenn Harris had ripped elderly clients off thousands of dollars

Pictured are some of Harris' past clients, who claim he charged them thousands of dollars for third-rate repairs that they didn't need

Sutphin said his mother Carol had first called Harris, who owns a plumbing business in Johnson City, Tennessee, for a simple problem in her bathroom.

He said Harris continued to charge his mother for third-rate repairs that her home didn't need, and the bills just kept getting higher and higher.

Eventually Carol took out a $50,000 home equity loan and took $7,000 in cash advances on her credit card to pay Harris, who wanted 'cash on everything', Sutphin told Guerrero.

Not long after, Carol had a stroke and died.

'I believe the stroke was caused by stress,' Sutphin said. 'And the only stress she had in her life at the time was Glenn Harris.'

After others came to Guerrero with similar stories of thousands of dollars lost to Harris, she decided to go undercover.

Guerrero was given a mask from Hollywood and her makeup was done by Emmy-winning Ben Adams.

Harris has denied the allegations, saying he doesn't owe money to any of his clients and that he operates above the board

Jason Sutphin (left) blames Harris for the death of his mother Carol (right), who he said suffered a stroke from stress as she took out loans and cash advances on her credit card while trying to pay Harris

Inside Edition rigged a house with hidden cameras and called Harris, reporting a leak in the water heater.

A group of victims waited inside a van outside the home, where Harris said he would be the next day.

But after three days Harris still hadn't shown, and Guerrero decided to show up at his home instead.

'What are we filming here? Who are you?' he asked Guerrero, who then pulled off her mask and asked: 'I'd like to know if you're bilking elderly people in the community for thousands of dollars?'

Harris said he didn't have any victims he owed money to and said he operates above the board.

For Inside Edition's full report, tune in on Thursday, February 11. Check local listings for stations and times at www.insideedition.com.
The UK boss of Google says tax laws should be rewritten  blaming world governments for failing to tighten up the rules.

Matt Brittin, who is the firms European president, called for simpler, clearer rules, because it is important not only to pay the right amount of tax, but to be seen to be paying the right amount.

In a letter to The Daily Telegraph, he said Britains tax rules required that Googles corporation tax bill is based on the value contributed by its UK arm, not on the sales Google makes to UK customers.

Matt Brittin, who is the Google's European president, called for simpler, clearer rules, because it is important not only to pay the right amount of tax, but to be seen to be paying the right amount

He said HMRC had conducted an intensive review of Googles tax arrangements, interviewing him and other bosses to determine the amount of profit attributed to Googles UK operation.

The CEO also denied Google had won a sweetheart deal from the UK and claimed the company paid 2.3billion in corporation tax last year, albeit in the United States.

Google and the UK Government have been criticised for agreeing a 130million bill for back taxes.

Defending the tax bill, Mr Brittin wrote: Some have suggested the settlement which concluded the audit was a sweetheart deal, a cut-price tax rate. It was not. And lets be absolutely clear: politicians play no part in deciding and settling tax audits.

Google's UK boss says tax laws should be rewritten and blamed governments for failing to tighten up rules

We agree that the international tax system needs reform. But changes to the tax system are not Googles call. Reform must come from governments, not from the companies who are subject to their rules.

Although Mr Brittin said most of Googles $3.3bn corporation tax was paid in the United States , he failed to address accusations that it funnels revenue through countries such as Ireland and Bermuda which have low or no corporation tax rates.
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Nine years ago to the day, Barack Obama stood before the Old State Capitol in Springfield and announced his run for president, declaring it was 'time to turn the page' on cynical, special-interest politics.

On Wednesday, he returned to the Illinois capital at the twilight of his political career, lamenting that the story has not changed.

In a nostalgic day trip to Springfield where he began his career, Obama fretted over the harsh tone and hardening partisanship he says is turning off voters.

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President Barack Obama addresses the Illinois General Assembly at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield on Wednesday. He returned to Springfield, the place where his presidential career began, to mark the ninth anniversary of his entrance into the 2008 presidential race

On February 10, 2007, Obama, an Illinois senator at the time, announced his 2008 presidential candidacy at the Old State Capitol in Springfield, pictured above left and right at the time

He waxed nostalgic about the chummier relations and bipartisan deal-making of his youth.

He appealed to state lawmakers, and the public, to rid politics of 'polarization and meanness' that discourage widespread participation in civic life.

'It's gotten worse,' he said bluntly in an address to the Illinois General Assembly, on the anniversary of his entry into presidential politics.

'Today, that kind of citizenship is threatened by a poisonous political climate that pushes people away from participating in our public life,' Obama added.

'It turns folks off. It discourages them. It makes them cynical. And when that happens, more powerful and extreme voices fill the void.'

The sentiment echoed Obama's 2007 address delivered in the cold on the steps of the Old State Capitol building.

It is one Obama has repeated throughout his presidency amid miserable relationships with congressional opposition and new levels of gridlock in Washington.

Still, it carried added resonance on Wednesday, as outsider candidates in both parties celebrated huge victories in the New Hampshire primary.

In the presidential campaign to succeed him, both parties are dealing with voters deeply frustrated with the political climate.

Nine years ago he announced his run for president at the Old State Capitol and declared it was 'time to turn the page' on cynical, special-interest politics. On Wednesday (pictured), Obama returned to Springfield, lamenting that the story has not changed

During his address, he made a renewed call for better relations between Republicans and Democrats to create a more positive tone in U.S. politics

Obama (pictured on Wednesday) won the White House in 2008 partially on a promise to overcome partisan divides in Washington. He has called his failure to do that, seven years after taking office, a regret

Republicans have seen a willingness to embrace coarsening conversation - Donald Trump has made a habit of using personal insults barely suitable for print.

On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders is calling for political revolution fueled by animosity toward corporate interests.

Obama has not formally waded into the Democratic race, but is increasingly trying to play the role of a Greek chorus.

On Wednesday, he spent much of his time outlining his worries about the role of big money in politics and the impact on legislating. He warned that compromise is necessary, and 'doesn't make me a sellout to my own party.'

He offered a few broad prescriptions for changing the political climate, including the way congressional districts are drawn and making it easier for people to vote in elections.

He noted with some amusement that his audience, the state lawmakers he held up as model for bipartisan pragmatism, seemed to have knee-jerk partisan responses to his suggestions.

'This is fascinating to watch,' he said.

Before delivering his remarks, the president visited one of his old haunts he frequented as a state senator, The Feed Store. During his unscheduled stop at the eatery, Obama was seen as he surprised diners, including two young siblings as they ate their lunch

Obama greets two customers dining at the restaurant which is located near the Old State Capitol in Springfield

While at the eatery he met customers and staff who took out their cameras to take pictures. Obama seen above as he poses for a selfie

The president did not stay to eat but picked up a to-go order of beef barley soup and a turkey sandwich

Obama spoke fondly of getting to know his colleagues in Springfield over fish fries and poker games, an aspect of political life in Washington that has all but disappeared

'I miss you guys,' he said as he left the cheering chamber stood outside across from the Old State Capitol building

Obama's trip was laden with nostalgia for the capital where he got his start as a state senator.

But before delivering his remarks, the president visited one of his old haunts he frequented as a state senator, The Feed Store, where he greeted customers and staff, posed for selfies and picked up a to-go order of beef barley soup and a turkey sandwich.

During his unscheduled stop at the eatery, Obama was seen as he surprised diners, including two young siblings as they ate their lunch.

He spoke fondly of getting to know his colleagues in Springfield over fish fries and poker games, an aspect of political life in Washington that has all but disappeared as House and Senate lawmakers rush out of town on weekends to spend time with family back home.

'I miss you guys,' he said as he left the cheering chamber stood outside across from the Old State Capitol building.

Obama called 'my inability to reduce the polarization and meanness in our politics' one of his few regrets as president, although he didn't acknowledge any specific mistakes.

'We've got to build a better politics,' Obama said during his address. 'When I hear voices in either party boast of their refusal to compromise as an accomplishment in and of itself, I'm not impressed'

Obama returned to Springfield with several of the architects of his successful first presidential campaign, including then-chief strategist David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett, who remains a senior White House adviser

The crowd gives Obama a standing ovation following his address. From Springfield, he was headed to California where he will raise money for Democrats, appear on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and host the leaders of 10 Southeast Asian nations for a two-day summit

As culprits for the climate, he pointed to the media, short-sighted political tactics, gerrymandered districts and the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision that opened up the floodgates for undisclosed, unlimited contributions.

From Springfield, he was headed to California where he will raise money for Democrats, appear on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and host the leaders of 10 Southeast Asian nations for a two-day summit beginning Monday.

Obama returned to a statehouse that has weathered its share of turmoil since he left it behind in 2004.

Two Illinois governors have been convicted of corruption and sent to prison - including Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who is serving time for trying to sell the U.S. Senate seat Obama vacated when he became president.

Meanwhile, Democrats who control both chambers of the legislature have butted heads with Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner since the Republican and former businessman took office last year.

The two sides have yet to agree on a state budget more than eight months into the fiscal year, prompting massive cuts to higher education and social service programs.
Horrific footage has emerged which allegedly shows a man at The Star casino in Sydney being beaten by a number of security guards.

Published by Pedestrian TV, the video was taken in the early hours of Sunday morning after a group had been at live music bar Rock Lily inside the casino.

The Star has confirmed it is aware of the footage and is conducting a review of the incident. A spokeswoman said it was triggered after staff were abused after repeated requests for the man to pour the contents into plastic cups as is required by the venue's responsible service of alcohol rules.

'These requests were ignored. The behaviour of concern included foul language and a security supervisor stated he was assaulted. Requests to leave the venue were also ignored,' a spokeswoman said.

The victim, identified only as Julien, said his leg was broken in two places so badly that he is unable to work for the next six weeks. He also received stitches for a gash to his eyebrow.

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Julien, 32, claims to have been assaulted by security at The Star casino in Sydney in the early hours of Sunday

Footage of the incident filmed by a friend shows him covered in blood while being treated by paramedics

The video in full runs for five minutes, and shows a number of security guards holding down Julien inside the venue, before taking him out on to the street.

'My girlfriend and I were enjoying the night at a table inside Rock Lily when a group of friends showed up unexpectedly and sat down to join us.

'I said to one of my friends that he could help himself to some champagne we'd bought but the glassie had taken away our glasses, so he took a sip from the bottle - we didn't know that wasn't allowed,' Julien told Pedestrian TV.

He claimed he was then 'knocked to the ground with great force, which opened up my eyebrow' after a verbal exchange with security.

Julien said once he was taken out near the entrance of the casino 'one guy put his knee on my leg and he broke my tibia and fibula - I have a double fracture on my right leg. I felt it break.'

The 32-year-old, a digital marketing specialist, said he soon passed out from the pain, and his memory is blurry. He said he remembers his girlfriend screaming and crying.

Julien said his leg was broken in two places and he also had stitches for a gash above his eyebrow

The 32-year-old said he was dragged out of the venue but could not walk and passed out from the pain as his leg was broken

NSW Police confirmed then attended an 'alleged assault' at the casino in Pyrmont around 1.30am on the 7th of February.

'A 32-year-old man later attended Day Street Police Station around 10pm and formally reported the matter to police who are investigating the matter,' a spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia.

They would not comment further on the issue nor confirm whether the 32-year-old was the man pictured in the video footage.

A spokeswoman for The Star told Daily Mail Australia 'the safety of all guests is of paramount importance to The Star.'

'The Star is currently conducting an internal review into an incident on Saturday night.

'The incident involved the removal from the premises of an individual who became involved when Security staff approached another member of his group who had reportedly directed abuse towards a food and beverage attendant.

'The abuse towards staff followed repeated requests to pour the contents of a glass bottle into plastic cups, in accordance with our RSA procedures.

'These requests were ignored. The behaviour of concern included foul language and a security supervisor stated he was assaulted. Requests to leave the venue were also ignored.
Cleveland is suing the family of Tamir Rice over an unpaid ambulance bill for $500 after the citys police officers shot the 12-year-old dead.

The Rice family still owe the city for the work done by paramedics, who tried in vain to save Tamirs life after he was shot in November 2014 while holding a toy gun, according to a claim filed in probate court on Wednesday.

Cleveland.com reports that assistant law director Carl Meyers filed a claim in Cuyahoga County Probate Court, informing the Rice family that they need to pay the bill for 'advance life support' and the cost of the ambulance ride to MetroHealth Medical Center.

It comes just weeks after a grand jury decided not to indict the two white police officers who fatally shot the boy.

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Cleveland is suing the family of Tamir Rice (pictured) over an unpaid ambulance bill for $500 after the citys police officers shot the 12-year-old dead

Subodh Chandra, a lawyer for the Rice family, said the bill adds insult to homicide.

'The callousness, insensitivity, and poor judgment required for the city to send a bill - its own police officers having slain 12-year-old Tamir - is breathtaking,' Chandra told the website. 'This adds insult to homicide.'

The claim says that under the Ohio Revised Code, the family is responsible for emergency medical services rendered as the decedents last dying expense.

A breakdown of the $500 bill is even provided: $450 for advance life support and $50 for the cost of the ambulance driving from where Tamir was shot to the hospital where he died.

Earl Ward, another family lawyer, branded the bill cold and callous, adding it is disrespectful to a family who is still grieving, especially on the heels of the grand jury decision'.

He said: Its a $500 bill and the city is responsible for his death, so I dont see how they could justify that.

Subodh Chandra (left), a lawyer for the Rice family, said the bill adds insult to homicide. Attorneys for the family said they have told Tamir's mother Samaria Rice (pictured right) about the claim

Tamir was fatally shot by Timothy Loehmann while playing with a pellet gun (pictured) on November 22, 2014

Ward said he had informed Tamirs mother Samaria Rice about the filing, the New York Daily News reports.

Tamir was fatally shot by Timothy Loehmann while playing with a pellet gun on November 22, 2014.

In the build-up to the shooting, he had been playing in the park and was reportedly pointing the fake weapon at people, prompting concern from someone who called 911.

His toy was missing the orange clip-on, which would have warned police and passers-by that the gun was not real.

The 911 dispatcher told the officers there was a man with a gun, but failed to pass on the information that it was a young boy and that the caller has said that the gun was probably fake.

People protest a grand jury's decision not to indict two white Cleveland police officers in the fatal shooting of Tamir Rice on December 29, 2015, in Cleveland

Shocking surveillance footage of the incident showed officer Frank Garmback speeding to the scene in his patrol car before Loehmann, a rookie cop, gets out and immediately fires at Tamir.

According to the Daily News, two independent reports concluded the shooting was not justified.

On December 28 last year, a grand jury decided not to indict the two white police officers for their role in the fatal shooting of the young black boy.

After the decision, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty said there was indisputable evidence that Tamir was reaching for the pellet gun tucked into his waistband when he was shot.

In a statement after the announcement, attorneys for the Rice family renewed their calls for the Department of Justice to investigate the shooting.

It said: 'It has been clear for months now that Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty was abusing and manipulating the grand jury process to orchestrate a vote against indictment.

'Even though video shows the police shooting Tamir in less than one second, Prosecutor McGinty hired so-called expert witnesses to try to exonerate the officers and tell the grand jury their conduct was reasonable and justified.
The woman in the blue dress who sensationally pushed over a police commander at the Melbourne Cup last year, has 'poor impulse control issues, a court heard as it fined her more than $1000 for her reckless and stupid attack while she was tipsy'.

Sarah Finn, 24, appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday afternoon once again wearing a blue dress as she was convicted and fined for assaulting Acting Superintendent Steven Cooper and destroying his glasses around 4.30pm on November 3 last year.

In a viral video her lawyers said was seen by more than a million people, Ms Finn, who was wearing high heels, stormed over around 10 metres of grass at Flemington Racecourse and pushed Superintendent Cooper flat onto his back into a conifer plant.

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Sarah Finn, 24, appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday afternoon

The police Acting Superintendent, who was just about to hold a television interview with Channel 7, smashed his reading glasses valued at $150 but later said he was not injured except for his pride.

A large media pack had been waiting nearby and caught the entire incident on camera. Police prosecutors told Magistrate Megan Aumair when Ms Finn was asked by officers why she did it, she said: I went to the people who had video cameras.

Prosecutors said she told police she felt like she was provoked by the media and believed the incident had been a joke. She then told police: I feel like an idiot, I want to apologise and was marched out of the racecourse by officers.

The prosecutors told the court Ms Finn had asked the media prior to pushing Mr Cooper: What do I have to do to get on the news?.

Ms Finns defence lawyer Anthony Brand told the court she had not had a lot to drink but was somewhat tipsy when she pushed Acting Superintendent Cooper.

Known as 'the woman in the blue dress' she sensationally pushed over a police commander at the Melbourne Cup last year

She was convicted and fined for assaulting Acting Superintendent Steven Cooper and destroying his glasses

Ms Finn, who was wearing high heels, stormed over around 10 metres of grass at Flemington Racecourse to get at the police officer, before being taken away

Mr Brand said she had held several conversations with Channel Seven cameramen but stressed that he was not accusing the two witnesses of trying to incite her. A witness said he had worked to try and 'diffuse' the situation as she kept talking to them.

Witness testimony from one cameraman read out in court said she had been warned by the media that she would be made an example of if she didnt warn the officer about what she was planning.

The court heard evidence heard she had asked the media maybe while youre filming I can do something and joked about asking him about what he would like to say for VicPol (Victoria Police)'.

Mr Brand praised Acting Superintendent Cooper for his compusre: To his credit he fell down backwards still holding his phone and got up still holding his phone and wasnt injured.

Prosecutors said she told police she felt like she was provoked by the media

Ms Finns defence lawyer Anthony Brand told the court she had not had a lot to drink but was somewhat tipsy at the famous race meeting in Melbourne last November

A witness said he had worked to try and 'diffuse' the situation, but it didn't work

she had asked the media maybe while youre filming I can do something and joked about it

One cameraman at the racecourse that day said she had been warned by the media that she would be made an example of if she didnt warn the officer what she was planning

Just like at the incident at the Melbourne Cup, Ms Finn turned up to court dressed in blue

Cooper later told 3AW he had copped a ribbing from colleagues all over the world after the incident. The radio stations promise to pay him back for the glasses was not fulfilled.

Her counsel argued she had been vilified in the media and on social media and described her as a young woman with poor impulse control and chronic anxiety, which she is consulting a psychologist about.

Mr Brand said she had a somewhat difficult background and had faced frenzied hysteria and threats since the incident, mostly by men.

Ms Finn had sought to pay back the officer the sum for his reading glasses but had been unable to do it earlier due to the court process.

Ms Finn had faced frenzied hysteria and threats since the incident, mostly by men

A few days after the incident took place at Flemington, Ms Finn was seen in Melbourne in a grey top and black leggings

She made her way into a nearby cafe to try and get away from the media attention

Magistrate Aumair told Ms Finn she had exceptionally positive references and said she had clearly learned a lot from the incident.

This has been quite a harrowing time for you, the magistrate said. I accept this was not malicious but reckless and stupid You really need to work on impulse control.

She was fined a total of $917 plus a compensation order was made for her to pay the officer back for her glasses. Ms Finn was free to go.

Ms Finn was expressionless throughout much of the hearing. Herself and Mr Brand declined to comment outside court.
A homeless man deserves up to $100,000 for helping recapture two violent Orange County jail escapees, a new report says.

The staff report released Wednesday recommends awarding Matthew Hay-Chapman for alerting police last month that the pair were in San Francisco. He spotted the stolen van Hossein Nayeri and Jonathan Tieu were using.

Orange County supervisors may vote on awarding the county money later this month.

Nayeri, Tieu and Bac Duong - who handed himself in before the van was found - cut through steel plates and bars and climbed down the roof of a county maximum-security jail on January 22.

They took a taxi driver hostage then stole a van and fled to Northern California.

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Matthew Hay-Chapman (pictured) alerted police last month that jail escapees Hossein Nayeri and Jonathan Tieu were in San Francisco. He spotted the stolen van they were using

Duong helped the taxi driver flee, and surrendered a week after the escape, on January 29.

Nayeri and Tieu were caught on January 30.

In an interview with KGO earlier this month, Hay-Chapman said he saw a parked van at a Whole Foods not far from a McDonald's he regularly goes to.

He said: 'Main thing I noticed people were sleeping in it, cause the windows were all steamed up cause of heavy, heavy condensation.

'I thought to myself, there's two people in that van 'cause I used to live in a Savannah GMC van many years ago when I had a job.'

Hay-Chapman said he saw Nayeri get out of the van. Both he and Nayeri both went into McDonald's, with Nayeri getting in line.

Hay-Chapman told KGO that he went outside and asked a man if he could borrow his phone and was brushed off.

He told KGO while walking to a police station, he saw a a police cruiser, and waved at the vehicle, getting its attention. Hay-Chapman said the vehicle pulled over and he spoke to authorities.

(From left to right) Jonathan Tieu, Hossein Nayeri, and Bac Duong, cut through steel plates and bars and climbed down the roof of a county maximum-security jail on January 22

The police cruiser parked, with officers getting out and approaching the van, he said.

'But all of a sudden a man collapses,' with an officer catching him, Hay-Chapman told KGO.

Nayeri, he said, was holding a cup of coffee and noticed the first responders.

'He's just trying to pretend he's not the guy,' Hay-Chapman told KGO.

Hay-Chapman said he gestured to an officer about Hossein.

Making a pointing movement, he told KGO: 'And I'm going cause I'm right behind Hossein and I go with my cane like this - body language, boom! That's the guy!'

Hay-Chapman has said that while walking to a police station, he saw a a police cruiser, and waved at the vehicle, getting its attention

Hay-Chapman said both he and police lost sight of Nayeri - but that Hay-Chapman saw Nayeri trying to hide between two vehicles.

Nayeri later crossed the street and saw an officer behind him, according to Hay-Chapman.

He told KGO: 'He bolts, the officer on foot bolts after him. Another officer comes over in his cruiser [...] I said, "'They're that way!"'

Hay-Chapman said Nayeri fled on foot - toward the police station.

He told KGO he was later giving a statement to police when he pointed the van out to them - and that police approached the vehicle and Tieu 'came out peacefully'.

Police Chief Greg Suhr told the San Francisco Chronicle: 'Would that every citizen would be paying that much attention.
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Herring Gull K2A perches on a railing pier in Pascagoula's Point Park after his long journey from Great Duck Island in Maine.

(Courtesy photo/Bryan Johnson)

PASCAGOULA, Mississippi -- K2A, a six-month-old herring gull, defied the odds when she flew more than 1,700 miles from Great Duck Island in Maine to winter at Pascagoula's Point Park.

When local bird watcher Brian Johnston of Pascagoula and friends discovered the youngster they were able to read her identification band and begin a search as to her origin.

Local birdwatcher Brian Johnston

While at Point Park in Pascagoula, Johnston first noticed the young herring gull perched on the pier railing. "The bird had a red color-coded band on its left leg," he said. "I snapped some pics of the bird, then looked at the picture and zoomed in."

Johnston then read the characters "K2A" on the red band. "We also noticed the bird had a federal aluminum band on its right leg with five digits visible and readable," he said.

That day in late January, Johnston went online to network with bird watching friends and groups to seek information on the gull. "With help from Nick Winstead, the information was sent to some Maine gull banders he knew of," Johnston said. "Turns out, this is their bird!"

On Feb. 3, Johnston got the connection he wanted when John Anderson, a professor of ecology and natural history at the College of the Atlantic, sent him what he called "the rest of the story."

Johnston said the banders and biologists in Bar Harbor, were astonished at the bird's location. "What is one of our birds doing in Mississippi!," they exclaimed in an email. They noted the Pascagoula location was the farthest any of their banded birds had ever been reported in all the 17 years they had been banding on Great Duck Island in Maine, one of the oldest gull colonies in that state.

Anderson said each year a small sub-set of nests on the island is selected for close monitoring to determine survival and fledgling success. The chicks are banded using metal federal bands, weighed and measured each time they are caught.

On July 22 Audra McTague, a college student, banded federal-banded chick 58636 as K2A.

"K2A was small for a fledgling, and light weight is not a good sign in a bird that has a long distance to go," Anderson said. "Great Duck birds have been known to disperse as far south as Florida."

The professor explained the highest mortality rate probably occurs in the first three months of life as they learn to operate in the wide world on their own.

"Gulls can live a long time, more than 20 years," Anderson said. "K2A may grow used to young scientists coming to check her eggs, band her chicks, learn how data points can give a trend and how a trend can become a prediction. She will set off on her own journeys, new islands, new horizons."

What is the value of a gull? "Maybe only this: the lessons of the free air and the wild sky, that science is born in patience and brought forth in care and wonder, that the world is a wide and wilder place than any textbook can ever teach us," he said.

Johnston said K2A continues hanging around Pascagoula's Point Park and seems pretty much at home. He has seen her several times since the initial sighting. "At this location there are usually about three to four herring gulls, but one day there were 10," he said.

His group also sighted a Piping Plover that they learned had come from the northwest corner of North Dakota and banded in early July as a four-day old chick. "So there are several species of birds that migrate long distances to stay over with us in the Pascagoula area and on the Mississippi Coast,"Johnston said.

Johnston encourages those interested to get outside. "Birds amaze me, he said. "Get a pair of binoculars, watch for banded birds, take pics, and report your sightings."

The Mississippi Coast Audubon Society conducts weekly field trips at no cost to participants and another resource is the Pascagoula River Audubon Center in Moss Point. More information and a listing of events can be found on the MCAS website.
The suspects remain at large and authorities have pleaded for tips

Autumn Johnson (pictured) was in the family garage when a gunman on the street fired bullets into the building at 7pm on Tuesday, hitting her in the face

A baby girl shot dead in her crib just a week after her first birthday was killed by a bullet likely meant for her gang-member father, police have revealed.

Autumn Johnson was asleep in her family's converted garage in Compton when a gunman fired bullets into the building at 7pm on Tuesday.

The gunman fired at least five rounds and one bullet hit Autumn in the face.

Neighbors saw the girl's 24-year-old father running out of the home screaming, clutching his lifeless daughter in his arms.

Once police arrived minutes later they drove her to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

Investigators believe the shooter wanted to hit the child's 24-year-old father, who has acknowledged being a member of a street gang, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Lt. John Corina said.

'He was probably the intended target, and a stray bullet caught his daughter,' Corina said, adding that the father was 'somewhat cooperative' with detectives.

Authorities were searching for the gunman and the driver of the getaway car. They were seen speeding away from the neighborhood in a dark sedan.

According to witnesses, two black men in a four-door sedan drove up to the home shortly before 7pm before one got out the car and fired shots.

The girl was rushed to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival. Pictured: police at the scene

The attack has left the community reeling, with neighbors saying they are rallying around the grieving family as they fear for their own children.

Anti-gun crime activists told NBC Los Angeles they are being hyper-vigilant in the area this week to prevent further attacks to the family.

'We're just going to make sure there's no retaliation, and more innocent people getting harmed as a result,' Ben Owens of Southern California CeaseFire told the network.

Meanwhile, Blanche Wandick, 21, is left mourning the death of her baby girl.

'My innocent baby got shot for nothing,' the tearful Wandick, who is pregnant, told TV reporters.

'I appreciate anybody and everybody who's helping try to find who did it.'

Sheriff's officials have since pleaded for public help in finding the killer. Tipsters can remain anonymous, they said.

'We're following every lead as it comes in, real time,' sheriff's homicide Capt. Steven Katz. 'We believe that there are people out there in the community who may have information to offer.'

Compton Mayor Aja Brown also asked for help from the public.

'I stand today with Compton residents in recommitting ourselves to the fight against gang violence,' the mayor said.

During the past six months Compton, one of the most violent areas in Los Angeles County, has had 475 violent crimes, including eight homicides, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Police say they have stepped up patrols and are considering putting cameras to try to catch whoever is spreading thousands of thumbtacks across a Northern California dog park.

In the last three weeks, 3,000 - 5,000 tacks have been collected from the Ohlone Dog Park and a nearby creek in Hercules by dog owners and given to law enforcement, KNTV reported on Wednesday.

Dog owners say they clear one area of tacks only to come back the next day and find more tacks strewn in the same place.

Dog owner Anthony Hayes told KNTV people have even found thumb tacks in water bowls.

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In the last three weeks, 3,000 - 5,000 tacks have been collected from the Ohlone Dog Park and a nearby creek in Hercules by dog owners and given to law enforcement

Kathy Long has a dog and told KRON: 'It's just terrible because we love our dogs so much.'

Ex-police officer Laraine Clarine told KTVU: 'Saturday, about 500 of them were found in the little stream which is right next to the dog park; the dogs rinse off when they're done running.

'In total, we're talking anywhere from three to five thousand thumb tacks and he has many bags full to provide it.'

Clarine also said: 'It's either going to escalate to something different or they're going to continue doing what they're doing.'

Dog owners told WPVI that a canine visited a veterinarian after ingesting a tack, and another dog was discovered with a tack in its paw.

Hercules Police have posted notices alerting people to be cautious and asking anyone who may have information to call them

Hercules Police have posted notices alerting people to be cautious and asking anyone who may have information to call them.

Det. Connie Van Putten told WPVI: 'A child is very quick with that kind of thing and could have it in his mouth and swallow it before any parent could reach them.'

A dog owner named Floyd Harris told the ABC affiliate: 'Somebody's got a grudge.
Guests were ordered to leave three floors of a Las Vegas Strip hotel for about four hours while hazardous materials teams investigated a liquid found in an unoccupied room, authorities said.

No injuries were reported after firefighters evacuated about 54 guests from the 27th, 28th and 29th floors of the iconic 30-story pyramid-shaped Luxor hotel-casino on Wednesday afternoon, fire officials said.

By late afternoon, authorities determined the liquid was not dangerous and guests were able to return to their rooms around 4pm, and hotel operations returned to normal.

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Emergency vehicles are pictured in front of the Luxor hotel-casino in Las Vegas on Wednesday after authorities said three floors of the hotel had been evacuated while hazardous materials teams investigated a substance found in an unoccupied room

No injuries were reported after firefighters evacuated about 54 guests from the 27th, 28th and 29th floors following a suspicious liquid being found

On Facebook, the hotel wrote indicating they had alerted local authorities of the suspicious substance and that they were fully cooperating with the investigation

Police Officer Jesse Roybal would not identify the liquid, however he said an investigation was ongoing.

Hotel spokeswoman Yvette Monet said a room attendant had found the substance in the unoccupied room after a guest checked out and notified hotel officials before police were called in a little after 11am.

Deputy Clark County Fire Chief Jeff Buchanan said firefighters were summoned to the scene shortly before noon.

At the time, concerned and frustrated guests who knew very little of the unfolding events wrote on social media that something 'hush hush' had happened.

By late afternoon, authorities determined the liquid was not dangerous and guests were able to return to their rooms around 4pm, and hotel operations returned to normal

Guest Scott Gerard, who had a suite on the 29th floor, was already out of his room when he found out he could not return to it due to the investigation

Another guest, Mandi Bishop, wrote she also could not get back into her room before learning of the evacuation and that security guards had banned the entrance to the entire East Tower

Gerard later wrote a follow up tweet saying the hotel was being 'very accommodating' and was giving out free exhibit tickets and spa passes to those affected during the evacuation

Guest Scott Gerard, who had a suite on the 29th floor, was already out of his room when he found out he could not return to it due to the investigation.

'Something hush hush is happening @LuxorLV and top floors of the pyramid are inaccessible. #Secrets #Vegas #SinCity #LasVegas #Luxor,' he tweeted.

Another guest, Mandi Bishop, wrote she also could not get back into her room before learning of the evacuation and that security guards had banned the entrance to the entire East Tower.

Police Officer Jesse Roybal would not identify the liquid, however he said an investigation was ongoing

Gerard later wrote a follow up tweet saying the hotel was being 'very accommodating' and was giving out free exhibit tickets and spa passes to those affected during the evacuation.

On Facebook, the hotel wrote indicating they had alerted local authorities of the suspicious substance and that they were fully cooperating with the investigation.

The Luxor has about 4,400 rooms in its dark glass-clad pyramid and two conventional-style hotel towers.

It is one of several Las Vegas Strip properties owned by MGM Resorts International.
after getting a bizarre text message from the park's cleaners

A park ranger was left scratching his head after he stumbled upon a bushtail possum which set up home in a toilet block.

Melbourne's Yarra Bend Park Ranger Cameron Davis was alerted to the unusual intruder after receiving a bizarre message from the parks cleaners.

An image posted to social media shows the marsupial sandwiched by toilet paper inside the toilet roll dispenser.

On a roll: Park Ranger Cameron Davis was shocked to find the possum had set up residence in a toilet roll dispenser

Im-possum-ble to sleep in here: The possum was believed to be displaced after a branch it was living in outside the toilet block came down

Mr Davis told Daily Mail Australia he struggled to believe the text message about the unexpected intruder.

I had to read it twice to make sure it was right,' he said.

Deciding it was no place for a creature to dwell, Mr Davis evicted the possum and moved in into a more spacious home  a box installed in a tree.

'I built the box outside the bathrooms and put on some welding gloves to get it into a bag. Bushtail possums can be pretty aggressive when being moved.'

Mr Davis said he thinks the possum was displaced after the branch he lived on came down during a storm.

Mr Davis was alerted after receiving this bizarre text message from the park's cleaners

The possum has since been evicted and moved onto more spacious accommodation in a tree box

A social media post from Parks Victoria outlines the curious circumstances that led to the animals discovery.

Cameron at Yarra Bend Park admits he was not expecting this following message from the park's cleaners!

"Hi Cameron. There is a possum living inside the paper dispenser of the toilet at the Loop picnic area. Thank you."

The post has since amassed hundreds of comments and over 2.5 thousand Facebook likes.
But many were angered hours before docking when they were told they wouldn't receive help with flights home or hotel accommodations

Passengers will receive a full refund and 50 percent off their next cruise

Royal Caribbean said the experience showed they 'need to do better'

But hurricane-force winds caused travelers to be on lockdown for hours on Sunday as the ship sailed into a storm predicted days earlier

The ship had been headed for a seven-day cruise to the Bahamas with 4,500 passengers

Anthem of the Seas docked in New Jersey after 9pm on Wednesday

Passengers of a Royal Caribbean cruise ship battered by a major storm in the Atlantic Ocean over the weekend cheered wildly as their boat returned to its New Jersey port on Wednesday night.

It was an end to a vacation that saw them clinging to their beds and fearing they would never see their loved ones again as 100mph winds and 30-foot waves rocked the boat for hours.

The Anthem of the Seas docked at Bayonne's Cape Liberty shortly after 9pm, escorted by two tugboats and a Coast Guard vessel.

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End of the vacation from hell: Passengers from the royal Caribbean cruise ship Anthem of the Seas exit the terminal at Cape Liberty Cruise port late Wednesday night

A lot of baggage: The docking back in New Jersey was the end of a horrifying 72-hour ordeal which saw them face down hurricane-strength winds in the middle of the ocean

Happy to be back on dry land: Passengers of the Anthem of the Seas cheered wildly as their boat returned to port in New Jersey

A number of passengers stood on their balconies so they could whoop and holler as land came into sight

It was an end to a vacation that passengers described as downright frightening in the water that continued to be stressful as they learned the cruise line wouldn't help them book flights or hotels on shore

'I could kiss the ground' a woman cried as she rushed toward the cruise terminal, where passengers were being reunited with family members.

'Free at last!' shouted a man.

The 1,141-foot ship was carrying 4,500 passengers and 1,600 crew members when it departed Saturday on a seven-day cruise to the Bahamas before sailing into a major winter storm Sunday.

'At one point, I thought I wasn't going to see my family again,' Maureen Peters told CNN.

'It was horrendous...I held on to the mattress so I wouldn't fall off the bed.'

Royal Caribbean says four passengers reported minor injuries and the ship sustained some damage to its public areas and staterooms but will resume with its planned itinerary next week.

Passengers will get a full refund and a certificate toward 50 percent off a future cruise, although some have said they will never set foot on one again.

'I could kiss the ground' a woman cried as she rushed toward the cruise terminal, where passengers were being reunited with family members

All packed up an nowhere to go: The relief of getting back on dry land turned to one of frustration as some were left wondering how to get home ahead of the ship's previously scheduled arrival

Passengers had to stand in an endless line as they waited to get off the boat, where both family and the media was waiting for them

'I survived Anthem of the Seas in a Hurricane': Mother Michelle Verona had a special T-shirt made to mark the occasion for her nine-year-old son

'I cannot wait to be back home in New York, and I cannot wait to see concrete ground,' passenger Jacob Ibrag told CBS New York.

'The worst part was not knowing if you're going to be alive, if you're going to see the next day.'

Passengers had to stand in a very long line as they waited to get off the boat, where both family and the media was waiting for them.

Mother Michelle Verona had a special T-shirt made to mark the occasion for her nine-year-old son.

'I survived Anthem of the Seas in a Hurricane,' read the T-shirt, tweeted by CruiseCritic, with a picture of the boat and the date screened onto the black fabric.

Meanwhile other passengers were still wondering how they were going to get home days ahead of the cruise ship's previously scheduled arrival.

Pictures on social media show hundreds of people queuing at the customer service desk hoping to get help with their unexpectedly early arrival back in Port Liberty, New Jersey.

Before even getting off the boat, passengers waited in massive guest services lines only to find out Royal Caribbean wasn't going to help them book flights, hotels or help them with their bags tonight, they said

Shelby Milburn (pictured, left) posted a picture of her injured leg (right) after the storm, which cause the ship to rock at 45 degree angles and sent her flying across her cabin

Hurricane-force winds reaching 150mph caused huge swells, which sent the ship teetering through the night at angles of 45 degrees

Heicy Vasquez wrote: 'How are we supposed to get back home when there's no flights to accommodate us this weekend?'

'Can't find a flight back to Toronto for six people and no accommodation given for hotels from guest service,' Jessica Y tweeted.

Others tweeted that Royal Caribbean crews wouldn't help passengers with luggage disembark tonight because they won't have the right equipment or crew members.

Passengers had between 9pm and midnight tonight to carry their own luggage off the ship and go through immigration. Otherwise they will have to wait until Thursday.

'1600 crew members but #anthemoftheseas can't help passengers disembarking tonight with luggage,' angry traveler Doris Vitanzo wrote.

A pile of wind-ravaged lounge chairs were left in a mangled pile on the deck after the massive storm tossed the ship in huge ocean swells

Although the boat suffered some damage, such as seen here on the deck, Royal Caribbean announced it will continue with its planned itinerary next week

Passengers will receive a full refund, as well as 50 percent off their next cruise

Jessica Y said Royal Caribbean wasn't helping her get back to Canada and they wouldn't give her a hotel room

Kate called the trip a 'vacation from hell' and said a snow storm would prevent her from driving home

Another person tweeted at the Royal Caribbean saying: 'My parents are on the Anthem of the Seas and say they have to stay on the ship tonight because no one will help them with their bags.'

As if the weather hadn't tormented the passengers of the third largest cruise ship in the world enough, some said an incoming snow storm would prevent them from being able to drive home.

Guests were treated to happy hour bars and still enjoyed silent discos and lavish dinners on the ship, but the atmosphere appeared to have shifted from vacation mode to cabin fever.

'PLEASE GOD JUST GET ME OFF THIS BOAT,' Zackery Kim tweeted.

Shelby Milburn was one of the passengers to be injured aboard the Anthem of the Seas and posted a picture on Instagram of her bruised knee.

'We hit 160mph winds on the anthem of the seas and hurricane weather.

'Our boat tipped to a 45 degree angle to the right after the captain ordered us to our state rooms, I was moving around to catch things and got launched across the stateroom onto the floor on my left knee,' she wrote.

Weather Bell released this image of the storm's size and strength. Advisories and warnings went out days before the ship left harbor

This image shows the storm was predicted on February 3, four days before the ship left harbor

In the ship's kitchen, cutlery, coffee urns, sugar packets and more was sent sprawling across the floor as waves slammed into the ship

An investigation in to Royal Caribbean has been called on by US officials after the cruise line let one of its largest ships sail into the hurricane-like storm, which forced passengers into more than ten hours of lock down.

Florida Sen. Bill Nelson asked why the ship would continue right into the path of the ferocious storm that had been predicted at least four days earlier on February 3.

Nelson called for the National Transportation Safety Board to investigate the Anthem of the Seas voyage, which fought through waves as high as 30 feet and winds of approximately 150mph.

'The thing about this storm was that it was forecast for days,' Nelson said on the Senate floor on Monday.'

'So why in the world would a cruise ship with thousands of passengers go sailing right into it?'

Royal Caribbean said in a statement the ship experienced 'extreme wind and sea conditions' that were not expected but said the experience was evidence they needed to make some changes.

'The event, exceptional as it was, identified gaps in our planning system that we are addressing,' the company said.

'Though that system has performed well through many instances of severe weather around the world, what happened this week showed that we need to do better.'

'We apologize for exposing our guests and crew to the weather they faced, and for what they went through.'

Royal Caribbean said it plans to strengthen the cruise line's storm avoidance policy and that additional resources have been added to help provide captains with more guidance.

The ceiling of the boat collapsed as the ship endured 150mph winds, which caused the cruise to rock back and forth for hours on ends and causing damage to the furniture and structure inside the vessel

Captain Claus Andre Anderson and cruise director Abe Hughes posted a video to YouTube on Tuesday saying the storm was much more intense than originally predicted.

'I have never seen a low-pressure (storm) that was not forecast anything near like what we experienced.

'It developed so quickly. And that's the thing, it just became so intensified in eight or nine hours. It goes from being nothing to a full-blown storm,' Captain Anderson said in the video.

Ryan Maue, a digital meteorologist for WeatherBell Analytics, told NJ.com he couldn't believe that was true.

'The storm was well forecast by many different weather models from every agency,' he said.

'This situation is no different in practice to purposely sailing a vessel into the path of a rapidly developing Category one or two hurricane.'

The first warning was issued Saturday - the same day the ship left the New Jersey - for possible hurricane-force winds in the exact area the ship planned to sail through.

Maue said that the 'extreme impacts' felt by the boat were 'quite predictable' and expected by meteorologists both at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Ocean Prediction Center as well as private forecasting companies.

Glass shattered across the ship and broken chairs seemed to appear in every corner of the ship's deck from the storm's 150mph winds

Other passengers were still shaken from the ferocious storm and thankful to have made it out alive

Zackery Kim just wanted to get back to land. This morning he said the ship was only just passing Virginia

Passenger Scott Tomback said the ship's captain said from the very start that a storm was coming.

Tomback said the master came on to the PA system and said he was going to put 'the pedal to the metal' to try and outrun it, he told CBS New York.

Asher Lipman wasn't sure if the captain specifically used the word 'storm' or not, but he said the cruise was told it 'wasn't going to be a huge impact on us'.

'The captain was either going to outrun it [or] get ahead of it,' Lipman told CNN.

Meanwhile others have come to his defense, and credited the ship's crew for their professionalism.

'Royal Caribbean captain and crew on #anthemoftheseas were amazing,' tweeted one passenger. 'Worked tirelessly to make things right. We're okay. #breathe'

Another said the captain was great and that everyone on the boat should be thankful he was able to get them out of the storm.

'It's sick how people are bashing him,' she continued in the tweet.

Hurricane-like conditions caused items inside the ship to fly off shelves and smash into one another as the vessel leaned at least 45 degrees off center in the swells, passengers said.

Passenger Sahra Strand said that even though she's been on more than 20 cruises, she never experienced anything like the weekend's horrors.

'I was shaking all over,' she said. 'Panic attack, things like that. I've been through a hurricane, it was never like this. Never.'

'I'm not being over-dramatic by saying it was the scariest moments of my life - having no control in hurricane-like winds for hours on end with baby on board, not being able to leave our cabins.

'Royal Caribbean should be ashamed of themselves for continuing on a course Mother Nature deemed unfit.'
Bernie Sanders said tonight that he'd 'absolutely' improve race relations in America beyond where they are now under the nation's first black president by increasing taxes on the nation's wealthy.

Sanders said the Democratic debate, his second head-to-head with Hilary Clinton, that African Americans - and Latinos - were 'hit especially hard' by the 'disastrous behavior on Wall Street' and they 'lost half of their wealth' when it collapsed.

'We are looking at an economy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And sadly, in America today, in our economy, a whole lot of those poor people are African-American,' he declared.

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Bernie Sanders said tonight that he'd 'absolutely' improve race relations in America beyond where they are now under the nation's first black president by increasing taxes on the nation's wealthy.

'I think President Obama has set a great example. I think he has addressed a lot of these issues that have been quite difficult, but he has gone forward. Now, what we have to do is to build on an honest conversation about where we go next.' Clinton said

PBS moderator Judy Woodruff took his argument a step further and asked if he thought race relations would be better than they've been under President Barack Obama.

'Absolutely, because what we will do is say, instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires, we are going to create millions of jobs for low-income kids so they're not hanging out on street corners,' Sanders said. 'We're going to make sure that those kids stay in school or are able to get a college education.'

Continuing, he said, 'And I think when you give low-income kids - African-American, white, Latino kids - the opportunities to get their lives together, they are not going to end up in jail. They're going to end up in the productive economy, which is where we want them.'

Moments before Sanders had cited a 35 percent poverty rate among black children, a 51 percent youth unemployment rate and 'unbelievable rates of incarceration' that separates black children from their parents and and said 'clearly, we are looking at institutional racism.'

The the focus of tonight's debate quickly turned to minority voters who could make up a large portion of the Democratic Party in South Carolina and Nevada, the next states to vote, and a string of southern states that visit the ballot box on March 1.

Sanders has made outreach to prominent black figures a priority of agenda ahead of those contests and tonight he went out of his way to note how his economic policies and criminal justice reform policies would affect black and Hispanic communities.

He had breakfast with activist Al Sharpton yesterday in Harlem, and former NAACP chief Benjamin Jealous endorsed him last Friday.

The Congressional Black Caucus PAC endorsed Clinton today, however, giving her a powerful boost from famed civil rights leader and Georgia Congressman John Lewis.

Clinton's lost to Sanders in the New Hampshire primary by 22 percentage points - but there, hardly any minorities voted.

Nevada's caucus is next, and Sanders will face his first test among non-white voters. Nevada has a 28 percent Latino population, and nearly 9 percent of the state is African-American. Another 8 percent are Asian-American.

Prior to his win in New Hampshire Clinton was ahead of Sanders by nearly 20 percentage points there. She's also in front of him in South Carolina, where 55 percent of the state's Democrats are black, and 35 percent are black women.

Clinton is running to be the first woman president but so far, Sanders has kept time with her in that demographic. She barely won women in Iowa and lost young women to the 74-year-old senator. In New Hampshire he beat her in both categories.

'I have spent my entire adult life working toward making sure that women are empowered to make their own choices even if that choice is not to vote for me,' Clinton said tonight in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as she addressed her inability to win over women.

Her husband's former secretary of state Madeleine Albright did her no favors when she said at a rally in New Hampshire last, 'There's a special place in hell for women who don't help each other.'

Clinton laughed tonight as she was asked about it as she did when Albright delivered the line at her event and said, 'Well, look, I think that she's been saying that for as long as I've known her, which is about 25 years.

'But it doesn't change my view that we need to empower everyone, women and men, to make the best decisions in their mind that they can make,' she said.

Hillary Clinton came armed with a fun face: For the first time in history a majority of debate participants were female including the former secretary of state and debate moderators Gwen Ifill (left) and Judy Woodruff (right)

The conversation on race relations started when Woodruff told Clinton that a 23-year-old black woman recently told her she was disappointed that race relations did not get better under President Obama.

'Hardly anyone believes that they have. Why do you think race relations would be better under a Clinton presidency?' she asked. 'What would you do that the nation's first African American has not been able to?'

'Well, I'm just not sure I agree completely with that assessment. I think under President Obama we have seen a lot of advances,' she said, pointing to the Affordable Care Act, which 'has helped more African Americans than any other group to get insurance.'

And thanks to social media and smartphones, 'we also know a lot more than we did,' Clinton stated. 'So, we are seeing the dark side of the remaining systemic racism that we have to root out in our society.

'I think President Obama has set a great example. I think he has addressed a lot of these issues that have been quite difficult, but he has gone forward. Now, what we have to do is to build on an honest conversation about where we go next.' she said.

The criminal justice system must be reformed, she said, and more should be done 'to provide employment, housing and education.'

'I think what President Obama did was to exemplify the importance of this issue as our first African American president, and to address it both from the President's office, and through his advocacy, such as working with young men, and Mrs. Obama's work with young women,' she said.

But Clinton added, 'We can't rest. We have work to do, and we now know a lot more than we ever did before.'

Debate in Milwaukee aired at 9:00 p.m. EST and was moderated by a pair of PBS anchors

'So, it's going to be my responsibility to make sure we move forward to solve these problems that are now out in the open. Nobody can deny them.'

The debate over who would do more to improve the fortunes of the nation's African Americans dominated the first half of the debate, followed by a question about the size of government that threw Sanders for a loop.

He struggled to say how much his proposals will grow the government, twice ducking the issue, at the start of the Milwaukee debate.

Sanders ran down the list of challenges the U.S. faces - crumbling infrastructure, soaring college tuition - but was not able to able to put a number on it.

Hillary Clinton used the opening to point out that progressive economists say he'll expand the role of the federal government by 40 percent.

And, the numbers on his healthcare plan don't add up - families will not pay $500 in place of the $5,000 they are paying now, as he's claimed, she said.

'That is a promise that cannot be kept,' Clinton charged. As she put forward her own plans for when she's in the White House, Sanders countered and said, 'Secretary Clinton, you're not in the White House yet.'

WAITING IN THE WINGS: Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump is licking his chops to face either Democrat in a general election matchup - both brough t him up tonight as he rallied his own supporters in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

MINORITY REPORTING: Bernie Sanders needs help from black and Hispanic voters and he's getting a boost from meeting with Rev. Al Sharpton yesterday

PBS anchors Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff moderated the debate in Milwaukee.

Immigration and financial regulations were among the issues also touched upon in the first hour of the debate, with the later half focusing on foreign policy.

Clinton and Sanders both jumped behind President Obama's directives on illegal immigration, and Sanders said he'd issue even more if Congress remains stalled on reforms.

'We've got to stand up to the Trumps of the world who are trying to divide us up.' he said, and provide a path toward citizenship for illegal immigrants.
Vacancy rates in Flint are the highest in the country according to new data and are only expected to get worse as the city's water crisis drives people away.

The vacancy rate for the Michigan city was 7.5 per cent at the start of February, according to analyst Realty Trac - almost five times the national average of 1.6 per cent.

Among investment properties, most of which are rentals, the picture is even worse with 23 per cent being vacant in February, compared with a national average of just 4.3 per cent.

The vacancy rate in Flint is the highest in America with 7.5 per cent of homes empty, the vast majority of which are rental properties, as house prices also tumbled

Flint's current real estate woes are largely down to the loss of well-paying manufacturing jobs in recent decades and losing roughly 20 per cent of its population since 2000.

That problem is only expected to get worse after drinking water in the city, which currently has around 100,000 residents, was found to contain dangerous levels of lead.

Flint, one of the poorest cities in America, was under the control of an emergency manager in 2014 when it swapped its water source from Detroit's municipal system to the Flint River to save money.

The figures are only expected to get worse as people leave the city amid the water crisis which saw dangerous levels of lead leech into the water supply

However, pollution in the river caused the city's old pipe system to corrode, leaching lead into the supply and poisoning residents, including more than 8,000 children.

According to RealtyTrac vice president Daren Blomquist, home prices in Flint slid 8 percent in December - the last month for which the data was available - from the previous month.
A small bar has put a ban on NSW Premier Mike Baird from its premises in protest of the controversial lock-out laws, with a sign on the window saying: 'Mike Baird. You're locked out.'

The premier has found himself at the centre of a ridicule after responding to a recent criticism about Sydney's lock-out laws in a poorly-received Facebook rant on Tuesday.

Mr Baird hit back at the 'hysteria' with his own strongly-worded post, saying that the new measures had seen violence in central Sydney had decreased by 42.2 per cent.

Now, Arcadia Liquors in Redfern, in Sydney's inner city, has enforced the rule by erecting a 'Refusal of Service' sign in the front window of their venue.

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Arcadia Liquors in Redfern has enforced the rule by erecting a 'Refusal of Service' sign in the front window

The 'list' also includes former NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell - who management also reserves the right to refuse service - after the first lockout laws were introduced

A small bar has put a ban on NSW Premier Mike Baird from its premises in protest of the Sydney lockout laws

Arcadia Liquors in Redfern in Sydney's inner city has enforced the rule by erecting a 'Refusal of Service' sign in the front window of their venue

Arcadia, a bar in Sydney's inner city, has banned NSW Premier Mike Baird from entering the venue

'Dear Mike Baird,' the poster read.

'In response to your recent dismissal of the debate against Sydney's lockout laws as "public hysteria", you'll be pleased to know you've made the list.

'No Mike, Sydney is not doing fine, violence was never "spiraling out of control" and using bogus statistics to push your personal agenda is downright shameful.

'Love live our Sydney, not yours.'

The 'list' also includes former NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell - who management also reserves the right to refuse service - after the first lockout laws were introduced.

The response follows on the heels of other venue owners and high-profile musicians banding together to take back their night, with the hashtag #lockoutmikebaird gaining attention on social media.

The premier has found himself at the centre of a ridicule after posting a poorly-received Facebook rant

The 'list' of people banned from Arcadia also includes former NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell - who management also reserves the right to refuse service - after the first lockout laws were introduced

General manager of Sydney's bar Della Hyde Joe Worthington has proposed a 'new lock-out law, one which we can put into effect immediately: LOCK OUT MIKE BAIRD'.

'Mikey B will not be permitted in my venue,' Mr Worthington said on Facebook.

'It may not hurt him, it may not change his mind but it's a start and in the past few days I've witnessed this industry band together like nothing else I have seen before, long may it continue. #LOCKOUTMIKEBAIRD.'

Australian DJ Alison Wonderland said she was embarrassed that her hometown has 'become a laughing stock internationally' as a result of the lock-out laws.

General manager of Sydney's bar Della Hyde Joe Worthington has proposed a 'new lock-out law, one which we can put into effect immediately: LOCK OUT MIKE BAIRD'

The premier found himself at the centre of a ridicule after responding to a criticism over the lock-out laws

DJ Alison Wonderland said she is embarrassed her hometown has 'become a laughing stock internationally'

'I miss the feeling of being able to discover music whilst exploring Sydney. That's what made me fall in love with what I do. Sydney is not a ghost town,' DJ Alison Wonderland said (pictured: Arcadia)

'You obviously don't listen to anyone young than you, so perhaps you'll listen to someone who travels abroad more than you,' she wrote on Twitter.

'Our beloved Sydney's reputation has taken a f*****g battering & words can't explain how embarrassed I am that my home, the most beautiful and once most vibrant city in the world has become a laughing stock internationally.

'Everywhere I go from mainland Europe to middle America... people are asking me if it's true that Sydney has become a nanny state and voice their genuine concerns about visiting it.

'I miss the feeling of being able to discover music whilst exploring Sydney. That's what made me fall in love with what I do. Sydney is not a ghost town.'

The response follows on the heels of other venue owners and high-profile musicians banding together to take back their night following the premier's lock-out rant on social media

Australian music artist Flight Facilities have penned a passionate letter on Facebook, questioning whether they could pursue their career as DJs the same way if they started over again today

Australian music artist Flight Facilities have penned a passionate letter on Facebook, questioning whether they could pursue their career as DJs the same way if they started over again today.

'Weve been fortunate enough to explore the world through our music, and while our influences have reached us from every corner of the globe, our cultural and musical incubator is, and was, Sydney,' the post read.

'Such nights shaped our musical tastes, understanding, and kick started our careers. Most of our first club gigs didnt begin until 3am, and yet those parties were still heaving.

'How do we know that the next Flight Facilities, Nina Las Vegas, Whatsonot, Alison Wonderland or Yolanda Be Cool arent choking on the creative stranglehold these laws have created?
Ukip has been accused of allowing racists, homophobes, violent criminals and a porn star with a criminal past to stand as candidates at the last election.

A leaked dossier suggests the beleaguered party was fully aware of the controversial backgrounds of some prospective MPs and councillors - but encouraged them to stand for election nonetheless.

A total of 47 Ukip candidates - including 11 running for Parliament - were allowed to stand for the party despite having 'black marks' against their names.

A leaked dossier suggests Ukip officials were fully aware of the controversial and sometimes criminal pasts of the prospective MPs and councillors - but encouraged them to stand for election nonetheless (pictured: David Soutter, Ukip's head of candidates in 2014)

At least 14 of the candidates who stood last May had violent pasts and five had been convicted in court for offences including assault and grievous bodily harm, according to the internal document seen by The Times.

Porn star John Langley, who performs under the name of Johnny Rockard, stood as a Ukip councillor in Bristol last May with the blessing of party officials.

It later emerged he was convicted in 1986 for assaulting his 13-year-old stepson and as a result was placed on a child-harm register for life.

Despite knowing about his past, Ukip officials backed his campaign and he only left the party after it was revealed he filmed a public sex scene in a Bristol park - just weeks after he came third in the election.

The Eurosceptic party's internal records show a further 23 candidates had expressed sexist, racist, homophobic or Islamaphobic views and at least one was a supporter of the far-right English Defence League.

The EDL supporter also wrote that the Prophet Mohammed was a 'criminal psychopath'.

Another candidate posted a picture online of two people posing with monkeys along with the caption: 'Arranged interracial marriage.'

Other candidates who were allowed to stand included someone who had spoken at a 'gay cure' event, Facebook users who had shared far-right videos and a farmer who was convicted of animal cruelty.

David Evans, a Cornish farmer who was nominated as the partys candidate in Camborne and Redruth  later appeared at Bodmin Magistrates' Court on animal cruelty charges.

He was deselected by the party after the offences came to light and he was later sentence to four months in prison after animal welfare officers discovered 119 dead sheep on his farm.

THE UKIP CANDIDATE EXPOSED AS A PORN STAR Porn star John Langley, who performs under the name of Johnny Rockard, stood as a Ukip councillor in Bristol last May John Langley, 59, was vice chairman for the Ukip in Bristol and stood as a candidate in last year's city council elections. But he also worked as a veteran adult movie star as well as a talent scout, manager and promoter where he goes by the name of Johnny Rockard. Ukip bosses insisted they have no problem with his 'unusual' line of work which Mr Langley revealed to them when he put himself forward for election. The adult star has been in the porn business for 30 years but insisted it was 'no big deal'. He said: 'It is just electioneering and it is the type of thing you expect in the run up to any election. I have never made a big deal out of what I do and I am not breaking any laws.' He added: 'Ukip is a working class party which appeals to working class people. 'Normal people go to the pub and enjoy a pint and then probably go home and enjoy adult entertainment. What people do in their private lives is really up to them. 'What people do in the privacy of their own homes is nothing to do with politics and I cannot see why there should be any problem with any of this.' In his campaign material Langley said that if elected he would transfer 'the balance of power from the weighty autocratic hub of local government back to you'. He also wanted to install bus shelters, lighting and play parks in the area - but made no mention of his X-rated line of work in any of his election blogs or material. Advertisement

Another three council candidates had been arrested for assaulting their wives, according to the dossier.

In an attempt to professionalise the party, Ukip appointed David Soutter, a former chief of staff to TV presenter-turned politician Robert Kilroy-Silk, as head of candidate selection in 2014.

His job was to prevent damaging scandals involving Ukip officials following a number of embarrassing gaffes.

Mr Soutter blocked at least 200 candidates from being selected as candidates, according to the internal document, but more than half were eventually allowed to run following appeals, including 11 parliamentary candidates and four who were elected as councillors.

As part of the scheme candidates were told to reveal any criminal convictions, hand over their social media log-in details and were asked to declare any membership or affiliation with any other political parties or pressure groups.

The leaked internal documents also revealed other party members who applied for selection included drug dealers, a convicted murderer and a sex offender.

Two prospective Ukip MPs had previously been convicted of assault, three prospective councillors were convicted of harassment, breaking and entering and blackmail.

During last year's General Election Ukip won 3.8million votes but just one MP - Douglas Carswell - was elected.

It is currently campaigning for an 'Out' vote in the referendum.

A Ukip spokesman said: 'Our candidates team looked at thousands of candidates last year and generally associations such as this would raise a red flag.
A school minibus has crashed into a truck in France, killing at least six children a day after another road accident involving a school bus left two youngsters dead.

The head-on smash with a lorry carrying rubble occurred around 7:15am local time near Rochefort in the western Charente-Maritime region.

Jerome Servolle, a local police official, said a 'gate-like object' had swung open on the truck, slicing through the vehicle at window height.

Six children died and another three were injured when the school bus collided with a lorry this morning. A local police official said a gate-like part of the truck swung open, slicing through the bus at window height

The crash occurred this morning in Rochefort, in the Charente-Maritime region in western France

He said: 'The word chaos is not strong enough. This is such a tragedy.'

Herve Blanche, Rochefort's mayor, confirmed the horrific accident had claimed the lives of six children, and left at least three others seriously injured. He said the causes of the crash were under investigation.

A witness to the aftermath of the crash said: It is a scene of chaos. The vehicles have been smashed to pieces, and emergency workers are helping survivors.

The bus had been travelling from the Ile dOleron - the island off Frances Atlantic coast - to the town of Surgeres.

President Francois Hollande extended his deepest sympathies to friends and families of the victims, who have not been identified.

Yesterday two children, aged 12 and 15, died when a school bus veered off a road in snowy conditions near the Swiss border in eastern France.

The school bus was carrying 32 children on its daily trip to the village school in Montbenoit when it 'left the road' in snowy conditions, a police source in that case said.

Investigations into the exact cause of both accidents have already been opened.

A total of 3,464 people died on French roads in 2015  a 2.4 percent increase on 2014. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve blamed the spike on an increase in risky behaviour that can lead to fatalities.
An estimated 10 to 20 million birds and other animals die after feeding off of lead-laced animal carcasses left in the field by hunters. Above, a golden eagle. Photo by Alamy

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Organ failure, paralysis of the tongue and talons, respiratory failure  these were just some of the symptoms exhibited by a golden eagle found flopping on the ground not long ago by California Fish and Game wardens.

The bird was rushed to a northern California veterinary clinic where experts, very quickly and somberly, determined the cause of these symptoms: lead poisoning.

The eagles blood lead levels were so high that they were literally off the charts  the testing instrument was unable to measure them. Three weeks after she was found, the eagle was dead.

Shes not the only wild creature to endure the suffering and violent death caused by lead poisoning. Not by a long shot. It happens in every state in the union because sport hunters have literally littered our lands and waterways with millions of pounds of lead ammunition. In fact, lead-based ammunition is considered the greatest, largely unregulated source of lead knowingly discharged into the environment in the United States.

Lead is in the news because of the tragic and preventable public health crisis in Flint, where water carried lead first into the drinking glasses, bowls, pots, and pans of residents, and then into their tissues. Adults, children, and even pets suffered lead exposure. Earlier this week, we got reports that two dogs tested positive for lead toxicity. Veterinarians in the state are watching out for symptoms of lead toxicity in animals they are seeing.

Jill Fritz, The HSUSs Michigan senior state director, has been reaching out to local shelters to determine what resources might be needed to assess and address the threat of lead to Michigans domestic pets and other animals. She has so far met with the Humane Society of Genesee County and Genesee County Animal Control, to determine their plans to help their constituents. Local rescue groups have indicated they are willing to help with transporting people to testing stations for pets.

Humans identified lead as a toxin thousands of years ago. Since then, weve gone on to require that lead be removed from everyday things like utensils, fuels, paints, and even pencils. But apparently not from our water pipes. And definitely not from the barrels of our weapons.

Lead is toxic in very small quantities. And because lead ammo breaks into fragments upon impact, it inevitably makes its way into the food chain. An estimated 10 to 20 million birds and other animals  belonging to more than 130 species  die after feeding off of lead-laced animal carcasses left in the field by hunters. Hunting families are at risk too, since adults and kids cannot see tiny lead shards within the meat from animals shot and cooked for the table.

Yet, amazingly, groups like the NRA see a conspiracy even when the path forward represents enlightened self-interest for the hunting and ammunition industries.

California lawmakers took action and decided to phase out the use of lead ammunition in all sport hunting by 2019  the first state in the nation to take such an action.

Now its up to other states and the federal government to take decisive action. The HSUS, along with other wildlife conservation groups and sportsmen, has petitioned the Department of the Interior, asking that it require the use of nontoxic ammunition when a firearm is discharged on the more than 160 million acres of federal lands managed by the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This will result in millions of animals being saved, just like we saw when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1991 began requiring the use of non-lead shot for hunting waterfowl nationwide.

As with Flint, why would we wait until a public health crisis erupts to address an obvious problem? Lead is a poison. It kills people and non-human animals. We have alternative forms of ammunition.

Readily available and comparably priced alternatives, including copper and steel, are outperforming archaic lead loads and dont continue to kill long after leaving the gun barrel. Most of the time, you can count on the firearms and ammo industry to stand arm in arm with NRA lobbyists. But poke around on the websites of the biggest ammo manufacturers and youll find them singing the praise of lead alternatives. Looking for premium performance without the premium price? asks one brand-name maker of steel shot. Well, it will sell you a shell that delivers denser patterns for greater lethality and is zinc-plated to prevent corrosion.

How far the hunting lobby has drifted from the spirit of Teddy Roosevelt. He was a hunter, boy was he ever. But he also understood that conserve, as in conservation, is an action verb. Its not an archival matter, where you get a free pass because hunters showed leadership on conservation 100 years ago. It requires active engagement today.

Fact is, arguments against lead ammo are way off target and about 2,000 years out of date.
Three women running Sicily's 'Prickly Pear Lips' Mafia clan have been arrested in a massive police operation that netted more than 100 mobsters.

Officers claim to have wiped out the Laudani clan overnight after having detained members of the organisation at all levels, including the women bosses known as 'the three queens of Caltagirone'.

Named after a town in the area, the trio had ruled the clan with an iron grip, governing its financial matters and mentoring from a young age its heir.

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Concetta Scalisi, pictured during a 2001 arrest, is among three women mob bosses arrested overnight and known locally as 'the three queens of Caltagirone'

Maria Scuderi (left) and Concetta Scalisi (right) were among the two women arrested who are accused of having helped run the 'Prickly Pear Lips' clan in Sicily

Giuseppe Laudani was selected to run the clan when he was 17 after his Mafia boss father was killed.

However, he turned to the police and told how the three women, Maria Scuderi, 51, Concetta Scalisi, 60 and Paola Torrisi, 52, had raised him.

Known as 'the prince', Giuseppe Laudani described a world of violence and vendettas, with the women building power after his aunt Scalisi's life was saved by his father during an attempted assassination at the end of the 1980s.

And Torrisi, herself the daughter of a mobster boss who used to manage the clan's international drug trading, was still young when she began to organise couriers in the area around Mount Etna.

The arrested suspects were all wanted for Mafia association, extortion, drug trafficking and possessing illegal arms.

Of 109 arrest warrants issued Wednesday, 86 people were detained, 23 were already serving time in prison and six are still eluding capture, police said.

Laudani also snitched on his brother Pippo and half-brother Alberto Caruso, as well as his grandfather Sebastiano Laudini, 90, who had served time between 1986 and 2012 and is now back under house arrest.

According to prosecutor Michelangelo Patane, the clan, which had sought ties with the cocaine-running 'Nrangheta clan in Calabria, had a huge arsenal of weapons, including two rocket launchers.

Italian police officers storm a building where one of the more than 100 mobsters was arrested overnight

The raids comprising 500 police officers saw dozens of people involved with the Laudani clan arrested

Police also seized a large amount of weapons in the raids in Sicily, including two rocket launchers

The rocket launchers were intended for use in hits on several Sicilian magistrates but the plan was foiled when another informer told police the weapons were hidden in a garage on the slopes of Mount Etna.

The Laudani are believed to be behind a string of violent attacks in the 1990s, including the murder of a prison warden and a lawyer who had refused to be bought.

Police said they had been hampered in their investigations by local business owners, who either lied about being the victims of attempts to extort money from them or admitted the extortion but refused to help identify those responsible.

The Sicilian Mafia, known as 'Cosa Nostra' or 'Our Thing', was Italy's most powerful organised crime syndicate in the 1980s and 1990s, but has seen its power diminish following years of probes and mass arrests.

It also faces fierce underworld competition from the increasingly powerful Naples-based Camorra and Calabria's 'Ndrangheta.
Moszer is a decorated officer who has a wife and two children

Police announced at a morning press conference the gunman, 49-year-old Marcus Schumacher, has been found dead

wounded cop and rushed him to a hospital, but his superior said he was not going to make it

A Fargo police officer was shot during an eleven-hour standoff with a domestic violence suspect and is not expected to survive his injuries, police in North Dakota said early Thursday.

Officer Jason Moszer, 33, responded to the standoff Wednesday night and parked near the home the suspect was barricaded inside, Fargo Deputy Police Chief Joe Anderson said.

During a press conference this morning, Police Chief David Todd said that the gunman, later identified as 49-year-old Marcus Schumacher, has been found dead inside his Fargo home shortly before dawn.

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Officer down: Fargo police officer Jason Moszer (left), 33, was mortally wounded amid a standoff with an armed domestic violence suspect identifed as 49-year-old Marcus Schumacher (right) Wednesday night

The standoff ended after 11 hours when a SWAT team entered the suspect's home and found his lifeless body

Moszer was shot while responding to a call about a man who allegedly opened fire on his wife inside this residence at 308 9th Avenue North in Fargo

It is unclear at this time if Schumacher was hit in an earlier exchange of gunfire with a SWAT officer or if he shot himself.

'Schumacher appeared to have died from a gunshot wound but 'we don't know if that was from us engaging him or something self-inflicted,' Todd said.

The incident began unfolding at around 7pm. after a report that the suspect had fired a gun at his wife inside a residence at 308 9th Avenue North.

Authorities said Schumacher continued to fire multiple rounds from inside the home.

Moszer, a six-year veteran of the department, was struck by the suspect's gunfire, Anderson said.

A SWAT team in an armored vehicle retrieved the mortally wounded cop lying in an alleyway next to his cruiser and rushed him to Sanford Medical Center, where his family was with him.

'He is not expected to survive,' Anderson said.

At around 6.30am, Chief Todd said the standoff has been resolved and that neighbors no longer needed to shelter in place.

Todd later said he does not believe the shooter was firing randomly, reported Valley News Live.

A SWAT team in an armored vehicle retrieved the mortally wounded cop lying in an alleyway next to his cruiser

Authorities block off an area in front of Plymouth Congregational Church and near a house in north Fargo Thursday where a suspect fired at police officers

Marcus Schumacher's son called dispatchers and said the suspect had fired a gun at his wife.

The caller and his mother were able to escape the home unharmed, Anderson said.

The gunman then called dispatchers and told them to evacuate nearby houses because he planned to open fire.

Police did door-to-door checks on nearby houses and don't believe anyone else is injured, Anderson said.

Sarah Stensland, 26, lives less than a block from the suspect's home. She said she and her girlfriend locked the doors, turned off the lights and hunkered down in the basement for the night.

'We were scared. We could hear gunshots very clearly, even from the basement,' she said. 'I felt like my nerves were on edge all night. I'm just exhausted.'

Police Chief David Todd said during an early-morning press conference Moszer was not going to make it

Moszer was married to a nurse named Rachel (pictured together left and right). In 2012, he and a fellow officer were awarded the departments Silver Star Medal for rescuing two children from a burning apartment

Family man: The Moszers have two children together, a son and daughter (pictured above)

Students and staff at nearby Horace Mann Elementary School were shifted to another school Thursday so as not to impede the investigation, Fargo Public Schools said in a statement. The move was made at the request of the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which is handling the case.

Court documents show that Schumacher has a previous conviction for disorderly conduct in January 2013. He received a 30-day suspended jail sentence and served a year of probation.

Moszer was married to a nurse named Rachel, and the couple had a son and daughter together.

The 33-year-old graduated in 2001 from Fargo South High School and from North Dakota State University in 2009, reported In Forum.

In 2012, he and a fellow officer were awarded the departments Silver Star Medal for rescuing two children from a burning apartment.

'Tonight the Fargo Police Department is mourning the loss of our brother officer,' Todd told reporters overnight.
Steelworkers escaped with their lives after a huge explosion ripped through Britain's biggest steelworks plant this morning.

The massive blast - believed to have been caused by a lightning strike - rocked the Tata steelworks in Port Talbot, South Wales, shortly after a shift change at 8am.

Flames could be seen for miles around - and parts of the plant were evacuated as emergency services rushed to the scene.

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Fire crews from Mid and West Wales Fire Service were called to the Tata Steel plant in Port Talbot, Wales, around 8am, after a blaze ripped through the site

The massive blast is believed to have been caused by a lightning strike, and took place shortly after a shift change

Onlooker Mike O'Neill said: 'My car shook with the explosion as I drove past. I can see massive 100ft flames.

'There was also a huge plume of black smoke.'

Less than two hours later firefighters announced the blaze was out and no one was hurt.

Nearby resident Pete Thomas said: 'It is amazing that no one was hurt because the explosion was huge.

'We often hear bangs and see fire but this was something else.'

Last month Tata announced 750 job cuts at the site, among 1,050 across the UK.

The South Wales site is Britain's biggest steelworks plant. Eyewitnesses said flames could be seen for miles around

Parts of the plant were evacuated as emergency services rushed to the scene. One onlooker said his car 'shook' with the force of the explosion

A Tata Steel spokesman said: 'We can confirm that there has been a fire at our Port Talbot coke ovens this morning.

'No one was hurt. Following the necessary safety and operational checks, we will be looking to restart manufacturing operations today.

'Initial investigations suggest a lightning strike led to the fire at the site's coke ovens.'

Dealing yet another blow to the steel industry last month, it was announced Tata Steel was to cut 750 jobs at the UK's largest steel works in Port Talbot, as well as 200 in support functions and 100 at four other mills.

It has been estimated the Port Talbot plant is losing 1 million a week.

A spokesman for Tata Steel confirmed an investigation was underway into the cause of the blaze and confirmed no one had been injured

Onlookers reported a huge explosion which sent 100ft flames into the air, followed by a plume of thick black smoke

Six appliances from Port Talbot, Neath, Morriston and an aerial appliance from Swansea West were dispatched to the scene

The Mid and West Wales Fire Service said it was alerted shortly after 8am to reports of the blaze and six crews were dispatched.

Appliances from Port Talbot, Neath, Morriston and an aerial appliance from Swansea West attended the scene in south Wales.

A spokeswoman for the fire service said: 'I can confirm that the fire has been extinguished and the power supply has been re-established at the plant.

'The crews are beginning to leave but some are staying to monitor the situation should anything escalate.'

The steel factory building at the Tata plant in Port Talbot, where it was announced last month that Tata Steel was to cut 750 jobs

Since August 5,000 steel workers have been made redundant - one in six jobs in the industry - as it struggles to cope with rising energy costs and a glut of cheap Chinese imports.

Last year, Tata announced it was cutting 3,400 jobs in England and Scotland - including 2,200 at Redcar, 900 in Scunthorpe and 270 more at two Scottish plants.
Controversial Lord Bramall investigation to be reviewed by a former judge

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said his officers had been 'confused' by guidance to believe allegations made to them

Police officers must be 'good investigators' when presented with allegations of sexual abuse and not simply believe them, the Met Commissioner has said.

Amid a firestorm over controversial investigations into public figures including the war hero Lord Bramall, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said there was a 'great danger' in allegations being believed from the outset.

The embattled police commissioner has repeatedly refused to apologise for investigations into historic claims against Lord Bramall and the former Tory home secretary Lord Brittan, who died before it was concluded he had no case to answer.

But he has launched a judge-led inquiry to look into how the Metropolitan Police handled the accusations and today questioned guidance on how allegations are treated.

Sir Bernard told the BBC: 'I think we have really got hung up on this word belief, it's confused officers, and my point would be we of course have to be empathetic, we want people to believe we are going to listen to them.

'We want to be open minded about what they tell us and then what the suspects tell us.

'And then we have got to test all that evidence.

'There is a great danger at the moment with the advice that is around that perhaps there is a tendency to think we will always believe any complaint that is made.

'That's not wise for any good investigator.'

Scotland Yard was forced to admit last year it had made a mistake when a senior officer described a key witness - known only as 'Nick' - as 'credible and true' when it launched a murder investigation.

Det Supt Kenny McDonald used the phrase in 2014 as the force announced an investigation the alleged killing of three young boys linked to a suspected VIP paedophile ring at the Dolphin Square apartments in Westminster, said to have been active in the 1970s and 1980s.

The probe, known as Operation Midland, led to a series of dawn raids and arrests of public figures - including the 92-year-old Lord Bramall, Lord Brittan, and former MP Harvey Proctor.

But the Met was later forced to admit that without Mr McDonald's declaration of belief in the witness 'we would not have investigated in the way we have'.

Sir Bernard has defended his force and insisted it has a duty to look into serious allegations when they are made.

He said today: 'It's not unfair to point out we have now got the Lord Justice Goddard inquiry.

'We are being accused of being witch hunters and doing it in a very inappropriate way. We are prepared to look at that and that's why I set up this review.'

He added: 'If we get this wrong, between not just the police but society, lawyers, etc, people won't come forward.

'Surely what we all want to happen, particularly a child today, wants to feel confident someone isn't going to hang them out to dry and that their background will be looked into if they make an allegation.

'So we have got to get this right. I think Sir Richard's work will help us with that and I know he is keen to try and develop a code of practice with others to see whether there's not something we can on these very difficult cases.'

The Metropolitan Police announced last month it had dropped the investigation into Lord Bramall, pictured

An NSPCC spokesman said warned the new policy would be a 'serious bar' to victims coming forward to the police.

He said: 'At a time when people have at long last found the confidence and courage to report these crimes, it would be a tragedy to bring this progress to a juddering halt.

'Victims of sexual abuse have the right to be believed just as much as anyone reporting a burglary or physical assault. Police officers should have an open mind and execute the normal tests and investigations to verify the veracity of what is being alleged.

'Telling those who have been sexually abused they will no longer be automatically believed seems to be a panic measure which could have an adverse effect on a crime the Government has classified as a 'national threat'.'

Sir Bernard has also repeated his belief that suspects should not be identified until they are formally charged with an event.

Sir Bernard announced yesterday retired High Court judge Sir Richard Henriques would carry out a review into the investigations, including the controversial 'Operation Midland' once it is formally concluded.

The key findings of the review and its recommendations will be published later this year, but the Met said the full review will contain confidential and sensitive information.

This will only be included in a private report for the Commissioner.

Yesterday, critics branded Sir Bernard's review a cover-up and a whitewash, questioning what it would achieve as Sir Bernard insists most of its findings will remain secret.

Former Tory MP Harvey Proctor, who is still waiting to be cleared of suspicion, said: 'It's a cover up, an attempt to put the Operation Midland scandal into the long grass.'

Lord Bramall last week added to calls for the Met to address the way it responded to such allegations.

He said: They said the allegation was I had abused an under-age male 40 years ago.

I just dont see how a level-headed policeman could have believed a word of it without corroboration, which he didnt bother to get.

The witness known as 'Nick' claimed he was abused by a VIP paedophile ring at the Dolphin Square apartments in Westminster

'It was I that had to prove I couldnt have done it. The same with the sex pool parties... absurd business of the policeman saying, Can you swim?

'And I said, Yes, I can swim. Lord Bramall described seeing the officers face light up at this information.

Ten months after police raided the home of Lord Bramall and later interviewed the 92-year-old under caution, Scotland Yard said he would face no further action.

Sir Bernard today defended how the raid on Lord Bramall's home was carried out, insisting many officers were required to search large properties - suggesting large numbers of papers need examining and many nook and crannies could hide evidence.

The evidence against the field marshal was so weak detectives did not even bother sending a file to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Nick's allegations extended to the late former prime minister Ted Heath, senior army generals and the heads of both Mi5 and Mi6.

He said he was abused on many occasions at the Dolphin Square apartments in Westminster.

In one episode, Nick alleged Mr Proctor had strangled a fellow victim to death in front of his very eyes, having first stabbed him with a penknife over a period of 40 minutes.

Last summer, following a raid on his home and a lengthy police interview, Mr Proctor called a press conference and said the claims were 'totally untrue', adding Nick's statements were 'uncorroborated and untrue'.

Announcing a murder inquiry in 2014, Mr McDonald said: 'Nick has been spoken to by experienced officers from child abuse teams and experienced officers from murder investigations.

They and I believe what Nick is saying is credible and true.

He added: 'The mantra when someone comes forward and makes an allegation is that we believe what they say and we do believe what Nick is saying.'

Nick's identity is protected by sexual offences legislation. The law prevents anyone who makes such claims from being identified for the rest of their lives.
One in nine children in Britain have not been to a park, forest or any other spot in the Great Outdoors in the last year, a study has found.

The government-funded survey suggests that poorer families and ethnic minorities are less likely than white children from higher income families to visit so-called wild places.

But middle class children are also at risk, one expert says, because they are under pressure to spend time on homework rather than outside.

One in nine children in Britain have not been to a park, forest or any other spot in the great outdoors in the last year, a study has found

Graph showing how often children get out into the Great Outdoors, according to a Natural England study

The enthusiasm of parents for green spaces strongly influenced whether children visited natural environments, The Guardian reported.

In households where adults were frequent visitors, 82 per cent of children followed their lead, whereas in households where the adults rarely or never visited the natural environment, the proportion of children visiting fell to 39 per cent.

The solution, one expert said, is not to curate experiences for their children, but to give them time even in densely populated areas.

The two-year study was conducted by Natural England, a non-departmental public body responsible for ensuring that Englands natural environment.

It also revealed there is a north-south divide in enjoying nature, with children living in the north-east having the best access to natural environments  78 per cent got outside at least once a week.

The equivalent figures for the West Midlands and London were 64 per cent and 62 per cent respectively.

Natalie Johnson of the Wild Network, a non-for-profit organisation, said: In middle class suburbia, its the parents  how do you tell parents that the time children play freely outside is as important as their French lesson, their ballet lesson and their Mandarin lesson?

The government-funded survey suggests that poorer families and ethnic minorities are less likely than white children from higher income families to visit so-called wild places

She added: Urban wildness is real and kids will find it themselves, she said. As parents, we dont have to curate experiences  we just have to give them time.

But children getting outdoors to build dens and much about with other children isnt completely a thing of the past. According to the study, 22 per cent of children visited the natural environment without any adults present, 16 per cent did so every week.

Findlay Wilde, a 13-year-old wildlife blogger, said too many parents stopped taking children into the natural world when they entered secondary school, which also failed to make the environment a core subject.

Once children hit high school they become more independent and might think being interested in the natural world is uncool, he said. If they can, parents need to keep their connection with their children and continue to take them outdoors.

Dr Tim Hill, Natural Englands chief scientist, said: The results from this survey highlight the importance of having green space nearby to children and families  whether thats a local park or nature reserve.
act as she had been messaging other men

Jason Melo outside Manhattan Criminal Court yesterday where he is charged with assaulting his girlfriend after making her walk down a street naked

A boyfriend who is accused of shaming his girlfriend by forcing her to walk down a freezing New York street as he filmed the incident and posted it online has told a court 'she deserved it.'

Jason Melo, 24, from the Bronx, appeared at Manhattan Criminal Court charged with assault and endangering a child after he allegedly choked the woman and punched her in front of their newborn daughter.

He denies the charges but claims he then made her walk down the street with only a white towel wrapped around her as he suspected she was sending naked pictures of herself to other men.

At his court appearance yesterday, he was asked if he regretted forcing the woman into the humiliating act.

But he told the New York Post: 'She shouldn't have done what she did.'

The harrowing video first came to light when footage emerged online of a woman being forced to walk through the streets naked while a man, speaking Spanish, hurls abuse at her.

The man, thought to be Melo, says: 'Take off your towel! Co-operate b***h. Show what you are, so pretty and so great. She's a tart. Let's go. Let's go. Say hi to the camera and say why you're doing this.

'Take off your towel and pay the price for the shame I feel after telling you how pretty you were and that I wanted to start a family with you, but it the meantime you were talking to seven other men.'

The woman retorts: 'But not to have sex with them.'

He then rips the towel from her, leaving her completely naked in the street, apart from a pair of boots. As she tried to hide between parked cars, he continued to hurl insults at her.

In the video a man, believed to be Melo, can be heard shouting at his girlfriend in Spanish calling her a 'w****' and a 'b****' while accusing her of texting other men

The woman, who is initially wearing a towel, is then stripped and made to walk around in the street while trying desperately to cover herself with the dust jacket from a motorcycle (right)

She then tried to cover her modesty with the protective sheet from a motorbike.

Melo then later released a bizarre video which showed him handing himself over to police.

In it he calls friends from prison to accuse his girlfriend of lying about being beaten, claiming he never hit her or strangled her.

Melo even says that detectives at the jail have congratulated him for his actions, before trying to justify himself by repeating claims that she was talking with other men.

In a bizarre five-minute clip, which emerged on Facebook, Melo says in Spanish: 'My people I apologize, I see what she said and I want you to know she is lying.

Melo then later released a bizarre video online which showed him handing himself over to police

'There is no proof of what the reports here at prison says, that I strangled her and that I hit her.

'I didn't hit her or anything. Even the detectives are here with me and some of them congratulated me because they see how happy she is and I didn't pull her hair or anything.

'Some of the other prisoners are also on my side and they say some of them would have done worse things.'

Meanwhile the woman he is accused of beating, who has not been identified, has revealed that she was scared of Melo.

She told Univision: 'He started threatening me, he threatened to slash my face.'
A 94-year-old former Auschwitz guard came face-to-face with Holocaust survivors today when he arrived at court to stand trial for helping to murder 170,000 Jews.

Reinhold Hanning is accused of serving as an SS Sergeant between 1943 and 1944, a time when hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews were gassed to death at the camp.

The trial in Detmold was moved to the city's chamber of industry and commerce because there are not enough seats for media and public in the actual courthouse.

Auschwitz survivor Leon Schwarzbaum (left) comes face to face with Nazi death camp guard Reinhold Hanning (right) at the former SS Sergeant's trial where he stands accused of helping to murder 170,000 Jews

Hanning admitted to serving at the Auschwitz I part of the complex in Nazi occupied Poland but denied being at the Auschwitz II-Birkenau section where most of the Nazi's 1.1million victims were killed

Hanning faces trial for 170,000 counts of accessory to murder, the first of up to four cases being brought to court this year in an 11th-hour push by German prosecutors to punish Nazi war crimes

Dressed in a tweed suit, the white-haired, bespectacled widower Hanning, who owned a dairy store after the war, kept his eyes trained on the table in front of him during the hearing, and left his lawyer to answer the judge's questions.

He was then was confronted by Auschwitz survivor, Leon Schwarzbaum, who is the same age as him.

He looked him in the eye and said: 'The older I get, the more I think about what happened in Auschwitz.

'Why don't you come clean and tell the truth for once about what you and your comrades did in Auschwitz?'

Mr Schwarzbaum, 94, is among some 40 survivors of Auschwitz and family members of those who were murdered there who will be allowed to speak of their experiences during the trial.

Hanning leaves the court at the end of the first day of his trial in Detmold, western Germany

The hearings in Hanning's trial will be limited to two hours a day, due to the defendants advancing years

Hanning sits in the passenger seat of the car as he is driven away from the first day of his trial in Detmold, Germany today

He also recounted the starvation and constant fear of dying that plagued prisoners after they were taken to Auschwitz.

Those who sought to escape were ripped to death by dogs and their bodies left as a warning to others, he said, adding that regular executions and the endless stream of people sent to the gas chambers sowed terror.

He said: 'I was constantly afraid of dying from hunger or being selected (for the gas chamber).

'The food was terrible and insufficient. It was not even potatoes but potato peelings, impossible and insufficient for hard labour.'

Hanning is helped into the building. The 94-year-old is accused of serving as an SS Sergeant between 1943 and 1944, a time when hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews were gassed to death at the camp

Holocaust denier Ursula Haverbeck (second right) is taken away by the police after she tried to attend the trial

Ahead of the case, he told how he vividly remembers how the 'chimneys were spewing fire... and the smell of burning human flesh was so unbelievable that one could hardly bear it'.

Sat alongside other survivors, Schwarzbaum said it would be deeply unsettling to see Hanning in the courtroom, but believed it was important to give the former SS man a chance to give a full account of the horrors that unfolded at Auschwitz.

He told a press conference: 'It's perhaps the last time for him to tell the truth. He has to speak the truth.'

For many survivors, the trial was also one of the last opportunity to 'speak before a German court,' said chief judge Anke Grudda, before giving Schwarzbaum the floor. Two other survivors will follow on Friday.

Outside court today, protesters carried banners reading 'Against Forgetting' when Hanning arrived with his lawyer.

The court has scheduled 12 days to hear the case, with only two hours of hearings allowed each day because of the frailty of the defendant.

Hanning stands accused of having watched over the selection of which prisoners were fit for labour, and which should be sent to gas chambers.

He faces between three and 15 years in jail, but in view of his advanced age and the period required for any appeals, he is unlikely to serve time.

Reinhold Hanning (pictured), 94, a former SS guard at Auschwitz, is set to go on trial accused of 170,000 counts of accessory to murder

Auschwitz survivor Leon Schwarzbaum (pictured, holding a picture of himself (left) next to his uncle and parents who all died at the death camp) said it would be very unsettling to come face to face with the former SS guard in court on Thursday

A notorious Holocaust denier called Ursula Haverbeck, who has been fined many times in Germany for her outbursts that the extermination of the Jews never happened, was also outside the court with some far-right supporters.

Police had to protect the 87-year-old as she was pushed and jostled by protesters.

Hanning, who now lives in the city of Lage, admitted to serving at the Auschwitz I part of the complex in Nazi occupied Poland but denied being at the Auschwitz II-Birkenau section where most of the Nazi's 1.1million victims were killed.

But prosecutor Andreas Brendel said the main camp's guards were also used as on call officers at Birkenau when trainloads of Jews were brought in.

He said: 'We believe that these auxiliaries were used in particular during the so-called Hungarian action in support of Birkenau.'

Hanning's case is one of 30 involving former Auschwitz guards being investigated by federal prosecutors from Germany's special Nazi war crimes office in Ludwigsburg.

Sat alongside other survivors (including Justin Sonder, left, and Erna de Vries, right) Schwarzbaum said it would be deeply unsettling to see Hanning in the courtroom on Thursday

Hanning admitted to serving at the Auschwitz I part of the complex in Nazi occupied Poland but denied being at the Auschwitz II-Birkenau section where most of the Nazi's 1.1million victims were killed

Prosecutor Andreas Brendel said the main camp's guards were also used as on call officers at Birkenau when trainloads of Jews were brought in (sitting down, survivors Erna de Vries, Justin Sonder and Leon Schwarzbaum, and standing, their lawyer Thomas Walther)

His attorney, Peter-Michael Diestel, said it was Germany's 'shame' that many higher-ranking perpetrators and Nazi war criminals were able to escape with minimal or no sentences in the years after the war.

He questioned whether prosecutors were simply trying 'to make up for mistakes of the past' with his client.

Diestel added: 'He was a medic for Wehrmacht [army] soldiers and SS men - for uniformed men - and had no part of the Holocaust - but the judicial argument of the Demjanjuk verdict says that if he didn't provide his service as a medic then Auschwitz wouldn't have functioned.

THE FORMER SS GUARDS TO GO ON TRIAL FOR SS WAR CRIMES Hanning's trial is the latest following a precedent set in 2011, when former Ohio autoworker John Demjanjuk became the first person to be convicted for serving as a camp guard without evidence of involvement in a specific killing. Demjanjuk's verdict widened the number of possible prosecutions, establishing that simply helping the camp to function was enough to make the guard an accessory to the murders committed there. Before that, prosecutors needed to present evidence of a specific crime, which was a difficult task given the small number of surviving witnesses and perpetrators whose names were rarely known. Demjanjuk always denied serving at the death camp and died before his appeal could be heard. But last year, prosecutors managed to successfully convict SS Unterscharfuehrer Oskar Groening, who served in Auschwitz, on 300,000 counts of accessory to murder. Groening's appeal is expected to be heard sometime this year, but prosecutors are not waiting to move ahead with other cases. Prosecutors managed to successfully convict SS Unterscharfuehrer Oskar Groening (left and right), who served in Auschwitz, on 300,000 counts of accessory to murder He is one of four former Nazi guards (pictured, the death camp in Poland in 1965) being put on trial for war crimes this year, following an 11th hour push by German prosecutors Advertisement

'What should a young man, even if he knew what was going on in Auschwitz, do to stop it?'

Hanning's trial will be limited to two hours per day because of his age. His attorney says his health will be checked again by an expert when the trial begins.

Jens Rommel, the head of the Nazi war crimes investigative office, says it is too early to talk about the final round of trials.

There are a half-dozen open investigations right now with state prosecutors, and his office is looking into another seven suspects from both the Auschwitz and the Majdanek death camps.

One of the two other cases likely to go on trial this year involves a 93-year-old woman charged with 260,000 counts of accessory to murder at Auschwitz (pictured)

Another 94-year-old man is charged with 1,276 counts of accessory to murder on allegations he served as an Auschwitz guard (pictured, the death camp in January 1945)

'Year by year it's more difficult, but the state justice ministers last year decided that Ludwigsburg would keep working,' he says.

'The state of North-Rhine Westphalia last summer talked about another 10 years as a timeframe.'

Auschwitz survivor Justin Sonder, who is scheduled to testify Friday, said it's never too late to pursue those responsible for running the camps.

'I'm often asked if there were SS men in Auschwitz who showed compassion,' the 90 year-old from Chemnitz said. 'No, absolutely not!'

Thursday's trial came on the heels of last year's high-profile case against Oskar Groening, dubbed the 'Bookkeeper of Auschwitz'.

Hanning's trial will be limited to two hours per day because of his age (pictured, women in the barracks at Auschwitz)

Former SS officer Hubert Zafke, 95, is set to go trial on 3,681 counts of accessory to murder on accusations he served as a medic at an SS hospital in Auschwitz (pictured) in 1944

Groening was sentenced in July to four years in prison, even though he had previously been cleared by German authorities after lengthy criminal probes dating back to the 1970s.

But the legal foundation for prosecuting ex-Nazis changed in 2011 with the German conviction of former death camp guard John Demjanjuk, solely on the basis of his having worked at the Sobibor camp in occupied Poland.

At least two other cases are due to be heard this year before German courts.

One of them concerns former SS medic, Hubert Zafke, 95, who is charged with at least 3,681 counts of complicity in killings.

Zafke was a medical orderly at the camp in a period when 14 trains carrying prisoners - including the Jewish teenage diarist Anne Frank - arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Google's Europe boss was told he lives in 'a different world' after admitting today that he has no idea how much he gets paid.

Matt Brittin faced angry MPs as he defended Google's controversial tax arrangements but insisted he 'absolutely' understood public outrage at the firm's 130million 'sweetheart' tax deal with the UK taxman last month.

And he was asked five times how much he earns before admitting: 'I don't have a figure,' drawing laughter from MPs on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

It drew a frustrated response from Meg Hillier, the committee's chair, who said: 'Frankly you are taxing already my patience and the patience of the hard-working taxpayer out there.'

'Some people are living in a different world,' she added later.

It came as:

Mr Brittin claimed Google could not pay more tax even if it wanted to

He reveals tax issues were discussed in meetings with government ministers

Google boss insists he 'absolutely' understands public's anger over Google's tax deal

He wants tax laws to be rewritten - but blames governments for failing to tighten rules

Vice President Tom Hutchinson says the firm paid a global tax rate of 19 per cent but does not know what the overall taxable amount was

HMRC chief Lin Homer says she is 'proud' of the Google tax deal

He was one of two Google bosses who appeared before the Public Accounts Committee following last month's 'sweetheart' deal with HMRC, which saw the internet giant paying just 130million to cover 10 years of back taxes.

Mr Brittin insisted he understood the public's anger over the deal but failed to declare how much he earns from Google himself.

Matt Brittin, pictured, grins as he fails five times to tell MPs how much he earns as President of Google Europe

Meg Hiller, chair of the Public Accounts Committee, asked Google boss Matt Brittin five times how much he earned but failed to get an answer

Mr Brittin also claimed Google could not pay more tax even if it wanted to.

'We can't legally pay more tax in the UK,' he said, sparking a furious response from Tory MP Richard Bacon, who shot back: 'That's simply not true. You can hand in more any time you like.'

GOOGLE BOSS ASKED FIVE TIMES TO DECLARE HIS SALARY Meg Hillier, chair of the Public Accounts Committee, asked Matt Brittin five times how much he is paid, but gave up after he said he didn't 'have a figure' Meg Hillier: 'Do you understand the anger? What do you get paid Mr Brittin?' Matt Brittin: 'If that's relevant I'll happily disclose that to the committee.' Hillier: 'I'm asking what you get paid.' Brittin: 'I'll happily disclose that if that's a relevant matter for the committee in private.' Hillier: 'I'm asking you, so it's a relevant matter.' Brittin: 'I don't have the figure but I'll happily provide it.' Hillier: 'You don't know what you get paid, Mr Brittin? Perhaps you could give us a ballpark on what you get paid? Forget share options, what's your basic salary?' Brittin: 'It's a salary... I don't have the figure but I'll provide the figure privately, if it's relevant to the committee to understand my salary.' Hillier: 'You don't know what you get paid, Okay. Out there taxpayers are very angry. They live in a different world, clearly, if you can't even tell us what you're actually paid.' Advertisement

Crucially, Mr Brittin revealed to MPs that Google's tax arrangements had been discussed during meetings with government ministers, although he insisted the firm had never sought or held a meeting about the tax audit that was concluded last month.

Instead the meetings were dominated by issues such as child safety online, counter-terrorism and security, he said.

But he added: 'I'm sure, given the scrutiny we have had, tax will have come up from time to time as a question.

'The main thing we would have been saying is that we would support simplification and want to be paying the right amount of tax and to be seen to pay it.'

Mr Brittin was appearing alongside his colleague Tom Hutchinson, vice president of Google, who failed to disclose how much of Google's global revenue was liable to tax.

He told MPs that Google's global tax rate amounted to 19 per cent over the last five years but asked what the overall taxable figure was, Mr Hutchinson said: 'I can't provide those numbers now... I don't have it in front of me.'

Ms Hillier asked him five times to declare his salary, but Mr Brittin finally admitted: 'I don't have the figure but I'll provide the figure privately, if it's relevant to the committee to understand my salary.'

Ms Hillier later hit out at Mr Brittin's failure to disclose his salary, telling the BBC: 'Some people are living in a different world.'

Accounts disclosed last month revealed a total UK wage bill of 562million over an 18-month period, including 148million in share-based bonuses.

This amounts to an average salary of 160,000 per employee.

Google employs 1,075 marketing staff, 799 staff in research and development and 455 managers and administrators.

Ms Hillier took over as chair of the PAC committee after the election and has lived up to the combatant style of taxpayers champion Margerat Hodge, her predecessor in the role.

Grilling Mr Brittin over the 130million tax deal despite revenues of more than 5billion, she asked: 'Do you hear the anger and frustration out there that with those huge figures, you settled for a figure of 130million?'

The Google boss replied: 'Absolutely and I welcome the chance to come and talk to you about this. I understand the anger.'

GOOGLE'S TAX ARRANGEMENTS WERE DISCUSSED WITH MINISTERS Matt Brittin, pictured right, said Google's tax arrangements would have been discussed during meetings with government ministers such as George Osborne, pictured left, who came under fire after hailing Google's 130million tax deal as a 'major success' Google boss Matt Brittin revealed to MPs today that Google's tax arrangements had been discussed during meetings with government ministers. But insisted the internet giant had never sought or held a meeting about the 130million tax audit that was concluded last month. Instead the meetings were dominated by issues such as child safety online, counter-terrorism and security, he said. But he added: 'I'm sure, given the scrutiny we have had, tax will have come up from time to time as a question. 'The main thing we would have been saying is that we would support simplification and want to be paying the right amount of tax and to be seen to pay it.' Mr Brittin added: 'We have never sought or had a meeting about the tax audit with any Government minister.' Advertisement

Despite widespread public anger over the deal reached with Google last month, HMRC's chief executive Dame Lin Homer insisted today that she was 'proud' of the agreement.

HMRC 'PROUD' OF GOOGLE DEAL Dame Lin Homer, chief executive and permanent secretary of HMRC pictured leaving Parliament today, defended the tax deal her organisation reached with Google last month The HMRC chief in charge of agreeing the tax deal reached with Google last month boasted today that she was 'proud' of the agreement. The internet giant agreed to pay 130million to cover ten years of back taxes despite turning an annual revenue of more than 5billion. But appearing before the Public Accounts Committee today Dame Lin Homer said:'We feel the work we have done ... is bringing about a change in behaviour. 'We are rather proud of that. If the Chancellor thinks that as well, that's a good thing.' Denying the suggestion that companies like Google were given preferential treatment by the taxman, Dame Lin added: 'It is exactly the same system we apply to everyone.' Advertisement

Also appearing before the PAC committee, she denied HMRC had been involved in Mr Osborne's declaration that the deal represented a victory for the taxpayer, but said: 'We feel the work we have done ... is bringing about a change in behaviour. We are rather proud of that. If the Chancellor thinks that as well, that's a good thing.'

Writing in the Daily Telegraph this morning Mr Brittin called for tax laws to be rewritten  blaming world governments for failing to tighten up the rules.

He called for 'simpler, clearer rules, because it is important not only to pay the right amount of tax, but to be seen to be paying the right amount'.

Britain's tax rules required that Google's corporation tax bill is based on the value contributed by its UK arm, not on the sales Google makes to UK customers, Mr Brittin added.

George Osborne was heavily criticised last month for hailing the deal as a 'major success'.

The internet giant faced further anger this week when it emerged it had paid its chief executive 140million - 10million more than it paid the UK taxman over 10 years.

Sundar Pichai was given shares in the company worth nearly 140million, making him one of the highest-paid directors of any public company in the world.

It comes a week after Google's parent company Alphabet overtook Apple to become the world's biggest company after it declared a market value of 392billion.

Mr Pichai, the 43-year-old Indian chief executive whose family did not own a telephone until he was 12, came to prominence last year after Google's co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin handed him day-to-day control of Alphabet's core businesses.

The Chancellor came under fire from his party's own leader in Scotland earlier this week over the deal, with Ruth Davidson declaring: 'There is one rule for those at the top and one rule for the rest of us'.

Ms Davidson, who has been tipped as a future leader of the Conservatives, said the 130million Google paid to cover 10 years of back taxes 'doesn't feel right' and accused HMRC of incompetence.

MATT BRITTIN: THE FORMER GB OLYMPIC ROWER WHO WAS TOLD HE WAS 'EVIL' BY TAXPAYER CHAMPION The Google Europe boss Matt Brittin, pictured with his wife and two sons on his birthday last year, represented GB in rowing at the 1988 Seoul Olympics but since moving to Google he has been in the headlines for the wrong reasons. He was told he was 'evil' by taxpayer champion Margaret Hodge in 2012 Married father of two Matt Brittin is a keen rower and represented Great Britain at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. He won a bronze medal at the World Rowing Championships in the same year and keeps up his interest in rowing by umpiring at the annual Henley Royal Regatta. And four years ago he completed John O'Groats to Lands End by bike in nine days, raising 6,000 for the British Paralympic Association. But since he joined Google in 2007 - arriving from his previous job as head of strategy at the Mirror newspaper - Brittin has been in the media spotlight for the wrong reasons and has become accustomed to battling angry MPs at committee hearings. He was humiliated by taxpayer champion Margaret Hodge in 2012, when she told him: 'I think that you do evil'. She accused him of being 'calculated and unethical' when he was hauled in front of MPs over Google's 'opaque' network of tax arrangements. Brittin now heads up Google's European operations. MailOnline has asked Google to clarify whether he is a UK taxpayer. The internet giant said he 'lives, works and pays his taxes in the UK' but refused to give any further details about how much he earns or how much tax he pays in Britain. Advertisement

And she warned that failure to take more radical action on tax avoidance could 'erode trust in government,' suggesting that injustice in the tax system turns voters to 'extremists' such as Donald Trump.

'It further adds to the sense of simmering indignation that many people feel at a system that often seems rigged against them,' she said in a speech in Edinburgh last night.

'And that further helps the populists, the demagogues and the extremists  the Trumps and the Le Pens  who are hoping to exploit that resentment for their own narrow purposes.'

She added: 'It feels too often that there is one rule for those at the top, and one rule for the rest of us,' she said.

'We ignore this growing sense of resentment at our peril.'

Google Vice President Tom Hutchinson, pictured left alongside Google Europe President Matt Brittin, faced an angry reception in front of MPs today

Google paid a tax rate of just 26 million in 2013, despite a revenue of 5 billion

GOOGLE'S UK BOSS CALLS FOR REFORM OF TAX LAWS - AND BLAMES GOVERNMENTS AROUND THE GLOBE FOR FAILING TO TIGHTEN UP RULES Matt Brittin, who is the Google's European president, called for 'simpler, clearer rules, because it is important not only to pay the right amount of tax, but to be seen to be paying the right amount' The UK boss of Google says tax laws should be rewritten  blaming world governments for failing to tighten up the rules. Matt Brittin, who is the firm's European president, called for 'simpler, clearer rules, because it is important not only to pay the right amount of tax, but to be seen to be paying the right amount'. In a letter to The Daily Telegraph, he said Britain's tax rules required that Google's corporation tax bill is based on the value contributed by its UK arm, not on the sales Google makes to UK customers. He said HMRC had conducted an 'intensive review' of Google's tax arrangements, interviewing him and other bosses to determine the amount of profit attributed to Google's UK operation. The CEO also denied Google had won a 'sweetheart deal' from the UK and claimed the company paid 2.3billion in corporation tax last year, albeit in the United States. Google and the UK Government have been criticised for agreeing a 130million bill for back taxes. Defending the tax bill, Mr Brittin wrote: 'Some have suggested the settlement which concluded the audit was a sweetheart deal, a cut-price tax rate. It was not. And let's be absolutely clear: politicians play no part in deciding and settling tax audits. 'We agree that the international tax system needs reform. But changes to the tax system are not Google's call. Reform must come from governments, not from the companies who are subject to their rules'. Although Mr Brittin said most of Google's $3.3bn corporation tax was paid in the United States , he failed to address accusations that it funnels revenue through countries such as Ireland and Bermuda which have low or no corporation tax rates. 'Some here in Britain have argued we should be paying much more tax given the sales we make in the UK', he wrote. 'But that is just not how the tax system works'. Advertisement
The family of a British man found dead in a canal in Amsterdam still have 'no idea' how he died.

Richard Cole, 30, from Dursley, Gloucestershire, had been travelling from Copenhagen to Assen via the Dutch city.

He went missing after going to bars in the Thorbeckeplein area of Amsterdam last month.

Dutch police discovered his body in the Herengracht canal on February 1 but more than 10 days later his mother Debbie Thornhill said officers had not revealed what caused his death.

Richard Coles pictured with his girlfriend Alicia Marie, who was the last person to speak to Richard before his body was discovered

This collage was posted on February 3 on a Facebook group called 'Help us find Richard Cole', which was set up to help locate the missing Brit

She told The Times: 'They know what the cause of death is but they still haven't released that information to us.

'We have been assured that they are still investigating. We just don't know. We have no idea.

'It's never going to bring him back but we would just like to know the circumstances. It's been a hard road. There are so many questions with no answer.'

She paid tribute to her son as 'just a pure joy' as his body was repatriated on Wednesday.

The owners of Stroud Auction Rooms, where Mr Cole worked as a freelance specialist, said his life was taken 'in a violent act', but the family said they had received no such information from police.

Mr Cole's family, along with police in the Netherlands and Gloucestershire, launched a desperate appeal to trace him after he went missing at about 2am UK time on January 25.

His brother Lee travelled to Amsterdam to visit bars and distribute leaflets as part of the search, and eventually identified the body as that of his sibling for police.

The popular 30 year-old was an expert valuer in Oriental and Asian art for Stroud Auction Rooms near his family's home outside Dursley.

A map showing the area of Amsterdam where Mr Cole was last seen and eventually discovered by police

Dutch police discovered Mr Cole's body in the Herengracht canal, pictured, on February 1 but more than 10 days later his mother Debbie Thornhill said officers had not revealed what caused his death

Among the last known places that Mr Cole visited was this bar, Coco's Outback, located a short walk from where his body was found

Lyn and Nick Bowkett, who run the business, said: 'We are all in shock - completely unable to believe that we won't ever see Rich again.

'We have all spent the past week trying to think positively. But to hear that his life has been taken by an act of violence is just devastating.

The popular 30 year-old was an expert valuer in Oriental and Asian art for Stroud Auction Rooms near his family's home outside Dursley

'We have no words to say exactly how we feel. Our thoughts are with his family.'

Mr Cole's family, along with police in the Netherlands and Gloucestershire, had appealed for any information to help trace him.

In a statement at the time of the discovery of Mr Cole's body, Dutch police said officers: 'The death is unconfirmed.

'We are still investigating what happened to him, how he got into the water. We will investigate all possibilities.'

The boday was discovered by divers after a tracking dog became 'restless' on the canal and a search of the water took place on the evening of February 1.

Paying tribute to Mr Cole, Lyn and Nick said: 'Although Richard was often off travelling during the past 18 months or so, when he stepped back through the door, it was if he had never been away.

'Everyone was always so pleased to see him and hear his news and he enjoyed being back in the saleroom.

'Rich was probably the kindest and most generous person I had ever met. He would have done anything for any of the team here or for his friends outside the auction.'

Gloucestershire Police previously described Mr Cole as 'an experienced traveller'.

His mother, Debbie Thornhill, set up a Facebook page called Help us find Richard Cole.

She previously wrote on the page: 'Richard is a very special person not only to his family but to all his friends. Life would just not be the same without him.'
These pictures shows the incredible lengths immigrants go to in order to enter Spain across its land border with Morocco.

Tying themselves underneath car bumpers and squashed beneath seats or even in petrol tanks, they are often pulled from the vehicle struggling to breathe or suffering from petrol inhalation.

Police officers in Spain's north African enclave of Melilla recently pulled off a car bumper to discover a 29-year-old from Guinea underneath held in place with ropes.

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This migrant from Guinea was found attempting to cross into Spain while tied underneath a car bumper

Another man caught by Spanish police was found underneath a car seat cover while holding a flat board

This boy from Africa tried to enter the enclave of Melilla curled up inside a travel suitcase

And another man was carefully hidden under the dashboard of a vehicle as it crossed into the small Spanish-run territory on Morocco's coast

They pulled apart the Moroccan-registered Renault Clio after detecting a heartbeat on a hi-tech sensor.

The African man, who was barefoot and had large holes in his socks, was rushed to hospital after officers saw he was having difficulty breathing.

Guardia Civil spokesman Francisco Perez said: 'He was in a very serious way when we found him. 'Our priority was to make sure he got proper medical attention because he was having problems breathing and suffering numbness in several parts of his body.'

Two Moroccans inside the car, a 46-year-old and a 24-year-old were arrested and questioned before being handed over to a judge expected to remand them in prison.

The unnamed immigrant was today released from hospital after treatment and taken to a local holding centre.

Hours earlier two Guineans, a 24-year-old and a 13-year-old, were found squashed into a specially-adapted hidden space under the passenger seat of a Mercedes trying to cross the same border.

The Moroccan driver fled the scene as police started a minute search of the vehicle but was stopped after a chase and arrested.

The younger of the two Guineans was placed in the care of local social services.

Other images taken by authorities at the border show a young boy crammed into a suitcase and a man hidden underneath a car's dashboard.

In one particularly shocking instance, a man had to be cut from inside a car's fuel tank and rushed to hospital when it was realised he had been inhaling toxic petrol fumes.

Another hiding spot favoured by migrants is squashing inside the footwell of the car's passenger seat

The knees of a migrant attempting to enter Spanish territory can be seen squashed underneath this vehicle

Many of those who try such hiding places require hospitalisation when found due to the breathing difficulties caused by breathing in such tight spaces
If you are planning to sell your RV, consignment may be one of the best ways to reduce the stress of your selling experience and still make the most of your investment. Selling yourself on the secondary market can quickly turn into a drain on your time and energy between emails, meeting potential buyers, and deals that fall through.

When working with a dealer for a consignment sale, there are several things you will want to plan for and look for to find the right partner for your sale. Palm RV has been an RV consignment industry leader in Southwest Florida for over 5 years and has found the following tips critical to consider before you consign your RV.

Know Your Value. Along with getting your RV properly appraised, do research on similar makes and models to gain an all-around idea of what your vehicle could sell for.

Review Your Loan. If you have an existing loan on your RV, you will want to thoroughly review your loan agreement for any conditions related to a possible sale.

Contact Your Insurance Company. Coverage policies vary between companies and states as they pertain to your property while on consignment. Make sure you are set up with proper coverage while your RV is awaiting sale.

Thoroughly Clean. First impressions matter! Spend plenty of time cleaning the entire interior and exterior of your vehicle before getting it appraised and turning it over for consignment. Minor improvements, such as new placemats or step rugs, can make your RV much more appealing on first sight.

Look for Minor Fixes. While you're cleaning, pay close attention to the small working details of your RV. Replace burnt out light bulbs, fix loose/squeaky hinges, and check things like window openings and seals. You may also want to touch up paint scratches and blemishes. These are the quick jobs that buyers will be looking for, and having everything in prime condition helps your dealer negotiate the best price.

Get to Know the Dealer. Spend a fair amount of time getting to know multiple people at the dealership; are they helpful, friendly, and attentive? Talk to other RV owners to hear their experiences, and read anything online you can find out about the dealer. You want to have an honest, trusting relationship with anybody who will be managing your asset.

Understand the Consignment Contract. Different consignment dealers will have different levels of service included with their contracts. As long as your RV sits on the lot, there will be cleaning, maintenance, and possible repairs needed. What cost will you incur for these services? You will also want a clear, thorough understanding of the consignment costs and sale terms.

While it may seem like a lot that goes into the consignment process, these are all things that will end up making the process much smoother for you and your family. Along with lowering your stress during the sale, you'll also gain the advantage of a trusted seller with access to a much wider marketplace, helping you sell quicker and at a better price. If you're looking to get started on your consignment, you can contact the industry leaders at Palm RV.
Mothers believe men were annoyed by their chatting and breastfeeding

A group of mothers on maternity leave were left furious after being moved to the back of a family pub after complaints from men who wanted to read their paper in peace.

The women, all with seven-month-old babies, say they were left 'humiliated' when they were asked to sit near the toilets at Butterley Park Brewers Fayre restaurant, in Ripley, Derbyshire.

As part of their weekly routine the mothers had met regularly at the restaurant to chat and breastfeed their babies.

But on arrival last week a member of staff approached them and led them to the back of the pub to appease complaining customers.

Anger: This group of mothers were asked to move to seats near a pub's toilets by male customers who appear to be annoyed by their noise and breastfeeding

The group believe that anti-breastfeeders are behind the complaints.

One of them has now written an angry letter to Whitbread, the company which owns the restaurant, demanding they investigate the attitude of their employees and regulars towards mothers.

Marie Barron, 35, of Ilkeston, Derbyshire, said: 'We are not loud, hooligan types. We were not there to get drunk.

'We are working mothers, on maternity leave with seven month old babies.

'We were told that there are men who come in and read the paper and don't want to be disturbed by women and babies and it was better if we were out of the way.'

The group were led from their chosen table, in the seating area at the front of the restaurant, to one at the far back, next to the toilets, in order to 'pre-empt any complaints'.

However, the group believe the real reason for the complaint was that some members of their party had been breastfeeding at the restaurant in previous weeks.

'We chose to meet there as our babies are not of an age where we can let them play amongst toddlers and, seeing as we don't get dinner dates as frequently as we used to pre-children, it's nice to eat a hot meal in good company.

'However, the treatment we received was unacceptable and left us feeling extremely embarrassed as well as discriminated against and ruined what is otherwise a perfectly lovely place to dine with friends and family.'

Humiliation: The group were led from their chosen table, in the seating area at the front of the restaurant, to one at the far back, next to the toilets

Ms Barron said: 'I know that we're not loud. We all have young babies but they're often asleep or feeding.

'The manager told us that we needed to go to a different soft play restaurant but our children are babies, they can't play in soft play.'

Marie, who has visited Butterley Park Brewers Fayre about six times with her mum friends, explained the issues with the manager started the previous week.

She said: 'The week before we were asked to move, the manager asked us how long we were planning on staying at the restaurant and told us a man who was reading his newspaper was unhappy.

'It was then the next week that the manager told one of our group - who is deaf - that we would have to move.

'She came back to tell us that we had to move but she hadn't be able to understand why.

'He then moved us to the very back of the restaurant, round a number of corners to avoid any potential complaints that people might make.'

The pub has apologised and offered the mums 10 vouchers.

A spokesperson for Brewers Fayre said: 'Brewers Fayre is a family restaurant that welcomes breastfeeding mothers, parents and carers with young children to enjoy all of our facilities, including the play areas.

'We would like to reassure guests that we regularly train our team members to ensure they put guest needs first and foremost.

'We are disappointed this claim has been made and are investigating as a priority.'
Donors told staff Clinton needs to have a clear sharp message and some say they are increasingly nervous

Word 'disappointed' used several times in conference call between top donors and

Hillary Clinton's donors told her staff she needs to improve her performance after her New Hampshire defeat.

In a conference call yesterday, supporters said they were 'disappointed' and urged her to project a single clear message.

After her embarrassing 22-point loss to Sanders in New Hampshire's presidential nominating contest, Clinton headed back on Wednesday to New York, where her campaign is based, to confer with top advisers and prepare for the face-off with Sanders in Milwaukee.

Her campaign has denied reports that Clinton is considering a shakeup of her staff, but aides acknowledged that adding new staff was a possibility.

Several among Clinton's wide circle of donors told Reuters they believed her surprisingly large loss in New Hampshire would ultimately bring out the fighter in her.

This would help to battle-test her, both for the contests ahead in her party's nomination process and to take on a Republican candidate in the November 8 general election, they added.

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Fix it: Donors told the Clinton campaign in a conference call that she needed to get a clear message. Her New Hampshire results showed she only succeeded against Sanders among over-65s.

Some donors said a growing sense of nervousness was setting in, however, especially after Sanders' campaign reported raising more than $6 million in the 24 hours after his win.

The word 'disappointed' came up several times during a conference call the campaign held on Wednesday with donors and fundraisers, said one Clinton supporter who was on the call.

Many donors said they thought one immediate task for the former secretary of state's campaign would be to improve upon her messaging.

Sanders, a democratic socialist U.S. senator from Vermont, has built his campaign around a promise to rein in big firms and Wall Street, while Clinton has emphasized her detailed policy proposals on issues from healthcare to financial reform.

Several supporters said a simpler message might bring Clinton more success in galvanizing voters.

Some donors said they would like to see Clinton retool the way she communicates her thinking to voters.

'Boil it down, be clear, be succinct, and make absolutely sure everybody knows you have a plan,' said Shekar Narasimhan, a Clinton donor and managing partner at Beekman Advisors.

Sanders has called for leveling the economic playing field by breaking up the big banks, creating a single-payer Medicare-for-all healthcare plan and offering government-paid public college tuition.

Clinton, the prohibitive front-runner in the race for months, barely beat Sanders last week in Iowa and lost decisively in New Hampshire, both states with nearly all-white populations, in the first two nominating contests.

Feel the Bern: Bernie Sanders has the momentum

The race now moves to Nevada, South Carolina and other more diverse states with more black and Hispanic voters, who, polls show, have been more favorable to Clinton so far.

The shift raises the stakes for Thursday's debate. When the two took the stage last week for their first one-on-one encounter of the campaign, they clashed sharply over their progressive credentials.

Some of Clinton's top donors said they thought she has performed well under pressure, as during her 11 hours of testimony to a congressional panel investigating the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, and in the grueling 2008 nominating battle she lost to Barack Obama.

'The idea that there's some kind of panic is completely overblown,' said major Democratic fundraiser and Clinton supporter Karin Birkelund.

'It's really, really early - way too early - in the process, and these states don't matter that much.'

But there was a familiar feel to Clinton's flameout in New Hampshire, said critics of her campaign, as well as some major Obama donors who have yet to commit to her.

'It's the same movie, all over again,' said lead Obama fundraiser Kirk Dornbush, a San Francisco biotechnology executive who has not yet committed to a candidate.

'It's 2008, running with the inevitability cloak and having that fail miserably.'

About half of 17 Clinton donors contacted by Reuters on Wednesday said they felt she needed to project more of her personality in intimate settings, showing the 'warm, genuine affable, and funny' person they know.

Most donors expressed confidence that Clinton's campaign would be on more solid ground by the Super Tuesday voting on March 1, when Democrats cast ballots in 11 states.

'I would have been prepared for her to lose the first two states because they were so favorable to Bernie Sanders,' said Carrin Patman, a partner at Houston law firm Bracewell who has raised $250,000 for Clinton.
The FBI has confirmed it is investigating Clinton's use of her own server

Among those believed to have received the emails was Huma Abedin

Hillary Clinton shared intelligence files labelled Top Secret with her aides using her own personal email server, it has been claimed.

The information, which was contained on the former secretary of state's personal email server, was deemed far too sensitive to release according to reports.

It is alleged that several of Clinton's staff, including Cheryl Mills, Huma Abedin, Jake Sullivan and Philippe Reines had access to the information.

It is believed that more than a dozen email accounts received the sensitive data.

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Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, pictured here shortly before her loss in the New Hampshire primary shared 'Top Secret' files with her aides using her own personal unsecured email server, it was claimed

Clinton's aide Huma Abedin, right, is believed to be among those who received the 'Top Secret' files

There is no evidence to show that these individuals, as well as Patrick F. Kennedy, Under Secretary for Management at the State Department, had the appropriate high-level security clearance to access the files, according to Fox News.

A source told the network that top secret intelligence was 'broadly shared' across the unsecured email system.

Security expert Dan Maguire told Fox: 'My contacts with former colleagues and current active duty personnel involved in sensitive programs reveal a universal feeling that the HRC [Hillary Rodham Clinton] issue is more serious than the general public realizes. Most opine they would already be behind bars if they had apparently compromised sensitive information as reported.

'The intelligence community is undoubtedly conducting damage assessments and evaluating the viability of any ongoing operation that may have been exposed to unauthorized personnel. The vulnerability of HRCs server to foreign government hacking cannot be overlooked - even the DCI, John Brennan, has been the target of hackers.'

Meanwhile, the FBI has formally confirmed it is investigating Hillary Clinton's private emails, giving fuel to a controversy that the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination has been unable to put behind her.

Republican opponents claimed Clinton, pictured, should withdraw from the presidential race over the scandal

FBI General Counsel James Baker said the FBI's investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of state is 'ongoing'.

Clinton has repeatedly denied doing anything wrong.

Although the FBI's investigation first became public in July, the Republican Party jumped on the latest news, saying it should disqualify her from the presidency.

Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus said: 'The investigation into Hillary Clinton's secret email server is far from the routine 'security review. Clinton's conduct was a severe error in judgment that grossly endangered our national security and put highly classified information at risk.'

Clinton acknowledged in March that she exclusively used a private email account and private server from 2009 to 2013 while secretary of state, opting against a government account despite official recommendations.

Although the FBI letter -- filed by the Justice Department in federal court in connection with a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit -- provides no details about the investigation's scope or content, it suggests one of the favored Republican lines of criticism against Clinton's campaign is far from exhausted.
North Korea has ordered a military takeover of a factory park that was the last major symbol of co-operation with South Korea, saying Seoul's suspension of operations at the jointly run facility was a 'dangerous declaration of war'.

The move by the South was made in response to North Korea's nuclear test last month and incendiary long-range rocket launch on Sunday.

Pyongyang said it is immediately deporting the hundreds of South Koreans who work at the complex just across the world's most heavily armed border in the city of Kaesong, pulling out the tens of thousands of North Korean employees and freezing all South Korean assets.

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South Korean vehicles returning from North Korea's joint Kaesong Industrial Complex pass the customs, immigration and quarantine office near the border village of Panmunjom, in Paju, South Korea, on Thursday

A South Korean military policeman stands guard at the Military Demarcation Line a day after Seoul announced it will shut down a joint factory complex in retaliation for the North's series of provocations

Military humvees pass through the Tongil bridge, a checkpoint leading to the Kaesong joint industrial zone

Military humvees pass through the Tongil bridge, a checkpoint leading to the Kaesong joint industrial zone

A South Korean cargo truck returns from North Korea's joint Kaesong Industrial Complex

South Korea's Yonhap news agency, citing a military official, reported that South Korea bolstered its military readiness and strength along the western portion of the border in the event of a North Korean provocation

It also said it is shutting down two crucial cross-border communication hotlines.

The North's propaganda machine also swung into action. It claimed that South Korea's president Park Geun-hye masterminded the shutdown and called her a 'confrontational wicked woman' who lives upon 'the groin of her American boss'.

An immediate worry in Seoul, meanwhile, was whether all South Korean workers would be allowed to leave.

Some analysts speculated that Pyongyang would hold on to some to get all the wages owed to North Korean workers.

Some South Korean workers left Kaesong before the North's announcement, and a handful of others were seen leaving afterwards, but South Korean officials were not certain whether all its nationals had departed by Pyongyang's 5.30pm (Seoul time) expulsion deadline, or what would become of anyone who failed to do so.

The South's unification ministry, which is responsible for ties with the North, said about 130 South Koreans had planned to enter Kaesong on Thursday to begin shutdown work, and that nearly 70 South Koreans who had been staying there would be leaving.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency, citing a military official, reported that South Korea bolstered its military readiness and strength along the western portion of the border in the event of a North Korean provocation.

The North's moves, announced by the North's committee for the peaceful reunification of Korea, significantly raised the stakes in a standoff that began with North Korea's nuclear test last month, followed by a long-range rocket launch on Sunday that outsiders see as a banned test of ballistic missile technology.

South Korea responded on Thursday by beginning work to suspend operations at the factory park, one of its harshest possible punishment options.

North Korea called the South's shutdown a 'dangerous declaration of war' and a 'declaration of an end to the last lifeline of the North-South relations'. Such over-the-top rhetoric is typical of the North's propaganda, but the country appeared to be backing up its language with its strong response.

North Korea has previously cut off cross-border communication channels in times of tension with South Korea, but they were later restored after animosities eased.

Gen. Lee Sun-jin, chairman of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, participates in a video conference from Seoul with his counterparts from Japan and the United States, in Soeul, South Korea, to discuss their joint response to North Korea's recent provocations

Seoul said its decision on Kaesong was an effort to stop Pyongyang from using hard currency from the park to develop its nuclear and missile programmes.

'Now we can say that all strings between the Koreas have been cut and that there are no more buffers,' said Ko Yoo-Hwan, a professor of North Korean Studies at Dongguk University in Seoul.

'An escalation of tensions is inevitable, and I see further trouble ahead with Kaesong and the issues of seized assets, especially if North Korea militarises the zone,' Ko said.

The United States and its main Asian allies, South Korea and Japan, have led a push for tough UN Security Council sanctions over the North's nuclear weapons programme, but have met resistance from North Korea's main diplomatic protector China.
An Australian priest accused of sexually abusing a young boy is expected to be deported from Malaysia after fleeing Melbourne, with claims he has recently been trying to make contact with 'Asian men' on gay dating websites.

In 2012, Father Peter Grasby was accused of sexually abusing a boy between the ages of 10 and 14 in the late 1970s at St Joseph's West Brunswick in Melbourne. He was later accused of questionable conduct at the Victorian parliamentary inquiry in relation to his time at St Michael's in north Melbourne and St Mary Magdalen in Jordanville, according to The Age.

'We will deport the former priest if he is found to be in Sarawak,' immigration department director for Sarawak, Ken Leben told the Malay Mail Online.

The Age alleges that the former parish priest has a profile on gay dating website Planetromeo with screen shots of a profile listed to 'a 66-year-old Catholic who happens to like Asian Men'.

In 2012, Father Peter Grasby was accused of sexually abusing a boy between the ages of 10 and 14 in the late 1970s at St Joseph's West Brunswick in Melbourne

Grasby was accused of questionable conduct at the Victorian parliamentary inquiry in relation to his time at St Michael's in north Melbourne and St Mary Magdalen in Jordanville (pictured) where he was parish priest until 2012, at which point he was put on administrative leave

The man on the profile explains he is looking for Asian men between the ages of 18 and 35 but is 'not on here looking for sex, because I am getting a bit too old to get hard!' according to The Age.

Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart placed Grasby on administrative leave a month after the allegations were made, allegedly with strict orders that he does not move overseas.

The Victorian parliamentary inquiry also accused Grasby of 'surrounding himself with a concerning number of young Vietnamese boys' at St Mary Magdalen and 'allowing boys to sleep in his former presbytery at St Michael's in North Melbourne,' the Malay Mail Online claims.

Priests on administrative leave are provided with housing and the same wages they had always received. They also remain priests in the eyes of the church.

In 2012 a Victorian parliamentary inquiry also raised concerns about Grasby's conduct during his time at St Michael's in North Melbourne (pictured)

The archdiocese allegedly did not know Grasby had left the country until media reports emerged this week, leading to questions about how suspended priests suspected of sexual abuse offences are monitored by the church.

Father Peter Grasby is understood to have travelled to the city of Kuching in eastern Malaysia from Australia despite his strict orders to remain in the country.

However, The Age alleges his dating profile, in which he 'lists details about his genitals and sexual preferences', was also active when Grasby was in Melbourne and was used to proposition one of his former parishioners.
Pictures show hundreds of dials and switches in cockpit and the passengers' cabin in iconic prototype plane

Inside now being painstakingly restored by Delta Museum, near Paris, with help of British donors but won't fly again

It is one of two but the other was destroyed, and this is now being restored after decade on tarmac in Orly, France

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The first ever Concorde to land on American soil which paved the way for supersonic Atlantic crossings for the rich and famous is to open to the public.

The prototype plane helped convince American authorities that it was safe and after being decommissioned in 1975, the inside of the plane is now being restored to its former glory.

After a decade on the tarmac at Orly outside Paris, the Delta Museum is restoring it with the help of British donors, and making sure every tiny detail on the 102-F-WTSA is as it was in its prime.

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This is the painstakingly restored cockpit from the Concorde 102-F-WTSA which was decommissioned in 1975 and was once an empty shell. However, the restoration is now in process and it will open to the public

This graphic shows the crucial dials and controls used to fly the plane at twice the speed of sound back in 1973 when it was operational

The prototype plane helped convince American authorities that it was safe, and after being decommissioned in 1975, and has now spent a decade on the tarmac at the Delta Museum, outside Paris

Pictures of the inside of the plane reveal the spacious seating on the luxurious service, which later became the commercial plane of choice for the rich and famous throughout the 1970s and 1980s

While it will never fly again, the restoration team have had to source and recreate original parts for the inside of the plane, which has entire walls of tiny dials and knobs. Even the seats look as they would have done in the mid-1970s

The aircraft was once an empty shell, but already, every dial and stick has been painstakingly put together to create the cockpit where pioneering pilots flew the plane from 40 years ago

The first transatlantic Concorde is sitting on the tarmac at the Delta Museum, in Orly, outside Paris, where it has been for ten years

US authorities originally said they would never allow an aircraft with a sliding nose (pictured, left) - the part which allowed the plane to move so fast). However, the crucial tests done by this prototype helped convince the authorities to allow a commercial service

Inside the cockpit, there are hundreds of dials and switches on the engineer's panel for the plane which flew nearly 1,400mph to the angle of its position in the air

The aircraft was once an empty shell, but already, every dial and stick has been painstakingly put together to create the cockpit where pioneering pilots flew the plane from 40 years ago.

Concorde flew twice the speed of sound and got it passengers from London to New York in just three and a half hours - just half of what it took other commercial planes to fly the journey.

In its heyday, when the glamorous days of air travel were at the peak, it ferried film stars, musicians and politicians across the Atlantic in what became known as a party in the sky.

With stunning air hostesses and caviar guaranteed, Sean Connery, Robert Redford, the Bee gees, Phil Collins and Mick Jagger are all included in the plane's star-studded passenger list.

World leaders would be taken between the globe's corridors of power, with France's Jacques Chirac taking the plane, as well as former British Prime Ministers Tony Blair and John Major.

Major broadcasters would use the service, and David Frost considered himself the plane's most frequent flyer, using it an average of twenty times a year for twenty years.

An exterior shot of Concorde's iconic nose cone, which was cleared for use in America after the work by these two prototype planes

The entrance to the iconic plane, which is currently being restored and will open more than 40 years since it last flew in 1975. Even the safety sign next to it has been recreated

These are the engines that once allowed this plane to fly at twice the speed of sound, however, it will never fly again after being decommissioned in 1975, and the restoration will be cosmetic

The emergency exit on the plane, which stopped flying in 1976. Concorde was eventually retired altogether in 2003 after its only crash in 2000 - although it was not the sole factor in the discontinuation of the aircraft

At one point, he was flying from London to New York weekly as he was presenting a show in both Britain and America, and it took around half the time of other services.

Sports stars were also among the passengers. Mike Tyson flew on Concorde, as well as the 1999 Champions League-winning Manchester United team.

Also in 1999, on the eve of the Ryder Cup in 1999, Spains Jose Maria Olazabal putted the world's longest ever putt during a flight to the United State.

With the plane travelling at 1,270 mph, the ball was in motion for 9.232 miles as it moved towards the cup along the 150-ft cabin in 26.17 seconds.

However, the American authorities were at first incredibly concerned about the design of the plane, and initially said that it would never land on US soil.

It took more than a decade of testing to convince various authorities that it was safe for commercial flight, and the Concorde 10 F-WTSA soon to go on display was instrumental in that process.

It was the first Concorde ever to land on US soil, and in just three years, made 311 flights, with a total of 642 hours and 28 minutes in the air.

The aircraft was one of two prototype planes, used in research and development by British Airways and Air France when considering buying the planes from developers British Aircraft Corporation.

In its heyday, when the glamorous days of air travel were at the peak, it ferried film stars, musicians and politicians across the Atlantic in what became known as a party in the sky. In this picture, Queen Elizabeth is seen reading newspapers on the way back from Barbados

The Queen and Princess Anne (foreground) in the cockpit of a Concorde having points explained by Brian Trubshaw, BAC's chief test pilot

Major broadcasters would use the service, and David Frost (left) considered himself the plane's most frequent flyer, using it an average of twenty times a year for twenty years. Jeremy Clarkson also used the aircraft, and Piers Morgan (background)

The Queen Mother takes a look around the cockpit and meets the pilot after getting a belated birthday present - a flight on British Airways' supersonic jetliner

Successive British Prime Ministers John Major (left, in 1995) and Tony Blair (in Denver, USA) on the steps to the famous aircraft

It was used by Britain's rich and powerful. From left to right, MPs, Anthony Crosland, Prime Minister, James Callaghan (Lord Callaghan of Cardiff) and Denis Healey (Lord Healey), after flight on Concorde

Former Beatles member Paul McCartney, wife Linda McCartney and their daughter Stella McCartney after flying on Concorde in 1979

Air France Concorde flight 4590 takes off with fire trailing from its engine on the left wing from Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris on July 25, 2000, the plane's first and last crash, killing all 190 passengers

Their testing helped prove their viability, and after tests were complete, the spacious luxurious cabin inside - that has now been fully restored - was used by world leaders to sign the deal that put commercial Concorde flights in the air.

When their job was done, their engines were scrapped and used for parts by Air France but the shell was displayed outside the airport at Orly. However, in 1985, the Aeroport de Paris decided that they should be scrapped

While model 101 was destroyed, there was a campaign to maintain the vital part of France's flying history and model 102 was saved.

Later on, on July 25 2000, Concorde had its first ever crash, with the plane bursting into flames as it took of from Paris, later crashing and filling all 190 passengers.

The crash was the beginning of the end for the iconic plane, which flew its last flight in 2003 after a massive drop in demand following the crash in 2000 and the September 11 attacks.

Also, a decision was made by Airbus, the successor to Aerospatiale and BAC, to discontinue maintenance support.
Tense bidding war as it was the first time painting was offered publicly

A fierce bidding war saw a naked portrait by Lucian Freud of his pregnant teenage lover sell for more than twice its estimate at auction - fetching an astonishing 16million.

Pregnant Girl, regarded as one of Freud's most famous and important paintings, shows Bernadine Coverley carrying the couple's first child while asleep.

The painting, completed in 1961, was a radical departure from the artist's realist style of the 1950s and has been displayed at all of his important exhibitions.

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Pregnant Girl depicts Lucian Freud's 17-year-old lover Bernadine Coverley, carrying the couple's first child, Bella. The portrait went under the hammer this week and sold for an astonishing 16m

Bella (pictured left with photographer Mario Testino) is now an internationally-acclaimed fashion designer. Lucian Freud (right) painted the picture in 1961 and it went on to be regarded as one of his most famous and important pieces of art

Freud and Coverley never married, nor did they live together, but they had two daughters and a lifelong bond.

In Pregnant Girl, the 17-year-old mother-to-be is carrying their first daughter, Bella, who is now an internationally-acclaimed fashion designer.

The painting was offered publicly for the first time on Wednesday evening at Sotheby's Contemporary Art Auction in London.

It had an estimate of 7 to 10 million and after a tense bidding war which went on for almost ten minutes between six parties, auctioneer Oliver Barker hammered down at 14.2 million.

With premiums and taxes, the final price paid by the anonymous bidder was 16,053,000 - the fourth highest price paid for a Freud at auction.

A tense bidding war ensued as the painting was offered publicly for the first time at Sotheby's Contemporary Art Auction in London. Despite initial estimates of between 7m and 10m, it was eventually sold to an anonymous bidder

Mr Barker said: 'This astonishingly beautiful painting embodies the profound bond between Lucian and the mother of his two daughters.

Another work by Lucian Freud (pictured), 'Benefits Supervisor Resting', sold for 35.8m last year

'There is arguably no other portrait by Freud that is more gripping, more tender, and more laden with such emotional depth.'

Freud was 39 at the time he met Coverley - who was raised a Catholic and attended a convent from the age of four - in 1959 in London.

They would have another daughter, Esther, but the couple's relationship was brief and Coverley left England with her two small children to start a new life in Morocco.

Despite splitting, they remained in touch and their relationship marked a new approach to painting from Freud.

They died just four days of each other in July 2011.

Daughter Bella said: 'It must have been a very happy time in her life, being pregnant with the man she loved and him wanting her to be there and paint her.

'I think he was undoubtedly the love of her life.'

Sotheby's previously described Pregnant Girl as 'beautiful, sensuous, and full of emotive depth', adding it is an 'astonishing and defining image' in Freud's body of work.

A notorious womaniser, some people have claimed Freud fathered as many as 40 children, including three by three separate women in the same year. He formally acknowledged 14.
Germany needs 450 million euros to integrate just ten per cent of the migrants and refugees who have arrived in the country in the past year, the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs said.

Andrea Nahles says the money, some 352million, would be used to create jobs for an estimated 100,000 refugees, including the provision of training opportunities and internships.

Germany took in more than one million asylum seekers in 2015, leaving the labour minister with a task 'impossible to manage with the current budget'.

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Germany's Minister of Labour and Social Affairs. Andrea Nahles says the 352million would be used to create jobs for an estimated 100,000 refugees - just ten per cent of last years intake.

Ms Nahles said: 'We cannot take away the money for the long-term unemployed', adding that otherwise there would be a 'cut-throat competition, and the stoking of fears instead of reducing them.'

Ms Nahles added that every year more money would be needed for other integration projects and that the 450 million euros would only cover a short-term solution.

Ms Nahles, of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), said that talks had already started with finance minister Wolfgang Schauble, of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), to get the funds needed.

She said that the job possibilities included additional chances for the unemployed such as the one-euro jobs but at the moment only those currently on Hartz IV benefits were eligible for these.

Earlier, Germany's job agency the Bundesagentur fur Arbeit (BA) had predicted that the integration process in the job market of refugees would not be easy.

Plan for the future: Ms Nahles added that every year more money would be needed for other integration projects and that the 450 million euros would only cover a short-term solution

Crisis: Cabins are set up inside the former airport Tempelhof to be used as a temporary emergency shelter for migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in Berlin, Germany

BA boss Detlef Scheele said in an interview with the Sueddeutsche Zeitung: 'We should not have too many expectations.'

He added that if things went really well, in the first year of arrival maybe ten per cent of the refugees might end up with a job, and in five years it might be half.

He estimated that after 15 years, it could be around 70 per cent.

This follows Ms Nahles' announcement last week that she plans to cut benefits for migrants who don't want to integrate into German society.

Just as long-term unemployed are obligated to take jobs if they're offered, asylum-seekers should be expected to take German language and integration classes, and start working when they're able, Nahles said.

'Whoever needs help will get it,' she said. 'But you can't get support for nothing.'
A 13-year-old student has become the only boy at an all-girls school after changing his gender.

Jordan Morgan decided he was not comfortable with living as female last year and returned to Gloucester High School for Girls with his new identity in January.

Staff and pupils are now calling him by his new name and using the pronoun he rather than she.

Transgender teen: Jordan (pictured with his mother Diane) was born a girl but returned to school in January with a new identity

But Jordan, formerly called Elizabeth, still has to wear a skirt for lessons to conform with strict uniform rules. He is fighting to be allowed to wear trousers.

He said: 'I'm transgender - I identify more as male. I feel quite strongly that being a boy is the right thing for me.

"It kind of clicked for me and I finally feel a lot more comfortable. I'm not the first transgender person who will be going to schools and I won't be the last. My friends have been accepting and many of them are LGBT.

Jordan's family, from Kingsholm, Gloucester, did not suspect he was any different from his friends until early last year when he confessed he might be a lesbian.

Then, in October, he told his mother Diane that he was transgender and wanted to become a boy.

The uniform policy at High School for Girls in Gloucester (pictured) specifies that Year 7 to 11 pupils must wear skirts so, for the moment, Jordan is conforming with the code. But he is hoping governors grant an exception

Jordan, who lives in Kingsholm, Gloucester, said his friends and family are getting used to using 'him' and 'he' instead of 'she'. His mother Diane (left) said the school had 'tried to be accommodating' to Jordan's decision

The 45-year-old NHS worker, admitted that she initially grieved for the daughter she had lost  but said she was extremely proud of her boy.

Shock and grief were the first reactions, she said. I had always thought that I'd be parenting a girl, going through the highs and lows of puberty and adolescence with a female, growing a woman.

'Finding out this was not the case was bewildering. For 13 years I had lived with my thoughts and expectations and, in the course of one conversation, all that changed.

OPTIONS FOR TRANSGENDER TEENS Gender dysphoria is a condition where a person experiences discomfort or distress because there is a mismatch between their biological sex and the gender they identify themselves to be. For some people it can mean dressing and living as their preferred gender while others may take hormones or have surgery to change their physical appearance. A child is unable to undergo transgender surgery or permanent hormonal therapy until they reach the age of 18. Prior to that, if a child is thought to have gender dysphoria they will usually be referred by a GP to a specialist child and adolescent Gender Identity Clinic  the only one of which for young people is the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust in London. An assessment will be carried out and the options available include: Family therapy

Individual child psychotherapy

Regular reviews to monitor gender identity development

Hormone therapy If a child has gender dysphoria and they've reached puberty, they could be treated with gonadotrophin-releasing hormones (GnRH). These are man-made hormones that suppress puberty and delay potentially distressing physical changes caused by a childs body becoming even more like that of their biological sex. This allows them to wait until they are 18, a point at which they can consider the wider options available to them. Source: NHS Advertisement

'So, I took some time, wept, stormed, railed at the universe and, at times, blamed myself for things I had and hadn't done that may have made this situation come about.

'Now, slowly, with patience, acceptance is starting to make its way in.

'My child remains funny, kind, wise, compassionate, cheeky, loving, brave, creative - all qualities that are still there, whether he chooses to live as male or female.

Jordan confessed he had felt different to other girls for many years but found it easier to fit in at primary school where he wore trousers every day and played football with the boys.

He is hopeful that Gloucester High School for Girls will allow him to wear trousers.

Im trying to make things happen because it makes things easier for others in this situation, he said.

Its something that will benefit me in my life and hopefully will benefit others coming after me.

Gloucester High School for Girls is a selective school with a mixed sixth form which has around 800 students. Last year 98 per cent of girls got five top grades at GCSE level.

Headteacher Eva Sawicka said her staff were looking closely at transgender guidance for schools and are working with the family.

Jordan visited his GP late last year and is awaiting an appointment at London's Tavistock Clinic - a service for young people with gender identity issues.

The family may eventually consider hormone therapy treatment and surgery.

A child is unable to undergo transgender surgery or permanent hormonal therapy until they reach the age of 18.

Prior to that there are a range of options, including psychotherapy or being treated with gonadotrophin-releasing hormones (GnRH) if they have reached puberty.

These are man-made hormones that suppress puberty and delay the physical changes that see a child's body become even more like that of their biological sex.
This is the ridiculous moment North Korean officials cried as they watched the country's recent rocket launch.

A dramatic video of the launch on February 7 has been aired by North Korea's state-run television KRT.

Cheesy music accompanies the footage which shows the moment of blast off on repeat from a variety of angles and is four minutes long.

Dramatic: A video of the recent rocket launch on February 7 has been aired by North Korea's state-run television KRT

It's just too much! This is the ridiculous moment North Korean officials cried as they watched the launch

The best moment however is at the end when the footage returns to mission control and a crowd of officials are clapping and cheering.

Two men at the back are so overwhelmed by the majesty of the the launch they are seen wiping away tears. One completely covers his eyes, holding his glasses in his hand.

Kim Jong-un is seen in a photo montage interspersed with the video watching the launch with his officials.

North Korea said they were putting a satellite into orbit.

They later called the rocket launch a 'complete success' and revealed the satellite was making a polar orbit of Earth every 94 minutes.

North Korea have claimed the launch was for scientific and 'peaceful purposes' but many other nations believe it is simply a front for ballistic missile testing.

Complete with soundtrack: Cheesy music accompanies the footage which shows the moment of blast off on repeat from a variety of angles and is four minutes long

Explnation: North Korea said they were putting a satellite into orbit

Up and away: They later called the rocket launch a 'complete success' and revealed the satellite was making a polar orbit of Earth every 94 minutes

And the real reason? North Korea have claimed the launch was for scientific and 'peaceful purposes' but many other nations believe it is simply a front for ballistic missile testing

Reports from South Korea suggest that the range of this potential new missile may be as great as 8,000 miles, much more powerful than the roughly 6,000 mile range of the Unha 3, a rocket put into space in December 2012.

If these numbers are correct this new missile is a major advance for North Korea.

A missile with such an enormous range fired from North Korea could reach any location in the US.

The UN Security Council resolutions in fact ban North Korean space launches - as well as ballistic missile tests - but the country refuses to obey.

Supreme leader: Kim Jong-un is seen in a photo montage interspersed with the video watching the launch with his officials

Ecstatic: The footage returns to mission control where a crowd of officials are clapping and cheering
HAWTHORNE - Healing the Children(r) New Jersey (HTCNJ) completed an international trip to Guayaquil, Ecuador providing donated medical care to needy children. During the weeklong December trip to Guayaquil, the 19 member surgical team, headed by Bruce Schnall, MD, a Specialist of Pediatric Ophthalmology at the Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia, reported a total of 112 surgical procedures at the Leon Becerra Hospital in Guayaquil.

"We performed about 24 surgeries per day. Patients were examined at the hospital's clinic with surgery performed the following day," said Dr. Schnall. "The team did a remarkable job in screening patients and preparing them for surgery."

Other team members on this medical trip to Ecuador included Diane Calesnick, CRNA, President of the HTCNJ Board of Trustees and Co-Director of the International Trips Abroad Program and Rosemarie Gelber, MHCA, Trip Administrator who organized the trip with the local Guayaquil contacts. Richard Koenig, Director of the Leon Becerra Hospital in Guayaquil, arranged for the HTCNJ team's schedule at the hospital.

Healing the Children of New Jersey was founded in 1981 and has helped more than 33,000 children, traveled to 16 countries, and welcomed children to the United States from 100 countries. Healing the Children(r) is a national organization founded in Spokane, Washington in 1979 to provide donated medical care to needy children. Today, there are 13 chapters across the country including the one in New Jersey.
NATO is sending warships to the Aegean Sea to help Turkey and Greece crack down on criminal networks smuggling migrants and refugees into Europe.

Three military vessels have been ordered to move immediately to the Aegean Sea to conduct reconnaissance and surveillance, Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO secretary-general, said today.

The move is aimed at helping Europe tackle its worst migration crisis since World War II, with more than a million asylum-seekers arriving in Germany alone last year.

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Action: Syrian refugees arrive at the port of Piraeus, near Athens, Greece, as NATO orders three warships to the Aegean Sea in the Mediterranean to help stem the flow of migrants

Three vessels from the NATO Maritime Group 2 (SNMG2), pictured during training with the Turkish Navy in the Eastern Mediterranean, have been sent out with immediate effect

Ships from NATO Standing Maritime Group 2 'will start to move now' on orders from U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, NATO's supreme commander in Europe, Stoltenberg said.

'This is about helping Greece, Turkey and the European Union with stemming the flow of migrants and refugees and coping with a very demanding situation,' Stoltenberg said, calling the situation a 'human tragedy.'

Although the plan is still to be detailed by NATO generals, member states are likely to use ships to work with Turkish and Greek coastguards and the European Union border agency Frontex.

'There is now a criminal syndicate that is exploiting these poor people and this is an organised smuggling operation,' U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter told a news conference.

'Targeting that is the way that the greatest effect can be had ... That is the principal intent of this,' Carter said.

'Human tragedy': NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the move is 'about helping Greece, Turkey and the European Union with stemming the flow of migrants and refugees'

The move is aimed at helping Europe tackle its worst migration crisis since World War II, with more than a million asylum-seekers arriving in Germany alone last year

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter told a press conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Thursday that the purpose of NATO intervention is to stop human trafficking across the Mediterranean sea

The numbers of people fleeing war and failing states, mainly in the Middle East and North Africa, show little sign of falling, despite winter weather that makes sea crossings even more perilous.

A 3 billion euro (2.36bn) deal between the EU and Turkey to stem the flows has yet to have a big impact.

Germany said it would take part in the NATO mission along with Greece and Turkey, while the United States, NATO's most powerful member, said it fully supports the plan.

'It is important that we now act quickly,' German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said, adding that NATO's involvement should act to deter traffickers.

Intelligence gathered about people-smugglers is likely to be handed over to Turkish coastguards to allow them to combat the traffickers more effectively, rather than having the NATO alliance act directly against the criminals, NATO diplomats said.

NATO and the EU are eager to avoid the impression that the 28-nation military alliance is now tasked to stop refugees or treat them as a threat.
Home Secretary Theresa May, pictured in Downing Street this week, today announced a one year extension to the Met Commissioner's contract

Home Secretary Theresa May has offered the Metropolitan Police Commissioner a contract extension of just one year rather than the three years which were available.

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe will now face a further review of his contract next year amid a growing scandal over Operation Midland, a murder probe into the several high profile public figures triggered by a single witness.

Hours before the announcement, Sir Bernard said he had 'no intention of being dismissed' and had always wanted a seven year tenure at the Met - another two years on top of his initial 2011 contract.

Mrs May said the new one year deal would allow the new London mayor elected in May to take a view on whether to keep Sir Bernard in post or replace him.

In a statement to MPs, Mrs May said she had taken a recommendation from Boris Johnson into account when deciding on the short extension.

She said: 'My recommendation recognises the vital work the Commissioner has done in fighting crime and in reforming the Metropolitan Police Service.

'He has been at the forefront of the vital and important challenge of policing London at a time of heightened security.

'This extension to 25 September 2017 provides continuity for the Metropolitan Police Service during a change of political leadership in London, and will give the new Mayor of London the opportunity to take an informed view about any recommendation they may wish to make about the longer term leadership of the organisation, after they take office in May 2016.'

The Commissioner handed questions over the Met's handling of Operation Midland, which saw arrests of field marshall Lord Bramall and Lord Brittan but no charges, to a judge-led inquiry yesterday - but faced immediate claims he was kicking the scandal 'into the long grass'.

Scotland Yard was forced to admit last year it had made a mistake when a senior officer described a key witness - known only as 'Nick' - as 'credible and true' when it launched a murder investigation.

Det Supt Kenny McDonald used the phrase in 2014 as the force announced an investigation the alleged killing of three young boys linked to a suspected VIP paedophile ring at the Dolphin Square apartments in Westminster, said to have been active in the 1970s and 1980s.

The probe, known as Operation Midland, led to a series of dawn raids and arrests of public figures - including the 92-year-old Lord Bramall, Lord Brittan, and former MP Harvey Proctor.

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, pictured yesterday outlining his new review, will face a further renewal of his contract next year

But the Met was later forced to admit that without Mr McDonald's declaration of belief in the witness 'we would not have investigated in the way we have'.

Speaking after today's annoncement, Mr Proctor told the Daily Mail: 'Hogan-Howe has undoubtedly got a slap in the face... He is now a lame-duck commissioner who is on probation.

'I am certain that in due course he will have to resign or be sacked over Operation Midland.'

CONFUSION OVER 'CREDIBLE AND TRUE' REMARK Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe sparked confusion yesterday after suggesting his officers quickly corrected a misleading statement about the reliability of Operation Midlands key witness, Nick. The Scotland Yard boss said his force acknowledged within days that it was wrong for Det Supt Kenny McDonald to call Nicks allegations of a VIP paedophile ring credible and true. In fact, it was nine months before it officially retreated from Mr McDonalds statement, made in December 2014  conceding on September 21 last year that it was for a jury to determine the truth of criminal allegations. Mr McDonald was removed from the inquiry a month later, with colleagues claiming he has been hung out to dry by chiefs who approved his statement. The detectives boss, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve Rodhouse, has declined to comment. Yesterday, on BBC Radio 4s Today, Sir Bernard said Mr McDonald mis-spoke and we acknowledged it fairly quickly afterwards. Asked how quickly, he said a matter of days, I think. Advertisement

Meanwhile, Sir Bernard said he had wanted a two year deal to take his tenure as commissioner to seven years.

He told the BBC he had not set up the new inquiry to 'divert attention' away from himself.

He added: 'I have been very consistent all along, ever since I came in in 2011, I said I would like to stay in the Met for up to seven years.

'I use those words because I don't think that any leader should give away when they are going because what happens in your final year is you are dismissed.

'I have no intention of being dismissed.'

Sir Bernard has defended his force and insisted it has a duty to look into serious allegations when they are made.

He said today: 'It's not unfair to point out we have now got the Lord Justice Goddard inquiry.

'We are being accused of being witch hunters and doing it in a very inappropriate way. We are prepared to look at that and that's why I set up this review.'

He added: 'If we get this wrong, between not just the police but society, lawyers, etc, people won't come forward.

'Surely what we all want to happen, particularly a child today, wants to feel confident someone isn't going to hang them out to dry and that their background will be looked into if they make an allegation.

'So we have got to get this right. I think Sir Richard's work will help us with that and I know he is keen to try and develop a code of practice with others to see whether there's not something we can on these very difficult cases.'

Sir Bernard took over as Met Commissioner in 2011 with an initial five year contract.

Mrs May was allowed to extend the current deal by up to three years and then further one year at a time.

The Mayor of London is consulted on changes to the commissioner's contract.
A Walter Mitty Army enthusiast who claimed he was a war hero rewarded by the Queen for his valour has been outed as a fantasist because he is 'c**p at Photoshop'.

Dave Harper was exposed after posting a manipulated image on his Facebook page - stolen from a genuine hero soldier just given Britain's third highest medal for gallantry.

Harper crudely put his face on a picture of Lance Corporal Alfie Pope and told friends he was given a Military Cross for serving in Northern Ireland in 1969.

But the photograph of Alfie Pope was taken in 2012 and he is holding a medal for serving in Afghanistan - not Ulster - handed to him at Buckingham Palace by Prince Charles.

Bizarre: Dave Harper was exposed after posting the manipulated image on his Facebook page - yet one friend was still sucked in by the lie

Real deal: Lance Corporal Alfie Pope, whose face was replaced, during a 2012 investiture ceremony with his Military Cross - which Dave Harper, right, changed himself

Paratrooper Pope ran through a hail of Taliban bullets to save three wounded friends before being shot in the head himself - but was saved by his helmet.

Seconds later, when he came round, he got up again and ran back into the firing line again and helped the other men.

Harper was targeted by the Walter Mitty Hunters Club, a secret network of former military personnel whose mission is to expose those who fraudulently claim to have fought for their country.

Despite the terrible fake picture he produced, Mr Harper still enjoyed praise from his gullible friends who believed he was in the Parachute Regiment.

In broken English, he wrote: 'Some old photo's I found in old envelope. Most of my belongings where destroyed when my Aunts house was burned very badly. I had forgotten about them

'B****y horrible photo when I look at it, never used to wear my Beret like that normally, I look retarded'.

The terrible edit even managed to fool one of his friends and James Harmer wrote: 'You have gone up even further in my estimation.'

But his efforts to win praise for his bravery came to the attention of the Walter Mitty Hunters Club on Facebook.

The group of ex-servicemen and women will berate anybody pretending to be former serviceman.

The picture was dated October 26, 1969 - when it is thought there were no medals awarded, and also the picture would have not been in printed in colour.

Hunted down: His lie was exposed by the Walter Mitty Hunters Club, a secret network of former military personnel whose mission is to expose those who fraudulently claim to have fought for their country

Member Mark Breen said: 'That is hilarious - beret shaped with a spirit level.'

Fellow Walter Mitty hunter Mark McKendry wrote: 'A blind man could have made a better job of that photoshop.'

Steve Edward added: 'How could anyone have been fooled by that 'Photoshop' effort? You can almost see the Sellotape.'

Mitch Singleton said: 'He is wearing an Afghan medal, whilst stating this is a very old photo after a Northern Ireland tour'.

The Ministry of Defence has been contacted for a comment - as has Dave Harper.

The Facebook hit squad of military experts who out liars masquerading as SAS heroes, Falklands veterans and fake victims of post-traumatic stress

Operating anonymously, contacting each other only through Facebook, a secret network of former military personnel will secretly hunt down those who fraudulently claim to have fought for their country.

Deceptions exposed range from a fantasist SAS hero who boasted of working as Princess Diana's bodyguard to a supposed Falklands veteran and even those who falsely claim to be dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Known as the Walter Mitty Hunters Club, the small group of experts bring extensive experience from across the Armed Forces. And with a growing following of more than 45,000 people on Facebook, awareness of their work is on the rise.

Aim: The group's mission is simple - to expose those who fraudulently claim to have fought for their country

Even NHS boob scrounger Josie Cunningham has been outed by the vigilantes. She claimed she enlisted in the Royal Navy at the age of 16 and was touted as a future warfare specialist, before falling pregnant and leaving a year later. The 'hunters' have evidence which suggests otherwise.

The group's name comes from the fictional fantasist character at the heart of James Thurbers 1941 short story. A daydreamer who longed to escape from his mundane existence, timid middle-aged accountant Walter Mitty would picture himself as a brilliant surgeon, wartime pilot and brave soldier.

But what he could scarcely have imagined was that one day he would become an everyday metaphor for those of a similar character and later adopted into British military slang.

In an interview with MailOnline, one anonymous 'Walter Mitty hunter said the group now gets between 20 and 30 Walt tip-offs each weekend.

Some are love rats who have deceived women with their alleged service history. Others do it for financial gain, boasting of their fictitious past to promote a business.

But perhaps the hardest pill to swallow for many genuine veterans is the number of Walts who are conning charities by pretending to be PTSD sufferers.

When asked about such cases, the anonymous hunter told MailOnline: We've come across quite a few who claim to have PTSD from serving in war zones by recounting stories they've heard or read about in books or from listening to real vets.

Then you have the worst kind. Once caught they claim PTSD, which is becoming more common, attempting to use it as an excuse and for sympathy.

They are not only compounding the deceit, but stigmatising a symptom that real vets find hard to admit to themselves, let alone the public.

Named and shamed: One man caught out by the 'hunters' was Beau Plantard (left). He claimed he was an SAS hero so he could lure women into bed. The group also creates 'wanted' posters for those it exposes (right)

Fraud: Plantard even had a tattoo of Parachute Regiment-style wings emblazoned across his shoulder blade

Among the Walts exposed are a conman who pretended to raise money for a dying girl and a fantasist who claimed he was an SAS hero who worked as Princess Dianas bodyguard.

The latter, Beau Plantard, 49, who also goes by the name John Pugh, used a web of lies to lure women into bed. He pretended he was a veteran paratrooper who had once been asked to assist with the rescue of the schoolgirls kidnapped in Nigeria by Boko Haram.

Meanwhile, Martin Heaver was jailed for six months when it came to light he had been asking people to sponsor a series of skydives to raise money for a fictitious desperately ill five-year-old girl.

The then 46-year-old posed as a war hero and even bought a paratrooper T-shirt and beret from eBay in order to give his lies more credibility.

He claimed he wanted to raise enough cash to make the girl's dying wish to meet Mickey Mouse at Walt Disney World in Florida come true. But the girl never existed and Heaver pocketed between 900 and 1,000 from around 100 unwitting members of the public.
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These are the haunting pictures from inside of an abandoned catholic seminary which was deserted more than twenty years ago and rocked by historic sexual abuse allegations.

St Joseph's Seminary in Upholland, Lancashire, saw its last batch of pupils leave in 1992 and now the vast halls and dormitories hold just a few stark remnants of the hundreds of pupils that once flooded the halls and chapels.

A loan, rusty record player which would once brought music to entire classes of animated youngsters lies in the centre of a huge empty hall which is now blanketed in a thick layer of dust.

These are the eerie photos of the monolithic former school which was closed more than twenty years ago and has left a legacy far more deep-rooted than just the building that remains

A priest who worked at the now abandoned St Joseph's Seminary in Upholland, Lancashire, had allegations made against him by a former pupil and was suspended by the Catholic church

Despite the inside being virtually empty, the beautiful statues of religious figures still stand on the top of the walls of a building which was once a sign of great magesty

A broken, dust-covered record player, once used by the hundreds of pupils that flooded these great halls, sits covered in dust in the middle of the huge space, which is now littered with rubbish and debris

These two metal bed frames are among the few items left at the school, which opened in 1883 but saw its last batch of pupils leave in 1992, and was later rocked by allegations of sexual abuse about

The school now casts an eerie shadow but is considered a favourite spot for urban explorers who flock to the building to take pictured of the haunting empty halls, chapels and dormitories

The school has a long heritage and gave a Catholic education to pupils for more than 100 years. These stsudents of the now abandoned school worked on the surrounding grounds of the 153-acre site in 1900

Less than a decade after it opened, this was a picture of the thriving school in 1894, when it provided a Cathlic education to hundreds of children in the Lancashire town

Ornate statues of religious figures stand watch from the roof of the imposing, monolithic structure, which first welcomed pupils in 1883 and stands within a 153-acre site.

A few metal-framed beds, rusting and without mattresses, still remain in the dormitories, but they will never welcome pupils again after it is alleged in 2004 that Father Michael Higginbotton had sexually abused a former pupil.

Photographer Rik Cotterill explored the 153 acres that make up the seminary and his pictures shows derelict dormitories, chilling chapels and shadowy statues.

The 27-year-old said: 'When you first lay eyes on St Joseph's you are instantly in awe of not just its size but also the presence it holds.

'That buzzing feeling you get when you begin to wonder what lies behind its doors is unforgettable.

'The entire main building has four main sides with a courtyard isolated in the centre of the grounds.

'The atmosphere within a place that's as large as this, but equally as silent and peaceful, is something I'm not sure I've felt anywhere before or since.'

Urban explorers in the UK refer to the sites as the 'ultimate explore' and Rik explains why he was so keen to visit.

The statue on the roof seems to look down on St Joseph's Seminary, where the overgrown grass on some parts of the site is now as tall as the windows on the buildings

The ornate building continues to stand tall in the town, but it is now just a shell, with the decoratively shaped windows letting the light into vast and empty rooms with virtually no furniture inside

The peeling walls and plaster from the roof now lying on the floor if this dormitory are a sign that the scandal-hit school will never again welcome pupils from its doors

The few items that remain in the building, such as this metal-framed sewing machine, are a remnant from a different era, both in general society and in education in Britain

The stainless glass windows once lit up the rooms with a technicolour glow, but now the rooms are totally empty and the buildings are falling into disrepair

The window frame is ornately patterned and was part of a grand building that opened to pupils in the 1880s, however, the cobwebs and build up from the crumbling walls are a sign of how this once mighty school has fallen

'Despite having been closed since the early 90's, the late Victorian architecture has stood the test of time and is truly a testament to itself and the history it holds,' said Rik from Warrington.

'In many respects time has been paused here for the past 20 years.

'This is just one of the reasons why the seminary has become something of a legend among enthusiasts who endlessly admire it for what it has to offer.'

'I'd like to thank the urban explorer community for their efforts to preserve St Joseph's over the years whilst ensuring its historical significance has not been forgotten.

Photographer Rik Cotterill explored the 153 acres that make up the seminary and his pictures shows derelict dormitories, chilling chapels and shadowy statues

The main chapel, despite being empty for more than 12 years, is still a magnificent sight, with light flooding in from the window, illuminating the grand golden carvings of Jesus on the wall

The building has now been empty so long that it holds skeletons of dead animals. This artistic picture by Rik Cotterill shows the skeleton of a bird lying next to a torn page from the New Testament at the Catholic school

This is a sign of the humanity, once in abundance at the deserted school. It contains a 'Sakesperian' costume, a misspelling by a pupil who obviously meant to refer to the famous playwright

'We fight a constant struggle against those who wish to do nothing but damage these properties.'

St Joseph's, referred by its students simply as Upholland, was divided into a junior and senior seminary.

The junior half provided a semi-monastic education to boys aged 11-18 whilst the senior half trained 18-24-year-olds in philosophy and theology.

A detailed account of daily life at the seminar was taken in the 1960s. Published in 2012 it explores the reasons why the Church's traditional form of seminary training may have predisposed certain priests to molest children.

This was one of the key findings of a major investigation conducted on behalf of American bishops into the causes of the sexual abuse crisis within the US Catholic Church.

According to an investigation by the Northern Echo newspaper, allegations of sexual abuse were made by a former pupil against Father Michael Higginbotton in December 2004.

This is a memorial in the grounds of the famous school in Upholland. Photographer Rik Cotterill said: 'Despite having been closed since the early 90's, the late Victorian architecture has stood the test of time and is truly a testament to itself and the history it holds

Another record player in the school rocked by the allegations of historic sexual abuse, for which the Catholic Church paid 35,000 to the alleged victim in an out of court settlement in 2008

A rat on the windowsill at the school, which died so long ago that it seems to have been preserved in the Victorian structure, which Mr Cotterill said has truly stood the test of time

Father Higginbottom was suspended by the Catholic church and withdrawn from his post in Darlington, County Durham, which he had since moved onto.

Parishioners and former St Joseph's pupils alike were outraged by the decision and campaigned to get him reinstated.

In 2008 the Catholic diocese settled the case out of court, paying the man 35,000.

Father Higginbottom was never formally charged of any offence but remains absent from work. The Catholic Church has never commented on the case and Father Higginbottom has previously said he is not allowed to comment.
Darden has been married for 18 years to his wife Marcia, a former television executive, and the couple have three children

Smith must now stay 100 yards away from Darden and his family at all time and cannot contact him unless it is 'brief' and about their child

He said in legal documents that Smith even emailed him using the name 'Nicole Brown Simpson'

The lawyer, who was a prosecutor for the LA District Attorney on the OJ Simpson case, also claimed Smith is

A former prosecutor who worked on the OJ Simpson case has won a restraining order against the mother of one of his children.

Christopher Darden claimed in legal documents obtained by TMZ that Celia Smith harassed him for months and at one point even alleged he traded legal services for sex after he obtained an apartment for the mother of one of his love children but not for her and their child.

Darden, who acknowledges having a two-year-old child with Smith, has been married to his wife Marcia for 18 years and the couple have three children.

He also claimed in his legal documents that Smith was obsessed with Simpson's murder trial, and even sent him emails under the name 'Nicole Brown Simpson.'

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Legal woes: Christopher Darden (above in a December 2014 OWN special) who has been married for 18 years, has received a restraining order against the mother of his 2-year-old love child

Claims: The lawyer, who was a prosecutor for the LA District Attorney's office on the OJ Simpson case (above in court), said Smith is obsessed with the murder trial

Hitched: Darden has been married for 18 years to his wife Marcia (pictured left in a 2014 OWN special), a former television executive

Darden, 59, said in his filing that last June Smith wrote on the Yelp page for his law office; 'Mr. Darden has sex with his clients if you don't have enough money to hire him, and you have p***y he will take your case.'

Smith has also allegedly said that Darden has '7 kids by 7 different women.'

Darden also claimed Smith has been demanding to know how much money he is getting paid for the new FX show American Crime Story: The People V. OJ Simpson, and refuses to believe he has received no compensation and is not 'involved in any way with the show.'

Smith must now remain 100 yards away from Darden and not contact him except as it relates to the couple's child, and these interactions are to remain 'brief and peaceful.'

This restraining order comes a little over a year after Darden appeared on Oprah's Where Are They Now? to talk about the trial and reveal what a family man he is, marrying his wife Marcia in 1997 and going on to have a daughter and two sons.

'I have the smartest family anyone could have," he said during the segment. 'My children are brilliant children.'

Darden was part of the Los Angeles County District Attorney team that prosecuted Simpson after he was accused of murdering his wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman.

The case is once again in the news thanks to the new televisions series The People V. OJ, in which Darden is portrayed by Sterling K. Brown.

Family man: Darden has three children with his wife Marcia (above in a 2014 OWN special), in addition to the two love children mentioned in the legal documents

On screen: Darden is portrayed by Sterling K. Brown (pictured) in the new FX series American Crime Story: The People V. OJ Simpson

Back in the day: It was Darden who famously had Simpson try on the black gloves that were found at the murder scene and his home

Darden had been working at the District Attorney's office for 15 years when he was selected to work on the case alongside head prosecutor Marcia Clark.

He was also the one who asked Simpson to try on the infamous black gloves, one of which was found at the murder scene and another which was found outside Simpson's home.

When one of the gloves appeared not to fit Simpson's lawyer Cochran uttered the famous line; 'If it doesn't fit, you must acquit.'

Darden, who left his job after the trial, has since claimed that he believes Cochran manipulated one of the gloves so it would not fit Simpson's hand.

He taught for a few years after that and then in 1999 opened his own practice, Darden & Associates.

Darden has also co-authored five novels, all legal thrillers, but is still most known for his work on the Simpson case, which he said left him 'devastated and decimated.'

He said of his feelings about the verdict almost 20 years later while appearing on Oprah's program; 'I don't think I'm so much as bitter. Now, I think I'm angry. I mean, I couldn't be angry back then. I couldn't be pissed off, because I'm a prosecutor.
Mr Benn, pictured today at his Chatham House speech, said Trident had been a successful deterrent

Shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn has rebuked the Labour leader over Trident with a warning no one wants to live in a world where only North Korea has nuclear weapons .

Amid a fierce row over plans to renew the Trident nuclear deterrent, Mr Benn said the weapon system had been 'successful'.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is a life long opponent of nuclear weapons and believes Britain should give up its deterrent.

But in a Chatham House speech today, Mr Benn warned: 'If we gave ourselves up I don't believe any one of the other nuclear countries would say, 'You're not going to have yours anymore, we're going to chuck ours in the dustbin.''

He added: 'The deterrent is intended to deter and I think it has succeeded in doing that.'

Pointing to Kim Jong-un's bid to build a nuclear bomb, Mr Benn added: 'Who fancies living in a world in which everyone else has given up their nuclear weapons but North Korea still has theirs?'

Shadow defence secretary Emily Thornberry briefed Labour MPs on her review of defence policy on Monday night, warning submarine based warheads could become as obsolete as the Spitfire - sparking outrage from backbenchers.

Following the meeting, Labour MP Madeleine Mood tweeted: 'Oh dear oh dear omg oh dear oh dear need to go rest in a darkened room.'

Labour MPs reacted angrily after she compared Trident with a spitfire, with one MP reacting with disbelief that the 'most advanced engineering and manufacturing project in the world' had been compared to a Second World War aircraft.

A Labour party spokesman said she was trying to warn about the dangers of old technology being overtaken by new technology, pointing to recent concerns that live submarines could be identified and attacked by drones.

One Labour MP told MailOnline: 'Many were struck by the irony of the unilateralist defence spokesman for Jeremy Corbyn imploring people not to take entrenched positions as she regurgitated the latest incarnation of conspiracy theories and scare stories from the anti-Trident lobby.

Former Labour leader Neil Kinnock simply laughed when he was asked how Ms Thornberry's anti-Trident presentation was received.

At Prime Minister's Questions yesterday David Cameron quipped that she would find the 'rest of her party there with her' after Labour's 'completely ludicrous' position.

The Government is expected to call a Commons vote on Trident renewal within weeks, forcing Labour to establish a position.

This week's Labour clashes over Trident provoked Labour MP Madeleine Moon to warn she needed to 'rest in a darkened room'

Shadow Defence Secretary Emily Thornberry compared Trident, pictured, to a spitfire as she tried to convince Labour MPs of the need to scrap what she described as the UK's outdated nuclear deterrent

Shadow home secretary Andy Burnham warned this week bridging the gap between the two Labour camps could be 'impossible'.

'There are two positions here which are difficult to reconcile - maybe impossible to reconcile - and the party has got to find some way of accommodating those positions and move forward and don't let this issue take over everything,' he told the Today programme.

Mr Burnham continued: 'If there are two positions that are deeply held on both sides but can't easily be reconciled, the party needs to find some way of accommodating that and allowing people to move forward and actually move on to other issues and hold the Government to account.'

In January Mr Corbyn reiterated his long-standing opposition to nuclear weapons but pointed out that the submarines which carry the Trident missiles could be deployed without their nuclear warheads on board.

'They don't have to have nuclear warheads on them,' he said. 'There are options there.'

Ms Thornberry later confirmed she was looking at the 'Japanese option' - retaining the capacity to build nuclear weapons without actually possessing them.

At the weekend it was reported that moderate Labour MPs could fight the next election on a separate, pro-Trident manifesto if Mr Corbyn changes party policy to oppose renewal of the nuclear deterrent.

The comparison with the World War Two fight plane, pictured, provoked anger from Labour MPs
Up to 60 people have been killed in a pre-dawn riot and fire broke out at a prison in Mexico after locals reported hearing gunfire from inside the jail.

The scuffles broke out between two rival factions with one led by a member of the infamous Zetas drug cartel.

Nuevo Leon state Governor Jaime Rodriguez confirmed 52 people had died and twelve others were injured during the 'pitched battle' that lasted 30 to 40 minutes at the Topo Chico prison in the northern industrial city of Monterrey.

Relatives of inmates gather outside the Topo Chico prison in Mexico where a pre-dawn riot broke out that have seen 60 people die

The scuffles broke out just days ahead of a planned visit by Pope Francis to another prison in Mexico's far north

Nuevo Leon state Governor Jaime Rodriguez confirmed 52 people had died and twelve others were injured

Inmates who had been rioting at the prison in north eastern Mexico look out from the Topo Chico jail to the crowds gathering below

'They used sharp weapons, bats, sticks,' the governor told radio Imagen, adding that the 60-year-old penitentiary houses 3,800 inmates, twice its capacity.

Troops and federal police were deployed inside the prison to keep it under control. Rodriguez said no inmates escaped and no firearms were used.

During the brawl, inmates set a fire in a supply room. TV images showed flames coming out of the prison in the middle of the night.

Relatives of prisoners, who were quick to gather outside the compound, said they had heard gunshots in the early hours and that a fire had broken out.

It is believed that one group of prisoners set a fire to distract the guards while other inmates tried to flee from the jail.

Witnesses said a blaze came amid shouts and sounds of explosions. A thick cloud of smoke rose, apparently from inmates burning mattresses.

The Nuevo Leon state government said on Twitter the situation had been brought under control and ruled out a prison break but gave no details on what had happened.

One man hurls a rock at police attempting to guard the prison where a riot had broke out in the early hours of the morning

Relatives of the prisoners gathered outside the jail and demanded to know whether their loved ones had been caught up in the riot

The riot reportedly was triggered by an attempted prison break by inmates belonging to the Los Zetas drug cartel, as one group of prisoners set a fire to distract the guards while other inmates tried to flee

Members if the Mexican Civil Force stand guard outside the prison, where some inmates had attempted to break free

State public security spokesman Antonio Arguello said the riot erupted at around midnight, but he was unable to confirm the death toll.

He said: 'The authorities formed a security cordon and nobody escaped. Everything was under control at 1:30 am.

'We can't say how many people died until forensic services give us a report and the authorities finish counting inmates.

Television images showed police vehicles patrolling the streets near the prison with relatives of inmates shaking the prison gates and throwing rocks at guards and police on the other side.

A woman cries as she waits to hear news from a relative after the riot inside the Topo Chico prison in Mexico

Witnesses said a blaze came amid shouts and sounds of explosions. A thick cloud of smoke rose, apparently from inmates burning mattresses

Up to 60 people have been killed after a pre-dawn riot and fire broke at the Topo Chico prison in the north eastern Mexican city of Monterrey

Other reports said that inmates' relatives who had been within the prison's premises for conjugal visits had seen prisoners with burns

One woman said: 'I want to know that my daughter is OK. She is in the infirmary. There are children in there.'

The Governor rejected speculation that women or children may have been inside at the time of the riot and said that all of the victims were male prisoners.

Other reports said that inmates' relatives who had been within the prison's premises for conjugal visits had seen prisoners with burns.

The incident is the latest in a series of deadly riots in recent years to rock the country's overcrowded prisons, which often house inmates from different drug gangs.

Television images showed police vehicles patrolling the streets near the prison with relatives of inmates shaking the prison gates and throwing rocks at guards and police on the other side

The incident is the latest in a series of deadly riots in recent years to rock the country's overcrowded prisons, which often house inmates from different drug gangs

Some 20 prisoners were moved out of the prison following the tragedy, according to a state official.

'It's one of the most complicated (prisons) and it is in a very complicated area, too. Obviously, we have to look at the future of this prison,' Rodriguez said.

Mexican penitentiaries are notoriously overcrowded and massive prison breaks have taken place in recent years.

In 2013, at least 13 people were killed and 65 injured in a prison riot, which was blamed on gang violence, in the central Mexican state of San Luis Potosi.

In 2012, at least 44 inmates died in a Nuevo Leon prison when members of the notorious Zetas drug cartel plotted with prison guards in an elaborate escape.
Coming off his strong second place finish in New Hampshire, Ohio Gov. John Kasich is trying to manage expectations in the next primary state  South Carolina.

'We don't expect to win here,' the governor said this morning on CNN's New Day. 'We're going to compete here.'

Kasich was responding to comments made by rival Jeb Bush, who came in fourth place in New Hampshire, after first place finisher Donald Trump, Kasich and then Ted Cruz, the winner of the Iowa caucuses.

Bush's showing was strong enough for the Florida governor to announce that his campaign was 'not dead.'

Bush is hoping to leapfrog Kasich in the first Southern primary and said Kasich has 'nothing' in the Palmetto state.

Kasich sniffed at the comment.

'But, on the other hand, if you take a look at the person that says that, they spent like well over $100 million, or something like that, and they've got, like, nothing,' Kasich said, his comment pointed at Bush

In New Hampshire, Bush spent $36.1 million, according to accounting from Morning Consult, which translates into more than $1,000 per vote.

'I mean, you know, so I'm not worried about what the other folks say, and this is not the end of it for us here at South Carolina,' the governor added.

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John Kasich managed expectations in the Palmetto state this morning, suggesting that he doesn't expect to win South Carolina after coming in at No. 2 in New Hampshire

John Kasich, now actively campaigning in South Carolina, suggested it was Jeb Bush who had a nothing 'campaign' mocking the dynasty politician for spending millions in New Hampshire to get fourth place

John Kasich - the second-place finisher in the New Hampshire primary - celebrated his success on the top morning shows yesterday and warned Donald Trump not to mess with him

Kasich is already on the ground in South Carolina and is doing three events a day through the end of the week

Kasich has tried to have it both ways, jabbing at his rivals while suggesting that he and Republican candidates should keep their hands clean.

'I don't want to go back into the negative road,' Kasich said at a campaign stop in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. 'But I'm not going to sit back and let 'em pummel me.'

Yesterday it was frontrunner Trump who came under fire.

'Somebody wants to mess with me, they're messing with the wrong guy,' the Ohio governor told Matt Today hosts Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie.

Guthrie had pointed out that Trump often comes after the competition quite brutally and Kasich could be next.

'I'm not gonna sit there and be a marshmallow and have somebody pound me. We're not just gonna sit back and take a pounding from anybody,' he told her,'but at the same time we're going to tell people what we're for, and I think people really, really like it.'

Kasich said Tuesday that in his win 'light overcame the darkness.'

He's tried to run an uplifting campaign in over the last few weeks that focuses on his own strengths rather than his opponents' weaknesses.

'I don't think it was the faltering (of other candidates),' Kasich said on Today of his surge to second. 'We were on our way up anyway.'

'Secondly, I had a very positive message. As you know, I was the only one with a really positive message. I always felt that the light could overcome the darkness in a political campaign where we can say what we're for  bringing families together, creating jobs, making sure that no one gets left behind,' he said, repeating his mantra.

He didn't have to do the dirty work. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie did it for him, destroying Marco Rubio, a top dog heading into the state, at a Saturday night debate.

The move didn't help Christie - who suspended his campaign today after finishing near last in New Hampshire - but it had the intended effect on Rubio, who came in a disappointing fifth behind Trump, Kasich, Cruz and Bush.

Kasich's super PAC, New Day for America, has also acted as attack dog, going after Trump's military preparedness and brash rhetoric.

The candidate isn't exactly a Boy Scout when it comes to negative campaigning, either.

'It's a long race. We're going to go through South Carolina, ultimately to the Midwest,' Kasich said Wednesday on Good Morning America. 'This is a long, long race.' He's seen here at an event in the Palmetto State this afternoon

Kasich said Tuesday that in his win 'light overcame the darkness.' He's tried to run an uplifting campaign in over the last few weeks that focuses on his own strengths rather than his opponents' weaknesses.

He ran a web ad in November throwing Trump's comments about Muslims and Hispanics and treatment of protesters back in his face.

'Think about this: If he keeps going, and he actually becomes president, he might just get around to you. And you better hope there's someone left to help you,' a former Vietnam POW recruited by the campaign declares.

It led to a bitter back and forth on Twitter between the two candidates.

'Going to Ohio, home of one of the worst presidential candidates in history--Kasich. Can't debate, loves #ObamaCare--dummy!' Trump tweeted at him as he campaigned in his rival's back yard.

Kasich told him in response, 'A bully never expects anyone to fight back. And tonight you saw what happens when we did. See you on the trail, Mr. Trump.'

Trump likewise pushed back on Kasich's claim that he's kept the gloves on throughout the primary as he did his own tour of the morning shows today.

'You know, he talked about [how] he's not going negative, but he did a negative commercial on me, so I didn't like that,' Trump said this morning on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe.'

He threatened to take 'a little bit tougher stance' on the governor in the next round of campaigning.

STRONG FINISH: 'I had a very positive message. As you know, I was the only one with a really positive message. I always felt that the light could overcome the darkness in a political campaign where we can say what we're for  bringing families together, creating jobs, making sure that no one gets left behind,' he said the morning after the win, repeating his mantra

Kasich attempted to stay on Trump's good side Tuesday night as he spoke to supporters at his watch party.

'I want to congratulate Donald Trump,' he said at the celebration to boos from his supporters. 'No, no, he won fair and square,' Kasich said.

Upbeat, the governor said 'there's magic in the air with this campaign.'

And he predicted that it would carry him through South Carolina, the next state up in the GOP's competition, and beyond.

'There's so much gonna happen, if you don't have a seatbelt...go get one!' Kasich said, repeating a laugh line from last Saturday's debate.

New Day immediately set to work projecting strength in South Carolina, telling DailyMail.com it's already made a million voter contacts there on Kasich's behalf.

The PAC has six offices in the state and eight full-time staff members - one for each congressional district plus a state director.

By comparison, it also had six offices in New Hampshire, a state with a third of the population of the Palmetto State. And it had 17 dedicated staffers there.

Kasich is already on the ground there and is doing three events a day through the end of the week.

'It's a long race. We're going to go through South Carolina, ultimately to the Midwest,' Kasich said yesterday on Good Morning America. 'This is a long, long race.'

He warned, 'Everybody always underestimates me.'

The Ohio politician hopes to stick it out until March, when his home state votes. If he wins there, he'll pick up a total slate of delegates in the winner-take-all contest, wiping away his early loss in Iowa.
Donald Trump has vowed to make North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un 'disappear' and said the tyrannical leader faces a fate worse than assassination.

The Republican presidential hopeful told CBS This Morning that he would force China to get rid of Kim Jong-un, who he branded a 'bad dude'.

'I would get China to make that guy disappear, in one form or another, very quickly,' Trump said.

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Donald Trump (left) has vowed to make North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un (right) 'disappear' and said the tyrannical leader faces a fate worse than assassination

Kim Jong-un (watching the launch) put a satellite in space last week in what world powers regard as a disguised ballistic missile test

Asked whether he meant by killing the North Korean leader, he added: 'No, well, you know, I've heard of worse things, frankly. This guy's a bad dude.'

Trump said Kim, who has ruled the secretive state since the death of his father, Kim Jong-il, was a formidable figure who had to be dealt with because he wants to develop North Korea's nuclear arsenal.

'Any young guy who can take over from his father with all those generals and everybody else that probably want the position  this is not somebody to be underestimated,' Trump said.

He called on China to overthrow North Korea's oppressive regime - but said he would force the hand of Beijing if it did not comply with his demands.

'China has control - absolute control - over North Korea. They don't say it, but they do, Trump said.

'And they should make that problem disappear. China is sucking us dry. They're taking our money. They're taking our jobs. They're doing so much. We have rebuilt China with what they've taken out.

'We have power over China, China should do that. I would force China to do it economically,' he added.

On Sunday, images from North Korean TV (pictured) show a long range rocket being launched over Japan

Trump has previously hailed Kim Jong-un as 'incredible' for rising to power in North Korea after the death of his father in 2011.

'You've got to give him credit,' the Republican candidate said at a campaign rally in Iowa in January.

'How many young guys - he was like 25 or 26 when his father died - take over these tough generals. How does he do that?

'Even though it is a culture, and it's a cultural thing, he goes in, he takes over, he's the boss. It's incredible.

'He wiped out his uncle, he wiped out this one, that one.'

North Korea was condemned by world powers last week after putting a satellite in orbit in what many believe was a disguised ballistic missile test.

Pyongyang has vowed to launch more satellites, despite worsening ties between itself and China, as well as the rest of the world.

The launch breached United Nations resolutions and is likely to lead to more trade sanctions, however these have little effect on the North Korean government as they do very little business with the outside world.
Two commuters who claimed thousands of pounds of compensation for more than 150 delayed trains they never took have been ordered to repay costs and carry out community service.

Steve Martins, 49, and Nicole Phillips, 42, researched delayed trains and submitted false compensation claims.

Despite having never ridden on the late commuter train services, they were awarded more than 6,000. But their scam was exposed after the sheer volume of claims they submitted aroused suspicion.

Steve Martins, 49, and Nicole Phillips, 42, researched delayed trains and filled out compensation forms - claiming more than 6,000

The pair were caught out after police studied CCTV footage which captured them getting off trains that were running on time

Martins and Phillips, both from Pulborough in West Sussex, admitted fraud by false representation.

Suspicions were raised and the fraudster 'passengers' were caught out by officers when CCTV footage from London train station platforms captured the pair getting off earlier trains which had reached the end destination on time.

They were both given suspended sentences, ordered to pay back the money and carry out 300 hours of unpaid work.

Martins, of Link Lane, Pulborough, West Sussex, was given a two year prison sentence, suspended for 12 months and told to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work.

Phillips, of Batts Lane, Pulborough, was given an 18 month sentence suspended for 12 and given 120 hours of unpaid work.

Both were ordered to pay train company Southern Rail compensation - Martins 3,500 and 2,600 from Phillips.

Nicole Phillips (pictured), of Batts Lane, Pulborough, was given an 18 month sentence suspended for 12 and given 120 hours of unpaid work

The pair have both been ordered to pay train company Southern Rail compensation - Martins 3,500 and 2,600 from Phillips

Steve Martins (pictured), of Link Lane, Pulborough, West Sussex, was given a two year prison sentence, suspended for 12 months and told to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work

A spokesman for British Transport Police said: 'This was a carefully-organised and deliberate scam designed to defraud thousands of pounds from the railway industry. Phillips and Martins researched services that qualified for delay compensation on the internet.

'They managed to arouse suspicion after submitting an unusually large number of claims. CCTV was produced that clearly showed they had already made their journeys into London for work and hadn't been anywhere near the delayed services at the time.

'This was an operation designed to defraud the railway of thousands of pounds set aside for passengers who have been genuinely inconvenienced by delays and disruption.

'Ultimately it is the travelling public who lose out through increases in fares to cover the cost of bogus claims like these.'
Jeb Bush isn't pulling any punches in his quest to defeat Donald Trump in South Carolina.

He yesterday implied Trump is a sexist and a 'bigot' and would be more damaging to the country as president than the current officeholder, Democrat Barack Obama, whose relationship with Republicans has been far from cordial.

'We will be worse off than we are now,' Bush warned, according to Politico, 'and we are pretty bad off right now.'

Jeb Bush isn't pulling any punches in his quest to defeat Donald Trump in South Carolina. He yesterday implied Trump is a sexist and a 'bigot' and would be more damaging to the country as president than the current officeholder, Democrat Barack Obama

Bush also made reference to Trump and said, 'Our party is being hijacked by people who do not believe in the goodness of the conservative cause.' He's seen here at another event in South Carolina at a VWF Post yesterday

The New York Times says Bush also made reference to Trump and said, 'Our party is being hijacked by people who do not believe in the goodness of the conservative cause.'

In his introduction of Bush, Lindsey Graham, a U.S. senator and a former 2016 candidate himself, told the audience, 'Lets dont go from incompetent, Barack Obama, to crazy, which is about two of the people on our side.'

The South Carolinian didn't say which of the GOP's candidates he was referring to the Politico report suggests, but it was likely directed at Trump and Senate colleague Cruz.

Graham dropped out in January and endorsed Bush in hopes of uniting the core establishment of the Republican Party behind Bush.

Bush eeked out a fourth place finish in New Hampshire, giving him just enough momentum to continue on to South Carolina. But the race remains a toss-up, with Trump at the top, Cruz in second, and the remaining candidates fighting for a foothold.

Marco Rubio, the freshman senator from Florida, places third nationally. He came out of New Hampshire with a limp, as he tumbled to sixth in the final tally. Bush and John Kasich, the second-place finisher in New Hampshire, are angling to cut in front of him again in South Carolina.

Just two other candidates remain in the race: Ben Carson and Jim Gilmore.

Bush has taken the fight to Rubio, whom he says isn't ready to lead the country, in the past, and may still fire shots in his direction on the debate stage in South Carolina on Saturday.

It was Trump in the former Florida governor's sights yesterday, as he held a rally in Mount Pleasant, though he also sought to dissuade the crowd from switching their support to Ohio governor Kasich.

'He led the charge to expand Medicaid, and is quite proud of it,' Bush said, according to the New York Times. 'I wouldnt be proud of that, to be honest with you.'

Talking about his proposal to give Christian refugees from the Middle East special consideration, Bush said yesterday, 'You would have thought that I was like Donald Trump. You know, being a bigot or something.'

Turning to Trump, he said, per Politico, 'It is not a sign of strength to disparage women.'

'When [Trump] made fun of somebody with a disability  give me a break.'

Talking about his proposal to give Christian refugees from the Middle East special consideration, Bush said, 'You would have thought that I was like Donald Trump. You know, being a bigot or something.'

In front of a crowd of retirees and veterans, according to the Times Bush further criticized Trump for saying over the summer that U.S. Senator and former POW John McCain is not a 'hero.'

'John McCains a hero,' Bush said. 'Everybody knows that.'

And he went after the Democrat-turned-Republican on the issue of abortion.

'So, lets wipe him off the map here,' Bush said. 'Hes not only a Johnny-come-lately. Hes just saying what people  what hes been told to say to appeal to conservatives.'

Plus, he's foul-mouthed and bad role model for children, Bush charged, according to Live 5 News' report.

'He says we're gonna bomb the blank blank blank - I can't say it because we have beautiful children here, and by the way as president of the United States I will not use vulgarity.'

Trump responded to Bush's attacks on him yesterday by saying that his rival 'wants to keep common core.'
A 38-year-old former school lunch lady in Massachusetts has admitted to repeatedly raping a 15-year-old boy and pleaded guilty to multiple child rape charges in court.

Janelle Foley pleaded guilty to four counts of rape of a child Wednesday, as her trial was set to begin later this week in Norfolk County.

The mother-of-four was immediately sentenced by Norfolk Superior Court Judge Thomas A. Connors to serve between two and a half years in prison to four and a half years for the first count.

Norfolk District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey said she will serve five years' probation for the remaining three counts.

Guilty: Janelle Foley (right), 38, pleaded guilty to four counts of rape of a child Wednesday after admitting that she repeatedly raped a 15-year-old boy at his home. Above she is pictured in 2014 when she was indicted

'We felt a state prison sentence was appropriate in this case,' Morrissey said after the plea according to The Boston Herald.

'We were ready to go to trial. I am relieved for the victim in this case that the convictions were secured without needing to testify at trial.'

In addition, Foley is required to register as a sex offender and will not be permitted to have unsupervised contact with any children under the age of 18, except her own.

According to The Patriot Ledger, she was accused of sexually assaulting the 15-year-old boy during parties at his family's home and was indicted in March 2014.

Assistant Norfolk District Attorney Danielle Piccarini said during a 2014 court hearing that Foley (above) sexually assaulted the teen during Thanksgiving and New Year's parties in his home

Assistant Norfolk District Attorney Danielle Piccarini said during a 2014 court hearing that Foley sexually assaulted the teen during Thanksgiving and New Year's parties in his home.

Her defense attorney claimed that she had been plagued by mental health and substance abuse issues.

The victim was not a student where she worked in the cafeteria at Weymouth Middle School for a little over two years prior to the charges.

Since her 2014 indictment, Foley had been released on $5,000 bail and tracked by GPS.

After pleading guilty to the charges, she was immediately taken to Framingham, which is a Massachusetts correctional facility, to begin serving her sentence, Morrissey told the Herald.
An African-American studies professor at Princeton University was arrested last week during a traffic stop over a parking ticket from three years ago, she claims.

Hughes-Rogers Professor Imani Perry, who is black, claimed that she was mistreated by police officers on February 6 because of her race.

She said in a statement on Twitter, which has since been deleted, that a male officer performed a body search and she was handcuffed to a desk after being arrested for the three-year-old parking ticket.

Princeton University African-American studies professor Imani Perry was arrested by Princeton Police on February 6

She claimed in a series of Tweets that she was mistreated by police officers during an arrest on February 6 because of her race

Yesterday, on my way to work, I was arrested in Princeton Township for a single parking ticket three years ago, she said in the statement. The police refused to allow me to make a call before my arrest, so that someone would know where I was.

There was a male and a female officer, but the male officer did the body search before cuffing me and putting me in the squad car. I was handcuffed to a table at the station.

At any rate, I was afraid. Many women who look like me have a much more frightening end to such arrests.

But the larger point is that I'm working to move from being shaken to renewing my commitment to the struggle against racism & carcerality.'

Section 39:4-139.10 of title 39 of the 2013 New Jersey Revised Statutes state that the penalties for not paying parking tickets include suspension of the drivers license or the registration of the vehicle, according to The Princetonian.

Section 39:4-139.10a of the same statute states that if the court fails to issue an arrest warrant for the individual in question or order a suspension of driving privileges for the individual, the matter will be dismissed and not reopened.

She said in a statement on Twitter, which has since been deleted, that a male officer performed a body search and she was handcuffed to a desk after being arrested for the three-year-old parking ticket.

Princeton President Christopher Eisgruber released a statement to the The Princetonian on Tuesday in which he expressed concern over the arrest, the reason she was taken into custody and how she was handled by police.

Many on our campus and around the country have expressed understandable concern about the arrest this past weekend of Professor Imani Perry, who is a respected scholar and beloved teacher at this university, he said in a letter to the paper.

He said many on campus were shocked that the arrest came from an unpaid parking ticket and that people were distressed about specific aspects of the arrest, adding that he shared these concerns.

My colleagues and I in the university administration were in touch with Professor Perry as soon as we learned of the incident and we contacted town officials about our concerns over the weekend, he said. The town officials responded rapidly and initiated an investigation that they have assured us will be thorough and fair.

We welcome an investigation not only of the treatment of professor Perry, but of the underlying policies, practices, and protocols that were applied.

Princeton's police chief, Nick Sutter, addressed the incident in a public meeting on Monday, according to Planet Princeton.

Perry shared a series of tweets, pictured above, detailing her experience during the traffic stop

He said that after reviewing the incident, he believed that police followed proper protocol, but said he was not trying to avoid responsibility for the perception that police unfairly target African Americans.

'Regardless of it being 100 percent proper in the eyes of the law, there is a perception because of race,' Sutter said according to Planet Princeton. 'This is a problem for me. It is a problem that is real, and needs to be addressed.'

Perry released another statement on the arrest on February 8 on her Facebook.

The response I have received since sharing my story has been overwhelmingly caring and thoughtful, she wrote. any people are vigilant and impassioned these days regarding policing.

This is a direct result of the social movement that has emerged over the last several years. That is good. And it personally feels wonderful to be so supported.

She added, however, that some people seem upset she received supported because they are suggesting that I am playing innocent when I am guilty.

Now, make no mistake, I do not believe I did anything wrong. But even if I did, my position holds. The police treated me inappropriately and disproportionately. The fact of my blackness is not incidental to this matter, she wrote.

She later posted several tweets hoping to 'encourage more appropriate behavior' by the Princeton Police.
Doctor: Adam Osborne, pictured outside his hearing, had a two-year affair with his 'vulnerable' patient

Chancellor George Osborne's psychiatrist brother Adam Osborne has been struck off the medical register after admitting to a two-year sexual relationship with a vulnerable patient.

It comes after a disciplinary tribunal found that married Dr Osbornes behaviour was 'profoundly unacceptable' and ruled that his fitness to practise was impaired by reason of misconduct.

Dr Osborne, who is five years younger than his Chancellor brother, has now been struck off by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service.

A hearing this week heard that when the doctor ended the relationship in February last year, the woman - who was referred to as Patient A, tried to take her own life just two days later.

The mother-of-two had been under Dr Osborne's care at a private practice in Central London between February 2011 and late 2014.

When Patient A made a complaint to the General Medical Council (GMC), Dr Osborne begged her to retract it, telling her in threatening emails over a ten-day period that it would 'destroy' his family in public.

In one email, read to the tribunal he wrote: 'Please don't do this to me it will destroy me and my family in public.'

Another read: 'You still have the power to tell the GMC that you made this up because you were angry at me for discontinuing therapy or that you were confused, paranoid, deluded - whatever excuse you can think of.'

He also admitted making threats towards Patient A and the consequences for her family if she did not withdraw her complaint to the GMC stating: 'If I get into trouble for this then I will never forgive you for this and I will make sure you pay.'

It is believed that Dr Osborne's wife also had knowledge of Patient A.

Dr Osborne, who voluntarily absented himself from the Manchester hearing, admitted embarking on the two-year 'inappropriate' emotional and sexual relationship whilst the woman who had mental ill health, was a patient.

The tribunal heard that hours after Patient A disclosed the relationship to treating psychiatrist Dr Neil Boast she was to take an overdose of alcohol and prescription drugs.

Sibling: Dr Osborne, who is five years younger than his Chancellor brother George (above), has been struck off

Emails between the former lovers two days prior to her making an attempt on her own life were read to the tribunal.

In one, which signalled Dr Osborne was ending the relationship, he said: 'We don't seem to be able to live with one another and it's destroying both of us and destroying any relationship that we once had.'

A disciplinary tribunal found that married Dr Osbornes behaviour was 'profoundly unacceptable'

Patient A was to respond saying that she was 'confused', adding 'it seems to me like you are breaking it off'.

She added: 'Just please tell me the truth the way it is. I'm very much balancing on the edge and it's so easy for me to tip over just now.'

Dr Osborne, who admitted that he knew, or ought reasonably to have known, that the woman was a vulnerable patient because of her history of mental ill-health, replied: 'Yes I need to break from this relationship'.

He further admitted making threats towards a 'fragile' and 'high risk' Patient A, as well as admitting to his accusation that she had seduced him.

Dr Osborne, who has been helping Syrian refugees in Calais, qualified as a doctor in 2004. The tribunal was told that Dr Osborne's wife had knowledge of the woman.

His counsel Julian Woodbridge said: Dr Osborne accepts that he did engage in an inappropriate relationship with the patient, Patient A, and he apologises for his conduct in this respect.

Dr Osborne also accepts that after he tried to end the relationship he did subsequently send a number of inappropriate emails in a moment of panic. Again he apologises and much regrets any further distress.

Chairman of the tribunal Dr Nigel Callaghan said that it had not been a 'one-off occurrence' and that he had been aware from the outset that the relationship was inappropriate by his insistence that Patient A agree not to report him.

The tribunal regards Dr Osborne's behaviour as profoundly unacceptable Dr Nigel Callaghan, tribunal chairman

He said: 'The tribunal does not consider that Dr Osborne's actions are easily remediable. This was not a fleeting relationship but sustained over a period of two years.

'Dr Osborne attempted to persuade Patient A to withdraw the complaint by sending inappropriate emails to her over a ten day period when he knew she had taken an overdose, and was therefore in a particularly vulnerable and fragile state.'
Internet giant has received nearly 400,000 removal requests since European judges made the ruling in 2014, with four in ten requests granted

Content blocked from Google under the 'right to be forgotten' rules will be removed from all versions of the internet giant's search engine, it was announced today.

The current rules only apply to versions of Google in the EU, where citizens can request information to be removed from search results.

Users can still find the full list of unedited results by using international versions, such as Google.com.

Google announced today that it will apply the 'right to be forgotten' rules will apply to all its versions

But Google said today that it will apply the rules universally, meaning removed results will not appear on any version of the search engine when they are being viewed from countries where the removal was approved.

The European Court of Justice made the landmark ruling in 2014 and since then Google has received more than 380,000 removal requests, with around four in ten requests accepted.

The technology giant has been under pressure from the French data protection authority to remove data from its sites globally and threatened to fine the company if it did not do so.

Google had fought off the attempts, claiming it would have a chilling effect on freedom of information.

Notice: MailOnline has received a number of notifications requesting removal of links. The request includes a note to say 'in many cases, the affected queries do not relate to the name of any person mentioned'

It has now given in and said the changes will apply in the near future, but did not set a date for the change.

The new rules will be applied when a European IP address is detected - regardless of the version of Google being used - and remove approved items.

RIGHT TO BE FORGOTTEN ONLINE Ruling: The ECJs 'right to be forgotten' ruling allows European citizens to request that links to 'inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant' information be removed from Google results The European Data Protection Regulation, Article 17 includes the right to be forgotten and to erasure. Under Article 17, people who are mentioned in the data have the right to obtain from the controller the erasure of personal data relating to them and the abstention from further dissemination of such data.' This relates to data about the person when they were a child, when the data is no longer relevant or necessary for the purpose it was collected, the person who owns the content withdraws their consent, the storage period has expired, or if it was gathered illegally. The EU defines data controllers as people or bodies that collect and manage personal data. The EU General Data Protection Regulation means any data controller who has been asked to remove data must take all reasonable steps, including technical measures' to remove it. If a data controller does not take these steps they can be heavily fined. Advertisement

Renate Samson, chief executive of privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch, welcomed the change.

'The move by Google to ensure 'right to be forgotten' across European versions of Google offers reassurance to the thousands of regular, ordinary citizens who have sought the right for inaccurate or out-of-date content about them to be blocked from Google's searches,' she said.

'Whilst right to be forgotten remains a controversial issue, it is a key part of the new European General Data Protection Regulations set to be in place within the next couple of years. Google's move therefore is a necessary step in the direction of improved data protection.'

Under the ECJ ruling, citizens can apply for information to be removed if the content is 'inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant'.

The ruling was criticised by the then Culture Secretary Sajid Javid, who said criminals were using it to hid their murky pasts, condemning the decision by 'unelected judges'.

In a speech to newspaper editors, he said: Since Luxembourgs unelected judges created the so-called right to be forgotten, Google has been receiving a demand for deletion every 90 seconds.

Each day, a thousand requests pour in from people who, for one reason or another, would prefer their pasts to be kept secret.

Criminals are having their convictions airbrushed from history even if they have since committed other, similar crimes.

Terrorists have ordered Google to cover up stories about their trials.

Mr Javid added: The right to be forgotten is censorship by the back door. Stories are not being deleted from archives because of the ruling, but if they cannot be found by the search engines they may as well not be there at all.

Examples of links deleted by Google include a number of MailOnline articles detailing issues ranging from drug abuse to incest, murder and spying.

For instance, MailOnline received a request to remove a May 2009 article describing the sordid captivity in which Josef Fritzl kept his family.

The piece was based on extracts from the book The Crimes of Josef Fritzl: Uncovering the Truth. Publisher Harper Collins told MailOnline at the time it did not know who sent the request

Other MailOnline stories removed from Google results include claims from April 2013 that a ten-year-old girl could have died if her parents had relied on the NHS 111 helpline.

More recently, Google removed a MailOnline story about a teenager, Kyle Ivison, slapped with an Asbo for committing 40 per cent of the offences in his town.

The content itself has not been deleted from MailOnline, but Google will not list it in search results.

Instead, users searching for the topic on google.co.uk will see a message that says: Some results may have been removed under data protection law in Europe at the bottom of the page.

The ECJ ruled that people had a right to ask for inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant, or excessive information about them to be dropped from internet searches.

GOOGLE BOSS SAYS HE DOESN'T KNOW HOW MUCH HE GETS PAID President of Europe Matt Brittin, pictured, grins as he fails five times to tell MPs how much he earns Google's Europe boss told MPs today he did not know how much he gets paid as he faced an angry grilling over his company's tax affairs. Matt Brittin, President of Google Europe, was asked five times how much he earns but failed to give an answer each time. 'I don't have a figure,' he said, drawing laughter from the MPs on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). It drew a frustrated response from Meg Hillier, the committee's chair, who said: 'Frankly you are taxing already my patience and the patience of the hard-working taxpayer out there.' She said later: 'Some people are living in a different world.' He was one of two Google bosses who appeared before the Public Accounts Committee following last month's 'sweetheart' deal with HMRC, which saw the internet giant paying just 130million to cover 10 years of back taxes. Mr Brittin insisted he understood the public's anger over the deal but failed to declare how much he earns from Google himself. Advertisement

The decision  which cannot be appealed against and is binding for all EU states  affects only search results and not lawfully published and true information.

But once search engines like Google drop links to such material, it becomes almost impossible to find on the internet. Facebook was the site which had the most links removed, followed by the social network search site Profile Engine and video sharing site YouTube.

The foundation which operates Wikipedia described the rule as 'unforgivable censorship'.

Speaking at the announcement of the Wikimedia Foundation's first-ever transparency report in London, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said the public had the 'right to remember'.

We are on a path to secret, online sanitation of truthful information, said Geoff Brigham, general counsel at the Wikimedia Foundation.

No matter how well it may be intended, it is compromising human rights, the freedom of expression and access to information, and we cannot forget that.

So we have to expose it and we have to reject this kind of censorship.

How links to MailOnline stories about paedophiles, murderers, a multi-millionaire Tory MP, a drug-dealing aristocrat and Josef Fritzl were removed by Google

Europe's top court ruled that people have the right to have 'inadequate' and 'irrelevant' results about them wiped from the web, which has led to the search engine being bombarded with requests.

More than 200,000 removal requests involving more than 700,000 URLs have been made to Google worldwide.

The content itself has not been deleted from MailOnline, but Google will not list it in search results.

Instead, users searching for the topic on google.co.uk will see a message that says: Some results may have been removed under data protection law in Europe at the bottom of the page.
The friends and family of Australian jihadi bride Tara Nettleton who has died in Syria have chosen to remember her in tributes on social media as a 'reckless and funny' schoolgirl, before she 'chose a different life.'

The 31-year-old mother died from appendicitis on September 11 2015, leaving her five children and newborn grandchild to fend for themselves in the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa.

Tara's former school friends posted old photos of her on Facebook after hearing the news and described her as a 'lovely, quiet lady' who was 'brainwashed and in love' with ISIS terrorist Khaled Sharrouf.

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Old friends of Tara Nettleton - who died in Syria last year - have posted tributes on social media remembering her as an innocent schoolgirl that was 'reckless and funny' but 'brainwashed and in love'

Schoolfriends posted photos from earlier years on Facebook, long before Tara became a jihadi bride and took her family across to Syria alongside her ISIS terrorist husband Khaled Sharrouf

'You deserved so much better': Some of Tara's closest friends shared their fondest memories

Tara's old schoolfriends asked that she be remembered for 'who she used to be', not 'what she became'

'Rip TARA very sad!!! You deserved so much better! Although you chose a different life. I will remember you As the reckless funny teenage girls we were,' Jade Koda posted.

'Having fun and living life ... I hope your in a better place now. LONG LIVE THE MEMORIES CHESO GIRLS [sic].'

Meanwhile, Tara's mother Karen Nettleton, who still lives in Sydney, was this week photographed with a tattoo on her forearm in loving memory of her radicalised daughter, which read: 'My baby  Ill miss you forever.'

Tara's 14-year-old daughter Zaynab is now stranded in war-torn Syria, tasked with the job of raising her two-month-old daughter Ayesha Elomar and four younger siblings.

Baby Ayesha is the daughter born in Syria to former Sydney schoolgirl Zaynab Sharrouf and the teenager's 31-year-old ISIS terrorist husband Mohamed Elomar, who was killed in fighting last year.

The infant girl is also the granddaughter of Khaled Sharrouf, Elomar's fellow jihadi who also died last June. Khalef Sharrouf was the husband of Tara Nettleton.

The deaths of Nettleton, Sharrouf and Elomar have left Zaynab an orphan and widow, abandoned to give birth to a baby she will now have to bring up on her own in a war zone.

Zaynab Sharrouf reportedly gave birth to baby daughter Ayesha (pictured) around eight weeks ago after becoming involved with her father Kahled's jidahi friens, Mohamed Elomar

Zaynab Sharrouf, pictured in Syria over a year ago, is now a 14-year-old mother of an eight-week old baby daughter, herself now an orphan stranded in crisis-torn Syria, as well as an ISIS widow

From dreamy teen to girl soldier: The photograph from 14-year-old Zaynab Sharrouf's social media account entitled 'Soldier of Allah' showed her (centre) cloaked in black and with two guns and a knife as her Islamic 'coat of arms'

Targic death: Zaynab's grandmother Karen Nettleton (left) and her mother Tara more than a decade before Tara tragically died from appendicitis in Syria due to lack of proper medical care

Just over two years ago as a Sydney primary school student, Zaynab Sharrouf was posting on social media about her pre-teen crush on an American pop star.

Today she is fending for herself, her baby and four younger siblings in a Syrian city racked with disease, violence and food and water shortages.

With news of Tara Nettleton's death, which could have been easily preventable in a first world hospital system, and teenager Zaynab's birth to baby Ayesha, a grim picture of their future has emerged.

With seven months to go before she turns 15, Zaynab Sharrouf is now the oldest in the family of Sharrouf siblings left alone in the Syrian ISIS stronghold of Raqqa, and has six mouths to feed.

Raqqa, the self-proclaimed capital of the the ISIS caliphate is, according to insider reports, suffering a food shortage and has only intermittent electricity supplies and running water.

In the ISIS stronghold brutality and violence happen daily, with executions, beheadings, arrests and torture ongoing events.

Third world hospital standards and a lack of medical supplies may have caused the death of Zaynab's mother, and the situation in Raqqa is now made worse by the recent outbreak of a fatal and unknown virus sweeping towards the city.

It has now emerged that when Zaynab's mother Tara took her five children to Syria in early 2014 to join husband, former Sydney thug Khaled Sharrouf, she went to the war zone with a pre-existing kidney condition.

At first, the Sharroufs appeared to prosper, with Khaled given a role in the ISIS hierarchy and the family living in a large house on the banks of the Euphrates River.

Zaynab Sharrouf, pictured with her grandmother Karen Nettleton, who is fearful for her grandchildren and new great-granddaughter, Zaynab's baby Ayesha, abandoned in Syria now that Karen's daughter is dead

Underage bride: Zaynab Sahrrouf, 14, married her father's friend Mohamed Elomar (above) who died in battle and she has now given birth to his baby daughter

Zaynab and her sister Hoda, who is now aged 13, and their brothers Abdullah, 11, Zaqawi, 10, and Humzeh, 5

On social media in her early days in Syria, Zaynab still sounded like a typical Australian girl, declaring she loved 'The Walking Dead. Also celebrities' as well as 'jewellery and phone cover shops'

A photograph of Zaynab Sharrouf (tight) taken within the last couple of years before she became radicalised and married her father's best friend 17 years her senior and gave birth to his baby daughter following his death

Zaynab Sharrouf was posting on her social media page two years ago (above) about how she was in 'love' with teen pop star Austin Mahone and how she loved beach holidays, but now she's stranded with a baby in a war zone

Also living in the house was Khaled Sharrouf's friend from Sydney, onetime boxer turned Islamic extremist Mohamed Elomar.

While Sharrouf and Elomar fought with ISIS extremists, the family that had just been uprooted from a comfortable life in the Sydney suburbs to the war zone appeared to lead a relatively normal life.

Zaynab, sister Hoda, 13, and their brothers Abdullah, 11, Zaqawi, 10, and Humzeh, 5 did not appear to be attending school in Syria.

But on social media in her early days in Syria, Zaynab still sounded like a typical Australian girl, declaring she loved 'The Walking Dead. Also celebrities' as well as 'jewellery and phone cover shops'.

She had a crush on US boy band star, Austin Mahone. Her favourite colour was pink, she was addicted to her iPad and wanted a pink Lamborghini.

She claimed her favourite actor was Sandra Bullock and repeatedly said she loved riding horses, a pastime she is believed to have taken part in while visiting her maternal grandmother on the NSW central coast.

Little girl lost: The teenager's new Twitter identity in 2015 (above) as 'Umm hafs' says 'Zawji' or 'her husband' is Abu Hafs al australia, which was 31-year-old Mohamed Elomar 's ISIS identity

Zaynab Sharrouf is believed to be among these black-cloaked women posing with Kalashnikov rifles, an ISIS flag and a white BMW in Syria, where the 14-year-old is living with her four siblings, parents and Mohamed Elomar

Zaynab is now 'mother' to her four younger siblings including brother Abdullah (above) in the picture that shocked the world, posted by his father Khaled Sharrouf holding a severed head with the caption 'that's my boy'

She also said she wished to learn Spanish, liked cooking pancakes and was concerned about air pollution and that if 'we don't ,make an improvement in out planet. We will die'.

In early 2014, she said online her favourite thing to do in summer was 'to spend time with my family on the beach' and that her 'perfect honeymoon destination' would be the Queensland resort, Hamilton Island.

Then Zaynab's brother Abdullah was photographed holding the severed head of a Syrian military official, and when father Khaled posted it online, the image went viral.

A photograph of Mohamed Elomar with two severed heads followed. After this the tone and content of Zaynab's postings on Twitter, kik.com and other social media accounts turned dark.

Orphaned: With the death of Zaynab's father, former Sydney muscle-for-hire Khaled Sharrouf (above) and his friend Mohamed Elomar, the 14-year-old was fatherless and a widow, but now her mother Tara has also died in Syria

New wife: Mohamed Elomar (pictured last year in Syria holding severed heads) may not have been able to wait for his first wife to join him and has instead married the 14-year-old daughter of his Australian ISIS friend Khaled Sharrouf

Mohamed Elomar had been trying to get his Australian wife Fatima with their four children over to Syria, but when Ms Elomar tried to follow in Tara Nettleton's footsteps in May 2014, she was arrested at the airport.

Facing charges for supporting terrorism, for which she has now pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing, Fatima Elomar had her passport confiscated.

At some point after this, Zaynab became romantically involved with her father's fellow jihadi, Mohamed Elomar, who was 17 years her senior.

On Twitter she posted that she was 'Chillin in the khilafah, loving life'. She also declared herself a 'Solider of Allah' on a different social media account, illustrated with two guns and a knife as a type of coat of arms.

Then it emerged in May 2015, that she had become the second wife of Mohamed Elomar, and she became preoccupied with the ISIS fight and radical Islam.

Zaynab liked a photo-shopped image posted by her father online of the World Trade Centre in flames with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, militant Islamist and late founder of al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Sharrouf captioned the image with the post: 'September 11 is the best day of my life. Our brothers gave there life to establish the deen of Allah on earth and they fulfilled what is mandatory on every Muslim to terrorise the enemy of Allah'.

The news came in June last year that both Zaynab's father Khaled and husband Mohamed Elomar had been killed in an air strike while fighting for ISIS in neighbouring Iraq.

Zaynab's baby daughter born eight weeks ago is the half sister to the four children of Mohamed Elomar's first wife, Fatima (pictured, above) who is awaiting sentence on charges of supporting terrorism

The old Zaynab loved 'the walking dead and celebrities' and posted happy go lucky things on her old Twitter page, but this has now given way to talk of the 'prophet' and ISIS

Changing: Zaynab Sharrouf's old Twitter account appeared to show a shift in her focus from teenage interests to radical Islam when she posted last year this picture of a group of men with weapons and the ISIS flag

Technically a 'war widow' at an impossibly young age, Zaynab was also pregnant. If reports are accurate, the baby is now around eight weeks old, Zaynab would have become pregnant in around March last year, prior to her 'marriage' to Elomar.

Then further disaster struck the family, with the death of Zaynab's mother Tara from complications of her kidney disease and little hospital care available or medication for infections.

Zaynab and her younger brothers and sister have now been living alone for almost five months in Raqqa where, according to an ABC report 'it's very hard to live under ISIS.

'The water and electricity cut all the time. Even if you got injured there is not a lot of doctors or not a lot of hospitals and even ISIS make sure that their fighters getting the best doctors and the best hospitals but they don't care about civilians and make their civilians like a human shields.'

The newly radicalised teenager Zaynab Sharrouf posted this photograph believed to be of her youngest brother (right) and a captured Yezidi boy (left) posing with rifles and an ISIS flag. The girl crowed about the fact the captive boy had 'converted' to ISIS
A decade after police began an investigation into claims that financier Jeffrey Epstein had solicited teenage girls for sex, two women who the government designated as underage victims at the time have filed a lawsuit over his 'sweetheart deal.'

The women, identified as Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2, claim in court papers filed Wednesday that they were unaware of the secret deal being made between the defense team and prosecutors back in 2007 that guaranteed federal charges would not be brought against Epstein, 63, which could have resulted in a lengthy prison sentence for the billionaire.

They filed their lawsuit a few months after Epstein received his lenient sentence in 2008, with their lawyers saying the U.S. Attorneys Office violated the federal Crime Victims Rights Act by not speaking with Epstein's victims about the details of his plea agreement.

The two victims who filed the suit were 13 and 14 at the time of the abuse.

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More trouble: Two of Jeffrey Epstein's victims have filed a lawsuit against the government saying they were misled about his 'sweetheart deal' (Epstein outside his Manhattan townhouse in December)

Suit: The women, who were 13 and 14 at the time they were abused, said they were never told Epstein would not face federal charges for the offenses that happened at his Palm Beach mansion (above)

In the end: Epstein (above in 2005) pleaded guilty to a single state charge of soliciting an underage girl for prostitution despite more than 30 victims being identified

This new 56-page filing, which was obtained by the Palm Beach Daily News, has more than 140 exhibits including emails between Epsteins defense team, the U.S. Attorney's office and former State Attorney Barry Krischer, which lawyers believe clearly show that victims were being left in the dark.

Brad Edwards and Paul Cassell, who filed on behalf of the women, are now hoping that U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra will not force the case to go to trial but rather given what they believe is overwhelming evidence rule in the favor of the two victims.

'There is good reason to believe that if the prosecutors had exposed their dealings to scrutiny by Jane Doe 1, Jane Doe 2 and other victims, they would not have reached such a sweetheart plea deal,' the motion reads.

'Despite the fact that this case has been in litigation for more than seven years, spanning several hundred pleadings, the government does not write even a single sentence explaining why it entered into an NPA (non-prosecution agreement) with a sex offender who had committed hundreds of federal sex offenses against young girls.'

The motion also says that the deal Epstein received is 'one of the most extraordinarily lenient plea arrangements in American history.'

Police in Palm Beach turned over the information they had gathered on Epstein's victims to federal authorities in November 2006 after investigating the case for roughly a year following an initial call in March 2005 from a woman who claimed her daughter, 14, had been paid $300 to give Epstein a massage in just her underwear.

Local authorities also filed a probable cause affidavit in May 2006 saying they believed there was enough evidence to charge Epstein with four counts of unlawful sex with minors and one count of molestation.

In the end, these charges were taken to a grand jury despite the recommendation of police, who came back with just one charge against Epstein - felony solicitation of prostitution.

Epstein initially pleaded not guilty to that charge in August 2006, but changed that plea after singing his plea agreement a little over a year later.

On June 30, 2008 Epstein pleaded guilty to a single state charge of soliciting an underage girl for prostitution, and ultimately served just 13 months of his 18-month sentence.

That time was served not in a prison, but rather the Palm Beach Stockade, which is a local detention center.

Epstein was also allowed to leave six days a week to go work out of his West Palm Beach office during his time behind bars.

After his release he did have to register as a sex offender.

Shortly after Esptein's release his butler Alfredo Rodriguez - whose duties included washing sex toys he would find scattered on the floor of Epstein's many houses according to New York - also received an 18-month prison sentence on an obstruction charge when it was discovered that he had been trying to sell a journal in which he recorded his boss' activities.

DailyMail.com revealed that Rodriguez kept a black book of Epstein's contacts  which he referred to as 'The Holy Grail.' or 'Golden Nugget.' The dozens of entries included contact details for A-list names including former President Bill Clinton, Mick Jagger, Donald Trump, Earl Spencer, Barbara Walters, Henry Kissinger and at least three members of the Kennedy clan.

Court papers state that Rodriguez argued that he needed to keep the journal as insurance - as he feared Epstein would make him 'disappear'.

Court papers also reveal that Rodriguez witnessed nude girls whom he believed were underage at the pool area of the home and knew that his former employer was engaging in sexual contact with underage girls and had viewed pornographic images of underage girls on his home computers.

U.S. District Judge Marra, who is the same man being asked to consider this current lawsuit, said when he was sentencing Rodriguez for obstruction; 'If this book had been produced when requested, Mr. Epsteins sentence may have been significantly different.'

Lenient: Epstein (above) served just 13 months of his 18-month sentence, going to a local jail and not a prison where he was allowed to leave six days a week for work

Same: Epstein's butler Alfredo Rodriguez (above) received the same 18-month sentence as his boss in 2010 when it was discovered he was trying to sell his journal with information about some victims

This new filing claims that Epstein - who was facing up to 15 years in prison on that one conviction - was able to get his 'sweetheart deal' due to the pressure his legal team placed on State Attorney Krischer and U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta, both of whom have since left those positions.

Epstein's team was made up of some of the country's most prominent legal minds, including Alan Dershowitz, Roy Black and Kenneth Starr.

Dershowitz later got caught up in some of the allegations as well when he was accused of having sex with an underage girl procured by Epstein, something he strongly denied and said was completely false.

The defense team, U.S. Attorney and State Attorney 'were conferring daily' according to this new court filing, with Epstein's team working to get him immunity from federal charges by paying restitution to the victims.

Epstein then signed a non-prosecution agreement in September 2007, meaning he would only be facing state charges for his crimes.

The victims where never notified of this non-prosecution agreement over the course of the next nine months according to the filing, though many did begin to receive restitution after being identified as victims by the government - including Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2.

One of the victim's attorneys, Edwards, also claims that he was led to believe that federal charges would still be filed as of June 2008, just days before Epstein pleaded guilty to the one state charge.

The court filing also claims that at this same time the government was working with Epstein about how to keep his victims from ever learning the details of his non-prosecution agreement and how to handle and defend the situation should it ever become public.

Epstein now splits his time between his townhouse in Manhattan's Upper East Side, his Palm Beach mansion and a U.S. Virgin Islands property in Little Saint James.
Divisions between Turkey and Europe have intensified with the Prime Minister threatening to send millions of refugees into the EU and warning European leaders he is not an 'idiot'.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan was responding to EU pressure to open his borders to the tens of thousands of Syrian refugees amassing on the country's frontier having fled regime advances in Aleppo.

In a speech in Ankara, he stepped up his denunciations of Western policy and said he had told EU leaders at a summit in November that Turkey could say 'goodbye' to the refugees.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan today threatened to say 'goodbye' to millions of refugees by sending them into Europe

He said Turkey had every right to turf the refugees out of the country if it so wished.

'We do not have the word "idiot" written on our foreheads. We will be patient but we will do what we have to. Don't think that the planes and the buses are there for nothing.'

It was reported earlier this week that at the G20 summit in November Erdogan had angrily threatened to EU Commission president Jean Claude Juncker that Turkey could send the refugees to Europe.

He was quoted as having told Juncker: 'We can open the doors to Greece and Bulgaria anytime and put the refugees on buses.'

Today, he confirmed the reports.

'I am proud of what I said. We have defended the rights of Turkey and the refugees. And we told them [the Europeans]: "Sorry, we will open the doors and say goodbye to the migrants".'

He lashed out at UN calls for Turkey to take in the tens of thousands of Syrian refugees from Aleppo region, saying the United Nations has spent less than half a billion dollars in the crisis.

'Shame on you! Shame on you!' said Erdogan, saying the UN should be telling states to take in refugees from Turkey.

Turkey is already hosting 2.5million refugees from Syria's civil war and hundreds of thousands from Iraq and is increasingly bitter it has been left to shoulder the burden.

Erdogan said Turkey had already spent some nine billion dollars on hosting the refugees since Syria's almost half decade civil war began.

The EU has agreed to give Turkey three billion euros in financial aid for the refugees but the funds have yet to be handed to Turkey, two-and-a-half months after they were agreed.

'The three billion euros is not in our budget, where has it gone?' asked Erdogan. 'It's for refugees!'

A young boy looks out over the refugee camp while waiting in line for food at Oncupinar border crossing

The border crossing has remained closed in recent weeks as thousands gather in a bid to flee the war in Syria

A young girl lines up for food at the camp, which is fast becoming hugely overcrowded

The majority of the 30,000 gathered at the Turkish border crossings are fleeing regime advances in Aleppo

Turkey has come under intense pressure from the EU to allow entry to those fleeing the bombing

A young girl cries as she is held by her mother at the camp, located near the Turkish city of Kilis

The Turkish prime minister has threatened to send millions of refugees it is hosting into Europe

Turkey has been under increasing pressure from the EU to open its borders to the thousands of refugees

But its Prime Minister has hit back as discontent within the country grows over its role in easing the crisis

In a separate move, NATO agreed to send a naval group 'without delay' to the Aegean to crack down on the people smugglers who have helped hundreds of thousands of migrants cross to EU territory in the last year.

Alarm is growing in EU capitals that thousands of migrants are still crossing the Aegean daily from Turkey after over a million made the perilous journey last year.

The NATO deployment follows a request this week by alliance members Germany, Greece and Turkey for assistance in tackling Europe's biggest migrant crisis since the Second World War.

Speaking after NATO defence ministers approved the mission, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO is 'now directing the standing maritime group to move into the Aegean without delay and start maritime surveillance activities'.

The group comprises three ships that are currently under German command.

He emphasised: 'This is not about stopping and pushing back [refugee boats]... but about critical surveillance to help counter human trafficking and criminal networks.'

According to the International Organization for Migration, by February 7, 70,365 migrants arrived by sea in Greece from Turkey - ten times the number for the same period last year.
Prominent Eurosceptics Priti Patel and Liam Fox are being lined up for Cabinet jobs as part of a 'unity reshuffle' after the EU referendum.

Tory sources say David Cameron is planning a wide-ranging shake-up of his top team in the autumn if he wins his bid to keep Britain in the EU, partly to free up a job for Boris Johnson.

He is expected to use it to clear out several senior ministers who defy him over Europe, including Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers and Commons Leader Chris Grayling. Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith also faces demotion if, as expected, he campaigns for Brexit.

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Prominent Eurosceptics Priti Patel (left) and Liam Fox (right) are being lined up for Cabinet jobs as part of a 'unity reshuffle' after the EU referendum, while Boris Johnson could be made defence secretary

The former Tory leader could even be sacked from the Cabinet altogether, as could Eurosceptic Culture Secretary John Whittingdale.

But the Prime Minister is anxious to avoid accusations he is taking revenge against the Party's Eurosceptic wing, and is expected to promote a number of prominent critics of Brussels.

One Tory source said: 'There will still be 'outers' in the Cabinet, but they may not be the ones who are there today.' Another added: 'There will be an over-arching need to bring the party together to govern.'

Miss Patel, who currently serves as employment minister, is strongly tipped for promotion despite her expected role in the 'leave' campaign.

And former defence secretary and high-profile 'leave' campaigner Dr Fox is set to make a dramatic return to the Cabinet despite strained relations with Mr Cameron. One minister said: 'Given his popularity with the grass roots and the large body of Eurosceptic MPs who will want to back one of their own, his stock is definitely on the rise.'

However, if Mr Cameron loses the referendum he could well be 'fighting for his own survival', said one former minister.

Boris Johnson - pictured last year armed with an AK47 on a visit to Kurdistan - has been named as a possible defence secretary in a post referendum reshuffle

Mr Cameron's hand will be forced by the need to accommodate Boris Johnson, who has privately made it clear he expects the offer of a top job. One option under consideration is to install him as defence secretary.

But senior Tories are also weighing up a wider reshuffle, which would see Mr Johnson take charge at the Foreign or even the Home Office. If so, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond would be replaced by either Mr Johnson or Home Secretary Theresa May.

In the run-up to the election, the Prime Minister described Mr Johnson as the Tories' Wayne Rooney, adding: 'I've always said I want my star players on the pitch.'

He turned down an offer of Culture Secretary following the election and is understood to want a more senior post.

A Tory source told the Mail last month: 'The Prime Minister asked if there was any possibility of Boris continuing as mayor and joining the Cabinet at the same time.

'The post of culture secretary was discussed.

Mr Johnson, left in Downing Street leaving Cabinet this week, has been suggested as a possible replacement for Michael Fallon at the Ministry of Defence

Moving Theresa May, left, could provide a vacancy for Mr Johnson at the Home Office, while Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, right, could also be moved. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, centre, could follow other former foreign secretaries to the role of Commons leader

'Boris was very clear with the Prime Minister that he was flattered, but that he could not justify holding what would effectively be three jobs  MP, mayor and Cabinet minister.

'He pointed out it would raise real questions about the Tories' commitment to London, which would be seized on by Labour and damage our chances this year.'

Moving Mr Johnson to defence could fulfil the objective of offering a more senior post.

Reports in recent weeks have also suggested he could be appointed to either the Home Office - assuming Theresa May was promoted elsewhere after seven years - or to the Department of Health, in place of Jeremy Hunt.
A polar vortex is set to hit the East Coast, Midwest, and South next week following an arctic blast over Valentine's Day.

The worst wind chills of the winter are pushing down from Canada into the Northeast in the next few days, with temperatures plummeting below zero in New York, Philadelphia, and New England on Sunday morning.

But it won't end there: the force of the downward icy blast, offset by the intense warm blast surging up the West Coast, has the potential to pull moisture up from the Gulf of Mexico.

It means snow and ice will likely batter vast swathes of the country east of California on President's Day and beyond.

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The force of the downward icy blast, offset by the intense warm blast surging up the West Coast, has the potential to pull moisture up from the Gulf of Mexico. It means snow and ice will batter vast swathes of the US

The West Coast is currently enjoying a warm blast blowing up from the southern hemisphere, and the East Coast is getting hit by a cold blast coming down from Canada. But by Monday, both jet streams will break down

Shar Horton, of Syracuse, scrapes ice from the windows of her car visiting a friend in Utica, NY, on Thursday

Jake Cote, a carrier with the United States Postal Service, delivers mail along in Utica, NY, on Thursday

NORTH EAST: A snow storm in Philadelphia on Wednesday sent a utility pole crashing down on a highway

Meanwhile, a midwinter heat wave is smashing records in California.

Temperatures on the southern West Coast rocketed into the 90s for the second consecutive day on Tuesday even as the warming Santa Ana winds that came in on Saturday began to fade.

Forecasters said strong high pressure will continue through the week, keeping afternoon temperatures well above normal until at least Valentine's Day on Sunday.

On the other side of the country, the romantic occasion will be a freezing one as snow persists and temperatures plummet to their worst of the winter.

New York City is set to see wind chills of -15 degrees on Sunday morning.

On a positive note for heat-seekers in the Midwest and North East, the worst of the winter cold is expected to subside as of Monday, according to the Weather Channel.

The site explains that the West Coast is currently enjoying a warm blast blowing up from the southern hemisphere, and the East Coast is getting hit by a cold blast coming down from Canada.

But by Monday afternoon, both jet streams will break down, the Weather Channel says.

As a result, winds around the North Pole will get stronger, containing the Arctic air - leading to a thaw on the East Coast for the rest of February.

For now, however, East and West Coasters should be braced for a week of extremes.

By Tuesday afternoon on the southern West Coast there were numerous readings in the 90s throughout the region.

Downtown Los Angeles topped out at 89 degrees, beating the old February 9 record by four degrees. The high was 21 degrees above normal for the date, the National Weather Service said.

Other records were set or tied in Long Beach, where it reached 92 degrees, Santa Barbara, Camarillo and at Los Angeles International Airport.

Los Angeles and Phoenix will experience balmy climes on Thursday as the North East freezes up

The arctic blast will set in on Friday when temperatures in the Midwest will plunge below zero by nighttime

On Saturday, the chills will spread to Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, and eastern Kansas

On Saturday night temperatures will dip to -3 in Boston but in LA it will be 58 degrees

By Sunday morning, subzero temperatures could hit New England, the suburbs of New York and Philadelphia

As of Monday, winds around the North Pole will get stronger, containing the Arctic air - leading to a thaw on the East Coast for the rest of February

Unseasonable warmth began building over the weekend as high pressure set into the Great Basin, sending air flowing toward Southern California.

The gusty, dry Santa Ana winds form as air descends through mountain passes and canyons, warming through compression and pushing out to sea.

Red flag warnings for wildfire danger that were posted on Monday were not reissued Tuesday as the winds subsided.

Mountains and some inland valleys were expected to see a bit of relief on Wednesday, but not coastal areas.

Cloudiness will lower Saturday temperatures five to 10 degrees, but the high pressure ridge will quickly reform and make next week almost as warm, forecasters said.

While Northern California has received a steady series of winter storms that have built a substantial snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, Southern California has yet to see the kind of extended rains sometimes produced by the El Nino warming phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean.

Downtown Los Angeles has recorded only about half the 8.28 inches of rain normally received seasonally to date.

Across the country, snow dusted the Midwest and North East on Wednesday.

The arctic blast will set in on Friday when temperatures in the Midwest will plunge below zero and stay there until President's Day, according to forecasts.

On Saturday morning, the subzero chills will spread to Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, eastern Nebraska, and eastern Kansas.

By Sunday morning, subzero temperatures could hit southern New England, the suburbs of New York City and Philadelphia.

Beachgoers take advantage of the warm weather at Huntington Beach, California on Tuesday

Even as the Santa Ana winds that stoked the atmosphere began to fade, the heat wave was setting in

WEST COAST: A midwinter heat wave baked California on Tuesday, breaking more February records as climes soared into the 80s and 90s. Pictured: Ian Kellam plays Disc Golf in Huntington Beach, on Tuesday
Professor Alan Clarke, 52, was discovered by his wife and neighbours in a blue and black rubber suit three hours after taking the family's dog for a walk

One of Britain's leading medical researchers was found dead in a rubber body suit in woodland in a bizarre sex fetish, an inquest heard today.

Professor Alan Clarke, 52, was discovered by his wife and neighbours in a blue and black rubber suit three hours after taking the family's dog for a walk.

Prof Clarke, director of the European Cancer Stem Cell Research Institute and the Cancer Research UK, was found dead in a hooded mask.

The hearing was told Prof Clarke's wife Kathryn and three neighbours went looking for him after he failed to return home from the dog walk.

The father-of-two was already dead hanging from the tree dressed in the rubber suit.

Neighbour Steven Rogers told the hearing that he helped search for Prof Clarke on December 28 last year in Llangeview, near Usk, Monmouthshire.

He said: 'Mrs Clarke came to my house anxious and upset and explained that her husband had gone out with the dog earlier that afternoon and had not returned.

'During the search I could hear the very distant sound of a dog barking.

'I followed the sound in the hope that it was Tess the family dog.

'Eventually we found the dog on the opposite side of a stream from where we were walking.

'When I reached her I looked around the area with the aid of a torch and I saw a man kneeling with his face down.

'His head was covered by a hood with holes in it for eyes and a mouth.

'He was wearing a thin blue jacket with leather-like trousers.

'I couldn't see his face clearly but I knew it was Alan and I knew he was dead.'

Prof Clarke, based at Cardiff University, was a renowned expert in cancer research specialising in bowel, breast and prostate illnesses.

Pathologist Ian Thompson gave the cause of death as asphyxiation by hanging.

Prof Clarke, director of the European Cancer Stem Cell Research Institute and the Cancer Research UK, was found dead in a hooded mask

Coroner David Bowen told the Newport hearing: 'In this case given the evidence the death of Mr Clarke was an attempt of some sort of sexual gratification that went wrong.'

Mr Bowen told the hearing there was evidence Prof Clarke started wearing the rubber outfit after his wife Kathryn was diagnosed with cancer.

He said: 'In recent years Kathryn was diagnosed with cancer and since she had been ill her husband had taken to wearing such an outfit.'

He added: 'There was nothing to suggest there was any third party involved in his death.'

He recorded a conclusion of misadventure.

The inquest heard he had been planning to take his family to the seaside the following day. His wife said he had never talked about committing suicide.

She said: 'He had too much to live for.'

Neighbour Steven Rogers told a hearing that Professor Clarke was found in woodland near his home in Llangeview (stock image)

After his death Professor Jim Murray, head of biosciences at Cardiff University, said: 'The sudden and untimely death of Professor Alan Clarke will be felt by all of us who knew him and the wider scientific community.

'He was an invaluable colleague, a patient and thoughtful mentor, and an outstanding scientist and leader. At this tragic time our thoughts are with his family, friends and close colleagues.'

Cardiff University chancellor Sir Martin Evans - a Nobel Prize winner for medicine - said: 'The sudden and untimely death of Alan Clarke has taken from us a friend, an eternally upbeat individualistic colleague and a superb scientist, teacher and leader.
Terry Phillips, 39, allegedly tried to cut his girlfriend's head off with a samurai-like sword on February 6

A northern Kentucky man was arrested after being accused of attempting to decapitate his girlfriend with a samurai-type sword.

Terry Phillips, 39, and his girlfriend got into an argument on February 6 and he tried to cut her head off with the sword, the woman who was allegedly assaulted told responding Covington police officers.

The sword had struck her in the arm, causing a serious injury. Police say she is expected to survive.

Police officers issued a warrant for Phillips but couldn't initially find him. Covington police gave Lexington police a list of possible locations for the man, according to WCPO.

Authorities arrested Phillips at a Lexington home on Tuesday evening, charging him with attempted murder and assault. It is unclear whether Phillips has an attorney.

'I really just feel for the lady, and now he's caught or whatever, he has to deal with the Lord when he gets there,' neighbor Susan Kraus told WCPO.

Sara Walters, who owns a store under Phillips' apartment, told the station that Phillips was quiet and not very sociable.

'It's hard to believe that someone like that was right above us the whole time. You know, we'd see him every day,' she said.
Shocking footage has emerged of a Tesco employee flying into a rage and having to be restrained by a security guard after a customer tried to take a photograph of a 'mispriced' item.

The worker has now been suspended pending an investigation after video surfaced last night of the row at a branch in Goodmayes, Dagenham, east London.

It was posted by business student Wasiq Hussaini, who claims the staff member tried to snatch his mobile phone off him when he went to take a picture of a 'mispriced' item on the shelf.

Altercation: Shocking footage has emerged of a Tesco employee flying into a rage and having to be restrained by a security guard after a customer tried to take a photograph of a 'mispriced' item

The worker had to be restrained by a security guard as tempers flared at the store in Dagenham, east London

Row: The video was posted by business student Wasiq Hussaini, who claims the staff member tried to snatch his mobile phone off him when he went to take a picture of a 'mispriced' item on the shelf

In the footage, a Tesco security guard is seen standing between the supermarket employee and the man filming, which is understood to be Mr Hussaini.

A tussle then breaks out as the worker appears to charge towards the camera shortly after shouting 'this guy'.

He also seemingly grabs Mr Hussaini's friend as the scuffle continues.

The business student, who is said to be keen on 'pushing for legal action', claims he had to go to hospital following the altercation.

A Tesco spokeswoman said: 'As soon as this incident occurred we took immediate action to apologise to the customers involved and an internal investigation is now underway.

In the footage, a Tesco security guard is seen standing between the supermarket employee and the man filming, which is understood to be Mr Hussaini. The worker then appears to move towards the camera

Taking action: The worker has been suspended pending an investigation after the footage surfaced last night

'We work hard to ensure our colleagues deliver the best possible service for our customers and any actions which are not in line with this policy will not be tolerated.'

The member of staff involved is believed to have been suspended pending further investigation.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman told MailOnline that officers were investigating an allegation of assault at the Tesco store off Green Lane, Dagenham, on Wednesday, February 10 at around 7pm.
A tormented father returned Wednesday to the charred ruins of his Georgia home where the night before his wife and two young daughters perished in a fire.

'My whole life is over,' Brent Patterson told reporters as he stood in front of the devastated house where balloons and flowers had been placed in a makeshift memorial.

Patterson told WSBTV how he and his wife Kathy were putting their two daughters aged nine and 12 to bed Tuesday night when he heard a popping sound coming from downstairs.

Realizing the house was on fire, he tried to return upstairs, but couldn't.

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Brent Patterson said he tried his best to save his wife and two daughters from the blaze that killed them

Brent Patterson with wife Kathy and the couple's two daughters aged nine and 12. Only Brent survived a fire that devastated the family's Tucker, Georgia house Tuesday

Gwinnett County firefighters in front of the burnt-down two-story house in Tucker, Georgia

'I came downstairs, I opened the front door and it's like the place exploded. I tried to get back in. It was too hot,' Patterson told WSBTV.

'I couldn't get back in because the fire came around and it came up the stairway. I did everything I could.'

Patterson said he and a neighbor tried to get back into the house through a back door.

'Me and my neighbor, we got a shovel and we went and broke the back glass on the back door and the heat was just so much there was no way we could [get] back in,' Patterson said.

When Gwinnett County firefighters responded to the home on the 1000 block of Pointer Ridge in Tucker, a town outside of Atlanta, shortly after 10pm Tuesday, the two-story home was 'engulfed in flames,' officials said.

Firefighters at the scene of the deadly house fire in Tucker, Georgia in a picture taken Wednesday

The fire was so intense that firefighters had to battle the flames from outside, unable to enter the house

Fire officials survey the damage from a house fire that killed three and left a lone survivor

Because of the intensity of the fire, which was stoked by strong winds, firefighters had to battle the blaze from the outside.

When officials finally were able to enter the home, it took hours to find the bodies of all three victims.

Rescue teams had to prop up walls that posed a danger of collapsing before they were able to recover the body of the second daughter on Wednesday morning, fire officials told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The bodies were turned over to the local Medical Examiner.

The family's dog was also found dead and was buried in the backyard 'as a show of respect due to the overwhelming loss sustained by the family,' a Gwinnett County fire department spokesman told the Journal-Constitution.

A prayer vigil for the family was held Wednesday afternoon at the Tucker First United Methodist Church.

Family friends set up an online fundraiser for the Patterson family that had raised over $8,000 by Thursday morning.

Brent Patterson is comforted by neighbors Wednesday as he returns to his devastated home

Neighbors embrace as they watch firefighters work the scene of a deadly house fire in a picture taken Wednesday

Kathy Patterson and her two young daughters died in a house fire Tuesday, leaving father Brent Patterson as the lone survivor

Brent Patterson pose with his wife and two daughters, who were killed by a house fire Tuesday

Kathy Patterson, center, with her two daughters aged 9 and 12. All three perished in a house fire Tuesday
Unabomber Ted Kaczynski killed three people and injured 23 more in a bombing campaign aimed at universities and airlines between 1978 and 1995

The brother and sister-in-law of the Unabomber have spoken of the moment they realized they knew who the mass murderer was.

Ted Kaczynski killed three people and injured 23 more in a bombing campaign aimed at universities and airlines between 1978 and 1995.

His brother, David Kaczynski, and his wife, Linda Patrik, at first had no reason to suspect he was responsible for the 16 home-made bombs.

But that changed when the New York Times and Washington Post printed the Unabomber's 35,000-word manifesto.

The two papers published the twisted manuscript on the advice of the FBI and the Attorney General after the killer vowed to intensify his bombing spree if they failed to do so.

After reading the papers, Mrs Patrik had a horrifying realization: The rambling manifesto was strikingly similar to letters Ted had written to her husband.

She told ABC News that it was hard to deal with her suspicions but that she knew she had to speak to David.

'I'd thought about the families that were bombed. There was one in which the package arrived to the man's home and his little two-year-old daughter was there. She was almost in the room when he opened the package. Luckily she left, and his wife left. And then he died,' she said.

David Kaczynski said: 'When she said, "Well, I think maybe your brother's the Unabomber," I thought, "Well, this is not anything to worry about. Ted's never been violent. I've never seen him violent".

'I couldn't imagine that he would do what the Unabomber had done.'

Mrs Patrik took her husband to the library, where the Unabomber's manifesto was being projected for people to read.

'I thought I was going to read the first page of this, turn to Linda and say, "See, I told you so." But on an emotional level, it just sounded like my brother's voice,' David Kaczynski said.

'You know, it sounded like the way he argued, the way he talked, the way he expressed an idea.'

Linda Patrik (right) realized Ted was the Unabomber after reading his 35,000-word manifesto and noticing similarities to letters he had sent to her husband David Kaczynski, his brother (left)

David Kaczynski (right, as a child) said his family had long-suspected that Ted (left) suffered from a mental illness, but they never addressed it openly

The family had long-suspected that Ted suffered from a mental illness, but they never addressed it openly.

David said it was clear his brother had been suffering from 'pretty serious delusions' since his years studying for a PhD in math at the University of Michigan.

After seven months of agonizing deliberations, the family decided to go to the FBI, and Ted Kaczynski was arrested by armed police at his shack in Lincoln, Montana, on April 3, 1995.

He was jailed for life with no parole as part of plea deal which saw him spared the death penalty after admitting murder.

Now aged 73, he will die in the supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, where he is being held.

David Kaczynski said he is eternally grateful his wife told him of her suspicions.

'Linda saved lives. She saved our family's honor and self-respect and, ultimately, perhaps contributed to saving Ted's life, too,' he said.

Mrs Patrik (right) took her husband (left) to the library, where the Unabomber's manifesto was being projected for people to read. It is there that he made the shocking realization

David wrote in his autobiography, which was published last week, that he was 'immobilized' as he read the Unabomber's manifesto and realized it was his brother.

The Unabombers trail of destruction had baffled the FBI from its barbaric outset in 1978, when he sent his first bomb to the University of Illinois at Chicago which exploded and injured a security guard.

The bomber set off another device in the cargo hold of an American Airlines flight in 1979, injuring 12 and forcing it to make an emergency landing.

He killed computer store owner Hugh Scrutton near his shop in Sacramento in 1985 and murdered advertising executive Thomas Mosser with a bomb sent to his home in North Caldwell, New Jersey in 1994.

The bomber also killed California Forestry Association president Gilbert Murray in 1995 with a package bomb sent to his Sacramento office.

In August of that year, Mrs Patrik put the pieces together and decided to ask her husband if Ted could be responsible.

She knew that he was paranoid about modern technology and she knew that one bomb had been placed at the University of California at Berkeley, where Ted was once a mathematics professor.

According to David's autobiography - Every Last Tie: The Story of the Unabomber and His Family - Mrs Patrik said: David, dont be angry with me. Has it ever occurred to you, even as a remote possibility, that your brother might be the Unabomber?

David said it was clear his brother had been suffering from 'pretty serious delusions' since his years studying for a PhD in math at the University of Michigan. Pictured, Ted (right, with David) leaving for university

Loner: Ted Kaczynski was arrested by armed police at his shack in Lincoln, Montana, on April 3, 1995. Pictured, a younger Ted at his shack

David wrote about reading the manifesto in the library, and how he froze as the terrifying realization gripped his entire body

As I finished the first paragraph I sat immobilized, my eyes glued to the screen,' he said.

I remember feeling a slight rush of adrenaline. My emotions were a mixture of fear, dismay, anger. Id sometimes reacted this way when reading one of Teds hurtful letters.

In the opening lines of the manifesto I detected a tone similar to Teds when he wrote letters condemning our parents.

Only here the indictment was vastly expanded. On the surface the phraseology was calm and intellectual but it barely concealed the authors smouldering rage.

As much as I wanted to, I could not turn to Linda and honestly say that the writing was not my brothers.

After seven months working out what to do, the family finally turned Ted in to the FBI.
Christians, women and gay men are among the groups of asylum seekers needing their own accommodation in Germany after facing attacks by fellow migrants.

In Stuttgart, 30 Christians have been moved into their own digs after frequent attacks by other migrant-seeking Muslim men.

Elsewhere gay men are being persecuted, and women, some who have been sexually abused by ISIS militants, have been moved to secret locations.

Vulnerable groups of migrants in Germany are being given separate accommodation due to attacks carried out by fellow aslyum seekers, it has emerged. File image used

The group of Middle Eastern Christians in Stuttgart were moved into new homing after they had their bibles torn up and crucifixes smashed by fellow migrants.

The city council finally acted after a campaign group complained about the abuse and a petition signed by 17,000 people demanded they be better protected.

It said: 'We call on the city to make it possible for them to have a communal place for Christians and protect them from further threats and attacks which they are suffering in the central gathering place for asylum seekers.'

The move was a significant one because until now Germany had been trying not to separate refugees on ethnic or religious lines.

The local evangelical church spokesman Stefan Walter said: 'The Christian refugees come from lands where Christians are under threat.

'Putting them all together is to ignore the right they have to protection, and is an insult to the victims of Islamic oppression.'

However, the violence shows no sign of dying down any stage soon.

Martin Lessenthin, the CEO of the International Society for Human Rights, said he knew of many similar conflicts in accommodations in Barton Wurttemberg, but also in Berlin and Nuremberg.

He claimed the abuse was mostly directed at Yazidis and Christians, adding the answer was to make everybody accept German law.

'Ethnic or religious separation is not the answer, anyone who arrives here needs to follow German law in its entirety.'

The German government has also provided support accommodation at secret locations for female victims of ISIS.

Winfried Kretschmann, Baden Wurttemberg's Minister-President, has a special program to help a total of 1,100 female victims of ISIS.

Klaus-Peter Murawski, the program's co-ordinator, said the victims of sexual assault included one girl as young as eight.

A group of migrants arriving at Munich's main rail station in September are escorted through the terminal

Hundreds of asylum seekers hoping to reach Germany are held by police in Slovenia in October last year

The women, many of whom were Yazidis or Christians from northern Iraq and Syria, were sexually abused and beaten, and many of them were kept as slaves after being taken from their families.

In Lower Saxony, the region was the first to agree to take 70 women from a special allocation of refugees who cannot be placed in with other refugees.

And it also funded special psychological care and medical assistance for the women as a result of what they had experienced.

As well as non-Muslims and women, LGBT refugees are also now needing their own accommodation.

Jorg Steinert, managing director of the Lesbian and Gay Association in Berlin-Brandenburg, reported that since last year the number of attacks has skyrocketed.

He said: 'In particular, small, petite, feminine gay men are often beaten or sexually assaulted.'

He said that as a result in Berlin and Nuremberg there are already separate places where they could be accommodated being made available and the first residents would be able to move in shortly.

There are also growing numbers of reports citing violence between the mostly Muslim groups that remain, with frequent police callouts to tackle the violence.
Hugh Hefner's son Cooper believes it was a huge mistake for Playboy to stop publishing naked photos.

The 24-year-old, who is one of the 89-year-old's four children, also slammed the recent decision to put the mansion on the market for $200million in a bid to raise extra cash.

The former college student, whose mother is 1989 Playmate Of The Year Kimberley Conrad, has been a brand ambassador for his father's company and has been seen partying with the likes of Kate Moss at the Playboy club in London.

The iconic publication, that had its first issue on the shelves in December 1953, did not include a single fully nude picture in their March edition for the first time - a decision Cooper has slammed.

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Hugh Hefner's son Cooper (right) believes it was a huge mistake for Playboy to stop publishing naked photos

Cooper, who is one of the 89-year-old's four children, also slammed the recent decision to put the mansion on the market for $200million (he is pictured left outside the house with 2013 Playmate Of The Year Raquel Pomplum and right with Kate Moss at the Playboy Club in London in 2013)

In a candid interview with Business Insider, he said: 'When you have a company and the founder is responsible for kick-starting the sexual revolution and then you pluck out that aspect of the company's DNA by removing the nudity, it makes a lot of people including me sit and say: 'What the hell is the company doing?''

He was once an integral part of his father's empire and would regularly attend board meetings.

But he told Business Insider he has basically been shunned because he doesn't see eye-to-eye with CEO Scott Flanders.

He said: 'I was essentially asked to no longer participate in the board meetings because I didn't agree with his vision for the company.'

The decision to put the house on the market was controversial. It made the property the most expensive listed in the United States.

A deal would have meant Hugh Hefner and his bunnies would have been able to carry on living there.

Despite the need for extensive renovations, Cooper said it is one of 'the most famous residences in the world'.

'It really represents the brand, and to take that asset away from the company is really devastating.'

Cooper is chief creative officer of Hop, a content-focused media brand geared toward millennials.

He wrote an editorial for the company, which acted as a follow-up for his piece in Business Insider.

Cooper wrote: 'Yesterday, I did an interview with Business Insider. The piece was titled, Hugh Hefners son speaks out against Playboys decision to go non-nude and sell the Mansion.

'I spoke more openly about the company than I ever have in the past. I made a point to comment on the current state of affairs and the incredibly damaging decisions corporate leadership has made over the last year and a half.

'My unwillingness to get on board with decisions like taking the company non-nude, selling the Mansion, and a laundry list of other brand initiatives, has rendered my relationship with Playboys current CEO non-existent.

'Although there is nothing that I would want more than to work with a talented team and re-introduce the brand to my generation, Ive made a commitment to myself to not work with leadership that puts their self-interest over the best interest of the brand.

'If I had the ability to prevent what current management is doing, I would have done so, but sleepless nights and a lot of thinking has brought me to the conclusion that the best option is to step back for the time being and allow things to unfold.

'I continue to have confidence that one day, as Disney and Apple did, Playboy will have its moment to appropriately reinvent itself. And when that comes, and current leadership has been moved out, I will happily walk back in to our offices and execute these blueprints for a better brand future.'

In August he got engaged to his Harry Potter actress girlfriend Scarlett Byrne. The British star played Pansy Parkinson in the movies.

While he has been getting involved in the business, his brother Marston has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

In 2012 he was arrested and slapped with a restraining order after he allegedly kicked and punched former Playmate Of The Year Claire Sinclair.

Hugh also has two older children Christine, 63, and David, 60, with his first wife Mildred Williams.

In 2009, Christine Hefner stepped down as chairwoman and CEO of Playboy Enterprises, which initially left the door open for Cooper.

But since then he has been gradually phased out.

His mother Kimberly Conrad (right) and father got married in 1989 after she was named Playmate Of The Year. She was his second wife and the mother to two of his children - Cooper (right) and Marston (left). After nine years they separated although remained nominally married, and she lived next door to the mansion

In August he got engaged to Harry Potter actress Scarlett Byrne. The pair are pictured together at the annual Midsummer Night's Dream Party earlier this year

In 2012 he completed a degree in Film Production and History at university - but revealed his plans to get to know the business side of his father's company.

His mother Kimberly Conrad and father got married in 1989 after she was named Playmate Of The Year.

Social media personality Sarah McDaniel appeared on the front cover of the March edition - the first not to include a full-frontal nude picture

She was his second wife and is the mother to two of his children - Cooper and Marston.

After nine years of marriage, they separated although remained nominally married.

Hugh Hefner has been quoted as saying: 'I would've been happy to divorce her when we separated, but she wanted to remain married for our boys.

She then moved into a house next door to the Playboy Mansion. After an 11-year separation, Hefner filed for divorce stating irreconcilable differences in September 2009 after his youngest child turned 18.

Their divorce was finalized in March 2010.

The great-granddaughter of novelist Ernest Hemingway stripped off for a revamped issue of the magazine for the March edition.

It abandoned full frontal nudity for flirty, more natural shots of women with some, or no, clothes on.

Actress and fashion model Dree Hemingway, 28, was the March Playmate for the first so-called 'non nude' edition which hits U.S. newsstands on February 12.

Social media personality Sarah McDaniel appeared on the front cover in an edition that Playboy described as showcasing 'beautiful women with a very real, relaxed vibe.'

In the new-look magazine, Hemingway and McDaniel pose both scantily clad and naked, while partly covering themselves strategically with their hands, bed sheets or rugs.

Playboy announced in October that it would stop publishing nude photos of women, saying they had become outdated due to the plethora of free pornography on the Internet.

Playboy's circulation has dropped from about 5.6 million in 1975 to around 800,000 in recent years.

Former 'Baywatch' star Pamela Anderson was the last person to bare it all for Playboy for the January/February 2016 edition.

In January it was reported that Hefner's arch-rival Larry Flynt,the publisher of Hustler, wanted to but the Playboy Mansion.
See more news updates on the NHS at www.dailymail.co.uk/nhs

ribunal has now ruled that his approach was 'empathetic and appropriate'

Dr Julius Awakame, 50, advised a patient to get help from a 24-hour church TV channel based in Nigeria because she might be possessed by demonic 'special forces'

An NHS doctor who lost his job after he suggested a patient needed to be exorcised of demonic 'forces' has been cleared of wrongdoing after watchdogs said he was using his own Christian beliefs to help her.

Locum psychiatrist Dr Julius Awakame, 50, gave the woman the name of a 24-hour Nigerian television station run by an evangelical church in Lagos saying: 'Neither psychiatry not psychology would be able to help because there are special forces at play.'

But the disturbed woman - who said she was a childhood victim of a ritualistic satanic paedophile ring - was so upset at the consultation she 'switched off' before fleeing the room at a health centre in Harwich, Essex.

She later claimed the church was 'an abusive place' for her and the fact Awkame mentioned it had 'destroyed' her faith in doctors and affected further therapy.

Later when a community psychiatric nurse quizzed Awkame whether the woman - known as Patient A - was possessed by demons, the medic replied: 'She may well be.'

The consultation took place on January 23 2014 when Awakame was treating the vulnerable woman as an outpatient.

The doctor's employment with the North Essex Partnership Foundation Trust was terminated the following month.

Awkame, who has since returned to his native Ghana, has now been cleared of misconduct after the Medical Practioners Tribunal Service said his approach was 'empathetic and appropriate'.

It concluded the Emmanuel TV channel and the associated website Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) was not expressing 'extreme or pernicious views'.

Tribunal chairman David Kyle told the Manchester hearing: 'By indicating that he was a Christian, Dr Awakame was being supportive and encouraging, in that he was giving Patient A a signal to indicate that she could speak freely.

'The Tribunal does not believe that he was either talking about or pressing his own beliefs on her in order to persuade her to look for a spiritual, rather than medical solution.

'Rather he was responding empathetically and appropriately to what he understood to be Patient A's overpowering belief in the satanic ritual nature of the abuse she had experienced and its impact on her health.

'Patient A had, however, rejected the church due to her previous experiences as she considered this to be part of the abuse that she had suffered - and somewhat inevitably, therefore, she was likely to react badly to any suggestion of spiritual solace.

'By responding as he did, Dr Awakame was seeking to convey his understanding and acceptance of what Patient A strongly believed, not what he believed.

Mr Kyle added: 'The Tribunal judged the online material to be moderate in its content - it was not pressing extreme or pernicious religious views.

'SCOAN did not appear to be taking advantage of people or preying on their vulnerabilities. The content of the online material is appropriately described as 'evangelical' in nature.'

The Manchester hearing heard the patient had a 'dissociative Identity' personality disorder and had 'multiple personalities' having claimed she sexually abused by her own parents and others in 'satanic rituals'.

Awakame, formerly of Ipswich, then told Patient A: 'I can see you are a Christian', then asked her which church she went to.

Patient A said no church would have her and claimed she told him she had a 'demon problem'.

The doctor then wrote down a website address for her to access. He told her the church run Nigerian TV station ran for 24 hours a day and was 'specifically targeted for people who experienced similar situations.'

He said her problems 'could only be addressed by the church' wrote down the name and suggested she write a book about her experiences.

He also told Patient A he had watched the TV station and said there were 'many people who had similar problems' to her.

The patient alleged Awakame told her to ask the church to send her some 'nice holy water' to help with her problems before she walked out complaining of suicidal thoughts.

During a subsequent conversation with Patient A's nurse Martin Rowe, Awakame said he 'studied' the Nigerian TV station 'for hours' and claimed the woman's church had recognised she was possessed and had thrown her out.

Awakame worked for North Essex Partnership Foundation Trust (pictured). The consultation took place on January 23, 2014, when Awakame was treating the woman as an outpatient

Speaking of her emotional state following the meeting, Patient A said: 'I had pretty much switched off after hearing Dr Awakame tell me that no psychiatrist or psychologist could help me as throughout my childhood my parents had told me that no one would believe me and no one would help me'.

Dr Awakame was reported to a consultant psychiatrist at the Trust by Mr Rowe the day after the consultation. An investigation was launched and he was subsequently sacked and referred to the GMC.

Awakame who worked in various hospitals in the NHS from 1997 to 2014 is currently working as a lecturer in 'health informatics' in his home country where he graduated in medicine in 1993.

He studied for a masters degree at the University College of London and a PhD at the University of Leeds.

In response to the allegations he said: 'The patient recognised early on the implications of the satanic ritualistic abuses and the possible lasting contribution this must be making on her current presentation of multiple personalities over which she had no control.

'If spiritual forces resulting from her history of satanic abuse were contributing to the current illness, it was difficult to see how medications or psychotherapy alone can resolve this.

'She needed to resolve the unsolved spiritual side of one of the core problems.'
'Alcoholic': Brendan Coyle (pictured today outside King's Lynn Magistrates' Court) was nearly three times over the legal limit when caught drink driving

Downton Abbey actor Brendan Coyle was banned from the road for more than four years today after admitting drink driving.

The 53-year-old star, who played valet John Bates in the ITV drama, admitted at King's Lynn Magistrates' Court that he was nearly three times over the legal limit when caught on New Year's Day.

Coyle, who appeared in court under his real name David, was caught on the A149 near King's Lynn while driving a BMW convertible.

He gave a reading of 98mcg of alcohol in 100ml of breath (the US equivalent is 0.224BAC) and was taken to a police station. The limit is 35mcg or 80 milligrams per 100ml of blood (0.08BAC).

Coyle, who was returning home after undergoing four weeks of alcohol rehabilitation at a clinic in Thailand, had spent a month at the clinic but had been drinking on the flight back.

Stephen Dyble, defending, said Coyle, of Heacham, Norfolk, had a significant alcohol problem. Mr Dyble said he had spent the whole of December at the clinic in Thailand as he tried to tackle it.

But he stressed: I can't say it was a success as the commission of the offence clearly shows it wasn't and failed. As was made plain to the arresting officer, the flight home was quite lively.

Mr Dyble said all the progress he had made in the previous four weeks was lost on one 6,000-mile flight back to Britain.

But he said Coyle had admitted himself to a Promis rehab clinic on January 16 until February 3 for intensive therapy.

Probation officer Sharon Cooper said the TV star had turned down work for the next few months in an attempt to sort out his drink problem and focus on remaining sober.

Court appearance: Coyle, 53, of Heacham, Norfolk, who appeared in court under his real name David, was caught on the A149 near King's Lynn while driving a BMW convertible

Downton star: Coyle played valet John Bates in the ITV drama, alongside Joanne Froggatt as Anna Smith

She said he had called himself a recovering alcoholic over the last four to five years.

Senior therapist Steven Bember, of Promis, gave evidence on their aftercare programme, which includes a two-to-four-day residential stay every four-to-six weeks.

Coyle, who had a previous, relevant conviction in 2011, has also embarked on the AA 12 steps programme, the court heard.

Mr Dyble said: He stands before you a very contrite man who appreciates he has a problem. He is doing his best to confront it and is very sorry for burdening you with this appearance.

Recovering: Coyle, pictured in publicity photographs for Downton Abbey, has turned down work for the next few months in an attempt to sort out his drink problem and focus on remaining sober, the court heard

Royal appearance: Coyle shows the Duchess of Cambridge the Downton servants bells along with the show's writer Julian Fellowes during an official visit to the set at Ealing Studios in West London in March 2015

The court banned him from driving for 50 months after he pleaded guilty to drink driving.

He was also ordered to do 100 hours unpaid work, given a 12-month community order and told to pay 85 costs, plus a 60 victim surcharge.

He stands before you a very contrite man who appreciates he has a problem Stephen Dyble, defending Brendan Coyle

It was reported two months ago that Coyle, whose father died when he was 17, had allegedly been sent home with a hangover from the Downton set after struggling to deliver his lines following a couple of heavy nights out.

A source told the Mirror at the time: Brendan had basically had one or two heavy nights out and it had a knock-on effect when it came to him having to step into character as Bates.

A few people commented that he wasnt his usual self and, in the end, it meant it just wasnt appropriate for him to film on a couple of occasions.

He also previously told E! News his father's death was the catalyst that made him reevaluate his career choices aged 17.

Out and about: Coyle is pictured with Joy Harrison at a Dirty Rotten Scoundrels after party in April 2014

He said: 'It's a bit weird. It's an awful thing to say that the death of my father was the catalyst for me to get out of town and move on, but it was.'

The actor, who is thought to currently be single, has never married and is believed to have no children.

He sparked romance rumours when he stepped out with television producer Joy Harrison in April 2014, but Ms Harrison turned out to be his partner for their venture Anderson Shelter Productions Limited.

The company was set up to 'find talented young filmmakers and... help fund their short films'.

Coyle, who was born in Corby, Northamptonshire, has also starred in TV shows including Spotless and Starlings in the past few years.
The secret boyfriend of a soldier in a love triangle with two fellow army recruits saw her just five minutes before she was found dead while on duty alone, an inquest has heard.

The affair emerged after the court heard how recruits were left to their own devices, and would take drugs and drink under age at Deepcut Barracks in Surrey.

Private Cheryl James was found dead while on guard duty alone at the base in 1995, and Surrey Coroner's Court is currently hearing the second inquest into her death.

Private Cheryl James (left) was found dead while on guard duty alone at the base in 1995. Today, Surrey Coroner's Court heard how she was seeing Private Paul Wilkinson (right) behind boyfriend Private Jim Carr-Minns' back, and saw him five minutes before she was found dead while alone on guard duty

Today, other recruits revealed how Pte James was unhappy at the base, where there was not enough supervision and young teenage recruits were left to their own devices.

The 18-year-old, from Llangollen, North Wales, was one of four young recruits who died in mysterious circumstances at the Deepcut Barracks in Surrey between 1995 and 2002.

The coroner today heard how she was seeing Private Paul Wilkinson behind boyfriend Private Jim Carr-Minns' back, and saw him five minutes before she was found dead while alone on guard duty.

Paul Wilkinson (pictured) and his love rival were both suspected of firing the gun, but neither were properly quizzed by police

It was revealed earlier during the seven-week inquest that both men were suspected of firing the gun which killed the recruit but were not sufficiently quizzed by police at the time.

At the court today:

Warrant Officer said she used to drink and take amphetamines with Pte James, and physical fights would often break out between female recruits

Fellow recruit Marina Fawcett said Pte James joked about committing suicide because she hated the army so much, and asked her to go awol with her

Pte James had been getting abuse from other recruits, who called her 'a slag', as she saw Pte Paul Wilkinson behind Pte Jim Carr-Minn's back

A Sergeant had made unwanted sexual advances towards Private James, something which was 'quite common' at the base, she added

One of Pte James's former teachers, Heather Williams, described her as a 'mixed-up kid' who was 'crying out for help'because of issues surrounding her adoption

James McAleese described how he heard the gunshot, and a corporal later told them that she had committed suicide as she was not allowed to go home for an organised 18th birthday party

Nicola Clifford, who lent her fellow recruit a waterproof coat moments before she died, described the base as a 'prison camp'

Giving evidence Marina Fawcett, who was with Cheryl at Deepcut, described how a sergeant made unwanted sexual advances towards the young soldier which made her feel uncomfortable.

She said: 'She told me he said 'come over here and see me' and he wanted to get it on with her. She came back and told me and it was a no.

'He said slimy stuff and she said he was horrible and was not interested in him at all and rebuffed any advances made. She was a very laid back person so I'm guessing it went over her head.'

When asked if young recruits being hit on my older male sergeants was common she replied: 'Yes, quite common.

Private James was one of four recruits who died at the Surrey barracks in mysterious circumstances over seven years between 1995 and 2002

Miss Fawcett also said that other trainees had given her a hard time over her love life, and called her 'a slag'. The morning of her death, she and Pte James had had a minor argument over the love triangle she was embroiled in.

She added: 'I said to her something along the lines of "you need to decide who you're going to go out with' and she basically said 'eff off and mind your own business",

TEENAGERS WOULD DRINK AND DO DRUGS AT 'CHAOTIC' BARRACKS Warrant Officer Sarah Ditchfield said that she and Pte James had drank and taken speed, a class B amphetamine, together when they were training, aged 17. She described life at Deepcut as 'chaotic', and said that physical fights would regularly break out between female recruits. WO1 Ditchfield said: 'We were 17-year-old kids who had money in our pockets, there was nothing else for us. 'We were 17, there was a bar, we could get drinks - that's what we done. There wasn't enough NCOs (non-commissioned officers) to control the amount of recruits they had at the time. 'Recruits were running about and didn't know what we were doing from one minute to the next. 'We would tend to ourselves, there was no accountability.' She said arguments and physical fights broke out between the young female recruits. 'Deepcut was worse than Leconfield - in Leconfield we had a day-to-day job to do but in Deepcut there was no ownership on us, we were just left,' she added. She admitted taking illegal drugs with her fellow recruits at a nightclub and said Pte James had taken speed, a class B amphetamine. 'If she went out she would take something, she would take speed.' WO1 Ditchfield broke down in tears as she recalled being told about the death of her friend. She said Pte James's boyfriend Paul Wilkinson was 'in bits' after hearing the news. 'Everybody was upset at the time, of course everyone was in bits. It wasn't just one individual - she was a friend,' WO1 Ditchfield added. She described Pte James, who was having a second relationship with another recruit, James Carr-Minns, as 'fun-loving'. 'I don't think she wanted to let anyone down, she was a fun-loving girl, got on with everyone and found herself in a situation where she didn't want to finish with one of them and end the relationship,' she said. Advertisement

'I might have been winding her up but I knew in a couple of minutes she would be fine.'

The inquest at Woking, Surrey, then heard her written statement given at the time of Cheryl's death.

It said: 'The lad, Wilko, was the last person to see her alive. He said he was chatting to her on the gate. You were meant to stand up with a rifle but she was just sitting down by a tree.'

Warrant Officer Sarah Ditchfield said that she and Pte James had drank and taken speed, a class B amphetamine, together when they were training, aged 17.

She described life at Deepcut as 'chaotic', and said that physical fights would regularly break out between female recruits.

WO1 Ditchfield said: 'We were 17-year-old kids who had money in our pockets, there was nothing else for us.

'There was a bar, we could get drinks - that's what we done. There wasn't enough NCOs (non-commissioned officers) to control the amount of recruits they had at the time.

'Recruits were running about and didn't know what we were doing from one minute to the next. We would tend to ourselves, there was no accountability.'

WO1 Ditchfield broke down in tears as she recalled being told about the death of her friend.

She said Pte James's boyfriend Paul Wilkinson was 'in bits' after hearing the news,

And 'fun-loving' Pte James had not intended to hurt any of the two men she was in relationships with.

'I don't think she wanted to let anyone down, she was a fun-loving girl, got on with everyone and found herself in a situation where she didn't want to finish with one of them and end the relationship,' she said.

A former teacher of Pte James, Heather Williams, also spoke, describing her to the court as 'a mixed up kid'.

Miss Williams, who taught her for five years at Ysgol Dinas Bran in Llangollen, Wales, said her problems stemmed from the fact that she was adopted.

'She was emotional about not knowing her true background and wanted to know where she belonged,' Ms Williams added in a statement read to the inquest.

Yesterday, coroner Brian Barker heard how female Army recruits at the barracks were seen as 'a sexual challenge' by male instructors.

It was claimed there was a 'free room' for use for sexual relationships at the Deepcut barracks in Surrey.

A top ranking Army official told the inquest that he was not aware of the room but admitted there was 'a sexual atmosphere' at the notorious barracks.

The love affair between Cheryl James and two fellow soldiers emerged after the inquest heard how recruits at Deepcut Barracks (pictured) were left 'running around' taking illegal drugs and drinking under age

RECRUIT WAS DESPERATE TO LEAVE THE ARMY AND JOKED ABOUT SUICIDE Former Deepcut recruit Marina Fawcett told the inquest Pte James was desperate to leave the army and had made comments about shooting herself in the head. Pte James had told her friend she joined the army because she 'had no life' and was afraid she would 'end up on drugs' if she went home, the inquest heard. She allegedly 'didn't give a shit' about being a soldier and had asked Ms Fawcett to go awol (absent without leave) with her. 'It was more than a passing comment because it was what she wanted to do,' Ms Fawcett said. 'It's what I wanted too but we couldn't buy ourselves out.' On another occasion Pte James 'joked' about killing herself, she said. 'She literally mentioned 'we're going to shoot ourselves on guard duty one day aren't we?' and I said yes,' she added. 'She was saying it as general banter... I don't know why she said it, it just sounded like a laugh like when someone says something stupid. 'What she said that day just went over my head. She said to me 'we'll shoot ourselves in the head'. 'Them words stick in my mind, I can't forget that. 'I can't remember if it was a few days before (her death) or a few weeks before.' She added: 'She was happy all the time, she was always bubbly. It was almost like she was on something.' One of the training sergeants 'had a bit of a thing' for Pte James and 'basically wanted to get it on with her,'' Ms Fawcett said. He had been saying 'slimy stuff' to the teenager but she turned down his advances, she added. 'She said he was horrible,' she said. 'They (the senior officers) were on a power trip and they got a buzz off it,' Ms Fawcett said. 'They were a corporal or a sergeant and we were only recruits.' Pte James was being 'given a hard time' over her relationships and had been called a 'slag' by her fellow trainees, the inquest heard. On the morning of her death she told Ms Fawcett to 'eff off' after they had an argument about her love life. 'I said to her something along the lines of 'you need to decide who you're going to go out with' and she basically said 'eff off and mind your own business',' she said. 'I might have been winding her up but I knew in a couple of minutes she would be fine. 'That was the last time I seen her and we were all in the guard room and she just seemed her normal self, she seemed fine.' Advertisement

Brigadier John Donnelly admitted to the inquest being held into Pte James's death, that there was a culture where recruits did not feel they could speak out against unwanted sexual advances and bullying from superior officers.

The inquest was told that relationships between soldiers of any rank was banned, but this was not formally written down as official Army policy.

Brigadier Donnelly said a relationship between a male instructor and a female recruit would amount to 'an abuse of power' and would make training and disciplining such a Private much more difficult.

TEACHER SAID SHE WAS A 'MIXED UP KID' DUE TO BEING ADOPTED One of Pte James's former teachers described her as a 'mixed-up kid' who was 'crying out for help' and said she was 'shocked but not surprised' when she was told she had killed herself. Heather Williams, who taught her for five years at Ysgol Dinas Bran in Llangollen, Wales, said her problems stemmed from the fact that she was adopted. 'She was emotional about not knowing her true background and wanted to know where she belonged,' Ms Williams added in a statement read to the inquest. Her parents were 'desperate' to do the right thing for their daughter, she continued. 'I think bringing up Cheryl was an uphill struggle,' she said. 'She had an antisocial attitude and was a tough nut to crack. She put up barriers and seemed to be an extroverted character but I think this was a front.' She added: 'I was pleased when she indicated she wanted to join the army as it was the first time she had shown ambition.' Ms Williams continued: 'When I found out about her death I was shocked but not surprised. 'She was always searching for something, a true belonging. She had a chip on her shoulder about not knowing her real parents or that she was adopted sooner. 'Cheryl was a child crying out for help, very insecure and had deep-seated problems - overall a mixed-up kid.' Advertisement

It was suggested to the brigadier by Bridget Dolan, counsel for the coroner overseeing the inquest, that 'some male instructors saw female recruits as a sexual challenge.'

He replied: 'Sadly not everyone subscribed to our set of values.

'It is not an aspect that's unique to the armed forces, but there are elements of military culture that can accentuate that.'

Alison Foster QC, counsel for Pte James's family, suggested: 'There was an available free room for sexual relationships and all the young men knew about that.'

The brigadier said he had not seen the statement making the allegation. However he admitted: 'There certainly was a sexual atmosphere at Deepcut, yes.'

He also accepted that there was a misuse of power by those in positions of leadership.

A report from the Ministry of Defence noted that trainees at Deepcut said there was 'no effective channel of complaint' against instructors, and the system for making complaints of bullying against them was 'of limited effectiveness.'

The MOD report said the culture at Deepcut caused 'increased stress on weaker individuals' and soldiers became 'demotivated.'

This meant that the Army 'failed adequately to address the risk of self harm among Phase Two trainees at Deepcut'. Pte James, of Llangollen, north Wales, was a Phase Two trainee at the base at the time of her death.

The report said there was a low supervision ratio between trainees and officers and mental welfare problems 'may often have gone unnoticed.'

It said: 'The MOD accepts the opportunity for self-harm on guard duty was increased by lone guard duty and the frequency could also serve towards poor morale.'

Pte James was on lone guard duty at the time of her death - a situation, Brigadier Donnelly, admitted she should not have been in.

Ms Foster said: 'Part of the reason for a woman not guarding on her own was a woman might be physically less able to repel a attack than a man.

'The concern of the army was a woman could be overborne by an intruder - a terrorist - more easily than a man.

The court also heard how a Sergeant had made unwanted sexual advances towards Private James, something which was 'quite common' at the base.

'If there were any malevolence from inside the camp, is she not, as a female in a place of some remoteness, in a position of some vulnerability in any event?'

Brigadier Donnelly replied: 'I agree with that, but the same could apply to a young man. It doesn't just apply to a young woman.'

ARMY BASE WAS A 'PRISON CAMP' One of the last people to see Pte James alive has described Deepcut as a 'prison camp'. Nicola Clifford lent her fellow recruit a waterproof coat moments before she died, the inquest was told. 'Her demeanour seemed fine and she was pleasant to me,' she said in a statement read to the inquest. She added: 'At the guardroom a couple of girls were crying and one of the staff told us Cheryl James had shot herself. 'It dawned on me that she was the girl I had lent my jacket to.' Ms Clifford added: 'I would describe Deepcut as a prison camp where we were not allowed to have a life. 'I remember constantly having to sweep leaves up and other irrelevant tasks.' She claims Pte James had volunteered to go on guard duty at the gate earlier that day. Advertisement

Ms Foster said that some instructors at Deepcut were put in charge of 300 or 400 recruits.

She said: 'There was a total lack of staff. NCOs [instructors] were guessing what to do with recruits during the day. There was a lack of control and forward planning.'

Brigadier Donnelly said: 'The supervision didn't allow people to discharge their proper duty of care.'

Referring to the 'sexual atmosphere' at Deepcut, Ms Foster said to the brigadier: 'You accept, very fairly, there was a failure to prohibit expressly sexual behaviour between instructors and trainees.

'What this means in practice is that a corporal or sergeant - an instructor who was superior in rank to a trainee, a Private - might have thought there was nothing wrong in having a sexual relationship with that trainee, absent of policy.'

Brigadier Donnelly replied: 'Any relationship like that, between an instructor and trainee, was prohibited and goes against policy. The guidance written down wasn't as clear and unambiguous as it could have been.'

Brigadier Donnelly accepted Ms Dolan's claim that 'it is clear there have been a number of complaints of unwanted sexual propositions of recruits.'

Ms Dolan added: 'That culture it happened in is something that's going to persist unless there is a culture in which those who are victims of unwanted sexual attention feel they can speak out.'

Warrant Officer Sarah Ditchfield, who carried out her training alongside Pte James, also spoke today and described Deepcut (pictured) as 'chaotic', claiming there was not enough supervision

The brigadier said aspects of military life did 'accentuate' that culture.

He also accepted from Ms Foster that some Deepcut instructors 'strayed beyond what was appropriate' when handing out punishments for minor misdemeanours.

Being placed on guard duty became a punishment meted out by instructors, Ms Foster said.

She asked: 'Do you accept that the effect of the morale of these youngsters on guard duty as punishment could be highly significant?' Brigadier Donnelly agreed.

RECRUIT SHOT HERSELF BECAUSE SHE WASN'T ALLOWED TO GO TO HER 18TH BIRTHDAY PARTY Another Deepcut trainee was told Pte James had shot herself because she had not been allowed leave to go to her 18th birthday party, the inquest heard. James McAleese said he was in his barracks with other recruits when they heard a gunshot. 'Later a corporal came in and told us Cheryl had killed herself and that it was because she had not been allowed to go home to her family for an 18th birthday organised for her,' he added in a statement. Pte James's father Des later told Mr McAleese this was 'a lie' which he had heard from another person at Deepcut, the inquest heard. Advertisement

Ms Foster asked the brigadier: 'Cheryl shouldn't have been guarding alone. She should never have been allowed to be alone in that position. You'd expect the commanding officer to know that, wouldn't you?' Brigadier Donnelley replied: 'Yes.'

He added there was an element of misogynistic language and behaviour at Deepcut which, he said, 'is now seen as being of its time'.

The inquest was told that, at the time of her death, Pte James would have only received six or seven months' of training in handling weapons.

Cheryl's death was originally ruled as suicide but more than 20 years after her death, a fresh inquest this week heard evidence from her father Des James about her mental state at the time of the tragedy.

The hearing heard extracts from letters Cheryl wrote to a friend at home in which she described being 'used to' people dying and said she didn't want to do guard duty.

The correspondence dated November 19, 1995 - just eight days before the soldier's death - said: 'I cannot wait to come back at the weekend. I hope I do not have guard duty. I am really shocked about the death of Rhys.'

Mr James explained Rhys was a friend of Cheryl's at home who was killed in a car accident around that time.

WO1 Ditchfield told HM Coroner's Court in Surrey (pictured) that arguments and physical fights broke out between the young female recruits

The letter continued: 'I do not know how I feel. Now when people die I feel sad but I think I am used to it. It sounds bad but everyone dies at one time or another.

'Just a shame he was so young. Same as [her cousin] really, but a different situation. I do not wish to talk about it much more, it will only make you feel worse.'

Cheryl then discussed being 'in love' with fellow soldier Jim and spoke about how they both wanted to leave the Army.

Coroner Mr Barker is expected to look into the allegation that Cheryl was raped or coerced into sex by senior officers the night before her death as part of the two month-long inquest.

Ms Foster previously said it would be important for the coroner to consider Cheryl's 'state of mind' at the time of her death in light of any serious sexual assault which may have taken place.

'There is a witness who may answer to the fact she may have been sexually coerced or raped, pressured to engage in sexual activity,' she told the court at a pre-inquest review.

(Top, left to right) Private James Collinson, 17 from Perth, Private Cheryl James, 18, from Llangollen, North Wales, Private Sean Benton from Hastings, East Sussex, and Private Geoff Gray from Seaham, Durham who all died at Deepcut Barracks

Private Cheryl James with her mother Doreen. Almost 60 allegations of bullying and sexual assaults, said to have taken place at the Deepcut barracks in 1995, were made to Surrey Police

'She may have been forced to have sex. She may have been ordered to sleep with witness A by someone superior in rank, known as witness B.'

Ms Foster QC said the inquiry may have uncovered a 'culture' of sexual abuse, saying: 'This new material gives a sinister and very different slant involving the pressure of third parties on persons to have sexual intercourse or other relations against their will.'

However Mr Barker said the wider culture of sexual abuse of recruits at the barracks, including 'sexually inappropriate treatment of young females within the chain of command', would not fall into the inquest's remit as it was not a public inquiry.

After the open verdict at the initial inquest - hurriedly held only three weeks after Cheryl's tragic death and lasting just one hour - the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and police were accused of a cover-up.

Des James, her father, argued for years for a new inquest into the death which is now taking place

Cheryl's parents, Des and Doreen James, refused to accept the theory that their daughter committed suicide using her own rifle and have battled for 20 years for the truth surrounding her death.

A second inquest into her death was ordered last July after the first verdict was quashed by the High Court.

Private James had been posted, alone and armed with an SA80 rifle, to guard a gate known as A2 at Royal Way on November 27, 1995.

She was found at about 8.30am close to the gate in a small wooded area surrounded by trees, with a bullet wound to the front of her head and no other signs of injury.

The coroner previously ruled that the inquest will take place in isolation, despite a request from Surrey Police for it to be held concurrently with those into the deaths of three other recruits at Deepcut.

Privates Geoff Gray and James Collinson, both aged 17 years, and 20-year-old Sean Benton, also died from gunshot wounds, sparking allegations of bullying and abuse at the barracks.

A ballistics expert for the families of the four deceased claimed in 2003 that it was unlikely that any of the soldiers had shot themselves.

The teenage soldier's body was exhumed on August 10 ahead of the fresh hearing, which will consider whether a third party was involved in her death and what happened on the evening before she died.

After a second autopsy, which found metallic fragments which had been subjected to modern ballistics analysis, her body was later reburied at a small family service.
Attorney General Kathleen Kane

Attorney General Kathleen Kane at a PennLive editorial board in June 2014, as the criminal investigation against her was just getting underway (PennLive file)

(File photo)

So this is what passes for a political victory in Pennsylvania, the land of endless budgets debates and endlessly embarrassing porn email investigations:

On Wednesday, embattled Attorney General Kathleen Kane ducked one effort in the state Senate to boot her from office - only to face another in the House.

That's even as a criminal case against her slowly unspools, an ethics probe lingers, a bushel basket of civil cases stew in various courts and her fellow Democrats line up to challenge her in the spring primary.

And, oh yeah, the state Supreme Court upheld the suspension of her law license, effectively rendering her a popularly elected HR Director.

And she called it a "good day."

But then, compared to what Kane's bad days have looked like for the last 36 months or so, it probably was something of a cake walk.

If you're just tuning in:

On Wednesday, the Republican-controlled state Senate failed to muster the two-thirds majority it needed to invoke an obscure clause of the state Constitution that more than likely would have allowed for her immediate removal from office.

The guy pulling the trigger on that one? That'd be Gov. Tom Wolf, who, like Kane, is a Democrat.

The same day, the Republican-controlled state House voted 170-12, with a minimum of debate, to authorize an investigation that could result in articles of impeachment being filed against the Scranton native.

Kane, as you'll recall, faces perjury and other charges for allegedly leaking confidential grand jury material to embarrass a critic -- which is what started this whole sorry mess to begin with.

For anyone else, this would have been a day so profoundly embarrassing and politically withering that the only sensible alternative would have been to stay inside and binge on Netflix.

But in Kane-Land, this counts as a win.

"Today is a good day for all those who share my desire to restore confidence in our judges and prosecutors and integrity to our system of justice," Kane said in a statement, referring to her one-woman war against Harrisburg's porn-happy Old Boys Network.

"Special Prosecutor [Doug] Gansler will press on," she continued, "leaving no hate-filled email unread and no ex parte communication uncovered, in our effort to deliver to all Pennsylvanians, the system of justice we deserve rather than the one we now have. I am happy to continue this effort, finish the mission I pledged to carry out and the job for which I was elected to serve."

Kane has claimed for months that the Senate process, last employed (and unsuccessfully at that) in 1891 was illegitimate.

She, along with some of her Democratic allies, argued that impeachment, which involves investigation by the House and a trial in the Senate, was the more appropriate course.

And based on the way the sharply partisan debate unfolded in the Senate on Wednesday, Kane, frankly, might like her odds a little better in the House proceeding anyway.

Just one Democrat, state Sen. Rob Teplitz, D-Dauphin, crossed over to vote with Republicans on the removal motion, which failed on a 29-19 vote, and was consigned to the chamber's Rules Committee.

Republican Stewart J. Greenleaf of Montgomery County, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and one of the Senate's more famously contrarian members, voted with Democrats.

That's the politics. Now the law.

As PennLive's Wallace McKelvey reported this week, the threshold for impeachment is higher than the more vague "reasonable cause" standard invoked by the Senate.

As McKelvey notes, impeachment proceedings are historically launched after someone's been convicted of a crime - not beforehand..

"You're not going to impeach somebody instead of having her go to trial," Bruce Ledewitz, a Duquesne Law School professor and constitutional law expert, told McKelvey. "If they try to proceed with it, they'll only interfere with the criminal prosecution and, eventually, a prosecutor will say that."

By the time that thoroughly weird Wednesday (even adjusted for the Bizarro high watermarks already set by this saga) had ended, Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, simply concluded: "This circus continues."

It is a circus. And calling Wednesday a good day is an insult to the taxpayers who have to pay for the clowns who are staffing it.

There is a bright side at least: One of the best parts of a circus is when it folds up its tents and finally leaves town.

That day can't come soon enough.
Two top Uber executives appeared in a Paris court today on charges that could send them to prison and give the company one of its most serious legal challenges to date in France.

The San Francisco-based company shut down the low-cost UberPop service, which connected users to non-professional drivers and prompted the criminal charges.

But it continues to operate in France, despite repeated strikes and sometimes violent tensions with taxi drivers, and is not outlawed entirely as it is in Spain and Italy.

Charges against Thibaud Simphal, general manager for France, and Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, chief for Western Europe, include running an illegal taxi operation, commercial deception and violation of French privacy law by illegally stocking, processing and recording personal information.

In the dock: Thibaud Simphal, manager of Uber France, arrives at a Paris courthouse to face charges including running an illegal taxi operation, commercial deception and violation of French privacy law by illegally stocking, processing and recording personal information

Accused: Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, Uber's chief for Western Europe arrives for a trial at the court in Paris

They face up to five years in prison and a 300,000 ($338,000) fine each if convicted.

Uber France is also charged and faces a 1.5million ($1.7 million) fine.

The two managers were notified of the charges directly by the Paris prosecutor's office just after being held in custody for hours last June.

A spokesman for Uber France, Thomas Meister, said it is 'extremely unusual to be summoned to appear in court directly by a prosecutor' after a police investigation.

He also questioned the lack of oversight from an investigating judge or the French agency that specialises in privacy violations.

'Our lawyers don't even know what we are exactly blamed for' especially in the privacy counts, Meister said ahead of the trial.

More than 200 UberPop drivers have been fined under fast-track procedures in France and one was handed a 15-day suspended prison term, but today's trial is the first for Uber managers in France.

Uber France has already been convicted of commercial deception and fined 150,000 ($170,000) over UberPop.

Drivers of Uber and other ride-hailing companies gather at Porte Maillot in Paris to defend jobs they believe are threatened by measures the government recently announced in favour of taxis

French taxis drivers argue that Uber sidesteps taxes, social charges and licensing fees, and endangers passengers.

Uber calls the French system outdated and says it needs radical reform to keep up with technological changes.

'We are not challenging labor law', said Meister, the Uber France spokesman.

'We rather put order into the system. We are the symptom of a problem, not responsible for the problem.'

Meister complained critics point the finger only at Uber, not at similar smartphone app-based services like Heetch, a French startup. 'There are double standards', he said.

The French government has kept up its offensive with document checks of drivers suspected to be illegally moonlighting for Uber and similar services.

On Thursday, hours before the start of the trial, police teamed up with anti-fraud investigators to check taxis and car services at Paris' Gare de Lyon train station.

Several chauffeurs were fined for illegal taxi activity after being caught carrying a single passenger.

The drivers have particular status allowing them to carry a minimum of two passengers, but many skirt the regulations and use platforms like Uber to pick up single passengers.
Tesco were today offering lager lovers an extraordinary deal of buying a pint of beer for just 14p - only to later say it was a mistake.

Drinkers quickly flocked to their store's website this morning to order 12 660ml bottles of Budweiser for just 1.99.

The store was even offering customers a chance to buy three crates for 5 - meaning a pint would set punters back just 14p.

Too good to be true: Tesco were today offering lager lovers an extraordinary deal of buying a pint of beer for just 14p - only to later say it was a mistake

But Tesco was quick to apologise for the 'confusion' adding that the product had been listed with the 'incorrect details'.

One disgruntled customer accused them of 'false advertising' and urged them to 'honour' his order.

He was in disbelief that the store claimed it was a mistake as the picture on the site showed a red crate of 12 600ml bottles.

And in the description of the product, Tesco reveal that they are indeed selling '12 x 660 Millilitres' Budweiser bottles.

Thirsty for a bargain: The image on the left shows how one customer tried to buy 12 crates of Budweiser for just 24. Another urged the store to 'honour' his order (right)

But the store revealed on Twitter that the product was listed with 'incorrect details'.

They added that the 'product being advertised is a single 660ml bottle and not a 12 pack'.

This is despite scores of customers placing orders online - expecting to lap up the incredible deal.

Andrew Glass from Belfast, Northern Ireland, ordered the beer online and tweeted the supermarket to make sure they would honour his purchase.

He said: 'This is advertised as net content 12x660ml, I assume you will honour my order.'

But Tesco replied: 'Hi Andrew, I'm sorry for the confusion caused here. The product being advertised is a single 660ml bottle and not a 12 pack.

'I'm afraid we do not sell a 12 pack of 660ml bottle of Budweiser, so this has been advertised incorrectly.'

Andrew wrote back: 'Even when it's advertised as net content 12x660ml? Surely this is false advertising?

'Order has already been placed. Surely it's your responsibility to make sure these details are correct.'

Tesco replied: 'I'm sorry the product has been listed with the incorrect details, I understand this must be frustrating for you.

'I'm afraid we would not be able to honour this for you, but I have reported the issue to ensure it's resolved.

'The item can be removed from your order if it is no longer needed. Sorry again for the inconvenience caused.'

Andrew said: 'Doesn't sound like you are that sorry. Quite annoyed. U make a mistake then tell your customer to cancel it. Great customer services.'

Tesco responded on Twitter, pointing out that the beer had been listed with the incorrect details

The store told customers that it would not be able to honour their orders for cheep lager

Anger: Many customers accused Tesco of false advertising and took the issue up on Twitter

Electrical engineer Jack Rowland, 23, from Southampton, Hants, thought he was buying 12 crates - 144 beers - at 1.99 adding up to 23.88.

He said: 'I saw the deal online and quickly went on Tesco's site to order some of the lager - I couldn't believe how cheap it was.

'I checked the details under the advert and it said that they were selling 12 bottles of 660ml Budweiser.

'The picture shows 12 bottles, too, so I was confident I was buying a dozen and just thought it was a great deal.

'I received a confirmation email which said the order had been confirmed and that I would be picking the beer up from my local store tomorrow.
Sex scandal: A second sheriff's deputy has been fired for having a romantic relationship with the mistress of slain colleague Darren Goforth (pictured)

A second Houston-area sheriff's deputy has been fired for having a romantic relationship with the mistress of colleague Darren Goforth who was gunned down at a gas station in August, and there may be more terminations to come.

The latest Harris County law enforcement officer to have been kicked off the force in the wake of Deputy Goforth's murder has been identified as Marc DeLeon.

The sheriff's office released a statement saying an internal investigation concluded that DeLeon was 'untruthful' during the probe into his conduct, reported the station KPRC.

Deputy Goforth, a married father-of-two, was filling up his patrol car at a suburban Houston gas station on August 28, 2015, when officials say 31-year-old Shannon Miles opened fire on him, shooting the officer 15 times execution-style.

According to his indictment on a capital murder charge, Miles targeted Goforth because he was a law enforcement official.

In November, Miles' attorneys filed a motion demanding that prosecutors turn over all their information on Goforths unnamed paramour, claiming that the cop was off duty and on his way to meet her when he was shot.

The mistress was allegedly seen sobbing over the deputy's bullet-ridden body at the scene of the crime later that night.

Scroll down for video

Marc DeLeon (left) has been relieved of his duties for trying to conceal his relationship with Goforth's lover. In October, Sgt Craig Clompton (right) was fired after admitting to having sexual contact with the same woman

Gunman: Officials say Goforth was at a gas station on August 28 when 31-year-old Shannon Miles, seen here in court on August 31, opened fire on the cop, shooting him 15 times

According to court documents, she was having an affair with the father-of-two for 15 months until his death.

Officials revealed this week that Goforths colleague DeLeon also had a tryst with the same woman before and after the deadly ambush, as did Sgt Craig Clompton, and possibly at least one other officer who is now being investigated, reported the station ABC13.

Shannon Miles lawyer, Anthony Osso, said he had heard rumors of DeLeon's involvement with the mystery femme fatale.

I don't know what causes people to want to be with this witness, I've never met her personally but she seems to have an effect on some people, he said.

Sheriffs officials pointed out that DeLeon was not relieved of his duties because he had a relationship with Goforth's mistress, but because he tried to conceal it.

Deputy DeLeon was among the officers who responded to the scene of the shooting.

This particular deputy knew the witness before the incident ever even occurred, Osso said.

The affair: Goforth was married and had two young children, pictured above. Court documents stated that the 47-year-old family man was involved in an affair for 15 months leading up to his death

Kathleen Goforth paid tribute to her husband after his death, calling him and good and fiercely loyal man

Shortly after Goforth's slaying, DeLeon was interviewed by the local station KPRC, describing himself as a good friend of the 47-year-old deputy.

This week,Shannon Miles, who has a history of schizophrenia, was ruled mentally incompetent to stand trial

He was my voice of reason whenever something would frustrate me and I would run it by him,' a somber DeLeon said at the time.

In October, Sgt. Clompton, who was involved in Goforths murder investigation, was let go after he admitted to engaging in consensual sexual contact with Goforth and DeLeon's shared lover.

Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman called Clompton's conduct 'unethical and inexcusable' at the time.

More than 11,000 people turned up to pay their final respects at Goforths funeral in September.

After Miles was charged, his widow Kathleen paid tribute to him, calling him and good and fiercely loyal man.

Mrs Goforth's statement, reported by NBC News, said: 'There are no words for this. My husband was an incredibly intricate blend of toughness and gentility.

'He was always loyal, fiercely so. He was ethical. The right thing to do is what guided his internal compass.'

'He was good. If people want to know what kind of man he was, this is it: he was who you wanted for a friend, a colleague and a neighbor.

'However, it was I who was blessed so richly, that I had the privilege of calling him my husband and my best friend.'

This week, gunman Shannon Miles, who has a history of schizophrenia, was ruled mentally incompetent to stand trial.
The author of a children's book pulled last month because of its smiling depiction of slaves says she herself objected to the illustrations and had expressed early concerns with the publisher, Scholastic.

'A Birthday Cake for George Washington,' written by Ramin Ganeshram, depicts a day in the life of the real-life slave Hercules, who was known for working in the first president's kitchen.

The story centers around Hercules' quest to bake a cake for Washington and is told from the perspective of the Hercules' daughter Delia.

In the book's illustrations, drawn by Vanessa Brantley-Newton, slaves are frequently drawn with smiles on their faces as they work.

'Always had issues with the illustrations': Ramin Ganeshram spoke out about her widely criticized children's book that was pulled from shelves last month

In her first interview since Scholastic withdrew 'A Birthday Cake' less than two weeks after it was published, Ganeshram said that she and the illustrator had little communication and essentially worked separately.

'The public does not know that the authors (of picture stories) are not in full control of their books,' she told the Associated Press.

'The public feels if you write the book, the book is yours and you make the decisions. But in children's publishing at least, that is entirely untrue. Authors and illustrators often do not speak, or interact. I never had a conversation with Vanessa, just a few tweets.'

Ganeshram says she was informed of the decision to pull the book by her editor, Andrea Davis Pinkney.

'And I said to her, 'As you know, I have always had issues with these illustrations,'' Ganeshram said.

Scholastic spokeswoman Kyle Good said that the publisher would have no comment.

Left, the cover of the controversial book. Right, the book's illustrator, Vanessa Brantley-Newton

An illustration from the controversial children's book 'A Birthday Cake for George Washington'

The children's book authored by Ramin Ganeshram and illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton drew criticism for it's pictures of smiling slaves

The real Hercules escaped to freedom on Washington's 65th birthday. Ganeshram mentions his escape in an author's note.

The book was published January 5 and set off a wave of criticism from reviewers and on social media.

Upon the book's publication, the School Library Journal recommended against the book, saying the 'colorful, cartoon-style' illustrations, 'combined with the light tone of the text, convey a feeling of joyfulness that contrasts starkly with the reality of slave life.'

A portrait believed to show the real-life Hercules, a slave who worked in George Washington's kitchen and who later escaped to freedom

'Young readers without sufficient background knowledge about the larger context of American slavery may come away with a dangerously rosy impression of the relationship between slaves and slave owners, and those with a deeper understanding are likely to find this depiction offensive,' the reviewer wrote.

Scholastic initially defended 'A Birthday Cake,' which centers on Washington's head chef, the slave Hercules.

But on January 17, it halted publication, explaining in a statement that the book 'may give a false impression of the reality of the lives of slaves.'

Brantley-Newton, an award-winning illustrator and author, has not responded to phone and email requests for comment.

While some authors and illustrators collaborate from the start, it's also common for publishers to choose the creative team and have them work separately, especially when they don't know each other.

Ganeshram said that she and Brantley-Newton have never met.

The author had spent four years researching the life of Hercules for a larger project, but agreed to use some material for a picture story after speaking with Pinkney, who edited Ganeshram's novel 'Stir it Up,' published in 2011.

Ganeshram had hoped 'A Birthday Cake' would be the first in a series of works on Hercules.

'For me, Hercules is everything,' she said, 'so every opportunity to present him to the world was something to be seriously considered.'

But Ganeshram said that she emailed Pinkney last spring, objecting to the 'over-joviality' of some the illustrations and adding that a recent picture book, Emily Jenkins' 'A Fine Dessert,' had been rightly criticized for similar reasons.

'A Fine Dessert' by Emily Jenkins (pictured above) was criticized for similar reasons as Ganeshram's withdrawn book

'And I said, 'When can I start speaking to Vanessa? I would like to send some research material.' And the editor told me, "Authors and illustrators don't interact,"' Ganeshram said.

An award-winning journalist and author born to a Trinidadian father and Iranian mother, the 47-year-old Ganeshram noted that the book was considered offensive despite the diversity of those who worked on it.

Brantley-Newton has described herself as coming from a 'blended background  African-American, Asian, European, and Jewish,' and has illustrated the children's series 'Ruby and the Booker Boys' among other books.

Pinkney is a highly respected editor and award-winning author who in 1998 founded the Hyperion imprint Jump at the Sun, which publishes African-American children's books.

'A big aspect of the diversity movement is predicated on the idea of getting people who represent the background of those depicted in the story,' Ganeshram said.

'We assume that the material will automatically be treated more delicately and more sensitively and we can see that it's simply not true.'

Some critics also faulted Ganeshram's narrative, saying that Washington's determination to keep his slaves and Hercules' eventual escape were confined to an author's note.

Ganeshram said the book only covers one day in Hercules' life and that the author's note was intended to 'spark further discussion.'

Ganeshram also said that she had not intended to write a story about slavery, but about a 'great chef who made magic out of nothing,' against great odds, and about the love of his daughter.

Asked if it was possible to include slaves in a narrative without having slavery becoming the point of the narrative, she said that she wasn't sure how to respond but that 'we must be brave enough to continue to try.'

'These people were individual human beings, with their own sensibility, with their own pride, with their own foibles. And to reduce them to only slaves is incredibly diminishing,' she said.

'And the first thing we have to be brave enough to do is to reform the way we do these book, to reform the system, so we can explore this from every possible angle.'
Five people were arrested and four of them were charged with manslaughter on Thursday morning in connection to the East Village explosion that killed two people last year.

Three contractors and two building owners were taken into custody on charges including manslaughter and negligent homicide for the blast that razed three buildings on March 26 and that began at 121 Second Avenue between East Seventh Street and St. Marks Place.

Landlord Maria Hrynenko, her son, Michael Jr., Bronx contractor Dilber Kukic and plumber Jerry Ioannidis were charged with negligent homicide, second-degree assault and reckless endangerment, and second-degree manslaughter, according to the New York Post.

Alleged criminals: Landlord Maria Hrynenko and her son, Michael Jr., are pictured in a Manhattan court on Thursday after being charged with negligent homicide in connection to the East Village fire

Injured: Dilber Kukic, 40, is pictured walking in the hall of a Manhattan criminal court. Both Michael Jr. and Kukic were injured in the explosion. Hrynenko's son Michael Hrynenko was dragged to safety by Kukic

Charged with manslaughter: Contractor Dilber Kukic, 40, is pictured in a Manhattan criminal court on Thursday following his arrest

False filing: Plumber Andrew Trombettas was charged with offering a false instrument for filing. He is pictured in court on Thursday

Plumber Andrew Trombettas and plumber Jerry Ioannidis were also charged with offering a false instrument for filing. They both obtained the permit to do gas-line work on the building that later combusted. Both Michael Jr. and Kukic were injured in the explosion. Hrynenko's son Michael Hrynenko was dragged to safety by Kukic.

Kukic was the general contractor for construction at the site; and Hrynenko is the owner of the building, according to ABC.

All the suspects were scheduled to appear before Justice Kirke Bartley beginning at 2:15 p.m. on Thursday afternoon.

Possible jail time: Dilber Kukic and Maria Hrynenko, both pictured on Thursday, face up to 15 years behind bars if convicted

Arraignment: Defendants Maria Hrynenko , left, and Anthansios Ioannidis in court today for building explosion case arraignments. They allegedly were part of a plot to supply gas from one building to another in order to cut corners

Court appearance: Maria Hrynenko (far left) and Dilber Kukic, 40, are pictured in court before Justice Kirke Bartley on Thursday afternoon. Hrynenko was the building's landlord

Evidence: Police say the contractors made 'dangerous... deadly shortcuts' in tapping into a gas line (pictured) into the building, said DA Cyrus R. Vance on Thursday at a press conference

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., center, Department of Investigation Commissioner Mark G. Peters, left, and New York City Fire Commissioner Daniel A. Nigro announced Thursday's indictments

Flames rise from a building fire in the East Village last year. Landlord Maria Hrynenko, her son, Michael Jr., Bronx contractor Dilber Kukic and plumberd Jerry Ioannidis and Andrew Trombettas were charged

CCTV: This surveillance footage shows the explosion at the very moment it happened last year

Faulty:According to prosecutors, the defendants devised a way to continue to illegally tap into the gas line of the neighboring building, 119 Second Avenue by using flexible hosing

According to prosecutors, the defendants devised a way to continue to illegally tap into the gas line of the neighboring building, 119 Second Avenue, owned by Ms. Hrynenko, to provide gas to the apartments., according to the New York Times. They allegedly did so by using 'flexible hosing.'

'Flex hosing used in this way is illegal and extremely unsafe because of its potential to disconnect, break, or leak,' Assistant District Attorney Rachana Pathak wrote in court documents.

The unsafe gas delivery was also addressed at a press conference earlier on Thursday.

'The defendants constructed another illegal unsafe gas delivery system by installing a series of pipes and valves connecting the apartments in 121 Second Avenue to an uncapped, commercial-grade gas meter in the adjacent, vacant property,' Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr said.

'Im a good person,' Hrynenko said as she was brought in by the authorities earlier on Thursday, according to the New York Post.

Diner Nicholas Figueroa, 23, and worker at Sushi Park Restaurant, Moises Lucon, 26, were the two who died in the blast. The fire injured two dozen others.

Nicholas' brother Tyler Figueroa said his family might light a candle on Thursday evening next to his brothers ashes in their home in Spanish Harlem.

'We're finally getting justice for my brother,' he told The New York Daily News.

Police have looked into a rigged gas line into Sushi Park Restaurant on the ground floor of 121 Second Avenue as a possible cause of the deadly combustion, according to The New York Daily News.



It emerged after the fire that a new gas line had been installed at Sushi Park without a permit, and that it had been improperly supplying gas to apartments at 121 Second Avenue, even though it was intended to service only the restaurant on the ground floor, according to New York Post.

Con Edison President Craig Ivey said the utility never signed off on the installation, which took place last September, because it had failed to meet 'psychical requirements.'

Tragic: Restaurant worker Moises Lucon (left), 26, and Nicholas Figueroa (right), 23, were the two who died in the blast. The fire injured two dozen others

Terrible fire: In this handout provided by the New York City Police Department, smoke rises from the scene of a building explosion. All the suspects are scheduled to appear at 2:15 p.m. on Thursday afternoon

Press conference: The photos of the victims and of the blaze are shown at a press conference on Thursday following the arrest of two building owners and three contractors

Also after the blaze, it was revealed that the owner of Sushi Park smelled gas about 15 minutes before the blast, but failed to call 911 or Con Edison. Instead, he contacted the owner of the building, who in turned reached out to his general contractor

The contractor and building owner's son went to the basement, where the blast occurred when they opened the door, officials said. Both suffered burns and were hospitalized.

The explosion at 121 Second Avenue in the East Village set alight the property and its neighboring structures, eventually bringing down three buildings and seriously damaging a fourth.

At 2pm on Thursday March 26 - an hour before the explosion - contractors met with Con Edison to check on some ongoing work to upgrade gas service in the building. The utility said the work didn't pass inspection, so gas wasn't introduced to the line, and inspectors left at around 2.45pm.

The scene: Three contractors and two building owners were taken into custody on charges including manslaughter and negligent homicide for the blast that razed three buildings (pictured) on March 26

Crews remove debris at the site of a multi-building collapse on 2nd Avenue in New York on March 30. Police have looked into a rigged gas line into Sushi Park Restaurant as a possible cause of the deadly combustion

New York City Fire Department (FDNY) officials check debris the morning after the fire. Police have looked into a rigged gas line into a sushi restaurant on the ground floor of 121 Second Avenue as a possible cause

Fifteen minutes later - around 3pm - the owner of Sushi Park smelled gas and called the building's landlord, but did not call 911 or ConEd.

Another 15 minutes later, a contractor and the owner's son went to check out where the smell was coming from but when they opened the door to the basement - at 3.17pm - they were blown back by the massive blast. Within minutes, the buildings were overcome with flames.

The building's contractor Dilber Kukic, 39, earlier told DNAinfo that he and the owner's son had opened the basement door after smelling gas when the room suddenly blew up, throwing debris on top of them.

'As soon as we opened the basement door, there was an explosion, a fire,' Kukic said while being treated at New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center for burns and smoke inhalation. 'It was full of smoke. The debris was on top of me.'

He managed to escape and carried out the owner's son with him but both were treated with cuts and burns to their faces.

The site of the blast then caught alight, while its neighboring buildings, 119, 123 and 125 Second Avenue, were also engulfed before all three buildings completely collapsed to the ground, leaving a massive hole on the corner of the block at 7th Street.
Incident comes weeks after parents called police as Muslim men were praying outside same school in County Durham

Parents and far-right campaigners have protested outside a primary school over a lesson on Islam.

The protest was held just weeks after staff at East Stanley Primary School in Stanley, County Durham, called the police when a group of Muslim men were spotted praying in a nearby car park.

It is understood the incident was in response to a lesson on Islam which included a talk by a visitor from the Islamic Diversity Centre in Newcastle.

The protest took place at lunchtime yesterday and involved around four parents and far-right campaigners.

Parents and far-right campaigners have protested outside a primary school over a lesson on Islam

One flag held by the protesters had the words North East EDL Angels on the front while another protester had Activist Against Child Groomers on the back of their hoodie. Many others wore masks, pictured

One flag held by the protesters had the words North East EDL Angels on the front while another protester had Activist Against Child Groomers on the back of his hoodie.

Several of those involved covered up their faces during the protest.

One parent said: 'The school are forcing our children to learn about Islam against the wishes of the parents and someone from Newcastle Islamic Centre is coming in to preach.'

Joanne Williams, headteacher at East Stanley Primary School, said: 'As a school we feel it is important that in our modern secular society children are given a wide range of opportunities to learn about, interact with and learn tolerance and respect for other cultures, religions and communities.

The protest was held just weeks after staff at East Stanley Primary School in Stanley, County Durham, called the police when a group of Muslim men were spotted praying in a nearby car park

'We let parents know that this visit was taking place as well as organising a session for families, and we are pleased that we have seen support from the majority of our mums and dads.'

In December, police were called to the school after concerned parents told teachers that Muslims were praying in a car park near the same primary school.

The group have been branded racist and 'small minded' by critics after spotting the men on their knees praying on Chester Road at the end of the school day.

Staff called Durham Police and a Police Constable attended the school on Monday November 14, but the men had already moved on.

Inspector Kelly Martin, of Stanley Police, said the protest passed off peacefully without incident and no arrests were made.

She said: 'After the incident in December the school wanted to do some work with the Muslim community so people could be educated and that is why we were involved, supporting the school in facilitating that and not to police any protest, I want to be very clear about that.

'Our staff would have been there anyway. It was about community cohesion.

'While people are entitled to there opinions and to register there objections within the law, our objective is to bring the community together to understand each other and be tolerant of other views and not alienate or isolate people.'

The protest took place at lunchtime yesterday and involved around four parents and far-right campaigners
A San Francisco Bay Area coffee shop is charging $15 for a cup of its special brew - and it's so popular that one of the store's branches has already sold out.

Equator Coffee, which has locations in San Francisco and Mill Valley, is selling the top-shelf coffee Finca Sophia for $15 per cup.

The brew's beans are from the Gesha variety, grown in the mountains of Panama. The first crop of the beans took eight years to produce.

Equator Coffee, which has locations in San Francisco and Mill Valley, is selling the top-shelf coffee Finca Sophia for $15 per cup

The San Francisco shop already sold out of the rare brew, while Mill Valley isn't far behind, having already sold out of beans but allowing customers to buy drip coffees of the brew

Equator Coffee educator Akaash Saini told NBC Bay Area that different fertilizers are used to grow the impressive beans.

Doing different things when it comes to farming and harvesting techniques,' Saini said. 'Whatever we can do to get the best cup of coffee.'

He added that the premium dark brew Finca Sophia is worth the $15.

'It's almost like a top-shelf whiskey, or a $40 bottle of wine compared to an $8 bottle of wine,' Saini said.

Saini described the coffee as containing flavors of sweet melon and jasmine, according to KTVU.

Residents of the area who have tried the coffee are split on their decision about the brew.

'Amazing, very amazing,' San Francisco-resident Myron Tate told NBC.

The brew's beans are from the Gesha variety, grown in the mountains of Panama. The first crop of the beans took eight years to produce

Steve Jordan drove to Mill Valley from San Francisco just to grab a cup of the expensive cup of coffee, and told the local NBC he loved the coffee

Equator Coffee's website said in a statement on its website that 'years of planning and preparation' went into the Finca Sophia release

Steve Jordan drove to Mill Valley from San Francisco just to grab a cup of the expensive cup of coffee.

'It's amazing, I really like it,' Jordan said. 'It's more like a tea mix than a true coffee.'

One woman, however, wasn't as pleased as Tate and Jordan.

'I don't really like it,' Mill Valley resident Heidi Connelly told NBC, adding that she thought the drink was bitter.

There is a very limited amount of the beans available, and the San Francisco location has already told out of the coffee, Saini told SFGate.

'We actually sold about 20 at this location, and that's all we had really planned for,' he said on Wednesday.

Equator Coffee's website said 'years of planning and preparation' went into the Finca Sophia release.

Both of Equator's locations have sold out of their beans of Finca Sophia, but as of 9am local time on Thursday, the brew was still available for drip coffee at the Mill Valley location.
The wife of a Georgia man accused of intentionally leaving his toddler son to die in a hot SUV is seeking a divorce, according to her lawyer.

Attorney Lawrence Zimmerman said in an emailed statement that Leanna Harris has filed for divorce from Justin Ross Harris. The couple was married on May 27, 2006.

She said that their marriage is 'irretrievably broken', according to WSB.

The 34-year-old man is accused of leaving 22-month-old Cooper to die in June 2014 when temperatures reached at least into the high 80s. He was supposed to take the toddler to daycare.

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Leanna Harris (center) has filed for divorce from her husband, Justin Ross Harris (left). He is accused of leaving their 22-month-old son Cooper (right) to die in June 2014 in a hot SUV instead of taking him to daycare

Justin Harris (left) has been held without bond since then on multiple charges, including murder. His attorneys have called the death a tragic accident, as he has pleaded not guilty

Prosecutors claim that he had previously researched how long it takes to die in a hot vehicle. The medical examiner's office said the boy died of hyperthermia and called his death a homicide

Harris has been held without bond since then on multiple charges, including murder. His attorneys have called the death a tragic accident, as he has pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors claim that he had previously researched how long it takes to die in a hot vehicle. Police also found that his wife researched the same thing on the Internet, but she was never charged in the toddler's death.

The medical examiner's office said the boy died of hyperthermia  essentially overheating  and called his death a homicide.

Police have said Harris was unhappy in his marriage and exchanged sexually explicit messages with multiple women, including an underage teen.

In December, his defense lawyers filed a 35-page motion arguing police violated Harris' Fourth Amendment rights by seizing and searching his cell phone and computers without probable cause or a warrant.

The attorneys were trying to suppress the electronic evidence filed against him, according to WTOC.

Police have said Harris was unhappy in his marriage and exchanged sexually explicit messages with multiple women, including an underage teen. He began sending explicit messages on the morning of his son's death on June 18, 2014, while the two sat in a Chick-fil-A

Police say Cooper was left in the sweltering SUV for at least seven hours the day he died in 2014

Cobb Police Detective Jacquelyn Piper testified at the time that Harris was arrested at the scene of his son's death after he became confrontational with a cop, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.

Harris, who was not a suspect at the time, refused to stop talking on his phone and swore at an officer, so he was placed in handcuffs and his phone was confiscated and subsequently searched.

Lawyers for Harris claim the evidence is not admissible in court because of how it was obtained.

Defense attorney Bryan Lumpkin said: 'They wanted to go on a fishing expedition and see what they could find.

'Supreme Court says that's improper, we believe that's improper.'

Defense attorney Maddox Kilgore had previously argued the sexually explicit online conversations with the underage girl are unrelated to the murder and child cruelty charges Harris faces.

However, Cobb County Superior Court Judge Mary Staley ruled against him, agreeing with the prosecution that those alleged actions can provide evidence of a motive for the murder charges and can demonstrate Harris' state of mind leading up to and on the day of the boy's death.

Leanna Harris admitted to doing internet searches on the topic of hot car deaths and made questionable comments after the boy's death. However, she was not charged

Harris began sending explicit messages on the morning of his son's death on June 18, 2014, while the two sat in a Chick-fil-A.

An anonymous woman on the social media platform Whisper sent the father a message saying that she was tired of being married with kids.

Harris responded saying 'I miss having time to myself and going out with friends' and said his wife gets upset when he goes out with friends.

Harris responded, 'I love my son and all, but we both need escapes,' Cobb County police Det. Phil Stoddard testified during a hearing last October.

As he pulled into his office, Stoddard said the woman Harris was communicating with on the app wrote, 'Agreed, hug, we both need that,' according to WTAE.

Harris reportedly sent as many as six different women or girls messages, and sent and received explicit texts with some including nude images, according to CBS46.

He also sent the minor a photo of his erect penis.

It was previously reported during a July hearing that Harris reportedly sent 40,000 texts using the Whisper messaging app, according to WSBTV.

Harris, who is from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and moved to Georgia in 2012 to work for Home Depot, was indicted in September 2014 on multiple charges, including malice murder, felony murder and cruelty to children.

The eight-count indictment also includes charges related to accusations that Harris tried to get an underage girl to send him a photo of her genitalia, had sexually explicit online conversations with her and sent her a sexually explicit photo.
A serial killer who was the inspiration for Christian Bale's character in American Psycho has told his lawyers he is happy to die behind bars.

Edmund Kemper, who was dubbed the 'Co-Ed Killer', murdered his grandparents, six young female college students, as well as his own mother and her friend before eventually turning himself in.

The 67-year-old murderer does not want to appear in front of a parole board next year who will decide whether he should be freed.

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Edmund Kemper, left, inspiration for Christian Bale's character in American Psycho, right, has told his lawyers that he has no interest in attending his next parole hearing and wants to die in prison

Kemper was the inspiration for Christian Bale's character in the 2000 film American Psycho, pictured

Christian Bale, pictured, uses a line attributed to Kemper about wanting a woman's head on a stick

Scott Currey, who represented Kemper during his 2007 parole hearing at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville said: 'His feeling is that he  and this is his belief  no ones ever going to let him out and hes just happy, hes just as happy going about his life in prison.'

Kemper chopped up some of his victims and had sex with the corpses.

During the film American Psycho, the main character Patrick Bateman uses a line believed to have been said by Kemper.

In one scene, Bateman asks: 'When I see a pretty girl walking down the street, I think two things. One part wants me to take her out, talk to her, be real nice and sweet and treat her right.'

When asked about 'what the other part thinks?' he replied: 'What her head would look like on a stick!'

According to the New York Post, Kemper murdered his grandparents aged 15 in August 1964.

First, he shot his grandmother Maude Kemper in the head at her California home. When his grandfather arrived home later, he shot him as well.

He was jailed for five years and was released to live with his mother Clarnell Strandberg Kemper.

Reports suggest he hated his mother, who lived in Santa Clara, California.

In May 1972, he picked up two Fresno State University Students, Mary Ann Pesce and Anita Luchessa and killed them.

He brought them home, photographed them naked before dismembering them. He performed a sex act on their skulls.

He later murdered Aiko Koo in September 1972 and then Cindy Schall.

A couple of weeks later he murdered Rosalind Thorpe and Alice Liu, had sex with their corpses and chopped them up.

Then, he murdered his mother, cut off her head and used it as a dart board.

Kemper then lured his mother's best friend Sally Hallett around to the house where he strangled her and went on the run.

When he rang police and told them what he had done, they did not initially believe him.
Gone: David Sneddon was 24 years old when he disappeared during a solo hiking trip in China

Twelve years ago, a BYU student hiking alone in China went missing and authorities concluded that he likely fell off the trail and drowned in the river below.

But the family of David Sneddon, who would be 35 today, never bought the story and are now convinced there's a chance he was kidnapped and taken to North Korea.

On Tuesday, Utah lawmakers Rep. Chris Stewart and Sen. Mike Lee appeared before Congress with a proposal for the State Department to investigate Sneddon's disappearance, with new emphasis on the theory that he may have been abducted by North Korean agents.

'The first and most important responsibility of the United States government is to ensure the safety and freedom of the American people at home and abroad,' Lee said.

'This includes investigating all plausible explanations behind Davids disappearance, and leaving no stone unturned in trying to return one of our brothers to his family.

'At the time of his disappearance, David had his whole life ahead of him. But in August 2004 it was tragically cut short. The Sneddon family deserves to know why.'

The proposal was co-sponsored by the entire Congressional delegation from Utah.

New efforts: On Tuesday, Utah Rep. Chris Stewart and Utah Sen. Mike Lee put forth a proposal to Congress, asking the State Department to look into Sneddon's disappearance. Sneddon is pictured left and pictured right a poster is displayed following his disappearance

Without a trace: When he disappeared in August 2004, Chinese officials concluded that Sneddon likely fell off a trail and fell into a river and drowned in Yunnan Province

Last seen: Above, the Tiger Leaping Gorge in Yunnan where Sneddon is believed to have done missing in 2004

Sneddon's parents were always suspicious of the Chinese government's conclusion that their son likely fell off a hiking trail and drowned in a river in western China, but they never considered a possible abduction by North Korea until hearing the theory from a former high-level U.S. official in 2011.

Sneddon certainly could have been useful to the Kim regime since he was fluent in Korean from spending two years as a Mormon missionary in South Korea.

The North Korean regime is well known for kidnapping foreigners, though they predominantly abduct other Asian peoples.

Several questions about Sneddon's disappearance have also gone unanswered, such as why some witnesses reported seeing him when he had already finished his hike and why his body and none of possessions were found.

Multi-lingual: Sneddon could have been valuable to the North Korean regime since he was fluent in Korean from his years working as a missionary in South Korea

The summer of his death, Sneddon was 24 years old and had just finished his third year at BYU. He traveled to China when school let out to study Mandarin in Beijing, before hiking in western China for a few weeks.

The last time his parents heard from him, Sneddon was getting on a bus to take him to Yunnan province to hike the Tiger Leaping Gorge, a highly-trafficked trail on the Jinsha River that usually takes about two days to complete.

He was last seen leaving a Korean restaurant in Shangri-La, a town not far from the trail, on August 14.

At the end of his hiking trip, he was set to fly out of China to Seoul, South Korea where his brother lived. His parents reported him missing on August 26, when he didn't show up at the airport.
See more news and stories from Iran at www.dailymail.co.uk/iran

The State Department has slammed Iran for releasing the images

Iran has mocked the American sailors they captured by getting students to mimic the moment they surrendered during a parade.

It comes 24 hours after state television for the Islamic republic released footage of a U.S. Navy seaman in floods of tears after his unit was captured in the Persian Gulf last month.

The youngsters re-enacted a scene from their arrest by Iran's Revolutionary Guard on January 10 as they celebrated the 37th anniversary of the revolution.

Playing to the crowd, teenagers were seen on their knees with guns being pointed to their heads.

In the audience, people carried placards reading 'Death to America'.

Earlier in the procession, the group of 'captives' wearing the U.S. Presidential Seal on camo suits, were dragged in front of the crowds with sacks over their heads.

Members of Iranian Basij paramilitary force also poked fun of the Navy personnel during a parade in Tehran.

Mark Toner, Deputy Spokesman for the State Department told Daily Mail Online: 'We are aware that Iran is commemorating the 37th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution today as it does every year and we're also aware that there certainly is a lot of inflammatory rhetoric and imagery coming out of those marches and events today.

'We're not going to respond to what is clearly designed for a certain domestic audience.'

Iran has mocked the US soldiers they captured by getting students to mimic the moment they surrendered last month during a parade

The youngsters, some of whom had even shaved their heads, re-enacted a scene from the arrest of American sailors by Iran's Revolutionary Guard on January 10 as they celebrated the 37th anniversary of the revolution

Earlier in the procession, the group of 'captives' wearing the U.S. Presidential Seal on camo suits, were dragged in front of the crowds with sacks over their heads

These images of the Americans on their knees with their hands on their heads were projected around the world while they were in captivity. The tense standoff ended after 16 hours of negotiations

Many demonstrators carried anti-American placards, signs saying 'Death to Israel' while others carried the Iranian flag.

Iran holds annual celebrations commemorating its 1979 revolution, but Thursday was the first since a landmark deal with world powers - including the United States - was finalized, paving the way for punishing economic sanctions on Tehran to be lifted.

The deal with the US was put into place just two days after the hostage situation.

State television has repeatedly broadcast pictures of the 10 sailors with their hands on their heads. On Wednesday night, a brief video also showed one soldier in tears.

For 16 hours, a group of 10 Americans were kept in custody after their vessel drifted into Iranian waters on January 10.

The group were taken onto the highly secretive, government-owned Farsi Island - prompting a diplomatic stand-off between the two nations.

Swathes of videos and pictures were released around the world showing the Americans, nine men and a woman, being taken into custody.

But on Wednesday a clip was unveiled, showing one of the sailors shedding a tear. It is not known why these images were not released earlier.

Following the release of the latest footage, a State Department official told Daily Mail Online: 'We've been clear, and the Secretary was clear, about our disgust at seeing the pictures and video of our sailors being used clearly for propaganda purposes.

'That remains the case with the newly released pictures and videos. Beyond that, I know our DOD colleagues are still looking into the incident so I don't have anything further to add.'

The sailors were stationed in a room with Iranian interpreters, and were given food, as they were being filmed.

Members of Iranian Basij paramilitary also poked fun at the soldiers from the U.S. As Iran celebrated, state television showed the hostage situation on loop on Wednesday evening

The soldiers played to the crowd by putting on nervous expressions, but some couldn't help smiling as they acted out the ordeal

A Shahed-129 Iranian drone is displayed by armed forces in Tehran during the celebrations

Huge crowds gathered in the capital to mark the anniversary. A Iranian journalist talks on her phone to the left

A woman who was stationed with the unit was forced to wear a Muslim hijab and was escorted out of the room when other men entered.

The footage, which was aired on the Islamic Republic of Iran News Network (IRINN), was then shared around the world.

The sailors were released unharmed the following day, but images of the seamen surrendering to the IRGC were seen as an embarrassment.

Resting on their knees with their hands on their heads, they were surrounded by the revolutionary guard at gun point before being dragged to shore.

One of the soldiers even apologized for his actions in an interview with the state television.

The display by the Iranian teenagers comes 24 hours after state television for the Islamic republic released footage of a U.S. Navy seaman in floods of tears after his unit was captured in the Persian Gulf last month

The crew member, who has not been identified, is seen with his head in his hands inside a room the kidnapped sailors were kept in

For 16 hours, a group of 10 Americans were kept in custody after their vessel drifted into Iranian waters on January 10

He is seen looking down with a tear running down his cheek as the camera zooms in on him

Lt David Nartker, 27, said: 'The Iranian behavior was fantastic while we were here. We thank you very much for your hospitality and your assistance.'

It took places hours before Obama's final State of the Union address. It was a blow for the President who had trumpeted closer relations with Iran following a much-criticized deal over the Middle Eastern nation's nuclear program.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the unit had 'misnavigated' into Iranian waters - but questions still remain as to exactly what happened.

They were reportedly trying to fix the problem when they were taken into custody.

At the time, Secretary of State John Kerry said he was 'furious' footage of the American sailors on their knees which was screened on Iranian television.

Speaking to Fox News he said 'I was furious about it, and I immediately contacted my counterpart. And we indicated our disgust.'

He added: 'It was very, very unfortunate, inappropriate. And as a former sailor, and member of the military, I was infuriated by it and I expressed that very directly to my counterpart.'

The sailors were traveling in small armed vessels known as riverine command boats, headed from Kuwait to Bahrain, which is the location of the Navy's 5th Fleet.

Along the approximately 50-mile journey they were to have refueled by linking up with a U.S. Coast Guard vessel, the Monomoy, in international waters.

The sailors were released unharmed the following day, but images of the seamen surrendering to the IRGC were seen as an embarrassment

Resting on their knees with their hands on their heads, they were surrounded by the revolutionary guard before being dragged to shore

Carter said the sailors were not on a covert mission and were simply making their way through the Gulf.

The timeline said that approximately 10 minutes after the scheduled refueling, Central Command's naval headquarters at Bahrain received a report that the boats were being questioned by Iranians.

A large-scale search-and-rescue mission was undertaken at that point, but it is not clear whether the Americans had by this time already been taken ashore on Farsi Island.

Aircraft from the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, which was operating 45 miles southeast of Farsi Island, participated in the search, along with Air Force planes and vessels of the U.S. Coast Guard, the British Royal Navy and other U.S. Navy vessels.

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.

He said Tehran did not consider the US 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.

A woman who was stationed with the unit was forced to wear a Muslim hijab and was escorted out of the room when other men entered

The sailors were stationed in a room with Iranian interpreters, and were given food, as they were being filmed

The IRGC said they were treated well while they were in custody and none of them were hurt

A passport showing a bald sailor that was captured is shown to the camera
Meanwhile renewed flood warnings have been issued for tens of thousands of homes and business in Cornwall

The river has burst its banks in areas such as Greenwich and Greenhithe, Kent, with a playground seen underwater

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Flood alerts have been issued for a huge stretch of London and the Thames Barrier has been shut for the first time this winter after the river burst its banks due to 'astronomical' tides and heavy rain.

The River Thames burst its banks and overflowed onto flood plains in Greenwich, south east London, today while dramatic photographs show river levels extremely high in areas such as Embankment.

Water levels were almost as high as the pavement in areas across central London, including in the Charing Cross area, with flood alerts in place from Greenwich all the way to Putney, west London.

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The River Thames burst its banks and overflowed onto flood plains in Greenwich, south east London, today while dramatic photographs show river levels extremely high in areas such as Embankment (pictured) due to 'astronomically' high spring tides and recent heavy rain

Water levels were almost as high as the pavement in areas across central London today, including in the Charing Cross area, with flood alerts in place from Greenwich all the way to Putney, west London this evening amid fears the river could continue to rise at high tide

Recent rain has also led to the Environment Agency issuing a flood alert and warnings around the River Thames

The Thames Barrier, which spans 520 metres across the river near Woolwich, was shut yesterday 'to protect London from the threat of flooding due to the high level of rain combined with high tides from the sea'.

The action was taken after Storm Imogen lashed the country with heavy downpours earlier this week.

The barrier, which is operated by the Environment Agency, has 10 steel gates that can be raised into position across the River Thames. When raised, the main gates stand as high as a five-storey building and as wide as the opening of Tower Bridge. Each main gate weighs 3,300 tonnes.

It is one of the largest moveable flood barriers in the world, protecting 125 square km of London.

The barrier is meant to be closed under storm surge conditions to protect London from flooding from the sea, but yesterday was the first time it has been closed this winter and the 176th time in its 34-year history.

Steve East, engineering manager at the Thames Barrier, said: 'We are closing the barrier to protect London from the threat of flooding due to the high level of rain last week combined with high tides from the sea.'

The barrier has since reopened although river levels within central London remain very high.

On Twitter, a spokesman - @AlanBarrierEA - said much of the flooding had occurred on flood plains engineered for the purpose. One area included a children's playground in Ingress Park, Greenhithe, Dartford, Kent (pictured above), which was underwater earlier today

The Thames Barrier (pictured in action), which is operated by the Environment Agency, has 10 steel gates that can be raised into position across the River Thames. When raised, the gates stand as high as a five-storey building and as wide as the opening of Tower Bridge

Flood alerts have been issued from Greenwich to Putney amid fears tonight's high tide could see the river reach 5.6 metres high.

The river was already at a high level following recent rainfall but 'astronomical' spring tides expected tonight could see it rise even higher.

An Environment Agency spokesman said: 'Flooding of land closest to the river may be possible, no property flooding is expected.'

On Twitter, a barrier spokesman - @AlanBarrierEA - said much of the flooding had occurred on flood plains specifically engineered for the purpose. One area included a children's playground.

He wrote: 'The #ThamesBarrier is now closed, protecting #London from the threat of tidal flooding for the 176th time (sic).

'Sorry kids. Our playground is designed to flood when we close the #ThamesBarrier so no playing on the swings today.'

Emma Bilby shared a picture of the playground in Ingress Park, near the Pier pub, and joked: 'Playground's looking fun today'.

Other areas to be flooded include the banks of Gravesend, Greenhithe and near Dartford, Kent.

The barrier is meant to be closed under storm surge conditions to protect London from flooding from the sea, but yesterday was the first time it has been closed this winter and the 176th time in its 34-year history (as shown above). The barrier has since reopened today

The Thames Barrier (pictured closed yesterday) is one of the largest moveable flood barriers in the world, protecting 125 sq km of London

Meanwhile renewed flood warnings have been issued for tens of thousands of homes and business in Cornwall this morning.

The Environment Agency says the flood risk area stretches from Land's End, the Lizard and Mount's Bay to Rame Head.

They say exceptionally high spring tides are likely to be driven by strong winds, sending huge waves crasahing over quays and harbour walls to swamp

seaside towns.

But they say it will not be as bad as the battering Cornwall took when Storm Imogen hit earlier this week.

A spokesman said 'Flooding is expected over the morning high tide on Friday. East south easterly winds Force 4 are forecast for the coast with waves of 1.5 metres predicted.

'Whilst wind speeds and wave heights are less than experienced earlier in the week the higher water levels mean that flooding is possible.

'Spray overtopping is possible as well as overtopping of quays in coastal locations. Please exercise great caution. Some tide locking of rivers is also possible which may lead to localised flooding.

Flood alerts have been issued from Greenwich, south east London, all the way to Putney, west London, by the Environment Agency

'We may issue further Flood Alerts and Flood Warnings over the weekend due to further high tides and forecast rain.'

It comes as forecasters warn snow could fall across parts of the UK within the next 48 hours after an arctic blast sent temperatures plummeting towards -6C today.

Forecasters said snow could fall as far south as the Cotswolds this weekend while the heaviest falls are expected to be in northern Scotland tomorrow.

Much of the country woke up to frosty scenes this morning while Benson in Oxfordshire recorded a temperature of -5.8C (21.6F) at 7am.

Over the next few days an Arctic maritime air mass will continue to push temperatures below freezing overnight in many parts of Britain.

And high areas including Dartmoor and the Welsh mountains could see a dusting of snow as a front comes in from the West this weekend.

The Met Office has a 'be aware' snow warning out for tomorrow for the Highlands, Aberdeenshire, Moray, Angus and Perth and Kinross.

It said: 'A frontal zone in cold air will move slowly and erratically southwards across the area, generating rain near coasts but sleet and snow inland.'
An accused thief has had his right hand cut off with a meat cleaver in the ISIS 'capital' of Raqqa as punishment for his crime.

The photos, which all have identical captions in Arabic, say that it shows the 'implementation of the punishment of a thief from Raqqa city'.

Surrounded by up to 50 men and boys and held in place by two ISIS enforcers, the man is forced to his knees as his right hand, wrapped in white bandages, is placed on a wooden desk before it is cut off and put into a white plastic bag.

It is less than a week since ISIS militants carried out a similar punishment on a man in Mosul, Iraq.

Gruesome: Unidentified ISIS militants cut off the hand of an accused thief in front of dozens of men and boys in Raqqa

Cutting off the right hand as a punishment for theft is a strict interpretation of Sharia law, carried out by the so-called Islamic State, Saudi Arabia and Iran.

It comes as US Defense Secretary Ash Carter has predicted that recent US-led efforts to accelerate the fight against ISIS would produce 'tangible gains' in Iraq and Syria by March, even as he urged coalition partners to expand and deepen their military contributions.

Carter expected that defense ministers from more than two dozen countries would endorse a new U.S. plan for taking on IS. The ministers planned a joint statement after their meeting at NATO headquarters.

In public remarks at the start of the session, Carter cast the talks as an historic effort to hasten the demise of IS, which has proved resilient in Iraq and Syria and is spreading to Afghanistan, Libya and elsewhere in the greater Middle East.

Sharia: The punishment is an extreme interpretation of Sharia law, and has specific guidelines

Carter said coalition military chiefs, including U.S. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford, would meet soon to discuss and evaluate the campaign, and that in mid-March the U.S. Central Command headquarters in Florida would convene a military conference to assess progress.

'By then, at the latest, we should begin to see tangible gains from those additional capabilities, from the ones the coalition is already bringing to bear,' Carter said.

Carter said the U.S. is determined to accelerate the war campaign and recapture as soon as possible the Islamic State group's main strongholds - Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq.

Syrian government forces are yet to make a concerted push on Raqqa, despite making significant gains against Opposition forces in Aleppo.

President Bashar's ground forces backed by Lebanese Hezbollah militants, Iranian commanders and Afghan fighters surround Aleppo after heavy air bombardment from Syrian and Russian jets causing hundreds of thousands of Syrians to flee to the Turkish border.

Five years of civil war have pitted President Bashar Assad's government, backed by Russia and Iran, against an array of weakened opposition groups, some supported by the United States.


A California woman is mourning the loss of her husband after he died trying to save her life when she was swept out to sea by a sneaker wave.

Larry Moore, 61, had just finished enjoying a picnic with his wife Claudia, 63, when they decided to take a walk along the beach nearby the Pacifica Pier in northern California on Tuesday.

She told The SF Gate that her feet were barely in the water when the large wave appeared without warning and suddenly crashed down.

Her husband guided their dog back to the sand, but turned around to see her falling into the water, which was quickly rising.

Heartbreaking: Larry Moore (left), 61 died trying to save his wife Claudia Moore (right), when she was swept out to sea by a sneaker wave in Pacifica, California Tuesday

The couple who had been married 20 years had just finished enjoying a picnic when they decided to take a walk with their dog

They were walking along the beach nearby the Pacifica Pier (above) in northern California, when suddenly larger waves began crashing down. Her husband guided their dog back to the sand, but turned around to see her falling into the water, which was quickly rising

'He tried to grab my hand, and I told him, 'No, I'll hold on. Go get help,' Claudia, who is a nurse, told SF Gate.

Instead, he quickly dived in after her, but they were separated instantly.

She rode the swell and floated to the top of the water, and two men helped her swim back to the beach when she was about 40 or 50 feet from the shore, according to SF Gate.

'She let the riptide take her all the way out, and she was floating way out there, but I could see her head, and I could also see her feet,' Beth Grossman, a witness, told KTVU.

'She was trying to relax, and not fight it. He, on the other hand, was trying to fight it, and get back up.

'He actually got close to getting out, like three times, but the waves kept taking him back in.'

Claudia said she knew something was wrong when he didn't meet her at the shore.

She floated to the top of the water and was able to survive. Two men helped her swim back to the beach when she was about 40 or 50 feet from the shore. Pictured above is a memorial for Larry

Sadly, Larry Moore (above) was unable to make it and died. Claudia said: 'He was the greatest man I've ever known. He had the utmost integrity and honor that any man has ever had'

Moments later she witnessed emergency medical personnel carrying her beloved husband to an ambulance.

However, she noticed that they were not walking quickly and that's when she knew he died.

'He was the greatest man I've ever known,' Claudia told KTVU. 'He had the utmost integrity and honor that any man has ever had.'

According to SF Gate, Claudia was taken to a nearby hospital to treat potential hypothermia, while their dog was taken to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

She was able to reunite with her dog after being released.

'It would have been so hard to lose them both,' she told SF Gate.

The couple who met in the early 90s while on a BART train immediately fell in love and got married. Pictured above is the memorial outside of their former home

Her husband, who was a native of San Francisco and attended San Francisco State University, would have turned 62 on February 28.

She shared that they met while on a BART train and immediately fell in love in the early 90s.

The heartbroken woman said that they had been married for 20 years and that he survived cancer just two years ago.
His case was adjourned on Thursday and his next

A butler who worked at the Hamptons estate of Ron Perelman appeared in court on Thursday accused of charging thousands of dollars on credit cards issued to his fellow employees by their boss.

Frank Squadrito is charged with grand larceny after allegedly spending $9,105 on hotel rooms, taxi rides and other expenses in New York City this past October to protest being fired by the billionaire businessman according.

He arrived at the Town Justice Court early Thursday for his first appearance before the judge since his arraignment, at which time the case was adjourned until March 31 according to a court clerk.

Rough day: Frank Squadrito (above) appeared at the Town Justice Court in East Hampton, New York on Thursday facing a charge of grand larceny

Charges: Squadrito is accused of making over $9,000 in unauthorized charges on company cards belonging to other employees by their boss Ron Perelman

Moving forward: Squadrito's case was adjourned on Thursday and his next appearance will be on March 31

Squadrito, 26, was terminated from his job in October after it was discovered he had made an unauthorized purchase on a coworker's company card.

He had only been working for Perelman in May of last at his sprawling 57-acre estate in East Hampton called the Creeks.

Squadrito was provided with lodging on the property upon being hired like many of his fellow employees but was not given his own company credit card.

He was sent to Manhattan to buy clothes on October 8, and since the purchase was for the estate he was given a coworker's card to use for the transaction.

After making this purchase however Squadrito then went to a Manhattan restaurant, Landmarc, and bought dinner for himself on the card, an expense which had not been authorized by his employer.

When he returned to the Creeks later that night he was told he had been fired, and on his way out he copied the numbers on four of his coworker's American Express cards.

Roughly a week later, he went on a spending spree.

'I just lived it up,' Squadrito told police after he was arrested on January 7.

'I used the credit card numbers to make numerous purchases, including hotel rooms and taxi fares.'

He almost got away with it as well, until one of Perelman's financial executives noticed the charges and traced them back to the former butler, identifying him by his signature.

That man alerted security at the Creeks who in turn notified the police, who arrested Squadrito on when he returned to the property to retrieve some personal belongings he had left behind when he was fired in October.

Squadrito was arraigned a day after his arrest, during which time his lawyer told the judge that the young man came from 'a family of means' who lived in an 'affluent suburb' outside Syracuse and were prepared to pay full restitution according to The East Hampton Star.

Squadrito's lawyer also said his client has been having trouble recently as he is bipolar and off his medication.

That restitution is only around $3,000 though according to Squadrito, who puts that amount at far less than the over $9,000 his is being accused of charging to these stolen company cards.

Happy: Ron Perelman, 73, is currently married to his fifth wife, Dr. Anna Chapman (above in August)

Not so happy: Perelman divorced his fourth wife, actress Ellen Barkin, in 2006 after six years of marriage

It is not clear just how long it took for Perelman's team to realize that Squadrito had been making charges to four company cards.

Perelman is worth an estimated $12.2billion according to Forbes, with his company MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc. owning stakes in a number of major companies, including makeup giant Revlon.

The self-made billionaire is incredibly generous with his money as well, having donated hundreds of millions of dollars over the years to charitable groups, nonprofit organizations and institutions such as the Guggenheim Museum, the World Trade Center Memorial and Carnegie Hall.

He is also responsible for establishing the Revlon/UCLA Womens Cancer Research Program and the annual Revlon Run/Walk For Women.

Perelman, 73, is currently married to his fifth wife, Dr. Anna Chapman.

The couple were wed in 2010, four years after Perelman's contentious divorce from his fourth wife, the actress Ellen Barkin.

Barkin reportedly received $60million in the divorce following six years of marriage, and earned another $20million after auctioning off all the jewelry Perelman gave her during the course of their relationship at Christie's.
Donald Trump has resolved a $500 million legal dispute with Univision over the firm's decision not to broadcast Miss Universe and Miss USA this summer.

The Spanish-language network dropped plans to televise the pageants in protest against Trump's incendiary comments about Mexicans.

Branding all Mexicans 'drug dealers and criminals', he wooed America's Conservative right by saying he planned to build a wall on the Southern border.

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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has settled a $500 million legal dispute with Univision over the network's refusal to televise Miss Universe. He is pictured, above, at a South Carolina rally on Wednesday

On Thursday - almost six months after the dispute fired up - Trump said the two sides had amicably resolved their differences, and neither side gave details about the settlement.

Trump said that he had known Univision's president and CEO, Randy Falco, for two decades and 'I'm glad we are able to put these differences behind us.'

At the time, Univision claimed Trump had 'offended millions' with his comments.

Trump fired back with a $500 million lawsuit claiming the Spanish-language broadcaster unjustly broke a contract.

'Trump offended millions during that announcement when he made disgraceful allegations about Mexican immigrants, whom, he claims, "Mexico sends" across the border to America,' Univision's lawyers wrote on June 25, 2015, as they announced the network was ending ties with Trump.

They said his remarks 'outraged Mexican Americans, Mexican immigrants, Hispanics, and other Americans of all backgrounds,' prompting at least 20 companies and the city of New York to terminate business relationships with Trump and his brand in the weeks after the announcement.

Trump's lawsuit claimed breach of contract, defamation and First Amendment violations.

During the summer, Matthew Maron, an attorney for Trump, said Univision's attempt to dismiss the suit was 'laughable'.

'Univision can try to distract the court and the public from the real issues in dispute all it wants. The fact remains that Univision willfully breached their contract, acted in bad faith and caused my clients to suffer significant damages,' Maron said.

'For this, Univision will pay in the end.'

Here Trump is pictured with Miss Universe 2012 Olivia Culpo. He used to own the pageant but has since sold it

Univision lawyers noted that the network was the leading media company serving Hispanic America when Trump delivered 'extreme and controversial opinions on race and national origin'.

'Through his diatribe, Trump destroyed the value of those broadcast rights, and neither Trump nor Miss Universe did anything to repair the damage in the aftermath of his speech,' Univision's lawyers said in a document signed by attorney Randy M. Mastro.

In January 2015, Univision signed a five-year license agreement for the exclusive right to air the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants in Spanish in the United States.

Univision's lawyers said Trump worsened the damage caused by his initial remarks about Hispanics by saying in the days afterward that his statements were 'totally accurate'.

Univision announced on June 25 that it was ending its business relationship with the pageants.

'By the end of June, it was clear that Trump's anti-Mexican and anti-immigrant views would be a focal point of his campaign and that the damage done to Univision's programming deal was irrevocable,' the lawyers wrote.

'Trump shocked the nation's conscience by accusing almost every Mexican immigrant (and many Univision viewers) of being criminals and rapists  then promising to become president of the United States on the strength of that indictment.'
Naramore was quoted in arrest affidavit as telling first responders: 'I killed my baby!'

were in the 90s that day, and toddler's body temperature was found to be 107 degrees

-old Thomas Naramore was found unresponsive in backseat of his father's car in later July

An Arkansas judge has been arrested and charged with negligent homicide after the death of his toddler son in the backseat of a hot car last summer.

An arrest warrant filed in Garland County on Thursday says Circuit Judge Wade Naramore is named in the misdemeanor complaint.

The judge's 18-month-old son, Thomas Naramore, died July 24 after being left in an overheated vehicle for about five hours.

Judge jailed: Arkansas Circuit Judge Wade Naramore, 36, has been charged with misdemeanor negligent homicide in the hot-car death of his 18-month-old son

Tragedy: An arrest affidavit states Naramore told police he was preoccupied with a case and forgot to drop off his toddler son, Thomas (right), at a day care center, instead leaving him in the back seat for five hours

According to the warrant, the judge told police he called 911 after getting in his car to pick his son up from day care in the afternoon and realizing the toddler was still strapped in his car seat in the back of the car.

Special prosecutor Scott Ellington said Naramore surrendered and was later released on $5,000 bond.

An affidavit filed with the arrest warrant quoted Naramore as telling officers that on the morning of July 24, 2015, he was preoccupied with a pending case when he put his son in his car seat, said his morning prayers with the boy and headed to a McDonald's for breakfast, which was out of the ordinary because they usually ate at home.

Naramore was then supposed to drive Thomas to a day care center, but instead he headed straight to his office.

The judge got off work early that day to run some errands before returning to his home. In the afternoon, Naramore got in his car and went to pick up his son from day care, but as he was turning a corner, he heard a noise coming from the back that made him turn around, the affidavit cited by Arkansas Online states.

That is when the father discovered the toddler unresponsive, still secured in the backseat.

Just after 3pm, the judge made a frantic 911 call, telling an emergency dispatcher: 'Please send somebody immediately.

Later on the heart-rending call the distraught father is heard wailing 'No' and saying: 'It's too late, I think he's dead.'

A state forensic report said the child died of excessive heat. The affidavit filed Thursday said temperatures that day were in the upper 90s with a heat index as high as 106 degrees.

The childs core temperature, according to the document, was found to be 107 degrees.

Parent's worst nightmare: Naramore was driving to pick Thomas up from day care on the afternoon of July 24 when he heard a noise in the backseat, turned around and found the child still strapped in his car seat

Scorched: A state forensic report said the boy's core temperature was found to be 107 degrees after he was removed from the overheated vehicle

I killed my baby! Naramore repeatedly told first responders, the affidavit said.

Naramore voluntarily ceased hearing cases following his sons death but did not resign.

A complaint against Naramore is pending with the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission, which has said it would take no action pending resolution of any criminal charges.

In a statement issued last fall, Naramore and his wife, Ashley, said their sons death has taken an unimaginable toll on our family, friends, and all those who knew the pure joy of our sweet baby boy.
Graduates who move abroad and refuse to pay back their student loans will be traced and tracked down by debt collectors under new government plans.

The business department hopes to claw back millions in unpaid loans from UK and EU students who leave the country after graduating and simply disappear.

Students from the European Union are eligible for the same taxpayer-backed tuition fee loans as people in the UK if they study at a university here.

In debt: The Government hopes to claw back millions of pounds from graduates who move abroad, who are not forced to pay back their student loan when they are no longer working in the UK.

Anyone who stays in the UK to work has repayments automatically deducted from their payslip, but those who move abroad must make payments voluntarily.

The government has trialled sharing information with foreign governments so that they alert the Student Loans Company when a graduate is working and able to pay.

It plans to take legal action against those who are refusing to pay and to use debt recovery agencies in those countries to enforce repayment.

Officials hope to claw back 76 million in unpaid loans which has accumulated over the last 20 years from UK students who have gone overseas.

EU students have only been entitled to student loans for several years but the amount owed by those who are in arrears or failing to provide employment information could be as much as 50 million.

Untraceable: Many EU students change addresses and bank accounts, meaning the Student Loans Company cannot find them

Universities Minister Jo Johnson said the plans would ensure that the system of financial support for students remains fair and sustainable.

He said: Students do not have to pay upfront for their studies and only start to repay their loans when they are earning over 21,000.

Graduates enjoy a considerable earnings premium and with record numbers going to university it is right to expect them to repay their loans and keep funding sustainable for future students.

While the vast majority of borrowers meet their repayment obligations, it is in the interests of fairness to hard-working taxpayers to be tougher on those who abuse the system which is why we are cracking down.

The strategy aims to boost the SLCs capability to trace uncompliant borrowers, pursue and recover outstanding student loan debt, along with the potential use of sanctions.

These will include introducing a range of new financial penalties for those who breach loan repayment terms, referring abuse of loan repayments to credit rating agencies and taking legal action where necessary.

Only 2 per cent of the borrowers are from overseas and the majority are UK nationals living abroad.

One model which will bae included follows a successful data sharing pilot project with the Netherlands and Sweden.

Each country has shared with the others details of around 200 missing borrowers believed to be in each others countries.

This has enabled the three countries to help each other locate missing borrowers who are in arrears.

Leaving: European students who have taken out taxpayer-funded loans to study at English universities are a record 43 million in arrears

The number of European students who have taken out taxpayer-funded loans to study at English universities totaled a record 43million in arrears last June.

Figures from the Student Loans Company showed that the amount owed by the defaulting students doubled in two years.

One in eight of EU graduates from English universities who are now living abroad are failing to repay the loans, and experts predict this figure will soar after the Governments decision to allow unlimited numbers to study in England from this September.

The figures also showed that the total amount of money handed to students from mainland Europe has mushroomed to nearly a billion pounds this year, up from 686 million in the previous year.

Under European law, students from the EU can apply for the same Government-backed loans as English students to complete courses in the UK  and more than 90,000 have now taken out loans.

While English students automatically repay loans through the tax system, similar systems are not in place for those living in mainland Europe.

EU students are supposed to keep in touch with the Student Loans Company but many move addresses and bank accounts and cannot be traced.
A mother-of-two from North Carolina has died after being mauled by a pit bull she adopted a week ago and called my big baby.

Suzanne Story was attacked by the animal Wednesday afternoon and succumbed to her injuries just as a medical crew from Norfolk landed to take her to a hospital.

Storys stepfather, Randy Brown, says Story adopted the dog about a week prior to the tragedy in Virginia after seeing it advertised in a newspaper.

Death by pit bull: Suzanne Story, 36 (left), was mauled to death by a female pit bull (right) she had adopted a week ago and called her 'big baby'

Story's estranged daughter Cheyanne came to the defense of pit bulls in the comments section on her Facebook page, describing her mother's pet as 'loving'

Brown says the pit bulls previous owners told her it was well behaved and good with young children. They gave her the pet free of charge.

I think they had a problem with the dog and didn't know how to handle it, and they were just trying to get rid of it, and they did, the womans stepfather told the station WVEC. Found somebody that would take it, and ended up with a death.

Mr Brown wrote on his Facebook page Wednesday that he wants the pit bull's previous owners held responsible for his stepdaughters death.

Storys mother, Debbie Brown, says the attack began at around 1pm when her daughter was cleaning the dogs crate.

Storys sister tried to pull the pit bull off the victim and also suffered unspecified injuries.

Suzanne Story leaves behind 15-year-old and 17-year-old daughters. Her Facebook page suggests that she also had at least three other smaller dogs and two cats.

Neighbor Jonathan Nash says he saw Story walking her new pit bull a few days ago and noticed that the woman was having trouble controlling the large brown-and-white canine.

Perquimans County Sheriff Eric Tilley says animal control officers were scheduled to euthanize the pit bull Thursday.

The mother-of-two (pictured second left) was cleaning the dog's crate when it attacked her, leaving Story with mortal injuries

Story's father said the woman got the dog free of charge a week ago after seeing it advertised in a newspaper. Its previous owners allegedly told her the animal was good with children

Animal lover: Story's Facebook page suggests that she also had at least three other smaller dogs and at least two cats

Story's estranged daughter Cheyenne paid tribute to her mother on social media, writing: 'I can't express how sorry I am I didn't treat you better... We had are differences but she was my mother.. And always will be ..R.I.P momma.'

In the comments section, the teenager came to the defense of pit bulls, saying 'Any dog can snap.'
It has been exactly 10 years since Dick Cheney became just the second sitting Vice President to shoot a man.

On February 11, 2006, Cheney was hunting quail at the Armstrong Ranch in Texas with lawyer Harry Whittington and two women when he accidentally fired his gun at the lawyer, hitting him in the face, chest, and neck with hundreds of pellets.

Despite a minor heart attack Whittington survived the incident, but some of the pellets are still lodged in his body and Cheney has yet to apologize.

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Rough day: Dick Cheney accidentally shot Harry Whittington in the face will the two men were hunting 10 years ago on February 11, 2006 (Whittington speaking with the press as he left the hospital on February 17, 2006)

Poor shot: The men were quail hunting when Cheney (above in December 2015) lodged approximately 200 pellets in the right side of Whittington's body

Aim better: Whittington says that 10 years later he still has pellets stuck in him and that he has yet to receive an apology from Cheney (above in a 2002 file photo)

The New York Daily News spoke with Whittington on the anniversary of the incident, who said: 'He never did need to apologize. It was an accident.

'He expressed his concern about me publicly, but he never had reason to apologize because we knew how seriously he was affected by it.'

He also said that some of the pellets are still lodged in his cheek, neck and other parts of his body but are not causing any medical problems and he still has 'no problem getting on airplanes.'

Whittington has even returned to hunting, going out with his son-in-law and some friends recently and shooting a gun for the first time in 10 years.

The 88-year-old has not lost his touch either it would seem as he managed to hit a quail with that first shot.

Cheney meanwhile may not have publicly, or personally, apologized to his friend, but he did write about the accident in his 2011 memoir In My Time.

'I, of course, was deeply sorry for what Harry and his family had gone through,' wrote Cheney.

'The day of the hunting accident was one of the saddest of my life.'

Above and beyond: Whittington (above in 2010) not only played down the incident but also apologized to Cheney and his family for any stress it caused them

Scene of the accident: The incident occured at Texas' Armstrong Ranch (above) while the two were hunting together

Worthington was taken to Corpus Christi Memorial Hospital for treatment, and three days after his arrival suffered a minor heart attack from a pellet lodged in his heart.

He played down the incident after her recovered a few days later and upon being released from the hospital with roughly 30 pellets still stuck in his body did the one thing Cheney has yet to do - apologize.

While he was the one who was hit with 200 pellets and suffered a minor heart attack, Whittington said in a statement; 'My family and I are deeply sorry for all that Vice President Cheney and his family have had to go through this week.'

Cheney continued to hunt in the wake of the accident, and he and Aaron Burr remain the only two men to shot someone while serving as Vice President.

In Burr's case, he fatally wounded Alexander Hamilton during their 1804 duel.
Defence: A mother-of-three chopped off her brother-in-law's genitals before handing them as evidence at a police station (file image)

A mother-of-three chopped off her brother-in-law's genitals before handing them in as evidence at a police station in India.

The 32-year-old woman stunned officers when she entered the station in the Sidhi district of Madhya Pradesh, clutching the severed organ.

The woman, who was accompanied by her three children, told officers that it was the only way to stop her brother-in-law attacking her.

The woman was staying with her brother-in-law as her husband worked more than 700 miles away, in Nashik, Maharashtra.

But he had allegedly assaulted her many times while she stayed in his house.

She told police that she faked consent when her brother-in-law attacked her, before hacking off his privates with a sickle.

Before the police were able to get medical support to the injured man, he had already committed suicide, reported the Times of India.

His body was reportedly found hanging from a tree near their house.

According to Sidhi police spokesman Abid Khan, the woman has been charged with attempted murder.

This is a rare case and has to be investigated for a proper chargesheet, he said.

Police said the woman is mentally stable and does not regret her actions.
Bernie Sanders criticized Barack Obama's leadership again and suggested he'd do a better job in the Oval Office than the current president, who is believed to be privately supporting Hillary Clinton.

'There's a huge gap right now between Congress and the American people. What presidential leadership is about closing that gap,' he told MSNBC's Kasie Hunt in a clip that aired today.

Hunt asked Sanders if Obama had done that and the senator said, 'No, I don't.'

'I think he has made the effort,' Sanders, added. 'But I think what we need, when I talk about a political revolution, is bringing millions and millions of people into the political process in a way that does not exist right now.'

Bernie Sanders criticized Barack Obama's leadership again and suggested to MSNBC's Kasie Hunt he'd do a better job in the Oval Office than the current president, who is believed to be privately supporting Hillary Clinton

'There's a huge gap right now between Congress and the American people. What presidential leadership is about closing that gap,' Sanders said, then stated that Obama did not achieve it. The president is seen here yesterday in Springfield, Illinois, where he launched his 2008 campaign for the White House

Clinton's campaign responded with a jab at Sanders' own record of accomplishments

Clinton's campaign responded with a jab at Sanders' own record of accomplishments.

'The idea of Bernie Sanders, who has little to show for his 25 years in Congress, giving leadership lectures to President Obama is absurd,' national press secretary Brian Fallon said on Twitter.

Candidate Clinton has never directly attacked Sanders' congressional service. She does say regularly on the stump, however, 'Im a progressive, but Im a progressive who likes to get things done.'

A Washington Times analysis of Sanders' time in Congress found that he has a less than one percent success rate at getting bills passed - he's only had three put into law - but that's on par with other lawmakers.

During Clinton's eight years in the same legislative body she also had three bills become law.

They weren't particularly substantive though. One renamed a post office, another a highway, and the other established a national historic site.

Two of Sanders' renamed post offices as well but one gave veterans an increase in their annual cost-of-living allotment.

Obama briefly served in the Senate with both Sanders and Clinton, who ran against him in 2008 and went on to serve in his cabinet.

Sanders has a complicated relationship with the Democratic president, whose policies are not as far left as his own.

In order to validate his own plans as president to pass progressive proposals in a Republican-led Congress, Sanders has, on multiple occasions, had to throw Obama under the bus.

Sanders has a complicated relationship with the Democratic president, whose policies are not as far left as his own

In order to validate his own plans as president to pass progressive proposals in a Republican-led Congress, Sanders has, on multiple occasions, had to throw Obama under the bus as he touts his own political revolution

'But I think what we need, when I talk about a political revolution, is bringing millions and millions of people into the political process in a way that does not exist right now,' Sanders told MSNBC. His supporters are seen here cheering him on in New Hampshire after he won the state's primary on Tuesday

During an October appearance on the Today show host Matt Lauer pointed out that Obama's legislative agenda has been blocked by conservatives in Congress.

'Why will you succeed in getting rid of gridlock where he can't?' Lauer asked.

Sanders replied, 'Great question. Because what we will do is rally the American people, Matt, around issues that they support. People want to see the minimum wage go up, 15 bucks an hour. They want to create millions of jobs, they want to make public colleges and universities.'

Lauer cut him off and said, 'But the President has tried to rally the American people.'

'Well, I will do it differently,' Sanders declared, ;because at the end of the day, what people are really upset about is that big money controls what goes on in Congress, and the only way we change that is when millions of people come forward and demand the government represents all of us and not just the billionaire class.'

Just last week Sanders hit the president for agreeing to a 12-nation trade pact that the Democratic presidential candidate says will negatively affect America's working class and boost big corporations.

'It is a continuation of bad trade policies. The president supports it, I strongly disagree with it,' he said at a CNN forum in New Hampshire.

The statement came in response to a question from moderator Anderson Cooper who asked Sanders if the president had let progressives down.

'In some areas,' Sanders said, 'for example in the trade area.'

He was quick to add that Obama has turned around the economy, though, during his seven-year tenure in the White House.

'We have come a long way' since the recession, Sanders said.

Sanders went to New York to meet with Al Sharpton yesterday. Unable to hug the president's policies, he's looking for support elsewhere in the Democratic community

Under attack from Clinton the next day for his narrow definition of progressivism that she said no one could live up to - not even the president or vice president - Sanders stated that he does indeed believe Obama has earned the ideological label, however.

'Yes, I do,' he said during the MSNBC-hosted Democratic debate in Durham, New Hampshire after Chuck Todd asked him if Obama is a progressive. 'I disagree with him on a number of issues including the trade agreement. But, yes, I think he has done an excellent job.'

The president has publicly remained neutral between in the Democratic primary, though insiders believe he favors Clinton, his former secretary of state, over the Vermont senator.

Obama seemingly revealed his preference during an interview with Politico last month in which he rejected a comparison of Sanders' long-shot campaign to his own bid in 2008 and hailed Clinton as a doer.

'There's no doubt that Bernie has tapped into a running thread in Democratic politics that says: Why are we still constrained by the terms of the debate that were set by Ronald Reagan 30 years ago?

'You know, why is it that we should be scared to challenge conventional wisdom and talk bluntly about inequality and, you know, be full-throated in our progressivism? And, you know, that has an appeal and I understand that,' Obama said.

But he continued on and said of Clinton,'I think that what Hillary presents is a recognition that translating values into governance and delivering the goods is ultimately the job of politics, making a real-life difference to people in their day-to-day lives. I don't want to exaggerate those differences, though, because Hillary is really idealistic and progressive.'

Candidate Clinton has never directly attacked Sanders' congressional service. She does say regularly on the stump, however, 'Im a progressive, but Im a progressive who likes to get things done'

The comments resulted in charges that Obama was 'tipping the scales' for Clinton ahead of the Iowa caucuses.

The president issued a full denial at Democrats' annual retreat a day after hosting Sanders at the White House.

Standing in the West Wing driveway, Sanders said there was no bad blood between them and he doesn't believe that's what Obama was trying to do at all.

A former White House press secretary for Obama said yesterday that's not how he's interrpretted the president comments.

'I think the president has signaled while still remaining neutral that he supports Secretary Clinton's candidacy and would prefer to see her as the nominee,' ex-Obama aide Jay Carney said Wednesday.
The mayor of Cleveland has apologized to the family of Tamir Rice after a lawsuit against his family was launched over an unpaid ambulance bill.

Officials had claimed the Rice family owed the city $500 for the work done by paramedics, who tried in vain to save Tamirs life after he was shot by police in November 2014 while holding a toy gun.

But the mayor of Cleveland today apologized and rescinded the legal claim, saying it had been automatically processed.

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Cleveland has withdrawn a lawsuit against the family of Tamir Rice over a $500 unpaid ambulance bill

Mayor of Cleveland Frank Jackson apologized to the family and withdrew the legal claim, saying it had been automatically processed

Rice family lawyer Subodh Chandra yesterday said the $500 bill - $450 for 'advance life support' and $50 for the ambulance ride - adds insult to homicide.

The claim was filed in Cuyahoga County Probate Court and demanded the family cough up, according to cleveland.com.

It came just weeks after a grand jury decided not to indict the two white police officers who fatally shot Tamir.

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson said during a news conference on Thursday that a city attorney was responding to a records request made by the attorney for Tamir's estate.

Mayor Jackson said the claim was routine, but it should have been red-flagged and never filed in probate court.

City officials say Medicaid reimbursed the city $179 in early 2015 for the ambulance ride and the file was closed.

Subodh Chandra (left), a lawyer for the Rice family, yesterday said the bill adds insult to homicide. Attorneys for the family told Tamir's mother Samaria Rice (right) about the claim, which has since been withdrawn

Tamir was fatally shot by cop Timothy Loehmann while playing with a pellet gun (pictured) in November 2014

The claim said that under the Ohio Revised Code, the family is responsible for emergency medical services rendered as the decedents last dying expense.

On Wednesday, Mr Chandra said: 'The callousness, insensitivity, and poor judgment required for the city to send a bill - its own police officers having slain 12-year-old Tamir - is breathtaking.

Earl Ward, another family lawyer, branded the bill cold and callous, adding it is disrespectful to a family who is still grieving, especially on the heels of the grand jury decision'.

He said: Its a $500 bill and the city is responsible for his death, so I dont see how they could justify that.

Mr Ward had informed Tamirs mother, Samaria Rice, about the filing, the New York Daily News reported.

Tamir was fatally shot by Timothy Loehmann while playing with a pellet gun on November 22, 2014.

In the build-up to the shooting, he had been playing in the park and was reportedly pointing the fake weapon at people, prompting concern from someone who called 911.

His toy was missing the orange clip-on, which would have warned police and passers-by that the gun was not real.

The 911 dispatcher told the officers there was a man with a gun, but failed to pass on the information that it was a young boy and that the caller has said that the gun was probably fake.

Tamir was fatally shot by Timothy Loehmann while playing with a pellet gun

Shocking surveillance footage of the incident showed officer Frank Garmback speeding to the scene in his patrol car before Loehmann, a rookie cop, gets out and immediately fires at Tamir.

According to the Daily News, two independent reports concluded the shooting was not justified.

On December 28 last year, a grand jury decided not to indict the two white police officers for their role in the fatal shooting of the young black boy.

After the decision, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty said there was indisputable evidence that Tamir was reaching for the pellet gun tucked into his waistband when he was shot.

In a statement after the announcement, attorneys for the Rice family renewed their calls for the Department of Justice to investigate the shooting.

It said: 'It has been clear for months now that Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty was abusing and manipulating the grand jury process to orchestrate a vote against indictment.

'Even though video shows the police shooting Tamir in less than one second, Prosecutor McGinty hired so-called expert witnesses to try to exonerate the officers and tell the grand jury their conduct was reasonable and justified.
Jahmila Kelly, 32, from Bethnal Green, east London, has been left distraught after being told she cannot get a refund for her British Airways flight to St Lucia despite being unable to fly due to a brain tumour

A mother-of-one who booked a dream holiday to the Caribbean only to be diagnosed with a brain tumour and told she cannot fly has been left distraught after being told she is only eligible for a full refund if she dies.

Jahmila Kelly, 32, from Bethnal Green, east London, booked a two-week trip to St Lucia with her best friend Sheriese Scott last September and was due to fly from London Gatwick on March 17.

However, she was diagnosed with a brain tumour last month and told by doctors that she would need a life-saving operation on March 4  just over a week before she was due to go on holiday.

Ms Kelly, a reservations agent with Imperial Hotels, contacted her travel agent and informed them of her diagnosis but has been left devastated that her dream holiday cannot be postponed or refunded.

The mother-of-one had booked the holiday through online travel agent Netflights.com and paid 770 for her flights, provided by British Airways (BA), and 1,500 for a hotel on the Caribbean island.

After being diagnosed with the brain tumour, which she has been told is benign but will cause her to lose her sight in one eye, she immediately contacted Netflights to ask that the holiday be postponed.

She said she didn't want to fully cancel the trip but wanted to travel later in the year after she had recovered from her operation, which will see doctors remove the tumour from the optic nerve behind her eye.

However, she said she has now been told that her return BA flights cannot be pushed back and will not be fully refunded, as policy apparently stipulates that they only can be refunded if she is dead.

Ms Kelly told MailOnline: 'As soon as I was diagnosed in January I rang Netflights and they said it was up to BA to issue a refund, so advised me to contact them. I contacted BA but they sent me back to Netflights. It's been a wild goose chase.

'Eventually Netflights agreed to help and they are trying to be the middle person and get more out of BA but right now BA doesn't seem to be budging.'

Ms Kelly showed MailOnline an email she received from Netflights, which claimed BA had told the travel operator that the 770 flights could not be fully refunded unless Ms Kelly had died.

The email said: 'All of our web bookings are non-refundable. In the circumstance of illness we are happy to give all that we can back. Unfortunately the airlines rules state that all we can give is a partial tax refund. This is only to be waivered for death of a passenger.

'I understand this may be an extreme ruling but still a rule we have to abide by.

'My colleague has been in contact with the airline concerning this and has been advised that the ruling has to stand. British Airways are not willing to waive this in case of illness.'

Jahmila Kelly, 32, is pictured left with her sister Shalisha Davis, 24, and right with friend Sheriese Scott who she was supposed to be going on the holiday with. She is now unable to fly due to the benign brain tumour

Ms Kelly booked a two-week trip to the Caribbean island of St Lucia (above) with her best friend Sheriese Scott

The email continued: 'We have also been in contact with the airline requesting to extend the ticket validity so that Ms Kelly is able to amend her flights to any further desired dates under the terms and conditions that a reissue fee and any difference in fare and tax will be charged. This request has been denied.'

Ms Kelly said she has now been left feeling 'distraught' and 'stressed' that she faces losing the money for the holiday, and believes a brain tumour should be a valid medical reason for a refund.

She said: 'I deal with customers all the time in my job and I always put consideration into every customer I deal with. Some people have personal problems and you should always make sure people enjoy their experience.

'I am disgusted, I feel the travel industry should be aimed at delivering and helping the customers and I don't think I am getting that experience. They should be here to help me.

'I'm visually impaired in my right eye which is going to lead to blindness, I have nerve seizures where I can be paralysed on the left side, tiredness, headaches, eye pain and nausea. It's a problem right now.

'I can't believe you literally have to be dead for them to even consider a refund.

'It's disgusting, it's inhumane, and I am afraid they will treat people who are worse off than me like this.

'They will never be getting a penny of my money ever again.'

She added: 'I didn't want the money, I just wanted the flights pushed back, I thought maybe after the treatment I could still go on the holiday for the recovery period. But they won't even do that.

'It's just not right.'

Ms Kelly, 32, who is mother to 15-year-old Mileah, is pictured above (centre) with her nieces and nephews

Ms Kelly, who is mother to 15-year-old Mileah, was diagnosed with a cerebral meningioma in January after spending two months going back and forth with hospital appointments.

She had gone for a routine eye test last November during which she was found to have blurred vision in her right eye. Specsavers referred her to Moorfield Eye Hospital in London, where she underwent a series of tests and MRI scans.

She was then sent to Queen's Square Hospital in Russell Square where further scans confirmed she had a benign brain tumour on the optic nerve behind her right eye. Because of the location of the tumour, doctors will only know for definite if it can be fully removed when they operate next month.

Since the tumour is benign, Ms Kelly has been told she should make a full recovery from the operation  although she has been told that she will lose her sight in her right eye.

Her sister, Shalisha Davis, a 24-year-old student at London South Bank University, said it was 'disgusting' that BA would not refund the flights or allow Ms Kelly to postpone them.

She said: 'Her operation is on March 4 so therefore she won't recover in time for the holiday. The hospital has said she won't be able to fly until she gets the all-clear. It could be a couple of months to a year.

'It's a stressful time. Her brain tumour just came out of nowhere and she doesn't need all this extra stress, she needs to have all her energy fighting the fact she's ill.

'For them to say it's not serious enough grounds, is like we've just told she has got the flu or something. I just can't believe they've been so insensitive and they don't want to be held accountable. They've sent us on a wild goose chase for a refund, but 770 is nothing to them.

'They could easily resell the flights, but they just don't want to. They have no compassion or empathy for their customers who are going through hard times.

'The travel industry is there to help customers enjoy life, and they are really not doing that.

'I think it's disgusting of them to try and relinquish all the blame onto Netflights.'

British Airways has come under fire from Ms Kelly and her family who said it is 'disgusting' the way the airline is apparently refusing to issue a refund. BA said it is investigating Ms Kelly's case 'as a matter of urgency'

Natalie Hughes, a close friend of Ms Kelly and godmother to her daughter, also criticised the way BA has so far handled the situation.

She said: 'The stress of this whole thing is causing her unnecessary worry and concern.

'My god daughter is also currently studying for her GCSE exams at the moment - the family are stressed beyond belief with all that is happening but are trying to hold it together for the child.

'The tumour means she will be having surgery on March 4 to save her other eye and also her life.

'There is a high risk of stroke and epilepsy and she is fearful that she will be unable to deal with this all, especially because the travel agent has now advised it could take 12 weeks to investigate.

'Sadly dragging out this process just causes further stress and worry which is detrimental to her health.'

British Airways said it was investigating the matter when contacted by MailOnline this evening.

A spokesman said: 'We are investigating this case as a matter of urgency and will be in contact with both the customer and netflights.com.'
He was released today and pictured as he made his way out of the prison

Mr Dussen was convicted even though his DNA was not found at the scene

A Dutchman wrongly jailed for raping a woman who had been attacked by the killer of Sally Anne Bowman has been pictured for the first time following his release.

Romano van der Dussen spent more than 12 years behind bars after being convicted of sexually assaulting the Spanish victim in August 2003.

His conviction was overturned on Wednesday after British killer Mark Dixie, 44, admitted raping the victim in a drink and drug-fuelled rage at the popular tourist resort Fuengirola.

Mr Dussen was today photographed clutching two bags of possessions as he left the Palma de Mallorca jail.

Romano van der Dussen, who was wrongly jailed for raping a woman who had been attacked by the killer of Sally Anne Bowman, has been pictured for the first time following his release

His conviction was overturned on Wednesday after British killer Mark Dixie (left), who is currently in prison for murdering Sally Anne Bowman (right), admitted raping the victim in a drink and drug-fuelled rage at the popular tourist resort Fuengirola

He made a short statement to journalists before leaving the area, which he previously told El Pais newspaper was an 'indescribable hell'.

His release came eight months after Dixie made the confession to Mr Dussen's lawyer in Durham prison. A DNA test in Holland later confirmed Dixie's link to the crime.

The attack on the Spanish woman came two years before Dixie raped and murdered model Miss Bowman near her home in Croydon, south London.

Mr Dussen, 42, was arrested in Fuengirola shortly after that attack and two others, which he always denied, and was later convicted and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.

Dixie's DNA was found at the scene of one of the attacks, but never traced by Spanish police. No DNA from Mr Dussen was found at any of the crime scenes.

After his confession to lawyer Rachel Imamkhan, Dixie made a written three page statement which was lodged with the Spanish Supreme Court.

Mr Dussen as he walks out from Palma de Majorca jail today after spending more than 12 years behind bars

Mr Dussen was today photographed clutching two bags of possessions and walking alongside a woman as he left the jail

But Mr Dussen had to remain in prison until the court accepted his appeal against conviction.

He had been convicted of all three of the sexual attacks in the resort and was identified by just one of the victims.

The Supreme Court judges heard during the appeal that the Dutchman bore a similar appearance to Dixie and there were only two years difference in their ages.

The Dutch citizen in a mugshot taken nearer the time of the crime, which he has now been cleared over

Last year, Dixie admitted to raping one of the women but claimed he could not remember if he carried out the other two attacks because he was high on drugs at the time.

In June, murderer Dixie confessed to one of the rapes and gave a saliva sample at HMP Frankland in Co Durham which was matched to DNA found on the first victim.

Spanish police confirmed the match in a report in August.

Prosecutors at Romano's trial said the same man must have committed all three rapes, which took place within two hours of each other in the early hours of August 10 2003.

One woman was punched, thrown to the floor and raped in a terrifying 15-minute ordeal. She spent four days in hospital and suffered severe psychological problems.

Minutes later a second woman was punched in the head, thrown to the floor and sexually assaulted. The attacker fled with her Nokia mobile phone and 120 euros in cash.

The third victim was attacked a few hundred yards away; punched in the head, thrown to the floor, sexually assaulted and beaten.

Romano, now 42, was jailed for a total of 15-and-a-half years - despite the fact DNA found on the first victim did not match his - after being picked out of photographs in police files.

Dixie, who was living in Fuengirola when the three Spanish women were attacked, has claimed he does not remember the attacks on the other two women because he suffered drink and drug-related blackouts.

Romano's lengthy fight to clear his name had already suffered a series of setbacks.

Spain's Supreme Court turned down an appeal against his 2005 sentence the following year and refused to admit an appeal in July because it was 'premature.' despite long-standing evidence linking Dixie to at least one of the attacks and pointing to Romano being the victim of a miscarriage of justice.

In September 2005, Dixie raped and murdered teenager Miss Bowman (pictured left and right, on her 18th birthday in Kos with boyfriend Lewis Sprotson)

Dixie made his jail confession during a visit by Romano's lawyer Rachel Imamkhan.

Ms Imamkhan, legal director of PrisonLAW which specialises in overturning miscarriages of justice, said after meeting him: 'Mark Dixie confessed that in 2003 he was living in Fuengirola and he remembers committing a rape that Romano van der Dussen has been convicted of.

'He also stated that he is sorry that another person has been in prison for such a long period of time for that rape.

'A new analysis of DNA evidence carried out at the National Forensic Investigations Agency has also confirmed that Mark Dixie carried out that rape.

'Dixie claims he does not remember the attacks on the other two women.'

Support: Sally Anne's mother Linda Bowman, pictured, supported Romano's appeal against his convictions

Sally Anne Bowman was raped and murdered near her home in Croydon in September 2005 soon after Dixie, from Streatham, south London, returned to the UK from Spain.

The teenager was stabbed seven times and raped while she lay dead or dying.

Dixie was arrested the following year by chance after a fight in a pub, and was linked to the gruesome killing through his DNA.

He was jailed for life - and told he must serve a minimum of 34 years - in February 2008 after a trial at the Old Bailey.

Sally Anne's mum Linda, who is supporting Romano's fight for justice, said last year: 'An innocent man has spent 11 years of a 16 year sentence in prison for a crime he did not do.
South Carolina prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in the state case

He faces 33 hate-crime and firearms charges in federal court, and nine murder charges in state court

at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston last June

The 21-year-old is accused of gunning down nine black

A lawyer for Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof says his client is prepared to plead guilty to a slew of federal charges so long as the death penalty is off the table.

On Thursday, a federal judge again delayed the trial for the 21-year-old suspected white supremacist who is accused of killing nine black parishioners at the historic Emanuel AME Church last June.

Assistant US Attorney Jay Richardson told District Judge Richard Gergel that he expects the Justice Department will decide on whether to seek the death penalty in March or April.

Top priority: Attorney for Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof says his client is prepared to plead guilty to a slew of federal charges so long as the death penalty is off the table. Pictured during a hearing on July 16

The 21-year-old suspected white supremacist who is accused of killing nine black parishioners at the historic Emanuel AME Church last June (pictured on June 18)

Defense attorney David Bruck, who represents Roof, said his client is prepared to plead guilty if the DOJ agrees not to seek capital punishment.

He said the defense was not ready for trial until that decision had been made.

Bruck also said he was still reviewing all the evidence in the case as part of the discovery process.

If Roof pleads guilty, the case would move straight into the penalty phase, with the judge sentencing the gunman to life in prison without parole.

Judge Gergel previously admonished Richardson, telling the prosecutor in December that if the Justice Department decides not to seek death, the money being spent on Roof's death penalty defense 'is wasteful,' reported The State.

In addition to the 33 federal hate crime and firearms charges, Roof faces nine murder charges in state court

In addition to the 33 federal hate-crime and firearms charges, Roof also faces nine murder charges in state court and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in that case.

That trial is scheduled to get under way in early July.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys are due to report back in federal court in the early spring.
A North Carolina man showed no shame as he smiled in a mugshot after being arrested for bigamy.

Police in Davidson County arrested Keith Charles Diaz, 27, on Monday, nearly five months after his wife first tipped off investigators about his two marriages.

Meredith Diaz wed her husband in Hawaii in 2014, and the two went on to have a child together.

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Busted: Keith Charles Diaz was arrested for bigamy on Monday in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Shocking discovery: The 27-year-old was arrested after being turned into police by his wife Meredith. The two married in Hawaii in 2014, three years after David married his first wife in Tennessee

She says she first grew suspicious when she saw that he was communicating with another woman online.

'I just don't ever believe that something like this can happen to you,' she told Fox 8. 'The person that you trusted with your life, and you loved, and had a child with, could do things like this to you and keep up that big of a lie for that long.'

With the help of sheriff's deputies, she dug a little further online and found proof that the other woman was her husband's first wife.

The only thing is - he never got divorced.

Wary: Meredith says she first reported her husband to the police five months ago, when she grew suspicious of his online conversations with another woman who turned out to be his other wife

Records show that Keith Diaz married his first wife in Tennessee in 2011, before marrying Meredith three years later.

Police finally had enough evidence to arrest Diaz on Monday, charging him with one count of felony bigamy and holding him on $1,000 bond

He is scheduled to appear in front of a judge in Lexington District Court on February 29.

Now Meredith says she hopes her story will inspire lawmakers to set up a national database for all marriage documents, to prevent the same situation happening to someone like her.
A seven-year-old girl in Los Angeles has asked guests coming to her birthday party to bring blankets for the homeless instead of presents.

After seeing a homeless woman shivering at a bus stop two years ago, Kayla Soto, of Temple City, California, has made it her goal to help people living on the streets.

For her eighth birthday she has teamed up with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in hopes of gathering 200 blankets for the homeless.

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Kayla Soto, seven, of Temple City, California, asked for blankets for the homeless in lieu of birthday gifts for her eighth birthday in March

Kayla, pictured second from right with her family, has teamed up with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in hopes of gathering 200 blankets for the homeless

The second grader told her parents that she wanted blankets for the homeless instead of birthday gifts this March, and even made a Christmas wish about helping others.

'That was her Christmas wish: For every homeless (person) to have a home,' Kayla's mother, Lili Soto, told KTLA.

When her birthday came around, Kayla kept the homeless in mind.

'She looked down and she said, "Imagine if everyone brought a blanket",' Lili Soto said of the moment she asked her daughter what she wanted for her birthday.

So Kayla's parents wrote a message about blankets in the girl's birthday invitations, which were headed: 'Helping the homeless, one blanket at a time'.

Her mother, Lili Soto, said Kayla has made it her goal to help the homeless since seeing a woman shivering on the streets two years ago

Kayla's parents wrote a message about bringing blankets to her birthday party in the invitations, which were headed, 'Helping the homeless, one blanket at a time'.

The invitation said: 'Kayla has been working hard, with the help of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department towards helping the homeless, and is need of blanket donations.

'If you, or someone you know, have a blanket you no longer use, please consider bringing it with you.

'We will be distributing the blankets collected to those in need. Your support and generous donations are greatly appreciated.'

Kayla is also collecting toiletries for people who are living on the streets.

If anyone would like to help Kayla reach her goal of 200 blankets, they can bring new or gently used blankets to the Temple City sheriff's station on Las Tunas Drive by March 2.

Blankets will be packaged and donated to homeless shelters in the area as part of the 'Kayla's Kovers' project.
This is the excruciating moment an Australian academic froze on live television after suffering an anxiety attack while being interviewed about North Korea's recent rocket launch.

Dr Benjamin Habib became lost for words after being asked to give an expert opinion about the launch on ABC24 News Breakfast on Monday.

The lecturer in International Relations at La Trobe University, Melbourne, has now revealed he is 'devastated' by the 'very public humiliation' after being overcome by his anxiety.

Despite the efforts of presenters Virginia Trioli and Michael Rowland to coax him out of his terror, he stumbled through his answers and lost his train of thought mid-sentence.

Dr Benjamin Habib (pictured) became lost for words when speaking on ABC24 News Breakfast on Monday morning after he had been asked to give expert comment on North Korea's recent rocket launch

When asked: 'Do they really care what the world thinks about what they're doing?' Dr Habib answered, 'No they don't' before pausing and admitting: 'I'm losing it here'.

He has now bravely opened up about the experience, which he described as 'the worst public embarrassment of my career' in a blog post for the ABC.

'The interview was a disaster from the get-go as I melted down under the weight of anxiety,' he wrote.

'The experience was mortifying, the feeling afterward devastating, and the humiliation very public.

'In doing the News Breakfast interview I inadvertently thrust my lifelong battle with severe anxiety into the public domain.'

The lecturer admitted that he 'did not sleep a single minute' between accepting the invitation on Sunday afternoon and doing the interview on Monday morning.

The lecturer in International Relations at La Trobe University, Melbourne, had written and spoken 'extensively' about the topic, but suffered a 'panic attack' after being overcome by his anxiety

Despite the efforts of presenters Virginia Trioli and Michael Rowland to coax him out of his terror, he stumbled through his answers and lost his train of thought mid-sentence

The expert said he had 'no memory' of the first question as his mind was 'swimming in a haze'

Dr Habib said he felt 'instant discomfort' when he was led into the 'claustrophobic' which was filled with cameras, auto-prompter screens, TVs and computer screens.

The expert had 'no memory' of the first question as his mind was 'swimming in a haze'.

'As I realised that seconds were ticking away without me forming a coherent answer, the physical anxiety reactions intensified,' he said.

But with every question the presenters asked, he 'struggled more' as his anxiety took control of his mind and body.

'I was in complete shock. I have never before experienced such an intense anxiety reaction, even as someone with a long history with social anxieties.

'All I wanted to do was crawl into a hole away from human contact'.

Dr Habib said he felt 'instant discomfort' when he was led into the 'claustrophobic' which was filled with cameras, auto-prompter screens, TVs and computer screens

His 'courageous' post has prompted a positive response on social media, with dozens saying his decision to speak out will help many others

Dr Habib said he hoped writing about the experience might help his students and other people with anxiety to 'normalise mental health as an issue'.

His 'courageous' post has prompted a positive response on social media, with dozens saying his decision to speak out will help many others.

Ingrid Ozols said: 'Dear Benjamin Habib, I acknowledge the horrendous pain you have experienced, and understand the 'wanting to hide''

Tehn Yit Chin said: 'Kudos for Dr. Benjamin Habib - 'Talking about mental health problems is a sign of strength.' #MentalHealthMatters'

Jane Gunn said: '#Benjamin Habib's courage to speak out about #anxiety will help so many others.'
Charlie Jermyn (pictured) died of sepsis after being born in the toilet of his family home just hours after his mother was sent away from a maternity unit. An inquest today heard a midwife ignored his 'goatlike grunts' and wrongly said he was well

A baby who was born down a toilet died of sepsis after a midwife ignored his 'goatlike grunts' and another failed to call 999.

Charlie Jermyn died in May last year just 30 hours after he was born.

His mother Hayley Jermyn had been sent away from hospital just hours earlier after being told she was not ready to give birth.

Experts have now revealed warning signs that Charlie had developed infection Strep A were later ignored by a midwife at the house.

Parents Mark, 44, and Hayley Jermyn, 36, said they feel a number of errors in their son's medical care were directly responsible for his death.

Giving evidence at an inquest into Charlie's death, Mrs Jermyn claimed the catalogue of errors began when she was discharged from a maternity unit at the Royal Cornwall Hospital after being told she was not advanced enough in labour.

She said: 'I felt as if we had been dismissed.

'We were waiting an awful long time. She [the nurse] said "you have got ages to go yet, go home and sleep and get some rest".

'We were both absolutely shattered and saw how busy it was so we went home.

'Mark and I were unsure about doing so [going home from hospital]. We had a short conversation about going back to the hospital. This was because the pain increased while we were walking back towards the car.'

After the couple arrived home, Mrs Jermyn passed some blood on the toilet and her husband immediately called 999.

Moments later, Charlie was born and Mrs Jermyn said she heard him make some 'gargling noises'.

But she added: 'At this point he seemed healthy. He was crying and screaming at the top of his lungs and was most responsive at this time.'

Mrs Jermyn, of Penryn, Cornwall, said problems then began to surface but visiting midwives failed to spot the vital warning signs that Charlie was unwell.

She told the inquest Charlie was grunting like a goat - a 'red flag' warning for sepsis - the night before he collapsed.

Charlie (left) died in May last year just 30 hours after he was born. His mother Hayley Jermyn, pictured with her husband Mark (right), had been sent away from hospital just hours earlier after being told she was not ready to give birth

She added: 'I tried to breast feed but Charlie was sleepy. He made a sound like a goat but we thought nothing of it.

'I had to wake him when it was time for a feed every three hours but he did not want to suck and made the noise.

'He had an odd cry - more like a whine. The midwife heard the sound he was making.'

The next day, Charlie's condition started to deteriorate further.

Mrs Jermyn added: 'He had gone slightly yellow so I thought he might have jaundice. His eyes appeared to drift and he was making intermittent grunting noises.

DEADLY INFECTION KILLS 1,000 CHILDREN A YEAR Sepsis claims the lives of up to 1,000 children in the UK each year  far more than the number killed by meningitis. Yet while most parents now know the signs of meningitis, after years of awareness campaigns, even health experts remain remarkably ignorant about sepsis. The deadly form of blood poisoning, often called septicaemia, happens when the body is overwhelmed by infection. This sparks a violent immune response in which the body attacks its own organs. Sepsis is known as the 'silent killer' because it is so hard to spot. But if it is diagnosed early it is fairly easy to treat, usually with antibiotics and fluids. A child may have sepsis if they feel abnormally cold to the touch, look mottled, bluish or have very pale skin. They may also develop a rash that does not fade when you press it, and begin breathing rapidly or grunting. Other signs include fits or convulsions, as well as a child being very lethargic and hard to wake. The Sepsis Trust advises calling 999 if a child has one or more of these symptoms. Advertisement

'He was really, really sleepy and he was not feeding and we were thought that was a quirky noise he was making.'

An expert criticised the care given to Charlie as 'poor midwifery practice' and described subsequent failure to act on signs of illness as an 'opportunity missed'.

Julie Frohlich, a consultant midwife who was asked by coroner Emma Carlyon to look at the circumstances around Charlie's care, said more should have been done.

She said: 'If there was any question that baby Charlie might have been grunting, especially at 12 hours, the midwife should have carried out a full set of vital signs observations, including temperature, heart and respiratory rate.

'The failure of the midwife to act on her concerns by assessing baby Charlie's vital signs was poor midwifery practice and an opportunity missed to transfer him into hospital.'

Community midwife Katie Wickham also visited the family the day after the birth and instantly saw that Charlie was unwell, the inquest heard.

As a result, she tried three times to get through to the Royal Cornwall Hospital in order to speak to a paediatrics consultant to warn Charlie was coming into hospital.

She also requested an ambulance in the next 30 minutes - but Mrs Frohlich said this was far too slow.

In her report she said: 'I would expect even the most junior of midwives to know they should have dialled 999 and asked for an ambulance.

'It was inconceivable that Mrs Wickham did not do this.'

The inquest heard that as they waited for an ambulance, Charlie, who was being held by his mother, turned a 'duskier' colour and stopped breathing.

Mrs Wickham said she started CPR, which was continued by two ambulance crews who then took Charlie and his parents to hospital.

Midwife Joanne Bennett also told the hearing today that she checked over Charlie the day he was born and described him as a healthy baby who did needed further check-ups.

She said: 'I also advised Hayley and Mark to call if he made grunting. Both Hayley and Charlie appeared well.

Parents Mark, 44, and Hayley, 36, (pictured together) said they feel a number of errors in their son's medical care were directly responsible for his death

'I confirm that had I had any concerns with the observations, I would have transferred Charlie to hospital.

'Although I explained that I was not sure if Charlie was grunting or not, he was feeding well and the sounds must have been sleep related

'I heard a noise and I was not sure whether it was grunting or not.

'As he had no signs of respiratory distress and there were no further noises, I surmised it was a "I want feeding noise". I only heard it once when I was doing the post-natal check.'

Experts said it was possible but 'highly unlikely' that being born in the toilet caused the infection.
The superintendent of the Flint, Mich., schools testified before Congress Wednesday, telling federal lawmakers that the day has come to stop asking the children of the Flint community to pay the price for the mistakes of others.

City and school officials in Flint are dealing with the fallout of a contaminated-water crisis , after it was discovered last fall that hundreds, and possibly thousands, of children in the city have high levels of lead in their blood.

For our students, life has changed. There is the constant stress over unsafe water that disrupts the life of a community that already face a multitude of challenges, Superintendent Bilal Tawwab told members of the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee. There is an inherent struggle between trying to balance the educational needs of the students while meeting their physical and emotional needs in light of this crisis. Across the city, the threat of significant disability is even more serious for Flints youngest students, those not yet in school, or the unborn.

Tawwab told the Democratic lawmakers the district will need help securing resources to develop early intervention programs to support students suffering from the effects of lead exposure and hire educational specialists trained to work with the students.

We need your leadership in realizing that this is an evolving educational emergency, the superintendent said.

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a pediatrician at Hurley Medical Center in Flint who helped raise the alarm over high levels of lead in the water supply, and Flint Mayor Karen Weaver also testified at the hearing.

The Democratic committee invited Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, to appear but he declined.

The crisis has shone the national spotlight on Flint and the well-being of the citys children.

Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will participate in a nationally televised debate in the city on March 6. Clinton visited Flint this month, urging Congress to pass a bill that would deliver aid to the cash-strapped city and school district.

Heres a look at the complete testimony from Tawwab and other participants in the hearing:

Witness Testimonies
A new round of headaches may be on its way for Hillary Clinton following news that the State Department dropped a subpoena last fall on her family foundation.

The federal agency, which Clinton led from 2009 to 2013, demanded information about Clinton Foundation projects during that period, which State may have been required to approve before they could move forward.

News of the subpoena came as retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, formerly the Obama administration's Defense Intelligence Agency director, said Hillary should quit her campaign for the presidency because of a federal criminal investigation into her conduct while in office.

BODY WOMAN: Hillary Clinton is rarely seen in public without Human Abedin (right) by her side, and the close aide is now the target of a subpoena that the State Department sent to the Clinton Foundation

FAST TRACK: Abedin started her career as a Hillary intern in the 1990s and is now her deputy campaign chairwoman

Gen. Flynn told The Daily Caller on Thursday that 'Hillary Clinton, for the good of the country, should step down and let this FBI investigation play out.'

GET OUT: Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who once ran military intelligence for President Barack Obama, now says Hillary Clinton should pull out of the presidential race 'for the good of the country'

The subpoena from the State Department's inspector general demanded documents related to Huma Abedin, who in 2012 simultaneously worked for the foundation, Hillary's state department, her personal office in New York, and Teneo Holdings, a corporate consultancy run by longtime Bill Clinton adviser Doug Band.

Abedin's overlapping gigs came after her husband, Anthony Weiner, resigned from Congress in disgrace following a sexting scandal, losing his six-figure federal government salary.

The unusual employment arrangements, approved through a 'Special Government Employee' status approved by Clinton's State Department, have raised questions about potential conflicts of interest.

The FBI probe into classified emails found on Hillary Clinton's private email server  dating from years when she was secretary of state but kept all her digital correspondence sequestered outside official government channels  is thought to also now have a dual focus.

Its second track, according to news reports, is the so far unsubstantiated allegation that Clinton abused her authority by approving requests lodged by foreign governments in exchange for contributions to the foundation and lucrative speaking slots for former President Bill Clinton.

SEXTING FALLOUT: Huma forgave her wayward husband, who resigned from Congress after admitting he sent lurid twitter messages to other women

The Clintons have always claimed that there has never been a connection between the billions the foundation collected from foreign sources on the one hand, and Hillary's power over those donors' access to American markets and resources on the other.

A Clinton Foundation representative told The Washington Post, which first reported on the subpoena, that it wasn't a target of any investigation.

But Abedin refused to talk to the newspaper, as did Clinton campaign representatives and a spokesman for the State Department's Office of Inspector General.

The Post wrote that 'there is no indication that the watchdog is looking at [Hillary] Clinton.' But it's unclear who else the IG could be targeting.

Abedin has been by Clinton's side seemingly without interruption since the mid-1990s when she got an internship with the then-first lady during Bill Clinton's presidency.

Hillary is rarely seen in public without Abedin by her side. The onetime junior staffer and 'body woman' has risen through the ranks to become vice chairman of the Democratic front-runner's presidential campaign.

And she has been discussed publicly as a potential White House Chief of Staff in a potential Hillary Clinton presidency.
Angela Merkel has been accused of tyranny in her approach to the migrant crisis, as George Clooney revealed he is set to meet with the German leader.

The head of Merkel's sister party, Horst Seehofter, said the German chancellor's handling of the situation was a 'rule of injustice'.

The term is a loaded phrase in Germany as it is normally only used to describe dictatorships or oppressive regimes.

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'Tyrannical': Angela Merkel's (pictured) reactions to the refugee crisis have been slammed as a 'rule of injustice'. It is a loaded phrase in Germany, typically only used to refer to dictatorships and oppressive regimes

Star power: George Clooney has revealed he is set to meet with the German leader tomorrow, to find out how he can help alleviate the pressure of the crisis. Pictured, George and Amal Clooney at the opening night of the Berlin film festival this evening

Ms Merkel has faced strong opposition from Mr Seehofter's Christian Social Union (CSU), which is the Bavarian counterpart to her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party.

Mr Seehofter has threatened to take legal action against her unless she reverses her open door approach.

'We cannot welcome another million refugees this year,' he said.

Katarina Barley, the general secretary of Ms Merkel's other coalition partner, the Social Democrats (SPD), criticised Mr Seehofter's inflammatory remarks.

'He is either drawing some outrageous historical parallels or he just doesn't have a sense of history,' she said.

Meanwhile Hollywood actor George Clooney said he would be meeting with Ms Merkel to discuss the crisis.

'I'm having a meeting with Angela Merkel tomorrow to talk and ask what messages and what things we can do... to help,' he said, as he opened the Berlin film festival tonight.

Clooney, who is in town with his lawyer wife Amal, hopes to be able to use his star power to help relieve the crisis.

His new film 'Hail, Caesar!' by the Coen brothers is kicking off the 11-day cinema showcase in the German capital.

Helping hand: George Clooney is in the German capital for the 11-day Berlin film festival, which is showing his new film 'Hail, Caesar!' by the Coen brothers

Aid: Clooney said he also hopes to meet with asylum-seekers during his time in Germany, 80,000 of whom have arrived in Berlin in the past year

A spokeswoman for Merkel could not immediately comment on plans for a meeting.

The U.S. actor said later that he would also meet with asylum-seekers, around 80,000 of whom arrived in the German capital in 2015 alone.

Although the Berlin film festival is spotlighting around a dozen films focused on refugees, Clooney admitted it would take time before Hollywood would turn its attention to such stories.

'The unfortunate thing about the film community is we react to situations much more than we lead the way. News stories have to continue to happen and then scripts are written and it takes a couple years before people are actually making films about it,' he said.

'It's also very difficult to just make a subject film. You have to have a reason - a character and a reason to make it.'

Clooney said he had been frustrated in the past with his attempts to turn causes he cared about into films.

Delay: The film festival will feature around a dozen films focusing on refugees and asylum-seekers, but Clooney doesn't believe Hollywood will turn its attention to such stories for some time. Pictured: George Clooney and Tilda Swinton at the Hail Caesar premiere

Popularity: A spokesman for Ms Merkel offered no comment on the meeting. The German leader's popularity has slumped in recent months, after she pledged to accept asylum applications from all Syrians

'I've often struggled with the idea of trying to find ways to make a film about the Sudan and about Darfur which is something that's very close to me and I've spent a lot of time on,' he said.

'But I haven't been able to find the proper venue or the proper script yet to be able to do it - it's a tough thing to do.'

Ms Merkel's popularity has slumped in recent months, with critics accusing her of making the situation worse by promising in August to accept asylum applications from all Syrians.

German officials yesterday said they would be extending controls on its border for a further three months due to continued high numbers of refugee arrivals.

The Interior Ministry said the checks, first introduced in September, cannot be lifted because a reduction in the flow of refugees is 'currently not foreseeable'.
Traffic was brought to a standstill this evening in the centre of London after a black cab caught fire.

The incident happened on King Edward Street at around 6.30pm, outside St Paul's Cathedral.

London Fire Brigade (LFB) were called to the scene to tackle the flames and put the fire out.

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Traffic was brought to a standstill this evening in the centre of London after a black cab caught fire

Motorists were advised to avoid the area, while firefighters worked at the scene.

However, passers-by were seen taking pictures and videos of the burning taxi.

The driver was the only person in the cab when it burst into flames and escaped without injury.

The road has since reopened and traffic is flowing as normal.

London Fire Brigade (LFB) were called to the scene to tackled the flames and put the fire out

Eyewitness Andrew Venning, 30, an actor, who filmed the clip, told the London Evening Standard: 'Lots of people were filming. I went in to get a closer look and it didn't look like there was anyone in the driver seat or passenger side.

'Bus drivers were stood watching and the LFB had to ask police to get them to move their buses forward. A couple drove past the taxi still alight and then City of London police moved people back.

'LFB doused the taxi pretty swiftly.'

The driver had been the only person in the taxi and was not injured.
It's not just Marco Rubio's campaign that is falling apart, the candidate is cracking too  well, at least his back molar.

The Florida senator was forced to get his tooth temporarily repaired while campaigning in South Carolina, the Wall Street Journal reported, after chipping it chomping down on a candy bar while on a flight to Washington, D.C., the location of Rubio's day job.

'I just bit into a Twix bar and I go, 'Man this Twix bar's got something really hard in it,' Rubio told reporters today while stopping at a Cracker Barrel. 'And I go, 'Oh my gosh, I cracked my tooth.''

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Crack goes the molar! Marco Rubio recalled how he broke his tooth en route to Washington, D.C. this week while chatting up voters in Okatie, South Carolina

Marco Rubio is trying to get his campaign back on track in South Carolina after coming in fifth place in New Hampshire thanks, in part, to a disappointing showing at the GOP debate Saturday night

Rubio's broken tooth didn't hurt  at least in comparison to his primary results from New Hampshire.

The senator was the establishment lane candidate to watch coming out of Iowa, where he placed a close third to Donald Trump's second and Ted Cruz's top spot.

Enter Chris Christie who jostled Rubio around during Saturday night's Republican debate.

Christie had pegged Rubio as the 'boy in the bubble' and skewered him for reciting again and again the same talking points.

The move didn't do much to save Christie's floundering campaign, which he snuffed out yesterday, but it took down Rubio's too.

New Hampshire voters gave Ohio Gov. John Kasich, another more traditional presidential candidate, second place.

Donald Trump came in first, Iowa winner Ted Cruz came in third and even Jeb Bush resuscitated his struggling bid by coming in fourth place.

Rubio received just 10.6 percent of the vote totals, coming in fifth.

Now he's hurriedly trying to get the momentum back before South Carolina Republicans hit the polls on Feb. 21.

The state could spell out Rubio's fate.

It's coincidentally the site of another candidate's dental woes.

Back in March of last year, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who is also hoping the Palmetto State will give his bid a boost, was chomping down a meal at Tommy's County Ham House when he noticed an unwelcome addition to his plate.

His front tooth had fallen out and was sitting on his plate next to his scrambled eggs, grits and ham biscuits, according to reporting from TMZ.

The good doctor placed his tooth in his pocket for future repair and stood up giving an 'impassioned speech ... with a hint of a whistle.'

Rubio's injury also didn't stop the senator, who reportedly 'demolished' almost his entire stack of blueberry pancakes at the popular restaurant chain.
The 13-year-old girl died after helping to save her younger brother from the same fate in rough waters at a remote, 'extremely hazardous' beach has been called a 'kind, loving' student by the principal at her school.

Holly Nicholson and her father went into the surf to help her 11-year-old brother at Williamsons Beach near Wonthaggi, Victoria, about 8pm on Thursday.

She was pulled from the water unconscious and despite paramedics spending more than an hour attempting to revive her, she died,The Age reported.

Holly Nicholson, 13, died after helping to save her younger brother from drowning in rough surf

The teen has been remembered as 'kind and loving' youth who always found a way to make others feel good

Holly's school, Wonthaggi Secondary, was in mourning for her on Friday, the day after she died

Williamsons Beach near Wonthaggi, Victoria, where the 13-year-old girl drowned after helping save her younger brother's life

Wonthaggi Secondary School principal Garry Dennis said the school was mourning Holly's death on Friday, the Herald Sun reported.

'She was kind and loving and always found a way to make anyone feel good,' he said.

'Were all feeling the loss today and our thoughts are with her family.'

He said the youth was close with teachers and students alike, and counselling would be available for those who needed it.

The 13-year-old girl died while trying to save her younger brother at a remote beach in Victoria's south Gippsland (shown on map)

Holly Nicholson died helping to save her younger brother at a remote beach

Whilst the boy was saved and received only minor injuries requiring hospitalisation, the young girl also got into trouble and consequently died despite efforts by her family, police and ambulance officers trying to save her, a Victoria Police spokeswoman told the ABC.

They had been on a family outing to the beach, which is not patrolled by life savers, when tragedy struck.

Life Saving Victoria general manager Paul Shannon said her death was a reminder of the dangers of the ocean - and swimming at an unpatrolled beach.

He told The Age the beach was 'extremely hazardous'.

'Our hearts just go out to this family - what a tragedy this is,' he said.

'We need people to respect the ocean. If you are going to attend a non-patrolled beach area you need to have a safety plan in place that's going to make your day at the beach a bit more safe.'

The number of people to die in Victoria's oceans this summer is up six on last summer's deaths so far.

Mr Shannon said even one drowning death was too many.

A report is being prepared for the coroner.
Iraqi civilians who allege they were detained and mistreated by British forces have won permission to bring a legal challenge in the Supreme Court which could pave the way for them to seek damages.

The claims relate to what has become known as the 'Iraqi Civilian Litigation' under which many hundreds of claims had been launched in the English High Court.

A High Court judge lifted limitations which had prevented many Iraqis suing the Ministry of Defence.

But last December the Court of Appeal struck down the judge's decision, and it is that ruling which is under challenge in the highest court in the land.

The High Court ruled that a limitation period for suing in relation to certain claims of ill treatment should be suspended because a time bar had prevented applicants bringing their cases in Iraq.

The claims relate to what has become known as the 'Iraqi Civilian Litigation' under which many hundreds of claims had been launched in the English High Court

Iraqi law provides for a three-year deadline for bringing claims.

It can be suspended if an 'impediment' has prevented legal actions going ahead.

Legal representatives for the Iraqi civilians argued that another provision of Iraqi law had given immunity to foreign military personnel and was such an impediment.

MoD lawyers successfully argued in the appeal court that the immunity provisions were a procedural rule of local law and must therefore be disapplied by the English courts, with the result that the limitation period remained in place.

The Supreme Court will be asked to declare that the appeal judges went wrong in law.

All claimants in the case are seeking damages for their alleged unlawful detention and alleged ill-treatment by British armed forces when those forces formed part of the Coalition led by the US which went into Iraq in 2003.

The MoD welcomed the appeal decision blocking claims, saying that it served 'to safeguard taxpayer interests in the face of hundreds of compensation claims which have appeared many years after the alleged incidents to which they refer'.

MoD lawyers successfully argued in the appeal court that the immunity provisions were a procedural rule of local law and must therefore be disapplied by the English courts, with the result that the limitation period remained in place

Martyn Day, from law firm Leigh Day, which has acted for the Iraqis, said: 'These cases are against the MoD which has so far settled hundreds of claims by Iraqis who claimed they had been abused and wrongly detained during the period of British involvement in southern Iraq following the ill-fated war of 2003.
Abdullah Ahmed Jama Farah (pictured) was found guilty of preparing acts of terrorism by helping his friend, Nur Hassan travel to Syria and putting him in touch with a leading member of the group

The cousin of two 16-year-old schoolgirls who left Britain to become jihadi brides is facing jail after setting up a 'communications hub' to help his friends get to Syria.

The friends, who called themselves the al-Britanni Brigade, became notorious for posting ISIS propaganda images on social media until two of them were killed in the fighting.

Images sent to Abdullah Ahmed Jama Farah, 20, showed them posing with a formula for the 'square root of jihad.'

Jama, a chemistry student, was found guilty of preparing acts of terrorism by helping his friend, Nur Hassan travel to Syria and putting him in touch with a leading member of the group.

The judge, Michael Topolski, told Jama: 'You have been convicted of a serious terrorist crime. Be in no doubt that there will be a sentence of imprisonment, the only question is how long.'

It can be disclosed that the leader of the group, Ahmed Ibrahim Halane, 21, known to his friends as Pie, because of his size, and Nur Hassan, known as Lady Legs, tried to return from Syria after the deaths of their friends.

They were banned from entering the country and instead they travelled to Copenhagen in Denmark where Jama travelled out to meet them before his arrest, security sources say.

The leader's two sisters  Jama's cousins - are still thought to be in Syria where they became a 'jihadi brides', only for their husbands to be killed in the fighting.

Salma and Zahra Halane, who had 28 GCSEs between them, were star pupils at Whalley Range High School before they travelled out to Syria in June 2014.

One member of the group, it was confirmed during the trial, is believed to have died as a suicide bomber in Iraq  the only Briton to do so.

Detectives see the group as the 'advanced guard' of British fighters who blazed the trail more than two years ago that dozens of others then followed.

They were unusual because they were better educated and cleverer than many who followed after them, one source commented.

Jama is cousins with 'terror twins' Salma (left) and Zahra Halane (right), who travelled out to Syria in June 2014

Gareth Patterson, prosecuting, said Jama 'performed an important role from within this country, facilitating communications at the hub of a tightly-knit group of like-minded friends.'

The group were 'men who shared the same extremist ideological beliefs and who, like him, supported the use of serious violence in order to create an Islamic State,' Mr Patterson added.

Known as Jama, the student was born in Denmark to parents of Somali origin, and then moved to Manchester where he adopted the name 'Abu Ataa' on Twitter.

He was studying for a degree in chemistry at Huddersfield University but also using his computer to research radical preachers such as Anwar al-Alwaki, Abu Qatada and Abdullah el-Faisal.

In August 2013, while still doing his A-levels, Jama travelled to Egypt to join his cousin, Halane, and Nur Hassan, known as 'Lady Legs' to his friends,

Halane, who was said to be the spiritual leader of the group, travelled from there to Somalia, probably to join the militant group al-Shabaab.

Jama wrote to friends in Manchester, telling them Halane had gone to 'uni' and adding that it was 'maad pukka' and promising more details when he got back.

Within a few weeks, on October 6, two other friends, Mohammed Javeed and Khalil Raoufi flew from Manchester to Amsterdam and on to Istanbul in Turkey.

A police handout photograph shows Ahmed Ibrahim Halane - known as Pie - at Cairo airport in Egypt on his way to Somalia to join terror group Al-Shabaab

Raoufi kept Jama updated at each stage, writing as they made it to Amsterdam: 'Smashd it jzk Allah [praise god].'

When Jama asked if the 'pass through' had been ok, he was told 'yh, yh, puka.'

The pair were joined by Raphael Hostey, who called himself Abu Qaqa, and travelled separately.

Hassan was keen for news, asking Jama three days later if he had heard from 'mandem'  the group  but it was not until eight days later that Jama reported he had 'hot' news.

Hassan wanted to follow the others, initially seeking to get in touch with Halane in Somalia through Jama.

By November 14, however it was clear Hassan wanted to go to Syria, telling Jama that he was seeking a 'pick-up'  a reference to someone to help him cross the border from Turkey.

He was stopped by police at Manchester airport on the 21st and searched but not arrested and was able to leave on a flight to Istanbul the following day.

Khalil Raoufli was one of a group of friends who headed from the North West to Syria on October 6 2013 to join ISIS

Jama later admitted to police that Hassan had been to his house before he left and handed him some books about Islam and that he knew he was going to Syria.

Even after the group of four were in Syria, Jama stayed in touch and sought advice and updates on what they were up to.

Jama told Raoufi he was like a 'big brother' to him Raoufi advised him to 'study and worship' before he joined the 'mandem' and that if he ever wanted to go, 'wallahi [I swear] I'll get you here.'

He told Jama they had established a 'Britanni' brigade as part of ISIS and Jama replied: 'May Allah terrorise the kuffar thru you and the mandem.'

Raoufi went several images on December 7, which showed him, stashes of weapons and the black flag of ISIS.

It was clear that they had joined up with another notorious British fighter called Ifthekar Jaman who posed in photographs with Hostey.

Hostey's Twitter account was getting him attention and Jama told Raoufi that Hostey was 'bare famous'  very famous.

Raoufi also started Tweeting regularly, using the name Abu Layth, advising followers to travel to travel to refugee camps on the border with Turkey before crossing in the Syria.

No news had been heard from Javeed since he left for Iraq and he is thought to have been killed in fighting there. Ifthekar Jaman was killed in fighting in Syria on December 17.

On January 11, police moved in to arrest Javeed's older brother, Jamshed, a chemistry teacher in Bolton, who pleaded guilty last year to attempting to travel to Syria.

Nevertheless, Jama wanted more pictures from Syria and when Raoufi sent a number, Jama commented: 'Mandem looking mad and the campus looks banging.'

Raoufi's last Tweet was on January 30 and he was killed shortly afterwards.

Jama remained determined to travel to Syria and on March 10, told Hostey that he was going to try and join him but he was arrested the next day.
A mother of a Michigan middle school student was outraged after her daughter was told by one of her teachers that her outfit could be 'distracting to boys'.

Marshall Middle School parent Brooke Fields posted a photo of her daughter Madyson's outfit to Facebook on Wednesday, that showed her wearing black leggings, a long-sleeve shirt and a chunky scarf.

'My daughter was told by a teacher at Marshall Public Schools that she was a distraction to the boys today,' Fields, of Marshall, Michigan, wrote, according the Battle Creek Enquirer.

She added: 'My straight A student was called out in front of the class and told the boys were staring at her. If I wouldn't have been home, she would have had to sit in ISS (in school suspension) all day. This is wrong.'

Marshall Middle School parent Brooke Fields, of Marshall, Michigan, shared a photo of her daughter Madysons outfit to Facebook on Wednesday, claiming she was singled out by her teacher and told her outfit was 'distracting to boys'

Fields said that her anger didn't come out of the dress code - skirts and dresses must be at least mid-thigh length even if wearing leggings - but 'about the approach' the teacher took.

She said she had 'a very successful meeting' with Marshall Middle School Principal David Turner and the teacher, in which a resolution was made.

'There was an apology made about the wording used and also a discussion about a review of the dress code and making changes to it,' she said in a second Facebook post.

She added: 'I hold my daughter accountable for her actions, just as I expect others to be accountable for theirs. My intent was never to bring shame to Marshall, as I am a proud parent of a Marshall RedHawk.'

The Battle Creek Enquirer reported that Fields wrote on its Facebook page that her daughter was called out in front of the class for her outfit and if she was not picked up from school by her mother, she would have been placed on in-school suspension.

Turner said in an e-mail that 'the incident as described on Facebook is not accurate', and that Madyson was never going to be suspended.

He said that Madyson was 'talked to privately' at the teacher's desk and sent to the school office to 'have administration check that the clothing did not violate the dress code policy' and 'avoid future questioning by other teachers (situation occurred during the first class)'.

Turner wrote in the email that the student asked the teacher why she was being sent to the office and 'drew attention to the situation'.

Dress code at Marshall Middle School (pictured) requires skirts and dresses to be at least mid-thigh length even if wearing leggings

'The teacher explained the following: the staff talked to all students about the dress code recently (within the last two weeks), stated that tights can be worn but clothing must cover mid thigh, that she had been talked to before about dress code items, that her clothing could be distracting to boys,' Turner wrote.

Turner stressed that the student would not have been suspended from school and that Field's decision to take Madyson home was 'their decision'.

The Marshall Middle School dress code states that students 'may wear jeans, slacks, shorts that extend past the mid-thigh (mid-thigh is determined as halfway between inseam and knee), gauchos or Capri pants'.

Holes in clothes above the mid-thigh level are prohibited, and dresses and skirts must reach mid-thigh, even if the student is wearing leggings or tights.

Leggings, jeggings, yoga pants, tights or tight-fitting bottoms can't be work if they don't follow the above requirements, according to the policy.

Turner said that Madyson could have stayed at school and gone to her classes.

'She would have been asked not to wear that again,' Turner said.

Students who violate the dress code once or twice are asked to not wear that type of clothing again and the incident is then documented by the school.

On the third offense, students face one after-school detention. On the fourth offense, a student is punished with three after-school detentions.

After a fifth violation, the student faces a three-day in-school suspension.
It comes a day after first case, and 4 potentials, was reported in Alabama

The first case of the Zika virus has been confirmed in Maryland.

Officials in Maryland said the person had recently traveled to a country affected by the virus and returned infected.

The victim was diagnosed within six days of catching the virus, which typically takes seven days to set in, officials said.

It brings the total number of affected states to 21, not including Washington, D.C., which has also reported Zika.

The news comes as U.S. officials scramble to ship Zika virus tests for pregnant women to health departments around the country - but fear there will be a shortage.

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The Zika virus is now believed to have spread to 21 states, as well as Washington, DC, with 59 reported cases in the United States. All of the cases involved people who were infected abroad before returning to America

The U.S. government is shipping Zika virus tests for pregnant women to health departments around the country, but it warns there could be temporary shortages, as travelers try to tell if they returned with an infection that could put a developing baby at risk.

Health officials don't expect widespread transmission of the mosquito-borne virus in the continental United States, but they said Thursday that Puerto Rico is especially vulnerable.

They asked for emergency funding from Congress to battle an outbreak that is quickly spreading through Latin America.

'We may see rapid spread through the island, and we need to respond urgently,' Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told a Senate appropriations subcommittee.

The Zika virus is suspected of causing a rare but potentially devastating birth defect, an abnormally small head, which can indicate underlying brain damage.

Brazil has reported an apparent increase in cases of that defect, called microcephaly, as Zika exploded in that country, although scientists haven't definitively proven the link.

'With each passing day the evidence that Zika is causally related gets stronger,' Frieden said.

Alabama reported its first case of the disease in a person who had recently traveled to a Zika-plagued country on Wednesday.

Four other people have been tested in Alabama and are awaiting results, while another person, who had returned from Latin American country, came back negative.

All cases of Zika in the U.S. so far have involved people who were bitten by mosquitoes outside of America

CDC RACES TO GET TESTS FOR PREGNANT WOMEN ACROSS THE U.S.; WARNS PUERTO RICO AT RISK The U.S. government is shipping Zika virus tests for pregnant women to health departments around the country, but it warns there could be temporary shortages, as travelers try to tell if they returned with an infection that could put a developing baby at risk. Health officials don't expect widespread transmission of the mosquito-borne virus in the continental United States, but they said on Thursday that Puerto Rico is especially vulnerable. 'With each passing day the evidence that Zika is causally related gets stronger,' Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told a Senate appropriations subcommittee. Advertisement

'The person is fine,' Dr Jim McVay, from the Alabama Department of Public Health, told AL.com on Wednesday.

Dr Tom Miller, acting state health officer, said he expected more cases to be identified in Alabama.

'We knew it was only a matter of time before we would have the first positive case of an individual in Alabama with Zika virus,' he said.

'Given the frequency of international travel to affected areas, we anticipate having additional positive cases. We are working with the medical community to identify high-risk individuals.'

The Zika virus is now believed to have spread to 21 states, as well as Washington, DC.

The worst affected areas are Florida, with 14 cases of Zika, Texas, with 11, California, with six, and New York, with five.

Hawaii, Illinois, Nebraska, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC, have all seen at least two cases, while 10 other states have each seen one infection.

Indiana and Ohio became the latest states to confirm infections after women returning from Haiti were found to have the virus.

Of the 59 reported cases of the virus in the U.S., all of them have been brought back into the country by people who became infected abroad.

There have been no cases where the virus has been spread by mosquitoes in the U.S..

It came as the World Health Organization declared the outbreak, which has swept through South and Central America since last summer, an international public health emergency over fears the virus has triggered a surge in cases of the birth defect microcephaly.

The World Health Organization appears to have triggered a surge in microcephaly, which causes babies to be born with smaller than usual heads and can result in severe disabilities

The Zika virus is carried by two types of mosquito - both of which are common in parts of the US.

In the majority of cases, around 80 per cent, people infected show no symptoms.

In the remaining 20 per cent of a cases sufferers will typically experience fever, rash, joint and muscle pain, red eyes and headache, which can last from several days to a week.

Experts convening at the American Mosquito Control Association's annual conference warned the mosquitoes that carry Zika are among the hardest species to fight.

They said they live and breed in spots where water collects inside houses and yards.

The Aedes aegypti, the mosquito blamed for the Zika outbreak linked to birth defects in Brazil, can be found in the southern US from Florida to California.

Meanwhile another carrier is the Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, which has a more northerly range that includes cities such as Chicago and New York.
Ted Cruz is picking up where Chris Christie left off and casting Marco Rubio as vapid, and in this case a liar, as well.

Cruz dropped a new ad today titled 'Conservatives Anonymous' that accused Rubio of duping the Tea Party voters who carried him into office in 2010. And it cautions Rubio supporters that he's 'just a pretty face.'

The Cruz campaign says the 30-second ad is the first in a series on the subject of conservatism and it will hit the airwaves 'soon.'

SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO

Ted Cruz dropped a new ad today titled 'Conservatives Anonymous' that accused Rubio of duping the Tea Party voters who carried him into office in 2010. And it cautions Rubio supporters that he's 'just a pretty face'

Rubio's name is not mentioned. At the end of a commercial, however, a man in a shirt bearing Marco Rubio's campaign log comes in and ask, 'Do you guys have room for one more?'

The spot begins with a group leader asking, 'Has anyone else here struggled with being lied to?'

One man pipes up to day, 'Well, I voted for a guy who was a Tea Party hero on the campaign trail and then he went to DC and played patty cake with Chuck Schumer and cut a deal on amnesty.'

'Does that make you angry?' the meeting leader asks. 'Angry? It makes me feel dumb for trusting him,' the man replies.

Then a woman in the circle says, 'Maybe you should vote for more than just a pretty face next time.'

Rubio's name is not mentioned. At the end of a commercial, however, a man in a shirt bearing Marco Rubio's campaign log comes in and ask, 'Do you guys have room for one more?'

'Come on in! Group: Come on it! You can have Franks chair,' the meeting leader tells the man.

And because it is an ad that will air on television, to comply with federal laws, the candidate must come on and own the attack before it's all said and done.

'Im Ted Cruz and I approve this message,' he says.

The 'pretty face' slam on Rubio is reminiscent of a critique Christie slapped him with last week ahead of the New Hampshire primary.

'The problem is with someone like Marco Rubio who quite frankly has not proven he could get anything done except to get up in the morning...fix his hair, smile and give the same speech he's given for the last six years,' Christie said during an interview on Morning Joe.

And because it is an ad that will air on television, to comply with federal laws, the candidate must come on and own the attack before it's all said and done

The 'pretty face' slam on Rubio is reminiscent of a critique Chris Christie slapped him with last week. 'The problem is with someone like Marco Rubio who quite frankly has not proven he could get anything done except to get up in the morning...fix his hair, smile and give the same speech,' Christie said

Text under the video on Cruz's site reads expands the assault and says: 'Are there unresolved issues in your life because of politicians lying to you? Have you given up on being hopeful about America?

'Do you need to get some things off your chest about the 2016 election? You are not alone.'

In its statement on the ad Cruz's campaign said the aim was 'illustrating how Marco Rubio has betrayed the trust of the American people by breaking his campaign promise to fight amnesty.'

'Instead, once elected, Rubio worked closely with Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer and aggressively fought to pass the Gang of Eight amnesty bill in the Senate.'

Rubio and Cruz have sparred over immigration in GOP presidential debates and taken swipes at each other on the trail.

The Florida senator was part of a bipartisan group of eight senators, including New York Democrat Chuck Schumer, hat pushed a comprehensive immigration reform bill through the U.S. Senate that would have provided a pathway to citizenship for illegal residents of the United States.

It stalled in the House and never became law.
The Los Angeles Unified school board has passed a resolution that bars immigration agents from visiting its campuses to search for undocumented students.

Despite reassurance from federal agents that schools are safe havens, some families remain afraid to send their kids to school after ICE carried out a series of raids across the country last month in search of Central American immigrants who arrived in the country as unauthorized immigrants after Jan. 1, 2014.

The vitriol and hate that presently permeates the immigration debate, combined with a regrettable change in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement practices, made it necessary for the Board of Education to take a strong stand in solidarity with our families and our communities. Our message is simple and direct: our schools are safe, welcoming and embracing for all families, board President Steve Zimmer wrote in a prepared statement .

No one should be afraid to send their children to school, fill out all the necessary forms and fully participate in all school activities, Zimmer wrote. The Board of Education stands with our families in opposition to the raids and in support of humane immigration reform.

Board members approved the resolution Tuesday. L.A. Unified is just the latest district working to assure families that their children can attend school without the threat of deportation. Many of the students are English-language learners.

The San Francisco Unified school district released a statement in January assuring families that ICE officials wouldnt be allowed immediate access to campuses and any request for access would need to go through a thorough review process.

The L.A. Unified resolution instructs staff to bar federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from entering school campuses and prohibits them from providing them with student data without clearance.

Immigration agents who have any reason to be on campus can visit schools only after their requests have been cleared by the superintendent and district lawyers. The Los Angeles Times reports that the policy is largely a symbolic measure: immigration agents havent yet come to L.A. schools looking for students and an ICE spokesperson told the newspaper that the agency does not carry out raids in schools.

Although there were no raids in L.A. last month, residents are concerned because the city has a large Central American immigrant population, the Times reports.
A man who tried to sneak into mainland China from Hong Kong has been arrested by the Chinese border patrol.

Local officials found the man who is believed to come from south-east Asia on January 23 near a river in Shenzhen, according to Huanqiu.com, affiliated with the People's Daily Online reports.

According to reports, the man had been in the muddy water for around six hours.

Illegal entry: The man from southeast Asia was discovered on January 23 by border police

The unidentified man was discovered by police patrolling the Sham Chun River in Guangdong province

4 degrees temperatures: According to reports, the man would have been freezing as he attempted to cross

The man was discovered covered in mud by police close to Mangrove park in Shenzhen, a city in south China bordering Hong Kong. A small river separates the two cities.

According to reports, the temperature in the area on January 23 was just 4 degrees.

One officer who found him said: 'Illegal immigrants often choose bad weather to try and sneak into Shenzhen because they believe that border control won't be vigilant.

However this is not the case. The harsher the environment, the more vigilant we are'.

The man was later taken to an area where he could wash off the mud from his body and was later given a blanket.

Shenzhen lies on the border with Hong Kong and for people crossing into the Chinese mainland from Hong Kong, its their first point of entry.

Detained in Shenzhen: Border guards with the man they captured after he illegally entered China
A car owner in Chengdu, southwest China was arrested after they were spotted driving a vehicle with a licence plate that had been altered using correction fluid.

The owner changed the licence plate from 772 to 998, the People's Daily Online reports.

A local police officer described the incident as an 'insult to his intelligence'.

Cheeky: Police officers spotted this vehicle with its licence plate that was edited by the driver using white-out

Police arrested the driver after he tried to trick local officers.

In China, vehicles have to be checked every 15 years and if they fail a check, they could be sent to the scrap heap and have their number plates cancelled.

However there are some cases of people altering number plates or buying new ones in an attempt to keep their cars.

Police in Chengdu spotted the edit by the owner and according to local media, they have since been fined.

Chengdu police uploaded the images to their social media account on China's Twitter-like Weibo.

One user replied: ' It looks like the numbers were altered by a child.'

While another user named Ning Jing A commented: 'I feel like i've been insulted too'.

Chinese New Year is a peak time for police to catch traffic offences as everyone heads to their hometown to spend the festive period with their families.
One of China's last remaining 'comfort women', Huang Zhenmei, died at the age of 104 on Sunday.

Her funeral was held on February 10 at her home in Dabao village, Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous Region, in Hainan Province, where less than ten 'comfort women' survivors remain, reports the People's Daily Online.

Huang was one of an estimated 200,000 women and young girls in Asia who were kept as sex slaves to entertain Japanese soldiers during World War II.

Survivor: 104-year-old Huang Zhenmei died on February 7 at her home in Dabao village, south-east China

Farewell: Huang was one thousands of women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Army in WWII

Torture: 200,000 women from south-east Asia were kidnapped and sent to 'comfort stations' (file photo)

Huang had lived happily with her daughter and grandson before she died.

A stark contrast to the life she had when she was captured in Hainan by the Japanese army in March 1940.

Huang, along with thousands of other women were forced to be sex slaves and tortured in 'comfort stations' set up by the Japanese military in various places of occupied China during the war.

As fighting expanded into the south-east Asian region, thousands more women were sent to these stations.

The women and young girls held as Japanese sex slaves were from the Korean peninsula, China, the Philippines and Indonesia, it is estimated that 200,000 were sexually enslaved.

In 1941, Huang managed to escape the station and was eventually reunited with her family.

Chen Houzhi, an expert and researcher of Chinese 'comfort woman' in Hainan said all her life Huang was a very hard-working woman.

She kept washing clothes, farming and cooking for herself until very recent years.

But as she aged, her health deteriorated and she had problems with her legs, waist and head. A lot of the time, she didn't leave her house.

Strong: Huang lived a happy life at her home in Hainan province with her a daughter and grandson

A crying 'comfort woman' from WWII (left file photo). A 'comfort woman' museum opened last year in Nanjing, Chinese soldiers attend the opening ceremony (right file photo)

Remembered: Huang was buried this week by friends and family who have always known her as a survivor

'Most of the 'comfort women' tortured by the Japanese armies are troubled by different illnesses and lead a hard life at old ages,' said Chen.

'At the moment, there are less than ten 'comfort women' survivors in the Lingshui Li Autonomous Region and Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous Region,' he added.

Ever since the war ended there has been an ongoing row over how these 'comfort women' were treated, causing a stalemate between japan and its neighbouring countries, particularly South Korea and China.

The issue has led to numerous apologies from Japan, but many South Koreans and Chinese insist they remained doubtful after recent actions of the country's leaders, such as paying homage to the notorious Yasukuni war shrine in Tokyo in Ocober 2015.

Japan's most recent apology over the 'comfort women' issue came on December 28 2015.

The country's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed the 'most sincere apology and remorse' to Korean women for the war-time travesty.

He also pledged more than $8 million (5.4million) to compensate the remaining victims, now in their 80s and 90s.

His apology was criticised in China, according to a report in China Daily, many people found it 'shameless and backtracking.'

'This is not because Japan wanted to come to terms with the past, or responsibilities for that sin, but because it wanted the Republic of Korea's cooperation in addressing its regional concerns,' it said.

File photo shows women who were forced to serve as sex slaves for Japanese troops being transported

Lucky escape: In 1941, Huang managed to run away from her kidnappers and was reunited with her family

The director of 'Comfort Women' Research Centre at Shanghai Normal University, Su Zhiliang, said right now there are just over 20 survivors in China.

A UPI.com report said the vast number of abducted Chinese women, many of them young girls, 'died due to disease and abuse, but about two dozen have survived into old age.'

Some of the survivors in China filed claims for reparations from Japan in the past with the help of activists, but none of the lawsuits filed in japan have succeeded.

Chinese courts have refused to take comfort women cases because the defendant is the Japanese state, tense relations between the two countries in recent years have not helped the case.

As well as the estimated 200,000 south-east Asian women sent to the Japanese brothels, Chinese scholars estimate that another 200,000 Chinese women were kidnapped in occupied China.

Although there are only a few survivors left to tell their story, the memory of China's 'comfort women' still lives on.

On December 2 2015, the city of Nanjing in east China unveiled a new memorial museum dedicated to the 'comfort women' that were kept by the Japanese army during WWII.
A three-year-old girl had a chopstick lodged into her skull when she accidentally fell onto it whilst playing.

Shi Shi, from the city of Hanzhong in central China's Shaanxi Province, was at home with her parents when the eating utensil pierced through her mouth, reports the People's Daily Online.

The incident happened at 8pm on February 10, her family immediately rushed her to hospital, but she saw four different emergency rooms before it was finally removed eight hours later.

Ouch: Shi Shi was playing at home when she fell onto the ten inch chopstick that pierced through her mouth

CT scan: Doctors found about two inches of the chopstick had stuck into her face and brain on February 10

Speaking to reporters about the terrifying incident, her father said: 'She was probably holding the chopstick while playing and fell by accident. When we picked her up, the chopstick was already stuck in her mouth.'

'There was no blood but she just kept crying,' he said.

After Shi Shi was taken to the local hospital in her home town, her family were told to take her to the county hospital, then to the city hospital in Hanzhong.

Finally they were sent to the Xi'an Paediatric Hospital, they didn't arrive there until 3.30am the next day.

Doctor Mi Weiyang at the Xi'an Paediatric Hospital said: 'The child's facial expression was really painful and she could not react to things quickly.'

Near miss: After scans doctors said if the chopstick went any deeper it could have caused brain damage

Lucky escape: Shi Shi's father (left) with a doctor at the hospital in Xian after the chopstick was removed

A CT scan showed that the chopstick pierced through the right corner of Shi Shi's mouth and into her skull.

Doctor Shi Yuhang said: '[We] found out the chopstick was about ten inches long and just over two inches of it had stuck into her face and brain.'

The chopstick had also caused a bone fracture and minor bleeding.

Doctor Shi added: '[We] thought the position of the chopstick was dangerous, but luckily it didn't injure the major nerves and blood vessels in her skull.

'We removed it in the CT room.'

Doctors said if the chopstick had gone any deeper it could have led to sudden death.
One digital heart is paving the way for the future of medicine.

A French software company called Dassault Systemes is working to create digital twins, digitally replicated organs that could make medical diagnoses and treatments much less invasive.

By scanning a patients organs doctors could test the success or failures of hypothetical treatments without affecting the patient, the firm says.

One digital heart is paving the way for the future of medicine. A French software company called Dassault Systemes is working to create digital twins, digitally replicated organs that could make medical diagnoses and treatments much less invasive

DASSAULT'S 'LIVING HEART' To create 'The Living Heart,' the Dassault team had to work with outside researchers and organization to obtain the necessary data. The average heart beats 100,000 times per day, driving the equivalent of 7,000 litres of blood, Slate explains. Its small, inner workings are extremely complex. The heart took two years to build, combining 208,561 digital tetrahedrons, each containing individual electrical and muscular properties. And, these properties can be manipulated to match the conditions found in an individual patient. Experiments have shown that the digital replica acts just like a real heart. Advertisement

But, some have argued that a system like this cannot capture the complexity of certain organs, and would fall short of embodying the many conditions present in an individual.

Dassault has been in the business of 3-D digital twins for 35 years, writes Slate, but the move toward human applications began in 2013.

The company creates digital replicas of bridges, buildings, automobiles, and other objects to see how they behave under extreme conditions.

A digital twin of a real car can help to determine what will happen during a head-on collision, and a twin of a building can reveal the effects of an earthquake.

Now, Dassault is looking to apply these same techniques to the medical field.

By scanning an individual organ and creating a model from it, doctors can assess, manipulate, and even probe the twin, to formulate feasible treatments for the patient.

If the data is stored on a universal platform, which Slate points out would itself be a difficult endeavour, each person could have a digital map of their internal makeup.

This would create a highly personalized diagnostic system.

Over time, [my medical] record could be a digital twin of me, Steve Levine, chief strategy officer for Dassaults Simulia division, tells Slate.

Creating The Living Heart, (which is not living at all), was a move spurred by personal investment, Slate explains.

Levines daughter was born with reversed chambers in her heart  the left is where the right should be, and the right where the left should be.

By scanning an individual organ and creating a model from it, doctors can assess, manipulate, and even probe the twin, to formulate feasible treatments for the patient. If the data is stored on a universal platform, each person could have a digital map of their internal makeup

As treatments proved difficult over the years, due to a lack of data, Levine tells Slate that he decided to create the data himself, using the digital methods of Simulia.

The living heart took two years to build, combining 208,561 digital tetrahedrons, each containing individual electrical and muscular properties.

And, these properties can be manipulated to match the conditions found in an individual patient.

The system is complex, but according to Slate, experiments have shown that it acts just like a real heart.

Still, the implications of digital twins are heavy, and their usage could mean a patients life potentially rests on the success of such technology.

As development progresses, the researchers will need to build more organs, and work with care facilities, software companies, and government organizations to obtain the necessary data.

Any 3-D model is only as good as the data itself, Alexandra Golby, the director of image-guided neurosurgery at Brigham and Womens Hospital told Slate.

Dassault isnt the only company to have considered this idea, and earlier attempts have failed to achieve the complexity of organs.

To ensure that future simulations are as safe as can be, Dassault has paired up with the Food and Drug Administration, in a five-year partnership.

Making this concept a reality would require expansive collaboration across medical and governmental facilities, and doctors would have to be trained in the use of digital twins, if the models can even be produced.
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Scientists have spotted gravitational waves in a historic discovery hailed as 'the biggest scientific breakthrough of the century'.

For the first time, researchers have detected the warping of space-time caused by a collision of two massive black holes - something first predicted in Einstein's Theory of General Relativity in 1915.

These gravitational waves, created 1.3 billion light-years from Earth, help confirm that our universe was created by the Big Bang, and will give an unprecedented glimpse into its beginning.

'Ladies and gentlemen, we have detected gravitational waves. We did it,' said California Institute of Technology physicist David Reitze, triggering applause at a packed news conference in Washington that followed weeks of speculation over the announcement.

Scroll down for video and to hear the sound of two black holes colliding

For the first time, scientists in the Ligo Scientific Collaboration have directly observed the ripples of gravitational waves. Using the world's most sophisticated detector, the project scientists listened for 20 thousandths of a second as the two giant black holes, one 35 times the mass of the sun, the other slightly smaller, circled around each other. Pictured, an artist's impressions of the waves

WHAT ARE GRAVITATIONAL WAVES

Scientists view the the universe as being made up of a 'fabric of space-time'. This corresponds to Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, published in 1916. Objects in the universe bend this fabric, and more massive objects bend it more. Gravitational waves are considered ripples in this fabric. They can be produced, for instance, when black holes orbit each other or by the merging of galaxies. Gravitational waves are also thought to have been produced during the Big Bang. If found, they would not only confirm the Big Bang theory but also offer insights into fundamental physics. For instance, they could shed light on the idea that, at one point, most or all of the forces of nature were combined into a single force. In March 2014, a team operating the Bicep2 telescope, based near the South Pole, believed they had found gravitational waves, but their results were proven to be inaccurate. Advertisement

Professor Stephen Hawking said the detection marked a moment in scientific history.

'Gravitational waves provide a completely new way at looking at the universe,' he told the BBC. 'The ability to detect them has the potential to revolutionise astronomy.

'This discovery is the first detection of a black hole binary system and the first observation of black holes merging.'

The gravitational wave found in this study is believed to be the product of a collision between two massive black holes, 1.3 billion light years away  a remarkably extreme event that has not been observed until now.

'The colliding black holes that produced these gravitational waves created a violent storm in the fabric of space and time, a storm in which time speeded up, and slowed down, and speeded up again, a storm in which the shape of space was bent in this way and that way,' Caltech physicist Kip Thorne said.

Based on the physics of this particular event, LIGO scientists estimate that the two black holes in this event were about 29 and 36 times the mass of the sun, and that the event took place 1.3 billion years ago.

About three times the mass of the sun was converted into gravitational waves in a fraction of a second - with a peak power output about 50 times that of the whole visible universe. LIGO observed these gravitational waves.

The researchers detected the signal with two Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatories (LIGO) in Louisiana and Washington.

These are twin detectors carefully constructed to detect incredibly tiny vibrations from passing gravitational waves.

Once the researchers spotted a gravitational signal, they converted it into audio waves and listened to the sound of two black holes spiraling together, then merging into a larger single black hole.

'We're actually hearing them go thump in the night,' says Matthew Evans, an assistant professor of physics at MIT.

'We're getting a signal which arrives at Earth, and we can put it on a speaker, and we can hear these black holes go, 'Whoop.'

'There's a very visceral connection to this observation.

'You're really listening to these things which before were somehow fantastic.'

The team were also able to trace the final milliseconds before the black holes collided.

They determined that the black holes, 30 times as massive as our sun, circled each other at close to the speed of light before fusing in a collision.

Scientists said gravitational waves open a door for a new way to observe the universe and gain knowledge about enigmatic objects like black holes and neutron stars. Shown here, is the silhouette of a scientist against a visualisation of gravitational waves pictured during a press conference by the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics at the Leibniz University in Hanover following weeks of speculation

How our sun and Earth warp space and time, or spacetime, is represented here with a green grid. As Albert Einstein demonstrated in his theory of general relativity, the gravity of massive bodies warps the fabric of space and time, and those bodies move along paths determined by this geometry

According to General Relativity, a pair of black holes orbiting around each other lose energy through the emission of gravitational waves, causing them to gradually approach each other over billions of years, and then much more quickly in the final minutes.

During the final fraction of a second, the two black holes collide into each other at nearly one-half the speed of light and form a single more massive black hole, converting a portion of the combined black holes' mass to energy according to Einstein's formula E=mc2.

This energy is emitted as a final strong burst of gravitational radiation.

'Most of that energy is released in just a few tenths of a second,' says Peter Fritschel, LIGO's chief detector scientist and a senior research scientist at MIT's Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research.

Ripples in space-time were first predicted by Albert Einstein a century ago. Pictured is the original historical documents related to Einstein's prediction of the existence of gravitational waves, shown at the Hebrew university in Jerusalem

The scientists said they first detected a gravitational wave on September 14. In this image, student Muzi Li at the Institute of Gravitational Research at Glasgow University holds a phone that shows a computer simulation of gravity waves

'For a very short amount of time, the actual power in gravitational waves was higher than all the light in the visible universe.'

These waves then rippled through the universe, effectively warping the fabric of space-time, before passing through Earth more than a billion years later as faint traces of their former, violent origins.

'We are really witnessing the opening of a new tool for doing astronomy,' MIT astrophysicist Nergis Mavalvala said in an interview.

'We have turned on a new sense. We have been able to see and now we will be able to hear as well.'

Scientists sounded positively giddy over the discovery.

'This is the holy grail of science,' said Rochester Institute of Technology astrophysicist Carlos Lousto. 'The last time anything like this happened was in 1888 when Heinrich Hertz detected the radio waves that had been predicted by James Clerk Maxwell's field-equations of electromagnetism in 1865,' added Durham University physicist Tom McLeish.

An artist's impression of gravitational waves generated by binary neutron stars released by the team. By studying gravitational waves scientists hope to gain insight into the nature of the very early universe, which has remained mysterious

'It is really a truly, truly exciting event,' said Abhay Ashtekar, director of Penn State University's Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos.

'It opens a brand new window on the universe.'

Ashtekar said heavy celestial objects bend space and time but because of the relative weakness of the gravitational force the effect is miniscule except from massive and dense bodies like black holes and neutron stars.

He said that when these objects collide, they send out ripples in the curvature of space and time that propagate as gravitational waves.

A black hole, a region of space so packed with matter that not even photons of light can escape the force of gravity, was detected for the first time in 1971.

Neutron stars are small, about the size of a city, but are extremely heavy, the compact remains of a larger star that died in a supernova explosion.

Professor Philipp Podsiadlowski of Oxford's Department of Physics, a co-author of the paper, said: 'The detection of gravitational waves is one of the most important discoveries in astrophysics in the past 50 years and the most important in physics since the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012.

WHAT IS THE THEORY OF RELATIVITY? Gravitational waves were predicted under Albert Einstein's (pictured) General Theory of Relativity in 1916, but have since remained elusive In 1905, Albert Einstein determined that the laws of physics are the same for all non-accelerating observers, and that the speed of light in a vacuum was independent of the motion of all observers - known as the theory of special relativity. This groundbreaking work introduced a new framework for all of physics, and proposed new concepts of space and time. He then spent 10 years trying to include acceleration in the theory, finally publishing his theory of general relativity in 1915. This determined that massive objects cause a distortion in space-time, which is felt as gravity. At its simplest, it can be thought of as a giant rubber sheet with a bowling ball in the centre. As the ball warps the sheet, a planet bends the fabric of space-time, creating the force that we feel as gravity. Any object that comes near to the body falls towards it because of the effect. Einstein predicted that if two massive bodies came together it would create such a huge ripple in space time that it should be detectable on Earth. It was most recently demonstrated in the hit film film Interstellar. In a segment that saw the crew visit a planet which fell within the gravitational grasp of a huge black hole, the event caused time to slow down massively. Crew members on the planet barely aged while those on the ship were decades older on their return. The theory was most recently demonstrated in the hit film film Interstellar, in a segment that saw the crew visit a planet which fell within the gravitational grasp of a huge black hole, causing time to slow down massively, so crew members on the planet barely aged while those on the ship were decades older on their return Advertisement

Listen to the sound of the collision in this video

A small statue of Albert Einstein (left) is seen at the Einstein Archives of the Hebrew University as they present the original 100 years old documents of Einstein's prediction of the existence of gravitational waves. On the right is Head of Einstein Archives Dr Roni Gross, holding up the original documents written by the physicist

Gravitational waves are invisible ripples in the fabric of space and time caused by the movement of dense objects, like black holes. These waves spread out across the universe but have never been seen by scientists before now

'It tests physics at the most fundamental level and provides the ultimate proof of the existence of black holes.'

'It's a spectacular signal,' says Rainer Weiss, a professor emeritus of physics at MIT.

'It's a signal many of us have wanted to observe since the time LIGO was proposed.

'It shows the dynamics of objects in the strongest gravitational fields imaginable, a domain where Newton's gravity doesn't work at all, and one needs the fully non-linear Einstein field equations to explain the phenomena.

Part of the experiment: this image shows gravitational waves as researchers saw them in the lab

'The triumph is that the waveform we measure is very well-represented by solutions of these equations. Einstein is right in a regime where his theory has never been tested before.'

The first evidence for gravitational waves came in 1974, when physicists Russell Hulse and Joseph Taylor discovered a pair of neutron stars, 21,000 light years from Earth, that seemed to behave in a curious pattern.

They deduced that the stars were orbiting each other in such a way that they must be losing energy in the form of gravitational waves  a detection that earned the researchers the Nobel Prize in physics in 1993.

Now LIGO has made the first direct observation of gravitational waves with an instrument on Earth.

This computer simulation shows the warping of space and time around two colliding black holes, pictured are the spheres at the top of this image. The colored surface is space represented as a two-dimensional sheet. The funnel-shaped warping is produced by black hole's mass. Colors near the black holes depict the rate which time flows: green, normal; yellow, slowed by 20 or 30 percent; red, hugely slowed

HOW THE HISTORIC EXPERIMENT WORKED The gravitational waves were detected on Sept. 14, 2015, at 4:51 a.m. CDT by both of the twin Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory, or LIGO, detectors, located in Livingston, La., and Hanford, Wash. The LIGO Observatories are funded by the National Science Foundation, or NSF, and were conceived, built and are operated by Caltech and MIT. The near simultaneous detection was necessary to confirm that the event was real, and indicated based on the relative time of arrival of the signals traveling at the speed of light, that the source was located in the southern hemisphere sky. A bird's eye view of Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) Hanford laboratory's laser and vacuum equipment area (LVEA) which houses the pre-stabilized laser, beam splitter, input test masses, and other equipment An aerial view of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) Hanford lab detector site near Hanford, Washington The LIGO detectors are interferometers that shine a laser through a vacuum down two arms in the shape of an L that are each 4 kilometers in length. The light from the laser bounces back and forth between mirrors on each end of the L. Scientists measure the length of both arms using the light. If there's a disturbance in space-time, such as a gravitational wave, the time the light takes to travel 4 kilometers will be slightly different in each arm making one arm look longer than the other. LIGO scientists measure the interference in the two beams of light when they come back to meet, which reveals information on the space-time disturbance. A LIGO technician performs a Large optic inspection . The twin detectors, a system of two identical detectors constructed to detect incredibly tiny vibrations from passing gravitational waves, are located in Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington. One of Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) masses installed as the 4th element in a 4-element suspension system The discovery was made possible by the enhanced capabilities of Advanced LIGO, a major upgrade that increases the sensitivity of the instruments compared to the first-generation LIGO detectors, enabling a large increase in the volume of the universe probed  and the discovery of gravitational waves during its first observational run. Advertisement

The researchers detected the gravitational waves on September 14, 2015, at 5:51 a.m. EDT, using the twin LIGO interferometers, located in Livingston, Louisiana and Hanford, Washington.

Each L-shaped interferometer spans 4 kilometers in length and uses laser light split into two beams that travel back and forth through each arm, bouncing between precisely configured mirrors.

Each beam monitors the distance between these mirrors, which, according to Einstein's theory, will change infinitesimally when a gravitational wave passes by the instrument.

'You can almost visualize it as if you dropped a rock on the surface of a pond, and the ripple goes out,' says Nergis Malvalvala, the Curtis and Kathleen Marble Professor of Astrophysics at MIT.

'[It's] something that distorts the space time around it, and that distortion propagates outward and reaches us on Earth, hundreds of millions of light years later.'

Last March, researchers completed major upgrades to the interferometers, known as Advanced LIGO, increasing the instruments' sensitivity and enabling them to detect a change in the length of each arm, smaller than one-ten-thousandth the diameter of a proton. By September, they were ready to start observing with them.

'The effect we're measuring on Earth is equivalent to measuring the distance to the closest star, Alpha Centauri, to within a few microns,' Evans says. 'It's a very tough measurement to make. Einstein expected this to never have been pulled off.'

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE UNIVERSE? Scientists said gravitational waves open a door for a new way to observe the universe and gain knowledge about enigmatic objects like black holes and neutron stars. By studying gravitational waves they also hope to gain insight into the nature of the very early universe, which has remained mysterious. Everything we know about the cosmos stems from electromagnetic waves such as radio waves, visible light, infrared light, X-rays and gamma rays. But because such waves encounter interference as they travel across the universe, they can tell only part of the story. Gravitational waves experience no such barriers, meaning they can offer a wealth of additional information. Black holes, for example, do not emit light, radio waves and the like, but can be studied via gravitational waves. Being able to detect gravitational waves will help astronomers probe the 'dark Universe'. The team were also able to trace the final milliseconds before the black holes collided (artist's impression pictured) Being able to detect gravitational waves will help astronomers probe the 'dark Universe'. This is the name given to the large part of the cosmos that is invisible to the light telescopes. They will be able to look deeper into the universe, which means we could better understand the history of the customer. As as result, researchers will be able to investigate black holes and neutron stars. The discovery will also help scientists confirm whether gravitational waves really do travel at the speed of light, as predicted. It will help scientists understand how fast the universe is expanding and what exactly makes stars explode. 'LIGO is just in the beginning with gravitational waves. Over the next decade or two we will have four gravitational windows open looking at the universe,' sad Kip Thorne, Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics at Caltech.' Advertisement

The researchers detected the gravitational waves on September 14, 2015, at 5:51 a.m. EDT, using the twin LIGO interferometers, located in Livingston, Louisiana and Hanford, Washington

Nevertheless, a signal came through. Using Einstein's equations, the team analyzed the signal and determined that it originated from a collision between two massive black holes.

'We thought it was going to be a huge challenge to prove to ourselves and others that the first few signals that we saw were not just flukes and random noise,' says David Shoemaker, director of the MIT LIGO Laboratory.

'But nature was just unbelievably kind in delivering to us a signal that's very large, extremely easy to understand, and absolutely, magnificently in alignment with Einstein's theory.'

For LIGO's hundreds of scientists, this new detection of gravitational waves marks not only a culmination of a decades-long search, but also the beginning of a new way to look at the universe.

'This really opens up a whole new area for astrophysics,' Evans says.

'We always look to the sky with telescopes and look for electromagnetic radiation like light, radio waves, or X-rays.

'Now gravitational waves are a completely new way in which we can get to know the universe around us.'
It has been a guiding principal for the computer industry for decades, but it seems Moore's Law is becoming obsolete.

The law, which predicts that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit will double every two years, is no longer achievable according to experts.

The semiconductor industry, which has used the observation made by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore as its target development in recent decades, is now set to abandon the approach.

The semiconductor industry is next month expected to abandon Moore's Law as its guiding principal for the first time as it struggles to keep up with the pace of development needed to cram twice as many transistors onto a chip (pictured) with every two years. Instead it will aim to develop chips that are 'application appropriate'

It is expected to lay out a new industry road map next month that will, for the first time, feature a research and development programme not centred on Moore's law.

The move is thought to be a reflection that companies are struggling to keep up with the pace of innovation required to cram ever more transistors onto a finite space.

WHAT IS MOORE'S LAW? In 1965 Gordon Moore, the co-founder of microchip giant Intel, described how the number of components on an integrated circuit was doubling every year. He projected this growth rate would continue for at least another decade before in 1975 he revised the forecast to a doubling every two years. His prediction has proved accurate, partly because the semiconductor industry has adopted it as a target for future research and development. By 2012 the size of a single integrate circuit had fallen to 22 nanometres. However, as transistors have decreased in size, manufacturers have been faced with a growing battle against issues such as heat that can reduce the efficiency of a chip. In 2015, Intel confirmed the pace of advancement had slowed with the doubling rate now occurring once every two and a half years. The company also announced it was working on chips that feature circuits just 7 nanometres in size. But many expect transistors to reach a fundamental limit as they begin to reach atomic and quantum levels of size. Advertisement

Among the most limiting issues has been the heat generated as more and more circuitry is jammed onto a silicon chip.

While some companies have attempted to overcome this with new approaches like integrating microscopic channels to circulate water through the chip, progress has been slow.

Other problems like the quirky way particles behave on the extremely small quantum scale will also start to become a growing problem as circuits continue to decrease in size.

According to the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors, the industry body that sets out the direction it will take, is holding its final meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, this week as it prepares to lay out its plans for between 2015 and 2030.

It has said it must 'define new drivers to help it stay on a path of productivity and profitability'.

A meeting of the organisation next month will 'for the first time drive a top-down system-driven roadmap framework'.

This will follow an approach that is being called More than Moore  which will aim to develop chips appropriate for applications like smartphones and supercomputers rather than simply trying to aggressively improve performance and meet cost requirements.

A paper published on the ITRS website said: 'Historically, the ITRS has used metrics such as transistor density, number of cores, power, etc, to roadmap technology evolution of integrated circuits.

'These metrics are essentially driven by the physical-dimension scaling as predicted by Moore's Law.

'However, new requirements from applications such as mobility, datacenters, etc require a new, system-level roadmapping approach, as these applications imply roadmaps for system-level metrics.'

Gordon Moore (pictured) made his prediction that became dubbed as Moore's Law in 1965, four years after the first integrated circuit was invented. After decades of being accurate, the industry is now preparing to abandon it for the first time and take a different approach to semiconductor development

However, according to the journal Nature, this approach could also result in an end to the industry's tradition of working together to meet Moore's Law.

Daniel Reed, a computer scientist and vice president for research at the University of Iowa, told the journal: 'Everybody is struggling with what the road map actually means.'

However, the new approach could lead to innovations that are more appropriate to the way people are now using computers.

The increase in mobile technology requires chips that are compact yet also highly energy efficient.

Moore's Law predicts that the number of transistors on a chip will double ever two years. This has proven accurate for the past few decades (illustrated above) but it is now slowing down

The growth in the Internet of Things, which aims to connect appliances in the home, will also require very different set of microchips.

Dr Reed compares the future of the microchip to the airline industry, where rather than getting faster, passenger jets made use of new materials to make flying cheaper and more comfortable.

He said: 'Think about what happened to airplanes. A Boeing 787 doesn't go any faster than a 707 did in the 1950s - but they are very different airplanes.
Practice could one day lead to the loss of regional dialects

This means they lose accent features and use standardised English

Expert said some people adopt a 'machine voice' to be understood

From repeating unusual requests to speaking slower, many of us have will know the frustration of using digital assistants. But for some, the situation is much more dire.

There is anecdotal evidence that people with strong accents who use regional words are having to change how they speak almost entirely to be understood by Apple's Siri.

This could potentially lead to the demise of dialects and adoption of a standardised, Siri-friendly voice.

Apple has refined Siri (pictured) since it was launched in October 2011, but with people adopting blander accents to be understood it may not have to update its digital assistant to better understand dialects. As people talk to machines and adopt 'machine voices' to be understood, there's a risk accents will be replaced

While Siri is able to pick out individual words when addressed in a Texan drawl, the iPhone's digital assistant isn't always very helpful, Tom Dart reported for The Guardian.

For example, Siri replied to the heavily accented question, 'We're fix'in to eat brisket, where should we go?' with a list of restaurants - but not all of them served Texas barbeque.

Lars Hinrichs, a sociologist from the University of Texas at Austin, said: 'I've had a bunch of people from Australia and India say they only really get along with Siri if they fake an American accent.'

Apple has refined Siri since it was launched in October 2011, but with people adopting blander accents to be understood, it may not have to update its digital assistant to better understand regional dialects.

Alan Black, of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, said people tend to adopt a machine voice for addressing Siri and other similar systems, because they speak to them differently to how they speak to people, by moving into a different register, for example.

He added that Siri may be designed to be polite and helpful, rather than friendly, to subtly manipulate users into speaking more clearly, instead of colloquially.

As current users and younger generations talk to more machines and adopt 'machine voices' to be understood, there's a risk accents like the Texas twang could be replaced with more standardised accents.

And this may already be happening, perhaps also helped by the use of standardised English on TV.

There is anecdotal evidence that people with strong accents who use regional words, such as people from Texas (stock image) are having to change how they speak almost entirely to be understood by Apple's Siri. This could potentially lead to the demise of dialects and adoption of a standardised, Siri-friendly voice

Dr Black believes digital assistants will use more colloquial language in the future. Last month Google taught its app to understand and use Australian slang. Screenshots are shown above

Dr Hinrichs said: 'The way young people in Dallas or Houston speak nowadays is a lot closer to a regional common denominator accent than to what it was 50 years ago.'

He attributed the change in accent and loss of regional vocabulary such as 'doggone it' to people being more mobile and connected with the world.

Dr Black believes digital assistants will use more colloquial language in the future, and Google last month taught its app to understand and use Australian slang.

The 'true blue' voice can reply to users in the Google app when it's asked something like 'what is a drop bear' or when they are receiving directions in Google Maps to a uniquely Australian town like Mullumbimby.

But not only that, the upgraded app is capable of understanding native slang like 'Maccas', 'servo', 'arvo' and 'Woolies' - all of which would have been lost on the original American-style voice response service.

Users can now send a message to a mate to ask if 'we are on for footy this arvo' or to query the weather conditions in 'Brissy', a common nickname for the Queensland capital of Brisbane.
This is because Neanderthals interbred with ancestors 50,000 years ago

DNA passed down from Neanderthals revealed strong links with a range of traits and conditions, including risk of nicotine addiction and

Outsmarted and, ultimately, even wiped out by modern man, Neanderthals may have got their revenge.

Genes passed onto to us from our ancient cousins are linked with a host of habits and health conditions, research has shown.

Everything from nicotine addiction and depression, to obesity and the risk of suffering a heart attack can be traced back to the ancient DNA.

Even the callouses on a person's hands may bear the fingerprints of Neanderthal man.

Genes passed onto to us from our ancient cousins, the Neanderthals, (a model is pictured above) are linked with a host of habits and health conditions, research has shown

In other words, if you can't stop smoking or shift those last few pounds, or are simply feeling blue, you can blame your inner caveman.

Between one and six per cent of the DNA carried by people from Europe, and much of Asia, has been inherited from Neanderthals or their ancient early human cousins the Denisovans.

Indeed, people in East Asia carry up to 15 to 30 per cent more of this prehistoric early human DNA than Europeans.

This has helped to confirm theories by anthropologists that our own species - Homo sapiens - interbred with these rival species as they spread out of Africa from around 60,000 years ago.

Researchers from Vanderbilt University compared the genes of 28,000 people with information from their health records. Zeroing in on sections of DNA known to have been passed down from Neanderthals revealed strong links with a range of conditions, including risk of nicotine addiction and obesity (illustrated)

If you can't stop smoking (illustrated with a stock image, left) or shift those last few pounds (a stock image of an obese woman, right) or are simply feeling blue, you can blame your inner caveman

While researchers first identified these archaic human genes hidden within our DNA in 2010, the function they serve is only now truly being unravelled.

Researcher John Capra from the Vanderbilt University said: 'Over the past ten years or so, there's been a revolution in our ability to read DNA from ancient fossils and this has revealed some amazing things about recent human evolutionary history.

NEANDERTHAL GENES AND DISEASE Zeroing in on sections of DNA known to have been passed down from Neanderthals revealed strong links with a range of traits. These include: Actinic keratosis: Neanderthal DNA affects cells called keratinocytes that help protect the skin from environmental damage such as ultraviolet radiation and pathogens. Addiction: The study found a link between the genes inherited from Neanderthals increases the risk of nicotine addiction. Depression: Researchers found a number of variants that influence the risk for depression: some positively and some negatively. Malnutrition: People with a number of Neanderthal genes are more likely to be obese. Urinary tract disorders: Incontinence and bladder infections are influenced by Neanderthal genes. Hypercoagulation: One of the most important finds was that a section of Neanderthal DNA makes blood clot extra quickly. Tens of thousands of years ago, having blood that clotted well would have been an advantage because it would have wounds headed rapidly. But today, extra-sticky blood raises the odds of heart attacks and strokes. Advertisement

'One of the most striking is that our ancestors interbred with Neanderthals about 50,000 years ago and there is still a remnant of that interbreeding in many modern humans living today.'

To find out what this ancient DNA does today, Dr Capra compared the genes of 28,000 people with information from their health records.

Zeroing in on sections of DNA known to have been passed down from Neanderthals revealed strong links with a range of traits and conditions, including risk of nicotine addiction and obesity.

Genetic material inherited from the short, stocky cavemen significantly also affects whether the skin develops scaly patches from sun damage and ageing, as well as whether someone is prone to corns and callouses.

One of the most important finds was that a section of Neanderthal DNA makes blood clot extra quickly.

Tens of thousands of years ago, having blood that clotted well would have been an advantage because it would have meant that any wounds were rapidly sealed up, preventing blood loss and keeping out infections.

But today, extra-sticky blood raises the odds of heart attacks and strokes.

Neanderthal DNA is additionally linked to depression - with some ancient genes raising the risk of the condition and others developing.

Even incontinence and bladder infections can be traced back to the Neanderthals, the journal Science reports.

The overall effect is 'subtle but significant' and learning more about the roots of modern ailments could lead to new ways of treating and preventing illness, the American Association for the Advancement of Science's annual conference in Washington DC heard.

Dr Capra's analysis builds on a groundbreaking study from 2010 which showed that we have rather a lot in common with Neanderthals, with up to four per cent of the DNA in modern Asians and Europeans coming from our closest relative.

Neanderthals (skull pictured) are emerging as being key in the evolution of modern humans, contributing up to six per cent of the DNA of people living in Europe and parts of Asia. These prehistoric human relatives were thought to have been a evolutionary dead end, but some of their genetic legacy persists in people living today

Researchers in Germany recently identified three distinct genetic variations from Neanderthals that play a role in allergies. In the map (pictured), orange and green segments are proportional to number of people in each population with these Neanderthal and Denisovan genes

ARE NEANDERTHALS TO BLAME FOR OUR MODERN DISEASES? Neanderthals and modern humans are thought to have co-existed for thousands of years and interbred, meaning Europeans now have roughly two per cent Neanderthal DNA. These 'legacy' genes have been linked to an increased risk from cancer and diabetes by new studies looking at our evolutionary history. However, some genes we inherited could have also improved our immunity to other diseases. Scientists have found that part of our HLA system, which helps white blood cells to identify and destroy foreign material in the body, could have come from Neanderthals. Other researchers suggest humans outside Africa are more vulnerable to Type 2 Diabetes because they interbred with Neanderthals. Researchers from Oxford and Plymouth universities have also found that genes thought to be risk factors in cancer were present in the Neanderthal genome. A gene that can cause diabetes in Latin Americans is believed to have come from Neanderthals, long before their ancestors colonised the New World. Another recent genetic study by scientists at the University at Buffalo has suggested that Neanderthals may have suffered from psoriasis and Crohn's disease, a condition that affects the digestive system. Advertisement

It is thought the interbreeding occurred around 50,000 years ago, after modern humans left Africa and joined Neanderthals in Europe and Asia.

The two lived alongside each other for thousands of years, before Neanderthals became extinct around 30,000 years ago, likely because they were outwitted by the newcomers' superior intellect.

It also expands on research published in January that found the genes inherited by modern humans from Neanderthals play a key role in our immune system.

While these genetic variations have increased the ability of those who have them to ward off infection, they have also left large numbers of people more prone to allergies.

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, identified three distinct genetic variations from Neanderthals that play a role in allergies.

These genes produce proteins known as Toll-like receptors, which are an important part of the innate immune system that provides the first line of defence against infections.

However, faults in this immune response also lead to allergies as immune cells react to non-harmful substances such as pollen, food, dust or animal hair.

The researchers said three Neanderthals genes which produce proteins called TLR 6, TLR1 and TLR10 all seem to be associated with, and increase, allergic disease in large numbers of people.

Separate research recently suggested that rather than wiping out Neanderthals by outcompeting with them, it may actually have been infectious diseases carried by our modern ancestors as they migrated out of Africa that finished them off.

Neanderthal genes produce proteins known as Toll-like receptors, which are an important part of the immune system that provides the first line of defence against infections. However, faults in this immune response also lead to allergies as immune cells react to non-harmful substances such as pollen, food, dust or animal hair

Scientists studying the genetic, fossil and archaeological evidence claimed in April last year that Neanderthals suffered from a wide range of diseases that still plague us today.

They found evidence that suggests our prehistoric cousins would have been infected by diseases such as tuberculosis, typhoid, whooping cough, encephalitis and the common cold.
If such research is approved it could help patients waiting for transplants

Hopes that personalised human organs could be grown in farm animals have taken a step forward after the British government published its first guidelines for such research.

The guidance is aimed at providing a framework for regulating the emerging technology on creating hybrids that combines human genetic information or tissue with animals.

Scientists have been seeking to perform the controversial experiments to create new supplies of organs for transplantation and to study human diseases.

New guidelines published by the Home Office could allow scientists to apply for a licence to grow human organs inside farm animals like pigs (stock image pictured). While such human-animal embryos have been legal for some time, the regulatory framework has been unclear

But until now there has been no clear guidance on how such research should be regulated in the United Kingdom.

While the practice of creating chimeras and hybrid embyros has been legal in the UK since 2007, there are now efforts to grow human organs in animals using genetic modification technology.

HUMAN ORGANS IN FARM ANIMALS While the idea of using organs from animals such as pigs for human transplants has been around for some time, developments in stem cell cloning techniques has opened up the possibility of a new approach. Animal organs, like many human organs, will be rejected by the immune system of recipients without powerful supression drugs. But by using the stem cells taken from patients, scientists believe it may be possible to grow organs that are a perfect match for them, reducing the risk of rejection. It relies upon a cutting-edge fusion of technologies, including recent breakthroughs in stem-cell biology and gene-editing techniques. By modifying genes, scientists can now change the DNA in pig or sheep embryos so they are genetically incapable of forming a specific tissue. Then, by adding stem cells from a person, they hope the human cells will take over the job of forming the missing organ, which could then be harvested from the animal for use in a transplant operation. Advertisement

However, it has often been unclear how this should be regulated and licensed.

Officials on the Home Office's Animals in Science Committee have now published new guidelines on how research using animals containing human material should be performed.

The step is being seen as a move by the government to place Britain at the forefront of the controversial technology.

But animal rights campaign groups have reacted angrily to the guidelines, saying they are giving the green light to experiments that are 'cruel' and 'dangerous'.

Professor Sir Robert Lechler, president of the Academy of Medical Sciences, said research using human-animal hybrids had the potential to greatly advance our understanding of diseases.

'Research involving introducing human tissues or genetic information into animals has the potential to yield great advances in biomedical science, especially in the understanding and treatment of disease,' he said.

He added the new guidance would ensure scientists the UK followed a co-ordinated and consistent approach to using this technology.

Last month it was revealed that scientists at the Salk Institute in California and the University of Minnesota had created hybrid embryos with the aim of growing human organs inside farm animals such as sheep and pigs.

Around 20 animals have been impregnated with human-animal hybrids, which were created by injecting human stem cells into an animal embryo.

Scientists hope to use technology that inserts human stem cells (pictured) into animal embyros. This could lead to human organs being grown in animals to provide a supply for those waiting for organ transplants

These embryos were then implanted into a pig or sheep, but the none of the hybrids have been brought to full term where they were born.

The revelation prompted calls for similar research to be conducted in Britain to help tackle chronic shortages of organs for transplantation.

There were 214 people in Britain who died in 2014 while waiting for an organ transplant.

By growing organs matched to patients in animals by using the stem cell technology, it could help to ensure more transplants take place.

The Home Office said the guidelines would allow the use of human-animal hybrids in research to be appropriately regulating whilst not stifling the advancements it could bring.

The new guidelines, which are based on a public consultation and a report produced in 2011 by the Academy of Medical Sciences, categorise different types of research in tiers.

At the lowest level are many experiments that are common such as putting human cancer cells into mice to study drugs.

There were 429 people who died in 2014 in the UK while waiting for vital organ transplants (a heart transplant is pictured) due to a shortage of appropriate donors. Scientists in the US were revealed to have conducted experiments using human animal hybrids with the aim of growing organs in pigs and sheep

Those that would require higher levels of justification before being approved include those that include work using human brain material, work on primates and anything that would make animals look similar to humans.

Scientists will be required to demonstrate clear benefits to human health before that outweigh risks and concerns over animal welfare before being approved.

The regulations also state experiments where animals will be given 'human-like' brains or produced human-derived eggs or sperm should not be given approval at the current time.

Martin Bobrow, chair of the working group that produced the Academy of Medical Science's report, said: 'Research using animals containing human material is an area of huge potential, but one that also requires a robust ethical and regulatory framework to develop within.'

But Dr Julia Baines, science policy adviser at animal rights group Peta said: 'Not only is the creation of animals containing human material cruel, it's also an inaccurate science that wastes resources, delays real medical progress and can endanger human life.

'Animal mothers undergo invasive procedures to insert human material into their offspring, and the young often die prematurely or suffer from unpredictable abnormalities, such as malfunctioning organs or rampant tumour growth.
Tom Vander Ark & Karla Phillips

A growing number of state policymakers are excited about the potential for competency-based education (CBE) to better meet individual student needs and

eliminate learning gaps that traditional time-based systems have not been able to close.

In December

, ExcelinEd outlined policy advances in Idaho, Georgia and Ohio. With the benefit of a few additional posts, the

following is a progress report on three states you might consider unlikely policy innovators.

Empowering Innovation

In a competency-based system, students progress as they met learning expectations not based on age-based grade levels or seat-time requirements. While

attractive, shifting to a competency-based systems is challenging for policy makers and practitioners alike.

Our principal recommendation is for states to authorize the creation of innovation districts or schools to pilot a competency-based system and identify the

pathway for statewide policy adoption (see ExcelinEd model policy .) This strategy paves the road for

innovative leaders to request flexibility from the rules or regulations that hinder innovation while committing to transition to competency-based

education.

A CBE system allows students to accelerate through concepts and skills they have mastered yet receive more time and support in areas where they may have

more difficulty. This new system is comprehensive and can necessitate fundamental changes in how credits and diplomas are awarded, how and when assessments

are offered, and how schools, educators and students will be held accountable. Developing answers to these questions can appear daunting and complicate

attempts to reform, however, the solutions can and should be embedded into the pilot process.

CBE requires local leadership and an evaluation of state policies that can enable and support or hinder the transition. (See iNACOL report on



Implementing Competency Education in K-12 Systems: Insights from Local Leaders



). Idaho, Ohio and Georgia provide three different state approaches to expedite the beginning of the initiative while allowing time for thoughtful

implementation.

Idahos Mastery-Based Education

A 2013 recommendation from Governor Butch Otters Task Force for Improving Education

encouraged the shift to mastery-based education. Two years later, Idaho House Bill 110 passed unanimously with the support of education, business,

and community leaders across the state.

The bill directed the Idaho Department of Education to develop a process for identifying 20 school districts or charter schools to serve as incubators

for Mastery Education beginning in the 2016-17 school year. The bill also established a committee of teachers and leaders that met in the summer of 2015 to

explore challenges and co-create solutions, as well as a statewide awareness campaign to really help people across the state understand what Mastery

Education can do for Idaho students.

The decision was made in Idaho to proceed simultaneously with the beginning of a pilot program while also creating a venue and process to identify state

policy issues that may need to be addressed. This allows the policy discussion to be informed by experience and not on speculation.

Interested schools/districts were encouraged to submit a letter of intent and take " The Mastery Education Readiness Survey  to self-assess direction,

motivation, leadership, student focus, curriculum, instruction, technology, comprehensive data system, risk-taking, organizational structure, ownership and

communication. Initial response suggests that the pilot project will be over subscribed.

Last week the Idaho Mastery Education Network Application was released. The instructions state that

applicants must demonstrate commitment and capacity to serve all students with the support from their governing boards, administrators, and teaching staff.

A plan must be articulated to design and implement a system that meets the clear definitions and expectations outlined by the end of the five year process,

Applications are due Friday, March 11, 2016 and selections will be announced Friday April 22, 2016.

Next year, the 20 school/district incubators will form a professional learning community around Mastery Education--the Idaho Mastery Education Network--and

data and lessons will be captured and shared.

Enabling Flexibility in Ohio

One of the characteristics of CBE is the amount of flexibility allowed for local design and it can vary widely in approach and appearance. This is good. It

should look different in a 200-student rural high school versus an urban 2,000-student high school. However, the components or characteristics of a CBE

program or system are well documented

and can be articulated in the application request. The



application



Ohio developed for the Competency-Based Pilot is a good example.

In December, the Ohio Department of Education announced the award of five

grants to implement competency based pilot programs. The grant program were established by the legislature and each winner will receive $400,000 each to

implement their programs by the start of the 2016-2017 school year through 2019.

Georgias Phase-in Approach

In December Governor Nathan Deals Education Reform Commission issued its final report and recommended that

Georgia Begin the transition to a competency-based education system.

Even before the subcommittee began its work, Georgia had made significant steps

to encourage innovation in education and regulatory flexibility for schools and districts testing new ways to personalize learning. The Georgia Department

of Education has also demonstrated its commitment to this policy through Georgias Path to Personalized Learning . The path provides more information on a

variety of state-level resources available to schools to help them transition to personalized and competency-based learning.

As



Karla recently noted



, Georgia should be able to adopt a unique approach to providing flexibility through local governance reform and innovation funds. In particular, the

states Charter Systems model and



Investing in Educational Excellence/Strategic Waivers School Systems



model provide districts with substantial opportunities for statutory and regulatory flexibility in exchange for increased accountability.

Georgias Innovation Fund began under the auspices of Race to the Top and has been in place since

2011. The program is well established, with solid procedures, applications, timelines and guidance for schools. An additional benefit is that the

determination of fund priorities and eligibility requirements are not in statute or rule, thus ensuring sufficient flexibility and authority to incorporate

competency-based education.

The groundwork has been clearly laid, and Georgia already has large districts that have indicated interest in or begun the transition to competency-based

education. In particular, Fulton and Henry counties are providing best practices that other schools can learn from.

Next Steps

Making the case for CBE is the first step. Veteran teacher Kelly Brady is Idahos Director of Mastery Education. Shes the leading advocate for Mastery

Education. Heres how she describes the benefits :



Allows students to have more ownership and autonomy of their learning.

Provides flexibility in both student pace and path.

Connects student interest and passions to their education.

Empowers students in new and meaningful ways.

Develops critical thinkers and problem solvers, beyond just memorizers of information.

Allows for more personalized and differentiated learning.

Gives teachers new roles as facilitators of learning, rather than dispensers of knowledge.

Emphasizes social-emotional learning and growth mindsets for all students.

Makes assessment more meaningful since it is on-going and formative in nature.

Creates opportunities to form better relationships with students and their families.

Our friends at KnowledgeWorks lay out a nice framework for a process that could include

a planning phase or conditional approval. A Design or Planning Phase can be the right time to form a working group and bring in outside experts. Plus, a

design phase helps with the second issue which is the design of the program itself.

For more see:
Fossils that belonged to ancient gorillas suggest that humans split from the great apes 10 million years ago - 2 million years later than previously thought, research says.

The remnants of gorilla teeth were discovered in Ethiopia's Chorora Formation in the Afar rift, that dates back approximately 8 million years ago, which the team suggests shows that the human gorilla split had to have occurred at least 10 million years ago.

Researchers say the new evidence also suggests early man originated in Africa and not Eurasia, as some believe.

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Fossils that may have belong to ancient gorillas suggest humans split from the great apes 10 million years ago, which is 2 million years later than previously thought, research says. The remnants of gorilla teeth were discovered in Ethiopia's Chorora Formation in the Afar rift that date back approximately 8 million years ago

WHAT DID RESEARCHERS FIND? In 2007, the Gen Suwa and his colleagues discovered nine fossil that belonged to an extinct species of gorilla they called Chororapithecus abyssinicus. The teeth appeared to be made for eating stems and leaves and looked similar to its modern-day decedents. Suwa and his colleagues analyzed the surrounding volcanic rock and once-magnetized particles of the sediment above and below fossils from the Chorora Formation Their findings suggest that the fossilized teeth represent the oldest mammalian fossils found south of the Sahara desert area, which, the team claims, adds credence to the theory that apes and thus humans originated in Africa, not Eurasia as some have claimed. The team's findings also suggest that because C.abyssinicus dates back to 8 million years ago, the split with humans must have occurred at least 10 million years ago, much further back than any other evidence has shown to date. Advertisement

Their findings suggest that the fossilized teeth represent the oldest mammalian fossils found south of the Sahara desert area, which, the team claims, adds credence to the theory that apes and thus humans originated in Africa, not Eurasia as some have claimed.

'Since few great ape fossils have been found in Africa so far, some scientists have forcefully suggested that the ancestors of African apes and humans must have emerged in Eurasia,' senior author Gen Suwa, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Tokyo, told Live Science.

Researchers are hopeful that these findings could help resolve the controversy of where and when the human lineage first evolved.

'The palaeobiological record of 12 million to 7 million years ago is crucial to the elucidation of African ape and human origins, but few fossil assemblages of this period have been reported from sub-Saharan Africa,' reads the study published in the journal Nature.

Scientists have been working on putting the pieces together about the earliest parts of human evolution for decades, but due to the lack of concrete evidence, they have not been able to produce accurate dates.

The strongest evidence they have is that genetics reveal a common lineage between great apes and humans, which has pushed researchers to find clues about when the separation actually occurred.

If looking at genetics, it suggest humans split from chimps as early as 5 million years ago and with gorillas about 7 to 8 million years ago.

But archaeologists have been puzzled by these numbers, because these dates do not match their findings.

Suwa and his team returned focused on the Chorora Formation, the oldest sediments from the Afar rift on record, because it has produced evidences of some of the earliest known hominins  human and related species dating back to the split.

This new evidence also suggests the earliest forms of human life originated in Africa and not Eurasia. If looking at genetics, it suggest humans split from chimps as early as 5 million years ago and with gorillas about 7 to 8 million years ago

In 2007, the team discovered nine fossil that belonged to an extinct species of gorilla they called Chororapithecus abyssinicus.

The teeth appeared to be made for eating stems and leaves and looked similar to its modern-day decedents.

THE COMPLEX EVOLUTION OF MAN 55 million years ago - First primitive primates evolve 15 million years ago - Hominidae (great apes) evolve from the ancestors of the gibbon 8 million years ago - First gorillas evolve. Later, chimp and human lineages diverge 5.5 million years ago - Ardipithecus, early proto-human shares traits with chimps and gorillas 4 million years ago - Australopithecines appeared. They had brains no larger than a chimpanzee's 2.8 million years ago - LD 350-1 appeared and may be the first of the Homo family 2.7 million years ago - Paranthropus, lived in woods and had massive jaws for chewing 2.3 million years ago - Homo habalis first thought to have appeared in Africa 1.8 million years ago - Homo ergaster begins to appear in fossil record 1.6 million years ago - Hand axes become the first major technological innovation 800,000 years ago - Early humans control fire and create hearths. Brain size increases rapidly 400,000 years ago - Neanderthals first begin to appear and spread across Europe and Asia 200,000 years ago - Homo sapiens - modern humans - appear in Africa 40,0000 years ago - Modern humans reach Europe The evolutionary history (above) of how the Homo family appeared. Advertisement

'They exhibit a gorilla-sized dentition that combines distinct shearing crests with thick enamel on its functional side cusps,' Suwa wrote about the first discovery of the teeth in 2007 published in the journal Nature.

Visualization of the enameldentine junction by micro-computed tomography reveals shearing crest features that partly resemble the modern gorilla condition.'

In 2007, the team discovered nine fossil that belonged to an extinct species of gorilla they called Chororapithecus abyssinicus. They analyzed the surrounding volcanic rock and once-magnetized particles of the sediment above and below fossils and dated the fossils from 8 million years ago

Suwa and his colleagues analyzed the surrounding volcanic rock and once-magnetized particles of the sediment above and below fossils from the Chorora Formation and dated that Chororapithecus probably roamed the earth 8 million years ago

Suwa and his colleagues analyzed the surrounding volcanic rock and once-magnetized particles of the sediment above and below fossils from the Chorora Formation and dated that Chororapithecus probably roamed the earth 8 million years ago.

'Until now, no mammalian fossils south of the Sahara have been securely date to 8 million to 9 million years ago,' said Suwa.

'Any and all fossils from this crucial time period of Africa would help unravel the story of human origins and emergence. These are the first such fossils.'

Because Chororapithecus is suggested to be 8 million years old, researchers say 'the actual gorilla-human split must have been up to several million years before that.'
Every February a cult gathers at the base of an active volcano in the South Pacific in a religious tribute to a dead American soldier.

The elders wear American military uniforms jangling with medals, the rest paint USA in red paint on their bare chests.

They march around a rickety pole in military formation before raising the American flag.

The Tannese army of the John Frum Cargo Cult movement parade march through the island

A young man (left) is dressed in traditional attire, playing music with John Frum String Band on Tanna Island and (right) men raise the flags

They are the followers of John Frum and on February 15 every year they pay homage in this way to a divine spirit more powerful than Jesus.

The followers of John Frum live in a small village at the base of Mount Yasur, an active volcano on the island of Tanna, Vanuatu.

To them John Frum is a god-like spirit most commonly depicted as an American soldier from the World War II.

The cult believes the almighty John Frum will one day return to Tanna bringing wealth, good luck and gifts from America.

The World War II had an enormous and positive impact on Vanuatu and the people of Tanna.

A man dressed in a straw skirt walks around Yakel custom village on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu

Dancers from the John Frum Cargo Cult Movement performing in traditional dresses in Sulphur Bay Village

WHERE IS VANUATU? Vanuatu is a nation in the South Pacific made up of about 80 separate islands. It is about 1,000 miles east of Australia. The capital of Vanuatu is Port Vila, located on the island of Efate. Vanuatus population numbers about 270,000. Vanuatu was first discovered by Melanesian settlers, with some estimates dating their arrival around 1300 BC. British and French missionaries began colonising the islands in the late 18th Century. From 1906 until 1980 the British and French jointly governed Vanuatu. In 1980 Vanuatu claimed its independence. The island of Tanna, home to John Frum, has a population of about 29,000. One of Tannas main features is Mount Yasur, an active volcano in Sulphur Bay. Other tourist attractions on Tanna include the cultural villages, underwater caves and wild horses. Advertisement

The sleepy island heaved with some 300,000 American servicemen preparing for the brewing Pacific conflict with Japan.

New airstrips and hospitals were built and the islanders prospered from the flood of food and supplies.

The name John Frum, or John From, comes from the way the soldiers would introduce themselves: Hi, Im John from New York or, Nice to meet you, Im John from Miami.

When the war ended and these John Frums left Vanuatu, the bounty of food and cargo dried up.

Recognising that the soldiers were responsible for the islands brief wealth, a large portion of the islanders took to worship in the hope they would return.

They ploughed imitation runaways and built ramshackle observation towers to try and coax back their departed luck.

Soon they were also donning discarded military uniforms and raising the American flag in increasingly elaborate rituals.

Since its beginnings in the 1940s the John Frum cargo cult has swollen to number as many as 6,000 believers, according to the BBC.

In 2006 a reporter from Smithsonian Magazine travelled to Vanuatua to speak to the cult and stay in their village.

John Frums then leader, a man known as Chief Isaac, explained that the cult was both a spiritual and cultural movement.

He said: If we keep praying to John, hell come back with plenty of cargo.

Young members of the island's cargo cult train in preparation for the annual parade of the Tannese Army

Dancers from the cult movement perform bare foot in bright and colourful dresses

John Frum came to help us get back our traditional customs, our kava drinking, our dancing, because the missionaries and colonial government were destroying our culture.

John is a spirit. He knows everything. Hes even more powerful than Jesus.

Another village elder told the Smithsonian that John Frum would one day return to the island bringing wonderful things from America.

He said: John promised hell bring planeloads and shiploads of cargo to us from America if we pray to him.

Radios, TVs, trucks, boats, watches, iceboxes, medicine, Coca-Cola and many other wonderful things.

The John Frum cargo cult lives on the South Pacific island of Tanna and believe a spirit named John Frum will return with wonderful gifts

Every February the cult gather at the base of an active volcano in the South Pacific in a religious tribute to the dead American soldier

Vanuatu was settled by British and French missionaries in the late 19th Century and the two nations ruled together from 1906.

By the late 1930s their colonial rule was seen by many on Tanna as increasingly oppressive as it slowly smothered their ancient traditions.

Anthropologist Ralph Reganvalu said that John Frum emerged in this context as a cultural preservation movement which revived many dying customs.

He told the BBC: There was a whole period in history known as Tanna Law where the missionaries put in this series of rules about what people weren't supposed to do and the movement emerged because of this oppression.

Ben Bohane is a journalist and photographer who lives in Vanuatu and has covered the Pacific for more than 25 years.

Vanuatu is a nation in the South Pacific made up of about 80 separate islands. It is about 1,000 miles east of Australia

John Frum is not the only cargo cult in the Pacific and is one of three living on the island of Tanna

THE CARGO CULTS OF TANNA John Frum is not the only cargo cult in the Pacific and is one of three living on the island of Tanna. Although each cult began under similar circumstances, there are stark differences in their rituals and beliefs. The Tom Navy cargo cult is similar to John Frum in that it worships a long-departed American naval officer who lived on the island during World War II. Tom Navy is believed to be Thomas Beatty, a missionary from Mississippi who served in the Navy during the war. The Prince Philip Movement began in the late 1950s or early 1960s and believes that the Queens husband is a divine spirit. One explanation for the movement is that islanders saw how much respect colonial officials gave to the Queen, and concluded her husband must be a powerful man. The cult was brought to Prince Philips attention in the 1980s. He has since sent them photographs and met members of the movement when they travelled to England. Advertisement

The popularity of John Frum reflected the intense spirituality which ran like blood through the people of Vanuatu, he told MailOnline.

He said: Every single person in this region lives in a constant spirit world.

Everyone believes in sorcery and the spirits of their ancestors. Some of them take it to more extreme lengths. But thats just the people.

Mr Bohane said the people of Tanna were grateful for the way the cult had helped to preserve the islands identity.

He said: They are totally part of the culture. They were the champions of custom because they rejected Christianity.

They are respected on that front. Its a very mainstream thing. In times of peace they might be fringe. But in times of conflict they become this lightning rod for dissent.

Theyve learnt to just get on with things and not wait for the government to help them. At least one or two of the members in Parliament are representing the community.

Mr Bohane said the John Frum cult kept it itself at the base of Mt Yasur, where followers gathered in worship every Friday.

He said: They pretty much have their own village at the base of the volcano. You might get one or two tourists who come along to the flag raising every week.

Every Friday they raise the American flag, sometimes its the Aborigine flag and sometimes its the French flag. Thats their weekly event.

And on February 15 they celebrate John Frum Day. They have a bit of theatre and a bit of dance and thats their big annual celebration.

The cult (above) was brought to Prince Philips attention in the 1980s. He has since sent them photographs and met members of the movement when they travelled to England

A spokeswoman for the Vanutau Tourism Office told MailOnline that the John Frum cult was friendly and open to visitors.

She said: [They] are typically open to visitors, and welcome them for their religious activities.

For example, John Frum followers sing and dance with tourists on Friday evenings at Sulphur Bay.
Famed for its charming capital and beautiful lakes, Slovenia is set to welcome a new attraction that will be every drinkers dream  a public beer fountain.

The town of Zalec said the 350,000 (275,000 or $396,000) fountain will be the first of its kind in Europe and is billing it as a way to lure tourists from around the world.

With plans to open the fountain in a park, thirsty visitors will be able to sample brews that contain local hops at a cost of 6 (4.70 or $6.80) for three 30cl servings in a commemorative mug.

This computer-generated image reveals what the 275,000 fountain could look like once it is complete

Beer is part of life in Zalec. It is set in the Lower Savinja Valley, which has been called the valley of green gold thanks to the abundance of hops used in brewing.

Although its being touted as a way to lure domestic and foreign visitors and support hops growers, the project has been met with opposition from some councillors and residents who say the money could be put to better use.

With a six-figure cost, the fountain will be funded by the town and private donations after the plans were approved by two-thirds of council members at a meeting last week.

Planning began in 2013 and the town has already set aside 170,000 (134,000 or $193,000) for the project. It is not known when it will be completed.

Thirsty visitors will receive three 30cl servings in a commemorative mug for 6 (4.70 or $6.80)

Zalec Mayor Janko Kos, who supported the plans, told the Slovenian news agency Dnevnik: Its true the fountain wont be cheap, but its a development project, a tourism product.

Located about 35 miles north-east of the capital of Ljubljana, the town of Zalec has a population of about 5,000 while the wider municipality is home to about 20,000.
A father of three has claimed that a dip in a swimming pool on holiday has cost him his hearing and his job.

Niall Coulter spent 2,600 on a family holiday to a four-star resort but a last minute hotel change left him in a basic hotel that he claims was full of teenagers.

During the holiday Niall joined his family for a swim in the pool, but woke up the next morning to find warm liquid coming from his ears that resembled 'a yellow pus-like substance.'

Niall Coulter now has to wear a hearing aid both at home and whenever he leaves the house after he alleges he caught swimmers ear from swimming in the holiday pool

He was diagnosed with swimmer's ear when he returned home to Northern Ireland, and his loss of hearing meant he could no longer continue his job as a taxi driver because he couldn't hear his customers.

The 36-year-old now has to wear a hearing aid both at home and whenever he leaves the house.

He said: 'This has robbed me of my life and career. If I could turn back the clock and get my hearing back I would do it in a heartbeat.

'All it took was spending the first day of my holiday in and around the hotel pool to ruin my hearing. This is a living hell. Everyday is a struggle as my ears are still pumping out goo three years on.

'It's never ending pain and now I am told I need two more operations on both ears and am stuck with a hearing aid.

'I don't want any other person going through the hell I am now in.'

Niall had been looking forward to his 2,600 holiday in Benidorm with his sisters, wife Sharon and three children.

But a week before they were due to go his holiday company, The Global Travel Group Limited, arranged for his Travel Agent to call him to advise they were changing his hotel.

Despite his objections they promised him the new venue was an 'upgrade' compared to his original Gemelos family friendly apartments.

After returning home in September 2012 his hearing suddenly deteriorated and he was diagnosed with swimmer's ear

This is the pool at the Palm Court Apartments that Mr Coulter alleges caused him to eventually go deaf

MR COULTER LAUNCHES LEGAL ACTION Travel lawyer Paul Stevens of Simpson Millar, who is handling Mr Coulter's claim, said his company deals with hundreds of cases involving victims of swimming pool and water related illnesses every year. He said: 'Unfortunately getting infections from hotel swimming pools is quite common. This has been a very distressing time for Niall and he will have likely have complications for the rest of his life. 'His travel company have not disclosed a single document to show that any maintenance or chemical checks were taking place of the pool.' Advertisement

But when he arrived in Benidorm, he was left devastated to see what his upgraded hotel actually looked like.

The dad from Stranbane, Northern Ireland added: 'It was the absolute pits. It was like a backpackers hostel full of young people partying. It would have been fine for a lads first time holiday but not in the least bit suitable for a family holiday at all.

'The room was in need of a complete overhaul with the shower head hanging off the wall, dirty, broken wooden slats in the bed.

'The swimming pool looked like it belonged in the back of a villa. It was nothing like the water slide, pool, kids-friendly resort I had booked and was promised.

'I had paid for a fun-filled family break and was given something like Fawlty Towers instead.'

He tried to make the best of things and joined his children playing in the Palm Court Apartments pool.

Later after finding out that the hotel didn't have a rep he rang the travel company back in the UK to complain about the hotel and they promised to ring him back.

It wasn't until later that he noticed the pool to be dirty around the edges with bottles and debris floating in it.

Mr Coulter had originally booked his family at the family-friendly Gemelos Apartments

The choice and size of the pools at Gemelos was in stark contrast to what greeted the family when they arrived at Palm Court Apartments

He said: 'I wasn't very impressed at all, after that we decided not to use the pool again.'

But it was already too late as the following morning he woke up and felt warm liquid coming from his ears and went to the bathroom and was horrified to see a yellow pus-like substance.

He said: 'It was disgusting gunge and was just pouring out like a running tap. My bed where I was sleeping was covered in it and looked like I had been in the gunk tank. It was that bad.'

He went to the chemists who gave him ear drops but then his ears started ringing loudly and for the rest of the holiday he was unable to go in bars with loud music.

He added: 'It was a complete nightmare and wrecked the whole holiday. The ear drops didn't work. I could hardly sleep at night the ringing was so loud and the liquid kept coming out.

'Even people speaking was unbearable like they were a stereo speaker. I couldn't do anything normal like go in the pool or even go to caberet or music bars as it hurt my ears too much.'

After the travel company failed to return his calls he endured the rest of the week long holiday for the sake of his children and when he later went to his GP he was diagnosed with swimmer's ear.

Following his experience at the Palm Court Apartments, Niall now refuses to go abroad and spends his holidays at home

After returning home in September 2012 his hearing suddenly deteriorated.

He said: 'I didn't notice anything my wife did. I would have the TV on full blast and she would shout at me to turn it down. It was very worrying. At that point I thought it was just a temporary thing which would pass.'

But after a series of hospital visits he was told he had to have an operation on his right ear after the infection worsened.

He then had an operation at the Altnagelvin Area Hospital, Londonderry a year after his holiday, but it wasn't successful and his hearing loss continued.

He was then forced to give up his job as a private hire driver which he had been doing for three years.

'I had to give up my job which I loved. I was gutted,' added Mr Coulter.

'But I just couldn't hear the customers properly anymore. it had been my career, my life and my main source of income for my family but or safety I had to stop. It was horrible.'

To add to his misery he was then fitted with a bulky hearing aid in order to try and improve his hearing.

He added: 'Being so young and wearing a hearing aid I was very conscious and it is very embarrassing going out with it on. It's not what I dreamed I would be doing in my thirties.'

Now two years on his ears continue to leak and he been told he faces a further two operations on both ears and that his hearing will never recover. He has decided to take legal action.

He added: 'It's very hard to know you have partial deafness. My right ear is very bad and I only hear muffled noise out of my left. I have virtually lost one of my senses.

He alleges that Global Travel Group Ltd have 'ignored him' over the incident, and adds: 'This is not about the money, it's about the principle.'

Following his experience Niall now refuses to go abroad and spends his holidays at home.

He said: 'I am too scared to go abroad on foreign holidays now. It's the kids and wife who are suffering.'

A spokesperson for Global Travel Group Ltd told MailOnline: 'We are unfortunately unable to comment on the claims made by Mr Coultar as the matter is currently the subject of legal proceedings.
She famously caught her boyfriend's eye during a photo opportunity in Cardiff.

So it's perhaps not surprising that David Hasselhoff's girlfriend, Hayley Roberts, managed to command attention when she was spotted in LA on Wednesday.

The Welsh beauty, 34, put on a very cheeky display as she cycled through West Hollywood on yet another day off.

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Looking good: David Hasselhoff's girlfriend, Hayley Roberts, managed to command attention when she was spotted in LA on Wednesday

Dressed in a figure-hugging turquoise jumper, she straddled her bike in a snug pair of grey shorts which left little to the imagination.

Offering a bootylicious sight for onlookers, she stood up as she peddled through the streets following a shopping spree.

Turning heads in Calabasas, she was seen with a gift bag full of beauty supplies as she returned to the home she shares with the ex-Baywatch star.

Cheeky! Dressed in a figure-hugging turquoise jumper, she straddled her bike in a snug pair of grey shorts which left little to the imagination

Seemingly make-up-free for the occasion, her blonde hair was worn in a casual centre-partying while her perfect pins were on full display.

Clearly enjoying her solo time, she seemed relaxed and carefree as she enjoyed California.

Sadly, there was no sign of her famous boyfriend.

Where to look? Offering a bootylicious sight for onlookers, she stood up as she peddled through the streets following a modest shopping spree

The happy couple first started dating back in 2011 during a night out in Cardiff.

Hayley, who worked as a sales assistant in Debenhams at the time, approached the star for a photograph while he was in town filming Britain's Got Talent.

David suavely responded by agreeing to having his picture taken so long as she gave him her phone number. A few days later, the pair enjoyed their first date and have pretty much been inseparable ever since.

Speaking to the BBC ahead of the documentary though, David revealed that it's been hard for them both to adjust to the public fascination with their romance.

Unlikely meeting: The happy couple first started dating back in 2011 during a night out in Cardiff

Life-hanging: Hayley, who worked as a sales assistant in Debenhams at the time, approached the star for a photograph while he was in town filming Britain's Got Talent

'It was a difficult decision [to make the programme]', the star says, adding that he was keen to explain to Hayley's family '"I just want to date your daughter."'

'I felt bad about even bringing the cameras to her house. Once we cleared it with her family, then we had her brother-in-law JP shoot it - and he wanted to shoot it - it was fun, like home movies.'
They announced their engagement in December while enjoying a romantic Tasmanian holiday.

And it seems wedding plans could already be in the pipeline for The Bachelor couple Sam Wood and Snezana Markoski.

Taking to Instagram on Thursday, 35-year-old Snezana shared a photo of herself in a stunning white ensemble, perhaps hinting she's on the lookout for bridal gowns.

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Vision in white: Taking to Instagram on Thursday, The Bachelor star Snezana Markoski shared a photo of herself in a stunning white ensemble, perhaps hinting she's on the lookout for bridal gowns

'Ok, so I dropped a hint with @samjameswood and he got me this prettiness from @pasduchas,' the mother-of-one captioned the image in which she wore the gorgeous maxi number.

While the collared outfit appears to be a dress, it is actually a sophisticated jumpsuit.

The Mode pantsuit which retails on Pasduchas' website for $279 AUD, features three-quarter sleeves and is clinched at the waist with a tying feature.

Proudly sporting the ensemble she was gifted by her man, Snezana posed for the photo with her hands on her waist.

Loving couple: Snezana and beau Sam Wood announced their engagement in December last year

A pair of nude coloured pointy-toed heels accentuated her model height, while she did her hair in a half-up, half-down style.

While Snezana will no doubt want to choose her stunning dress for the big day, her beau Sam has an idea of what he would like for other aspects of the wedding.

Appearing on KIIS 106.5 FM's Kyle And Jackie O show last month, the 35-year-old revealed he is picturing an outdoor wedding, perhaps at a winery, in a nod to the couple's first televised date in a vineyard.

Memories: Sam says he would like to have the wedding at a winery, the idea reminiscent of the pair's first date on The Bachelor held at a vineyard in New South Wales

'Outdoors  something in a winery,' Sam initially responded when quizzed about wedding details.

'We want to get married maybe in a run-down church and (then) straight away you go into a big party,' he added.

For their first date on the Channel Ten show filmed last year, Sam chose to whisk Snezana off for a hot air balloon ride, followed by a romantic picnic in a winery.

What a vision: Last month Sam revealed his dream for an outdoor wedding on KIIS 106.5 FM's Kyle And Jackie O show

No doubt the date was quite the success, with the romantic surroundings of the secluded vineyard proving to be the perfect location for the pair's first kiss.

In early December Sam and Snezana announced their engagement on social media while on holiday in Tasmania.

The personal trainer shared a close-up shot of a square cut halo diamond ring ensconced on the Macedonian beauty's hand when sharing the big news.

'She said YES!' Sam announced in an Instagram post.

'When you know, you know. I love you Snezana,' the personal trainer added, with hashtags including 'Can't wipe the smile off my face' and 'Tasmania engagement'.

Love is in the air: No doubt the date was a success, with the romantic surroundings of the secluded vineyard proving to be the perfect location for the pair's first kiss

Big news: In early December Sam and Snezana announced their engagement on social media while on holiday in Tasmania

Meanwhile, the 35-year-old mother-of-one also posted the photo of the couple holding hands, telling fans: 'Happiest Girl in the World'

The pair, who had been holidaying with Sam's family in Tasmania, were enjoying some alone time with Snezana's ten-year-old daughter Eve on the East coast of the island.

And things seem to be moving fast for the couple, who have also purchased a home together in Melbourne.

Open to the idea of televising their nuptials, Sam told Kyle and Jackie O: 'Yeah we are taking it into consideration.

'I mean if youd asked me two years ago "Will your wedding be on TV?" of course I would have scoffed and laughed,' he continued, before adding, 'it could be amazing'.
Kendall Jenner is reportedly suing an acne company for using her image without permission.

The model and reality star has filed a lawsuit against Cutera for using her photo to promote their acne laser treatment, reports TMZ.

And the documents state that the Keeping Up With The Kardashians star would typically charge at least $10 million for an endorsement deal, the gossip site reports.

See Kendall Jenner updates as sues skin laser company Cutera for using her image in ad

Lawsuit: Model Kendall Jenner is suing skincare treatment company Cutera for using her image in their ads without her permission. The lawsuit says she would usually earn at least $10 million for an endorsement

The ad in question features a picture of Kendall and claims their treatments improved her skin.

'Acne "completely ruined" Kendall Jenner's self-esteem,' the ad reads.

'Visits to a dermatologist for Laser Genesis... has left her with nearly flawless skin,' it goes on.

Suing: The company used Kendall's image without her permission, Kendall says

However, Kendall says she never did a deal to promote the company, and claims she would charge well into the eight figures for a similar endorsement.

In addition to being the face of Estee Lauder, the lawsuit points out Kendall has been on the cover of fashion magazines around the world, and would typically earn at least eight figures to pose as the face of a product.

The 20-year-old is seeking that the company hand over its profits, TMZ reports.

Supermodel: Kendall walked the runway for Chanel at Paris Fashion Week on January 26

Talking up Kendall's successful career, her lawyers point out in legal papers that the model has 'graced the covers of the world's most prestigious fashion magazines, including Vogue, Vogue Paris, Vogue Japan, Vogue Brazil, Harper's Bazaar (shot by Karl Lagerfeld), Allure, GQ, Glamour, Marie Claire, LOVE, Interview, Paper, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Cleo, Garage, Dazed, Raine and BLANK.'

Kendall has previously said she that Laser Genesis treatment helped cure her acne, which was once so bad that she refused to make eye contact with people.

Pretty in pink: Kendall showed off her long legs in a mini dress as she attended the Zoolander 2 world premiere in New York on Wednesday

The teenager opened up late last year about her struggle with acne and the toll it took on her confidence.

'It completely ruined my self-esteem,' she wrote on her app and website KendallJ.com.

'I wouldn't even look at people when I talked to them. I felt like such an outcast; when I spoke, it was with my hand covering my face.'

Skyrocketing career: The lawsuit points out that Kendall has graced the covers of fashion magazines all around the world

The lawsuit does not dispute whether or not she ever used the acne treatment, but rather states that she was not paid for use of her image to promote the treatment.

On Thursday, Kendall also shared a photo of herself showing off her 'guns' while dressed as World War II icon Rosie The Riveter.

'#RockTheVote behind the scenes. guns?' she captioned the photo.

Kendall dressed up as the feminist icon for a Rock The Vote video urging young people to register to vote before the US presidential election.

'Equality. The only way to get it is to vote,' she tweeted as she shared the image on Tuesday.
Midsomer Murders

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Some words dont work well together. They sound wrong, such as American cuisine or Italian workaholic  or British mass production.

We are not a nation of automatons. Were proud of our craftsmanship and our handmade ethos, the individual touch . . . and when it comes to cheap assembly lines, we prefer to leave them to the Chinese.

There is one UK model, though, that is tooled with laser-guided accuracy to an exact template, a world-beater exported to global markets. Reliable as a Honda, sleek as a BMW, classy yet affordable: its Midsomer Murders (ITV).

Midsomer Murders (ITV), which will be 20 years old next year, is a dependable detective show where all the moving parts still mesh as neatly as ever. Above, Gwilym Lee as DS Charlie Nelson, Neil Dudgeon as DCI John Barnaby and Julia Sawalha as Dr Penny Henderson in yesterday's episode

This dependable detective show will be 20 years old next year. It has more than 100 episodes on the clock and, six years ago, it underwent a major engine refit, as lead actor John Nettles was replaced by Neil Dudgeon.

But all the moving parts still mesh as neatly as ever, to offer a smooth ride with elegant trim. Every case is assembled as if on a conveyor belt, starting with the initial murder before the credits roll. The latest instalment, a tale of rival archaeologists and a bogus saints shrine, never deviated from the pattern.

Once the body is discovered, and the jauntily macabre title music has played, the police are straight on the scene. Thats one advantage of living in Midsomer: the death rate might be worse than Mexico City at the height of a gang war, but at least a copper is never far away.

The shows weakest segment follows as the suspects are introduced and their motives for murder exposed, with half a dozen new characters crammed into the course of 20 minutes.

That brings two problems: viewers quickly have to get to grips with a lot of plot strands, and the police must process them mechanically. Its all a blur of moving parts.

Fortunately, Midsomer Murders reputation is respected by actors and their agents. Its an adornment to any CV: no one ever won a Bafta for a guest appearance, but there will be no sex scenes, mortuary porn or foul language, either.

Ruth Sheen as Valerie Horton (centre) and Ralf Little as Jared Horton (right) in the episode on Wednesday night

That means each weeks cast is packed with well-known faces. This time it was Julia Sawalha (best-known as Saffy in Ab Fab), Jonathan Aris (the beardy nerd from Sherlock) and Ralf Little (The Royle Family), as well as Ruth Sheen (couldnt place her at first, but then I remembered: the reformed skinhead in the mystery drama Unforgotten).

Because the actors are familiar, its easier to keep track of them. And then, just before the first set of adverts, the leading suspect is murdered  and another dies around the 45-minute mark. As the pack is thinned, the stories become clearer.

Inevitably, its the least likely candidate who committed the crimes. I was convinced it would be Ruth, as the nervy parishioner who does the church flowers.

She could have buried one archaeologist alive with a backhoe digger, and crushed another under a gravestone . . . but did she have the strength to impale a third on a Civil War pike?

Once again, I had guessed wrong. Better luck next week. At least there are no catastrophic consequences when an armchair detective makes a mistake.

The 100K House: Tricks Of The Trade

Rating:

The same cant be said in The 100K House: Tricks Of The Trade (BBC2), in which architects encourage couples to gut their homes and build new interiors on shoestring budgets.

HEROIC COOK OF THE NIGHT War reporter John Simpson made sure we knew how intrepid he is on The Great Sport Relief Bake Off (BBC1). His saffron had been bought in Afghanistan three days ago  while his beetroot dough reminded him of a river of lava, coming down the hill at me. Advertisement

A chap called Robert Jameson with a fashionable man-bun had a terrifying vision for a former village Post Office: rip out the front-room ceiling. What had once been the shop, with its plate-glass windows, became a cavernous warehouse . . . and the upstairs bedroom disappeared.

I liked that bedroom, said owner Chris sadly, as builders installed steel girders to stop the whole building from collapsing.

By the time the renovation was complete, Chris and wife Claire had no cash left for plastering. So they declared the exposed brickwork a feature and left it bare.

Meanwhile, the floor was raised so that passers-by would be at knee-level  this, for some reason, was supposed to make the front room feel more private.
Her smoldering Latin looks captivated former lovers such as Tom Cruise and Matthew McConaughey.

So it is perhaps understandable Penelope Cruz looked more than a little mortified after being asked about her 'ugly feet' by Today host Savannah Guthrie on Wednesday.

The saucy Spaniard shrieked, 'no, no no,' after being questioned about her supposedly horrible hooves in front of the NBC show's five million viewers.

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Ofendido: Saucy Spaniard Penelope Cruz looked rather disgruntled after being asked about her 'ugly feet' by Savannah Guthrie on Today on Wednesday

Savannah decided to broach the subject insisting it was the 41-year-old Girl of Your Dreams star herself who said it first.

She said: 'I don't even know how I feel about this, I think you said it, that you, despite what you look like... you've said you have ugly feet.'

However Savannah soon learned she had put her foot in it when her Oscar-winning guest pulled a shocked then angry face and told her, 'no, no, no, no!'

And, just to further underline the point, the A-lister added: 'I haven't said that. I'm OK, I'm OK with my feet. I haven't said that.'

Looking down her nose at her feet: Savannah even glanced at the star's trotters as she asked her question

'No, no, no': The shocked Spaniard looked absolutely mortified when she realised what had been said

Pleading her case: The former lawyer pointed out the fact she used to be a dancer

Unhappy feet: A podiatric surgeon said that Penelope's toes are deformed and recommended they be surgically re-alligned

Nothing wrong them! But he actress showed off her perfect toes at the Feroz awards in Madrid January

Savannah tried to dig herself out of her unfortunate hole by saying she thought that was the case 'because you were a dancer.'

Old pro Penelope, who studied classical ballet for nine years at Spain's National Conservatory, then explained the tribulations a ballerina goes through.

She said: 'When you're a ballet dancer, you lose your toenails. You get used to throwing them away. You don't even feel it anymore.'

Mrs Javier Bardem then turned the conversation back to her trotters, insisting, 'I think they are normal.'

Daggers: The Vanilla Sky favourite drew her a mean stare as she continued to stick up for her feet

She nailed it: The former ballerina explained she used to rip out her toenails due to her dancing

'I think they are normal': Shellshocked Penelope tried to laugh it off after the offensive line of questioning

Former lawyer Savannah used this as the perfect excuse to end their chat, drawing a line under the matter by saying, 'We'll leave it at that.'

Penelope was promoting Zoolander No. 2, in which she plays an Interpol special agent who teams up with supermodel Derek as they try and discover why the world's most beautiful people are dying with his trademark 'Blue Steel' expression on their face.

The eagerly awaited film is released in cinemas around North America on Friday.

Putting her best foot forward: She was later spotted jetting out of NY with her feet hidden in Ugg-style boots

Making waves: The Oscar-winner was only too happy to salute her adoring fans at JFK Airport

Cruz squared: Her dusky Latin looks won the heart of megastar Tom Cruise back in 2002
He's a fitness guru with his very own workout method.

And on Thursday Tim Robards put his credentials on display as he flaunted his bulging muscles in a gruelling outdoor workout.

The 32-year-old looked every inch the action man as he performed pull ups at a standalone gym wearing nothing but some red shorts.

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That's some workout! Tim Robards worked up a sweat as he enjoyed an outdoor workout in Sydney on Thursday

Going barefoot for the session, Tim huffed and puffed his way through reps on a steel bar, wearing a strained expression as he completed tough moves.

He later took to the beach for a swim to cool off after his intense afternoon workout.

It comes days after the hunk's girlfriend Anna Heinrich confirmed he was in charge of planning their Valentine's Day.

Tough: The 32-year-old huffed and puffed his way through the session on a steel bar

Action man: The former Bachelor showed off an array of impressive moves, including a side plank on two small bars

Gym honed: Tim has been perfecting his workout techniques to put towards his fitness method

The pair met on the first series of The Bachelor and have remained as loved-up since the show finished in 2013.

Regularly jaunting out of the country and around Australia to film segments for their blog, Tim And Anna Escape To, the pair both said going on romantic trips were among the best ways to keep any romance alive.

Despite having been together longer than any other Bachelor couple, the pair seem in no rush to tie the knot.

Cooling off: After his workout the former reality TV star took to the beach to enjoy a refreshing swim

Well earned: Tim relieved to be in the water after putting in a solid effort at the nearby standalone gym

While the most recent winners, Sam Wood and Snezana Markoski, are engaged, Anna batted away speculation that a proposal may be imminent last year.

'We're young,' the 30-year-old said while Tim added: 'It's something I only want to do once.'

In the past year Anna has returned to work as a lawyer while Tim launches his fitness program, The Tim Robards Method.

They recently travelled to Palm Springs in Nevada where they filmed a segment for their blog, with the pair plugging the content across social media.
When the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was reauthorized back in 2004, the U.S. Department of Education offered some relief to states that said they were drowning in paperwork.

One pilot program allows states to create individualized education programs, or IEPs, for students that cover three school years, instead of one. A second pilot program allows states to identify areas where they can cut back on paperwork and request a waiver from the department.

But no state has taken the Education Department up on these offers. The reason? It would require more paperwork to participate in the pilot programs than to just keep on doing things the same way, they say.

That nugget comes from a report released Monday from the General Accountability Office, a congressional watchdog office. GAO officials talked with parents, teachers, central office staffers, and state administrators in 37 states. In addition, the GAO visited Rochester, N.Y., and Clinton, Ark., to get an on-the-ground perspective from an urban and a rural district.

What they found was a general sense that the IDEA requires a lot of paperwork, but that districts and states are afraid of making major changes and risking a lawsuit from parents. Also, the report noted that individual states and districts impose their own burdens that the federal government has nothing to do with, which means any paperwork reduction efforts at the federal level would have limited impact.

For example, the Education Department has created model IEPs and other special education documents, but most states used those models only as a jumping-off point for their own forms, which often were more complex.

New York, for instance, had over 200 state-imposed special education requirements as of 2014, when the GAO was researching its report. Among them: the parents of students referred to special education must get the states 46-page handbook. If a student is at risk of being placed in a residential facility, parents must get information about community support services and placement alternatives.

The report also noted that many administrators and teachers, while finding the paperwork a chore, had different feelings about which requirements were the most troublesome. Teachers and district-level administrators rated some tasks as being particularly time-consuming, such as preparing IEP documents, focusing on compliance, using technology and determining special education eligibility.

At the state level, in contrast, administrators said that the only task they found particularly burdensome was preparing state performance plans and annual performance reports for the Education Department. This discrepancy may reflect the difference in the day-to-day tasks required of teachers and central office staff, compared to state-level officials.

And even the tasks that were deemed time-consuming were also seen as important tools in ensuring transparency and credibility, the report said.

Interestingly, the GAO could not find any parents in its New York focus group to speak up in favor of administrative tasks. In Arkansas, the parents who were part of the focus group acknowledged that IEPs could be useful in guiding discussions with school staff. Often, however, parents and parent-advocacy groups said that IEPs were difficult to grasp, the report noted. (An issue Ive written about before .) And parents also said they felt that IEPs were used to justify a course of action, rather than develop an educational plan that would serve their children best.

Technology has helped with some of these issues. The Education Department, for example, has created a portal that makes it easier for states to report special education data. But at the school and district level, teachers and administrators said that mismatched computer systems and technical glitches were common problems.

Often, these GAO reports come with a set of recommendations, but there were none in this report. Michael Yudin, the assistant secretary for special education and rehabilitative services, noted that the department is cutting back on federal reporting requirements in favor of a single results-oriented plan .

Source: iStockPhoto

Related Stories:

for the latest news on special education policies, practices, and trends.
She clearly doesn't own a dull item of clothing.

And Lily Collins showed this to be true as she put on a sexy and stylish display at the star-studded Saint Laurent fashion show at the Palladium in Los Angeles on Wednesday night.

The petite 26-year-old actress showed off her lovely legs as she donned a thigh-skimming mini dress for the swish fashion event.

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Going for gold: Lily Collins cut a beautiful and dainty figure in a tiny gold dress as she attended the Saint Laurent show in Los Angeles on Wednesday

The super-tiny dress appeared to be made of the smallest bit of pale gold shimmering fabric, and it cut straight across her chest, allowing her to show off her decolletage.

Lily added a classic black leather jacket to the look, wearing it over her bare shoulders like a cape but not at all distracting from the main event of the ensemble.

Elongating her slender legs, the beauty - who has recently been romantically linked to Nick Jonas - rocked a pair of simple barely-there heeled sandals in a metallic tone, and finished the simple but effective look with some dainty rings and glitzy earrings.

Never a dull moment: The 26-year-old style chameleon proved she has plenty of fantastic options in her wardrobe as she mixed it up at the event

Showing her best bits: She revealed much of her toned, slender legs in the thigh-skimming dress, teamed with barely-there silver heels

Phil Collins' daughter kept it fresh and modern with her cropped brunette locks styled into chunky waves, sitting an inch above her shoulders, while her eyes looked beautiful heavily adorned in a smoky shadow under her defined brows.

She posed up a storm outside on the red carpet before heading inside to watch the Saint Laurent show, removing her outwear to reveal her bare shoulders.

The stunner looked to be having a whale of a time as she sat on the front row, posing for pictures with pals Patrick Schwarzenegger and Logan Lerman.

Showing some skin: Once inside the fashion show, the FROW-based star took her leather jacket off to show her shoulders

Pals! Lily cosied up to Patrick Schwarzenegger on the front row, and he couldn't take the smile off his face

And it's no surprise she cut an incredibly stylish figure and enjoyed herself thoroughly at the event, as she has recently opened up about her love of all things fashion.

Speaking to Australia's Harper's Bazaar, she explained that her love of the sartorial stems from her mother, Jill Tavelman, rocker Phil's second wife.

'It's funny because I also have fashion in my blood,' the actress told the magazine.

'My mother's family owned a shop called Tavelman's on Wilshire Boulevard. They designed suits and clothing for so many actors her in town, starting in the 1930s.

'My mom would help out in the store when she was little. So it's nice to share these passions with my family.'

Lily was born in Surrey in the UK before moving to Los Angeles as a child.

Although she has spent most of her years in America, she considers herself herself more European.

'I really do feel more European [than American],' she told the publication.

'I dont know if its because I travel so much, but I think I have a different perspective. My mum and dad wanted to make sure I felt at ease in different parts of the world.'
It was meant to be a harmless rap battle in the name of entertainment on MTV show Wild 'N Out.

However, presenter Nick Cannon was left furious after his guest, music producer Stevie J claimed he slept with his estranged wife Mariah Carey, who is now engaged to billionaire James Packer.

Stevie J, who stars in VH1 reality show Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta, worked with Mariah on her 1997 album Butterfly and produced her No.1 single Honey.

Defending his ex: Nick Cannon was furious when a music producer claimed to have slept with his estranged wife Mariah Carey

Clash: Nick (left) fell out with Stevie J (centre) during filming for Wild 'N Out on Wednesday, which included the latter's on/off wife Josaline Hernandez (right)

As the two men and their respective crews faced off in the rap battle segment of the sketch and improv show during filming on Wednesday, things took a nasty turn, according to TMZ.com.

Father-of-five Stevie, 44, alleged he had sex with pop star Mariah not once, but twice.

A fuming Nick, 35, then hit back at Stevie, suggesting he should be more concerned about his relationship with on/off wife Joseline Hernandez, alleging she was sleeping with rapper Rick Ross.

During the segment, America's Got Talent host Nick alleged warned Stevie that 'you'll never work in this town again' due to his connections.

Stormy: Stevie J and his on/off wife Joseline Hernandez, who currently star in their own spin-off reality show Stevie J & Joseline: Go Hollywood

Moving on: Mariah is now engaged to Australian billionaire James Packer

Producers then had to step in to separate the men and diffuse the row.

Nick and Mariah are currently in the process of divorcing following their 2014 split, but have remained friendly for the sake of their twins Monroe and Moroccan.

The pair, who share a 11 year age gap, married in the Bahamas in April 2008 after just six weeks of dating.

Meanwhile, the pop diva has since moved on and accepted Australian tycoon James's proposal last month following a whirlwind romance.

Neither Nick or Stevie appeared to address the filming incident on their Twitter pages.

The episode of Wild 'N Out is expected to be broadcast on MTV last this year.
She turned heads when she stepped out in a super skimpy bikini for the Trinidad carnival on Wednesday.

And it seems Blac Chyna's risque ensemble caught the eye of one male admirer in particular, who couldn't keep his hands off the 27-year-old model as she watched the parade.

Clad in a pink and blue beaded bikini that struggled to contain her ample assets, the star - who is currently dating Rob Kardashian - seemed in good spirits on the day, beaming as her male companion wrapped his arm around her.

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Look away Rob! Blac Chyna's risque ensemble caught the eye of one male admirer at the Trinidad Carnival on Wednesday, who couldn't keep his hands off the 27-year-old model as she watched the parade

Wearing a towel on his head, the mystery man looked like the cat who had got the cream as he cosied up to the mother-of-one.

But she had no interest in his advanced as she feigned a smile while he chatted to her, drawing in close to her face and her ample derriere.

Styling her raven coloured tresses loose and poker straight, the pretty star peered out at the carnival behind a pair of rosy cat eye sunglasses.

Sporting a slick of bubble gum pink lipstick on her plump pout, Blac cut a striking figure at the carnival.

Missing bae: Clad in a pink and blue beaded bikini that struggled to contain her ample assets, the star - who is currently dating Rob Kardashian (pictured) - seemed in good spirits on the day

Getting cosy: Wearing a towel on his head, the mystery man looked like the cat who got the cream as he cosied up to the mother-of-one whilst they watched the parade from a private area

Throwing shade: Styling her raven coloured tresses loose and poker straight, the pretty star peered out at the carnival behind a pair of rosy cat eye sunglasses that rested beneath her blunt full fringe

But whilst the voluptuous star partied the night away in the Caribbean, her reclusive boyfriend Rob Kardashian was enjoying a more laidback evening back home in Los Angeles, revealing that he had spent the night listening to Rihanna's new album.

Yet whilst the pair - who went public with their relationship status last month - are currently 4000 miles apart from each other, the pair have kept each other on their minds.

On Wednesday, Blac showed that she still had her beau on her mind in her own novel way, sharing a super saucy belfie clad in a pair of Rob's socks.

Getting lippy! Sporting a slick of bubble gum pink lipstick on her plump pout, Blac cut a striking figure at the carnival as she ensured all eyes were on her in her colourful ensemble

Worlds apart: Whilst the voluptuous star partied the night away in the Caribbean, her reclusive boyfriend Rob Kardashian was enjoying a more laid back evening back home in Los Angeles

Donning a skimpy thong in the black and white snap, the star's socks - a pair from Rob's hosiery line - with stay and trill on the soles are clearly visible beneath the buxom backside.

It's possible the snap was taken by Blac's good friend Amber Rose, who has also been in Trinidad for the carnival.

The snap came after Blac shared another intimate moment on Instagram, sharing a picture of Rob burying his head into her cleavage whilst he places a hand on her pert posterior.

Captioned: 'missing bae,' the star sent fans into frenzy when she added a diamond ring emoji to the snap.

On her mind: On Wednesday, Blac showed that she still had her beau on her mind in her own novel way, sharing a super saucy belfie clad in just a black thong and a pair of socks from Rob's collection

Since going public with his relationship status Rob has been outside more and upped his social media use following a stint out of the spotlight.

The 28-year-old asked to no longer appear on his family's reality show Keeping Up With The Kardashians after his weight gain and diabetes diagnosis, but his sister's concerns over his mental health became a running theme through the series.

Meanwhile, Rob's relationship with Blac came as a shock to fans as his new girlfriend has a three-year-old son King Cairo with her ex-fianceTyga, who broke off their engagement to start a relationship with Rob's half-sister Kylie Jenner.

Blac is also best friends with Amber Rose, who dated Kanye West before he married Kim Kardashian.
She may be a soap star on one of the most popular TV shows in Britain.

But when Jacqueline Jossa isn't acting, she's just a regular mother spending time with her family.

The EastEnders star was spotted enjoying a day out with her fiance Dan Osborne and their daughter Ella, along with his son Teddy in Essex this week.

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Family time: Jacqueline Jossa enjoyed a day out with her fiance Dan Osborne and their daughter Ella, along with his son Teddy in Essex this week

Jacqueline, 23, showed off her figure in a tight red tracksuit, which looked like a racing driver's jumpsuit due to its pattern.

Meanwhile, former TOWIE star Dan, 24, looked muscular in his T-shirt and shorts as he carried his baby daughter Ella, who turns one on Monday.

Leading the way was his toddler son Teddy, two, in a cute grey Adidas tracksuit.

She's well red: Jacqueline showed off her figure in a tight red tracksuit, which looked like a racing driver's jumpsuit due to its pattern

Leading the way: Dan's cute son Teddy raced ahead of his father and future stepmother, while Dan carried his daughter Ella

Jacqueline is currently off-screen in EastEnders following a brief return to the soap as Lauren Branning last autumn.

Her character is expected to return to Albert Square this year, although Jacqueline admitted recently she didn't know when.

Dan and Jacqui's family day out came after the actress revealed in an interview last weekend that her fiance had become disillusioned with fame.

The male model has received a lot of negative attention over the past year due to his turbulent relationship with his ex-girlfriend Megan Tomlin - mother of his son Teddy.

Stepping back: Dan has become disillusioned with fame over the past year following a string of bad press in 2015

The father-of-two was fired by TOWIE bosses after leaked recordings showed him threatening violence against Megan, referring to her as 'his property'.

Speaking to Fabulous magazine, Jacqueline accepted Dan had 'made mistakes', but he was sorry for them and they have moved on.

She said: 'Daniel has made mistakes and people are just never going to let that go. Hes apologised for whatever happened, but I think people are just going to continue  and all because once upon a time he said something he shouldnt have, and now its game over and everything he does is wrong.'

Jacqueline also believed the backlash wasn't helped by 'people who have always had it in for us', claiming they'be become 'an easy target'.

Family ties: Jacqueline kept an eye on little Teddy, while Dan carried his adorable daughter Ella

With his career as a reality star on hold, Dan has focused his energies into launching a new fitness business Celebrity Training, which features workouts and tips from himself, Sam Faiers and trainer Luke Hayter.

The soap star admits Dan has taken a step back from fame because of the backlash: 'Daniel is really underestimated  hes really, really talented, hes good at drawing, he can sing and he can act as well...

'But part of him just cant be bothered to even try any more. He just thinks: "Whats the point?" Hell not do anything right.'

That's a handful: Jacqueline put Teddy down after initially carrying him

The couple first started dating in September 2013 while Dan's then ex Megan was pregnant with his son Teddy, who was born three months later.

However, their initial attempt at romance didn't last long with Dan and Jacqueline splitting in November 2013, a few weeks before Teddy's birth.

Dan and his ex Megan briefly gave their relationship another try when Teddy was a few months old, before ending things for good.

By May 2014, Dan and Jacqueline were back on with the soap star falling pregnant with Ella nearly immediately, announcing their baby news that August.

The pair cemented their romance further by getting engaged in Greece last June.
She's recovering from heartbreak after splitting from boyfriend Louis Smith last month.

So what better way for Lucy Mecklenburgh to escape her troubles then jet off to sunnier climes for a sunshine break.

The fitness guru, 24, has flown to Dubai and wasted no time in posting some envy-inducing photos from her holiday.

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Just peachy: Lucy Mecklenburgh shows off her pert derriere and slim figure as she sokas up the sun in Dubai on Thursday

In one sexy picture, the former TOWIE star shows off her gym-honed figure in a neon bikini as she reclines on a lounger at the Purobeach UAE club.

The image was accompanied by a jokey caption: 'Such a stressful day LOVE the new @purobeachuae #dubai #purobeach #sun #beach.'

After arriving in the UAE on Wednesday, Lucy headed out for dinner and cocktails at the Pure Sky Lounge, an open-air bar at the top of the Hilton Dubai The Walk hotel.

She enthused: 'Lovely meal & cocktails in @pureskylounge last night!!! In love with this dress!! new in at @lucysboutique_ #LBStyle #holiday #girlsnight #dubai.'

Enjoying the view: Lucy wore a sexy low-cut lilac gown as she enjoyed dinner and drinks at the Pure Sky Lounge at the Hilton Dubai The Walk hotel

News of Lucy and Louis's split broke last week, just a few weeks after they celebrated their one year anniversary with a holiday in Thailand.

A source claimed Louis, 26, wasn't ready to settle down, while Lucy wanted to get married and start a family.

Gymnast Louis is currently focused on qualifying for the Olympics in Rio De Janeiro this summer.

However, he denied his reluctance to settle down was the reason behind their break-up in an Instagram posting on Saturday: 'Yes me and Lucy have broken up!! Yes I'm ok and I'm glad she's ok as well. And yes we definitely want different things. And no the reason isn't because I refused to settle down. It's very different. Have a good day.'

Hours after the news broke, the former TOWIE beauty took to social media to share an inspirational quote: 'Everything happens for a reason'.

Lucy's social media posting comes as Louis replied to a fan comment on one of his own Instagram pictures, revealing that he agreed he doesn't 'deserve' her.

Handsome couple: Louis and Lucy at the Pride Of Sports Awards in November 2015, before their split

One user wrote: 'You don't deserve @lucymeck anyway she's beautiful and you both ovs wanted different things in life (sic).'

The 26-year-old gymnast candidly replied: 'Can't agree with you more on everything you've said lol.'

Meanwhile, fans have been speculating Lucy could reunite with her ex-fiance Mario Falcone after he posted a cryptic Instagram post.

Following news of Lucy's new single status, Mario posted a saying online, reading: 'People who are meant to be in each other's lives will always find their way back to each other. They may take detours in life, but they're never lost.'

Famous ex: Lucy dated TOWIE co-star Mario Falcone on and off from 2011-2013, with both of them cheating on each other

Mario and Lucy had a turbulent two year relationship from 2011-2013, with both of them cheating on each other during their romance and splitting numerous times.

Despite their disastrous coupling, some TOWIE fans still seem to believe the pair should reunite.

In an interview last year, Mario admitted his regrets over his treatment of Lucy: 'She was my big love. My friends still say they see us getting back together.

'What happened with Lucy is my biggest regret. That was a big life lesson. When you have someone you truly love, don't f**k up.
In shocking new Coronation Street scenes, Vicar Billy Mayhew (Daniel Brocklebank) will be forced to defend himself after being set upon in a brutal attack.

Punched in the face by Richie O'Driscoll (James Midgley) Billy is left cowering until Aidan Connor (Shayne Ward) comes to the rescue and fights off the new businessman on the cobbles.

The explosive new scenes come after Richie discovers that Billy and Eva Price (Catherine Tyldesley) broke into his mansion to see if he and his wife Julia were hiding illegal immigrants in their basement.

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More tea vicar? Joking around on the set of Coronation Street, Daniel Brocklebank and Catherine Tyldesley were between filming scenes that will see Billy Mayhew beaten up as he attempts to defend Eva Price

Joking around on set, Daniel and Catherine seemed to be in good spirits between filming, with Daniel, 36, sporting a split lip for the scenes.

Clad in his costume and clerical collar, the star appeared to be sharing a joke with his co-star whilst enjoying a warming beverage.

Meanwhile, Catherine, 32, also seemed to have enjoyed the explosive day of work, wrapping up against the chill in a long red padded jacket.

See Coronation Street updates as vicar Billy Mayhew is left with a split lip

Spoiler alert: Daniel sported a split lip on set as he had just filmed scenes that saw him punched in the face by Richie O'Driscoll, left cowering until Aidan Connor comes to the rescue and fights him off

Taking to Twitter after filming she teased: 'Great day with @Dan_Brocklebank and @shayneTward! More tomorrow! Can't wait for you lot to see these scenes! Pretty awesome!'

Daniel echoed her sentiments, posting: 'What a brilliant day! Massive amounts of fabulous with @Cath_Tyldesley & @shayneTward. So excited for u to see what we've been up to!'

James was also in good spirits on set, sporting a realistic looking bloody nose from the violent scenes, but keeping the smile on his face.

Bruised and bloody: James Midgley sported a bloody nose on set as he had filmed the scenes which saw his character Richie O'Driscoll start a fight after realising his mansion had been broken into

Chaos on the cobbles: The explosive scenes come to head as part of the disturbing ongoing storyline that sees Richie and his wife Julie exploiting immigrant children and keeping them as slaves

The explosive scenes come to head as part of the disturbing ongoing storyline that sees Richie and Julie O'Driscoll exploiting immigrant children and keeping them as slaves.

In a previous episode, Eva found Polish teenager Marta hiding out in Underworld after escaping the O'Driscoll's home.

And whilst she has no proof that the new couple are to blame, she sets out with Billy to prove that the O'Driscolls are behind the crime.

Speaking to the Manchester Evening News a Coronation Street insider said: 'This is going to be a very difficult subject to tackle, but it has been in the news recently and sadly is not as uncommon as people might think.'

Super spy: In hilarious scenes Eva turned into a secret agent for the day and broke into the O'Driscoll mansion with Billy to try and uncover the child slaves she believed they were hiding in their basement




Jared Padalecki and David Sutcliffe will reprise their roles as Dean Forester and Christopher Hayden, respectively, for Gilmore Girls's upcoming Netflix revival.

E! News and Variety confirmed that they - along with Younger's Sutton Foster - have been added to the growing cast of the four 90-minute episodes.

Filming on the continuation, tentatively titled Gilmore Girls: Seasons, has already commenced and should continue on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank through June 30.

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Back for more! Jared Padalecki and David Sutcliffe will reprise their roles as Dean Forester and Christopher Hayden, respectively, for Gilmore Girls's upcoming Netflix revival (pictured 2014 and 2015)

Already filming! E! News and Variety confirmed that they - along with Younger's Sutton Foster - have been added to the growing cast of the four 90-minute episodes (pictured January 12)

Padalecki's inclusion means all three of Rory Gilmore's (Alexis Bledel) ex-boyfriends - including Logan (Matt Czuchry) and Jess (Milo Ventimiglia) - will return to Stars Hollow.

'[Dean is] probably working at Doosey's,' the 33-year-old Supernatural star told E! News in June.

'Hopefully he's a manager by now. He's flipping the hot dogs and filling up the Slushee machine, he's probably holding down the fort. Dean was always a pretty low-key guy!'

On Thursday, Ventimiglia revealed he appears in 'more than two, but less than four' episodes, but he has no opinion on which suitor should end up with Rory.

'First day back at the Inn!' Filming on the continuation, tentatively titled Gilmore Girls: Seasons, has already commenced and should continue on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank through June 30

Trifecta: Padalecki's inclusion means all three of Rory Gilmore's (Alexis Bledel) ex-boyfriends - including Logan (Matt Czuchry) and Jess (Milo Ventimiglia) - will return to Stars Hollow (pictured June 6)

The 33-year-old Supernatural star told E! News in June: '[Dean is] probably working at Doosey's. Hopefully he's a manager by now. He's flipping the hot dogs and filling up the Slushee machine, he's probably holding down the fort'

'The fans are a better authority': On Thursday, Ventimiglia revealed he appears in 'more than two, but less than four' episodes, but he has no opinion on which suitor should end up with Rory

'Oh god, I don't know,' the still-handsome 38-year-old told TV Line, laughing.

'I kind of love Scott Patterson's (Luke) reaction to it at the Gilmore panel last year, where he said, "None of them." The fans are a better authority about who Rory should possibly be with or could be with.'

Meanwhile, Lauren Graham - who plays Lorelai Gilmore - had a 'super emotional' reaction to walking on the new set for the first time.

'We had to do a camera test and the house...' the teary 48-year-old told TV Line last month, choking up.

15th anniversary in Austin: Meanwhile, Lauren Graham (M) - who plays Lorelai Gilmore - had a 'super emotional' reaction to walking on the new set for the first time (pictured June 6)

The teary 48-year-old told TV Line last month, choking up: 'Alexis (R) and I walked onto the set together and [it] really felt like a lot of time had passed and it felt like we were just there. It felt amazing'

Bon Voyage: The Parenthood matriarch scored a Golden Globe nod as the single Connecticut mother, and she admitted to E! Online in 2014 that the show's conclusion 'wasn't a satisfying ending'

Original cast portrait: Creator Amy Sherman-Palladino's beloved Emmy-winning sitcom ran for seven seasons on The WB/The CW before its 2007 cancellation

'It's on a different stage but it's... the house. Alexis and I walked onto the set together and - I feel super emotional about a lot of it and I'm afraid I'm going to start crying at every turn - but walking onto that set really felt like something. It felt like a lot of time had passed and it felt like we were just there. It felt amazing.'

The Parenthood matriarch scored a Golden Globe nod as the single Connecticut mother, and she admitted to E! Online in 2014 that the show's conclusion 'wasn't a satisfying ending.'

Creator Amy Sherman-Palladino's beloved Emmy-winning sitcom ran for seven seasons on The WB/The CW before its 2007 cancellation.

Say what? And while a reported 15 original castmembers will be back, fans will not get to see chef Sookie St. James (Melissa McCarthy)

The busy 45-year-old Oscar nominee replied to a concerned fan via Twitter on February 2: 'Sadly no one asked me or Sookie to come back to Stars Hollow. Wish them all the best!'

Rest in peace: And the 'revival will address' the absence of Richard aka Edward Herrmann, who sadly succumbed to brain cancer in 2014 at age 71

And while a reported 15 original castmembers will be back, fans will not get to see chef Sookie St. James (Melissa McCarthy).

The busy 45-year-old Oscar nominee replied to a concerned fan via Twitter on February 2: 'Sadly no one asked me or Sookie to come back to Stars Hollow. Wish them all the best!'

And the 'revival will address' the absence of Richard aka Edward Herrmann, who sadly succumbed to brain cancer in 2014 at age 71.
The end of their relationship last week came like a bolt out of the blue.

And while reports claimed that Louis Smith, 26, and Lucy Mecklenburgh, 24, parted ways due to commitment issues on the gymnast's part, he has responded with a cryptic post on Instagram rubbishing the claims.

Louis shared a picture of a bored-looking Tyga sat by Kylie Jenner as she plays on her phone, along with a lengthy caption.

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A different story: Reports claimed that Louis Smith, 26, and Lucy Mecklenburgh, 24, parted ways due to commitment issues, but the gymnast has responded with a cryptic post on Instagram

The accompanying text read: 'Yes me and Lucy have broken up!! Yes I'm ok and I'm glad she's ok as well. And yes we definitely want different things. And no the reason isn't because I refused to settle down it's very different. Have a good day'

It's not clear whether or not there is a deeper meaning to the picture, which possibly hints at the couple no longer being compatible.

Following the split six days ago, an insider told The Sun: 'Lucy wanted things that Louis just wasnt ready to commit to. In the end Lucy wasnt prepared to wait.

Hidden meaning? Louis shared a picture of a bored-looking Tyga sat by Kylie Jenner as she plays on her phone and told his followers that he was ok following the break up

'Louis really had led Lucy on in that theyd discussed marriage and kids at length  it came like a bolt out of the blue and doesnt really make any sense to her.'

The pair embarked on a romantic break to Thailand celebrate their one year anniversary over the festive period, ringing in the New Year together just a five weeks ago.

Lucy posted at the time on Instagram: 'It's our 1 year anniversary at midnight. Can't believe I've put up with him for a WHOLE YEAR! jokes love him to bits Bring on 2016!!!!!!!!!!!!'

Reports claimed that Lucy was ready to start a family but Louis was too focused on his gym schedule to have children.

And while their tropical holiday was meant to bring them closer together, it clearly didn't have the desired effect.

Happier times: The pair first met in August 2014 on gymnastics-based BBC reality show Tumble, which Louis judged and Lucy competed in

The pair first met in August 2014 on gymnastics-based BBC reality show Tumble, which Louis judged and Lucy competed in.

Before long, their friendship turned to romance and they went public as a couple in December 2014.

The career-orientated pair first sparked rumours their relationship was on the rocks earlier this month when Lucy began building her own home in Essex.

Asked if they've spoken about moving in together, Lucy told Star magazine: 'Not right now. He built his house in Peterborough and I've nearly finished building mine in Essex.

'It wouldn't work at the minute. It's important to have your own space and not to plan things around someone else. We live our own lives and see each other when we're both free.'
A Brazilian model who went public with claims she'd been punched in the face and thrown out of a Las Vegas party hosted by Chris Brown is now suing the rapper for battery, theft and defamation.

Liziane Gutierrez filed a civil lawsuit in Clark County, Nevada, TMZ reported Thursday, after authorities there dismissed her criminal complaint and declined to prosecute the star, citing a lack of evidence.

In the legal docs, she alleges that Brown or someone in his crew hit her in the 'face and/or arm and/or hands' and took her cell phone and is seeking monetary damages.

Lawsuit: Liziane Gutierrez, right, who went public with a criminal complaint against Chris Brown, left, in January claiming he punched her in the face, has now now filed a civil suit against him seeking damages

Gutierrez says she went to the R&B singer's room at the Palms Hotel and Casino on December 31, 2015, and that's where she claims she was assaulted.

The incident allegedly occurred after Brown caught her taking his photo, TMZ reported at the time.

She's also suing for defamation because Brown later posted a video in which he said she was 'too ugly' to have been invited to his party.

Complaint: The Brazilian model is suing for battery, theft and defamation after alleging she was assaulted and thrown out of a New Year's Eve party in Brown's Las Vegas hotel room and had her cell phone taken

In the now deleted Instagram video that was first re-posted by celebrity gossip site, The Shade Room Inc, the Royalty star denied Gutierrez's claims against him.

'Obviously somebody is looking to get a check or start some s***,' he said. 'I don't know this old looking b****. This b**** is old, like dusty, look at her in the Jason Derulo video.'

'Like she came to Vegas, she probably came to my room and was too ugly to get in.'

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said last month that he had met with detectives who investigated the Jan. 2 complaint.

They had decided there wasn't enough evidence to seek misdemeanor battery and theft charges, he told the AP on January 25.

Denial: The Royalty singer's rep has dismissed the allegations as 'unequivocally untrue' and Nevada prosecutors decided not to proceed with a criminal complaint against Brown, seen here performing at Drai's on December 31, 20915, citing lack of evidence

G utierrez only called police several hours after she left the party, and was not treated at hospital.

Brown's publicist, Nicole Perna, has called the woman's account 'unequivocally untrue' and a fabrication.

The singer was in Las Vegas to perform New Year's Eve at Drai's nightclub.

He completed five years of felony probation last year after pleading guilty to felony assault in a February 2009 attack on his then-girlfriend Rihanna in Los Angeles.
Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill both find a little time for the ladies in the final trailer for Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice, which was unveiled on Thursday.

While the vast majority of the two-and-a-half minute clip was spent kicking lumps out of each other, Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman and Amy Adam's Lois Lane do each get a brief look in.

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Super friends: Ben Affleck flirts with Gal Gadot in the final trailer for Batman V Superman released on Thursday

For the first time, 30-year-old Gadot speaks, not as Wonder Woman, but as her 'alter ego' Diana Prince.

She can be seen cosying up to an enraptured Bruce Wayne at a swanky party.

'I know a few women like you,' he breathes over her shoulder, before she turns and flashes him a knowing smile.

'Oh I don't think you've ever known a woman like me,' she replies.

Wonder-ful chat: For the first time, 30-year-old Gadot speaks, not as Wonder Woman, but as her 'alter ego' Diana Prince, as she cosies up to an enraptured Bruce Wayne at a swanky party

He knows lots of superheroes, actually: 'I know a few women like you,' he breathes over her shoulder, before she turns and flashes him a knowing smile. 'Oh I don't think you've ever known a woman like me,' she replies

Not to be outdone, Cavill can also be seen climbing fully clothed on top of a not-so-fully clothed Adams as she giggles in the bath.

The trailer opens with Jeremy Irons' Alfred Pennyworth piloting the Batwing, and informing his charge in a very nonchalant tone about the two dozen hostiles his thermal imaging has detected on the third floor of the building they are about to pay a visit to.

'Why don't I drop you off on the second?' he suggests, flipping the Dark Knight off the nose of the aircraft and through a window, who then bursts up through the floor and takes out all 24 armed mercenaries with some breathtaking fight choreography.

Hear me roar: Gal can also be seen in Wonder Woman form, as she unleashes a battle cry

Move over: Not to be outdone, Henry Cavill can also be seen climbing fully clothed on top of a not-so-fully clothed Amy Adams as she giggles in the bath

'I'm getting slow in my old age Alfred,' he says afterward. 'Even you have got to old to die young,' his butler tiredly replies, 'and not for lack of trying.'

The clip shows some previously seen footage of a horrified Bruce Wayne watching Superman defeat General Zod during the events of Man Of Steel, and taking out much of Gotham City in the process.

'He has the power to wipe out the entire human race,' Affleck can be heard arguing. 'If we believe there is even a one per cent chance that he is our enemy we have to take it as an absolute certainty.'

9/11 times a thousand: The clip shows some previously seen footage of a horrified Bruce Wayne watching Superman defeat General Zod during the events of Man Of Steel, and taking out much of Gotham City in the process

Man with the plan: 'He has the power to wipe out the entire human race,' Affleck can be heard arguing. 'If we believe there is even a one per cent chance that he is our enemy we have to take it as an absolute certainty.'

Stirrer: Jesse Eisenbeg's Lex Luthor declares the matchup 'the greatest gladiator match in the history of the world: god versus man. Day versus night.'

As Batman is seen rather fruitlessly ramming Superman with the Batmobile, Jesse Eisenbeg's Lex Luthor declares the matchup 'the greatest gladiator match in the history of the world: god versus man. Day versus night.'

'You're psychotic,' Adams tells him. 'That is a three syllable word too big for any thought too big for little minds,' he rebuffs.

The trailer also shows more of what fans believe is either a dream sequence or a set up for the sequel: Batman overlooking a wasteland of what was once a city, a huge Omega symbol - the motif of DC uber-baddie Darkseid - carved into the Earth.

Can't we all just get along? The vast majority of the two-and-a-half minute clip was spent with the two kicking lumps out of each other

Pulling the strings: 'You know the oldest lie in America?' Luthor can be heard asking off screen. 'That power can be innocent.'

Fender bender: Batman rather fruitlessly rams the Man Of Steel in his new Batmobile

The subsequent flash shows what appears to be Darkseid's Parademon's attacking a military encampment - seemingly the same camp Batman was imprisoned beneath when he was unmasked by Superman in a previous teaser.

'You know the oldest lie in America?' Luthor can be heard asking off screen. 'That power can be innocent.'

But the trailer saves the best image for last: the look on Son of Krypton's face when he swings a right hook at the non-superpowered Batman... and he blocks it.

Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice flies into theatres on March 25.

Fail: Batman's attempts to shoot Superman doesn't do much either

Up next? The trailer also shows more of what fans believe is either a dream sequence or a set up for the sequel: Batman overlooking a wasteland of what was once a city, a huge Omega symbol - the motif of DC uber-baddie Darkseid - carved into the Earth
The Berlin International Film Festival got off to a questionable start after one of its panel members launched a bizarre defence in favour of the judges being all-white.

But putting her earlier comments in the past, Meryl Streep cut a glamorous figure at the opening gala of the film festival in Germany.

Taking to the red carpet on Thursday evening, the 66-year-old looked divine in a floor length reptile print gown.

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Waving goodbye to the controversy: Meryl Streep hits the red carpet at Berlin Film Festival opening gala on Thursday evening in Germany after her 'We're all Africans' remark

No time for the drama: The 66-year-old waved at admirers as she slipped in a reptile print gown

In high spirits, Streep beamed as she sashayed along waving hello to her admirers.

Meryl's black and white snakeskin pleated detail creation featured a high neck, long sleeves and a waist belt.

With her blonde hair styled in an updo, the mother-of-four donned a pair of glasses as she clutched a statement gem embellished purse.

Still in demand: Streep was seen handing out autographs for fans on arrival to the opening ceremony

Centre of attention: Meryl was joined by fellow jury members Brigitte Lacombe , Malgorzata Szumowska, Nick James, Alba Rohrwacher and Lars Eidinger as she posed for pictures

Ahead of the gala, Streep became embroiled in the debate about diversity in the movie industry after the Oscars race row when she dismissed questions about the lack of ethnicity on the jury.

Meryl, who heads the festival's film panel for the first time, had been asked by an Egyptian reporter whether she understood films from the Arab world and North Africa.

The actress admitted she didn't know much about the region, but had 'played a lot of different people from a lot of different cultures.'

Ahead of the gala: Streep became embroiled in the debate about diversity in the movie industry

The three-time Academy Award winner added: 'There is a core of humanity that travels right through every culture and, after all, we're all from Africa originally.

She continued: 'Berliners, we're all Africans really.'

Streep also asserted that she was committed to equality and inclusion 'of all genders, races, ethnicities, religions.'
While Amal Clooney was undeniably the sartorial star of the evening, Josh Brolin's fiancee Kathryn Boyd took a leaf out of her book by outshining her actor partner as they attended the Hail, Caesar! premiere in Berlin, Germany, on Thursday evening.

The model - and former assistant of the Josh - showcased her super-slim figure as she sexed up the grand opening of the 66th Berlin Film Festival by turning up in a semi-sheer number.

Kathryn looked ultra thin from head-to-toe in her black floor-length gown which featured exposing sheer panels.

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Showing some skin: Josh Brolin's model fiancee Kathryn Boyd showcased her super-slim figure as she sexed up the Hail, Caesar! premiere in a semi-sheer number at the Berlin Film Festival opening on Thursday evening

While the skirt of the frock trailed along the red carpet and concealed her lithe legs, the partially see-through top unveiled her slim arms and narrow waist.

Kathryn unashamedly paraded her black strapless bra in the sheer upper-half of the one-piece which was decorated with lines of circular black beads.

She held her own on the red carpet as Josh, 47, chatted and posed with his Hail, Caesar! co-stars.

Disappearing waistline: Kathryn looked ultra thin from head-to-toe in her black floor-length gown which featured embellished sheer panels and exposed her bra

Showing her the ropes: The 47-year-old playfully pulled the model along the red carpet as she was a given a lesson in dealing with the media circus

She's a keeper: Kathryn looked all too happy to lend her support to Josh's latest release in which he plays the leading role

Kathryn sported fresh-faced make-up and fashioned her mousey-brown locks into an elegant updo as she put on a stunning display alongside 47-year-old Josh.

Meanwhile, the Hollywood heavy-weight was suitably styled for the occasion and looked dapper in a black three-piece suit which he paired with a crisp white shirt and a perfectly put-together bow tie.

Josh and Kathryn - who will be his third wife - made for the picture-perfect pair as they pulled each other close for every snapshot, illustrating their love for one another.

Closer than ever: Josh and Kathryn - who will be his third wife - made for the picture-perfect pair as they pulled each other close for every snapshot, illustrating their love for one another

Third time lucky: Josh and Kathryn became engaged in March last year, just under a year and a half after his divorce from second wife and American actress Diane Lane was officiated

Set during 1950s Golden Age of Hollywood, Hail, Caesar! also stars Ralph Fiennes and Jonah Hill and focuses on Hollywood fixer Eddie Mannix (Brolin), who has the difficult task of keeping the film studio's stars in line and covering up scandals.

Mannix is forced to come up with a $100,000 ransom in order to retrieve the studio's biggest star Baird Whitlock (Clooney).

The studio is trying to work on its biggest picture of the year - Hail, Caesar! - when they receive a ransom note informing them their leading man has been kidnapped.

Josh and Kathryn became engaged in March last year, just under a year and a half after his divorce from second wife and American actress Diane Lane was officiated.

Hail, Caesar! is scheduled for general release on March 4
Turkish PM slams 'hypocritical' calls to open borders

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Wednesday slammed as "hypocritical" calls by some countries urging Ankara to open its borders to Syrian refugees while failing to demand Russia halts punishing air strikes.

Turkey is under mounting pressure to open its border to people fleeing a Russian-backed assault by the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad in the north of the war-torn country.

On a visit to the Netherlands, Davutoglu insisted the borders of his country had always been open to those fleeing Syria's civil war. Turkey already hosts some 2.5 million Syrian refugees.

Syrians fleeing the embattled city of Aleppo wait on February 5, 2016 in Bab-Al Salama, northern Syria, near the Turkish crossing gate Bulent Kilic (AFP/File)

"I find it hypocritical that some circles are telling Turkey to 'open your borders' while at the same time failing to tell Russia 'enough is enough'," Davutoglu told reporters.

But he added: "We will take in Syrians who want to come (to Turkey), but as a priority we are building a new camp to accommodate Syrians inside Syria's borders."

Tens of thousands of Syrians were still stranded Wednesday at the frontier north of the second city of Aleppo, where more than 500 people are said to have been killed in the offensive since February 1.

The Turkish leader also claimed that what was happening in Aleppo was "ethnic cleansing... with the goal of only leaving those behind who support the regime."

"Human rights and the Geneva Convention are being trampled underfoot," he said, adding "everyone must share the responsibility to combat this humanitarian disaster."

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte also slammed the Russian air strikes, launched by Moscow late last year.

"The Netherlands calls on all parties including Russia to strictly comply with UN resolution 2254," he said.

Fighting must stop to allow "in humanitarian aid," Rutte said, adding the "Russian air strikes would seem to be in conflict with" the resolution.

Meanwhile, the Dutch parliament on Wednesday voiced broad support for airstrikes in Syria.

Rutte announced late last month that current bombing operations will be expanded from Iraq into its war-torn neighbour after the Netherlands received a request to join the US-led campaign.

New diplomatic talks on Syria are due to be held in Munich on Thursday to discuss providing humanitarian relief to Aleppo and other cities besieged by the Russian-backed regime forces.

Russia is a signatory to UN Security Council resolution 2254, passed in December, which orders all warring parties in Syria to respect an immediate ceasefire and allow humanitarian access to besieged civilians.

Turkey was the main gateway for the more than one million migrants and refugees who crossed into Europe last year most fleeing the war in Syria, and has come under pressure from the European Union to do more to stop them entering into the EU.

The problem shows no sign of slowing, and last week the EU thrashed out ways of financing a 3.0 billion euros deal with Turkey to help care for those already on its soil while stemming the flow of refugees.

Davutoglu insisted all the money would go towards helping the refugees and not be used for Turkey's own national interests.

Turkey had already spent some 10 billion euros on hosting just those refugees in camps, he said, warning the total cost for all refugees was between 20 to 25 billion euros.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte (R) meets with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu in The Hague on February 10, 2016 Koen van Weel (ANP/AFP)
Judge dismisses caddies lawsuit against PGA Tour

A lawsuit filed by a group of caddies against the US PGA Tour for alleged mistreatment has been thrown out by a US District Court judge.

A group that grew to 168 caddies filed the lawsuit last February in San Francisco, claiming they are walking billboards -- forced to wear bibs with sponsor logos without any proceeds from sponsor contracts that were estimated at $50 million a year.

But in a Tuesday ruling, according to the network, judge Vince Chhabria found "the caddies' overall complaint about poor treatment by the tour has merit but this federal lawsuit about bibs does not."

A lawsuit filed by a group of caddies against the US PGA Tour for alleged mistreatment has been thrown out by a US District Court judge Richard Heathcote (Getty/AFP/File)

"Caddies have been required to wear the bibs for decades, so caddies know when they enter the profession that wearing a bib during tournaments is part of the job," Chhabria wrote.

"For that reason, there is no merit to the caddies' contention that contracts somehow prevent the tour from requiring them to wear bibs."

Chhabria also tossed out caddies' claims of anti-trust and trademark violations and the notion their contracts with the tour were signed under duress.

In a statement, the PGA Tour said they were happy with the ruling.

"We are aware of the ruling made in our favor regarding the lawsuit filed last year by caddies and are pleased by the court's decision," the statement said.
Admitting failings, Obama urges end to partisanship

Barack Obama returned Wednesday to the city where his White House journey began, making the case for less fractious politics while admitting he had failed to narrow the partisan divide.

Making a nostalgia-laden trip to his old stomping ground in Springfield, Illinois, Obama decried "extreme voices" that have only grown more shrill during his presidency and in the race to succeed him.

"We've got to build a better politics, one that's less of a spectacle and more of a battle of ideas," he told state legislators who were once his colleagues.

US President Barack Obama speaks to supporters in the Hoogland Center for the Arts in Springfield, Illinois on February 10, 2016 Mandel Ngan (AFP)

It was in Springfield nine years ago to the day that Obama announced he was running for president.

Then, the young raven-haired senator pitched himself, above all, as an outsider who could soothe divisive partisan politics.

"You believe we can be one people, reaching for what's possible, building that more perfect union," he told the bundled-up crowd.

Obama's remarks were delivered from the same spot where Abraham Lincoln -- that great unifier -- declared "a house divided against itself cannot stand."

Nearly a decade on, Obama admitted the picture was grim.

"The tone of our politics hasn't gotten better since I was inaugurated. In fact, it's gotten worse," Obama said.

"There is still this yawning gap between the magnitude of our challenges and the smallness of our politics."

Obama sought to recall his time in the divided Illinois state legislature when bipartisan bills could be passed.

"We didn't call each other idiots or fascists," he said.

But as if to reinforce the depth of current partisanship, Republican and Democratic lawmakers in the chamber applauded in party blocs when their pet issue was raised.

At one point a clearly irked Obama declared: "sit down, Democrats!"

Back in Washington, Republicans -- who now control Congress -- questioned why Obama had himself not acted in a more bipartisan manner and why he waited until the last year of his presidency to give the speech.

They accuse him of governing by "pen and phone" using executive orders to bypass congressional opposition and mustering partisan coalitions rather than reaching across the aisle.

"The central premise of the Obama presidency was to unite the country, and that's been an unquestionable failure," said a spokesman for House Speaker Paul Ryan.

- 'Corrosive influence of money' -

Obama's remarks came a day after voters in New Hampshire cast their ballots for the next presidential nominees.

On the campaign trail, Republicans and Democrats -- divided enough within their parties -- have shed any pretense of working with the other side.

But Obama tried to put today's challenges in the context of past divisions and debates.

"Vice President Aaron Burr literally killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel," he said, joking that Lincoln was described by foes as the "obscene ape of Illinois" and "a facetious pettifogger."

Obama also outlined measures that he said could ease the enmity, including to reduce the "corrosive influence of money in our politics"

"I don't believe that money is speech. Or that political spending should have no limits," he said, backing a constitutional amendment to that end.

He also called for an end to gerrymandering that makes electoral districts safe for one party or the other, and for more participatory democracy.

"If 99 percent of us voted it wouldn't matter how much the one percent spent on elections."

But the realities of American politics remain stark, fundraising is essential and party turnout is often more important than winning over new voters.

After leaving Springfield, Obama is set to jet to California for a series of Democratic fundraisers, where it is normally good for business to take a few jabs at Republicans.

US President Barack Obama (L) greets supporters after an address in the Hoogland Center for the Arts in Springfield, Illinois on February 10, 2016 Mandel Ngan (AFP)
US Senate votes for expanded sanctions on North Korea

The US Senate voted unanimously Wednesday to tighten economic sanctions on North Korea, seeking to punish the reclusive Asian nation for its provocative recent nuclear test and rocket launch.

The measure, which now must be reconciled with a similar House version that passed last month, would slap sanctions on any person or entity importing goods, technology or training related to weapons of mass destruction, or engaging in human rights abuses, US lawmakers said.

It also heaps additional financial pressure on the already-sanctioned hermit regime of leader Kim Jong-un, by aiming at cutting down on money laundering and narcotics trafficking, two major illicit activities believed to be funneling millions of dollars into Kim's inner circle.

Photo released from North Korea's official news agency KCNA on February 7, 2016 shows the launch of the earth observation satellite Kwangmyong 4 at an undisclosed location in North Korea

Senate Republicans Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio both left the presidential campaign trail and returned to Washington for the vote.

"Unfortunately, administrations of both political parties have failed to roll back the threat North Korea poses and have allowed this rogue regime to develop even more dangerous capabilities," Rubio said in a statement, adding that Pyongyang now has missiles capable of hitting the United States.

"This dictatorial regime must learn that its actions have consequences," added House Speaker Paul Ryan.

"North Korea's provocative long-range missile test this past weekend underscores the need to ratchet up pressure on this rogue nation, and the United States will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our allies against this aggression."

Pyongyang shocked the world last month and earned a global rebuke when it announced it had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb.

On Sunday, it defiantly launched a satellite-bearing rocket, a move the West sees as a cover for a ballistic missile test in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.

Senate Republican Cory Gardner pointed to growing instability on the Korean peninsula as a need for swift action.

"Strategic patience has failed," he said on the Senate floor. The bill that passed 96-0 on Wednesday marks "a new policy based on strength, not patience."

Senate Democrat Robert Menendez said the vote marked a major step forward in counteracting Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.

"Four nuclear tests, three Kims, two violations of UN Security Council resolutions and one attempt by North Korea to transfer nuclear technology to Syria later -- it is clearly time for the United States to start taking the North Korea challenge seriously," Menendez said.

North Korea is already subject to a range of international and US sanctions, adopted after its three previous nuclear tests, in 2006, 2009 and 2013.

Under the Senate bill, penalties for the sanctionable activities would include the seizure of assets, visa bans and denial of government contracts.

And for the first time it establishes a framework for sanctions in response to North Korean cyber threats, according to Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Corker.
Pentagon chief seeks more help in anti-IS fight

Pentagon chief Ashton Carter and dozens of defence ministers from the US-led coalition striking Islamic State jihadists meet in Brussels on Thursday to take stock of the difficult campaign.

More than 18 months after the United States and the quickly assembled alliance began bombing IS targets, Carter hopes renewed alarm over IS attacks around the globe and the jihadists' growing footprint in Libya will result in greater military and financial commitments from partners.

Carter has taken a two-pronged approach to garnering such support, using a combination of private diplomacy and public shaming, accusing some unspecified members of the 66-nation coalition of doing "nothing at all" to help the fight.

US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter (L) walks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at NATO headquarters in Brussels on February 10, 2016 Virginia Mayo (Pool/AFP)

Thursday's meeting in the NATO headquarters will see Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland, who is overseeing the anti-IS effort, give an overview of the situation on the ground.

A senior US defence official said Washington is looking not just for pledges of military support and cash, but ideas too.

"The secretary will, frankly, give a call to his fellow ministers to be creative, to speak up to contribute to the thought leadership in the campaign," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "There's no monopoly on good ideas."

The assessment comes after the coalition has carried out more than 10,000 air strikes in Iraq and Syria at a cost to the United States of nearly $6 billion (five billion euros).

The effort has dealt some significant blows to the jihadists: the Pentagon estimates IS has lost about 40 percent of the territory it once held in Iraq, and about 10 percent of the land it claimed in Syria.

But despite losing control of the Iraqi city of Ramadi, assaults to recapture key IS-held Mosul and Raqa in Syria are still many months away, and thousands of IS fighters have streamed into Libya.

- Bearing fruit -

Carter's efforts appear to be bearing some fruit. Canada, for instance, announced Monday it would triple the number of special forces training Kurdish militia in northern Iraq to about 210.

And Slovenia has said it would start sending military trainers to work with local forces trying to push back the IS group.

"There are a number of other (countries) who are in the final throes of trying to figure out if they can also make that leap," the official said, noting that several other nations are "very seriously" considering additional contributions but first need parliamentary approval.

In all, 27 coalition members who have contributed militarily to the 18-month fight will join Carter's delegation in Brussels. Another 21 coalition countries are attending as observers.

The summit comes at the conclusion of a two-day meeting for NATO defence ministers that focused on new commitments to boost the alliance's presence along eastern Europe and act as a deterrent against aggression from Russia, which seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

NATO is also considering a request by key members Germany and Turkey to help cope with a massive influx of refugees, mostly fleeing the Syrian conflict.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in Ankara on Monday that Turkey and Germany want NATO to help police the Turkish coast to prevent smugglers from packing migrants into boats for the perilous crossing to Greece.
US venture capitalist apologizes for India comment

Star Silicon Valley venture capitalist Marc Andreessen apologized Wednesday for a tweet contending that anti-colonialism has been an economic disaster for India.

The comment fired off from Andreessen's @pmarca Twitter handle came after India's telecom regulator dealt a blow to Facebook's plans to offer free mobile Internet through its controversial Free Basics service, by outlawing differential pricing for data packages.

"I apologize for any offense caused by my earlier tweet about Indian history and politics," Andreessen said in one of a slew of messages from his account on Wednesday.

Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen on May 19, 2014 in Washington, DC Chip Somodevilla (Getty/AFP/File)

"I will leave all future commentary on all of these topics to people with more knowledge and experience than me."

An Andreessen tweet a night earlier contended that anti-colonialism has been "economically catastrophic" for India's people for decades, according to a copy captured and displayed online by website Gizmodo.

The tweet has since been deleted from his Twitter account.

Facebook co-founder and chief Mark Zuckerberg said in a post on his page at the leading social network that he found Andreessen's comments "deeply upsetting" and in no way represented the way Facebook thinks.

Andreessen, who sits on the Facebook board of directors, had expressed on Twitter that he felt it was morally wrong for India's poor to be denied free Internet access for ideological reasons.

In a decision on Monday, regulators in India said that because Free Basics only allows access to selected websites, albeit free, it violates the principle that the entire Internet should be available to everyone on equal terms.

While not ruling explicitly on net neutrality, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) decided not to allow what it called "discriminatory pricing" for different data platforms or content.

The regulator's ruling suggests that Free Basics, which was aimed mainly at millions of people in India's poor rural areas, will not be allowed to continue in its current form.

On a visit to New Delhi in October, Zuckerberg spoke of his desire to help "the next billion" -- the approximate number of Indians without the Internet -- get online.

The technology giant had mounted a campaign via newspapers and text messages in India, asking people to lobby the regulator not to bar Free Basics.
Saint Laurent debuts new collection in glittering LA show

Saint Laurent showed its new men's collection in Los Angeles in front of a host of stars amid persistent rumors over the future of its artistic director Hedi Slimane.

The French fashion house showcased its autumn-winter collection, and part of its women's range, to a backdrop of raucous punk rock at the Hollywood Palladium, five days ahead of the music industry's prestigious Grammy Awards.

Rocker and actress Courtney Love joined Oscar nominees Lady Gaga and Sylvester Stallone, Canadian pop star Justin Bieber and ex-Baywatch star Pamela Anderson in the front row.

Saint Laurent showed off its new men's collection in Los Angeles in front of an audience of Hollywood celebrities Frederic J Brown (AFP)

Another Academy Award nominee in the audience was British musician Sam Smith, who is vying for Best Original Song for "Writing's on the Wall," the theme from the latest James Bond film "Spectre."

"I'm quite chilled right now because it's a few weeks away but it's going to be fun," said Smith, who is due to sing at the ceremony on February 28.

He said he was trying not to think about the possibility of messing up in front of the worldwide Oscars audience because "everyone will know and my career is over."

"I can't wait, I'm going to wear an amazing dress, it's all going to go well," he joked.

Smith laughed and bantered throughout the pre-show drinks reception with comedian and TV personality Ellen DeGeneres and her wife Portia de Rossi.

- 'Strong music scene' -

"I can't see anything... All I know is Sam is to my right and Portia is to my left because it's so dark and there's bright lights everywhere," DeGeneres said.

"There's a lot of people here, it's pretty amazing."

Fashion journal Women's Wear Daily (WWD) has reported that 47-year-old Slimane, who has headed the company founded by Yves Saint Laurent since 2012 and lives in Los Angeles, has "so far failed to reach an agreement on the renewal of his contract" and may be on his way.

Profits have skyrocketed in the three years the Frenchman has been in charge, with revenue doubling as he gave the haute couture brand a street style edge.

Saint Laurent and its parent group Kering have said they will "not comment on rumors" over Slimane's future.

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 Los Angeles was meant as a "tribute to the strong music scene in Los Angeles."

Long derided for flashiness or faded grunge, Los Angeles is increasingly being described as an upcoming center of global fashion.

Designers who have held shows in the city include Burberry and Tom Ford in 2015 and Louis Vuitton with its 2016 cruise collection.

Experts say the fashion boom in Los Angeles stems as much from the city's concentration of celebrities, whose social media influence is important to brands, as its cluster of garment manufacturers and wealth of creative talent.

Models take to the catwalk during the Saint Laurent fashion show on February 10, 2016 at the Hollywood Palladium Frederic J Brown (AFP)
N. Korea expels S. Koreans from industrial zone, seizes assets

North Korea on Thursday expelled all South Koreans from the jointly-run Kaesong industrial zone and placed it under military control, saying Seoul's decision to shutter the complex had amounted to a "declaration of war".

Pyongyang said it was seizing the assets of all the 124 South Korean companies operating factories in Kaesong, which lies 10 kilometres (six miles) across the border inside North Korea.

It also cut two key communication hotlines with Seoul, preventing any further official discussion of the situation at the complex.

Anti-North Korean activists burn placards depicting North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un in Seoul on February 11, 2016 Ed Jones (AFP)

All 280 South Koreans ordered to leave Kaesong finally crossed the border back into South Korea shortly before 10:00 pm (1300 GMT), easing concerns for their safety amid speculation that some might be detained.

After their return, Seoul cut off electric power transmission to the complex, a measure that would also lead to the water supply being stopped, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said citing officials.

The North's aggressive measures marked a significant escalation of cross-border tensions that have been elevated since North Korea carried out a nuclear test last month and a long-range rocket launch on Sunday.

Seoul had announced on Wednesday it was closing down operations at Kaesong, and the North said it would now experience the "disastrous and painful consequences" of its action.

- 'Last lifeline' snapped -

By shutting Kaesong, the South had destroyed the "last lifeline" of North-South relations and made a "dangerous declaration of war," the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) said in a statement.

Relations between the two Koreas have always been volatile, but analysts said the current situation risked turning into a full-blown crisis.

"Now we can say that all strings between the Koreas have been cut and that there are no more buffers," said Ko Yoo-Hwan, a professor of North Korean Studies at Dongguk University in Seoul.

"An escalation of tensions is inevitable, and I see further trouble ahead with Kaesong and the issues of seized assets, especially if North Korea militarises the zone," Ko said.

All South Koreans were ordered to leave Kaesong by 5:00 pm Pyongyang time (0830 GMT) and told they could take nothing but their personal possessions.

The North also said it had ordered a "complete freeze of all assets," including raw materials, products and equipment.

The owners of the South Korean companies in Kaesong had sent more than 100 empty trucks into the North on Thursday morning in the hope of bringing out as much as they could.

- Goods left behind -

"I only brought back about one-thirtieth of what was there," Kang Sung-Ho, the manager of a shoe company said as he crossed the border.

Although there had been a rush to leave after the expulsion order came, Kang said the North Korean officials had been quite reasonable.

"They didn't give us a hard time because we've known each other for a long while," he said, reserving his anger for the South Korean government's original decision to close Kaesong operations.

"We had to leave our finished products untouched and we will have to provide financial compensation to our buyers. I feel terrible," he said.

Despite the ban on removing anything beyond personal belongings, a few trucks that managed to cross the border earlier in the day had managed to bring out more materials.

Defending its decision to halt operations at Kaesong, Seoul said North Korea had been using the hundreds of millions of dollars in hard-currency that it earned from the complex to fund its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.

The move was slammed as "utterly incomprehensible" by the Kaesong company owners who said their businesses were being destroyed by politics.

Born out of the "sunshine" reconciliation policy of the late 1990s, Kaesong opened in 2004 and proved remarkably resilient, riding out repeated crises that ended every other facet of inter-Korean cooperation.

The United States signalled its own unilateral moves against North Korea, with the US Senate on Wednesday unanimously adopting a bill expanding existing sanctions.

Korean joint industrial zone Adrian Leung/John Saeki/Gal Roma (AFP)

Vehicles return from the Kaesong joint industrial zone near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating North an South Korea on February 11, 2016 Ed Jones (AFP)

Vehicles leaving the Kaesong joint industrial zone pass through disinfectant spray before a checkpoint at the CIQ immigration centre near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea, in Paju on February 11, 2016

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (right)
Indian avalanche soldier dies three days after rescue

An Indian soldier, rescued nearly a week after being buried in eight metres (25 feet) of snow by a deadly Himalayan avalanche, died in hospital on Thursday of his injuries, the army said.

Hanumanthappa Koppad was rescued late on Monday after spending six days trapped on the world's highest battlefield after a massive block of ice fell onto his army post.

Troops discovered Koppad, with a faint pulse and suffering from severe injuries, after digging through the snow on the Siachen glacier in the disputed region of Kashmir.

An Indian soldier and dog search for survivors after a deadly avalanche on the Siachen glacier, February 8, 2016

His rescue from the disaster, which occurred 5,900 metres (19,600 feet) high in the Himalayas and killed nine of his colleagues, has gripped India, with schoolchildren, priests and Bollywood stars praying for his recovery.

But doctors warned on Wednesday his condition was worsening, saying he was comatosed and his organs were failing to function.

"Doctors declared him dead around 11:45am," Indian Army spokesman Rohan Anand told AFP.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had visited Koppad at his hospital bedside in New Delhi, said his death "leaves us sad & devastated".

"RIP Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. The soldier in you remains immortal. Proud that martyrs like you served India," Modi tweeted.

An estimated 8,000 soldiers have died on the glacier since 1984, almost all of them from avalanches, landslides, frostbite, altitude sickness or heart failure rather than combat.

India and archrival Pakistan are each estimated to deploy around 3,000 troops on the glacier, where winter temperatures plummet to minus 70 degrees Celsius.

The nuclear-armed neighbours fought a fierce battle over Siachen in 1987, though guns on the glacier have largely fallen silent since a peace process began in 2004.

The Kashmir region -- of which Siachen is a part -- is divided between Pakistan and India but is claimed by both in full.
Banners and selfies as Iranians mark revolution anniversary

Iranians waved "Death to America" banners and took selfies with a ballistic missile Thursday as they marked 37 years since the Islamic revolution, weeks after Iran finalised a nuclear deal with world powers.

In the capital, hundreds of thousands converged on the historic Azadi (Freedom) Square, where President Hassan Rouhani was set to make a speech.

Many demonstrators carried the traditional placards reading "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" while others carried the Iranian flag.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani waves to the crowd during a rally in Tehran's Azadi Square (Freedom Square) to mark the 37th anniversary of the Islamic revolution on February 11, 2016 Atta Kenare (AFP)

Iran holds annual celebrations commemorating its 1979 revolution, but Thursday was the first since a landmark deal with world powers -- including the United States -- was finalised, paving the way for punishing economic sanctions on Tehran to be lifted.

The deal has seen a host of foreign investors declare interest in Iran, an unblocking of frozen Iranian assets held abroad and a warming of ties between the Islamic republic and the West.

Young people at a rally on Thursday reconstructed a scene from mid-January that saw US Navy sailors detained by Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

State television has repeatedly broadcast pictures of the 10 sailors with their hands on their heads. On Wednesday night, a brief video also showed one soldier in tears.

Touted domestically as proof of Iran's ability to defend its borders, the sailors were released within 24 hours, just days before the nuclear deal was finalised on January 16.

Revolutionary Guards were present on Thursday, displaying a long-range Imad ballistic missile in central Tehran. Many people were taking selfies with the missile, the ISNA news agency reported.

Last October, Iran "successfully" tested the new missile, which Tehran says has a range of 1700 kilometres (1050 miles).

Local media also published images of General Qassem Suleimani, chief of the Guards' Quds special forces, marching in the rally.

Louis Farakkhan, leader of the American group Nation of Islam, was also to make a speech as honarary guest after Rouhani.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other leaders had called in recent days for mass participation in rallies in a bid to demonstrate national unity.

Iranian teenagers carry banners and national flags outside the former US embassy in the Iranian capital Tehran on November 4, 2015 Atta Kenare (AFP/File)
Cambodian government warns students of Valentine's Day perils

Cambodia's government has hit out at Valentine's Day, warning students against losing the "dignity of themselves and their families" in a note sent to schools across the country.

Valentine's Day has become something of a favourite among young people in many Southeast Asian countries in recent years, with bunches of red roses and heart-shaped chocolates cropping up in stores and on street stalls each February.

But that has left some officials rattled, particularly in Cambodia and neighboring Thailand -- both of which have become renowned in recent years for issuing warnings about the pitfalls of young love and premarital sex ahead of the 14 February holiday.

A Cambodian man buys Valentine's gifts along a street in Phnom Penh on February 14, 2012 Tang Chhin Sothy (AFP/File)

The Cambodian Ministry of Education directive, which was sent to private and public schools on on Tuesday, ordered teachers to "take measures to prevent inappropriate activities on Valentine's Day".

The ministry said the increasingly popular holiday was driving young people "to overjoy, to forget about studying and to lose the reputation and dignity of themselves and their families".

"It is not a traditional event of our Khmer people," the statement said according to a copy seen by AFP.

Social conservatives in both countries see the day as a foreign import which represents a moral threat to traditional Buddhist beliefs.

Cambodian women in particular are under intense pressure to retain their virginity until marriage.

At the same time the country has become notorious in recent years as a regional hub for selling young women's virginity to wealthy men, something rights groups say underlines intense double standards over sexuality and gender.

Last year officials in junta-run Thailand also sounded a note of caution over Valentine's day, calling on young people to have a special meal or visit temples instead of having sex.

While both Cambodia and Thailand have a seemingly anything-goes image among holiday makers and thriving sex work industries, they also have a conservative streak.

Health workers say sex education in both nations remains underfunded and of poor quality, partly because the subject of sex is so taboo.

According to the United Nations, the birthrate among Thai teenagers was 47 per 1,000 girls from 2006 to 2010 -- roughly in line with neighbouring Cambodia, but significantly higher than Malaysia's 14.

Cambodian women prepare flowers for sale at a shop along a street in Phnom Penh on February 14, 2008 Tang Chhin Sothy (AFP/File)
Russia claims US planes bombed Syria's Aleppo

Russia's defence ministry on Thursday accused the United States of bombing the Syrian city of Aleppo after the Pentagon said Moscow's air strikes had destroyed two hospitals in the city.

Moscow furiously denied the US claim, charging in return that Washington had sent ground-attack planes to bombard Aleppo, an allegation the US said was a "fabrication".

"Just before 2 pm Moscow time (1100 GMT on Wednesday), two US Air Force A-10s flew into Syrian airspace from Turkish territory," defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.

A man drives his motorbike past damaged buildings in Harasta, east of Damascus, on February 10, 2016 Abdulmonam Eassa (AFP)

After reaching Aleppo by the most direct route, the US planes "conducted strikes against targets in the city," Konashenkov claimed.

Spokesman for the US-led coalition Colonel Steve Warren in Baghdad rejected this. "There were no Coalition airstrikes in or near Aleppo on Wednesday," he said in an emailed statement.

"Any claim that the coalition had aircraft in the area is a fabrication."

The Pentagon on Wednesday said that Aleppos two main hospitals had been destroyed by Russian and Syrian government attacks this month in the Russian-backed regime offensive, warning of an "increasingly dire" situation in the city.

Russia's defence ministry said Thursday that its air force had hit 1,888 "terrorist targets" in eight regions including Aleppo, Latakia, Hama and Homs provinces over the past week.

However, the defence ministry spokesman insisted that the air force's closest bombing target to Aleppo on Wednesday was more than 20 kilometres (12 miles) outside the city.

The ministry vehemently denied accusations that civilians had been targeted in the strikes, saying that "Russian aviation and Syrian government forces will never launch strikes on the civilian population."

Russia said Thursday it was ready to discuss the possibility of a ceasefire in Syria as foreign ministers gathered in Munich in a bid to restart peace talks.

"We are ready to discuss the modalities of a ceasefire," deputy foreign minister Gennady Gatilov told journalists in Moscow, quoted by TASS state news agency. "That is what we will talk about in Munich."

US Secretary of State John Kerry warned earlier this week that Russia's bombing of opposition targets could further derail diplomatic efforts to end Syria's brutal civil war.

Kerry was set to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Munich to host talks with a 17-nation contact group designed to get the talks back on track.

But US frustration with Russia's bombing in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime is growing, as fears mount that the opposition will refuse to join UN-led peace talks while their cities are under fire.

Russia launched a bombing campaign in the war-torn country last year at Assad's request, saying strikes are aimed against the Islamic State group and other jihadists.

But the West has accused Moscow of targeting more moderate groups that oppose Assad's regime.

International talks to end the five-year civil war that has killed more than 260,000 people broke down earlier this month amid accusations from the West and Syrian regime opponents that Russia's air strikes in Aleppo were targeting opposition groups and civilians.

The talks were temporarily suspended until February 25, but Russian deputy foreign minister Gatilov said Thursday that they could "possibly start earlier."

Syrian families at the Turkish Oncupinar border gate near Kilis on February 8, 2016 Bulent Kilic (AFP/File)

US Secretary of State John Kerry (right) meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Zurich on January 20, 2016 Jacquelyn Martin (Pool/AFP/File)

More than 260,000 people have been killed and half the population displaced since Syria's conflict began in 2011 Louai Beshara (AFP/File)

A member of the Syrian security forces stands next to a damaged vehicle at the site of a suicide attack in Damascus on February 9, 2016 Louai Beshara (AFP/File)
Israeli navy vet wants to sink smugglers with sea of data

Israeli navy veteran Ami Daniel points at his computer screen and explains why the ship he was tracking should have been stopped and searched.

It sailed near the Libyan port of Tobruk and waited four days more than a mile off the coast without ever docking, then moved west to Misrata, which it had never visited before.

Next came Greece, where it waited another four days offshore.

Israeli Ami Daniel, CEO and co-founder of the Windward company speaks as he poses at the company's offices on February 9, 2016 in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv Jack Guez (AFP)

Whatever was on the ship -- possibly drugs, weapons or people -- likely eventually made its way onto Europe's shores, he said.

At a time of deep concern over migrant smuggling, Daniel said his company Windward has the ability to pick up such suspicious maritime behaviour that would otherwise go unnoticed.

In October, in a similar case, the Italian navy intercepted a cargo ship that was found to be carrying 20 tonnes of hashish.

"The overarching problem we are trying to solve is bringing visibility to the oceans -- there is a huge gap in our understanding of the world," he said.

Europe has long been aware of the threat of maritime smuggling along its 65,000 kilometres of coastline, what Daniel called its "back door".

Ninety percent of the world's trade is via the oceans and ports simply cannot check even a fraction of all the containers. For that reason, they try to narrow it down with watch lists of ships.

But with turbulence in northern Africa and the collapse of Libya, smuggling networks have taken advantage of the situation while also becoming more sophisticated, Silvia Ciotti, head of the EuroCrime research body, explained.

And with the influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees across the seas, resources in Europe have been stretched threadbare.

The same smugglers taking desperate migrants and refugees into Europe also take contraband goods, Ciotti said.

"One day it is drugs. One day it is weapons. They do not care," she said.

- Data-rich, information-poor -

In a bid to combat this, Europe has sought to improve its coordination, establishing a common policy on sharing information.

But much of the data, including where ships are at any given moment -- which is self-reported -- is prone to manipulation and error.

Likewise, over half of the ships that enter Europe sail under so-called flags of convenience -- countries like Panama that require almost no checks to register -- and around one percent of ships sail on a completely false identity, Daniel said.

Security forces are often reliant on tip-offs and information about specific ships, Ciotti said. As Daniel put it, Europe is "data-rich but information-poor."

Windward, formed by Daniel after his stint in the Israeli navy enabled him to understand what information security services lacked, claims to fill that gap by providing to the minute and in-depth information on the ships, while also running checks on its ownership and history.

If a ship's activities are unusual -- turning off its radar or visiting an at-risk port -- it will be flagged up.

While not the only company offering such solutions, it has at least one prominent backer: Former CIA chief David Petraeus recently invested an undisclosed amount in the company.

The company is also using its technology to track Iran's oil shipments as sanctions are eased.

"One of the main innovations is the idea of activity-based intelligence  where you look at all the ships all the time to find suspicious patterns, rather than just the wanted ships," said Daniel.

Even with such data, catching smugglers is still limited by a range of factors, including legislation that varies between countries, said Michael Newton, co-editor of the book Prosecuting Maritime Piracy.

But firm evidence of wrongdoing could enable quicker interceptions, he said.

A United Nations report points out that operations at sea are difficult to carry out, so enforcement tends to take place when ships dock.

"But, when successful, interception operations at sea often result in the seizure of larger quantities of drugs than those on land or in the air," it concluded.

An engineer of the Windward company shows on a computer how their technology works at the company's offices on February 9, 2016 in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv Jack Guez (AFP)
More than 30 Hong Kong protesters in court over riot

More than 30 protesters appeared in court in Hong Kong Thursday charged with rioting after the worst clashes the city has seen since mass pro-democracy protests.

The violence erupted after officials tried to clear illegal street hawkers from the busy commercial neighbourhood of Mong Kok late Monday night.

Protesters gathered to defend the stallholders and police tried to disperse the crowds -- the ensuing confrontations left over 100 people hospitalised and shocked the city.

Hong Kong riot police walk along a cordoned-off street on February 9, 2016 following clashes in the city Dale de la Rey (AFP/File)

Police fired warning shots in the air during the clashes -- a very rare occurrence in Hong Kong -- while demonstrators levered up bricks from pavements, charged police lines with homemade shields and set rubbish on fire.

Each of the 37 protesters at magistrate's court Thursday faced a single charge of participating in a riot, with a sentence of up to 10 years.

Many of the defendants shielded their identities with masks and hoods outside court and friends and relatives packed the hearing.

Some had visible head injuries and their lawyers said they wanted to lodge complaints against police.

"A plain-clothes officer hit him in the chest three times at the police station," one lawyer said of his client Chan Ho-man, 17.

All were granted bail but were banned from parts of Mong Kok. They will next appear on April 7.

A 15-year-old boy faces a rioting charge in juvenile court Friday.

Student leader Joshua Wong, a key organiser of the 2014 pro-democracy rallies, observed the hearing -- he did not participate in Monday's protests.

"The pro-establishment side needs to reflect on why some of the youth were ready to be put in jail for a maximum 10 years by joining the riots," he told AFP.

"If more activists are arrested... it will just motivate more of the new generation to continue to have more radical action," Wong added, saying some of the arrests were unfair as a number of the participants were non-violent.

- 'Fishball revolution' -

Wong said fellow activist Derek Lam, from his Scholarism student protest group, was arrested at Hong Kong airport Wednesday on his way to Taiwan with his family over the riot, and was being held by police.

Wong said Lam had been a peaceful participant in the demonstration. Police said they would not comment on individual cases.

At least four journalists were injured in the violence. One was filmed being beaten by officers and has reported the incident to police.

The battles have been dubbed the "fishball revolution" after a favourite Hong Kong street snack and reflect underlying tensions over the erosion of the city's traditions.

Demonstrators included "localist" activists who want to restrict Beijing's influence on the city.

Semi-autonomous Hong Kong was returned by Britain to China in 1997 with its way of life protected for 50 years by a joint agreement.

But there are fears that freedoms enshrined in the agreement are being eroded by Chinese influence, including the recent case of five Hong Kong publishers known for titles critical of Beijing, four of whom it is confirmed have been detained on the mainland.

Hong Kong police escort a vehicle carrying protesters on February 11, 2016 Dale de la Rey (AFP)

A Hong Kong riot police officer stands on a cordoned-off street following overnight clashes between protesters and police, on February 9, 2016 Dale de la Rey (AFP/File)
Thais register 70,000 foreign workers in scandal-mired seafood sector

Thai authorities have registered more than 70,000 previously undocumented foreign workers in its fishing industry, navy officials said Thursday, part of a bid by the junta to stave off a potentially ruinous ban on its seafood exports.

Thailand is under intense pressure to overhaul its lucrative fishing sector.

Last spring the European Union hit the country with a "yellow card" warning, threatening to ban all seafood exports unless the military government tackled rampant illegal fishing and labour abuses among its fleets.

Migrant workers from Myanmar stand on a fishing boat as it arrives at the port in the southern Thai city of Pattani on June 18, 2014 Tuwaedaniya Meringing (AFP/File)

EU officials visited the kingdom last month for an inspection to decide whether a ban goes ahead, a move that could cost Thailand up to $1 billion in lost revenue.

Thailand is the world's third largest exporter of seafood -- a status that rights groups say is achieved through illegal overfishing and a reliance on low-paid trafficked workers from neighbouring countries.

The junta government of General Prayut Chan-O-Cha has struggled to revive the kingdom's slumping economy and is desperate to avoid any costly sanctions on the vital sector.

In a briefing with foreign journalists on Thursday, navy, fisheries and labour officials insisted the clampdown on illegal practices was yielding results.

"It's a national agenda, and the Thai prime minister has stressed that he has zero tolerance on this issue," foreign ministry spokesman Sek Wannamethee said.

The junta says documenting foreign workers, many of whom illegally enter Thailand from Myanmar and Cambodia and are easily exploited, will help end the cycle of abuse.

Of an estimated 200,000 undocumented foreigners working in the industry, 70,000 had now been registered, said Commander Piyanan Kawmanee, assistant spokesman of a Navy-led taskforce heading up the crackdown.

"Around 50,000 were working in (fish) processing plants, the rest on fishing vessels," he said.

Those who had been documented would be allowed to continue working for at least two years, officials said.

More than 8,000 fishing vessels have also had their registrations revoked in the last year, they added.

The military say successive civilian Thai governments failed to tackle systemic problems within key industries like fishing and aviation -- another sector that is facing the threat of international regulatory sanctions.

"During civilian administrations... sometimes we couldn't enforce efficiently," said Vice Admiral Jumpol Lumpiganon, who added that the EU's yellow card warning and the junta's rise to power had become a "catalyst" to push reforms.

Critics say the military's repeated interventions in politics over the last decade hobbled any civilian government's chances of instituting long term reforms.

Officials said they did not know when the EU would make its decision but they were hopeful Thailand could avoid any sanctions.

"We are confident that thanks to the laws and regulations passed last year we have the tools to ensure that no underage or forced labour will occur in our processing factories as well as fishing vessels," said Arrug Phrommanee, director general of the Ministry of labour.

A Cambodian worker sorts fish at the port in the southern Thai city of Pattani on June 18, 2014 Tuwaedaniya Meringing (AFP/File)
Coca-Cola stops making drinks at three Indian plants

Coca-Cola has halted manufacturing at three plants in India temporarily on lower sales, company officials said Thursday, as the US giant faces challenges from activists over alleged depletion of groundwater.

Nearly 300 people work at the three plants in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Meghalaya and Rajasthan, where activists have waged a more than decade-long battle against the fizzy drinks company.

"Manufacturing at three units have been temporarily suspended," Kalyan Rajan, spokesman for Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, which bottles drinks in India for the US giant.

Coca Cola cans are seen on a production line at a bottling plant in Greater Noida some 50 kms east of New Delhi on August 22, 2013 Prakash Singh (AFP/File)

Fifty four plants produce fizzy drinks in India for Coca-Cola, which had been eyeing expansion in the world's second most populous country where income levels are rising.

"For some time the market has not been good for the beverage industry in India owing to multiple factors," Kamlesh Sharma, spokesman for Coca-Cola India, a subsidiary of the giant, told AFP.

Sharma said the factory in Kaladera in Rajasthan did not close because of activism. And he denied the plant had depleted the water table, saying it tapped only a small share.

The company has faced strong resistance in Kaladera from groups who say it has diverted already scarce water meant for farmers and their fields.

"There is no water in Kaladera. We have to dig 400 to 500 feet (122 to 152 metres) to get water. Two decades ago it was 100 feet," Mahesh Yogi, of local activist group Kaladera Sangharsh Samiti, told AFP.

The Atlanta-based company, which has said it plans to invest $5 billion in India by 2020, has faced a string of objections over the years from local communities over water use.

In 2004, the company shut one of its plants in southern Kerala state over similar allegations. The company denies any wrongdoing.

Last year it dropped plans to open a new bottling plant in southern Tamil Nadu state over protests by locals who also claimed it would rob them of groundwater.
Tanzanians charged with British wildlife pilot murder: court

Nine Tanzanians have been charged in connection with the murder of a British conservationist whose helicopter was shot down while he chased suspected poachers, a court official said Thursday.

Roger Gower, 37, died when suspected poachers gunned down his helicopter during a patrol of the Maswa Game Reserve in northern Tanzania, close to the world famous Serengeti National Park, on January 29.

Photographs of the crashed helicopter show twisted metal, apparent bullet holes in the fuselage and smears of blood on the pilot's seat.

Gower was killed close to the Serengeti National Park Stuart Price (Make it Kenya/AFP/File)

"Four of them are charged with murder, while others face charges of economic sabotage and unlawful possession of firearms," senior government prosecutor Yamiko Mlekana told AFP by phone.

The four men charged with murder are Shija Mjika, 38, Njile Gunga, 28, Dotto Pangali, 42, and Moses Mandago, 28. They have not yet entered any plea, as their case will be tried in the high court.

The other five will be tried in a lower court on lesser charges.

"Some of the accused pleaded guilty of being in unlawful possession of firearms and elephant tusks, while others denied the charge," Mlekana said.

Gower, who worked for the Friedkin Conservation Fund, had been tracking poachers after spotting the carcasses of recently killing elephants.

It is estimated that more than 30,000 elephants are killed for their tusks every year across Africa.

Their ivory is prized for jewellery and decorative objects and much of it is smuggled to China, where many increasingly wealthy shoppers are buying ivory trinkets as a sign of financial success.

Tanzania's natural resources and tourism minister Jumanne Maghembe this week announced the government would set up a special task force for anti-poaching operations.

"Poaching is now done using sophisticated machinery and heavy weapons including AK-47s," Maghembe said.
Russia has made 'quite specific' proposal on Syria ceasefire: Lavrov

Russia has made a "quite specific" proposal for a ceasefire in Syria and is awaiting a US response, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday.

"We made propositions for a ceasefire that are quite specific," he said as he sat down for talks with his US counterpart John Kerry in Munich.

"We will wait for the American response before we take it to the (International Syria Support Group)."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says his country has a peace proposal for Syria

The UN says 51,000 Syrians have fled the bombardment of the city of Aleppo by government forces, backed by Russian bombers and Iranian fighters.

"We're going to have a serious conversation about all aspects about what's happening in Syria. Obviously, at some point in time, we want to make progress on the issues of humanitarian access and ceasefire," Kerry said.
By Kathleen Doheny

WebMD Health News

After Lena Dunham, 29, star and producer of HBOs Girls, told fans on Monday she is taking time off to rest due to her endometriosis, many wondered: What is this condition, anyway?

Tamer Seckin, MD, a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist and co-founder of the Endometriosis Foundation of America, addressed the most commonly asked questions.

WebMD: What is endometriosis?

Seckin: Endometriosis is a disease, a condition. It is a displacement of the internal uterine lining [endometrium] outside the uterus. It is characterized by painful periods with symptoms of heavy bleeding which very often coincide with gastrointestinal symptoms [such as diarrhea] during and around the menstrual period. There can be painful intercourse. It can cause painful bowel movements and appendicitis-like symptoms.

WebMD: How common is it?

Seckin: One of 10 women of reproductive age has it. There are so many cases that are undiagnosed.

WebMD: How bad is the pain?

Seckin: [There can be] severe pain with periodsdebilitating, incapacitating pain, killer cramps, and women can be unable to work or go to school. Pain can last more than two or three days, with heavy periods, prolonged periods. There can be leg pain and back pain.

WebMD: What are the health effects?

Seckin: There is loss of quality of life, and reduced fertility and infertility. If you are stuck with pain one week every month, your quality of life is gone. Endometriosis has been linked with an increased risk of ovarian cancer, but the incidence is low.

WebMD: How is endometriosis treated?

Seckin: Medications [for pain] dont remove the disease. Hormone treatment has side effects. Hormone treatment makes women gain weight. Removal of these lesions [with surgery] leads to the best recovery. (Lesions are areas where the uterine lining is growing outside the uterus.) Surgery requires incredible precision, laparoscopic excision surgery. You remove the lesions and you identify them completely. If you go in and remove 95% of the lesions and leave 5%, the patients symptoms may persist and they wont be helped.

Hysterectomy, or removing a womens uterus, is indicated when the endometriosis involves the uterus. However, a lot of times [the tissue is growing] outside the uterus.
Clooney at Berlin fest says will meet Merkel, refugees

George Clooney said he would meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and asylum-seekers about Europe's refugee crisis as he opened the Berlin film festival Thursday.

Clooney, an activist for many humanitarian causes whose new movie "Hail, Caesar!" by the Coen brothers is kicking off the 11-day cinema showcase, said he wanted to hear how he could use his star power to lend a hand.

"I'm having a meeting with Angela Merkel tomorrow to talk about and ask what messages and what things we can do... to help," said Clooney, who is in town with his wife Amal, a Lebanese-born human rights lawyer.

US actor George Clooney attends a press conference for the film "Hail, Caesar!" screened as opening film of the 66th Berlinale Film Festival in Berlin on February 11, 2016 John MacDougall (AFP)

A spokeswoman for Merkel could not immediately comment on plans for a meeting.

The US actor said later that he would also meet with asylum-seekers, around 80,000 of whom arrived in the German capital in 2015 alone.

Europe is grappling its most serious refugee crisis since World War II, with Germany letting in nearly 1.1 million people fleeing war and poverty last year.

Merkel has come under fire for her welcoming stance toward the newcomers, just as European neighbours resist her calls to share out the burden.

Although the Berlin film festival is spotlighting around a dozen films focused on refugees, Clooney admitted it would take time before Hollywood would turn its attention to such stories.

"The unfortunate thing about the film community is we react to situations much more than we lead the way. News stories have to continue to happen and then scripts are written and it takes a couple years before people are actually making films about it," he told reporters.

"It's also very difficult to just make a subject film. You have to have a reason -- a character and a reason to make it."

Clooney said he had been frustrated in the past with his attempts to turn causes he cared about into movies.

"I've often struggled with the idea of trying to find ways to make a film about the Sudan and about Darfur which is something that's very close to me and I've spent a lot of time on," he said.
Anti-IS coalition pledges stepped-up fight against jihadists

Defence ministers from the US-led coalition striking the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria vowed Thursday to redouble their efforts to defeat the jihadists and accelerate the difficult campaign.

Their pledges came during a special summit convened in Brussels by Pentagon chief Ashton Carter, who for months has been lobbying partner nations to bring more to the 18-month operation.

Discussions were "very successful and productive," Carter said, noting that the vast majority of the 27 nations he met with had either committed more assets or promised to ask their parliaments to do so.

The proceedings during the Global Coalition meeting against The Islamic State group IS are being held at NATO headquarter in Brussels on February 11, 2016 Thierry Charlier (AFP)

The contributions include a Saudi promise to renew its long-neglected air operations in Syria, a pledge from the Netherlands to carry out air strikes in Syria, and Canada's recent announcement it would send additional trainers to work with local forces.

The campaign is primarily centered on air strikes, but coalition commandos are also working with local forces in Iraq and anti-IS fighters in Syria to tackle the jihadists.

"The coalition is clearly intensifying the counter-ISIL campaign," Carter said, using an alternative acronym for the IS group.

"Saudi Arabia and its regional partners have a clear stake in this fight, and I hope its neighbors in the Gulf also intensify their counter-ISIL campaign in the coming days," he added.

Additionally, he said NATO was "exploring the possibility" it would join the coalition. Though the anti-IS operation already comprises all the NATO member states, it is not yet in the alliance in its own right.

As a result of the stepped-up efforts, the coalition should see "tangible gains" in the coming weeks, Carter said without elaborating.

The coalition, which comprises 66 nations, has since August 2014 been carrying out air strikes in Iraq and Syria to push back IS jihadists after they swept across vast parts of the two countries.

Officials say the campaign is making the most progress in Iraq, where local security forces have retaken the city of Ramadi and clawed back some 40 percent of territory previously held by IS.

But the situation in Syria remains more challenging, thanks to its raging civil war and the ongoing Russian air bombardment of forces opposing President Bashar al-Assad. Moscow insists is also targeting the IS group.

"The fight to defeat ISIL should matter to all of us, and each contribution matters to this fight," Carter said.

"ISIL's activities are an affront to our common human dignity and to the common set of values that brings this diverse coalition of nations together."

- 'Lost the initiative' -

During the closed-door meeting, Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland, who is overseeing the anti-IS effort, gave an overview of the situation on the ground.

A senior US defence official who was present said MacFarland described how the IS group has "lost the initiative" in the fight, thanks to more than 10,000 coalition air strikes and a series of attacks on the jihadists' oil and financial infrastructure.

But large-scale progress remains elusive, and Carter and President Barack Obama face growing criticism at home over the campaign's pace.

Assaults to recapture the key IS bastions of Mosul in Iraq and its self-proclaimed capital in Syria's Raqa are still many months away, while at the same time thousands of IS fighters have streamed into Libya.

Carter said defence ministers had discussed the situation in Libya, where former colonial power Italy is being positioned to take the lead in any eventual operations.

"Nobody wants to see Libya on a glide slope to the kind of situation that already engulfed Syria and Iraq," he said.

Carter's summit came at the conclusion of a two-day meeting of NATO defence ministers that dealt with a range of separate issues.

NATO has until now had no official role in the anti-IS fight, although all of its 28 members play some part, and officials indicated the alliance could be increasingly called upon to help.

"There are lots of opportunities that are being considered," NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe Philip Breedlove said.

Breedlove's comments came after NATO said it was willing to support a German, Greek and Turkish request for help in monitoring Turkey's Aegean Sea coast for migrant smugglers ferrying refugees, mostly fleeing the Syrian conflict.

And the alliance has agreed "in principle" to a US request to deploy its AWACS air surveillance aircraft to help out in the fight against IS.

The NATO planes would not be directly involved in monitoring the jihadists, but would instead fill in for US and allied aircraft that would be re-tasked to gather intelligence over IS hotspots.

The US-led coalition against Islamic State jihadists has carried out more than 10,000 air strikes in Iraq and Syria Karim Sahib (AFP/File)

US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter addresses the media at NATO headquarters in Brussels on February 11, 2016 Thierry Charlier (AFP)

Smoke billows following a reported air strike by the US-led coalition on December 29, 2015 on the outskirts of Ramadi, the capital of Iraq's Anbar province Ahmad Al-Rubaye (AFP/File)
Harried by police, Egypt's Brotherhood torn by divisions

On the night of August 13, 2013, Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Gehad Haddad sat in a stairwell of a building next to Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque, and said: "We need a miracle."

Police moved in to disperse a sprawling Islamist protest camp in the mosque and an adjacent square the next morning, and within 12 hours about 700 demonstrators had been shot dead.

Gunmen among the crowds killed around 10 policemen.

Thousands of Islamists and Muslim Brotherhood supporters perform the Friday prayers as they gather at Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque to start an open-ended sit-in in support of the legitimacy of President Mohamed Morsi in Cairo on June 28, 2013 Gianluigi Guercia (AFP/File)

Thousands of Islamists, including Haddad and much of the Brotherhood leadership, have been arrested since.

No one in what remains of the organisation, now torn by internal rifts, seems to know how it can recover.

Only five years ago, the Brotherhood was in a very different position.

Its nemesis, the autocratic president Hosni Mubarak, had been overthrown on February 11 in a popular uprising.

The group went from being banned by the regime to winning a presidential election that brought Mohamed Morsi to power in 2012.

A year later Morsi was overthrown by the military after millions demonstrated against his divisive rule.

Islamists staged a sit-in at the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque to support him, setting off the countdown to the carnage.

Morsi was subsequently sentenced to death after a trial. He has filed an appeal and is now in prison.

-'The body has a pulse'-

"The youths can't see a horizon, nor a leadership that can achieve anything for them in the face of regime repression," said Amr Darrag, a senior Brotherhood member exiled in Turkey, and a leader of a faction that opposes the group's old guard.

"Were we ready to confront the government after Morsi? No. The sit-in should have been disbanded to save lives. We could have held sit-ins in other places," said Ali, a seasoned Brotherhood member in Cairo.

Ali -- not his real name -- has been protesting ever since. He helps organise small, quick demonstrations in the dusty alleys of a working class Cairo neighbourhood, with lookouts spread across the area to warn them of police movements.

"You have to send a message that the revolution is continuing. As long as the body has a pulse, it can still live," he said.

Not everyone in the group shares his equanimity. In his Brotherhood cell, known as an usra (family), which comprises about 10 people, some despair.

"Some are depressed. But if someone is depressed, he can talk to someone else who raises his morale."

Ali has escaped the crackdown by keeping a low profile.

His priority is to maintain a semblance of the Brotherhood's organisation, even as its members are caught in a confusing struggle between leaders in prison, in exile or in hiding.

-'Circling the drain'-

The disorganisation has opened the Brotherhood to charges that it is participating in a militant insurgency that has killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers since Morsi's ouster, in attacks often claimed by jihadists who also oppose the group.

It has been banned as a terrorist organisation by Egypt and its allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

"In this atmosphere it is plausible that things (attacks) get attributed to you. It's also plausible that it is you and you don't know it. Communications on administrative levels are very hard now," Ali said.

Darrag, whose faction has been accused by the group's traditional leaders of leaning towards violence, says the struggle is really over having a more representative leadership than the old guard, now mainly represented by the London branch.

"The real reason (for the divisions) is failure," said Wael Haddara, a former senior adviser to Morsi who is now in Canada.

"People have failed to resolve the situation, to win. The country is lost, circling the drain. No one has been able to put forward a realistic path."

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who as army chief led Morsi's overthrow, signalled a zero-sum war with the Brotherhood when he suggested the group would be eradicated.

The government has lobbied other countries, especially Britain, to ban the group. Britain ordered a review of the group's alleged links to violence in Egypt, but apparently uncovered no hard evidence.

Police say there is evidence to suggest Brotherhood members -- current and former -- have taken up arms against policemen, and bomb electricity towers. But it is unclear whether these are local initiatives by Islamists who have given up on protests and want revenge.

"Those who are inclined to engage in armed violence are by definition not a constituency that is going to wait for a green light from the leadership," said Mokhtar Awad, a research fellow at the Program on Extremism at George Washington University.

Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood supporters carry a wounded protestor in Cairo's Ramses square on August 16, 2013 after clashes broke out with police during a demonstration in support of Egypt's ousted president Mohamed Morsi Khaled Kamel (AFP/File)

A supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood and ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi shows his blood-stained hand while holding a placard bearing handprints made with the blood of victims who were shot during a gun battle Mahmoud Khaled (AFP/File)

An Egyptian civilian (R) helps an army officer after he was wounded during clashes with supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and ousted president Mohamed Morsi, in the northern Mediterranean city of Alexandria on August 16, 2013 - (Al-Watan Newspaper/AFP/File)
India and UAE sign string of deals on crown prince visit

India and the United Arab Emirates on Thursday signed deals in fields ranging from space technology to renewable energy during a visit to New Delhi by Abu Dhabi's crown prince, the Indian foreign ministry said.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi signed the deals following talks in the Indian capital New Delhi.

"The 4 Agreements are in the field of cybersecurity, infrastructure investment, renewable energy & space cooperation," foreign ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said on Twitter, without giving further details.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) shakes hand with Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on February 11, 2016 Money Sharma (AFP)

The space cooperation pact comes as the UAE seeks India's expertise for its first interplanetary expedition, according to the Press Trust of India.

The Emirates Mars Mission orbiter is scheduled to touch down on Mars in 2021 in a mission to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the UAE.

Other agreements covered skill development, insurance and culture, Swarup added in another post on the social media site.

Modi posted on Twitter after meeting Al-Nahyan that the two leaders had enjoyed a "productive interaction".

"Avenues of India-UAE cooperation are immense," he tweeted.

Trade between the countries reached $59 billion last year, but UAE state minister for foreign affairs Anwar Gargash said ahead of the visit that the countries were seeking to boost this by 60 percent within five years.

The crown prince, deputy chief of the UAE armed forces, arrived for the three-day trip -- his first visit to India -- late Wednesday accompanied by a large business delegation.

The trip comes six months after Modi became the first Indian premier in three decades to visit the UAE, underlining India's push to forge deeper ties with the oil-rich state.

Abu Dhabi is the largest of seven emirates that make up the UAE, which is India's third largest trading partner, after the US and China.

The UAE is also home to around 2.6 million Indians who mostly work on construction sites -- the largest expatriate community in the country.
US pushing for 'immediate ceasefire' in Syria: US diplomats

The United States is pushing for an immediate ceasefire in Syria, a US diplomat said here Thursday as foreign ministers gathered in Munich for crisis talks on the Syrian civil war.

"The US continues to push for an immediate ceasefire. We are continuing to work through various ways to achieve one as soon as possible," the diplomat said.

The comment came in response to reports that Russia has proposed a ceasefire that would not begin until March 1, in what opponents see as a bid to buy time for a Syrian government offensive in and around Aleppo.

Syrian government forces raise their weapons as they patrol after taking control of the village of Kiffin, on the northern outskirts of the embattled city of Aleppo on February 11, 2016 George Ourfalian (AFP)

Government forces, backed by Russian bombers and Iranian fighters, have advanced on the embattled rebel-held city in fighting that the United Nation says has displaced 51,000 civilians.

Washington wants a ceasefire and humanitarian access to besieged rebel cities but has threatened an unspecified "Plan B" if talks fail, as tension mounts with Moscow over its air campaign.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow has made a "quite specific" ceasefire proposal but provided no other details as he sat down in Munich for talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry.
Einstein writings show theory 100 years ahead of time

It took a century, but the theory from Albert Einstein handwritten neatly on paper that is now yellowing has finally been vindicated.

Israeli officials on Thursday offered a rare look at the documents where Einstein presented his ideas on gravitational waves, a display that coincided with the historic announcement that scientists had glimpsed the first direct evidence of his theory.

"Einstein devised this with pen and paper, but it took humanity 100 years to develop the tools to catch a glimpse of it," said Roni Grosz, curator of the Albert Einstein Archives at Jerusalem's Hebrew University, pointing to two pages.

Israeli Doctor Roni Grosz, head of The Albert Einstein Archives at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, shows the original document (R) written by Albert Einstein related to the prediction of the existence of gravitational waves, on February 11, 2016 Thomas Coex (AFP)

One was the first document in which Einstein fully presented his theory of gravitational waves, while the other was a page from his 46-page theory of relativity, written in 1916 and 1915 respectively.

They were written neatly in German, with corrections made within the text.

The theory of gravitational waves was developed by the German physicist 100 years ago.

In a landmark discovery for physics and astronomy, international scientists announced in Washington on Thursday that they had glimpsed the first direct evidence of gravitational waves, or ripples in space-time.

Einstein's theory states that mass warps space and time, much like placing a bowling ball on a trampoline.

Other objects on the surface will "fall" towards the centre -- a metaphor for gravity in which the trampoline is space-time.

Gravitational waves do not interact with matter and travel through the universe completely unimpeded.

It was a central pillar of Einstein's theory of gravity, but had never been proven.

"(The discovery) is a very moving moment," Grosz said, wearing a tie with a picture of Einstein and his familiar bushy hair. "A smile from heaven after exactly 100 years."

- 'A new window' -

Einstein himself doubted gravitational waves would ever be detected given how tiny they are.

Barak Kol, head of physics at the Hebrew University, explained the size of their impact can be as small as "one thousandths of the nucleus of an atom".

Kol, who had worked on trying to prove the theory, said the discovery was a historic day for scientists and those concerned with Einstein's legacy.

"It is the end of a part of the journey that took 100 years since it started with the idea of one person," he said.

"(But) it will open a new window to the universe. It will enable us to see processes in the universe."

He added that, as with other major scientific discoveries, it was likely to lead to many developments that "we cannot predict."

Einstein visited Jerusalem in 1923 to launch the university 25 years before the state of Israel was formed.

A German Jew, he was concerned by the restrictions on education for Jewish people in Europe, Grosz said.

"Einstein was very interested in the creation of what he called then a Jewish university in Jerusalem."

In 1952, then-prime minister David Ben-Gurion offered him the presidency of Israel but he rejected it.

"All my life I have dealt with objective matters, hence I lack both the natural aptitude and the experience to deal properly with people," he said in a letter.

When he died in 1955, Einstein left all of his works to the university -- making it the world's most extensive collection of his documents.
Clooney opens Berlin film fest with spotlight on refugees

George Clooney opened the Berlin film festival Thursday with Europe's refugee influx in the spotlight, saying he would meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel about lending star power to help with the crisis.

The 11-day Berlinale, one of the top three cinema showcases in Europe along with Cannes and Venice, kicked off with a screening of "Hail, Caesar!", Joel and Ethan Coen's send-up of Tinseltown's 1950s golden age.

Clooney came to the German capital with his wife Amal, a Lebanese-born human rights lawyer, and co-stars Channing Tatum, Tilda Swinton and Josh Brolin.

US actor George Clooney (R) and British actress Tilda Swinton promote the film "Hail, Caesar!" screened as opening film of the 66th Berlinale Film Festival in Berlin on February 11, 2016 Tobias Schwarz (AFP)

He told reporters he would meet Merkel and, separately, a group of asylum seekers Friday "to talk about and ask what messages and what things we can do... to help".

Although the Berlinale is spotlighting around a dozen films focused on refugees, Clooney admitted it would take time before Hollywood would turn its attention to such stories.

"The unfortunate thing about the film community is we react to situations much more than we lead the way. News stories have to continue to happen and then scripts are written and it takes a couple years before people are actually making films about it," he told reporters.

"It's also very difficult to just make a subject film. You have to have a reason -- a character and a reason to make it."

- Why make movies -

When asked a critical question about Hollywood escapism after a press screening of "Hail, Caesar!", a light-hearted romp, Joel Coen said filmmakers were under no obligation to deal with the most pressing issues of their time.

"To point the finger and say, you should be telling this particular story -- it's a misunderstanding about how movies get written and made. Are those stories important? Yes. Does it make sense to sort of say, 'you're a public figure, you tell stories, why aren't you telling that story?' is a funny question, frankly."

However he noted that he and Ethan Coen as presidents of the Cannes film festival jury last year awarded the top prize to the French movie "Dheepan", which offered an unflinching look at the plight of three Sri Lankan refugees in a violent Paris suburb.

"I think it had a lot to contribute to that discussion," he said.

Three-time Oscar winner Meryl Streep is serving as president of the Berlin prize jury, leading a panel including British actor Clive Owen. They will award the Golden Bear top prize to one of 18 contenders from around the world on February 20.

Owen said they would aim to "champion somebody who we think will benefit hugely from (the award) and could make a huge difference and further their career and give them the opportunity to make more good important films," he said.

Last year top honours went to Iranian dissident filmmaker Jafar Panahi for "Taxi", which he had to make in secret.

- Tickets for asylum seekers -

As Europe endures the largest refugee influx since World War II, with 1.1 million asylum seekers arriving in Germany last year, the theme of migration will dominate the festival.

Italian documentary director Gianfranco Rosi, who won at Venice three years ago, will enter the competition with "Fire at Sea" about Lampedusa, a Mediterranean island on the front line of the crisis.

And off screen, hundreds of tickets have been set aside for asylum seekers at the festival accompanied by volunteers and cinema-goers are being encouraged to donate money to refugee causes.

Among the world premieres generating buzz ahead of the start is a new adaptation of the international bestseller "Alone in Berlin", Hans Fallada's 1947 novel based on a true story.

The Nazi-era thriller sees Emma Thompson and Brendan Gleeson play a German couple who risk their lives to mount a resistance campaign against Hitler after losing their only son in the war.

Big crowds are also expected for "Genius", the feature debut by British theatre director Michael Grandage starring Colin Firth as literary editor Max Perkins, who published some of the 20th century's greatest American writers.

Jude Law plays Thomas Wolfe, Nicole Kidman his lover and muse Aline Bernstein, with Dominic West portraying Ernest Hemingway and Guy Pearce as F. Scott Fitzgerald.

US directors Ethan Coen (L) and Joel Coen promote the film "Hail, Caesar!" screened as opening film of the 66th Berlinale Film Festival in Berlin on February 11, 2016 Tobias Schwarz (AFP)

Meryl Streep, US actress and jury president, waves as she arrives for the film "Hail, Caesar!" screening as opening film of the 66th Berlinale Film Festival in Berlin on February 11, 2016 John MacDouball (AFP)
Turkey tries father, smugglers over Syrian toddler's death

The father of Aylan Kurdi, the Syrian toddler whose drowning shocked the world last year, went on trial on Thursday along with two alleged people smugglers accused of causing the death of migrants.

A photograph of the three-year-old, face down in the sand on a Turkish beach in his toddler's clothes, caused horror when it was published in September 2015 after his family decided to make the risky journey to Greece in an open boat.

Aylan's mother Rihana and brother Ghaleb, four, also died in the same accident.

The lifeless body of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi, found on a Turkish beach, became the symbol of the refugee crisis

The trial of Syrian nationals Muwafaka Alabash and Asem Alfrhad opened at the criminal court in the western Turkish resort of Bodrum, the Dogan news agency reported. If convicted, they face up to 35 years in jail.

They are charged of smuggling migrants and causing the deaths of five people, including Aylan Kurdi, his brother and mother when their boat sank while on its way to Greece.

But also on trial in absentia was Aylan Kurdi's father, Abdullah Kurdi, who survived the sinking of the boat, on accusations of being an organiser of the smuggling. The precise charges against him were not made clear.

Both of the defendants in court strongly incriminated Abdullah Kurdi as a well-known organiser of people smuggling in the Bodrum area, accusing him of being responsible for the deaths and driving the boat at the time of the disaster.

But Dogan said the court had decided to drop the legal proceedings against Abdullah Kurdi, without specifying further.

- 'The organiser' -

Abdullah Kurdi, from the mainly Kurdish Syrian town of Kobane on the Turkish border, is currently believed to be outside of Turkey and spending some of his time in northern Iraq.

He became a prominent figure through media interviews at the time of the disaster and also gave the traditional "alternative" Christmas message in 2015 on British TV's Channel 4.

His family, many of whom are now based in Canada, had previously rubbished similar allegations against him broadcast by foreign television as "ridiculous".

"The real criminal here, the organiser, is Abdullah Kurdi, who became a hero on television but did not even testify," said Asem Alfrhad in court.

Muwafaka Alabash said he had been told before coming to Bodrum to "'find Abdullah Kurdi, he does the migrant smuggling'. I found him in Bodrum. Everyone knew him. His collected money from his people."

The court also heard testimony from Syrian refugee Emin Haydar, who witnessed and survived the sinking, and said that Abdullah Kurdi had been "driving the boat" at the time.

"While the person behind this gives TV interviews, the two victims remain behind bars," said Alfrhad's lawyer Duygu Cakmak Bisen.

"It is clear that my client received no money from anyone," he added, saying his client had only wanted to go to Europe.

The trial was adjourned until an unspecified date. The court rejected pleas from the defence to release the Syrians, ruling they must stay in custody as they had no address and constituted a flight risk.

- Greece mulls returns -

Turkey has become the major hub for Syrian, Afghan, Iraqi, Eritrean and other refugees and migrants seeking to undertake the risky crossing to the European Union in a flow that has caused huge alarm across the continent.

The Turkish government struck a deal with the EU in November to halt the flow of refugees, in return for three billion euros ($3.2 billion) in financial assistance.

But the deal and wintry weather in the Mediterranean do not appear to have deterred the migrants, with an average of 2,000 people still arriving on the Greek islands daily.

Greece is now considering whether to declare Turkey a "safe third country" which would allow it to send back asylum seekers picked up in the Aegean Sea, a government source in Athens said Thursday.

"No decision has yet been taken" but "it is being looked at", the source said.

Abdullah Kurdi, father of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi, who drowned off Turkey, stands in front of his neighbour's house on September 6, 2015 in Kobane, Syria Yasin Akgul (AFP/File)
Verdict in trial of Chadian ex dictator Habre due May 30: court

The landmark trial of former Chadian dictator Hissene Habre for "crimes against humanity" wound up Thursday with the ruling due on May 30.

"We will convene on May 30 to deliver the verdict," the head of a special court, Gberdao Gustave Kam, said, as the defence ended its arguments on Thursday afternoon.

Habre went on trial last July in a special court, the Extraordinary African Chambers (CAE in its French acronym), established in Dakar by the African Union under an agreement with Senegal.

The landmark trial of former Chadian dictator Hissene Habre for "crimes against humanity" wound up with the verdict due on May 30 Dominique Faget (AFP/File)

It marked the first time a court in an African country has called to account a despot from another African nation.

The prosecution on Wednesday demanded Habre be jailed for life and stripped of all his assets.

But Habre's lawyer Mbaye Sene on Thursday called for a "pure and simple acquittal", saying: "there have been no crimes against humanity, crimes of torture and even less war crimes."

Habre "gave no orders. He did not help in, or encourage (such crimes). The man standing before you is not guilty of the facts he is accused," Sene said.

Another of Habre's lawyers, Mounir Balal, said Habre was a "fervent nationalist who wanted to make Chad a modern state", describing him as a "statesman."

Habre, 73, was president of the semi-desert central African country from 1982-1990.

An investigating commission found that well in excess of 40,000 people were killed during his rule, which was marked by fierce repression of his opponents and the targeting of rival ethnic groups.

Habre, who was ousted by Chad's current President Idriss Deby Itno, refused to address the court and does not recognise its authority.

Once backed by France and the US as a bulwark against Libya's Moamer Kadhafi, Habre could be sentenced to life imprisonment with forced labour.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last month welcomed the Habre trial as evidence of "the surge in accountability mechanisms" which he saw as "a sea change in ending impunity for atrocious crimes."

Human Rights Watch had welcomed the prosecutor's request for a life term, saying it would send "a strong signal that the world is increasingly intolerant of leaders who allegedly exploit their positions of power to commit serious crimes."

"Hissene Habre is charged with the most serious and odious atrocities -- mass executions, systematic torture in secret prisons, the sexual enslavement of women and girls and campaigns of ethnic cleansing, as well as having personally committed rape," said HRW's Reed Brody, who has worked with Habre's victims since 1999.
Clinton seeks rebound against Sanders at debate and beyond

Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders clash on the national stage Thursday as they woo minority voters, while Republican Jeb Bush is enlisting his presidential brother as he grasps for a campaign boost.

With Clinton nursing her wounds after receiving a drubbing in this week's New Hampshire primary, the former secretary of state is all too happy to turn west and south to more diverse territory in Nevada and South Carolina, states where Hispanics and African-Americans play key roles in the nomination battle.

Sanders, a US senator from Vermont, is looking to build on his stunning win by reaching out to minority groups, with whom he has struggled to build a strong support base.

US Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders shake hands before participating in the MSNBC Democratic Candidates Debate at the University of New Hampshire in Durham on February 4, 2016 Jewel Samad (AFP)

He huddled Wednesday with civil rights activist Al Sharpton, while singer-songwriter Harry Belafonte -- who was close to civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr and involved in the movement -- endorsed Sanders on Thursday.

Clinton is aiming to get back on track in the race -- beginning with Thursday's high-stakes debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at 8:00 pm (0200 GMT).

She squeaked out a razor-thin, 0.3-percentage point win in last week's Iowa caucus, only to suffer a harsh 22-point blowout in New Hampshire against Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist.

Clinton will be better positioned in Nevada and then South Carolina as she seeks to profit from the coalition of black and Latino voters who helped propel Barack Obama into the White House in 2008.

But she must try to blunt Sanders's momentum without alienating the young voters, including young women, who are flocking to his "political revolution" message -- or risk a devastating campaign implosion.

Peeling African-Americans away from Clinton will be crucial for Sanders, especially in South Carolina where, according to exit poll data, some 55 percent of Democratic voters in 2008 were black.

- Courting minorities -

Thursday revealed the uphill battle ahead for Sanders, when the Congressional Black Caucus's political action committee, including a number of black lawmakers, offered a resounding and symbolically vital endorsement of Clinton.

It described her as not only the singular candidate with the experience and temperament to be president, but someone who has advocated for minority rights for decades.

"We must have a president that understands the racial divide, not someone who just acquired the knowledge recently but someone... who has lived it and worked through it down through the years," CBC chairman G.K. Butterfield told reporters.

"We need a president who doesn't simply campaign and just promise wonderful things, but things that are politically impossible to achieve," he said.

Sanders acknowledged his challenge in Nevada and South Carolina.

"If the elections were held today in both those states, we would lose," he told The Washington Post in a Wednesday interview.

"But I think we have momentum, I think we have a shot to win, and if we don't win, we'll do a lot better than people think we will."

Sanders, taking a post-New Hampshire victory lap on late-night talk shows, returned to his bread-and-butter political message, telling CBS's "Late Show with Stephen Colbert" that Americans are unhappy with the status quo and "need fundamental changes in our political system and our economic system."

Clinton has sought to define Sanders as an unrealistic ideologue, and she received a shot in the arm on that front from The Washington Post, whose Thursday editorial unfavorably linked Sanders with billionaire Donald Trump, the Republican frontrunner.

Both men, it said, are political outsiders offering "simple-sounding solutions," such as Sanders's call for higher taxes in order to offer free college and universal health care.

"We think both men are dangerously if seductively wrong in their facile diagnoses and prescriptions," the paper said.

- Carolina brawl -

Republicans too are turning to South Carolina, known for its bare-knuckle political brawling.

Trump and arch-conservative Senator Ted Cruz have unveiled dueling negative campaign ads against one another and are ramping up the rhetoric.

So are the more mainstream candidates -- Senator Marco Rubio, Ohio Governor John Kasich who finished second in New Hampshire, and former Florida governor Bush -- as they seek an avenue to victory in the state.

George W. Bush will stump for his younger brother at a Charleston rally next Monday, seeking to help shore up support in a state that Jeb sees as a lynchpin of his potential comeback.

It will be the first time that the ex-commander in chief campaigns with Jeb at a public event since he launched his presidential bid last June.

Rubio, who stumbled at last Saturday's Republican debate and finished a disappointing fifth in New Hampshire, was seeking a reboot in South Carolina where he trained his sites on the frontrunner.

"Donald Trump has zero foreign policy experience," Rubio told a campaign crowd, adding that negotiating hotel deals with other countries "is not foreign policy."

Sanders and Trump win in New Hampshire Alain BOMMENEL, Kun TIAN (AFP)

Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton speaks on February 9, 2016 Don Emmert (AFP)

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders meets with Reverend Al Sharpton at Sylvia's Restaurant on February 10, 2016 in the Harlem neighborhood of New York Andrew Renneisen (Getty/AFP/File)
Rocky Houston was a felon in possession of a gun, and is headed to jail for years for that crime. How did they catch him? They installed a video camera on a utility pole near a family-owned property until useful footage was captured.

A federal appeals court upheld his conviction this week, with Judge John Rogers writing that "no reasonable expectation of privacy [exists] in video footage recorded by a camera that was located on top of a public utility pole and that captured the same views enjoyed by passersby on public roads," even if there was no warrant.

David Kravets:
Zuma ridicules S.Africa opposition for disrupting address

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma on Friday mocked the opposition, dismissing it as "useless" and ignorant after rowdy radical lawmakers disrupted his parliamentary address and walked out.

"They are showing how useless they are, people will never vote for them," Zuma said a day after seeing his annual state of the nation address interrupted.

"They don't understand democracy, how it works."

South African President Jacob Zuma sits down as he is interrupted trying to give his state of the nation address in Cape Town, South Africa on February 11, 2016 Schalk van Zuydam (Pool/AFP)

"They just move with the wind when it goes this way, that way, shame on them," said Zuma.

Lawmakers from the leftist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), dressed in their uniforms of red workers' overalls and hard hats, noisily interrupted his speech for an hour before being ordered out of the chamber on Thursday night.

"Zuma is no longer a president that deserves respect from anyone," EFF's firebrand leader Julius Malema yelled at the president.

But Zuma said if the opposition were true democrats, they should know better how to deal with the government when it errs.

"If the party or the president commits a mistake, there is a process how you deal with that," said Zuma in his first reaction to his heckling by EFF members of parliament.

"You are really not doing good for your country. You are making this country look bad out there, which means you don't think," he said after the speech was broadcast live on television.

He said the opposition's rowdy behaviour was actually working to his ruling African National Congress (ANC)'s advantage.

The "problem with other parties is (that) as soon as they open their mouths they talk about the ANC not about themselves."

"They are actually doing our job, they are not convincing people."

Julius Malema (C) leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters political party leaves the inside of parliament with his members as President Jacob Zuma attempts to give his state of the nation address in Cape Town, South Africa on February 11, 2016 Schalk van Zuydam (Pool/AFP/File)
Kurds, allies seize Syria air base backed by Russia: monitor

Kurdish and Arab forces backed by Russian air strikes captured a strategic air base and the adjacent town in northern Syria from rival anti-government factions, a monitoring group said Thursday.

The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and Arab allies on Wednesday night expelled Islamist and other rebel fighters from Minnigh air base and the adjacent town, north of Syria's second city Aleppo, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"The takeover of Minnigh air base and the adjacent town overnight was backed by at least 30 Russian air strikes," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.

Military helicopters are pictured at Minnigh air base in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo on August 10, 2013 Zein Al-Rifai (AFP/File)

"There's some coordination between the Kurds and the Russians in Afrin region," he told AFP.

The advance comes after days of fierce clashes that saw YPG forces advance east from the Kurdish stronghold of Afrin and take over a series of villages before reaching Minnigh.

"With the defeat at Minnigh, Islamist fighters lost the only military airport they held in Aleppo province," Abdel Rahman said earlier.

"Minnigh airport lies between two key roads that lead from Aleppo city to Azaz" to the north, giving Kurdish fighters a strategic launching pad for offensives against jihadists further east, he said.

Government forces lost control of the Minnigh airport in August 2013, two years after the uprising in Syria first erupted.

Rebel groups are facing a dual advance by both Kurdish forces coming from the west and regime troops -- backed by a barrage of Russian air strikes -- pressing an offensive north from Aleppo city.

More than 500 people have been killed since the government began its Aleppo assault on February 1, the Observatory said Wednesday.

YPG forces regularly clash with Islamist and jihadist fighters in northern Syria, but its most active front is further east against the Islamic State jihadist group.

Arab rebel groups have accused Kurdish fighters of ethnically cleansing towns to carve out autonomous Kurdish territories, a claim the YPG has fiercely denied.
DR Congo announces ivory trafficking arrests

Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) said Thursday they had made three arrests as Kinshasa seeks to dismantle a major ivory trafficking syndicate.

"We have netted three big fish... organisers," Cosma Wilungula, director of the Congolese Conservation and Nature Institute (ICCN) told AFP.

With the backing of conservation group WWF, Kinshasa has been cracking down on wildlife crime in the knowledge that thousands of elephants are poached annually.

Conservation group WWF estimates as many as 30,000 elephants are killed for ivory every year Pornchai Kittiwongsakul (AFP/File)

The WWF estimates as many as 30,000 are killed for ivory every year.

The ICCN manages protected zones of the DR Congo and has policing powers to deal with poachers and illicit trade in fauna and flora.

Wilungula said the ICCN team had made the arrests on February 4 and seized some 30 kilos (65 pounds) of ivory tusks and ornaments.

Heralding a "significant blow to the illegal ivory trade" in the DRC the WWF said in a statement on its website that the crackdown represented a major step towards stopping wildlife crime.

"WWF congratulates the DRC government for successfully breaking up this ivory trafficking network," said Bruno Perodeau, WWF-DRC conservation director.

"This crackdown shows that ivory traffickers can no longer count on impunity for their crimes in this country, and demonstrates that with determination, we can be successful in the fight against wildlife crime, even in DRC."

Wilungula nevertheless expressed frustration that the fight to end trafficking was complicated by an "absence of cooperation between state services," charging that services including the police and the army "do not realise the importance of this fight."

Traffickers kill elephants to feed demand for ivory primarily from China and southeast Asia.

The WWF has repeatedly warned that the trade could see the species disappear, noting that the DRC is home to two-thirds of the Congo rainforest, home to the African forest elephant.
Israeli soldier jailed for abusing Palestinian inmates

A military court in Israel has sentenced a soldier to seven months in prison for abusing captured Palestinians, following the outbreak last October of anti-Israeli attacks, the military said Thursday.

A statement in response to an AFP query said the man was found guilty Wednesday "on multiple accounts of mistreating apprehended individuals".

"The Israel Defence Forces (army) see in these extreme incidents a total violation and disregard of the IDF's Code of Conduct and strongly condemns these actions," it said.

Israeli soldiers patrol a street, east of the West Bank city of Nablus, on October 3, 2015 Jaafar Ashtiyeh (AFP/File)

The statement did not disclose the offences but news website Ynet said the soldier "on two occasions beat and abused detained Palestinians and also took part in giving electric shock to one of them".

The army statement said the court had yet to rule on "other suspects involved in these extreme incidents".

Ynet said the first incident -- involving a Palestinian arrested on suspicion of militant activity -- took place in October when a wave of Palestinian attacks erupted.

The second took place about a week later, with a different prisoner, it said.

The violence has since claimed the lives of 26 Israelis, as well as an American, a Sudanese and an Eritrean, according to an AFP count.
Bruce Springsteen memoir coming in September

Rock legend Bruce Springsteen will explain his rise to fame and the struggles behind his songs in a memoir to be released in September, his publisher announced Thursday.

The book will be entitled "Born to Run," named after Springsteen's 1975 song that both marked his rise to fame and lyrically explained his drive to get out of his home in Freehold, New Jersey.

The publisher, Simon and Schuster, said that Springsteen would tell stories behind the songs for the first time and show "why the song 'Born to Run' reveals more than we previously realized."

Bruce Springsteen, pictured on December 1, 2014, will publish a memoir entitled "Born to Run" Timothy A. Clary (AFP/File)

The memoir will relate the "poetry, danger and darkness" of his youth in Freehold and his "relentless drive" to become a musician as he started playing at a bar in nearby Asbury Park, the publisher said.

"Writing about yourself is a funny business," Springsteen, 66, said in a statement.

"But in a project like this, the writer has made one promise, to show the reader his mind. In these pages, I've tried to do this," he said.

The book will be released September 27 in 14 countries, with editions in French, German and Spanish.

The New York Post said that Springsteen received a $10 million advance for the book. Simon and Schuster did not comment.
Bosnia says it is ready to submit EU membership application

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP)  Bosnia's prime minister says his country has fulfilled the preconditions for applying for EU membership and will submit its request to Brussels on Monday.

After years of lingering behind its neighbors on the path to EU membership, Prime Minister Denis Zvizdic said Wednesday his government is now ready to move forward with its aspirations to join the 28-nation bloc.

Zvizdic said he was optimistic the EU will grant Bosnia candidate status in 2017.

However, hours after Zvizdic announced that the last two preconditions for the application had been fulfilled, the government of the Bosnian Serb region complained it had not been consulted before the national government adopted a coordination mechanism that should help harmonize the country's laws, standards and policies with those of the EU.

Since the 1992-95 war, Bosnia has been divided in two semi-autonomous regions  one for the Serbs, the other shared by Bosniaks and Croats. They are linked by a joint government, parliament and presidency.

For years the two regions had opposite views of the future of the country: the Serbs pushed for greater autonomy or even secession, while the other two saw Bosnia in the EU as a whole.

But two years ago Bosnian Serb voters split between a party that supports secession and an alliance that supports EU reforms. Members of that alliance occupy positions in the national government and members of the secessionist party rule the Serb region. Serbs in the national government voted for the reforms while those running the region oppose some of them.
Study finds Zika virus in fetal brain, a clue in outbreak

WASHINGTON (AP)  New details about the possible effects of the Zika virus on the fetal brain emerged Wednesday as U.S. health officials say mosquito eradication here and abroad is key to protect pregnant women until they can develop a vaccine.

European researchers uncovered an extremely abnormal brain  not only a fraction of the proper size but lacking the usual crinkly neural folds  in a fetus whose mother suffered Zika symptoms at the end of the first trimester while she was living in Brazil.

Zika is rapidly spreading through Latin America, and as it did, Brazil reported a surge in babies born with unusually small heads, a defect called microcephaly that can signal underlying brain damage.

CDC Director Tom Frieden testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016, before the House Foreign Affairs, Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations subcommittee and Western Hemisphere subcommittee hearing on: 'The Global Zika Epidemic.' (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Whether the mosquito-borne virus really causes microcephaly isn't yet proven, but Wednesday's report in The New England Journal of Medicine offers additional biologic clues.

"This fetus was really devastated," said Dr. Michael Greene of Massachusetts General Hospital who with colleagues from Harvard reviewed the findings in an accompanying editorial.

Second-trimester ultrasounds in Brazil didn't spot any problems but a third-trimester scan when the woman returned to Europe did. A post-abortion autopsy found the Zika virus in the fetus' brain but, remarkably, no other organs, reported researchers from the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia. They also genetically sequenced the virus, which could help further research into the suspected link.

Last month, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced finding Zika genetic material in brain tissue from two Brazilian babies who'd died, and in the placentas from two miscarriages.

Together, the findings offer important evidence but still, "there are more questions than there are answers at the moment," Greene said.

Also Wednesday, leading scientific journals pledged to rapidly share data to try to get those answers.

The Obama administration has asked Congress for $1.8 billion in emergency funding to fight Zika. The biggest U.S. message is for pregnant women to avoid traveling to Zika-affected areas.

But CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden told a congressional committee on Wednesday that much of the effort must be on mosquito control, too, including in southern parts of the U.S. that harbor the mosquito that spreads the virus. Officials don't expect large outbreaks in the continental U.S., but have warned that there could be limited local transmission, small clusters, in those areas, like there have been of related viruses carried by the same mosquito, the dengue and chikungunya viruses.

However, Frieden warned that "we will likely see significant numbers of cases in Puerto Rico," based on how quickly chikungunya spread through that territory in 2014.

To protect women of child-bearing age in Zika-stricken countries, a vaccine will be important because the virus "is a flash infection," disappearing from the mother's bloodstream in days, said Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health. That means other ways of fighting maternal transmission likely wouldn't work.

He hopes small safety studies of an experimental vaccine might begin late this year, but said how long it would take to prove a candidate shot really worked depends in part on whether the Zika outbreak is still going on next year or burns itself out.
New Oklahoma prisons chief: Facilities crumbling, morale low

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)  A longtime Republican political operative who previously headed the Federal Emergency Management Agency now has the daunting task of leading Oklahoma's overcrowded and underfunded prison system, which has come under increasing scrutiny after a series of problematic executions.

Joe Allbaugh, a 63-year-old native of Blackwell, Oklahoma, appointed interim director of the Department of Corrections last month, said Wednesday that he's made unannounced visits to more than a dozen prisons in the state. He said facilities are crumbling and overcrowded, guards are underpaid and understaffed, employee morale is low and the state is ill-prepared to handle a projected increase of more than 1,000 new inmates over the next year.

"We don't have an extra 1,000 beds out there," Allbaugh said in an interview at the department's Oklahoma City headquarters. "We're scraping around to figure out where we're going to put folks. It's dangerous."

Joe Allbaugh, interim director of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, sits in his office in Oklahoma City, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. A longtime GOP political operative who previously headed the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Allbaugh now has the task of leading Oklahoma's overcrowded and underfunded prison system, which has come under scrutiny after problematic executions. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Allbaugh said he's currently negotiating with the owners of two empty private prisons in Oklahoma about lease or lease-purchase options, but a $1 billion hole in the state budget means additional funding for housing inmates is unlikely.

The Board of Corrections hired Allbaugh on a temporary basis after former director Robert Patton departed after less than two years amid a multicounty grand jury investigation into a series of problematic lethal injections. Allbaugh, who was living in Austin, Texas, said he and his wife have been looking for an opportunity to return to Oklahoma and that he's interested in taking the job full time.

"I'm all about doing things, making things happen," he said. "Talk is cheap, and this is an agency that has been talked about for years. Very little improvement has been done. There are great people here. Their heart's in right place."

Allbaugh's lack of direct experience in corrections isn't much of a concern to former state Rep. Gus Blackwell, who heads a group that represents state prison workers.

"They've been favorably impressed that he's been to all these facilities in less than a month," said Blackwell, director of Oklahoma Corrections Professionals. "He goes in there to talk to the officers. He hears what they have to say."

Oklahoma has about 28,000 inmates in both state and private facilities, and state prisons are at 122 percent of capacity, Allbaugh said. Over the last decade, day rooms and gymnasiums at prisons across the state have been converted into housing units packed with bunk beds. Figures from the Bureau of Justice Statistics reviewed last year by The Associated Press show Oklahoma had the highest rate of prison homicides in the nation between 2001 and 2012, with state inmates killed at a rate more than three times the national average.

"We are staffed so low right now, particularly with correctional officers, that should there be an incident, I'm concerned that we couldn't respond appropriately," Allbaugh said. "And that's a public safety concern."

While all executions are on hold in Oklahoma amid the grand jury probe into how the wrong lethal injection drug was delivered for the last two executions, Allbaugh said prison officials are continuing to train on the protocols. A death penalty supporter, he said he has confidence in the staff's ability to carry out executions humanely and properly.

"The citizens of Oklahoma can be assured that we will continue refining our protocols, improving upon them and when the time comes, they can be confident that any execution going forward will be done as actually intended," he said.

Allbaugh was a longtime political operative in Oklahoma who headed up George W. Bush's gubernatorial campaign in 1994 and was named chief of staff when Bush was elected governor. He then managed Bush's presidential campaign in 2000, including overseeing the Florida recount that Allbaugh described as "the worst 36 days of my life," before being appointed to head FEMA.

He served in the FEMA role from 2001 to 2003.

___

Follow Sean Murphy at www.twitter.com/apseanmurphy

Joe Allbaugh, interim director of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, speaks during an interview in his office in Oklahoma City, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. A longtime GOP political operative who previously headed the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Allbaugh now has the task of leading Oklahoma's overcrowded and underfunded prison system, which has come under scrutiny after problematic executions. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
The Latest: Assassin of Robert Kennedy denied parole

SAN DIEGO (AP)  The Latest on the parole hearing for Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of Robert F. Kennedy (all times local):

3 p.m.

For the 15th time, officials have denied parole for Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, after hearing from another person who was shot that night and called for the release of Sirhan.

These composite photos provided by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation show Sirhan Sirhan from left, in Oct. 29, 2009, Sept. 20, 2012, and Nov. 22, 2013. For nearly 50 years, Sirhan has been consistent: He says he doesn't remember fatally shooting Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in a crowded kitchen pantry of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. The Jerusalem native, now 71, has given no inkling that he will change his story at his 15th parole hearing set for Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016, in San Diego. He is serving a life sentence that was commuted from death when the California Supreme Court briefly outlawed capital punishment in 1972. (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation via AP)

The decision came Wednesday after Sirhan answered questions from the parole panel for about three hours in a small, windowless conference room.

Sirhan stuck to his previous account that he did not remember the shooting in 1968 at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

He said he recalled being in the hotel then going to his car and returning after realizing he had too much to drink. He said he became interested in a female as he drank coffee.

Paul Schrade, now 91, told the panel that he believes Sirhan shot him but an unidentified second shooter killed Kennedy.

Schrade was a Kennedy confidante who was one of five people injured in the shooting after Kennedy won the Democratic presidential primary in California.

This Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, photo provided by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shows Sirhan Sirhan. For nearly 50 years, Sirhan has been consistent: He says he doesn't remember fatally shooting Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in a crowded kitchen pantry of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. The Jerusalem native, now 71, has given no inkling that he will change his story at his 15th parole hearing set for Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016, in San Diego. He is serving a life sentence that was commuted from death when the California Supreme Court briefly outlawed capital punishment in 1972. (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation via AP)
Though India's independent telcoms regulator has banned services like Facebook's "Free Basics"  which bribed phone companies to exempt Facebook's chosen services from the carriers' punishing data-caps  the debate rages on, as Free Basics has taken hold through many poor countries around the world.

One important critique of Free Basics is that it's a form of colonialism, something that some Free Basics advocates acknowledge. For example, investor Mark Andreessen criticized the opposition to Free Basics: "Anti-colonialism has been economically catastrophic for the Indian people for decades Why stop now?" (Andreesen later apologized and deleted the tweet).

Deepika Bahri, an English professor at Emory University who focuses on postcolonial studies, summed up the argument for Facebook as neocolonial in six cogent points:

1. ride in like the savior 2. bandy about words like equality, democracy, basic rights 3. mask the long-term profit motive (see 2 above) 4. justify the logic of partial dissemination as better than nothing 5. partner with local elites and vested interests 6. accuse the critics of ingratitude

Facebook and the New Colonialism

[Adrienne Lafrance/The Atlantic]

(via Memex 1.1)





(Image: Reliance-Internet.org Commercial)
Accused Paltrow stalker discusses desire to marry actress

LOS ANGELES (AP)  An Ohio man charged with stalking Gwyneth Paltrow testified Wednesday that he sent her dozens of messages in the hope she might want to marry him despite her testifying against him in a previous stalking case.

Dante Soiu testified that he wanted his messages to show her unconditional love and friendship and that he had no animosity toward her over the earlier case, which sent him to a mental institution for several years. That case involved 500 messages, including sex toys and pornography, Soiu sent Paltrow in 1999 and 2000.

Soiu told jurors he wanted to let Paltrow know he was available and willing to marry her if the opportunity arose. His lawyers called him to testify in his own defense in the felony stalking case.

FILE - In this Oct. 29, 2015 file photo, Gwyneth Paltrow arrives at the amfAR Inspiration Gala in Los Angeles. Dante Soiu, an Ohio man charged with stalking Paltrow by sending her dozens of messages and unsolicited gifts between 2009 and 2015, testified in his own defense about the correspondence at his trial in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)

He sent Paltrow 66 messages and packages between 2009 and 2015, but none of the recent correspondence included pornography. A judge has said the earlier messages could be important to understanding Paltrow's fear of Soiu.

Paltrow testified Monday she was afraid of Soiu and began crying when she expressed fears about her children's safety.

Deputy District Attorney Wendy Segall questioned why Paltrow would want to marry him after he had sent her so many lewd messages and she had to testify against him.

"I was trying to show I had changed and I had become a different person," Soiu said. "I wanted to show a new face towards her."

Soiu said he didn't want to scare the actress, but he was intent on her responding to him. "I wanted her to say flat out, 'I don't want to marry you,' " he said. "That way I would have a definite response from her."

He said he wrote to many public figures, including President Barack Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin offering counsel on world affairs and solutions to problems.

He conceded that his notes to Paltrow were the only ones that expressed an interest in marriage. "Oh, no, I don't want to marry Putin," Soiu said.

Soiu was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 2000 in the previous case involving pornographic messages he sent to Paltrow. He was re-arrested last year after sending the actress new correspondence.

He said he was addicted to pornography at the time but said he is now on medication and considers himself healed.

The recent batch of letters described Soiu's intention to marry the actress as well as a pair of earrings he sent her in 2009 as a Christmas gift, some secondhand clothes and a Weight Watchers cookbook. He has also sent her religious books, and forwarded her letters he has sent to President Barack Obama and actress Angelina Jolie.

One letter described Paltrow "bowing to death," a reference the actress said she found disturbing.

Soiu, a self-described born again Christian from Columbus, Ohio, said he was referencing spiritual, not physical death, in his letters.

He said he hoped the Oscar winner would write him back if she wanted him to stop. "I wanted her to at least be a pen pal or at least say something," Soiu said.

Soiu testified he believed he had an understanding with Paltrow's lawyer that he could write to the actress until he was told to stop. He conceded that he never spoke or corresponded with the lawyer to reach that agreement.

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Panel denies parole to Sirhan, assassin of Robert F. Kennedy

SAN DIEGO (AP)  Sirhan Sirhan was denied parole Wednesday for fatally shooting Robert F. Kennedy after a confidante of the slain senator who was shot in the head forgave him and repeatedly apologized for not doing more to win his release.

Paul Schrade's voice cracked with emotion during an hour of testimony on his efforts to untangle mysteries about the events of June 5, 1968. The 91-year-old former labor leader said he believed Sirhan shot him but that a second unidentified shooter felled Kennedy.

"I should have been here long ago and that's why I feel guilty for not being here to help you and to help me," Schrade said.

Sirhan Sirhan reacts during a parole hearing Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016, at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego. For the 15th time, officials denied parole for Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, after hearing Wednesday from another person who was shot that night and called for the release of Sirhan. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, Pool)

The men faced each other for the first time since Schrade testified at Sirhan's 1969 trial. Schrade apologized for not going to any of Sirhan's 14 previous parole hearings.

As Sirhan left, Schrade shouted, "Sirhan, I'm so sorry this is happening to you. It's my fault."

Sirhan, who had nodded politely when the victim addressed him, tried to shake hands with Schrade but a guard blocked him.

Commissioners concluded after more than three hours of intense testimony at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Center that Sirhan did not show adequate remorse or understand the enormity of his crime.

Sirhan, who is serving a life sentence that was commuted from death when the California Supreme Court briefly outlawed capital punishment in 1972, will next be eligible for parole in five years.

"This crime impacted the nation, and I daresay it impacted the world," commissioner Brian Roberts said. "It was a political assassination of a viable Democratic presidential candidate."

Sirhan, 71, stuck to his account that he didn't remember the shooting at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles moments after Kennedy delivered a victory speech in the pivotal California primary.

Sirhan recalled events before the shooting in some detail  going to a shooting range that day, visiting the hotel in search of a party and returning after realizing he drank too many Tom Collins' to drive. He drank coffee in a hotel pantry with a woman to whom he was attracted.

The next thing he said he remembered was being choked and unable to breathe.

"It's all vague now," he said. "I'm sure you all have it in your records, I can't deny it or confirm it. I just wish this whole thing had never taken place."

Sirhan, a native of Jerusalem, listened intently during most of the hearing, turning testy when commissioners pressed him on his memory and any feelings of remorse. He said he felt remorse for any crime victim but added that he couldn't take responsibility for the shooting.

"If you want a confession, I can't make it now," Sirhan said. "Legally speaking, I'm not guilty of anything. ... It's not that I'm making light of it. I'm responsible for being there."

Schrade, who was alongside Kennedy and four others who were injured and served as western regional director of the United Auto Workers Union at the time, provided much of the drama. He angrily ignored the commissioner's admonishment to avoid directly addressing Sirhan and chastised the prosecution for a "venomous" statement advocating that Sirhan stay in prison.

Schrade, who long advocated the second-gunman theory, recalled how he became depressed and upset after the shooting and vividly described his extensive efforts to find answers. He stopped occasionally to apologize for being nervous and emotional.

The commissioner asked Schrade to wrap up after about an hour, saying, "Quite frankly, you're losing us."

"I think you've been lost for a long time," Schrade shot back.

At one point, the commissioner asked if anyone wanted a break.

"No, I want to get this over," Schrade answered from the audience. "I find it very abusive."

David Dahle, a retired prosecutor appearing for the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, said Sirhan was guilty of "an attack on the American political system and the American political process."

"The prisoner has still not come to grips with what he has done," he said.

In one of many emotional outbursts during his 1969 trial, Sirhan blurted out that he had committed the crime with 20 years of malice aforethought.

That and his declaration when arrested, "I did it for my country," were his only relevant comments before he said he didn't remember shooting Kennedy.

Sirhan said incriminating statements he made at trial were the result of an ineffective defense attorney who pressured him into thinking he was guilty.

"I feel if I had a proper defense at the time then the results would have been quite different," he said.

Sirhan said he was initially reluctant to attend the hearing  feeling he was mistreated at his last appearance in 2011  but his attorneys successfully urged him to reconsider.

Sirhan told the panel that if released, he hoped he would be deported to Jordan or would live with his brother in Pasadena, California.

His hope, he said, was "just to live out my life peacefully, in harmony with my fellow man."

"This is such a traumatic experience, it's a horrendous experience that for me to keep dwelling on it is harmful to me," Sirhan said.

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Linda Deutsch, retired AP special correspondent, contributed to this report.

Paul Schrade, who was shot in the head by Sirhan Sirhan, points towards Sirhan as he speaks during a parole hearing Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016, at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego. For the 15th time, officials denied parole for Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, after hearing Wednesday from another person who was shot that night and called for the release of Sirhan. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, Pool)

Sirhan Sirhan describes being choked during a parole hearing Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016, at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego. For the 15th time, officials denied parole for Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, after hearing Wednesday from another person who was shot that night and called for the release of Sirhan. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, Pool)

These composite photos provided by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation show Sirhan Sirhan from left, in Oct. 29, 2009, Sept. 20, 2012, and Nov. 22, 2013. For nearly 50 years, Sirhan has been consistent: He says he doesn't remember fatally shooting Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in a crowded kitchen pantry of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. The Jerusalem native, now 71, has given no inkling that he will change his story at his 15th parole hearing set for Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016, in San Diego. He is serving a life sentence that was commuted from death when the California Supreme Court briefly outlawed capital punishment in 1972. (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation via AP)

This Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, photo provided by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shows Sirhan Sirhan. For nearly 50 years, Sirhan has been consistent: He says he doesn't remember fatally shooting Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in a crowded kitchen pantry of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. The Jerusalem native, now 71, has given no inkling that he will change his story at his 15th parole hearing set for Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016, in San Diego. He is serving a life sentence that was commuted from death when the California Supreme Court briefly outlawed capital punishment in 1972. (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation via AP)

FILE - This June 1968 file photo shows Sirhan Sirhan, right, accused assassin of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy with his attorney Russell E. Parsons in Los Angeles. For nearly 50 years, Sirhan Sirhan has been consistent: He says he doesn't remember fatally shooting Sen. Kennedy in a crowded kitchen pantry of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. The Jerusalem native, now 71, has given no inkling that he will change his version of events at his 15th parole hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016, in San Diego. He is serving a life sentence that was commuted from death when the California Supreme Court briefly outlawed capital punishment in 1972. (AP Photo/File)

Sirhan Sirhan reacts during a parole hearing Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016, at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego. For the 15th time, officials denied parole for Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, after hearing Wednesday from another person who was shot that night and called for the release of Sirhan. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, Pool)

Paul Schrade, who was shot in the head by Sirhan Sirhan, reacts during a parole hearing for Sirhan Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016, at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego. For the 15th time, officials denied parole for Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, after hearing Wednesday from another person who was shot that night and called for the release of Sirhan. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, Pool)

Paul Schrade, who was shot in the head by Sirhan Sirhan, looks on during a parole hearing for Sirhan Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016, at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego. For the 15th time, officials denied parole for Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, after hearing Wednesday from another person who was shot that night and called for the release of Sirhan. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, Pool)

Sirhan Sirhan speaks during a parole hearing Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016, at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego. For the 15th time, officials denied parole for Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, after hearing Wednesday from another person who was shot that night and called for the release of Sirhan. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, Pool)

Sirhan Sirhan, third from left in blue, reaches to shake the hand of victim Paul Schrade, second from right, at the end of a parole hearing Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016, at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego. For the 15th time, officials denied parole for Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, after hearing Wednesday from Schrade, who was shot that night and called for the release of Sirhan. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, Pool)
Timeline of events after fatal police shooting in Ferguson

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP)  A year and a half after a police officer fatally shot an unarmed black 18-year-old in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, the U.S. Justice Department has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city. Here is a timeline of key events that followed the Aug. 9. 2014 shooting of Michael Brown:

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AUG. 9, 2014  Michael Brown and a companion, both black, are confronted by an officer as they walk back to Brown's home from a convenience store. Brown and the officer, who is white, are involved in a scuffle, followed by gunshots. Brown dies at the scene, and his body remains in the street for four hours in the summer heat. Neighbors later lash out at authorities, saying they mistreated the body.

Protesters chant and yell after the Ferguson, Mo., city council meeting in Ferguson on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, where the council voted to approve a modified consent decree with the United States Department of Justice. It is unclear if the Department of Justice will agree to the modifications. (David Carson/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)

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AUG. 10, 2014  After a candlelight vigil, people protesting Brown's death smash car windows and carry away armloads of looted goods from stores. In the first of several nights of violence, looters are seen making off with bags of food, toilet paper and alcohol. Some protesters stand atop police cars and taunt officers.

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AUG. 11, 2014  The FBI opens an investigation into Brown's death, and two men who said they saw the shooting tell reporters that Brown had his hands raised when the officer approached with his weapon and fired repeatedly. That night, police in riot gear fire tear gas and rubber bullets to try to disperse a crowd.

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AUG. 14, 2014  The Missouri State Highway Patrol takes control of security in Ferguson, relieving St. Louis County and local police of their law-enforcement authority following four days of violence. The shift in command comes after images from the protests show many officers equipped with military-style gear, including armored vehicles, body armor and assault rifles. In scores of photographs that circulate online, officers are seen pointing their weapons at demonstrators.

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AUG. 15, 2014  Police identify the officer who shot Brown as Darren Wilson, 28. They also release a video purporting to show Brown robbing a convenience store of almost $50 worth of cigars shortly before he was killed, a move that further inflames protesters.

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AUG. 16, 2014  Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon declares a state of emergency and imposes a curfew in Ferguson.

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AUG. 18, 2014  Nixon calls the National Guard to Ferguson to help restore order and lifts the curfew.

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AUG. 20, 2014  Attorney General Eric Holder visits Ferguson to offer assurances about the investigation into Brown's death and to meet with investigators and Brown's family. A grand jury begins hearing evidence to determine whether Wilson should be charged.

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AUG. 21, 2014  Nixon orders the National Guard to withdraw from Ferguson.

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SEPT. 25, 2014  Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson releases a videotaped apology to Brown's family and attempts to march in solidarity with protesters, a move that backfires when Ferguson officers scuffle with demonstrators and arrest one person moments after Jackson joins the group.

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OCT. 10, 2014  Protesters from across the country descend on the St. Louis region for "Ferguson October," four days of coordinated and spontaneous protests. A weekend march and rally in downtown St. Louis draws several thousand participants.

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OCT. 21, 2014  Nixon pledges to create an independent Ferguson Commission to examine race relations, failing schools and other broader social and economic issues in the aftermath of Brown's death.

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NOV. 17, 2014  The Democratic governor declares a state of emergency and activates the National Guard again ahead of a decision from a grand jury. He places Ferguson police in charge of security in Ferguson, with orders to work as a unified command with St. Louis city police and the Missouri Highway Patrol.

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NOV. 18, 2014  Nixon names 16 people to the Ferguson Commission. Nine of its members are black. Seven are white.

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NOV. 24, 2014  The St. Louis County prosecutor announces that the grand jury has decided not to indict Wilson. During ensuing protests, at least a dozen buildings and multiple police cars are burned, officers are hit by rocks and batteries and reports of gunfire force some St. Louis-bound flights to be diverted.

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MARCH 4, 2015  The U.S. Justice Department announces that it will not prosecute Wilson in Brown's death but releases a scathing report that faults the city and its law enforcement for racial bias.

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MARCH 11, 2015  Jackson resigns, effective March 19. Jackson, who is white, is the sixth employee to resign or be fired in light of the Justice Department's report. He is replaced on an interim basis by his top commander, Lt. Col. Al Eickhoff, who also is white.

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MARCH 12, 2015  Two St. Louis-area police officers are shot in front of the Ferguson Police Department during a demonstration by protesters. Three days later, a 20-year-old man is charged with first-degree assault in the shootings.

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APRIL 7, 2015  In Ferguson's first municipal election since Brown's death, two of the three City Council members elected are black. Blacks now hold three of six seats, compared with the single seat prior to the election.

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APRIL 23, 2015  Lawyers for Brown's family sue the city of Ferguson, Wilson and Jackson.

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MAY 20, 2015  The makeshift mid-street memorial that marked where Brown fell dead is cleared out on would have been his 19th birthday, giving way to a permanent plaque installed nearby in his memory.

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JUNE 9, 2015  Ferguson hires a new municipal judge and interim city manager, both of them black.

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JULY 10, 2015  Nixon signs into law legislation limiting cities' ability to profit from traffic tickets and court fines  the first significant step taken by state lawmakers to address concerns raised after Brown's death. Among other things, the law lowers the percentage of revenue most cities can collect from traffic fines and fees from 30 percent to 20 percent.

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JULY 22, 2015  Andre Anderson, a black, longtime police administrator in suburban Phoenix, is introduced as Ferguson's new interim police chief.

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AUG. 8, 2015  A day before the anniversary of Brown's death, a morning march went from Canfield Drive  the site of the shooting  to Normandy High School, from which Brown had graduated. An afternoon march also was launched near where a St. Louis city police officer shot and killed another 18-year-old last October.

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AUG. 9, 2015  Marking the anniversary of his son's death, Michael Brown Sr. leads a march from the shooting site to a community church service.

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JAN. 27, 2016  Ferguson announces a tentative deal with the Justice Department to reform the city's policing and municipal court. The recommended overhaul follows seven months of negotiations.

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FEB. 9, 2016  Ferguson's City Council unanimously votes to revise the agreement with the Justice Department, proposing seven amendments the mayor said were formulated after the analysis showed the deal was so expensive it could lead to the dissolution of Ferguson.

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Ex-LA sheriff pleads guilty to lying during corruption probe

LOS ANGELES (AP)  Former Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca pleaded guilty Wednesday to lying to federal authorities investigating corruption in the department, a probe that was gaining momentum when he abruptly retired two years ago.

Baca, a media-savvy lawman who used his platform as head of the nation's largest sheriff's department to travel the world touting progressive policing policies, had largely been out of sight since leaving office a year early in January 2014. He consistently dodged questions about any connection to the corruption even as other former underlings pleaded guilty or were convicted.

That changed Wednesday with the surprise announcement by federal authorities that the corruption went all the way to the top of the department and that Baca had finally agreed to take the fall.

Former Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca, left, and his wife, Carol leave U.S. Court House building in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. Baca signed a plea agreement that said he ordered deputies to intimidate an FBI agent and "do everything but put handcuffs on her." Baca later lied to federal prosecutors and the FBI that he wasn't privy to discussions about trying to derail the investigation. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

Within hours, Baca was in a federal courtroom pleading guilty to a single felony count that could put him behind bars for up to six months. He faces sentencing May 16.

With a brown suit, striped tie and miniature sheriff's star gleaming on his lapel, the 73-year-old answered a judge's questions in a quiet voice. Outside court later, he chose to remain silent as reporters asked questions and his lawyer spoke for him.

Attorney Michael Zweiback said Baca had a 50-year career in law enforcement, does a lot of good in the community and doesn't deserve prison time.

In a brief typed statement signed "Lee Baca retired sheriff," he said he had made a mistake and accepted being held accountable.

"This is not a day of celebration for us," U.S. Attorney Eileen Decker said earlier during a news conference. "It is a sad day when a leader of a law enforcement agency fails to honor his oath and instead of upholding justice chooses to obstruct it."

Baca signed a plea agreement that said he ordered deputies to intimidate an FBI agent and "do everything but put handcuffs on her." Baca later lied to federal prosecutors and the FBI that he wasn't privy to discussions about trying to derail the investigation into beatings by guards at the jail.

Baca, who ran the department for more than 15 years, had said he was out of touch with what was going on and he denied knowing about efforts to stifle the probe by hiding an inmate who was an FBI informant.

Baca avoided charges for years as prosecutors moved up the ranks to indict a number of officers and, eventually, his second-in-command.

In May, when former Undersheriff Paul Tanaka and another high-ranking member of the department were charged with obstructing justice, prosecutors declined to comment on whether Baca was under investigation.

Tanaka is facing trial, but his co-defendant, former Capt. Tom Carey, pleaded guilty and agreed to testify in related court proceedings. It's not clear if that included providing testimony against Baca.

When Baca announced his abrupt retirement after 48 years at the sheriff's department, he sidestepped questions about whether he was worried he might be indicted but acknowledged that more of his employees may face charges.

"I'm not afraid of reality. I'm only afraid of people who don't tell the truth," Baca said at the time, adding that he wasn't retiring because of the FBI's investigation.

Just a month before that, when the indictments of 18 sheriff's officials were announced, the lawman strongly denied criticisms that abuse was rampant in his department.

"You haven't seen me retire from the job," he said. "You haven't seen me blame somebody else besides me for whatever the challenges are."

Seventeen members of the department have been convicted of federal crimes that include beating inmates, obstructing justice, bribery and conspiracy. The convictions stem from a grand jury investigation that began in 2010 into allegations of abuse and corruption at the downtown Men's Central Jail.

Deputies tried to hide an FBI jail informant from his handlers for weeks in 2011 by shifting him from cell to cell at various jails under different names and altering jail computer records. The FBI wanted the informant to testify to a grand jury.

After Baca learned of the investigation, he met with Tanaka, Carey and a lieutenant in September 2011 and told them to approach Special Agent Leah Marx, one of the inmate's handlers, according to court documents. The next day officers threatened to arrest Marx for intervening in their jurisdiction.

Tanaka retired from the department in 2013 and ran unsuccessfully to replace his former boss, losing by a wide margin to Jim McDonnell.

Tanaka faces trial next month. Baca's deal does not require him to testify against his former undersheriff.

David Bowdich, the FBI's Los Angeles chief, said Baca had continuously denied playing a role in the corruption "even when some in the rank and file were under the gun and they were being prosecuted and ultimately convicted."

"He had the opportunity to lead," Bowdich said. "He did not lead ... There's no excuse for the decisions that were made."

Former Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca, middle, leaves the U.S. Court House building in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. Baca signed a plea agreement that said he ordered deputies to intimidate an FBI agent and "do everything but put handcuffs on her." Baca later lied to federal prosecutors and the FBI that he wasn't privy to discussions about trying to derail the investigation. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

Former Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca, middle, leaves U.S. Court House building in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. Baca signed a plea agreement that said he ordered deputies to intimidate an FBI agent and "do everything but put handcuffs on her." Baca later lied to federal prosecutors and the FBI that he wasn't privy to discussions about trying to derail the investigation. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

Former Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca, middle, is escorted out of U.S. Court House building in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. Baca signed a plea agreement that said he ordered deputies to intimidate an FBI agent and "do everything but put handcuffs on her." Baca later lied to federal prosecutors and the FBI that he wasn't privy to discussions about trying to derail the investigation. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

Former Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca leaves the U.S. Court House building in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. Baca pleaded guilty Wednesday to lying during a federal probe into beatings by deputies and corruption at the jails he ran. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

Former Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca leaves U.S. Court House building in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. Baca pleaded guilty Wednesday to lying during a federal probe into beatings by deputies and corruption at the jails he ran. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

Former Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca, left, leaves U.S. Court House building in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. Baca pleaded guilty Wednesday to lying during a federal probe into beatings by deputies and corruption at the jails he ran. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

Former Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca, middle, with his attorney Michael Zwieback, right, leave the U.S. Court House building in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. At left, retired Cmdr. Paul Pietrantoni, one of Sheriff Lee Baca's hand-picked jail reformers. Baca signed a plea agreement that said he ordered deputies to intimidate an FBI agent and "do everything but put handcuffs on her." Baca later lied to federal prosecutors and the FBI that he wasn't privy to discussions about trying to derail the investigation. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

Former Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca, center, with his wife Carol, leave the U.S. Court House building in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. Baca pleaded guilty Wednesday to lying during a federal probe into beatings by deputies and corruption at the jails he ran. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

Former Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca, right, leaves U.S. Court House building in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. Baca pleaded guilty Wednesday to lying during a federal probe into beatings by deputies and corruption at the jails he ran. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

FILE - In this Jan. 7, 2014, file photo, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca announces his retirement at a news conference at Sheriffs Headquarters Bureau in Monterey Park, Calif. Baca has agreed to plead guilty to lying to investigators during a federal corruption probe that tainted his career, federal prosecutors said Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)

U.S. Attorney Eileen Decker announces that former former Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca has agreed to plead guilty to a charge of lying to federal investigators during the civil rights investigation, doing a news conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. Baca resigned from the helm of the nation's largest sheriff's department in 2014 amid the probe that led to charges against underlings for beating inmates and for trying to thwart an FBI investigation into those beatings. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

David Bowdich, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office, at podium, takes questions at news conference, after announcing that former Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca has agreed to plead guilty to a charge of lying to federal investigators during the civil rights investigation in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. U.S. Attorney Eileen Decker, left. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

FILE - In this Jan. 30, 2014, file photo, then Los Angeles County Sheriff's Lee Baca speaks to the media in Los Angeles. Baca has agreed to plead guilty to lying to investigators during a federal corruption probe that tainted his career, federal prosecutors said Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. (AP Photo, File)
Low snow causes havoc again with Iditarod

WASILLA, Alaska (AP)  Another low snow year in Alaska is playing havoc with the world's most famous sled dog race, at least for the start.

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race always begins with a ceremonial, fan-friendly slow jaunt through the streets and trails of Anchorage, held a day before the start of the competitive portion of the nearly-thousand mile race.

A lack of snow last year north of Anchorage forced the race from the normal start in Willow, about 75 miles north of Anchorage, further north to Fairbanks. The conditions in Willow are much improved this year, but the problem is in Anchorage, where the snowfall in the city for the last two years has equaled only about two-thirds of a normal year.

Dave Delcourt, a handler on musher Ray Redington Jr.'s sled dog team, holds Dozer for a pre-race blood screening and heart check at Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race headquarters in Wasilla, Alaska, on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. Low snow in the Anchorage area may cause havoc for the race's ceremonial start on March 5, 2016, and the race's board of directors will decide Friday, Feb. 12, 2016, whether the race will have to move its official start scheduled the next day in Willow, Alaska, further north to Fairbanks. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

"Our real challenge right now is trying to figure out whether we've got adequate snow to make Anchorage and the ceremonial start happen," Iditarod Chief Executive Officer Stan Hooley told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

"We're pretty confident in where we're going to officially start the race. In terms of that all-important ceremonial start, we've got some work to do," he said.

This will be the 44th edition of the sled dog race to Nome, and the ceremonial start has always been held in Anchorage.

That won't change, but Hooley says he's not quite sure how it might look just yet. He said in 1994, there wasn't enough snow to cover the 11-mile route from downtown Anchorage to the race's end in east Anchorage, and it was shortened.

One important aspect of the ceremonial start is fans across the world participate in an auction with the winners  called Iditariders  getting to ride with mushers on the Anchorage course. In each of the past few years, the auction has brought in more than $200,000 for the Iditarod.

"It's an important part of our overall fundraiser mix," he said, noting it pays other dividends.

"Those folks (Iditariders) are our very best goodwill ambassadors, because when they go back to their own little corners of the world, they do it with smiles on their faces and talk a lot about that experience. So we need to continue to nurture that program," he said.

Hooley is not ready yet to shorten the ceremonial start, and is hoping Mother Nature will help with some late February snow.

But Luis Ingram, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Anchorage, said there is no significant snow in the seven-day forecast, and confidence isn't high for any after that.

Anchorage set a record for low snow totals last year at 25.1 inches. This year's total so far is 25.8 inches, while a normal snowfall total in Anchorage is 74.5 inches.

Hooley said there is plenty of snow outside the Willow area, and he's pretty sure that is where the race will have its official start on March 6. The board of directors will decide the official start location  either Willow or Fairbanks  on Friday.

There's also plenty of snow in traditional dodgy areas like Rainy Pass, the Dalzell Gorge and the Farewell Burn, where mushers have been injured in recent races by crashing sleds on rocky trails.

The snow in those areas is the best it's been in 15 or 20 years, Hooley said.

Meanwhile, preparations continue for this year's race, which has drawn the third-largest field ever with 86 mushers.

Part of those activities are taking place this month in a trailer set up outside Iditarod's headquarters in Wasilla, where vet tech coordinator Tabitha Jones is making sure all the dogs that might be in the race are getting their blood checked and hearts monitored.

Each musher can start the race with 16 dogs, but if they haven't decided on their team yet, that means they could bring in 24 dogs for those examinations. All the dogs also get an identifying chip inserted.

If every musher brought in 24 dogs, there would be more than 2,000 hounds taking part in this program.

"It's the pre-race screening program that all the dogs in the Iditarod or the potential dogs that could be on a team have to go through in order to run," Jones said.

Dave Delcourt, a handler on musher Ray Redington Jr.'s sled dog team, holds Dozer for a pre-race blood screening and heart check at Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race headquarters in Wasilla, Alaska, on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016.Low snow in the Anchorage area may cause havoc for the race's ceremonial start on March 5, 2016, and the race's board of directors will decide Friday, Feb. 12, 2016, whether the race will have to move its official start scheduled the next day in Willow, Alaska, further north to Fairbanks. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)
US WWII vet reunites with wartime girlfriend in Australia

SYDNEY (AP)  A 93-year-old World War II veteran from the United States embraced his wartime girlfriend in Australia in their reunion Wednesday after more than 70 years apart.

Norwood Thomas and 88-year-old Joyce Morris laughed as they wrapped their arms around each other after Thomas flew from Virginia to the southern Australian city of Adelaide to reconnect with his long-lost love.

"This is about the most wonderful thing that could have happened to me," Thomas said, in a reunion broadcast on Channel 10's "The Project."

In this Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016 photo released by Air New Zealand, World War II veteran Norwood Thomas, 93, from the U.S. reunites with his wartime girlfriend Joyce Morris of Australia, in Adelaide, Australia, after more than 70 years apart. Morris was a 17-year-old British girl and Thomas was a 21-year-old paratrooper when they first met in London shortly before D-Day. (Air New Zealand via AP)

"Good," Morris replied with a laugh. "We're going to have a wonderful fortnight."

Morris was a 17-year-old British girl and Thomas was a 21-year-old paratrooper when they first met in London shortly before D-Day. After the war, he returned to the U.S. The pair wrote letters to each other, and Thomas asked Morris to come to the U.S. to marry him. But somehow Morris misunderstood and thought he'd found someone else, so she stopped writing.

The two eventually married other people. Thomas' wife died in 2001; Morris divorced her husband after 30 years.

Last year, Morris asked one of her sons to look for Thomas online, and they found his name featured in an article about D-Day that ran in The Virginian-Pilot newspaper.

Thomas and Morris reconnected via Skype. After their story went public, hundreds of people made donations to help fund Thomas' trip to Australia from his hometown in Virginia Beach.

The two are planning to spend Valentine's Day together.

FILE - In this Nov. 6, 2015 file photo, Norwood Thomas, holds up a photo of with Joyce Morris at his home in Virginia Beach, Va. Thomas is embarking on a 10,500-mile journey to Australia to visit Morris. She was the 93-year-old World War II veteran's wartime girlfriend. (Bill Tiernan/The Virginian-Pilot via AP) MAGS OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT

In this Sunday, Feb. 7, 2016 photo, Norwood Thomas, a 93-year-old World War II veteran, waits for his departure at the airport in Norfolk, Va. Thomas is embarking on a 10,500-mile journey to Australia to visit his wartime girlfriend after more than 70 years apart. (Hyunsoo Leo Kim/The Virginian-Pilot via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
Church talks help make Cuba 'perfect place for negotiations'

HAVANA (AP)  The heads of the Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches will hold a historic meeting Friday in the threadbare international airport of an officially secular, communist-run tropical island.

Odd as the location seems, Pope Francis' and Patriarch Kirill's attempt to reconcile their churches after centuries of estrangement will set the tone for a year of peacemaking in Cuba, a nation trying to shed its historic role as international socialist provocateur.

In addition to the meeting of the church leaders, Cuban President Raul Castro is expected to welcome President Barack Obama to Havana as early as this spring to celebrate the detente the two men declared at the end of 2014, ending a half-century of hostility. And four years of talks in Cuba between Colombia's government and its main rebel group appear set to produce an accord ending the Western Hemisphere's longest-running conflict, perhaps as early as mid-year.

FILE - In this file photo combination Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, right, serves the Christmas Mass in the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow, Russia, on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016 and Pope Francis prays during an audience at the Vatican on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016. Pope Francis and the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church will meet in Cuba next week in a historic step to heal the 1,000-year-old schism that divided Christianity between East and West, both churches announced Friday, Feb. 5, 2016. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev/Andrew Medichini, Files)

If all goes as planned, 2016 could cement Castro's construction of a foreign policy legacy markedly different from that of his brother Fidel, who oversaw five decades of tension with the United States, dispatching Cuban troops and advisers to Africa, Asia and Central and South America, and offering safe haven to anti-Western fighters from conflicts around the world.

"Cuba has been transformed from a revolutionary actor, isolated from other states in the Western Hemisphere with the exception of Mexico and Canada," said Arturo Lopez-Levy, a Cuban-trained professor at the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley. "The country has come to be seen as a country in transformation, part of the modern-day international system."

Kirill is traveling through Latin America, visiting national leaders and the region's small Russian Orthodox communities. Francis is stopping briefly in Cuba for the second time in less than a year on his way to a tour of Mexico.

The meeting of the men in Havana's Jose Marti International Airport is expected to focus almost entirely on the issue of religious reconciliation. The two churches split during the Great Schism of 1054 and have remained estranged over a host of issues, including the primacy of the pope and Russian Orthodox accusations that the Catholic Church is poaching converts in former Soviet lands.

Friday's meeting will be the first-ever meeting between the leaders of the churches. It will put Raul Castro in a positive international light at a critical point in his normalization of relations with the United States. With less than a year left in Obama's presidency, advocates of detente are pushing hard for Cuba and the U.S. to make their reconciliation irreversible.

The Obama administration has cited Cuba's role in Colombia's peace talks as a reason for the U.S. to engage with the island rather than isolating it. Images of Raul Castro presiding over another historic attempt at reconciliation can't help but build his credentials as a man the U.S. should be doing business with.

"Fidel was widely perceived as volatile and partisan, Raul as steadier, more predictable and reliable, more reflective, hence a better negotiating partner or host," said Richard Feinberg, a former Clinton Administration official and a professor of international politics at the University of California, San Diego.

While Raul Castro is departing from his brother's foreign policy, Fidel Castro's international focus left his successor with some advantages, including a larger and better-trained diplomatic corps than those of many other countries its size.

Meanwhile, the country's heavily policed and monitored single-party system, in which virtually nothing happens without approval from the highest levels of government, offers a secure and mostly leak-proof, if undemocratic, site for sensitive discussions.

In the hands of Raul Castro, the last Communist country in the West is carving out a new role in which its peculiar, once polemic role in history allows it to function as neutral ground.

"These days," Feinberg said. "Cuba is the perfect place for negotiations."

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Michael Weissenstein on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mweissenstein

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Andrea Rodriguez on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ARodriguezAP
Hong Kong activists face riot charges after holiday protest

HONG KONG (AP)  Several dozen people appeared in a Hong Kong court Thursday to face rioting charges following a violent clash earlier this week between protesters and police sparked by a clampdown on holiday street food vendors.

Hong Kong police and local media reports said 37 people were attending court in Kowloon, each facing one count of taking part in a riot, a rarely used charge that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Defendants were given bail and their cases adjourned until April, the reports said. A 15-year-old appeared separately at a juvenile court to face the same charge, local channel Cable TV reported.

A supporter tries to make way for a suspect to get in a taxi as he leaves a court after on bail in Hong Kong, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. Several dozen people appeared in a Hong Kong court Thursday to face rioting charges following a violent clash earlier this week between protesters and police sparked by a clampdown on holiday street food vendors. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

Police arrested a total of 64 people after the street battle, which erupted late Monday in densely populated Mong Kok and lasted until dawn Tuesday.

Activists were angered by authorities' attempts to crack down on food hawkers selling fishballs and other local delicacies for the Lunar New Year holiday. The unlicensed vendors are a local holiday tradition but attempts this year by authorities to remove them stoked concerns that Hong Kong's local culture is disappearing as Beijing tightens its hold on the semiautonomous Chinese city.

In a statement reported late Thursday by the official Xinhua News Agency, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the riot was plotted largely by a local radical separatist organization. The report did not elaborate.

Protesters pelted police with bricks and glass bottles and set fires on the street. Officers responded with batons and pepper spray. One officer fired two warning shots into the air, a highly unusual act in Hong Kong, which otherwise has a reputation for being extremely safe. Nearly 90 officers and four reporters were injured.

It was the worst violence in Hong Kong since late 2014, when the city was rocked by pro-democracy protests that left a widening trust gap between the public and the city's Beijing-backed leader.

Police said 16 other people, including one as young as 14, were released on bail as they continue to investigate. They said another 10 are being held for "for further enquiries."

Supporters try to prevent a suspect, right covered by a pullover, from his pictures being taken as he leaves a court on bail in Hong Kong, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. Several dozen people appeared in a Hong Kong court Thursday to face rioting charges following a violent clash earlier this week between protesters and police sparked by a clampdown on holiday street food vendors. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

Supporters try to prevent suspects from having their pictures taken as they leave court on bail in Hong Kong, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. Several dozen people appeared in a Hong Kong court Thursday to face rioting charges following a violent clash earlier this week between protesters and police sparked by a clampdown on holiday street food vendors. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)
Former Auschwitz guard, 94, goes on trial in Germany

DETMOLD, Germany (AP)  A 94-year-old former SS sergeant went on trial Thursday in western Germany on 170,000 counts of accessory to murder, based on accusations that he served as a guard in the Auschwitz death camp as hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews and others were gassed to death there.

Reinhold Hanning seemed in good condition for his age, walking into the court in the city of Detmold without even the help of a cane and appearing to listen attentively as the indictment against him was read aloud.

No pleas are entered in the German system. Hanning, who ran a local dairy after the war until he retired in 1984, declined to give an opening statement to the court.

94-year-old former SS guard at the Auschwitz death camp Reinhold Hanning arrives for his trial in Detmold, Germany, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. Hanning faces trial for 170,000 counts of accessory to murder, the first of up to four cases being brought to court this year in an 11th-hour push by German prosecutors to punish Nazi war crimes. (Bernd Thissen/Pool Photo via AP)

He showed no reaction as the first witness, Leon Schwarzbaum, a 94-year-old Auschwitz survivor, read moving testimony about his own experiences, then looked directly at Hanning and made an emotional plea.

"Mr. Hanning, we are about the same age and we will both soon be before the highest court," Schwarzbaum said, his voice quavering and hands trembling. "Speak here about what you and your comrades did!"

The trial is one of four expected this year against two other former SS men and one woman alleged to have served in Auschwitz. The 11th-hour prosecutions come after a new precedent was set in 2011, when former Ohio autoworker John Demjanjuk became the first person to be convicted in Germany solely for serving as a death camp guard, with no evidence of involvement in a specific killing.

Prosecutors successfully argued in the Demjanjuk case that simply serving in a death camp, and thus helping it operate, was enough to convict someone of accessory to the murders committed there. Although Demjanjuk always denied serving at the death camp and died before his appeal could be heard, prosecutors last year successfully convicted SS sergeant Oskar Groening, who served in Auschwitz, on 300,000 counts of accessory to murder using the same reasoning.

Hanning admitted to investigators when first questioned that he had served in the Auschwitz I part of the camp in Nazi-occupied Poland, but denied serving at the Auschwitz II-Birkenau section, where most of the 1.1 million victims were killed.

As the trial opened, however, his attorneys filed a motion asking to exclude that statement, saying that Hanning had been "surprised" when authorities showed up at his house and wasn't fully aware he was under investigation. It wasn't clear when the judges would rule on the motion. His attorney, Andreas Scharmer, would not say whether the defense was planning to try and argue that Hanning did not serve in the camp at all if his statement was excluded.

Prosecutor Andreas Brendel told The Associated Press after the hearing that there was also other evidence that Hanning was there, including SS company lists.

Reading the indictment, Brendel told the court that Hanning served in two different SS Death's Head companies in Auschwitz as a guard. He said those companies were used to guard prisoners used as slave laborers outside the camp, and also were called to Birkenau to help with the tens of thousands being brought in during the so-called "Hungarian action" in 1944 and unloaded from trains onto a ramp.

On the ramp, Nazis stripped the prisoners of their possessions and sorted them into groups: those who would be immediately taken to the gas chambers and those fit enough to be used as slave labor, and likely worked to death.

"The decision over life and death lay with the SS men on the ramp," Brendel said.

Doctors have advised that the trial sessions can run no longer than two hours, in deference to Hanning's age and health.

Schwarzbaum, one of about 40 Auschwitz survivors or their relatives who have joined the trial as co-plaintiffs as allowed under German law, had his testimony cut short before he could finish answering questions. He's due to take the stand again when the trial resumes Friday.

After the proceedings, he told the AP his main hope for the trial is that Hanning will tell his story so the world will better know what happened in Auschwitz and why SS guards did what they did.

"He's an old man," Schwarzbaum said. "He should tell the truth."

Auschwitz concentration camp survivor Leon Schwarzbaum presents an old photograph showing himself, left, next to his uncle and parents who all died in Auschwitz during a press conference in Detmold, Germany, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. Reinhold Hanning, a 94-year-old former SS guard at the Auschwitz death camp is going on trial this week on 170,000 counts of accessory to murder, the first of up to four cases being brought to court this year in an 11th-hour push by German prosecutors to punish Nazi war crimes. (Bernd Thissen/dpa via AP)

FILE - In this file photo taken just after the liberation by the Soviet army in January, 1945, shows a group of children wearing concentration camp uniforms including Martha Weiss who was ten years-old, 6th from right, at the time behind barbed wire fencing in the Oswiecim (Auschwitz) Nazi concentration camp. A 94-year-old former SS guard at the Auschwitz death camp is going on trial Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016 on 170,000 counts of accessory to murder, the first of up to four cases being brought to court this year in an 11th-hour push by German prosecutors to punish Nazi war crimes. Reinhold Hanning is accused of serving as an SS Unterscharfuehrer _ similar to a sergeant _ in Auschwitz from January 1943 to June 1944, a time when hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews were brought to the camp in cattle cars and were gassed to death. (AP Photo)

94-year-old former SS guard at the Auschwitz death camp Reinhold Hanning, center, leaves the building after the opening of his trial in Detmold, Germany, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. Hanning faces trial for 170,000 counts of accessory to murder, the first of up to four cases being brought to court this year in an 11th-hour push by German prosecutors to punish Nazi war crimes. (Bernd Thissen/Pool Photo via AP)

94-year-old former SS guard at the Auschwitz death camp Reinhold Hanning, center, leaves the building after the opening of his trial in Detmold, Germany, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. Hanning faces trial for 170,000 counts of accessory to murder, the first of up to four cases being brought to court this year in an 11th-hour push by German prosecutors to punish Nazi war crimes. (Bernd Thissen/Pool Photo via AP)
With FBI ring tightening, last Oregon occupiers give up

BURNS, Ore. (AP)  With the FBI tightening its ring around them, the last four holdouts in the armed takeover of a national wildlife refuge in Oregon surrendered Thursday, ending a 41-day standoff that left one man dead and exposed simmering anger over the government's control of vast expanses of Western land.

Federal authorities in six states also arrested seven other people accused of being involved in the occupation and brought charges against a leader of the movement who organized a 2014 standoff. Two more suspects remained at large.

The last occupiers at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge gave up without incident a day after federal agents surrounded the site.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Greg Bretzing, at podium, talks to reporters at the Chamber of Commerce in Burns, Ore., Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. The end of a nearly six-week-long standoff at an Oregon wildlife refuge played out live on the Internet, with tens of thousands of people listening as supporters encouraged the last armed occupiers to surrender. The holdouts surrendered Thursday, having refused to leave Malheur National Wildlife Refuge after the group's leaders were arrested last month.(AP Photo/Rebecca Boone)

Nearby residents were relieved.

"I just posted hallelujah on my Facebook," said Julie Weikel, who lives next to the nature preserve. "And I think that says it all. I am so glad this is over."

At least 25 people have now been indicted on federal charges of conspiracy to impede employees at the wildlife refuge from performing their duties.

Meanwhile, Cliven Bundy, who was at the center of the 2014 standoff at his ranch in Nevada, was arrested late Wednesday in Portland after encouraging the occupiers not to give up. Bundy is the father of Ammon Bundy, the jailed leader of the Oregon occupation.

The elder Bundy appeared in federal court Thursday in Portland to hear the charges against him, all of which stem from the 2014 confrontation with federal authorities in Nevada.

He's accused of leading supporters who pointed military-style weapons at federal agents trying to enforce a court order to round up Bundy cattle from federal rangeland. The charges include conspiracy, assault on a federal officer, obstruction of justice and weapons charges.

Federal authorities have not said why they chose to arrest the 69-year-old now. They may have feared Bundy's presence would draw sympathizers to defend the holdouts.

At the court hearing, the elder Bundy asked for a court-appointed attorney. U.S. Magistrate Judge Janice Stewart said she wanted to see financial documents first. She set a detention hearing for next Tuesday, and Bundy will stay in jail until then.

Bomb squads planned to go through the refuge's buildings to make sure no explosives were left behind, said Greg Bretzing, the agent in charge of the FBI's Portland division.

The refuge will remain closed for weeks as specialists collect evidence and try to determine whether the occupiers damaged any tribal artifacts and burial grounds sacred to the Burns Paiute Tribe, he said.

Videos posted online showed members of the armed group exploring buildings at the site and criticizing the way tribal artifacts were stored there.

The last four occupiers had been living in a rough encampment on refuge grounds. The videos sometimes showed group members living in tents or gathered around a campfire, driving vehicles and setting up barricades. They erected a canopy next to a pickup truck and an old car and put camping chairs and coolers around it. The area appeared strewn with plastic water bottles, cardboard boxes, clothes, packages of bullets and beer cans.

The last four occupiers were scheduled to be arraigned Friday in Portland. They are 27-year-old David Fry of Blanchester, Ohio; Jeff Banta, 46, of Elko, Nevada; and married couple Sean Anderson, 48, and Sandy Anderson, 47, of Riggins, Idaho.

The FBI began moving in Wednesday evening, surrounding their encampment with armored vehicles. Over the next several hours, the occupiers' panic and their negotiation with FBI agents could be heard live on the Internet, broadcast by a sympathizer of the occupiers who established phone contact with them.

The Andersons and Banta surrendered first on Thursday. Fry initially refused to join them.

"I'm making sure I'm not coming out of here alive," he said at one point Thursday, threatening to kill himself. "Liberty or death, I take that stance."

After ranting for a while, he too gave up.

Federal authorities were criticized during the occupation for not acting sooner to end it. But some experts said the FBI's strategy of letting tensions die down before moving in ensured there would be no bloodshed.

"This was beautifully executed," said Brian Levin, a criminal justice professor at California State University, San Bernardino. "This siege and the way it was handled will go down in law enforcement textbooks."

The standoff began when Ammon Bundy and his followers took over the refuge south of Burns, demanding that the government turn over the land to locals and release two ranchers imprisoned for setting fires.

Federal agents, Oregon state troopers and sheriff's deputies monitored the occupation to avoid a confrontation. As the weeks passed, there were growing calls for the FBI to act, including from Oregon's governor.

They did, on Jan. 26. On that day, Ammon Bundy and other occupation leaders were heading for the town of John Day to give a talk on federal overreach. FBI agents and Oregon state troopers stopped the group's two-vehicle convoy. Robert "LaVoy" Finicum was shot dead in that confrontation. The FBI said he was reaching for a pistol inside his jacket pocket.

A total of 12 people were arrested that week, including Ammon Bundy. Most of the occupiers fled the refuge after hearing they would not be arrested if they left quickly. Four stayed behind, saying they feared they would be arrested if they left.

Oregon elected officials rejoiced at the end of the long occupation but said it will take a while for the rural area to recover. Gov. Kate Brown called the episode "very traumatic."

"The level of harassment and intimidation by folks who were staying in the Burns community was horrific," she said. "And the healing will take a long time."

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Bellisle reported from Seattle. Associated Press writers Terrence Petty in Portland, Oregon, and Ken Ritter in Las Vegas and AP videographer Manuel Valdes in Burns contributed to this report.

From left, Nevada Assemblyman John Moore, Idaho Rep. Heather Scott and Idaho Rep. Judy Boyle speak to reporters outside the Malheur Wildlife Refuge during the standoff near Burns, Ore., Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. The end of a nearly six-week-long standoff at an Oregon wildlife refuge played out live on the internet, with tens of thousands of people listening as supporters encouraged the last armed occupiers to surrender. The holdouts surrendered Thursday, having refused to leave the refuge after the group's leaders were arrested last month.(AP Photo/Rebecca Boone)

This Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016 booking photo provided by the Multnomah County, Ore., Sheriff''s office shows Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy. Bundy, the father of the jailed leader of the Oregon refuge occupation, and who was the center of a standoff with federal officials in Nevada in 2014, was arrested in Portland, the FBI said Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. (Multnomah County, Ore., Sheriff''s office via AP)

People protesting the FBI action and in support of the armed occupiers of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge stand outside a roadblock near Burns, Ore., Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. The last four occupiers of a national wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon surrendered Thursday. The holdouts were the last remnants of a larger group that seized the wildlife refuge nearly six weeks ago, demanding that the government turn over the land to locals and release two ranchers imprisoned for setting fires. (AP Photo/Rebecca Boone)

Armed law enforcement officers stand near a closed highway about 4 miles outside of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Burns, Ore, after the last four occupiers of the national nature preserve surrendered on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. The holdouts were the last remnants of a larger group that seized the wildlife refuge nearly six weeks ago, demanding that the government turn over the land to locals and release two ranchers imprisoned for setting fires. (AP Photo/Rebecca Boone)

FILE - In this Jan. 27, 2016, file photo, rancher Cliven Bundy stands along the road near his ranch in Bunkerville, Nev. Bundy, the father of the jailed leader of the Oregon refuge occupation, and who was the center of a standoff with federal officials in Nevada in 2014, was arrested in Portland on Wednesday, Feb. 10,, the FBI said Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 27, 2016, file photo, rancher Cliven Bundy stands along the road near his ranch in Bunkerville, Nev. Bundy, the father of the jailed leader of the Oregon refuge occupation, and who was the center of a standoff with federal officials in Nevada in 2014, was arrested in Portland on Wednesday night, Feb. 10, the FBI said, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

Authorities wait near the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016, near Burns, Ore. The last four armed occupiers of the national wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon said they would turn themselves in Thursday morning, after law officers surrounded them in a tense standoff. (AP Photo/Rebecca Boone)
Things to know about the Oregon wildlife refuge occupation

BURNS, Ore. (AP)  An occupation by armed protesters of a national wildlife refuge in southeastern Oregon started out with demands that two jailed ranchers be freed and that the federal government relinquish 300 square miles to local control for ranching, mining, logging and other uses. It stretched on for more than a month.

WHAT'S GOING ON AT THE REFUGE NOW?

The last four occupiers of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge turned themselves in Thursday morning after the FBI surrounded the site Wednesday night.

An ambulance proceeds through the Narrows roadblock near Burns, Ore., as FBI agents have surrounded the remaining four occupiers at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, on Wednesday, Feb.10, 2016. The four are the last remnants of an armed group that seized the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Jan. 2 to oppose federal land-use policies. (Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian via AP)

The FBI said in a statement Thursday that "no one was injured, and no shots were fired" when all four were taken into custody. The surrender of the holdouts played out live over a phone call streamed online. Authorities say Sean Anderson, 47; his wife Sandra Anderson, 48, both of Riggins, Idaho; and Jeff Banta, 46, of Yerington, Nevada, were arrested around 9:40 a.m. Thursday. The FBI says 27-year-old David Fry, of Blanchester, Ohio, who delayed leaving the refuge, was apprehended about 11 a.m.

They all face a federal felony charge of conspiracy to keep federal workers from doing their duties through force or intimidation. The four will appear before a judge in Portland on Friday.

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HOW DID THIS SITUATION BEGIN?

On Jan. 2, a protest occurred in Burns, Oregon, amid mounting tension over the case of Dwight and Steven Hammond. Dwight Hammond, 73, and Steven Hammond, 46, said they lit fires on federal land in 2001 and 2006 to reduce the growth of invasive plants and protect their property from wildfires. The two were convicted three years ago and served time  the father three months, the son one year. But in October, a federal judge in Oregon ruled their terms were too short under U.S. law and ordered them back to prison for about four years each. A group of armed protesters broke away from the event in Burns and traveled 30 miles south to occupy the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Their demands included the freeing of the jailed ranchers and that the wildlife refuge be turned over to local control.

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WHAT WAS THE GROUP'S GOAL?

The occupiers attempted to tap into frustration, particularly in Harney County, among people who make a living off federal public land they see as being shut down as more emphasis is placed on landscapes that have value as functioning ecosystems and as places to hike, fish and recreate. The long-dominant uses of ranching, logging and mining now have to compete with other groups who have a different set of values. That has led to grazing and land-use restrictions, altering a system that has sustained rural areas for generations.

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WHY HARNEY COUNTY?

Occupation leader Ammon Bundy often repeated a catchphrase that "Harney County is the place and these are the people." The county has in fact been in an economic tailspin for decades, one of the biggest blows the closing of a lumber mill many blame on what they say are overly restrictive policies by the U.S. Forest Service. The occupiers considered the wildlife refuge itself prime cattle grazing land and planned to open it up this spring for cattle.

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WHAT DID BUNDY ACCOMPLISH?

Bundy called for ranchers to renounce federal grazing permits at a well-publicized event on Jan. 23 at the refuge, but only one rancher from New Mexico took part in the event. The Hammonds distanced themselves from the armed occupation, and local Harney County leaders, particularly Sheriff Dave Ward and Harney County Judge Steve Grasty, voiced strong opposition to the occupation.

Bundy and other group leaders were on their to a community meeting Jan. 26 north of the refuge when authorities set up a road block and arrested Ammon Bundy, his brother Ryan Bundy and others. Robert "LaVoy" Finicum, the group's spokesman, was killed in a confrontation with the FBI and Oregon State Police on the remote road. Bundy and others arrested in conjunction with the standoff face felony charges of conspiracy to impede federal officials in their official duties through the use of force, intimidation or threats.

On Wednesday night, Ammon and Ryan Bundy's father, Cliven Bundy, was arrested and booked into jail after arriving at Portland International Airport. Cliven Bundy was at the center of a standoff in Nevada with federal officials in 2014 over use of public lands.

FILE - In a Monday, June 3, 2013 file photo, Nevada Assemblywoman Michelle Fiore, R-Las Vegas, works in committee during the final day of the 77th Legislative session at the Legislative Building in Carson City, Nev. Fiore spoke Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016, to some of the four occupiers of a national wildlife refuge in Oregon. As David Fry and Sean Anderson yelled back and forth with the FBI, Fiore spoke to them and Sandy Anderson on a phone, telling them she could only help them if they stayed alive. (AP Photo/Cathleen Allison, File)

Lights are seen from the Narrows roadblock near Burns, Ore., as .FBI agents have surrounded the remaining four occupiers at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, on Wednesday, Feb.10, 2016. The four are the last remnants of an armed group that seized the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Jan. 2 to oppose federal land-use policies. (Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian via AP)
Retired rider Dominguez becomes eligible for Hall of Fame

A classy move for a classy jockey.

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame waived a few requirements Wednesday, clearing the way for retired rider Ramon Dominguez to be eligible for the Hall of Fame this year.

A three-time Eclipse Award winner, Dominguez was injured and forced to end his career in 2013, but can be considered for the Hall of Fame even though he hasn't been retired for the required five years.

FILE - In this Aug. 18, 2012, file photo, jockey, Ramon A. Dominguez, celebrates aboard Little Mike after winning the Arlington Million horse race at Arlington Park in Arlington Heights, Ill. The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame will allow Dominguez to become eligible this year for Hall of Fame consideration. Hall of Fame procedures require jockeys to be licensed in North America for 20 years to be eligible for consideration, but the museum's executive committee has the option of waiving the requirement at its discretion based on special circumstances. (AP Photo/Jim Prisching, File)

The Hall's executive committee said in a news release that it can waive the five-year retirement rule "at its discretion based on special circumstances."

Also, the committee said Dominguez would have been eligible this year if he had continued riding based on another requirement  20 years riding since being licensed in North America. He started in 1996.

Dominguez was a special rider, among the most popular riders and an ambassador for the sport. Although he never won a Triple Crown race, he chalked up nearly 5,000 victories and earned more than $190 million in purses. He led the nation in earnings three times and in wins two times.

Among the horses he won with were 2011 Horse of the Year Havre de Grace, Eclipse Award winner Gio Ponti and 2006 Horse of the Year Invasor (a win in the 2006 Pimlico Special).

The nominating committee meets later this month to select finalists for the Hall of Fame. Expected nominees include Rachel Alexandra, Zenyatta and jockey Victor Espinoza, who rode Triple Crown winner American Pharoah.

Here are some of things to know about Dominguez:

HIS INJURY

On Jan. 18, 2013, at Aqueduct, Dominguez suffered what was termed a "traumatic brain injury" when his mount, Convocation, clipped heels with another horse and unseated the rider, who was then kicked by a trailing horse. Dominguez spent three weeks in three hospitals before his release in early February 2013. He has recovered, but retired from riding rather than risk another injury.

ECLIPSE AWARDS

Before he was injured, Dominguez was the nation's top rider. He had won three straight Eclipse Awards from 2010-2012. He also set a single-season earnings record in 2012 with $25.6 million  later surpassed by Javier Castellano.

TRIPLE CROWN RACES

Although he never won one, he finished second in the Kentucky Derby with Bluegrass Cat in 2006; second in the Preakness two times, with Scrappy T in 2005 and First Dude in 2010; and third in the Belmont Stakes with First Dude in 2010. In the 2005 Preakness, Scrappy T nearly knocked eventual winner Afleet Alex to his knees when the field turned for home.

STATISTICS

In his 18-year career, Dominguez won 4,985 races from 21,267 starts for a better-than-average winning rate of 23 percent. He finished second 3,855 times and third 3,160. He totaled $191,620,278 in purse earnings.

VICTORIES

He won three Breeders' Cup races  the 2004 Turf with Better Talk Now, the 2011 Juvenile with Hansen and the 2012 Turf with Little Mike. He also won the 2004 Wood Memorial with Tapit; the 2010 Jockey Club Gold Cup with Haynesfield; the 2011 Beldame, Woodward and Apple Blossom with Havre de Grace; the 2010 and 2011 Shadwell Turf Mile, 2009 and 2010 Man 'o War and the 2009 Arlington Million with Gio Ponti; the 2012 Travers with Alpha (dead heat with Golden Ticket); and the 2012 Cigar Mile with Stay Thirsty.

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Diplomats aim for temporary Syria truce in a week

MUNICH (AP)  Diplomats trying to secure a cease-fire for the civil war in Syria fell short early Friday in organizing a truce but agreed to try to work out details and implement a temporary "cessation of hostilities" in a week's time. The deal appeared to be the result of a compromise between the United States, which had wanted an immediate cease-fire, and Russia, which had proposed one to start on March 1.

Although foreign ministers from the International Syria Support Group managed to seal an agreement to "accelerate and expand" deliveries of humanitarian aid to besieged Syrian communities beginning this week, their failure to agree on a cease-fire leaves the most critical step to resuming peace talks unresolved. It was not clear from their comments afterward if deep differences regarding the truce and which groups would be eligible for it could be overcome.

Speaking for the group, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry hailed the results as a significant accomplishment but noted that a cessation-of-hostilities agreement, if it can be achieved, would only be a "pause" in fighting and that more work would need to be done to turn it into a full-fledged cease-fire.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, right, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attend a news conference after the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) meeting in Munich, Germany, Friday, Feb. 12, 2016. Talks aimed at narrowing differences over Syria and keeping afloat diplomacy to end its civil war have gotten under way in Munich. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

He also allowed that the agreements made were "commitments on paper" only.

"The real test is whether or not all the parties honor those commitments and implement them," he told reporters after the nearly six-hour meeting at a Munich hotel, which ran into the early hours of Friday.

While humanitarian access  to be discussed by a working group on Friday in Geneva  is key to relieving the suffering of millions of Syrians in the short term, a durable and lasting cease-fire will be required if stalled negotiations between Syrian President Bashar Assad's government and the opposition are to resume on or before a U.N.-set target date of Feb. 25. The talks broke down last month before they really started, due largely to gains by Assad's military with the heavy backing of Russian airstrikes.

Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the U.S. and Russia would co-chair both the working group on humanitarian aid as well as a task force that will try to deal with the "modalities" of the temporary truce. That task force will include members of the military along with representatives from countries that are supporting various armed groups in Syria. The Syrian government and the opposition would both have to agree to the details.

Russia had proposed the March 1 ceasefire date, which the U.S. and others saw as a ploy to give Moscow and the Syrian army three more weeks to try to crush Western- and Arab-backed rebels. The U.S. countered with demands for an immediate stop to the fighting.

Despite apparent concessions on potential timing of the truce and the agreement to set up the task force, the U.S., Russia and others remain far apart on which groups should be eligible for it. The new task force will take up a job that was supposed to have been settled months ago. At the moment, only two groups  the Islamic State and the al-Qaida-affiliated al-Nusra Front  are ineligible because they are identified as terrorist organizations by the United Nations.

Russia, Syria and Iran argue that other groups, notably some supported by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and other Arab states, should not be eligible for the cease-fire, and there was no sign Friday that those differences had been resolved.

Lavrov said the Russian air campaign in support of Assad's military would continue against terrorist groups and denied persistent reports that the Russian strikes have hit civilian areas, notably around rebel-held Aleppo, where heavy fighting has been raging for the past week.

Among the issues the task force is charged with sorting out are delineating territories held by the Islamic State, al-Nusra and other militant groups, ensuring the compliance of eligible parties and referring violations of the truce for appropriate action, including exclusion from the arrangement.

Asked Friday to comment on the Munich talks, Salem Meslet, the spokesman for the Syrian opposition coalition known as the High Negotiations Commitee, said, "We must see action on the ground in Syria."

Five years of conflict have killed more than a quarter-million people, created Europe's biggest refugee crisis since World War II and allowed the Islamic State to carve out its own territory across parts of Syria and neighboring Iraq.

Overall, the United Nations says almost half a million people are besieged in Syria. Since the beginning of 2015, Syria's government had approved just 13 inter-agency aid convoys, out of 113 requested, the U.N. reported last month.

As Kerry met with the Syria group in Munich, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter was in Brussels to rally fresh support for the fight against the Islamic State group in largely the same territory.

Carter said defense ministers from more than two dozen countries gave a "broad endorsement" of a refined U.S. plan for defeating the Islamic State. After a meeting at NATO headquarters, Carter told reporters that nearly all participants either promised new military commitments or said their governments would consider new contributions. He predicted "tangible gains" in Iraq and Syria by March.

"We will all look back after victory and remember who participated in the fight," he said, appealing to coalition partners to expand and deepen their military contributions.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance agreed Thursday to deploy NATO airborne command and control aircraft in order to free up similar U.S. aircraft for the air campaign in Syria and Iraq.

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Associated Press writers Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow, Jamey Keaten in Geneva, Bassem Mroue in Beirut, Lolita C. Baldor and Bradley Klapper in Washington, Robert Burns in Brussels and Geir Moulson in Munich contributed to this report.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry , center, second left, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, center left, attend the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) meeting in Munich, Germany, Thursday Feb. 11, 2016, together with members of the Syrian opposition and other officials. (Michael Dalder/Pool Photo via AP)

In this photo made from the footage with information taken from Russian Defense Ministry official website on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016, an aerial image shows an air strike on militant headquarters in the province of Idlib, Syria. The Russian defense ministry says its airstrikes have hit about 1,900 targets in Syria in the past week. A Syrian government offensive around the city of Aleppo backed by Russian airstrikes has sent tens of thousands fleeing to the Turkish border. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service Photo via AP)
AP news guide: A look at the turmoil in Ferguson

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP)  The U.S. Department of Justice is suing the city of Ferguson after the City Council failed to approve an agreement that sought to address concerns about police and municipal court practices in the St. Louis suburb.

The civil rights lawsuit filed Wednesday comes about a year and a half after 18-year-old Michael Brown was fatally shot by a Ferguson police officer, which eventually spurred the Justice Department's intense look at the city.

A look at the events leading up to the lawsuit:

Attorney General Loretta Lynch pauses as she speaks during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016, about Ferguson, Missouri. The federal government sued Ferguson on Wednesday, one day after the city council voted to revise an agreement aimed at improving the way police and courts treat poor people and minorities in the St. Louis suburb. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

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BROWN'S DEATH

On Aug. 9, 2014, white Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson directed Brown and a friend who were walking in the street to move to the sidewalk. That led to a violent confrontation that ended when Wilson fatally shot Brown, who was black and unarmed. Several people who witnessed the shooting claimed Brown had his hands up in surrender.

But police maintained the officer shot in self-defense after Brown reached through the squad car window and tried to grab his gun, prompting a struggle. Police said Brown briefly ran away, then came menacingly at the officer, who opened fire.

Brown's body lay on the pavement for more than four hours during the investigation that day, which angered many of his supporters.

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PROTESTS AND LOOTING

The night after Brown's death, thousands of people gathered at the site of the shooting for a candlelight vigil. The peace of the vigil was interrupted by violence on nearby West Florissant Avenue, where some protesters set fire to a Quik Trip store. Within hours, several other businesses were damaged in looting. It was the first of many protests.

Police responded with armored vehicles, tear gas and other means criticized by some as excessive. Police leaders defended their actions as necessary to protect both peaceful protesters and officers. Hundreds of people were arrested over the course of several months of protests.

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INVESTIGATING THE OFFICER

Both a St. Louis County grand jury and the Justice Department began investigations of Wilson. The grand jury announced in November 2014 that no charges would be filed, ruling Wilson acted in self-defense. The decision caused renewed protests and led to perhaps the most violent night of the aftermath of the shooting, with fires set to more than a dozen businesses in and around Ferguson.

Wilson resigned within days.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department concurred in March that Wilson committed no crime, and declined to file charges.

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SEPARATE INVESTIGATION

While the Justice Department cleared Wilson, a separate investigation of Ferguson found significant problems. Justice Department investigators alleged that Ferguson police targeted black residents for harassment, used excessive force, and violated free speech rights of protesters. The report was also critical of a profit-driven municipal court that made money at the expense of mostly poor and minority residents.

Within days of the report's release, Ferguson's police chief, municipal judge and city manager resigned.

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TIME FOR TALKS

Seven months of negotiations between the Justice Department and a team of Ferguson leaders aimed at avoiding a civil rights lawsuit began last summer. The result was a tentative agreement announced in late January.

But after a cost analysis completed in recent days, Ferguson officials determined implementing the agreement would cost up to $3.7 million in the first year, and up to $3 million in each of the next two years. Many residents also questioned whether the deal would bankrupt the city.

The City Council voted 6-0 Tuesday to adopt the agreement, but with seven amendments. Ferguson leaders said the changes were necessary to keep the city solvent.

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CIVIL RIGHTS LAWSUIT

The Justice Department response was swift. Less than 24 hours after the city council vote, Attorney General Loretta Lynch filed a civil rights lawsuit alleging wide-ranging violations.

"The residents of Ferguson have waited nearly a year for the city to adopt an agreement that would protect their rights and keep them safe. ... They have waited decades for justice. They should not be forced to wait any longer," Lynch said.

While the lawsuit credited Ferguson with making some reforms to its policing and municipal courts, it called those changes "insufficient to eliminate the pattern or practice of unconstitutional conduct and ensure it will not recur."

Elected Fergsuon officials leave a press conference on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016, at the City of Ferguson Community Center. They are from left: City Manager DeCarlon Seewood, Councilwoman Laverne Mitchom, Mayor James Knowles, Councilman Wesley Bell, and Councilwoman Ella M. Jones. The federal government sued Ferguson on Wednesday, one day after the city council voted to revise an agreement aimed at improving the way police and courts treat poor people and minorities in the St. Louis suburb. (J.B. Forbes/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)
Seoul cuts off power supplies to factory park in North Korea

PAJU, South Korea (AP)  South Korea has cut off power and water supplies to a factory park in North Korea, officials said Friday, a day after the North deported all South Korean workers there and ordered a military takeover of the complex that had been the last major symbol of cooperation between the rivals.

It is the latest in an escalating standoff over North Korea's recent rocket launch that Seoul, Washington and their allies view as a banned test of missile technology. The North says its actions on the Kaesong complex were a response to Seoul's earlier decision to suspend operations as punishment for the launch.

On Thursday night, the 280 South Korean workers who had been at the park crossed the border into South Korea, several hours after a deadline set by the North passed. Their departure quashed concerns that some might be held hostage, and lowered the chances that the standoff might lead to violence or miscalculations.

South Korean Army soldiers move barricades to close the road at the customs, immigration and quarantine office near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. North Korea on Thursday ordered a military takeover of a factory park that was the last major symbol of cooperation with South Korea, saying Seoul's suspension of operations at the jointly run facility was a "dangerous declaration of war." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

But they weren't allowed to bring back any finished products and equipment at their factories because the North announced it will freeze all South Korean assets there.

The North also said it was closing an inter-Korean highway linking to Kaesong and shutting down two cross-border communication hotlines.

"I was told not to bring anything but personal goods, so I've got nothing but my clothes to take back," a manager at a South Korean apparel company at the complex, who declined to give his name, told The Associated Press by phone before he crossed to the South.

Chang Beom Kang, who has been running an apparel company in Kaesong since 2009, said from South Korea that his company has about 920 North Korean workers  who didn't show up Thursday  and seven South Korean managers at Kaesong.

He said one of his workers, who entered Kaesong earlier Thursday, was about to cross the border to return to South Korea with thousands of women's clothes produced at the factory. But at the last minute the employee had to drive back to the factory to unload the clothes because of North Korea's announcement that it would freeze all South Korean assets there.

"I'm devastated now," Kang said by phone, saying he's worried about losing credibility with clients because of the crisis.

Seoul's Unification Ministry said in a statement Friday that it had stopped power transmissions to the factory park. Ministry officials said the suspension subsequently led to a halt of water supplies to Kaesong.

Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo said the North Korean action was "very regrettable" and warned the North not to damage South Korean assets in Kaesong.

The South Korean government said Friday it will extend loans, provide low-interest loans, and defer taxes and utility bills for the companies forced out of Kaesong. Many of the companies now have to find new jobs for their employees who normally work in Kaesong and build new production lines so they can keep supplying their buyers.

The current standoff flared after North Korea carried out a nuclear test last month, followed by the long-range rocket launch on Sunday that came after Seoul had warned of serious consequences.

In one of its harshest possible punishment options, South Korea on Thursday began work to suspend operations at the factory park. Seoul said its decision on Kaesong was an effort to stop North Korea from using hard currency earned from the park to pay for its nuclear and missile programs.

The North's reaction was swift.

The country's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said in a statement later Thursday that the South's shutdown of Kaesong was a "dangerous declaration of war" and a "declaration of an end to the last lifeline of North-South relations."

Such over-the-top rhetoric is typical of the North's propaganda, but the country appeared to be backing up its language with its strong response.

The statement included crude insults against South Korean President Park Geun-hye, saying she masterminded the shutdown and calling her a "confrontational wicked woman" who lives upon "the groin of her American boss." Such sexist language is also typical of North Korean propaganda.

North Korea has previously cut off cross-border communication channels in times of tension with South Korea, but they were later restored after animosities eased.

North Korea, in a fit of anger over U.S.-South Korean military drills, pulled its workers from Kaesong for about five months in 2013. But, generally, the complex has been seen as above the constant squabbling and occasional bloodshed between the rival Koreas, one of the last few bright spots in a relationship more often marked by threats of war.

Park, the South Korean president, has now done something her conservative predecessor resisted, even after two attacks blamed on North Korea killed 50 South Koreans in 2010. She has shown a willingness to take quick action when provoked by the North. When North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test last month, for instance, she resumed anti-Pyongyang propaganda from loudspeakers along the border, despite what Seoul says was an exchange of cross-border artillery fire the last time she used the speakers.

A group of people braved the rain for hours on the southern side of a cross-border bridge on Thursday anxiously waiting for their family members and co-workers to return to South Korea.

"I don't think I want my husband to ever work in Kaesong again," commented a woman who declined to give her name but said her husband was a manager at Taesung, a maker of cosmetics products.

"Whenever the North does something provocative, we worry about our loved ones," she said.

The factory park, which started producing goods in 2004, has provided 616 billion won ($560 million) in cash to North Korea, South Korean Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo said.

Combining South Korean initiative, capital and technology with the North's cheap labor, the industrial park has been seen as a test case for reunification between the Koreas. Last year, 124 South Korean companies hired 54,000 North Korean workers to produce socks, wristwatches and other goods worth about $500 million.

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Associated Press writers Hyung-jin Kim, Youkyung Lee and Foster Klug in Seoul, South Korea, and Kim Tong-hyung in Paju contributed to this report.

South Korean vehicles returning from North Korea's joint Kaesong Industrial Complex pass the customs, immigration and quarantine office near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. North Korea on Thursday ordered a military takeover of the factory park that was the last major symbol of cooperation with South Korea, saying Seoul's suspension of operations at the jointly run facility was a "dangerous declaration of war." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

South Korean vehicles returning from North Korea's joint Kaesong Industrial Complex pass the customs, immigration and quarantine office near the border village of Panmunjom, in Paju, South Korea, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. North Korea on Thursday ordered a military takeover of a factory park that had been the last major symbol of cooperation with South Korea, calling Seoul's earlier suspension of operations at the jointly run facility as punishment for the North's recent rocket launch a "dangerous declaration of war."(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Products fall from an overloaded vehicle after returning from North Korea's Kaesong industrial complex in Paju, South Korea, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. North Korea on Thursday vowed to immediately deport all South Korean nationals and freeze all South Korean assets at a jointly run factory park in the North, a swift, aggressive response to the South Korean decision to suspend operations at the former symbol of inter-Korean cooperation. (Kim Seung-doo/Yonhap via AP) KOREA OUT

South Korean military ambulance moves past the military barricades and the barbed-wire fence near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, Friday, Feb. 12, 2016. North Korea on Thursday ordered a military takeover of a factory park that had been the last major symbol of cooperation with South Korea, calling Seoul's earlier suspension of operations at the jointly run facility as punishment for the North's recent rocket launch a "dangerous declaration of war." (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

South Korean vehicles pass near the military barricade as a soldier, right, stands in the foggy and rainy morning at Unification Bridge near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, Friday, Feb. 12, 2016. North Korea on Thursday ordered a military takeover of a factory park that had been the last major symbol of cooperation with South Korea, calling Seoul's earlier suspension of operations at the jointly run facility as punishment for the North's recent rocket launch a "dangerous declaration of war." (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

South Korean Army soldiers walk on a foggy and rainy morning at Unification Bridge near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, Friday, Feb. 12, 2016. North Korea on Thursday ordered a military takeover of a factory park that had been the last major symbol of cooperation with South Korea, calling Seoul's earlier suspension of operations at the jointly run facility as punishment for the North's recent rocket launch a "dangerous declaration of war." (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

South Korean Army military polices check the vehicles on a foggy and rainy morning at Unification Bridge near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, Friday, Feb. 12, 2016. North Korea on Thursday ordered a military takeover of a factory park that had been the last major symbol of cooperation with South Korea, calling Seoul's earlier suspension of operations at the jointly run facility as punishment for the North's recent rocket launch a "dangerous declaration of war." (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

South Korean owners who run factories in the suspended inter-Korean Kaesong Industrial Complex, attend an emergency meeting in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Feb. 12, 2016. North Korea on Thursday ordered a military takeover of a factory park that had been the last major symbol of cooperation with South Korea, calling Seoul's earlier suspension of operations at the jointly run facility as punishment for the North's recent rocket launch a "dangerous declaration of war."(AP Photo/Ahnn Young-joon)

An unidentified South Korean business man is surrounded by the media after returning from North Korea's joint Kaesong Industrial Complex near the border village of Panmunjom, in Paju, South Korea, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. North Korea on Thursday ordered a military takeover of the factory park that was the last major symbol of cooperation with South Korea, saying Seoul's suspension of operations at the jointly run facility was a "dangerous declaration of war." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A South Korean vehicle returning home from North Korea's Kaesong arrives as customs officers talk with a driver at the customs, immigration and quarantine office near the border village of Panmunjom, in Paju, South Korea, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. South Korean workers on Thursday began shutting down a jointly run industrial park in North Korea, a move that will end, at least temporarily, the Koreas' last major cooperation project as punishment over Pyongyang's recent rocket launch. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A South Korea Army soldier stands guard at the customs, immigration and quarantine office near the border village of Panmunjom, in Paju, South Korea, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. South Korean workers on Thursday began shutting down a jointly run industrial park in North Korea, a move that will end, at least temporarily, the Koreas' last major cooperation project as punishment over Pyongyang's recent rocket launch. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

South Korean vehicles pass near the military barricade as a soldier, right, stands in the foggy and rainy morning at Unification Bridge near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, Friday, Feb. 12, 2016. North Korea on Thursday ordered a military takeover of a factory park that had been the last major symbol of cooperation with South Korea, calling Seoul's earlier suspension of operations at the jointly run facility as punishment for the North's recent rocket launch a "dangerous declaration of war." (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

South Korean Army soldiers walk on a foggy and rainy morning at Unification Bridge near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, Friday, Feb. 12, 2016. North Korea on Thursday ordered a military takeover of a factory park that had been the last major symbol of cooperation with South Korea, calling Seoul's earlier suspension of operations at the jointly run facility as punishment for the North's recent rocket launch a "dangerous declaration of war." (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

South Korean Army military polices check the vehicles on a foggy and rainy morning at Unification Bridge near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, Friday, Feb. 12, 2016. North Korea on Thursday ordered a military takeover of a factory park that had been the last major symbol of cooperation with South Korea, calling Seoul's earlier suspension of operations at the jointly run facility as punishment for the North's recent rocket launch a "dangerous declaration of war." (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A South Korean Army soldier adjusts barricade on a foggy and rainy morning at Unification Bridge near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, Friday, Feb. 12, 2016. North Korea on Thursday ordered a military takeover of a factory park that had been the last major symbol of cooperation with South Korea, calling Seoul's earlier suspension of operations at the jointly run facility as punishment for the North's recent rocket launch a "dangerous declaration of war." (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
For young women, political revolution is currently trumping the idea of a Madame President.

In New Hampshire, women under the age of 45 overwhelmingly backed Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton, exit polls showed.

It's a problem for the former secretary of state as she tries to build the coalition of voters needed to win the Democratic nomination, and she knows it, saying of young voters as she conceded New Hampshire to Sanders that, 'even if they are not supporting me now, I support them.'

The numbers are staggering, and not just because Clinton  widely expected to be the first woman to win the presidential nomination of a major political party  lost New Hampshire women to a 74-year-old grandfather.

Sanders won the votes of seven out of every 10 women under the age of 45, and nearly 80 per cent of women under the age of 30.

In New Hampshire, women under 45 overwhelmingly backed Bernie Sanders over Clinton, exit polls showed

Sanders won the votes of 7 out of every 10 women under the age of 45, and nearly 80 percent of women under the age of 30. Pictured: A young female Sanders supporter taking pictures on her iPhone

'I think for young women, they clearly identify as feminists, they say they're feminists, but I think the notion of having a woman president... it doesn't drive them in the same way, as women who are in the traditional second wave of feminism,' said Debbie Walsh, director for the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.

Indeed, young women in New Hampshire said they were more inspired by the Vermont senator's ambitious policy proposals, including a government-run health care system for all and free public college tuition.

Clinton's more pragmatic ideas and complicated public history are a tough sell.

'We always have another chance to have another woman president, but do we have another chance to have someone as genuine as Bernie Sanders is?' asked Nicole McGillicuddy, 26, a server at a Concord restaurant, who believes there will a female president in her lifetime.

Clinton and Sanders will meet for the next debate of the Democratic race on Thursday in Milwaukee, when Clinton's outreach to younger women is sure to continue.

Compared with her 2008 bid, which focused more on experience and her readiness for the White House, Clinton has embraced her gender this time, touting her potential to be the first female president and stressing economic issues popular with women, including equal pay and family leave.

She has promoted endorsements from women's organizations, campaigned with female elected officials and sought to impress younger women with surrogates like pop star Katy Perry and actress Lena Dunham.

But the message has not resonated, much to the frustration of the Clinton campaign.

Angst over Sanders' appeal erupted recently, when former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said there was 'a special place in hell' for women who don't help women and renowned feminist Gloria Steinem said that Sanders' female supporters were doing it to meet boys.

Young women in New Hampshire (pictured) said they were more inspired by the Vermont senator's ambitious policy proposals, including a government-run health care system for all and free public college tuition

Women between 30 and 44 in 2008 were slightly more likely to support Clinton than Obama, while this year most of them supported Sanders

DOES HILLARY ALSO RISK LOSING HER CRUCIAL YOUNG BLACK SUPPORT IN NORTH CAROLINA? Hillary Clinton is expected to take North Carolina with ease, largely thanks to her support in black and Hispanic communities. However, NPR reports young black voters are increasingly unconvinced by the idea of President Clinton in 2017. The key obstacle for Hillary appears to be differentiating between her current policies and the policies her husband enacted in the White House. Most of the criticism young black voters had for Clinton at a University of South Carolina College Democrats meeting last week related to Bill, NPR reported. They singled out his 1994 crime bill which Bill Clinton has since said he regrets as it led to soaring numbers of black Americans in jail. Though Hillary has denounced that policy for leading to 'an incarceration nation', NPR reports young black voters are concerned 'we have already seen Hillary' as First Lady and Secretary of State. If Hillary were to lose her 'firewall' of young, black, Hispanic voters in North Carolina, it would be an early nail in the coffin for her bid. Advertisement

Those comments were roundly criticized, prompting an apology from Steinem.

'I can't see voting for someone just because she's a woman. That's a bad message. It does not resonate. It's lame,' said Barbara Considine, 58, of western Massachusetts. 'It backfires. In fact, it's suggesting we're not supposed to think about what the issues are or anything else.'

Clinton is expected to fare better in the upcoming early contests than she did in Iowa, where she barely eked out a win in the caucuses, and lost in New Hampshire. A recent national poll from Quinnipiac University showed Clinton winning women voters 48-38 against Sanders.

Stephanie Schriock, the president of Emily's List, which supports Democratic women who back abortion rights as they run for Congress and governors, and who has been campaigning for Clinton in the early states, argued that the idea Clinton was losing women was 'overblown.'

'We look at the national numbers and she's doing well, including on millennial women. We've seen really good energy across the county from women of all ages,' Schriock said.

Clinton has struggled to clearly define her message against Sanders' insurgent effort, however  and his intense focus on breaking up big financial institutions and expanding social programs has captured liberal voters, especially young people. There are some similarities to 2008, when polling showed that President Barack Obama did better than Clinton with younger women.

But the generational divide among young women over Clinton's candidacy appears more entrenched than it was at this point in 2008. That year, the youngest female primary voters in New Hampshire  those under age 30  were slightly more likely to support Obama than Clinton, 45 percent to 37 percent, while this year 79 percent of them voted for Sanders.

Women between 30 and 44 in 2008 were slightly more likely to support Clinton than Obama, while this year most of them supported Sanders.

'In 2008, I liked her a lot more back then. I think she was more of a genuine individual. Now she's had eight years to become enmeshed in the machine,' said Lucy Fitzpatrick, 60, of Epping, New Hampshire, who is backing Sanders, as are her 20-year-old twin daughters.
The Latest: Kerry calls for genuine negotiation on Syria

BEIRUT (AP)  The Latest developments on the war in Syria, the refugee crisis and security talks in Munich, Germany. (all times local):

2:28 a.m.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says a long-term cease-fire in Syria depends on parties to its civil war engaging in "genuine negotiation."

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier briefs the media prior to the Syria talks in Munich, Germany, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Meeting in Munich, diplomats from the U.S., Russia and other powers with interests in Syria's war agreed early Friday to try to secure a "cessation of hostilities" in a week's time.

Kerry said that "the objective is to achieve a durable long-term cease-fire at some point in time" but that depends on future negotiations. Kerry acknowledged that differences remain over the future of Syrian President Bashar Assad but said "you have to be at the table to deal with that."

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2 a.m.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says diplomats meeting in Munich have agreed to work with Syrian parties to implement a "nationwide cessation of hostilities."

Kerry said early Friday that the target is to implement the cease-fire in a week's time. He said that would not apply to the Islamic State group and the extremist al-Nusra Front.

Kerry said diplomats from the U.S., Russia and other powers also agreed to "accelerate and expand" the delivery of humanitarian aid immediately, bringing aid to besieged areas.

A working group is to start meeting in Geneva Immediately to oversee that.

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9 p.m.

Talks aimed at narrowing differences over Syria and keeping afloat diplomacy to end its civil war have gotten under way in Munich.

Thursday's meeting of the International Syria Support Group brings together U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and U.N. Envoy Staffan de Mistura with representatives of regional powers including Saudi Arabia and Iran and European officials.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said everyone's who is needed to make progress is there.

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6:30 p.m.

Germany's foreign minister says diplomatic efforts to tame Syria's civil war are at a crossroads and talks need to produce some kind of breakthrough.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Thursday that "if we don't succeed in breaking the spiral of violence and counter-violence now, this terrible civil war will drag on even longer."

He says "everyone who is needed" is at a meeting in Munich of major powers with an interest in the conflict.

Steinmeier says he hopes to find a way to restart talks between the Syrian government and opposition soon.

He says that "we need something like a breakthrough here."

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5.40 p.m.

The U.N. human rights chief has described the worsening situation around Aleppo as "grotesque," and has warned that up to 300,000 people are at risk of being besieged.

High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein said in a statement Thursday that about 51,000 civilians have been displaced since the Syrian government's latest offensive on Aleppo, Syria's largest city, began last week.

Zeid also points out reports of "numerous airstrikes by Russian and Syrian aircraft" there.

He adds that "the warring parties in Syria are constantly sinking to new depths, without apparently caring in the slightest about the death and destruction they are wreaking across the country."

Zeid says peace talks must resume as early as possible.

5:25 p.m.

The EU's foreign policy chief says a meeting Thursday aimed at keeping the Syrian peace process alive won't be easy, but she is pushing for an immediate cease-fire to be agreed.

Federica Mogherini said that "it will be a very important meeting and the future of Syria and Syrians is in our hands."

Asked about her message for Russia, she said all concerned agreed in December to facilitate a cease-fire and humanitarian access to besieged cities and "this has to happen immediately."

Top diplomats from Europe, the Middle East, the United States and Russia are holding talks in Munich aimed at reconciling differences over a proposed cease-fire in Syria. Russia has proposed a cease-fire in March, but officials fear that will allow Moscow and the Syrian government to continue crushing moderate rebels for another three weeks.

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4:50 p.m.

Saudi Arabian state television is quoting a military spokesman describing the kingdom's offer to send ground troops into Syria as an "irreversible decision."

State television quoted Brig. Gen. Ahmed Asiri, the Saudi military spokesman, making the statement Thursday.

State television also quoted Asiri as saying Saudi Arabia wanted the U.S.-led coalition targeting the Islamic State group to agree to the kingdom's deployment.

The statement comes as Saudi Arabia's Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman visited NATO headquarters in Brussels to discuss the Syrian civil war.

A Saudi deployment runs the potentially explosive risk of confrontation between one of the Arab world's most powerful militaries and forces keeping Syrian President Bashar Assad in power, including Iran.

It also puts pressure on Washington and other Western nations to do more to end the conflict.

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4.00 p.m.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov have opened talks in Munich trying to reconcile deep differences over a proposed cease-fire for the Syrian civil war. They were meeting as other U.S. and Russian officials traded allegations of bombing civilian areas in the besieged city of Aleppo.

Russia has proposed a March 1 cease-fire but Washington believes that will only give Moscow and the Syrian government three weeks to crush moderate rebel groups. The U.S. has countered with a demand for an immediate truce.

As they began their meeting at a Munich hotel, Kerry declined to speculate on whether an agreement could be reached. "We're going to have a serious conversation about all aspects about what's happening in Syria," he said. "Obviously, at some point in time, we want to make progress on the issues of humanitarian access and cease-fire. We will talk about all aspects of the conflict."

Lavrov said that Russia had already submitted a "quite specific" proposal and "we will wait for the American response before we take it to the ISSG." The ISSG is the International Syria Support Group, a grouping of about 20 countries with interests in the conflict, that is due to meet later Thursday in Munich.

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3.00 p.m.

The Baghdad spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State group refuted Russian claims that American planes bombed Aleppo hospitals, saying the incident is an example of the Russian "indiscriminate" use of force.

The Russian Ministry of Defense rejected the pentagon's claim Wednesday that Russian aircraft hit two hospitals in Aleppo saying that it was U.S. aircraft that operated over the city Wednesday. Russian defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Thursday that Russian jets hit targets no closer than 20 kilometers away from Aleppo. Konashenkov said that two A-10 ground attack jets of the U.S. Air Force flew in from Turkey Wednesday and attacked Aleppo

Col. Steve Warren, the Baghdad-based spokesman, told the Associated Press that Russian aircraft in Syria are using "dumb" bombs, and "indiscriminately scattering those bombs across populated areas regardless of whether those populated areas have women and children, civilians or hospitals."

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1.00 p.m.

The U.N. humanitarian agency says an estimated 120,000 people are trapped in a northern rural area of Homs, Syria, with no access to new supplies amid blistering air strikes by government and allied forces.

In a "flash update" on Thursday, OCHA points to reports of acute malnutrition among pregnant women and children as well as deaths from a lack of medical care, and warns that the situation could worsen in the coming weeks if aid or goods aren't allowed in.

The U.N. agency says humanitarian groups have not been able to deliver aid to Homs since October and are awaiting authorization to send in "lifesaving supplies."

It said two enclaves north of Homs have faced stricter controls by Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces and allied forces since last month.

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12:30 p.m.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter says he expects a gathering of more than two dozen countries contributing to the war against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq to endorse a U.S. plan for accelerating the campaign this year.

Speaking to reporters Thursday at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Carter said he would lay out details of the campaign plan in an afternoon meeting with allies and non-NATO partners such as Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

In doing so, he will ask the others to find ways to increase or broaden their contributions  either militarily or in other ways such as financial contributions.

Carter said the U.S. is determined to accelerate the war campaign and recapture as soon as possible the Islamic State's main strongholds in Syria and Iraq.

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12:30 p.m.

Turkey's president has renewed a call for the establishment of a secure, no-fly zone in Syria, saying it is the only way to deal with the influx of migrants and refugees.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday also pressed ahead with his verbal attack on the United Nations, which has demanded that it open its border to a new wave of Syrian refugees. Erdogan said the world body should be focusing on ending an "ethnic cleansing" unfolding around the Syrian city of Aleppo instead of making demands on Turkey.

In his address to a business group in Ankara, Erdogan also labeled its ally Washington as "blind" for not recognizing a Syrian Kurdish group which is affiliated with the Turkey's outlawed Kurdish rebels as a terrorist group.

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12:15 p.m.

A senior Russian diplomat says Moscow opposes plans to establish a "safe zone" along the Turkey-Syria border.

Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov said in an interview with the Interfax news agency on Thursday that Moscow opposes "any attempts" by the U.S.-led coalition to deploy troops in Syria's north without asking the Syrian government or the UN Security Council first. Syromolotov said Russia will consider this as an "act of direct military intervention" if it happens.

Tens of thousands of Syrians have fled to the border with Turkey following a Syrian government offensive around the rebel-held city of Aleppo backed by Russian airstrikes.

11:45 a.m.

The Russian defense ministry says its airstrikes have hit about 1,900 targets in Syria in the past week.

The defense ministry in a statement on Thursday listed the targets in the provinces of Aleppo, Latakia, Hama, Deir ez-Zor, Daraa, Homs, Hasakah and Raqqa.

A Syrian government offensive around the city of Aleppo backed by Russian airstrikes has sent tens of thousands fleeing to the Turkish border. Critics say the offensive has contributed to the collapse of peace talks in Geneva last week.

Moscow on Thursday accused the militants in control of Aleppo of "coercing civilians" to flee to the border in a hope to cross into Turkey with them. The defense ministry rejected accusations of targeting residential areas of Aleppo, arguing that the footage of the aftermath of the airstrikes there that Western media have been broadcasting was filmed long before Russia began carrying out airstrikes in Syria last September.

____

10:30 a.m.

The Russian defense ministry has lashed out at the U.S.-led coalition in Syria for refusing to provide intelligence on Islamic State targets there.

Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said in a statement on Thursday that Russia has shared its own intelligence with the United States that it has "gratefully taken" but has not reciprocated.

Konashenkov said Russia has repeatedly asked the U.S. and its allies for intelligence in response to the accusations that Russians are targeting the "wrong objects."

A Syrian government offensive around the city of Aleppo backed by Russian airstrikes has sent tens of thousands fleeing to the Turkish border, putting peace talks in Geneva in jeopardy.

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9:45 a.m.

An opposition activist group and a rebel say Kurdish fighters and their allies have captured a military air base in northern Syria.

Abdul-Jabbar Abu Thabet, a local rebel commander in the Aleppo province, said Thursday that Mannagh air base fell to the People's Protection Units, or YPG, and their allies after fierce battles.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the offensive came as warplanes believed to be Russian carried out 30 airstrikes in the area. It said the air base and a nearby village, also called Mannagh, fell late Wednesday.

With Syrian troops backed by Russian warplanes waging a major offensive between the northern city of Aleppo and the Turkish border, the Kurds appeared to be exploiting the chaos to expand their nearby enclave, known as Afrin.

A Syrian child waits to return to his country with members of his family at the Turkish border crossing with Syria in the outskirts of Kilis, southeastern Turkey, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. A Russian-backed Syrian government offensive around the Syrian city of Aleppo has sent tens of thousands of people fleeing to the Turkish border in recent days. Turkey, already home to 2.5 million Syrian refugees, is also providing assistance to the new refugees on the Syrian side of the border, but refuses so far to let them in. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter speaks during a media conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. NATO defense ministers met for a second day on Thursday to discuss Turkeys request to help deal with Europes ongoing migrant crisis and the current situation in Iraq and Syria. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Syrian children wait to return to their country at the Turkish border crossing with Syria in the outskirts of Kilis, southeastern Turkey, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. A Russian-backed Syrian government offensive around the Syrian city of Aleppo has sent tens of thousands of people fleeing to the Turkish border in recent days. Turkey, already home to 2.5 million Syrian refugees, is also providing assistance to the new refugees on the Syrian side of the border, but refuses so far to let them in.(AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter speaks during a media conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. NATO defense ministers met for a second day on Thursday to discuss Turkeys request to help deal with Europes ongoing migrant crisis and the current situation in Iraq and Syria. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Viewers' Guide: Post-NH, a tense Clinton-Sanders rematch

WASHINGTON (AP)  Grudge match.

Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders get back in the debate ring Thursday night with an increasingly bitter family score to settle. The debate comes just 48 hours after Sanders' victory over Clinton in the New Hampshire primary by 22 percentage points, a jagged pill made more so because she lost with women, her presumed base of support.

The key audience is now minority voters influential in upcoming contests in South Carolina and Nevada, and Hillary Clinton will be touting her endorsement Thursday by the Congressional Black Caucus PAC.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., raises a fist as he arrives for a breakfast meeting with Al Sharpton at Sylvia's Restaurant, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016, in the Harlem neighborhood of New York. Sanders defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday in the New Hampshire primary. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Clinton, with a slim Iowa victory in her pocket, acknowledged that she needs especially to earn the votes of young women who aren't automatically with her just because she, too, is a woman. For Sanders, the next-up states are a test for how he does with non-white voters.

Don't be fooled about any declarations of mutual respect that have been heard before, nor by any agreement between the two that Republicans are worse than either of them.

This contest is personal, and delicate. The Clinton dynasty is at stake and this is her second drive to become president. For Sanders, the battle against Clinton is a showdown with the establishment, which he says is behind the inequities he's railed against over three decades in public life.

Expect their spat over who's more "progressive,"  liberal  to sharpen and focus on such issues as income equality and gun policy.

Here's what to watch for during the PBS debate at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

HEEEEERE'S BERNIE

Watch how Sanders, his New Hampshire blowout behind him, capitalizes on the attention by introducing himself to Americans who know little about his socialist self. The Vermont senator's message of economic and social inequality, systemic racism and unlimited money in politics is aimed at Americans who feel the system is stacked against them. He practically owns the term "oligarchy"  power concentrated among a very few  in the 2016 campaign.

Sanders has a perceived disadvantage with minority voters, so expect him to talk at length about the civil rights activism of his youth, his recent outreach to prominent black figures and parts of his agenda that might most resonate with black and Hispanic communities. He made sure there would be cameras there to snap photos of him having breakfast with the Rev. Al Sharpton at a Harlem landmark. Sharpton has not endorsed either candidate.

CLINTON'S 'WORK TO DO'

Clinton expected to lose New Hampshire and has acknowledged she has "work to do" to introduce herself to young women and new voters. But Sanders' double-wide victory there included trends that suggest she's got a bigger task ahead, namely on trust and empathy issues  gaps that have proven devastating in past presidential campaigns. Look for her to find a way to address these points, a challenge she's struggled to meet. Notably, too, Clinton has not won the support of some members of the Congressional Black Caucus  separate from the political action committee  such as Reps. Jim Clyburn of south Carolina and and Barbara Lee of California.

STING LIKE A BEE

Look for Clinton to hit Sanders more aggressively on issues that matter to minority voters, such as the health care law achieved by President Barack Obama, the nation's first black president. Sanders supports a markedly different, hard-to-pay-for universal health care law. She'll also probably go after Sanders for casting her as a tool of Wall Street who is not as serious as he about controlling money in politics. And Clinton's not likely to stop hitting Sanders on his opposition to longer waiting periods for gun purchases.

DOES SANDERS STING BACK?

If Clinton gets more aggressive, look for whether Sanders attacks her back. In the last debate, she castigated him for an "artful smear" that insinuated big donors have bought an alliance with her on public policy. Clinton testily said he'd never find an example of her making decisions to benefit her donors. Sanders gave her something of a pass, railing against big money in politics but not going nearly as hard at her as he could have over her Wall Street ties.

WELCOME TO WISCONSIN

The setting in battleground Wisconsin is all about the general election. The state is home to a Republican-controlled state government, a polarizing fight over collective bargaining and onetime GOP presidential candidate Scott Walker  the governor. National Democrats purposely chose the state to plant a flag there.

Republicans will greet Clinton with a billboard between the airport and the debate venue that makes note of an FBI probe into the propriety of her home email server while she was secretary of state.

"What's there to debate?" it asks. "We know Hillary Clinton can't be trusted."

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Follow Laurie Kellman on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/APLaurieKellman
Gunfire that killed baby likely aimed at gang member father

LOS ANGELES (AP)  Gunfire most likely meant for her gang member father hit a 1-year-old girl in the head and killed her in her crib in a home in Compton, officials said.

The girl died in one of the most violent areas of Los Angeles County after a gunman got out of a car Tuesday evening and fired at least five rounds at a converted garage where the child lived with her parents, Los Angeles County sheriff's officials said.

The shooting sparked a plea Wednesday from the mayor of Compton for residents to renew the fight against gang attacks.

Her mother, Blanche Wandick, pleaded for the killer to be caught.

"My innocent baby got shot for nothing," the tearful Wandick, who is pregnant, told TV reporters. "I appreciate anybody and everybody who's helping try to find who did it."

A $25,000 reward was offered for information leading to an arrest.

Sheriff's deputies were called to a home around 7 p.m. where they found a man on the sidewalk cradling the wounded infant, sheriff's Capt. Myron Johnson said at an afternoon news conference.

The deputies took the child to a hospital in Lynwood, where she died, he said.

Authorities were searching for the gunman and the driver of the getaway car. They were seen speeding away from the neighborhood in a dark sedan.

Sheriff's officials also pleaded for public help in finding the killer. Tipsters can remain anonymous, they said.

"We're following every lead as it comes in, real time," sheriff's homicide Capt. Steven Katz. "We believe that there are people out there in the community who may have information to offer."

Investigators believe the shooter wanted to hit the child's 24-year-old father, who has acknowledged being a member of a street gang, sheriff's Lt. John Corina said.

"He was probably the intended target, and a stray bullet caught his daughter," Corina said, adding that the father was "somewhat cooperative" with detectives. His name was not released.

Compton Mayor Aja Brown identified the child as 1-year-old Autumn Johnson and also asked for help from the public.

"I stand today with Compton residents in recommitting ourselves to the fight against gang violence," the mayor said.
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. You might want to have online essay editor service to boost your confidence in writing with an error-free output. Academic writing doesnt need to be  and shouldnt be  bland. The excellent news is that there is much stuff you can do to create your essay more attractive, while youll be able only to do such a lot while remaining within the formal confines of educational writing. Lets study what theyre.

Have an interest in what youre writing about

Dont go overboard, but youll be able to let your passion for your subject show.

If theres one thing bound to inject interest into your writing, its being fascinated by what youre writing about. Passion for a subject matter comes across naturally in your essay, typically making it more lively and fascinating and infusing an infectious enthusiasm into your words  within the same way that its easy to talk knowledgeably to someone about something you discover fascinating.

Include fascinating details

Another factor that may make an essay boring maybe a dry material. Some topic areas are naturally dry, and it falls to you to form the article more interesting through your written style and by trying to seek out fascinating snippets of knowledge to incorporate, which will liven it up a small amount and make the data easier to relate to. A way of doing this with a dry subject is to create what youre talking about that seems relevant to the critical world, as this is often easier for the reader to relate to.

Emulate the fashion of writers you discover interesting

When you read lots, you subconsciously start emulating the fashion of the writers you have read. Reading benefits you a lot, as this exposes you to a spread of designs, and youll start to require the characteristics of these you discover interesting to read.

Borrow some creative writing techniques

Theres a limit to the quantity of actual story-telling youll do when youre writing an essay; in the end, essays should be objective, factual and balanced, which doesnt, initially glance, feel considerably like story-telling. However, youll apply a number of the principles of story-telling to create your writing more interesting.

consider your own opinion

Take the time to figure out what its that you think instead of regurgitating the opinions of others.

Cut the waffle

Rambling on and on is dull and almost bound to lose the interest of your reader. Youre in danger of waffling if youre not completely clear about what you wish to mention or havent thought carefully about how youre visiting structure your argument. Doing all your research correctly and writing an essay plan before you begin will help prevent this problem.

Editing is a vital part of the essay-writing process, so edit the waffle once youve done a primary draft. 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.
10 Things to Know for Friday - 12 February 2016

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Friday:

1. WHAT CLINTON, SANDERS CLASH OVER

The presidential candidates battle for the crucial backing of black and Hispanic voters in the latest Democratic debate and spar over their support for Obama.

Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt, left, and Hillary Clinton smile as they take the stage before a Democratic presidential primary debate at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Tom Lynn)

2. LAST OCCUPIERS OF OREGON NATURE PRESERVE SURRENDER

The four holdouts were the last of a larger group that seized the wildlife refuge nearly six weeks ago, protesting what they view as federal overreach.

3. US, RUSSIA ADVANCE PLAN FOR SYRIAN CEASEFIRE

The temporary "cessation of hostilities" would take effect in a week if all the parties go along.

4. DOZENS OF INMATES KILLED IN RIOT

A fight between rival drug gangs escalates into Mexico's deadliest prison melee in years.

5. WHAT'S ELECTRIFYING ASTRONOMERS

Scientists say they've finally detected gravitational waves, the ripples in the fabric of space-time that Einstein predicted a century ago.

6. UTILITY CAPS GAS LEAK IN LOS ANGELES

For 16 weeks, the well had gushed uncontrollably, driving thousands of residents from their homes.

7. WHERE NATO IS SENDING THREE WARSHIPS

The vessels will sail immediately to the Aegean Sea to help end the deadly smuggling of asylum-seekers across the waters from Turkey to Greece.

8. QUESTIONS GROWING OVER BANKS

Weakening economies threaten to sour the loans that banks have issued to companies around the world  particularly in distressed sectors like the energy industry.

9. SMITHSONIAN GIVING VISITORS VIRTUAL LOOK INSIDE APOLLO 11

Highlights include graffiti the astronauts left inside the spacecraft that took them on their historic mission to the moon in 1969.

10. LAMAR ODOM ATTENDS FIRST PUBLIC EVENT SINCE HOSPITALIZATION

The estranged husband of Khloe Kardashian shows up at brother-in-law Kanye West's New York Fashion show  and gets cheers from the crowd.

FILE - In this Nov. 3, 2015, file photo, provided by Southern California Gas Co., SoCalGas crews and technical experts attempt to safely stop the flow of natural gas leaking from a storage well at the utilitys Aliso Canyon facility near the Northridge section of Los Angeles. The utility says it has stopped the natural gas leak near Los Angeles after nearly 4 months. (Javier Mendoza/SoCalGas via AP, File)
The Latest: Germany extends border controls for 3 months

BRUSSELS (AP)  The Latest on the massive influx of migrants into Europe (all times local):

2:15 p.m.

Germany says it is extending border controls along its frontiers for a further three months due to continued high numbers of refugee arrivals.

A baby looks back over woman's shoulder as they move with a group of refugees towards the border with Serbia, from the transit center for refugees near northern Macedonian village of Tabanovce, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. Macedonian authorities are reinforcing a barrier at the country's border with Greece that is designed to limit the number of migrants crossing into the country, accepting people only from war-affected zones who declare Austria or Germany as their final destination. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)

The Interior Ministry said Thursday that the controls, first introduced Sept. 13, can't be lifted because a reduction in the flow of refugees "is currently not foreseeable."

Almost 1.1 million people entered Germany last year to apply for asylum. Most came through the country's southern border with Austria.

Germany previously last announced it was extending border controls on Nov. 13.

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12:55 p.m.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has confirmed the leaked minutes of a conversation between himself and top European Union officials last year in which he threatens to send buses full of migrants to Europe if a favorable deal on handling the crisis is not reached.

Erdogan said Thursday the minutes showed that he had defended the rights of Turkey and of the Syrians, adding it was not "a document of shame."

Erdogan appeared to renew that threat on Thursday, saying Turkey could stop turning back refugees at its European borders.

He said: "I am sorry but we can open the doors, and tell them 'have a good' journey.'"

The minutes of the meeting appeared on a Greek website earlier this week and were published by some opposition newspapers.

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12:15 p.m.

NATO's chief says the NATO Maritime Group is being ordered immediately into the Aegean Sea to help end human smuggling of migrants between Turkey and Greece.

Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO secretary-general, said Thursday the warships, now under German command, are being tasked to conduct reconnaissance and surveillance to help end Europe's gravest migrant crisis since World War II.

He says U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, NATO's supreme European commander, had ordered NATO Standing Maritime Group 2 deployed to the Aegean "without delay."

Stoltenberg says ships "will start to move now."

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11:50 a.m.

The German government has agreed to allow unaccompanied child refugees to bring over their families in certain hardship cases.

The Cabinet-level agreement Thursday ends a spat between Angela Merkel's conservative bloc and the center-left Social Democrats that had held up a reform of asylum rules in Germany.

The deal means a halt to all family reunification except when "urgent humanitarian reasons" justify that parents of minors who have applied for asylum in Germany receive protection too.

The government has rushed to introduce a string of measures to slow the influx of refugees to Germany after almost 1.1 million people applied for asylum in the country last year.

The campaign group Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk criticized the agreement, saying it breaches Germany's obligations under the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child.

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11:10 a.m.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter says NATO military authorities have been ordered to draw up plans for how the alliance could help shut down illegal migration and people smuggling across the Aegean Sea.

Carter made the announcement at a Thursday press conference after three NATO allies Turkey, Germany and Greece requested alliance participation in an international effort to help end Europe's gravest migration crisis since World War II.

The three countries made the request at a NATO defense ministers' meeting in Brussels. NATO ministers "tasked NATO military authorities to provide its advice for options for implementing it," said Carter.

Carter says those recommendations will be reviewed by NATO's Military Committee and submitted to the North Atlantic Council, NATO's chief decision-making body.
Key developments since North Korea's rocket launch

Tensions with North Korea have escalated sharply since the country launched a long-range rocket to put a satellite into orbit on Sunday. A look at the latest developments:

 NORTH KOREA FREEZES SOUTH KOREAN ASSETS AT FACTORY PARK: North Korea ordered a military takeover of the factory park that had been the last major symbol of cooperation with South Korea in a swift, aggressive response to South Korea's suspension of operations at the Kaesong complex. All of the 280 South Korean workers who were at the facility crossed the border Thursday night, hours after the North said it would deport them and seize assets there.

Pyongyang also was shutting down two crucial cross-border communication hotlines.

Objects that are believed to be part of a North Korean rocket are displayed for the South Korean media on a South Korean navy ship at the Second Fleet Command of Navy in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. North Korea on Thursday vowed to immediately deport all South Korean nationals and freeze all South Korean assets at a jointly run factory park in the North, a swift, aggressive response to the South Korean decision to suspend operations at the former symbol of inter-Korean cooperation. (Hong Ki-won/Yonhap via AP) KOREA OUT

The factory park, which started operations in 2004, has provided 616 billion won ($560 million) of cash to North Korea, according to Seoul. Last year, 124 South Korean companies hired 54,000 North Korean workers to produce socks, wristwatches and other goods.

 MORE SANCTIONS: The U.S. Senate on Wednesday unanimously passed legislation that aims to deprive the North of the financing to make miniaturized nuclear warheads and long-range missiles. The legislation also authorizes $50 million over the next five years to transmit radio broadcasts into North Korea, purchase communications equipment and support humanitarian assistance. A House bill was overwhelmingly approved last month.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said his country would impose new sanctions. The measures, which require Cabinet and parliamentary action, will include expanded restrictions on travel between the countries and a complete ban on visits by North Korean ships to Japanese ports.

Discussions were continuing at the U.N. Security Council to impose new sanctions, a White House official said.

 MILITARY OFFICIAL EXECUTED?: A South Korean official said Thursday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had his military chief executed for corruption and other charges. If true, the execution of Ri Yong Gil, chief of the North Korean military's general staff, would be the latest in a series of killings, purges and dismissals since Kim took power in late 2011. South Korean officials have a spotty record of tracking developments in opaque North Korea.

 LONG-RANGE ROCKET LAUNCH: North Korea on Sunday launched a long-range rocket in what is widely considered a cover for a banned test of technology for a missile that could strike the U.S. mainland. It was widely condemned, with the South Korean president calling it an "intolerable provocation." The North said the rocket put an Earth observation satellite into orbit; outside experts say the satellite does not appear to be transmitting signals.

The launch follows North Korea's widely disputed claim last month to have detonated a hydrogen bomb in its fourth nuclear test.

South Korean vehicles returning from North Korea's joint Kaesong Industrial Complex pass the customs, immigration and quarantine office near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. North Korea on Thursday ordered a military takeover of a factory park that was the last major symbol of cooperation with South Korea, saying Seoul's suspension of operations at the jointly run facility was a "dangerous declaration of war." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Bangladesh court confirms death sentences for 3

NEW DELHI (AP)  A Bangladesh appeals court on Thursday confirmed the death sentences handed to the head of a banned Islamist group and two of his associates for a 2004 grenade attack on a former British diplomat at a prominent Islamic shrine.

The court rejected an appeal by Mufti Abdul Hannan, the head of Harkatul Jihad-al-Islami, and two colleagues challenging a trial court's verdict, said prosecutor Sheikh Moniruzzaman Kabir.

The diplomat, Anwar Choudhury, was slightly injured in the attack on May 21, 2004, as he visited the Hazrat Shahjalal shrine in Sylhet city. The blast killed three people and wounded 17 others.

Harkatul Jihad-al-Islami said the attack was aimed at avenging the killings of Muslims in Iraq and elsewhere by American and British soldiers.

The ruling can still be appealed at the Supreme Court.

Hannan is known to have led the group's major attacks against what he called enemies of Islam in Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority nation of 160 million people but largely ruled by secular laws based on British common law.

Hannan has been behind bars since he has been convicted in other cases, including another attack in 2004 on then-opposition leader Sheikh Hasina, now Bangladesh's prime minister.

The grenade attack had left 24 leaders and activists of Hasina's Awami League party dead and hundreds wounded during a rally in Dhaka.
Australian minister resigns for breaching code of conduct

CANBERRA, Australia (AP)  An embattled Australian government minister resigned on Friday for breaching ministerial standards through a business trip to China, clearing the way for the prime minister to announce a final Cabinet reshuffle ahead of elections due this year.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said an investigation found Stuart Robert had breached the government's Code of Ministerial Standards through his 2014 trip to Beijing with a friend and donor to the ruling Liberal Party, Paul Marks. Marks made the trip to seal a mining deal between his company Nimrod Resources and Chinese government-owned Minmetals.

Minmetals' website said Robert, then assistant defense minister, spoke at the signing ceremony on behalf of the Australian Defense Department. But under questioning this week, Robert said he went to China as a private citizen while on leave.

Turnbull came under intense pressure this week in Parliament to fire Robert from his current roles as minister for veterans' affairs and minister for human services. The opposition accused Robert of breaching a section of the code of conduct that states a minister must not assist any company or business except in an official capacity as a minister.

Turnbull said Robert had discovered since the trip to China that he had shares in a company Metallum Holdings, which had an interest in Nimrod Resources.

"Mr. Robert recognized that this connection would create the impression that at the time he went to Beijing, he had something personally to gain from the Nimrod Resources project," Turnbull said in a statement.
Clinton struggles to win over America's younger women

CONCORD, New Hampshire (AP)  Political "revolution" is currently trumping the idea of the first female president for America's young women.

In this week's New Hampshire primary, women under 45 overwhelmingly backed Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton, exit polls showed. It's a problem for the former secretary of state as she tries to build the coalition of voters needed to win the Democratic nomination.

"Even if they are not supporting me now, I support them," the former first lady said in conceding to the 74-year-old Sanders.

In this Feb. 9, 2016, photo, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton mingles with supporters at her New Hampshire presidential primary campaign rally in Hooksett, N.H. For young women, political revolution is currently trumping the idea of a Madame President. In New Hampshire, women under the age of 45 overwhelmingly backed Bernie Sanders over Clinton, exit polls showed. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

Clinton has been widely expected to be the first woman to win the presidential nomination of a major political party, but the New Hampshire numbers were staggering. Sanders won the votes of seven out of every 10 women under the age of 45, and nearly 80 percent of women under the age of 30.

"I think for young women, they clearly identify as feminists, they say they're feminists, but I think the notion of having a woman president ... it doesn't drive them in the same way, as women who are in the traditional second wave of feminism," said Debbie Walsh, director for the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.

Young women in New Hampshire said they were more inspired by the Vermont senator's ambitious policy proposals, including a government-run health care system for all and free public college tuition.

"We always have another chance to have another woman president, but do we have another chance to have someone as genuine as Bernie Sanders is?" asked Nicole McGillicuddy, 26, who believes there will a female president in her lifetime.

Clinton and Sanders will meet for the next debate of the Democratic race on Thursday.

Compared with her 2008 bid, which focused more on experience and her readiness for the White House, Clinton has embraced her gender this time, stressing economic issues popular with women, including equal pay and family leave.

She has promoted endorsements from women's organizations and sought to impress younger women with supporters like pop star Katy Perry and actress Lena Dunham.

But the message has not resonated. Frustration over Sanders' appeal erupted over the weekend, when former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said there was "a special place in hell" for women who don't help women and renowned feminist Gloria Steinem said that Sanders' female supporters were doing it to meet boys. Steinem later apologized.

Clinton is expected to fare better in the upcoming contests in Nevada and South Carolina than she did in Iowa, where she barely won, and in New Hampshire. A recent national poll from Quinnipiac University showed Clinton winning women voters 48-38 against Sanders.

Stephanie Schriock, the president of Emily's List, which supports Democratic women who back abortion rights as they run for Congress and governor, said the idea Clinton was losing women was "overblown."

"We look at the national numbers and she's doing well, including on millennial women. We've seen really good energy across the county from women of all ages," Schriock said.

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Lucey reported from Des Moines, Iowa. News Survey Specialist Emily Swanson contributed to this report from Washington.

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Burden of Kaesong closure to mostly fall on S. Korean firms

SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  South Korea's sudden withdrawal from a factory park in North Korea is a severe blow for the South Korean businesses that populated it, but is unlikely to make much difference to the North's decrepit economy despite being a stern diplomatic measure.

Aiming to punish North Korea for a rocket launch on Sunday, South Korea's government said earlier this week it will shut down the Kaesong industrial complex. It accused North Korea of using the cash it earns from South Korean involvement in the rare venture between the two Koreas to finance its weapons programs.

Pyongyang responded Thursday by announcing a military takeover of the complex near the border of the two countries, ordering all South Koreans to leave, and seizing the possible bounty of equipment and assets left behind.

Products fall from an overloaded vehicle after returning from North Korea's Kaesong industrial complex in Paju, South Korea, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. North Korea on Thursday vowed to immediately deport all South Korean nationals and freeze all South Korean assets at a jointly run factory park in the North, a swift, aggressive response to the South Korean decision to suspend operations at the former symbol of inter-Korean cooperation. (Kim Seung-doo/Yonhap via AP) KOREA OUT

North Korea, impoverished due to the isolation imposed by decades of authoritarian rule, earned $560 million from the park since it started operating in 2004, including $120 million last year alone, Seoul says.

South Koreans were divided by their government's decision. The project that combined cheap North Korean labor with the capital and technology of affluent South Korea has long been viewed both as a test of the potential for reunification of a peninsula divided by the 1950-53 Korean War and a symbol of intractable tension.

South Korean businesses at the park urged the government to reconsider the shutdown.

"It seems like the complex was nearly sentenced to death," said Jung Ki-sup, chair of the association of 124 South Korean firms at Kaesong. "I feel very bitter and resentful of the government's abrupt decision."

When North Korea pulled out its workers in 2013 during another episode of high tension, the five-month disruption cost 700 billion won for the South Korean companies, according to the government, and more than 1 trillion won according to the companies.

Analysts said the closure of the park, one of strongest nonmilitary measures available to South Korean President Park Geun-hye, will not be debilitating for North Korea's economy. Its annual exports to ally China are more than 20 times what it is estimated to earn from Kaesong in a year.

The decision hurts the South Korean businesses involved but overall is not a significant factor for the economy of South Korea. The finance ministry estimated that annual production from Kaesong accounted for less than 0.04 percent of the South's gross domestic product.

On one level, the shutdown shows Park's willingness to act decisively. That may help drum up support from other countries for sterner sanctions against North Korea, which has tested crude nuclear weapons and is trying to develop long-range missiles.

But analysts say it's unlikely China, which is the North's main political and economic prop, would take any measures that imperil the regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un

"It has a symbolic effect of showing a strong commitment but it is unlikely to be fatal to North Korea's weapons programs," said Hong Soon-jick, a senior research fellow at Hyundai Research Institute

The South Korean government's decision caused 54,000 North Korean workers to become jobless overnight. They were paid about $74 a month by South Korean firms.

But North Korea can send those workers to China or Russia where they can earn three times more than their wages in Kaesong, analysts said.

South Korean officials believe North Korea sends tens of thousands of its workers overseas to earn dollars.

"It will take a toll on North Korean workers who lost their jobs at the Kaesong park," said Cheong Sung Chang, a senior research at the Sejong Institute. "But it will take a bigger toll on the small and medium South Korean businesses" that operated at the park.

Most South Korean businesses at Kaesong manufactured labor-intensive products such as clothing, electronic components and wristwatches.

South Korea's government and companies have invested more than 1 trillion won ($852 million) to pave roads and erect buildings in the park, which lies on the outskirts of Kaesong, North Korea's third-largest city.

South Korea's government said it would find ways to compensate the businesses affected by its decision.

South Korean vehicles returning from North Korea's joint Kaesong Industrial Complex pass the customs, immigration and quarantine office near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. North Korea on Thursday ordered a military takeover of the factory park that was the last major symbol of cooperation with South Korea, saying Seoul's suspension of operations at the jointly run facility was a "dangerous declaration of war." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

South Korean vehicles returning from North Korea's joint Kaesong Industrial Complex pass the customs, immigration and quarantine office near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. North Korea on Thursday ordered a military takeover of the factory park that was the last major symbol of cooperation with South Korea, saying Seoul's suspension of operations at the jointly run facility was a "dangerous declaration of war." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

An unidentified South Korean business man is surrounded by the media after returning from North Korea's joint Kaesong Industrial Complex near the border village of Panmunjom, in Paju, South Korea, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. North Korea on Thursday ordered a military takeover of the factory park that was the last major symbol of cooperation with South Korea, saying Seoul's suspension of operations at the jointly run facility was a "dangerous declaration of war." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Coast Guard helps rescue fishermen after boat fire

HONOLULU (AP)  The U.S. Coast Guard has helped rescued 42 people who abandoned their fishing vessel after it caught fire.

No injuries were reported after fire broke out on the U.S.-flagged vessel about 1,800 miles south of Hawaii Wednesday.

The fishing crew boarded two life rafts, three work boats and one skiff as they left the 258-foot American Eagle. A Coast Guard airplane arrived Wednesday evening and dropped a pump, flashlights and flares.

The captain and eight crew members were able to get back aboard the vessel after the fire died down and snuff out the flames. They got power back on, while the 33 others were rescued by an oil tanker that had been traveling nearby.
Tutu asks why it took years to prosecute apartheid murder

JOHANNESBURG (AP)  Why has it taken South African prosecutors so long to charge four former members of the apartheid-era security forces for the 1983 murder of a young activist, Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu asked Thursday.

This week, South Africa's National Prosecuting Authority announced plans to charge the men who were part of a police unit linked to the murder and torture of 23-year-old Nokuthula Simelane.

Tutu welcomed the decision, saying he hoped it marked a turning point for the prosecuting authority, which he said has only pursued "less than a handful" of more than 300 apartheid-era cases the Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommended for legal action in 2002.

FILE - in this April, 20, 2006 file photo former Truth And Reconciliation Commissioner Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, during a public debate on the legacy of the TRC. in Cape Town, South Africa. Tutu has questioned Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016, why it took so long for South African prosecutors to charge former members of the apartheid-era security forces for the 1983 murder of an activist. (AP Photo/Obed Zilwa, File)

After apartheid ended in 1994, the commission, headed by Tutu investigated past atrocities and granted amnesty to some of the accused perpetrators.

The commission heard and finalized Simelane's case in 2001, and handed it over to prosecutors the following year, but they only acted after the young woman's family approached the court.

"What has taken them so long? Why did the authorities turn their backs on the family of Nokuthula, and so many other families, for so many years?" Tutu asked in a statement.

Simelane had been a courier for the armed wing of the then-banned African National Congress when she was snatched by the police and tortured for weeks, according to the officers' own testimony to the commission 16 years ago.

But the policemen insisted that they had succeeded in "turning" Simelane through the torture, convincing her to work as an informant against the African National Congress in neighboring Swaziland. The police indicated that anti-apartheid fighters might have eliminated Simelane themselves. Her body was never found.

"I have long said that there remains 'unfinished business' from the TRC," Tutu said.

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West Virginia: Watch glass being made by hand at Blenko

MILTON, W.Va. (AP)  At Blenko Glass, you can watch glass being handcrafted the way it's been done for more than 100 years.

The company's famous glassware has been bought, collected and recognized around the world. Blenko stained glass was used in New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral. Blenko tableware is in the White House as well as in various museums. Blenko also designed the trophy for the Country Music Awards.

The Blenko factory, located in Milton, West Virginia, a few minutes off Interstate 64, has an onsite museum displaying some of its innovative designs, along with an observation area. Here visitors may watch, up close, as workers heat, shape, blow and cut colorful glass pieces into vases, bottles and other items.

This Feb. 3, 2016 photo shows stained glass on display at Blenko Glass in Milton, W.Va. The company is famous for its stained glass and handcrafted glass tableware, which is recognized and collected around the world. Its factory has an onsite museum, gift shop and observation area where visitors can watch the glassmaking process. (AP Photo/Dorothy Abernathy)

A series of signs explains the process. There are several jobs involved in producing a piece. One worker is responsible for gathering just the right amount of hot glass. Another blows, shapes and molds the glass. Then the piece is removed from the blowpipe, and a finisher completes the piece by cutting off ragged edges and working with the soft glass so that it matches a master design. Because each piece is made by hand, no two pieces are exactly alike.

The company was founded by William J. Blenko, an immigrant from England. He set up his first factory in Indiana in the 1890s but was not initially successful. In that era, Americans did not want domestically made glass; they wanted glass made in Europe.

After several ups and downs, he moved to Milton in the early 1920s partly because of the abundance of cheap, local natural gas, used to fuel the furnaces. Blenko eventually expanded from producing sheet glass and stained glass to tableware. The switch was prompted by the Great Depression, when a downturn in cathedral and church-building ravaged the market for stained glass.

In the mid-20th century, the company's innovative craftsmen began to be recognized with design awards for their handcrafted tableware. Despite that recognition, the company has not always prospered. It recently emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The onsite gift shop offers many types and colors of vases, bottles, glasses, bowls and other items. You'll also find handmade Christmas ornaments, small statues and even a bit of jewelry. Most of the items are made by Blenko, but a few (such as jewelry items) are produced by others. Vases are priced $30 to $100. The museum displays are upstairs from the gift shop.

I purchased one of my favorite bowls at Blenko, a dark blue piece that looks beautiful with strawberries in it. The variations in color remind me that it's handmade.

The company also hosts monthly events focused on glass. A paperweight collectors meeting takes place onsite March 11-12, and an annual glass festival is scheduled for Aug. 5-6. The events are free, with vendors and demonstrations. Classes are often offered during the events for a fee.

Blenko's biggest annual event is keyed to the anniversary of the date West Virginia became a state, June 20, 1863. The company creates a unique commemorative glass piece in a numbered limited edition to mark the event each year, and the sale of the pieces is held on the Saturday nearest the anniversary (June 18 this year). Collectors begin camping in the company parking lot the Monday before the sale just to get a space in line. The number of pieces and their price is determined by the year of the birthday: This year, on the 153rd celebration, the company will produce 153 pieces priced at $153 each.

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If You Go...

BLENKO GLASS: 9 Bill Blenko Drive, Milton, West Virginia; http://www.blenko.com or 877-425-3656. Located about 20 miles east of Huntington, West Virginia. Gift shop and museum open Monday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. and Sundays, noon-4 p.m. Hours change seasonally. The public is permitted to view factory operations only on weekdays and only on certain weeks, so check website or call to confirm schedule. Monthly events include meeting focused on paperweights March 11-12, and annual glass festival, Aug. 5-6. Events schedule: http://blenko.com/Schedule_of_Events_2.html

This Feb. 3, 2016 photo shows glassware on display at Blenko Glass in Milton, W.Va. The company is famous for its stained glass and handcrafted glass tableware, which is recognized and collected around the world. Its factory has an onsite museum, gift shop and observation area where visitors can watch the glassmaking process. (AP Photo/Dorothy Abernathy)

This Feb. 3, 2016 photo shows stained glass on display at Blenko Glass in Milton, W.Va. The company is famous for its stained glass and handcrafted glass tableware, which is recognized and collected around the world. Its factory has an onsite museum, gift shop and observation area where visitors can watch the glassmaking process. (AP Photo/Dorothy Abernathy)
Creator of popular military comic strip has book deal

NEW YORK (AP)  An Iraq War veteran who self-published a graphic novel based on his popular comic strip now has a book deal.

Little, Brown and Company announced Thursday that it has acquired Maximilian Uriarte's "The White Donkey: Terminal Lance" and will release it April 19. The book is based on the satirical Terminal Lance comic strip created in 2010 by Uriarte and will feature a pair of military recruits in Iraq.
Pakistani Oscar-nominated film tackles 'honor' killings

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP)  When Saba Qaiser was 19 years old, her uncle and father shot her in the head, stuffed her in a bag and threw into a river to die. They said she had shamed her family when she married the boy of her choice.

She crawled from the water, severely wounded. It was pitch black. She grabbed hold of the scraggly bushes on the river's edge and pulled herself to safety. In the distance, Saba could see only the single headlight of a motorcycle and then a gas station.

"Save me. Save me," she pleaded to the doctor who eventually treated her.

In this Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016 photo, Pakistan's Oscar winning filmmaker, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy discusses with colleagues at her office in Karachi, Pakistan. Obaid-Chinoy is nominated for a second Oscar for her moving story of a teenage girl shot and dumped into a river because she married a man of her choosing. (AP Photo/Shakil Adil)

Saba is the hero of the Oscar-nominated documentary "A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness," by Pakistani filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.

It explores the practice of honor killings, where fathers, husbands and brothers kill their wives, daughters or sisters for shaming them, accusing them of "stealing" their honor. The offence could be as minor as a misinterpreted look in the direction of a boy, sitting too long in the presence of an unknown man or in Saba's case, marrying a man of her choice.

An average of 1,000 women are killed each year in so-called "honor killings," according to estimates used by many women's rights groups in Pakistan. Most often, men who kill female relatives are not prosecuted, because Pakistani law allows relatives of the victim to forgive the killer, a provision based in Islamic law. Since in these cases the killer is also a family member, the relatives almost always forgive him.

"It is pre-meditated, cold-blooded murder. You hunt them down and you shoot them," Obaid-Chinoy said in an interview with The Associated Press. "It should be decided (in court) as a killing.

Obaid-Chinoy wants the law changed and wants Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to go beyond just condemning honor killings. She would like to screen her movie at the prime minister's residence with "all the stakeholders" present  politicians, judiciary, police, victims, and activists  in hopes of bringing change.

In 2012, Obaid-Chinoy won an Oscar for her documentary "Saving Face," depicting the suffering of victims of acid attacks  women disfigured by acid thrown in their faces, usually by men they have spurned or refused in marriage.

In "A Girl in the River," Obaid-Chinoy began filming Saba soon after she was attacked in 2014 for defying her parents to marry her beloved, Qaiser. Saba's bravery  and the sweetness of their relationship  plays out on screen even as she recovers in the hospital, her face deeply gouged by the bullet fired by her uncle.

She teases Qaiser, who is sitting on her hospital bed, that he would have cried for only four or five days had she died.

"No. Don't say that," he says. "Or three months, maybe four, then you would forget me," Saba teases. "No, never," Qaiser protests.

"My love for her is very strong," Qaiser says to the camera. "I would have died without her."

Filming the arc of events, Obaid-Chinoy shows the pressures imposed on women by Pakistan's society. Religion runs like a thread through the film, but is treated with nuance.

Within hours of marrying Qaiser, Saba's father and uncle came for her. They pleaded with her to return home, to save their honor, promising to let her return to Qaiser in an honorable way. They swore on the Muslim holy book, the Quran, that they would not hurt her.

She agreed. "Because they had sworn on the Quran, I had no fear in my heart," Saba says in the film.

But they soon dragged her from the vehicle, beat her, grabbed her by the neck and shot her. "It's a sin," she says. "They broke that oath. Now the wrath of God will fall upon them."

Obaid-Chinoy doesn't preach or defend. She lets the investigating officer, Ali Akbar, speak. At first he's off camera, his voice heard as he says, "Islam teaches nothing about honor killings. On the contrary, Islam teaches that we should safeguard the rights of all human beings, be it a man or a woman."

Then the camera shows him, revealing a stocky officer wearing the long, unkempt beard and no moustache style that is the hallmark of a conservative Muslim.

"God has given her the right to choose freely," he says. "Yet on the simple matter of marrying a man she loved, she had to pay such a heavy price." He says Saba should pursue the case against her father and uncle "so a message is sent that the law is the same for everyone and anyone who commits such a crime will be punished."

The fates of Saba, her father and uncle are revealed as the film builds to a climax.

Obaid-Chinoy, who lives with her two daughters and husband in the southern city of Karachi, says she marvels at Pakistani women's rights activists. Some have paid with their lives, including her close friend, Sabeen Mahmoud, who was shot and killed last year in Karachi, reportedly by Islamic State group loyalists. Obaid-Chinoy travels with security but said fear does not dictate her life.

She said she became aware of injustices in her society at an early age.

At age 11, she grew angry as she was driven to school in a big car, past children who forced to beg rather than attend school. "My mother said, 'Don't just be angry, do something with your anger,' and that's when I started to write."

At 17, she wrote a cover story for a local magazine about rich kids bullying other children. The rich kids retaliated by spray-painting vicious and obscene graffiti against her on walls throughout her neighborhood.

The ugliness of the reaction stunned her father, who she said told her, "If you speak the truth, I will stand with you. The whole world will."

The Oscars are on Feb. 28 and "A Girl in the River" will be aired March 7 on HBO.

In this Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016 photo, Pakistan's Oscar winning filmmaker, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy arrives at her office in Karachi, Pakistan. Obaid-Chinoy is nominated for a second Oscar for her moving story of a teenage girl shot and dumped into a river because she married a man of her choosing. (AP Photo/Shakil Adil)
NYC officer convicted of manslaughter in stairwell shooting

NEW YORK (AP)  A rookie police officer who shot an unarmed man dead in a darkened public housing stairwell was convicted Thursday of manslaughter in a case closely watched by advocates for police accountability.

The courtroom audience gasped and Officer Peter Liang, who had broken into tears as he testified about the 2014 shooting of Akai Gurley, buried his head in his hands as the verdict came after 17 hours of jury deliberations. Liang is the first New York City police officer convicted in an on-duty death since 2005.

The manslaughter charge, a felony, carries up to 15 years in prison, though no requirement for any prison time. Liang was dismissed from the New York Police Department right after the verdict. His sentencing is April 14.

Police Officer Peter Liang, center, enters the courtroom after the lunch break in his trial on charges in the shooting death of Akai Gurley, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, at Brooklyn Supreme court in New York. Jurors are scheduled to start discussing their views of Liangs actions as soon as Tuesday. Closing arguments are expected in the morning, and deliberations are likely to begin in the afternoon. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

But an uncertainty remains: Brooklyn state Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun has yet to rule on Liang's lawyers' request to dismiss the charges. Liang also was convicted of official misconduct, a misdemeanor.

Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson said "justice was done" for Gurley.

"He was an innocent man who was killed by a police officer who violated his training," said Thompson, whose mother was a police officer.

But Liang's lawyers said they struggled to understand how the jury could find him guilty in a shooting he said happened accidentally in a pitch-dark stairway.

"If that's not a time to pull out your gun, I don't know when is," said defense lawyer Robert Brown. He said Liang would appeal.

Liang, who remains free on bail, left the courthouse without comment.

The shooting happened in a year of debate nationwide about police killings of black men. Activists have looked to Liang's trial as a counterweight to cases in which grand juries have declined to indict officers, including the cases of Michael Brown in Missouri and Eric Garner in New York. Like Gurley, Brown and Garner were black and unarmed. Liang is Chinese-American.

Thompson cautioned that Liang's case shouldn't be commingled with others. But relatives of other New Yorkers killed in police encounters had joined Gurley's family outside court during the trial to call for police accountability.

"I just want to say thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone," Gurley's mother, Sylvia Palmer, said after the officer's conviction.

Meanwhile, Liang's supporters have said he was scapegoated for past injustices.

And the head of Liang's union, Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch, said the verdict "will have a chilling effect on police officers across the city because it criminalizes a tragic accident."

Lynch wasn't in court for the verdict. While New York police officers often fill rows of courtroom seats when one of their own faces charges, few officers appeared during Liang's trial.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, said he respected the jury's decision and hoped it would bring Gurley's family some sense of finality.

The last officer convicted in a killing in the line of duty was Brian Conroy. He was found guilty in 2005 of criminally negligent homicide in the shooting of Ousmane Zongo, an African immigrant, during a police raid. Conroy was sentenced to probation and 500 hours of community service.

Liang was patrolling a public housing high-rise with his gun drawn when he fired. The bullet ricocheted off a wall and hit the 28-year-old Gurley on a lower floor.

Liang, 28, said he had been holding his weapon safely, with his finger on the side and not the trigger, when a sudden sound jarred him and his body tensed.

"I just turned, and the gun went off," he testified.

Prosecutors said Liang handled his gun recklessly, must have realized from the noise that someone was nearby and did almost nothing to help Gurley.

Liang said he initially looked with his flashlight, saw no one and didn't immediately report the shot, instead quarreling with his partner about who would call their sergeant. Liang thought he might get fired.

But then, he said, he went to look for the bullet, heard cries and found the wounded Gurley and his distraught girlfriend.

Liang then radioed for an ambulance, but he acknowledged not helping Gurley's girlfriend try to revive him. Liang explained he thought it was wiser to wait for professional medical aid.

"I was panicking. I was shocked and in disbelief that someone was hit," Liang said.

Liang's partner, who was not charged criminally and testified in the case, faces internal disciplinary proceedings.

While Liang's trial unfolded, city Officers Patrick Espeut and Diara Cruz were shot and wounded during a similar stairwell patrol in a different public housing complex. The gunman later killed himself.

Police Officer Peter Liang, center, exits the courtroom during a break in closing arguments in his trial on charges in the shooting death of Akai Gurley, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, at Brooklyn Supreme court in New York. Jurors are scheduled to start discussing their views of Liangs actions as soon as Tuesday. Closing arguments are expected in the morning, and deliberations are likely to begin in the afternoon. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

New York City Police Officer Peter Liang, center, arrives for closing arguments at his Brooklyn Supreme Court trial in the shooting death of Akai Gurley, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. Liang says he didnt know anyone was in the pitch-black stairway when he unintentionally fired. The shot ricocheted off a wall and hit Gurley, who was taking the stairs down rather than wait for an elevator. (AP Photo/Bryan R. Smith)

Assistant District Attorney Joseph Alexis holds New York City Police Officer Peter Liang's fire arm as he speak during closing arguments in Liang's manslaughter trial, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, at Brooklyn Supreme court in New York. The rookie police officer who shot an unarmed man in a dark public housing stairwell says what happened was a deadly accident. Prosecutors call it manslaughter and say he acted recklessly and then did little to help the dying man. Jurors could start deliberating as soon as Tuesday on whether Liang's actions amounted to a crime. (Gregory P. Mango /New York Post via AP, Pool)

FILE - In this Feb. 11, 2015, file photo, New York City rookie police officer Peter Liang arrives at court in New York for arraignment. When Liang fired his gun in a pitch-dark public housing stairwell, he at first thought he had hurt nothing but his career. Then he went looking for the bullet and heard someone crying. He followed the sound down three flights and saw a man lying wounded and a distraught woman bending over him, Liang said Monday, Feb. 8, 2016, at his manslaughter trial in the 2014 death of Akai Gurley, who was unarmed. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

New York City Police Officer Peter Liang, center, arrives for closing arguments at his Brooklyn Supreme Court trial in the shooting death of Akai Gurley, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. Liang says he didnt know anyone was in the pitch-black stairway when he unintentionally fired. The shot ricocheted off a wall and hit Gurley, who was taking the stairs down rather than wait for an elevator. (AP Photo/Bryan R. Smith)

Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson arrives to Brooklyn Supreme Court for closing arguments in the trial of New York City Police Officer Peter Liang on charges in the shooting death of Akai Gurley, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. Jurors will start discussing their views of Liangs actions as soon as Tuesday. Closing arguments are expected in the morning, and deliberations are likely to begin in the afternoon. (AP Photo/Bryan R. Smith)

Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson returns to the courtroom after a break in the closing arguments in the trial of New York City Police Officer Peter Liang on charges in the shooting death of Akai Gurley, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, at Brooklyn Supreme court in New York. Jurors are scheduled to start discussing their views of Liangs actions as soon as Tuesday. Closing arguments are expected in the morning, and deliberations are likely to begin in the afternoon. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Robert E. Brown, attorney for New York City Police Officer Peter Liang holds Liang's fire arm as he speaks during closing arguments in Liang's manslaughter trial, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, at Brooklyn Supreme court in New York. The rookie police officer who shot an unarmed man in a dark public housing stairwell says what happened was a deadly accident. Prosecutors call it manslaughter and say he acted recklessly and then did little to help the dying man. Jurors could start deliberating as soon as Tuesday on whether Liang's actions amounted to a crime. (Gregory P. Mango /New York Post via AP, Pool)

New York City Police Officer Peter Liang appears during closing arguments in his manslaughter trial, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, at Brooklyn Supreme court in New York. The rookie police officer who shot an unarmed man in a dark public housing stairwell says what happened was a deadly accident. Prosecutors call it manslaughter and say he acted recklessly and then did little to help the dying man. Jurors could start deliberating as soon as Tuesday on whether Liang's actions amounted to a crime. (Gregory P. Mango /New York Post via AP, Pool)
Gay imam helps young Muslims balance religion, sexuality

MARSEILLE, France (AP)  Growing up in Algeria, Shaira had almost everything a young man could wish for. But he also had a big secret.

In a land where homosexuality is still a crime and a sin, he was forced to live a secret life, hiding that he was gay from everyone  even his closest family.

The 26-year-old Shaira, who asked that his last name not be used to protect himself from attacks, went to study in France four years ago and has never gone back to Algeria. His family still has no idea of his sexuality.

In this Wednesday, February 2, 2016 Imam Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed, poses on the Old-Port, in Marseille, southern France. A gay imam from Algeria is working with an LGBT association in Marseille to counsel and protect young gay Muslims who make their way to the ancient port city. The Le Refuge group says it has helped 26 gays find shelter and start a new life in Marseille last year. Some eventually go back to their families. (AP Photo/Claude Paris)

Now a gay imam from Algeria is working with a local lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender association to counsel and protect Shaira and other young gay Muslims who make their way to the ancient French port city of Marseille. The Le Refuge group says it has helped 26 gays find shelter and start a new life in Marseille last year. Some eventually go back to their families.

Homosexuality is a criminal offense in much of the Middle East  punishable by imprisonment or, in countries like Saudi Arabia, by death. In Algeria, homosexual acts are punishable by up to two years in prison and a fine.

Islam considers homosexuality a sin. Men having sex with each other should be punished, the Quran says, but it doesn't say how  and it adds that they should be left alone if they repent. The death penalty verdict instead comes from the Hadith, or accounts of the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. The accounts differ on the method of killing, and some accounts give lesser penalties in some circumstances.

The Islamic State group has taken this to an extreme. Videos the group has released show masked militants dangling allegedly gay men over the sides of buildings by their legs and dropping them head-first or tossing them over the edge. It is believed that at least three dozen men in Syria and Iraq have been killed by IS over accusations of sodomy.

Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed is an imam born in Algeria who now works in Marseille and runs an association of French Muslims and gays. He has known the discrimination faced by the young people who come to Le Refuge for help.

"Personally I have received quite a lot of threats, but I saw more people come to encourage me ... saying you are an embodiment of real Islam," Zahed said.

The local head of Le Refuge in Marseille, Christophe Chausse, says the group tries to counsel young gays about how to cope with the constant conflict between their sexuality and their religion.

"For them, there is a real dilemma between  'I am or I feel homosexual, and I have my religion, my faith which prohibits it, so I cannot live this homosexuality,'" Chausse said.

Shaira cries as he talks about this conflict that he battles every day.

"Everybody is telling me  'you are gay, you are Muslim and this is not normal,'" Shaira said. "But I feel that I have the same right to have a religion as everybody else. Even if I'm gay."

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Greg Keller reported from Paris. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Greg_Keller

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Online: http://www.le-refuge.org

In this Wednesday, February 2, 2016 photo, Imam Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed, poses on the Old-Port, in Marseille, southern France. A gay imam from Algeria is working with an LGBT association in Marseille to counsel and protect young gay Muslims who make their way to the ancient port city. The Le Refuge group says it has helped 26 gays find shelter and start a new life in Marseille last year. Some eventually go back to their families. (AP Photo/Claude Paris)

In this Friday Feb. 5, 2016 photo, Zak Ostmane, poses in Marseille, southern France, Friday, Feb. 25, 2016. Ostmane is building from France a website for gays having problems in Algeria. Homosexuality is a criminal offense in much of the Middle East punishable by imprisonment or, in countries like Saudi Arabia, by death. (AP Photo/Claude Paris)

In this Friday February 5, 2016 photo, Ismael, a gay refugee, writes documents in "Le Refuge" in Marseille, southern France. Homosexuality is a criminal offense in much of the Middle East, punishable by imprisonment or, in countries like Saudi Arabia, by death. The "Le Refuge" group says it has helped 26 gays find shelter and start a new life in Marseille last year. (AP Photo/Claude Paris)
Actress Sarah Steele juggles 'The Good Wife' and Broadway

NEW YORK (AP)  Sarah Steele's return to Broadway is good news. Well, maybe not for everyone.

The actress, perhaps best known for playing the no-nonsense daughter of Alan Cumming on TV's "The Good Wife," is rejoining the cast of "The Humans" as it jumps to the Helen Hayes Theatre.

The Stephen Karam play is about a blue-collar family driving one another crazy during Thanksgiving. Steele plays an angry composer working two bar jobs.

FILE - In this July 23, 2013 file photo, Sarah Steele arrives on the red carpet at the LA Premiere of "The To Do List" in Los Angeles. The actress, perhaps best known for playing the no-nonsense daughter of Alan Cumming on TVs The Good Wife, is joining the cast of The Humans as it jumps to the Helen Hayes Theatre. (Photo by Todd Williamson/Invision/AP, File)

While playing the role off-Broadway last year, Steele earned praise from critics but brought the role home. At one point, her boyfriend said to her: "'You are a piece of work right now. This person is changing you."

He better settle in for another round.

Steele in person is warm and kind. She was raised in Pennsylvania, played Adam Sandler's daughter in "Spanglish" and graduated from Columbia University. Her other stage credits include Karam's "Speech & Debate" and "The Country House."

The Associated Press asked her about her relationship with Karam, her gig on the soon-to-end "The Good Wife" and her cool name.

AP: The playwright wrote this role with you in mind? What's that like?

Steele: There's nothing better than a great writer  a Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer  writing you a part. I feel like it's all downhill from here.

AP: Did he capture the way you talk?

Steele: What's so funny is that I think he captured something about the rhythm of the way I speak and made a character that is so completely not who I am at all. I mean, he really actually challenged me. It's very different from any character I've ever played and very, very different from me.

AP: What should we take away from this play?

Steele: It's not trying to tackle any particular issue. It's just a snapshot of how we live now. The experience that my friends who have seen it have had is that everybody relates to a different thing. Someone will come and think it's a play about millennials trying to make it in the world. Some people will come and think it's about dementia. Whatever hits you the most is what you think the play is about, but really it's not about any of those things.

AP: How do you juggle TV and the stage?

Steele: I feel like I hit the jackpot that people seem to think I have this TV career because of 'The Good Wife' when 'The Good Wife' was just a part that I got in college that was just supposed to be a couple of episodes and then they decided to expand the character. It's been such an amazing thing for me.

AP: You were in the big movie "Spanglish" and then went back to school. Why?

Steele: It seemed very natural to me at the time. I was 15 and I just remember having a feeling, being out in Hollywood, that, 'I am not ready to attack this world yet. I am not strong enough to withstand this yet.' I really, honestly went back home and went to school to become my own person. Because I was like, 'Once I know who I am, I think I can do this, but right now I'm 15.'"

AP: Sarah Steele is such an awesome, superhero-ish name. Is it real?

Steele: It is my real name. My parents almost named me Elizabeth and then at the very end they were like, 'No. Sarah Steele.' It's a much better name for an actress. But a lot of people get me confused with Sarah Stiles. We have both had reviews where the other person was named. We have a joke: We're like, 'Hopefully, if I get a bad review, they'll say your name.'

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Watchdog finds progress since "Fast and Furious" operation

WASHINGTON (AP)  The Justice Department has made progress since a failed gun-smuggling sting operation known as Fast and Furious, but more work needs to be done, according to a watchdog report issued Thursday.

The report from the department's inspector general found that the department had put in place four of six recommendations it issued in 2012, in the aftermath of Fast and Furious and another gun trafficking operation known as Wide Receiver managed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The report praised the department for tightening its policies, including about sensitive operations and certain gun trafficking investigations, and for creating a working group to study the use of confidential informants and other law enforcement tactics.

"The department has taken very seriously the misconduct uncovered in Operations Fast and Furious and Wide Receiver, and we're pleased the inspector general has recognized the significant changes we have made in both our law enforcement and litigating components to address public safety risks that may arise during law enforcement investigations and operations," Justice Department spokeswoman Emily Pierce said in a statement.

But while the inspector general praised the ATF for "significant progress" since its first report, it also said that other law enforcement agencies with the Justice Department "had not taken sufficient steps to institute policies to avoid repetition of the errors we identified."

In particular, the report said there needed to be tighter policies across all of the department's agencies on firearm transfers. And it suggested that the Drug Enforcement Administration needed to revise its policies on confidential informants.

"We will continue to monitor the department's efforts in these areas to ensure the law enforcement components have fully applied the lessons of Fast and Furious to their own policies," Inspector General Michael Horowitz said in a statement.

Under Operation Fast and Furious, the ATF allowed gunrunners to buy weapons in hopes of tracking them and disrupting Mexican gun-smuggling rings. Two of the guns were found at the scene of the 2010 shooting death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in southern Arizona, according to the report.

Many top bureau leaders were subsequently reassigned following revelations of the botched operation.

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5 indicted in 2015 New York City gas explosion that killed 2

NEW YORK (AP)  A building owner and four others were arrested Thursday on manslaughter, negligent homicide and other charges in connection with a gas explosion last year that killed two people and leveled three Manhattan buildings.

A restaurant worker and a diner in the sushi restaurant on the ground level of one of the collapsed buildings were killed in the explosion. Their badly burned bodies were discovered by rescue workers digging through the rubble days after the blast.

The buildings' owner, Maria Hrynenko; her son, Michael Hrynenko; master plumber Andrew Trombettas; general contractor Dilber Kukic; and worker Athanasios Ioannidis recklessly engineered an illegal gas delivery system that ultimately caused the March explosion and subsequent fire in the trendy East Village neighborhood, authorities said.

FILE - In this March 27, 2015 file photo, a pile of debris remains at the site of a building explosion in the East Village neighborhood of New York. The Manhattan district attorney and others make an announcement on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016, about the investigation into the March 2015 explosion that killed two people and leveled three buildings in the East Village. (Nancy Borowick/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

"Development, construction and renovation is happening across the city at breakneck speed," said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr., noting that the temptation for taking "shortcuts has never been greater."

Among the shortcuts taken in this case include Trombettas' willingness to rent out his master plumbing license to Ioannidis, a worker who wasn't certified to perform the work, said Mark Peters, commissioner of the Department of Investigation. One time Trombettas was in Greece when he said he'd supervised work, Peters said.

Worker Moises Ismael Locon Yac and diner Nicholas Figueroa died in the blast. "Sopranos" actress Drea de Matteo's apartment was among those destroyed in the explosion.

Eight months before the explosion, Ioannidis used yellow flexible hosing to provide gas into the building from the restaurant's gas meter  an unsafe hookup that prompted Consolidated Edison utility inspectors to turn off the gas, officials said.

As a workaround, the workers then installed a complex series of pipes and valves to provide a makeshift gas delivery system into one of the buildings via an uncapped gas meter in a locked room in the basement of the adjacent building, officials said.

Shortly before the explosion, and after a restaurant worker called Maria Hrynenko about smelling gas, surveillance video shows Kukic and her son entering and then running out of the basement without warning anyone, they said.

An attorney for Maria Hrynenko didn't return a message seeking comment. Attempts to reach the others were unsuccessful. The defendants were to be arraigned Thursday afternoon, and it wasn't immediately clear if they had attorneys who could comment on the charges.

Two years ago, a gas explosion in an East Harlem building killed eight people and injured about 50. A gas leak was reported before that blast.

FILE - In this March 27, 2015 file photo, a debris pile remains in the aftermath of a building collapse following an explosion and fire in the East Village neighborhood in New York. The Manhattan district attorney and others make an announcement on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016, about the investigation into the March 2015 explosion that killed two people and leveled three buildings in the East Village. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

FILE - In this March 26, 2015 file photo, New York City firefighters work the scene of a large fire and a partial building collapse in the East Village neighborhood of New York. The Manhattan district attorney and others make an announcement on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016, about the investigation into the March 2015 explosion that killed two people and leveled three buildings in the East Village. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

FILE - In this March 26, 2015 file photo, New York City firefighters work the scene of a large fire and a partial building collapse in the East Village neighborhood of New York. The Manhattan district attorney and others make an announcement on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016, about the investigation into the March 2015 explosion that killed two people and leveled three buildings in the East Village. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
5 Things to Know about the pope's trip to Mexico

VATICAN CITY (AP)  History's first Latin American pope travels to Mexico on Friday for a weeklong tour of some of the most violent, poverty-stricken and peripheral places in the Americas. He'll be bringing a message of hope and solidarity to victims of drug violence, trafficking and discrimination  a message the Vatican hopes will also resonate north of the border.

Nearly four decades after St. John Paul II began his globe-trotting papacy in Mexico, Francis too will begin his trip by praying before the Virgin of Guadalupe shrine. But after that, he will be entering into uncharted papal territory. Here are five things to know about Francis' trip to the largest Spanish-speaking Catholic country in the world:

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A magazine cover welcoming Pope Francis to Mexico is displayed for sale alongside fashion and gossip magazines at a newsstand in Mexico City, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. The pontiff will arrive to Mexico on Friday, Feb. 12 for a week-long visit. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

ORTHODOX PIT STOP

Francis is known for his spontaneity, but even by Franciscan standards, the bombshell dropped last week was big.

For the first time ever, a pope and a patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church will meet Friday in Cuba, in a stopover en route to Mexico. The Vatican sees the meeting as a historic step in the path toward healing the 1,000-year schism that split Christianity.

Popes as far back as Paul VI have met with the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch, "first among equals" in the 250 million-strong Orthodox Church. But the Russian Church  the biggest and most powerful in Orthodoxy  has always kept its distance from Rome.

The common concern over the plight of Christians in Syria and Iraq has brought the two churches together, but that's not the only reason Patriarch Kirill has finally agreed to a meeting. In June, leaders of the 14 Orthodox churches meet in Greece for the first pan-Orthodox synod in centuries. Observers say Kirill's opening is more about grandstanding within Orthodox circles than any new ecumenical initiative.

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'MEXICANIZATION'

Francis made the first major diplomatic faux pas of his papacy when, in a private email to a friend last year, he warned that Argentina's increasing drug problem risked turning it into a trafficking haven like Mexico, where cartels have terrorized the population and infiltrated police and other public institutions.

The "Mexicanization" comment understandably irked Mexico, and the Vatican promptly apologized. But it underscored Francis' tough line on drug trafficking and corruption, which he has called a sin incompatible with Christianity.

Francis is expected to address both blights during his Feb. 12-18 visit, though he has said he's not bringing policy solutions to fix Mexico's ills. But relatives of some of the 43 students who disappeared in 2014 in suspicious circumstances have been invited to Francis' final Mass in Ciudad Juarez, once considered the murder capital of the world.

"It's the fundamental place of passage for this network of drug trafficking, where the links are inseparable between the narcotraffickers and Mexican law enforcement," Guzman Carriquiry Lecour, a close papal adviser, told a recent seminar. "This is the Mexican periphery and the pope wants to go."

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CHURCH-STATE RELATIONS

Francis has previously urged his bishops not to shy away from denouncing corruption and organized crime, and he may well do the same in Mexico.

"Above all, we have to raise our voices to condemn the corruption and links that exist between certain power structures and the drug cartels and narcotraffickers that allow them to move freely with impunity," the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, told the Italian weekly Famiglia Cristiana recently.

It was perhaps a diplomatic way of addressing a Mexican church that even Mexican prelates say shows too much deference to the country's wealthy and powerful.

Francis, however, has signaled his priorities: Last year he made a cardinal out of the bishop of Morelia, Mexico, and will honor his ministry to victims of drug violence by visiting his diocese.

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AN INDIAN CHURCH

When churchmen have stood by Mexico's oppressed, they have often got in trouble. The late Bishop Samuel Ruiz, known as the "bishop of the poor" for his ministry to the impoverished Indians of southern Chiapas, ran afoul of the Mexican government and, at times, the Vatican.

His crime? Defending Indian rights, embracing the pre-Hispanic customs of the Mayan Indians in liturgies and training married deacons to minister to Indians who had more esteem for married lay workers than celibate priests.

In 1993, the Vatican ambassador to Mexico asked Ruiz to resign, but backed down after Indians rallied to his defense. After Ruiz retired in 1999, the Vatican suspended the ordination of deacons on the grounds that it was dissuading men from entering the priesthood. The Vatican under Francis lifted the ban in 2014.

Francis, who issued a sweeping apology for Catholic crimes against indigenous peoples in a visit to South America last year, will celebrate a very Indian Mass in Chiapas on Monday and present a decree authorizing the use of indigenous languages in liturgy.

But in an indication that Ruiz remains a controversial figure, the Vatican won't confirm whether Francis will pray at Ruiz's tomb in the cathedral of San Cristobal de las Casas.

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CROSS-BORDER PRAYER

The highlight of the trip comes on the final day, when Francis travels to Ciudad Juarez and prays at Mexico's northern border for all who have died trying to cross. A group of migrants in El Paso, Texas, will join him in prayer across the frontier, and then watch Francis' subsequent Mass in Juarez in an El Paso stadium.

Francis has demanded that countries welcome migrants and refugees fleeing poverty and oppression, calling for bold new solutions and denouncing the "globalization of indifference" that the world shows migrants. His appeal comes amid a U.S. presidential campaign where immigration is a hot-button issue, with Republican contenders Donald Trump and Ted Cruz vowing to expel Mexicans and build a better border wall.

Will Francis' message get any airtime north of the border?

"I'm not sure people are paying attention to it," said Neomi De Anda, assistant professor of religious studies at the University of Dayton who grew up in El Paso. "I'm not sure our political candidates are all that interested."

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Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

Workers put the finishing touches on an image of Pope Francis made out of flowers, on the lawn surrounding the Angel of Independence Monument in Mexico City, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. Pope Francis travels to Mexico Feb. 12-18. (AP Photo/Enric Marti)

FILE - In this Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2015 file photo, Russia's Patriarch Kirill conducts a religious service marking the People's Unity Day inside the Cathedral of the Assumption at Cathedral Square in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia. Pope Francis is known for his spontaneity, but even by Franciscan standards, the bombshell dropped last week was big. For the first time ever, the pope and patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church will meet Friday, Feb. 12, 2016 in Cuba, as Frances travels to Mexico, in an historic step toward healing the 1,000-year schism that split Christianity. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

FILE - In this Thursday Nov. 6, 1997 file photo, San Cristobal de las Casas Bishop Samuel Ruiz walks with villagers to attend a mass held at the Chontal town of Benito Juarez, in Chiapas. History's first Latin American pope travels to Mexico on Friday, Feb. 12, 2016 for a week-long tour of some of the most violent, poverty-stricken and peripheral places in the Americas. He'll be bringing a message of hope and solidarity to victims of drug violence, trafficking and discrimination that the Vatican hopes will resonate on both sides of the border. (AP Photo/Pascual Gorriz, File)

FILE - In this Thursday, June 14, 2001 file photo, Samuel Ruiz, former Bishop of San Cristobal de Las Casas for 41 years, attends mass at the Guadalupe church in San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico. History's first Latin American pope travels to Mexico on Friday, Feb. 12, 2016 for a week-long tour of some of the most violent, poverty-stricken and peripheral places in the Americas. He'll be bringing a message of hope and solidarity to victims of drug violence, trafficking and discrimination that the Vatican hopes will resonate on both sides of the border. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)
UK health secretary to impose contract on junior doctors

LONDON (AP)  Britain's health secretary has taken the unusual step of opting to impose a new contract on junior doctors after failing to strike a deal with thousands of medical professionals in England.

Jeremy Hunt's decision Thursday comes after the junior doctors rejected the Conservative government's final offer. He said the government was motivated by concerns that the National Health Service's standard of care on the weekends was "too low."

"Patients suffer when governments drag their feet on high hospital mortality rates, and this government is determined our NHS should offer the safest, highest quality care in the world," Hunt said.

Junior Doctors show placards as they demostrate over a bridge near the Houses of Parliament in London, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. Thousands of junior doctors have walked off the job in England in a dispute over pay and working conditions. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

The dispute between the government and junior doctors  those who are in training but may have up to 10 years of experience  has escalated in recent months. Thousands have gone on strike to protest plans to change pay and work schedules.

The dispute has caused consternation among the British public, which considers the health care to be a fundamental right. The NHS is a matter of national pride  although its shortcomings are widely scrutinized and discussed. The government has struggled, however, to meet escalating health care costs in a time of austerity.

Outraged at Hunt's decision, the British Medical Association pledged to consider all options  suggesting further strikes or even legal action. Dr. Johann Malawana said an entire generation of doctors will be alienated by the government's handling of the dispute.

"There's a real risk that some will vote with their feet," said Malawana, the junior doctor committee chairman at the BMA. "Our message to the government is clear: Junior doctors cannot and will not accept a contract that is bad for the future of patient care, the profession, and the NHS as a whole. And we will consider all options open to us."

The new contract takes effect in August.

A woman shows a sticker to support Junior doctors on her hat as Junior doctors protest outside St Thomas Hospital in London, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. Thousands of junior doctors have walked off the job in England in a dispute over pay and working conditions. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Junior National Health Service (NHS) doctors wave placards referring to British Conservative Party Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, during a protest outside St Thomas Hospital in London, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016, backdropped by the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben's clock tower. Thousands of junior doctors have walked off the job in England in a dispute over pay and working conditions.(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Junior Doctors show placards as they protest over a bridge near the Houses of Parliament in London, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. Thousands of junior doctors have walked off the job in England in a dispute over pay and working conditions. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Junior doctors protest outside St Thomas Hospital in London, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016, with Big Ben's clock tower, right. Thousands of junior doctors have walked off the job in England in a dispute over pay and working conditions. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Junior doctors protest outside St Thomas Hospital in London, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. Thousands of junior doctors have walked off the job in England in a dispute over pay and working conditions. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
The Latest: 9 others charged with armed Oregon standoff

BURNS, Ore. (AP)  The Latest on the standoff at a national wildlife refuge in Oregon (all times local):

3:15 p.m.

Federal prosecutors say nine additional people from six states have been charged in connection with the armed occupation of an Oregon wildlife refuge.

A closed Sod House Lane, about 4 miles outside of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon, displays an electronic sign warning of arrest, Thursday morning, Feb. 11, 2016, near Burns, Ore. The last four armed occupiers of the national wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon said they would turn themselves in Thursday morning, after law officers surrounded them in a tense standoff. (AP Photo/Rebecca Boone)

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Oregon says seven of them were arrested Thursday and two remain at large.

That means a total of 25 people have been charged with the standoff. They all face the same felony count of conspiracy to interfere with federal workers.

The newly charged include: Blaine Cooper of Arizona; Wesley Kjar of Utah; Corey Lequieu of Nevada; Neil Wampler of California, Jason Blomgren of North Carolina, and Darryl Thorn and Eric Flores, both of Washington state.

The names of the two being sought haven't been released.

Prosecutors say those in custody are scheduled to appear in federal court in the different states Thursday and Friday.

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2:40 p.m.

A leader in the movement against federal land policy will stay in jail until his second court hearing next week.

Cliven Bundy will be behind bars in the same jail housing his sons, the leaders of an armed group that occupied an Oregon wildlife refuge. The elder Bundy was arrested Wednesday night when he arrived in Portland from Las Vegas to visit sons Ammon and Ryan Bundy.

Cliven Bundy was charged Thursday with leading a tense 2014 armed standoff with federal officials near his ranch in Nevada.

At his first court appearance, he asked for a court-appointed attorney. U.S. Magistrate Judge Janice Stewart said she wanted to see financial documents first.

She set a detention hearing for next Tuesday, and Bundy will stay in jail until then.

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2:25 p.m.

The FBI says the Oregon wildlife preserve that was occupied by an armed group will remain closed for several weeks as authorities inspect the area and gather evidence.

The last four occupiers at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge surrendered Thursday. The occupation began Jan. 2.

At a news conference, Greg Bretzing, FBI special agent in charge in Oregon, said authorities would examine buildings at the refuge to ensure nobody else was hiding out. After that, he says specialized teams would look for "explosive-related hazards." He said that could take several days.

Bretzing says the FBI's evidence team would collect material about any crimes that may have been committed during the occupation.

Also, a special team would work with a local tribe to document any damage to artifacts and ancient burial grounds at the property.

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1:20 p.m.

Authorities say a man who participated in the occupation of an Oregon wildlife refuge has been arrested in Utah.

Washington County sheriff's Sgt. Dave Crouse says the FBI took Blaine Cooper into custody without incident Thursday in Springdale.

Crouse says the FBI notified the sheriff's office that it had an arrest warrant for Cooper, who lives in Dewey-Humboldt, Arizona. Crouse says the sheriff's office sent two officers to assist.

The town's mayor, Stan Smith, said Cooper was arrested at a local motel.

It's unclear what charges he faces or when authorities believe he was at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Cooper was not among the last four holdouts who surrendered Thursday.

Those four each face a felony charge of conspiring to keep federal workers from doing their duties through force or intimidation.

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12:05 p.m.

The FBI has confirmed it arrested the last armed occupiers of an Oregon wildlife refuge.

The bureau said in a statement Thursday that "no one was injured, and no shots were fired" when all four were taken into custody. The surrender of the holdouts played out live over a phone call streamed online.

Authorities say Sean Anderson, 47; his wife Sandra Anderson, 48, both of Riggins, Idaho; and Jeff Banta, 46, of Yerington, Nevada, were arrested around 9:40 a.m. Thursday.

The FBI says 27-year-old David Fry, of Blanchester, Ohio, who delayed leaving the refuge, was apprehended about 11 a.m.

They all face a federal felony charge of conspiracy to keep federal workers from doing their duties through force or intimidation. The four will appear before a judge in Portland on Friday.

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11:15 a.m.

The last occupier of the Oregon wildlife refuge says he turned himself in to authorities a couple of hours after three others walked out.

The surrender played out over a phone call on an open line streamed live on the Internet by an acquaintance of occupier David Fry. Fry, who shouted and rambled, had delayed leaving Malheur National Wildlife Refuge after he said the other three surrendered.

Fry said, "I'm walking toward them (FBI agents) right now" during the call.

Rep. Judy Boyle, an Idaho state lawmaker, confirms that the four holdouts are in custody.

They were the last remnants of armed group that seized the refuge on Jan. 2 to oppose federal land use policies.

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10:20 a.m.

Federal prosecutors in Las Vegas are charging Cliven Bundy with conspiracy, assault on a federal officer, obstruction, weapon and other crimes.

A criminal complaint filed Thursday stems from Bundy's role at the center of a tense April 2014 armed standoff with federal officials near his ranch in Nevada.

It involved self-styled Bundy militia supporters pointing military-style weapons at federal agents trying to enforce a court order to round up Bundy cattle from federal rangeland near his ranch.

Bundy was arrested Wednesday night when he arrived at Portland International Airport from Las Vegas.

He's being held at the Multnomah County Jail pending an appearance in federal court. It wasn't immediately clear if he had a lawyer to represent him.

He is the father of the jailed leader of a group that occupied an Oregon federal wildlife refuge.

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9:55 a.m.

A live stream of a telephone call indicates three of the four remaining occupiers of an Oregon wildlife refuge have surrendered, but one is refusing to budge.

The surrender is playing out over a phone call on an open line streamed live on the Internet by an acquaintance of occupier David Fry, who delayed leaving Malheur National Wildlife Refuge after he said the other three walked out.

They are the last remnants of armed group that seized the refuge on Jan. 2 to oppose federal land use policies.

The FBI hasn't confirmed that the three surrendered, and the area was too far away for reporters at the scene to see.

Fry is on the call with his acquaintance and a Nevada legislator who drove to the site to aid in the surrender. Fry said Jeff Banta of Nevada and married couple Sean and Sandy Anderson of Idaho have left.

Fry says he "declares war against the federal government." The holdouts have been indicted with conspiracy to interfere with federal workers and have previously said they wanted assurances they won't face arrest.

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8:35 a.m.

The last four armed occupiers of a national wildlife refuge in Oregon say they're getting ready to turn themselves in after FBI agents came to the federal property and surrounded them.

Occupier Sean Anderson sounded nervous as preparations got underway Thursday to surrender at a checkpoint. They are the last remnants of the group that seized the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Jan. 2, demanding the federal government turn over public lands to local control.

Anderson said that if the FBI double-crosses them, "all deals are off." But he says they still planned to surrender.

Anderson made the comment in a phone conversation with Nevada lawmaker Michele Fiore that was streamed live on the Internet.

Fiore was on her way to the refuge. The occupiers had asked that she be there when they surrendered.

People wave American flags near the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016, near Burns, Ore. The last four armed occupiers of the national wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon said they would turn themselves in Thursday morning, after law officers surrounded them in a tense standoff. (AP Photo/Rebecca Boone)

FBI Special Agent in Charge Greg Bretzing, at podium, talks to reporters at the Chamber of Commerce in Burns, Ore., Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. The end of a nearly six-week-long standoff at an Oregon wildlife refuge played out live on the Internet, with tens of thousands of people listening as supporters encouraged the last armed occupiers to surrender. The holdouts surrendered Thursday, having refused to leave Malheur National Wildlife Refuge after the group's leaders were arrested last month.(AP Photo/Rebecca Boone)
COLUMBIA, South Carolina (AP)  Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders debate again Thursday night as the focus turns to minority voters influential in contests later this month in South Carolina and Nevada.

Clinton's loss to Sanders in the New Hampshire primary by 22 percentage points was especially painful because she lost with women, her presumed base of support as she tries to become the country's first female president.

With Nevada next, Sanders now faces a test of how he does with non-white voters after the largely white states of Iowa and New Hampshire. Nevada is 28 percent Latino, 9 percent African-American and 8 percent Asian-American.

Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a leader of the civil rights movement, joins the Congressional Black Caucus Political Action Committee in endorsing Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as prominent African-American Democrats rush to her aid ahead of the Feb. 27 Democratic primary in South Carolina, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016, during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The Vermont senator's message of economic and social inequality, systemic racism and unlimited money in politics is aimed at Americans who feel the system is stacked against them.

Clinton has acknowledged she has "work to do" to introduce herself to young women and new voters. She is expected to attack Sanders more aggressively on issues that matter to minority voters, defending policies like the health care law achieved by President Barack Obama, the nation's first black president.

On Thursday, the political action committee of the Congressional Black Caucus endorsed Clinton. The committee is separate from the Congressional Black Caucus, not all of whom have endorsed Clinton.

Sanders is expected to talk at length about the civil rights activism of his youth, his recent outreach to prominent black figures and parts of his agenda that might most resonate with black and Hispanic communities. He had breakfast with civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton on Wednesday.

Civil rights leader John Lewis on Thursday dismissed Sanders' claims of his 1960s work on racial equality, saying, "I never saw him. I never met him." On his campaign website, Sanders says he has a "long history of fighting for social equality and the rights of black Americans  a record that goes back to the early 1960s."

If Clinton solidifies her support among black voters over the next month, she could amass a significant number of delegates in the push toward the 2,382 needed to win the party nomination. There are more than 1,400 delegates at stake in states such as South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Louisiana.

In the more crowded Republican field, South Carolina is next. Billionaire Donald Trump, fresh from a commanding win in New Hampshire, will be tested by the state's more conservative voters.

A group of Latino celebrities condemned Trump and his Republican presidential rivals, saying Trump speaks for the party's anti-immigrant, anti-Latino agenda.

The group including actress America Ferrera, comedian George Lopez and legendary musician Carlos Santana is urging the nation's 55 million Latinos to "vote for candidates who support our community." It did not endorse either Clinton or Sanders.

Almost all the Republicans have spent months building complex campaigns in South Carolina. After that primary on Feb. 20, seven Southern states including Georgia and Virginia will anchor the Super Tuesday primaries on March 1.

Trump was leading in South Carolina among all demographic groups, an NBC/Marist/Wall Street Journal poll showed, with Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio a distant second and third.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, left, escorts Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. and his wife, Jane O'Meara Sanders, as they arrive for a breakfast meeting at Sylvia's Restaurant, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016, in the Harlem neighborhood of New York. Sanders defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday in the New Hampshire primary. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. talks with George Meyers, 71, of Bluffton, S.C., as the candidate arrives for lunch at a Cracker Barrel Restaurant in Okatie, S.C.,Thursday Feb. 11, 2016, after attending a campaign event at the Sun City community. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally at Clemson University Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016, in Pendleton, S.C. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
A look at what's next for the major players in Syria's war

The U.S., Russia and more than a dozen other countries met Thursday in Munich to discuss halting the fighting in Syria, while forces of President Bashar Assad are making some of their biggest gains against the opposition.

The fighting around Syria's largest city of Aleppo has brought government forces closer to the Turkish border than at any point in recent years, routing rebels from key areas and creating a humanitarian disaster as tens of thousands of people flee. Because Aleppo has been an important stronghold for the rebels, the government advance is potentially one of the most significant shifts in the conflict.

A look at the key players and their next possible moves:

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov , left, and U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry , second left, attend the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) meeting in Munich, Germany,Thursday Feb. 11, 2016, together with members of the Syrian opposition and other officials. (Michael Dalder/Pool Photo via AP)

RUSSIA

Russia, which began its air campaign in Syria in late September, has proposed a March 1 cease-fire. But Moscow's actions point to an all-out effort to wipe out the armed opposition to Assad, its longtime ally, in critical areas before then. The Russian Defense Ministry said its planes have hit 1,900 targets in the past week. Russia's proposal is viewed by Washington as a cover for Assad to try to crush the rebels in the next three weeks, and so it is demanding an immediate cease-fire. The key for the Russians is helping government troops encircle Aleppo and recover the rebel-held town of Azaz on the Turkish border, which would choke off a key supply route for opposition forces.

SYRIAN GOVERNMENT

Syrian government forces will continue to take as much territory as possible, helped by the Russian airstrikes. In the coming weeks, they will press ahead with their goal of reaching the Turkish border and surrounding Aleppo, while the humanitarian catastrophe grows. A return to the negotiating table in Geneva on Feb. 25 for the resumption of U.N.-sponsored talks is unlikely while military gains continue.

UNITED STATES

As the Syrian government gains ground, will the U.S. escalate its role and arm rebels to try to reverse the situation? That seems unlikely. The U.S. has spent millions of dollars on programs to support and train moderate opposition fighters, but those programs have either failed or accomplished little. The Russian intervention has dwarfed the U.S. role to the point that many rebels now seem convinced that Washington and Moscow are somehow cooperating to keep Assad in power.

IRAN

The ambiguity of U.S. policy has emboldened another Syrian ally, Iran. It has sent its own Revolutionary Guards to Syria and has provided support to the Hezbollah militant group, whose fighters also are aiding Assad's troops. That has upset U.S. allies in the region. With the lifting of crippling economic sanctions after Iran's nuclear deal, Tehran sees no reason to question or halt its support for Assad.

SYRIAN REBELS

For the fractured opposition, there is a general feeling of a make-or-break moment as they get pounded from the air and the ground. What the rebels' main backers of Turkey and Saudi Arabia do next will be a critical indication of whether they can recover from their current losses, particularly in northern and southern Syria.

TURKEY

As Assad's forces near the Turkish border, Turkey may decide to invade northern Syria. Such a move would have the stated goal of clearing the Islamic State group from territory it holds along the Syrian side of the frontier. But it would also prevent the main Kurdish militia from filling the void. However, any Turkish incursion into Syria is risky and likely to lead to a clash with Russia.

SAUDI ARABIA

Saudi officials have offered to send ground troops to Syria to combat the Islamic State group in the context of the U.S.-led military campaign against the extremists. Such a move seems unlikely, however. The kingdom already is mired in a ruinous war in Yemen, and any direct Saudi engagement in Syria runs the potentially explosive risk of confrontation between one of the Arab world's most powerful militaries and forces keeping Assad in power.

ISLAMIC STATE

Defense ministers from more than two dozen countries contributing to the war against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq endorsed a U.S. plan for accelerating the campaign. U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said nearly all participants at the Brussels meeting either promised new military commitments or said their governments would consider new contributions. But the chaos, splintered conflicts and threats of further external intervention makes a cohesive fight against the group less of a reality and plays into its hands. Rebel losses in Syria are likely to drive at least some fighters to join the Islamic State or other hard-line groups.

KURDS

The main Kurdish militia is exploiting the chaos in northern Syria to further its own goals and expand the areas under its control along the Turkish border. The group known as the Kurdish People's Protection Units, or YPG, has also gone on the offensive. Its strategic aim is to link up the Kurdish-controlled areas to the west of the Euphrates River with an enclave in the east known as Afrin.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry , center, second left, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, center left, attend the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) meeting in Munich, Germany, Thursday Feb. 11, 2016, together with members of the Syrian opposition and other officials. (Michael Dalder/Pool Photo via AP)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry , right, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, left, attend the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) meeting in Munich, Germany, Thursday Feb. 11, 2016, together with members of the Syrian opposition and other officials. (Michael Dalder/Pool Photo via AP)

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, center, and Georgia's Defense Minister Tina Khidasheli, second left, greet ministers at the start of a meeting of the NATO-Georgia Commission at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. NATO defense ministers met for a second day on Thursday to discuss Turkeys request to help deal with Europes ongoing migrant crisis and the current situation in Iraq and Syria. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier briefs the media prior to the Syria talks in Munich, Germany, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter speaks during a media conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. NATO defense ministers met for a second day on Thursday to discuss Turkeys request to help deal with Europes ongoing migrant crisis and the current situation in Iraq and Syria. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Civil rights leader John Lewis on Thursday dismissed Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders' 1960s work on racial equality, saying, 'I never saw him. I never met him.'

The Georgia congressman  a stalwart of the Freedom Rides through the South, lunch counter sit-ins and the 1963 March on Washington  raised questions about Sanders' involvement in the movement when the Vermont senator was a college student.

Lewis has endorsed Sanders' chief rival, Hillary Clinton, and his comments come at a critical time as the two White House contenders focus on the upcoming primaries in Southern states with predominantly African-American Democratic voters.

He made the remarks at a Capitol Hill news conference where members of the Congressional Black Caucus' political action committee delivered a full-throated endorsement of Clinton.

All in for Hillary: John Lewis attacked Bernie Sanders as the Congressional Black Caucus endorsed Clinton - and used the press conference to savage the Vermont senator's civil rights record

Battle for black support: Bernie Sanders went to Harlem, New York, on the morning after his New Hampshire victory, to meet the Reverend Al Sharpton for talks with the powerbroker. Sharpton has endorsed neither candidate

On his campaign website, Sanders says he has a 'long history of fighting for social equality and the rights of black Americans  a record that goes back to the early 1960s.'

While a student at the University of Chicago, Sanders was involved in the Congress on Racial Equality and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. He also was arrested while protesting segregation.

'I never saw him. I never met him,' Lewis told reporters. 'I chaired the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee for three years from 1963 to 1966.

'I was involved in the sit-ins, the Freedom Rides, the March on Washington, the march from Selma [Alabama] to Montgomery and directed the voter education project for six years. I met Hillary Clinton, I met President Clinton.'

After routing Clinton in New Hampshire by double digits, Sanders met with the Reverend Al Sharpton in Harlem on Wednesday as the two candidates focus on the more diverse electorate of Nevada, South Carolina and the multiple states holding primaries and caucuses in March.

If Clinton solidifies her support among black voters over the next month, she could amass a significant number of delegates in the push toward the 2,382 needed to win the nomination.

Comeback: Securing black votes could help Clinton amass a significant number of delegates in the push toward the 2,382 needed to win the nomination

There are more than 1,400 delegates at stake in states such as South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Louisiana, and depending on the outcome and proportional allocation of delegates, Clinton could build a comfortable lead.

Wins also could drive superdelegates to her candidacy. She currently leads among those elected leaders and party officials, 362-8.

Lewis and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus said they would fan out in the coming days to campaign for Clinton in South Carolina and other states.

Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., said the PAC board voted overwhelmingly for Clinton. He said she has been 'our partner long-term,' and would help elect Democrats across the board.

Privately, Democrats fear that Sanders as the nominee would lead to major losses in House and Senate races.

In a swipe at Sanders, Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said the country needs a president 'who doesn't simply campaign and promise wonderful things, things that are politically impossible to achieve.'

Sanders has called for tuition-free college and government-provided health care for all Americans.
Clinton, Sanders debate as focus turns to minority voters

COLUMBIA, South Carolina (AP)  Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders debated again Thursday night as the focus turned to minority voters influential in contests later this month in South Carolina and Nevada.

Clinton's loss to Sanders in the New Hampshire primary by 22 percentage points was especially painful because she lost with women, her presumed base of support as she tries to become the country's first female president.

With Nevada next, Sanders now faces a test of how he does with non-white voters after the largely white states of Iowa and New Hampshire. Nevada is 28 percent Latino, 9 percent African-American and 8 percent Asian-American.

Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a leader of the civil rights movement, joins the Congressional Black Caucus Political Action Committee in endorsing Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as prominent African-American Democrats rush to her aid ahead of the Feb. 27 Democratic primary in South Carolina, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016, during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The Vermont senator's message of economic and social inequality, systemic racism and unlimited money in politics is aimed at Americans who feel the system is stacked against them.

Clinton has acknowledged she has "work to do" to introduce herself to young women and new voters. She is expected to attack Sanders more aggressively on issues that matter to minority voters, defending policies like the health care law achieved by President Barack Obama, the nation's first black president.

On Thursday, the political action committee of the Congressional Black Caucus endorsed Clinton. The committee is separate from the Congressional Black Caucus, not all of whom have endorsed Clinton.

Sanders was expected to talk at length about the civil rights activism of his youth, his recent outreach to prominent black figures and parts of his agenda that might most resonate with black and Hispanic communities. He had breakfast with civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton on Wednesday.

Civil rights leader John Lewis on Thursday dismissed Sanders' claims of his 1960s work on racial equality, saying, "I never saw him. I never met him." On his campaign website, Sanders says he has a "long history of fighting for social equality and the rights of black Americans  a record that goes back to the early 1960s."

If Clinton solidifies her support among black voters over the next month, she could amass a significant number of delegates in the push toward the 2,382 needed to win the party nomination. There are more than 1,400 delegates at stake in states such as South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Louisiana.

In the more crowded Republican field, South Carolina is next. Billionaire Donald Trump, fresh from a commanding win in New Hampshire, will be tested by the state's more conservative voters.

A group of Latino celebrities condemned Trump and his Republican presidential rivals, saying Trump speaks for the party's anti-immigrant, anti-Latino agenda.

The group including actress America Ferrera, comedian George Lopez and legendary musician Carlos Santana is urging the nation's 55 million Latinos to "vote for candidates who support our community." It did not endorse either Clinton or Sanders.

Almost all the Republicans have spent months building complex campaigns in South Carolina. After that primary on Feb. 20, seven Southern states including Georgia and Virginia will anchor the Super Tuesday primaries on March 1.

Trump was leading in South Carolina among all demographic groups, an NBC/Marist/Wall Street Journal poll showed, with Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio a distant second and third.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, left, escorts Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. and his wife, Jane O'Meara Sanders, as they arrive for a breakfast meeting at Sylvia's Restaurant, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016, in the Harlem neighborhood of New York. Sanders defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday in the New Hampshire primary. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. talks with George Meyers, 71, of Bluffton, S.C., as the candidate arrives for lunch at a Cracker Barrel Restaurant in Okatie, S.C.,Thursday Feb. 11, 2016, after attending a campaign event at the Sun City community. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally at Clemson University Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016, in Pendleton, S.C. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Cruz app data collection helps campaign read minds of voters

WASHINGTON (AP)  Protecting the privacy of law-abiding citizens from the government is a pillar of Ted Cruz's Republican presidential candidacy, but his campaign is testing the limits of siphoning personal data from supporters.

His "Cruz Crew" mobile app is designed to gather detailed information from its users' phones  tracking their physical movements and mining the names and contact information for friends who might want nothing to do with his campaign.

That information and more is then fed into a vast database containing details about nearly every adult in the United States to build psychological profiles that target individual voters with uncanny accuracy.

FILE - In this Feb. 10, 2016 file photo, Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas talks to reporters outside the Senate chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington. Cruz has campaigned against government spying on law-abiding citizens, but his campaign is testing the limits with personal data from his supporters. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Cruz's sophisticated analytics operation was heralded as key to his victory in Iowa earlier this month  the first proof, his campaign said, that the system has the potential to power him to the nomination.

After finishing a distant third in New Hampshire, Cruz is looking to boost the turnout of likely supporters in South Carolina and in Southern states with primaries on March 1, where voters are more evangelical and conservative.

The son of mathematicians and data processing programmers, Cruz is keenly and personally interested in the work.

"Analytics gives the campaign a roadmap for everything we do," said Chris Wilson, data and digital director. "He has an acute understanding of our work and continually pushes me on it."

Data-mining to help candidates win elections has been increasing among both Republicans and Democrats. Mobile apps by other presidential campaigns also collect some information about users.

But The Associated Press found the Cruz campaign's app  downloaded to more than 61,000 devices so far  goes furthest to glean personal data.

The Cruz app prompts supporters to register using their Facebook logins, giving the campaign access to personal information such as name, age range, gender, location and photograph, plus lists of friends and relatives. Those without a Facebook account must either provide an email address or phone number to use the app.

By contrast, the app offered by GOP candidate Ben Carson's campaign asks supporters to surrender the same information as Cruz from their Facebook accounts, but also gives an option to use it without providing any personal information. Carson's app separately asks users to let the campaign track their movements and asks them to voluntarily supply their birthdate and gender  including options for "male," ''female" and "other."

Ohio Gov. John Kasich's campaign app doesn't request personal information from supporters, but it repeatedly nags users to let the campaign track their movements until they answer yes.

Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders' app, "Field the Bern," requires supporters to sign in using their Facebook account or an email address, and it also repeatedly asks to let the campaign track their movements until they answer yes.

The other 2016 presidential contenders, including Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, appear not to have officially sanctioned campaign apps in Apple and Android stores.

The Cruz app separately urges users to let it download their phone contacts, giving the campaign a trove of phone numbers and personal email addresses. The campaign says that by using its app, "You hereby give your express consent to access your contact list," but Wilson said the campaign will not do this to anyone who declines to allow it when the app requests permission.

Cruz's app also transmits to the campaign each user's physical location whenever the app is active, unless a user declines to allow it. The campaign said it does this "so that we can connect you to other Cruz Crew users based on your particular geographic location."

The campaign tells users it can share all the personal information it collects with its consultants or other organizations, groups, causes, campaigns or political organizations with similar viewpoints or goals.

It also shares the material with analytics companies. Cruz's campaign combines the information with data from a group called Cambridge Analytica, which has been involved in his efforts since fall 2014. A Cambridge investor, Robert Mercer, has given more money than anyone else to outside groups supporting Cruz.

Sanders' campaign said it shares personal information from supporters with its consultants and vendors but not analytics companies.

Cambridge has a massive 10 terabyte database  enough to fill more than 2,100 DVDs  that contains as many as 5,000 biographical details about the 240 million Americans of voting age. Cambridge considers its methodology highly secretive, but it may include such details as household income, employment status, credit history, party affiliation, church membership and spending habits. Cambridge uses powerful computers and proprietary algorithms to predict Americans' personality traits.

The Cruz campaign paid Cambridge $3.8 million in 2015, accounting for more than 8 percent of all its spending. Two outside groups supporting Cruz, including one directly funded by $11 million from Mercer, paid the firm $682,000 since December. Cambridge has five employees at Cruz headquarters in Houston and 70 others split between New York City and the Washington suburbs.

The power of Cruz's data-driven systems was on display in Iowa.

The GOP candidates held similar positions on issues such as abortion and gun control. Cambridge helped differentiate Cruz by identifying automated red light cameras as an issue of importance to Iowa residents upset with government intrusion. Potential voters living near the red light cameras were sent direct messages saying Cruz was against their use.

"Everything in this campaign is data-driven. I've never seen anything like it," said Jerry Sickles, a paid field representative in Hooksett, New Hampshire, who uses the Cruz Crew app. "We just know exactly who our voters are, and we will make sure they get out to vote."

Cruz, the junior senator from Texas, has been outspoken about protecting Americans' personal information from the government, including the National Security Agency. "Instead of a government that seizes your emails and your cellphones, imagine a federal government that protected the privacy rights of every American," he said when announcing his campaign.

Cruz campaign officials say it's different for the government versus a campaign to collect data. Sickle said Cruz is building on the use of big data pioneered by the successful Democratic campaigns of Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.

"It's not like we're giving it to the NSA," Sickle said.

A campaign spokeswoman, Alice Stewart, added: "Why wouldn't we want to use every tool available to us to win?"

The scope of Cruz's system is formidable. Cambridge's database combines government and commercial data sets such as voter rolls and lists of people who liked certain Facebook posts, along with consumer data from grocery chains and other clients that can provide a voter's preferred brand of toothpaste or whether he clips coupons. In Iowa, where identifying evangelical voters was key to Cruz's victory strategy, Cambridge's employees scoured the Internet for such useful information as church membership rolls.

Cambridge CEO Alexander Nix said the company categorizes every American into one of five basic personality types derived from academic research and up to 50,000 questionnaires conducted each month.

"We've quantified the personalities of every adult American," Nix said. "We can reach out and target those different clusters with messages about the things they care about most, but that have been nuanced to resonate with their personality type."

For example, a Cruz campaign worker about to knock on the door of a house would access information about the household's members through the Cruz Crew app, receiving prepared scripts about what issues each person was likely to care about, modified to appeal to their personality.

Even within issues such as the right to bear arms, Nix said personality types will tailor the message. For voters who care about traditions or family, a message may resonate about guaranteeing the ability of a grandfather teaching shooting lessons. For someone identified as introverted, a better pitch might describe keeping guns for protection against crime.

Cambridge and the Cruz campaign stressed that anyone providing personal information through the app does so voluntarily. Data uses are outlined in legal disclosures available on the campaign's website.

Cambridge said it operates behind firewalls on its computer servers to secure its data and follows all applicable U.S. laws. Cambridge runs its operations out of the U.S.; they would be illegal in Europe under stricter privacy laws there.

In the hours before the Iowa vote, the campaign pushed urgent messages through its app to users who had Iowa contacts listed in their phones. The app displayed pre-written text messages the supporters were encouraged to forward to their Iowa acquaintances, urging them to caucus for Cruz.

The chief technologist at the privacy advocacy group Center for Democracy and Technology, Joe Hall, said politicians are unlikely to strengthen privacy protections as their campaigns become more and more reliant on mining personal data to squeeze out votes.

"This is a form of political-voter surveillance," Hall said. "If people understood that this amount of fine-grained, sensitive data was being used by political campaigns, they would likely feel betrayed."

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Follow Michael Biesecker on Twitter at https://twitter.com/mbieseck and Julie Bykowicz at http://twitter.com/bykowicz

A request to search your contacts by the Ted Cruz mobile app is photographed on an iPhone in the Washington Bureau of the Associated Press, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz has campaigned against government spying on law-abiding citizens, but his campaign is testing the limits with personal data from his supporters. (AP Photo/J. David Ake)(AP Photo/J. David Ake)
Man pleads guilty to firing rifle at US mosque

HARTFORD, Connecticut (AP)  A man has pleaded guilty to a federal hate crime for firing a rifle at a mosque next to his home shortly after the deadly attacks in Paris.

Ted Hakey Jr. pleaded Thursday in federal court in Hartford to damaging religious property. Sentencing was set for May 10. The charge carries up to 20 years in prison.

Authorities say the Baitul Aman Mosque in Connecticut was empty and no one was hurt when Hakey opened fire hours after the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris that killed 130 people. Four bullets struck the mosque.

Prosecutors say Hakey's Facebook account contained evidence of animus toward Muslims, including a conversation before the Paris attacks in which he said, "All Muslims must die!!! I hate them all."
Greece, creditors still weeks away from bailout targets deal

BRUSSELS (AP)  Greece and its international creditors are still weeks away from any possible agreement about the targets that Athens must meet to secure billions to rebuild its shattered economy.

The chairman of the 19 nations using the euro single currency, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said Thursday "further work is needed in a number of areas before a staff-level agreement can be reached." He said technical-level talks must continue at a good pace so senior officials can return to Athens "and reach agreement in a few weeks."

In return for a bailout worth around 80 billion euros ($87 billion), Greece's left-led government has to meet a series of conditions, from reducing spending to enacting wide-ranging economic reforms.

A farmer changes oil in his parked tractor during a protest at a vital point, on a road that links the international airport with the southern and eastern suburbs of the Greek capital, in Koropi, near Athens, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. Farmers in northern Greece blocked traffic on the country's main highway, intensifying nationwide protests against austerity measures demanded by bailout lenders. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Clinton, Sanders clash over minorities, money _ and Obama

MILWAUKEE (AP)  Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders battled for the crucial backing of black and Hispanic voters in Thursday night's Democratic debate and clashed heatedly over their support for Barack Obama as the presidential race shifted toward states with more minority voters.

Clinton, who has cast herself as the rightful heir to Obama's legacy, accused Sanders of diminishing the president's record and short-changing his leadership.

"The kind of criticism I hear from Senator Sanders, I expect from Republicans. I do not expect it from someone seeking the Democratic nomination," Clinton said in a sharp exchange at the close of the two-hour debate in Milwaukee. Her biting comments followed an interview in which Sanders suggested Obama hadn't succeeded in closing the gap between Congress and the American people  something Obama himself has acknowledged.

Democratic presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt, talk to supporters after a Democratic presidential primary debate at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Sanders responded: "Madam Secretary, that is a low blow." And he noted that Clinton was the only one on the stage who ran against Obama in the 2008 presidential race.

Long viewed as the overwhelming front-runner in the Democratic race, Clinton has been caught off guard by Sanders' strength, particularly his visceral connection with Americans frustrated by the current political and economic systems. Clinton's own campaign message has looked muddled compared to his ringing call for a "political revolution," and her connections to Wall Street have given Sanders an easy way to link her to the systems his supporters want to overhaul.

Seeking to stem Sanders' momentum, her campaign has argued that his appeal is mostly limited to the white, liberal voters who make up the Democratic electorate in Iowa and New Hampshire. Clinton's team says that as the race turns now to Nevada, South Carolina and other more diverse states, her support from black and Hispanic voters will help propel her to the nomination.

Attempting Thursday night to boost his own support from minorities, Sanders peppered his typically economic-focused rhetoric with calls to reform a "broken criminal justice system" that incarcerates a disproportionate number of minorities.

"At the end of my first term, we will not have more people in jail than any other country," he said.

In one of many moments of agreement between the candidates, Clinton concurred on a need to fix the criminal justice system, but cast her proposals for fighting racial inequality as broader than his.

"We also have to talk about jobs, education, housing, and other ways of helping communities," said Clinton, who was endorsed earlier in the day by the political action committee of the Congressional Black Caucus.

The candidates both vowed to pursue comprehensive immigration reform, using the emotional issue to draw a contrast with Republicans who oppose allowing many of the millions of people in the United States illegally to stay.

"We have got to stand up to the Trumps of the world who are trying to divide us up," said Sanders, referring to Republican front-runner Donald Trump, who has called for deporting everyone in the country illegally and constructing a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Both Clinton and Sanders also disagreed with raids authorized by President Obama to arrest and deport some people from Central America who recently came to the country illegally.

"We should be deporting criminals, not hardworking immigrant families who do the very best they can," Clinton said.

Both candidates were restrained through much of their head-to-head contest  a contrast to their campaigns' increasingly heated rhetoric. Clinton is mindful of a need to not turn off Sanders' voters, particularly the young people that are supporting him in overwhelming numbers.

Still, the former secretary of state sought to discredit some of the proposals that have drawn young people to Sanders, including his call for free tuition at public colleges and universities and a plan for a government-run, single-payer health care system. Clinton said those proposals come with unrealistic price tags. And she accused Sanders of trying to shade the truth about what she said would be a 40 percent increase in the size of the federal government in order to implement his policies.

Sanders didn't shy away from the notion that he wants to expand the size of government.

"In my view, the government of a democratic society has a moral responsibility to play a vital role in making sure all our people have a decent standard of living," Sanders said.

Sanders has focused his campaign almost exclusively on a call to break up big Wall Street banks and overhaul the current campaign finance system that he says gives wealthy Americans undue influence. His campaign contends that his message will be well-received by minority voters, arguing that blacks and Hispanics have been hurt even more by what he calls a "rigged" economy.

Clinton was animated when discussing foreign policy, an area where her campaign believes Sanders is weak. She peppered her comments on the Islamic State and Russia with reminders of her four years serving as Obama's secretary of state. Sanders challenged her judgment by raising her support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, a war he voted against.

In the debate's early moments, Clinton found herself having to explain comments by surrogates, including former Secretary of State Madeline Albright, that suggested women had a responsibility to help elect the first female president.

"I'm not asking people to support me because I'm a woman," Clinton said. "I'm asking people to support me because I think I'm the most qualified, experienced and ready person to be the president and the commander in chief."

It was Sanders  a democratic socialist who would be the first Jewish president if elected  who tried to drape his candidacy in a bit of history.

"I think a Sanders victory would be of some historical accomplishment as well," he said.

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Pace reported from Washington. AP writer Josh Lederman contributed to this report.

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Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC and Catherine Lucey at http://twitter.com/catherine_lucey

Democratic presidential candidates, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt, and Hillary Clinton argue a point during a Democratic presidential primary debate at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt, left, and Hillary Rodham Clinton take the stage before a Democratic presidential primary debate at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton speaks during a Democratic presidential primary debate at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt, speaks during a Democratic presidential primary debate at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Isidro Garcia, 42, abducted a 15-year-old girl to marry, prosecutors said

A California man abducted a 15-year-old girl, forced her to marry him - and she stayed with him for a decade out of fear, prosecutors say.

Isidro Garcia, 42, is accused of kidnapping and raping the girl, now 25, who remained with him until she went to the police in 2014.

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During opening statements in Garcias trial on Thursday, Orange County Deputy District Attorney Whitney Bokosky told jurors to look beyond the appearance of a happy family.

Neighbors saw Garcia as a doting father who liked to host parties at his home with the wife and daughter he adored.

But he was arrested in 2014 after his wife told authorities that he had abducted her a decade earlier and forced her to stay with him.

She met him shortly after arriving from Mexico to live in Santa Ana, California, with her mother, who was Garcia's girlfriend at the time.

However, Bokosky alleged that Garcia began eyeing the teenager prior to helping bring her to California.

During the trial, the woman is expected to testify that Garcia sexually abused her before kidnapping her after a family dispute.

Initially she was kept in a garage and told she would be sent out of the country if she called the police, prosecutors allege.

Garcia (pictured with the girl) is accused of kidnapping and raping the girl, who remained with him for a decade until she went to the police in 2014

Police said the woman was moved around and given multiple fake identities to keep her hidden from family.

Garcia has pleaded not guilty to rape, kidnapping and lewd acts on a child. He could face a life sentence if convicted.

Garcia's defense attorney told the court his client didn't abduct the girl but helped her run away from an unhappy home life as she had wanted.

During opening statements, defense attorney Seth Bank said Garcia conceded to having an inappropriate sexual relationship with the girl but that it was consensual.

Bank showed jurors photos of the smiling couple getting married years later and celebrating their daughter's birthday.

Legal experts said testimony about the couple's outwardly happy life together could influence how a jury sees the case.

Neighbors saw Garcia (pictured with his wife and child) as a doting father who liked to host parties at his home with the wife and daughter he adored

Neighbor Maria Sanchez holds a picture, taken in 2012, of her neighbor Isidro Garcia at his daughter's third birthday at a church in Bell Gardens, California

Sexual contact between Garcia and his wife when she was underage would be a crime, said Lawrence Rosenthal, a law professor at Chapman University in Southern California. But jurors may have a harder time convicting him of kidnapping or rape if they believe she wanted to run away with him.

A jury certainly could be influenced by the fact they seemed to be living consensually, he said. A jury will be puzzled if a victim isn't acting in a way it expects a victim to act.

In family court papers, the woman wrote that she reported Garcia to authorities when she became concerned with the way he was lying next to their daughter in May 2014.

A day earlier, Garcia had pulled her hair and pushed her against the wall, bruising her arm, she wrote in an application for a restraining order after Garcia was arrested.

During the ten years I lived with him he always threatened that if I said anything to anyone I would get thrown in jail for using false identification and that immigration would deport me, the woman wrote.

Michael Brennan, a clinical law professor at University of Southern California, questioned how much a jury would be swayed by the amount of time the woman stayed with Garcia.

The defense is going to throw out whatever they can in terms of trying to convince a jury she really was there voluntarily, he said. I just don't think it is going to have very much appeal.

At a preliminary hearing in April last year, authorities said Garcias wife told them that he began fondling her shortly after she was brought from Mexico to live with her mother in Santa Ana, California, in 2004.

Isidro Garcia is seen talking with his attorney Charles Frisco on video during his arraignment at the Orange County jail in Santa Ana in May 2014

She said that Garcia repeatedly had sex with her despite her protests.

Santa Ana police Cpl. Ricardo Diaz testified that Garcia took her to a neighboring county after an argument broke out at the home.

Garcia later married and fathered a daughter with her, and they lived together until 2014.

This is a different type of captivity, Bokosky told reporters after the hearing last year.

It is more of a mental captivity. She doesn't know where else to go, she doesn't know where else to turn to.

Garcia is charged with one count of rape, one count of kidnapping with intent to rape, and three counts of lewd acts on a child.
Last hours of armed standoff play out online for listeners

The end of a nearly six-week-long standoff at an Oregon wildlife refuge played out live on the Internet, with tens of thousands of people listening as supporters encouraged the last armed occupiers to surrender.

An open phone line broadcast on YouTube gave a glimpse into the final hours of the standoff, with the four remaining occupiers shouting, laughing and praying. The holdouts surrendered Thursday, having refused to leave Malheur National Wildlife Refuge after the group's leaders were arrested last month.

The call was streamed live by an acquaintance of David Fry, who yelled rambling tirades and threats against the government on a cellphone from a cot inside a tent. Fry's friend, a Nevada lawmaker, a Christian lawyer and a reverend tried to calm him and the others between Wednesday night and Thursday.

Authorities wait near the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016, near Burns, Ore. The last four armed occupiers of the national wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon said they would turn themselves in Thursday morning, after law officers surrounded them in a tense standoff. (AP Photo/Rebecca Boone)

Fry held off his surrender for a couple of hours after the other three walked out, saying his grievances still had not been met.

"I'm actually pointing a gun at my head," the 27-year-old said. "It's better to die with honor than be forced to live dishonorably."

Those on the line begged him not to kill himself.

The livestream showed what was happening on the ground in real time, with reporters kept away from the refuge by the FBI. The group, also made up of Jeff Banta of Nevada and Idaho married couple Sean and Sandy Anderson, had previously been posting updates to a YouTube channel called Defend Your Base.

Federal authorities moved in Wednesday night, surrounding the holdouts with armored vehicles, saying it "became necessary to take action" to ensure the safety of all involved.

The occupiers' panic and their negotiations with FBI agents could be heard live on the Internet.

"They're threatening us," Sandy Anderson said after the group was surrounded. "They're getting closer. I pray that there's a revolution if we die here tonight."

The next day, her husband sounded nervous as preparations got underway to surrender. Sean Anderson said that if the FBI double-crosses them, "all deals are off."

"We want to be honorary Marines, because I think we stood on the battlefield and fought for our country," he said.

After the Andersons and Banta walked out of the refuge, Fry stayed behind, remaining defiant.

"I'm actually feeling suicidal right now," he said. "I will not go another day a slave to the system. I'm a free man. I will die a free man."

Christian lawyer KrisAnn Hall and activist Gavin Seim, who streamed the call, told Fry that he was an important voice for their cause and they would protect and support him even in custody.

Fry rambled that he didn't want to pay his taxes, felt like killing himself and wanted a pizza.

His supporters urged him to give up.

"All I needed was marijuana," Fry said at one point.

He finally said he would leave if everyone would say, "Hallelujah." As he walked out, officials standing nearby called out the word.

An officer told him to put his hands behind his back and then the line went dead.

___

Follow Martha Bellisle at https://twitter.com/marthabellisle .

A closed Sod House Lane, about 4 miles outside of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon, displays an electronic sign warning of arrest, Thursday morning, Feb. 11, 2016, near Burns, Ore. The last four armed occupiers of the national wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon said they would turn themselves in Thursday morning, after law officers surrounded them in a tense standoff. (AP Photo/Rebecca Boone)
US man pleads guilty in Islamic State case

MINNEAPOLIS (AP)  A man has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State group.

Twenty-year-old Abdirizak Mohamed Warsame entered his plea at a hearing Thursday in U.S. District Court.

Warsame admitted he tried to help other young men from Minnesota's Somali community with their plans to travel to Syria to fight for the Islamic State group.

Warsame says he learned about the Islamic State group by watching videos on YouTube and listening to lectures. He faces up to 15 years in prison when he is sentenced at a later date.

Nine other members of that group were charged previously; one is believed to be in Syria and three have already pleaded guilty.
Arkansas judge is charged in death of son left in hot car

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP)  An Arkansas judge was arrested Thursday on a complaint of negligent homicide after the death of his son who was left in the back seat of a hot car last summer.

An arrest warrant filed in Garland County says Circuit Court Judge Wade Naramore faces the misdemeanor charge for negligently causing the death of his 18-month-old son, Thomas Naramore. Special Prosecutor Scott Ellington said in a news release that Naramore surrendered at the Garland County Detention Center, where he was booked and released on $5,000 bond Thursday morning.

Naramore's attorneys, Patrick Benca and Erin Cassinelli, said in a statement Thursday night that they disagree with the prosecutor's decision to bring criminal charges.

"It is our opinion that there is no legal or factual basis for believing Wade committed any crime," the lawyers said. "We are confident that the citizens entrusted with the responsibility to consider all of the facts and the applicable law will agree that this was a tragedy but not a crime."

Thomas Naramore died July 24 after being left in a hot car for about five hours, according to the warrant.

Court documents say the judge called 911 about 3:10 p.m. on July 24 asking for help, saying, "My son was left in the car and I think, I think he's dead." The warrant says officers responded to the address about a block from Naramore's home and found his car in the road with the door open. A resident from a nearby home waved officers into his house where Naramore was holding his son, yelling, "No my baby!"

The toddler was pronounced dead at the home. His core temperature was determined to be 107 degrees. Naramore told emergency medical responders his son had been in the car for about five hours.

During a Nov. 23 interview, Naramore told investigators that he took his son to McDonald's for breakfast that morning, which was not their usual routine. He told them he had a court case he was worried about that day, and that he went to work "as he did each day," according to court documents.

Naramore told investigators he left work early, ran errands and went home. That afternoon, he got inside the car to pick his son up from day care. About a block from his home, the judge said he heard a noise in the rear of the car and when he looked, he realized he had not taken his son to day care and that he was still in his car seat.

"Thomas was the center of the Naramores' world," the lawyers for Thomas Naramore said. "They have suffered an indescribable pain and immeasurable loss that will never go away."

Naramore volunteered to not hear cases during the investigation. David Sachar, executive director of the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission, said Naramore has maintained some judicial duties such as signing uncontested orders and managing his staff.

Sachar said now that Naramore faces a charge, the commission will meet in the next 10 days to decide whether to ask the state Supreme Court to suspend Naramore until disciplinary proceedings are concluded. Those proceedings include the criminal court case and a commission investigation.

"The Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission will have to consider both violations of the canons as a discipline issue as well as make a disability determination concerning the judge's overall fitness to be on the bench," Sachar said.

He said a judge can choose not to contest a suspension, which is paid leave under the commission's rules.
Alcohol guidelines 'unlikely to cut drinking directly', concedes author

The UK's new drinking guidelines are "unlikely to cut drinking directly", an expert has said.

But the new guidance has raised awareness of drinking harms so may "shift public discourse on alcohol and the policies that can reduce our consumption," Professor Theresa Marteau argued.

Prof Marteau, d irector of the behaviour and health research unit at the University of Cambridge, and a member of the committee that produced the guidelines, said that there is little evidence for any effect of health-related guidelines on behaviour.

Guidelines recommended men and women should consume no more than 14 units of alcohol per week

She added that few people oppose attempts to provide the public with information about health risks, but public support " ebbs away as interventions become more intrusive".

But she argued that "novel information" on risk can change behaviour - saying that smoking rates fell overnight following the research linking smoking with adverse health outcomes in 1962.

"The new UK alcohol guidelines present novel information on the link between alcohol and cancer," she said.

In an observation published in the BMJ, she added that following the publication of the guidance, Google Trends showed more searches for "alcohol and cancer" compared with the same week the previous year.

The guidance, issued last month, said no level of regular drinking is without risk to health and presented a link between regular drinking and cancer - recommending that men and women should consume no more than 14 units of alcohol per week.

"The new alcohol guidelines are unlikely to cut drinking directly," she wrote.

" But they may shift public discourse on alcohol and the policies that can reduce our consumption.
NHS facing winter pressures all year round, report warns

Winter pressures faced by the NHS are "the new normal" for the rest of the year, a damning report has found.

Experts said that pressures normally only seen on the health service during the winter months are "increasingly visible at other times of the year."

The new report by health charities the Nuffield Trust and the Health Foundation, found that a number of indicators which show when the NHS is struggling in colder months are increasingly becoming apparent throughout the rest of the year.

Problems normally faced by the NHS in winter are emerging all year round, a report warns

Problems which are traditionally confined to winter but are now found in summer include long "trolley waits" - where emergency medics have decided to admit a patient but they are forced to wait for hours before a bed is found - and worsening ambulance response times.

" Problems that were usually confined to the winter months are now increasingly being experienced at other times of the year," the authors wrote.

"The four-hour A&E target has not been met nationally for over two years. Patients waiting to be placed on a ward after a decision to admit (trolley waits) is also an increasing issue, with the number and proportion of patients affected in summer 2015 being at the same levels seen in the winter of 2012/13, and worse than those in the winters of 2010/11 and 2011/12."

They added: "So problems with emergency care performance usually only seen during winter seem to have become 'the new normal' for the rest of the year."

There is usually additional pressure on the NHS in the winter because it is a time where additional illnesses and the colder weather can affect the most vulnerable groups in society.

The experts said that after a difficult summer, the NHS entered the 2015/16 winter from a poor starting point which could lead to a " downward spiral" in performance.

"Every year, the winter months produce a combination of circumstances that understandably make it harder for the NHS to cope," said lead author of the report, Dr Elizabeth Fisher of the Nuffield Trust.

"Respiratory problems, strokes and heart attacks are all more likely to occur in cold weather, for example, while flu and norovirus are also more common then. We see the effect of these pressures every winter when the NHS shows dips in performance against some measures.

"But the new and worrying development we've identified in our analysis is that although those factors aren't present in summer, the summer months have now started to show performance similar to that seen in past winters.

"This has a knock-on effect in the months that follow, particularly on planned operations, thus making it harder for the Health Service to cope each winter. It's then more difficult for hospitals to recover the following summer, which could lead to a continued downward spiral."

A number of key indicators of performance also showed a bleak picture during the winter of 2014/15, including:

:: A big increase in the number of trolley waits - which are defined as patients having to wait between four and 12 hours after a decision has been made by an A&E doctor to admit them to the main hospital.

:: The number of patients waiting more than 12 hours after a decision was made to admit them to the hospital reached a peak of 270 in the first week of 2015, a significant increase on the same week over the previous four years. I n that week for both 2011 and 2012, the number was only seven; in 2013 it was 11 and in 2014 only 33.

:: An increasing number of ambulances queuing outside hospitals - the figure stood at around 60,000 each winter until 2014/15 when it increased to 96,150.

Tim Gardner, senior fellow at the Health Foundation, added: " Infection rates, bed capacity, the health of older people and how they are supported in the community and the rising demand all contribute to the pressure the NHS experiences during winter. All these factors need to be understood better, in particular the impact of threadbare social care."

Commenting on the report, Dr Clifford Mann, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: "A&Es are under pressure all year round with more attendances in the summer and more admissions in the winter. Recent reductions in the number of available beds exacerbate an already overstretched system and in consequence more and more patients experience unacceptable delays.

"The resources needed to address these challenges are evident to all; sufficient permanent staff, both doctors and nurses in our A&E departments and beds promptly available for patients when needed."

Heidi Alexander, Labour's shadow health secretary, said: "Under this Tory Government, the NHS not only has a winter crisis but a spring, summer and autumn crisis too. Hospital departments have become dangerously full, patients are waiting hours in A&E, and delayed discharges have hit a record high.

"Ministers might be in denial, but the reality is this crisis is a direct consequence of decisions they have made. Tory cuts to social care have left 300,000 fewer older people getting the crucial help they need than when David Cameron became Prime Minister. This is leading to more and more older people turning to A&E because they can't get the right care in the community.
NHS failing to hit key targets on A&E and patient referrals

The NHS is under increasing pressure and failing to hit key targets relating to A&E, tests for illnesses and referring patients for treatment.

The latest performance statistics for December show a worsening across several areas, with one missed target being for people to be treated within 18 weeks.

It is the first time the 18-week target - which refers to people receiving treatment within 18 weeks of being referred by a GP or other health professional - has been missed since it was introduced in April 2012.

The latest performance statistics for December show a worsening across several areas

In December, 91.8% of people were treated within 18 weeks against the 92% target.

Meanwhile, 91% of patients were admitted, transferred or discharged from A&E within four hours of arrival - below the 95% standard.

This is the second lowest on record. The lowest was December 2014 (89.9%).

On delayed transfers of care - which occur when patients are fit to leave hospital but services such as social care are not in place to look after them - there were 154,060 days of delays in December, the second highest on record.

Ambulance targets, which were missed for most of 2015, were also missed in December.

Some 72.6% of the most serious Red 1 calls - where patients are not breathing or do not have a pulse - were responded to within eight minutes against a 75% target.

About 67.2% of Red 2 calls - still serious, such as strokes or fits - were responded to within eight minutes, far below the 75% target.

On diagnostic tests such as endoscopy, just over 2% of patients had been waiting six weeks or longer from referral, meaning the target of 1% was missed.

It has not been met since November 2013.

Clare Marx, president of the Royal College of Surgeons, said: " Doctors in the NHS are working incredibly hard and surgeons delivered a record number of operations during 2015.

"It is therefore particularly disappointing that the NHS has now missed its waiting times target. In surgery, performance has been particularly affected for operations such as hip and knee replacements.

"Delayed treatment is extremely distressing to all patients. It is welcome that the Government has promised extra money in the comprehensive spending review but we also need a long-term, sustainable plan to address the increasing numbers of patients needing surgery.

'We are also increasingly concerned by the rising number of patients being delayed from leaving hospital to go home or alternative care environments.

"This not only places the patient at greater safety risk, such as falls, or immobility which can lead to infection, but also denies much-needed hospital beds to others. The increasing delays are, it seems, partly due to the consequences of a reduction in spending on social care. We urgently need a political consensus on the funding of social care."

The data showed the NHS is managing to meet seven out of eight cancer targets.

One target is for 85% of patients to receive their first definitive treatment for cancer within 62 days of being urgently referred with suspected cancer symptoms.

In December this target was met for the first time since April 2014, with 85.1% of patients getting treated.

In other data, quarterly A&E admissions for October to December (1,442,627) were the highest since current records began.

However the total number of people attending A&E in 2015 was slightly lower than in 2014 - 22.39m compared with 22.44m.

Richard Barker, interim national director of commissioning operations and information, said the NHS was doing better than last winter. This is despite key targets still being missed.

He said: "These figures confirm the NHS is performing significantly better this winter than last winter. Patients are being seen faster in A&E, with the percentage of patients treated within four hours rising from 89.9% to 91%.

"What's more, long trolley waits are down by 84%, and emergency ambulance calls are being dealt with even more swiftly. This is a tribute to the hard work of NHS staff right across the country."

Simon Bottery, director of policy and external relations at Independent Age, the older people's charity, said: "Of the 154,000 hospital bed days lost due to delayed transfers of care, it is deeply worrying that the lack of a home care package caused 27,500 of these.

"This problem, which typically affects elderly patients, looks set to soon become the single largest cause of lost bed days. Yet we have by no means reached the end of the cuts to social care which have contributed to the rise in elderly people stuck in hospital. Councils are being told they need to make even more efficiencies in social care, yet services are in danger of being made 'efficient' to the point of collapse."

Phil McCarvill, deputy director of policy at the NHS Confederation, said: "These figures reflect increasing pressure on all parts of the health service, including acute hospitals, community and primary care services."

He added: "Hospitals don't work in isolation and cannot solve issues like cuts to social care, which nevertheless lead to increased demand for hospital beds."

Downing Street said more patients were being seen within the four-hour A&E target.

The Prime Minister's official spokeswoman said: "What the statistics show is that the overwhelming majority of patients are treated or admitted to hospital quickly.

"If you look at those being seen within the four-hour A&E target you have got 2,100 more people being seen within that target every day over the last financial year as compared to 2009/10.

"Of course, we do know that the NHS is busy in all areas. We know that it faces particular pressure during winter months like December.
Nuclear powers will not throw away weapons if UK disarms, says Hilary Benn

Shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn has dismissed the arguments for Britain to give up its nuclear weapons amid Labour infighting on the issue.

Mr Benn ridiculed the idea that other nuclear powers would throw their missiles "in the dustbin" if the UK acted unilaterally.

The comments, during a question and answer session at the Chatham House think-tank, come as Labour tries to reconcile the unilateralist stance of leader Jeremy Corbyn with strong support for renewing Trident in the parliamentary party.

Hilary Benn makes his position clear in Labour's internal row over nuclear weapons

The shadow cabinet has yet to decide how it will handle a looming Commons vote on renewing the deterrent.

Mr Benn said everyone was in favour of a world without nuclear weapons, but that had to be achieved through multilateral action.

"I think you get there by multilateral negotiation and not by unilateral action," he said.

"If we gave ours up I don't believe for a second that any one of the other nuclear powers in the world would say 'well if you're not going to keep yours any more we'll throw ours in the dustbin'."

Mr Benn acknowledged that the threats today were "in some respects different" from the past, but said no-one could predict what threats there would be in the future.

"The deterrent is intended to deter and I think it has succeeded in doing that," he argued.
Met Police chief Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe has contract extended for a year

Britain's most senior police officer Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe will remain in his post for at least another 19 months after the Home Secretary awarded him a one-year contract extension.

The Scotland Yard chief has come under fire over the force's handling of historic abuse allegations.

Home Secretary Theresa May announced that she recommended that the Queen approve the one-year extension for the Metropolitan Police commissioner, whose five-year contract was due to expire in September.

Metropolitan Police commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe will remain in the post until at least September 2017

Legislation allows for an initial extension of up to three years. This can then be followed by unlimited one-year extensions.

Mrs May said: "My recommendation recognises the vital work the Commissioner has done in fighting crime and in reforming the Metropolitan Police Service. He has been at the forefront of the vital and important challenge of policing London at a time of heightened security.

"The extension enables Sir Bernard to continue his programme of reform of the Metropolitan Police Service and the vital task of cutting crime and keeping London safe."

Mrs May said the extension to September 25 next year " provides continuity" for the Met during a change of political leadership in London.

A new mayor will be elected in the capital in May.

The Home Secretary said the extension will give the new mayor " the opportunity to take an informed view about any recommendation they may wish to make about the longer term leadership of the organisation".

Sir Bernard said: "I am proud to continue as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and proud of the confidence shown in the way my officers and staff work day and night to keep London safe and catch criminals."

The current mayor Boris Johnson, who had proposed a one-year extension, hailed the announcement as "good news for the Met and for London".

He said: " Over the last five years Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe and his dedicated officers and staff have overseen a significant drop in overall crime and kept the city safe in the face of the heightened terror threat.

"At the same time confidence in the force has significantly improved. I have a high regard for Bernard's abilities and he will now have a good chunk of time to keep crime coming down and to work closely with the new Mayor."

The decision on the commissioner's future has been the subject of intense scrutiny after the Met came under fire over its investigation into D-Day veteran Lord Bramall.

The 92-year-old was last month told he would face no further action over historical child abuse allegations almost nine months after he was interviewed under caution as part of the hugely controversial Operation Midland.

His home had been raided while he had breakfast with his terminally ill wife.

On Wednesday Sir Bernard announced a judge-led review would be carried out into Scotland Yard's handling of historical sexual allegations against public figures.

The Met came under intense pressure to apologise to Lord Bramall after he was cleared.

Sir Bernard told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I can't really apologise for investigating a serious allegation and that is what we have done.

"I have expressed regret and it's a genuine regret, if he, Lord Bramall, or his family have been damaged in this process, in this investigation."

He also said detectives investigating historical sex claims should not be ordered to believe alleged victims "unconditionally" in the future
Ed Woodward defends transfer record with United on track for record revenue

Ed Woodward has defended Manchester United's record in the transfer market, despite the team's poor performances and disappointing position in the Barclays Premier League.

United may be six points adrift of the top four and out of the Champions League, but their success off the pitch is unparalleled.

The club announced record earnings of 133.8million for the second quarter of the financial year on Thursday - an increase of 26 per cent.

Manchester United and their executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward expect annual revenue to surpass the 500million mark

Commercial, broadcasting and sponsorship revenue rose by considerable amounts, which means United are on track to become the first British club to earn half a billion pounds in a year.

The club estimate they will make 500-510million this year thanks to their numerous sponsorship deals.

"Our financial performance during the second quarter was very strong with record revenues and EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization)," Woodward said.

During a conference call with investors, United's executive vice-chairman reeled off a long list of commercial deals the club had signed recently.

He pointed out United had secured deals with Sina Sport to air MUTV in China, American company Columbia, who became the club's "official outdoor clothing partner" last month, and YOU.C1000, who are now United's "official isotonic drinks partner in Indonesia."

With the team faring so poorly on the pitch, United's investment of the money they have earned from their commercial deals has inevitably come under the spotlight.

One investor wanted to know how Leicester could have put together their title-leading team for little over 20million, while United sat 12 points adrift of the Foxes in fifth position after spending over 250million since Van Gaal took over.

Woodward argued it would be impossible for United to assemble such a successful squad on the cheap.

"Leicester is a fantastic reference point for everyone this year," he said.

"I think the philosophy we have is to target quality of players based on the huge amount of scouting that we do and analysis within the training ground and then we do our best to do the best deal we can.

"Some players are bought by other clubs with an eye to them developing into something special in a few years' time, whereas there's more pressure on the bigger clubs to bring in players who are going to be hitting the ground running and top players, verging on world-class players, almost immediately so there is a slightly different market in which people are buying."

To the annoyance of many United fans, there were no questions from investors about Van Gaal or the possibility that he could be replaced by Jose Mourinho, who has made it known he would like to be considered if the Dutchman was sacked.

One of the concerns about Mourinho centres on his poor record of bringing through youth players.

Woodward made it clear that United's fabled academy is key to the club's future.

"The academy continues to be the heart of the club," Woodward said.

"Giving youth a chance is part of our philosophy, part of our DNA."

The executive vice-chairman ordered a review of the academy following the departure of its head Brian McClair, who left to become the Scottish Football Association's performance director last year.

Nicky Butt, who is currently coaching the Under-19s, is thought to be under consideration for McClair's post while Oxford United manager Michael Appleton has also been linked with the post.

"We took the opportunity last year of Brian McClair leaving to do a root and branch review of the academy," Woodward added.

"That is now complete and changes are under way. Announcements will follow in the following days.

"Our key competitive advantages are that we have an unmatched track record of player development compared to any other team in England, and secondly the runway we deliver of first team opportunities to those players coming through. That is very different to some of our competitors."

Players like Ramires, Jackson Martinez and Alex Teixeira have moved to China from European clubs recently to take advantage of the huge wages on offer in the Chinese Super League.

Woodward does not feel threatened by the emergence of the league and claimed it could be a handy tool for selling unwanted players this summer.

"I do think there will be more activity coming in the summer, but it is very difficult to predict what kind of impact that will have," Woodward said when asked about China's rise.
Ireland unsettled as France test looms in Six Nations

Joe Schmidt has admitted his latest ever Ireland team selection has proved "unsettling and frustrating" after Simon Zebo failed a last-ditch fitness test ahead of Saturday's match against France.

Fergus McFadden has been drafted onto Ireland's bench for the RBS 6 Nations encounter in Paris, with Zebo unable to shake off knee trouble and Keith Earls still recovering from suspected concussion.

Head coach Schmidt took what for him has been the unprecedented step of delaying his team announcement until after Ireland's final training session on home soil before flying out to France.

Fergus McFadden will start on the bench for Ireland in Paris

Wing McFadden was omitted from Ireland's initial Six Nations squad, but has now been pressed into service despite initially being selected for Leinster's PRO12 clash against Zebre on Friday night.

"That's the latest selection and change we've had to make," said Schmidt.

"Normally we would name the match squad before training, and everyone would be fully fit and have absolute clarity on what their role was and where they were training.

"It's probably a bit unsettling and frustrating, but we have to get around it."

Ireland opened their Six Nations campaign with a bruising 16-16 draw against Wales in Dublin on Sunday.

Head coach Schmidt lamented the realities of the short break between facing Warren Gatland's Wales and Guy Noves' France, while also counting hefty injury collateral.

Johnny Sexton and Andrew Trimble have won their own fitness battles to face Les Bleus, with Sean O'Brien and Rob Kearney fit again too.

Fly-half Sexton has brushed off a heavy blow to his neck, with Trimble recovering from a shoulder issue and O'Brien and Kearney now past hamstring problems.

Schmidt felt Ireland had little option but to delay their selection while sweating on Zebo and Earls, only for both wingers to fail in their fitness bids.

"We were just trying to clarify the fitness of Simon Zebo and Keith Earls, both of whom we have left out of the squad," said Schmidt.

"One of the reasons it took a while was that they got through training but at the same time we just felt they weren't 100 per cent fi and it was a risk.

"There's nothing worse than having someone replaced early in the game who wasn't potentially fully fit.

"And having someone come off the bench who isn't fully fit isn't probably the best thing to do when you're going to Paris.

"Simon Zebo was just a little bit sore and couldn't stretch out his knee fully.

"Keith Earls will probably complete the last step of his HIA (head injury assessment) tomorrow, but we have to name a team today.

"It's one of those things with a six-day turnaround, particularly when you're travelling.

"If we had another day at home we could hedge our bets a little bit, but we have to get on a plane at 3.15 this afternoon, and we've got to take the players that are available to play."

Ireland's linchpin playmaker Sexton insisted he is raring to go despite trudging off in the final throes of the Wales match.

Schmidt's men are chasing a second successive victory in France for the first time since 1927: Sexton is adamant that statistic outweighs the fact Ireland have not lost to France since 2011.

France have spent their last three clashes with Ireland heaping the pressure on key man Sexton, and the Leinster playmaker expects another physical examination with Jonathan Danty in Les Bleus' midfield.

"I'm okay now, I just got a bang on top of the head and it just compressed my neck a little bit," said Sexton. "But I'm fit to go and really looking forward to it.

"I'll be fine - I probably felt the way front-rowers feel every day, but as a soft out-half I just didn't hide it as well.

"We've only had one chance to see France under their new management, but some of the new individuals they've thrown in have impressed.

"They've got dangerous guys across the backline.

"I've played against Danty a few times when I was in Paris, and he's pretty similar to Mathieu Bastareaud in stature. He's got a lot of ball-playing abilities and speed to add to that too though.

"But we've prepared really well for it, we've tried to give them the respect they deserve. I don't think you can ever go to Paris confident. They are never beaten over there, it's a tough place to go.
'Legend' who tripped up suspected drug dealer revealed as soldier

A man who tripped up a suspected drug dealer running from police has been revealed as a soldier, who said his military training kicked in when he saw the chase.

Lance Sergeant Matthew Lawson had just treated his wife to an early Valentine's evening out in Kingston upon Thames, south west London, on Saturday when they saw the teenager running towards them, pursued on foot by police.

Footage of the moment Lance Sergeant Lawson is seen casually sticking out his foot, causing the suspect to fall, was shared online and has been viewed thousands of times.

Lance Sergeant Matthew Lawson brings a police chase crashing to a halt by casually tripping up a suspected drug dealer (Kingston Police/Twitter/PA)

Kingston Police appealed for the mystery man, who they dubbed a "legend", to come forward so they could thank him for his help.

The 37-year-old soldier from Derby is a euphonium player in the Band of the Scots Guards, and will play for the Queen on her 90th birthday in June.

Lance Sergeant Lawson, who is based in Wellington Barracks beside Buckingham Palace, said: "I heard a shout: 'Stop! Police!' And immediately my military training just kicked in.

"I saw the policemen chasing a guy and I thought: 'He's a bit of a whippet, they'll never catch him.' So I reckoned I'd buy them a few seconds, and just stuck my leg out to trip him up.

"The guy fell and as the police grabbed him, they called back 'cheers, mate, thank you' and my wife and I just continued on our way and thought nothing more of it."

Lance Sergeant Lawson said a friend sent him a message with the clip and the reaction had "just spiralled" from there.

Asked about all the attention since the footage appeared online, he said: "I'm trying not to think about it to be honest."

The solider, who has served in Iraq, Bosnia, Cyprus and Northern Ireland, has had to endure some banter since the incident, with his comrades attempting to post a trip hazard sign on his locker when the news broke.

He said: "I think I managed to catch them before they got round to it."

Pc Brendan Dexter-Beek, who is seen in the footage to detain the suspect after he tripped and fell, said he thinks he would have managed to catch the teen, but added that he is thankful to the soldier for his help.

Laughing, he said: "I reckon I'd have still got him, but that's my personal opinion. Opinions are varied back at the police station. But I'm grateful for the fact that he jumped in."

Glenn Tunstall, Borough Commander of Kingston Police, said while they are very grateful to the soldier for his actions they would not encourage untrained members of the public to intervene in similar situations "because the threat is unknown and the officers obviously have got the equipment and the training."

Lance Sergeant Lawson will be awarded a commendation from Kingston Police this summer for his "courage and bravery", Cmdr Tunstall said.

A 17-year-old boy was arrested after the incident on suspicion of possession with intent to supply Class A drugs.
U.S. says political crisis building in Democratic Rep. of Congo

By Lesley Wroughton

WASHINGTON, Feb 10 (Reuters) - A political crisis is growing in Democratic Republic of Congo over the possibility that President Joseph Kabila might seek a third term in office, a senior U.S. official warned on Wednesday.

Tom Perriello, U.S. Special Envoy to Africa's Great Lakes Region, said if Kabila sought a third term in November elections, even though the constitution bars such a move, it could undermine political and economic gains of the past decade.

Kabila has stopped short of saying he will step down in November at the end of his second elected mandate, prompting concerns he wants another term.

"A political crisis is building as the DRC prepares, or rather fails to prepare, for upcoming historic elections scheduled for this November," Perriello told a congressional hearing. "If the DRC chooses the path of Burundi, the scale of human suffering could dwarf what we have seen next door."

More than 240,000 people have fled political violence in Burundi, sparked by President Pierre Nkurunziza's decision last year to run for a third term. It has raised concerns of a bloody ethnic conflict in a region where memories of Rwanda's 1994 genocide are still fresh.

Perriello said it appeared increasingly possible that Kabila was seeking reelection, pointing at delays by his administration to prepare for the elections.

"A confrontation between President Kabila and those demanding timely and credible elections in the country is not inevitable, but it is becoming increasingly probable," he said.

RWANDAN MEDDLING

Perriello and Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. assistant secretary of African Affairs, also raised concerns over reports that Rwanda's government was meddling in Burundi's conflict.

"We have seen a number of reports from our colleagues in the field that suggest the Rwandan government has been involved in destabilizing activities in Burundi," Thomas-Greenfield said.

"We have raised these concerns with the Rwandan government and encouraged them to play a productive role and not to do anything that might further destabilize Burundi."

Perriello said there were "credible reports" that Burundi refugees, including children, were being recruited from camps in Rwanda to fight on behalf of the Burundian opposition.

Burundi and Rwanda have the same ethnic mix, about 85 percent Hutus and 15 percent Tutsis. A 12-year civil war in Burundi, which ended in 2005, pitted a Tutsi-led army against Hutu rebel groups. The United States is Rwanda's largest national donor.

Reuters revealed a confidential report to the U.N. Security Council on Feb. 3 which accused Rwanda of recruiting and training Burundian refugees with the goal of ousting Nkurunziza.
With fewer US troops in Afghanistan, pressure grows for more air strikes

By James Mackenzie

KABUL, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Pressure is growing on the U.S. military to do more to help Afghan forces repel the threat posed by Taliban militants, and commanders in Washington and Kabul agree that enhanced air power may be where it can make the most difference.

With fewer American soldiers on the ground and their rules of engagement limited, the outgoing commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, General John Campbell, believes broader authorization of force is the best way of supporting stretched local troops.

That includes attacks from the air, which dropped sharply in 2015 after NATO, whose presence in Afghanistan is dominated by U.S. armed forces, formally ended combat operations to switch to training and assisting local troops.

Some senior Afghan officers are worried.

"Only air support and air strikes break the Taliban," said General Daud Shah Wafadar, commander of the Afghan army's 205th Corps, based in the southern city of Kandahar close to some of the fiercest fighting in recent months.

His calls for more bombing raids are not new, but the debate has gained urgency since Taliban insurgents made significant territorial gains, particularly in Kunduz in the north and swathes of the southern province of Helmand.

"I think we've seen this year that they (the Taliban) have taken advantage of the reduction of the number of coalition aircraft," Campbell told the House Armed Services Committee last week.

The United States carried out around 400 air strikes last year from some 1,100 in 2014, when it was in full combat mode.

U.S. aircraft did conduct 12 air strikes in two days in Helmand last month in an unusually heavy engagement. The strikes were used to help relieve a dozen U.S. special forces soldiers serving on the ground on a mission with Afghan counterparts.

"That's quite a bit in terms of what we've used down there recently," said Brigadier General Wilson Shoffner, U.S. army spokesman in Kabul, referring to the battle in which one Green Beret was killed. "That's the kind of thing that's happening down there."

REINFORCEMENTS TO HELMAND

In a sign of alarm over events in Helmand, hundreds more American troops are heading there, although the U.S. army specified their role would be to train, advise and assist, and "not to participate in combat operations".

U.S. forces' rules of engagement limit them to defending U.S. troops from attack, although they may take action "in extremis" to avoid "detrimental strategic effects to the campaign", according to a Pentagon report to Congress.

"If the Taliban are attacking coalition forces, then I have everything I need to do that," Campbell said. "To attack the Taliban, just because they're Taliban, I do not have that authority."

"Realistically, the thing that I can make a difference on is authorities as we go forward," he said.

U.S. troops were recently given broader authority to hit Islamic State fighters in Afghanistan.

The withdrawal of most NATO troops by the end of 2014 has been keenly felt on the ground.

More than 140,000 foreign soldiers once fought the Taliban, a hardline Islamist militant movement attempting to regain power in Kabul. U.S. forces are set to be cut from 9,800 to 5,500 by the end of 2016.

"There used to be dozens of foreign military advisers who played a key role and helped us with all issues, but now there is only one with me," said General Wafadar. He added that local forces were, however, largely coping without their allies.

With no immediate prospect of adding "boots on the ground", others have joined Campbell in suggesting looser terms of engagement and stressing the importance of air operations.

In a recent editorial in the Washington Post, one of Campbell's predecessors, David Petraeus, said Washington should "unleash our air power in support of our Afghan partners".

James Dobbins, a senior fellow to the RAND Corporation and a former Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said combat air support, casualty evacuations and intelligence and surveillance were among the priorities.

"Those are all air assets essentially. And at least some of them don't need to be based in the country."
PRESS DIGEST - Bulgaria - Feb 11

SOFIA, Feb 11 (Reuters) - These are some of the main stories in Bulgarian newspapers on Thursday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

-- The wholesale prices of natural gas will drop by 20 percent as of April, if the energy regulator approves the proposal of state gas wholeseller Bulgargaz, the company said. (Trud, Standart, Capital Daily)

SEGA - Bulgaria plans to change its laws to allow the deployment of armed army forces in case of emergency at its borders, deputy prime minister and interior minister Rumiana Bachvarova said.
Bangladesh upholds death sentences over 2004 attack on British envoy

DHAKA, Feb 11 (Reuters) - A Bangladesh court upheld death sentences on Thursday for three members of an outlawed Islamist militant group in connection with a grenade attack on the British ambassador in 2004.

The Islamists, including the head of the Harkat-ul Jihad Islami group, were sentenced to death in 2008 for the attack in which three people were killed and about 50, including the then British high commissioner, Anwar Choudhury, were wounded.

"The high court today upheld death sentences for three, including the HUJI leader Mufti Abdul Hannan, and life imprisonment for two others in the attack," Sheikh Moniruzzaman Kabir, a public prosecutor, told reporters.

The attack came after Friday prayers at a Muslim shrine in the northeastern district of Sylhet. The Bangladesh-born British envoy was wounded in the leg.

The militant group was blamed for several other attacks, including a bomb attack later in 2004 on a rally by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was then the leader of the opposition.

Twenty-three people were killed and more than 150 wounded in that attack. Hasina suffered partial hearing loss.
Australia directed officials how to address Nauru rights concerns, documents show

By Matt Siegel

SYDNEY, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Australia's government has directed senior officials on how to respond to questions about political turmoil and alleged corruption in Nauru, where it has an asylum seeker detention centre, documents obtained by Reuters under a Freedom of Information (FOI) request show.

The diplomatic cables, ministerial talking points and classified emails between Australian officials cover a tumultuous period that began with the 2014 sacking of Nauru's independent judiciary by President Baron Waqa and end in October 2015 with an Australian Senate hearing on the arrests of opposition Nauru lawmakers.

In recent months, some critics have said Australia was downplaying concerns about human rights and the erosion of law in its smaller Pacific neighbour, where more than 500 men, women and children who had sought asylum in Australia are held.

In emailed comments to Reuters, a spokeswoman for Foreign Minister Julie Bishop rejected the view that a desire to maintain the detention centre outweighed human rights concerns, and stressed that Bishop raised such matters directly with President Waqa "on several occasions last year."

"The Australian government's position in relation to the Regional Processing Centre on Nauru has no bearing on the stance we take on domestic human rights issues in Nauru," the spokeswoman said.

Several documents among the 115 pages released to Reuters on Wednesday show Department of Foreign Affairs officials advising staff and ministers to deliver a muted response to events in Nauru.

For instance, weeks after Nauru ordered its sole Internet provider to block access to Facebook in April 2015, which critics including former Nauru Chief Justice Geoffrey Eames said was an attempt to stifle dissent, Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs advised officials to call political debate there "robust", a May 14 document showed.

In talking points prepared by the department for staff including Bishop, officials are directed to defend Nauru's rights to make new laws if asked about the ban by journalists. "Nauru is a sovereign nation able to establish its own legal framework," the document says.

Weeks earlier, Nauru Justice Minister David Adeang initially explained the Facebook block on the grounds of limiting access to child pornography. In May, Nauru made it illegal to make a statement "likely to threaten national defence, public safety, public order, public morality or public health", punishable by up to seven years in prison.

The Nauru government declined to comment on what it called "internal matters of the Australian government," spokeswoman Joanna Olsson said in response to Reuters queries, adding "any suggestion that the rule of law is not respected in Nauru is false."

POLITICAL TURMOIL

In 2010, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) began investigating an Australian company, Getax, over allegations it paid bribes to Nauruan officials to secure more favourable rates for Nauruan phosphate.

In June 2015, the Australian Broadcasting Corp, citing leaked emails, reported that the investigation involved a former Getax official paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to Waqa and Adeang.

In talking points about both allegations of human rights abuses and corruption at Getax, Bishop, the prime minister's office and other Australian senior ministers are instructed by the Department of Foreign Affair's Pacific Affairs Division to respond to the question of what the allegations mean for the bilateral relationship.

"I expect Australia's good relations with Nauru to continue," say the talking points in a June 10 document. "Our longstanding bilateral relationship covers trade, people to people links and cooperation on regional and international challenges, including people smuggling."

Olsson, the Nauru government spokeswoman, said the government was not aware of any AFP investigation. She added the corruption claims had been "dealt with and found baseless".

An AFP spokesman said the Getax investigation is ongoing. A spokeswoman for Getax declined to comment. Reuters was unable to reach Waqa, Adeang or the Getax official, or to independently confirm the accusations.

A Nauru government spokesman previously said the accusations were "a slur on the character of our president and offensive to our nation."

PROTESTS, ARRESTS

Another FOI document dated June 24 advised senior officials how to respond after protests related to the suspension of three opposition lawmakers outside Nauru's parliament last June resulted in the arrest of the lawmakers.

If asked: "Is the Australian government ignoring the erosion of law in Nauru?", acceptable answers included: "It is understandable that the protests ... are attracting some attention" and "We recognise and respect that these are domestic issues for Nauru."

Jenny Hayward-Jones, a regional expert at Sydney think-tank the Lowy Institute, said it was in Australia's interest to maintain the asylum seeker centre on Nauru and keep the government there operating as effectively as possible.

"To do that, I think the Australian government assesses that it's better not to criticise the Nauru government," she said.

The FOI documents were heavily redacted, in many cases citing an exemption where disclosure could damage Australia's international relations.

In redacted notes regarding a call from Bishop to Waqa dated Sept. 3, Bishop notes "continuing strong interest" in the arrest of the opposition lawmakers, and adds she is "encouraged to hear that legal hearings are progressing."

On the same day, New Zealand suspended NZ$1.2 million ($801,600) in annual aid for Nauru's law and justice sector citing concerns about "civil rights abuses."
Indonesia unveils "big bang" for foreign investment, boldest move in 10 years

By Nicholas Owen and Fransiska Nangoy

JAKARTA, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Indonesia on Thursday opened dozens of sectors to foreign investors in what President Joko Widodo has described as a "Big Bang" liberalisation of its economy, Southeast Asia's largest.

President Joko Widodo's administration loosened foreign investment restrictions on everything from restaurants and agriculture to transportation and movie theatres.

"Today's revisions represent our largest opening to international investment in 10 years," Trade Minister Tom Lembong told Reuters.

"More international investment will bring more capital, more world-class expertise, more technologies to Indonesia. Domestic players must seize those opportunities."

Twenty-nine sectors including restaurants and the movie industry were removed from the "negative investment list" (DNI) altogether, meaning that foreigners can operate in those areas without restrictions.

The negative investment list sets out which parts of Indonesia's economy are partially or fully closed to foreign investors, who in recent years have complained of rising economic protectionism and nationalism as they look to expand into the market of more than 250 million people.

Widodo told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday he was opening up more room for foreigners in the latest of 10 policy packages since last September aimed at stimulating the economy, which grew 4.8 percent last year, the slowest since the 2009 global crisis.

The investment revisions were supposed to come out in early January, but Widodo postponed the announcement because he was not satisfied that the reform was radical enough, Lembong said.

The president still needs to approve the new measures, which will be sent to him within days.

Thursday's announcement was not all about opening up Indonesia's industries, however. Twenty sectors, including low-tech construction, were added to the list of industries with foreign investment restrictions.

Although foreign direct investment into Indonesia has risen in recent years, it remains among the lowest in Southeast Asia in relation to total investment and gross domestic product.

Foreign investors have pushed for years for a greater access to opportunities in Indonesia's vast domestic market, valued at some $840 billion.

Foreign businesses applauded the latest move as a sign that Widodo was moving in the right direction.

"This will help restore confidence that Indonesia is open for business," said Adrian Short, chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in Jakarta.

But he stressed that "implementation of the regulations will be key."

Others were not as impressed.

"Our initial impression is that this is not entirely broad-based and has fallen short of the 'big bang' moniker used to preview the stimulus package," said Glenn Maguire, chief economist at ANZ.

"They have clearly opened, but one or two gatekeepers have been added."
UK's far-reaching surveillance plans need to change-lawmakers

By Michael Holden

LONDON, Feb 11 (Reuters) - The British government must make significant changes to a planned new surveillance law which would give authorities some of the most extensive monitoring capabilities in the West, a powerful committee of lawmakers said on Thursday.

Last November, Prime Minister David Cameron's government announced plans for sweeping new powers which would force tech firms to store details of every website people visited for a year as well as spelling out the ability of spies to collect bulk data and hack into individuals' computers and smartphones.

Global tech giants such as Google, Apple and Facebook have already expressed serious reservations, while other governments are closely watching developments.

Lawmakers examining the Draft Investigatory Powers Bill said they supported its aims in principle but made 86 recommendations for change.

"We think part of it is flawed and part of it needs to be looked at in greater detail," Paul Murphy, the committee chairman, told reporters.

Earlier this week another parliamentary committee, which oversees intelligence and security, also called for more work on the bill, saying it did not not sufficiently safeguard privacy and gave spies more powers than they need.

Western governments have been grappling with how to maintain the powers of spies and police in the digital age while addressing concerns about mass surveillance raised by leaks from former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden in 2013.

A previous British bill, dubbed the "snoopers' charter", was ditched amid widespread opposition.

CURRENT LAWS OUTDATED

Ministers and intelligence chiefs say current surveillance laws are outdated, leaving the police and spies unable to keep up with technology used by terrorists and serious criminals.

One of the most controversial aspects of the new bill is the requirement for internet service providers to store all "internet connection records" (ICRs) for a year, allowing the authorities to find out which websites people have visited, though not the specific pages or their full browsing history.

However, the committee said the practicality, cost and security of storing all this data required more work.

Tech firms have also expressed concern about the bill's implications for encrypted services.

The government and spy chiefs say there should be no dark spaces on the internet beyond their reach, but companies say forcing them to provide "backdoors" or to break their encryption services would weaken their own security measures.

The report said firms offering end-to-end encrypted communication should not have to provide access or decrypted copies to the authorities.
Both 94, Auschwitz survivor faces camp guard in German court

By Elke Ahlswede

DETMOLD, Germany, Feb 11 (Reuters) - A 94-year-old survivor of Nazi Germany's Auschwitz death camp gave his testimony in court on Thursday, face to face with a former guard, who is charged with helping in the murder of at least 170,000 people.

Leon Schwarzbaum, who lost 35 family members during the Holocaust, calmly recalled the camp's horrors and when he had finished he directly addressed the accused, Reinhold Hanning, also 94, on the first day of his trial.

"I want to know why millions of Jews were killed and here we both are," Schwarzbaum said, his voice beginning to tremble.

"Soon we will both stand in front of the highest judge - tell everyone here what happened, the way I've done just now!"

Hanning avoided eye contact throughout, showing no reaction to Schwarzbaum's account. He had shuffled slowly into court and sat hunched and motionless in what is is likely to be one of Germany's last Nazi war crimes trials.

The former guard was 20 in 1942 when he joined the SS Death Head Unit at the concentration camp in occupied Poland, where more than 1.1 million Jews were killed.

The international media frenzy surrounding the case forced authorities to move the trial from the court house in Detmold, a small town in western Germany, to a bigger venue in the suburbs.

There was a heavy police presence around the building with a squad of officers on horseback, as Hanning walked in, wearing black glasses and a brown tweed jacket and looking at the ground. The session was limited to two hours due to his age.

Prosecutors said Hanning had joined the Death Head Unit, the Nazi organisation overseeing death camps, voluntarily at the age of 18 and fought in eastern Europe in the early stages of World War Two before being transferred to Auschwitz in January 1942.

He is accused by the prosecutor's office in Dortmund as well as by 40 joint plaintiffs from Hungary, Israel, Canada, Britain, the United States and Germany.

Hanning will not speak himself but his lawyer may read out a statement once all the witnesses have testified, defence lawyer Johannes Salmen said after the session ended.

Germany's Nazi war crimes office in Ludwigsburg has established that Hanning served in Auschwitz until at least June 1944.

He has admitted to having been a guard in a statement to the prosecution, but has denied involvement in the mass killings.

Investigators say he also served at Auschwitz's Birkenau sub-division, where about 90 percent of more than 1.2 million killings in the camp were carried out in four gas chambers.

Prosecutors maintain that the Nazis' machinery of murder hinged on people like Hanning guarding the prisoners, and accuse him of expediting, or at least facilitating, the slaughter.

"The final decision over life and death was made by the SS men," prosecutor Andreas Brendel said, after recounting the selection process of victims when they arrived at the camp.

Old and sick people, pregnant women, children under 13 and parents not letting go of their children were separated from their families and immediately sent to the gas chambers.

More witnesses are expected to testify in the trial, which is expected to go on until the end of May.

A precedent for charging former death camp employees as accessories to murder was set in 2011 when death camp guard Ivan Demjanjuk was convicted.

Last year, 94-year-old Oskar Groening, known as the "bookkeeper of Auschwitz", was sentenced for being an accessory to the murder of 300,000 people in Auschwitz.

Three other former death camp workers in their 90s - two men and one woman - are due to go on trial in the next few months.

Because of their age, their hearings will also be restricted to two hours per day, assuming they are fit to face trial.

But Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff, responsible for war crime investigations at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said that age should not be an obstacle to prosecution.
Hundreds of schools attacked, destroyed in Ukraine war - rights activists

By Alex Whiting

LONDON, Feb 11 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Hundreds of schools in eastern Ukraine have been attacked by both Ukrainian government forces and their Russian-backed militant opponents in the past two years, forcing many of them to close, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday.

Schools on both sides of the line of contact which separates the combatants have been hit, and many, especially in rebel-controlled areas, remain too damaged to reopen, HRW said.

Both sides have deployed forces in and near schools, turning them into military targets. Even schools that were not being occupied have been attacked, the rights organisation said.

"Civilians, including children, on both sides of the line of contact have been bearing the brunt of this protracted war," said Yulia Gorbunova, Ukraine researcher at HRW.

"All parties to the conflict have a responsibility to protect children and to make sure that their hostilities don't cause further harm to their safety and education," Gorbunova added.

More than 9,000 soldiers and civilians have been killed since the conflict broke out in April 2014, when pro-Russian separatists rose up following Russia's seizure of Ukraine's Crimea region.

Fighting continues despite a year-old ceasefire agreement.

Last week the head of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which monitors implementation of the ceasefire deal, voiced deep concern over escalating violence in eastern territories.

When military forces occupied schools, they often destroyed school furniture and equipment and left behind heavy artillery or unused munitions, HRW said.

In one case, HRW researchers found undetonated landmines in the school grounds, apparently thrown off a supply truck while it was parked in the schoolyard.

Progress has been made in repairing and reopening damaged schools, particularly in government-controlled areas of Luhansk and Donetsk regions, thanks in large part to leadership by parents and teachers, HRW said.

But local authorities and school administrators in many places told researchers the risk of renewed fighting made them reluctant to fund or carry out school renovations.

Ukrainian authorities do not recognize school documents issued in rebel-held areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, so some parents in rebel-held areas send their children to schools in areas under government control, HRW said.

The journey across the line of control is slow because of travel restrictions imposed by the Ukrainian government, and can be dangerous, due to sporadic shelling and the presence of mines, HRW said.

"Teachers and parents on both sides of the contact line have shown tremendous commitment to continue children's education despite the war," Gorbunova said.

"The warring parties should also do a lot more to avoid irreparably harming children's safety and education," she added.
Russia helps mediate local deals with rebels in Syria-minister

By Tom Perry and Laila Bassam

DAMASCUS, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Russian mediators are helping the Syrian government to broker deals with rebels seeking to lay down their weapons or to relocate to insurgent strongholds, as Moscow plays a role underwriting local truces with besieged opposition fighters.

National reconciliation minister Ali Haidar also said escalating military pressure was forcing more rebels to seek out deals that have resulted in some moving from areas of Damascus and Homs to insurgent strongholds in Idlib and Raqqa.

Haidar's comments in an interview with Reuters reflect the dramatic shift in momentum in the Syrian war since Russia began air strikes in support of President Bashar al-Assad on Sept. 30.

As the United States struggles to advance diplomacy towards securing a wider ceasefire, so-called local reconciliation agreements represent the government's preferred tool for making peace on its terms from a position of strength, area by area.

Such agreements - a feature of the conflict for some time - are often described as a means for the government to force surrender on insurgents, and have typically followed lengthy blockades of rebel-held areas and the civilians living there.

"The truth is that since the presence of the Russians on Syrian land, they can play the role of mediator in some areas," Haidar said at his offices in Damascus.

"Sometimes it is the militants who request mediation by the Russians," he said. Those wishing to relocate wanted guarantees of safe passage to rebel strongholds, and those wishing to stay wanted to be sure they wouldn't be killed later on, he said.

Haidar described the process as purely Syrian even if there had at times been help from Russia since the start of its intervention in the war.

"It isn't the mediation that plays the important role. The important role is the achievements of the army in military operations, closing the path in front of these groups. The horizons are closed and this is what makes them head towards the other solution," he said.

CONTACTS IN ALEPPO

With the government gaining ground backed by Russian air power, international diplomacy is struggling to make headway towards an overall negotiated settlement to the war that has killed 250,000 people and forced 11 million from their homes.

Major powers with influence over the conflict are meeting in Munich on Thursday. A Western official said on Wednesday Moscow had presented a proposal envisaging a truce in three weeks' time, though Washington has concerns about parts of it.

Peace talks between the government and opposition factions were aborted in Geneva last week before they really began, with the opposition withdrawing as government forces backed by allied militia made a dramatic advance north of Aleppo.

Haidar said contacts had begun with groups in Aleppo, a city divided into zones controlled separately by the government and opposition, with a view to concluding local agreements there. The government has vowed to recapture Aleppo.

"We have started contacts with some of the militant commanders via mediators, we are seeking to arrive at solutions that keep civilians out of any coming military action," Haidar said.

"This is happening in the Aleppo countryside, the districts of Aleppo, and rural Homs, and rural Damascus now," he said. The secret contacts in Aleppo had got underway less than two weeks ago, he said.

In one local agreement, some 270 gunmen from the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front left the last opposition-held district of Homs for the insurgent stronghold of Idlib in December. The buses were provided by the government.

Others have left suburbs of Damascus for both Idlib and Raqqa province, Islamic State's stronghold in Syria.

Haidar said talks were under way for the evacuation of a total of 1,800 militants from suburbs of southern Damascus to both Idlib and Raqqa. He declined to give details because of the sensitivity of the talks.

Haidar described it as a military tactic by insurgents who, feeling that are under pressure, are being forced to move fighters to areas such as Idlib "for the coming battle".

"As their horizons close, and they feel ... they can no longer wage battles across all Syria, they have started to head towards gathering their forces in certain areas," Haidar said.

Haidar said more than 50 local deals had been concluded, though not all of them had been implemented in full. "We have a plan that can achieve reconciliations covering another million people within six months," he said.

While welcoming deals that save lives, the United Nations says many have failed to improve conditions for civilians.

"It is always a good thing when the guns go silent because it means lives can be saved. However, many local agreements, after they were concluded, have fallen short because free movement for civilians, free access for humanitarian aid, or restoration of basic services did not become reality," Yacoub El Hillo, UN Humanitarian and Resident Coordinator in Syria, said.

"(Mouadamiya) is an example of how the agreement did not materialize as originally envisioned. It is imperative that these agreements have an immediate dividend that is felt by the people in these locations," he said.

Haidar said rebels had breached the ceasefire in Mouadamiya, southwest of Damascus, which was concluded in 2013. The army is currently mounting an attack to separate Mouadamiya from nearby Daraya.
Low prices sap enthusiasm from Ivory Coast's rubber farmers

PETIT BADIANE, Ivory Coast, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's rubber industry has been hit by a sharp drop in prices and falling demand, forcing farmers to switch to other crops and potentially preventing the country from reaching its goal of doubling output by 2020.

Production in Africa's leading rubber producer, with an output of 340,000 tonnes in 2015, is expected to reach 359,000 tonnes in 2016 and it aims to reach 600,000 tonnes by 2020.

But weak demand in China, one of Ivory Coast's main customers, has caused prices to slide to 228 CFA francs ($0.39) per kg from a high of 942 CFA francs ($1.62) in 2011.

In Petit Badiane, a village about 90 km north of the commercial hub Abidjan, dozens of rubber plantations have been replaced with cassava fields. Other plantations have been abandoned or left poorly maintained, covered in weeds.

In his four-hectare plantation, Emmanuel Meledge, working alone, said he could not afford to pay for workers.

"After this month's harvest I will abandon this," Meledge said. "It isn't worth it for me anymore."

Akpangni Attobra, the general secretary of the Ivorian natural rubber association (APROMAC), said the drop in prices had sharply reduced farmers' incomes and reduced targets for new plantation areas.

"This year, we will subsidise 6,000 hectares of new plantations compared to 15,000 hectares in 2015 and 25,000 hectares in 2014," he said.
Spain's Rajoy softens stance on deficit in coalition talks

By Blanca Rodriguez

MADRID, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Spain's acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy took a step toward potential coalition partners in an effort to break an election deadlock on Thursday, saying he was open to asking Europe for flexibility on the country's deficit target.

Spain's parties are embroiled in discussions to form a coalition after inconclusive elections in December, in which Rajoy's centre-right People's Party (PP) lost its parliamentary majority.

Rajoy strayed on Thursday from his usual insistence in meeting the EU-agreed public deficit target for 2016 of 2.8 percent in a move to court the Socialist party and centrist Ciudadanos with whom he wants to form a coalition.

"Spain has to keep following the roadmap for (economic) stability agreed with the European Union, but it could also use the flexibility that European law allows," Rajoy told a news conference.

Pedro Sanchez, the leader of Spain's Socialist party which came second in the elections, is now leading talks to form a government and has said he would contest the deficit targets if elected. Sanchez has said so far he would not support Rajoy for another term.

Business-friendly newcomer Ciudadanos, which is open to a coalition with the PP and Socialists, said last week it supported pushing deficit deadlines back by a year or two.

Rajoy's comments also place him against the EU, whose economics commissioner, Pierre Moscovici, said last week Spain had to respect the target despite the Commission's latest forecasts pointing to a budget shortfall of 3.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year.

Spain may have already missed its deficit target of 4.2 percent for 2015, with the Commission's forecasts showing it at 4.8 percent. Final data on last year's accounts are expected in the next few weeks.

Rajoy's economy minister, Luis de Guindos, said in an editorial in the Wall Street Journal, published on Thursday, that Spain would stick to the targets and robust economic growth would help bring the deficit below 3 percent in 2016.

"The difference between the deficit projections of the Commission and of the government is remediable," he wrote.

The PP passed deep and unpopular budget cuts during their four-year term in an effort to closely stick to deficit targets given market concerns the government was unable to control its accounts.
U.N. rights expert accuses Israel of excessive force against Palestinians

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA, Feb 11 (Reuters) - The U.N. human rights investigator for Gaza and the West Bank called on Israel on Thursday to investigate what he called excessive force used by Israeli security forces against Palestinians and to prosecute perpetrators.

Makarim Wibisono, United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, also challenged Israeli authorities to charge or release all Palestinian prisoners being held under lengthy administrative detention, including children.

"The upsurge in violence is a grim reminder of the unsustainable human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the volatile environment it engenders," he said in a final report to the Human Rights Council.

Israel, backed by its ally the United States, accuses the Geneva-based forum of bias against it.

Twenty-seven Israelis and a U.S. citizen have been killed since October in near-daily Palestinian attacks that have included stabbings, shootings and car-rammings. Israeli forces, for their part, have killed at least 157 Palestinians, 101 of them assailants, according to Israeli authorities.

The spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry declined to give an immediate response, saying he was looking into Wibisono's remarks.

Wibisono announced his resignation from the independent post last month, effective March 31, accusing Israel of reneging on its pledge to grant him access to Gaza and the West Bank.

Wibisino said any individual violence was unacceptable

He said the upsurge came against a backdrop of "illegal" Jewish settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, construction of a wall, and Israel's blockade of Gaza that amounted to a "stranglehold" and "collective punishment". .

Israel must address these issues to uphold international law and ensure protection for Palestinians, he said.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed East Jerusalem, declaring it part of its eternal, indivisible capital, a move never recognised internationally.

Some 5,680 Palestinians were detained by Israel as of the end of October 2015, including hundreds of minors, Wibisono said, citing figures from the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem.

Regarding those under administrative detention, he said: "Hundreds of Palestinians being held, now including children, often under secret evidence, and for up to six-month terms that can be renewed indefinitely, is not consistent with international human rights standards."

"The government of Israel should promptly charge or release all administrative detainees."
Islamic State fighters head south in Libya, threatening Sahel

By Emma Farge

DAKAR, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Groups of Islamic State fighters are quitting their bases in Libya fearing Western air strikes and heading south, posing a new threat to countries in Africa's Sahel region including Niger and Chad, officials and intelligence sources said.

The ultra-hardline movement that has seized large areas of Syria and neighbouring Iraq has also amassed thousands of fighters along a coastal strip in Libya, where it has taken the city of Sirte and attacked oil infrastructure.

African and Western governments fear that the vast, lawless Sahel band to the south will become its next target, and say any large regional presence could be used as a springboard for wider attacks.

"ISIS (Islamic State) are moving towards southern Libya to avoid the likely air strikes from the European coalition," said Colonel Mahamane Laminou Sani, director of documentation and military intelligence for Niger's armed forces.

"If something like that happens, the whole Sahel is (affected)," he added on the sidelines of the annual U.S.-led 'Flintlock' counter-terrorism exercises in Senegal.

The arid region stretching from the Sahara Desert to the Sudanian Savanna, is already home to roving al Qaeda (AQIM) fighters who were scattered but not defeated by a 2012 French military intervention in Mali.

A closed-door seminar for senior military officials in Dakar this week organised as part of Flintlock is focusing on the militant challenge in northwest Africa which "is becoming more lethal, more complicated and more menacing," according to a document handed to participants.

The United States military has its own Africa Command, focused on combatting militancy and other threats, though it says it is rarely involved in fighting, concentrates on training and is headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany.

Niger and Chad are already grappling with incursions in the south from militants loyal to Nigeria's Boko Haram which is allied to the Islamic State.

A Western intelligence source on the sidelines of the conference said Islamic State fighters had already entered Niger, although this could not be independently verified.

CHECKPOINTS IN CHAD

Chad, a Western military ally in the region which denounced NATO air strikes in Libya in 2011 and opposes new ones, also expressed concern.

"We are informing traditional and religious leaders in the north so they are prepared to prevent Daesh (Islamic State) from coming into our territory," said Colonel Khassim Moussa, head of Chad's Special Antiterrorism Group on the sidelines of the conference.

Checkpoints had been set up near the border, he added.

Islamic State fighters first gained a stake in Libya's eastern city of Derna in 2014, but were mostly driven out in the summer of 2015 by rival Islamist fighters and residents opposed to foreign jihadists.

A year ago, they seized Sirte, the hometown of Libya's ousted strongman Muammar Gaddafi, and consolidated power there. The group wants to impose its harsh brand of Islam in caliphate across the Muslim world and beyond.

A Sirte resident said on Thursday that some districts were being evacuated and fighters were building defences around the city amid fears of Western attacks.

U.S. and European officials say they are looking at ways to counter Islamic State in Libya, including possible air strikes, though officials say efforts could be held up by political turmoil in the Opec member.

Laurence Aida Ammour, a consultant and Sahel security expert who briefed participants in Dakar, said air strikes would cause a "mercury effect", pushing ISIS fighters in various directions, including southwards like small globules of the element.

"If they go south then there's a highway open to Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and Benin," she said, adding that only Libya's powerful Misrata militias could stop them.
Turkey-Israel talks to restore ties going well, no deal yet - AKP spokesman

ANKARA, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Talks between Turkey and Israel to mend fences are going well but a deal has not yet been reached in efforts to improve relations and increase energy cooperation in the eastern Mediterranean, Turkey's ruling AK Party spokesman said.

"We have information that the talks are going well but unless we see practical implications of the talks, we cannot say it's a done deal," Omer Celik told reporters in Ankara.

Turkey was once Israel's closest regional ally but ties collapsed in 2010 over the killing by Israeli marines of 10 Turkish pro-Palestinian activists who tried to breach the Gaza blockade.

Though Israel accused the Islamist-rooted AK Party of siding with Palestinian Hamas militants, Israeli and Turkish leaders reconciled in a 2013 phone conversation arranged by U.S. President Barack Obama.

A formal restoration of relations has proven elusive, however. Diplomats say Turkey wants an end to the Gaza blockade that Israel deems necessary for preventing Palestinian arms-smuggling, while Israel wants Ankara to disengage from Hamas.

"Turkey is supporting Hamas, generally speaking. It should be, of course, discussed," Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon told reporters during a visit to Switzerland.
Former Guantanamo inmate bailed in Morocco - lawyer

RABAT, Feb 11 (Reuters) - A Moroccan man who spent 13 years in Guantanamo Bay and then almost five months in detention after he was sent home, was released on bail on Thursday, his lawyer said.

U.S. authorities freed Younes Abdurrahman Chekkouri from their naval base in Cuba without charge in September.

But he was detained as soon as he landed back in Morocco, on charges, his family and lawyer said, of conspiring against national security.

"The judge accepted our request of granting him freedom until the end of the investigation," lawyer Khalil Al-Idrissi said.

Moroccan authorities have confirmed his detention but not commented on the charges or other details of the case.

A leaked 2008 U.S. Defense Department document posted online by the anti-censorship group WikiLeaks said Chekkouri was captured by Pakistani forces in December 2001, transferred to U.S. custody in January 2002 and sent to the Guantanamo facility in May 2002.
Russia boosts ties with Iraq in challenge to U.S. influence

By Saif Hameed

BAGHDAD, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Russia is ready to sell civil airliners to Iraq and keep providing it with military aid to fight Islamic State, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Thursday, accompanied on a trip to Baghdad by the biggest Russian delegation in years.

The mission by nearly 100 government and business officials was part of a drive by Moscow to strengthen commercial and security ties with Iraq, potentially eroding U.S. influence in one of the world's most critical regions.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said discussions had revolved around providing military assistance to defeat Islamic State militants, also known as Daesh, who seized a third of Iraq in 2014 and want to redraw the map of the Middle East.

"We need international support from multiple sources, be it from within the international coalition or outside of it," he said, referring to the U.S.-led coalition which has launched thousands of airstrikes and provided training and advice to Iraq's military.

"We need support, training and intelligence-sharing," he told reporters. "Intelligence plays an important role in the war on Daesh, and we've been coordinating for a while now with the Russian side to place this information in the hands of Iraqis."

Russia has invested millions of dollars in Iraq's energy sector and last year opened a command centre in Baghdad under an intelligence-sharing agreement with Iraq, Iran and Syria aimed at combating Islamic State.

Rogozin said he had met with his country's envoy to the command centre, thought to be a one-star general. He said through a translator that Moscow would continue providing Iraq with military equipment which had helped "raise the combat readiness of the Iraqi armed forces", but provided few details.

He told Russian news agency TASS he hoped military aid would help Iraq retake the northern city of Mosul and other areas held by Islamic State.

Frustrated with the pace and depth of the U.S.-led military campaign against the militants, Iraqi officials have said they would lean heavily on Russia in the struggle to defeat the Sunni Muslim jihadists. The command centre has shared intelligence for air strikes in Iraq and neighbouring Syria.

Four months of Russian air strikes in Syria have tipped momentum toward President Bashar al-Assad in that country's five-year-old civil war, undermining U.S.-backed efforts to revive peace talks.

The officials signed a wide-ranging memorandum of understanding that included measures to more than double bilateral trade and boost Iraq's electricity production, which only meets around 60 percent of its peak demand during the hot summer months.

Trade last year was nearly $2 billion, mostly made up of Russian exports, according to TASS. Rogozin said Russia could provide Sukhoi Superjet airliners for Iraq's civil aviation.

He proposed holding the next meeting in Mosul, which Iraq's government has vowed to recapture from Islamic State this year.
South Sudan president re-appoints rival under peace deal

By Denis Dumo

JUBA, Feb 11 (Reuters) - South Sudan's President Salva Kiir has re-appointed his rival Riek Machar as vice president, a decree said on Thursday, the culmination of a deal to try to end months of civil war in the world's newest nation.

The announcement returned the presidency to where it was soon before fighting erupted between supporters of the two men in December 2013 - a conflict that went on to kill thousands of people and force more than two million to flee.

Both sides, under pressure from Washington, the United Nations and other powers, signed an initial pact in August, and agreed to share out ministerial positions in January.

But that accord has repeatedly broken down and a U.N. report last month said both leaders qualified for sanctions over atrocities in the conflict.

The decree read out on state TV said Machar would be first vice president, his position before he was sacked in 2013, the move that eventually triggered the violence. There was no immediate announcement from Machar.

Oil-producing South Sudan split away from Sudan in 2011 amid mass celebrations and promises of aid and good will from most of the developed world.

But its regional and Western backers were dismayed when fighting erupted, often along ethnic lines.

Last month's confidential report by a U.N. panel that monitors the conflict in South Sudan for the Security Council stated that Kiir and Machar were still completely in charge of their forces and were therefore directly to blame for killing civilians and other actions that warrant sanctions.

According to the report, those violations include extrajudicial killings, torture, sexual violence, extrajudicial arrest and detention, abductions, forced displacement, the use and recruitment of children, beatings, looting and the destruction of livelihoods and homes.

The report described how Kiir's government bought at least four Mi-24 attack helicopters in 2014 from a private Ukrainian company at a cost of nearly $43 million.
Former foreign minister Natwar Singh once famously said: Pakistan's foreign policy is simple: when in doubt, blame India, when not in doubt, blame India. Apart from being a good sound byte, this statement also provides good food for thought about our own foreign policy.

Pakistan's approach to foreign policy is undoubtedly India-centric and there is nothing wrong in it per se. They perceive India as posing an existential threat to them, particulary after what we did to them in 1971, albeit because of their own blunders. Our assurances to them to the contrary either have not convinced Pakistan about our good faith or it does not suit them to accept them because of their agenda.

We have maintained that our foreign policy has a broader agenda, since we view ourselves as playing a big role on world stage in all areas of human activity. We are supposed not to be obsessed about Pakistan. This is only partially true. Every time some country decides to sell arms to Pakistan, we protest.

We seem to believe that if Russia sells arms to Pakistan, it implies diminution of Russian support to us or dilution of their friendship for us. America has been supplying advanced weaponry to Pakistan for decades; we have been protesting without any effect. Thus, our protests turn out to be pro-forma and only make us look diffident.

Furthermore, such reactions, apart from not achieving their purpose, suggest that Pakistan looms pretty large in our foreign policy. This too is understandable since Pakistan has waged four wars against us. But since we do not regard Pakistan as posing an existential threat to us, we do need to reflect whether we should express concern every time another country offers something to Pakistan.

The "strategic" community in Delhi often debates whether we have a Pakistan policy and if yes, what it is. We do have a foreign policy which is the same as every other country has, viz, protect and promote national interests. To lend profundity, this policy is sometimes labeled "strategic autonomy", which in essence is nothing more and somewhat less than an independent policy.

The criticism most often heard about the approach to Pakistan is summarised by the phrase "flip flop". It means that our policy is not consistent; we do not stand by our pronouncements, we send confusing signals to Pakistan as well as to our own people. This criticism fails the test of national interest.

Consistency is not necessarily a virtue in international affairs. Consistency in protecting national interest, yes but not in statements or negotiating positions. This is particularly true while dealing with Pakistan. Government must keep flexibility in approach, tailoring its pronouncements to suit the requirements as the occasion demands.

It is true that if one day the government says "no talks until the terrorists are brought to justice" and the next day holds talks at whatever level, it would create a negative perception of the government among the people. But that is a political issue for the government; as far as practice of foreign policy is concerned, the contradiction is not a cause for concern. Foreign relations are not a game of bridge where you are expected to declare your conventions to the opponents and where the opponents have the right to demand explanation of your bidding.

We are not required to clarify our intentions to our opponents in foreign relations. This is particularly true of Pakistan since it has a civilian government which has no control over the military. It is the latter that calls all the shots, especially on relations with India and Afghanistan.

India can never be sure whether what Islamabad says or suggests is backed by Rawalpindi. We are repeatedly asked to believe that both the military and the government are on the same page in their India policy, but for the most part, we remain unconvinced and for good reasons.

We too make threatening statements that we ought to know cannot be implemented, and that erode government's credibility since we do not act on the threats. The narrative that terror attacks are carried out to sabotage the "peace process" suits both countries. For Pakistan, it dilutes or diverts the attention that the terrorist acts demand of Pakistan authorities in terms of cracking down on the terrorist networks, etc. For India, the narrative provides a useful pretext for not retaliating robustly, since in any case we are not in a position to do so.

On the whole, the government has handled relations with Pakistan quite pragmatically. In the absence of any feasible alternative, such as military action or economic sanctions, the only choice is between talking and not talking. Not talking causes no harm to Pakistan, but eventually invites diplomatic pressure on us.
The analysis of the old evidence and collection of new evidence by the Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry was assessed and ignored by an Under Secretary in the Home Ministry. The officer went ahead to put his faith on the old evidence which was rejected by a High Court judge and a former Supreme Court judge. By extension, it can be said that a junior bureaucrat sat upon the judgment of two eminent High Court and Supreme Court judges. The result is not surprising.

The assessment of the JMCI report started with an undersecretary in the MHA circulating his analysis of the report on January 16, 2006, nearly two months after the commission submitted its report to the government. The files do not have any information on how the assessment was assigned to an undersecretary, who listed out the "flaws" of the report and concluded that

"it is felt that the report submitted by JMCI has many weaknesses and, although its report differs with those of the earlier committee and commission, it has not come out with adequate and solid reasons, justifications and grounds for coming to the conclusions. On studying the report it seems, as mentioned above, the conclusions are hasty and bristled with flaws. As it goes against the other two reports, acceptance of the report may lead to a lot of hue and cry by those who still want to bank on and exploit this issue. Also, the report is not going to solve the mystery about Netaji. On the contrary, it makes the issue more mysterious." (emphasis added)

Consider this: A commission headed by a former Supreme Court judge with no vested interest in the case investigates it for six long years and overturns a long-held official line. By any standard, the finding is astounding. It establishes that the story of Subhas Chandra Bose's death in a plane crash was nothing but a smokescreen created as a part of an elaborate plan to help him reach the Soviet Union. Thereafter, however, the Commission hits a wall. It cannot (for whatever reasons) shed light on what happened to Bose after that. What would a Government genuinely interested in unravelling the mystery do in such a situation? It could either go into the details of the reasons for the Commission's inability to answer the question and take its opinion on what to do next; or take the view of the Parliament; or consulted experts; or do something else to explore the options to bring a closure to the mystery.

But it did nothing of that sort. The undersecretary's note does not have any hint of such line of thought. On the contrary, it was categorical that the report should be junked because it does not answer the question of Bose's fate. By phenomenal logic, it is suggested that since we are not yet able to know what happened to him August 19, 1945 onwards, it is convenient to accept that he was dead on the previous day.

Jawaharlal Nehru with Subhash Chandra Bose.

Clearly, the overriding concerns were political, that is, apprehensions regarding the fallout of the findings of the report and the subsequent steps that would have become essential for the government to take.

Before taking up the observations in the undersecretary's note on the JMCI report, it would be useful to recollect the line of reasoning and the key conclusions of the JMCI.

a. The Commission started its investigation with the assumption that there was indeed a plane accident at Taipei (called Taihoku by the Japanese) on August 18, 1945 and set out to determine if Netaji had died in that accident.

b. In view of the outrageously contradictory witness accounts, it looked for definite evidence establishing Netaji's death and cremation, guided by the aphoristic saying, "men might lie but circumstances do not".

c. All the five sets of death and cremation records obtained by the Commission mentioned the name of a Taiwanese soldier Ichiro Okura and not that of Netaji. The Commission obtained the records of the crematorium for the period August 18-24, 1945. Not only those records created by the Japanese themselves do not contain Netaji's name, but they also do not have the names of the other passengers who were said to have died in the alleged plane crash. The register contains the details of others who were cremated during that period.

d. The chief doctor in the Nanmon Military Hospital where Netaji was treated, Taneyoshi Yoshimi claimed consistently that he had issued Netaji's death certificate on the night of his death and had applied for the cremation permit in the name of "Chandra Bose", and that he did not know any person called Ichiro Okura. The cremation records sent by the Taiwan Government to the Commission, however, showed the signature in the cremation permit to be that of Taneyoshi Yoshimi. In terms of self-contradiction, the junior doctor in the hospital, Tsuruta, was no different. Tsuruta told an enquiry by the Japanese Government in December 1955 that it was he who issued the death certificate for Netaji several days after his alleged death, in the name of "Hachiro Okhura". A few months later he told the Shah Nawaz Committee that he did not issue any death certificate and he did not know if Yoshimi did. Significantly, neither Yoshimi, nor Tsuruta knew Netaji, and were told by the Japanese officers that they were treating him. Years later, in 1988, Yoshimi gave another Japanese researcher a copy of Netaji's death certificate signed by him. The Commission concluded that in view of lack of records in Netaji's name and incoherencies in his statements, Yoshimi could not be telling the truth. The documents bearing Okura's name in no way suggested that they pertained to Netaji.

e. Rather than treating the plane crash as an isolated incident, Justice Mukherjee placed it in the context of the plan hatched by Netaji and his INA colleagues, with support from the Japanese, to reach Russia via Manchuria. The plan, it has been established beyond doubt, was top secret. The line of reasoning was that the story of the plane crash could have been created to bolster the secrecy and throw the Allied forces off track. Lack of any record indicating a plane crash in Taipei reinforces this argument. Even local newspapers, which were publishing news about the Bose family in India, did not publish any story about the plane crash. The Taiwan government informed the Commission that there was no evidence of the occurrence of a plane crash in August 1945.

f. Serious discrepancies in Habibur Rahman's statements, wide variations between how he described injuries in his body from the accident and what other eyewitness accounts stated, and lack of any medical record about his treatment led the Commission to conclude that he played a crucial role in Netaji's escape plan and that the discrepancies resulted from retelling of a fabricated story. That he preferred to remain silent instead of communicating the news of the plane crash or death of Netaji to any one of his colleagues strengthened the suspicion.

Let's now turn to observations in the note of the undersecretary in light of the key findings of the Commission discussed above. The chief characteristic of the note that stands out is that its intention is to discover flaws in the JMCI report. While the Commission's reasoning and conclusions are subjected to hairsplitting, the reports of the Shah Nawaz Committee and the GD Khosla Commission are presented as the benchmark. Forgotten are all the concerns about the contradictions and loopholes which led to the formation of JMCI.

Now, the contentions of the note, one by one.

1. The JMCI did not investigate into the antecedents of Ichiro Okura in whose name the cremation certificate was issued by the Japanese. That Netaji and Okura were not the same person could be acceptable only if the Commission could establish that there was a real person of that name.

It would be useful to note before commenting on the validity of this argument that not only Justice Mukherjee, but also GD Khosla - on whose report the Government place so much trust - clearly stated that documents related to Okura "relate to a totally different person and not Bose at all". They "have no evidentiary value at all, and neither of them proves or disproves anything," Khosla wrote. The undersecretary created the "what if" scenario despite being aware of the Khosla report's verdict.

The obvious and self-evident fact is that these documents were issued in the name of another person, real or imaginary. Dr Yoshimi, the senior doctor who treated Bose stated categorically that he had issued the death certificate and applied for the cremation permit in the name of "Chandra Bose". The attempt to force fit Okura with Netaji makes no sense.

More seriously, the principle of justice stipulates that the onus of proving a claim is on the claimant. The situation here is completely opposite: not a single person has been able to establish that Okura was the pseudonym for Bose. Yet, turning the principle of "burden of proof" on its head, the undersecretary accuses JMCI of not disproving a claim that is yet to be proven.

2. Construing the absence of cremation records related to Netaji and his co-passengers as negation of the plane crash story is not justified. If the Japanese wanted to keep the news about Netaji's death a secret, they would certainly not keep any evidence of others also in the register.

3. The fact that Taiwan newspapers were reporting on locally unimportant issues such as release of Netaji's family members from British prison in India, but not on the alleged death of Netaji in their locality cannot be construed as evidence of non-occurrence of the plane crash. Such silence could have been easily obtained by the Japanese army.

The above two points concern the creation of a speculative "what if" scenario on a supposed Japanese plan to keep the news of the plane crash and Netaji's death a secret.

The alleged crash happened on August 18, and by August 20 the Southern Command of the Japanese Army was informing Hikari Kikan that Netaji's body was flown to Tokyo. If the Japanese wanted to maintain secrecy would they try to take the body to Tokyo just two days after the alleged crash? Being ready to take the body to Tokyo is a far cry from any plan of secrecy. The dates of cremation, over which again there was little agreement amongst witnesses (one of the many discrepancies), usually vary between August 21 and August 22 - dates for which there is no evidence of secrecy seeking by the Japanese. Moreover, Would Yoshimi categorically and consistently claim that he issued the death and cremation certificates in Netaji's name if there was a gag order?

Subsequently, the Japanese news agency Domei published Netaji's death story on August 23. Therefore, the span of secrecy imposed by the Japanese army, if assumed to be true, was about two-three days. Why would the local press not give any coverage to such an accident immediately after the assumed period of silence?

Who benefits from Subhas Bose's death being shrouded in mystery?

It is also striking that the government found it so difficult to accept the same principle applied by Justice Mukherjee which was applied by Union home minister Patil towards a former prime minister. Mr Patil implied that if claimed documents did not exist, it indicated that the claimant was lying. Justice Mukherjee applied this principle to the perpetrators of the story of plane crash, just as Shivraj Patil applied to Morarji Desai.

4. There is no source which supports the Commission's claim that the bomber in which Netaji was apparently travelling from Taihoku attained a height of 12-14,000 feet before nosediving. Planes in those days were not of such high standards to have gained such height immediately after take-off, and if it did, it was not possible for the plane to have fallen within the precinct of the airfield.

5. As the plane was small and space scanty, during the nose-diving there might not have been a major change in the seating position and hence, the story regarding Netaji's being drenched by petrol may not be ruled out. In any case, the Commission's finding on this point may not be based on very strong ground.

These contentions highlight minor details to run down the key arguments and findings of the Commission and makes unverified assumptions at the same time. Justice Mukherjee may have made a small mistake in quoting Habibur Rahman to place the height attained by the plane to be "possibly over 12-14,000 feet", but it is not wide off the mark. Rahman had told the Shah Nawaz Committee that the plane was flying at 1,000 feet or above before it started nosediving. A fall from that height is no less effective in killing passengers in a flight, especially when the plane did not even have proper seats. Even if one assumes that the bureaucratic speculation of Netaji's position remaining unchanged during the plane's free fall to be true, it is difficult to explain how the petrol singled out Netaji as its target and avoided Habibur Rahman, who by his own admission to the Shah Nawaz Committee sat close behind, "almost touching each other".

The note while splitting hairs in this manner, remarkably remained silent on the fact about the information provided by the Taiwan government that there was no evidence of any plane crash on August 18, 1945.

6. The charge levelled by the Commission that Dr Taneyoshi Yoshimi had manufactured a death certificate which showed the name of Netaji, in 1988, is not valid. It is not possible that a person such as Dr Yoshimi would manufacture a death certificate just to put the Commission on a wrong track. The copy of the certificate provided in the report is an English version, whereas the original one must have been in Japanese. The report does not indicate whether the Commission examined the original certificate, whether that was a typed or hand-written certificate, whether in 1988 when Dr Yoshimi gave the copy to Mr Toshikazu, photocopy was made from carbon copy or original one. There was ample scope to inquire about this certificate, but nothing has been mentioned. If it was found that the copy from which Dr Yoshimi gave a photocopy to Mr Toshikazu did not stand the above tests, Commission's conclusion could be justified. The evidence provided by Dr Yoshimi to the earlier Committee and Commission was found to be consistent. It may so happen that in view of Netaji's stature and statesmanship, Dr Yoshimi had retained a copy of the death certificate as a memento and from that he gave a photocopy to Mr. Toshikazu. While deposing before the Shah Nawaz Commission and describing the scene in the hospital after death of Netaji, as mentioned in the report, "describing this poignant scene before the committee, Dr Yoshimi himself broke down and sobbed audibly".

These claims clearly show that the officer writing the note had not read the JMCI report carefully. Annexure D/12 of the report gives the details of the death certificate. It shows the English version of the certificate, issued by Dr Yoshimi in 1988 to another Japanese gentleman named Toshikazu Shimoda, but clearly mentions that it had seen a copy of the original, which was written in Japanese language. Dr Shimoda shared both a copy of the original certificate and a translation done by him with Dr Purabi Roy and the Commission had access to both and the same were placed on record as exhibits.

If Dr Yoshimi had retained a copy of the certificate, wouldn't he have shown it to the Shah Nawaz Committee and especially to the Khosla Commission - who faced the same dilemma over the identity of Ichiro Okura? It beats common sense as to why he would keep such a vital piece of evidence away from to official inquiries.

The laboured argument, which reflects nothing but desperation to invent the flaws in the JMCI report, is presented in way add a touch of emotional drama by drawing attention of the senior bureaucrats who would read the note to an emotional scene enacted in front of the Shah Nawaz Committee when the doctor "sobbed audibly" at the "death" of a person whom he never knew.

7. The Commission has not given sufficient reasons/grounds for coming to the conclusions that Netaji is dead and did not die in the said plane crash. No doubt people living beyond 100 years are very few, but it is not rare. Unless there is solid reason/ground/ evidence, such a conclusion can be termed as conjecture/imaginary and that cannot stand logic.

The Commission logically explained its position on this point without trying to cover the fact that it was an assumption that Netaji was dead, based on "probability" and "possibility". In any case, in view of the fact that the report of the Commission unambiguously established that the plane crash did not take place, this matter takes a secondary position and requires further investigation.

8. The Commission has claimed that Netaji might have disappeared from Taipei as that was the place where he and Habibur Rahman were last found together. But he could have made his exit from Tourane also where they had passed one night together. What if Netaji had disappeared from there and Habibur Rahman in connivance with the Japanese Government started cooking up the story of plane crash and death of Netaji at Taihoku giving Netaji lot of time to disappear? In the absence of adequate justification backed by cogent reason, such conclusions make the report fragile and frail.

The objection raised here appears almost frivolous. It is clear again that the undersecretary did not read the JMCI report carefully, which clearly states that "no firm opinion can be formed about Netaji's exit point" and that it can only be "inferred" that he disappeared from Taipei.

9. "If Netaji did not die in the plane crash, where has he disappeared? He just could not vanish in the thin air. It was well-nigh impossible for someone like Netaji to remain hidden in some turner or Asia or elsewhere running away from his cherished dream of freeing India from the alien rulers. Under no stretch of imagination can it be said that he was coward and seeing that the Japanese were surrendering and the Russians were aligning with the Allied Forces, he would give up the fight for independence leaving his comrades in the lurch and live a secluded indolent life in some corner of this planet. This simply does not fit in with the fiery and indomitable character of Netaji."

These are valid questions and need answers, rather than being used to hush up the central finding of the JMCI. These are questions for the cabinet to have discussed in order to determine the next course of action - if it was interested in a closure, that is - when it took up the matter of the JMCI report. The logical follow up act would have been to continue the investigation with all the seriousness that the Government could bring to bear upon other sources of information, which remained unexplored or underexplored for whatever reason.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders won the Democratic primary in New Hampshire yesterday easily defeating former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton to become the first Jewish candidate ever to win a presidential contest.

This has America asking this morning, could it be possible that there will be a Jewish president in the White House next?

His was a victory so clear, so decisive and so thorough that his lead was quickly called by all leading channels, promptly projecting him as a winner.

It was a triumph mirrored on the Republican side by the bombastic blunt talking billionaire Donald Trump, who easily coasted to victory.

The night belonged to the two outsiders who have grabbed the imagination and admiration of the grass-roots voters who want to send a strong message to the elites who control American politics.

Sanders and Trump were both considered long-shot outsiders and their victories are a reflection of the anger of the average Americans against career politicians.

They are also anxious about economic turmoil, illegal immigration and the threat of terrorist attacks on American soil.

Their wins are also a sign that both the Democratic and the Republicans races will be bitter battles that will stretch on. Sanders won 60 per cent of the votes while Clinton only had 39 per cent. Trump towered at 34 per cent. Governor John Kasich had 16 per cent and Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio were tied at 11 per cent.

Trumps victory must have horrified those who are concerned about his hateful rhetoric targeting women, Mexicans, Muslims and immigrants in general.

Trump remained undaunted and clearly relished the moment."Wow, wow, wow. We are going to make America great again," he said smiling and flashing a thumbs-up sign.

Sanders, the self-described democratic socialist achieved the victory nine days after becoming the first Jewish figure ever to win delegates in a presidential primary in his second place finish in the Iowa caucuses.

He has never claimed to be religious. In fact, in a recent town hall hosted by CNN, he said he was not a follower of organised religion but said he was both "religious" and "spiritual".

He also said in his victory speech: "We have sent a message that will echo from Wall Street to Washington, from Maine to California."

"And that is that the government of our great country belongs to all of the people and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors and their Super PACs. I do not have a Super PAC and I dont want a Super PAC," he continued.

He talked about the contributions he received from average Americans: "I am overwhelmed, and I am deeply moved far more than I can express in words by the fact that our campaigns financial support comes from more than one million Americans who have made more than $3.7 million individual contributions than any candidate in the history of the United States up until this point in an election. And you know what that average contribution was? 27 dollars."

He asked for more money. The people responded and the contributions broke his campaign website. Sanders raised $5.2 million in the first 18 hours after the New Hampshire polls closed. That makes it $4,814 a minute.

Voting for Sanders, the political revolutionary is voting against Clinton who has the support of the "establishment". Sanders has called his win "the beginning of a political revolution".

"The people of New Hampshire have sent a profound message to the political establishment, to the economic establishment and by the way, to the media establishment," he said.

For Clinton, its a shocking loss because New Hampshire, where she lost by 20 percent has traditionally been very supportive of the Clintons. This is the state that propelled Bill Clinton in 1992 to victory and it was here that Hillary beat Barack Obama in 2008.

However, it is evident she is not giving up."Now we take this campaign to the country. We are going to fight for every vote in every state," she said.
RICHMOND  The father of a 13-year-old girl who police say was slain by a Virginia Tech student said he found out about his daughter's death on TV, and questioned whether the tragedy could have been avoided if he had been more a part of her life.

During an episode of "Dr. Phil" that aired Wednesday, David Lovell told host Phil McGraw that police have not explained a possible motive for Nicole Lovell's death. He said he had raised concerns about his daughter's online conversations with older men, but partially blames himself for not putting an end to it.

"If I would've been there, maybe she wouldn't have went looking for acceptance from older guys," said Lovell, who gripped a stuffed panda bear and wore a blue ribbon on his jacket in his daughter's memory throughout the hourlong episode. "There's regrets that I have that I'll never get over."

David Eisenhauer, 18, has been charged with abduction and first-degree murder. Another Virginia Tech student, 19-year-old Natalie Keepers, is charged with accessory before and after the fact and with illegally dumping Nicole's body just across the state line in North Carolina. Authorities say Nicole was stabbed, but have not provided clues as to a motive.

A neighbor told The Associated Press recently that Nicole told 8-year-old friends before she vanished from her mother's home that she planned to sneak out to meet her 18-year-old "boyfriend," a man she said was named David. A friend and classmate was quoted by The Washington Post as saying that Nicole had talked about running away and starting a family with Eisenhauer.

When shown a picture of Eisenhauer, David Lovell told MGraw that it's difficult to look at the man's face.

"I would like to get locked up in the same cell with him," he said. "I'm pretty sure I could get answers out of him. He took my little girl."

Lovell said authorities forgot to tell him before they told reporters that his missing daughter had been found dead. But he did not blame officials, saying it was "a screw-up" and that they apologized for the oversight.

Neither the spokesman for the Blacksburg Police Department nor an attorney for Keepers immediately responded to an email seeking comment on Wednesday. An attorney for David Eisenhauer said in an email this week that he is not commenting on the case.

David Lovell pledged to make it his mission to ensure that parents know the dangers of social media. He said he found out about his daughter's conversations with men online before Christmas and her phone was taken away, but she later got it back. He said he wishes he could have done more.

"I wasn't there for her when she needed me," he said, his voice quivering and tears in his eyes. "There's no way to roll back the time."
LYNCHBURG  The last remaining Bedford Boy, Allen Huddleston, died Wednesday morning at English Meadows Elks Home Campus in Bedford.

The 97-year-old had been at the home for the past 16 years, said Sharon Jones, the homes activities director.

Robert Key, 86, one of Huddlestons closest friends, said the veteran was a great friend, a great man and he will be sorely missed.

He was the southern gentleman of the southern gentlemen, Key said.

Nicole Johnson, National D-Day Memorial associate director for development and marketing, said Wednesday that Huddleston was the last remaining member of the Bedford Boys, who trained for D-Day intending to land on the beaches of Normandy.

Johnson said she believed Huddleston served between 1941 and 1945.

Its a passage of that generation, and we are both sad and proud for the Bedford Boys; sad for the loss and proud of the service, Sen. Steve Newman, R-Lynchburg said Wednesday in a phone interview.

The Bedford Boys are a very meaningful part of Bedfords history and a very meaningful part of history. Its something that our children need to value as they grow up and look back at what made our country great, and the Bedford Boys were a big part of that, Del. Kathy Byron, R-Bedford County, said from her office in the General Assembly Building.

I think about the sacrifices they made that are a very big part of our history and our communitys history. They will never be forgotten. My prayers are certainly with the family and our community as we celebrate the legacy that they left.

According to Alex Kershaws definitive book about the Bedford County men who served in World War II, The Bedford Boys, Huddleston heard of the June 6, 1944, D-Day invasion while recuperating from a broken ankle in an English rehabilitation center.

Kershaw, who was reached by phone Wednesday, said he remembered Huddleston fondly and said the veteran loved playing cards.

He was a passionate guy, a lovely man, and one of the nicest men among a group of very nice guys, Kershaw said.

He said he was sorry to hear of Huddlestons death, because it meant the story of Bedfords men, who gave up so much for their country, now will live only in history books.

Its sad because weve lost the last living reminder of that amazing sacrifice, and amazing warriors, he said.

Huddleston was a member of the 29th Infantry Division and served in Company A of the 116th Infantry Regiment. The company endured a 90 percent casualty rate as it stormed onto the beaches of Normandy and into Western Europe, President of the National D-Day Memorial April Cheek-Messier said Wednesday in a news release.

Breaking his ankle in the days before such a brutal offensive was like drawing a royal flush, Kershaw said. That was the luckiest hand of his life.

Huddleston rejoined his company Aug. 28, 1944, outside the French city of Brest. To his dismay, he did not recognize many of men, one of Huddlestons closest friends Robert Key said.

Though Allen did not talk about his experiences in detail, he often remarked that it was devastating to rejoin his company and recognize no one, Cheek-Messier said.

Key said Huddleston once told him with tears in his eyes it was just luck he was not with Company A on the day of the invasion.

He said Bob, if I hadnt broken my ankle two weeks before, I would have probably been just like most of them Bedford boys, and I wouldnt be talking to you, Key said.

Later, at the battle of Aachen in Germany, Huddleston was wounded and sent back to England, Cheek-Messier said.

To many in Bedford County, who had family that died during the D-Day invasion, Huddleston could provide a living link to their relative.

You could always go to Allen and ask him, do you remember much about my brother, and Allen would tell you, Key said.

Key, who also served in Company A, joined the U.S. Army in 1946. He served in both the Army and U.S. Navy.

Jones said Huddleston was a talented photographer who took striking photographs of the Peaks of Otter that still hang in the Elks home.

I always admired his work, she said.

Bob Wandrei, mayor of the Town of Bedford, said Wednesday evening he and his wife Ellen remember the photography store Huddleston used to run on West Main Street in downtown Bedford.

He did lots of photography some wonderful, wonderful pictures of the Peaks, I have a couple of them, Ellen Wandrei said. She added Huddleston also used to photograph weddings and take passport photos when you needed to have formal sittings.

Both Jones and Ellen Wandrei said they remembered Huddleston was one of the last people in Bedford to work with film from old cameras like the famous Kodak Brownie models.

When Huddleston closed his shop, Wandrei said he donated some of his photography to The D-Day Memorial.

He was awfully good to the museum, she said.

Both Key and Huddleston, when he still was in good health, were active in the Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Roanoke and he will be deeply missed by the members, Key said.

As Huddlestons health declined, Key frequently visited his friend. When Huddlestons son called Key from Raleigh on Wednesday morning about an hour after his father died, he said he felt honored.

He told me that I had visited his dad more than anybody he knew, Key said.

The week of Huddlestons death, Key visited with his comrade, but he wasnt able to come Tuesday so he called the Elks home and made the nurse promise twice to wake Huddleston and give him a message, he said.

Tell him I love him, and hope you have a good night, he said.

To Key, Huddleston was family and he did not have any qualms about telling the Huddleston he cared deeply.

You dont usually say that to a man, he said, But when youre like brothers, I dont see any problem with it.
Bengaluru: In a major operation the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Bengaluru has blown off the lid of illegal international drug trade and overseas travel of couriers on fake passports and visas issued on fake documents.

On February 8 the NCB arrested Emmanuel (39) at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) for allegedly smuggling cocaine worth over

Rs 6 crore. He had not only travelled for 48 hours from Brazil to Bengaluru via Abu Dhabi with 1.2 kgs of cocaine, worth over Rs 6 crore, concealed in his gastrointestinal tract; he had also managed to hoodwink multiple immigration agencies and the Indian embassy in Namibia, which had issued him a tourist visa on his fake Namibian identity.

Emmanuel, who was arrested soon after he disembarked from an Etihad Airways flight from Sao Paulo, Brazil, via Abu Dhabi on February 8 is reportedly a Nigerian and his real name is said to be Raymond. He had sought temporary asylum in South Africa and the asylum permit had expired in 2014.

Soon after his arrest Emmanuel was rushed to Victoria Hospital after he complained of uneasiness and the doctors managed to remove 69 capsules filled with cocaine from his stomach.

He was carrying one cocaine-filled capsule on his person at the time of arrest and he admitted that he had swallowed 69 capsules to avoid detection. He could have died if one of the capsules had exploded in his stomach, said an official source.

Besides being booked under the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act of 1985, Emmanuel is now being interrogated by the Intelligence Bureau, which looks after the immigration at the KIA. We need to find out how he managed to get a visa from the Indian embassy in Namibia and how he travelled across countries on a fake passport, added the officer.

Emmanuel, who was remanded to police custody by the special court in the City, was discharged from Victoria Hospital on Thursday. He will now be interrogated by the NCB and IB, said the officer.
New Delhi: India may ask Pakistan to seek deposition of Lashkar-e-Taiba operative David Coleman Headley through video conferencing before its court, where the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack case is being tried, to gather more evidence so that those involved in the incident could be punished.

As the Pakistani-American terrorist talked about ISI's "financial, military and moral support" to LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hizbul Mujahideen in his deposition to a Mumbai court, there is a possibility of India asking Pakistan to take a similar initiative to ensure production of Headley before the court in Pakistan where the 26/11 trial has been going on. "It is one of the actions which could be taken. A decision has to be taken at the highest level," a senior government official said.

Since Pakistan is in denial on the evidence provided by India so far, Pakistan should speak to the US for Headley's testimony through video conferencing to get first-hand evidence, the official said. The trial of the Mumbai terror attack case in Pakistan is moving at a very slow pace with frequent disruption and change of judges. In his deposition before a Mumbai court, Headley gave out details about 26/11 attacks and his role in it.

While testifying via video-link from the US, Headley said he was working for Pakistan Army and ISI besides LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba) and that he knew about ISI official Brigadier Riyaz being the handler of LeT commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi who was a key man responsible for the November 26, 2008 attacks in Mumbai. He also said that LeT had planned an attack at a conference of Indian defence scientists at Taj Mahal Hotel a year before the 26/11 strikes and had even prepared its dummy.

But the plan was dropped because of logistical reasons, like difficulty in smuggling in weapons and personal and failure to know the schedule of the meet, he said. Headley, who had visited India seven times to scout for targets, said he had also conducted a recce of the famous Siddhivinayak Temple and Naval air station.
Thiruvananthapuram: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday asked the Congress, Left and other Opposition parties if they were prepared to apologise to the nation for their "malicious campaign" against Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the killing of Ishrat Jehan in an encounter in Gujarat in 2004.

Addressing a huge rally in Thiruvananthapuram, he said Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley in his deposition had clearly admitted that Ishrat Jehan had links with Lashkar-e-Taiba.

"You must have heard what Headley has said in his deposition. Using Ishrat Jehan's name, various allegations were made against our party leaders. On that matter, Headley has clearly stated that she (Ishrat) had links with LeT," he said.

"I want to ask Congress, Communists and other parties who had continuously launched a malicious campaign to mislead the people on this issue, whether they are prepared to tender apology to the people of the country," he said.

Rajnath Singh earlier asserted that the revelations made by Headley before a Mumbai special court has exposed Pakistan, adding that New Delhi would still prefer cordial relations with Islamabad.

"I think Pakistan has been exposed. Even then, we would like to have a very cordial relationship with Pakistan," said Rajnath Singh.

Resuming his deposition via video-link after a day's break due to technical glitch at the US end, Headley told the special court that the ISI was helping different terror outfits in Pakistan and was providing financial, military and moral support.

Read: ISI funded terror operations and my trips to India, says David Headley

Headley also told the court that Pakistan native Tahawwur Rana was aware of his connection with LeT and that he had gone to India for intelligence work on instructions of the terror outfit. He also revealed that all his India trips were sponsored by ISI to conduct reconnaissance of possible targets.

Giving details of his funding, Headley said, "Before coming to India in September 2006, he received USD 25,000 from ISI's Major Iqbal. I also got 40,000 in Pakistani currency from LeT operative Sajid Mir between April and June 2008," he told the court, adding that Major Iqbal used to regularly send him money in instalments.

Read: ISI funds LeT & JeM: David Headley tells Mumbai court

Also, Major Iqbal gave me counterfeit Indian currency once or twice in 2008, he said, adding, Besides, Abdul Rehman Pasha, also from ISI, gave me Rs 80,000.

Read: Was working for ISI, met many people from Pakistan army: David Headley

"Tahawwur Rana (Headley's associate and a Pakistani native who operated a Chicago-based immigration business) used to send me money from the US in September 2006 when I came to India to do intelligence work on instructions of LeT," he told the court.

Read: Centre Pakistani-American terrorist welcomes Headley's revelations

Headley, who had conducted recce of the places in Mumbai which were attacked by 10 LeT terrorists on November 26, 2008, also revealed that the outfit had initially planned to attack a conference of Indian defence scientists in Taj Mahal Hotel.

Read: Was inspired by Hafiz Sayeed's speeches, reveals David Headley

He also said that he had conducted a recce of the famous Siddhivinayak Temple and Naval Air Station on directions of LeT commanders.
Specialised rescue teams carry out the operations to search for the bodies of the soldiers hit by an avalanche, in Siachen

Hyderabad: Even as the lone survivor from the Siachen avalanche, Lance Naik Hanumanthappa, battles for his life at New Delhi in Armys Research and Referral hospital, fresh details of the incredible rescue operation have started to emerge.

Experts add that Mondays rescue of Hanumanthappa Koppad  from under 35 feet of snow  can be classified as one of the toughest operations of such nature ever carried out by the Army.

Talking about the terrain, retired Brig. P.N. Rao who served in Siachen in 1983-84 said, The army posts are situated at 19,000 plus feet and the blue ice  the ice found at that height  is three times stronger normal ice.

Also, you cant just walk on that ice for long and the operations have to be carried out by walking on ropes. In that area, weather is the real enemy. Avalances are not very common and its truly unfortunate this has happened, Brig. Rao said.

Meanwhile, a message circulating on social media and attested to Northern Command has revealed certain operational details about the rescue. Army sources said the text was written by a medical specialist who was part of the mission.

The unidentified soldier speaks about rescues success and the joy the team felt after discovering Hanumanthappa in the snow.

The soldier describes how they had to work at an altitude of 19.600 feet for hours before Hanumanthappa was found. He also praised helicopter pilots who had to fly through narrow mountain features, despite visibility being limited to just 70 metres ahead.

He concludes by congratulating the pilots for bringing their bird down on a makeshift helipad that was a little bigger than the craft itself.

Kin, Army, IAF chiefs visit braveheart

The condition of Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppadhas deteriorated, the Army said on Wednesday. The Army and IAF chiefs also went to the hospital, apart from the family of the brave soldier.

Interestingly, Lance Naik Hanamanthappa had also been a yoga instructor to fellow soldiers and his physical fitness probably stood him in good stead during the horrific six days when he was trapped at the glacier.

Speculation is also rife that one of the 10 soldiers trapped at the glacier in the avalanche on February 3 may have sent a radio signal to the Army after 24 hours, that led the troops to further intensify their Herculean rescue efforts.

Army doctors had already warned Tuesday Lance Naik Hanamanthappa was expected to have a stormy course in the next 24 to 48 hours due to complications caused by re-warming and establishment of blood flow to the cold parts of the body.

In a statement on Wednesday evening, the Army said: Braveheart Lance Naik Hanamanthappa was reviewed by the treating team of Army Hospital.
BENGALURU: A stray dog, which was being used as bait by the forest officials to trap the leopard, managed to sneak out of the cage by digging his way out beneath the cage around 4 pm on Thursday.

A two-member team of animal activists, who went to the spot after they learnt that the dog, which was being used as a bait since Wednesday was not provided food and water, they found the cage empty and the dog had fled.

Mandhakini Vasudevan, an animal rights activist said, When we read the news, I along with another member went to Varthur to see the dog around 4 pm, but by then the animal had managed to escape. We called district forest officials to ask as to why no food and water was given to the dog, amounting to animal cruelty. The animal rights activist are now contemplating to write to forest officials in this regard. Earlier in the afternoon, when DC visited the spot, the dog was in the cage with no food and water next to him.

Area cleared of garbage

Amidst all the hysteria, the land owner seemed to have cashed in on the opportunity to get the land cleared of garbage. The land owner used to have frequent quarrels with migrant workers in this regard.

I have strictly directed these workers not to use the land for any purpose. Earlier, as the land was empty, the bushes had grown all over. These migrant workers were dumping garbage, which used to attract dogs. The leopard also came after the dogs, he told DC.
After an avalanche near the Siachen glacier killed 130 Pakistani soldiers in 2012, Pakistan had then requested India for withdrawal of troops of both countries from the Siachen region. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: With 10 Indian soldiers perishing in the avalanche at Siachen glacier, Pakistan on Thursday made a fresh reiteration that both countries should mutually agree to withdraw from Siachen, adding that the issue be treated in an urgent manner between our two countries to ensure that more lives are not lost on both sides on account of harsh weather conditions. After an avalanche near the Siachen glacier killed 130 Pakistani soldiers in 2012, Pakistan had then requested India for withdrawal of troops of both countries from the Siachen region.

But despite the deaths of hundreds of Indian soldiers in the past three decades and the mounting human cost of holding on to the Siachen glacier, India has been maintaining that it would not vacate the dominating heights of the Siachen glacier, unless Pakistan agrees to authentication of the position of ground troops in the region and gives iron-clad guarantees that its troops will not occupy positions vacated by Indian troops in case of any agreement on demilitarisation.

We sincerely hope the issue of Siachen would be treated in an urgent manner, said Abdul Basit, Pakistan High Commissioner.
My telecom company has been sending constantly sending me messages, warning me about those missed calls from unknown numbers from abroad. Especially numbers starting from the US, UK and Pakistan. Now, a new message reads that I should not take any calls or reply back to any numbers which begin with +234 and +372. Though incoming calls are free, receiving calls from any number should not be of concern, right? Wrong! Taking that call could make you shell out a lot of money, and the worst part is that you will only know it when you get your bill at the end of the month.

So what are these calls? Where are they coming from? Why do they cut off in a single ring or two? And what do they gain? The answers are not so easy for the common man, but are super simple for the scamsters. These numbers are from abroad and are registered with a few people who are out there to cheat you.

If you receive a call from an unknown number, especially from +234 and +372, these are numbers from far off countries such as Nigeria and Estonia. Calls made to these numbers can cost you anywhere between Rs 350 to Rs 400 per minute. These are trunk calls and even if you receive a call, they are charged to your telecom bill.

When you receive a call from these numbers, the scamster is waiting for you on the other end only to announce that either you have won a lottery or one of your relatives is injured. The longer you chat with them asking for details, the higher the charges. If the scamster is lucky, he can trick you into giving your bank details and other information. If you are unlucky enough, it could be trick to make you call back a phone sex number, which will empty your wallet even faster.

Most times, you will receive a missed call with a single ring or two. These are usually their tricks to get you to call back on the same number. These numbers are premium-rate numbers (IPRN). Premium-rate numbers are typically known as toll numbers and their origin can be traced to several European countries. Telecom operators offer a limited number of premium numbers which are acquired by businesses. Callers are charged premium rates (higher than regular calling rates) when they dial such numbers and the revenue earned is then shared between the telecom operator and the owner of the number.

The missed call scam is also known as Wangiri scam, which originated from Japan around a decade ago. Wangiri means 'one ring and cut'.

How a Wangiri scam works?

Once an attacker has acquired a premium-rate number he gives missed calls to thousands of cellphone numbers chosen randomly. Inadvertently, an unsuspecting victim calls the number back. An individual answers the call and tries to prolong the conversation under some pretext. All this while, the curious caller gets charged a large amount for the call. The rates range from Rs 50 per minute to Rs 200 per minute.

The latest slew of attacks has arisen from numbers starting with a +92 code. This code belongs to numbers from Pakistan but it is impossible to be sure as attackers could have used several masking techniques. Tracing the country of origin of such calls is a very difficult process and it can only be accomplished by law enforcement agencies. It is largely suspected that these calls do not originate in India. Hence, callers are charged international rates for calling these international premium-rate numbers.

It is an ingenious way of stealing money off victims. Prepaid users will find their credit drastically reduced whereas postpaid users would only come to know of these charges once they view their monthly bill. The best course of action would be to simply ignore such suspicious missed calls and refrain from calling them back.

So what do you do in case you get a missed call or a call from an unknown number?

If the number is not known, dont call back.

If you are expecting a call from abroad, (in cases of waiting for a call back from an applied overseas job, or alike) Google the number and find out the originating country before making a move.

Install Truecaller or spam number identification software.

Check your phone bills for exorbitant call charges to unknown numbers.

Check with your telecom provider for a possible list of scam numbers.

Store these numbers into your contact list for future alerts.

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John Kerry meet with various European and Middle Eastern foreign ministers on the sidelines on the sidelines of a Syria donors conference in central London. (Photo: AP)

United Nations: World powers pressed Russia to stop their bombing campaign around the Syrian city of Aleppo in support of an al-Assad government offensive to recapture the city, with a Western official saying that Moscow had presented a proposal envisaging a truce in three weeks time.

Secretary of State John Kerry is pushing for a complete ceasefire and more aid access to Aleppo, where rebel-held areas are being cut off and the United Nations has warned a new humanitarian disaster could be on the way.

Aid workers said on Wednesday the water supply to Aleppo, still home to two million people, was no longer functioning. Kerry is hoping for agreement at a meeting in Munich on Thursday between Russia, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Iran and other powers, aimed at trying to revive peace negotiations that foundered earlier this month.

Syrian officials have indicated no plans to ease up the war effort. A Syrian military source said on Wednesday the battle for Aleppo, a major prize in a war which has killed a quarter of a million people, would continue in all directions.

Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said the government expected a tough but relatively short battle to return the city to state control. I do not expect the battle of Aleppo to go on long, he told Reuters in Damascus.

A Western official said Russia had made a proposal to begin a ceasefire in Syria on March 1, but that Washington has concerns about parts of it and no agreement had been reached.

In Washington, a state department envoy told Congress the United States needs to consider options in case the diplomatic push does not succeed. Asked how soon a ceasefire could be put in place, a Russian diplomat who declined to be identified said: Maybe March, I think so.

At a closed-door meeting of the 15-member UN Security Council on Wednesday, several members pressed Russia to end the Aleppo bombing sooner.

The (Syrian) regime and its allies cannot pretend they are extending a hand to the opposition while with their other hand they are trying to destroy them, French UN Ambassador Francois Delattre told reporters.

Crossed the line

Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Russian air strikes were being undertaken in a transparent manner and some Security Council members had crossed the line by politically exploiting humanitarian issues.

They rather crudely use humanitarian matters in order to play, we believe, a destructive role as far as the political process is concerned, said Churkin, adding that given the heightened interest in humanitarian issues, the council should also start regularly discussing Yemen and Libya.

One UN diplomatic source said Russia was stringing Kerry along in order to provide diplomatic cover for Moscows real goal - to help President Bashar al-Assad win on the battlefield instead of compromising at the negotiating table.

Its clear to everyone now that Russia really doesnt want a negotiated solution but for Assad to win, said the diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Kremlin rejects claims that it has abandoned diplomacy in pursuit of a military solution, saying it would continue to providing military aid to Assad to fight terrorist groups and accusing Syrias opposition of walking away from the talks.

Food, water shortages

Doctors working on both sides of the Syria-Turkey border say they have been overwhelmed by injuries caused by the air strikes, which Moscow says have only targeted Islamist militants but which Western countries say have caused widespread civilian casualties.

We are increasingly seeing what we call multiple-trauma injuries because of the bombs and the heavy weapons they are using. There are large burn cases, lots of amputations, and internal traumas, Mahmoud Mustafa, director of the Independent Doctors Association, told Reuters in Gaziantep, Turkey.

French charity Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF), which runs six hospitals in Syria and provides support for another 153 health facilities across the country, said medical workers in the area north of Aleppo had been forced to flee for their lives.

Yet again we are seeing healthcare under siege, said Muskilda Zancada, MSF head of mission, Syria.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was delivering water to Aleppo because the citys system was no longer working but that some supply routes for aid had been cut.

The temperatures are extremely low and, without an adequate supply of food, water and shelter, displaced people are trying to survive in very precarious conditions, the head of the ICRC in Syria, Marianne Gasser, said in a statement from Aleppo.

The latest fighting around Aleppo has killed about 500 people on all sides, a monitoring group said. Medecins Sans Frontiers spokesman Sam Taylor said that while its own hospitals in Syria had not been hit, many others had.

From the reports we get from MSF-supported facilities, the majority of hospitals are damaged or destroyed by aerial attacks, he said. In last two to three weeks we have definitely seen a trend of facilities being hit in the south and in the north.

Fabius questions US commitment

Saudi Arabias King Salman plans to visit Moscow in mid-March, Russias RIA news agency said, a meeting that would bring together the main sponsors of the opposing sides.

Saudi-backed rebels said they would go to Thursdays meeting in Munich but would only go to UN peace talks in Geneva later this month if Russia stopped bombarding their positions and humanitarian aid reached civilians in the areas they control.

Opposition coordinator Riad Hijab said the Russian and Iranian intervention in Syria was bolstering the extremist threat in the Middle East, but the rebels would not give up.

On the ground, rebels say they are fighting for survival.

A commander of a Turkmen contingent within the Levant Front rebel group, Zekeria Karsli, said his men faced attacks on three fronts: Islamic State to the east, Syrian government forces to the south and Kurds to the west.

Unfortunately the military situation on the battlefield is pretty bad. Russian planes are hitting us from the air and the Iranian/Assad block is hitting us from the ground, he told Reuters near the Oncupinar border post.

He said Russian warplanes were carrying out hundreds of sorties every day and that the north of Aleppo city was encircled. But he said routes in to rebel-held parts of the city from Idlib province to the west were still open.

Opposition spokesman Salim al-Muslat said US President Barack Obama could stop the Russian attacks. If he is willing to save our children it is really the time now to say no to these strikes in Syria.

The rebels want anti-aircraft weapons so they can bring down the Russian planes that have been bombing intensely over the past four months.

But their Western and Arab backers have refused, fearing Islamic State militants could seize and use them against their own planes conducting air strikes against the jihadists, who have exploited the war to seize large parts of Syria and Iraq.

United Nations Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura has set a target date of February 25 to reconvene talks between the Syrian government and opposition in Geneva.

But the offensive by Syrian forces, Hezbollah and Shiite militias directed by Iran all backed by Russian bombing raids have reversed opposition gains on the ground and encircled rebels inside Aleppo, a strategic prize now divided between government and opposition control.

Itll be easy to get a ceasefire soon because the opposition will all be dead, a Western diplomat told Reuters. Thats a very effective ceasefire.
The school bus was carrying 32 children on its daily trip to the village school in Montbenoit when it "left the road", a police source in that case said.

Paris: At least six children were killed when a school minibus crashed into a truck in western France on Thursday, police said, a day after another road accident involving a school bus left two youngsters dead.

The head-on smash with a lorry carrying rubble happened at around 7:15 am (0615 GMT) in Rochefort in the Charente-Maritime region.

The school bus was carrying about 17 people, and three children suffered minor injuries in the accident, a police source said.

President Francois Hollande expressed his condolences to the victims and their families and said everything possible would be done "to shed light on the causes of this tragedy", according to a statement from his office.

On Wednesday two children, aged 12 and 15, died when a school bus veered off a road in snowy conditions near the Swiss border in eastern France.

The school bus was carrying 32 children on its daily trip to the village school in Montbenoit when it "left the road", a police source in that case said.
A Turkish paramilitary police officer carries the body of 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi, found washed ashore near the Turkish resort of Bodrum. (Photo: AP)

Istanbul: Two suspected people smugglers went on trial in Turkey on Thursday charged with causing the death in September of a Syrian toddler the picture of whose lifeless body washed up on a Turkish beach shocked the world.

The trial of Syrian nationals Muwafaka Alabash and Asem Alfrhad opened at the criminal court in the western Turkish resort of Bodrum, the Dogan news agency reported. If convicted, they face up to 35 years in jail.

They are accused of smuggling migrants and causing the deaths of five people, including three-year-old Aylan Kurdi, his five-year-old elder brother Galip and his mother Rihan.

The victims were among some one million people who last year sought to cross the Aegean Sea from Turkey in a bid to reach EU member Greece.

But with the migrants crammed into unstable boats and equipped with sub-standard life jackets, the crossing is fraught with danger and like many others their bid hit disaster.

The photograph of Aylan Kurdi, in his toddler's clothes and face down in the sand, washed up on a Turkish beach, shocked public opinion in Europe and to a certain extent prompted greater action from EU leaders in the migrant crisis.

Dogan reported that Aylan Kurdi's father, Abdullah Kurdi, who survived the sinking of the boat, is also on trial in absentia over his role in the disaster. It was not immediately clear what charges he faces.

Abdullah Kurdi, from the mainly Kurdish Syrian town of Kobane on the Turkish border, is currently believed to be outside of Turkey.

Dogan confirmed he was not in court but the two Syrian suspects, who are currently in custody, were brought to the court by the police.

Turkey has become the major hub for Syrian, Afghan, Iraqi, Eritrean and other refugees and migrants seeking to undertake the risky crossing to the European Union in a flow that has caused huge alarm across the continent.

The Turkish government struck a deal with the EU in November to halt the flow of refugees, in return for three billion euros ($3.2 billion) in financial assistance.

But the deal and wintry weather in the Mediterranean do not appear to have deterred the migrants, with boats still arriving on the Greek islands daily.
The High Court dismissed appeals by Mufti Abdul Hannan, head of Harkatul Jihad Al Islami, and two members of the banned militant Islamist group who have all been convicted over a spate of deadly attacks. (Photo: AP)

Dhaka: A Bangladesh court Thursday upheld the death sentence of a top Islamist militant and two of his followers for a 2004 failed assassination attack on the British ambassador that left three people dead.

The High Court dismissed appeals by Mufti Abdul Hannan, head of Harkatul Jihad Al Islami, and two members of the banned militant Islamist group who have all been convicted over a spate of deadly attacks.

"The High Court has upheld the verdict. Unless they make another appeal in the country's highest court, there is now no bar to their execution," deputy attorney general Sheikh Moniruzzaman Kabir said.

"Mufti Abdul Hannan was behind a number of deadly grenade attacks including on a rally of current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2004 in which more than 20 people were killed," he said.

There was no comment from the defence lawyers, who did not turn up for the verdict.

The trio were convicted of murder and masterminding the grenade attack in May 2004 on then British high commissioner Anwar Choudhury, who was only slightly injured.

The attack came just weeks after the Bangladeshi-born diplomat took up the post and occurred as he was visiting a historic Sufi shrine in the northeastern city of Sylhet.

The High Court also on Thursday upheld life sentences for two other militants for their roles in the blast that left three worshippers dead and scores injured.

The British High Commission had welcomed the conviction of those involved but opposed the use of the death penalty.

Police said at the time of the attack that the group was plotting "to avenge the deaths of Muslims in Iraq and across the world by America and Britain".
090216 Hon Watawi appeals for vise and fair decisions.

By Joe Elijah



A one week training is underway for the Northern Region Land Mediators this week.



The training facilitated by the Law and Justice Department here in Bougainville is held at Munlus village assembly in the Selau constituency.



More than 20 land mediators from the Buka District are attending the training under the supervision of Bougainville Senior Magistrate Mr. Bruce Tasikul and Special Project Officer Mr. Ephraim Imanoni.



Opening the one week training, Hon Joe. Watawi, Member for Selau constituency and also chairman for Peace and Reconciliation, weapons disposal, and unification, Hon Watawi told the participants of the training that, your training is only to bring you to the next level but to supplement what you already have within yourselves.



Hon Watawi said, today there are many disputes as a result of unfair land distribution and as land mediators the people of Bougainville and your communities have entrusted you with this very important responsibility, the training will equip you to do you jobs well, honestly and dedicatedly.



Watawi added that in many areas not only in Bougainville but in other parts of PNG, Many people die over land because of vise decisions made by the land mediators in a one sided affair.



I, as the Member for Selau constituency where you are currently having this training, I want to ask and appeal to you for fair judgment and fair distribution of land rather than creating hatred and insecurity amongst your communities and Bougainville as a whole.



Ends


Islamabad: In a rare admission, Pakistan's Intelligence Bureau Chief on Thursday said the country was facing growing threat from the Islamic State as hundreds of Pakistanis have travelled to Syria to join the terror outfit.

"There are reports of fighters being recruited by sectarian and other outfits, and being sent to Syria. The number of people leaving from Pakistan to Syria to join IS are in hundreds," Director General Intelligence Bureau (IB) Aftab Sultan said.

Addressing a Senate Standing Committee on interior affairs and narcotics control, Aftab said IB was locating militants in the country and carrying out arrests. He also confirmed trend among militants to leave for Syria for fighting despite "successes" in dismantling militant networks.

He said local banned militants groups including Tekreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Lashker-e-Jhangvi (LJ) and Sipaha-e-Sihaba have a soft corner for the Islamic State terror group also known Dai'sh.

"Pakistan Taliban support Dai'sh while Afghan Taliban are against it," he said. Aftab said militancy was going down but the threat remains.

"Terrorists are on the run. Civilian security and intelligence set-ups are augmenting and implementing operation Zarb-e-Azb in cities," he added. The admission by IB chief about presence of ISIS came after a string of denials by officials about its footprints in Pakistan.

"We have seen media reports that certain elements trying to associate themselves with Da'ish have been arrested and that investigations are going on," Foreign Office spokesman Qazi Khalilullah had said during a briefing last month as he dismissed the reports.

Military and official of interior ministry have also made similar denials. Further, DG Inter Services Public Relations Lieutanant General Asim Bajwa last year said Pakistan has "zero tolerance" for the emerging militant group.

"Not even a shadow of Daish will be allowed in Pakistan," and Pakistani society had rejected the IS, and there was no acceptance of the terror group in the country, he had said.
With the class 12 board exams now just a month away, doctors said there is a three-fold increase in the number of children reporting stress and depression.





Experts said children experiencing depressive symptoms and stress when exams near is soon becoming a trend in the capital.



The number of children coming to us before exams has tripled in last few years. It was not so common earlier but in recent years, the number of kids coming to us from the announcement of exam dates has increased manifold, said Dr Shobana Mittal, consultant psychiatrist at Cosmos Institute of Mental Health and Behavioural Sciences (CIMBS).



Though depression, stress and anxiety are common, the doctors said they have also found an increase in the cases of dissociative disorder, which leads to disintegration of memory, identity and mode of sensory functioning.



When there is an acute stress, there is a conflict in the childs sub-conscious mind which may also lead to pseudo seizures. We are also seeing children with attempts of self harm, she said.



However, the doctors said this is just the tip of the iceberg as they are many who do not seek professional help.



They suggested that the parents should recognise the symptoms and reach out for help either at the school level or a professional intervention.



It is normal that kids will worry during exams but parents should know to differentiate the normal anxiety with these signs. They should reach out for help if there is a difference in the childs temperament, if he is low on energy or has crying spells and talks of self harm. These are all red alert signs, she said.



Dr Mitali Srivastava, Clinical Psychologist at CIMBS suggested that one way to prevent children from stressing out is parents having realistic expectations from them and encouraging them according to their capability and aptitude.



Children should keep taking breaks while studying every 45-50 minutes for improving their concentration, she said, advising morning study instead of overnight as it is not committed in the long term memory.



Also, the intake of tea and coffee in the night should be less as they may lead to increased anxiety levels and impairment of memory, Dr Mittal said.
The Delhi BJP on Wednesday sought Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwals resignation over allegations of corruption against Food and Supplies Minister Imran Hussain and announced plans to hold protests on February 13 and 14 to expose the AAP governments failure.





The party also questioned the delay in suspension of an excise official caught taking Rs 5 lakh bribe.



City BJP president Satish Upadhyay said the Kejriwal governments commitment to fight corruption stands exposed.



On the one hand, elected representatives of Kejriwals party are being regularly caught over involvement in corruption scams and frauds, on the other, the government has failed to act against corrupt officials, he said.



His remarks coincided with BJP workers protest in Lal Kuan near the residence of Hussain to demand his resignation. A sting had shown Hussains office aide discussing alleged bribe issue with a builder in Old Delhi. The minister has denied any wrongdoing and junked the sting.



Upadhyay tweeted to also highlight the delay in suspension of Assistant Commissioner of Excise Rakesh Kumar caught on February 4 with bribe money of Rs 5 lakh by the Excise Commissioner.



He said it is shocking that the file of Rakesh Kumars suspension is being withheld in the Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia for last six days despite the recommendation of the Excise Commissioner raising suspicion as to who is protecting the Assistant Commissioner.



BJP leader Vijender Gupta, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, slammed the Kejriwal government over the proposed rerun of the car rationing scheme.



The DTC is on the verge of bankruptcy and 12,000 ex-employees are not getting pension but the government is planning to reintroduce the odd-even scheme to pat its own back.



The Delhi government is not paying the dues to owners of the private buses as per contract and due to this reason, the owners of the cluster buses have decided to take away their 1,000 buses from the road.



Gupta demanded from Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal that the government should stop wasteful expenditure and release the pension and other dues to the retired employees of DTC.
The Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley today told Mumbai court that the 19-year-old student Ishrat Jehan, who was killed in an encounter in Gujarat in 2004, was a member of Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar e Taiba.

Making fresh disclosures on the brazen 26/11 attacks, David Headley today exposed how ISI and LeT majorly funded terror operations in India and financed him from time to time and that Pakistan native Tahawwur Rana visited Mumbai before the terror strikes.



Resuming his deposition before a court here today via video-link after a day's break due to a technical glitch at the US end yesterday, the LeT operative also said that RBI has turned down a request to open a bank account for their office in India.



Giving details of his funding, he said, "Before coming to India in September 2006, he received USD 25,000 from ISI's Major Iqbal."



"I also got 40,000 in Pakistani currency from LeT operative Sajid Mir between April and June 2008," he told the court, adding that Major Iqbal used to regularly sent him money in instalments.

Also, Major Iqbal gave me counterfeit Indian currency once or twice in 2008, he said.



Besides Abdul Rehman Pasha, also from ISI, gave me Rs 80,000, Headley said.

"Tahawur Rana (Headley's associate and a Pakistani native who operated a Chicago-based immigration business) used to send me money from the US in September 2006 when I came to India to do intelligence work on instructions of LeT," he told the court.



The 55-year-old, who recently turned approver in the case, also said that "it was my idea to open an office in India. It was a part of my cover (as an immigration consultant). I had discussed about this with Major Iqbal and Sajid Mir and they both agreed to it."



"I also told Rana that Major Iqbal had asked me to do intelligence work in India. Iqbal told me that if Rana was reluctant to be associated with this (Headley's India operations) then he (Headley) should appeal to his (Rana's) sense of patriotism towards Pakistan," he testified.



"But Rana was not reluctant and he agreed readily for me to go to India," Headley said.

Headley also revealed that Rana had visited Mumbai before the terror attacks.



"I advised Rana to leave India before the attacks as I was afraid that he would be in danger," he told the court.



Headley also disclosed that Rana had asked Raymond Sanders (who ran an immigrant law centre in Chicago) to submit an application to the RBI to open a bank account for their office in India.

However, RBI turned down the request, he said.



Later, in January 2009, Major Iqbal told Headley to close down his office in India, the court was told.

Earlier on Tuesday, Headley had told the court that terror outfits like LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hizbul Mujahideen were given moral, financial and military support by the Pakistani intelligence agency besides making fresh revelations including about an aborted plan to target Indian defence scientists and famous Siddhivinayak temple here.



He said he was working for ISI besides LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba) and that he knew about ISI official Brigadier Riyaz being the handler of LeT's top commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, who was the mastermind of the November 26, 2008 attacks in Mumbai.



He named three officials of the Pakistan army and ISI --Colonel Shah, Lt Colonel Hamza and Major Samir Ali - besides retired army officer Abdul Rehman Pasha who was closely working with LeT and Al-Qaeda.



Headley said his assessment was that ISI and LeT were coordinating with each other.

"ISI provides financial, military and moral support to terror outfits Jaish-e-Mohammed, LeT and Hizbul Mujaideen," he said, even though he claimed that his opinion was formed on the basis of hearsay.



Headley, who had visited Mumbai seven times to scout for targets, revealed that plans to harm the metropolis had started over a year before the attacks in 2008 and that LeT initially wanted to attack a conference of Indian defence scientists at Taj Mahal Hotel for which even a dummy of the hotel was prepared.



But the plan to target scientists was dropped because of logistical reasons, like difficulty in smuggling in weapons and personnel and lack of details about the schedule of the meet, he said.



The LeT operative had said he had also conducted a recce of the famous Siddhivinayak Temple and Naval air station.



He said the LeT group as a whole is responsible for the terror attacks in India and it can be speculated that all orders come from Lakhvi since he is its "top commander".



He had also told the court that he was a "true follower" of LeT, and said that ISI official Brigadier Riyaz was the handler of Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi. When shown a photograph of Lakhvi, the LeT operative had identified him.



The LeT operative said he had been asked by Pakistan's ISI to recruit Indian armymen to spy for them.



About plan to target Siddivinayak Temple, Headley said, "Sajid Mir (Headley's handler in LeT) specifically asked me to make a "video" of it.



Prior to November 2007, he said, the targets in Mumbai had not been decided.
People living in east and north Delhi have something to cheer about as the few protesting municipal sanitation workers unions finally called off their strike on the 15th day on Wednesday.





The striking employees unions said they have called off their agitation till Monday.

We are calling off the strike today to save people from further inconvenience and the sanitation workers will resume their duties immediately. We think the court will give a positive decision on Monday, said Sanjay Gehlot, president of Swatantra Mazdoor Vikas Sanyukt Morcha.



Only a few sanitation employees unions were continuing their agitation. On Monday, a majority of safai karamcharis and engineers suspended their agitation over unpaid wages till Wednesday.



Employees unions agreed before the High Court to call off their protest on the condition that salaries would be credited to their accounts within next two days. Soon after the court order, municipal auto-tippers could be seen lifting garbage from the streetside dumps.



While doctors had resumed their duties on Friday, municipal teachers and other employees had ended their protests on Saturday.



People heaved a sigh of relief as they have been waiting for the strike to get over for a long time.

Epidemic-like situation



Its so good to see sanitation employees back on work. Garbage can be seen littered everywhere in the limits of east Delhi. If the strike would have continued for a couple of days more, we would be facing an epidemic-like situation, said Sourav Rohilla, who lives in east Delhis New Ashok Nagar.



Garbage has been piling up near the market due to the ongoing strike. Its a much-needed relief to Delhiites, especially east and north Delhi residents, said Arvind Ravi, a Shahadra resident.



We were also facing traffic woes due to the garbage littered on roadside, he added.

Fund-starved North and East corporations employee,s including sanitation workers, teachers and engineers, went on strike on January 27 demanding timely payment of salaries and clearance of arrears.



On January 30, doctors, nurses and paramedical staff joined the agitation. Even sanitation workers of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation struck work showing solidarity with their co-workers.

On Wednesday last week, the city government offered a bailout package of Rs 693 crore, of which 551 crore was in the form of loan, to the North and East corporations to be able to pay salaries to their employees.



Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the education budget would be readjusted to arrange the Rs 551 crore loan.



Some days later, Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung gave Rs 300 crore loan from Delhi Development Agency to both the municipalities.


Pakistan's powerful army chief General Raheel Sharif has accused "hostile" foreign intelligence agencies of providing financial support to terrorists operating in the country.





"Terrorists are being funded externally by hostile intelligence agencies and have their sympathisers at home who provide them shelter and refuge," Raheel said while addressing the Corps Commanders Conference held in Rawalpindi yesterday.



"We will defeat the nefarious designs of our enemies and eliminate terrorists from Pakistan's soil," he said.



Raheel, 59, did not specify the agencies or the countries allegedly involved in supporting militancy in Pakistan.



This was the third time this month that Raheel, whose tenure ends in November this year, has accused foreign intelligence services of providing support to terrorists operating in the country.

Earlier last week, he had emphasised the role of foreign spy agencies in fueling terrorism in Pakistan during a meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.



He also blamed "regional and global powers" for fighting proxy wars in Balochistan during a peace seminar in the strife-torn province's capital city Quetta.



He said that Pakistan has achieved significant successes in its military operation Zarb-e-Azb, but the war against terrorism was complex and required steadfast and unified response.



Military said in a statement that the conference reviewed internal and regional security situation including reconciliation in Afghanistan and security of the China- sponsored USD 46 billion ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).



Raheel also said that all efforts and resources will be employed to bring about lasting stability and socio economic revival for prosperity and well-being of displaced people in terrorism affected areas.


Prime Minister Narendra Modi today condoled the demise of Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad, who was extricated alive six days after an avalanche hit his post in Siachen Glacier, saying he has left "us sad and devastated".





"He leaves us sad & devastated. RIP Lance Naik Hanamanthappa. The soldier in you remains immortal. Proud that martyrs like you served India," Modi tweeted.



The soldier died today, three days after he was miraculously rescued alive from beneath tonnes of snow at a height of 19,600 feet after the February 3 avalanche hit.



The 33-year-old soldier of the 19th Battalion of Madras Regiment is survived by his wife

Mahadevi Ashok Bilebal and two-year-old daughter Netra Koppad.



A resident of village Betadur in Dharwad district of Karnataka, Koppad had joined the army 13 years back. The condition of Koppad, who was admitted to Army Research and Referral Hospital here on February 9, had deteriorated yesterday.



Congress President Sonia Gandhi also expressed deep shock and profound grief over the death of Koppad.



"During his life, the braveheart son of India united the entire nation in praying for him and has every citizen grieving for him today," she said.



"He fought till his last displaying utmost valour, courage and determination, which is the hallmark of our Armed Forces," she said in a message extending her deepest condolence to Koppad's family and loved ones.



Condoling Koppad's death, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed her sadness.



"Saddened by news of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. Brave soldier gave supreme sacrifice for the nation. Salute to him & his colleagues who died," Banerjee tweeted.


More young citizens would soon be able to enlist themselves as voters as the Law Ministry has drafted a bill to have multiple cut-off dates to ensure that people who turn 18 are able to register in the electoral rolls twice a year.





As of now, for an election to be held in a particular year, only an individual who has attained the age of 18 years as on January 1 of that year or before is eligible to be enrolled in the voters' list. Now, July 1 could be the second cut-off date.



While the Election Commission had been pushing for four cut-off dates to register as voters, the government has agreed to have two.



EC told the government that the January 1 cut-off date set for the purpose deprives several youths from participating in the electoral exercise held in a particular year.



The frequently asked question section on the website of Delhi Chief Electoral Officer explains the concept of cut-off or qualifying date.



"Which is the relevant date for determining the age qualification of 18 years? Suppose, you have completed 18 years of age today. Can you get yourself registered as voter?



"According to Section 14 (b) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, the qualifying date means the first day of January of the year in which the electoral roll is prepared or revised."



Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi had recently said that "as a result (of having one cut-off date), if a person is becoming 18 years on January 2, he cannot be registered. Therefore, a person who is turning 18 beyond January 1 will have to wait for next year to get registered."



At a meeting held last month between Zaidi had top Law Ministry officials, the government had agreed for two cut-off dates.



The Commission proposed that instead of only one qualifying date for enrollment, there should be four different dates (January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1) for enrollment so that maximum number of people can be enrolled.



The Law Ministry suggested that instead of four dates, "we may introduce two dates. Accordingly, the Commission proposed that January 1 and July 1 may be specified as qualifying dates for enrollment by amending electoral laws", EC had said in a statement after the meeting.



EC's proposal had earlier run into legal hurdles as government was of the view that that it would need a constitutional amendment. But now, the EC and the Law Ministry have agreed that the Representation of the People Act would only have be amended by a simple bill.


090216CENTRAL NOT HAPPY WITH SECRET VISIT

By Aloysius Laukai



The Central Bougainville Combined Council of Elders Chairmen have voiced their concerns on people visiting Central Bougainville especially to PANGUNA without their knowledge.

Chairman for the Chairmen, JOHN DONA said from Arawa today that his group were not happy high profile visitors were by passing local authorities and going straight to Panguna and other places in Central Bougainville.

He said that the recent visit by the British High Commissioner was just one example of what has been happening in the past.

MR. DONA said these high profile officers can be properly accorded Kieta traditional welcome if his chief knew of their trip to Central Bougainville.

He called on organizers of such trips to make sure local government are included in such trips in future because if something happens to them they are the ones to be blamed for.



Ends


An out-of-court settlement was proposed to the victim of the alleged sexual harrassment case involving TERI's newly-appointed executive vice chairman R K Pachauri, investigators told Delhi High Court today.



The Delhi Police, which was asked to file a status report on the progress of its investigation, said that TERI Director Sanjai Joshi conceded during interrogation that he has indeed talked to victim's friend Rahul Singh for an out-of-court settlement.



The status report was filed in the matter in which the victim, a former TERI employee, has sought quashing of anticipatory bail of Pachauri in the case.



The High Court today reserved its order on her plea in the sexual harrassment case. The status report also said that TERI's area convener Reena Singh was also interrogated in her office and she had stated that she had never spoken about any settlement with Rahul Singh and was only giving her comments.



Both Joshi and Reena Singh maintained that their talks with Rahul Singh was casual, the report said. In the report, it was clarified that Joshi was categorical that Pachauri never pressurised him to talk about out-of-court settlement.



"Director TERI Sanjai Joshi joined investigation and he was interrogated. He stated that he talked with Rahul Singh, it was a very casual conversations during his visit to his workstation in TERI. It was stated only to save the image of organisation before the media," the police said in its report filed before the bench of Justice S P Garg.



The report further said that Joshi had also stated that he has never been asked by Pachauri or any other person of TERI to talk for settling the matter and he had not pressurised Rahul Singh, who is the complainant's friend.



Police also told the court that another TERI official was out of country on an official tour and he will be examined after he returns to India. Rahul Singh had filed a complaint with the police on January 12 alleging that senior directors and area convenor of TERI had approached him to get the victim settle the matter out of court.



"Pachauri's continuing presence at the top is completely antithetical to our convictions as alumni and graduates of TERI University. We would like to make it explicitly clear that we are not in a position to accept our degrees from him at the upcoming convocation on March 7, 2016.

"We reiterate, that the trajectory that the university is taking is dangerous and grossly inconsiderate and as alumni, we sincerely hope that the TERI University Board of Management may seriously re-evaluate Pachauri's continuing role as Chancellor of the university," the alumni wrote in their letter.



They said that it is only the "basic and essential" good practice that he (Pachauri) may immediately recuse himself from the post of chancellor and cease involvement in TERI University matters pending completion of legal proceedings.



Trouble mounted for Pachauri, already in the thick of a legal battle over sexual harassment allegations, when another woman, a former employee of TERI, yesterday came out in public making similar accusations while demands were made for putting on hold his fresh appointment as its Executive Vice Chairman.



The woman, to whom he had allegedly made sexual advances more than 10 years ago, also slammed TERI for appointing Pachauri to the higher position.



Yesterday, a group of former TERI employees and its University Alumni had also condemned the fresh appointment of Pachauri, saying it was a "slap" on the face of those fighting against gender discrimination and demanded deferment of his elevation till the case was decided by the court. The group had condemned the elevation under the banner of 'A few concerned ex-TERI employees and members of TERI University Alumni network'.


The NSG lost an experienced counter-IED officer to a deadly booby trap in the Pathankot terror attack as the terrorists used an innovative technique whose antidote was not included in the Standard Operating Procedure of the elite counter-terror force.



After losing the "brilliant" officer Lt Col Niranjan EK, the NSG has now decided to revise its Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for defusing bombs and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), a senior NSG official said here today.



"Recently, we had an incident at Pathankot where a grenade was used as a booby trap and unfortunately NSG lost one of its brilliant officers. In this case, everything that was there in SOP was followed but the terrorists used an innovative thing which somehow was not included in the SOP and that perhaps led to this unfortunate incident.



"We are now revising our SOPs. We have learnt our lessons and we will incorporate(new things). The scope for improvement is always there. No one can say that the SOP or the procedure which is prescribed right now cannot be improved. Once we have this experience, we keep on updating these SOPs," NSG chief R C Tayal said while addressing an international seminar on combating the menace of IEDs.



The NSG Director General (DG), however, maintained that Niranjan, an experienced and highly-trained Commanding Officer of the Bomb Disposal and Detection Unit, had followed all laid down SOPs while sanitising the bodies of the four terrorists, killed in the attack on IAF base on January 3.



"He (Niranjan) followed the SOP," said the top National Security Guard (NSG) commander, as he vouched for his competence and professional acumen. According to senior officials of the NSG bomb data centre, Niranjan was probably the only officer who had a wide-range of experience in conducting back-to-back anti-sabotage and sanitisation checks on live bombs, including defusing IEDs found in Patna and Bodh Gaya in Bihar, Bangalore and Burdwan in West Bengal.



The DG said a grenade that took the FBI-trained officer's life was concealed very cleverly by the terrorists. The brave officer had sanitised two bodies and was working on the third when the fatal blast claimed his life.



While the DG said the NSG had taken along a "plenty" of bomb suits to the IAF airbase under attack, Niranjan was wearing only a bullet-proof jacket as per the SOP. SOP says only the person who uses the line-hook method to check for a booby trap on a terrorist's body wears a bomb suit while others, wearing bullet-proof jackets, stand at a safe distance before getting the go ahead to personally frisk the body from the first person.



"The same SOP was followed on the body of third terrorist. It was first approached by a person wearing bomb suit, but the booby trap on his body did not go off. This is actually what happened.



"In fact, it was a tightly packed grenade in the ammunition pouch which went off in his (Niranjan's) right hand after its lever was pressed, the moment it was taken off from the terrorist's body," Tayal said.



Niranjan's lungs got punctured due to impact of the blast and he died before being taken to a hospital. Addressing the seminar, the DG said threat of IEDs to the lives of civilians and security forces personnel is going to be "very high" in India and other parts of the world as this technique of killing and maiming people is a "no risk, high return" activity on the part of the terrorists and has also become their preferred weapon.



He said the modern-day terror mind was learning such techniques from easily available resources over the internet. "In India, we live in a dangerous neighbourhood where terror incidents have increased exponentially and this region has become a terror hot-spot. I am saying this because there is hardly any day when we don't have an IED blast or a terrorist incident in our neighbourhood. When I talk about neighbourhood, I am including the area which are influenced by ISIS menace," he said.



Noting that last year there were 268 incidents of IED blast worldwide in which 117 people were killed, the NSG chief said "In India, we recognise that the IED threat is going to continue and it is also going to be very high and probably in other parts of the world too."



He said as state police forces are the first responders in the incidents of terror attacks or when an IED is found in a busy place, the NSG has trained a number of them and have tried to address the "gaps" in their capacities.



Tayal praised the role of multiple agencies during the Pathankot attack, saying all inputs and intelligence information was shared with them. Chief guest of the event former Meghalaya Governor R S Mooshahary said procuring material for IEDs was no longer a difficult task. He said sometimes it is very difficult to detect these devices.



"It's (IEDs) use is not limited to terrorists these days, even protesters are also using these devices," Mooshshary, a former chief of the NSG and the Border Security Force said addressing the seminar.



He added some of the old mechanisms may not be able to detect the new generation devices and there is no fit-for-all situation. "Technology in the hands of revengeful hearts can be used for mass destruction," he said, adding the NSG is not the first responder in case of an IED explosion but it is the professional responder. Calling such bombs a "rag-tag device", he said former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was a casualty of the IED expertise of LTTE.
A visit to the world famous Yellowstone National Park (YsNP) in United States of America is a dream come true for any forest enthusiast, geologist, nature lover or photographer. A treasure trove of nature and wonder, I couldnt believe the magic that lay before my eyes when I went for a two-day tour in July 2013 with my family.





Located primarily in the state of Wyoming, the National Park has a diverse ecosystem comprising lakes, canyons, rivers, mountain ranges and sub-alpine forests. Three deep canyons are located in the park, cut through the volcanic tuff of the Yellowstone Plateau by rivers.



The Lewis River flows through Lewis Canyon in the south and the Yellowstone River has carved two colourful canyons. We saw many wonderful active volcanoes in the form of geysers, hot springs and mud pots. The most attractive geyser we saw is the Old Faithful Geyser (OFG).



It is named so as it has remained as it was, since it was discovered and faithfully continues to thrill visitors though others are drying up. It remains active with low emission of steam. At an interval of about 67 minutes, it starts to emit hot water. The geyser then erupts in full swing to a height of 130-145 feet to the surprise of on-lookers for five minutes and gradually goes back to dormancy.



The process repeats about 20 times per day. It is one of the most popular geothermal features in the park. My visit to the other geysers, mud pots and hot springs at Black Sand Basin, Biscuit Basin, Lower Geyser Basin, Norris Geyser Basin, Mammoth Terraces, West Thump Geyser Basin, Dragon Mouth and Sulphur Caldron were breathtaking.



The biggest highlight was Lake Yellowstone, a beauty queen of nature with blue waters, surrounded by mountains and thick forests. It is one of the largest high-altitude lakes in North America and is centered over the Yellowstone Caldera, the largest super volcano on the continent.



After the lake is a den of American bisons with open meadows and saddles in between hill ranges, nursing rich pine forests till it reaches the wonderful region of rugged the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. This valley is famous for sighting bisons, elks, grizzly bears and birds.



The Yellowstone River drops at two places; the Upper Falls and Lower Falls. The YsNP service has made arrangements to watch falls from either side of the Upper Falls. The South Rim gives a full view of the falls and the North Rim takes visitors right on to the head of the falls.



We saw a spectacular view from the South Rim at Artist Point and the view of the falls of the gorge from the North Rim at Point of Inspiration. Two trails to the base of Lower Water Falls from either rim of the Canyon are fascinating walking trails for trekkers. We also saw a vast expanse of flora and fauna.



Over 1,700 species of trees and other vascular plants are native to the park. Another 170 species are considered to be exotic and Lodgepole Pine forests cover 80 percent of the total forested areas. There are almost 60 species of mammals in the park, including the grey wolf and the threatened lynx.



Other large mammals include the bison, black bear, elk, moose, mule deer, white-tailed deer, mountain goat, pronghorn, bighorn sheep, and mountain lion and 311 species of birds. We could see, enjoy and take photographs of four big herds of bisons at Hudson Valley along the river Yellowstone, in addition to sighting of solitary bison at several places.



While returning from the Grand Canyon, a bull bison was found struck in between the flowing traffic of visitors. We were lucky to see it as close as five ft away when it was walking along the median of the road for a while. This indicates that wild animals can adjust to the moving visitors and traffic.



The National Park Service maintains nine visitor centres and museums, many of the other 2,000 buildings and the development of the park. Campfire programmes, guided walks and other interpretive presentations are available at numerous locations in the summer and on a limited basis during other seasons.



There are 500 km of paved road and 1,800 km of hiking trails available. We often take the beauties beneath the surface of the Earth for granted. Little did I realise that I could unearth the magic beneath Mother Earth. It was fascinating to get a glimpse into the internal activities and even though I am back, the treasures are still within me.



BMT Rajeev

(Rtd IFS Officer)



(The author can be contacted at bmt.rajeev.ifs@gmail.com)
Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf today said ISI trains LeT and Jaish militants and terror attacks in India will not stop until New Delhi addresses the "core" issue of Kashmir.



"Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) trains Jaish-e- Mohammad (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists," said Musharraf.



"Pakistan army is not training civilians. Intelligence organisation on our side as well as on your side is involved," he said in an interview to India Today TV.



When asked if he sees any progress in the Indo-Pak peace process, Musharraf said, "Everything will stop if you address the core issue. The unfortunate terrorists acts and the militancy will continue unless we address the core issue. That is what you don't want to do," he said.



"Kashmir continues to arouse sentiments in Pakistan," the 72-year-old former president said as he defended terrorist activities in India.



"Anyone who is fighting in Kashmir is a freedom fighter," he said.

"I don't think we will move forward on the core issue. You don't want. You want to bulldoze us, you want to bully us and you want to dominate us. You only want to talk about issues concern you like terrorism, Mumbai and Pathankot. So I don't feel, core issues are moving forward," he said when asked to comment on Foreign Secretary-level talks that were postponed after Pathankot attack.



Speaking on Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley, who is currently deposing before a Mumbai court in connection with the 26/11 attack case, Musharraf said, "I don't believe anything that Headley had said... Pakistan intelligence should interrogate Headley."



When asked about JeM chief Mesood Azhar, who was involved in two attacks against Musharraf himself, the former military general said, "Anyone who is doing any other act in Pakistan like, I know that he attacks me, is a terrorist certainly. Therefore I call him a terrorist."



"LeT and Hafiz Saeed are not involved in terror activities in Pakistan," he said.

He said India derailed peace process every time and wants to discuss only terrorism.

"You create hysteria in your country against Pakistan. Whenever we try to speak ....You want to bulldoze us to whatever is your point of view.



He also accused India's intelligence agency RAW for carrying out attacks in Pakistan from Afghanistan.
Counter-terrorism officers in the Metropolitan Police are increasingly concerned that so-called Islamic States foothold in Libya could become a second springboard, after Syria, for attacks on the UK and the rest of Europe.





As the US-led coalition steps up air strikes on IS positions in Syria and Iraq, there are growing fears that the IS enclave around the Libyan city of Sirte is providing a safe haven in which jihadists can train, fund and plan attacks across the Mediterranean. So how real is this threat?



Last week the US State Department and the Pentagon jointly raised their estimate of the number of foreign jihadists with IS in Libya to 4,000-6,000. They believe large numbers are being recruited from African countries to the south, helped by cash inducements.



There is no question that Libya offers IS a convenient second base after Syria, something it started scouting out as far back as 2014 by covertly sending emissaries to make contact with jihadists in the east of the country.



Libya today is awash with powerful weapons and there are unlimited places in which to train jihadists for future terrorist attacks, with little chance of being disrupted by any kind of central authority, because there isnt one.



Both IS and Western governments have made much of Libyas proximity to southern Europe, pointing out that it brings the group geographically much closer to the West than its bases in Raqqa or Mosul.



But in fact, when it comes to access to Europe, Libya is a lot less convenient for IS than it appears on the map. On its western border, the Tunisian government has just completed the first part of a border security barrier aimed at preventing the sort of devastating attacks on tourists carried out in Tunis and Sousse last year.



There will still be ways round the fence, further to the south, but it makes the international crossing much harder. Libya shares a long, 989km western border with Algeria, but the authorities there have been assiduous in pursuing Islamist groups inside their borders and have assigned thousands of extra troops to patrol the Libyan border.



To the east is Egypt, where the secular government of President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has vowed to crush the Islamist insurgency in his country and where Apache helicopter gunships patrol the western desert close to the Libyan border.



To the north is, of course, the Mediterranean, hardly an impenetrable barrier, but Western analysts still assess that IS will be reluctant to risk sending trained operatives by sea on a boat overloaded with migrants if they can find a safer way into Europe.



That still leaves nearby Malta and the wide open borders to the south but the latter entails a gruelling journey across the Sahara Desert and the risk of arrest in a Sahel country such as Niger or Chad.



Turkeys blind eye



Compare this with the ease with which IS jihadists and recruits have been able to travel between Syria and Europe.



Those heading for Raqqa in Syria have been able to buy cheap plane tickets to Istanbul, pretending they are going on holiday, with no need for a Turkish visa in advance, then meet up with a fixer who directs them to either a bus or internal plane journey down to a border town like Gaziantep.



From there, smugglers who know every loophole in the border take them across into IS territory. Meanwhile, contrary to the initial assessment of European intelligence agencies, a small number of IS operatives heading the other way have been able to hide themselves among the mass movement of migrants travelling from West Asia and up through the Balkans into western Europe.



Today the Turkish-Syrian border is a rather less benign crossing point for IS jihadists. Kurdish militia groups control much of the Syrian side of that border while Turkey, which has long been accused of turning a blind eye to jihadists passing through, has now tightened up its border controls significantly.



So where does this leave Libya and the possibility, as feared by the Met Police, that the situation on the ground there will lead to a new wave of attacks on the UK and Europe?



UK officials in Whitehall say that until now there is no evidence of IS operatives leaving Libya to target Europe, nor of attack planning on the UK from Sirte, the IS centre of operations in Libya.



But they also caution that IS in Libya is still on an upward curve in terms of growth and consolidating its powerbase. Just as IS in Syria and Iraq first concentrated its efforts on taking territory and disposing of local enemies, IS in Libya is currently doing the same.



But the expectation in Western capitals is that once that phase is over it will be only a matter of time before attacks are planned and dispatched from Libya.We know its coming down the track, said one official. Its just a question of when.
The Dharwad bench of Karnataka High Court has sentenced a tahsildar to five years jail for taking a bribe for khata transfer. The court has also awarded three years jail to a Revenue department employee for aiding and abetting the crime.





In 2010, Shyamanna Madar of Hanumasagar in Kushtagi taluk in Raichur had filed an application before the then tahsildar of Kushtagi Maranna for the transfer of the khata of a property.



The tahsildar had demanded a bribe of Rs 10,000 for the same and had told the applicant to give the bribe amount to his assistant Veeresh Mangalore.



The applicant had lodged a Lokayukta complaint in this regard. The Lokayukta police had laid a trap and caught the assistant red-handed while accepting the bribe money.



The Lokayukta police had filed a charge sheet in the case in Koppal court. The court, however, discharged the accused for want of evidence. The Lokayukta police had filed a criminal appeal at Dharwad bench of High Court challenging the order of the lower court.



Justice S Satyanarayana, who heard the appeal, found tahsildar Maranna guilty under Sections 7 and 13(2) of Prevention of Corruption Act and sentenced the official to five years jail and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000.



The court also found assistant Veeresh guilty under Section 8 of PCA and awarded him three-year jail term and imposed a fine of Rs 5,000. Mallikarjuna Swamy Hiremath had represented Lokayukta police in the case.
Union Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda on Thursday hit out at Siddaramaiah saying that if the chief minister auctioned himself, even his family members would not bid for him.





Speaking to reporters while campaigning for the BJP candidate for the Hebbal Assembly bypoll in Bengaluru, Gowda said, The chief minister has said he is ready to sell his watch for Rs five lakh. Leave alone his watch, even if he auctions himself, his family will not bid for him.



Gowda said Siddaramaiah was the worst chief minister the State had ever seen. He has neglected Bengaluru and the State. He calls himself a socialist and claims that he leads a simple life. Is wearing a watch worth Rs 70 lakh a simple way of life, Gowda asked.



The Union Minister pointed out that Siddaramaiah had said the watch was gifted to him by a friend. For such an expensive gift, what sort of favour must the friend have received? Gowda questioned.
110216 Bougainville Red Cross to embark on a major fund raising drive for this year 2016.

By Joe. Elijah

The Bougainville Business Association in partnership with the Bougainville Red Cross branch here in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville will soon launch off its annual fund raising drive for its calendar year 2016.

The fund raising drive is one of Bougainvilles major fundraising activities which jointly and undertaken by every Business Houses in Bougainville raise much needed funds to manage, operate and use as its reserves to use in time of both man made and the natural disaster situation.

The last joint fund raising drive by both groups took place nearly a decade ago, the reactivation of this program is expected to have an increase number of people joining the Bougainville Red Cross Branch.

It is understood that in every Red Cross Branch throughout the country, 15% goes to the Headquarter while the remaining stays back to its branches for their management expenditure.

Once executives from both groups meet, a date for the launching will be set, to kick off the 2016 annual fund raising drive covering the three Regions of Bougainville.

Ends


In a series of statements before a Mumbai court on Thursday, David Headley said the al Qaeda network had appreciated his work during the 26/11 terror attacks.



The Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorist who doubled up as an agent of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the Pakistani spy agency, admitted that he knew Ilyas Kashmiri, who was once considered to be a possible successor of Osama bin Laden, founder of al Qaeda.

Kashmiri was killed on June 3, 2011, in a US drone attack in Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan bordering Afghanistan.

Yes, I knew him, he said, responding to a query from Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam whether he knew Kashmiri.

Asked whether he had discussed the terror attack with Kashmiri, he said, I did and when told to specify what was the latters reaction, he said, he (Kashmiri) was very happy, he said shabash (well done).

Asked where he met him, Headley said it was in Waziristan. Asked whether he was aware of the 313 Brigade operating the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), he said: Thats the name of his group.

He also identified the photo of Kashmiri and said that he was aware of the Jund al-Fida, the army of the fidayeen, which was part of Kashmiris network.

When asked whether he was aware what happened to Kashmiri, he said: I think he passed away.

When pressed further with a how, he said: I am imprisoned, you may be having better information.

He also specified as 2005-06 the period when his contact Major Abdul Rehman Pasha joined the al Qaeda.
The Karnataka State Medical Lab Technologists Association has organised the Karnataka State 3rd Medical Laboratory Technicians conference in the City on February 14.





Advanced technologies and methods used in conducting blood tests, expert talks on need for giving reports of blood tests conducted to detect dengue, malaria, chikungunya, tuberculosis and HIV, employment of persons with no skills that a lab technician ought to have and challenges faced by technicians in public and private sectors, are among the topics that would be discussed.



The conference would be held at the Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences, Bengaluru, and would be inaugurated by Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers, H N Ananth Kumar.
Latching on to David Headleys deposition that Ishrat Jahan was a Lashkar-e-Toiba operative, the BJP has demanded apology from the Congress first family for targeting Narendra Modi to defame and fix him during his previous stint as Gujarat chief minister.





Jahan was killed by the Gujarat Police in 2004 when Modi was chief minister and BJP president Amit Shah was home minister. Shah was also made accused but subsequently discharged by the courts in a case where Gujarat cops were accused of killing her in a fake encounter.Accusing the Congress of targeting Narendra Modi over her killing at the cost of national security, the BJP said that if Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul had any shame left, they should apologise to the nation.



Headleys deposition that she was a LeT suicide bomber has unmasked those who do politics over terrorism. We do not expect any morality from the Congress. But if Sonia and her son Rahul Gandhi, who is a champion in politics of conspiracy, have any shame left, then they must apologise to the nation, BJP general secretary Shrikant Sharma said.



Sharma also demanded that the Congress leadership should apologise to the police personnels families as well since they were put behind the bars for killing these terrorists in encounter.
The funeral of Lance Naik Hanmanthappa Koppad, who died in Delhi on Thursday after being pulled out alive from an avalanche in Siachen, will be held at the land adjacent to the gram panchayat office in Betadur on Friday.





Dharwad Deputy Commissioner Rajendra Cholan told reporters that this was decided after consulting his family and village elders. The fallen solider would be given a state funeral, for which a team of 20 soldiers from the Maratha Light Infantry Regimental Centre from Belagavi will arrive.



The mortal remains of Hanmanthappa arrived at the Hubballi airport at around 10.30 pm, and was received by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. Later, the body was kept at the Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) mortuary.



The district administration has also made preparations for people to pay their final respects to Koppad at the Nehru Stadium in Hubballi from 7 am on Friday and at Betadur Government High School after 11.30 am. The body of Koppad will be taken in a procession from Hubballi to his home village.
The Mumbra-based family of Ishrat Jahan on Thursday dismissed the statement of Pakistani-American David Headley who claimed that she was an LeT terrorist.





This is being done to save someone, Ishrats mother Shamima Kauser said. My daughter was innocent...she was killed (in a fake encounter), she said. When asked who would do this, she said: I do not know....all we know is that she was innocent.



Ishrats sister Nushrat said Headleys statement should not be believed. My sister was innocent, she said.



Ishrats uncle Rauf Lala said Headleys statement was not shocking. He is in the 26/11 case...he is giving evidence on 26/11 case...this is in a court of Mumbai, our case is in the Gujarat High Court, he said. After 15 questions, he did not answer. So (Ujwal) Nikam saab came out with three names and Headley selected one he said. This is not something new, five years ago also such a statement has come from Headley, it does not matter what he states....Ishrat Jahan is innocent and this is proved, added Lala.
The control room of the 26/11 Mumbai terror operations was in Karachi, ISI-LeT operative David Coleman Headley said on Thursday, but feigned ignorance where exactly it was housed.





However, he confirmed that Lashkar operatives were in touch with the 10 fidayeens who were carrying out the attack from November 26 to 29, 2008.



Head of organisation

To a question, he said while Hafiz Saeed was the overall head of the organisation, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi was the controller of military operations.



Asked who was next in command to Lakhvi, he said it was Abu Al Kama. When asked whether he is Mazhar Iqbal, he said: I dont know his real name.



Introduction

Asked how he got introduced to him, he said it was at a meeting in Muridke, but he did not have any conversation with him. To a question as to who all were present in the meeting, he gave the names of Hafiz Saeed and Lakhvi and said he does not remember others as it was in 2003.



Asked does at any point of time, he knew about Al Kamas role, he said he came to know after the 26/11 attacks. Sajid Mir played (a clip) in the laptop....we were in a vehicle in Rawalpindi...he was showing how Indian media covered it. Voices of two persons were heard...Abu Kama and Abu Khafa, he said, a reference that they were directing the operations from the control room.



Asked whether Sajid Mir was happy, he said he was and when asked about himself, Headley replied: I also got happy.



1.Headley said he does not know Abu Saria, who is shown as one of the 35 wanted accused in the charge sheet filed by the Mumbai Police Crime Branch.



2.It sounds familiar, but I dont know him, I dont remember, he said.



3. He denied knowing Colonel R Sadaatullah, but said he knows Captain Khuraam. He felt that we (Pakistani Army) were assisting the US in the FATA, he spoke of Capt Khuraam and said that he was from the Special Services Group.


A three-day World Culture Festival to be organised by Sri Sri Ravishankars Art of Living Foundation here next month has hit a roadblock with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) admitting a plea to stop the mega event on the Yamuna floodplains.





Hearing on a petition filed by Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan convener Manoj Mishra, a bench headed by NGT chairman Justice Swatanter Kumar on Thursday directed the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to submit to it all documents on the basis of which permission was granted for the event to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.



The NGT bench also sought the DDA to carry out an inspection of the events venue and submit a report to it in a week, issuing notices to the Delhi government as well as Art of Living Foundation asking for their response.



While the cultural festival is to be inaugurated by Modi on March 11, President Pranab Mukherjee will be attending the valedictory function on March 13, according to the Art of Living Foundations website.



The mega event is scheduled to be held in Mayur Vihar area of East Delhi to mark 35 years of The Art of Living Foundation. The venue for the festival will cover an area of 1000 acres and will witness the worlds largest stage set-up spread over an area of 7 acres, a press statement issued on behalf of the Art of Living said.



In his petition, Mishra accused the Art of Living Foundation of having started some construction work on the Yamuna floodplains for holding the event in violation of NGT orders.



It is stated that the Art of Living International Center recently started construction on the Yamuna floodplains for organising the festival from March 11-13. For which, illegal and unauthorised dumping and construction in the active floodplains of river Yamuna in Delhi is taking place over some 25 hectares upstream of the DND flyway, a news agency reported, quoting from Mishras petition.
The Supreme Court on Thursday held that a state government can suspend mobile internet service in special circumstances, including a threat to law and order, while confirming the Gujarat High Court order, which allowed such a move during the Patel quota agitation.





A bench of Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice R Banumathi rejected a contention by advocate Apar Gupta appearing for petitioner Gaurav Sureshbhai Vyas, who claimed that prohibitory orders issued under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code cannot be extended to mobile internet services as there is special Telegraph Act to deal with it.



The bench said there can be concurrent power and sometimes it becomes necessary to impose such a ban due to law and order situation.



The high court had in September 15 dismissed a PIL by Vyas seeking a declaration that ban on the mobile internet services, imposed for about 10 days during the agitation, as unconstitutional.



Reasonable restrictions

It had held that the state can put reasonable restrictions on freedom of speech and it cannot be said that the powers under Section 144 were exercised in arbitrary manner nor it can be said that there was perverse exercise of it without there being any objective material. Similar ban had earlier been imposed in Jammu and Kashmir.



FB shuts down Free Basics in India

Social networking giant Facebook on Thursday shut down its controversial Free Basics programme in India, days after telecom regulator Trai barred operators from charging differential rates for Internet access based on content.



Free Basics is no longer available to people in India, a Facebook spokesperson said, reports DHNS from New Delhi.



The service was offered in India in partnership with Reliance Communications and was earlier known as Internet.org. Earlier, the Trai had asked the RCom to put on hold the services till it announced decision on differential pricing.


Jedediah Smith, famous mountain man, trapper, explorer and map maker, may not have been the first white man to enter the Nevada area  some Spanish conquistadors most likely had crossed the same deserts and mountains before him  but Smith certainly was the first to spend any significant time exploring the region. He made two trips across Southern Nevada and one across sections of the central part of the state when all of it was just a blank area on any maps of the day.
Tainted environmentalist R K Pachauri on Thursday has gone on leave presumably to skip The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) Universitys convocation on March 7 after a group of students said they would not receive the degrees from the hands of Pachauri.





Pachauri is under scanner for two separate cases of sexual harassment involving former women employees of the institute.



While one sexual harassment case is being heard by the Delhi High Court, the complainant in the second case came out in the open once again on Wednesday as her police complaint did not make much headway in the last one year.



Pachauri has conveyed his decision of to the TERI Universitys acting vice chancellor Rajiv Seth.

His long-time aide Leena Srivastav is likely to serve as his stand-in during the convocation ceremony. Srivastav is university V-C ,who has been on sabbatical for the last few months.



The former TERI chiefs action follows a letter from TERI University alumni, who said they would not accept their degrees from Pachauri, who was appointed as the executive vice-chairman of TERI by the institute's board of governor earlier this week, despite the pending court case.



Pachauri is using all his political clout, media influence and networks to stall the judicial process, intimidate witnesses, coerce TERI colleagues and employees to persuade the complainant to withdraw her case and settle out of court as it would be better for her since she has nothing more to gain, they wrote in the letter.



As we take small steps in building our careers at different institutions of repute, it is becoming increasingly unviable for us to stay silent on this matter, which we consider to be an absolute contempt of principles, ethics and the law, they added.


Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi on Thursday urged the Supreme Court to consider their plea on February 12 for quashing the criminal complaint filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy.





A bench of Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice R Banumathi said they will look into it on Friday when the appeal filed by top Congress leaders including those by Motilal Vora, Suman Dubey and Sam Pitroda will come up for hearing.



Senior advocate Kapil Sibal mentioned the matter before the court, saying Swamy has informed him about his unavailability till Februrary 19, but the matter should not be adjourned as the next date of hearing in the trial court has been fixed on February 20.



In case the SC adjourned the hearing due to absence of Swamy and did not grant any interim relief, the Gandhis and other co-accused would have to appear again before the magisterial court here on February 20.



In their special leave petitions, the Congress leaders also sought direction to set aside December 7 order of the Delhi HC directing them to face the criminal prosecution for the offences of cheating, breach of trust, misappropriation of funds and criminal conspiracy in the acquisition of Associated Journals Limited, the publisher of National Herald, by a company called Young Indian Limited, in which the Gandhis hold 76 per cent shares.



The circulation and financial health of the National Herald, started in 1938 by Jawaharlal Nehru, steadily deteriorated over decades, leading to its closure in 2008.
The nervousness on Fayaz Hussains face was very evident when he took aim in the 50M rifle prone mens final. Not only was he competing in the final of an international event in his maiden appearance, he was also taking aim alongside an Olympic medal winner Gagan Narang and a skilful shooter in Chain Singh.





Hussain eventually succumbed to the nerves in the final, tumbling out at the first application of the cut after managing a score of 78.1 in his opening three sets of attempts. The 27-year-olds performance, however, was a commendable one considering the adversities he has overcome.



A corporal in the Maldives army, Hussain and the rest of his shooting contingent stepped onto a proper range for the first time in their careers. Theyve checked into the 12th South Asian Games by just honing their skills in an open area, hoping to use the trip to India as competition-cum-training exposure.



We dont have a range back home and Im just delighted having shot in a proper facility for the first time in my career, a delighted Hussain told Deccan Herald. We shooters  mostly army folks  built a practice facility by ourselves. Its an open area where the target is kept at the specified distance.



Weve fixed a CCTV camera to the target and watch our shots on a laptop next to us. There is no points calculation like you see in international competitions. Being an open area, we need to have proper weather to train. If it rains, then our training stands cancelled. If its hot, then too we cant train. Procuring ammunition is also an expensive affair. Im really happy with what Ive done today, gushed Hussain whose qualification score of 610.9 was a national record for his country.



Hussains team-mate Sumad Ibrahim too echoed the thoughts before adding that they are using this event as an exposure trip. India have got such top level shooters. Theres Gagan Narang, Abhinav Bindra, the list is big. We just met Gagan and took some valuable tips from him. We also met other shooters. Coming here and shooting with the Indians and the rest of them is big for us.



Abdulla Mohamed hoped they make more such trips in the future. Only when such events are staged, will we get a chance to shoot in the range. So this is big for us.
To check the flow of sewage into the Kundalahalli lake, members of Whitefield Rising and United Way of Bengaluru have come together to raise Rs 2 crore to set up a decentralised waste water treatment system without help from the government.





Spread over 30 acres, the Kundalahalli lake is located near KR Puram in Bengaluru East. The study indicates that the lake is polluted by concentrated sewage from the catchment and stormwater drains. The stormwater carries urban litter, plastic and other solid wastes which are discharged into the lake.



Sewage enters the lake from eight inlets. Arvind Keerthi from Whitefield Rising told Deccan Herald that the sewage treatment plant would be underground and needs no electricity. It functions based on gravitational flow. In the first phase, the work on an STP, which is able to treat 750 KLD of water, will be ready by June.



In the second phase, we will set up another treatment plant of a similar size. The recycled water will then be released into the lake, he said. The cost will be borne by private individuals and corporates, he said.



The proposed design states that the waste water will be treated using a decentralised treatment system, which is a combination of different waste water treatment technologies. This STP requires minimal maintenance and desludging of the anaerobic tanks is required only once in two years.
Calling for collective efforts to conserve water, former NASA scientist Dr Ashwin Mahesh on Thursday sought the support of the State government to fund the creation of Matthondu (another) Cauvery.





This, he said, is a realistic attempt towards making use of lake and rainwater instead of depending on River Cauvery.



In his speech at the annual water conference - Industry-Government-Community Partnerships for Sustainable Water Management, - Mahesh asked the government to allot Rs 150 crore in the next budget towards this.



Elaborating on Matthondu Cauvery scheme, he said the City itself can create another Cauvery. About 700 MLD of water could be used by improving just six lakes. Conserving 150 to 200 MLD of water is possible if 50 per cent of the Citys buildings instal rainwater harvesting facility. Adopting dual piping in industrial areas and in all future buildings would save 30 MLD. Behaviour modification and pricing reforms can save 200 MLD in 10 years, groundwater recharge can provide 500 MLD in 15 years and treated waste water 1,000 MLD in five years, he said.



Therefore, about 2,000 acres of lakes need to be used to serve the entire 8 million people, who will be added to the region in the next 20 years, he said. If rainwater harvesting facility and dual piping system would conserve 300 MLD of water, recharge of groundwater would save 20 MLD, he said and favoured treating waste water. All this would add up to 1,500 MLD, which would make the City self-sufficient in terms of water, he said.



For this, Mahesh asked the government to announce a comprehensive programme focused on all six aspects.



Minister for Bengaluru Development K J George sought the support of industries in conserving water. BWSSB chairman T M Vijay Bhaskar asked industries to use tertiary water. Jorn Rohde, the German Consul General, Bengaluru, said people in Germany started using tertiary water to wash car, after government increased water tariff. Only strict enforcement would help, he said.
In perhaps the most sensational and controversial claim so far, Pakistani-American terrorist and ISI agent David Coleman Headley on Thursday confirmed that Ishrat Jahan was a member of the Lashkar-e-Toiba and that she could be a suicide bomber.





The 56-year-old terrorists statements, made during his deposition before Additional Session Judge G A Sanap, who presides over anti-terrorism cases, resulted in a political blame-game between the BJP and Congress while the Thane-based family of Ishrat Jahan dismissed his claims by saying that the allegation was nothing new.



Ishrat Jahan (19) from Mumbra suburbs of Mumbai, her friend Pranesh Pillai alias Javed Sheikh along with two suspected Pakistanis  Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar  were gunned down by Gujarat police on June 15, 2004, near Ahmedabad. The group was to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi, then chief minister of Gujarat.



During the video-conferencing, Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, who is conducting examination-in-chief of Headley, gave out three names and asked to identify the female LeT operative among them.



I am giving three names Noorjehan Begum, Ishrat Jahan and Mumtaz Begum, Nikam said, to which Headley immediately replied: I think, the second one.



The disclosure started when Nikam asked whether there was a female wing of LeT, to which the approver replied in positive. Asked about the name of the head, he said I do not know, but she is mother of Abu Aiman. Asked what is the relationship between Aiman and Muzammil Butt  his handler before Sajid Mir  he said both fought together in Kashmir. Do you know any woman suicide member of LeT, he said No and immediately, to a supplementary on whether he can name any woman suicide member, he said, No. I cant. When asked whether LeT operations commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi told him about a botched-up operation of Muzammil, he said: Yes.



Asked to elaborate, he said: I don't remember, it was a shoot-out with police at a naka, picket.

Prodded further whether Lakhvi blamed Muzammil, he said no but added that he told the womans name. One female was killed in the shoot-out with the police, he added. It is at this stage that Headley was confronted with the three names and he picked the second one.



Asked which all states other than Kashmir in which the LeT carries out its activities, he said, Many states. About Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka, he said: My case is specific to Maharashtra, I dont know where Karnataka is in the map....Yes, this botched up operation was in Gujarat. When asked whether he had heard of Akshardham and Somnath temples, he replied in positive. Yes...I have heard about it. About Akashardham, Headley said: Some people talked out....Muzammil had planned (the attack). Asked what he did when he came to know about it, Headley said: I asked him... he told me that after the Babri incident, we are allowed to attack Akashardham temple...thats why he planned the attack.





There was one female who was killed in the shootout. I think she was Indian national and not a Pakistani, but was a LeT operative... I think it is Ishrat Jahan. David Coleman Headley






Bowalley Road Rules



The blogosphere tends to be a very noisy, and all-too-often a very abusive, place. I intend Bowalley Road to be a much quieter, and certainly a more respectful, place.

So, if you wish your comments to survive the moderation process, you will have to follow the Bowalley Road Rules.

These are based on two very simple principles:

Courtesy and Respect.

Comments which are defamatory, vituperative, snide or hurtful will be removed, and the commentators responsible permanently banned.

Anonymous comments will not be published. Real names are preferred. If this is not possible, however, commentators are asked to use a consistent pseudonym.

Comments which are thoughtful, witty, creative and stimulating will be most welcome, becoming a permanent part of the Bowalley Road discourse.

However, I do add this warning. If the blog seems in danger of being over-run by the usual far-Right suspects, I reserve the right to simply disable the Comments function, and will keep it that way until the perpetrators find somewhere more appropriate to vent their collective spleen.


Siachen avalanche survivor Lance Naik Hanmanthappa Koppad breathed his last on Thursday morning after battling for his life for two days at the Armys Research & Referral (R&R) hospital in New Delhi.



Six members of the Dharwad soldiers family, including mother Basamma, wife Mahadevi and two-year-old daughter Nethra, were by his side during the last moments.



The ominous signs were on the wall in the morning. His circulatory shock is now refractory to all drugs in maximum permissible doses and his kidneys remain non-functional, the medical bulletin stated. Hanmanthappa remained extremely critical with worsening multiple organ dysfunction, it pointed out. His pneumonia has worsened and the blood clotting disorder shows no sign of reversal. He has slipped into a deeper state of coma, the bulletin added.



Within hours of the morning medical bulletin that chronicled his deteriorating health condition, an Army official confirmed his demise at 11:45 am.



Condoling the soldiers death, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: He leaves us sad and devastated. RIP Lance Naik Hanmanthappa. The soldier in you remains immortal. Proud that martyrs like you served India. The body was kept at the Brar Square in Delhi cantonment where Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and others paid their tributes.



Chief Minister Siddaramaiah received the mortal remains of Hanmanthappa at Hubballi airport at 10:30 pm. He announced a compensation of Rs 25 lakh, one site, four acres of land and a government job to a family member of each of the three soldiers who lost their lives at Siachen. The funeral will be held at Betadur village in Dharwad district on Friday.



Hanamanthappa and nine other soldiers were guarding the worlds highest helipad, Sonam, at 19,600 feet on the Siachen glacier when they were hit by an avalanche. The men from 19 Madras regiment went down under an 1 km wide and 600 meter high wall of ice.



The Karnataka soldier was the only one who survived despite being trapped under ice for six days, thanks to an air conduit. The rescue efforts accelerated after the Army received a radio signal a day later, suggesting at least one person was alive under the snow.



Since April 1984, India has lost 869 men in Siachen, largely due to the treacherous weather and terrain. India has spent more than Rs 7,500 crore on military operations there in the last four years.



In comparison, the Pakistan army, which operates at much lower altitudes, lost 213 soldiers between 2003 and 2010. In 2012 alone, 130 Pakistani soldiers were killed in an avalanche.

Grief engulfs Betadur



A pall of gloom descended on Betadur village in Kundgol taluk of Dharwad district as news of Lance Naik Hanmanthappa Koppads demise started trickling in.





Prayers at the village temple and mosque were stopped, and the national flag outside the gram panchayat office was brought to half mast.



We had great hopes on Hanmanthappa, a born fighter who kept death away for six days. But god had different thoughts, said Basappa Mahadevappa Sherivad, a Madras 19 regiment solider and a resident of Kundgol taluk, who is now on leave.



Describing Hanmanthappa as a man of few words, Basappa said the Siachen braveheart always wanted to join the Army. Though he was rejected several times, Hanmanthappa did not lose hope and continued to attend recruitment camps. He finally made it to the Madras 19 Regiment 14 years ago.


Chelsea Clinton is scheduled to visit Boulder and Denver next week to promote her mothers Democratic presidential campaign.

The visit comes soon after Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders attend the Colorado Democratic Partys annual dinner Saturday in Denver, where the rivals will outline their competing visions and seek to woo party activists ahead of the states presidential caucus March 1.

Chelsea Clintons trip will help reinforce the former secretary of states outreach to women. The Clinton campaign said the Feb. 18 and Feb. 19 events will outline whats at stake for women and families in this election and how her mom will make a real difference for Coloradans as president.

The events are open to the public and the campaign said more details are forthcoming.
Faced with a significant budget shortfall, state lawmakers are poised to cut roughly $100 million from the current state budget and pull $60 million from reserves as part of a package of spending bills introduced this week.

The spending cuts are driven by a slowdown in the states economic growth  led in part by tanking oil prices  and represent a recent departure for the usual midyear budget adjustments.

We are saving money this year, said Rep. Bob Rankin, a Republican budget writer. Thats highly unusual. We are usually bumping way up.

The 18 spending bills will arrive in the Democratic-controlled House for debate Wednesday before moving to the Republican-led Senate for final approval next week.

The budget deficit is estimated to be more than $200 million in legislative economic forecasts, but lawmakers adopted the governors office projection that pegged the shortfall at $160 million.

What made the balancing act easier is a lower-than-expected student enrollment count and higher-than-expected local property taxes that reduced the state-share of the school budget by $134 million.

The scenario allowed lawmakers to increase per pupil spending in the current year by $18 to $7,294  a move that reduces the education shortfall known as the negative factor by $24 million down to $831 million.

Colorado school districts wanted to keep the extra state spending, but lawmakers held back given projections for another tight budget year that starts in July.

Rep. Millie Hamner, a Dillon Democrat and the top budget writer, said banking the money will help lawmakers work to keep negative the factor flat next year.

Weve pretty much tucked it away, she said.

An additional $4 million in spending cuts are possible because of lower inmate projections for state prisons and youth corrections and cuts in court building costs, among other reductions.

The budget bills include new spending items, however, including an additional $12 million in state dollars for an increase in Medicaid case loads.

Other smaller-dollar earmarks include $1 million from marijuana taxes for additional pesticide testing; $1.5 million in discretionary spending for the state prison in Limon, where inmates were able to disable the cell locks; and $2.7 million for court-ordered competency evaluations for prison inmates.

John Frank: 303-954-2409, jfrank@denverpost.com or @ByJohnFrank
Colorado health and environmental officials will continue working toward compliance with the controversial Clean Power Plan despite a Supreme Court decision Tuesday blocking the programs immediate implementation.

State leaders say talks with stakeholders will be ongoing as part of efforts to meet the Environmental Protection Agencys carbon reduction targets for Colorado set forth by the initiative.

The nations top court ruled in a 5-4 decision that the plan hailed by President Barack Obama as a major effort to tackle climate change should not go into effect until after a lawsuit to block the regulations is resolved.

The initiative, sometimes called a war on coal, caused political turmoil in Colorado after Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, launched a failed campaign to stop Attorney General Cynthia Coffman from joining the suit.

Coffman, a Republican, says the plan is an overreach by the EPA and thats why she joined the challenge filed by 27 mostly Republican state attorneys general. She celebrated the Supreme Courts ruling as affirming those beliefs.

Nevertheless, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment says it will keep coordinating to follow the plans rules.

It is prudent for Colorado to move forward during the litigation to ensure that the state is not left at a disadvantage if the courts uphold all or part of the Clean Power Plan, the department said.

Kathy Green, a spokeswoman for Hickenlooper, said the governor agrees that Colorado should stay the course when it comes to moving forward with the program.

While were still reviewing the implications of the Supreme Courts decision, we remain committed to having the cleanest air in the nation, Hickenlooper said in a statement. Well continue to build upon the great strides weve made as a state.

Coffman told The Denver Post she respects CDPHEs role, explaining that the purpose of her joining the lawsuit was to give the state domain to determine what regulations are best for itself. She said she is confident the courts will ultimately strike down the Clean Power Plan for infringing on states sovereignty.

In the end, it will be up to our state and not the federal government, Coffman said. In the meantime, the Supreme Courts order preserves the status quo to ensure no state is harmed while the courts consider the merits of this legal challenge. 

Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, a Westminster-based wholesale electric power supplier that owns several coal mines on the Western Slope, lauded the Supreme Courts ruling.

The energy cooperative called the decision a monumental step forward in the effort to stop the costly and legally flawed regulation.

This is a tremendous victory for our members who rely on fossil fuel generation as a source of affordable and reliable power, the employees who work at our plants and coal mines and the communities where our operations are located, Mike McInnes, chief executive officer of Tri-State, said in a statement.

State officials decision to move forward also comes as Colorado House Democrats passed a bill Tuesday to add measurable goals and deadlines to the states plan to fight climate change.

Without a single Republican vote in the House, however, the bill would appear to be doomed as it moves to the Republican-led Senate.

The Clean Power Plan targets existing coal-burning power plants to cut carbon emissions nationwide by 32 percent before 2030 against 2005 levels. In Colorado, the plan calls for a 28 percent reduction in overall carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 against 2012 levels.

The EPA says the delay imposed by the Supreme Court could postpone those reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or @JesseAPaul

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
An Oregon man was convicted Tuesday of orchestrating an elaborate scheme that exploited Colorados flawed conservation easement program and allowed him to pocket about $3.5 million.

Alan DeAtley, 60, of Medford, Ore., was convicted in Denver District Court on 22 charges that included forgery, theft and tax evasion, as well as one count related to organized crime.

DeAtley, who was acquitted on three charges of tax evasion, faces up to 100 years in prison. He is scheduled for sentencing on April 7.

His victims include auto dealer John Medved, several real estate developers, and Sheri and Richard Schmelzer, the inventors of Jibbitz, the charms that fit into the holes of Crocs shoes.

The scheme wrapped around the early days of Colorados conservation easement program in which landowners donated property in return for tax credits they could use to pay state income-tax liabilities. The land would be protected from future development. The tax credits could be sold if a landowner chose not to use them.

The Colorado Department of Revenue would not honor the credits the victims used, saying the fraud was the result of a private transaction, and has forced all the victims to pay the original $3.5 million in tax obligations  some nearly a decade after the fact. Several sued the state and those cases are pending.

Tax-credit buyers paid a discounted price for the credits, typically 15 percent off, but received the full value against their own state taxes. So, someone who purchased $1,000 in credits would have paid $850, but got the entire amount credited to the amount of tax they owed.

The premise of the program, which started in 2001, was that Colorado promoted land conservation and landowners received a tax break. But critics have long held that the program was rampant with fraud and abuse because there was no state oversight.

DeAtley and two other men were accused of manipulating easement values to pocket the profits, including selling tax credits that never existed.

The men allegedly purchased a 506-acre spread in Walden for $130,000, then divided the property between 15 straw companies, according to their 2010 indictment.

DeAtleys alleged accomplices  Richard Davis and David Zamzow  were charged under the same indictment. Charges against Davis were dismissed. Zamzow pleaded guilty to a forgery charge, was given a deferred sentence and the charge later dismissed, prosecutors said.

DeAtley was able to pull off the scheme by forging the signature of Kermit Allard on appraisal documents that inflated the value of the land. Prosecutors said Allard, the brother of former U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, was certified to appraise items related to business sales and divorces, not land for conservation easement purposes.

Then, using the bogus appraisals that inflated the value of the partitioned properties to more than $19 million, DeAtley brokered the tax credits to unsuspecting buyers, who in turn used the credits against their own tax returns.

In several cases, DeAtley sold additional credits on property whose tax credits had already been sold to other taxpayers, then pocketed the profits.

About 20 families were ultimately duped in the scheme, prosectors said. All were required to pay the original tax bill for which they had used the credits.

Its beyond frustrating, not just that the man who scammed them got their money, but the department of revenue still gets to collect, assistant district attorney Joe Morales said. They have to go to (DeAtley) to be refunded. Thats the law. But we found no money. All of it had been transferred around so much that its all gone.

The states easement program has been cleaned up, but a number of property owners and tax-credit buyers say they are still victims of the programs early days.

Some landowners say the state unfairly refused their conservation easements years after they were completed and the tax credits sold, sticking them with massive liabilities. The Legislature is being asked to pass a bill that would fix that problem.

Last year, legislators rebuffed a bill that would have fixed a similar problem, one in which tax-credit buyers were forced to pay tax obligations twice  once to the landowner and then to the state when the easement valuations were drastically reduced.

David Migoya: 303-954-1506, dmigoya@denverpost.com or @davidmigoya
February 11, 2016 -- Percepio AB, the Swedish developer of visualization tools for embedded software developers, has secured a new investment round to accelerate expansion, and focus on development and marketing of its Tracealyzer software.

The main investors are Stockholms Affarsanglar and Professionell Agarstyrning AB, the latter is a new investor in Percepio and now joins the board of directors.

Percepio founder and CEO Dr. Johan Kraft, We are very happy for this funding, partly as a validation of our achievements  we tripled sales and web traffic during 2015  but mainly since we now we have resources to aim even higher. Percepio is now recruiting new personnel and currently looking for a C# developer.

Percepio is exhibiting at the Embedded World show in Nuremberg, Germany, stand 4-301.



About Percepio AB

Founded in 2009 and based in Vasteras, Sweden, Percepio is a developer of highly visual runtime diagnostics tools for embedded and Linux-based software. Percepios tool family Tracealyzer provides an unprecedented level of insight into the runtime world of embedded software, which facilitates understanding, troubleshooting and optimization. Tracealyzer gives embedded software developers better means to create more robust and efficient software, on time and within budget. Percepio collaborates with several leading vendors of operating systems for embedded software.






People with type 1 diabetes who were diagnosed after the age of seven have dormant insulin cells which could potentially be reawakened, according to new research.

The study, which was conducted by researchers at the University of Exeter, found that people diagnosed before the age of seven had a more aggressive form of type 1 diabetes, which destroys all or most of their insulin producing capabilities.

Dormant insulin cells: a new possibility for type 1 diabetes treatment?

However, contrary to popular belief, the study found that people diagnosed after the age of seven have dormant insulin-producing cells. These cells, if reawakened, could regenerate insulin production.

The research could apply to as many as 400,000 people in Britain with type 1 diabetes.

This is incredibly exciting, and could open the doors to new treatments for young people who develop diabetes, said Professor Noel Morga, of the University of Exeter Medical School.

It was previously thought that teenagers with type 1 diabetes had lost around 90 per cent of their beta cells but, by looking in their pancreas, we have discovered that this is not true.

In fact, those diagnosed in their teens still have many beta cells left  this suggests that the cells are dormant, but not dead. If we can find a way to reactivate these cells so that they resume insulin release, we may be able to slow or even reverse the progression of [type 1 diabetes].

How was the study conducted?

Researchers at the University of Exeter collaborated with the University of Oslo to examine around 400 pancreas samples from people with type 1 diabetes. They found that children diagnosed at a younger age  six years or under  had a more aggressive form of the condition. When children of this age are diagnosed, a condition called insulitis kills of most of their insulin-producing beta cells.

But when people are diagnosed at a more advanced age  particularly as teenagers  they can retain up to 50 per cent of their beta cells. However, even those cells that survive stop working. It is this that interests the researchers, who believe that it may be possible to switch these sleeping insulin cells back on.

Developing the research

However, right now the researchers have no idea how these cells might be switched back o, but even discovering that it might be possible is a significant breakthrough. Professor Morgan is confident that it will one day be discovered.

Quite simply, and sadly, I dont know [how to reactivate the cells], he said. However there is evidence that this can happen when the [cells] are kept outside the body for a few days, so understanding how to achieve this is not a complete pipe dream.

Co-author Sarah Richardso, of the University of Exeter Medical School, explained the process of developing the research: For trials to be effective, we have to understand the underlying causes of the disease. Our next step is to investigate why diabetes progresses differently in younger and older children, with a view to understanding how we could treat both groups more effectively.

The findings are published online in the journal Diabetes.
The exact number of job cuts isnt known, but they are targeted towards those who are involved with marketing

Microsoft has laid off dozens of its employees from its offices in Finland, according to Finnish newspaper, Helsigin Sanomat. The report didnt mention the exact number of job cuts at the company, but it did say that they were heavily targeted towards those involved with marketing.

Last year, Microsoft said that was going to eliminate 7,800 jobs from the Nokia business. However, a Microsoft spokesperson told ZDNet, that the job cuts happening right now werent a part of the original 7,800. A majority of those were focused on those involved with the phone business. He said, The job reductions were spread across more than one business area and country and reflect adaptations to business needs. We go through this process in the most thoughtful manner possible, with the deepest respect for affected individuals.

Last month, Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella admitted in an interview that the companys smartphone market was unsustainable. However, he argued that the company was focusing on creating a world where services being accessed by a phone were more important than the device itself.
The Mobile World Congress 2016 is just a few days away now. Kicking-off on February 22 in the city of Barcelona, MWC is a launch pad for all the latest smartphones from both small and mighty manufacturers. While speculation around the to-be-announced devices is high, little is being spoken about the technological solutions that compliment these devices. So here's a round-up of some exciting tech trends (sans smartphones) that will rule MWC 2016.



5G

The Fifth generation of mobile & wireless internet is expected to feature high on the list of future tech solutions coming out of MWC 2016. Word has it that Nokia is all set to make some key announcements regarding the Finnish companys investments to further 5G technology. 5G is going to be a key driver of future technological innovations such as driverless cars, smart cities, virtual reality and of course improved mobile connectivity. Below is a cool video by CNBC highlighting Nokia's 5G initiatives.

IoT, Drones & more

MWC 2016 will have more than 2,100 exhibitors, including the likes of Dell, Samsung, Hitachi, displaying IoT related innovations. Intel will be setting up an exclusive Drone Zone where the company will showcase the DJI rival - Yuneec Typhoon H drone with Intel RealSense technology. The Yuneec Typhoon H drone with Intel RealSense can avoid obstacles in real time and this cool feature was first demonstrated at Intels CES event. You can see that demo of the Yuneec Typhoon H avoiding a falling tree in the video below.



The event will also have a sub-event called the 'GSMA Innovation City', where mobile innovators like AT&T, GMA,Jasper, KT Corporation and Sierra Wireless will showcase IoT solutions for luggage tracking, farming, connected cars, bicycle tracking and more.



Green Tech



Everything from self-recharging fuel cells to hybrid wind and solar storage solutions, MWC 2016 will see a lot of innovation in Green Technology. Just to get you a little excited, a company called Sunpartner will be showcasing its patented solar solution called Wysips, which extends the life of any smartwatch to that of an analog watch. You can check out the company's video below.



Also expect to see a slew of fuel cell chargers such as JAQ from myfcpower. JAQ stays off-the-grid and offers unlimited power on-the-go, generated from water and salt contained in a slim power card. When the card is inserted into the charger, hydrogen is produced to fuel up the cell and power on any device attached to it. Green & cool is definitely the in thing at MWC this year.

The JAQ charger

Security

As the number of connected devices balloon, so do the security risks associated with them. It is expected that the total worldwide data will grow to a whopping 40 billion terabytes by 2020 and this fact is now a huge red flag for security companies. MWC 2016 will see the likes of AVG, Ciena, ESET, Kaspersky Lab, NXP Semiconductors and Rhode & Schwarz, setting a roadmap for security solutions for future connected devices. NEC corporation will showcase iOT security solutions, SafeMobile will showcase a comprehensive security client for mobile devices, FotoNation will showcase its biometrics, advanced face analytics and electronic image stabilization (EIS) solutions. This is one industry area that is sure to catch a lot of eyeballs at MWC 2016.



So that was our prediction of some trends that will define MWC 2016. What's on your list? Or are you just happy with the smartphone announcements from the event? Tell us what you'd like to see from the event, because guess what? Digit will come to you LIVE from MWC 2016!
Zuckerberg wrote that Andreessen's comments do not represent the way Facebook or the CEO himself, think.

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg, on Thursday, slammed colleague Marc Andreessen, for sending out offensive tweets about India. Zuckerberg called it deeply upsetting and in a Facebook post, wrote, I want to respond to Marc Andreessens comments about India yesterday. I found the comments deeply upsetting and they do not represent the way Facebook or I think at all. Andreessen had earlier tweeted that India was better off with colonialism, referring to the countrys recent dismissal of Facebooks Free Basics and other such plans that were based on differential pricing of data.

India has been personally important to me and Facebook. Early on in my thinking about our mission, I travelled to India and was inspired by the humanity, spirit and value of the people. It solidified my understanding that when all people have the power to share their experiences, the entire world will make progress, wrote Zuckerberg.

Andreessens tweet was made against the Telecom Regulatory Authority of Indias decision to ban differential pricing. He wrote, Anti-colonialism has been economically catastrophic for the Indian people for decades. Why stop now? This was met with a strong response from users and the media, criticising the executive for his comments.
Rolls Royce is expected to announce a cut or suspension of its dividend on Friday as it reports its 2015 full year results.

Following a string of five profit warnings since February 2014, many analysts see the group's dividend taking the hit until the companys balance sheet recovers.

Deutsche Bank said it doesnt see Rolls-Royce generating free cash until 2018. There is no cash flow to cover the dividend until 2019 and hence cutting the dividend entirely for a short period of time may be a more prudent move to preserve balance sheet strength across this... trough, said Ben Fidler, aerospace analyst, in a note to clients.

A further deterioration in the offshore marine market has weighed heavily on Rolls Royces profits.

Consensus expectations are for annual pre-tax profit to fall to just over 1.3bn from 1.6bn in 2014, at the lower range of the companys guidance.

UBS analyst Charles Armitage, who has forecast pre-tax profit of 1.35bn, said: "We expect investor focus to be on: 1) 2016 outlook ; 2) trading expectations in Power Systems & Marine with the market concerned regarding a deterioration of the business in 2016e, 3) a decision regarding the dividend policy - we expect the dividend to be cut, 4) more details on the wide ranging restructuring programme announced at Q3 IMS; 5) the first details associated with the enhanced financial disclosure.

New chief executive Warren East will also be in the spotlight with the market wanting to hear what he has to say about the outlook for 2016 and the costs of restructuring.

Fears that he will announce a sixth profit warning saw the groups shares plunge to a four-year low last Wednesday.

Its been a baptism of fire for Rolls Royce new CEO Warren East since taking over in the summer, said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.

It appears that markets are already pricing in the prospect of another profit warning as well as a possible dividend reduction with the shares back near one year lows.

Friday 12 February

FINALS

Holders Technology

Rolls-Royce Holdings

INTERIMS

Monitise

AGMs

GCP Infrastructure Investments Ltd

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Dunedin Smaller Companies Inv Trust

Grainger

Octopus VCT 3

Schroder UK Mid Cap Fund

Octopus VCT 4

Shaftesbury

Patisserie Holdings

Daily Mail and General Trust A (Non.V)

Connect Group

Tracsis

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Alcentra Euorpean Floating Rate Income Fund Ltd Red Ord Shs

DP Aircraft I Limited Pref

QinetiQ Group

Consort Medical

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCMENTS

Consumer Price Index (GER) (07:00)

Gross Domestic Product (GER) (07:00)

Industrial Production (EU) (10:00)

Retail Sales (US) (13:30)

Business Inventories (US) (15:00)
The Irish Treasury got off 1.0bn in 10-year debt at a record low yield on Thursday in the face of election uncertainty, amid a recent sharp increase in demand for those sovereign bonds deemed safest by investors.

Ireland's National Treasury Management Agency auctioned the May 2026 notes at a yield of 0.999%, versus the 1.156% seen the last time around, about a month ago.

Investors put in 1.8bn worth of bids.

Irish reform efforts in the aftermath of the Great Financial Crisis have been rewarded by international investors with lower funding costs when compared with their peers on the Eurozone periphery, such as Spain, Portugal or Greece.

Nevertheless, last week ratings agency Fitch cautioned that an inconclusive result to the country's elections on 26 February would pose downside risks.

Incumbent Prime Minister Enda Kenny was campaigning on a platform of sustaining financial stability in the country, a message that did not go down well enough with the austerity weary Spaniards and Portuguese at their own latest national elections.

Polls indicated Kenny's party might need the support of others to remain in power.

To take note of, the country's risk-premium, measured as the difference between the yield on its benchmark government bond and that on German debt of a similar maturity, was at 85 basis points at last count, versus 44 less than a month ago, according to Bloomberg data.
Saudi Arabia might be willing to sign-up to a Venezuelan proposal that producer countries from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and those from outside freeze their oil output at current levels if Iran also signed up to such an agreement, Reuters reported.

Venezuelas oil minister, Eulogio del Pino, wants to schedule a meeting for before OPECs next regularly scheduled summit in June if there is a sufficient consensus on a either a co-ordinated cut in supplies or at least a freeze on current output, one source familiar with the matter told the newswire.

According to the same source, Qatar and the Russian Federation had given their initial agreement.

Saudi Arabia was reportedly open to such an agreement following a meeting between its own oil minister and Venezuelas held last Sunday, in Riyadh.

However, talks were described as being at an early stage and Saudi would refuse to commit unless Tehran did so as well.

If the Iranians are willing to stick to, lets say, the rise of 300,000 barrels per day they said they have already committed to Europe and if US shale production has slowed, then yes, a production freeze would be a positive sign to the market, the source added.

As of 14:34 GMT front month Brent crude futures were trading down by 1.51% to $30.39 per barrel on the ICE, while West Texas Intermediate was 2.43% lower at $26.80.
Heathrow Airport was talking up its attributes on Thursday, as it released passenger statistics for the month of January and continued its persuasion efforts over Westminster's third runway decision.

London's primary port for air traffic - and the only major airport actually in London - saw a total of 5.5m passengers through its terminals in January, up 1% on a year earlier. The airport said larger, fuller and quieter aircraft were a key driver for the growth.

Heathrow said there was strong passenger growth from emerging markets, with passenger numbers travelling between the airport and Mexico up 21%, China up 16%, Turkey up 5.3% and the Middle East up 4%.

The airport said the A380 superjumbo was behind much of the growth from emerging markets.

Cargo volume at the airport surged 2.9% over the comparative period in January, with volumes to Mexico and China both up 28% and Turkey up 16%.

"With record passenger numbers and strong cargo volumes, it's been a great start to 2016 for the nation's largest port," said Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye.

"With expansion, we'll open up 40 new trading links which will carry more British exports to the fastest-growing markets in the world," he added, referring to the possibility of the airport being granted a third runway.

The airport saw new routes boost its freight volumes to East Asia by 26% over January 2014, with Vietnam Airlines switching its Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh routes from Gatwick last year, and British Airways' new flights to Kuala Lumpur contributing.

That trend was set to continue, with Garuda Indonesia preparing to move its UK operations from Gatwick in March. It would be the UK's first non-stop route to Jakarta.

Heathrow was also talking up its green credentials, as part its public battle against Gatwick in the race to be awarded London's next runway.

It said it had reduced emissions by 16% over five years, and claimed to be the only airport globally to have signed up to the Paris Pledge on climate change.

"We'll help the government rebalance our economy and build a better Britain. The Prime Minister can say yes and we will deliver," exclaimed Holland-Kaye.

The operators of both Heathrow and Gatwick had been engaged in a public relations battle in the capital for some time, with both taking out full-page newspaper advertisements in attempts sway both the public and Westminster in their favour.

In December, David Cameron told the press there would now be no decision on London's next runway until at least this summer, despite already delaying it a number of times and previously promising a decision by the end of the year.

Heathrow currently operated with two runways concurrently, while Gatwick remained the world's busiest single-runway airport.
Around one in 10 delays and cancellations on Britain's railways were caused by shortages of staff, new data from the Office of Rail and Road revealed on Thursday.

The figures showed there were 1.93m 'disruptions' between April 1, 2013 and December 12, 2015. A lack of staff was blamed for 9.42% of these.

Commuters in suburban London suffered the most, with Govia Thameslink Railway being the worst-affected operator. The company - a joint venture between listed firm Go-Ahead and French multinational Keolis - operates the Thameslink, Great Northern, Southern and Gatwick Express services.

It experienced 62,000 staff shortage incidents during the period, accounting for 13.6% of its cancellations and delays.

The winner, with the lowest proportion of delays caused by staff shortages, was Virgin Trains East Coast, at 2.6%, followed by Virgin Trains West Coast, at 3.7%.

For much of the period, however, the East Coast franchise was not operated by Virgin, but by the government's Directly Operated Railways before being re-privatised on 1 March 2015.

The Department for Transport claimed it closely watched the number of delays and cancellations, and held operators to account if too many were disrupted by staff shortages - though it did not define how many disruptions that was.

A spokesman for the Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operating companies and Network Rail, told the London Evening Standard that being unable to run a journey because a member of staff wasn't available was an occasional occurrence.

"Disruption to services, for whatever reason, means that train crews can be displaced and physically in the wrong place to crew a scheduled train. Other reasons, including sickness and annual leave, also have an impact," the unnamed spokesman told the newspaper.
A memo from chief executive Stuart Gulliver, seen by Reuters on Thursday, said pay rises will be funded from the lenders 2016 variable bonus pool, meant for bonuses paid in 2017.

However, HSBC will keep its hiring freeze in place for the year as part of cost-saving measures.

Last month, the bank revealed it was halting pay increases and the hiring of new staff this year, but Gulliver said following feedback he would cancel the freeze on salaries.

The CEO said he had "listened to this feedback and have as a result decided to change the way these cost savings are to be achieved", according to the memo.

"We will therefore proceed with the pay rises as originally proposed by managers as part of the 2015 pay review, noting that, consistent with prior years, not all staff will receive a pay rise."

The memo said bonuses for 2015, due to be paid this year, will not be affected.
Buckeyes RBs Henderson, Williams expected to return against Iowa

Ohio State's running back rotation is expected to be at full strength against Iowa on Saturday.
Berkadia arranges $107M in sales

The Seattle office of Berkadia said it recently facilitated three big apartment sales in the region over. In December, Senior Managing Director Kenny Dudunakis arranged the sale of 19th & Mercer, a 50-unit apartment building on Capitol Hill, for $25.1 million. Washington Trust Bank purchased the project from Meriwether Partners, according to a press release from Berkadia. Dudunakis and Berkadia associates Ben Johnson and David Sorensen completed the $46 million sale of the Landing at Dash Point in Federal Way in January. FPA Multifamily of San Francisco bought the 388-unit complex from Bridge Investment Group of Salt Lake City. Dudunakis and senior director James Jenson of Berkadia's Tacoma office facilitated the sale of The Pacifica, a 177-unit complex in Tacoma. Rush Cos. of Gig Harbor sold the complex to Green Leaf Partners of Danville, California, for $36.25 million.




Investor Marc Andreessen slams Trai, but eats his words

Two days after the differential pricing regulation by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India put an end to Facebook's Free Basics programme in India, celebrated American investor and Facebook board member Marc Andreessen took to Twitter to vent his ire, but ended up enraging Indians instead.

Andreessen, best known for creating Mosaic - the first widely used web browser - and member of the HP and Ebay as well as Facebook board  entered into a series of tweets on Wednesday morning expressing displeasure at the Trai decision to bar all forms of differential pricing. "Leap of net neutrality from "carriers shall not charge some content more" to "poor people shall not get free partial internet" = astounding," he tweeted.

After a round of rebuttals and counter-comments, Andreessen engaged with Indian net neutrality activists on the merits and demerits of Free Basics, eventually leading to the offensive tweet: "Anti-colonialism has been economically catastrophic for the Indian people for decades. Why stop now?"

The tweet led to massive outrage on Twitter, with people expressing displeasure at the American investor's insensitive and ill-considered remark.

"Disappointed with fellow @IllinoisCS alum @pmarca on his take on India's stand on #NetNeutrality. India lnnovates!!" tweeted Arvind Gupta, former IT Cell convener of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Andreessen later deleted the offensive tweet, but it was widely circulated on social media through screenshots.

He is known to block or restrict access to people who disagree with him, and ended up blocking several people from his Twitter profile on Wednesday.

However, the co-founder of Netscape took to the microblogging platform late Wednesday evening, apologizing to the people of India.

"I apologize for any offense caused by my earlier tweet about Indian history and politics. I admire India and the Indian people enormously.

"India is an amazing country with amazing people. Indian companies and people have had profoundly positive effect on the internet and world!"

"I now withdraw from all future discussions of Indian economics and politics, and leave them to people with more knowledge and experience!" he concluded.
Triumphant Cross Lutheran Church, 2643 Murphy Mill Road, Dothan, will host a free Bingo night on Feb. 12 from 6:30-9 p.m. to benefit the Wiregrass Spay/Neuter Alliance of Dothan. The public is welcome. Attendees are asked to bring donations for the clinic  paper towels, trash bags, bleach, fleece blankets, flannel sheets, etc. Bingo is Free. Call 334-403-8385 for information. Food, beverages and desserts will be available.

Klondyke Gospel Music Center, located between Newton and Ozark at 3885 Highway 123 S., will host Resurrection Trio from Attalla, Feb. 12; From the Heart from Dothan, Feb. 13; Spiritual Voices from Dahlonega, Georgia, Feb. 19; Kay Armour from Dothan, Feb. 20; Derrick and Jana Simonis from Ozark, Feb. 26. All concerts start at 7 p.m. Admission is free; offering will be taken. For more information, call 334-405-1500.

Bethel United Methodist Church will hold its annual barbecue sale on Feb. 13. Plates will consist of pork barbecue, hash, rice, cole slaw, sweet potatoes and bread. Plates will be $9.00 each and will go on sale at 10 a.m. at the church, located at 6084 E. County Road 36, Ozark (about 3 miles west of Echo) and the parking lot of Hoppergrass located at 129 S. East Ave., Ozark (across from the First United Methodist Church).

Grimes Gospel Lighthouse, 1512 County Road 25, Grimes, will host local talent at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 13; Jerry Brown of Dothan on Feb. 20; and the Giles Family of Ozark on Feb. 27; Rhon Paul Ministries of Clopton on March 5. Concerts at 7 p.m. An offering will be taken. Call 334-983-4654 or 334-714-4658 for more information.

New Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, 1110 Allen Road, Dothan, will hold its annual Matrons Day observance on Feb. 14 at 2:30 p.m. Guest minister will be the Rev. Harold McKissic, pastor of Patterson Street Freewill Baptist Church in Dothan.

Greater Springfield Missionary Baptist Church will hold a Family and Friends Day Celebration service on Feb. 14 at 2:30 p.m. Guest speaker will be the Rev. Kevin Griffin, pastor of Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Enterprise.

Green Hill Presbyterian Church, 735 E. Lee St., Enterprise, will host a Boy Scout Sunday on Feb. 14, inviting area Boy Scouts to attend the morning worship service at 11 a.m. The Boy Scouts will be recognized during the service for their contributions to the community and afterward cake will be served in the fellowship hall.

Dothan Tabernacle Church of God In Christ, 2867 Fortner St., Dothan, will hold a monthly building fund service on Feb. 14 at 4 p.m. Guest speaker will be Dr. Michael Woods of Atlanta, Georgia. The church will hold revival services Feb. 15-17 with services at 7 p.m. For more information, call 334-791-2347 or 334-805-6096.

Temple Emanu-El, located at 188 N. Park Ave. in Dothan (behind CVS pharmacy), will host its annual Neighbor Night on Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. The service allows non-Jews to visit the synagogue and learn about the Jewish faith.

Faith Cornerstone Church Ministry Inc. in Malone, Florida, will hold its annual Marriage Enrichment Celebration on Feb. 20 starting at 5 p.m. at the Jackson County Agricultural Conference Center, 2741 Pennsylvania Ave., in Marianna, Florida. Tickets are $35 per person or $60 per couple. Call 850-569-5600 or email faithcornerstonechurchministryinc@gmail.com for information.

Church of God in Christ #1, 504 Houston St., Dothan, will host an auction on Feb. 20 at 11 a.m. to help support the Davis/McLeod District Womens Department. A variety of items will be featured.

Cloverdale United Methodist Church, 102 Rollins Ave., Dothan, will celebrate the churchs 62nd Homecoming on Feb. 21 with a service at 10:30 a.m. Special speaker will be the Rev. Sara Shaver, Dothan District Superintendent. A reception will be held in the gathering room at 10 a.m., and a covered dish lunch will be served following the morning worship.

St. John AME Church, 3 St. John St., in Abbeville will celebrate the AME Church Founders Day on Sunday, Feb. 21, 2:30 p.m. The Rev. Delvick J. McKay, pastor of Greater Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church in Headland is serving as the guest preacher for the Founders Day Celebration. Everyone is invited to attend.

Piney Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Webb will hold the initial sermon of Brother Terry Harris on Feb. 21 at 3 p.m.

Southside Baptist Church, 902 Highway 123 S., in Ozark will hold a revival on Feb. 21 with services at 10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. and continuing Feb. 22-24 with services at 6:30 p.m. The Rev. Len Turner, a native of Greenville, South Carolina, will be the evangelist. Turner has served as pastor of churches in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida and Texas before entering the ministry of full-time evangelism. The Rev. Frank Jacobs, a native of Ariton, will be the music evangelist. Jacobs recently moved back to his birth place after a 40-year ministry in Miami, Florida. Jacobs has served churches in Alabama and Florida for more than 30 years in inner-city mission ministry.

New Hope Freewill Baptist Church, 3819 County Road 31, Abbeville, will celebrate the annual Pastoral Anniversary honoring Pastor Eddie L. Baker and first lady Ollie Baker on Friday, Feb. 26, beginning at 6 p.m. and featuring Pastor Charles Beasley of Star Baptist Missionary Baptist Church in Eufaula. Refreshments will be served. The Pastoral Anniversary will continue on Sunday, Feb. 28, at 11:15 a.m. with Minister Willie Thomas of New Hope Freewill Baptist Church in Abbeville as the guest speaker for the morning and at 2:30 p.m. with Pastor Kenneth Zachary of Mountain Grove Freewill Baptist Church in Edison, Georgia, and Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Clay County, Georgia, as the guest speaker for the evening. All churches are invited to attend. Dinner will be served.

The Davis/McLeod District Churches of God In Christ will host the event Women's Department  Colorama  2016 on Feb. 27 starting at 10 a.m. at St. Roberta Church of God In Christ in Geneva. For more information, contact Missionary Sheron Lee at 334-792-7343.

Shady Grove Missionary Baptist Church, 1547 Lucy Grade Road, Dothan, will celebrate its church anniversary with a service on Feb. 28 at 2:30 p.m. Guest minister will be Wilbert Dawsey, pastor of Burdeshaw Street Baptist Church in Dothan. All churches invited. Lunch will be served at 1 p.m.

Bethlehem Temple Church of God In Christ in Bellwood will hold a Pre-Anniversary Celebration for Elder Sylvester Pritchett and Mother Ethel Pritchett on Feb. 28 at 3 p.m. Guest speaker will be Minister Brandon Killings of Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church in Tallahassee, Florida. For more information, call Brother Joe Killings at 334-798-6433. The public is invited.

Green Hill Presbyterian Church, 735 E. Lee St., Enterprise, will host a Girl Scout Sunday on March 13, inviting area Girl Scouts to attend the morning worship service at 11a.m. The Girl Scouts will be recognized during the service for their contributions to the community and afterward cake will be served in the fellowship hall.

Lively Stones Ministries Worship Center will hold a grand opening musical on Saturday, March 19, at 5 p.m. and a church dedication service on March 20 at 3 p.m. with guest speaker Bishop Bennie J. Stanford of Bethlehem Christian Church. The churchs new location is 2622 U.S. Highway 231 S. in Ozark.

Blakely First Assembly of God, located at Highway 62 Bypass & Highway 62 West in Blakely, Georgia, will hold a gospel music outdoor festival on March 19 from 1-9:30 p.m. EST. Bluegrass gospel and southern gospel music will be performed on the churchs new outdoor stage. Attendees should bring lawn chairs. A $10 donation requested at the door. On-site concessions will be available. Call 229-400-0293 or 229-723-6289 for information.
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With dpa ElectionsData you get access to a unique collection of data. Via a programming interface (Rest-API), your developers can access detailed information, candidate profiles and live results for all national elections in the European Union and important international elections, like the US Midterm elections etc.

The data pool also includes all heads of state and government as well as about 20,000 elected members of parliament throughout the EU. In addition to their data (name, party, constituency or list position), we collect social media profiles and official websites of individuals and parties.
Scotch whisky has recognised the advantages of trading with Latin America and, in particular, targeting its growing middle class population.

This was the conclusion of a conference arranged by the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) and Canning House, a leading UK forum on Latin American politics, economics and business in Edinburgh last night (February 10).

The conference was held to explain the advantages of trading with this region. It was the first Canning House trade and business-focussed forum in Scotland.

Keynote speaker, Colombia ambassador HE Nestor Osorio Londono, addressed the audience at the Scotch Whisky Experience, on the opportunities now and in the future. He said Colombia is working to promote exports and imports and is creating a solid base for developing trust and confidence.

He said the four countries in the Pacific Alliance trading group  Colombia, Peru, Mexico and Chile  formed a large market to facilitate the free movement of goods, services and capital in the region. He is hopeful other like-minded countries will join the Alliance.

Canning House chief executive, Rob Capurro put the growth of the middle class in Latin America into context. If you total up all of the middle class in Latin America, there are more than in India and China combined, he said.

Latin America is a significant market for scotch whisky which is said to be popular among young middle class people in developing markets.

The SWA says some 460 million of scotch whisky is exported to the region, one in every six bottles shipped overseas. Scotch now forms a third of all Scottish exports to Latin America.

SWA chief executive David Frost said: Latin America is a big and growing market. Thats why we took the lead in making the first Canning House event in Scotland happen.

Diageo industry affairs director, Peter Smith, said that scotch has been traded in the region for many years and his company archive includes orders from the early 1900s. But he added that such issues as tariffs and customs duties had to be tackled, partly because they are an incentive for alcohol to be sold through unofficial channels.

Concluding the evening, Fiona Hyslop MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Europe and External Affairs, said Scotland is ready to do business and that this is a great opportunity. She described whisky as one of Scotlands greatest assets that, along with the countrys warm welcome, creates a unique selling point to help us forge friendships overseas.

Picture: Colombia ambassador HE Nestor Osorio Londono, (left) and SWA chief David Frost
At one time an outbreak of fire in the town was an event which was remembered for years, like the great fire in the Distillery in 1862; the fire at the boarding house in Church Street in 1941 that took 12 lives and the blaze that destroyed Rawson's shoe factory in 1967 that cost the jobs of around 500 workers.

Fortunately, those disastrous fires have not been so common over the past thirty years or more but it was often a relatively minor fire that made an impact on the town; and those can still happen!

One such outbreak occurred at this time of year 96 years ago that few alive today will have even heard about! It occurred in the belfry of St. Joseph's Redemptorist Church at St. Alphonsus Road, on the night of Friday February 20, 1920, during the War of Independence, a time of great trouble for Dundalk. At 10.30 pm. when most of the inhabitants of the monastery would have already retired to their beds, a Mrs. Gray of Seatown Pace spotted flames in the church tower. She raised the alarm and, within minutes fire-fighters from all over the town, including a unit from the nearby Military Barracks, were on the scene. It was feared that the church would be destroyed, if not the entire monastery complex, but heroic efforts by the many volunteers confined the damage to the belfry. One volunteer entered the tower by a narrow stone stairway and played a hose on the beam supporting the carillon of twelve bells, saving them from crashing to the church floor many feet below. The clock, chime and bells were badly damaged and the carillon of bells had to be recast, reducing their number to the present ten musical chimes.

The successful fire fighting efforts were celebrated by an unusual event for times. The rector Fr. James McCann, con-celebrated Mass on the High Altar with his confreres, commencing at 4 am., for a packed congregation of exhausted fire-fighters and well wishers.

Old photograph

The above picture is a rare old photograph of British soldiers from the Dundalk Military Barrack using the hand-pump to draw water from the Rampart River to fight the fire in St. Joseph's Church in 1920.

The photograph came, through a friend, originally from Jimmy Bellew, printer, Park Street, whose father Michael had worked for many years as a linotype operator with the Dundalk Democrat in Earl Street, until his sudden death in January 1953. Michael's son Tom was a leading public representative in Dundalk in the latter part of the last century; he was elected Dail Deputy for Louth in 1982, a member of the Louth County and Dundalk Urban Councils until his sudden death in 1995 and had been Chairman of both bodies (on three occasions of the Dundalk Council).

Jimmy tells me that the photograph was taken by John Little, a very accomplished journalist who was the Belfast Telegraph correspondent in Dundalk at the time and had an office in Park Street. He was a son-in-law of Angela Mathews who was head of the Cumann na mBan in Dundalk at the time of the 1916 Rising.

The photograph was taken in McAllisters pork dealers' yard at St. Alphonsus Road, beside the Redemptorist Church and Monastery.)
Some might argue that business is synonymous with risk; and in many ways, it is. But what of it?

If you ever want to achieve the life youve always dreamed of, youll have to start taking positive, calculated risks.

The benefits of taking risks will enrich your life and make your business or career much more rewarding. (Stacia Pierce, www.huffingtonpost.com)

Sure, there are plenty of individuals who find fulfilment in the form of a secure, predictable and risk-free lifestyle, but there are scores of business-minded thrill-seekers out there waiting to be coaxed out of their shell. Dynamic Business spoke to Steve Baxter, entrepreneur, investor and founder of Brisbane based start-up hub, River City Labs, to find out what restrains these budding entrepreneurs from following their instincts.

Its never as hard as you might think at first

According to Steve, financial risk, fear of the unknown and self doubt, are three of the top reasons why repressed entrepreneurs hesitate to take the plunge.

Things do not get easier as you acquire the real reasons for living  a family for example, but many find themselves looking at not just a great idea they want to exploit but also a life partner and dependants. These are great things but have a real cost of ownership.

It does create a sense of fear, but it also creates a sense of the unknown and of excitement. Its never as hard as you might think at first, but it is necessary to plan your start-up carefully.

It has been ingrained in us to fear failure

And this fear of failure, Steve contends, is cultural. While some of the worlds most successful and experienced entrepreneurs might be able to cite a portfolio of failed businesses alongside their many successes, it would appear that we are still a little slow on the uptake. To name one of the most noteworthy, Richard Bransons Virgin Group has seen as many as 14 businesses fail since the venture, now one of the worlds largest business empires, was first conceived.

Once again  in many ways business is synonymous with risk, but what of it?

Steve said it has been ingrained in us to fear failure but a cultural shift is slowly but surely taking place to reverse this thinking so it is not looked down upon.

We need to change our culture around this and I believe with governments now actively supporting the start-up and entrepreneurial culture, we are finally starting to see this change for the better.

Attitude has improved entrepreneur was a dirty word not so many years ago

As the fate of many traditional industries hangs in the balance, the lure towards traditional employment certainly appears to be lessening as opportunity knocks in an age of disruption.

Attitude has improved entrepreneur was a dirty word not so many years ago.

Startups are finally becoming sexy and I believe we will start to see more young people having a go, said Steve.

With greater government support and a notable cultural shift underway, the excuses for holding back on that long deliberated start-up idea are indeed eroding.

The capital requirement for businesses now is so much smaller than it used to be, said Steve.

The ubiquity of the cloud hosting; comprehensive programing frameworks; platforms offering payments, marketing, communications or similar as a service and online advertising or traffic generation means that none of this has to be built from scratch any longer.

So far as help along the way  the start-up scene as we know it didnt exist 10 years ago in Australia. There has never been a better time to start a business. It seems like there is a new co-working space or start-up accelerator popping up every other day, he said.

You need a plan before launching your business, but its important to prepare for change

So you have an idea and youve quashed that fear of failure; but how do you know when to draw a line under those plans and bite the bullet? Its all about balance according to Steve. Steve comments that you need a plan before launching your business, but its important to prepare for change.

Even in traditional business you will dodge and weave your way to success doing something that may not have been in the original plan, said Steve.

Just remember  no business plan survives first contact with the customer.

The underlying message from Steve is plain: purge the fears and take that plunge. However, whether or not you will achieve the life youve always dreamed of by taking risks; that is a question for the individual.

Steve said have the right mindset going in, if you want stability and easy  stay in the public service!
Interview with Le Parisien

Interview with Benoit Cure, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, conducted by Matthieu Pelloli and published on 11 February 2016

You never see it in France, you wont get it from an ATM and most shops dont accept it Nowadays, how can the ECB justify the existence of the 500 note?

Banknotes are an important means of payment in the day-to-day lives of Europeans. Originally, the 500 note was issued in response to a number of euro area countries wanting a euro banknote that corresponded to the highest-value note in their former national currency. Its true that its very rarely used in France, but it is used more in other euro area countries, both as a means of payment and as a store of value.

Wasnt a new series of banknotes launched recently? Is this under way? Or envisaged?

The second series of euro banknotes is currently being introduced. New 5, 10 and 20 notes, which have even better protection against counterfeiting, have already been introduced and can be found in peoples wallets. The higher-value notes will be introduced gradually.

A European Commission draft document denounces the strong demand for 500 notes from organised crime. The head of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) recently called for the 500 note to be removed from circulation for the same reasons. What is the ECBs position on this?

Historically, these notes have enabled private individuals to make large payments in a convenient way. But this argument has become increasingly less relevant with the development of electronic payments. Further, the competent authorities increasingly suspect that they are being used for illegal purposes, an argument that we can no longer ignore given the importance of the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.

Mario Draghi recently declared before the European Parliament: Rest assured that we are determined not to see these high-value notes become a tool for criminals. Is the ECB preparing itself for some radical decisions regarding the future of the 500 note?

We are actively considering this issue and will take a decision soon.

You are a member of the ECBs Executive Board. Whats your personal position?

I find the arguments in favour of keeping the 500 note less and less convincing.

Among the euro area countries, Germany seems to be against withdrawing the 500 note as the Germans are used to paying cash. Is that a problem?

Some people, especially in Germany, are anxious about the disappearance of cash payments, which for them represent an element of personal freedom. Its a legitimate argument and I want to reassure them that its not about getting rid of banknotes in general; the discussion is only about the 500 note.

Where are the 500 notes? In which countries? Theres a lot of talk about Russia

We reckon that at least 20% of the notes in circulation, by value, are held outside the euro area, the majority in denominations from 50 to 500. Most of these notes can be found in the euro areas neighbouring countries, especially in eastern Europe and Russia.

Technically, there could be a monetary policy advantage for the ECB if it decided to withdraw the 500 note. Those who have it could in fact exchange it for banknotes in another currency, which would automatically push down the value of the single currency. Could that be a factor in its withdrawal?

No, this discussion has nothing to do with monetary policy.
Michigan State Senator Marty Knollenberg made the headlines last December when, during a Senate Education Committee hearing, he explained that we cant fix Detroit schools because We cant make an African American white.

You mentioned why these schools fail, he said at the hearing. You mention the economically disadvantaged and non-white population are contributors to that. And, you know, we cant fix THAT! We cant make an African American white. [grins] It is what it is. So we cant fix that.

Having already established himself as a racist, Knollenberg has now made it clear that hes also a misogynist. At a post-State of the County Address event in Oakland County, Knollenberg tried to speak with County Clerk Lisa Brown. She declined and tried to walk away but Knollenberg grabbed her arm, squeezing it painfully, and not letting go until others intervened:

Oakland County Clerk Lisa Brown said Thursday she is filing an assault and battery complaint against State Sen. Martin Marty Knollenberg for allegedly squeezing her arm in a painful manner at an event after the State of the County address. [] I havent issued a full complaint yet  I was shaking so much I couldnt write last night  and I really dont want to discuss this until that is complete, said Brown, when asked to comment Thursday. The incident occurred at the end of Pattersons speech as the packed hall emptied for an adjacent Afterglow celebration. A preliminary report indicates Brown and Knollenberg and his wife were all seated in the same row and as Brown was picking up her personal items and coat, Knollenberg tried to talk to her. When Brown declined, the lawmaker allegedly firmly grabbed her arm and wouldnt let go until others interceded.

Apparently Knollenberg felt that Brown, who was the Democratic candidate for Lt. Governor in 2014, needed the stern hand of a man to make her comply with his wishes.

So:

Racist? CHECK!

Mysogynist? CHECK!

Bigot? Judging by his opposition to marriage equality, CHECK! *

When you look at it this way, Marty Knollenberg may be the perfect Republican.

* Im told that Sen. Knollenberg is actually supportive of marriage equality. I regret the error. (And maybe hes not such a perfect Republican after all.)

UPDATE: Knollenberg says it was just a handshake.

[Photo by Anne C. Savage, special to Eclectablog]
The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University on Monday released a report that questions the so-called going dark phenomenon.

The U.S. government and its surveillance and law enforcement agencies have been calling for an end to encryption because they say it lets terrorists communicate and plan with impunity and is responsible for going dark  the inability of law enforcement to monitor communications.

Thats not true, according to the Berkman Center, which notes the following:

Not all companies likely will adopt end-to-end encryption and other technology for obscuring user data because most businesses providing communications services rely on access to that data for revenue streams and product functionality, including user data recovery;

Software ecosystems are fragmented and far more standardization and coordination than currently exists would be needed to ensure that encryption becomes widespread and comprehensive;

Networked sensors and the Internet of Things will grow substantially, possibly enabling real-time interception and recording, and, in essence, providing a workaround to encrypted channels; and

Metadata isnt encrypted, and it needs to remain unencrypted in order for systems to operate.

The center is suggesting a think-it-through-first strategy, which seems obvious but apparently isnt, said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

What were currently doing isnt very effective, and the government should likely fix the not very effective part before they ask for permission to do more surveillance, he told TechNewsWorld.

Market Forces at Play

Short of a form of government intervention in technology that appears contemplated by no one outside of the most despotic regimes, communication channels resistant to surveillance will always exist, the report states. This is especially true given the generative nature of the modern Internet, in which new services and software can be made available without centralized vetting.

Market forces and commercial interests will likely limit the circumstances in which companies will offer encryption that obscures user data from the companies themselves, and the trajectory of technological development points to a future abundant in unencrypted data, some of which can fill gaps left by the very communication channels law enforcement fears will go dark and beyond reach, the report states.

That hasnt quelled law enforcements calls to limit encryption. FBI Director James Comey has been arguing for an end to encryption, and senior Obama administration officialsmet with high-tech firms CEOs last month in whats been viewed widely as an attempt to get high-tech firms to cooperate with government requests for data and possibly create encryption backdoors.

In November, the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the U.S. National District Attorneys Association released a report on going dark, and made seven recommendations.

Legislators in New York and California last month introduced bills toban the sale of smartphones encrypted by default, on antiterrorism and anti-human trafficking grounds.

More Efficiency Needed

Its not as if law enforcement  or the U.S. National Security Agency  isnt scooping up tons of data already.

Back in 2013, the NSA began work on a 600,000-square-foot data center in Utah to house all the data it was getting.

In May, a federal appeals court ruled that the NSAs telephone metadata collection program was illegal under the Patriot Act.

Some local law enforcement agencies use StingRay phone trackers on the sly, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency has been collecting data on Americansphone calls illegally for decades. The U.S. Marshals Service also iscollecting data through specially equipped planes without a warrant.

A Happy Medium?

There is a lot of value to metadata, and the Berkman report might be a compromise that all sides should willingly agree to, suggested Daniel Castro, vice president at theInformation Technology and Innovation Foundation.

The debate on counterterrorism and privacy seems to have some entrenched views, and so the Berkman reports useful in that it tries to shake out some new perspectives, he told TechNewsWorld. Its important for law enforcement to recognize, and start using, many of the other tools at its disposal that do not depend on having backdoor access to encrypted data.
Through an eleventh-hour maneuver, the United States and the European Union last week avoided action that could have choked the movement of data between the regions and caused financial harm to U.S. companies.

It may be only a temporary respite, however.

The problem stems from a European Court of Justice decision in October that blew up an agreement between the regions that provided more than 4,000 U.S. companies with a safe harbor from strict European privacy laws when handling the information of the regions citizens.

The pact, called the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, agreed to by both regions, includes the following provisions:

Strong obligations on how Europeans personal data is handled and individual rights are guaranteed. The U.S. Commerce Department will monitor compliance with the obligations, and the Federal Trade Commission provide enforcement.

A promise that access by U.S. law enforcement and national security agencies to Europeans personal data will be subject to clear limitations, safeguards and oversight mechanisms.

Establishment of several forms of redress for Europeans who believe their data has been misused.

Enforcement Uncertainty

The agreement aired last week is just a draft. Details will be worked out over the next two months. During that time  and very likely beyond it  uncertainty will persist.

Uncertainty remains about the contents of the final wording of Privacy Shield and whether or not Privacy Shield will be approved by all EU member states, said Neil Stelzer, general counsel forIdentity Finder.

Meanwhile, the Article 29 Working Party  the group within the European Union thats charged with protecting the processing and movement of the personal information of EU citizens  has said it will hold off on enforcement actions until Privacy Shield is finalized.

However, data protection authorities in each EU country may still bring enforcement actions if a company was transferring data under [the original] Safe Harbor and continues to without another legal method, Stelzer told TechNewsWorld.

Whether or not they will is unknown, he added.

Kicking Can Down the Road

Although Privacy Shield has received kudos in many quarters, it appears to be a stopgap measure intended to buy more time for EU and U.S. negotiators.

They had to rush the announcement so that European authorities didnt start enforcement actions after the Jan. 31 deadline, said Aytekin Tank, CEO ofJotForm.

As the deadline to create a new Safe Harbor approached, European authorities may have realized that their high court had placed them in an untenable position.

Enforcement action on the scale required would be totally overwhelming for the national data protection authorities, said Stuart Buglass, an international business expert atRadius who advises high-tech multinationals on regulations and compliance for overseas data protection and privacy.

A prolonged moratorium was inevitable. The announcement on the Privacy Shield provided a reason for doing so, he told TechNewsWorld.

The draft agreement seems to be a kick-the-can method of buying time, Identity Finders Stelzer added.

Legal Tempest Ahead

Even after Privacy Shield is finalized, its fate could be the same as its predecessor.

Id put my money on the agreement getting tossed by the European courts, JotForms Tank told TechNewsWorld.

The first agreement was tossed because the EU didnt trust European personal data with the U.S. government. This new agreement is no different, he noted.

Without a final document in hand, its difficult to predict Privacy Shields legal prospects, said Yorgen Edholm, CEO ofAccellion.

If history is any indicator, its only a matter of time until Privacy Shield is challenged in the courts, he told TechNewsWorld.

Max Schrems, who brought down Safe Harbor, has already expressed doubt regarding the new frameworks potential effectiveness, Edholm continued. And without any commitment from the U.S. government to soften certain provisions of the Patriot Act, it is very unlikely Privacy Shield will be acceptable to European privacy advocates.

Surveillance Reform Needed

Privacy Shield alone likely wont satisfy Europes high court.

Unless there is significant legal reform of the surveillance rights of U.S. government departments, then U.S. law will continue to fall short of EU data privacy standards and any data transfers will be unlawful, Radius Buglass said.

The issue with the agreement is that it simply provides a complaint mechanism for EU citizens to seek redress for a privacy breach rather than prevent the breach occurring in the first place through significant reform of the U.S. surveillance laws, he added.

Both the U.S. and Europe need to get their intelligence houses in order if Privacy Shield is going to work, noted Jens-Henrik Jeppesen, director of European affairs for theCenter for Democracy & Technology.

The U.S. Congress should move swiftly to reform FISA Section 702, and EU member states should also narrow their surveillance laws and practices to be more aligned with international human rights norms, he said in a statement.

FISA Section 702 is the law the National Security Agency used to justify its mass collection of phone calls and emails by directly tapping into the physical infrastructure of communications providers.

Breach Diary

Jan. 29. Landrys and Golden Nugget Hotels and Casinos releases list of facilities affected by three data breaches between May 4, 2014, and May 4, 2015. It is unknown how many customers may have had fraudulent charges on their payment cards because of the incident.

Jan. 29. Neiman Marcus informs an unspecified number of customers that unauthorized individuals compromised their accounts, and some of the accounts were used to make fraudulent purchases. Credentials to compromise accounts were obtained from a source outside Neiman Marcus, the company believes.

Feb. 1. The National Law Review reports a federal appeals court overturned a district court ruling dismissing a consumer class-action lawsuit against Neiman Marcus over a data breach in 2014 that exposed information about 350,000 credit cards.

Feb. 1. Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier of Iowa reports that Bernard Ogie Oretekor, 45, has filed papers in federal court stating he will plead guilty to charges stemming from a data breach at the University of Northern Iowa.

Feb. 1. Patrick McFarland, inspector general of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, submits his resignation to President Obama. Last year, McFarlands office found significant deficiencies in the first credit monitoring contract OPM issued following a data breach in which personal information for 22 million current and former federal employees was stolen.

Feb. 2. Humberside, UK, police confirm they are investigating a complaint by the North East Lincolnshire council of a possible data breach of electoral data prior to last years general election.

Feb. 2. Medfield, Massachusetts, announces it paid extortionists US$300 to unlock the towns network. Town systems were offline for a week after they were infected with malware that encrypted most town hall files, as well as files on a backup system.

Feb. 2. NASA denies a group of data thieves calling themselves AnonSec hacked one of the agencys drones. The group also posted to the Internet 250 GB of data it said it robbed from NASAs systems, although the agency stated the information was freely available to the public.

Feb. 2. Morgorna Mohorne files a class-action lawsuit against Web.com for failing to employ adequate security, resulting in a data breach in August that exposed credit card and access credentials of nearly 100,000 users.

Feb. 3. TalkTalk reports a data breach last year cost the company 101,000 customers and Pounds 60 million.

Feb. 3. The U.S. House Oversight Committee subpoenas documents related to last years massive data breach from the Office of Personnel Management. Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, says the action was necessary because the agency refused to cooperate with his panels probe of the breach.

Feb. 4. University of Central Florida announces that a data breach of its computer network resulted in unauthorized access to the Social Security numbers of some 63,000 current and former students.

Feb. 4. TaxSlayer.com announces that some 8,800 customers may have had personal and tax-return information stolen by criminals who gained unauthorized access to its computers. Compromised credentials from a source outside TaxSlayer were used in the attack, the company believes.

Feb. 4. Republican Party of Iowa takes offline a database containing personal information for some 2 million people after being informed a security gap had exposed the database to public view on the Internet.

Feb. 4. Reuters reports data thieves attacked 20 million accounts at Taobao, an e-commerce website owned by Alibaba. Reuters noted the attackers obtained 99 million user credentials from sources outside Taobao and used them in a brute-force attack on Taobao launched from Alibabas cloud services.

Feb. 5. Jackson Health System announces it has fired two employees for inappropriately accessing the medical records of New York Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul. ESPN published his medical records while he was in surgery having his right index finger amputated.

Upcoming Security Events
Twitter on Wednesday gave users the option of using a new algorithmically organized feed that would deliver more relevant messages  not necessarily the newest  first.

The new approach to disseminating tweets was spearheaded by Twitters CEO Jack Dorsey, who is under pressure because of the companys lack of growth. Compared to other social media sites, like Facebook, Twitter is lagging behind in new user growth and stock performance. Naturally, that has put significant pressure on Dorsey.

However, the new timeline option doesnt amount to a sea change, suggested Brian Blau, a research director at Gartner. Rather, its a natural evolution.

People vs. Companies

The feature set of social media has evolved from MySpace, where everything was haphazard, to more organized content like Facebook, Blau told the E-Commerce Times.

Twitter doesnt have as many social signals as Facebook, but this new interest-based content will make it easier for users to see what they want, he said.

The new Twitter model could worry average users, because it gets dangerously close to Facebooks pay-to-play algorithm, observed Maria Mora, content director at Big Sea Design.

Basically, on Facebook you could have 100,000 followers, but only five of them might see a post. Facebook ultimately decides who sees what, rather than allowing posts to populate organically.

For people and brands who already have a lot of followers and organic engagement right now, its not going to affect them, because their content is still going to end up on somebodys timeline, Mora told the E-Commerce Times.

For everyday users, the implications are different. For those who dont have a ton of followers and a ton of engagement, she explained, tweets may not show up in real time the way theyre used to interacting with them.

History May Repeat

Even though use of the new algorithm is opt-in, theres cause for worry that this could be the first step toward de-democratization, Mora said, noting that Twitter hasnt done a stellar job reacting to the needs and wants of its existing users.

Last falls hearts vs. stars debate, for example, revealed that Twitter wasnt in touch with its members. Basically, Twitter changed the process for highlighting a post from clicking on a star icon to a heart icon. The biggest argument against that change was that just because a user took special notice of a post didnt necessarily translate into liking it. Users didnt want to imply they liked topics such as the Paris attacks or the migrant crisis in Europe by flagging them with hearts.

Nobody likes the hearts over the stars, but they changed that even though that wasnt a complaint, Mora pointed out. On the other hand, women have been asking for more effective ways to stop harassment, more effective reporting of people who are harassing them on Twitter  thats just one example. But instead of listening to those needs , theyre coming up with an algorithm that no one asked for. Heres a way to look at your timeline that no one asked for.

The optional reordered timeline is simply a natural progression in Twitters slow calvacade of change, countered Blau.

Theres a general interest in real-time news, he noted, so now Twitter is offering the most popular feeds and tweets up front, so they dont get lost in potentially hundreds of messages. This is a benefit to users.

Its likely that Twitter is trying to league up and be a more viable option for brands, Mora speculated.

As it stands, its not the social media site you sink ad dollars in to build brand awareness, she said, but its a great platform for customer service. Its possible Dorseys plans to evolve this strategy will, in fact, boost Twitter engagement and help attract new users  and of course, more marketing dollars.
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(Subaru)

Subaru has introduced the 2016 Crosstrek Special Edition, a limited edition of Subaru's best-selling crossover. The Crosstrek Special Edition will make its debut at the 2016 Chicago Auto Show. The crossover will have a limited run with just 1,500 vehicles to be produced.

The 2016 Subaru Crosstrek already is a versatile and fun-to-drive crossover. It comes standard with a five-door design, a durable chassis, 17-inch alloy wheels. The crossover also has a high ground clearance at 8.7 inches, providing passengers spacious interiors and ample cargo room.

With the Special Edition, the crossover gains a Pure Red exterior color. The crossover also comes with matching foldable mirrors with integrated turn signals.

Inside, the Special Edition Crosstrek features a unique dashboard trim with a red inlay and red accent stitching found throughout the cabin. The shift lever handle, steering wheel and door panels come leather wrapped. The Special Edition also comes standard with the All-Weather Package, which includes heathed front seats, heated exterior mirrors and windshield wiper de-icer. Other features include a power moonroof, full color instrument panel and keyless access with push-button start.

The 2016 Subaru Crosstrek Special Edition comes standard with Subaru's StarLink infotainment system with a 6.2-inch single-touch gesture display. The infotainment system comes with numerous features including AM/FM Radio, HD Radio, a CD Player, Bluetooth connectivity, iPod control and a USB port.

The crossover is powered by the 2.0-liter Subaru Boxer engine that delivers 148 horsepower and 145 lb-ft. of torque. The engine comes mated with Subaru's Continuously Variable Transmission. It comes standard as an all-wheel drive. The crossover is also fuel-efficient delivering 34 mpg for highway driving.

Subaru has also equipped the crossover with the latest safety features including Blind Spot Detection, Rear Cross Traffic Alert System and Lane Change Assist.

The 2016 Subaru Crosstrek Special Edition will be on display at the 2016 Chicago Auto Show. The limited edition crossover will arrive at dealers by late spring 2016.
(Public Domain)The galaxy

Astronomers have finally peer through the Zone of Avoidance with the aid of CSIRO Parkes radio telescope in Australia, unveiling 883 galaxies previously hidden from view near the Milky Way.

Although these former 'hidden galaxies' are a mere 250 million light-years away from the Earth, which is comparatively close in astronomical terms, they were unobservable because they lie within an area obstructed by planets and stars found in the Milky Way, which is called the Zone of Avoidance. In the past several decades, scientists who had tried to map out the galactic distribution of the said area with no success.

"The Milky Way is very beautiful of course and it's very interesting to study our own galaxy, but it completely blocks out the view of the more distant galaxies behind it," said astronomer Lister Staveley-Smith of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) at the University of Western Australia.

Renee Kraan-Korteweg from the University of Cape Town in South Africa, another team member, said that they tried using a range of different techniques, but only the use of radio waves is successful "in allowing us to see through the thickest foreground layer of dust and stars."

"An average galaxy contains 100 billion stars, so finding hundreds of new galaxies hidden behind the Milky Way points to a lot of mass we didn't know about until now," he added.

With this new discovery, astronomers now have information to further study a cosmic phenomenon that occurs in the Zone of Avoidance. Scientifically known as the "Great Attractor," this is a region that appears to be attracting the Milky Way towards it. This astronomical anomaly was first discovered in the 1970s.

In this region, there are very large collections of galaxies scientists call clusters or superclusters, and the Milky Way is moving towards them at more than 2 million kilometres per hour," explained Staveley-Smith. "We don't actually understand what's causing this gravitational acceleration... or where it's coming from."

The findings has since been published on The Astronomical Journal.
A principal in Melbournes north has said he is prepared to risk jail by speaking out about the humanitarian plight of three of his students who are asylum seekers.Glenroy College principal, Paul Dingle, told The Educator that it was about time that compassion was shown for these young people.Three students at my high school are among 267 asylum seekers who came to Australia for medical treatment, and could be deported to Nauru, he said.Our school is a place where these kids feel safe and can be normal kids.Dingle said principals are there to provide such kids with a safe learning space and that the best place for them to do that was here in Australia.All were asking is that Prime Minister Turnbull show these kids compassion and let them stay here in Australia, he said.The Department of Immigration said 48 asylum seeker children of school age were subject to return to Nauru. Dingle said the strongest argument for keeping them here in Australia was the potential for child abuse in the facilities theyre being sent to.To rip them out of school and deport them back to Nauru where medical professionals clearly state they will be exposed to child abuse is morally wrong, he said.These kids are rebuilding their lives here in Australia. It has been a rewarding experience for them and the rest of the school community. Our community would be honoured to have these kids continue their schooling with us.Dingles comments follow a High Court ruling last week that Australia's offshore processing of asylum seekers was lawful.A Department of Immigration spokeswoman said that 48 children of school age were subject to return to Nauru  however pressure has been mounting on the Federal Government to allow the children to stay in Australia.Victorias Premier urging the Prime Minister to let the children settle in Victoria, adding the state would accept full responsibility for their education, health, housing and welfare services  a call echoed by all other state premiers. Australian Education Union (AEU) Victorian branch president, Meredith Peace, said the asylum seekers should not be condemned to a "life in limbo" on Nauru."Kids who are seeking refuge have often come from countries in conflict where their education has already been disrupted. They are in Victorian schools getting access to high quality education in a stable environment."Removing the children would be extremely traumatic and disruptive to their education, she said.
A Pennsylvania town roiled by a controversy that led to the resignation of its superintendent three years ago has found an unusual path back to trust between the community and its school district: a volunteer effort that so far has helped support dozens of parents of students who have disabilities.

The chain of events began in 2013, when the then-superintendent of the Coatesville Area School District, 40 miles west of Philadelphia, was found to have exchanged dozens of sexist and racist text messages with a district staff member.

Meetings held in the wake of that scandal revealed other deep-rooted problems in the 7,000-student school system, including allegations that district officials discriminated against students with disabilities and minority students.

Cathy Taschner, an administrator in another district, stepped into the maelstrom when she was hired as Coatesvilles permanent superintendent in June 2014. The former superintendent, Richard Como, resigned in September 2013.

During a months-long community listening tour, Taschner searched for ways to rebuild ties between the district and the families it serves. Around the same time, Rob Marshall, a Coatesville native who was completing a divinity degree, was looking for ideas to meet a community-service graduation requirement.

Taschner and Marshall found in each other like-minded spirits. From their partnership came Citizens Who Seek Educational Equity, or Citizens Who S.E.E., a group of volunteers who serve as advocates for parents of students with disabilities.

The volunteerseducational heavy-hitters who include the superintendent of another Pennsylvania district, a retired school psychologist, and a former youth-justice specialistsit right alongside parents at meetings on their childrens individualized education programs, or IEPs, helping to hammer out plans for services and supports for those special education students.

The volunteers draft letters as needed, asking for extra testing, school records, or additional meetings to resolve problems.

And in an educational area that is filled with often-bewildering requirements, regulations, and timelines, the volunteers also equip parents with enough knowledge that they can advocate for their own children.

I feel more empowered in getting the school to do what theyre supposed to do, said Marcia Stringfield, a parent who credits the group with helping her get appropriate services for her son James, a 17-year-old senior. Theres a big difference with everyones attitude.

Volunteers involved in Citizens Who S.E.E. stress that they are not employees of the district. They will butt heads with school officials if necessary in support of parents.

But while special education advocates and school administrators often view each other with suspicion, Taschner has made it clear that the organizations leaders have her ear. She meets with group leaders regularly, introduced Marshall to district employees during an in-service meeting, and has adopted suggestions that the volunteers have gleaned from their interactions with families.

Hard-Nosed Advocacy

For example, parents said they felt uncomfortable being asked to sign unfamiliar documents at IEP meetings, which is where school staff members, parents, and students draft academic goals. Taschner directed school administrators to ease up on the pressure.

Taschner said she told Marshall, as the program launched: I will push from the school part if you push from the outside. And together we can push our children right up to the top.

The districts focus on students with disabilities, particularly black students and low-income students, came from the painful anecdotes that bubbled up during the listening tour from parents who felt they had been ignored or intimidated.

But Taschners own history with special education makes her a particularly receptive administrator. As a principal in another Pennsylvania district, she received an award from the disability-advocacy group TASH for her work in inclusive education. She also served for five years on a state advisory panel that monitored a settlement agreement between Pennsylvania and advocacy organizations that said the state had failed to educate students in the least-restrictive environment that met those students needs.

It was career-changing when you watch what happens to families who work so hard and fight so hard to get their child the education that theyre already entitled to, but cant access because of the barriers that schools enact between them and this education, Taschner said.

I never dreamed there would be an educator who would say, Your child cant come here. And what I learned is there are parents who go through that every day, she adds.

Marshall said the Citizens Who S.E.E. group has worked with about 40 families so far, with nibbles of interest from people outside the district as well. Hes partnering with a local Hispanic church to get Spanish-speaking volunteers.

Im really trying to keep [volunteers] in Coatesville. But I tell you, the word is out. And its hard for me to tell people that, no, we cant help you, said Marshall, who had no prior experience with special education before embarking on this project.

But if we can do this one family at a time in Coatesville, I think some things will turn around, said Marshall, the associate pastor of New Life in Christ Fellowship in Coatesville, which has lent meeting rooms to the effort. We should advocate ourselves out of a job.

Offering a Lifeline

Coatesville is in Pennsylvanias Chester County, among the wealthiest counties in the country by median income. The town was built around Lukens Steel, which supplied steel for the World Trade Center towers in New York. Taschners mother worked at Lukens Steel for some 40 years, and her grandparents lived in Coatesville.

The town of about 13,000, however, is much poorer than its neighbors. The steel mill still exists as a part of a multinational company, but employment in the industry is far less than it was in Coatesvilles boom days, and the town has struggled to regain its financial footing.

The Coatesville district is about 49 percent white, 32 percent black, and about 16 percent Hispanic. About 55 percent of students are designated by the state as economically disadvantaged, and 17 percent are in special education.

Citizens Who S.E.E. is still so new that its members and the district cannot quantify its impact. But for the families, it has been a lifeline.

For years, Stringfield worried about the educational progress of her son James. And for years, school administrators told her not to worry, and that her sons progress was fine.

They were just reassuring me that they were on top on things, Stringfield said. They would throw this language at me I couldnt understand.

But as a junior in high school, she said, James could not write an essay. He struggled to count money.

With the help of a Citizens Who S.E.E. volunteer, Stringfields son is getting tutoring, and will receive a more in-depth educational evaluation. But she realizes she only has a few months leftJames has shown no interest in staying in school to age 21, as permitted under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

The advocate is fighting for everything she can for my son, Stringfield said.

Michele DAgostino-Miles said she was told that her 17-year-old son Miguel, diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiance disorder, needed no particular accommodations. She was able to get him an educational plan that allowed him extra time to complete work and provided some counseling, but she said his teachers werent following it.

Working with Citizens Who S.E.E. volunteers has made a huge impact, she said.

The demeanor of some of the counselors and the school psychologists really changes, she said. They cant just sit there and tell me what to do.

Her son, a sophomore, made the honor roll last grading periodsomething he hasnt done since elementary school, DAgostino-Miles said.

The group is phenomenal, she said.

Getting Prepared

Debbie Willett, a mother of 12 and a former family-support specialist with a local faith-based nonprofit, is the volunteer who worked with DAgostino-Miles. Willett, who had 10 children go through the Coatesville district, advocated for her own children who had special education needs. Seven of her children attended or are currently enrolled in the district.

She remembered how valuable it was to have someone with her just to make sure that the right questions were being asked, and that she was getting the answers she needed.

A piece of advice Willett was given that she now relays to other parents is that they should be able to look at any educational evaluation that precedes the development of an educational plan and recognize their childs specific areas of strength and weakness.

If the evaluation isnt very good, the IEP isnt going to be very good, Willett said.

Could the effort in Coatesville spread to other districts? Willett says its possible, if the right ingredients are in place.

With Rob being the CEO, he has the heart for it, she said of the groups founder. And if we didnt have the support of the superintendent, I dont know how welcome we would be.

Monica McHale-Small, the superintendent of the 2,200-student Saucon Valley district in Pennsylvania and a native of Coatesville, has trained volunteers with Citizens Who S.E.E. on what to expect during IEP meetings. Shes also worked directly with parents, helping them write letters to request special education evaluations.

McHale-Small chose to put all four of her children through Coatesville schools despite the option of transferring them to the smaller, more affluent districts where she has worked. She did so even though Coatesville is still recovering from what she calls the trauma of the text-message scandal and the subsequent allegations, she said.

Sharing the Model

I do feel that Dr. Taschner is definitely supporting this work, but theres a lot to do, said McHale-Small, who started her career as a school psychologist. Coatesville is a financially strapped district as it is. Shes got a very tough job.

And trust is still a primary concern, McHale-Small said. We need to make sure that school district people and people in the community know that were working collaboratively with the district, but were not the district, she said.

The problems in Coatesville are far from over. The school system is still working to regain its social standing in the community. And Pennsylvania is one of the top states when it comes to special education legal actions, which could be one avenue that parents pursue with their volunteer-advocates.

Taschner said she is not concerned by the specter of due process hearings.

Heres what I worry about, she said. Every day that we as the adults dont figure it out, I have children who arent learning. We have children who dont learn over long periods of time, and parents who cant communicate over a long period of time. Out of that comes a need to have someone who is able to help create different decisions.

She added: I worry about the lawsuits that would come when there arent enough people in the room who care about kids.
The European Investment Bank, Europes long-term lending institution, today confirmed significant support totalling GBP 432 million for new investment in education and energy schemes in the north-east and Yorkshire. This includes GBP 100 million to underpin Newcastle Universitys capital development programme, GBP 250 million for investment by Northern Powergrid and GBP 82 million to connect the Westernmost Rough windfarm to the national electricity network.

Long-term investment is crucial to unlock economic opportunities, build on regional strengths and improve key services. The European Investment Bank has supported key projects across the North-east and Yorkshire over more than 40 years, such as Kielder Water, Nissan in Sunderland, the Green Port in Hull and Hitachis new European train manufacturing plant in Newton Aycliffe, as well as schools for hundreds of children in North Tyneside, Northumberland, Gateshead, Sunderland, County Durham, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton on Tees. Todays visit allows me to see exciting projects supported by the EIB at Newcastle University and with Northern Powergrid at first hand and to explore fresh opportunities for future EIB engagement in the region. said Jonathan Taylor, European Investment Bank Vice President responsible for UK lending.

The 30 year GBP 100 million loan, the EIBs largest ever loan for a UK university outside London and the south-east, will support Newcastle Universitys capital investment over the next four years, including the re-development of Richardson Road student accommodation, the 58m Urban Sciences Building on Science Central, refurbishment of the Armstrong building on the main university campus, and the 40m National Ageing Science and Innovation Centre.

The announcements were made during a visit to Science Central by a delegation from the European Investment Bank, the worlds largest international public bank.

Part of the loan will be used in the transformation of Richardson Road student accommodation, with existing flats being demolished and replaced by six new accommodation blocks. The European Investment Bank earlier announced a new GBP 250 million long-term loan to upgrade electricity distribution infrastructure, improve flood defences and reinforce Northern Powergrids network to enable a smarter electricity distribution to 3.9 million homes and businesses in the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire.

Lending by the European Investment Bank last year totalled GBP 5.6 billion and represented the largest annual engagement since the start of EIB lending in the UK in 1973. This supported nearly GBP 16 billion of overall investment in 40 projects across the country. The European Investment Bank is directly owned by the 28 European Union member states, including a 16% share held by the UK government.

Lending in 2015 supported construction at 77 schools, including 12 in the north-east, 5 university campuses and 4 hospitals, upgraded energy links and backed renewable energy projects, strengthened water infrastructure with 5 of the largest water providers in the UK, improved broadband access in rural areas and will benefit millions of commuters at two of Londons busiest stations.

http://www.northernpowergrid.com/
Description

The EIB pledges a major contribution to the EU response to economic, financial, social, and climate challenges in its ambitious Operational Plan for 2016-2018. It builds on the Groups impressive record, especially as measured by the unprecedented catalytic effect on EU investment achieved in 2015.

The overall signature targets (under the Banks own resources) of around EUR 71 billion a year are consistent with those set for 2015. Of these overall targets, higher-risk Special Activities will be between EUR 17-24 billion a yeara significant increase compared to the 2015 target of EUR 8.6 billion.

High volumes of traditional lending, blending and advising activities are needed to make a vital contribution to EU Policy Goals and to fulfil the Banks responsibilities as the EU bank. Alongside these traditional activities, the Banks contribution to the Investment Plan for Europe is an unprecedented challenge. It requires a major change in the Banks business profile for years to come. To maintain high volumes with the foreseen business mix, new approaches will be required, reaching new sectors, tapping new clients, and marketing new products.
New York, Feb 11 (EFE).- New Jersey governor Chris Christie confirmed that he left the Republican race for the White House "without an ounce of regret."

"I'm so proud of the campaign we ran, the people that ran it with me and all those who gave us their support and confidence along the way," the Republican candidate said in a message posted on Facebook, Wednesday.

Christie's withdrawal had been anticipated by several sources close to him. The aforementioned message is his first confirmation in this regard, but he is expected to appear later in the day in front of reporters.

In his message, Christie says that in his political career he has won elections which he initially thought he would lose.

"That means you never know what will happen," he adds and insists that this is "the magic and the mystery of politics."

Christie was analyzing the course to be followed with his team after finishing sixth in the primary elections held on Tuesday in New Hampshire.

He was in his campaign headquarters in the town of Morristown, New Jersey, where reporters wait in anticipation of Christie's appearance to explain more in-depth the reasons for his decision.

Together with Christie, Carly Fiorina also announced her suspension in the race for Republican presidential nomination, in both cases following the unfavorable New Hampshire primary results.

In the Republican debate last Sunday, Christie attacked fellow candidate Marco Rubio, something which he describes now as part of the electoral process and ruled out that it was "something personal".

"He tried to attack me but it seems that it did not work. He has a good future in public service," Rubio told CNN when he was asked about the withdrawal of Christie.

The remaining Republican candidates are the real estate magnate Donald Trump, the favorite in the polls, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Rubio, former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Ohio governor John Kasich and neurosurgeon Ben Carson.

On the Democratic side, the candidates have been narrowed down to Hillary Clinton and Vermont senator Bernie Sanders.
Ely, Cambridgeshire is best known for its majestic cathedral dubbed the 'Ship of the Fens' because it dominates the flat landscape. The city, which is the second smallest in England, is about 14 miles north-northeast of Cambridge and about 80 miles by road from London.

17:55, 17 OCT 2022
Re: US employment law compliance in Switzerland Quote: VFR on top Which is exactly what happens in the US. Any manager worth their salt can look at a resume (remember - no pictures in the US either) and make an appropriate estimation of the applicant's age.



I find it ridiculous to assume you can't find out someone's age just because you don't indicate a yob on the CV. Same with gender or ethnicity and likely nationality of course. If I have a "Sarah X" on a CV, it's quite safe to assume it's a female But God forbid anyone should find out



And even if you don't know age, gender, ethnicity or whatever else you may not want to know, you still find out at the latest in an interview and can still discard a candidate based on whatever prejudice or bias you may or may not have - only by then, time has been wasted and hopes have been raised, all for nothing.



Discrimination is a tricky concept. I by no means dispute that it exists, of course it does, everywhere and it takes many shapes and forms. But the US has taken it to another level, where everyone can essentially claim anything is discrimination just because they didn't get what they wanted. That is certainly not the way to go, sorry. Agree. Count back 18 years from when they entered college for their undergrad degree and you can tell +/- 1 year how old they are. And if the year of graduation is not on the CV, look on LinkedIn.I find it ridiculous to assume you can't find out someone's age just because you don't indicate a yob on the CV. Same with gender or ethnicity and likely nationality of course. If I have a "Sarah X" on a CV, it's quite safe to assume it's a femaleBut God forbid anyone should find outAnd even if you don't know age, gender, ethnicity or whatever else you may not want to know, you still find out at the latest in an interview and can still discard a candidate based on whatever prejudice or bias you may or may not have - only by then, time has been wasted and hopes have been raised, all for nothing.Discrimination is a tricky concept. I by no means dispute that it exists, of course it does, everywhere and it takes many shapes and forms. But the US has taken it to another level, where everyone can essentially claim anything is discrimination just because they didn't get what they wanted. That is certainly not the way to go, sorry.
About Ride The Rockies Ride The Rockies in an event of The Denver Post Community Foundation. The Denver Post Community Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, serves to improve and enrich the lives of those in our community by raising and distributing funds to metro-area and Colorado nonprofit agencies serving the areas of arts, youth, education and human services. For more information, visit denverpostcommunity.com or ridetherockies.com.

The 2016 Denver Post Ride The Rockies will return to Estes Park this summer after a three-year absence.

The Ride The Rockies is an annual bicycle tour that takes 2,000 cyclists, assisted by more than 100 volunteers, on a 6-7 day ride through Colorados Rocky Mountains each June. This years event  the 31st  will run from June 11-17. It will start in Carbondale and end in Fort Collins.

The bicycle tour will end Day 5 (June 16) in Estes Park and begin Day 6 (June 17) in Estes Park.

Ride The Rockies route is different each year, but always climbs a few challenging mountain passes and showcases the states spectacular scenery. Daily treks can be as short as 45 miles or as long as 100 miles, but generally average 65-75 miles.

The Day 5 trek, from Grand Lake to Estes Park, is 49 miles long. The Day 6 trek, from Estes Park to Fort Collins, is 55 miles long.

While the tour route changes each year, the benefits and responsibilities of each host community remain the same. Benefits include publicity, positive economic impact, fundraising opportunities and a grant provided to an eligible non-profit agency in each host town by The Denver Post Community Foundation, tour officials say.

The Town is excited to be part of Ride The Rockies again this year, said Estes Public Information Officer Kate Rusch. Our staff will assist with rider hospitality at the Estes Park Events Complex, race logistics and traffic control along the route, and a community event June 16.

Well work with the Ride The Rockies team in the coming months to establish and share the details with the community.

Rusch also added that Ride The Rockies is not the same event as the USA Pro Challenge event that was held in 2013.

Ride The Rockies can be a big boost to local economies. According to tour officials, cyclists in 2014 spent an average of $250,000 in a 24-hour period in each town and many planned to return at a later date as tourists.

The 2016 Ride The Rockies will showcase the communities of Carbondale, Aspen, Copper Mountain, first-time host Grand Lake, Estes Park and Fort Collins.

Beginning in the heart of the Roaring Fork River Valley and concluding on the scenic Front Range, cyclists will cover 403 miles and ascend nearly 30,000 vertical feet. Keeping to tradition, the course will feature some of Colorados most scenic and breathtaking views and travel some of the states most iconic roadways. Highlights include Independence Pass, Fremont Pass, Tennessee Pass, Vail Pass, Ute Pass and Trail Ridge Road through Rocky Mountain National Park.

Riders on past Ride The Rockies have represented all 50 states and 18 foreign countries. Ride The Rockies is a non-competitive event open to cyclists of all ages and participants are encouraged to ride at their own pace.

Proceeds from Ride The Rockies benefit The Denver Post Community Foundation. All funds raised are returned directly to Colorado nonprofits.

Registration is now open. Applications will be accepted through 5 p.m. February 28. You can register as an individual or as a team up to 10 people. All applicants will be notified of their status on March 4.

Ride The Rockies is a fully-supported tour, from aid stations to tech support, and SAG vehicles to medical services.

About Ride The Rockies

Ride The Rockies in an event of The Denver Post Community Foundation. The Denver Post Community Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, serves to improve and enrich the lives of those in our community by raising and distributing funds to metro-area and Colorado nonprofit agencies serving the areas of arts, youth, education and human services. For more information, visit denverpostcommunity.com or ridetherockies.com.
Practices of purity and pollution have been a critical area of inquiry in paid domestic work relations in India. This paper revisits the idea of purity and pollution in the space of the home in paid domestic work, but with the intent to turn the gaze around. It shifts the focus by looking at workers as the subjects and examining their responses. It argues that the existing frameworks for looking at the space of home and the practices of purity and pollution are limiting and have to be revisited to develop a dynamic understanding of the everyday reality of domestic work and caste hierarchies at work.

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According to a recent study of healthcare cyber security, there were 258 large breaches of protected health information (PHI) last year, and 113,208,516 patient health records were breached in total in 2015.

Thats an 897 percent increase in records breached from 2014 to 2015.

Redspins Breach Report 2015: Protected Health Information (PHI) also found that hacking attacks factored in nine of the 10 largest breaches last year and led to 98.1 percent of all compromised patient records.

From 2009-2013, the primary cause of PHI breach was the loss or theft of unencrypted portable computing devices, Redspin president Daniel W. Berger wrote in the report. In most cases of theft, there was little concern about information compromise as it was more likely the thief valued the device more than what was stored on it. Not so in 2015. Hackers knew exactly what they were after as they pilfered health information and/or other personal data for nefarious purposes such as medical ID theft and fraud.

Over 88 percent of all records breached in 2015 came as a result of the top three incidents, at Anthem, Premera Blue Cross and Excellus  and 78 million of the records breached in 2015 came from the single largest incident, the Anthem breach, which was also the largest healthcare breach in history.

Securing the healthcare environment should now be a part of every health organizations strategic plan, Berger wrote. Embracing IT security in its full definition  confidentiality, integrity and availability  is in alignment with other strategic goals such as improved patient care delivery and better patient outcomes.

Earlier this week, the Washington State Health Care Authority (HCA) announced that an HCA employee had improperly used more than 91,000 Apple Health (Medicaid) clients personal identification information and private health information, including names, addresses, Social Security numbers, birthdates, Apple Health ID numbers, medical procedure information and medical diagnosis information.

Between November 15, 2013 and December 24, 2015, the HCA employee forwarded spreadsheets containing the clients data to another state employee, though both the HCA employee and the recipient claim they did so only because the HCA employee needed technical assistance with the files.

Both employees have been fired.

Our first and foremost priority is protecting our clients personal information, HCA risk manager Steve Dotson said in a statement [PDF]. We have taken swift action to address this issue and help prevent future incidents.

While we have no indication that the client files went beyond the two individuals involved, important privacy laws were violated and we are exercising caution and due diligence given the nature of the information, Dotson added.

All those affected are being offered one free year of membership in Experians ProtectMyID Alert service.

Last fall, a Clearswift survey of 500 IT decision makers and 4,000 employees in the U.S., U.K., Germany and Australia found that 40 percent of companies expect to experience a data breach resulting from employee behavior in the coming year.
Survey reveals how much pocket money Aussie kids are earning

New data reveals gender pay gap reversed when it comes to pocket money.
For the first time, scientists have observed ripples in the fabric of spacetime called gravitational waves, arriving at the earth from a cataclysmic event in the distant universe. This confirms a major prediction of Albert Einstein's 1915 general theory of relativity and opens an unprecedented new window onto the cosmos.

Gravitational waves carry information about their dramatic origins and about the nature of gravity that cannot otherwise be obtained. Physicists have concluded that the detected gravitational waves were produced during the final fraction of a second of the merger of two black holes to produce a single, more massive spinning black hole. This collision of two black holes had been predicted but never observed.

The gravitational waves were detected on Sept. 14, 2015 at 5:51 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (9:51 UTC) by both of the twin Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors, located in Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington, USA. The LIGO Observatories are funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), and were conceived, built, and are operated by Caltech and MIT. The discovery, accepted for publication in the journal Physical Review Letters, was made by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (which includes the GEO600 Collaboration and the Australian Consortium for Interferometric Gravitational Astronomy) and the Virgo Collaboration using data from the two LIGO detectors.

American University and partners fine-tune optics

American University is a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration. AU currently is the sole university in Washington, D.C. to participate in LIGO and is led by Gregory Harry, assistant professor of physics.

"The detection of gravitational waves marks the beginning of a new way of observing the universe," said Harry, one of the authors of the detection paper published in Physical Review Letters. "Now that physicists have evidence that LIGO detectors can detect gravitational waves, it is exciting to think about how much we will likely learn about the nature of gravity."

At AU, researchers work to fine-tune the optical materials used in the LIGO detectors. Mirrors used in the detectors have reflective coatings. Over time, researchers realized the coatings limited the detectors' sensitivity because of thermal vibrations. Harry's team helped to develop improved coatings that allowed for greater sensitivity. Experimental research by Harry's team will continue to focus on new and improved ways to further reduce noise.

Since 2011, more than 10 AU undergraduate students have participated in LIGO research at AU, including two who contributed research to the gravitational waves discovery and are now physics Ph.D. candidates working on LIGO at universities in Scotland and New York. The AU LIGO group is also involved in public outreach and is developing an "Optics Olympiad," which will bring D.C. public schools students to campus to share in the excitement of LIGO research.

American University is proud to have worked with many outstanding scientists at other universities to have brought LIGO to the sensitivity to make this detection. The list includes Georgia Tech, California State University-Fullerton, Columbia University, Stanford University, University of Oregon, University of Maryland, University of Michigan, Carleton College, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Penn State University, Hobart & William Smith Colleges, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Trinity University, and Whitman College.

Teamwork leads to discovery

The discovery of gravitational waves was made possible by the enhanced capabilities of Advanced LIGO, a major upgrade that increases the sensitivity of the instruments compared to the first-generation LIGO detectors, enabling a large increase in the volume of the universe probed--and the discovery of gravitational waves during its first observation run. The U.S. National Science Foundation leads in financial support for Advanced LIGO. Funding organizations in Germany (Max Planck Society), the U.K. (Science and Technology Facilities Council, STFC) and Australia (Australian Research Council) also have made significant commitments to the project. Several of the key technologies that made Advanced LIGO so much more sensitive have been developed and tested by the German UK GEO collaboration. Several universities designed, built, and tested key components for Advanced LIGO: The Australian National University, the University of Florida, Stanford University, Columbia University of New York, and Louisiana State University.

LIGO research is carried out by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC), a group of more than 1,000 scientists from universities around the United States and in 14 other countries. More than 90 universities and research institutes in the LSC develop detector technology and analyze data; approximately 250 students are strong contributing members of the collaboration. The LSC detector network includes the LIGO interferometers and the GEO600 detector. The GEO team includes scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute, AEI), Leibniz Universitat Hannover, along with partners at the University of Glasgow, Cardiff University, the University of Birmingham, other universities in the United Kingdom, and the University of the Balearic Islands in Spain. Significant computer resources have been contributed by the AEI Atlas cluster, the LIGO Laboratory, Syracuse University, and the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.

LIGO was originally proposed as a means of detecting these gravitational waves in the 1980s by Rainer Weiss, professor of physics, emeritus, from MIT; Kip Thorne, Caltech's Richard P. Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics, emeritus; and Ronald Drever, professor of physics, emeritus, also from Caltech. Virgo research is carried out by the Virgo Collaboration, consisting of more than 250 physicists and engineers belonging to 19 different European research groups: 6 from Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in France; 8 from the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) in Italy; 2 in the Netherlands with Nikhef; the WignervRCP in Hungary; the POLGRAW group in Poland and the European Gravitational Observatory (EGO), the laboratory hosting the Virgo detector near Pisa in Italy.

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To learn more about the discovery, visit the official LIGO Scientific Collaboration website at http://www.ligo.org

American University is a leader in global education, enrolling a diverse student body from throughout the United States and nearly 140 countries. Located in Washington, D.C., the university provides opportunities for academic excellence, public service, and internships in the nation's capital and around the world.
Lung cancer is one of the most prevalent types of cancer, with more than 20,000 new cases diagnosed each year in Spain. Lung adenocarcinomas carrying oncogenic KRAS, the engine driving these tumours in 30% of cases, constitute the most aggressive sub-type because, unlike other types of lung cancer, there are no targeted therapies beyond the standard cisplatin-based treatment.

Researchers of the Experimental Oncology Group at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), headed by Mariano Barbacid, director of the Group, and the researcher David Santamaria, will be publishing a paper in the prestigious journal Nature Medicine this week explaining how the combination of dasatinib -- DDR1 protein inhibitor -- and demcizumab -- a Notch pathway inhibitor antibody -- specifically and effectively reduces lung adenocarcinomas and improves prognosis and survival rates substantially. Once the preclinical studies have been completed, "the next step in this research would be the clinical trials to validate the combination of these drugs as the first therapy directed against these aggressive tumours," says Chiara Ambrogio, first author of the paper.

A NEW APPROACH

One of the most important barriers in the study of lung adenocarcinomas is their great heterogeneity when they reach advanced stages: tumour cells evolve over time, learn to adapt to the environment in order to grow and survive and form sub-populations within the same tumour. This heterogeneity explains why many patients stop responding to cancer treatments.

"Classically, tumours have been studied at advanced stages, but we were interested in studying the initial stages of tumour formation. We followed this approach to avoid the heterogeneity issue and try to identify new essential mechanisms that sustain tumour development with potential therapeutic uses," says Ambrogio.

The researchers analysed the gene signature of these tumours through large-scale gene analysis techniques. "We discovered that these tumours display high levels of activity of the DDR1 gene, so we decided to validate its inhibition as a potential therapeutic strategy for this type of tumour."

Recent data indicate that combined therapies using two or more drugs can prevent, or at least delay, relapses in the case of cancer patients; thus, the experts simultaneously used dasatinib, which inhibits the DDR1 protein, together with demcizumab, an antiboby inhibiting the Notch pathway that is functionally related to DDR1 in this tumour type.

After five years of research, the experts conclude that the combination of the two drugs has additive effects on tumours, reducing their size, preventing their progression and significantly increasing survival rates. "One of the advantages of the project is that the two drugs employed have already been approved by the regulatory agencies, which will significantly speed-up studies on human patients. The next steps are clinical trials to validate the combination of these drugs as the first targeted therapy for the treatment of these tumours."

The authors of the paper have used preclinical models of genetically modified mice. In collaboration with the team of Alberto Villanueva in the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), they generated orthotopic mouse models by implanting lung tumours from patients in order to validate the effectiveness of the drugs directly on human samples. The teams of Manuel Serrano and Manuel Hidalgo from the CNIO have also participated in the study.

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The project was funded by the European Research Council (ERC), the European Union, the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain, the Community of Madrid, the AXA Foundation, the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC) and the Health Research Foundation (FIS) of the Carlos III Health Institute.

Combined inhibition of DDR1 and Notch signaling is a therapeutic strategy for KRAS-driven lung adenocarcinoma. Chiara Ambrogio, Gonzalo Gomez-Lopez, Mattia Falcone, August Vidal, Ernest Nadal, Nicola Crosetto, Rafael B Blasco, Pablo J Fernandez-Marcos, Montserrat Sanchez-Cespedes, Xiaomei Ren, Zhen Wang, Ke Ding, Manuel Hidalgo, Manuel Serrano, Alberto Villanueva, David Santamaria, Mariano Barbacid. Nature Medicine (2016). doi: 10.1038/nm.4041
To biologists' surprise, an eagle population living in a South African landscape dominated by agriculture appears to be thriving, according to a new paper in The Condor: Ornithological Applications--even out-performing their neighbors in undeveloped mountain habitat.

Verreaux's Eagles (Aquila verreauxii), an apex predator in southern Africa, are in decline, and Megan Murgatroyd of the University of Cape Town and her colleagues wanted to determine if habitat loss due to intensifying agriculture could be the culprit. Instead, when they compared the breeding productivity of eagles in South Africa's heavily farmed Sandveld region to that of the smaller population of eagles in the nearby Cederberg Mountains, they found that the Sandveld population's breeding success was actually the highest of any Verreaux's Eagle population ever studied.

Mugatroyd and her co-authors speculate that the eagles' prey base could be more available and diverse in the Sandveld, and that the gentler terrain could take less energy to navigate. However, the researchers caution that there may be a threshold of agricultural transformation beyond which the Sandveld region's population would begin to struggle. They recommend that management in the Sandveld region should focus on identifying and eliminating any potential sources of eagle mortality, such as wind energy development.

Murgatroyd and her colleagues monitored eagle nest sites in the two areas over four years, visiting them every two to three weeks during the breeding season. "It has been a huge privilege to undertake fieldwork in this part of South Africa," says Murgatroyd. "The Cederberg is a beautiful natural wilderness area, so we were surprised when it became apparent that the Verreaux's Eagles breeding there are far less productive than those in the Sandveld, which has been extensively converted for agriculture since the 1980s. This comparison has highlighted the potential importance of an agricultural landscape to Verreaux's Eagles, but further research, in particular with a focus on adult and subadult survival rates, is still needed for a better understanding of the long-term persistence of these populations."

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More information about Murgatroyd's eagle research is available at blackeagleproject.blogspot.com.

"The influence of agricultural transformation on the breeding performance of a top predator: Verreaux's Eagles in contrasting land-use areas" will be available February 10, 2016, at http://www.aoucospubs.org/toc/cond/118/2.

About the journal: The Condor: Ornithological Applications is a peer-reviewed, international journal of ornithology. It began in 1899 as the journal of the Cooper Ornithological Club, a group of ornithologists in California that became the Cooper Ornithological Society.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., February 11, 2016 - Cohen Veterans Bioscience, Exaptive Inc. and Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing (SCAI) today announced a new initiative to improve access to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) research.

The creation of a PTSD KnowledgeMapTM will systematize the current PTSD research space and provide interactive tools for scientists and others studying PTSD.

In the U.S. alone, approximately 8 million adults--both civilian and military populations--will experience PTSD in a given year, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' National Center for PTSD. According to a 2013 World Health Organization report, an estimated 3.6% of the world's population had suffered from PTSD in the previous year.

Post-traumatic stress puts a significant strain on families, employers and civilian and military healthcare systems. Despite a number of groups actively investigating PTSD, there is currently no easy way for researchers, policymakers and others to know what areas of study are most active, who is working on what, and where funding is or should be going. In fact, in the past 35 years, more than 100,000 peer-reviewed scientific articles have been published on PTSD. This important body of work forms the basis for many ongoing and future investigations.

The PTSD KnowledgeMapTM will bring together research on clinical symptoms, biomarkers, genetic variation, epidemiological studies and many other factors deemed relevant for PTSD. It will include easy-to-use interactive visualizations for people to search vast data in an accessible manner. The partnership will also establish an ongoing process for incorporating new research as it becomes available.

"There has been and will continue to be a wealth of PTSD studies conducted around the globe yet there is no main repository to catalogue the valuable findings that will result," says Magali Haas, MD, PhD, CEO & President of Cohen Veterans Bioscience, the lead funder of the initiative. "Many research endeavors overlap. Our goal is to centralize information and produce a blueprint for global PTSD research. This partnership will harness the novel computational information retrieval system developed by Fraunhofer SCAI and the innovative analytics conceived by Exaptive to create a new data mining tool."

"Despite popular opinion, just amassing data will not by itself lead to insight," says Dave King, Founder and CEO of Exaptive. "Without the ability to quickly and easily navigate data, the information remains largely unusable. We are excited to be working with Cohen Veterans Bioscience and Fraunhofer SCAI to help bring this data to life for such an important area of study."

Adds Martin Hofmann-Apitius, PhD, Head of the Department of Bioinformatics at Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing, "The consortium brings together world-class expertise in the area of PTSD and computational neurology, the competency for visualization of complex processes and relationships and the expertise in the area of information retrieval and disease modeling. While it is extremely challenging to model something complex like PTSD, we are optimistic that together with Cohen Veterans Bioscience and Exaptive we can fully represent the state of knowledge in the clinical and molecular context."

The new interactive tool for exploring PTSD research will be made available later this year. The computable model and the software environment supporting exploration and mining of the knowledge map will be shared with researchers worldwide in order to foster rapid uptake of computational systems biology approaches in translational PTSD research.

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Cohen Veterans Bioscience

Cohen Veterans Bioscience is a 501(c)(3) non-profit research organization dedicated to improving the detection and treatment of PTS and TBI and related co-morbidities through cutting-edge research, so the burden of these conditions may be lessened on service members, veterans, and their families. Through the generosity and support of Steven A. Cohen, we are launching translational research initiatives in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury. To ensure the future holds improved care for veterans, we seek to assemble high-dimensional biomarker, biosensor, and phenotypic data to build predictive models of disease and accelerate the time to next generation diagnostics and treatments. More information is available at http://www.cohenveteransbioscience.org and on Twitter.

Exaptive

Exaptive is a software company whose mission is to lower the barriers to analyzing and collaborating with data. The Exaptive platform enables software developers and researchers to interchange and experiment easily with different analytics tools, suggests relevant techniques users haven't tried yet, and connects users to others working on related projects. The goal is to reveal new approaches and make it easy to try them, so that gaining new insight happens faster and big breakthroughs are more frequent. Users can also leverage others' work or monetize their own work as a part of a combinatorial marketplace. More information is available at http://www.exaptive.com.

Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing

The Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing conducts research in the field of computer simulations for product and process development, and is a prominent corporate partner in the industrial and science sectors. SCAI designs and optimizes industrial applications, implements custom solutions for production and logistics, and offers calculations on high-performance computers. Its services are based on industrial engineering, combined with state-of-the-art methods from applied mathematics and information technology. The team of Martin Hofmann-Apitius has used their knowledge extraction capabilities to successfully generate a large research model of Alzheimers Disease. More information is available at http://www.scai.fraunhofer.de/bio.
LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Feb. 11, 2016--Gravitational waves were predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity in 1916, and now, almost exactly 100 years later, the faint ripples across space-time have been found. The advanced Laser Interferometric Gravitational-wave Observatory (aLIGO) has achieved the first direct measurement.

"We already have indirect evidence of gravitational wave emission from binary pulsars like the Hulse-Taylor system. But this aLIGO measurement provides the first direct detection and confirms what our modeling and simulation results have been suggesting - Einstein was right," said Christopher Fryer, Los Alamos National Laboratory Fellow and longtime researcher in this field.

"Working with experts in radiation transport and atomic physics in the Advanced Simulation and Computing program at Los Alamos, members of the theoretical astrophysics center are modeling this emission to compare theoretical models with direct observations," said Charlie McMillan, Los Alamos National Laboratory director. "This type of crosscutting capability is a hallmark of the national laboratory system and Los Alamos is gratified to have participated in a discovery of this magnitude."

A primary source of gravitational waves is a series of astronomical events called compact object mergers, involving the merger of binary systems consisting of neutron stars and/or black holes. "The actual observation was of a black-hole/black-hole merger. This proves aLIGO can detect these compact mergers. The detection process for neutron-star/neutron-star mergers is the same and our models predict both will occur. Observations of neutron-star/neutron star mergers will help us understand a great deal of physics and astronomy and the prospects for gravitational wave science are extremely exciting," said Fryer.

The electromagnetic follow-up, at Los Alamos and elsewhere, focuses on what we can learn from neutron-star/neutron-star mergers. It is this type of phenomenon that computer scientists, physicists and astronomy experts have been exploring, using computers to model the merger's many components to understand the basic physics more clearly.

aLIGO itself comprises a set of two widely separated interferometers--one in Hanford, Washington and the other in Livingston, Louisiana--that are operated in unison to detect the gravitational waves produced in the end-state of these merging systems. The facility's multi-kilometer-scale gravitational wave detectors use laser interferometry to measure the ripples in space-time caused by passing waves.

"Beyond the detection of gravitational waves, aLIGO provides a new window into studying astrophysical transients. Astronomers across the globe have been studying how aLIGO observations, coupled with telescopes from radio to gamma-rays, can be used to probe the extreme physics in these cosmic explosions," Fryer said.

"Even though the modeling and observations of these gravitational wave sources is difficult, requiring detailed, multi-physics models, the potential to study new realms of physics and understand new astrophysical transients is tremendous. Los Alamos is well-poised to solve these problems," Fryer said.

At Los Alamos National Laboratory's theoretical astrophysics center a broad effort has been underway, studying many aspects of these mergers from their progenitors (work led by former Oppenheimer Fellow Krzysztoff Belczynski) to their implications in helping scientists understand astrophysical transients and as probes of the physics of matter under extreme conditions.

"Our program studying merger progenitors argued that the most-likely system would be a binary black hole system," stated Fryer, "and it is gratifying to see that this first detection is exactly such a system. As aLIGO detects more of these mergers we will be able to probe aspects of stellar evolution."

Working with a team of experts from many areas of physics and astronomy, including dense nuclear matter, binary stellar evolution, gamma ray bursts and multi-physics computational modeling, Fryer has focused on determining what we can learn from these gravitational wave detections. The team uses a combination of Newtonian merger calculations, neutron star equation of state studies, and population synthesis simulation to model the outcome of the merger of the two neutron stars.

The researchers determined the statistical likelihood that the remnant from the merger

1) collapses directly to a black hole, 2) collapses to a black hole after a delay, or 3) remains a neutron star.

Whether the core is a black hole or neutron star depends on whether it is more massive than the maximum neutron star mass at its spin rate.

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Related papers on this subject are as follows:

Chris L. Fryer et al 2015 ApJ 812 24. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/812/1/24

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015ApJ...806..263D

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013ApJ...779...72D

To determine the fate of a merger event detected in gravitational waves, we must also observe the light from these mergers, Fryer noted. A telescope project at Los Alamos, called RAPTOR, is designed to study the visible light from such mergers and could be put to use in future efforts.

The High Altitude Water Cerenkov (HAWC) detector is ideally suited to follow-up observations in gamma-rays of gravitational wave detections and will also study these bursts.

Modeling work at Los Alamos has been funded by the NNSA's Advanced Simulation and Computing program, and the team members are Fryer, Wes Even, Chris Fontes, Oleg Korobkin, Allan Wollaber and Ryan Wollaeger.

LIGO is funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and operated by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Photo caption: A simulation of two merging black holes, creating gravitational waves. Photo courtesy of LIGO.

Los Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, is operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, a team composed of Bechtel National, the University of California, BWX Technologies, Inc. and URS Corporation for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.

Los Alamos enhances national security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health and global security concerns.
This news release is available in German.

A scientific breakthrough gives researchers access to the blueprint of thousands of molecules of great relevance to medicine and biology. The novel technique, pioneered by a team led by DESY scientist Professor Henry Chapman from the Center for Free-Electron Laser Science CFEL and reported this week in the scientific journal Nature, opens up an easy way to determine the spatial structures of proteins and other molecules, many of which are practically inaccessible by existing methods. The structures of biomolecules reveal their modes of action and give insights into the workings of the machinery of life. Obtaining the molecular structure of particular proteins, for example, can provide the basis for the development of tailor-made drugs against many diseases. "Our discovery will allow us to directly view large protein complexes in atomic detail," says Chapman, who is also a professor at the University of Hamburg and a member of the Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging CUI.

To determine the spatial structure of a biomolecule, scientists mainly rely on a technique called crystallography. The new work offers a direct route to "read" the atomic structure of complex biomolecules by crystallography without the usual need for prior knowledge and chemical insight. "This discovery has the potential to become a true revolution for the crystallography of complex matter," says the chairman of DESY's board of directors, Professor Helmut Dosch.

In crystallography, the structure of a crystal and of its constituents can be investigated by shining X-rays on it. The X-rays scatter from the crystal in many different directions, producing an intricate and characteristic pattern of numerous bright spots, called Bragg peaks (named after the British crystallography pioneers William Henry and William Lawrence Bragg). The positions and strengths of these spots contain information about the structure of the crystal and of its constituents. Using this approach, researchers have already determined the atomic structures of tens of thousands of proteins and other biomolecules.

But the method suffers from two significant barriers, which make structure determination extremely difficult or sometimes impossible. The first is that the molecules must be formed into very high quality crystals. Most biomolecules do not naturally form crystals. However, without the necessary perfect, regular arrangement of the molecules in the crystal, only a limited number of Bragg peaks are visible. This means the structure cannot be determined, or at best only a fuzzy "low resolution" facsimile of the molecule can be found. This barrier is most severe for large protein complexes such as membrane proteins. These systems participate in a range of biological processes and many are the targets of today's drugs. Great skill and quite some luck are needed to obtain high-quality crystals of them.

"Extreme Sudoku in three dimensions"

The second barrier is that the structure of a complex molecule is still extremely difficult to determine, even when good diffraction is available. "This task is like extreme Sudoku in three dimensions and a million boxes, but with only half the necessary clues," explains Chapman. In crystallography, this puzzle is referred to as the phase problem. Without knowing the phase - the lag of the crests of one diffracted wave to another - it is not possible to compute an image of the molecule from the measured diffraction pattern. But phases can't be measured. To solve the tricky phase puzzle, more information must be known than just the measured Bragg peaks. This additional information can sometimes be obtained by X-raying crystals of chemically modified molecules, or by already knowing the structure of a closely-related molecule.

When thinking about why protein crystals do not always "diffract", Chapman realised that imperfect crystals and the phase problem are linked. The key lies in a weak "continuous" scattering that arises when crystals become disordered. Usually, this non-Bragg, continuous diffraction is thought of as a nuisance, although it can be useful for providing insights into vibrations and dynamics of molecules. But when the disorder consists only of displacements of the individual molecules from their ideal positions in the crystal then the "background" takes on a much more complex character - and its rich structure is anything but diffuse. It then offers a much bigger prize than the analysis of the Bragg peaks: the continuously-modulated "background" fully encodes the diffracted waves from individual "single" molecules.

"If you would shoot X-rays on a single molecule, it would produce a continuous diffraction pattern free of any Bragg spots," explains lead author Dr. Kartik Ayyer from Chapman's CFEL group at DESY. "The pattern would be extremely weak, however, and very difficult to measure. But the 'background' in our crystal analysis is like accumulating many shots from individually-aligned single molecules. We essentially just use the crystal as a way to get a lot of single molecules, aligned in common orientations, into the beam." With imperfect, disordered crystals, the continuous diffraction fills in the gaps and beyond the Bragg peaks, giving vastly more information than in normal crystallography. With this additional gain in information, the phase problem can be uniquely solved without having to resort to other measurements or assumptions. In the analogy of the Sudoku puzzle, the measurements provide enough clues to always arrive at the right answer.

"The best crystals are imperfect crystals"

This novel concept leads to a paradigm shift in crystallography -- the most ordered crystals are no longer the best to analyse with the novel method. "For the first time we have access to single molecule diffraction - we have never had this in crystallography before," he explains. "But we have long known how to solve single-molecule diffraction if we could measure it." The field of coherent diffractive imaging, spurred by the availability of laser-like beams from X-ray free-electron lasers, has developed powerful algorithms to directly solve the phase problem in this case, without having to know anything at all about the molecule. "You don't even have to know chemistry," says Chapman, "but you can learn it by looking at the three-dimensional image you get."

To demonstrate their novel analysis method, the Chapman group teamed up with the group of Professor Petra Fromme from the Arizona State University (ASU), and other colleagues from ASU, University of Wisconsin, the Greek Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas FORTH, and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in the U.S. They used the world's most powerful X-ray laser LCLS at SLAC to X-ray imperfect microcrystals of a membrane protein complex called Photosystem II that is part of the photosynthesis machinery in plants.

Including the continuous diffraction pattern into the analysis immediately improved the spatial resolution around a quarter from 4.5 Angstrom to 3.5 Angstrom (an Angstrom is 0.1 nanometres). The obtained image gave fine definition of molecular features that usually require fitting a chemical model to see. "That is a pretty big deal for biomolecules," explains co-author Dr. Anton Barty from DESY. "And we can further improve the resolution if we take more patterns." The team had only a few hours of measuring time for these experiments, while full-scale measuring campaigns usually last a couple of days.

The scientists hope to obtain even clearer and higher resolution images of photosystem II and many other macromolecules with their new technique. "This kind of continuous diffraction has actually been seen for a long time from many different poorly-diffracting crystals," says Chapman. "It wasn't understood that you can get structural information from it and so analysis techniques suppressed it. We're going to be busy to see if we can solve structures of molecules from old discarded data."

Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY is the leading German accelerator centre and one of the leading in the world. DESY is a member of the Helmholtz Association and receives its funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) (90 per cent) and the German federal states of Hamburg and Brandenburg (10 per cent). At its locations in Hamburg and Zeuthen near Berlin, DESY develops, builds and operates large particle accelerators, and uses them to investigate the structure of matter. DESY's combination of photon science and particle physics is unique in Europe.

###

Reference

Macromolecular diffractive imaging using imperfect crystals; Kartik Ayyer et al.

Nature", 2016; DOI: 10.1038/nature16949
MANHATTAN, KANSAS -- In the past seven years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded Kansas State University $6.5 million to keep a wheat fungus that has had a devastating impact on wheat production in South America out of the United States.

So far, mission accomplished.

But the university's Barbara Valent, who has led a project that includes field and laboratory trials in four countries, concedes that good science has combined with a little bit of luck to keep wheat blast, which is caused by the fungus Magnaporthe oryzae, from infecting U.S. fields.

Valent, a university distinguished professor of plant pathology, said that the fungus thrives in warm, wet environments like that found in Bolivia and Brazil, where growers have struggled with the disease for more than two decades.

Those conditions came together in Kentucky in 2011, however, when a single wheat head was infected with wheat blast. It's the only known incident of the fungus being found in a U.S. wheat crop, and a very clear warning that the country's farm fields aren't safe from the threat.

"What we do know is that the Kentucky fungus was not imported from South America; it's a native strain," Valent said. "We have this turfgrass disease called gray leaf spot that's caused by the same fungus, although it's a different host-adapted form of the fungus.

"This turfgrass pathogen is very closely related to the wheat blast strains in South America. A good percentage of the turfgrass strains are capable of infecting wheat but the climate in the U.S. is just not quite right during the wheat growing season."

Valent and her colleagues are studying the disease at the Biosecurity Research Institute, a biosafety-level 3 and biosafety level 3-ag facility in Pat Roberts Hall at Kansas State University.

"We are working on basic understanding of how this fungus affects plants, and searching for new sources of resistance," Valent said. "We've succeeded in finding a resistance gene called 2NS. Breeders have been using a piece of a chromosome from wild wheat that has provided rust resistance and nematode resistance. Our good luck was to find that it also provides some resistance to wheat blast."

But the fungus is a constantly moving target, she said.

"This fungus is notorious for being able to overcome resistance," Valent said. "We need more resistance genes and that's what we're focused on now. It's a safety backup; some of the fungus in South America already is able to overcome the 2NS gene."

The group of researchers includes more than a half dozen from Kansas State University plus scientists from six other universities, the U.S. government and agricultural agencies in Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay. They have also tested fungicide and seed treatments, and developed diagnostic tools to clearly identify wheat blast.

"We've expanded our capacity and developed good collaboration for field tests in South America," Valent said. "Farmers in South America want to know about resistance, they need resistance. They are going to use the things we are finding. Ultimately, the best way to keep this disease from spreading is to control it in South America."

The extension publication "Identifying Wheat Diseases Affecting Heads and Grain" provides agricultural specialists and farmers needed information to identify wheat blast if it occurs in U.S. fields. So far, 32,500 copies of this publication have been distributed in 29 states and Canada. The publication is available from the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station.

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Valent's website, k-state.edu/wheatblast, also is routinely updated with information about the disease.

Kansas State University's wheat blast research is funded by USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Recent research on this project was published online in the academic journal Crop Science in January 2016.
New Rochelle, NY, Feb. 11, 2016 -- Appropriate data collection, staff training, LGBT patient education, and nondiscrimination policies are all needed now that the federal government has required that electronic health records (EHR) systems certified under the Meaningful Use Incentive Program be capable of collecting information on patients' sexual orientation (gay, lesbian, or bisexual) and gender identity, "an historic move that will advance health" for the LGBT community, according to an article in LGBT Health, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free to read on the LGBT Health website until March 11, 2016.

The article "Inclusion of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Stage 3 Meaningful Use Guidelines: A Huge Step Forward for LGBT Health" encourages providers to collect sex assigned at birth data as well. Authors Sean Cahill, PhD, Fenway Institute (Boston, MA), Kellan Baker, MPH, Center for American Progress (Washington, DC), Madeline Deutsch, MD, MPH and Joanne Keatley, MSW, University of California at San Francisco, and Harvey Makadon, MD, Fenway Institute and Harvard Medical School (Boston), discuss the importance of recording these data correctly. They also emphasize the need to use these data to provide quality care that meets the unique health needs of subpopulations within the LGBT community and helps to delineate and reduce LGBT health disparities.

"The authors concisely lay out the important opportunity presented by the new requirement for certified EHRs as well as the complex issues that must be considered in eliciting and recording sexual orientation and gender identity data," says LGBT Health Editor-in-Chief William Byne, MD, PhD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY. "The organizations the authors represent have developed resources to assist providers and clinical staff toward these ends."

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About the Journal

LGBT Health, published bimonthly online with Open Access options and in print, brings together the LGBT research, health care, and advocacy communities to address current challenges and improve the health, well-being, and clinical outcomes of LGBT persons. Spanning a broad array of disciplines, the Journal publishes peer-reviewed original research, review articles, clinical reports, case studies, legal and policy perspectives, and much more. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the LGBT Health website.

About the Publisher

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative medical and biomedical peer-reviewed journals, including Transgender Health, AIDS Patient Care and STDs, AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses, Journal of Women's Health, and Population Health Management. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's more than 80 journals, newsmagazines, and books is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.
Toxins from harmful algae are present in Alaskan marine food webs in high enough concentrations to be detected in marine mammals such as whales, walruses, sea lions, seals, porpoises and sea otters, according to new research from NOAA and its federal, state, local and academic partners.

The findings, reported online today in the journal Harmful Algae, document a major northward expansion of the areas along the Pacific Coast where marine mammals are known to be exposed to algal toxins. Since 1998, algal toxin poisoning has been a common occurrence in California sea lions in Central California. However, this report is the first documentation of algal toxins in northern ranging marine mammals from southeast Alaska to the Arctic Ocean.

"What really surprised us was finding these toxins so widespread in Alaska, far north of where they have been previously documented in marine mammals," said Kathi Lefebvre, a NOAA Fisheries research scientist who led the study. "However, we do not know whether the toxin concentrations found in marine mammals in Alaska were high enough to cause health impacts to those animals. It's difficult to confirm the cause of death of stranded animals. But we do know that warming trends are likely to expand blooms, making it more likely that marine mammals could be affected in the future."

The Wildlife Algal-toxin Research and Response Network for the West Coast (WARRN-West) tested samples from more than 900 marine mammals that were harvested or found stranded in Alaska from 2004 to 2013. Testing found the algal toxins, domoic acid and saxitoxin, present in low levels in some animals from each of the 13 marine mammal species examined, and from all regions in Alaska.

The levels of these algal toxins were well below the seafood safety regulatory limits. Gay Sheffield of the University of Alaska Fairbanks and coauthor of this study, however, warned that clams found in the stomachs of harvested walruses and bearded seals that are often eaten in several coastal communities throughout western and northern Alaska may contain algal toxins. Commonly eaten animal parts like muscle and blubber are not likely to accumulate these toxins in levels of concern for human consumption, and there is no change in the current guidance from the Alaska Department of Health regarding seafood safety

Lefebvre highlighted the critical role the WARRN-West Network partners played by providing samples for the study. "By consistently submitting samples from stranded and harvested marine mammals, their work was essential to our research," said Lefebvre. The WARRN-West network, funded by NOAA Fisheries with support from network partners, will continue surveillance for algal toxins in marine mammals.

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NOAA's mission is to understand and predict changes in Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. Join us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and our other social media channels.
For the first time, scientists have observed ripples in the fabric of spacetime called gravitational waves, arriving at Earth from a cataclysmic event in the distant universe. This confirms a major prediction of Albert Einstein's 1915 general theory of relativity and opens an unprecedented new window to the cosmos.

Gravitational waves carry information about their dramatic origins and about the nature of gravity that cannot be obtained from elsewhere. Physicists have concluded that the detected gravitational waves were produced during the final fraction of a second of the merger of two black holes to produce a single, more massive spinning black hole. This collision of two black holes had been predicted but never observed.

The gravitational waves were detected on Sept. 14, 2015 at 5:51 a.m. EDT (09:51 UTC) by both of the twin Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors, located in Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington. The LIGO observatories are funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), and were conceived, built and are operated by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The discovery, accepted for publication in the journal Physical Review Letters, was made by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (which includes the GEO Collaboration and the Australian Consortium for Interferometric Gravitational Astronomy) and the Virgo Collaboration using data from the two LIGO detectors.

Based on the observed signals, LIGO scientists estimate that the black holes for this event were about 29 and 36 times the mass of the sun, and the event took place 1.3 billion years ago. About three times the mass of the sun was converted into gravitational waves in a fraction of a second -- with a peak power output about 50 times that of the whole visible universe. By looking at the time of arrival of the signals -- the detector in Livingston recorded the event 7 milliseconds before the detector in Hanford -- scientists can say that the source was located in the Southern Hemisphere.

According to general relativity, a pair of black holes orbiting around each other lose energy through the emission of gravitational waves, causing them to gradually approach each other over billions of years, and then much more quickly in the final minutes. During the final fraction of a second, the two black holes collide at nearly half the speed of light and form a single more massive black hole, converting a portion of the combined black holes' mass to energy, according to Einstein's formula E=mc2. This energy is emitted as a final strong burst of gravitational waves. These are the gravitational waves that LIGO observed.

The existence of gravitational waves was first demonstrated in the 1970s and 1980s by Joseph Taylor, Jr., and colleagues. In 1974, Taylor and Russell Hulse discovered a binary system composed of a pulsar in orbit around a neutron star. Taylor and Joel M. Weisberg in 1982 found that the orbit of the pulsar was slowly shrinking over time because of the release of energy in the form of gravitational waves. For discovering the pulsar and showing that it would make possible this particular gravitational wave measurement, Hulse and Taylor were awarded the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physics.

The new LIGO discovery is the first observation of gravitational waves themselves, made by measuring the tiny disturbances the waves make to space and time as they pass through the earth.

"Our observation of gravitational waves accomplishes an ambitious goal set out over five decades ago to directly detect this elusive phenomenon and better understand the universe, and, fittingly, fulfills Einstein's legacy on the 100th anniversary of his general theory of relativity," says Caltech's David H. Reitze, executive director of the LIGO Laboratory.

The discovery was made possible by the enhanced capabilities of Advanced LIGO, a major upgrade that increases the sensitivity of the instruments compared to the first generation LIGO detectors, enabling a large increase in the volume of the universe probed -- and the discovery of gravitational waves during its first observation run. NSF is the lead financial supporter of Advanced LIGO. Funding organizations in Germany (Max Planck Society), the U.K. (Science and Technology Facilities Council, STFC) and Australia (Australian Research Council) also have made significant commitments to the project.

Several of the key technologies that made Advanced LIGO so much more sensitive were developed and tested by the German UK GEO collaboration. Significant computer resources were contributed by the AEI Hannover Atlas Cluster, the LIGO Laboratory, Syracuse University and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Several universities designed, built and tested key components for Advanced LIGO: The Australian National University, the University of Adelaide, the University of Florida, Stanford University, Columbia University of the City of New York and Louisiana State University.

"In 1992, when LIGO's initial funding was approved, it represented the biggest investment NSF had ever made," says France Cordova, NSF director. "It was a big risk. But NSF is the agency that takes these kinds of risks. We support fundamental science and engineering at a point in the road to discovery where that path is anything but clear. We fund trailblazers. It's why the U.S. continues to be a global leader in advancing knowledge."

LIGO research is carried out by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC), a group of more than 1,000 scientists from universities around the United States and in 14 other countries. More than 90 universities and research institutes in the LSC develop detector technology and analyze data; approximately 250 students are strong contributing members of the collaboration. The LSC detector network includes the LIGO interferometers and the GEO600 detector. The GEO team includes scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute, AEI), Leibniz Universitat Hannover, along with partners at the University of Glasgow, Cardiff University, the University of Birmingham, other universities in the United Kingdom and the University of the Balearic Islands in Spain.

"This detection is the beginning of a new era: The field of gravitational wave astronomy is now a reality," says Gabriela Gonzalez, LSC spokesperson and professor of physics and astronomy at Louisiana State University.

LIGO was originally proposed as a means of detecting gravitational waves in the 1980s by Rainer Weiss, professor of physics, emeritus, from MIT; Kip Thorne, Caltech's Richard P. Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics, emeritus; and Ronald Drever, professor of physics, emeritus, also from Caltech.

"The description of this observation is beautifully described in the Einstein theory of general relativity formulated 100 years ago and comprises the first test of the theory in strong gravitation. It would have been wonderful to watch Einstein's face had we been able to tell him," says Weiss.

"With this discovery, we humans are embarking on a marvelous new quest: the quest to explore the warped side of the universe -- objects and phenomena that are made from warped spacetime. Colliding black holes and gravitational waves are our first beautiful examples," says Thorne.

Virgo research is carried out by the Virgo Collaboration, consisting of more than 250 physicists and engineers belonging to 19 different European research groups: six from Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in France; eight from the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) in Italy; two in the Netherlands with Nikhef; the Wigner RCP in Hungary; the POLGRAW group in Poland; and the European Gravitational Observatory (EGO), the laboratory hosting the Virgo detector near Pisa in Italy.

Fulvio Ricci, Virgo spokesperson, notes that: "This is a significant milestone for physics, but more importantly merely the start of many new and exciting astrophysical discoveries to come with LIGO and Virgo."

Bruce Allen, managing director of the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics adds: "Einstein thought gravitational waves were too weak to detect, and didn't believe in black holes. But I don't think he'd have minded being wrong!"

"The Advanced LIGO detectors are a tour de force of science and technology, made possible by a truly exceptional international team of technicians, engineers, and scientists," says David Shoemaker of MIT, the project leader for Advanced LIGO. "We are very proud that we finished this NSF-funded project on time and on budget."

At each observatory, the 2 1/2-mile (4-km) long, L-shaped LIGO interferometer uses laser light split into two beams that travel back and forth down the arms (four-foot diameter tubes kept under a near-perfect vacuum). The beams are used to monitor the distance between mirrors precisely positioned at the ends of the arms. According to Einstein's theory, the distance between the mirrors will change by an infinitesimal amount when a gravitational wave passes by the detector. A change in the lengths of the arms smaller than one-ten-thousandth the diameter of a proton (10-19 meter) can be detected.

"To make this fantastic milestone possible took a global collaboration of scientists -- laser and suspension technology developed for our GEO600 detector was used to help make Advanced LIGO the most sophisticated gravitational wave detector ever created," says Sheila Rowan, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Glasgow.

Independent and widely separated observatories are necessary to determine the direction of the event causing the gravitational waves, and also to verify that the signals come from space and are not from some other local phenomenon.

Toward this end, the LIGO Laboratory is working closely with scientists in India at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, the Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, and the Institute for Plasma to establish a third Advanced LIGO detector on the Indian subcontinent. Awaiting approval by the government of India, it could be operational early in the next decade. The additional detector will greatly improve the ability of the global detector network to localize gravitational-wave sources.

"Hopefully this first observation will accelerate the construction of a global network of detectors to enable accurate source location in the era of multi-messenger astronomy," says David McClelland, professor of physics and director of the Centre for Gravitational Physics at the Australian National University.

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Images, video and audio are available here: https://mediaassets.caltech.edu/gwave

History: https://youtu.be/MaAv2IVzqhM

News: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrqbfT8qcBc

-NSF-
Just in time for Valentine's Day, botanists from Hawai'i have discovered a new species of plant with small heart-shaped fruits. The new species is a member of the coffee family (Rubiaceae) and part of the genus Coprosma, which occurs across many remote islands of the Pacific Ocean. They named the new Hawaiian species after the symbol of love - calling it Coprosma cordicarpa - meaning the Coprosma with heart-shaped fruit. Their research is published in the open-access journal PhytoKeys.

The botanists, who discovered C. cordicarpa, describe their finding as the result of a loving adventure with Hawaiian biodiversity. It began when Hawai'i's State Botanist Dr. Maggie J. Sporck-Koehler noticed the little heart-shaped fruits in the Kanaio Natural Area Reserve on the Island of Maui, while attending a work meeting with the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW).

One of the primary mandates of DOFAW is to conserve Hawai'i's native ecosystems and the species that reside in them. As State Botanist, Sporck-Koehler is most often working on issues relating to rare or State and Federally listed threatened and endangered (T&E) plant species. Gaining a better understanding of native Hawaiian plant conservation status and helping to facilitate conservation efforts is one of the main objectives of the work she does for the State. Therefore, when something extraordinary gets under her nose, such as an unusual Coprosma population, she takes a note and a sample.

Sporck-Koehler attempted to identify the species using a key so that she could know what she was looking at. She got to Coprosma foliosa, but was not satisfied. So, she turned to Dr. Jason T. Cantley, who at the time was finishing his PhD research on the genus Coprosma at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa Department of Botany. "I was very taken with it," Sporck-Koehler told Cantley. "It seemed different than any other [Coprosma] foliosas I've seen."

Then, Cantley concluded that the heart-shaped fruits and other characteristics looked different enough that it was worth it to visit specimens at the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum in Honolulu, and then to examine the plants themselves. "We needed to get all our ducks in a row, making sure we knew what we were looking for before we flew to Maui," Cantley says. "Part of that planning was to think about the long-term conservation of Coprosma cordicarpa from the start. That's one reason it was necessary to bring Dr. Chau into this project."

Dr. Marian M. Chau is the Seed Conservation Laboratory Manager at Lyon Arboretum's Hawaiian Rare Plant Program in Honolulu. The Seed Conservation Lab's mission is to aid in the prevention of extinction of Hawaiian plant species by maintaining a long-term seed bank collection, to propagate plants for use in approved restoration projects, and to conduct research on seed storage and germination for the Hawaiian flora. The Seed Conservation Lab currently stores over 11 million seeds from about 40% of all Hawaiian native species, with the ultimate goal to represent the entire flora with research and/or long-term germplasm collections. This includes under-described biodiversity, like the heart-shaped fruits of C. cordicarpa.

From early on, it was clear that C. cordicarpa was not all that common, as it can only be found on one island. In fact, the botanists determined the new species fell within the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red Vulnerable Category (VU) for extinction risk. The VU is the lowest of the three threatened Red List categories, but indicates that C. cordicarpa still faces threats of extinction in the wild. Chau suggested that they collect seeds for long-term germplasm storage at the Seed Conservation Lab.

Two field adventures on Maui and many herbarium specimen measurements later, the authors were confident they were looking at a new species. All in all, 609 seeds from 32 plants were collected, which are going to help preserve the biodiversity of this species for many years to come.

The authors had a passion for Hawaiian plant biodiversity and conservation well before this project, but it was the discovery of the heart-shaped fruits that brought these three botanists together. With their naming of this new species, they hope to also inspire others with a love for biodiversity that will continue long into the future.

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Original source:

Cantley JT, Sporck-Koehler MJ, Chau MM (2016) New and resurrected Hawaiian species of pilo (Coprosma, Rubiaceae) from the island of Maui. PhytoKeys 60: 33-48. doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.60.6465

Note: Jason T. Cantley is now the Burpee Post Doctoral Fellow at Bucknell University and is continuing research on Hawaiian and Pacific Coprosma evolution.
The huge variability among the desert tortoise populations of Mexico has finally been given an explanation after casting doubts for several decades. The puzzle was solved by an international team of researchers, led by Dr. Taylor Edwards, The University of Arizona, who teamed up to find out whether there has been a previously unknown third sister species all along. Moreover, unlike their predecessors, the team have managed to provide enough evidence to prove its existence. Their study is published in the open-access journal ZooKeys.

Distributed over a large area stretching from the Mojave and Colorado deserts in the United States to mainland Mexico, the tortoise populations were noticed to vary distinctly back in 1945, when scientists pointed out that the southern populations were suspiciously different. However, due to lack of enough samples and, therefore research, there was not enough evidence to prove that they were in fact two separate species.

Over the span of six years, the team of Dr. Taylor Edwards measured a multitude of tortoises during their field trips in Sonora and northern Sinaloa. This is how they concluded that the southern populations stand out with their significantly shorter tails and flatter carapaces. Unlike its sister species, whose shells are medium to dark brown with greenish hues, while the bodies are dark gray to brownish-gray, the new tortoise is dark tan to medium-brownish with an orange cast.

The new species inhabits exclusively thornscrub and tropical broadleaf forests, which is the reason why out of the three it is the one occupying the smallest geographic range, extending over approximately 24,000 km2.

Although there is not much information about their behaviour, it is presumed that the tortoises activity is strongly correlated with the monsoonal rains and the vegetation growth. The biologists have observed that the adults begin their seasonal activity in June, shortly before plant growth and the monsoons. Then, in December, they would cover underground in their dens, where they would spend the dry and cool winter season.

The new species, called Gopherus evgoodei, receives its name in honour of Eric V. Goode, a conservationist, naturalist, and founder of the Turtle Conservancy.

"He has contributed generously to the conservation of this species via the preservation of land in Mexico, and he actively pursues the conservation of turtles and tortoises on a global scale," point out the researchers. "Eric sets an important precedent by complementing this taxonomic description with a tangible action that contributes to the conservation of the new species in its native habitat".

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Original source:

Edwards T, Karl AE, Vaughn M, Rosen PC, Torres CM, Murphy RW (2016) The desert tortoise trichotomy: Mexico hosts a third, new sister-species of tortoise in the Gopherus morafkai-G. agassizii group. ZooKeys 562: 131-158.doi: 10.3897/zookeys.562.6124

Additional contact:

Dr. Taylor Edwards

Email: taylore@email.arizona.edu
Jewish Israelis may feel more hopeful when they hear messages of hope from Palestinians regardless of whether they are portrayed as peace activists or former militia members who had attacked Israeli military targets, according to new research published in Social Psychological and Personality Science.

However, similar hopeful messages from outside experts had no effect in instilling hope, the study found. The group's research may provide insight not only for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but for other societies embroiled in protracted intergroup conflict.

"Your perceived enemy who you are suspicious of may be very effective in instilling hope for a resolution of the conflict," said lead researcher Oded Adomi Leshem. "People who are more persuaded by that message may then be more encouraged to engage in activities that promote peace."

The findings suggest that media campaigns in Israel that encourage peace should feature Palestinians sharing that message, said Leshem, a doctoral student in the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University. A survey in 2013 found that almost half of both Israelis and Palestinians don't believe a peace agreement will ever be reached.

In an experiment conducted in Israel with 356 Jewish Israelis, the participants saw one of four videos featuring a Palestinian actor who said he was a peace activist or a militia member who had served time in an Israeli jail. In different versions of the videos, the portrayed peace activist or militia member stated he was optimistic or skeptical that peace could be achieved.

Participants who heard the optimistic video reported a greater sense of hope, regardless of whether the message was from a peace activist or an insurgent, which surprised the researchers. There was no difference in those effects regardless of the right-wing or left-wing political affiliation of the participants. It may be the case that the Israeli participants focused more on the actor's Palestinian identity rather than his affiliation as a peace activist or former militia member, Leshem said.

A similar experiment with 376 American participants found that compared to the involved sample, the non-involved participants (i.e., Americans) were influenced to a much greater degree by any one of the four conditions. In other words, their beliefs are much more malleable. They were least affected by the militia member turned peace believer and reported greater feelings of hope after seeing the video of the peace activist who was still optimistic.

In a preliminary experiment with 70 Jewish Israelis, the participants didn't report greater feelings of hope after reading a newspaper article featuring outside experts who stated the conflict could be resolved. It appears that an optimistic message from a perceived enemy has greater effects in instilling hope, said Leshem, who grew up in Israel and has been involved in the peace movement there. He plans to conduct a similar study with Palestinian participants to see if there are similar results from the other side of the conflict.

"I know the situation is very, very dire so I'm not naive, but my hope is still alive because I know so many Israelis and Palestinians who are committed to peace," Leshem said. "This research may help lead to methods for instilling hope in societies that desperately need it."

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Journal article: Leshem, O., Klar, Y., and Flores, T. (2016) Instilling Hope for Peace During Intractable Conflicts, Social Psychological and Personality Science.

Social Psychological and Personality Science (SPPS) is an official journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), the Association for Research in Personality (ARP), the European Association of Social Psychology (EASP), and the Society for Experimental Social Psychology (SESP). Social Psychological and Personality Science publishes cutting-edge short reports of empirical research on the latest advances in personality and social psychology.
MISSOULA - University of Montana Assistant Professor John McCutcheon recently received the National Science Foundation's most prestigious award for junior faculty.

The Faculty Early Career Development award, also known as a CAREER grant, is given annually to junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research.

CAREER grant awards generally range from $400,000 to $1 million. McCutcheon will receive $746,301 over five years to continue his lab's work, which aims to understand the origins of mitochondria and chloroplasts and how they integrate with the cells in which they are found. McCutcheon uses cutting-edge genomic experiments to study the bacteria that live inside cicadas as models for this process.

"It's a terrific honor for me and my lab," McCutcheon said. "But it also speaks more broadly to the quality and impact of the genomic, ecological and evolutionary work being done at UM."

The work involves extensive computing, therefore the educational component of McCutcheon's research will teach computer programming and its applications to Montana students at all levels. A major goal of the project is to increase the competitiveness of UM students by giving them the computational tools they need to handle diverse, complex and large sets of data.

Each year, between 350 and 400 assistant professors nationally earn CAREER grants. McCutcheon joins other UM scientists who have received this honor in the past.

"This NSF CAREER award for Dr. McCutcheon is greatly deserved and an excellent investment in a young faculty member at UM who has already established national recognition for his research," said Scott Whittenburg, vice president for research and creative scholarship at UM. "John, along with Jeff Good from UM's Division of Biological Sciences and with support from the Murdock Trust, has worked to establish the UM Genomics Core as a vital resource for researchers working in genomics and bioinformatics. The award is indicative of the excellent group of young scientists that have chosen the University of Montana as their home and form the foundation for growth of campus research and increased national and international recognition."

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Multinational outbreaks of food-borne pathogens cause considerable threats to European public health. Implementing a whole genome sequencing (WGS) in routine surveillance and outbreak investigations is becoming a strategic goal for many public health authorities all over the world. With this in mind a group of researchers have developed an initiative called INNUENDO, which aims to deliver a cross-sectorial framework of bacterial WGS integration in routine surveillance and epidemiological investigations. The project is coordinated by Assistant Professor Mirko Rossi from the University of Helsinki, and co-financed by a Thematic Grant of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

The potential of widespread, routine use of WGS analysis for public health protection is essentially restricted by the absence of accessible IT framework, and a threshold of public health microbiologists in handling these novel methodologies. The aim of the INNUENDO project is aligned with the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) mission to promote the development and validation of new approaches in microbial characterization throughout coordinate efforts between all public health and food safety stakeholders. The project started on 15 January and the agreed duration is 30 months. EFSA is co-funding the project with a Thematic grant by approximately half a million euros. "This is a unique opportunity for authorities and academic institutions to influence the ongoing genomic revolution in public health microbiology" highlights the project coordinator, assistant professor Mirko Rossi from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki.

Who is involved?

To design an affordable and sustainable diagnostic infrastructure, the INNUENDO consortium includes governmental organisations, authorities and research institutes from the food, veterinary and human sectors, from Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Portugal, Basque Autonomous Community in Spain and Austria. The project members are Docent Mari Nevas from the University of Helsinki; Dr. Joao Carrico from the University of Lisbon, Professor Javier Garaizar from the University of Basque Countries, Friederike Hilbert from the University of Veterinary Medicine (Vienna), Dr. Saara Salmenlinna from Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare, Dr. Marjaana Hakkinen from Finnish Food Safety Authority, Dr. Monica Oleastro from Portuguese National Health Institute, MSc Mihkel Maesaar from Estonian Veterinary and Food Laboratory and Professor Aivars Berzi?s from Latvian Institute of Food Safety, Animal Health and Environment.

"Allowing project stakeholders to assess design choices early on in the development cycle, this multinational collaboration in the 'One-health' context will ensure that the planned infrastructure will address the requirement for the integration of WGS in routine analysis in the food chain," says Rossi.

How to maximize the food safety?

"Standardization and calibration of process and simplification of data analysis and interpretation are the two basic conditions allowing the transition from the current diagnostic paradigm to a full WGS consolidation. Moreover, the lack of accessible informatics infrastructure for data processing and integration is still the major obstacle to implementation of WGS. Thus, it is now essential that advances in bioinformatics and bacterial genomics encounter the needs of the public health microbiology," explains Rossi. This goal is reachable only throughout an integration of competencies across different disciplines and professions. Therefore, throughout active cooperation between experts in bacterial genomics, evolution, bioinformatics, epidemiology and specialists in validation, food control and public health, the INNUENDO consortium will use a cross-sectorial approach in developing a common framework for maximizing the benefit to use WGS in food safety.

Small countries with limited resources might not be able to succeed in reaching this goal in the near future, putting several EU member states in a condition of inferior capabilities for outbreak detection and investigation. To guarantee the reinforcement of European capacities to ensure protection of citizens against cross border health threats, EU must enable wider access to the new methodologies. An increased level of cooperation between the local, national and European competent authorities by dedicated training, development of a common pathogen database and validation of new approaches in microbial characterization is warranted.

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Millions of people experience social suffering in their everyday lives. But how should we venture to understand these brute facts of modern existence? How do they impact upon our cultural beliefs, political outlooks and moral behaviours?

In a new book, entitled A Passion for Society: How We Think About Human Suffering, Dr Iain Wilkinson, of the University of Kent, and co-author Professor Arthur Kleinman, of Harvard University, examine the moral experience and public portrayal of human suffering and how these have changed through modern times.

The authors go on to investigate how the knowledge people acquire of the suffering of others holds the potential to inspire caring acts of compassion.

Taking an historical perspective, A Passion for Society further considers the development of social science, with a particular focus on how this has been shaped in response to problems of social suffering. The authors argue that social science's original concern with social suffering and its amelioration gave way to a professionalisation that espoused dispassionate enquiry above the pursuit of humanitarian social reform.

Dr Wilkinson and Professor Kleinman then chart the more recent recuperation of this lost tradition and explore some of the ways in which social inquiries coupled with caring actions for others are currently revitalising and remaking the discipline of social science.

The authors conclude by arguing for what they describe as an engaged social science that connects critical thought with social action and operates with a commitment to establish and sustain humane forms of society.

Iain Wilkinson is Reader in Sociology within Kent's School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research. Arthur Kleinman is Professor of Medical Anthropology within Harvard Medical School's Department of Social Medicine. A Passion for Society: How We Think About Human Suffering, was published in January 2016 by the University of California Press. See: http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520287228

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For further information or interview requests with Dr Wilkinson, contact Martin Herrema at the University of Kent Press Office.

Tel: 01227-823581/01634-888879

Email: M.J.Herrema@kent.ac.uk

News releases can also be found at http://www.kent.ac.uk/news

University of Kent on Twitter: http://twitter.com/UniKent

Note to editors

Established in 1965, the University of Kent -- the UK's European university -- now has almost 20,000 students across campuses or study centres at Canterbury, Medway, Tonbridge, Brussels, Paris, Athens and Rome.

It has been ranked: third for overall student satisfaction in the 2014 National Student Survey; 16th in the Guardian University Guide 2016; 23rd in the Times and Sunday Times University Guide 2016; and 22nd in the Complete University Guide 2015.

In the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2015-16, Kent is in the top 10% of the world's leading universities for international outlook and 66th in its table of the most international universities in the world. The THE also ranked the University as 20th in its 'Table of Tables' 2016.

Kent is ranked 17th in the UK for research intensity (REF 2014). It has world-leading research in all subjects and 97% of its research is deemed by the REF to be of international quality.

Along with the universities of East Anglia and Essex, Kent is a member of the Eastern Arc Research Consortium.

The University is worth 0.7 billion to the economy of the south east and supports more than 7,800 jobs in the region. Student off-campus spend contributes 293.3m and 2,532 full-time-equivalent jobs to those totals.

In 2014, Kent received its second Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - The saying "two heads are better than one" is taking on new meaning for the University of Michigan.

U-M has established the Renal Pre-Competitive Consortium (RPC2), with several pharmaceutical companies, including AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly and Company. The consortium will develop and use large-scale data exploration to identify new treatment targets for chronic kidney disease.

Chronic kidney disease is a group of conditions in which damaged kidneys cannot filter blood as well as healthy kidneys. Currently, it is estimated that over 10 million individuals in the U.S. suffer from chronic kidney disease, with the number of those affected continuing to rise due to increased incidences of diabetes and obesity.

The RPC2 is led by U-M nephrologist Matthias Kretzler, M.D. and brings together subject-matter experts and scientific leaders, as well as support from across the industry.

"We have to find ways to bring new therapies to our patients faster," Kretzler says. "The RPC2 gives us the opportunity to combine large-scale clinical and molecular data exploration with the development expertise of the pharmaceutical industry."

The consortium will combine expertise in bioinformatics and kidney disease with the goal of identifying key drivers of progression in chronic kidney disease. The RPC2 will then analyze that data to identify potential new targets of treatments for the disease.

The RPC2 is a new model for research and development. It is one of the first times multiple pharmaceutical companies have agreed to collaborate on therapeutic target identification.

Members of the consortium will each contribute to the research strategy and implementation of the overall group in a precompetitive space. They will be able to use the molecular networks identified by the RPC2 to continue individual company discovery efforts outside of the consortium, including developing drugs to interfere with the disease pathways.

"For AstraZeneca, joining this consortium represents a great step forward in our aspiration to become a leader in the treatment of chronic kidney disease," says Marcus Schindler, head of the Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases (CVMD) Innovative Medicines Unit at AstraZeneca. "We believe that knowledge generated in the consortium will lead to an expansion of our portfolio with targets that have a strong patient-based foundation."

Membership in the consortium can be renewed annually by current participants and/or expanded to include new industry participants and pharmaceutical companies.

"I know I speak for the group when I say we're very excited the RPC2 will allow us to combine the expertise from both academia and industry in exploring innovative therapies for renal disease," Kretzler says. "New therapies for patients are waiting to be discovered among the vast amount of information now available. I'm confident this is an effective route in getting better medicines to people with failing kidneys."

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About University of Michigan Health System

For more than 160 years, the University of Michigan Health System has been a national leader in advanced patient care, innovative research to improve human health and comprehensive education of physicians and medical scientists. The three U-M hospitals have been recognized numerous times for excellence in patient care, including a #1 ranking in Michigan and national rankings in many specialty areas by U.S. News & World Report.

About AstraZeneca

AstraZeneca is a global, innovation-driven biopharmaceutical business that focuses on the discovery, development and commercialization of prescription medicines, primarily for the treatment of diseases in three therapy areas -- respiratory, inflammation, autoimmune disease (RIA), cardiovascular and metabolic disease (CVMD) and oncology -- as well as infection and neuroscience diseases. AstraZeneca operates in over 100 countries and its innovative medicines are used by millions of patients worldwide.

About Eli Lilly and Company

Lilly is a global healthcare leader that unites caring with discovery to make life better for people around the world. To learn more about Lilly, please visit http://www.lilly.com and newsroom.lilly.com/social-channels.

Disclosure: Dr. Kretzler has served as a consultant to AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly in his U-M role, with all payments made to the University.
Better compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act needed, for sake of applicants and patients, researchers say

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- They may dream of becoming doctors, and helping people like themselves.

But for young people with disabilities, that dream may die when they check the admissions standards of most medical schools, according to a new study

Even if the schools would actually consider their application, and offer them assistance as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act, they wouldn't know that from looking at many schools' websites, the researchers find.

Only a third of schools said outright that they would accommodate a student with a disability who otherwise qualified to attend. Another half had vague information about who they would accept.

And finding information for prospective students with disabilities was hard on 42 percent of medical school websites, and impossible on 16 percent of sites. Even when the researchers posed as prospective students and asked for information, twelve schools did not respond.

Medical schools that offer a doctor of osteopathy (D.O.) degree fared better than those offering a medical doctor (M.D.) degree. But even D.O. schools had issues.

In general, the authors write, the findings suggest a "concerning state of affairs as we celebrate the ADA's 25th anniversary." They call on schools and professional societies to reexamine how prospective medical students with disabilities are treated.

The authors note that physicians who have disabilities are more likely to serve patients like themselves. So, admitting more disabled students to medical school could enhance the nation's commitment to serve people with disabilities.

"In addition to the benefit to students themselves, and to the patients they will one day treat, including students with disabilities in a medical school class can educate the students without disabilities about the issues people with disabilities face," says lead author Philip Zazove, M.D., chair of the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School.

Zazove, who is deaf and uses a cochlear implant, mentors U-M medical students and residents who have disabilities. He notes that national leaders and other researchers in academic medicine have supported the concept of including people with disabilities in the pool of those training to become physicians.

Technical standards -- anything but standard?

The first-of-its-kind study suggests that most medical schools need to post, update or clarify what are known as technical standards, or TSs. Required under the ADA, TSs spell out what a school will do to accommodate a student with a disability.

This can include allowing them to use technologies that help them overcome limitations created by their disability. For instance, schools might allow an amplified stethoscope for someone with a hearing limitation, or a motorized scooter or wheelchair for a student who can't walk easily or at all.

Each school writes its own TSs, and typically makes it available on its website. But no study had ever looked at how easy they are to find, and how the details square with the ADA and the current state of assistive technology.

Under the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act, medical schools are barred from discriminating against people with disabilities, if they are otherwise qualified for admission. If they accept federal funds, for instance for research, schools must make reasonable efforts to accommodate qualified disabled applicants.

Says Michael D. Fetters, M.D., MPH, M.A., senior author of the study and a professor of family medicine, "This study shows there's explicit language in the written policies on medical school websites that is not in compliance with the ADA.

"In this day and age when public institutions are expected to conform with the law, this is almost unimaginable," Fetters adds. "If you're an applicant who's online, and it says you're not welcome, you're going to accept that and never get out of the gate. Even if the school would be willing to accommodate you if you apply and qualify, the explicit language is at least a serious deterrent."

More study findings

The researchers found that 53 schools -- one-third of those studied -- had TSs that specifically supported accommodating students with disabilities. But 79 did not clearly state policies on this matter, 6 were unsupportive, and 23 provided no information.

More than 60 percent of the schools did not specify whether the school or the student would be responsible for providing technologies or other accommodations. Just over a quarter said the school would provide these.

About 40 percent of schools said they would allow auxiliary aids, such as motorized scooters. But less than 10 percent allowed students to use intermediaries, such as sign language interpreters.

The U-M Medical School's position:

In addition to Zazove, the U-M Medical School has another department chair and other faculty with disabilities, and several current medical students have disabilities and are being accommodated.

However, says Joseph Kolars, M.D., senior associate dean for education and global initiatives, the school is always looking to do more, and is currently revising its TSs.

"We welcome the attention our colleagues have brought to an important issue that deserves more attention," he says. "Like most medical schools, we recognize opportunities for ours to do even better in regard to better articulating our values and making sure all of our communications are in alignment. This will make a good school even better and hopefully others will recognize similar opportunities as well."

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In addition to Zazove and Fetters, the paper's authors are Benjamin Case of Stanford University, Christopher Moreland, MD of the University of Texas School of Medicine at San Antonio; Melissa Plegue, MA and Ananda Sen, PhD, of the U-M Department of Family Medicine, Anne Hoekstra, MD of ProMedica Health System; and Alicia Ouellette, JD, the dean of the Albany Law School in Albany, NY. The study was supported by the U-M Department of Family Medicine. Zazove and Fetters are members of the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Improvement.

Reference: Academic Medicine, online ahead of print, doi: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000001087 http://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Abstract/publishahead/U_S__Medical_Schools__Compliance_With_the.98592.aspx
February 11, 2016 CHAPEL HILL, NC - Smoking cigarettes dramatically increases a person's risk for a host of diseases, and there's an assumption that electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, are not harmful because users do not inhale smoke full of known carcinogens. Findings from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine suggest the story is not that simple.

Ilona Jaspers, PhD, professor of pediatrics and director of the curriculum in toxicology, recently completed research showing how the chemicals in e-cigarettes can change immune responses in our airways. She will present her findings at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting in Washington, D.C., February 11-16.

Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) classifies many liquid flavorings in e-cigarettes as "Generally Recognized as Safe," this classification is designated for oral consumption. Most flavoring additives have not been evaluated for potential inhalation toxicity.

"The digestive systems and respiratory systems are very different," said Jaspers, the deputy director of the UNC Center for Environmental Medicine, Asthma and Lung Biology. "Our stomachs are full of acids and enzymes that break down food and deal with chemicals; this environment is very different than our respiratory systems. We simply don't know what effects, if any, e-cigarettes have on our lungs."

Jaspers' lab previously demonstrated that cigarette smoking significantly impaired the immune responses of mucosal cells within the respiratory system. As part of the UNC School of Medicine's Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science and Lung Health (TCORS) led by Robert Tarran, PhD, Jaspers is now focusing her research efforts on new and emerging tobacco products, like e-cigarettes.

For her study, Jaspers and her team obtained tissue samples of the epithelial layer inside the nasal cavities of smokers, non-smokers, and users of e-cigarettes. The researchers then analyzed changes in the expressions of almost 600 genes involved in the function of the immune responses. They also obtained nasal lavage fluid, urine, and blood samples from participants to study the changes in genetic and proteomic markers of tobacco and nicotine exposure, as well as other markers of inflammation or immune responses. These studies are being conducted in collaboration with investigators from the University of California, San Francisco, as well as Mehmet Kesimer, PhD, another investigator with the TCORS in Lung Health and the Marsico Lung Institute at UNC.

Jaspers' data shows that smoking cigarettes causes suppression of several key immune genes in the nasal mucosa. E-cigarette users showed the same changes in those genes, and they also demonstrated suppression of several additional immune genes, suggesting an even broader effect on the respiratory mucosal immune response system.

Certain effects of e-cigarettes might depend on the flavoring. In separate experiments using cell cultures, Jaspers' lab examined the effects of cinnamon-flavored e-liquids and cinnamaldehyde - the chemical that makes an e-cigarette taste like cinnamon.

"We found that cinnamaldehyde e-liquids have a significant negative effect on epithelial cell physiology," Jaspers said. "The chemicals compromise the immune function of key respiratory immune cells, such as macrophages, natural killer cells, and neutrophils."

The compromised immune function of the respiratory immune cells could signal the first in a cascade of cellular mechanisms that lead to impaired immune responses in the lung.

Using translational human in vitro and in vivo approaches, Jaspers' lab hopes to ascertain whether long-term exposure to e-cigarettes - especially those with cinnamon-flavored e-liquids - has immune suppressive effects on the respiratory mucosa of people. If so, this would be a sign that e-cigarettes are not as safe as advertised.

###

The National Institutes of Health funded this work.
PHILADELPHIA (February 11, 2016) - Housing Policy Debate recently published a study on the effect micro-neighborhood conditions have on adult educational attainment in subsidized housing. University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing's (Penn Nursing) Therese S. Richmond, PhD, FAAN, CRNP, the Andrea B. Laporte Professor of Nursing, and Associate Dean for Research and Innovation, served as the study's senior author. The research team was led by former Penn Robert Wood Johnson Health & Society post-doctoral fellow, Laura Tach PhD, who is now an Assistant Professor at Cornell University College of Human Ecology.

The ACHIEVEability model of affordable housing aims to promote self-sufficiency by requiring enrollment in college as a component of their family self-sufficiency program. For this study, the researchers were interested in knowing if the location of subsidized housing had any impact on whether or not its residents were able to accrue educational credits.

The team researched a quasi-random assignment of 84 ACHIEVEability participants to their housing units. Investigators evaluated whether micro-neighborhood environments - the group of city blocks immediately surrounding housing units - affected participants' progress in achieving college credits. The study found that participants did succeed in their educational pursuits in line with program requirements, earning about 12 college credits per year, but the characteristics of the neighborhood in which the subsidized housing was located did affect this progress.

The study concluded that participants who were assigned housing located in poorer, more violent, and less educated block groups earned credits at a significantly slower rate than participants assigned housing in more advantaged block groups.

"Our findings suggest that the ACHIEVEability model does work in helping to promote self-sufficiency," said Richmond, the study's senior author. "But the results suggest that the micro environments immediately surrounding residents of subsidized housing do matter. Making even modest improvements in the blocks on which affordable housing units are located could have a major impact on the pace at which residents make educational progress."

###

This work was supported by Center for Public Health Initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholars Program. Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of Nursing Research of the National Institutes of Health under award number F31NR0113599.

The study team also consisted of: Sara Jacoby, Center for Disease Control Foundation Fellow, Penn Injury Science Center; Douglas Wiebe, PhD, University of Pennsylvania, Department of Biostatistics & Epidemiology; and Terry Guerra, formerly Director of Special Projects at ACHIEVEability.

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. Penn Nursing prepares nurse scientists and nurse leaders to meet the health needs of a global society through research, education, and practice.
AUSTIN, Texas - Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have discovered that a type of cancer found primarily in children can grow only when signaled to do so by other nearby cells that are noncancerous. The finding, published in this week's edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, contributes to a growing body of research that implicates the environment around a cancer in its spread -- an area of study that holds promise for new alternatives to treat the disease.

Most cancer research to date has focused on understanding the inner workings of cancer cells, and the majority of existing therapies target malignant cells in isolation, working to shrink or remove them through surgery, chemotherapy or radiation. However, in recent years, more scientists have begun to explore not only the cancer "seed" but its surrounding "soil," meaning other factors in the microenvironment surrounding a cancer that cause tumors to grow and spread. Scientists believe that understanding how cancer feeds on its environment could lead to new ways to starve it of conditions required for growth.

"It's only more recently that people have really appreciated that tumors are complex organs in and of themselves with all of the heterogenous cell types that can talk to each other and promote each other's survival and proliferation," says Lauren Ehrlich, an assistant professor of molecular biosciences, who led the team that published the most recent study.

Ehrlich's team found for the first time that a neighboring cell in the soil around T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) creates the necessary condition for that cancer to grow. Without the interaction with the outside cell, the cancer collapses, unable to grow or survive the way it does in a T-ALL patient.

In a healthy person, T-cells help fight off infections and disease in partnership with another type of cell, called dendritic cells. Dendritic cells help T-cells find and attack pathogens, and they groom new T-cells to prevent them from mistakenly fighting off healthy parts of the body. Ehrlich and her team discovered that in T-ALL these dendritic cells essentially send the wrong message, signaling T-cells that had turned cancerous to survive and expand.

T-ALL afflicts mostly children, with more than 500 new pediatric diagnoses in the United States annually. The leukemia, which occurs in a child's developing T-cells, is fatal in about 1 in 4 cases. In the remaining patients with the disease, T-ALL requires intense levels of chemotherapy or radiation.

"It's obviously very toxic, and these kids are living with the morbidity effects of these very toxic therapies throughout their lives," Ehrlich says. "So if we can find directed therapies to more specifically target the tumors without being overly toxic to the person, that would obviously be much better."

Ehrlich and her team studied cancerous cell lines associated with T-ALL in a variety of ways. When the cancer cells were in a neutral culture or surrounded by a mix of cells similar to what would be found in a healthy person, no growth occurred, and the cancer died off. Only in a mix similar to what is actually found in the soil of a T-ALL patient could the cancer survive and spread. The dendritic cells spurred that growth in all cases, both for newly developing T-ALL cells as well as tumors that had spread to distant organs in experimental models. Tissue samples from Texas Children's Hospital confirmed similar growth environments with abundant dendritic cells in pediatric patients.

Previous research has found similar patterns with cancers of the blood, breast and skin, where a variety of noncancerous cells send signals that are necessary to cause tumors to survive and grow.

"We hope this study will be a catalyst to spur other research groups to further elucidate the roles of dendritic cells in supporting T-ALL," said Todd Triplett, a postdoctoral researcher and a lead author on the study, "since that could ultimately lead to the discovery of novel therapeutic targets that are more effective and less toxic than current treatment regimens."

###

The paper's other authors at UT Austin are postdoctoral researchers Kim Cardenas and Jessica Lancaster, graduate research assistant Zicheng Hu, undergraduate research assistants Guadalupe Jasso, Sadhana Balasubramanyam and Kathy Chan, and research assistant Hilary Selden. LiQi Li and Paul Love of the National Institutes of Health, Xi Chen of the University of Miami, Andrea Marcogliese of Baylor College of Medicine and Utpal Dave of Vanderbilt University also contributed to the study.

Funding support for the study was provided by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, the American Cancer Society and the Intramural Research Program of the NIH.
A new paper from WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society), in partnership with researchers and practitioners from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Coast Guard, Space Quest, Google, and SkyTruth, reviews the use of a maritime vessel communication and navigational safety system that is not only effective in protecting people, but wildlife such as whales, walruses, and other wildlife species as well. With improvements, say the authors, the system will ultimately result in greater engagement by vessel companies and operators in the conservation of marine resources.

The Automatic Identification System -- adopted by the International Maritime Organization in 2000 for use in collision avoidance, coastal surveillance, and traffic management-- effectively accomplishes navigational safety goals, and provides pre-emptive maritime safety benefits.

The paper appears in a recent edition of Bulletin of Marine Science.

"AIS now provides a rich source of data to understand vessel traffic across the entire globe - even in the most remote areas of the open ocean," said Dr. Martin Robards, Director of WCS's Beringia Program. "This system also has the potential to help us minimize the negative effects of shipping on wildlife."

"The AIS can become a vital tool in helping to protect whale and other marine mammal species, particularly in locations such as the Arctic where shipping is potentially on the increase," said Dr. Howard Rosenbaum, Director of WCS's Ocean Giants Program. "AIS can be used to identify regions where shipping lanes and important marine mammal habitats and migrations overlap, as well as areas where ocean noise may be impacting acoustically sensitive species."

Understanding vessel traffic in relation to marine conservation is critical, particularly given that maritime transport accounts for approximately 90 percent of all world trade. The continued development of maritime transportation around the world, especially in new areas such as the Arctic, can increase conservation impacts to wildlife, including disturbance, fatal strikes, introduction of pathogens through ballast water, habitat destruction through anchoring (especially on corals), introduction of invasive species, air emissions, noise, and fuel spills.

AIS works by continuously transmitting messages containing details such as vessel identification, position, heading and other data to networks of receivers that track the information. Increasingly, satellites are involved in receiving this signals on little cube satellites. While little bigger than a bread box, these receivers can process up to 4 million messages a day and track up to 130,000 vessels at one time.

Though not designed as a conservation tool, the system data enables users to understand, and subsequently to design tools that help mitigate the impacts of maritime traffic on the marine environment and wildlife. AIS data have important applications in conservation science including describing baseline vessel use of a maritime area, assessing or modeling actual or potential environmental impacts, and monitoring environmental compliance.

The authors cite the example of using AIS to establish areas where large cetaceans and vessels are likely to overlap in space and time -- a critical step to understanding and reducing vessel strikes. Using tagged whales off the Panama Canal, researchers demonstrated significant overlap between whales and vessels, and offered a preferred shipping route and vessel speed recommendations -- similar to the well known example of North Atlantic right whale vessel conflict avoidance at the entrance to Boston Harbor.

Also referenced is underwater noise that can cause adverse effects to marine organisms. AIS provides a tool for helping understand underwater soundscapes and identifying sources of acoustic noises that can be linked to decreased fisheries catches or disruptions to marine mammal behaviors and migrations.

But, say the authors, AIS's full potential as a conservation tool is yet to be tapped. The system could be greatly enhanced by modifications that allow for more consistent and reliable data.

"You would not believe how many spellings there are for any one destination or origin for a vessel," added Robards. "Dutch Harbor had to have over a dozen different renditions, exacerbating the complexities of assessing vessel routes."

In addition, standardizing data processing and making data archives available through an international repository would cut analysis costs and promote collaboration, but would require significant efforts to bridge the gap between private industry who are providing the system and federal or research efforts looking to provide value added benefits such as conservation.

The authors make specific recommendations for improving existing applications for conservation use including improving coverage and reliability and usability of data to a wider group of users and improvement and expanded users.

"Effectively conserving our vast oceans will require technological leaps and cross-sectoral collaboration. This important review articulates the potential promise of both in the use of big data from vessel tracking systems such as AIS as well as local applications for critical habitat and threatened species," said Dr. Caleb McClennen, Executive Director of WCS's Marine Conservation Program. "As increased ship traffic begins to congest an increasingly ice free Arctic, the conservation sector must capitalize on tools such as these to protect its currently pristine seas."

Fortunately, there are some exciting examples of progress, In Alaska for example, a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement between the Marine Exchange of Alaska and the Coast Guard R&D Center is leading to the use of AIS transmitters to develop the Next Generation Arctic Navigational Safety Information System. To date environmental information and virtual aids to navigation have been transmitted via several of the Alaska AIS network.

"Conservation science and policy applications of the marine vessel automatic identification system (AIS)--a review," appears in the online edition of the Bulletin of Marine Science. Authors include MD Robards of WCS, GK Silber and JD Adams of Office of Protected Resources - NOAA Fisheries, J Arroyo of U.S. Coast Guard, D Lorenzini of Space Quest, K Schwehr of Google, and J Amos of SkyTruth.

###

This research has been supported by the Oak Foundation, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and Aleutian and Bering Sea Islands (ABSI) Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC).

WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society)

MISSION: WCS saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature. To achieve our mission, WCS, based at the Bronx Zoo, harnesses the power of its Global Conservation Program in nearly 60 nations and in all the world's oceans and its five wildlife parks in New York City, visited by 4 million people annually. WCS combines its expertise in the field, zoos, and aquarium to achieve its conservation mission. Visit: newsroom.wcs.org Follow: @WCSNewsroom. For more information: 347-840-1242.

Wildlife Conservation Society's New York Aquarium is open every day of the year. Summer hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Fall/winter/spring hours are 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., daily. Tickets are $11.95 per person (ages 3 & up), and include Aquarium admission plus one admission to the new 4-D Theater; children age 2 and under are admitted free. Fridays after 4 p.m. in the summer and after 3 p.m. in the fall, Aquarium admission is by pay-what-you-wish donation. The aquarium is located on Surf Avenue at West 8th Street in Coney Island. The New York Aquarium is located on property owned by the City of New York, and its operation is made possible in part by public funds provided through the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. For directions, information on public events and programs, and other aquarium information, call 718-265-FISH or visit our web site at http://www.nyaquarium.com. Now is the perfect time to visit and show support for the WCS New York Aquarium, a beloved part of Brooklyn and all of the City of New York. Due to Hurricane Sandy we are partially opened. Check our website for more information. http://www.nyaquarium.com.
(BOSTON) - Biosensors are powerful tools in synthetic biology for engineering metabolic pathways or controlling synthetic and native genetic circuits in bacteria. Scientists have had difficulty developing a method to engineer "designer" biosensor proteins that can precisely sense and report the presence of specific molecules, which has so far limited the number and variety of biosensor designs able to precisely regulate cell metabolism, cell biology, and synthetic gene circuits.

But new research published in Nature Methods by a team at Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and Harvard Medical School (HMS) has leveraged combination of computational protein design, in vitro synthesis and in vivo testing to establish a first-of-its-kind strategy for identifying custom-tailored biosensors.

"Our original motivation for developing customizable biosensors was to get a life or death feedback loop for metabolic engineering," said George Church, Ph.D., Wyss Institute Core Faculty member, Professor of Genetics at HMS, Professor of Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the senior author on the study. "This would essentially give us 'Darwinian evolution on steroids', where colonies of bacteria genetically programmed to output a desirable commodity molecule would rapidly become more efficient from generation to generation as only the best metabolic producers will be 'self-identified' for survival."

"This advance represents a powerful new way for us to access the chemical diversity of the biosphere by mining for new pathways to make useful molecules" said Srivatsan Raman, Ph.D., formerly a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Wyss Institute and HMS and currently Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at University of Wisconsin-Madison, who is the corresponding author on the study.

To develop the method, researchers chose as their test case a natural regulatory protein from E. coli called LacI. LacI is an allosteric transcription factor (aTF), which becomes active in response to sensing "inducer" metabolites or molecules in the bacterium's environment, thereby triggering expression of a downstream gene. Using LacI, the team set out to develop a framework for re-engineering new biosensor variants that would respond to four inducer molecules (lactitol, sucralose, gentiobiose, and fucose) that cannot be metabolized by natural E. coli. Sucralose, for example, is a completely synthetic sugar molecule sold commercially as Splenda.

To synthesize and identify the custom-made LacI variants for sensing these four new inducers, the team designed a novel workflow incorporating a combinatorial synthesis strategy that relies on computational protein design and the Wyss Institute's custom DNA synthesis resources to build a variant library of potential new biosensor designs comprising hundreds of thousands of mutated LacI proteins.

Then, to identify the variants with the most specific responses to the four target molecules of interest, the team engineered groups of E. coli bacteria to express green fluorescent protein (GFP) when the desired molecule was detected, thereby making the bacteria fluoresce. Performing high-throughput in vivo screening of the sensor library in the engineered E. coli, the team identified the most effective variants by their high fluorescence, then filtered them out and genetically sequenced them to reveal the DNA profiles and design maps for transforming aTFs into custom-tailored sensors with high specificity.

The results are striking in that an optimized engineered aTF sensor can be identified for sensing any arbitrary molecule using this approach, opening new doors in synthetic biology by putting allosteric proteins in the control of genetic engineers.

"The LacI protein we chose to re-design into a custom biosensor is only one of thousands of different allosteric transcription factors that exist in nature," said Noah Taylor, a graduate researcher at the Wyss Institute who recently finished his Ph.D. in Biological and Biomedical Sciences at HMS, and the first author on the study. "The ability to engineer LacI using nothing more than sequence and structure information suggests we could find tens, hundreds, or even thousands of other biosensors that respond to different molecules."

Biosensors built using this approach provide feedback on how much of a certain metabolite is present inside a cell. Metabolically engineered bacteria can be outfitted with these custom aTFs, enabling them to monitor their own bioproduction of a desired chemical, pharmaceutical or biofuel. This allows sophisticated designs in which the lack of sufficient product could result in the death of an individual cell, eliminating it from the culture. In this way, powerful evolutionary methods can be harnessed for metabolic engineering.

Sensitive detection of metabolites within cells also presents a new paradigm for the way scientists can interrogate single cells. Until now, it has been very challenging to study the metabolic state of a single individual cell. But designer biosensors could be utilized as custom responders to metabolites of interest, giving insight into the metabolic states of live cells in close to real time.

"We are now utilizing the method to find biosensors for a variety of high-value targets, particularly those that can aid in protecting the environment," said Alexander Garruss, co-author on the study, who is a graduate researcher at the Wyss Institute and a Ph.D. candidate in Bioinformatics and Integrative Genomics at HMS.

Beyond measuring metabolites within cells, the combinatorial synthesis approach paves a path forward toward designing countless new and highly specific biological sensors for novel applications such as environmental monitoring, medical diagnostics, bioremediation, and precision gene therapies.

"The team's ability to engineer custom biosensors for virtually any molecule is another triumph showing the power of synthetic biology, and its ability to generate valuable new tools to advance medicine and protect our environment, " said Wyss Institute Founding Director Donald Ingber, M.D., who is also the Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology at Harvard Medical School and the Vascular Biology Program at Boston Children's Hospital and Professor of Bioengineering at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

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Written by ACM



*Strasbourg/CoE/Angelo Marcopolo/- While EU Parliament, curiously, appeared to Delay, Banaliize and/or Downgrade the issue (See Facts in forthcoming NewsReport), on the Contrary, CoE's PanEuropean watchdog for Human Rights, Democracy and Rule of Law, already Debated and Voted Today in Strasbourg a quite Strong Resolution, preceded by various outspoken Critical Remarks even from mainstream MEPs of Different Countries and Political Groups, (even if mostly from Center-Right : f.ex. Liberals, EPP, EDG, NI, etc),



on the still "Hot" Scandal of the Unprecedented but Concerted, Brutal Mob Attacks against defenseless Young Girls and Women, mainly by some Groups of Migrants, at several EU Countries (Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Finland, the UK, etc) during the New Years' Eve. Including on the Astonishing Fact that it was left for Many Days Unreported by Establishment's Media Muzzled by Scandalous Secret Orders (f.ex. in Germany's NRW Federated State) of a Local/Regional Police, which did Not Defend the Victims during the Attacks, Left all the Perpetratros initially Unpunished, and initialy tried to Cover Up their Crimes by Hidding the real facts, etc. But, on the Contrary, Stopped, Diverted, Dispersed by Force, abusing even of Water-Canons (in Cold, Winter Time) and/or Gas against the Biggest Protest Demonstration at Koeln, (the Worst-hit City, reportedly with several Hundreds of Complaints already lodged), apparently without even thinking that at least some Families of Victims could be among the Demonstrators, (See +Infra)...



--------------------------------------

CoE Resoluton's Strongest Parts :

--------------------------------------------------



- CoE's Report, adopted this week in Strasbourg, speaks not only about "the Attacks in Cologne, and Other Cities, mostly in Germany, but Also in Austria, Switzerland, and Finland", to which Media added even similar "Attacks which occured in Sweden Earlier this year", and, now, Brittish MEPs extended moreover to certain UK-related Incidents, (See Infra).



But it focuses at Cologne, for now, where more than "766 Complaints have been officialy made to the Police, to date", (in fact, Now, ..more than 1 Thousand : See Infra).



-----------------------------------



- "Recent Attacks against women in several European Cities have highlighted the Urgent Need to Protect women from sexual violence", naturaly.



+ But, in Addition, - "Their Simultaneous occurrence, their Scale, the Late Reporting by the Media, and the Slow response of the Authorities, are of Great Concern", CoE's Resolution moreover denounces.



=> "These attacks .. require an official Investigation into the Facts, and into the reasons for Delaying official Reporting to the public", as well as "call for a Comprehensive Response", CoE stressed with a quasi-Unanimous Resolution adopted with 115 Votes out of a Total of 117.



- "Violence within Crowds represents anOther Dimension of violence against women", the Resolution acknowledges, (following also the German Minister of Justice).



- "According to Witness accounts, the Majority of Perpetrators of the recent attacks were allegedly of Foreign origin. These attacks triggered Debates on reception policies and Integration in Europe".

----------------



- "The Media also hold an important responsibility ..... They should not, in order to ensure political correctness, Hide the Truth from the general public. Partial, Late or biased reporting on crimes can feed Conspiracy theories, Fuel Hatred against a part of the population and contribute to Mistrust in the authorities and the media... That's why Media must "Report objectively and truthfully on Facts", (something which doesn't hinder, at the same time, Not to "Stigmatise a part of the population").



=> In the light of these considerations,



(A) - The Assembly Calls on the relevant Authorities to conduct an Investigation into the Attacks against women, and to Publish its Results"



CoE's official Report moreover "Urges ...to conduct a Full Investigation, and Shed Light on what Happened", particularly "analyse Whether it was Planned".



------------



(B) + the Assembly Calls on Council of Europe member States to :



- "ensure, by Prosecuting Perpetrators, there will be No Impunity". ("Zero Tolerance", asks CoE's official Report against those Mob Criminals).

--------------------------



(C) - "engage in a dialogue with the Media, about their Responsibility to ensure Timely and objective Reporting on Events, including Crimes", while also continuing, naturaly, "and to combat hate speech"



+ According to CoE's official Report, "German Authorities" (in NRW) and Media were Accused of Hiding the Truth from the Public"...."Victims told the Press that they (were) Afraid of being ...Harassed for contributing to "Hatred" against Migrants and Asylum Seekers". Even "some Feminist Activists explain their Delayed Reaction to the Attacks by the Fear of being called "Racist"...



CoE Assembly's Resolutions are not Directly Binding, but, in case of repeatedly and seriously recalcitrant States, the PanEuropean Organisation's Parliamentary Assembly holds Various possible Sanctions vis a vis their MEPs.



-------------------------------------------

CoE MEPs' Debate :

---------------------------------------------------------



Most MEPs were obviously Opposed between those (the Majority) who Recognized a New and Specific Crime (as German Justice Minister Acknowledged) of Concerted Brutal and Sexual Mob Attacks with real Violence against Defenseless Young Girls/Women, at a Public Area, but Deprived of any Police Help, while even the Media were Muzzled,



and those (a Minority) who still Insist to Downgrade the issue by drowning it down into a Banalizing, vague "Violence against Women", (i.e. Nothing New, as they claim : See Infra)...



Both are Crimes, but Not of the Same Kind, nor Gravity. A Characteristic Key-Word was given by Eye-Witnesses cited at German Media : - "They Attacked" them by Tens of rather Hundrends of Aggressors in a Row, and "lll-Treated, them in Public, ...LIKE CATTLE !". (I.e. as an Inferior Race of Animals, which could be seriously ill-Treated, Brutalized and Humiliated, in front of everyone, Massively, and in Total Impunity : a Real Racism)...



Here, the Focus is, naturaly, mainly (but not only) on those MEP's sayings which belong to the First Category.



-----------------------------



+ Concerning "the Media's role : The German and international media reported on the Cologne Attacks only after several days. Did they want to Hide the Truth? If so, why? Violence against women is a Crime, and it Should Not be Hidden from the general public. Late, biased Reporting Diminishes the publics Trust in the media, and we must criticise actions that Undermine that trust. As I state in the report, honest crime reporting is important, Irrespective of the Perpetrator. It is the Medias Responsibly to report the facts objectively without stigmatising a part of the population. We should therefore Investigate the reasons behind the Medias Delay in Reporting", stressed CoE's Rappoteur, Swedish MEP Jonas Gunnarson.



- "it is important that we say things clearly. ...It is important that these events are explained. They did not take place only in Germany, but also in Sweden. As the (CoE's) Rapporteur rightly said, this problem exists in Many of our Countries, and it is Important to ask Who the Perpetrators are. We must be Clear about that; it must be Explained and we must understand exactly What Happened. At the moment those events are not clear and are rather hazy", Denounced from the outset, on behalf of the ChristianDemocrat/EPP Group, the Head of the German Delegation to CoE's Assembly, Axel Fischer.



- "People asked why it took so Long for the Media to get involved and Report it". In fact, some claimed "that Nothing happened and it was not very important, but, then, why +3 Days Later there was a Huge Outcry in the media and the issue was taken up. Some of Complaints that have been made are true  there were Massive Sexual Attacks.."



=> - "The CoE must Deal with those Questions, because support for Human Rights is part of its (own) moto". ...Something has gone Wrong in some of our member States. I cannot say what the outcome of this will be, but the Questions are there and they are Part of our Mission. We must ensure that those questions are properly Elucidated, and that is why when discussing this report, such matters are on our Agenda. It is important to send out the message that we (CoE) will Keep on the tail of this issue, and we will Not Let it go", Fisher warned.



-Speaking on behalf of the "Left" Group, MEP Ms Kavvadia from Greece, acknowledged the Fact that, -"There is no doubt that the events in Cologne were Very Serious, and ...we do not have a clear picture of those events". - Of course the Perpetrators must be Prosecuted and Punished  there can be No Tolerance of these types of Horrific Events and Behaviour", she denounced.



- "But ...there is no indication that this event was somehow linked to the increased flow of refugees from Syria, or that refugees from Syria were .... responsible for it, Exclusively", she claimed, (while obviously keeping in reserve the word : - "Mostly").... "It is unacceptable to accuse refugees and immigrants", Ms Kavaddia argued.



- "Let us not forget that 90% of violence against women and sexual harassment still happens at (the Family) Home, where nobody else can see it", focused in her intervention on behalf of the Socialist Group, MEP Ms Sutter, from Belgium, (perhaps in order to ensure Koeln's Victims ...)



- "No religious, cultural, ethnic or other Difference can Excuse certain Behaviour  it canNot excuse the Violence", and "Honest Reporting is Important in that regard", stressed, on the Contrary, Ms Reps from Estonia, on behalf of the LIberal Group of MEPs.



+ "Clearly, as we all agree, Not All asylum seekers are Terrorists; they are Not All running around on the Streets of our Europe trying to Harass somebody"...



- "However, ...Violence inside these Communities and inside the Refugee Camps and Asylum seeker Centres, is, Unfortunately, More common than we would like". And +"Children are Disappearing from those centres, with some being Sold on the Streets....Those are also the issues we are tackling in this institution and we Need to Discuss them, Too", MEP Reps Denounced, in Addition, concerning, indeed, 2 Other Topical Problems, (the 1st already Denounced by several German Police Officers, who have Complaint at various Media that their Superiors systematicaly Hinder even to Speak to the Press about Brutal Violent Incidents, Harassments, etc, inside the Recent Mass Asylum Seekers/irregular Migrants' offered Housing ; while the 2nd, about Abused Children, is just Starting to emerge in the Media now).



-----------------------------------------------------



- " An Attempt was being made to Brush under the carpet Crimes that had to be Examined and Reported properly", denounced from the outset Sir Roger Dale, speaking on behalf of the European Conservatives Group of MEPs.



>>> - "This is not just a German problem or a Migrant problem; it is a problem of a Revolting Crime, which also takes place in Sweden and in Britain, and canNot be Tolerated, no matter which group of people it is perpetrated by, no matter where in the EU and the wider Europe", he pointed out.



+ "As the former Chairman of the Sub-Committee on Media and Information Society of this (CoE) Assembly and as a Journalist, and as one who has sought and fought to protect the rights and the freedoms of journalists throughout the CoE territories, is that it is clear to me that Editorial Control and Editorial Suppression has been exercised, and that Journalists have been Prevented from properly and honestly Reporting matters of very Grave Concern. That, too, is Intolerable", the mainstream Brittish MEP Criticized, as far as Media Muzzling is concerned.



=> "That is a Disgrace. As Mr Fischer (EPP Representative and Head of German Delegation : Comp. Supra) said, this is Not an issue that can or will be allowed by this Assembly to Go away. We shall Pursue it Relentlessly, because if we are to succeed in the work that we are here (at the CoE) to do, we have to be open and honest, and we have to Demand that openness and Honesty of those who Control our Media", Sir Roger Dale vowed in Conclusion.



- "This (is an) Important Issue", which "is Attracting Extraordinary Attention around the World Today. The events in Cologne and Elsewhere Shocked us and led to Angry Reactions", about "an an issue that should not be seen in isolation. We Fear that such issues May crop up Again in Future", Warned Rosza Hoffmann, ChristianDemocrat/EPP MEP from Hungary.



>>> - "it is necessary to make it clear that the events in Cologne go Beyond the issue of "Violence against Women"", she stressed. "In (the) Opinion ... of Many Politicians, ...supported by the Facts (f.ex. "more than 750 Acts of Violence happened in Cologne" alone, given also the Number of more 760 Complaints already lodged), "the events .. represent a New Dimension of Criminality in Europe (as even the German Minister of Justice has notoriously declared earlier in many Media), and "are a Consequence of Mass Migration", as she Added, apparently referring to that Unprcedented "Tsunami" of Mass Asylum Seekers/irregular Migrants who suddenly came through Turkey since the Autumn of 2015. - "Only in Times of War, we (Europeans) have Experienced this Type of Organised Violence", she reminded.



=> -"Those who Refuse to engage in such an Honest and responsible Debate, (i.e. attempt to Banalize the issue, by Hidding it behind a vague "Violence against Women", in general), are facilitating Radical, simple responses, and are playing into the hands of the Perpetrators", MEP Hoffman accused.



>>> - In addition to Counter-Violence Measures, and to "the Role of the Press", what is Needed is to act, "most importantly, (on) Migration and Integration. ... We must make it absolutely Clear that Migrants should adapt to, and accept European Values", she urged.



-' The public must be informed promptly and honestly on all those issues. We will Return to the matter After the necessary Inquiries have been conducted, and when we have Full Knowledge of the Facts" Hoffman vowed for the foreseable Future, joining also Fischer and Sir Gale, etc (Comp. Supra).



- "The violent attacks on women that occurred in cities in Germany, Austria and Sweden (etc) have left us perplexed and shocked. They have generated great uneasiness in our societies, and there are several Questions to answer. The attacks happened at the same time, but how could that have been Planned? What Messages were sent in these circles? Who was the Instigator? .... "What was the motivation? Was it aggression or frustration, or did they simply want to create Fear and Terror? ", pertinently asked Luxembourg's MEP Ms Hetto-Gaash.



- "All the people who come to our countries, ....must comply with our Laws, Norms and Habits. ....If they do not, they should no longer remain. ... from the beginning, we must have Common Rules for living in the country, which must be 100% Respected. Let us make them better known and altogether Defend our Common Values", she urged.



------------------



- "We must analyse What is Behind the Attacks against women in cities. Why are they organised? .... Is it possible that the Crimes are committed to Disturb social Peace and Stability?", wondered also Finnish MEP Ms Kalmari.



- "In my home country (Finland), every asylum seeker staying in a refugee centre must Sign a Declaration, stating that he or she will Comply with Finnish legislation and Respect basic Values. A Criminal asylum seeker who does Not accept those conditions, may be Sent Back", she recommended.



----------------------------------



-"The events made Headlines across Europe, not only because of the overt and very public nature of the attacks, but because of their Coincidence in Time, and their sheer Scale, in terms of the Number of Perpetrators and Victims....Much has been made of the Foreign appearance of the Attackers, and this inevitably led to Question about Mass Migration and its influence on communities", observed MEP Robinson.



- But, "some Women reportedly Asked the Police for help, and were told that there were Not enough police officers available to help them, or were Discouraged from filing complaints at all", she Denounced.



- Most Important : "A Worrying aspect of the events is the apparent initial Hesitation, both of the Police to record and investigate the crimes, and of the Press to report them. The suggestion has been made that this was because any reporting of the Foreign appearance of the men would be perceived as racist and perhaps inflammatory". But, as a matter of General Principle, "The press and media have a responsibility to report events in an objective way; more importantly, they should report honestly", Ms Robinson stressed.



- Also because, otherwise, f.ex., "Fear is the Enemy of Freedom. It Stops People Reporting Crime, and makes the Press Reluctant to write about it. Hopefully, this report and debate may go some way to Replacing the climate of Fear, with one of open and honest Discussion", concluded. MEP Robinson.



------------------------



- "As of 21 January, the total number of 0ffences was 821", (at least in some German Cities), anounced German MEP Ms Rawert. But, until now, Only "30 individuals were apprehended, and 7 (seven) are now under preliminary detention". ....



- "All those Incidents were perpetrated by Foreigners", she observed, (but without distinguishuing yet if it concerned the controversial Recent Mass Influx through Turkey, or Others).



- "We must underline that there have to be Consequences to these kinds of Crimes", MEP Rawert stressed.



=> "Over 100 0rganisations throughout Europe have Called for the following", she read :



- We Need to Talk about Cologne". - "We, refugee and migrant communities settled in different EU countries, from different nationalities and backgrounds, strongly Condemn the recent sexual Attacks against Women in Germany. We would like to express our sorrow and sympathy to the victims of these Terrible attacks. .... Perpetrators should be Prosecuted and convicted. It is Important now to clarify and understand What Happened, so that people, in particular women, feel Safe again, Justice can be done, and further violence prevented. We did not flee violence there to accept it here.



- "Our job, when it comes to human rights and the rule of law, is to not allow .. to Divide us", MEP Rawert concluded.



--------------------------------------



-"This is an important moment in time. .....this subject, ...is important, because it concerns individual >Responsibility and liability  a Crucial matter when it comes to Human Rights", stressed from the outset French MEP Ms Le Dain.



-"t was individual women who were Violently Attacked, Groped and Harassed. That will have Severe Effects on some of them". Moreover, "Of course it is Serious" for all Victims, because "Each Woman will be Traumatised", she Denounced.



- "We need to Say things as they are  to pin things down with words. We are talking about Facts and the individual Stories of those Poor Women, who have been Terrified. We need to Look for those men and, if we can Find them, (something which, normaly, should be rather Easy, since Mobile Phones and Internet were reportedly used Widely for such "Concerted" Attacks, Committed evebn in Front of Local/Regional NRW Police, Witnesses in Public, etc), as even the German Minister of Justice has notoriously denounced), "they Need to be Prosecuted", she concluded.



-----------



- "Our discussion came about from the mass harassment of women on new year's eve near Cologne cathedral", but, "we have to be honest and Frank in the context of the Cologne incident, which is only the Tip of the Iceberg, because it has gradually emerged that there were More Incidents of harassment of women in Public places Last Year across Europe", Warned Estonian MEP Ms Mikko.



+ In Addition, "the Criticism of the Media ...is Justified, and (even) the (Local/Regional, since in the German Federation there is No National) Police have kept Quiet about those incidents. It is Extremely Important that No institution Sweep things under the carpet or Embellish Facts. No matter how uncomfortable the facts may be, we (CoE) Have to Talk about them. Only an Honest analysis will allow us to Overcome the Disease", she Denounced, as far as the astonishing Media and Police Muzzling is concerned.



=> "Last but not least, according to ancient Greek mythology Europe is a Woman. Men with Different Cultural backgrounds and Religions, have to Understand that EUROPE IS NOT A WHORE !. Europe is a Woman who needs to be Respected, by Everyone", MEP Mikko concluded, with a Spectacular condensation...



--------------------------------



- "All Europe was quite rightly Shocked by the recent Attacks against women, particularly those on new years eve : - Physical and even Sexual Aggressions were committed in Several Countries throughout Europe, including Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, Finland, France and probably Elsewhere", denunced from the outset Experienced French senator Jean-Claude Frecon (PS), who is also CLRAE President and might play an Important role soon, f.ex. as far as the Controversial abuse of German Region "NRW"'s Police is concerned, both for Blocking and Not Helping the Victims, for Hiding the Truth, and for Dispersing by Force the Biggest Popular Demonstration of Protest at Koeln).



+ Moreover, "the Scale of those Attacks is Unparalleled, particularly in Germany, where 1 076 (i.e. More than a Thousand !) Complaints were lodged", f.ex. "in Cologne and Dusseldorf", as President Frecon observed, Augmenting the still Evolving Number of official Victims.



=> "Such attacks are Not acceptable in Europe, or elsewhere. We must do Everything we can" to eradicate them : -"Zero Tolerance must be the order of the day. The Police and the Courts must make sure that Exemplary Punishment is handed down to those who are Guilty of these Crimes. There are No Excuses, especially Not the Origin of those who have committed the crimes. It is Not important where they Come from  they are Criminals and Delinquents", he Strongly Denounced.



+ While also advising to "Avoid Generalisations : Families who are Fleeing Wars in Syria, Eritrea and Afghanistan should Not have to Pay the price for the Acts of a Minority", Frecon pointed out.



------------------------------------------



- Obviously, Compared to More than a Thousand of Complaints officially lodged, just in 2 Cities of Germany, for such serious Mob Brutal Attacks against Defenseless Young Girls and Women, as President Frecon (PSoc.) just Denounced, (See Above), a simple mention of "75 Declared (?) Attacks against Immigrants in Germany", in general, as MEP Catrivanou (Left) from Greece noted, but without even Saying Anything about their estimated more or less Seriousness, Not even mentioning their Content, etc, canNot impress, (even if, in such matters, often, even 1 can already be too much)...



- But she was probably Right at least when she Warned that "One thing is clear: we canNot fight to Protect 0ne Part of the community, Against anOther, because Human Rights come as A Package. The community of Europe must Not Break apart".



--------------------------------



- "We Rely on our Media to report honestly, openly and Without Fear or favour, .... Failing to Recognise Crimes is a Betrayal, not only of the Victims, but of the overwhelming Majority of our immigrant and faith Communities, who are every bit as Sickened by such Crimes as everyone else". Because "Victims of attacks Always deserve our Protection, Regardless of the Perpetrator. Part of that protection must mean Recognising such Crimes and Reporting them as the Media would report Other Crimes of a Similar nature. When ... Serious Crimes are Not Reported, because of Sensitivity about the Offenders, it fuels the Conspiracy theories", Criticized British MEP Wood.



F.ex., "In Britain, we have seen the Tragic consequences of self-Censorship preventing Crimes from being Reported, for Fear of being seen as Racist. ...."political correctness" of that kind Prevented a co-ordinated campaign of Child Sexual exploitation from being properly Reported, and ...social services Failed to act as early as they should have done to tackle the Gangs behind the exploitation. We cannot afford such mistakes to be repeated", he Warned, speaking of a really Horrible Series of Abominable Crimes repeatedly and systematicaly committed for many Years, against mainly Poor Children, Scandalously Trapped in a Local Corrupted System, (See, f.ex., an excellent article of "The Guardian", updated and commented by "Eurofora", at : .....).



--------------------------------------------



- On the Contrary, for Socialist Swedish MEP Ms Ohlsson, the simple "fact of women being Sexually Assaulted by men is NOT NEWS (sic !) for me, for us in the Assembly, or for most women", as she claimed, obviously banalizing the issue by merely concluding that more CoE Member States should simply endorse the pre-existing "Istanbul Convention", (a Turkey-backed Text which has Failed to attract more than a Minority of States, perhaps also because it's less about Public Areas, but more on Surveillance and Interference in Private and Family affairs, with the Risk to provoke Blunders, as f.ex. the Scandal of the Brutal Killing of a Father, Kurdish Refugee traumatized by Torture in Turkish Prisons, pushed to Death inside his own Family Home, by Policemen Attacking him with Clubs, Gas, etc, after intruding Violently under pretext of a Banal Domestic Quarrel: A Shocking Video revealed through the Internet this Horrible Deadly Abuse since the beginning of the Decade 2000-2010), rather than do anything new now to protect many Thousands of Victims, Brutaly Attacked by concerted sMobs of Thousands, in just a few Hours in front of the Public, shameleshly, (and, until now, with Total Impunity)...



---------------



But, Young Swedish MEP Julia Kronlid, immediately Rectified the Facts about the Mob Attacks, after her compatriot's "Not News" Paradox (Comp. Supra) :



- "What is New is the phenomenon of a Large Number of men Surrounding and Attacking a large number of Women, to the extent that the Police have Difficulty Controlling the situation". +"What is also New is the Reluctance (of Establishment's Media) to bring these events to Light, for whatever reason. Our debate on how to face such Serious Events, is therefore Very Timely, MEP Kronlid observed in reply.



=> Therefore, "it is Important that those Responsible for such Crimes are brought to Justice, without any consideration being given to their origin", she stressed. + Moreover, in order "to Prevent the Problem from Spreading further and ultimately becoming Unmanageable, we must also be able to draw attention ...in how women and men are viewed ....in some of the Countries that many of the Migrants have left to seek Asylum in Europe. ....we (Europeans) must be Prepared to Defend Our Values", without stigmatising or spreading hate to any group. In fact, we should take the opposite approach: we want to Include new members in Our Society and the Values on which it relies. ....That is why we must work actively to preserve our basic European right of equality, as protected in our Convention on Human Rights. Our Assembly must at all times defend womens Right to Safety, Security, Dignity and Integrity. On that, there can be No Compromise.



-------------



+ Advancing even Further, MEP Ms Louhelainen, from Finland, stressed from the outset that "We (CoE's Assembly) are Talking about an Important Issue", because "the Rapidly Increasing Number of asylum seekers in Finland has caused a Sense of Insecurity, .... Unfortunately, Some of the asylum seekers do Not Share Our (Europeans') Values : - In Finland, individual Protection and the Physical and Psychological Integrity of the Person are Basic Rights, that we are Not used to having Questioned, ....and We Want also to protect those Values for the Future' : - I.e., f.ex., "to go to School, to Work, to do our Hobbies or to the Grocery store withOut Fear". But, recently, on the Contrary, "a Feeling of Insecurity has surged among Finns, as Sexual Harassment and even Rape have Increased, unfortunately through acts that are Also committed by Asylum seekers. We have heard of Similar Cases from All over Europe, and that canNot and shall Not be accepted", she Firmly Denounced.



=> - "As a result of the situation, in Finland Children are Afraid to go to School, Young people are Banned from going Out in the Evenings, and the Elderly are Scared to go to the Grocery store, ....That has led to Debate among the Citizens of Finland about the Need for Independent street Patrols to Ensure the Safety of the original population", the Finnish MEP described.



++, In Additon, even if "the Medias play an Important role in How such Issues are Reported, and in what can be Said about them in Public", nevertheless, "We all know of various Side-effects connected to immigration and asylum seekers, but such Views are too often Silenced. The "Racist" card is quickly raised when such issues are Discussed Critically. However, we Must be able to address the problems Comprehensively, using their own names and without fanatism. Unfortunately, being Critical is often labelled as "Hate" speech" between Citizens. But, Moreover, "I could not agree more with what the (CoE) Rapporteur points out ....about the Medias Responsibility to Report the Facts, objectively and Truthfully. COE ... must also Highlight the Responsibility of the Media", MEP Louhelenain urged in Conclusion, obviously criticizing the more than 5 Days-long Muzzling of Establishment's Media in Germany about the NYE Attacks, shortly after a Similar Phenomenon in Sweden, etc., while many Police Officers had already Started to Complaint for frequent Prohibitions, recently, to Report the Full Truth even about various Violent Incidents repeated recently at the Heart of Europe...



----------------



- Even the President of CoE Assembly's Committee on Migration and Refugees, as well as "Rapporteur ...on Violence against Women", Azeri MEP Sahiba Gafarova, who felt that "instigating this Debate and" Drafting a special "Report, ...is Timely and Necessary", "Firmly Condemn(ed) the Mass Sexual Assaults perpetrated on 31 December (2015), not only in Germany, but (also) in Austria, Finland and Switzerland" (etc., f.ex. + Sweden, the UK, etc : Comp. Supra).



=> - In consequence, "such Violations of womens Rights can Neither be Tolerated, Nor remain Unpunished. ... Perpetrators must be brought to Justice, as there should be Zero Tolerance of Violence", the President of Refugee/Migrants' CoE Committee clrealy concluded.



---------------------------------------------



>>> Ukranian MEP, Sirhil Kiral, was among those who touched upon the - Crucial in real practice - Media Muzzling Scandal, searching the Causes :



- "This is an Important Debate", MEP Kiral stressed from the outset. - "We can talk about "Media Conspiracies", But reporting quality has a direct Link to the solid Facts and information the Media can Access, which Should have been Provided by the Authorities and Law-Enforcement Agencies. (I.e., in the case of Germany, which has No Federal Police, it's mainly the NRW Region's Police responsible for Koeln, etc., currently governed by Socialists). However, "the Authorities did Not perform well, perhaps due to inExperience, or a fear of damaging nationwide Refugee Policies, or because they were striving to secure peace and order by Any Means", (NDLR : i.e., Even by Covering up Crimes ?")l. This "led to Adverse outcomes", he observed.

- However, "although there are References to Poor Police performance throughout the (CoE's) Report, it is Not clearly mentioned in the Resolution", MEP Kiral rightfully Criticized, ataan obviously Crucial point :



Indeed, according to many German Media Reports, the NRW Laender's Police, first Blocked many Young Girls living at the Suburbs and/or nearby Villages, by unexpectedly Closing Koeln's Central Station, i.e. practicaly Throwing them to the Ambush of Mob Aggressors who had Gathered by a Concerted action of Thousands precisely between the Central Station and the Cathedral. Then, astonishingly, it didn't even intervene to Try to Save not even 1 among the Many Victims during the Brutal Mob Attacks, not even when they were committed right in Front of their Eyes. Afterwards they Published Fake "News", which Covered up all those Crimes for Many Days, (apparently Obeying to some Orders Not to mention any Wrong-doing committed by Mass Asylum Seakers/Migrants recently arrived through Turkey). Last, but not least, according also to their own official announcement, they Modified, at the Last Minute, the Scheduled Pathway, Stopped, and finaly Dispersed by Force (including Water-Tanks, Gas, Clubs, etc) the Biggest Popular Demonstration organized for People's Protest in Koeln, (without even thinking that at least some among the Victims' Families could have been among those Demonstrators)...



- So that "Today, a Month After the events, we still do Not have a Clear picture of What Happened, and Who or what is Behind it ! Is our System Working Properly?", MEP Kiral rightfuly Questioned.



=> -"Let us get these people down to Work, if not for the good pay, then to Defend and protect the Foundation of Europe, the Equal Rights of men and women. It is probably in the Police and the Judiciary where Real men are Required right Now, ....We Need men who will Act Swiftly to Find the necessary Arguments and Evidence to Bring the Suspects to Trial and Prosecution", Because, "If Suspects are Let off, that will Continue to spur Speculation and Abuse", he Warned.



>>> + Moreover, meanwhile, even in the Biggest EU Country, "Germany, ...is Striving to find Solutions to the Worst Ever "Refugee" Crisis, and ...( Unprecedented Mass) Migration (through Turkey alone) is Undermining its critical Role in tackling this and Other Urgent Issues Worldwide... which are of a Vital and Total Importance", the Ukranian MEP strongly Denounced.



- In view of such Huge Stakes, when it comes again to the so-called "Istanbul Convention", MEP Keril Soberly "drew attention to the Poor performance in Ratifying" such Conventions, (Comp. Supra)...



-------------------------------



In fact, MEDIA Muzzling was at CoE's Focus from the Start : The Initial Title of this Report/Resolution/Debate voted by the Plenary last Monday, was about "The Protection of Women, and the Honest Reporting of Unpalatable Truths". But it was, later-on, Changed into : "Recent Attacks against Women in European Cities - the Need for a Comprehensive Response", during a Closed Doors session of a Committee, later-on, (which obviously Ameliorated a bit the 1st Point, but Dumbened down to almost Total Obscurity, the 2nd and Crucial point on Media Muzzling : Comp. Supra).



=> - That's why UK MEP Mr Howell referred to CoE Assembly'"s "Recommendation on "Media .. and Ethics", observing that, "Although our (CoE's) Programmes are aimed at Countries such as those of South-East Europe, action may Need to be taken Closer to Home, including in Germany, Sweden and the UK"....



- "The Problem is Not (only) a German one. True... International news Agencies have an important role to play, in ensuring that a Truthful picture is presented in a timely manner. They are to Blame for Not having done so in this case", MEP Howell denounced.



>>> - Therefore, CoE's "Assembly should conduct an Investigation into Why Media outlets Delayed reporting the Truth about the Dreadful Attacks on women to the public". Because "ask for an Investigation into Only the Attacks themselves, rather Misses the (Crucial) Point", the Experienced Brittish MEP Criticized. - "Not to conduct such an investigation would Undermine the fine words we have stated about the Media across Europe on many occasions and the CoE's various Reports on the issue. Most Importantly, it would Diminish the Seriousness of the Attacks on those Poor, Unfortunate Women", Howell Warned.



--------------



=> + "These Attacks contribute to a Climate of Fear, which may enDanger the Democratic Pillars of our Societies", Denounced in Fine CoE's Rapporteur, Jonas Gunnarson, an Experienced Socialist MEP from one of the affected Countries : Sweden.



---------------------------------------------





(../..)



[NDLR : Russian MEPs, one of the Biggest Delegations to CoE's PanEuropean Parliamentary Assembly, were Hindered to Participate also to this Debate, due to a still perduring, unprecedented incident, since 2014, (on which "Eurofora" has already reported several times, right from the start). If they had been really free to use all their MEP's Rights, given the respective positions of each Country, one would normaly expect an even much More "Hotter" Discussion, and, perhaps, a quite Sharper Resolution...]





***


Written by ACM

*Strasbourg/France-Germany-EU Parliament Summit/Angelo Marcopolo/- The most Important Surprise from this 2nd Trilateral unofficial Summit between France, Germany and EU Parliament, bringing Together Presidents Francois Hollande and Martin Schulz with Chancellior Angie Merkeln on February 2016, for the moment, certainly is the Astonishing Fact that it is Organized almost Entirely in an Opposite way from what had been done during the Previous, 1st such Summit, back on January 2015, (See, f.ex.: http://www.eurofora.net/newsflashes/news/elyseecounselloronhollandemerkelschulzsummitandukraineurgency.html ).



Among many other Facts, f.ex. :



-----------------------------------------------------



- First of all, the Location of the Previous Summit had been chosen quite Outside of the City, at a faraway and scarcely inhabited area, closer to the European Institutions' Buildings (and to USA's Consulate...), than to Down-Town.



Added to a Heavy Nighty Rain, that was a rather Impressive ... "Spooky" Hollywood-like set up, (as some local Journalists had maliciously noted then).

The "Happy Few" informed Journalists, (already Exhausted by a Busy EU Parliament and CoE Assembly's Plenaries, which had just concluded), were obliged to Stay for Hours on their Feet, at the Crossroads of two Streets, at the Other Side of a River's Channel, in the Middle of the Rain, Hoping to get some Interesting Photos, and surrounded by a visible Heavy Police presence, (some of whom were surprisingly Brutal, by ignorance or on purpose).



- On the Contrary, Today, the famous "Diner of 3" has been scheduled at the Extreme Opposite : Right inside the Down-Town City Centre, at a usualy Busy and well Inhabited road, normaly full of People...



And even just in Front of one of the main Restaurants notoriously used by Strasbourg Press Club for various Press Conferencies, Big Meetings of Politicians with Journalists, etc...

So that the Natural Omni-Presence of the Police, now looked much more Vigilent and Protective, as well as 100% Kind and even Discreet...



Inside, the Pleasure was real for "Eurofora" to meet, not only with many among our Local Strasbourg Collegues, (happily Grouped all Together at one and same Table), but also with certain old acquaintances, Experienced TV Journalists etc., following selectively the French Presidential Palace "Elysee" since more than a Decade, who had come from Paris, and appeared Glad to see us, immediately inviting to sit at their Table and discuss the main news, (for which they had already prepared a Full Draft !)..



-------------------------------------------



- Second, but Politicaly More Important, Innovation : For the 1st Time, the famous "Diner of 3", Together with EU Parliament's President, was Preceded, Now, by an obviously Important Franco-German Leaders' meeting only in "Duo", at the beautiful Prefectoral Palace, (this also Located Down-Town, facing the Opera and Theater of Strasbourg).



Even if this New Sequence durated Less than Initialy Expected, (about 1,5 instead of 2 Full Hours), nevertheless, it certainly gave a New Opportunity for President Hollande and Chancellor Merkel, to speak "Tete a Tete", directly between them, without the presence of anyone else, (as in the cases of Giscard d'Estaing - Helmut Schmitt, Jacques Chirac - Helmut Kohl, Nicolas Sarkozy and Angie Merkel).



----------------------------------------------



- A Third, and normaly Less Important Change, (but Symbols are always Important for Merkel, and perhaps also for Hollande and/or Schulz...), the Name of the Restaurant chosen this Time for EU Parliament President's Diner Invitation, was No More "Poetic/Historic", as it had been that of Last Year, but, Surprisingly, a quite Abrupt ... "Crow's Bridge" denomination, ("Au Pont du Corbeau" at the Original in French). Something that all Tourists visiting Strasbourg know that it reminds the Medieval ...Execution of Prisoners Condemned to Death, who were reportedly Exhibited there in Chains, a few days before Killing them inside that same River... Who knows why Schulz (the Inviting party) might have chosen now such a Horrible Medieval Symbol, (just a Day before Merkel visits Turkey on the Migrant Crisis' Blackmail)... Naturaly, this doesn't mean anything bad for the Sympathetic Family Business quartet who runs that tasty Restaurant, known and used by a lot of People...



---------------------------------------------



- Fourth Contradiction with the Past : Instead of Concluding almost at the Scheduled Hour, (at about 9 - 9.30, i.e. after 2,5 Hours of Working Diner), almost as it was done before, suddenly, when everything was Ready to Go, everybody who was present understood that something serious was Keeping the 3 Leaders still inside, for much More Time than initialy scheduled.



After a Long and unexpected laps of Time in Waiting, Finaly Chancellor Merkel emerged the 1st, and Rapidly entered her car, after saluting, and she's gone, (possibly on Time Pressure also because of her Visit, Tomorrow, to Turkey, for the thorny issue of that unprecedented Mass Migration "Tsunami" pushed by Turkish Smugglers at the Aegean Sea).







Hollande and Schulz rapidly hold some exchanges between them, and, when Hollande also goes, Schulz (may be dissatisfied by something, or running to Phone to someone else ?) rushes to Get Back inside the Restaurant.



Knowing that the 2 Big Issues due to be discussed during this 2016 Summit notoriously were mainly the Massive Asylum Seekers/Migrants' influx from Turkey, tresspassing EU's External Borders mainly in Greece, as well as the Brittish Referendum for its participation into the EU, while Schulz's Future Job, after he quits EU Parliament's Presidency Next Year (2017) was due to be discussed at the End of the Diner, one may suppose that it could be this last issue (naturaly related also with the Future of the Socialist Party in Germany, CDU's policy of Alliances, etc), which might have provoked that delay.





----------------------------------------------------



+ 5th Difference, and Last, but not least : The most Important outcome of the Jan.. 2015 Summit was to pave the way for Peace in Ukraine, with the subsequent conclusion of the Minsk Agreements, shortly afterwards, on February 2015;

On the Contrary, Today, mutatis-mutandis, there is alread a Signed Deal with Turkey, concerning the Mass Asylum Seekers/irregular Migrants "Tsunami" fueled by Turkish Smugglers, but it has not even Started to be Applied.



Both because Ankara is dragging its feet, without any significant diminution yet of the Number of Mass Asylum Seekers/irregular Migrants arriving through Turkey, and probably also because some EU actors might Not like so much all those Unprecedented Huge Concessions made to the Turkish regime hastily, at an Obscure meeting held in Brussels an Exceptional Sunday, when all Down-Town City's Streets were Empty from their Inhabitants, with all its Public Transports Blocked, etc., because of a percieved Fear of Terrorist Attacks from ISIL, (i.e. more than 3 Billions , relaunch of Turkey's Controversial and UnPopular EU bid, and -probably the Worse- Visa-Free entries in all EU Countries for the 75 Millions of Turks, already Starting from the Middle of this Year 2016)...



At the same time, the New Government of the Left in Greece complicates things a bit, since August 2015, by its "Non-Refoulement" ("No Push out") policy at Sea, and an unprecedented mechanism of Transports offered to the Mass Asylum Seekers/irregular Migrants arriving from Turkey, while most Inhabitanrts of Kos and other Islands currently Struggle to avoid permanent Massive "Hot-Spots" in their area, (as also the Mayor of Lesbos/Mytilini -the most exposed island- would like to do: See, f.ex., his Statements to "Eurofora" in Strasbourg, at: ....), and the recently elected New main Opposition Leader, the Young Kyriakos Mitsotakis of "New Democracy" Party, has just confirmed his Support for a strengthened European "Frontex"/CoastGuards' Force at EU's External Borders in the Aegean Sea.



But, probably, one among the most Thorny Issues to settle for EU Leaders would be also Ankara's reported Insistance to Mix-up the Turkish Military in any planned move around Greece, and therefore at EU's Borders in the Aegean Sea : A "Red-Line" for any Government in Athens, where Greeks had been Dreaming for Decades a Real European Force for the Protection of all EU's External Borders... Naturaly, the utmost Attention is advised around that Dangerous Minefield, where Turkish Military Airplanes too often Challenge the Greek AirForce, (sometimes even by making real Victims, as, f.ex., also when, in Paris, Greece was taking over OECD's Presidency, back on 2006, but also on 2010 and more Recently), and Ankara had been keeping until recently even an official "Casus Beli" Threat of War, in case Greece dared apply the International Law of the Sea, which is considered to attribute to the numerous Greek Islands the greatest part of Aegean Sea for a possible Exclusive Economic Zone focused on Oil/Gas Resources' prospection, which would be the Greatest at EU soil...



So that German Chancellor Angie Merkel's famous recent Wording (on the occasion of the Mass Migrants' Crisis, See: ...) about "Justice and Law", or "Tugboats and (mainly Turkish) Smugglers" rolling "at a Narrow Straight in the Aegean Sea", in fact, touches upon much more and bigger Stakes, linked with that Sensitive and GeoPoliticaly Strategic Area, than anyone might think at First Sight : Even the notoriously complicated issue of (EU Member since 2004) Cyprus, since the Turkish Military Invasion and Occupation of the Northern part of the island back on 1974, had, in fact, been provoked by an aggressive campaign of Turkish Revendications at the Aegean Sea around Oil/Gas Resources, expedition of Ships and Military Aviation included since Back on 1973...



Simply because the Economic and GeoPolitical Importance of what is really at Stake at EU's External Borders at the Aegean sea, is immense :



In addition to probable Findings of the most important EU Gas/Oil Resources, (particularly Needed nowadays also in order to Compensate the notoriously Lowering deposits at EU's Northern Sea), this area, (where USA is also keeping a careful eye with its Most Important Military Navy Base in the Mediterranean, at the Greek island of Creta), has, in fact, played a Key-role even in the Historic Transformation of Russia from PanEuropean into a Global World Player : Indeed, traditionaly using the Aegean Sea in order to operate a PanEuropean Ship Transport Link between the Mediterranean and the Baltic Sea, through a Network of Rivers and Seas, (the "Pathway between Greeks and Scandinavians", as it was named then), already since 800-900 AC, after Russia was suddenly Blocked on 1.453 by the Turkish Military Invasion, Destruction and Ocupation of the over-Millenary former Christian Empire of Byzance, by seizing Constantinople (current Istanbul) straights, then, Moscow started a long but stuborn and finaly succesful Expansion North-Eastwards, through the immense Siberian area, up to Vladivostoc's Seaport at the Pacific Ocean, in order to Find anew an Access to Global Navigation and Free Seas, of Vital Importance also for Big Industry's Export of products and imports of raw materials and other resources.



And that's, precuisely, anOther Big Difference between the 2015 and the 2016 Franco-German Summits with EU Parliament in Strasbourg :



At First, on 2015 ,it was, then, in substance, about EU's core playing mainly PanEuropean GeoPolitics, particularly at Ukraine (Comp. Supra).



But now, in fact, it's much more about EU touching upon sensitive Global Geo-Politics, at the Same Time that the long-awaited Issue of Europe's Independent Capacity to Defend its External Borders, or not, has obviously arrived at a Boiling point...



Is that the real reason for which, comparatively, certain well-informed Diplomatic sources were, this time, Exceptionaly Tight-liped on the possible outcome of this Summit ?



By the way, this could make even a ...6th Difference between 2015 and 2016 !

(../..)


The large investment and private banks have withdrawn from many small Latin American markets and in their wake there has been a proliferation of niche wealth management boutiques focused on the regions high net worth individuals.

In Uruguays capital Montevideo, one of the regions leading private banking centres, the number of small-to-medium-sized firms has leapt in recent years.

Five years ago there used to be 60 firms like ours, with combined assets under management of $1.2 billion, says Emerson Pieri, regional director of wealth management Latin America for Barings Investments (a Latin America boutique that is not affiliated with the UK firm). Now there are 210 registered with the central bank managing a combined AuM of $23 billion.

Montevideos proximity to Argentina, which has seen many of the richest families sending money abroad for more than a decade as its economy stalled, makes it a private banking hub for the region.

BSI

Swiss bank BSIs only Latin American office is in Uruguay (it also has a Central American office in Panama) and there have been rumours swirling round the private banking community about who will buy the operation now BTG Pactual is looking to offload a bank it only agreed to acquire in mid-2014 (for $1.7 billion) from Generali.

Credit Suisse has become one of the most-named suitors, although ABN Amro is also believed to be interested, with rumours heightened by the fact that ABN Amro could have money to spend following its 2015 IPO.



Miguel Sulichin, Advise

Wealth Management

Banco Safra was also said to be interested in acquiring BSI, but market sources say that it has been put off by the perceived overlap in middle eastern clients with its 2015 acquisition of a majority stake of Swiss bank Sarasin for $1.11 billion.

There are also rumours that the office is putting together a management buy-out.

The clients reside with the bankers not the bank and there is a lot of uncertainty among both clients and bankers at the moment, says one competitor. However, another thinks this was unlikely before a sale was agreed: They are going to wait at least to hear what the offer on the table will be, he says.

Miguel Sulichin, CEO and senior investment adviser at Advise Wealth Management, says that in general the large international banks are happy to work with firms like his to lower compliance costs and reputational risks.

Advise works with large retail and investment banks and provides the advisory services, while the international banks provide the custody services. He says this arrangement suits all parties, including the clients.

The international banks are still cutting back their service to the region, they are travelling less and less, he says. Thats our advantage  we are very close to the client.

With excitement about the potential in Argentina, some international banks may be expected to seek to build private banking operations in the country. However, this will still be an opportunity for the independents, according to Sulichin.

Most of the international banks are very concerned about reputational risk; private banking provides 1% of their fees and 99% of the reputation risk, he says. It is critical to these banks that we are properly regulated  thats what they care most about.

Advise expanded AuM by 29% in the last year, with two-thirds of that coming from new funds and the rest from organic growth. Sulichin says the organic growth was mainly driven by a strong bet on Argentinean bonds.

The firm plans to open an office in Miami in April, pending local regulatory approval, to shift the firms reliance on clients in the southern part of the north of the region. The US office will cover clients in Venezuela and Mexico.

Barings Investments already has a presence in Miami but recently expanded into Paraguay, a market that Pieri says was under-served.

Citi and BBVA are present in the retail market in Paraguay but they arent active for private banking. They dont seem to like the risks and focus more on the mass segments, he says.

Paraguay office His firm opened its in November 2015 and already has $100 million in AuM.

Thanks

Clients thanked us when we arrived  no-one else was doing this, says Pieri, although he says the banks success is being copied: I just spoke to the central bank and they told me they had received five more applications for banking licences, he says.

Barings has a Sao Paulo officeto deal with Brazilian clients who want to send money offshore. However, Pieri says the FX volatility is dampening any appetite for investing offshore funds in favour of keeping liquid.

We focus on the agribusiness sector and clients want to keep liquidity and there is a lot of interest in buying land and distressed assets when Brazil hits the bottom, we are just not there yet.

Pieri says the onshore competition is just too fierce: In Brazil they have all the private banks and then the family offices are very sophisticated as well. Thats why we have looked at opportunities like Paraguay, where the competition is much lower.
Series & TV

La temporada 2 de Los Anillos de Poder ya ha presentado a su gran villano... y no es Sauron
James Ryerson at the New York Times has written what starts out as a nice essay reviewing several books on the theme of the New Atheism and the myth of science and faith locked in combat. Check out the riposte he cites (from James W. Jones) to the idea that religion is just a maladaptive holdover from our ancient evolutionary past.

All is well until Ryerson winds up to ask, You might wonder, then, why the conflict myth has such a grip on us today. The answer he offers is to blame, most curiously, the theory of intelligent design. His source on this is a new book from Cambridge University Press, Creating Scientific Controversies: Uncertainty and Bias in Science and Society, by philosopher of science David Harker.

Count the misconceptions as the pass. Ryerson writes:

You might wonder, then, why the conflict myth has such a grip on us today, especially given that polls indicate a good number of scientists believe in God.

This is a little misleading. Weve often noted the 1998 survey of members of the elite National Academy of Science that showed almost total disbelief.

One reason is the rise of intelligent design theory, which presents itself as a science but is thought by many to pit science against a tacit religious agenda.

This is bizarre. Like it or hate it, ID offers an explanation of lifes origins that, while relying strictly on scientific evidence and arguments and making no theological claims, would have the effect of healing a perceived rift with theism. This is the opposite of pitting science against religion. As for IDs agenda, if thats different from its stated aim of offering a better scientific theory than Darwins, that could be known only by recourse to mindreading.

He goes on to introduce Harkers book, which I havent read and which us[es] as case studies todays heated disputes over climate change, the anti-vaccine movement and intelligent design.

Proponents of intelligent design contend that at least some aspects of the biological or cosmological world can be explained only as the direct handiwork of an intelligent agent.

Can best be explained is more like it. As for nature being the direct handiwork of a designer, thats not a contention of ID. See biologist Michael Dentons new book, Evolution: Still a Theory in Crisis, which presents what you might call the case for ID as the ultimate in front-loaded design. The advocates of intelligent design that Im familiar with make no claim to specify the method by which a designer interacts, directly or indirectly, with the handiwork that constitutes the cosmos or biology. Im not sure, as a scientific matter, how that could be known. Philosophy might be of more use in suggesting an answer. See Ann Gaugher, Whats the Mechanism of Intelligent Design?

Harker is aware there exists no simple litmus test that distinguishes science from pseudoscience. (Sorry, Karl Popper fans, falsifiability wont do.) But he does argue that the intelligent design movement features three indicators that strongly suggest it is not engaged in a genuine scientific debate.

Here we go. The first indicator:

First, the movements dominant emphasis is on raising doubts about a mainstream view, not developing and testing positive theses of its own.

In fact, ID does both  critique Darwinian theory and present a testable alternative. See Stephen Meyers book Signature in the Cell, Chapters 18 and 19 and Appendix A as well as Casey Luskin, A Positive, Testable Case for Intelligent Design, and William Dembski, Is Intelligent Design Testable?

The second indicator:

Second, the target audience seems to be the general public, not the relevant expert community. (Media coverage of intelligent design far surpasses its representation in peer-reviewed journals.)

If anything, I think ID could be taken to task for couching its arguments at a level that might assume more background expertise on the relevant sciences than the general public possesses. We could do more by way of popularizing. And see here for Peer-Reviewed Articles Supporting Intelligent Design. Since when did the volume of media coverage become a criterion for evaluating a scientific theory? Anyway, how does media coverage of Darwinism stack up against support for the theory in peer-reviewed journals? Classic Darwinism is, in fact, embattled in precisely such venues, as Steve Meyer shows in Darwins Doubt.

The third indicator:

Third, the motivation appears to be a desire that the mainstream view be wrong, rather than a reason for thinking it inadequate.

Again, mindreading. And motivation, even if known, sheds no light on whether an idea is right or wrong. For that youd need to grapple with the relevant arguments, something Darwinists seldom do. I could cite motivations plainly evident in the writing of some evolutionary spokesman  see our comments on evolutionary biologist David Barash of the University of Washington, who obviously revels in knocking humankind off our presumed perch, according to tradition, as reflecting the image of God. That fact doesnt excuse us from mounting a scientific critique of his views or offering a compelling scientific alternative. More:

Intelligent design theorists will protest that they do have good reason for thinking evolutionary theory inadequate: for example, the appearance in the biological world of irreducible complexity, intricate systems that couldnt have arisen through a series of stepwise alterations as evolutionary theory requires.

This barely scratches the surface of evidence for design in biology and cosmology. Ryerson should go back and read the past months articles at Evolution News, for a start. But moving along:

Here, however, Harker quotes the biologist Michael Behe, perhaps the most sophisticated advocate of intelligent design, who has admitted that even in the case of an apparently irreducible complex system, one cannot definitively rule out the possibility of an indirect, circuitous route by which it was produced.

This is a quote from Darwins Black Box (p. 40). However, Behe goes on immediately to say, As the complexity of an interacting system increases, though, the likelihood of such an indirect route drops precipitously. He finds such indirect evolution highly implausible, and so do others outside the ID movement. Behe cites University of Rochester evolutionary biologist H. Alan Orr, for one, who says:

[W]e might think that some of the parts of an irreducibly complex system evolved step by step for some other purpose and were then recruited wholesale to a new function. But this is also unlikely. You may as well hope that half your cars transmission will suddenly help out in the airbag department. Such things might happen very, very rarely, but they surely do not offer a general solution to irreducible complexity.

Ryerson goes on:

By Harkers lights, this sort of concession is a telling sign that such thinkers are less interested in pursuing a promising avenue of scientific research  e.g., what might that indirect, circuitous route be?  than in gazing in wonderment.

What? First of all, Behe conceded nothing important. And gazing in wonder is lovely on a starry evening, but thats not what ID scientists and scholars do in their writing and teaching. I would invite Mr. Ryerson to confirm that for himself. By way of an initial exploration of ID, I offer him the evidence of Dr. Dentons new book, Stephen Meyers books, the lab work of Douglas Axe and Ann Gauger at Biologic Institute, the journal BIO-Complexity, or  most easily accessed of all  any random day or week of coverage here at Evolution News.

We are going to need to check out Harkers book, which Ryerson indicates is aimed at college students in an introductory philosophy of science course. College students! I hope theres more to it than Ryersons treatment indicates.
After the filing of an academic freedom bill in Mississippi, HB 50, the Jackson Clarion-Ledger published a piece featuring some common misconceptions. And predictably, the National Center for Science Education (NCSE), the nations top Darwin lobby group, claimed the bill is anti-science. Permit me to alleviate concerns and clarify the nature of the legislation.

Its always helpful to read what a bill actually says. This one states, [T]eachers shall be permitted to help students understand, analyze, critique and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories covered in the course being taught

So, first of all, the bill only authorizes teachers to present scientific information regarding controversial theories. Areas outside of scientific strengths and weaknesses are outside of the legislation, which consequently would not protect instructors who teach about such matters.

Yet the NCSE claims:

House Bill 50, introduced in the Mississippi House of Representatives and referred to the House Education Committee on February 8, 2016, would, if enacted, allow science teachers with idiosyncratic opinions to teach anything they pleased  and prohibit responsible educational authorities from intervening.

That is flatly false. NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch echoed the fiction, telling the Clarion Ledger, Theres no reason a teacher couldnt say that women or blacks are inferior, or  that the Earth was flat or the sun goes around the Earth, and then couldnt be shut down by the administration.

What? Is Branch saying he thinks that, in 2016, racism, sexism, and geocentrism count as scientific ideas? Because thats the only way they could conceivably be protected under the language of the bill. Last time I checked, there were no scientific articles being published in mainstream peer-reviewed journals critical of round-earth theory  but there is indeed mainstream criticism of classic Darwinian theory.

For information on the scientific weaknesses in modern evolutionary science, see Casey Luskins accounts of uncertainty in origins science and controversy over evolution. And check out the Scientific Dissent from Darwinism list (with more than 900 PhD signers).There also seems to be some confusion about whether the bill would allow teachers to discuss creationism or religious beliefs. The answer is no. Public schools cannot legally teach creationism. The Supreme Court has long held that it is unconstitutional to teach religion in the classroom and that creationism is a religious belief (Edwards v. Aguillard). Remember, the bill only authorizes the teaching of scientific information and shall not be construed to promote any religious or nonreligious doctrine.

I dont see how that could be clearer. Promoting a religious idea such as creationism is not protected under this law. As Casey Luskin has pointed out, [I]f youre teaching religion, then youre not protected by an academic freedom bill. Since creationism has been ruled a religious belief by the Supreme Court, teachers who teach it would not be protected.

Neither does the bill authorize teachers to introduce intelligent design. First of all, teaching the strengths and weaknesses of neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory is not the same as teaching about ID. Perhaps more importantly, the bill only permits the teaching of scientific strengths and weaknesses of theories that are covered in the course being taught within the curriculum framework developed by the State Board of Education. Since intelligent design is not part of the curriculum anywhere in Mississippi, it would not be protected by the bill (indeed, we oppose pushing intelligent design into public school classrooms).

Its shame that a group like the NCSE enjoys such success in spreading misinformation. Mississippis legislation would advance quality science education in the state. In a joint issue on the theme of reform in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) education, Nature and Scientific American noted, [S]tudents gain a much deeper understanding of science when they actively grapple with questions than when they passively listen to answers.

Make no mistake, Mississippis HB 50 is not anti-science as the NCSE claims. This academic freedom legislation would do a service to educational excellence in science. It does a disservice to students, and to the facts, to say otherwise.

Image: Mississippi State Capitol, by Charlie Brenner [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons.
Heres an evolutionary puzzle I had never thought about. Why do we have chins?

That bony protuberance at the end of your jaw may be hidden by a beard or a fleshy throat, but it is still there. Chimpanzees dont have chins, neither do gorillas, orangutans, spider monkeys, dogs, horses, frogs, or fish. Did you know that only humans have chins? I didnt, but then I never studied vertebrate anatomy. It seems that having a chin is diagnostic of being a modern human. Even Neanderthals may have lacked chins, though this is a matter of dispute.

So the question of the origin of chins quite naturally arises. It turns out that a number of scientists have thought about it. Writing in the journal Evolutionary Anthropology, James Pampush and David Daegling discuss all the ways researchers have tried to come up with an explanation for why we have chins. The article is tellingly titled, The Enduring Puzzle of the Human Chin.

The story has caught the attention of science journalists. The funniest is Ed Yong over at The Atlantic. Unfortunately he has taken all the chin jokes that I can think of. Melissa Hogenboom also wrote a piece for BBC Earth.

All those scientists cannot find a good evolutionary answer to the question. A chin doesnt make our jaws stronger for chewing. Or for taking punches  thats another theory. It doesnt aid with speech. It isnt involved with sexual selection since both males and females have chins (thank goodness). It doesnt open up our airways.

It isnt the result of living in groups and needing to reduce testosterone. Thats right  the hypothesis is that less testosterone allows us to live in social groups. Its called self-domestication. Reduced testosterone pulls back the mid face and exposes the chin, so the theory goes. Except that men have higher levels of testosterone than females and have larger chins, not smaller ones.

The last hypothesis: having a chin is a spandrel  a side effect of another adaptive change. The idea is that when we started eating soft food our jaws became weaker. The top part  the maxilla  shrank, and the teeth moved accordingly, but the mandible didnt shrink proportionately, and voila, we have a chin! The trouble with this story is just that. Its a story, with no way of testing it. Well, there were some animal experiments, unpleasant ones, but those yielded no conclusive evidence.

The authors conclude:

Each of the proposals we have discussed falter either empirically or theoretically; some fail, to a degree, on both accounts This should serve as motivation, not discouragement, for researchers to continue investigating this modern human peculiarity perhaps understanding the chin will reveal some unexpected insight into what it means to be human.

Perhaps it does reveal something important about being human. Perhaps no adaptive explanation for chins exists, because they arent adaptations  they arise from aesthetic considerations. Without a chin there would be no delicate curve of the neck in Swan Lake, no graceful oval shape to the face, no balance or proportion in portraits. Its not just that we are used to chins. We respond to proportion in all things, be it architecture, landscapes, or the spiral petals of a rose. The chin balances the face.

Now Ive gone all serious when all I intended was light-hearted comments on looking for adaptations in all the wrong places. Chin up. Im done.

Image credit:  YakobchukOlena / Dollar Photo Club.


Evidence is mounting that more US citizens are giving up their nationality because of an addition to the country's tax system which means expats are being refused bank accounts.Figures from the US Treasury show that a record 4,279 people gave up their US citizenship or long term residency in 2015, an increase of 20% on the previous year, which was also a record breaking year.For example, in 2010 some 1,006 gave up their US citizenship but since then the numbers have risen every year and although the figures do not give reasons for doing so experts believe it is because of the country's citizen based tax system.The only other country in the world to have such a tax system is Eritrea in Africa. It means that all US citizens must file a tax return annually regardless of where they live and work.On top of this the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca), a law introduced in 2012 which was designed to target overseas accounts held by wealthy Americans has added to the complexity of the situation.Fatca expands the scope of what can be taxed, and places a burden on foreign banks to identify US citizens among their customers to US tax authorities. The penalty for failing to do so can be as high as 30% of all a bank's dealings with the US.As a result, ordinary Americans abroad are being denied access to basic banking facilities as banks would rather refuse US citizens' than run the risk of hefty penalties. Foreign banks are also closing down accounts of people who may have been born in the US but left as a baby to live elsewhere.But Nigel Green, chief executive officer of independent financial advisory organisation deVere, is urging people to look at all their options before taking the drastic step of renouncing their American citizenship."More Americans than ever are cutting their official ties with the United States. For the third consecutive year, a record number of people have handed back their US passports or green cards and it is widely recognised, even by Treasury officials, that this increase is largely due to the burden of Facta," he explained."This highly controversial piece of legislation has had the unintended consequence of turning millions of hard working, law abiding Americans based outside the States into financial pariahs. Foreign financial institutions now routinely refuse to handle American clients even if they have been clients for years as it is too much trouble and too costly to comply with Facta's onerous rules," he said."Most Americans abroad are proud of their citizenship and indeed many find it an integral part of their identity when living overseas. Therefore, giving up citizenship is a distressing idea and something they wouldn't do unless they felt there was no alternative," he added.He pointed out that there are several well-established, bona fide, compliant ways that US expats can mitigate the burden of FATCA. These include an additional overseas pension contract that's specifically designed for US taxpayers with assets in their country of residence.
I have read the FAQ which is very useful and have a couple of clarification questions for my situation.



I have recently moved to Barcelona and I will be working for a Swiss firm in Basel. I intend to be in Spain for less than the 183 days per year required for tax residency so I shall pay my taxes in Switzerland.



Is the EX18 for a residence registration certificate what I should submit prior to residing in Barcelona for a 3 month period in order to gain an NIE? I see that some areas required EX15 first, is that the case in Barcelona? I have found the website to register for the appointment.



Can I use the savings in a Spanish bank greater than 6000 euros as my criteria for the EX18? Is that amount still valid? I would be transferring an amount each month from Switzerland into that account. What is the certificate called which the bank give to prove the savings for the extranjeros appointment?



Later my wife who is from New Zealand so non EU-citizen would join me in Barcelona, would we then fill in form EX19 for her NIE and does that allow her to live in Spain for greater than 183 days if she is not working (showing an amount in savings as before)?



Thank you in advance for any advice...
Papas enterprise with the little calves was going well. When he brought one home, I was taught how to wean each one. I would pour milk into a pail and then put my hand down into the milk, with only one or two fingers showing. The calf would think my fingers were his mothers teats and suck on them and take in the milk at the same time. After a few days of this, I would pull the fingers gently away and the little calf would start drinking on his own.

 Papa was a Farmer, Brenda Weisberg Meckler, circa 1905

Part One

Read Part Two: From inventions on farm to tragedies

Read Part Three: From simple to sensational

The true stories of immigrants who came to America at the turn of the century in search of a peaceful place to start a new life have always fascinated me.

Escaping Russia

The story of Brenda Goldie Weisberg  who stole across the border from Russia to Germany in 1904 with her parents when she was 4 years old  is one that should be required reading in schools today.

Jewish families escaping Czarist Russia in the early 1900s knew that life was never going to get better unless they broke free from the place they called home. The search for freedom took incredible courage and a criminal act, as leaving the country was punishable by death. Arriving in America, staying a short time in Boston, then Cincinnati, was certainly an eye-opening experience for the little girl and her parents.

Farm life

Accepting an uncles offer to take up residence and employment on a 60-acre farm in southern Ohio proved to be both wonderful and challenging, for this family had very little knowledge of American culture, animals or agriculture.

Hoping to earn a bit of money while her husband learned how to farm the land, Goldies mother created her own little business of churning butter from the cows milk, selling this and eggs to a local market. Her papa read the Ohio Farmer every night.

He learned something new all the time, he said. Something about rotating crops, and not letting the soil get tired, and maybe planting soybeans to put back nitrogen. He said hed have to find out exactly what rotating meant, she writes.

One day he showed Goldie young piglets, telling her she would be the one caring for them. Oh no! Do I have to wean them, too? she asked, fearing the thought of putting her fingers in the mouth of each squealing little pig. She was relieved to learn they were already weaned.

Language barrier

Not only was this young family struggling to farm 60 acres of land for the first time in their lives, they also were working hard to learn the language, making reading a challenge, as well. Children at school spoke slang which was not taught, adding further confusion for the sweet little girl. The community in rural Ohio had no experience with European Jews, either.

Spending the night with a new friend, the girls little brother and his friend picked on her, saying Howdyadew, Miss Shew! and such constant teasing that she felt shame, though she had done nothing of which to be ashamed.

Comforting words

A sweet neighbor lady told the little girl, as she worked her way back home from this upsetting visit, You are very young. As you grow older, youll find theres a lot of pain around, enough for every livin creature to have a share.

For your people, Jewish people, maybe a bigger share than most. Youll just have to hold your head high and do the best you can, and do all you can to put an end to the hate that poisons so many hearts. Comfort others, and you will be comforted.

These words helped this little girl, a foreigner to those around her, learn how to live where she had been planted, through no choice of her own. Circumstances placed her with children who had been blessed with the good fortune of being born American, having never known the nightmare of oppression and hunger and fear.

Next week: fires, floods and necktie farmers
Thomas Felton of Kimbolton, Ohio, recently sent me some photos of a ruffed grouse he had been feeding twice a day since late November. He first noticed the grouse while walking with his grandson. Not wanting to disturb the bird, he backed away and continued along the trail.

At that point, the grouse followed me like a puppy. Since then, Ive gone into the woods twice a day to feed him. If I call to him, he comes to me. Have you any thoughts on this unusual behavior?

Odd behavior?

Strange as this grouse may seem, the behavior does not surprise me. Ive had similar encounters. Once I approached a displaying grouse on a forest road. I expected it to flush into the understory, but it didnt. It watched me as I approached and even fanned its tail and strutted.

Staring

I advanced slowly. When I got to within 15 feet, I stopped and stared the bird down.

It returned my gaze for a few seconds, and then flew off the trail. Similarly, a West Virginia wildlife biologist once told me of a grouse displaying in the middle of a gravel road. He stopped his truck and got out to chase the grouse.

Not leaving

Instead, the bird flew into the cab and wouldnt leave. Such close encounters with ruffed grouse are unusual, but not rare. Certain individuals remain aggressive and territorial all year long. Though drumming peaks in the spring, males have been recorded drumming during every month.

Bold birds

So Im not surprised that grouse can be surprisingly bold. Another friend, George, once told me about a grouse that chased and attacked him every time he rode his four-wheeler into the woods to cut firewood. The behavior began in July and lasted for several months. At first, the grouse just followed him into the woods. After a few weeks, the bird became a faithful, though increasingly aggressive, companion.

When I was on the four-wheeler, it would trot along behind me, George said. If I went too fast for it to keep up, it would fly up from behind and smack my back or head. It really got to be annoying.

The march

When George stopped to cut firewood, the bird would just march around him in a circle.

No fear. As the fall hunting season approached, George feared for the birds future. So one day he used a butterfly net to catch the bird.

I just wanted to spook it a bit, George explained. I told him to stay away or hed end up on someones dinner table. When I released the bird, it flew off into a dense thicket. Five minutes later, though, he returned, circling round and round.

I grabbed the net and caught him again, George said.

Once again George released the grouse, and once again it sailed into the woods. And five minutes later it returned, content to circle as George cut firewood.

The most impressive example of grouse machismo arrived several years ago in a package from Brian Wheatcraft of Charleston, West Virginia. He described and filmed strange grouse behavior he and a friend had observed while turkey hunting.

No fear

The video began with a guy sitting on the edge of a trail, shotgun on his lap and a camo cap on his head. A grouse approached on the ground, and the guy reached out and touched the bird several times. Then it hopped onto the barrel of his shotgun! Over the course of about 10 minutes of footage, four different people appeared on camera. The grouse feared none.

The gun

It jumped on and off the gun barrel several times. It hopped from the barrel to the guys arm and across his shoulders. It pecked at his head and pulled off his cap. Toward the end of the video, the grouse followed and chased a woman and a teenage boy up and down the trail. If I hadnt seen the video, I doubt that I would have believed the story.

Aggression in nature

Generally speaking, aggression is a good thing in nature. It separates the strong from the weak. But I fail to see any adaptive value in a grouse harassing people. And thats why I love telling these tales.
Hello from Hazard!

We heard from three additional readers  Ram Muchewicz; Andy Hershberger, Howard, Ohio; and Bob Champer  on Item No. 1044, the woodstove boot dryer, which we had first identified in last weeks issue. Thanks for sending in your responses!

  

But we havent received any guesses on Item No. 1045, submitted by Ralph Farnsworth, of New Haven, Vermont. The two half-circle, or dome, ends are solid iron (they are not hollowed out, but both have a flat surface).

Do you know how it was used? Email responses to editorial@farmanddairy.com; or respond by mail to: Hazard a Guess, c/o Farm and Dairy, P.O. Box 38, Salem, OH 44460.

  

For those of you online: Hazard a Guess has returned to our website. Now you can check out our hazard-ous items any time you want, and comment on that page as to your answer (dont forget to include your hometown/state, so we can give you your five seconds of fame). Each weeks Hazard a Guess column will go live early Thursday morning. Check us out at www.farmanddairy.com!
AMANDA, Ohio  In many ways, its not surprising that Fairfield County dairyman Kyle Sharp would one day take over the family dairy.

He grew up on the farm, along with his brothers, and helped his father, Don Jr., and grandfather, Don Sr., with milking and chores.

But after he earned a degree in ag communications from Ohio State University in 1995, Sharp would spend the next 15 years working mostly off the farm, in the media industry and as a farm reporter.

He enjoyed visiting other farmers and writing about their experiences  taking mental notes of things that inspired him, things that his own family might one day try.

The biggest was going organic.

Kyle had written about organic dairy farming, and thought it might work on his dads farm. After all, the Sharp farm was already grass- and pasture-based, and the transition didnt seem so difficult.

Making the change

The hard part was getting his dad to go along with the idea.

He was pretty old school, set in his ways, and it took a lot of kicking and screaming and dragging to get him to do this, Kyle said.

Don Jr. had practical concerns about the paperwork of going organic, the need for a lower somatic cell count in the milk, and the reality of lower milk production.

But Kyle convinced his dad they could do it, and the farm became certified organic in 2006. Soon after, the farm started receiving a much higher and more consistent price for its milk  which led to more profit and the ability to afford some needed facility improvements.

Before (organic), it was just survival, Kyle said. Its not like were thriving now and going on trips around the world, but theres money to be able to do some improvements.

In transition

Most of the improvements have been within the last eight years, a time of transition not only for the farm, but for Kyle too.

In 2012, about the same time that he left his job as a farm reporter, his dad began having some health issues that would later be diagnosed as Lou Gehrigs disease. And in March 2013, Kyle lost his mother, Gay Sharp, to cancer.

As Dons health worsened, Kyle knew the dairy was at a critical point if it was to survive.

My dad (worked hard) for his whole life to keep this thing going, Kyle said. I didnt want to see him, in his last couple of years, watch the whole thing go down the tubes.

One of Kyles priorities was upgrading the old milking parlor  which was built by his grandfather, and milked only three cows at a time. A complete milking took 6-7 hours, and that was just for the first milking.

Kyle joked with his dad that the three-cow unit belonged more in a dairy museum, than on a modern dairy farm.

More efficient

The new milking parlor, a double-seven herringbone, was completed in the fall of 2013, about a year before Don Jr.s death, in June 2014.

The new parlor holds 14 cows, and has shortened the milking time for the 70-cow herd to between two and three hours, and even less, when a second person helps. And it gives Kyle more time to spend with his family  something he was missing when he spent most of the day in the barn, using the old system.

Other improvements include a new open-loft cow barn, and improvements in the grazing system, like cow lanes, and an improved watering system.

The farm also installed a wastewater separation system, which separates manure and other solids from water used on the farm.

The cow barn has an open interior (no stalls) and allows the cows to walk and lie down pretty much wherever they want. The new cow lanes in the pasture are reinforced with layers of gravel and crushed cinders. They hold up to the daily traffic of the cattle, and help keep the cows cleaner and healthier.

Today, Kyle and his wife, Becky, along with their children, milk about 73 head of Holstein-Jersey cross cows, and sell their milk to Organic Valley. The dairy is mostly Kyles operation  but his brothers, Adam, Scott and Nathan, each own a section of the family farm and occasionally help on the dairy, with things like haymaking and pasture mowing.

Away from the farm, Adam Sharp is vice president of public policy for Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, Scott Sharp is an agricultural education teacher for the Amanda-Clearcreek Local School District, and Nathan is a recent graduate of Asbury University, in Kentucky.

Conservation projects

Many of the projects were completed in part with funds from the Environmental Quality Incentives Program  a U.S. Department of Agriculture program that helps farmers with conservation projects.

Those are things that really needed to happen, said Adam Sharp. If we wanted to keep running that dairy, we needed to make sure conservation-wise, it was in the best shape it could be.

In 2013, the Ohio Livestock Coalition recognized the farms conservation efforts by awarding the Sharp family the Environmental Stewardship Award, an award that recognizes farms for efforts to protect land, air, water quality and natural resources.

Family tradition

Adam said the dairy has been a great continuation of our family tradition in farming.

And, the dairy fits well with the crop acres, he said, because theres ample ground to apply manure, and to use as pasture. In addition to the pastures, two fields are certified organic, where the Sharps grow corn and oats.

Along with farming, Kyle also teaches English composition for Ohio Christian University and is vice president for the Fairfield County Farm Bureau.

While the dairy is organic, the land that belongs to his brothers is mostly conventional. Kyle respects both kinds of farming, and tries not to promote one over the other. For him, going organic was a market decision.

I do (organic) because it makes economic sense and it allows me to be a small dairy farm, and still be economically viable, he said.

He doesnt get as much milk production as a conventional herd, but you also dont have near the costs involved with it, either, he said.

Looking ahead

Kyle has more plans for improving and growing the family dairy, in ways that will make it more efficient and productive. He said hes intrigued by the potential to improve.

And, he enjoys the responsibility of being his own boss.

Its nice  after working for other people for 15-16 years in a professional career  its nice to be able to spend your whole day working for yourself, he said. At the end of the day, if it does well or not, you only have yourself to blame.
ALLIANCE, Ohio  The Country Barbwires and Country Folks 4-H clubs gave clocks to those at the end of 4-H. They included Amber Buzaki, Claire Morrow, Bryan Poynter, Dean Rummell and Sarah Weisent. Morrow also received a plaque for completing nine years in cake decorating. Gold medal awards included Abby Flounder, Hannah Gross, Kalob Wilson and Cody Cook.

Officers elected for Country Folks included Flounder, president; Sheridan Rummell, vice president; Kylie Pontius, secretary; Katie Hudnell, treasurer; Harley Masters, health; Zeick Masters, safety; Sam Morrow, reporter; and Gross, community leader.

Officers elected for Country Barbwires included: Wilson, president; vice president, Nicole Cook; Kristi Hoffman, secretary; Lee Hall, health; Cook, safety; T.J. Wilson, reporter; and Aleah Hall, recreation.

The clubs are having a Texas Roadhouse rolls fundraiser and candles fundraiser. Any member can be contacted for more information. The clubs will hold a Swiss steak supper April 9 from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at the Nimishillen Grange. Call 330-832-9856, ext. 475 for tickets. There will be a bake sale March 6 at the Washington Township Firemans Breakfast.

The next meeting is Feb. 15.

  

BURTON, Ohio  The Flockmasters 4-H elected its new officers. News reporter is Sutton Pikor; health and safety officer, Kylie Bates; secretary, Rachel OReilly; hospitality, Ella Klingman; historian, Parker Pikor; treasurer, Meghan OReilly; vice president, Kelsey Klingman; president, Hannah Nelson; and historian, Patrick Lanstrum.

  

BURTON, Ohio  The Geauga Dairymen 4-H club met Jan. 30 for its first 4-H meeting of the year. Members reviewed old business and elected a president; the other positions were assigned. Members also decided that the group was going to be run more by youth, rather than the adults, so 30 minutes before the meeting, the treasurer, secretary, vice president and president will meet to plan the meeting.

Membership enrollment papers are due April 15, and rules for the Hoards Dairymen judging contest. For 4-H week, members decided where to do a window, and then also discussed coming events. For more information about Geauga Dairymen 4-H Club, contact Emma Niehus at 440-221-3812.

  

CORTLAND, Ohio  The Trumbull County Dairy Judging Team selected its 2016 officers: Lindsey Barto, president, Billy Smith, vice president, Lauren Almasy, secretary, Keith Barto, treasurer; Brent Ayers, news reporter; Mark Kirch, health and safety officer.

Trumbull County will be holding its 4-H Kickoff at Trumbull Career and Technical Center from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Feb. 16. Those wishing to join the club do not need an animal to participate. The Trumbull County Dairy Judging Team meets the third Sunday of the month at the Trumbull County Fairgrounds office at 4 p.m. Spring Dairy Expo is March 31  April 2 this year. The club will be having a group of 4-Hers attend this event at the Ohio State Fairgrounds. Trumbull County will be hosting the 2016 Dairy Palooza NE April 30.
By Other News

TOLEDO, Ohio  The Center for Innovative Food Technology (CIFT) is offering informative sessions throughout the state to help Ohio farm businesses grow.

Specialty crop growers and agricultural professionals are encouraged to attend.

Grant projects

Experts will discuss these specialty crop block grant projects:

Food safety data management tools: Keeping records is the key to good agricultural practices (also known as GAP) and other audits. Different methods will be compared, including a system that uses smartphone or tablet.

Edamame production and marketing in Ohio: Can edamame be a profitable crop? Growers can learn to raise and sell this flavorful soybean cousin.

Dehydrated fruit and vegetable production/marketing: Dehydration provides a use for B grade produce, and can extend a produce season. Dehydration methods, packaging and marketing past the fresh season will be discussed.

Details

Dates and locations of the sessions are:

10 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Mar. 2 at Agricultural Incubator Foundation; 13737 Middleton Pike, Bowling Green, Ohio 43402;

10 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Mar. 3 at The Ohio State University South Centers; 1864 Shyville Rd., Piketon, Ohio 45661;

10 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Mar. 10 at Ohio Department of Agriculture; 8995 E. Main St., Reynoldsburg, Ohio 43068;

1:30 p.m.- 3 p.m. Mar. 11 at Wilmington College Academic Farm; 1590 Fife Ave., Wilmington, Ohio 45177.

These sessions are supported by the Ohio Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Grant Program, and financed in part through a grant from the Ohio Department of Agriculture.

To register for a free session visit ciftinnovation.org.
CHARLESTON, W.Va.  The West Virginia Department of Agriculture (WVDA) will sponsor a variety of food safety classes in conjunction with the West Virginia Small Farm Conference, to be held Feb. 25-27 at the Charleston Civic Center.

Class information

The Better Process Control School will kick off ahead of the conference Feb. 24. The two-day class starts at 8 a.m. in room 202 and is aimed at producers who make specialty products that are in jars or cans.

Cost is $150 for West Virginia residents and $250 for out-of-state residents. Lunch is not included either day, but restaurants are within walking distance of the Civic Center.

Contact Teresa Halloran at 304-558-2210 or thalloran@wvda.us for more information.

Handling food class

The one-day Good Handling Practices/Good Agricultural Practices (GHP/GAP) class will also be held Feb. 24. It starts at 8:30 a.m. in room 203 and is an introduction to farmers on how to harvest, clean and store fresh produce in a safe manner. The course is also the first step in a voluntary audit program required by larger wholesalers and retailers of their food vendors.

Cost is $40 and includes materials and lunch.

Food investigation

For the first time, the WVDA-sponsored slate of classes will feature Food Safety Investigation instructor training. This train-the-trainer course is aimed at agriculture and science teachers, Extension agents or others.

It will be held in Parlor B starting at 8:30 a.m. Feb. 25. The $35 cost includes lunch. Deadline for registration is Feb. 19 and space is limited.

Visit www.smallfarmcenter.ext.wvu.edu/events/conference for more information and an online registration link.
Bacteria in humans, food and animals continue to show resistance to the most widely used antimicrobials, says the latest report on antimicrobial resistance in zoonotic bacteria in Europe.

Scientists warn that resistance to ciprofloxacin, an antimicrobial that is critically important for the treatment of human infections, is very high in Campylobacter, thus reducing the options for effective treatment of severe foodborne infections. Multi-drug resistant Salmonella bacteria continue to spread across Europe.

The findings of this latest annual Europe-wide report by EFSA and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) underline again that antimicrobial resistance poses a serious risk to human and animal health. This risk was identified by the Commission as a major priority in its political agenda on food safety.

Vytenis Andriukaitis, EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, said: Every year in the EU, infections caused by antimicrobial resistance lead to about 25,000 deaths  but the threat is not confined to Europe. This is a global problem that requires a global solution.

The EU has long been at the forefront in the fight against antimicrobial resistance and is a leader in the field. Our agencies EFSA and ECDC, by combining their expertise in human and animal health, are putting together many of the pieces in this complex puzzle and providing policy makers the world over with valuable scientific advice.

The report also found evidence of resistance to the antimicrobial colistin in Salmonella and E. coli among poultry in the EU. Mike Catchpole, Chief Scientist for ECDC, said: This is worrying because it means that this last-resort drug may soon no longer be effective for treating severe human infections with Salmonella.

In addition to the high levels of resistance shown throughout Europe, the report found that there are significant regional differences. The highest levels of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are observed in eastern and southern Europe. Marta Hugas, Head of EFSAs Biological Hazards and Contaminants unit, said: In northern Europe, there is lower resistance in bacteria from poultry, particularly in countries with low use of antimicrobials in animals.

Key findings

Campylobacter  Campylobacteriosis, the disease caused by Campylobacter, is the most commonly reported foodborne disease in the EU.

Resistance to widely used antimicrobials, such as ciprofloxacin, was commonly detected in bacteria from humans and poultry. High to extremely high resistance to ciprofloxacin was observed in broilers (69.8%), as well as in bacteria from humans (60.2%). High to extremely high resistance to nalidixic acid and to tetracyclines was reported in broilers.

Salmonella  Salmonellosis is the second most commonly reported foodborne disease.

Resistance to widely used antimicrobials was commonly detected in Salmonella from humans (tetracyclines 30%, sulphonamides 28.2%, ampicillin 28.2%) and poultry.

The prevalence of multi-drug resistance was high in bacteria in humans (26%), and especially high in broiler and turkey meat (24.8% and 30.5%, respectively). Some types of Salmonella bacteria, namely Salmonella Kentucky and Salmonella Infantis, are of particular concern as they showed high level of resistance to ciprofloxacin and high multi-drug resistance.

The occurrence of extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) was observed at low levels in Salmonella from poultry. However, a clone of multidrug-resistant and ESBL-producing Salmonella Infantis was reported in both humans and poultry. Carbapenemaseproducing Salmonella were not detected in poultry and meat thereof.

Background

 The report, published by EFSA and ECDC, presents the results of the analysis of data submitted by Member States for 2014.

 Recently introduced changes to the way AMR is monitored in food-producing animals and food mean that data are now more specific, much easier to compare between Member States and across sectors, and the scope of the monitoring is larger. As of this year the report gives information on resistance to colistin in Salmonella and E.coli from poultry in the EU. The report also includes information on the occurrence of Salmonella and E. coli strains that produce an extendedspectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) and/or a carbapenemase, enzymes that confer resistance to the critically important third-generation antimicrobials cephalosporins and carbapenems, respectively. In 2014 monitoring of AMR bacteria from animals and food focused on broilers, laying hens and fattening turkey. Next year the report will cover pigs and cattle.

 Resistance to colistin, an antimicrobial commonly used in some countries for the control of E. coli infections, especially in pigs, has been recently reported in China. The corresponding gene (mcr-1) was found on a mobile genetic element (plasmid), which can be transmitted between bacteria. Colistin resistance in bacteria from humans and animals was previously thought to be chromosomally related and therefore unlikely to be transferred between bacteria.
Local leaders have put forward concrete proposals to boost the modernisation of European rural areas and tackle the growing urban-rural development gap during the Committee of the Regions plenary session today in Brussels.

Rural population decline is a serious problem in Europe, with more funds now needed for rural development programmes that stimulate growth and create employment, local authorities recall. The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) supports a White Paper on a post-2020 development policy for rural areas as preparations for the forthcoming allocation of EU funds open shortly.

Difficult accessibility, inadequate infrastructures, lack of market and job opportunities, low wages and demographic exodus are some of the problems many rural areas in Europe are facing today. Through the unanimously approved opinion 'Innovation and modernisation of the rural economy', local leaders propose concrete measures to reverse current trends.

Amongst them is to stimulate small businesses' product development and collaborative marketing to boost local markets, to promote vocational training and to develop high-speed internet and ICT knowledge in rural areas.

Money is also at stake. Randel Lants (EE/PES), Member of Viljandi City Council and rapporteur of the opinion declared; "Rural areas are currently under increased pressure due to cuts in funding. The time has come to address the growing urban-rural divide, which seriously threatens the principle of territorial cohesion in the EU".

Cuts in funding are threating the viability of rural areas, alerts the CoR. Less than 25% of European Regional Development Funds are set to be allocated to rural areas, according to the European Commission. Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) funds have also dropped down by 11% in comparison with the 2007-2013 period. Local leaders are also concerned that Member States are increasingly relocating CAP funds from rural development to agriculture investments and direct farming revenues, thus neglecting long-term sustainable growth.

Available funds for rural development in the current funding period need to be increased, pledge local leaders. Innovation and modernisation must become the cornerstones of rural development. Rural areas must reverse decline trends and benefit from the principle of territorial cohesion in order to contribute to EU's 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Local and regional leaders share the call for a White Paper for a post-2020 development policy for rural areas, an initiative of the European Parliament Intergroup on Rural, Mountainous and Remote Areas and the European Countryside Movement (ECM).

Rural and intermediate regions together constitute 91% of the EU's area, are home to 60% of the EU's population, produce 43% of gross value added and host 56% of the EU's jobs.

Read the CAP: Investing in Rural Economy factsheet here.
New report backs farmers' calls for better waste crime policies
Pitts: Mailer for Fayetteville council change misleading, say opponents

A former councilwoman who is Black, supports Vote Yes is wrongly depicted as a Democrat. Organizers say it was a mistake; opponents think otherwise.
This may be cheap science. But take a look at the seventeen Eurozone countries according to their rank on the 2010 corruption perception index.

Greece is perceived as the most corrupt country in the Eurozone. Its debt crisis has threatened the EU for months, hammered the international banking sector, and roiled world stock markets.

Just when the Greek debt problem was looking better, attention shifted to Italy. Predictably, it ranks next to last of the Eurozone countries according to the CPI.

Then come Slovakia and Malta  not yet major economies  followed by Spain and Portugal. Both are mentioned as the next potential sovereign-debt trouble spots.

Ireland breaks the mold, ranking near the top on the CPI but being a Eurozone laggard.

Were not making too much of this. And it doesnt mean clean countries cant run into debt problems. But perhaps theres a link between regimes perceived as corrupt and a messy handling of their fiscal affairs.

Heres the list of Eurozone countries with their CPI rank in parentheses:

1. Finland (4) 2. The Netherlands (7) 3. Luxembourg (11) 4. Ireland (14) 5. Germany (15) 6. Austria (15) 7. Belgium (22) 8. France (25) 9. Estonia (26) 10. Slovenia (27) 11. Cyprus (28) 12. Spain (30) 13. Portugal (32) 14. Malta (37) 15. Slovakia (59) 16. Italy (67) 17. Greece (78)

By the way, Turkey  a Eurozone wannabe  ranks 56 on the CPI. Thats near the bottom of the list of current members.
A post on the Risk Management Monitor last month from Christine Kane talked about the most dangerous countries for expats to work in.

Listed were Iraq, Colombia, Somalia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

For most of us, Kane said, the biggest work-related danger is boredom. But in these countries, everything can go wrong.

About Somalia, for example, she said: When a country uses chemical warfare on its own people, you know you want to skip working there. Not only is Somalia a failed state known for anarchy, corruption and famine, but it also has so many pirates that people are warned not to even sail near the Horn of Africa.

Colombia? Home to around 2,500 kidnappings a year, Kane said, with about 200 of the victims eventually being murdered.

The countries on Kanes list, we noticed, are also known for rampant graft.

Colombia ranks 80 on the corruption perceptions index, tied with Greece and Thailand. Way down the cpi are Pakistan at 134, Iraq at 175, Afghanistan at 180, and Somalia at 182  dead last in the world.

Where corruption takes root, it seems, personal risk soars as well.

Other examples? Russia, at 124 on the cpi, is a spooky place for expats. In Nigeria, ranked 143, highwaymen make the ride into Lagos from the airport among the worlds most dangerous. Yemen, ranked 164, has some oil. But sending in foreign workers to produce it is always dicey.

On the other hand, who would turn down an assignment to any of the cpis top-ranked countries  New Zealand, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, or Singapore?
SBM Offshore confirmed Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Justice has re-opened its investigation into the alleged bribery of government officials in Angola, Brazil, and Equatorial Guinea between 2007 and 2011.

The Netherlands-based company reached a $240 million settlement with Dutch authorities tied to the same allegations.

When SBM announced the Netherlands settlement in November 2014, it said the DOJ had closed its probe and decided not to prosecute the company.

Dutch prosecutors claimed SBM paid sales agents $200 million in commissions between 2007 and 2011, with tens of million of dollars allegedly going to overseas officials.

SBM Offshore provides floating production systems for the oil and gas industry. Petrobras, Brazils state-owned energy giant, is one of its biggest customers.

SBM said Wednesday the DOJ has made information requests in connection with the re-opened probe.

The DOJ hasnt commented.

SBM said it is seeking further clarification about the scope of the DOJ investigation.

The company remains committed to close-out discussions on this legacy issue which the Company self-reported to the authorities in 2012 and for which it reached a settlement with the Dutch Public Prosecutor in 2014, SBM said Wednesday.

The company said it has reserved $245 million to cover a possible settlement with Brazil authorities. Brazil prosecutors allege that several companies, including SBM Offshore, participated in a price fixing, bribery and kickback scheme tied to Petrobras contracts.

While discussions are at an advanced stage, timing of a settlement announcement as well as the size of any potential final settlement amount remain to be confirmed, SBM said.

SBMs internal investigation determined the company paid $18.8 million in commissions directly or indirectly to officials in Equatorial Guinea and $22.7 million in Angola between 2007 and 2011. The investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing in Brazil.

In late January, SBM Offshore CEO Bruno Chabas and supervisory board member Sietze Hepkema reached an out of court settlement with Brazil authorities tied to the Petrobras probe, with no admissions of guilt.

Chabas and Hepkema agreed to pay fines of about $60,000 each. SBM said it will pay the fines.

_____

Nicolas Torres is a reporter for Petro Global News, where a version of this post first appeared.


1. I write books. This is important because hopefully there's a picture of my new novel just above this. I'm especially excited about it because although Just Haven't Met You Yet is my seventh book, it's the first with my name on the front. I ghostwrote the rest for other people.

2. I once spent six months in Mary Berry's kitchen. I was lucky enough to work with Mary on her autobiography, Recipe For Life, and every week I'd sit at her kitchen table while she pottered around preparing lunch and telling me about her life. She would often be testing out recipes for a new book and would send me home with parcels of chocolate tart or salmon roulade. I'm not sure if it's a coincidence that my now-husband proposed to me during this time.

3. I am a massive lightweight. I enjoy drinking, but it makes me feel terrible. An acupuncturist once told me that one of the detoxification channels of my liver was blocked, and this is now my go-to excuse for leaving parties early. My husband calls me 'One-Drink Woodsy'.

4. A day doesn't pass without me complaining about my hair. I used to straighten it, but after having children I realised that the hour a day I spent blow-drying could probably be more usefully employed. I wouldn't mind if I had an amazing afro, but my curls are so flat and limp that I get through a can of Batiste volumising dry shampoo a month trying to give it some oomph. I frequently consider wigs.

5. I have two children, a one-year-old son and an eight-year-old daughter, who I generally refer to as 'The Dragons' because I would like to be known as 'Mother of Dragons'. My inner geek is strong: I love Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, even Harry Potter - anything with magic, leather jerkins and ogres. I dream of writing fantasy books, but they would end up being crap Tolkein knock-offs.

6. I am an unbearable coffee snob. When I hear someone ordering a large weak vanilla latte I have to stop myself shouting: 'just have a milkshake and be done with it.'

7. I love giving birth. I was lucky enough to have a home-birth with my son and it was the most incredible experience. Hard work and not without pain, true, but afterwards I felt like superwoman. I do realise that I was very fortunate and that not everyone has such an easy ride, but there is so much negative press surrounding birth that I'm evangelical about letting people know how great it can be. Having said that, I find motherhood extremely hard.

8. I plan to spend my retirement travelling the world. My most memorable trip to date was the three weeks I spent hiking in Tibet, a place so otherworldly it was as if it was dreamt up by Hollywood set designers - although I'm still haunted by the toilets and the yak's cheese. You'd have thought Spielberg would have insisted on a decent flush mechanism.

9. I'm not much of a Michael Buble fan. I originally had a running joke in Just Haven't Met You Yet about Peter Andre, but there was a concern that he wasn't quite famous enough if the book was ever sold to other countries, so he was replaced by Buble, hence the title.

10. I have recently realised that as you get older you really do get wiser. It's a wonderful prospect and consolation for all the sagging.

Just Haven't Met You Yet is published by Quercus and is out on 11th February 2016

Just Haven't Met You Yet
Kate Winslet says that she will not be boycotting this year's Oscars.

Kate Winslet

The iconic awards ceremony has found itself at the centre of controversy after, for the second year in a row, all of the acting nominees are white.

While some actors are set to boycott the ceremony, Winslet will not be one of them as she says it has been such a good year for women that she would feel like she was 'letting the side down' should she not attend.

Winslet is in the nomination mix as she has picked up a Best Supporting Actress nod for her performance in Steve Jobs.

Speaking to the Press Association, the actress said: To be honest, it's been such an extraordinary year for women that I'd feel like I was letting my side down if I didn't go.

"And also I feel very strongly that it may possibly be Leo's year and I'm his closest friend in the world, and I just couldn't imagine not being there to support him. And I think those are reasons enough to show my face."

Winslet is in a tough Best Supporting Actress category as she is nominated alongside Rooney Mara (Carol), Rachel McAdams (Spotlight), Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight), and Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl).

Winslet already has a Golden Globe under her belt for her performance in Steve Jobs but lost out on the Screen Actors Guild Award to Vikander. Winslet is also in the mix at this weekend's Baftas and is my tip to walk away with the award.

As for Leonardo DiCaprio, he has been nominated for his performance in The Revenant and is the red-hot favourite for the Oscar.

Winslet is set to return to the big screen next week with her new film Triple 9, which sees her star alongside Casey Affleck, Woody Harrelson, Anthony Mackie, Aaron Paul, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Gal Gadot.

Triple 9 is released 19th February.

by Helen Earnshaw for www.femalefirst.co.uk

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Britain's Prince Charles held a private meeting with local leaders of different faiths as he visited St John's Church.

Britain's Prince Charles

The 67-year-old royal attended the talk at the church in Southall, west London.

Reverend Mark Poulson, the Archbishop of Canterbury's adviser for inter-religious affairs, told the Evening Standard newspaper: "They talked about their own experiences, their own backgrounds and encouraged him [Charles] and thanked him for contributing to the debate."

The faith leaders meet on a regular basis as part of the Southall Faiths Forum and whilst they initially had their differences of opinion, they have come together for the "common good".

Whilst visiting the church, the Prince of Wales also met with members of the community who had got involved with activities at the venue.

One group of women were being taught English through a "craft and conversation" project where they made reusable shopping bags out of cloth.

Meanwhile, the Prince was busy yesterday (10.02.16), having visited Ashley Primary School's additional learning facility, the Harmony Centre.

A post on the school's official website reads: "He was greeted by a superb exhibition of the children's learning in the school hall, followed by a visit to some of the classrooms. He then officially opened our new Harmony Centre by cutting a vibrant green ribbon."
Britain's Queen Elizabeth has praised a children's hospital for being a "beacon of light" for ill children and their families.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth

The 89-year-old monarch has offered her praise to Great Ormond Street Hospital for their work with "some of the nation's most seriously ill children" and their research to create "better treatments" and their training on "future generations".

She wrote: "Great Ormond Street Hospital was founded in 1852. Ever since, the hospital has been dedicated to caring for some of the nation's most seriously ill children, whilst seeking new and better treatments and training future generations of child health practitioners.

"As one of the world's leading children's hospitals, Great Ormond Street offers a beacon of hope to thousands of children from across the UK and beyond every year."

The monarch also congratulated a collection of newspapers for their fundraising campaign for the hospital.

In the letter posted by the Evening Standard, she added: "As Patron, I would like to send my very best wishes to all the patients, families and staff at Great Ormond Street and extend my thanks to its many friends, volunteers and charitable supporters who have helped make the recent Christmas campaign such a success, ensuring the hospital remains a truly extraordinary place."
"You have no idea what it means to have nothing. You don't value what we have achieved. I have had to fight for everything my entire life!"

House of Cards returns to Netflix in March for the fourth season of one of the streaming services most ambitious and successful original series, and now the company have released the official first look trailer for the forthcoming batch of episodes.

In it there looks to be more corruption, deceit, power plays and aggression than ever before, with Francis Underwood (Kevin Spacey) right at the centre once more, fighting to remain President of the United States for a second term.

Masterful and charismatic, Underwood has been ruthless in his quest for ascendancy and with his equally amibitious wife Claire (Robin Wright) at his side, the two stop at nothing to ensure they get to where they want to be.

But when battling others in their way, the pair often butt heads and it is in this new season that they look to be having one of the most volatile periods in their relationship. Can their marriage survive another vicious election cycle?

House of Cards should answer all that (and of course spring up even MORE questions) when it returns to Netflix exclusively on Friday, March 4.

by Daniel Falconer for www.femalefirst.co.uk

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Jake Wood is set to return to 'EastEnders' in September.

Jake Wood as Max Branning

The 43-year-old hunk turned his back on his bad boy womanising alter-ego Max Branning last October, following nine years on the BBC One soap, but he's revealed he's planning to reprise his well-loved role later this year.

Jake - who has two children with his wife Alison - said: "They've [the bosses have] given me this summer off as well because I want to be with the kids and then it's September I'm pencilled in to go back [to the soap]."

However, the talented actor - who was crowned the UK's top Weird Crush for the second year in a row earlier this week - has admitted he'll have to binge-watch the last six months of the show as he hasn't seen a single episode since his exit.

He said: "I haven't watched an episode since I left. I'll watch it on catch up. I'll watch the last six month on catch up."

Jake broke hearts across the nation last year when he announced he was taking a 12-month hiatus from the show in order to recuperate and explore other career avenues.

Asked about his exit, he told Kugan Cassius on his iFL TV YouTube channel: "I went up and saw them [the producers] and said I was knackered and wanted a bit of time out. I needed a good break. I've done nine years without a break."

Meanwhile, fans last saw Max leaving Albert Square six months ago in a police car after he was wrongly convicted of the brutal murder of young businesswoman Lucy Beale (Hetti Bywater).

And, although his name will be cleared when Lucy's twisted younger brother Bobby is revealed as the real murderer, Jake has teased there's a new set of dramas in store for Max when he trots back into Walford in September.
Bangladeshi Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed has claimed that Dutch ambassador to Bangladesh Leoni Cuelenaere has lauded the country's worker-friendly apparel sector that has emerged after the Rana Plaza tragedy."The Netherlands envoy to Bangladesh lauded the remarkable progress of our apparel sector. Ready-made Garments (RMG) sector is now safe and worker-friendly," he told reporters after emerging from a meeting with the newly-appointed Netherlands envoy in Dhaka.

Bangladeshi Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed has claimed that Dutch ambassador to Bangladesh Leoni Cuelenaere has lauded the country's worker-friendly#

Leoni Cuelenaere said Bangladesh has achieved remarkable progress in the RMG sector and it is now the second highest RMG exporter in the world.Ahmed said the Netherlands government had provided a huge financial assistance to the country after the Rana Plaza tragedy.He said the Dutch government praised the RMG sector for creating a congenial environment in factories by ensuring fire safety measures and building safety.The minister said the Netherlands is a big market for the country's apparel sector. During his meeting with the Dutch envoy, they discussed various issues, including investment, trade and commerce. (SH)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
US Ambassador in Dhaka Marcia Bernicat took to social media to reiterate the US position that the Generalised System of Preferences or GSP will be restored to Bangladesh depending on the progress under the US-prescribed GSP Action Plan.Restoration of GSP will depend on the progress your government makes under the GSP Action Plan, she told when questioned during a Facebook chat about the restoration of tariff benefit that remained suspended for long.

US Ambassador in Dhaka Marcia Bernicat took to social media to reiterate the US position that the Generalised System of Preferences or GSP will be #

She also said that the GSP does not give any extra benefit to ready-made garments from any country , even as Dhaka is pushing Washington to restore the privilege.Bernicat said the US proudly remains the single largest importer of Bangladeshi readymade garments (RMG). We expect that trade to continue to grow, despite the fact GSP does not provide benefits for RMG from any country in the world .All GSP countries pay the same duties, she said during the chat at the weekend to mark a year of her term in Dhaka.She mostly talked about the RMG sector in light of the recent meeting on the Sustainability Compact implementation.The Compact had been jointly agreed on by the Bangladesh government, the EU, the US and the ILO in 2013 in the aftermath of the Rana Plaza building collapse to ensure workers' rights and safety.The US revoked the GSP privileges Bangladesh enjoyed on a few products after the accident and rolled out a 16-point action plan for improving working conditions. Although Washington acknowledges the progress made so far made, it insists that Bangladesh needs to do more to get the privileges back.Bernicat said that ensuring workers' rights was essential for a country to get GSP facilities.She said many people were working to safeguard workers' rights and that safety standards had improved.The US is part of this effort and will continue to be until Bangladesh can demonstrate progress in areas such as expeditious union registration and for factories to fix the safety problems that were identified during the initial assessments, she said.The Bangladesh government and garment exporters often claim they have to pay more than other countries by way of duties to access the US market. But Washington has consistently denied this allegation. (SH)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
For the first time in history, creations of the fashion students of Bangladesh Universities will be seen on the catwalk in the third edition of a fashion show, Fashionim.Fashionim is a fashion event dedicated to the denim industry, organised on the sidelines of Denimsandjeans.com Bangladesh Show and will be held on March 2, 2016 at Hotel Radisson, Dhaka.Designs of the finalists selected from the Bangladesh Fashion Students Contest would be showcased at the fashion show, a press release from the organisers, Denimsandjeans.com said.The prime motive of Denimsandjeans.com has been always to explore the potential of Bangladesh and showcase the best of it, they informed.Quoting reports, the organisers added that Bangladesh will soon rule the international denim industry as a major supplier and this is what motivates various investors to invest their capital in the textile industry of Bangladesh.In the prior Fashionim show held in Oct 2015, the fashion show saw models exhibiting collections of denim producers from three countries.The collections from Vincunha Textile from Brazil, Envoy from Bangladesh were displayed for AW15 season and the curtains were called with collections from Bhaskar Denim, India.The last edition of the only by invitation fashion show saw over 400 guests from some of the most reputed retailers, factories, buying houses and brands attending the show. (AR)

Click here to register for Denim In Fashion Dhaka

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
Mumbai-based Yellowfashion.in, one of India's leading curated online women ethnic wear destinations, has announced its successful foray into Sri Lanka. Known for its selection of the finest sarees from across India, the company is betting on the fast growing Internet user base (6 million as per ITU) and cultural similarities in clothing preference.The venture estimates 15 per cent of its revenues in 2016-17 to come from Sri Lankan market and cumulatively over the next 3 years, the Sri Lankan market to contribute Rs. 15 crore. Yellowfashion.in has signed up logistics company DTDC as the fulfilment partner to ensure timely delivery to its Sri Lankan customers. It has put in place an international payment gateway for a seamless customer experience. For any Sri Lankan customer, the current estimated time of delivery is 3-6 days, the company said in a press release.

Mumbai-based Yellowfashion.in, one of India's leading curated online women ethnic wear destinations, has announced its successful foray into Sri Lanka#

Speaking about the Sri Lankan foray, Darshan Patodi, Co-founder, Yellowfashion.in said, "Our in-depth market research revealed that the country , besides witnessing a growing Internet user base, is also very similar in nature to the Indian market when it comes to women's ethnic wear choices. Sri Lankan economy has since bounced back, it is geographically proximate and the partnership with DTDC gives us the logistical support required to ensure or track record of happy customers, which is retained in the new market as well. We look forward to the foray contributing significantly to our growth and profitability in the years ahead."According to a Google India study, apparel is the highest contributor after electronics when it comes to e-commerce. According to the study, the frequency of purchasing apparel is 30 per cent higher than any segment making it one of the most stable domains in Indian e-commerce landscape. According to another study by KMPG India, apparel contributes 34 per cent of the total online purchase. (SH)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
German manufacturer of knitting machines Karl Mayer will host an exhibition of its technologies in the US at its facility in Greensboro, North Carolina from April 26-28, 2016.The goal is to provide the market an opportunity to learn about many recent innovations in detail and to generate ideas for new product development, a Karl Mayer press release said.

German manufacturer of knitting machines Karl Mayer will host an exhibition of its technologies in the US at its facility in Greensboro, North #

This exhibition will bring together experts, will be an exchange of know-how, while showing the latest machines and applications for warp knitting, weaving warp preparation and composite fabrics," it added.We are organising the exhibition with an intention to provide our guests with fresh ideas and valuable support for their future development activities, Tony Hooimeijer, president of Karl Mayer North America said.If we combine their experience with our expertise and innovations, it is surely possible to generate completely new product solutions and ideas for increased productivity, he added.Visitors will have the opportunity to see high performance warp knitting machines in operation, producing new and sophisticated fabrics for automotive and sportswear applications, including seamless garments.For the weaving industry, Karl Mayer will be displaying its latest automatic sectional warper for the flexible production of high-precision warp beams.For sizing, the company will be showing its VSB size box, a revolutionary new development that can generate significant savings, Karl Mayer informed.According to Karl Mayer, another area which will be highlighted area will be for the composites industry, and an innovative carbon fibre spreading unit will be demonstrated.For visitors, the exhibition will include a half-day visit, a full-day tour or a stay for several days and will also be tailored to individual requirements.There will also be presentations by Karl Mayer's business units at regular intervals, while the Karl Mayer Academy will hold fabric forming familiarisation courses, providing more insights in application possibilities. (AR)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
Kangana Ranaut and Hrithik Roshan were in news recently, because of their past affair. When Kangana Ranaut called Hrithik her silly ex, Hrithik took to Twitter and wrote that he would rather date the Pope. Kangana talked about Hrithik's mean tweet in an interview.

In an interview to TOI, Kangana Ranaut said, ''I'm not sure it (Twitter message) was targeted at me, but even if it was, I can't question someone else's feeling. I have nothing to say about that, but generally speaking, when it comes to human emotions and equations, there are no rules.''



Kangana Ranaut further added, ''You never know why one fine day you wake up with a desire for a certain somebody. Or one day, you stop wanting it. Everyone should follow their instinct, and it is not about who is right or wrong. Having said that, I feel when two people amicably decide to end an equation, they must give it a dignified closure and stick to it.''

''I take a lot of time to put an end to a relationship, but when I leave it behind... it is over. It is very disturbing when others don't follow it. I never mourn over my past men, as there are so many around (laughs). I've never begged a man to stay after he has decided to move on,'' Kangana Ranaut revealed.

''I have been dumped and rejected so many times, but it has never shattered my confidence. I know there is always another story around the corner. There is always a man better than the one before,'' the Rangoon actress said.
One of the most talented actresses of Bollywood, Nimrat Kaur, whorecently tasted success with her super hit film, Airlift, was recently busy with the wedding ceremony of her dear sister Rubina. She is a psychologist by profession and based in Bangalore.

Nimrat's sister tied the knot yesterday (February 10, 2016) and the family had all the rituals, according to the Sikh tradition and was held in Delhi during the day. Nimrat was looking simply stunning in a green ethnic wear and by looking at the pictures, we can say that the two sisters have very similar looks.

See The Pictures Here..

Nimrat posted a cute picture of sister Rubina from the Haldi ceremony and wrote, "It's your big day my baby girl.....to the best part of your life hereon." Not just that, under the hashtag #rubyvinitdavyah, guests and Nimrat-Rubina's friends have been sharing the bride-to-be's pictures on Instagram and it is the most adorable thing on Internet today.

Nimrat Kaur, who was born in Rajasthan, but hails from Patiala originally, began her career as a print model and later, went on to be a theatre artist. She debuted in Bollywood with a highly acclaimed film, The Lunchbox, which also casted Irrfan Khan in the lead role.

Many of us don't know that Nimrat had also featured in a song 'Ye Kya Hua Tere Mere Ishq Ki Baatein' by Shreya Ghosal, which was released in 2005. From there to Airlift, Nimrat has been keeping it real and classy and we totally heart you Nimrat, for your achievement!

PICS: Post Break-up, Anushka Sharma Spotted In A 'KICKASS' Avatar!
While everybody is discussing what Bollywood celebrities will be doing this Valentine's Day, here is Ranveer Singh, already in Toronto to meet his ladylove, Deepika Padukone.

Deepika is currently in Toronto shooting for XXX: The Return Of Xander Cage with Vin Diesel, Nina Dobrev, Samuel L Jackson, Ruby Rose, Jet Li, and Tony Jaa. The actress has a packed schedule and could not opt for a break.

Meanwhile, alleged beau, Ranveer Singh's Befikre shooting with YRF starring Vaani Kapoor is yet to start, so the actor immediately wrapped up his work commitments and sneaked of to Toronto to be with his ladylove.

The fact that Ranveer is already there, means the duo will be celebrating Valentine's Day together for sure and before you ask us how we got to Ranveer is in Toronto, let us reveal it to you.

A fan in Canada happened to run into the actor at the arrivals section at the airport. Dressed super sexy in classy shades and leather jacket, Ranveer posed with the fan for a selfie.

The fan posted the image with the caption, "Awesome meeting major #Bollywood star and boyfriend of #DeepikaPadukone, #RanveerSingh. He is visiting #Toronto for Valetine's Day weekend with his love, who films #XXX: #TheReturnofXanderCage in #The6ix."

Meanwhile, Dips' best friend, Priyanka Chopra reacted something like this on hearing about the former's Hollywood debut, " I haven't had the chance to speak to her again after the news of her Hollywood film but I am very happy for her. She is a great artist and a total movie star.

She further added, "I am sure XXX will be good for her in the same way as it will be good for the movie to have an actor like Deepika."

CHECK OUT RANVEER-DEEPIKA'S CANDID PICS TOGETHER!

ALSO READ: Fitoor Box Office Predictions: Katrina Kaif-Aditya Starrer To Get A Good Start
The 'Bulbul' actress Rachita Ram is the new daughter of Ramesh Aravind! Confused? Read below...

Rachita Ram, the Chakravyuha actress to play the daughter of Ramesh Aravind in the upcoming movie 'Pushpaka Vimana'. Recently, the film-makers released the official teaser of the movie which went viral in almost all the social networks.

The offical teaser of the movie portrayed Ramesh Aravind & child artist Baby Yuvina. Now, the film-makers have roped in Rachita Ram, to play the grown-up daughter of Ramesh Aravind.

Pushpaka Vimana has gathered positive responses in Kannada film industry. The 2 minutes 37 seconds teaser is beyond the expectations of the audiences. It portrays the love and affection between the father and daughter played by Ramesh and the little co-star.

The main higlight of the teaser is the mindblowing acting by Ramesh and brilliant cinematography by Bhuvan Gowda. Now, the inclusion of glamarous actress Rachita Ram in the movie ha raised more anticipation in the audiences.

Rachita Ram has signed the movie and she will start shooting from tomorrow, say sources.

Watch the official teaser of Pushpaka Vimana below...
The new fad of Tollywood, Rakul Preet Singh is adorning the covers of JFW Magazine's February issue and the new edition is available on stands, featuring her in a gorgeous avatar. The lass spoke to the magazine at length, about her startling career in the Telugu industry and many other interesting stuff.

"Catch me on d feb issue of #jfw !! Copies out tomorrow", read a tweet from Rakul, yesterday. Go through the slides below to take a look at Rakul Preet Singh's stunning pictures from the exclusive photo shoot, before you grab your copy.

Pics Courtesy: JFW

On the work front, Rakul Preet Singh is having some of the exciting projects in her kitty. The long-legged beauty will be pairing up with Ram Charan for the second time in his next project, which is a remake of Thani Oruvan.

She has earlier worked with Charan in Bruce Lee and is teaming up for the consecutive film, which is now raising many eyebrows. The actress feels that it is an acknowledgment for her hard work. On the other hand, Rakul is shooting for Allu Arjun's Sarrainodu and is cherishing the success of Nannaku Prematho, while she has a film in Hindi, ready for release.

In fact, Rakul shot to the top league of actresses, pretty soon with back-to-back successes of Venkatadi Express and Loukyam and has bagged the opportunity to work with stars like NTR, Ram Charan and Allu Arjun in a very shot span of time. However, the entire credit goes to her hard work and the kind of passion she has for her job.
FinanceAsias Japan Achievement Awards are the industry standard for recognising excellence in finance.

We are pleased to invite Japans leading financial institutions to submit for this years awards.

Deadline for submissions: Wednesday 9th March 2016

All submissions should be sent by email to [email protected] or as hard copies to: Silvia Barbiero, FinanceAsia, 10/F, Zung Fu Industrial Building, 1067 King's Road, Quarry Bay, Hong Kong.

Please email [email protected] and [email protected] to discuss the timetable for pitch meetings, which will take place in Tokyo mid-March.

We will announce the awards in April.

Companies wishing to submit for this years awards should look at the below categories, which are broken up into House awards and Deal awards.

The awards recognize skillful cross-border deal-making and intermediation of cross-border flows.

We may, depending on the level of activity during the year, ultimately decide not to award winners in some of the categories. For deal awards, please list the bookrunner or advisers that worked on the deal, not just your own bank.

HOUSE AWARDS

BEST BANK

This award recognizes the financial institution that has achieved the most within commercial banking and at its securities business during the period. Judging will focus on the banks overseas strategy, new initiatives and support of Japanese clients as they expand abroad.

BEST INVESTMENT BANK

Presentations should demonstrate the banks success across ECM, DCM, M&A and secondary market trading. Banks will be judged on how they have served clients and furthered market development. We will place particular emphasis on cross border deals, distribution and flows.

BEST FOREIGN INVESTMENT BANK

Presentations should demonstrate the banks success across ECM, DCM, M&A and secondary market trading. Banks will be judged on how they have served clients and furthered market development. We will place particular emphasis on cross border deals, distribution and flows.

BEST M&A HOUSE

The best M&A houses will have been involved in the key cross-border deals. Credit will be given to houses that have initiated landmark transactions that serve clients needs. Conversely, failed transactions will be judged negatively. The ability to show expertise across sectors will count favourably. Pitches should specify clearly the announced date of transactions and the date they closed.

BEST ECM HOUSE

This award is designed to reward the bank that has helped Japanese issuers access international Investors during the year, has played a prominent role in landmark transactions and developed the market. This award includes IPOs, follow-ons and equity-linked transactions. Aftermarket performance will be taken into consideration.

BEST DCM HOUSE

This award focuses on houses that have been most active in helping Japanese borrowers to raise debt in yen, as well as in dollars, euros and other international currencies.

BEST SAMURAI HOUSE

This award recognises houses that issue yen-denominated bonds in Japan for non- Japanese issuers. Credit will be given for both volume of issuance, diversity of issuers and best execution.

BEST LOAN HOUSE

The emphasis is on syndicated loans, project finance and leveraged loans supporting deals domestically and overseas.

BEST REGIONAL BANK

This is an award for the Japanese bank demonstrating a successful international and domestic strategy.

BEST FINTECH STRATEGY

This is an award for the financial institution that demonstrates the best strategy for meeting the changing needs of clients.

BEST ISSUER

This award recognizes issuers that are frequent and skillful users of the domestic and international debt markets. Both volumes of issuance as well as use of different products and markets will be given weight. We welcome nominations by banks.

BEST LAW FIRM

Presentations should demonstrate the law firms success across corporate finance. Banks will be judged on how they have served clients and furthered market development. We will place particular emphasis on cross border deals.

DEAL AWARDS

Deal awards are given to companies or financial sponsors originating the transaction, with the support of advisers. Nominations welcome, but please list all advisers that worked on the deal in addition to yourselves.

DEAL OF THE YEAR

BEST ECM DEAL

BEST CROSS-BORDER M&A DEAL

BEST PRIVATE EQUITY DEAL

BEST DCM DEAL

BEST FIG DEAL

BEST PROJECT FINANCING

MOST INNOVATIVE DEAL

AWARDS FAQ

What is the period under consideration for these awards?

March 31, 2015 to April 1, 2016.

Do you give credit for self-led deals?

No.

Is it acceptable for submissions to contain graphics, tables, charts etc?

Positively encouraged

For individual deal awards, are one- or two-page case studies acceptable?

Positively encouraged

Are deals eligible if they havent closed by the submission deadline but are expected to close before the fiscal year-end?

Yes.

Can we enter one deal in different categories  such as cross-border M&A and deal of the year  with a single pitch document?

Yes.

Do you consider announced deals for the M&A house award?

Yes, for the house award we consider the body of work that banks have been involved on during the calendar year. However, for individual deal awards we only consider closed deals.

Do we need to send a separate submission for the deal of the year category?

No, we will decide this award from the entire universe of deal submissions.

Is there a limit to the number of deals we can submit per category?

In general, we prefer that banks select their single best deal for each category, but we understand that this is not always possible.

Do I need to pay to attend the awards ceremony?

Winners will be invited to join the awards cocktail ceremony and receive their plaque; participation is complimentary and does not involve a booking fee.
CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. dollar weakened against the other major currencies in the Asian session on Thursday. The U.S. dollar fell to a 16-month low of 112.53 against the yen, from yesterday's closing value of 113.32. Against the euro and the Swiss franc, the greenback dropped to 2-day lows of 1.1319 and 0.9704 fro m yesterday's closing quotes of 1.1288 and 0.9732, respectively. Against the Australian and the New Zealand dollars, the greenback slid to 6-day lows of 0.7153 and 0.6734 from yesterday's closing quotes of 0.7094 and 0.6683, respectively. The greenback edged down to 1.4563 against the pound and 1.3883 against the Canadian dollar, from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.4522 and 1.3922, respectively. If the greenback extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 111.00 against the yen, 1.14 against the euro, 0.96 against the franc, 0.72 against the aussie, 0.68 against the kiwi, 1.47 against the pound and 1.36 against the loonie. 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) - The New York Governor Andrew Cuomo urged the federal government to block the proposed acquisition of First Niagara Financial Group (FNFG) by KeyCorp (KEY), saying that the merger would reduce retail banking competition, limit consumer access and convenience, and ultimately eliminate jobs throughout the region. 'The proposed acquisition of First Niagara by Key Bank would have a devastating impact on consumers and businesses in Upstate New York, and I urge the federal government to reject the application. This proposal would reduce retail banking competition, limit consumer access and convenience, and ultimately eliminate jobs throughout the region,' Cuomo wrote in a letter posted on his office's website. In Late-October 2015, KeyCorp said that it agreed to acquire First Niagara in a cash and stock transaction for total consideration valued at approximately $4.1 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.
CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The Australian dollar weakened against the other major currencies in the Asian session on Thursday. The Australian dollar fell to more than a 3-week low of 79.80 against the yen, from yesterday's closing value of 80.38. The aussie edged down to 1.5941 against the euro, from yesterday's closing value of 1.5899. Against the U.S. and the Canadian dollars, the aussie dropped to 0.7084 and 0.9873 from an early 6-day high of 0.7153 and a 9-day high of 0.9930, respectively. If the aussie extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 78.00 against the yen, 1.62 against the euro, 0.69 against the greenback and 0.97 against the loonie. 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.
Amsterdam, Feb. 11, 2016 - Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO), the world leader in digital security, announces the launch of its LinqUs IoT Quality of Service (QoS) (http://www.gemalto.com/mobile/networks/customer-experience/iot-qos) offer, a comprehensive solution that enables mobile operators to monitor the cellular QoS of smart objects in real time. This ensures the most reliable connectivity, which is essential for any successful Internet of Things and M2M application. LinqUs IoT Quality of Service provides instant network status and analysis, and immediately highlights any issue by ensuring a rich array of data is readily available and accessible.

Gemalto's LinqUs IoT Quality of Service is ideally suited to a wide range of use cases, including automotive, fleet management, smart grid, alarm panels and connected PoS applications. Mobile operators can provide their device manufacturer and service provider clients with clear visibility of network and connectivity performances, facilitating Service Level Agreements and creating a highly effective means of differentiation.

LinqUs IoT Quality of Service can be deployed on the operator's premises, or in the cloud for fully outsourced management by Gemalto. Real time data is gathered via IoT QoS clients embedded in the device. All the information gathered by LinqUs IoT QoS is available via tailored Advanced Analytics, Customer Service and Service Level Agreement measurement dashboards. These feature an at-a-glance overview of the connectivity status of an entire fleet of devices, along with comprehensive reporting and map views.

"Reliable connectivity is the foundation of successful investment in the IoT sector," said David Buhan, Senior Vice President of Mobile Subscriber Services for Gemalto. "A recent survey highlighted that more than 90% of operators believe they need to extend monitoring of their customers' experience to cover expanding IoT services. LinqUs IoT Quality of Service gives them the ideal tool to analyze performance, demonstrate their capabilities and deliver outstanding levels of service to clients."

At Mobile World Congress 2016 (http://www.gemalto.com/mobile-world-congress/internet-of-thingsquality) (Hall 5 Stand 5A80), Gemalto will demonstrate the new LinqUs IoT QoS platform remote monitoring in real time.

Telecoms.com Annual Industry Survey 2016, available 15th February 2016 - 91.2% of surveyed agree with the statement: "We will need to expand monitoring of customer experience beyond traditional services to cover IoT services."

About Gemalto

Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO) is the world leader in digital security, with 2014 annual revenues of 2.5 billion and blue-chip customers in over 180 countries.

Gemalto helps people trust one another in an increasingly connected digital world. Billions of people want better lifestyles, smarter living environments, and the freedom to communicate, shop, travel, bank, entertain and work - anytime, everywhere - in ways that are enjoyable and safe. In this fast moving mobile and digital environment, we enable companies and administrations to offer a wide range of trusted and convenient services by securing financial transactions, mobile services, public and private clouds, eHealthcare systems, access to eGovernment services, the Internet and internet-of-things and transport ticketing systems.

Gemalto's unique technology portfolio - from advanced cryptographic software embedded in a variety of familiar objects, to highly robust and scalable back-office platforms for authentication, encryption and digital credential management - is delivered by our world-class service teams. Our 14,000 employees operate out of 99 offices, 34 personalization and data centers, and 24 research and software development centers located in 46 countries.

For more information visit www.gemalto.com (http://www.gemalto.com/), www.justaskgemalto.com (http://www.justaskgemalto.com/), blog.gemalto.com (http://blog.gemalto.com/), or follow @gemalto (http://twitter.com/gemalto) on Twitter.

Gemalto media contacts:

Philippe Benitez

North America

+1 512 257 3869

philippe.benitez@gemalto.com (mailto:philippe.benitez@gemalto.com) Peggy Edoire

Europe & CIS

+33 4 42 36 45 40

peggy.edoire@gemalto.com (mailto:peggy.edoire@gemalto.com) Vivian Liang

(Greater China)

+86 1059373046

vivian.liang@gemalto.com (mailto:vivian.liang@gemalto.com)



Ernesto Haikewitsch

Latin America

+55 11 5105 9220

ernesto.haikewitsch@gemalto.com (mailto:ernesto.haikewitsch@gemalto.com)







Kristel Teyras

Middle East & Africa

+33 1 55 01 57 89

kristel.teyras@gemalto.com (mailto:kristel.teyras@gemalto.com)



Pierre Lelievre

Asia Pacific

+65 6317 3802

pierre.lelievre@gemalto.com (mailto:pierre.lelievre@gemalto.com)





Press Release (PDF) (http://hugin.info/159293/R/1985174/727975.pdf)



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The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.

Source: Gemalto via Globenewswire



HUG#1985174


North Media's FY 2015 characterised by substantial strengthening of the NoAds+ concept and realisation of financial targets. Company announcement no 01-16February 11, 2016Intensified price competition and major volatility continue to put their mark on the media and advertisement market - and did so also on North Media in 2015. As a result, group revenue went down by 6% to DKK 1,012 million while EBIT before special items was a small loss of DKK 0.7 million."The advertising media market is changing rapidly. However, FK Distribution's greatest challenge is that we suffer from unfair competition from Post Danmark, who, with one hand, raises the 1st class mail postage stamps from DKK 10 to DKK 19 because the letter volumes are going down, and, with the other, they drive down printed matter prices to DKK 0.30 per item because printed matter volumes are going down. Both letters and printed matter are delivered by the same postman. Obviously, it puts FK Distribution's business under heavy pressure that Post Danmark abuses its dominant position in this way to dump prices of printed matter, and this feeds directly through to our bottom line," says Mads Dahl Andersen, CEO of FK Distribution A/S and Chief Executive Officer of North Media.These harsh market conditions are the reason why North Media has in 2015 had heavy focus on achieving a higher level of agility in business developments. And results are beginning to show. Most importantly by 250,000 new consumers in 2015 having signed up for NoAds+, FK Distribution's new core product, so that the arrangement now covers more than 550,000 households. However, also by the newspapers having maintained their market position and online operations moving in the right direction - although at a slower pace than aimed for.To lend additional force to this process, in early 2016 North Media reorganised its management and company structure under which operations are now divided into four new business segments, each with its own board of directors, and these segments are in future to ensure an optimal setting for maximising developments and earnings."The difficult times are not over yet. Market developments and the underlying assumptions will also in 2016 cause a reduction in the Group's revenue and performance. This is why it is vital that we keep our strategic spotlight on realising the potential of all of our business segments. With this new structure and strong financial resources, we are ready to face the challenges and strive for an expected improvement of performance from 2017," closes Kare Wigh, Group Executive Director & CFO of North Media.For further details, please contact Kare Wigh, Group Executive Director & CFO, at +45 25 65 21 45.Yours faithfully North Media A/SKare Wigh Group Chief Executive Officer & CFOAttachment:https://cns.omxgroup.com/cds/DisclosureAttachmentServlet?messageAttachmentId=546282
Helsinki, Finland, 2016-02-11 08:00 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE 11 February 2016 at 8:00 a.m. CETNotice of Munksjo Oyj's Annual General MeetingNotice is given to the shareholders of Munksjo Oyj to the Annual General Meeting to be held on Wednesday, 6 April 2016 at 1:00 p.m. (EET) at the Finlandia Hall, A-hall, Mannerheimintie 13 e, Helsinki, Finland (entrance M1 from Mannerheimintie and K1 from the Karamzininranta -street). The reception of persons who have registered for the meeting and the distribution of voting tickets will commence at 12:00 noon (EET). Registration for the meeting is requested to be made no later than 12:45 p.m. (EET).A. Matters on the agenda of the Annual General MeetingAt the Annual General Meeting the following matters will be considered:1. Opening of the meeting2. Calling the meeting to order3. Election of persons to scrutinize the minutes and to supervise the counting of votes4. Recording the legality of the meeting5. Recording the attendance at the meeting and adoption of the list of votes6. Presentation of the Financial Statements, the Report of the Board of Directors and the Auditor's Report for the year 2015Review by the President & CEO7. Adoption of the Financial Statements8. Resolution on the use of the profit shown on the balance sheet and the payment of dividendThere being no distributable retained earnings in the balance sheet of Munksjo Oyj as per 31 December 2015, the Board of Directors proposes that no dividend will be paid for the fiscal year 2015.9. Resolution on the payment of funds as return of equity from the reserve for invested non-restricted equityThe Board of Directors proposes that the Annual General Meeting would decide to pay funds from the reserve for invested unrestricted equity as return of equity based on the balance sheet of 31 December 2015 adopted by the Annual General Meeting, the amount of return being EUR 0.30 per share.The return of equity shall be paid to a shareholder who on the record date of the payment 8 April 2016 is registered in the shareholders' register of the company held by Euroclear Finland Oy or in the separate register of shareholders maintained by Euroclear Sweden AB for Euroclear Sweden AB registered shares. The return of equity payable for Euroclear Sweden AB registered shares will be forwarded by Euroclear Sweden AB. The Board further proposes that the return of equity shall be paid to the shareholders on 19 April 2016.10. Resolution on the discharge of the members of the Board of Directors and the President & CEO from liability11. Resolution on the remuneration of the members of the Board of Directors and the Shareholders' Nomination BoardThe Shareholders' Nomination Board (Nomination Board) proposes that the annual remuneration of the Board of Directors, Board Committees and Nomination Board shall remain unchanged with the exception of the Vice Chairman's annual remuneration, which is proposed to be increased.The Chairman shall receive EUR 80,000 a year, the Vice Chairman EUR 50,000 (previously 40,000) and the ordinary members EUR 40,000 each.The Chairman of the Audit Committee shall annually receive EUR 12,000 and the ordinary members EUR 6,000 each. The Chairman of the Remuneration Committee shall annually receive EUR 6,000 and the ordinary members EUR 3,000 each.The Chairman of the Nomination Board shall annually receive EUR 6,000 and the ordinary members EUR 3,000 each.Travel expenses are proposed to be reimbursed in accordance with the company's travel policy.12. Resolution on the number of members of the Board of DirectorsThe Nomination Board proposes that the number of Board members will be increased to seven (7).13. Election of members of the Board of DirectorsThe Nomination Board proposes that Sebastian Bondestam, Alexander Ehrnrooth, Hannele Jakosuo-Jansson, Elisabet Salander Bjorklund and Peter Seligson will be re-elected. The current member Fredrik Cappelen, who has been a member of the Board of Directors since 2013, has informed the company that he is no longer available for re-election. It is therefore proposed that Anna Ohlsson-Leijon and Mats Lindstrand be elected as new members of the Board.Ms. Anna Ohlsson-Leijon (b. 1968), Swedish citizen, B.Sc. (Bus. Adm.) joined Electrolux AB in 2001 and is currently CFO in the Business Area Major Appliances, EMEA. Her previous positions within the company include SVP, Head of Corporate Control & Services and SVP, Group Treasurer. Ms. Ohlsson-Leijon has held and currently holds several positions of trust. She is Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of SEB Investment Management AB.Mr. Mats Lindstrand (b. 1959), Swedish citizen, M.Sc. (Civil Engineering) and MBA, is currently the Managing Partner at BioMass Capital AB. Mr Lindstrand holds several positions of trust, he is the Chairman of the Board in both Sensec AB and FRISQ AB, a member of the Board of Directors at Papyrus AB, Sirva Inc. and Erik Andersson AB. He is also senior advisor at McKinsey&Company and Triton Advisers Oy.The Board members are elected for the period ending at the close of the next Annual General Meeting. All the nominees are considered independent of the company and of the significant shareholders of the company, except for Peter Seligson, who is not independent of the company's significant shareholder AC Invest Five B.V., in the parent company of which, Ahlstrom Capital Oy, he is a member of the board, and Alexander Ehrnrooth, who is not independent of the company's significant shareholder Viknum AB, in the parent company of which, Virala Oy Ab, he is President and CEO and a member of the board.The nominees have given their consent to the election. The nominees have indicated to the Nomination Board that if elected they will elect Peter Seligson as the Chairman of the Board of Directors and Elisabet Salander Bjorklund as the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors. CVs of the proposed Board members are available at www.munksjo.com.14. Amendments to the Nomination Board CharterThe Nomination Board proposes that its Charter is amended mainly as a consequence of the entry into force of the new Finnish Corporate Governance Code on 1 January 2016. According to the proposal, the Charter of the Nomination Board shall be amended by adding (i) a right for holders of nominee registered shares to be considered when the Nomination Board is appointed, (ii) a new duty of the Nomination Board to include a recommendation in its proposal of board members on who of the persons nominated shall be elected as Chairman of the Board of Directors, (iii) a new duty of the Nomination Board to establish its principles of diversity, (iv) a right for the Nomination Board to decide what knowledge and competencies are required by the board members in each case by removing the list of knowledge and competencies to be possessed by the board members from the Nomination Board Charter and (v) a right for the Nomination Board to receive information on factors affecting the evaluation of independence of the members of the Board of Directors. In conjunction with these amendments, the Nomination Board also proposes that some additional amendments of a mainly technical nature are made.15. Resolution on the remuneration of the AuditorUpon the recommendation of the Audit Committee, the Board of Directors proposes that the auditor's remuneration be paid according to invoicing accepted by the company.16. Election of AuditorUpon the recommendation of the Audit Committee, the Board of Directors proposes that KPMG Oy Ab be re-elected as the company's auditor. KPMG Oy Ab has designated Authorized Public Accountant Sixten Nyman as the Responsible Auditor.17. Authorizations to repurchase and distribute the company's own shares as well as to accept them as pledgeThe Board of Directors proposes that the Annual General Meeting authorizes the Board of Directors to resolve to repurchase and to distribute the company's own shares as well as to accept them as pledge in one or more instalments on the following conditions:The number of shares to be repurchased or accepted as pledge by virtue of the authorization shall not exceed 4,000,000 shares in the company, yet always taking into account the limitations set forth in the Companies' Act as regards the maximum number of shares owned by or pledged to the company or its subsidiaries. The shares may be repurchased only through public trading at the prevailing market price on the date of repurchase by using unrestricted shareholders' equity.The authorization includes the right for the Board of Directors to decide upon all other terms and conditions for the repurchase of the company's own shares, or their acceptance as pledge, including the right to decide on the repurchase of the company's own shares otherwise than in proportion to the shareholders' holdings in the company.By virtue of the authorization, the Board of Directors has the right to resolve to distribute a maximum of 4,000,000 own shares held by the company. The Board of Directors will be authorized to decide to whom and in which order the own shares will be distributed. The Board of Directors may decide on the distribution of the company's own shares otherwise than in proportion to the existing pre-emptive right of shareholders to purchase the company's own shares. The shares may be used e.g. as consideration in acquisitions and in other arrangements as well as to implement the company's share-based incentive plans in the manner and to the extent decided by the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors also has the right to decide on the distribution of the shares in public trading for the purpose of financing possible acquisitions. The authorization also includes the right for the Board of Directors to resolve on the sale of the shares accepted as a pledge. The authorization includes the right for the Board of Directors to resolve upon all other terms and conditions for the distribution of the shares held by the company.The authorizations for the Board of Directors to repurchase the company's own shares, to distribute them as well as to accept them as pledge are valid for 18 months from the close of the Annual General Meeting but will, however, expire at the close of the next Annual General Meeting, at the latest.18. Closing of the meetingB. Documents of the Annual General MeetingThe aforesaid proposals of the Board of Directors and the Nomination Board relating to the agenda of the Annual General Meeting as well as this notice are available on the company's website at www.munksjo.com/agm. The Annual Report of Munksjo Oyj, including the Financial Statements, the Report of the Board of Directors and the Auditor's Report, is available on the above-mentioned website as from 15 March 2016, at the latest. The proposals of the Board of Directors and the Nomination Board as well as the Financial Statements are also available at the meeting. Copies of these documents and of this notice will be sent to shareholders upon request. The minutes of the meeting will be available on the above-mentioned website as from 20 April 2016, at the latest.C. Instructions for the participants in the Annual General Meeting1. The right to participate and registrationEach shareholder, who is registered on 23 March 2016 in the shareholders' register of the company held by Euroclear Finland Oy, has the right to participate in the Annual General Meeting. A shareholder, whose shares are registered on his/her personal Finnish book-entry account, is registered in the shareholders' register of the company.A shareholder, who wishes to participate in the Annual General Meeting, shall register for the meeting by giving prior notice of participation on 1 April 2016 at 4:00 p.m. (EET) at the latest.Such notice can be given: - on the company's website www.munksjo.com/agm, - by email to yhtiokokous@munksjo.com, - by mail to Munksjo Oyj, AGM, Etelaesplanadi 14, 00130 Helsinki, Finland, or - by phone during office hours 10:00-16:00 (EET) to +46 (0)10 250 10 54In connection with the registration, a shareholder shall state his/her name, personal identification number, address, telephone number and the name of a possible assistant or proxy representative and the personal identification number of such proxy representative. The personal data given to Munksjo Oyj is used only in connection with the Annual General Meeting and with the processing of related registrations.Pursuant to chapter 5, section 25 of the Company's Act, a shareholder who is present at the Annual General Meeting has the right to request information with respect to the matters to be considered at the meeting.2. Proxy representative and powers of attorneyA shareholder may participate in the Annual General Meeting and exercise his/her rights at the meeting also by way of proxy representation. A proxy representative shall produce a dated proxy document or otherwise in a reliable manner demonstrate his/her right to represent the shareholder at the Annual General Meeting. When a shareholder participates in the Annual General Meeting by means of several proxy representatives representing the shareholder with shares at different book-entry accounts, the shares by which each proxy representative represents the shareholder shall be identified in connection with the registration for the general meeting.Possible proxy documents should be delivered to the address above before the last date of registration. A template for a proxy is available at the company's website mentioned above.3. Holders of nominee registered sharesA holder of nominee registered shares has the right to participate in the general meeting by virtue of such shares, based on which he/she on the record date of the general meeting, i.e. on 23 March 2016, would be entitled to be registered in the shareholders' register of the company held by Euroclear Finland Oy. In addition, the right to participate in the general meeting requires that the shareholder on the basis of such shares has been registered into the temporary shareholders' register held by Euroclear Finland Oy at the latest by 1 April 2016, by 10:00 am. (EET). As regards nominee registered shares, this constitutes due registration for the Annual General Meeting.A holder of nominee registered shares is advised to request without delay necessary instructions regarding the registration in the temporary shareholders' register of the company, the issuing of proxy documents and registration for the Annual General Meeting from his/her custodian bank. The account management organization of the custodian bank has to register a holder of nominee registered shares, who wants to participate in the Annual General Meeting, into the temporary shareholders' register of the company at the latest by the time stated above.Further information on these matters can also be found on the company's website mentioned above.4. Participation in the Annual General Meeting for shareholder whose shares are registered in Euroclear Sweden ABA shareholder, whose shares are registered on the record date of the Annual General Meeting, 23 March 2016 in the register of the company's shareholders maintained by Euroclear Sweden AB, shall, to fulfill the requirements to attend the Annual General Meeting note the following:(i) the shareholder has to be entered in the register of the company's shareholders maintained by Euroclear Sweden AB on 23 March 2016, and(ii) the shareholder must contact Euroclear Sweden AB and request temporary registration in the shareholders' register held by Euroclear Finland Oy. Such request shall be submitted to Euroclear Sweden AB on a designated form available on the company's webpage www.munksjo.com/agm. The request must be received by Euroclear Sweden AB on 23 March 2016, at the latest.A shareholder whose shares are nominee registered in the register of the company's shareholders maintained by Euroclear Sweden AB, shall, in order to fulfill the requirement (i) above temporarily register his/her shares under his/her name in the register. A shareholder who wishes such temporary registration must contact his/her custodian bank well in advance before 23 April 2015 and ask the custodian bank to temporarily register the shareholder in the register of the company's shareholders maintained by Euroclear Sweden AB.5. Other instructions and informationOn the date of this notice to the Annual General Meeting, 11 February 2016, the total number of shares in Munksjo Oyj amounts to 51 061 581 and said shares have 51 061 581 votes in total.After the meeting coffee will be served.Stockholm, 11 February 2016MUNKSJO OYJThe Board of Directors
ADVA Optical Networking SE / Oscilloquartz Synchronizes Mobile TeleSystems' Network . Processed and transmitted by NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

Innovative PTP Frequency and Phase Synchronization Solutions Address Growing Demand for Next-Generation LTE Services

Moscow, Russia. February 11, 2016. Oscilloquartz (http://www.oscilloquartz.com/), an ADVA Optical Networking company, announced today that Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) has deployed its OSA 5548C (http://www.oscilloquartz.com/product-osa-5548c-ssu-714) synchronization supply units (SSU) and PTP grandmaster clock technology. MTS, the leading telecommunications group in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, is using the end-to-end timing solution to address strict frequency requirements in its nationwide network. The technology answers a boom in demand for applications that rely on precise timing such as multimedia conferencing, online gaming and video streaming. As well as providing frequency delivery for Long-Term Evolution (LTE) services, Oscilloquartz is preparing MTS's transportation network for phase synchronization. This will enable widespread deployment of LTE-TDD and LTE-A capabilities.

"We believe it's vital to work with a partner we know and trust. When it comes to traditional synchronization, the support and expertise we've always received from the Oscilloquartz team has helped us achieve a lot of success," said Sergey Zlobin, technical subdivision department director, MTS. "Now our customers are demanding even more. We have over a hundred million subscribers globally. They expect the highest quality and many want to be able to instantly stream films and use real-time video communication, wherever they are. Our business customers need access to multimedia applications that require highly accurate synchronization. We believe that harnessing the latest technology is the only way to keep pace with customer demand. That's why we've invested in a next-generation network ready for accurate synchronization of phase as well as frequency - ready for LTE-A."

"For many years, Oscilloquartz has provided traditional frequency synchronization for our national transport network," commented Dmitry Shevchenko, leading MTS synchronization expert. "By continuing to invest in Oscilloquartz technology and expertise, we're ensuring a seamless migration from legacy to next-generation timing. Now, in addition to highly accurate frequency information, phase data can be synchronized to within tolerances of less than a microsecond. This essential component for LTE-A and LTE-TDD services is achieved through grandmaster functionality at the edge of the backhaul network. Supporting both legacy interfaces and the latest PTP technology creates a scalable and highly accurate, end-to-end timing solution. Availability is also improved as the new solution is far less reliant on the GNSS."

"MTS is a company always looking for ways to offer more to their subscribers - always pushing the boundaries of what's possible," said Vladyslav Ivanov, business development director, Oscilloquartz. "Our team is intent on helping MTS achieve their ambitions. The task of delivering more to over 100 million customers spread over such an enormous network has been challenging but hugely rewarding. MTS's footprint extends across the entire country and the CIS. A lot of team work and all of our years of expertize has gone into the task of bringing next-generation synchronicity to an architecture like this. And, of course, our SSU and grandmaster clock technology makes the difference. With temperature-hardened design for total precision and superb holdover performance, it's enabled us to address the network's stringent timing demands."

Watch ADVA Optical Networking's latest video on assisted partial timing support for more information: http://youtu.be/M5KY1taktNg (http://youtu.be/M5KY1taktNg)

# # #

About Oscilloquartz

Oscilloquartz is a pioneer in time and frequency synchronization. We design, manufacture and deploy end-to- end synchronization systems that ensure the delivery and assurance of highly precise timing information over next-generation packet and legacy networks. As an ADVA Optical Networking company, we're creating new opportunities for tomorrow's networks. For more information, please visit us at: www.oscilloquartz.com. (http://www.oscilloquartz.com/)

About ADVA Optical Networking

At ADVA Optical Networking we're creating new opportunities for tomorrow's networks, a new vision for a connected world. Our intelligent telecommunications hardware, software and services have been deployed by several hundred service providers and thousands of enterprises. Over the past twenty years, our innovative connectivity solutions have helped to drive our customers' networks forward, helped to drive their businesses to new levels of success. We forge close working relationships with all our customers. As your trusted partner we ensure that we're always ready to exceed your networking expectations. For more information on our products and our team, please visit us at: www.advaoptical.com (http://www.advaoptical.com).

Published By:

ADVA Optical Networking SE, Munich, Germany

www.advaoptical.com (http://www.advaoptical.com)

For Press:

Gareth Spence

t +44 1904 699 358

public-relations(at)advaoptical.com (mailto:public-relations@advaoptical.com)

For Investors:

Stephan Rettenberger

t +49 89 890 665 854

investor-relations(at)advaoptical.com (mailto:investor-relations@advaoptical.com)




With less than 8 months to go until the 23rd World Energy Congress, the organising committee is delighted to confirm that media registration is now open. The Congress, which takes place in Istanbul between 9th and 13th October 2016 is regarded as the most influential and inclusive gathering of senior leaders from all segments of the energy community.

The theme of the Congress is "Embracing New Frontiers" and there are currently over 150 confirmed speakers including captains of the industry, such as Bob Dudley, Group Chief Executive BP and Johannes Teyssen, Chairman CEO E.ON, Heads of States and Ministers, and respected IGOs, such as Fatih Birol, Executive Director, International Energy Association. We are expecting over 50 energy ministers to attend and for there to be 100s of policy or business announcements over the 5 day event.

The Congress will be first global energy event to take place since COP21, and will provide a forum for energy leaders to collaborate on the next stages of developing a sustainable energy market.

Media delegates will benefit from unrivalled access to global leaders, interview booths and the media centre. Those who register before 30th April will be eligible for exclusive access to interview the Congress Ambassadors in the run up to the event.

Hasan Murat Mercan, President of the Turkish Member Committee, World Energy Council commented: "On behalf of Turkey, as the Turkish National Committee, we look forward to welcoming media delegates to Istanbul. Turkey is positioned at the crossroads of the most important energy markets at a time of profound global change in the energy debate to embrace new frontiers and are very proud to host the 23rd World Energy Congress."

For more information on the World Energy Congress and speakers, click here: http://www.wec2016istanbul.org.tr/

To register as a media delegate visit:https://secure.eventmagix.com/2016_wec_media/

For enquiries about media registration contact: mediaregistration@wec2016istanbul.org.tr

- ENDS-

Notes to Editors:

About the World Energy Council

Founded in 1923, the World Energy Council is the only truly global and inclusive forum for thought-leadership and tangible engagement committed to our sustainable energy future. Our network of 93 national committees represents over 3000 member organisations including governments, industry and expert institutions. Our mission is to promote the sustainable supply and use of energy for the greatest benefit of all. The World Energy Congress is the world's premier energy gathering.

About the World Energy Congress

The triennial World Energy Congress is the World Energy Council's global flagship event, is the premier international, multi-energy forum for participants to better understand energy issues and solutions from a global perspective.

The World Energy Congress has gained recognition since the first event in 1923 as the premier global forum for leaders and thinkers to debate solutions to energy issues. In addition to the discussions, the event provides an opportunity for executives to display their technologies and explore business opportunities.

For more information about the World Energy Congress 2016 and to register, visit: http://wec2016istanbul.org.tr/

Follow the Congress at @WECongress for regular updates.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160211005015/en/

Contacts:

Grayling

Roisin Miller

T +44 (0)20 7592 7922

M +44 (0)79 5078 3428
BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - At 3:15 am ET Thursday, the Federal Statistical Office is scheduled to release Swiss consumer prices for January. Prices are forecast to drop 1.3 percent annually, the same rate of decrease as seen in December. Ahead of the data, the Swiss franc showed mixed trading against its majors rivals. While the pound fell against the Swiss franc, it held steady against the euro, the U.S. dollar and the yen. As of 3:10 am ET, the Swiss franc was trading at 1.0974 against the euro, 1.4067 against the pound, 0.9707 against the U.S. dollar and 115.72 against the yen. 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.
BANGKOK, Feb. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Asia Internship Programme (AIP) is the first fully integrated internship provider in Southeast Asia. AIP is the leading company in their sector as they offer one-of-a-kind experiences to students in the frame of professional internships in booming economies across Southeast Asia. What makes them stand out is that their team fully immerses themselves throughout each students' process. Ken Jayaphorn, AIPGlobal.co's Co-Founder and Operations Director states: "It's the care that we give to each student. I personally interview every one myself and make sure that each of their [internship] position matches with their expectations. Even if the position is rare, we do everything we can to arrange it for the student."

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160211/332194

As such, AIP is not merely placing students on internship positions. AIP offers a student-centric service. By intensely interacting with each applicant, AIP creates a profile stating the interests and expectations of each individual. Subsequently, AIP leverages their expansive local network to create an internship position enabling the participants to develop their skill-set in line with their long-term career goals. Simon Osborne, Group Managing Director of AIP explains: "We are taking a bottom-up approach. We identify the skills each applicant requires to reach his long term career goals. Based on this profile, we organize an internship position that helps the student to acquire the appropriate skills."

AIP cooperates with a total number of more than 450 placement partners. Their network consists exclusively of high-profile corporations, living up to the highest professional standards. In addition to multinational corporations, AIP liaises with fast-growing startup-companies and leading NGOs. As Marcel Weder, Head of Strategy & Innovation at AIP remarks, the partnership network of AIP is very dynamic: "We promise to respond to the expectations of each individual applicant. Therefore, we need to constantly develop our network. If there is no appropriate position available among our placement partners to satisfy a specific request, we have to explore new opportunities." As such, AIP has placed the first international interns at major companies in Thailand, such as TICON Industrial Connection Plc. (TICON), a leading provider of high-quality rental factories and warehouses and Thai TV 3, a leading TV station. Ken Jayaphorn adds: "Most large public companies were initially reluctant to open up for foreign interns. It's usually bureaucracy that hampers the process. With our customized approach, we managed to overcome this barrier. Finally, we even managed to create a position at PTT Public Company Limited (PTT) -- a partly state-owned company that never employed any foreign interns prior to that."

There are a range of services offered to students under the AIP ecosystem, each designed to create an overall beneficial and meaningful internship experience. With Duke Language School (DLS), AIP has invested in a Thai language school. Participants have the chance to delve into the local culture. A language course, which makes part of the internship program, does not only facilitate the interns time abroad, it also increases their chances to be offered a full time position subsequent to their internship.

AIP is constantly looking to further improve their program. Marcel Weder comments, "We saw that many students' main career goal was to start up their own company. We set up an event called Startup Idol sponsored by Intouch's corporate VC InVent. Early stage startups can raise funds, giving students an opportunity to start their own business." Moreover, AIP has recently launched its internal pre-seed angel investment vehicle ADEPTO, supporting interns in connecting with the startup local community and possibly start their own venture.

Being a member of various leading Chambers of Commerce, AIP has access to frequent exclusive networking events. For those looking to secure a job in Thailand after their internship, these occasions provide the perfect opportunity to do so. Additionally, informal Meet-ups enable interns to engage with one another and meet people from all over the world.

As one of Southeast Asia's most rapidly growing business hubs, Thailand is attracting more foreign job seekers than ever before. An internship in the kingdom is a unique opportunity for students to experience this development and get first-hand knowledge of one of the most exciting economies globally. Simon Osborne, Group Managing Director at AIPGlobal.co describes the region as, "a dynamic emerging market that's uniquely positioned as the gateway to the ASEAN community." He adds, "Internships are a new paradigm in Thailand and AIP prides itself on popularizing it. We have been successful in educating corporations on how to design mutually beneficial internship programs by providing the trainees with meaningful and challenging tasks and we will continue doing so."

About AIPGlobal.co

Founded in Bangkok, Thailand, AIP is Southeast Asia's leading social enterprise in the field of experiential learning and internships. They strive to modernize the world of professional internships in Thailand with their wide range of services and partners. AIP is specialized in creating tailor-made internships in Thailand matching the students' interests while providing them with the resources necessary to accelerate their careers.

For reviews, images or information please contact:

Karin Lohitnavy at Midas PR, karin@midas-pr.com, +66 86 044 2145




BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - Lithuania's producer prices continued to decline at the start of the year, though at a slower pace than in the previous month, figures from the Department of Statistics showed Thursday. The producer price index fell 6.1 percent year-over-year in January, following a 7.9 percent decrease in December. The annual drop in January was largely caused by a 24.0 percent plunge in prices of refined petroleum products. Month-on-month, producer prices slid 1.6 percent in January, after a 2.2 percent fall in the preceding month. It was the second consecutive monthly decrease. 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.
CHESTER, England, February 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Leading provider improves customer experience using Zapier to connect multiple apps with its SMS messaging platform

Award-winning mobile messaging provider Textlocal have today confirmed their new integration with web automation platform Zapier. This new integration allows users to connect their Textlocal Messenger account with over five hundred business apps for seamless SMS automation.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160211/332201LOGO )

The Zapier integration with Messenger includes the ability to send messages, manage contact groups and process inbound messages, making it the most comprehensive SMS integration available on the Zapier platform.

Messenger includes a range of automation features as standard, such as message scheduling, staggered sends and automatic responses. This new integration with Zapier allows for easy connection to the wide range of software platforms and services that businesses need to run their day to day operations, without the need for expensive developer knowledge and resource.

Textlocal provides API documentation for its Messenger platform free of charge on its website, encouraging developers to integrate advanced SMS functionality into their own services and software. The Zapier integration opens up the ability to integrate for users with no programming knowledge.

Textlocal Marketing Director, Kath Dewar, said: "We're delighted to announce our partnership and integration with Zapier. We currently have Messenger integrations in place with the likes of Zendesk and Microsoft Dynamics, plus more niche platforms like practice management software RX Works and salon booking platform Salon Advantage. Zapier means our customers can now connect with over five hundred apps, from CRM and CMS platforms to event and project management platforms, in a few simple clicks."

NOTES TO THE EDITOR:

About Textlocal

Textlocalis a leading provider of cloud-based mobile messaging services tobusinesses, enabling them to communicate with customers, staff and group members more effectively.

Ouraward winningplatformis at the forefront of business communications, allowing customers to harness the latest capabilities in mobile messaging.With direct connections to the UK networks, our range of SMS services help you get your message across.

We are recognised as a trusted partner, integrating with some of the biggest software and automation platforms in Europe.

Based in Chester and Malvern,Textlocalsupportsover 165,000businesses, organisations and member groupsacross the UK and Europe,from local retailers and organisations to larger brands including Debenhams, Paddy Power, Greenpeace, Groupon and P&O Ferries.

Information: http://www.textlocal.com/sms-api-integrations/zapier
11 February 2016 Announcement No. 11/2016Kim Bruhn-Petersen, Topdanmark's COO of non-life insurance, will be 60 in April 2016 and has announced that he wants to resign. Consequently, it has been agreed with Kim Bruhn-Petersen that he resigns as COO on 1 March 2016, but will continue in the Group until 30 June 2016. On 1 March, Marianne Wier and Brian Rothemejer Jacobsen will join Topdanmark's Executive Board.Since 2013, Marianne Wier, who is 52 years old and a lawyer, has been Director of Topdanmark's claims handling. Previously, Marianne Wier has held executive positions in, among other businesses, the IT industry with Damgaard, Navision and Microsoft. Marianne Wier's managerial responsibilities will be claims handling, project processes and IT. Additionally, Marianne Wier will be responsible for Topdanmark's digital development.Since 2009, Brian Rothemejer Jacobsen, who is 52 years old and holds an MBA from Henley, has been CEO of Topdanmark Livsforsikring (Topdanmark's life insurance company). Brian Rothemejer Jacobsen's managerial responsibilities will be the non-life insurance business areas (Personal, Partners, SME & Industrial and Agricultural), Life Insurance and Marketing.Besides Marianne Wier and Brian Rothemejer Jacobsen, the Executive Board will continue to comprise Christian Sagild, CEO, and Lars Thykier, CFO."This is the right time for me to leave Topdanmark. I've been in the Group for 27 years, and the most recent 10 years on the Executive Board. I have had many really good and exciting years in Topdanmark together with my employees and colleagues. In the COO job function, the business must be carried on, and regular renewal is necessary. In my opinion, it is getting more and more challenging to add something new to Topdanmark, and therefore, I believe that introducing new people on the Executive Board is the right thing to do", says Kim Bruhn-Petersen."I want to thank Kim Bruhn-Petersen for his great and valuable efforts for Topdanmark during 27 years. I respect Kim Bruhn Petersen's decision to leave Topdanmark. Over the years, he has ensured disciplined insurance operations which have generated good technical results and helped making Topdanmark more customer-oriented," says Sren Thorup Srensen, Chairman of Topdanmark's Board of Directors.Christian Sagild, CEO of Topdanmark, adds: "I welcome Marianne Wier and Brian Rothemejer Jacobsen on the Executive Board. Both of them have the qualifications needed to continue Topdanmark's focused strategy to improve its position in the Danish insurance market.Please direct any queries to: Christian Sagild Chief Executive Officer Direct tel.: +45 4474 4450Steffen Heegaard Group Communications and IR Director Direct tel.: +45 4474 4017, mobile: +45 4025 3524Topdanmark A/S Cvr-nr. 78040017 Borupvang 4 DK-2750 Ballerup
OTTAWA (dpa-AFX) - Manulife Financial Corp. (MFC.TO, MFC) reported Thursday that its fourth-quarter net income attributed to shareholders was C$246 million, compared to C$640 million in 2014. Earnings per share were C$0.11, lower than C$0.33 a year ago. Net income was significantly impacted by C$250 million of charges with the sharp decline in oil and gas prices. Core earnings were C$859 million, compared with C$713 million last year. Core earnings per share were C$0.42, compared to C$0.36. On average, 14 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of C$0.46 per share. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items Total revenues declined to C$10.389 billion from last year's C$15.980 billion. Analysts were expecting revenues of C$12.99 billion. Donald Guloien, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, 'This was a disappointing year in terms of net income, largely due to sharp mark-to-market declines in oil and gas prices, diminishing an otherwise great year. Our core earnings, before giving effect to investment-related impacts, rose 28%, which was ahead of plan, and highlights Manulife's powerful operating momentum.' Looking ahead, the company said it will be difficult to achieve the C$4 billion core earnings objective set for 2016, unless energy prices strengthen. The company said it expect that some macroeconomic headwinds and energy price volatility will persist. Separately, Manulife Board of Directors announced an increase of 9% or 1.5 cents per share to its quarterly shareholders' dividend resulting in a dividend of 18.5 cents per share. 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.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/11/16 -- (All dollar amounts are in US dollars unless stated otherwise)

FIRST MAJESTIC SILVER CORP. (NYSE: AG)(TSX: FR)(FRANKFURT: FMV)(BVM: AG) (the "Company" or "First Majestic") is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement with The Bank of Nova Scotia and Investec Bank PLC for a Senior Secured Credit Facility (the "Facility") consisting of a $25 million revolving credit line and a $35 million term loan. The proceeds of the Facility are being used to settle the Company's existing lead and zinc prepayment facility with Bank of America Merrill Lynch ("BAML") and to replace the $15 million revolving credit line the Company assumed when it acquired SilverCrest Mines (the "SilverCrest Credit Line").

Effective with this transaction, the Company has eliminated its base metal hedge with a mark to market gain of $5.0 million. The Company is settling the BAML prepayment facility debt with a cash payment of $31.5 million from proceeds of the $35 million term loan. The remaining $3.5 million net of transaction fees is added to the Company's treasury for general and administrative purposes. The SilverCrest Credit Line was due to be repaid no later than June 30, 2016. Effective with the new Facility, the repayment of the credit line has been deferred to February 2019, and an additional $10 million has been added to establish a $25 million revolving credit line for the Company.

"The announcement of today's debt restructuring, along with the decision to lock in our $5.0 million gain on our BAML lead and zinc hedge, and to push out the settlement of the revolving credit line by three years, immediately improves the Company's working capital position and provides significant financial flexibility to continue pursuing our corporate objectives," stated Keith Neumeyer, President and CEO. "Our strengthened balance sheet and diverse portfolio of producing silver mines provides us with the opportunity to access funds at a low cost of capital."

The Facility has a three year payback period which is based on terms and conditions consistent with financings of this nature. The term loan provides for a six-month repayment holiday, and a three-year payback period consisting of 11 quarterly payments. Further details will be communicated in the Company's 2015 annual MD&A, and in the first quarter financial results of the Company.

First Majestic is a mining company focused on silver production in Mexico and is aggressively pursuing the development of its existing mineral property assets and the pursuit through acquisition of additional mineral assets which contribute to the Company achieving its corporate growth objectives.

FIRST MAJESTIC SILVER CORP.

Keith Neumeyer, President & CEO

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This news release includes certain "Forward-Looking Statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities laws. When used in this news release, the words "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "target", "plan", "forecast", "may", "schedule" and similar words or expressions, identify forward-looking statements or information. These forward-looking statements or information relate to, among other things: the use of the Facilities.

These statements reflect the Company's current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information and the Company has made assumptions and estimates based on or related to many of these factors. Such factors include, without limitation: fluctuations in the spot and forward price of silver, gold, base metals or certain other commodities (such as natural gas, fuel oil and electricity); fluctuations in the currency markets (such as the Canadian dollar and Mexican peso versus the U.S. dollar); changes in national and local government, legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments in Canada, Mexico; operating or technical difficulties in connection with mining or development activities; risks and hazards associated with the business of mineral exploration, development and mining (including environmental hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected formations, pressures, cave-ins and flooding); risks relating to the credit worthiness or financial condition of suppliers, refiners and other parties with whom the Company does business; inability to obtain adequate insurance to cover risks and hazards; and the presence of laws and regulations that may impose restrictions on mining, including those currently enacted in Mexico; employee relations; relationships with and claims by local communities and indigenous populations; availability and increasing costs associated with mining inputs and labour; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, including the risks of obtaining necessary licenses, permits and approvals from government authorities; diminishing quantities or grades of mineral reserves as properties are mined; the Company's title to properties; and the factors identified under the caption "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Information Form, under the caption "Risks Relating to First Majestic's Business".

Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements or information. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be anticipated, estimated or intended. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements or information to reflect changes in assumptions or changes in circumstances or any other events affecting such statements or information, other than as required by applicable law.

Contacts:

First Majestic Silver Corp.

Toll free: 1.866.529.2807

(604) 688-3033

(604) 639-8873 (FAX)

info@firstmajestic.com

www.firstmajestic.com




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.
Two-Year Partnership Will Drive Audience Engagement and Revenue Goals for Leading UK Publisher Sites Including The Mirror, Daily Record, and Manchester Evening NewsNEW YORK and LONDON, 2016-02-11 13:00 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Taboola, the leading global discovery platform, today announced an exclusive, two-year partnership with Trinity Mirror plc, one of the UK's largest multimedia publishers. The collaboration will see Trinity Mirror utilise Taboola Native, a white-labelled native advertising solution that empowers sales teams to promote both on-site and off-site sponsored content campaigns, nationally and locally around the country.Trinity Mirror will seamlessly integrate Taboola's personalised content recommendations across its network of over 28 desktop and mobile sites, including The Mirror, Daily Record, and Manchester Evening News, driving audience engagement and revenue goals for the publisher.With over 22 million unique monthly visitors, Trinity Mirror's regional and national titles reach many sought-after audiences across the UK. Prominent content recommendations alongside editorial, powered by Taboola's predictive engine, will present these visitors with promoted stories from around the web, creating value for users and generating significant new revenue streams for the publisher.Both companies will also be collaborating on new strategies built around Full Page Personalisation, using Taboola's predictive technology to segment audiences and adjust the on-site user experience in real-time."As our team at Trinity Mirror continues to grow and develop our digital properties, we are committed to delivering not only the most compelling content to our readers, but also a best-in-class user experience," said Piers North, Strategy Director at Trinity Mirror. "Our partnership with Taboola allows us to tap into their leading discovery technology, develop new strategies around increasing audience engagement, and generate substantial new revenue streams."Taboola's predictive engine analyses hundreds of real-time signals (such as geography, device type, referral source, and more) to predict the top handful of items a user may want to consume next. With headquarters in New York City and its European operations based in London, Taboola has inked partnerships with several leading UK and European publishers, including Daily Mail, ESI Media, Axel Springer, Future Publishing, Johnston Press, NextRadioTV, Lagardere, Eurosport, Marie Claire, and Purch."It's an honour to partner with such an esteemed media company as Trinity Mirror and its portfolio of truly iconic brands," said Adam Singolda, founder and CEO at Taboola. "Over the past two years, we've invested heavily in building a holistic platform that can support a variety of innovative strategies around audience, engagement, and monetisation, and we're excited to work with the Trinity Mirror team on unlocking more of those opportunities in the years ahead."About Taboola Taboola is the leading discovery platform, serving over 300 billion recommendations to over 750 million unique visitors every month on some of the Web's most innovative publisher sites, including USA TODAY, Business Insider, Chicago Tribune, and The Weather Channel. Headquartered in New York City, Taboola also has offices in Pasadena, London, Tel Aviv, New Delhi, Sao Paulo, and Bangkok. Publishers, marketers, and agencies leverage Taboola to retain users on their sites, monetize their traffic, and distribute their content to drive high-quality audiences. Learn more at www.taboola.com and follow @taboola on Twitter.About Trinity Mirror Trinity Mirror is the largest news publishing company in the UK combining both national and regional titles. We publish more than 160 newspaper titles across the UK & Ireland, from the national presence of the Daily Mirror, the Daily Record, the Sunday Mirror, the People and the Sunday Mail, to local favourites like the Manchester Evening News, Bristol Post, Liverpool Echo and Nottingham Post. Our network of more than 100 websites provide 24/7 coverage of the news, sport and showbiz stories that matter to more than 120m unique browsers every month.Media Contacts: Taboola press@taboola.comHarry Carter Trinity Mirror harry.carter@trinitymirror.com
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/11/16 -- Veniam, the company that is delivering the Internet of Moving Things, today announced a $22 million Series B round led by Verizon Ventures with new investors Cisco Investments, Orange Digital Ventures, and Yamaha Motor Ventures joining the round. Existing investors True Ventures, Union Square Ventures, and Cane Investments also participated. To date, Veniam has raised $27 million.

Veniam's disruptive solutions for connected transportation and smart city applications address the growing challenges of rapid urbanization by deploying a new kind of wireless Internet infrastructure that alleviates the digital divide, generates valuable data and improves city life. The funding will enable Veniam to expand its full-stack platform and deliver managed services over networks of connected vehicles to be deployed in urban fleets, ports, airports, factories and other transportation ecosystems around the world, including New York, Singapore, Barcelona, and London. Veniam will also grow its teams in Silicon Valley, Porto (Portugal) and Singapore to continue developing its innovative hardware, software and cloud components while delivering city-scale mesh networks of vehicles that expand wireless coverage and act as mobile sensors for a wide range of applications. Key use cases include fully managed mobile Wi-Fi hotspots with advertising, onboard diagnostics and video, smart city applications and real-time monitoring and control of mobile assets in industrial spaces. Building on the success of the world's largest network of connected vehicles, currently operating in Porto, Portugal with 300,000 individual Wi-Fi users, Veniam aims to improve quality of life in cities by providing unprecedented real-time connectivity and urban data for consumers, commercial fleets and city decision makers.

"Citywide mesh networks of connected vehicles and other moving things are a radically new concept and we are excited to support Veniam in enabling the smart cities of the future," said Ed Ruth, Manager at Verizon Ventures. "Veniam's hardware enables uninterrupted 4G and 5G connectivity, and their cloud-based services empower both private enterprises and city services to act upon valuable security, safety and operational efficiency data to improve the quality of life for all citizens."

Veniam's technology products and platforms combine DSRC connected vehicle technology, 4G, Wi-Fi, and mesh networking to provide seamless handoffs between network infrastructure and vehicles, thereby enabling ubiquitous, reliable, and low cost connectivity, while accelerating next generation 5G heterogeneous networks. The company's technology also provides cloud-managed solutions to improve fleet operations and solve urban problems.

"The convergence of urban mobility systems, IoT wireless technologies, geo-referenced data, and soon the autonomous vehicle, is completely disrupting the way we transport people and goods," said Joao Barros, founder and CEO of Veniam. "Veniam is proud to lead this convergence by expanding wireless coverage and data services for people, vehicles and moving things, thereby generating new applications, revenue streams and business models for telecom operators and the Industry 4.0."

Today, Veniam's managed services turn moving vehicles into active nodes of the Internet, thereby offering new ways to leverage commercial fleets and city infrastructure for better services and quality of life.

Veniam enables public and private fleets to collect massive amounts of high definition data from their vehicles in a cost-effective manner.

Veniam allows smart cities to collect urban data at a massive scale by turning vehicles into mobile sensors and transporting the data from fixed city sensors via the mobile mesh to the cloud.

Veniam helps provide high quality Wi-Fi to fleet passengers. Mobile data usage is expected to increase dramatically - and cellular networks are going to be overburdened by this data usage. Veniam helps offload mobile data usage from congested areas through the innovative use of DSRC and delay-tolerant networking.





Veniam's networking technology is uniquely positioned to become a platform of choice for connected vehicles, enabling them to deploy DSRC-based safety applications, run software updates over the air and deliver secure communications between each vehicle and any wireless device in its vicinity. With Veniam's solutions, transportation operators will hold the key enabler for new modes of on-demand transportation and future mobility services, including autonomous vehicles.

Veniam was founded by technologists and visionaries Joao Barros, Professor at University of Porto, Portugal, Susana Sargento, Associate Professor at University of Aveiro, Portugal, Robin Chase, founder and former CEO of Zipcar, and Roy Russell, Zipcar founding CTO.

About Veniam

Veniam is building the Internet of Moving Things. We are a leading full-stack provider of vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2X) solutions, supporting a wide range of fleet services and smart city applications. By turning vehicles into Wi-Fi hotspots and connecting them securely to each other and the infrastructure, Veniam builds city-scale vehicular networks that expand wireless coverage and collect terabytes of urban data. Veniam's cloud-based managed services enable private enterprises and cities to acquire, analyze and act upon valuable onboard data to improve safety, security and operational efficiency. Operating the world's largest live vehicle network deployment in the world, Veniam is providing managed services for smart city operations through a fleet of hundreds of vehicles in Portugal, providing free Wi-Fi to hundreds of thousands of users and millions of sessions. Veniam is backed by leading companies and venture capital firms. Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

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Kirsten Maynard

Sparkpr

415.350.4147

Email Contact




VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/11/16 -- Nevada Copper Corp. (TSX: NCU) ("Nevada Copper" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement (the "Agreement") with NV Energy to conduct a study of the potential to develop a solar energy generation project on Nevada Copper's privately-owned land ("Solar Study"). This land is adjacent to the Company's proposed Pumpkin Hollow copper development project. Additional information on NV Energy is included below.

Nevada Copper expects this Solar Study to be completed within three months. Nevada Copper and NV Energy seek to evaluate, at a scoping level, the feasibility of developing a solar facility on private land owned by Nevada Copper that is available for solar generation facilities. Subject to the results of the Study, the parties would have an opportunity to enter into an agreement to pursue a solar development opportunity. The Solar Study will be done at no cost to the Company, in consideration of which, a 90-day exclusivity period was granted to NV Energy. After the 90-day exclusivity period, if no development agreement has been mutually agreed after good-faith efforts, the Company will be free to solicit interest from other parties.

Giulio Bonifacio, the CEO of Nevada Copper commented on the Agreement: "Nevada Copper is very interested in developing solar energy on its project area, both to supply power to the mine, and to deliver power to the grid. This presents another significant opportunity that is the direct result of the successful passage of the land bill which was signed into law by President Obama and resulted in receipt of all permits to construct a mine.

"Additionally the current zoning of these private lands owned by the Company allows for solar development and has no environmental or engineering constraints. The Solar Study will provide site-specific evaluation of the solar potential on our lands at no cost to the Company and will prove beneficial in all discussions regarding future development of the solar development opportunity. Initial investigations indicate the potential for up to 500 MW of solar generation on our project landholdings surplus to our mining needs."

Nevada Copper successfully collaborated with the City of Yerington and Lyon County in 2015 to implement the purchase of federal lands by the City and in October 2015 the City re-conveyed and deeded 9,145 acres to the Company. The Company's private land surface rights now total 10,683 acres (43 km2). With the completion of the land conveyance, Nevada Copper continues to advance financing discussions to support development of the Pumpkin Hollow copper project, while also considering other commercial and industrial development opportunities.

Solar power generation was one of the key industrial opportunities afforded by the Company's acquisition of the large private land package. This is due to both the industrial zoning of the entire site and lack of any requirements for land use permits, as well as the high solar potential of the area. According to data published by the National Renewable Energy Lab ("NREL"), the Pumpkin Hollow project area, has a high level of solar irradiation, 6.5-7.0 kilowatt hours per square meter per day (kW-hr/m2/day).

Depending on the ultimate scope of the Pumpkin Hollow copper mine development, the Company estimates that 2,000-4,000 acres of land adjacent to, and outside of, the area of proposed mine facilities could be utilized for solar generation. Based on the NREL solar irradiation data, a 200 megawatt (MW) typical solar photovoltaic project in the Yerington area would require 1,600-2,000 acres of land. This implies a potential for up 500 MW of solar power development capacity. Evaluation of energy transmission options would be part of the Solar Study. Solar energy generated at the project could be used at the site and/or transmitted into the grid via existing high voltage transmission lines located east of the project area, or via other routes. A power line corridor connecting the project to transmission lines is part of the proposed copper project development plan and the Company acquired fee title to that land as part of the land conveyance.

The land proposed for solar development is privately owned by Nevada Copper and has been zoned M-1 Industrial by the City of Yerington. This zoning allows for solar development and has no environmental or engineering constraints for such a development. The land is also close proximity to federal and state highways and other infrastructure. With such a potential solar project development, the Pumpkin Hollow copper project would help enhance renewable energy development in Nevada. The Nevada Copper mine project and an adjacent solar project also could realize mutual benefit with potential shared grid-connection costs. If found to be feasible, a solar power development could be developed as a standalone operation, or as part of the proposed copper mine development at Pumpkin Hollow.

About NV Energy

NV Energy, Inc. provides a wide range of energy services to 1.3 million customers throughout Nevada and nearly 40 million tourists annually. NV Energy is a holding company whose principal subsidiaries, Nevada Power Company and Sierra Pacific Power Company, are doing business as NV Energy. The company is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Additional information regarding NV Energy, a unit of Berkshire Hathaway Energy is included in the following link: (http://www.berkshirehathawayenergyco.com/our-businesses/nv-energy)

NEVADA COPPER CORP.

Giulio T. Bonifacio, President & CEO

We seek safe harbour.

Contacts:

Nevada Copper Corp.

Eugene Toffolo

VP, Investor Relations & Communications

604-683-8266

Toll free: 1-877-648-8266

etoffolo@nevadacopper.com



Nevada Copper Corp.

Robert McKnight, P.Eng., MBA

Executive Vice President & CFO

604-683-1309

bmcknight@nevadacopper.com




NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 02/11/16 -- When it comes to pleasing their investors, hedge funds need to do one thing above all else: make money. That's according to the results of Institutional Investor's Alpha's latest Hedge Fund Report Card survey.

Most of the top funds on this year's Report Card produced strong returns for their investors in 2015. But while performance is the most important factor when judging a hedge fund, according to survey respondents, it's not the only thing. Risk management and alignment of interests are also among the most important factors, and hedge fund managers also need to do well in nonperformance categories to earn a high score on the Report Card.

London hedge fund firm Marshall Wace soars from No. 26 to No. 1 this year. The firm posted double-digit gains in two of its funds last year. KKR & Co. acquired a 24.9 percent stake in the global long-short specialist last summer. Investors also gave the firm high marks for risk management, transparency and infrastructure, among other factors.

This year, 12 firms scored an A grade, with most of these firms also scoring high marks in the areas of risk management and infrastructure.

Rounding out the top five are:

The Children's Investment Fund Management UK: The London-based activist firm headed by Chris Hohn scored highly for performance, alignment of interests and transparency, among other factors.

Adage Capital Management: Investors rewarded the Boston-based firm for its highly favorable fee terms, ranking them No. 1 for alignment of interests.

Citadel: Kenneth Griffin's firm got an A in six categories, including alpha generation, having posted a fifth-straight year of double-digit gains in its flagship multistrategy funds.

Two Sigma: The New York-based firm founded by former D.E. Shaw colleagues John Overdeck and David Siegel has posted strong gains in its main funds over the past two years; employs a quantitative, computer-driven strategy.

The bottom four firms, all of which took home an F on the report card, are:

Brevan Howard Asset Management: The big UK-based macro firm co-founded by Alan Howard just posted its second consecutive losing year in its flagship hedge fund.

Perry Capital: Event-driven and merger arbitrage specialist Richard Perry's New York firm lost money for a second straight year, in a booming year for mergers and acquisitions.

Greenlight Capital: David Einhorn's firm lost 20 percent last year in its main fund and scored poorly in alpha generation, investor relations and liquidity.

BlueCrest Capital Management: Michael Platt's UK-based firm, which is returning capital to outside investors, only posted slight losses in its flagship fund and slight gains in others, but investors gave it poor marks for alignment of interests and transparency, among other factors.

The full Hedge Fund Report Card ranking is available in the Winter 2016 edition of Institutional Investor's Alpha and online for subscribers at www.institutionalinvestorsalpha.com.

Survey results reflect the opinions of pension funds, endowments, foundations, funds of funds and other institutional investors. Each year we ask these investors to rate the firms in our annual Hedge Fund 100 ranking of the world's largest hedge funds. Only investors that had money in the 100 hedge fund firms in the 12 months before polling are surveyed.

Investors were asked to grade the firms on eight different attributes (alpha generation, risk management, alignment of interests, infrastructure, transparency, independent oversight, investor relations, and liquidity terms). They were also asked to rate the importance of these factors; the higher a factor rank, the heavier it was weighted in the overall scoring process. For the fourth straight year, investors ranked alpha generation, risk management and alignment of interests as the three most important factors when grading a hedge fund.

For more information, visit the 2016 Hedge Fund Report Card.

About Institutional Investor's Alpha

Institutional Investor's Alpha is a leading provider of news, analysis and rankings for the hedge fund industry, delivering the most insightful, entertaining and authoritative published content about hedge funds online and in print. Alpha is a publication of Institutional Investor, a leading financial publishing and information company for close to 50 years. Visit www.institutionalinvestorsalpha.com for more information.

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Contact:

Michael Peltz

Editor

212-224-3152

mpeltz@institutionalinvestor.com




MINNEAPOLIS, MN -- (Marketwired) -- 02/11/16 -- Crelow, an online marketplace that empowers tenants and their reps to control their search for the perfect office space, is launching an additional service for landlord representatives. When they sign up for the service, landlord reps will receive an SMS text message whenever a new Bid Request hits the Crelow Deal Board. The service is being rolled out first in the Houston area.

Jim Simpson, Crelow CEO, said, "Landlord reps make their living by leasing office space to tenants who need it. But it's not always easy for landlord reps to find those tenants, or for tenants and tenant reps to find the office space that will be the best fit for them. The industry needs a faster and easier way for the two sides of the market to find each other and do business."

The new SMS texting service is designed to save time and make that process more efficient. Tenants or their reps post office-space wants and needs on the Crelow Deal Board in the form of Bid Requests. Whenever a new Bid Request appears on the Deal Board, Crelow sends a text to landlord reps who have signed up, alerting them to the new Bid Request. If a rep has space that matches the Bid Request, the rep can submit a "Quick Bid" or mini-proposal, which can be done in minutes on a tablet or smartphone. There is no cost to the rep for the texting service.

"This new SMS texting service is one more way that Crelow is making the process of finding and leasing office space more efficient and effective," said Simpson.

The new service is now in operation in Houston. Landlord reps in Houston sign up by texting CRELOW to (832) 380-8021. Crelow expects to roll the service out to additional markets in the coming weeks.

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SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/11/16 -- FinancialForce, the leading cloud ERP provider on the Salesforce App Cloud, today announced the appointment of Joe Fuca as president of Worldwide Field Operations to lead and expand the global sales organization and Customers for Life, the company's services arm. This announcement follows a milestone year in which the company surpassed 1,000 customers and achieved approximately 60% in subscription revenue growth year-over-year.

"I am really pleased to join a company that established itself early as a leader in adopting a customer-first mindset. In my experience, customer success is the ultimate metric by which a business should measure itself. It reflects whether products are well aligned with customer needs and support is accessible to answer questions effectively, while also maintaining sales sold an accurate vision and delivered on customer expectations," said Fuca. "Moving forward, we will continue to empower our customers to be wildly successful."

Evident from customer and revenue growth, FinancialForce captured a greater share of the growing cloud ERP market in 2015, and continued its momentum in enterprise-level deals and multi-app sales across its suite of ERP applications including Financial Management, Professional Services Automation (PSA) and Human Capital Management (HCM). Notable new enterprise customer wins include UK Financial Conduct Authority, Guidewire, and LiquidHub.

"We finished 2015 with our strongest quarter ever in terms of bookings and net new customers. We have consistently kept the customer at the core of everything we do, which has fueled our growth to date," said Jeremy Roche, president and CEO of FinancialForce. "Joe's track record and customer philosophy will reinforce this approach by aligning every part of our organization with our customer-centric vision."

"I am pleased to see another strong year and such a strategic executive appointment from FinancialForce," said Mike Rosenbaum, executive vice president of Sales Cloud at Salesforce and member of the FinancialForce Board. "In my experience working with Joe, he has the right leadership style and track record in building successful teams. He will be instrumental as FinancialForce looks to continue its fast pace of growth."

Fuca brings over 25 years of experience in leading and transforming sales operations within high-growth companies, leveraging his customer-centric philosophy to consistently improve customer satisfaction and revenue. Most recently, he served as senior vice president of worldwide sales for DocuSign where he oversaw the sales infrastructure responsible for the company's tenfold revenue growth. Fuca also held senior executive roles at McAfee (now Intel Security), MarketLive, PeopleSoft and Evolve. In his new role, Fuca will oversee FinancialForce's global field operations and drive customer satisfaction by further uniting sales, professional services and support worldwide.

FinancialForce now operates in seven offices worldwide, including newly launched offices in Sydney and Chicago, with nearly 700 employees.

About FinancialForce

FinancialForce delivers ERP at Customer Speed. Built on the Salesforce App Cloud, FinancialForce ERP equips customer-centric businesses with a unified platform that delivers ERP and CRM on a single cloud. Our Financial Management, Human Capital Management (HCM), and Professional Services Automation (PSA) apps allow businesses to increase the speed at which they operate and be more responsive along every touch point of a customer's journey. Founded in 2009 and headquartered in San Francisco, FinancialForce is backed by leading global institutions Salesforce, Technology Crossover Ventures, Advent International and UNIT4.

Media Contacts:

Sandra Lo

Senior Director of Public Relations

slo@financialforce.com



Leigh Ann Benicewicz

The Bateman Group

financialforce@bateman-group.com




LLamasoft Supply Chain Guru Will be Standard Supply Chain Modeling Platform for Siemens Building Technologies Division

LLamasoft, the global leader in supply chain design software solutions, has announced that Siemens Building Technologies Division has selected LLamasoft Supply Chain Guru as the standard application for supply chain design. The Siemens Building Technologies Division headquartered in Zug, Switzerland is the world leader in the market for safe and secure, energy-efficient and environment-friendly buildings and infrastructures. As technology partner, service provider, system integrator and product vendor, Building Technologies has offerings for safety and security as well as building automation, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) and energy management.

"We needed a strong modeling technology platform as well as a partner with a global presence to help guide us in building an innovative supply chain design," said Sven Markert, Senior Vice President Supply Chain Logistics. "With its integrated optimization and simulation platform and growing community of users, LLamasoft was the best choice for Siemens' BT supply chain network."

"LLamasoft is very excited to support Siemens Building Technologies," added LLamasoft Senior Vice President of Global Sales Bob McFarland. "They are an excellent and well-recognized brand throughout the world and we are eager to partner with them to further improve and extend their supply chain as a competitive differentiator."

About LLamasoft, Inc.

LLamasoft supply chain optimization software enables companies across a wide range of industries to model, optimize and simulate their supply chain network, leading to major improvements in cost, service, sustainability and risk mitigation. Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, LLamasoft is a leader in supply chain excellence and innovation, advancing technology focused on continuous improvement of enterprise supply chains for the world's largest organizations.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160211005353/en/

Contacts:

LLamasoft, Inc.

Ginger Stegmier

ginger.stegmier@llamasoft.com

734.669.3215
LONDON, February 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Named Smart Energy Data Management and Solutions Award Winner

ONZO has won The Meter Data Management and Solutions Award at the 7th European Smart Energy Awards 2016. The ceremony, hosted by Oliver Kinross, an international business research organization, was held on the 28th of January in London's Lancaster Hotel, and forms part of Europe's established Smart Energy Summit.

The European Smart Metering Awards recognize the achievements of solution providers and utilities, with award entries assessed and judged by an independent panel of experts from utilities across Europe."In the fast changing world, we will require our systems to learn and make experience-based decisions if we are to truly capture the value from our data -- and ONZO, the winner organization, has done this for the industry quite comprehensively," the judges said.

ONZO's Head of Product and Innovation, Peter Jacobs, and Head of Data Science, Dr Katie Russell, were on hand to accept the award, in front of over 250 Europe industry leaders. Joining other winners on the night such as British Gas, EON and Chameleon Technology, Onzo were credited with providing "clever algorithms and products which could change the industry."

Spencer Rigler, CEO of ONZO said, "Ourgoal over the past 12 months has been to position ONZOas an enabler for utilities to harness stronger relationships with their customers through our innovative data analytic capabilities. It is thisreputationof deliveringricher, highly accurate and accessible data analysis that has earned usthis award."

About ONZO

ONZO is a global leader in consumer energy data and analytics. ONZO combines the science of energy analytics withload disaggregation, lifestylebehaviour analysis and probabilistic forecasting to give utilities and their customers unprecedented insights into how, where and when energy is used. Leveraging granular smart meter data, ONZO'spatentedalgorithms result in richer, highly accurate, customer-specific insights with actionable outcomes that help utilities improve customer engagement and energy efficiency, while reducing churn and creating new revenue opportunities.

Visit http://www.ONZO.com
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/11/16 -- Atlantic Gold Corporation (TSX VENTURE: AGB) ("Atlantic" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Company has entered into an agreement (the "Agreement") with the Province of Nova Scotia (the "Province") in respect of the leasing of certain parcels of land owned by the Province, situated within the footprint of the Company's Moose River Consolidated Project ("MRC Project") for a period of 10 years. The Company now has all surface and sub-surface rights necessary to progress the MRC Project to construction, subject to the finalization of project financing.

The parcels of land under lease cover the mining area within the Touquoy deposit, as well as all facilities and other infrastructure required to process ore from Touquoy, and eventually from Beaver Dam.

The Agreement may be renewed for a further 10 year term with written notice at least 3 months prior to the expiry date of the Agreement, provided that Atlantic has complied with the terms and conditions of the Agreement to the satisfaction of the Province, and provided that Atlantic is in compliance with the Mineral Lease covering its Touquoy deposit. The finalization of the Agreement will allow for the commencement of clearing related activities at the Touquoy site.

Steven Dean, Chairman and CEO commented, "Atlantic is pleased to finalize terms for a definitive lease agreement with the Province of Nova Scotia. The Province and Atlantic have established a positive working relationship over the past several months and will continue to work together to progress the MRC Project to development and production, resulting in a landmark step with respect to gold mining investment and economic development in the Province".

Further updates will be provided in due course.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Steven Dean, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

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.

Forward-Looking Statements:

This release contains certain "forward looking statements" and certain "forward-looking information" as defined under applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws. Forward-looking statements and information can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may", "will", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe", "continue", "plans" or similar terminology. Forward-looking statements and information are not historical facts, are made as of the date of this press release, and include, but are not limited to, statements regarding discussions of future plans, guidance, projections, objectives, estimates and forecasts and statements as to management's expectations with respect to, among other things, the activities contemplated in this news release and the timing and receipt of requisite regulatory, and shareholder approvals in respect thereof. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, without limitation, statements related to proposed exploration and development programs, grade and tonnage of material and resource estimates. These forward looking statements involve numerous risks and uncertainties and actual results may vary. Important factors that may cause actual results to vary include without limitation, the timing and receipt of certain approvals, changes in commodity and power prices, changes in interest and currency exchange rates, risks inherent in exploration estimates and results, timing and success, inaccurate geological and metallurgical assumptions (including with respect to the size, grade and recoverability of mineral reserves and resources), changes in development or mining plans due to changes in logistical, technical or other factors, unanticipated operational difficulties (including failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate in accordance with specifications, cost escalation, unavailability of materials, equipment and third party contractors, delays in the receipt of government approvals, industrial disturbances or other job action, and unanticipated events related to health, safety and environmental matters), political risk, social unrest, and changes in general economic conditions or conditions in the financial markets. In making the forward-looking statements in this press release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including without limitation, the assumptions that:

(1) market fundamentals will result in sustained gold demand and prices; (2) the receipt of any necessary approvals and consents in connection with the development of any properties; (3) the availability of financing on suitable terms for the development, construction and continued operation of any mineral properties; and (4) sustained commodity prices such that any properties put into operation remain economically viable. Information concerning mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates also may be considered forward-looking statements, as such information constitutes a prediction of what mineralization might be found to be present if and when a project is actually developed. Certain of the risks and assumptions are described in more detail in the Company's audited financial statements and MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2014 and the quarter ended September 30, 2015 on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. The actual results or performance by the Company could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, any forward-looking statements relating to those matters. Accordingly, no assurances can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what impact they will have on the results of operations or financial condition of the Company. Except as required by law, we are under no obligation, and expressly disclaim any obligation, to update, alter or otherwise revise any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

Contacts:

Atlantic Gold Corporation

John Morgan

President and COO

+1 604 689-5564



Atlantic Gold Corporation

Wally Bucknell

Director

+1 604 689-5564




DUBLIN, Feb. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/h4x4mk/global_prenatal) has announced the addition of the "Global Prenatal Testing and Newborn Screening Market 2016-2022" report to their offering.

The global prenatal and newborn genetic testing market has a high growth potential in future and will grow over $10.63 billion by the end of forecast period. With the emergence of advanced technologies such as next generation sequencing, high throughput screening, and cell free fetal DNA, there has been a gradual rise in the overall demand of the newly developed prenatal diagnosis and newborn screening tests.

Factors such as legal approval of the prenatal testing and newborn screening in most of the states of the U.S. government investment & regulations, and healthcare policies of other developed and emerging countries are contributing to the overall market growth.

The report has been further classified into prenatal testing and newborn screening. Prenatal testing further segmented on the basis of techniques (diagnostic & screening) and nature of the test (invasive & non-invasive). Prenatal testing is dominating the market and growing at a CAGR of 27.98% from 2016 to 2022.

Diagnosis technologies are holding the maximum market share and are expected to grow at 26.54% CAGR from 2016 to 2022. The techniques can either be invasive and non-invasive. By studying the current trends, it can be said that non-invasive prenatal testing are gaining more traction from the patients. Lifestyle preferences such as smoking, drinking, obesity, increasing maternity age, and genetic disorders are some of the factors responsible for the growth of the market.

North America is the largest contributor in the overall revenue generation in prenatal and newborn care, followed by the European region, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 23.36% from 2016 to 2022.

Companies Mentioned:

Illumina, Inc.

Laboratory Corporation Of America Holdings

Natus Medical Incorporated

Perkinelmer, Inc.

Quest Diagnostics Inc.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Report Overview

2. Executive Summary

3. Market Overview

4 Competitive Insights

5 Industry Analysis

6 Global Prenatal Testing Market

7 Global Newborn Screening Testing Market

8 Global Prenatal Testing & Newborn Screening Market By Geography

9 Global Prenatal Testing & Newborn Screening: Key Players

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/h4x4mk/global_prenatal

Media Contact:

Laura Wood , +353-1-481-1716, press@researchandmarkets.net
DUBLIN, Feb. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/mrkptv/south_america) has announced the addition of the "South America Deep Water and Ultra Deep Water Exploration & Production (E&P) Market - Growth, Trends and Forecasts (2015-2020)" report to their offering.

Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) and Operational Expenditure (OPEX) are on the rise with fall in oil prices, which is increasing the pressure on the budgets and has become more challenging in the short term. But, with the increase in the demand for Oil & Gas production, the Exploration and Production operators are considering long term plans and delaying the projects rather than cancelling them. There by the growth for deep water and ultra-deep water is on the rise. The growth in South America, primarily in Brazil and Mexico contributes to the major share for Deep and Ultra Deep Water Exploration.

It is expected that the biggest part of the oil and Gas production may come from the pre salts projects in the Ultra Deep water Santos Basin with Petrobras having more than 40 Ultra Deep water Rigs. The Brazil federal energy planning company Empresa de Pesquisa Energetica (EPE) has laid out a 10 year plan for the energy expansion and predicts the country will be able to produce up to 5 MMb/d of oil by 2023. As per the demand, it requires only 3.5 MMb/d. Therefore, the rest of the amount can be used for trade. To achieve this, it is predicted that the country has to invest around 330 Billion USD in the coming decade.

The deep water and ultra-deep waters of offshore Trinidad, Tobago and Barbados have remained unexplored due to structural and stratigraphic complexity. Some measure of Hydrocarbons are encountered in every well and the exploration efforts have been challenged by the sub economic accumulations.

The Exploration and Production (E&P) operators spending is in seismic, drilling, subsea and FPS Submarkets, which is expected to have a promising growth during the forecast period. The Drilling and Completion will represent the largest segment for the deep water market expenditure, where the majority will be spent on the subsea well completions. Floating production systems (FPSs) account for the second largest segment with majority of investments in floating Production, Storage and offloading vessels and the subsea equipment (subsea production hardware and umbilical's, risers, and flow lines) account for the third largest segment in terms of capital expenditure, which can be estimated on the number of wells drilled.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Introduction

2. Research Methodology

3. Executive Summary

4. Key Inferences

5. Market Overview and Industry Trends

6. Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities, and Challenges Analysis (DROC)

7. South America's Deeepwater & Ultra Deepwater E&P Submarkets

8. South America's Deeepwater & Ultra Deepwater E&P Market, By Geography

9. South America's Key Company Analysis

10. Competitive Landscape

Companies Featured

- Petrobras

- Halliburton

- Transocean

- Statoil

- Shell Offshore Inc.

- Chevron U.S.A. Inc.

- CGX Energy

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/mrkptv/south_america

Media Contact:

Laura Wood , +353-1-481-1716, press@researchandmarkets.net
SAN DIEGO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/11/16 -- DB Networks, a leader in database cybersecurity, today introduced the industry's first product that provides OEM partners with real-time deep protocol analysis of database traffic. By integrating this technology into their products, security OEMs can offer their customers deep visibility into data-tier cyber threats. DB Networks' new Layer 7 Database Sensor offers OEMs immediate access to patented technology to significantly enhance and differentiate their product offerings. In turn, enterprise customers will utilize these new features, offered through their trusted OEM vendors, to protect their critical database infrastructure.

With this launch, DB Networks enables OEM partners offering solutions such as Incident Response (IR) services, Breach Detection Systems (BDS), Data Leak Prevention (DLP), and Security Incident & Event Management (SIEM) products to integrate its patented database infrastructure security technology into their products for true full-spectrum security. In addition, DB Networks' Layer 7 Database Sensor provides OEMs with machine learning and behavioral analysis technology to immediately identify database attacks.

"We use DB Networks' Layer 7 Database Sensor to complement our Fidelis Network and Fidelis Endpoint products when conducting Compromise Assessments," said Michael Buratowski, vice president of services at Fidelis Cybersecurity. "DB Networks helps us analyze database activity and usage patterns and identify malicious database activity for our customers."

Today's information security environment demands real-time detection of advanced threats, including the illusive insider threat. DB Networks' Layer 7 Database Sensors integrated into OEM products accomplish this through deep protocol extraction and analysis that non-intrusively analyzes database queries in real-time. DB Networks' innovative database cybersecurity products enable OEMs' customers for the first time to benefit from new insights and a situational awareness, including:

Non-intrusive discovery of all databases, including undocumented ones

Extraction and in-depth analysis of layer 7 activity in the data tier

Detailed insights into database interactions

Immediate identification of database attacks through machine learning and behavioral analysis

"Today databases threats are largely opaque to SOC staff," said DB Networks' Chairman and CEO Brett Helm. "Our new Layer 7 Database Sensor's ability to immediately identify data tier threats through deep protocol analysis and machine learning is being integrated into a variety of existing information security products. OEMs can now quickly enter the new era of machine learning and behavioral analysis-based information security without investing significant capital and time in the effort."

For a personal demonstration of DB Networks' products and the opportunity to meet with members of the team, visit the company at the RSA Conference 2016 -- front row booth #607 South Hall at the Moscone Center in San Francisco from Feb. 29 - March 3. Or see DB Networks at the HIMSS 16 Conference & Exhibition -- booth #9908-13 at the Venetian Palazzo Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas from Feb. 29 - March 4.

Availability

The Layer 7 Database Sensors are available today. Security OEMs interested in more information please see http://www.dbnetworks.com/products/Layer-7-Databse-Sensor.htm.

About DB Networks

DB Networks innovates database cybersecurity products. Its customers include the world's largest financial institutions, healthcare providers, manufacturers, and governments. DB Networks technology non-intrusively assesses database infrastructures through deep protocol extraction, machine learning, and behavioral analysis. Customers gain insights by discovering all active databases, identifying tables being accessed, and the specific applications accessing the databases. In addition, analyzing application database access that deviates from the model of normal application behavior immediately identifies database attacks. DB Networks is a privately held company headquartered in San Diego, Calif. For more information, call (800) 598-0450 or visit the DB Networks website, Twitter page, LinkedIn page, Google+ page, and YouTube channel.

DB Networks is a registered trademark of DB Networks, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other company and product names are either trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Contact:

Dan Spalding

Email Contact

(408) 960-9297




Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 11, 2016) - The Jenex Corporation (TSXV: JEN.H) ("Jenex" or the "Company") announces the appointment of David Duranovich as CEO & Director of the Jenex Corporation. David is a results oriented finance and sales and marketing professional with a track record for revitalizing sales operations, increasing revenues and improving margins. David has a reputation for creating and maintaining strong relationships with high profile Bay St. advisors and financial planners providing superior customer service to a diverse client base ensuring retention and growth of customers. A skilled communicator and facilitator with strong analytical and problem solving skills who has excellent knowledge of equity markets and an extensive professional network that crosses multiple industries. David has received multiple sales awards at former employers Dynamic Mutual Funds, TD Asset Management, Man Investments Canada and more recently Maple Leaf Funds. David is tasked with utilizing his skill set to revitalize the Jenex Corporation and grow its existing and new consumer products.

"We are pleased and looking forward to working with David as he builds The Jenex Corporation into a major success. David is a motivated and outgoing leader with an aptitude for building high-performance results." said Rob Fia, Chairman of the Board, The Jenex Corporation.

Jenex is announcing the resignation of CEO, Peter Shippen. In addition, Mr. Shippen will resign from the Board of Directors, effectively immediately.

"I would like to thank Peter for his valuable contributions to Jenex since joining in 2009. Not only was he a key catalyst for change at Jenex, but his relentless energy and thoughtful leadership has continued to help guide the positive transformation of the company," We wish him well in his future endeavors." said Rob Fia, Chairman of the Board, The Jenex Corporation.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. More particularly, this press release contains statements which include the timing of closing the offering, the anticipated use of proceeds and the receipt of the required approvals. The forward-looking statements are based on certain expectations and assumptions made by Jenex. Although Jenex believes that those expectations and assumptions are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because Jenex can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. In addition to other risks, the closing of the offering could be delayed if Jenex is not able to obtain necessary approvals when planned and the offering will not be completed at all if approvals are not obtained or some other condition to the closing is not satisfied. Accordingly, there is a risk that the offering will not be completed within the anticipated time or at all. The intended use of the net proceeds of the offering by Jenex might change if Jenex determines that it would be in the best interests of Jenex to use the proceeds for some other purpose. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof. Jenex disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable securities laws.

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.

For further information please contact:



The Jenex Corporation

Rob Fia

Chairman



Phone: (416) 722-4994

e-mail: rfia@thejenexcorporation.com

NOT FOR DISSEMINATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES
TOLEDO, OH -- (Marketwired) -- 02/11/16 -- To meet the growing demand for pizza in the Gulf Coast region of Northern Florida, Southern Alabama and Southern Mississippi, Marco's Pizza franchise is seeking to partner with entrepreneurs who want a slice of the action.

How big is the demand for pizza in the Gulf Coast Region of Northern Florida, Southern Alabama and Southern Mississippi? The area is incredibly diverse of the United States. The population of well over 2,500,000 is spread over 27 counties, including the vibrant cities of Tallahassee, Biloxi, and Mobile, as well the dynamic tourist destinations of Panama City and Gulf Shores. The Gulf Coast region of Northern Florida, Southern Alabama and Southern Mississippi will be thriving for years to come.

That kind of growth makes it a perfect location for a Marco's Pizza. Their Ah!thentic Italian-style pizza is fresh-made with delectable cheeses, meats and vegetables, and they have several prime locations in the Gulf Coast available for franchise partners who want to be part of the nation's fastest-growing large pizza chain.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently published a study on American eating habits that found that on any given day, 13% of the entire U.S. population is eating pizza. When applied to the Gulf Coast region of Northern Florida, Southern Alabama and Southern Mississippi -- population over 2,500,000 -- that statistic means that more than 325,000 people in the region are eating pizza every single day.

Marco's Pizza prides itself on making the best pizza money can buy. It is handmade in the Italian tradition, using fresh, never-frozen cheeses, making the dough in stores daily and using only premium meats and vegetables. Founded in Toledo in 1978, Marco's is the only Top 20 pizza chain founded by a native Italian. Marco's has enjoyed stunning growth in recent years and is on pace to open 1,000 restaurants by the end of 2017. The brand's proven business model and sustainable growth has been heralded by the likes of Forbes, Consumer Report, Entrepreneur, Franchise Times and Nation's Restaurant News.

"Our franchisees come from a remarkably wide variety of backgrounds. But there's a common thread among our franchisees -- passion for the Marco's product. Almost half of them were Marco's consumers first. They fell in love with our product," said Cameron Cummins, Chief Development Officer for Marco's Pizza.

Marco's Pizza is growing faster than the overall pizza industry

Marco's Pizza has the fastest unit growth, according to Nation's Restaurant News, which named the beloved pizza franchise as part of its Second 100 List. That list analyzes businesses that are smaller but are focusing on growing around the nation.

The publication states that while the pizza industry is mature and growth is limited, Marco's Pizza is the exception. Not only is Marco's growing faster than other pizza franchises, Marco's Pizza sales growth also is higher than any other pizza franchise. The publication reports that Marco's Pizza sales growth is tops for system-wide sales in the Second 100 pizza segment.

Marco's Pizza franchise seeks friendly, passionate entrepreneurs in the Gulf Coast region

Marco's Pizza wants welcoming, friendly individuals who remember customers' names and are passionate about the product to join the Marco's Pizza franchisee family. The investment required to start a Marco's Pizza franchise is typically about $350,000. The pizza franchise is looking for people who have a net worth of $150,000 and a minimum liquidity of $100,000.

To learn more, visit www.marcosfranchising.com.

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Contact

Cameron Cummins

Chief Development Officer

ccummins@marcos.com




VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/11/16 -- Columbus Gold Corporation (TSX: CGT)(OTCQX: CBGDF) is pleased to announce drill results from its 100% owned Rattler Prospect, Red Hills Project located in eastern Nevada USA, and within the prolific Carlin Trend. Carnavale Resources Limited (ASX: CAV)("Carnavale") has joint venture rights to earn up to 51% of the Red Hills Project from Columbus Gold by incurring $2 million in expenditures by August 2016. Carnavale can earn an additional 24% (totaling 75%) by incurring an additional $7 million over four further years.

Following are excerpts from Carnavale's news release dated December 8, 2015 highlighting their recent activity on Columbus' Red Hills Project:

The recent RC drilling program of four holes has successfully defined polymetallic Ag-Au- Pb-Zn mineralization hosted in the Rattler Shear Zone (RSZ), in three of the holes, beneath a zone of highly anomalous soil sampling results coincident with a number of historic underground mine workings at the Rattler Prospect.

Highlights of Drilling Results(i):

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Length From To Ag Au Pb Zn Drill Hole (m) (m) (m) (g/t) (g/t) (%) (%) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15RHR03 17 128 145 129 0.15 2.42 0.92 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Including 12 129 141 179 0.20 3.29 1.18 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- including 2 131 133 476 0.27 2.11 2.39 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (i) True widths of the drill hole intersections cannot be determined from the information available. Rounding errors may occur.

Project Highlights (as quote by Carnavale):

Rattler Shear Zone mineralization remains open in all directions and other targets remain open or totally untested:

-- High-grade polymetallic potential within Rattler Shear Zone -- Adjacent Tiger Anomaly remains untested by any drilling -- Supergene weathering processes suggest potential for higher-grade mineralisation may occur in fresh rock.

As reported by Carnavale, next steps include advancing BLM drilling approvals to allow drill testing to extend mineralisation along strike and down dip within the Rattler Shear Zone and initial testing of the parallel Tiger targets.

The information herein that relates to Exploration Results is based on information compiled and reviewed by Mr. John W. Keller, Certified Professional Geologist (C.P.G. # 11088), who is a Member in Good Standing of the American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG). Mr. Keller is a consultant retained by Carnavale to direct the drilling program at Red Hills, which is earning into the property, and Mr. Keller is not otherwise affiliated with or employed by Columbus Gold.

Mr. Keller has more than 20 years experience which is relevant to the style of mineralization and type of deposit being reported and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Qualified Person under NI 43-101. He has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this news release.

For complete information and full disclosure on all drill results and the joint venture exploration program being conducted by Carnavale please visit the website: www.carnavaleresources.com.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD,

Robert F. Giustra, Chairman & CEO

Neither the TSX nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX) 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 Carnavale's intended plans for its drilling program and its expected exploration results. 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 to acquire necessary permits and other authorizations; environmental compliance; cost increases; availability of qualified workers and drill equipment; competition for mining properties; risks associated with exploration projects including, without limitation, the accuracy of interpretations; mineral reserve and resource estimates (including the risk of assumption and methodology errors and ability to complete the intended drilling program); dependence on third parties for services; non-performance by contractual counterparties; title risks; and general economic conditions. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions that may prove to be incorrect, including without limitation assumptions about: that the design of the drill plan is appropriate for the site; general business and economic conditions; the timing and receipt of required approvals; availability of financing; power prices; ability to procure equipment and supplies including, without limitation, drill rigs; and ongoing relations with employees, partners, 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:

Investor Relations

(604) 634-0970 or Toll Free: 1 888 818-1364

info@columbusgold.com

www.columbusgold.com




NEW ALBANY, OH -- (Marketwired) -- 02/11/16 -- Anomatic, a full-service manufacturer of anodized aluminum packaging solutions for some of the world's most recognized retail brands, announced today that Germany-based, Thyssen'sche Handelsgesellschaft m.b.H (THG), will acquire controlling interest in Anomatic from Brookstone Partners.

The transaction is expected to be completed on Friday, February 12. The acquisition will not affect ongoing operations, and the current management team will remain in place. The parties have agreed not to disclose financial terms of the acquisition.

Anomatic specializes in color anodizing of packaging for many of the largest beauty, personal care and spirits brands in the world. Anomatic also provides laser engraving, embossing and screen-printing.

"Since our investment in Anomatic in 2005, the company has grown from one facility to four worldwide and has more than doubled in revenue," said Brookstone Partners Managing General Partner Michael Toporek. "Anomatic has a very exciting future ahead, and we wish the company and its team continued success."

Anomatic President and CEO Scott Rusch, who will remain CEO of the company, said the transaction would further enhance Anomatic's position as the worldwide leader in anodized aluminum packaging to the cosmetics and health and beauty industries.

"It also presents future value opportunities for our customers as we make new investments in technologies to expand the company's capabilities," Rusch said.

THG owns a wide range of production and trading businesses throughout the world, including a 100 percent stake in Thomas Group, another company serving the cosmetics and personal care industry. Managing Director of THG, Juergen Heite, says both companies offer complementary products and services, and customers will benefit from THG's strategic investment in Anomatic.

"Our commitment to future growth and expanding capabilities for value-added products will drive value for Anomatic's customers and enable growth in diversified market segments," said Heite.

About Anomatic Corporation

Established in 1965, Anomatic is a diversified, full-service manufacturer of anodized aluminum packaging for the automotive, beauty, personal care, consumer electronics, pharmaceutical, medical devices and spirits industries worldwide. Today, Anomatic's state-of-the-art facilities in Ohio, Connecticut and Suzhou, China offer expertise in product design, metal forming, anodizing, decorating and assembly. To learn more, visit www.Anomatic.com.

About Thyssen'sche Handelsgesellschaft m.b.H.

THG is a 100 percent family owned portfolio company and a highly renowned investor with its roots in the Julius Thyssen family. The company is located in Muelheim an der Ruhr, Germany. The business of THG is highly diversified and comprises different industry segments through several subsidiaries. In addition to the beauty industry the portfolio of THG comprises companies serve the home building market, aerosol industry, energy service market as well as the DIY and machinery market.

THG follows a long-term strategy for its subsidiaries and workforce applying a historically proven buy-and-build concept.

Media Contacts:



Anomatic Corporation

Scott Rusch

President and CEO

Work: (740) 788-3223

Mobile: (740) 221-2372

Email: SLR@anomatic.com



THG

Juergen Heite

Managing Director

Work: +49 (208) 992 1819

Mobile: +49 (172) 2648193

Email: j.heite@thyssenhandel.de



Paul Werth & Associates, Inc.

Sandra Harbrecht Ratchford

President and Chief Executive Officer

Work: 614-224-8114

Email: swh@paulwerth.com




Protagen AG, technology leader in the development of novel molecular diagnostic and companion diagnostic tests for autoimmune diseases and oncological indications, announced today the identification of novel protein biomarkers in prostate cancer, which are potential drug targets supporting novel strategies in precision medicine. Using the proprietary Protagen SeroTag technology, the discovery was made in close collaboration with Professor Helmut Klocker, Medical University of Innsbruck and Oncotyrol Center for Personalized Cancer Medicine, Innsbruck, and Professor Mark Rubin, Cornell University and Targos Molecular Pathology GmbH, Kassel.

Measuring serum autoantibodies in a liquid biopsy of prostate cancer patients, the team was able to successfully confirm tissue specific biomarkers via immunohistochemistry. Professor Klocker stated, "This is a novel route to new and more specific biomarkers to allow for better detection of prostate cancer inflammation. In cooperation with Protagen, we were not only able to identify new relevant prostate specific autoantigens, e.g. SPOP, SPAST, STX 18, but also show the orthogonal validation of this serum marker on tissue microarrays with our partners at Targos". Professor Rubin added, "We've been working on the role of SPOP and its mutations in prostate cancer for quite some time, it is really exciting to learn more about the links to the immune system and the appearance of SPOP specific autoantibodies in patient sera".

"It is always a good cross validation, when two independent methods yield the same result. Validated biomarkers in immune oncology and other immune diseases are a valuable asset. We are very excited to work with Protagen together in this emerging field.", commented Dr. Thomas Henkel, CEO of Targos. Stefan Mullner, CEO of Protagen added, "There's an unmet diagnostic need in prostate cancer diagnostics, and the commercial value of novel, more reliable options that don't involve biopsies and improve follow-up of patients are very attractive. I'm very pleased to state that the study published today in PLOS ONE (http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0147739, Schlick et al., "Serum autoantibodies in chronic prostate inflammation in prostate cancer patients") in collaboration with our partners underscores that SeroTag technology can significantly speed up diagnostic developments. Furthermore, SPOP plays a key role in the function of E3 ubiquitin ligase, which is a novel and interesting pathway for therapeutic intervention in cancer. Thus, the data presented in this paper also introduce a novel concept for drug target identification for stratified therapy and personalized medicine."

About Protagen - Diagnostics Differentiated

Protagen AG, headquartered in Dortmund, Germany, specializes in the development of novel diagnostic and companion diagnostic tests to provide better and earlier diagnosis of autoimmune diseases and oncological indications.

Protagen uses its proprietary SeroTag biomarker platform to identify disease specific autoantibodies and is on target to become the leading provider of autoantibody diagnostic products, specifically targeting diseases with an unmet need for effective diagnostics. With pioneering bioscience techniques, extensive scientific expertise and a broad patent portfolio, Protagen works to develop its own diagnostic pipeline and partners with other organizations to develop and implement new companion diagnostic tools for better personalized treatment strategies.

For more information, please visit www.protagen.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160211005765/en/

Contacts:

Protagen AG

Dr. Georg Lautscham

CBO

T +49 231 9742 6300

F +49 231 9742 6301

bd@protagen.com

or

Media Enquiries

BioStrata

Dr. Clare Russell

Managing Director

T +44 1223 828200

M +44 7812 343412

crussell@biostratamarketing.com
WINNIPEG, MANITOBA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/11/16 -- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay announced today that the Government of Canada is investing over $980,000 in research to help drive innovation and profitability in the canola industry.

The investment through the Canola Council of Canada (CCC) will support the canola industry's new strategic plan entitled "Keep it coming: 52 by 2025" designed to help improve canola yields to meet 26 million metric tonnes of global demand and increase yield to 52 bushels per acre by 2025.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada scientists, in collaboration with Canola Council of Canada, will conduct research on disease management, stand establishment and fertility management.

Quick Facts

-- Canola drives Canada's economy with $7.4 billion in farm cash receipts and over $9 billion in exports, including oil and meal. -- About 85 per cent of Canada's canola production is exported internationally to countries such as China, Japan, Mexico and the United States. In 2014, Canada exported 9.6 million metric tonnes of canola seed for a value of $5.2 billion. -- The Canola Council of Canada is a not-for-profit organization based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with the objective of advancing the growth and profitability of the canola industry. -- This investment is being made through the Growing Forward 2, AgriInnovation Program, a five-year, up to $698 million initiative.

Quotes

"Canada's canola sector contributes significantly to the country's economy. Investments in research will help boost canola yields and position the sector for future growth and sustainability."

-- Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food

"The government's support for canola agronomic research is great news for the canola industry. Teamwork has always been a strength of our sector and this partnership will play a critical role in reaching our shared vision of sustainably and profitably increasing canola production in Canada."

-- Patti Miller, president, Canola Council of Canada

Additional Links

AgriInnovation Program (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada)

Growing Forward 2 (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada)

Canola Council of Canada

Follow us on Twitter: @AAFC_Canada

Contacts:

Media Relations

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Ottawa, Ontario

613-773-7972

1-866-345-7972




Propel Venture Partners to manage investments and launch European fund in London

MADRID, Feb. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- BBVA announces an increase in its financial technology ('fintech') fund to $250m and a partnership with Propel Venture Partners (Propel). BBVA will invest its $250m in Propel's funds as a limited partner, and Propel will manage the investment independently in a move designed to ensure the capital continues to be invested in the best digital financial services startups.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160211/332254

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160211/332255LOGO

Propel (http://propel.vc) will use the $250 million - which includes the original $100 million which established the BBVA Ventures fund in 2013 - in a US and a European fund. Propel will also open an office in London in addition to its San Francisco headquarters, where its European fund will invest in the UK's fintech ecosystem and in European opportunities.

Teppo Paavola, BBVA's Chief Development Officer and General Manager of New Digital Business said: 'In an increasingly competitive fintech venture capital environment, we believe that our increased capital, Propel's independence and a presence in London can enable us to invest in the best fintech start-ups and better support BBVA's vision of using technology to change financial services for the benefit of the customer.'

Propel's funds will focus on early to late stage investment opportunities at the intersection of technology and finance. Areas of focus include payments, credit, insurance, wealth management, e-commerce, security and compliance.

Propel's managing partners are Jay Reinemann, Tom Whiteaker and Ryan Gilbert. Reinemann and Whiteaker were previously managing the BBVA Ventures fund, and Gilbert has been actively involved in several global financial services startups as a founder, investor and independent board member. Propel is currently recruiting for its London office.

Reinemann said: "Propel believes that the future of financial services will be realized by rethinking and rebuilding, not merely disrupting. We look forward to partnering with energetic entrepreneurs for the long term, driving ideas forward together, backed by BBVA and its commitment to support digital change in financial services."

Propel will now manage BBVA Ventures' investments, which include digital lender Prosper, wealth management advisor Personal Capital and Taulia, an online cashflow management tool for corporate purchasers and suppliers.

As well as investing in Propel, BBVA has also made direct investments in financial technology companies to support their development and as part of its digital transformation program.The bank purchased Simple, a tech company that's changing the way people bank and think about money, in 2014 and recently took a 29.5% strategic partner stake in Atom, the UK's first mobile-only bank.

For more financial information about BBVA visit:

http://shareholdersandinvestors.bbva.com

For more BBVA news visit: http://info.bbva.com/

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bbva-increases-fintech-fund-to-250-million-300218817.html
NEW DELHI (dpa-AFX) - Wipro Ltd. (WIT, WIPRO) Thursday announced the signing of a definite agreement to acquire HealthPlan Services from Water Street healthcare Partners for $460 million. Healthplan, headquartered in Tampa, Florida, is an independent technology and Business Process as a Service provider in the U.S. Health Insurance market. Wipro said Healthplan has more than 2000 associates. This transaction is expected to be completed in next 60 to 90 days. Jeffrey Heenan Jalil, senior vice president & Head - Healthcare Life Sciences and Services, Wipro Limited said, the partnership with HealthPlan Services positions Wipro to participate in the shift of the US health insurance industry towards a consumer-centric business model. HealthPlan Services strengthens Wipro's position in the health insurance exchange market while offering synergies with Wipro's presence in the Managed Medicare and Commercial Group Insurance markets.' 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) - The Japanese yen pulled away from its early highs against its key counterparts in European deals on Thursday, amid rumors about the Bank of Japan intervening in the forex market to curb sharp gains in the currency. The BoJ is said to have sold-off the yen, as officials are overly concerned about a high valued currency that poses threat to growth and raises the fear of deflationary pressures in the economy. The yen fell to 113.15 against the greenback, 127.97 against the euro, 115.94 against the franc and 163.13 against the pound, from its early more than 1-year high of 110.97, 2-1/2-year high of 125.78, 13-month high of 114.47 and more than 2-year high of 159.81, respectively. The yen reversed from its early 3-1/2-year high of 77.59 against the aussie, 8-month high of 73.20 against the kiwi and more than 3-week high of 79.27 against the loonie, edging down to 79.92, 75.35 and 81.03, respectively. The yen is likely to find support around 116.00 against the greenback, 129.00 against the euro, 117.00 against the franc, 165.00 against the pound, 81.00 against the aussie, 77.00 against the kiwi and 82.00 against the loonie. 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.
NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 02/11/16 -- Vincent Vienne has been appointed as Managing Director of the Quin, New York's quintessential luxury lifestyle hotel, located at 57th Street and Sixth Avenue. Mr. Vienne brings more than 18 years of leadership experience at American and European luxury properties to the hotel, which has quickly established itself as a stylish and refined oasis in midtown. With specialized expertise in operations, revenue management, sales and communications, Mr. Vienne will seek to build on the Quin's ascendance, which has seen it earn awards in its inaugural two years including: The 2015 Conde Nast Traveler Reader's Choice Award as a Top 5 Hotel in New York, recognition from the Travel & Leisure "It List" and the 2016 US News & World Report "Best Hotels in the USA" list. The Quin is a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World.

Vincent Vienne worked for Pullman Hotels and Resorts in Brussels following his graduation from Hotelschool Ter Duinen, in Koksijde, Belgium. He rose quickly through the ranks within the Accor Hotels Group, moving to the United States to serve in roles for the Sofitel Luxury Hotels and Resorts brand. In a range of leadership positions at Sofitel New York City, Vienne helped lead the hotel to three consecutive "Best Luxury Hotel in New York City" awards from Trip Advisor, before taking a position as General Manager of Sofitel Philadelphia, where he led the hotel for 5 years. Most recently, Mr. Vienne returned to serve as General Manager of Sofitel New York City.

Steve Barick, Chief Operating Officer of Highgate, commented, "Vincent is an ideal fit for the Quin, and has the experience and passion required to build on the hotel's extraordinary initial success. His international background and New York savvy, combined with his track record of leadership success at acclaimed luxury properties, ensure that the Quin will continue to evolve into a true New York landmark."

Vincent Vienne added, "It's an honor to take the helm at the Quin hotel and to join the Highgate family. I look forward to expanding on the hotel's cutting-edge Quin Arts program, and continuing to provide a level of service that allows us to deliver the quintessential New York experience to our guests."

Mr. Vienne is fluent in English, French, Dutch, and conversational German. In addition to his degree from the Hotelschool Ter Duinen, he has completed training programs at Essec Business School in Paris and the Cornell University School of Hospitality.

About The Quin

The Quin, New York City's quintessential lifestyle hotel, is located on the corner of 57th Street and 6th Avenue. At the intersection of art, music, and fashion, its privileged Midtown location provides effortless access to Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, The Museum of Modern Art and Fifth Avenue couture. The Quin melds modern opulence with its rich artistic heritage in each of its 208 thoughtfully appointed guestrooms, including 28 suites. Guests enjoy urbane and intelligent services from the QA, who curate each guest's New York experience, to distinguished amenities like an Executive Boardroom, state-of-the-art Technogym fitness center, Apple equipped drawing room, Dux beds by Duxiana, and Fresh Spa Products. Guests can also indulge at The Wayfarer, a classic American grille, located adjacent to the hotel. The two-story, 130-seat restaurant offers breakfast, lunch and dinner daily, weekend brunch, and a full, 24-hour, in-room dining menu from Executive Chef Chris Shea for hotel guests, featuring classic American dishes, redefined. Quin Arts is an interactive arts program curated by DK Johnston that celebrates the property's rich artistic heritage and produces exciting new platforms for contemporary artists. Renowned architecture and interior design firm, Perkins Eastman, has transposed a contemporary masterpiece on the classical foundation that was once home to cultural icons like pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski and artist Georgia O'Keeffe. Resonating with refined repose, the Quin is the Quintessential New York Hotel. Follow the Quin @thequinhotel. Reservations are available at 1-855-447-QUIN (7846) or http://www.theQuinhotel.com/.

ABOUT HIGHGATE

Highgate is a premier hospitality investment and management company widely recognized as an innovator in the industry. Highgate is the dominant player in U.S. gateway markets including New York, Boston, Miami, San Francisco and Honolulu. Highgate also has an expanding presence in key European markets through properties in London, Paris, Barcelona, Vienna and Prague. Highgate's portfolio of global properties represents an aggregate asset value exceeding $10B and generates over $2B in cumulative revenues. The company provides expert guidance through all stages of the hospitality property cycle, from planning and development through recapitalization or disposition. Highgate also has a proven record of developing bespoke hotel brands and utilizes industry leading proprietary revenue management tools that identify and predict evolving market dynamics to drive outperformance and maximize asset value. With an executive team consisting of some of the industry's most experienced hotel management leaders, the company is a trusted partner for top ownership groups and major hotel brands. Highgate maintains corporate offices in London, New York, Dallas, and Seattle.

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MEDIA CONTACT:

Burns Patterson

HudsonPR

(917) 575-9155

Email Contact




VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/11/16 -- The Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, will outline his vision for the federal government's plan to double infrastructure investments over the next 10 years with the Vancouver Board of Trade. The Minister will be available to media immediately after his speech.

Date: Thursday, February 11, 2016 Time: 1:00 - 2:00 p.m. Location: Pan Pacific Vancouver 999 Canada Place Vancouver, BC V6C 3B5 Crystal Pavilion

Follow us on Twitter at @INFC_eng

Contacts:

Brook Simpson, Press Secretary

Office of the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities

613-219-0149

brook.simpson@canada.ca



Infrastructure Canada

613-960-9251

Toll free: 1-877-250-7154

infc.media-medias.infc@canada.ca




STAMFORD, CT--(Marketwired - February 11, 2016) - Protegrity, the leading provider of data-centric enterprise data security solutions, announced today that Chris Mills and Robert Adamo have joined the company as Directors of Sales, Eastern U.S. and Western U.S., respectively. In addition, Mark Dunleavy has joined Protegrity as Managing Director of the U.K. and Ireland. The three IT industry veterans will report to Clare Cunniffe, Senior Vice President of Global Sales.

Based in the company's Connecticut headquarters, Mills brings more than 25 years of software and technology sales experience to Protegrity, having most recently been the Vice President of Sales at VelociData. A native of Australia but residing in the U.S. since the mid-1990s, Mills has also held sales leadership roles at Datapoint, Memorex, Philips, CA Technologies (formerly Computer Associates) and Informatica. Mills can be reached at chris.mills@protegrity.com

Based in Los Angeles, Adamo comes to Protegrity from Oracle, where he was the Southwest Region Sales Director. He has developed his extensive sales and sales management skills while working for both large enterprise companies as well as startups, including NetApp, Nirvanix, Apple, Shockwave.com, and Silicon Graphics, among others. Adamo can be reached at robert.adamo@protegrity.com

Based in London, Dunleavy joins Protegrity from SAP, where he was the Director of Financial Services and a U.K. & Ireland Board Member. His career in data, which also includes holding successful positions at IONA, SpiritSoft, and Informatica, makes him fluent in the power of data and security as weapons that transform companies. Dunleavy can be reached at mark.dunleavy@protegrity.com

Dunleavy adds to Protegrity's existing leadership strength in Europe, which includes Otto Neuer, who joined the company last April as Managing Director of EMEA. Neuer, based in Munich and focused on Continental Europe, is highly experienced in IT, software and data management markets, having previously held the position of Senior Vice President of Global Sales at Uniserv and Managing Director of Central Europe at Informatica. Otto can be reached at otto.neuer@protegrity.com

"We are thrilled that proven enterprise software sales leaders like Chris, Robert, Mark and Otto have chosen to join Protegrity now as the need for data-centric security solutions has never been greater," said Cunniffe. "Their extensive experience will help us accelerate our growth in this competitive market."

About Protegrity: Proven Experts in Data Security

Protegrity is the only enterprise data security software platform that leverages scalable, data-centric encryption, tokenization and masking to help businesses secure sensitive information while maintaining data usability. Built for complex, heterogeneous business environments, the Protegrity Data Security Platform provides unprecedented levels of data security certified across applications, data warehouses, mainframes, big data, and cloud environments. Companies trust Protegrity to help them manage risk, achieve compliance, enable business analytics, and confidently adopt new platforms. For additional information visit www.protegrity.com.

 2016 Protegrity USA, Inc. All rights reserved. Protegrity and the Protegrity logo are trademarks of Protegrity Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

CONNECT WITH PROTEGRITY:

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PRESS CONTACTS:



Michael Maloney

michael.maloney@protegrity.com

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Lulu Li

lli@affect.com

212-398-9680
BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - During meetings in Brussels today, NATO defense ministers discussed deterring and defending against high-end threats emanating from Russia and the threat that the Islamic State poses to southern allies, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said. Defense leaders from the 28-nation alliance have gathered at its headquarters for two days of talks on NATO's continued adaptation in the face of growing security challenges. Carter said he briefed ministers on the details of the U.S. $3.4 billion European Reassurance Initiative that is in the fiscal year 2017 defense budget request. 'Among other things, it invests in forces and capabilities to operationalize our strong and balanced strategic approach to Russia,' he said during a news conference. If approved, the funds will support more U.S. rotational forces in Europe, Carter said, 'including heel-to-toe rotations that maintain the persistent presence of an armored brigade combat team throughout the year.' The defense secretary said he is pleased to see progress by allies on the NATO Readiness Action Plan. He specifically praised Turkey and Denmark, who are providing forces that will make the alliance's very high readiness task force operationally capable. The allies also explored ways the alliance can make contributions to the defeat of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Later today, Carter will meet with NATO and partner nations that are part of the counter-ISIL coalition to discuss ways to accelerate progress against the terrorist group. 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.
Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/t2w92n/the_global_uav) has announced the addition of the "The Global UAV Payload Market 2015-2025 Major Programs: Market Profile" report to their offering.

This report provides information on major programs planned in the global UAV Payload market. It provides details on top programs in each segment expected to be executed during the forecast period.

This report discusses the various programmes conducted by key players in the market, by dividing them into the main types of UAV Payload. The report offers detailed information regarding quantity procured, country/companies supplying the equipment, delivery period and total contract value.

Reasons To Buy

Understand the major UAV Payload programs that are expected in the forecast period.

Gain insight into the information regarding the quantity procured for the market, country/ company supplying the equipment and the total contract value.

Key Topics Covered:

1 Introduction

2 Key Program Analysis

2.1 Program Analysis: India UAV Payload Portable Data Receiver (PDR)

2.2 US-NanoSAR Procurement Program

2.3 US-Reaper MTS-B Procurement Program

2.4 Germany-Installation of powerful sensor payloads

2.5 Italy-Weaponization of Italian MQ-9 Reaper UAV fleet

2.6 US-AGM 114R HELLFIRE II missile procurement program

2.7 US-Modifications for air-to-air radar system aboard the MQ-4C Triton

2.8 US-Support Services for Electro-Optic (EO) Technology Division

2.9 US-Payload RandD RQ-21 Blackjack, Tigershark, and RQ-8 Firescout

3 Appendix

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/t2w92n/the_global_uav

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160211005885/en/

Contacts:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com

For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

Sector: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) Drones
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/11/16 -- Simavita Limited (ASX: SVA) (TSX VENTURE: SV) ("Simavita" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Danish distribution partner, Abena A / S ( "Abena") has signed a contract with the Municipality of Aarhus, Denmark to supply the SIM incontinence assessment system.

The contract is partly a result of a series of trials of SIM in 2015 in the Danish market.

Starting in Q1 CY16, the contract with the Municipality of Aarhus is for a 2 year period.

CEO of Simavita, Philippa Lewis commented, "We are delighted to be working with our partner Abena, bringing our unique, digital solution to the Danish aged care sector. The SIM 72 hour assessment provides unique data and leads to a person centred care plan that is evidence based."

About Simavita

Simavita is a digital healthcare company that has developed an innovative software platform. The first application for the platform is a world first solution for the management of urinary incontinence, with a focus on the elderly. This platform technology is an instrumented incontinence assessment application that provides evidence-based incontinence management care plans to the residential aged care market.

About SIM

SIM is a wireless sensor technology that delivers evidence-based instrument incontinence data on individuals. SIM provides user friendly tools and software to assess the incontinence condition and to help plan better outcomes. SIM is used to detect record and report incontinence events during a compulsory or recommended assessment period in residential aged care sites to develop an evidence-based incontinence care plan.

Conducting assessments is mandatory in many countries and the incontinence assessment creates an influential element of care of each individual. For more information on Simavita or SIM, please visit www.simavita.com.

The TSX Venture Exchange ("TSX-V") has in no way passed upon the merits of the transactions set out herein and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. Neither the TSX-V nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX-V) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this Release.

Except for historical information, this announcement may contain forward-looking statements that reflect the Company's current expectation regarding future events. These forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainties, which may cause, but are not limited to, the anticipated date of on the ASX, changing market conditions, the establishment of corporate alliances, the impact of competitive products and pricing, new product development, uncertainties related to the regulatory approval process, and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's ongoing quarterly and annual reporting.

Contacts:

Company

Philippa Lewis

Chief Executive Officer

+61 2 8405 6381



Media and Investor Relations

Glen Zurcher

+61 420 249 299

glen.zurcher@irdepartment.com.au

www.simavita.com




PUNE, India, February 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The report"Metalworking Fluids Marketby Product Type (Removal, Forming, Protection, and Treating Fluids), by End-Use Application (Transport Equipment, Machinery, Metal Fabrication, Primary Ferrous, and Non-Ferrous,), by Region - Global Forecast to 2020", published by MarketsandMarkets, The market size, in terms of value, is expected to reach USD 9.74 Billion by 2020, at a CAGR of 3.2% between 2015 and 2020.

Browse 116 market data Tables and 47 Figures spread through 148 Pages and in-depth TOC on"Metalworking Fluids Market"

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/metal-working-fluid-market-116835111.html

Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.

Removal Fluids to dominate metalworking fluids market

The metalworking fluids is segmented into four different product types, namely, removal fluids, forming fluids, protection fluids, and quenching fluids. The removal fluids are used to remove the metal chips produced during the drilling and milling of metal pieces. The forming fluids are used as rolling oils, forging fluids, and hydroforming fluids and are used in metal fabrication and machinery industries. Removal fluids are dominating the market share and the dominance will continue due to the high use of coolants, cutting fluids, and grinding fluids during the various machine processes in manufacturing.

Transport equipment dominates the metalworking fluids market across the globe

The metalworking fluids market has been segmented based on end-use industry into transport equipment, primary ferrous, primary non-ferrous, machinery and metal fabrication industry. The main industries linked with transport equipment are automotive and fabricated metal industries which are involved in the manufacturing of boilers, radiators, engines, and other equipment, hence driving the overall metalworking fluids market.

Increasing demand from manufacturing industry in Asia-Pacific:

The Metalworking Fluids Market has been segmented based on five regions, namely, North America, Asia-Pacific, Europe, South America, and Middle East & Africa. There has been an increase in manufacturing activities of various products such as automotive, packaging, construction materials, among others, in Asia-Pacific. The rapid urbanization, increase in demand from rising population and higher disposable income is boosting the manufacturing industry in Asia-Pacific.

Currently, the metalworking fluids market is dominated by various market players such as ExxonMobil Corporation (U.S.), Houghton International (U.S.), Fuchs Petrolub SE (Germany), BP Plc. (U.K.), Total S.A. (France), Chevron Corporation (U.S.), Lubrizol Corporation (U.S.), and Idemitsu Kosan Co. Ltd. (Japan).

For More Info Make Inquiry @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=116835111

The research study is aimed at identifying emerging trends and opportunities in the metalworking fluids market along with a detailed classification of the market, in terms of value, and volume. It provides a comprehensive competitive landscape and identifies the key players with regard to market size and market share. The research study also includes a detailed segmentation of the metalworking fluids market on the basis of application, type, and region.

Apart from the market segmentation, this report also adopts the Porter's Five Forces Analysis to provide an in-depth analysis of the market by providing a detailed process flow diagram and market dynamics such as drivers, restraints, challenges and opportunities in the metalworking fluids market.

Browse Related Reports:

Lubricants Market by Type (Mineral Oil Lubricants, Synthetic Lubricants, Bio-based Lubricants, and Greases), by Application (Transportation, and Industrial Machinery & Equipment) http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/lubricants-market-182046896.html

Lubricant Additives Market by Function Type (Dispersants, VII, Detergents, Antiwear, Antioxidants, Corrosion inhibitors, Emulsifiers & Others) and Application (Automotive & Industrial Lubricants) http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/lubricant-additives-market-172993846.html

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.

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Technavio's latest global data loss prevention (DLP) application market report highlights the top four emerging trends predicted to impact market growth through 2020. Technavio defines an emerging trend as something that has potential for significant impact on the market and contributes to its growth or decline.

"The DLP applications market in APAC was valued at over USD 170 million in 2014, and it is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 25% until the end of the forecast period. Though the adoption of on-premises deployment was high in 2014, its market share is likely to decline by 2020. This fallout is attributed to a massive shift among enterprises in APAC towards cloud-based DLP solutions," said Amrita Choudhury, one of Technavio's lead industry analysts for IT security research.

"On-premises deployment model can be disadvantageous in terms of the large initial investment required to set it up. This factor also deters SMEs in the region from adopting the on-premises model. Plus, this deployment model presents a possibility of engaging with DLP professionals and for managing on-premises applications, and it thus results in steep training costs. These factors are likely to influence a growing adoption of cloud based models in the future," added Amrita.

Technavio's market research study identifies the following four emerging trends that are expected to propel the global DLM market in APAC:

Increased demand for hybrid cloud-based solutions in APAC

High demand for integrated DLP solutions

Increased adoption by SMEs

Increase in M&A

Increased demand for hybrid cloud-based solutions in APAC

Although many enterprises in the APAC region have implemented DLP services that incur lower costs, there have been instances of data loss. Therefore, to overcome these issues, market vendors have started offering hybrid cloud-based DLP solutions, and it is predicted to witness robust growth with adoption across many industries in the region. These hybrid solutions ensure on-premises data protection, while eliminating the need for skilled workers to maintain these advanced systems.

Hybrid cloud-based DLP solutions follow the pay-per-use model and are less expensive than traditional full license security solutions. In addition, hybrid cloud-based DLP solutions also provide various advantages such as ease of installation and upgrades. As there is a huge demand for these solutions, many new entrants are likely to penetrate this market with new hybrid cloud-based solutions during the forecast period.

High demand for integrated DLP solutions

As a result of increasing complexities of network infrastructures in organizations, the integration feature has become an important buying criterion in the market. End-users in APAC pose a growing demand for integrated and converged DLP solutions to avoid integration issues that occur with stand-alone DLP solutions. Through integrated DLP applications, market vendors in the region are expected to provide better support and functionality to their end-users and it is expected to positively impact market revenue over the forecast period.

Vendors such as Symantec, EMC, and McAfee are likely to provide many advanced features like content monitoring and extrusion prevention, along with their DLP solutions until 2020. Similarly, many other vendors are also likely to follow this trend and drive market growth during the forecast period.

Increased adoption by SMEs

Business requirements have evolved in the APAC region, and it is prompting companies to innovate continuously to overhaul existing business models and enterprise infrastructures. In this changing business scenario, DLP solutions address security requirements and help companies gain a competitive advantage. DLP solution providers are being roped in by SMEs in the APAC region to streamline their business process and improve operational efficiency. DLP offers SMEs an immense advantage of high-level security for sensitive and confidential information.

Further, due to an increase in the number of government regulations being introduced in the APAC region to ensure data security, the implementation of DLP solutions has become imperative over the years. The APAC region is likely to witness a rise in the mobile workforce because of the implementation of BYOD policy in enterprises. This factor is another reason that is anticipated to drive the high adoption of DLP solutions among SMEs in APAC until 2020.

Increase in M&A

The market is highly fragmented, which encourages small vendors operating in niche markets to enter into mergers and acquisitions. The superior technology these small players possess, makes them appealing to large vendors. McAfee, Websense, EMC, and Symantec have used this business strategy, and other large vendors are expected to make use of it as well during the forecast period. Also, intense competition in the market is expected to compel established vendors to increase their market presence through M&A. It is a major trend that is likely to impact market growth positively over the next four years.

Browse related reports:

Data Center Security: Global Market Research Report 2015-2019

Global Industrial Cyber Security Market 2015-2019

Global Container Security and Tracking Market 2015-2019

Global Air Cargo Security and Screening Systems Market 2015-2019

Transportation Safety and Transportation Security Market in Americas 2015-2019

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About Technavio

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies.

Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users.

If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160211005013/en/

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media@technavio.com
MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 02/11/16 -- Canada Revenue Agency

The Honourable Diane Lebouthillier, Minister of National Revenue, P.C., M.P. accompanied by Marc Miller, M.P. for Ville-Marie-Le Sud-Ouest-Ile-des-Soeurs, today announced improvements to the way the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) communicates with millions of Canadians. The improvements are an early deliverable on the Government of Canada's commitment to make the CRA client-focused and more helpful to Canadians.

Starting in February 2016, the CRA will send Canadians a new, simple, easier to read Notice of Assessment (NOA), following filing of their income tax and benefit return. This will be followed in July 2016 by simplified Benefits Notices to benefit recipients, including notices related to family benefits and the GST/HST credit.

The improvements are based on a review by the CRA of international best practices, feedback from Canadians and its own external correspondence. The review focused on how the notices are designed, formatted, and written.

The re-designed NOA and Benefits Notices display the most important information on the first page, such as the results of the assessment, account summary, and what the recipient should do with the information. The content has been streamlined to include only the information most important to the taxpayer or benefit recipient, and is presented in a clear and easy to understand format. Information about additional CRA services, including online services, Direct Deposit, My Account, and help for persons with hearing or visual impairments, is now easier to find.

Quotes

"Improving how we communicate with Canadians is a part of my mandate as Minister of National Revenue. The CRA will now offer clear and easy to understand correspondence products. We will continue to consult with Canadians and draw on international best practices to make sure our service improvements truly meet their needs and deliver the best possible results."

The Honourable Diane Lebouthillier, P.C., M.P., Minister of National Revenue

"The Government of Canada recognizes the importance of providing simple and easy to understand tax information to Canadians. Improvements to the Notice of Assessment are just one way of delivering on this commitment."

Marc Miller, M.P., Ville-Marie-Le Sud-Ouest-Ile-des-Soeurs

Quick Facts

-- The CRA sends out approximately 130 million pieces of correspondence to Canadians each year. Last year 28.9 million Notice of Assessments were sent to individuals, as well as 23 million benefit and credit notices. -- The CRA will have re-designed about 75% of its correspondence within the next year. This phase covered the top 20 pieces of CRA correspondence by volume, and was completed in less than 18 months. A second phase covering the CRA's more customized or technical correspondence is scheduled for completion over the next two years. -- The CRA conducted extensive user-experience testing of all print and electronic correspondence to ensure the redesign meets the information needs of a diverse population. Using an "agile" project management approach to the redesign led to a faster, innovative, and results-based solution. -- The CRA is also making the majority of its correspondence available online through My Account, so Canadians can access more detailed information about their taxes and benefits in a simpler format. -- Redesigning correspondence is just one of the many ways in which the Government of Canada is fulfilling its commitment to client-focused service, and supporting Canadians who wish to file taxes using no paper forms. Other service improvements include: making it easier for Canadians to apply for the Disability Tax Credit, offering a new auto- fill feature that simplifies the job of completing an income tax and benefit return, and expanding the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program to reach those whose first language is neither French nor English.

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Infographic for the T1 NOA

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Contacts:

Catherine Woods

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Office of the Minister of National Revenue

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Philippe Brideau

Media Relations

Canada Revenue Agency

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Technavio's latest global DIY market report highlights the top three emerging trends predicted to impact market growth through 2020. Technavio defines an emerging trend as something that has potential for significant impact on the market and contributes to its growth or decline.

"Due to the low popularity of DIY culture in the APAC nations, the market is highly concentrated among Western countries. The Americas region occupies the largest share in the global DIY market, and it held a share of close to 61% in 2015. The US market holds the largest market in the Americas region, and this trend is expected to continue over the forecast period," said Vijay Sarathi, one of Technavio's senior industry analysts for retail goods research.

Technavio's consumer goods and retail market research experts have identified the following three emerging trends for the global DIY market:

Growing home improvement market

Online presence driving growth

Customization of DIY products

Growing home improvement market

The main factor contributing to the demand DIY products is the robust growth of home improvement segment. This segment provides enormous opportunities for manufacturers to explore market opportunities. In Europe, the market for home improvement stood at close to USD 362 billion in 2014, while the market in the US stood at around USD 690 billion in 2014.

Home improvement remains a top priority as people demand better home space with improved standards of living. Homes are critical assets that people possess, and carry a strong emotional attachment for. This emotional attachment allows home improvement to be a great business to be in.

With globalization, major manufacturers are expanding their presence globally to meet the unmet needs of the diverse population. For instance, Kingfisher has expanded to over 1,200 stores across 11 countries across Europe and China thanks to its omni-channel presence. Similarly, many market vendors are predicted to diversify into new regions over the next four years.

Online presence driving the growth of the global DIY market

The boom in online retailing for DIY vendors is set to play a key role in the expansion of the DIY market globally. Market players are increasingly entering the e-commerce space with attractive websites and product offers. Companies such as IKEA, Wayfair, and Ashley Furniture Industries have already entered the e-commerce space for selling their products online.

Manufacturers are now able to cover a greater region without any physical presence, while reducing costs involved with warehousing at different locations. The convenience of purchasing online has thus spurred online sales in the market.

In the UK, top DIY retailers like Maxwells and Range are taking steps to improve their online presence for enhancing customer experience. Screwfix, another top DIY retailer in the UK, has already started a nationwide online delivery service, while B&Q, the biggest online DIY retailer in the UK, also launched 'Click, Pay Collect' on over 14,000 products with the release of its new portal, diy.com, with superior online content. This market trend is expected to significantly expand the DIY market until 2020.

Customization of DIY products

As the DIY market is largely growing in the home improvement segment, there are more opportunities for home owners to customize their homes with unique features to match their requirements. For catering to this market, home improvement stores are offering a variety of inexpensive pieces and finishes. Stores are also offering DIY features that help add architectural elements in the form of cabinet moldings, cornices, and doorway arches.

In the Netherlands, Daniel Venneman and Mark van der Net have developed an open-source home kit that allows DIY customers to build and customize their own micro-house. Despite its 14 square meter footprint, the Hermit House is aimed at creating multipurpose interiors with a spacious feel. The inexpensive build with lightweight materials also makes it inexpensive. With eight different versions to choose from, each Hermit House can be customized, while including features, such as an eco-bathroom or from features from its various kitchen options. Similar innovations in customized DIY products are expected to immensely benefit the market during the forecast period.

Browse related reports:

Global Home Office Furniture market 2015-2019

Global Home Office Furniture market 2015-2019 Outdoor Furniture Market in the US 2015-2019

Global Home Office Furniture market 2015-2019 Outdoor Furniture Market in the US 2015-2019Folding Furniture Market in the US 2015-2019

RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture Market US 2015-2019

Purchase any three reports for the price of one by becoming a Technavio subscriber. Subscribing to Technavio's reports allows you to download any three reports per month for the price of one. Contact enquiry@technavio.com with your requirements and a link to our subscription platform.

About Technavio

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies.

Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users.

If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160211005010/en/

Contacts:

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media Marketing Executive

US: +1 630 333 9501

UK: +44 208 123 1770

www.technavio.com

media@technavio.com
About Pernod Ricard Pernod Ricard is the world's n2 in wines and spirits with consolidated Sales of 8,558 million in 2014/15. Created in 1975 by the merger of Ricard and Pernod, the Group has undergone sustained development, based on both organic growth and acquisitions: Seagram (2001), Allied Domecq (2005) and Vin&Sprit (2008). Pernod Ricard holds one of the most prestigious brand portfolios in the sector: Absolut Vodka, Ricard pastis, Ballantine's, Chivas Regal, Royal Salute and The Glenlivet Scotch whiskies, Jameson Irish whiskey, Martell cognac, Havana Club rum, Beefeater gin, Kahlua and Malibu liqueurs, Mumm and Perrier- Jouet champagnes, as well Jacob's Creek, Brancott Estate, Campo Viejo, Graffigna and Kenwood wines. Pernod Ricard employs a workforce of approximately 18,000 people and operates through a decentralised organisation, with 6 "Brand Companies" and 85 "Market Companies" established in each key market. Pernod Ricard is strongly committed to a sustainable development policy and encourages responsible consumption. Pernod Ricard's strategy and ambition are based on 3 key values that guide its expansion: entrepreneurial spirit, mutual trust and a strong sense of ethics. Pernod Ricard is listed on Euronext (Ticker: RI; ISIN code: FR0000120693) and is part of the CAC 40 index.

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.
PUNE, India, February 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Global and China Industrial Laser Industry Report, 2016-2020 is the latest market research that says under the impetus of cars, 3D printing and other markets, the global industrial laser revenue is expected to grow at a CAGR of about 7.7% in 2016-2020.

In recent years, the global industrial laser market has been developing steadily. The revenue herein jumped by 4.9% year on year to USD2.76 billion in 2015. This research covers the Global and Chinese industrial laser market size, policies, market structure, applications, import & export and competitive pattern. Complete report of 115 pages is available at http://www.reportsnreports.com/reports/472288-global-and-china-industrial-laser-industry-report-2016-2020.html .

Chinese industrial laser market started late, showing a small size. In 2015, the revenue herein fetched about USD530 million (USD1=RMB6.2284), accounting for 19.2% of the global; however, the market grew radically with the year-on-year growth rate of 18.9% in 2015, faster than the global market because: First, China introduced a number of policies to encourage the development of the laser industry and its downstream emerging fields (such as material increase manufacturing) after 2010; second, Chinese enterprises gradually realized technological breakthroughs to break the monopoly of foreign enterprises and intensify the market competitiveness.

Industrial lasers primarily embrace CO2 lasers, solid lasers and fiber lasers, in which fiber lasers featured with excellent performance have replaced CO2 lasers and ordinary solid-state lasers in the fields of marking, metal cutting and so forth gradually, as well as represent the future development trend of the industry. The market share of fiber lasers is expected to escalate from 34.5% in 2015 to 44.3% in 2020 in China.

Major foreign industrial laser market manufacturers discussed in this research include TRUMPF, Coherent, IPG, Rofin-Sinar and Prima. Major Chinese Industrial Laser Manufacturers are Han's Laser, Huagong Tech, Daheng New Epoch Technology, Tianhong Laser, Wuhan Golden Laser, Siasun, Maxphotonics, Wuhan Raycus and Wuhan Co-Walking Laser. Order a copy of Global and China Industrial Laser Industry Report, 2016-2020 at http://www.reportsnreports.com/purchase.aspx?name=472288 .

Globally, major industrial laser manufacturers include the US-based Coherent, IPG, Rofine and Nufern, Germany-based Trumpf, Italy-based Prima, China-based Han's Laser, Huagong Tech, Wuhan Raycus and the like. Wherein, Trumpf ranks first with a 15% market share, followed by Han's Laser with 8%. In the wake of mergers and acquisitions between companies, the Matthew effect of the industrial laser industry will not fade out in the short term.

Trumpf, the world's largest industrial laser manufacturer, has been actively promoting R & D of new products. In July 2015, it launched TruDisk 421 pulse suitable for efficient welding of copper as a pulse green laser. In October 2015, it invested EUR70 million in constructing a new building to develop high-power lasers used in the new generation of EUV lithographic equipment.

Han's Laser, China's largest industrial laser manufacturer, holds a vertical industrial chain covering optical devices, lasers and automatic control systems. In 2016, it starts the construction of "High-power Semiconductor Devices, Specialty Optical Fiber and Fiber Laser Industrialization Project" to further improve the fiber laser industrial chain. The project is expected to be fulfilled in 2018.

Wuhan Raycus is one of the few Chinese manufacturers that are capable of producing kilowatt fiber lasers. At present, it focuses on enhancing quality and reliability of 2000W and 4000W products, and R & D of core devices and materials of fiber lasers.

Explore more Manufacturing & Construction market reports at http://www.reportsnreports.com/market-research/manufacturing/ .

Another research titled Global Industrial Fiber Lasers Industry 2015 Market Research Report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. With 270 tables and figures the report provides key statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market. Key Manufacturers are Coherent, TRUMPF, IPG Photonics, Newport, GSI, Rofin-Sinar Technologies, Active Fiber Systems, 3S Photonics, Advalue Photonics, Amonics, Apollo Instruments, Calmar Laser, EOLITE Systems, Fianium, Clark MXR, EKSPLA, ELUXI, TOPTICA Photonics, Hypertherm, IMRA America, Keopsys, Maxphotonics, Mitsubishi Cable Industries, FiberLAST, Furukawa Electric, Quantel Group, Raycus Fiber Laser Technologies, JDS Uniphase, JENOPTIK Laser, Miyachi Unitek, NKT Photonics, Nufern, Nuphoton Technologies, PolarOnyx and Prima Electro North America. Place a direct purchase order of this report at http://www.reportsnreports.com/purchase.aspx?name=432508 .

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Regulatory News:

BIOCORP, (Paris:ALCOR) (FR0012788065 ALCOR PEA-PME eligible), a French company specializing in the development and manufacturing of innovative medical and drug delivery devices announces today that it has won the Best Exhibitor Innovation Award presented by Pharmapack Europe 2016 rewarding Easylog, Biocorp's smart sensor. The ceremony was held on February, 11th at Paris Expo.

The Awards are organized alongside the Pharmapack Europe conference and exhibition each year from its inception in 1997 onwards, and reward the best innovations in the pharmaceutical industry every year.

Biocorp's smart sensor Easylog has received an award in the category Best Exhibitor Innovation for "customization and user-friendliness" acknowledged for being an intuitive real time monitoring tool for patients and health care professionals.

EasyLog, a smart sensor for drug delivery systems

Easylog is a smart sensor that converts all insulin delivery devices, reusable as well as disposable, into internet-connected and communicating devices. Easylog mobile application provides users with reminders for drug delivery, alerts in case of double injection, real-time access to patients' historical data and personalized logbook.

Easylog is an innovative solution that meets the challenges of personalized medicine and is a crucial tool to ensure the highest quality of treatment against chronic diseases, improving the patient's comfort and providing relevant information for treatment follow-up to healthcare professionals.

Back in 2015, Biocorp had already been awarded by Pharmapack for its Datapen, a connected injector pen.

 We are very honored to receive this new Award presented by Pharmapack Europe. Following Datapen in 2015, it is the turn of our Easylog smart sensor to be in the public eye. Easylog is a unique solution that contributes to the increase of the compliance rates, which are still very low among patients suffering from chronic diseases. Our contribution in this field aims to improve the patient's comfort and data reliability for all stake holders. We are extremely proud to receive the Pharmapack Award which highlights once again our innovations and the major progress they bring", commented Jacques Gardette, Biocorp's CEO and founder.

More information: http://www.biocorpsys.com/treatment-management-solutions

ABOUT PHARMAPACK AWARDS

Coinciding with Pharmapack Europe Exhibition since its first edition in 1997, the Pharmapack Awards have been rewarding the best innovations in the pharmaceutical industry every year.

In 2016, Pharmapack Europe awarded two categories within the framework of the Pharmapack Awards:

Best Health Products: This award category is dedicated to the visitors' innovations. The prize will reward the pharma companies and the suppliers that they have worked with to develop the product. It can be a health product launch or an enhancement of an existing product for which the packaging has been improved.

The Exhibitor Innovation: This award will recognize the best innovations among the exhibitors' innovations displayed in the Innovation Gallery. The jury is made up of over 380 companies. The award ceremony was held by decisions makers in the pharmaceutical R&D and purchasing for packaging fields.

More information: http://www.pharmapackeurope.com/europe/enter-awards

About BIOCORP

Founded in 2004 in Issoire (near Clermont-Ferrand, France), Biocorp is a French company specializing in the development and manufacturing of medical devices and innovative drug delivery systems. It is listed as 'Innovative Company' by the French public investment bank Bpifrance. With over twenty years of experience and more than 30 manufactured products, Biocorp is a key player in the industry, providing drug delivery solutions that meet the evolving needs of patients. Today, Biocorp continues to innovate in the area of medical plastics, its core business, and to market traditional devices (alternative to aluminum capsules, syringe and vial administration systems) that have been an important source of recurring income. Its solid expertise and capacity to innovate have allowed the company to develop new internet-connected products, including: the DataPen, a reusable smart injection pen that automatically transmits data to a mobile app, helping patients to manage their treatment; and treatment management add-ons, which adapt to existing delivery devices and are compatible with most injection pens in the market. The company has a team of 43 employees.

Biocorp is listed on Alternext since July 2015 (FR0012788065 ALCOR). For more information, please visit: www.biocorp.fr

Follow us on Twitter @BIOCORPSystems

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160211006097/en/

Contacts:

Biocorp

Jacques Gardette

President Directeur General

investisseurs@biocorp.fr

or

Eric Dessertenne

Directeur Business Development et Commercial

or

Relations presse

ALIZE RP

Caroline Carmagnol Wendy Rigal, 33 (0) 1 44 64 36 66 +33 (0) 6 48 82 18 94

biocorp@alizerp.com
SACRAMENTO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/11/16 -- This February, ScholarShare, the California 529 College Savings Plan, reminds parents and grandparents to give the gift of college savings for Valentine's Day. For as little as $25, the cost to open a college savings account with ScholarShare, friends and family members who wish to help alleviate the costs of a loved one's future college education can open a new account or make an eGift contribution to an existing account. Comparatively, according to FOX Business, half of Americans give chocolate or candy at an average cost of $21.47. A college savings plan seems just as sweet.

You can feel confident in your token of love with easy-to-understand reasons to save with the California college savings plan, one of the top-rated 529 college savings plans in the country by Morningstar, an independent investment research firm. Multiple ScholarShare resources are available to help develop clear college savings goals, identify the best college savings plan portfolio, and make continued savings simple. Automatic contribution plans can help keep you on track toward achieving your goals with as little as $15 per pay period using automatic payroll deduction. ScholarShare offers a wide variety of low-cost investment options and provides valuable tax advantages. Anyone with a valid Social Security Number or Taxpayer Identification Number, can open a new account. Funds can be used at any eligible educational institution in the nation, and some abroad, for a variety of qualified higher education expenses, including mandatory fees, books, supplies, computer equipment, or even certain room and board costs.

About the ScholarShare 529 College Savings Plan:

To sign up for an account or for more information about the plan, visit www.scholarshare.com. For information about the ScholarShare Investment Board (SIB), visit www.treasurer.ca.gov/scholarshare. Like ScholarShare on Facebook at www.facebook.com/scholarshare529 and follow us on Twitter at @ScholarShare529.

Named for the section of the IRS code under which they were created, 529 plans offer valuable tax advantages. Contributions are made with money that has already been taxed. Once funds are placed in the account, investment earnings, if any, are not federally or state taxed, if withdrawn to pay for qualified higher education expenses.

The ScholarShare 529 College Savings Plan Twitter and Facebook pages are managed by the State of California.

For more news, please follow the Treasurer on Twitter at @CalTreasurer, and on Facebook at California State Treasurer's Office.
CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/11/16 -- Shaw Communications Inc. (TSX: SJR.B)(NYSE: SJR) today announced it has awarded scholarships of $2,500 to 512 children of Shaw employees enrolled in post-secondary institutions in honour of Paul Robertson, the late President of Shaw Media.

"Paul was an extraordinary leader and friend," said Brad Shaw, Chief Executive Officer, Shaw Communications Inc. "Nothing was more important to Paul than his family and it's fitting that this scholarship will help the families of our employees. He made a significant difference in this world and we hope that each scholarship will foster a love for learning in all the recipients."

In total, Shaw will distribute $1.28 million in scholarships through the Paul Robertson Family Educational Scholarship Program. Children of Shaw employees will be eligible to receive one $2,500 scholarship during their studies. Scholarships will be awarded annually to students in a full-time diploma, degree, or trade program who have a parent or guardian currently working at Shaw for at least two years.

About Shaw Communications

Shaw Communications Inc. is a diversified communications and media company, serving 3.2 million customers through a reliable and extensive fibre network. Shaw serves consumers with broadband Internet, WiFi, Digital Phone and Video products and services. Shaw Business Network Services provides business customers Internet, data, WiFi, telephony, Video and fleet tracking services. Shaw Business Infrastructure Services offers North American enterprises colocation, cloud and managed services through ViaWest. Shaw Media provides Canadians with engaging programming content through one of Canada's largest conventional television networks, Global Television, and 19 specialty networks including HGTV Canada, Food Network Canada, HISTORY and Showcase. Shaw is traded on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges and is included in the S&P/TSX 60 Index (TSX: SJR.B)(NYSE: SJR). For more information, please visit www.shaw.ca.

Contacts:

Shaw Communications Inc.

Chethan Lakshman

VP, External Affairs

(403) 930-8448

chethan.lakshman@sjrb.ca




Clichy, February 11th, 2016 at 6:00 p.m.

2015 Annual Results

STRONG SALES GROWTH: +12.1% based on reported figures

FURTHER INCREASE IN OPERATING MARGIN

STRONG GROWTH IN EARNINGS PER SHARE*

Sales: 25.26 billion euros +12.1% based on reported figures +4.9% at constant exchange rates +3.9% like-for-like

Operating profit: 4.388 billion euros, representing 17.4% of sales

Earnings per share*: 6.18 euros, an increase of 15.7%

Dividend**: +14.8% at 3.10 euros



The Board of Directors of L'Oreal met on February 11th, 2016 under the chairmanship of Jean-Paul Agon and in the presence of the Statutory Auditors. The Board closed the consolidated financial statements and the financial statements for 2015.

Commenting on the annual results, Mr Jean-Paul Agon, Chairman and CEO of L'Oreal, said:

"In a year marked by a worldwide economic slowdown and increased international volatility, L'Oreal achieved strong growth in 2015, supported by a positive monetary effect, and outperformed the market in three of its four Divisions.

The Active Cosmetics Division has once again demonstrated its great momentum all over the world, and is strengthening its leadership in a dynamic dermocosmetics market. L'Oreal Luxe delivered another year of robust growth, driven by the strength of its brand portfolio and its cutting-edge innovations. The Professional Products Division is reaping the benefits of its initiatives to stimulate the professional beauty market, and continues to improve steadily. Finally, the Consumer Products Division did not outperform its market, but improved in the second half, thanks especially to the powerful acceleration in the make-up category.

Across the geographic zones, L'Oreal has further accentuated its leadership in Europe, and significantly strengthened its performance in North America through the course of the year. Trends in the New Markets were more contrasted, in a context that was challenging in some countries, such as Brazil and Russia.

E-commerce sales*** reached 1.3 billion euros, reflecting very rapid growth, and accounted for more than 5% of Group sales.

The growth in sales, earnings per share* and dividend, supported by the positive currency effect, once again illustrates the quality and robustness of the L'Oreal business model.

In a volatile and uncertain economic environment, particularly in some emerging countries, the Group can rely on its balanced footprint across beauty categories, distribution channels and geographic zones. We are entering 2016 with the ambition to outperform the cosmetics market and achieve another year of sales and profit growth."

* Diluted earnings per share, based on net profit from continuing operations, excluding non-recurring items, attributable to owners of the company.

** Proposed at the Annual General Meeting of April 20th, 2016.

*** Sales achieved on our brands' own websites + estimated sales achieved by our brands corresponding to sales through our retailers' websites (non-audited data); like-for-like growth.



The Board will also propose to the Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, April 20th, 2016, the renewal of the tenure as Directors of Mr Jean-Pierre Meyers, Mr Jean-Victor Meyers and Mr Bernard Kasriel.

The tenure of Mrs Christiane Kuehne will expire at the end of the Annual General Meeting on April 20th, 2016. The Board of Directors wishes to warmly thank Mrs Christiane Kuehne for the quality of her contribution to discussions during her four-year tenure. The Board of Directors will put to the vote of the AGM the appointment as Director of Mrs Beatrice Guillaume-Grabisch, Managing Director of Nestle Deutschland.

Mr Louis Schweitzer has tendered his resignation from the Board of Directors, in accordance with the Internal Rules of the Board, as the 2016 Annual General Meeting is the one following his 73rd birthday. This decision will be effective at the end of this Annual General Meeting. The Board wishes to express its deep gratitude to Mr Schweitzer for his commitment and his particularly important contribution as Chairman of the Audit Committee and as a member of the Strategy and Sustainable Development Committee.

The Board will propose to the Annual General Meeting on April 20th, 2016 the appointment as Director of Mrs Eileen Naughton, who currently holds the position of Vice-President and Managing Director, UK and Ireland, at Google. This would bring the percentage of women on the Board to 46.6%.

As the appointments and renewals of tenure presented have an impact on the composition of the Committees, this is set out in detail in the table below, subject to approval of the resolutions concerning the tenure renewal and appointment of Directors at the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders on April 20th, 2016.



Projected composition of Board Committees at the end of the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders on April 20th, 2016





Board Committees



o President

x Committee

Member Strategy and

Sustainable

Development Audit Human

Resources

and

Remuneration Appointments

and

Governance Mr Jean-Paul Agon o Mrs Francoise Bettencourt Meyers x Mr Peter Brabeck-Letmathe x x x Mr Jean-Pierre Meyers* x x x Mrs Ana Sofia Amaral x Mrs Sophie Bellon x o Mr Charles-Henri Filippi x o x Mr Xavier Fontanet x Mrs Belen Garijo x Mrs Beatrice Guillaume-Grabisch* x Mr Bernard Kasriel* x Mr Georges Liarokapis x Mr Jean-Victor Meyers* x Mrs Virginie Morgon o Mrs Eileen Naughton*

Moreover, the Board of Directors has decided, under the authorization voted by the Annual General Meeting of April 22nd, 2015, to set up a share buyback plan amounting to a maximum of 500 million euros during the first half of 2016. All the shares bought back will be cancelled.**

* Subject to approval of the resolutions concerning the tenure renewal and appointment of Directors at the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders on April 20th, 2016.

** The L'Oreal Registration Document filed with the AMF (Autorite des Marches Financiers) on March 17th, 2015 includes, on pages 274 and 275, the other pieces of information that must appear in the share buyback programme description pursuant to Article 241-2 of the General Regulation of the AMF.





A - 2015 sales

Like-for-like, i.e. based on a comparable structure and constant exchange rates, the sales trend of the L'Oreal Group was +3.9%.

The net impact of changes in consolidation amounted to +1.0%.

Currency fluctuations had a positive impact of +7.2%.

Growth at constant exchange rates was +4.9%.

Based on reported figures, the Group's sales, at December 31st, 2015, amounted to 25.26 billion euros, an increase of +12.1%.

Sales by Operational Division and Geographic Zone

4th quarter 2015 At December 31st, 2015 m Growth m Growth Like-for-like Reported Like-for-like Reported By Operational Division Professional Products 848.3 4.0% 8.5% 3,399.7 3.4% 12.1% Consumer Products 2,883.5 3.1% 6.4% 11,844.2 2.5% 10.0% L'Oreal Luxe 2,038.0 6.8% 13.5% 7,230.0 6.1% 16.7% Active Cosmetics 388.3 9.9% 8.1% 1,816.3 7.8% 9.4% Cosmetics Divisions total 6,158.1 4.8% 9.1% 24,290.2 4.1% 12.2% By Geographic Zone Western Europe 2,008.9 2.7% 4.5% 8,042.7 2.3% 4.5% North America 1,706.8 5.0% 18.2% 6,654.4 3.5% 23.5% New Markets, of which: 2,442.4 6.5% 7.1% 9,593.0 6.0% 11.9% - Asia, Pacific 1,406.8 5.5% 13.9% 5,463.5 4.7% 19.7% - Latin America 466.2 2.2% -8.8% 1,871.3 4.6% 0.9% - Eastern Europe 385.1 10.8% -1.5% 1,530.4 9.8% -3.5% - Africa, Middle East 184.3 19.3% 27.9% 727.9 12.1% 28.1% Cosmetics Divisions total 6,158.1 4.8% 9.1% 24,290.2 4.1% 12.2% The Body Shop 342.9 -5.8% 7.3% 967.2 -0.9% 10.7% Group total 6,501.0 4.2% 9.0% 25,257.4 3.9% 12.1%

PROFESSIONAL PRODUCTS

The Professional Products Division recorded growth of +3.4% like-for-like and +12.1% based on reported figures. Growth is accelerating in North America and in Western Europe.

Haircare is the largest contributor to growth, and is continuing to expand, driven by a string of successes: Pro Fiber and Serioxyl by L'Oreal Professionnel , Chronologiste , Therapiste and Fusio-Dose by Kerastase , and Frizz Dismiss and Extreme Length by Redken . Sales of hair colour in all brands have increased, supported by solid core franchises actively promoted throughout the year. Professional skincare with Carita is expanding rapidly in Western Europe.



All the geographic Zones are growing. Many Latin American countries are accelerating strongly. Eastern Europe is once again posting double-digit growth. The United States, India and the United Kingdom are the top contributors to growth.

CONSUMER PRODUCTS

The Consumer Products Division posted growth of +2.5% like-for-like and +10.0% based on reported figures with an acceleration of its performance in the second semester.

The Division has strengthened its leadership in its number one category, make-up, where every brand has posted fast growth. Maybelline, world number one in make-up, has regained strong momentum, particularly in the United States, thanks to a brisk pace of innovation and its successful digital strategy. L'Oreal Paris has rolled out its powerful new "Makeup Designer Paris" platform. NYX Professional Makeup is continuing to demonstrate its magnetism for young, connected make-up addicts wherever the brand is available, especially in the United States.

Haircare sales increased, driven by the worldwide roll-out of the Extraordinary Oil range by L'Oreal Paris. Ultra Doux by Garnier has launched the new Olive Mythique range, and has expanded successfully into Germany and Spain.

The Division has returned to a solid growth rate in North America. It is stable in Western Europe with good performances in the United Kingdom and Germany. In all the New Markets it is making progress, with double-digit growth in Eastern Europe and in Africa, Middle East. Finally, e-commerce* is enjoying strong growth across all Zones.

L'OREAL LUXE

L'Oreal Luxe recorded growth of +6.1% like-for-like and +16.7% based on reported figures. Once again the Division outperformed the market, driven by the dynamism of make-up and fragrances, as well as by e-commerce*.

Yves Saint Laurent is having an excellent year thanks to the success of Black Opium , also launched in the United States, and major lip make-up innovations with Pop Water and Volupte Tint-in-oil . The dynamic growth of Giorgio Armani is continuing, with strong sales of its fragrances S A and Acqua di GiA Profumo . The growth of Lancome is sustained in Europe, driven by the success of the range La vie est belle that became number one, Miracle Cushion foundation ( Prix d'Excellence Marie Claire ), mascaras and Advanced Genifique skincare. A significant achievement in skincare is Kiehl's chalking up another year of double-digit growth. Urban Decay is today sold in 35 countries, and is maintaining its momentum thanks to the Naked palettes and the brand's face make-up.



is having an excellent year thanks to the success of , also launched in the United States, and major lip make-up innovations with and . The dynamic growth of is continuing, with strong sales of its fragrances and . The growth of is sustained in Europe, driven by the success of the range that became number one, foundation ( ), mascaras and skincare. A significant achievement in skincare is chalking up another year of double-digit growth. is today sold in 35 countries, and is maintaining its momentum thanks to the palettes and the brand's face make-up. L'Oreal Luxe is growing in all Zones and outperforming the market in Western Europe. North America ended the year well. Despite the volatile economic context in the New Markets, Latin America, Eastern Europe and Africa, Middle East have posted double-digit growth. The Asia, Pacific Zone is performing well, with a good outcome in China.

ACTIVE COSMETICS

The Division is once again demonstrating its great vitality, with sales growth of +7.8% like-for-like and +9.4% based on reported figures, outperforming a very dynamic market.

Vichy returned to a solid growth rate in the fourth quarter and the launch of the Ideal Body range has enabled the brand to develop strongly in the body care category, while the innovative launch of Neovadiol Substitutive Complex in the second half is a success. For the sixth year running, La Roche-Posay has posted double-digit growth with outstanding figures for its franchises Toleriane , Effaclar , Lipikar and Cicaplast . SkinCeuticals is contributing strongly to the Division's expansion, and is continuing to grow in all Zones. Roger&Gallet is expanding in skincare.



All Zones are contributing to growth. In the New Markets, the Asia, Pacific, Latin America and Africa, Middle East Zones have all recorded rapid growth. Western Europe accelerated in the second half.

* Sales achieved on our brands' own websites + estimated sales achieved by our brands corresponding to sales through our retailers' websites (non-audited data); like-for-like growth.

Multi-division summary by Geographic Zone

WESTERN EUROPE

In Western Europe, sales grew by +2.3% like-for-like and +4.5% based on reported figures. Thanks to L'Oreal Luxe, and the Active Cosmetics and Professional Products Divisions, the Group is outperforming the market, particularly in Southern Europe, and is recording strong growth in the United Kingdom and Germany. In this Zone, the luxury and dermocosmetics markets continue to enjoy good momentum. While the mass channel is still sluggish, the Garnier brand is winning market share in haircare and skincare.

NORTH AMERICA

With growth of +3.5% like-for-like and +23.5% based on reported figures, North America's pace strengthened through the course of the year. At L'Oreal Luxe, Urban Decay, Kiehl's and Yves Saint Laurent all posted double-digit growth. The Professional Products Division is recovering, driven by the impetus of the Redken brand. The Consumer Products Division is fuelled by momentum in make-up, with the breakthrough made by NYX Professional Makeup and the acceleration of Maybelline.

NEW MARKETS

Asia, Pacific : Sales grew by +4.7% like-for-like and +19.7% based on reported figures. Despite a difficult market in Hong Kong, growth at L'Oreal Luxe improved in the fourth quarter, driven by excellent performances in Japan. Yves Saint Laurent , Kiehl's , Giorgio Armani and Urban Decay have made strong contributions to the Division's success. The Consumer Products Division is benefiting from good performances in India, Australia and Thailand, and from L'Oreal Paris , particularly in China. Magic is in a transitional phase. The Active Cosmetics Division is posting strong growth, driven by La Roche-Posay .

Latin America : Sales grew by +4.6% like-for-like and +0.9% based on reported figures, thanks to double-digit growth in the Active Cosmetics Division and at L'Oreal Luxe. The very good performances of SkinCeuticals , Vichy , La Roche-Posay, Lancome and Kiehl's are especially worth noting. If Brazil is excluded, Latin America achieved double-digit like-for-like growth. The environment in Brazil is continuing to hold back the Zone's overall sales.

Eastern Europe: The Zone posted figures of +9.8% like-for-like and -3.5% based on reported figures. The Consumer Products and Professional Products Divisions, and L'Oreal Luxe, all recorded double-digit growth, driven by Russia, Turkey and Ukraine. All Divisions are making significant market share gains, particularly the Consumer Products Division in all categories (haircare, hair colour, skincare and deodorants), and the Maybelline brand, boosted by the launch of Lash Sensational mascara, recorded the strongest growth increase of the Division.

Africa, Middle East: Sales growth amounted to +12.1% like-for-like and +28.1% based on reported figures. Growth was particularly fast in Egypt, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, where it topped 20%. South Africa remains solid. In a context of recent slowdown in several countries, the Garnier, L'Oreal Paris, Maybelline, Giorgio Armani, Yves Saint Laurent, Ralph Lauren, Kerastase, Vichy and La Roche-Posay brands recorded double-digit growth. All the Divisions are making progress, with market share gains in their respective channels.

THE BODY SHOP

The Body Shop recorded -0.9% like-for-like and +10.7% based on reported figures, with good momentum in Africa, Middle East and in Europe, notably in the United Kingdom, its home market. The strategy of focusing on skincare is paying off in all markets, with a strong contribution from the new Oils of Life range. However, some Asian markets have been subject to a challenging environment, particularly Hong Kong, and sales in the year-end holidays were below expectation in North America.

B - Important events during the period 10/01/15 to 12/31/15

No events or changes occurred during the period from October 1 st to December 31 st , 2015 which could significantly modify the Group's financial situation.



On January 4th, 2016 L'Oreal USA announced the acquisition of Raylon Corporation, a full-service wholesale distributor of salon professional products. The acquisition expands the SalonCentric distribution network and extends coverage of American hair salons.

C - 2015 Results

Audited financial statements, certification in progress.

Operating profitability at 17.4% of sales

Consolidated profit and loss account: from sales to operating profit.

2014 2015 m % sales m % sales Sales 22,532.0 100.0% 25,257.4 100.0% Cost of sales -6,500.7 28.9% -7,277.4 28.8% Gross profit 16,031.3 71.1% 17,980.0 71.2% R&D expenses -760.6 3.4% -794.1 3.1% Advertising and promotion expenses -6,558.9 29.1% -7,359.6 29.1% Selling, general and administrative expenses -4,821.1 21.4% -5,438.6 21.5% Operating profit 3,890.7 17.3% 4,387.7 17.4%

Gross profit, at 17,980 million euros, came out at 71.2% of sales, compared with 71.1% in 2014, that is an increase of 10 basis points.

Research and Development expenses, at 3.1% of sales, have decreased in relative value due to a favourable monetary effect. More than 2/3 of these expenses were made in the euro zone.

Advertising and promotion expenses remained stable compared to 2014, at 29.1% of sales.

Selling, general and administrative expenses, at 21.5% of sales, have come out at a slightly higher level, by 10 basis points compared with 2014.

Overall, the operating profit, at 4,388 million euros, has grown by 12.8% and amounts to 17.4% of sales.

Operating profit by Operational Division

2014 2015 m % sales m % sales By Operational Division Professional Products 608.8 20.1% 678.5 20.0% Consumer Products 2,186.2 20.3% 2,385.8 20.1% L'Oreal Luxe 1,269.2 20.5% 1,497.5 20.7% Active Cosmetics 376.4 22.7% 414.7 22.8% Cosmetics Divisions total 4,440.6 20.5% 4,976.4 20.5% Non-allocated* -615.2 -2.8% -643.6 -2.6% The Body Shop 65.3 7.5% 54.8 5.7% Group 3,890.7 17.3% 4,387.7 17.4%

* Non-allocated = Central Group expenses, fundamental research expenses, stock options and free grant of shares expenses and miscellaneous items. As a % of cosmetics sales.

The profitability of the Professional Products Division at 20.0% is down by 10 basis points, due mainly to the consolidation of Decleor and Carita, which led to a negative impact of 20 basis points for the Division. If acquisitions are excluded, profitability has increased by 10 basis points.

The profitability of the Consumer Products Division at 20.1% is down by 20 basis points compared with 2014, due to the first consolidation of Niely in Brazil, as anticipated.

The profitability of L'Oreal Luxe grew by 20 basis points in 2015.

At Active Cosmetics, there was a further increase in profitability to reach 22.8%.

The profitability of The Body Shop weakened in 2015, to 5.7%, in a year of major changes, due to disappointing sales in the 4th quarter and to the dilutive impact of the acquisition of the Australian franchisee.

Profitability by Geographic Zone

Operating profit 2014 2015 m % sales m % sales Western Europe 1,746.1 22.7% 1,827.1 22.7% North America 1,010.4 18.7% 1,256.8 18.9% New Markets 1,684.1 19.6% 1,892.6 19.7% Cosmetics Zones total* 4,440.6 20.5% 4,976.4 20.5%

* Before non-allocated.





Profitability in Western Europe remained stable at 22.7%.

In North America, profitability improved by 20 basis points, to reach 18.9%.

And in the New Markets, profitability increased again this year by 10 basis points, to reach 19.7%.

Net profit from continuing operations

Consolidated profit and loss accounts: from operating profit to net profit excluding non-recurring items.

m 2014 2015 % change Operating profit 3,890.7 4,387.7 +12.8% Financial revenues and expenses excluding dividends received -24.1 -13.8 Sanofi dividends 331.0 336.9 Profit before tax excluding non-recurring items 4,197.7 4,710.8 +12.2% Income tax excluding non-recurring items -1,069.5 -1,219.7 Net profit excluding non-recurring items of equity consolidated companies -3.0 - Non-controlling interests +0.1 -1.3 Net profit excluding non-recurring items after non-controlling interests* 3,125.3 3,489.8 +11.7% EPS** () 5.34 6.18 +15.7% Net profit after non-controlling interests 4,910.2 3,297.4 Diluted EPS after non-controlling interests () 8.39 5.84 Diluted average number of shares 585,238,674 564,891,388

* Net profit excluding non-recurring items after non-controlling interests does not include impairment of assets, restructuring costs, tax effects or non-controlling interests.

** Diluted earnings per share, based on net profit from continuing operations, excluding non-recurring items, attributable to owners of the company.

Finance expenses amounted to 14 million euros.

Sanofi dividends amounted to 337 million euros.

Income tax excluding non-recurring items amounted to 1,220 million euros. This represents a tax rate of 25.9%, slightly higher than that of 2014 which came out at 25.5%.

Net profit excluding non-recurring items after non-controlling interests amounted to 3,490 million euros, up by 11.7%.

Earnings per Share, at 6.18 euros, is up by 15.7% compared to Earnings per Share of 2014.

Non-recurring items after non-controlling interests amounted to 192 million euros in 2015, due mainly to the accounting impact of the deconsolidation of the Venezuelan subsidiary and to the French tax of 3% on the dividends distributed.

Net profit came out at 3,297 million euros.





Cash flow statement, Balance sheet and Net financial situation

Gross cash flow amounted to 4,399 million euros, an increase of +15.5%.

The working capital requirement increased in 2015 to 196 million euros. This increase is mainly due to the fine paid to the French competition authority for an amount of 189 million euros.

Investments amounted to 1,172 million euros, representing 4.6% of sales, slightly higher than in 2014, when it represented 4.5% of sales.

The net cash came out, at December 31st, 2015, at 618 million euros, compared with a net debt of 671 million euros at December 31st, 2014.

The balance sheet remains particularly solid with shareholders' equity amounting to some 24 billion euros.





Proposed dividend at the Annual General Meeting of April 20th, 2016

The Board of Directors has decided to propose that the Shareholders' Annual General Meeting of April 20th, 2016 should approve a dividend of 3.10 euros per share, an increase of 14.8% compared with the dividend paid in 2015. The dividend will be paid on May 3rd, 2016 (ex-dividend date May 29th, 2016 at 0:00 a.m., Paris time).





Share capital

As of December 31st, 2015, the capital of the company is formed by 562,983,348 shares, each with one voting right.

"This news release does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy L'Oreal shares. If you wish to obtain more comprehensive information about L'Oreal, please refer to the public documents registered in France with the Autorite des Marches Financiers, also available in English on our Internet site www.loreal-finance.com (http://www.loreal-finance.com).

This news release may contain some forward-looking statements. Although the Company considers that these statements are based on reasonable hypotheses at the date of publication of this release, they are by their nature subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated or projected in these statements."

This a free translation into English of the "2015 Annual Results" news release issued in the French language and is provided solely for the convenience of English speaking readers. In case of discrepancy, the French version prevails.

Contacts at L'Oreal (switchboard: +33 1 47 56 70 00)

Individual shareholders and market authorities

Mr Jean Regis CAROF

Tel: +33 1 47 56 83 02

jean-regis.carof@loreal.com (mailto:jean-regis.carof@loreal.com)

Financial analysts and Institutional investors

Mrs Francoise LAUVIN

Tel: +33 1 47 56 86 82

francoise.lauvin@loreal.com (mailto:francoise.lauvin@loreal.com)

Journalists

Mrs Stephanie CARSON-PARKER

Tel: +33 1 47 56 76 71

stephanie.carsonparker@loreal.com (mailto:stephanie.carsonparker@loreal.com)

For more information, please contact your bank, broker or financial institution (I.S.I.N. code: FR0000120321), and consult your usual newspapers, the Internet site for shareholders and investors, www.loreal-finance.com (http://www.loreal-finance.com) or the L'Oreal Finance app, alternatively, call +33 1 40 14 80 50.





D - Appendices

Appendix 1: L'Oreal group sales 2014/2015 ( millions)

2014 2015 First quarter : Cosmetics Divisions 5,462.2 6,243.9 The Body Shop 176.4 192.4 First quarter total 5,638.6 6,436.3 Second quarter : Cosmetics Divisions 5,348.5 6,163.1 The Body Shop 187.4 219.5 Second quarter total 5,536.0 6,382.6 First half : Cosmetics Divisions 10,810.8 12,407.0 The Body Shop 363.8 411.9 First half total 11,174.6 12,818.9 Third quarter : Cosmetics Divisions 5,200.7 5,725.1 The Body Shop 190.4 212.5 Third quarter total 5,391.1 5,937.5 Nine months : Cosmetics Divisions 16,011.4 18,132.1 The Body Shop 554.2 624.3 Nine months total 16,565.7 18,756.4 Fourth quarter : Cosmetics Divisions 5,646.7 6,158.1 The Body Shop 319.6 342.9 Fourth quarter total 5,966.4 6,501.0 Full year Cosmetics Divisions 21,658.2 24,290.2 The Body Shop 873.8 967.2 Full year total 22,532.0 25,257.4

Appendix 2: Compared consolidated income statements

 millions 2015 2014 2013 Net sales 25,257.4 22,532.0 22,124.2 Cost of sales -7,277.4 -6,500.7 -6,379.4 Gross profit 17,980.0 16,031.3 15,744.8 Research and development -794.1 -760.6 -748.3 Advertising and promotion -7,359.6 -6,558.9 -6,621.7 Selling, general and administrative expenses -5,438.6 -4,821.1 -4,614.4 Operating profit 4,387.7 3,890.7 3,760.4 Other income and expenses -193.4 -307.2 -128.6 Operational profit 4,194.3 3,583.5 3,631.8 Finance costs on gross debt -23.7 -31.4 -23.1 Finance income on cash and cash equivalents 55.6 42.3 36.4 Finance costs, net 31.9 11.0 13.3 Other financial income (expenses) -45.7 -35.1 -44.7 Sanofi dividends 336.9 331.0 327.5 Profit before tax and associates 4,517.4 3,890.4 3,928.0 Income tax -1,222.9 -1,111.0 -1,043.6 Share of profit in associates 4.0 -13.5 -3.0 Net profit from continuing operations 3,298.5 2,765.9 2,881.4 Net profit from discontinued operations - 2,142.7 80.0 Net profit 3,298.5 4,908.6 2,961.4 Attributable to:  owners of the company 3,297.4 4,910.2 2,958.2  non-controlling interests 1.1 -1.6 3.2 Earnings per share attributable to owners of the company (euros) 5.92 8.51 4.95 Diluted earnings per share attributable to owners of the company (euros) 5.84 8.39 4.87 Earnings per share of continuing operations attributable to owners of the company (euros) 5.92 4.79 4.82 Diluted earnings per share of continuing operations attributable to owners of the company (euros) 5.84 4.73 4.73 Earnings per share of continuing operations attributable to owners of the company, excluding non-recurring items (euros) 6.26 5.41 5.07 Diluted earnings per share of continuing operations attributable to owners of the company, excluding non-recurring items (euros) 6.18 5.34 4.99



Appendix 3: Consolidated statement of comprehensive income

 millions 2015 2014 2013 Consolidated net profit for the period 3,298.5 4,908.6 2,961.4 Financial assets available-for-sale 347.6 -172.7 677.4 Cash flow hedges 60.1 -17.2 13.2 Cumulative translation adjustments 373.7 584.0 -457.0 Income tax on items that may be reclassified to profit or loss (1) -28.9 7.3 -32.1 Items that may be reclassified to profit or loss 752.5 401.4 201.5 Actuarial gains and losses 598.1 -672.7 188.9 Income tax on items that may not be reclassified to profit or loss (1) -205.3 225.1 -63.8 Items that may not be reclassified to profit or loss 392.8 -447.6 125.1 Other comprehensive income 1,145.3 -46.2 326.6 Consolidated comprehensive income 4,443.8 4,862.4 3,288.0 Attributable to:  owners of the company 4,443.1 4,864.3 3,284.9  non-controlling interests 0.7 -1.9 3.1

(1) The tax effect is as follows:

 millions 2015 2014 2013 Financial assets available-for-sale -14.4 7.2 -28.0 Cash flow hedges -14.4 0.1 -4.1 Items that may be reclassified to profit or loss -28.9 7.3 -32.1 Actuarial gains and losses -205.3 225.1 -63.8 Items that may not be reclassified to profit or loss -205.3 225.1 -63.8 Total -234.1 232.4 -95.9



Appendix 4: Compared consolidated balance sheets

Assets

 millions 12.31.2015 12.31.2014 (1) 12.31.2013 (1) Non-current assets 24,457.6 23,284.2 21,485.1 Goodwill 8,151.5 7,525.5 6,206.0 Other intangible assets 2,942.9 2,714.6 2,105.4 Property, plant and equipment 3,403.5 3,141.1 2,891.2 Non-current financial assets 9,410.9 9,069.0 9,204.0 Investments in associates 1.0 - 435.2 Deferred tax assets 547.9 834.0 643.3 Current assets 9,253.7 8,774.6 9,389.6 Current assets excluding assets held for sale 9,253.7 8,774.6 9,389.6 Inventories 2,440.7 2,262.9 2,085.2 Trade accounts receivable 3,627.7 3,297.8 3,022.8 Other current assets 1,486.9 1,199.3 1,500.3 Current tax assets 298.6 97.6 122.1 Cash and cash equivalents 1,399.8 1,917.0 2,659.3 Assets held for sale - - - Total 33,711.3 32,058.8 30,874.7

(1) The balance sheets at December 31st, 2014 and December 31st, 2013 have been restated to reflect the change in accounting policies on recognition of levies resulting from the application of IFRIC 21.

Equity & liabilities

 millions 12.31.2015 12.31.2014 (1) 12.31.2013 (1) Equity 23,617.0 20,196.9 22,651.0 Share capital 112.6 112.3 121.2 Additional paid-in capital 2,654.4 2,316.8 2,101.2 Other reserves 12,873.4 9,773.3 14,229.0 Other comprehensive income 4,517.5 3,745.9 4,370.1 Cumulative translation adjustments 391.9 17.8 -566.4 Treasury stock -233.3 -683.0 -568.1 Net profit attributable to owners of the company 3,297.4 4,910.2 2,958.2 Equity attributable to owners of the company 23,613.9 20,193.3 22,645.2 Non-controlling interests 3.1 3.6 5.8 Non-current liabilities 1,920.6 2,595.6 1,928.6 Provisions for employee retirement obligations and related benefits 807.2 1,479.7 939.6 Provisions for liabilities and charges 195.9 193.6 174.5 Deferred tax liabilities 876.8 855.2 730.6 Non-current borrowings and debt 40.8 67.1 83.9 Current liabilities 8,173.7 9,266.3 6,295.2 Trade accounts payable 3,929.0 3,452.8 3,249.7 Provisions for liabilities and charges 754.6 722.0 528.8 Other current liabilities 2,597.3 2,403.2 2,083.1 Income tax 151.9 167.1 178.3 Current borrowings and debt 741.0 2,521.2 255.3 Total 33,711.3 32,058.8 30,874.7

(1) The balance sheets at December 31st, 2014 and December 31st, 2013 have been restated to reflect the change in accounting policies on recognition of levies resulting from the application of IFRIC 21.



Appendix 5: Consolidated statements of changes in equity

 millions Common

shares

outstanding Share

capital Additional

paid-in

capital Retained

earnings

and

net profit Other

compre-

hensive

income Treasury

stock Cumulative

translation

adjustments Equity

attributable

to owners

of the

company Non-

controlling

interests Total

equity At 12.31.2012 598,356,662 121.8 1,679.0 16,547.4 3,586.4 -904.5 -109.4 20,920.7 4.8 20,925.5 Changes in

accounting policies

at 01.01.2013 (1) 8.2 8.2 8.2 At 01.01.2013 598,356,662 121.8 1,679.0 16,555.6 3,586.4 -904.5 -109.4 20,928.9 4.8 20,933.7 Consolidated net profit

for the period 2,958.2 2,958.2 3.2 2,961.4 Financial assets

available-for-sale 649.5 649.5 649.5 Cash flow hedges 9.1 9.1 -0.1 9.0 Cumulative translation

adjustments -457.0 -457.0 -457.0 Other comprehensive

income that may be

reclassified

to profit and loss 658.6 -457.0 201.6 -0.1 201.5 Actuarial gains and losses 125.1 125.1 125.1 Other

comprehensive

income

that may not

be reclassified

to profit and loss 125.1 125.1 - 125.1 Consolidated

comprehensive

income 2,958.2 783.7 -457.0 3,284.9 3.0 3,288.0 Capital increase 6,199,701 1.2 422.2 423.4 423.4 Cancellation of

Treasury stock -1.8 -996.7 998.5 - - - Dividends paid

(not paid on Treasury stock) -1,380.6 -1,380.6 -2.5 -1,383.1 Share-based payment 97.2 97.2 97.2 Net changes

in Treasury stock -4,762,333 1.4 -662.1 -660.7 -660.7 Purchase commitments

for minority interests -48.3 -48.3 -0.9 -49.2 Changes in scope

of consolidation - 1.4 1.4 Other movements 0.4 0.4 0.4 At 12.31.2013 (1) 599,794,030 121.2 2,101.2 17,187.2 4,370.1 -568.1 -566.4 22,645.2 5.8 22,651.0 Consolidated net profit

for the period 4,910.2 4,910.2 -1.6 4,908.6 Financial assets

available-for-sale -165.5 -165.5 -165.5 Cash flow hedges -17.0 -17.0 -0.1 -17.1 Cumulative translation

adjustments 584.2 584.2 -0.2 584.0 Other comprehensive

income that may be

reclassified

to profit and loss -182.5 584.2 401.7 -0.3 401.4 Actuarial gains and losses -447.6 -447.6 -447.6 Other comprehensive

income that may not

be reclassified

to profit and loss -447.6 -447.6 - -447.6 Consolidated

comprehensive

income 4,910.2 -630.1 584.2 4,864.3 -1.9 4,862.4 Capital increase 3,828,502 0.8 215.6 -0.1 216.3 2.3 218.6 Cancellation of

Treasury stock -9.7 -6,035.9 6,045.6 - - - Dividends paid

(not paid on Treasury stock) -1,507.3 -1,507.3 -2.8 -1,510.1 Share-based payment 113.5 113.5 113.5 Net changes in

Treasury stock -49,380,654 0.2 -6,160.5 -6,160.3 -6,160.3 Purchase commitments

for minority interests 21.0 21.0 -2.3 18.7 Changes in scope

of consolidation - 2.5 2.5 Other movements -5.3 5.9 0.6 0.6 At 12.31.2014 554,241,878 112.3 2,316.8 14,683.5 3,745.9 -683.0 17.8 20,193.3 3.6 20,196.9 Consolidated net profit

for the period 3,297.4 3,297.4 1.1 3,298.5 Financial assets

available-for-sale 333.2 333.2 333.2 Cash flow hedges 45.6 45.6 45.6 Cumulative translation adjustments 374.1 374.1 -0.4 373.7 Other comprehensive income that may be

reclassified to profit and loss 378.8 374.1 752.9 -0.4 752.5 Actuarial gains and losses 392.8 392.8 392.8 Other comprehensive income that may not

be reclassified to profit and loss 392.8 392.8 - 392.8 Consolidated comprehensive income 3,297.4 771.6 374.1 4,443.1 0.7 4,443.8 Capital increase 4,657,959 0.9 337.6 338.5 338.5 Cancellation of Treasury stock -0.6 -362.8 363.4 - - - Dividends paid (not paid on Treasury stock) -1,511.4 -1,511.4 -2.6 -1,514.0 Share-based payment 117.6 117.6 117.6 Net changes in Treasury stock 1,088,341 -77.1 86.3 9.2 9.2 Purchase commitments for minority interests 23.5 23.5 1.5 25.0 Changes in scope of consolidation - - Other movements 0.1 0.1 -0.1 - At 12.31.2015 559,988,178 112.6 2,654.4 16,170.8 4,517.5 -233.3 391.9 23,613.9 3.1 23,617.0

(1) Taking into account the change in accounting policies on recognition of levies resulting from the application of IFRIC 21.

Appendix 6: Compared consolidated statements of cash flows

 millions 2015 2014 2013 Cash flows from operating activities Net profit attributable to owners of the company 3,297.4 4,910.2 2,958.2 Non-controlling interests 1.1 -1.6 3.2 Elimination of expenses and income with no impact on cash flows:  depreciation, amortisation and provisions 933.8 856.2 767.8  changes in deferred taxes 53.4 60.0 15.9  share-based payment (including free shares) 117.6 113.5 97.2  capital gains and losses on disposals of assets 0.2 -0.9 0.1 Net profit from discontinued operations - -2,142.7 -80.0 Share of profit in associates net of dividends received -4.0 13.5 -4.6 Gross cash flow 4,399.5 3,808.2 3,757.9 Changes in working capital -196.4 55.9 -67.6 Net cash provided by operating activities (A) 4,203.1 3,864.1 3,690.3 Cash flows from investing activities Purchases of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets -1,172.1 -1,008.2 -1,018.8 Disposals of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets 6.5 18.7 8.5 Changes in other financial assets

(including investments in non-consolidated companies) -35.2 403.4 -464.8 Dividends received from discontinued operations - 41.7 56.3 Effect of changes in the scope of consolidation -435.3 1,194.0 -138.4 Net cash (used in) from investing activities (B) -1,636.1 649.6 -1,557.2 Cash flows from financing activities Dividends paid -1,534.8 -1,589.3 -1,425.4 Capital increase of the parent company 338.6 216.4 423.4 Capital increase of subsidiaries - 2.3 - Disposal (acquisition) of Treasury stock 9.2 -6,160.3 -660.6 Issuance (repayment) of short-term loans -1,832.4 2,225.0 48.9 Issuance of long-term borrowings 1.1 0.2 - Repayment of long-term borrowings -5.8 -13.0 -19.7 Net cash (used in) from financing activities (C) -3,024.1 -5,318.7 -1,633.4 Net cash (used in) from discontinued operations (D) - - 23.0 Net effect of changes in exchange rates and fair value (E) -60.1 62.7 -75.6 Change in cash and cash equivalents (A+B+C+D+E) -517.2 -742.3 447.1 Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of the year (F) 1,917.0 2,659.3 2,235.2 Change in cash and cash equivalents of discontinued operations (G) - - -23.0 Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year (A+B+C+D+E+F+G) 1,399.8 1,917.0 2,659.3

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News release of February 11, 2016 in English - PDF file (http://hugin.info/136480/R/1985194/728276.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: L'OREAL via Globenewswire



HUG#1985194


COSTA MESA, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/11/16 -- In a case before the Supreme Court last week, tenured Whittier Law School Professor Radha Pathak scored a victory as lead pro bono counsel. Professor Pathak is also Of Counsel to Stris & Maher LLP, a premier litigation and appellate boutique. Peter K. Stris argued the case, Montanile v. Board of Trustees of the National Elevator Industry Health Benefit Plan, and Professor Pathak led the briefing before the Court. While it is not uncommon for law professors to work on U.S. Supreme Court cases, they generally file amicus curiae briefs, rather than represent one of the parties as Professor Pathak did.

The case pitted the insurance industry against an injured man, Robert Montanile, a single father who was injured badly by a drunk driver. Mr. Montanile sued the driver and received a $500,000 settlement. After paying his lawyers, Mr. Montanile spent the settlement supporting his young daughter. Six months later, Mr. Montanile was sued by his health insurer attempting to recoup the monies paid to his doctors out of Mr. Montanile's general assets. The lower courts sided with the insurer and ordered Mr. Montanile to repay approximately $120,000.

Professor Pathak and her team convinced the Supreme Court to hear the case, and on January 20, 2016, the Supreme Court sided with Mr. Montanile in an 8-1 decision. Under the relevant federal law (known as ERISA), insurers can no longer seize the assets of injured or disabled people who receive injury settlements or disability payments but spend the money on living expenses.

According to Professor Pathak, "This is a victory that, for several years, most experts said was impossible. It has sweeping implications for not only healthcare but also disability and pension litigation. I could not be more pleased."

Back at Whittier Law School, Professor Pathak's students also benefitted from her experience practicing before the U.S. Supreme Court. In her Appellate Advocacy course, for example, students studied the case and gained insight into the process from the attorneys who wrote the briefs and argued the cases. Students also practiced oral arguments with Peter Stris, the lead attorney in the case, named by Reuters as one of the 66 most influential lawyers before the Supreme Court.

Said Hanna Chandoo, a former student in the course, "It was incredibly rewarding to gain insight and to see how advanced legal reasoning and analysis works in the real world. At the same time, seeing how much work I put into making just one argument airtight was a good reality check for me! I am so grateful to Professor Pathak for deciding to include us in her brief-writing routine, and really excited to hear the news about SCOTUS's decision."

Currently, Professor Pathak is also representing parties in two other major cases before the United States Supreme Court this Term.

About Whittier Law School:

Founded 50 years ago and accredited by the American Bar Association since 1978, Whittier Law School is ranked as the third most diverse law school in the nation by U.S. News and World Report. Located in Orange County, California, the school is known for an innovative hands-on curriculum which prepares lawyers for today's practice. For more information, visit www.law.whittier.edu or call (714) 444-4141 ext. 131.

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Whittier Law School

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According to the latest research study released by Technavio, the global acrylic-based wood coatings market is predicted to reach close to USD 4 billion in revenue by 2019.

This research report titled 'Global Furniture Wood Coatings Market 2015-2019' provides an in-depth analysis of market growth in terms of revenue and emerging market trends. This market research report also includes up to date analysis and forecasts for various market segments and all leading countries.

Request sample report: http://bit.ly/1PcggF7

"Improved versions of acrylic-based wood coatings with enhanced performance characteristics are driving the global; furniture wood coatings market. For instance, Dow offers self-crosslinking acrylic and acrylic-polyurethane resins for water-borne wood finishes. Water-borne self-crosslinking acrylic resins offer key benefits such as chemical resistance, high durability, low volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions, and quicker release of coalescence on blending with polyurethane dispersions. Owing to these favorable market conditions, acrylic-based water-borne wood coatings are expected to post a CAGR of 6% over the next four years," said Piyush Mishra, one of Technavio's lead analysts for paints, coatings, and pigments research.

"Vendors in the chemical industry are making concerted efforts for employing sustainable processes that have minimal environmental impact. Such activities include the development of eco-friendly products, which helps vendors gain a competitive edge in the market. New entrants that offer innovative and green solutions are therefore expected to grow significantly in the market," added Piyush.

Segmentation of global furniture wood coatings market (% revenue)

Solvent-borne coatings 69% Water-borne coatings 18% Radiation-cured coatings 11% Powder coatings 2%

Source: Technavio research

Top three segments of the global furniture wood coatings market by technology:

Solvent-borne coatings

Water-borne coatings

Radiation-cured coatings

Solvent-borne coatings: largest revenue contributor

The global solvent-borne furniture wood coatings market is expected to grow steadily at a CAGR of close to 6% during the forecast period. As few alternative technologies meet the performance characteristics of solvent-borne wood coatings, they are preferred for many applications. These products are also priced economically compared to other technologies.

A growing focus by vendors on high solid solvent-borne formulations that emit lower VOCs is a major trend in the market. Suppliers in the market are introducing innovative raw materials for such formulations, and it is positively impacting the global wood coatings market and prompting growth over the next four years.

Water-borne coatings: second largest revenue contributor

Our researchers expect a strong growth phase for the global water-borne furniture wood coatings market during the forecast period. Low VOC content in these coatings has fostered high adoption in developed regions where stringent regulations encourage low emission levels.

An increase in consumer preference for water-borne coatings in APAC is another emerging driver for this market. The growth of the furniture industry in this region is contributing to market expansion, with China being a leading consumer of water-borne coatings for wood. Ease of application of water-borne coatings on wood, compared to radiation cured coatings, and powder coatings is likely to further increase its demand in upcoming markets during the forecast period.

Radiation-cured coatings segment of the global wood coatings market

The radiation cured coatings segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the global furniture wood coatings market because of its superior performance characteristics in furniture applications as well as others such as flooring and paneling. On account of these factors, wood substrates currently account for over 38% of the global ultra violet (UV) and radiation cured coatings market. In addition, factors such as cost and energy savings are also expected to result in higher adoption, and it will therefore augment the demand for radiation-cured coatings until 2019.

Browse related reports:

Global Waterborne Wood Coatings Market 2015-2019

Global Wood Coatings Market 2015-2019

Wood Coatings Market in Europe 2015-2019

Acrylic Surface Coating Market: Global Trends and Insights 2015-2019

Global Wood Adhesives and Binders Market 2015-2019

Purchase any three reports for the price of one by becoming a Technavio subscriber. Subscribing to Technavio's reports allows you to download any three reports per month for the price of one. Contact enquiry@technavio.com with your requirements and a link to our subscription platform.

About Technavio

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies.

Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users.

If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com.

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FRANKFURT, GERMANY -- (Marketwired) -- 02/11/16 -- Germany's most popular leisure airline celebrates its 60 year anniversary this year. On May 29, 1956, the first Condor plane took off in Frankfurt, Germany, formerly operating under the name Deutsche Flugdienst GmbH. Since then, Condor has made aviation history and has developed from a pioneer into the most popular leisure airline in Germany.

The year 2016 will be the main focus of this anniversary with celebrations and special events year round. Condor Airlines will also paint one of its aircraft in an anniversary special livery and update followers and fans on its anniversary page on the blogging platform, Tumblr (http://60years.condor.com). Fans and AvGeeks can look forward to historical picture galleries, short videos, information on activities, competitions and reports from former passengers.

"In the last 60 years, Condor has grown to be a strong brand and has established itself firmly in the market," said Ralf Teckentrup, chairman of Condor's executive board. "Much has changed over the decades, but one thing has remained the same: we take people to the best holiday destinations. We now offer 75 dream destinations -- considerably more than we offered in the 1950s."

The airline's first flight in 1956 with a Vickers Viking was to the Holy Land, Jerusalem and Egypt. During the first year of operations, Mallorca and Tenerife were already included in the flight schedule.To satisfy the ever growing demand, Condor continuously increased the numbers of destinations thru the years. The next milestone followed in 1966, leading to the first long haul flights to Thailand, Sri Lanka, Kenya and the Dominican Republic.

The expansion of the route network will continue during the anniversary year. Four new Greek destinations -- Araxos-Patras (GPA), Volos (VOL), Zakynthos (ZTH) and Kavala (KVA) as well as flights from Frankfurt to Austin, Texas will be added in June. Starting Summer 2016 weekly flights from Munich will be added to the following destinations: Halifax (YHZ), Canada; Windhoek (WDH), Namibia; Havana (HAV), Cuba as well as Zanzibar (ZNZ), Tanzania and Mombasa (MBA), Kenya.

Further information on the history of Condor can be found at the Condor Newsroom.

Condor Flugdienst GmbH has been flying its passengers to the world's most beautiful holiday destinations since 1956. On an annual basis, more than 7 million passengers fly with Condor to around 75 destinations in Europe, Asia, Africa and America. Since 2013, the German airline Condor, is part of the Thomas Cook Group Airlines to which the Thomas Cook Airlines UK, Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium and Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia also belong. The fleet of the airlines in the Thomas Cook Group comprises 91 modern and environmentally friendly aircraft, of which 42 aircraft are in the Condor fleet: 9 Airbus A320s, 7 Airbus A321, 13 Boeing 757-300s and 13 Boeing 767-300s. The aircraft are maintained by the airline's own technical operations. Condor Airlines is enjoying great popularity among German people and can refer to itself as "Brand of the Year 2015". This is the finding of a ranking carried out by the market research institute YouGov on behalf of the German business newspaper Handelsblatt, based on 700,000 online surveys. In the "Mobility" category, Condor achieved very good survey results. The annual "Brand of the Year 2015" distinction awards prizes to the strongest brands from various industries from a consumer viewpoint.

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For any photo, video material or queries regarding the Condor anniversary please contact

Susanne Rihm

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Technavio has announced the top eight leading vendors for the global halal food marketin their latest research report. This report also lists 12 other prominent vendors who are expected to contribute to this market's growth over the forecast period.

To identify the top vendors, Technavio's market research analysts have considered the top contributors to the overall revenue of this market. To calculate the market size, the report considers revenue generated from the sales of various halal food products, including livestock and processed food.

Request sample report: http://bit.ly/1POz3pp

"A key segment of the halal food market is meat and live animals. As Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) member nations import nearly 85% of their meat and live animals, the market presents a huge potential for the leading vendors of this market," said Arushi Thakur, one of Technavio's lead analysts for food market research

"The potential market for halal food is over one trillion dollars, and yet, there are very few dedicated halal certified food producers or manufacturers in the global market. Therefore, there is huge scope for building a global brand with halal and tayyab integrity across the value chain. In addition, integration of the halal segment with organic, genetically modified (GMO) free, and fair trade food practices are expected to find a wide consumer base during the forecast period," added Arushi.

Eight leading vendors in the global halal food market:

Al Islami Foods

Al Islami Foods was established in 1981, and it is headquartered in Dubai, UAE. The company offers halal food products in the Middle East. They also offer various halal meat products, such as mutton, sausages, kebabs, beef, burgers, and minced meat.

On June 25, 2014, they launched a new processing factory. This factory provides poultry, snack, and seafood products for foodservice and retail sectors in GCC. On December 15, the company expanded its presence in Russia, Azerbaijan, and other countries. This expansion has enabled the company to expand its business operations all over the world.

BRF

BRF was founded in 1934 and is headquartered in Brazil. BRF is a producer of fresh and frozen protein foods worldwide. As of December 2014, they reported net sales of close to USD 12.35 billion. During this period the company had approximately 104,777 employees.

BRF focuses on the production and sale of poultry, pork, and processed foods. Its products include frozen whole and cut poultry, frozen pork and beef cuts, such as ribs and loins and whole carcasses; and processed foods, such as marinated, frozen chicken, rooster, and turkey meat; specialty meats; and frozen prepared entrees. Its range of specialty meats include sausages, bologna, ham products, frankfurters, salamis, steak, bacon, hamburgers, and cold meat.

Kawan Foods

Kawan's products include paratha, stuffed paratha, naan, chapatti, roti wraps, puff pastry, samosa, roti chania, pastries, finger snacks, fries, frozen vegetables, western and Middle Eastern style baked breads (such as tortillas, baguette and pita bread), and soy protein products.

Kawan Food manufactures and distributes frozen food products globally. The company's bestselling products include paratha and chapatti. The company's products are marketed worldwide, in countries such as Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, Bahrain, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, Ireland, South Korea, Kuwait, Maldives, Mauritius, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Singapore, the UK, Canada, France, and the US.

In September 2015, the company entered into an agreement with Wan Zong Pu and Xuan Zheng Miao to establish a joint venture to produce and sell halal meat dumpling and other meat products in China and adjoining regions.

Nestle

Nestle, along with its subsidiaries, develops, produces, markets, and sells food and beverages globally. They operate in 197 countries worldwide, and as of December 2014, they employed close to 339,000 people. They reported net revenue of over USD 100 billion in FY2014. The company was established in 1866 and is headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland.

The EMEA segment reported net revenue of close to USD 20 billion (20% of the net revenue), exhibiting an increase of about 17% in 2014. Its growth was driven by a robust demand from France, Switzerland, Austria, and the Netherlands.

Prima Agri-Products

Prima Agri-Products was established in 1987 and is headquartered in Bangi, Malaysia. They are engaged in processing and manufacturing of halal meat based products. Their products are currently exported to South East Asia, Middle East, and Europe.

Their popular halal food technology includes the following:

Cellulose casing:

This is used in the food industry for the packaging of sausages.

Fibrous casing:

This is a classic way of packaging meat based products with polystyrene and carton boxes. In addition it is used for packaging cold cuts.

SAFAR:

This is a special animal fat replacer technology that is developed by MPOB Malaysian Palm Oil Board.

QL Foods

QL Foods was established in 1994 and is headquartered in Perak, Malaysia. They offer a range of chilled and frozen surimi-based products that include squid analogs, seafood tofu, veggie fish balls, fish sandwiches, salmon balls, crab nuggets, crab claws, crab sticks, crab chunks, and fish pastes.

Their production exceeds over 80 metric tons every day with exports to countries such as Singapore, China, Indonesia, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Canada, and the US. This enables them to expand their business operations all over the world.

Tahira

Tahira is a leading producer of halal foods in Europe. Their products are certified by the World Islamic Foundation, and signed off by inspectors at every step of production, from slaughter, processing to packing.

Their products are supplied across the EU region, having partnered with leading chains such as Asda, Budgens, Batleys, Somerfield, Bestway, Lidl, TRS, and Makrof, in addition to over 1,800 other retailers in the region.

Saffron Road

Saffron Road was established in 2010 and is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, US. The company offers chicken nuggets, frozen entrees, crunchy chickpeas, on-the-go meals, frozen gourmet meals, simmer sauces, broths, frozen dessert mini tarts, and others.

On August 20, 2015, they acquired Mediterranean Snack Foods Company, a lentil snack brand company in the US, which offers over 50 natural lentil/legume based crackers, chips, and veggie snacks.

Browse related reports:

Global Food and Beverage Food Intolerance Products Market 2015-2019

Global Food Organic Dairy Products Market 2015-2019

Global Food Dietary Supplements Market 2015-2019

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About Technavio

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Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users.

If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com.

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media@technavio.com
LANSING, MI--(Marketwired - February 11, 2016) - Michigan Retailers Association is offering approximately 36 college scholarships this spring through the annual competition funded by its Michigan Retailers Foundation.

The scholarships are available for the 2016-17 academic year to the families of MRA member businesses and their employees. Scholarships are $1,000 for a student of a four-year, public or private university or college, and $500 for those attending a community college or approved educational and professional training institute.

The program has provided 465 scholarships to students since 1999.

Recipients are selected for their above-average academic performance and extracurricular activities, including part-time employment. Financial need is not a consideration, and students do not need to be at the top of their class.

Eligible to apply are high school seniors and college freshmen, sophomores and juniors who are dependent sons and daughters of owners or full-time employees of MRA's nearly 5,000 member businesses. Part-time employees who are full-time students are also eligible.

Applications must be submitted to International Scholarship and Tuition Services, Inc. (ISTS) by April 1. Students are encouraged to complete the application process online at www.retailers.com. Students may also contact MRA's Rachel Schafer at 800.366.3699 or rschafer@retailers.com by March 15 to request an application by mail or to check eligibility.

Recipients are selected by an independent panel of educators chosen by ISTS, which administers the program for MRA.

Michigan Retailers Association represents nearly 5,000 member businesses and their more than 15,000 stores and websites. MRA has been a trusted business resource for 76 years and provides profit-boosting membership services such as legislative advocacy, expert credit card processing, business and personal insurances, and shipping discounts.

Contact:

Rachel Schafer

517.372.5656

Email contact


VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - February 11, 2016) -TriMetals Mining Inc. (TSX: TMI) (TSX: TMI.B) (OTCQX: TMIAF) (OTCQX: TMIBF)

To The Shareholders:

As we settle into the new year, there are signs for optimism, the gold price is going up and some of the other metals are starting to stabilize in price. Even iron ore prices in China seem to have started on an uptrend!

Our corporate focus, the Gold Springs PEA-stage gold-silver project in safe mining friendly Nevada and Utah, represents an attractive "option" on the gold price. One of the advantages of being an exploration rather than mining company over the last few years has been that our resource, held 100% by TMI, is still in the ground and has not been hurt by the need to mine-out the "high-grade" to maintain profitability during the extended period of low gold prices. This pristine resource, which the Company has expanded every year for the last four years through ongoing drill programs that have been reported in updated NI 43-101 technical reports, is shown to be a strong project with positive projected economics at today's gold price (see PEA dated August 12, 2015).

TMI's plan is to maintain the Gold Springs gold-silver project as a 100% owned asset with little or no royalty and no liens against it. The belief is that this high quality growing resource in safe and mining friendly Nevada and Utah is a valuable asset whose value will increase if the gold price increases and we continue to expand the resource.

Our geological team, including myself, strongly believes that the Gold Springs Project has the potential to host at least 3-5 million (1) ounces of gold and our plan is to continue to drill out the gold targets with the intent to expand the resource to the point when the project becomes a very attractive investment.

The potential quantity of gold is conceptual in nature. It is uncertain if further exploration will result in this quantify of gold being delineated as a mineral resource. The basis on which this potential quantity of gold has been determined as a target is based on the Company having completed resource drilling on only portions of 2 of 26 areas of outcropping gold mineralization and none of the buried geophysical targets at Gold Springs and have already reported a mineral resource within the two drilled areas.

To date we have drilled less than 10% of the gold targets that we have identified through geology, geophysics and geochemistry and already have a resource with positive economics as reported in the PEA. The reported resource is shown below (PR, August 12, 2015):

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Grey Eagle plus Jumbo*** ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Resource Gold Silver Gold Equivalence ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cutoff Au g/t Tonnes Troy oz Grade g/t Troy oz Grade Troy oz Grade g/t AuEq* g/t AuEq* ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Measured plus Indicated ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.2 30,046,000 434,000 0.45 9,297,000 9.6 597,000 0.62 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.3 19,003,000 347,000 0.57 6,957,000 11.4 469,000 0.77 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.5 7,600,000 206,000 0.84 3,394,000 13.9 265,000 1.09 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Inferred ** ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.2 20,887,000 225,000 0.34 4,613,000 6.9 306,000 0.46 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.3 9,889,000 140,000 0.44 2,766,000 8.7 188,000 0.59 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.5 1,842,000 39,000 0.65 691,000 11.7 51,000 0.86 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Numbers have been rounded, which may lead to some numbers not adding up exactly. * Gold equivalent (AuEq) calculations reflect gross metal content using a gold/silver ratio of 57.14 used in the most recent resource estimate (2015 Resource) and to be consistent with that used for the previously reported resource estimate (2014 Resource), and have not been adjusted for metallurgical recoveries. ** The Inferred resource is in addition to the measured and indicated resource *** The information in the resource table was derived from the Technical Report Preliminary Economic Assessment Update on the Gold Springs Property, Utah/Nevada, USA dated August 12, 2015, authored by GRE and Kurt Katsura.

In 2012 Bolivia expropriated our very large PEA-stage Malku Khota silver-indium deposit without compensation and struck a major blow to the Company and its shareholders.

The Company's wholly-owned subsidiary, South American Silver Limited, is pursuing international arbitration against Bolivia to seek fair compensation for the illegal expropriation of the Malku Khota Project. The oral hearing is scheduled for July of this year. The Company is claiming US$385.7 million in compensation for damages.

The Company also continues to retain its Escalones copper-gold porphyry in Chile where it has developed a large resource estimate reported in a NI 43-101 technical report dated July 11, 2014. Costs here have been reduced to a minimum and an 18-month deferment of option payments to acquire Escalones has been negotiated, at no additional cost (PR, December 18, 2015).

To further align corporate and investor interests the management team agreed to cut all management's salaries by 25% to 40%. We have closed offices and made the remaining more cost efficient, and constantly review other ways to reduce the ongoing administrative costs to ensure that the Company preserves its cash as the gold price recovers.

I believe the Company is now well positioned to take advantage of the improving investment climate for gold while at the same time maintaining low overhead costs.

I thank you for your continuing support.

Ralph Fitch

CEO

About TriMetals Mining Inc.

TriMetals Mining Inc. is a growth focused mineral exploration company creating value through the exploration and development of the near surface, Gold Springs gold-silver project in mining friendly Nevada and Utah in the U.S.A.

The Company's approach to business combines the team's track record of discovery and advancement of large projects, key operational and process expertise, and a focus on community relations and sustainable development. Management has extensive experience in the global exploration and mining industry.

The Company's common shares and Class B shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbols "TMI" and "TMI.B" and the common shares and Class B shares also trade on the OTCQX market under the symbol "TMIAF" and "TMIBF". Additional information related to TriMetals Mining Inc. is available at www.trimetalsmining.com and on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Qualified Person

The Qualified Person on the Gold Springs property is Randall Moore, Executive Vice President of Exploration - North America of TriMetals Mining Inc. and he has reviewed and approved the content of this press release.

Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements contained herein constitute "forward-looking statements". Forward looking statements look into the future and provide an opinion as to the effect of certain events and trends on the business. Forward-looking statements may include words such as "plan", "belief", "will", "continue", "intent", "pursuing", "seek", "scheduled", "target", "future", "potential" and similar expressions.These forward- looking statements are based on current expectations and entail various risks and uncertainties. Actual results may materially differ from expectations if known and unknown risks or uncertainties affect our business or if our estimates or assumptions prove inaccurate. Factors that could cause results or events to differ materially from current expectations expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, include, but are not limited to, risks of the mineral exploration industry which may affect the advancement of the Gold Springs project, including possible variations in mineral resources, grade, recovery rates, metal prices, capital and operating costs, and the application of taxes; availability of sufficient financing to fund planned or further required work in a timely manner and on acceptable terms; availability of equipment and qualified personnel, failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated, changes in project parameters, including water requirements for operations, as plans continue to be refined; regulatory, environmental and other risks of the mining industry more fully described in the Company's Annual Information Form and continuous disclosure documents, which are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The assumptions made in developing the forward-looking statements include: the accuracy of current resource estimates and the interpretation of drill, metallurgical testing and other exploration results, including the reliability of exploration results of previous companies; the continuing support for mining by local governments in Nevada and Utah; the availability of equipment and qualified personnel to advance the Gold Springs project; execution of the Company's existing plans and further exploration and development programs for Gold Springs, which may change due to changes in the views of the Company or if new information arises which makes it prudent to change such plans or programs.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Except as required by law, TMI assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or any other reason. Unless otherwise indicated, forward-looking statements in this press release describe the Company's expectations as of February 11, 2016.

Class B Shares

The holders of the Class B Shares have contingent rights to receive a pro rata share of 85% of the net cash proceeds, if any (after deducting all costs, tax and expenses and the third party funder's portion thereof), received pursuant to any award or settlement agreement entered into in respect of South American Silver Limited's arbitration claim against the Government of Bolivia. The holders of Class B Shares will not realize any value if: (i) no award or settlement agreement is reached; (ii) no cash payment is included in a settlement agreement; or (iii) the costs of obtaining a cash payment on, or enforcement of, an award or settlement agreement exceeds the amount of such cash payment. South American Silver Limited has sole discretion and decision making authority over when and whether to pursue any particular course of action in respect of the arbitration proceedings, including whether to negotiate or enter into a settlement agreement and including whether to accept non-cash consideration pursuant thereto. In addition, the accrual of value on the Class B Shares may be significantly delayed. The international arbitration process can take several years before an award is rendered or settlement reached. Once an award is rendered or settlement is reached, enforcing the award or settlement agreement could take additional several years and the full amount of any award or settlement may not ultimately be received, which would reduce the amount, if any, payable to the holders of Class B Shares. The costs, fees and other expenses incurred in connection with the arbitration, including financing costs and other commitments, would be paid out of the proceeds of any such award thus potentially reducing funds received by South American Silver by as much as one-third of the amount of any award in its favor.

TriMetals Mining Inc. Contact:



Ralph Fitch

President & CEO

303.584.0606

ralphfitch@trimetalsmining.com



Matias Herrero

Chief Financial Officer

303.584.0606

mherrero@trimetalsmining.com
BEAVERTON, OR and SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/11/16 -- Nvoicepay, the leader in strategic payment solutions for the enterprise, today announced it will be hosting the "Automotive NSIGHTS'16" Summit on May 16-17, 2016 at the Harvest Inn in St. Helena, California. The two-day, invitation-only Summit will examine some of the key disruptive trends shaping the automotive industry.

Automotive NSIGHTS'16 will feature keynote sessions alongside interactive panel discussions on a range of topics on key technologies impacting the office of the CFO in the automotive and trucking industry. The Summit will provide attendees the opportunity to learn from recognized experts on the evolving landscape of finance in the automotive industry, network with other automotive executives, and understand how new technology solutions are being most effectively implemented. The agenda will highlight automotive and trucking industry case study examples, as well as actionable takeaways on how financial executives can better leverage technology to realize a paperless operation.

"The automotive vertical is leading other industries in leveraging technology to streamline operations, go paperless, and deliver significant bottom-line results," said Karla Friede, co-founder and CEO for Nvoicepay. "The NSIGHTS'16 Summit will both inspire and motivate automotive financial executives who are looking to transform their back office operations and improve operating results."

The Automotive NSIGHTS'16 Summit will be hosted at the Harvest Inn and Staglin Family Vineyards in beautiful Napa Valley, California. CFOs in the automotive and trucking industry interested in attending the Automotive NSIGHTS'16 Summit can request an invitation by sending an email request to events@nvoicepay.com. Additional information about the Summit can be found at: http://www.nvoicepay.com/nvoicepaynsights.

About Nvoicepay

Nvoicepay delivers strategic payment solutions to automate account payable, enabling customers to pay 100% of their invoices electronically, while realizing the financial benefits of payment optimization. Nvoicepay's cloud based products and vendor payment services reduce costs, increase efficiencies and maximize rebates, all with minimal effort. Nvoicepay serves thousands of customers paying hundreds of thousands of suppliers across multiple industries including healthcare, retail and financial services. More information about Nvoicepay is available at www.nvoicepay.com.

Press Contact:

Robert Nachbar

Kismet Communications

206-427-0389

Email Contact




NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 02/11/16 -- Balabit, a leading provider of contextual security technologies, today announced its recent CSI Report, conducted among one of the most technical and relevant global information security events, the Black Hat USA and Black Hat Europe 2015 participants. Questions were posed to 494 IT security practitioners who participated in the reseach that highlights the Top 10 Most Popular Hacking Methods helping organizations to clearly see which methods or vulnerabilities attackers are using the most -- or taking advantage of -- when they want to get sensitive data in the shortest amount of time. The key finding of the survey is that outsiders want to become insiders with the least possible efforts, and insiders "help" them -- mostly by accident.

"Hackers who gain insider access pose the highest risk to corporations as they can stay unnoticable within the network for months by masking themselves as insiders," said Zoltan Gyorko CEO at Balabit. "Balabit aims to support organizations to know their enemy by knowing who is behind their user accounts, a legitimate user or a masked hacker. This should be the fundamental priority in every organization's IT security strategy."

According to the survey, 54 percentof the survey respondants said that organizations are still afraid of "hackers" breaking into their IT network through their firewall -- but at the same time more than 40 percent of them said that they already clearly see that first-line defense tools, such as firewalls are just not effective enough to keep the hackers away. More than 70 percent of those surveyed said that insider threats are more risky.

TOP 10 List of Most Popular Hacking Methods

Balabit surveyed which methods or vulnerabilities IT security experts think that attackers are using the most when they want to get sensitive data fast:

1. Social engineering (e.g. phishing)

Most of the attackers aim to get a low level insider user account and escalate its privileges. Using social engineering attacks to trick users to "voluntarily" give their account and password is preferred.

"The recent data breach of more than 10,000 users from the U.S. Departments of Justice and Homeland Security staff and more than 20,000 Federal Bureau of Investigation employees is an example of how becoming an insider using social engineering tactics is a much easier way for hackers to breach security than writing zero-day exploits," said Gyorko. "Traditional access control tools and anti-malware solutions are necessary, but these only protect sensitive assets against hackers outside of the network. Once they are inside, even with low level access, they can easily escalate rights and gain privileged or root access in the network posing a much higher risk."

"These hijacked accounts can only be detected based on the difference of the user's behavior, such as login time and location, speed of typing, and used commands. User Behavior Analytics tools that provide baseline profiling about real employees, that are unique like fingerprints, can easily detect the abnormal behavior of your user accounts and alert the security team or block user activities until further notice," Gyorko added.

The rest of the most popular hacking methods are ranked as follows:

2. Compromised accounts (e.g. weak passwords)

3. Web-based attacks (e.g. SQL/command injection)

4. Client side attacks (e.g. against doc readers, web browsers)

5. Exploit against popular server updates (e.g. OpenSSL, Heartbleed)

6. Unmanaged personal devices (e.g. lack of BYOD policy)

7. Physical intrusion

8. Shadow IT (e.g. users' personal cloud-based services for business purposes)

9. Managing third party service providers (e.g. outsourced infrastructure)

10. Take advantage of getting data put to the cloud (e.g. IAAS, PAAS)

Infographic of the TOP 10 List of Most Popular Hacking Methods can be viewed from here https://pages.balabit.com/rs/855-UZV-853/images/Balabit-top-10-hacks.pdf

About the survey

Balabit, a leading provider of contextual security technologies and Silent Signal, a leading technology provider of state of the art ethical hacking services, jointly organized the eCSI Hacker Playground, a global online hacker competition, specially designed for the Black Hat USA 2015 conference in Las Vegas. The survey about the TOP 10 Most Popular Hacking Methods was conducted amongst 494 participants of the Black Hat USA conference in Las Vegas and months later at the Black Hat Europe in Amsterdam, in 2015. The Black Hat series gathers a wide range of IT security practitioners from IT Specialists, Security Analysts, Risk Managers, Security Architects/Engineers, Penetration Testers, Security Software Developers, Cryptographers, Programmers, Government Employees to Security Executives and Business Developers.

About Balabit

Balabit -- headquartered in Luxembourg -- is a leading provider of contextual security technologies with the mission of preventing data breaches without constraining business. Balabit operates globally through a network of local offices across the United States and Europe together with partners. Balabit's Contextual Security Intelligence Suite protects organizations in real-time from threats posed by the misuse of high risk and privileged accounts. Solutions include reliable system and application Log Management with context-enriched data ingestion, Privileged User Monitoring and User Behavior Analytics. Together they can identify unusual user activities and provide deep visibility into potential threats. Working in conjunction with existing control-based strategies Balabit enables a flexible and people-centric approach to improve security without adding additional barriers to business practices.

Founded in 2000 Balabit has a proven track record including 23 Fortune 100 customers amongst over 1,000,000 corporate users worldwide. For more information, visit www.balabit.com.

Media Contact



Dan Chmielewski

Madison Alexander PR

1-714-832-8716

1-949-231-2965

dchm@cox.net






WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Potentially helping Hillary Clinton solidify her support among black voters, the Congressional Black Caucus Political Action Committee announced its endorsement of the former Secretary of State's run for president on Thursday.



A post on the CBC PAC website described Clinton as someone who consistently worked with the Congressional Black Caucus as a U.S. senator, noting her support for legislation to ban racial profiling, prosecute hate crimes, and eliminate racial disparities in the healthcare system.



Clinton also stood with the caucus on voting to raise the minimum wage, championing the Paycheck Fairness Act, and helping minority-owned small businesses, the CBC's campaign arm said.



'In Hillary Clinton, African Americans will have a nominee who knows key Black elected officials, clergy, fraternity and sorority leaders, educators, public intellectuals, athletes, artists, and activists,' the CBC PAC said in the post.



The post added, 'With their support, we will have a president who has dedicated her lifetime of public service to addressing the inequities that millions of African Americans still face.'



The CBC PAC is the campaign arm of the Congressional Black Caucus, whose membership includes forty-six members of Congress.



The endorsement could help Clinton in upcoming primary states where black voters play a bigger role than in the previous contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.



According to exit polls, black voters made up 55 percent of South Carolina Democratic Primary voters in 2008, when President Barack Obama defeated Clinton.



A recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll showed Clinton with a 74 percent to 17 percent lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., among black likely South Carolina Democratic primary voters, contributing to her 64 percent to 27 advantage overall.



Sanders has subsequently been looking to increase his support among black voters and recently announced an endorsement from entertainer and social activist Harry Belafonte.



(Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore)



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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Technavio's latest global organic detergents market report highlights the top four emerging trends predicted to impact market growth through 2020. Technavio defines an emerging trend as something that has potential for significant impact on the market and contributes to its growth or decline.

"North America leads the organic laundry detergents market, as the US is expected to be one of the largest revenue contributors for this market over the next four years. A rise in the demand for organic laundry care products coupled with increased awareness of better innovations in organic laundry care products is expected to propel the growth of the market. In 2015, North America registered the fastest growth rate among all other regions and its continued growth will positively impact the revenues for the global organic laundry detergents market until 2020," said Arushi Thakur, one of Technavio's lead industry analysts for retail goods and services research.

"The global organic laundry detergents market was hugely dominated by the organic liquid detergents market, followed by the organic powdered detergents market and the organic tablet laundry detergents market. This trend is estimated to continue in the same manner during the forecast period," added Arushi.

Technavio's market research study identifies the following four emerging trends that are expected to propel the global organic laundry market:

Growing environmental concerns

Health benefits driving adoption of organic laundry detergents

Innovative packaging techniques

Growth in the online retail sector

Growing environmental concerns

Many individual consumers have started looking for sustainably sourced ingredients, and have started demanding products that are produced with minimal environmental impact. As a result, manufacturers are using ingredients in laundry care products that are reaped ethically without the use of pesticides and other harmful chemicals.

Owing to this change, vendors are investing in green chemistry, which involves the study of processes that reduce the release of hazardous chemicals into the environment. This trend is predicted to help market vendors launch new organic laundry detergents and drive the growth of the market during the forecast period.

For example, in an effort to attract environment conscious customers, Fit Organic, a leading player of this market gets all its products certified by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). This helps position their products as being free from any synthetic detergents and artificial surfactants during production.

Health benefits are driving the adoption of organic laundry detergents

Organic detergent manufacturers are focusing on developing these new products on age based requirements, by adding value to cleaning action of detergents. Organic laundry detergents, being hypoallergenic in nature, are milder on the skin and provide the desired safety demanded by users who hand wash their textiles.

Strong demand for organic detergents has grown in popularity due to an increase in skincare problems like skin rashes and other skin ailments caused by chemicals used as raw materials to create many synthetic laundry detergents. To overcome these aftereffects, manufacturers are expected to introduce new and innovative organic laundry care products to cater to specific consumer requirements.

Innovative packaging techniques

Vendors in the global organic laundry packaging market are investing heavily in creating a strong brand image for reaching out to a larger consumer base. As a result, many vendors in the market are coming up with innovative packaging techniques for their detergents.

The use of natural substances without chemical or artificial additives is a common feature of green alternatives. This concept extends to packaging as well. For instance, vendors such as Seventh Generation, an American company that manufactures plant-based liquid detergents, provides packaging in compostable jugs made from recycled fiber using 66% less plastic than conventional detergent packaging.

Another liquid detergent brand, Ecover Laundry Liquid Concentrate, uses dubbed plant plastic for packaging. It is a renewable, reusable, and recyclable material derived from sugarcane. Similarly, many other manufacturers are expected to follow this green packaging trend to improve their brand appeal and expanding their market share.

Growth in the online retail sector

In terms of organic products distribution, online retailing will be one of the fastest growing channels between 2015 and 2020. Quick delivery and competitive selling prices are some major factors driving internet retailing worldwide. Small and local vendors are using the online medium for reaching out to the premium customer segment of this market.

Increased internet penetration in developing regions and internet sales and faster shipping services will play a significant role in its growth. Currently, Honest, Green Virgin Products and Shop Naturally are some of the few companies that are selling organic laundry detergents online.

Browse related reports:

Organic Food and Beverage Market: Forecast Report Analysis 2015-2019

Organic Food and Beverages Market in Europe 2015-2019

Global Organic Personal Care Products Market 2015-2019

Global Organic Mattress Market 2015-2019

Natural and Organic Personal Care Product Market in Europe 2015-2019

Purchase any three reports for the price of one by becoming a Technavio subscriber. Subscribing to Technavio's reports allows you to download any three reports per month for the price of one. Contact enquiry@technavio.com with your requirements and a link to our subscription platform.

About Technavio

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies.

Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users.

If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160211005027/en/

Contacts:

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media Marketing Executive

US: +1-630-333-9501

UK: +44 208 123 1770

www.technavio.com

media@technavio.com


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Senators voted overwhelmingly Thursday to approve a customs enforcement bill that included a provision permanently banning taxes on access to internet service.



The Senate voted 75 to 20 in favor of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act, which previously passed the House and now heads to President Barack Obama's desk.



Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., praised passage of the bill, which he called the strongest package of enforcement tools in decades to crack down on foreign trade cheats.



'It's about creating tough trade enforcement policies, seeing them through, and standing up to anybody who tries to get around them,' Wyden said.



He added, 'It says that the U.S. will no longer stand by while American workers and businesses get their clocks cleaned by the scofflaws.'



The customs bill included an unrelated provision that would permanently ban levying taxes on internet access.



Ahead of the vote, Senate Majority Mitch McConnell, R-Ken., noted Congress has repeatedly reauthorized temporary bans on internet taxes and argued now is the time to make the ban permanent.



The inclusion of the internet access tax ban in the customs bill came after Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., reached an agreement with McConnell on a separate more controversial measure related to an internet sales tax.



Durbin and Alexander reportedly allowed the customs bill to go forward after McConnell agreed to hold a vote on the internet sales tax bill later this year.



The internet sales tax bill would allow states to collect sales taxes on purchases made from out-of-state online retailers, although the legislation is likely to face opposition.



In a statement on Tuesday, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., claimed the so-called Marketplace Fairness Act would be bad for New Hampshire's economy and small businesses.



'I will continue to do everything in my power as U.S. Senator to prevent this legislation from advancing in Congress,' Shaheen said. 'The last thing our small businesses need is this unnecessary red tape.'



While New Hampshire does not have a sales tax, the statement from Shaheen's office said the bill would force businesses to collect sales taxes for 46 states and 9,600 taxing jurisdictions across the country.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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According to the latest market research report by Technavio, the global shower panels and heads marketis expected to grow at a CAGR of close to 6% by 2020.

In this report, Technavio covers the present scenario and growth prospects of the global shower panels and heads market for 2016-2020. The market size has been calculated based on revenues earned from the sales of new shower heads and panel units across the globe.

"Increasing focus among consumers on energy conservation is encouraging international manufacturers to develop energy-efficient and eco-friendly shower systems. For instance, recirculation of water is a key emerging concept across the globe, especially in green buildings, where the water used for bathing is processed and resupplied for secondary purposes like washing and cleaning. This practice is popular among green builders as it results in massive conservation of water," said Soumya Mutsuddi, one of Technavio's lead industry analysts for constructionresearch.

"The cost price of shower heads is also a key concern for end-users in this market. Basic shower heads are the most economical type of shower heads available. The purchase price of a shower head can be as low as USD 50, which is nearly 30% cheaper than that of a bathtub. Further, since these shower heads are small in size and suitable for small to medium-sized bathrooms it reduces the size of plumbing systems, thus decreasing the overall cost of construction," added Soumya.

Global shower head and panel market by geography 2015

APAC 22% America 47% EMEA 31%

Source: Technavio research

Americas: largest region for the global shower panels and heads market

The US government and the country in general has been focusing on conservation of water over the last decade. To this end, the EP Act of 1992 was amended in 2011 to enforce a limit on the amount and flow speed of water for bathing. It has impacted the way vendors manufacture shower panels for controlling water flow. In order to promote sales, US-based shower manufacturers are expected to innovate with new manufacturing techniques for shower heads over the forecast period. There are many residential and high-rise projects that are also expected to be completed during the forecast period. It is expected to largely drive the shower panels and heads market in the region until 2020. Our research predicts, the shower head and panel market in the Americas to grow at a CAGR of close to 4% in terms of revenue generated from sales until 2020.

EMEA: second largest region for the global shower panels and heads market

In EMEA, African countries are emerging as the key contributors for the shower panel and heads market. As the African continent is becoming one of the key potential markets for construction activities, residential construction is gradually growing, thanks to which, affordable housing is witnessing a burgeoning demand in the region.

Bathtubs are often used together with shower heads, but the demand for shower panels in Europe is still limited because of a strong demand for bathtubs. Thus, tubs are posing as a major challenge for this market.

Global shower panels and heads market in APAC

The construction market in several countries in APAC are witnessing a double-digit growth rate. The region has also emerged as the location of some of the fastest growing and emerging markets in the world, such as China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam. These countries are expected to present a significant opportunity for shower panels and heads manufacturers until 2020.

To remain abreast of other emerging economies of the world, these countries are investing heavily in the development of infrastructure. For instance, in 2014, China made plans to invest close to USD 300 billion in the construction of new infrastructure projects until 2020. Our research shows, these trends will significantly improve revenues for the overall shower panels and heads market during the forecast period.

Browse related reports:

Global Bath and Shower Products Market 2015-2019

Construction Showerhead and Panel Market 2015-2019

Global Faucets Market 2016-2020

Purchase any three reports for the price of one by becoming a Technavio subscriber. Subscribing to Technavio's reports allows you to download any three reports per month for the price of one. Contact enquiry@technavio.com with your requirements and a link to our subscription platform.

About Technavio

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies.

Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users.

If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160211005036/en/

Contacts:

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media Marketing Executive

US: +1 630 333 9501

UK: +44 208 123 1770

www.technavio.com

media@technavio.com
According to the latest research study released by Technavio, the global steel scrap market will be dominated by Asia with over 258 million metric tons in volume by 2020.

This research report titled 'Global Steel Scrap Market 2016-2020' provides an in-depth analysis of market growth in terms of revenue and emerging market trends. This market research report also includes up to date analysis and forecasts for various market segments and all leading regions.

Request sample report: http://goo.gl/MgUAnK

"Nickel ore is widely used for the production of steel in China, which is one of the largest consumers of steel. However, the ban on exports by Indonesia has led to a shortage of raw materials. Thus, the use of steel scrap as raw material for the production of steel is increasing. In addition, production of steel has expanded in several countries like Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait," said Chandrakumar BJ, one of Technavio's lead analysts for metals and minerals research.

"Steel scrap is present in various quality grades, which can be used for numerous purposes. The presence of contaminants lowers the quality of scrap and makes it difficult for separation. However, plants have developed the ability to dilute residues and derive better quality from these lower grade steel scrap. Such advances in processing have led to an increase in the use of lower quality grades, thus driving the growth of the global steel scrap market," added Chandrakumar.

Global steel scrap market by grade 2015 Shredded 21% Bushnell 13.25% Cut structural and plate 13% No. 1 and electric furnace bundles 12% No. 2 heavy metal steel and bundles 9% No. 1 heavy metal 8% Turnings and borings 6.75% Slag 4.60% Others 12.40% Source: Technavio research

Top three segments of the global steel scrap market by source:

Obsolete

Home

Prompt

Obsolete steel scrap: largest revenue contributor for the global steel scrap market

According to Technavio analysis, by volume, the global obsolete steel scrap market accounted for over 284 million metric tons in 2015. Obsolete scrap is derived from post-consumer products of various industries after the end of product life. These industries include automobiles, appliances, ships, and bridges. For instance, close to 80 million cars were produced every year, through the past five years until 2015. Considering their service time of 9-13 years, disposal of these automobiles is anticipated to significantly affect the environment. This effect has created pressure on the automobile industry to recycle the disposed scrap metal.

Steel is widely used in electronics and electrical equipment, accounting for close to 50% of the content by weight of electrical equipment. These facts show a huge potential market for the steel scrap industry in the electronics and electrical segment, which can be leveraged by market vendors.

Home steel scrap: second largest revenue contributor for the global steel scrap market

Home steel scrap is generated within steelmaking mills and foundries. This category includes left-over pieces of steel from steelmaking, steel and iron recovered from slag processing, and rejected or defective products at the mill, e.g., side trimmings, crop ends, and other process-related yield losses.

Generally, home scrap with paint and coating does not need pre waste-related treatment before being sent to the furnaces. Furnaces have the capability of melting such home scrap directly if required. However, advances in technology have significantly reduced the amount of home steel scrap produced over the years.

Prompt steel scrap segment of the global steel scrap market

Prompt steel scrap, also called new or industrial scrap, is generated during the manufacturing of steel products. Examples of prompt steel scrap include punched-out pieces of sheet from the manufacture of appliances, skeleton scrap from the production of can ends, turnings from the manufacture of screws and bolts, bumpers at auto stamping plants, and side trimming from the manufacture of hoods. It is sold to the scrap metal industry, which further sells it to steel mills and foundries after processing. By volume, the global prompt steel scrap market accounted for a little over 134 million metric tons in 2015.

Browse related reports:

Steel Market in ASEAN Countries 2015-2019

Global Steel Mills Products Market 2015-2019

Global Steel Industry Market 2016-2020

Purchase any three reports for the price of one by becoming a Technavio subscriber. Subscribing to Technavio's reports allows you to download any three reports per month for the price of one. Contact enquiry@technavio.com with your requirements and a link to our subscription platform.

About Technavio

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies.

Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users.

If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160211005045/en/

Contacts:

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media Marketing Executive

US: +1 630 333 9501

UK: +44 208 123 1770

www.technavio.com

media@technavio.com
CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/11/16 -- SysGen Solutions Group, IT consulting firm for SMBs (small to medium-sized businesses) in Western Canada, today opens its doors in Red Deer, Alberta. This is SysGen's fourth location in Western Canada, with offices currently located in Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver.

"SysGen's new office reflects a demand for dynamic, proactive, and personalized IT support in Red Deer," says Lyle Richardet, President & CEO, SysGen Solutions Group. "We're excited to open our doors to businesses looking for a strong managed service provider leveraging technology to meet corporate objectives."

SysGen's Red Deer Office can be reached by phone at 587-823-2011 or by mail at 394, 5212 48 Street, Red Deer AB T4N 7C3.

About SysGen Solutions Group

SysGen Solutions Group is a client-focused IT consulting organization. Headquartered in Calgary with offices in Edmonton, Red Deer, and Vancouver, SysGen is a leading IT provider for small to mid-sized businesses in Western Canada. Defined by our personal and focused approach to client services, SysGen understands the vital role technology plays in your business, and we're dedicated to ensuring optimum network performance. Follow us on Twitter @sysgensays and visit us at www.sysgen.ca.

Contacts:

Media Contact

Kersti McDonald

Communications & Marketing Associate

SysGen Solutions Group

(403) 266 0994 (ext. 218)

kerstim@sysgen.ca




MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 02/11/16 -- Critical Elements Corporation ("Critical Elements" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: CRE)(OTCQX: CRECF)(FRANKFURT: F12) is pleased to announce that Critical and Lepidico Ltd ("Lepidico") has entered into a binding agreement ("Agreement") that gives the right to Lepidico to acquire up to a 75% interest in the Lemare lithium project.

Terms of the transaction

Under the Agreement, Lepidico will earn its interest in Lemare by way of a farm-in arrangement. The key terms of the Agreement are detailed in the table below:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Conditions $15,000 cash payment at the signature of the Agreement 60 day period for Lepidico to undertake additional due diligence ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upon exercise of right to farm-in post $35,000 cash payment on or before May due diligence 10, 2016 $500,000 payment in shares or cash on or before May 10, 2016, such value to be determined by dividing the 5 day volume weighted average price ("VWAP") of the Shares immediately following the completion of the "going public transaction" between Lepidico and Platypus Minerals Ltd or another Australian Securities Exchange ("ASX") listed company. $35,000 cash payment on or before September 9, 2016 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Earn 50% interest Lepidico to spend $800,000 by December 31, 2016 in exploration expenses Lepidico to spend additional $1,200,000 by December 31, 2017 in exploration expenses Lepidico to deliver a Joint Ore Reserves Committee ("JORC") Code compliant resource by December 31, 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Earn additional 25% interest (total Completion of definitive feasibility 75%) study and environmental study on Lemare by June 30, 2020 Payment of $2,500,000 (cash or shares) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Royalty 2% Net Smelter Royalty ("NSR") payable to Critical Elements Rights to buy back 1% of the NSR for $2,000,000 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Milestone Payment Maximum payment of $1,500,000 in cash or shares for delineation of a JORC resource in excess of 20.0Mt at a cut-off grade of 0.6% Li2O ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Lemare project consists of 158 claims for a total ground position of 7,433 hectares (74 km2) in a region of Quebec that boasts other lithium deposits and known lithium mineralisation, as shown in the maps and table below. The Lemare project is potentially a new lithium field in an established lithium district.

Table 1. Lithium resources of the James Bay area.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Company Project Measured & Inferred Sources Indicated ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nemaska Lithium Whabouchi 13.0Mt measured 4.7Mt @ 1.51% NI 43-101 @ 1.60% Li2O Li2O Technical and 15.0Mt Report - indicated @ Feasibility 1.54% Li2O Study on the Whabouchi Lithium Deposit and Hydromet Plant (Revised), prepared by Met-Chem Canada inc., revision date January 22nd, 2016 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Critical Rose 26.5Mt 10.7Mt @ 1.14% Technical Elements Lithium- indicated @ Li2O equivalent Report and Tantalum 1.30% Li2O Preliminary equivalent economic assessment on the Rose Tantalum- Lithium Project, prepared by Genivar, December 10th 2011 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Galaxy James Bay 11.7Mt 10.5Mt @ 1.20% Mineral Resources indicated @ Li2O Resource 1.30% Li2O Evaluation James Bay Lithium Project, James Bay, Quebec, Canada, prepared by SKR Consulting, December 30, 2010 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Figure 1. Location of known lithium deposits in the James Bay area of Quebec. To view figure 1 please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/JB1_English.pdf

In October 2012, Monarques collected 43 channel samples from six trenches totalling 62 metres in length across the exposed spodumene pegmatite. Of these, 11 samples returned a Li2O content superior to 2%. The results of the channel sampling are shown in the table below:

Table 2. Channel sampling results from Lemare (Monarques Resources Inc.)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Channel Grade Length Li2O % (metres) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- LEM(Li)-12-R1 1.61 9.5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- including 2.00 6.0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- LEM(Li)-12-R2 1.96 12.0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- including 2.68 6.0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- LEM(Li)-12-R3 1.74 10.5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- LEM(Li)-12-R4 2.12 4.8 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- LEM(Li)-12-R5 1.18 14.2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- including 1.58 10.1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- LEM(Li)-12-R6 0.42 10.5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- including 1.12 3.0 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Initial exploration at Lemare was undertaken in 2012 by Monarques Resource Inc. who discovered a "granite pegmatite dyke containing a considerable amount of spodumene." The pegmatite ranges in apparent thickness from 4.8 to 14.2 metres and was followed for close to 200 metres in length on surface. The full length of the dyke remains unknown and is open in both directions. The pegmatite is undrilled so the depth extent also remains unknown.

Figure 2. Trenching program at Lemare showing the six trenches channel sampled. To view figure 2 please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/mona_ENG.pdf

Figure 3. Location of the Lemare project claims in the James Bay area, Quebec, Canada. To view figure 3 please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/JB2_ENG.pdf

Outside of this trenching program, there has been limited lithium exploration undertaken at Lemare. Based on other lithium deposits around the world, it is a common occurrence for pegmatites to exist in "swarms." As part of the due diligence process, Lepidico and Platypus will assess the potential for other pegmatites to exist within the project area.

"Lemare is a significant landholding that is highly prospective and sits in a proven lithium district, and boasts a large pegmatite that is ready to be drilled," stated Gary Johnson, Chairman, Lepidico.

"The arrangement with Lepidico allows Lemare to advance towards resource delineation and project development over its other properties. Critical Elements is currently focussed on the development of its Rose lithium project. With Lepidico farming into the Lemare project, shareholders of both companies will be able to benefit from successful exploration of a highly prospective project," stated Jean-Sebastien Lavallee, President and CEO, Critical Elements.

Jean-Sebastien Lavallee (OGQ #773), geologist, shareholder and President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company and a Qualified Person under NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical content of this release.

Lepidico and Platypus

On February 1, 2016. Lepidico and Platypus entered into an exclusive agreement to complete mutual due diligence for the purpose of investigating whether or not an agreement for the acquisition by Platypus of Lepidico or its assets can be agreed.

Platypus Managing Director Tom Dukovcic said, "The Lemare acquisition is another prospective opportunity for Lepidico that we will consider as part of our due diligence. Platypus has undertaken to assist Lepidico in the assessment of Lemare and we are fully supportive of the potential acquisition as it would deliver a quality project to the growing portfolio."

About Lepidico

Lepidico is a lithium exploration company and the 100% owner and licensor of the L-Max technology, a proprietary process which has the potential to commercially extract lithium and other by-products from unconventional sources at a competitive cost.

Currently, the majority of the world's lithium is produced from either brines or hard rock spodumene. L-Max delivers an opportunity to create a third supply source of lithium, namely lithium bearing micas such as lepidolite and zinnwaldite. Although there are a number of known deposits of lithium bearing micas around the world, these materials have typically been overlooked as a source of lithium as there has been no commercial process available to economically extract the contained lithium and produce lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide that is suitable for end users.

As part of its exploration activity, Lepidico has commissioned and received several geological reports to assist in the identification of ore bodies that have the potential to host commercial quantities of lithium bearing micas and associated lithium minerals.

With the use of its L-Max technology, Lepidico is seeking to unlock the potential value of such lithium bearing micas. Lepidico is actively exploring opportunities to apply L-Max directly to:

-- Brownfields Projects: There are existing mining projects around the world that currently have lithium bearing micas being passed through to waste dumps or tailings dams. Lithium bearing micas can be effectively concentrated by flotation, which would allow the L-Max process to be utilised to produce lithium products (and other by-products) from a source that has previously been deemed to be of no value. -- Greenfields Projects: There has been limited exploration to date relating to identifying deposits of lithium bearing micas. These micas typically occur in pegmatites (coarse grained granites), often in association with other lithium, tin or tantalum containing ores.

Lepidico was founded in February 2015 by Executive Chairman Gary Johnson and has achieved significant progress in a short period of time. Gary Johnson is a metallurgist and has over 35 years experience in the mining industry in various roles. Gary currently is the Owner and Principal of Strategic Metallurgy Pty Ltd, which specialises in providing metallurgical and strategic consulting to various mining companies, including Sirius Resources, which Strategic Metallurgy has been involved with since first drill core. Gary was also the former Managing Director of Norilsk Nickel Australia and was a key proponent in the development and commercialisation of Activox, a process technology for treating refractory gold ores and nickel sulphide concentrates.

About Critical Elements Corporation

A recent financial analysis (Technical Report and Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) on the Rose lithium-tantalum Project, Genivar, December 2011) of the Rose project based on price forecasts of US$260/kg ($118/lb) for Ta2O5 contained in a tantalite concentrate and US$6,000/t for lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) showed an estimated after-tax Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 25% for the Rose project, with an estimated Net Present Value (NPV) of CA$279 million at an 8% discount rate. The payback period is estimated at 4.1 years. The pre-tax IRR is estimated at 33% and the NPV at $488 million at a discount rate of 8%. (Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability). (The preliminary economic assessment is preliminary in nature). (See press release dated November 21, 2011.)

The conclusions of the PEA indicate the operation would support a production rate of 26,606 tons of high purity (99.9% battery grade) Li2CO3 and 206,670 pounds of Ta2O5 per year over a 17-year mine life.

The project hosts a current Indicated resource of 26.5 million tonnes of 1.30% Li2O Eq. or 0.98% Li2O and 163 ppm Ta2O5 and an Inferred resource of 10.7 million tonnes of 1.14% Li2O Eq. or 0.86% Li2O and 145 ppm Ta2O5.

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:

Jean-Sebastien Lavallee, P.Geo.

President and Chief Executive Officer

819-354-5146

president@cecorp.ca

www.cecorp.ca



Investor Relations:

Paradox Public Relations

514-341-0408




Washington D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - February 11, 2016) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged an unregistered broker in Oceanside, Calif., with fraudulently selling purported stock in a medical device company and pocketing investors' money.

The SEC alleges that Gregory Ruehle raised approximately $1.9 million from more than 100 investors but never delivered or transferred the securities as promised while using the money to pay gambling debts among other personal expenditures.

In a parallel action, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California today announced criminal charges against Ruehle.

"We allege that Ruehle lied to investors, sent them phony documents to further his deception, and spent their money on living expenses and gambling," said Michele Wein Layne, Director of the SEC's Los Angeles Regional Office.

According to the SEC's complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California:

Ruehle began his scheme as early as 2012, misrepresenting to investors in California and Minnesota that he would sell them his personally-owned securities in a La Jolla, Calif.-based medical device company called ICB International, Inc. He was a former consultant for the company.

Ruehle, however, sold investors far more securities than he actually owned, and those he did own were not transferable. Ruehle never disclosed these facts to investors.

Ruehle compounded his fraud by creating fabricated documents that he told investors were from the company.

He disseminated fake company stock certificates purportedly informing the investor of the number of shares they owned in ICB.

He transmitted the fake stock certificates with a letter falsely stating that the certificates had been transferred from Ruehle to the investor.

Ruehle also fabricated and sent investors an additional document that served as a phony confirmation that his shares had been transferred to the investor. The document falsely appeared to be on ICB letterhead and signed by the company's CEO.

The SEC's complaint seeks a permanent injunction as well as disgorgement plus prejudgment interest and penalties against Ruehle, who is charged with violating the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws and acting as unregistered broker-dealer. Investors can quickly check whether people selling investments are registered by using the SEC's investor.gov website.

The SEC's continuing investigation is being conducted by Matthew Montgomery and Robert Conrrad, and the litigation will be led by Gary Leung. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
DataCamp, a Cambridge, MA-based online data science school, closed an additional $1m seed funding round.

Accomplice made the investment.

The company, which has raised $2.3m in total funding, intends to use the capital to open a new office in Cambridge, grow the team, launch the new Groups functionality, and expand its library of data science learning resources.

Led by Jonathan Cornelissen, founder and CEO, DataCamp Groups provides interactive learn-by-doing courses to enterprise teams or university classes to learn together, retain knowledge and advance high-demand data science skills.

The company has more than 300,000 learners from 150 countries and more than 500 universities. Users range from people looking to develop data science skills for a career switch, analysts at hedge funds, business consultants looking to create effective business processes and students earning their degrees in data science.

The new DataCamp Groups functionality allows team leaders to help their organizations work smarter, professors to track their students progress and see how their skills evolve over time.

FinSMEs

11/02/2016
Cedarhurst, NY-based Pocket Games (OTC PINK: PKGM) completed the acquisition of Viximo, a Boston, Massachusetts-based social games platform, for $3.5 million in preferred stock.

The deal will allow Pocket Games to add a distribution channel to its development and testing services.

Founded in 2008 and led by Michael Pope, President, in Viximo connects game developers to sales channels in difficult to reach markets through its platform. Once onboarded to the Viximo platform, social mobile games can be deployed across several stores worldwide, providing expanded user reach to game developers in the West. The companys toolset also enables developers to increase user engagement and monetization as well as offering localization options.

Viximo generates revenues by taking a percentage of in-app purchases of the titles it distributes as well as through in-game advertising and an increased revenue share model with Premium Partners by offering value-ad services such as increased discovery and deep analytics.

The company has received venture capital funding from Northbridge Venture Partners and Sigma Partners.

Led by David Lovatt, Chief Executive Officer, Pocket Games is a video game development and testing company focused on full-spectrum game testing and the acquisition and growth of innovative IP in the video game space. It had recently acquired Idol Hands and opened offices in Pune, India.

FinSMEs

11/02/2016
Student.com, a London, UK-based global marketplace for student housing, raised $60m in its first external funding round.

Backers included VY Capital, Horizons Ventures, Expa, Hugo Barra, and Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon (who are the founders of Spotify).

The company will use the funds to continue to expand its operations worldwide.

Launched as Overseas Student Living (OSL) in 2011 by Luke Nolan, CEO, who was later joined by co-founders Shakil Khan and John-Paul Jones, and rebranded as Student.com in 2015, the company offers an online platform that matches students with professional landlords currently serving students in 11 languages, across web, mobile and social.

On the platform, students can explore options, browse by university, neighbourhood or property to learn about all the options open, chat to an expert, call the reservations team for free advice, request to book the room that best suits their needs and budget and complete the booking request form.

The platform then assigns the user to a personal booking consultant, who will contact him/her to confirm details such as choice of room, floor, view, roommate, tenancy length, price and student status. Within two to four days of confirmation, students will receive the contract with an explanation details by the booking consultant and pay rent and deposit by credit/debit card or bank transfer.

The company currently has a team of 180 people in offices across 5 continents including London, New York, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

FinSMEs

11/02/2016
Interactive media platform ThingLink closed $1.3M funding round.

Backers included Run Capital, Inventure Oy, and Steelhead Ventures.

The company intends to use the funds to expand its SaaS offering to virtual reality annotation.

ThingLink is evolving from image and video annotation to 360 content, which gives publishers a larger canvas to create custom experiences. By building on the current product, ThingLink helps reduce the cost of content creation for mobile VR while providing new kind of insights on consumer engagement within a 360 environment.

Led by founder and CEO Ulla Engestrom, ThingLink is an interactive media platform that allows over 2.5 million publishers, educators, and marketers to create engaging content by adding rich media links to photos, videos, 360, and VR.

The company is now planning to launch a beta version of a new VR editor with key partners in the coming weeks. The editor allows users to add contextual layers of information like text, photos, maps, video and other call to action tags to 360 images and video, while collecting valuable engagement data.

In a ThingLink virtual story, people navigate by turning their head and aligning a pointer with a detail they want to explore more closely. It tracks these motions and shows creators key performance metrics to measure engagement within the experience.

ThingLink VR does not require a separate application and virtual stories can be viewed over mobile browser with headsets like Google Cardboard, Zeiss VR One, and others.

The company has offices in Palo Alto, New York, Helsinki, and St Petersburg.

FinSMEs

11/02/2016
London: A massive fire broke out today at Indian steel giant Tata Steel's Port Talbot plant in the UK after it was struck by lightning.

Initial investigations have suggested that the blaze, which started in the plant's coke oven, may have been triggered by a lightning strike.

"We can confirm that there has been a fire at our Port Talbot coke ovens this morning. No one was hurt. Following the necessary safety and operational checks, we will be looking to restart manufacturing operations today. Initial investigations suggest a lightning strike led to the fire at the site's coke

ovens," a company spokesperson said.

The Mid and West Wales Fire Service said it was alerted shortly after 8am GMT on Thursday to reports of the blaze and six crews were dispatched.

Online footage showed flames tearing through the plant and vast plumes of smoke billow into the sky.

"We understand it is a contained fire on site. We are waiting for an update from the fire service, which has primary control. We have not been called in, but are on site as we have had a number of calls about it," a South Wales Police spokesperson said.

The fire comes just weeks after the Indian steel giant had announced 750 job cuts at the Welsh site as part of a Europe-wide crisis in the steel industry.

"My thoughts are with the workers. They do a fantastic job and it has not been an easy time for the steel industry in recent months," said local MP Stephen Kinnock.

PTI
New Delhi: The governing council of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) on Friday asked executive vice chairman RK Pachauri to go on indefinite leave, reports NDTV. Ashok Chawla, former Competition Commission of India chief has been nominated to take over Pachauri's post.

Former director general of Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) Ajay Mathur was on late Thursday night appointed as the new TERI-DG. A press release issued by TERI said, "Dr RK Pachauri, who had been at the head of the institute since 1982 will be on leave from TERI, TERI governing council, and TERI University till this is reviewed by the governing council given the sub-judice nature of the matter." According to DNA, this, however, only means that Pachauri's powers as executive vice-chairman of TERI will remain largely unaffected  Pachauri won't be able to sit in on the meetings of the governing council.

Earlier Ajay Mathur was to take over on 8 February 2016 as the TERI chief. Pachauri, who is embroiled in a second sexual harrassment case now, was removed by the green body last year but was brought back again in the capacity of executive vice chairman.

An official statement said the TERI governing council at its meeting held in Bengaluru on Thursday took the decision to appoint Mathur as the new director general.

"Mathur will take up his new responsibilities as soon as he is in a position to do so, subsequent to being relieved from his current responsibilities by the government after a brief period of transition," the statement said.

According to TERI, the issue of succession to the current leadership was first discussed in detail by the general council in its meeting held in Mumbai in September, 2014.

Subsequently a well-known search firm was entrusted with the task of carrying out a search of candidates for the position.

"The decision to appoint Ajay Mathur is the culmination of an extensive search process and an intensive evaluation of candidates from across the globe," TERI said.

"We hope the GC is certain that the 1,200 people working for TERI in different parts of the world would welcome this development," it added.

Mathur holds a PhD and a Master of Science from the University of Illinois and completed his bachelor's degree in engineering from the University of Roorkee.

He began his career at TERI in 1986 and rose to the position of dean, Energy and Environment Engineering, from 1995 to 2000. Mathur later worked with the World Bank, Green Climate Fund, before taking over as the director general of the BEE.

Pachauri was granted anticipatory bail on 21 March but was directed not to enter the TERI offices till investigation is complete. On 17 July, a court allowed the environmentalist to visit the offices, except two establishments in one of which the complainant worked.

After the sexual harassment complaint, Pachauri stepped down as chairperson of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in February and proceeded on leave from TERI as its director general.

TERI University students and alumni wrote a letter to the acting vice chancellor on Wednesday, condemning the appointment of Pachauri as executive vice chairman of the organisation. The students also refused to take their degrees at the March convocation, reports Hindustan Times.

According to NDTV, close to 200 students are expected to receive their final degrees at the convocation (to be held on 7 March) of the university. According to the television channel's website, the students wrote in the email that Pachauri's re-appointment was "anti-thetical" to their beliefs and they did not wish to accept degrees from Dr Pachauri.

The Indian Express quotes the students' letter, "We reiterate the trajectory that the university is taking is dangerous and grossly inconsiderate, and as alumni, we sincerely hope that Teri Universitys board of management seriously re-evaluates Pachauris continuing role as chancellor..."

After the rebel by the students, Pachauri on Thursday went on leave probably forcing the institute to appoint Mathur.

With inputs from agencies
New Delhi: An out-of-court settlement was proposed to the victim of the alleged sexual harrassment case involving TERI's newly-appointed executive vice chairman R K Pachauri, investigators told Delhi High Court.

The Delhi Police, which was asked to file a status report on the progress of its investigation, said that TERI Director Sanjai Joshi conceded during interrogation that he has indeed talked to victim's friend Rahul Singh for an out-of-court settlement.

The status report was filed in the matter in which the victim, a former TERI employee, has sought quashing of anticipatory bail of Pachauri in the case.

The High Court today reserved its order on her plea in the sexual harrassment case. The status report also said that TERI's area convener Reena Singh was also interrogated in her office and she had stated that she had never spoken about any settlement with Rahul Singh and was only giving her comments.

Both Joshi and Reena Singh maintained that their talks with Rahul Singh was casual, the report said. In the report, it was clarified that Joshi was categorical that Pachauri never pressurised him to talk about out-of-court settlement.

"Director TERI Sanjai Joshi joined investigation and he was interrogated. He stated that he talked with Rahul Singh, it was a very casual conversations during his visit to his workstation in TERI. It was stated only to save the image of organisation before the media," the police said in its report filed before the bench of Justice S P Garg.

The report further said that Joshi had also stated that he has never been asked by Pachauri or any other person of TERI to talk for settling the matter and he had not pressurised Rahul Singh, who is the complainant's friend.

Police also told the court that another TERI official was out of country on an official tour and he will be examined after he returns to India.

Rahul Singh had filed a complaint with the police on January 12 alleging that senior directors and area convenor of TERI had approached him to get the victim settle the matter out of court.

PTI
New Delhi: The police on Thursday told the Delhi High Court that it was likely to file a chargesheet within 15 days in the sexual harassment case registered in February last year against environmentalist R K Pachauri by a former TERI colleague.

Delhi Police said it has prepared the draft chargesheet which is now being scrutinised by the prosecution branch.

Justice S.P. Garg, who is hearing a plea filed by the complainant seeking cancellation of anticipatory bail granted to Pachauri, asked police to submit the file related to the case by 15 February.

Justice Garg also reserved the order on the complainant's plea.

During a brief hearing on Thursday, advocate Prashant Mediratta, appearing for the complainant, told the court that one TERI employee, who has now resigned, had filed a police complaint on 12 January saying senior officials of TERI were pressurising him to have the matter settled by the woman with Pachauri.

The Delhi Police, represented by Sanjay Lau, told the court that the colleague of the 29-year-old woman research analyst approached police and said that in July 2015, TERI director Sanjay Joshi called him to his office and asked him to talk to the woman if the matter can be settled out of court.

The researcher told police that area convener Reena Singh had also spoken to him saying that he must reach out to his woman friend and get her to settle the matter out of court.

Lau said the researcher also said that in October last year, director Alok Adholeya had also spoken to him on the same issue.

On being interrogated, Joshi said it was a very casual conversation with the researcher "to save the image of the organisation before the media", police said.

Joshi said he was never asked by Pachauri and any other person of TERI to talk about settling the matter and he had not pressurised him, police said in their affidavit.

Adholeya could not be examined because he is currently out of India, police said.

Reena Singh was also interrogated in her office, and she said she never talked about any settlement, police said in their status report.

Police also said the researcher told them that TERI offiacials never pressurised him.

Advocate Ramesh Gupta, appearing for Pachauri, told the court that TERI officials did not talk to the man on Pachauri's behalf, adding that he "never exercised any pressure upon TERI and its officials".

After the woman employee filed a sexual harassment complaint, Pachauri denied the charge but stepped down as chairperson of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in February last year and proceeded on leave from TERI where he was the director general.

Later, Pachauri was removed as TERI head in July and Ajay Mathur appointed in his place.

In November, the woman researcher who accused him of sexual harassment quit her job at TERI, alleging she was treated badly. TERI denied the charge.

Pachauri has now been appointed executive vice chairman of the organisation despite the ongoing inquiry in the sexual harassment case.

IANS
New Delhi: Delhi Police has issued notice to a top official of TERI asking him to join interrogation in connection with the sexual harassment case over which the green body's Executive Vice Chairman RK Pachauri is in the thick of a legal battle.

The notice was issued to Senior Director of TERI Alok Adholeya, who is currently in the US, asking him to join interrogation as soon as he returns, a police source said.

Similar notices were also issued to TERI Director Sanjai Joshi and area convenor Reena Singh, who are facing allegations of approaching the victim's friend to convince her for an out-of-court settlement of the matter, the source said.

Delhi Police also informed a High Court bench today that it will file the charge sheet in the case within 15 days and the draft report has already been sent to prosecution branch.

In its station report submitted to the bench, police said that Joshi conceded during interrogation that he has indeed talked to victim's friend but maintained that he was never asked by Pachauri to do so.

The status report also said that TERI's area convener Reena Singh was interrogated in her office and she had stated that she had never spoken about any settlement with the victim's friend.

Meanwhile, a senior official said that Delhi Police is yet to receive a complaint from the former TERI employee who came out in public making similar allegations against Pachauri on Wednesday.

The woman, to whom Pachauri had allegedly made sexual advances more than 10 years ago, also slammed TERI for appointing him to a higher position, Executive Vice Chairman earlier this week.

Giving details of the case, her lawyer Vrinda Grover had said that they had first reported the complaint in February last year with police which did not do anything till date forcing her to come out in public with the charges.

"Pachauri would use the excuse of work assignments to repeatedly call me to his office room, even though there was no real work that he needed to discuss. This made me feel very uncomfortable and I used to try to dodge some meetings or ask my colleagues to go for the meetings," she told a TV channel.

PTI
Soon after Ishrat Jahan, Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai and two Pakistani nationals, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Jowher, were killed in an encounter on 15 June, 2004, a Lashkar-e-Taiba mouthpiece declared them martyrs. But the claim was contested by secularists and liberals in India. They went to town saying that an innocent Mumbai girl was murdered by the trigger-happy Gujarat Police.

It was not yet another encounter, fake or genuine, which happen in all parts of the country. It had taken place in Gujarat where Narendra Modi was the chief minister. The minister for home and law in the state then was Amit Shah, not so well-known at that point, except that he enjoyed the total confidence of his leader and he won assembly elections with record margins. The Congress-led UPA government had assumed power at the centre only a month ago. The Intelligence Bureau would have, as is the norm, informed the top leadership in the government  the prime minister, the home minister and the National Security Advisor - the incident and situations leading to that.

But nobody in the then ruling establishment cared about the details. It had become a political issue. Ishrats Mumbra home soon became a place for secular-political tourism and then came an avalanche of political statements. Nobody, of course, talked about the credentials of three men whom she accompanied on the secret Gujarat trip.

An attempt was made to portray Ishrat as a symbol of young aspirational India and Modi as a diehard Hindu communalist who would go to the extent of approving her killing simply because she was a Muslim in suspected bad company. Nine years later, in July 2013, when JD(U) boss and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar parted ways with the BJP, he called Ishrat Jehan Bihar Ki Beti (Bihars daughter). Since then she has remained a part of the secular-versus-communal narrative in the country.

In his deposition before a designated court in Mumbai on Thursday, David Coleman Headley aka Daood Sayed Gilani is said to have named Ishrat Jahan as a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative. This has re-ignited the old debate. What Headley told the Mumbai court was not unknown. The NIA had this information since 2009, the year they interrogated him in the US. But the agency, apparently under political pressure from the Congress-led UPA, conveniently chose to ignore this fact. It was not mentioned in its report and later it told the Gujarat High Court that it was mere hearsay. The Congress government, for obvious reasons, didnt want to talk about the credentials of Ishrat.

What makes the difference today, both in terms of legality of the case and public debate, is that Headley has placed it on oath in a court that Ishrat was an LeT operative. Headley described it as a botched up operation. There would still be questions as to how that gave the licence to the Gujarat Police to kill them in a fake encounter on the basis of suspicion only. The merits of the case are still being deliberated in the court of law and the verdict will come in due course.

Headleys deposition will have immediate and significant bearing on the public discourse on the subject. The Congress leadership, successive home ministers of the UPA, Shivraj Patil, Sushil Kumar Shinde and P Chidambaram (if not then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh), then CBI chief Ranjit Sinha, who never thought of finding what Ishrat was doing in the company of Pakistan-based terrorists and their Indian accomplice, Javed Sheikh, need to answer some questions.

Ranjit Sinha also needs to answer why he never coordinated with NIA to investigate the hearsay. He also needs to answer why he brought the Intelligence Bureau into direct conflict with CBI and why he made all possible attempts to jail IBs then special director Rajinder Kumar. All through the investigations and charge sheet, CBI remained silent on the credentials of the men and woman who were killed by the Gujarat Police. Sinha has subsequently landed himself in trouble in the 2G case, but he can throw some light on the case.

Will Nitish Kumar and his colleagues in JD(U) still call Ishrat Jahan as Bihar Ki Beti, or apologise before the nation following Headleys revelations? Patil, Shinde and Chidambaram need to explain why they kept the proof gathered by NIA, through the interrogation of Headley and evidence provided by the FBI, under wraps. Even if it was hearsay it surely needed to be investigated further since its a case which impacted national security and fate of several senior police officers and the chief minister of a developed border state.

Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, IB officers and a number of other accused police officers in the case would feel relived today. They have for long suffered a vilification campaign. Though Modi and Shah were never named as accused in the case, there have been long-drawn legal battles to implicate Shah and by implication his then boss in Gujarat government, Modi. The CBI had eventually given a clean chit to Shah in the Ishrat case but the campaign never ended.

The Congress is making a nuanced response, making a distinction between Ishrats bonafides and the fake encounter but its time they respond to some straight questions.
India woke up on Thursday to possibly the most controversial revelation by David Headley, convicted in the US for his role in the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai. Headley, during his deposition, told the Mumbai court that Ishrat Jahan was a LeT operative. However, the sequence of questioning which led to the statement naming Ishrat Jahan, puts much of the high-decibel outrage in perspective.

Even as political and social media reactions over the revelations were pouring out, NDTV's Sreenivasan Jain put out a series of tweets describing the exact sequence of questioning.

Prior to naming Ishrat, special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam put two specific questions to Headley, asking if there were female suicide bombers in the Lashkar-e-Taiba, and if he could name a female suicide bomber. To both these queries, Headley replied in the negative.

Subsequently, Headley was asked if there was a 'botched up' operation in India. While Headley replied in the affirmative, he said that he heard about it when he was listening to a conversation between (LeT head) Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and Muzzamil Bhat. Headley is reported to have said, "Later, I asked Muzzamil; he told that there was a female member of the LeT killed in a police shootout at a naka. Exact place I cannot recall."

Q: Are there female suicide bombers in LeT? A: No I don't know, Q: Can you name a suicide bomber? A: I cannot name. 2/n  Sreenivasan Jain (@SreenivasanJain) February 11, 2016

'Later I asked Muzzamil, he told there was female member of LET killed in police shootout at naka. Exact place I cannot recall'. 4/n  Sreenivasan Jain (@SreenivasanJain) February 11, 2016

Q: I gave you three options. Noor Begum. Ishrat Jehan and ((inaudible))

A: Ishrat Jehan 5/n  Sreenivasan Jain (@SreenivasanJain) February 11, 2016

According to CNN-IBN, special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam asked him to mention the name of the female LeT member who was killed. To this question, Headley was unsure and did not immediately answer. Later, Nikam gave him three options Noor Begum, Ishrat Jahan and Mumtaz  in response to which Headley named Ishrat.

Vrinda Grover, the lawyer for Ishrat Jahan's mother, criticized the line of questioning, and said that it is not admissible evidence. "Only that part of the statement is admissible which Headley himself has said or heard," she said.

The Evidence Act, 1872 lays down the law on how witnesses can be examined in court. It specifically defines a 'leading question', which cannot be asked as part of questioning. "Any question suggesting the answer which the person putting it wishes or expects to receive is a leading question."

Section 142 of the Evidence Act states that leading questions must not be asked during an examination-in-chief or a re-examination, if the adverse party objects to the question. The judge can only permit leading questions in matters 'which are introductory or undisputed, or which have, in its opinion, been sufficiently proved.

Since there has no judicial pronouncement affirming that Ishrat Jahan was a Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist, there is a question mark over whether the aspect can be said to be sufficiently proved.

However, since the judge allowed the question asked by Nikam, it remains to be seen whether it will be counted as evidence.
"I am Dawood Ibrahim that is why I am being hounded." Those are the words of Valson Thampu, principal of the illustrious St Stephen's College, who retires on 29 February. These words came from the principal because he felt he was hounded by the media in August last year when a research scholar made a sexual harassment against her guide, an assistant professor in the college's Chemistry department.

In the eight years that Thampu served as principal, St Stephen's never missed being in the headlines, mostly for controversial reason sthough. Be it his terming of historian and alumni Ram Guha as a pretentious historian or his action against one of his students Devansh Mehta for a 'misleading' piece, Thampu's tenure has been tumultuous. Despite those rough rides, St Stephen's continues to be one of the premier destinations in the country when higher education is concerned. Thampu spoke to CNN-IBN's Bhupendra Chaubey in The Hot Seat that airs tonight at 8 pm. Edited excerpts of the interview:

Why is it that you have become a symbol for what is being described as the ultimate example of being an autocratic individual, someone who is self-obsessed, someone who has a huge ego?

The short answer to this is that I believe that work is given to us so that we may express our character, our values and ideals through what we do, whereas the principle on which society functions is the principle of conformity. In fact the more advanced the society, the more technological a society, the greater the pressure to conform and those who conform are rewarded and those who do not conform are criminialised and punished.

So you are saying that you belong to the later category that you do not conform and thats the main reason why one after the other since 2008 when you took over as principal of this prestigious college you have only hurtled from one crisis to another.

Yes! I am saying that I am not free to conform because I am here charged with a sacred responsibility of looking after a great tradition of excellence which was not created yesterday or day before. It goes back some 135 years and I have to remain true and faithful to that tradition. First of all you must understand the essence of that tradition as best I can and use my creativity and courage both to interpret this tradition within this context.

You know you are in a very very weak position today Principal Thampu. You are someone sir who is a Principal of arguably one of the best education institutes of the country which has a very rich legacy of its alumni and you seem to be at complete loggerheads with a major segment of that alumni, how did that happen?

Now this is a complete mistake, this is not the truth.

This is not the truth? You are not at loggerheads with any alumni?

No, not at all.

When a Ram Guha calls you a fascist...

Ram Guha is not the whole of the alumni of the college. The college has about 15,000 alumni. The people who are making noise in the public space or as I sometimes say beat their breast in the public space are a laughably small segment. They won't be more than 20-30 people.

So an Arvind Subramanium, a Ram Guha and a whole bunch of other individuals who the other day came to your college because they wanted to pay homage someone who had passed away who was looking after your dhaba, restaurant of this college, you believe that they do not represent the alumni of this college?

That issue must be understood in perspective. In fact not many of them knew that this was a completely illegal meeting as no permission was sought from the college. None was given so it was an act of defiance against the college than an act of homage to somebody who died and no institution in this country even a primary school will allow a function to be organised by people from outside on its campus without any official permission.

May I ask you one question therefore Sir, and I was looking at this Facebook post that you put up, you said how come a samosa wala is so important, did he supply something more than just samosas, that all these individuals are now coming up to pay their homage.

That is not what I said.

That is a conversation that you had with a friend of yours on Facebook.

Somebody asked me, you must understand a society is judging people all the time. There are two things one is the media visibility and the media interpretation and the other, which is even more important, is judgment of the common man and I have to say this that in the eye of the common man and in the eye of the larger public some of these so called Stephanians are cutting a very sorry figure. Unfortunately they do not know this because they live in their own world of make believe. They think that they are the ultimate and they therefore are totally deaf and blind.

You think that the chief economic advisor is deaf and blind, is he insulting the legacy of this institution?

No No! I began by saying that he may not have known that this was an illicit, unlawful meeting because Sagar Diwedi who was the head of department of History here rang me up and apologized saying that he himself was kept in the dark. He said that had he known that no permission was taken from the administration to hold this meeting, he would not have turned up and he said that it was an extremely wrong thing to have happened. So if Arvind Subramanium would have known it, I know him he is a gentleman, I have written it in my Facebook post, I dont think he would have come.

No but Sir you know when you quote this conversation that you were having with your friend, how come a samosawala which was a reference of Rohtas.

That is how the public sees him.

But do you agree with that, do you agree with this perception?

I dont go and correct everyone. I only used the expression people used in their conversations.

No but you see is what happens is that we are living in country sir where the prime minister of this country openly flaunts his credentials as being the son of a chaiwala. when you make a comment like this whether you are subscribing to this conversation with your friend or not, will that charge be not leveled against you that you yourself Principal Thampu are being regressive, old fashioned and you are trying to insult someone who may not have been blessed with the material privileges which many others have had.

No, no! he is materially very privileged. he has 10 bhigas of land which is far more than I have. he is not a poor man. Let's get the facts right. Now an attempt is being made to distort facts. He is not at all a poor man, leave that aside, my point is

But what you mean when you say what is it that he was supplying more than samosas? Are you not insulting him? Are you not insulting an individual who has just died?

I am sure you are intelligent enough to know that what is put within inverted commas is a quotation, why do you attribute that to me?

No, no! What I am saying is that you have put this on your Facebook post, I know this is a conversation you are having with your friend, do you agree with his perception? The tone and tenor Sir, people will accuse you Principal Thampu of not showing enough respect to an individual who has passed away.

In that case let me say, I have been in St Stephen's College for 44 years. I have not seen any one of them show the slightest concern for the poor. A certain person is being played up and being turned as an icon of protest. I mean as I have put in my Facebook post has anyone of them instituted a scholarship for the poor. Ever since that I took over the college, I have increased support for the poor not 10 times, but 20 times, and 30 times. I have not seen anyone of them come and ask me can we do something for the poor, not only that, I remember each one of them in college they had their own groups, they had Doon school or St Pauls school or this school or that school. I mean I was a block tutor here a man from a poor background or a SC person will lie sick in his bed for three days nobody would look at him. I have not seen any sensitivity to the poor on the part of anyone of them.

So all this much hyped alumni of this college who all keep taking political positions largely against you, you say that these are all individuals who have vested interests or agendas just to sell their own selves?

You see this is just convenient posturing, you see there is a particular motive and that is, today nobody likes a person who does not cut corners on their behalf who does not massage their egos who wants to follow his own dream and in conformity with the tradition of the college. The problem with Stephen's.You are a not a Stephanian so you do not know. Thank god for it, you may not understand this that the problem with St Stephen's college is that Stephanians are good myth makers.

Good myth makers?

Good myth makers

Clever word smiths?

Very clever, and they create their own stephania!

As a principal of St Stephen's college I am saying this each one of them will create their own stories, their own jokes and they will say this is St Stephen's College that is St Stephen's College. None of them has really bothered to understand that what is St Stephen's College.

So are you saying to all the viewers that are watching this interview across the country because St Stephen's College also happens to be a place of great ambition of several people across the country, would you say that St Stephen's is not the St Stephen's what believe it to be.

I want to say this as the Principal of this college that St Stephen's College has been grossly misrepresented, it was also much overestimated. Academically it was overestimated. I was student here then I became a member of the faculty in 1973. St Stephen's College was celebrated for its social elitism. I have said this before and I want to emphasize this it was not strong in academic elitism. My effort in the last eight years has been to substitute social elitism with intellectual elitism in which I claim to have succeeded eminently.

But you believe that this is the same alumni who are at loggerheads with you and you call them a minor segment. You believe that they are in a way subverting attempts to provide intellectual elitism?

Oh! There is no doubt about it because you see it's not just. If I put it this way they will object but what they cannot object is certainly denouncing and criminalising me for bringing social justice into higher education because they most hated concept in higher education in this country is social justice.

I am going to ask you some specific questions as well, controversies and issues that will go as hallmarks of your tenure, but let me first ask you Sir  your argument, your disagreements with Ram Guha, now Ram Guha happens to be a historian of some repute across the country and I have interviewed him myself several times and I find him reasonably logical person, but you describe him as a pretentious historian and a trespasser, why are you so upset with Guha?

I am just describing facts.

You are describing facts? That he is a pretentious historian?

Yes, I'll tell you what, who is an historian, a historian is one who tries to be faithful to facts a historian is one who tries to free himself from prejudice.

And you dont believe that he fits into any of these categories?

A historian is one who tries to leave a truthful legacy to the coming generations, now this gentleman within a week of my assuming office in 2007 wrote an article that now we can now dig a grave and the college can be pushed into it, because of Thampu this college is going to collapse. I can understand if he would have waited for six months or one year to find out how I would fare and then write the obituary on the college.

But why did he do that, what was the personal bias he had against you?

It was not personal bias it was an ideological bias because by then it was known that I was bringing social justice into higher education and the nightmare for people of privilege is social justice because the moment you open up the doors to the poor they excluded the underprivileged, the protected bastion of the rich and privilege will shrink

But Guha is an individual who stands for the rights of the poor and the underprivileged, the tribals the advivasis in far-flung Chhattisgarh, are you suggesting that this is all posturing?

Yes, this is all posturing.

Is this all a lie which is being promoted by him and his likes?

I am not saying that I have seen Ram Guha do this in St Stephen's College, you see people do all kinds of drama in public space. A mans metal is tested with respective issues. I have watched him, I have known him in college and I have watched him very closely in the last eight years, every time a progressive move was taken he would come out of his hiding and attack the college.

Now let me ask this then to you, you are quite right in saying that my tenure was riddled with controversies, I would ask you today since you have done your research, to identify one controversy which had the slightest substance in it?

So may I put it this way Sir, since you asked me this question, it's good that you have raised this question, you see the in 2015 you took this decision of suspending the individual Devansh Mehta who had come up with a college magazine. Now he had published an interview with you and from the facts which I have gathered from my research and from people who I spoken to is that you had given your permission for that interview to be published. Now Devansh Mehta happens to be your own student, why Sir would you acted in this manner. I mean at the end of the day he was just interviewing a principal, he was not interviewing the prime minister of this country.

Thats right, you see again thats why I am saying

Is this a distortion of facts?

No, No, No!! It is a misunderstanding of facts.

He went to court against you.

Court intervened and the matter is still in court so I cant really be completely free and open.

But do you regret that?

I dont.

You dont regret that?

I dont.

You believe your decision against Devansh Mehta was right?

In fact if it were to happen again I will be even more strict.

You will be even stricter? You will still suspend that individual?

I would suspend him for a greater period of time because I tell you what he did was to cheat the principal. I mean suppose somebody comes to you and says please give me an interview and I will publish it only after you have seen the text and vetted it. That is the condition on which you give the interview and immediately he goes and behind your back and publishes it.

But he waited apparently he waited for 12 hours, 12 hours and 28 minutes to be more precise.

This is a media version, now this is what is clever about it. He sends an email to me in the morning, everybody knows that I begin my work at 7:15 am and I work till 7 pm in my office and that is the period that is covered. He knew very well that I would have not had the opportunity to have read the text. At any rate a six page interview you expect a principal who is otherwise a busy man to edit and send it within five minutes.

So no question of regret?

Oh! absolutely not.

Which is why you went to the extent of banning the publication itself?

No I didnt ban the publication, this is another mistake. I said that the publication is put on hold it will be reviewed in July. He went to court therefore the publication is now stuck.

But I must say this to you again, not only that I have no regret about it, I am proud that I upheld the discipline of the college. If you ask anyone in college they will tell you that if these things, cheating and dishonesty are allowed in college and goes unchecked then this college will be destroyed.

You say that this is a case of cheating.

It is downright cheating.

It was converted into a case of freedom of speech? And you say that you were cheated by your own student and therefore you went to this extent.

You see what happened was the student wanted admission to a school of journalism in the United States, he had nothing to show for himself so he wanted to float a publication, appoint himself as the chief editor and use that in his CV. This is what clever people do. He was not interested in the college, he had absolutely no credentials in college, he had done nothing in college towards intellectual contribution. These are all the gimmicks that people do. Unfortunately this became a national issue. In Hyderabad University, there is a Rohith Vemula who committed suicide thats not such an issue. The issue of one Devansh Mehta who cheats his principal in order to create some niche for himself he becomes a national icon. This is precisely the hypocrisy of the society that comes and stares you in the face.

Is this the hypocrisy of your own alumni because your alumni are individuals in this society, from a Shashi Tharoor, Swapan Dasgupta to whos who of this country.

I would say that anybody who promotes supports encourages dishonesty is a shame to St Stephens College, absolute shame to this college.

And in that logic you believe that Ram Guha would qualify as the ultimate symbol of that shame and embarrassment to this college.

I dont hand it to anybody that sense of importance, if somebody is a thief he is a thief whether he is a Ram Guha, whether he is Valson Thampu or he is Bhupen Chaubey. See the problem with us is about the Indian culture is that we go with not by what happens but who does it.

But dont you think Sir that your own students and now I am not talking about your alumni. I am talking about the students of St Stephens College students of Delhi University and may I say students across the country when they would be listening to such harsh words being used by the principal how do you think it would impact them?

If they have any common sense they will respect me for telling the truth. You must understand the person who was responsible for Nithari killings, Pandher was also a Stephanian, 47 children were killed

Tribhuvan Darbari went to jail for corruption is a Stephanian. SP Singh was arrested recently, that IAS officer is a Stephanian. This college has put out all kinds of alumni

Dinesh Singh former vice chancellor of the Delhi University was also a Stephanian.

I mean I am a Stephanian, there are many kinds of Stephanians, I judge a person not in terms of labels

You would say that this institution is ultimately hyped up.

Oh it has been highly exaggerated in terms of the quality of people it has put out. Stephanians created a convenient club they help each other and I think as a service to the nation I think merit is being compromised in the process and the nation has to wake up to that fact. That we are not a country the really values merit, Merit is birth, Merit is contact, Merit is money, Merit is clout

And you represent that, your institution is a symbol of that.

No Now I am changing it, I have changed it now this is a new institution. This is what some people cannot stomach

Thats why you have believe that this entire controversy, these groups of alumni are against you.

Oh, there is no doubt about it.

You say that they are subverting your attempts to brining in social justice in this institution.

There is no doubt about it, The most hated word in this country, particularly with respect to education is social justice. You are well informed journalist I dont have to argue with you

When you were accused of taking sides with an individual in your college who in turn was accused of indulging in a case of sexual harassment, did it not cross your mind that maybe this is getting too muddy to tricky, you should step down?

You see Bhupendra; you must know that a person who wants to take a stand on the side of truth always runs a risk.

Always runs a risk, whether it was a case of this sexual harassment or Devansh Mehta?

Dont behave like Arnab Goswami, You see the easiest thing to do in any society is to swim with the crowd and when you swim with the crowd you have to sacrifice your convictions. When you sacrifice your convictions you end up a hollow man. The worst curse that can come down a human being is to end up like a cardboard figure thats what is happening to most people One thing that philosophy has taught me is that you become a man a human being, man or woman only by facing opposition, by facing and overcoming resistance Now this whole fashion of taking the line of least resistance is reducing us to becoming hollow men.

Sir, your own teachers sir, the likes of a Nandita Narain.

She is not my teacher; Thank god she is not my teacher

She was a teacher in this very college where you are the principal of why is Dr Thampu that you have been marked out is it just because of the reasons that you have been telling me, are there personal biases or ego issues that are playing here?

I am sure that you know this, there are certain individuals who insist that everybody should fall in line the expectation from the principal of St Stephens College is that he sits there in his chair enjoys the public distinction of being principal and others run the show. The principal of St Stephens College is expected to be a glorified rubber stamp.

A glorified rubber stamp?? And you defied that?

I dont like it, I dont like it one bit I am here to serve the college according to my conviction my commitment and my value system

Therefore in conclusion I must ask you Sir that you now coming to the end of your tenure, there will be a new principal who will be taking over from you what are the two things, you know two learnings that you would want your successor to have from you?

Well I want him to understand the spirit of the college as faithfully as he can and have the courage to stand by it even if he has to lay down his life for it Number 1, Number 2, I would plead with him not to conform under pressure to anybody because the moment he or she does it This college will be like any other college.

But to the people outside the purview who do not understand the intricacies of St Stephens College would you say that the best way to treat St Stephens College is to look at it as a symbol which you yourself is saying as a symbol of many ills that confronts the society.

Well today St Stephens College, I am glad that you see it in that light. Today St Stephens College is a mirror held up to the society in fact I must tell you. I have thoroughly enjoyed those controversies because these controversies gave me the opportunity to highlight certain issues. I am not just a teacher confined in a classroom. In fact the vision which with I have worked all my life is that India is my classroom

India is your classroom?

India is my classroom and therefore I have used all these controversies in my own humble ways to educate the society, now whether the society is educated or not is a different matter but I also want to tell you finally that the world in which the media is located is not the real India.

And St Stephens College is certainly not part of that real India according to you?

No, No St Stephen's College wants to bridge the two.

But it is not yet there?

It is fast becoming one

On that note Dr Thampu thank you so much for taking out time.

Thank you very much.

The interview will be televised on CNN-IBN on Friday (12 February) at 10 pm.
There is now a second complainant alleging RK Pachauri (ex Director General), current Executive Vice Chairman of The Energy and Resources Institute, for sexual harassment.

Pachauri was brought back to the organisation, despite protests from the complainants and activists, he was in the wrong. TERI University students and alumni wrote a letter to the acting Vice Chancellor on Wednesday, condemning the appointment of Pachauri as executive vice chairman of the organisation. The students also refused to take their degrees at the March convocation, reports Hindustan Times.

According to NDTV, close to 200 students are expected to receive their final degrees at the convocation (to be held on 7 March) of the university. According to the television channel's website, the students wrote in the email that Pachauri's re-appointment was "anti-thetical" to their beliefs and they did not wish to accept degrees from Dr Pachauri.

The Indian Express quotes the students' letter, "We reiterate the trajectory that the university is taking is dangerous and grossly inconsiderate, and as alumni, we sincerely hope that Teri Universitys board of management seriously re-evaluates Pachauris continuing role as chancellor..."

New reports have emerged that Pachauri, currently the Chancellor of the University has decided on Thursday morning to go on leave. Rajiv Seth, the university's acting vice chancellor told The Indian Express that Pachauri will be replaced by Leena Srivastav during the convocation ceremony. This decision will be communicated to the students after the Board of Management meeting on Friday.

In February last year, the first complainant had registered an FIR in Delhi, alleging that the director-general of TERI had committed offences under Sections 354, 354A, 354D, 506 of IPC, which deal with outraging the modesty of a woman, sexual harassment, stalking, and criminal intimidation, respectively. The complaint stated that Pachauri had started making inappropriate advances towards the researcher soon after she joined the organisation in 2013.
Guwahati: Two hardcore militants, belonging to the ULFA and National Santhal Liberation Army's anti-talk faction, were apprehended by security forces in Assam's Kokrajhar district.

Acting on specific information, a team of the Army and police launched a joint operation in Khashiabari village of the district last night and nabbed an ULFA militant this morning, a defence spokesman said here today.

The militant has been identified as Dipak Das and a 7.62 mm pistol along with some ammunition were recovered from his possession. In another operation, the forces nabbed a National Santhal Liberation Army militant from Siyalmari village today.

The apprehended terrorist has been identified as Everest Tudu alias Jambua, a senior cadre of the banned outfit, and a pistol along with some ammunition and a mobile phone were recovered from his possession, the spokesman said.

PTI
New Delhi: Congress on Thursday dismissed BJP's demand for an apology by Sonia Gandhi in the wake of David Headley's claim that Ishrat Jahan was an LeT operative, insisting that the "fundamental question" was whether she and her accomplices were killed in "fake" encounter.

"If BJP wants to stand with those who have been accused by the CBI in a Gujarat High Court monitored process that they were accused or complicit in the fake encounter,... they can go and stand with them in a Court of Law."

"There is nothing which stops BJP from doing that. We are not a banana Republic, we are a country based on the rule of law and the rule of law does not permit fake encounters," party spokesman Manish Tewari told reporters.

He was responding to a question about the BJP attack on Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi in the wake of Headley's statement that Ishrat Jahan was an LeT operative.

Tewari said there are two separate and distinct issues which are involved - the first is whether Ishrat Jahan and her accomplices were LeT operatives or not.

"In the light of David Headley's statement, if the Government wants to investigate the matter further with regard to their credentials, there is absolutely nothing which is stopping the Government", he said.

But, he said the "fundamental question" remained whether Ishrat Jahan and her accomplices were killed in a "fake encounter".

He said the Metropolitan Court in Ahmedabad first came to the conclusion that this was a "staged encounter - in other words - a fake encounter."

Subsequently, the matter went to the Gujarat High Court and for two years, the Gujarat High Court monitored the CBI investigation and the agency came to the conclusion that the encounter was indeed fake and they have filed charge-sheets against the accused in an appropriate Court of Law, he said.

"So, therefore, if the Government or the BJP wants to use David Coleman Headley' testimony to justify an encounter which a court monitored investigation has found to be fake, then, I am afraid, neither the Law and nor jurisprudence allows it."

"If a person is a 'terrorist', he needs to be arrested, he needs to be tried, he needs to be brought to justice like Afzal Guru was brought to justice or Ajmal Kasab was brought to justice. But to try and justify a fake encounter, I am afraid, is something which the law does not permit," he added.

In a significant claim, Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley today said that Ishrat Jahan  who was killed in an alleged fake encounter in 2004 in Gujarat  was actually an Lashkar-e-Taiba operative.

PTI
JNU administration has ordered a disciplinary enquiry about an event students held on campus against the hanging of Afzal Guru.

This move comes after ABVP began protesting outside the VCs office, demanding all the students who misled the university about the nature of the events to be expelled.

JNU Vice-Chancellor Jagdeesh Kumar believes that the entire event was an act of indiscipline as the event was sought by giving incomplete information. The Varsity registrar Bhupinder Zutshi seconded the VC, claiming that Afzal Gurus name was not mentioned anywhere in the permission request and the students allegedly passed it off as cultural event.

The students were to hold this event on Tuesday, 9 February, marking the death anniversary of Parliament attacks convict Afzal Guru, which was later cancelled by the university after the VC received a letter prompting them about the same. The VC claims that they cancelled the event after they looked at posters that read out the programmes name  A country without a post office  against the judicial killing of Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhatt. The idea was to protest through poetry, art and music.

According to The Week, a group of students part of ABVP protested against the event. They believe that such protests must not be held on university ground, which led to the university administration cancelling the event as they "feared" it "may disrupt peace on the campus".

However, students went ahead with their event, holding art and photo exhibitions on the issue. There was no protest held. This agitated the ABVP members who gathered outside the VCs office, shouting slogans demanding the expulsion of the students.

Mail Today reported that the university had turned into a "battlefield", stating that the Station House Officer of Vasant Kunj got a call from the JNU VC informing him about a possible confrontation between students holding different ideologies. The Police was present on campus on Tuesday, although they told Mail Today that no untoward event happened and they were present only as a "preventive measure".

An ABVP representative in JNUSU, Saurabh Kumar Sharma told Mail Today that outsiders joined the march and one outsider pulled out a "country made pistol or Katta" and disappeared into the crowd. The ABVP believes that this was an event that "glorified terrorists".

The event was supposed to be a protest in solidarity with the struggle of the Kashmiri people for their democratic right to self determination, reported Indian Express.

Not the first time the Left and Right clash at JNU

This isnt the first time the JNU has organised an event on the death anniversary Afzal Guru. A report in DNA from 2015 states that, the JNU Democratic Student Union (DSU) had organized a discussion on Afzal Guru. The meeting which was to be held at the Tapti hostel, had the wardens permission for the discussion but was eventually cancelled after being deemed sensitive. This led to clashes between ABVP and the left student group.

Another report by Kashmir Media Service says that student members of the ABVP and RSS tried to disrupt a seminar on the Kashimir dispute at JNU and also tried to manhandle Delhi University Professor, Syed Abdur Rehman Gilani when he began his lecture on The undying spirit of Kashmir: The question of self-determination.

Gilani was also arrested along with Afzal Guru. According to Kashmir Media Service, the students attending the seminar, apparently some 500 odd students, took to a procession and chanted slogans in solidarity with Kashmirs freedom from India.

A small gathering of people, mainly students from JNU and other universities in Delhi, started a protest in Jantar Mantar in Delhi the day Afzal Guru was hanged in Tihar Jail on 9 February 2013, said a report in Kafila. This protest was disrupted by the VHP, with some snatching posters away from the protesters, an article in The Hindu said.
Patna: Slamming the Centre for rejecting his demand for granting special status to Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today demanded that Centre constitute a fresh committee of experts to look into the demand.

Talking to reporters here before leaving for New Delhi, Kumar said the Centre should also frame new criteria for granting special state status.

"We are making a just demand and it should be considered by the new expert committee," he said.

Kumar said "There is sufficient base for meeting Bihar's demand for special state status - a demand of the common people of Bihar."

He said signatures of more than 1.5 crore people in support of the demand had already been submitted to the Centre.

"We had accepted that the committee which was previously looking into the demand will make the recommendations keeping in mind the poverty and backwardness," Kumar said adding the panel looked into other aspects and Bihar is not not a hilly state.

The chief minister said the talks over the issue with the Centre would not be closed and "we will continue our fight to achieve the special state category."

If the Centre didn't concede to the demand soon, "we will chalk out programme by taking people from Patna to Delhi," Kumar said adding he would soon write a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to press for the demand.

In a major blow to Bihar government's efforts, an inter-ministerial group of Centre had rejected Bihar's demand for special status.

The group was constituted to look into the demand for granting special status to state.

PTI
New Delhi: The irony is hard to miss. Almost a year after AAP convenor and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal strongly advocated sting operations to nail the corrupt, his government is on the receiving end. On Tuesday, the Congress made public two video clippings (see below) showing a purported conversation between Hammad, a personal staffer of Delhis minister Imran Hussain, and a businessman from Ballimaran, in which Hammad has been demanding Rs 25 lakh on the ministers behalf to give a nod to the construction of a house.

Delhi Congress chief and AICC spokesperson, Ajay Maken alleged that in one year, half the members of the Delhi cabinet have been found involved in corruption.

But, Kejriwal should not mind the sting operation and his people getting exposed. At his swearing-in at Ramlila Maidan last year, he had openly asked the huge gathering to record wrong-doing and click photos on their mobile handsets. The Congress and earlier, the BJP have been following what he preached. Of course, his party is doing it diligently, but with odd consequences.

In a curious spin-off, such operations have become an intriguing tool of political and personal point-scoring, inside his party and out of it. Earlier, the party had conducted stings both on its own members and outsiders. The practice became so rampant that st one point, none of its leaders would speak on the phone  even to reporters  fearing it would be recorded and used against them.

In an attempt to target Yogendra Yadav  the then chief spokesperson of the AAP and its national executive member  who had a falling out with Kejriwal, a section within the party recorded his telephonic conversation with a journalist  without the journalist's knowledge  and that recording was used to build a case against the leader to boot him out of the national executive.

This is only one example of sting operations resulting in the rampant violation of mutual trust, privacy and confidentiality. Initially used as a tool to eliminate rebel voices from the party, it has turned into a Frankenstein's monster for the party.

Heres a look at the stings that stung the party:

November 2013: AAP member from Lucknow Nutan Thakur, had resigned from the party expressing unhappiness over the alleged involvement of party members in a sting operation and said, I have resigned from the party after I saw the way the party handled the sting operation.

November 2013: Prior to the Delhi Assembly election, AAP had filed a criminal defamation against a Hindi news portal Media Sarkar over the sting operation that allegedly showed some party leaders agreeing to help push property deals and resolve financial disputes in return for cash donations to the party.

January 2014: Following AAPs advice, a businessman conducted a sting operation against a police sub-inspector of Vikaspuri police station and later, the Delhi government's anti-corruption branch arrested the cop for allegedly taking a bribe to recommend a revolver licence for the businessman.

August 2014: AAP allegedly conducted stings on AAP Volunteer Action Manch (AVAM, a breakaway faction), allegedly to malign AVAM in public. Delhis health minister Satyendra Jain, the then head of AAPs disciplinary committee, who had expelled me, planted his aide Rajesh Gupta in AVAM. This man, on the pretext of helping us with monetary contributions, conducted a sting on our volunteers. The tape purportedly showed us taking money from the BJP and was made public to demoralise our volunteers and tarnish our image, alleged Karan Singh. Later, Rajesh Gupta at the last moment used those fabricated tapes to blackmail the party and procure a ticket for himself to contest from the Wazirpur Assembly seat and won, alleged Singh.

March 2015: Kejriwals personal aide allegedly recorded a telephonic conversation with a journalist  without her knowledge  to build a case against Yogendra Yadav and made it public. An unprecedented incident, where a political party revealed its source in the media.

March 2015: First incident where a direct allegation (showing audio tape as an evidence) was levelled against Kejriwal himself by an ex-AAP MLA from Rohini, Rajesh Garg. The purported telephonic conversation between Kejriwal and Garg revealed how the AAP leader was heard talking about splitting the Congress.

Former member of AAPs national executive and now a BJP leader, Shazia Ilmi said, AAP has a strong fascination for conducting sting ops and its a standard procedure within the party. They secretively record communications of their own leaders and volunteers. The sting they conducted on the AVAM in the initial days is a known fact.

We called AAP the 'DTD' (Dirty Tricks Department). They conduct filthy sting operations to blackmail its people. It was done first on us to create a split within volunteers. Gradually, the public has become aware of the real face of the party, which is being cleverly hidden behind an intellectual mask. Now they are the victim of their own dirty tactics, added AVAM's Singh.

The sting conducted on Hammad, a personal staffer of Delhis minister Imran Hussain:



The second sting operation made public by the Congress :


BERLIN A 93-year-old former guard at Auschwitz goes on trial in Germany on Thursday accused of being an accessory to the murder of at least 170,000 people - the first of four such court cases that could be the last due to the very old age of the defendants.

The three men and one woman accused are all in their nineties and will be tried over the next few months, starting with Reinhold Hanning in the western German city of Detmold.

Hanning was 20 years old in 1942 when he started serving as a guard at the Auschwitz death camp in occupied Poland where more than 1.1 million Jews were killed by the Nazis.

Prosecutors said he voluntarily joined the armed SS at the age of 18 and participated in battles in eastern Europe during the early stages of World War Two before being transferred to Auschwitz in January 1942.

Accused by the prosecutor's office in Dortmund as well as by 38 joint plaintiffs from Hungary, Israel, Canada, Great Britain, the United States and Germany, Hanning will face the accounts of contemporary camp witnesses.

One of them is Erna de Vries, who in 1943 at the age of 23 was deported to Auschwitz along with her mother. Considered a "Jewish crossbreed" as her father was Protestant, she was saved from the gas chamber and transferred to a labour camp.

"I survived, but up until today I don't know how exactly my mother was killed," de Vries told Reuters ahead of the trial. "The last thing she said to me was, 'You will survive and tell what happened to us.'

"I am not hateful but it somehow feels like justice to see this man, who was working there when my mother died, on trial," die Vries added.

Investigations by Germany's special Nazi war crimes office in Ludwigsburg show that Hanning served as a guard at Auschwitz until at least June 1944.

While Hanning admitted to his guard duties in a statement to the prosecution, he denied involvement in the mass killings.

But investigators say he also served at Auschwitz's Birkenau sub-division where about 90 percent of more than 1.2 million killings in the camp were carried out in four gas chambers.

Prosecutors maintain that the Nazis' killing machinery hinged on people like Hanning guarding the prisoners and accuses him of expediting, or at least facilitating, the murders.

Precedence for such charges was set in 2011 when death camp guard Ivan Demjanjuk was convicted of being an accessory to mass murder.

Given the age of the accused, trials are delayed due to lengthy procedures to determine whether they are fit to be in court. Hearings are also restricted to two hours per day.

But Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff, responsible for war crime investigations at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said age should not be viewed as an obstacle to prosecution.

"When you think of these cases, don't think of frail, old, sick men and women, but of young people who devoted their energies to a system that implemented the (Nazis' so-called) Final Solution and aimed to obliterate the Jewish people," Zuroff told Reuters by phone from his office in Jerusalem.

(Editing by Mark Heinrich)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Scientists at the US space agency Nasa have discounted reports that an Indian bus driver in Tamil Nadu's Vellore district was killed by a meteorite, but Indian experts said this can only be ruled out after "detailed analysis".

Only a detailed analysis of the object that has been received from the Vellore police can tell whether it is a meteorite or not, said a senior official of Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA).

"The IIA team has received a sample from the local police. The nature of the object can be ascertained only after a detailed analyses by experts," IIA dean GC Anupama told IANS on Wednesday.

Kamaraj, employed as a driver with Bharathidasan Engineering College in Natrampalli in Vellore district, around 170 km from Chennai, was killed and three others were injured in an explosion after a burning object fell from the sky on 6 February.

Police said Kamaraj and others were hit by splinters due to the impact of the unknown object which also created a three-feet wide crater. They said the fragments of material embedded in Kamaraj's body had been sent for forensic analysis and the post-mortem report would be finalised only after the receipt of the analysis report.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had announced a solatium of Rs 100,000 to Kamaraj's family saying he lost his life due to meteorite hit. Anupama said: "Most meteoroids (as the object is known before it impacts the Earth) disintegrate as they traverse through the Earth's atmosphere, but a few can disrupt giving rise to several meteorites - as the object is known once it impacts the Earth.

But Nasa scientists held that online photographs of the site of the suspected meteorite hit in a college campus on Saturday were more consistent with "a land based explosion" than with something from space, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.

Early reports included images of a crater, five feet deep and two feet wide. Witnesses described hearing an explosion, and police recovered a black, pockmarked stone from the site in Vellore. Lindley Johnson, Nasa's planetary defence officer, told the US daily in an email that a death by meteorite impact was so rare that one has never been scientifically confirmed in recorded history.

"There have been reports of injuries, but even those were extremely rare before the Chelyabinsk event three years ago," she said, referring to a 2013 episode in Russia.

In addition, meteorites are often cool to the touch when they land, and the object recovered from the site in India weighed only a few grams and appeared to be a fragment of a common earth rock.

The US daily also cited a scientist at the IIA which is analysing samples of the rock provided by the police as doubting if it was a meteorite. Deaths and injuries by meteorites are tracked by the International Comet Quarterly, which notes the locations and sizes of meteorites.

Some smash through houses, kill animals and spatter buildings. But deaths have been hard to confirm, the Times said.

In 1908 in Tunguska, Siberia, an apparent "airblast" of an object entering the Earth's atmosphere leveled hundreds of square miles of forest and killed two men and hundreds of reindeer. But no meteorites were recovered, the New York Times said citing the quarterly.

In one of the largest recent events, meteorites or pieces of space rock, fell in Chelyabinsk from a meteor that hit the Earth's atmosphere in February 2013. About 1,200 people - 200 of them children - were injured, mostly by glass that exploded into schools and workplaces, the Times said, citing Russia's interior ministry.

IANS
JERUSALEM Benjamin Netanyahu's wife Sara insulted and raged at household staff, creating an abusive working environment at the Israeli prime minister's official residence, a labour court ruled on Wednesday.

Allegations of mistreatment levelled by Meni Naftali, a former chief caretaker at the Jerusalem home, were dismissed by the Prime Minister's Office as "evil, skewed gossip" when the civil lawsuit was filed in 2014.

But the court, in its 40-page decision, said testimony by Naftali and other former household employees about Mrs Netanyahu's alleged abusive behaviour towards them at the Jerusalem reidence was credible.

Sara Netanyahu has elicited a multitude of headlines in the past over what family spokesmen have decried as an undeserved reputation for imperiousness, and it seemed unlikely the latest case could cause significant political damage to her husband, now in his fourth term as Israel's leader.

An earlier case, in 2010, in which a housekeeper accused her of being abusive, was settled out of court. A spokesman at the prime minister's office declined immediate comment on the labour court's verdict.

Naftali, who resigned in 2012 after a 20-month stint at the prime minister's residence, said he had been subjected to repeated scoldings by Mrs Netanyahu.

In one instance, he said, she had called him at 3 a.m. to chide him for buying milk packaged in a plastic bag rather than in a carton.

"SLANDER AND LIES"

Testimony by several other former employees also pointed to "abusive employment conditions at the prime minister's residence as a result of Mrs Netanyahu's behaviour and her attitude", the court said.

"These included exaggerated demands, insults, humiliation and angry outbursts," according to the 40-page verdict.

In her own appearance before the court, Mrs Netanyahu called the allegations slander and lies. She testified that she enjoyed excellent relations with employees and that she treated them "with civility and politeness".

But, the court said, "this is not the conclusion reached from the evidence presented to us". Mrs Netanyahu ran the household in a "high-handed manner" and witnesses had been persuasive and credible, it said.

"The prime minister's residence, despite all its inherent complexities, should serve as an example of how workers' rights should be protected," the court said, noting that "powerless household staff were forced to work very long hours" and that turnover at the residence had been high.

It ordered the state to pay Naftali 80,000 shekels ($21,000) for emotional distress and another 75,000 shekels ($19,300) over unfulfilled promises of tenure and another 15,000 shekels ($3,900) to cover court costs. His civil suit was brought against his government employer, the prime minister's office.

(Editing by Ralph Boulton)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Islamabad: Pakistan Army chief General Raheel Sharif on Thursday confirmed death sentence to another 12 "hardcore terrorists", who were involved in "heinous offences", the military said.

Some of the convicts were found guilty of attacks on armed forces, law enforcement agencies and civilians and breaking out of a key prison in the northwestern city of Bannu in 2012, Xinhua news agency reported.

Nearly 400 inmates, including dozens of Taliban militants, were freed during the attack on the jail.

These convicts were tried by military courts, an army statement said, adding that all of them had admitted involvement in the offences.

The army courts were set up after the terrorist attack on an army school in December 2014 for the speedy trial of terrorism-related accused.

Those whose death penalties were approved belong to the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, Al Qaeda and a banned sectarian outfit, Sipah-e-Sahaba. This group is blamed for attacks on Shia Muslims.

The convicts have the right of appeal to the president under the law, experts say. The President has previously rejected all mercy petitions in terrorism-related cases.

IANS
Karachi: Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf was today rushed to the ICU of a naval hospital here after he complained of high blood pressure.

The 72-year-old was immediately admitted to the Pakistan Navy Ship Shifa or PNS Shifa, which is a technologically advanced naval medical treatment facility.

His personal physicians have also been called to the hospital, The News International reported, citing sources.

Another report said Musharraf was sitting with family at his home when he fainted. He was taken to the hospital amid tight security.

However, the spokesman All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) has described Musharraf's condition as normal and that is no serious problem with his health.

He said he was admitted to the hospital for getting some medical tests done.

PTI
Vatican City: History's first Latin American pope travels to Mexico on Friday for a weeklong tour of some of the most violent, poverty-stricken and peripheral places in the Americas. He'll be bringing a message of hope and solidarity to victims of drug violence, trafficking and discrimination  a message the Vatican hopes will also resonate north of the border.

Nearly four decades after St. John Paul II began his globe-trotting papacy in Mexico, Francis too will begin his trip by praying before the Virgin of Guadalupe shrine. But after that, he will be entering into uncharted papal territory. Here are five things to know about Francis' trip to the largest Spanish-speaking Catholic country in the world:

Orthodox pit stop

Francis is known for his spontaneity, but even by Franciscan standards, the bombshell dropped last week was big.

For the first time ever, a pope and a patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church will meet Friday in Cuba, in a stopover en route to Mexico. The Vatican sees the meeting as a historic step in the path toward healing the 1,000-year schism that split Christianity.

Popes as far back as Paul VI have met with the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch, "first among equals" in the 250 million-strong Orthodox Church. But the Russian Church  the biggest and most powerful in Orthodoxy  has always kept its distance from Rome.

The common concern over the plight of Christians in Syria and Iraq has brought the two churches together, but that's not the only reason Patriarch Kirill has finally agreed to a meeting. In June, leaders of the 14 Orthodox churches meet in Greece for the first pan-Orthodox synod in centuries. Observers say Kirill's opening is more about grandstanding within Orthodox circles than any new ecumenical initiative.

'Mexicanization'

Francis made the first major diplomatic faux pas of his papacy when, in a private email to a friend last year, he warned that Argentina's increasing drug problem risked turning it into a trafficking haven like Mexico, where cartels have terrorized the population and infiltrated police and other public institutions.

The "Mexicanization" comment understandably irked Mexico, and the Vatican promptly apologized. But it underscored Francis' tough line on drug trafficking and corruption, which he has called a sin incompatible with Christianity.

Francis is expected to address both blights during his Feb. 12-18 visit, though he has said he's not bringing policy solutions to fix Mexico's ills. But relatives of some of the 43 students who disappeared in 2014 in suspicious circumstances have been invited to Francis' final Mass in Ciudad Juarez, once considered the murder capital of the world.

"It's the fundamental place of passage for this network of drug trafficking, where the links are inseparable between the narcotraffickers and Mexican law enforcement," Guzman Carriquiry Lecour, a close papal adviser, told a recent seminar. "This is the Mexican periphery and the pope wants to go."

Church-State relations

Francis has previously urged his bishops not to shy away from denouncing corruption and organized crime, and he may well do the same in Mexico.

"Above all, we have to raise our voices to condemn the corruption and links that exist between certain power structures and the drug cartels and narcotraffickers that allow them to move freely with impunity," the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, told the Italian weekly Famiglia Cristiana recently.

It was perhaps a diplomatic way of addressing a Mexican church that even Mexican prelates say shows too much deference to the country's wealthy and powerful.

Francis, however, has signaled his priorities: Last year he made a cardinal out of the bishop of Morelia, Mexico, and will honor his ministry to victims of drug violence by visiting his diocese.

An Indian church

When churchmen have stood by Mexico's oppressed, they have often got in trouble. The late Bishop Samuel Ruiz, known as the "bishop of the poor" for his ministry to the impoverished Indians of southern Chiapas, ran afoul of the Mexican government and, at times, the Vatican.

His crime? Defending Indian rights, embracing the pre-Hispanic customs of the Mayan Indians in liturgies and training married deacons to minister to Indians who had more esteem for married lay workers than celibate priests.

In 1993, the Vatican ambassador to Mexico asked Ruiz to resign, but backed down after Indians rallied to his defense. After Ruiz retired in 1999, the Vatican suspended the ordination of deacons on the grounds that it was dissuading men from entering the priesthood. The Vatican under Francis lifted the ban in 2014.

Francis, who issued a sweeping apology for Catholic crimes against indigenous peoples in a visit to South America last year, will celebrate a very Indian Mass in Chiapas on Monday and present a decree authorizing the use of indigenous languages in liturgy.

But in an indication that Ruiz remains a controversial figure, the Vatican won't confirm whether Francis will pray at Ruiz's tomb in the cathedral of San Cristobal de las Casas.

Cross-border prayer

The highlight of the trip comes on the final day, when Francis travels to Ciudad Juarez and prays at Mexico's northern border for all who have died trying to cross. A group of migrants in El Paso, Texas, will join him in prayer across the frontier, and then watch Francis' subsequent Mass in Juarez in an El Paso stadium.

Francis has demanded that countries welcome migrants and refugees fleeing poverty and oppression, calling for bold new solutions and denouncing the "globalization of indifference" that the world shows migrants. His appeal comes amid a U.S. presidential campaign where immigration is a hot-button issue, with Republican contenders Donald Trump and Ted Cruz vowing to expel Mexicans and build a better border wall.

Will Francis' message get any airtime north of the border?

"I'm not sure people are paying attention to it," said Neomi De Anda, assistant professor of religious studies at the University of Dayton who grew up in El Paso. "I'm not sure our political candidates are all that interested."

AP
Washington: Two more Republicans ended their White House runs Wednesday, whittling down the field as the party's remaining candidates and Democrat Hillary Clinton look to blunt the momentum of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders down south.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina both called time on their presidential bids, one day after finishing sixth and seventh, respectively, in the New Hampshire primary.

Trump and Sanders  two political outsiders with vastly different ideologies, but who have a common campaign credo of speaking what they say is truth to power  served notice in the Granite State on Tuesday with their resounding victories.

Sanders almost doubled Clinton's tally and Trump bested second place Ohio Governor John Kasich by almost 20 percentage points.

Both results shocked the party establishments, virtually guaranteeing bitter and drawn-out races for the Democratic and Republican nominations.

New Hampshire was the second stop in the months-long process to choose the two candidates who will vie to succeed President Barack Obama on Election Day, 8 November.

"I leave the race without an ounce of regret," Christie said in a Facebook post, noting that while his message had been heard by many, it was "just not enough and that's ok."

Fiorina, the only woman in the Republican field, said she would "continue to travel this country and fight for those Americans who refuse to settle for the way things are and a status quo that no longer works for them."

'Work to do' for Clinton

So where do the other candidates go from here? South Carolina and Nevada, where both parties will stage nominating contests before month's end.

The upcoming votes will be crucial for Clinton, the former secretary of state who admitted in an uneasy concession speech that she had "some work to do, particularly with young people," to revitalize her campaign.

Clinton is seen as enjoying strong support among black voters and Sanders, realizing the need to boost his standing with African Americans, met Wednesday with prominent civil rights activist Al Sharpton in New York.

"My concern is that in January of next year, for the first time in American history, a black family will be moving out of the White House," Sharpton said.

"I do not want black concerns to be moved out with them."

Clinton said she recognized the American electorate's fury with establishment politics.

"People have every right to be angry," she said. "But they're also hungry, they're hungry for solutions."

'Kitchen sink'

Sanders has signaled he is in the race to win and expects the coming weeks to be even more closely fought. The next battle is in Nevada on February 20, followed by South Carolina.

"They're throwing everything at me except the kitchen sink, and I have the feeling that kitchen sink is coming pretty soon," he said in a buoyant victory speech.

Beefing up his ability to take the fight to Clinton for the long term, the Sanders camp announced he raised $5.2 million in the 18 hours following his New Hampshire win.

For now, he reigns supreme with young voters: Clinton received just 16 percent of the vote among people under 29, according to New Hampshire exit polls.

'Glaring differences'

If the Democratic race is poised to take a more confrontational turn, then Republicans are set for all out internecine warfare.

Trump's visceral assault on American politics brought him his debut victory after a second-place showing in last week's Iowa caucuses.

It was a must win for Trump, after his embarrassing performance in the Hawkeye State called into question his frontrunner status and brand as a winner.

But similar levels of support for Kasich, Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Marco Rubio and former Florida governor Jeb Bush left the field in turmoil. The last remaining candidate, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, finished farther off the pace.

Now the fight moves to South Carolina, a state with a lingering reputation for bare-knuckle campaign tactics.

Even before the candidates arrived, the state's airwaves were being flooded with negative attack ads, with each man hoping to emerge as the mainstream answer to Trump.

"They've written me off in this campaign, over and over again," Bush told supporters in Bluffton, South Carolina, arguing that his campaign got a new lease on life even though he finished fourth up north.

Cruz, challenging Trump for prominence in the anti-establishment far-right lane, highlighted their "glaring differences" during an appearance in South Carolina.

"The only candidate who can beat Donald Trump is me," he said.

Speaking to reporters in Washington, Cruz eyed a potential boost from Christie and Fiorina backers.

"I hope to earn the support of each of their supporters," he said. "I'm grateful that they ran."

Rubio, who hoped to match or better his third-place Iowa finish, stumbled to fifth after he took a drubbing in the last debate before the vote, where he robotically repeated his talking points.

He could only offer supporters a mea culpa.

"Our disappointment is not on you. It's on me," he said. "We did not do well on Saturday and so listen to this: That will never happen again."

AFP
Munich: Russia has proposed a 1 March ceasefire in Syria, US officials say, but Washington believes Moscow is giving itself and the Syrian government three weeks to try to crush moderate rebel groups.

The United States has countered with demands for the fighting to stop immediately, the officials said Wednesday. Peace talks are supposed to resume by 25 February.

The talk of new ceasefire plans comes as the US, Russia and more than a dozen other countries meet in Munich to try to halt five years of civil war in the Arab country. The conflict has killed more than a quarter-million people, created Europe's biggest refugee crisis since World War II and allowed the Islamic State to carve out its own territory across parts of Syria and neighboring Iraq.

Russia says it is supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad's government as part of a counterterrorism campaign. But the West says the majority of its strikes are targeting moderate groups that are opposed to Assad and the Islamic State.

The most recent Russian-backed offensive, near Aleppo, prompted opposition groups to walk out of peace talks last month in Geneva, while forcing tens of thousands of civilians to flee toward the Turkish border.

The US officials weren't authorised to speak publicly about private diplomatic discussions in the run-up to the Munich conference and demanded anonymity. One said the US can't accept Russia's offer because opposition forces could suffer irreversible losses in northern and southern Syria before the ceasefire ever takes hold.

The officials said the US counterproposal is simple: A ceasefire that is effective immediately and is accompanied by full humanitarian access to Syria's besieged civilian centers.

Secretary of State John Kerry, who arrived in Germany Wednesday, had talks planned late in the evening with UN peace envoy Staffan de Mistura and Adel al-Jubeir, the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, a key backer of Syria's rebel groups.

The Obama administration has been trying for months to clinch a ceasefire and pave the way for a transition government in Syria that would allow parties to the conflict to concentrate on defeating the threat posed by the Islamic State and the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.

But after having long demanded Assad's ouster, the shift in the US focus to combating terrorism has resulted in a confusing mix of priorities and a layered strategy in Syria that few understand, and even fewer see working. Beyond Russia, the administration has often struggled to keep its own allies such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia in line.

"We will approach this meeting in Munich with great hopes that this will be a telling moment," Kerry said Tuesday in Washington. His peace push coincides with Defense Secretary Ash Carter's attendance at a gathering in Brussels to hash out military options with Nato partners.

Brett McGurk, the Obama administration's point-man for defeating the Islamic State, said Russia's Aleppo offensive was having the perverse effect of helping the extremists by drawing local fighters away from the battle against IS and to the war against Syria's government.

"What Russia's doing is directly enabling ISIL," McGurk told the House Foreign Affairs Committee in Washington.

But the panel's top Democrat echoed some of the frustration of his Republican colleagues with the larger US strategy.

"It seems as if we're only halfheartedly going after ISIS, and halfheartedly helping the (rebel) Free Syria Army and others on the ground," said Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y. He urged a "robust campaign, not a tentative one, not one that seems like we're dragging ourselves in ... to destroy ISIS and get rid of Assad."

Kerry emphasised Tuesday that US officials "are not blind to what is happening." He said the Aleppo battle makes it "much more difficult to be able to come to the table and to be able to have a serious conversation."

But the US has staked its hopes for an end to the five-year civil war in Syria on the peace talks and Assad's eventual departure, saying the American public has no appetite for a military solution.

To that end, Washington has tempered its calls dating back to August 2011 for Assad to immediately leave power. And to get Russia on board, it now won't even say that Assad should be barred from running for re-election if and when a new Syrian constitution is drafted.

The ambiguity has emboldened Assad's supporters, Russia and Iran, while upsetting American allies in the Middle East, who are frustrated by a process that appears to lock the Syrian leader in place well into 2017  and perhaps beyond.

AP
Paris: French lawmakers on Wednesday voted in favour of measures to change the constitution following the November 13 jihadist attacks on Paris, but doubts remain as to whether the package will be fully adopted.

The amendment, including a hotly contested measure to strip convicted terrorists of their French nationality, was passed by the National Assembly with 317 votes for to 199 against, clearing a first hurdle towards adoption.

The package must now gain the support of the Senate, or upper house of parliament, and then three-fifths of the Congress, the body formed when both houses of France's parliament come together to debate revisions to the constitution.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls said he was satisfied with the result. He said he was "sure" the amendments would receive a majority in the Congress.

The stakes were high for President Francois Hollande, who announced in the emotional aftermath of the shootings and suicide bombings that killed 130 people in Paris in November that he wanted to revise the constitution to toughen the fight against terror.

If the measures had fallen at the first stage, it could have dealt a fatal blow to Hollande's ambitions of re-election in 2017.

Valls had on Tuesday warned lawmakers from his Socialist Party that voting against the measures would "put the government in difficulty and leave the president in a minority".

The fact that the move to strip terror convicts of their nationality barely scraped through by 162 votes to 148 in a separate vote on Tuesday suggests the collective package faces many more obstacles.

'Pointless'

Writing on his Twitter account ahead of Wednesday's vote, right-wing politician Alain Juppe, a former prime minister seen as the frontrunner in next year's presidential election, dismissed the reforms as "pointless" and said they "divide all the parliamentary groups -- to be avoided!"

Cecile Duflot, a member of the green EELV party and a former minister in Hollande's government, urged her fellow MPs to "resist the blackmail" posed by the nationality measure.

Another of the proposed measures would enshrine in the constitution the state of emergency currently in force, giving greater powers to security forces.

Rights groups and left-wing lawmakers say they believe police are abusing the additional powers, rounding up suspects with little proof.

But it is the nationality measure that has deeply divided Hollande's party, notably prompting the resignation of Christiane Taubira as justice minister last month.

In addition, Hollande's former prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has publicly condemned the proposal.

But the government insists the measures are necessary as France faces a continued high threat from jihadist attack.

Valls said Tuesday the terrorist threat was "without doubt more serious than before November 13".

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the carnage in Paris, saying it was in response to French air strikes against the group in Iraq and Syria.

It was the second time in a year that jihadists had struck at the French capital. In January 2015, gunmen attacked the offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket.

AFP
Maiduguri: Two female suicide bombers killed at least 58 at a camp for people made homeless by Boko Haram's Islamist insurgency in northeast Nigeria, emergency services said on Wednesday, in the latest violence to hit the remote region.

The attack happened in Dikwa, some 90 kilometres (55 miles) from the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, on Tuesday morning and is believed to be a reprisal for a military strike on Boko Haram strongholds in the area last week.

It will again raise security fears about the safety of internally displaced people (IDPs) and put pressure on the government, which maintains it has the upper hand against the insurgents and is pushing for the return of civilians caught up in the violence.

Nigeria's Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, deputising for President Muhammadu Buhari who has been on holiday, described it as "regrettable that the heartless terrorists chose to unleash their wickedness on people who were taking refuge from previous acts of destruction in their homes".

He promised those behind the attack would be hunted down and ordered that "formidable security in and around the IDP camps in the country be beefed up and renewed measures put in place to guard against future occurrences".

The head of the Borno State Emergency Management Agency, Satomi Ahmed, earlier told AFP 35 bodies were recovered from the camp, which houses some 53,600 people, with 78 injured.

He later said the other dead had been buried locally, leading to the revised toll.

"From what we gathered three female suicide bombers disguised as IDPs arrived at IDP camp at about 6:30 am (0530 GMT)," he said.

"Two of them detonated their explosives. The third one refused to set off hers when she realised her parents and siblings were in the camp. She surrendered herself to the authorities."

Ahmed said the woman told the military why she refused to detonate her explosives and warned them of further attacks to come in the remote region.

The injured were taken to the Borno State Specialist Hospital and the Umaru Shehu Hospital, both in Maiduguri for treatment, he added.

The camp in Dikwa is currently home to people from six local government areas in Borno: Dikwa itself, Gamboru Ngala, on the border with Cameroon, and the towns of Marte, Kalabalge, Bama and Mafa.

Revenge

Last week, the Nigerian military attacked three villages considered Boko Haram strongholds near Kalabalge, killing dozens of militant fighters and rescuing hundreds of women.

The women were largely from the Shuwa Arab tribe, who had been kidnapped, prompting the authorities to suspect the latest attack to be revenge for the military operation.

Boko Haram, which has increasingly used suicide and bomb attacks as the military pushes them out of territories it once controlled, has hit IDP camps before.

On September 11 last year, seven people were killed when an improvised explosive device went off at the Malkohi camp, near Yola, in neighbouring Adamawa state.

The camp had been used to house kidnapped women and children rescued by the military.

IDPs fleeing Dikwa were also the target of a female suicide bomber as they tried to reach camps in Maiduguri on 22 November last year. A woman disguised as an IDP blew herself up, killing eight.

On 31 January, at least 85 people were killed in Dalori, some 12 kilometres from Maiduguri, when Boko Haram fighters attacked and burned down surrounding villagers.

Suicide bombers tried to get into the IDP camp, which is the largest around Maiduguri, but were prevented.

The Boko Haram insurgency has left at least 17,000 people dead and forced more than 2.6 million from their homes in nearly seven years of violence that has also spread to neighbouring countries.

At least six civilians were killed and more than 30 injured on Wednesday in a double suicide attack in the village of Nguetchewe, in northern Cameroon.

AFP
New Delhi: The United States and India have held talks about conducting joint naval patrols that a US defence official said could include the disputed South China Sea, a move that would likely anger Beijing, which claims most of the waterway.

Washington wants its regional allies and other Asian nations to take a more united stance against China over the South China Sea, where tensions have spiked in the wake of Beijing's construction of seven man-made islands in the Spratly archipelago.

India and the United States have ramped up military ties in recent years, holding naval exercises in the Indian Ocean that last year involved the Japanese navy.

But the Indian navy has never carried out joint patrols with another country and a naval spokesman told Reuters there was no change in the government's policy of only joining an international military effort under the United Nations flag.

He pointed to India's refusal to be part of anti-piracy missions involving dozens of countries in the Gulf of Aden and instead carrying out its own operations there since 2008.

The US defence official said the two sides had discussed joint patrols, adding that both were hopeful of launching them within the year. The patrols would likely be in the Indian Ocean where the Indian navy is a major player as well as the South China Sea, the official told Reuters in New Delhi on condition of anonymity.

The official gave no details on the scale of the proposed patrols.

A Pentagon spokesman, Commander Bill Urban, said the United States and India "continue to explore ways to deepen defence cooperation, including in the area of maritime security", but no decisions had been made on joint patrols.

There was no immediate comment from China, which is on a week-long holiday for Chinese New Year.

China accused Washington this month of seeking maritime hegemony in the name of freedom of navigation after a US Navy destroyer sailed within 12 nautical miles of a disputed island in the Paracel chain of the South China Sea in late January.

The US Navy conducted a similar exercise in October near one of China's artificial islands in the Spratlys.

Maritime cooperation

Neither India nor the United States has claims to the South China Sea, but both said they backed freedom of navigation and overflight in the waterway when US President Barack Obama visited New Delhi in January 2015.

Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also agreed at the time to "identify specific areas for expanding maritime cooperation".

More than $5 trillion in world trade moves through the South China Sea each year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan also claim parts of the waterway.

In December, the issue of joint patrols came up when Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar visited the U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii, an Indian government source said.

"It was a broad discussion, it was about the potential for joint patrols," said the source, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.

India has a long-running land border dispute with China and has been careful not to antagonize its more powerful neighbor, instead focusing on building economic ties.

But it has stepped up its naval presence far beyond the Indian Ocean, deploying a ship to the South China Sea almost constantly, an Indian navy commander said, noting this was not the practice a few years ago.

The commander added that the largest number of Indian naval ship visits in the South China Sea region was to Vietnam, a country rapidly building military muscle for potential conflict with China over the waterway.

India has extended a $100 million credit line for Hanoi to buy patrol boats and is training Vietnamese submariners in India, while Hanoi has granted oil exploration blocks to India in waters off Vietnam that are disputed with China.

Still, the idea of joining the United States in patrols in the region was a long shot, the Indian officer said.

The Philippines has asked the United States to do joint naval patrols in the South China Sea, something a US diplomat said this month was a possibility.

REUTERS
LONDON Thirty of the world's leading scientific research institutions, journals and funders have pledged to share for free all data and expertise on Zika to speed up the fight against an outbreak of the viral disease spreading across the Americas.

"The arguments for sharing data and the consequences of not doing so (have been) ... thrown into stark relief by the Ebola and Zika outbreaks," said a statement issued by signatories from around the world.

Specialists welcomed the initiative, saying it showed how the global health community had learned crucial lessons from West Africa's Ebola epidemic, which killed more than 11,300 people and saw scientists scrambling to conduct research to help in the development of potential treatments and vaccines.

Zika, a viral disease carried by mosquitoes, is causing international alarm as an outbreak in Brazil has now spread through much of the Americas.

"In the context of a public health emergency of international concern, there is an imperative on all parties to make any information available that might have value in combating the crisis," the signatories wrote.

Much remains unknown about Zika, including whether it may cause birth defects or other neurological problems.

Brazil is investigating a potential link between Zika infections and some 4,000 suspected cases in newborn babies of microcephaly, a condition in which an abnormally small head size can result in developmental problems.

Medical and scientific research teams around the world have stepped up efforts to find out more about the disease, including how vaccines or treatments might be developed to fight it.

Mark Woolhouse, a University of Edinburgh professor of infectious diseases, said the open sharing of data commitment was "one of the most welcome developments" he'd seen in decades.

"If acted upon, this declaration will save lives," he said.

Signatories to Wednesday's agreement to share the fruits of that research included the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Health Organization (WHO), France's Institut Pasteur, the UK Academy of Medical Sciences and the Wellcome Trust global health charity.

Scientific journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Nature, Science and The Lancet, pledged to

"make all content concerning the Zika virus free to access".

Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust and a signatory of the statement, said research is an essential part of the response to any global health emergency.

"This is particularly true for Zika, where so much is still unknown about the virus, how it is spread and the possible link with microcephaly," he said.

Trudie Lang, a professor and director of the Global Health Network at Britain's Oxford University, said that if data is shared more, "questions can be answered faster".

"This agreement is a very important step...and it is excellent to see the lessons we learnt from Ebola being put into place," she said.

(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
The next flagship product from HTC codenamed Perfume will reportedly be announced on April 11th and wont make an appearance during MWC 2016 just like reports suggested earlier.

The next flagship from HTC may or may not be called the One M10 but the handset is expected to be revealed at an event in London on the 11th of April. HTC usually announces their flagship products every year at MWC but this year seems to be different. While they have had separate events for smartphones in the past after MWC, this would be the first time that they are announcing a phone this late.

We wouldve guessed that HTC would try and capitalize by launching their phone earlier than Samsung and LG but that doesnt seem to be the case. Samsung is apparently planning to release their device into the market as early as March 11th and this means that HTCs announcement itself will come a whole month after the release.By April 11th, LG too might have their LG G5 in the market already.

We arent sure whether this is part of HTCs strategy or whether they are still working on the phone. But with both LG and Samsung flagships on the market, HTC will have a tough time trying to persuade customers to go for their device over the others. The One M10 Perfume is also rumoured to be set for a launch on May 9th in USA. The phone should also launch simultaneously in parts of Europe and Asia as well.

Source | Via
Vodafone has launched its 4G LTE services in Bengaluru, as it announced yesterday, after launching it in Kerala, Mysore, Kolkata, Delhi & NCR and Mumbai. It will first roll out in business and residential corridors such as Jayanagar, Basavangudi, JP Nagar, Electronic City, Bangalore International Airport, Whitefield, BTM. Layout, Chamrajpet and Koramangala, and will gradually roll out across all parts of Bengaluru in a phased manner by March 2016.

It is based on 1800MHz FDD-LTE band 3, which the company acquired last year. It is built on strong fiber back-haul, and is supported by its 3.5G services. Vodafone 4G services, which is now present in 5 circles  Kerala, Karnataka, Mumbai, Delhi & NCR and Kolkata contribute to 30% of industry revenues and close to 50% of Vodafone India data revenues, the company had said earlier.

Vodafone will begin the second phase of 4G roll out in the country in early financial year 2017.

Commenting on the launch of Vodafone 4G in Bengaluru, Sunil Sood, Managing Director & CEO, Vodafone India, said:

We are delighted to launch our high-speed 4G services in Bengaluru for our customers to experience the most advanced wireless broadband experience available across the globe today. With this, we complete the first phase of roll-out of our 4G services across Kerala, Karnataka, Kolkata, Delhi & NCR and Mumbai. Initial response from customers who have experienced our 4G services in these markets has been positive and encouraging. 4G has the potential to revolutionize the mobile experience through powerful innovation that impacts how we work and live. Vodafones global expertise and experience of launching 4G across 19 countries gives us a better understanding of this technology and the needs of the 4G customer. As a steadfast partner of Digital India, we remain focused on deploying multiple technologies be it 2G, 3G and now 4G-for optimum use as each technology has its own vital role to play in servicing the myriad connectivity needs of consumers across the country.
Due to the alarming rate of food that are put to waste by the world's population today, the government of France has banned local supermarkets from throwing away unsold food and letting them rot.

The law, which was voted unanimously by the French Senate on Wednesday, requires groceries and other food stores to donate the unsold and unwanted food to charities and food banks. Before the new rule, supermarkets were reported to have bleach poured over discarded food to avoid food scavengers. Some even store the food surplus in locked warehouses that will be soon forgotten. Any supermarket with a footprint of 400 square meters or larger shall strictly observe the law.

A petition launched by Courbevoie councilor Arash Derambarsh put the legislation of the new law in motion. Any proven violators should pay corresponding fines up to 3570 EUR.

"This battle is only just beginning. We now have to fight food waste in restaurants, bakeries, school canteens and company canteens," Derambarsh expressed.

Food banks and other non-government organization commends and supports the newly passed rule, hoping that this change would have dramatic effects to society, not only to aid the pressing issue of global food waste but also the balanced health and nutrition of everyone, especially the less fortunate.

"Most importantly, because supermarkets will be obliged to sign a donation deal with charities, we'll be able to increase the quality and diversity of food we get and distribute," Jacques Bailet from Banques Alimentaires-a network of food banks told the Guardian, "In terms of nutritional balance, we currently have a deficit of meat and a lack of fruit and vegetables. This will hopefully allow us to push for those products,"he said.

Derambarsh is now advocating that a similar law be passed, looking forward that a European Union-wide law against food waste be legislated soon.

"The next step is to ask the president, Francois Hollande, to put pressure on Jean-Claude Juncker and to extend this law to the whole of the EU," Derambarsh said.
If you are the type of person who needs constant food and cooking inspiration, you might want to check out these 10 YouTube channels that will definitely feed you not just with yummy food recipes, but also with quirks and stories, making you feel that you are friends wherever you are in this world.

1. Cooking with Dog

Country: Japan

Subscribers: 1,125,557

With a total of a whopping 140+ million views of all his videos, it is quite amusing to stumble upon a cooking show that is narrated by a dog. Due to its unique and cute format, millions of people around the globe are enjoying food related videos in this channel. You would be lying if you say Francis, the adorable poodle, doesn't make watching food better.

Be sure to watch: How to make Bento Lunch Box ; How to make Nikuman (Chinese Steamed Pork Bun) (LINK)

2. The Simple Cooking Channel

Country: Australia

Subscribers: 1,075,591

If you are looking for the simplest way of explaining and instructing how to get food (and other kitchen magic) done, you should definitely watch out for The Simple Cooking Channel every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, wherein they upload a new video weekly!

Added to the charm of this channel, the host occasionally cooks with his adorable daughter and lets her assist him in easy to do sweet treats!

We recommend watching: How to make chewing gum; How to make Chicken Nuggets

3. SORTEDFood

Country: Britain

Subscribers: 1,437,686

"Perfectly resting on the line between entertaining and informative", videos uploaded in this channel by friends Jamie Spafford, Ben Ebbrell, Barry James Taylor and Mike Huttlestone have been making waves in the Youtube world. Ebbrell is the sole professionally trained cook in the bunch, but the three dudes really contribute to their channel's friendly personality!

Watch: Full English Breakfast Recipe; How to make Cronuts

4. Epic Meal Time

Country: Canada

Subscribers: 6,988,065

As self-confessed "Jackass in the kitchen", ten bacon-obsessed men are not just having fun on camera and uploading them to Youtube, they also had Tony Hawk and Arnold Schwarzengeer as guests that definitely helped them in reaching millions of views.

Watch: Fast Food Lasangna; 100 Pound Pizza

5. Laura in the Kitchen

Country: USA

Subscribers: 2,198,321

If you are looking for cooking tutorials of more classic food, Laura is the perfect Youtube buddy for you. Just like the budding cooks out there, Laura Vitale is also a self-taught cook that presents her cooking adventures from her very own kitchen. She developed her love for food young, since her father owned an Italian restaurant.

Watch: Nutella Popsicle Recipe; Cheesy Garlic Bread Recipe

6. Nicko's Kitchen

Country: Australia

Subscribers: 1,045,349

Are you a fan of fast food? If yes, then you are going to love the food presented by Nicko. Homemade food inspired by McDonald's, Krispy Kreme or KFC are recreated through his video tutorials. The channel's motto: 'affordable and easy and oh so tasty'

Watch: McDonald's Big Mac Recipe; Krispy Kreme Donuts

7. Cupcake Jemma

Country: Britain

Subscribers: 612, 199

As one of the owners and bakers of Crumbs and Doilies, a bakery in London, Jemma Wilson is great enough to generously share the recipes for cupcakes and cakes sold in her business! She uploads new episodes every week.

Make sure to watch: How to make the Best Rainbow Cake; How to make Cupcake Emojis

8. My Drunk Kitchen

Country: USA

Subscribers: 2,456,236

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When the diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba started to ease in late 2014, Bacardi thought it was just a matter of time until it would reacquire full ownership of the Havana Club rum prized trademark.

It was wrong.

Last month, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted the renewal of a trademark for Havana Club to the Cuban government and its partner, Pernod Ricard, to sell the islands most famous rum in America once the embargo is lifted.

The dispute, which dates back to the times of the Cuban Revolution, shows how U.S. companies and owners looking to reclaim businesses and brands seized by the Cuban government are in for a long fight, experts say.

The Havana Club case is a microcosm of the broader issue regarding private property and trademark rights seized by the Cuban government and to what extent those rights will be compensated, said Kevin Markow, a shareholder with the law firm Becker & Poliakoff in Fort Lauderdale, Fl.

These disputes will continue to be challenged in the courts, he added.

Bacardi pulled up stakes on the island in 1959 and soon after the Castro government seized its distillery. However, it claimed ownership over the Havana Club name saying it had purchased the rights to it and the original Cuban recipe from the Arechabala family, which made the rum on the island before the revolution.

In the 1990s Bacardi began selling its own brand of Havana Club rum, distilled in Puerto Rico, in the U.S. Cubaexport, the joint venture Cuban government and Pernod Ricard, owns the trademark in the rest of the world.

Its kind of a chess game going on around the globe over who is the rightful owner of this trademark, Markow said.

Bacardi recently filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Department of Treasury to obtain documents that would show how U.S. officials arrived at the decision to recognize Cubaexport as the owners of Havana Club.

"The American people have the right to know the truth of how and why this unprecedented, sudden and silent action was taken by the United States government to reverse long-standing U.S. and international public policy and law that protects against the recognition or acceptance of confiscations of foreign governments," Eduardo Sanchez, Bacardi's senior vice president and general counsel, told the Miami Herald

Markow and other trademark attorneys speculate Bacardi will ramp up its nearly 20 year fight against Cubaexport in court. The case had previously gone all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012. However, the high court declined to review the matter.

It will tee up a legal fight over absolute ownership of the trademark, Markow said. There has already been a long history of litigation between Cubaexport and Bacardi.

Marvin Feldman, a partner at Lackenbach Siegel, a New York law firm specializing in intellectual property, concurred. This dispute has been going on a long time, Feldman said. It is very complex. It wont end any time soon.

Jorge Espinosa, a partner with Miami intellectual property firm Espinosa, Trueba Martinez, said the U.S. patent offices Havana Club decision sets a bad precedent.

For island interests registering in the U.S. it does seem to show a relaxation of restrictions that in past administrations would have been refused, Espinosa said. This decision gives Cuba and Cuban interests more ammunition to come in and register and renew trademarks from the island.

For instance, it could help Cuban company Cubatabaco in its longstanding battle with General Cigar Co Inc. over the Cohiba cigar trademark. Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Cuban state-owned company by refusing to intervene in the dispute. As a result of reduced travel restrictions, Cuban-made Cohibas are reaching U.S. shores via tourism permits.

Cubatabaco has been waging its trademark war with General Cigar since 1997. The state-run firm overcame a 2005 Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that any transfer of property to Cubatabaco was prohibited by the embargo. But then Cubatabaco won a subsequent federal court ruling recognizing the companys challenge of the Cohiba trademark before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, which is still pending.

Companies like Bacardi and General Cigar will have to prove in court that the U.S. patent offices decision is in direct conflict with U.S. law that bans entities from registering trademarks seized by the Cuban government.

At the end of the day, Bacardi is correct, Espinosa said. The original owners of other seized trademarks would need to make the same argument.

Feldman said Cuban entities should take advantage of the U.S. governments approval of Cubaexports Havana Club trademark. They should not sit on it, Feldman said. They should be registering their trademarks immediately.

Francisco Alvarado is a freelance journalist in South Florida.
David Asman joined FOX News Channel (FNC) in 1997 and helped launch FOX Business Network (FBN) in 2007. He currently serves as guest anchor on programs across FNC and FBN.

Previously, Asman served as the host of FBNs post-market program Bulls & Bears (weekdays 5-6PM/ET). In addition, Asman served as a co-anchor on FBNs After the Bell (weekdays 4-5PM/ET), which was number one in its timeslot. While at FNC, Asman anchored the weekday Fox News Live. In 2005, he was named head of FNC's documentary unit where he hosted a series of investigative specials, including Global Warming: The Debate Continues and U.N. Blood Money, a three-part series which examined the oil-for-food controversy.

Prior to joining FNC, Asman served as the Wall Street Journal's editorial features editor beginning in 1995. He joined the newspaper in 1983 as an editorial writer, where he edited the "Manager's Journal" and the "Americas" column. He also wrote editorials and over 100 articles from Latin America and elsewhere. In 1994, Asman was named senior editor for the Journal's editorial page, where his role was combined with administrative responsibilities.

A recipient of the 1986 Inter American Press Association's (IAPA) Tom Wallace Award for coverage of Latin America in the Americas column, Asman also was editor of the book, "The Wall Street Journal on Management: Adding Value Through Synergy." In addition, he received the IAPA's 1992 and 1995 Daily Gleaner Award for his articles on free trade and Cuba and Mexico's economy respectively.

Asman began his journalism career in 1978 as an assistant editor of Prospect Magazine and rose to executive editor within a year. In 1980, he was hired by George Gilder to start up an economic journal for the Manhattan Institute. Asman has also been a radio commentator for Perspective on the Economy, and was a consultant to the Ford Foundation on African organizations in the United States. He also served as host of Issues USA, a nightly televised public affairs show.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former business executive Carly Fiorina are ending their campaigns for the 2016 Republican nomination, narrowing the field of rivals facing businessman Donald Trump for the right to compete in the Nov. 8 presidential election.

A senior aide confirmed to Reuters on Wednesday that Christie would pull out, a day after the combative Republican's sixth-place finish in the New Hampshire primary raised doubts about his viability as a candidate.

Fiorina, a former Hewlett-Packard chief executive, said in a Facebook post on Wednesday she would suspend her campaign. The only woman in the Republican field placed seventh in New Hampshire.

Trump's remaining opponents, most of them mainstream Republicans, will likely benefit from their departures, which leave seven Republicans from a field that once had 17 candidates.

Christie had poured much of his campaign's resources into New Hampshire and had considered a good showing there critical. He won only about 7 percent of votes on Tuesday, despite a pugnacious performance at a Republican debate last weekend.

Trump, a billionaire real estate mogul and former reality TV star, has dominated the Republican race and easily won the party primary in New Hampshire on Tuesday on a wave of voter anger at traditional U.S. politicians.

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a democratic socialist, defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the state's Democratic contest.

The results testified to the sizable share of American voters upset over the slow economic recovery, immigration and America's place in the world and who are willing to shake up Washington.

Trump's victory showed pundits were wrong to think he would quickly self-destruct based on his penchant for insults and imprecise plans for the presidency. He had lost last week to U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas in the first nominating contest, the Iowa caucuses.

The odds of Trump winning the White House, once seen as an extremely long shot, improved significantly after his victory in New Hampshire, online betting site Ladbrokes PLC said.

Trump is now at 9/2, compared with 7/1 last week, meaning his chances of victory in November are now 18 percent. Clinton still had the best odds of becoming president at 50/50, Ladbrokes said.

Trump's remaining rivals are still splintered.

Ohio's Republican governor, John Kasich, finished second in New Hampshire, followed by Cruz, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida.

(By Ginger Gibson; Writing by Alistair Bell; Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu and Eric Walsh; Editing by Howard Goller and Peter Cooney)
Young women who were diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in childhood are more likely to be obese than peers without an ADHD diagnosis, according to a U.S. study.

The results don't prove cause and effect, but some of the symptoms of ADHD, like impulsiveness and difficulty focusing might contribute to an inability to stick to healthy eating habits, even in adulthood, the researchers speculate.

"Several cross-sectional studies have suggested an association between childhood ADHD and obesity," said study author Dr. Seema Kumar, a pediatrician and researcher at Mayo Clinic Children's Research Center in Rochester, Minnesota.

She and her colleagues analyzed data on 336 adults with childhood diagnoses of ADHD and 665 similar people without an ADHD diagnosis. All were born between 1976 and 1982 and their medical records included their heights, weights and medication regimens between 1976 and 2010.

More than 34 percent of people with childhood ADHD were obese after age 20 compared to 25 percent of those without ADHD, researchers found. But the difference was only statistically significant - meaning it was too big to be due to chance - among the women.

Participants who were not obese when ADHD was first diagnosed were about 50 percent more likely to be obese in later years than people in the comparison group without ADHD, but again, the increased risk held true only for female participants.

There may be shared underlying abnormalities in the neural pathways that mediate not only impulse control and reward sensitivity in ADHD but also appetite and satiety, Kumar told Reuters Health by email.

Poor decision-making in individuals with ADHD may lead to disordered eating, she said.

"Sleep difficulties, often present in children with ADHD, may also lead to excess weight gain due to a combination of behavioral and hormonal factors," she said.

"Our finding of sex-specific differences in the association between ADHD and obesity may be related to some extent to unique differences in the subtypes of ADHD seen in females compared to males," she said. "Females have a higher prevalence of the inattentive subtype of ADHD while males have a higher prevalence of the hyperactive/impulsive subtype, a subtype that may be associated with a higher energy expenditure and therefore protective against weight gain."

Stimulant treatment was not related to obesity risk, the study team notes in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

"It is important to know that in our study, stimulants had been used for only a fraction of a patient's life, ranging between one and a half years to six years," Kumar said. "It is not known if longer duration of stimulant treatment may alter the risk of obesity," she cautioned.

"Parents and doctors should encourage healthy eating and active lifestyle in all patients with ADHD," Kumar said. "Additionally, weight monitoring should be incorporated as part of routine care of all patients with ADHD so that excess weight can be detected early and that efforts to prevent further weight gain can be instituted in a timely fashion."
A Czech woman who gave birth in January while in a coma is improving, her doctor says, and her baby boy has been discharged from the hospital.

Central European News (CEN) reported Veronika Tlusta, 33, was five months pregnant in October 2015 when she suffered brain and neck injuries after having a car accident.

As Tlusta remained in a coma at a university hospital in the southeastern Czech city Brno, her baby continued to grow. Three months after the accident when Tlusta was eight months pregnant doctors decided that the baby reached an appropriate weight, and they delivered him by C-section. The boy, named Daniel, was born weighing 4 pounds and 5.5 ounces.

"In the moment when we saw that Veronika's physical condition was not good enough to carry on in pregnancy, we decided to end the pregnancy, Dr. Dagmar Seidlova, head doctor of the maternal hospital, told CEN.

Seidlova told the news website that Tlusta has since opened her eyes.

"I think that Veronika has a good chance, he told CEN. I wont say that she will be completely recovered, but her condition will definitely get better."

CEN reported that Daniel is now well enough to be taken home, and his aunt Andrea, Tlustas sister-in-law, will care for him while Tlusta continues to heal.

[Daniel] is amazing, Andrea, whose last name wasnt disclosed, told CEN, especially when you know everything he has had to go through. He does not cry. He sleeps well.

Doctors plan to transport Tlusta from Brno to Prague, where doctors in a special clinic will assess her recovery chances and treat her further.


Laws permitting assisted suicide may justify the right of even psychiatric patients to end their lives in theory, but the reality of implementing such programs is messy, a study of the Netherlands finds.

Complex medical histories and disagreements among doctors were common elements among the Dutch cases of psychiatric patients who chose legalized assisted suicide or euthanasia, say the researchers who analyzed them.

"When you actually try to implement it even in a setting where there is excellent healthcare, there are a lot of red flags that need to be investigated further," said lead study author Dr. Scott Kim, a psychiatrist and bioethicist at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

In some form, assisted death is legalized in Belgium, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Canada and a few U.S. states, Kim and his colleagues write in JAMA Psychiatry.

"In Belgium and The Netherlands they have a much more expansive law that doesn't regard diagnosis as important," Kim told Reuters Health. The ambiguity allows the law to also apply to patients with psychiatric illnesses.

People with treatment-resistant depression tend to be the focus of debate over assisted suicide for psychiatric illnesses, the researchers note. But little is known about who actually uses the 2002 law that formalized euthanasia practices in the Netherlands.

For the new study, the researchers examined case summaries from Dutch regional euthanasia review committees posted online by June 2015. The committees are charged with ensuring that "due care" was given by the doctors involved in each case.

There were 66 summaries of psychiatric assisted suicide cases that took place between 2011 and 2014, representing the majority of assisted suicides involving psychiatric patients known to have occurred during that period.

Overall, about a third of the people helped to end their lives were age 70 years or older, 44 percent were between ages 50 and 70 and about a quarter were 30 to 50 years old. Seventy percent were women.

While fully 55 percent of patients were diagnosed with depression, the others had a number of different conditions, including psychosis, posttraumatic stress disorder or anxiety, neurocognitive issues, pain without any physical cause, eating disorders, prolonged grief and autism.

About a quarter of patients' suicides were assisted by psychiatrists, and about one in five patients were treated by unfamiliar doctors - the majority from a mobile assisted suicide clinic funded by a Dutch right to die organization.

The researchers also found that about one in 10 patients receive no outside input from psychiatrists, and about a quarter of cases involved disagreement between the doctors treating the patient.

Dr. Paul Applebaum writes in an accompanying editorial that the findings "raise serious concerns about the implementation of physician-assisted dying for psychiatric patients."

For example, over half of the cases also had personality disorders, which raises questions about "the stability of the expressed desires to die," writes Applebaum, of the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University's Department of Psychiatry in New York City.

When one considers the subjective criteria used to determine a person's eligibility for assisted suicide or euthanasia in The Netherlands, Dr. Aaron Kheriaty said, it's no surprise to see such a wide range of ages and psychiatric diagnoses among the patients who choose to end their lives this way.

"To me that's very concerning," said Kheriaty, a psychiatrist and director of the Medical Ethics Program at the University of California, Irvine.

Some of the conditions listed in the cases are potentially treatable, he said.

"I think when we open the door to assisted suicide for psychiatric patients, we risk abandoning patients when there may be hope," said Kheriaty, who was not involved with the new study.

Kim said there is currently no standardized system for reporting these cases, and the availability of data varies by country.

"I think there needs to be a lot more transparency of what actually happens when assisted suicide or euthanasia is provided," he said. "Right now the Dutch system is the most transparent."
A two-year-old Colorado boy nearly died last May after swallowing a battery that had popped out of a remote control, The Sun reported. Within hours, Logan Stiff began vomiting as the battery worked to burn a hole in his esophagus.

We had no idea how dangerous these batteries could be, nor did most of our friends and family, Andrew Stiff, Logans dad, told The Sun. It was a shocking realization and we wanted to make sure everyone we knew could learn about this too.

Lithium batteries can react with saliva, creating an electrical current that causes a build-up of caustic soda which can burn through the esophagus or other major blood vessels, The Sun reported.

Logan was at a home daycare center during the incident, and nobody witnessed him swallow the battery. Jackie Stiff, Logans mother, noticed her son had a fever and when he began vomiting, believed he had picked up an illness from another child. But when Logan began having trouble breathing his parents rushed him to Childrens Colorado Hospital where an X-ray revealed the battery to be the cause, The Sun reported.

He underwent emergency surgery to remove the battery and was fitted with a breathing tube, feeding tube and spit fistula, spending a total of 21 days in the hospital.

Today, Logan is able to eat and drink he underwent surgery to reconnect his esophagus, but he still primarily relies on the feeding tube, The Sun reported. He also has damage to one of his vocal cords but can speak softly. Logan will have to periodically return so that doctors can stretch his esophagus open.

We are very happy to see Logan recovering so well and just being a happy kid again, Andrew told The Sun. We always believed he would get better, but the lowest point was when he failed to breathe on his own. It was frustrating as a parent to not be able to do anything at all to help him.

Most people would know to keep other obvious things away from children  chemicals and medicines  but button batteries dont cross their minds, Andrew told The Sun.


The Zika virus has been detected in the placentas of at least two American women who contracted the illness while traveling to Zika-afflicted areas and suffered miscarriages when they returned to the United States, STAT News reported.

Dr. Sherif Zaki, the chief pathologist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told STAT that the women miscarried early in their pregnancies, but did not say where they had traveled to or currently live. There have also been reports of traces of Zika being found in amniotic fluid and placentas from women whose babies developed microcephaly, STAT reported.

The findings come as the CDC also confirmed during a House panel Wednesday that it had identified Zika virus in tissue samples of two Brazilian babies who died of microcephaly.

This is the strongest evidence to date that Zika is the cause of microcephaly [for these babies], CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said.

The virus has been linked to thousands of severe birth defects in Brazil and the Americas. The first patient-transmitted case of Zika in the United States was reported last week by local health officials, who said it was likely contracted through sex and not a mosquito bite.

Researchers have not yet been able to positively identify a direct link between Zika and microcephaly, but Slovenian researchers who performed an autopsy on a fetus with microcephaly say theyve found the most compelling evidence to date.

The mother of the fetus had been working in Brazil when she became pregnant in February 2015, STAT reported. She contracted the Zika virus and returned to Slovenia, where a 29-week ultrasound determined that the fetus had possible brain anomalies. She terminated the pregnancy and analysis by researchers from the University of Ljublijana and the University Medical Center Ljubljana confirmed profound brain abnormalities as well as high concentrations of viral particles in the brain tissue but nowhere else in the body, STAT reported.

We think that this really represents the most compelling evidence to date that congential CNS (central nervous system) malformations are associated with Zika virus, Tatjana Avsic Zupanc, senior study author, told STAT.


Okay, lets be clear about one big thing. It's pretty apparent now Americans are angry with the political establishment -- feeling betrayed, marginalized, and disenfranchised on both sides. Revolt is not over-stating the sentiment on both sides. Check out the exit polls from last night.

On the GOP side, amongst Americans angry with how the federal government is working -- four out of ten went strongly for Trump.

For those looking for a political outsider that ended up being half of the GOP voters in New Hampshire -- Trump once again dominated at 61-percent.

On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders ruled when asked if he cares about the voter -- killing it -- with a whopping 82-percent.

Many pundits didn't take the political outsiders in this race seriously for a long time. We often heard Trump would fizzle out -- it was a circus -- and Sanders was a joke. Well, not here. On The Real Story we long ago said both candidates could be the real deal. How this all ends up -- is another discussion.


They were the largest group of female migrants in American history  the hundreds of thousands of young women who travelled to the United States in the aftermath of World War Two to spend the rest of their lives with the GIs they had met during wartime.

But unlike other immigrants, the war brides werent drawn by the prospect of life in a more prosperous country, or seeking refuge from dangers back home. As Jean Borst, one of 70,000 women who arrived from the United Kingdom in 1946, put it, We didnt come here because we were poor and hungry and wanting to be free. We came for the love of an American serviceman.

That love had blossomed in countries all over Europe, and as far afield as Australia and Japan  pretty much everywhere, in fact, that the U.S. Army sent its men. And it had done so despite stiff opposition from the authorities.

During the war, American troops were expressly discouraged from getting too involved with local girls. The two million GIs stationed in Britain during the build up to D-Day had been issued with a book advising them of the perils of romance while they were on active service. Despite the special relationship between the two countries, relations with local girls werent supposed to get too special.

But of course such advice was rarely heeded, and with American camps popping up all over the country it was only natural that young men and women in such close proximity soon felt the tug of attraction. To the GIs, British women  who had already lived through the Blitz and had seen something of the war first hand  seemed tougher and more mature than the girls they had dated back home. These, they felt, were potential partners who could understand what they were going through.

From the girls perspective, meanwhile, the GIs were almost irresistible. Compared to British lads (a great many of whom were off fighting abroad in any case), the Americans were generally polite and courteous  the culture of dating in the United States meant they had more experience interacting with young women, and knew how to make them feel special. They were paid up to five times what men of equivalent rank in the British Army earned, so they were able to lavish their girlfriends with flowers, chocolate, nylon stockings, and other luxuries almost impossible for civilians to get hold of.

And then there were their uniforms  smart and figure-hugging, they were much more stylish than the old-fashioned serge of the British Army. To many girls, whose only previous experience of Americans had been on the silver screen, they really did seem like Hollywood movie stars.

They were so glamorous and they were so nice to us, recalls British war bride Avice Wilson. They made us feel like pretty girls, even if we werent. And they danced! It wasnt the same dances we were doing, old-fashioned dancing. It was Jitterbugging. We were all enchanted.

The enchantment was mutual, and many fairy-tale proposals soon followed  in particular as the Army geared up for the invasion of Normandy and the GIs realized that their chances of a happy ending beyond the war were far from guaranteed. But as thousands of couples prepared to say I do, the U.S. Army threw a spanner in the works, instituting a lengthy and often distressing investigative process before permission for a wedding would be granted. It involved more than a dozen forms, many months of waiting, and the interrogation of both prospective bride and groom by the military authorities.

Many women were shocked at the way they were treated by their fiances commanding officers, who often suspected them of being freeloaders just looking for a ticket to the U.S.A.. When Pamela Delleman, from London, was asked why she wanted to get married she replied, Well for one thing, were in love. Her boyfriends CO replied wryly, That dont mean a thing.

Ultimately, however, it did  and despite the obstacles, in time hundreds of thousands of American soldiers all over the world were walking their fiancees down the aisle. When the war came to an end, the U.S. Government agreed to transport the women to the United States at no cost, and granted them non-quota immigration status under the War Brides Act.

From January 1946, ships full of brides began arriving in New York and San Francisco.

At the time, many doubted that these wartime relationships would last, but although there were some nasty surprises for women whose husbands had not exactly been honest about the life they were signing up for  one had been told that her husband worked in oil and was dismayed to find he was only a gas-pump attendant  the majority stood the test of time, and the divorce rate among the GI marriages was actually lower than the national average.

Last year Vera Long and her husband Charles, who met at an American Red Cross club in London just before D-Day, celebrated their seventieth wedding anniversary. Despite leaving behind her family and friends when she came to America in 1946, Vera has never had any regrets.

I married the man I loved, she says, and we still love each other. We just wanted to be together.
New England is in the grip of an uncontrolled epidemic of opioid and heroin abuse, which has spread to our small towns and rural areas. As one addiction specialist put it: Its easier to get heroin in some of these places than it is to get a UPS delivery. But this is also a nationwide crisis, and it requires an urgent federal response. In Congress we are advancing an emergency funding bill that would provide an additional $600 million to mobilize major new resources for prevention, intervention, treatment, and recovery.

This epidemic has its roots in the rampant over-prescription and abuse of pain-relievers such as OxyContin. In 2012, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, physicians wrote 259 million prescriptions for opioid pain-relievers, enough for every American adult to have a bottle of pills. Many abusers of prescription opioids move on to heroin, which is cheaper, often easier to get, and doesnt require a doctors prescription. Officials say that heroin traffickers in New York expressly target New England, where users are willing to pay higher prices and where law enforcement in rural areas sometimes is spread too thin.

Nationwide in 2014, more than 47,000 people died from drug overdoses, which are now killing far more Americans than car accidents. In fact, when you break the numbers down, that means about five people per hour in this country are dying from a drug overdose. But statistics dont capture the profound human toll. Entire communities are being ravaged. The New England Journal of Medicine reports that the admission of drug-dependent babies to neonatal intensive care units nearly quadrupled from 2004 through 2013; these babies first experience of life is the agony of drug withdrawal.

This epidemic has become pandemic, impacting young and old, urban and rural, rich and poor, whites and minorities. Its a sign of the times that several presidential candidates have been speaking openly about how addiction has affected their own families.

Fortunately, we now have a more enlightened approach to the surge in drug abuse. In the 1980s and 1990s, officials responded to the crack cocaine epidemic with a law-and-order sledgehammer: arrests, convictions and mandatory sentences. Today, law enforcement leaders are outspoken in insisting that addiction is, first and foremost, not a policing issue but a public health issue. The answer is treatment, rehabilitation and recovery, not sweeping the problem under the rug by jailing people with substance use disorders.

Our nation has addressed other health crises with emergency funding bills far larger than the one we are sponsoring. In 2009 Congress passed nearly $2 billion in emergency funding to fight a swine flu epidemic. A little more than one year ago, Congress passed nearly $5.4 billion in emergency funding to combat the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

As we travel across our respective states, talking with those on the front lines in this crisis, time and again we hear about the lack of resources to marshal an effective, well-coordinated response to this epidemic. On good days, our first responders and treatment providers are barely able to keep up. On bad days, they are overwhelmed.

We should move to bolster the efforts of law enforcement and first responders, and we should work to curb the number of painkillers that are unnecessarily prescribed. But as Brendan Saloner, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, observes, opioid addiction is a chronic relapsing illness, just like diabetes. And that means that treatment  a proven and effective answer  is vital to stemming this dangerous tide.

Yet countless people with substance use disorders are being turned away from treatment due to lack of resources. Nationwide in 2013, nearly nine out of 10 people needing drug treatment did not receive it.

This is tragic, and it is unacceptable. Communities in New England and across the country are reeling from a public health crisis of the first order  a crisis that is getting worse. As we have done with past epidemics, we need to mobilize a well-funded national response that is equal to the challenge.

Its time for Washington to fund a real war on opioid and heroin abuse. The Ebola outbreak killed one American; the opioid/heroin epidemic is killing more than 128 Americans each day. If Congress can spend billions to fight an Ebola outbreak on a distant continent, surely we can allocate $600 million to combat a raging epidemic right here at home.
Programming Alert: Hear more on this topic from author and Fox News Contributor Doug Schoen in the new special "Fox News Reporting - Voter Revolt" anchored by Bret Baier. Premiering Friday, Feb. 12, at 10 p.m. ET. With additional airings on Saturday and Sunday at 8 p.m. ET.

Washington is broken and Americans are in revolt. This is the most important thing to understand about politics right now, and its exactly what the political establishment fails to understand.

The results of the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries make this point.

Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders didnt win in Iowa (though they came very close), but New Hampshire was a markedly different story. The political outsiders have officially taken control, and theyve done it with authenticity and strength of message.

We are living in a time when trust in American institutions has collapsed. A recent Pew survey showed that fewer than 20 percent of Americans trust the government always or most of the time. A CNN poll found that 60 percent think the American Dream is unachievable today.

The establishment  on both the right and the left  has failed to fully embrace how much these figures really matter. If it had, we wouldnt have rejected Trump as a clown and a joke for six months. His ideas on illegal immigration and placing a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country ruffled our national feathers, even though a majority of Republican primary voters agreed with him.

Indeed, 46 percent of GOP voters say they feel betrayed by Republican politicians. Trump won 32 percent of that group in New Hampshire.

We also rejected Sanders longshot candidacy when he began this race more than 50 points behind Hillary Clinton. We said a socialist could never win. And though he may not be able to win a national election, we are seeing an electorate so starved for an honest and trustworthy politician that it will make allowances for ideologies it may not have considered before. Sanders has argued about oligarchy and money in politics throughout his career. He doesnt flip-flop or evolve on his advocacy for the average American.

With that message, Sanders won every significant demographic in the New Hampshire primary. He edged Clinton 55-44 with women, he took independents 72-27 and he proved once again that young Americans feel totally disconnected from the political establishment, bringing in 83 percent of the 18-to-29-year-old vote.

Against this backdrop, where more Americans think the country is moving in the wrong direction, its no surprise that America is in revolt.

According to voters, honesty and trustworthiness matter more than whether a candidate has experience or can win in November. And the establishment isnt delivering anything that resembles what the American populace desires in its political leaders.

It follows that we should expect to see more surprises in this election. I see a clearer path to the nomination for Trump than for Sanders, but there is no doubt that Americans have spoken and theyre done with business as usual.

Its up to the political class to catch on. Time is running out.
For the first time since combat operations were declared over at the end of 2014, a battalion of 500 U.S. Army infantrymen is being sent to southern Afghanistans volatile Helmand Province where the Taliban have made a comeback, Fox News has learned.

The decision, confirmed by defense officials, is a sign of military escalation in the country even as the Obama administration tries to draw down.

The battalion is meant to relieve a company of 150 soldiers, giving the U.S. Army nearly 350 more soldiers to prevent the Taliban from taking over volatile Helmand province. The Armys 2-87 infantry battalion, part of the 10th Mountain Division based at Ft. Drum, N.Y., was scheduled to deploy to Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan this winter -- but instead will be sent to Helmand, according to defense officials familiar with the order.

The additional soldiers will provide increased force protection for a team of special operations forces training and advising the Afghan Armys 215th Corps, which has suffered from desertions and poor leadership, according to the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan.

The 500 soldiers will not increase the overall number of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. That number will remain at 9,800, according to defense officials.

A spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan says the new Army troops will not participate in combat operations.

The decision follows a series of clashes with Taliban forces. Since leaving Helmand Province, a rich source of revenue for the Taliban from the regions poppy plants, the Taliban have made a comeback.

Last month, a U.S. Army Special Forces soldier was killed fighting the Taliban while advising Afghan forces in Helmand and two others were wounded during a firefight that lasted for hours.

An Army Blackhawk helicopter sent to rescue the dead and wounded was disabled after its rotors struck the wall of the compound where the special forces team had positioned itself. A Quick Reaction Force was sent to reinforce special operations team and Afghan forces engaged with the Taliban. The downed helicopter was recovered days later. During the battle, US F-16s conducted 12 airstrikes against the Taliban.

During a Pentagon press briefing taking place at the same time of the Helmand battle in January, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook refused to call the ongoing firefight combat.

It is safe to say that Afghanistan is a dangerous place Cook said, when asked by Fox News if a combat mission continues in Afghanistan. That mission has not changed for the U.S. troops on the ground  providing training and assistance to those Afghan forces, he added.

In October, the Taliban managed to take over Kunduz Province in the north, drawing U.S. special operations forces to the area to help Afghan security forces repel the Talibans advances. In the ensuing fighting, a U.S. AC-130 gunship destroyed a Doctors Without Borders hospital, killing 22 on Oct 3.

On Monday, The Guardian first reported that a U.S. Army battalion would be sent to Helmand.

Prior to the drawdown in 2014, 378 U.S. Marines and 450 British soldiers died in Helmand in some of the fiercest fighting since combat operations began in Afghanistan after 9/11.

The 500 soldiers deployed there have to occupy a former U.S. base in Afghanistan turned over to Afghan forces at the end of 2014.

This development comes less than a week after the outgoing U.S. commander for U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan told lawmakers that rules of engagement prevent U.S. forces from striking the Taliban unless in self-defense.

Our country has made the decision that we are not at war with the Taliban, Gen. John Campbell told senators. The State Department does not include the Taliban on its foreign terrorist organizations list.

Campbell also said the Taliban took advantage of a significant decrease in U.S. airstrikes in 2015, which helped the Taliban gain strength. I think the Taliban know that we downsized, said Campbell.

In 2014, the U.S. military conducted 1,136 airstrikes in Afghanistan. In 2015, that number fell to 411.

We do not need a big U.S. troop buildup in Afghanistan, but we should take the gloves off those who are there, said retired General David Petraeus and Michael O'Hanlon in a Washington Post op-ed last month.

Campbell told Congress that a quarter of Afghanistan is now in danger of falling to the Taliban. But he told lawmakers last week he did not want to make any public announcements about troop levels.

As it stands, by end of 2016, the U.S. military will reduce to 5,500 troops from 9,800 currently  a slower pace than originally laid out by President Obama.
Delaware Gov. Jack Markell signed a resolution Wednesday officially apologizing for the states role in slavery and for wrongs committed against blacks during the Jim Crow era.

The signing took place at the Delaware Public Archives in Dover. The declaration coincided with the states celebration of Black History Month and an unveiling of an exhibit commemorating the 125th anniversary of Delaware State University, according to the News Journal.

Today we affirm that we refuse to forget our past. We accept the responsibility of tearing down the barriers that face so many of our neighbors as a result of the abhorrent laws and practices carried out against African-Americans, Markell said during the ceremony.

Delaware sided with the Union during the Civil War, but maintained the right to own slaves until the 13th Amendment was ratified in 1865. Delawares slave population was 8,887, according to the paper.

Delaware State University President Harry L. Williams praised the governors apology resolution Wednesday and said it can serve as a lesson for the rest of the nation.

I am so excited that Im alive to tell the story about how our state, the First State, made a statement and that statement was that we believe in justice and doing what is right, Williams said.

Democratic state Rep. Stephanie T. Bolden appeared to be emotional as she stood beside Markell as he signed the resolution. She said she was proud that Delaware is taking a step to apologize for its role in such an inhumane practice.

Delaware is the eighth state which has formally apologized through a resolution. Maryland was the first state to pass a formal resolution to apologize for slavery. Those lawmakers passed the measure in 2006, according to the News Journal.

Nationally, congressional resolutions apologizing for slavery were passed separately in the House in 2008 and the Senate the following year, but the two measures have never been reconciled into a single version to be submitted to the president for his signature.

Markell pardoned Delaware abolitionist Samuel D. Burris last year for his role in helping slaves escape the horrors of forced labor. Burris was convicted 168 years ago of helping slaves escape through the Underground Railroad. He served 10 months in jail as a free man for helping a woman escape to Philadelphia.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click for more from the News Journal.
They say 70 is the new 50  but the fact that three of the top White House candidates would tie or break the record for oldest president-elect in American history could make health and age a campaign issue for them this year.

Its an uncomfortable topic, and one that trailed then-71-year-old John McCain when he ran against the youthful Barack Obama, then 47, in 2008.

The generation gap could be even wider this year, though, as Gen Xers like Ted Cruz, 45, and Marco Rubio, 44, compete against Donald Trump, 69, on the Republican side  and Bernie Sanders, 74, battles Hillary Clinton, 68, on the Democratic side.

If one of the Democrats faces off against a much younger Republican, the dynamics from 2008 could repeat themselves  only with the parties reversed.

The younger candidate will make the argument that they are the change candidate, said Sean Evans, assistant professor and chairman of the political science department at Union University in Tennessee. People will start looking at this in a different way, much like they looked at Obama and John McCain.

Critics thought Ronald Reagan, the oldest candidate to be elected president at age 69, was too old when he ran for re-election in 1984. He ultimately was able to deflect that suggestion -- and win -- with debate quips like, I will not make age an issue  I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience," referring to Democratic opponent, Walter Mondale, then 56.

If elected, Sanders would make history as the oldest president to take office. So would Trump. Clinton would tie Reagan.

Even 63-year-old Ohio Gov. John Kasich made an age crack about Sanders during his New Hampshire primary night rally.

Bernie talked so long, I thought he was going to hit his 77th birthday, Kasich joked.

Sanders also has faced pressure on his health from the Clinton camp  with ally David Brock reportedly planning last month to call on him to release his medical records, before the senator preemptively did so. (Brock later said in a Bloomberg interview he was prepared to bring up the issue, but chose not to.)

No doubt the older contenders are girding for the age question. Not just Sanders but Clinton and Trump have all released health records and doctors notes to affirm their individual fitness for the job.

Clinton has been dogged with questions about a concussion she sustained while secretary of state in 2012. In a letter released to press in July, Clintons physician, Dr. Lisa Bardack, said at the time the former secretary had a stomach virus, became dehydrated, fainted and sustained a concussion. She was diagnosed with transverse sinus thrombosis and took blood thinners to dissolve the blood clot, which was completely cleared up by 2013.

Today, Clinton takes a blood thinner, thyroid medication, antihistamines and vitamins, lives healthy, gets regular check-ups, and is in excellent physical condition and fit to serve as President of the United States, her doctors note says.

Sanders released a doctors summary on Jan. 28. The attending Senate physician said Sanders has undergone hernia surgeries and a right true vocal chord cyst excision. Hes been treated for gout, thyroid and removal of superficial skin tumors. Otherwise, like Clinton, Sanders is in overall good health.

Trumps doctors note read much like his own lofty declarations on the campaign trail. If elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency, wrote Trump doctor Dr. Harold N. Bornstein.

In 2008, a Gallup Poll revealed that 23 percent of voters felt McCains age would make him less effective as a president.

But appearance is everything. An older candidate with a spring in their step and the ability to come through a series of grueling campaign schedules week after week wont trip the health alarms the way others might, experts say.

It would be hard to call Sanders low energy  a label Trump often uses to dismiss the much younger Jeb Bush.

A lot depends not on chronological age but how you appear and what people perceive your health to be, said Mark Jones, political science professor at Rice University in Texas.

The place [age] really affects is the issue of stamina. Its a lot easier to barnstorm across the states when you are in your 40s than when you are in your late 60s. It requires a combination of drive but also stamina and the advantage Cruz and Rubio would have is being approximately 20 years their junior, said Jones.

The final crush of the campaign after Labor Day will put candidates through the ringer after which they are expected to appear on TV fresh faced and ready for action. One inkling of bad health could raise the issue at an awkward time, Jones added.

But how young is too young? You want your president to be older and experienced in order to get things done, said Evans. Since Rubio looks younger than his actual years might work against him.

Clinton could endure more scrutiny than the others over her age and health because she is a woman, said Terry Madonna, director of the Franklin & Marshall Poll in Pennsylvania. Which is silly because Sanders is older than she is and women live longer than men.

Age overall isnt a strong argument against any of them, Madonna said. Were living longer and we are healthier and we have better health care, he said. Health itself can be an issue, but it shouldnt be related to age in a way that suggests it would impair your ability to be president.
When 27-year-old David Fry held a gun to his head and threatened to pull the trigger with 31,000 people listening in on a livestream, Michele Fiore knew she had only a few precious moments to save the situation.

It was do or die.

There was a lot going on in his mind, Fiore told FoxNews.com in an exclusive interview. I think that sometimes when you dont know whats in store or whats going to happen next, its scary.

Fry, the final occupier of a remote federal property in Oregon, surrendered Thursday afternoon to federal authorities after a lengthy six-week standoff that had already claimed the life of one sympathizer and looked like it might claim another.

Fiore, who had been on the phone with Fry for hours and helped negotiate the surrender of three other protestors Thursday, was sitting in an armored vehicle outside the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, which armed protestors took over on Jan. 2.

She wasnt going anywhere.

We were in sight, she said, adding that she was given full leeway by federal authorities to negotiate his safe surrender. I was pleasantly surprised at the level of cooperation.

Fiore said she had gotten assurances from federal authorities they would not burst in and kill any supporters still in the cabin.

It shows that everybody is willing to listen. Nobody really wants to die, she said.

But Fiore told FoxNews.com she knew it could have gone very differently.

In late January, Arizona rancher Robert LaVoy Finicum, who acted as the unofficial spokesman for the group, was shot and killed after he and five others were pulled over by FBI officers and Oregon state police about 50 miles north of the refuge.

The standoff, which had been peaceful until then, had turned violent. And with tensions rising, it could easily have escalated again.

Fiore, who had been in contact with sympathizers in the past, said her biggest weapon was that she could relate.

God gave us two ears, she said. And you listen. You hear their frustration. I was genuinely concerned - Ive walked in those same shoes.

Fiore, a controversial Carson City, Nev. lawmaker, is emerging as the voice of reason in the standoff, earning points for her dramatic and pivotal role in Oregon.

The brash, blond, gun-toting grandma stayed up for hours talking, listening and praying with protestors for a safe outcome.

The only way were going to be able to write your story and write your book is if you stay alive, she told them at one point. Theres been one martyr too many.

As a self-appointed mediator, Fiore struck a calm tone as she negotiated the tricky surrender. She knew the stakes were high.

In one of the more tense moments with Fiore, he shouted he declares war against the federal government.

Liberty or death, I take that stance, he said.

As she had in the previous several hours, Fiore stressed the idea that the message the occupiers wanted to send would be heard louder if they were alive.

Striking a balance between what the federal government wanted and what the protestors wanted came down to the unlikely negotiator.

Fiore has come under scrutiny from lawmakers in Nevada as well as on a national level, but it was her unique brand of home-grown appeal that allowed her to successfully negotiate the peaceful surrender in Oregon.

But in hindsight, some say sending Fiore might not have been their first choice.

The two-term assemblywoman has been slammed in the past for her unconventional views  she believes cancer is a fungus that can be cured with baking soda and water and has offered to shoot Syrian refugees in the head.

She also hasnt held back in her feeling toward the federal government. She has called out the government for pouncing on local liberties and made headlines for a Christmas card she sent of her family including children - carrying guns.

The unapologetic Brooklyn-born conservative who moved west in 1993 is also a part of Sen. Ted Cruzs Nevada leadership team. Her aspirations include a run for Congress.

Im tired of elected officials, she told FoxNews.com

Still, those who know her best  like Cassidy McGowan, Fiores executive assistant, says having Fiore negotiate a drawdown made perfect sense.

Fiore has been a well-known supporter of Cliven Bundy, the rancher who was in a standoff with the federal government in 2014 over grazing rights in Nevada. She has also been extremely vocal about her support for land use issues and in recent weeks tried to find common ground between occupiers and the government.

Shes very passionate about land management issues and western states, McGowan told FoxNews.com. She said to them, I can help you more when youre alive and in jail.
The Obama administration opened a two-front campaign on Syria on Thursday with a push to end one war there and step up another.

The United States, Russia and more than a dozen other nations with interests in the Syria conflict, including Iran, gathered to try to agree on a cease-fire in the for the civil war that might resuscitate stalled peace talks.

Amid deep differences between the U.S. and Russia over the timing and conditions of the truce - and a bitter argument over who is to blame for bombing civilian areas around Aleppo, a rebel stronghold - the International Syria Support Group opened talks with no sign of an imminent breakthrough.

At the same time in Brussels, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter rallied new support for the fight against the Islamic State group in largely the same territory.

The Russian Ministry of Defense rejected a Pentagon claim that Russian aircraft hit two hospitals in Aleppo and contended that U.S. aircraft had operated over the city Wednesday.

Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Russian jets hit targets near Aleppo, and that two U.S. A-10 ground attack jets had flown from Turkey to attack Aleppo.

U.S. Army Col. Steve Warren, the Baghdad spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition against IS, called the Russian claim "a fabrication" and said the incident was an example of Russia's "indiscriminate" use of force.

The spat complicates Kerry's efforts with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to overcome deep differences between the two powers over a proposed cease-fire.

A truce is seen as critical to resuscitating peace talks between Syrian President Bashar Assad's government and the opposition. They stalled last month before really starting, due largely to gains by Assad's military with the heavy backing of Russian airstrikes.

Russia has proposed a March 1 cease-fire. The U.S. and others see that as a ploy that only serves to give Moscow and the Syrian army three more weeks to try to crush Western- and Arab-backed rebels. The U.S. has countered with demands for an immediate stop to the fighting, allowing peace talks to resume by Feb. 25.

Neither Kerry nor Lavrov, who met hours before the larger meeting began, would predict whether an agreement was possible.

"We're going to have a serious conversation about all aspects about what's happening in Syria," Kerry said as their meeting got under way. "Obviously, at some point in time, we want to make progress on the issues of humanitarian access and cease-fire. We will talk about all aspects of the conflict."

Lavrov said Russia had made a "quite specific" proposal and "we will wait for the American response before we take it" to the larger group.

About 20 countries and groups, including the European Union, are involved in the support group.

"The future of Syria and Syrians is in our hands," said EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, urging an immediate cease-fire.

Salem Meslet, spokesman for an opposition group, said that "we are with the political process but we have to see the humanitarian issues are solved."

"For us it's important to stop the Russian aggression on the Syrian people," he said.

Five years of conflict have killed more than a quarter-million people, created Europe's biggest refugee crisis since World War II and allowed IS to carve out its own territory across parts of Syria and neighboring Iraq.

At NATO headquarters in Brussels, Carter tried to drum up support for accelerating the fight against the militants.

Carter said defense ministers from more than two dozen countries gave a "broad endorsement" of a refined U.S. plan for defeating IS. After a meeting at NATO headquarters, Carter told reporters that nearly all participants either promised new military commitments or said their governments would consider new contributions. He predicted "tangible gains" in Iraq and Syria by March.

"We will all look back after victory and remember who participated in the fight," he said, appealing to coalition partners to expand and deepen their military contributions.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance agreed Thursday to deploy NATO airborne command and control aircraft in order to free up similar U.S. aircraft for the air campaign in Syria and Iraq.

In the latest developments on the ground, Kurdish fighters and their allies captured a military air base in northern Syria under the cover of coalition airstrikes. Russia said its air force had carried out more than 500 combat missions in Syria over the past week.

"For us, it's important to stop the Russian aggression on the Syrian people," said Salem Meslet, a Syrian opposition representative.

Syria's Kurds have been among the most effective forces battling IS, but they have remained largely neutral in the conflict between Assad and the rebels fighting to overthrow him.

But on Wednesday, the main Kurdish People's Protection Units launched an attack along with some Arab allies against the Mannagh military air base and captured it, according to a rebel commander and an opposition activist group. The Kurds appeared to be exploiting the chaos to expand their nearby enclave.

In Moscow, defense ministry spokesman Konashenkov said that since Feb. 4, Russian warplanes had conducted 510 combat missions and destroyed 888 "terrorist facilities" in several Syrian provinces, including Aleppo, Daraa and Latakia, where the government offensive is concentrated.

"We have not witnessed such bombardment since the revolution began," said Abdul-Jabbar Abu Thabet, commander of a moderate faction fighting both Syrian government forces and IS. The uprising against Assad's government started in March 2011.
EXCLUSIVE: At least a dozen email accounts handled the top secret intelligence that was found on Hillary Clintons server and recently deemed too damaging for national security to release, a U.S. government official close to the review told Fox News.

The official said the accounts include not only Clintons but those of top aides  including Cheryl Mills, Huma Abedin, Jake Sullivan and Philippe Reines  as well as State Department Under Secretary for Management Patrick F. Kennedy and others. There is no public evidence they were authorized to receive the intelligence some of which was beyond Top Secret.

A second source not authorized to speak on the record said the number of accounts involved could be as high as 30 and reflects how the intelligence was broadly shared, replied to, and copied to individuals using the unsecured server.

My contacts with former colleagues and current active duty personnel involved in sensitive programs reveal a universal feeling that the HRC issue is more serious than the general public realizes, Dan Maguire, a former strategic planner with Africom, and with 46 years combined service, told Fox. Most opine they would already be behind bars if they had apparently compromised sensitive information as reported.

Without access to the actual e-mails, Maguire said it was hard to ascertain what damage might have been done by the disclosure of human spying intelligence and secret material.

Either way, the intelligence community is undoubtedly conducting damage assessments and evaluating the viability of any ongoing operation that may have been exposed to unauthorized personnel. The vulnerability of HRCs server to foreign government hacking cannot be overlooked - even the DCI, John Brennan, has been the target of hackers, he said.

Former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey told Fox, It is counterintuitive to suggest that they (Clintons aides) all had authorization and access through a non-secure server to information of that sensitivity.

The State Department recently confirmed that the messages in question include the most sensitive kind of intelligence. On Jan. 29, Fox News first reported that some emails on Clintons server were too damaging to release in any form. The State Department subsequently announced that 22 top secret emails were being withheld in full; these were the messages being handled by more than a dozen accounts.

Pressed on whether a damage assessment was being done, State Department Spokesman Mark Toner said, To your broader question  what is being done to -- as you said spillage  I cant speak to those efforts today. Were aware obviously of those concerns. We are taking steps, but I dont have any more details to provide.

Aside from this weeks letter confirming the FBI investigation is focused on Clintons server, the Bureau has not publicly acknowledged whom it has contracted or interviewed.

Kennedy recently told the House Benghazi Select Committee that he knew about Clinton's personal email from the beginning, but did not understand the "scope" of its use for Clintons government business.

Kennedy's testimony now appears to conflict with emails released through the Freedom of Information Act that show he routinely sent and received government business from the Clintonemail.com account.

Toner said Kennedy learned about Clintons arrangement later. He did not have knowledge of the computer server that she had set up [for] personal email or computer server she'd set up at her residence, he said.

However, on the official State Department website, Patrick F. Kennedys biography says that he has worked for the department since 1993 and, in his current position as Under Secretary for Management, he is responsible for the people, resources, budget, facilities, technology, financial operations, consular affairs, logistics, contracting, and security for Department of State operations.
Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt is facing questions in his re-election campaign over newly reported draft deferments he received during the Vietnam War.

The Kansas City Star reported Wednesday that the Republican senator was classified as 2-S for three years and given three student deferments. The Star, further, reported that when the newspaper asked Blunts office about his draft record back in 2015, they did not disclose this information.

Blunts Democratic rival, Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander, has seized on the reports.

I dont sit in judgment of anyone who chose not to serve in Vietnam, he said, according to the Star, but hiding three deferments and saying you couldnt remember them is completely inexcusable.

But the senator claims hes been open about the deferments and was not hiding anything.

Blunt spokesman Brian Hart said in a statement on Thursday:

Senator Blunt was attending Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri when he turned 18 and became eligible for the draft. He was classified with a student deferral while an undergraduate. He graduated in three years and was then reclassified as fully available for service in 1970 during the first year of the draft lottery. His lottery number was not called up.

According to the Star, Blunts office in 2015 initially claimed the senator in 1969 had a high draft number and was simply not called. But at that stage, records show he was still classified as a student deferment, which ultimately kept him from being called. His staff reportedly blamed poor memories for the confusion.

After Blunt graduated in 1970, he was then reclassified to a 1-A status with a 325 number in the draft lottery  a high enough number to essentially prevent him from being drafted.

FoxNews.com's Daniel Jativa contributed to this report.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson warned Thursday that terror groups remain focused on targeting aviation, on the heels of an attempted bombing last week in Somalia  and after the top U.S. intelligence official warned that the Islamic State will try to attack the U.S. this year.

Johnson, delivering his final State of Homeland Security address, stressed that his department is moving to reduce the number of access points to airport employees to reduce any insider threat.

We have the ability, through airlines, through our relationship with other countries, to put out guidelines that influence the behavior of airport authorities and airport security at overseas airports, he said. In particular, last point of departure airports, and those are mostly in Europe. Some are in the Middle East.

Johnson said passengers and staffers at airports with direct flights to the U.S. now face extra screening, and that the feds can stop certain flights from landing in the U.S. if those airports fail to meet new standards.

Such measures were also added at regional airports, he said, citing the November bombing of a Russian passenger jet that had taken off from that Red Sea resort of Sharm-e-Sheikh, Egypt. ISIS claimed responsibility for that attack.

Somalia faces an insurgency from the Islamic extremist group al-Shabab, which has carried out deadly attacks in Somalia and neighboring countries.

A suspected suicide bomber apparently used a laptop to blow a gaping hole in a Daallo Airlines jet on Feb. 2, forcing an emergency landing in Mogadishu, according to investigators who said the attacker was apparently sucked out of the plane to his death. Two people were reported hurt.

At least 20 people are under arrest in connection with the bombing, including two men caught on surveillance video handing the laptop to the suspect.

The video of the apparent security lapse at the airport fits with the description of lax security by the jet's pilot. "The security is zero," Vlatko Vodopivec told The Associated Press.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Tuesday that ISIS will very likely try to attack the U.S. with its own trained operatives. Johnson did not say whether he agreed with that assessment, but did indicate that Homeland Security is working to identify potential attackers who "self-radicalize."

He added, "It is almost always the case that when somebody self-radicalizes, there is somebody in a position to know about it. And the more we build bridges to communities, Muslim communities in particular, the better off I think we will be."

Johnson cited the December terror attack in San Bernardino, Calif. that killed 14 people. Local FBI agents reportedly did not receive indications beforehand that attackers Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik were plotting their rampage.

"The United States will almost certainly remain at least a rhetorically important enemy for most violent extremists in part due to past and ongoing U.S. military, political, and economic engagement overseas," Clapper told lawmakers.

Fox News' Catherine Herridge and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
There is something perversely pleasurable in watching the presidential campaign defy the usual experts.

Most White House contests are somewhat predictable. The insurgents fade and the well-funded grownups prevail in the end. It didnt take a genius to figure out that George W. Bush and Al Gore would slug it out in 2000.

It was in that vein that the pundits were bemoaning a year ago that another Bush/Clinton faceoff would be a royal rerun.

So Jeb just clawed his way to a weak fourth place in New Hampshire, and Hillary was clobbered in almost every demographic.

Instead, a bombastic billionaire initially dismissed as a sideshow and a septuagenarian socialist not given a snowballs chance won the state in convincing fashion.

It was fascinating to be in Manchester on Tuesday night, watching all these commentatorsleft and rightwho bitterly opposed Donald Trump having to give the devil his due, as National Review Editor Rich Lowry put it. (Hate-Trump outfits like the Huffington Post instead blames the voters for being racist and sexist tools.)

It was equally revealing to watch journalists gradually realize the magnitude of Bernie Sanders victory, a blowout in which he beat the potential first female president among womenall of whom are apparently now going to hell.

So where does that leave us? John Kasichs second-place finish has confounded the prognosticators, because it scrambles the equation on whether one of the governors or Marco Rubio would emerge as the anointed alternative to Trump and Ted Cruz. The only settled outcome is that Chris Christie, whose taunting of Rubio didnt help him one bit, has hung it up, along with Carly Fiorina.

As for Rubio, I may have underestimated the impact of his robotic exchanges with Christie. The campaign leaked to the New York Times the embarrassing detail that the senator didnt know how badly he had bombed until he went on Twitter. (Thats reminiscent of Gores aides forcing him to watch the SNL skit on his sighing, eye-rolling debate with W. to grasp how awful he was.)

But I think the impact of that ABC debate was magnified by three days of terrible press that cast Rubios repetitive reflexes as not just a tactical blunder but a moral failing.

On the Democratic side, the press has to assess how badly Hillary was wounded in the state she won eight years ago and that gave her husband a comeback 24 years ago. If she cant win younger voters or female voters or voters who want an honest candidate, Clinton may be a far weaker candidate than the inevitability crowd had imagined.

Sure, she can get back in the winning column in South Carolina and other big states with significant numbers of black voters, who are all but invisible in Iowa and New Hampshire. But have her fatal weaknesses been exposed?

Youll know news organizations are taking Sanders seriously when they really starts to drill down on his plethora of free-stuff proposals. So far, that hasnt happened. And if Bernie remains competitive, youll undoubtedly hear chatter about some other Democrat being drafted.

Or perhaps we can look forward to a Bernie-and-Donald showdown in the general election, which would improbably pit Brooklyn vs. Queens, the man who rails against billionaires against the man who flaunts his billionaire status. That would, at the very least, be highly entertaining.
Carly Fiorina and Chris Christie -- two Republican candidates who at one point enjoyed loyal followings -- are now out of the 2016 race.

The question is, where will their supporters go?

At first blush, the candidates would seem to hail from a pro-business, establishment-friendly wing of the party -- suggesting their supporters would gravitate in that direction as they look for another candidate to back.

But analysts have differing views.

At this point, with neither drop-out endorsing another candidate, one can only take clues from their political philosophies and posture, Republican strategist Brent Littlefield said.

"I don't think that they will likely go to the Donald Trump camp or the Ted Cruz camp," he said.

His best guess is supporters of Christie and Fiorina will likely drift to one of the GOP governors -- Ohios John Kasich, or former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. On one hand, Christie has made it clear he thinks a governor would make the best decision-maker, he said. In Fiorinas case, he added, much of her support came from Republican establishment-aligned women, so it would be likely they would go for a similar candidate.

But there are nuances to each.

Fiorina, a pro-business conservative, also campaigned hard on her pro-life beliefs and perceived ability to bring fiscal responsibility to the federal government.

Christie was seen as a moderate in the race. But that doesnt mean some of Christies support didnt come from his sometimes brash and tough-talking rhetoric on the campaign trail.

Some wonder whether the supporters who went for Christie could also go for a guy like Trump.

Based on personality, Chris Christie is a natural fit for Donald Trump, said Mark Meckler, president of the conservative Citizens for Self-Governance in California.

New York GOP pollster Jim McLaughlin has a different take. He thinks the Christie and Fiorina voters are likely to line up behind Florida Sen. Marco Rubio -- even though Christie hammered Rubio at Saturday's debate for his allegedly scripted campaign style.

[Christie and Fiorina] were getting some of the economic conservative type of votes, from people who wanted to see someone who can come in and fix things. There is nobody really like that in the anti-politician lane, said McLaughlin, who believes the primary race will be long and come down to Rubio, Trump, and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who won the Iowa caucuses earlier this month.

Of those three, McLaughlin thinks Rubio will have the most appeal to Christie and Fiorina voters.

Meckler, Tea Party Patriots co-founder and former spokesman, doesn't entirely agree. While he believes some Fiorina supporters may go for Rubio, he sees some veering off for Cruz -- who, like Fiorina, has been particularly tough on Democrat Hillary Clinton. On Christie, he thinks while Christie himself might endorse Trump, his supporters could go to either the billionaire businessman -- or another governor.

From a political perspective, his supporters might go to someone who is also a moderate like John Kasich, he said.

Christie and Fiorina dropped out following their sixth- and seventh-place finishes in New Hampshire, respectively. While their polling was weak, their base of support -- about 5 percent nationally, combined -- still represents enough to give another candidate a measurable boost in a tight race.

McLaughlin, though, warned their supporters might not make much difference in the upcoming South Carolina primary contest.

The truth of the matter is they really dont have a lot of support in South Carolina, he said.

FoxNews.com's Kelley Vlahos and Daniel Jativa contributed to this report.
NASA has questioned whether a man was killed by a meteorite in India on Saturday, following multiple reports that the victim died after an object plunged to Earth from space.

The Tamil Nadu government said that the meteorite crashed into an engineering college in Vellore in Southern India, killing one man and injuring three others, according to The Times of India.

Citing witnesses, The Times of India reports that the meteorites blast left a crater 5 feet deep and 2 feet wide. Police recovered a black, pockmarked stone weighing 0.39 ounces, it said.

Related: NASA will tackle asteroids with new Planetary Defense Office

"Initial assessments, based on photos posted online, are not consistent with something from space," explained NASA, in a statement emailed to FoxNews.com. "Small meteorites do not start fires or cause explosions when they hit the ground."

The space agency explained that it would take a meteorite "of at least several kilograms" to form a crater the size of what has been posted online in photos. "While more details may be forthcoming from local scientists, this is unlikely something from space," it added.

Experts from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics on Tuesday examined the impact crater using metal detectors to check the site for the presence of metals and dug up the soil.

Related: 100-foot asteroid to buzz Earth next month

In an email to The New York Times, NASAs Planetary Defense Officer Lindley Johnson explained that death by meteorite impact is so rare that one has never been confirmed in recorded history. There have been reports of injuries, but even those were extremely rare before the Chelyabinsk event three years ago, he said, citing the meteor that entered Earths atmosphere and exploded over Russia in 2013.

NASA recently opened a new office to track asteroids and comets that come too close to Earth.

The Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO) formalizes the agencys existing program for detecting and tracking near-Earth Objects (NEOs). The office is located within NASAs Planetary Science Division, which is in the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

"NASA places a high priority on finding and characterizing any potentially hazardous asteroids or other objects as much in advance as possible to have sufficient time to protect our home planet from an impact," explained the agency, in an email to FoxNews.com. "Over the past five years, the agency has increased by a factor of 10 our nation's investment in asteroid

detection, characterization and mitigation activities."



The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A recent video featuring a gorilla named Koko appearing to use sign language to warn man of the dangers of global warming was staged, and animal communication experts say there is no way a gorilla could comprehend the complexities of global warming.

The video, shown at Decembers Paris climate change conference, shows Koko use sign language to say things like I am gorilla, I am flowers, animals, I am nature Man Koko love but man man stupid Koko cry, time hurry, fix Earth

The video was produced by a French environmental group and the gorilla Foundation, which cares for Koko the gorilla and notes on its website that the video was produced with a script and edited from a number of separate takes, for brevity and continuity.

Related: Watch this adorable video of a gorilla cuddling kittens

Animal communication experts say the video is misleading.

This group has been really upping the ante for making incredible exaggerated claims for her comprehension, Barbara King, an anthropology professor at the College of William and Mary and the author of How Animals Grieve, told FoxNews.com.

King also worries that the ad, by exposing the idea of ape communication to ridicule, could undermine views about primates abilities.

Related: Scientist who urged government to sue climate skeptics gets millions from taxpayers

Koko is fabulous as she is. No one has to exaggerate. Scientists who do that -- it hurts our credibility. It really does.

Although primates like gorillas can learn hundreds of words, there is no good evidence that they can learn grammar, according to Arizona State University Psychology Professor Clive Wynne.

That includes even the simplest grammar like word order, for instance the difference between dog bites man and man bites dog.

Related: Climate change brings needed rain to Africa

On tests to distinguish terms like those, even one of the worlds smartest apes got the right answer 57 percent of the time  barely better than guessing. And that involved overly-generous grading by the trainers, Wynne notes.

But while primates havent been able to learn grammar, they can do impressive things once thought impossible.

Koko shows definite comprehension of spoken English, King said. Koko knows an impressive 2,000 words and uses them to make requests and respond to questions.

Related: NYU faculty senate recommends ending fossil fuel investments

Koko can also come up with some pretty creative ways of putting two phrases together, King noted. For example, Koko didnt know the word for ring and reportedly combined two words she knew  finger and bracelet  to make her meaning clear.

Primates also show human-like grief, King said.

There was one gorilla whose long-term mate and friend died in the zoo, and he first tried to revive her, even bringing her favorite food to her and putting it in her hand and poking her, she said.

And then at some point he seemed to come to a really stunning realization that his friend was not going to move. I dont know if thats a concept of death, but his behavior changed and he let out a very agonizing wail and stopped trying to revive her. Clearly something cognitive and emotional happened to him at that moment.

But animal experts agree that climate change is way beyond the understanding of gorillas.

A complex phenomenon like climate change is not understood by many humans, let alone an ape, Sally Boysen, an Ohio State University psychology professor, told FoxNews.com.

Even if Koko could understand climate change, experts disagree about the effect of climate change on primates. Warming has nearly paused over the last 17 years, and increases in the greenhouse gas CO2 in the atmosphere have increased plant growth.

However, Gorillas are threatened by other environmental harms, which have reduced the number of gorillas to just around 100,000. The main causes are slash-and-burn methods to clear African forests for agriculture, killings by hunters, and development in their habitats.

That has left some subspecies like Mountain Gorillas critically endangered with under 1,000 individuals left.

But while primates face serious environmental challenges and have impressive mental abilities compared to other animals, its still best not to get global warming advice from a gorilla.

The author, Maxim Lott, can be reached on Twitter at @maximlott
A strange and sudden buckling of the earth in Michigan five years ago is now being explained as a limestone bulge, researchers reported Feb. 9.

The upheaved rock and soil was discovered after a deep boom thundered through the forest near Birch Creek on Michigan's Upper Peninsula, north of Menominee. The sound shook nearby homes with the strength of a magnitude-1 earthquake on Oct. 4, 2010, at about 8:30 a.m. Central time, residents said at the time. The next day, locals discovered a long crack atop a narrow ridge.

The crack was 360 feet long and about 5 feet deep; and the ridge was nearly 7 feet high and about 30 feet wide at its largest point. Tilted trees leaned away from the crack at about 14 degrees on either side  proof the ridge was new. Torn roots stretched for their former companions, now stranded on the other side of the crack. [See Photos of the Weird Crack and Uprooted Trees]

"It was interesting to see that the crack seemed to ignore the roots," said senior study author Wayne Pennington, dean of the College of Engineering at Michigan Technology University in Houghton. "The forces were stronger than the roots."

Based on a seismic study, the most likely explanation for the ridge is a pop-up in the upper layers of limestone beneath the clay soil, Pennington and his co-authors, all MTU students, concluded in a study published in the journal Seismological Research Letters.

If I had a hammer

Even though the researchers can't say for sure what caused the pop-up, they now have a better picture of what happened underground.

The teams surveyed the underground rock by creating sound waves with a sledgehammer. The researchers slammed a sledgehammer into a metal ball sitting on the ground, and tracked how the waves passed through the soil and rock layers below. The analysis revealed a sharp buckle in the limestone below the crack.

That picture suggested the bedrock limestone violently heaved upward when the pop-up appeared, displacing the overlying clay layer. The clay soil is about 5 feet deep along the ridge. The crack resulted from the stretching of the surface clay as it bent upward, much as a crack forms in the top of a loaf of bread as the dough rises.

The survey confirms there is no earthquake fault underlying the ridge. Besides, it would take a tremendous earthquake to move the rock and soil several vertical feet, Pennington said.

Pop goes the bedrock

Pop-ups are common in quarries in eastern North America, where rock removal releases pent-up strain in the underlying rocks. Pop-ups also appear after glaciers retreat; however, the last glaciers retreated from Menominee 11,000 years ago, and there is no quarrying in the area.

Rocks in the area are squeezed by plate tectonics, the researchers said. The Midwest is under pressure from squeezing coming from the West Coast and the East Coast.

Yet the region is not experiencing increased stress that would result in future larger earthquakes, Pennington added. The pop-up appeared in the uppermost bedrock, whereas large earthquakes strike miles deep. There have been two moderate earthquakes in Michigan since 2010, which were in different areas and unrelated to the crack, the scientists said.

One final clue was the loss, to lightning, of a giant white pine tree in the week before the crack appeared. "The timing is remarkable, and it leads us to be suspicious, but the tree weighed less than a fully loaded dump truck," Pennington told Live Science.

"The earth is still full of surprises," Pennington said. "It's just a little surprise, but it's still interesting and we're always learning more."

Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Hawaii's big wave surf competition was called off early Wednesday when the 40-foot swells predicted failed to materialize, event spokeswoman Jodi Wilmott said.

The competition was last held six years ago, when swells met organizers' strict minimums. The Quiksilver In Memory of Eddie Aikau event began in 1984, but there have only been eight times conditions have been ripe for the competition.

Aikau is a Native Hawaiian surfer famous for riding monster waves and saving hundreds of lives as Waimea Bay's first official lifeguard.

The swell approaching the islands this week is being fueled in part by ongoing El Nino conditions.

The promise of the competition had drawn out throngs of spectators Wednesday morning before the event was called off. The two lane road that snakes along Oahu's North Shore was backed up with traffic as eager spectators rode bikes or walked to the venue. Parking was nearly impossible to come by for miles from the beach.

Event spokeswoman and longtime Aikau family friend Jodi Wilmott told The Associated Press on Tuesday that surfers show up at the event to honor the legacy and generous spirit of Eddie.

"The surfers invited to this event absolutely understand the prestige of being invited," Wilmott said. "It's about coming together to honor the most famous big-wave rider there has ever been and to do that basically at the Mecca of surfing."

As a lifeguard, Aikau is credited with saving hundreds of lives from the dangerous surf of Oahu's North Shore, and he is said to have never had a fatality while on duty.

He was a guardian of the bay and any other body of water he visited, Wilmott said, and fittingly so as he was a direct descendant of a Hawaiian high priest named Hewahewa, who was given the task of watching over the Waimea Valley long before Eddie arrived.

"He really did share aloha wherever he went," Wilmott said. "He loved to share his own spirit of what being a Hawaiian was. He played music freely and told stories of Hawaii wherever he travelled."

Wilmott said when the surf was too big for most in Waimea Bay and the crowds cleared out, Aikau would grab his surfboard and take on the biggest waves around.

"His spirit was very caring, very accommodating, very peaceful, and when he would ride it was just a sight to behold," she said.

Ultimately, however, Aikau gave his life to the ocean in a final attempt to save others. The 31-year-old Aikau was part of a team that was attempting to trace the route of their Polynesian ancestors from Hawaii to Tahiti aboard the traditional Hokulea canoe in 1978.

The vessel encountered rough seas and eventually capsized. Aikau took his surfboard and paddled away for help. He was never seen again, though the rest of the crew was eventually rescued.

Some of the best big-wave surfers in the world were at Waimea Bay to compete in the event, including Eddie's brother Clyde Aikau, who is the oldest competitor at 66 years old. He's also the only surfer to attend all of the competitions.

Another big-wave competition, Mavericks, is expected to be held on Friday in Half Moon Bay, California.
Struggling to find that perfect Valentines Day gift for the man in your life? Youll find something in this tactical gift guide that will knock his socks off.

From a pen that would please James Bond to a covert missions wallet and a Special Operations dagger . If youre gift hunting for a guy who likes the outdoors, hunting, shooting and adventures, then look no further.

Impromptu Tactical Pen

Give him something James Bond would never leave home without. Back by popular demand, this gift looks like a pen but can act like a weapon.

Gerber Gear developed the Impromptu Tactical Pen working closely with tactical professionals to take the humble pen and truly make it mightier, and handier, than the sword.

The Impromptu Tactical Pen does what it says on the tin  its a pen for unexpected scenarios, like defending yourself. The pen can also be used for other heroics like saving lives in a car accident. This is a pen that effortlessly punches through a windshield. It is made from machined steel and has a tempered window-shattering tip design.

Oh and it definitely works like a regular pen too  just one that can even write in a tempest. Next year the man in your life could write your Valentines Day card with his Impromptu Tactical Pen.

Available for $72.

Special Operations Dagger

What man wouldnt want a dagger? And one for special operations combat is even cooler.

Benchmades 176 Special Operations Combatives Program (SOCP) Special Edition Dagger is designed by close-quarter combat legend Greg Thompson.

The handles ribbed ring makes it easy for a fast draw (either rightie or leftie), while making it tough for an adversary to grab. It also means shifting from knife to gun should be easier.

The spear point fixed thin blade has a serrated edge. The overall length is 7.25 inches and, weighing 2.04 ounces, it is easily concealed behind a belt.

A portion of sales in this special edition will benefit AmericanSnipers.org so your gift will also be helping others.

Available for about $120.

The Ultimate War Chest

Are you angling for a ring and feel like you need to go really big on a gift?

The YETI Tundra cooler will make your man the star of any tailgate or barbecue in his future. Just think of all the brownie points youll get when all his friends are standing around enviously admiring his roomy cooler that holds 39 cans of their favorite beer.

Or when hes out fishing and it keeps his best friends massive fish catch in perfect condition despite the blistering heat ... again credit for MVP girlfriend or wife.

Did I mention this cooler can withstand an explosion and still keep his beers cold? Enough said. Tundra 65 is available for $399.99.

Man Bag for a Mans Man

YETI also makes a man bag that any red blooded male would proudly carry. The Hopper 20 can keep at least 18 beers cold while he is on the go. Available for $299.99.

Ready for Anything Gloves

Also back by popular demand, the ultimate tactical gloves.

ARCTERYX LEAF designs gear coveted by special operators all over the world  this is restricted elite gear that non-military folks cant get for love or money. But there are a few exceptions and this is a chance to put some of that ultra sweet tactical engineering in his hands.

The Assault Glove FR provides excellent touch and fantastic hand dexterity. The touch is so good that he can easily text you while still keeping his gloves on. The lightweight 2.8-ounce gloves are made with flame resistant materials.

The Assault Glove is available for $149.

The Ultimate Outdoorsy Man Watch

If hes military or a guy who spends a lot of time outdoors, then his watch is going to take a lot of abuse. The good news is that the impossibly rugged Suunto core can take it.

It looks cool and has lots of great features such as an altimeter, barometer, compass, alarm, depth meter, sea level pressure, temperature gauge and storm alarm, just to name a few. The menus are easy to navigate and its water resistant up to 100 feet.

Heres the kicker  armed with this watch, he will also know predicted times for sunrise and sunset in more than 400 places all over the world.

Retails for about $500 but you can nab it on sale for Valentines Day here for $319.

Covert Missions Wallet

Give him a wallet thats a fortress in a pocket. One that the real operators use. Celtic Shield was founded by a disabled veteran and makes cool wallets that suit the lifestyle of spec ops operators. They can also defeat thieves trying to steal their data.

Operators don't need a heavy, cumbersome wallet getting in the way. This ultra-slim lightweight wallet wont slow him down. Its that perfect pocket fit that he hasnt been able to find.

He can crush it at Cross Fit, but thats not going to help him defeat the RFID skimming threat. Thieves scan the cards you carry, then duplicate them, steal your private data, your money and even your identity. The Celtic Shield Wallet is the solution. It will keep all that stuff safe.

And if the guy in your life is military, then hes not going to walk into a bar without a challenge coin. Another awesome feature is the challenge coin cut out that will ensure he always has his coin and never ends up buying all those drinks.

Made in the USA, these wallets are wildly popular with tactical professionals and get nabbed as soon as theyre finished. Grab one for your Valentine while you can. Celtic Shield will even engrave it for you with his unit insignia or anything else youd like.

This wallet retails for $98.

Make his Phone Military Grade

How about a gift for him, but one that is also a gift for you. Keep his phone in working order so that he can keep those texts and calls coming.

Tactical professionals regularly rely on Pelican ProGear products to defend their tech from the often very hard knocks of tactical life. So you can rely on their Protector or Voyager case to defend his phone from whatever he gets up to.

And if your Valentine spends a lot of time outdoors? No prob. Whether its dust kicked up whether from horses, his beloved truck or ATV, the Pelican case will keep that phone working and dust free.

Available for a range of phones and tablets, they also come in a number of color options. Pelican phone protection retails about $50.
Two sheriffs deputies were shot and killed Wednesday at a busy Maryland shopping center by a gunman who was also killed in the resulting shootout, authorities said.

The identities of the deputies have not been released.

The suspect, identified as 67-year-old David Evans, had outstanding warrants in two states for his arrest, including for assaulting an officer in Florida, officials said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon.

The second warrant was issued in Harford County, Maryland.

Remarkably, no bystanders were hurt in the exchange of gunfire, Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said.

The first shooting took place inside a Panera restaurant in a shopping center in Abingdon, which is about 20 miles northeast of Baltimore.

Sophia Faulkner, 15, said she and her mother were getting lunch and almost sat right next to the gunman. Instead, they chose a booth about 10 feet away because the man appeared "sketchy" and disheveled. He was sitting in the back and hadn't ordered any food, Faulker and her mother said.

A sheriff's deputy was called to the restaurant after a report about someone causing a problem. The deputy tried to talk to the man, who was apparently known to workers. The deputy sat down beside him, asked how he was doing and the man shot him in the head. The deputy later died at the hospital, officials said.

"I saw him fall back out of his chair and the blood started coming out," Faulkner said. "I didn't know how to process it. My mom said, `What's going on?' and I said, `Get down, someone just got shot."'

She said "everyone started screaming" after the gunshot and children -- out of school because of snowfall -- were running around.

"I was freaking out so much and everybody was running to one side of the store. Families were huddling together. I didn't really know what was going on," she said. "You see this stuff online and in movies and on TV when it happens, but you never think you're going to go out to lunch one day with your mom and it's just going to happen."

The gunman fled and witnesses gave officers a description and the direction he was headed, the sheriff said. After at least one deputy caught up with him, shots were exchanged, leaving the second deputy wounded and the suspect dead, the sheriff said. The second deputy later died at the hospital.

"I saw two women and a child run from Panera to our back door. They were hysterical. They said they heard gunshots," said bartender Mike Davis, who was working at the Ocean City Brewing Co.'s Taphouse. "We locked the door and went to talk to a cop. The cop said not to let anyone in. Then, we heard more gunshots, `Pop, pop, pop, pop,' from down in the shopping center. It was hectic."

The sheriff said investigators believe the person acted alone and there is no further threat to the community.

"The restaurant was very full at lunchtime," Gahler said. "Thankfully, no one else was injured."

The shopping center is called the Boulevard at Box Hill. It has a mix of shops, restaurants, a grocery store and a bank.

Yellow tape blocked off the Panera and Taphouse restaurants, but people were coming and going freely at other businesses after the shooting.

Click for more from Fox 45.
A British man who called himself Supaman was sentenced Tuesday to seven years in prison for his role on the front lines in Syria with the terror group ISIS  which he left after feeling bored and cold.



ISIS goes through great lengths to promote its training camps in vacation-like brochures and videos, but Mohammed Uddin, 29, was crestfallen upon his arrival in Syria in 2014. He reportedly found the food bland, and he did not enjoy the cold-water showers and was "doing absolutely jack [nothing]," according to The Independent.

Bored with ISIS! British man deserts terrorist group after complaining about living conditionshttps://t.co/QjKbSDS4GD  FOX & Friends (@foxandfriends) February 11, 2016

Authorities reportedly said that a vast amount of work went into Uddins investigation, which led to Uddin pleading guilty to a charge of preparing acts of terrorism, which carries a seven-year sentence.

The Crown Prosecution Service, CPS, said Uddin worked hard so his trip to Syria would go undetected. He reportedly messaged his friend back in the U.K. to talk about how piss easy it is to go undetected into Syria.

U need to get used to the cold water and no electricity. Everyday use cold water, u will probably get your first shower when u get to your mudhafa [annex]. The house u stay in before the muaskar [training camp]. Its tough bro lol, A LOT of patience is required [sic]," Metro UK reported.

Uddin, who is from Barking, Essex, reportedly did not spend too much time in Syria -- from Nov. 4, 2014 to sometime around Dec. 12, 2014 -- when he returned to Turkey. He was stopped by authorities in Gaziantep, Turkey, and was sent back to Londons Gatwick Airport, where he was detained.

Online searches had been carried out relating to 'Islamic State fighting,' which strongly implied a more sinister purpose to his trip. Rather than a holiday as he claimed, Sue Hemming, the head of special crime and counterterrorism at the CPS, said.

ISIS, which now controls large parts of Iraq and Syria, has killed thousands of civilians in the past two years. Along the way, its fighters have destroyed whatever they consider contrary to their interpretation of Islam.

Despite its grip in the region, it appears to suffer from cracks in its infrastructure. To be sure, Uddins complaints are not the first ones that describe the group as unorganized, prone to infighting in the ranks and poor food quality.

ISIS made efforts to attract fighters, like giving fighters a $1,500 marriage bonus and effectively employing social media to attract recruits. Twitter recently announced that it shut down more than 125,000 accounts that belonged to terrorists.

Hasan Hasan, a resident fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy and co-author of ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror, told FoxNews.com that ISIS recruits often arrive in Syria and find something different from what they expected. One of the hallmarks of ISIS is overrunning rural towns marginalized by wars in Iraq and Syria. ISIS gives these towns a sense of security.

He said despite Uddins claim of poor living conditions, ISIS is still operationally strong.

Hasan said ISIS would like to recruit everyone, but its focus is on children, which can keep the fight going on for the next generation and teaming up with other established jihadi groups in the region already committed to the cause.

The well-experienced fighter is ISIS best option to grow and ensure its resilience in the future, he said.
The city of Cleveland wants the family of a 12-year-old boy shot and killed by police officers in November 2014 to cover the cost of the ambulance that took him to the hospital.

The $500 claim against the family of Tamir Rice for "ambulance advance life support" and mileage expenses was filed Wednesday in Cuyahoga County Probate Court.

Rice was shot and killed on Nov. 22, 2014 in a park on the city's West Side. A passerby noticed him playing with a replica airsoft pistol and called police.

This past December, a grand jury declined to indict the responding officers in accordance with Cuyahoga Couny Prosecutor Tim McGinty's recommendation.

The city's claim was met with anger by an attorney for the Rice family and the head of the city's police union.

"The callousness, insensitivity, and poor judgment required for the city to send a bill after its own police officers killed 12-year-old Tamir is breathtaking," attorney Subodh Chandra said in a statement. "This adds insult to homicide."

"Subodh Chandra and I have never agreed on anything until now," Cleveland Police Patrolman's Association President Steve Loomis said. "It is unconscionable that the City of Cleveland would send that bill to the Rice family. Truly disappointing but unfortunately not surprising."

The City of Cleveland declined further comment, citing ongoing litigation in the case. The Rice family has filed a civil suit agaisnt the officer and the city, arguing in part that the officers showed indifference by not giving the boy emergency aid after the shooting.

Click for more from Fox8.com.

Click for more from Cleveland.com.
More than 40 prison guards and officers in Georgia have been indicted on charges of accepting bribes and drug trafficking, the latest in a federal effort to crack down on contraband and criminal activity in the state's prisons.

Since September, about 130 people -- including prison employees, inmates, former inmates and others accused of helping them -- have been indicted.

The indictments resulting in the Thursday arrests were filed over the last three months and unsealed Wednesday.

A majority of those charged were Georgia Department of Corrections officers accused of agreeing to protect a person they believed was a high-level drug trafficker. The indictments say the officers agreed to wear their uniforms during the drug transports to deter law enforcement interference.

The officers charged worked at nine different prisons.

Other indictments unsealed late last month accused 51 people of participating in a financial fraud scheme masterminded by inmates using cellphones from their prison cells. Among those indicted were 15 correctional officers or former officers and 19 inmates or former inmates at Autry State Prison in Pelham.

Just a few weeks earlier, federal prosecutors accused 17 people of participating in a drug trafficking ring that distributed significant quantities of crystal methamphetamine in metro Atlanta and elsewhere. Three inmates used cellphones to manage a network of brokers, distributors and runners from their prison cells, prosecutors said.

In September, federal prosecutors in Atlanta filed two other indictments that also targeted alleged criminal activity by Georgia inmates using cellphones. Those indictments alleged that inmates used the cellphones to traffic drugs, smuggle in contraband, steal identities and, in at least one case, to arrange a violent attack on an inmate suspected of snitching.
A North Dakota police officer died Thursday after being hit by a gunshot that authorities suspect was fired by a man later found dead in the home where the officer had responded to a domestic disturbance call.

Officer Jason Moszer, a six-year police veteran with a wife and two children, died at 12:45 p.m. from a single gunshot wound, a police spokesman said. Family members visited him in a hospital earlier in the day to say goodbye, Fargo Police Chief David Todd said.

The shooting began on Wednesday evening when the suspect, identified by police as Marcus Schumacher, fired at officers responding to the domestic disturbance call. A standoff ensued overnight and when the firing stopped, police discovered Schumacher dead inside the home. It wasn't immediately clear whether he killed himself or died from police gunfire, they said.

The violence shook Fargo, which is North Dakota's largest city but has a low crime rate. Police said an officer had not died in the line of duty in more than a century. The only other Fargo police officer killed in the line of duty was Frederick Alderman, 25, who was shot to death July 5, 1882, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page, a national nonprofit group that keeps records of fallen officers.

Schumacher, 49, was found dead shortly before dawn inside the home where he had barricaded himself, Todd said.

Schumacher appeared to have died from a gunshot wound but "we don't know if that was from us engaging him or something self-inflicted," Todd said. Todd said earlier that Schumacher had exchanged gunfire with a SWAT officer.

Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney said the suspect fired "a number of rounds" and that officers were going house to house in a six-block area "to find out where they all went."

Todd said a squad car at the scene had been fired upon and that he believes the suspect was targeting law enforcement. Police said no one else in the neighborhood was hurt.

Moszer, 33, was among officers who responded to the home Wednesday evening. A SWAT team in an armored vehicle retrieved Moszer and took him to a medical facility, where he died.

Police said they tried to communicate with Schumacher through negotiators, but that he didn't respond and the SWAT team eventually entered the house and found the body.

Officers responded after Schumacher's son called dispatchers and said the suspect had fired a gun at his mother, Schumacher's wife. The caller and his mother were able to escape the home unharmed.

Sarah Stensland, 26, lives less than a block from the suspect's home. She said she and her girlfriend locked the doors, turned off the lights and hunkered down in the basement for the night.

"We were scared. We could hear gunshots very clearly, even from the basement," she said. "I felt like my nerves were on edge all night. I'm just exhausted."

Students and staff at nearby Horace Mann Elementary School were shifted to another school Thursday so as not to impede the investigation, Fargo Public Schools said in a statement. The move was made at the request of the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which is handling the case.
Officials raced to evacuate a Florida beach Wednesday after a man with a metal detector spotted what appeared to be a hand grenade, but was ultimately determined to be a replica.

A bomb squad ultimately worked to remove the item from the Port Charlotte Beach Complex, according to Fox 4. It reportedly was found at the water's edge.

Another man said he picked up the object and was surprised by how heavy it was. "I knew there was a pin in it, so it was probably OK," Jack Orze told WZVN.

The Charlotte County Sheriff's Office reported there was no threat to anybody at the beach, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

"It's kind of crazy because there's a lot of kids and families from all over the country actually swimming there," witness David Green told Fox 4.

Port Charlotte is nearly 50 miles southeast of Sarasota.

Click for more from Fox 4.
The disclosure that the Environmental Protection Agency's toxic spill at an old gold mine in Colorado was far worse than previously stated has unleashed a flood of anger at the agency, which was already facing numerous lawsuits from states and individuals along the affected waterways.

On Thursday, the House Committee on Natural Resources released a damning report on the EPA and its handling of the Gold King Mine disaster last August. The report detailed how the EPA and the Department of the Interior were inaccurate and misleading in their conflicting accounts of the wastewater spill, which the EPA said last week released 880,000 pounds of toxic metals.

When government actions result in harm, its our duty to know who was responsible and why decisions failed. They havent been forthcoming in this regard, Committee Chairman Rob Bishop, R-Utah, said in a released statement. This report peels back one more layer in what many increasingly view as a pattern of deception on the part of EPA and DOI.

Once the color returned to normal [in the rivers], there were those in the EPA that were hoping that this would be swept under the rug.  Secretary Ryan Flynn, New Mexico Environmental Department

"The agencies continue to withhold information requested by the Committee," Bishop's statement continued. "They need to come clean and produce the missing documents.

The committees findings support recent claims made by New Mexico Environment Secretary Ryan Flynn, who recently asked members of the House agriculture committee to get behind a proposal that calls for a long-term water monitoring plan. Flynn also said before the committee that federal officials are downplaying the effects of the spill.

The EPA is saying one thing and their own experts say another, Flynn told FoxNews.com. Once the color returned to normal [in the rivers], there were those in the EPA that were hoping that this would be swept under the rug.

New Mexico last month announced its intent to sue the EPA over the spill, in which agency contract workers caused a massive release of toxic wastewater into the Animas while attempting to mitigate pollutants from the shuttered mine.

Some of the metals in the wastewater reached the San Juan River, which the Animas joins in New Mexico, but most settled into the Animas riverbed before that, the EPA said in a preliminary report on the metals.

Utah officials have said some contaminants reached their state, but Friday's report didn't address that.

Metals released in the spill are believed to include cadmium, copper, lead, mercury, nickel and zinc. Tests done after the spill also found arsenic and lead in the wastewater.

Flynn and others in the Land of Enchantment are concerned about metal levels in the Animas River in the northern part of the state that shares its border with Colorado. The regions watershed is connected to the Gold King site in Silverton, but New Mexico has more residents living along the Animas, which is used for crops through irrigation ditches, ranching, and even for home use by residents.

This river literally feeds us and helps the economy in this region, Flynn says.

Flynn said field-level EPA officials have been helpful, but said "something gets lost in translation once it gets to the leadership level. They would be happy to see this just all go away.

When reached for comment regarding the matter, EPA spokeswoman Nancy Grantham said in a written statement: Were going to take a look at the report and will respond appropriately.

The EPA says it won't consider the site for Superfund status without the support of state and local officials.
An elementary school principal in a Washington D.C. suburb was placed on leave Wednesday as authorities investigated how an unpaid volunteer allegedly made dozens of child pornography videos with students at the school.

Deonte Carraway, 22, of Glenarden, Md., was arrested this past Thursday and has been charged with ten counts of felony child pornography, sexual abuse of a minor and second-degree sexual offense. Prince George's County Police said Wednesday they had identified 11 victims between the ages of 9 and 13, seven of whom were abused by Carraway.

Carraway was a school volunteer at Judge Sylvania Woods Elementary School in Glenarden. He was also the director of the Glenarden Voice of Youth Choir.

Authorities said detectives had discovered 40 videos in Carraway's possession showing children performing various sex acts. Some of the videos allegedly were filmed at Woods Elementary during the school day, while others were recorded at nearby recreation centers or in private homes.

Kevin Maxwell, the CEO of the Prince George's County school system, annouced Wednesday that Woods Elementary principal Michelle Williams had been placed on leave out of an "abundance of caution."

WTTG reported that a lawsuit filed on behalf of a 9-year-old alleged victim claims that Williams took no action despite knowing that there were concerns being raised by parents and teachers about Carraway.

According to the lawsuit, Carraway was employed as a paid teacher's assistant at the school between November 2014 and September 2015, after which he took on the unpaid work. The suit alleges that as many as 30 children at the school may have been abused by Carraway.

Court documents say that Carraway was arrested after the alleged victim's uncle discovered "inappropriate" photos that Carraway allegedly sent through the anonymous messaging app Kik.

"This is a painful situation for the county to think a person that we entrusted would deliver everlasting harm to our young people, our babies," Prince Georges County Executive Rushern Baker told reporters. "It breaks our hearts."

The Washington Post reported that approximately 700 children attend Woods Elementary, most of whom are black or Latino.

Click for more from Fox 5 DC.

Click for more from The Washington Post.
Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, the father of the jailed leader of the protest at an Oregon wildlife refuge, was charged with conspiracy, assault on a federal officer, obstruction and other crimes one day after FBI agents arrested him in Portland, Ore.

A criminal complaint filed Thursday stems from Bundy's role at the center of a tense April 2014 armed standoff with federal officials near his ranch in Nevada.

It involved Bundy's supporters pointing military-style weapons at federal agents trying to enforce a court order to round up Bundy cattle from federal rangeland near his ranch.

Bundy was arrested Wednesday night when he arrived at Portland International Airport from Las Vegas.

He's being held at the Multnomah County Jail pending an appearance in federal court. It wasn't immediately clear if he had a lawyer to represent him.

Bundy's son, Ammon, was arrested last month as he and other main figures of the Oregon occupation were traveling to the town of John Day. Four others were also arrested in that confrontation, which resulted in the shooting death of the group's spokesman, Robert "LaVoy" Finicum. The FBI said Finicum was reaching for a gun.

The Bureau of Land Management said at the time of the 2014 standoff that Cliven Bundy owed over $1 million in fees and penalties for trespassing cattle on federal property without a permit over 20 years. Bundy refuses to acknowledge federal authority over public lands.

The standoff began after the Bureau of Land Management impounded Bundy's cattle that were found on federal property. However, federal agents later backed down and allowed Bundy's supporters to turn the cattle loose.

Click for more from The Oregonian.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A cruise ship that was thrashed in a major storm on the Atlantic Ocean returned to its home port in New Jersey Wednesday.

Royal Caribbeans Anthem of the Seas docked at Bayonnes Cape Liberty shortly after 9 p.m. as its passengers cheered. It was escorted by two tugboats and a Coast Guard vessel.

Cheryl Howard, of Woodbridge, New Jersey, was one of the 4,500 passengers on board the ship when it departed Saturday on a seven-day cruise to the Bahamas. Howard recounted her misery as the vessel sailed into the middle of a major wind storm Sunday.

The first day was great. The second day we were watching a musical and everything started sliding. All I can remember is glass shattering everywhere and it was very scary to hear the glass, Howard told NJ.com.

Howard said she and the other passengers aboard the ship stayed in their rooms during the storm, but gave credit to the crew for maintaining communication during the harrowing experience.

I was on the sixth deck and waves were coming over my balcony. It was very scary, she said.

Alison Crowley of Manasquan, New Jersey, who was traveling with her four children and her parents, described the situation as "pretty scary." But she said, "The captain did a great job for what he had to deal with."

Wendy and Ann Muckell, of New York, told NJ.com that sewage was coming up through their toilet and a minibar spilled out onto the cabin floor. However, Ann gave credit to the captain for pulling through, despite sharing criticism for even going into the storm.

The captain, he turned the ship around in the middle of the storm so that the nose was headed into the wind, because thats the only wave we couldve made it, Ann Muckell said.

Gerald Rogers of Allentown, Pennsylvania, was taking his first cruise with his family. He said it was a "pretty traumatic experience" for those aboard the ship.

"It was really leaning and the water kept coming above our window," Rogers said. "It looked like we were in an aquarium looking out."

Royal Caribbean apologized in a statement, but maintained that the storm the ship sailed into was unexpectedly strong.

"Our ship and our crew performed very well to keep everyone safe during severe weather. Of more than 6,000 people on board, only four minor injuries were reported. Despite that fact, the event, exceptional as it was, identified gaps in our planning system that we are addressing. Though that system has performed well through many instances of severe weather around the world, what happened this week showed that we need to do better," the cruise line said in a statement.

Passengers will get a full refund and a certificate toward 50 percent off a future cruise.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click for more from NJ.com.
An American Airlines plane with a mechanical problem landed safely Thursday after declaring an emergency and diverting to Los Angeles International Airport.

Flight 564 landed and taxied normally to the gate, where all passengers walked off with their luggage, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey.

Two passengers asked to be evaluated by paramedics in the terminal for respiratory irritation, Humphrey said. He didn't know what may have caused the irritation.

No passengers were transported to hospitals, Humphrey said.

The pilot declared the emergency while flying from San Jose, California, to Phoenix, according to Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor.

A mechanical problem was reported aboard the plane, which had 137 people aboard, said AA spokesman Ross Feinstein. He did not elaborate. Airline personnel were evaluating the problem.

The airline says all passengers will be rerouted to Phoenix as soon as possible.
A police officer with no prior history of domestic violence fatally shot his wife and son and set the family's suburban Albany house on fire before killing himself, authorities said.

Police revealed details Thursday about 44-year-old Israel Roman's actions at his home on Tuesday in Colonie, where he served the past 12 years on the police force.

State police said Roman used his service handgun to kill his wife, Deborah, 44, and their 10-year-old son, Nathan. Police said they believe Roman placed the bodies on the bed in the master bedroom, started a fire and shot himself.

Firefighters responding to the home discovered the bodies.

Colonie police officials describe Israel Roman as a dedicated, decorated officer who had no history of behavioral problems prior to Tuesday.
The four remaining holdouts of the armed protest group that has occupied a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon for the past 41 days turned themselves in peacefully Thursday.



But the end of the standoff did not come without drama.



After the first three protesters surrendered to authorities at around 9:40 a.m. local time, the last occupier, David Fry, initially resisted. But just after 11 a.m., Fry turned himself in to the FBI, according to the Oregonian.



Fry had said on a live audio webcast that he was "feeling suicidal" and would "die a free man." At one point he said he was pointing a gun at his head. He ranted about abortion, UFOs, the government "chemically mutating people" and Syria.



"I'm taking my stand, this isn't something I'm going to back away from," Fry said.

But eventually, after requesting listeners yell "Hallelujah," he walked out to meet authorities.

The FBI confirmed that all four protesters were in custody.

"No one was injured and no shots were fired," an FBI statement said.



One of the three protesters who turned themselves in first was holding an American flag as the group went out to meet authorities. Another protester said on an audio webcast that officials were not being rough and did not have guns pointed at the group.

"The occupation at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is over," a statement from Harney County Court said. "Law enforcement will now be able to begin the process of clearing booby traps and processing the crime scene. Let's be clear, armed occupation of federal property is a crime, it is not a peaceful protest, and the illegal taking of federal property is a matter rightly dealt with by the FBI."



Earlier during the livestream, Fry, 27, sounded increasingly unraveled as he continually yelled, at times hysterically, at what he said was an FBI negotiator. "You're going to hell. Kill me. Get it over with," he said. "We're innocent people camping at a public facility, and you're going to murder us."

He added, "The only way we're leaving here is dead or without charges," telling the FBI to "get the hell out of Oregon." Fry said the group was surrounded by armored vehicles. The occupiers also said they saw snipers on a hill and a drone.

The group seized the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Jan. 2 to oppose federal land-use policies.

A Nevada legislator, Michele Fiore, called in to try to get the occupiers to calm down. Fiore said she could help them only if they stayed alive.



"I need you guys alive," said the Republican member of the Nevada Assembly who was in Portland earlier in the day to show support for Ammon Bundy, the jailed leader of the occupation. The occupiers prayed with Fiore and others as the situation dragged on for hours.



Greg Bretzing, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon, said in a statement the situation had reached a point where it "became necessary to take action" to ensure the safety of all involved.

Bretzing said one of the occupiers rode an ATV outside "the barricades established by the militia" at the refuge. When FBI agents tried to approach the driver, Fry said he returned to the camp at a "high rate of speed."



The FBI placed agents at barricades ahead of and behind the occupier's camp, Bretzing said.



"It has never been the FBI's desire to engage these armed occupiers in any way other than through dialogue, and to that end, the FBI has negotiated with patience and restraint in an effort to resolve the situation peacefully," he said in a statement.



Authorities had for weeks allowed the occupiers to come and go freely from the remote refuge, leading to criticism from local and state officials that law enforcement wasn't doing enough to end the situation.



Ammon Bundy was arrested Jan. 26 as he and other main figures of the occupation were traveling to the town of John Day. Four others were also arrested in that confrontation, which resulted in the shooting death of the group's spokesman, Robert "LaVoy" Finicum. The FBI said Finicum was reaching for a gun.

Most of the occupiers fled the refuge after that. Authorities then surrounded the property and later got the holdouts added to an indictment charging 16 people with conspiracy to interfere with federal workers.

At first, Bundy urged the last holdouts to go home. But in response to the grand jury indictment, he took a more defiant tone from jail.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A sheriffs deputy and a civilian pilot assisting in the arrest of a California man were killed when their small plane crashed Wednesday.

Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux confirmed Deputy Scott Ballantyne and pilot James Chavez when the single-engine, two-seater plane crashed and burst into flames after hitting the side of a mountain near Springville.

The Tulare County aircraft was leaving an area near Springville after assisting deputies in the arrest of a suspect who had brandished a weapon when the plane crashed, Boudreaux said.

A distress call was not sent out and the parachutes the plane was outfitted with didn't deploy, he said, adding that it was too early to know what caused the plane crash.

"I can say this happened very, very quickly," Boudreaux said.

The FAA investigators will inspect the crash site Thursday and assist local authorities with the probe, he said.

The plane crashed near Eagle Feather Trading Post and Highway 190, which was closed for several hours, and several witnesses called authorities to report smoke billowing from a hillside.

Shawn Winter, a Springville resident, told the Fresno Bee he saw black smoke as he was driving down the hill to pick up his daughter from school.

I saw the black color of smoke. There was a bid gold ball of flames, said Winter.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A team of West Point cadets has found a better use for social media than posting selfies and 140-character witticisms: going undercover and online to steer young Muslims away from terrorist recruiters.

The cadets crafted an online strategy to stem the flow of disaffected young people to Islamic State as an entry in an international contest sponsored by a group of federal agencies and tech companies. Unlike the competing teams from universities all over the world, the West Point contingent, which took second place, worked undercover.

We post after Friday prayer, when many people would be home and at their computers.  Cadet C.J. Drew

Since our website was targeting what we called fence-sitters, I think if individuals who visited our social media platforms knew that they were being produced by anyone in the U.S. government, then the site would lose credibility, Lt. Col. Bryan Price, director of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, told FoxNews.com in an email.

Under Prices direction, the team designed a recruiting strategy of its own, in which members go into chatrooms and websites where potential targets gather, engage and guide them toward websites and Twitter pages containing moderate Muslim voices. Those sites include a website, Facebook page and Twitter account the team created, which remain in effect and secret even now that the contest is over.

We post after Friday prayer, when many people would be home and at their computers, Cadet C.J. Drew told Christian Headlines.

The campaign was part of the Peer to Peer [P2P]: Challenging Extremism initiative, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Department of Homeland Security, Facebook and EdVenture Partners and hosted by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The task was to use digital tools to counter violent extremist narratives and reach those most likely to get sucked in by the dark vision.

One of the U.S. Governments highest priorities is preventing and challenging violent extremism, and we realize we cannot do this alone, said Evan Ryan, assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs. We need civil society, in particular students like those involved in this initiative.

West Point competed against 44 other U.S. and international universitiesmore than 900 students in alland received a scholarship of $3,000 for placing second. Team members include Austin Montgomery, Brittany Scofield, C.J. Drew, Jordan Isham and David Weinmann, and the project will be passed on to a new class of cadets when the graduate.

While two of the cadets involved with the project have studied Arabic, they turned to fellow cadets of the Muslim faith for help identifying and understanding ISIS target audience, cadets told Religion News.

Interviewing psychologists helped them determine which colors to use on their Facebook page. They found that green and black would be effective colors to use; green because of its sacred nature in the religion of Islam and black because it is a commonly worn color among terrorists groups.

In two months, the cadets Facebook page gained more than 900,000 users in more than 25 countries, according to Christian Headlines.

The first-place winner was Lahore University of Management Sciences in Pakistan, while the bronze went to Universita della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano, Switzerland. Each group was given a $2,000 budget and a semester-long timeframe to complete their projects. The basic instructions were to create an effective online campaign to stem digital radicalization.

The fact that West Points project continues is testament to its effectiveness, and importance.

These students are helping us reach those who are most vulnerable to extremist recruiting, said Ryan.
Usama bin Laden may have gotten the idea for the 9/11 attacks after watching news coverage of the 1999 crash of EgyptAir Flight 990, in which a jihadist co-pilot caused the airliner to nosedive into the Atlantic, according to a first-hand account from one of the terror chiefs top lieutenants.

Bin Laden wondered why the co-pilot in the deliberate crash did not fly the plane into buildings, Nasir al Wuhayshi said in the latest AQAP newsletter, in an account translated by the Long War Journal.

Al Wuhayshi, former adviser to bin Laden and leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, was killed by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen in June 2015. AQAPs Al Masra newsletter recently published two editions of Al Wuhayshi's "untold story" about the plotting of the Sept. 11 attacks that claimed the lives of 2,996 people, including the 19 hijackers.

Al Wuhayshi's version of events -- the first part published online on Jan. 31 and the second on Feb. 9 -- details how bin Laden watched news coverage of the Oct. 31, 1999, EgyptAir crash, in which the first officer deliberately brought down the Boeing 767 after saying several times in Egyptian Arabic, "Tawkalt ala Allah," which translates to "I rely on God." The plane, with 217 on board, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean after departing John F. Kennedy International Airport for Cairo International Airport.

Upon viewing news coverage of the air disaster, Bin Laden wondered why the co-pilot chose to bring the plane down into water instead of crashing it into a building, according to Al Wuhayshi's account in the Al Qaeda newsletter.

On Sept. 11, 2001 -- two years after the EgyptAir crash -- Al Qaeda would carry out the worst terrorist attack ever on U.S. soil, using four American planes and targeting symbolic U.S. landmarks.

American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the north and south towers of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan. American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon and the fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pa., after its passengers tried to overcome the hijackers and steer it from its intended target -- Washington, D.C.

According to the U.S. government, however, the 9/11 plot was in the works well before the 1999 EgyptAir disaster. The 9/11 Commission found that bin Laden's fellow mastermind, Khalid Sheik Mohammad, "presented a proposal for an operation that would involve training pilots who would crash planes into buildings in the United States" as early as 1996.

Al Wuhayshi's insider account of 9/11 makes other notable claims, including the claim that Khalid Sheik Mohammad, a one-time Muslim Brotherhood member in Kuwait, wrote a play in his youth about downing a U.S. plane.

Click for more from the Long War Journal
A teacher opened fire at an education department building in southern Saudi Arabia Thursday, killing six employees and wounding two, state television reported.



The attack took place in the Jizan region, Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman General Mansour Turki said, according to Reuters.

The gunman  identified as a teacher -- has been arrested, according to media reports, citing Saudi Arabia state television.

The brief reports on the state television channel's website and Twitter account did not elaborate or offer a reason for the shooting.

State TV posted a still photograph that showed ambulances gathered outside the building where the shooting took place in Jazan province.

Mass shootings are rare in the kingdom. Saudi Arabia has faced a series of recent attacks by Islamic State militants.

Saudi Arabia is leading a coalition of countries conducting airstrikes and ground operations in neighboring Yemen in support of the deeply impoverished country's internationally recognized government. It is fighting against Iranian-backed Shiite rebels and supporters of a former president, who control the capital and other parts of the country.

Jazan, on the kingdom's southern border with Yemen, has been targeted by missiles and cross-border fire since Saudi Arabia intervened in the conflict. On Tuesday, authorities said they shot down a ballistic missile targeting the city and that a police officer in the surrounding province was killed in a separate shooting incident.

In October, two people were killed and another two were wounded when a gunman opened fire inside a bank in the city of Jazan.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.


An Indian army soldier rescued after six days buried under deep snow by an enormous avalanche in the Himalayan region of Kashmir died Thursday in a hospital in the Indian capital.

Hanamanthappa Koppad died with worsening dysfunction in multiple organs after being hospitalized in extremely critical condition, army spokesman Col. Rohan Anand said.

He had been found conscious and disoriented on Monday along with nine dead soldiers also buried in the snow at an altitude of 5,800 meters (19,000 feet). He was brought to New Delhi a day later.

Koppad was pulled up from under at least 11 meters (35 feet) of snow, the army said.

The avalanche last week hit a military post on Siachen Glacier, the highest point along the heavily militarized line of control between India and Pakistan. Both claim the Kashmir region that is divided between them.

Thousands of Indian and Pakistani troops are stationed in the freezing Himalayan terrain, where more troops have died from the grueling conditions than from hostile fire.

Last month, four Indian soldiers were killed by an avalanche while on foot patrol in the same region. In 2012, an avalanche on the Pakistan-controlled part of the glacier killed 140 people, including 129 soldiers.
An opposition activist group and a rebel say Kurdish fighters and their allies have captured a military air base in northern Syria.

Abdul-Jabbar Abu Thabet, a local rebel commander in the Aleppo province, said Thursday that Mannagh air base fell to the People's Protection Units, or YPG, and their allies after fierce battles.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the offensive came as warplanes believed to be Russian carried out 30 airstrikes in the area. It said the air base and a nearby village, also called Mannagh, fell late Wednesday.

With Syrian troops backed by Russian warplanes waging a major offensive between the northern city of Aleppo and the Turkish border, the Kurds appeared to be exploiting the chaos to expand their nearby enclave, known as Afrin.
NATO will back a German, Greek and Turkish mission to monitor and combat people smuggling across the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter made the announcement Thursday after a meeting of defense ministers at alliance headquarters in Brussels, saying: "NATO and all the parties at the table this morning indicated a willingness for NATO to support and be a part of that operation.

"All three of those countries emphasised the need for NATO to act quickly, with which the United States strongly agrees, because this are people's lives and destinies at stake here."

Speaking after the meeting, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the bloc's Maritime Group was being ordered to the area immediately with the warships - now under German command - to monitor the area as part of the mission.

German government sources say that Germany, Greece and Turkey want NATO to start monitoring the Aegean Sea to give a "clear view" of how people smugglers are working on the Turkish coast.

Turkey is the main jumping-off point for the more than 1 million refugees who arrived in Europe in 2015 - Europe's worst migrant crisis since World War II. Once they reach Greece, many of those people travelled through to Germany, France and Scandinavia.

But to get to Greece, they have to cross the Aegean Sea, something more than 70,000 people did in January alone - more than 400 of them dying in the attempt since then, according to the International Organisation for Migration.

Many are from countries such as Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and those in northern Africa.

There are fears that, with the war in Syria having killed more than 260,000, displacing half the population since March 2011 and showing little prospect of a resolution, many thousands more people could attempt the dangerous crossing.

"There is now a criminal syndicate which is exploiting these poor people," Carter said. "Targeting that is the greatest way an effect could be had."

NATO's military chiefs have been asked to compile a mission plan and the bloc's Military Committee will review this before passing it on to the North Atlantic Council - NATO's main decision-making body.

Click for more from Sky News.
Russian deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin has been barred from entering Montenegro, which is facing strong pressure from the Kremlin for its plans to join NATO.

Montenegro's foreign ministry said Thursday that Rogozin is among some 50 Russian politicians and businesspeople who are not allowed to travel to the small Balkan country.

Montenegro, a traditional Russian ally that now wants to join the EU and NATO, has adopted Western sanctions against Moscow for its role in the Ukrainian crisis.

Rogozin, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, recently said Montenegro would "regret" joining the Western military alliance which in December issued a formal membership invitation.

Rogozin has been invited to Montenegro by pro-Russian parties that have been staging anti-government and anti-NATO demonstrations that have sometimes turned violent.
North Korea on Thursday ordered a military takeover of a factory park that had been the last major symbol of cooperation with South Korea, calling Seoul's earlier suspension of operations at the jointly run facility as punishment for the North's recent rocket launch a "dangerous declaration of war."

North Korea said it was responding to Seoul's shutdown order by immediately deporting the hundreds of South Koreans who work at the complex just across the world's most heavily armed border in the city of Kaesong, pulling out the tens of thousands of North Korean employees and freezing all South Korean assets. The North also said it was shutting down two crucial cross-border communication hotlines.

Hours after the North's expulsion deadline, South Korea's Unification Ministry, which is responsible for ties with the North, said all of the 280 South Korean workers who had been at the facility finally crossed into South Korea.

Data curated by FindTheData

The North's moves significantly raised the stakes in a standoff that began with North Korea's nuclear test last month, followed by a long-range rocket launch on Sunday that outsiders see as a banned test of ballistic missile technology. South Korea responded Thursday by beginning work to suspend operations at the factory park, one of its harshest possible punishment options.

South Korea said it would ban reporters from the border crossing on Friday.

"I was told not to bring anything but personal goods, so I've got nothing but my clothes to take back," a manager at a South Korean apparel company at the complex, who declined to give his name, told The Associated Press by phone before he crossed South.

Chang Beom Kang, who has been running an apparel company in Kaesong since 2009, said from South Korea that his company has about 920 North Korean workers  who didn't show up on Thursday  and seven South Korean managers at Kaesong.

He said one of his workers, who entered Kaesong earlier Thursday, was about to cross the border to return to South Korea with thousands of women's clothes produced at the factory. But at the last minute the employee had to drive back to the factory to unload the clothes because of North Korea's announcement that it would freeze all South Korean assets there.

"I'm devastated now," Kang said by phone, saying he's worried about losing credibility with clients because of the crisis.

Yonhap news agency, citing an unidentified military official, reported that South Korea bolstered its military readiness and strength along the western portion of the border in the event of a North Korean provocation. The report didn't elaborate on what that meant. Seoul's Defense Ministry would only say that its military has been on high alert since the North's nuclear test last month.

North Korea's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said in a statement that the South's shutdown of Kaesong was a "dangerous declaration of war" and a "declaration of an end to the last lifeline of the North-South relations." Such over-the-top rhetoric is typical of the North's propaganda, but the country appeared to be backing up its language with its strong response.

North Korea, in its statement, also issued crude insults against South Korean President Park Geun-hye, saying she masterminded the shutdown and calling her a "confrontational wicked woman" who lives upon "the groin of her American boss." Such sexist language is also typical of North Korean propaganda.

North Korea has previously cut off cross-border communication channels in times of tension with South Korea, but they were later restored after animosities eased.

Seoul said its decision on Kaesong was an effort to stop North Korea from using hard currency earned from the park to develop its nuclear and missile programs.

Earlier Thursday, along the South Korean side of the border, a stream of large white trucks lined up before crossing into North Korea, presumably to bring back products and gear from the factories.

North Korea, in a fit of anger over U.S.-South Korean military drills, pulled its workers from Kaesong for about five months in 2013. But, generally, the complex has long been seen as above the constant squabbling and occasional bloodshed between the rival Koreas, one of the last few bright spots in a relationship more often marked by threats of war.

Park, the South Korean president, has now done something her conservative predecessor resisted, even after two attacks blamed on North Korea killed 50 South Koreans in 2010. She has shown a willingness to take quick action when provoked by the North. When North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test last month, for instance, she resumed anti-Pyongyang propaganda from loudspeakers along the border, despite what Seoul says was an exchange of cross-border artillery fire the last time she used the speakers.

The factory park, which started producing goods in 2004, has provided $560 million of cash to North Korea, South Korean Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo said.

Combining South Korean initiative, capital and technology with the North's cheap labor, the industrial park has been seen as a test case for reunification between the Koreas. Last year, 124 South Korean companies hired 54,000 North Korean workers to produce socks, wristwatches and other goods worth about $500 million.

South Korean businesses with factories at the park reacted with a mixture of disappointment and anger. In a statement, the association of South Korean companies at Kaesong denounced Seoul's decision as "entirely incomprehensible and unjust."

The park also allowed people from both Koreas to interact with each other and glimpse into lives on the other side of the border. Some South Korean snacks have become popular among North Korean workers.


Mesa Fitness Boot Camp Supports Low Income Families During Grand Opening

Mesa, AZ - (PRWEB) February 01, 2016 - Jeni Hemingson will be holding two days worth of celebrations for the opening of her North East Mesa Fit Body Boot Camp location. On February 26th from 5:30-7:00pm and on February 27th from 9:00am-12:00pm at 2622 N. Odgen #106, Mesa, AZ 85215 there will be sample boot camps, prize drawings and fundraisers for Family Promise of Greater Phoenix, a charity that works to help homeless families with children.

Fit Body Boot Camp is the worlds fastest growing and most popular indoor fitness boot camp brand, with hundreds of locations worldwide. The boot camps unique brand of fitness combines individualized personal training from licensed professionals, clinically proven Afterburn workouts, and nutritional guidance to guarantee weight loss results.

Jeni and her husband, Jeff, are excited to bring health and fitness into their community:

Jeni was a stay-at-home-mom with a passion for helping other people reach their health goals, explains Jeff. As the kids are in school full-time, this is her chance to get to work to see her dreams come to fruition. We are very excited to bring Fit Body Boot Camp to the NE Mesa area. We have a passion for health and wellness and this is our opportunity to reach more people.

Jeni believes that people have less and less time to take care of themselves and wants to provide her community with something quick and convenient. At the event they will be doing mini boot camps in order to give people a preview of the workouts. There will also be a raffle and the proceeds support Family Promise of Greater Phoenix.

The Family Promise of Greater Phoenix is an organization that aims to reduce homelessness in greater Phoenix by helping low income families with children attain self-sufficiency. The group looks to create a safety net of services so they can become independent and sustainable as a family unit.

Attendees of the event are encouraged to dress as celebrity fitness instructors. Judging will take place at 6:00pm on Friday and 11:00am on Saturday. Prizes will be awarded.

About North East Mesa Fit Body Boot Camp

North East Mesa Fit Body Boot Camp is a part of the Fit Body Boot Camp family of indoor fitness boot camps, whose global goal is to engage 20% of the worlds population in a healthy and fit lifestyle by the year 2020. North East Mesa Fit Body Boot Camp is owned and operated by Jeni Hemingson. Hemingson is committed to helping members of the North East Mesa community set and accomplish their own health and fitness goals.

For more information about North East Mesa Fit Body Boot Camp, please call: (480) 382-3663.

Visit their website at: http://www.fitbodybootcamp.com/northeastmesafitnessbootcamp/.

Or their Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/northeastmesafitbodybootcamp/.



SOURCE Fit Body Boot Camp

Contacts:

Amy Kneepkens

Fit Body Boot Camp Corporate

+1 (888) 638 3222 Ext: 119

Jeni Hemingson

North East Mesa Fit Body Boot Camp

(480) 382-3663

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ANY LAB TEST NOW Announces Partnership with JDRF of Georgia Chapter

Company Sponsors the Ride To Cure Diabetes Program

ATLANTA, GA (PRWEB) February 11, 2016 - ANY LAB TEST NOW, a national franchise of direct access lab testing, is taking on type 1 diabetes by helping to raise money for a cure. Approximately 1.25 million American children and adults have type 1 diabetes. The company, which tests for the disease along with many others, is proud to announce it will serve as a sponsor for the JDRF Georgia Chapters Ride to Cure Diabetes program.

The JDRF Ride to Cure Diabetes is a charitable bike ride that raises money for type 1 diabetes research. There are seven ride destinations throughout the country, including a new ride location in Amelia Island. Riders have the option to ride up to 100 miles. Money raised will help put the brakes on one of Americas deadliest diseases.

Just like the riders for the event, the team at ANY LAB TEST NOW was recruited by the events biggest advocate, Barry Falcon. Falcon has made it his lifes mission to raise money, bring awareness and find a cure for the disease. His son Michael was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2002 at the age of 12. Since then, Falcon has participated in 35 JDRF rides across the country and is excited to bring the Amelia Island event to the JDRF ride lineup.

This is not about setting records for me, says Falcon. This is about raising awareness and money to find a cure. We really appreciate the support from corporate sponsors like ANY LAB TEST NOW to help us turn Type One into Type None!

Clarissa Bradstock, CEO of ANY LAB TEST NOW, says the partnership aligns with her companys mission to give back to the communities they serve. Sometimes when folks walk into our clinics for a blood glucose test, this is the first time they realize they have diabetes, she says. Its a very emotional discovery, and we want to do everything we can to help find a cure for this disease.

Diabetics require frequent lab testing to monitor their health. Diabetic tests, such as an A1C test which measures the average blood sugar level over a period of time, are the most common tests performed at ANY LAB TEST NOW.

The JDRF is the leading charitable supporter and advocate of type 1 diabetes research worldwide. The mission of JDRF is to find a cure for diabetes and its complications through the support of research. 95% of the money that is raised goes directly to help with research. The Ride to Cure Diabetes is one of the largest JDRF fundraising events, raising more than $30 million for research to deliver life-changing therapies.

Registration for the 2016 JDRF Ride season is now open at http://www.ride.jdrf.org.

About ANY LAB TEST NOW

Founded in 1992, ANY LAB TEST NOW is a franchise direct access lab testing company that provides thousands of standard lab tests to consumers and businesses in a professional, convenient and cost-effective, transparent manner. With over 150 facilities around the U.S., ANY LAB TEST NOW offers a variety of affordable and confidential lab tests to consumers and businesses including general health and wellness panels, pregnancy, HIV/STD, drug, paternity and many more tests. To learn more about ANY LAB TEST NOW, visit http://www.anylabtestnow.com or like us on Facebook,http://www.facebook.com/anylabtestnowcorp.

SOURCE ANY LAB TEST NOW

Contact:

Nancy Bostrom

Any Lab Test Now

+1 (919) 459-8163

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Choice Hotels Announces Expansion of Cambria Hotels & Suites Brand to Seattle, WA

ROCKVILLE, Md. - Feb. 11, 2016 // PRNewswire // - Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), one of the world's largest hotel companies, announced it has signed an agreement with Ariel Development to develop a Cambria hotel & suites in Seattle, WA. The 112-room Cambria property will be located in the Belltown neighborhood at 1915 Third Ave, and is expected to open in late-2017.

The Cambria hotel & suites Seattle will be locally situated and within walking distance to many of Seattle's iconic locations, including Pike Place Market, Washington State Convention Center, the Seattle Aquarium and the Seattle Art Museum. In addition, Seattle is home to a number of Fortune 500 companies that include Amazon, Starbucks and Nordstrom, making the Cambria Seattle a perfect destination for business travelers seeking upscale lodging at an affordable price.

"The Cambria hotels & suites brand has seen a significant surge of new developments and openings in major urban markets over the past year," said Steve Joyce, president and CEO, Choice Hotels International. "The Seattle property will serve as the brand's entrance into the Pacific Northwest, and we couldn't be more thrilled to bring our upscale offerings to Seattle's business and leisure travelers."

Designed as a business travel and leisure brand, all Cambria hotels & suites properties feature a larger lobby to give guests a more social atmosphere; oversized rooms with flexible spaces; and the latest technology that allows guests to stay connected while they travel.

"Seattle is one of the fastest growing cities in the country and is home to many of the world's most celebrated companies, making for an ever-increasing demand for upscale lodging options," said Herzel Hazan, Ariel Development. "The Belltown neighborhood lies in the heart of Downtown Seattle's retail and business districts, and we're excited to partner with Choice Hotels to bring the Cambria brand to the area."

As with all Cambria hotels & suites, the Seattle property will feature other fine amenities such as a contemporary bistro, Social Circle, serving a menu comprised of local specialties created by Chef Michael DeMaria; liquor, wine, beer and freshly prepared grab-and-go gourmet salads and sandwiches; and a barista bar. This property will also boast 1,600 square feet of meeting space, a fitness center and a rooftop patio with views of Puget Sound. Additionally, the building will include 50 apartments for residential use.

About Cambria hotels & suites

Cambria hotels & suites makes business travel easierand more funthan ever before. Offering modern decor, rooms that feel like an upgrade, and fresh, local cuisine at our Social Circle restaurant, Cambria makes every guest feel like a VIP. There are currently 25 properties open across the country and 30 under development in the U.S. and Canada. To learn more, visit www.cambriahotelsandsuites.com.

About Choice Hotels

Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) is one of the world's largest lodging companies. With more than 6,300 hotels franchised in more than 35 countries and territories, Choice Hotels International represents more than 500,000 rooms around the globe. As of September 30, 2015, 638 hotels were in our development pipeline. Our company's Ascend Hotel Collection, Cambria hotels & suites, Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Sleep Inn, Quality, Clarion, MainStay Suites, Suburban Extended Stay Hotel, Econo Lodge and Rodeway Inn brands provide a spectrum of lodging choices to meet guests' needs. With more than 25 million members and counting, check out our Choice Privileges rewards program to see how you can reap the benefits of being a member of the Choice Hotels family. All hotels are independently owned and operated. Visit us at www.choicehotels.com for more information.

Ariel Development

Owned by Shimon Mizrahi and Herzel Hazan, Ariel Development is an innovative real estate group based in Seattle, Washington. Their non-traditional approach has been the key to an outstanding progressive success over the past 20 years. Their portfolio of revitalized strategic properties in Seattle highlight the team's foresight in capitalizing on unique and innovative development opportunities. Their superior expertise consists of site selection, creative property re-use and efficient control to formulate success.

The individual companies under the Ariel Development brand have developed and own over 20 real estate properties. Strong relationships between local investors support their innovative vision. Properties include hotels, office buildings, commercial buildings and retail centers.

2016 Choice Hotels International, Inc. All rights reserved.

SOURCE Choice Hotels International, Inc.

Contact:

Scott Carman

Choice Hotels

301-592-636

scott_carman@choicehotels.com

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Dwyer Group Celebrates 25th Anniversary of VetFran

Program surpasses more than $2 million in discounts to more than 370 veterans who have become franchise owners of a Dwyer Group service brand.

February 11, 2016 // Franchising.com // WACO, Texas  The Dwyer Group, Inc., one of the worlds largest franchising companies of trade service brands, is celebrating the 25th anniversary of VetFran, a program started by the companys late founder Don Dwyer Sr. as a pathway to business ownership and civilian life for military veterans.

To date, the organization has awarded more than $2 million in discounts to 374 veterans who have become franchise owners of a Dwyer Group service brand through VetFran since it began keeping records in 2003.

Don was a true visionary, said Mike Bidwell, president and CEO of Dwyer Group. During the Persian Gulf War, he asked the very important question, What are we doing to thank the men and women who are protecting our country and the free enterprise system under which we operate? His answer was to thank them with VetFran, offering our best financial discounts to veterans who want to own a franchise.

The success of the program that was adopted by the International Franchise Association in Washington, D.C., now includes more than 650 franchisors across the country that have helped more than 6,000 military veterans acquire a franchise business.

Dwyer, a veteran of the Air Force, recognized the exemplary training of U.S. military men and women as a great skill set to translate to franchised businesses. Both utilize leadership skills, hard work and the mindset to follow a proven system.

Were very fond of what the military does and the people they turn out, and were proud to provide the opportunity to become franchisees, said Bidwell in an exclusive story with the Waco Tribune-Herald. Himself a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and a former multi-unit franchise owner of Dwyer Group brands, Bidwell added that he expects the program to continue to grow on a national level.

At the same time that the United States continues its drawdown of troops stationed around the world, the International Franchise Association also predicts 3.1 percent growth in the franchising sector for 2016.

For more about the VetFran program at Dwyer Group, visit http://www.dwyergroup.com/about-us/vetfran-program/.

About Dwyer Group

The Dwyer Group, Inc., based in Waco, Texas, is a holding company of 11 franchise businesses, each selling and supporting a different franchise under the following service marks: Aire Serv, Glass Doctor, The Grounds Guys, Five Star Painting, Molly Maid, Mr. Appliance, Mr. Electric, Mr. Handyman, Mr. Rooter (Drain Doctor in the UK and Portugal), ProTect Painters, and Rainbow International. Collectively, these independent franchise concepts offer customers worldwide a broad base of residential and commercial services. In addition, Dwyer Group operates glass shops in New England under the Portland Glass brand name. Dwyer Group is a portfolio company of The Riverside Company, a global private equity firm. The firms international portfolio includes more than 75 companies. More information on Dwyer Group, or its franchise concepts, is available at www.dwyergroup.com.

Dwyer Group is also on Twitter at @DwyerGroup.

Contact:

Monica Feid

BizCom Associates

(972) 490-8053

MonicaFeid@BizComPr.com

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Fresh Healthy Vending Adds Reis and Irvy's Frozen Yogurt Robot to Franchise Portfolio

Company Executes Licensing Agreement; Obtains Exclusive Rights to Franchise and Sell the Fro-Yo Kiosks in US and Canada

SAN DIEGO, CA - (Marketwired - Feb 11, 2016) - Fresh Healthy Vending International, Inc. (OTCQB: VEND) announced today a definitive agreement with Robofusion, Inc. for an exclusive licensing deal in the United States of America and its territories (excluding Puerto Rico) and Canada. The agreement names Fresh Healthy Vending ("FHV") as the exclusive franchisor to third parties through franchise agreements as well as a seller to purchasers who will self-operate the Reis and Irvy's frozen yogurt vending kiosks.

The innovative Robofusion "Reis and Irvy's" robotic frozen yogurt cube is a one-of-a- kind, unmanned, highly visual "robot" that dispenses frozen yogurt in nine flavors with six possible toppings at a rate of up to 60 servings of frozen yogurt per hour. A 3' x 4' kiosk on wheels, the Reis and Irvy's cube combines mobility with economy of scale, optimizing profit margin per-square-foot and yielding potential long term annuities wherever it's installed. The machines will first be offered to current FHV franchisees beginning March 2016 and new franchisees thereafter.

"Our business model has evolved somewhat in that we are now identifying new concepts that can be franchised using our current infrastructure, concepts that fit in the category of innovation, next generation and if possible, automation. We are extremely happy to have identified the Reis and Irvy's Cube as our next franchise concept offering, as the model requires the same systems and expertise already in place at Fresh Healthy Vending," said FHV Chairman Nick Yates. "We believe that many of the 240 operational franchisees we already cater to are looking for an opportunity to expand their current offerings and utilize the time spent operating their respective franchises for additional profits. This kiosk is a hit for all ages -- combining innovative technology, a high-demand product and interactive experience. It's right up our alley! The technology is patented and the license is exclusive. Overall, we have very high hopes for this deal."

"Robofusion is extremely proud to partner with Fresh Healthy Vending. The Company's established franchisee footprint, exceptional marketing and growth were all very attractive to us," said Allan Jones, CEO of Robofusion. "FHV has demonstrated a real commitment to be the leader in healthy vending and micro-market categories and we look forward to growing together with our frozen yogurt kiosk technology."

The agreement marks Fresh Healthy Vending's first step in adding other franchise opportunities to their portfolio as they anticipate a name-change and a repositioning in the market to expand beyond their Fresh Healthy Vending machines and micro markets in 2016 and beyond.

For more information on Fresh Healthy Vending, new franchise opportunities, the franchise program, or to receive a free healthy vending machine in your school or business, visit www.freshvending.com or call toll free 888-902-7558.

About Fresh Healthy Vending

Fresh Healthy Vending, based in San Diego, California, is North America's leading healthy vending franchisor. Fresh Healthy Vending pioneered the concept of vending machines stocked with tried-and-tested fresh, healthy snack options to serve the growing market of health-conscious consumers. The Company has over 240 active franchisees throughout the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas, and continually looks to partner with like-minded entrepreneurs who share its vision.

The Company has booked over 2,900 machines for placement in schools, universities, hospitals, community centers, military bases, airports, fitness facilities, YMCAs, libraries and many other locations.

Fresh Healthy Vending's stock is traded on the OTC Markets, Symbol: VEND.

Cautionary note on forward-looking statements

Except for historical information contained in this release, statements in this release may constitute forward-looking statements regarding assumptions, projections, expectations, targets, intentions or beliefs about future events that are based on management's belief, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management. While the Company believes that expectations are based upon reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurances that goals, results and strategy will be realized. Numerous factors, including risks and uncertainties, terms and availability of financing, may affect actual results and may cause results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements made by the Company or on its behalf. In addition to statements, which explicitly describe risks and uncertainties, readers are urged to consider statements labeled with such terms as "believes," "belief," "expects," "intends," "feels," "anticipates," "proposes," "proposed," or "plans" to be uncertain and forward-looking. More detailed information on these and additional factors that could affect Fresh Healthy Vending's actual results are described in Fresh Healthy Vending's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended September 30, 2015, and its annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2015. All forward-looking statements in this news release speak only as of the date of this news release and are based on Fresh Healthy Vending's current beliefs and expectations. Fresh Healthy Vending undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

SOURCE Fresh Healthy Vending

Contact:

Brenda Manea

714.904.8592

brenda@bamcommunications.biz

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Husband And Wife Team Earns Distinguished Franchisee Of The Year Honor

Mr. Rooter Plumbing Celebrates Tops Performers and Another Year of Company Success

February 11, 2016 // Franchising.com // WACO, Texas  Mr. Rooter Plumbing, a leader in the full-service plumbing industry, announced today Brad and Amanda Sims have been named the companys Franchisee of the Year as a result of the tremendous success their Mt. Pleasant, Michigan business achieved in 2015. Additionally, the brand continued to make waves in their development efforts with the opening of new Mr. Rooter Plumbing locations in markets such as Birmingham, Ala., Williamsburg, Va., and Woburn, Mass. The company is on track to open nearly 20 additional locations this year.

Mr. Rooter is poised for a year of aggressive growth as we look to expand our presence in new and existing markets including New Orleans, Kansas City, Salt Lake City and Tulsa, said Doyle James, president of Mr. Rooter Plumbing. The tireless efforts of our corporate team and our franchisees commitment to the brand continue to propel us forward, and I look forward to seeing what this dynamic team can do in 2016. On behalf of the entire company, Id also like to congratulate Brad and Amanda Sims on their Franchisee of the Year Award and the incredible success they achieved in 2015. The Sims, along with our entire network of franchise partners, uphold the highest level of customer service, and we thank them for their intrepid dedication to the communities they serve. 

Brad and Amanda Sims became Mr. Rooter Plumbing franchisees nearly a decade ago when they purchased the Mt. Pleasant, Michigan market. Brad first became part of the Mr. Rooter family well before that while working for the company as a technician when he was younger. A results-driven industry veteran, Brad is an experienced business owner whos taken his strong family values and turned it into franchise success. An industry leader in her own right, Amanda was named Mr. Rooter Plumbings Woman of the Year Award in 2014. The Sims have long been dedicated to creating a close-knit team that shares a common desire to create and maintain a family oriented culture, all while delivering exceptional service to clients, which helped them surpass $1.5 million in revenue in 2015.

Amanda and I are honored to be named the 2015 Mr. Rooter Plumbing Franchisee of the Year, said Brad Sims. Our success would not be possible without the phenomenal support from the corporate team, Mr. Rooters proprietary systems, guidance from our franchise consultants and the loyalty of our large network of franchisees. We pledge to continue delivering the service our clients have come to know us for and look forward to growing with this incredible brand for many years to come.

Since 1970, Mr. Rooter Plumbing has been known for its exemplary customer service and commitment to maintaining the highest standards. A subsidiary of The Dwyer Group, Inc., family of service franchises, Mr. Rooter Plumbing provides services to both residential and commercial customers at more than 250 locations in the United States and Canada, and more than 100 locations internationally through master licensees. The brand has been recognized by Entrepreneur magazine among its Franchise 500 ranking, and was named to Franchise Times Top 200 listing.

Mr. Rooter Plumbing is currently seeking single- and multi-unit operators to join in the brands rapid expansion. For more information about franchise opportunities, visit http://www.leadingtheserviceindustry.com/mr-rooter-llc/ or call 888-492-3396.

About Mr. Rooter

Established in 1970, Mr. Rooter Plumbing is an all-franchised, full-service plumbing and drain cleaning company with approximately 300 franchises worldwide. Recognized by Entrepreneur magazine among its Franchise 500 and Franchise Times Top 200, Mr. Rooter franchisees provide services to both residential and commercial customers. Mr. Rooter is a subsidiary of The Dwyer Group, Inc., family of service franchises. For more information or to find the location nearest you, visit MrRooter.com or MrRooter.ca.

SOURCE Mr. Rooter

Media Contact:

Jessi Nunez

Account Executive

Fish Consulting, LLC

O: (954) 893-9150

C: (954) 562-9048

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Hyatt Hotels Corporation Announces Patrick J. Grismer As New Chief Financial Officer

February 11, 2016 // Franchising.com // CHICAGO  Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE: H) today announced the selection of Patrick J. Grismer as chief financial officer, reporting to Mark Hoplamazian, president and chief executive officer, effective March 14, 2016.

In this role, Grismer will be responsible for all aspects of the finance function, while serving as a key business partner in achieving the companys strategic growth initiatives.

"Pat is a highly respected leader with strong financial acumen. His considerable experience building global brands will serve us well at Hyatt, said Hoplamazian. "His focus on driving superior business performance as we build differentiated brands will help us grow with intent and, in return, we believe will provide great value for our guests, colleagues, owners and shareholders.

Grismer joins Hyatt from his post as chief financial officer at YUM! Brands, where he previously held a number of roles including chief planning and control officer and chief financial officer for YUM! Restaurants International. Prior to YUM!, he worked at The Walt Disney Company where he served in roles that included vice president, business planning and development for The Disneyland Resort and chief financial officer for the Disney Vacation Club.

Grismer began his career with Price Waterhouse after earning an MBA from Northwestern Universitys Kellogg School of Management, and a bachelors degree in accounting from the University of Southern California.

"Hyatts portfolio of premier hotel brands and its commitment to quality and outstanding service truly differentiate it from the competition, said Grismer. Im excited to be part of a global company poised for growth, and to join a team passionate about transforming the hospitality industry.

Grismer and his family will relocate to Chicago.

About Hyatt Hotels Corporation

Hyatt Hotels Corporation, headquartered in Chicago, is a leading global hospitality company with a proud heritage of making guests feel more than welcome. Thousands of members of the Hyatt family strive to make a difference in the lives of the guests they encounter every day by providing authentic hospitality. The Company's subsidiaries develop, own, operate, manage, franchise, license or provide services to hotels, resorts, branded residences and vacation ownership properties, including under the Hyatt, Park Hyatt, Andaz, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Centric, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt Place, Hyatt House, Hyatt Zilara, Hyatt Ziva, Hyatt Residences and Hyatt Residence Club brand names and have locations on six continents. As of September 30, 2015, the Company's worldwide portfolio consisted of 627 properties in 52 countries. For more information, please visit www.hyatt.com.

SOURCE Hyatt Hotels Corporation

Contact:

Candace Mueller

+1-312-780-5479

candace.mueller@hyatt.com

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Mosquito Joe Provides Zika Virus Information In Light of Outbreaks

Mosquito Prevention Franchise Tells Communities How to Combat the Mosquito-Borne Illness

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA. (PRWEB) February 11, 2016 - Mosquito Joe, a leading mosquito control treatment company serving residential and commercial customers nationwide, is helping communities across the country stay educated about recent outbreaks of the Zika virus. Through awareness and prevention, Mosquito Joe is looking to combat any potential problems in markets across the U.S.

While Zika virus cases in the U.S. are few and far between at the moment, CDC officials warn that the virus could spread extremely rapidly if and when it hits new communities with mosquito activity, said Mosquito Joe CEO, Kevin Wilson. The concern is particularly acute in the South and Southeast, where high temperatures, high humidity and a propensity for standing water to accumulate create ideal conditions for Aedes aegypti, the mosquito that spreads Zika, to proliferate. We have already seen the Governor of Florida declare a State of Emergency in four counties.

The Zika virus was first identified in 1947 in Africa, but it's only in the last couple of years that cases of it have appeared in the Americas. Zika is primarily transmitted through the bite of infected mosquitoes. The most common symptoms of the virus disease are fever, rash, joint pain, or conjunctivitis (red eyes). Symptoms, while generally mild, typically begin two to seven days after being bitten by an infected mosquito and last for several days to a week.

In order to avert the issue, many Mosquito Joe franchisees are gearing up to start their seasons earlier in order to prevent these mosquitoes from hatching in the spring.

To keep ahead of the problem in our clients local areas, they can try a number of prevention tips, including unblocking drains and gutters, avoid accumulating garbage, and shy away from allowing standing water to accumulate in outdoor containers such as in flower pots, tires and childrens toys, Wilson said. At Mosquito Joe, we utilize the best quality mosquito-control products on the market. Our barrier spray treatment protects our clients yards for up to three weeks and our misting systems can help provide a permanent solution to combat mosquitos.

For those that have any questions about the Zika Virus and ways to combat it, they can visit the official Mosquito Joe website at http://mosquitojoe.com/zika-virus.

As your mosquito control company, we're dedicated to keeping you informed and educated on current news and information when it comes to health issues tied to mosquitoes. While most of the country is not in mosquito season right now, it is important to remember your usual mosquito control tips as you think about how to manage your exposure to the virus. The best way to prevent transmission of the Zika virus, much like with any mosquito-borne illness, is to prevent mosquito bites, Wilson said.

About Mosquito Joe

Virginia Beach, VA-based Mosquito Joe provides mosquito control treatment to residential and commercial customers nationwide. Technicians are trained mosquito control experts dedicated to getting rid of mosquitos so people can enjoy being outside again. While each Mosquito Joe is an independently owned franchise that offers customers reliable and effective service from a trusted community member, it is also backed by a national network of technical expertise. For more information or franchising opportunities, visit http://www.mosquitojoefranchise.com.

SOURCE Mosquito Joe

Contact:

Lauren Boukas

No Limit Agency

+1 (312) 526-3996

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School Of Rock Fayetteville Ready To Rock N Roll

Musical Education Franchise Announces Newest School in Arkansas

February 11, 2016 // Franchising.com // FAYETTEVILLE, AR  School of Rock, the leader in performance-based music education, opens its newest school in Fayetteville, AR. A grand opening will take place on February 20, 2016 from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the school, located at 2857 N. College Ave, Fayetteville, AR 72703. The event will include live performances by School of Rock house bands, tours of the school, food trucks, grand prize raffles and more.



School of Rock is unlike any other music program, and uses a hands-on method that prepares students to take on the stage and rock out in front of live audiences. The team-centric environment encourages peer interaction and teaches students the fundamentals of playing in a band with other musicians. School of Rocks seasoned staff of professionals are passionate about advancing both the musicianship and confidence of the future rock stars. With more than 170 schools worldwide, School of Rock Fayetteville marks the brands second location in the state of Arkansas.



Opening a new School of Rock is always a unique and fresh experience as we interact with local students and witness first-hand the outstanding qualities they bring to our school, said School of Rock CEO, Dzana Homan. Franchisee, Bea Escobar, has the passion and drive necessary to introduce our programs to the vibrant community of Fayetteville.



The musically-driven town of Fayetteville exudes diversity in its people, schools and businesses, says franchisee, Bea Escobar. I believe that our School of Rock, which services Fayetteville and Springdale, will fill a need in the communities, encouraging aspiring musicians to achieve their goals while uniting the two areas through rock n roll.



For more information, visit schoolofrock.com.

About School of Rock

The music school your mom and dad wished they had when they were kids, School of Rock 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.

SOURCE School of Rock

Media Contacts:

Erin Morrissey

emorrissey@konnect-pr.com

Madison Jones

mjones@konnect-pr.com

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Scooters Coffee Bolsters Executive Team with Industry Experts

National Franchise Set to Open 25 Locations in First Half of 2016

February 11, 2016 // Franchising.com // OMAHA, NE  After a record-breaking year of expansion in 2015, Scooters Coffee is positioning itself for even more growth in 2016. The national franchise today announced significant changes to its executive team, which will equip the company with the industry expertise and resources it needs to accelerate its strategic growth plan.

Weve spent the past couple of years establishing a solid foundation to support strategic and targeted rapid growth, said Don Eckles, co-founder and Chairman of Scooters Coffee. Its incredibly rewarding to see our plans come to fruition and watch as Scooters continues to gain brand recognition and customer loyalty across the country. The new executive team structure bolsters the companys long-term prospects for continued growth.

Todd Graeve will assume the role of Chief Executive Officer. Graeve has been a key member of the Scooters management team for more than seven years, most recently serving as Chief Financial Officer. The company has enjoyed an average annual same-store sales increase of 10.96% for the past five years. In addition to financial expertise, he brings to his new position a unique understanding of the coffee industry, business development and the complexities of franchising.

It has been exciting to watch this company grow from a small Midwest-based coffee chain to an emerging national franchising brand, stated Graeve. Its a tremendous honor to be given the opportunity to lead Scooters Coffee through the next season of growth.

Rob Streett, who joined Scooters Coffee as Senior Vice President in early 2015, has been promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer. In this role, Streett will assume direct oversight of franchise expansion efforts, day-to-day operations and overall brand marketing and development. Streetts resume boasts more than 20 years of experience in both the coffee industry and national franchising. He has held senior leadership positions with well-known national brands, including Starbucks, Cold Stone Creamery and Mrs. Fields.

Throughout my career, Ive been fortunate to learn from some of the most innovative leaders in the coffee and franchising industries, said Streett. To be able to use that knowledge to help such a promising company take it to the next level is a true honor. While there are several great coffee chains in the country, Scooters possesses many unique characteristics that will help differentiate the company on the national playing field.

In addition to these pivotal changes to the internal team, the company has also brought in Chad Hartnett as Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining Scooters, Harnett spent 17 years at HDR, Inc., most recently serving as the company's Treasurer, Vice President, and Corporate Controller. Hartnett brings a wide range of comprehensive financial expertise and leadership to the Scooters brand.

With more than 130 stores in soon-to-be 14 states, Scooters recently signed a large Area Representative Agreement in Phoenix, along with several other Multi-Unit Agreements in Florida, Oklahoma and Arkansas. In late 2015, the company opened its first location in Roswell Georgia (Atlanta metro) and plans to build several more stores in the Atlanta area. At the same time, Scooters will continue to build locations in the Midwest region, with several stores slated to be opened in Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, South Dakota and Missouri.

The company also added depth to its product profile in 2015, with the release of its toasted gouda cheese ciabatta and bagel breakfast sandwiches, along with the Southwest Breakfast Burrito. Scooters, which hand-crafts its pastries and roasts its own 100% shade grown coffees (sourced through the Arbor Day Foundation), at their Omaha headquarters, will add several innovative items to the menu in 2016, including a comprehensive iced tea program and more breakfast options.

About Scooters Coffee

Founded in 1998 by Don and Linda Eckles in Bellevue, Nebraska, Scooters Coffee roasts only the finest 100% shade grown coffee beans in the world. Scooters success over nearly 18 years of history is simple: stay committed to the original business principles and company core values. The Scooters mantra, often recited to franchisees, customers and employees is: Amazing People, Serving Amazing Drinks, Amazingly Fast. It represents the companys business origins and reflects a steady commitment to providing an unforgettable experience to loyal customers.

For more information, visit: [scooterscoffee.com or facebook.com/scooterscoffee].

SOURCE Scooters Coffee

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The authors theorized "the Angelina Jolie effect" might be one driver. In 2013, the actress and filmmaker revealed her choice to have a preventative double mastectomy because shed tested positive for a mutation. In 2015, she had her ovaries removed for the same reason.

The authors also suggested, however, that the high rate of BRCA testing among their research participants was likely due to the fact that most of the participants were insured, educated, and treated at centers with comprehensive gene-testing services.

Oncologists are increasingly recognizing the increased chance of inherited breast cancer risk in young women, said Dr. Julie Gralow, a clinical researcher at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and a breast cancer oncologist at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, the treatment arm of Fred Hutch.

The fact is that the incidence of testing was rising prior to Angelina Jolie's disclosure, but there is no question that she created awareness globally, maybe most importantly among women not yet diagnosed but with a strong family history, Gralow said.  In my mind, the genetic counseling piece of this is critical, and I always refer for genetic counseling as part of genetic testing.

Currently, the guidelines do recommend (genetic) testing for women under 40 with a diagnosis of breast cancer. So I think its appropriate that that is being better recognized, added Dr. Larissa Korde, a Fred Hutch breast cancer researcher and medical oncologist at the University of Washington and SCCA.

In addition, theres has been some easing of insurance coverage for BRCA testing, doctors say. That shift seems fueled, in part, by a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court decision that human genes are not patentable, but synthetic DNA, or cDNA, is patentable. The ruling is widely considered a win for patients seeking more access to genetic exams.

Thats really expanded our options for offering patients gene testing at a price that is still high, but it brought a lot more attention to the issue and gave people different options for attention which has been a good thing, Korde said.

The dangers of carrying an abnormal BRCA gene are well documented. About 55 to 65 percent of women with a harmful BRCA1 mutation and about 45 percent of BRCA2 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer by age 70, according to the National Cancer Institute.

By some estimates, 39 percent of women who inherit a BRCA1 mutation  and 11 to 17 percent of women who have an abnormal BRCA2 gene  will develop ovarian cancer by age 70, the NCI reports. Ovarian cancer occurs in about 1.3 percent of women in the general population.

In the new study, women with breast cancer who tested positive for a BRCA mutation seemed to use that information to shape their treatment plan. Among participants found to have an abnormal BRCA gene, 86.4 percent opted to have both breasts surgically removed (compared to 51.2 percent of BRCA-negative participants). And 53.4 percent of BRCA-positive women in the study opted have their ovaries removed (versus 2.5 percent who didnt carry the mutation), researchers reported.

The majority of these women said that it affected whether or not they underwent a unilateral mastectomy or lumpectomy followed by radiation or a bilateral mastectomy, said Dr. Ann H. Partridge, study co-author and an oncologist at Dana-Farber.

For women (or men) who have not been diagnosed with breast cancer, the NCI recommends genetic testing should only be done when a family history shows the possible presence of a harmful mutation in BRCA1 or BRCA2. That means, people who come from a lineage that contains cases of breast, ovarian, fallopian tube or peritoneal cancers.

In the home and classroom of teacher Bess, shes primarily looking forward genetically  into the future lives of her two daughters, Addison, 8, and Camille, 5.

But she and they will have to wait to find out if they carry the same mutation. Besss genetic counselor told her BRCA testing is not recommended for anyone until age 18, at the earliest.

Honestly, when I was first given my diagnosis, the first words out of my mouth were: What about my girls? What have I done to them? Bess said. Thats immediately where my brain went. It makes me sad as a mother.

Partridge stressed the importance of counseling anyone who tests positive for the BRCA mutations and making sure the patient understands her options.

Its imperative that we not only help women to get this information but that we also counsel them, she said in a video released in conjunction with the study, to help to support them as they make these treatment decisions especially in the context of a newly diagnosed patient who is stressed and anxious and needs to have good communication with her providers and good support.
1300Fridge Introduces Commercial Refrigeration Services For Local Businesses

Food service and hospitality businesses waste a lot of energy on refrigeration. See how 1300Fridge's services are helping local business owners combat this problem at http://www.1300fridge.com.au/.

Perth, WA -- February 11, 2016 (FPRC) -- Statistics show that food service businesses consume energy at twice the rate of other types of businesses. Energy consumption rates can sometimes be even higher for cafeterias, full-service restaurants, hotels, and other hospitality establishments. Unfortunately, many of these businesses waste up to 80 percent of the energy they consume because of inefficient equipment.



It is with these statistics in mind that 1300Fridge, a premier commercial refrigeration service company based in Perth, is introducing their services designed especially for businesses in the foodservice and hospitality sectors. Those who would like to get a glimpse of what 1300Fridge has to offer business owners should visit www.1300fridge.com.au/commercial-refrigeration-services/ .



Darren Dweyer, a representative of 1300Fridge, stated, Many business owners fail to realize that inefficient refrigeration methods can lead to a lot of waste in their business. Not only does it cost them more on their monthly electricity bills, but it also leads to faster breakdowns on equipment and, in many cases, faster food spoilage for restaurant and hotel owners. Fortunately, the commercial refrigeration services that 1300fridge offers can help local businesses curb all of these types of waste. In turn, this saves them a great deal of money as well as keeping them from experiencing unnecessary frustration.



Dweyer goes on to say, We only service businesses, and that exclusivity allows us to offer comprehensive services to companies who need it. For example, we can do a pre-sale inspection for business owners who are looking to purchase a commercial refrigerator or freezer or a building that already has this equipment installed. For their convenience, we also offer businesses around-the-clock emergency service as well as hassle-free preventative maintenance plans. All of these service options have the potential to save a business owner time and money and keep equipment issues to a minimum.



Research shows that having a more energy-efficient refrigeration system can reduce business costs by as much as 30 percent. Our services are here to help business owners achieve that goal. We encourage them to give us a call for whatever refrigeration needs they may have so that they can worry less and focus more on the other important aspects of their business.



Business owners who want to get in touch with 1300Fridge or discover how they can benefit from their services can do so through their website at www.1300fridge.com.au/commercial-refrigeration-services/repairs/ .



About 1300Fridge:

1300Fridge are the commercial fridge experts in Perth, Western Australia. Their fully trained and licensed refrigeration mechanics are trained to service commercial refrigeration equipment. Their team does work for cafes, restaurants, clubs, pubs, shops, butchers, bakers, and many other commercial customers. 1300Fridges fridge mechanics are experts in gas leaks, fan motors, compressors, tx valves, and have the knowledge necessary to re-gas and rewire commercial refrigeration equipment.

For more information about us, please visit http://www.1300fridge.com.au/







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Information found on the knoxville dui attorney website indicates the similar term DWI is interchangeable with DUI when concerning adults over the age of 21; however, the two crimes are classified separately in instances involving underage drivers. Many local residents mistakenly believe this type of crime applies only to the use of alcohol though illegal drugs are additionally included in such charges. Drivers may also be convicted of DUI due to the use of certain prescription and over-the-counter medications. While .08 percent is considered the standard blood alcohol level at which impairment can be proven, those operating commercial vehicles and under the age of 21 are held to lower limits.



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Concluded Oberman, "Being convicted of this type of crime is life-altering for offenders. As Knoxville Criminal Defense Attorneys, we may be able to lessen the impact of an accusation or even have the case thrown out of court if accusing law enforcement officials have insufficient evidence to support their claims. Further resources and contact information can be found on our website, and we hope to help combat the statistics through education and client advocation."



About The Oberman & Rice Law Firm:



Serving residents of Knoxville and the surrounding areas, The Oberman & Rice Law Firm provides defense in cases involving drugs, alcohol, burglary, vandalism, domestic violence and other criminal charges.





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San Antonio, TX -- February 11, 2016 (FPRC) -- According to predictions made by Forrester, one of the worlds leading research firms, business technology spending will continue to grow by leaps and bounds well into 2017. In fact, it is expected that companies around the world will be spending upwards of $827 billion dollars on their technology needs.



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As Pina goes on to say, The best thing about choosing A1 Bizcom is that we can offer companies both large and small a wide range of phone system solutions. For small businesses or those companies who dont require much volume, we have a large selection of used phone systems that are ready for installation. For larger companies or those that need features like conferencing and mobility that newer technology can offer, we have new phone systems like the samsung officeserv that are expandable in small increments and can handle just about anything that a business may need.



Ultimately, it is our goal to implement solutions for business owners that will allow them to communicate with employees, colleagues, and customers in the most effective and efficient way. Whether its a used phone system or something brand new, well take care of the installation and implementation so that business owners can focus their attention and efforts on taking their business to new heights.



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Founded in 1985, A1 BizCom is a comprehensive IT solutions provider that has been proudly serving San Antonio, New Braunfels, San Marcos, Boerne, and surrounding areas for over 30 years. Whether its phone systems, data networks, conference rooms, paging systems, cabling, cell signal boosters, wireless networks, or any other technologies, the company prides itself on being able to tackle any job that a small to medium business might have need of. Through their commitment, experience, and expertise, A1 BizCom seeks to establish a business relationship with their customers that will last a lifetime.







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Unimex Announces New Program Offering Grants of Up to 60% to Students

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Cuautitlan Izcalli, MX -- February 11, 2016 (FPRC) -- Unimex, the Universidad Mexicana, now offers grants of up to 60% of the cost of attendance. With a main campus in Cuautitlan Izcalli and satellite campuses in Naucalpan, Veracruz, and the Polanco neighborhood of Mexico City, Unimex is one of the country's leading institutes of higher education. Unimex offers undergraduate, professional, and graduate education, with a wide variety of degree programs, or " licenciaturas ," making it easy for students to find a perfect match for their goals and situations.



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As Mexico has developed in so many ways in recent decades, one of the most notable developments has been in the country's education system. Total enrollment in schools in Mexico ballooned from just over 3.25 million students in 1950, according to World Education News & Reviews, to over 28 million in 2000, with equally impressive growth estimated since.



Twenty-five years ago, only 15 percent of college-age Mexicans were actually enrolled in institutions providing tertiary education, while nearly a third undertake such studies today. While these advances have produced many benefits, they have also greatly taxed a public education system that has not generally been provided with the resources it needed to keep up.



Because of this, the country has, like others throughout the Americas, seen a dramatic surge in new private universities over the last couple of decades. With its first campus opened in Cuautitlan Izacalli in 1991, Unimex was one of the pioneers in this field, offering professional Masters, or " maestrias ," degrees to students at a time when public alternatives were already becomng overwhelmed.



A first satellite campus followed in the municipality of Naucalpan several years later, with still another new campus opening nearby in the historic Polanco district of Mexico City not long after. Together with the Unimex campus in Veracruz that has since opened, these four locations give students from Mexico and elsewhere access to valuable, top-quality educational opportunities that serve them well for the rest of their lives.



In extending grants of up to 60% to qualifying undergraduate and postgraduate students, or " posgrados ," Unimex will make these important options even more accessible. Those interested can learn more at the Unimex website.



About Unimex:

Providing world-class undergraduate, graduate, and professional education to students at four convenient campuses, Unimex is one of Mexico's leading institutions of higher education.





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Global Oil and Chemicals Storage Market in Africa 2016 Size, Forecast, Demand, Research & Analysis

Global Market News has released report on Global Oil and Chemicals Storage Market in Africa 2016.

Deerfield Beach, FL, United States of America February 11, 2016 /GlobalMarketNews.us/ 

Oil and Chemicals Storage Industry Outlook in Africa to 2019  Capacity and Capital Expenditure Forecasts with Details of All Operating and Planned Terminals is a comprehensive report providing information on storage terminals that store crude oil, petroleum products or, chemicals in Africa. Typical information on terminals includes terminal name, operator name, storage capacity and commodity stored for all active and planned terminals. The report also provides capital expenditure outlook at regional level by year and by key countries for oil and chemical storage terminals till 2019. The report also provides key country comparisons within the region based on contribution to regional oil and chemicals storage capacity. Planned (new build) terminals capacity addition and existing capacity expansions, as announced by the companies have also been included. Further the report also offers recent developments as well as latest tenders and contracts at regional level.

Scope

Updated information relating to all active and planned oil and chemicals storage terminals

Provides historical data from 2009 to 2014, forecast to 2019

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Capacity information of all oil and chemicals storage terminals

Provides operator information for all active and planned oil and chemicals storage terminals

Latest developments and contracts related to oil and chemicals storage terminals

Table of Contents

1 Table of Contents 2

1.1 List of Tables 6

1.2 List of Figures 7

2 Introduction 8

2.1 What Is This Report About? 8

2.2 Market Definitions 8

3 Africa Oil and Chemicals Storage Industry 9

3.1 Africa Oil and Chemicals Storage Industry, Snapshot 9

3.1.1 Africa Oil and Chemicals Storage Industry, Overview of Active Storage Terminals Data 9

3.1.2 Africa Oil and Chemicals Storage Industry, Overview of Planned Storage Terminals Data 9

3.2 Africa Oil and Chemicals Storage Industry, Storage Operations 10

3.2.1 Africa Oil and Chemicals Storage Industry, Oil and Chemicals Storage Capacity by Top 5 Countries, 2009-2019 10

3.3 Africa Oil and Chemicals Storage Industry, Planned Oil and Chemicals Storage Terminals 12

3.3.1 Africa Oil and Chemicals Storage Industry, Planned Oil and Chemicals Storage Capacity, 2015-2019 12

3.3.2 Africa Oil and Chemicals Storage Industry, Annual Capital Expenditure Outlook for Planned Storage Terminals 13

3.3.3 Africa Oil and Chemicals Storage Industry, Annual Capital Expenditure Outlook for Planned Storage Terminals by Country 14

3.4 Africa Oil and Chemicals Storage Industry, Nigeria 16

3.4.1 Africa Oil and Chemicals Storage Industry, Storage Capacity in Nigeria, 2009-2019 16

3.4.2 Africa Oil and Chemicals Storage Industry, Recent Developments in Nigeria 17

3.4.3 Africa Oil and Chemicals Storage Industry, Recent Tenders and Contracts in Nigeria 18

3.5 Africa Oil and Chemicals Storage Industry, Egypt 19

3.5.1 Africa Oil and Chemicals Storage Industry, Storage Capacity in Egypt, 2009-2019 19

3.6 Africa Oil and Chemicals Storage Industry, Libya 19

3.6.1 Africa Oil and Chemicals Storage Industry, Storage Capacity in Libya, 2009-2019 20

3.6.2 Africa Oil and Chemicals Storage Industry, Recent Developments in Libya 20

3.7 Africa Oil and Chemicals Storage Industry, Algeria 22

3.7.1 Africa Oil and Chemicals Storage Industry, Storage Capacity in Algeria, 2009-2019 22

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Obtain the most up to date information available on active and planned oil and chemicals storage terminals in South and Central America and Caribbean

Identify growth segments and opportunities in the industry

Facilitate decision making on the basis of strong historic and forecast capacity data

Assess your competitor's oil storage terminals

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Magenetic Stirrer Market 2016 by Global Market News in US

Global Market News has released report on Global Magenetic Stirrer Market 2016.

Deerfield Beach, FL, United States of America February 11, 2016 /GlobalMarketNews.us/ 

About Magnetic Stirrer

A magnetic stirrer is a device that uses a rotating magnetic field to cause a stirrer bar immersed in a solution to spin and stir the solution. Magnetic stirrers are primarily used in chemistry laboratories and clinics. Overhead stirrers are used in the place of magnetic stirrers for high volumes and more viscous samples.

Global magnetic stirrer market to grow at a CAGR of 5.4% during the period 2016-2020.

Covered in this report

The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global magnetic stirrer market for the period 2016-2020. The market size is calculated from the revenue generated by the top vendors in this product category.

The market is divided into the following segments based on products:

o Regular magnetic stirrer

o Hot-plate magnetic stirrer

o Multi-position magnetic stirrer

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Global Magnetic Stirrer Market 2016-2020, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.

Key vendors

o Corning

o Grant Instruments

o IKA-Works

o Scientific Industries

o Thermo Fisher Scientific

Other prominent vendors

o Argos

o Azzota

o Cole-Parmer

o Dynalon

o Hanna Instruments

o Heidolph Instruments

o Neutec Group

o Scilogex

o SEOH

o Troemner

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Market driver

o Advantages over other types of mixers

o For a full, detailed list, view our report

Market challenge

o Limited sample volume capacity

o For a full, detailed list, view our report

Market trend

o Rising government investments in the biomedical industry

o For a full, detailed list, view our report

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McKee Homes Donates $30,000 to Alzheimer's Association

McKee Homes hosting Fayetteville Chamber After Hours Event to Kick-off 2016 Walk to End Alzheimer's Planning

--

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - Since its inception, almost six years ago, McKee Homes has been a big supporter of the Alzheimer's Association. In addition to helping organize the Fayetteville Walk to End Alzheimer's, McKee Homes also donates a percentage of each home sale to the Joe McKee Memorial Alzheimer's Fund, which helps support the Alzheimer's Association and related activities.

On Feb. 25 at 5:30 pm, McKee Homes will be hosting the Fayetteville Chamber After Hours at Marquis Market at 116 Person Street in Fayetteville. The Chamber After Hours event brings together many local residents, business professionals and owners from the Fayetteville area for a popular networking event.

Pat McKee, President of McKee Homes and President of the Home Builders Association of Fayetteville, will be presenting the Alzheimer's Association with a promotional check for approximately $30,000 which covers all the donations made in 2015. Lisa Roberts, Executive Director, Eastern North Carolina Chapter Alzheimer's Association, will be in attendance for the presentation. From 2011 to 2016, McKee Homes has donated approximately $135,000 to the Alzheimer's Association through the Joe McKee Memorial Alzheimer's Fund.

"Our mission is to utilize our resources and good fortune to support the Alzheimer's cause in the greater Fayetteville, Wilmington and Raleigh areas by raising awareness of this devastating disease, supporting initiatives of the Alzheimer's Association and helping fund Alzheimer's care and research," said Pat McKee.

The sixth annual Fayetteville Walk to End Alzheimer's planning is underway and is looking for corporate sponsors. The fifth annual Walk Corporate Breakfast will be held on Thursday, March 24 at Hutchens Law Firm in Fayetteville. This is an invitation only event. Those that wish to attend can contact Debbie Waitley at (910) 997-1325.

The 2016 Fayetteville Walk to End Alzheimer's will be held on Sept. 24 at 9:00 a.m. at the SwampDogs Stadium at 2823 Legion Road in Fayetteville. For more information please visit the McKee Homes website or Walk to End Alzheimer's Facebook page.

About McKee Homes, LLC:

McKee Homes is a family owned home building business, which offers a friendly home purchasing experience and is involved in numerous local and national charities. They give homebuyers the freedom to personalize their homes with custom options and special features to get the new home they truly desire. McKee Homes is one of the fastest growing new home builders in the area with new homes located in some of the area's most desirable neighborhoods, offering comfort and convenience only a short drive from the Fort Bragg, Raleigh and Wilmington Metro Areas; exactly where you want to be.

For more information about us, please visit http://www.mckeehomesnc.com/

Contact Info:

Name: Pat McKee

Organization: McKee Homes

Address: 101 Hay Street

Phone: 910-475-7100

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/mckee-homes-donates-30000-to-alzheimers-association/103725

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On the first day of his new job at the management consultants McKinsey & Company, Alick Varma, then 22, was asked to take a test. The questionnaire quizzed him on aspects of his personality, asking, for instance, whether he would rather be considered a practical person or an ingenious person? and whether he considered himself a good mixer or rather quiet and reserved?

Varma, who joined McKinsey as a business analyst in October 2007, was taking the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)  a personality test that has become a rite of passage for millions of white-collar workers. Since the 1960s, when the test began to be rolled out across corporate America, more than 50 million people around the world are estimated to have taken it.

Myers-Briggs has a particularly strong influence at McKinsey, according to current and former staffers (when contacted for this article, McKinsey said it does not comment on its internal processes.) Included in the basic biographical information supplied on the companys staff profile pages are addresses, educational background  and MBTI personality types. When a team begins a new project, associates often start by discussing their respective personality traits  are you an E (extrovert) or an I (introvert)?

 Spencer Wilson

As Varma settled into his new job at the company, working long hours alongside other ambitious overachievers, he found the insights provided by the test helpful. Its 11 oclock on a Monday night and youre frustrated with each other and asking, Why are you not seeing it my way? he says. Now, youve got this thing you can lean back on and understand that the way colleagues see the world is different to how you see the world.

Not everyone is so enamoured. One former McKinsey executive says he was unimpressed with its findings. Unable to speak of this heresy, he chose to use his colleagues faith in MBTI to his advantage. Despite being labelled an E, the associate told his workmates he was an I. It was the perfect excuse to avoid after-work dinners, plug his headphones in at the office or leave for the gym at a reasonable hour. I could always just say, Hey guys, sorry, Im an I, he recalls, laughing. Thats a totally reasonable excuse at McKinsey.

 Spencer Wilson

Whether you believe in its findings or not, Myers-Briggs has become a powerful brand. Some users even post their personality types on online dating profiles to hone their search for a good match. An international network of Myers-Briggs meet ups exists, built on the premise that youre likely to get on with those of a similar personality type. A spokesperson for General Motors says it has been using Myers-Briggs on employees for 30 years, while a spokesperson for Procter & Gamble says that thousands of its staff have benefited, and are still benefiting from taking the test. Financial Times journalists, too, have taken the MBTI in recent training courses.

But while proponents argue that Myers-Briggs is an indispensable tool for modern businesses, critics say it is imperfect, outdated and, sometimes, dangerously misleading. Professor John Rust, director of the University of Cambridges Psychometrics Centre, says: Its a bit like Gangnam Style. It went viral in the hysterical sense of the word and everyone started using it.

Myers-Briggs is not the invention of white coats in laboratories or tweed jackets at universities. Its origins can be traced to 1917, when Katharine Cook Briggs, a housewife and writer from Washington DC, and her husband Lyman hosted a Christmas dinner with their daughter Isabel and her fiance, Clarence Chief Myers. Katharine liked Chief but according to The Cult of Personality (2004), a book about the personality-testing industry by Annie Murphy Paul, found him difficult to read.

 Spencer Wilson

Tightly knit as they were, the Briggs family shared certain qualities: they were imaginative and intuitive, big-picture thinkers, writes Paul. Chief was different. An aspiring lawyer, he tended to be practical and logical, focused on details. To better understand her future son-in-law, Katharine started reading books on the emerging field of psychology. In 1923 she came across an English translation of Psychologische Typen by Carl Jung, the founder of analytical psychology and contemporary of Sigmund Freud.

Critics have pointed out that Carl Jungs original theories, which provided the basis for the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, were just that  theories

Jung posited that people make sense of the world through psychological frames. For instance, while some make intuitive leaps, others concentrate on their immediate senses and what they can see, hear or touch. This is it! Katharine exclaimed to Isabel, according to Pauls account. [Jungs] system explained it all: Lyman, Katharine, Isabel and Chief were introverts; the two men were thinkers, while the women were feelers; and of course the Briggses were intuitives, while Chief was a senser.

Katharine was so taken with Jungs theories that she wrote to him, declaring his book her Bible, and in 1926 the New Republic magazine published Meet Yourself: How to Use the Personality Paint Box, an article she had written using Jungs categories to provide a way for readers to reflect on their own  and others  traits. Katharines enthusiasm inspired her daughter. In 1942, Isabel wrote to her mother about a Readers Digest article she had read on the rise of people sorting questionnaires in the workplace. Lockheed Aircraft was using such a test to locate potential troublemakers. Another US company used a similar test to select henpecked husbands, arguing that a man under the thumb at home would also be easily subjugated at work. Katharine wrote back encouraging Isabel to create her own pencil-and-paper test based broadly on Jungian principles. In 1943, in honour of her mothers contribution, Isabel named it the Briggs-Myers Type Indicator.

 Spencer Wilson

At first the test struggled for recognition. The role of eugenics in Nazi ideology made discussion of personality types controversial. Academics balked, seeing Jung as a mystic and Isabels questionnaire the result of untested armchair philosophy. She ignored the sceptics and sought commercial backers. The test she devised classifies people along four axes: introversion against extroversion; sensing against intuitive; thinking against feeling; and judging against perceiving. It supposes every person has a dominant preference within each pair, neatly allocating all humanity into one of 16 precise personality types.

In 1962 Educational Testing Service (ETS)  publishers of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), the standardised exam taken by most US teenagers heading for university  published Isabels test, having persuaded her to change its name to Myers-Briggs in recognition of her leading role in its creation. However, a number of ETSs own psychologists, according to Pauls account, derided [the test] as unscientific rubbish, and sales were not pushed hard by the company.

Then in 1975, the California-based publishing company Consulting Psychologists Press  now called CPP  picked up distribution rights to the test and heavily marketed it to American businesses. Isabel died at the age of 82 in May 1980, just as sales were taking off. By 1983, 750,000 people were taking the MBTI annually. In 1993, three million took it. To this day, Myers-Briggs is CPPs biggest earner. The privately held company, founded by two psychologists in 1956 to publish psychometric tests and career guidance tools, does not reveal financial details but reports suggest revenues related to the test are about $20m each year.

 Spencer Wilson

In 2011, when I was working in a previous job as a reporter, I was asked to take the MBTI as part of a corporate leadership programme. After my results were collated, I was told that my type was Extrovert, Intuitive, Thinking and Judging  or ENTJ. Im likely to conceptualise and theorise easily; adept at translating possibilities into plans, and am usually seen by others as direct, challenging, decisive, objective and stimulating. You may notice that these statements are overwhelmingly positive. This is how the test is designed. Of the 16 possible variations, no type is better than the other and each has unique strengths. A serial killer might be shown to be methodological, a self-starter and able to put plans into action.

The main thing I learnt from the test was that I was a clear extrovert. According to Myers-Briggs, extroverts are solar-powered, constantly gaining energy from people and information around them. My wife, I realised, was more of an introvert, someone who apparently tops up her energy from regular periods of quiet reflection and solitude. This revelation helped resolve a regular marital conflict. My wife couldnt understand why I always wanted to be the last to leave a party, while I was baffled by her desire to leave early. The Myers-Briggs results prompted a discussion. These days, she is happy to hang around a little later, knowing Im aware of her urge to leave a tad earlier.

According to Jeffrey Hayes, the chief executive of CPP, this kind of experience is at the heart of the tests popularity. The reason it endures is that people find its insights very valuable, he says. It helps them lead more productive and fulfilling lives.

 Spencer Wilson

Adam Grant, a psychology professor at Wharton, University of Pennsylvania and the bestselling author of Give and Take (2013), disagrees. One of the most vocal critics of Myers-Briggs, he argues that the test is built on scientifically weak ground. Its results are not reliable, he says. By CPPs own analysis, 50 per cent of subjects change at least one of their four types when they retake the test. And according to Grant, even the benign revelations that the test provides, such as the preferences of a married couple at a party, are baloney.

There is a myth that extroversion and introversion is about where you get your energy from, Grant says. Introverts walk away [from the test] thinking they get their energy from being quiet and having solitude. Thats false. We have good evidence that introverts get energised by the same things that extroverts are. Its just they need less of it to get energised and are more easily overstimulated.

In some cases, Grant believes, Myers-Briggs is particularly unhelpful, for example when companies use it to select job candidates (CPP guidelines warn against this, stating: It is not ethical to use the MBTI instrument for hiring or for deciding job assignments.). There are ways it creates injustices, says Grant. It gives people an inaccurate understanding of themselves.

 Spencer Wilson

Critics have pointed out that Carl Jungs original theories, which provided the basis for the MBTI, were just that  theories. Indeed, Jung himself warned against overt categorisation of individuals, writing in Psychologische Typen: I am unsystematic very much by intention. We need a different language for every patient.

One former hedge-fund executive, who asked not to be named, says his firm began using the Myers-Briggs assessment on new job applicants a few years ago. He knows the test is not designed to be used to select candidates, so he was surprised to find that anyone that did not match the firms dominant personality type was deprioritised. Another management consultant says that during a multimillion-dollar corporate merger in 2015, the chief executive of the acquiring company asked the incoming management team to take the test. This boss explained to the newcomers that those who did not meet a preferred personality type would not be fired but weeded out over time.

Researching this article, I could find little academic research published in top-quality, peer-reviewed scientific journals into the accuracy or effectiveness of the MBTI. When I raised this apparent lack of evidence with Rich Thompson, CPPs director of research, he referred to the thousands of papers on the test available through Google Scholar, the internet search engines academic resource. Pressed for recent examples of studies published in major journals about Myers-Briggs, Thompson told me, Academics arent really looking at it right now.

 Spencer Wilson

Some psychologists believe that independent, peer-reviewed research in the decades since the MBTI was devised has provided something better than Myers-Briggs. They champion the notion of the Big Five personality traits  openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. Of these, only one trait is closely shared with the MBTI  extroversion. Myers-Briggs does not focus on neuroticism or, indeed, any similarly negative trait, which may point to one of the reasons why the criticisms lobbed at the test by modern science have yet to undermine its popularity. As Adam Grant says, Going around telling people that theyre neurotic and disagreeable will not win you any friends.

Speaking from CPPs headquarters in Sunnyvale, California, Hayes emphasises how, despite the emergence of newer personality tests, Myers-Briggs continues to expand its reach. Last year, the company translated the test into Hindi, Hebrew and Thai.

CPP has built a successful business model around Myers-Briggs, with money made from both sides of the questionnaire. On the one hand, would-be practitioners are charged about $1,600 each for a four-day training course enabling them to administer the test; on the other, companies that wish to use the test pay about $30 for every person who takes it.

Isabel Briggs-Myers in the mid-1970s  Courtesy of the Myers & Briggs Foundation

About 5,000 trained practitioners receive certification to deliver the test across 170 countries each year  and they are often its keenest advocates. While it may have been designed to help workers understand themselves, one of the tests side effects has been to transform human resources departments into oracles of organisational management capable of both sharing pearls of wisdom with their colleagues and creating an army of salespeople to proselytise on behalf of Myers-Briggs.

When, for instance, Alick Varma took the test at McKinsey, he was identified as an ENTP  Extrovert, Intuitive, Thinking and Perceptive; that is, someone who is creative, imaginative and clever, whose world is full of possibilities, interesting concepts and exciting challenges, and who uses their thinking primarily internally to analyse situations and their own ideas, and to plan. So it is perhaps not surprising that Varma, who in 2014 founded Osper  a London-based tech start-up providing mobile banking services for children  still makes use of insights derived from Myers-Briggs. He is careful with introverts, fearful of crowding them. They need to take time away in their own space, he reckons. When hiring new staff Varma will look for complementary skills . . . so I dont turn the whole company into ENTPs, because you need to have diversity.

Late last summer, I went to Milton Keynes, a half-hour train journey from London. From there, a 20-minute cab ride took me to Cranfield University, which appears suddenly at the end of the journey, as if plonked randomly in the middle of a field. The campus is filled with low-rise terraced homes for living quarters. Faculty buildings stand out for having a second storey.

Within these rather drab surroundings is the Cranfield School of Management, which runs a lucrative private practice advising international companies such as RBS, LOreal and Shell, for which it organises executive training programmes and organisational development courses. This is big business. According to the professional services group Deloitte, the global corporate training industry was worth an estimated $135bn in 2013.

Cranfield had organised a battery of personality tests for me to take under the instruction of David Deegan, the schools executive development director. A man with an inscrutable face and a white goatee, he draws information from me by declining to interrupt until I choose to shut up. These tactics mean our session takes hours.

the US housewife and writer Katharine Cook Briggs with her daughter Isabel, the eventual creator of the test, c1905  Courtesy of the Myers & Briggs Foundation

He starts by administering the MBTI. More informed than when I first took the test, I find myself more sceptical of its results. To determine whether Im more sensing or intuitive, Deegan asks me to describe what I see in a photograph. Spotting an easel and shelves full of canvases, I venture that it must be an artists home. From this and subsequent answers, Deegan deduces Im intuitive; a sensing type would focus on precise details, such as the three pictures on the easel and five canvases on the second shelf.

Deegan then asks how I put together flat-pack furniture. I tell him I follow Ikeas instructions to the letter, laying out parts in advance so a bookcase is created in the precise order. This suggests Im a senser; an intuitive type might wonder how the furniture fits best in a room and alter its design accordingly.

So what am I, a sensing or intuitive type? Im probably somewhere in between. Psychologists say personality traits fall along a continuum, with behaviour affected by our mood and the circumstances we face in any given moment. The test chops you, says John Rust from the University of Cambridge. It leads people to believe they have a type, which is more like astrology.

Later, I take a different test, the Hogan suite of assessments, which, says Deegan, is built around data gathered from research into the Big Five. Hogan, which costs 250 to take per person, also has its corporate fans: Intel and Hewlett-Packard, for example, tell me that while they no longer use Myers-Briggs they do use Hogan.

Hogan requires subjects to fill out a number of questionnaires that together take about an hour to complete. Candidates are given statements such as I hold grudges for a long time and I was born to do great things and are then asked whether these are true or false. The overall results provide information about your bright side, the typical behaviours you exhibit at the best of times, but also your dark side, habits that emerge at times of stress and difficulty.

My dark side results show a tendency to be leisurely. This may mean that, when disagreeing with a bosss instructions, I may nod along but refuse to do the task. When I say this could also be described as being two-faced, Deegan says a better characterisation is passively resistant. Either way, the observation stings. Ive watched executives go through this assessment and say it feels like they have just been punched in the face, says Adam Grant. But its a really useful punch in the face. If it helps you identify blind spots, patterns or mistakes that youre predisposed to, in the long run it may be useful for your career or personal growth.

Over a cup of tea in his office, Richard Kwiatkowski, a senior lecturer in organisational psychology at Cranfield, discusses the merits of the hundreds of psychometric instruments on the market. The university includes the MBTI as part of the courses it runs for businesses but also offers many alternatives. The gold standard, in Kwiatkowskis view, is a 360 assessment, which gives the user the results from questionnaires together with feedback from colleagues to create a more rounded view of their personality. The cost of such a bespoke assessment is up to 8,000. Myers-Briggs, says Kwiatkowski, remains a useful tool: Its a starting point, giving us a common language to think about these things.

By 1983, 750,000 people were taking the test annually. In 1993, three million took it. Revenues related to it are estimated to be about $20m a year

Witty and unfailingly polite, Kwiatkowski also quickly gets distracted, jumping up to grab one of the many files and textbooks that pack his walls, searching for evidence to support his arguments. As he leafs through a ringbinder, I spot a stack of VHS tapes in the corner, including movies such as Men in Black and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and I pause to wonder how much information I might need to assess his personality type.

With his knowledge of Myers-Briggs and Hogan, I imagine it has only taken the lecturer minutes to pin me down as an extrovert. But, he insists, individuals are enormously complex, with personalities beyond precise measurement. You must go through life constantly assessing peoples personality types, I observe. No I dont, replies Kwiatkowski, with a smile. Because Im a human being and I have to function.

Murad Ahmed is the FTs European technology correspondent

Illustrations by Spencer Wilson

Photographs: courtesy of the Myers & Briggs Foundation



Below are a few examples of questions from Form M, the basic version of the Indicator, according to CPP. The numbers and Parts refer to the whole 93-question assessment, which CPP suggests would take approximately 20 minutes to complete. In 1984, CPP published an expanded 144-question version of the MBTI, Form Q, which is offered to clients looking for a finer level of detail.
I am often asked by vast pillars of the financial services community to sing for my supper.

I do it  public speaking  not for the pocket money (very occasionally I get paid), nor for charity, although Brathay Trust has done quite well from my singing over the past four years.

Nor do I do it because I particularly enjoy it. Far from it.

Looking back, the only speeches I have really enjoyed giving were those to celebrate the departure of Martin Ritchley from the helm of the good ship Coventry Building Society (I managed to extract a laugh from a room of building society executives which is quite an achievement, I can tell you) and one I gave to a conference of mutual bosses in Gdansk, where most of the delegates did not know what I was rattling on about, which was perfect.

Public speaking is 10 times, no 100 times, more difficult than putting pen to paper. Abuse is guaranteed, immediate and often vitriolic. I remember a particularly fraught breakfast encounter with a bunch of building society chief executives in the Midlands when I was harangued from start to finish.

To add to the pain, I do not breathe in the right places. I become a bag of nerves. If only I possessed a smidgen of the talent that the late Terry Wogan had (I loved that man).

Most of the time I speak at dinners and conferences because the financial services industry wants to understand how their businesses are viewed from the outside. By the general public, readers of the Mail on Sunday.

I do it because I think I should. Not because I want to. Public duty and all that, although I find it rather alarming that big chunks of the financial services industry seem oblivious to what really turns customers on  value for money, backed by stellar customer service.

A couple of weeks ago I was honoured to speak at a gathering of the Vampire Squids at the Bleeding Heart restaurant in London, in its time one of my favourite lunchtime drinking holes (no, I do not do it any more).

Of course, vampire squids are deep-sea cephalopods that journey the worlds tropical oceans. It, the vampire squid, is also a name given to investment bank Goldman Sachs by journalist Matt Taibbi.

Writing in Rolling Stone magazine in 2009, Mr Taibbi said: The first thing you need to know about Goldman Sachs is that it is everywhere. The worlds most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.

The vampire squids I encountered at the Bleeding Heart were far more pleasant. They were no more than an eclectic mix of financial services experts that like to meet every so often to chew the financial cud and make sense of the world they make a decent living from. They are fronted by the delightful Lucian Camp (a leading brand consultant).
Following my article of 28 January, Advisers must save people from themselves, I was pleased to see some online comments respectfully disagreeing with some of the points I made.

It was an unusual reaction, you may think. However, I believe it is great to see advisers debating a topical issue which means a lot to them. All the more so, when the foundation of all of our stances is the same  how best to advise clients.

There are a few cases where cashing a final salary pension early may be in the clients interest

In this case, my view is that George Osborne should restrict pension freedoms for current members of final salary schemes at the next Budget or, at the very least, ensure it is available only at their normal retirement date. I also accept that there are a few exceptional cases where one could argue that cashing a final salary pension early may be in the clients interest. There are a few cases where cashing a final salary pension early may be in the clients interest

Of course, nobody wants to deprive a client of access to their own money and, equally, nobody wants to see a client take action which is to their financial detriment. As financial advisers, we have a duty of care which I believe includes protecting clients from themselves.

Until less than a year ago, access to pension funds was unavailable anyway; it is therefore not some fundamental right that has been around forever. I am also very concerned for those advisers with clients in final salary schemes who are advised on all the facts but who still make choices with potentially cataclysmic consequences for their financial future.

I believe it is inevitable that many of these clients will re-surface as complainants in years to come, claiming that they were either given inadequate information to understand the full impact of their actions or that, as a vulnerable client, they should not have been allowed to do what they did.

You do not need to be a genius to visualise what the ambulance chasers adverts will say as, once again, they try to put the blame on financial advisers.

It is also absolutely certain that the Government will wash its hands of responsibility for the debacle and leave financial advisers and the FSCS to pick up the potentially huge liabilities.

I appreciate we may never be in total agreement about the answer to this predicament; however, I heartily welcome the debate as I believe it shows that advisers are passionate about what they do and equally passionate about ensuring that their clients receive the highest quality of advice.

Ken Davy is chairman of The SimplyBiz Group
Brown Shipley chief investment officer Kevin Doran is to become head of research and strategy at the firms parent company.

His new role with KBL European Private Bankers will see him manage a group-wide investment research team, bringing together all research from across KBLs subsidiaries.

Brown Shipley said it would review its investment committee prior to Mr Dorans move on March 31. The managers duties on the 110m Sterling Bond fund, which he has run for almost 15 years, will be handed over to current deputy manager Matt Brennan.

Mr Doran was first CIO at Brown Shipley between 2004 and 2008 and then reassumed the role in 2014. He joined the firm in 1998.

Ian Sackfield, Brown Shipley CEO, said: Thanks to the greater coordination and access to research from across the group, clients will benefit from an even greater pool of resource and investment expertise.

Moreover, the group-wide research platform gives Brown Shipley the potential to deliver a genuinely unique offer in the UK marketplace.
Zurich Insurance has reported full year operating profits of $2.9bn (2bn), a 37 per cent slide against the previous year.

This follows market challenges from the groups general insurance business which saw twice the normal level of loss and weather-related claims.

Net income attributed after tax to shareholders was down 53 per cent to $1.8bn (1.25bn), compared with $3.9bn (2.7bn) in 2014.

Meanwhile, Zurich UK Life saw operating profits dip by 2 per cent in 2015, falling to 113m from 115m.

According to the insurers full year results, Zurichs position strengthened in the latter half of the year due to increased protection profits, leaving the underlying profits in the UK life arm broadly the same as 2014.

In August last year, Zurich UK Life saw business operating profit slump 17 per cent during the first half of 2015, which was blamed on one-off costs and lower bond yields.

Changes to its legacy business, including the sale of its annuity back book, also contributed to positive movements in the second half of 2015.

New business value, however, was up 5 per cent on the previous year, reaching 131m, which Zurich said was helped by growth in its wealth business due to the expansion of its retail platform.

Jim Sykes, interim chief executive of Zurich UK Life, said the provider has been faced with challenging economic conditions, including falls across global stock markets.

He said investments made in new propositions earlier in the year have started to pay off, with its Horizon fund range achieving strong sales in the last quarter of 2015.

The firm has also seen growth in its pension drawdown business in light of the retirement reforms.

We will continue to adapt to the changing market conditions, Mr Sykes said. Customer needs are shifting, hastened by landmark reforms such as pension freedom and auto-enrolment, while the ever-increasing use of technology has fundamentally changed the way that advisers and their clients access information and interact with us.

This backdrop, together with a more complex tax environment and growing responsibility being transferred from the state to the individual, means that our products and services are increasingly needed to help consumers put themselves in greater control of their financial future.

Meanwhile, the groups general insurance arm saw business operating profit skrink by a third, hitting 62m in 2015, against 2014s figure of 213m.

These large losses were due to the flooding at the end of the year, which were as predicted in the groups announcement in January.

Alex Reynolds, IFA at Advies Private Clients, said the figures were surprising, but added it is a difficult market for insurers at the moment.

Zurich is obviously a multi-talented business in that they do both personal and general insurance, so I assume they would have had a lot of claims to do with weather and have had to absorb that.

Whether an insurer makes a profit or a loss you are choosing that insurer based on what they are currently offering, so I wouldnt have any fears about using them for personal or general insurance going forward.
Advisers could find themselves out of a job if developments in artificial intelligence continue to gather pace, Phil Goffin has warned.

Speaking at an event organised by Tisa in London today (11 February) the director of innovation at technology provider IFDS said the next development in robo-advice would be cognitive computing.

Cognitive computing is a form of software that mimics the human brain and is able to weigh up problems which dont necessarily have a right answer.

It is already being developed by companies such as IBM, Google and Facebook.

Mr Goffin said breakthroughs in this technology could see advisers being made redundant.

He said: The reality is you dont need that person there. The UK has said that by 2020 35 per cent of the UKs workforce will disappear through computing power.

Your financial adviser has a really challenging future. The only way to have a future is to embrace that technology and add value on top, which is where the smart companies will go but it is hard to create a value proposition with that. The only way to have a future is to embrace that technology and add value on top, which is where the smart companies will go.

When this will happen is now. Within five years it will be in the market properly for computers. Robo-advice in the way we are talking about it now has a limited lifespan.

This would pose questions for companies which have already invested in robo-advice, Mr Goffin said.

He said: Our industry has invested in legacy technology and thats not a good thing.

We are struggling as an industry to move up to the next level. This industry is struggling with cloud technology and the cloud is ubiquitous.

If you look at what the consumer gets from the asset management industry it is woefully inadequate.

One of the examples Mr Goffin gave was IBMs development of Watson, a computer capable of answering questions which has won US quiz show Jeopardy and which has been used to help diagnose patients.

Mr Goffin complained the development of fintech within the asset management sector has been moving at a glacial pace compared to banks.

He added that incumbent firms could have an advantage over start-ups because they have deployable capital, strong brands and diversified products.

Phil Stevenson, director of Cheshire-based Ark Financial Planning, said: It is nonsense. I dont think robo-advice is nonsense and there is absolutely a market for it but it will not take away from what we do.

It is a people business and people like dealing with people.
The industry must address the fact that most consumers equate investment with gambling, which means there is an overwhelming reliance on cash, according to BlackRocks managing director of UK retail.

Speaking at a Tax Incentivised Savings Association event this morning (11 February), Tony Stenning said an over reliance on cash - backed by his firms recent survey - is increasingly creating real problems for society.

We need to develop industry-wide rules of thumb, which can be communicated simply to consumers, he stated, adding that while digital presents an opportunity, things like robo-advice are not the panacea.

Many people aged over 55 are worried about their retirement, but the data shows that few have sought guidance or advice since the freedoms were introduced. Confidence in financial services and their own financial capability is abysmally low.

BlackRocks research, which takes in over 4,000 UK consumers, found allocations to cash are 41 per cent, versus the 33 per cent they think they should ideally hold.

In terms of millennials, 62 per cent said investing is like gambling and despite their longer investment horizon, they hold high amounts of cash - 70 per cent of their portfolio is in cash or cash like investments.

Mr Stennings comments were backed by Henderson Global Investors head of customer strategy Steve Jenner, who reiterated Tisas research and requests for a kitemarked guidance framework to be introduced.

Guidance currently stops short of product purchase, providers are too scared to be seen straying into recommendations, so we need a safe harbour of non-complex product options.

We need to level the playing field between the guidance that the Money Advice Service can give and what product providers can say without straying into recommendations.

The Tisa event was focused on the Financial Advice Market Review, but as Tisas head of policy strategy development Peter Smith admitted, neither the regulator or government were present as they are currently unable to comment on the consultation.

Mr Smith said he was told that the FAMR had received 280 responses and thanked industry participants for backing Tisas official response to the review.

peter.walker@ft.com
Phil Reid, HSBC Global Asset Managements UK distribution head, is to join Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) as head of wholesale.

Mr Reid, who is expected to take up the role around mid-March, will look to expand distribution beyond clients including wealth managers and multi-managers, with a focus on broadening into the advisory space.

His appointment comes after RLAMs former head of wholesale Ian Goulsbra left last year to join Canada Life Investments.

Rob Williams, RLAMs head of distribution, told Investment Adviser: We will be expanding the size of the team and broadening out the types of client in the wholesale space.

Mr Williams said RLAM would be looking to launch a number of new funds this year, including additional absolute return fixed income vehicles.

The company continues its plans to launch a multi-asset proposition for Trevor Greetham, though the date for this remains unconfirmed.

Andy Clark, chief executive of HSBC Global Asset Management, said: Phil Reid decided to leave the firm and pursue other opportunities. We wish him all the best and will announce his replacement shortly.
MILLER Please accept my sincere thanks for the ones who sent cards for my 90th birthday and also the ones who planned the party at the Tower. Also, thank to...
Story Highlights 17% of Americans mention the economy as top problem

A net of 39% name an economic issue as most important

Democrats, independents more likely than GOP to name jobs

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans in February are slightly more likely to name the economy generally as the "most important problem facing the country" than they have been in the last two months. Seventeen percent of Americans name this issue as the top problem, up from 13% last month and 9% in December. In those months, the government and terrorism were more prominent in Americans' minds, edging out the economy as the No. 1 problem.

In addition to the economy, at least 10% of U.S. adults mention dysfunctional government, immigration and unemployment/jobs as the top problem facing the nation.

The 7% of U.S. adults who name national security as the most important problem is higher than at any point since 2004. Seven percent of Americans also mentioned terrorism in February, but that is down from 9% in January and 16% in December as Americans responded to the Paris and San Bernardino, California, terrorist attacks. Mentions of guns and gun control as the top problem also fell in February to 2%, after 7% named this issue in January and December.

Altogether, 39% of Americans named some economic issue -- including the economy in general, unemployment/jobs, the federal budget, wages and others -- as the most important problem in February. That is up from less than 30% in December and January.

Republicans, Democrats Differ on What Is Most Important

While the economy in general ranked as a top issue among Republicans, independents and Democrats, partisans differ in what else they perceive to be most important. Republicans are more likely than Democrats and independents to name the federal budget deficit, immigration and national security. Democrats and independents are more likely than Republicans to name unemployment or jobs as most important. Democrats are also slightly more likely than independents and Republicans to name race relations, education and healthcare.

Bottom Line

The economy and unemployment are again prominent in Americans' minds as important problems, while noneconomic issues such as terrorism have faded. This could be important to Washington lawmakers as they attempt to agree on the next budget. President Barack Obama presented Congress with a budget outline, but Republican congressional leaders immediately rejected it.

As far as average Americans are concerned, the most pressing priority for the nation is keeping the economy vibrant and growing, fixing the way government itself operates, dealing with immigration and keeping the nation safe, especially from terrorism.

Exactly how well any final budget will address Americans' priorities for the nation remains to be seen. Obama's proposed budget continues to have a deficit, and 6% of Americans consider the federal budget deficit to be the most important problem facing the U.S. However, the president's proposed budget also has significant spending to help young Americans get their first job and plans to reform unemployment insurance, both of which could respond to the 10% of Americans who say unemployment is the most important problem.

On the campaign front, several Republican candidates continue to talk about national security and stopping terrorism. These issues speak to fellow Republicans, for whom national security and terrorism are among the most important problems facing the country, but not to independents and Democrats, who are less likely to name these issues.

Historical data are available in Gallup Analytics.

Survey Methods

Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Feb. 3-7, 2016, on the Gallup U.S. Daily survey, with a random sample of 1,021 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 survey methodology, complete question responses and trends.

Learn more about how Gallup Poll Social Series works.
A Pinch of Salt: To vote now or to vote later  that is the question
Legislative leaders on Wednesday did their best to put a happy face on the latest economic forecast from the states Office of Economic Analysis, and, to be fair, the forecast did contain some good news:

To quote the report itself: Oregon continues to see full-throttle rates of growth. Job gains are outpacing the typical state, as are wages for Oregon workers.

The report also noted that the improving economy finally is pulling workers back into the labor market.

Thats all good news. And estimates still peg the amount of revenue available for the states current budget at about $18 billion, down just a bit (some $23 million) from what was projected last December. In other words, legislators can go about their business without making any big cuts in the state budget. Thats good news as well.

But shadows lurk just beyond this most recent forecast, and legislators and other government officials need to be preparing now to deal with some gloomier economic days.

State economists didnt mince words about the prospects beyond this current two-year budget cycle, which ends in June 2017. Although Oregons economy continues to grow, national (and global) worries mount, and they will take their toll.

Again, in the words of the report: Sharp recent declines in equity prices and corporate profits have led to a reduction in the revenue forecast going forward. In particular, Oregons budget depends heavily on personal income tax collections tied to realizations of capital gains and taxable dividends. ... Much of the pain will be felt during the 2017-19 biennium and beyond.

Thats not a sunny outlook, especially when you take into account another big shadow that looms over the 2017-19 budget cycle  and for many budget cycles after that.

State Treasurer Ted Wheeler last week reported that the states Public Employees Retirement System fund enjoyed a 2.1 percent return on investment in 2015. Thats not bad; as The Oregonian reported, that beat the performance of the Standard & Poors index.

But heres the catch: The systems assumed rate of return for 2015 was 7.75 percent. The upshot, according to The Oregonian: The PERS unfunded liability grew by another 20 percent, from about $18 billion at the end of 2014 to about $21 billion at the end of last year.

This comes on top of the big increases that governmental entities already will be paying into the PERS system beginning with the 2017-19 budget cycle. Sen. Tim Knopp, a Bend Republican who actually had the gall to introduce a bill this session that included some PERS reforms, had this to say about the budget prospects: The budget for next session is a disaster.

Knopps PERS reform bill, of course, didnt get a hearing in this years short session.

Gov. Kate Brown, to her credit, did issue a note of caution on Wednesday, saying that she wanted to add money to the states reserve funds, currently at $800 million. Thats a good impulse, and one the Legislature should follow. But we still worry that even an extra hundred million or so might amount to little more than fingers in a dike thats about to give way.
Court hearing : Asylum seeker jailed

Bonn An asylum seeker from north Africa is sentenced to jail. He is a repeat offender accused of multiple thefts.

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He has abused (German) hospitality considerably. Those were the words of Judge Claudia Gelber at the court appeal Wednesday of a 26-year-old asylum-seeker from north Africa. The man arrived in Germany in 2014, and has been charged with several offenses during his time here. His sentences had always been suspended, but now he will face a 6-month jail sentence with no chance of parole. He is charged with theft and false accusations.

Trained as a painter, the north African asylum-seeker lives near Detmold. In May of this year, he stole a womans purse from the back of her bike as she was pushing it across Marktplatz in Bonn. Shortly after that, he stopped at a Caritas stand and asked for directions to the Hauptbahnhof (central train station). After he left the stand, a man who had also been there noticed his wallet was missing and he gave chase to the 26-year-old. Pedestrians helped by blocking the suspect, who fell and hurt himself on his face and hands. The north African man lied to police that he had been the victim. He said he was chased, strangled and beaten by those chasing after him. Police took him into custody while investigating.

In Cologne, the asylum-seeker had been given a 6-month suspended sentence for theft. On Rosenmontag in February 2015, police saw how he and an accomplice got close to a woman and stole her cell phone. On December 29, 2015, he was arrested again for stealing and put in jail. He will answer for that crime in a Cologne court tomorrow. Further charges await him in Siegburg where he is charged with causing bodily injury, damage to property and resisting arrest.

Because he is accused with numerous crimes and still faces court hearings and sentencings, calls for an appeal were denied. The accused man protested that he wouldnt steal again but the judge called his statement mere lip service.
Refugee stabbing : Attack in Duisdorf refugee center

Foto: Marcel Dorsing

Bonn-Duisdorf A Somalian man at a refugee center in Duisdorf stabbed another man living there, sending him to the hospital with serious injuries. Police arrested the suspect at the scene.

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Seriously injured in an attack with a knife, a 29-year-old Moroccan man was taken from a refugee center in Duisdorf to the hospital. His injuries were not life threatening. Police received an emergency call at around 3:50 p.m. on Wednesday. One man was threatening another with a knife.

When police arrived at the scene, the suspect, who police say is from Somalia, was taken into police custody without offering any resistance. Apparently, three men were present at the time of the altercation. The latest information indicates that the 29-year-old Moroccan man was hanging out in the sleeping area with a 25-year-old friend when the knife-wielding man burst in. The incident is being investigated by homicide detectives, who are working with prosecutors. It is being viewed as an attempted murder.

In August of this past year, a 23-year-old refugee at the Paulusheim refugee shelter stabbed a 27-year-old there. He resisted arrest and was taken into police custody after police fired a warning shot. The man, from Guinea, was found to have psychological problems.
Bei einem Verkehrsunfall am Dienstagmorgen in Eitorf-Halft wurde ein 49-jahriger Bornheimer todlich verletzt. Foto: dpa

Rhine-Sieg-County A series of burglaries and attempted burglaries occurred in Hennef and Troisdorf during the daytime and early evening on Tuesday. Police are asking anyone with information to come forward.

Residents left their home for only two hours on Tuesday evening, from 5:45  7:45 p.m., while thieves used the opportunity to break into their duplex on Unter dem Dachsenberg Strae in Hennef. Burglars were able to pry open the patio door and gain access to the home. They searched through various rooms and stole gold jewelry of an unknown value.

On the same day, burglars broke into a triplex on Schlostrae in Troisdorf between 9:30 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. It is unknown how the thieves got into the building but once they were in, they broke in the door of the ground floor apartment. Stolen were a Notebook, Smartphone and other electronic devices with a total estimated worth of 2,500 Euro. Burglars also attempted to get into a row house in Troisdorf am Schwarzwaldweg am Rotter See. But the robbers were not able to open the well-secured aluminum door to gain access to the home. Damage to the door was estimated at 500 Euro.
Books not bombs for Sudan refugees

By Albert Gonzalez Farran

YIDA, 9 February 2016 (IRIN) - One of the first stops for people fleeing the conflict in Sudan's South Kordofan region is the town of Yida, 20 kilometres across the border in South Sudan.

The town shelters more than 70,000 Sudanese refugees who have set up homes, businesses and have established themselves within the local community.

But now, in an effort to decongest Yida and provide better services, the government and humanitarian partners are trying to persuade them to relocate to an official camp in Ajuong Thonk, further south in Unity State.

It was established in 2013 to shelter civilians fleeing the fighting between the Sudanese government and rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).

The camp shelters 31,000  a population that has more than doubled over the course of 2015  and is likely to expand further still with the end of the rainy season, which will ease travel across the border.

The government has been asking people to move for two years. Now it has set a deadline  it wants all refugees to relocate from Yida by July.

Resistance to moving

With the camp in Ajuong Thonk fully operational, "we will encourage them to go there gradually," explained John Dabi, deputy chairman of the Commission for Refugee Affairs.

But the response from refugees in Yida has not been uniformly positive.

"We don't want to move," said Mohammed Ahmed Idrif, a community leader from Al Garbia, South Kordofan. "It's cheaper and easier for us here."

Idrif, who arrived in South Sudan more than two years ago, explained that Yida's proximity to the border means he can cross back and forth to check on his village whenever the fighting permits.

The downside of living in Yida is that the humanitarian organisations only provide emergency food  not the full panoply of services available in Ajuong Thonk  and even those rations might be squeezed as an inducement to move.

"Why don't the humanitarian organisations bring all the assistance to Yida, where most of the refugees are?" complained Idrif, who heads a family of eight.

Too close to the conflict

Yida is an important economic centre for both the host community and refugees. It boasts markets, farms, transport services and basic schools. An announcement on 27 January by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir opening the border with South Sudan merely recognised the existing reality.

"Sudanese fleeing the conflict in the war-torn Nuba Mountains will continue to use irregular routes to seek asylum in South Sudan. Using a border crossing point manned by Sudanese government officials would not be an option for them for obvious protection reasons," said Rocco Nuri, spokesman for the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.

But they are fleeing into a region hit by food shortages as a result of South Sudan's own conflict. The UN has warned that the country is facing unprecedented levels of hardship, with people displaced by fighting further south in Unity State at particular risk in the coming dry season, between April and July.

UNHCR supports the government's decision to relocate the refugees, arguing that Yida is too close to the border and the fighting to the north. Its proximity "creates threats to the security of refugees and undermines the principle of the civilian character of asylum," said Nuri.

Yida is inside "a military area," explained Dabi. "We need to keep the refugees away from it."

Rebel JEM and SPLM-N combatants are a constant presence in Yida, and it's known that some of them have relatives among the refugees. Although part of Sudan, South Kordofan is home to many pro-South Sudan communities. Protesting their marginalisation, they fought alongside southern rebels in a war that culminated in independence for South Sudan in 2011.

Desperate education needs

Ajuong Thonk has its attractions. It boasts in-camp roads, a primary healthcare centre, three primary schools, a secondary school and a computer lab.

Saddam Tia, 17, walked for more than two days with his 10-year-old cousin, Hassan, to reach South Sudan from their village of Angolo. A Sudanese government airstrike killed his mother, destroyed his school, and he doesn't know the whereabouts of his father.

"I just want to continue my education in the refugee camp and become a doctor," he told IRIN.

Around 60 percent of Sudanese refugees are minors, looking for an opportunity to complete school in South Sudan. Some 11,000 students receive primary and secondary education in Ajuong Thok, supported by NGOs, the UNHCR and the South Sudanese government.

The irony is that more than half South Sudan's own children are out of school  the highest rate in the world  largely as a consequence of its own civil war, which broke out in 2013. During the conflict, schools have been destroyed or turned into barracks, with children increasingly conscripted into the ranks of government and rebel forces.

Elizabeth Aldukun travelled for three days from her home village of Amdorein in South Kordofan with six children. "I came to South Sudan because my husband fled to Khartoum and I need to give a better future to my kids," she told IRIN in Ajuong Thok.

"Wouldn't it be better if the humanitarian organisations could bring all these services to our original villages [in the north]," she added.

Despite being one of the poorest countries in the world, South Sudan hosts more than 263,000 refugees, mostly from Sudan. neighbouring Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopia. The number is expected to reach 300,000 this year.

As a result of South Sudan's conflict, as many as 2.8 million people  nearly 25 percent of the population  are in urgent need of food assistance, the UN warned this week.

agf/oa/ag

Theme (s): Aid Policy, Conflict, Refugees/IDPs,

Copyright  IRIN 2016

This material comes to you via IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations or its Member States.

IRIN is a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

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Attaches use C-12 to support humanitarian efforts in Maldives

By Lt. Col. Steve Marshall, U.S. Defense Attache Office, Bangkok / Published February 10, 2016

BANGKOK (AFNS) -- Members of the Bangkok Defense Attache Office recently completed a humanitarian mission to the Maldives.

Working with DAO Colombo, the Colombo U.S. Embassy political office and the Special Operations Command-Pacific, the Bangkok DAO delivered medical supplies and books to some of the more remote atolls in the Maldives. The Bangkok and Colombo attaches also met with local leaders and the Maldivian National Defense Force leadership.

"This was a great chance to use the C-12 (Huron) to access one of the more remote islands and deliver aid directly to those in need," said Capt. Mike Reed, the Colombo U.S. Embassy Civil Military Support Element chief. "Despite what many westerners might consider primitive conditions, the locals are extremely welcoming and hospitable."

"The Maldivian locals opened their lives to us without question; we found it professionally and personally rewarding to engage both the local villagers and the MNDF," said Jacob English, a Colombo DAO defense liaison officer.

The C-12 crew from Bangkok agreed missions like this one exemplify the power of joint and interagency effort on the ground during "phase zero" operations. Phase zero refers to the concept of taking coordinated action in peacetime to affect the strategic environment. Long-term partnerships are built with continual effort and presence. Often, remote locations like the Maldivian atolls are difficult places to advance U.S. interests, but it is in these remote locations where advancement of those interests is most critical.

"The power of the Defense Attache Service C-12 to enable synergy between the DAS, SOCPAC, and Department of State is unparalleled in austere situations like the Maldives or parts of Africa, and the Air Force and Navy team at DAO Bangkok is proud to be a part of that force multiplier," said Col. Dave Diehl, a C-12 pilot and Bangkok air attache.

Beyond the critical phase zero operations, the flying was not exactly boring either. The Huron is specifically used by the attache service to access locations where commercial service is limited or not available. The C-12 in Bangkok is always in high demand to provide support to other DAOs in the region, and has been used in Vietnam, Malaysia, Myanmar and Cambodia.

During this visit, the Huron provided the means to transport humanitarian supplies which not only helped local Maldivians in immediate need, but opened many doors to local leaders and defense officials. By the end of the mission the C-12 crew was able to land at six different Maldivian airports, including two never before visited by U.S. military aircraft.

"It was both fun and rewarding for the crew making it all happen," Diehl said. "The pilots leaned heavily on their C-130 (Hercules) experience on the short fields and Master Sgt. Brian Roberts used all his skills acquired as a former crew chief to help with minor maintenance and cargo loading, all critical to mission accomplishment."

The mission overall was deemed a great success by SOCPAC and the embassy in Colombo. The attaches were thanked and invited back with the C-12 as soon as possible. The DAO Bangkok crew is already planning the next mission and should use lessons learned on this flight to increase efficiency on the next go-around both in the Maldives and as they support other regional partners.

"Executing these missions both regionally and within Thailand showcases the United States as a partner who cares, and it is defense attaches and the DAS C-12s at the forefront of that effort," Diehl said.

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OIR Spokesman: Counter-ISIL Progress Continues

By Terri Moon Cronk DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, February 10, 2016  As Iraqi security forces make progress in the campaign to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Canada's vow this week to expand its contributions in the fight is a welcomed commitment, Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren said today.

Warren noted in his weekly counter-ISIL operational update via videoconference from Baghdad that the Canadian government announced on Feb. 8th that it plans to triple the size of its train, advise and assist mission. A move that is welcomed, the colonel added.

"Canada will increase its compliment of military personnel to approximately 830," he said. "They will deploy troops at various headquarters to further support planning, targeting and intelligence. As part of these efforts, Canada will deploy medical personnel to train Iraqi medics and to provide medical support to coalition members."

Warren added, "Canada will also provide equipment such as small arms, ammunition and optics to assist in the training of Iraqi security forces."

The Canadians "have been a trusted and valuable partner of this coalition since the beginning of the campaign, whether it's providing aerial refueling and surveillance aircraft or trainers to advise and assist, they've shown great resolve and continue to enable this fight," the colonel said.

Gains Continue, Despite Threats

As clearance operations continue in Iraqi-controlled Ramadi, "untold thousands of [improvised explosive devices]" remain in the city, Warren said, and threats persist from enemy harassing attacks and acts of terror.

In other areas, Iraqi forces still retain and defend territory between Beiji and Tikrit, he said.

Peshmerga forces continue to hold and improve their defensive positions in Sinjar, Warren noted, adding coalition forces conducted four airstrikes in that area since last week.

Iraqi forces continue clearing operations near Fallujah along the Tharthar Canal, he said. In northern Iraq, Warren said, the coalition conducted 19 airstrikes last week in Mosul.

"The Islamic State has not gained a single inch of territory in Iraq in months," he said.

The Battle in Syria

Coalition airstrikes also were conducted against the Omar Gas and Oil Separation Plant in Dayr ez Zawr, Syria, Warren said.

Videos of the airstrikes on the plant demonstrate "the extraordinary precision of our airstrikes, which stands in stark contrast to the reckless indiscriminate bombing campaign that's been waged by the Russians," he said.

Vetted Syrian opposition forces remain in their defensive position along the Mara line, the colonel said, while Aleppo's situation is monitored.

"We're concerned with the reduced humanitarian access and continued strikes by the Russians and the Syrians [while] thousands of civilians are suffering," Warren said. "The situation in and around Aleppo has become, in our view, increasingly dire."

Yesterday's U.N. report accused the Syrian regime of 'inhumane actions' against Syrian civilians on a scale that, in the U.N.'s words, 'amounts to extermination,' he added.

Aleppo's two main hospitals have been destroyed by Russian and regime attacks, Warren said, and more than 50,000 Syrians are without any access to live-saving assistance.

While humanitarian organizations try to respond, ongoing Russian and Syrian military operations make access to people in need increasingly difficult, he said.

"ISIL is virtually nonexistent in that part of Syria," Warren said. "Russia can no longer credibly claim its airstrikes there are doing anything other than supporting regime forces.

Warren described Russia's airstrikes as "recklessness [and] indiscriminate  [in] what I would refer to as a strategically short-sighted vision of operations inside of Syria."

Even though Russia has said it would fight ISIL, Russian actions "have done nothing except prop up [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad, who we know is the root of the problem in Syria. And we don't see a future Syria that has Assad in it," Warren said.

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U.S. Department of Defense

Press Operations

News Release

No. NR-049-16 February 10, 2016

Readout of Secretary Carter's Meeting with Czech Minister of Defense Martin Stropnicky

Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook provided the following readout:

Today Secretary of Defense Ash Carter met with Czech Minister of Defense Martin Stropnicky on the sidelines of the NATO Defense Minsterial in Brussels. This was their first meeting.

Secretary Carter and Minister Stropnicky discussed U.S.-Czech collaboration in the counter-ISIL campaign and Czech contributions to European security and Afghanistan.

Secretary Carter thanked Minister Stropnicky for the Czech Republic's recent decision to provide additional weapons and ammunition to the counter-ISIL fight, and they discussed other potential Czech contributions to the campaign.

Secretary Carter expressed support for the Czech Republic's efforts to increase defense spending and modernize its military, and recognized the Czech Republic for the active role they are taking in NATO air policing, military exercises, and supporting the movement of U.S. military convoys.

Secretary Carter also thanked Minister Stropnicky for the Czech Republic's continued contributions in Afghanistan. The secretary concluded by recognizing the enduring defense relationship between the United States and the Czech Republic.

http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/653891/

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U.S. Department of Defense

Press Operations

News Release

No. NR-048-16 February 10, 2016

Readout of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter's Meeting with Canadian Minister of National Defense Harjit Sajjan

Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook provided the following readout:

Secretary of Defense Ash Carter met for the first time today with Canadian Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan at NATO headquarters in Brussels. The two discussed the counter-ISIL campaign, and the secretary reinforced the United States' commitment to intensify the fight against ISIL. He thanked the minister for Canada's announcement to triple their training mission in northern Iraq, double their intelligence effort, as well as expand their humanitarian and development contributions. The leaders also discussed how Canada will continue to contribute to the air campaign by conducting refueling and aerial surveillance operations.

Additionally, Secretary Carter and Minister Sajjan talked about the situation in Afghanistan. Both agreed that the Afghan security forces have made progress, but they will need additional support going forward.

Both reiterated the unbreakable bonds between the two countries and the importance of the longstanding military ties between the United States and Canada. They committed to stay in close communication.

http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/653572/

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Doorstep by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg

NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

Good morning.

Today and tomorrow, we will make decisions to strengthen our defence and deterrence.

And I expect the Defence Ministers to agree to enhance our forward presence in the eastern part of our Alliance.

This will send a clear signal. NATO will respond as one to any aggression against any Ally.

We have already significantly enhanced our presence and readiness of our forces.

Allies have committed the assets we need for air policing, maritime patrols and exercises.

The first six small headquarters or NATO Force Integration Units have been activated. And we are setting up two more in the near future.

At the end of last year, we agreed assurance measures for Turkey  with AWACS surveillance planes, air policing, an increased naval presence in the Mediterranean and in the Black Sea and we decided to continue the deployment of our Patriot batteries to augment the air defences of Turkey.

We are also doing more to deal with hybrid challenges.

I am pleased to announce that later today, NATO and the European Union will sign technical arrangements to enhance our cyber cooperation.

Our emergency response teams will have a structured framework for exchanging information and sharing best practices.

This is a concrete example of NATO and the EU working together to counter hybrid threats.

This afternoon, NATO Defence Ministers will have an exchange of views on how we take decisions in the face of hybrid threats from any direction.

This will help ensure that we have the necessary tools and procedures in place.

And it is part of NATO's continued adaptation.

We will also take steps to increase the resilience of our Alliance.

In terms of food and energy supplies, and transportation and communications networks.

This evening, we will meet with the European Union, as well as our partners Australia, Finland, Georgia, Jordan, and Sweden.

We will discuss how we can address together the challenges in our neighbourhood, to the south and to the east.

During the course of this ministerial, we will also discuss how NATO can support Allies in responding to the refugee and migrant crisis we see in Europe and close to Europe in the Middle East, Syria and Turkey. We will do so based on an initiative by Turkey.

Finally, the US has requested the use of NATO AWACS surveillance planes.

This can be done by backfilling national AWACS capabilities.

Thereby enabling the coalition fighting ISIL to conduct more strikes against ISIL.

I expect that ministers will endorse a positive response to this request.

Our military planners will then look into the details.

We will conclude tomorrow by a meeting of the NATO-Georgia Commission.

The review Georgia's progress in delivering defence reforms and the latest security developments will be on our agenda.

Now, I'm happy to take your questions.

Reuters: Today you are discussing the forward presence  why should such a forward presence deter Russia when it has such powerful air defence bubbles in Kaliningrad and in the Black Sea? Would you consider a permanent force in the Black Sea? Thank you.

SG: The increased readiness and the increased forward presence of our forces is a response and something which underlines that NATO is ready to defend all Allies against any threat regardless where it comes from. Our deterrence is based on this combination of forward presence combined with a strong ability to reinforce if needed. And what we are doing now is that we are both increasing our forward presence and at the same time increasing our ability to reinforce. This is a multinational force. And having a multinational forward presence is also a very strong signal of unity of the Alliance that an attack or any kind of aggression against one will be met by a strong response from all Allies together in the Alliance. So the forward presence of multinational forces is also a strong signal of the unity and collective defence of the Alliance.

WSJ: NATO has defined modern deterrence as a small forward presence. Why is that important? Is it because a small force is affordable or are you trying to be less provocative to Russia?

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg: This is because we believe that this is the best way of providing deterrence in a changed and new security environment. And we believe very much that we need to be flexible, we need to be able to reinforce if needed and we need this combination of forward presence and the ability to reinforce quickly if needed. And that's exactly why we are adapting and changing our defence posture. So we do that because we think that modern deterrence is this combination of forward presence and ability to reinforce and we are living in another time than we did during the Cold War when we had hundreds of thousands of troops massed along the borders, facing each other. We are adapting to a changed security environment. And therefore we think this is the best way to adapt to a modern security environment.

German TV: Regarding the Turkish pledge: what can/should NATO do concerning the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean Sea?

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg: We will discuss that during our meeting today and tomorrow. It is too early to conclude because I think it is important that we have this discussion among defence ministers. We all understand the concern and we all see the human tragedy and all the challenges which are connected to the migrant and the refugee crisis, which we have seen for many years in the Middle East but which has now become a great challenge for Europe. So, of course, when Allied Turkey and also other Allies raise the question of what NATO can do to help them to manage this refugee and migrant crisis, of course we will look very seriously into the request and discuss how we can follow-up and what NATO can do.

Deutsche Welle: Have you been in touch with other NATO Allies concerning the German/Turkish request already? And in case there is a decision, is it more likely to be a reconnaissance mission by air or by sea to fight the people smugglers?

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg: There have been different kinds of contacts and consultations but we will have a discussion among 28 Allies later on. The questions you ask about maritime capabilities or air surveillance and other kinds of capabilities that NATO possess are very relevant questions but I will not answer to those questions now because that's exactly those issues which we are going to look into and discuss and find how NATO is going to provide some of these assets or some of these capabilities to help cope with the refugee crisis to fight the smugglers.

GEO TV: Black Sea security strategy. Romania calls for permanent NATO Black Sea forces. Is it possible to involve Georgia in this strategy?

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg: NATO has already increased our presence in the Black Sea and we are following closely the developments in the Black Sea. We have increased our naval presence, we also have AWACS surveillance planes surveilling and being present in Romania, Bulgaria, and close to the Black Sea also in Turkey. We are constantly assessing the developments in the Black Sea including the implications for NATO and then we are adapting and that's exactly what we are doing when we are increasing our forward presence and also increasing our ability to reinforce and our efforts when it comes to surveillance, reconnaissance and intelligence in that region. We also work closely with Georgia, a close partner. The cooperation with Georgia, especially when it comes to the implementation of the substantial package is part of a very close partnership between Georgia and NATO. And of course that's also relevant for the challenges that we see in the Black Sea.

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Three confirmed died in Indonesian air force jet crash

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 15:40, February 10, 2016

JAKARTA, Feb. 10 -- Three people were confirmed dead when an Indonesian air force jet crashed from mid-air into a housing area in East Java's Malang on Wednesday morning.

The pilot, Major Ifi Safatilah, and a flight engineer, Saiful, died instantly as they reportedly ejected themselves out of the Super Tucano aircraft which crashed into a house at around 10 a.m., said Major Hamdi Londong, spokesman for the Abdul Rahman Saleh air force base.

A woman, who has been identified as Erna Wahyuningtyas and was in the house when the Brazilian-made jet crashed, didn't survive the injuries despite being taken to a hospital in Malang city, a local media also reported.

The deadly incident occurred during a flight test following routine maintenance on the aircraft. It crashed when it was coming down close to the base in Malang city.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation.

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NATO eastward build-up alarms potential aggressors: Stoltenberg

Iran Press TV

Wed Feb 10, 2016 4:33PM

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says the Western military alliance's build-up in eastern Europe is directed at any would-be aggressor.

Speaking at a news conference prior to the beginning of a two-day meeting of NATO defense ministers in the Belgian capital city of Brussels on Wednesday, Stoltenberg said he expected the officials to agree to a plan aimed at boosting the alliance's presence in eastern European countries.

'This will send a clear signal. NATO will respond as one to any aggression against any ally,' he said, adding, 'Today and tomorrow, we will make decisions to strengthen our defense and deterrence."

NATO has drawn up a plan dubbed 'modern deterrence," under which some 6,000 troops on rotation could be deployed to countries such as Poland and the Baltic states.

It also involves increased military spending after years of post-Cold War cuts, and puts small forces and equipment on the ground so that reinforcements can hit the ground running in any crisis.

However, some of NATO's 28 member states oppose the scheme, arguing that the large-scale deployment would see a return to a Cold War stand-off with Russia.

NATO leaders are set to formally endorse the proposal at an upcoming summit in Poland in July.

The NATO chief, however, noted that there would be no return 'to the days of the Cold War where we had hundreds of thousands of troops on bases."

Asked whether having small forces on the ground acting as a tripwire would suffice in deterring aggression, Stoltenberg said, 'We believe it is the best way to deter in a changed security environment."

Reacting to the development, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, described NATO's build-up plan in eastern Europe as a destabilizing move designed to contain Russia.

Relations between Russia and NATO soured after the Crimean Peninsula separated from Ukraine and rejoined the Russian Federation following a referendum in March 2014.

The military alliance ended all practical cooperation with Russia over the ensuing crisis in Ukraine in April 2014.

The United States and its European allies accuse Moscow of destabilizing Ukraine and have imposed a number of sanctions against Russian and pro-Russia figures. Moscow, however, rejects having a hand in the Ukrainian crisis.

Russia has repeatedly slammed NATO's military buildup near its borders, saying such a move poses a threat to both regional and international peace.

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Saudi airstrike kills family of five in Yemen's Sana'a

Iran Press TV

Wed Feb 10, 2016 10:43AM

Five members of a family have been killed in an airstrike carried out by Saudi warplanes on Yemen's capital, Sana'a.

Saudi jets targeted a house in Sana'a on Wednesday, with reports saying that rescue workers pulled out the bodies of the family's mother and young girl. The bodies of the father and two of his children are still under the rubble.

Neighbors identified the father as Mounir al-Hakimi, who was a program director at Yemen Today television channel. It was not immediately clear whether any other people were in the house when it was bombed.

A nearby school and a car repair garage were also damaged in the attack.

Yemen's al-Masirah TV news channel also said that at least two people were killed after Saudi bombs hit a truck carrying food supplies in Sa'ada Province.

Yemeni forces also killed a Saudi soldier in a military base in the Saudi town of Jizan, sources said.

On Tuesday, the Yemeni army supported by members of Ansarullah movement managed to capture the town of al-Raboah in the kingdom's southwestern Asir Province after fierce clashes with Saudi troops.

Saudi Arabia launched its military aggression against Yemen in late March last year in a bid to bring the country's fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a Riyadh ally, back to power.

Over 8,278 people, among them 2,236 children, have been killed and 16,015 others injured since the onset of the aggression. The strikes have also taken a heavy toll on the poor country's facilities and infrastructure, destroying many hospitals, schools, and factories.

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Pentagon chief in Europe drumming up support against Daesh

Iran Press TV

Wed Feb 10, 2016 3:10AM

US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has called on the key members of the US-led coalition to expand their roles in the fight against the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

On Tuesday, Carter arrived in Brussels prior to an anti-ISIL meeting scheduled on February 11 to convince the 27 key coalition members to increase their contribution in the fight against the Takfiris.

'I don't think anybody is satisfied with the pace (of the campaign), that is why we are all looking to accelerate it,' Carter told reporters as he flew to Brussels. 'My instructions are very clear from my president. He wants to get this done.'

Being at the helm at United States Department of Defense for a year, Carter chastised some members of the so-called coalition last month for doing 'nothing at all,' while America carries out most of the military campaign.

Saudi Arabia and some other Persian Gulf countries have been among the major contributors to the so-called war on Daesh in Syria and Iraq.

'I really hope they make a strong contribution because I think they have a strong stake in making sure that extremism doesn't run rampant over their own region,' Carter said. 'We will defeat ISIL and it will be good for their futures for them to be on the winning side.'

Carter and US President Barack Obama are facing with growing criticism at home over the campaign amid calls for intervention in Libya, where ISIL terrorists have doubled in number to about 5,000 in recent weeks.

The United States claims it has carried out the bulk of nearly 9,800 airstrikes launched against purported Daesh positions in Iraq and Syria since the summer of 2014.

Since September 2014, the 65-member coalition has been conducting air raids inside Syria with no authorization from the government or the UN as well as in Iraq since June 2014.

The Daesh Takfiris, who are wreaking havoc in Syria Iraq and miles further in Libya, were initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government.

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US Intel Chief Skeptical About Afghan Reconciliation

by Ayaz Gul February 10, 2016

The latest U.S. intelligence assessment is skeptical about prospects for political reconciliation in war-torn Afghanistan and has warned it is at 'serious risk of a political breakdown during 2016.'

U.S. National Intelligence Director James Clapper told a Senate committee Tuesday the Kabul government faces persistent hurdles to political stability, including eroding political cohesion, assertions of authority by local powerbrokers, financial shortfalls, and countrywide, sustained attacks by the Taliban.

Clapper said the Afghan government will confront larger and more divisive issues later in 2016, including the implementation of election reforms and long-delayed parliamentary elections.

Taliban peace talks

The assessment comes as Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's national unity government is expected to hold direct peace talks with the Taliban by the end of February to seek an end to a 15-year insurgency.

Senior diplomats from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States agreed last week in Islamabad on a "road map" to further the peace efforts and vowed to arrange the negations.

But the Taliban has not indicated whether it wants to join the peace process and has instead reiterated its demand for the complete withdrawal of U.S.-led foreign forces from Afghanistan before any peace talks.

Clapper told the Senate committee he thinks the Taliban position has consistently been not to negotiate. 'The pre-condition they always describe is the removal of foreign forces (from Afghanistan) and I do not see them changing that position," he said.

Clapper's assessment also suggested that after initial infighting over a leadership succession, the Taliban has again become a united force under its new leader Mullah Akthar Mansour, who took charge in July when it was disclosed that longtime Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, had been dead for more than two years.

He added, the Taliban's two-week seizure of the northern provincial capital Kunduz provided an important boost to Mansour's leadership. "We assess that fighting in 2016 will be more intense than 2015, continuing a decade-long trend of deteriorating security that will compound these challenges," he said.

"Kabul will be unable to effectively address its dire economic situation or begin to curb its dependence on foreign aid until it first contains the insurgency, which is steadily chipping away at Afghanistan's security," he said.

Afghanistan downplays remarks

A presidential spokesman in Kabul, Sayed Zafar Hashemi, has downplayed Clapper's remarks about a possible political breakdown in Afghanistan.

Hashemi told VOA that "the national unity government is the representative of the absolute majority of the people of Afghanistan."

But Afghan and independent foreign observers acknowledge political differences have prevented President Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah from establishing an effective working relationship to promote good governance in the country where nepotism and corruption critics say are order of the day.

Despite public pledges, Ghani and Abdullah have made little progress towards reforming the national electoral process to discourage the repeat of the disputed 2014 presidential election.

They both claimed victory in the polls and the controversy plunged Afghanistan into months of political uncertainty until the United States intervened and mediated a political deal between the two, allowing Ghani to take charge as the president and his election rival Abdullah to occupy a newly created post of chief executive.

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Rights Group: UN CAR Mission Needs Help

by Nick Long February 10, 2016

Human rights group Amnesty International says more needs to be done to strengthen the U.N. mission in the Central African Republic, MINUSCA. In a new report, Amnesty argues weaknesses within the mission were exposed during violence last September. MINUSCA says it has learned from that experience.

Amnesty's report pays tribute to MINUSCA forces who it says have saved many lives, helped prevent the Central African Republic from escalating further and often displayed bravery at significant cost.

But it says gaps in their capacity were cruelly exposed during three days of armed group violence in September when 75 civilians were killed in the capital, Bangui.

Amnesty researchers say MINUSCA's 2,660 soldiers and police in Bangui were almost entirely absent from key areas of this conflict until late afternoon on the 27th, and were unable to help transfer badly wounded people to hospitals.

The report finds that since then the mission has performed better, but that key weaknesses remain. These include lack of armored personnel carriers, lack of intelligence gathering capacity, and poor motivation of some units, particularly some that have not been paid their full U.N. salaries.

Commenting on the report Wednesday, MINUSCA spokesman Vladimir Monteiro said the U.N. High Commission for Human Rights also raised concerns about MINUSCA's late reaction to the events in September.

"We welcome this report," said Monteiro, "because it helps us see things more clearly; at the same time it confirms that MINUSCA's intervention has saved lives."

The mission has learned lessons and taken steps since then, he added.

"One of the main steps taken," he said, was to set up a joint task force for Bangui, which has produced results with MINUSCA's operation Free Movement, so that today people can move freely to and from the PK5 district."

PK5 is Bangui's lone remaining Muslim community and has been the main flashpoint in the capital.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a MINUSCA insider told VOA that many criticisms in the report are not really of the United Nations, but of countries involved with the mission.

Some governments do not pay their men their full U.N. salaries, and do not have the means or the political will to move assets like armored vehicles out of the home country, he said.

MINUSCA will guard for any unrest as the CAR holds a presidential run-off vote this Sunday.

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Suicide Bombers Kill 58 Refugees in Nigerian Camp

by VOA News February 10, 2016

Nigeria said Wednesday it will boost security at camps for refugees driven from their homes by violence, after two female suicide bombers killed at least 58 at a camp in Dikwa.

It is 'regrettable that the heartless terrorists chose to unleash their wickedness on people who were taking refuge from previous acts of destruction in their homes,' said Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

He promised the government will place 'formidable security' around camps for internally displaced people.

Officials say three female suicide bombers disguised themselves as refugees and entered the camp. Two blew themselves up. The third changed her mind and surrendered to police when she discovered her parents and siblings were living there.

The attack was carried out late Tuesday, but not reported until Wednesday because of poor communications.

Dikwa is about 85 kilometers north of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.

No one has claimed responsibility, but suspicion immediately fell on Boko Haram  the Islamist extremists behind much of the violence that forced more than 2 million people from their homes during its insurgency in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, aimed at setting up an Islamic caliphate.

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Military Strikes Hit ISIL Terrorists in Syria, Iraq

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release

SOUTHWEST ASIA, February 11, 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

Fighter aircraft conducted one strike in Syria:

-- Near Manbij, a strike destroyed an ISIL structure.

Strikes in Iraq

Attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft and rocket artillery conducted 13 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq's government:

-- Near Albu Hayat, two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed an ISIL vehicle.

-- Near Habbaniyah, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL fighting position.

-- Near Kirkuk, a strike destroyed eight ISIL fighting positions.

-- Near Kisik, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL tunnel.

-- Near Mosul, three strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL checkpoint, seven ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL vehicle and an ISIL assembly area.

-- Near Ramadi, three strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL bunker and denied ISIL access to terrain.

-- Near Sinjar, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL fighting position.

-- Near Albu Hayat, one strike struck inoperable coalition equipment, denying ISIL access in support of coalition operations.

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 terrorist group's ability to project terror and conduct operations, officials said.

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.

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Cobra Gold 16: Promoting peace in pacific

US Marine Corps News

By Lance Cpl. Jessica Etheridge | February 11, 2016

The 35th iteration of Exercise Cobra Gold 2016 begins with a display of multi-national forces in the opening ceremony at Sattahip Naval Base, Thailand, Feb. 9, 2016.

During the next 10 days partnering nations will increase the capabilities to conduct combined joint operations as well as achieve effective solutions to common challenges.

"Cobra Gold secures the future by supporting stability, interoperability, readiness and fostering effective peace keeping mission," said Glyn T. Davies, the U.S. Ambassador to Thailand.

Cobra Gold is the largest combined task-force exercise in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region and is designed to improve the capabilities of participating nations to conduct operations such as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

"With the Humanitarian Civic Action, the Multination Medical Symposium and the Non-combatant Evacuation Exercise we are only improving our response to any future disasters," said Sgt. Jessica Brisbin, an airframe mechanic with Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 262, Marine Aircraft Group, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, III Marine Expeditionary Force. "With the earthquake recently in Nepal, we can see how important it is to be able to train and prepare ourselves for these types of situations."

Coming together the partner nations will increase skills and knowledge with advancing regional security and ensuring effective responses to regional crises.

"Participating in Cobra Gold helps demonstrate our commitment to maintaining the readiness of security as well as our humanitarian interest to our partnering nations in the region," said Brisbin.

The participants will also improve the quality of life, as well as the general health and welfare of civilian residents in the regional area, building on the commitment to bettering the Indo-Asia-Pacific.

"Thailand and the United States have been treaty allies since 1954 and with a glorious past it now sits on a strong foundation," said Davies. "That foundation allows us to look to the future with confidence."

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NATO Defence Ministers Agree on NATO support to assist with the Refugee and Migrant Crisis

NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

11 Feb. 2016

NATO Defence Ministers agreed that NATO will provide support to assist with the refugee and migrant crisis on Thursday (11 February 2016). "The goal is to participate in the international efforts to stem the illegal trafficking and illegal migration in the Aegean," Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.

NATO's Standing Maritime Group 2 is currently deployed in the region and will be tasked to conduct reconnaissance, monitoring and surveillance of illegal crossings in the Aegean. It will also establish a direct link with the European Union's border management agency, Frontex.

The Secretary General stressed that this mission is "not about stopping or pushing back refugee boats," but about contributing "critical information and surveillance to help counter human trafficking and criminal networks." As part of the agreement, NATO will cooperate closely with national coastguards and the European Union. Military authorities are now working out the details of the mission.

Ministers also agreed to step up NATO support for the international coalition to counter ISIL. "We agreed in principle to use NATO AWACS surveillance planes to backfill national AWACS capabilities," said Mr. Stoltenberg. He noted that this decision will increase the coalition's ability to "degrade and destroy the terrorist group ISIL, which is our common enemy."

To improve NATO's ability to respond quickly to hybrid threats, Defence Ministers agreed a detailed implementation plan on the Alliance's hybrid strategy. Ministers also took steps to increase Allies' resilience in areas that are vital in any crisis, such as food and water resources, telecommunications and cyber networks, and transportation. "Resilience is primarily a national responsibility. But both NATO and the European Union have a role in providing tools and advice in specific areas," said the Secretary General.

Ministers also discussed the situation in Afghanistan. They assessed the work of the Alliance-led Resolute Support Mission to train, advice and assist Afghan security forces. Ministers agreed to keep the mission under review, in order to ensure its effectiveness.

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Turkey army ends operations in Kurdish town of Cizre: Minister

Iran Press TV

Thu Feb 11, 2016 3:58PM

The Turkish military has ended an almost two-month military operation in the mainly Kurdish southeastern town of Cizre, the country's interior minister says.

Speaking to reporters in the Turkish port city of Istanbul, Efkan Ala said that the military on Thursday ended a 'successful' operation to root out members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Cizre, which is located in Turkey's Sirnak Province near the Iraqi and Syrian border.

'The operations in Cizre have been successfully completed,' the minister said, adding, "Control has been re-established in Cizre and over the terrorists there.'

However, the Turkish minister noted that a 24-hour curfew in the town will remain in place for a while longer. A 24-hour curfew has been imposed in parts of Cizre and Sur since December last year as part of the army's plan to drive out PKK militants who have declared autonomy over the Kurdish region.

According to the Turkish military, at least 580 militants had been killed in Cizre since the operations began there against the PKK on December 14. However, Kurdish activists claim the campaign has cost dozens of civilian lives in the troubled region.

In late January, the New York based Human Rights Watch (HRW) slammed Turkey for what it called a spike in human rights violations committed over the past year.

Ankara has been engaged in a large-scale military campaign against the PKK in its southern border region in the recent past. The Turkish military has been also conducting offensive against the PKK positions in northern Iraq.

The operations began in the wake of a deadly July 20 bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc, an ethnically Kurdish town located close to border with Syria. Over 30 people died in the Suruc attack, which the Turkish government blamed on Takfiri Daesh terrorists.

After the bombing in Suruc, the PKK militants, who accuse the government in Ankara of supporting the Takfiri Daesh terrorists, engaged in a series of supposed reprisal attacks against Turkish police and security forces, in turn prompting the Turkish military operations.

Ankara's military has also been involved in an offensive against positions of the Kurdish group in neighboring Iraq.

Several thousands of Kurdish residents in Diyarbakir in southeast Turkey have, meanwhile, fled the embattled city amid intense clashes between government forces and the PKK militants.

Turkey's southeastern regions have witnessed a spike in violence amid heavy confrontations between army forces and the PKK, an outlawed group that have been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region inside Turkey since 1980s.

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More Afghan Electricity Towers Destroyed, Raising Fears Of New Battle Tactic

February 11, 2016

by Farangis Najibullah

The Afghan government has sent a team of specialists to a northern province to repair electricity pylons blown up as fighting raged between security forces and Taliban insurgents.

With the capital, Kabul, already facing blackouts since late January due to the destruction of several other electricity-transmission towers elsewhere in Baghlan Province, Baghlan officials announced on February 10 that the Taliban had destroyed at least one more tower, near Dahana-e Ghuri.

The recent power cuts raise concerns that militants might have stumbled across a new tactic in their persistent efforts to oppose the Afghan central government.

Speaking to RFE/RL by telephone from Dahana-e Ghuri, Ahad Barekzai, the head of the team of specialists, said that 'if everything goes according to plan, we hope to reconnect power lines in this area in the next day or two.'

'Security forces are cooperating with us in this area,' Barekzai added. 'If government forces provide security, we don't have any technical problem restoring [the pylon].'

Barekzai pointed out, however, that even if power lines in Dahana-e Ghuri are restored, it will 'improve the power situation in Kabul' but won't fully resolve the problem.

The towers in Dahana-e Ghuri deliver electricity to Takhar, Baghlan, and Parwan provinces, as well as to Kabul, Barekzai said.

The national electricity company, Da Afghanistan Breshna Shirkat (DABS), said it was unable to begin repair works at the site of the first tower blasts, in Dand-e Shahabuddin, until the area is cleared of militants and land mines. That location is a major supplier of electricity to the capital.

'If security is ensured, it would take us several hours to reconnect the electricity supply lines,' Wahidullah Tawhidi, a DABS spokesman, told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan.

The government has blamed the Taliban for sabotaging major power lines that deliver electricity from neighboring Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

The Taliban, however, denied responsibility for blowing up the pylons.

Kabul's 5 million or so inhabitants are used to rationing and frequent power cuts that often last several hours, especially during winter.

However, the latest blackouts mark some of the worst the capital has seen since the demise of the Taliban regime in 2001.

Electricity is a main source for heating and cooking for many Kabul residents, who now get as little as three hours of electricity a day in some areas.

The poor tend to be hardest hit by cutoffs, in part because many of the Afghan households that can afford them have their own power generators. Kabulis also resort to lanterns, gas-powered lamps, and candles.

'We use coal for heating and cooking,' one Kabul resident said. 'We get three hours of electricity a day, and when it comes we quickly try to do things that are impossible without electricity, such as ironing clothes, charging phones, and using the washing machine.'

'I haven't even been able to charge my phone for the past two days,' a young Kabul resident told Radio Free Afghanistan. 'I really want our government to solve this problem as soon as possible.'

In the meantime, a group of tribal elders and local activists from Baghlan arrived in Kabul on February 10 demanding that the government reach a cease-fire to end clashes in their province.

They said the clashes of the past three weeks have affected some 30,000 civilians.

Khairullah Shinwari, a Baghlan activist, told reporters in Kabul that 125 civilians, including women and children, had been killed and some 650 others injured in 'indiscriminate firings.'

Shinwari said the clashes have forced around 17,000 civilians from their homes.

The Baghlanis have demanded that the government prevent civilian casualties and provide humanitarian aid and compensation for those affected.

Separately, a group of Baghlan tribal elders are set to meet with Taliban commanders in an effort to ensure security from the militants' end for specialists to repair the downed pylons.

In Dahana-e Ghuri, the team from Kabul was racing to finish repair work to take advantage of relative calm provided by security forces.

'All people need electricity, regardless of what side they are,' said Barekzai, the team leader. 'We hope government and Taliban leaders make it possible for us to do our work to restore electricity for everyone, the rich and poor, those who desperately need it in hospitals, schools, and mosques.'

With additional reporting by RFE/RL Radio Free Afghanistan correspondents in Kabul

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/afghanistan- electricity-towers-destroyed-taliban/27545913.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.

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NATO Vessels To Deploy To Aegean Sea 'Without Delay'

February 11, 2016

NATO has agreed to patrol the Aegean Sea to deter people smugglers taking migrants to Europe.

The alliance's secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, made the announcement on February 11 after a request from Germany, Greece, and Turkey at a defense ministers meeting in Brussels.

Stoltenberg said NATO ships were being deployed to the waters between Turkey and Greece 'without delay.'

He said the mission would not be about 'stopping or pushing back refugee boats,' but would contribute 'critical information and surveillance to help counter human trafficking.'

According to the UN refugee agency, nearly 75,000 migrants have already arrived in Greece by sea this year.

The International Organization for Migration says more than 400 people have died while attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea.

It would be the first time the military alliance has gotten involved in Europe's migrant crisis.

The sea and land borders between Greece and Turkey have been the main access point to the European Union for 80 percent of migrants, including refugees fleeing the Syrian civil war.

Under the proposed surveillance mission, information gathered by NATO would be passed on to Turkish authorities to go after people smugglers, and Turkey would take back refugees who are picked up by NATO.

NATO already has ships in the eastern Mediterranean as part of efforts to shore up Turkey's defenses against missiles from Syria.

Earlier, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said plans for the NATO deployment will be drawn up by the alliance's military authorities for review and possible implementation.

Carter also said he expected a meeting of more than 20 countries contributing to the war against the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria and Iraq to endorse a U.S. plan for accelerating the campaign.

He said he would lay out details of the plan at the Brussels gathering later on February 11.

The Pentagon chief said he would ask coalition members to find ways to increase their contributions, either militarily, financially or in other ways.

Based on reporting by AFP, Reuters, AP, dpa

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/nato-asked-to- track-refugees-aegean-greece-turkey/27544821.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.

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Riyadh Urges UN, Int'l Bodies to Leave Area of Military Operation in Yemen

Sputnik News

20:55 11.02.2016

UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and other international organizations should leave war-torn Yemen, according to a letter sent by Saudi diplomatic missions.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Saudi Arabia has notified the United Nations and different international aid agencies operating in war-torn Yemen about the necessity to leave areas under rebels' control in order to avoid bombings, media reported Thursday.

According to VICE News international information portal, some Saudi diplomatic missions abroad sent earlier in February notification letters to the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and other international organizations working in Yemen.

'[OCHA should] notify all the international organizations working in Yemen about the necessity of relocating their headquarters outside the military operations areas to be away from regions where the Houthi militias and the groups belonging to them are activating, in order for the Coalition forces to guarantee the safety,' a letter reads, as quoted by VICE News.

According to the media outlet, OCHA Chief Stephen O'Brien responded that the humanitarian community would continue to deliver its life-saving assistance and urged Riyadh to adhere to the international law while conducting air operations in Yemen.

Yemen has been engulfed in a military conflict between the government headed by Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and Shiite Houthi rebels, who have been supported by army units loyal to former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

In March 2015, a Saudi-led coalition of Arab states began airstrikes against Houthis in Yemen at the request of President Hadi, causing hundreds of civilian casualties in the military campaign. According to the Yemeni Health Ministry, the bombardments of the coalition in the country have killed over 7,000 people and injured more than 16,500.

International human rights organizations previously reported about dozens of schools, mosques, hospitals and other civilian objects ruined by the Saudi-led coalition.

 Sputnik

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Thailand to Supply Russia With Food in Exchange for Military Equipment

Sputnik News

18:12 11.02.2016(updated 18:22 11.02.2016)

Thailand is due to supply Russia with agricultural products and food in exchange for military and engineering equipment, Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan said Thursday.

BANGKOK (Sputnik)  On Wednesday, the Russian-Thai working group on security issues held a meeting in Bangkok. The same day, Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev discussed with his Thai counterpart the issues of ensuring regional and international security.

'We plan to purchase in Russia special fire-fighting aircraft and military-technical equipment necessary for the elimination of consequences of natural disasters and other emergencies, and in return we are ready to sell agricultural products and food to Russia of equal sums,' the deputy prime minister said ahead of a meeting with Patrushev.

The prime minister disproved reports that had emerged in Thai media on the purchase of tanks in Russia, saying the issue was not the subject of the negotiations with the delegation headed by Patrushev.

The deputy head of the Thai government also confirmed to journalists his plans to visit Russia on February 23-27.

 Sputnik

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NATO Responds to Migrant Crisis; Ships on Way

by Luis Ramirez February 11, 2016

NATO warships are heading to the Aegean Sea to help Turkey and Greece stop human traffickers, marking the entry of the alliance into efforts to deal with the growing flow of migrants to Europe.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday said three ships under German command were being deployed immediately to help the Turkish and Greek coast guards with reconnaissance and surveillance. For now, the vessels do not have orders to intercept boats carrying migrants.

The decision to send the ships came at the end of a two-day meeting of NATO defense ministers at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels and was in response to a request by Germany, Turkey, and Greece.

Urgency

NATO's action reflects a growing sense of urgency among western governments as officials project four million refugees will seek asylum in Europe this year.

Germany has been one of the top destinations for migrants and refugees fleeing the civil war in Syria while Turkey, a NATO member, has borne much of the burden, hosting close to three million refugees.

Turkish warning

Turkey has long requested assistance in dealing with the flow, often sparking tension between it and other members of the alliance. On Thursday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed threats to release a wave of migrants into Europe.

"We can open the doors, and tell them 'have a good journey,'" Erdogan said Thursday. The Turkish leader confirmed reports of a conversation he had with European Union officials last year in which he said he would send busloads of migrants to Western Europe if he did not reach a deal for assistance to cope with the crisis. The minutes of that meeting were recently leaked to Greek and Turkish media.

Stop human trafficking

The alliance, however, wants to portray the deployment of its maritime component, the Standing NATO Maritime Group Two, as a measure to protect the refugees and not as a means to keep them out of Europe or portray them as a threat.

The United States has welcomed efforts to assist Turkey and Greece, but U.S. officials say the goal of sending ships is, above all, to stop human trafficking.

"There is now a criminal syndicate that is exploiting these poor people and this is an organized smuggling operation," U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said to reporters in Brussels.

The NATO maritime group deploying to the Aegean Thursday is made up of vessels from Canada, Germany, and Turkey.

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French MPs Back Controversial Terror Measures

by Lisa Bryant February 10, 2016

French lawmakers have approved controversial changes to the constitution the leftist government argues will help France better fight terrorism after last year's Islamist attacks. The vote Wednesday was just the first hurdle before the legislation becomes law.

After days of emotional debate at the National Assembly, the results were announced swiftly: 317 in favor of the constitutional changes and 199 against.

President Francois Hollande proposed the changes following attacks that killed 130 people last November in Paris.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Manuel Valls expressed confidence the lower house and Senate would approve the final text during a vote later this year at the Palace of Versailles.

But the Senate must still examine and vote on measures that have deeply split both the right and the left. Already the most controversial clause, to strip convicted terrorists of their French citizenship if they are dual citizens, sparked last month's resignation of Hollande's justice minister, Christiane Taubira.

The second proposal aims to write state of emergency provisions into the constitution. Parliament this week extended the current state of emergency, declared after the November attacks, for three months.

Hollande is expected to announce a wider Cabinet reorganization soon. Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius announced his resignation Wednesday to become head of France's highest judicial body, the Constitutional Council.

Francois Asensi was among many far left lawmakers to vote against the constitutional changes he described as useless and dangerous, a conclusion shared by some conservative deputies.

Rights groups have harshly criticized the proposed constitutional amendments, and slammed what they say are abusive and ineffective police actions under the state of emergency. But the government argues the security crackdown has helped destabilize terrorist networks and thwarted at least one planned attack.

Polls also show most people in France support the constitutional amendments.

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US missile shield system in South Korea can spark arms race: Russia

Iran Press TV

Thu Feb 11, 2016 2:35AM

Russia has warned the deployment of a missile shield system in South Korea by the US can launch "an arms race" in the region.

'The appearance of elements of the US global missile defense system in the region -- which is characterized by a very difficult security situation -- can provoke an arms race in Northeast Asia and complicate the resolution of the nuclear problem on the Korean peninsula,' said a statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday.

Last week, Washington and Seoul announced formal talks over the building of the US's Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System (THAAD) in reaction to North Korea's recent missile and nuclear tests.

'On a more global scale, this step can increase the destructive influence of the US global missile defense system on international security and stability,' further read the statement.

The Foreign Ministry reiterated that Pyongyang's actions 'could not but inspire strong condemnation,' but Washington is using such actions as a pretext to boost its military build-up in the region.

Washington maintains that the missile system is required to counter the North's progressing ballistic missile program.

Apart from Moscow, Beijing is also adamant that the deployment of a THAAD system, which includes interceptor missiles, truck-mounted launchers, radar posts, and global communications links, would invoke instability in the region.

Last month, North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test, and on Sunday it successfully launched a long-range rocket reportedly aimed at placing an earth observation satellite into orbit. However, the US and South Korea denounced the move as a cover for an intercontinental ballistic missile test.

Pyongyang has been under UN sanctions over its nuclear tests and launching missiles considered by the US and South Korea as ballistic and aimed at delivering nuclear warheads.

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McCain Questions Pentagon Purchases From Sanction-Hit Russian Firm

February 11, 2016

The chairman of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee is demanding answers from the Pentagon over its purchase of rocket engines from a Russian company for military satellite launches.

Reuters is reporting that Senator John McCain (Republican-Arizona) in a February 10 letter asked Air Force Secretary Deborah James and Pentagon chief arms buyer Frank Kendall to explain why the U.S. government continues to deal with NPO Energomash, the Russian firm that builds Russian RD-180 rocket engines.

McCain questioned the legality of doing business with Energomash, given sanctions against Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin and others who now have control over the company after a recent reorganization.

McCain said he wants answers to these questions by February 22.

McCain has frequently aired concerns about what he describes as subsidies to Russian President 'Vladimir Putin and his gang of corrupt cronies.'

James has urged Congress to allow use of the Russian engines that power the Atlas 5 rocket for several more years until alternatives are available.

Based on reporting by Reuters and Breaking Defense

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/us-senate-armed- service-chairman-mccain-questions-pentagon-purchases-from- sanction-hit-russian-firm-energomash/27544462.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.

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Probe Targeting China's Statistic Head Sparks Concern

by Saibal Dasgupta February 11, 2016

For years, world governments and multinational companies have fretted over the quality of China's economic statistics. The recent launching of a Communist Party investigation into Wang Baoan, head of the National Statistical Bureau, on suspicions of corruption, has heightened those concerns.

As the world's second largest economy, which has enormous sway on global markets, Chinese statistics are of great importance. Economists are now asking what prompted the government to launch the investigation only months after Wang had been vetted for this crucial job.

So far, it is not entirely clear why Wang has been targeted.

'I do not have any information or insights about the allegations of misdoings in the Statistical Bureau," said Penelope Prime, director of the Atlanta based China Research Center. "I understand there is pressure to report as positive numbers as possible in terms of growth, but everyone knows that the economy is slowing'.

Some analysts have suggested that the investigations could be related to his work before being appointed to the NSB. Whatever the reasons, the move is likely to affect the international confidence in Chinese statistics.

"To remove the head of the statistics department for violations of party discipline just gives ammunition to those that doubt Chinese government statistics, and so the negative is clear," said Jonathan Brookfield, professor in The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at the U.S. based Tufts University.

It is possible the government is trying to replace Wang with someone it can trust more. "Having one's own person there, I think, could be helpful in a number of ways," Brookfield said while listing the benefits the government can derive from it.

"The net effect might be to downplay something unpleasant like a slowdown in economic growth," he said.

The NBS can bring about this effect even without the need to cover up existing data. It can also change the way certain items are measured, and control the timing of data release, and he pointed out.

Real GDP?

International research organizations have long questioned China's GDP figures, saying they are deflated during years of boom, and inflated when there is a marked slowdown as is happening now. Some economists say China's economic growth may be one or two percent lower than the 6.9 percent claimed by the government.

Agatha Kratz, an associate research fellow at the London based European Council on Foreign Relations, feels that China's GDP statistics cannot be fully relied on because the government does not explain how it uses the GDP deflator, a yardstick used to adjust the value of goods and services to current prices.

"Real GDP figures are often believed to be somewhat less reliable. This is due to strong opacity around the calculation of the GDP deflator, which allows real GDP smoothening for political reasons," she said.

But attempts to rework statistics do not help China because world economists are already factoring in a strong margin of error while analyzing Chinese numbers.

"The real GDP, while probably smoothened, cannot hide more profound underlying trends notably that of a clearly decelerating growth trajectory in China, which everyone has become aware of," Kratz said.

'Wind of falsification'

Even the Chinese government makes little effort to downplay the fact that the official data is not fully accurate.

Chinese state media reports recently noted that several officials in northeastern China admitted to inflating investment figures and other data in previous years.

In fact, Chinese officials have been struggling for two decades to overcome the "wind of falsification and embellishment" in data collection and reporting.

In 1999, then NBS director, Zhang Sai complained about 'administrative interference in statistical work.'

A year later, then Premier Zhu Rongji admitted that 'falsification and exaggeration are rampant.'

At one stage, the state-backed China Daily warned 'statistical fraud will affect the country's economy by jeopardizing economic planning and policy-making.'

Shanghai Surprise

Shanghai City Mayor Yang Xiong sprung a surprise in January last year when he declared the city was dispensing with the practice of fixing gross domestic product growth targets. Instead, he said the city would focus on sustainable and innovation driven growth and not chase investment and growth numbers.

Ironically, Shanghai made the decision to change course after its growth lagged behind national development figures.

One reason why officials over-report growth and results for other official targets is that their promotions are tied to their ability to meet those goals.

When it comes to exports and imports, a widely used practice is to over-invoice or under-invoice.

'High invoicing of exports does seem to be common and growing. I believe this is related to the demand for taking money out of the country beyond what is allowed, which is $50,000 per person per year,' said Prime of the China Research Center.

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US spy chief says North Korea close to producing plutonium sufficient for bomb

Iran Press TV

Tue Feb 9, 2016 10:10PM

US intelligence chief James Clapper says North Korea is capable of recovering enough plutonium from a newly restarted reactor which is believed to be sufficient for a nuclear bomb.

'We assess that North Korea has followed through on its announcement by expanding its Yongbyon enrichment facility and restarting the plutonium production reactor,' said the US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on Tuesday.

According to Clapper, after its third nuclear test in 2013, the North announced plans to restart its Yongbyon nuclear complex after refurbishing it with a uranium enrichment facility.

'We further assess that North Korea has been operating the reactor long enough so that it could begin to recover plutonium from the reactor's spent fuel within a matter of weeks to months,' he said while addressing the Senate Armed Services Committee.

In September, Pyongyang announced that Yongbyon had been restarted and was working towards improving the 'quality and quantity' of arms which it could use against the Washington at 'any time.'

Experts say that once Yongbyon becomes fully operational, it can produce around four Kilograms of plutonium per year which is enough for a 20-kiloton nuclear bomb.

Clapper added that 'North Korea's nuclear weapons program and evolving missile programs are a continuing threat.'

He went on to say that the North 'is also committed to developing a long-range nuclear-armed missile that's capable of posing a direct threat to the United States.'

Last month, North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test and on Sunday successfully launched a long-range rocket reportedly aimed at placing an earth observation satellite into orbit. However, the US and South Korea denounced the move as a cover for an intercontinental ballistic missile test.

Pyongyang has been under UN sanctions over its nuclear tests and launching missiles considered by the US and South Korea as ballistic and aimed at delivering nuclear warheads.

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Rodong Sinmun Calls for Making Greater Leap Forward in Wake of Successful Satellite Launch

Korean Central News Agency of DPRK via Korea News Service (KNS)

Pyongyang, February 10 (KCNA) --The earth observation satellite Kwangmyongsong-4 was a manifestation of the greatest glory to and the profound reverence for leader Kim Jong Il and a gift of most intense loyalty presented by our space scientists and technicians to Marshal Kim Jong Un, our dignified party, state and people, says Rodong Sinmun Wednesday in an editorial. It goes on:

The satellite of dignified Juche Korea, the ever-victorious Workers' Party of Korea and the great Korean people means an independent stand of the DPRK and the great national power.

'Break through the cutting edge!' This was the important behest of Kim Jong Il and strategic slogan of our party which attaches the greatest importance to science and technology.

The earth observation satellite Kwangmyongsong-4 represents the strong power of the DPRK, a scientific and technological power shining thanks to Kim Jong Il's patriotism.

The spectacular success made in the satellite launch was a historic deed as it demonstrated before the world once again that no force on earth can prevent the DPRK from exercising the right to use space for peaceful purposes.

The scientists and technicians of the DPRK National Aerospace Development Administration succeeded in putting the newly developed earth observation satellite Kwangmyongsong-4 into its orbit according to the 2016 plan of the 5-year program for national aerospace development. This was an exercise of its inviolable right.

Let us bring about great leap forward and innovations in building a thriving nation in the same spirit as what we displayed in successfully launching the Juche-oriented satellite. This is the unanimous will of service personnel and people of the DPRK.

The editorial calls upon them to make all-out charge with the great pride and honor of living and struggling in the dignified great Paektusan nation in order to more strikingly demonstrate the might of Kim Il Sung's and Kim Jong Il's Korea and glorify the Seventh Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea as the one of victors and glory. -0-

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North Korea keeps evading UN sanctions: UN report

Iran Press TV

Wed Feb 10, 2016 8:59AM

A panel of United Nations (UN) experts says in a report that North Korea is circumventing the world body's sanctions through various measures.

The panel said Pyongyang was resorting to its trusted agents around the world to go around the sanctions in order to obtain materials and equipment it seeks to promote its banned weapons programs, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday.

The panel also said the country has infiltrated operatives into foreign companies so it can conceal its illicit activities.

The country also skirts the sanctions by using diplomatic personnel, longstanding trade partners, and relationships with a small number of trusted foreign nationals, the panel said.

It blasted UN members' "low level of implementation" of the sanctions regime in place against North Korea. The panel named the "lack of political will" and "low prioritization" among the sources of the lax commitments of some countries to the bans.

The panel report and its conclusions "raise important questions about the overall efficacy of the sanctions regime."

North Korean officials have yet to comment on this report.

Pyongyang has been under UN sanctions over its nuclear tests and launching missiles considered by the US and South Korea as ballistic and aimed at delivering nuclear warheads.

Last month, North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test and last Sunday, it successfully launched a long-range rocket that it said placed an earth observation satellite into orbit. However, the United States and South Korea denounced the latter move as a cover for an intercontinental ballistic missile test.

The US, South Korea, and Washington's other allies, including Japan, are now pursuing new tough sanctions that would hit North Korea's ability to carry out financial transactions.

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Yonhap: N. Korean Military Chief Executed for Corruption

by VOA News February 10, 2016

The chief of North Korea's military was executed this month on corruption and other charges, sources familiar with North Korean affairs said Wednesday, according to Yonhap News.

Army General Ri Yong Gil, chief of staff of the Korean People's Army, also faced charges of pursuing personal gain, Yonhap reported, citing an unidentified source familiar with the nation's affairs.

Ri was not named after North Korea launched a long-range rocket on February 7, according to Yonhap, which said North Korean media normally cite important officials after a major event.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has purged a series of officials on charges ranging from graft to watching South Korean soap operas, to bolster his grip on power since taking office in 2011.

In January of last year, he reportedly executed General Pyon In Son, head of operations for the army, for disagreeing with him, while in May he purged his defense minister Hyon Yong Chol, supposedly for dozing off at a rally.

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North Korea Disables Emergency Communication Links With South

Sputnik News

12:41 11.02.2016(updated 13:50 11.02.2016)

DPRK's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said that North Korean authorities have decided to disable all emergency contact lines with South Korea.

TOKYO (Sputnik)  North Korean authorities have decided to disable all emergency contact lines with South Korea after all South Korean staff leaves the jointly-run Kaesong industrial zone, the DPRK's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said Thursday.

'Military communication lines and the hotline in Panmunjom will be disabled when the South's staff has been deported,' the committee said in a statement published by state news agency KCNA.

Seoul said Wednesday it was suspending cooperation with Pyongyang following the Sunday launch of a long-range rocket in the North, allegedly to put a satellite into orbit. The West suspects this was a ballistic missile test. It followed a nuclear bomb test last month.

On Thursday, South Korean companies were ordered to pull out of the Kaesong industrial park on the border between two Koreas. The move reportedly aims to sever financial flows to the North, which it allegedly uses to develop nuclear and missile technologies.

Despite limited industrial cooperation, South and North Korea are still legally at war as no peace treaty between them was signed after the Korean War of 1950-1953.

 Sputnik

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Sanctions Just Got Real for Over 54,000 North Koreans

by Brian Padden February 11, 2016

South Korean workers have begun their pullout from the Kaesong Industrial Complex in North Korea following new sanctions imposed on Pyongyang for its recent nuclear and rocket tests.

On Wednesday Seoul announced it would suspend all activities at the industrial zone it operates jointly with North Korea to punish the Kim Jong Un government for its fourth nuclear test and latest long range missile launch.

Pyongyang reacted to Seoul's announcement Thursday by declaring the industrial park a military control zone according the North's official KCNA news agency. North Korea also said it would immediately deport all South Korean nationals, freeze the assets of companies operating there, and called the shut down a 'declaration of war.'

The North also said it was shutting down two crucial cross-border communications hotlines.

Out of work

The 124 small and medium South Korean manufacturing companies that operate in Kaesong already had begun pulling out staff, equipment and goods. The over 54,000 North Korean employees who work for these South Korean companies will now be out of work.

'We jokingly said Kaesong might be shut down, but I was surprised to see it really happening. In my personal opinion, I feel sorry for the North Koreans because they are way more worried than we are,' said Kim Soo-hee, a South Korean nurse at the Kaesong Complex.

The closure will cut off the flow of about $100 million a year into North Korea. South Korean companies paid Kaesong employee wages directly to the Pyongyang government. Seoul suspects much of that money was not given to the workers but was used to advance the North's nuclear weapons and long-range missile program.

U.N. Security Council resolutions have banned North Korea from developing nuclear weapons and ballistic missile technology and have imposed four rounds of increasingly stronger sanctions since 2006.

End of 'Sunshine Policy'

Terminating the Kaesong complex, the last remnant of South Korea's Sunshine Policy of engagement with the North, ends virtually any hope, in the near future, of a peaceful settlement to the long-standing tensions on the Korean peninsula.

"If you look at our government's way of handling North Korea, that apparently it is hoping for some kind of major collapse of the North Korea regime. But if that does not happen then there'll be quite high tension (and) protracted confrontation between North and South Korea," said Chung-in Moon, a professor of Political Science at Yonsei University in South Korea and advocate for inter-Korean engagement policies.

Over a decade ago, late South Korean President Kim Dae-jung initiated the Sunshine policy on the premise that through assistance and cooperative projects, North and South could build trust that would lead to peaceful co-existence and to some form of unification.

The Kaesong complex, located inside North Korea about 54 kilometers northwest of Seoul, was intended to promote inter-Korean understanding and give North Korean workers a taste of life in the south, including snack foods like Choco Pies and toiletries that were resold as luxury items in the North.

Over the years, support in the South for unqualified engagement faded as the North continued its defiant pursuit of nuclear weapons and continued to initiate provocations.

The other major joint project, the Kumgang Mountain tourist zone, was shut down in 2008 after a North Korean soldier shot a South Korean visitor. Other South Korean aid programs were halted and sanctions imposed against North Korea in 2010, after Seoul accused Pyongyang of sinking a South Korean warship and killing 46 sailors.

Except for Kaesong, both countries forbid their citizens from communicating with each other across the world's most fortified frontier.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye came to power in 2013, and like her predecessor President Lee Myung-bak, has taken a harder line in dealing with the North.

Last December during rare inter-Korean talks, Seoul refused to re-open the Kumgang tourist program in exchange for Pyongyang's offer to support further reunions of separated families.

"I think there was no compromise on the South Korean side. Our government has been quite inflexible in dealing with North Korea," said Professor Moon.

Compelling Pyongyang

In the wake of the latest missile launch and nuclear test, Seoul along with Washington and Tokyo have more fully committed to compel Pyongyang to comply with international demands to end its nuclear program.

The U.S. Senate voted unanimously Wednesday to adopting stronger sanctions that would target U.S. assets of individuals or companies that import North Korean goods, technology or training related to weapons of mass destruction, or are connected to human rights abuses.

Japan imposed unilateral sanctions Wednesday, including prohibiting North Korean ships from entering Japanese ports and a total entry ban on the entry of North Korean nationals into Japan.

Washington and Beijing are still reportedly at odds over imposing strong United Nations sanctions. China has said it does not want to trigger regional instability.

Analysts say that unless China's goes along with proposed measures to cut off trade and aid to its ally, sanctions will have a very limited impact.

U.S., Japanese and South Korean defense forces agreed Wednesday to increase information-sharing and coordination of security efforts.

The United States and South Korea are also proceeding with formal talks to deploy the controversial THAAD missile defense system.

China and Russia have protested stationing THAAD on the Korean peninsula in part because the over 1,000-kilometer reach of the system radar can potentially be used to monitor military installations in their countries.

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U.S. Lawmakers Object To Loosening Visa Rules For Some Iranians

February 11, 2016

by RFE/RL

The Obama administration's plan to loosen tough new visa requirements for businessmen and journalists who travel to Iran has touched off strong resistance in Congress.

At a hearing of the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee on February 10, lawmakers voiced particular concern over exempting from the new visa clampdown some travelers who conduct business in Iran -- an area the administration had sought to liberalize now that economic sanctions against Tehran have been lifted under last year's nuclear deal.

'Nowhere does the law include this authority. In fact, Congress explicitly rejected the waivers requested by the White House,' Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (Republican-Texas) said.

He accused the administration of bending the law, passed at the end of last year, to the point of breaking because Tehran objected to the rules and charged that they violated the nuclear accord.

'It seems to me that in our effort to...appease Iran, the State Department made a call overriding, basically breaking the law that we passed,' McCaul said.

Also skeptical was the committee's top Democrat, Representative Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, who said he had 'questions about how the [Department of Homeland Security] would go about determining the legitimacy of the business-related purposes.'

Administration officials said their goal in crafting waivers to the rules is to shield journalists, humanitarian aid workers, and employees of other international organizations, as well as business people helping economic reconstruction efforts in Iran and Iraq.

They added that they would not grant 'blanket' waivers to whole categories of people like Iranian businessmen, but will apply the exemptions case by case.

The law's new visa requirements were spurred by the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris, where several of the Islamic State attackers who killed 130 people had European passports that would have entitled them to visa-free access to the United States.

The new rules require citizens of Europe and other mostly Western nations who previously were able to travel to the United States for up to 90 days without a visa to now obtain one if they have visited Iran, Iraq, Sudan, or Syria since March 1, 2011.

Those four countries were deemed to be breeding grounds for terrorists. Ed Royce, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said during the hearing that he now wants to add Libya to the list.

To get a waiver from the rules, administration officials said Individuals must qualify for the U.S. visa-waiver program, which requires people to pass background checks.

Administration officials expressed concern that if the United States fails to loosen some of the new restrictions, foreign governments might cut back on information sharing, or impose awkward new visa requirements on Americans who travel to their countries frequently.

With reporting by Reuters and The Hill

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/us-lawmakers- object-loosening-visa-rules-for-some- iranian-businessmen-journalists/27544545.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.

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Daesh demands extortion money from Iraqis willing to leave Fallujah

Iran Press TV

Wed Feb 10, 2016 11:20AM

The Takfiri Daesh terrorist group has announced that the residents of the central Iraqi city of Fallujah in Anbar Province must pay USD 1,000 in extorted money if they want to leave the terrorist-held city.

Local Iraqi media reported on Wednesday that the terror group intends to force people to stay in Fallujah by adopting the extortion method as an Iraqi army offensive to liberate the city is looming.

Fallujah became the focus of the anti-Daesh battle after Iraqis liberated Anbar's provincial capital of Ramadi in December 2015.

The Iraqi military says control over Fallujah could pave the way for a final push to flush the terrorists out of the major city of Mosul, the capital of Nineveh Province, which was overtaken by Daesh in the summer of 2014.

In a separate development on Tuesday, 12 Daesh elements were killed after the Iraqi army artillery and gunships bombarded their positions in the Saqlawiyah area, just north of Fallujah.

Daesh's main source of income is the sale of oil extracted from the fields it has captured since 2014. Reports say the Takfiris control several oil fields in northern Iraq as well as Syria's Raqqa Province.

Daesh also finances its acts of terror through drug trafficking, the sale of antiquities, and ransom from abductions. Furthermore, reports indicate that wealthy individuals in the Persian Gulf region have raised major funds for the terror group.

A UN report published in November 2014 said that Daesh makes approximately USD 96,000 to USD 123,000 per day from ransom payments.

The UN Security Council adopted a Russian-drafted resolution in February last year in a bid to cut funding to Daesh, the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front based in Syria and other al-Qaeda-linked groups.

The Takfiri terrorists, who have seized swathes of land in Iraq and Syria, have also extended their terror activities to other countries, including Libya. They are engaged in crimes against humanity in the areas under their control.

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Iraq Opposes Foreign Intervention From Any State, Including Turkey

Sputnik News

19:58 11.02.2016(updated 20:12 11.02.2016)

Foreign Minister Ibrahim Jaafari stated that Iraq does not accept any foreign intervention in its territory from any state.

BAGHDAD (Sputnik)  Iraq does not accept any foreign intervention in its territory from any state, including Turkey, Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim Jaafari confirmed on Thursday.

'We firmly stick to the relations with all countries, but we do not accept any foreign intervention in Iraqi territory from any country, including Turkey,' Jaafari said in Baghdad during a joint press conference with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.

Last week, the Turkish Foreign Ministry announced the tightening of its visa regime with Iraq in a bid to fight undocumented migration. The Iraqi foreign ministry pledged a retaliatory move.

Turkish-Iraqi relations deteriorated in December 2015, when Ankara deployed troops and tanks to a base in the Nineveh province in Iraq, without Baghdad's approval. Turkey subsequently stated that its troops had entered Iraq to ensure the security of the Turkish soldiers previously deployed at the base to train local militias fighting against terrorist groups. Baghdad has termed Ankara's actions hostile, and a violation of Iraq's sovereignty.

 Sputnik

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Pakistan Warns of Islamic State's Growing Reach

by Ayaz Gul February 10, 2016

A senior Pakistani intelligence official admitted on Wednesday that the Islamic State group (IS) is a growing threat in Pakistan, according to media reports.

It was the strongest admission by a high-ranking government official of an IS footprint in Pakistan. Officially, Islamabad has consistently denied that IS has a presence there.

Aftab Sultan, the General Director General of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), briefed the Senate Committee on Interior and Narcotics in a closed hearing, saying that IS-linked groups have been expanding in Pakistan.

Sultan said local Sunni-based Islamist organizations such as the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Sipah-e-Sahaba, which are blamed for deadly attacks against the country's minority Shiite Muslims, "have a soft corner for Daesh."

The spy chief alleged the group has established its headquarters in neighboring Afghanistan and is receiving cooperation from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, commonly known as the Pakistani Taliban, in planning terrorist attacks.

IS is also recruiting Pakistanis to join its forces in Syria, Sultan said.

"There are reports of fighters being recruited by sectarian and other outfits and being sent to Syria," Sultan said, according to Pakistan's Express Tribune. "The number of people leaving from Pakistan to Syria to join IS are in hundreds."

IS is luring prospective recruits through social media, Sultan continued said, adding that IS uses the Internet to communicate with militants.

Growing concern

Islamabad has vowed "not to even tolerate the shadow of Daesh" in the country. Officials cite recent successful raids in parts of Pakistan, particularly in the most populous Punjab province that have detained dozens of suspect IS fighters along with IS propaganda material.

But many prominent Pakistani politicians are concerned about a growing IS presence in the country.

"It [IS] is a danger not only to Pakistan but to the entire world," Rahman Malik, former interior minister and chair of the committee that held the hearing, told VOA.

"I think Pakistan and Afghanistan will suffer a lot in the future. China may also suffer," Malik said. He added that a task force should be created to counter the growing IS influence in Pakistan otherwise, "the growing epidemic of terror will be extremely dangerous to Pakistan," he said.

Pakistani analysts say if IS is not countered, it will create serious challenges to the country.

"Forces like these already exist in Pakistan," Islamabad-based security analyst Sayed Nazir told VOA. "There are groups which provide shelters for them and support their ideology and help recruit for them." He added that the government should not be hesitant in taking firmer measures against the banned outfits.

Peshawar University international relations professor Ijaz Khan told VOA: "They [IS affiliates] are two steps ahead of al-Qaida. They [government/security] had turn a blind eye to themlet's see what they [government] are going to do about this issue."

IS presence

Afghan and U.S. military commanders believe Islamic State fighters have seized areas in eastern Nangarhar province, which borders Pakistan, and have been attempting to expand their influence on both sides of the long porous border.

They also believe that mostly militants formerly linked to the Afghan Taliban and the Pakistani Taliban are occupying Daesh ranks. IS has identified Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of Iran as its 'Khorasan' province and appointed a former Pakistani Taliban commander as its head in the region.

In recent weeks U.S. drones and the Afghan air force have repeatedly attacked suspected IS hideouts, particularly in and around Nangarhar's remote Achin district, killing scores of militants linked to the group.

IS announced the formation of its Khorasan branch in South Asia January 2015.

'Despite quick early growth in 2015, ISIL's Khorasan branch will probably remain a low-level threat to Afghan stability as well as to U.S. and Western interests in the region in 2016," U.S. National Intelligence Director James Clapper said Tuesday in testimony before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee.

VOA's Noor Zahid contributed to this story.

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Kremlin: No Link Between Kasyanov Incident, Chechen Leadership

February 10, 2016

by RFE/RL

The Kremlin has condemned an attack against Russian opposition politician Mikhail Kasyanov and said there was no reason to associate the incident with Chechnya's leadership.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the comments on February 10 after the attack at a Moscow restaurant where Kasyanov was dining the previous night.

Video footage of the incident posted by the Kremlin-loyal website Lifenews shows two men approaching Kasyanov at his table, one of whom violently slams a cake into his face while the other appears to film the attack.

At least one of the men is then heard berating Kasyanov for his politics, calling him an 'American agent.' The footage appears to show another man linked to the assailants.

Three Chechen police officers were reportedly detained in Moscow in connection with the incident and an administrative case has been opened against them.

Kasyanov, a former prime minister under President Vladimir Putin and now a Kremlin critic, said he believes the attack was tied to his request that federal authorities investigate an Instagram post by the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov.

Last week's post featured video footage of Kasyanov and a fellow opposition activist framed through what appear to be a sniper's crosshairs.

'I link this attack to my political activity,' the Russian business daily RBC quoted Kasyanov as saying.

'I believe that today's attack is directly linked to Kadyrov's threats posted against me and because I filed a complaint against him with the Investigative Committee and the FSB [Federal Security Service],' he added.

Peskov told a teleconference with journalists that the incident 'should not be associated with the leadership of Chechnya or any other Russian region.'

'What we are talking about is an act of hooliganism, which, of course, must be condemned,' he said.

Following the cake incident, Kadyrov mocked Kasyanov in a February 10 post on his Instagram account, posting a photograph of Russian pop star Nikolai Baskov smiling with cake on his face at a banquet together with the Chechen strongman.

'After Nikolai Baskov had cake thrown in his face, he is still complaining, running to all international authorities and asking for a repeat of the banquet,' Kadyrov wrote.

Kadyrov and his allies this year have unleashed a torrent of hostile rhetoric, both on social media and in news outlets that are loyal to the state, against liberal politicians, activists, and journalists.

In addition to Kasyanov, those targeted have included Aleksei Veneditkov, editor in chief of the independent-minded radio station Ekho Moskvy, veteran human rights crusader Lev Ponomaryov, and opposition activist Ilya Yashin.

One such Instagram video was posted by Adam Delimkhanov, a Kadyrov ally and member of Russia's parliament from Chechnya. It showed Delimkhanov and other men chanting 'Kadyrov is the rock of Russia -- Allah Akhbar!' on a Moscow bridge near the one where Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was shot dead in February.

Many of Kadyrov's critics suspect he was behind Nemtsov's slaying. He denies involvement, and efforts by relatives and associates of Nemtsov to have him questioned have been thwarted.

Russian investigators said last month that five detained suspects from Chechnya had been charged with 'committing the contract killing' of Nemtsov as he was walking near the Kremlin on February 27, 2015.

The man Russian authorities have identified as the suspected mastermind of the killing, a member of Kadyrov's security forces named Ruslan Mukhudinov, remains at large. Many former associates of Nemtsov believe the decision to kill him was made at much higher level than Mukhudinov.

With reporting by Reuters, Interfax, and RBC

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/kasyanov-incident- chechnya-leadership-kremlin/27543016.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.

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Russia Military Base Reduction in Tajikistan Not to Affect Combat Capacity

Sputnik News

19:38 11.02.2016(updated 19:54 11.02.2016)

Russian ambassador to Tajikistan Igor Lyakin-Frolov said that structural changes of Russian military in Tajikistan's base 201 will allow to achieve greater mobility by reducing staff numbers.

DUSHANBE (Sputnik)  A staff reduction at the Russian military base in Tajikistan will not affect its combat capacity, Russian ambassador to Tajikistan Igor Lyakin-Frolov said Thursday.

'Not withstanding the objective process of optimizing the structure of Russian Military Base 201, its conversion to a brigade structure won't affect the unit's combat capacity in any way. Moreover, such structural changes will allow us to achieve greater mobility by reducing staff numbers,' Lyakin-Frolov told RIA Novosti.

Base 201 is Russia's largest deployment outside the country. Signed in October 2012 by the two presidents, the agreement allows the Russian forces to be deployed in Tajikistan until 2042.

Until December 2015, parts of Base 201 had been located in Dushanbe, Qurghonteppa and Kulob. In early December, the 149th Russian motorized rifle regiment was relocated from Kulob to Dushanbe and to Lyaur firing range, that is 30 kilometers south of Dushanbe. It is planned that this year it will be converted from a divisional structure into a brigade.

 Sputnik

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Kingdom of Saudi Arabia-MK 15 Phalanx Close-In Weapons System (CIWS) Block 1B Baseline 2 Kits

Media/Public Contact: pm-cpa@state.gov

Transmittal No: 15-82

WASHINGTON, Feb. 11, 2016 -- The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for MK 15 Phalanx Close-In Weapons System (CIWS) Block 1B Baseline 2 Kits, equipment, training, and logistics support. The estimated cost is $154.9 million. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale on February 10, 2016.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has requested a sale for the upgrade and conversion of five (5) MK 15 Phalanx Close-In Weapons System (CIWS) Block 0 systems to the Block 1B Baseline 2 configuration. The Block 0 systems are currently installed on four (4) Royal Saudi Naval Forces (RSNF) Patrol Chaser Missile (PCG) Ships (U.S. origin) in their Eastern Fleet and one (1) system is located at its Naval Forces School. Also included are; five (5) local control stations, spare and repair parts, support and test equipment, personnel training and training equipment, publications, software, and technical documentation, U.S. Government and contractor engineering, technical and logistics support services, and other related elements of program and logistics support. The total estimated value of MDE is $72.5 million. The overall total estimated value is $154.9 million.

This proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a strategic regional partner, which has been, and continues to be, an important force for political stability and economic progress in the Middle East. This acquisition will enhance regional stability and maritime security and support strategic objectives of the United States.

The proposed sale will provide Saudi Arabia with self-defense capabilities for surface combatants supporting both national and multi-national naval operations. The sale will extend the life of existing PCG Class ships. Saudi Arabia will use the enhanced capability as a deterrent to regional threats and to strengthen its homeland defense. Saudi Arabia will have no difficulty absorbing this equipment into its armed forces.

The proposed sale of this equipment, services, and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region.

The prime contractor will be Raytheon Missiles Systems of Tucson, Arizona. There are no known offset agreements proposed in connection with this potential sale.

Implementation of this proposed sale will not require the assignment of any additional U.S. Government or contractor representatives to Saudi Arabia; however, contractor engineering and technical services may be required on an interim basis for installations and integration.

There will be no adverse impact on U.S. defense readiness as a result of this proposed sale.

This notice of a potential sale is required by law and does not mean the sale has been concluded.

All questions regarding this proposed Foreign Military Sale should be directed to the State Department's Bureau of Political Military Affairs, Office of Congressional and Public Affairs, pm-cpa@state.gov.

-30-

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Saudi seeking greater contribution to US-led airstrikes: Pentagon

Iran Press TV

Thu Feb 11, 2016 6:35PM

The United States says Saudi Arabia has proposed to expand its role in the air campaign by the US-led coalition on purported positions of the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group.

US Defense Secretary Ash Carter was speaking on Thursday following a meeting with Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud, who also serves as the kingdom's defense minister, at NATO headquarters in the Belgian capital city of Brussels.

'The [US defense] secretary thanked the deputy crown prince for participating in today's meeting of [NATO] coalition defense ministers, and for Saudi Arabia's decision to increase its military contributions, especially the Kingdom's offer to expand its role in the air campaign,' Peter Cook, Carter's spokesman, said in statement.

Saudi Arabia is a member of the US-led coalition that has been conducting air raids against what are claimed to be the Daesh elements inside Syria without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate since September 2014. The US-led strikes have, on many occasions, targeted Syria's infrastructure and left many civilians dead.

This is while Riyadh has been among the staunch supporters of the Takfiri militants operating to overthrow the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since early 2011.

Recently, Saudi Arabia also expressed its readiness to get involved in a ground operation in Syria.

Although swiftly welcomed by allies like Washington, the proposal attracted heavy criticism from Damascus, with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem saying "coffins" await any aggressor to the Arab country.

Saudi 'irreversible' decision to send troops to Syria

In a relevant development on Thursday, the Saudi state TV quoted Ahmed Asiri, spokesman for the kingdom's Defense Ministry, as calling "irreversible" Riyadh's offer to send ground troops to Syria.

The state TV further quoted Asiri as saying thta Saudi Arabia wanted the US-led coalition to agree to the kingdom's deployment.

Last September, President Assad warned that the territories held by Daesh had expanded while the number of militants had increased since the beginning of the US-led campaign in the Arab country.

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Turkey buffer zone plan for Syria violates intl. law: Russia

Iran Press TV

Wed Feb 10, 2016 1:53PM

The Russian foreign minister has censured Turkey's plan to establish a buffer zone in Syria, saying such a proposal contradicts the international law and will heighten tensions in the region.

'To our knowledge, the Turks have discussed with NATO their intention to create ISIL (Daesh)-free zones in the territory of Syria. Indeed, that will violate every principle of international law and will lead to a substantial, qualitative escalation [of tensions],' Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with the Russian daily, Moskovsky Komsomolets, on Wednesday.

The buffer zone is planned to cover a border area between two Kurdish enclaves, 'a combination of whose strength Turkey deems absolutely unacceptable for itself at least because that will block Turkey's ability to provide supplies to militants in Syria and to receive contraband from them,' he said.

The Turkish government has long been pushing for a buffer zone or no-fly zone inside Syria that stretches 110 kilometers (68 miles) long and 28 kilometers (17 miles) wide between the southern Turkish towns of Karkamis and Oncupinar.

However, opponents say Ankara is seeking to intensify its crackdown on minority Kurds, who are targeted in the Turkish army operations against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants.

Lavrov further accused Ankara of holding secret negotiations with Daesh on smuggling, saying, "They're discussing various actions in the current conditions under our Aerospace Forces' airstrikes seriously limiting their traditional routes of smuggling."

Russia launched its campaign against Daesh and other terrorist groups in Syria last September upon a request from the Damascus government. The air raids have expedited the advances of Syrian forces against militants.

Turkey has been among the main supporters of the militant groups operating in Syria, with reports saying that Ankara actively trains and arms the Takfiri terrorists there and facilitates their safe passage into the conflict-ridden Arab country.

Turkey has also been accused on numerous occasions of being involved in illegal oil trade with Daesh. Russia has recently released pictures and videos purportedly showing the movement of oil tankers from Daesh-controlled areas in Syria toward Turkey.

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Russia Not 'Apologetic' for Syria Airstrikes

by Margaret Besheer February 10, 2016

Russia's United Nations envoy said Wednesday his government is not "about to be apologetic" for its airstrikes in Syria, which have been widely criticized for targeting the armed opposition instead of Islamic State terrorists.

"We are acting in a very transparent manner," Vitaly Churkin told reporters after a closed session of the U.N. Security Council to discuss the escalating humanitarian situation in the Syrian city of Aleppo. "We are present there legally, at the invitation of the Syrian government," he added.

Western governments have heavily criticized Russian airstrikes, which began in late September with the stated goal of diminishing Islamic State. Instead, the air campaign has dealt some crippling blows to the moderate armed opposition and led to the displacement of tens of thousands of Syrians.

In the past week, the Syrian government, backed by Russia and Lebanese Shi'ite militants from Hezbollah, have been waging an offensive against rebel-held parts of Syria's second largest city, Aleppo. The increased fighting also has been blamed for the rapid breakdown of new peace talks in Geneva.

"As to the actions of the Syrian forces, supported by the Russian air force, our Western colleagues on the eve of Geneva II, used to say some balance on the ground must be restored. So if there is some change in the balance on the ground, then that should be taken as a logical development in any armed conflict,' said Churkin.

Geneva II was the last round of failed peace talks among the parties that was held in Switzerland 13 months ago.

The United Nations says the nearly five-year war has killed more than 250,000 people, displaced 7 million within Syria and nearly 4.6 million others have fled as refugees. Much of the remaining population  some 13.5 million people  is in dire need of humanitarian assistance. Many of them live in hard-to-reach or besieged areas which aid workers cannot reach.

Ambassador Churkin criticized council members for having several meetings on the humanitarian crisis, calling it a "propagandistic use of the Syrian humanitarian file." He said it would not deter Moscow from the humanitarian work it is doing with the Syrian government. Churkin said Moscow is also discussing possible humanitarian cooperation with the World Food Program and with the United States.

Humanitarian pauses

Council members New Zealand and Spain are urging consideration of a humanitarian pause for besieged areas.

"We ask that serious consideration be given to a humanitarian pause to enable assistance to get through, because it's clear aid is not getting into Madaya and other besieged areas," said Ambassador Gerard Jacobus Van Bohemen of New Zealand.

He said the "great division" within the Security Council over the military campaigns in Syria is "a real problem for us all." He urged that the suspended political talks get under way as quickly as possible, saying a political solution is the only real way to end the humanitarian crisis.

France's ambassador told reporters that there must be a "tangible improvement" in the humanitarian situation for there to be a "credible, political negotiation."

"The regime and its allies cannot pretend they are extending a hand to the opposition, while with their other hand they are trying to destroy them," Francois Delattre said.

Syrian Envoy Bashar Ja'afari accused some council members of having "a full-fledged obsession" with his country's "so-called humanitarian situation."

The United Nations and its partners have asked for more than $8 billion to cover this year's needs in Syria and for the refugees living in neighboring countries.

On Thursday, nations in the International Syria Support Group will meet in Munich. Moscow has said it plans to present a proposal for a Syrian cease-fire at the meeting.

Agencies appeal

On Wednesday, 160 humanitarian agencies appealed for an immediate cease-fire and unimpeded, sustained access to bring lifesaving relief to those affected by the worsening violence in Syria.

The humanitarian agencies include the World Food Program, UNHCR and UNICEF, Save the Children, the Norwegian Refugee Council, Care, Caritas, Islamic Relief, World Vision and scores of other NGOs from all over the world.

"These are practical actions. There is no practical reason they could not be implemented if there is the will to do so," the appeal stated. "In the name of our shared humanity for the sake of the millions of innocents who have already suffered so much and for the millions more whose lives and futures hang in the balance, we call for action now."

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Erdogan renews call for no-fly zone in Syria

Iran Press TV

Thu Feb 11, 2016 10:7AM

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan renews a call for the establishment of a no-fly zone in Syria in the face of Russian airstrikes which have led to a series of militant losses recently.

The Syrian army is closing in on the last pockets of militant positions in Aleppo which borders Turkey, prompting an outcry among supporters of armed groups which are warning of a refugee influx.

Erdogan said on Thursday a no-fly zone is the only way to deal with the crisis, adding the problem could not be resolved without safe zones.

'We will show patience up to a point and then we'll do what's necessary. Our buses and planes are not waiting there in vain,' he said.

Turkey has long pushed for the creation of a no-fly zone in northern Syria but the proposal has so far gained little traction with the US or NATO allies.

The US and Europe fear such a move could put them in direct confrontation with Russia and other allies of the Syrian government.

Erdogan accused the United Nations of insincerity in calling on Turkey to do more to help Syrian refugees instead of taking action to stop Russian airstrikes.

Russian war planes have been bombing areas around Aleppo in support of a Syrian government offensive to recapture the city.

'There is a chance that the new wave of refugees will reach 600,000 if airstrikes continue. We are making preparations for it,' Erdogan said in a speech to a business forum in Ankara.

He said he had told EU's Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk that Turkey might open the gates for refugees to travel to Europe.

'In the past we have stopped people at the gates to Europe, in Edirne we stopped their buses. This happens once or twice, and then we'll open the gates and wish them a safe journey, that's what I said,' he said.

A Greek news website said on Monday that Erdogan had threatened to flood Europe with refugees if EU leaders did not offer a better deal to Turkey.

On Wednesday, Erdogan accused the US of creating a 'pool of blood' in the region by failing to recognize Kurdish organisations fighting Takfiris in Syria as terrorist groups.

Syria accuses Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar of funding and arming terrorist groups operating inside the country, including Daesh.

The foreign-sponsored conflict in Syria, which flared up in March 2011, has reportedly killed more than 260,000 people and left over one million injured.

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Russia Says Ready To Discuss Syrian Truce

February 11, 2016

by RFE/RL

Russia says it is ready to discuss a possible cease-fire in Syria ahead of fresh talks on the Syrian crisis in Germany.

Ahead of talks in Munich on February 11, Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said the Russian side was ready to discuss "the modalities" of a truce.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were chairing the meeting of the Syrian contact group, which includes states and international organizations.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, meanwhile, dismissed as speculation reports that Russia was ready to propose a cease-fire in Syria starting on March 1.

Syrian peace talks collapsed last week in Geneva amid a Syrian government offensive, backed by Russian air strikes, to retake the city of Aleppo. As a result of the military push, tens of thousands have fled to the Turkish border.

On February 11, a senior Russian diplomat said Moscow opposed plans to establish a 'safe zone' along the Turkey-Syria border.

Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov told Interfax that Russia opposed 'any attempts' by the U.S.-led coalition to deploy troops in Syria's north without asking the Syrian government or United Nations first.

In Ankara, Turkey's president renewed a call for the establishment of a secure, no-fly zone in Syria, saying it is the only way to deal with the influx of migrants and refugees.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan on February 11 also criticized the United Nations, which has demanded that Turkey open its border to a new wave of Syrian refugees. Turkey is already home to more than 2.6 million Syrian refugees.

Erdogan said the world body should be focusing on ending an 'ethnic cleansing' unfolding around the Syrian city of Aleppo instead of making demands on Turkey.

Elsewhere, the U.S. military denied carrying out any strikes on February 10 in or around Aleppo.

A Baghdad-based spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group said any claims to the contrary were a 'fabrication.'

Russia's Defense Ministry said earlier on February 11 that two U.S. aircraft had bombed the Syrian city of Aleppo on February 10.

Meanwhile, a fresh UN report said the Syrian military offensive has cut off 120,000 people in the northern province of Homs since mid-January, worsening hunger and killing patients unable to get to medical care, a UN report said on February 11.

Kurdish Gains

In related news, Syrian activists say Kurdish-led fighters have captured a rebel-held former military airport near the Turkish border.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the Menagh air base fell to the People's Protection Units (YPG) and their allies late on February 10.

The Observatory said Menagh has been the scene of fierce fighting between Kurdish fighters and other rebels, adding that warplanes believed to be Russian carried out at least 30 air strikes in support of the Kurds as they advanced in the area.

Kurdish fighters appeared to have been taking advantage of a major Syrian ground offensive around the city of Aleppo to gain ground in the area.

Reports say the Kurds have grabbed a number of villages that rebels had to evacuate to confront advancing Syrian troops coming from the south.

Russian Strikes

In Moscow, Russia says its air strikes have hit some 1,900 targets across Syria in the past week.

The Defense Ministry said on February 11 that the strikes struck targets in the provinces of Aleppo, Latakia, Hama, Deir ez-Zor, Daraa, Homs, Hasakah, and Raqqah.

The ministry also rejected accusations of targeting residential areas of Aleppo and denied responsibility for the alleged destruction of two hospitals in the northern Syrian city.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has warned that the surge in fighting displaced some 50,000 people in the whole province.

The humanitarian situation is deteriorating rapidly in the city, it said, with supply routes for aid cut.

With reporting by AP, AFP, Reuters, Interfax, and TASS

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/syria-russia-ready-to-talk-truce/27545234.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.

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NATO Chief Sees No Need in Syrian No-Fly Zone

Sputnik News

18:17 11.02.2016

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the defense chiefs of NATO bloc agreed to provide anti-Daesh support by deploying airborne warning and control systems (AWACS) surveillance planes over the Turkish-Syrian border.

BRUSSELS (Sputnik)  The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) does not consider a possible no-fly zone is needed in Syria, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday.

Turkey has actively advocated for establishing a no-fly zone in northern Syria to US and NATO opposition.

'We are addressing the challenges we see to the south and also along the Turkish-Syrian border, but when it comes to the activities of the [anti-Daesh] coalition as such, I think it is important to leave that for the coalition to answer. We support the efforts of the coalition and we do it in different ways,' Stoltenberg told reporters.

Speaking on the second and final day of the NATO defense ministerial meeting in Brussels, Stoltenberg said the defense chiefs agreed to provide anti-Daesh support by deploying airborne warning and control systems (AWACS) surveillance planes over the Turkish-Syrian border.

'All NATO allies contribute and support the efforts of the international coalition fighting ISIL, but NATO as an alliance is not a member of the coalition,' Stoltenberg stressed.

Russian Ambassador in London Alexander Yakovenko named the possible establishment of a no-fly zone in Syria 'very dangerous,' noting that it would lead to a 'de-facto division' of the crisis-torn Arab republic.

 Sputnik

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Russian Air Forces Destroy 1,900 Terrorist Facilities in Syria Over a Week

Sputnik News

10:10 11.02.2016(updated 14:02 11.02.2016)

Russian aviation in Syria has destroyed nearly 1,900 terrorist facilities during 510 sorties February 4-11, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj.-Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Thursday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Russian jets have conducted 510 sorties and destroyed almost 2,000 terrorist targets:

"Over the last week from February 4-11, Russian aircraft in the Syrian Arab Republic have completed 510 sorties, during which airstrikes were carried out against 1,888 terrorist facilities in the provinces of Aleppo, Latakia, Hama, Deir ez-Zor, Deraa, Homs, Hasakah, and Raqqa," Konashenkov told journalists.

Russian military jets have killed two influential terrorist field commanders in the Syrian province of Aleppo, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj.-Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Thursday.

'As a result of airstrikes by Russian Aerospace Forces airplanes, terrorists suffered a heavy loss. Two influential field commanders were killed in the province of Aleppo,' Konashenkov told journalists.

In particular Konashenkov stressed that a key stronghold in the area of Kalaz-Tahtani has been destroyed together with the terrorists' leader  Abu Mager, also known as Farid al-Misri. The ministry's spokesman also added that another dangerous terrorist commander was eliminated in Aleppo as well.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Russian Su-25 attack aircraft destroyed 9 ammunition trucks in Latakia, killing 40 terrorists:

"Su-25 attack jets discovered three motorcades with equipment and arms for militants along the Karyatein-Homs road. An airstrike was carried out against the terrorists' grouping of equipment. After final reconnaissance was finished, nine large trucks with weapons caches, two armored vehicles, and over 40 militants were destroyed."

Konashenkov also noted that the terrorists in Aleppo are deserting 'massively.'

'The terrorists are marching people towards the Turkish border, so that later they may hide among the locals. The terrorists put down their weapons and try to dissolve in the crowd  they know that Russian warplanes and the Syrian Army would never strike civilians,' Konashenkov said.

The Russian Defense Ministry also stated that many Syrian opposition groups have started to share intelligence with Russia and the Syrian Army:

'The cooperation with the Syrian opposition groups has been very fruitful so far. Lots of them are shifting towards the Syrian government.'

Russia has been launching airstrikes against Daesh targets in Syria at the request of Syrian President Bashar Assad since late September 2015. A US-led international coalition has been launching airstrikes against Daesh in Syria since September 2014, without the approval of Damascus or the United Nations.

 Sputnik

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Syrian Army Almost Done Liberating Lattakia, Sets Sights on Idlib Province

Sputnik News

08:45 11.02.2016(updated 12:04 11.02.2016)

A major offensive against militant groups has reportedly been launched by the Syrian Army and the National Defense Forces in northeast Lattakia Province; their goal is to advance into neighboring Idlib Province, which remains held by militants.

The Syrian Army and the country's National Defense Forces (NDF) have staged a new offensive against militant groups operating in the northeastern part of Lattakia Province in western Syria, the Iranian news agency FARS reported.

The militants have already called for reinforcements in a bid to try to save their last key stronghold of Kinsibba, which is located at the border with the Idlib province, according to intelligence sources.

'Heavy air and artillery attacks on the militant defense lines near Kinsibba testify the Syrian Army's firm will to conduct an imminent operation in the region to access the southern territories of Idlib Province,' the sources said.

The fresh offensive came after the Syrian troops managed to liberate the strategic town of Bashoura, located in northern Latakia, in fighting that left dozens of militants killed and many more wounded.

The army sources said that taking full control of Bashoura had paved the way for the government forces' more rapid offensives against militants based in Lattakia's mountainous northeast and the southern parts of Idlib province.

According to the sources, the Syrian Army and the NDF are swiftly advancing along several fronts in northeast Lattakia as they advance on the militants' stronghold of Kinsibba.

Some sources did not rule out that the Syrian troops will first try to seize back the village of Kabane before launching a large-scale offensive to seize Kinsibba. Kabane is seen as a gateway to the eastern side of Kurds mountain and the militants' strongholds of al-Sirmaniyeh and Jisr al-Shughour in Idlib Province.

Adding to the Syrian Army's anti-terror effort is Russia's ongoing air campaign, which was launched on September 30, when more than fifty Russian warplanes, including Su-24M, Su-25 and Su-34 jets, commenced precision airstrikes on Daesh and Al-Nusra Front targets in Syria at the behest of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

In addition, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed earlier this month that advanced, super-maneuverable Su-35S multi-role fighters had begun their combat mission in Syria.

 Sputnik

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Russia Pitches Syria Cease-fire; West Skeptical

by Pamela Dockins, Jamie Dettmer February 11, 2016

Russia is proposing talks about a cease-fire in Syria, but European diplomats are skeptical about the offer, which they see as a delaying tactic that would allow intense Russian airstrikes in Aleppo to continue.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow had submitted a "quite specific" proposal.

"We will wait for the American response before we take it to the ISSG [International Syria Support Group], Lavrov said in Munich Thursday as he sat down for talks with Secretary of State John Kerry.

Western media reports say Russia is proposing a cease-fire to begin March 1 - too late to avert a worsening humanitarian crisis in and around Aleppo, Syria's second-largest city, near the border with Turkey. A U.S. spokesman said Washington wants an immediate truce.

Rebels: End 'Russia's campaign of slaughter'

A senior member of the Syrian opposition said any cease-fire would be welcome if it ends 'the current Russian campaign of slaughter,' but there must be guarantees that all of the Damascus regime's backers - including Iran-funded militias and fighters from Lebanon's Hezbollah movement - observe a truce.

The head of another rebel coalition, however, said Russia's proposal was simply 'a trick which the [Assad] regime will use to prepare for other military operations.'

Kerry said he and Lavrov would have a "serious conversation about all aspects about what's happening in Syria."

The top U.S. diplomat said he hopes for progress on humanitarian access to civilians in Syria as well as a cease-fire.

Possible turning point in war

European diplomats told VOA they feel delaying a cease-fire for several weeks would allow Russian and Syrian government troops to complete their operation to retake Aleppo and send even more refugees fleeing toward Turkey.

Regaining control of Aleppo, which has largely been under rebel control since mid-2012, would mark a possible turning point in Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's drive to crush his opponents.

"This is straight out of the Kremlin's playbook," said a senior European Union diplomat. He compared the Russian negotiating stance on Syria to Moscow's handling of the fighting between government forces and separatist, pro-Russian militias in Ukraine.

Syria compared to Ukraine

"Look at Ukraine,' the senior diplomat said. '[There were] cease-fires, offers of solutions - but meanwhile on the battlefield, continued pressure."

Kerry and Lavrov were to join other members of the 17-nation International Syria Support Group later Thursday - the first full ISSG meeting since talks about a possible political solution to the Syrian crisis bogged down earlier this month.

Opposition protests against the intense aerial bombing campaign by Russian and Syrian government forces have delayed efforts to resume the U.N.-sponsored talks, along with diplomats' inability to agree on which rebel factions would be included.

Next UN talks in 2 weeks

U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura has delayed until February 25 the next effort to get 'proximity talks' underway. These would include members of the Damascus government and the main opposition groups in the civil war, but not meeting directly with each other.

A Turkish official told VOA Russia might be talking about a truce now because its military assault on Aleppo is now complete.

"Now they can focus on ... preparing for the next stage  Idlib," the Turkish official said.

Relief organizations have denounced the world powers for discussing a political solution to the five-year-long civil war while not doing enough to save the lives of endangered civilians.

100,000 refugees in a week

In the past week, since a donor's conference about Syria in London, nearly 100,000 Syrians have fled from their homes, International Rescue Committee President David Miliband said.

The ongoing humanitarian crisis is "making a mockery of the international community's commitment to help Syrians," the former British Cabinet member said.

Plans to resume proximity talks between the government and opposition hinge on whether world powers can make sufficient progress in efforts to secure a cease-fire and provide humanitarian access to affected civilians.

Former U.S. ambassador to Syria Robert Ford says, 'The most important thing is to somehow pressure the Russians and the Syrians to stop the aerial bombardments which are causing these floods of refugees."

However, he added, the U.S. had not shown any "willingness to genuinely pressure Russia."

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How Aleppo Rebels Plan to Withstand Assad's Siege

by Jamie Dettmer February 11, 2016

Rebels in Aleppo are laying plans to withstand a siege by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces in the likelihood the regime cuts a final main supply line running west of the city. They vow a siege will not be over quickly. But their plans are not being helped by squabbles breaking out among insurgent commanders.

As forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad tighten the noose on the rebels in northern Syria, rebel commanders and opposition politicians are scrambling to plan for a prolonged siege of the insurgent-held districts of the city of Aleppo. And they are coming up with contingencies for food, medical supplies as well as ammunition and arms.

They believe the portion of Aleppo they control now can emulate the old city of Homs, which withstood an Assad siege for nearly three years.

The rebel-held area of Aleppo will be a much bigger challenge for the regime to starve or bomb into submission, says Mazen Gharibah of the Local Administration Councils Unit, part of the Western-backed rebel Syrian Interim Government.

Aleppo's needs immense

"The difference is huge between Homs and Aleppo," says Gharibah. "First of all in Homs, the area that was besieged was very small in comparison to Aleppo. In Homs we had 5,000 civilians besieged in a very small restricted area. In Aleppo we have more than 250,000 in a very vast area, Aleppo is one of the largest cities in Syria," he says.

He points out that the insurgent areas of Aleppo have a strong infrastructure of NGOs and pro-opposition local governance. There are more than 120 NGOs working in the city and in recent months opposition civilian authorities and the armed militias have been working well together, he says.

Rebel commanders and opposition activists are planning to use tunnels to re-supply the city's insurgent areas. And they say that even if the regime manages, which most expect it will in the coming days, to cut the small supply corridor remaining west of Aleppo, there are still smaller roads they can use to get some food and medical supplies and arms into the city.

This week, the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OHCA) instructed international relief agencies it partners with to reposition as best they can food stores closer to the city and to move what they can inside. OHCA is updating plans it started drafting a year ago for an Aleppo siege, say European diplomats.

International aid crucial

U.N. and U.S. officials have warned of a potential "humanitarian disaster" in the event Aleppo is besieged by Russian-backed Assad regime forces. And in U.S.-led international coalition talks in Munich Thursday a humanitarian corridor for a besieged Aleppo will be at the top of the agenda, say U.S. officials

"There have been several meetings between local NGOs and local councils and international NGOs as well both in Gaziantep and inside of Aleppo in order to have an emergency plan, a response plan for Aleppo," says Gharibah.

Included in the plan is the setting up of a trust fund for Aleppo, which opposition politicians hope foreign governments and ordinary people around will contribute to as the siege unfolds.

But the planning  especially when it comes to grain and food-stocks  is being made harder by the intensity of the fighting and bombing, the sheer force of the Russian-backed offensive and the risk of plunder and looting by militias, including the Kurdish People's Protection Units, or YPG.

Regime not the only enemy

Earlier this week, the YPG stole 460 out of 500 tons of wheat from a rebel store at a village north of Aleppo

"We are doing now a whole strategy and one of the strategies is to move some wheat inside Aleppo, at least one thousand tons," says Moayyad Yousef of the Assistance Coordination Unit (ACU), a department of the Syrian Interim Government.

But that only will be enough wheat for just one month.

The ACU is also moving wheat and food around northern Syria to try to keep the stores safe.

"We are trying to find somewhere close to the border of Turkey but still we can't find anywhere until now. You can't figure out where it is going to be safe, you can't, it is hard," Yousef told VOA.

Opposition politicians say they are harboring hopes that Saudi Arabia will send medical supplies. In 2014, the Saudis sent $17 billion of medical supplies. "That was fantastic and we need them to do that again. We need everything. We need food," says ACU's Yousef.

Siege expected with or without cease-fire

According to Osama Taljo, one of 25 members of the city council for the rebel-held area of Aleppo, it would take at least a year for the siege to force a surrender. "We are trying to provide what will be needed to ensure the city can withstand a siege for at least a year," he says. "And I hope longer," he added.

Unlike Homs and Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus that was under siege for two years, Aleppo has had time to prepare. He insists the morale of civilians in the rebel-held portion of the city is high  and so too their determination.

"They have been used to all kinds of killing and all kinds of weapons and they have remained steady," he says. He dismissed Russian offers of a cease-fire  made in Munich Wednesday. "Whatever happens in Munich, Aleppo will be besieged," he said.

Rebel commanders argue that the prospects for holding out for years are good. They point out that any siege imposed on Aleppo by the regime will have gaps in it and won't be uniform  because some areas around the city will be controlled by the Islamic State and the YPG

"Daesh will still want to trade oil," says a rebel commander, using the Arab acronym for the Islamic State.

Lack of cooperation a worry

But General Salem Idris, former FSA chief of staff, is worried. He still advises some of the militias on military tactics and says there is not enough coordination going on

"I am sorry to tell you that until now that is a problem," he told VOA. "There is no central command for Aleppo even now. There are many attempts now to have what is called a military operations center for the northern suburbs of Aleppo. I don't know if they understand what will happen in the coming days. In a meeting to have a tactical plan there were differences between them about who will control the border crossing at Bab al-Salameh, if they succeed."

Idris fumes: "They may lose everything and they still think about personal interests."

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Erdogan Slams US Support for Kurdish 'Terrorists'

Sputnik News

21:34 10.02.2016

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called partnership between Turkey and the United Stated 'strange', because of the US position on the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union (PYD), which is considered as terrorist organization by Ankara.

ANKARA (Sputnik)  Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cast doubt on Wednesday on the United States' loyalty as a partner, condemning US support for the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD).

'America, how many times have I asked you: are you with us or with the PYD? It's a strange partnership we have. Despite the fact that we have explained everything to them (the United States) many times, they still say that these are not terrorists. But these are clearly terrorists, you still have not understood this, but know this very well,' Erdogan said while addressing the heads of village administrations in Ankara.

On Tuesday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned US Ambassador John Bass to protest Washington's latest refusal to consider the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union (PYD) a terrorist organization.

On Monday, US State Department Spokesman John Kirby said that Washington did not consider the PYD to be a terrorist organization as the Syrian Kurds were successfully fighting against Islamic State (ISIL or Daesh) jihadists, banned by several countries, including the United States and Russia.

Ankara considers the PYD to be an affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), an organization seeking Kurdish independence that has fought the Turkish state since 1984.

Turkey's Kurdish-dominated southeast, bordering Iran, has seen renewed hostilities between the Turkish government and the PKK following July's breakdown of a two-year peace process.

 Sputnik

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Britain to up naval deployment in Baltic to help NATO 'buildup against Russia'

Iran Press TV

Wed Feb 10, 2016 11:12AM

Britain is planning to deploy more ships and troops to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) buildup against Russia.

The UK will reportedly send five extra ships to the Baltic and additional troops to be stationed on a rotational basis in six countries bordering Russia.

A decision on the number of troops is expected to be taken at the NATO summit in the Polish capital, Warsaw, in the summer.

British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said "increasing our NATO deployments sends a strong message to our enemies that we are ready to respond to any threat, and defend our allies."

Fallon, who is scheduled to attend a two-day NATO meeting in the Belgium capital, Brussels, on Wednesday, said "2016 will see a particular focus on the Baltic region."

He said the deployment will be Britain's first contribution to a permanent NATO naval force since 2010.

In 2014, NATO ended all practical cooperation with Russia over the ensuing crisis in Ukraine and since then has been expanding its presence in Poland and the Baltic nations in order to deter what it calls Russian threat.

The United States and its European allies accuse Moscow of destabilizing Ukraine and have imposed a number of sanctions against Russian and pro-Russia figures. Moscow, however, rejects having a hand in the Ukrainian crisis.

Russia has repeatedly slammed NATO's military buildup near its borders, saying such a move poses a threat to both regional and international peace.

Ukraine's mainly Russian-speaking Donbass has been severely affected by fighting between the country's army and the pro-Russians since April 2014, when Kiev launched a military crackdown there in an attempt to quell regional protests. More than 9,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

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IMF Demand For Ukraine Reform Just Latest Red Flag For Poroshenko

February 11, 2016

by Tony Wesolowsky

A stinging rebuke from the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has underscored the precarious spot in which Ukraine finds itself despite Kyiv's repeated pledges to tackle corruption and enact major reforms.

IMF head Christine Lagarde's call on February 10 for 'a substantial new effort' from Ukraine's leadership carries particular weight due to fears that the fund could suspend its $17.5 billion portion of an international bailout to help the country kick-start its economy, stay on a democratic track, and weather an ongoing conflict with Russia.

The IMF's stark language set off alarm bells in Kyiv, where President Petro Poroshenko quickly telephoned Lagarde to assure her and allies such as the United States that he recognized the need to 'reboot' the government.

The government's approval ratings have tumbled and it could face a no-confidence vote in the coming days, ushering in more uncertainty for a country already on a war footing.

But Poroshenko's quoted remarks to Lagarde also appeared to highlight the risk in the current climate of dramatic showdowns in Ukraine, whose economy and currency have collapsed since unrest in 2014 unseated a pro-Russian president and unleashed invasion plans in Moscow. Poroshenko reminded critics of the desire to avoid 'snap elections, which would only deepen the political crisis and worsen conditions for carrying out reform,' according to a statement on Poroshenko's website.

Plummeting Ratings

As the stakes in Ukraine have risen -- along with the notion that Ukraine is a testing ground for Western resolve in the face of a newly assertive Russia -- expectations have mounted that Kyiv must implement market and democratic reforms to justify outside support.

But most Ukrainians will find discouragingly little in the IMF chief's criticism of Kyiv's reform effort that they didn't already suspect.

'There's been little action, only words,' one young Kyivan told RFE/RL. 'It seems to me some work is being done, but the results have been meager, especially given the scope of the problem.'

Polling in December showed Poroshenko's approval rating had fallen so low that he was less popular than his ousted predecessor Viktor Yanukovych, and the prime minister and his cabinet are faring no better.

Another indication that endemic corruption and a failure to establish rule of law plague reform efforts arrived on February 3, when Lithuanian-born Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius announced he would resign over what he called a 'sharp escalation in efforts to block systemic and important reforms.' He likened recent developments to 'the style of the old authorities.'

Abromavicius has since said he is supplying evidence of wrongdoing involving key government officials to anticorruption investigators.

Rotten To The Core?

Tackling corruption in Ukraine is daunting, experts agree. Bribery and cronyism have been facts of life since Kyiv gained independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The situation only worsened during the last four years under Yanukovych, when $11 billion was siphoned yearly through the abuse of public procurement tenders alone, according to post-Yanukovych Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko.

There has been some success, including plans to take public procurements online -- a big boost for transparency, antigraft activists say. But that was largely the work of outgoing Economy Minister Abromavicius.

In his public letter of resignation, Abromavicius said he could no longer endorse what he claimed was corruption in the president's inner circle. He highlighted his feud with Ihor Kononeko, a business partner of Poroshenko's and an influential member of the political grouping Petro Poroshenko Bloc.

Abromavicius expressed outrage over attempts by the presidential administration to impose a new deputy who would have been responsible for financial flows and supervising strategic state enterprises.

Tiny Few Or 'Majority'?

Abromavicius previously voiced his eagerness to clean up state enterprises, where oligarchs have held considerable sway, often behind the scenes. That made him powerful enemies, says Andriy Marusov, head of the Ukrainian branch of Transparency International, a global anticorruption watchdog.

'[Abromavicius's] resignation happened right now because his plans...to reform, to reorganize state-owned enterprises, to privatize them afterwards -- they ultimately ran into the resistance of the majority, I would say, of the political class of Ukraine,' Marusov told RFE/RL.

Abromavicius is not the first official in Poroshenko's government to quit after voicing similar frustrations. Agriculture Minister Olekseiy Pavlenko and Infrastructure Minister Andriy Pyvovarsky made fruitless attempts to prosecute Yanukovych-era officials before throwing up their hands and walking away.

Anticorruption campaigners point to the controversial appointment in February 2014, at the height of the Euromaidan furor, of sexagenarian Prosecutor-General Viktor Shokin.

Shokin previously served in the same post under Presidents Leonid Kuchma and Viktor Yushchenko, and in his new tenure has proposed a number of Yanukovych-era holdovers for key functions, making him the ultimate political insider in the eyes of critics.

Poroshenko has ignored repeated calls to sack Shokin, including from more than 100 members of parliament.

'Presidents in Ukraine -- and this unfortunately is valid in the post-Maidan Ukraine as well -- manage the state of affairs through the prosecutor's office,' Balazs Jarabik, a Ukrainian expert and visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for Peace, told RFE/RL.

Same Old Story

While prosecutors appear to look the other way, officials are upping their graft game. Several Western company executives told Reuters on January 27 that 'organized graft has given way to a free-for-all where bureaucrats grab what they can, while they can.'

'The system of corruption has become more chaotic, more haphazard,' the director of a major industrial company told Reuters. 'Before some issues could be resolved without money, but now these options don't exist -- everyone is on the take.'

Pyvovarsky, the infrastructure minister who announced his resignation in December, told Ukraine Today TV on February 5 that 'the system does not change in one day.'

He added: 'You can't make a corrupt bureaucrat wake up one day and say suddenly, 'Because of the revolution, I will not take bribes.' Of course for 24 years a lot of people were benefiting from bribes, and that was the only source of income for them.'



Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-imf- demand-poroshenko-corruption/27545849.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.

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HRW: Hundreds Of Schools Destroyed In Ukraine War, Military Use Must Stop

February 11, 2016

by Eugen Tomiuc

Hundreds of schools have been destroyed during the war in eastern Ukraine, including many that were used for military purposes by both sides in the conflict, Human Rights Watch (HRW) says in a new report.

Schools that have survived the war operate in dangerous and often overcrowded conditions, while many children have been forced to stop attending school altogether, says the report titled Studying Under Fire: Attacks On Schools, Military Use Of Schools During the Armed Conflict In Eastern Ukraine.

It urges the sides in the conflict between government forces and Russia-backed separatists to take steps to protect children's safety and access to education and to prevent the use of schools for military purposes.

'All parties to the conflict have a responsibility to protect children and to make sure that their hostilities don't cause further harm to their safety and education,' New York-based HRW says in the report released on February 11.

During visits to 41 schools and kindergartens and interviews with 62 students, teachers, principals, and witnesses, HRW documented attacks on schools located in both government-controlled and separatist-held areas.

Yulia Gorbunova, Ukraine researcher at HRW, told RFE/RL that both sides have used schools for military activities, deploying forces and armaments in and near schools.

'Using those schools for military purposes led to them basically turning into legitimate military targets and increasing the possibility of them being attacked and destroyed,' Gorbunova said.

Other schools damaged during the conflict were not occupied or used by the fighting forces, and therefore did not appear to be 'legitimate' military targets.

'We've found cases which we documented in the report also very clearly showing indiscriminate attacks, which is a very common [occurrence] in this conflict where the combatants did not distinguish between military and civilian targets,' Gorbunova said.

More than 9,000 civilians and combatants have been killed since the war erupted in April 2014. Fighting has diminished markedly under a cease-fire that took effect in September 2015, but violations are frequent and a deal aimed at resolving the conflict has gone largely unimplemented.

The report describes an artillery attack from the direction of rebel-controlled areas which caused extended damage to a school in Krasnohorivka, a government-controlled town in the Donetsk region, in June 2015. School No. 3 was located some 700 meters from a Ukrainian military checkpoint.

'Well, there was a very heavy artillery attack in which that school was hit many times -- repeatedly, and the military checkpoint was not hit at all, not even once. So that either shows very, very bad aiming [skills], or it shows that the school was targeted deliberately,' Gorbunova told RFE/RL.

Safe Schools Declaration

The report warns that targeting such institutions is prohibited under the laws of war, and can be prosecuted as a war crime.



It also documents cases when the Ukrainian military occupied schools, and 'frequently broke or burned school furniture, including classroom doors, chairs, and desks.'

It says that, on several occasions, troops left behind heavy artillery or unused ammunition.

The report says Ukraine's Ministry of Education and Science has acknowledged in meetings with HRW that government troops have used schools for military purposes.

In urging both sides to protect children's safety and access to education and deter military use of schools, HRW says Ukrainian authorities should do that by endorsing and adhering to the international Safe Schools Declaration -- a statement that was opened for endorsement by countries at a conference in Norway in May 2015. So far, 51 states have signed it.

Gorbunova told RFE/RL that Kyiv had shown openness and a willingness to endorse the declaration. 'We do not have a clear time frame [for the signing] yet, but we will continue working with the government toward it and hope that it will happen in the very near future.'

The report also urges the separatists to follow the principles of the Safe Schools Declaration's Guidelines For Protecting Schools And Universities From Military Use During Armed Conflict.

Gorbunova said that, in the separatists' case, adherence to the guidelines should be proven by concrete action.

'While we cannot call on the militants to actually officially endorse the declaration because they are nonstate actors, we can definitely call on them to follow best practices laid out in the guidelines, and issue very clear orders to all the forces under their command to stop using schools for military purposes,' she said.



Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/hrw-ukraine- war-hundreds-schools-destroyed/27543201.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.

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WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb. 10, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The nuclear energy industry voiced displeasure today with the Obama administration's fiscal 2017 budget request for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, saying it falls far short of needed efficiencies and cost-cutting. The administration submitted a budget request that is a mere 0.5 percent ($4.7 million) lower than this year's $982 million NRC budget.



The administration seeks to portray a deeper reduction by dropping $15 million for an education and workforce training program that Congress has re-inserted in the NRC budget for the past several years. The flat funding request comes despite the agency's recent Project Aim announcement that it would enact structural reforms to improve its agility, efficiency and overall effectiveness.



"Federal appropriators should demand additional efficiencies at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission," said Alex Flint, senior vice president for governmental affairs at NEI. "The public interest and the agency's safety mission will be better served once the NRC is right-sized, and it increases rigor throughout its regulatory processes. Industry and NRC resources alike must be focused on those areas with the highest safety significance."



Of additional concern is the administration's request to reinstate a tax on consumers of electricity in more than 30 states for the cleanup of U.S. Department of Energy uranium enrichment facilities. This is the latest of multiple attempts by the Obama administration to reinstate the uranium enrichment decontamination and decommissioning tax, even though industry met its $2.6 billion financial commitment under a 1992 law, and Congress has consistently rejected the proposed tax.



"Industry recognizes that the federal government is under significant budget pressures, but reinstating unjustified taxes on utility consumers while the government has failed to meet its own obligation is outrageously unfair," Flint said.



The administration's fiscal 2017 budget proposal for DOE is $32.5 billion. DOE's budget contains $994 million for nuclear energy programs, including research and development for advanced reactors, support for fuel cycle technologies and the Nuclear Energy Enabling Technologies effort addressing common challenges at existing facilities. This is an $8 million increase over the $986 million allotted to the Office of Nuclear Energy in the current fiscal year.



Included in the administration's request is $89 million to continue supporting certification and licensing assistance for the small reactor design being developed by NuScale under a cost-share public-private partnership with DOE and to support Tennessee Valley Authority's development of a Combined Operating License Application for eventual siting of a small modular reactor at the Clinch River Site. The budget for this fiscal year authorized $62.5 million for small reactors.



"The industry compliments DOE on its continued support for the development of small reactor technology," Flint said. "Small, scalable nuclear energy facilities will be an innovative addition to our electricity mix; they can also be a linchpin in U.S. efforts to regain global leadership in clean energy technologies through international sales of components and services.



"The administration recognizes that advanced and small reactors hold great promise as a future source of carbon-free electricity and as an export technology that can create many thousands of U.S. jobs."



NEI is disappointed that President Obama failed to realize the continued need to fund the Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility, which is more than 65 percent complete at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The MOX program is a foundational component of our nation's nonproliferation strategy, as it will convert more than 17,000 nuclear weapons held by the United States and the Russian Federation into fuel to generate carbon-free electricity. The alternative proposed by the president is not politically or technically feasible. NEI will ask Congress to provide funding for construction of this project of national security importance continues.



"We look forward to working with Congress this year on the budget process," Flint said. "Nuclear energy plays a vital role in meeting our nation's clean-air electricity needs, protecting the environment, and preserving the fuel and technology diversity that is the strength of the U.S. electricity supply system."



The Nuclear Energy Institute is the nuclear energy industry's policy organization. This news release and additional information about nuclear energy are available at www.nei.org.
FREDERICK, Md., Feb. 11, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Empower Energies ("Empower" or the "Company"), a leading clean energy project solutions company, announced that Michael Belko has joined the organization as Executive Vice President, Operations. Belko brings to Empower over 30 years of experience in the renewable energy industry with diverse operations and management experience in high-growth companies.

"Michael is a strong addition to our executive team and will provide proven operations leadership to meet customer demand for our solar and CHP offering. His ability to accelerate quality project delivery in a high-growth company environment enables us to provide better services to our customers and value to our investors," said Empower Energies CEO Len Jornlin. "We are pleased to have Michael on board  especially at this exciting point in our Company's growth path."

Belko will play a key role in building the business through renewable energy project planning and execution. As Executive Vice President, Operations, he will hold key accountability for the technical feasibility and successful delivery of the right mix of Solar and Combined Heat and Power (CHP) projects. Additionally, Belko will be responsible for championing Continuous Improvement (CI) efforts across the corporation to drive performance, productivity, and operational excellence.

"Len's vision and the Company's growth trajectory were key drivers in my decision to join Empower. I am excited to be part of this seasoned executive team where I can apply my years of renewable energy operations experience to drive increased value for our customers, investors, and colleagues," said Michael Belko, Executive Vice President, Operations for Empower Energies.

Belko comes to Empower with over 30 years of diverse operations, development, and construction experience spanning commercial, residential, and utility-scale renewable energy projects.

Most recently, Belko served as President and Chief Executive Officer of RCS Energy Services, a full-service EPC firm in the renewable energy sector, specializing in solar PV project development and construction. In less than two years, Belko exponentially drove annual revenues and pipeline growth. Prior to his role at RCS, Belko was with SunEdison from 2007-2014 where he served in various operations leadership positions, culminating in the role of Senior Director of Operations - U.S. Commercial Systems.

About Empower Energies

Empower Energies, Inc., headquartered in Frederick, Maryland, is a clean energy project solutions provider focused on applying the right mixTM of combined heat and power (CHP), PV solar, and energy optimization solutions  with financing  to meet the profitability, resiliency and sustainability objectives of hospitals, universities, municipalities, and schools, as well as multi-facility commercial and industrial organizations. More information about Empower Energies can be found at www.empowerenergies.com.

A photo accompanying this release is available at:

http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=38904
VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - February 11, 2016) -

Project's Highest Quartzite Core Assay at 99.98% SiO2 Reported

20 Additional Drill Hole Assays Reported out of 71 Hole Drill Program

Compilation of Data Underway by Geological Team

Anzaplan's Chemical and Thermal Testing on 7,000 kg Bulk Sample Continues

Met-Chem Continuing to Work on Resource Report and PEA

Rogue Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE: RRS) ("Rogue" or the "Company") is pleased to announce it has received high purity silica SiO2 drill core assays of up to 99.98% from the Lac de la Grosse Femelle Silica Project ("Femelle") located approximately 42 kilometers ("km") north of Baie-Saint Paul, QuAbec, and 4 km northeast of Sitec's operating silica mine. This is the highest purity level recorded by the Company since drilling began in August 2015.

"The drill assay results announced today confirm the Femelle Project's high purity silica potential. Recent announcements by the Government of Alberta, as well as other jurisdictions in the World that are considering increased use of solar energy, exemplifies the importance of high purity quartzite projects that have the potential to provide the silica required for solar panel production," commented John de Jong, CEO and President. "The Company is looking forward to the results of the metallurgical test work it initiated in 2015, and the completion of the projects first resource estimate and preliminary economic assessment. We are confident that these reports will provide the guidance necessary to advance Femelle towards a development decision."

General Project Update

The 2015, 5,000 meter ("m") drill program was expanded to 11,819 m. The drill program was increased to provide additional NQ and PQ drill core to Dofner Anzaplan, the Company completing the metallurgical test work. Drilling concluded in December 2015.

Infill drilling was completed to 40 to 50 m spacing.

Strike length of the "G" quartzite unit and "H" quartzite unit were expanded to 1950 m and 500 m respectively. Both units remain open at depth, width and length.

Anzaplan continues to process a 7,000 kg sample of quartzite conducting chemical tests, thermal stability (decrepitation) and shock tests, sensor based sorting, mineralogical characterization, mineral dressing and conventional comminution, physical treatment (attrition, magnetic separation, flotation, high tension separation), chemical processing, and laboratory melting tests.

Anzaplan's testing will also identify the processes required to further purify the quartzite, determining potential usage(s) and value.

Met-Chem, located in MontrAal, QuAbec is working with Company geologists in compiling information in preparation of providing a resource estimate and PEA. Met-Chem is working closely with Anzaplan as they complete their testing regime on the sample provided.

WSP Canada continues to work on environmental impact studies and has provided a comprehensive plan for a full environmental impact study report that would be required should the project advance to the permitting stage.

PDAC

Investors are invited to drop by booth #2929 at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada ("PDAC") convention in Toronto, March 6 - 9, 2016, where management and geological staff will be available to answer any questions.

Drill Program Hole Details

Seventy one drill holes completed, GF15-1 to GF15-71, consisting of 11,819 m.

Fifty-five drill holes drilled on "G" quartzite unit and intersected widths of up to 112 m of quartzite, drilled between the holes GF15-1 on section 600W and GF15-35 section 1300E, on a strike length of approximately 1950 m (Figure 1).

G quartzite has a true width between 32 m and 93 m of white to pinkish-red quartzite that is coarse, crystalline and massive to banded.

Twenty-seven of the G quartzite drill holes are located on the western side of "G" quartzite, intersecting quartzite over a strike length of 650 m with average true width of 93 m. Twenty-four of the "G" quartzite drill holes located on the eastern side of "G" quartzite intersecting quartzite over a strike length of 615 m with true widths of 35 m to 76 m that widens and has been followed up to the section 1300E drill hole GF15-35. This quartzite is white, coarse, crystalline, and massive.

Eleven drill holes drilled on "H" quartzite located 225 m north of Quartzite G

GF15-4, GF15-24, GF15-26, GF15-27, GF15-29, GF15-31, and GF15-67 to GF15-71 intersected between 44 m to 60 m of white quartzite, coarse grain, crystalline and massive. The quartzite has a strike length of 500 m and is open in both directions, east and west.

Five drill holes (PQ and NQ) were drilled for Anzaplan and shipped to Germany for technical evaluation. The assay and metallurgical results from these holes will be reported on when received.

To view complete drill tables for assays disclosed today, please click on the link below:

http://www.rogueresources.ca/i/misc/16-02-11-NR-Tables.pdf

To view a drill location map, please click on the link below:

http://www.rogueresources.ca/i/misc/feb-2016-NR-DDH-Plan.jpg

Drill Hole GF15-20 Details

Located 306 m northeast of the drill hole GF15-7 on the "G" quartzite zone.

Total 84 samples with sampling length 96.65 m in the quartzite or 95.2 m true width

48 of 84 samples returning assays ranging from 97.93 to 99.88 SiO 2 over combined width of 56.75 meters

Sequence of Assayed Silica Oxide Contents (Over 97.9% SiO 2 )

Sequence 1: 6.55 m core length (39.7 m to 46.25m) or 6.55 m true width

2 assay between 99.21 and 99.28% SiO 2 6.55 m interval 6 assays between 98.19 and 99.28% SiO 2

Sequence 2: 5.7 m core length (48.8 m to 54.5 m) or 5.61 m true width

5.7 m interval 4 assays between 98.04 and 98.68% SiO 2

Sequence 3: 18.6 m core length (56.0 m to 74.6 m) or 18.32 m true width

4 assay between 99.07 and 99.88% SiO 2 18.6 m interval 14 assays between 98.02 and 99.88% SiO 2

Sequence 4: 4.6 m core length (75.6 m to 80.2 m) or 4.53 m true width

4.6 m interval 7 assays between 97.93 and 98.92% SiO 2

Sequence 5: 2.1 m core length (85.4 m to 87.5 m) or 2.07 m true width

2.1 m interval 2 assays between 97.99 and 98.97% SiO 2

Sequence 6: 3.65 m core length (88.7 m to 92.35 m) or 3.6 m true width

3.65 m interval 3 assays between 98.21 and 98.7% SiO 2

Sequence 7: 5.85 m core length (92.85 m to 98.7 m) or 5.76 m true width

1 assay at 99.58% SiO 2 5.85 m interval 4 assays between 98.35 and 99.58% SiO 2

Sequence 8: 2.75 m core length (103.05 m to 105.8 m) or 2.71 m true width

1 assay at 99.05% SiO 2 2.75 m interval 2 assays between 98.62 and 99.05% SiO 2

Sequence 9: 1.25 m core length (131.2 m to 132.45 m) or 1.23 m true width

1.25 m interval 2 assays between 98.0 and 98.86% SiO 2



Drill Hole GF15-22 Details

Located 406 m northeast of the drill hole GF15-17 on the "G" Quartzite zone.

Total 77 samples with sampling length 102.0 m in the quartzite or 81.14 m true width

47 of 77 samples returning assays ranging from 97.94 to 99.62% SiO 2 over combined width of 61.25 meters

Sequence of Assayed Silica Oxide Contents (Over 98% SiO 2 )

Sequence 1: 3.95 m core length (9.2 m to 13.15 m) or 3.14 m true width

2 assays between 99.01 and 99.24% SiO 2 3.95 m interval 3 assays between 98.92 and 99.24% SiO 2

Sequence 2: 5.6 m core length (16.3 m to 21.9 m) or 4.45 m true width

1 assay 99.27% SiO 2 5.6 m interval 4 assays between 98.2 and 99.27% SiO 2

Sequence 3: 2.65 m core length (23.35 m to 26.0 m) or 2.11 m true width

2.65 m interval 2 assays between 98.38 and 98.73% SiO 2

Sequence 4: 6.6 m core length (36.6 m to 43.2 m) or 5.25 m true width

2 assay 99.62% SiO2 6.6 m interval 5 assays 98.6 and 99.62% SiO2

Sequence 5: 8.55 m core length (44.95 m to 53.5 m) or 6.8 m true width

3 assays between 99.16 and 99.37% SiO 2 8.55 m interval 6 assays between 98.01 and 99.37% SiO2

Sequence 6: 2.25 m core length (55.1 m to 57.35 m) or 1.79 m true width

2 assays between 99.14 and 99.18% SiO2

Sequence 7: 13.7 m core length (58.3 m to 72.0 m) or 10.9 m true width

4 assays between 99.02 and 99.47% SiO 2 13.7 m interval 11 assays between 97.94 and 99.47% SiO2

Sequence 8: 8.5 m core length (89.5 m to 98.0 m) or 6.76 m true width

8.5 m interval 6 assays between 97.96 and 98.69% SiO2

Sequence 9: 2.1 m core length (99.4 m to 101.5 m) or 1.67 m true width

1 assay of 99.07% SiO 2 2.1 m interval 2 assays between 98.24 and 99.07% SiO2

Sequence 10: 4.2 m core length (103.1 m to 107.3 m) or 3.34 m true width

4.2 m interval 3 assays between 98.07 and 98.8% SiO2



Drill Hole GF15-23 Details

Located northeast of the drill hole GF15-5 at 151.6 m and drilled under the "G" quartzite zone.

Total 87 samples with sampling length 116.2 m in the quartzite or 86.72 m true width

51 of 87 samples returning assays ranging from 97.92 and 99.41% SiO 2 over combined width of 66.95 meters

Sequence of Assayed Silica Oxide Contents (Over 97.9% SiO 2 )

Sequence 1: 2.4 m core length (26.8m to 28.4m) or 1.79 m true width

2.4 m interval 2 assays between 98.47 and 98.76% SiO 2

Sequence 2: 4.35 m core length (30.5 m to 34.85 m) or 3.25 m true width

4.35 m interval 3 assays between 98.23 and 98.32% SiO 2

Sequence 3: 3.8 m core length (35.65m to 39.45m) or 2.84 m true width

3.8 m interval 3 assays between 98.1 and 98.39% SiO 2

Sequence 4: 2.8 m core length (40.6m to 43.4m) or 2.09 m true width

2.8 m interval 2 assays between 97.93 and 98.84% SiO 2

Sequence 5: 9.55 m core length (51.4 m to 60.95 m) or 7.13 m true width

3 assay between 99.09 and 99.2% SiO 2 9.55 m interval 7 assays between 98.15 and 99.2% SiO 2

Sequence 6: 4.3 m core length (69.0m to 73.3m) or 3.21 m true width

4.3 m interval 3 assays between 97.93 and 98.36% SiO 2

Sequence 7: 16.6 m core length (74.5m to 91.1m) or 12.39 m true width

2 assay between 99.28 and 99.41% SiO 2 16.6 m interval 13 assays between 98.04 and 99.41% SiO 2

Sequence 8: 4.8 m core length (103.4m to 108.2m) or 3.58 m true width

4.8 m interval 4 assays between 97.92 and 98.29% SiO 2

Sequence 9: 2.4 m core length (116.0m to 118.4m) or 1.79 m true width

2.4 m interval 2 assays between 98.02 and 98.12% SiO 2

Sequence 10: 5.15 m core length (125.15m to 130.3m) or 3.84 m true width

1 assay at 99.07% SiO 2 5.15 m interval 4 assays between 98.19 and 99.07% SiO 2

Sequence 11: 2.65 m core length (131.6m to 134.25m) or 1.98 m true width

2.65 m interval 2 assays between 98.18 and 98.83% SiO 2



Drill Hole GF15-25 Details

Located 353 m northeast of the drill hole GF15-5 on the "G" quartzite zone.

Total 73 samples with sampling length 109.95 m in the quartzite or 103.53 m true width

36 of 73 samples returning assays ranging between 97.9 to 99.98% SiO 2 over combined width of 57.45 meters

Sequence of Assayed Silica Oxide Contents (Over 98% SiO 2 )

Sequence 1: 16.85 m core length (44.15 m to 61.0 m) or 15.87 m true width

3 assays between 99.22 and 99.49% SiO 2 3.6 m interval 3 assays between 97.93 and 99.49% SiO 2

Sequence 2: 3.4 m core length (63.6 m to 67.0 m) or 3.2 m true width

1 assay of 99.12% SiO 2 3.4 m interval 2 assays between 98.53 and 99.12 % SiO 2

Sequence 3: 21.8 m core length (73.0 m to 94.8 m) or 20.53 m true width

4 assay between 99.07 and 99.98% SiO 2 21.8 m interval 12 assays between 97.9 and 99.98% SiO 2

Sequence 4: 4.8 m core length (127.2 m to 132.0 m) or 4.52 m true width

4.8 m interval 3 assays between 97.94 and 98.59% SiO2

Sequence 5: 2.85 m core length (134.15 m to 137.0 m) or 2.68 m true width

2.85 m interval 2 assays between 97.94 and 97.99% SiO2

Sequence 6: 3.1 m core length (143.0 m to 146.1 m) or 2.92 m true width

3.1 m interval 3 assays between 97.97 and 98.05% SiO 2



Drill Hole GF15-27 Details

Located 270 m west of the channel R13 on the "H" Quartzite and 415 m northwest of the "G" quartzite zone.

Total 58 samples with sampling length 81.95 m in the quartzite or 71.84 m true width

32 of 58 samples returning assays ranging from 97.94 to 99.47% SiO 2 over combined width of 45.85 meters

Sequence of Assayed Silica Oxide Contents (Over 98% SiO 2 )

Sequence 1: 9.0 m core length (72.0 m to 81.0 m) or 7.89 m true width

1 assay of 99.47% SiO 2 9.0 m interval 7 assays between 98.1 and 99.47% SiO 2

Sequence 2: 10.6 m core length (82.2 m to 92.8 m) or 9.29 m true width

1 assay of 99.03% SiO 2 10.6 m interval 7 assays between 98.67 and 99.03% SiO 2

Sequence 3: 3.0 m core length (112.5 m to 115.5 m) or 2.63 m true width

3.0 m interval 2 assays between 98.16 and 98.55% SiO 2

Sequence 4: 5.9 m core length (118.0 m to 123.9 m) or 5.17 m true width

1 assay of 99.18% SiO 2 5.9 m interval 4 assays between 98.18 and 99.18% SiO2

Sequence 5: 9.65 m core length (140.0 m to 149.65 m) or 8.46 m true width

1 assay of 99.23% SiO 2 9.65 m interval 5 assays between 98.34 and 99.23% SiO2

Sequence 6: 2.55 m core length (151.2 m to 153.75 m) or 2.24 m true width 2.55 m interval 3 assays between 98.08 and 98.51% SiO2



Drill Hole GF15-28 Details

Located 362 m northeast of the drill hole GF15-5 on the "G" quartzite zone.

Total 89 samples with sampling length 125.7 m in the quartzite or 118.37 m true width

42 of 89 samples returning assays ranging from 97.95 to 99.86% SiO 2 over combined width of 60.65 meters

Sequence of Assayed Silica Oxide Contents (Over 98% SiO 2 )

Sequence 1: 25.25 m core length (91.0 m to 116.25 m) or 23.78 m true width

3 assay between 99.09 and 99.77% SiO 2 25.25 m interval 17 assays between 98.04 and 99.77% SiO 2

Sequence 2: 2.5 m core length (119.5 m to 122.0 m) or 2.35 m true width

2.5 m interval 2 assays between 98.06 and 98.68% SiO 2

Sequence 3: 6.2 m core length (128.8 m to 135.0 m) or 5.84 m true width

2 assay between 99.09 and 99.46% SiO 2 6.2 m interval 4 assays between 98.0 and 99.46% SiO 2

Sequence 4: 8.35 m core length (136.0 m to 144.35 m) or 7.86 m true width

2 assay between 99.34 and 99.86% SiO 2 8.35 m interval 5 assays between 98.47 and 99.86% SiO 2

Sequence 5: 6.45 m core length (145.55 m to 152.0 m) or 6.07 m true width

2 assay between 99.46 and 99.62% SiO 2 6.45 m interval 5 assays between 97.95 and 99.62% SiO 2

Sequence 6: 2.7 m core length (153.1 m to 155.8 m) or 2.54 m true width

1 assay of 99.03% SiO 2 2.7 m interval 3 assays between 98.83 and 99.03% SiO 2



Drill Hole GF15-30 Details

Located 455 m northeast of the drill hole GF15-5 on the "G" quartzite zone.

Total 64 samples with sampling length 96.25 m in the quartzite or 84.59 m true width

42 of 64 samples returning assays ranging from 97.92 to 99.53% SiO 2 over combined width of 62.65 meters

Sequence of Assayed Silica Oxide Contents (Over 98% SiO 2 )

Sequence 1: 13.9 m core length (55.1 m to 69.0 m) or 12.22 m true width

2 assay between 99.47 and 99.53% SiO 2 13.9 m interval 10 assays between 98.16 and 99.53% SiO 2

Sequence 2: 4.7 m core length (70.3 m to 75.0 m) or 4.13 m true width

1 assay of 99.11% SiO 2 4.7 m interval 3 assays between 98.39 and 99.11% SiO 2

Sequence 3: 2.55 m core length (78.0 m to 80.55 m) or 2.24 m true width

2.55 m interval 2 assays between 98.18 and 98.58% SiO 2

Sequence 4: 14.5 m core length (81.5 m to 96.0 m) or 12.74 m true width

1 assay of 99.24% SiO 2 14.5 m interval 9 assays between 98.16 and 99.24% SiO 2

Sequence 5: 12.5 m core length (114.5 m to 127.0 m) or 10.99 m true width

1 assay of 99.32% SiO 2 12.5 m interval 7 assays between 97.95 and 99.32% SiO 2

Sequence 6: 2.7 m core length (130.1 m to 132.8 m) or 2.7 m true width

2.7 m interval 2 assays between 98.2 and 98.71% SiO 2

Sequence 7: 4.0 m core length (134.3 m to 138.3 m) or 3.52 m true width

4.0 m interval 3 assays between 97.92 and 98.27% SiO 2

Sequence 8: 4.0 m core length (140.0 m to 144.0 m) or 3.52 m true width

4.0 m interval 3 assays between 98.2 and 98.92% SiO 2

Sequence 9: 2.3 m core length (145.5 m to 147.8 m) or 2.02 m true width

2.3 m interval 2 assays between 98.68 and 98.76% SiO 2



Drill Hole GF15-31 Details

Located 204 m northwest of the channel R13 on the "H" Quartzite and 452 m northwest of the "G" quartzite zone.

Total 60 samples with sampling length 86.4 m in the quartzite or 69.0 m true width

47 of 60 samples returning assays ranging from 97.98 to 99.82% SiO 2 over combined width of 68.35 meters

Sequence of Assayed Silica Oxide Contents (Over 98% % SiO 2 )

Sequence 1: 17.35 m core length (60.3 m to 77.65 m) or 13.86 m true width 6 assay between 99.06 and 99.52% SiO2 17.35 m interval 12 assays between 98.11 and 99.52% SiO2

Sequence 2: 4.9 m core length (79.5 m to 84.4 m) or 3.91 m true width 2 assay between 99.74 and 99.82% SiO2 4.9 m interval 4 assays between 98.67 and 99.82% SiO2

Sequence 3: 5.3 m core length (87.1 m to 92.4 m) or 4.23 m true width 3 assay between 99.02 and 99.11% SiO2 5.3 m interval 4 assays between 98.51 and 99.11% SiO2

Sequence 4: 28.7 m core length (94.1 m to 122.8 m) or 22.92 m true width 12 assay between 99.07 and 99.6% SiO2 28.7 m interval 20 assays between 98.02 and 99.6% SiO2

Sequence 5: 3.8 m core length (123.45 m to 127.25 m) or 3.03 m true width 1 assay of 99.3% SiO2 3.8 m interval 3 assays between 98.05 and 99.28% SiO2

Sequence 6: 5.0 m core length (136.0 m to 141.0 m) or 3.99 m true width 1 assay of 99.28% SiO2 5.0 m interval 3 assays between 98.3 and 99.28% SiO2



Drill Hole GF15-32 Details

Located 550 m northeast of the drill hole GF15-5 of the "G" quartzite zone.

Total 66 samples with sampling length 77.55 m in the quartzite or 70.05 m true width

36 of 66 samples returning assays ranging from 97.9 to 99.48% SiO 2 over combined width of 41.45 meters

Sequence of Assayed Silica Oxide Contents (Over 98% SiO 2 )

Sequence 1: 3.5 m core length (63.1 m to 66.6 m) or 3.16 m true width

3.5 m interval 2 assays between 98.15 and 98.8% SiO 2

Sequence 2: 8.3 m core length (68.0 m to 76.3 m) or 7.49 m true width

2 assay between 99.08 and 99.16% SiO 2 8.3 m interval 6 assays between 97.91 and 99.16% SiO 2

Sequence 3: 7.6 m core length (79.5 m to 87.1 m) or 6.86 m true width

7.6 m interval 7 assays between 97.94 and 98.76% SiO 2

Sequence 4: 8.1 m core length (88.9 m to 97.0 m) or 7.31 m true width

5 assay between 99.15 and 99.43% SiO 2 8.1 m interval 8 assays between 98.41 and 99.43% SiO 2

Sequence 5: 4.3 m core length (101.3 m to 105.6 m) or 3.88 m true width

2 assay between 99.09 and 99.48% SiO 2 4.3 m interval 4 assays between 98.62 and 99.48% SiO 2

Sequence 6: 1.35 m core length (128.35 m to 129.7 m) or 1.22 m true width

1.35 m interval 2 assays between 98.32 and 98.57% SiO 2



Drill Hole GF15-34 Details

Located 560 m northeast of the drill hole GF15-5 of the "G" quartzite zone.

Total 65 samples with sampling length 90.25 m in the quartzite or 56.55 m true width

42 of 65 samples returning assays ranging from 98.04 to 99.48% SiO 2 over combined width of 56.55 meters

Sequence of Assayed Silica Oxide Contents (Over 98% SiO 2 )

Sequence 1: 3.05 m core length (103.0 m to 106.05 m) or 2.75 m true width

1 assay of 99.39% SiO 2 3.05 m interval 2 assays between 98.66 and 99.39% SiO 2

Sequence 2: 15.85 m core length (107.9 m to 123.75 m) or 14.31 m true width

3 assay between 99.01 and 99.33% SiO 2 15.85 m interval 10 assays between 98.1 and 99.33% SiO 2

Sequence 3: 2.55 m core length (126.35 m to 128.9 m) or 2.3 m true width

1 assay of 99.03% SiO 2 2.55 m interval 2 assays between 98.95 and 99.03% SiO 2

Sequence 4: 7.7 m core length (130.0 m to 137.7 m) or 6.95 m true width

2 assay between 99.14 and 99.21% SiO 2 7.7 m interval 5 assays between 98.04 and 99.21% SiO 2

Sequence 5: 6.3 m core length (143.6 m to 149.9 m) or 5.69 m true width

1 assay of 99.26% SiO 2 6.3 m interval 4 assays between 98.59 and 99.26% SiO 2

Sequence 6: 5.5 m core length (166.5 m to 172.0 m) or 4.96 m true width

5.5 m interval 4 assays between 98.15 and 98.47% SiO 2

Sequence 7: 3.7 m core length (177.3 m to 181.0 m) or 3.34 m true width

1 assay of 99.1% SiO 2 3.7 m interval 4 assays between 98.4 and 99.1% SiO 2

Sequence 8: 10.05 m core length (182.8 m to 192.85 m) or 9.07 m true width

3 assay between 99.3 and 99.48% SiO 2 10.05 m interval 7 assays between 98.24 and 99.48% SiO 2

Sequence 9: 1.55 m core length (193.45 m to 195.0 m) or 1.4 m true width

1.55 m interval 2 assays between 98.5 and 98.73% SiO 2



Drill Hole GF15-35 Details

Located 615 m northeast of the drill hole GF15-17 of the "G" quartzite zone.

Total 132 samples with sampling length 188.85 m in the quartzite or 98.9 m true width

70 of 132 samples returning assays ranging from 97.93 to 99.68% SiO 2 over combined width of 98.9 meters

Sequence of Assayed Silica Oxide Contents (Over 98% SiO 2 )

Sequence 1: 3.0 m core length (12.5 m to 15.5 m) or 2.83 m true width

3.0 m interval 2 assays between 98.13 and 98.49% SiO 2

Sequence 2: 5.1 m core length (22.0 m to 27.1 m) or 4.82 m true width

1 assay of 99.34% SiO 2 5.1 m interval 4 assays between 98.38 and 99.34% SiO 2

Sequence 3: 14.6 m core length (28.6 m to 43.2 m) or 13.8 m true width

2 assay between 99.36 and 99.48% SiO 2 14.6 m interval 11 assays between 98.07 and 99.48% SiO 2

Sequence 4: 4.75 m core length (44.25 m to 49.0 m) or 4.49 m true width

4.75 m interval 3 assays between 98.29 and 98.63% SiO 2

Sequence 5: 9.85 m core length (57.15 m to 67.0 m) or 9.31 m true width

9.85 m interval 7 assays between 97.97 and 98.71% SiO 2

Sequence 6: 3.9 m core length (68.55 m to 72.45 m) or 3.69 m true width

2 assay between 99.5 and 99.68% SiO 2 3.9 m interval 3 assays between 98.98 and 99.68% SiO 2

Sequence 7: 3.35 m core length (95.45 m to 98.8 m) or 3.17 m true width

2 assay between 99.15 and 99.32% SiO 2 3.35 m interval 2 assays between 99.15 and 99.32% SiO 2

Sequence 8: 6.9 m core length (113.5 m to 120.4 m) or 6.52 m true width

6.9 m interval 5 assays between 97.93 and 98.75% SiO 2

Sequence 9: 4.45 m core length (124.55 m to 129.0 m) or 4.2 m true width

1 assay of 99.3% SiO 2 4.45 m interval 4 assays between 98.48 and 99.3% SiO 2

Sequence 10: 3.55 m core length (134.6 m to 138.15 m) or 3.35 m true width

3.55 m interval 3 assays between 98.23 and 98.71% SiO 2

Sequence 11: 17.9 m core length (142.6 m to 160.5 m) or 16.91 m true width

6 assay between 99.12 and 99.68% SiO 2 17.9 m interval 11 assays between 98.36 and 99.68% SiO 2

Sequence 12: 6.05 m core length (161.35 m to 167.4 m) or 5.72 m true width

1 assay of 99.13% SiO 2 6.05 m interval 4 assays between 97.95 and 99.13% SiO 2

Sequence 13: 4.9 m core length (198.1 m to 203.0 m) or 4.63 m true width

4.9 m interval 3 assays between 98.19 and 98.86% SiO 2



Drill Hole GF15-37 Details

Located 603 m northeast of the drill hole GF15-5 of the "G" quartzite zone.

Total 47 samples with sampling length 73.25 m in the quartzite or 67.39 m true width

18 of 47 samples returning assays ranging from 97.96 to 98.92% SiO 2 over combined width of 27.65 meters

Sequence of Assayed Silica Oxide Contents (Over 98% SiO 2 )

Sequence 1: 2.5 m core length (66.5 m to 69.0 m) or 2.30 m true width

2.5 m interval 2 assays between 98.01 and 98.37% SiO 2

Sequence 2: 4.5 m core length (79.5 m to 84.0 m) or 4.14 m true width

4.5 m interval 3 assays between 98.04 and 98.82% SiO 2

Sequence 3: 3.4 m core length (87.0 m to 90.4 m) or 3.13 m true width

3.4 m interval 2 assays between 97.99 and 98.08% SiO 2

Sequence 4: 4.9 m core length (92.6 m to 97.5 m) or 4.51 m true width

4.9 m interval 3 assays between 98.57 and 98.86% SiO 2

Sequence 5: 3.4 m core length (118.85 m to 122.25 m) or 3.13 m true width

3.4 m interval 2 assays between 98.27 and 98.3% SiO 2

Sequence 6: 3.6 m core length (135.4 m to 139.0 m) or 3.31 m true width

3.6 m interval 2 assays between 98.03 and 98.05% SiO 2



Drill Hole GF15-38 Details

Located 40 m north-northwest of the drill hole GF15-17 of the "G" quartzite zone.

Total 24 samples with sampling length 33.6 m in the quartzite or 19.82 m true width

19 of 24 samples returning assays ranging from 97.97 to 99.77% SiO 2 over combined width of 26.05 meters

Sequence of Assayed Silica Oxide Contents (Over 98% SiO 2 )

Sequence 1: 10.9 m core length (99.1 m to 110.0 m) or 6.43 m true width

3 assay between 99.26 and 99.31% SiO 2 10.9 m interval 8 assays between 97.97 and 99.31% SiO 2

Sequence 2: 3.5 m core length (111.6 m to 115.1 m) or 2.07 m true width

3.5 m interval 3 assays between 98.07 and 98.98% SiO 2

Sequence 3: 10.0 m core length (117.0 m to 127.0 m) or 5.9 m true width

3 assay between 99.09 and 99.77% SiO 2 10.0 m interval 7 assays between 98.41 and 99.77% SiO 2



Drill Hole GF15-40 Details

Located 76.8 m north-northeast of the drill hole GF15-17 of the "G" quartzite zone.

Total 25 samples with sampling length 34.5 m in the quartzite or 20.52 m true width

13 of 25 samples returning assays ranging from 98.16 to 99.37% SiO 2 over combined width of 19.3 meters

Sequence of Assayed Silica Oxide Contents (Over 98% SiO 2 )

Sequence 1: 4.5 m core length (87.5 m to 92.0 m) or 2.68 m true width

2 assay between 99.04 and 99.29% SiO 2 4.5 m interval 3 assays between 98.62 and 99.29% SiO 2

Sequence 2: 11.65 m core length (93.75 m to 105.4 m) or 6.93 m true width

1 assay of 99.37% SiO 2 11.65 m interval 8 assays between 98.3 and 99.37% SiO 2



Drill Hole GF15-41 Details

Located 155 m northeast of the drill hole GF15-17 of the "G" quartzite zone.

Total 37 samples with sampling length 47.8 m in the quartzite or 28.43 m true width

32 of 37 samples returning assays ranging from 97.97 to 99.97% SiO 2 over combined width of 40.8 meters

Sequence of Assayed Silica Oxide Contents (Over 98% SiO 2 )

Sequence 1: 2.4 m core length (54.2 m to 56.6 m) or 1.43 m true width

2.4 m interval 2 assays between 97.97 and 98.07% SiO 2

Sequence 2: 9.4 m core length (57.6 m to 67.0 m) or 5.59 m true width

1 assay of 99.01% SiO 2 9.4 m interval 7 assays between 98.05 and 99.01% SiO 2

Sequence 3: 9.5 m core length (71.5 m to 81.0 m) or 5.65 m true width

9.5 m interval 7 assays between 98.41 and 98.88% SiO 2

Sequence 4: 3.2 m core length (82.3 m to 85.5 m) or 1.9 m true width

3.2 m interval 2 assays of 98.65% SiO 2

Sequence 5: 15.4 m core length (86.6 m to 102.0 m) or 9.16 m true width

6 assay between 99.17 and 99.97% SiO 2 15.4 m interval 13 assays between 98.07 and 99.97% SiO 2



Drill Hole GF15-43 Details

Located 119 m northeast of the drill hole GF15-17 of the "G" quartzite zone.

Total 48 samples with sampling length 51.15 m in the quartzite or 45.18 m true width

32 of 48 samples returning assays ranging from 97.92 to 99.46% SiO 2 over combined width of 34.1 meters

Sequence of Assayed Silica Oxide Contents (Over 98% SiO 2 )

Sequence 1: 1.5 m core length (95.9 m to 97.4 m) or 1.33 m true width

1.5 m interval 2 assays between 98.02 and 98.53% SiO 2

Sequence 2: 3.9 m core length (97.9 m to 101.8 m) or 3.44 m true width

3.9 m interval 4 assays between 97.97 and 98.43% SiO 2

Sequence 3: 9.9 m core length (102.3 m to 107.8 m) or 8.74 m true width

9.9 m interval 5 assays between 98.09 and 98.55% SiO 2

Sequence 4: 3.6 m core length (109.4 m to 113.0 m) or 3.18 m true width

3.6 m interval 4 assays between 98.57 and 98.93% SiO 2

Sequence 5: 4.1 m core length (113.9 m to 118.0 m) or 3.62 m true width

4.1 m interval 4 assays between 98.11 and 98.99% SiO 2

Sequence 6: 13.2 m core length (122.3 m to 135.5 m) or 11.66 m true width

3 assay between 99.16 and 99.46% SiO 2 13.2 m interval 11 assays between 97.92 and 99.46% SiO 2



Drill Hole GF15-49 Details

Located 260 m northeast of the drill hole GF15-5 of the "G" quartzite zone.

Total 58 samples with sampling length 73.4 m in the quartzite or 65.2 m true width

45 of 58 samples returning assays ranging from 97.93 to 99.61% SiO 2 over combined width of 59.35 meters

Sequence of Assayed Silica Oxide Contents (Over 98% SiO 2 )

Sequence 1: 11.8 m core length (70.6 m to 82.4 m) or 10.48 m true width

3 assay between 99.31 and 99.61% SiO 2 11.8 m interval 7 assays between 98.81 and 99.61% SiO 2

Sequence 2: 3.1 m core length (82.9 m to 86.0 m) or 2.75 m true width

3.1 m interval 2 assays between 98.62 and 98.91% SiO 2

Sequence 3: 3.2 m core length (90.0 m to 93.2 m) or 2.84 m true width

3.2 m interval 2 assays between 97.93 and 98.7% SiO 2

Sequence 4: 9.0 m core length (96.0 m to 105.0 m) or 7.99 m true width

1 assay of 99.0% SiO 2 9.0 m interval 6 assays between 98.5 and 99.0% SiO 2

Sequence 5: 17.05 m core length (107.45 m to 124.0 m) or 15.15 m true width

6 assay between 99.04 and 99.55% SiO 2 17.05 m interval 15 assays between 98.05 and 99.55% SiO 2

Sequence 6: 5.25 m core length (127.05 m to 132.3 m) or 4.66 m true width

3 assay between 99.02 and 99.39% SiO 2 5.25 m interval 4 assays between 98.59 and 99.39% SiO 2

Sequence 7: 6.65 m core length (132.9 m to 139.55 m) or 5.91 m true width 4 assay between 99.11 and 99.51% SiO 2 6.65 m interval 6 assays between 98.28 and 99.51% SiO 2



Drill Hole GF15-50 Details

Located 85 m north of the drill hole GF15-17 of the "G" quartzite zone.

Total 12 samples with sampling length 20.2 m in the quartzite or 13.5 m true width

6 of 12 samples returning assays ranging from 98.45 to 99.18% SiO 2 over combined width of 8.85 meters

Sequence of Assayed Silica Oxide Contents (Over 98% SiO 2 )

Sequence 1: 7.55 m core length (98.59 m to 99.18 m) or 5.91 m true width

4 assay between 99.06 and 99.18% SiO 2 7.55 m interval 5 assays between 98.52 and 99.18% SiO 2



Drill Hole GF15-51A Details

Located 300 m northeast of the drill hole GF15-5 of the "G" quartzite zone.

Total 74 samples with sampling length 105.65 m in the quartzite or 100.3 m true width

51 of 74 samples returning assays ranging from 97.96 to 99.69% SiO 2 over combined width of 71.0 meters

Sequence of Assayed Silica Oxide Contents (Over 98% SiO 2 )

Sequence 1: 3.7 m core length (41.8 m to 45.5 m) or 3.51 m true width

1 assay of 99.03% SiO 2 3.7 m interval 3 assays between 98.45 and 99.03% SiO 2

Sequence 2: 16.4 m core length (47.1 m to 63.5 m) or 15.57 m true width

16.4 m interval 13 assays between 97.96 and 98.96% SiO 2

Sequence 3: 6.0 m core length (67.0 m to 73.0 m) or 5.7 m true width

6.0 m interval 3 assays between 97.99 and 98.21% SiO 2

Sequence 4: 14.4 m core length (74.4 m to 88.8 m) or 13.67 m true width

7 assay between 99.04 and 99.69% SiO 2 14.4 m interval 11 assays between 98.07 and 99.69% SiO 2

Sequence 5: 6.15 m core length (89.5 m to 95.65 m) or 5.84 m true width

6.15 m interval 4 assays between 98.42 and 98.97% SiO 2

Sequence 6: 3.85 m core length (111.15 m to 115.0 m) or 3.66 m true width

3.85 m interval 3 assays between 98.13 and 98.66% SiO 2

Sequence 7: 3.15 m core length (119.0 m to 122.15 m) or 2.99 m true width

3.15 m interval 2 assays between 98.35 and 99.79% SiO 2

Sequence 8: 4.2 m core length (123.8 m to 128.0 m) or 3.99 m true width

4.2 m interval 3 assays between 98.14 and 98.47% SiO 2

Sequence 9: 5.1 m core length (111.15 m to 115.0 m) or 3.66 m true width

3.85 m interval 3 assays between 97.99 and 98.68% SiO 2

Sequence 10: 3.2 m core length (140.0 m to 143.2 m) or 3.04 m true width

3.2 m interval 2 assays between 98.66 and 98.91% SiO 2



Drill Hole GF15-52 Details

Located 170 m northeast of the drill hole GF15-17 of the "G" quartzite zone.

Total 44 samples with sampling length 62.15 m in the quartzite or 36.97 m true width

29 of 44 samples returning assays ranging from 97.93 to 99.98% SiO 2 over combined width of 44.3 meters

Sequence of Assayed Silica Oxide Contents (Over 98% SiO 2 )

Sequence 1: 11.9 m core length (95.75 m to 107.65 m) or 7.08 m true width

11.9 m interval 7 assays between 98.05 and 98.91% SiO 2

Sequence 2: 3.85 m core length (108.15 m to 112.0 m) or 2.29 m true width

1 assay of 99.05% SiO 2 3.85 m interval 2 assays between 98.21 and 99.05% SiO 2

Sequence 3: 4.7 m core length (113.5 m to 118.2 m) or 2.8 m true width

2 assay between 99.24 and 99.59% SiO 2 4.7 m interval 3 assays between 98.4 and 99.59% SiO 2

Sequence 4: 3.45 m core length (122.3 m to 125.75 m) or 2.05 m true width

3.45 m interval 2 assays between 98.0 and 98.27% SiO 2

Sequence 5: 10.7 m core length (129.35 m to 140.05 m) or 6.37 m true width

4 assay between 99.13 and 99.98% SiO 2 10.7 m interval 8 assays between 97.96 and 99.98% SiO 2

Sequence 6: 5.75 m core length (142.45 m to 148.2 m) or 3.42 m true width

5.75 m interval 4 assays between 98.19 and 98.87% SiO 2



About Rogue Resources Inc.

With its diverse portfolio of properties, all in good standing, the Company has the ability to focus its efforts and finances on the project that demonstrates the greatest market potential for return. The projected completion of the extension by QuAbec Hydro of high voltage power to within 4 km of the project by the spring of 2016, is seen as a great foundational point to launch our silica rich quartzite property.

The Femelle Project is located approximately 42 km north of Baie-Saint Paul, situated on the St. Lawrence River, and is 4 km northeast of the Mine Sitec silica mine, in operation for over fifty years. Access to the project is via a paved highway and well maintained forestry access roads.

Qualified Person

The Lac de la Grosse Femelle exploration project is under the direct supervision of Eddy Canova, P Geo., and Senior Vice-President of the Company, a Qualified Persons ("QP") as defined by National Instrument 43-101, assisted by Alain-Jean Beauregard, P.Geo., and Daniel Gaudreault, Eng., Geo. of Geologica Inc., and Dr. Trygve Hoy, P.Eng, PhD, all independent QPs as defined by National Instrument 43-101. The Company's QP has approved the scientific and technical content of this release.

On Behalf of Rogue Resources Inc.

John de Jong

CEO & 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 news release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: Certain disclosures in this release constitute forward-looking statements, including timing of completion of exploration work. In making the forward-looking statements in this release, the Company has applied certain factors and assumptions that are based on the Company's current beliefs as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company, including that the Company is able to obtain any government or other regulatory approvals, that the Company is able to procure personnel, equipment and supplies required for its exploration and development activities in sufficient quantities and on a timely basis and that actual results are consistent with management's expectations. Although the Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to it, they may prove to be incorrect, and the forward-looking statements in this release are subject to numerous risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause future results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. Such risk factors include, among others, those matters identified in its continuous disclosure filings, including its most recently filed MD&A. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to, update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
Vancouver, British Columbia / TheNewswire / February 11, 2016 - Nevada Energy Metals Inc. TSX-V: BFF (OTC Pink: SSMLF) is pleased to announce that its new website, nevadaenergymetals.com is now live. This website will be updated on an as continuous basis as the company progresses and has new information for shareholders.

Nevada Energy Metals can also be found on Facebook and Twitter as part of their mission to keep shareholders and potential investors informed.

About Nevada Energy Metals

Nevada Energy Metals Inc. is a Canadian Based exploration and development company who's primary listing is on the TSX Venture Exchange. The company's main focuses are brine based lithium exploration targets located in the mining friendly state of Nevada. As of the 13th of January the company has completed a $900,000 CAD secondary funding to carry out an exploration program on the area known as Alkali Lake and Alkali Flats. This lithium target is located in Esmeralda County, Nevada, just 12km from Rockwood Lithium, the only brine based lithium producer in North America. Nevada Energy Metals must complete a one-time payment of shares, cash payments over three years and complete certain exploration milestones to earn its 60% interest.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Harry Barr?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

Copyright (c) 2016 TheNewswire - All rights reserved.
Chair of judges Paul Mannassis (standing) samples an espresso while judge Joseph Gadallah looks on at the Sydney Royal Coffee Competition that precedes this year's Easter Show at Homebush. Photo: James Brickwood

It sounds like a dream job for any coffee-crazy-caffeine hound until you actually do it: Taste 70 lattes over a two-day period.

Armed with a bucket to spit after the first taste, 27 industry judges from around Australia are in the process of sampling more than 1600 cups of coffee to choose the winners of this year's Sydney Royal Coffee Competition. The winners of gold, silver and bronze will be displayed at the Sydney Royal Easter Show, opening mid-March.

Joseph Gadallah, the head of roasting with Allpress Espresso, spent Thursday morning judging espressos, his choice of coffee. He'd given a bronze to a "completely surprising" and "absolutely beautiful" decaffeinated espresso  which was competing against caffeinated brews.

Another decaf had been so bad he hadn't wanted to score it.

"The roast was completely wrong; the flavour was like sucking on a lemon," said Mr Gadallah who decided to follow his "passion" for coffee and switch from a career in computer science about 10 years ago.

To reduce palate fatigue  an increasing problem given the record number of entries this year  the judges are given a break after tasting six coffees. They're also provided with a plate of snacks. Often the flavour lingers long after the coffee, a plus with a good coffee and a nasty memory with others we tasted.

Mr Gadallah took the mega dose of caffeine in his stride. "Your tolerance builds up," he said, adding that he once retired for a nap after 40 espressos at one industry show.

For the first time this year, the judges are using the record 302 entries of coffee beans to make plunger coffee, espressos and lattes,which replace cappuccinos for the first time. The shift represents the increasing popularity of lattes  described by the chair of judges Paul Mannassis as a coffee with milk folded in with a nice creamy foam on top and served in a glass cup. Other judges suggested the difference between a latte and the Australian favourite, the flat white, was small.

A bank of professional baristas turned out uniform lattes, with the required decorative swirl in the milk. Yet the judges were looking for the best beans  from their appearance to their aroma and the final product  and not how each coffee was made.

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Australians had one of the most sophisticated coffee cultures in the world, said Mr Mannassis. Only beans that were roasted or grown in Australia  and were available on a commercial basis  were eligible for entry into the show.

Asked about the trend to artisanal coffee houses, Mr Mannassis, who owns Mocha Coffee in Marrickville NSW, said the average person wanted a good coffee at a reasonable price.

"They are all great, but if you follow the general public in cafes, where they are offering five different origins, cold drip and all, people just want a cup of coffee.

"They will just walk in, say they want their latte, turn their back and read their paper, get their coffee and go off to work. We've improved a lot, we're scientific, there is an art, but a lot of people want an average fair cup of coffee that should taste right, and I think they're on a winner if that happens."

See results next week at Sydney Royal Fine Food or at the Easter Show.
Plaque being placed in honor of Uziyah Garcia at San Angelo Kid's Kingdom

A plaque will be placed in the San Angelo Kid's Kingdom in honor of Uziyah Garcia, a San Angeloan who was killed in the mass shooting in Uvalde.
Bowie Police are investigating the death of Christopher Darden, whose body was found Thursday evening inside the gun safe at his home. The 34-year-old Bowie man had been reported missing and had not been seen by his family since Sept. 13.

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By Timesrecordnews.Com

BOWIE ? Bowie Police are investigating the death of Christopher Darden, whose body was found Thursday evening inside the gun safe at his home. The 34-year-old Bowie man had been reported missing and had not been seen by his family since Sept. 13.

In its preliminary stages, Police Chief David Scruggs said the case is being investigated as a death, with no further determination such as homicide. He said nothing had been ruled out as of Friday morning. Darden's body has been sent to the Southwest Institute of Forensic for an autopsy. Bowie Police Lt. Guy Green said he hoped to obtain some preliminary cause of death by late Friday.

Darden was first reported missing when his wife, Courtney Darden, and sister-in-law, Marche Byas, filed a report with police. The women said they had not seen or heard from him since about 8:30 p.m. Sept. 11.

Green said Darden lived on Hidalgo Street, but is separated from his wife, who lives at a different residence.

"They were concerned because he usually makes some sort of contact with them and he had not answered any of his phone calls or messages. The family said he had been stressed and were worried about him," Green said.

Police had gone into the house several times to see if there were any indications where he might be or might have gone. On Thursday, police were at the home and noticed an odor.

A search warrant was obtained and Darden's body was found inside the gun safe about 9 p.m.

"We determined the odor was coming from the gun safe, and after obtaining the warrant, the safe was drilled open and the body found inside," said Green. "We did not remove the body, but sent it all with the autopsy. We did not want to take any chance of contaminating the scene so we can get a thorough review of everything."
Esther Cepeda is a Washington Post columnist. Contact her at estherjcepeda@washpost.com.

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CHICAGO  Ted Cruz won the Republican Party's Iowa caucus and the media are salivating as the rest of the GOP field trolls Marco Rubio for his discipline in staying "on-message." But why aren't Hispanics super excited about two Latino candidates slugging it out for a shot at a presidential nomination?

The common wisdom is that Hispanic voters aren't going to be receptive to candidates who have harsh stances on illegal immigration, and many Latinos see Cruz, Rubio and the Republican Party as a whole as flatly anti-immigrant.

You could argue that either Rubio or Cruz might have a shot with Latinos, eventually, in the general election because, in issue polls, Hispanics do not name immigration as a top priority and instead give greater weight to jobs, the economy and education. But it seems unlikely for two reasons.

First and foremost, while few rational voters would deny the candidate who seems like the best choice for furthering their own political wish list, there are plenty who have a hard time voting for someone who behaves like a jerk.

And by many accounts, Cruz and Rubio are prickly, off-putting candidates to Latinos who may not vote primarily on immigration but still expect that the issue be approached with a respectful tone befitting a nation of immigrants.

There's a lot of angry back-and-forth on Latino blogs and social media about whether Cruz and Rubio can even legitimately claim to be Hispanic considering their stances on immigration.

This is, of course, ridiculous. As demographer Roberto Suro put it last month in a New York Times op-ed, Cruz and Rubio"challenge what it means to be a Latino leader by promoting policies at odds with a majority of Latino voters, but nonetheless they are the sons of Latin American immigrants. To label them 'traitors,' as some activists have done, renders the term 'Latino' a political affiliation based on a litmus test, not an ethnicity that can claim the power of census numbers."

That said, there is the other thing  the subtle thing that a lot of non-Latinos might not pick up on: Cruz and Rubio are not simply Hispanic. To fellow Latinos, they are first and foremost Cuban.

Cubans accounted for just 3.7 percent of the U.S. Hispanic population in 2013, according to the Pew Research Center. Add in Puerto Ricans (9.5 percent of the Hispanic population) and you've got a Latino community that's 87 percent not from two islands that enjoy special immigration status (Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens by birth, and Cubans are eligible for permanent residence once they've been physically present in the U.S. for at least one year).

For many non-Cuban Latinos, this is an elite status that no bootstrap mythology about fathers-who-came-here-with-nothing-but-a-strong-work-ethic can overcome.

Journalist Ed Morales encapsulated this viewpoint in a guest op-ed for the National Institute for Latino Policy: "(Cruz and Rubio) are the sons of Cuban immigrants, the Latino group that has had the most privilege granted to it, virtually no problems with immigration status. ... Privileged Cuban immigrants can arguably be doubted as representing the interests of the majority of Latinos."

I disagree with Morales about whether a Cuban-American can rise to the challenge of advocating for a diverse, foreign- and U.S.-born Hispanic community made up of the descendants of about 20 Latin American countries. I disagree probably as much as I dislike Cruz and Rubio for reasons that have nothing to do with their heritage or immigration stances  but a lot of Hispanics feel the same way about the privileged Cuban status.

For now, at least.

We're in primary season  it's all poll-watching and meme-sharing. If either Cruz or Rubio becomes the Republican nominee, the conversation is likely to change from whether either of them are "Latino in Name Only" to how they compare with their Democratic opponent.

Ultimately, the question of whether Hispanics will vote for someone just because they have a Latino surname won't be answered until November  if Cruz or Rubio make it that far.

But female supporters of Bernie Sanders are declaring it anti-feminist to assume they'll blindly vote for Hillary Clinton because she's a woman, and author Michael Eric Dyson's new book "The Black Presidency: Barack Obama and the Politics of Race in America " details how political pragmatism kept the first black president from fully leaning into a racial justice agenda.

History-making or not, it's hard to imagine Hispanic voters expecting any first Latino president, regardless of party affiliation, to be the magical fix to all that ails this country's Hispanic community.
A ballot for the New Hampshire primary is entered into a machine at a polling site.

SHARE AP Photo/David Goldman) A voter walks over to cast a ballot at a polling site in the New Hampshire primary Tuesday in Nashua, N.H.

When you talk about early primary states, remember that you're sitting in one of them. Texans start voting in the presidential election next week.

Iowa and New Hampshire are out of the way. And two more states  South Carolina and Nevada  will vote later this month. But Texans start the early voting for the March 1 primaries on Tuesday, and many voters here will cast their ballots before the results in those states are known.

The presidential field is shrinking, but the nominations won't be decided until Texans have spoken. It's partly a matter of timing and partly a matter of size.

Iowa and New Hampshire are important, if only as cutting contests that narrow the number of candidates to a meaningful few. They operate almost like preseason scrimmages, stripping away the speculation and talk and showing, in miniature, how the candidates fare in front of actual voters.

They don't decide who gets the nomination  that happens when Texas and the rest of the states weigh in. But they separate those who can from those who can't. They matter to candidates who are gasping for oxygen. A decent showing in the early rounds can keep supporters interested. Interested supporters can keep candidates alive until the real voting starts.

It's kind of weird that two states with a combined 10 votes in the Electoral College would have this kind of clout. Here's how many people voted in the Republican caucuses in Iowa: 186,000. And the number of Democratic caucus-goers the same night: 171,000.

For all of the attention that got, those numbers are smaller than the 2014 general election turnout numbers for about a half- dozen of the state Senate districts in Texas.

In 2012  a year when Texas wasn't really instrumental in the nomination races  2 million people voted in the party primaries. With neither nomination set this year, the competition might increase that turnout. A decisive win here would really count.

Size matters.

Ted Cruz won the Iowa GOP caucus with 51,666 votes. Hey, it was enough, right? But it's a tiny slice of a small state. Here's some perspective. A candidate with as many votes as Cruz got in Iowa would have been on the losing side in 28 of Texas' 31 Senate districts. His total amounted to less of the votes cast in most of those races. In the mid-summer 2012 GOP runoff that put him in the Senate, Cruz got 631,812 votes.

A candidate coming in third or fourth place in Texas this year could easily win more delegates to the national convention than the Iowa and New Hampshire frontrunners combined.

But timing matters, too.

Running in small states is more forgiving to shoestring budgets. Good early performances can attract money. Starting a presidential election in a state such as Texas could give rich candidates all of the advantages. It'd be the political version of favoring big business over small business.

It is possible for an unknown, underfunded and scrappy candidate to beat a relatively well-known and wealthy candidate: That's the 2012 race between Cruz and David Dewhurst. It's uncommon, but possible.

The presidential candidates get here with one of those problems solved: The voters know their names. Those same voters have early results to look at, too, giving them a read on which campaigns have a little momentum, who's acting like a loser or a winner, who ought to get the nod.

Marco Rubio looked a little healthier after Iowa, Donald Trump a little less so. A grand total of 2,201 votes separated them. New Hampshire's primary changed the perceptions a little more. Many of the names on the Texas ballot  which has 13 Republicans and eight Democrats on it  won't really be in the race by the time voters make their choices.

That's the clout of the early little states such as New Hampshire: They get to tell the big states such as Texas who's still in the running.
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I never did believe everything they were saying back in 2012 about the coming of the great oil boom.

Who am I to know?

Just an old girl from West Texas who's seen her share of booms and busts.

So when they said this boom was going to be the biggest and the longest and the greatest any of us had ever seen, I sort of wondered, "How long have these people lived in West Texas?"

And when they said, "Oh we've got to build, and build, and build some more. The boom is coming  going to last 10 years or longer and we're going to have to accommodate the workers, and the traffic and the overflow of people. We've got to be ready," I was skeptical. It just seemed like a lot of chicken-counting and not much egg hatching, if you know what I mean.

In West Texas the booms are over pretty quickly. The busts are a whole lot longer. By the time things settle almost back to normal, the promise/threat of another boom gets everybody in a tailspin.

Living expenses go over the roof, and there we are, pumping $5-a-gallon gas into our cars and being told we should be grateful, another boom's coming  going to last at least 10 years. All of us are going to get rich.

The best I can tell, this most recent boom didn't come anywhere near lasting 10 years. Seems like it was hardly 10 months.

So forgive me for being a cynic and try to believe me when I say I don't like that about myself. But seriously. I know more than several people who left decent, make-a-living jobs and went to the oil fields. All for the money.

They got up at 3 a.m. to get to the work site. They got home 16 hours later, dog tired and drained, but knowing in two weeks they'd have a paycheck equivalent to what they used to make in two months or more and believing, somehow, it would all be worth it. They bought things with the newfound wealth and they bought them on time with the logic this boom was going to last 10 years or forever, whichever came first, and the money would just keep rolling in. No one tried to tell them any different. Not that it would have mattered if they had.

And now they're all out of work. Can't go back to their old jobs, because the bosses who were left high and dry found someone else to take those jobs. Besides, now that the boom has busted, there's not as much work to do.

In church recently, a member of our congregation asked for prayers for those who'd been working in the oil field and lost their jobs.

OK. I guess I could. Should?

But what makes more sense to me is to pray that anyone and everyone who needs work can find a job. A good enough job for them to make a living and live a life; a job that's not all for the money, that provides a sense of self-worth; that covers the necessities with enough left over to share; a job that allows time for rest, and time to enjoy what the money can buy as well as what it can't.

Here's the deal. If I don't sound sympathetic toward those victims of the latest boom, I am empathetic. In the fall of 1982, my former husband, along with 19,000 other union workers in Central Illinois, went on strike against Caterpillar Tractor Co. The strike lasted six months and gained almost nothing for anyone. Except it did allow the company to sell off its overstocked inventory.

It was devastating to those workers who (remember, this was 1982) walked out on their $19-an-hour benefit-loaded jobs. Six weeks after settlement, Caterpillar announced a massive layoff. In our case, our lives were irreparably and forever altered. We may have recovered, we certainly regrouped; but we made huge sacrifices  our marriage included.

I remember even now, though, in the midst of our worst and poorest days, I took heart by the fact we'd never missed a meal, or been without clothes or shelter. Quickly following that acknowledgment came the realization I was done with owing "my soul to the company store." We didn't need or even want all the excess or its power over us. To replace that, I learned the pleasure of having less and appreciating it more. That enough is a blessing.
Gov. Paul LePage suggested Thursday that he plans to take over the title, at least, of education commissioner rather than put forward another nominee to fill the role.LePage made the comment during a breakfast forum in Lewiston two days after he withdrew the nomination of acting Commissioner Bill Beardsley to the post on a permanent basis because he believed Democratic lawmakers would reject him. Instead, LePage said that Beardsley will effectively serve as commissioner -- but with the title deputy commissioner -- for the rest of his term."This way here I can keep him, he keeps working," LePage said, according to a video posted on the Sun Journal website. "And when his acting commissioner status (ends), he will be the deputy commissioner and I will be the commissioner. That way there I can keep him. Otherwise, I would have lost him."LePage said he withdrew Beardsley's nomination because he expected Democrats on the Legislature's Education and Cultural Affairs Committee to vote against him. Democrats outnumber Republicans 7-6 on the committee."So I said I am going to pull him, I am going to put him back over there as the acting, and he will be the commissioner for the rest of my term," LePage said.The leading Democrat on the Education Committee, Sen. Rebecca Millett of South Portland, said the governor is "making a mockery of the role of commissioner and the important responsibilities that fall beneath the commissioner and seriousness of educating our children."Millett was asked to address the governor's decision this week to pull Beardsley's nomination and whether that motivated his self-appointment."I don't know if it's even worth asking that question," she said. "It's unfortunate we've gone down this road."She added, "I can't explain why the governor does anything."Adrienne Bennett, the governor's spokeswoman, characterized the governor's comments as another example of his exploiting the media with controversial statements."The governor knows how to bait reporters into stories that he wants to draw attention to," Bennett said. "The fact is that there are people (in the Legislature) that are playing political games and he wants the public to know about that."Bennett said that LePage still planned to renominate Beardsley and that the governor's self-appointment plan would only be utilized if lawmakers rejected Beardsley's appointment.Bennett's explanation marks the second time in a week that the governor, or his staff, have said that his controversial statements are examples of his savvy manipulation of the media.On Tuesday the governor told a Bangor radio station that "I had to go screaming at the top of my lungs about black dealers" and make other "outrageous comments" to force the Legislature to take the state's drug crisis seriously.His explanation, however, contradicted his earlier assertion that the media and his political opponents -- not he -- inserted race into the drug debate by misinterpreting his statement that out-of-state dealers often "impregnate a young white girl" in Maine.
Gov. Christie has come home.After striking out on a months-long quest for the White House -- and laying groundwork for years prior -- the governor suspended his presidential campaign Wednesday following a disappointing finish in the New Hampshire primary.Christie, who came back to New Jersey on Wednesday instead of going on to South Carolina, announced the decision at a campaign staff meeting in Morristown, according to a campaign spokeswoman.Despite devoting most of his resources to New Hampshire, Christie finished sixth in the primary Tuesday, falling short of rival governors John Kasich and Jeb Bush and failing to qualify for the next GOP debate Saturday in South Carolina."I leave the race without an ounce of regret," Christie said in a post on his Facebook page Wednesday. "I'm so proud of the campaign we ran, the people that ran it with me, and all those who gave us their support and confidence along the way."He was mum on what role he might play in the 2016 campaigns, though strategists and observers said his support -- and donors -- would be courted."He has some very good supporters that I think any campaign would like to have," said Tom Rath, a veteran New Hampshire-based GOP strategist who is advising Kasich, who came in second Tuesday. "Those are folks we'd like to reach out to."As for Christie making an endorsement, "it's hard to come off of these things and immediately shift," Rath said. "Nobody, rightfully, would press him at this point in time."Political analyst Stuart Rothenberg said that a Christie endorsement probably would not pack much of a punch in the race, but any significant migration of his big donors could have an impact. Kasich and Bush would be the logical beneficiaries if the governor does decide to do so."I'm not a big believer in the importance of endorsements in presidential races," said Rothenberg, publisher of an independent Washington newsletter on national politics. "It's one of the few campaigns where voters have lots of information; they're watching and listening and forming their own assessments."In addition, New Jersey is a late primary, diminishing the value of a Christie nod, he said.
A 'healthy future' for Flint residents

A 'brighter future' for those in Detroit schools

Help for colleges and universities

Health, municipal support and cops

Michigan faces two unique challenges -- the Flint public health crisis and the financial meltdown at Detroit Public Schools -- that require immediate attention in the 2016-17 state budget, Gov. Rick Snyder said in a presentation to lawmakers Wednesday.Snyder spoke at the Capitol as demonstrators chanted outside the House Appropriations Committee room, voicing their anger over the lead contamination of Flint's drinking water.Included in Snyder's $54.9-billion proposed state budget is $195.4 million dedicated to Flint in 2017 and a proposal to take $72 million a year for 10 years from the state's tobacco settlement fund to retire Detroit Public Schools debt that is expected to hit $515 million this summer.Last year, "we worked to develop a solution to address Michigan's crumbling roads and bridges," Snyder said in the text of his budget presentation. "Now we must solve the Flint water crisis and address the challenges at Detroit Public Schools."The link is that the crises either developed or worsened while the city government or school district was under control of a state-appointed emergency manager.Beyond the two immediate challenges, Snyder said budget priorities continue to be economic growth, education, public safety and fiscal responsibility. His address highlighted continued signs of improvement in the Michigan economy overall, with more than 440,000 new private-sector jobs since he took office in 2011, improving home prices and steady declines in the state unemployment rate."This plan provides a balanced approach to addressing our special challenges while continuing to pay off debt, save money for the future and make needed investments in critical areas," Snyder said.For the first time since Snyder took office, the budget does not call for an increase to the Budget Stabilization Fund, better known as the Rainy Day Fund. Snyder said the balance in that fund stands at about $611 million, up from $2.2 million when he took office.The total budget includes federal funds. The main state funds, the general fund and the School Aid Fund are estimated to have 2017 revenues of $10.6 billion and $12.8 billion respectively.Snyder's budget message said that "clean drinking water is a necessity," and "Flint residents shouldn't have to rely on bottled water and water filters just to drink a glass of water or safely cook a meal."The governor "is dedicated to ensuring the situation is dealt with quickly and thoroughly, so that Flint's water is safe for residents once again."Snyder said the proposed $195.4 million for Flint is spread across several state agencies and "will be used to continue the work to provide Flint residents with immediate needs, like bottled water, water filters and replacement cartridges while also investing in longer term needs such as specialists and staff, including nurses and epidemiologists, support for health care access for Flint children, payment for testing and studies, and the ongoing treatment of children."The proposal for Flint includes $30 million Snyder already announced as part of a plan to credit Flint residents for part of the cost of water that has been billed to them since April 2014 but that they can't drink.It also includes $37 million for safe-drinking-water efforts; $15 million for food and nutrition to combat lead exposure; $63 million for improving the physical, social and educational well-being of Flint children and other vulnerable residents, and $50 million to be placed in a reserve fund for future expenses that are yet to be determined.The proposed Flint funding for 2017 is on top of about $37.4 million in supplemental appropriations the Legislature approved for the 2015-16 fiscal year."Additional funds will be needed in the coming years to ensure Flint residents receive the care and services they need for a healthy future," the governor's budget statement said.A couple dozen protesters, many wearing "Flint Lives Matter" T-shirts, gathered outside the room where Snyder was giving his presentation. They shouted chants such as: "Fix the pipes!" "No water, no peace!" and "Not enough!" referring to the amount of money Snyder was proposing for Flint.Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint, said the governor's proposals for Flint "seem to match the areas we have been stressing" -- health, education and infrastructure."Our challenge now is to make sure that the state delivers, and we don't take our foot off the gas," Ananich said in a news release.Sen. Mike Kowall, R-White Lake, said the Senate has signed off on the chunk of money for Flint."We've looked at the numbers, and if this is what it's going to take to get good water for the people in Flint, then so be it," Kowall told the Free Press.Lorenzo Avery Jr., 32, of Flint was one of the protesters who came from Flint to Lansing. He said said he plans to return to the Capitol for as long as it takes to remove Snyder from office."I'm here to be a pain in his behind," Avery said. "We want him removed. Everyone who had something to do with it should be removed, too. We're in a Third World country. Until we get him out of here, we won't stop."The budget calls for $25 million in infrastructure funding for needs specific to Flint and $165 million to be set aside for statewide infrastructure needs in a newly created Michigan Infrastructure Fund.Brandon Dillon, chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party, said the budget "contains no serious commitment to replace the lead pipes poisoning children and families in Flint."Snyder's 10-year, $720-million plan for Detroit Public Schools includes $200 million in start-up and transition costs, including space consolidation, instructional support and investment in academic programs."These funds will help get the school district back on firmer financial footing and, more importantly, help ensure Detroit children are receiving a quality education, setting them on a path toward a brighter future."Rep. Al Pscholka, R-Stevensville, said he's not sure he wants to take the DPS money out of the tobacco settlement fund. While he wouldn't specify what alternative he is looking at, Pscholka said: "I think there's a way that we can get the DPS funding in place without using the school aid, tobacco settlement or other general fund revenues."For the broader K-12 budget, Snyder's proposal calls for $150 million in extra funding for the school foundation allowance, which he said equates to $60 to $120 per pupil.The budget also provides for $15 million extra for career and technical training and a $2.1-million investment in science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs to encourage students to pursue those fields.The Free Press reported Tuesday that Snyder wants lawmakers to pump an additional $61.2 million into Michigan's public universities, an increase designed to restore funding levels to what they were in 2010-11, the amount approved shortly before Snyder took office on Jan. 1, 2011.Snyder's plan calls for an overall 4.3% increase, with half earmarked for across-the-board increases to all the state's universities and the other half added to performance-based funding.Snyder called for a tuition increase cap for next year of 4.8%. That's up from last year's cap of 3.2%. If universities violate the cap, as Eastern Michigan and Oakland universities did last year, they will forfeit performance funding.For community colleges, the budget calls for an overall funding increase of 2.9%.The budget calls for a 3.9% increase in constitutional revenue sharing with cities, villages and townships, bringing the total amount to $781.5 million.On public safety, Snyder said an additional $9.5 million for the Michigan State Police would support a trooper school expected to produce 85 new recruits.The budget also includes $8.5 million for an academy to graduate 350 additional corrections officers for the state prison system, which is grappling with a large number of retirements.The state prisons budget, which comes almost exclusively from the general fund, remains at $2 billion, despite several cost-cutting initiatives, such as the privatization of prison food service.In the area of health and human services, Snyder announced a $25.6-million plan to expand the Healthy Kids dental plan to all people younger than 21 in all Michigan counties, bringing the total number covered to just shy of 827,000.Officials say the budget was revised in recent weeks to deal with the Flint public health crisis as the extent of health and infrastructure problems grew, along with preliminary plans to address them.The governor wants lawmakers to approve $50 million as a supplemental appropriation for 2015-16 to operate Detroit Public Schools while his plan for other changes in the district is working its way through the Legislature, Budget Office spokesman Kurt Weiss said."All of Michigan's children deserve a quality education that prepares them for future success," Snyder said in his budget message. "The financial stress currently facing the Detroit Public Schools must be resolved in order to ensure Detroit's schoolchildren have the same opportunities for success as other children in our state."Michigan also faces a string of lawsuits and investigations as a result of the Flint lead crisis.In April 2014, the city, while under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager, switched the source of supply from Lake Huron water supplied by the City of Detroit to Flint River water treated at the Flint's city treatment plant. Michigan Department of Environmental Quality officials have acknowledged they made a mistake when they failed to require needed corrosion-control chemicals to be added to the water.As a result, lead leached from pipes and fixtures into the drinking water and test showed lead levels spiked in the blood of some Flint children. Although the city switched back to Detroit water in October, officials say the potential for harm continues because of damage done to Flint's water distribution infrastructure.State and federal investigations into Flint's environmental disaster are ongoing, and the city will remain under a state of emergency until at least mid-April. The lead contamination in Flint has drawn worldwide attention.
For the first time in its 44-year history, the California Coastal Commission on Wednesday fired its executive director _ a decision made despite an overwhelming show of public support for the land use agency's top official.The panel disclosed that it voted 7-5 in a private session to dismiss Charles Lester. Commissioners offered no public explanation.After announcing the vote, the panel gave Lester a few moments to speak and adjourned."I'm disappointed in the vote," Lester said. "It's been a privilege to serve the commission for the past 4{ years. If there is a silver lining, I've been energized by all the people who came together on this."Commissioners took the action in closed session because they said they were bound by law to honor Lester's right to privacy.But their reasoning did not align with advice from the agency's chief counsel, who told the panel that they were free to discuss any current issues involving Lester's performance because he had chosen a public hearing to defend himself.Before moving into closed session, commissioners did openly discuss some general criticisms of Lester. And several were critical of media reports, fueled by coastal activists and environmental groups, that attributed the move to fire Lester to a desire for more development of the coast.Commissioners said the reports were baseless and damaged the reputation of the agency."This created an atmosphere of public distrust," said Commissioner Mark Vargas. "We need to set the record straight. There was no coup by developer interests."But this is like trying to convince people that the fluoride in their water was not a communist plot," Vargas said.Vice chair Dayna Bochco said commissioners have had problems getting information from the commission's staff, not being included in agency processes and being left in the dark about how staff has come to conclusions related to projects."I would like to discuss with the press the reasons we are here," Bochco said. "It is not about developers and their consultants. We have been terribly mischaracterized as developer hacks."Commissioners Carole Groom and Mary Shallenberger defended Lester and praised him for a long list of achievements, including the development of a strategic plan for the agency, efforts to address sea level rise, increasing the budget by $3 million and good cooperation with local governments."He leads by accomplishment," Groom said. "Month after month after month we have some 60 issues to deal with. To do this work there is leadership at the top and the bottom ... The proposal to replace our executive director is absolutely wrong."The comments came after hundreds of people spoke in defense of Lester and blamed the move to oust him on a desire to tilt the commission more toward development."This hearing is not about Charles' performance, it's about yours," said Stefanie Sekich-Quinn, a representative of the Surfrider Foundation.Many speakers warned that replacing Lester would send a powerful signal to staff to be more accommodating to development.Speakers included officials from local governments up and down the coast, representatives of state legislators, commission staff members, environmental organizations and Fred Collins, an administrator for the Northern Chumash Tribal Council, who implored the commission to protect "grandmother ocean.""You're getting killed here today," said former commission chief counsel Ralph Faust, referring to the overwhelming show of support. He urged the commission to make its decision in public, adding that "whatever it is, own it and defend it."Some commissioners had said they wanted to fire Lester because he was lacking in management and leadership skills and they had trust and communication problems with him and the staff.They said the planning and approval process was far too long and burdensome for developers.Lester was notified in writing Jan. 14 that the commission would consider his dismissal. The panel gave him the option of resigning or having a public hearing to determine his future. He chose the latter and he defended his record in remarks that opened the hearing.Lester, who replaced longtime Executive Director Peter Douglas five years ago, said he remained the best person to lead the powerful agency in its mission to shape land use and protect the environment along the coast.He backed his work and that of staff to preserve coastal resources and public access in the face of rising seas, a growing population and increasing development pressure."Our beaches are a critically important public commons to be enjoyed by all Californians," Lester said. "Many of our beloved beaches could be lost _ squeezed out between the rising seas and shoreline development."He highlighted his experience and commitment as a public servant protecting the state's 1,100-mile shoreline under the 1976 Coastal Act.In a highly charged environment, Lester said, the independent, 160-member staff provided "impartial, objective and well-reasoned recommendations" that are crucial for political appointees on the panel to make proper decisions.Lester appeared at ease as he delivered more than 30 minutes of prepared remarks that were peppered with statistics, lists of agency accomplishments during his four-year tenure and humorous asides to his staff and the audience."We have been relentless in our protection of public access," Lester said, citing dozens of recently resolved enforcement violations. He concluded by urging commissioners to step back and consider "the precious coast of California and its future for all people and all generations."Among those voicing support after his remarks were representatives of the agency's staff, elected officials and government officials from around the state, including the California Coastal Coalition, which represents 35 cities, five counties and several regional planning agencies.At least one big developer, the Pebble Beach Co., showed up to support Lester, praising him and the commission for their approval four years ago of a major development at the luxurious Monterey Peninsula resort after years of clashing over the proposal.The letter from Chief Executive Bill Perocchi called Lester a "fair, pragmatic, creative, open and reasonable" director who balanced the needs of the company and the rights of the public.Sonoma County Supervisor Efren Carrillo cited Lester's "proven track record" and sensible approach.He urged commissioners to "greatly consider your responsibility to future generations" and to place their coastal protection duties over politics or development pressure.A former chairman of the commission, Mel Nutter, said the way the hearing was structured _ with hours of public testimony before any commissioners uttered any criticisms of Lester _ was "totally backwards.""The public was asked in effect to present a defense against a set of charges that were never presented," said Nutter, a Long Beach attorney. "It was totally backwards and that put the public at a huge disadvantage."Surfrider's Sekich-Quinn reminded the panel that 153 out of more than 160 commission staff members, 35 former coastal commissioners, 18 state legislators and 10 members of Congress from California opposed the effort to dismiss Lester.
Retired Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca pleaded guilty Wednesday to lying to federal investigators, a stunning reversal for the longtime law enforcement leader who for years insisted he played no role in the misconduct that tarnished his agency.Baca's plea in a downtown courtroom capped a string of prosecutions that began with low-ranking officials and worked up the chain of command.His former No. 2, Paul Tanaka, is scheduled to stand trial in March on charges that he obstructed a federal investigation into brutality and corruption by sheriff's deputies in the county jails.In a plea agreement filed in federal court Wednesday morning, Baca admitted that he lied when he told federal authorities that he was unaware that his subordinates planned to approach the FBI agent leading the jail investigation at her home.Baca agreed not to contest other allegations leveled by federal prosecutors, including that he directed subordinates to approach the agent, stating that they should "do everything but put handcuffs" on her, the agreement said.Prosecutors accused Baca in court records of lying about his involvement in hiding a jail inmate from FBI investigators. Baca, they alleged, ordered the inmate to be isolated, putting Tanaka in charge of executing the plan.In addition, Baca falsely claimed he was unaware that some of his subordinates had interrupted and ended an interview FBI agents were conducting with the inmate, who was working as a federal informant, prosecutors alleged in the court documents.As part of the plea deal with Baca, prosecutors have agreed not to seek a prison sentence of more than six months, Eileen Decker, U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said at a news conference Wednesday.Baca's guilty plea "demonstrates that the illegal behavior in the Sheriff's Department went to the very top of this organization," Decker said. "More importantly, it illustrates that those who foster and then try to hide a corrupt culture will be held accountable."Tanaka is scheduled to stand trial in March for his alleged role in obstructing the federal investigation into the jails. In related cases, a retired sheriff's captain has pleaded guilty to lying under oath, and six other lower-ranking officials have been convicted of obstructing justice.Baca's plea agreement does not require him to testify against Tanaka or anyone else, Decker said, but she declined to discuss the Tanaka case further.Baca appeared in court Wednesday morning for an arraignment on the felony charge. Wearing a brown suit with a sheriff's star on the lapel, Baca said little other than to answer questions from the judge."You know what the government is claiming you did in this case?" U.S. Magistrate Judge Patrick J. Walsh asked."Yes," Baca responded.After the hearing, Baca referred media queries to his attorney, Michael Zweiback."He definitely feels bad," Zweiback said about his client. Asked what Baca specifically feels bad about, the attorney said: "He feels bad about a lot of things."Zweiback said that federal sentencing guidelines specify up to six months in prison for making a false statement, but that Baca could also be sentenced to probation and not serve any time behind bars."He is ready for whatever outcome is deemed appropriate by the court," Zweiback said.Prosecutors have been negotiating with Baca for several months, according to Decker. Zweiback said the talks stepped up five days ago, when it became clear Baca would likely face charges."It's time to put this behind him," Zweiback said. Baca "doesn't want the men and women of the Sheriff's Department to be under this cloud."Baca is expected to appear in another courtroom Wednesday afternoon to enter his plea.Baca, who ran the department for more than 15 years, retired in 2014 amid an FBI probe into misconduct and abuse by deputies in the county's jail system. So far, more than a dozen former sheriff's officials have been convicted as a result of the wide-ranging investigation, which began more than five years ago.Last year, Tanaka was indicted on charges of orchestrating an elaborate scheme to thwart the FBI, raising questions about whether Baca would be the next to face prosecution.The grand jury indictment of Tanaka offered a portrait of a department adrift, with senior officials who were responsible for investigating abuses working instead to undermine internal safeguards and ignoring repeated warnings of widespread problems in the nation's largest jail system.In sketching out the case against Tanaka, who resigned in 2013, and another former high-ranking official, prosecutors accused them of directing a group of deputies who were convicted of carrying out the plot to impede the FBI's investigation into misconduct at the jail.The plot was called Operation Pandora's Box.It was launched after sheriff's officials learned in the summer of 2011 that the FBI had enlisted Anthony Brown, an inmate in the Men's Central Jail, to collect information on abusive and corrupt deputies.In an unusual move, sheriff's officials responded by moving the convicted bank robber to a different jail under a fake name and preventing FBI agents from talking to him.They assigned at least 13 deputies to watch him around the clock. And when the operation was over, the deputies received an internal email thanking them for helping "without asking too many questions and prying into the investigation at hand."Baca has said Brown was moved not to hide him from the FBI, but to protect him from deputies.Baca's false statements occurred on April 12, 2013, during an interview with officials from the FBI and U.S. attorney's office, the plea agreement said."When Mr. Baca was interviewed, he denied some things. And he continued with those denials even when some in the rank-and-file were under the gun," said David Bowdich, assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles field office. "He had the opportunity to lead, and he did not lead."
Description

GIS 11 February 2016: Following the torrential rain of 10 February 2016, an Interministerial Committee, chaired by the Vice-Prime Minister, Minister of Housing and Lands, Mr Showkutally Soodhun, met today to assess the present situation across Mauritius, determine the extent of damages in the hard hit areas, as well as prioritise the recovery and emergency works that need to be carried out accordingly. : Following the torrential rain of 10 February 2016, an Interministerial Committee, chaired by the Vice-Prime Minister, Minister of Housing and Lands, Mr Showkutally Soodhun, met today to assess the present situation across Mauritius, determine the extent of damages in the hard hit areas, as well as prioritise the recovery and emergency works that need to be carried out accordingly.

It was decided that a prioritised list of projects be worked out with a view to rehabilitate infrastructure undermined by the floodwaters and address situations requiring immediate action. Government will be resorting to the emergency procurement procedures for the urgent implementation of these projects. A meeting with registered contractors was held shortly afterwards to that endeavour.

The refugees in emergency shelters are also being catered for by the relevant authorities. Some 1,642 persons were forced from their homes due to the torrential rain. It is recalled that several areas across Mauritius had registered above 100mm of rainfall resulting in some localised flooding and water accumulations.

The necessity to strengthen the legal framework to enhance disaster preparedness and ensure the protection and safety of the population during natural disasters was also stressed at the meeting. It was thus announced that, to that effect, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (NDRRM) Bill will be passed soon.

The meeting was also attended by the Minister of Public Infrastructure and Land Transport, Mr Nandcoomar Bodha, the Minister of Local Government, Dr Anwar Husnoo, the Minister of Social Integration and Economic Empowerment, Mr Prithvirajsing Roopun, the Minister of Agro-Industry and Food Security, Mr Mahen Seeruttun, the Minister of Gender Equality, Child Development and Family Welfare, Mrs Marie-Aurore Perraud, the Minister of Social Security, National Solidarity and Reform Institutions, Mrs Fazila Jeewa-Daureeawoo, the Minister of Environment, Sustainable Development, and Disaster and Beach Management, Mr Raj Dayal, the Minister of Civil Service and Administrative Reforms, Mr Alain Wong Yen Cheong, and other senior officials.
(TNS)  Los Angeles City Halls practice of allowing elected officials to destroy records rather than retain those documents could open up the city to legal challenges, experts said this week.While Los Angeles city departments follow guidelines for preserving records, it doesnt appear that City Council and mayoral offices have followed those same rules, city employees said this week.The issue came to light after former Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge acknowledged that he didnt preserve city documents upon leaving office in 2015. Former Councilman Bernard Parks, who also left in 2015, also didnt retain some documents, his former chief of staff said in an interview this week.Stephanie Scher, a retired attorney for the cities of Bellflower, Baldwin Park and Palos Verdes Estates, said the lack of retention raises legal issues because of both state and L.A. city laws. Such laws dictate that records must be preserved for a certain amount of time.You got watchdog groups that are going to be very unhappy about the city destroying public records, said Scher, who was one of the first attorneys to raise issues about the destruction of the documents.The Los Angeles District Attorneys office could try and prosecute the individuals who sought the destruction of LaBonge documents, she said.The office of City Councilman David Ryu, who represents District 4, last week made public 35 boxes of documents belonging to Ryus predecessor, LaBonge. The release of the documents  marked for destruction  highlighted the lack of preservation required by the city.In releasing the documents, Ryus team emphasized that they werent accusing LaBonge of any misdeeds, only bringing to light the need for better citywide rules for preserving records.Los Angeles department heads are responsible for keeping records retention schedules and laying out a process for preserving records. A record could be a permit for a new downtown building, for instance.But city elected officials, such as council members and the mayor, havent followed those procedures.The last council member to submit a records retention schedule was City Councilman Marvin Braude, City Clerk Holly Wolcott said. Braude left the council in 1997.Asked if council members and the mayor are required under current law to retain official records, Wolcott said: We believe they are.Terry Francke, general counsel with Californians Aware, said the lack of record-keeping could result in lawsuit against the city brought by taxpayers. The crux of the lawsuit would be that the city was abusing taxpayer dollars by violating state or federal law.Some City Council members have sent files to be retained. Since 2000, 20 council members have sent files to be preserved, said Todd Gaydowski, the citys records management officer and head of the city clerks Records Management Divisions.It wasnt immediately clear what was contained in the files sent by those council offices.The issue of the destroyed LaBonge documents came to light in a lawsuit brought by attorney Robert Silverstein, who is suing the city over the approval of a Sherman Oaks development. Silverstein is seeking documents from LaBonges office held by the city.Plaintiffs in other lawsuits brought against the city over land-use projects in Council District 4 while LaBonge was in office could also ask the court to weigh in on the issue of missing documents, Silverstein said.Silverstein is asking for an independent investigation into what happened to the documents in LaBonges office and the destruction of documents at City Hall.The city does retain emails from all city employees dating back to 2010, said Ted Ross, general manager of the citys technology department. All employee emails are kept, including deleted emails, Ross said.
Carbon regulation

Little state effect

(TNS) -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday halted implementation of the Clean Power Plan, granting a stay sought by Oklahoma and more than two dozen other states, utilities and coal companies.The court ruled 5-4 to reverse an earlier decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia that denied a stay on the Obama administration's plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases from power plants.The Supreme Court halted the plan until the appeals court could issue its decision on several lawsuits against the rule. The appellate court has consolidated those cases and scheduled oral arguments for June 2.Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt said granting the stay gives states some clarity. His office joined in the stay appeal on behalf of Oklahoma and the Department of Environmental Quality."They can sit back, take a breath and let the legal process work," Pruitt said Tuesday. "I think at the end of the day, the Supreme Court has indicated that we're going to win on the merits, as well. It's a huge step, and something that illustrates how seriously the Supreme Court is taking these types of issues."David Doniger, director of the climate and clean air program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said his group was confident the rule ultimately will be upheld."The electricity sector has embarked on an unstoppable shift from its high-pollution, dirty-fueled past to a safer, cleaner-powered future, and the stay cannot reverse that trend," Doniger said in a statement. "Nor can it dampen the overwhelming public support for action on climate change and clean energy."In a statement, EPA expressed its disappointment with the stay."We're disappointed the rule has been stayed, but you can't stay climate change and you can't stay climate action," the agency said. "Millions of people are demanding we confront the risks posed by climate change. And we will do just that. We believe strongly in this rule and we will continue working with our partners to address carbon pollution."Pruitt has fought the Clean Power Plan at every stage, including in the draft stage before the rule was finalized last year. Tuesday's granting of a stay from the Supreme Court was his first victory on the environmental rule.Pruitt said his office has won stays from courts on other Obama administration rules on water and immigration."Our involvement in each of those of three signature issues of the president stops them dead in their tracks," he said. "Each of those rules will be dormant and not survive his presidency."Pruitt said Congress, not the EPA, should decide how to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. He said the section of the Clean Air Act under which the Clean Power Plan is based is an unprecedented use of that part of the law."The EPA doesn't have the latitude to make it up," Pruitt said. "If the policymakers in Washington, D.C., along with the executive branch, determine that CO2 is a hazardous air pollutant under Section 112 and should be regulated, they should pass that law and give that authority to the EPA. Until that occurs, the EPA can't simply make it up and act in the space of Congress."U.S. Sen Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, called the stay a "major blow to President Obama's legacy on climate change.""These regulations were the foundation of the president's commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement," Inhofe said in a statement. "The court's action should demonstrate once again to the world that this president has committed the U.S. to actions that are unenforceable and legally questionable."In practical terms, the Clean Power Plan stay will have little effect in Oklahoma, which already has an executive order from Gov. Mary Fallin stopping the Department of Environmental Quality from planning for the rule's implementation.Under the plan, the Environmental Protection Agency expects Oklahoma to cut its greenhouse gas emissions rate from power plants 32 percent by 2030. The first deadline for implementation is in 2022, but states were supposed to submit preliminary plans by September. If states don't submit compliance plans, the EPA will impose a federal plan.Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co. and Public Service Co. of Oklahoma previously said their plants likely could meet the Clean Power Plan goals, largely because earlier EPA rules for mercury and regional haze already forced them to make changes to their fossil-fuel generation.The utilities continue to study how the rule might affect the Southwest Power Pool, which plans transmission and operates a wholesale electricity market in Oklahoma and parts of 13 other states.
Trading Equipment

Buying Spaces

Breaking Down Taxes

In the past, few software companies had the resources to sell solutions that met the unique needs of 50 states and thousands of cities and counties, all while navigating the often arcane rules of public procurement. The result was limited choices and high costs.But thanks to a combination of venture capital, new technologies and the entrepreneurial spirit of Silicon Valley, dozens of businesses now offer digital tools and services designed explicitly for government.The number of these firms has grown so quickly that theres now a public-sector version of the Fortune 500. Called GovTech100, the list of companies and their products have names like ArchiveSocial, CitySourced, GovSense, mySidewalk and Urban Engines. Some of them mimic successful programs in the private sector, such as Airbnb and Amazon. But they all focus on a variety of public-sector needs like transparency and efficiency.The GovTech100 list is compiled by e.Republic Labs, a division ofs parent company e.Republic, Inc. It represents the ways in which government is changing how it uses technology and operates. Here are three examples:The Oregon Department of Transportation, like other state DOTs, has a lot of equipment scattered around its many maintenance centers. Trying to match the demand for dump trucks and snow plows with the supply isnt easy. Surplus equipment can sit idle as much as 70 percent of the time in some DOT centers, while other centers may rent equipment they don't have.To make it easier to figure out what equipment is available and who can borrow it, the agency is using a software called MuniRent, which uses the sharing model popularized by Uber and Airbnb. The software lets one government agency share goods with another or, in the case of the Oregon DOT, one large agency share within its own divisions.Approximately two dozen state agencies and city governments -- not just DOTs -- pay a monthly fee to use it. According to MuniRent co-founder Alan Mond, the service can reduce annual rental costs by 10 percent while boosting the use of idle equipment by hundreds of hours.Central Falls, R.I., which declared and emerged from bankruptcy a few years ago, owns vacant lots and surplus government buildings it wants to sell for redevelopment. This is something on many cities wish lists. But selling such property can be time-consuming and labor-intensive, especially for cash-strapped jurisdictions.Thats where OpportunitySpace can help. Its like an eBay for government real estate. It lists available government land and buildings that can be searched based on certain criteria, such as location, size and type of property. Zoning information and photos can also be added to enhance the listing. The data appears in an easy-to-follow format, making it simpler for cities to manage their real estate portfolios and expand the number of prospective buyers.In Central Falls, the city used OpportunitySpace to redevelop an empty parking lot for a dormant mill into an outdoor bar. The hope is that the bar will attract users for community gatherings, and then set the stage for redevelopment of the entire mill itself.Subscribers pay a fee based on population size.Most citizens are still baffled when it comes to figuring out how their tax dollars are being spent. While large cities have made it easier, many smaller municipalities lack the resources to make it happen.The online tool ClearGov, though, makes a towns financial statement simple to understand with the help of visual tools. Launched last year, its already being used by cities and towns in California, Massachusetts and New York. It takes a governments fiscal data, which often resides in various spreadsheets and accounting programs, and converts them into a series of snapshots that explain -- in plain English -- everything from revenue to per-pupil expenditures to debt. Towns can add more information for citizens to see and analyze.Massachusetts uses it to aggregate financial information from every municipality , and ClearGov lets users compare one places finances with another.Connor Read, the assistant town administrator for Easton, Mass., said the software tool has enhanced the town's reputation for transparency and gotten people more engaged with how its money is spent. Residents can post queries about particular financial details and public officials can respond.Its really important that municipalities make information like this available from a citizens perspective, said Read. It really levels the playing field.
(TNS)  A federal government contractor is issuing smartphones to immigrant families released from two massive Texas detention centers as a way to ensure that they are able to contact case managers and reach their U.S. destinations.Officials described the phones as part of a less-restrictive alternative to detention programs designed to make sure low-risk immigrant families with pending cases show up for court. The phones, they said, are not used to track or monitor immigrants but rather as a safety net.But immigrant advocates were skeptical of the new phones, and the program.It is concerning whether the women are being tracked through their phones and whether their communications with counsel are confidential, said Jonathan Ryan, executive director of Raices, a San Antonio-based immigrant legal advocacy group.The number of immigrant families crossing the border illegally has skyrocketed this year: 24,616 family members were caught at the southern border from October through January, almost triple the number during the same period a year earlier.Yaneth Guevara Leyva, who has a pending asylum case, said she received a Galaxy 4 smartphone complete with voice and Internet service after she was released from one of the Texas detention centers two weeks ago. She said she was told she was being placed in a family case management program along with her children, ages 7 and 2.They told me I was selected because I have small children and for my case, because I was a victim of domestic violence, Guevara said. I was surprised because I thought I would get ankle monitors.Guevara, 29, worked selling food from her home in northern El Salvador, but fled what she described as abuse at the hands of her husband in October. She left without a cellphone, attempting to reunite with her two older brothers in Southern California.After she was released from the detention center, she used the new phone to catch a direct bus with her children to Los Angeles on Jan. 31.Guevara said she wasnt worried her conversations would be monitored, noting that she never signed forms consenting to that. She said she returned the phone, as she expected she would, at her first appointment with a case manager from GEO Care, the contractor running the program.They tell us not to be afraid; they say theyre here to help us. I feel good about it, she said.Advocates have been sharing cellphones for years with immigrant families dropped off by detention center staff at a San Antonio bus station, allowing them to call and send photos to family members they plan to meet.One of the first things they always wanted to get was cellphones before undertaking the long journey, Ryan said, but those who buy phones often cannot afford the bills that follow.The new smartphones are free, yet immigrant advocates worry they may be used to secretly monitor the users.Considering the number of entities monitoring cellphones in general, its hard to believe theyre not being tracked at all, Ryan said.He said advocates were especially suspicious because GEO Care is part of GEO Group, the Boca Raton, Fla.-based prison company that issues ankle monitors to immigrant families and runs eight immigrant detention centers, including the Texas family detention center where Guevara was held.The same day GEO Cares $11 million contract was announced in September, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights issued a scathing report detailing alleged abuses at immigrant detention centers, including denying medical care, staff retaliation and rights violations.Pablo Paez, a spokesman for GEO Group, referred questions to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.GEO Care has handed out 25 phones to immigrant families since last month, half of the 50 it plans to dispense, officials said.Participants must be considered low risk, meaning they would not otherwise be held in detention as their cases progress or issued ankle monitors, officials said. Priority for the program is given to families with special needs, including pregnant or nursing mothers, those who speak indigenous languages, have very young children, have medical or mental health issues, or have been exposed to trauma.Advocates argued that the program should be run by the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service or the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, agencies that ICE had relied on for case management and that had worked for years to earn the trust of immigrant families.Richard Rocha, an ICE spokesman, said that the agency recognizes the expertise and experience of community-based immigration assistance organizations which have a long history of assisting recently arriving populations and that it plans to develop the family case management program by growing already existing ICE partnerships with these local community providers.ICE officials said GEO Cares proposal to run the program was the most comprehensive and cost-effective.Advocates are not the only ones concerned about the program, and the smartphones.If the point of this were to make sure ICE could track people, that would actually make more sense, said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the conservative Center for Immigration Studies. It really is a continuation of this policy of the federal government taking over from the smugglers once the illegals get across the border and ensuring the illegal immigrants get what they paid the smugglers for and reach their destination.Krikorian fears the program could backfire, counteracting a U.S. public awareness campaign in Central America trying to stop migrants from making the trek north by feeding rumors that, he said, theyre not deported  and they get a phone for free.If anything, he said, it seems like this might increase immigration.
(TNS) -- The FBI still cannot unlock the encrypted cellphone of one of the San Bernardino shooters more than two months after the California terrorist attack.FBI Director James Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday that his agencys inability to access the information in the retrieved phone is an example of the effect on law enforcement of the growing use of encryption technology.Comey said the problem of going dark is overwhelmingly affecting law enforcement at all levels.It affects cops and prosecutors and sheriffs and detectives trying to make murder cases, car accident cases, kidnapping cases, drug cases, Comey said.He said the biggest concern was phones that automatically locked and secured all information inside.It is a big problem for law enforcement armed with a search warrant, when you find a device that cant be opened even when a judge said theres probable cause to open it, Comey said.Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the ranking Democrat on the committee, and the committees chairman, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., have said they are considering legislation that would compel manufacturers to provide law enforcement access to encrypted data when theres a court order. Industry associations have opposed such proposals.While encryption issues are more common in local criminal cases, counterterrorism investigations are also affected, Comey said. He cited the December attack in San Bernardino, in which Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik killed 14 people at a holiday party.In San Bernardino, a very important investigation to us, we still have one of those killers phones that we have not been able to open. Its been over two months now; were still working on it, Comey said.Comey previously told Congress that investigators could not read more than 100 text messages that one of the shooters who attacked a cartoon contest in Garland, Texas, last year exchanged with an overseas terrorist. The contest was to draw caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.Privacy advocates who oppose limits on encryption argue that giving such backdoor access to data opens devices to thieves and hackers. A recent report from Harvard Universitys Berkman Center for Internet and Society concluded that law enforcement fears of encryption are exaggerated, in part because increasingly sophisticated technology is opening up other ways for police to conduct surveillance.National Intelligence Director James Clapper told the senators that he thinks the government and tech companies should be able to work out a solution without resorting to legislation.Im not sure weve exhausted all the possibilities here technologically, Clapper said.Adm. Michael Rogers, director of the National Security Agency, said encryption is foundational to the future. The challenge, he said, is finding the balance between privacy and security.
Encryption Troubles

Array of Threats

Top national security officials testified before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence about the threats facing the United States. Among their considerations: technology such as artificial intelligence, autonomous decision-making and the growing Internet of Things (IoT), and evolving risks.In his testimony Tuesday, Feb. 9, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said existing and developing technologies will play a significant part in the opportunities and challenges facing the intelligence and security community in the coming years.This innovation is central to our economic prosperity, but it will bring new security vulnerabilities, he said. The Internet of Things connects tens of billions of new physical devices that could be exploited."While his comments seemed to lean toward the risks associated with networked, connected devices, his written statements submitted to the committee also highlighted the opportunity to gather intelligence through the technology.Smart devices incorporated into the electric grid, vehicles  including autonomous vehicles  and household appliances are improving efficiency, energy conservation, and convenience. However, security industry analysts have demonstrated that many of these new systems can threaten data privacy, data integrity, or continuity of services, he wrote. In the future, intelligence services might use the loT for identification, surveillance, monitoring, location tracking, and targeting for recruitment, or to gain access to networks or user credentials.Also at the hearing, Federal Bureau of Investigations Director James Comey testified that encrypted devices were a significant impediment to law enforcement and their ability to investigate and prosecute crimes.Especially devices, phones, that default lock," Comey said. "That is the overwhelming concern of state and local law enforcement because all of our lives are becoming increasingly digital, those devices are going to hold the evidence of child pornography, communications that someone made before they were killed, before they went missing, the evidence that would be necessary to solve a crimeComey said reports that the FBI wants backdoor access into devices has been overstated, but rather that the agency would like to be able to get access when granted it through the court order process.He pointed to a device collected following the December 2015 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif., as one example of the challenges facing law enforcement. Despite having the device for more than two months, the FBI director said investigators have yet to be able to open it for evidence purposes I dont want a door. I dont want a window. I dont want a sliding glass door. I would like people to comply with court orders, and thats the conversation we are trying to have, he said. Encryption is a problem in our investigations; it is also a great thing and therein lies the challengeWhen asked to prioritize the sizable list of threats before the senate committee, Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan weighed in, though largely avoided ranking a top concern. Ultimately, Brennan said he was very concerned about the vulnerabilities posed in the digital environment.As it was pointed out, were facing this array of threats. The one area that Im very concerned about is the increasing concerns about vulnerabilities in the digital domain and cyber, he said. I do think we as a country need to make sure that we understand what those vulnerabilities are and then I think, to Jim Comeys points and others points, making sure that the intelligence and security services and law enforcement services of this country have a role to help protect that environment, because our way of life, our future, really depends on making sure it is strong.The conversation also turned toward the online capabilities of extremist groups, like the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, ISIS, IS), and their efforts to draw in recruits through social media platforms and attack United States online assets.Encrypted communications channels, like Telegram, were a topic of much discussion following the terror attack in Paris, France , Nov. 13, 2015 and reports that the social networks were used to coordinate the attacks.Despite the mostly information tone and tenor of the testimony, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) called out Brennan on a 2014 search of committee staff files by CIA officers during a review of agency interrogation techniques. The testimony drifted away from national security and intelligence gathering and kicked off a brief, but heated exchange.Wyden insinuated that the agency had been spying on the committee responsible for CIA oversight, a claim Brennan vehemently denied, saying intelligence officers were acting within the scope of their duties to protect classified documents.Other topics addressed by the panel included the technological standing of Russia and China, the territory being held by ISIL in the Middle East and recent nuclear testing in North Korea. In addition to Brennan, Clapper and Comey, Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart and National Security Agency Director Adm. Michael Rogers also testified.
(TNS) -- Days after supposed FBI and Department of Homeland Security employee information appeared online , the site hosting that data is down.CryptoBin  a service that allows users to anonymously share text  is currently accessible only through its numeric Internet protocol address. That, along with other domain statuses that appear when requesting the websites information, suggest that the company that registered CrytoBins domain name has made it more difficult to find.The registrar, eNom, referred questions about the site to the owner of the domain.A phone number listed in CrytoBins site domain information was disconnected. An email sent to a support address associated with CryptoBin was not returned.The domain look-up did not reveal the name of the owner, though it did list a P.O. box in Panama.A Department of Justice spokesman, who previously confirmed that the agency was investigating a possible breach of its systems, declined to comment when asked if the agency had anything to do with the takedown.When users navigate to a website, they type in an address, such as www.google.com. In the background, a decentralized system of domain name servers, known as DNS, connect those alphabetic names to numeric addresses.In the case of CryptoBin.org, the alphabetic address is dead while the numeric address  https://151.236.7.11  has remained live.Given the timing of the takedown, there are obvious guesses as to who might be behind it, said Brian Martin, the director of vulnerability intelligence at Risk Based Security in Richmond, Va.The most likely thing is that either (eNom) themselves or the feds said: Yank their DNS, so people cant easily get to that site, he said.That could be triage to help slow the leak of the information, but it seems just as likely that the feds could get a takedown order.Martin added that if CryptoBin.org is hosted outside the U.S., as its domain registration information suggests, that legal process could take time.On Monday morning, the cache of records was accessible to anyone who used the password lol. The page hosting the data appeared to have been taken down by Tuesday afternoon. On Wednesday morning, Risk Based Security confirmed that the entire site was offline The department is looking into the unauthorized access of a system operated by one of its components containing employee contact information, the Justice Department spokesman said in an e-mail Monday.This unauthorized access is still under investigation.Vice broke news of the supposed breach, but declined to identify the hacker who claims to be behind it.The Twitter account that initially published the location and password associated with that information posted Tuesday: Anyone got a good lawyer ?!?!?That was the accounts last tweet.According to CryptoBins registry information, the domain was created in April 2011 and last updated Tuesday. Similar to the more popular service Pastebin, CryptoBin let users share text; its contents are protected by passwords.In the past, hackers have reportedly used the service to release similar data.
School district officials fear a double whammy of cuts if the Wyoming Legislature follows through with cuts to education.

Speaking last night to the Sweetwater County School District No. 2 Board of Trustees, Superintendent Donna Little-Kaumo said the proposed cuts, when combined with anticipated drops in student enrollment, will result in larger funding decreases to the district.

The Joint Appropriations Committee recommended a 3 percent funding cut to the K-12 fund during the next biennium, which equates to approximately $45 million. The cut would reduce funding to K-12 schools by 1...
Indictment stems from 2009 death of 2-year-old

A Green River man who was indicted for first-degree murder Wednesday could face life in prison or the death penalty if convicted of the crime.

Jacob Anglesey, 34, of Green River, was indicted by a grand jury convened by Judicial District Court Judge Nena James for the 2009 death of Konnor Allen, a 2-year-old boy.

According to information released by the Sweetwater County Attorney's Office, on March 9, 2009, emergency crews responded to Allens home in Green River after receiving a call from Anglesey stating that the child was unresponsive following a fall.

Allen was transported to Memoria...
Give the next project or business a boost with the Green River Community Chest.

The Green River Community Chest, a nonprofit 501 (C) 3 organization, has been in existence since 2007.

The Community Chest is a totally autonomous entity formed for the purpose of aiding entities such as the Green River Arts Council, the Sweetwater Mountain Bike Association, the Green River Chamber of Commerce, Green River URA/Main Street Agency and other charitable organizations that are not 501 (C) 3, but fit the criteria in education, for public good, youth activities and other art programs.

The Community...
Animal control officers received a call of a brown dog at large on Evans Street.

Animal oontrol officers attempted to locate a dog described as chasing deer in the area on Easy Street.

Animal control officers met an individual at the shelter who wanted to turn their dog over to the animal shelter.

Officers responded to a two-vehicle collision on Astle Avenue and Uinta Drive. It was reported a vehicle was stopped at a traffic light northbound on Uinta Drive at the intersection with Astle Avenue.

The vehicle was struck from behind by a vehicle traveling north. No injuries were reported, Of...
An alleged stabbing and two spitting incidents lead to numerous felony charges.

Keith Allen Rhodes, 40, of Rock Springs, appeared in the Third District Court of Judge Nena James at an arraignment to five felonies, two counts of aggravated assault and battery, interference with a peace officer and two counts of aggravated assault and battery on a detention officer. A jury trial has been scheduled to take place May 2 at 9 a.m.

The two aggravated assault and battery on a detention officer charges stem from Rhodes allegedly spitting on them when he knew he had Hepatitis C.

If found guilty of a...
After serving in an interim capacity for nearly a year, Brie Blasi can finally drop the word interim from her job title.

Blasi was promoted to be the Sweetwater County Historical Museums executive director after a special meeting the museums board hosted last week. She took over the museums management after former executive director Ruth Lauritzen left the museum February, 2015.

Blasi, who can trace her family heritage to Northern Italian immigrants who worked in the mines around Superior, said local history has always fascinated her. She grew up hearing stories about her family co...
On Tuesday, President Obama released the final budget of his presidency. As a parting shot, he includes a new tax on the middle class that adds about 24 cents to the price of every gallon of gasoline. This will be bad for consumers, bad for jobs, bad for Americas economy and bad for our national security.

The tax hike comes in the form of a $10 fee per barrel of oil. The money is earmarked for new spending on green transportation projects. This is just the latest sign that the Obama administration is eager to continue its assault on American energy production.

Today the OPEC carte...
Ice. How many forms of ice are there?

Well, lets name a few. The most obvious this winter for southwest Wyoming would be snow and black ice. Then, we have the ice in our rivers, lakes, streams, glaciers and of course massive ice bergs. Also, we have frost on our windshield and icicles on our houses. Next, we have more favorable kinds of ice including ice cubes, crushed ice and most peoples favorite ice cream.

We dont want to forget the useful kinds of ice including dry ice,if this really counts, and block ice for our hunting, camping and fishing excursions. Water and ice reall...
Bridge of Hope Church will offer a Clothing Closet to the community from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at 4104 Short Farm Road in Greensboro.

Donations received will support international missions in Sierra Leone.

For information, call (336) 285-8218 or email church@bridgeofhope.church.

Greensboro College to host leaders group

Greensboro College and its human factors program will host members of the 2016 Leadership Greensboro class on Tuesday.

The Leadership Greensboro participants will view a presentation on the human factors program and will tour the colleges UX (user experience) Lab and take part in an interactive demonstration.

Professor Lisa Gunther and associate professor Jason Rogers will lead the presentation, along with Rich Gunther of Ovo Studios, which helped pay for the UX Lab, and student Sam Leslie, a psychology/human factors major.

The colleges Human Factors concentration within the psychology major is one of only a few in the country at the undergraduate level, and the UX Lab is believed to be the only such facility between Charlotte and Raleigh. It is available for rent to private industry when students are not using it.

Human factors is the study of how human beings interact with structures, tools and technology.

Downtown group wants your selfies

Downtown Greensboro is encouraging residents to take selfies in downtown Greensboro and share the photos using the hashtag #DGSOSelfie. Photos can also be emailed to selfies @downtowngreensboro.net.

The photos will be used in Downtown Greensboros social media posts and print advertisements. The economic development organization hopes to get at least 2,000 selfies.

For information, call (336) 379-0060.
Imagine the incredible odds you could have gotten if you bet one year ago that Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump would each win by about 20 points in the New Hampshire primary.

Here's the New Narrative after New Hampshire: Trump's huge victory, on record turnout, was legitimate and exceeded expectations. He again looks like a serious contender for the Republican nomination and is back on track after his weak showing last week in Iowa. "Trump won men, women, every age group, every ideology, people who had and people who had not gone to college, and every single age bracket. And he won those groups by huge margins," The Post's Philip Bump writes. "Men, 3-to-1 over the second-place finisher. Women, 2-to-1. Voters under 30, 2-to-1. Nearly 4 in 10 of those who hadn't attended college - but also a third of those who had."

In other words, the anti-establishment, populist fervor is real. There's also xenophobia: Two-thirds of people who voted in the Republican primary said they support a temporary ban on non-citizen Muslims entering the United States.

The GOP establishment will continue to be divided for some time after Marco Rubio's meltdown (he finished fifth), which is great news for both Trump and Ted Cruz. "The longer the field includes four or five other candidates, Trump can win states with roughly the same one-third of the vote that brought him a big victory here," The Post's Dan Balz explains. If The Donald wins South Carolina, he could be very tough to stop.

Rubio's momentum really has been blunted. Donors who were ready to get on board will now hold out.

If he doesn't place well in South Carolina, his campaign could completely fall apart. It's now even conceivable that Jeb Bush could emerge as the establishment alternative. Bush promises to fight on at least through South Carolina, and he could be a force there."This campaign's not dead," he told 250 supporters on Tuesday night. (Though that's not a super great message.)

John Kasich will get a moment in the sun after finishing second, but it's not clear he can stay viable until the March primaries. Meanwhile, Chris Christie dropped out Wednesday, and his 2016 legacy will be as the kamikaze who wounded Rubio.

On the other side, Democrats are not ready for Hillary.

Here's how total Sanders's victory was, according to the exit polls: He beat Clinton in every demographic group except voters older than 65, nonwhites and those with family incomes over $200,000. He won female voters by 11 points, 55 percent to 44 percent. He won 7 in 10 women under 45. He scored 85 percent among 17-to-29-year-olds.

History lesson: Sanders's margin of victory is the second largest ever in a contested Democratic New Hampshire primary - behind only John F. Kennedy's 1960 win over a pen inventor named Paul Fisher.

The clearest explanation: Voters followed their hearts, not their heads. Take Tom Meehan, a 68-year-old psychiatrist who voted for Sanders, according to The Post's Michael Kranish: "[Clinton] will have a better chance in November, frankly, but I decided to vote for who I wanted rather than worry about November."

The Post's Chris Cillizza names Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen among the biggest losers of the night: "The sitting governor and the state's Democratic senator were high-profile endorsers and surrogates for Clinton in New Hampshire. Didn't matter. Like, at all." Notably, Hassan is running for Senate against the Republican incumbent, Sen. Kelly Ayotte, who stayed neutral.

What's next? For Democrats, the Nevada caucuses are Feb. 20 and the South Carolina primary is Feb. 27. For Republicans, their South Carolina primary is Feb. 20 and the Nevada caucuses are Feb. 23. Then 11 states hold contests on March 1 (Super Tuesday, or "the SEC primary"). But first comes a Democratic debate Thursday night in Milwaukee and then a Republican debate Saturday in Greenville, South Carolina.

Rubio's collapse dramatically raises the stakes for his debate performance. Meanwhile, how much will W. help Jeb in South Carolina?

The Bush campaign on Wednesday began running an ad on conservative radio stations that stars the former president. "We live in troubled times with the military deployed around the world," George W. Bush says. "We need a strong leader with experience, ideas and resolve. There's no doubt in my mind that Jeb Bush will be a great commander in chief for our military."

The Jeb Bush campaign says it already has 20 staffers organizing in four offices in South Carolina and that Jeb has already done 31 events in the state, more than anyone else.

Kasich's strong New Hampshire finish was driven by late-deciding voters and concentrated among moderate and independent-leaning Republicans who were turned off by Cruz, Rubio and Trump, according to Post polling guru Scott Clement.

Note: Kasich got 15.9 percent of the vote, which is less than the 17 percent Jon Huntsman received in 2012. The former Utah governor, who also ran as a squishy, middle-of-the-road, kumbaya Republican, dropped out later that week. The situation was a little bit different: He finally recognized he couldn't peel away Mitt Romney voters in South Carolina.
SAN DIEGO  For the 15th time, officials denied parole for Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, after hearing Wednesday from another person who was shot that night and called for Sirhan's release.

The decision came after Sirhan answered questions from a California parole panel during a hearing that lasted more than three hours in a small, windowless conference room.

Commissioners concluded Sirhan did not show adequate remorse or understand the enormity of his crime.

"This crime impacted the nation, and I daresay it impacted the world," commissioner Brian Roberts said. "It was a political assassination of a viable Democratic presidential candidate."

During the hearing, the 71-year-old Sirhan stuck to his previous account that he did not remember the shooting in 1968 at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after Kennedy won the Democratic presidential primary in California.

He said he recalled being in the hotel then going to his car and returning after realizing he had too much to drink. He said he became interested in a female and they drank coffee in a hotel pantry.

"It's all vague now," Sirhan told the parole panel. "I'm sure you all have it in your records, I can't deny it or confirm it, I just wish this whole thing had never taken place."

Sirhan, a native of Jerusalem, listened intently during most of the hearing, turning testy when commissioners pressed him on his memory. He said he felt remorse for any crime victim but added that he couldn't take responsibility for the shooting.

"If you want a confession, I can't make it now," Sirhan said. "Legally speaking, I'm not guilty of anything. ... It's not that I'm making light of it. I'm responsible for being there."

Sirhan said incriminating statements he made at trial were the result of an ineffective defense attorney who pressured him into thinking he was guilty.

Paul Schrade, 91, told the panel that he believes Sirhan shot him at the hotel but an unidentified second shooter killed Kennedy.

Schrade was alongside the candidate when five people were injured in the June 5 shooting. Schrade was shot in the head.

Schrade pleaded for the release of Sirhan at the hearing and apologized to him for not doing more over the years to secure his freedom.

Schrade's voice broke with emotion at times during his hour of testimony that recounted his efforts to unravel questions about the shooting.

"I forgive you for shooting me," Schrade told Sirhan. "I should have been here long ago and that's why I feel guilty for not being here to help you and to help me."

The two men faced each other for the first time since Schrade testified at Sirhan's 1969 trial.

Schrade was western regional director of the United Auto Workers Union and labor chair of Kennedy's campaign at the time of the shooting.

On Wednesday, Sirhan nodded politely each time Schrade sought his forgiveness.

Schrade showed flashes of anger against Roberts, who admonished him for violating protocol by addressing Sirhan directly.

Schrade also criticized a representative of the Los Angeles County district attorney's office for making what Schrade called a "venomous" statement against the release of Sirhan.

Roberts at one point asked Schrade to wrap up his presentation, saying "quite frankly, you're losing us."

"I think you have been lost for a long time," Schrade shot back.

Earlier in the hearing, the commissioner asked if anyone wanted a break. Schrade spoke up from the audience and said, "no I want this to get over, I find it very abusive."

Retired Deputy District Attorney David Dahle argued at the hearing for the district attorney's office.

"The prisoner has still not come to grips with what he has done," Dahle told the panel.

Sirhan is serving a life sentence that was commuted from death when the California Supreme Court briefly outlawed capital punishment in 1972.

In one of many emotional outbursts during his 1969 trial, Sirhan blurted out that he had committed the crime with 20 years of malice aforethought.

That and his declaration when arrested, "I did it for my country," were his only relevant comments before he said he didn't remember shooting Kennedy.

Sirhan told the panel Wednesday that if released, he hoped he would be deported to Jordan or live with his brother in Pasadena, California.

His hope, he said, was "just to live out my life peacefully, in harmony with my fellow man."

"This is such a traumatic experience, it's a horrendous experience that for me to keep dwelling on it is harmful to me," Sirhan said.

As Sirhan left the hearing, Schrade shouted, "Sirhan, I'm so sorry this is happening to you. It's my fault."

Sirhan tried to shake his hand but a guard prevented it.
Shelters for people escaping domestic abuse around the state are overflowing, and the same holds true for the YWCA Greenwich.

A report issued this week in Hartford by a nonprofit organization found that the states 18 domestic-violence shelters are operating at above-capacity, with an average stay of 43 days, an increase of 65 percent since 2008.

The new data compiled by Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence came as no surprise to Meredith Gold, director of Abuse Services at the YWCA Greenwich, which is part of the state network.

The need and the demand is greater than ever, and the scope is bigger. Its not just one or two nights  theyre staying longer, said Gold.

It was not uncommon for people taken in by the YWCA fleeing domestic violence to stay weeks or more, even though it is designated as an emergency site for short-term stays.

Affordable house, transitional housing, is less available, and the need is growing, said Gold. We usually try to transition people into longer term placement, but all the other shelters are completely full.

The Greenwich YWCA arranged housing for 55 people in 2015, a record for the agency. It provided 873 bed nights, or separate nights of housing per individual, in 2015

Karen Jarmoc, a former state lawmaker who is head of the domestic-violence coalition, called on state legislators Tuesday to keep services funded and available.

Its ... not going to go away and we have to be very smart about utilizing the resources were going to have, Jarmoc said.

There is concern among domestic-violence counselors that a plan to revise the state funding process will yield more cuts to emergency shelters.

Its been cut every year, noted Gold.

While it cost $200 a day to house someone through the YWCA, she said, the state reimbursement was $7 a day.

Were tasked with fundraising and seeking other sources of revenue, she said.

The need for shelter and services has been steadily growing, both in Greenwich and around the state. Some 2,323 victims of abuse sought shelter last year around the state, including 1,158 children. In other parts of the state, some people were put on roll-away cots in living areas and playrooms.

Some state lawmakers are pledging not to allow further cuts.

If these shelters and these programs didnt exist, or if their funding was cut and they had less of an opportunity to stay in these programs, victims might find themselves going back to those abusive situations and thats the exact opposite of what we want, said state Sen. Mae Flexer, D-Killingly.

Experts believe that growing public awareness of the issue of domestic violence is pushing the number of people seeking refuge to new heights.

Its in the spotlight. Theres a lot more education and awareness. People are calling for help, said Gold.

In Greenwich, 269 cases of domestic violence were reported by town police in 2015, as compared with 227 in 2014.

The Greenwich YWCA primarily assists town residents, though it takes in a small number of out-of-town residents when necessary, as it is run in conjunction with state authorities.

Gold stressed that despite the operational challenges that her organization and the state operation was facing, anyone seeking emergency shelter would be taken in.

Were here to help people, she said. We will always find a safe place if they're in need.

With Ken Dixon

Robert.Marchant@scni.com
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STAMFORD  The phone threats that were made to five schools across the state Tuesday came within minutes of each other, were delivered in disguised voices and originated from the same phone number, law enforcement officials said.

A trend of computer-generated hoax phone calls involving high-tech identity-disguising tools has been sweeping the nation. Though officials said there is not yet any indication of a connection to the Stamford High School incident, federal agents have been called in to help investigate the spate of prank phone calls that sent well-armed police to schools statewide.

The call (to Stamford High School) came in to the main office from a phone number which has been common in swatting incidents, Stamford Police Lt. Diedrich Hohn said Wednesday. They all came from the same number.

A phone threat that led to the evacuation of the Stamford Academy charter school Wednesday, did not follow the same pattern, police said.

Swatting, the practice of falsely reporting a crime just to provoke massive police responses, has become prevalent enough nationwide to draw condemnation from the FBI.

Incidents of swatting have been reported throughout the country in the past year. Such threats have forced school evacuations or closings in Delaware, Washington, Arizona, Oregon and Alaska. Similar threats forced the public school system in Fairfield to go on lockdown in October, the same month a 22-year-old Wethersfield man was sentenced to a year in prison for his role in the swatting of schools in Connecticut, New Jersey, Texas and Massachusetts.

In reports on the crime, the bureau warns that so-called swatters will sometimes use technology that manipulates Caller ID systems, throwing law enforcement off their trail. A report in the Providence Journal this week said Rhode Island State Police traced a recent rash of automated, threatening phone calls to St. Petersburg, Russia.

Two federal agencies have begun coordinating with local police to track the origin of Tuesdays threatening phone calls.

Hohn said Wednesday his department is working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which is investigating all of Tuesdays threats.

Hartford police said they are coordinating with a second federal agency  Homeland Security Investigations, a division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

Charles Grady, a spokesman for the New Haven field office of the FBI, said Wednesday the bureau made an offer of technical assistance to local law enforcement. There was no indication Tuesdays phone calls were linked to other instances of swatting, he said.

ICE officials could not be reached.

Disguised voices

Tuesdays threatening calls were seemingly coordinated, coming within minutes of one another and threatening violence at Stamford High, West Haven High School, Capital Preparatory Magnet School in Hartford and Bristols Central High School and South Side Elementary.

Stamford High Schools main office received a threat at 12:25 p.m., Hohn said, just three minutes after West Haven High School was threatened. Bristol police received a similar phone call minutes later at 12:32 p.m., Hohn said.

Hartford Police Deputy Chief Brian Foley said his city received its threatening call about the same time as the Bristol call came in.

I believe theyre related, Foley said of the calls.

Tuesdays threats were described by the West Haven Police department as a male voice speaking an unknown language, then in English."

Hohn said the call to Stamford High School involved a disguised voice."

The caller said there was a bomb at the school, and there was going to be a shooting," he said.

Though the Tuesday calls variously threatened bombs, shootings or both, no suspicious persons or items were reported found at any of the five Connecticut schools.

Stamford Academy threat

The phone threat to Stamford Academy prompted a show of force similar to Tuesdays reaction, with Special Response Team officers and bomb squad dogs searching the building.

Stamford Police Chief Jonathan Fontneau told The Advocate Wednesday afternoon that the threat came from a different phone number than those received Tuesday.

This was a dissimilar call, he said of the threat. We hope that it was a copycat, and that it ends now.

Domus, the nonprofit that runs Stamford Academy, said in a statement Wednesday that police found no threats in the building.

In the wake of the second day of hoaxes, Mayor David Martin called on state lawmakers to send a message to would-be swatters.

I am calling on our state legislators to enact stiff penalties to those who call in these bomb threats, he said. This is terrible. I would call it childish, but the cost to the community is extraordinary.

ESimko-Bednarski@scni.com; 203-964-2215; stamfordadvocate.com/news
How about some pet-nat?

If youre still thinking about a gift for Valentines Day (which is this weekend), its time to act quickly. Luckily, New York is full of excellent edible and drinkable options that are far better than a standard box of chocolates.

Something for a candy fiend.

Go to the Chelsea Market for Brooklyn candy-maker Liddabit Sweets special Vally Tallys, made of red-velvet cookies layered with raspberry marshmallow and dipped in white chocolate.

Splurge on halva.

Speaking of Chelsea Market, stop by the new Seed + Mill and rediscover halva, the dense sesame confection. Try it out in flavors like coffee and ginger, to bring home for snacking while watching your favorite old movies.

Celebrate with pet-nat.

Skip Champagne, which feels a little obvious, and surprise your partner with some of-the-moment petillant naturel instead. Places specializing in natural and biodynamic wines  Chambers Street Wine, Fort Greenes Thirst, Uva in Williamsburg  are good places to track some down.

To go with it: American charcuterie.

Spoil your other half with some of the countrys most impressive domestic meats: Smoking Goose, producers of both traditional meats like cotechino and nouveau ones like gin and juice salame, is available at the Greene Grape in Fort Greene, Milk & Hops in Greenwich Village, and other stores around the city.

Go real comfy with high-end frozen pizza.

What you really need for a night in (besides a nice bottle of wine) is some pizza you can just pop in the oven. Make a meal out of Robertas frozen pizzas, available at places like Brooklyn Kitchen and Greene Grape.

Have the restaurant come to you.

Grub remains committed to the advice that you shouldnt go out to a restaurant on Valentines Day, but there are always new delivery options like Caviar that will be able to deliver a nice meal to you. Just light some candles and youre set.

Eat a whole loaf of excellent babka.

Head to Sadelles in Soho and get something special from Melissa Wellers pastry counter.

Or try some amazing Danish pastries.

Noma co-founder Claus Meyer has a weekend-only Danish bakery, so you can grab something nice on Saturday. Trek over to Driggs Avenue to get some poppy-seed Danishes or twisted cinnamon buns for Sunday.

Head to the West Village for a very sophisticated tart.

At oolong-tea destination Te Company, owner Elena Liao is serving a special cranberry-jam-and-kanzuri tart this weekend. Its a lot more elegant than other options around town.

Special doughnuts from Dough.

Not that you need an excuse to eat Doughs doughnuts, but Fany Gerson is rolling out specials like chocolate-raspberry doughnuts with almond praline or a red-velvet variety this weekend.

And if you still want to do the chocolate thing 

Why not get a box of the rose truffles that Lower East Side chocolate shop Roni-Sue rolls out annually, or a bar from one of the countrys top chocolatiers  say Rituals Madagascar 75 percent?
Samsung Galaxy S7 is going to premiere at a special UNPACKED event at the MWC next week. It has been in Rumorland for quite some time and the speculations have gone wild throughout the past few days.

Samsung is also keen on getting a piece of the growing VR market, and as suggested by Rory O'Neill, Vice President Brand & Product Manager of Samsung Electronics, most of the VR content will be in fact produced by the consumers. Thats why Samsung will be offering a free Gear VR headset with each Galaxy S7 smartphone or at least in the Netherlands.

As per some reports Samsung Netherlands will be throwing a free Gear VR headset with each Galaxy S7 pre-order placed between February 21 and March 10. The Galaxy S7 is going to be unveiled on February 21, which means it will go on pre-order in Europe on the very same day.

Its unclear whether this promotion will expand to other markets, but if Samsung wants some nice share of the VR universe, the logic says yes.

In just a few days the Galaxy S7 will say hi from Barcelona for the first time. Naturally, well be there to cover the event for you as it unfolds.

Source 1  Source 2  Source 3
Google offers the right to be forgotten option for all EU citizens, by EU regulations. If a person asks Google to remove all information about him, Google is obliged to remove any references and information from its search engine.

As this rule applies to EU citizens and for the EU only, Google scrubs such information only from its .fr, .co.uk, .bg, .de, and similar EU Google Search domains. This allowed for an easy workaround - just open Google.com or any other non-EU Google Search website and repeat the search string.

This is about to change in just a few days, though. Google is going to address this workaround, and the right to be forgotten rule will apply to all Google domains when used within the EU (detected by IP address). Soon, the only way to see results under the right to be forgotten rule will require you to be out of the EU or use a proxy server.

According to BBC, Google will apply the new rules in mid-February and if some information is under the right to be forgotten rule it wont be accessed by any Google Search engine invoked within the EU borders.

Source  Via
Microsoft has entered into a partnership with Acer that will see Taiwan-based company installing the former's apps and services on some of its Android smartphones and tablets starting H2 2016.

As for what all will come preinstalled, Microsoft did reveal a few names, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, OneDrive, and Skype. There was, however, no word on exactly which of the Acer's upcoming phones and tablets will be affected.

"We're excited to partner with Microsoft to provide enhanced mobile productivity to our products, said ST Liew, president of Acer Smart Products Business Group. "By integrating the Microsoft software suite, Acer customers will enjoy productivity on-the-go along with the familiar computing experience on their smartphones and tablets."

Commenting on the partnership, Nick Psyhogeos, president of Microsoft Technology Licensing, said, "We're pleased that we have been able to enhance the already strong partnership that exists between Microsoft and Acer. Mutually beneficial and collaborative agreements such as this one promote innovation and lead to better products and experiences for consumers."

If you aren't already aware, Microsoft signed a similar deal with Samsung last year. The Redmond, Washington-based company also revealed that globally nearly 74 hardware manufacturers are currently pre-installing its apps and services on their Android devices.

Source 1 2
Back in July last year, Microsoft announced that up to 7,800 employees will be laid off globally, with majority of those working in the company's phone business. Now, there are reports that the software giant is cutting "dozens" of more jobs from its mobile division.

While the exact number isn't yet known, it has been confirmed that this new round of layoffs is not part of the move announced in July. Also, those being laid off now are said to be part of the marketing team working with the company's mobile subsidiary in Finland.

The news comes nearly a couple of weeks after the Redmond, Washington-based company released its Q2 fiscal 2016 earnings report, revealing that only 4.5 million Lumia phones were sold in the last quarter of 2015, down from the 10.5 million reported in Q4, 2014.

Via
Samsung Pay is expected to launch in the UK and Spain early this year. The head of Samsung Pay Europe revealed that the launch will be "very soon," but said the exact date and other details will be revealed at the MWC.

The Samsung Galaxy S7, the start of Samsung's MWC show, will be unveiled on February 21 and we'll most likely see Pay piggyback on its media attention (the MWC is held in Spain, after all).

Also in the first wave of expansion for this year is China, with Australia, Singapore and Brazil following later. It's not just the S7 that supports Samsung Pay, the new Galaxy A (2016) series does too.

Source




Haiti - Education : Study in Argentina, Guide for the Haitian student





Argentina offers a quality higher education compared with other countries in the region. It offers a broad curriculum, which covers various fields. Science is particularly an area of excellence of Argentine universities.



Study organization: The academic year is divided into two semesters. The first is from March to mid-July. The second extends from August to mid-December.



Language: The official language of Argentina is Spanish. It is desirable to properly master the Spanish before undertaking study processes in the country. English is a plus in Argentina.



Curriculum and diplomas: The first cycle is called the "pregrado". It has a term of five years. It ends by obtaining the "licenciatura".



The second cycle is called "posgrado". It includes the mastery that lasts two years; the magister, specialization and doctora, last three years.



Cost of studies: The country has forty public universities and forty private universities. There are also a few thousand institutes dedicated to professional courses. Public universities and centers of public professional studies are free. Students only pay the registration fee.



However, for some time, some public universities began to charge rates increasingly high for enrollment in the second cycle. These fees vary from one university to another.



University Accommodation: There are not, strictly speaking, university housing in Argentina. Students stay in private apartments, at their expense.



Scholarships: Scholarships for public universities are very rare. This is due to free tuition and the lack of public university housing.



However, there has for some time a very limited number of scholarships, highly selective for post graduate studies. These scholarships are generally intended to encourage research and mobility, in order of priority, of young Argentinian researchers and of Mercosur.



Equivalence: There is no formal agreement particular of equivalence between Argentine and Haitian diplomas.



After completing his Baccalaureate in Haiti, students wishing to enter university in Argentina must submit to an equivalency exam. Some private universities are given the freedom to conditionally admit students who have partially succeeded subjects required in the equivalency exam. However, these students must, in addition to their academic studies, pass all the subjects required for equivalence in order to receive their university diploma.



In some cases, students who have already completed years of university studies in Haiti can be exempted from the first year. But, because of the greater autonomy of universities, each of which determines the level of recognition of years of university education in Haiti. Thus, the student who is in this situation should contact the university of their choice to determine in which year it can continue his training.



Before leaving Haiti: The first step to take to study in Argentina is to select the university of your choice according to your career plan and training offered by the institution. It will then make contact with the university that will give you the procedure for registration.



For students who enroll from abroad, universities often give appointments for interviews. Because the final registration takes place at the university in Argentina.



Universities usually ask to make a copy of your diploma and transcripts translated of notes and legalized by both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Haiti and by the Argentine Embassy in Haiti. Legalize your documents before leaving Haiti. The university also generally requires to provide a medical certificate, photographs and a photocopy of your passport.



University housing agencies facilitate rentals to foreign students. It is therefore desirable to ensure the rental of a housing before leaving Haiti. This can be done via the Internet. The most recommended sites are: zonaprop, compartodepto, craigslist.



Student Visas: Haitians do not need visas to enter the territory of Argentina. However, the entry into the territory is at the discretion of the Argentine immigration officer who decides freely according to the documents submitted to immigration.



On site, in Argentina: Once in Argentine territory, it is desirable that the student goes to register at the Embassy of the Republic of Haiti (Av Figueroa Alcorta 3297. Buenos Aires. Aires Phone : (11) 48070211. Fax : 48023984. Email : info@embajadahaiti.com / amb.argentine@diplomatie.ht.



In order to finalize its registration, the student must provide the documents requested in the university by the date of its convocation.



After his formal registration at the university, the student must report to the National Directorate of Migration (DNM) within 30 days of arrival with the following documents :



- The university admission certificate

- Passport valid

- A copy of the birth certificate, legalized and translated

- A criminal record extract of Haiti, legalized and translated

- A certificate of no criminal record in Argentina to ask

- Two passport photographs

- They will also be charged with the appropriate fee.



They will then be given a residence permit allowing them to stay on Argentine soil time to their studies.



Additional useful information :

Website of the Argentine Ministry of Education: www.me.gov.ar



University Policy Secretariat : portales.educacion.gov.ar/spu/ (Pizzurno 935, Ciudad Autonoma de Buenos Aires).



Departamento de Validez Nacional de Estudios y Titulos Montevideo 950, Ciudad Autonoma de Buenos Aires.

Telefonos : (11) 41291317/1318.



Website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Argentina : www.cancilleria.gov.ar



Website of the Embassy of the Republic of Haiti in Argentina : www.embajadahaiti.com/fr/



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Politic : The Economic Forum pleased of the crisis exit agreement





In a note signed by its coordinator Gregory Brandt, the Private Sector Economic Forum said to be pleased with the signing of the agreement to end the crisis, on February 6 between the President of the Republic and the Presidents of the Senate and that of the House of Representatives.



The Forum said it is alwo pleased "to note a marked improvement in the socio-political climate record since the signing of the agreement and the holding of the National Assembly. This undoubtedly augurs better tomorrow for our beloved Haiti. Above all, the Forum notes that this historic compromise, providing a short Provisional Presidency and paving the way for the speedy return to constitutional order will enable the country to avoid he situation highly uncertain and detrimental to to public order that feared the Nation."



The Forum remains deeply convinced of the crucial importance of free, fair, transparent and credible elections, which should enable the renewal of our political leaders, on the basis of individual choice of each citizen," which "constitute the fundamental guarantee of political stability prerequisite for social harmony and the establishment truly favorable to productive investment, generating employment and sustainable prosperity for the benefit of all Haitians."



In addition, the Forum urges the international community to support the rest of the process traced by the Haitian parties and invites it to provide its concrete support to economic growth and the strengthening of the Haitian State in the coming years.



For its part, the private business sectorsays it is ready to "play its role as engine of economic growth, while respecting the principles of good governance, in fulfilling its tax obligations and formulating for the benefit the Haitian authorities realistic policy recommendations, likely to promote the economic and social development of Haiti."



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-16468-haiti-politic-deep-concern-of-economic-forum.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-16460-haiti-flash-pierre-louis-opont-resigned.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-16443-haiti-politic-the-economic-forum-asks-to-opont-to-resign.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-15908-haiti-elections-the-economic-forum-worried-launch-an-appeal.html



HL/ HaitiLibre


















By William Schwartz | Published on 2016/02/10

In short order "Remember" tacks on a second trial to the first one. Which is a bit of a shame- I actually mostly like the rape storyline. The fact that it's taking a relatively long time to conclude doesn't even bother me so much because it makes sense for Gyoo-man's legal team to use delaying tactics. It takes time to manufacture evidence and bully witnesses into giving false testimony. What's more, this tactic has become increasingly ineffective since In-ah knows how they operate.

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Yes, In-ah, rather than than Jin-woo. Which also gets no complaint from me. What with Jin-woo always obsessing over his father he has an easy time losing sight of the injustice right in front of him. I also like how In-ah's big legal talent is not turnabout cross examinations and crack investigative skills, but rather how she's a good negotiator. In-ah knows that emotional appeals, logical appeals, and debate by proxy have to be carefully tailored to context for maximum effect.

Dong-ho's incarceration for murder lacks much bite, by way of comparison. The facts of the case are mostly the same as we could have guessed ourselves last episode, and there aren't any major new revelations to give the Dong-ho case much in the way of interest. Really, the main mystery that comes up here and is not answered is how the corporate conspiracy was able to prepare this frame job at all, given how the meeting time and location was decided at the last minute.

...Of course, there's always the angle of how Jin-woo is still mad at Dong-ho over his betrayal way back in the beginning of the drama, but given that this is practically the only thing these two characters ever talk about I'm really not able to feel much in the way of dramatic urgency when it comes to either one of them. Strictly speaking even if Dong-ho is convicted I don't really see how that makes him any less dangerous to Gyoo-man. Recall that Jin-woo's intelligence regarding the rape victim came from a guy behind bars.

Maybe it's a little cruel of me to feel somewhat indifferent to the main conflict. But for me, the big issue with a lot of the trappings in "Remember" is that, coated as they are in thick long-term melodrama, there's just some parts that are too ridiculous to take seriously knowing they could pop up again at any minute. Like Jin-woo's memory loss. Although if that means In-ah has to save the day, well, maybe it's not all bad.

Review by William Schwartz

"Remember" is directed by Lee Chang-min-I, written by Yoon Hyeon-ho and features Yoo Seung-ho, Park Min-young, Park Sung-woong, Namkoong Min, Jung Hye-sung and Jun Kwang-ryul

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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.

15:19, 20 OCT 2022
ling all plumbers, electricians and carpenters: ASIO wants you! Australias national spy agency has implored tradesmen and women to take up new careers as covert operatives.



The latest ASIO advertising campaign invites problem-solvers with a wealth of life experience to trade your tools for a role protecting our nation.



However, those lured by the glamourous life of a spy, as witnessed in the James Bond novels and films, might want to think twice: new recruits are subjected to long hours undertaking somewhat menial tasks  albeit with high-tech gadgets  all of which are vital to preserving Australias national security.



An ASIO spokesperson told The Daily Telegraph that the agency was targeting a range of applicants including men (and women) who may never have contemplated a career within ASIO.



People of varied career backgrounds, education standards and ages would be considered but the spokesperson added that only committed team players who are teachable, dedicated and adaptable need apply.



While a licence to kill is not a prerequisite for new recruits, would-be spies must possess a high level of situational awareness and individual resilience and a particularly strong attention to detail.



They must also have normal colour perception that enables clear delineation between red and green and no issues with night blindness, and meet a basic level of fitness.



Recruits will undergo top-level security clearance checks and undertake a six-month training program.



The starting salary is A$70,628 - with no mention of perks such as unlimited Dom Perignon or salary-sacrificed Aston Martins.




Dear Editor,

The Million Dollar Question: Why the Big Road?

When the NC Department of Environmental and Natural Resources (NCDENR) received an application for a permit to construct the proposed raw water intake on the South Fork of the New River, the reviewers asked, why the big road? To conceal the truth that the road was needed to fulfill an obligation to construct a private subdivision road for Larry Cooper, Randy Cooper and Amy Cooper Greer, the town of Boone and its engineers sought to involve the Watauga County Fire Marshall in a plan to disguise the design of a 20-foot wide private subdivision road as a NC State Fire Code 503.2 Fire Apparatus Access Road instead.

As with every attempt to deceive public officials, the town and its engineers scheme to disguise the subdivision road as a fire apparatus access road has nullified the Watauga County Floodplain permit and the No-Rise Certification, both of which were based upon the design of an 18-foot private subdivision road. When these plans were drafted, the Watauga County subdivision ordinance called for an 18-foot wide road. The ordinance has been subsequently amended changing the subdivision road standards to a 20-foot wide road.

Please note, even though there is a recorded plat for a subdivision to be accessed by the road in question, Watauga County exempted Boone from the Watauga County Subdivision Ordinance based on the platted subdivision based on 10-acre plat showing 10-acre lots, the criteria for meeting such exemption. Thus, the road does not have to be constructed to subdivision standards (18 or 20) for reason of accessing the pump station. The only reason for construction of a subdivision standard road is the obligation Boone made in the 2009 deed to build a private subdivision standard road for Larry Cooper, Randy Cooper and Amy Cooper Greer. For this reason, new plans, new specs, new permit applications, new permits, etc. were required. However, Watauga Planning and Inspections was not notified of the change in plans.

And, the town of Boone and its engineers have submitted the existing Watauga County Floodplain permit and the Watauga County No-Rise Certification Acceptance Letter to the USDA as proper, lawful and valid documents, even though they were both nullified when the new plans were issued. These documents have both been submitted to the USDA in seeking the USDAs approval to bid the project.

Furthermore, the NCDOT driveway permit that was issued on August 11, 2009, expired on August 11, 2010 and then reinstated on March 29, 2015 as requested by WK Dickson acting as agent for Randy Cooper is nullified due to the change in plan. WK Dickson, then, coming as no surprise to New River Advocates, did not, even though they could have, submit revised plans to the NCDOT at the time they requested a reinstatement of the expired permit. And, the NCDOT driveway permit was submitted to the USDA as a proper, lawful and valid permit to the USDA in seeking the USDAs approval to bid the project.

When did Boone and its engineers get trapped in their web of deceit? Answer: When the revised plans were submitted to NCDENR as part of the permitting process. The June 15, 2015 letter from WK Dickson to NDENR states: On March 2, 2015 and March 3, 2015, the Town of Boone received email correspondence from the Watauga County Fire Marshall indicating that the access road width must be 20 to meet Section 503.2 of the North Carolina Fire Code. As such, the access road width was increased from 18 wide to 20 wide. A revised Storm Water Permit (SWG040000) reflecting this change was submitted to and approved by Sue White via email correspondence on May 1, 2015.

To this letter were attached copies of three (3) emails:

Email One: 2/22/2015 Email from Steve Suddreth, Watauga County Fire Marshall, to Josh Eller, town Boone staff, reads as follows:

Mr. Eller It was good to talk to you today. Attached is the information you requested about the NC Fire Code requirements for fire department apparatus access roads. Section 503 and specifically 503.2 concerning the road dimensions of 20ft. wide and 136 high have been in the code since the fire code was mandated for all of North Carolina as of January 1, 1993. When you get the plans for the project ready please submit a copy to our office and Watauga County Planning and Inspections. If you have not already contacted Mr. Furman about any other requirements that Planning and Inspection might have please do. If we can be of further assistance please contact me at this email or Office 828-264-4235 Cell 828-964-0683.

Please note that Mr. Suddreth does not have a copy of plans for the pumping station and the operative word used above is might. Only after a review of the plans for such pumping station can the Fire Marshall make a subjective determination as to whether the access road to the pumping station would be required to be 20-feet wide. To-date, as confirmed by New River Advocates, the Watauga County Fire Marshall has not yet received a copy of the construction plans even though the USACE, NCDENR, the NCDOT and the USDA have received copies of the plans. The town Council resolved to adopt the final plans at its November 2015 meeting, yet the plans have not been submitted to the Watauga County Fire Marshall. And, again, coming as no surprise to New River Advocates, the revised plans along with a new permit application have not been submitted to the Watauga County Department of Planning and Inspections to acquire a proper, lawful and valid floodplain permit which would require also a new No-Rise Certification or possibly, forbid, a CLOMR!

Email Two: 3/2/2015 Email from Josh Eller, town of Boone, to Ryan Hager, WK Dickson, reads as follows in forwarding the email from Steve Suddreth:

Ryan I will call you to discuss. Thank. Jose Eller, Town of Boone Department of Public Works.

Email Three: 3/3/2015 Email from Josh Eller, town of Boone, to Ryan Hager, WK Dickson, reads as follows:

Ryan In light of recent conversations with local regulatory review personnel and discussion among staff; it would appear that in the interest of compliance with all applicable standards, some of which have been in place for more than 20 years, we should build the access road to the intake site 20-feet in width rather than the previously proposed width 18-feet. Please revise the plans, specs, permits, and permit applications accordingly in order to avoid any future confusion or conflict. If you have any further questions or concerns please let me know. Thank you. Sincerely, Josh Eller, Town of Boone, Department of Public Works

The obvious and least costly option would have been for Boone to have submitted the plans to the Fire Marshall for a determination instead of assuming that a 20-foot wide road would be required. New specs, new plans and new permit applications are very costly. This would have been the proper course of action except that the real reason for the 20-foot road is not the NC Fire Code; it is and has been the agreement to build a road to subdivision standards for Larry Cooper, Randy Cooper and Amy Cooper Greer.

We have brought it to the attention of Sue Homewood, NCDENR, that the emails of March 2 and March 3 above, that WK Dickson referred to and attached to the June 15, 2015 letter are not from the Fire Marshall as WK Dickson claims, but instead, are from the town of Boone. Ms. Homewood has responded: We will look into the matter further.

Consider the following questions: 1) Is Boone up to paying the costs of the process involved in obtaining another no-rise certification or CLOMR? The CLOMR costs Boone $17,498.75 and the subsequent No-rise certification cost Boone $20,277.50. 2) Is the USDA willing to grant the town of Boone another extension on its letter of intent?

New River Advocates, Inc. discovered evidence from public records request, as far back as June, 2011, showing that the town of Boone and its engineers were attempting to disguise the construction of the private subdivision road from permitting officials, claiming the need for the road to support heavy construction equipment, a 5-ton crane. When questioned about the turn-around, the explanation given was for emergency vehicles.

Then the town of Boone and its engineers hit another obstacle, Erosion Control. The town of Boone, its engineer and the town attorney thought Boone was subject to Watauga County Erosion Control regulations and discussion of how to work around the regulations commenced with options such as 1) using the then county commissioner, Nathan Miller, referred to as anti-regulation to influence the Planning Board and to go over the head of Planning and Inspections; or using then commissioner Jim Deal, referred to as pro-water, to do the same; or 2) to construct it ASU-style, ignore the regulations, ignore a stop order if issued, and go to court if a complaint filed. But, as it turned out, Boone, a municipality, is subject to State Erosion Control so the scheme had to be tweaked and Boone and its engineers had to convince NCDENR that the Coopers did not have any plans at the time to develop the property and that the reason for the big road was to support heavy equipment for construction and ongoing maintenance and emergency vehicles. Again, coming as no surprise to New River Advocates, NCDENR granted Boone a pass.

Then the subdivision road standards changed and a new obstacle was presented to Boone and its engineers, how to redesign the road to a 20-foot subdivision road and continue to disguise it. The answer was to suggest that the Watauga County Fire Marshall had told Boone and its engineers that the road had to be a width of 20-feet in accordance with the NC State Fire Code.

New River Advocates, Inc. is familiar with this scheme as it was also used as in affidavits filed in the case of Ronald Cooper, Donald Cooper ET. al. vs Town of Boone whereby David Pond of WK Dickson and Rick Miller of the town of Boone both signed affidavits to the affect that the access would have to be built to the same standards as a subdivision road, despite the 2009 purchase agreement with Larry Cooper, Randy Cooper and Amy Cooper Greer, because of the requirements of the State NC Fire Code. This was Boones key argument in defending the claim made by Ronald Cooper, Donald Cooper et al. that the subdivision road was not for the benefit of the public; but for the benefit of Larry Cooper, Randy Cooper and Amy Cooper Greer.

Is there ever any end to the atrocities being committed by the town of Boone? As one official at NCDENR said, I dont know why Boone doesnt throw in the towel.

Deborah Greene

New River Advocates, Inc.

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The following information is provided by local law enforcement agencies.

All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Compiled by Jessica Isaacs

The following were provided by the Watauga County Sheriffs Office.

Jan. 27

ARREST: A male suspect, 29, of 202 Slabtown Road in Zionville, was charged with felony breaking and entering, larceny and misdemeanor FTA/Poss MTBV/U-WN Not 19/20. He was held under a $500 secured bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 29.

Feb. 1

ARREST: A male suspect, 36, of 408 Creek Road in Knoxville, was charged with all traffic except DWI and is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 19.

ARREST: A male suspect, 24, of 6269 Hollow Springs Circle in Lenoir, was charged with felony possession of pseudo/prior meth convictions, manufacturing methamphetamine, conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine and possess/distribute meth precursor. He was held under a $100,000 secured bond and is scheduled to appear in court on March 1.

Feb. 2

ARREST: A male suspect, 52, of 334 Locust Lane in Boone, was charged with all traffic except DWI and two counts of OFA. He was held under a $1,000 secured bond and is scheduled to appear in court on March 3.

Feb. 3

INCIDENT: Fraud  obtaining money/property by false pretense was reported at Quality Plus Gas, 4468 U.S. Highway 421 N in Vilas.

INCIDENT: Larceny was reported at 3316 U.S. Highway 321 S in Blowing Rock.

INCIDENT: Assault with a deadly weapon was reported at 314 Thorn Tree Road in Boone.

INCIDENT: Damage to property was reported at Ross Chrysler, 2282 N.C. Highway 105 in Boone.

INCIDENT: Vandalism was reported at 228 Alex Wellborn Road Apt. 2 in Deep Gap.

INCIDENT: Breaking and entering a motor vehicle, larceny from motor vehicle and injury to personal property were reported at 208 Wildcat Road in Deep Gap.

INCIDENT: Communicating threats was reported at Watauga County Sheriffs Office, 184 Hodges Gap Road in Boone.

ARREST: A male suspect, 55, of 9189 N.C. Highway 105 S Apt. 12 in Banner Elk, was charged with warrant for arrest FTA. He was held under a $2,500 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 28.

ARREST: A female suspect, 20, of 619 46 Ave. Drive NE in Hickory, was charged with communicating threats and was released on a written promise.

ARREST: A female suspect, 24, of 7143 U.S. Highway 421 N in Vilas, was charged with assault wit ha deadly weapon and is scheduled to appear in court on March 3.

ARREST: A male suspect, 36, of 346 New River Heights in Boone, was charged with FA  drug treatment court and is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 17.

Feb. 4

INCIDENT: Larceny  from buildings was reported at 270 Mack Hampton Road in Blowing Rock.

INCIDENT: Breaking and entering was reported at 3066 U.S. Highway 321 N Apt. 4 in Sugar Grove.

ARREST: A female suspect, 39, of 800 Ragan Road in Trade, was charged with felony breaking and entering a motor vehicle, fraud  obtaining money/property by false pretense, larceny, possessing/concealing stolen property and larceny  from motor vehicle. She was held under a $10,000 secured bond and is scheduled to appear in court on March 3.

ARREST: A male suspect, 30, of 293 Claude Isaacs Road in Elk Park, was charged with felony breaking and entering a motor vehicle, larceny, larceny  from motor vehicle, possessing/concealing stolen property and fraud  obtaining money/property by false pretense. He was held under a $10,000 secured bond and is scheduled to appear in court on March 3.

ARREST: A male suspect, 26, of 236 Tom Perry Road in Vilas, was charged with FTA criminal summons or citation. He was held under a $500 secured bond and is scheduled to appear in court on March 22.

Feb. 5

INCIDENT: Fraud  wire/computer/other electronic machine was reported at 2669 N.C. Highway 194 N in Boone.

ARREST: A male suspect, 31, of 315 Rabbit Run Road in Boone, was charged with DWLR impaired driving. He was held under a $1,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on March 3.

ARREST: A female suspect, 43, of 333 Will Perry Road in Vilas, was charged with contempt of court/perjury/court violations. She was held under a $500 secured bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 15.

ARREST: A male suspect, 25, of 11036 N.C. Highway 105 S in Banner Elk, was charged with contempt of court/perjury/court violations. He was held under a $500 secured bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 15.

Feb. 6

INCIDENT: Burglary  forcible entry was reported at 311 Hob Knob Road in Deep Gap.

INCIDENT: Fraud  wire/computer/other electronic machine was reported at 140 Christopher Court in Boone.

Feb. 7

INCIDENT: Larceny was reported at 526 Jones Road in Boone.

INCIDENT: An unattended death was reported at 2197 Meat Camp Road in Boone.

Feb. 8

INCIDENT: Financial identity fraud was reported at 286 Gordon Day Road in Boone.

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Source: B&K/Nicholas Bettschar

This trend has reached Europe: The European Council has initiated a discussion of abuse and dependency on medications, with a focus on opioid analgesics.

European pain experts are worried about this development. Professor. Bart Morlion, president-elect of the European Pain Federation EFIC, warned those attending the 9th Congress of the European Pain Federation, in Vienna, against exaggerated caution; not to toss the baby out with the bathwater: Opioids provide important therapeutic options in bringing relief from acute and chronic pain. We should not re-stigmatise these analgesics, but instead clarify how they can be used safely and effectively.

The professor is emphatically against generalising USA data and applying them to Europe. The abuse problem is virulent mainly in North America and Australia, since prescriptions are less regulated than in Europe, where access is strictly regulated by special prescription forms, or the addictive substances registry: Reports on increasing problems with opioids, particularly from North America, are mostly related to long-term prescription with a lack of careful patient selection and patient reassessment. In some US states, so-called pill mills  medical facilities that prescribe controlled substances without regard for guidelines and indicators  are allegedly responsible for numerous opioid-related fatalities. There are certainly many good reasons for the increase in prescription rates. However, in future more care needs to be taken to ensure that opioids are the right choice for the individual patient, Prof. Morlion emphasises. Opioids are not without side effects. For this reason they should only be prescribed in cases where there is a good balance between pain relief and side effects, where there are long-term benefits, and where other methods of treatment have failed.

It cannot be that abuse in some parts of the world leads to a global call for restrictions that could mean insurmountable hurdles for those urgently needing opioids for pain control.

Therefore, the European professional society seeks a reasonable approach between dramatic undersupply, over-prescription and the abuse problem. EFIC commissioned a working group to prepare Europe-wide recommendations for an appropriate and responsible handling of opioids, especially in long-term therapy of chronic pain. With recommendations expected this autumn, Prof. Morlion expects the  guidelines should provide doctors throughout Europe with support and advice for optimal use of opioid analgesics thats easy to put into practice.

PROFILE:

Anaesthesiologist, intensive care physician and pain expert Bart Morlion MD is president-elect of the European Pain Federation EFIC. He studied at the University of Leuven, Belgium, and completed a specialist residency at the Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany. He returned to Leuven in 1998 to become professor in the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences and head of the multidisciplinary pain centre. From 2006 until 2012 Morlion presided over the Belgian Pain Society and is the principal investigator in 28 national and international multicentre clinical trials (Phases II, III and IV).
Source: panthermedia.net/photousvp77

During the Summit, speakers shared their experience on integrated care around Europe and beyond. Discussions focused on how to break down the silos and deliver more holistic, responsive care to a constantly growing ageing population. The European Commission communicated on the importance of integrated care and bringing the health and social care ecosystems together. But it was acknowledged that, in order to succeed, there is a need for deeper patient and informal carers engagement. This shift to more integrated care will require overcoming regulatory, and organisational barriers, systems re-designed and developing new payment models, but, most importantly it will require a significant cultural change and a new mind-set. As Clemens-Martin Auer, Chair of the EU eHealth Network, explained, Integrated Care is not just about changing policies but also integrating people and changing culture, which is still a challenge today.



Scaling up digital innovation across health systems to enable care coordination was also discussed at large during the summit. In this sense participants highlighted the importance of meeting users demands, develop business models to make it sustainable and measure the value of technology in terms of cost-effectiveness and better health outcomes, including patient reported outcomes and patient experience. In this regard, the European Commission pointed out that evaluation methodologies for digital health, as well as regulatory decision-making processes, were not keeping up with the disruption of eHealth innovations.



Finally, participants stressed the need to build trust among the different stakeholders and exchanged their views about the implications of the new General Data Protection Regulation for the development of digital health. Roberto Viola, Director General at European Commission, DG Connect, called for a data-centric society and highlighted the importance of the health sector, as part of the Digital Single Market strategy, to show the benefits of technological innovation.



In the context of the Summit, a closed door lunch was steered with senior representatives of our industries together with representatives of Member States and other stakeholders and partners with introductory remarks on what are the critical factors of innovation to support healthcare transformation and growth from Andrzej RYS, Director for Health Systems, medical Products and Innovation, from European Commission (DG SANTE).



In addition, we partnered with EFPIA during a closed door dinner discussing on the potential of big data for healthcare and research in Europe steered by Paul Timmers, Director of the Sustainable & Secure Society Directorate in the European Commission (DG CONNECT) and with participation of EPHA sharing the perspective of the civil society on Big Data risks and benefits.



Nicole Denjoy, COCIR Secretary General, confirmed, COCIR was delighted with our second annual eHealth Summit  the broad variety of high level speakers and participants who, in an interactive and friendly manner provided valuable insight on the challenges facing healthcare systems and the positive role digital solutions can play. COCIR looks forward to continue working with its members and partners and moving forward together with other key stakeholders on innovative solutions to overcome barriers. A concerted action to act together now towards Integrated Care will be further communicated soon.



*COCIR is the European Trade Association representing the medical imaging, health ICT and electromedical industries. Founded in 1959, COCIR is a non-profit association headquartered in Brussels (Belgium) with a China Desk based in Beijing since 2007. COCIR is unique as it brings together the healthcare, IT and telecommunications industries.



Source: COCIR eHealth Summit
We have quite a lot of work ahead of us to make sure these people integrate. I'd say that employment and integration go hand-in-hand to the extent that employment is the best way to integrate these people. Otherwise, it'll take years before these people integrate in our society, he said.

Employment is the most important factor contributing to the integration of successful asylum seekers in Finland, Jari Lindstrom (PS), the Minister of Justice and Employment, estimated while commenting on the reform of the national integration strategy at a press conference on Wednesday.

This is being realistic.

Employment, he argued, is also the most effective way to prevent discrimination.

It's my belief that [] all kinds of discrimination will decrease when people work together. Immigrants who have been granted asylum will learn the language and see how they should conduct themselves in the Finnish society and at workplaces  and vice versa. Integration takes place through participation, he stated.

The Ministry of the Interior has estimated that roughly 10,000 of the 32,000 migrants who sought asylum in Finland in 2015 will eventually be granted asylum.

The first critical step for the successful applicants will be their placement in municipalities, according to Lindstrom. The number of municipal places is currently far from sufficient  a modest 1,700  and the ELY Centres are looking into the possibility of receiving more immigrants in their respective regions.

Lindstrom assured that the skills, educational background and employment prospects of immigrants placed in municipalities will be surveyed more carefully in order to prevent them from relocating to population centres shortly after their placement. A greater emphasis will also be placed on the working life in the integration training.

The integration process, he reminded, will nevertheless require resources.

The integration of these people will take a lot of time and resources because, as it is, there is hardly an abundance of employment opportunities for them, he said.

Asylum seekers come from conditions and societies with different rules and codes of conduct from Finland. We've witnessed and heard about the unfortunate excesses: there are violent structures and totally different approaches to the position of women. People have to unlearn these habits and learn how our society works.

Lindstrom also assured that although a greater emphasis will be placed on employment in the integration process, no fast lanes will be established for any population group. The measures we'll take must apply to everyone. Of course, you have to keep in mind that language skills pose a whole other question.

The Minister of Justice and Employment said he considers it positive that businesses have approached authorities to lend a hand in the integration efforts.

It's our responsibility as policy-makers to remove the obstacles to helping. I'm referring especially to the case of asylum seekers who wanted to plough snow, but certain questions of responsibility and occupational safety stood in their way. These are issues that naturally have to be solved, said Lindstrom.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Jussi Nukari  Lehtikuva

Source: Uusi Suomi
D.A.: No charges in death of man who died after jail scuffle

District Attorney Greg Newman announced today that no criminal charges will be brought against law enforcement personnel as a result of the death of an overweight man who passed out and later died after a scuffle at the jail.

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Bruce Dean Stafford, 55, of Mountain Home, had been arrested by the Hendersonville Police on July 13 and charged with the felony crimes of Obtaining Property by False Pretenses and Possession of Stolen Property for trying to sell stolen Chihuahua puppies to the Fish and Pets store on Spartanburg Highway. When taken to the county jail, Stafford was agitated and argumentative with law enforcement officers who were trying to get him through the book-in process, the district attorney said in a news release. This process includes going before a magistrate and having a bond established and also being photographed and fingerprinted.

Stafford became combative with both the sheriffs deputies and arresting officer Robert Underwood and resisted the officers' efforts to complete the booking process. He then lost consciousness and was taken to the emergency room where he was pronounced dead. Henderson County Sheriff Charles McDonald followed the statewide protocol by immediately requesting the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation to investigate the incident.

I have reviewed the investigative reports provided by the SBI and have concluded that the officers actions did nothing to cause the death of Mr. Stafford, Newman said in the news release. Without getting too personal about his medical history, Mr. Staffords autopsy showed that his heart attack at the jail was caused by the pre-existing conditions of heart disease and from an enlarged heart, among other long standing health issues. No one knows why he was so belligerent with the officers, but clearly he was not a person in good health and the officers gave him every opportunity to handle the situation differently."

Like everyone else, I am well aware of the news reports in other states where the tactics of the police are questionable, but my experience is that our officers here in Hendersonville and Henderson County treat people fairly, added Newman. They do, however, expect their directions to be followed by the public when making an arrest or attempting to bring order to a volatile and dangerous situation. I appreciate our police officers and deputy sheriffs for enforcing our laws and providing a safe community for all of us to live, work and raise our families. They have a difficult job and are to be highly commended for their service, Newman said.

Newman said he considers the matter closed as far as his office is concerned and will recommend the SBI to take no additional action in the case.
Noah the rescued pitbull becomes link in chain of love

Vannoy Construction workers and Blue Ridge Humane Society celebrate a $1,000 donation to help cover Noah's vet bills. [PHOTO BY ASHLEY ELDER/Hendersonville Lightning]

Noah could smell his future getting brighter this morning when Brian Walker gave a $1,000 check to the Blue Ridge Humane Society to help with the rescued dogs medical expenses.

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Walker and his team of Vannoy construction workers who are building the Health Sciences Center on the Pardee Hospital campus had been feeding the 4-year-old pit bull mix since September. News coverage of his life on a short chain in a cold rain beside a dilapidated doghouse went viral shortly after the workers named him Demo.

Upon further investigation by Hendersonville Police Chief Herbert Blake, the owner decided to give the dog up. Noah was then surrendered to activists Theresa Kisielewsky and Vallerie Lamoureux from UnChain Hendersonville. They took him to the Blue Ridge Humane Society, where workers gave him food, shelter and medical care. They named him Noah.

Its always good to see a neglected dog get a good home, said Walker, who is project manager for the $30 million health and education facility.

Walkers mother rescued dogs when he was growing up.

It was pitiful. It was on everyones mind, he said of Noahs poor living conditions.

Jimmy Benfield led the charge and the other construction workers followed, Walker said.

Taking care of animals is not cheap.

An animal lover, Benfield said he grew up with every kind of animal you can imagine.

I can sleep now, he said. I couldnt sleep at night.

Benfield brought Noah food every morning.

Seeing him now, I know he will find a good home, Benfield said.

Benfield said he currently travels a lot but may try to adopt Noah.

Hed be spoiled to death, he said.

Noah's fame has grown.

There have been a lot of people calling and asking about him, but we havent found the right fit yet, said Eryn Carper, shelter director at Blue Ridge Humane Society. The calls have even come from as far as Canada. Noah seems to like everyone he meets, though he's more cautious with his fellow four-legged creatures.

He does prefer to be the only child, she said. He firmly believes hes a lap dog. ... I think Noah would like to be couch potato.

He does need to be the only critter in the home, Carper said. He prefers that and he deserves that after this.

She said the main thing the shelter is looking for is a loving home where he can get spoiled.

Blue Ridge Human Society Executive Director Lutrelle OCain said, We hope it brings awareness to animals that are not in a good situation.

Noah responded well to medical attention. He was put on antibiotics at first to treat internal parasites and puncture wounds. Noah is the perfect example of a positive outcome when a dog is recued by people who care, she said. Noah is up for adoption.

Neutered last week, Noah will be put on heartworm medication soon. Heartworm treatments can be lengthy and hard on dogs according to OCain, but she said he will be fine.

I dont think he would be here today, OCain said. I dont know if he would have made it through all that happened.

A new tethering ordinance went into effect Jan. 2 for the city of Hendersonville. The ordinance states that dogs cannot be tethered for more than 4 hours a day and only 2 hours for every twelve hours.

OCain said this is a huge improvement for dogs within the city limits.
Armed Gardai from the forces Emergency Response Unit on patrol in North Inner City Dublin

A former Garda Assistant Commissioner believes the force is starved of resources - despite Commisioner Noirin O'Sullivan's statement that resources are not a problem when it comes to tackling gangland crime.

Martin Donnellan is one of the country's longest-serving detectives and rose to serve as Assistant Commissioner before retiring.

The experienced former cop believes the force does not have enough resources to deal with the ongoing gangland feud.

Mr Donnellan's remarks come just days after Commissioner O'Sullivan said that resources were not an issue within the force.

Speaking on RTE's Today with Sean O'Rourke, Mr Donnellan said the recent gangland attacks have developed into a "very serious situation".

However, he said that gangland crime just didn't arrive in the last few days.

"It didn't develop overnight. These people are carrying out assassinations for a quite a number of years," he said.

"The Garda authorities have been starved of resources for the last six years. There was no recruiting, people were retiring, a lot of them when they hit 50.

"The Department of Justice couldn't get rid of them fast enough."

Threatening

Mr Donnellan claimed that officers who were aged 50 and had 30 years of service received threatening retirement letters from Garda management, on the behalf of the Department of Justice.

He said the letters advised officers that if they did not retire within a certain period, they would lose some of their gratuity which they would be entitled to at the end of their service.

Despite revealing his concerns about resources, Mr Donnellan believes detectives will find the gunmen behind the "frightening" attack at the Regency Hotel and those responsible for the murder of Eddie Hutch.

"I'd be confident enough that they would be caught. It was pure fortune that a lot more people weren't shot.

"We have two assassins going in with rifles that are the favourite weapon for terrorists all over the world.

"They are highly dangerous weapons. Bullets fired from those weapons have the ability to go through a concrete block six inches thick," he added.

On Monday, Commissioner O'Sullivan reassigned 55 officers to establish an elite Garda unit with high-powered weapons in Dublin as the gangland bloodshed escalated.

The Government also pledged to spend an extra 5m to fund garda overtime.

The Garda Representative Association (GRA), the body which represents gardai throughout the country, believes a specialist unit is required on a full-time basis.

GRA President Dermot O'Brien said the association welcomes the allocated 5m - but added that it "isn't enough".

Mr O'Brien said the re-assigned gardai were "coming from the front line" which is now "depleted".

"We have the capabilities within An Garda Siochana ... short term fixes have to stop eventually," said Mr O'Brien.

He also rejected suggestions that gardai could be released from clerical duties and be replaced with civilians.

"These people are dealing with very important files ... civilians cannot do that role," he added.

Meanwhile, the opposition believes that lack of resources was one of the main issues facing the force.

Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin yesterday said the Government is panicking as crime becomes a major issue of the election campaign.

"It is extraordinary in one 36 hours we are told resources are not an issue and the following day, 5m is released," he said.

"It is a sign of panic from the Government's side."
A homeowner ducked for cover after a man started throwing bricks at the front of her house, smashing the windows in the French doors.

Andrew Boland (33) had denied causing damage to the woman's house, saying he had no grievance with her.

Judge Bridget Reilly ordered a probation report.

Boland, who is also known as Andy Mahoney, has been ordered to pay 630 compensation for the damage.

The defendant, of Cloonmore Road in Tallaght, was found guilty before Tallaght District Court of criminal damage at Bawnlea Crescent in Tallaght on June 13, 2015.

The homeowner said she was getting ready for work when she heard a front window breaking.

She said she ran out of the house and saw Boland, who she recognised straight away.

She said he started throwing bricks at her, she ducked and one of them hit her ankle.

The court heard the middle sitting room window was smashed as well as a window in the French doors.

The woman said she was frightened by the incident, and suffered from anxiety and sleeplessness afterwards.

In his evidence, Boland denied he was the culprit.

Finding him guilty, Judge Reilly said the victim clearly identified Boland as the culprit.

The court heard Boland has 42 previous convictions.

Defence solicitor Michael Hennessy asked the judge to adjourn the matter so father of two Boland can compensate the victim for the damage.
Regency hotel victim David Byrne was shot in the head with a handgun in a so-called "coup de grace" as he lay injured on the floor, it has emerged.

Two men - dressed in fake garda uniforms and armed with AK-47s - entered the lobby of the Regency Hotel in the north Dublin suburb of Drumcondra.

One of the four gunmen in the six-man hit squad targeted Byrne (34) and shot him in the legs.

As he lay injured on the lobby floor close to the reception counter, his killer shot him in the head.

Details of Byrne's cold-blooded murder emerged as his body was released to his loved ones last night.

Funeral

Byrne's funeral will take place in Dublin's south inner city on Monday morning and gardai are going to put a major security operation in place for it.

The funeral Mass at St Francis Street Church will be followed by burial at Mount Jerome Cemetery in Harold's Cross.

The funeral of Eddie Hutch Snr (59) - the brother of Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch and uncle of Gary Hutch - is also expected to take place next week. Eddie Hutch Snr was shot dead at his home in Poplar Row on Monday night.

It's understood Eddie was murdered on the order of the Kinahan cartel in revenge for Friday's murder of Byrne in the Regency.

Gardai now believe that at least two of the six-man death squad sent to the Regency Hotel fled to the North immediately after the murder.

It is understood gardai are investigating a report that two masked men were observed in a car driving erratically on the M1 motorway north of the Swords exit at around 3pm, just minutes after the gruesome attack.

"They were literally driving cars off the motorway, it was madness," a source said last night.

Two of the chief suspects for the hotel attack are very close associates of Gary Hutch, who was murdered in Marbella last September.

Another man said to be involved in the attack is linked to a criminal who was previously shot by gardai in an armed robbery.

Separately, it has also emerged that senior gardai are planning to see if there is any way a truce could be brokered between the Kinahan cartel and associates of Gary Hutch.

Key to this would be the co-operation of Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch. It is believed the notorious criminal arrived back in Ireland at the weekend following the deadly attack at the Regency Hotel.

His whereabouts are not known and he is keeping an extremely low profile.

He is said to be shocked by the murder of his older brother Eddie, who had no involvement in Friday's attack and is considered to be a "soft target" for his killers.

It is understood that associates of Gary Hutch held a meeting in the Beaumont area of North Dublin yesterday.

The decision by gardai to seek a truce between both sides comes two days after Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin appealed to the "mothers and grandmothers" within "the ranks" of both sides to help effect peace and stop further bloodshed.

Suspects

It is understood that members of the gang involved in Monday night's murder of taxi driver Eddie Hutch are also suspects for the shooting dead of a young mother-of-two in Swords in Dublin nine years ago.

In a crime that shocked the nation, Baiba Saulite (28) was gunned down in November 2006 as she smoked a cigarette at her front door while her two young sons slept inside.

The two killers were close confidantes of Martin 'Marlo' Hyland, the Dublin crime boss who was himself shot dead a month later.

Hyland recruited the men to carry out the murder on behalf of Limerick gangster John Dundon, from the McCarthy/Dundon gang, who is serving life for the murder of innocent rugby player Shane Geoghegan.

Gardai suspect the same pair were among the four-member hit team that killed Eddie Hutch.

A third suspect is also a well-known killer who was hired by the Kinahan cartel for a number of gangland murders in Dublin.

He is believed to be the would-be assassin hired by the Kinahans who shot and seriously injured John Gilligan in a murder bid in February 2014.
All non-urgent operations in Dublin's Beaumont Hospital today and tomorrow have had to be cancelled because of overcrowding.

The north Dublin hospital - which is a national centre for brain surgery - last night said all the affected patients had been told of the cancellations.

The move is part of a series of measures by the hospital to try to ease the trolley crisis in its emergency department.

There were 40 patients on trolleys in the hospital yesterday morning, five of whom were moved to wards in a bid to free up space.

Divert

A spokeswoman for the hospital said it also had to divert ambulances to the Mater Hospital for an hour yesterday to relieve the pressures it was experiencing.

She said the hospital emergency department is one of the busiest in Ireland, providing services to over 50,000 patients each year.

"The hospital acknowledges and regrets the difficult conditions experienced by patients and staff at its emergency department, which have been exacerbated by several factors, including high numbers of attendances at the department and those needing a bed."

The hospital is asking patients considering coming to its emergency department today to contact their GP instead and, if possible, to avoid or delay their visit.

It is advising GPs not to send patients to Beaumont emergency department unless absolutely necessary.

Patients with minor injuries should visit the Mater Smithfield Rapid Injury Clinic .

Other measures to ease overcrowding include doctors doing extra medical rounds to prioritise discharges.

The hospital is trying to get additional step-down beds in the community.

It is working with the other hospitals in the RCSI hospital group to manage the situation, the spokeswoman said.

Nationally, the numbers on trolleys have fallen in recent days - but some of the Dublin city hospitals continue to be under huge pressure.

Overflow

There were 32 patients on trolleys in St Vincent's Hospital yesterday as it coped with the overflow of patients who can no longer attend St Colmcille's in Loughlinstown, which was shut down.

Since the beginning of the year thousands of operations across the country have been cancelled to ease trolley congestion.

This has led to a rise in the numbers of public patients facing delays of more than 15 months on waiting lists.
Leo Casey was born in Dublin in 1898.

Aged 18 at the time of the Rising, he was a member of the Irish Volunteers, attached to A Company, 3rd Battalion, Dublin Brigade.

During Easter week he served under Eamon de Valera in the occupation of Boland's Mill on Lower Grand Canal Street.

As part of their activities the Battalion seized the Grand Canal Street works of the Dublin and South Eastern Railway - which linked Dublin to Wexford.

The latter move was designed to disrupt British troop reinforcements by rail from Kingstown (Dun Laoghaire).

Fire

On the Wednesday of Easter week Leo was badly wounded after his position came under rifle fire.

His fellow Volunteer Sean Byrne later recalled: "I attended Leo Casey for injury to his eyes where broken glass got into them.

"I remember that Casey had a white bandage on his eyes when we went up to the line.

"It was dark at the time and someone had put something black over the white bandage."

Leo was later taken to Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital with four other wounded men where he remained on the Thursday and Friday of Easter week.

He was arrested the following Tuesday, May 1, and sent to Wakefield Prison and then to Frongoch internment camp.

He was released in August 1916.

After his release he remained active in revolutionary politics and subsequently took part in several military engagements.

Beaten

During one such engagement in the War of Independence, he was arrested at his residence by Auxiliaries and brought to Beggars Bush barracks and badly beaten.

He later took part in the Civil War 'night of the bridges', an attempt by anti-Treaty forces to target key bridges in Dublin.

He was arrested at Stepaside and interned at Maryborough Prison in Portlaoise and in The Curragh from August 1922 to August 1923.

He was a member of the IRA from 1916 to 1923 and afterwards worked as a bus inspector.

Before the Rising he had been a dental apprentice.

But because of his injuries he later found it difficult to secure employment in this field - chiefly due to his eye injury.

Leo worked for the Phoenix Park section of the Board of Works from 1935.

The family first lived in the Military Barracks, Arbour Hill where he cared for the graves of the 1916 executed up to the mid-1930s.

Leo and his family then moved to Inchicore, where he worked as a gate keeper in the Phoenix Park.

Finally, when his seniorty allowed, he moved into the Gate Lodge on the North Circular Road.

He died in 1952.

Details supplied by James Bannon (grandson)
On Easter Monday, Volunteers under Eamon de Valera occupied Boland's Mill opposite Grand Canal Quay and a section of railway at the present-day Grand Canal Dock station.

They gave the following accounts to the Bureau of Military History.

In the whole garrison of, we'll say, 100 men...there were not more than 50 rifles...During the course of the fight someone contrived a means of inserting a couple of inferior shotguns into a metal rain-pipe and firing the triggers by means of a string

- Joseph O'Connor

A poor woman carrying some bread ventured across the bridge to be shot through the head by an enemy sniper from the direction of Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital

- Joseph Byrne

[By Thursday] Volunteers were beginning to feel the strain of constant firing and loss of sleep and were observed dozing in their positions - Peadar O'Mara Commandant de Valera arrived on the scene and wanted 20 men to carry out a bayonet charge...the charge was cancelled as there was not sufficient men to take part

- Seamus Kavanagh

We could not understand why [the surrender] should happen...The excitement in Boland's was terrible. What did we want to surrender for? Volunteers were shouting themselves hoarse...others were singing songs and some were openly crying

- Peadar O'Mara

[A soldier] asked me [the commandant's] name. I told him it was de Valera and he said, "He was a Devilero, all right"

- Seamus Kavanagh
ABINGDON, Va.  Opening the 2016 Barter Theatre season is the political comedy, Lying in State. It appears at Barter Stage II beginning Feb. 11 and running through March 20.

For a decade, Lying in State has been locked away in the Barter Theatre vaults. Now, this madcap comedy returns with an all-star cast, directed by Andrew Hampton Livingston, and provides more laughs than ever before.

A state senator has died in a ridiculous accident and becomes an overnight national hero. Local party leaders are strenuously looking for someone to fill his senate seat. His ex-wife is looking for a bugler to play for his funeral. Buttons, the stripper, and a host of other zany characters are looking for love, votes, the right casket and a big purple squirrel named Mel. Everyone is searching for something.

The cast of Lying in State, includes Mary Lucy Bivins, who will reprise her role as Margo. Other actors featured in the production include Tricia Matthews, Michael Poisson, Barrett Guyton, Hope Quinn, David Alford and Zacchaeus Kimbrell.

This comedy is a perfect beginning to Barters 2016 season, which will feature productions never before seen in the U.S., oversized musicals that will razzle-dazzle, and even the first regional production of the world famous musical, Mamma Mia! featuring the music of ABBA.
This weekend might be the last warm one we have in awhile

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The deposition of David Coleman Headley aka Daood Gilani, an American terrorist of Pakistani origin, before a Mumbai court dealing with the 26/11 attack trials this week through video link from a Chicago prison, is damning for Islamabad, to say the least. The picture that comes through the deposition is that Pakistan in 2008 was a rogue state, with banned terrorist groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in bed with the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the army, a weak state and drug dealers, all in league to kill innocents in India. Cut to 2016, this core group in Pakistan, with its visceral hatred towards India, has not changed, as is evident from the Pathankot air base attack last month. Only the attackers belonged to a different brand called the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), which, though, is from the same ISI-army stable. Based on this evidence, one could safely assume that the mindset of the Pakistan State towards New Delhi has not changed and hence there is no need for any dialogue with a country that was running a bloody, covert campaign against India through jihadists. But it is also true that this would be a simplistic assessment on the part of India and could lead to wrong decisions.

In the seven years since the 26/11 attacks, Pakistan itself has been a victim of horrendous terror attacks with young school children and the college-going youth being massacred by terrorist groups like the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, as has been seen in the Peshawar school and the Bacha Khan University attacks. While the Pakistan army has been forced to fight terror groups on its western borders, it is fighting shy of taking on Punjab-based terror outfits like the JeM and LeT, which are often used as coercive arms of the State to target India. The other notable change is that within 11 days of the Pathankot attack, Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif himself admitted to the role of the JeM in the terror strike and promised action against the Deobandi group. One must remember that then Pakistan NSA Mahmud Ali Durrani had been sacked by then PM Yousuf Raza Gilani, a distant relative of Headley, for just admitting that 26/11 gunman Ajmal Amir Kasab was a Pakistani national, nearly 40 days after the Mumbai attacks. With the threat of the Islamic State confronting the international community, there is little patience with Pakistani jihadi operations of the Pathankot type against India as far as the western countries, particularly the US, are concerned. Islamabad too has no option but to take on the Punjab terrorist groups amid reports of the LeT cadre gravitating towards the ideology of the Islamic State (IS) and the so-called Caliphate vastly increasing its footprint in Afghanistans Nangarhar province, bordering Pakistan. This is the reason why 26/11-accused Hafiz Saeed of the LeT and his Kashmiri comrade-in-arms Syed Ali Shah Geelani have gone out of the way to paint the IS as a dark force. The fact is that after Headleys deposition Pakistan will be under pressure to take action against Punjab terrorist groups or invite sanctions under international law as this legally admissible evidence will strengthen the case against Saeed, who carries a bounty of $10 million on his head, and his gang of murderers.

Adding to Islamabads worries is the growing security relationships between India, Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries, which will lead to the choking of funding for these terror groups in the name of Islamic charity and confining their movement only to Pakistan. Both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have warned the cadres and supporters of these groups to stay out of their respective countries or face legal action, including deportation, if they are found to be of Indian origin. The Pakistani jihadi space will be further restricted in the coming days with India and the UAE setting up a multi-million joint cyber security centre to counter the terror threat as well as share real time intelligence.

Countries like Saudi Arabia and Jordan, once powerful backers of Pakistan, are now on the same page as India on terror. The India-Pakistan political scenario has also undergone a change since 26/11 with Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading a full majority government just like Sharif in Pakistan. While Sharifs decision-making is circumscribed by the army and non-State players, Modi has both the party core and international community on board in engaging Islamabad. Whether it was inviting Sharif for his swearing-in ceremony in May 2014, or the SAARC yatra, or the surprise visit to Lahore on December 25 last year, Modi has shown his bona fides in reaching out to Pakistan with last-minute initiatives, keeping the media deliberately off the diplomatic play. The fact is that the international community has nothing but praise for Modis brave Lahore initiative and now wants reciprocation from Sharif in terms of action against the JeM leadership for the Pathankot attack. Even though the BJPs core has been riled by the Headley disclosures and the Pathankot attack, the sangh parivar believes that the way out with Pakistan is only through talks. This is also helped by the internal security establishment, which is on the same page as diplomats on engaging Pakistan rather than wasting precious ammunition in duels across the borders.

Under the present circumstances, it is for Sharif to stand up to the army or ISI and ensure legal action against the perpetrators of 26/11 and the Pathankot attacks, using the evidence provided by Headley and the Indian establishment, respectively. The time has also come for Pakistan to take on Saeed and Masood Azhar, another jihadi terrorist, who constantly spew venom against India and virtually hold the bilateral relationship to ransom through their terrorist acts.

India has still kept the door open for talks with Pakistan provided Islamabad acts on terror. But then Modi has always been unpredictable when it comes to dealing with Pakistan.

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A grateful nation salutes the sacrifice of 10 soldiers of 19 Madras, nine of whom were killed in an avalanche recently, while patrolling the nearly 20,000-foot-high Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL) at the Siachen Glacier. The 10th soldier Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad, died on Thursday in an Army hospital in Delhi. This mishap is yet another example of the costs, in life and resources, which India has to bear to maintain its territorial sovereignty and national honour. India occupied these heights in 1984 after beating Pakistan to it by just 72 hours. Having lost nearly a thousand of its army men and spending, by conservative estimates, nearly Rs 4 crore a day, India needs to introspect on the strategic necessity of incurring such huge costs.

Most of the people are not familiar with the strategic imperative of ensuring the armys occupation of the Saltoro Ridge, which dominates the Siachen Glacier complex, and also the lower reaches lying west to it and held by Pakistan. Many peaceniks express the view that India should vacate the ridge and convert it into a peace park. That this ill-informed opinion matches that of the Pakistani armys intentions and of the Chinese establishment points to its flaws.

Pakistan has, since the ceasefire in 2003, made attempts to capture the peaks, especially under the leadership of General Pervez Musharraf. In April 2012, the Pakistan armys Northern Light Infantry Battalion, deployed immediately to our west in this region, lost nearly 135 soldiers owing to an avalanche. This tragedy, once again, prompted the then Pakistan army chief, Ashraf Kayani, to talk of demilitarisation of the glacier. Pakistan has been harping on the demilitarisation of the glacier for years. This subterfuge, cloaked behind the serious machinations of the Pakistani mindset, now supported by the Chinese, needs careful factoring in by India.

The Saltoro/Siachen complex separates the Aksai Chin region (38,000 sq km of Indian territory in possession of China through which they have also constructed the strategic Karakoram Highway) has from the Shaksgam Valley (Pakistan illegally ceded 5,180 sq km to China since 1963) in our north and the Gilgit-Baltistan region under Pakistani occupation to our north-west. The Saltoro/Siachen complex also provides depth to our Khardung La pass and the Ladakh Range, which ultimately leads on to Leh and thence to Kargil. Both the Shyok and Nubra Valleys lying close to this region and our sub-sector north in the Aksai Chin will be influenced by whoever is in occupation of the Saltoro Ridge. Thus, both the Chinese and Pakistanis would desire the territorial convergence of their illegal occupation in this vast territory to take place, especially between the Aksai Chin-Shaksgam Valley and Gilgit-Baltistan areas, where the proposed Chinese Economic Corridor is coming up. Therein lies the operational necessity of Indian troops holding on to the formidable Saltoro Massif and the adjoining areas. Additionally, the Siachen Glacier feeds the Nubra and Shyok rivers with its waters. Even thinking of vacating this strategic fulcrum is sacrilege.

Since independence successive Indian prime ministers have offered the hand of friendship to Pakistan and made concessions off and on. Indias overtures have always been reciprocated with Pakistans betrayal. India must, thus, always be prepared to pay any price for upholding its territorial integrity and not fall prey to any machinations by anyone.

Kamal Davar, a former GOC, Ladakh sector, was the first chief of Defence Intelligence Agency

The views expressed are personal
At first glance, Seattle-based artist Don Fels (70) reminds you of Albert Einstein: theres the mop of unruly hair, a thick moustache, and an air of eccentricity. Fels admits that he often hears that comment. Unfortunately, my brain is the size of a pea as compared to Einsteins, he jokes. Fels is in town for his latest exhibition, Turning Blue, at Clark House, Colaba. He is dressed fittingly in a blue jumpsuit, blue jacket (both bought for Rs 100 each at Chor Bazaar, he says) and striped socks.

The exhibition delves on the various connotations of the colour blue, including its historical significance. In the pre-Independence era, India was one of the biggest producers of indigo. But after the Germans synthesised an alternative to indigo, there was a drop in demand and the British stopped paying wages. It led the indigo cultivators in Champaran, Bihar, to revolt, and, a young lawyer  Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi  travelled from South Africa to India to support them, leading to the first satyagraha in 1917. Poverty also led to the emigration of indentured labourers to South Africa, Mauritius and Fiji. Even today, India continues to remain a leading producer of phthalo blue (a synthetic blue pigment) which is used to dye plastic, among other things.

One of the highlights at Turning Blue are two papier mache globes made using the pages of business newspapers. While one depicts the landmark sites in the history of indigo, the other globe indicates the places where pthalo blue and real indigo are traded, including Europe, USA and China. A video projector simultaneously broadcasts blue-tinted images of sites across Mumbai.

Artist Naresh Kumar, stands in front of a projector that simultaneously broadcasts blue-tinted images of sites across Mumbai. (Photo: Aalok Soni/ HT)

Some of the exhibits are by Mumbai-based artists Yogesh Barve and Naresh Kumar and Pakistani artist Seema Nusrat, which have been incorporated as they work on similar themes. Fels has also collaborated with Raja Sheikh, an 18-year-old Bangladeshi immigrant who works as a cleaner at the artist residency Space 118.

In August, as part of a project sponsored by Google, Fels was given a batch of GoPro cameras and he consequently gave a camera to Raja to showcase his view of the world. The images on display show spaces like Bhaucha Dhakka ferry wharf and a fish market in Mazagaon, spaces that are close to Raja. People like Raja have a point of view just as valid as mine. Its true he is not trained as an artist, but what he sees is interesting, shares Fels.

Fels had originally come to Cochin in search of pepper, as a Fulbright senior research scholar in the late 90s. I had read about Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama who was the first person to sail from Europe to India, enabling access to Indias spices. But his voyage also led to colonialism and globalism. There were no European colonies anywhere before he came, he says.

Don Fels with Raja Sheikhs pictures in the background. (Photo: Aalok Soni/HT)

After this exhibition, Fels will head to Paris where he has been commissioned to work with the children of immigrants living in Saint-Denis (the locality of the November 18, 2015 Paris shoot-out). I will give them cameras just like I did with Raja. I am interested in how they see their world because those who are not from there dont see it that way, he shares.

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Sonam Kapoors Neerja Bhanot, a biopic on Pan Am Flight 73s hijacking at the Karachi airport in 1986, has joined a list of films banned in Pakistan for containing objectionable content that portrays the country in poor light. In fact, this is Sonams third film to be banned in Pakistan in the last three years: Raanjhanaa and Bhaag Milkha Bhaag too didnt get a theatrical release in the neighbouring country.

Read: Pakistan bans Neerja

We take a look at some other big-ticket Bollywood films that were banned in Pakistan:

Phantom (2015): Jamat-ud-Dawah chief and alleged 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed filed a petition in Lahore high court, seeking a ban on the film, alleging that it contains filthy propaganda against Pakistan.

Calendar Girls (2015): This Madhur Bhandarkars film was banned in that country for containing objectionable dialogue. According to a report, the Pakistan Ministry of Culture objected to the dialogue -- Pakistani ladkiyaan bhi utne hi bold kaam karti hain jitni baaki ladkiyaan karti hain, balki kabhi kabhi uss se zyada bhi. There was another problem: Pakistani authorities didnt like that Avani Modi, who plays an aspiring Pakistani supermodel Nazneen Mallik in the film, was shown wearing a bikini!

Baby (2015): Reports suggest that Pakistans censor board felt that this Akshay Kumar-starrer portrayed a negative image of Muslims in the film. Even worse, the board didnt like the fact that all the negative characters in the film had Muslim names.

Bangistan (2015): Pakistan authorities reportedly banned this Riteish Deshmukh-Pulkit Samrat-starrer after watching just the trailer. Their contention: The film was anti-Pakistan, anti-Muslim.

Haider (2014): Vishal Bhardwajs take on Shakespearean tragedy Hamlet, set against the backdrop of sectarian strife in Kashmir, was not released in Pakistani theatres in 2013. The film was not cleared by Pakistans censor board because of controversial elements related to Kashmir.

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013): The Farhan Akhtar-Sonam Kapoor starrer was barred from a theatrical release in Pakistan before getting the final clearance.

Raanjhanaa (2013): The film was banned because of its alleged controversial theme. It reportedly portrayed an inept image of a Muslim girl falling in love with a Hindu man and having an affair with him.

Ek Tha Tiger (2012): The Salman Khan-Katrina Kaif-starrer was allegedly banned in Pakistan for its depiction of the countrys security agencies. According to a report, it had several themes referring to Pakistans agencies.

Agent Vinod (2012): The film was banned as it was against their state spy agency, ISI.

The Dirty Picture (2011): The Vidya Balan-starrer was never screened in Pakistan as it was deemed unsuitable for theatrical exhibition because of its subject matter and bold scenes.

Tere Bin Laden (2010): The satire was banned in Pakistan as officials feared its title could be misconstrued by Islamist extremists as reason for attack.

Follow @htshowbiz for more.
In one of Kalidass most famous poems, Meghaduta (cloud messenger), a subject of King Kubera (the god of wealth in Hindu mythology) is exiled to central India. He convinces a passing cloud to take a message to his wife in the Himalayas. Kalidas describes how the cloud travels over the country. As he writes about it, he describes the forests, says nature writer Stephen Alter (59), who has written more than 15 books, including The Secret Sanctuary (2015) and Elephas Maximus: A Portrait of the Indian Elephant (2004). Alter says that many metaphors and imagery in early languages like Sanskrit and Brahmi were drawn from nature. The Rig Veda has a number of hymns related to nature. One of the most beautiful ones is to goddess Aranyani, the spirit of the forest.

Much of Alters work revolves around nature and wildlife. Alter says, I was fortunate to have grown up in Mussoorie. There were forests all around me and, of course, the Himalaya on all sides. That inspired me. Its where my imagination caught fire. So, it was only natural, when he started writing, that his topics were related to nature. For instance, his novel, Amritsar to Lahore: A Journey Across the India-Pakistan Border (2000), a travelogue about crossing the border between the two countries, focuses a great deal on the details of birds and trees found on both sides.

A still from Disneys Jungle Book.

Indias natural beauty has inspired renowned writers such as Jim Corbett and Rudyard Kipling, who lived extensively in India and wrote tales related to the countrys jungles and animals. They are hailed as legends today, but their work was well-received even at the time of publication. Alter says, Though Kiplings Jungle Book (1894) has been much more popular since Disney picked it up, it certainly was well-read back then too. Jim Corbetts Man-Eaters of Kumaon (1944) went on to sell four million copies worldwide.

But writers that interest Alter the most are those whose work incorporates a message of environmental conservation. Ruskin Bond, who is often a childs first introduction to nature writing, has often touched upon conservation with books such as The Cherry Tree (1980) and The Blue Umbrella (1974). Thats important, as kids are extremely receptive to stories about wildlife and nature.

Proceed with Caution

In his foreword of When the Tiger was King (2010), a collection of short stories on tigers, edited by Ruskin Bond, he suggests that 20 years from now, a child might not recognise goddess Durgas steed instantly. One might even express surprise that there were tigers in India once. Surely, this statement from one of our finest nature writers is alarming.

In the past few years, India witnessed plenty of campaigns to save our tigers, highlighting the fact that there were only 1,411 left. Though the campaign picked up significant popularity, Alter is not sure if it was enough. No doubt the campaigns are well-intentioned, but theres more to be done alongside. As a community or a nation, I dont know whether the commitment is there, Alter says. There are plenty of laws in place to protect wildlife, but its their enforcement which is crucial. Also, the government needs to involve communities living in and around the forests, and give funds to researchers and conservationists, who will know how to protect [the forests].

Mussoorie-based writer Stephen Alter. (Photo: Arun Kumar)

Additionally, today, there is more global focus on climate change. With pollution levels reaching dangerously high levels in metro cities, Alter endorses the odd-even rule that was enforced in Delhi recently. Years ago, when there were CNG auto rickshaws and buses in Delhi, it made an enormous difference. I lived there at the time. Unfortunately, that didnt last as many of us had hoped it would, he says. He is all for whatever measures we can take to curb our demand for fossil fuels, and feels that itd bode well for all cities that have issues with traffic and pollution.

5 Must-Read Nature Writings

* The King and I by Prerna Singh Bindra: A lively and perceptive personal memoir of encounters with tigers and other wildlife in different parts of India.

* On Jim Corbetts Trail by AJT Johnsingh: A respected conservationist tells entertaining stories of his quest to follow in Corbetts footsteps, while tracking unusual animals like the dhole or wild dog.

* The Way of the Tiger by K Ullas Karanth: An eloquent and persuasive argument for the preservation of tigers, from one of the foremost wildlife biologists in India.

* My Husband and Other Animals by Janaki Lenin: A wonderful series of short, anecdotal accounts of natural history, full of humour and understanding.

* Butterflies on the Roof of the World by Peter Smetacek: A fascinating saga of a familys obsession with butterflies and one mans dedication to entomology, which reads as smoothly as a novel.

 By Stephen Alter

Dont Miss

What: Natures Narrative: Writing Outdoors in India, a talk by Stephen Alter, will take place on February 12, 5pm onward.

Where: Auditorium, Godrej ONE, Vikhroli (E) (Entry from Eastern Express Highway)

RSVP: indiaculturelab@godrejinds.com

Visit: indiaculturelab.org

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Shruti Sen, engaged with a multinational firm in Gurgaon, was recently on a vacation in Spain. She was travelling in a bus there when her wallet got stolen, leaving her without any money.

Thanks to the local authorities, and her insurance company, she was able to get Rs 60,000 within a day.

I was in shock, but the local police and insurance companies helped me in getting back the money, Sen said.

Intensifying economic slowdown, coupled with joblessness and the inflow of refugees, has led to a drastic surge in the thefts in several European countries.

According to travel associations and insurance firms, 30% of Indians who have travelled to Europe, especially on vacation, have reported thefts in the last couple of years.

Thefts are more prevalent in countries such as Italy, Spain and Greece. Insurance companies said that the south east Asian countries such as Malaysia, Singapore are comparatively safer.

A weak economy in the 19-member euro zone has led to softening of the euro, which has pushed many Indians to plan their Europe dream tour. According to travel associations, there has been a 40% rise in Indian travellers to Europe in the last two years.

We are witnessing a rise in instances where travellers face financial emergencies because of pickpocketing or theft... Some countries have seen about 30% surge in such cases. However, travel insurance covers these eventualities are able to provide immediate assistance to our customers, said Rakesh Jain, CEO, Reliance General Insurance .

Travel insurance, which has been growing at about 15-20%, is mandatory for all Indians travelling to Europe.

There has been a significant rise in reports of thefts and loss of belongings from travellers visiting Europe and such complaints are higher from travellers visiting countries, which are even more distress, Sanjay Datta, chief of underwriting and claims, ICICI Lombard General Insurance added.
Merck, the $42-billion US-based pharma giant, has huge investment plans for India, and the country plays a significant role in its global expansion strategy, said its global head for vaccines vertical Patrick Bergstedt.

We intent to invest significantly in India, he said without divulging the amount of investments Merck plan to infuse.

The company is hunting for commercial partnerships in India to manufacture and market drugs as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modis Make in India initiative. To increase our footprint in India, and gain access over the private market, we are hunting for customised partnerships for manufacturing and marketing our products, he said.

Merck already has partnerships with domestic pharma giants, including Sun Pharma, Lupin and Cipla. While majority of the vaccine distribution has remained in the hands of the government, we are focusing on increasing access through the private players, added Bergstedt.

Mercks global vaccine business stands at $5.8 billion, and is one of the strongest revenue churner.

About 80% of small molecules used in Mercks medicines in India are now made here, the company claimed. Also, we have started procuring bulk drugs from India for our global vaccine portfolio such as for HIV vaccine, he said.

Bergstedt said there is a lot of positivity in the Indian market. The penetration of vaccines, for instance, of cervical cancer is less than 1%. It shows the opportunity to expand in India is huge.

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It just seemed yesterday that the wallet meant a folding leather case to carry credit and debit cards, and a wad of currency notes. Now, it has a new dimension  the mobile wallet, which resides inside your phone, and can be used for recharges, paying utility bills and even for shopping.

Icing on the cake  this wallet has now found a wider use in the lives of students across India.

Paytm, Indias largest mobile wallet company that claims to have 110 million wallets,is taking its cashless solution to campuses, making it easier for students to pay fees, buy books, order food, among many other things.

The subsidiary of erstwhile value-added-services firm One97, and promoted by Vijay Shekhar Sharma, wants to change the way people pay, and digitising campuses helps in moving towards that goal.

It is tying up with over 100 schools and colleges, including Delhi Public Schools, Indian Institute of Technology, and management institutes like XLRI.

What we are fighting is cash transactions and thats our motto, said Kiran Vasireddy, senior V-P at Paytm.

Some of the institutes are implementing it in a phased manner. For instance, Indraprastha Institute of Information and Technology (IIIT) has allowed its shops inside the campus to use wallets.

We are using wallets in Cafe Coffee Day, the stationary shop, the juice corner, the canteen and for monthly mess services. If this is successful, we will extend it in fees submission as well, said Kapil Chawla, finance head at IIIT.

For some it is also a branding opportunity.

Rajeev Gupta, director  admission at Sharda University, say, we get some branding, as the Paytm portal has millions of users.

Gupta is happy that Paytm is talking about giving cashbacks and other offers to as students.

The more you spend, the more benefits you get We will come out with special offers, and these offers will be extended time-to-time, said Vasireddy.

According to Paytms estimates, 72% of the students in 100 universities are already using the app.

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Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan said on Thursday that the central bank and the government were determined to tidy up Indias problem of mounting bad loans by the next year but warned analysts against scare-mongering.

Our intent is to have clean and fully provisioned bank balance sheets by March 2017, Rajan told a gathering of top bankers and business executives in a meeting organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). An alternative approach is to try to put the stressed project back on track rather than simply applying band aids. This may require deep surgery, he added.

Rajans comments came on a day when Indias stock markets fell by over 3%, hammered by poor financial earnings of State Bank of India (SBI), the countrys largest lender.

Persistent fears of a global slowdown and US Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellens comments that she did not expect to reverse the rate hike programme that began in December but saw risks to the US economy added to the negative sentiment.

The 30-share benchmark Sensex closed at a 21-month low of 22,951.83  down 807.07 points or 3.4% from Wednesdays close. The NSE Nifty closed at 6976.35, down 239.35 points.

Sliding markets and rising bad loans have added to worries for the government, which will present the budget for 2016-17 on February 29 amid heightened anticipation that finance minister Arun Jaitley will announce measures to boost growth and investment to spin jobs and multiply income.

Most banks have reported a sharp slide in profits, pummelled by higher provisioning for non-performing assets (NPAs).

NPAs, short-hand for loans that have turned bad, have jumped sharply, forcing lenders to set aside or provision a greater amount to account for these advances that have stopped yielding earnings.

SBIs net profit for the quarter ended December slid 62% to Rs 1,115 crore from Rs 2,910 crore a year earlier. SBIs provisions for bad loans almost doubled from a quarter earlier to Rs 7,645 crore.

Rajan obliquely hinted that India would have to take volatility in its stride without losing focus on the primary objective to make banks balance sheets healthier.

The market turmoil will pass. The clean-up will get done, and Indian banks will be restored to health, Rajan said.

The RBI governor, known for not mincing words, said the full force of the law is brought where there is evidence of malfeasance by the promoter.

The banking sector has been beset with bad loans that have risen due to slow growth and delays in project implementation.

Finance minister has indicated he will support the public sector banks with capital infusions as needed, he said.

Rajan hinted the path to cleaner banks books could hurt growth in the short run.

To the question of what comes first, clean-up or growth, I think the answer is unambiguously clean-up! Indeed, this is the lesson from every other country that has faced financial stress, he said.

Rajan cautioned analysts against overplaying the bad-debt problem, asking them to avoid scare-mongering.

There are some wild claims being made by some financial analysts about the size of the stressed asset problem. This verges on scare-mongering.

In December, Rajan said he expected debt-burdened banks to clean up their balance sheets by March 2017.

While we should not underplay the dimensions of the task, we should be confident that it is manageable and that the government and the RBI will do what it takes to make sure that banks are able to support the tremendous growth that lies ahead, Rajan said.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has accused the Centre of usurping his powers and said the BJP-led government took away one of his most potent weapons by seizing control of the anti-corruption bureau (ACB).

The central government sent paramilitary forces and took control of ACB by posting (IPS officer) Mukesh Meena as its chief. Since then, the ACB is not with us. Though through the vigilance department, we have control over officers of the Delhi government, now we cannot take action against corrupt persons in DDA, corporations and NDMC besides others departments that come under the central government, Kejriwal said in an interview to The Times of India.

His comment comes in the backdrop a long-running feud between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and the BJP-led government at the Centre. Kejriwal accuses the Centre of trying to usurp the state governments powers and of meddling in its affairs through the lieutenant governor.

Read More | Politics should not interfere with govt work: Kejriwal to Modi

The national capital follows a complex governance pattern with key departments such as law and order under the L-G, who reports to the Union home ministry.

Kejriwal said during the 49 days of the first AAP government there was a general consensus that police and others had stopped taking bribes.

We came to power again and the same atmosphere was created in the first four months. The message was that people had stopped taking bribes since we took action through the ACB against over 50 officials. Even if I got an sms, I would get an inquiry done in 24 hours and get ACB to take action, he said adding that the equation changed once the Centre took control of the anti-graft body on June 8.

Kejriwal, who stormed to power a year ago, hoped that Delhi will be granted full statehood, which has been one of the major demands of his government.

The chief minister said the Centre can keep control over the areas the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), which mainly consists of Lutyens Delhi.

They can keep the NDMC area with them but give us powers over all matters linked to the rest of the Capital. I can assure the people of Delhi that despite the odds, work will not stop.

Kejriwal also blamed Centre for his governments confrontations with the police and bureaucrats saying the incidents were the result of politics.

Read More | Kejriwal vs Jung: Sisodia hits out at Centre on statehood issue

If the police commissioner stands up and challenges the CM to a debate, its not a bureaucratic statement but a political statement. Obviously, he is not doing it on his own but at the behest of the Centre, Kejriwal said.
The east Delhi municipal corporation may be struggling to pay its workers  who have just agreed to call off a crippling strike over held up wages  but that hasnt stopped its councillors from giving themselves a fat salary boost.

Finalising its budget on Wednesday, the corporation proposed a monthly packet of up to Rs 55,000 for each of its 64 councillors  with the tab to be picked up by the government. The proposal will go to the Delhi government for final approval.

The packet includes a basic salary of Rs 25,000, an allowance of Rs 10,000 each to maintain a driver and a computer operator, and another allowance of Rs 1,000 for each meeting attended with a monthly limit of Rs 10,000.

Currently, councillors  elected members who decide on civic projects in areas under their jurisdiction  dont draw a salary and are paid Rs 300 for each meeting.

This allowance never comes up to more than Rs 1,000 a month for most of them.

The proposal, if accepted, would cost the corporation Rs 35 lakh a month or up to Rs 4.2 crore annually. With the north and south corporations, with 104 councillors each, expected to follow suit, the total annual bill for all three civic bodies  ruled by the BJP  would be Rs 17.9 crore.

The MCD has already estimated its deficit for the next financial year to be around Rs 5,100 crore.

But east corporation officials insist it is long due. The remuneration of Rs 300 (for meetings) was last fixed in 1997-98. Since then, however, the salaries of MLAs have been revised more than six times, said Ram Narayan Dubey, the east corporations leader of the House.

In a dig at the Aam Aadmi Party government, Dubey claimed that if the salaries of MLAs can be hiked 400%, the councillors deserved some remuneration too.

We have raised the issue several times and passed it as a resolution this budget session. We are not seeking a drastic raise, just something to cover daily expenses like fuel, office and phone. Our councillors travel more than 50km within their wards and have to bear the cost themselves, he said.

Dubey also said this lack of fixed compensation discouraged young people from taking up politics. We should at least have a respectable salary. As per the current scheme, only those with businesses or family members to support them can join politics.
Already under the lens for their role in DU student Arzoo Singh Chauhans abduction and murder, more trouble is in store for members of the Khatri family.

The family of murder suspect Naveen Khatris newly-wed wife Neha Rathi plans to file a cheating and breach of trust complaint against them.

Nehas family is said to have told the police that they were kept in dark about Khatris relationship with Arzoo and blamed his family members for destroying her future.

Senior police officers told HT that they would make Neha and her father prime witnesses in the case as their statements will be crucial in making a watertight case against Khatri, and other suspects.

Vijay Singh, DCP (northwest), said they had officially asked Neha and his father to join the investigation and record their statements. We have sent a police team to their house to record their statements that will be used as evidence against the killer and prepare a fact-finding report. Their claims will be verified, said Singh.

The police questioned Khatris father, Raj Kumar, who had been missing since Arzoos body was recovered from his house. Rajkumar told the police that he was not aware of the incident till late on Saturday night. He said he got to know about the body in the shaft only hours before the police reached their house.

Kumar said he has no role in the murder nor did he know about the body being in the house. He said that had he known he would have thought of a way to save his son and dispose of the body, said an officer.

According to police sources, after Naveen told his father about the body, he asked him to keep it to himself and then left home to make arrangements to dispose it. He reportedly told Khatri that he should not share the information with anyone till he returns. However before he could return, the police arrested Khatri.
More than 50% of the cars that were on display at the Auto Expo this year ran on diesel.

According to an analysis conducted by Centre for Science and Environment, only 39% of the cars at display at the Auto Expo ran on petrol, while only 8% were hybrids and electric models.

The CSE analysis states that as many as 27% of all displayed car models had engines above 2000 CC, the sale of which is banned in the NCR till March 31 because of environmental concerns.

A rapid review of the car models at the Auto Expo shows more than half of all new cars, in both the small and big segments, operated on diesel. This is in complete disregard of the public health concerns around toxic diesel emissions that has led the Supreme Court to crack down on such vehicles. The Supreme Court has ordered the phasing out of such vehicles and also levying of an environment compensation charge on them, a statement issued by CSE said.

The organization also expressed concern about the new trend of smaller and mid-sized cars running on diesel.

Six out of 10 car models on display in the small and mid-sized section operated on diesel, the CSE study said.

In contrast to earlier trends, when diesel cars were introduced largely in mid and large engine sizes, a significant penetration in the small engine category was noticed this year. In the smallest engine category a total of 12 cars  both diesel and petrol  were displayed. Of these 33% ran on diesel. The share of small cars was about 8% of all cars on display. India is losing the advantage of the small car market, the CSE statement said.

Diesel cars have come under the scanner recently because of the high levels of emissions they generate.

The industry is not skewed towards diesel vehicles, but since most of the companies showcased SUVs more diesel cars were seen. The SUV industry has always been diesel dominated. Also, the diesel cars of today emit 50% less CO2 compared to cars a decade back, and more hybrid technology is being introduced in diesel to reduce emission, said a Maruti spokesperson.
A group of 22 government bus drivers whos licensed were seized in December for speeding continues to ferry thousands of people across the Capital without valid papers, HT has found.

Police fined 22 Delhi Transport Corporation and cluster bus drivers and took away their licences during a two-day drive in December for speeding  an offence that mandated suspension of licence for at least three months. Authorities recommended the drivers be given refresher training courses on road safety.

But when HT visited city bus depots and sifted through duty slips, it found the 22 men continue to drive, compounding the speeding problem in a city where 106 people died in the past two years in accidents involving government buses.

Sample this 

Police fined DTC driver Ranjit Kumar for overspeeding bus DL 1PC 9669 on route number 972, and seized his license DL 0419810160946. When HT visited Peeragarhi bus depot on February 5 where Kumar reports for work , the duty slip showed he was assigned a bus route for the day.

Cluster bus driver Vinod Kumar was fined while driving bus DL 1PC 3568 on route number 534. His license (DL 819940099505) too was seized. On February 6 when HT visited the Millenium Park bus depot, the days duty slip showed Kumar was out with another bus.

DEATHS :

Towards the end 2015 when fatal accidents by government buses increased to almost double the figure the year before, the traffic police launched a drive to check if drivers were speeding.

In 2015, the number of deaths by cluster buses rose to 25 from previous years 12. There were 30 deaths involving DTC buses as compared to 39 in 2014.

The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and Delhi Integrated Multi Model Transport system (DIMTS) run the DTC and Cluster bus services, respectively. Both report to the Delhi governments Transport department.

During the two day drive on December 26 and 27 when 10 DTC drivers and 12 from DIMTS were caught, traffic police commissioner Muktesh Chander wrote to the chiefs of DTC and DIMTS, seeking action against drivers and urging them to send drivers for a refresher course to enhance their concern for safety and observance of traffic rules.

Highlighting figures of government bus fatal accidents, the top cop told the two organisations their drivers are often found indulging in rash and negligent driving and that these are cases where the drivers were at fault.

The top cop also sought to know from DTC chairman CR Garg and DIMTS rxecutive director M Ram Sekar how drivers were able to overspeed, in spite of speed governors which are supposedly to be fitted in all these buses.

HT tried to contact Garg and Sekhar but despite many phone calls and text messages they did not reply.

BLUELINE MENACE LED TO USE OF SPEED GOVERNORS :

The increasing number of fatal accidents by blueline buses around 5-6 years ago forced the government to make speed governors mandatory for all buses. Buses are not allowed to exceed 40km/hour in the city but during the two-day operation, traffic police found buses travelling close to 70-80 km/hr within the city. Some were driving at higher speed, said an officer.

How are these drivers overspeeding if there are speed governors? A loss of 106 lives in two years is worrying. The government should ensure that drivers follow rules, else these buses will also be like the Blue line buses, said a senior police officer.
The brutal murder of Delhi University student Arzoo Singh Chauhan, allegedly at the hands of her boyfriend, has left students of Laxmibai College in a state of shock.

One question that is troubling many students at the college where Arzoo studied is, just how much should a girl trust her partner?

You know, after this incident one of my friends broke up her relationship, a third-year Hindi honours student, a classmate of Arzoo, said.

Studies have taken a back seat as students are discussing the murder both while travelling to the college and while sitting in its lawns. Most girls were asking: How could she blindly trust the boy?

Most of her college friends had seen the youth who used to regularly come to pick her up outside the college in northwest Delhi.

According to them, Arzoo would attend morning class from 9 to 10 am and then leave with Naveen Khatri. Since she was part of the Four Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP), attendance was not very important in the college.

On February 3, the parents had come to enquire about Arzoo since she had not returned home the previous night. They wanted to check the attendance and know about her routine. So we showed them. During this time we came to know that she would attend the morning honours classes and then leave college. Sometimes she would come back for the generic paper, the class that generally takes place between 1pm and 2pm, said Pratyush Vatsala, principal of the college.

Read: DU student Arzoo was not pregnant, killed in a fit of rage: Police

According to the CCTV footage of the college, she left the college with Khatri on February 2.

The students told me that she used to tell her friends that her marriage was fixed with the boy. So when anybody says this, no one would generally doubt the other person, said Vatsala.

The students plan to hold a candle light march for their friend.

According to her teachers, Arzoo was a good student who got decent grades in her exams. Ever since the incident came to light on February 2, one of her best friends is known to have not attended the college.

They still cannot believe that such a bold and smart girl like Arzoo could get so carried away by a boy who had just studied till Class 10.

Since we are very few students in Hindi honours, so we knew each other. However, we were not very good friends but she had plans for her life and wanted to do something, said a student of third year Hindi honours student.

Read: DU students body found in ventilation shaft, boyfriend confesses

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The deposition of American-Pakistani terrorist David Headley that Ishrat Jahan, who had been killed by the Gujarat Police, was a suicide bomber of the Lashkar-e-Taiba is startling. But it still leaves unresolved the issue of fake encounter killing, which the Gujarat Police have been accused of. The facts of the case are these. In June 2004, an Ahmedabad police team headed by deputy commissioner DG Vanzara, who was until recently behind bars as a prime accused in another fake encounter case, had killed Mumbai-based Ishrat and three others on suspicion that they had hatched a plot to kill Narendra Modi, then chief minister of Gujarat. In September 2009, then Ahmedabad metropolitan magistrate SP Tamang had termed the encounter fake, basing his judgment on forensic and medical reports. The magistrate had recommended criminal action against 22 policemen including Vanzara. In September 2010, the Gujarat High Court had constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to investigate the case. In January 2011, Satish Verma, an IPS officer of the Gujarat cadre and an SIT member, had filed an affidavit stating that the encounter was not genuine. He also accused two other members of his team of not allowing a probe to be conducted in an unbiased manner. Another SIT, headed by Rajiv Ranjan Verma, a Bihar cadre IPS officer, told the court that the encounter was staged. However, the CBI, which took over the case later, had said two persons who were killed along with Ishrat had links with Kashmir secessionist groups.

It is commonly known that the police have to follow a standard operating procedure in handling criminals, including terrorists. If Ishrat Jahan and the three others were terrorists (it is not clearly known if they were travelling together), it would have been much more profitable for the police had they been arrested. And it was not difficult to nab them because they were, by all accounts, unarmed. And killing them, except in accordance with the procedure established by law, is unacceptable in a democracy. In Gujarat the police have acquired a bad reputation in this respect because there have been allegations of quite a number of fake-encounter killings and in at least one case the state government had admitted to it.

Still David Headleys account has to be taken seriously because this is something the Central government and the whole nation had been waiting for. His testimony can be used to put pressure on Pakistan to act. But it has not been judicially established whether Ishrat had terrorist links. This piece of evidence could provide a start for that line of investigation.
Of late, one has seen a rise in the number of startups by IIT and IIM graduates. Some entrepreneurs think that studying at the elite institutes have given them an edge over others, as peer group interactions and pedagogy at these institutes accelerate their growth as entrepreneurs.

I do indeed feel that studying at IITs gives one an edge, especially when it comes to launching new ventures. The exposure to resources and people is formidable and irreplaceable in terms of value. Additionally, engineering at IIT isnt limited to just the core technology subjects. We also learned critical problem-solving skills, says Ritesh Arora, an IIT Bombay graduate and co-founder at BrowserStack.com, a cross browser testing tool.

Most of the entrepreneurs from IIT-IIM are unanimous in their praise of peer learning at their institutes. IIT Delhi alumnus Himanshu Aggarwal feels he was made ready for the real world at the institute. At IIT, I had the opportunity to interact with some of the best minds I have known and gained rich tech knowledge. It was all about competing and surviving  virtues every entrepreneur needs. While getting things done was minimum expectation, risk-taking was essential to be able to stand out in the face of stiff competition, says Aggarwal, the co-founder and CEO of Aspiring Minds, a job skills credentialing company.

Read more | Tax breaks, easy exit option: 10 highlights of Start-up India plan

On similar lines, Srinivas Krishnaswamy, CEO and co-founder, Krya, a startup creating products for sustainable urban living, says, The environment and IIT peer group is a plus. Your classmates are of high calibre and that raises the competition bar. Some of them also mentioned the brand value associated with these institutes. Even Harvard and Stanford drop-outs have a name, for example, even if they drop out of those colleges. People would know that they are good enough to get into those colleges. That is the psychological advantage, says Krishnaswamy, a graduate from IIT Madras and IIM Bangalore. However, as IIM Bangalore pass-out Rajiv Srivatsa, COO and co-founder, Urban Ladder, a furniture e-tailer, says, Its useful, but not necessary. You can do the courses, build a strong network, and get out of your comfort zone to do something impactful in any context or good college or young company as well.

Read more: Want to launch a startup? 10 skills that will come in handy

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A 23-year-old woman was allegedly abducted in an auto as she was returning from work on Wednesday night.

According to police, Dipti Sarna, is an executive in the legal department at Snapdeal. She usually travels from her office in Gurgaon to Vaishali in a metro. From there on, she takes an auto to the bus-stand in Ghaziabad from where her family members picked her up.

On the night of incident, she was speaking to a friend on her mobile phone and she suddenly started shouting at the auto driver about taking a wrong route. Later, her mobile got switched off. Her family immediately informed police, a police officer said.

Read | Abducted Snapdeal employee Dipti Sarna safe, reaches home

Her friend informed the womans family in Kavi Nagar immediately after his call . Apart from informing the police, they also called her number repeatedly but could not contact her.

Following the incident which took place near river Hindon bridge, police launched a massive search and also registered an FIR for abduction at Sihani Gate police station.

We are extremely disturbed with the reported abduction of our team member. Her security and safety is our topmost priority. We are doing everything to support and work with the authorities in their investigation. The entire Snapdeal family is united in their support and prayer for her safe return, said a Snapdeal spokesperson.

Our friend Dipti Sarna is missing since yesterday. Please DM any info you might have & #HelpFindDipti pic.twitter.com/TTcq1D87bq  Snapdeal (@snapdeal) February 11, 2016

The victim is yet to be traced but her last location was found at Morti village near Raj Nagar Extension as per the electronic surveillance. We have scanned the spot and some tyre marks were also found. We have found some people who saw the auto. We are investigating further with the help of several teams and it seems to be a case of abduction, said Salman Taj, superintendent of police (city).
Guess what day it is? Only the worst day ever for singles, Valentines Day.

It is the day your timeline gets bombarded with pictures of others with their teddy bears and their roses while you take to the couch and sob away. But no more! Its time to live it up to the fullest.

How? Watch every movie from this amazing list we have prepared for you. Yes, these may be the conventional boy meets girl plots, but nobodys preaching here that you need a boy or a girl to make your life whole. Say amen to that and check out the list:

(500) Days Of Summer (2009)

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel

Boy meets girl. She warns him not to fall in love with her because she will not, but he still goes ahead. She leaves him and he blames her for all things wrong in the universe. Chances are that most of you will blame Summer for leaving Tom, but it was he who was to blame for not backing out on time. Youd probably blame her for falling for someone else later, but heres the question: Does it mean that she is incapable of love just because she didnt reciprocate Toms feeling for her? 500 Days of Summer is a big reality check for all of us to pause and see if you were really wronged in your relationship. Also, remember, getting dumped is not the end of the world.

Queen (2013)

Starring: Kangana Ranaut and Raj Kumar Yadav

Boy and girl are about to get married. Boy dumps the girl as they are about to stand at the altar. Girl is devastated for some time, but then says what the hell? She goes on her honeymoon all by herself to Europe. She makes many friends in France and Amsterdam, rediscovers herself and learns the secret of happiness: That there is so much more to life than getting married and giving up everything for someone you dont even love.

Read: Six firangi heartthrobs we want to date this Valentines Day!

Gone With The Wind (1939)

Starring: Vivienne Leigh and Clark Gable

Girl meets boy number one and marries him to make another boy jealous. Boy dies. Girl meets boy number two and marries him for his money. Boy dies. Girl meets boy and marries him for fun. Boy gets tired of her antics and leaves her, says he doesnt give a damn. Love maybe complicated but it is not a license to hurt people. If you cant do it properly, keep away from it. Single people remember, you are doing yourself and the world a favour.

Blue Valentine (2010)

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams

Boy meets girl. They fall in love and get married. Fast forward: Years later, boy and girl cant stand each other and will rip each others throats out if given a chance. Its a gut wrenching story of how happy endings may not always be how they seem. People walk into the sunset in movies but in reality, they come back home, fight about chores and the mortgage on the house. It is not a happily ever after.

Piku (2015)

Starring: Deepika Padukone, Amitabh Bachchan and Irfann Khan

Girl is tired of boys crying foul about his constipation and the boy is her father. Piku takes care of her father, lives with him and his hypochondria and doesnt really fuss about falling in love. She has a steady career, an active sex life and though she may sometimes feel incomplete, her father is ready with another set of his own problems that he can throw at her to distract her. He says to her tum kisi aur ke ghar jaogi toh uski sewa karogi, isse better hai yahin raho and mera sewa karo. Seems legit.

Casino Royale (2006)

Starring: Daniel Craig and Eva Green

Boy is a badass playboy spy. Boy never falls in love. Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love. Girl tricks him but dies. Boy is heartbroken and unable to ever fall in love again. Boy says the b***ch is dead.

Her (2013)

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johannson, Amy Adams and Rooney Mara

Boy gets home an operating system for his computer. Operating system takes a personality and voice of a girl. They fall in love. She wants to be a human and has an existential crisis. She leaves him and he is heartbroken but he meets his friend, who is heartbroken herself. Together, they seem to want to start anew. The movie, depending on the way you perceive it, can be a good lesson in getting over relationships and learning from them, even if they end. Theordore, after falling in love with Samantha (the OS), realised what it is to truly love someone and could finally put behind him all that went wrong between him and his ex-wife.

Pyaar Ka Punchnama (2011)

Kutte saaton din kutte hi hote hain.

Starring: Kartik Aryan, Nushrat Barucha, Divyendu Sharma

Boys meet girls. They fall in love. Girls take advantage of them, lie and cheat on them and turn them into emotional wrecks. There has never been a better warning for not falling in love. EVER.

The Butterfly Effect (2004)

Starring: Ashton Kutcher and Amy Smart

Boy meets girl and everything goes bad. Boy travels back in time to make things right but the effect on his today is so large and bad, he cannot do anything. Boy decides he has to erase meeting the girl altogether from his life. He does so and all is well. Just dont fall in love, basically.

Waitress (2007)

Starring: Keri Russell and Nathon Fillion

Girl lives with a really bad boy. He is really, very bad. She wants to run away by winning a pie making contest. She is pregnant and is not really happy about it. As soon as the baby is born, she grows affectionate towards her, cares for her dearly and tells her husband that she wants a divorce. She wins the contest and runs her own diner now. She tried hard and did whatever she could to make her life better. This better life did not involve a boyfriend but a daughter she can do anything for.

Author tweets as @soumya1405

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The question on a lot of peoples minds is whether the highly-anticipated Ryan Reynolds superhero movie Deadpool will survive the wrath of the Indian censors. DNA is reporting that the film, already making news for its violence and profanity around the world, will be released in India with 7 cuts this Friday.

The film has been passed with an A certificate by the censor board. Only last month, Quentin Tarantinos epic revenge western The Hateful Eight was slashed just as violently by the board as some of its characters were in the film. And news of Deadpool being banned in China did not inspire high hopes.

Read: Deadpools Hindi trailer gives the finger to the censor board

The DNA report suggests that the film was passed by the always-controversial censor board with just 7 cuts, and none of them are really that unexpected. Most of the profanity is gone. References to male and female reproductive organs have been removed. A love-making scene has been shortened as usual. Shots of a head being blown and a hand being chopped off have been severed. The same goes for a scene at a strip club where the amount of nudity has been greatly reduced.

Do yourself a favour and watch the hilarious Hindi trailer here

We have made very general cuts. If you look at what has happened to Deadpool in China, it was apparently banned because any number of cuts was seen to hamper the storyline of the film. I can assure you the cuts weve requested in no way affect the storytelling, said Pahlaj Nihalani, censor board chief to Subhash K Jha.

Read: Confident much? Deadpools getting a sequel even before its released

We are very clear that films made for adult viewing wont be cut if they do not contravene censorial guidelines, he added, clearly forgetting that 7 cuts have indeed been made to a film rated A.

Deadpool arrives in theatres this Friday and stars Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein and TJ Miller.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Air India pilots flew back to India a plane grounded by authorities at Sharjah airport, prompting the national carrier to bar a senior captain from operating international flights for violating regulations.

The incident drew a sharp response from UAEs general civil aviation authority (GCAA), which threatened to ban the aircraft from entering the countrys airspace. The carrier later rushed a senior official to Dubai for damage control, an AI official told HT.

The incident came weeks after a technician died after being sucked into the engine of an AI plane at Mumbai airport. HT had reported on February 5 that an AI pilot travelling as a passenger had obtained clearance from air traffic control for the flight.

In the latest incident on January 26, AIs flight 967 (Chennai-Thiruvananthapuram-Sharjah) arrived in Sharjah and was inspected by local authorities who found the planes cargo net damaged, a nick in one of the tyres and engine blades.

While these shortcomings were within the maintenance limit, they werent documented properly. The official instructed the AI captain not to depart till formal rectification and proper documentation with referral numbers was made, the AI official said.

The captain, who had completed his duty hours, left for the hotel without informing the pilots who were to operate the return flight that the plane had been grounded. Oblivious of these facts, the other pilots operated the return flight.

It was only after the plane was airborne and entering Muscat airspace that airport authorities realised the grounded plane had taken off. Unlike cars, airplanes do not have keys and regulatory authorities expect pilots to be responsible (for their acts), the official said.

AI management didnt know about the incident till January 31 when the G CA A sought an explanation from the airline s safety department. An AI spokesperson said the inspection and observation of the Sharjah authorities were routine .

The pilot was advised to ensure observations were attended to before departure. There was a change of crew at Sharjah and all the observations were attended to by the maintenance agency, the spokesperson said, adding that action against the captain is an internal administrative matter.

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David Coleman Headleys claim that Ishrat Jahan, killed in an encounter in 2004, was a Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist renewed the political slugfest on the issue between the BJP and the Congress on Thursday.

The BJP demanded an apology from the Congress for targeting its government in Gujarat for many years over Jahans killing in an encounter with security forces. Latching on to Headleys statement, the ruling party took potshots at Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar for allegedly having described Jahan as Bihars daughter.

Appeasement of terror outfits and terrorists had been given the name of secularism by some political forces. A thorough inquiry should be done on what he (Headley) has said, Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari told HT.

Jahan and three others, Javed Shaikh, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar, were killed in a June 15, 2004 operation in Gujarat led by deputy inspector general of the state police DG Vanzara who was later jailed in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh encounter case.

The Congress president and vice-president should apologise to the heroes who killed LeT terrorist Ishrat Jahan and her accomplices, BJP leader Shrikant Sharma said.

The Congress refused to go on the back foot. Party leader Sandeep Dikshit alleged that Lashkar accomplice Headley had named Jahan as a terrorist as part of a deal.

Four or five days before the statement, I heard from a number of people that this is one of the deals that has been done and Headley will take Ishrat Jahans name as a terrorist. How is it that many people who dont even know who David Headley is knew that he would be making this deposition? Dikshit said.

The BJP dubbed the testimony as truth that has to been seen as it is. Headley pointed towards Ishrat in 2013 (during UPA tenure) but at that time there was an attempt to not accept truth as it was. The attempt seems to be more than finding the truth, BJP leader Nalin Kohli said.

The BJP pointed out that finance minister Arun Jaitley, then leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, had written to the then PM Manmohan Singh that the Lashkar-e-Taiba hailed Jahan as a martyr.

The Congress, however, argued that Jahans murder was a very clear case of human rights violation and the Gujarat government or police had not been able to provide any evidence to prove her links with any anti-national activity.
Consider this: It costs an average 35,000 a year to be in a care home in Britain, where many in their sunset years dont get the care expected. The same costs a fraction in India, where one can have more colour and fun in a culture of respect for the elderly.

As the three-part BBC2 series The Real Marigold Hotel drew to a close to an enthusiastic response, not a few Britons were considering moving to India in their old age. The series showed eight minor celebrities (all over 60) having a blast in Jaipur.

After outsourcing and medical tourism, is geriatric tourism in the best traditions of padharo mharey des the next business opportunity?

Hailed by British and Indian-origin viewers alike, the series was inspired by the 2012 film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, in which a group of cash-strapped British senior citizens travel to Jaipur to spend their last years. The series replicated the theme in a reality television context, to much success and fun.

Some of the eight participants  who all had never been to India  said they were already making plans to spend some months in India. Darts champion Bobby George stayed on in Jaipur, flew in his wife, and set about inspecting properties in the Rajasthan capital.

Jan Leeming, former news presenter, decided to rent a well-appointed room in a haveli in Jaipur for Rs 50,000 a month, while ballet dancer Wayne Sleep promised to return for a longer period, having awoken his spiritual self while shooting the series.

The participants were told that foreigners, as a rule, cannot buy immovable property in India, but can happily rent for amounts ranging from 180 to 500 a month  a pittance compared to rents in Britain.

As many gushed on Twitter and demanded a sequel from BBC, Gary Burgess wrote: Got a tear in my eye at the end of that. What a wonderful window into life in India & some amazing people. Thank you, #RealMarigold Hotel.

Allison Pearson wrote in The Telegraph: One reason I loved The Real Marigold Hotelis because its uproarious cast of famous pensioners found a country where elders are respected, care is good and easily affordable and old age is something to be savoured instead of feared.

Pearson added: Frankly, euthanasia looks like a cheerful option compared to the living death that awaits too many of our own senior citizens in extortionate care homesThere is nothing elite about the average British care home, which costs an outrageous 35,152 a year.

Indian-origin viewers too gave the series a thumbs-up, mainly because it had less of the orientalist perspective that has long dominated British films and television shows with Indian themes.

For once, it showed genuine delight and effort by Britons to appreciate, adjust and enjoy the warmth of our people. There was none of the former colonialist-returning-to-former-colony treatment that is often seen on British television, said Ravi Singh, a senior IT consultant in Maidenhead.

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A day after a dalit man was killed and his son was critically injured when a group of men attacked them, the village remains tensed. A company of Provincial Armed Constabulary and riot control police have been deployed at the village as a precautionary measure.

Read more: 55-year-old Dalit murdered by mob in Noida, villagers block e-way

Fifty-five-year-old Jagdish Singh and his son, Dharmender, 20, were attacked by a group of men outside their village, some 30 km from Delhi. Jagdish was hacked to death while Dharmender survived with critical injuries. Relatives of the deceased said the incident was a result of decades old rivalry between dalits and gurjars over a piece of land.

The incident had triggered a violent protest and the villagers had blocked the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway on Wednesday. Police had to use mild force and aerial firing to disperse the mob.

Members of the dalit community alleged that they were being persecuted by the rich fellow villagers, mostly Gurjars, and sought police protection as they feel threatened.

There are only three house of Jatav community, from which Jagdish belonged, in the village. Also, there are a handful of house of Valmikis in the locality. A majority of the residents are from Gurjar community. Most of them are landlords and rich. We cannot fight them. We need police protection, said Prem Chand, a relative of the deceased.

The relatives of the deceased claim that peace in the area was always fragile and many incidents of sectarian clashes have taken place in the past.

The only way out of this village is surrounded by the houses of the people who killed Jagdish. Earlier, they used to pass lewd comments to our sisters and sometimes they even tried to block the way of some of the girls from our community when they were going to school. The incident had triggered tension in the area but we compromised and did not file any complaint against them for the sake of our security, said Bhola, nephew of the deceased.

Asked about the incident, senior superintendent of police, Kiran Sivakumar said, A case has been registered against seven persons. They were identified as, Sonu, Monu, Babali, Ramesh, Ravinder, Sunder and Babu. All are residents of the same village. They are absconding. A manhunt has been launched to arrest them. The claims of villagers will be verified and lawful action will be taken against the culprits.

Police said a provincial armed constabulary (PAC) and riot control police have been deployed in the area.

The 4.5 bigha (1.8 acre) disputed land is adjacent to the Yamuna Expressway and Noida-Greater Noida Expressway for which Jagdish fought a case for over 20 years.

Our community has very less land. We fought for whatever we had. The price of land is skyrocketing in the city following which the rich and powerful men wanted to grab it, Prem Chand added.

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Honorary Captain Bana Singh, a Param Vir Chakra winner for his exemplary courage and resilience in capturing a strategic Pakistani post at Siachen, advised on Thursday that India shouldnt withdraw its troops from the glaciers unforgiving icy heights.

He faced formidable military challenges on the planets highest battlefield as a member of a handpicked assault team assigned to capture Pakistans Quaid post  named after Muhammad Ali Jinnah and renamed after Singh since its capture in June 1987.

Its tough to survive there but the moral and strength of an Indian soldier keeps him going. Weather Adversities shouldnt make us think of ever pulling out of Siachen, he told Hindustan Times over the phone.

He was reacting to a debate over troop withdrawal after the death of 10 soldiers in an avalanche at the 19,600-foot Sonam post last week, an incident that turned the spotlight back on the hardship faced by the men defending the glacier, aware of death lurking at every step.

The buzz grew after 33-year-old Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad, who survived six days buried under 25 feet of snow, died at an army hospital in New Delhi on Thursday.

But Singh believe Siachen should be protected at any cost, underscoring his own epic battle nearly three decades ago against an enemy perched above with a clear view of Indian troop movement at 16,000 feet and a merciless adversary called weather.

His task was to seize the highest post on the Siachen glacier at 21,000 feet, where the average summer temperature is minus 45 degrees Celsius while the wind howls at 125kmph.

The heroic mission that earned him the highest wartime gallantry award finds mention in Pakistani defence reviews too, calling it bravery beyond comparison.

Singh was handpicked by Major Varinder Singh to lead a team to Quaid post. The operation was planned a month in advance with two officers, three junior commissioned officers (JCOs) and 57 men from various ranks comprising the team. Helicopters made 400 sorties to place men and material somewhere between Komar and Sonam posts.

The operation began on June 22 with a plan for the final assault on June 30. But a soldier died because of bad weather and there were murmurs if we should carry on with the operation.

But Major Varinder Singh, Captain Anil Sharma and the JCOs decided to go ahead.

On June 23 we started at 8am and managed to track only 150 metres till 4 the next morning. Our Major asked the party to return, Singh said.

But Colonel AP Rai overruled the retreat with a stern: If we dont get the post, none of the men will come back.

The team then followed a trek that a patrol had followed despite 90-degree gradients.

Subedar Harnam Singh was first sent for the attack. There was heavy firing from the Pakistanis; he was wounded and we suffered casualties. Next, Subedar Sansar Chand was sent with a party. But we lost contact with him soon. It was then that I was sent with two soldiers, Singh recalled.

We stayed put in the open for the whole day in extreme conditions. The two soldiers feel ill and we came under enemy fire. The next day, reinforcement came in the form of five soldiers but with a clear message  attack.

He led the final assault and overran the post on June 26. About six Pakistani soldiers were holed up in a bunker. Singh and his men killed them all.

The soldiers opened the bunkers and used a Pakistani stove to make some rice. It was the first meal we had in three days.

The next day, Brigadier Chandan Singh Nogyal arrived and congratulated the heroes. At such heights there had never been a fight in the past and probably there will be none in the future. This will be henceforth called Bana Singh post, Singh said, quoting his senior officer.
Daring, highly motivated and one who was always ready to stare death in the face, not flinching a bit. That was Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad, the doughty soldier who survived for six days under tonnes of snow at the Siachen Glacier, but finally lost the battle for life on Thursday at an army hospital in Delhi.

Aged just 33 and extremely physically fit, Koppad volunteered more than once for postings in inhospitable and difficult areas, serving in these areas for 10 years out of his 13-year-long army career.

At a personal level, Koppad was an ever-smiling person who shared cordial relations with his army colleagues and subordinates.

Read | #IndiaSalutes: From Rahul to Modi, leaders pay respect to Siachen hero

A resident of Betadur village in Dharwad district of Karnataka, Koppad enlisted in the Madras Regiments 19th Battalion on October 25, 2002.

Koppad's mother and wife at their home in Betadoor village in Hubli. (PTI)

He was deployed in Mahore in Jammu and Kashmir from 2003 to 2006, where he was actively involved in counter-insurgency operations.

He again volunteered to serve the 54 Rashtriya Rifles (MADRAS) in Jammu and Kashmir from 2008 to 2010, where he displayed indomitable courage and gallantry in fighting terrorists.

Read | Siachen soldier Lance Naik Hanamanthappa dies, nation pays tribute

The lance naik also volunteered to serve in the northeast from 2010 to 2012, where he actively participated in successful operations against the National Democratic Front of Bodoland and United Liberation Front of Assam.

Koppad was posted on the Siachen Glacier from August 2015. He was deployed on one of the highest posts where temperatures can plummet well below minus 40 degrees Celsius and winds of up to 100km per hour batter the frozen landscape and army men deployed there.

The house of Koppad at Betadoor village in Hubli district. (PTI)

He along with his team members were deployed at the armys Sonam Post - the highest permanently manned post in the world - when an avalanche engulfed their camp on February 3.

The 10 soldiers buried alive were maintaining the worlds highest helipad in the area, which brought supplies for soldiers on the Siachen Glacier.

While nine soldiers, including one Junior Commissioned Officer, died, Koppad was the only one who cheated death, at least for a few days more than his colleagues.

Read | A question about Siachen heros death: Why are our soldiers dying
The family of Ishrat Jahan, killed in an alleged staged shooting by Gujarat Police in 2004, called Lashkar-e-Taibas Pakistani-American operative David Coleman Headley a liar on Thursday after his testimony that she was a member of the terrorist outfit.

Ishrats relatives said she was innocent and firmly believe that truth will prevail.

Mother Shamima Kausar dismissed Headleys statements as a pack of lies. These are false and without evidence, she told Hindustan times.

Read more: Ishrat Jahan, killed in fake encounter, was LeT operative: Headley

The family has been repeatedly facing fresh revelations and allegations against Ishrat, a 19-year-old college student from Mumbra in Maharashtra who was killed along with three men on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. They were allegedly on a mission to kill then chief minister Narendra Modi.

Ishrats family members were unhappy with the way Headley, deposing via video link from a US prison, was made to testify about her.

Headley never spoke about the encounter during the deposition. (Special public prosecutor Ujjal) Nikam first asked many questions and then gave three names to identify the woman. This is not a reality show but a court proceeding, Ishrats uncle Rauf Lala said.

Headley told Nikam about a botched-up operation mentioned to him by LeT commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.

Read more: 26/11: Headley naming Ishrat Jahan allows BJP to play victim and hero

The Jahans are determined to continue the fight. We trust the law and we would continue. People will support truth. He (Headley) is a terrorist and how can we believe him? His deposition wont affect our case. We will win our battle, sister Musharat said.

We have been fighting a legal battle over the past 12 years and we have proved in the court of law that it was a fake encounter. So it doesnt make any difference to us what someone says.

The family said they want justice for their daughter. They are putting words in his (Headleys) mouth. A mother wants justice but this issue is again and again being made political and communal. We want the truth to come out, uncle Lala said.

The family demanded that the trial should start soon. Headley is a double agent and should not be taken seriously. Our trial has been slow and we are waiting for it to start, the uncle said.

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The words were carefully picked. We tried our best to fight death, Lt Gen SK Dhuan, chief of the army hospital, said around noon on Monday. The soldier who transfixed a nation by surviving for five days in a suffocating, snowy dungeon in the high western Himalayas was dead.

In the span of a little over a week, Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppads family had gone from shock to hope and back to despair again.

When the Last Post was sounded in the evening at Brar Square in Delhis cantonment, as army chief Gen Dalbir Singh laid his wreath, the soldiers bereaved wife, Mahadevi, wiped a tear. But for most of the public ceremony, the family held on bravely.

A violent avalanche had swept Koppad and nine other soldiers, all dead, under 35 feet of snow in Siachen, a hostile mountain desert and one of the countrys farthest military outposts in the north.

At Brar Square, the three service chiefs paid their last respects, apart from a host of political leaders, including defence minister Manohar Parrikar, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, among others.

The soldier in you remains immortal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet.

Yet, the real story is one of how Koppad became a peoples hero in his valiant death. Never since the 1999 Kargil war has the public commiserated so dramatically with military sacrifice.

People began filing in to the cantonment area, but were turned away since the event wasnt open to public. They have sacrificed their lives for our pride, said Ramesh Singh, one of those who came.

During the three days a nearly comatose Koppad spent at the top military medical facility, a patriotic frenzy gripped the country. Nidhi Pandey, a housewife from UPs Lakhimpur Kheri, offered to donate one of her kidneys to save Koppad.

The manner in which a beefy soldier had battled on in a hellhole and had been dramatically rescued by a 200-member team caught the public imagination like never before.

Few armies in the world have to experience Siachen-like excruciating conditions. The post Koppad was guarding was at an altitude of 19,600 feet, with temperatures well below minus 40 degrees C and wind gusts of up to 100 km per hour.

Amul, a leading dairy brand known for its witty cartoon ads, promptly changed its flagship ad to pay a tribute to Koppad. Himalaya Se Oocha (Higher than the Himalayas), the new Amul tagline says.

A bunch of Bollywood stars tweeted their condolences. Saluting Late Lance Naik Hanumanthappa and all the#SiachenBravehearts...Your bravery is immortal, wrote actor Anil Kapoor, as did countless others. The Siachen bravehearts, trending on Twitter by Thursday evening, had become peoples heroes.

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India and France are expected to close the purchase of 36 Rafale multi-role fighters from Dassault Aviation with the signing of an inter-governmental agreement including the commercial contract between the two countries next month. The deal is expected to be clinched at about Rs 60,000 crore, less than what was offered by France to India during the previous UPA government with 2011 being the base price year.

Top government sources said after the initial price of 11.6 billion euros (Rs 85,000 crore) with 2015 as the base year, Dassault brought it down to 8 billion euros (Rs 65,000 crore) with 2011 being the base year for fixing the cost per fighter.

This would have been the price of 36 fighters had India purchased planes at the cost quoted in the cancelled 126 multi-medium role combat aircraft (MMRCA) contract in which Rafale had emerged as the lowest bidder in comparison with Eurofighter.

During Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to France in April 2015, it was bilaterally decided that the cost of each fighter would be 10-20% less than what was being offered in the MMRCA project; we expect the jet manufacturer to further reduce price and bring it down by another 700-800 million euros before the contract is signed, a senior government official said.

However, the defence ministry under Manohar Parrikar is expected to further hammer down the cost by opting out of unnecessary or what are called over-specified add-ons in Rafale fighters as per the initial MMRCA contract.

We expect the deal to close around Rs 60,000 crore with Rafale with first deliveries in 2019. The French company also has a separate option of manufacturing the fighter in the country under the Make in India rubric. For that Rafale will have to contest with Boeing F-18 and Eurofighter in case their respective governments allow them to manufacture these platforms in India, a senior official said.

The deal was scheduled to be concluded during French president Francois Hollandes visit as the guest of honour at the Republic Day celebrations on January 26 but was delayed due to protracted negotiations between both sides.

The nuclear-capable Rafale will be fitted with American AESA (active electronically scanned phased array) radar, top-of-the-line beyond-visual-range missiles and defensive weapon systems.

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New Delhi should declare Roms as a national minority of Indian origin, as it has nothing to lose by admitting that these are people of Indian descent, feels Jovan Damjanovic the president of the World Roma Organisation- Rromanipen.

The Roma are gypsies who are believed to trace their origin to nomadic communities like the Dom, Banjara, Gujjar, Sansi, Chauhan and Sikligar from the North West parts of India.

Damjanovic who is in the Capital to attend a three-day conference on the international Roma community being organised by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) in collaboration with the Antar Rashtriya Sahayog Parishad Bharat (ARSPB) told Hindustan Times in an exclusive interview that recognition from the Indian authorities will be the first step towards countering the negative perceptions about the Roms.

Mainly concentrated in Central, Eastern and Southern parts of Europe, the Roms are counted among the most discriminated people in the world and considered as people with criminal propensity.

We are expecting after all these years India should recognise the Roms as Indian national minority. There is anthropological and physical evidence that we belong to India. Indians could win at cultural, economical and political level by accepting the origins of these 12-15 million people, Damjanovic told HT.

Damjanovic who has been a Minister Without Portfolio, in the Government of Serbia was critical of the European Union for failing to stem the discrimination faced by the Roms in several countries, including forced eviction.

European countries have double standards, while they welcome refugees from one country, they are treating Roma people in a different way. They are not making a mistake; they are doing it on purpose. All member states of the UN are compelled to host refugees from any country, but for Roma the rules are different, he said.

On the allegations that Roma are not keen on assimilation and integration, and prefer to remain in ghettos and on the margins, he said it is a deliberate attempt at creating misinformation about the community. All Roms are models of integration everywhere they are given an opportunity, the truth is that we are excluded. We have the Indian spirit of respect and integration.

To change the perceptions about Roms and to create an atmosphere of inclusion, where equal rights can be afforded to the community, Damjanovic said governments and the international community has to treat them seriously as nation of culture and not as a social problem.

We need to open the door for dialogue, leading to the solution within framework of existing legal provisions. We also need patience, commitment and political will, he underlined.

The three-day conference being inaugurated by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on February 12 is aimed at connecting the Roms with sister communities in India especially in the states like Rajasthan and Punjab.

The conference seeks to study political, social and economic challenges being faced by the Roma community in different countries and to examine existing constitutional safeguards available to them; to review the existing scholarly studies and literature on the connections of Roma with India and for creating awareness within India about them and to encourage more research about Roma/Sinti cultural roots in renowned institutions in India.

There is also a proposal to set up scholarships for Roma students for their higher studies in India and to re-establish cultural links and promote cultural studies among the Roma youth spread across many countries.

India is committed to all people of Indian origin, we celebrate their cultural links. Such conferences help us to understand and create awareness, Ambassador C Rajasekhar, director general of ICCR said.

In India conferences on the Roma people have been held in the past as well; the first Roma conference was organised in1976 in Chandigarh which was attended by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi; she also inaugurated in 1983 the International Roma Cultural Festival. In February 2001, 33 Roma scholars and representatives from 12 countries attended a conference where they interacted with former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

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Politicians across India paid their respects to Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad, the lone survivor of an avalanche in Siachen Glacier, who died in an Army hospital in Delhi at 1145AM on Thursday.

He leaves us sad and devastated, tweeted Prime minister Narendra Modi.

He leaves us sad & devastated. RIP Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. The soldier in you remains immortal. Proud that martyrs like you served India.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 11, 2016

Condolences to family of L/Nk Hanumanthappa on his passing away. The Nation salutes him.  Manohar Parrikar (@manoharparrikar) February 11, 2016

Lance Naik Hanumanthappa has shown the world the meaning of perseverance and courage, said Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi.

In his life and his passing Lance Naik Hanumanthappa has shown the world the meaning of perseverance & courage  Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) February 11, 2016

His extraordinary spirit and tenacity, till the very end, is an inspiration for all. My thoughts & prayers are with his bereaved family  Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) February 11, 2016

Deeply saddened to learn about Lance Naik Hanumanthappa's demise. India has lost a brave soldier. Salute his courage. RIP.  N Chandrababu Naidu (@ncbn) February 11, 2016

Koppad and nine other soldiers were swept away by an avalanche at the Siachen glacier on February 3, at an altitude of around 19,500 feet.

Lance Naik Hanumanthappa - a braveheart martyr. Human endurance tested in the service of the nation. India is one with the grieving family.  Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) February 11, 2016

I join millions of countrymen to extend my condolences to braveheart Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. Nation will never forget his sacrifice.  Amit Shah (@AmitShah) February 11, 2016

He was found on Monday, miraculously alive after being buried under 35-feet of snow for six days but in a critical condition.

Deeply saddened by the death of Shri Lance Naik #Hanumanthappa today. A brave heart, he braved the harsh Siachen for long.  M Venkaiah Naidu (@MVenkaiahNaidu) February 11, 2016

His life inspires all of us.He is a pride to karnataka state& our country.My tributes to the great hero.Heart felt condolences to his family  M Venkaiah Naidu (@MVenkaiahNaidu) February 11, 2016

Deeply saddened to know Lance Naik Hanamanthappa passed away. Nation will miss the exemplary fighter. My heartfelt condolences to his family  Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) February 11, 2016

At the time of his rescue, Koppad was conscious but drowsy, disoriented and severely dehydrated. On Wednesday, he went into coma, sending a nation into a collective prayer for his recovery.

Saddened at the demise of Lance Naik Hanamanthappa. Saluting him & all the brave soldiers. My heartfelt condolences to his bereaved family.  Manohar Lal Khattar (@mlkhattar) February 11, 2016

I'm deeply saddened by the news of d sad demise of Soldier #Hanumanthappa Koppad. My heartfelt condolences to his family members.  CM of Karnataka (@CMofKarnataka) February 11, 2016

Koppad belonged to the Madras Regiment, which has a reputation for being one of the toughest Regiments to be stationed at Siachen. The 19th Madras Battalion, which Koppad was part of, is due to complete its 90-day deployment on the glacier.

I bow my head and salute the brave son of India Lance Naik Hanamanthappa. ??? ???? ???? ???? ????????? ?? ??????? ????????????  Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) February 11, 2016

Sad at the passing away of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa, our brave soldier.



Salute the Jawans who serve the country in such adverse conditions.  Yogendra Yadav (@_YogendraYadav) February 11, 2016

Army officers said a powerful will to survive was critical in the soldier surviving for six days in such a harsh environment. He fought hard for his survival. He didnt give up. Else, he would have perished too, said a senior army officer.

Terrible news. The Brave Hero Lance Naik Hanumanthappa passes away. Rest in peace super soldier. The Nation salutes you for your valor.  Naveen Jindal (@MPNaveenJindal) February 11, 2016

Koppad was receiving treatment at the Army Research and Referral Hospital by a team of specialists and surgeons.
Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative David Coleman Headley said on Thursday Maharashtra resident Ishrat Jahan was a member of the militant groups female wing, igniting a row over a controversial 2004 police shootout that killed the 19-year-old woman.

A Gujarat Police team shot dead Jahan  a college student in Thane districts Mumbra -- and three others on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, claiming she was on a mission to kill then chief minister Narendra Modi.

Headleys comments are in contrast to multiple investigations that found the shootout had been staged and that Jahan had no links with any militant group.

Six years ago, Headley  who is deposing in a Mumbai court via video conference  reportedly told the National Investigation Agency that Jahan was an LeT member but Thursdays remarks will now be admissible as evidence in an ongoing trial into the killing of Jahan.

The days proceedings saw Headley saying the LeT had a female wing, headed by the mother of a militant, Abu Aiman.

Are you aware of any female suicide bomber from the LeT? asked Ujjwal Nikam, the special public prosecutor.

Headley said he did not know any such woman but Zaki Saheb (LeTs operational commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi) had told him about a botched operation in India.

It was a shoot-out with police in some picket, and a female member had died in it along with others, Headley said, adding, I do not remember the name of the place.

When Nikam asked about the womans name, Headley said he did not remember. But, when the prosecutor suggested three different names  Noorjehan Begum, Ishrat Jahan and Mumtaj Begum -- the 56-year-old said I think it was the second one, Ishrat Jahan.

But Jahans family rejected the charges, saying she was not a terrorist and that Headleys testimony wasnt reliable as he was a terrorist.

We have fought for 12 years, and we will still fight to clear Ishrats name, her sister Mussarat Jahan told HT.

The familys lawyer, Vrindra Grover, dismissed the testimony as extremely manipulative.

The lawyer put words in Headleys mouth, she said.

Lawyer acts like he is hosting Kaun Banega Crorepati and gave Headley options. I mean, what is happening in the court?

The development triggered a political storm, with the BJP saying its stand has been vindicated after a decade.

An important confirmation of a fact that has been in public circulation for a long time. Headley pointed towards Ishrat in 2013 but at that time there was attempt to not accept truth as it was, BJP leader Nalin Kohli told ANI.

The Congress appeared to question the revelation.

Many people said its a deal that was made - that Headley will name Jahan as a terrorist, needs far more probing; its suspicious, Congress leader Sandeep Dixit said.

The shootout was first questioned in 2009 when Ahmedabad metropolitan magistrate SP Tamang called it staged, based on medical and forensic reports.

His inquiry named the 21 policemen and alleged Mumbai police kidnapped Jahan and the other three men Javed Ghulam Sheikh, Zeeshan Johar and Ajmad Ali Akbar Ali Rana  on June 12, 2004 while Gujarat police killed them on July 14.

Subsequent probes by a special investigation team and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) found no connection between Jahan and any militant group.

But in an affidavit before the Gujarat high court, the Union home ministry said the Intelligence Bureau received specific inputs in 2004 about the LeT planning to assassinate some national and state-level leaders.

The affidavit was filed after Jahans mother moved a petition, demanding a CBI probe into the alleged fake encounter. The case is being heard by a trial court in Mumbai.
With rumours of two more leopards being spotted around the private school near Varthur in Bengaluru, the Education Department declared a holiday on Wednesday for at least 60 schools in the area as a precautionary measure, reported the Hindu.

All the schools in Varthur, Immadihalli, Doddakanelli and Maratha halli, east Bengaluru, will remain closed on Thursday.

Overall, 134 schools in Bengaluru have been asked to declare a holiday but the holiday does not apply for school staff.

The Vibgyor school administration declared an off on Wednesday too as a precautionary measure after big cats were spotted in the area late on Tuesday evening.

However, the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Ravi Ralf has said that no evidence has been found to site that there are more leopards in the area . Teams of forest officials have been combing the area for the last two days after locals claimed they had spotted two more leopards.

The pug marks locals pointed us to do not belong to a leopard. The marks belong to a dog, he said. Forest officials are, however, not taking things lightly. The reason we have launched a massive search operation is because this is leopard country and there is every chance that there are more of them in the area, he said, adding that dogs and other animals reared by people are attracting the big cats.

Read more: Big cat crisis: Bengaluru school shut after two more leopards spotted

I have confirmation of one leopard being spotted, but people residing in the area are saying they have spotted two in and around Vibgyor school, a forest official said.

A surprise entry of an eight-year-old leopard into the school early on Sunday and its rescue after a 12-hour operation in which five people were injured has shocked people in Bengaluru.

Read more: In defence of the Bengaluru leopard: Why big cats are entering cities

We are launching an online platform to spread awareness on leopards and other animals who may enter villages, towns or cities stealthily but do not harm them as they are not man-eaters like tigers, said Karnataka chief wildlife warden Ravi Ralph.

With forest fringes, lakes and other water bodies disappearing for various reasons, wild animals are finding it difficult to hunt for prey and get water to sustain, said Ralph.

The leopard which was tranquilised and captured had strayed into the citys eastern suburb on Sunday through bushes, boulders, hills and thick plantations across the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border in search of prey and water.

As it was a holiday, students and teachers were lucky to have escaped from being attacked by the wild animal.

The leopard was put in an iron cage and shifted to the Bannarghatta national zoo park.
2:30 pm David Coleman Headley had taken at least four boat rides in Mumbai to look for suitable landing points for the attackers. Headley made the deposition before the sessions court of judge GA Sanap on Thursday.

According to the Headley, he came to India in April 2008 after his Lashkar-e-Taiba handlers asked him to conduct a reconnaissance of possible landing points in Mumbai in March that year. Headley said that in April he took two boat rides from Badhwar Park, one from opposite Hotel Taj Palace and Towers, and one from Worli to see which one of them suited as landing point for the 10 LeT operatives to attack Mumbai. In July 2008, Headley once again visited India to confirm that the landing points could be used by the attackers.

In March 2008, a meeting was held in Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvis place in Muzaffarabad. The meeting was attended by Lakhvi, Muzzamil, Sajid and Abu Qahafa. Headley met a clean shaven who was introduced to him as Abdur Rehman, a frogman of the Pakistan Navy.

1:15 pm: LeT planned attack on Akshardham Temple post Babri, says Headley

The he deposition of David Coleman Headley began before a special Mumbai court on Thursday where he revealed the sequence of events and planning behind the 26/11 terror attacks. Here is what we know so far:

A person named Abu Dujata introduced Headley to Muzzammil. Later he learned that both Abu Dujata and Muzzammil visited Indian occupied Kashmir.

Abu Aiman Mazhar was in charge of LeTs women wing

Besides India occupied Kashmir, Muzzammil planned many attacks in different states of India, particularly Maharashtra and Gujarat.

Muzzammil Bhatt had planned to attack Akshardham temple in Gujarat post destruction of Babri Masjid.

Sajid Mir and Abu Khafa were talking on phone with 26/11 attackers from a control room in Karachi.

Abu Khafa was involved in 26/11 terror attack after Headley heard his voice on Sajid Mirs laptop. Sajid Mir played an audio clip having Abu Khafas voice on his laptop in Rawalpindi.

12: 30 pm : Ishrat killed in botched-operation, says Headley

Headley said LeT operative Abu Aimans mother heads the terrorist organizations womens wing.

Headley also spilled the beans on the 19-year-old Mumbra girl Ishrat Jahan and picked up her name when quizzed by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam about a botched up operation mentioned to him (Headley) by LeT commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi.

Headley told the court that Lakhvi had mentioned to him about a botched-up operation conducted in India by another LeT operative Muzammil Butt where a female member of the terror outfit was killed.

Prodded by Nikam to elaborate on the operation and the members involved in it, Headley said, (I was told) It was a shootout with police in which a (female) suicide bomber was killed.

To which the prosecutor prompted three names of which Headley picked up Jahan before telling the court that there is a female wing in LeT and one Abu Aimans mother headed it. Four persons- Ishrat Jahan, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an encounter with Gujarat Police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

12:00 pm LeT planned attacks in Gujarat too

David Coleman Headley, one of the prime accused in the 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai, told a special Mumbai court that terror outfit LeT had planned several attacks in Maharashtra, Kashmir and Gujarat.

Headley also confirmed that LeT has a separate naval wing and that Mohd Yakub who was in charge of LeTs sea operations.

He also said that Sajid Mir had showed him the Indian media coverage of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks on his laptop in Rawalpindi.

10:30 am Headley told the Mumbai court that Mumbra girl Ishrat Jehan was a suicide bomber of LeT.

10:20 am RBI had rejected Headleys application to open business account

The Reserve Bank of India had rejected an application by Headley seeking clearance to open a business account in June 2007.

Making this revelation, Headley said he had received funds for terror from both LeT and Pakistans ISI which was used for gathering intelligence and other works in India, including starting a business.

With this funding, Headley said, he opened an office in south Mumbais Tardeo area and on October 12, 2006, he even applied to Reserve Bank of India for permission to open a business account.

Interestingly, his visa consultant in Chicago, Raymond Sanders - who had earlier assisted him in procuring an Indian visa with false information - also helped him in the RBI formality, but the countrys apex bank rejected the application on June 1, 2007.

In January 2007, hoping to launch a business in India, Headley had hired an office in Tardeo A/C Market for Rs. 13,500 per month and named his landlord as Vora and Maroo Bharucha who was his secretary at the office.

The opening of office and application to open a business bank account were in consonance with the earlier plans by his handlers who wanted him to start a business in India.

10 AM : Headley visited Reliance webworld on 12 Sept,18th & 30th Oct 2007 to access the internet and exchange emails with Tahawwur Rana, Major Iqbal and Sajid Mir in Pakistan . While exchanging emails, the trio used a code language. Headley also used two to three mobile numbers between the period of 2006 to 2009 during his visit to India.

9:30 am ISI sponsored all of Headleys trips to India

Headley said Tahawur Rana was aware of his connection with LeT and that he was going to India for intelligence work on instructions of the terror outfit. In fact Rana had visited Mumbai just before 26/11 attacks.

He also revealed that all his India trips were sponsored by ISI.

Major Iqbal of ISI had mainly financed Headleys India trip to recee possible targets in Mumbai by paying him sum of 25000 USD @htTweets  Rahul Mahajani (@rahul_mahajani) February 11, 2016

8: 30 am Headley first opened an office in Mumbais Tardeo AC market on 14th September, 2006

Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman on Thursday continued his deposition for the third day before a court in Mumbai.

Deposing from an undisclosed location in the US, Headley told special judge G A Sanap that ISI was helping different terror outfits in Pakistan and was providing financial, military and moral support.

8;00 am Major Iqbal gave Headley $25000 to conduct reconnaissance of possible targets in India

Headley told the court that Major Iqbal of ISI had given him 25,000 US dollars and his handler Sajid Mir had paid him Rs 40,000 in Pakistani rupee to conduct reconnaissance of possible targets in India. Headley had met Major Iqbal at a location between Lahore airport and defence quarters, after Major Iqbal with Major Sameer Alis reference had called Headley on his cell phone which Headley had obtained on the name of his brother-in-law Rizwan.

Major Iqbal had then introduced him to his senior Lt Col Hamza and had met the army officer for a period of two hours, where Headley was asked to report to Major Iqbal and was assured of financial help.

In the second half of 2006, Headley got close to Major Iqbal who then appointed a non-commission officer to train Headley on surveillance and reconnaissance techniques. In August 2006 when Headley returned to Pakistan, he had two separate meetings with Major Iqbal and Sajid Mir. Major Iqbal went to Headleys house and paid 25,000 US dollars in three bundles two of which had 10,000 US dollars and one bundle of 5,000 US dollars.

When Headley met Sajid Mir, Sajid was already aware of the money Major Iqbal had paid him. On his fourth trip to India, Major Iqbal had asked him conduct surveillance of Pune, and had given him high quality Indian counterfeit notes.

Headley first opened an office in Mumbais Tardeo AC market on 14th September, 2006.

The deposition of Headley could not happen on Wednesday due to a technical snag in the video conference in the US. Headley, who had conducted recce of the places in Mumbai which were attacked by 10 LeT terrorists on November 26, 2008, also revealed that the outfit had initially planned to attack a conference of Indian Idefence scientists in Taj Mahal Hotel.

He said he had also conducted a recce of the famous Siddhivinayak Temple and Naval air station on directions of LeT commanders. While spilling beans about involvement of Pakistans army and intelligence agency in terrorism in India, he said he knew ISI official Brigadier Riyaz being the handler of LeTs top commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, who was the mastermind of 26/11 attacks.

Headley, who had visited Mumbai seven times to scout for targets, revealed that plans to target Mumbai had started over a year before 26/11.
The NDA government may soon call an all-party meeting to form a permanent mechanism, in the line of the pay commission, which would recommend hike in salary and perks for MPs from time to time.

Salary hike has remained a touchy issue for parliamentarians as the current process of MPs deciding their own salaries has often come under criticism.

An inter-party parliamentary panel had recently proposed a 100% hike in the basic salary of parliamentarians, apart from similar increase in some other perks.

A Rajya Sabha or a Lok Sabha MP now gets `50,000 basic salary along with Rs 45,000 each for constituency and office allowances.

The panel, headed by BJPs Yogi Adityanath, had met on Wednesday but parliamentary affairs ministry remained non-committal to the demands.

Several MPs, according to a source, maintained that their salaries are lower than even senior bureaucrats even as parliamentarians enjoy a higher status in the Warrant of Precedence.

The government informed the panel that the proposals have not been cleared yet by the Union cabinet. JD(U) leader KC Tyagi and Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury maintained there was a need for a permanent mechanism to fix salaries and allowances.

Meanwhile, the K Chandrasekhar Rao government in Telangana is reconsidering a proposal to hike the salaries of the state legislators to Rs 3 lakh, marking a three-fold increase.
Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf told an Indian news channel that his countrys spy agency, Inter Services Intelligence, trains Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorists.

ISI trains Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists, Musharraf told Aaj Tak channel.

According to the channel, although Musharraf referred to the 26/11 Mumbai attacks mastermind and Lashkar patron Hafiz Saeed as a Pakistan hero, he termed JeM chief Masood Azhar as a terrorist.

When Musharraf was President of the country, JeM operatives were found to be involved in bids on his life.

During the interview, Musharraf also blamed India for derailing the peace process.

On David Coleman Headley, one of the prime accused in the 26/11 attacks, Musharraf said, I dont believe anything that Headley had said... Pakistan intelligence should interrogate Headley.
Pakistan envoy Abdul Basit on Thursday called for the speedy resolution of the standoff on Siachen against the backdrop of the death of an Indian soldier who survived an avalanche, saying both countries must ensure no more lives are lost on the glacier.

It is very sad and unfortunate that human lives are being lost on Siachen due to very harsh weather conditions, Basit told a TV news channel soon after the death of Hanamanthappa Koppad, the soldier who survived for six days under 35 feet of snow.

Read | Siachen soldier Lance Naik Hanamanthappa dies, nation pays tribute

Such incidents only reinforce the need to settle this issue peacefully, amicably and urgently, he added.

Basit noted that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, while addressing the UN General Assembly last year, had made a specific proposal that our two countries agree to mutually withdraw from Siachen.

We hope that both the countries take this issue seriously and engage with each other to settle this issue as quickly as possible, ensuring that further human lives are not lost in Siachen, he said.

Basit also told the media that it was sad that solders of both countries are dying on Siachen. He hoped the two sides would be able to resolve the issue through dialogue.

Read | A question about Siachen heros death: Why are our soldiers dying

Indian and Pakistani troops have been locked in a standoff on the worlds highest battleground since 1984. Nearly 2,000 soldiers from both sides have died in the region, mostly due to the extreme weather.

India has linked the withdrawal of troops to Pakistan authenticating positions along the Actual Ground Position Line but Islamabad has persistently rejected this proposal. Indian officials say this is necessary to ensure that Pakistan does not occupy any positions after they have been vacated.
On the day Mufti Mohammad Sayeed died, senior PDP leader Muzaffar Baig had taken a letter from his party to J & K Governor N N Vohra to intimate him of the decision that Mehbooba Muti will be the Chief Minister but did not hand it over to him as he needed to be fully assured that all the MLAs were on board on the decision.

The details have been revealed in a report sent by Vohra to Rashtrapati Bhavan recommending Governors rule in the state, according to the documents provided by the Union Home Ministry in an RTI response to activist Venkatesh Nayak.

A similar request by Srinagar-based activist Shaikh Ghulam Rasool was turned down by Vohras office citing August 13, 2013 communication from the Home Ministry that any privileged communication between the Governor and the President of India and other matters pertaining to the official functioning of the Governor cannot be divulged.

It also cited a pending Supreme Court case in a similar RTI matter.

The RTI Act does not apply in Jammu and Kashmir and the state has its own version of the transparency law modelled on the Act.

Before I left Srinagar on 7th evening, to return to Jammu, a PDP delegation comprising Muzaffar Baig (Member of Parliament) and Nizam-ud-Din Bhat (General Secretary PDP and former MLA) met me with prior appointment, at Srinagar airport.

Sh Baig informed me that he had brought a letter from his party, addressed to me, which intimated the PDPs decision that Mehbooba Mufti, member of Parliament, would be the next Chief Minister. Baig explained that he was not handing over this letter to me as he needed to recheck and be fully assured that all the PDP MLAs were on board in regard to the aforesaid decision, he wrote in a letter dated January 9, 2015.

Sayeed died on January 7, 2015 and Governors rule was imposed on January 9, 2015.

The pending Supreme Court case where Manohar Parrikar is the respondent, relates only to the Central RTI Acts jurisdiction. It does not extend to matters covered by the J&K RTI Act because no order made under the states Act is challenged before the apex court. So the PIOs reply is not only bad in law but also smacks of ignorance of the facts of the pending Supreme Court case, Nayak said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held a restricted meeting at his 7 Race Course Road residence with visiting crown prince of Abu Dhabi and deputy supreme commander of the UAE Armed Forces, General Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

A meeting at 7RCR... HH Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan meets PM @narendramodi at his residence, the Prime Ministers Office tweeted along with a picture of the two leaders.

An exceptional tete-a-tete. PM meets crown prince for a restricted meeting at 7RCR before talks in the evening, external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup also tweeted.

Earlier on Thursday, the crown prince, who arrived here on Wednesday on a three-day visit to India, was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

On Wednesday, Modi broke protocol as he personally received the crown prince on his arrival to Delhi.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also called on Sheikh Mohamed soon after his arrival on Wednesday.

A slew of agreements, including on defence equipment manufacturing and civil nuclear cooperation, are likely to be signed between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during the crown princes visit.

The welfare of the expatriate Indians in the UAE, numbering around 2.6 million, is also likely to come up for discussion. (AFP)

After the India-UAE relationship was elevated to comprehensive strategic partnership during Modis visit to the UAE in August last year, the first by an Indian prime minister in 34 years, there is focus on new areas of cooperation like defence production in India, security, counter-terrorism, in nuclear and space sector, and in the energy sector.

The welfare of the expatriate Indians in the UAE, numbering around 2.6 million, is also likely to come up for discussion.

The crown prince is being accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising cabinet ministers, senior officials and business leaders.

On Wednesday, Modi broke protocol as he personally received the crown prince on his arrival to Delhi. (REUTERS)

Delegation-level talks between Modi and Sheikh Mohamed are scheduled to be held on Thursday evening following which the agreements will be signed.

On Friday, the crown prince will leave for Mumbai where he will visit the Bombay Stock Exchange and meet Indian business leaders.
There is nothing wrong in banning mobile internet to maintain law and order, the Supreme Court said Thursday finding no fault with the Gujarat governments decision during the Patidar agitation in the state.

There can be such ban for law and order, said a bench of Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justice R Bhanumathi while upholding the Gujarat high courts verdict that had declared the ban was right.

The Supreme Courts decision came on an appeal filed by Gaurav Sureshbhai Vyas who had challenged the High Court verdict. The ban was imposed under section 144 of the criminal procedure code, notified by the police when it apprehends a law and order problem. The prohibitory orders prevent an unlawful assembly.

The petitioners lawyer, Apar Gupta, argued the ban under the CrPc was untenable. He contended there was a special law--the Telegraph Act--to deal with such situations.

A special law will override the general statue and so the ban should not have been imposed under Section 144.

The argument failed to impress the bench, which said there can be concurrent powers. It becomes very necessary sometimes for law and order. There can be concurrent powers, said Justice Thakur before rejecting the petition.

The Gujarat government had banned mobile internet when Hardik Patel launched a movement last year demanding OBC status for Patels in jobs and education.

Similar bans have been imposed in other states, including Jammu & Kashmir, whenever the police has apprehended a law and order problem.

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On Wednesday, a day when Ghaziabad hosted its first car-free day with the administration urging residents to commute by public transport, a 23-year-old woman was allegedly abducted in an autorickshaw around 8pm.

Dipti Sarna, an executive with the legal department of Snapdeal in Gurgaon, was returning home to Ghaziabad from work. She used to travel from Gurgaon to Vaishali in the metro. After getting off the metro in Vaishali, Sarna used to board an autorickshaw to go to Ghaziabad city bus stand, a distance of nearly 8 km. Her father would then pick her from there.

On Wednesday also, Sarna hired a shared autorickshaw. A woman passenger and three men were already sitting in the auto when Sarna boarded it.

Near the Mohan Nagar intersection, the other woman was forced to get off and the driver fled with Sarna, said Salman Patil, superintendent of police (city).

The police are still in the dark about the three men who were there in the auto with Sarna.

The incident once again brought to fore the problem of last-mile connectivity in the city.

With the penetration of Metro limited till Vaishali and lack of buses for intra-city movement, autos are the lifeline of daily commuters in Ghaziabad and Noida.

There are two kinds of autorickshaws available for Ghaziabad from the Vaishali Metro stationbooked autos and shared autos.

Booked autos carry only one passenger and do not have fixed routes, but their fare is high. The shared autos carry more than three passengers on a fixed route but their fares are lower.

On the one hand, the government urges residents to not commute by their own vehicle and use public transport. But on the other hand, no efforts are being made to make the public transport efficient. A woman feels the safest when she is in her car, said Katyayini Singh, a resident of Vaishali who commutes to her office in Delhis Connaught Place.

Because of the poor last-mile connectivity, autorickshaws have become the cheapest and the closest-to-home travel option for women.

Shared autorickshaws are better than buses because they drop you near your house and so women prefer them. But since the transport department do not carry out proper checks, many unauthorized and unverified auto drivers are there in the city, said Rupika Chauhan, a resident of Raj Nagar.

Women say they agree that travelling by shared autorickshaws can be risky, but they have no option as they are the most easily available mode of transport.

Commuting by shared autos at night is a nightmare for women. Autorickshaw drivers and passengers sitting in shared autos harass you even in broad daylight and there is nothing one can do about it, said Mandavi Choudhary, a resident of Indirapuram, who regularly commutes by auto from the Vaishali Metro station.

Police officials said merely starting women-only autos in the city is not the solution to the problem as unverified drivers need to be checked.

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A senior Teri official had asked a male friend of the 29-year-old female researcher who had accused RK Pachauri of sexual harassment for an out-of-court settlement, police told Delhi high court on Thursday, adding that it will file a chargesheet in the next 15 days.

A male researcher had lodged a complaint with the police on January 12 alleging that a senior Teri official had asked him to convince the woman complainant for an out of court settlement.

Teri director Sanjai Joshi joined investigation and he was interrogated. He stated that he talked with XXX, it was a very casual conversation during his visit to his workstation in Teri. It was stated only to save the image of organisation before the media, the police said in its report.

Read | Pachauri on leave, Teri council to decide his fate today

Joshi, however, denied that Pachauri or any other person from Teri asked him to talk to the victims for settling the matter with the complainant.

Police also said Teris area convener Reena Singh, who was interrogated in her office, has claimed she never spoke about any settlement with the friend and was only giving her comments.

Another Teri senior official Alok Adholeya, who was out of country on an official tour, will be examined after he returns to India, police told the HC.

Read | Allegations are a figment of imagination, says RK Pachauri

The police statement to the HC came a day after another former employee of The Energy and Research Institute (Teri) accused its executive vice-chairman of sexually harassing her and other women in her presence.

The Delhi Police, which was asked to file a status report on the progress of its investigation, told Justice SP Garg that the draft chargesheet was already prepared and was currently being scrutinised by the prosecution branch.

Justice Garg, who reserved the order on plea filed by the complainant seeking cancellation of anticipatory bail granted to Pachauri in March last year, asked police to submit the file related to the case by February 15.

Read more

Protests within TERI: Students refuse to take degrees from Pachauri

Pachauri feels the heat as second victim resurfaces

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The Siachen tragedy has turned the spotlight on the Thambis, as soldiers of the Madras Regiment are affectionately called.

Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad who died on Thursday, survived for more than a week, five days under a thick layer of ice, after an avalanche struck an Army post on February 3 at 20,500 feet in the Himalayas. He was from 19 Madras, the 19th battalion of the regiment. So were nine of his fellow-soldiers who perished in the incident.

Most of the men in the Madras Regiment, which recruits from the southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, would have seen towering mountains only after joining the army.

Yet, these soldiers have scripted compelling tales of courage and resolve while being deployed on the worlds coldest and highest battlefield, army officials say.

Read More | He was the toughest: How Siachen soldier survived 35 ft of snow

The Thambis are silent workers but very dependable soldiers to carry out any assignment. Other qualities include mental toughness, physical robustness and adaptability, said Lieutenant General Subroto Mitra (retd), who is from the Madras Regiment.

Hanamanthappas battalion, 19 Madras, was part of a brigade commanded by Mitra in Jammu and Kashmir in 2004-05. General Mitra recalled its outstanding drills, ethos and a dogged determination to succeed.

Over the years, the Thambis have carried out some key tasks on the glacier such as building helipads, opening new routes and constructing a fuel pipeline.

HT gives you a low down on the regiments track record in Siachen and what makes the Thambis tick on the glacier:

3 Madras: It was the first battalion from the regiment to be inducted into Siachen in 1988. Veteran officers say the decision to send the unit to Siachen had set tongues wagging, with a few cynics doubting the ability of Thambis to survive in those alien, extreme conditions. But the battalion performed splendidly. It killed 15 enemy soldiers and lost 10 of its own men during the period. The battalions casualty rate was one of the lowest compared to other units.

The battalion had a rare second tenure on the glacier in 2005. The soldiers are credited with opening a new route to the landlocked Sonam post, the same post where Hanamanthappa and his comrades were deployed.

Read More | Siachen survivor major boost for high-altitude medicine: Army docs

2 Madras: The second battalion from the regiment to serve in Siachen in 1993. A senior officer says the tenure of 2 Madras proved that the Thambis had what it took to face any kind of challenge head-on.

9 Madras: The third battalion to be deployed in Siachen in 2001. Before India and Pakistan signed a ceasefire pact in November 2003, the extreme conditions were not the only worry as casualties were also caused by enemy firing. The battalions performance, however, measured up to expectations.

Read more: Sand sculpture at Puri beach dedicated to Siachen braveheart

11 Madras: It was the fourth battalion from the regiment to be deployed in Siachen. A Madras Regiment officer recalls that the unit conducted a large number of assaults on enemy posts and disrupted the enemys maintenance activity till the truce was declared in 2003. One of the key achievements of the Thambis was their role in constructing a kerosene pipeline from the Siachen base camp to the forward posts.

17 Madras: The Thambis of this battalion call themselves Khatras or danger. They were inducted into the glacier in 2007. Like their predecessors, the Khatras didnt disappoint either. The men held posts at heights of nearly 21,000 feet, braving temperatures that would often drop below minus 50 degree Celsius.

25 Madras: The battalion was tasked with the responsibility of defending a large frontage of the actual ground position line (AGPL) between India and Pakistan in 2014. Another senior officer, familiar with the deployment, says: The battalion enhanced the operational and administration sustenance of troops by improving mobility within complexes by bridging crevasses, opening new routes and constructing helipads.

12 Madras: It went to Siachen in 2014 and played a central role in de-inducting, repairing and re-inducting a wide variety of weapons and equipment. The Thambis also recovered the mortal remains of two soldiers killed on the glacier nearly 20 years ago. The senior officer says, It was an immensely gratifying moment that brought much awaited closure for the families.

19 Madras: Koppads battalion is about to complete its 90-day deployment on the glacier.

Read More | Sand sculpture at Puri beach to pray for Siachen braveheart
David Coleman Headleys deposition that Ishrat Jahan  killed in an encounter in 2004  was involved with the Lashkar-e-Taiba has created a political storm.

In the perception battle, the BJP has best positioned itself to take advantage of the statement, and portray itself as the party best equipped to defend national security, against the Islamic threat.

Read more: Ishrat Jahan, killed in fake encounter, was LeT operative: Headley

Minutes after reports emerged about the proceedings, the BJP claimed it was vindicated.

The subtext of its case was clear - that Ishrat was a terrorist; that there was a plot to assassinate then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi; and that it was the agility of the Intelligence Bureau and the state administration that warded off the plan and succeeded in eliminating those involved; and that Amit Shah had been unnecessarily hounded in the case out of political vendetta. And now, Headley  an insider - had provided the final confirmation of what it had been saying all along.

The party and its sympathisers on social media have already targeted Congress, left-liberal activists, and the secular media for having batted for a terrorist all along.

Critique

There has been an effort to take on this narrative. One strand of activists  who have been critical of Modi and BJP  attacked Headleys testimony as unreliable.

Others have sought to trace the exact nature of the deposition  where Headley does not call Ishrat a suicide bomber. Instead, he is reported to have said he does not know if there are women suicide bombers in the LeT; that he cannot name any such suicide bomber. When asked if there was a botched up operation in India, he reportedly says that there was  Muzammil...told there was a female member of LeT killed in a police shootout at the naka. When he was given specific names to identify including that of Ishrat Jahan, Headley identified Ishrat.

The third approach has been to separate the question of whether Ishrat was a terrorist and involved with LeT with the fact that she was killed in an encounter. Even if she was a militant, this school argues, the core issue was that she did not get a chance at a fair trial.

Implications

But in the larger public sphere, the dominant narrative will be that of Ishrat as a terrorist. This will have consequences.

Politically, the BJP will play both the victim and the hero

The victim because it was a party wronged for so many years; the hero because the Gujarat administration had rightly targeted Ishrat. The case had already ceased to have any political impact on Amit Shahs fortunes  but it would come as another shot in his arm. The party will also use this in future election campaigns, especially in polarized landscapes.

Will states now embark on more encounters?

Administratively, the issue to look out for is whether the Headley deposition emboldens the national security state to adopt short-cuts and embark on more encounters when it is convinced that the person in question is a terrorist  or whether there will be caution and the police apparatus will follow the rule of law in the future.

Modi and Shah will be smiling today

The Ishrat Jehan case has had deep political implications. For a long time, it kept both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Shahs actions under close scrutiny. It also galvanized a civil society campaign and threw up questions about the nature of anti terrorist operations in India. Many of those questions remain. But today, Modi, Shah, and many in Indias intelligence and security apparatus would be smiling.

The views expressed by the writer are personal

.

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A 30-year-old woman allegedly cut off her brother-in-laws penis on Thursday over the latters repeated attempts to establish sexual relations with her in Madhya Pradeshs Sidhi district. The 22-year-old man committed suicide after the incident.

According to Churhat police, the accused, Vimlesh Koul, 30, walked into the police station to confess to her crime with her brother-in-laws severed appendage in her hand.

Vimlesh lived with her in-laws, including brother-in-law Sanju Koul, in Narhai village while her husband worked as a labourer in Nashik, Maharashtra. The woman has alleged that Sanju used to repeatedly attempt to establish sexual relations with her.

On Thursday at around 4:30am, when Sanju tried to force himself on Vimlesh, she cut off his penis with a sickle, before heading to the police station at around 8:30am. An injured Sanju was later found hanging by his neck from a tree about 300m from the house.

He allegedly committed suicide because of humiliation...Her parents-in-law didnt come to know about the incident as the entire incident took place early in the morning and also because Sanju didnt make any noise, said town inspector, Churhat, Arti Chourate.

The police have registered a case of attempt to murder against Vimlesh.

The accused woman is shaken...due to the entire episode. She is presently in the village. We have registered a case against her under section 307 and will soon take her in our custody, said the town inspector.

This is the second incident in the last one week of a mans private parts being chopped. On Wednesday, a 24-year-old man in Bhopal was allegedly sedated and castrated by unknown eunuchs.
Communal trouble is brewing in Madhya Pradeshs Dhar with the administration and a hard line Hindu group locked in a dispute over conducting rituals on Friday at a local shrine shared by Hindu and Muslims.

The Bhoj Utsav Samiti wants district officials to exempt them from rules of worship at Bhojshala  a disputed 11th century structure that Hindus claim as a Saraswati temple and Muslims call a mosque.

They want to conduct an Akhand (non-stop) puja on Friday to mark Vasant Panchami  also known as Saraswati Puja  but this would mean barring Muslims from entering the Bhojshala to offer prayers.

Rules designate Hindus to pray at the shrine on Tuesdays while Muslims can do so on Fridays. The Saraswati Puja last fell on a Friday in 2013, when police resorted to lathi-charge a Hindu congregation angry for being forced out of the Bhojshala to make way for namaz.

This year may see worse violence with the Samiti warning the administration that it may have to face the devotees wrath. It held a 35,000-strong rally on Monday and is mobilising devotees across the Malwa-Nimar region. If the devotees are not allowed to perform Akhand puja, there will be a reaction from the Hindus for which only the administration will be responsible, said Gopal Sharma, convener of Dharm Jagaran Vibhag, an outfit of the RSS.

The group has decided to hold the puja outside the Bhojshala premises, a move being seen as an attempt to incite local anger against the incompetent administration and foment communal tensions. If the namaz is held inside the Bhojshala, it would mean stopping the Saraswati puja for a couple of hours to allow the namaz. We are not agreeable to this, so we are holding puja outside the premises, said Samiti patron Vijay Singh Rathore.

The local MP Savitri Thakur appealed to the citys Muslims to not offer namaz on Friday to allow the Akhand Puja.

The administration is bound by directions issued by the Archaeological Survey of India that say Muslims have to be allowed to offer namaz between 1 and 3pm. But officials are being cautious. We cannot stop anyone from holding Saraswati puja outside the Bhojshala, but we can assure the premises is open for everyone and if anyone wants to offer puja inside the Bhojshala we will make all possible arrangements, said divisional commissioner Sanjay Dubey.

As directed by the ASI and decision taken by the administration, both puja and namaz would be held on Vasant Panchami. Muslim groups arent vocal and want the ASIs order to be obeyed so that they are allowed to offer namaz.
Even as the Congress high command remained silent on the issue of aligning with the Left for the Bengal polls later this year, and the CPI(M) waited for the outcome of its central committee meeting in Delhi, state leaders from the two parties shared an apolitical dais on Wednesday. The message: an alliance against the Trinamool was the political need of the moment.

Speaking at a seminar called Ensuing Elections - The Road Ahead, organised by Centre for Peace and Progress at the Kolkata Press Club, CPI(M) Politburo member and MP Md Salim, Congress spokesperson Om Prakash Mishra and Congress leader Arunava Ghosh stressed on the urgency to forge an alliance against the Trinamool Congress for the coming Assembly elections.

When our house is on fire, we seek help from our neighbours and overlook our differences. Bengal is burning and we have to unite in order to save her. It is not just the numbers but the ideology we share that will make the state a better place, Salim said.

In the evening, CPI(M) leader Suryakanta Mishra told party workers in East Midnapore, No matter what decision the central leaders take, the alliance is already working at the grassroots level.

Asked about the CPI(M)s decision to forge a coalition with Congress after 34 years of bitter rivalry in Bengal, he said: This coalition wont look at those 34 years but the coming 25 years. If the present government continues to be in power there will be no Bengal left after a few years.

The Congress leaders, too, spoke along the same line. We have to save the state. Unemployment, deteriorating law and order, poor education system are plaguing Bengal. Therefore, we must unite and fight, said Om Prakash Mishra, who has written two letters to Congress president Sonia Gandhi urging her to go for an alliance with the Left in Bengal. He was also part of the 15-member delegation that recently met Rahul Gandhi recently.
Anjala

Director: Thangam Saravanan

Cast: Vimal, Nandita, Pasupathy

Rating: 2/5

The most inspiring feature about Tamil cinema is its ability to think out of the box. Tamil films continue to amaze me, despite being a seasoned critic. Thangam Saravanans Anjala is an unusual plot about how a tea-shop is built on an absolutely arid land in the British India of 1913, and how the lone eatery on hostile wilderness spawns a community around it -- and ultimately a whole village.

Anjala begins with a couple wearily walking on a parched expanse of land. There is no vegetation--no trees, no shrubs. The husband and wife are going towards a village, but make a mid-day halt to quench their thirst. An English officer on horseback comes along, and orders them to move. But the couple stays on right there after the officer leaves, and decide to build a shack on the spot that eventually becomes the tea-shop.

Visaaranai review: Vetrimaaran shows realism at its harshest best

We are told in a voice over that while civilisations grew on river banks, the tea-shop village grew not by the side of a water body. And interestingly, the shop first becomes a place where travellers quench their thirst.

Anjala stars Vimal, Nandita and Pasupathy and has been directed by Thangam Saravanan. (Dhilip Subbarayan)

Anjala, that is the name of the tea-shop, later becomes a centre for social interaction -- as such eateries do in India, and elsewhere. Somewhat like a Hindu temple or maybe even a Christian church, Anjala -- as we see in the movie -- develops into a vibrant centre of social activity where men meet, where lovers exchange their first shy glances.

But, Anjala -- subsequently run by the son (Pasupathy, who is just called Owner) of the man who along with his wife erected the shack in 1913 -- also turns into a den, where a crook, unsuspecting to the owner and the boys who work there, hides counterfeit currency notes. And this leads to the owner being arrested, and his social esteem taking a severe beating.

Watch Anjala trailer here:

An important sub-plot is the romance between one of the boys working in the tea-shop -- Kavas (Vimal), and a college student, Utthara (Nandita). As Nandita waits opposite the shop every morning for her college bus, she falls in love with Kavas.

Bangalore Naatkal review: An engrossing remake of Bangalore Days

As much as the theme of Anjala may be unique, the films scripting and treatment leave a lot to be desired. Uttharas declaration of love for Kavas is artificial to the core, robbing the scene of certain tenderness, a certain beauty. Kavas response is equally silly and juvenile.

Utterly distasteful are the scenes that are meant to provide comic relief. Here we have huge burly men with unimpressive physical features wooing gorgeous-looking girls, and the whole train of thoughts and sequences can be described in just one word, ugh.

This kind of humour is crass, and adding to this lack of finesse are the needless songs and dances that do not push the narrative, but hamper and mar it.

It seems such a tragedy that a fascinating plot is messed up this way. But yes, Pasupathys extraordinarily dignified performance as the man who genuinely feels for the boys who work for him and the community around, stops Anjala from sinking to the very bottom.

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The property cell of Mumbai crime branch seized a 100 -year-old elephant tooth worth Rs 2 crore from a lodge in Grant Road on Wednesday, arresting four persons who had come to sell it in the city.

The accused include a share market broker and an imitation jewellery businessman, officials said, adding that they had been scouting for a buyer for many days.

The officials received a tip off from the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau about the antique tooth being brought to Mumbai.

After the accused Hitesh Joshi, Pravin Soni, Rajesh Dave and Dharam Gupta were tracked down to a lodge in Khetwadi area, a team of policemen posed as interested buyers to catch them.

We posed as decoys interested to buy the elephant tooth. They said that it was at least 10 decades old tooth and that heavy antique work was done on it. The older the tooth the higher is the glaze and it turns brownish. The deal was struck at Rs 6 crore, soon after which other team members entered the room and raided it, said a crime branch officer.

Investigations revealed that failing to get a potential buyer, they had kept possession of the tooth for at least 20 days. The police also suspect that the group might have been involved in illegal dealings before.

The tooth will now undergo a process of authentication in a bid to ascertain its actual age and to find its place of origination with the help of its peculiarities.

Officials said that the accused have named a person from whom they had allegedly procured the smuggled tooth, however, his whereabouts are yet to be traced.

A case under sections of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, with charges of prohibition of hunting, restriction on transportation of wildlife and dealing in animal articles without license, has been registered against the four accused at the DB Marg police station.

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Amol Rajan, editor of The Independent (London), has created some stir by deciding that his newspaper would revert to calling this city Bombay instead of Mumbai, which is the official name since 1995.

Rajans explanation is that, The whole point of Bombay is of being an open, cosmopolitan port city, the gateway of India thats open to the world.

Thats grandstanding in my opinion. My counter to him is that that is still the whole point of Mumbai too, name change notwithstanding. Would he now also call Beijing, Peking, as some on social media highlighted? Doubtful.

Perhaps Rajans motive was to stir things up, for his decision seems quite pointless otherwise: for his readership certainly, which really wouldnt care one way or the other.

I doubt too that anybody in Mumbai (and India)  apart from the Shiv Sena which chose to respond acrimoniously  would bother a whit about raking up an issue that is now thoroughly inconsequential.

The fact is, Bombay would have been Mumbai had the original name not been corrupted by the British. And those who believe in the ethos of Bombay are keeping that secure, whatever the name today.

So, while Bombay may not be the identity tag of the city, it is still a coveted state of mind, which really is of the essence.

On a more personal note, the name-game for this city reminds me of my first boss when I joined the profession as a rookie in the late 1970s who in his many columns and despatches would invariably refer to Bombay as Slumbay.

His pet peeve was the large and dense slum area around the Santa Cruz airport, not forgetting the drive into town, passing Mahim/Dharavi (there was no Sea Link then), Worli and to the office at Tardeo.

There were enough slums and ghettos along the way, and what got his goat was not just the terrible picture this presented of Indias foremost city (as Bombay was then) and financial capital, but also why people had to live in squalor for years on end. Why would anybody come here, for business or pleasure? was his constant refrain.

I was reminded of him while travelling into town from Bandra in the past couple of days. So much has changed in the past 40 years. And yet how much has changed where living standards for people are concerned (in the real sense) from the 1970s, is open to question.

Exiting from the Sea Link at Worli, one could see the city gearing up for the Make In India conclave starting this week-end, one of the biggest initiatives the country has embarked on in recent years.

This is merited and necessary. Mumbai is trying to showcase India to itself and the world. My concern, however, is where should this start and why should it end where it usually does.

Painting the curbs around Marine Drive, whitewashing walls of building compounds at Worli Seaface or making fresh zebra crossings along the route from the airport to Girgaum Chowpatty cannot hide a larger neglect visible all over Mumbai.

Visitors to the Make In India conclave may whizz past impressed, but those who live in the city know of the seediness: they see it everyday and in a myriad places to be bowled over by a temporary makeover.

Behind the facade the signs of neglect  in some instances even decay  stare you in the face. This can vary at different times: the potholes in the monsoon, the recent Deonar dump fire, the winter smog etc.

And yet, flip the coin and you are amazed at how easy it is to clean up the city for a few VIP visitors who will come for a few hours or a few days!

The need to spruce up the city for a big event and make a good impression is uncontestable. My question to the citys fathers and minders, however, is arent the denizens of this city the real VIPs and their lifeline?

Cosmetic changes cannot cover the degradation no matter whether you call the city Mumbai or Bombay. Why cant this same concern and diligence be shown every day?
We ought to be grateful to British newspaper editor Amol Rajan, who has selflessly decided to bear the burden of renaming our financial capital. In case you missed it: For our good, the Indian-origin helmsman of The Independent has decided to roll the clock back 21 years and rename Mumbai with its colonial name, Bombay.

In one deft stroke, he has punished the parochialists who burdened the Portuguese-British gift to our nation with a narrow Indian name that scarcely reflects its proud cosmopolitan heritage; he has also struck out fearlessly against the forces of intolerance that threaten to choke us.

Rajan has defended his move to (a sympathetic) BBC and will publish a note on Saturday to the readers of the Independent.

The Kolkata-born (is it now going to be Calcutta? The suspense is unbearable) Rajan suggests that Mumbai needs to choose one of its names for international purposes.

Wait a minute. Unless you have been living under a stone, didnt that debate end in 1995, when Maharashtra restored the local Maharashtrian name to the city?

That it was the Shiv Sena who did it is neither here nor there; that the Shiv Sena does a lot of nasty things doesnt really matter for the purposes of this (now, non-existent) debate. Countries and cities can call themselves what they want; Mumbai found easy acceptance internationally, and the change has been stable - there have been no calls to go back to the old name.

Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru may be relatively recent, but all renaming is the reflection of the same nationalist urge: It is just a question of degree. Should we go back to calling Kanpur, Cawnpore? Surely the renaming motive of an imperialist in a foreign land is somewhat less justified (and more obnoxious) than the renaming motive of a nationalist in his own nation?

The BBC interviewer raises the question of how to unravel the citys long history to keep everybody happy. The word everybody here ostensibly includes the British and the Portuguese, though why they should be kept happy isnt obvious. Clearly, this is another onerous burden poor Rajan is expected to assume: He seems to be a dutiful sort of person.

The interviewer, who feels Rajans pain in this vexatious issue of dealing with renaming names that have been renamed in the first place, also throws in a reference to army junta-named Myanmar, which bait Rajan takes; restoring the old name, in protest against the countrys loss of democracy, could be his next project.

Of course, beyond raising a few hackles, all this should matter only to the readers of the Independent (circulation, a modest 60,000), who will, sooner or later, get the impression they live in a time warp.
Showing apathy towards the justice Zora Singh Commission, an inquiry panel set up by the Punjab government to probe incidents of sacrilege and Behbal Kalan police firing, the district police have again failed to submit the required information to the panel despite repeated reminders since November 27, 2015.

Panel head justice (retd) Zora Singh, along with commission registrar, retired district and sessions judge Sher Singh, was here on Wednesday to gather information from the police and record statements of suspended senior superintendent of police (SSP) Charanjit Sharma, who was also summoned by the panel here after he failed to file an affidavit with the commission.

However, Charanjit Sharma, who was leading the police party that opened fire on a crowd, protesting against incidents of sacrilege, leaving two youths dead, appeared before the panel.

Sharma, who was earlier not replying to repeated letters by the panel, at about two- hour closed door meeting with the commission, filed an affidavit and recorded his statement before the panel. The panel had sent summons through director general of police (DGP) Suresh Arora on February 8.

Reliable sources said that the panel had been demanding information from the police regarding the incident and a report on the issuance of arms, weapons and ammunition and used ammunition.

The panel had also sought information on daily dairy reports (DDRs) of all the police stations, medico legal reports (MLRs) of the injured, inquest and autopsy reports of the killed.

Keeping in mind the necessity of versions from both the parties, the commission has been waiting for reply from the police, as any report based on the one-sided version is not worthy of credit, sources said.

Sources said that this was the main reason behind delay in the inquiry of this case as the police are not cooperating with the panel.

According to information, the panel correspondence, which was started from November 2015 onwards, with the SSPs of Moga, Mansa, Ferozepur, Muktsar, Bathinda, Faridkot and Ludhiana, failed to elicit complete information.

The panel has received only partial information from the police so far, while the public is cooperating with the panel and recording statements with them, sources said.

SSP of Moga Mukhwinder Singh Bhullar was reported to be on leave, but even the second-in-command Harjit Singh Pannu, superintendent of police-investigation failed to turn up to appear before the panel.

However, Pannu claimed that he had sent the requested information through an emissary, but the panel did not entertain him saying that they wanted the SSP to appear in person before the panel.

The panel didnt inform me that I could come on the SSPs behalf, but I sent all the information to the panel which was not received, said Pannu, when asked why you were not appeared before the panel.

Justice Zora Singh said that they had received the affidavit of SSP Charanjit Sharma and recorded his statement. Further investigation would be carried on the basis of his affidavit, he said.

Meanwhile, Zora Singh appealed to the public to contact them, if they have any information about the sacrilege incidents or the Behbal Kalan firing.

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Rural police on Wednesday faced a major blow in the car bomb blast case after a local court denied the permission for carrying out lie-detector, narco-analysis and brain-mapping tests of three accused.

The blast took place in a Maruti Swift Dzire car at Dugri village near here on December 5, killing one person and injuring another.

The police wanted the tests on Jagmohan Singh of Gadaipur, Hardeep Singh of Bholath and Harbhej Singh of Jiwan Nagar in Sirsa. They had moved an application on Tuesday in the court of judicial magistrate (first class) Mamta Kakkar in this regard.

On Wednesday, three of accused were brought from the jail and produced in the court by DSP Mandeep Singh and SHO Maqsudan police station Rupinder Singh.

The police through prosecution claimed that to get the clear picture of the entire conspiracy of this bomb blast case, the accused are needed to undergo these tests as they were not helping the cops in the interrogation. They were to be taken to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) headquarters in New Delhi if granted permission.

The defence consel argued that as per ruling of three-judge bench of Supreme Court in 2010 had held unconstitutional the use of narco-analysis, brain-mapping and polygraph tests on accused, suspects and witnesses without their consent..

He contended that as per the benchs ruling, the compulsory administration of the impugned techniques violates the right against self-incrimination.

After hearing the arguments, the court refused to sanction the same. SSP Harmohan Singh Sandhu said the accused did not give their consent for the tests.

A polygraph test (popularly known as a lie-detector test) measures and records several physiological indices such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration and skin conductivity while the subject is asked to answer a series of questions.

The brain-mapping test is done to map the brain to reveal a sense of guilt. It also helps to know whether a suspects brain matches information with that of the crime scene findings.
Its 400 times sweeter than the most common sweetener, sugar, and with zero calories attached. Planted once, its crop for five years, every four months. Growing it has been an even sweeter experience for Bangas income tax consultant Rajpal Singh Gandhi (56).

When stories of agrarian crisis were coming out, Gandhi was looking to get into agriculture after 10 years of advising people on a different kind of returns. Unlike the average farmer of Punjab, he had the money to take risk, which allowed him to not only grow this natural sweetener in the Kandi (sub-mountainous) area of the Shivalik foothills but also build a processing plant with hard research. Now stevia is big income to many small farmers; and awards, recognition and states are chasing Gandhi.

After bitter experience

The story with a happy ending had a depressing start. His 6-acre crop, 10 years of hard work, had turned out to be of no use in the absence of a processing unit in the country. We contacted the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, to assemble a prototype for us. Lakhs of rupees went into it but the unit still had many shortcomings. I had to work on it for two years, meeting scientists, engineers and innovators, but the result of our hard work is sweet, said Gandhi.

Initially, he started with growing kinnow over 35 acres in 2003. Lack of marketing facilities forced him in 2008 to reduce the crop are to less than a half. I tried planting potato and other vegetables, even gladiolus, but the marketing facilities remained poor and I looked to stevia, my wisest decision, a beaming Gandhi told HT.

Rajpal Singh Gandhs tissue-culture laboratory at Pojewal in Nawanshahr district. (Gurminder Singh/HT)

His stevia testing and research laboratory is certified by the Indian department of scientific and industrial research (DSIR) and his processing plant is built with soft loan from the department of biotechnology under the Ministry of Science and Technology. The ministry liked our innovative idea and the help came easy, he said.

The Rs 12-crore plant can process 5 tonnes of stevia leaves in a shift of 8 hours, which is equivalent to crop out of 5 acres. We turned challenges into opportunities and now we have the only stevia-processing unit in the country, says Gandhi.

A tissue-culture laboratory helps improve the plant variety. Gandhis company, Green Valley Farms, sells processed stevia under a brand name. Its in powder forms in sachets and containers. Stevia green tea is a hit on the market.

States chase him

Attracted by Gandhis story, the Gujarat government invited him last year to the Vibrant Gujarat investment summit, where they signed a deal to grow stevia over 2,500 acres in the Aravali and Kaparganj districts with a 100% buy-back clause and small farmers of the area. The invite came a fortnight before the summit, and when the meet ended, the deal was operational. Gujarat moves so fast, said Gandhi, adding: The chief secretary of the state had one-on-one meetings with me, and all issues were taken care of in no time.

Planted once, stevia crop for five years, every four months.

On February 28, he is going to sign an agreement with the Uttar Pradesh medicinal plant board in Lukhnow to grow the sweet crop over 4,000 acres, starting with 700 acres. Already the board grows medicinal plants over a large area and it plans to switch to stevia. Since the logistics are simpler, I plan to build a processing plant in UP, said the farmer.

On knowing that Gandhi had reached an agreement with Gujarat, Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal also invited him and built stevia promotion bureau in the state with additional chief secretary Suresh Kumar as its head and Gandhi as one of the members. I want to do more in Punjab, for which things need to move faster, said Gandhi.

In Punjab, he is helping farmers grow stevia over 25 acres in Gurdaspur, Ludhiana, and Ferozpur districts. It is my personal initiative. I plan to involve farmers to grow the crop over 450 acres by this season, he said.

Foreign tie-ups

Before coming into stevia-processing, Gandhi visited China and South American countries Colombia and Paraguay to get know about the plant. Paraguay claims stevia is its native crop, so I went there to learn, he said. He ended up signing agreements with Canadian company Pixels Health for as much Stevia powder as Gandhi could supply.

Last July, the Democratic Republic of Congo government took saplings from him to grow in the central African country, and now encouraged by the results, is willing to enter a buy-back arrangement with him.

Gandhi is only member from Punjab on the Indian Council of Food and Agriculture, a body of experts from different fields, with Father of Indian Green Revolution MS Sawaminathan as chief patron. In September 2014, he gave me an award, declaring that stevia growing was sweet revolution for health as wheat and paddy were Green Revolution against hunger, said Gandhi.

Future crop

India consumes 2.6 crore tonnes of sugar every year, and if given a choice, would like to shift to a healthier option  stevia, which is a zero-calorie sweetener, a kilogram of which has sweetness of 400 kilograms of sugar, which is also costlier. Japans 70% population has moved to stevia as a sweetener. After local issues are settled, says Gandhi, I would explore the market in Japan.

In November 2015, the Food and Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) approved stevia as a sugar substitute. Now companies such as Pepsi and Coca Cola are expected to use it in a big way in their already-launched zero-calorie aerated drinks Pepsi-next and Coke-life, says Gandhi.

Stevia facts

400 times sweeter than sugar

0 calories

Native of South America (Colombia, Brazil, Paraguay)

70% of Japan has switched to it

Approved as sugar substitute by FSSAI

Boon for farmers,environment

5 years of crop after being planted once

Harvest every 4 months

1/3rd of water requirement of wheat, paddy

Count your cash

Rs 60,000 input cost per acre (includes seeds, fertiliser, labour, logistics)

500 kg leaves per acre in each harvest (1,500 kg in three harvests a year)

Rs 100/kg market price in first year, with 10% increase every year, as sweet content in leaves keeps increasing

Rs 1.5 lakh return per acre in first year, with 10% increase every year

Rs 90,000 net income per acre in first year, Rs 1 lakh in second, Rs 1.1 lakh in third, up to Rs 1.5 lakh in fifth year (seeds and stems also source of income)

Tomorrow: Mushy over mushroom

Read earlier parts of the series

Riding pigs to prosperity

A honey trap thats worth it

Berries and melons, its an exotic crop cycle in Punjab

Milking profit, not cattle class anymore

Spicing it up with chilli farming

Flowering mini-Holland in Punjab

Farmer who knows his onions, gave peas a chance

A delicious saga of success

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Robbers decamped with Rs 3.83 lakh after uprooting a Tata Indicash automated teller machine (ATM) at an unguarded kiosk in Dhami Nagar market on the Mithapur road in the wee hours of Wednesday.

Its the seventh ATM robbery in the past 10 months in areas under the Jalandhar police commissionerates jurisdiction.

The latest incident happened despite two police nakas on the Mithapur road, one at the Gol Market chowk and the other at Cheema Chowk. The kiosk, which had no CCTV cameras, was being opened at 7am and locked at 10pm daily by Geeta Rani. She works as a maid in the building which houses the kiosk.

On Wednesday morning, Geeta found the lock broken and the ATM missing. She informed shopkeepers in the market.

As per company officials, the robbers struck at 3.31am. However, cops arrived at the spot at 11am when the media informed the police.

ACP Harjinder Singh, inspectors Nirmal Singh and Gurpreet Singh, accompanied by fingerprint experts and a dog squad, reached the spot and started a probe.

Cops suspect the involvement of the gang that looted a Punjab National Bank (PNB) ATM at Sarhali village on September 26 last year and a State Bank of India (SBI) ATM on October 6 in Jandiala locality of Jalandhar.

A case has been registered under sections 380 (theft in dwelling house) and 457 (lurking house trespass or house-breaking by night in order to commit an offence punishable with imprisonment) of the IPC on the statement of Ajay Kumar, a company superviser.

FACT FILE

Vulnerable district Jalandhar district has witnessed four ATM

robberies in as many months, including the February 10 incident.

January 16, 2016: Robbers decamp with Rs 11.91 lakh after breaking open an unguarded ATM of Union Bank of India branch at Basti Bawa Khel locality on busy Kapurthala road

November 14, 2015: Using gas cutters, a gang of thieves breaks open ATM of UCO Bank in Guru Gobind Singh Avenue; flee with Rs 12.1 lakh

October 6, 2015: Robbers take away Rs9.98 lakh from SBI ATM at Jandiala town, 22 km from Jalandhar city.
Amritsar : Even as the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have decided to jointly contest the 2017 assembly polls, SAD president and Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal here on Thursday ruled out any change in the seat-sharing arrangement between the two parties.

The BJP would continue to contest on 23 assembly seats (out of 117) in the state, he said after paying obeisance at the Golden Temple. The saffron party is apparently keen on renegotiating the old seat-sharing agreement so that it gets more seats for its candidates.

The SAD president, who met BJP chief Amit Shah in New Delhi on Tuesday to discuss the alliances future, said, We will continue to contest elections together. It wont be limited to the 2017 polls.

When asked about Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu and other BJP leaders opposition to continuing with the Akali-BJP alliance, the deputy CM opted to remain tight-lipped. He also did not comment on BJP leaders stand against the SAD candidate in the Khadoor Sahib bypoll.

Talking about the SAD plans for the 2017 assembly polls, Sukhbir said the party would give adequate representation to the youth and field some fresh faces.

On the Khadoor Sahib bypoll, he said it was unprecedented that opposition parties, including the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party, had pulled out of the contest as they feared a crushing defeat.

Commenting on comedian Gurpreet Ghuggis entry into AAP, he said this party was good only for entertaining people.

Replying to a question about Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singhs Pagri Sambhal Kisana campaign for farmers, the deputy CM quipped that it was a golden chance for Amarinder to tour villages, which he had not done during his tenure as CM.

Sukhbir said if the Captain was serious about his initiative, he should wake up early like chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and hear peoples grievances.

SGPC chief secretary Harcharan Singh, municipal corporation commissioner Pradeep Sabharwal, subdivisional magistrate Rohit Gupta, SGPC member Amarjeet Singh Chawla, Navdeep Singh Goldy and others were also present on the occasion.

Parliamentary board will decide: BJP

When contacted, BJP national secretary Tarun Chugh said any decision on seat-sharing with the Akalis would be taken by the BJPs parliamentary board. I should not comment on this issue since we have already talked to our national president (Amit Shah) in this regard during a recent party meeting in New Delhi, Chugh said.

The Punjab BJP had reportedly told Shah that the party was under-represented in Punjab and wanted to contest on more seats.

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Deputy commissioner Davinder Pal Singh has issued notices to tenants of a building here, which was used as a hideout by martyr Bhagat Singh and his associates and was recently declared as a protected monument by the state government.

The Punjab government has issued a notification to declare the hideout as a protected monument and now even putting a nail on its wall will be punitive as per law. The administration is chalking out a plan to provide an alternative site to the occupants of the building. Soon, the Archaeological Survey of India would take over the site. So we have issued notices to its tenants to vacate the same, said the DC.

The DC said the administration would try to rehabilitate the families occupying the building by offering them alternative accommodation.

At present, three shops are being run on the ground floor and a family is residing on rent on the first floor of the building.

The authorities should gear up quickly and not only protect the heritage building in letter and spirit, but also set up a library in memory of the martyrs before March 23, (martyrdom day) as a real tribute, demanded Rakesh Kumar, an author of various books on the life and times of Bhagat Singh and others.

About a year ago, the department of cultural affairs and museums, Punjab, through a notification, had invited objections to grant heritage status to the historic two-storey building located at Turi Bazaar. Thereafter, the matter was lying in limbo. The HT had highlighted the issue on January 1 while, on January 7, a notification for the same was issued by the state government.
Tributes were paid to legendary Sikh general Sham Singh Attariwala, known for his valour in the 1846 Battle of Sobraon against the British forces, during a state-level function held on Wednesday to mark his 170th martyrdom day.

Speaking on the occasion, former chief of army staff Gen JJ Singh (retd) said Attariwala had sacrificed his life for the prestige of the country, adding that his courage in the first Anglo-Sikh War had also been admired by the British.

General Attariwala, who fought the British forces till his last breath, would always be a source of inspiration for our younger generation, he said. Gen Singh also visited Attari, the martyrs native village, where he took a round of the General Sham Singh Attariwala Museum.

Office-bearers of the General Sham Singh Attariwala Trust presented a memento to Gen Singh. The latter honoured Attariwalas descendants with mementoes.

Punjab welfare minister Gulzar Singh Ranike said the state government had already spent nearly Rs 1,000 crore on constructing memorials dedicated to heroes and martyrs. Ranike said Attariwala was one of the greatest warriors of India who had preferred death to serfdom.

Deputy commissioner Varun Roojam; General Officer Commanding (GOC), 15 Infantry Division, Major Gen Sanjay Thapa, who laid a wreath on behalf of Lt Gen KJ Singh, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command; and Attariwalas descendants, including Col KS Sidhu, and

Col Harinder Singh; were among the others present on the occasion.
Australia said on Thursday that it will carefully consider if it can help the orphans of an Islamic State fighter and their Sydney-born mother, who both reportedly were killed in Syria, warning the children could pose a threat later in life.

Tara Nettleton, whose husband Khaled Sharrouf made headlines in 2014 when he posted an image on Twitter of his then seven-year-old son holding a severed head, died from either appendicitis or a kidney condition, the Sydney Morning Herald and other media reported.

Sharrouf is widely believed to have been killed in a drone strike last year in Iraq, an attack in which fellow Australian jihadist Mohamed Elomar also died.

The familys lawyer Charles Waterstreet told AFP the couples five children, aged between five and 14, were trapped in an undisclosed part of Syria and were in grave danger.

The 14-year-old girl, named in Australian media as Zaynab, gave birth to a child two months ago fathered by Elomar and was also looking after her younger siblings, Waterstreet said.

They are in grave danger. Weve been in contact with them and theres bombs falling everywhere and people are starving in the streets, the Sydney-based lawyer said, adding the children told their grandmother Karen Nettleton they want to get out of Syria.

Both their father and their mother are dead and theyre victims stuck in a hellhole and theyre Australians, and we should be doing everything we can to get them out.

Media reports said Nettleton might have died last year, with her mother only being informed about the death of her daughter in the last two weeks.

Immigration minister Peter Dutton said he was not able to confirm her death, although all Australians were provided with consular assistance regardless of their circumstances.

A combination photo of Sharrouf (L), and some of his children dressed in military garb and brandishing weapons in front of an Islamic State flag. (Photo courtesy: Twitter)

But he warned the childrens experiences since they were taken to Syria by their mother in 2014 to join their father, who left Australia in 2013, could influence the governments decision on whether they could return home.

The conditions under which people are brought back into our country would have to be considered very carefully, he told Sydney radio station 2GB.

Obviously any parent who is dangerous enough, crazy enough, to take young, impressionable children into that sort of an area obviously scars those children for life.

So ultimately the governments clear objective is to keep the Australian public safe and wed have to look at the individual circumstances to see what the kids may have been through, what theyve been exposed to, whether or not later in life they pose a threat.

Up to 49 Australians have been killed in the conflict in Iraq and Syria, with an estimated 110 nationals currently fighting or working with militant groups, domestic spy chief Duncan Lewis told a parliamentary hearing this week.

Some 190 Australians were actively supporting IS back home through fundraising, and some also hoped to join such groups in the Middle East, Lewis added.
A Bangladeshi court on Thursday upheld the death sentences given to the head of a banned Islamist group and two others for a 2004 grenade attack on a former British high commissioner.

A two-member panel of the high court comprising Justices Enayetur Rahim and Mohammed Amir Hossain rejected the appeal filed by Mufti Abdul Hannan, head of the Harkatul Jihad al-Islami (Huji), and two of his associates, said prosecutor Sheikh Moniruzzaman Kabir.

The attack was carried out on May 21, 2004 when the envoy, Anwar Choudhury, was visiting the Hazrat Shahjalal shrine in northeastern Sylhet city. Three people were killed and 17 others injured in the attack. Sylhet is the ancestral home of Choudhury, a Bangladeshi-origin Briton.

The high court also upheld the life sentences given to two others for the attack.

The five men were sentenced by a trial court in Sylhet in 2008.

The defendants can challenge Thursdays verdict in the appellate division of the Supreme Court.

Hannan is known to have led his group in taking part in some other attacks to eliminate enemies of Islam from Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority nation but largely ruled by secular laws.

He is behind bars after being convicted in some other cases, including an attack on then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina, now the prime minister, during a rally in Dhaka in 2004. That attack left 24 leaders and activists of Hasinas party dead and hundreds wounded.

Hannans group has been banned by authorities. The group, which campaigned for establishing Shariah or Islamic law in the country, had said it carried out the attack on the British envoy to send a message to the West that its representatives would not be spared after the killing of Muslims in Iraq and other parts of the world at the hands of American and British soldiers.
The Scotland Yard chief wants the police force to change its approach to allegations of sexual abuse and to not automatically believe the complainant, while showing empathy towards victims.

Speaking at a BBC event on Wednesday evening, commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe said it was time to reformulate the policy, which is likely to be considered in a review of police procedures in such cases.

The review was announced following criticism of the polices handling of high-profile investigations into claims of historical sex abuse.

The Inspector of Constabulary had said in 2014 that the presumption that a victim should always be believed should be institutionalised, but Hogan-Howe said this advice had confused officers.

He said: My point would be of course weve got to be empathetic. We want people to believe were going to listen to them, we want to be open minded, what they tell us and then what the suspects tell us, and then weve got to test all that evidence.

I think there is a grave danger at the moment with the advice that is around that perhaps there is a tendency to think that we will always believe any complaint that is made and thats not wise for any good investigator, nor as it would be for any journalist.

However, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children said it was deeply concerned with the proposed move away from a position where a victim should always be believed to a more neutral one where a victim is not automatically given the benefit of the doubt.

An NSPCC spokesperson said: Victims of sexual abuse have the right to be believed just as much as anyone reporting a burglary or physical assault. Police officers should have an open mind and execute the normal tests and investigations to verify the veracity of what is being alleged.

Telling those who have been sexually abused they will no longer be automatically believed seems to be a panic measure which could have an adverse effect on a crime the government has classified as a national threat.

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Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO and the only woman in the Republican race for the White House, has dropped out after performing poorly in Iowa and New Hampshire.

New Jerseys tough-talking governor Chris Christie, who too performed badly in the nominating contests in those two states, has also announced he is leaving the race.

Their exit leaves seven candidates still in the race for the party nomination  the seventh, Jim Gilmore, is hardly noticed but he is still there  which is now focussed on South Carolina.

There are only two in the Democratic race, in comparison, and they will be squaring off in their first post-New Hampshire debate on Thursday, ahead of the Nevada caucuses.

Fiorina announced her exit in a post on her Facebook page on Wednesday. This campaign was always about citizenship  taking back our country from a political class that only serves the big, the powerful, the wealthy, and the well connected. Election after election, the same empty promises are made and the same poll-tested stump speeches are given, but nothing changes. Ive said throughout this campaign that I will not sit down and be quiet. Im not going to start now.

While I suspend my candidacy today, I will continue to travel this country and fight for those Americans who refuse to settle for the way things are and a status quo that no longer works for them.

Fiorina had presented herself as a successful private sector executive  an outsider  who could take on Hillary Clinton without running the risk of being labelled sexist.

She was good in the debates, graduating to the main stage from the undercard league. But her campaign never did catch traction, and she wasnt able to build an organisation.

File photo of US Republican presidential candidate and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie who ended his campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination after his disappointing sixth place showing in the New Hampshire primary. (REUTERS)

Christie too couldnt break into the top league. He did well in the debates, but got bumped down once to the undercard league because of weak poll numbers.

He decided to focus on New Hampshire from an early stage, hoping it would give him the bounce needed to set his campaign rolling. He fared poorly there, which left him with little choice.

While running for president, I tried to reinforce what I have always believed: that speaking your mind matters, that experience matters, that competence matters and that it will always matter in leading our nation, Christie wrote on his Facebook page.

That message was heard by and stood for by a lot of people, but just not enough, and thats OK.

His devastating take down of Marco Rubio in the last debate, however, will be remembered for a long time, more so if Rubio, who took a knock because of it, doesnt recover.
India and the United States have held informal discussions on conducting joint naval patrols, according to a United States Defense official, but no decisions have been taken yet.

But the official said the South China Sea did not figure in those discussion contrary to a report published on Wednesday, that even said the two countries planned to start those patrols within the year.

I can confirm that some informal discussions on joint patrols in general have occurred, a Defense official told HT at first in response to a request for comments to the report by Reuters.

The official got back later in the day to add, We are not aware of any discussions that included the SCS (South China Sea) as a proposed area for Joint patrols.

Reuters reported that joint naval patrols being discussed could include the South China Sea, which is likely to anger China given its claim over most of the waterway.

It added that the two countries were hoping to launch the joint patrol within the year, likely in the Indian Ocean where India is major player as well as in the South China Sea.

Sources in the Indian defence ministry told HT that the report was highly speculative.

US department of Defense spokesman Commander Bill Urban said in a statement: The United States and India continue to explore ways to deepen our defence cooperation, including in the area of maritime security. The US Department of Defense and the India Ministry of Defence prioritized this area of cooperation in the Framework for the US-India Defense Relationship signed by Secretary Carter and Minister Parrikar in June 2015. We continue to work with our Indian counterparts on how and where to expand engagement in this area.

He added: On the matter of joint patrols, no decisions have been made and we do not have any additional details to provide at this time.

An Indian navy spokesman told Reuters Indian navy has never carried out joint patrols with other countries, and there was no change in its policy of only joining UN-led operations abroad.

Thats why India chose to conduct anti-piracy operations on its own, the spokesman told the new agency, and did not join a multi-nation effort.
The world leader in vaccine manufacturing, Merck, is hunting for solutions to address mosquito-borne Zika infection.

The Zika virus is spreading rapidly through Latin America. Most people who contract it have either mild or no symptoms, but it is suspected of causing a birth defect that results in babies born with abnormally small heads.

Merck was called up to ask if we can help... We have a long-standing commitment to public health and vaccine innovation. We are assessing if Merck can contribute to reduce the disease burden caused by the spread of Zika infection, Patrick Bergstedt, global head,vaccines at Merck &Co told HT. There are currently many unknowns about the virus, its transmission and how best to interrupt transmission through vaccination, treatment or other measures.

Merck has emerged as the sole company developing vaccine to protect against Ebola.

Indian biotechnology company Bharat Biotech said last week that it is working on two possible vaccines to fight the Zika virus. Biotechs announcement came a day after Frances Sanofi said it had launched a project to develop a Zika vaccine. Japanese drugmaker Takeda Pharmaceutical also said it was investigating the possibilities of developing a vaccine for the disease.

Read: Indian Cos Zika vaccine claim raises questions on import of live virus

In 2014, Merck was the vaccine industry leader with total vaccine sales revenue of $6.25 billion, followed by Sanofi Pasteur with $5.85 billion, GSK with $5.26 billion, Pfizer with $4.48 billion, and Novartis with $1.53 billion as per the industry estimates.

There are no known cases of Zika in India yet though the government has issued an advisory asking expectant mothers to avoid travelling to affected countries, most of them in Latin America.

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A Pakistani court on Thursday granted two weeks time to a petitioner to inform it under which law Pakistan could seek return of the famed Kohinoor diamond from Britain that India has also been trying to recover from the United Kingdom for years.

Petitioner Barrister Javed Iqbal Jaffrey told the Lahore high court that Kohinoor diamond was a Pakistan asset as it is in illegal possession of Britain.

The British government had refused to hand over the diamond to India. Now Pakistan should lay claim on it as it is first entitled to have it. It is the Pakistani governments duty to bring it back, he said.

During the hearing of the case, Lahore high court Justice Khalid Mahmood Khan asked the petitioner to give reference of the law under which the Pakistani government could seek the return of the diamond from the British government.

The court is hearing the maintainability of the case.

It directed the federal and Punjab law officers to appear on next hearing on February 25 and give arguments about its maintainability.

Last December, the LHC Registrar office had objected to the maintainability of the petition, saying the court had no jurisdiction to hear this case against the British Queen.

However, on February 8, the LHC overruled the objection and admitted the petition for hearing.

The British Queen, the British High Commission in Pakistan and the Pakistani government have been made respondents in the case.

Jaffery said the British had stolen the diamond from Daleep Singh, grandson of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh and took to the UK.

The diamond became part of the crown of incumbent Queen Elizabeth-II at the time of her crowing in 1953. Queen Elizabeth has no right on the Kohinoor diamond, which weighs 105 carats and worth billions of rupees, he said, adding that the Kohinoor diamond was part of the cultural heritage of Punjab province, and therefore its citizens owned it.

In 1849, after the conquest of the Punjab by the British forces, properties and assets belonging to the Sikh Empire were reportedly confiscated by the East India Company.

The Kohinoor was transferred to the treasury of the British East India Company in Lahore. The properties of the Sikh Empire were taken as ad hoc war reparations. There was even one line of the Treaty of Lahore specifically dedicated to the fate of the Kohinoor.

The diamond was handed to Queen Victoria in 1850.
The Pentagon is currently putting money into the research and development of a tiny microchip called "Eyeriss," small enough to fit inside mobile devices, which possesses artificial intelligence on par with the human brain and will eventually be used on the battlefield, according to the Daily Mail. This palm-sized processor contains 168 cores and is modeled after the neural networks that make up the human brain that its amazing computing power. To put things into perspective, most processing chips in smartphones have just four cores.

The Pentagon plans to use this technology on the battlefield in drones and robots to allow them to conduct learning in real-time and eliminate the need for human observation and analysis. For example, a drone running on Eyeriss could identify targets and alert ground troops of their presence.

The use of this technology on the battlefield could help reduce the time and money needed to train human soldiers, according to Sputnik International, as well as eliminate the need for human analysts monitoring drones and satellites, according to Activist Post.

"Human observation and analysis of [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] assets is essential, but the training of humans is both expensive and time-consuming," said DARPA. "Human performance also varies due to individuals' capabilities and training, fatigue, boredom, and human attentional capacity."

The chip, which is being developed by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), is 10 times as efficient as a mobile GPU and may also be used in smartphones to allow them to run artificial-intelligence algorithms more effectively.

"Deep learning is useful for many applications, such as object recognition, speech, face detection," said Vivienne Sze, head of the group who developed the new chip. "Right now, the networks are pretty complex and are mostly run on high-power GPUs.You can imagine that if you can bring that functionality to your cell phone, you could still operate even if you don't have a Wi-Fi connection."

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After seeing the two remaining candidates for the Democratic nomination go head-to-head for the first time just a week ago, we're set to see round two of the Clinton-Sanders one-on-one debate dynamic. Hosted by PBS and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the sixth installment will air at 9 p.m., according to the network.

This debate comes on the heels of the New Hampshire First-In-The-Nation primary, in which former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's campaign took a hit, conceding defeat to Sen. Bernie Sanders shortly after the polls closed at 8 p.m., with Sanders collecting 60 percent of the vote in his neighboring state. Some have pointed to the victory giving an air of electability to the Sanders campaign, hurting the Clinton-backed argument for the reverse, as HNGN previously reported.

Clinton's campaign took perhaps a larger hit the day before the primary, however, when the FBI announced it will be conducting an official probe into her ongoing email scandal. Clinton is faced with a real challenge leaving New Hampshire, as her momentum appears to have disappeared, and she's facing controversy, as Fox News reported. She will need to bounce back on Thursday as the campaigns head next to South Carolina, a state where she holds a commanding lead.

Sanders, on the other hand, has seen an enormous surge after a large victory in New Hampshire, including a $2.6 million fundraising bump after his primary win. However, Sanders still has an uphill battle ahead of him heading into South Carolina and Nevada, as he struggles to maintain support among black and Latino voters, a demographic that will be crucial outside of primarily white Iowa and New Hampshire.

This debate was previously scheduled and not added last minute, so it should attract more than the 4.5 million viewers the previous debate saw, according to Politico.

What: The sixth Democratic Debate.

When: Thursday, Feb. 11, at 9 p.m.

Where: The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Who: Moderators include Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff of the "PBS NewsHour."

Candidates participating

9 p.m. debate - The debate will feature Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

Rules

The rules will follow similar structure to the previous debate, and the questions will cover trade, Wall Street influence, the Iraq War, wages and progressivism.

How To Watch

You can watch the debate on PBS, and it will be simulcast on CNN. It will also be streamed on PBS's website, here.

Online: Follow HNGN's President and editorial director Michael Bullerdick (@mbullerdick) for his live tweets during both events!

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.

Debate Drinking

International Business Times

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."

This is only the sixth debate 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

Sunday, March 6, 2016

Democratic Primary Debate

Location: Flint, Michigan

Sponsors: TBD

Candidates: Clinton, Sanders

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Univision Democratic Primary Debate

Location: Miami Dade College in Miami, Florida

Sponsors: Univision, The Washington Post

Candidates: Clinton, Sanders

April, 2016

Democratic Primary Debate

Location: TBD

Sponsors: TBD

Candidates: Clinton, Sanders

May, 2016

Democratic Primary Debate

Location: TBD

Sponsors: TBD

Candidates: Clinton, Sanders

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Carly Fiorina is dropping out of the Republican presidential race following a disappointing finish in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary, according to Politico. The former Hewlett-Packard CEO, who made her announcement on Facebook, had trouble gaining traction throughout the primary season thus far and finished seventh in New Hampshire, ahead only of Ben Carson.

"While I suspend my candidacy today, I will continue to travel this country and fight for those Americans who refuse to settle for the way things are and a status quo that no longer works for them," Fiorina said in the Facebook post, according to CNN.

Fiorina, who has never held political office, struck a defiant tone, saying she "will not sit down and be quiet" in fighting against the "political class."

"This campaign was always about citizenship - taking back our country from a political class that only serves the big, the powerful, the wealthy, and the well connected," Fiorina said, according to NBC News. "Election after election, the same empty promises are made and the same poll-tested stump speeches are given, but nothing changes. I've said throughout this campaign that I will not sit down and be quiet. I'm not going to start now."

Fiorina also addressed her role as the only woman in the once large Republican field. "To young girls and women across the country, I say: do not let others define you," she said, USA Today reported. She also appeared to hit Gloria Steinem and Madeleine Albright, who made controversial statements about women and their lack of support for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. "Do not listen to anyone who says you have to vote a certain way or for a certain candidate because you're a woman. That is not feminism."

Fiorina's New Hampshire results and subsequent decision to leave the race are not a complete surprise. In the last debate before the primary, Fiorina was the only major candidate still in the race who did not make the stage, despite a campaign to overturn the decision. She called on the Republican National Committee "to act in the best interest of the Party that it represents," but it was to no avail.

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Drita D'Avanzo, star of VH1's hit reality series "Mob Wives," was arrested yesterday on assault charges after she was involved in a verbal dispute that turned into a physical altercation with another woman, reported TMZ. Around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, D'Avanzo reportedly got involved in an argument with a woman in the woman's home in the Tottenville neighborhood of Staten Island, N.Y., NYPD Detective Hubert Reyes told the Staten Island Advance. The verbal dispute escalated and D'Avanzo, 40, punched the woman multiple times before fleeing the scene. She was later arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault. She was released later that evening and is due back for a March 9 court date.

A source with information on the incident revealed the woman's identity as Mary Bratti, according to the Staten Island Advance. Bratti is a former chef for the Italian restaurant Enoteca Maria in the St. George neighborhood of Staten Island.

D'Avanzo, who is known for her explosive temper on the show, has also gotten into multiple physical altercations with her cast mates in previous seasons of "Mob Wives."

Following her arrest, D'Avanzo chose not to address her charges, but she broke her social media silence today by teasing details for an upcoming event at one of her two beauty supply stores on Staten Island.

"I will be holding an event at my store next Sat!!!! Posting details soon:)) #MakeupPartayyyyy," D'Avanzo wrote on Twitter.

See her tweet below.

I will be holding an event at my store next Sat!!!! Posting details soon:)) #MakeupPartayyyyy  Drita Davanzo (@DritaDavanzo) February 10, 2016

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As many as 30 email accounts, some belonging to Hillary Clinton's top aides, handled "top secret" information discovered on the former secretary of state's private unsecured email server, reported Fox News.

An unnamed U.S. government source told the news outlet that accounts belonging to top Clinton aides Huma Abedin, Cheryl Mills, Jake Sullivan and Philippe Reines handled some of the 22 top secret messages. Highly sensitive information was also found on the account of State Department Under Secretary for Management Patrick Kennedy.

Another source told Fox that as many as 30 accounts may have transmitted the information.

The State Department has retroactively classified at lower levels more than 1,500 emails found on Clinton's server. For the first time last month, it confirmed that 22 were classified as top secret. The top secret messages were not released publicly, even in redacted form, because the information posed such a great risk to national security. At least one of the emails contained "oblique" references to CIA assets, according to the New York Times.

It was these top secret messages that were found on the accounts of at least a dozen of Clinton's aides, the official told Fox News.

The State Department said its Diplomatic Security and Intelligence and Research bureaus plan to investigate whether any of the information was classified at the time it was transmitted, according to the Associated Press.

The FBI confirmed to the State Department this week that it is investigating Clinton to determine if she mishandled classified information.

Clinton insists that she never sent information that was marked classified at the time, and has suggested Republicans are taking advantage of her email arrangement to hurt her presidential aspirations.

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Identical twins Stephanie Edginton and Nicole Montgomery do practically everything together, but they didn't expect they would give birth to their daughters at the same hospital, on the same day and in a matter of six minutes.

The twins, who live in New Jersey, were both admitted to the Virtua Hospital in Voorhees on Monday, Feb. 8. However, Edginton was supposed to have given birth last Feb. 5 and when that didn't happen, she was booked to see the doctor Monday.

"We actually had a doctor's appointment today," Edginton told Action News. "So we got there and they were like, 'You have to go to the hospital.' We get a call that Nicole and Rich are on their way, too."

Meanwhile, Montgomery was not due to give birth until Valentine's Day, according to Daily News. She was excited to learn that her twin was getting to the hospital about the same time.

The twin sisters were situated across each other at the hospital's labor wing and they were able to check on each other in their rooms. "I feel very blessed to be going through this with my best friend," said Montgomery.

Hours later, the twins delivered Cora, Edginton's daughter, and Lousia, Montgomery's daughter, just six minutes apart. The twins themselves were born three minutes apart.

The twins believe their daughters will share a special bond just like their moms who have the same jobs and went to the same college and we members of the same sorority.

Identical twins giving birth on the same day is a rare occurrence, but it also happened last year in Texas when Karen and Kathy Escobar gave birth to their babies within hours of each other, Click 2 Houston reported. Kathy had a daughter, while Karen delivered a baby boy.

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The constitutional court in Colombia has revoked all mining licenses in the country's paramo regions  the moorland areas of the Andes Mountains that are above the tree line but below the permanent snow line. This ruling overrides part of the government's National Development Plan, which in 2014 had banned the creation of new mining licenses but permitted the existing 347 contracts to remain, according to Colombia Reports.

With this ruling, the court ordered a complete and immediate termination of mining activity in the region, nullifying Article 173 of the National Development Plan that had protected the previously contracted mining operations. Article 173 had been challenged by environmental activists and the left-leaning opposition party Polo Democratico, explains TeleSUR.

"First life, and then business," Polo Democratico member Alirio Uribe Munoz said on Twitter after the ruling was announced on Monday. The court stated that mining for gold and oil in the delicate mountain ecosystems could cause irrevocable damage.

In addition to striking a blow at international mining operations in the country, the court ruling is a win for the country's biodiversity and is ultimately beneficial for Colombia's major cities, which rely on the paramos as a water supply, according to Latin Correspondent. These ecosystems gather water from rain and mists and create a filtration system into rivers and streams, storing water during the rainy season and releasing it during the dry season for around 70 percent of Colombia's population, as The City Paper explains.

The court also revoked an article that barred displaced victims of Colombia's half-century armed conflict from claiming land that had been seized by the government for projects of supposed "strategic national interest," explains Colombia Reports. The court says that this is practice goes against the constitutional rights of the dispossessed victims.

The Colombian paramos are mainly found between an altitude of 9,850ft and 16,500ft, according to the BBC.

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In an extremely rare phenomenon, a female shark that has not had any contact with males in more than two years is preparing to give birth to two babies, according to the Daily Mail. The shark, which is a white spotted bamboo, has been held at Great Yarmouth Sea Life Center since 2013 after being removed from the badly flooded sister center in Hunstanton. Since her rescue, she has been the only member of her species at the center, yet despite this she has produced two fertile eggs that are set to hatch in approximately nine months.

"They will be the first such births in the Sea Life network and we're excited and privileged to be expecting such a miraculous event," said Darren Gook, a marine biologist and shark expert.

If the births are a success, the event will mark the first time that it has occurred in the U.K., according to the Daily Express, and the babies will be an example of conception without a male, a phenomenon that has only been observed in sharks thus far. Furthermore, the discovery comes just days after the announcement of a second-generation virgin birth in Germany in the same bamboo shark species.

"The process is called 'parthenogenesis' and has long been known to occur in domestic chickens and some reptiles, but was not recorded in sharks until 2008," Gook said. "Females somehow manage to add an extra set of chromosomes to their eggs to produce offspring which are either clones or half-clones of themselves."

"It's been recorded in bonnethead, blacktip and zebra sharks as well as white spotted bamboos," he added. "It was assumed offspring born this way were infertile and it was an evolutionary dead end, but events in Germany have now disproved that."

One potential evolutionary benefit of asexual reproduction is its ability to ensure that survival of a species in the face of a drastic decrease in numbers that makes it difficult for males to locate females and vice versa, according to The Guardian.

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After more than a month of intense standoffs with authorities, the last four members of the anti-government protesters who barricaded themselves in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon might finally be on the verge of surrendering, according to Reuters.

Though negotiations with the final four occupiers are still ongoing, federal agents have nonetheless surrounded the area where the anti-government armed protesters are located. As of writing, reports say that FBI agents have moved to within 50 yards of the occupiers.

The last four occupiers, identified as David Fry, Jeff Banta, and husband and wife Sean and Sandy Anderson, have been adamant in their protest, even after the leader of the occupiers, Ammon Bundy, was arrested. Another protester, Robert "LaVoy" Finicum, a rancher who was sympathetic to the group's goals, was killed in a violent confrontation with authorities, reports RT News.

After 40 days in the refuge, the final four might finally be on the verge of raising the white flag. Negotiators have been trying to coax the occupiers out of hiding, but Sandy Anderson, speaking for the remaining occupiers in the refuge, stated that they are not leaving without any means to defend themselves.

"We're not leaving without our weapons," she said.

The FBI, however, has allegedly provided the occupiers with specific instructions as to how they must surrender.

"We have to walk to them with our hands raised, no weapons, I told them we'll be carrying an American flag," one of the occupiers said, according to Breaking News.

The occupation of the Malheur refuge was originally - per the protesters - a means to protest against federal land management in the area. It was also reportedly a means to show anger over the arson convictions of two ranchers who were sentenced under an anti-terror law.

For more U.S. news, click here.

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With a huge number of migrants attempting to cross the Aegean Sea, the business of people-smuggling has experienced a resurgence. In order to address the issue, a number of NATO members have appealed to the international organization for aid in curbing the smugglers' activities, according to BBC News.

Among the NATO members, Turkey, Germany and Greece have appealed for help. During a meeting in Brussels, the request of the three nations was heard and considered.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter stated on Thursday that the NATO Maritime Group has been mobilized in the Aegean Sea in order to provide migrant and refugee crisis support, reports Breaking News.

Of course, among the primary objectives of the Maritime Group is to provide a definitive means to effectively end the practice of human smuggling between Turkey and Greece.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg stated that a number of the organization's warships would be among the ships deployed in the area. With the formidable battleships in the area, reconnaissance and surveillance activities would significantly be more effective, reports Newser.

Stoltenberg further added that NATO's supreme European commander U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove has already ordered NATO Standing Maritime Group 2 to be deployed in the Aegean Sea "without delay," adding that the ships "will start to move now."

For more world news, click here.

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Two sheriff's deputies were killed Wednesday when a lone gunman, who was killed in the resulting shootout, opened fire inside a Panera Bread restaurant at a busy Maryland shopping center during lunchtime, authorities said.

The first shooting took place inside the Panera after a deputy responded to a call at 11:46 a.m. about someone causing a problem, reported the Associated Press. One witness, 15-year-old Sophia Faulkner, said she and her mother were at the restaurant at the time and almost sat near the suspect but decided not to because he appeared "sketchy" and disheveled.

He was sitting at the back and hadn't ordered anything, eventually prompting a sheriff's deputy to be called to the restaurant about a disturbance. The deputy sat next to the suspect and tried to ask him how he was doing, but he was shot in the head.

"I saw him fall back out of his chair, and the blood started coming out," Faulkner said, according to Fox News. "I didn't know how to process it. My mom said, 'What's going on?' and I said, 'Get down, someone just got shot."'

The deputy was rushed to the hospital but succumbed to his injuries.

The suspect then fled the scene, and shortly afterwards responding officers arrived, receiving a description of the suspect and the general direction in which he was headed. At least three deputies caught up to the suspect, and the four engaged in a shootout, leaving the suspect dead at the scene and one deputy wounded, who also died later after succumbing to injuries, according to the International Business Times.

The other two deputies involved in the incident have been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.

The suspect was later identified as 67-year-old David Evans, who has two outstanding warrants, one for assaulting an officer in Florida and another for unspecified reasons in Maryland.

With his history in mind, authorities say they believe he opened fire because of police involvement. "I think the suspect took that action because he was wearing a police uniform," the sheriff said about the first deputy who was shot. "He certainly targeted him."

Investigators believe Evans acted alone.

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A new weather system developing in the central U.S. is headed east and may be bringing more snow and ice along with it. After a couple recent storms and expected extreme cold this weekend, the Midwest and Northeast may see some additional snowfall early next week, as The Weather Channel reported.

The weekend cold is being set up by a swath of high pressure in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, bringing in Arctic air while low pressure pushes the northward-returning moisture east from the south, according to Weather Underground. This moisture is being pulled into frigid air, which has potential to usher in an early couple days of wintry weather.

Due to the strong Arctic front of cold arriving this weekend, areas in the Midwest from Detroit, Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio, could be hit by snow squalls, with places in the Northeast ranging from New York City, Baltimore and up to Boston also potentially being affected, Accuweather reports. Visibility will be very low - reduced to near zero.

Boston's coldest morning in 12 years? See the potentially record-breaking #cold temps ahead for the Northeast.https://t.co/e14cVDjiTS  The Weather Channel (@weatherchannel) February 11, 2016

Communities in the Great Lakes areas should expect to see continued snow from the lake effect, even after the drier part of the Arctic air takes over later on Saturday.

Sunday to Sunday night will bring potential light snow to areas in the Midwest, across to the Ohio Valley and Appalachians, per The Weather Channel. Sleet and freezing is possible later in the evening, spreading from the Ozarks to the Tennessee Valley and upstate South Carolina.

The Northeast is in the best position for potential snowfall along the I-95 corridor, according to Weather Underground. The South may see icy conditions throughout parts of the Carolinas, Virginia and Maryland. The weather in the days following Valentine's Day will all depend on the strength of the low-pressure system moving through the east. At the very least, the Northeast and mid-Atlantic will see precipitation in the form of rain, icy rai, or a mixture of snow and ice, though the details of the forecast heading into Monday night and on to Tuesday are uncertain as of now.

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A cross-country Alaska Airlines flight was diverted to Denver after an intoxicated passenger became abusive and began to yell threats at flight crew and other passengers, the airline said late Tuesday.

The incident began Tuesday evening when Flight 769 was en route to San Diego from Boston after a male passenger "became disruptive" after being told he couldn't drink the alcohol he brought onboard, Clair Conroy, one passenger, recalled, according to Newsmax.

"He got very belligerent, saying, 'OK, but you know that now we are all going to die.' He kept saying, 'I'm not a terrorist but we're going to die.' He then started making threats at the passengers," Conroy explained.

The situation further escalated after the man was told by flight attendants to calm down, prompting him to start threatening flight crew.

"He was told to calm down by flight crew, and then became agitated and verbally abusive, even issuing a threat to flight crew," airline spokeswoman Ann Zaninovich said, according to NBC News.

Despite the Boeing 737 being more than three hours into its flight and cruising at an altitude of 32,000 feet in the air, the pilot made a decision taken "out of an abundance of caution" to divert the plane to the closest airport, which happened to be in Denver.

Police boarded the plane and escorted the man off the flight as passengers cheered.

The flight was delayed for about 45 minutes before resuming its journey to San Diego, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Heath Montgomery, spokesman for Denver International Airport, cited a "possible passenger disturbance" as the cause for the flight diversion, adding that no charges have been brought against the passenger in relation to the incident.

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The Congressional Black Caucus' political action committee on Thursday formally endorsed Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination, saying the former secretary of state has spent her career dedicated to causes important to them.

"When we needed someone to rally Democrats, and especially African Americans, Hillary Clinton has been there. When there are issues that were important to our constituents, Hillary Clinton has been there," Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., chairman of the CBC PAC, said at a news conference in Washington on Thursday morning, according to The Washington Post.

"She's been our partner long-term. We believe she's made a difference, and she has helped us and helped this country by helping elect Democrats across the board," he added.

The endorsement was issued after the CBC PAC's 19-member board privately voted to back her. Rival candidate Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders received no votes and two people abstained, according to The New York Times.

The CBC PAC made sure to note that the endorsement was not made on behalf of the caucus' 46 members, but only on behalf of the board, which reportedly did not consult with the other members. At least 36 members of the caucus have backed Clinton, according to the Times.

It's a serious blow for Sanders, who along with Clinton, is scrambling to solidify support among the large percentage of black Democratic voters in South Carolina ahead of the Feb. 27 primary election. The CBC PAC said it will send as many as 12 members to campaign in the state for Clinton over the weekend, and will also donate the maximum allowed amount to her campaign.

For his part, Sanders just picked up a historically large 22-point win in New Hampshire, which along with a Wednesday meeting with Rev. Al Sharpton and the backing of influential black author Ta-Nehisi Coates and singer Harry Belafonte, leaves Clinton supporters worried that he could start winning over her black votes.

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Abu Dhabi-based hotel operator, One to One Hotels and Resorts, has appointed two new executives to support the chains rapid expansion plans in Saudi Arabia. Ansal Thaha has been appointed as the regional operations manager for the Marbia Suites One to One Hotels & Resorts. Thaha will be responsible for managing One to One Grand Marbia Suites and One to One Marbia Khobar, as well as One to One Marbia Suites Dammam. Bringing more than 15 years experience, Thaha has worked with many hotel operators such as Holiday Inn and Coral Hotels & Resorts before taking up his new role.
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has announced the signing of a dual branded hotel development near Heathrow Airport, London. The two hotels Holiday Inn London - Heathrow Bath Road and Staybridge Suite London - Heathrow Bath Road will operate under a franchise agreement with Bathroad Corp Sarl.

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has announced the signing of a dual branded hotel development near Heathrow Airport, London. The two hotels Holiday Inn London - Heathrow Bath Road and Staybridge Suite London - Heathrow Bath Road will operate under a franchise agreement with Bathroad Corp Sarl.

Due to open in 2018, the 190 room Staybridge Suites property will be built alongside a new 433 room Holiday Inn hotel. Located on Bath Road, the hotels are close to the main entrances to Terminals 1,2&3 of Heathrow Airport, one of the world's major international airports, serving 75 million air passengers annually.

Holiday Inn London - Heathrow Bath Road will feature the brand's signature Open Lobby, which takes a unique approach to the in-hotel experience for guests. The Open Lobby combines the front desk, lobby, restaurant, bar, lounge area and business centre into one open, cohesive space, and has a refreshing new design to give it a more contemporary feel.

The Staybridge Suites London - Heathrow Bath Road will feature spacious studios and one-bedroom suites, which are well thought out for apartment living. The suites include fully equipped kitchens, LED TV's, large work areas, air conditioning and free wireless internet throughout.

With both hotels in the same building, the dual branded model allows for operational efficiencies through shared facilities and amenities whilst at the same time as offering guests a choice of accommodation to fit their needs. These two hotels will also contain seven meeting rooms, an onsite gym each and over 300 parking spaces.

Philip Lassman, Development Director, UK & Ireland, IHG said: "We're delighted to have established a new partnership with Bathroad Corp Sarl and to be working on this project together. We're confident the combination of brands, coupled with the hotels' great location; will make these two hotels the number one choice for business and leisure guests staying at Heathrow. This is an exciting time for IHG as we continue to grow a pipeline of quality hotels here with our portfolio of preferred brands."

Morris Katri, Director, Bathroad Corp Sarl said: "With the number of visitors coming to and from Heathrow Airport, this dual branded development is especially suited to its location. With two hotels we can appeal to a wider pool of guests and the full suite of food and beverage and meetings services offered at Holiday Inn complements the Staybridge Suites service offer perfectly. They are perfect for not only business travellers but also for families and those who may be spending an extended period away from their home and family."

Staybridge Suites offers a warm, social and home-like environment for guests spending an extended period away from home. There are currently six Staybridge Suites properties in Europe with a further three in the pipeline*.

With 1,196 hotels worldwide, the Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts brand is the most widely recognized hotel brand in the world. Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts has been leading the way for over 60 years  from being the first hotel brand to let Kids Stay and Eat Free, to being the first hotel Olympic Partner to help run the Athletes' Village at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and introducing innovations such as the open lobby concept which creates a next generation public space where guests can both work productively and enjoy leisure time.

IHG currently has 309 hotels open in the UK, including five open near Heathrow Airport, and a further 25 hotels in the pipeline* in the UK.

*Figures as at 30th September 2015.
In year-over-year comparisons, occupancy decreased 2.4% to 54.1%. Average daily rate for the week was up 1.5% to CAD134.27. Revenue per available room dipped 1.0% to CAD72.58.

The Canadian hotel industry reported mixed results in the three key performance metrics during the week of 31 January through 6 February 2016, according to data from STR, Inc.

In year-over-year comparisons, occupancy decreased 2.4% to 54.1%. Average daily rate for the week was up 1.5% to CAD134.27. Revenue per available room dipped 1.0% to CAD72.58.

Among the provinces, Nova Scotia recorded the largest year-over-year increases in occupancy (+10.9% to 50.6%) and RevPAR (+12.1% to CAD58.17).

Two additional provinces saw a double-digit increase in RevPAR: Prince Edward Island (+11.3% to CAD25.52) and Ontario (+10.6% to CAD76.23).

Ontario posted the largest rise in ADR (+5.6% to CAD132.91).

Alberta reported the largest decreases in each of the three key performance metrics. Occupancy in the province dropped 20.7% to 45.5%; ADR was down 5.0% to CAD135.09; and RevPAR fell 24.6% to CAD61.51.

Newfoundland and Labrador was the only other province to see a double-digit decline in both occupancy (-16.4% to 46.1%) and RevPAR (-18.1% to CAD61.14).

About STR

STR, Inc. provides clients - including hotel operators, developers, financiers, analysts and suppliers to the hotel industry - access to hotel research with regular and custom reports covering the United States, Canada, Mexico and Caribbean. STR provides a single source of global hotel data covering daily and monthly performance data, forecasts, annual profitability, pipeline and census information. STR founded the STR family of companies and is proudly associated with STR Global, STR Analytics and Hotel News Now. STR also founded the Hotel Data Conference. For more information, please visit www.str.com.
Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE: H) today announced the selection of Patrick J. Grismer as chief financial officer, reporting to Mark Hoplamazian, president and chief executive officer, effective March 14, 2016.

In this role, Grismer will be responsible for all aspects of the finance function, while serving as a key business partner in achieving the companys strategic growth initiatives.

"Pat is a highly respected leader with strong financial acumen. His considerable experience building global brands will serve us well at Hyatt, said Hoplamazian. "His focus on driving superior business performance as we build differentiated brands will help us grow with intent and, in return, we believe will provide great value for our guests, colleagues, owners and shareholders.

Grismer joins Hyatt from his post as chief financial officer at YUM! Brands, where he previously held a number of roles including chief planning and control officer and chief financial officer for YUM! Restaurants International. Prior to YUM!, he worked at The Walt Disney Company where he served in roles that included vice president, business planning and development for The Disneyland Resort and chief financial officer for the Disney Vacation Club.

Grismer began his career with Price Waterhouse after earning an MBA from Northwestern Universitys Kellogg School of Management, and a bachelors degree in accounting from the University of Southern California.

"Hyatts portfolio of premier hotel brands and its commitment to quality and outstanding service truly differentiate it from the competition, said Grismer. Im excited to be part of a global company poised for growth, and to join a team passionate about transforming the hospitality industry.

Grismer and his family will relocate to Chicago.
Vincent Vienne has been appointed as Managing Director of the Quin, New York located at 57th Street and Sixth Avenue.

Mr. Vienne brings more than 18 years of leadership experience at American and European luxury properties to the hotel. With specialized expertise in operations, revenue management, sales and communications, Mr. Vienne will seek to build on the Quin's ascendance, which has seen it earn awards in its inaugural two years including: The 2015 Conde Nast Traveler Reader's Choice Award as a Top 5 Hotel in New York, recognition from the Travel & Leisure "It List" and the 2016 US News & World Report "Best Hotels in the USA" list. The Quin is a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World.

Vincent Vienne worked for Pullman Hotels and Resorts in Brussels following his graduation from Hotelschool Ter Duinen, in Koksijde, Belgium. He rose quickly through the ranks within the Accor Hotels Group, moving to the United States to serve in roles for the Sofitel Luxury Hotels and Resorts brand. In a range of leadership positions at Sofitel New York City, Vienne helped lead the hotel to three consecutive "Best Luxury Hotel in New York City" awards from Trip Advisor, before taking a position as General Manager of Sofitel Philadelphia, where he led the hotel for 5 years. Most recently, Mr. Vienne returned to serve as General Manager of Sofitel New York City.

Steve Barick, Chief Operating Officer of Highgate, commented, "Vincent is an ideal fit for the Quin, and has the experience and passion required to build on the hotel's extraordinary initial success. His international background and New York savvy, combined with his track record of leadership success at acclaimed luxury properties, ensure that the Quin will continue to evolve into a true New York landmark."

Vincent Vienne added, "It's an honor to take the helm at the Quin hotel and to join the Highgate family. I look forward to expanding on the hotel's cutting-edge Quin Arts program, and continuing to provide a level of service that allows us to deliver the quintessential New York experience to our guests."

Mr. Vienne is fluent in English, French, Dutch, and conversational German. In addition to his degree from the Hotelschool Ter Duinen, he has completed training programs at Essec Business School in Paris and the Cornell University School of Hospitality.
Room Mate scar/Madrid

In an effort to further support its expansion in North and Latin America, Room Mate Hotels has appointed Felip Boyero Managing Director of the Americas and launched its first headquarters for the region in Miami, FL.

In an effort to further support its expansion in North and Latin America, Room Mate Hotels has appointed Felip Boyero Managing Director of the Americas and launched its first headquarters for the region in Miami, FL.

In this newly created role, Boyero will lead Room Mate Hotels' expansion into new markets including Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Boston, while further developing the brand's infrastructure in destinations where it is already present including New York City, Miami and Mexico City.

"2016 will be an important year of growth for the Room Mate Hotels brand in North and Latin America," said Enrique "Kike" Sarasola, Founder and President of Room Mate Hotels. "We're confident that Felip will serve as an energetic and dynamic leader as we introduce the Room Mate Hotels experience to these exciting markets and continue leading the evolution of hospitality by delivering guests with unconventional experiences in centralized locations."

Before joining Room Mate Hotels, Boyero led the sales management team for US and South America at the Spanish airline Air Europa. Boyero has also served as General Manager for The Netherlands region for Melia Hotels International, and contracted U.S. hotels for travel agencies and tour operators at SEE USA Tours.

Room Mate Hotels has appointed additional new hires in the Madrid headquarters including Victor Fernandez-Cintrano, formerly Managing Director for the brand, as CEO of Room Mate Hotels; Manuel Fernandez-Marcote, formerly VP of Finances at NH Hotel Group, as Finances Director; and Roberto Sanchez, formerly General Manager at Grey Group Spain, as General Manager Corporate Strategy and Brands.

Room Mate Hotels has rapid global expansion plans for 2016, with 10 new hotels planned for destinations including Milan, Rotterdam, Paris, Istanbul, Barcelona and Madrid, among others. These additions will bring the total number of hotel rooms within the brand to over 4,000.

Room Mate Hotels was founded by Spanish entrepreneur Enrique "Kike" Sarasola whose vision was to create affordable, welcoming, design-centric hotels in the hearts of major cities around the world. All Room Mate Hotels offer complimentary Wi-Fi inside and outside the hotel, daily breakfast until noon, exceptional service, and the comforts and warmth of home.

###About Room Mate HotelsRoom Mate Hotels is an innovative hospitality concept founded in 2005 by Spanish entrepreneur Enrique "Kike" Sarasola based on his vision that traveling to a city should feel like visiting a close friend. Currently, Room Mate Hotels owns and operates 27 contemporary, design-focused hotels in the centers of 12 major cities around the world, from New York and Miami to Amsterdam, Florence and Madrid, among others, as well as BeMate.com, an apartment rental service that combines the amenities of a hotel with the privacy and convenience of an apartment in cities worldwide.

In 2016 Room Mate Hotels will open 10 new properties in destinations including Milan, Paris, Rotterdam, Madrid, Barcelona and Malaga, among others. All Room Mate properties offer complimentary Wi-Fi, daily breakfast until noon, exceptional service, and the comforts and warmth of home.
The Irish crowd were treated to a night of nostalgia and exuberance

In a departure from the norm Brett Anderson and cos latest tour comprises a show of two parts; firstly they perform excellent new album Night Thoughts behind a screen showing Roger Sargents accompanying film and then they revisit their golden years for a hit-packed finale.

The latest opus has deservedly garnered much critical acclaim and its power is enhanced by the visual component to the evening. Not light viewing, the celluloid outing addresses suicide, domestic disputes and the loss of a child, Throughout the musicians are semi-visible, Andersons tortured vocals soaring as his silhouette writhes with emotion.

And so to part deux. The screen vanishes and the mood immediately lightens as they transmogrify from stately artistes to indie scamps. Moving, Trash and Animal Nitrate pack a triple whammy of an opener as Anderson prances, leaps and shimmies his way through the set.

As the band weave a superb sonic tapestry Brett proves himself the perfect pop frontman as he exudes sexuality, playfulness and a mesmerising chaotic energy; even descending into the crowd risking attack by squealing audience members of both genders.

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He is the consummate indie idol during raucous numbers such as Metal Mickey and So Young and harnesses his serious artistic side to beguiling effect during slower outings such as Down and Everything Will Flow. A storming New Generation brings the night to an explosive finish.

click here to view the superb photographs from Suede's gig at The Olympia
After a two-day buying spree, Dominovas Energy Corp (OTCMKTS:DNRG, DNRG message board) retreated back down the charts, dropping 31% and wiping nearly half of the gains made over the previous two sessions. Volume picked up further and hit a three-month high as over 6 million shares changed hands over the course of the session.

DNRG is a company focusing on fuel energy cells that has not been terribly successful at generating revenues. DNRG climbed to dizzying heights in mid-2015, driven by the announcement that the company was selected as a Private Sector Partner to president Obama's Power Africa initiative. As most price spikes that are driven by excitement, this one too faded rather quickly but still left DNRG priced at multiple pennies.

This latest three-day excitement surrounding the stock can only be attributed to external factors, since there have been no new filings and press releases for the company. On the other hand, the media did report that president Obama transformed the Power Africa initiative into law, by signing the Electrify Africa Act. As mentioned previously, this new development never brought up the name of DNRG in any way.

The new development surrounding the push to provide electricity to sub-Saharan Africa did excite investors enough to put DNRG back in the spotlight, though. Judging by the considerable profit taking yesterday, not everyone is convinced of the company's bright future, perhaps with good reason. Here is what DNRG had to show on its books as of Nov 30, 2015:

$22 thousand in cash

$2.2 million in current liabilities

ZERO revenues since inception

$813 thousand in quarterly net loss

In our previous article we also looked at some of the more intriguing share issuance and financing initiatives the company conducted over the past year.
Sharkreach Inc (OTCMKTS:SHRK, SHRK message board) as we know it today came to be after SharkReach Inc, a private internet marketing company, merged into Online Secretary Inc, an OTC-listed enterprise. After a few eerily quiet months, SHRK told everyone about a Forbes interview with Steve Smith, the company's freshly appointed CEO, which was garnished with a few optimistic projections about the future.

Since then, there's been a torrent of good news coming out of the company's headquarters. On Tuesday, it was announced that Eric Pilkington, who has worked with giants like Apple, Google, HP, IBM etc. has joined SHRK's Board of Directors and earlier today, an even more optimistic-sounding press release came out. SHRK proudly announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire a company called The Mobile Media Lab LLC which is projected to generate more than $1.5 million in revenues in 2016.

When people heard about the Forbes interview, they flocked to the stock and sent it on an absolutely incredible run which saw it go from $0.12 all the way to nearly $0.80 in a matter of just a few short days. Since then, however, the performance has been rather appalling. Three consecutive sessions of double digit losses wiped out more than half of the market cap and pushed the ticker to a close of just under $0.37 per share. What could be the reason for the terrifying drop?

It might have something to do with the fact that there are still a lot of unknowns around SHRK. The SEC filings aren't entirely clear on whether the figures in them (which, as we mentioned in some of our previous articles, are absolutely appalling) belong to the surviving entity after the merger or whether they concern the operations of Online Secretary Inc.

It could also have something to do with the fact that the campaign for Universal Pictures' Straight Outta Compton, described by Mr. Smith as the biggest one SharkReach has ever undertaken, generated proceeds of approximately $49,000. Those proceeds, in case you're wondering, were received prior to the merger and they won't be transferred over to SHRK's balance sheet.

Basically, some of the investors are keeping a safe distance because they don't know a whole lot about SHRK. They don't know how well the company was doing when it was private and they don't have much information on its current state of affairs. Last but by no means least, they don't know whether the 19.9 million shares (as adjusted for the 83-for-1 forward split) originally sold for $6 thousand are still outstanding and waiting to be unleashed on the open market.

Despite this, thanks to the press release from earlier today, SHRK is bouncing hard and about five minutes into the session, it's already at $0.51 per share, a whopping 40% in the green.
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Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-02-11 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> CONTENTS [01] Search operation to locate missing crew of Navy's helicopter continue [02] Bill on TV licences submitted to Parliament [01] Search operation to locate missing crew of Navy's helicopter continue The search operation for the three crew members of the Hellenic Navy's helicopter that crashed on the island of Kinaros, west of Leros, in the eastern Aegean, early on Thursday, continue, according to the Defence ministry. The AB-212 helicopter, which was taking part in a military exercise, was reported missing at 2.45 a.m. The helicopter was flying at an altitude of 390 feet when it disappeared from the radars. The reasons of the crash have not yet been known. Meanwhile, Defence Minister Panos Kammenos, who was visiting Brussels, is expected to return to Athens. According to sources, the three crew members of the helicopter are dead. Alternate Defence Minister Dimitris Vitsas and the chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff said: "We cannot yet express our condolences because we have not found them." Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has been in constant contact with the Hellenic Army since early in the morning in order to be briefed on the developments. On his part, main opposition New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed his deep sorrow for the accident. [02] Bill on TV licences submitted to Parliament The draft law on TV licences was submitted to Parliament late on Wednesday. According to the provisions of the draft law, four licences will be granted and the starting price will be determined by a joint decision of the Finance Minister and the State Minister. Licences will be for four years. The draft law will be discussed in the parliament plenary on Thursday afternoon. According to government sources, the government's main aim is the economic viability of the broadcasting companies so that market distortions are averted as well as excessive lending. According to a study carried out by the European University Institute in Florence, Greece can issue up to four television licences for private television channels broadcasting nationwide. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-02-11 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> CONTENTS [01] The bodies of two helicopter crew members located on Kineros [02] Farmers to open Tempi Valley on Thursday evening [03] ND spokesman sternly attacks government on TV licences [01] The bodies of two helicopter crew members located on Kineros The bodies of two out of the three crew members of the Greek Navy helicopter that crashed early Thursday on Kineros islet were located, according to information. The bodies were found on a mountainside at a remote area of Kineros island, 40-50 metres away from the top of the mountain where the first remains of the helicopter were found. [02] Farmers to open Tempi Valley on Thursday evening The Athens-Thessaloniki motorway at Tempi Valley will open from 21:00 on Thursday until noon Friday following a decision of the members of the Thessaly farmers. The farmers said that they will withdraw their tractors from the road in order to facilitate their colleagues from northern Greece to participate in the two-day protest rally that will be held at Syndagma square in Athens despite the fact that they will not take part in the rally. However, the farmers are planning to block again the Tempi Valley at the hours the protest will peak. In any case, Tempi Valley will be open for many hours from Thursday night to Monday. The farmers of the block at Tempi have sent their proposals to the prime minister as well as to all the party leaders and are waiting for their response in order for a dialogue to open. They have also clarified that the start of the dialogue based on their proposals can start after Monday when their colleagues' protest in Athens is completed. [03] ND spokesman sternly attacks government on TV licences Main opposition New Democracy spokesman Giorgos Koumoutsakos during his press briefing referred to the TV licences issue and accused Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of depriving the Greek National Council for Radio and Television (NCRTV) the responsibility to give licences and transferring it to his government. "Without explanation he arbitrarily decides to give four licences. He moves beyond the Constitution and under the table," stated Koumoutsakos and referred to an attempt of political polarisation and division. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-02-11 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> CONTENTS [01] TV licences tender is part of the memorandum, says European Commission spokesman [02] We try to understand and help, says Czech FM Zaoralek [03] Defence Minister Kammenos on NATO's involvement in refugee crisis [01] TV licences tender is part of the memorandum, says European Commission spokesman BRUSSELS(ANA-MPA/Ch. Vassilaki)---It is Greece's commitment included in the memorandum to collect revenues through the tender of TV licences, stated European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas on Thursday. Asked on the Greek government's decision to proceed with an international tender for the tender of four TV licences, Schinas replied that the memorandum engages the Greek government to launch an international tender for the selling of TV licences noting that the revenues will be used for the fulfilment of the fiscal targets. "The tender must be conducted with respect to the European law and taking into account that no proposal has been tabled yet, the issue has not been discussed with the instititutions," he added. However, Schinas underlined that "the member staes decide on the TV licencing procedure provided that the legislation has not been yet harmonised at European level.' [02] We try to understand and help, says Czech FM Zaoralek The effort of the Czech Republic, a country without Schengen borders, to understand what happens in this region that receives refugee-migration flows, dominated a meeting between Czech Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek and his Greek counterpart Nikos Kotzias. "The protection of the Schengen's borders is of great national importance and constitutes one of the greatest challenges for Europe aiming at reducing the inflow of undocumented migrants," he underlined. For this reason, he said, he started his tour from Izmir, then he went to Skopje and Athens and it will be completed in Mytilini, in order to better understand the situation and assist in the protection of EU's external borders. For this reason, they also discussed Czech police's potential contribution with fingerprint machines. "The Czech Republic feels obliged to help countries in difficult situation and try to find a way to work together on this," he stated. He denied that his country had a tough stance on the refugee issue and added: "It is absolutely right that the problem is a European one and we must solve it together. We are trying to share this burden and give our help," concluded the Czech Foreign Minister. [03] Defence Minister Kammenos on NATO's involvement in refugee crisis BRUSSELS(ANA-MPA/M.Aroni)---The agreement with NATO "totally changes the conditions on the migration-refugees issue," stated Defence Minister Panos Kammenos after the end of NATO's ministerial meeting in Brussels. Kammenos noted that Greece in cooperation with Germany as well as other members of the NATO managed to reach an agreement that "will finally solve that migration issue." "Greece has paid an extremely heavy price for the migration and in the midst of an economic crisis disproportianetly with the other state members of EU and NATO," stated Kammenos. He also said that today's decision safeguards that NATO forces operating in the Aegean will ensure that the migrants to be arrested will directly return to Turkey. The second very important fact is according to the Greek Defence Minister that "it is totally clear that in the forces that will participate in the NATO group, Turkey will only operate inside its territorial waters and airspace and Greece accordingly." Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
Blend Images/ERproductions Ltd via Getty Images Husband comforting wife in hospital bed

The Catholic Bishops of Alberta released a statement Thursday condemning physician-assisted death, in advance of its pending legalization in Canada.

"Killing is not medicine," reads the statement, which is signed by six Alberta Catholic leaders, including Calgary Bishop Fred Henry and Edmonton Archbishop Richard Smith.

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"We are convinced that excellent palliative care, understood to exclude physician assisted suicide and euthanasia, is the ethical way to ensure that all Albertans can die in a manner that respects their true human dignity."

The statement outlines three key demands the bishops have for the Alberta government.

First, the bishops request the provincial government undergo a consultation process with all Albertans on the issue of physician-assisted death.

Second, the bishops call for stronger protections and supports for vulnerable persons, especially seniors, people with mental illness and people with disabilities. The statement outlines concerns that euthanasia could take place without clear consent from vulnerable individuals.

Third, the group states that doctors should be allowed to uphold "conscience rights"  that is, the right for Catholic doctors to choose not to assist with a patient's death.

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"Killing is not medicine."

"The decision of the Supreme Court of Canada makes legally permissible in some circumstances what is morally wrong in every circumstance: the taking of innocent human life. This is unacceptable in a truly just and ethical society," the bishops said.

Debates over physician-assisted death have been contentious ever since Canada's Supreme Court ruled in February 2015 that banning assisted suicide is unconstitutional. The court gave the federal government until June to establish new legislation around the practice.

Archbishop Richard Smith told media Thursday morning that the statement has been sent to Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and Minister of Health Sarah Hoffman.

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Turns out Fitbits can track more than just your fitness. One man was surprised to learn this when his wifes tracking device detected a surprise pregnancy.

After noticing some odd heart rate readings on his wifes Fitbit, David Trinidad posted his concerns on Reddit, thinking there was something wrong with the device. I'm not sure if something is wrong with the sensor, he wrote. Is there a way to reset or recalibrate the device? I'd like to try that before I contact customer service about a possible replacement.

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According to Trinidad, his wife Ivonnes heart rate was consistently high over the past few days. She had logged 10 hours of activity in Fitbit's fat burning zone, but had not increased her activity level.

Here is the pic of the screen that started it all! Mom and baby are doing ok. Spoke to the doctor yesterday. A photo posted by David & Ivonne (@babyfitbit) on Feb 10, 2016 at 8:36am PST





In response to his post, one Redditor suggested that the increased heart rate could either be due to high stress or pregnancy.

Pregnancy is a strong possibility, Trinidad wrote back. Didn't know that would jack up the heart rate. I might be a dad, YIKES. Now I gotta watch my own heart rate lol.

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The couple then visited a doctor and were surprised to learn that they were expecting. Weve been married for a few years now, and one of our plans for 2016 was to hopefully start a family, Trinidad told Mashable in an email. But the big surprise was that it happened so soon, and of course, that the Fitbit helped us to figure it out.

In an interview with Buzzfeed, Dr. Mary Jane Minkin of Yale-New Haven Hospital explained that heart rates can increase significantly while pregnant, but this usually occurs much later. Increased body temperature is a symptom of early pregnancy, as well, which is likely what caused Ivonnes heart rate to rise.

After discovering the baby news, Trinidad returned to Reddit to share his excitement, and reemphasize that his post was not a ploy to promote Fitbit.

This is not guerrilla marketing, the dad-to-be wrote. This is real, the fear is real, the excitement is very real! I am a regular guy who was just looking for the communities (sic) help with his wife's technology issue (we've all been there, right?). Little did I know I got a lot more than I bargained for!

The couples first child is due in October. To share their excitement even further, the two started an Instagram account so people can follow their adventure into parenthood.

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Baby's first sonogram, fresh off the press. Not sure if boy or girl yet, so we'll shop for both! Thank you for all your support so far. What a journey, and it's just beginning. A photo posted by David & Ivonne (@babyfitbit) on Feb 9, 2016 at 6:55pm PST





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OTTAWA  Government aid could help provide food and health services to Islamic State fighters, Canadas international development minister acknowledged this week.

Marie-Claude Bibeau made the comments during an interview with The Huffington Post Canada on Sirius XMs Everything Is Political Show."

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Medecins Sans Frontieres or the Red Cross, they will use the money following their own rules, the rookie cabinet minister said. They will give the services to whoever needs help. Obviously, we will not get involved in any way in this once we have given money to an organization. They give food and services to the people in need, no matter where they decided to go.

Even if it goes to an enemy combatant?

"Yes," said the minister.

Minister of International Development and La Francophonie Marie-Claude Bibeau speaks to media during a press conference in Ottawa on Monday. (Photo: Matthew Usherwood/Canadian Press)

At a Monday press conference announcing both the new mission against ISIS and an expanded humanitarian assistance in Syria and surrounding regions, Bibeau took great pains to stress that Canada "fully respects the principles of neutrality, impartiality, humanity and independence" which are "vitally necessary in these situations."

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In Tuesday's radio interview, she said, "It is very important that we let these organizations work in a complete independent manner and not link it to our military action, for example. It is a matter of security for these humanitarian workers."

A water and sanitation engineer from Oxfam Intermon talks to two refugee women in an informal settlement in Chekka in the north of Lebanon. (Photo: Pablo Tosco/Oxfam)

Conservative defence critic James Bezan, however, said he believes aid dollars should not support ISIS militants in any way.

We are dealing with one of the most heinous terrorist organizations that we have ever seen on the face of the Earth, and to think that some Canadian dollars could go indirectly or directly to support jihadi terrorists is unconscionable  and the government needs to rethink this immediately, he said in a subsequent interview.

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John McKay, the parliamentary secretary to the minister of defence, called it an academic argument.

Its not like everybody walks around with a T-shirt saying Im a jihadi terrorist, he said. In a principal sort of way, I agree with James [Bezan]. At one level it is unconscionable, but it is not as if its clear to somebody handing out water, or a sandwich or giving somebody a blanket, where their background is. Do you have to do an interview every time you hand out water and aid?

... to think that some Canadian dollars could go indirectly or directly to support jihadi terrorists is unconscionable.  James Bezan, Tory defence critic

Humanitarian organizations working under dangerous conditions in Syria said there are important reasons for aid to be delivered in a neutral and indiscriminate fashion.

Stephen Cornish, the executive director of Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), said that, despite the ministers assertion, his group does not accept any government funding for their work in active open conflicts precisely because the principle of neutrality is so important.

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Neutrality and impartiality for aid agencies  principles embedded in the 1864 Geneva Convention and expanded in subsequent additional conventions  were first developed so that care could be provided to wounded soldiers on the battlefield, Cornish said. He pointed to Henri Dunants vision that led to the creation of the International Committee of the Red Cross and won him a Nobel Peace Prize.

Aid workers in Syria stand near a convoy of vehicles loaded with food and other supplies organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross, working alongside the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and the United Nations, in January. It was headed to the besieged town of Madaya. (Photo: AP/CP)

Aid should be delivered solely based on need, Cornish said.

Its imperative that we be seen as impartial and neutral, he said. Otherwise, it is often impossible to be able to bring aid inside a conflict zone.

If aid organizations cant be separated from the political environment around them, combatant parties are unlikely to welcome them and they can neither save the lives of the innocent population, nor meet the needs of wounded or sick combatants whether they be on any side of the conflict.

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A Syrian child collects water from an Oxfam-supplied tank in Zaatari camp in Jordan, which is home to around 80,000 refugees. (Photo: Sam Tarling/Oxfam)

Nathan Huculak, the deputy chief communications officer at the Canadian Red Cross, and Ann Witteveen, Oxfams manager of humanitarian concerns, echoed Cornishs comments.

If humanitarian action is perceived to be aligned with a military agenda, workers become targets, Huculak wrote in an email.

Humanitarian assistance is not another tool to solve a conflict  it is necessary to protect health and life, and prevent and alleviate human suffering.

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Human beings are human beings, and if they need water, we will provide it to them.

Witteveen said Oxfam works with several local organizations in Aleppo and Damascus to offer water and sanitation services.

We look geographically at where there is water and where there isnt, and we try to ensure that it is available for people, and we dont care which side of the conflict they are on, she said.

Human beings are human beings, and if they need water, we will provide it to them.

Increasingly dangerous situation for aid workers

Since 9/11, Cornish said, the situation for aid workers has become more dangerous as the U.S. military  and others blurred the lines between themselves and neutral humanitarian groups.

In Afghanistan, U.S. special forces began using the same type of white cars driven by aid agencies and promising help to communities in exchange for information, said Cornish.

In another example, the military moved its own medical team into a hospital run by a non-governmental organization to operate a clinic for one day, he said.

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When they left, everyone believed on the other side that this was now an installation of the military, and the aid organization that was working there had to leave because it was too insecure for them to stay and treat the population. So for a one-day exercise in hearts and minds, a population was then deprived of health care indeterminately following that.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau answers a question as he is joined by Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan, left to right, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie Marie-Claude Bibeau and Minister of Foreign Affairs Stephane Dion during a press conference in Ottawa on Monday. (Photo: Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

With civilians and hospitals being indiscriminately attacked in Yemen and Syria, Cornish said he was encouraged to see Bibeau speak so forcefully about impartiality and neutrality.

The new Liberal government is not changing federal government policy, Cornish said, but reaffirming the responsibilities of countries who are signatories to the Geneva conventions.

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She [Bibeau] is just educating the public about what that means.

$1.1 billion over three years

On Monday, the federal government pledged $840 million in humanitarian assistance over the next three years to provide water, food, shelter, health care, sanitation, hygiene, protection and education in Syria and the surrounding region. Canada will also spend $270 million to help communities with large numbers of refugees address basic infrastructure needs, promote employment and economic growth.

Bibeau, who was recently in Jordan and Lebanon, said the three years of funding should help communities adapt to the strain put on local services by the huge increase in refugees.

Marie-Claude Bibeau recently visited Lebanon where she visited a Canada-funded project with UNICEF to rebuild a school in Zgharta. (Photo: Facebook)

One municipality in Jordan, she said, grew to 800,000 from 600,000 within two years.

"You can imagine just in terms of waste management, what a challenge this is for them, she said. In Lebanon, 247 schools already have double shifts. They have their regular children in the morning, and they have the refugees in the afternoon.

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Humanitarian assistance is about helping human life, but its also about addressing concerns before they become a security risk, she said.

We dont know how long [this crisis] is going to last, but we have to keep the children in school, and we have to find jobs for the adults so they can earn a living, live in dignity and not be attracted by radicalists. This is a very important way to keep these countries as stable as possible and to be ready to rebuild Syria as soon as possible.

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An NDP MP has taken to Facebook to share the lessons he's learned from the trial of Jian Ghomeshi, a man he has known for 25 years and now sees as a predator.

Charlie Angus' post  now going viral  highlights how Ghomeshi's defence lawyer has called into question the credibility of the three women behind the sex assault allegations against the disgraced former CBC Radio host.

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The Ontario MP suggested it is an example of how the legal system fails women.

Jian Ghomeshi, left, and NDP MP Charlie Angus, right, have known each other for more than two decades. (Photo: The Canadian Press)

"Nobody close to Jian even pretends he is innocent, and somehow this isn't an issue  the women are," Angus wrote.

Ghomeshi has pleaded not guilty to four counts of sexual assault and one choking charge. Marie Henein, his high-priced defence lawyer, has attempted to hammer away at the believability of the alleged victims, even accusing some of lying.

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In cross examinations, Heinen pointed to inconsistencies in past statements and contact the women had with Ghomeshi after the alleged incidents  some of it sexual in nature  to raise doubts about the veracity of the claims.

For example, one woman testified she was assaulted by Ghomeshi in a yellow Volkswagen Beetle, but he did not own such a vehicle at the time.

Angus bemoans that a "woman who remembers being beaten is not considered credible because she didn't know the make of his car."

"Nobody close to Jian even pretends he is innocent, and somehow this isn't an issue  the women are."

But famous people, the MP wrote, get to hire lawyers nicknamed "Hannibal Lecter for their ability to take sexual assault witnesses apart" in cross-examination.

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Angus also took a pointed shot at CBC, saying Ghomeshi "flourished as a predator in what should have been the safest organization in the country."

Closing arguments in Ghomeshi's trial begin Thursday.

Quiet on political front

Canadian politicians have stayed mostly quiet about Ghomeshi since the allegations first broke in October 2014.

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May sparked some controversy at the time by appearing to come to Ghomeshis defence after he said he was fired from CBC because of his private sex life.

She later released a statement saying she had not read The Toronto Star story that first detailed the allegations of abuse.

"Too many women over too many years have been disbelieved and blamed. In saying, as I will continue to say, that anyone in our society is entitled to the presumption of innocence, I am not in any way disbelieving the women who state they were assaulted," she said at the time.

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"I cannot know who is telling the truth here and no one can. As a feminist, I would never discount a story of violent attack. The nature of the stories is very disturbing."

Read Angus' full post below:

I have known Jian Ghomeshi casually for 25 plus years. What did I learn from the trial? 1) That a woman who remembers... Posted by Charlie Angus on Wednesday, February 10, 2016

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OTTAWA  If Kevin O'Leary thinks Canada should stay out of the military mission against the Islamic State and stick to peacekeeping, then he should run for the NDP, a longtime Conservative MP says.

Calgary MP Deepak Obhrai isn't shy about his distaste for O'Leary as a potential candidate in the Tory leadership race.

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In an interview with The Huffington Post Canada last month, Obhrai called the businessman and reality TV personality an undesirable candidate who "doesn't have the foggiest idea what this party is all about."

Deepak Obhrai says Kevin O'Leary may be a better fit for the NDP. (Photo: Getty/CP)

On Wednesday, Obhrai greeted news that O'Leary is advocating a pacifist role for Canada with bewilderment.

"I think he will find a very warm reception in the NDP caucus. But he will definitely not find a warm reception in the Conservative caucus," Obhrai told HuffPost during an interview for SiriusXM's "Everything Is Political" show.

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O'Leary said in a radio interview on Tuesday that he wants Canada to be a "country that can go anywhere in the world and, after everyone is finished killing each other, keep the peace."

"I don't want to bomb or get involved in any campaigns as a Canadian other than keeping the peace," he told CFRA's "Ottawa Now" host Evan Solomon. "We are the only country, other than the Finns, that can do that. And we're wasting our equity."

O'Leary said his views are informed by his experiences living in Cyprus as a boy in the 1960s, when he said Canadian peacekeepers commanded the respect of both Greeks and Turks.

'The rules of engagement' have changed

Obhrai said O'Leary has an outdated view of the world's conflicts and the action needed to fight new threats.

Canada has a proud history of peacekeeping, the Calgary MP said. "But today, the fight is totally different than it used to be, when Mr. O'Leary said he was in Cyprus. Today, armies don't face each other. Today, we've got terrorist organizations that do not obey human rights.

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"He is absolutely out of tune with the elected officials of this party and the position of this party."

"They are extremely cruel and  [they are not going to] say 'Oh yeah, Canadians welcome. Stand between us, we are not going to fight.' No, no, no. The rules of engagement in the fight against terrorism have completely changed, and those old rules that Mr. O'Leary is talking about don't exist today."

O'Leary can say whatever he wants to say, Obhrai added. "But he is absolutely out of tune with the elected officials of this party and the position of this party."

Ambrose blasts Liberal plan

Conservative interim leader Rona Ambrose has called the Liberals' plan to pull Canada's six CF-18s from the bombing mission "shameful."

"Mr. Trudeau doesn't think it's our fight," she said at a press conference Monday. "If he doesn't think that we should use our military against this group, I don't know when he thinks we would ever use our military."

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday that Canada will stop bombing runs but continue to provide air-support and surveillance operations to the coalition fighting the Islamic State. Canada will triple the numbers of trainers on the ground and increase its aid contribution by $1.1 billion.

 With previous files, files from Ryan Maloney

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We're not entirely sure how a holiday that takes place in the middle of February became the number one date to give fresh flowers to loved ones, but Valentine's Day is intrinsically associated with bouquets and buds.

Alright, we have some idea  flowers, of course, are traditionally given to symbolize love, and even if you're in the midst of Canada's frostiest season, it's possible to find blooms cut exactly to your specifications (thank you, Colombia). What you may not know, even if you give flowers out on the regular, is the hidden meanings behind the colours you choose.

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You're likely aware that red means love, or passion, but with so many options beyond red roses, this might be the year you discover a whole new way to show your emotions via petals.

The beauty of flowers as a Valentines Day gift is that they can easily be personalized depending on how you want to make someone feel, says Dejan Kristan, marketing director at Flowers Canada based in Ontario. You want to send out the right message to your Valentine, whether it's I love you, I care for you, or simply, you are a great friend.

So in honour of Feb. 14, Kristan went through the various options for colours and flowers to give  check them out, no matter what you're celebrating.
The body of a young California woman sat in a Walmart parking lot for months unnoticed, according to officials.

KSBW reports that employees at the Salinas store found the body of 22-year-old Lauren Jessie Moss inside a silver Volkswagen Jetta Feb. 3.

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The woman's car had a reflective screen attached to the windshield and tinted windows that made it hard to see someone inside, according to KSCO.

Authorities believe she died by suicide.

Monterey County sheriff's Cmdr. John Thornburg told the Monterey Herald that Moss was last seen on Nov. 13 and reported missing soon afterwards.

Since there was no reason to think she'd been involved in an altercation before she went missing, she was a "voluntary missing adult," Thornburg said.

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Moss' sister told KSBW she'd left behind a suicide note, and a needle was found in the car. She thinks she died after injecting herself with drugs. However, her official cause of death isn't yet known.

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With all the balance and grace that comes with being a ballerina, its hard to believe someone could still dance while pregnant. However, one mom-to-be is proving anything is possible.

On Instagram, principal dancer Ashley Bouder of the New York City Ballet Company posted a video of herself practicing her flawless fouette turns. While the feat is impressive on its own, whats even more astounding is that Bouder is six months pregnant.

Still spinning away in ballet class, she captioned her video.

A video posted by Ashley Bouder (@ashleybouder) on Feb 5, 2016 at 11:47am PST

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The 32-year-old ballerina is expecting her first child in April, but since the start of her pregnancy, Bouder has hardly taken a break from dance. According to Metro UK, Bouder continues to perform in shows, including Swan Lake and The Nutcracker.

Clearly Bouder is an inspiration and her Instagram fans werent shy about letting her know. How are you doing this? Beautiful, one said.

Another wrote: Proving you can dance into your 30's AND be a mom!

This isnt the first time a pregnant ballerina has blown us away. Back in 2013, professional dancer Mary Helen Bowers, who is also the creator of Ballet Beautiful fitness, made headlines after she continued to dance right to the end of her pregnancy.

Ballerina @balletbeautiful .. Doing it on one leg while 9 months pregnant is unbelievable ! pic.twitter.com/tOtodRXQCF  The Lady Ayatollah (@Neo_ChrySalis) December 30, 2013

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Moving the body helps me so much to prevent a lot of back pain, a lot of swelling, and some of the more uncomfortable side effects of pregnancy that a lot of women experience, Bowers previously told NY Daily News. It's great for your confidence, too. It's nice to know you're doing something good for yourself AND the body.

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OTTAWA  NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair needs to obtain at least 70 per cent of membership support if he wants to remain leader, party president Rebecca Blaikie says.

"I think he needs to reach 70 in order to stay, and that will be a challenging number. He will still have work to do," Blaikie said in an interview with The Huffington Post Canada on SiriusXM's "Everything Is Political" show.

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Mulcair, who will face a leadership vote at the NDP's April convention in Edmonton, has refused to say what percentage of support he would like in order to remain leader  telling reporters he needs more than 50 per cent plus one.

NDP President Rebecca Blaikie thinks Thomas Mulcair needs a strong show of support in his leadership review. (Photo: CP)

But Blaikie suggests the floor should be much higher.

The Clark precedent

She pointed to former Progressive Conservative leader Joe Clark's leadership review in 1983, calling it precedent-setting. Clark received 66.9 per cent of support from delegates at the party's biennial convention that year, and deemed it insufficient. He called a leadership convention, hoping to renew his mandate, but he lost the contest to Brian Mulroney.

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In 2005, former Parti Quebecois leader Bernard Landry quit the helm of his party after obtaining 76 per cent.

"I think it would be very very difficult for [Mulcair] to stay on if he gets anything less than 70," Blaikie told HuffPost. "You want to come out of that with support that you can feel confident about, and ... I would think that anything under that would be very, very difficult."

"You want to come out of that with support that you can feel confident about, and ... I would think that anything under that would be very, very difficult."

Even if Mulcair received less than 70, Blaikie said, it would not mean a leadership race right away, "but it would definitely signal that the membership thinks one is necessary.

"Most of the time these leadership reviews are kinda pro forma, and the leader usually gets something like over 90 per cent," she said. "But I think if he gets over 70, that is a significant majority and it looks like people are willing to give you a chance to stick on."

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If Mulcair survives the vote in April, he will have to start aiming toward another leadership review scheduled in 2018, at which he will have to demonstrate that he has maintained his support, Blaikie added. She noted, however, that only a year before the 2019 election might be a "bit late" to dump the party leader.

Campaign mistakes

On Tuesday, Blaikie issued a memo to the membership based on feedback from open calls and meetings with New Democrats across the country and compiled in an interim report  a final version is expected in March.

She said she felt the NDP had failed to communicate its progressive agenda and had allowed the Liberals to appear like they "end-rounded us... on the left.

"I don't actually think that's true, but I definitely think that is how the campaign came across. What became the overarching issue of a balanced budget sort out of drowned out some of the really progressive social democratic stuff that was in the platform that I was really proud of, but that I think most Canadians didn't even hear about in that campaign."

Mulcair's mea culpa

On Wednesday, Mulcair penned his own letter to party members telling them he accepted responsibility for a disastrous campaign.

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Mulcair said he is "resolved to better articulate" the NDP's vision and to "communicate it more effectively to all Canadians."

"As Leader, I take full responsibility for these shortcomings. I could have done a better job," Mulcair wrote. "If members grant me the honour of continuing to serve them, I am determined to make the necessary changes so that the mistakes of the campaign will never be repeated."

Blaikie said she viewed Mulcair's letter as a response to some of the comments received from the membership.

NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair leaves a press conference in Ottawa in January. (Photo: Sean Kilpatrick/CP)

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"I think it was an attempt from him to acknowledge his role in that, to be a leader and take some responsibility for some of the stuff that we have been hearing across the country."

There is a consensus about what went wrong, she said. "It's not rocket science. It's a process that is necessary as we move forward and try to make the right decisions to keep growing."

Blaikie said she couldn't predict the result of the leadership review.

"I have no idea how it is going to go  and I'm trying really hard not to influence it, because I feel that, as president, I need to just be reflecting what I am hearing from members. And what I am hearing from members is that they are undecided. They are not even sure yet. So we'll see."

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OTTAWA  Canadians have not opened their wallets to the victims of the Syrian crisis as generously as the federal government had expected, The Huffington Post Canada has learned.

Last September, after the images of a drowned three-year-old Alan Kurdi, washed ashore on a Turkish beach, fixed public attention on the Syrian crisis, the then Conservative government announced the Syria Emergency Relief Fund, a matching fund capped at $100 million for donations to eligible registered charities received before Dec. 31, 2015.

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By the end of the year, however, Canadians had contributed only about $12.2 million in funds eligible to be matched, the department of Global Affairs told HuffPost.

International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau holds a news conference in November to announce $100 million in humanitarian funding to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. (Photo: Fred Chartrand/CP)

On Jan. 7, the new Liberal government announced that donations would be matched for an additional two months  until Feb. 29. By this week, however, total eligible donations had reached only $17 million.

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The department says the figure may increase slightly if smaller organization still have donations to report. The total is still a far cry from previous matching programs the federal government has established, such as the 2013 Typhoon Haiyan Relief Fund, which matched $85.6 million in donations received within less than two months, and the 2010 Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund, which matched $220 million raised within a one-month period.

In an interview with The Huffington Post Canada on SiriusXM's "Everything Is Political" show, International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said the Syrian effort is the first time the government has used a matching fund program for a "protracted crisis".

"Maybe that's one reason," she suggested. "It doesn't have the same impact as a typhoon or what happened in Haiti."

Several registered charities told HuffPost the government's experience is similar to their own.

"It doesn't have the same impact as a typhoon or what happened in Haiti."

Ann Witteveen, Oxfam's manager of humanitarian efforts, said the matching funds significantly increased the agency's donations, but "it is absolutely true that we raise more money for natural disasters and that ordinary Canadians give more money for natural disasters than they do for chronic crises that are related to conflict.

"I think it's because people understand better how someone can be accidentally affected by an earthquake, a typhoon or a storm. I think it's quite hard for people to understand the crisis caused by conflicts. I think sometimes they feel a little bit complicated."

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Witteveen noted that Oxfam, which works with local agencies in Aleppo and Damascus, is able to raise more money for earthquakes and storms than droughts, for example.

"They [droughts] come on a little bit more slowly. There are not those vivid images that cause people to have an emotional gut reaction that makes them dig into their pockets at that moment," she said.

A perception of 'fault' in conflicts

Stephen Cornish, the executive director of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF, Doctors Without Borders), said his group doesn't accept government donations in "active open conflicts" and hasn't participated in the matching program for Syria. But, he said, MSF also finds it more challenging to raise money for crises such as Syria's, where MSF is running five hospitals and supporting another 120 hospitals and clinics all over the country.

"I think in conflicts, when it is very complicated, we sometimes think that the populations there have some sort of stake in it or some sort of fault," Cornish told HuffPost. "The reality is, in almost every conflict that I have ever worked in, the people that are the most vulnerable could never imagine that a conflict could come to their area.

"That said, when people do understand the need, when they are aware of the situation, I think their empathy comes true."

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is joined by Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan, left, and Minister of International Development Marie-Claude Bibeau at a press conference announcing the retooled ISIS mission Monday. (Photo: Sean Kilpatrick/CP)

The federal government plans to review the Syria Emergency Relief Fund program and see if it should, or could, have done anything differently at the "end of the project," Bibeau said.

Below is the list of all the federal matching programs  and the pick-up rate  of the past 10 years:

The Typhoon Haiyan Relief Fund matched donations between Nov. 9 and Dec. 23, 2013. A total of $85.6 million in eligible donations was raised and matched by the federal government. No cap was set for this fund.

in eligible donations was raised and matched by the federal government. No cap was set for this fund. The Sahel Food Crisis Relief Fund matched donations between Aug. 7 and Sept. 30, 2012. A total of $6.9 million in eligible donations was matched by the federal government. No cap was set for this fund.

in eligible donations was matched by the federal government. No cap was set for this fund. The East Africa Drought Relief Fund matched donations between July 6 and Sept. 16, 2011. A total of $70.4 million in eligible donations was matched by the federal government. No cap was set for this fund.

in eligible donations was matched by the federal government. No cap was set for this fund. The Pakistan Floods Relief Fund matched donations between Aug. 2 and Oct. 3, 2010. A total of $46.8 million in eligible donations was matched by the federal government. No cap was set for this fund.

in eligible donations was matched by the federal government. No cap was set for this fund. The Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund matched donations between Jan. 12 and Feb. 12, 2010. A total of $220 million in eligible donations was matched by the Government of Canada. An initial $50 million cap was established but was later removed.

in eligible donations was matched by the Government of Canada. An initial $50 million cap was established but was later removed. The Burma Cyclone Relief Fund matched donations between May 2 and June 13, 2008. A total of $11 million in eligible donations was matched by the federal government. No cap was set for this fund.

in eligible donations was matched by the federal government. No cap was set for this fund. The China Earthquake Relief Fund matched donations between May 12 and June 23, 2008. A total of $30 million in eligible donations was matched by the federal government. No cap was set for this fund.  Source: Global Affairs
Richard Lautens via Getty Images TORONTO, ON - DECEMBER 27: Reemas Al Abdullah, 5, wrapped herself in a Canadian flag prior to a dinner hosted by Friends of Syria at the Toronto Port Authority. (Richard Lautens/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

Canada is now fully entrenched in its goal to rescue 25,000 Syrian refugees. And while the timelines may be a bit longer than anticipated, the commitment is real and ongoing.

Many issues confront government as they continue down the rescue path but possibly the most urgent is one of housing.

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All government-sponsored Syrian refugees are recommended by the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for settlement in Canada. They are often the most vulnerable of those hoping for a new life. Many are families.

A cadre of top housing industry personalities met with The Hon John McCallum, Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship, to discuss this very question.

The main challenges for swift resettlement are vacancy rates and finances.

HumanityHouses, a nonpartisan subcommittee of HumanityWins, met with the minister on Monday morning.

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HumanityHouses subcommittee: (from left): Benjamin Shinewald, BOMA; Randal Frobelious, ECI Real Estate; The Hon John McCallum; Mitchell Cohen, Daniels Corporation; Hanita Braun, Verdiroc; Robert Eisenberg, York Heritage; and The Hon Ron Atkey, Chair.

HumanityHouses is an offshoot of HumanityWins, a committee of prominent Canadians convened by the Mosaic Institute, a Toronto Charitable think tank. HumanityHouses exists to offer insights to the minister as the government creates solutions to house government-assisted refugees across the country.

The main challenges for swift resettlement are vacancy rates and finances. As we all know, finding housing in Toronto, Montreal, or Vancouver is difficult, and the rent prices are steep. The government is committed to placing refugees across the country; there are already 23 cities and towns signed up, and the list is growing. But smaller towns lack the social infrastructure of large cities, and large cities lack the space of small towns. Balancing these needs are paramount to ensuring a smooth transition into Canadian life.

Even if available units are identified, rent cost becomes an issue. Funding has been committed, but it will be tough to finance housing at market rates. Rent supplements, or other incentives, are needed to bridge the gap between available funds and cost of living -- regardless of whether the refugees are in large cities or small towns.

In discussion with the minister committee representatives identified a need for constant communication between industry representatives and government planners. They noted that, in the absence of a national housing strategy, connections between those with available housing and those in need of it must be made quickly, securely, and effectively.

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While many in the private sector have heeded the government's call for partnerships, HumanityHouses believes that more can be done. Ideas were presented about how to best mobilize more companies to recognize that the issue of settling Syrian refugees is a humanitarian responsibility, but one that ultimately contributes to building a better Canada.

Ideas raised about online tools, such as newsletters and matching platforms, highlighted that the decision to accept refugees is a national issue that supersedes one ministry, or even one industry. Other Ministries, such as Infrastructure, and other industries, such as education, have their own roles to play.

During the meeting, Minister McCallum noted that the decision to accept refugees is humanitarian in the short-term, but in the long term it is really about building Canada. As refugees settle and adapt to being Canadians, their stories merge with the rest of our immigrant narratives. The minister's perspective indicates that the government will not sacrifice interests of other Canadians in an effort to welcome Syrian refugees, as some have claimed. Instead, the minister assured the group that the refugee question is one piece of a larger puzzle of how to best move Canada forward into a new age -- one that includes shorter processing times and more partnerships.

Committee Chair, the Hon Ron Atkey, knows this cycle all too well. He was Minister of Employment and Immigration during the Joe Clark government and one of the people who spearheaded efforts to bring over 60,000 Vietnamese refugees to Canada in the late 1970s. As Mr. Atkey recently noted, "Many of these individuals and their children have made great contributions to Canada, including Senator Thanh Hai Ngo, philanthropist Phan Thi Kim Phuc, and gold-medal athlete Carol Huynh, to name a few."

The Syrian refugees will also contribute positively to Canada. However, safe and affordable housing is the first priority.

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With thanks to Rachel Mansell for her assistance on this column.

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Creatas via Getty Images Man and security guard

In the wake of the high-profile story of a six-year-old, Syed Adam Ahmed, caught in Canada's no-fly web in late December, similar stories of 21 other children -- ages six months to 17 years -- have come forward. The details are contained in a letter sent to the federal government by Adam's mother, Khadija Cajee.

The federal government was quick to respond and promised to examine changes to the program. "[It's] no fault of their own," says Ralph Goodale, the minister of public safety. Having a name that is similar to one on the list "can present an awkward situation" and "a feeling of stigma."

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The reality for the 500 to 2,000 Canadians rumored to be on the list and those with similar names who get caught up from time to time goes far beyond awkwardness and stigma.

The consequences have been all too real: jobs have been lost, family members separated at the airport, family members geographically separated, fear and anxiety over what will happen next and uncertainty about which other nations have their names.

The National Council of Canadian Muslims, the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group and even our law firm have witnessed a growing number of complaints about difficulties that go beyond delays and inconvenience.

The Specified Persons List

The cleverly named Passenger Protect Program, introduced in 2007, created the Specified Persons Advisory Group (SPAG), which Public Safety Canada oversees and includes Transport Canada, the Canada Border Services Agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Justice Canada and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

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The group identifies individuals who pose an "immediate threat" for inclusion in the Specified Persons List, which airlines in Canada are mandated to screen against. Once a person is flagged, a Transport Canada official could authorize his or her boarding, request extra screening or issue an "emergency direction" to prevent boarding.

If a person is denied, he or she could apply to the Office of Reconsideration to petition to be removed from the list. But the office can only make recommendations to the transportation minister; its decision is never binding.

This illusory power is evident in the Hani Ahmed Al Telbani's case. The office had concluded that CSIS relied on "decidedly vague and incomplete" information, that "we have not been able to identify a discernible threat, immediate or otherwise" and CSIS, therefore, had no basis to add Telbani to the list. In the end, the SPAG ignored the recommendation and kept him on the list, affirming the view that "immediate is not black and white."

The incestuous nature of the SPAG and difficulty in getting recourse were just a few of the concerns that critics raised in 2007. They pointed out that the government had failed to establish the need and effectiveness of such a list and that it lacked authority to enact it without parliamentary debate and discussion.

Among the two dozen questions raised to Transport Canada in 2005 by Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart was: "What studies, if any, has the department carried out to demonstrate that advance passenger information will be useful in identifying high-risk travellers?"

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Transport Canada failed to give a satisfactory answer to this and virtually all the other questions Stoddart asked. Surely, if there was evidence to suggest that the no-fly list has prevented attacks, then the public is entitled to know (even if the details are redacted).

Commenting on the U.S. list, Jim Harper, director of information policy studies at the Cato Institute, wrote: "Easy to evade, it provides no protection against people who haven't yet done anything wrong, who haven't come to the attention of security officials, or who have adopted an alias. Terrorist planners are nothing more than inconvenienced by having to use people with 'clean' records."

With respect to authority, the government pointed to provisions of the Aeronautics Act to specify an individual as a threat to aviation security and to require airlines to provide information about the specified person.

A number of critics, including the privacy commissioner, pointed out that this was an overly broad and liberal reading of the act. The act does indeed authorize the minister to designate and deal with threats, but a more precise reading of the provisions suggests that this refers to imminent threats and on-the-spot emergency decisions.

Critics also highlighted negative repercussions on the right to liberty, fundamental justice, freedom of movement, privacy rights and raised potential discrimination avenues. In fact, civil society groups, legal groups and even Canada's Privacy Commissioners all expressed opposition, but it fell on largely deaf ears.

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Instead of government pushing for the issue to be thoroughly debated and investigated in parliament, at the time, officials only offered a fig leaf process of canvassing regulatory comment, ex post facto, largely in an attempt to score PR points.

A bad program gets worse

Over the years many people on the list have been caught in limbo without any recourse. Interestingly, Laureen Kinney, currently the assistant deputy minister for safety and security at Transport Canada, testified in 2010 to a parliamentary committee that there were about 850 false positives within the first three years of the program.

Despite a poor track record, a bad program has gotten worse with a firmer footing through anti-terror legislation (C-51), which former Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government passed last year.

Rather than addressing earlier concerns, the Secure Air Travel Act (SATA) made the program worse in many respects. Amendments authorized the minister of public safety and emergency preparedness to establish a list of persons who the minister has reasonable suspicion to believe poses a threat.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association, among others, has pointed out that the term "reasonable grounds to suspect" is left undefined while the concept of a "threat" is overbroad. The threat could be to transportation security, or it may be that the minister has "reasonable grounds to suspect" that the person will commit a terrorist offence, or participate or contribute directly or indirectly to a terrorist group or activity (as set out in the Criminal Code).

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The offence is committed regardless of whether the group engages in such an act, the person actually contributes to the group or realizes he or she is doing so. There is no guidance provided as to how the minister or designate can come to such a conclusion.

Moreover, the standard of "reasonable suspicion" may not pass constitutional muster given that inclusion on the no-fly list would mean deprivation of mobility rights and other guarantees contained in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Other changes include extending the time to review the list to every 90 days from every 30 days; authorizing the minister of transport to demand information from carriers and reservation systems and to share these with other entities, including foreign; and adds the minister of citizenship and immigration to the SPAG (though unclear if it will continue).

The no-fly list is certainly not going to shrink thanks to these provisions.

It is also unclear whether the Office of Reconsideration will continue its work. The SATA says that a denied person (whose name may have already been provided to foreign entities) now must apply directly to the minister within 60 days of being denied transportation to challenge a listing. This is akin to having the fox guard the henhouse.

Moreover, SATA suggests that a person on the list may not be informed that he or she is on the no-fly list, raising the question of how people will come to know they are on the list so they can attempt to seek redress.

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If a person is in fact advised or somehow learns that he or she is on the list, he or she applies to the minister and if the minister's decision is not forthcoming within 90 days, it is deemed a non-removal. An appeal flows to a federal judge, who must be convinced that the minister was not only wrong, but acted "unreasonably."

The kicker is that this will most likely be done in a private hearing with secret (unchallenged and unchallengeable) evidence presented in the absence of the individual and counsel. This Kafkaesque process was held unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada in the context of security certificates used to detain non-citizens as national security threats.

More headaches from secrecy

Ironically, as the U.S. begins to ease up on its own lists in response to civil rights lawsuits, the Canadian list is becoming more secretive, sweeping and less accountable.

Those on the list and sometimes even those with similar names not only face delays and inconvenience, but also life-altering consequences as the list cross-fertilizes with other lists, domestic and foreign.

In other words, Canadians may be targeted not only by the Canadian list but, consistent with the cross-fertilization thesis, they may also be subject to American and other nations' no-fly lists.

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Watch lists may serve a limited legitimate and useful function, such as separating individuals deserving of increased investigative attention. But these lists will never be complete or totally accurate, and as such, should never be the basis for serious restrictions on liberty, freedom of movement, violation of privacy or other rights without the benefit of the principles of fundamental justice.

The government's appeal to national security should not exempt it from rigorous accountability and oversight. As many critics have argued, the system envisaged by the Passenger Protect Program and as amended by SATA has proven neither necessary nor effective. It is unconstitutional, as it is over inclusive with high likelihood of false positives, and poses a serious potential for rights violations and completely lacks any meaningful redress mechanism or process.

As Harper wrote in his book Identity Crisis: "Watch listing and identification checking [are] like posting a most-wanted list at a post office and then waiting for criminals to come to the post office."

If the Canadian government wants to really make a difference, then cosmetic changes need to give way to substantive and procedural protections. Otherwise Syed Adam Ahmed and the 21 others like him may not be the last kids or innocent Canadians caught in the web.

This article was first published by The Islamic Monthly on Jan. 29, 2016. A shorter version of this article also appeared in The Toronto Star on Jan. 15, 2016.

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Marianna Massey via Getty Images A model in a white fur coat poses during a photo shoot on a rooftop.

Fur is luxurious.

It's style-wise, culturally enduring and socially debated. Old money, new money and bourgeoisie in between, we love fur, if not just the look of fur.

Fur also happens to be the most debated fashion topic.

To Fur or Not To Fur? That is the question.

How do you decide?

Armed with the facts, here are five ways to make up your mind:

1. Get to know fur.

To do so requires reconnecting with its roots. The fascinating practice of wearing fur is a long-lived tradition for several native cultures around the world. From Russia to Africa, fur began as a desirable byproduct of animals hunted for sustaining daily life. In fact, the commercial fur trade was only born much later in when native Canadian furriers bartered it for other European goods. Today, it is sold through two main sources: large-scale commercial retailers and native or artisanal furriers. In all production methods, animals are skinned for their fur and carcasses either redeployed for other uses or composted.

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2. Not all fur is created equal.

As with all industries, there are governance bodies and organizations that promote best practices. Origin Assured provides consumers with information, and a list of retailers by country that are notably compliant with local fur production practices and regulations. If you seek comfort over the production of your fur (not a bad idea given the importance of quality and the value of your investment), you would benefit from checking it out the website, and learning more about the furriers.

3. Don't rush your purchase.

Fur is a hands-on experience. It's important to get a feel for each type of fur, the construction, dyes used, and the tenure of the furrier. In deciding where to visit, here's a good place to start with purchase tips and reliable retailers. As a general rule, avoid over-processed furs. And like all fashion investments, you need to set aside some time and money to properly clean and store your fur.

4. Beware 'vegan' furs.

When considering synthetic furs, you really need to question the nature of the material being used. Plastic, polyester, nylon and other common synthetic materials are made from petroleum, a product of oil refinement, which is not only energy-intensive, it's not biodegradable, and non-renewable as a resource. And unless synthetic furs are made from recycled materials, they require new oil extraction which comes with an environmental price tag. Take a couple of extra moments to really understand the material being used if you're opting for vegan products. You may not like the production process, but fur is indeed a natural, biodegradable and renewable resource. Some furriers, like Canada's Harricana by Mariouche work exclusively with recycled and vintage fur to eliminate environmental impact and upcycle.

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5. Fur is a good investment.

If you've satisfied yourself with the notion of wearing fur products, the very simple answer is that fur is a good investment. When sourced from a quality furrier, a good fur is an eternal fashion staple. It can be restyled into new silhouettes and colours, and passed it down to future generations. Fur real.

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John Lamb via Getty Images Tablet computer with news articles

Media managers are wondering what went wrong. They are asking why journalism doesn't pay any more. If the solutions are hard to discern, they have only to look at the technology they so eagerly embrace.

It's the digital technology. Digital emerged in the late 90s and early 2000s. It has spread throughout many industries including journalism, like a virus. Not co-incidentally, ratings and circulation began to decline. Media organizations, pressured by shareholders and desperate to find a way to return to the great profit margins, seized on digital as the silver bullet of transformations.

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But if ever there was a poison pill, it is the digital culture. It has enlarged our possibilities while offering up cat videos, celebrity sightings and listicles. It is driving journalistic deviance downward, to paraphrase Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

"If journalism in Canada is to survive, then it has to resist digital's worst qualities in order to let the digital culture offer what's best on behalf of the public."

Yet media organizations cling to digital like a torpedoed sailor clings to a raft, hoping that the submarine won't hit them again.

In Toronto at a gathering sponsored by the Canadian Journalism Foundation, three prominent newspaper publishers discussed the future of the business. To a person, they were all bullish on the future. And that future for newspapers, they said, is digital, digital and more digital.

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We live in strange times.

We have a lodging system called AirBnB. It doesn't own any actual hotels.

There's a food delivery service called Foodora. It doesn't own any restaurants.

There's a video service called YouTube. It doesn't own movie or TV companies.

There's a taxi company called Uber. It doesn't own any cars.

All of those businesses -- and many others -- have been transformed by digital. While customers have benefited from the ease, cost-effectiveness and simplicity of digital, there is also a powerful downside: wages for workers in those industries have plummeted, working conditions are often worse and company morale, in many instances, is still dropping and not yet hit rock bottom.

At the same time, profit margins for owners in many industries, have never been greater.

Journalism is also being Uber-ized. Newspapers have closed or been downsized, broadcasters have cut their more expensive (and usually more labour-intensive) content.

In the rush to return to the once rich profit margins of the early 2000s, media organizations are being urged by their shareholders to dispense with expensive ventures like international reporting. Instead, news consultants are hired to tell their news clients that weather, traffic and crime (WTC) are what most audiences prefer.

Not coincidentally, WTC also happens to be the cheapest and most readily available content. And all three bits of low-hanging journalistic fruit happen to originate from government sources. So much for independent journalistic inquiry.

Worse yet, media organizations, especially broadcasters, try to entice their audiences through "clickbait." This is defined as "an eyecatching link on a website which encourages people to read on. It is often paid for by the advertiser ('paid' click bait) or generates income based on the number of clicks."

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It's rarely newsworthy, but it does attract eyeballs. The assumption seems to be that audiences will stay for the "serious" content after gorging on the fluff.

The CBC's website seems to be particularly smitten with "clickbait" even though their own journalists complain, and the public resents this waste of the public broadcaster's journalistic efforts and reputation.

No technological change can ever be reversed. Occasionally it can be slowed, even questioned. Can the effects of the digital culture be made to work on behalf of the culture, rather than against it?

If journalism in Canada (and elsewhere) is to survive, then it has to resist digital's worst qualities (listicles, cat videos and celebrity sightings) in order to let the digital culture offer what's best on behalf of the public.

One of the best qualities of a journalist is skepticism. When it comes to digital, skepticism has been jettisoned for unquestioning enthusiasm.

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And the information-starved public is less well-served as a result.

This blog originally appeared onNow the Details.

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Maciej Bledowski via Getty Images Rainbow colors heart on white background, space for text.

Love alone cuts argument short, for it alone comes to the rescue when you cry for help against disputes ~ Rumi

Valentine's Day will soon be upon us. Many Muslims celebrate it in their own special way. Some celebrate it to honour the love for their beloveds, while others cherish it with their parents or children.

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Indeed, human beings were created with deep desire for belonging, companionship and above all love. However, conservative Muslim leaders equate the legitimate desires of LGBT Muslims for intimacy and affection with the urges and desires of alcoholics and drug addicts.

Such leaders feel that desires must be checked to conform to their worldview shaped by a deep-seated heterosexism. Such bias also informs their reading of the scriptures. As a result, they are able take a story about inhospitality and subjugation and make it about the condemnation of love between same gender couples.

Many LGBT Muslims end up feeling dejected and unloved.

This religious fervour allows them to perpetuate cultural taboos that subject vulnerable sexual minorities to hatred and contempt. As a consequence, LGBT Muslims may find themselves in loveless marriages or self-imposed loneliness encouraged by the martyr of love narrative. They may also find themselves on the receiving end by their own families or in the way of harm on the streets. In some cases, marginalization even turns to persecution.

Even in gay spaces, LGBT Muslims may have to contend with rampant anti-Muslim bigotry on top of the pressures of a forbidding subculture shaped by concerns of body image, skin colour and other attributes.

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Many LGBT Muslims end up feeling dejected and unloved. To fill this void some resort to unhealthy sexuality whereas others turn to puritanism. Still others go through suicide ideation for they find no meaning in life in the absence of the fulfillment of their deepest desire to love and to be loved.

The movie Fire captures this powerful longing through the words of the protagonist, Radha.

"Without desire I was dead, Without desire there's no point in living, I desire to live." "I desire Sita,< I desire her warmth, her compassion, her body. I desire to live again."

Progressive, inclusive and Universalist Muslims understand the incredible amount of duress faced by LGBT Muslims and the pressing human need for love. It is for this reason many of them have banded together to let vulnerable LGBT Muslims know to not let go of hope and to live beyond mere existence.

Gay and straight, young and old, men and women, white and coloured, Sunni and Shia Muslims have come together from far and wide to send a powerful message to LGBT Muslims that "Allah Loves us All."

This love is not based on conditions of trials and tests but is shaped by the value of radical inclusion instilled by the Prophet's teaching to love for humanity what we love for our ownselves.

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Their message is simple. It would be a calumny against the Creator to spend one's life appeasing the fears of other human beings. It would equally be ingratitude to the Creator to harbour self-hatred that arises from the inability to meet forbidding subculture expectations.

Progressive, inclusive and Universalist Muslims bless LGBT Muslims in their path to love and to be loved. They counsel them to let go of inner conflict, heal from cognitive dissonance and rediscover their childlike awe and wonder that frees them from the shackles of societal conformity and false expectations.

In essence, Muslims of various stripes have banded together in the following video to let LGBT Muslims know to not let go of hope for "Allah Loves us All".

Allah Loves Us AllPosted by Junaid Jahangir on Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Imam Daayiee Abdullah, President and Chair, Muslim Education Center for Creative Academics

Shahla Khan Salter, Director, Universalist Muslims

Junaid Jahangir, Assistant Professor, MacEwan University, Edmonton, Alberta

Fauzya Talib, founding member of the Ottawa Valley Unity Mosque

Tanda Chmilovska, Coordinating Imam of Calgary Alberta Unity Mosque

Garrett Nicholas Fugate-Kiriakos, PhD Candidate in Islamic Studies, Boston University

Omar Sarwar, Queer Muslim Activist and PhD Candidate in History, Columbia University

Dino Suhonic, Maruf, Dutch Queer Muslims

Shayma Johnson, women and LGBT rights activist, Strathmore, Alberta

Owais Siddiqui, straight Muslim ally and activist, Edmonton, Alberta

Mark Brustman, writer and activist , Oakland, California.

Frank Parmir, Director, Muslims for Progressive Values, Columbus, Ohio

Kelly Wentworth, Secretary, Muslims for Progressive Values; President, MPV-Atlanta

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Gordon Swanson via Getty Images Medical Marijuana 1

It used to be all about the THC. In other words, cannabis' popularity has always been attributable to this psychoactive chemical, which gets people "high."

But marijuana's bad boy image has been getting a well-earned makeover in recent years, thanks in part to its surging popularity as a legitimate form of herbal medicine.

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In fact, it's not cannabis' infamous THC content that's creating a real buzz these days. Instead, it's a lesser-known chemical called CBD that is attracting much of the attention. And it's all because CBD provides some of marijuana's most sought-after healing powers, according to medical studies.

Also known as cannabidiol, CBD is the second-most abundant cannabinoid in the marijuana plant. And here's what's really interesting: CBD does not induce the mentally intoxicating effects that have made cannabis so controversial. That's exclusively the role of THC.

This is great news for the majority of medical patients, who have little or no interest in feeling psychologically impaired, i.e. "stoned." All they want is a safe, addiction-free alternative to pharmaceutical drugs -- especially painkilling opioids.

All too often, opioids are over-prescribed by physicians. And they can quickly become very addictive.

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They can induce all sorts of other nasty side effects, too. Worst of all, they have been blamed for many suicides.

Not surprisingly, a big part of medical marijuana's burgeoning appeal is that it doesn't come with the serious risks associated with opioids, and it's very rarely addictive.

Yet the full scope of its medicinal qualities is still not well understood, largely due to it being legally off-limits to most government-funded research facilities until recently. So the study of the 80 or so compounds that are found in the marijuana plant is still in its infancy.

This is why some government-endorsed growers of medical marijuana are hard at work developing strains of marijuana that are especially high in CBD but low in THC.

At the same time, the U.S. federal government is financing several dozen clinical trials into the efficacy of CBD as a treatment for a diversity of medical conditions. They include Parkinson's Disease, epilepsy, opiate addiction, Crohn's Disease, schizophrenia and cancer.

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Now a Canadian licensed producer claims to have made a major breakthrough. Alberta-based Aurora Cannabis (CSE: ACB) just developed what is believed to be the most CBD-rich strain of medical marijuana in the world. And it's non-psychoactive.

This is according to Neil Belot, a company spokesperson. Until recently he served as the executive director of Canada's national trade association for licensed producers, known as the Canadian Medical Cannabis Industry Association.

"Independent lab tests during our qualification runs have confirmed this strain at nearly 26 per cent CBD and one per cent THC, which is a testament to our pioneering, science-driven plant cultivation technologies," Belot says.

"So we're confident that this will soon become Canada's most sought-after CBD-rich cannabis strain, and will be supported by physicians and patients alike," he adds.

Until last week, a strain developed in the U.S. called Charlotte's Web was considered to contain the highest percentage of CBD ever developed; it has 20 per cent CBD and less than 0.5 per cent THC.

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The advent of non-psychoactive, CBD-rich/low-THC marijuana is a big step towards many peoples' acceptance of cannabis as a legitimate form of medicine. This is according to Dr. Jonathan Page, an adjunct professor of botany at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

A world-renowned expert on the chemistry of marijuana, he was the first scientist to sequence the cannabis genome. He now runs Vancouver-based Anandia Labs, a biotechnology start-up that's innovating new varieties of medical marijuana.

Page says CBD's anti-inflammatory properties may be particularly appealing to chronic pain sufferers who want to remain clear-headed while medicated. And CBD-rich oil is gaining greater acceptance among parents and doctors as an appropriate treatment for paediatric seizure disorders, including epilepsy, he adds.

Among its many other uses, CBD is considered therapeutic for treating depression, anxiety, insomnia and nausea.

Commenting on Aurora's unprecedented cultivation of the world's highest strain of non-psychoactive, CBD-rich cannabis, Page says, "This is a really remarkable achievement."

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He is another demon on his own. Remember form and function? This is all form and zero function. Some of you may be absolutely obsessed with specific, high-end brand names, which is totally fine. Do you, bro. Many of those brands offer exceptional quality and warmth for the severities of winter.

What I DO have major beef with are the guys who buy the fake brand name jackets. What the hell are you smoking? Even the idea of a fake Canada Goose or Moose Knuckle jacket makes me cringe. I understand that you need to be socially acceptable and have otherwise went for the cheaper option (just kidding, I don't). Newsflash: your fake Canada Goose jacket doesn't have any of the actual down that keeps you warm and insulated. Do you even know what that stuff is made of in there? Lets just say while you're out with your colleagues who opted to pay full price for an expensive down-filled jacket, toasty and warm with a tank top underneath, you're most likely freezing your balls off. All because you wanted to fit in. Just pay for the real thing and stop being a poser.

3. The Guy Who Loves Warmth

Photo courtesy of Gotstyle

In terms of form, the guys who love warmth are the opposite to the guys obsessed with their brand image. Yes, their jackets are massive enough to fit the cast of Seinfeld (especially Goretex, eh George?). These people don't care, because they're warm. I've went from layers to the down thing for a few years, including Moose Knuckles, Aether, and Nobis, and I have to say it's rather refreshing to wear a t-shirt during a winter storm. It makes you feel warm for once.

As an honorary member, I'd like to point out that I'm a very functional person. People like us are out for one thing: stay warm. We actually care about the technical details put into the jacket, and I've nerded out more than enough times about how the Primaloft insulation in my jacket is Forestry grade, and how the zippered underarm vents allow me to "air out" while I'm doing laps around a mall. The technicalities are rather fascinating - it just comes with a much higher price tag. On the flip side, it's total overkill for the guys that don't find themselves outside much; especially those who drive more than walk, have a snow blower, and live in a climate that doesn't exhibit world-ending winter extremities.

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4. The Guy Who Hates Brands (But Still Loves Warmth)

There's also an opposite to the guy who loves warmth, yet share an objective towards function. It's the guy who hates conformity. It's the guy who doesn't believe he should spend $800 on a winter jacket. And he'll do whatever it takes to make sure those people who do feel stupid. I'm of course talking about the guy who hates brand names.

He's very much against the down-filled lemmings that litter the sidewalks. Screw Canada Goose. To hell with Moose Knuckle. He doesn't like conformity, and in some cases, may even look down upon those brand whores.

Some people just can't actualize a high price tag. Which is totally cool. I can't actualize the cost of a private jet (yet). Nor can I actualize the cost of a rocket ship. These fellas tend to ask: "Why buy a $800 winter jacket when I can buy one for $200?" To understand the exact details means more money out of the pocket, so it's better to stick to the lesser priced Colombia ski jacket. They keep you relatively warm, but will usually pair better with sweaters and undershirts. I'm a big believer in living amongst your means, so I'm 100% behind those who find a less expensive way to stay warm when it's blistering outside. We're all shivering around the same barrel of fire, aren't we?

5. The Guy Who Hates Winter

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Of the five type of winter guys, by average these men are actually the warmest of the bunch, which I could probably prove through some internal jacket temperature vs. beach destination calculation. They are the no jacket revolution, and you'll never see them out in the cold.

Their answer to winter: why bother? They live in a condo that has underground parking or is connected to an underground mall or subway system. If they drive, they probably have a remote car starter built in. They get everything delivered - groceries, booze, Thai food, anything that makes others do the outdoor stuff. Most importantly, they don't even bother with winter because they bought a timeshare or buy travel deals down south for every winter month. $800 for a down filled parka? That's a 4-star all-inclusive trip to Mexico.

Assuming the no jacket revolution is making enough to vacation that much, they probably already own high-end down-filled jackets that never see the light of day. They're just being realistic: if you for whatever reason had to live in a city that offers popular amenities such as blizzards and strong gusts of cold winds, and you had the choice to be out there or not, why even expose yourself?

Which winter man are you? Hit us up in the comments below.

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Last week, the United States Center for Disease Control issued a warning directed specifically to women about alcohol consumption. The warning relayed the risks of drinking too much, which according to the CDC include: injuries/violence, sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancy. Shortly after, a report published by the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada stated that "women can be more vulnerable to sexual assault or other violence when drinking beyond their capacity" - neglecting to include any warnings for men or specify anything about the actual perpetrators of sexual violence.

When public health agencies issue warnings, the purpose is to offer timely, relevant, evidence-based and high quality information for people to be equipped to make decisions about their own bodies and their health. The social media storm that followed reflects exactly how both the CDC and our Public Health Officer completely missed the mark.

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Between mocking, raising concern or being just plain angry, across the social media wave, most share the same baseline: what could have been important and valuable insight was presented in a way that not only plays into paternalistic narratives about whose bodies need to be under surveillance and controlled, but also how easy it is to brush these off as clumsy scare tactics.

The CDC factsheet and Public Health Officer's report are just two representations of the many spaces in which governments and institutions attempt to control women's bodies and sexualities - and their ability to make autonomous decisions.

When it comes to pregnancy (and, specifically, women's bodies) the level of control that our social culture tries to exert is disproportionate to the information we actually have. Consciously or not, the language choice and tactics used run deeper than a genuine concern around scientifically proven harm to a person's body or an actual or potential pregnancy.

It points to how we, as a society, view certain choices and bodies and how we punish those who transgress. Warnings like these perpetuate essentialist views of gender, reproduction and sexuality, which can stigmatize certain populations and are potentially harmful from a health standpoint.

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What such messages allude to is how our culture really feels about women's bodies (and its ownership over them) and women's assumed (in)ability to make complex decisions about their health, bodies and families, navigating the unique circumstances of their lives. This kind of approach should not inform public health campaigns, policies, services etc.

And yet, the messaging is everywhere. Women's bodies are constantly being shamed and controlled - the Ghomeshi trial and the Zika response are two high profile examples of just that.

Women complainants are being "discredited" by narrowing in on irrelevant factors that rely on comparing their behaviour before, during and after the assault. The narrative in and outside of the courtroom is overridden with stereotypes around how the victim - not the perpetrator - ought to behave. As happens time and time again in sexual assault cases, discriminatory assumptions about a witness's behaviour and what she did wrong are anything but uncommon. In no other category of trial is it so apparent. Even women's stories about their own bodies are questioned.

The initial response to the Zika virus has similar undertones. As governments and health care workers across the Americas are scrambling to stop the outbreak, they too have completely missed the mark on women's rights. Now that the virus is thought to be linked to higher incidences of microcephaly, governments like El Salvador are directly targeting women. In a country where abortion is illegal and contraception is hard to come by, women are being told not to get pregnant until 2018, while there is no messaging aimed at men to stop having procreative sex, oblivious to what that asymmetry is rooted in, or examining how the birth defects are on the rise specifically in poor areas of the countries most affected.

For those who choose to avoid pregnancy, there are no services in place to truly realize their reproductive rights, nor are there services to support and empower those living with disability.

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It is true in Canada too, as, while abortion is legal, conscientious objection, crisis pregnancy centers, stigma and the reality that only 1 in 6 hospitals offer abortion services (most in urban areas) all lead to significant barriers and remind us how little we as a culture trust women to make decisions for themselves and their bodies.

Across the board the message is loud and clear. When it comes to making a decision about their own bodies, our governments and our social institutions don't trust women to "make the right one."

That is especially true for women of colour, women who are poor, Indigenous women. Instead, women are being served heaps of blanket advice without meaningful conversations about differential circumstances and determinants of health, without questioning why the onus is on individual women to stop sexual assault, STIs and unwanted pregnancies, and finally, without recognizing that offering choice and information without support and resources ends up being pretty meaningless.
Daisy Gilardini via Getty Images The Kermode Bear (Ursus americanus kermodei) is one of the rarest bears in the world. It is a black bear that has a white/creamy fur, which is produced by a recessive gene. He lives principally in the central and north coast of British Columbia in Canada.Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia, Canada

Glendale grizzlies, British Columbia (Photo by Klaus Gretzmacher)

First Nations, environmentalists, industry and governments are all celebrating the recent announcement of the 2016 Great Bear Rainforest Agreement. This sweeping, globally-significant agreement marks more than 20 years of efforts to redefine land use in the 8.8-million-acre (3.6-million-hectare) Great Bear Rainforest, which encompasses the BC coast from Campbell River to Stewart.

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The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) congratulates all those who worked for years to achieve this agreement. The Great Bear Rainforest is an area in which we have long been engaged, both with our expertise in conservation science and planning and with our campaigns to secure private lands, such as the Gullchucks Estuary on Denny Island and our assembly of conservation lands in Rivers Inlet.

A long road to consensus

The Great Bear Rainforest Agreement was negotiated by such a diverse group of interests that at times consensus seemed all but impossible. Independent conservation science played a key role in bringing these seemingly incompatible interests to the same table. The science helped them find common ground when discussing how to manage and relate to this very special place.

In 2002, after years of fractious environmental campaigns, international boycotts and an inability to find a starting point for negotiation, an independent multidisciplinary advisory group was established: The Coast Information Team (CIT). The group was tasked with providing independent information on the central and north coasts of British Columbia and Haida Gwaii, including the Great Bear Rainforest, to help inform the negotiations that aimed to reach consensus on how the lands were to be managed.

The Coast Information Team

The Nature Conservancy of Canada, along with internationally renowned conservation biologist Reed Noss, was entrusted by the Provincial Government of British Columbia, First Nations, environmental groups, the forest industry and communities to lead the project team. NCC was recognized as a neutral and honest broker of information that could produce credible science. NCC's science staff, along with experts from other organizations, governments and First Nations, spent 18 months coordinating the massive undertaking.

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"We pulled together all these brilliant minds, lots of PhDs, biologists, foresters and others. We had access to any government data set we needed, and expert staff," remembers Pierre Iachetti, a former NCC staffer who coordinated the peer review process and managed the data collection for the ecosystem spatial analysis component of the study:

"Even the forest companies gave us access to their forest cover data, which was a huge coup. They didn't trust the advocacy groups with that data, so we were the first to get it. The Nature Conservancy of Canada's reputation opened many doors."

The resulting reports, analysis and guidelines incorporated the best available scientific, technical, traditional and local knowledge on the Great Bear Rainforest. The goal was to illuminate--objectively--the ecological, cultural and economic landscapes of this coastal region.

A controversial finding

When the CIT published its reports, the group's ecosystem modelling and analysis suggested that 70 percent of the Great Bear Rainforest would need to be protected in order to retain the integrity of the overall system. At the time, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature was calling for the protection of 12 per cent of the world's various ecosystems.

"I remember it being controversial when it got out to the public that we were saying we need to protect 70 percent of the Great Bear. That was seen as outrageous," recalls Pierre. "But we stuck to it. We said, this is what our data and our analyses tell us. But now the final solution is 85 percent, which is a testament to the negotiators."

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Recommendations that changed the world

The CIT also developed an approach to ecosystem-based management that incorporated both ecosystem information and human well-being. The group published a guidebook that continues to inform the implementation of ecosystem-based management on the BC coast.

"The big thing about what the CIT produced was that everybody took our results and used them for their own purposes," says Pierre. "The advocacy groups put our maps in the media to pressure industry and the government, saying: These independent scientists that you paid money for, that you trusted, said to protect a minimum of 70 per cent."

Those maps, analyses and recommendations were also spread across the negotiating tables as multi-stakeholder planning groups developed practical solutions for land use and natural resource management issues -- leading to the crown jewel of solutions in the Great Bear Rainforest Agreements. The CIT's analyses helped to define the boundaries of the Great Bear conservancies that were established in 2006, and underpinned the current agreement that is being celebrated by people on all sides of the land-use issue.

"The Coast Information Team absolutely laid the foundation for everybody to achieve what was achieved. If we hadn't done the planning, my guess is that 25 percent or 30 percent protection would have been considered a success. We really raised the bar," says Pierre. "I'm proud of the role NCC played. The interesting thing is to see how everyone -- industry, government, environmentalists and First Nations -- came together to find a solution. It was really ugly in the beginning, but the stakeholders have been working together for 10-15 years now and there's real respect and camaraderie between them all."

____________

Pierre Iachetti, PAg, MCIP, RPP, worked for the Nature Conservancy of Canada as the BC conservation planner and then director of conservation science and planning from 2001 to 2010. Currently he is the executive director of the College of Applied Biology.

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PeopleImages via Getty Images Cropped shot a group of friends studying together at a coffee shop

With a quality education system and reputation as a safe and multi-cultural country, Canada is rated at the top of the list of places for international students to study.

"Canada has so much to offer for those pursuing post-secondary education," says Jade Calver, a Canadian immigration consultant with Calver & Associates. But with so many options, it's important for prospective international students to do their research.

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UniversityHub recommends assessing universities across three criteria -- the first being 'international reputation'. "Canadian Universities rank well internationally and those who hold Canadian degrees are very competitive on the international market as employees", notes Calver.

In fact, 13 Canadian institutions made the Times Higher Education list of world's most international universities, including the universities featured in our ranking below.

'International friendliness' of the city is also a recommended criterion. "Many international students fail to do any research on the culture of the town or city that they will study in before they arrive in Canada; studying downtown Toronto or Montreal is very different than a school in rural Nova Scotia," says Calver.

Canada is indeed a very open and welcoming community for international students of all nationalities; however, some cities offer a more seamless transition than others.

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Studying anywhere abroad isn't cheap; as a result, it's important to look into the cost of living and the price of tuition for international students -- our third recommended criteria for selecting a university.

"Canadian Universities also come at a much lower cost than comparable programs in the United Kingdom or United States," notes Calver. "This can be very helpful for international students who already face many extra costs when choosing to study abroad."

Also be sure to check out UniversityHub.ca for full rankings and student reviews.

"McGill is recognized as one of the highest-ranked schools not only in Canada, but in the world," says Calver. The school ranked #24 in the recent QS World University Rankings - the highest of any Canadian institution. Residing in the demographically diverse city of Montreal, and having one of Canada's highest international student bodies, McGill is a perfect environment for foreign students. On top of this, McGill has some of the lowest international tuition costs for international students.

With a #50 ranking, UBC comes in third out of Canadian schools in the QS World University Rankings. The school is well-recognized around the world, and the city is incredibly international. In Richmond, for example, over 50% of residents are new to Canada. However, tuition rates are slightly higher than Canadian average, and Vancouver itself isn't exactly the most affordable city in Canada. Despite this, UBC still comes in #2 on our list.

"U of A attracts over 6,500 international student from 147 countries annually, which makes it an ideal pick for international students," notes Calver. The school is known for the support services it provides to its international students, which is very helpful for those students adjusting to Edmonton. The city's cost of living, small size, and cold weather sometimes comes as a bit of a surprise to new residents, but U of A's lower international student tuitions make up for it.

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Toronto is heralded as one of the most multicultural cities in the world, and U of T is renowned across borders for its quality of education. With its main campus right in the heart of downtown, and with over 15,000 international students per year, U of T is an exceptional place to study. Toronto's cost of living is increasing more than almost any other

"Dalhousie is one of Canada's oldest universities, attracting more than 18,200 students from around the world," says Calver. While Halifax isn't Canada's most international city, it's tuition rates and cost and living more than make up for it. Dal's reputation is gradually expanding 3,000 international students at Dalhousie from 110 different countries.

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By Elly Vandenberg, Senior Director, World Vision Canada

No time for half-measures. A young girl suffering from malaria recuperates in Kuajok Hospital, South Sudan. Photo by Andre Forget.

This week, Prime Minister Trudeau articulated that Canada would refocus international development assistance on the poorest and most vulnerable. It was an encouraging statement from Canada's new government. But who are the most vulnerable and what can be done to help them?

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Millions of children in countries such as Syria, South Sudan, Somalia, Pakistan and Afghanistan live and die never having officially existed. Their communities are riddled with conflict, rocked with instability or dispirited by isolation. Their governments are either unwilling or unable to provide even basic health care. In the international development sphere we refer to these areas as 'fragile settings'.

Tough challenges, great potential

A recent visit to South Sudan helped reinforce for me both the profound needs of the most vulnerable, and what can be done about them. The world's toughest regions present the greatest challenges. Yet it's in these places where the most difference can be made. This is where Canada must refocus to reach the most marginalized.

As the United Nations formulated its new global Sustainable Development Goals last year, development organizations pressed successfully for the inclusion of the world's most vulnerable women, newborns and young children -- those living in these fragile settings.

We had previously witnessed the success of child and maternal health programs in freeing people from the clutches of poverty and injustice. Since 1990, programs like those funded by Canada have helped cut the global mortality rate for children under five in half, saving the lives of 100 million girls and boys.

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But these effects have been felt mainly in countries where communities are both stable and easily reachable.

It could be the smile of your next-door-neighbour here in Canada. But this boy is growing up in a camp for internally displaced people. Twic County, South Sudan. Photo by Andre Forget

Time to reach the most vulnerable

It's now time to reach the world's most vulnerable children, those living amidst instability, conflict or disaster. Because health systems are weak, many have never been registered at birth, never received the most simple health checkup, never been immunized. Their parents have never received rudimentary advice about nutrition.

As the prime minister noted "Canadians are defined by our compassion, our generosity, and our ingenuity." When Canadians understand what is needed and what is possible we demonstrate care and creativity.

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Simple, inexpensive, proven solutions

The solutions for many vulnerable communities are simple. They include inexpensive and proven interventions against deadly yet curable illnesses like malaria, pneumonia and diarrhea. Mosquito nets to protect children from malaria, and antibiotics for babies whose cold turns dangerous. And for expectant mothers, we need to provide basic prenatal checkups, a trained birth attendant to help with delivery, and breastfeeding support.

Canada has provided admirable child and maternal health leadership in the safer, cheaper, more straightforward spots on our globe -- countries with stable governments and far less gunfire... It is time now for our country to reach further. The very successes of our programs in countries such as Tanzania are proof that lives can be saved quickly and inexpensively.

A mother prepares her baby daughter for a health checkup and vaccination at a World Vision health day. Tonj North County, South Sudan. Photo by Andre Forget

There are those who say long-term development can't be done in countries like South Sudan but I witnessed first-hand the lives saved there as a result of existing Canadian investments. Hardworking medical professionals brought critical services to communities in remote places. Midwives, male and female, expressed awe at the role they were able to play in helping women deliver. Community health workers improved maternal outcomes by promoting healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies.

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Dedicated former refugee students to Canada who are now full Canadian citizens actively gave back as managers, aid workers and peace builders. And resilient mothers, fathers and community volunteers remain willing to go to great lengths to engage in health-care training and service to the weakest.

I've witnessed hope at work

Although nightly newscasts focus on the spreading of viruses and violence, I've witnessed the transmission of information, ingenuity -- and hope.

The United Nations General Secretary's visit to Canada this week highlights the new global goals for fighting poverty and injustice, providing a collective vision. A Canadian refocus on the most vulnerable gives us a timely and pragmatic lens to concentrate our compassion and generosity on the women and children living in the most fragile parts of our world.

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A BBC film documenting the months leading up to the death of a man who took his own life in an assisted suicide in Switzerland was lauded across social networks on Wednesday, with many viewers calling for a change in the law.

'How to Die: Simons Choice' followed Simon Binner and his family in the year leading up to his death. The 57-year-old, who was was diagnosed with the debilitating disease in January 2015, took his own life in October at the Eternal Spirit clinic in Zurich.

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Simon Binner took his own life at an assisted suicide clinic after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease

Although the 'moment of the death' wasnt aired, the documentary showed traumatic scenes in which Binner laid on a bed, a pre-recorded message telling his wife, I really love you Debbie. We've had such a fun and laughter-filled marriage, we were really blessed to have found one another.

He was also shown taking the life-ending drugs via a drip before a coffin was wheeled into the room.

Ahead of the shows airing, the BBC was criticised by anti-assisted suicide group Care Not Killing, a spokesman calling the film deeply disturbing.

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Speaking to The Independent, Alister Thompson said the documentary raised serious concerns, adding: Showing scenes like that on national television risks skewing what people think about assisted suicide and sidelines the alternatives, such as hospice and palliative care.

It gives the impression that if youre disabled or terminally ill your life is somehow worthless and you should kill yourself, he added. Suicide is the biggest killer of young men in this country and the more it is normalised, the more people will think of it as a way out.

However, the documentary garnered near-universal praise on Twitter with many calling it important viewing.

So moved by this show, he was such a brave man. He should have been able to die at home, not miles away from his loved ones. #simonschoice  Lauren Gill (@Gill_Laurenn) February 11, 2016

#SimonsChoice The human Dignity versus society beliefs of what is correct. Simon and family made there choice. Huge respect... and tears...  psm_oliveira (@psm_oliveira) February 11, 2016

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What a heartbreaking, dignified, thought provoking & remarkable piece of television #simonschoice was.  Mark Chapman (@markchapman) February 10, 2016

Heartbreaking #RIP#simonschoice never cry at TV but this has me in bits.....   Luisa Zissman (@TheLuluLife) February 10, 2016

The programme #simonschoice is an incredible illustration of the pros and cons of assisted suicide. Especially for those left behind.  Jojo Moyes (@jojomoyes) February 10, 2016

Saddest thing I've ever watched but has definitely assured me that there is definitely a right to die #simonschoice  Harry Burt (@HarryJBurt) February 10, 2016

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So sad watching this. Total respect, admiration & sadness for his wife. Wrong he had to leave the country to do this #simonschoice  Wesley Shepherd (@wesshepherd) February 10, 2016

Teetering on the edge of tears watching #simonschoice on BBC2. My gosh. So hard. So. So. Hard.  Charlene White (@CharleneWhite) February 10, 2016

Simon's wife is so strong it's breaking my heart. When he's gone, she'll be left to live. So so sad. Incredible documentary. #simonschoice  Michael Underwood (@MikeyUnderwood) February 10, 2016

Parents & I have talked about the potential need of a "trip to Zurich". Change the law. Let people die in dignity in the UK. #simonschoice  Laura (@lmaxwellbernier) February 10, 2016

It is the patronising paternalism of religious leaders, medical professionals and know-it-all politicians that denies #simonschoice.  Dave Jones (@WelshGasDoc) February 10, 2016

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This gent in #simonschoice seems so full of joy and love, devastating that #MND is taking him down this path #MNDAwareness  Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) February 10, 2016
An Australian man has been charged over the alleged kidnapping and attempted murder of two female backpackers on a beach south of Adelaide, in a incident that has been compared to outback abduction movie 'Wolf Creek'.

The women, who are in their 20s, were rescued after they managed to escape their captor on Tuesday.

One raised the alarm with local fishermen, after being spotted running naked through the sand dunes covered in blood and screaming for help, while the other was recaptured and later found unconscious and unable to speak.

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One of the women was believed to have been hit in the head with a hammer while the other was run over with a vehicle.

An Australian man has been charged over the alleged kidnapping and attempted murder of two backpackers; he is pictured above being arrested

Witnesses said the national park attack was reminiscent of the outback abduction movie Wolf Creek, in which backpackers are attacked by a serial killer.

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The backpackers allegedly met their attacker before deciding to camp together at the isolated Coorong National Park in South Australia. The backpackers identities can't be revealed for legal reasons, however, one is understood to be a 23-year-old nurse from Brazil, and the other is understood to be from Germany, and also in her 20s.

A 59-year-old Adelaide man was arrested at Coorong National Park on Tuesday evening.

Australian broadcaster 7 News has since reported that the man, whose name has not been revealed, had been in police sights for some time and that detectives had raided his Morphett Vale home several times in the past year, seizing items of interest.

A task force has now been launched to investigate the national park incident and to find out whether the suspect has been involved in any other crimes, Acting Superintendent Trent Cox said.

Fisherman Abdul-Karim Mohammed spotted one of the injured women and told the broadcaster that she "ran straight to the car yelling".

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The trio's campsite at Coorong National Park, south of Adelaide

He told 7 News: "She opened the back door, jumped straight in and like, 'get me out of here, get me out of here. He's going to kill us all'."

He said the trio had been travelling from Adelaide to Melbourne, and had stopped at the small settlement of Salt Creek.

Salt Creek Roadhouse owner Adam Stewart said he encouraged the fishermen to return for the second woman after they phoned him for help.

"Unfortunately, [the women] were in pretty bad shape... We're all pretty rattled, obviously. It's a heavy event at any level. Even the police were rattled by it at a very high level," Stewart told 7 News.

Details including the accused man's identity, vehicle and alleged actions during the crimes have been suppressed.

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Dramatic amateur video showed the moment police arrested the man, who was refused bail when he appeared in court on Wednesday. He is due to re-appear in court in April.

Australian media said the accused had several Facebook accounts, and in one, he was pictured with a gun.

The man was also said to have had an online dating account where he was seeking a new Asian wife, and noted that he was respectful to women and gets along with everyone, well almost.
An increasing number of children are suffering from mental health problems, but how much do kids really know about these issues?

Four children, aged between nine and 11, were asked what they thought a mental illness was and sadly, not all of them knew what it meant.

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Kids discuss what it means to have a mental health condition

What is a mental health condition?

"Mental health is when someone goes a bit crazy," an 11-year-old said in the video above.

Lucie Russell, director of campaigns at YoungMinds, an organisation supporting children and young people's wellbeing and mental health, said children's misperceptions such as this, have often been influenced by the media.

"The media representation of mental illness is often negative, associating mental health problems with danger and unpredictability," she told HuffPost UK Parents.

"Parents should take the time to talk to their children about mental health, explaining that its something we all have, just as we all have physical health.

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"Sometimes we feel well, sometimes not so well, and sometimes we all struggle to cope."

How can you help someone with a mental illness?

"Make them feel like they belong to this world as well," one child said.

Russell said parents should talk openly about mental health and where people can go for support, so children know who they can turn to for advice.

"Conversations should include positive mental health, resilience and the importance of seeking help when things are bad," she said.

"It helps to break down stigma and enables young people to look after themselves and each other."

Dr Fiona Pienaar, Place2Be's director of clinical services previously told HuffPost UK Parents that parents should act as an emotional role model.

"It's a mother saying 'I'm feeling upset because my friend is ill, so I'm going to phone them and have a chat' or 'I'm not feeling well so I'm going to make an appointment to go to the doctors'," she said.
Jeremy Hunt today imposed a new contract on junior doctors, just hours after the second mass walkout by medics.

The contract will see junior doctors get a 13.5 per cent pay rise, but they will no longer get additional cash for working Saturdays.

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The Health Secretary blamed the British Medical Associations refusal to negotiate on the key issue of whether Saturday should become part of a normal working week as the reason for his move.

One junior doctor claimed there would now be a mass exodus of medical talent from England as doctors head to wales, Scotland or even overseas.

To the casual observer, it may have seemed that something approaching unity had broken out in the Labour Party in the last few weeks.

But normal service was resumed at this weeks Parliamentary Labour Party meeting.

A presentation on whether the UK should replace its independent nuclear deterrent quickly opened up old wounds.

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Shadow Defence Secretary Emily Thornberry was described as waffly and incoherentcringeworthy by former defence minister Kevan Jones.

Her claim that Trident would become outdated just as Second World War Spitfires had was picked up by David Cameron in PMQs, who had great fun reading out a Tweet from a disaffected Labour MP.

MPs today gave Google top brass a grilling over the company's UK tax affairs amid anger over its 130million settlement with HMRC.

Members of the Public Accounts Committee, in effect Parliaments financial watchdog, wanted to know why the final bill was so modest.

The MPs also quizzed the Google representatives on whether they used tax arrangements such as the Double Irish, and how much they got paid themselves  something Googles Europe president Matt Brittan hesitated to reveal.

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If David Cameron had the guts, he could have wiped out pretty much all of the Eurosceptic movement with one tactical missile strike on Wednesday.

At a Brexit conference in Westminster, Tory, Labour, Ukip and DUP MPs rubbed shoulders as they fantasised about life would be if the UK voted to leave in the EU referendum.

Whereas most of the speakers focused on the issues of democracy, sovereignty, security and business, Ukip leader Nigel Farage claimed immigration was the key topic which could deliver victory for the Brexiters.
Dramatic helmet camera video has been released showing the rescue of a lone Syrian refugee who had been clinging for several hours to the bow of a sinking boat in the Aegean Sea, in eastern Turkey.

The Turkish Coastguard video shows the rescue of refugee Pelen Hussein, near Edremit, from the perspective of sergeant Tuncay Ceylan.

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The video shows Ceylan lowering himself from a helicopter and then swimming to Hussein, who desperately clings onto the bow of a vertically sinking boat that is almost fully submerged.

Pelen Hussein clings to the sunken boat in the Aegean Sea near Edremit, a city in eastern Turkey

Ceylan tells Hussein to "jump into the water", before he attaches a harness to him, which hoists him into the helicopter.

Hussein was then flown back to land and taken to a hospital.

Hussein "was on the verge of hypothermia, and in a state of shock," Ceylan told Turkish media, according to AFP. "I tried to calm him down."

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Pelen Hussein from Syria stands on sinking refugee boat waiting to be rescued. Photo: Turkish coast guard #refugeespic.twitter.com/HWIi5sEH1V  Nick Malkoutzis (@NickMalkoutzis) February 10, 2016

Ceylan added, "When he came to himself a bit he started to cry. Probably his relatives came to his mind as there were a lot of corpses in the water."

Hussein was one of dozens of Syrian refugees who had set off by boat in the hopes of reaching the Greek island of Lesbos, which is near the Turkish eastern coast, AFP reported.

Twenty-seven migrants, 11 of them children, drowned, according to the Turkish Coast Guard.

Over 900,000 migrants and refugees entered Europe last year, according to the International Organization for Migration, many of which risked their lives making he perilous sea crossing in overcrowded boats.

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Hillier: What do you get paid Mr Brittin?

Brittin: If thats relevant Ill happily disclose that to the committee.

Hillier: Im asking you what you get paid.

Brittin: I dont have that figure but Ill happily provide it.

Hillier You dont know what you get paid Mr Brittin? Perhaps you could give us a ballpark about what you get paid. Forget the share options, whats the basic salary?

Brittin: I dont have the figure but Ill provide it if its relevant to the committee.

Hillier: Out their tax payers, our constituents, are angry. They live in a different world, clearly, if you cant tell us what you are paid.
A poster for a Vietnamese restaurant's noodle night has been cleared by the UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), after members of the public said it was "offensive" because it featured the words "Phat Phuc".

The poster from Hanoi Bike Shop in Glasgow reads: "Phat Phuc. Get your noodle on! First Tuesday of every month, four delicious noodle based dishes."

Two members of the public complained that the poster "featured a slogan that sounded like a swear word when spoken" and shouldn't be displayed in public as children could see it.

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However after reviewing the advert, the ASA deemed it acceptable to display.

Seats are selling fast for February's 'Phat Phuc' tomorrow evening! Call us on 0141 334 7165 to book! pic.twitter.com/aPiyRFt8xo  The Hanoi Bike Shop (@Hanoibikeshop) February 1, 2016

Hanoi Bike Shop defended the poster saying that "Phat Phuc" was the name of an event that had been running since March 2015 and was also included in the names of some of their noodle dishes.

They clarified that "Phat Phuc" was pronounced "Fet Fook" in Vietnamese and meant "Happy Buddha".

The ASA said they "understood that the word 'happy' in Vietnamese was correctly spelt as 'phuc'".

They added: "Although it was pronounced as 'Fook', we acknowledged that it sounded similar to the expletive 'fuck'. However, we noted that the Hanoi Bike Shop sold Far Eastern cuisine, which both posters had made sufficiently clear."

They concluded that the posters were unlikely to cause "serious or widespread offence".
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is facing a threatened exodus of English NHS junior doctors to Scotland, Wales and Australia after he announced he will impose his controversial new contract.

Hunt told the Commons that he had no choice but to unilaterally force the new contract on doctors after the British Medical Association had rejected his final offer on pay rates for working on Saturdays.

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To sweeten the pill, he offered a 13.5% rise in basic pay to make up for the cuts in pay rates at weekends and unveiled a 'review' of doctors' "morale".

But the backlash was swift, with the BMA declaring it cannot and will not accept a contract it says is bad for patients and the NHS and warned it would "consider all options open to us" - a clear hint of a rolling programme of strikes.

Shadow Health Secretary Heidi Alexander in the Commons

Shadow Health Secretary Heidi Alexander instantly declared that Mr Hunt was now the recruiting sergeant for the Australian health service, as many medics would be tempted to go overseas for better conditions.

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And within minutes of Mr Hunts hardball announcement, doctors themselves warned they were now poised to accept jobs abroad. Scotland and Wales have their own devolved health service and have vowed to keep contracts unchanged.

Jonathan Barnes, one junior medic, told the BBC that the number of young GPs and hospital doctors applying for overseas jobs was at an all-time high.

"If these changes are imposed there could be a mass exodus of doctors," he said.

The reaction on Twitter was quick.

In Australia junior doctors get pay, respect, sunshine and surf. In NHS England they get treated like 19th century coal miners. #hardchoices  John McTernan (@johnmcternan) February 11, 2016

"Where are all the Junior Doctors Sister?" "Australia & New Zealand" "Why?" "Get real Dave you immoral twerp" pic.twitter.com/TfMRddUSjc  Tony Dexter (@Timbleman) February 11, 2016

Well @Jeremy_Hunt has imposed the junior doctors contract... I hear Australia is really nice this time of year  James Taylor (@JTjamesetc) February 11, 2016

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Well junior doctors, it's been nice knowing you. Have fun in Scotland, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, Canada... https://t.co/fEZ11VmcNx  Dr Matt Piccaver (@Enkababu) February 11, 2016

Scotlands First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who was speaking in the Scottish Parliament when the news broke, signalled her country would accept doctors from NHS England with open arms.

"This is not how to treat health professionals," @NicolaSturgeon in response to Jeremy Hunt. Conditions will not be imposed in Scotland  Torcuil Crichton (@Torcuil) February 11, 2016

One medical student in London said she was now tempted by working in Edinburgh.

@Torcuil@thefourthcraw@NicolaSturgeon This immediately boosted my interest in Edinburgh! London will be infinitely more stressful... (1/2)  Claire Brash (@Rosedewy) February 11, 2016

And the Welsh Government made clear it too was ready for the exodus.

#Juniordoctors from any part of the UK interested in working in Wales will find a very warm welcome here  Welsh Government (@WelshGovernment) February 11, 2016

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And the hashtag #exodus appeared quickly on Twitter and other social media.

Imposing this contract shall only lead to a mass exodus of doctors at a time when we really need them. I bet Richard Branson's happy though.  Reece Hayes (@reecewhayes) February 11, 2016

Others warned that the slow, steady loss of NHS England junior doctors would more more likely than an instant exodus.

Unlikely to be exodus, trickle, yes, but #juniordoctors have commitments and can't all leave. The insidious demise of the #NHS continues.  Natalie Thurtle (@Turtle1doc) February 11, 2016

Last year, Tory MP and chairwoman of the Commons Health Select Committee Sarah Wollaston revealed that her own daughter and eight of her friends had quit the NHS in England for Australia.

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Jeremy Hunt, playing hardball in the Commons

Mr Hunt further infuriated Labour by declaring that today's announcement proved that "the Conservatives are the true party of the NHS", because it wanted to deliver a 7-day NHS that served patients better.

NHS chief negotiator Sir David Dalton had advised ministers in a letter today to do "whatever necessary" to end the deadlock in the dispute.

His letter followed the BMA's decision to reject a "take-it-or-leave-it" deal on Wednesday, which included a concession on Saturday pay.

Speaking in the Commons, Mr Hunt said: "He (Sir David) has asked me to end the uncertainty for the service by proceeding with the introduction of a new contract that he and his colleagues consider both safer for patients and fair and reasonable for junior doctors. I have therefore today decided to do that."

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But his Labour Shadow Ms Alexander said: "The health secretary's failure to listen to junior doctors, his deeply dubious misrepresentation of research about care at weekends and his desire to make these contract negotiations into a symbolic fight for delivery of seven-day services has led to a situation which has been unprecedented in my lifetime."

The showdown comes just hours after junior doctors finished a second 24-hour strike at 8am in their long-running dispute about pay and conditions.

And Mr Hunt faced another rebellion from NHS chief executives after publishing a list of 20 of them who backed Sir David's letter calling for a deal.

A list of NHS chief execs backing the position set out in Sir David Dalton's letter to Jeremy Hunt #juniorcontractpic.twitter.com/y2RjJ9x1iN  Shaun Lintern (@ShaunLintern) February 11, 2016

Some of them removed their names from the list, saying they had never backed imposition of the contract.

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Jeremy Hunt has been accused of ignoring and not engaging with junior doctors throughout their contract dispute - and on Thursday he couldn't have done so any more blatantly.

Video has emerged of the Health Secretary blanking NHS worker, Dr Dagan Lonsdale, as he followed him down a corridor in Westminster.

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Lonsdale, a Kings College Hospital registrar, spotted Hunt as he walked into the TV studios at Millbank and decided to confront him in person about the "concerns we have about patient safety.

Dr Dagan Lonsdale chases Jeremy Hunt in Westminster, asking him "why won't you sit down to talk to junior doctors?"

Hunt tried to sidestep the question, explaining he was "just on his way to do an interview", but Lonsdale was undeterred, telling him he was taking a massive gamble with people in the NHS.

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He added that Hunt had absolutely no evidence whatsoever that these changes will have a positive effect.

Hunt ignored Lonsdale as he followed him down the corridor, asking, "Why won't you sit down to talk to junior doctors - what if you've got this one wrong?"
More than half of the NHS bosses whose signatures were used to justify Jeremy Hunt's imposition of a new contract for junior doctors have now rescinded their apparent support.

UPDATE:

Fourteen chief executives of NHS trusts across England say they do not support the imposition, despite their names being attached to a letter advising the government to "do whatever it deems necessary to end uncertainty".

They say that while they support the government's offer to junior doctors, they do not agree with it being forced on medics, The Health Service Journal reported. "I see the offer as safe, fair and reasonable but don't support imposition," one of the 20 chief executives to sign the letter wrote on Twitter.

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Junior doctors protested outside the Department of Health on Thursday after Hunt's imposition

NHS chief negotiator Sir David Dalton penned the letter to ministers following the British Medical Association's decision to reject a "take-it-or-leave-it" deal on Wednesday.

The letter read (PDF): "Following consultation with Chief Executives and other leaders in the service, it is clear that the NHS needs certainty on this contract and that a continuation of a dispute, with a stalemate and without any clear ending, would be harmful to service continuity, with adverse consequences to patients.

"On this basis I therefore advise the government to do whatever it deems necessary to end uncertainty for the service and to make sure that a new contract is in place which is as close as possible to the final position put forward to the BMA yesterday.

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Dalton signed off: "I can confirm that this position is supported by both the NHS Confederation and NHS Providers, together with support from Chief Executives across the country, and their names are supplied."

The list of 20 NHS bosses used to justify Jeremy Hunt's imposition of the new contract

The letter was used by Hunt to justify his decision to proceed with the imposition of the contract, despite negotiations between the NHS Employers group and medics having broken down.

Speaking in the Commons, Mr Hunt said: "He (Sir David) has asked me to end the uncertainty for the service by proceeding with the introduction of a new contract that he and his colleagues consider both safer for patients and fair and reasonable for junior doctors. I have therefore today decided to do that."

However, colleagues of Dalton have now clarified their positions - with at least 12 challenging the suggestion they supported Hunt's unilateral move, alongside two others who have asked for their names to be removed.

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1. Miles Scott, CEO St George's Trust

@georgesjuniors@jeremy_hunt@stgeorgestrust To be clear, I supported the contract offer but not imposition.  Miles Scott (@StGeorgesCEO) February 11, 2016

2. Andrew Foster, CEO Wrightington, Wigan & Leigh NHS Foundation Trust

@cpeedell I have not supported contract imposition. I have supported the view that the offer made is reasonable.  Andrew Foster (@andrewkfoster) February 11, 2016

3. David Sloman, CEO Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust

Full statement from David Sloman: pic.twitter.com/RiQJ9XGX8T  Shaun Lintern (@ShaunLintern) February 11, 2016

4. Prof Dr Stephen Dunn, CEO West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust

@HSJEditor I never said impose the contract. I do support David's offer  Prof Dr Stephen Dunn (@Stephen_P_Dunn) February 11, 2016

5. David Loughton, CEO Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust

Breaking: David Loughton of Royal Wolverhampton Trust clarifies he "does not support imposition" of #juniorcontract That's five out of 20  Shaun Lintern (@ShaunLintern) February 11, 2016

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6. Joe Harrison, CEO Milton Keynes NHS Foundation Trust

This is the same as my position @MKHospitalhttps://t.co/L49sVgFzzS  Joe Harrison (@JoeHMK) February 11, 2016

7. Sir Andrew Cash, CEO Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

I support the improved offer made this week as fair and reasonable, but I do not support imposition Sir Andrew Cash on #juniorcontract  Sheffield Hospitals (@SheffieldHosp) February 11, 2016

8. Claire Murdoch, CEO Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Statement from @ClaireCNWL to HSJ...pretty clear she should never have been on that list #juniorcontractpic.twitter.com/NXmK4AOXvt  Shaun Lintern (@ShaunLintern) February 11, 2016

9. Peter Homa, CEO Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust

Nine CEOs as Peter Homa from @nottmhospitals says he supports Dalton's offer but does not support contract imposition #juniorcontract  Shaun Lintern (@ShaunLintern) February 11, 2016

10. Peter Miller, CEO Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust

10 chief execs now clear they dont support inposition of #juniorcontract as @LPTCEO comments: pic.twitter.com/OXdl55F2mY  Shaun Lintern (@ShaunLintern) February 11, 2016

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11. Susan Acott, CEO Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust

Breaking: Now 11 CEOs out of original 20 oppose imposition of #juniorcontract as Susan Acott joins a growing list: pic.twitter.com/smrnFsJGNk  Shaun Lintern (@ShaunLintern) February 12, 2016

12. Matthew Kershaw, East Kent Hospitals University NHS FT

Breaking: Matthew Kershaw from East Kent FT becomes 12th CEO to say he didnt support #juniorcontract imposition: pic.twitter.com/HIlhUNaaid  Shaun Lintern (@ShaunLintern) February 12, 2016

13. James Scott, CEO Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust

Chief executives of other trusts tried to distance themselves from the letter, without explicitly saying whether they were opposed to Hunt's imposition or not.

14. Robert Woolley, CEO University Hospitals Bristol

University Hospitals Bristol Chief Robert Woolley never saw the #juniorcontract statement it has now emerged: pic.twitter.com/q85Ks1gRbP  Shaun Lintern (@ShaunLintern) February 12, 2016

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In addition, another CEO, Sonia Swart, of Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust joined her colleague Claire Murdoch in demanding her name be removed from the letter.

Heather Tierney-Moore, CEO at Lancashire Care FT, said in a statement that imposing the conditions on working doctors, rather than reaching an agreement "can only be seen as failure".

John Adler, CEO of University of Leicester Hospitals NHS Trust, said the decision whether or not to impose the contract was "one for the government, not individual trusts".

The Department of Health referred HuffPost UK to NHS Employers on Thursday, but it has yet to respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile Hunt faces a threatened exodus of English NHS junior doctors to Scotland, Wales and Australia after he announced he will impose his controversial new contract in August.

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And junior medics protested his decision outside the Department of Health in Whitehall on Thursday evening, drawing support from Labour's Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Jon Trickett.
The Labour MP, who suggested mass attacks similar to those reported in Cologne happen every week in Birmingham, has demanded men across all cultures eschew sexual assault.

Jess Phillips, who was forced to defend her claim that the Germany attacks were similar to women baited and heckled on Broad Street, spoke to Channel 4 News on Thursday, offering a strong message against violence. What I would like to say to the men and boys of the world is dont rape and sexually assault women, she told Cathy Newman.

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Phillips, the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Yardley, also spoke about her claim that she had been sexually assaulted as a young woman. Earlier this month, the MP told a commons debate that as a 19-year-old she had be pinned up against a wall in a bar by a man who put his hand up her skirt.

Like every woman who grows up anywhere in the world, in fact not just in the UK, I think we could all tell a story about a time when somebody has groped us or molested us, she told the broadcaster.

Phillips said that incident was one of many" in her younger years that she could have spoken about. Theres no way I would have ever have told the police, she added. I didnt have the persons name. Probably there was no CCTV. I knew without having all the experience I have now, I inanely knew as a 19-year-old woman, there was no point bothering to tell anybody.

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The MP revealed that by 19 she had come to expect being touched up, having your boobs felt, and your arse felt when youre walking around.

That happens all the time anyway.

We get used to it," she added. "Throughout my childhood there has been lots of incidents where men have pulled up in cars, asked me to get in, masturbated in front of me. Phillips said she doesnt feel like a victim and that she has carried on perfectly well, but added that women have to stop shrugging it off.

Weve got to start reporting it. And we will never start reporting it until we are believed when we actually report it.

After her appearance on Question Time, West Midlands Police said that the Cologne attacks were a "million miles away" from scenes in Birmingham centre, adding that Birmingham is a "safe, positive and vibrant place."
At least 52 people have died after a riot sparked a fire in a Mexican prison on Thursday. The deaths occurred at the Topo Chico facility near Monterrey in northern Mexico. Twelve others were reportedly injured. Initial reports suggest the incident involved the notorious Zetas drug cartels, the local governor said. Violence broke out over night as rival gangs confronted each other. Control has since been wrested back by prison officials and no inmates escaped during the incident.

Outside the prison, relatives of inmates demanded updates on the situation. "I want to know that my daughter is OK. She is in the infirmary. There are children in there," one woman said, according to the BBC. The prison sits in the region of Nuevo Leon, an area notorious for gangland violence associated with narcotics. "We are experiencing a tragedy," the governor said.
Eurosceptic cabinet ministers straining at the leash to campaign for Britain to leave the European Union should not have to wait for too much longer to be set free.

February 22, MPs were told on Thursday, will soon be forever known as "National Liberation of Grayling Day". David Cameron is due to deliver a statement to the Commons on that Monday in which he is expected to announce the outcome of his renegotiation of Britain's EU membership.

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Labour's shadow leader of the Commons, Chris Bryant, said it was due to be a "very, very special day indeed" for his Conservative opposite number, Chris Grayling.

"It's not just the that the prime minister is making a statement on the EU Council, far more importantly, February 22, 2016, will be the day that the government abandons collective responsibility on the EU.

"Cabinet ministers will be hurting down the corridors of power to get to TV studios to be the first to go live on air to declare themselves an 'Outer'.

"Forget the relief of Mafeking, forget the liberation of Paris, forget 'Free Willy' forget even 'Free Nelson Mandela'. The 22nd of Febuary, 2016, will be known hereafter as the National Liberation of Grayling day."

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Eurosceptics have complained ministers who are in favour of Brexit have been unfairly "gagged" by the prime minister. As while the pro-EU case has been allowed to be made, the anti-EU case has not.

Grayling is one of four or five cabinet ministers seen as most likely to break with Cameron and advocate British exit from the EU. However rules laid down by the prime minister have prevented him from speaking out yet.
North Korean state television aired footage on Wednesday showing hardened generals of the Korean People's Army weeping like puppies next to an empty jar of treats. The film celebrated the regimes recent launch of a long-range rocket, which placed a satellite into space last week.

The clip also features the North Korean despot Kim Jong-un glancing heavenward his stock trim perched precariously on his head. The recent launch, which western experts have said was a test of the countrys intercontinental ballistic technology, came just weeks after the regime carried out a fourth nuclear test, and the first to use hydrogen fusion.

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The United Nations Security Council criticized the recent launch, with further sanctions mooted by the 15-nation body.

On Thursday US defence officials raised concerns over the satellite, warning it could be 'tumbling' through orbit. There are also serious worry over the payload of the satellite after it was revealed that it is twice the weight of the previous launch.

Earlier this week, Ri Yong Gil, one of the regimes top military commanders, was reportedly executed on the orders of Kim.
North Korea's satellite could be 'tumbling' through orbit according to US defence officials. There are also serious concerns over the payload of the satellite after it was revealed that it is twice the weight of the previous launch.

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People watch a television screen showing a news broadcast on North Korea's long-range rocket launch.

This would make it the second time that North Korea has tried and failed to place a satellite into stable orbit around the Earth, the first launch was in 2012.

With an even larger satellite now spinning out of control in orbit NORAD has placed both satellites on an official list of known objects both active and inactive orbiting our planet.

The US military believe that this latest launch may have succeeded in placing the satellite in space but that its current status was non-functioning.

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Commenting on the launch though was Lieutenant-General David Mann who highlighted that while this could be a failure for the dictatorship it does mark a very worrying trend.

"I don't think it's transmitting as we speak, but it does reflect a capability that North Korea is trying to leverage in terms of its missile technologies," he said.

North Koreans gather at the Kim Il Sung Square to celebrate a satellite launch.

"That kind of capability and then also the collateral usages for that technology are obviously very, very concerning to nations around the world in terms of ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) capabilities."

North Korea said the launch of the satellite Kwangmyongsong-4, named after late leader Kim Jong Il, was a "complete success" and it was making a polar orbit of Earth every 94 minutes. The launch order was given by his son, leader Kim Jong Un, who is believed to be 33 years old.

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The launch prompted South Korea and the United States to announce that they would explore the feasibility of deploying an advanced missile defense system in South Korea, which China and Russia both oppose, "at the earliest possible date."

South Korean protesters burn an effigy of North Korea leader Kim Jong-Un during an anti-North Korea rally on February 11.

South Korea and the United States said that if the advanced missile defense system called Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) was deployed to South Korea, it would be focused only on North Korea.

South Korea had been reluctant to discuss openly the possibility of deploying THAAD.

North Korea's state news agency carried a still picture of a white rocket that closely resembled a previously launched rocket, lifting off. Another showed Kim surrounded by cheering military officials at what appeared to be a command center.

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Kristin Davis is as renowned these days for her tireless work with refugees as she is for her screen work, but it appears not everyone got the memo.

READ MORE:

The 'Sex and the City' star was forced to grimace her way through a completely awkward few minutes on an Australian breakfast TV show, culminating in a  read-through - the horror! of a scene from her hit comedy. Watch her graceful efforts above.

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Kristin Davis was game, but unhappy, with her hosts' efforts to entertain her

Kristin had tried from the off to have the chat focused on her important work with the UNHCR, with whom she has been working, including her recent mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, but the hosts David Koch and Sam Armytage were having none of that.

Instead, they peppered her with questions about the TV series that made her a star but finished airing over a decade ago, and then forced her to watch a clip from the show - not a flattering one, depicting her character Charlotte suffering from diarrhoea on a date.

But that wasnt even the worst of it. Following their chat, Kristin was led across the studio where she was invited to join fellow Sunrise hosts Natalie Barr and Edwina Bartholemew, wearing comedy wigs to resemble the shows characters, and to participate in an underwhelming read-through of a scene from the show. What did she think? I dont know that this is a great idea, frankly, she told them.

When she finally escaped, Kristin let her feelings be known, retweeting several viewers' displeasure at the way she had been treated on the show.

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@KristinDavis just wow. That was the worst piece of TV I've ever seen. Kristin, you and your charity work is great.  Shame @sunriseon7   Paris Bates (@parisjasmineb) February 10, 2016

This followed her pithy response to the Sunrise team's tweet - which they then deleted - asking 'What is going on here?'

. I could ask you the same thing.... https://t.co/oGCwzio6GW  Kristin Davis (@KristinDavis) February 10, 2016

Following a Twitter wall of protest about the skit, the Sunrise team exec producer told Australians News.Com.Au afterwards:

We are Sex and the City tragics at Sunrise. Our obsession may have gotten the better of us. We apologise for the bad acting and terrible costumes and we thank Kristin for being such a good sport. She is one of the most gracious stars weve had at Brekky Central.

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A university in London is holding open days for refugees in order to provide information about legal aid, access to education, recognition of qualifications and career advice.

The free sessions form part of Queen Mary University London's Refugee Welcome programme, and aim to bring together organisations, lawyers and charities working with refugees.

The days, organised by the university's law school, will outline the resources available to refugees and will provide opportunities for questions and answers with relevant experts.

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QMUL's law department is holding open days for refugees

Professor Valsamis Mitsilegas, Head of the Department of Law at QMUL said: These are topics about which Queen Mary and our partners have considerable expertise and experience. Our message to those who are struggling to find answers is simple: come along, ask questions, and let us help you.

The sessions are as follows:

Access to Legal Aid

Monday 15 February 2016, 3pm to 6pm

Lecture Theatre, Fogg Building, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS

On Monday 15 February, law firms and advice centres will come to talk about the resources that are available to help refugees and asylum seekers transition to life in the UK.

Lunch will be served at 3pm. The session will begin at 4pm.

Access to Education

Tuesday 16 February 2016, 1pm to 4pm

Lecture Theatre, Maths Building, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS

This session will cover in particular qualifications for studying and earning a degree in the United Kingdom. It also deals with fees, scholarships and other opportunities available to students from all backgrounds. QMUL has initiatives to provide assistance and support for refugees and asylum seekers to gain access to higher education, as well as support for students who are new to London.

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Lunch will be served at 1pm. The session will begin at 2pm

Recognition of Qualifications

Tuesday 16 February 2016, 4.30pm

Lecture Theatre, Maths Building, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS

This session will deal with the qualifications necessary for various jobs in the United Kingdom. Speakers will address areas including engineering, medicine, law and education.
Tory ministers have been accused of trying to create a one-party state over plans to slash taxpayer funding to Opposition parties at Westminster.

In a series of heated exchanges in the Commons, Labour and Lib Dem MPs lined up to attack George Osbornes proposed 19% cut in Short Money and policy development grants used to help scrutinise the Government.

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Following an outcry among Labour and the SNP  as well as smaller parties like the DUP, SDLP, Greens and Plaid Cymru  Cabinet Office minister John Penrose confirmed that a consultation would now take place shortly on the plans.

As revealed by HuffPost UK this week, the Government has decided that it will consult on the proposal to cut and then freeze the payments to the opposition parties for the rest of the Parliament.

The consultation, which surprised those who felt the Chancellors move was a fait accomplit when buried in the Autumn Statement last year, paves the way for a possible rethink of the cuts.

But Labour MPs slammed the Government for trying to slash support for rival parties at a time when special advisers in Whitehall had increased for the Tories, with one aide to George Osborne getting a 42% rise in salary.

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Cat Smith: 'one party nation'

Shadow equalities minister Cat Smith added that the Tories claims to be a One Nation party were being exposed.

"The Minister is desperately trying, and failing, to justify the 19% cut to the Short money in the context of a Trade Union Bill that takes funds from the Labour party, of stuffing up the House of Lords and of changes to the electoral register and general election boundaries.

"Will he now admit that the so-called one nation party is trying to create a one-party nation?"

Lib Dem MP Tom Brake: 'Mugabe would be proud'

In case the Government had not got the message, Lib Dem Tom Brake  a former minister in the Lib-Con Coalition  added the Government was in danger of looking like a one party state Robert Mugabe would be proud of.

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"The Conservatives, have form when it comes to rigging the electoral playing field," he said. "The Conservatives may have broken the law by spending more than the legal limit at by-elections. They are ramming through one-sided changes in the funding of political parties, while leaving in place their ability to raise huge sums from hedge fund managers.

"Now they intend to slash the Short money which ensures that Opposition parties can hold Governments to account. Can the Minister guarantee that the cuts will not be the final chapter in our transition from a multi-party state to a one-party state in which Robert Mugabe would be at home?"

Mr Penrose replied: "I do not know where to start in trying to rebut some of the absurd assumptions in that question, but I think that the short answer to all of them is No.

Labour MP David Winnick: "sheer spite"

Labour veteran David Winnick said the Conservatives lack of consultation over the Osborne plan when taken with other attacks on Labour funding, such as the loss of 8m in the Trade Union Bill, smacked of a move 'towards a one party state.

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"The measure he has announced will be seen, despite all his denials, as sheer spite against the Opposition parties, particularly the main Opposition party. The Government should be thoroughly ashamed of taking such a measure together with others to introduce, as was rightly said, a one-party state."

DUP leader Nigel Dodds repeated his own call for a rethink today.

Mr Penrose dismissed the claims and said: The public have had several years of belt-tighteningthey will judge politicians extremely harshly if we are not willing to do our bit.

He insisted that Short Money funding had increased by 50% from 6m to 9m over the last Parliament and without change would rise further.

The country will not understand why politicians should be exempt from the effects of dealing with the financial deficit, he said.

The SNPs Patrick Grady said opposition funding will be reduced whilst "government is growing, special advisers is growing, the House of Lords is growingone rule for Tory cronies and another for everyone else".

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Tory MP Bernard Jenkin announced that his own Public Administration Select Committee would now launch an inquiry into the Short Money issue and warned the Government had handled the matter in a clumsy matter  and that some believed the agenda behind this change is rather more political than practical.

And Labours Barry Sheerman hinted that Tory rebels would join the Opposition in voting against the 19% cut if it went ahead, stating reasonable people would not give him a majority.

Labour's Shadow Leader of the Commons lambasted the cuts as "shabby", "tawdry" and "downright cynical", and claimed that the consultation would be published on Friday, when the Commons broke up for February half-term recess.

Mr Penrose said that "informed discussions" between all the parties had taken place, and "further more formal consultations on short money" would take place once the consultation document was published "shortly".

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President Bartlett and aides: inspiration for Westminster's wannabe West Wing types?

However, UKIP MP Douglas Carswell said that cash for Parliamentary advisers was a waste of money in the modern age.

"We live in a world where Google is at our fingertips, so we do not need researchers. We also have Twitter and blogs so we do not need a whole department of press officers," he said to the minister.
MOSCOW, RUSSIA - FEBRUARY 10 : (RUSSIA OUT) Russian President Vladimir Putin attends an award ceremony at the Kremlin on February 10, 2016 in Moscow, Russia. Putin awarded three scientists during the reception. (Photo by Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images) Mikhail Svetlov via Getty Images

Vladimir Putin would welcome Britain quitting the European Union, Labour's shadow foreign secretary warned on Thursday.

In a strong intervention in the referendum debate, Hilary Benn said today: "Lets be clear. President Putin would shed no tears if Britain left the European Union.

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"He would see Brexit as a sign of our weakness and of the weakness of European solidarity at the very moment when we need to maintain our collective strength."

Benn's warning came as Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council said David Cameron's negotiations with other EU leaders over a new deal for Britain was "fragile".

In a speech at the Chatham House foreign affairs think-tank in central-London this morning, Benn said it would be an "extraordinary folly" for voters to choose Brexit.

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"Our national security is served by both our membership of Nato and of the EU. To walk away from our membership and leadership of the EU would be a grave strategic error because Britains role in promoting international peace and security around the globe is greatly enhanced by being part of Europe," he said.

"Let us be clear, if that were to happen it would greatly diminish our standing in the world."

Putin Does Sports See gallery

Benn said he had changed his mind on Europe since the 1975 referendum - when he voted to leave. "I have been on a journey, not least because Britain has been on a journey too," he said.

Corbyn voted to leave Europe at the 1975 referendum and made eurosceptic noises during the Labour leadership campaign. However the Labour leader has since said he is in favour of EU membership.

Talks on #UKinEU settlement a fragile political process. I cancelled all my obligations to meet EU leaders & EP to secure broad support  Donald Tusk (@eucopresident) February 10, 2016

Tusk said in a statement: I am in a process of intensive talks about my proposal for the UK settlement.

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"I am confident that this is a balanced and solid proposal and I hope to finalise it next week in the European Council. However let me be clear, this is a very fragile political process."
Copyright UNA-UK/Ed Thompson

London's Central Hall Westminster was filled to its 2,000 seat capacity on last Friday, 5 February, to welcome Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations. Mr. Ban will retire from the office he has occupied since 2007 at the end of this year. The first Secretary-General of the UN, Trygve Lie, a former Norwegian foreign minister, was elected in that very place 70 years ago when the first General Assembly was held.

Over time, the General Assembly's role in selecting a Secretary-General has been marginalized in view of the increased power and influence of the Security Council in making the selection, seeing that decision being made increasingly behind closed doors. However, the 1 for 7 Billion campaign, which the UNA-UK co-founded in 2013, has made substantial progress in calling for re-dressing the balance of power in the selection process, and is now asking "states, parliaments and civil society to put forward high-calibre candidates for the post." Ban Ki-moon himself has said, "After 70 years there should be more transparency. I also think it is high time to have a woman of integrity and experience." He referred in his speech to his dedication to 'empowering women', which was met with much applause. This idea of considering a woman for the position was referenced too by Natalie Samarasinghe, Executive Director of the UNA-UK, in her introductory remarks.

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But it was more than what was heard at this event, introduced by Sir Jeremy Greenstock, Chairman of the UNA-UK, which impressed. It was the audience. Comprised of at least 60% young people under the age of 30, and a rich diversity of people of all backgrounds, ages and nationalities, they first queued in the rain for some time before filling the room with a real buzz of enthusiasm. If you want to feel hope for the future, this was the place. The respect shown for the matter at hand, i.e. support for and preservation of the United Nations, the visible interest, the obvious desire to ask questions and seek solutions for seemingly insurmountable national and international problems, made this an impressive gathering. The young participants today who discuss global issues are focused, well-educated (many in International Relations), hopeful, well-informed, articulate, vocal, concerned and very much involved.

Hence the significance of the question posed to Ban Ki-moon at the end of the seminar. It came from a 14 year old whose question was selected to "represent youth". Her question was, "How can I make my voice heard and how can you help me ?" She spoke for much more than just the youth present, in view of the worldwide trend now that we the people want to be heard. Mr. Ban's response was significant:

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"So raise your voice! You have no restrictions". He then went on to speak of the political restraints inevitably placed upon any person in office, and especially in his position. He has previously spoken of the unlimited number of actors on the world stage which he has to work hard to have harmonious relations with. "The need to harmonize and balance is extremely difficult", he said, "and 'SG' can easily refer to 'Scapegoat' rather than Secretary General. You cannot be a scapegoat", he told her. "You have unlimited capacity ! So raise your voice, and I will protect you. You may speak or challenge your President, your Prime Minister, your professor and senator: 'Look, senator, this is going to be my world'...." He continued: "You have a bright future! Make sure this world is where everyone can play in a fair and equal way... I meet many young people who volunteer their time. I teach them: Be a global citizen! It's more important than mathematics... Whatever you learn today, may be outdated tomorrow... But what is unchanging is your mindset, your vision, for global harmony...."

It was an inspiring, life-affirming message with which to conclude. In 1945 the seeds were planted for a world plan which could eventuate in peace, security and right human relations on this planet. The gathering in Central Hall Westminster, in support of the United Nations, suggested that in spite of all, there is ever the will to see those seeds flourish.
Few fashion designs have stood the test of time like the Breton stripe. It came into being in nineteenth century France, was a symbol of haute-bourgeois style between the wars, and few women today could imagine a wardrobe without it. It's chic yet practical; it knows no bounds, be they age, gender or nationality.

But before a bottle-blonde Welshwoman suffered a catastrophic car accident 23 years ago, the stripe was out of reach to a much-in-need group here in Britain: pregnant women. Back then, JoJo Maman Bebe founder Laura Tenison MBE tells me, maternity outfits consisted of tent dresses and unflattering dungarees.

Like many entrepreneurs, Tenison has a fascinating story to tell. Her enterprising tendencies began at a young age, when she would sell fruit to lorry drivers as they meandered past her childhood home on the A40. During sixth form, she created a men's clothing business. Later, when a role at a publishing house failed to inspire, Tenison decided to turn her love of tailoring into a full-time job.

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We often hear of entrepreneurs struggling to access finance, of banks not lending and VCs predominantly investing in male-led tech companies. The tenacity with which Tenison approached financing goes some way to explaining why she's has been so successful:

"I was turned down by half a dozen high street banks, and couldn't find a family member or friend willing to back me. So I decided to become a French property agent - my father was a diplomat so I speak the language fluently. I taught myself how to design architectural plans and set about finding derelict, rural houses in Brittany to sell to British clients. The company was sold two years later and the proceeds gave me 50,000, which was matched by a bank overdraft - enough capital, at last, to go into fashion."

Tenison had planned to focus on menswear, but while recovering in a French hospital bed after a near-fatal collision, she met a bed-ridden mother who complained about the lack of choice in maternity and babywear. The idea for JoJo was born: quirky British fashion inspired by her French adventures.

Knowing little about the market, Tenison launched JoJo as a 24-page catalogue with a collection of maternity and baby clothes. Over the past two decades the business has grown organically, and is proud today to be the largest independent mother and baby brand in the UK. Tenison has fended off competition from bigger retailers, like Mothercare, by offering unique products designed in house. JoJo doesn't do wholesale, and Tenison thinks those businesses which fail to safeguard their retail offering "dilute their unique position and impair the customer experience". She has a point. If TK Maxx starts selling JoJo items at a discount, where's the incentive to pay full price?

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But while its designs channel French chic, JoJo's operations remain firmly British. In its 23 years of operation, the retailer has been based in the unemployment-ridden dock town in South Wales where Tenison grew up. The company's ethos is to help regenerate local high streets, rather than open in big retail parks. She may crave growth, but you sense she'll forego the fast cars or lavish yachts: for Tenison, success goes hand-in-hand with social good.

Somehow, while managing a company with 300 staff, a turnover of 55m and over 70 UK stores, Tenison finds time to champion female entrepreneurialism (through the Female Founders Forum, for example), take on work experience students with Down's Syndrome, and support the Nema Foundation - which works with Mozambique communities to relieve poverty and protect the environment.

"The best thing a human can do in this world is provide safe and ethical employment. You should help people, give them education and practical advice. Business shouldn't just be about money," she says. She has little sympathy for those individuals who think entrepreneurship should be easy: "There's an extraordinary belief among some founders that everything should be given to them on a plate.
Picture the scene. Old Trafford, June. The wind blows an empty crisp packet across the hallowed turf as a lone figure emerges slowly from the tunnel. The stadium empty except for the man walking out to the centre circle to gaze around his new home. The Theatre of Dreams. The theatre from his dreams.

Then, like a mid-2000s X Factor reject, he whispers quietly to himself: "It's Jose Time."

Not saying that Jose Mourinho would be quite that melodramatic of course, but those kind of self-indulgent theatrics do seem right in his wheelhouse. The kind of self-indulgent theatrics that United fans could see week in, week out, sooner rather than later.

If we assume that Louis van Gaal's headed out the door in the summer, as appears to be the case, United chiefs have an absolutely enormous decision to make. To Mou, or not to Mou?

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Any managerial appointment is a big one for a club of United's size, but this is bigger than most. This is the appointment which will reveal exactly which direction the club is taking in the future. United aren't 'just another club', this isn't 'just another change of manager', and Mourinho certainly isn't 'just another manager'.

United are, for a club of their high expectations and recent record, in crisis. Staring down the barrel of a third successive season without a single piece of silverware would be bad enough, but allied with the prospect of a second season out of three without Champions League qualification? Disastrous.

Therein lies the appeal of Mourinho. He's won league titles and domestic cups in four different countries. He's got two Champions League titles. Never needs much of a bedding in period. Jose Mourinho is success, success is Jose Mourinho, and success is exactly what United, as a club, demands.

It looks like a simple choice, but the Portuguese manager comes with a 'cons' list as long as his CV. Mourinho is also discord. Mourinho is drama. Mourinho is your club being turned upside down and dragged through the media every few years. Nothing ever comes without a cost, and this is his.

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Everything that the 53-year-old brings with him is the antithesis of United's philosophy throughout the Premier League era. Mourinho would dearly love to be Sir Alex Ferguson, but he brings the bollockings and media pressure with a heavy, undisciplined hand. He acts like a spoilt child mimicking a great, with none of the subtleties which allowed Ferguson's methods to work.

hat's why, instead of ever replicating the Scot's 26-year reign, Mourinho finds himself chased out of clubs after just a couple of years. The question for United is whether the short-term success is worth the long-term issues that a Mourinho reign brings. It's a pivotal decision, a key moment in the future of the club as a whole. Do they chase glory and titles at the cost of stability and future generations? Do they, in essence, leave behind what it is to be Manchester United in the search for a quick fix?

For a sneak preview of life as a United fan under Mourinho, just look around now at the division within the fanbase at the mere mention of his name. At the thought that he could be the next leader of England's most successful club. The cracks are already beginning to show.

These are dangerous waters for United and, frankly, there may not be a 'right answer'. The decision will, ultimately, lie in a question of values. Is it better to build a team for long-term excellence, patiently bringing through youth players and risking some time in the wilderness, or does the club have a responsibility to win trophies now and deal with the future when it arrives?

From the outside looking in, the next 12 months are going to be a fascinating, revealing insight into the mindsets of the decision-makers at Old Trafford. But short of building a time machine in order to go back and nudge Pep Guardiola to the other side of Manchester, there's no solution that'll keep everyone happy.

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I watched him pass away whilst holding hands with his wife.

Mr B was in his 90s. He had Alzheimer's. I'd known him and his wife for nearly 5 years. I'd met their family members, cooked, shopped and supported them and had the privilege of taking them on holiday on 4 occasions. I would take Mr B out regularly for 3 hours every week to give Mrs B, who is also in her 90's and his primary carer, a break.

Mr B was an extremely intelligent, courteous, kind and witty man. He came from a humble background and won a scholarship to Cambridge. He was a scientist. He was well travelled and loved to talk about his time in the West Indies.

He was well read and articulate and had a wicked sense of humour. We got on like a house on fire and there were many times I would have to stop the car because I was laughing so hard at some witticism he'd come out with. He would quote Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde and many others and would astound me with his love and understanding of the English language. We had spoken spelling quizzes, which he would normally win, with words like evocative, rhythm, aneurysm.

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He loved to tell jokes and limericks and I never ceased to love watching his face just before he delivered the punchline!

Mr B was fiercely independent and hated being helped in any way, so I had to find ways to support him without him knowing it was happening. I would pretend I couldn't get my coat on or do my buttons up without a bit of help and it would make it so much easier for me to reciprocate when he struggled in the same way. His balance was poor, as was his eyesight, and he was often at risk of tripping over the kerb, so I used to ask if I could take his arm when we crossed a road and said that I had a dodgy knee and felt safer holding on to someone. It never failed.

As his Alzheimer's progressed he would repeat himself more often, but never lost his wry sense of fun and he always had impeccable manners. He held doors open, let ladies go first and ensured that we walked on the inside of the pavement so we were safe from the traffic.

I learned such a lot with Mr B.

I learned that it is possible to listen to the same story 10 or 12 times in a row and respond differently each time simply because it gave Mr B so much pleasure to tell the story.

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I learned how important it was for Mrs B to have a few hours to herself, to have a break from the relentlessness of Alzheimer's.

About 5 weeks ago Mr B fell and broke his hip. He underwent an operation, sustained two infections in the wound and became extremely agitated and confused with all the tubes coming out of his body. His marvellous wife was at his side all day every day. He slowly stopped eating, drinking and swallowing and was eventually moved to a hospice. All the tubes were removed and he was much more comfortable.

On the day he died I went to see him. His wife and I stood either side of the bed holding hands over him and reminiscing about some of the holidays we'd had together. He took two breaths and then became very still. It was extremely peaceful. Somehow it wasn't sad...it was right for him to go.

Mrs B looked at me with a beautiful smile on her face and said how much she appreciated my being there and that she thought he was waiting for the right people to be with him when he died. She also said that she would always be grateful for the support she'd received from the small team of caregivers from HomeInstead that had enabled her husband to stay at home for as long as he did. She said that the company was marvellous.

I was only there for 15 mins, but they were such precious minutes.

I will never forget the times I had with Mr B.

I will always smile when I think of him.

I will, of course, miss our times together but I am also glad he's no longer struggling with the indignity of Alzheimer's.

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I'm not saying it's easy, but it is an enormous moment and a real privilege to be with someone at the end of their life.
As a teacher, my main focus is ensuring the children I teach get the education they need, but it's hard to do when malaria threatens to disrupt every lesson.

Before Malaria Consortium visited our village in Uganda, as many as ten pupils in my class would fall sick from the disease on a regular basis. Sometimes I would see students convulsing from the pain and would stop the lesson to try to help them. It was very hard.

Contracting malaria means missing three days of school on average. So those who frequently fell ill were missing out on their education.

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Growing up in Uganda, I became used to the constant threat of malaria. My sister died from it when she was six years old. Now I have five children of my own - the oldest is sixteen, the youngest is six - and all of them have been sick with the disease many times, as have I.

Malaria is a life-threatening disease, but it is preventable.

The turning point for me was receiving training to become a volunteer health worker for Malaria Consortium (a project which benefits from money raised through Sport Relief). I learnt how to spot the first signs of the disease, diagnose malaria and provide treatment in simple cases.

My training proved priceless when my neighbour Hadijjah rushed to my door one day. Her three-year-old son had a high temperature. She was very worried because her baby daughter had died from malaria only a few days earlier.

I realised straightaway Hadijjah's son had malaria and began to treat him. I wrote a referral to the nearest health centre, and made arrangements for him to be taken there. Within a few days, he made a full recovery. I was so happy; I helped to save his life.

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After that, I advised Hadijjah to use a mosquito net to keep her children safe.

A few years on, my neighbour's child is a happy, healthy six-year-old. He goes to school, just like his brothers and sisters. None of them have had a serious malaria attack like he did since his mother began using a mosquito net at home.

I'm very proud to be a volunteer health worker. It's so easy for me to spot malaria now, and it feels good to help others and make a positive contribution to my community. Expectant mothers and their children come to me for help - and not just about malaria.

Students in my class still get ill from the disease, but it's much less common. I can teach without so many disruptions and my pupils perform better as a result. I give frequent health talks, especially on malaria mosquito net use, and teach adolescent health and life skills. Hopefully the students will pass on this knowledge as they grow up too.

Since Malaria Consortium trained volunteers like me to start raising awareness of the disease, malaria is still a threat in our village, but I don't live in fear any more.

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I am a voluntary recluse. People don't mind spending time with me - so I'm told - but I dislike spending time with people. I reluctantly socialise on occasion - society demands such a sacrifice - but I prefer solitude. I need an escape. I need time away from the formality of small talk and the commotion of conversation. I need to be alone with my thoughts or, preferably, the thoughts of my favourite writers.

We recluses seek solitude in strange places. The park is nice on rare sunny afternoons, but there is a shocking lack of public toilets and the perpetuity of bush-pissing makes for a daunting experience. Coffee shops are tolerable if one can withstand the din of needless gossip and the horror of overhearing an awkward first date. Pubs also provide solitude, but the risk of the drunkards approach is a constant fear for the inept recluse.

The public library, however, is the recluse's ideal habitat. The library is a strange and mysterious place. It is full of buzz yet silent. One is surrounded by crowds yet feels perfectly alone. It serves the community yet paradoxically allows one to avoid the community.

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Unlike the outside world, there is no judgment in the library. There is no dress code: the hobo and the aristocrat are equals. There is no pomp or pageantry. All are welcome. It doesn't matter if you're an eight-year-old reading Ulysses or an eighty-year-old reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar. It is each person alone with their thoughts in solidarity with others alone with their thoughts. There exists a code, a comradery, a fellowship among us library-dwelling folk. The library is, in many ways, a recluse's utopia.

And that utopia is under attack. Budget cuts over the last few years have led to library closures across the UK. Plenty more libraries face a similar fate. According to the Voices for the Library campaign, over 10% of Britain's libraries are currently under threat. 500 out of a total public library provision of just over 4500 face closure. That means thousands of self-loathing recluses such as myself abandoned, forced to accept our existence in parks and pubs. We are losing our natural habitat.

Fighting back is an almost insurmountable feat for the recluse. It means conversing, arguing, maybe even going out in public and voicing our opinion. To save our natural habitat, therefore, we recluses have to enter enemy ground: the outside world.

Plenty of folks are already fighting on our behalf. Ian Rankin, for example, campaigned to prevent the closure of 16 libraries in Fife. He said the library provided 'refuge and a place of constant wonder' when he was growing up. I know the feeling. When Sydenham Library faced closure in 2011, writer Baroness Mary Warnock said the shutting of her local library amounts to 'barbarism'.

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Zadie Smith, fighting to save Kensal Rise Library, said 'I can see that if you went to Eton or Harrow, like so many of the present government, it is hard to see how important it is to have a local library.' Smith wasn't alone in the campaign to save Kendal Rise - a library opened by Mark Twain. She was joined by Nick Cave, Alan Bennett, the Pet Shop Boys, an entire community and, of course, a few of my fellow recluses.

The fight to save our libraries is particularly important for younger generations - those kids seeking an escape to read Huckleberry Finn in peace. Surely, these kids have the same right that I was once afforded. They too deserve an escape. They too deserve the sort of peace that kept my sanity in check. Like Rankin, they too deserve a place of refuge and constant wonder.

Last Saturday, the UK celebrated National Library Day. National Library Day was an opportunity to raise awareness and help to protect the natural habitat of strange, reclusive creatures such as myself and to ensure that every kid has the same opportunities that I once had: to hide away from the outside world. It received little attention. Perhaps that's because there was little to celebrate, as closures are hardly worth celebration.
Sharjah

Image Credit: Judith Lewis

"Won't you get arrested?" my half-sister asked me on Facebook. I was a woman travelling alone in an Islamic country in capris and a short-sleeved shirt. Then I went on the beach in a bathing suit and nothing else and family panicked. Was I safe doing so and what makes Sharjah, more conservative than Dubai, such a popular family destination in the UAE?

With temperatures in January and February still reaching 25C+ and almost unbroken blue skies, I had to stay cool when I was out and about, but my clothing choices made my family worry. Was it OK for a woman to show any skin? Was it OK that my hair wasn't covered? Wouldn't I be harassed by men? There were a lot of questions I had to answer and for the most part I wasn't sure. There was little written on Sharjah and almost nothing about being a single female traveller.

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Sharjah Indian Ocean side

Image Credit: Judith Lewis

The first question I actually had to answer was "where is Sharjah?" when I explained where I was vacationing. Sharjah is the third largest emirate in the UAE, a political construct which was created on December 2, 1971 when the British pulled out of the area. Everyone knows Dubai (or seems to), and Sharjah is Dubai's next-door neighbour. Think of it like going from Kensington and Chelsea to Hammersmith - if you didn't know where the borders of each neighbourhood was, you'd never know when you were moving between them. It is, however, cheaper to live in Sharjah, quieter, very family-friendly, respectful of women, welcoming and gorgeous. All of Sharjah seems beautiful from the sand dunes and city of the Gulf coast to the beaches of the Indian Ocean coast.

Sharjah is the cultural capital of the UAE with over 20 museums, including a museum dedicated to just calligraphy. The Art Museum contains many works bought personally by the ruler Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi who has also overseen the foundation of a university in the desert and development of the port, expanded leisure facilities and helped make Sharjah into the gem in the desert that it is.

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The picture that panicked my family

Image Credit: Judith Lewis

But is it safe as a woman to walk around in capris and a short-sleeved shirt? The advice on this is conflicting online, possibly due to the publication of guidance for locals in 2001. I can report with a high degree of confidence that it is perfectly fine to walk around this conservative (and dry) emirate with capris and a short sleeved shirt on, and with my hair uncovered. I wasn't harassed, I wasn't started at, and most importantly I wasn't arrested. It is also fine to be in a bathing suit on the private beaches the hotels have, and around the hotel pool. In fact, if you'd wear whatever you're thinking of going out in while shopping at Waitrose in Wallingford with your mum, you'll be fine.

But is it safe to be a female on her own travelling around Sharjah? Yes. In fact, given there are no drunken louts, respect for women, and a seemingly genuine care for foreign tourists, if I found myself in shorts and a t-shirt, lost alone somewhere in Sharjah, I have every confidence I would be helped back to my hotel without worrying about my safety. This is part of what makes it such a great destination for families. Another part would be the parks and aquarium and planetarium and of course the big water park helps supplement the amusement park in Al Qasba. There's even amusements within Sahara Mall. There is a great public transport system and taxis which are significantly cheaper than London.

Al Qasba

Image Credit: Judith Lewis

But is it safe? My husband, some colleagues, friends and some relatives only had a vague concept of the UAE, let alone Sharjah, and lumped it in with Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern areas. My father especially wanted me to leave Sharjah, assuming a lack of safety and possible terrorism. I am probably at more risk from terrorism travelling in London for work than I was in Sharjah.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has just finished a visit to Sri Lanka aiming to keep the justice process on track. Survivor activist Kolbassia Haoussou says the international community must listen to the perspectives of torture survivors to ensure that the justice process is strong and credible.

Torture is used to silence opponents. They are silenced by the trauma of their experiences, by a fear of the repercussions if they break that silence.

The Survivors Speak OUT (SSO) network, which I co-founded with support from Freedom from Torture, helps survivors of torture to be heard, empowering them to advocate for change and support others who have been tortured.

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For the Sri Lankan survivors currently undergoing treatment at Freedom from Torture, speaking out about their torture is a difficult and potentially very dangerous act. SSO supports them to speak out and, where necessary, represents their voices all the way to policy makers.

I am not from Sri Lanka. But torture is torture, whether it took place in Sri Lanka, Syria or Bangladesh. It knows no borders. The suffering of our Sri Lankan brothers and sisters is something all survivors can relate to - we have had the same experience, have felt the same pain.

Trust is a fragile thing and something that survivor to survivor discussions are best able to provide. In the workshops facilitated by SSO, the shared experience of torture more often connects everyone in the room. It means that survivors are more open to disclosing and sharing information. They feel understood and reassured that their disclosures will not be betrayed.

The SSO workshops with Sri Lankan torture survivors posed the question of what justice in Sri Lanka should look like to them, eliciting which factors were critical to a fair and transparent, and therefore successful, justice process. Their perspectives now feature in Freedom from Torture's new report - 'Why Sri Lankan torture survivors want international participation in the justice process'.

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Torture survivors can offer a unique perspective on questions like this. They can offer crucial insights and recommendations that no one else can give. From their knowledge and expertise, they can identify exactly what action is needed and how it can best be implemented.

Their testimonies have already provided the vital evidence proving that torture has continued in Sri Lanka since the end of the civil war and formed the foundations of Freedom from Torture's 'Tainted Peace' report. Now, for the justice process to be credible, it needs to be satisfactory to those who have suffered the most. The overriding message was the absolute insistence on international participation in the justice process in Sri Lanka.

I know that experiencing torture at the hands of those who are supposed to be your protectors causes you to lose all trust and faith in the authorities. Many Sri Lankan survivors in the group were unconvinced when the new Sri Lankan government officially recognised the importance of a hybrid court, as recommended by the UN.

So when President backtracked on this commitment in recent media interviews, their worst suspicions were confirmed: this was no more than a new face to the same old system.

Survivors need to feel confident that they will get fair and impartial justice. They simply do not consider this possible without the presence of international judges and lawyers. They have made it clear that the justice process will lack all validity for them unless this condition is met.

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SSO has years of experience working with torture survivors. Our workshops have a clear purpose, which is to use our specialist knowledge to inform and advise policy makers. It is not only a very effective form of activism - it is a crucial part of seeking justice.

Many feel that their suffering will be in some way mitigated if the perpetrators are brought to justice and punished for their crimes. It will allow them to begin to rebuild their lives which torture shattered.

Their message is clear: a strong, credible justice process for Sri Lanka requires independent international participation.
Watching How to Die: Simon's Choice on BBC2 last night has brought back a lot of memories for us. We too have direct experience of accompanying loved ones to have an assisted death. It is a difficult and unique experience that poses many challenging questions, something that Mr Binner's wife Debbie has spoken eloquently about in the last few days.

Everyone grieves for loved ones who die. We believe there is no difference in the case of a death that is sudden, prolonged or assisted. The process of watching a loved one come to the end of their life is never easy, and we are filled with great sympathy for Debbie and her family.

Much like Debbie we too experienced the grief of losing a family member or friend who chose to end their life rather than die from their illness. We, thankfully, had a network of friends and family to talk to, grieve with and lean on. Yet losing someone can still be a lonely experience. The isolation you feel is exacerbated by the fact that the person you have lost has done something seen to be 'illicit'. Not only that but, by accompanying them, you are complicit in something that is, essentially, illegal under UK law. Who do you talk to, where can you seek advice and support and how honest can you be when you are under such a cloud?

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There is currently no support network specifically for the families and friends of those having an assisted death. Last year saw the highest number of Briton's having an assisted death at Dignitas in its 18-year history. Each month three more people from the UK travel to Dignitas to have an assisted death, with more travelling to similar organisations in Switzerland and elsewhere, adding to the ever-increasing number of family members and friends afflicted in this unique way. What we have learnt from the loss of our own loved ones is that support throughout the bereavement process is vital.

That is why in the coming weeks and months we will be working to set up such a support group here in the UK. Our experiences with our loved ones have made us campaigners for the right to have an assisted death in the UK, but we also want to offer support to those who are bereaved in this unique way, regardless of their feelings about assisted dying.

Today marks five months since the Rob Marris Assisted Dying Bill was defeated in the House of Commons. That defeat may have prevented a change in the law but it hasn't stopped people having assisted deaths either here or abroad. It most certainly hasn't done anything to alleviate the grief of those who are left behind.
Recent articles in the Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph have attempted to paint student opposition to the government's Islamophobic "Prevent" policy as somehow being illegitimate.

Those who campaign against Prevent stand accused of supporting terrorism and sympathy with "extremism". These attacks come as no surprise. The government is out to intimidate organisations involved in Prevent and quash any opposition to the scheme.

One key target has been the recent Students Not Suspects speaking tour. Both newspapers focused on the involvement of campaigners from Cage at these events, and Moazzam Begg's presence in particular. Begg was painted as a terrorist sympathiser who should have no voice in this debate.

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The Daily Mail claimed that six universities are under investigation by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) for having allowed these events to take place. But HEFCE says this is untrue. In fact each university, when contacted, said they had no concerns with the events taking place.

The Mail and Telegraph both mentioned Begg's imprisonment in Guantanamo Bay. What they fail to mention is that he was never charged or found guilty of any crime. Begg has been incarcerated, tortured, isolated and persecuted, deprived of his freedom and vilified in the press - all based on trumped-up accusations that came to nothing. The condemnation should not be aimed at him but at those governments, including our own, that were complicit in his torture.

His experiences make him extremely well qualified to discuss the destructive consequences of the "war on terror" and "anti-radicalisation" policies implemented by this government and its predecessors.

Begg was a founder of Cage, an NGO that works to "empower communities impacted by the 'war on terror'." Cage is the only organisation in Britain that supports Muslims targeted by state security services. It has also been instrumental in negotiating the release of British hostages held in the Middle East.

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Cage's activity sheds a critical light on the government's anti-radicalisation legislation, raising questions about the way these policies contribute to a wider climate of Islamophobia. This is why it has been smeared by the government and media. The aim of these attacks is to drive Cage's voice out of the public sphere - along with anyone else who speaks out against Prevent.

These witch-hunts are a distraction from the disastrous and dangerous impact that Prevent is having on Muslim students and communities across the country.

Three students at Newham's NewVIC college recently found that their event on Prevent was cancelled over concerns about one of the speakers. They protested against this decision, alongside several other Islamophobic incidents - and promptly found themselves suspended from school.

Meanwhile Mohammad Farooq, a Staffordshire University student, was questioned under Prevent legislation in September for reading a book on terrorism in the library that was part of his coursework.

In case anyone doubts the racialised aspect to this, contrast these cases with that of schools in Barnsley. In a Prevent risk assessment last March they argued that they were not worried about radicalisation - because their "cohort of pupils are white British majority". Nevertheless they assured the authorities that staff would "continue to monitor BME cohort".

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The repressive effects of Prevent are not limited to Muslim students - they affect wider civil liberties. In London, a School boy was questioned by police officers for circulating Palestine solidarity leaflets at school. The leaflets, the boy was told, were a sign of his "extremism". A student at the University of Birmingham was targeted under Prevent policy over his role in Living Wage campaigns.

These examples show how Prevent is not about "fighting radicalisation" - it is about stigmatising Muslim communities, reinforcing racist stereotypes, and curtailing civil liberties.

We should also note that levels of personal attacks experienced by British Muslims are at an all time high. In November 2015 the Guardian reported that 60% of respondents to an Islamic Human Rights Centre survey had experienced some form of discrimination.

In these circumstances we should be standing firm against pressure from the right wing media and the government. So it is regrettable that the NUS national president decided to join the attacks against Cage. Her recent statement says she refuses to work with the organisation despite policy, voted on at NUS national conference, to work with Cage.

A detailed rebuttal of the attacks on Cage is available on Open Democracy in an article by Tom Mills, Narzanin Massoumi and David Miller. But it is also worth noting the double standards at work here.

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The NUS' president claims that Cage should be judged by the positions expressed by individual members, rather than those of the organisation as a whole. But what about those in the Labour Party who called for rapprochement with supporters of the English Defence League? Or those who voted against equal rights for the LGBTQ community, or who continue to vilify migrants?

All these views contravene basic NUS policy. Yet it would be ludicrous to ostracise the Labour Party, as an organisation, from the union's political work - despite many of the reactionary, racist and oppressive political stances held by key MPs and lay members alike.

Cage, however, finds itself judged differently. This resonates with a much wider double standard applied across society to Muslims and their organisations. They face ingrained assumptions of sexism, homophobia, anti-Semitism and so on. They are constantly judged to have deviated from "Western values" for one reason or another. And these assumptions are part and parcel of the racist political climate, which Prevent and related policies are whipping up across society.

NUS full time officers have attempted to broker meetings between the NUS president and Cage - but she has continually declined. By refusing to challenge right wing attacks on a leading Muslim organisation, the NUS president is reinforcing the desired outcome of Prevent: dividing our movement and policing who is or is not an "acceptable" voice for Muslims in Britain.
David Cameron will soon preside over a referendum he never wanted.

In 2013, against a tide of Eurosceptic clamour from Tory backbenchers, Cameron offered an In/Out referendum on EU membership were the Conservatives to triumph in the 2015 general election.

To the surprise of many - not least Cameron - they won the election. And just last week, the prime minister secured a draft deal on Britian's EU membership with the European Council.

The draft deal has four main features. The most widely touted is an 'emergency break' that would allow Britain to restrict migrants' in-work benefits for their first four years in the country. According to Cameron, this measure will help stem the flow of migration. Another is a 'red card' mechanism that allows national governments to block EU legislation if 15 or more countries join forces.

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But on closer inspection, these policies are riddled with caveats. Take the 'emergency break'. It turns out that the European Commission, not the House of Commons, has the power to decide when Britain can impose four-year restrictions on benefits (and it's actually a graduated restriction on newcomers' benefits). To add fuel to the fire, the European Parliament will even be able to strike down Cameron's 'emergency break', if they so wish.

The 'red card' mechanism, meanwhile, is an ostensible change at best. Given that any EU legislation needs the backing of a majority of EU governments, this requires mass rebellion on an implausible scale. It's difficult to foresee 15 governments colluding in a bid to strike down EU law. It will have very little effect, because the threshold is just so high.

This should, in theory, boost the Eurosceptic cause. But Cameron's lackluster EU deal is offset by the Out campaign's lack of strategic nous. In its present state, the Eurosceptic bandwagon is just too divided to capitalize on Cameron's underwhelming deal.

The two Leave campaigns - Leave.EU and Vote Leave - are attacking each other more forcefully than they are the In camp. And the issue is that neither can quite agree on what life outside the EU looks like.

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Vote Leave, fronted by the likes of Douglas Carswell and Danniel Hannan, is firmly internationalist in its outlook. It is broadly supportive of free markets and free trade, and champions a more optimistic, upbeat campaign message.

Leave.EU, Nigel Farge's port of call, on the other hand, is hostile to increased globalization and trumps a more isolationist message.

These are irreconcilable ideological differences between the two camps, and bridging such a fundamental divide will be no easy feat.

What the Out camp has been crying out for is a Big Beast, a well-known figurehead capable of bringing together a broad coalition of people to marshal a concerted fight against Europhiles.

Theresa May, the obvious and most well equipped candidate, to the chagrin of the anti-Brussels brigade, has publicly backed Cameron's deal.

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Boris Johnson is another one. But this is highly unlikely. At a meeting with Tory Eurosceptics just before Christmas, the London mayor told them that he's just 'not an 'outer''. His - admittedly somewhat shaky - public approval of Cameron's negotiation also casts this in serious doubt.

In the end, bad deal or not, by opting to stay in the EU, voters actually know what they're getting. They will make a calculated decision on the basis of risk aversion. And voting to leave the EU, despite the wide reaches of its emotional pull, is just too far a journey into the unknown.

Cameron is well aware of this. This week, he was accused of deploying "Project Fear" - a tactic utilized by playing on voters' security concerns - by saying that a vote to leave the EU would result in the migrant camp in Calais moving to Dover.
Stefan Postles via Getty Images CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA - FEBRUARY 10: Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss and Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources Barnaby Joyce during House of Representatives question time at Parliament House on February 10, 2016 in Canberra, Australia. (Photo by Stefan Postles/Getty Images)

Barnaby Joyce has been elected the new leader of the Nationals Party and Deputy Prime Minister.

The long-serving Agriculture Minister was elected uncontested by the National Party in a secret ballot.

Speaking after the ballot on Thursday evening, he said the new role was "an awesome responsibility" and appealed to his party's country base to get behind the new-look party.

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"This is a statement by country people and people in towns, people in the weatherboard and iron and people in the brick and tile, those on the farm, those on the coast, who are saying these are the people that we have an expectation will represent us. It is their excitement manifest in what is happening in this room because our responsibility is to them."

Nationals Senator Fiona Nash has been elected as the party's first female Deputy, beating six other candidates for the position.

Senator Nash said she was humbled to have been chosen as deputy.

"It's an exciting time to be in regional Australia," she said, mirroring Malcolm Turnbull's words at his acceptance speech as Prime Minister.

The new appointments come after Warren Truss announced his resignation from the leadership position on Thursday, announcing he will retire from politics entirely at the next election.

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The leadership change could heighten tensions between the Nationals and their Liberal coalition partners, as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Barnaby Joyce have historically had opposing views around foreign trade and climate change. While Truss was known for his quiet temperament, Joyce has a colourful reputation as an outspoken and polarising minister.

The new Deputy Prime Minister controversially announced he would euthanase Johnny Depp's terriers after the pet pups were not declared through customs in 2015.

However, Barnaby Joyce was quick to reassure the public that he would be a unifying force as leader.

"I am by nature -- despite what people might think -- a person who works in a collegiate form," he said Thursday evening. "I worked that way in the Senate, when I was in my business, and I have worked that way within my department."

Tony Windsor, who held Barnaby Joyce's seat of New England before retiring in 2013, said Joyce "will make it difficult for Malcolm".

"I think Barnaby Joyce by nature will go to the opportunism that is in the electorate and appeal to those sorts of issues rather than some of the substantive issues, you know the climate change issues, the long-term funding of health, the Gonski issues, renewable energy, all of those things," Windsor told Leigh Sales on The 7:30 Report.

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"He's what is called a retail politician, not a detail politician. In that position he will really have to address some of the key issues in substance rather than just a few lines or a bit of a slogan."

"Unless there is a hard rein kept on Barnaby Joyce, he will be representing the Abbott crazies, as I call them, rather than a unified team looking at long-term policy."

The new appointment comes after a wave of departures from the coalition. Trade Minister Andrew Robb announced his retirement from politics on Wednesday -- he will leave his ministerial position in "some months" -- while Philip Ruddock will retire from politics at the next election after his appointment as Special Envoy for Human Rights.

The resignations and new appointments have led to growing speculation that a Cabinet reshuffle is imminent.

Barnaby Joyce is 'a retail politician not a detail politician' according to former Independent MP Tony Windsor.He wishes him well in the job as Nationals leader but thinks 'it will be a bit of a challenge for him'. Posted by 7.30 on Thursday, February 11, 2016

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Video by Tom Compagnoni

Sydney may finally have the hero it needs, after Iron Boy defeated Ultron on the steps of the Sydney Opera House and rescued make-a-wish newsreader Hope Joy following an urgent request from police, the premier and Iron Man himself.

Nine-year-old Domenic was called upon by NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione to help rescue Joy after henchmen of Ultron Prime kidnapped the fictional newsreader and held her captive on Sydney's Clark Island on Thursday.

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Iron Boy moments after taking down one of Ultron's henchmen

Before he had time to celebrate his victory over the evildoer's cronies, Domenic received word the evil cyborg Ultron was threatening the Sydney Opera House. But the hero was undeterred, quickly defeating the robotic monster and his gang with well placed blasts from his repulser cannons.

After the villains were led away in cuffs and asked if he was seeking the fame, the humble hero told reporters he didn't know what that means.

"I think that means no," NSW Police commissioner Andrew Scipione said.

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Iron Boy and Ultron face off

Sent a very special boy on a top secret mission today. Go get em, Domenic! #IronBoyAU@MakeAWishAust  Robert Downey Jr (@RobertDowneyJr) February 11, 2016

Iron Man tweets his support for Domenic as he prepares to take on Ultron

All in a day's work for this Super Hero! Thank you #IronBoyAU you saved Hope Joy! @nswpolicepic.twitter.com/gE0EeiZhT2  Make-A-WishAustralia (@MakeAWishAust) February 11, 2016

Domenic has cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder that typically affects the lungs. But just like his superhero namesake, he easily took down Ultron's henchmen on Thursday.

Police and the Make-A-Wish foundation asked the Western Sydney based hero, aka Domenic Pace, for help, presenting him with the specially made superhero armour reminiscent of Marvel's Iron Man.

"Iron boy, we need your help," commissioner Scipione said in a special video message to Domenic aired at Parramatta police headquarters.

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"Officers have confirmed that Clark Island has been overcome by Ultron's henchmen and Hope Joy is being held captive.

"If I could make one wish, it would be for you to help us, Iron Boy."

The hero's response? "Let's get down to business," he said.

Donning his armour, Domenic was whisked away on a police speed boat to Clark Island to rescue Joy before being summoned to take on Ultron.

NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione has an important job for #IronBoyAU! @MakeAWishAusthttps://t.co/qkq9jVo6wf  NSW Police (@nswpolice) February 10, 2016

Celebrities and politicians tweeted their encouragement as the #IronBoyAU began to trend on Twitter, and a crowd of hundreds turned out at the Opera House to witness the titanic battle.

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Ultron must be defeated. Iron Boy - youve got this. The city is counting on you. #IronBoyAU  Mike Baird (@mikebairdMP) February 11, 2016

Hopes of the city riding with #IronBoyAU today, go well.  Clover Moore (@CloverMoore) February 10, 2016

"He's a very caring chlid, more interested in helping people and children rather than playing with toys," his mother, Nichole, said.

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"He always wanted to know what's going on around hm in the world, how he could help others.

"The final straw was when he stood up at the dinner table and said 'I am Iron Boy.' Pretty much had to go with it then."

Domenic was presented with a medal of valour on the steps of the Opera House by Comm. Scipione.

"He gets out of bed every day and he's brave, every day. To be associated with that, to recognise him, and all those kids just like him, it's a real honour for us as police force to say thank you," Scipione said.

LIVE on #Periscope: #ironboyAU rushes to Clarke Island to rescue @hopejoy I hope he's not too late https://t.co/wz18ut2161  Damien Smith (@DamienSmith_7) February 11, 2016

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After the ceremony -- and with Ultron and his cronies safely behind bars -- Iron Boy said fighting Ultron was the best part of his day.

And his secret to defeating him?

"Just remembering parts of the movie," Domenic said, adding encouragement from the actual Iron Man made him feel awesome.

"Those henchmen they think they are so awesome. No they're not.

"Stay out of town, dude."

And if he had a real power?

"To heal," he said to cheers, before explaining that heroes need that kind of power when tackling evil.

Phew! We were pretty worried about those doughnuts... Who could this 'anonymous do-gooder' be? Who is #ironboyau?https://t.co/ovsg5N2mXh  Make-A-WishAustralia (@MakeAWishAust) February 10, 2016

Make a wish grants roughly 500 wishes a year, but aims to increase that number to 2000 within the next decade, a spokeswoman told the Huffington Post Australia.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull delivers a speech at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation Friday, Dec. 18, 2015 in Tokyo. Turnbull is on a one-day visit to Tokyo to have talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shintaro Abe. (Atsushi Tomura/Pool Photo via AP)

ANALYSIS

CANBERRA -- He may be Mr 80 percent approval, but Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is under fire from all sides at the moment as he fights numerous battles on an increasing number of fronts, against sworn enemies, supposed allies -- and even himself.

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Despite this, Turnbull's polling numbers have barely dipped. Indeed, a late January poll saw the PM take an 80-20 lead over Labor leader Bill Shorten as preferred prime minister. Despite the political challenges on all sides, the PM is as publicly popular as ever, the controversy not taking the shine off his sparkling image and record.

However, just one week's worth of political brewings -- from the High Court decision on the legality of detention on Nauru and the near-universal revolt of state premiers both Liberal and Labor over the government's intention to send refugees back to the tiny island; the flip-flopping "will-he-or-won't-he" on a potential rise in the GST; backbenchers publicly undermining Turnbull's preferred plebiscite on same-sex marriage, the ministers dropping like flies and a much-needed cabinet reshuffle, and Labor's sustained, relentless attack on embattled Human Services Minister Stuart Robert -- has given the Silver Fox far more headaches than he may have hoped for in the first weeks of an election year.

Shorten spent the opening of 2016 criss-crossing the country visiting supermarkets and schools with just two objectives; drumming up support for Labor's education plan, and mentioning the words "Malcolm Turnbull" and "15 percent GST" in the same sentence as many times as possible. While the government has been talking about tax reform for some time, and Turnbull and others continually saying "nothing is off the table," the relentless drumming in by Labor of fears of a 50 percent jump in the goods and services tax has forced a quick rethink from the government.

Whether they truly planned to bump up the GST or not, or even if they were entertaining the possibility, that option seems to have been pulled off the table. Turnbull and treasurer Scott Morrison have been walking back the idea of a GST rise in recent days. Some state premiers had been licking their lips over the chance of a new flood of revenue, so the apparent scrapping of the plan may have some repercussions down the road. Some on the Labor side are now attacking the GST debate on both sides, with Doug Cameron on Monday taking a swipe at the government for backing down.

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Doug Cameron says Turnbull is the gov's "chief bed-wetter", for backing down on the GST #auspolpic.twitter.com/jpMLgm8PkJ  Primrose Riordan (@primroseriordan) February 7, 2016

On refugees, a vociferous outcry over the prospect of sending sick and traumatised asylum seekers back to Nauru saw a number of churches and the religious fraternity criticise the government, with some going so far as to publicly offer "sanctuary" to refugees despite the legal hurdles and dangers such actions may hold. A Liberal PM can't exactly criticise churches for harbouring maligned and traumatised people. Again, the state premiers gave the federal government a headache by publicly calling for compassion and offering to house and care for the affected refugees. Most were Labor premiers, but Liberal NSW leader Mike Baird added his voice to the calls too.

On the release of the Closing The Gap report this week, Turnbull reached out a hand to indigenous leaders to help shape the future of indigenous equality. Indigenous leader Mick Gooda said after years of similar proposals but little follow-through, "I think we're entitled to be a little bit cynical about it until it starts happening." It was not quite the response Malcolm had hoped for.

Despite publicly supporting a free conscience vote for politicians on the question of same-sex marriage -- "Ive made it very clear actually before the last election that I favoured a free vote," Turnbull has said in the past -- and despite both supporters or opponents of same-sex marriage publicly rubbishing the idea, the PM is pushing for a plebiscite on the issue. Backbenchers like Eric Abetz have said they will not be swayed by the outcome of the national poll, while Australian Marriage Equality says the idea would be a waste of money and time. However, Turnbull has said he will honour the plan of former PM Tony Abbott, who had committed to a plebiscite on the issue.

Which brings us to Turnbull's most important and potentially damaging opponent -- himself. He ascended to the top job and unseated Tony Abbott on a platform of bringing more palatable policies to the electorate, being less divisive and more co-operative than his predecessor. But on the major issues he has faced in his nascent stint as PM, Turnbull has defaulted to Abbott's position -- pushing marriage equality plebiscite, not quivering one inch on refugee policy -- and whispers of disunity in the party have followed.

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More damaging yet is how ill-at-ease Turnbull seems when enforcing these policies. This is the same Turnbull who cultivated a reputation as a left-leaning Liberal, socially progressive and with a more 'human' side than some of his Liberal colleagues. When he says things like "people who seek to come to Australia with people smugglers will not succeed. They will not settle in Australia," as he did on ABC's Insiders program on Sunday, he does not seem comfortable. He does not seem like he truly supports the words he is saying.
75 BROADWAY, NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES - 2015/10/17: Trinity Church steeple and fence. The landmark is in New York City at Wall Street and Broadway Street.Trinity Church is a historic, active, well-endowed parish church in the Episcopal Diocese of New York. (Photo by Roberto Machado Noa/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Trinity Parish and the Trinity Episcopal Church on Broadway and Wall Street in New York City organize an annual theological conference called "Listen for a Change." The conference is intended to prepare "clergy and laypersons for imaginative and catalytic leadership." This January the theme was racial justice.

The Trinity conference focused on racial justice partly because of racism imbedded in the U.S. penal system and also because of the different responses by Blacks and Whites to events like the police shooting of an unarmed Black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri in 2104. According to the conference call, "Current studies report that racial discrimination in the U.S. penal system is rampant, and legalized silence perpetuates the problem. Seventy-two percent (72 percent) of people in state prison for drug conviction are people of color, although blacks and whites buy and use drugs at roughly the same rates. In New York State, 94 percent of those imprisoned for a drug offense are people of color. A Pew study found that, in the wake of the police shooting of an unarmed black teen in Ferguson, MO, 80 percent of blacks said that "this case raises important issues about race," but only 44 percent of whites agreed, and 47 percent of whites said 'race is getting more attention than it deserves.'"

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The conference examined racial injustice in both the past and present. Organizers argued that "many systems of discrimination thrive because they remain invisible to those benefitting from them" and believe that "As children of God, we are called to wake up, and to listen up." They cited a charge by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor that "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to speak openly and candidly on the subject of race."



Along with author Ann Farrow and historian Cynthia Copeland, I participated in a fifteen-minute video history of slavery in New York City including the involvement of Trinity Church and its parishioners. Trinity Church was at the center of the New York colony's ruling class with close ties to the wealthy merchants, slaveholders, and government officials. Prominent New Yorkers assigned enslaved Africans to construct the original church building.

"To consult of ye most Easy Methods in Carrying on the building of a church for the Protestants of ye Church of England. Mr. Meyer, Mr. Emmet, Captain Toddle and Captain Wilson have each of them leant a Negro to work on Wednesday next for ye opening the ground for the foundation and that ye twelve managers of the church building do each find a Negro or laborer to be employed on the said building for fourteen days and each member present send a Negro."

-Trinity Church meeting minutes, 1696 and 1697

The history of Trinity Church's lay leadership's involvement with slavery was mixed. Trinity vestryman Daniel Horsmanden was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the province of New York in the 1740s. In 1741, he was on the bench during the trials of over 100 enslaved Africans accused to plotting a slave rebellion. Horsmanden sentenced over thirty people, mostly Black, to death for the crime of desiring freedom and for actions that never took place. They were either hanged or burned alive at what is now Foley Square." After the American Revolution, however, Trinity Church vestryman John Jay and pew-holder Alexander Hamilton were active in the movement for gradual emancipation they helped establish an African Free School on land provided by Trinity.

In the video, The Reverend Dr. William Lupfer, Rector of Trinity Church Wall Street acknowledged, "It is important for us to be honest about our past. We were comfortable making a distinction between pastoral care and social advocacy. And so we cared for people who were slaves, pastorally, but we didn't do the tough work of social advocacy to abolish slavery."

Professor Copeland explained, "It is important for those institutions - those systemic institutions that have played a role - to examine themselves and to be able to come to terms with what has happened. There has been a very dominant narrative out there that we've all had to buy hook, line and sinker. And now that there is an alternative and there are many perspectives on that history and African Americans specifically, they are demanding to have a place in the history and in the narrative."

Lupfer summarized the purpose of the video and the goal of the conference. "I think we at Trinity need to acknowledge that Trinity was involved in slavery, that we were involved deeply in that brokenness, that we benefitted from that brokenness and that we have work to do now and in the future to help heal that brokenness. There are no excuses. We acknowledge what we have done. We are honest about it. We are learning from it and I hope it will bring us into a more vigorous and hopeful future."
In November, while reading the first accounts of the association between the Zika virus and congenital microcephaly, I immediately thought of Sir Norman McAlister Gregg. And while thinking of Dr. Gregg and all that's happened since he made his important observation in 1941, I hoped that we could learn from our past.

In the spring of 1941, Gregg, a pediatric ophthalmologist in Australia, realized that he was seeing a marked increase in the number of children who'd been born with cataracts. The numbers were striking: in past years, he'd seen an average of five to 10 babies per year with cataracts; in 1940 to 1941, he was seeing more than 10 times those numbers.

Though Gregg had no idea what was causing this increase, one day he overheard a group of mothers in his waiting room discussing the fact that they'd each had German measles during their pregnancies. This overheard conversation led him to question whether rubella might be responsible for their children's problems.

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Reviewing their case histories, Gregg found that 68 of the 78 infants with cataracts he'd seen during this period had been exposed to rubella during gestation. He also discovered that in addition to cataracts, many of these children had sensorineural deafness and congenital heart disease. In October 1941, he presented his findings in a paper, "Congenital Cataract following German Measles in the Mother," at the Ophthalmological Society of Australia.

Understanding threats to the womb

Gregg's observations were noteworthy for numerous reasons. Not only did his work introduce the concept of congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) as a specific entity, it marked the first time an environmental agent had been implicated in causing damage to a developing conceptus. Prior to Gregg's paper, the prevailing view was that while in the womb, embryos and fetuses were impervious to damage from external sources. The concept of a virally induced congenital malformation syndrome opened the door to the possibility that other viruses (toxoplasmosis and cytomegalovirus), as well as drugs (thalidomide and Accutane), chemicals (methyl mercury) and environmental agents (radiation exposure), might also be harmful to developing humans.

In the years following Gregg's observation, as rubella epidemics around the world left thousands of affected children in their wake, other features were added to the list first generated by the Australian ophthalmologist. Virtually every organ system can be affected.

CRS and autism spectrum disorders

It also became clear that the timing of the infection is important: if the infection occurs early, a miscarriage could result; if the embryo survives, damage can occur to the lungs, liver, spleen, kidneys, bone marrow, bones, endocrine organs and brain, as well as to the eyes, ears and heart.



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The effect on the developing brain leads to the condition's most tragic consequences. Children with CRS are often left with severe, lifelong intellectual disabilities. Prominent among these disabilities are autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Following the epidemic in the early 1960s, Stella Chase and her colleagues at New York University reported "a strikingly high prevalence of autism in a population" of children with CRS. Her work pointed to CRS as one of the leading causes of ASDs in America in the 1970s.

The devastating neurological consequences of CRS left little doubt that a vaccine against rubella was needed. In 1969, after years of work, the first rubella vaccine became available in the U.S. In 1971, it was combined with vaccines for mumps and measles, which had been developed earlier in the 1960s, to become the MMR vaccine.

The MMR vaccine controversy

The effect of MMR on the incidence of rubella was rapid. In only a few years, this disabling disease virtually disappeared from the landscape. Most pediatricians who trained after 1975 have never seen an infant with CRS. The vaccine was almost a miracle.



But one person's miracle can be another person's calamity. In the 1990s, the prevalence of ASDs soared. Although the dramatic rise in reported cases was almost certainly due to healthcare providers having become more sensitive to the symptoms and signs of the condition, this explanation was not acceptable to many parents. For these people, a more satisfying explanation came in 1998, when Andrew Wakefield and his colleagues published a paper in the Lancet ("Ileal-Lymphoid-Nodular Hyperplasia, Non-specific Colitis, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder in Children"), which claimed that MMR was responsible for a new syndrome: autistic enterocolitis.

And so the vaccine that had been developed to prevent the leading cause of ASDs in the 1960s was now being blamed for fueling the "epidemic" of ASDs that occurred 30 years later. In the years following publication of Wakefield's article, not a single researcher could duplicate his findings, but the lack of evidence didn't matter: people who wanted to believe that their child's autism was caused by MMR would not be dissuaded.

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Is MMR's past Zika's future?

It took 12 years and millions of research dollars to begin to correct the damage done by Wakefield. But even after 2010, when a tribunal found that he had acted dishonestly and irresponsibly in his published research, and the Lancet retracted the 1998 paper, many people (including U.S. presidential candidates) have continued to believe that a link exists between vaccines and ASDs.



So in November, when I saw those photos of babies with small heads and read those first articles that linked congenital Zika infections with microcephaly, I believed I might be able to predict the future. I imagined that those small heads would prove to be only the tip of the iceberg for these unfortunate babies. In addition to microcephaly, they would be found to have brain malformations, neuromuscular and seizure disorders, intellectual disabilities, including ASDs, and an assortment of medical problems. The phenotype of what might be called Congenital Zika Syndrome would prove so significant, the suffering so severe, that researchers would band together to develop a vaccine. The vaccine, which would become universal in its use, would prove to be a huge success in stopping the epidemic. But in time, this miraculous vaccine would inevitably become the target of criticism, as people would come to believe that it itself was responsible for some new clinical problem.

I hope that as we enter the age of Zika, we can learn from our experience with rubella, that although the development of a vaccine to prevent the tragedy of CZS will prove life-saving, it's almost inevitable that eventually, someone somewhere will blame this miraculous substance for causing one or another of the world's ills. And when that happens, it's imperative that we in the scientific community urge the public to reserve judgment until definitive proof can be found to either prove or disprove the claim. For as George Santayana said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

Dr. Marion is professor, departments of pediatrics and obstetrics and gynecology and women's health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine and a member of the division of genetic medicine, The Children's Hospital at Montefiore.

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***
WildCare's Wildlife Hospital treats nearly 4,000 ill, injured and orphaned wild animal patients from over 200 species every year. This is one patient's story.

February is the peak of skunk mating season in Northern California, and the rest of the country's skunks won't be far behind. Mating season means skunks are very active so, at this time of year, the odds of us or our pets encountering a skunk are higher than usual.

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This young male skunk may have been out searching for a female when suddenly he found himself trapped at the bottom of a very muddy hole in a construction project in a San Anselmo backyard.

Unable to escape, the skunk floundered in the mud until the homeowners discovered him. Fortunately they knew to call WildCare with a wild animal in distress, and we helped them contact the Marin Humane Society whose officer braved mud and stink to transport the skunk to our Wildlife Hospital.

The first order of business, once the skunk was at WildCare, was to clean him off and warm him up.

But how do you bathe a skunk? Very carefully, of course. And with all the doors open and the fans on. Full-arm washing gloves, eye protection and a deep sink completed the picture.

Of course this skunk patient sprayed during the procedure. The bath was very stressful for him and he reacted with his best defense mechanism- that terrible stink!

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But once he was clean, dry and warm, this striped patient began to feel much better. Medical Staff gave him subcutaneous fluids and did an exam, part of which involved checking him for a microchip.

To their surprise, the microchip scanner beeped as it crossed the skunk's shoulder. We'd had this animal in the Wildlife Hospital before! A bit of research uncovered that he had been an orphaned baby in our care in 2014. He had been successfully released, and, his Foster Care providers were thrilled to note, had survived nearly two years before his unfortunate tumble into the muddy hole. Confirmation like this that our Foster Care program works and results in healthy, self-sufficient wild adult animals is extremely important and gratifying!

As of this writing, the skunk is still recovering at WildCare. His prognosis is very good, and he should be able to return to the wild (a second time!) in time to find a mate during mating season.

That skunk doesn't want to spray you (or your dog!)

A recent caller to WildCare's Living with Wildlife Hotline was convinced that the skunk she had seen in her yard was just waiting to spray her or her dog as soon as she left the house.

WildCare's 24-hour Living with Wildlife Hotline 415-456-SAVE (7283) and our WildCare Solutions service are answering 10 - 20 calls a day about skunks, many of them from callers with similar concerns.

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But actually a skunk doesn't want to spray you OR your dog!

A skunk's spray is generated in the animal's anal glands, and the skunk does not have an unlimited supply of it. Other than the spray, skunks have few defenses, so a skunk prefers to conserve his resources whenever possible.

A skunk must "recharge" once he uses his spray, and if he completely depletes his scent glands it can take up to ten days to regenerate the full amount, leaving him vulnerable to predators.

Watch the signs

A skunk will typically give a lot of warning before spraying. He will raise his tail and shake it warningly. He will stamp his feet and turn his head and rear end toward you in a "U" shape. Unless taken completely by surprise, he will give these warnings and wait until the last possible second before deploying the "nuclear option" of spraying. A skunk generally prefers to exit the scene with no spraying involved.

WildCare's Living with Wildlife Hotline and our WildCare Solutions service save hundreds of wild lives every year with advice on how to live better with skunks.

To every caller they give the same advice-- BEFORE stepping into your yard, especially at night, let skunks know you're coming! Skunks have poor eyesight, they're not fast and they can't climb, so if you give them some notice that you want to use your yard, they will almost always vacate it ahead of you. They don't want to interact with you any more than you do with them!

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Flip on the porch light. Make noise opening the door. Clap your hands. Whistle. Do a little tap dance. You might feel slightly silly, but this little bit of warning will alert any skunks passing through that you're coming out, and give them time to exit your yard or hide.

This alert is especially important before releasing dogs into the yard. Most domestic dogs don't read the warning signs skunks give and will rush right up to a skunk, even if he has his tail raised. This is why dogs so often get sprayed-- the skunk feels he has no other options. Especially at night, be sure to provide an alert and give skunks (and all wildlife!) a few minutes to hide before letting dogs into the yard.
A courtesy of Prime Minister Netanyahu

The demagoguery of Prime Minster Netanyahu seems to have no limit -- demagoguery in a sense that he says and acts on anything to buttress Israel's hold on the West Bank in the name of national security. This time around, Netanyahu came up with another absurd idea, proposing, as he stated, a "multi-year plan to surround Israel with security fences to protect ourselves in the current and projected Middle East."

Netanyahu went on to say that: "In our neighborhood, we need to protect ourselves from wild beasts." Knowing Netanyahu and his sentiment toward the Palestinians, using inflammatory language is customary for him, as he views every Palestinian as a would-be beastly terrorist.

It is obvious from everything we know that the purpose of building such a fence, which runs through a significant portion of Palestinian territory, is to make the expropriation of Palestinian land permanent.

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At the same time, he continues to expand settlements in the West Bank and more than likely will build new ones while providing more than 10,000 soldiers to protect the settlers, ensuring that Palestinians will never establish (under his watch) their own state; of course, all of this is in the name of national security.

Netanyahu knows only too well that no fence, however high and regardless of the material it is made of, will prevent a determined terrorist from finding a way to penetrate it.

True, he will introduce the newest technology to detect any attempt to pierce through the wall; however, he seems to ignore the fact that Palestinian militants have perfected the art of building tunnels through which insurgents can still wage attacks on Israeli civilians or military personnel, even at the expense of getting killed in the process.

Netanyahu himself raised the question of the tunnels, stating: "If you're thinking of erecting a fence there you have to take into account that they could tunnel underneath it. The people who said that there is no significance to [retaining] territory in the modern age should go to Gaza."

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Let us go to Gaza then; what do we find? Hamas has been able to build scores of tunnels underneath the fence that separates Gaza from Israel, and have successfully been able to go through the tunnels and attack Israeli forces and civilians.

Although Israeli forces found many of these tunnels during Operation Protective Edge in July 2014 and destroyed the majority of them, Hamas is now at work building new tunnels, knowing that no matter what security measures Israel takes, it will not find all the tunnels. Hamas is still in a position, should they chose to do so, to cross the fences from underneath.

Netanyahu also seems to ignore the fact that no fence, however sophisticated it may be, can stop rockets from being fired at Israel. During that same operation, Hamas was able to rain more than 3,000 rockets, which reached much of Israel's urban areas and caused tremendous havoc.

True, most of these rockets were intercepted; however, it was not the fence that intercepted them but the Iron Dome air defense system, demonstrating the ineffectiveness of the separation wall.

Netanyahu appears to ignore another reality in northern Israel along the Lebanese border, where Hezbollah is in possession of tens of thousands of short and medium range advanced rockets that can reach just about every part of Israel. What kind of fence, one might ask, does Netanyahu have in mind to stop Hezbollah from firing dozens of such rockets simultaneously?

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Of course, Netanyahu conveniently did not talk about Hezbollah in Lebanon, because he has no plans to occupy any part of Lebanon.

In reaction to Netanyahu's plans to build a wall that encircles Israel, one of his main coalition partners, Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who is far more to the right than even Netanyahu, stated "The prime minister spoke today about how fences are needed. We are wrapping ourselves in fences. In Australia and New Jersey there is no need for fences."

Coming from an individual who is sinister and dangerous, Bennett is not against the wall because he feels that walls will not be effective, but because he believes that all of the West Bank belongs to Israel. Given the opportunity, he would annex much of the West Bank outright -- why then build a wall in one's own land?

Netanyahu has never been committed to a two-state solution and is using the current violent flare-up, the so called 'knife Intifada,' as an excuse to cement Israel's hold on much of the West Bank. His plan amounts to establishing small cantons for the Palestinians where they can exercise a sort of autonomous rule, while remaining under the watchful eye of the Israeli security forces.

A big part that gives Netanyahu the license to do what he wants is the sad complacency of the Israeli public, who has fallen into the national security trap that Netanyahu has so masterfully used to spread fear and dread among Israelis.

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He successfully brainwashed the majority of Israelis to believe that the Palestinians pose a present and imminent danger and must be dealt with, not as human beings with whom one can reason, but wild beasts who are determined to destroy rather than coexist with Israel.

Netanyahu's presumed recipe as he stated it, to "...surround the entire state of Israel with a fence, a barrier," is nothing short of building a large prison for all Israelis.

To be sure, instead of reaching out to the Palestinians and the whole international community to reach an agreement with the Palestinians, he seeks to turn Israel into a garrison and apartheid state, detested by and isolated from the international community.
The Honest Company, which makes natural eco-friendly household products, is set to go public. It was recently valued at $1.7 billion with more than $150 million in revenue.

Jessica Alba first got the idea for the Honest Company in 2009, when she had an allergic reaction to an infant detergent recommended by her mother. She became obsessed with the idea of providing safe, beautiful and convenient products that parents could use worry-free. But she had a tough time convincing investors.

"I was getting rejected by so many people. They were like, 'Right you want to create a business? Good luck... why don't you just do perfume..."

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Even Brian Lee, who eventually co-founded the company and became CEO, passed on the idea initially. He came around almost two years later when he had a child of his own, and his wife started transforming the household. The Honest Company launched in 2012, sold $10 million in products its first year and took off from there.

The Honest Company is now a runaway hit. But the difficulties it had getting off the ground reflect some of the impediments facing women entrepreneurs -- only 20 percent of angel investors and 6 percent of venture capital partners are women. Between 2011 and 2013, only 3 percent of venture capital went to companies with female CEOs. Even Jessica Alba struggled to get financial backing, and she's a CELEBRITY. In a way, she's the exception that proves the rule.

I run a national non-profit that recruits and trains aspiring entrepreneurs around the country. Over the past five years, I've seen just how tough it is for female entrepreneurs. And I am more convinced than ever that there are incredible opportunities -- and unmet needs -- in building women-oriented and women-led companies.

On the market side, women are now a record-high 57 percent of U.S. college graduates and will comprise more and more of the employee and customer base in the years to come. There will be many more households in which women are the primary economic drivers -- one estimate is that as much as 85 percent of consumer purchasing power will be held by women.

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Yet many corporations remain male-dominated in their approaches and leadership -- only 5 percent of Fortune 1000 CEOs are women. Quite often, the default offerings don't fully account for the female perspective.

This creates market opportunities. Sallie Krawcheck, the former head of Merrill Lynch, recently co-founded Ellevest, an investing platform designed for women. "It's time to give women an investing experience designed specifically for them," Krawcheck says, noting that women control $5 trillion in investing power and demonstrate better investment returns than men over time.

A friend of mine, Cariann Chan, went through the experience of freezing her eggs and found the process costly, uncomfortable and difficult to navigate. She now is working on a new product, Level, that measures fertility potential with a home test so that women can be better informed about their individual reproductive data before undergoing a procedure.

Investors are coming around too. One Silicon Valley venture capitalist said, "I'm on the lookout for companies that solve issues for women in innovative ways. There's a ton of potential." Indeed, a study indicated that women-led private technology companies achieve 35 percent higher return on investment than male-led tech companies.

This underscores the problem. Investors are cold-blooded capitalists (for the most part). If companies that include women statistically outperform others, then we're systemically under-investing in women entrepreneurs.

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Some of our partners are investing to change this. Rent the Runway and UBS are teaming up to mentor 200 female entrepreneurs via Project Entrepreneur. Anu Duggal started the Female Founders Fund expressly to tackle the imbalance and take advantage of the opportunity.

At Venture for America, I work with dozens of brilliant young women who clearly have the potential to start successful companies. I also have many accomplished women friends at different stages of their careers (I'm 41). The stories that my women friends tell me about the sexism they've experienced are astounding. Everything ranging from subtle patronizing to blatant harassment on a somewhat regular basis.

It remains very difficult for women to achieve and maintain positions of leadership. There are massive barriers at every turn. And not all of these are external -- my women friends talk about how easy it is to be worn down after years of pushing against resistance.

The tempting thing to do is say, "Sexism is terrible, but it will recede as we become more enlightened. Women will start more companies, investors will wise up and things will get better!" Which I really hope is true -- and I believe on good days. We all have to help make it happen.

In the meantime, I'd like to recommend an approach that's inspired by Stanford professor Tom Kosnik.

Tom is an incredibly highly-regarded entrepreneurship and engineering professor. He often gets approached by students looking to start companies. If he is approached by a male founder or team, which is typically the case, he tells them, "Come back to me when you have a female co-founder."

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When I started Venture for America back in 2011, I wasn't the first employee. That was Eileen Lee, our chief operating officer, who got us up and running. Our first class was only 25 percent women (it's about 50% now). The female Fellows wanted more women, which isn't surprising. But here's the thing -- so did the men.

Studies have shown that companies with women in leadership positions perform better. First Round Capital published a report that portfolio companies with at least one female co-founder performed 63 percent better than all-male teams in increasing valuation over time.

High-performing companies with male-female leadership teams are becoming more common. Mark Zuckerberg has Sheryl Sandberg. Jessica Alba has Brian Lee. Sallie Krawcheck has my friend from Brown, Charlie Kroll. I'm in the camp that companies run better when both men and women are involved at the highest levels. This represents a fantastic trend that we should encourage.

Women are of course perfectly capable of founding and leading world-class companies on their own -- Sara Blakely, Arianna Huffington, Katia Beauchamp and Hayley Barna, Barbara Corcoran, Jennifer Fleiss and Jen Hyman and many others have shown that women don't have any limits when it comes to building companies.

But in my view, many entrepreneurs, both men and women, would benefit from building a balanced team as fast and early as possible, including at the founder level. Men enlisting women early on would often help the company. And in some cases, the reverse is true as well.

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So if you're a set of guys looking to start a company, think about women you could team up with -- they will see things differently and solve problems you didn't even realize you had. And ladies, you don't necessarily have to go it alone -- there are guys out there who will appreciate the opportunity and want to work with you.
The choir sang "Amazing Grace." One congregational hymn was Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind," and the other, "When Israel Was in Egypt's Land (Go Down Moses)." The perfect musical background to a sermon on slavery. But there was no preaching about the benefits of the 13th Amendment. This was an awakening to slavery in the 21st century and today's abolitionist movement.

Robert Boneberg, a 21st century abolitionist and former board chair of Free the Slaves, spoke at the Wyoming Presbyterian Church on February 7. An elder of the church he is bent on alerting the world about slavery's global comeback and on catalyzing a abolition. "Although slavery has been outlawed everywhere, it has not been eradicated," Boneberg cautioned. He detailed the horrors of modern slavery to an attentive congregation, also suggesting avenues of action to take against the slave trade - also known as human trafficking.

Abolishing slavery is not a 19th century concern that was concluded with the 13th Amendment in 1865. Slavery is alive and well today at an unprecedented level. Historically slavery is as common as the harvest, ubiquitous in earthly societies and cultures. Slavery has been present in its cruel and harsh forms and in kinder, gentler forms throughout human history. Economically justified, theologically justified, and monarchically justified. In our democracy it is apparently tolerated.

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While the Atlantic slave trade may have turned the sale of human beings into a big business with big profits, Boneberg noted that the industrialization of the slave trade today dwarfs anything we've known so far. More than 10 million people from Africa arrived in the Americas and were sold into slavery between 1526 and 1867 . Modern slavery around the world claims almost 21 million victims at any given time. Today the trafficking of human beings is the second-largest criminal industry in the world - after drug trafficking. The US Department of Justice suspects human trafficking is the fastest growing industry in the world.

"Commercial slavery will end when businesses clean up their supply chains. What does that mean? The gold nuggets and other ores needed to make your mobile phone and computer work; the children sewing your tee shirt or weaving the carpet you're eyeing; what about the person that picked the vegetables in your salad? All of these products could have a slave labor component. You don't know. It's likely the retailer from whom you bought it from doesn't know, either."

Information, like compassion, is in short supply.

"The most difficult challenge in America today is mindfulness of others," writes Jeffrey Sachs in The Price of Civilization: Reawakening American Virtue and Prosperity. Particularly the others that are othered. Our "nation has increasingly sorted its communities according to race, class, and even political ideology. Any kind of realistic understanding of the lives of "different" others has suffered accordingly."

As is compassion, equal economic opportunity is in short supply. For there would not be a tidal wave of slavery were there not an equally unacceptable permanence of poverty.

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It's a moral business issue. And there is something consumers can do to show their concern. "When consumers go into stores and ask about slavery-free products," Boneberg asserts, "businesses will eventually have to do some research and find out." Examples of this exist already.

Americans have eagerly asked if the foods we're ingesting are genetically modified. The anti-GMO movement has made significant inroads regarding labeling and consumer awareness. What about animal cruelty? Hollywood films include a disclaimer during credits that "no animals were harmed" in the making of the movie. I always assure people that the "fur" trim on my favorite winter hat is fake so as to deter the evil eye. Colleges, houses of worship, and businesses nationwide demanded and succeeded in causing divestiture of huge funds from apartheid South Africa. Our insides, our fuzzy friends and our morality. All very important. All worthy of action. Now how about concern and compassion for the lives of enslaved people?

Next time you buy a rug or a smartphone, ask the retailer: "Can you assure me that this product is slave-free?" The question begs accountability. It won't accept an off the cuff response. It sparks engagement.

"This small church put forward a resolution on supply chain-related slavery to the Newark Presbytery that will go to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) for consideration when it meets in Portland, Oregon, in June," Boneberg commended the congregation that responded with applause.

Action is essential. Abolition is a growing movement that requires 21st century awareness. It starts with individuals speaking up and acting on conscience. It will spread through social media and influence institutions and government more slowly than it should, I'm afraid. But calls for abolition will grow, just as they did two centuries ago.

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An important step toward economic recovery, writes Jeffrey Sachs, requires a "global ethic," that is "mindfulness of the world, and most importantly the recognition that today's world is deeply interconnected economically and socially, albeit with considerable discord and confusion." Abolition must be part of any global ethic that brings economic stability and dignity to the people of our nation and our planet. This movement demands 21st century awareness that can be nurtured within the religious institutions of our pluralistic country. Sachs writes glowingly of the work of Hans Kung, a great theologian of the 20th century: "Kung found that diverse religious traditions share fundamental ethical standards regarding economic life and behavior, which can enable the world to identify and embrace a truly global economic ethic." This, he calls, the "Principle of Humanity": Being human must be the ethical yardstick for all economic action.

For starters check out the work of Free the Slaves (preventing slavery through education and toughening enforcement), Polaris (with its National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline), and Verite (singling out specific products through supply-chain accountability).

Did we fight a Civil War and start a civil rights movement only to see slavery thrive on our watch?
No one today would challenge the assertion that the United States is currently facing a plethora of key foreign policy challenges in geostrategic hotspots around the world, cluttering the radar screen of both the White House and Congress. However, many would be hard-pressed to admit or agree that despite these urgent issues, whether in the Middle East or the Korean Peninsula, no country in the world has more of an impact on the day-to-day prosperity, wellbeing and security of the U.S. and of Americans than Mexico.

Statistics may sometimes be held up there with damned lies, but that doesn't mean that they're irrelevant, despite the rhetoric and bombast of some candidates on the campaign trail in the U.S., seemingly impervious to hard data.

Look at our trade: close to $1.4 billion dollars of goods daily cross into Mexico and the U.S. Six million American jobs directly depend on trade with its southern neighbor and twenty-six states in the U.S. have Mexico as their number one or number two trading partner. Mexico buys more U.S. exports than the combined purchases of Japan and China; of the 4 BRIC's; of all of Latin America and the Caribbean; or of the UK, France, Italy and The Netherlands. On any given day 1 million people legally go back and forth through our ports of entry.

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And we truly have become interconnected societies, as millions of Mexicans and close to 1.5 million Americans, the largest expat community living abroad, call the U.S. and Mexico home. Moreover, post 9-11 security has compelled our two nations to deepen and widen security and intelligence cooperation, whether it's to confront transnational criminal organizations operating on both sides of our common border or ensuring that it's not used by international terrorist organizations seeking to undermine our security. The promise and potential of Mexico's energy reform for North American energy efficiency, sustainability and security, the profound changes in migration patterns from Mexico to the U.S., our integrated supply chains and production platforms (particularly in the automotive and aerospace sectors), and our competitive edge that can propel, as TPP partners, further economic growth in our region, could all trigger a rising tide in Mexico that lifts boats on both sides of the Rio Grande.

This is why for a vast majority of Mexicans who care about this critically important relationship, a U.S. Embassy in Mexico City now without an Ambassador for five months and counting, is bewildering if not galling. And when Vice President Biden goes down to Mexico at the end of the month for the High Level Economic Dialogue meeting with government officials and private sector representatives, he may get an earful.

As a U.S. hand in Mexico's career foreign service, I have known and worked alongside Roberta Jacobson -nominated by President Obama eight months ago to become Washington's next Ambassador in Mexico- for the better part of two decades. And as a former Mexican Ambassador to the U.S., and someone who has had the opportunity and privilege of interacting with the last six U.S. Ambassadors to Mexico in a row, I have witnessed what it takes to head the U.S. mission in Mexico. Jacobson's ratification should have been a shoo-in. Her qualifications, experience, first-hand knowledge, and interaction with Mexico are unquestionable, which in many ways explains the all-around support and praise her nomination garnered in Mexico, both in governmental and business circles as well as among analysts, academia and civil society.

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Yet her nomination has languished on Capitol Hill, first in the Foreign Relations Committee, which finally voted to approve it this past November, and now on the Senate floor. The Senate's failure to confirm Jacobson is not only damaging U.S. interests in Mexico; it is being perceived by Mexican opinion makers and government officials alike as a sign of how little attention is bestowed in Washington upon the bilateral relationship with Mexico.

And it doesn't matter if the Gordian knot is in Congress; regardless of whether they are friends or foes of a strong and forward-looking, strategically driven bilateral agenda with the U.S. or are experts or laymen in how Washington works, many Mexicans growingly equate a vacant Embassy with neglect and a lack of interest and priority in the way Washington deals with its partner.

Not surprisingly, many in Mexico therefore postulate that it's not in its national interest today -and that there's certainly no pressing imperative- to invest significant political and diplomatic capital in the relationship with the U.S. at this time; that all that is needed, given the "lack of interest" in ensuring an Ambassador is in place, is to keep the relationship on automatic pilot. And this is troubling at a moment in time when this uniquely complex and multilayered relationship simultaneously experiences bold new opportunities and persistent challenges, not least amongst the latter the perilous signs of nativist populism tainted with anti-Mexicanism in the U.S. campaign trail.

Thirty years ago, Alan Riding, one in a line of outstanding foreign correspondents that have covered Mexico for the U.S. press over the years, wrote a seminal book -"Distant Neighbors"- on the relationship between Mexico and the United States. The title itself points to the striking changes that have occurred in this relationship since then.

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Thanks to NAFTA and to a growing convergence across myriad issues -whether it is on security, trade, energy, climate change, common water resources, global health issues or a rules-based 21st Century international system- that today make up the bilateral agenda between both nations, this is no longer a relationship between two distant neighbors. Though evidently never devoid of tough issues and the occasional disagreement, it has now truly become a strategic partnership.

Those of us who believe that our two countries will succeed or fail together need to ensure that this sea-change that has occurred in the relationship continues to deliver the goods for our two peoples.

The U.S. Senate needs to send an unequivocal message that it will support the efforts of President Obama and his three predecessors to dramatically improve ties with Mexico. I believe that having Roberta Jacobson as the next U.S. Ambassador will enable us to continue to build upon a holistic and strategic relationship with Mexico. Octavio Paz, a Mexican Nobel laureate, once wrote that Mexico and the U.S. had a hard time getting along because "Mexicans didn't know how to speak up and Americans didn't know how to listen".
With the South Carolina primary just weeks away, Hillary Clinton scored a key endorsement on Thursday from the Congressional Black Caucus' Political Action Committee. Please note: the CBC itself has not made an endorsement, only its PAC.

Civil rights activist Rep. John Lewis praised Clinton on Thursday: "We need her leadership, her vision... We must get out our vote like we never, ever voted before."

The PAC's endorsement comes the day of the sixth Democratic debate and less than 48 hours after Sanders dominated Clinton in New Hampshire, 60% to 38%. The endorsement will likely reinforce Clinton's already strong support among black voters in South Carolina. Polls show her winning up to 80% of the state's black vote, and even Sanders has admitted that as of now, he has much ground to cover.

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Following the PAC's endorsement, thousands of black voters from South Carolina and beyond took to social media to express their opinions on the matter. Corey Johnson, a Masters student at Andrews University and founder of ooboundsblog.com, shared his perspective on why fellow black voters should not settle for Clinton just yet.

Johnson wrote:

Black democratic lawmakers owe it to their constituents to hold a debate before the South Carolina primary and give both candidates an opportunity to make their case for the black vote. It baffles me how these black leaders are uncritically blindly coronating Hillary simply because her husband was good to them in the 1990s. Was his crime bill good to their constituents? How about her vote on the Iraq war? Our people deserve better. But if we remember 2008, many black democrats even endorsed Clinton over Obama. The tea is piping hot.



* The author of this post is running a Kickstarter campaign to fund an entire series of animated rap videos about Bernie Sanders and the 2016 election.
Service Industry: Caution sign and man mopping retail store floor

By Fredrick McKissack Jr.

The state of worker justice will be on display this coming weekend in Washington, D.C. at the Jobs with Justice national conference.

The two-day conference that begins Friday in the nation's capital brings together 600 activists, organizers, worker-leaders, and students from around the country and the world. The conference's three plenary sessions are centered on the progressive ideals of building and sustaining movements, innovation and ending racial injustice. The conference brings together high-profile experts in the field of labor and organizing, including Secretary of Labor Tom Perez, who will be a featured speaker in the first plenary on organizing of workers. Organizations, such as the Center for Community Change, will be sending staff to the powerful gathering of workers.

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Breakout sessions include workshops on collective bargaining, social media, strategizing against globalization and privatization, organizing immigrant workers, and joining economic and racial justice.

The conference attendees will take to the street with the "Standing Up for Jobs with Just Hours!" march Friday afternoon.

The gathering comes at a crossroads for labor.

Union membership has been cut in half over the last 30 years. Today, 12 percent of workers are represented by a union. Currently, "right-to-work" laws, which prohibit or put severe restrictions on unions, are active in 25 states, including former union strongholds as Michigan, Wisconsin, and Indiana.

Yet, a Pew Research Center survey conducted last March reported that 48 percent of Americans hold favorable opinions about unions. "Support for the ability of employees to unionize spans both public and private sectors," Pew reported, with 68 percent of respondents believing that supermarket and retail workers ought to be able to unionize. While somewhat smaller, 62 percent says fast-food workers should be able unionize.

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Fight for $15 has rallied workers and activists around the country, says Bailey Dick, a media specialist with Jobs for Justice in Washington. The minimum-wage increase in places like New York State, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., are visible, tangible signs that what once seemed impossible can be achieved. Workers can demand better pay and working conditions--and win.

Deb Kline agrees. The Cleveland Jobs with Justice director for the past nine years says that the more established unions are "really paying attention." Her executive committee includes the executive secretary of the local AFL-CIO and the executive direct of Organize! Ohio, a Cleveland-based social justice and worker rights organization.

Kline, 59, is attending her ninth conference, and she's traveling to the conference with seven other local activists and leaders. The Cleveland group has been active in social justice and immigrant worker rights, but are particularly active this year in fighting deportations.

Kline, an activist and organizer for 30 years, says the conference helps here connect with others who carry a passion for social and economic justice and learn new ideas on effective strategies. After the conference, "I have a feeling I'll be even working more when I get home."

Melonie Griffiths is looking to be inspired and to inspire. She's also looking to exhale. The organizing director of Massachusetts Jobs with Justice has been the logistics point-person on getting 80 people from the state to the conference. On the phone, she sounded energetic about attending her first Jobs with Justice conference.

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Griffiths, a Jobs with Justice organizer for two-and-a-half years, will be one of the leaders at the black caucus on Friday and Saturday, which will be about building networks with African American leaders and their allies.

Griffiths, a mother of three adult children in their 20s, became an organizer fighting bank redlining when her home in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood was nearly foreclosed on in 2007. She now lives in Roxbury, where she grew up.

She said a movement of working people is needed to change the course of this country and help people sustain their families. She said the majority of the Massachusetts contingent is "grassroots, rank-and-file, and worker-leaders" who will become the new face of the worker movement. Her job in all of this, she says, is to sustain the movement, not just build campaigns.

"This conference allows folks to embrace a much bigger picture of what's going on in worker justice," she said. "They'll be able to build networks to help sustain and develop them as leaders."
US President Barack Obama speaks to supporters in the Hoogland Center for the Arts in Springfield, Illinois on February 10, 2016. / AFP / Mandel Ngan (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

The President's budget includes a very welcome suite of proposals to modernize assistance for workers who lose their jobs through no fault of their own. The proposals recognize that today's labor market is vastly different from the one for which unemployment insurance (UI) was designed in 1935 -- when the typical job loser was a married male breadwinner laid off from a full-time job to which he could expect to return when business picked up.

These days many more job losers have little prospect of returning to their old job, which may no longer even exist. The budget proposes federally funded "wage insurance," administered through state UI programs, for experienced workers who'd been displaced from their jobs and took new jobs at lower pay. To encourage and ease that transition, displaced workers taking a new job paying less than $50,000 would be eligible for payments equal to half their lost wages, up to $10,000 over two years.

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Wage insurance would supplement, not replace, traditional UI, which provides bedrock financial support to help tide workers over a spell of unemployment. But UI needs strengthening and modernizing. Toward that end, the Obama budget would:

Expand coverage to more workers whose employers have paid UI taxes on their behalf but aren't eligible for UI due to outdated requirements that exclude people such as part-time workers and those who left work for compelling family reasons, like caring for an ill family member. While incentive funding in the 2009 Recovery Act encouraged many states to adopt some long-discussed modernization measures, the new proposal would make such measures the national standard.

Restore 26 weeks as the standard maximum duration for basic UI benefits by requiring all states to provide at least that many. Nine states have cut their maximum below this longtime standard in the last several years (one has since restored it), even though long-term unemployment (27 weeks or more) was becoming more prevalent even before the Great Recession.

Create a more responsive Extended Benefits program to automatically provide more weeks of benefits to workers who exhaust their regular state benefits in states with high or rapidly rising unemployment. Design flaws have prevented the existing program from responding rapidly and effectively in recessions, leading lawmakers to enact temporary UI extensions on an ad hoc basis. The revamped program would provide as many as 52 weeks of benefits in states with very high unemployment.

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Restore the solvency of state UI trust funds by ensuring that the taxes collected to fund UI are adequate to build up reserves in the UI trust funds in advance of economic downturns, and by penalizing states that don't maintain a large enough trust fund reserve to provide benefits for at least six months of an average recession.

The budget also includes grants and other incentives to expand work-sharing programs, in which companies avoid layoffs during economic downturns by instead modestly cutting back hours for a broader group of workers. UI payments would supplement some of the resulting lost pay. Results in other countries, where work-sharing substantially reduced layoffs and mitigated unemployment during the Great Recession, suggest that the United States would benefit from making it more widely available in the next recession.

Finally, the budget includes proposals to encourage retraining and provide career counseling to those struggling hardest to find a new job.

Whatever these proposals' legislative prospects, the President deserves credit for recognizing that a 21 century labor market needs a 21 century UI system.

This post originally appeared on Off the Charts, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities' blog.
Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump gives thumbs up to supporters during a primary night rally, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, in Manchester, N.H. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Last night, New Hampshire shook up the presidential race and roiled what were already less-than-calm waters, in both the Democratic Party and the GOP. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton looks a lot weaker than she did a few weeks ago. Republicans, meanwhile, are having to finally come to grips with a fact that's been staring them in the face for months: Donald Trump is indeed their frontrunner, and he might actually win their party's nomination.

Let's take the Republicans first. The head-in-the-sand-ism that many establishment Republicans have been engaging in since last summer is now officially over. The fantasy that "Trump will collapse -- it's inevitable" never actually came to pass, guys. Get over it. There was even a secondary myth that also lies on the ground in tatters: Trump would drop out of the race in a sulk if he lost Iowa or any other state. Um, no, that didn't happen either -- instead, Trump stayed in the race and won New Hampshire. In the midst of all this myth-busting, things have actually gotten even worse for the establishment guys. Not only is Trump leading the party, but the guy solidly in second place is even less acceptable to the party bigwigs. And they can't even figure out who should be in third place to challenge Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. That's a pretty disheveled state of affairs. In fact, Machiavelli would be rolling on the floor with laughter over this spectacle, were he still alive. No wonder many of the GOP establishment have been choosing to ignore this reality for so long -- it's certainly easier to pretend it'll all magically go away somehow.

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Two more Republican candidates are exiting the race today, as Carly Fiorina has already dropped out and Chris Christie is expected to officially do so very soon. Two other Republicans really should hang up their spurs as well, but probably won't. Ben Carson is now (probably literally) praying for a South Carolina miracle, and Jim Gilmore apparently just likes seeing his name on primary ballots -- whether anyone chooses him or not.

This leaves three viable contenders for the "save us from Trump and Cruz" lane of the party. Marco Rubio placed third in Iowa. John Kasich placed second in New Hampshire. Jeb Bush still has oodles of other people's money to waste. So none of these three candidates will be giving up any time soon (at least until after the Super Tuesday votes are counted). The fact that there are still three of them, however, will work against their ultimate goal of defeating Trump and Cruz. The three remaining non-Trump non-Cruz candidates are going to be squabbling with each other instead of attacking either frontrunner. Since the voters are split between the three, it'll take that much longer to coalesce around any one of them. At this point, Kasich is probably the strongest of the three still left standing, because he hasn't had a debate meltdown and his last name is not "Bush." But he is definitely not running the strongest campaign, and will need to siphon off some big donors from either Bush or Rubio to have much chance in the states going forward.

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The longer all this takes to play out, the stronger Trump and Cruz get. Trump is unquestionably the strongest candidate right now, having chalked up a second-place finish and a solid win. But Cruz isn't that far behind, as he out-performed expectations in both Iowa and New Hampshire. He wasn't supposed to win Iowa, and he wasn't supposed to do as well as third in New Hampshire. This could be because his ground game is a lot better than most reporters have noticed. If he can continue beating expectations through Super Tuesday, then he'll be the biggest challenger to Trump throughout March.

Trump, meanwhile, is riding high. Not only did he win New Hampshire solidly, he got twice the votes that (second-place) Kasich did. This margin, of course, is yuuuuge. So far, Trump has been able to turn voters out to the polls by ignoring all the "conventional wisdom" rules about how to do so. He hasn't spent a whole lot on advertising, and he continues to rely on the fly-in, fly-out giant rally rather than attempting the "retail politics" that all the other campaigns are slogging through. His voters are (to a large extent) both committed and enthusiastic. And the South (where many early March primaries will happen) seems almost custom-fit for Trump's persona. Trump is also enjoying a kind of immunity from attacks, since everyone else in the race now seems determined to attack each other harder than they're attacking Trump. This probably won't last, but it certainly helps Trump in the meantime.

Turning to the Democrats, Hillary Clinton just had a very bad night. She lost the two-person New Hampshire race by over 22 points. This was a bigger margin than many were expecting -- indeed, it was the biggest margin in any Democratic New Hampshire primary, ever. Even Clinton's stock excuse ("Bernie's from the state next door, so of course he was always going to win") doesn't bear up to historical examination, when you consider that Howard Dean lost New Hampshire to John Kerry.

Clinton lost almost every demographic measured. She lost among women, even. Bernie Sanders got 84 percent of the young-Iowan vote, and 85 percent of the youth of New Hampshire. Those are stunning numbers. But Clinton is in no way down for the count, at this point. One state (and a small one, at that) simply does not determine the nominee. The Clinton campaign is counting on her doing much better than Sanders among minorities, and they may turn out to be right.

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The next state for Democrats is Nevada, with a large percentage of Latino voters. Clinton's edge with Latinos has never been as large as her edge with African-Americans, and Latinos who are for Clinton are less committed to her than other supporters. This means Bernie has a chance of convincing Latinos to vote for him next Saturday. He'll have to make the case fairly quickly, but the other thing that Bernie's got going for him is the fact that there are a lot of Union members in Nevada. Hillary already got the S.E.I.U. to endorse her, but there are a lot of pro-Bernie supporters among the rank-and-file Union voters. His agenda is a lot closer to what they want to see done, after all. So Bernie Sanders has a decent shot at doing well in Nevada.

South Carolina may be his toughest challenge, though. Clinton's African-American support so far shows no signs of defection, although it's anyone's guess what will happen now that Bernie has a solid win under his belt. African-Americans took a while to flock to Barack Obama, mostly because they really didn't think he had a believable chance of winning. Once he started winning primaries, they became convinced. That could happen this time around with Bernie, or it could fail to materialize. Everyone's going to be watching the South Carolina polling very closely over the next few days, to see if any signs of such movement are detectable.

Bernie Sanders had a very good night last night. But it could turn out to be his biggest night of the entire campaign. Sanders supporters would do well to contemplate this possibility. Hillary Clinton learned one lesson from her 2008 defeat, and she learned it well. She has already locked down an enormous amount of the superdelegates to the convention. Even if Bernie stays neck-and-neck with her throughout the primary season, Clinton may still be the party's nominee. In fact, she is still the prohibitive favorite, even with the impressive Sanders victory last night.

To put this another way, Sanders needed to win last night. Clinton really didn't. No matter how Nevada and South Carolina go, Sanders will also need to win multiple states on Super Tuesday. He does have a path to get there, and it's a lot more solid a path than it was last week. But he's got to show improvement among minority voters to get there, while holding on to the demographics who are already "feeling the Bern."

Democrats are going to get a real race, now that Bernie won New Hampshire and essentially tied Hillary in Iowa. There will be no coronation. But here's the thing -- no matter which candidate you prefer, a hard primary season will probably help the eventual nominee get stronger before the general election gets going. Remember 2008? By the time Barack Obama and John McCain faced off, Hillary had already hit Obama hard on several fronts -- which allowed him to brush off similar attacks from McCain, later. The same will likely happen this time around too. Hillary Clinton has already tacked in a noticeably more populist direction due to Bernie's continuing popularity with the party's base, and if Bernie Sanders thinks Bill and Hillary are now "throwing the kitchen sink" at him, just imagine what the Republicans are going to heave in his direction. Whether Hillary or Bernie ultimately stands on the stage at the convention to accept the nomination, they'll likely have thicker skins when they get there.

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Chris Weigant blogs at:
My Confession

I am a refugee or one without papers, I am fleeing death and misery

The evil of this world means to break my bones and grind them on a rock

The evil of this world means to eat my flesh beneath the dust

The evil of this world means to grind my brain in the dark

The evil of this world means to chain my spirit in the shadows

I feel how dread invades my veins up to my eyelids

Tears flow down my face in deep discouragement.

I see all sins and my failures plastered to my conscience

The one institution in which I had placed all my confidence,

I swear to you, has betrayed me since I realized my own insufficiency.

Why was I so stupid as to place my faith in man?

His gaze cannot even control my emotions

Because what controls his spirit is cleverness without ambition

That means at all costs to break the heart of the vulnerable with severe reprisals

The detainees near me cried out the names of Jesus and Allah

It was a perfect confusion between God and hope

Finally I asked myself if it was actually depression or hallucination.

This is how my selfishness plunged me into an ocean of despair

Really my ability and my consciousness were no longer in harmony

But they criminalized me, as if they took pleasure in seeing me

In my despair my unfaithfulness and my corruption leave me ungrateful

And the angels in heaven are astonished at my behavior

All this stuff about the rights of man and human rights, it's just a bluff

I myself forged my despondency and my imperfection

In view of everyone my body is in confinement

I had to be humiliated by means of my perversion

That's when I felt true depression

Without any doubt I was a jaded recluse without motivation

Depression made me tremble and cut my breath short

Whispers and criticisms gave me a dreadful emotion

Bad circumstances whirled in my mind without pause

Nobody could tame me because I confused madness with wisdom.

Behind the question of whether justice exists, there is another question that has important physical and psychic consequences: Does human dignity exist?
Mike Nichols directing Dustin Hoffman on the set of "The Graduate"

On February 22nd, HBO will air Becoming Mike Nichols, a conversation between actor/director/producer Mike Nichols and his friend and colleague Jack O' Brien.



Recorded only four months before Nichols' death in 2014, the documentary is a treasure trove of hard-earned wisdom from an American master whose accomplishments include:

TV: Angels in America, Wit

Theater: Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple, Monty Python's Spamalot

Film: The Graduate, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Remains of the Day, Postcards from the Edge, The Birdcage, Working Girl, Silkwood, Biloxi Blues

Yes. All that. And more. But born Michael Igor Peschkowsky in Berlin, 1931, his own story may be more riveting than all of his films and movies combined.

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In 1939, his father fled to New York after a patient tipped him off that surnames starting with "P" were next on the list of Jewish doctors to be hauled off to concentration camps. A year later, Nichols and his 4-year-old brother made the same sea voyage alone, because their mother was too ill to travel. It was a harrowing departure.

"First of all, we're stopped on the gangplank, cause Hitler was making a speech," he recalls. "Each lamppost had a speaker. And traffic stopped, when Hitler spoke. And that meant we couldn't get on the boat until the speech was finished."

Upon arrival in New York, Nichols spoke only one sentence of English, "which was 'I don't speak English, please don't kiss me.'"

But he began learning both English and the language of film almost immediately, heading to the Beacon or RKO theater every day after school.

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"I didn't care what movie was there, I would see it," he says. "And it was sort of my playground."

As a teenager, seeing Marlon Brando in the stage version of A Streetcar Named Desire changed the trajectory of his life forever.

"We sat stunned, pole axed," he recalls. "We didn't go the bathroom, we didn't move for the length of the thing. And we sat silent during the intermissions. To this day it's the only thing I've seen that was 100 percent real and 100 percent poetic, both at the same time."

He would have a similar reaction to Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, a galvanizing experience that would serve him well many years later. But his own rise to theatrical stardom began with a glimpse of "a great looking girl in the front row," at an early performance.

It was Elaine May, an improvisational actor with whom he would have an instant rapport and create An Evening with Nichols and May, the comedy show that made them Broadway -- and TV -- legends.

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Carousing with the cast of Camelot during his May days led to a friendship with British actor extraordinaire Richard Burton and an historic directorial debut. That story begins with an invitation to visit Burton and his new love, Elizabeth Taylor, on the set of Cleopatra.

One afternoon, preoccupied with scenes that did not require Taylor's presence, Burton asked Nichols to entertain his famous companion. It was the beginning of both a remarkable friendship and one of the most important projects of his life.

"Years passed, and I heard that they'd hired her to do Virginia Woolf," he explains. "And I said to a press guy who worked for both of us, I said, 'Tell Elizabeth -- and I'm amazed that I had the balls to do this -- that I should direct it.' And he called me back and said, 'She agrees with you.' So that's how I got my first movie."

It stunned the world, that film. To many, Taylor seemed a very odd choice for such a demanding and unflattering role. But freed from her "glamor girl" image, Taylor seethed with rage and raw sexuality, sometimes stealing scenes from Burton who'd been expected to eclipse her entirely.

Woolf won five Oscars -- one for Taylor, in fact. Nichols would go on to win his own Oscar, plus four Emmys, nine Tonys and a Grammy. And his very practical, even technical insights about his craft make this documentary even more valuable.

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For writers, for instance, there's this now famous nugget of wisdom:

"There are only three kinds of scenes: negotiations, seductions and fights. I'm finished. That's all. All scenes come into one of those categories."

Filmmakers, here's one about the virtues of shooting in black and white:

"It's not literal. It is a metaphor automatically. And that's the point of movies. 'What is the metaphor?' you ask when you're trying to solve the problem. If you're in black and white it's partly solved. It is already saying, 'This is not life, this is something about life, a version of life.'"

But it's not all "sage on the stage" stuff. This is, after all, the same Mike Nichols who split America's sides for many years. So there are also stories like this, about a writer/producer so bad, "I had to throw out everything he'd written."

"I will tell you one thing he'd written just to put you on my side," Nichols relates, eyes lit with mischief. "The title of the movie was George Taking a Walk at Night. And he describes the things he sees at night. And one of them was what was described as 'two dogs f--king.' But it said in parentheses, 'This must be beautifully shot.'"

That's not the punch line, funny as it is. That comes after a perfect pause.

"I showed this to a designer friend," he says, eyes still glittering. "And she said 'I can do it! I can do it! I need Afghans! And lots of fans!"

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Funnier than fiction. From a man whose life story reads like a novel.
Artificial intelligence and communication, brain, circuit-board, micros and electrodes.

I recently finished teaching a free, eight-week online course on artificial intelligence and cognitive technologies. Over 7,000 students registered for the course. Many of them were active participants in rich discussions throughout the eight weeks. I'd like to tell you what I learned from my students during the course, and invite you to register for the next run of the course, which starts on March 14.

What we covered

Over the eight weeks of the course we covered major categories of cognitive technologies including

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Cognition, including knowledge representation and reasoning and planning

Learning, including supervised, unsupervised, and reinforcement machine learning

Perception, including computer vision, speech recognition, and natural language processing; and

Robotics

We also looked at the impact of cognitive technologies on businesses, workers, and society. The central purpose of the course was to help students recognize the core technologies that have emerged from the field of artificial intelligence, gain a basic understanding of how they work, and help them think through how organizations should use these technologies in light of their broader impact.

Although my production team and I recorded the lectures in advance, there was lots of interaction during the course as students interacted on the discussion boards, completed multiple-choice assessments after each section of the course, and many undertook optional assignments with team members.

I enjoyed engaging with the students on the discussion boards. They posted lots of questions and comments, and even answered each other's questions. Students were fascinated with the ways in which perceptual technologies like speech recognition and computer vision make possible natural interfaces between humans and computers. And they actively debated the implications of cognitive technologies for businesses, workers, and society.

To augment humans, or to replace us?

Of all the topics we covered in the course, one topic provoked more discussion than any other: the impact of cognitive technologies on work and workers. One student saw in the rapid adoption of cognitive technologies a "redefinition of ... the Industrial Age." He predicted that these technologies would displace many jobs. Other students had a more positive outlook on the future of work. They were confident that cognitive technologies will lead companies to invest in new business opportunities, creating new jobs and demand for new skills along the way.

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A number of the students expressed concern that we would become too dependent on advanced technologies, allowing our skills to atrophy. Once cited the example of commercial airline pilots whose reliance on autopilot is said to slow their reaction time and reduce their situational awareness, creating greater risks in the event of emergencies.

One student, citing the potential for cognitive technologies to influence medical diagnosis and treatment recommendation, said that American doctors need to "become more like [their] European counterparts and develop cross-disciplinary...skillsets." This way they could take advantage of advanced technology to augment their abilities while doing what humans still do better than computers: thinking broadly. Many students came to see cognitive technologies as an aid rather than a replacement for people.

What businesses should do

In our discussions on the impact on business, students mentioned tangible benefits like lower labor costs, higher profits, greater efficiency, and enhanced business decision making. One felt that any company not experimenting with cognitive technologies is at a "huge risk" of being left behind.

We talked about how organizations should prepare to make use of these technologies. One student asserted that these technologies should not be adopted for their own sake but rather "should be evaluated in terms of solving a business problem." In the course I offered a simple three-part framework for performing this kind of evaluation that I call the Three Vs: viable, valuable, and vital.

Another student wondered about how employees would react to new technology. To gain buy-in, some students suggested, companies should explain how cognitive technology would ultimately benefit employees.

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A system of checks and balances

A number of my students expressed concern about how companies will manage information privacy in an era of cognitive technologies. Already, retailers are struggling to balance customers' privacy requirements with their demands for highly personalized shopping experiences. Medical diagnostic and predictive tools supported by cognitive technologies--particularly machine learning--require access to large volumes of sensitive patient data. How do we make sure that our data is protected?

Some students articulated the view that new regulations and government oversight over the use of cognitive technologies are required. One student suggested that deployments of cognitive technologies require specialized quality assurance, possibly provided by an "independent third party, similar to the auditors of today." In my view, it's a bit early for imposing new regulations on the field--it's just changing too rapidly. But it's not too early to think about the issues that regulations might cover and how we address them. Regarding quality assurance, one thing is sure: new technologies fail in new and unexpected ways. Organizations building and deploying these technologies will need to consider how their testing and risk management procedures need to evolve.

Everyday applications of cognitive technologies

There was a lively discussion on the boards about how different industries are using cognitive technologies. There was discussion about how AI is enhancing fraud detection and algorithmic trading in financial services because "humans can't keep up with the speed of transactions." In the field of medicine, students recognized the pros and cons to doctors working in tandem with medical diagnostic and predictive health analytic tools. In the mining industry, AI-driven trucks are starting to appear.

For marketing and e-commerce, one student pointed out that AI has already created new marketing opportunities by making extreme personalization possible. Instead of dividing customers into segments, marketers are able to use advanced algorithms to deliver "the right message, at the right time, on the right device, with the product offer" to an individual shopper. Another student wondered if virtual personal assistants like Cortana or Siri could become the preferred recommendation engine for marketers.

How smart?

Amid the optimistic discussions, many students commented on the limitations of cognitive technologies. One student asserted that this technology will only be as good as the "are only as good as the hypothesis, models and assumptions" given to it by humans. Another student thought that neural networks have made impressive advances (e.g., Gmail offering automated responses to questions and statements in emails), but the technology in general is still very raw and unsophisticated. A student whose mother tongue isn't English explained that while natural language processing works well for English, it may struggle with other languages.

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A number of students were captivated by the question of whether computers are going to need to be able to make ethical decisions. What should an autonomous car do, for instance, if faced with a choice of harming a pedestrian or passenger in the car?

Toward the end of the course there was a real mix of view among the students about the ultimate impact of cognitive technologies. Many recognized that these technologies were going to have a profound impact on work and society. But they also recognized that these technologies have clear limits today. They are getting really good at solving narrow classes of problems. But they are still the work of our hands and minds. And because of this, they are flawed.

Taking this knowledge into the future

I think most students came away from the course with a deeper understanding of these technologies and their potential impact on organizations, workers, and society. What's more, they are now better equipped than before to make smart decisions where, where, and how to apply these technologies, in their organizations and in their personal life.


Today, nine Senators, led by Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Dick Durbin (D-IL), called on the U.S. Department of Education to cut off federal student aid to colleges and universities that bar their students from going to court to pursue claims against their schools.

Addressing the same issue, some of the negotiators participating in the Department's ongoing negotiated rulemaking on higher education issues are putting a similar proposal on the table ahead of next week's meeting.

In their letter to Under Secretary of Education Ted Mitchell, the senators note that many for-profit colleges, and almost no non-profit colleges, use enrollment agreements containing mandatory arbitration clauses -- fine print provisions that require students to pursue any legal claims against their schools before a private arbitrator, rather than in a courtroom.

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The Senators argue that the Higher Education Act's provisions requiring schools to enter into program participation agreements with the Department can be used to require a ban on mandatory arbitration as a condition for schools receiving federal funds.

"If a for-profit college deceives students about cost, transferability of credits, program quality, job placement, salary after graduation, or other claims," the Senators wrote to Mitchell, "these students should have the right to hold them accountable."

Mandatory arbitration requirements tend to favor the corporations that impose them, rather than individual consumers or students, because the parties must often pay high fees to the arbitrator, and arbitrators can have incentives to rule for the corporation in hopes of getting repeat business. These fine print provisions often also bar students from joining class action lawsuits or otherwise combining their claims with other students, thus making it harder to find a lawyer with enough financial incentive to take a case. If wronged students can't recover from their schools, they may be more likely to seek forgiveness of their federal loans, increasing the burden on taxpayers. To make matters worse, arbitration agreements are conducted behind closed doors, so the public, including other students, don't learn about any wrongdoing. Denying individuals the option of filing a lawsuit thus reduces the deterrence that encourages corporations to comply with the law and treat individuals fairly.

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In addition, consider that mandatory arbitration clauses don't just cover issues relating to for-profit colleges deceiving and defrauding students about financial matters and their educations. If a student, for example, is assaulted on campus by a school employee, a mandatory arbitration clause can force that student to address the issue with the school before an arbitrator, rather than a judge and jury.

The Department of Education is at last stepping up to enforce its rules and guard against abuses by colleges against their students. It has stopped insisting that it is powerless to act against predatory schools, and stopped bowing to the hectoring and threats of high-priced lawyers, lobbyists, and Members of Congress in thrall to the for-profit colleges that line their campaign pockets. The Department, which has been sending as much as $32 billion a year to the for-profit college industry, has every right to condition that money on the colleges respecting the legal rights of students. The Department should act promptly to ensure those rights.

UPDATE 02-24-16: Today the consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen submitted a detailed petition to the Department of Education asking the Department to issue a rule requiring colleges to agree, as a condition of receiving federal student aid, not to include mandatory arbitration clauses in enrollment agreements. The Public Citizen petition also urges the Department to consider restricting other barriers to students seeking relief, such as enrollment agreements that prohibit students from requesting a jury trial. (Disclosure: I serve on the board of directors of Public Citizen Foundation.)

UPDATE 03-09-16:

Today, eight veterans service organizations -- the Air Force Women Officers Association, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Military Child Education Coalition, Student Veterans of America, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, VetsFirst, Veterans Education Success, and Vietnam Veterans of America -- sent a letter to Acting Secretary of Education John King asking the Department for a rule requiring educational institutions to agree, as a condition on receipt of student aid, not to include forced arbitration clauses. The groups also asked the Department to make clear that schools cannot block students from filing complaints with government agencies, including the Education Department, Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, or the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The letter notes a disturbing practice by predatory for-profit ITT Tech: "When student veterans have filed a complaint with VA, ITT has responded by first admonishing the student for going to VA and not using ITT's internal grievance procedure.... A school does not have the right or the legal authority to prevent veterans from seeking help from the VA."

On March 4, 47 student, veteran, civil rights, consumer protection, education, and civil justice organizations -- including the NAACP, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, League of United Latin American Citizens, Consumers Union, and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities -- wrote to Secretary King and called on the Department to act on the Public Citizen petition and protect students by prohibiting mandatory arbitration clauses.

UPDATE 03-10-16:

On March 9, House Education and Workforce Committee Ranking Member Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-VA) and House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-CA) sent a letter to President Obama urging that the ongoing Department of Education rulemaking proceedings lead to stronger debt relief protections, and their critiques of Department proposals thus far included this: "The regulation also fails to address the proliferation of binding arbitration clauses in higher education, which have the potential to keep even the most legally adept borrowers out of court and prevent them from doing the discovery necessary to succeed on a borrower's defense claim."

My original post should have noted that the Fair Arbitration Now coalition wrote to Under Secretary Mitchell back in January 2015, arguing, as I and others had been, that ECMC, the acquirer of many of the former Corinthian Colleges campuses, should not be permitted to continue the Corinthian practice of forcing students into arbitration. That coalition's letter makes the important point that, notwithstanding the Federal Arbitration Act and other endorsements in the law of arbitration agreements, Congress has on numerous occasions acted to protect the rights of parties to sue in various contexts, and that the executive branch also has acted to bar arbitration clauses by companies benefitting from federal programs in instances where Congress did not explicitly ban arbitration.

The original post also should have pointed out that the blockbuster 2012 report on the for-profit college industry by Senator Tom Harkin and his Senate Health Education Labor & Pensions Committee examined the use of mandatory arbitration clauses and made a recommendation that pointed the way:

Making Students Whole-Arbitration Clauses Twenty-one of the twenty-seven enrollment agreements produced to the committee by for-profit education companies contained a clause that required students to go through a process of mandatory binding arbitration. Because the recent Supreme Court decision, AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, held that arbitration claims may not be joined in a class action, students who may have been similarly deceived with regard to cost, likelihood of obtaining a job, or likely salary cannot in most cases join together to sue the school. The investigation has documented that these practices are occurring at a number of forprofit schools, but these students are left with little recourse. Students should have the right to pursue a class action lawsuit against their former colleges if the college deceived them about costs, student loans, programs, job placement or salary after college, and not be forced into arbitration as most enrollment contracts currently stipulate. Recommendation: Require that institutions of higher education accepting Federal financial aid may not include mandatory binding arbitration clauses in enrollment agreements.

UPDATE 3-11-16:

In advance of its next rulemaking session, the Department of Education issued a draft proposal that could protect students against efforts by for-profit colleges to force them into arbitration. Details in my post here.

UPDATE 03-15-16:

Last year, in the lawsuit brought against faltering for-profit giant ITT Tech by the New Mexico attorney general, ITT argued that the case should be stayed in favor of mandatory arbitration because New Mexico was suing to vindicate student claims, and the students' enrollment agreements required arbitration of disputes. The New Mexico trial judge rejected that motion, but ITT has appealed, delaying resolution of the case. So mandatory arbitration clauses can be used not only to interfere with claims brought by students but also claims brought by law enforcement agencies -- with the company's lawyers paid, as with everything else, using taxpayer dollars.

UPDATE 04-26-16:

At the negotiated rulemaking session on March 18, 2015, the Department took a step back, favoring an option that only limited, but did not ban, mandatory arbitration. Public Citizen released a statement arguing for the total ban.

On April 25, 2016, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, joined by 20 organizations, sent a letter to Secretary of Education John King urging the Department to ban institutions receiving federal aid from forcing their students into arbitration. The letter states in part:

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Given the widespread problems of fraud, misrepresentation, and discrimination, the massive issue of sexual assault on campuses, and the serious need for transparency as a means to ensure accountability and spur improvement, it should be against public policy for the Department to allow recipients of Title IV funds to escape accountability through the use of forced arbitration. Too many students have already suffered at the hands of for-profit institutions that failed to deliver on their promises or adequately address safety issues on campus. We cannot require these same students to leave crucial legal rights and protections at the school house door.
When you try to picture the relationships various Christian denominations share with each other, it is helpful to think of them as you would a diamond. The gem is cut to have many facets (think: denominations); when you hold it up to light (think: God), each facet blazes with a different color. Those colors represent what the differing denominations bring to the table. I'm not sure who first used the analogy (an internet search was very much inconclusive); however, it remains true.

It took me awhile to be able to grasp this knowledge. It is hardwired in most people to search for the absolute truth in things, and I was searching for which denomination had the best historical claim and monopoly on the truth. The best historical claim rightly belongs to the Roman Catholic Church. To dispute that is to enter into battle unarmed against the combine military might of all nations around the globe.

That said, it does not mean that the Roman Catholic Church is the best denomination for you. It has historical claims on truth, yes. It protects the faith, yes (well, sort of... that is questionable depending on your definition of protecting the faith--i.e. unwavering teachings or protecting the Gospel's message of love and acceptance).

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For myself, at varying times in my life, the Roman Catholic Church was the best denomination for me. It served me well, allowing my faith to increase and allowing me the opportunity to prayerfully seek knowledge and clarity in matters spiritual. My bio on this site details a bit of my spiritual journey, and, after prayerful consideration, it is time to return to the Episcopal Church (sometimes referred to as Anglo-Catholic).

It is never an easy decision to change (or leave your church), and one that you should consider over a period of time with much prayer and discernment. It is an emotional and sometimes painful process--one the fortunate won't need to endure. My reasons for leaving the Roman Catholic fold are not universal and are not meant to be an indictment of the whole.

I resolutely believe there is room in the Roman Catholic Church for anyone wishing to make that their home. Unfortunately, there can be awkwardness and inhospitable conditions in any organization. Those inhospitable elements are exactly what I found on offer in my local parish. Let me clarify this a bit, I was never made to feel especially unwelcome, it was just that I was never made to feel welcome. After about a year in my local parish, it never gelled into feeling like a faith family for me. Sure, I share some blame in this, but so too does the congregation and clergy.

For the past few months, I have been worshipping at a lovely Episcopal church in town. I drove past it one night before worsphipping there and decided to stop by and look around. I ran into the Reverend and she kindly chatted with me and gave me a tour of the facility. This friendliness and hospitality with no appointment and at the end of the day, as she was locking up her office. I attempted to politely decline so she wouldn't be stuck dealing with me, but she seemed sincere when she offered again. I'm so very excited to be joining the vibrant faith community at Christ Episcopal Church. The welcoming atmosphere she conveyed is what is missing from so many Catholic churches--at least in my experience (see my article "Prayer Culture").

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The editorial page of the conservative Washington Times newspaper accuses federal authorities of "oppression" in corralling protestors who were illegally occupying a national wildlife refuge.

Sorry, but the newspaper got it backwards. The "oppressor" moniker belongs to the armed occupiers of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon. These militants invoked a soundly rejected interpretation of the Constitution as justification for demanding that the federal government transfer management of virtually all of its lands to local control. In carrying out their siege, they committed a number of cardinal sins.

First off, the menacing anti-government trespassers denied access to the Refuge's rightful owners, namely the general public. Meanwhile, they proceeded to trash public property during their five weeks of occupation. Not only were bird watchers blocked from entry (more than 60,000 visit the site annually). Refuge management personnel were prevented from fulfilling their responsibilities, including curbing the influx of an invasive species of carp and controlling steam overflows. The Refuge's 125 employees were locked out of their jobs. Some were subjected to harassment by sympathizers of the anti-Washington movement, not an uncommon pattern for federal conservation employees in the West.

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Moreover, the reign of intimidation extended well beyond the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. The threat of copy-cat incursions by anti-federal government extremists prompted three western national wildlife refuges to beef up security in a big way. One facility, the Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge near Cheney, Washington, actually closed its doors temporarily as a precaution.

What might be considered equally disquieting is that many Republican members of Congress, especially from western regions, expressed sympathy with the Refuge trespassers' objectives if not their lawless tactics. This rapport is in keeping with anti-big government GOP lawmakers' ideologically-driven agenda. It is an agenda that includes a politically correct generic contempt of federal bureaucrats.

Oddly enough, this disdain is not shared by the general public, at least in regard to federal land management personnel.

National Park Service and Wildlife Refuge employees are widely held in high esteem. Jobs in these agencies are especially coveted, undoubtedly bolstered by the popularity of the areas that receive protection. Even the Federal Bureau of Land Management, which oversees the public open space with the most commercial activity and thus the most controversy, gets a green light from a majority of Americans.

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Polls indicate the public overwhelmingly favors the federal government retaining management of its lands. It is not a surprise since a majority of Americans consider the federal government a better bet than state, local, or private interests to guarantee appropriate public access and wilderness preservation. As for dissatisfied ranchers and other commercial operators on public lands, the federal government grants them below cost usage privileges. It is a prima facie case that usually undermines their complaints in the eyes of the average citizen.
I had the first opportunity to talk at length with Ahn Cheol-soo when I made a presentation in front of him and the faculty of the Seoul National University Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology back in 2012. Ahn served as the dean at the time and he sat across from me as I spoke about possible international collaboration with MIT and Yale University. He did not say a word the whole time. But his silence was remarkably powerful. So completely focused was he on what I said that I was forced to do my best to present the material in more carefully and accurately. Ahn was unusual even for an academic. He has strong administrative skills and a tremendous sense of self-confidence, but unlike similar personalities, he is not interested in hearing his own voice and is uncomfortable getting undue attention. But beneath the placid surface there is a tremendous energy that keeps pushing him forward. That force is the combination of responsibility, fascination with how things work and considerable ambition. But you have to look very carefully to spot it.

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He is profoundly shy. If it were not for his plans and his dreams he would probably just as well just sit and listen. It is still hard to imagine him shaking hands with hundreds of people at local community centers, but that is exactly what he does now, and even more. A native of Busan, Ahn was originally trained as a medical doctor but later developed the V3 anti-virus software. He became a remarkable business innovator who founded one of the most successful anti-virus software companies in Korea, AhnLab. Ahn is famous for his unrelenting schedule of constant work and reading that left everyone else behind in the dust.

Ahn became immensely popular because of his books. There were many young people, who wanted Ahn to enter the Seoul mayoral election in 2011. He ultimately backed the NGO leader Park Wonsoon who was elected as Mayor in an irregular election. Ahn then decided in 2012 to run for president and in the end joined the Democratic Party (then known as NPAD), backing his formal rival Moon Jaein in his bid for the presidency. Moon Jaein was not successful and Ahn found himself very out of place in the rather cozy Democratic Party, best known for its colossal ineffectiveness.

It was then that he made up his mind to launch a third party, the "People's Party." He has referred to himself as a "Bernie Sanders of Korea" but has taken the distinctly different approach of leaving the Korean Democratic Party behind and setting out with both conservatives and liberals to chart a new course.

I had a chance to catch up with Ahn recently and here is what he had to say about this new gambit.

Emanuel Pastreich:

Why did you decide to start a new political party at this moment in time?

Ahn Cheol-soo:

I first got involved in politics because I was affected by the passion shown by ordinary people when they demanded that we must end this doddering way of politics in Korea. I feel I have been entrusted by the citizens with a mission.

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So I've tried to approach this problem from different angles over the last few years. I struggled to find a new way to carry out politics, though I have sadly never achieved what I hoped for.

For me the first step was to go from being an independent to joining the opposition party (the Democratic Party) so as to transform it from within, but for all my efforts, that strategy did not work.

It was only then that I came to the realization that we needed a third party that could stand with citizens and help us to break out of this massive two-party complex of gridlock and confrontation. Currently the two big political parties, the Minju ("Democratic Party," liberal) and Senuri ("New Frontier Party," conservative), are bickering angrily over specific policies and yet they have established a symbiotic relationship with each other that deters real change.

The political system is set up so that the two parties appear to be fighting against each other, but at the same time they eagerly seek out opportunities to protect their shared interests. We intend to break up this structure.

Pastreich:

You may know that there is currently a similar movement forming in the United States. Bernie Sanders, a former independent like yourself, is trying to affect the same reform within the US Democratic Party that you tried with your Korean Democratic Party, but he has also run into tremendous opposition from within the system, and it is not clear whether he will succeed. Perhaps he will end up leaving the party like you have, or perhaps he will succeed.

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Ahn:

Yes. I can imagine the challenges he must face trying to make such reforms.

Pastreich:

In the Korean case, many citizens are concerned that merely starting a new party will not solve any substantial problems. Korean political parties often change their names, but the content remains essentially the same; there is no expectation of genuine change. All we see is politicians taking the symbolic step of launching something new. But, inevitably, the past practices and the collusion will continue on unabated.

What do you propose to do this time that will make this political party successful where others have failed?

Ahn:

I have acquired insight into the depths of Korean politics over the past three years, and I know what people are concerned about.

In my case as well, many people had high expectations as to what I could achieve and I have disappointed them because my ability was limited. Because of my three years of experience, I can avoid repeating the same mistakes. My determination is to throw my all into this struggle and do my best, regardless of what becomes of me.

Pastreich:

Can you describe more concretely what exactly was lacking in your experience and in what way that posed a challenge?

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Ahn:

Now, three years on, I have experienced firsthand what actually goes on in Korean politics and how the legislative process unfolds. I know how to keep tabs on the whole process so that we can be sure that what was originally intended will be realized. I've figured out which specific individuals will take which actions to stop reforms and I understand what I need to do in order to accomplish our goals.

Pastreich:

There is a lot in common between the politics of Korea and the US. Perhaps the most striking trend in politics these days is the enormous gap between what politicians like to discuss when on television and the actual problems experienced by ordinary people.

The situation has become so extreme that the serious problems in government, and in society, that we complain about every day seem to be entirely invisible to the political class. How can we transform this unrealistic political culture?

Ahn:

The first thing that I noticed when I started working in Yeouido (political center of Seoul where the National Assembly is located) was that politicians don't meet with ordinary people. We assume that that politics is about political parties representing different economic classes, and interest groups, knocking heads with each other and that out of the skirmish comes some sort of solution. The confrontation between political parties is important, but politics is about the citizens offering a judgement about whether policy works. But politicians on Yeouido completely forget this because they are too busy fighting with one another.

So in all my decisions about legislation I try to assess their significance and impact from a citizen's perspective, and I never forget that his or hers is the ultimate judgement concerning the mertis of a policy.

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Pastreich:

Nevertheless, some would argue that ordinary citizens lack the expertise and the experience to make proper judgements about policy.

And there are certain topics that will be difficult for the general public to properly grasp and to assess.

For example, the majority of people really have no other option than to believe what they read in the newspaper concerning topics like foreign relations, security, or science and technology, because they lack the specialized knowledge and critical perspective to assess policy decisions.

Ahn:

Our top priority as politicians must be to communicate with citizens, conveying the essence of what needs to be done, understanding the perspective of citizens, convincing them of the value of our actions, and thereby receiving their support.

Pastreich:

Let us talk about the recent test of a nuclear weapon by North Korea. Although there are many opinions about what the proper response should be, what do you think needs to be done to present a true solution to the problem based on a comprehensive vision for the future? If, as some conservative politicians suggest, South Korea also acquires nuclear weapons, Japan, Vietnam and other countries will likely follow suit. It seems that such a move would only lead to a dangerous arms race that will only encourage North Korea to increase its arms.

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Ahn:

There is no doubt that we are facing a serious crisis. The Republic of Korea should take the lead as the primary actor in resolving this problem before we ask powerful countries for help. Above all, we as Koreans need to ask ourselves why such problems emerged in the first place.

How do we resolve this crisis? We need serious discussion in South Korea and we must engage North Korea. We need to both make our own efforts for resolution as self-confident nations, convince the other major nations of the value of our approach, and ask for their understanding.

Pastreich:

Although our goal may be peace, the goal of many politicans is merely maintaining appearances and saving face. The situation with North Korea is so serious that we need to have a summit regardless of what sort of criticisms we get from those around us. It is just a reality that we must do so.

The security architecture in East Asia today is formed around two separate alliances: the US with South Korea and the US with Japan. We need to set up a security system that empasses not only the US, but also China to ensure a stable environment. A larger vision that includes both the United States and China offers the potential to resolve the problems with North Korea.

Ahn:

It's extremely dangerous for Korea to be overly biased in its diplomatic relations with the nations around it at this historical moment. I am certain that the alliance with the United States will be the basis for our policies going forward.

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At the same time, it is a reality that China has become Korea's biggest trading partner and that China can play a critical diplomatic role in resolving the problems with North Korea. In diplomacy it is essential that we maintain harmonious [gyunhyeong] and stable relations with both nations.

Pastreich:

Business and political leaders seem to give no thought to young people. People in older generations express fondness for the Park Chung Hee administration, but that administration's great achievement was not industrialization but free education for all. All today's politicians have is short-term gimmicks. What kind of a world or future is left for young people?

Ahn:

They want to end this nightmare of uncertainty and unpredictability. What worries me is how much worse the situation has gotten over just the past three years.

Three years ago young people were saying, "Life is so hard. We need some sort of relief." But now the phrase they use is "Hell Joseon" ("Korea is Hell!"). That phrase indicates the depth of despair about the potential of our society.

If we look around us we see that China is moving forward towards the future with its vision of "One Belt, One Road," which is trying to turn the ancient Silk Road into a cross-border economic zone. And Japan is actively trying to realize a new economic potential through the revitalization strategies of Abenomics. In Korea, however, we don't talk about hope and instead of responding to the crises of the present, we are stuck back in the past, bogged down in a debate about revisionist school textbooks for our children.

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Pastreich:

Such lack of interest in the future will lead inevitably to extremist politics in the future. We see the same trends in the United States. Sadly, there are many young university graduates with great ideas who are ready to work, but there are no opportunities for them to get the financing to start their own businesses. I wonder whether perhaps the first step is to find a way for young people to find meaningful financing to pursue their dreams?

Ahn:

First, let me say that I do not think it is wise for those who want to start their own business to borrow money. What they really need is investment. If you borrow money, you will be obligated to pay it back. So if you fail in your effort, you will never have another chance. On the other hand, if you work with investors, you can pick yourself back up after a failed effort because the financial responsibility is shared among the investors.

The problem should not be addressed as a matter of financial policy, or easy loans, but rather as a matter of industrial policy. The solution is not lending more money so that youth are deeper in debt, but rather creating the infrastructure that assures a higher rate of success. If those foundations are in place, it will be possible for those honestly committed to their innovative ideas to secure the investment that they need to be successful.

Our university graduates are saddled with too much debt already resulting from tuition, living expenses, and housing. If we focus on reducing financial burdens for young people we will make it possible for young graduates to launch their careers without obstacles.

We tend to focus only on tuition subsidies, scholarships, and loans, leaving out housing and living costs for students. Tragically, students become ineligible for scholarships and their academic work suffers because they take on part-time jobs.

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Pastreich:

What might be the role of the government?

Ahn:

Government should offer low-interest or interest-free loans to students. Once students graduate and find employment, they would pay back their loans over ten years. And the amount paid back should vary according to the financial ability of the students.

Pastreich:

How can we create opportunities for innovation within corporations and within government organizations? Many Koreans praise the innovation shown by the founders of major companies back in the 1970s, but they do not give the youth of this age such opportunities.

Ahn:

Young people need real opportunities for entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship does not only refer to starting a new business. There are many forms of entrepreneurship whereby young people can come up with and implement innovative ideas within a company. Some refer to such work as 'intrapreneurship' because they happen within an existing organization.

Young people deserve to learn about the fundamentals of entrepreneurship and what exactly their role will be within the organization. Once they have the basics down, they should be allowed to use their own know-how to start their business, or to innovate within a corporation.

Pastreich:

The more fundamental problem is the aging society. There is a burden in terms of welfare and pensions, but the most serious problem is one of leadership. When Korea was most successful back in the 1960s and 1970s, the majority of the leadership was in their forties. But today, although Korean youth are extremely creative, the political leadership is in their sixties and the decision makers behind the scenes are in their eighties. An aging population will make the situation worse with old people making descions for their own short-term interests and little concern for the future.

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Ahn:

When I started to put together the "People's Party" I decided to actively recruit young talents in their thirties and forties and to give them the means to play a central role in planning and policy, helping them develop their careers.

We have seen leaders in their forties who play an important role in developed countries. Right now Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, is extremely effective at the age of 45. Barack Obama and Angela Merkel also led their countries starting in their forties. Korea needs to start heading in that direction.

All of those politicians had at least a decade of experience under their belt before they assumed office. Such experience prepared them well to play leadership roles. But in Korea, talented young people in their thirties and forties never get those opportunities.

Our party hopes to change that state of affairs by actively recruiting young people and providing them with meaningful opportunities.

Pastreich:

Moreover, too many Koreans look at education as a way to make money, especially over the last ten years. But back in the 1960s and 1970s, the governmet invested in education because people knew that in the future Korea would need a highly educated workforce.

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Ahn:

Korea must take an entirely new direction in education policy. Education is distorted by the entrance examination system and the four-year university education system. We place no emphasis on, or investment in, continuing education in Korea. The content of education in secondary education and in university education is outmoded, as is the approach. Students are being produced to be the kinds of workers we needed in the '60s and '70s. Consequently, education is not aimed at encouraging creative thinking or finding new solutions.

Korea could learn a lot from the United States community college system. Community colleges allow people to constantly update their professional expertise and those who may not have started out with the benefit of a college degree can find a way forward. Moreover, the middle-aged and elderly are given have opportunities to enrich their skills. Pastreich:

The issue of education is linked to a more fundamental challenge. The evolution of technology is now exponential and the resulting gap between the extremely slow manner in which human culture and habit evolve and the rapid transformation of technology is creating tremendous problems around the world. The serious gap between the two is the cause of many social and economic problems.

Ahn:

More often than not, the leading politicians talk about neither the impact of technology nor of globalization. They just obsess on current issues, providing only vague prognostications about the future that lack any concrete steps to how we will prepare for that reality.

Germany does not wax sentimental about past success, but is rather preparing for the 4th industrial revolution in which the need for human labor will be much reduced within just five years. Germany promotes smart factories as part of its "Industrie 4.0" policy regarding the automation of manufacturing. Sadly, in Korea we are educating people for jobs that will no longer exist when they enter the workforce. We will face a huge crisis if we ignore these rapidly unfolding transformational trends.

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Thirty- and forty-year-old talents understand best the current technology and globalization. They should play extremely significant roles in setting up future policy.

Pastreich:

The Korean economy is globalized to a remarkable degree and its culture and technology have had broad impact around the world. And yet, although Korea is so global in every sense, it does not have a tradition of colonialism or imperialism. This non-colonialist global presence has immense appeal for people like me.

Ahn:

It is critical that Korea to embrace its cultural strengths and avoid unnecessary pessimism about its potential. A CEO recently told me, "Koreans have a combination of strengths from many nations. We have the strong work ethic of the Japanese, the craftsmanship of the Germans, the artistic sensibility of the French, and the creativity of the US." The Korean Wave, which is a fusion of the diverse qualities of our culture, has created music and dramas that have a universal appeal. We must find a way to channel the unique qualities of Korea and Korean culture for worldwide impact. Pastreich:

The dangers of climate change are enormous. And yet we have not even started to formulate an institutional response. Can't the Korean National Assembly take the first step? For example, The National Assembly could establish a committee dedicated to climate change. What do you think?

Ahn:

I think that a step like that is absolutely necessary and that we need to focus on climate change. In the previous Lee Myung Bak Administration, there was a focus on "green growth" and one result of those efforts was bringing the Green Climate Fund to Songdo, an international organization with great potential. This administration has not supported the GCF, preferring to innovate rather than carry on a past policy. We need to take advantage of the GCF to further Korea's development.

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Pastreich:

Political parties seem very far away from the concerns of ordinary people. They could be far more meaningful, especially new parties, if they functioned in a manner that allowed ordinary citizens to participate in them at the local level. Imagine a political party where jobless young people who have lost hope can gather together and get real advice, where they cabn convey their thoughts directly to those in charge of the party and feel that the party is an organization to which they belong. Ahn:

That is the reason that we chose the term "People's Party." We are referring to President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address in which he said that "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
On February 12, the global community marks the International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers, also known as Red Hands Day. Currently, at least 56 groups in 15 conflicts recruit and use child soldiers, and some of these groups increasingly employ tactics of extreme violence in their recruitment strategies, as well as their methods and means of warfare.

This February, Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict, a network of leading human rights and humanitarian organizations working together to protect the security and rights of children in situations of conflict, also celebrates its 15th anniversary. Formed in 2001 as a result of a growing need for a unified civil society voice and pressure on the United Nations to implement and strengthen its children and armed conflict agenda, over the last 15 years, Watchlist witnessed and contributed to formidable and commendable advancements towards the protection of children in conflict at the global level and in the field. Current global affairs, however, starkly illustrate that in the midst of numerous emergencies and increasing threats, much more must be done to protect the security and rights of children in conflict, and ensure they receive the necessary support for a more peaceful and promising future.

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While child recruitment and use still regrettably occurs, since 2001, more and more governments have come together to condemn the practice and join international treaties and adopt national legislation to end this phenomenon. Today, the vast majority of groups (48*) included on the Secretary-General's "list of shame" for recruitment and use are armed non-State actors (ANSAs). Only seven governments are listed for this practice and six of those governments have signed action plans with the UN aimed at ending and preventing the recruitment and use of children in conflict. Two of those governments, Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, have reportedly made great progress towards the implementation of their action plans. In 2014, Chad successfully completed the requirements under its action plan and was delisted from the Secretary-General's list. Sustained global advocacy, naming and shaming, and the use of international justice mechanisms to hold perpetrators accountable for recruitment and use, have been largely successful in pressuring the few remaining governments who still engage in this practice to work towards eliminating it.

Although there has been much success towards eradicating the recruitment and use of children by national armed forces, much work is still needed towards ending this practice among ANSAs. All 48 of the armed groups currently listed for grave violations against children on the "list of shame" commit this practice, but only two have signed action plans. The Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict (SRSG-CAAC) is mandated to work with all parties to conflict, including armed groups, to sign action plans, but unfortunately states often block such efforts. The SRSG-CAAC has in the past had some success working with armed groups, and comprehensively 13 ANSAs have successfully signed action plans. In fact, more ANSAs have been delisted as a result of action plan implementation than government forces. This is evidence that some ANSAs are willing and can be compelled to adhere to international law and norms regarding recruitment and use of children. Member States should not only refrain from blocking the SRSG-CAAC's efforts to engage with these groups, but should actively encourage such engagement by the SRSG-CAAC as well as NGO actors.

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When the global community - states, UN, and civil society - acts together, it can make great progress towards the protection of children in conflict. An important example of the progress that can be achieved when actors collectively work to promote the rights of children in conflict is the recent global movement towards ending military use of schools and protecting education from attack.

In 2014/2015, the global community witnessed a rise in brutal attacks on students, teachers and schools in war zones. Galvanized by this trend, actors from across the political spectrum came together and drafted the Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use during Armed Conflict. In an outstanding show of support, 51 states endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration, expressing broad political support for the protection and continuation of education during conflict and commitment towards implementation of the Guidelines. Through workshops and consultations, state representatives and education and protection experts are sharing experiences and collaborating on measures for protecting education in various contexts. Efforts such as these not only go a long way towards providing safe and secure spaces for children in conflict, they also have the potential to reduce the likelihood of recruitment or re-recruitment.

Watchlist and its partners continue to work together with the UN, its Member States, and international and national humanitarian and human rights groups to coordinate advocacy on children and armed conflict issues. During its 15 years, Watchlist has seen much progress towards the alleviation of suffering for children in conflict. Although work towards eliminating grave violations against children in conflict is ongoing, one lesson learned is that by working together, we can achieve more impact for children on the ground.
This fashion week, I'm here to challenge you. It does not matter whether you shop at Bergdorf or H&M, TOMS or Jimmy Choo; what matters is if you're asking the right questions and realizing that the decisions you make reverberate around the world. It is certainly not easy to look a bargain in the eye and walk away. But the ethical fashion movement and the Soulful Economy are here to be your support system.

Ten years ago, I started a company in Rwanda to empower the female victims of the 1994 genocide. I did so because I felt powerless to help in any other way. At that time, I had no idea that my desire to give a hand-up, not a handout, and to provide employment to women genocide survivors would lead me to become a prominent voice in the ethical fashion movement.

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I certainly had no idea that as a 'one-percenter' I would spearhead a movement to acknowledge the effects of our purchases, both positive and negative, and their ability to shape the lives of millions of people living in extreme poverty. But my real goal is to urge everyone to understand the intrinsic value of the ethical fashion movement, and the good feeling of being morally connected to your choices. To do this, we have to re-examine our own patterns of consumption -- yes, mine included.

Did you know that we are consuming at an unprecedented rate? Americans today buy 400 percent more clothing than they did 20 years ago and consumerism now makes up 72 percent of the U.S. economy. Just flip on one of your home's TVs to find the show Storage Wars, where Americans argue over our country's 58,000 storage facilities (according to a 2012 survey one in every 10 families has one). Today, the prevalent idea is that we need these storage facilities to hold our stuff while we go out and buy more stuff. We have gotten to a point where we don't even know what we have... What's in your storage unit?

In our defense, we are consuming at such an alarming rate because the price of consumption is at an all-time low. I recall a Vogue article that said, "Do I get a coffee? A snack? Or something to wear?" The article was highlighting a $4.95 dress from H&M pointing out that trendy clothing is cheaper than ever. This is due in large part to the unparalleled rise of fast fashion retailers like H&M, Zara, and Forever 21, where CEOs have proudly remarked that several new designs come into the store every day of the week.

With 98 percent of goods in American stores being created abroad combined with the cheap cost of trendy clothes, I can't help but see a red flag. The red flag I'm referring to is the fast fashion model: "profits at all costs,"meaning the human cost of cheap clothing. Because we are so addicted to bargains, we don't realize we're leaving millions of people out of the equation. We know about tragedies like the Bangladesh factory fire in 2013 that left over 1,100 people dead, we know about inhumane child labor in the sweatshops of the Global South, but we are not connecting the dots and taking responsibility.

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Just last month I met with Speciose in Kigali, Rwanda. She is a Same Sky artisan who crafts beautiful glass bead jewelry and gets paid 15-20 times the average wage in Sub-Saharan Africa. She was glowing when I saw her and so proud for her daughter to tell me that she had just enrolled in college. It is a remarkable transformation from when I first met her several years ago. At that time she was traumatized from rape during the genocide and living with HIV in government housing. She used to tell me that she was only waiting to die. Then there is Dominique, who was recently released from the Hudson County Jail, and is employed by Same Sky America to bead bracelets. Through Same Sky, she realized her managerial skills and began to pursue her passion for business management.

At Same Sky, we believe the best form of philanthropy is providing a good job. With collectives based in Rwanda and Jersey City, we see firsthand that real change happens with the dignity of work. We elevate the idea of ethical shopping -- in fact, just one Same Sky bracelet pays for healthcare for a Rwandan HIV+ artisan for an entire year. A Same Sky necklace pays for their child to go to school for one year. The ethic behind our operation is that talent is everywhere, but opportunity isn't. The true value of Same Sky is that it's a ribbon that ties you to women a world away -- a beautiful piece of jewelry that connects you to an idea and a revolution that can change lives... even yours.

The Soulful Economy emphasizes that you don't have to give up style to get this feeling. Ethical fashion is about being brave --you have to be willing to stand up to the social and cultural pressures that tell you consumption is the key to happiness. I can speak from experience, I feel happier knowing that I'm wearing a bracelet crocheted by Speciose, and so proud to know I'm helping a woman a world away. At the same time, Speciose is a constant reminder of the power of my purchases. It really is a win-win model.

So please keep a discerning eye out at Fashion Week and I promise that you won't be disappointed. You'll see Naeem Kahn is now employing talented bead-workers in Miami who were in need of a second chance. You'll see that Donna Karan and Parsons School of Design are working full-time with Haitian artisans.

Articles on what it means to be happy in life will continue to circulate the Internet. Doctors and journalists meditate on how to find happiness -- they question whether happiness resonates in a yoga class or a vitamin D supplement. To me, there is nothing more clearly defined: to be happy is to find purpose in the everyday. Consume with knowledge, consume with empathy, and consume in a way that does not leave 3.5 billion people out of the picture.

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Keep a lookout for Part 2 of my series on ethical fashion: The Human Cost of Cheap Clothing.

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In 1991, the mummified body of a 5,000-year-old murder victim was discovered in melting ice at a rock-gully crime scene high in the Italian Otzal Alps. Nicknamed "Otzi", the estimated 45-year-old man and his possessions were incredibly well preserved. His skin, hair, bones, and organs were cryopreserved in time, allowing archeological researchers a phenomenal insight into human life in the Copper Age.

The frozen corpse also gave modern science the opportunity to forensically investigate and positively determine how Otzi the Iceman was killed.

The story began on a sunny September day, when two hikers were traversing a mountain pass at the 3210-meter (10,530 foot) level and saw a brown, leathery shape protruding from the ice amidst running melt-water. Examining closely, they found a human body which they thought might be the victim of a past mountaineering accident.

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The hikers reported it to Austrian police who attended the following day and quickly realized they were dealing with an ancient archeological site. A scientific team was assembled and, over a three-day period, the remains were extracted and taken to the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Innsbruck.

Such an incredibly valuable find soon led to a jurisdictional argument between the Austrian and Italian governments and an immediate border survey was done, finding Otzi had been lying ninety-two meters inside of Italian territory. Italy gained legal possession of the body and artifacts, however in the interests of science and history, everything was kept at Innsbruck until a proper, climate-controlled facility was built at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy, where Otzi the Iceman now rests.

Many questions arose. Who was he? Where did he come from? How long ago did he live? And, of course, what caused his death?

Technological advances over the past twenty-five years have answered some questions surrounding Otzi's life and death and surely the next twenty-five will answer more. This, so far, is what science knows about the Iceman.

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Otzi was found lying face down with outstretched arms in a protected rock depression near the Finail Peak watershed at the top of the Tisenjoch pass which connects two forested valleys. The trench measured 40 meters (131 foot) long, between 5 and 8 meters (16-26 foot) wide, and averaged 3 meters (10 feet) deep. For millennia, this area was covered by glaciers which, by the end of the twentieth century, had receded.

Four separate scientific institutes conducted C-14 radiocarbon dating on Otzi, equivocally agreeing he came from between 3350 and 3100 BC -- more than 5,000 years ago. This was the oldest-known preserved human being; far older than the Egyptian and Inca mummifications or the corpses found pickled in peat bogs.

Something exceptionally unique about Otzi was that he was a "wet" mummy -- an almost unheard of process for a cadaver of this age where humidity was preserved in his cells, unlike the intentional dehydration processes used in Egypt and Peru. As well, Otzi was perfectly intact and not dissected or embalmed by a funeral ritual. His entire body achieved a state of elasticity and, although shrunken, remained as in the day he died including vital clues stored in his digestive tract.

Researchers felt Otzi must have been preserved through a chain of coincidences. It was evident that no damage had been done by predators, scavengers, or insects so it was obvious that the body was covered by snow and/or ice soon after death. Secondly, the gully lay perpendicular to the main ice flow, allowing the grinding action of the glacier to pass overtop. Thirdly, exposure to air and sunlight was only a brief period before being found by the hikers.

It was vital Otzi remain frozen to avoid an irreversible decomposition and remain intact to preserve his historical significance. This gave researchers limited ability to examine the cadaver as would be done in a conventional autopsy.

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A thorough external exam was done in 1991 along with Xray radiography images. Notable was a cut to the back of the right hand which showed early signs of healing as well as breaks to the left ribcage, which had healed, and breaks to the right ribs which were fresh at the time of death. A depression in the skull was thought to be caused by the weight of ice compression and analysis of the only remaining fingernail found that the Beau-Reil Lines, which are like rings on a tree trunk, showed significant stress to his immune system in three periods -- 16, 13, and 8 weeks before death.

Other factors told of Otzi's failing health -- understandable for a 45-year-old in the Copper Age who'd then be considered elderly. He suffered from tooth decay, gum disease, and worn joints. What shocked the researchers were the amounts, designs, and placement of tattoos on Otzi's body. There were 61 separate markings, all made by incisions and insertion of charcoal -- not ink as has been used by other cultures for centuries. The locations were consistent with known acupuncture points as practiced for pain relief thought to be discovered by the Chinese two thousand years after Otzi's existence. It seemed these markings were therapeutic, rather than symbolic.

Despite examination by many leading experts, no exact cause of Otzi's demise was determined and it was speculated this old man may have fallen, injured himself, then succumbed to the elements. That was until new technology was developed.

One of the great challenges was to examine Otzi endoscopically -- that is to look internally at his organs. Special high-precision titanium instruments were invented -- steel probes that were inserted through tiny incisions in Otzi's back. Using computerized navigational aids, the tools were guided to exact spots were evidentiary samples could be taken. This was recorded with a hi-definition camera and an entire map of the mummy's thorax and abdomen was made.

Lung and digestive tract contents told a time-of-year travel story through the presence of thirty different pollens which entered Otzi's body by the food he ate, the water he drank, and the air he breathed.

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Most pollens were from trees and indicated he ingested them during a bloom in the late spring or early summer. The locations and digested states of different pollens in different sections of the stomach and intestines showed Otzi had made a climb from the valley floor to the top of the pass where he died within a twenty-four hour period. Pollens in the lower gastrointestinal tract were identified to low elevation trees and pollens in the upper GI were from higher elevation species.

So, it was known that Otzi had left the populated valley and headed for high country where he met his death.

Speculation rose that he might have been fleeing some danger.

This theory strengthened in 2001 when new Xrays identified a small, flint arrowhead in Otzi's left shoulder which was missed ten years earlier. A close examination of Otzi's back revealed a two-centimeter slash and established the arrow's path. He'd been shot from a rear and lower position.

In 2005, Otzi was put through a high-resolution CT scanning machine which enlightened the arrow wound. Clearly, the arrowhead had caused a one-centimeter gash in Otzi's left subclavian artery which is the main circulatory pipeline that carries fresh oxygenated blood from the heart to the left arm. Such a serious tear would have caused massive internal bleeding and rapid death -- probably within two minutes.

The CT scan showed something else. There was serious bleeding at the base of the brain which corresponded to the depression in Otzi's skull. He'd suffered a serious head injury right at the time of death. With the cause of death now certain to be from a violent act of homicide, the prime question centered on the circumstances of how all this went down.

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Researchers felt the answer may lay in the Iceman's possessions.

Among the artifacts found on and around Otzi's body were a copper ax, a flint dagger, a quiver with twelve blank arrow shafts and two completed arrows with stone heads. There was also winter clothing and supplies to support wilderness survival.

This speaks to motive, for if robbery was behind Otzi's murder, it's certain that the perpetrator(s) would have made off with these valuables. Glaringly missing was the shaft of the fatal arrow, especially in light of Otzi's quiver arrows being perfectly preserved.



Egarter Vigl, a research expert on the Iceman, believes that the assailant tried to pull out the fatal arrow to destroy evidence, only to snap off the arrowhead inside.

Vigl was quoted in the archeology magazine Germani:

Telltale markings in the construction of prehistoric arrows could be used to identify the archer much in the way modern ballistics can link a bullet to a gun. The killer yanked out the arrow to cover his tracks. For similar motives, the attacker did not run off with any precious artifacts that remained at the scene, especially the distinctive copper-bladed ax; the appearance of such a remarkable object in the possession of a villager would automatically implicate its owner of the crime.

I'd have to agree with Mr. Vigl and I'd like to add an observation of my own.

In the hundreds and hundreds of dead bodies I've examined as a cop and a coroner, I've never seen a cadaver with its arms outstretched in a hyperextended position like how Otzi the Iceman was found. This appears unnatural and speaks to me that someone placed the arms in that position after death.

I think it's safe to speculate on what might have happened and here's what Otzi's crime scene evidence suggests to me.

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The day before Otzi's death, he was in a physical altercation down at the village on the valley floor where he suffered the cut hand and possibly the broken right ribs. This caused him to pack up and flee, climbing to the elevated pass where he was overcome by his attacker(s) and shot with the arrow from behind and below. This wound would have put Otzi into hemorrhagic shock and he would have quickly collapsed and internally bled out. Following his collapse, the murderer(s) went up and caved-in the back of Otzi's head to finish him off.

I don't think this happened in the gully. I've looked at the scene photos and can't envision how Otzi could have been shot from below in that tight gully, which is what the forensic evidence clearly shows on the arrowhead's track through the body -- even if Otzi were bending over.

No, I suspect Otzi was shot elsewhere, dragged by the arms, dumped in the gully with all his possessions, rolled over to remove the arrow, and then covered with ice and/or snow to hide the crime.

After 5,000 years, the answers to "By who?" and "For what reason?" are unlikely to be known -- despite what future technology might bring -- and the murder of Otzi the Iceman will always remain a cold case.

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For a fascinating look at the entire Otzi story, including exceptional photos, visit the official website at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy.

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It's common practice in the tech world to rush your product to market, picking up the pieces as you go. This works fine when you're in the business of selling ideas, or soft-serve ice cream delivery (somebody do this, please), or artisanal organic laundry service. Get it out there, apologize in advance that nothing's perfect, do better next time. No harm done.

Then there's a product like Uber. Uber, if you're just joining the conversation, is supposed to change the way city dwellers think about transportation. It's supposed to put taxis out of business, or at least make them change their wicked ways.

Look, that's fine. I've been riding cabs in New York City for years. Mostly it's not a big deal. Rarely is the experience pleasant.

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And let's face it, cabbies in some cities are crooks. Even a few of them in New York. Lots of them in Athens.

A little healthy competition? Sign me up.

But not like this. Let's be clear: Uber has made a really slick little app. But when you fire it up and summon a driver, you're putting your life in their hands. Is that driver insured properly? Does he have liability insurance? Is it current or did it expire last week? Who's checking? What's the company's liability if you're injured in a crash? What are the local laws? What protections are there in your market?

Ask Uber these things and they'll smother you with smooth talk. That's fine. Uber is a corporation, just like any other, caring most about protecting itself and making money. But don't we have a right to know if we're protected, too? Should a company that thinks it's perfectly fine to operate illegally be supported?

You'll pardon me if I stick to cabs for now -- here are, what I feel, seven very good reasons you should do the same.

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#1 Uber not only flaunts regulation, it thinks it has the right to go unregulated.

On one hand, I admire Uber's strategy -- become popular enough with users, rules of the market be dammed, then enlist users to bully local officials into letting you operate there. Most of the time, it seems to work -- some jurisdictions have even publicly stated that banning Uber would be bad for business. What city can afford to say no to one of the hottest new toys of the tech-savvy crowd? Other times, they get cease-and-desist letters (as happened in Houston), because the tech-savvy crowd, at Uber's behest, won't stop harassing City Hall. In France, two Uber executives have been indicted for enabling illegal taxi services and illegal data storage (they go on trial this month unless their lawyers can argue for a further delay). And in Capetown, South Africa, police have impounded dozens of illegally operated Uber cars. Again - it's all well and good to disrupt the marketplace, but this is a car service. Safety is a huge issue, and no company is above the rule of law. I don't see how it's wrong to expect a corporation to think it's okay to break safety and licensing rules, just to get their product rolled out in a few new markets faster.

#2 When things go bad, Uber plays that always-annoying "what, who, us?" game.

There have been too many instances of this, but one really sticks out: A young girl crossing the street with her mother in San Francisco back in December was killed by a motorist who told cops he was working for Uber. Uber immediately released a statement saying he was not working for Uber, then released another statement clarifying that he was indeed logged on to the Uber app but not doing business for Uber at the time -- in other words, he was between passengers, which, according to Uber, meant they bore no responsibility. After all, you see, Uber isn't a transportation company, as they'll delight in telling you. They're a technology company. Drivers download the app and passengers hope for the best. If anything goes wrong? Uber has a bad habit of washing their hands. A wrongful-death lawsuit has been filed against the company.

#3 Uber doesn't screen its drivers adequately.

A driver in San Francisco that attacked a passenger physically and verbally was later found to have passed Uber's "zero-tolerance" background check with flying colors, despite a colorful criminal history. Another in Los Angeles bragged to NBC that she had a "three-page rap sheet." A test of drivers in Chicago revealed that many of them had almost zero knowledge of the city, which at the very least, is a disservice to passengers.

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#4 Cabbies may not be angels, but neither are Uber drivers.

Where to start -- the Los Angeles driver who held a woman's phone hostage for a $500 ransom, after she left in in her car? Uber apologized, deactivated the driver's account and essentially told the passenger to cross her fingers and hope for the best. Back in Chicago, another driver sexually assaulted his female passenger, landing the company in legal hot water. Give them credit, I guess -- this time, they actually acknowledged the complaint, as opposed to playing the "she's lying" card. (Always a classy move.)

#5 The company's response to the growing chorus of negativity? Slap a surcharge on their customers.

Oh, wait, so you want a safe ride with a driver who doesn't know how to make toilet wine in his or her prison cell? Fine, says Uber: Please note our new $1 "Safe Rides Fee." That's right -- users of their ride-sharing network, called UberX, now pay this fee every single time they ride, in order to "support the increased costs associated with our continued efforts to ensure the safest platform for Uber riders and drivers." So what they're saying is, fine everyone -- you want deeper background checks, more driver safety education and better insurance? Pay for it yourself. That kind of tells me everything I need to know about the way Uber thinks. Later for that.

#6 They treat their employees badly.

When Uber first started, there were fewer drivers chasing fares. But as the company has added "contractors" (Uber refuses to call them employees), driver pay has gone down in some cities as competition from other drivers has increased. As one former driver told The Washington Post, I had to pay taxes, gas, mileage and for car maintenance and repairs. I was spending time and making $3 per hour. As it added drivers, Uber began cutting rates, taking higher commissions for itself, and adding driver fees such as a $10 fee for using the booking app. Another driver told the PBS Newshour, "With the rate cuts you basically break even. With some rides, you might actually be losing money."

#7 Their terms of service are stacked against customers and drivers.

Uber's terms of service are written for its own benefit, not its passengers or contractors. As with many terms of service these days, you must submit to arbitration rather than suing Uber if you're harmed in any way. And I quote:

UBER DOES NOT GUARANTEE THE QUALITY, SUITABILITY, SAFETY OR ABILITY OF THIRD PARTY PROVIDERS. YOU AGREE THAT THE ENTIRE RISK ARISING OUT OF YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES, AND ANY SERVICE OR GOOD REQUESTED IN CONNECTION THEREWITH, REMAINS SOLELY WITH YOU, TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.

And..

UBER SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING  PERSONAL INJURY, OR PROPERTY DAMAGE RELATED TO, IN CONNECTION WITH, OR OTHERWISE RESULTING FROM ANY USE OF THE SERVICES, EVEN IF UBER HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

Anyway, one day Uber may not even be a thing. Enter self-driving cars from Google, Tesla, and other automakers. Perhaps in a decade, perhaps sooner, you'll use an app to summon a driverless ride. It will take you to your destination by the shortest route every time. And it will be safer than any human driver. And no tipping required. And for that, I am definitely on board.

Also on HuffPost:
"Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?"

My husband, Shelly, and I flew out of California yesterday to 'my beautiful Chicago'. I am delighted to be home. My mom lives in the city and in the same building, and that brings me to my story today.

But, first, some thoughts on patch-patch-patch!

Millions of us run to a plastic surgeon or dermatologist for patch-patch-patch! They promise to hand us back our youth. "The Fountain of Youth is at our doorstep, step inside," they say.

Darlings, some us financially can, some of us financially cannot, and some of us prefer not!

The point of today's story is that those of us over fifty that cannot afford face work or choose not to touch their faces may be better off in some ways then those of us who do!

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Every brand from soap to 'nuts' spells youth. Brands are telling us you have to look young to be beautiful, to be visible. I take issue.

And, unfortunately I feel that is why a young woman in her mid thirties is running to her beauty maven to fill her face with injections of Botox and collagen. After having a child, she has her first tummy tuck and a little liposuction. From exhaustion, from her "mothering" or "careering" she has her eyes done and by mid or late forties she is off to the best plastic surgeon for her first facelift. Am I right?

So now that I have established that younger women are just as crazed with who they see in their mirror as us older Grande Dames, I want to tell you the story of one 94-year-old, beautiful woman: my mother.

Her story may open your eyes to, unfortunately, our limitations!

Last night, Shelly and I were leaving our building for an evening out with friends. There were four very elderly women in the lobby, one of them, my mother. Every Saturday night she and her girlfriends meet for their night out with the girls. They are all widows and childhood friends. I have known them since I was little girl. The youngest is 90 and the oldest is my mother at 94... and thank God, holding!

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I could not help staring at this group of elderly Grande Dames as I walked over to give each of them a kiss! It was so obvious that all of them had one or more facelifts...except my mother.

My mother has never had a facelift. She still swears by Maybelline face cleanser. She says, "Soap on a woman's skin is taboo. Too drying!" Her night moisturizer is Olive Oil.

My mom had her eyes done when she was in her forties and told me, "The puffs under my eyes are hereditary. They have nothing to do with age." I knew better and so I just smiled to myself and nodded.

You may assume I am biased, but I swear my mother was the most beautiful of the four women. It was so obvious. Her girlfriends' faces were pulled and smooth. But, their hands were old. Their hair was thinning. Their stature was that of a much older woman.

My mother's face showed her life. The crinkles around her eyes and her smile lines made her face soft: her blue "unbagged" eyes sparkled! Her face matched her hands!

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She looked regal and so much more natural than her friends with all their tucks and pulls. She is truly a beautiful Grande dame with the same smile I remember as a little girl.

So to my younger friends at fifty and under and to us older women over fifty who choose the docs, be careful what you wish for. A little nip here and a little tuck there, a little Botox and collagen and even a peel to rid yourself of sun-induced lines + spots is uplifting as we deal with aging in a society that places so much emphasis on youth. Just do not overdo because your face one day will not match your body!

The moral of this story is two-fold. If you prefer to visit the youth docs realize you can't win the aging game. So know when to draw the line. At some point you have to become comfortable in your own skin. A stylish woman is the whole package, not just a face!

If you have the courage or cannot afford to visit the face docs and go through the natural process of aging, like my mom, you now know how you will look at ninety. And that ain't all bad.

One more tip: Oil your face. And everywhere else...

I remember when I was in my early twenties my mother took me to a plastic surgeon. I had and still have, on the left side of my face, what my mother calls "my beauty mark." My mother was worried that it may be dangerous. The plastic surgeon told us it should be left alone. Before leaving his office my concern was...what line of skin products should I purchase for my face so I would not age? I was under twenty-five years old.

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I will never forget his answer: "Dear, my advice is to stay out of the sun, away from the cosmetic counters where you will be enticed to buy expensive facial products that don't work and just buy olive oil! It is a natural product." I listened.

That wise plastic surgeon gave me great advice because not long ago my make-up saleswoman at Neiman's approached me and informed me of a new product being hyped in make-up lines! Well girls what do you think. I describe it as olive oil with chemicals. It looks like olive oil but it is not a natural product.

Though I'm not a plastic surgeon.... I suggest you run out and buy your olive oil! Just put it in your shopping cart when you go to the market. Grape seed oil is now my choice. It is sumptuous and natural and makes your skin"feel" yummy!

Tell your friends and relatives that the secret to a beautiful skin does not have to come out of an expensive bottle.... a little olive oil will do!

Off to walk Orchid with sunblock and olive oil! 
Though known by many as the most famous 20th century Christian writer, C. S. Lewis didn't focus on "churchy" things. In fact, he always maintained a healthy and sustained understanding of life as it is lived by all human beings: marked by disappointment and depression, suffering and trials, as well as the prospect of death, which we can all see and which none of us will escape. I suspect his setting in life -- his teaching at two secular universities, Oxford and Cambridge -- kept him mindful of those who never walked inside Magdalen College's chapel or read the pages of the King James Bible as a devotional practice. (By the way, this post is adapted from my recent book on C. S. Lewis.)

Here was a man who relished a good walk, a pint of beer with his friends and reading exceptional books. Here was a man who also described personal crises not limited to believers in Christ, like sorrow over the death of a friend in battle and disappointment over never achieving recognition as a poet. Indeed, the Bible itself recognizes the destiny of all humankind and its sorrows:

"Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward" (Job 5:7).

For this reason, I continue to turn to Lewis because, frankly, I'm not drawn to people who display their spirituality too boldly in their writings or who seem to think that all of life consists of praying, reading Scripture and singing hymns. Writers who resonate with me acknowledge the mundane, like filling the car with gas, having keys copied at the hardware store and buying butter, flour and orange juice at the grocery store. They also acknowledge the hard realities of life: watching your children grow up, realizing your time on earth is also passing, seeing parents age and die, or grasping that dreams you once held will never come to pass.

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Given all these daily, quotidian issues, how do we know what to do? Feelings -- particularly the emotional rush of life -- remain the final arbiter of truth and decision-making for our culture. Contemporary American culture has a nearly universal slogan: "If it feels right, do it." And sadly that is true for those inside the church as well, where I often hear distrust of "head knowledge" and an emphasis on the interior life, which in this case usually means our emotions. I read the other day that faith is "much deeper than intellectual agreement with facts" in that it "affects the desires of one's heart." With the way most of us define "heart" -- as a place where we feel emotion -- that sounds a lot like feelings are more important than thought.

We, or at least I, am led to repentance.

Certainly it is the nature of American revivalism that we tend to want a "burning in the bosom" and the feeling of conversion. Too much of Christian spirituality today implores us toward introspection and "seeing how the Lord is working" and whether "you feel God's joy." There are some historical roots: early Puritans, who were anxious about whether God had elected them or not, worried about signs of salvation, about whether they felt God's concerns, although this was never the response John Calvin wanted to the doctrine of predestination. Later in our history, revivalism looked to the "warming of the heart" as a sign of salvation -- which is certainly an element of Christian belief -- but often excluded rationality and obedience. Contemporarily, our obsession with feeling good has us wandering around in search of giddiness.

So this fixation on feelings is not new to the Christian faith, and even as this country has become less Christianized, we are still obsessed with feelings. But we should know better. Lewis certainly did. He was convinced that our feelings often deceive and that true life begins when the rush of feelings lets off. As he wrote in a letter from 1950:

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Obedience is the key to all doors: feelings come (or don't come) and go as God pleases. We can't produce them at will and mustn't try.

Although some may think of Lewis as Rationality Personified, he was not given over simply to intellectual abstraction either. He believed that what we know must affect our lives. In this way, he mirrors the biblical emphasis on the heart not as the arbiter of emotions but as the center of action. So it's neither feelings nor abstract cognition that matters. Eugene Peterson, when he paraphrases the Bible in The Message, gets it exactly right in his rendering of Galatians 5:25:

"Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives." Galatians 5:25, The Message

Mere ideas and changeable feelings do not themselves lead to action. Or as Lewis put in the mouth of the tempter Screwtape, his nephew Wormwood must:

"prevent his doing anything. As long as he does not convert it into action, it does not matter how much he thinks about this new repentance. Let the little brute wallow in it. Let him, if he has any bent that way, write a book about it . . . Let him do anything but act." C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
Bulletproof's fans exhausted from having to find, then melt their own yak butter for "upgraded" morning coffee are about to be in biohacked heaven: A rival called Grass Fed Coffee, the "world's first ready-to-drink butter coffee," has just shattered its Kickstarter goal by raising $86,000 to bring to market a concoction that's part cold brew, part German butter, and all "mental clarity." The real novelty, though, is that these guys are canned -- just pop the top for eight immediate ounces of butter, a blend of Peruvian coffees/coffee extracts, MCT oil, and chicory. Grass Fed's creators describe the product as "creamy" and "delicious," but they caution restraint for first-timers: Start with half a can, since the effects ("mental clarity, focus, energy," and whatnot) can be "very strong at first for beginners."
Interiors Of A Prison

As the world applauds the release of prisoners by Iran, political dissidents within the country continue to suffer unjust persecution, repression and death. The truth surrounding their charges, arrests and the breadth of their continued struggle continues to be lost in the mainstream narrative on Iran.

This past week, Iranian blogger and activist Hossein Ronaghi Maleki was forced to return to Tehran's Evin Prison to resume serving his 13-year sentence. Maleki, who was out on medical leave, provides a compelling example of Iran's defiant dissidents who remain forgotten in the discourse surrounding Iran.

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Maleki, 29, became known to many Iranians during the 2009 uprising and protests that followed. Maleki was an active blogger and joined others in the movement of underground cyber activism in Iran. He was the founder of Iran Proxy, a group focused on the maintenance of proxies that allow activists and journalists to circumvent internet censorship inside Iran.. He also authored a number of blogs that were critical of the current regime.

Arrested on December 13, 2009, Maleki was reportedly held in solitary confinement for 10 months. The charges against him alleged membership in an illegal organization, posing a threat to national security and other vaguely worded charges about insulting the Supreme Leader and distributing propaganda against the regime.

He received a 15-year sentence for these accusations. In 2012, Maleki was granted a temporary leave from prison, but was again arrested for his involvement in organizing relief for earthquake victims in his home province of East Azerbaijan. He successfully appealed the sentence that would have convicted him for supposedly gathering and colluding to harm national security.

During his term in the notorious Evin Prison, Maleki was subjected to torture and inhumane treatment. As a result of the torture and severe medical negligence, Maleki developed a kidney condition and continues to suffer from related complications. Maleki staged hunger strikes based on the denial of medical leave for his condition and his ongoing mistreatment while in custody.

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His arrest and trial not only hardened his resolve, but also earned Maleki respect and support among Iranians. For the younger generation, he serves as a symbol for today's activists -- one who utilizes technology and the internet to bolster the struggle for free expression in Iran and throughout the world. For activists abroad, he was a source of inspiration and commitment to those who are seeking forward-thinking political change.

In June of 2015, Maleki was finally granted medical leave after posting bail. However, despite his deteriorating medical condition and his eligibility for parole, Maleki was ordered to return to Evin prison this month. Throughout this ordeal Maleki has refused to remain silent. In a series of defiant posts on Twitter, Maleki has criticized the regime and his mistreatment before turning himself into authorities.

Might be last post but I'm determined to gain my freedom bec I'm innocent.

The response to opinions is not prison. pic.twitter.com/esIZjSLh9j  Hossein Ronaghi (@HosseinRonaghi) January 19, 2016

His Tweets included:"Might be last post but I'm determined to gain my freedom bec I'm innocent. The response to opinions is not prison."

"My main charge is defending freedom of speech (against censorship) for which I was handed an unjust 10-yr prison term. @proxyiran"

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"Mr. Zarif, it is wrong of you to deny the truth and ignore issues. Look at political prisoners and imprisoned journalists with open eyes."

"Pressured by IRGC Intelligence unit to return me to prison, the Tehran Prosecutor issued an official order to confiscate my bail collateral."

"I will not bow down to the baseless & groundless charges of the judiciary nor will I accept the unjust verdict."

Maleki's words are particularly haunting as he prepares himself to reenter a place he may never leave alive. The conditions in Iran's prisons, particularly for those charged with political crimes remain horrid - part of a concerted effort under the regime to torture those who have committed crimes against the state while attempting to spread fear among the population. Medical negligence is routinely cited as a means by which the regime has tortured and murdered dissidents while refusing to acknowledge responsibility or improve conditions.

Amnesty International designated Maleki a prisoner of conscience, illustrating that, despite all the talks of moderation and political change in Iran, there remains little room for free expression within the country. In 2012, Iranian blogger Sattar Beheshti was arrested and murdered while in custody for online comments he made against the regime. Maleki's father has gone on record stating, "They want to turn him into another Sattar Beheshti". While much of the Western world hails a supposed new era and relationship with Iran, little appears to have changed for Iran's dissidents.

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Two policemen walk past a poster welcoming Pope Francis to Ecatepec, on the north east side of Mexico City, on February 5, 2016. The Pope will visit Mexico February 12-17. AFP PHOTO/RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP / RONALDO SCHEMIDT (Photo credit should read RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP/Getty Images)

MEXICO CITY -- Expectations are running high for Pope Francis' first visit to Mexico, the Spanish-speaking country with the largest Catholic population. Between his arrival in Mexico City on the evening of Feb. 12 and his departure from Ciudad Juarez five days later, he will visit six cities for meetings, masses, processions and prayers with families, indigenous groups, youth, working people, migrants, victims of violence and the clergy.

The church hierarchy in Mexico, largely conservative and traditionally cozy with the government, nervously awaits the pope's actions and pronouncements. The president of the Mexican Episcopal Conference, Cardinal Francisco Robles Ortega, has stated that the pope wants "to get close to Mexico's men and women to console us in the difficult times we are living through due to insecurity, inequality, poverty, corruption and violence, and to show us the way in compassionate love towards integral development that excludes no one." About 85 percent of Mexico's population identified as Catholic in 2010, down from 96 percent in 1970.

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Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the first Jesuit pope, explained that he took the name of St. Francis of Assisi because he was "the man of poverty, the man of peace, the man who loves and protects creation." He added: "How I would like a church that is poor and that is for the poor." Since his election as the 266th pope in March 2013, Pope Francis has become famous as an advocate for the poor, a critic of global capitalism and a defender of the environment.

Francis with Evo Morales, the president of Bolivia, Latin America's poorest nation, in July 2015. (VINCENZO PINTO/AFP/Getty Images)

And yet, in an address to Mexican bishops visiting the Vatican in May 2014, the pope, an Argentine and the first Latin American pope, made it clear that "It certainly is not the task of pastors to offer technical solutions or to adopt political measures, which are outside the pastoral realm." The parents of the 43 students who disappeared in the city of Iguala on the night of Sept. 26, 2014 are asking for an informal private meeting with Bergoglio, but according to Alejandro Solalinde, a priest who has received death threats for his defense of migrants in Mexico, the government is exerting considerable pressure to prevent such a meeting.

Five white popemobiles have been blessed in the presidential hangar at Mexico City's airport. In keeping with the pope's wishes, they are not armored, to allow him direct contact with people. Spaced a meter apart, 400,000 volunteers will guard about 400 kilometers of parade routes where millions are expected to gather. About a million tickets are being distributed through the country's 93 dioceses.

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On the second day of the pope's visit, he is scheduled to appear to celebrate Mass in Ecatepec, Mexico's second-most populous municipality, which boasts one of the country's highest crime rates and terrible industrial pollution.

A policeman stands next to a mural welcoming Francis to Ecatepec. (RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP/Getty Images)

Earlier this week in Ecatepec, protestors demanded that the security measures put in place for the papal visit be made permanent to combat the daily robberies, kidnappings, extortion, homicide, lynching and a rash of femicides in Ecatepec and elsewhere in the state of Mexico, most of which are not investigated. According to the National Citizens Observatory on Femicide, in 2011 and 2012, almost 1,300 girls and women -- more than half between the ages of 10 and 17 -- disappeared in the state of Mexico, while 448 were murdered, many with gruesome violence. In anticipation of the papal presence, the streets have been cleared of stray dogs and the homeless.

The pope will return to the capital for a meeting at the Pediatric Hospital of Mexico with hospitalized children and their parents, as well as personal encounters with several dozen young cancer patients. Mexico's First Lady Angelica Rivera, a former soap opera star who put together an album of songs for the pope's visit featuring a handful of Mexican pop artists, will be waiting to greet him when he arrives at the hospital.

A visit to Mexico's poorest state

On Monday, Feb. 15, the pope will fly to Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital of Chiapas. While photos of the state governor, Manuel Velasco Coello, often flanked by colorfully clad indigenous people, regularly appear in the national press -- hinting at his pursuit of a 2018 presidential candidacy -- the indigenous groups of Chiapas live in chronic misery.

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Chiapas is Mexico's poorest state. Nearly 30 percent of the state's roughly 3.5 million people speak one of 56 indigenous languages, and a third of those speak no Spanish. In the 16th century, Bartolome de las Casas, the first resident bishop of Chiapas and one of the earliest defenders of human rights in the Americas, evangelized the local population in their own languages. After a Mass with the indigenous community of Chiapas in the city of San Cristobal de las Casas, Francis will go to the magnificent baroque cathedral to visit the tomb of Samuel Ruiz, the former bishop of Chiapas who took up the tradition of Las Casas and for decades was one of the great defenders of Indian and human rights.

Ruiz was beloved and mourned by the native peoples he staunchly defended and who called him "Tatik" -- "father" in Tzotzil. He was a proponent of the liberation theology movement in Latin America that advocated the involvement of the church in social change, principally among the poor; Francis has embraced the movement and he is at one with Ruiz in a love for the poor.

Ruiz in the town of Benito Juarez in Nov. 1997, not long after he barely escaped an ambush by members of a paramilitary group. (AP Photo/Pascual Gorriz)

Evangelicals, Pentecostals and other Christian denominations have made inroads in Chiapas, the least Catholic of Mexico's states, where the religion is practiced by only 58 percent of the population and Indian beliefs are mixed with Christianity. There is even a burgeoning Muslim community, with four mosques on the outskirts of San Cristobal. The pope is also expected to give his blessing for the use of indigenous languages for celebrating Mass.

Chiapas southern border is also a main entry point for migrants, most of whom are fleeing lawlessness and criminal gangs in the "northern triangle" of Central America -- El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. During their perilous crossing through Mexico in hopes of reaching the United States, the migrants are victims of violence, sexual abuse, human traffickers, drug gangs and members of the armed forces and the police.

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'The peace of the tomb'

The lush state of Michoacan, stretching from thickly forested mountains to the Pacific coast, has been ravaged by drug violence for years. In September 2006, a cartel called La Familia (The Family) hurled five human heads onto the dance floor of a nightclub in the city of Uruapan with the message "The Family doesn't kill for money. It doesn't kill women, it doesn't kill the innocent, whoever is meant to die, dies, everyone must know that this is divine justice." Three months later, shortly after taking office as the president of Mexico, Michoacan native Felipe Calderon declared a war on drug cartels that has taken more than 80,000 lives since then, and 26,000 have disappeared. In 2011, La Familia splintered and another messianic cartel, Los Caballeros Templarios (The Knights Templar), was born. Self-defense militias then sprang up in the state, in the absence of government action.

In the Jan. 31 issue of the weekly magazine of the Archdiocese of Mexico, there was an editorial about the unprecedented and unchecked violence in Mexico. The piece singled out Michoacan:

Neither a new administration nor development plans will prevent the blood from continuing to flow in violent Michoacan, overwhelmed by crime and the anarchy of insecurity resulting from a power vacuum. Plans for pacification are in contrast to the desperation of Michoacan's residents, who are faced with a seemingly limitless thirst for blood. There were 52 violent homicides in January, and 290 in three months. In Michoacan, there is only the peace of the tomb.

This is the panorama awaiting Pope Francis when he arrives in the Michoacan capital, Morelia. Last week, Francis sent this message to Mexico via the news agency Notimex:

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You are living your little piece of war. The Mexico of violence, the Mexico of corruption, the Mexico of drug trafficking, the Mexico of cartels, is not the Mexico that our mother [the Virgin Mary] wants. I, of course, will not cover any of that up.

Meanwhile, an organization of indigenous communities in Michoacan issued a statement that reads, "For over 500 years, the original people of the Americas have been ransacked, robbed, murdered, exploited, discriminated and persecuted." The statement calls on Francis to apologize for the mass slaughter of 25 million indigenous peoples in the Americas, adding that "the Bible was the ideological weapon of the Conquerors.

However, in Bolivia in July 2015, the pope did just that, telling a gathering of activists:

I say this to you with regret: Many grave sins were committed against the native people of America in the name of God. I humbly ask forgiveness, not only for the offense of the church herself, but also for crimes committed against the native peoples during the so-called conquest of America.

A prayer for migrants

The pope's final day in Mexico will be spent in Ciudad Juarez, a border city notorious for the brutal murders of hundreds of mainly poor young women whose mutilated bodies were often dumped in the desert. In a country that venerates the Virgin of Guadalupe, will the pope speak out to defend the rights of its women?

Francis will pray at the Rio Grande for migrants who have died attempting to enter the U.S. Just across the border, a group of some 600 "migrants, refugees, victims of violence, unaccompanied minors, seasonal farmworkers, people awaiting deportation, and the poor" will assemble to receive the pope's blessing. Might Francis visit somehow improve the lot of the desperate thousands eager to escape Central America and Mexico, and even have a positive impact on immigration reform in the U.S.?

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At San Lorenzo Church in Ciudad Juarez, people visit the chapel to pray and leave their wishes on a bulletin board. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post/Getty Images)

According to statistics released by the Vatican, which noted that Mexico "is the most dangerous country in Latin America for clergymen," there have been 47 recorded attacks against members of the clergy in the past 24 years.

Raul Vera, the outspoken and rebellious bishop of Saltillo (Coahuila) has high hopes for the papal visit. Himself a recipient of threats, Vera says:

Each day the shadow of death spreads over us all, whether priest or taxi driver, thanks to the impunity reigning in Mexico... Mexico is one of the most ruined countries in the world; here mercantilist dictates have been obeyed to the letter, big business has taken over the country and many areas are prey to violence.

While the pope cannot and will not be a deus ex machina nor the answer to Mexico's myriad problems, his visit will surely give hope and inspiration to millions. If he does speak out, it will serve to shine a powerful light on the violence, pervasive corruption, social inequality and injustice in my country.

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Earlier on WorldPost:
Gone from Wheaton College is Larycia Hawkins, The New York Times reports. This is a controversial decision. A sad one, too.

And the decision has stirred up a wasp's nest of blogoversy. I just read J. R. Daniel Kirk's angry post about Wheaton College's dismissal of Larycia Hawkins.

I am appalled -- but not for the reasons you may think.

I am appalled by how indiscriminately Mr. Kirk generalized his claim that Christian Higher Education is dead. My spouse, Priscilla Pope-Levison, and I shared a position at Seattle Pacific University for fifteen years. That's thirty years between us. So I have some perspective on this whole Christian Higher Education thing. And I just don't think Kirk is right, when he claims:

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Even that self-proclaimed "Harvard of Christian schools" has trumped theological intelligence for fundamentalist fear. There is no one else to point to. Each school must point to itself and show that evolution, and critical biblical scholarship, and measured assessments of the world's religions are part of the warp and woof of the academic curriculum. I welcome any school to give it a shot. In the mean time, we've seen enough to know. You can't be a scholar with any sort of academic integrity and survive at an Evangelical school. So head to the State U or a mainline seminary to ensure that what you're paying for is actually an education.

In our thirty years, Seattle Pacific University went through seismic changes. (In fact, while the dean was writing up our contract in 2001, he stopped and wrote to us, "Gotta stop. Earthquake.) For example, the LGBTQ community, called Haven, struggled and strove for acceptance as a club. Repeatedly, the administration -- white, male administrators -- stalled and equivocated. Time and again.

Still, Priscilla, many faculty and staff, lots of students, their advisor Kevin Neuhouser, and I stood with them. Priscilla, a United Methodist minister, celebrated the eucharist right under the provost's nose two weeks after he had forbidden it. Priscilla and I helped leaders of Haven pen a letter to the administration. A strong group of faculty took out an ad in the school paper.

And we lost -- for a while. I lost some privileges I once had. We lost nights' sleep. We lost camaraderie with the administration -- and with some faculty colleagues.

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But we never lost a paycheck.

And we never lost a job.

And a new administration -- with a white, male president -- saw the value in Haven and gave them club status.

Not all evangelical schools are the same. Not all are Wheaton College. Not all want to be Wheaton College. It is just not right to say that Christian higher education is dead because Wheaton College has done something unpalatable.

Nor is Kirk right to say that "you can't be a scholar with any sort of academic integrity and survive at an Evangelical school." Many of my colleagues at SPU were fine scholars--in physics, in biology, in health sciences, in psychology, in business, in history, and, yes, in theology. Many of them are excellent scholars, exceptional people, outstanding teachers.

Now I realize pleasant blogs don't get much traction. Noted Christian blogger Scot McKnight once mentioned the "anger hormone" to me that gets everyone riled up -- with lots of Facebooking and tweeting for a few days. I wrote a tongue-in-cheek Huffington Post piece like that, titled, "A Tirade for the Trendy Church," and was staggered by the virulence of reactions to it. So I understand the rhetorical impact of overstating the case. (I'm Italian, too, a New Yorker to boot, and no one has ever accused me of understatement.)

But this time Kirk is just plain wrong. Christian higher education is not dead.

How do I now? Because I value the colleagues I left behind there?

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Well, yes, but only partly.
I thought I had a handle on it. I thought that everything was under control. But the fact was, social media and the need to be constantly connected was taking over my waking and sometimes sleeping life. At one point in my life I had a full-time job, a casual job, a small side business, two blogs, three Twitter accounts, one personal Facebook page, four other Facebook pages, three Instagram accounts, two Tumblr accounts, two Pinterest accounts, nine email addresses, YouTube accounts, Google+ and possibly others that I cannot think of right now. It's a wonder that I could concentrate on anything at all let alone find time to really engage with any of the content I was also subscribed to.



It was no wonder that I felt like the walls were caving in on my life last year and had something I would describe as close to being a breakdown at the age of 31. When that happened, I made the decision that it was time to prioritize everything in my life and start fresh with what was actually essential to my daily life. Turns out that not many of the above were -- who knew, right?



I knew in the back of my mind that unplugging altogether was the answer, at a point in my life I was so anxious that I feared being alone so much that the thought of completely disconnecting from the outside world felt too overwhelming. So, I eased into it. I decided what was working and what wasn't working with my online life. I reconsidered the direction I was taking my life in and whilst I knew I was desperate to escape the rat race and build a life of my own, I had too many plates in the air at all times and they all came crashing down.



Something wonderful happens when you make the decision to finally slow down and re-evaluate your life, where you are at, and where you want to go. In the first week of culling the majority of my online life, I had three writing opportunities come my way and a meditation app idea all of a sudden in the shower. Within a month, my app was launched and I had secured ongoing writing work and had started setting some short-term goals with where I was taking this. My dreams of becoming the next Tony Robbins' or Buddha like figure were quickly transforming into my writing and I was gaining a larger and larger following. I'd stepped out of my own way and had allowed what was trying to come through me to come through.



After a short while of just taking it easy, my plate began to fill up once again. I have an issue when it comes to saying no sometimes and I am forever thinking of new ideas. But I was filling up my plate again with the knowledge of my minor breakdown I was recovering from, so took a vastly different approach. Today, everything is going along smoothly, whilst at times it can get a bit overwhelming but such is life, we must recognize these times and make adjustments.



Just last weekend I went to the next step and bought a $15 clock radio from Kmart and have now banned my phone or any device from being in my bedroom. They must be at least 10 meters away from me during the night. After all, why do I need the Internet during the night? If anything happens during the night, then I'll just have to wait until the morning to find out, like we did in years gone by. I've noticed almost immediately since doing this that my mind is quieter at night, I fall asleep easier and stay asleep. My anxiety that sat in my chest for so long has subsided. I feel clearer during the day and fresh like I did in my youth. I feel like there is a direct connection to removing all devices, and hence my forever-running mind, from my immediate space during the night. There is no doubt research to support this, but for me, unplugging definitely helped to reduce my anxiety and stress levels and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone feeling overwhelmed by the online world.
Colorado Senate President Bill Cadman (R-Colorado Springs) told 9News political reporter Brandon Rittiman last month that Medicaid spending is siphoning money from "every other program," including schools and roads.

As he told 9News political reporter Brandon Rittiman:

Cadman: "[Democrats] have ignored the needs and demands of about five million people to specifically support one program, and it cannibalizes every other program. They've ignored the Constitution and put K-12 money into this program. I mean, they've ignored the roads, and put money into this program.

The missing follow-up question in all these interviews is, does he propose to cut Medicaid? It sounds a lot like he is, but he doesn't say so directly.

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Cadman: "What I am suggesting is, when you have something that is supposed to be the safety net, you should protect it for those who need it the most," Cadman told Rittiman, when asked if he wanted to eliminate Medicaid. "And if you grow it beyond that, and you are creating a program that is, one, cannibalizing the other programs and, two, has no funding source, you are creating a conflict."

So, clearly, reporters should ask Cadman, whose spokesman did not provide a comment to me, if he thinks Medicaid, has grown beyond the "safety net" it's "supposed to be."

If he thinks so, he could, for example, advocate changing the formula for qualifying for the Medicaid. Currently, to be eligible for Colorado's Medicaid program, families of four must make less than about $32,000 a year and individuals less than $16,000. Over a million people are enrolled state-wide. Keep in mind that about 75 percent of people who receive Medicaid are working already.

But before anyone starts throwing poor people off Medicaid, as Cadman seems to be proposing, or charging them more, he should be clear that the driving force behind the growing state costs of Medicaid aren't coming from adding new people to the program.

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About 300,000 people were added to Colorado's Medicaid program under Obamacare, but 100 percent of their coverage was picked up by the federal government (which gradually decreases to 90 percent in 2022). With exceptions for children, the cost of non-Obamacare Medicaid is split evenly between the state and the feds.

But even with the feds covering most (but not all) new enrollees, the cost of Medicaid to the state is increasing, by $136 million in this year's budget proposal and $155 million last year.

Why? It's largely due to the growing numbers of elderly and disabled people enrolled in Medicaid, who are expensive to take care of, according to Rich Jones Director of Policy and Research at the Bell Policy Center. The two cost drivers feed each other because, as you'd expect, the more elderly you have the more disabled people you eventually get.

Jones points to state data showing that about 82 percent of the proposed $102.8 million increase in state funding for Medicaid premiums (a subset of this year's $136 million increase) is going to people with disabilities and the elderly.

In the current year, Jones points out, 12 percent of the people enrolled in Colorado's Medicaid program were elderly and disabled, but they accounted for 42 percent of the costs of the program. Last year, it was 11 percent of enrollees and 40 percent of the costs. Covering the elderly and disabled under Medicaid requires seven times more funding than covering a child and three to four times more than an adult.

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"I think this shows that our aging population and the cost of long-term care is a key factor driving the Medicaid budget," said Jones. "A lot of these folks are middle class seniors who have spent down their assets and must rely on Medicaid to cover their long-term care costs."

So an efficient way for Cadman to cut Medicaid might be to somehow cut down on the specific people, the elderly and disabled, who are the root cause of the program's increasing costs.

I'm joking of course. Cadman wouldn't want to do this.
"When you look at the sheer volume of what people put on Facebook, it's unrealistic to expect staff or candidates to keep up with it," said Boise State Associate Professor Justin Vaughn, author of Controlling the Message: New Media in American Political Campaigns. "They might be getting thousands of comments. Unless we know there's active support, we should be cautious about inferring that inaction means tacit support."

But Vaughn said the expectation could be different if a politician knows about the comment or actively promotes it, by retweeting a tweet on Twitter or 'liking' a post on Facebook."

"If the campaign is made aware of an offensive comment and refuses to take action, that's another story," said Vaughn.

Vaughn said there could be a political expectation that a candidate will use "certain moments to communicate with the electorate about the limits of political discourse."

He pointed to a 2008 presidential debate when Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) corrected a questioner's assertion that then Sen. Barack Obama was a Sen. Barack Obama was a untrustworthy Arab.
In his 12-year legislative career in Congress, Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) has been a champion of the environment and the protection of public health from the daily bombardment of toxic pollution. As the ranking member of the House Committee on Natural Resources, his work on issues such as environmental justice (EJ), climate change and the protection of our special places has set a very high standard for the rest of his colleagues on Capitol Hill. As the representative of a border district, he has been a staunch opponent to the construction of the wall along the Mexican border alleging cost effectiveness concerns and the damage to critical habitat areas.



Grijalva, co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, has been a leading voice in Congress in support of the DREAM Act and immigration reform with a path to citizenship. He has also strongly opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership --a trade agreement involving 12 Pacific Rim nations and signed by all its members in New Zealand on Feb. 4th-- alleging it "will harm our air, land and water, and destroy jobs and depress wages."

In this interview with the Sierra Club at his Capitol Hill office, Rep. Grijalva talks about the TPP; Latinos, climate change and toxic pollution; the National Park Service's centennial; Latino's attendance to national parks; diversity in the environmental movement, and voter suppression, among others.

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Sierra Club: We Latinos suffer the consequences of environmental degradation and therefore of the climate crisis in a disproportionate way. Yet we are more in favor of switching to a clean energy economy and decisive government intervention to fight climate change than just about any other community in the country. Where is the disconnect?

Raul Grijalva: Unfortunately, I think the disconnect is historic. When you cite a permitted use of an emissions plant, nine times out of ten they are going to be in or near a Latino or African-American community. When you decide where a landfill is going to go, it's always near or adjacent to those communities. When it's a heavy industrial use, it's for those communities. You have this pattern going on, and it's been going on for the same reason a lot of other things have gone on--it has been institutionalized. Those communities have limited political power; therefore, it's easy to do it there than anywhere else. Unfortunately, the elected leaders even from those communities don't view is as a priority to push back. They see it as a cost of doing business. They see it as the jobs agenda, and kind of ignore the health and welfare repercussions and the effect on kids, such as lead poisoning, or high levels of asthma in East Los Angeles, or TCE [trichloroethylene] contamination and spiking cancer rates in my own hometown of Tucson. When issues of clean air and clean water come to the fore, our community isn't always factored in as to how critical it is just for them. And the ravages of climate change are going to hit the poorest of the poor first, and those with means are going to be able to somehow mitigate, and those without are going to take the brunt. That's true worldwide and it's true in this country as well. I think it has been institutionalized, it has been a slow response, and for many years, if I may say so, even though it has changed a lot for the last five or six years, for mainstream advocates for the environment this has not been a priority issue. And I say that with all due respect and the acknowledgement that they have made a change. The conservation agenda was a top-burner issue, the preservation of habitat, species, etc. And I think Latinos do see the connection between that effort and their own wellbeing. What we are trying to do in the House Committee on Natural Resources, on which I serve, is to connect the two--the environmental justice agenda and preserving the conservation laws that have served us well.

SC: Yet even after the historic Paris Agreement and almost 200 hundred nations currently fighting the climate crisis, practically the entire Republican delegation here in Congress keeps either denying or ignoring the worst threat to the country's national security, and, more importantly, the future of humanity as a whole. Why?

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RG: I think they are bought. I think it's a rigged process and it's corrupt. And I don't mean corrupt in the indictable sense. I mean corrupt in the way decisions are made. So you have Big Gas, Big Oil and other extraction industries up here for whom fossil fuels have been the base for their profits and business model, who have effectively shut down any objective discussion. And they have been able to lobby and cow the Republican leadership and much of its membership not to even discuss the issue. When we first got the outline of the program for the Natural Resources Committee by my Republican colleagues, they did not mention the words "climate change." We got it in there, but the fact of the matter is that it wasn't there to begin with. I think that as long as those industries and interests continue to cling on and try to maximize what they can do with fossil fuels, you will have the reciprocal lack of attention over here. And more importantly, you will see the contributions toward those campaigns skewed that way. I am not going to get any of it. A lot of people on my side of the isle won't get any of it. But it's skewed that way with super PACs. The Koch brothers make their living off that energy, and they are going to spend almost a billion dollars in this 2016 campaign. That's the corrupting influence and that's how these votes are bought.

SC: Trans-Canada won't give up after President Obama rejected the permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline. They have invoked Chapter 11 of NAFTA and sued the U.S. government for what they think is their rightful pursuit of profits. This litigation will be resolved outside U.S. legal jurisdiction and behind closed doors. They are not learning, are they?

RG: No, and that shows their arrogance. I hate to invoke that whole issue of sovereignty here, but this is a sovereign decision by our government and our government backed by the majority of the American people to say no. So by using the mechanism of NAFTA, which many people have warned about--even regarding the TPP [Trans Pacific Trade Agreement]--we are losing control of the decision-making process that is important to your people and to your environment. And here we are being sued. I think it's the height of arrogance, and I wish the Canadian government and its new prime minister would chime in a little more and emphasize to TransCanada that the decision has been made and it's time to move on. And the fact that the pipeline would be transporting the dirtiest of oils makes it particularly arrogant because communities along the line were against it, tribal nations both in Canada and here in the U.S. were against it, the bulk of scientific minds in this country didn't see it as beneficial and it would not have contributed anything for energy independence. It was all for export for this company. It didn't seem as if it was going to appear at the pumps.

SC: Yet the TPP would be NAFTA on steroids. The equivalent of NAFTA's Chapter 11 in the TPP gives corporations a lot of power over the sovereignty of the signing nations. What is your position on the agreement?

RG: Oh, I am opposed to it. I am opposed to the fast track for those reasons and others. I asked our negotiator during a meeting: The president is four-square, 100 percent behind the Paris Accord and is going to do whatever he can administratively to meet the goals of the Clean Power Plan and other objectives. But isn't it a contradiction where the stated position of the administration regarding coal-fired plants, reducing our fossil fuels dependency is in conflict with what we are doing with the TPP? There is a contradiction because we are losing that ability to make those decisions. That's the problem with having a trade agreement that still places the profit motive ahead of any other motives. Should making money be part of any trade agreement? Absolutely. Everybody wants to make money. But there are other factors--human, environmental, etc.--that need to be put up front as well.



SC: The National Park Service celebrates its centennial this year. Yet the assault on our special places continues on many fronts, including corporations trying to trademark--steal, really--many of Yosemite's most iconic names. You are a champion of the preservation and promotion of our special places. What can you do to stop this onslaught?

RG: I think the Secretary of the Interior's role will be critical in these months that are left in this administration to indicate that any efforts on that part will be met with both legal and administrative resistance, to the utmost. One thing is to give to the trust to celebrate the centennial, and another is to be demanding naming rights. We worry that people are going to want to be associated with the big, iconic places--Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, etc.--and that we have a lot of other public lands in need of infrastructure repair and staff support. This is one of the dangers. If these places are seen as a brand name, then we begin to lose some of the independence and the special nature of that site. That's the last thing I want to see in that respect. I don't think we will see anything legislatively that is going to be done. But I do think any legal efforts that a company might take, or any efforts to sell the branding rights to a company for a contribution, should be resisted both legally and administratively. It would diminish and demean what we mean by special places.

SC: There is a proposal to designate much of the Grand Canyon watershed on federal land outside of the national park as a national monument. What is the status of this effort?

RG: This is my legislation. It's call the Grand Canyon Monument Act, where we are adding the canyon's watershed, which is 1.2 million acres, to what has already been set aside by former Secretary [Ken] Salazar in terms of no uranium mining in that area. We want to create a permanent protection buffer for the watershed and the river itself and prevent toxic and dangerous uranium mining along the rim of the canyon. We've got a great deal of support from the tribes affiliated with the Grand Canyon. I doubt this legislation will ever get a fair hearing in this House of Representatives, but we have created a template of stakeholders to push for that designation. All the tribes--Hopi, Sunni, Havasupai, Hualapai, Navajo, Apache--have religious, cultural and sacred site identification with the Canyon. They have become the drivers behind this designation and we are very gratified that they have. We have done a poll and the support for the designation is overwhelming in Arizona and nationally. [They will hold a presser on Feb. 13th at the Grand Canyon with all the tribes to show support for the designation.]

SC: We Latinos have this very special attachment to the land that we call "el terruno." We consider protecting the land not only a family value, but a religious one as well. Yet, visitation by Latinos to national parks and other protected lands is dismally low. What can be done legislatively to improve this deficit?

RG: Things can be done both legislatively and administratively. We need to integrate Latinos into the staff functions of the national parks. That has to be priority number one. On the legislative side, we need to begin to provide resources to the Park Service so that they can partner with schools, community groups, and civic organizations in Latino communities so you begin to encourage the use of our national parks. When you have a park 15 minutes from an urban center like Tucson that is 30 or 40 percent Latino, but park visitation by Latinos is low, that says a lot. The reasons are partly the cost, but I also think that it's also about the welcome mat, about how you deal with the culture managing our parks and our special places so that it is culturally relevant and linguistically appropriate. I have talked to the director of the National Park Service about putting together a concerted effort to take the parks to the community. The strength of preserving our public lands has been based on the constituents' use of that land. And as our nation changes demographically, so too must that be reflected in the visitation rates because over the long haul, for the protection and preservation of these special places and the enhancement of these special places, we are going to need a representative cross section of America to be users of these park lands. It behooves us to make that accommodation now, as opposed to waiting. If we kick the issue down the road we could lose a generation of people who could have been our partners, and more importantly, the voters and supporters of these parks.

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SC: Even though the Sierra Club is in the midst of the biggest diversity drive in its history, the environmental movement as a whole has a long way to go to become as diverse as our country is. What can the big green organizations do to improve this record?

RG: Be coalition partners in efforts that might not be what big green groups are used to working on, and thinking outside the box in terms of building coalitions with diverse communities over issues such as clean air and water. These organizations need to dedicate staff and resources to the very critical aspects of education, outreach, and training. That is going to be essential down the road. They also need to diversify in terms of the issues that we take on and the faces that represent those issues. These efforts need to be so integrated into the organization that is just not an adjunct to it.

SC: So more emphasis on environmental justice, environmental protection, and the health of our communities, correct?

RG: And your personnel. You identify with those issues and build a relationship based on solidarity and coalition building. Let me give you an example involving Defenders of Wildlife in Tucson. When legislation was passed to build a 1,200-mile wall along the border, all environmental laws were suspended in order to stop immigration. Human rights, immigrant rights, and Latino organizations all opposed it. At the same time, Defenders opposed the lifting of all these environmental laws. As a consequence, they talked and came to the conclusion that each side needed to support the other side's issue. So these human rights organizations became great advocates for preserving the environment. And Defenders became great advocates for humane treatment of people on the border and comprehensive immigration reform. So all of a sudden they both are allies and that alliance is healthy.

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SC: Latinos will again be a decisive voting force come November. Yet we continue to see efforts across the country to make harder and harder for us to exercise our constitutional right to vote. What can you and other members of Congress do to at least slow down this tide of voter suppression in our country?
Corporate mainstream media have sanitized and distorted the life and teachings of Martin Luther King Jr., putting him in the category of a "civil rights leader" who focused narrowly on racial discrimination; end of story.



Missing from the story is that Dr. King was also a tough-minded critic of our capitalist economic structure, much like Bernie Sanders is today.



The reality is that King himself supported democratic socialism - and that civil rights activists and socialists have walked arm-in-arm for more than a century.

The same news outlets that omit such facts keep telling us that the mass of African American voters in South Carolina and elsewhere are diehard devotees of Hillary (and Bill) Clinton - implying that blacks are somehow wary of Bernie Sanders and his "democratic socialism."



Here are some key historical facts and quotes that get almost no attention in mainstream media:



1909: Many socialists - both blacks and whites - were involved in forming the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), our country's oldest civil rights group. Among them was renowned black intellectual W.E.B. Dubois.



1925: Prominent African American socialist A. Philip Randolph became the first president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, a union that played a major role in activism for civil and economic rights (including the 1963 "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom").



1952: In a fascinating letter to Coretta Scott, the woman he would marry a year later, Martin King wrote: "I imagine you already know that I am much more socialistic in my economic theory than capitalistic. . . . Today capitalism has out-lived its usefulness."



1965: King wrote an essay in Pageant magazine, "The Bravest Man I Ever Met," extolling Norman Thomas as "America's foremost socialist" and favorably quoting a black activist who said of Thomas: "He was for us before any other white folks were."

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1965: After passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965, King became even more vocal about economic rights: "What good is having the right to sit at a lunch counter if you can't afford to buy a hamburger?"

1965-66: King supported President Lyndon Johnson's "War on Poverty" but urged more - calling for a "gigantic Marshall Plan" for our naton's poor of all races.

1966: In remarks to staffers at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), King said:

"You can't talk about solving the economic problem of the Negro without talking about billions of dollars. You can't talk about ending the slums without first saying profit must be taken out of slums. You're really tampering and getting on dangerous ground because you are messing with folk then. You are messing with captains of industry. . . . It really means that we are saying something is wrong with capitalism. There must be a better distribution of wealth, and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism."

March 1967: King commented to SCLC's board that "the evils of capitalism are as real as the evils of militarism and evils of racism."

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April 1967: In his speech denouncing the U.S. war in Vietnam at New York's Riverside Church, King extended his economic critique abroad, complaining about "capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa, and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries."



May 1967: In a report to SCLC's staff, King said:

"We must recognize that we can't solve our problem now until there is a radical redistribution of economic and political power . . . this means a revolution of values and other things. We must see now that the evils of racism, economic exploitation and militarism are all tied together . . . you can't really get rid of one without getting rid of the others . . . the whole structure of American life must be changed.

"



August 1967: In his last speech to an SCLC convention, King declared:

"One day we must ask the question, 'Why are there forty million poor people in America?' And when you begin to ask that question, you are raising a question about the economic system, about a broader distribution of wealth. When you ask that question, you begin to question the capitalistic economy. And I'm simply saying that more and more, we've got to begin to ask questions about the whole society. We are called upon to help the discouraged beggars in life's marketplace. But one day we must come to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. It means that questions must be raised. And you see, my friends, when you deal with this you begin to ask the question, 'Who owns the oil?' You begin to ask the question, 'Who owns the iron ore?' You begin to ask the question, 'Why is it that people have to pay water bills in a world that's two-thirds water?'"

Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968 as he and SCLC were mobilizing a multiracial army of the poor to descend nonviolently on Washington D.C. demanding a "Poor Peoples Bill of Rights." He told a New York Times reporter that "you could say we're involved in the class struggle."

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A year before he was murdered, King said the following to journalist David Halberstam: "For years I labored with the idea of reforming the existing institutions of the South, a little change here, a little change there. Now I feel quite differently. I think you've got to have a reconstruction of the entire society, a revolution of values."

Unlike what Hillary Clinton professes today, Dr. King came to reject the idea of slow, incremental change. He thought big. He proposed solutions that could really solve social problems.

Unlike corporate-dominated U.S. media, King was not at all afraid of democratic socialism. Other eminent African American leaders have been unafraid. It's historically fitting that former NAACP president Ben Jealous has recently campaigned for Bernie Sanders in South Carolina.

If mainstream journalists did more reporting on the candidates' actual records, instead of crystal-ball gazing about the alleged hold that the Clintons have over African American voters, news consumers would know about the deplorable record of racially-biased incarceration and economic hardship brought on by Clinton administration policies. (See Michelle Alexander's "Why Hillary Clinton Doesn't Deserve the Black Vote.")

With income inequality even greater now than during Martin Luther King's final years, is there much doubt that King would be supporting the progressive domestic agenda of Bernie Sanders?

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Before Bernie was making these kinds of big economic reform proposals, King was making them - but mainstream media didn't want to hear them at the time . . . or now.
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback addresses a joint caucus of the state Senate and House Republicans on Thursday, June 11, 2015, stressing the importance of resolving the state's $400 million budget shortfall, at the 'Old Supreme Court' in Topeka, Kan. (Bo Rader/Wichita Eagle/TNS via Getty Images)

The late Bob Harder served as a cabinet secretary under five Kansas governors. He was an ordained Methodist minister, a Sunday school teacher and a former legislator.

When I interviewed him for a magazine profile in 2012, he recalled his time in the Kansas legislature when he would cross the aisle to work with Republicans to hammer out policy. He recalled those times with nostalgia, because with the election of the ideologue Sam Brownback two years earlier, those days were over.

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Later, over coffee, Harder predicted that the bottom would fall out of the Kansas budget, but not until after Brownback was re-elected in 2014. Make that exactly one week after. Brownback professed not to know of the projected $278 million fiscal year shortfall before the election, claiming he learned the dire news with the rest of us.

I was reminded of Harder on Kansas Day, Jan. 29th, when Duane Goossen spoke about the state budget at Washburn University. Goossen and Harder have much in common: political moderates who served under Democratic and Republican governors. Goossen, a Mennonite with a calm, gentlemanly manner, is also a former legislator, having served seven terms in the Kansas House before becoming budget director under Republican Governor Bill Graves, as well as Democrats Kathleen Sebelius and Mark Parkinson.

In fact, Duane Goossen used to be a Republican. In his talk, "The Kansas Budget: Are We Really in Kansas Anymore?" he said it is hard to recognize the state, and noted that present tax policies put into place by the legislature at Brownback's bidding in 2012/2013 are unsustainable. He said Brownback's dramatic income tax reductions, his "March to Zero," have created a divide between "paycheck people" and individual business owners exempted from income taxes.

"Tax benefits have accrued to the wealthiest Kansans," said Goossen. The top one percent of Kansans -- those earning $493,000 or more -- got a $24,632 income tax break. Most Kansans have ended up paying more in taxes or breaking even. And the less you earn, the larger the percentage of your income goes to taxes. To add salt to the wound, a hike in regressive sales taxes has disproportionately affected the poorest Kansans.

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With recurring revenue shortfalls, the Brownback administration has raided the state Department of Transportation, reducing the funds available for maintenance of the state's 10,000 miles of highway. Goossen also pointed to resulting staff shortages at state hospitals and the Highway Patrol, and the difficulty of attracting employees to work in state government.

At the outset of Goossen's presentation, he said, "When we discuss the budget, we discuss our deepest values as a state."

When I ran into him at a gathering a few days after his talk, I asked him what those values have been in the past. He mentioned good schools, good roads, and a decent social services net.

Since then I have been trying to puzzle out what the current state budget says about our state's deepest values, especially when we pick up the daily newspaper to learn that revenue fell $6.8 million below expectations for the month of January. That we value recklessness? That we value filling the pockets of the rich while robbing from the poor?

I've wondered how the Kansas legislature, comprised mostly of Republicans who are supposed fiscal conservatives, can hold up their heads in the midst of chronic dispiriting news about what they supposedly do best: budgetary matters. In his talk, Goossen said something I had never considered: the Brownback administration and the largely Republican legislature have been "wildly successful" at a different goal -- reducing the size of government. The legislators say, "We just have to live within our means," which have been "artificially pulled down," Goossen said. Without the income tax cuts, Kansans would be seeing an extra billion dollars a year in revenue, according to Goossen.

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Conventional wisdom says there will be no touching Brownback's reckless tax policies this legislative session as all House and Senate members face election in November. But since Brownback's policies are shredding the state's budget, infrastructure, schools and social services, why wouldn't legislators speak out? They surely will be held accountable when the state's budget for fiscal year 2017, which starts in July, is projected to be $175 million short.
When You Call Someone Out On Something, You Neglect That 1% Of You That Would Be Down To Do What There Doing.
Joshua Mast allegedly submitted a doctored passport for the baby and then claimed the child as his own after convincing the family to travel to the U.S. for medical care.
It's hard to believe that, for many Americans, Donald Trump didn't become real until his landslide victory in New Hampshire. For us Latinos, he was real from day one.

The media is going all out with its condemnations of Trump now, and I don't just mean progressive media. The GOP establishment has formed a MegaZord with liberal pundits to take him down. Remember when "leading Republican intellectuals" published that "manifesto" against him in the National Review?

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But it won't work. It's too late now. The window of time for the media to nip Trump in the bud has come and gone, spent not on a legitimate effort to stop him, but on a honeymoon: Trump was the biggest driver of traffic in digital journalism. He was the most discussed topic on every TV news network. He was legitimized over and over again until media was so saturated with his face and with his campaign message that it became the norm.

So spare me the "Welcome to Trump's America" articles. If you're referring to an America where rich old white men stir up hate to win elections, then most of us were living in it before Trump. If you're referring to an America where unapologetic racists have found their mascot in Trump, well, the media shares the blame for that one.

In any case, we've been locked in this room with him for far too long. Even if his campaign were to collapse tomorrow, he has already made his impact.

While contemplating his ubiquity, I was reminded of a brief, beautiful time when he seemed stoppable: The day Univision dropped him for his hateful comments about Mexicans.

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It was a great day in a great week. Marriage equality had just become the law of the land, and Trump, who was more a court jester back then, had received his just desserts.

"For maximum enjoyment of the past four days, be an LGBT Latino," I remember tweeting. The excitement was different from the one that followed President Obama's executive action on immigration in 2014. That was a tempered high, a "finally" mixed with a "meh." We knew it was a Band-Aid. We still had no permanent solution on immigration.

But Univision dumping Trump felt like a victory that was truly ours. The outrage from the Latino community after Trump's disparaging remarks can only be described as a fever pitch. High profile Latinos both in America and abroad called for action. Mexican news outlets didn't hide their disdain, and American news outlets with large Latino readerships marched in lockstep.

Then, un milagro: it worked. Or so we thought. Univision stood with us. They ended their contract with Trump, and for the first time, I felt it--this "Latino power" everyone is always talking about. We had united together and said Ya Basta! Enough! We had been heard, and we had won, and the victory had come from us.

This was before Jorge Ramos was kicked out of a Trump press conference amid shouts of "Go back to Univision!" Before Latino protestors started getting beat up in front of Trump Tower and dragged out of rallies. Before Trump became what he is today: a seemingly unstoppable force who is not just surviving without our support, but thriving.

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What Trump means to Latino people is not on the forefront of the media's mind anymore. When it was, he was a novelty item. Now that he's threatening to topple the establishment, he matters, and high-ranking Republicans are doing everything they can to keep him from the nomination and to protect their investments.

Maybe if the GOP had spent more time building trust with the Latino community they'd have cared from the jump that a potential nominee was alienating a significant Republican voting bloc. As it stands, though, it seems like they only got upset when a Pied Piper with a better tune started stealing their rats.

But back to Univision.

Maybe that day was a myth--the day where we thought, yes, if we unite, if we shout, if we flex our strength, we can make a change in this country. Maybe that day wasn't the day where everything we've been told turned out to be true--that we are a powerful, growing demographic. That no one can win without us.

Since that day, we have been continually demoralized. As our protestors are beaten and our very best journalists tossed out of Trump rallies like they don't matter at all, Trump has continued to rise on a platform that was built off our backs, off hatred against us. And progressive media, a supposed ally, isn't very interested in what we have to say about it anymore, our outrage a passing phase in the endless Trump news cycle.

Even before Trump, we had every reason to feel disenchanted. Raids against Central American families are happening under a Democratic president. Private prisons are making record profits off of bed quotas, off of detaining Latino refugees, many who are LGBT. Even our allies can't resist equating us with cheap labor, our humanity reduced down to our worth in the economy. We're still here in the margins of this democracy, even as the pundits say time and again, "You are powerful, you are a growing voting bloc, you matter."

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But I submit that it's not too late for us to pull off another milagro. There's still plenty of time for us to score a victory, one that is ours, one that comes from us.

The GOP establishment is scared that Trump will drive a record number of Latino out to vote. I can think of no better way for Latinos to reject Trump than to make that Republican nightmare a reality. Register. Vote in record numbers.

Vote in record numbers. Send the message that we won't let this happen again. That if politicians want to make it in this country, they will have to respect us, they will have to keep their promises to us, they will have to actually sit down with us and tell us what they plan to do for us.

Resources are available through organizations like VotoLatino We should also urge our families and those in our local communities to, if possible, register to vote.

The GOP establishment won't acknowledge it. Progressives seem to have moved on from it. But we are still angry. Today, we have the opportunity to turn that anger into strength. We have the opportunity to make a change and transform the political landscape of this country.

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This past November, students rallied on college campuses around the U.S. in the Million Student March to advocate for a minimum wage hike, free tuition and the cancellation of all student debt. We can all be encouraged by this revolution and hope more people will take up the cause.

The total U.S outstanding student loan debt is now at $1.2 trillion compared to $600 billion in 2006 (which, although half of today's level, is still outrageous). Students now pay more for public university education than state governments do; and that is a definite shift from the past. In 2012, states paid for 23% of tuition costs, down from 32% in 2003 and 75% in the 1970s.

What's happening here?

Students, like so many others, have been hit by the new breed of economic hit men (EHMs) I describe in The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (out February 2016, pre-order now). The cost of education is going up, and to a large degree it is about enslavement through debt and fear.

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Students burdened with debt are forced to work for the corporatocracy; they do not dare take any sort of independent stance or strike out on their own. The business world is not conducive to risk-taking like that. In fact, during the 1980s and 1990s, corporate influence on public policy caused a shift to encourage deregulation instead of entrepreneurship. Independents were scooped up by big corporations. Recent graduates who seek to be entrepreneurs can't take on new-business debt when they're already saddled with huge student loans and big corporations that employ tactics to destroy competition. Those same big corporations were bailed out after the last recession while students and small businesses were hit with increased costs and skyrocketing debt. The actions of modern EHMs in the U.S. are similar to those in the countries I exploited during the 1970s. Although many of those schemes were covert, this attack on education is overt.

It is time for us--you and me--to strike back. We must replace debt with generosity and fear with the courage to stand up to oppression.

One of the proposed ways to fund free tuition is through a speculation tax on Wall Street. Instead of bailing out big banks, let us bail out our intellectual capital, our students.

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The Million Student March and other demonstrations on campuses show that our young people are recognizing the threats we all face to a just society and that they are marshaling the courage to resist those who would repress them. Revolutions happen because people come together and act. Young people are taking action and standing up against rising tuition costs. These are all powerful indicators that we can change things. For students to realize this and commit to action at a formative age gives me continued hope for the future that they (and all of us) can be empowered and that we will work toward a sustainable and regenerative world. It is time for a Life Economy that does not rely on debt and fear.

In my new book, I outline actions people of all ages can take to bring about a better world, including many ideas for students. Just one example: Speak out and question authority. The idea that you have to pay so much in tuition and the state is off the hook isn't an idea you have to accept. Challenge that regressive proposition.

Whether or not you are a student, stand up for the right to a debt-free education. Offer your creativity and talents, or money, to support positive change.
As Valentine's Day approaches, and you find yourself single, as I am, you might find yourself looking online for "the one." As the Founder of SCRUFF, one of the largest gay dating apps in the world, I'm regularly asked if it's realistic that guys can find real love and long lasting relationships on apps. The question is so prevalent it has even made its way into pop culture; it's a central point in Hulu's new series Casual.

I've learned that the answer is yes and the reason I feel so passionately about this, is because I've heard so many success stories first hand. Many times I receive them through Facebook and other times I'm approached at bars and clubs. I also travel a lot as part of my job, so I'm lucky enough to befriend guys across the U.S. and the world, who share beautiful, layered stories about meeting the loves of their life through what many might simply categorize as a hookup app.

Seeing that genuine spark of love on someone's face when they describe a first encounter that led to something more has become one of my favorite parts of the job and it's extremely fulfilling. I've even been able to keep in contact with many of these couples and become close buds. One even asked me to ordain their wedding!

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There are tales where a simple WOOF (think of that as a poke in our world) led to a marriage, and even one from a couple that threw themselves a SCRUFF-themed wedding! These stories kept popping up. Successes. Real, lasting, love. Our team was so thrilled to hear these stories that we began featuring couples who met through our app directly on our Facebook page in a weekly nod to those looking for love! Just as you can stumble upon the love of your life while strolling through your own neighborhood or workplace, it's totally possible that you can find it on an app as well.

One great example is AJ and Mikey who had been chatting on the app for weeks until they finally met for dinner. According to Mikey, he said the moment he saw AJ across the street on 1st Avenue and their eyes met, it was love at first sight. Mikey said he was nervous but the beer, wings, and tater tots did the trick and they had a great dinner date. They are now engaged and will be married soon!

Another couple, Jan and Tom, met while they were vacationing in Spain. Tom had come from Paris and Jan from Cologne, so when they met in person they assumed it'd be a one-time thing. But as love would have it, sparks from a short-term trip can quickly turn into a five-alarm fire and so they decided they needed to see each other again... and again. Two months later, they were living together in Paris and have now lived together for over a year!

Osiel and Jacob's story began with a WOOF. After Jacob received a WOOF from Osiel, they began chatting and made lunch plans. Osiel thought "lunch" really meant a hookup. Instead, when the WOOFing Jacob arrived he suggested they go to Osiel's favorite taco restaurant. Fast forward and now they're engaged to be married! So, a WOOF really can lead to a meaningful relationship if you're open to it.

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Since last Valentine's Day, we've been sharing the stories of more than 60 couples and all of them are a testament to the fact that you absolutely can find love and relationships on apps. That said, there are some strategies that work better than others. When listening to these various stories, I can't help but notice some common themes and so I've come up with some tips that might prove helpful -- if you find yourself looking for love on an app.

My first tip is to be honest in your dating profile. A misleading profile is a sure way to guarantee that your first date is your only date. Whenever someone tells me what they like most about our app, they almost always mention that they can find friendly and honest guys on it. Apps have made it easier than ever to connect and find the guys you like, so there is no need to amplify your stats. It very well may prevent you from finding that fellow Game-of-Thrones-loving, board-gaming bear you've always dreamed of!

Also give some thought to how you express your personality in your profile. Most apps give you plenty of room to add details, and while less can also be more, specificity helps someone get to know the real you. Sharing a photo that shows your face also helps; guys with face pics as their profile image receive more messages.

My second tip is to keep an open mind when searching for love, because you may find it when you least expect it and with someone you might not have considered your "type" in the first place. Many stories begin with a hookup that leads to a date, which then leads to a relationship. Personally, I've had several hookups that have led to some fantastic dinner dates and eventually friendships.

Number three? It's probably the hardest -- but do not throw in the towel easily. Try not to be that person in an endless cycle of deleting then re-downloading dating apps after becoming frustrated. Dating can be real work and it's easy to get burnt out on hooking up, so don't be so quick to give in. I've wrestled with the same frustrations, so I understand. Adversity can bring people together, and a lot of the guys who are now happily partnered talk about how they met each other after both having gone through tough break-ups.

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Apps can provide one of the best ways to meet other guys. There's this stigma that apps in the gay community are merely for hookups, but I've seen guys who have built solid, long-lasting relationships and even gone onto become married as a result. Apps are helping guys find meaningful, long lasting relationships despite distances, age differences, and communities. With the gay community bigger and more diverse than ever, the right guy for you is out there - and most likely, is using an app in search of the same meaningful connections as you are.

Happy Valentine's Day!
As a Judge serving a drug ravaged area in south-central Kentucky, I was thrilled to learn that Kentucky will receive nearly $4 million in federal funds, over the course of the next few years, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to combat prescription drug and heroin abuse. I'm grateful Kentucky was chosen, as the funds are desperately needed.

Each day in my courtroom, I witness individuals struggling with opiate addiction, many of whom have overdosed and are fortunate to be alive. Their survival is due in part to naloxone which is used to reverse overdoses and ultimately save lives. Often we hear statistics about how many heroin overdoses have been reversed due to the drug. And, hopefully, part of the $4 million funds will go toward expanding access to naloxone through emergency response personnel.

However, naloxone cannot remedy the opiate crisis which threatens to overwhelm our communities. All involved in the crisis knows this to be true. As important as naloxone is, it is not a solution. The time has come to focus efforts on increasing access to proven recovery treatments such as medication assisted therapy combined with psychosocial counseling as part of a multi-tiered response to our opiate crisis.

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As a nation, we need to look at how we are providing treatment and recovery support to those struggling with this disease. While some of the medications approved to treat addiction have been abused or misused, there are non-addictive options including naltrexone and its extended-release formulation (more commonly known as Vivitrol).

I speak from experience. In 2012, we began Kentucky's Supervision Motivation Accountability Responsibility and Treatment (SMART) program. It is administered by the Office of the Courts and the Department of Corrections. Potential SMART defendants are referred by prosecutors, defense counsel and probation officers. Severely dependent opiate participants are treated with Vivitrol and counseling and face frequent and unscheduled reporting and drug testing. They must verify they are meeting their probation requirements -- such as pursuing education, seeking employment, working and attending drug treatment.

SMART works. SMART participants test positive for drugs at a much lower rate than regular probationers, despite more frequent testing. For example, from January to August of this last year, regular probationers in my jurisdiction tested positive on 30% of all drug tests. SMART participants, meanwhile, only tested positive on 3% of drug tests.

SMART participants also commit probation violations less frequently than their regular probation counterparts and are far less likely to be arrested for new offenses. SMART is just one example of how a recovery treatment -- not a rescue drug -- can make a long-term difference. An effective strategy needs both initiatives -- the ready availability of naloxone and non-addictive long term treatment options like Vivitrol and counseling.

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Unhappy Depressed Woman

Written with A. Crosser

I remember almost leaving my company in 2006. I was lying in bed, dejected and upset. My corporate mentor called me and talked me off the ledge. He told me I was highly valued at a time I was feeling undervalued. Over the course of our deep conversation, I realized that I had likely misinterpreted a situation and I needed to get out of bed, stand back up and not be corporate roadkill...

It's well-known that employee turnover rates come as a high cost to companies, however very few discuss the true extended costs and the multiple ways that it impacts the business. It's important that successful business not only find the best employees, but keep them engaged as well. In one of my most recent articles, we discussed losing a Millennial employee can costs the company $15,000 to $25,000, but it's actually a lot more when you weigh in a few additional variables.

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First, let's take a look at the hard costs of high turnover. What is a company going to spend in order to compensate for low retention rates? According to a study by the Society for Human Resource Management, employers will need to spend the equivalent of six to nine months of an employee's salary in order to find and train their replacement. Doing the math, that means that for an employee salaried at $60,000 will cost the company anywhere from $30,000 to $45,000 to hire and train a replacement. Other research show that the average costs could be even higher. In a study conducted by the Center for America Progress, the cost of losing an employee can cost anywhere from 16% of their salary for hourly, unsalaried employees, to 213% of the salary for a highly trained position! So if a high trained executive is making $120,000 a year, the true loss could be up to $255,600 to the company!

Perhaps getting rid of Thursday Happy Hour, flex-time, or reducing paid maternity leave was not such a good idea after all.

The question then becomes, why does losing an employee cost so much, and in what other ways do high turnover rates impact a company? From there we look to what can be done to keep strong employees engaged and happy at the company. Not just surviving but thriving at work.

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1.The Cost of Training and On-Boarding

Training an employee is not free, and is often relatively expensive. Training seminars and classes can cost a business thousands of dollars, and they can also result in the understaffing of other departments, as training sessions will often need to be led and monitored by other employees of the company. This can result in lowered productivity, and as Zane Benefits, points out the overworking of other employees making up for those who need to conduct training.

2.Interview Expenses

Conducting interviews is a long and tedious process. Many expensive mistakes can be made here in picking the wrong candidate. In order to lower turnover rates, it's important for businesses to ensure that they are hiring the best candidates for the job, individuals who will be more likely to stay and grow with the company for an extended period. The interview process can include travel expenses if candidates from out-of-town are being considered, which add up quickly. Outside of monetary expenses, the interview process takes immense amounts of time, with company leaders needing to take hours out of their day to conduct the meetings. Much like training, time spent on interviews costs the business by way of lost productivity.

3.Advertising Costs

Posting ads promoting the vacant positon can cost a company a significant amount of money, with most job boards charging a hefty fee to employers looking to advertise. These costs add up over time, meaning that the company could be looking at serious expenses to advertise new positions. Hiring a good external recruiter is a great way to decrease time on task, but the recruiter will often charge 25-33% of one year salary for senior positions.

4.Lowered Engagement

I can't tell you how many calls I receive from people distraught when they see good people and friends leaving their companies. High turnover rates will most definitely be noticed by staff who remain employed by a business, and this can often result in lost engagement on part of these employees. They will often feel that the ship is taking too much water if too many people leave, overworked, and thus less satisfied and less motivated at work.

5. Productivity of New Hires

When a company is faced with the need to hire new employees, they also face a severe decrease in productivity. As discussed before, remaining employees may lose focus due to high turnover, however the productivity of the new hires is also an issue. According to business expert Josh Bersin, of Bersin by Deloitte, a new employee can take up to two full years to reach the same level of productivity as an existing staff member. Lately, I have been thinking of the workplace like a blended family. Having new stepbrothers and sisters, uncles and cousins come into the 'work' family can be a lot of fun, but also can be riddled with new and unexpected challenges, turf wars, feelings of displacement and hurt feelings if not integrated and on-boarded right.

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6.Impact on Morale & The Gossip Machine

When other employees leave, the remaining staff will wonder why and the gossip machine commences. If an employee leaves for a higher salary, other employees may interview for other higher-paying positions elsewhere. According to Forbes, employees expecting a raise can expect to see an average of 3 percent, however being recruited for or finding a new position often results in a 10-20 percent raise, meaning that the company has to further compensate for lost staff members. Additionally, if employees left unhappily based on workplace culture issues, they will often communicate with their friends sharing a brighter life/ opportunities available on the other side. I don't want to diminish in any way the psychological impact that an employee goes through in transition regardless of who's decision it was to part ways. Transitions are tough but sometimes employees know they can't get to second base with their foot still on first/

7.Less Effective Service

When hiring for a customer service position specifically, new hires generally do not know the answers to typical questions they will face on the job. For example, if a company needs to hire several new employees to fill IT Help Desk positions, they will take longer to resolve common issues, and it could potentially result in the loss of customers, should they be unhappy with the changes.

So what is a company to do? After all transitions are a given in any company.

Perhaps we can learn something from youth in the New York City schools.

Professor Jonah Rockoff researcher out of Columbia University illustrates that mentoring not only reduces employee turnover, but also improves the skills of new employees, increasing the amount of productivity that you will see in the newly on-boarded staff members. After studying the habits of students in New York City schools and how they perform with and without mentors, Rockoff found that students who received mentoring had the best performances out of all of the students observed, and that they had a lesser chance of dropping out than students who were not mentored. These observations can be applied to business as well, with the concepts of mentoring remaining the same. Rockoff states that when an employee receives specialized attention and training from a mentor, they will perform better on the job, and will be much more likely to stay in the workplace. These concepts have been proven in corporate giants like Google, who have one of the lowest employee turnover rates in the world, and also implement one of the most effective mentoring programs.

There are many costs associated with high turnover, but there are a multitude of ways to reduce it. Mentoring is one of the most effective, cost efficient ways of increasing employee tenure benefitting the mentor, the mentee and driving significant retention.

So when my mentor called me that day from his business trip in Hong Kong, we had a deep and honest discussion. I deleted the resignation letter I had been drafting, dusted myself off, worked through the issue and continued loving my two decade career for many more years.
Brendan Dassey appears in court Monday, April 16, 2007, at the Manitowoc County Courthouse in Manitowoc, Wis. Dassey, 17, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse and first-degree sexual assault in the death of 25-year-old Teresa Halbach on Oct. 31, 2005. His uncle, Steven Avery, 44, was found guilty of her murder last month. (AP Photo/Dan Powers, Pool)

Shock and awe are not in short supply among viewers of the new documentary series, Making a Murderer. A woman brutally murdered with no apparent motive, possible police corruption, and a potentially innocent man sentenced to die in prison. These all weave a story of high drama in the criminal justice system. But spare some outrage for the appalling treatment of 16-year-old Brendan Dassey; by law enforcement, by prosecutors, and even by his own attorney. Brendan, a poor child with developmental delays, vividly reveals the mismatch adolescents face in a legal system intended for adults and bent on conviction.

Viewers flock to Netflix to watch the series because the story seems extraordinary, but as advocates at the National Juvenile Defender Center and the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, we know what happened to Brendan is not at all unusual. High stakes interrogations, stressful double-digit plea bargaining, and inadequate representation can lead to life sentences like Brendan's that disregard the qualities of adolescence and a child's capacity for change. When we look at our own kids the solution is obvious: Children are different from adults and require more protection, especially against the power of the state and the court.

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If the justice system had protected Brendan's rights in an age-appropriate manner, his case would have been handled very differently. Just this month, the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Montgomery v. Louisiana reaffirmed what all parents know, and most areas of law reflect: that children are more susceptible to external pressures, particularly from adults, and they cannot fully assess risks or understand the long-term consequences of their actions. The Court has recognized the need for children to receive individualized sentence hearings where factors about their home environment and childhood are considered. Because of their unique characteristics as children, including their capacity for rehabilitation, life sentences for youth should be banned.

Children like Brendan should also be represented by well-trained attorneys who specialize in juvenile defense. Although the Supreme Court found nearly 50 years ago in In re Gault that children have the same constitutional right to counsel as adults, all too often children are denied effective and meaningful representation (if they are provided counsel at all). National Juvenile Defender Standards direct attorneys to maintain regular client communication, make every effort to work with the client's parent or guardian, and advocate for the client's expressed interests--what the client wants, not what the lawyer thinks is best. In contrast Brendan's attorney spoke to the media before he even met his client and ignored Brendan's protest of innocence. What's worse, an investigator working for Brendan's attorney pressured him to confess and then handed him over to prosecutors, to be interrogated again, without his lawyer. With a life sentence hanging over him, Brendan should have had a team representing him that included a mitigation specialist to fully understand his childhood, his learning disabilities, and his case.

Children are not small adults. Justice requires full acknowledgment of the individual characteristics and hallmark attributes of children as well as the right to counsel and equal protection under the law. Brendan Dassey's case, like so many other less visible cases around the country, makes clear what is at stake. States and the federal government must ensure effective counsel and age-appropriate treatment for youth in our courtrooms. Our country's moral identity, the lives of children -- indeed the validity and accuracy of verdicts -- are in the balance. It is our obligation as Americans, as adults and as human beings.

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Written by:

Kim Dvorchak, Executive Director, National Juvenile Defender Center

kdvorchak@njdc.info, 202-452-0010, x101, www.njdc.info
Black Lives Matter protesters and supporters march from the Minneapolis Police Department's Fourth Precinct to the Federal Building in Minneapolis, Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2015. The fatal shooting of Jamar Clark, a black man, by a Minneapolis police officer, has pushed racial tensions in the city's small but concentrated minority community to the fore, with the police precinct besieged by the makeshift encampment and many protesters. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

We have been chanting that Black lives matter -- that our lives matter -- for some time now. To be true, past generations have chanted that Black lives matter since slavery, the Jim Crow era, voting suppression and the civil rights movement.

Calls from the current generation have ranged from written commentary on the subtle microaggressions that lead to oppression, to city riots that cry out so loudly that continued injustice can no longer be ignored. The revival has been as invigorating and as unapologetic as if it were straight out of the west coast's 1990s. Its sparks have hinted at the revolution that is surely upon us.

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Our demand has been on American society to value African American lives. And why not? It is 2016, and the disparities that still affect African Americans are appalling. Daily we endure the impact of poverty, unemployment, poor education and low access to quality healthcare. While Washington seems to piddle with the plights of the privileged, African Americans remain at the top of the class for almost every major disease and bad habit that leads to them. Smoking-related illness? Yes. HIV? Number one. Diabetes? Absolutely. Plus we lead in death rates for just about Every. Single. Cancer.

Despite the challenges and barriers posed by systemic institutional racism, the revolutionaries are rising up. We have protested on the frontline of the streets, but know that the revolution has long been welcomed at the front door of our homes -- that's where justice hangs its hat.

Perhaps the tobacco industry is finding new and innovative ways to dispense their toxins, thinking we won't recognize the new face of nicotine. Do they think we can be enticed to give up our freedom for an e-addiction? Have they forgotten that we are the hope and the dream of the slave? They may make menthols cheaper and easier to get in our neighborhoods, but we will no longer allow such an industry to profit from our destruction. The revolution is settling in.

The vibrations of the revolution permeate the walls of our homes and into our personal lives. Some of us revolutionaries are college students who are honoring the ground of their sacred HBCUs by declaring them entirely tobacco-free. Some of us revolutionaries are simply kids who aren't afraid to throw shade in the direction of a hookah lounge. To those who have committed to a smoke-free life and to those who are quitting for the third time, we hear you loud and clear. The revolution has come home.

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Are the grocery stores still out of our reach? Is it still more convenient to get a burger than a banana where we live? Let's not forget that we are the descendants of revolutionaries who marched for miles to give us the education we had long been denied. So don't be surprised that even the youngest of our revolutionaries work with local corner store owners to stock healthy options for their neighbors. There are revolutionaries who advocate for sidewalks and streetlights. And there are revolutionaries that simply make it their business to speed walk and jog because, yes, Black girls do run, and our health does matter. The revolution has come home.

And for those who would perpetuate stigma and prejudice in our very own community, please know that as the church finds its way and our school systems begin to rise to the occasion, the revolutionaries will be handling their business. Our revolutionaries are educators who don't hesitate to discuss the HIV epidemic in public. They are ball kids who pass out condoms, women who get tested regularly and a people who know their status. See, the revolution starts within.

We are wholly sure that our health matters because our lives matter. This inner knowing has called us to join the ranks of those taking action in the streets, on the Hill and in our personal lives. The revolution is seated on our couches. It's sleeping in the back room and using our toothbrushes. We welcome the revolution to come on in this house because MLK's dream was for us to live the dream.
Who amongst you has not anteed up for a book from Amazon? Admit it, even those of you who dream of publishing your own book have spent money at Amazon buying e-books or printed books for less than any competitor could afford to sell them.

This ability to undercut all competitors and monopolize the market is just what authors, publishers, lawyers and regulators gathered to discuss at the end of January in Washington, D.C., and their words are important to carry forward this year.

Amazon's Book Monopoly: A Threat to Freedom of Expression? presented at New America, a non-partisan think tank, explored the impact of Amazon's monopoly on publishing and ideas in America.

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Two years ago, Authors United led by author Douglas Preston wrote a letter to the Justice Department asking the government to investigate Amazon's monopoly practices. Last fall, members of the group, along with representatives of the Authors Guild, met with antitrust officials at the Justice Department to present their case.

The facts are sobering. At the January forum, Preston quoted the following statistics: Amazon controls 75 percent of online sales of books and 65 percent of e-books sales.

The numbers are more staggering with self-published authors. Eighty-five percent of e-books sold by self-published authors are controlled by Amazon.

These authors, hungry to see publication, eagerly sign Amazon contracts which bar them from using their material elsewhere. Non-compete clauses written into those contracts reduce authors' freedom to make a living by reusing their writing.

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This control stifles the free flow of ideas, and along with Amazon's lopsided control of book sales in America, forms the basis of Preston's and Authors United's cry of "monopoly!"

Why should you care about this? Sure it's nice to have lower book prices. We all hunt for a bargain, but in the marketplace of ideas, a bargain can come with unseen costs.

As the number of outlets for ideas contracts, fewer ideas get to the marketplace. Fewer ideas circulate. The direct consequence is that our democracy shrinks.

And to all of you who dream of writing, publishing, and joining the American tradition of a vigorous marketplace of ideas, know this: Not only will there be fewer places to distribute your ideas, but it will be impossible to make a living as Amazon's policies send a chill wind through the industry affecting advances and book sales at every level.

Amazon's actions are clearly those of a monopoly, but will the government bring a suit to protect us from this encroachment?

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Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, also owns the Washington Post and bringing a suit against the owner of the paper of record in our nation's capital could be political suicide. And don't be so naive as to believe it won't be on the minds of those who consider this request to take on Amazon and its antitrust violations. Amazon has been the darling of Wall Street for a very long time, and may seem untouchable in Washington circles.

So, will the Justice Department step up? The argument put forth at the New America forum in January was that it will take the will of the people behind the questioning few to urge the government to attempt such a high profile assault.

What will be key to regulators is if we--not only the writers and publishers of books, but everyday Americans--place saving a few bucks above our shared value of a free and robust society, where the unfettered exchange of ideas forms the heart of our nation.
I have advanced breast cancer. But I could be a poster child for new medical treatments. Thanks to my involvement in a clinical trial, I feel so good that I work part-time, volunteer on the PTA at my son's school, and bike to my chemo appointments.

I know all too well what a breast cancer diagnosis means without access to these medicines. My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer before targeted cancer drugs were available. She died when I was 11 - less than a year after her diagnosis.

My son is now 10. And my clinical trial won't last forever. That's why I was recently arrested protesting the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The TPP would lock in policies that prevent some patients from accessing life-saving medicines.

One of my current cancer medicines could cost me over $100,000 if I were not in a clinical trial, because the company that produces it has a monopoly on its production. How many other women might benefit from this medicine but can't afford it?

If ratified, the TPP would make this problem worse. It would lock in extended monopolies for many new medicines - above and beyond existing, generous patent protections. Monopolies allow drug companies to charge exorbitantly high prices. The result: patients who can't afford it will be stuck in the bad old days when a cancer diagnosis condemned them to an early and ugly death.

The TPP has a section that would lock in in a five to eight year minimum extra monopoly period for biological medicines - treatments that give hope to so many cancer patients and others with serious illnesses.

It would lock in "evergreening" policies that allow extended patents (and therefore extended monopolies on sales) for merely tweaking treatments regimens for existing drugs, such as extended release pills.

And it would empower foreign pharmaceutical corporations to challenge future price-control measures outside our courts in private, non-democratic tribunals.

If Congress passes the TPP, the net effect of all these provisions would be to delay the production of life-saving generics and biosimilars (generics for biologicals), lock in obscenely high prices, and lock out too many patients from the care they desperately need.

Even if you don't have cancer, you would likely help pay for monopoly drug pricing for people like me through your insurance premiums and taxes.

Pharmaceutical companies claim that extra monopoly protections in the TPP foster innovation. In fact, there's evidence that the opposite is true. When countries were allowed to produce generic HIV medicines, the resulting innovations helped to streamline the production process, reduce prices, and save countless lives. When the Supreme Court nixed a monopoly on BRCA testing, companies innovated and developed cost effective tests.

TPP provisions that incentivize spending money on legal shenanigans (like filing for patent extensions on existing meds) take resources away from developing new life-saving treatments. And let's not forget that many of today's innovative medicines were developed through public funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), universities, and private donations.

About one out of eight women in this country will get breast cancer. Members of Congress should look their wives, mothers, sisters, daughters and granddaughters in the eye.

Then they should vote against the TPP.
A man came up to me.

"Is anyone sitting here?" he asked.

"No, help yourself,"

"Are you on your own?"

"It's a long story."

"I have lots of time. My name is Alessandro."

"I was supposed to be here with someone, but that person didn't make it, so now I'm here by myself."

"Are you okay?"

"Yes. I've been wandering around, not really sure where I was going, but I always end up where I want to be and am happy."

I described the Christmas I'd just had with my family. Later he told me that, as he listened to me, he thought, she's so nice. I could fall in love with her.

Alessandro was there with a friend. At closing, Alessandro wanted to drive me home, but also had to drive his friend. At 3 a.m., we squeezed into Alessandro's Smart Car.

As we drove through a wooded area, I thought, I'm with two Italian men that I just met in a wine bar. People are going to read about me in the news, saying, "What was she thinking?" However, I felt safe. I sensed a kindred spirit as we talked. We shared the same view of life.

He dropped off his friend.

We kept talking. It seemed strange that this handsome man and I had such a deep connection. I dwelt in the moment.

He stopped at my hotel and kissed me. I was shocked. With our strong spiritual connection, I forgot I that we were a man and a woman. The kiss was so beautiful.

The next morning he sent a wonderful email, then called and came to meet me. I looked at his face and laughed inside.

Where have you been? I've been waiting forever. I know who you are.

"Ask me anything," he said. "I want to tell you."

"What is most important to you?"

"My kids."

I saw how much he loved them.

"Are you divorced?" I asked.

"No, but I'm not really married either."

"I'm very idealistic about love. I know how you Italian men are. I'm not interested. Please take me back to my hotel."

I felt so connected to this man already that I could never remain on the perimeter of his life.

He tried to talk to me, but I said, "No, just take me back to my hotel."

We embraced and kissed.

On the way back to the hotel I cried and laughed. Here I sat on a scooter behind this him, going through the winding streets of Rome. It was so iconic. When he dropped me offl, he said something that I'll always remember.

"I don't know if we'll ever meet again, but I can tell you that you are not alone anymore."

I cried even more. We embraced and I walked towards my hotel. When I turned he was standing on the corner.

In my room I sobbed. That was New Year's Eve.

The next day he began calling me.

"I told you not to call me," I said.

"I know, but I have to talk with you."

He called all day.

"I told you not to call," I said each time.

"I'll call you later."

He did, at midnight.

"I'll talk to you tomorrow," I said.

"I need to talk to you right now. I'm outside your hotel. I'm not leaving until you come down."

So I did.
A little over a century ago, two southern Italian men, like thousands of their impoverished brethren, moved to the Boston area to work as shoemakers, settling in the then-leather capital of the New World. One was trained in the art of handcrafting leather in Italy; the other learned the piecemeal production-line technique of edge trimming. Both reacted similarly to the dehumanizing conditions of the early 20th century factory: They were appalled, their spirits crushed.

One channeled his passion and his disillusionment into becoming a famous designer; the other became an infamous anarchist.

"This was not shoemaking," one wrote. "This was an inferno, a bedlam of rattles and clatters and whizzing machines and hurrying, scurrying people." The other lamented New England factory life to his daughter: "the nightmare of the lower classes saddened very badly your father's soul."

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The shoemaker describing the inferno-like conditions was Salvatore Ferragamo, who wrote about his memories decades later in his book Shoemaker of Dreams; the other, Nicola Sacco, was writing to his daughter from his prison cell.

The plight of struggling workers would lead Sacco, along with Bartolemeo Vanzetti, to join an anarchist group whose violent vision called for targeted bombings of capitalists. The plight of factory conditions would lead Salvatore Ferragamo to head west after just one week in Boston, joining his siblings who had settled in Santa Barbara, California.

One of Ferragamo's brothers, a tailor for the American Film Company, suggested that the nascent studio might need a shoemaker's skills. The idea proved ingenious, and soon Salvatore was carving leather for cowboy boots for Douglas Fairbanks and fitting delicate pumps for Lottie Pickford. By the 1920s, he moved to Los Angeles, where he received his largest commission, designing the shoe wardrobe for Cecil B. DeMille's mammoth production The Ten Commandments. He then set off on designing his own shoes for Hollywood stars and would soon become one of the leading purveyors of luxury goods in the world.

While the lives of two southern Italian immigrants, luxury shoe designer Salvatore Ferragamo and shoemaker-turned-anarchist Nicola Sacco are not usually interlaced, they present an interesting parallel. If Ferragamo possessed the ingenuity needed to escape soul-crushing factory conditions, Sacco revealed the fury bred when wide-scale industrialization didn't match his utopian New World vision. Ferragamo headed west to California and found the freedom to create; a few years later Sacco headed west to Mexico to be radicalized at an anarchist camp.

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Nicola Sacco would eventually return to Massachusetts and continue to advocate the radical beliefs of Italian anarchist Luigi Galleani, who had urged his followers to go to Mexico to prepare for the revolution he believed would spread from Russia to Europe. Galleani also convinced his supporters that bombings and assassinations were justified because the victims were capitalists and government officials.



In 1927, Salvatore Ferragamo returned to Italy permanently to perfect and grow his business. Unable to meet the increasing demand for his coveted handmade shoes, he needed the help of skilled craftsmen in Florence.

In 1927, Sacco's American journey would end in the electric chair, as would Vanzetti's, the two convicted of a robbery and murder that many believed they did not commit.

But this story is not just about two men. It is about what their lives represented to the wider world.

Unfortunately for the larger Italian-American population, it was the narrative of Sacco and Vanzetti, not Ferragamo, that national leaders chose to use as a chilling example of how immigrants were damaging the American way of life. To the clubby New England establishment of judges, university presidents, and politicians, Sacco and Vanzetti were not outliers but representatives of a people who didn't share Anglo-Saxon values. Their lengthy trial played into nativist prejudices and contributed to the passage of the 1924 Johnson-Reed Act, which severely restricted southern and eastern Europeans from entering the country.

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It would take several more decades for Ferragamo to achieve worldwide success. Today he symbolizes the immigrants' dream of American opportunity - one that propelled a cobbler, who once pounded leather in a tiny stone room in southern Italy, to establish an internationally recognized brand of goods.

As Europe and America are once again rattled with fear that disenfranchised immigrants and war-ravaged refugees will turn into radical jihadists, and two-thirds of Republican voters in New Hampshire say they support a ban on Muslims entering the country, let's not make the same mistake of tarnishing an entire group for the beliefs of the few.


The path to climate progress requires finding common ground with those who hold different views.  Tim Calver

Mark Tercek is the president and CEO of the Nature Conservancy and author of Nature's Fortune. Follow Mark on Twitter @MarkTercek.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay temporarily blocking the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan. The plan is intended to be the main regulatory tool to reduce carbon emissions from power plants in the U.S. In many ways, it's the underpinning of U.S. commitments under the recent Paris climate agreement.

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It's too early to predict the ultimate legal outcome. But one message seems clear to me - we'd better get to work building a majority coalition that will support legislatively driven climate policy.

It's also a reminder that environmentalists like me need to work harder to reach new constituents. We need to build broader bipartisan support for a clean energy future. We need to find common ground between Republicans and Democrats, citizens in red states and blue, and business, NGO and community leaders.

In that spirit, I was pleased to visit the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham, Alabama, this week to speak about climate change.

I was unsure what to expect while preparing my remarks. After all, polls show that only some 56% of Alabamans believe that global warming is even happening.

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But I'm pleased to report the speech went relatively well. People seemed interested in what I had to say. They seemed to agree it was appropriate for me to put these issues squarely on the table, even though some in the audience might hold different views.

The Costs of Inaction

I began my speech by noting that climate change is not just a distant threat.

Right here in Alabama, I told the audience, we're already seeing the effects of a changing climate. Sea level rise is sending salt water into the state's freshwater basins, contaminating drinking water and harming fish populations that fuel the state's economy. Economic infrastructure--like Louisiana State Highway 1, which the oil and gas industry uses to deliver resources to its plants--is literally sinking. And more intense storms and bigger storm surges are putting coastal communities at risk.

Because of impacts like these, counties bordering the Gulf of Mexico are currently grappling with damage amounting to $14 billion annually.

Climate change also poses significant economic risks to the U.S. as a whole, of course, from an additional $7.3 billion in annual damage to coastal property and infrastructure to 10% declines in yields of corn, wheat, soy and cotton in the Midwest and the South over the coming decades. Increased energy demand due to rising temperatures could cost residential and commercial energy users an additional $12 billion per year.

We cannot afford to ignore these risks.

A Simple Swap

So, how can we reduce carbon emissions in a way that benefits everyone?

I noted that most economists--both Republican and Democrat--agree that putting a price on carbon is the easiest way to quickly reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the lowest cost.

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I acknowledged the failure of the 2009 Waxman-Markey bill, which called for a cap and trade system requiring businesses to buy permits to cover their emissions. In that case, Congress proposed spending the proceeds from the permits on a huge number of new government programs. In hindsight, it's not surprising that critics were unwilling to support a program that would grow the federal government.

But suppose we did something else with the money from a price on carbon. Suppose we looked to grow the economy instead of growing the government.

Here's what I proposed to the audience: let's swap one tax for another.

A carbon tax of $20 per ton would raise more than $100 billion per year. That's enough to replace the revenue we'd lose if we reduced the corporate tax rate from 35 to 25 percent.

A carbon tax like this could be simple to administer. It would put less drag on economic growth. And it would incentivize new technologies that accelerate the transition to cleaner energy and enhance our competitiveness in the global marketplace.

Speaking Out on a Tough Topic

I concluded by noting that I know climate is a tough topic. I get that we're not all on the same page.

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Even at the Nature Conservancy, some of our trustees -- our volunteer leaders who come from all 50 states and both political parties -- have been a bit reluctant to take a stand on climate change.

But as these people see climate change transforming the places they love, they are becoming concerned.

Take North Carolina's Albemarle Peninsula, where we have worked with partners for decades to construct a protected landscape that covers 540,000 acres and includes five national wildlife refuges. The peninsula is beginning to disappear to rising sea levels. By the end of the century, it's likely to be just a small island of only a few thousand acres.

All of our work and all of our investment will be under water.

We are seeing changes like these in places where we work all around the world. And we think it is our job to speak up for those places.

So, what did the Kiwanis of Birmingham think about my talk? Well, as one audience member told me, it certainly wasn't boring.

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For Marco Rubio, Tuesday night was supposed to be phase two of a daring strategy that would shoot him into the lead in the Republican primary for President of the United States. Step one was to come in a strong third in Iowa, then a strong second in New Hampshire and finally to win the South Carolina primary on February 20th.

Marco Rubio did not come in second on Tuesday, he came in fifth.

Even worse for Rubio, finishing ahead of him were John Kasich and Jeb Bush, two candidates who are competing for the same lane of mainstream moderate support in the primary as he is. The implications of this result for the next month of the Republican primary cannot be understated.

Rubio has been widely seen as the consensus, electable alternative to Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, two candidates who have dim prospects in the general election. That consensus was shattered by his poor showing coming off of a panned debate performance wherein Chris Christie masterfully exposed Rubio's tendency to repeat well-rehearsed talking points when under pressure.

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Chris Christie's campaign is over after he placed sixth in New Hampshire, but he may just have taken Rubio and perhaps the Republican Party down with him.

The problem for Republicans after the New Hampshire primary can be summed up like this. The splitting of establishment, moderate voters between Jeb Bush, John Kasich and Marco Rubio which led to a huge margin of victory for Donald Trump, now threatens to continue through the coming weeks. It's not hard to imagine Trump pulling off similar margins in upcoming primaries in South Carolina and Nevada, where his support seems to hover between 25 percent and 36 percent.

Mathematically speaking, it's extremely unlikely that any establishment Republican can win a primary while three of them split up the vote. It now seems more likely than not that Trump and Cruz will split all four of the states holding primaries in February.

This is a waking nightmare for Republicans who want to win in November.

Donald Trump is wildly unpopular with Latinos, Muslims, millennials, registered independents and women voters. By themselves, not all of these groups are essential to a winning presidential candidate's coalition, but all together their resistance would absolutely crush any chance Republicans had of taking back the White House in 2016.

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Trump simply cannot win and Democrats salivate at the prospect of having Trump face off with Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton come November.

The implications of a Cruz nomination are less clear but likely not ideal for Republicans. Cruz is a freshman Senator elected in 2012, who is well known for being an ideological extremist. He was a key instigator of the 2013 government shutdown.

Cruz is also said to be incredibly unpopular among his Senate colleagues, having failed to receive the endorsement of a single sitting US senator, despite being a leading candidate for the Republican nomination for several months.

This ideological extremism and lack of personal likability should give Republicans plenty of worry as Cruz continues to do well with the highly influential evangelical Christian voting bloc.

In short, Tuesday night could have been the end of a very long nightmare for the Republican establishment that has been going on since June 16th 2015, the day Donald Trump announced he was running for president. Instead, it appears to be just the beginning, with no telling if or when they'll wake up.
With Valentine's Day fast approaching, now is the perfect time to curl up with a heartwarming love story. I asked the experts--romance novelists, of course!--to share some of the most romantic books they've read recently. Check out their recommendations--ranging from classic novels and old skool romance to new adult and sexy contemporary romance--to get you in the mood for love!

There's so much wonderful about Forbidden; Jenkins's lulling but quietly powerful prose, uplifting storytelling, smoldering sensuality. In her hands, a scene about making marmalade demands as much surrender as a stolen kiss in a cupboard. But above all else, Forbidden is a romance, a tale of a love so powerful and commanding it leads two quietly suffering people from the dreams they'd knit from ash and teaches them how to transform love, honesty, and devotion into a perfect, soaring happily ever after.

I can't think of a book I've read in the last year that left me so enthralled, so utterly entranced by the romance. This isn't some shades of plaid sort of Scottish tale, but rather A Desperate Fortune is the quiet love story of Hugh and Mary, who fall in love slowly and so deeply that final moment between them that left me swooning.

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This is a beautiful, compelling romantic read about an emotionally damaged man who has shut himself off from the small town where he lives, following a family tragedy. Enter the bright, nurturing woman who lands in town, hoping to escape reminders of her own trauma--and by chance, she is able to communicate with Archer the only way he is capable. Through sign language. The dance the characters execute had me holding my breath as I read. It has the feel of an old classic and it will always stick with me.

Ellie Cahill creates a sweet and original take on the "friends with benefits" narrative. Joss and Matt are funny, lovable, and worth rooting for.

Even the title, The Prince Of Midnight by the fabulous Laura Kinsale, is romantic. Kinsale's books always transcend the genre but here she is magic. She takes two broken, lonely souls, unites them on a quest for vengeance and honor, and stars collide. Lady Leigh Strachan has traveled a great distance in search of the infamous highwayman known as the Prince of Midnight. She wants him help her avenge her family's deaths. S.T. Maitland hung up his highwayman spurs long ago when he realized he was all too human. He suffers vertigo, is deaf in one ear and is crippled with doubt. But he has a fiendish sense of humor and the heart of a hero. The Prince Of Midnight reminds me that it isn't our strengths that open us to love but our vulnerabilities.

Take bad azz female fire fighter Alex Dempsey throw in combustible Mayor Eil Cooper and a five alarm fire breaks out. Hot, sexy, wonderful.

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To me the most romantic stories are the ones where the connection between the lovers is a character in itself-- equal parts friendship and chemistry and that certain undefinable something that you just know they can never find with anyone else. And when you set that kind of connection against the backdrop of World War 2 and the Siege of Leningrad, 'love against all odds' takes on a whole new meaning. Paulina Simmons' The Bronze Horseman is so insanely romantic it's almost dangerous because it will make you useless for days after you've finished the book, unable to burrow out of Tatiana and Alexander's heart-wrenching, life-affirming story of love.

Persuasion by Jane Austen
Since the holiday of love is fast approaching we thought it fitting to explore the historical roots of Valentine's Day. Personally, I am a bit torn about how I feel about the holiday itself. Part of me (the Libra side) is in love with love so any day that celebrates "love" is a winner in my book. However, the cynical side of me thinks it is a trumped up faux-holiday created to have us all spend money. I guess this makes me no different then any other conflicted individual out there. However, I digress.

So, I decided to ask a few close friends to get some additional perspective on what they thought about the holiday and where they thought the origin of this day came from. Not surprisingly, a few of my male friends sided with my cynical side thinking that the day was a big scheme started by the flower and jewelry industries to guilt them into buying gifts for their significant others. While another male friend suggested that the day should entitle him to some acts that were a bit too risque to share in this forum--nonetheless, entertaining to listen to. The few women that I asked offered a mixed bag of responses ranging from the romantic to the apathetic. The consensus among the friends that I spoke with was that they had no idea how this holiday came into existence.

As it turns out, there is quite a history behind Valentine's Day and a lot of it actually quite dark for it to be known today as such happy, loving day. And like many other subject matters, some of the available information about this holiday has differing points of view leaving the non-historian like myself a bit confused. What I could determine is that there were at least 3 Christian saints known as Valentine.

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Valentine's Day has roots in the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, a fertility celebration that occurred annually from February 13th to February 15th that was celebrated as far back as 44 BC (some historians say it goes back even further) where shepherds thought the celebration brought health and fertility to their sheep and cows. These ceremonies were apparently filled with animal sacrifices and a whole lot of nudity. Priests would lead the sacrifices of goats and young dogs due to the belief that these species had strong sexual instincts. Hmm, dogs and goats equal sexuality? Not surprisingly, the sacrifices were followed by copious amounts of wine. Once the libations kicked in full throttle the men would strip down dressing themselves in the animal skins of the recently sacrificed animals and would run around town striking women they wanted to pair up with with animal flesh. If the pairing was amenable to both parties the priest would marry the couple. I must say that I am glad that times have changed.

At some point, Lupercalia fell out of favor with the upper classes of society and became an event that the lower classes celebrated. Towards the end of the fifth century, Pope Gelasius I ended up banning the festival and established what he perceived a more Christian holiday on February 14th to celebrate the patron Saint Valentine. Throughout history there were several saints that went by the name Valentine, but it is believed that the patron saint that Gelasius created the holiday for was a combination of several saints. One of the Valentine saints lived in the third century who was apparently beheaded by Emperor Claudius, who was convinced that this particular Valentine was illegally marrying Christians. Another Valentine was killed in the Roman province of Africa because he would not give up being a Christian in the 4th century. The third Valentine also met his death by beheading during the 3rd century. This new celebration that Gelasius created did not really catch on until the 14th century. Some historians do not believe that Lupercalia has anything to do with what we now know as Valentines Day.

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Enter Geoffrey Chaucer, the author of the Canterbury Tales, who some historians believe is the inventor of Valentine's Day while some believe that he just brought the concept to the masses and popularized it. Either way, it was Chaucer's poem, "Parliament of the Foules", that is thought to be the first written word tying both Valentine's Day and love together. It was Chaucer's verse, "For this was Saint Valentine's day, when every bird of every kind that men can imagine comes to this place to choose his mate" that leads some historians to fall into the category of seeing Chaucer as the creator of Valentine's Day.

It wasn't until the 18th century in Britain did the exchange of Valentine's Day notes become popular and the tradition quickly spread to the United States. In fact it was the entrepreneurial spirit of Esther A. Howland who received a Valentine herself and since her father owned a book and stationary store she was inspired to mass-produce Valentine's Day cards as a source of additional income.
To Sleep or Not to Sleep -- Marrying at 60!

At age 60 I'd given up hope that I would ever find my One, or even sleep with anyone again, as I was so set in my ways.

Because I'd lived by myself so long, I slept lightly. Discerning sounds of a neighbor being normal from a murder in progress was a survival skill. When my allergist told me I was inhaling mites from my pillows, that was the last straw and the last down I ever inhaled. Dangers during hours meant to be restorative undermined any sense of security. Was there no sanctuary for the informed?

I baked my bedding weekly in the dryer to suck out bugs; bought foam wedges to protect me from gravity; never drank after 6 p.m. so I could sleep the night. Sippy cups, Tempur-Pedic pillows, lavender eye masks, knee dividers -- worlds of merchandise cost me the money I hid under my hypoallergenic, latex mattress, and the intimacy I so desired.

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Then, I was stunned to discover divorced, smart, 60-ish, handsome Stan online. On our first, four-hour date, he slipped me the crispest bits of his chicken and nicest slice of his pie. He liked me, too! Within weeks our awake hours weren't enough. It was time to take the next step and sleep together. Not to have sex; just to sleep.

"I'm shy," I said, "... about moving too fast."

"Me, too, but, our being together feels inevitable."

"I sleep in baggy cotton stuff."

"So do I," he said.

"I'm a pillow-holic," I giggled.

"Me, too," he cried. "I have six."

"I like 'em soft."

"I like 'em hard."

"I'm a morning person."

"I'm ... a night guy."

"I'm a light sleeper."

"I snore."

"I have ear plugs."

"I have ... a sleep apnea machine!"



No! Could such daytime complementarity exist with such nighttime incompatibility? For two insomniacs with so much more to explore, spending the night would be our Everest.

We embarked on the climb equipped with cotton T-shirts and shorts, and 2000-thread-count sheets and crept onto his wall-to- wall, extra firm, California king. We had a lot of adjusting to do in the cuddle phase. Living alone so long, I hadn't realized how bony I'd become. My ribs couldn't tolerate his arm, my neck his shoulder for more than a minute. My arm on his chest inhibited his rest, my leg over his made him claustrophobic.



The third night, deliriously tired, I ear-plugged and blindfolded myself into sensory deprivation as he read in the prison floodlight sweeping his half of the acreage. With manly Stan on watch, I slept deeply, until he turned off the light and his breathing degenerated into snoring, punctuated with snorts of near suffocation. I had to stay awake so he wouldn't die on me. I discovered that if I made kissing sounds I could interrupt his snore sequence and get intermittent rest.

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We awoke to debrief.

"Boy, do you snore!" I said.

"Well, you make these weird sucking noises all night."



Despite the challenges, we focused on the plusses and fell joyously in love! And within a year, he'd given up his sprawling king for his queen.

Things got harder as he grew comfortable in my home. The sweetest man by day, by night Stan was a sociopath. Gentle Jekyll would hide nocturnal Mr. Hyde until, drowsing into bed at 2 a.m., he'd head butt me comatose in his try for a goodnight kiss, clap my eardrums to bursting in his attempt to clasp my face to his, or kiss my eyeball, widened in panic, before it could flinch.



It's a rodeo some nights, as I'll roll him bucking onto his side to pin down his lurching legs, or he'll fling his pillows from the bed, pull mine out from under my head, then expose me to frostbite as he rolls over in the covers. Occasionally we get 20 winks, until the bed quake as he seeks his phone alarm clanging somewhere in my sheets or body cavities.



Even unconscious my man is talented. His animal impersonations! Trumpeting elephants, growling tigers, hidden kittens -- he can honk like a donkey, or a flock of geese. He can whistle for a New York cab with one nostril stuffed. His coughs could open in "La Boheme" at the Met.

Now that I give him grains instead of glutens, goat instead of cow dairy, his snores subside and we sleep more deeply. I love to touch his sleeping hand and have it clamp onto mine like a Venus flytrap, until it's nearly gangrenous; the way he'll reach for me, making out with a pillow until he locates me amid the covers.

Eighteen months married, we awake amazed by the creature comfort in which we live. My free-floating anxiety sinks in his ocean of devotion. There's no one who can warm my hands like him, my feet like him, my heart like him. Ours is a love for which it's worth losing sleep...

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Group of cheerful doctors standing together and looking at camera.

In recent years, the American public has clamored for a more integrative and holistic medical model, in which doctors are equipped not only to write prescriptions and perform procedures, but also to guide patients in a whole-being/whole-life approach to health. We actually need a medical culture that can support doctors, as well as patients, in this regard.

Medicine is one of the most demanding environments in which to work. For starters, the hours can be brutal, especially early on. By way of example, it was only a decade ago that medical residency workload was decreased to 80 hours a week. Addressing this matter in our recent interview, Jeffrey Sloan MD - a researcher and professor at the Mayo Clinic, specializing in quality of life issues for medical patients and practitioners - noted that doctors all have residency stories along the lines of, "I was up for 72 hours, and I'm lucky I didn't kill somebody" or "I did something goofy, but fortunately someone caught me." These are "cute anecdotes," Sloan said, but they underscore a serious issue.

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Referring to a series of peer-reviewed studies on physician wellness, which Sloan and his colleagues conducted, Sloan emphasized that it was not surprising to get "hard data that says, yes, burnout leads directly to medical errors."

The matter nonetheless remains controversial, and I can see both sides of the coin. On the one hand, it is true, grueling hours easily can lead to burnout and compromise a doctor's ability to perform. As a result, errors may occur. On the other hand, there are numerous benefits to continuity of care between doctor and patient, particularly during a young doctor's training - the development of a sense of devotion to patients; the understanding of how illness and healing evolve, and in this regard, how various treatments impact patient wellness; and the reduced likelihood of critical information falling through the cracks, as doctors hand off a case.

A 2006 study, "The Impact of the 80-Hour Resident Workweek on Surgical Residents and Attending Surgeons," published in Annals of Surgery, summarized the matter clearly: "Proponents say that the restrictions are necessary for the physical and mental health of residents, and to reduce errors that can result from sleep deprivation...Critics feel that this loss of continuity of care will require more frequent handoffs of care, potentially leading to additional errors."

Further complicating matters is the number of patients that doctors are expected to see each day, given today's profit-driven, managed care system. In our recent interview, Pranay Sinha MD, a medical resident at Yale University, shared the impact of a slammed patient load: "As residents and interns on night float, we can find ourselves admitting patients while also cross-covering 20 or more patients, whom we don't know as intimately as we would like. While multi-tasking is a necessary skill for physicians, we are frequently haunted by the feeling of missing something. It is a terrible feeling, and it lowers our threshold for ordering X-rays, blood cultures, and antibiotics."

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Sinha compared the experience to when he has half the patient load: "I have time to digest their medical records, make more deliberate decisions, and connect with them. I can hear about their life stories and get to know them as human beings."

While medical administrators characteristically insist that there is not enough money in the budget for more doctors, and therefore more time for each doctor to do the same amount of work, healthcare costs actually might decrease, if physicians have more time. "It's not a quantitative thing like a factory," Sloan elucidated. Assembly lines "are appropriate productivity approaches for things that are relatively straightforward and deterministic, but medicine is none of those things. It's so dynamic and interactive." By focusing on the quality, Sloan asserted, we improve the quantity.

"I never know precisely how much an MRI or a lab test will cost," Sinha added, "but I imagine residents could save our own salary's worth of unnecessary tests and imaging over a year, if we operated in a system which allowed us to spend more time with the patients and discern their symptoms with nuance."

As the debates about work hours and patient loads continue, there are numerous steps that doctors can take, individually and collectively, to improve our quality of life, our experience of medicine, and our efficacy in patient care. To this end, Claudia Finkelstein MD - Clinical Associate Professor and Director of the University of Washington School of Medicine Faculty Wellness Programs - has launched a number of wellness initiatives, such as the "Improving Physician Resiliency" program, in which doctors are guided in developing a spiritual practice; spending time in nature; blocking out fun time in their calendar; reconnecting with the joy and purpose of their medical practice; and more.

Not only do such initiatives provide critical instruction on connecting the dots of our lives and, in doing so, optimizing our wellness on every level (a tool that doctors can pass on to their patients, serving as role models) but these initiatives also carve out space for simply acknowledging, as well as processing, the distress and insecurity that doctors typically face but are terrified to express - at times with fatal results.

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In his New York Times article, "Why Do Doctors Commit Suicide," Sinha explored why physicians commit suicide several times more frequently than the general population. "Doctors, especially fledgling doctors like me," he noted, "feel pressure to project intellectual, emotional, and physical prowess beyond what we truly possess...We masquerade as strong and untroubled professionals, even in our darkest and most self-doubting moments."

It is for this reason that, as an attending physician, Finkelstein made a point of devoting time during rounds to ask how everyone was feeling - especially in the case where a patient just died. "There's a lot of value in that," Finkelstein noted, "but these sorts of 'soft skills' do not get their due. People think it's better if you know the latest recommendations for how many pills you need to take for heart failure, than for how to connect with someone with a longstanding chronic illness, facing their mortality in a meaningful way."

Given this prevailing attitude, Finkelstein continued, doctors lack compassionate training in how to cope with facing disease and death. Empathy is "lost and broken down," she said, early on in a doctor's career, and is not picked up again as a specific interest of medical institutions. "Young physicians are allowed to drift far from there and get a little stony cold...they don't have a lot of support, once they enter the clinical part of their training."
When the Detroit teachers' union and several parents' groups recently filed a lawsuit against the Detroit Public Schools, their complaint highlighted dangerous and unhealthy learning conditions for children: infestations of rats and roaches, freezing classrooms, exposed electrical wiring, and falling debris. "That floor's been like that for at least four years," parent Christopher Robinson complained, referring to the growing mold in one school. "Our children deserve better," said Shoniqua Kemp, parent of two children in Detroit schools, and one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. "They're going to get better, one way or another."

Nearly 83% of Detroit residents are Black, and a slightly higher percentage of children in Detroit schools are Black. Although the problems in Detroit schools are also related to a host of issues that might be seen as having nothing to do with race--state disinvestment in public education, the bungled and ill-advised state takeover of the district, the effects of a number of economic factors--it is important to name that these horrors are being experienced disproportionately by Black children. And we must understand that, largely, the broader public is just fine with that.

In fact, our nation has been just fine with not providing educational opportunities for Black people since the very beginning. During the years of chattel slavery, it was illegal in many places to teach a Black person to read or write, and countless Black people were killed, or had their fingers chopped off as punishment for learning anyway. When Black people began to build schools, white people often burned them to the ground. And for the past 100 years, federal and state legislators, local officials, and predominantly white citizens' groups have used various strategies to ensure that Black children are deprived of equitable education funding, and do not gain access to the more highly resourced public schools their children attend.

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Beyond the systemic, intentional, and conniving efforts to deprive Black people of education, Black children, parents, and teachers have long been subject to anti-Black violence and harassment in schools. Of course, we can all recall the images from the 1950s-1970s of terrorizing white hordes in both Southern and Northern cities threatening, cursing, and spitting on Black children as they attempted to enter segregated white schools. But this kind of anti-Black sentiment takes more subtle forms now: research demonstrates that Black students are more likely to be punished than other students for the same infractions, and punished more harshly; Black students are less likely to be considered for gifted and talented programs; curricula used to teach Black children are unlikely to adequately or appropriately reflect Black history and cultural contributions. Even so, the overt forms of anti-Black violence in schools are with us still. Just last fall, a white sheriff's deputy in a South Carolina high school threw a Black girl from her desk onto the floor and dragged her across the room in front of her classmates, after she refused to put her cell phone away.

Taken together--the inequitable distribution of educational resources and the continued mistreatment of Black children in schools--serve as painful evidence that schooling is a site of Black suffering. It is not that schooling is only a site of Black suffering. However, I argue that it is the suffering of Black children--much like the rodents and decay in Detroit schools--that we are least likely to acknowledge, and worse, the most likely to defend, either as what Black children deserve, or more kindly, as an unfortunate, innocent consequence of racial and class inequality in the US.

Black suffering in schools is one manifestation of the anti-Blackness of our society, in which Black people are viewed with disgust and disdain, as non-humans worthy of violence and death. In schools, this anti-Blackness reveals itself first, in the deep-seated, but most often unconscious belief that Black children are uneducable--that is, either biologically or culturally unable to be educated. This might seem an outrageous claim, but it makes more sense when you consider that research reveals that, in an anti-Black world, Black children are more likely to be associated with primates--monkeys--than are other groups of children, and thus Black children are viewed as more violent, more uncontrollable, and least able to grasp complex ideas.

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Uneducable. A problem. A waste of time and unworthy of resources. Only as Black children and young people, and Black families and communities begin to talk amongst themselves about their collective suffering in schools, and come to understand it as connected to a long tradition of anti-Black violence, do they come to realize, as Shoniqua Kemp in Detroit, that something has to change, "one way or another." Lawsuits are one way, but history suggests we are going to need more than that. Students are also leading walkouts to protest various forms of Black suffering in schools. And before too long, we may all need to lay our bodies in front of school buildings, at school board meetings, and in fancy ballrooms at professional meetings of education researchers and policy makers. Just as Black Lives Matter protestors have closed bridges, and disrupted holiday shopping, we may need to "shut shit down" for Black children in schools.

In their 1970 song, "O-o-h Child," the Five Stairsteps sing of a time when "things are gonna get easier," when we "get it together and we get it all done." This future, they insist repeatedly, at the end of the song, is "right now." Thus, Black futurity, our imagination of a time when "the world is much brighter" is about what we do right now, in the midst of persistent Black suffering, to insist on our humanity, and to demand that others understand that we will do whatever it takes to be treated as human beings. In his own take on "O-o-h Child," Tupac Shakur reminds Black people: "We ain't meant to survive/cause it's a setup/And even though you're fed up/Huh, ya got to keep your head up." Indeed, Black suffering in schools is a setup, and we are not, and were never meant to survive. However, it is in our movement for Black lives that we refuse this future and create another. Right now.



Illustration by Damon Davis

This post is part of the "Black Future Month" series produced by The Huffington Post and Black Lives Matter Network for Black History Month. Each day in February, this series will look at one of 29 different cultural and political issues affecting Black lives, from education to criminal-justice reform. To follow the conversation on Twitter, view #BlackFutureMonth.
Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton speaks at her primary night party February 9, 2016 at Southern New Hampshire University in Hooksett, New Hampshire.Clinton, who suffered a deflating if expected defeat to Bernie Sanders, put a brave face on the loss and admitted she had some work to do as the campaign moves south. / AFP / Don EMMERT (Photo credit should read DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images)

It is still very early, and there will be twists and turns aplenty, but the election results so far have convinced me of one thing: Whoever wins the 2016 presidential election, we are going to see sweeping change in this country over the next several years -- a change that I would call a Big Change Moment.



I came out with a book in 2009 called The Progressive Revolution: How The Best In America Came To Be that argued that there have been a few periods in American history where an enormous amount of very big changes happened in a very short time. On the good side: the 1860s, the early years of the 1900s, the 1930s, and 1960s. In each of those periods, you had not just one or two transformative policy changes, but a whole series of them, and our nation came out of those moments a radically changed country for the better. On the downside, you had us turning back from the gains of Reconstruction in the late 1870s, the Social Darwinism of the 1880s and 1890s, the 1920s economic policies that led directly to the Great Depression, and the economic decline for the middle class we have seen in this country since the Reagan Revolution in the 1980s. History goes backwards as well as forwards. But in each of those cases, for good or for ill, the big changes happened when there was deep political turmoil and a radical mood in the country- and that is exactly what we are facing today.

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Because of that radicalized mood of the American electorate, the anti-establishment candidates, the candidates widely dismissed and disdained by the pundit class, are winning big so far. And I believe that even if one of the candidates that the establishment finds more acceptable ends up winning the presidency, the mood of the voters and the level of passion are such that whoever wins will be forced to make big changes before his or her term is over.



Let's look at who might be in the White House next year.



On the Republican side, Donald Trump is now the odds-on favorite to win the nomination. Jeb Bush was pumped enough about his 6th place showing in Iowa and 4th place in NH to keep going; Rubio-bot had a technical glitch on debate night and finished 5th, but will keep going, at least until his batteries wear down; Kasich surprised everyone by finishing a clear (if weak) 2nd, and he will be able to keep going for at least a little while, although his appeal in the upcoming states on the calendar is questionable at best.

But none of these candidates have much life to their campaigns or seem to be going anywhere, and they all muddle up the race for each other. With the race heading mostly south in the weeks to come and with some money in the bank, one can still imagine Cruz competing with Trump at least in some places. However, the sense one gets from Trump's dominating performance across pretty much all demographic groups in New Hampshire is that it will be very hard to dislodge him from the top spot at this point, especially with three establishment-lane candidates dividing up that part of the party's votes. I would give Trump an 80% plus chance of winning the nomination right now, with Cruz getting most of the other 20%.



Think Trump won't be a Big Change Moment kind of president? Or Cruz? I think both Trump and Cruz would be spectacular failures on so many levels, but even as a spectacular failure, they would radically damage this country, as extremism, open racism, nativism, and the physical intimidation of their enemies will move from the fringe to the norm.



One other Republican(ish) candidate may be running this year as well, except as an independent: Michael Bloomberg. If Trump and Sanders look like they will be the general election candidates by the time Bloomberg has to decide to run as an independent sometime in mid-March, I think he is almost certain to run. Bloomberg could win such a race, as there will be a fair number of people, especially the older, higher income folks who vote in the heaviest numbers, who would be scared to death of both Trump and Sanders. Meanwhile, the media would be swooning over the 'non-partisan' billionaire who sounds so middle-of-the-road. Such a victory is by no means a done deal, though, and I believe in the end that Sanders wins a 3 way race with 2 billionaires. But even if Bloomberg wins the general election, the populist anger unleashed in this race, the radical revolt against the establishment and elites from both parties, will force Bloomberg to start to make big changes. And if he moves too slowly, he will lose a second term, and we will see someone in the White House more ready to make big changes (from either direction).



On the Democratic side, I believe the race is now close to a toss-up. Hillary still has a big edge in money and institutional support, and that may carry her over the finish line in the end, but what Iowa and New Hampshire showed us is that the money and institutional edge aren't enough in a presidential race as contentious as this one. Again, though, even if Hillary wins, she will face a heavily populist and anti-establishment movement in her own party, as Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and other progressive leaders will have more strength to drive her toward bigger, bolder, more populist policies. And the Hillary I got to know in my years inside of the Clinton team would welcome that push from the outside.



If on the other hand, Bernie wins the nomination and then the presidency, he will clearly make an all-out push for big change, and the big question will be if the movement he helped build in his campaign can help him make it happen. And while the Big Money opponents will do everything in their considerable power to stop him, I suspect that the utter shock to the body politic that would happen if a democratic socialist were actually elected president might well upend the Washington status quo.



The bottom line is this: both parties' voters, and independent voters even more, are at the gates with pitchforks. When the financial collapse of 2008 caused housing prices to plummet and unemployment to skyrocket, and the Wall Street bankers that made all that happen did not go to jail, lose their jobs, or even lose their bonuses the next year, ordinary Americans reached a breaking point. Big numbers of voters are convinced that the system is corrupt and broken, and that both parties are on the take.

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What we are seeing now is open revolt, a revolt that will change everything in the coming years. We will have a Big Change Moment in this country, one as big and deep as anything since the 1960s shook up our entire society. It may be good or it may be bad, but it will be big. I just hope it's for the better.



As a side note - and for the record, I am neutral -- but I need to make a comment about the Democratic race. I so appreciated Bernie's comments about the need for unity after the primary fight is over. I hope that both his troops and Hillary's take those words to heart. The threat of Trump or Cruz winning this election is very real without a unified Democratic Party, and with a fired up GOP. Whatever happens in this primary, I hope we can come together.



Due to this necessity for party unity and motivation, the only path to a November victory for Democrats is for both candidates to focus on their own selling points, not disparaging each other. This is especially important for Hillary because people already have a negative image of her as a traditional politician. If she keeps attacking Bernie as too ambitious and too unrealistic, she makes herself look small. What Hillary must do is convince people that she really is willing to shake things up on Wall Street and in Washington.

I know that running a strongly positive campaign goes against the Clinton campaign's mindset. I was there in the 1992 war room when our fast moving, aggressive, pull no punches campaign created the mindset the Clintons have had ever since. We were snarky and funny; we trolled George HW Bush with people in chicken suits when he wouldn't debate and people dressed as cigarettes when he took big money from tobacco companies. We had a great time and we won big, and the Clintons and other Democrats have used that model for campaigns ever since.

But this primary race is a different kind of election. Voters are looking for big ideas and genuine passion, not snark. They need to be convinced that Hillary really will stand up to the powers that be, not try to win by the usual cutting attacks.



If Hillary can show voters the big idea, shake up the system side of her, she wins this race. If she stays in the current frame as the incrementalist opposed to big change, she loses this race. It's that simple.

This country's voters are demanding a big change moment, in their elections as well as their government. It's time for the Democrats to deliver.
The Adriatic Institute for Public Policy and International Leaders Summit are joining Israel-based The Simon Wiesenthal Center and international groups calling for the resignation of Croatia's HDZ-Most cabinet minister Zlatan Hasanbegovic.

Zlatan Hasanbegovic, known for denying genocidal character of Ustasha regime which collaborated with Nazis during WWII in then-Croatia, taking photos while carrying pro-nazi signs, and publicly praising Nazi Imam of WWII SS troops as a reformer, was appointed Minister of Culture of Croatia's new HDZ-Most right-of-center coalition government on January 23, 2016.

This came as no surprise to most of Croatia's citizens who have been muted, first by HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union) Tudjman's nationalist, authoritarian and corrupt regime in the 90s, and then decades of fraudulent elections in which the worst got to the top. Croatians have succumbed to the state of affairs where rampant political corruption and organized crime co-exist and thrive together. The rule of law has been subverted.

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With HDZ taking over Croatia's presidency in January 2015, and an unreformed HDZ headed by Tomislav Karamarko coming to power through a coalition government in January 2016, it is clear that international pressure is needed more than ever. In a recent piece published by the EU Observer, the author stated the following about Karamarko, "He's a former head of Croatia's intelligence service, whose time in the job was marked by mass-scale surveillance of journalists and by human rights abuses." In a speech, after the presidential election results were announced in January 2015, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic promised to continue the legacy of late President Tudjman, founder of HDZ. What kind of legacy? Right after Tudjman's death in 1999, Guardian published Tudjman's known statement, "Tudjman was grateful, he told supporters, that he was married neither to a Serb, nor a Jew."

A year ago, I co-authored a piece, "Croatia: 'Criminal Enterprise HDZ' Takes Over Presidency --Organized Crime and the Rise of Nationalism" calling for the action by the principled leaders of the West, due to the deep-rooted and domestically unresolvable issues:

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2. The coexistence of organized crime, rampant political corruption and unreformed intelligence structures - combined with absence of independent law enforcement and judicial bodies (police, prosecution and courts) to enforce the law.

3. Rising nationalism is reminiscent of the 1990s.
CAIRO, EGYPT - FEBRUARY 11: A protester is seen during a demonstration demanding the release of imprisoned journalists, in front the Press Union building in Cairo, Egypt on February 11, 2016. (Photo by Ragy Maged/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Under Secretary of State Sarah Sewall deserves praise for her speech in Cairo on February 10, where she simply told the truth about the disturbing situation in President Sisi's Egypt.

Instead of the wishful thinking of Secretary Kerry, who seems unable to talk about Egypt without referring to an illusory "transition to democracy," Sewall noted the economic, security, and political challenges facing Egypt. She had the courage to make the case to her hosts that the way to meet the challenges facing Egyptian society is through tolerance, inclusiveness, and respect for universal human rights.

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She said frankly, "we are deeply concerned about the suppression of civil liberties, including societal and government restrictions on freedoms of expression and the press and the freedom of assembly and association... and academic freedom."

She also noted that human rights violations fuel the grievances on which terrorism and violent extremism feed: "When people are tortured, when nonviolent protestors are shot and arrested, it suggests there is no peaceful avenue to express sincere differences. That is how dissidents become terrorists, how democracies erode, how economies wither. These are the lessons of history all nations bear in mind."

These are appropriately forthright words. They are also consistent with the U.S. government's theoretical new approach to dealing with the threat of terrorism, the countering violent extremism (CVE) initiative championed by President Obama and other senior administration officials over the last year.

The United States undermines the credibility of the comprehensive, preventive approach to countering terrorism it is seeking to promote when it fails to challenge its close allies with poor human rights records, like Egypt, to put an end to their repression and human rights violations, which are harmful to multilateral efforts to combat terrorism.

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For example, on February 9 in Washington, D.C., Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry claimed that Egypt "continues to play a positive and a productive role in the various efforts, international efforts, underway to eradicate this terrorist threat." This is false. As Under Secretary Sewall explained in Cairo, compromising universal values and abusing the powers of the state undermines multilateral efforts to combat terrorism. Secretary Kerry, who was standing next to Shoukry while he made his remarks, offered no pushback and made no reference to Egypt's human rights violations in his own remarks.

Furthermore, on the day that Under Secretary Sewall spoke in Cairo news emerged that the Obama Administration removed human rights conditions from its budget request to Congress for foreign assistance to Egypt.

This is mixed messaging. Under Secretary Sewall presented the administration's policies clearly and firmly in Cairo, but her message is undercut by her superiors' actions. Egyptian officials will listen to Secretary Kerry's emollient platitudes about "democratic transition," and take the omission of human rights conditions from the budget as a political gain.
Inspired by the moths that would gather around the porch light while sharing stories with friends on sweltering Georgia nights, poet and novelist George Dawes Green founded The Moth, an acclaimed organization dedicated to the craft of storytelling. Raconteurs -- some famous, most not -- get on stage to tell their true stories, often in front of standing-room-only crowds. No notes, just the storyteller and a mic. The Moth Radio Hour, the resulting podcast, is magical, and often makes for a powerful and thought-provoking listen during commutes where I've both laughed and cried amongst strangers. Here are thirteen books from authors who have stood on the Moth stage.



Joseph Anton by Salman Rushdie

In 1989, the Ayatollah Khomeini issued a "fatwa" against Salman Rushdie for writing the novel The Satanic Verses. Joseph Anton is his extraordinary memoir of being forced underground, moving from house to house with the constant presence of an armed police protection team.





The Council of Dads by Bruce Feiler

Bruce Feiler took the Moth mainstage to share an inspiring story of reaching out and holding close. After a cancer diagnosis, he formed a "Council of Dads" to offer wisdom, humor, and guidance to his young twin daughters should he not be around to do it himself. In this moving memoir, Feiler captures these life lessons for his daughters -- how to see, how to travel, how to question, how to dream.



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The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance by Elna Baker

Comedian and former Mormon Elna Baker writes about her attempt to find love in a city full of strangers and see if she can steer clear of temptation and just get by on God. This heartfelt and unabashedly funny debut is loaded with the same charm we adore in her Moth stories.





The Autobiography of My Mother by Jamaica Kincaid

In this coming-of-age tale, Xuela Claudette Richardson's mother dies the moment she is born and she must find her way on her own. A story of love, fear, loss, and the forging of character, The Autobiography Of My Mother is an account of one woman's inexorable evolution, evoked in startling and magical poetry.





Orange Is the New Black by Piper Kerman

Ten years after delivering a suitcase of drug money, Piper Kerman is convicted and sentenced to fifteen months at an infamous federal correctional facility, where she must navigate this strange new world with its strictly enforced codes of behavior and arbitrary rules. Heartbreaking, hilarious, and at times enraging, this surprising memoir offers a rare look into the lives of women in prison.





The Job by Steve Osborne

Steve Osborne's New York-accented Moth stories about his misadventures as an NYPD cop have become so noteworthy he compiled them into a book. Delivered with streetwise sensibility, Osborne's stories capture both the absurdity of police work and the bravery of those who do it.



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At Home in the World by Joyce Maynard

While on the stage, she shares sweet stories about her children and the art of letter writing. But in this shockingly honest memoir, Joyce Maynard explores her own coming-of-age, her self-imposed exile when she left Yale to live with J. D. Salinger, and her struggle to reclaim her sense of self in the crushing aftermath of his dismissal.





The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee

The Emperor of All Maladies by physician Siddhartha Mukherjee is a profoundly humane, Pulitzer Prize-winning "biography" of cancer -- from its first documented appearances thousands of years ago to the epic battles in the twentieth century.





Eccentric Glamour by Simon Doonan

Simon Doonan has singlehandedly brought poise and unprecedented style to the Moth mainstage. In these comic essays, interspersed with one-on-one interviews with some of the world's most glamorous eccentrics -- Iman, Lucy Liu, Tilda Swinton and more -- Doonan offers a guide to magnify everything that is already unique and idiosyncratic about you.





He's Just Not That Into You by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo

Greg Behrendt wasn't always an expert on love. In fact, the hard lessons learned from his "stalkerish" relationship with comedian and actress Janeane Garofalo provide the foundation for this provocative and intoxicatingly liberating book. It's tough-love advice for otherwise smart women--and probably the best relationship advice you'll ever receive.





How Perfect Is That by Sarah Bird

In this comic triumph of a novel, Blythe Young is happily immersed in Austin society until she is unceremoniously dumped after her mother-in-law finds her son a better catch. When she encounters an old roommate, whom she shucked off during a frenzy of social climbing, Blythe comes face to face with her past sins and dubious moral choices.



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Through the Children's Gate by Adam Gopnik

New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik's most fascinating Moth stories are about navigating life in New York City and raising a family. Through the Children's Gate is rich with Gopnik's signature charm, wit, and joie de vivre.





Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

In a heartfelt Moth story about the sometimes disparate relationship between fathers and sons, Neil Gaiman shared with an audience that his proud father had shown up to a very stressful book signing, unannounced, while Neil was signing copies of Anansi Boys, an adventurous novel about fathers and sons that blends myth, prophecy and family dysfunction.


By Michelle Schuman for the Orbitz Travel Blog

When it comes to romantic getaways, Paris always tops the list. But plenty of other cities are made for lovebirds. Here are 7 of the most romantic cities that aren't Paris.

1. Bali, Indonesia

As one of the world's top destinations for honeymoons, it doesn't get more romantic than Bali. The island's filled with ancient temples, glistening beaches, hidden waterfalls and luxurious spas--and it's THE place to take horseback rides on the beach. If you plan your trek right, you'll bump into Tanah Lot, an ancient temple built on a rock overlooking the ocean. There's also plenty of intrigue swimming around Bali's surrounding turquoise waters. Beginner divers can head to Menjangan Island for a close-up view of colorful coral reefs, ocean sunfish, seahorses and pipefish. When it's time to relax (sunbathing can be so stressful), head to Padma Resort Legian's spa, which offers exotic indulgences, like floral foot baths, lime-and-ginger salt scrubs, quartz lift facials and Balinese massage.

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Flickr CC: Allie_Caulfield

2. Las Vegas, Nevada

Any real-talk description of Vegas should begin with 'leave your inhibitions at the door.' And nowhere is that more true than at the sexually-charged Zumanity, a show at the New York-New York that blends off-the-rails sensuality with Cirque's trademark acrobatics. A little dinner beforehand is de rigueur, and you can leave the bachelor-party vibe and buffets far behind with a cozy tete-a-tete at Hugo's Cellar, a classic gem on Fremont Street, where every lady receives a rose.



3. La Jolla, California

La Jolla is known as the crown jewel of San Diego, and not for nothing--the name literally means 'the jewel' in Spanish. It's also a natural paradise of steep cliffs and golden beaches, where you can find lots of adorable seals hugging the coastline. The downtown area's choc-a-block with galleries, upscale shops and eateries, but if you're more interested in an afternoon spiked with danger, hike the treacherous path to Black's Beach, one of the country's most popular clothing-optional beaches. When it's time to kick back, head to George's at the Cove to watch the sunset over a glass of champagne and some sweet potato agnolotti and grilled octopus.



4. Bruges, Belgium

Bruges may be the closest you can get to living in a fairy-tale world. This picturesque Belgian city's center is a UNESCO World Heritage site, filled with medieval architecture, cobblestone streets and crops of cafes. Sweeter still: There's a chocolate shop on nearly every corner--including an entire museum dedicated to the treat--and a network of adorable eateries, bars and charming waterways.



5. Maui, Hawaii

It's no secret that Maui is a rugged paradise that begs you to get out there and explore--not to mention hunker down at your hotel with your sweetheart for a(nother) round of mai tais. But at some point, the coastal road to Hana will pull you in. Perhaps the country's most romantic road trip, the 65 miles of open road are dotted with beaches, waterfalls, tropical forests and more than 50 bridges with incredible views. Carve out time to visit Makena Beach, an oasis tucked between two lava outcroppings, making it a little more secluded than the island's more popular beach scenes.

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A post shared by Orbitz (@orbitz) on Oct 16, 2015 at 1:49pm PDT

6. Savannah, Georgia

Georgia's oldest city is known as much for its charm and hospitality as it is for the Spanish moss that gives it that dreamy, romantic look. And Savannah's many public squares are equally gorgeous--you can see them all on a horse-drawn carriage tour, or a romantic evening stroll. In between the city's many museums, monuments and mansions, you'll also find dark, quiet corners to enjoy the local cuisine. A few favorites: Elizabeth on 37, Lulu's Chocolate Bar, and the candlelit Planters Tavern.
"We have lived in our apartment for 17 years. My parents lived here. Now, my family lives here. Our landlords have given us 90 days to vacate. No conversation. No negotiation. A letter."

This was the testimony of a 30-something man, accompanied by his wife and mother, at a community meeting hosted by City Life/Vida Urbana in Boston. There were many heads nodding in the room as he spoke. It seemed people were familiar with this growing pattern of no-fault evictions. For many, regulars at these meetings, this story was an all too common one; a neighborhood changes and people are displaced.

As person after person came to the front of the room to take the microphone and share their story, a statistical trend of demographic change and gentrification of a community began to take life before our eyes. It was embodied in the extraordinary humanity of the individuals who came forward and spoke bravely, even as they stood on the verge of being uprooted. They testified to a narrative that is both universally relatable and inextricably linked to the particular issues of race and class in our society. They came to raise their voices, to be heard, and to resist seemingly unstoppable forces.

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The story of my neighborhood and my city are not unique. Affordable housing is growing harder and harder to come by in the metropolitan centers of our country. If you have been looking for an apartment in such a rapidly changing place, I don't have to tell you to take a look at the exorbitant prices of rentals on Craigslist; you've already got the tab open.

It is in a state of frustration and utter confoundedness at the economic realities of our modern day that we arrive at this week's Torah reading, Parshat Terumah. And as if to respond to our economic anxiety, our holiest book begins to tells the tale of what is undoubtedly the grandest example of subsidized housing ever undertaken by our people. Without so much as a dime down from the future Divine tenant, the community will gather its resources and construct a dwelling place--not ostentatiously large but quite well appointed--to stand in the center of their camp, visible to each and every tribe.

It is here that we encounter the Divine variation on the classic line from "Field of Dreams": "If you build it, he will come." Here, though, it is "If you build it, I will dwell"--or, more precisely, "V'asu li mikdash, v'shachanti b'tocham/Build me a holy space, and I will dwell among you." This oft-quoted verse attests to the power of creative, communal endeavors--promising that, if we can be so bold as to collaborate and so courageous as to build, Holiness will dwell in our midst.

The work of bringing the Divine into close proximity is precisely the effort to make the right space in our community, to ensure the availability of a proper home.

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Could the primary purpose of our building the Mishkan, or tabernacle, be to teach through this example about the sanctity of creating spaces for living? At the end of the day, why would the Creator of All need us, humanity, to create a space in which Divinity can reside? This is not just the skeptical question of a cynical 21- century mind; the great sage and medieval commentator Abravanel, writing more than 500 years ago, asks similarly:

"Why did the Holy One command the erection of the tabernacle, when God said "that I may dwell among them," as if the Holy One of Blessing were an object demarcated and limited in space -- which is the opposite of the truth!

Abravanel wants to be sure that no reader is left thinking that the Holy One needs a place to crash. As proof of this point, he goes on to quote the prophet Isaiah, "The heavens are my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what kind of house can you build for me?" So, if we can say that the Divine is actually not the prime beneficiary of this new construction, what is the point of the undertaking?

Last week I had the opportunity to hear Sister Mary Scullion, a leader in the fight for affordable housing and against homelessness in Philadelphia. She was speaking as part of the Moral Voices initiative at Tufts Hillel (where I work). She spoke about Project H.O.M.E., the anti-poverty non-profit that she helped to found. Again and again, she returned to the mission statement of her organization: "None of us are home until all of us are home."

"None of us are home until all of us are home." Perhaps this is the message we are meant to internalize in building the Mishkan. We come together as a community to build a sanctuary for the Divine, so that we will extend the same generosity of spirit to countless individuals, all of whom carry the divine spark. Our comfort and our sense of security are tied up with the comfort and security of others. The work we do to ensure the availability of affordable housing, and to maintain the tightknit fabric of communities within our cities, is tied up with the work of inviting the Holy One to dwell among us.

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May we be blessed to be bold and courageous enough to build sacred dwelling places, and may the reward for struggling to keep housing available be an ongoing sense of proximity to the Holy One.
TOPSHOT - A Yemeni boy checks the damage following a mortar shell attack on the country's flashpoint southern city of Taez on February 3, 2016, as clashes between fighters from the Popular Resistance Committees, loyal to Yemen's fugitive President and Shiite Huthi rebels continue.The city of Taez is held by loyalists of Yemen's internationally recognised government, but it has been besieged by the Iran-backed rebels for months. Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi loyalists backed by a Saudi-led coalition have fought back and have been trying to retake Taez province and pave the way towards the rebel-held capital. / AFP / AHMAD AL-BASHA (Photo credit should read AHMAD AL-BASHA/AFP/Getty Images)

My dear child,

Five years ago, in February 2011 to be exact, along with a huge crowd of young people, eager for a Yemen filled with goodness, justice and a secure future for you and the children of your generation, I headed to Sanaa University Square. I chanted with them at the top of my lungs, "The people want to bring down the regime." A regime that ravaged the country for 33 years. A regime that spread ignorance, poverty, corruption, nepotism, regionalism and racism. It is the regime that is currently lighting the fuse of sectarianism as I write this message to you.

When I chanted that slogan, you were all I was thinking of... I wanted the Yemen that you live in, to be different from the one I lived in. I wanted your education to be a different education and your life to be a different life. I wanted a position in life for you as a woman better than it is at the moment. My darling child, I wanted you to see the Yemen I dreamed of when I was young, and had never seen in the 25 years I had lived.

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My darling child...

From the moment the spark of the revolution was ignited, I went regularly to the square. I entered with a heart filled with dreams for a country of rights and freedoms that would ensure a decent life just because you are a citizen belonging to it, regardless of your governorate, tribe, family or political inclinations. I used to meet friends there. I'll introduce you to some of them when we return home someday. I will tell you about others who were martyred for you, for your future. I will tell you about those like you, other children of this country who are filled with love, tolerance, coexistence and all noble human values.

I did not imagine that the victim would become the executioner, or that the state would disappear, or that weapons would become the daily means of dialogue between all parties.

My heart beat fast as I listened to the song, "I am the rebel... I exist among the people of generosity and hospitality," which was frequently played on the stage in the square. I would try to take photographs to show to you and your brothers in the future.... To tell you that your mother was there among those who were writing the history of the new Yemen.

My darling Mayar...

Over the past five years, never did I regret sharing the dream of a new Yemen with my fellow revolutionaries. However, nor did I imagine that you would come to life and the Yemen we dreamed of would have become how it is now as I write this message to you. I did not imagine that the victim would become the executioner, or that the state would disappear, or that weapons would become the daily means of dialogue between all parties.

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I never imagined, my darling, that I would spend a full year far from my country, especially from Sanaa, which I love. I never imagined that I would give birth to you in any land but Yemen. I never imagined that the day would arrive when I would be unable to get a separate passport for you. I certainly never imagined that I would fear for you to the point that I would prefer not to take you back to Yemen, firstly because of the discomfort of the journey and secondly because of the fearful sounds of mortars and rockets that fall every day on the poor areas and the crowded houses.

When I was pregnant with you, I stopped following Yemen's political news. It made the heart grieve with the brutality of what we saw on satellite TV and social media. I did not want you to come into this world to take up your mother's sad and concerned state for a country that you didn't yet know. So I decided to stay away from all news related to our beloved Yemen during my pregnancy. I believed than I was protecting you from feelings that you were still too young to experience. You were the small country inside me for which I could protect and care.

Now, I look to your face everyday and wonder whether you will love that land, which you haven't yet seen, like your mother loved it! Is it enough to limit the images and sounds of the Yemen that your grandfather and grandmother represent to the small screen of a mobile phone?

A colleague of mine asked me some time back what method I was going to adopt in raising my child. I answered him with a few points filled with the enthusiasm of a new mother who dreamt of the best for her girl. I forgot, or pretended to forget, to tell him where I was going to raise you. Will you and I return some day to a happy Yemen, some of whose sons insist on being unhappy?

My beautiful little one...

Today, I will try my best to write this letter to you even though I am busy caring for you. Between each paragraph and the next I will have to tend to all your needs, or talk to you in those voices that are incomprehensible even though you know that they are an expression of love and hope for the future... which you and your friends will present to Yemen, a country that needs you and your love more than ever.

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Censorship concept with books and chains on white

On Sunday, January 17, 2016 Scholastic Inc., withdrew my book A Birthday Cake for George Washington from publication stating it provided a "false impression of the reality of the lives of slaves." The company claims otherwise, but certainly public outcry determined its decision.

In the aftermath, it would be easy to feel satisfied that censorship of this book is a testament to the power of modern activism. Using social media, a vocal audience was able to rid the world of a story it considered to be racist without even reading it. It's a free speech success story -- except it's not.

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In halting the publication of this book, the publisher silenced the story of George Washington's enslaved chef, Hercules, a remarkable man whose talent and self-possession earned him unusual status in his own time.

Hercules came and went from the President's House in Philadelphia as he pleased. He sold kitchen slops, earning a salary twice that of the average free white man.



"It's a free speech success story -- except it's not."



Still, almost free is not free and Hercules enjoyed his lifestyle upon Washington's whim. When Washington forced Hercules from the kitchen and into the field, the cook demonstrated his mettle and bravely escaped Mount Vernon in the wee hours of the President's 65th birthday.

As a chef and person of color, I revere and admire Hercules. I wrote A Birthday Cake for George Washington to lionize him through one fictional moment in which he uses superior talent to overcome culinary disaster.

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Imagine my horror when the children's book I wrote to celebrate this gifted black American was twisted and misconstrued as a defense of slavery by an online lynch mob (and I use that word deliberately) that angrily and incorrectly parsed my ethnicity.

As outcry grew, the publisher asked me to remain silent. I couldn't respond to the public's belief that I had creative control over the images even though, like most picture book authors, I had no authority to approve them. I first saw the illustrations when my book was laid out and ready for press and strenuously objected to them verbally and in writing. I stated that the "over-joviality" of the enslaved people depicted were not "on point with accuracy and sensitivity"

I wrote that while I believed Hercules and his staff took pride and satisfaction in their abilities, the characters would not be "overjoyed doing this work." I voiced concern that the illustrations gave my words unintended levity. Far earlier, I wanted changes to the book's ending so it would not imply that Hercules felt privileged to be Washington's slave.

I insisted that the free and indentured white servants who worked in that kitchen should be depicted because their absence both belied historical fact and diminished Hercules' importance as a commanding figure to whom others deferred.

Later, I expressed concern over what became the hotly contested jacket copy.

Every one of my requests was ignored or refused.

Even as protests reached a fever pitch, the publisher continued to ask for my silence except for one company-approved blog post. I was asked not to respond to the media, or to social media attacks on me personally, calling out my perceived race, nationality, color, scholarship and journalistic integrity.

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"Most pressing is the question of whether we can ever reach a place in our society where questions of race can be openly and objectively discussed, especially with our children. "



The situation escalated after a change.org petition directed people to, without having read the book, use the book's Amazon.com page as a political forum for negative reviews calling for the book to be banned. "Reviewers" flooded the page with libel, hate rhetoric and violent, racist imagery -- in violation of the company's policies. Despite requests by the publisher and myself to remove these, Amazon did not comply. To date, Amazon has not only allowed these reviews to remain posted but to grow in number.

On the evening of Friday, January 15 the publisher expressed delight about the public "conversation" which pushed books sales. Two days later, it appeared to bow to public pressure and banned its own book. Its actions made international news, feeding the biggest media outlets to the smallest blogs. Free speech groups later condemned the book's censorship.

Yet, no one contacted me for my side.

There is more at stake here than the future of one author or one picture book. Most pressing is the question of whether we can ever reach a place in our society where questions of race can be openly and objectively discussed, especially with our children.

To do this, we first have to face the panic about stories like A Birthday Cake For George Washington, which are about a singular moments in the lives of enslaved characters rather than being explorations of slavery in America.

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The book was written four years ago with what seemed, at the time, to be the reasonable assumption that understanding the overarching horror and criminality of slavery was a given -- and that parents and educators would share that context in a way that was most appropriate for their young listener.

Yet, despite all logic, America still does not uniformly accept that slavery was an inhuman abomination.

Horrifyingly, the benign rewriting of slavery continues in history books. Disturbingly, there are politicians crowing about the "benefits" of slavery to the enslaved. Monstrously, some still refuse to admit the long-term ill effects of enslavement on an entire race of Americans.

Because we live in a world where the most heinous racial injustice continues at the hands of the most powerful and untouchable, average people have plenty of rightful frustration and anger. We reach for ways to effect tangible change. Attacking a picture book by accessible people was a way to get heard without being ignored.

But now that change-makers have the attention of the publishing world., they need to carry on the momentum and demand the retooling of the way children's books are produced, namely the lack of collaboration between writers and illustrators.

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Without collaboration there will be more "misses" and it's unlikely that the industry will again censor itself post-publication as it did with A Birthday Cake for George Washington. Instead, publishing will go back to safely ignoring stories that might require a delicate hand. Movements like We Need Diverse Books will become irrevocably derailed, as writers, artists, and publishers avoid topics that might incite public outcry.



"We have to face our own prejudices about who is 'allowed' to write certain stories and whether that is productive."



We have to face our own prejudices about who is "allowed" to write certain stories and whether that is productive. Another reason the outcry was so explosive was the perceived role of the creators' race in producing this book -- a question posed first by Kirkus Reviews, an authority that is meant to objectively consider the content of books not the ethnicity of their authors. Bloggers who insisted a non-white creative team would never produce such a book, took away my status as a person of color and glossed over the fact that the illustrator and editor are both African American.

My right to talk about Hercules became predicated on whether my skin color allowed me the clearest understanding of enslavement. If that is true, we are at a dangerous precipice where research, scholarship and dedication to a subject can fall away when a mob decides an author doesn't fit in the right box.

It's one thing to understand the volatility of the outrage toward A Birthday Cake for George Washington, but another to learn from it. The righting of racial injustice doesn't come from shutting down conversations by banning books or screaming the loudest but from opening dialogues. Without these dialogues we're in danger of living in a world where any single, sanctioned group may decide what we might write or read or say or think, based upon their own interpretations of an "us" and "them" society.

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Ramin Ganeshram is a veteran journalist who holds a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University. For eight years she worked as a feature writer/stringer for the New York Times and another eight years for Newsday as a feature writer and food columnist. She has been awarded seven Society of Professional Journalist awards and an International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) cookbook award for her work and has been a finalist for the IACP Bert Greene Award for Culinary Journalism.
Trading in the tux for leathers, John Lloyd Young used aviator glasses to hide his prom date good looks, but this makeover did not deter his devoted fans on opening night of his set, "Yours Truly," at the Cafe Carlyle. Yes, there was no shortage of Jersey Boys hits with "Sherry" and "Can't Take My Eyes Off You," but first he opened with a warbling "Stardust," then to "My Prayer," before he talked tough to his music director and keyboard man Tommy Faragher, "Let's open a vein," he said, leading to "Hurts So Bad" and channeling Roy Orbison for "Say No More."

He's been performing for President Obama and Clint Eastwood, he said, but now he's preparing for a special delegation to Cuba, also featuring Smokey Robinson; that announcement called for Smokey's tune with Pete Moore, "OOO Baby Baby." Other pop standards included "Unchained Melody," "Show and Tell," Randy Newman's "Just One Smile," famously covered by Gene Pitney and Dusty Springfield, and a song he claimed was as well known as any, "Ming Ri Tian Ya (If Tomorrow Comes)," from a movie with a "Love Story" theme. He sang it--beautifully-- in Mandarin.



Tommy Faragher is not only a sideman, along with John Putnam on guitar, Paul Socolaw on bass and Sam Merrick on drums, but Faragher is also a writing partner, and the ensemble performed his "Almost There," and their tunes "Alone Together," and "Slow Dawn Calling," before closing the swoon-worthy set with Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed" and Bob Dylan's "To Make You Feel My Love."

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No amount of leather could hide Young's dimpled chin. He must get this a lot: A woman, unable to contain herself, shouted out "So adorable!" Casting a rueful eye in her direction, he quieted: "Calm down." That would be hard to do at this Valentine's Day ready show.
Valentine's Day is this Sunday. If you are spending it thinking about effect sizes or research designs or education policy, shame on you. Unless, of course, that sort of thing turns you on.

So what does love have to do with evidence? Everything, actually. Our field is education. Education is empty without love. Evidence helps teachers and principals give every child the best possible chance to achieve success in school and in life. An educator who loves children wants the best for them. The purpose of educational research, development, and evaluation is to provide educators with pragmatic means of showing their love for children. Love without effective teaching is not enough, of course, and technically proficient teaching means little without love. But the two together are the most powerful force in education.

Children, especially young ones, completely trust their teachers. They look up to them with hope and respect. They are easy to love, even if sometimes hard to teach. But how can we give them any less than what we know how to give? Evidence does not provide all the answers or solve all the problems, but how is it responsible and loving to ignore evidence that could help students succeed?

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I recently heard a story that illustrates what I'm talking about. A mother in a poor, Appalachian school in Kentucky came to meet with her daughter's middle school principal. The school was using our Success for All program, which was adopted to improve very low reading proficiency rates. Even though the staff voted to adopt the research proven approach, there was some grumbling about the instructional processes that were required by the program among some of the staff. After all, change is hard. The principal was considering letting some teachers opt out.

The mother told the principal that her daughter, now in eighth grade, had never been able to read. Because of the school's new program, she was now learning, excitedly bringing home books to read aloud to her.

The mother burst into tears. She'd never heard her daughter read to her before. She urged the principal to hold her ground and keep the program. Ultimately she did so.

This incident, repeated thousands of times every year for many proven programs, is a direct product of decades of research, development, and dissemination. All that R&D might sound technical and boring. But the outcome is a concrete expression of our love for children.

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Welcome to New Hampshire state road sign

I try to imagine what life must look like to a Millennial voter. If you were are between the ages of 18-29, in your reality:

Marijuana has always been medical;

Gay people have always been positively portrayed on TV;

We've always been at war in the Middle East;

The economy collapsed somewhere between fifth grade and college; and

No one you know can afford college or you're in mountains of debt from having attended.

So it's no surprise that Bernie Sanders is crushing Hillary Clinton among the Millennial voters. She still thinks medical marijuana needs more research; only supported gay marriage three years ago; supported all the Mid-East wars and would engage more; takes $675,000 from the criminal banksters because "that's what they offered"; and thinks a reasonable college affordability plan is one where students work 10 hours a week and parents pay "what they can".

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But I wonder what kind of surprise awaits the Millennial voter the more he or she sees the results of their hard work canvassing for voters to Feel the Bern.

First, in Iowa, they battle for a statistical tie, with just a quarter-percent of the vote between Hillary and Bernie. So, naturally, the delegates from Iowa are divided fairly. Bernie gets 21 delegates and Hillary gets... 29?

Next, in New Hampshire, Bernie demolishes Hillary in a 22-point landslide victory. So, naturally, the delegates from New Hampshire are divided fairly. Bernie gets 15 delegates and Hillary gets... 15?

What is this strange world where a Bernie tie is an 8-delegate loss and a Bernie landslide is a tie? That's when our intrepid Millennials start Googling and learn all about Marvel's Democratic Superdelegates! (Just kidding; Marvel's heroes are better-looking.)

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What they learn is that there are 4,763 delegates who pick the Democratic nominee for president. But roughly 15 percent of them are Superdelegates (712 to be exact) who are the Democratic elected officials and party bigwigs. Regular delegates are split according to popular vote, but Superdelegates can vote for anybody they wish (that's their super power).

Hillary, being the Queen Democratic Bigwig, has amassed quite a collection of these other bigwigs pledging to vote for her (355 to be exact). With some quick Excel work, Millennials figure out that Hillary already had 14.9 percent of the votes she needed to get the nomination before the first caucus was ever tallied in Iowa.

Then they plug in a few more formulas and learn that in New Hampshire, it took convincing 60,631 voters to choose Bernie to match the choice of Gov. Maggie Hassan, Rep. Ann Kuster, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, and three Democratic National Committee cronies for Hillary.

In other words, one vote from these one-percenters for the Wall Street candidate is worth 10,105 votes from the 99-percenters for the Democratic Socialist candidate. Unfortunately, one-man-one-vote only applies to actual federal elections, not party primary processes.

The more the Millennials (and my people, Gen-X) learn about this, the more convinced they will be that the system is rigged and the current crop of establishment Democrats want to keep it that way. That leads to more popular votes and mortal delegates for Bernie and forces Superdelegates to re-evaluate whether they want to go against the people or go against the Clinton Dynasty.

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So while Hillary Clinton leads right now 394-42 over Bernie Sanders in total delegates, Bernie leads Hillary 36-32 in those delegates chosen by the people. Even in that total, Hillary got 2 more delegates in the Iowa tie somehow.
Waris Ahluwalia, a member of the Sikh community, gives an interview in Mexico City, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. The Indian-American actor and designer who wasn't allowed to board a Mexico City-to-New York flight after refusing to remove his turban said Tuesday that he is satisfied with an apology from the airline. Ahluwalia said he is now waiting for Aeromexico to implement special training on how to treat Sikh passengers, for whom the headgear carries deep religious significance. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

The world is looking on right now as Sikh actor and model Waris Ahluwalia faces discrimination at the hand of AeroMexico. His crime? Wearing a turban while flying. As a Muslim American woman who wears the hijab and a coat, I understand all too well how it feels to be harassed and judged while in an airport. It is a horrible feeling to be targeted verbally or to be removed from a flight because of the clothes you wear. But as a law enforcement and airport security staff trainer, I also see the other perspective.

In 2012 and 2013 I spent months training the Houston Police Department, the Houston jail system and TSA staff about how to work effectively with Muslims in their communities. I was brought on specifically for two purposes. The first was to dispel stereotypes of Muslims that police and airport security staff may have, and to educate them about our beliefs and practices. Much of the discussion centered around the hijab and other forms of outward worship that were misunderstood.

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The second purpose of the trainings was to discuss ways for the officers and airport staff to do their jobs effectively without offending anyone or attracting negative publicity. This was a very important aspect of the program, as you can imagine. What is the point of teaching about the hijab if airport security cannot come up with ways to view passengers differently?

The same, of course, goes for the Sikh turban. A passenger who is wearing a turban is expressing his deep religious beliefs, which are protected by the constitution. For an airport security officer or airline staffer, however, that turban (or hijab) poses a risk because he cannot see what is inside.

Lumping all people of a faith together is anathema to me as an interfaith activist and trainer. We cannot view all Muslims or Sikhs as potential terrorists if we are to continue to live in a free and peaceful society. But in today's environment we also should be ready to keep our airports and other open public areas safe.

So in my trainings, how exactly do I pose this subject? How do I bridge the divide that often stands between religious freedom on one hand and safety on the other? Our politicians seem to think banning specific groups or putting them under increased surveillance is the answer. I beg to differ. In my law enforcement and airport security trainings I bring home the following point: be safe while being respectful. Don't make a person who is Muslim/Sikh/other feel threatened or humiliated, but do the job you are paid to do.

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In terms of law enforcement, this means making sure that female officers are alone with Muslim women before asking them to take off the hijab. In terms of airport security, this means bringing a Sikh or Muslim to a separate area before asking them to remove pieces of clothing that may be against policy. Over the last few years in Houston we were able to change policies and implement procedures in place that allowed for understanding and respect while still making the area safe for everyone.

It goes without saying that law enforcement and airport personnel, including individual airline staff, need extensive cultural sensitivity training. But as Muslims or Sikhs or persons belonging to any other group, we must also be willing to understand the Catch 22 situation that these people are in. My tips are as follows:

 Plan to get to the airport earlier than normal if you think you will be "randomly searched".

 Be patient; understand that policies have to be changed at the top and individual officers and TSA staff cannot change procedure without possibly losing their jobs.

 Advocate for policy change through constitutional means. Approach your local law enforcement and airport staff to remind them of the need for expert cultural sensitivity training.
In my last article, I wrote about scanning photographs from old family albums found in Udaipur. While a majority of the images depicted India, I kept finding little collections from when my parents first moved to the United States.

The photographs had been sandwiched at the back of the albums; their glossy finishes sticking to one another. They were not protected by plastic sleeves, as they had rips and rough edges. I can imagine my relatives passing them around, with cups of chai close by.

I recognize a handful of photographs, however most of them are new to me. On their shiny surfaces, they looked like ordinary family photographs, but they are actually a glimpse into the immigrant experience.

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From a technical standpoint: the horizon lines are crooked, there are color shifts, the rules of composition don't seem to apply, and body parts are consistently chopped off.

However, despite all of the imperfections, they are perfect.

These photographs tell a story about how my parents made it in America. They left India, proved their worth, and learned how to assimilate on the fly. It's their version of the American Dream, full of culture clashes and bad haircuts.

The more time I spend with the photographs, the more I can decipher. I can learn about the people that are in the photographs, as well as the people that are not. In the hundreds of photographs that I scanned, I did not find a single picture of my mom's dad. He was never part of our life, and it's evident in his absence.

My nani (my mom's mom), on the other hand, is everywhere. She is always full of energy and love, even if she wasn't always thrilled about the snow.

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These images also make me wonder about my dad's parents. I was much younger when they passed away, and I always wish I could have spent more time with them. How did they feel when my dad, their youngest son, left Udaipur? What did they think about the United States when they visited?

My parents were in constant motion, as they hopped around different states. They started in Connecticut, headed south to Alabama, then north to Michigan, then back east to New York, before coming full-circle and settling in Connecticut. This is the freedom that we always associate with America. The ability to pack everything up in a station wagon and hit the road. Grabbing hold of new opportunities while leaving failed ones behind.

While in India, my mom finished at the top of her class in medical school and completed her residency before even meeting my dad. After arriving in the United States, she was required to repeat her residency all over again. However, this time she had to also deal with my older brother and Detroit winters. The struggle was very real.

My dad, on the other hand, came to the United States on an education visa. He bounced between jobs in the nuclear field, but eventually reevaluated his long-term career goals. With very limited experience, he switched fields and started his then-little medical equipment company, in a tiny strip mall in New York.

Amidst all of the chaos of my parents' new American lives, these images still capture moments of peace; where we let our guards down and are lost in our thoughts. Even if we notice the camera, there is a comfort level that allows us to just be. We have nothing to hide.

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No matter how much I used to make fun of them, I have to admit that my parents have always had great style. Appearance is a key part of assimilating into any new culture, even if it means buying oversized sweatshirts and wearing ridiculous flat hats.

My favorite part about these images are that they are layered with meaning. They have these subtle details that connect me to my childhood as well as hints of a cultural fusion. These are the people and places that laid the foundation of my identity, and I can keep coming back to these images and discover something new.

As the years and people pass, the photographs will evolve and take on new meanings, but I will always know that everything that my parents worked and struggled for was for the love of my brother and I.
"Move out of your comfort zone.

You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new." - Brian Tracy

For me, this quote sums up the past year or so perfectly. Given the topsy-turvy 8 or so months I've just experienced, it's hard to remember that not much changed for so long.

It's also been a great period of growth, transformation and meeting a lot of new people with incredible stories to share. One of those people is Eric Agyeman who I met through a friend of a friend.

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A coffee or two later and it was clear that the man sitting in front of me, had a very different path to entrepreneurship than I did.

Growing up in Ghana in West Africa, Eric lived in poverty as a teenager, experiencing first-hand how kids in his country didn't have access to education and regular schooling... the kind of things kids in Australia tend to take for granted.

When Eric's father handed him a 1-way ticket for a holiday to Ghana, he could never have realised that initial 3-week holiday would lead to a 7-year journey of self-discovery.

As we sat and talked for the first time, Eric was just weeks away from releasing his book that tells his story - while already being no stranger to success thanks to PVBS, the social enterprise he founded, and his work as a youth motivational speaker, launching a book is somewhat of a defining moment in Eric's journey.

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"Let There Be Darkness is my story and explores how I went through and overcame some dark experiences in order to find my identity and purpose," says Eric.

Images from Eric's book launch

Having scored myself a special sneak peak copy, there's no doubt this book is hard-hitting and while it doesn't pull its punches where necessary, it is ultimately a story of hope.

After reading Let There Be Darkness, I can definitely see why Eric is so well received by the young kids and adults he chats with. Suicide prevention, youth/student leadership issues... he's already walked down and overcome that challenging path faced by too many of today's youth.

"We are losing far too many kids to suicide - those in the 12 to 25-year-old age bracket are particularly at risk. How can we encourage kids to push past the hardships and understand that it's the challenging times that are the building blocks in terms of who we are destined to become?"

Eric is definitely living proof of the notion that with determination and hard work, dreams really can come true. In 2010, he founded PVBS, the social enterprise he now runs with his wife, Sandy. PVBS sells customised clothing with proceeds donated to regions such as Ghana.

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In a relatively short amount of time, it's clear to see that PVBS is making a difference with over $20k donated to projects taking place in Ghana and Cambodia. As a result, over 1,400 children have been fed and two schools built.

"I like to call myself a 'Hope Dealer' - I've managed to use what I'm most passionate about to drive my mission: to act as a voice that speaks and draws out the inner greatness of this generation. My goal is to empower these kids to let go of their fears and to change their world."

Let There Be Darkness is available to buy here.
Girls wait for their chance to greet US President Barack Obama at the Islamic Society of Baltimore, in Windsor Mill, Maryland on February 3, 2016.Obama offered an impassioned rebuttal of 'inexcusable' Republican election rhetoric against Muslims Wednesday, on his first trip to an American mosque since becoming president seven years ago. / AFP / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

"Muslims are part and parcel of the American and European scene."

John Esposito, the scholar of Islam and International Affairs at Georgetown, concludes,

"Therefore, any talk of Islam and the West must be complemented by our recognition of Islam in the West."

If Islam is currently in America, America, in dealing with Islam, should learn about its own unique experience and the challenges Muslims face. At least two features distinguish American Muslims from their European counterparts. Traditionally, most Muslim immigrants to the USA were professionals while in Europe most were from the working class. Perhaps, most importantly, African-Americans created a new image of Islam that was absent in Europe. Let us focus on this latter point.

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(1) Around two-thirds (60%) of America's Muslims are from immigrant families; the others are converts, primarily African-American.

African-American Islam emerged in the early twentieth century when many Blacks converted to Islam, what they conceived as a return to their authentic spiritual and cultural roots.

This turn was a selective mix of Islamic symbols and Black Nationalism. American Muslims still must deal with this mix to develop a more constructive Islam. The Nation of Islam represents this movement which consisted of both very negative and very positive aspects and took a long time to define itself in a peaceful and constructive way.

It started with an egalitarian message for social justice. First, Wallace D. Fard Muhammad (disappeared in 1934), initiated a black liberation movement, in the ghetto of Detroit. Although he was recognized as the Islamic Messiah (the Great Mahdi, or savior) he used Islam as a weapon for his ideological agenda, black nationalism, and against white people and Christianity.

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His successor Elijah Muhammad (1897-1975) corrupted Islam, identified Fard as Allah, which meant God was a black man. In turn, he made himself as the messenger of God. However, he gave to the marginalized poor with lower self-esteemed blacks a sense of identity, community, self-improvement, and empowerment to survive in a discriminating society.

Still negative points remained, among them: black separatism and supremacy, excommunicating dissidents including his two sons. The Nation of Islam did not practice the major Islamic rituals, like many lay Talibans in Afghanistan who do not know about daily prayers!

A major transition occurred in the Nation of Islam with Malcolm X (1925-65) and Wallace D. Muhammad (1933-2008), the son of Elijah Muhammad. Malcolm X brought the movements into line with the civil right movement, the Vietnam War Protest, and solidarity with liberation struggles in colonial Africa. Wallace D. Muhammad brought it closer to mainstream Islamic doctrines and practices and advanced the role of women in ministry.

Passing many modifications and overcoming so many errors, African-Americans learned to adapt the new image of Islam and present their Islamic identity in helping to solve concrete problems like racism, poverty, crime, violence, and drugs.

(2) Other American Muslims can learn much from this movement in adjusting their faith with American life, opportunities and challenges. As American Muslims' stories vary from those of Europeans, so do they differ from those in Africa or Asia. Not only schedules, schooling, and vacations are different, but also parties, discipline, and parent-child relationships. So they must go further, in producing an American Islam.

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This calls for a harmony of Islamic and American values. Islamic law; Shariah, consists in a marriage between actual life and God's commands. This is why it is believed that a rural Mufti's (faith direction) reflects rural conditions and thus but it changed and adopted for the city-dweller. Thus, it is completely a faithful demand that American's faith direction have to reflect realities here.

American Islam does not mean necessarily observing Juma (community) prayer on Sunday instead of Friday-thus imitating US values; but it means developing institutions that are indigenously rooted and respond, not merely react, to realities; this must be adapted Islam to an American context.

If the Quran encourages Muslims to

"Listen to all words and follow the best ones,"

(the Quran, 39:18) it suggests at least that Muslims should listen to non-Muslim Americans and learn from them. If the Quran clearly calls for "Common Word" among Muslims, Christians, and Jews (3:64), it supports dialogue among different parts of American faithful culture. If the Prophet said,

"Loving the hometown is a part of faith"

this is a duty of American Imams to teach American Muslims to love their country. If God describes a hometown's safety and good economy as Divinity's bounty to a nation (106:4) it is the responsibility of American Imams to teach their students thanksgiving for their good economy and security.

(3) Non-Muslim Americans too can learn from this narrative on the Nation of Islam. The movement had reactionary elements. Of the six million Muslims in America, more than the population of Libya, Kuwait, or Qatar, many serve as health-care professionals, managers, businessmen, professors and students, engineers, etc.

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In this new replacement of a predominantly Judeo-Christian mindset with a common Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition, many things have to be done. Among them, two are most significant: definition of American Islam by Muslims and treating Muslims as a part of "Self" by non-Muslims.

When Islam is seen as a "foreign religion" and Muslims as foreigners, it only alienates. If the transition from Judeo-Christian to Judeo-Christian-Islam is recognized it helps both Non-Muslims to enrich their culture and Muslims to learn from other faiths and their experiences in peaceful interpretations of the faith as well as modern values like humanism and rationalism, human rights, women's rights, etc.
ANKARA, TURKEY - FEBRUARY 11: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivers a speech during Young Businessmen Confederation of Turkey (TUGIK) plenary session on finance in Ankara, Turkey on February 11, 2016. (Photo by Mehmet Ali Ozcan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

The Saudis have announced that the kingdom is "willing" and "prepared" to send its troops to Syria. While they have said their goal of putting boots on the ground in Syria would be to "fight IS," the timing of the kingdom's announcement raises questions about its motives.

The military landscape in Syria is sharply changing in favor of Bashar al-Assad's regime, the fall of which the Saudis vehemently seek. The Syrian government has made major gains against the opposition in recent weeks, including breaking the four-year-long siege of the Shiite-populated towns of Nubl and Al-Zahra, which could practically lead to the completion of Aleppo's siege and its fall from the opposition's control.

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Another sign raising suspicions about the Saudis' real motive behind the possible move is the statements made by Khaled Khoja, the President of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces. "Intervention by friends, especially Arab friends, to support the Syrian resistance and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) was necessary since the beginning of direct confrontations between the FSA and Shiite militias on the one hand, and against ISIS on the other. After the Russian intervention, however, this matter has become crucial," he remarked.

Iran does not view Saudi Arabia's declaration a serious one. Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), mocked the Saudis and said, "They claim they will send troops [to Syria], but I don't think they will dare do so." However, the possibility does not appear unlikely. Saudi officials have told CNN that they have amassed an army of 150,000 troops to invade Syria.

Familiarity with the Syrian battlefield, confirmed by an Associated Press report, reveals that Saudi ground forces "would almost certainly have to enter from the Turkish border, close to the area where Syrian government troops and allied militiamen have been advancing under cover of blistering Russian airstrikes." Therefore, if the Saudis intervene, the proxy wars that Iran and Saudi Arabia have been waging would suddenly become very real and could potentially lead to a direct conflict between Saudi troops and the Iranian-backed forces, including the National Defense Forces (NDF) and Hezbollah of Lebanon. The mess could drag other Sunni Arab nations into that war against Shia Iran and transform to a full-fledged regional war. What the reactions of the United States and Russia would be, remains to be seen.

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On another front, Erdogan has hinted that Turkey could enter the war on the anti-Assad forces' side. On February 7, he said, "What's going on in Syria can only go on for so long. At some point it has to change." On February 10, Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoglu pledged to return a "historical debt" to Turkey's "Aleppo brothers." At a meeting of his party, he said, "We will return our historic debt. At one time, our brothers from Aleppo defended our cities [during the First World War, and] ... now we will defend the heroic Aleppo. All of Turkey stands behind its defenders." Russian military spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov had already said that "we have significant evidence to suspect Turkey is in the midst of intense preparations for a military invasion into Syria's sovereign territory."

What is perplexing with Davutoglu's remarks is that if Turkey is determined to fight ISIS and eradicate the group, why choose Aleppo as a target rather than the caliphate capital, Raqqa?

Since last year's downing of the Russian fighter jet, Russia-Turkey relations have deteriorated to the "worst [point] in decades," and there is "no way to improve [relations] for now," as the Kremlin recently suggested.

Erdogan is making every effort to escalate Turkey's conflict with Russia, as was his objective in shooting down the Russian jet. In that incident, he hoped to provoke Russia into a knee-jerk response and thus pull the country into a conflict with NATO. The move was thought to have been motivated by a desire to reverse his and Turkey's declining fortunes in the Syrian war.

Another development which has made the Turks extremely furious is that according to RUDAW reports, Russian air strikes have allowed Syrian Kurdish guerilla group, People's Protection Units (YPG), gain territory against anti-Assad forces in northern Syria.

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"What are you doing in Syria? You're essentially an occupier," Erdogan said, addressing Russian President Vladimir Putin a few days ago.
Photo Credit: Brandon Couch

"Joy comes to us in ordinary moments. We risk missing out when we get too busy chasing down the extraordinary."

At one time, I was a worship leader, youth pastor, blogger, radio host, photographer, sign language interpreter, and a family man. In that order.

This morning, a lifelong friend of our family came up to me and asked, "What's exciting in your life this week?" Without thinking, I said, "You know, most days I just want to get the kids in bed in one piece and pay the power bill. That's my main calling." I said it tongue-in-cheek, but I meant it.

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As a teen and throughout my 20s, I considered everything from religion to military service to find my purpose. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do with my life, but I was certain it would be magnificent. I was sure it would involve stages and possibly fame. I was accustomed to excelling, and didn't God promise me a hope and a future?

But last night, the magnificent showed up as my almost-2-year-old waddled over to the couch and begged, "Book, Dada, book!" For nearly an hour, my daughter laid her rosy little biscuit cheeks on my shoulder as we read Brown Bear, Brown Bear 47 times.

My future collides with my present when my son wants to snuggle at 1 a.m. All I really want to do is sleep in my queen-sized bed without a kid kicking my rib cage repeatedly for hours. But another thought flashes through my mind. He won't be four-years-old forever, and we won't always fit together on this twin mattress.

Where's that hope I always quoted in my 20s? It's found in the mornings I have the honor of fixing my wife's coffee while she has a few minutes of "becoming human" time on the couch. In a different season, our marriage nearly fell apart, due to my constant busyness and drive to do something big. But God's grace is greater than even our biggest mistakes. Now, I have the privilege of making her coffee and helping with household chores.

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And I notice, all the "small things" in my day are really the big things of life. The "small things" are my family. Instead of viewing my wife and children as additional baggage, one more responsibility, I now realize they are my greatest gifts. God is my hope and my children are my future. When I take my last breath on earth, won't be thinking of metrics and stats. I pray to God I won't be thinking of my failures of any sort of disappointment I ever faced, but instead of all the small things. The time I took to breathe. To kiss my son on the forehead. To reach across the kitchen table and hold my wife's hand. To notice the way a baby smells behind the ears. These tiny moments are the ones that matter the most to me now.

God isn't confined by church walls or Christian music. He isn't only impressed by preaching to an audience of 10,000. He cares just as much about my commitment to tell my children a Bible story each night. When I let go of doing big things for God, I found a God who isn't any more wowed with billboard Christianity than the single Mom who manages to put supper on the table, even if the house isn't spotless, and raise children who know their value and where they belong.

I find my hope in the fact that God connects with me on a personal level, not because of my great ability, but because of the fact that God who values who we are above what we do.
An Interview with Omar Ruffin, Rising Tide Capital Graduate

This story is the first in a series featuring entrepreneurs who are Graduates of the Community Business Academy offered by nonprofit Rising Tide Capital. Based in Jersey City, New Jersey, Rising Tide Capital's mission is to transform lives and communities through entrepreneurship.

Omar, the winner of the Start Something Challenge

Omar Ruffin is the President & CEO of BiArte Biker Gear Corporation, a startup committed to outfitting motorcyclists safely and stylishly. In July 2015, Ruffin won first place in the Start Something Challenge competition, earning a $10,000 business grant.

Ruffin describes himself as a "Renaissance man of sorts." He is a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., served in the United States Army National Guard, and is currently employed as a Flight Attendant with Delta Air Lines, which allows him not only the flexibility required to run his business, but also the opportunity to promote his brand worldwide. Through his business, he is working to build upon his own dream and create a legacy for his family.

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Steve Mariotti: What exactly do you do, and who do you help?

Omar Ruffin: At BiArte, we specialize in creating protective gear for motorcycle riders. Our premier product is called the BikerSoc, a shoe protector which guards against scuffs and abrasions to the rider's footwear. Instead of making everything bland and basic, we aim to stimulate our customers with attractive designs and colors.

BiArte specializes in gear for motorcycle riders

SM: How did you get started?

OR: The company sort of fell into my lap. The original company actually began in 1997 in Brooklyn, New York, by my cousin, Tyrone Hunter, Sr. It was really catching on, but then he suffered a setback when he was sent to prison with a life sentence in 2004, from actions which dated back to the late 80's. After seeing that it was a viable product, which solved a major pain point for many riders, I knew we had to do something. We couldn't just let it fall by the wayside. I approached my cousin and told him of my plans to go back to school and focus on entrepreneurship and management. I mapped out a timeline of when I wanted to seriously take over this business. We discussed it, and agreed we could help a lot of riders who were looking for solutions to save their gear.

SM: When did you first think of yourself as an entrepreneur?

OR: I think I've always considered myself to be an entrepreneur. After completing my undergraduate studies at South Carolina State University, I moved back to New York City and began my career in the legal industry as a Paralegal. I went back to school to obtain a master's degree and eventually became a Legal Staff Supervisor at an international law firm. Even in these roles, I always saw each individual attorney I supported as a customer. I think providing excellent customer service is a skill we all need to have in any given profession. Having great people skills doesn't hurt either. I've always been blessed with the gift of gab. It's not a bad thing.

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SM: What is the biggest challenge you face as a business person?

OR: The biggest challenge up until now, I will honestly say has been believing I could actually get this done. The company itself has had a rough history. It was started by someone who I respect and love like he's my brother. He had to give it up and now, it's been placed in my hands to make a success. When we as young black men grow up in blended and often times broken homes, we don't necessarily have any idols who look like us sitting at the dinner table every night. So we try to figure things out for ourselves. My cousin started something I plan on making very successful. Not to say, 'look what I did,' but to leave a lasting legacy for my family and every kid who has ever been told they can't be better than their situation.

My story didn't start out all that great. I've lived in homeless shelters, had an abusive dad (who did get better), parents who fell victim to the drug sweep of the early and mid-80's. I remember praying life would get better as a six-year-old. I collected cans to get a meal every night, which consisted mainly of ramen noodles, which probably explains why I'm not a fan of it now.

My cousin and I grew up in the same house when we lived with my grandmother, who I believed saved me and instilled amazing values in me of never giving up and always giving everything you do your all. It's amazing how two individuals who received the same life lessons, from the same person, can take two completely different paths. My cousin is a genius who experienced a misfortune. I am simply here trying to make his life's lemons into lemonade.

SM: What has been inspiring to your entrepreneurial success?

OR: This may come as a surprise to many, but there are no businesses owned by any individuals in my family. The thing that drives my entrepreneurial success is the need and desire to build a legacy for my family; to show every kid in the world, but especially the ones in my family, that you are greater than your circumstance; to learn to see failure as a lesson and not as the end; to be a testament to the idea of where you start up does not have to be indicative of where you will end up.

The day I decided to not make any more excuses for utilizing my talents, experiences and education for what was placed in front of me was the day my life changed. I am certainly grateful for it and would not change a thing.

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Consumer giants like Unilever and Marks&Spencer have promised to source materials from states and regions that slash deforestation, but slowing deforestation requires buy-in at every level of society. Here's how one Brazilian jurisdiction became the country's first "Green Municipality", and why that success may prove difficult to replicate.

This is the first in a series of stories examining the emergence of Brazil's Green Municipalities: what they can achieve, what they can't, and what must happen for them to succeed. Click here to follow the series on Ecosystem Marketplace.

Adnan Demachki hadn't caught a good night's sleep in days - not since the riots started.

The year was 2008, and the riots began on November 28 - exactly eight months after he'd begun transforming Paragominas from an environmental pariah into a Municipio Verde, or "Green Municipality" - although "county" might be a better way to translate municipio. Paragominas sprawls across more than 19,000 square kilometers - nearly 7,500 square miles - of forests, farms, and fields in the Brazilian Amazon, and in 2007, it had the second-highest rate of deforestation in all of Brazil.

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"At the time, most people equated Paragominas with deforestation," Demachki recalls. "The only time we made the news, it was about illegal logging, murders, blood, conflicts, etc."

The Green Municipality program was supposed to end that, and for a few months, it succeeded - but now it had all gone horribly wrong.

He turned on the local news: there was his City Hall in flames, his constituents battling each other in the streets, his police staring them down, and his grand plan to save the rural economy by saving the forest taking the blame.

Then came the national news, and he cringed at the sight of Paragominas there as well - the torched local offices of IBAMA, which is often described as Brazil's "environmental police", but the acronym translates as the "Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources". Technically, it's the Ministry of Environment's administrative arm, but it does have some police powers, and it did seize those logging trucks...

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With trepidation, he turned to BBC.

Surely, he hoped, they won't care about an obscure local dispute deep in the Amazon.

But they did care, and that meant it was all unraveling - all the trust he'd built among environmentalists and reputation-sensitive food giants, which in turn was built on agreements he'd forged among cattlemen and loggers and settlers and indigenous people. It was all going up in smoke - along with City Hall, along with IBAMA, and along with the Amazon rainforest - and this just two months after he'd won re-election.

His phone vibrated.

It was a text message, from a number he'd never seen before, requesting his presence the next morning in the charred City Hall.



Consumer giants like Unilever and Marks&Spencer have promised to source materials from states and regions that slash deforestation, but slowing deforestation requires buy-in at every level of society. In this series, we examine Brazil's efforts to create "Green Municipalities" that attract business by conserving nature.

Part One - The Difficult Birth Of Brazil's First "Green Municipality" covers the genesis of the first Green Municipality: Paragominas, which slashed deforestation in two years

Part Two - Brazil's Green Municipalities: What Works? What Doesn't? Why? shows how the Paragominas experiment played out on the ground and began spreading across the state of Para.

Part Three - Scaling Up (not yet published) examines the state's efforts to codify the lessons of Paragominas.

"Yes," he answered. "I'll be there."

And he sat down to produce two documents.

The first was a letter of apology to Brazil's Minister of the Environment, Carlos Minc, and to the nation as a whole, asking Brazil to forgive the people of Paragominas and reiterating his promise to end deforestation by the year 2014. It left room for signatures from 51 organizations.

The second was his letter of resignation.

If they're not behind this Green Municipality idea, he thought to himself, then I have nothing to offer.

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And with that, he began another sleepless night.

How it Came to This

The next two days would have profound implications for Paragominas and the entire Amazon Rainforest, and the consequences are being felt to this day, but the sequence of events that culminated in late 2008 began five years earlier, when President Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva took office and appointed Marina Silva as his minister of environment. The daughter of rubber tappers in the state of Acre, her appointment sparked high hopes among environmentalists - and it didn't hurt that her last name, as well as Lula's, means "forest" in Latin.

At the time, Brazil was losing a record 25,000 square kilometers of forest per year, according to the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), and it accounted for 5% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.

Lula launched a US$136 crusade against forest destruction - establishing land-use controls, promoting sustainable development, and ramping up enforcement of forest laws. Marina, as her supporters refer to her, started beefing up the previously impotent IBAMA, but landowners pushed back: the Forest Code, they said, was vague and contradictory, making enforcement uneven and unfair. Until then, it had also been non-existent.

A New Forest Code, and the Black List

Lawmakers began updating the country's strict but poorly-enforced Forest Code, and by 2007 they'd agreed on a clearer - and in some ways more lenient - law, but one that was also eminently enforceable and came with positive incentives to comply.

The old rules still applied: Amazonian landowners still couldn't convert more than 20% of their forestland to farms, but the new rule would be enforced with a combination of fines and incentives, as well as amnesty of sorts for the farmers of Paragominas, which was classified as a "consolidated development area". That meant landowners could be forgiven for exceeding their 20% limit, but only if the excess deforestation happened before 2008 and only if it didn't exceed 50%.

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Also in 2007, an NGO called the Institute of Man and Environment in the Amazon (Instituto do Homem e Meio Ambiente da Amazonia or "Imazon") started processing data from NASA satellites and publishing state-by-state deforestation rates every few weeks. The data clearly showed that some states were worse than others, and that Mato Grosso and Para, where Paragominas was located, had the highest rates of all.

On top of this, Lula asked Ibamas environmental protection director, Flavio Montiel, to identify the municipalities with the worst records and put them on a "Black List" (the favored name is now "Critic List"). He identified 36 municipalities that, combined, represented just 6% of the jurisdictions in the Amazon, but accounted for more than half of deforestation in 2007. Almost half of them - 17 to be exact - were in Para state.

Paragominas was second on the list, and it immediately lost access to credit and faced an embargo on new land permits, while IBAMA - together with the Federal Police and the National Army - launched an enforcement mechanism called Arco de Fogo, or Arc of Fire. Landowners who exceeded their tree-chopping allowance were soon being visited by armed soldiers, who often arrived by helicopter, and commandos began tossing illegal loggers out of the forest and shutting down charcoal plants and illegal sawmills.

From "Black List" to "Green Municipality"

Demachki had anticipated the Forest Code, and he was in the process of steering his community towards more sustainable practices, but the Black List caught him by surprise.

"We already knew we had to straighten ourselves out, but it wasn't only about illegal logging," he says. "I knew it was bigger than that - but how big?"

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He asked Imazon to help him map the municipality and identify the drivers of deforestation. Not surprisingly, he found, most of it had come from the soybean boom, with the expansion of cattle not far behind. Logging made headlines, but it was minimal and mostly confined to illegal incursions into indigenous territories, primarily the forest that belonged to the Tembe people.

"We wanted to get off the Black List, but what were we getting into?" he asks. "We wanted to preserve, but preserve what?"

With Imazon's land-use data, he started finding answers.

"We identified the areas that could be preserved, the ones that were in production, and those that could be reforested," he says. "Then we started reaching out to businesses - individually at first to identify conflicts and commonalities, starting with the forest sector, then the farmers and ranchers, then commerce, and so on."

Over time, the groups became cross-sectoral, and there were meetings every night for three weeks straight in February.

"We spent every night talking about behavior change, the way we manage ourselves as a municipality, global warming, climate change," Demachki recalls.

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By all accounts, it was an inclusive process, involving the heads of the various farmers' unions, the loggers' associations, the laborers who turned illegally-harvested wood into charcoal.

"Up to then, we'd been growing by chopping the forest, so we were growing horizontally," Demachki says. "Most of the farmers understood that we needed to grow vertically instead - meaning using information and technology to make our agriculture more efficient."

Labor understood, too, and he promised to court new industries, like frozen-food plants and furniture factories using sustainably-harvested wood.

"The idea was to add more value locally instead of just exporting raw materials," he says. "People were receptive, and even the loggers understood their business wasn't sustainable in the long term. Plus, most of what they were doing was already illegal - we were just enforcing the law."

Finally, Demachki convened a meeting in City Hall on February 28, 2008.

"It lasted four hours, and we emerged with a social agreement that included a zero deforestation clause," he says. "It was signed by the heads of 51 organizations, representing civil society, labor, companies, etc."

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The agreement vowed to end illegal deforestation immediately and begin re-shaping Paragominas into a Green Municipality, with zero net deforestation by 2014 and 100 million new trees planted in rural areas. Each city, it said, would have 12 square meters of green space per resident.

Sustainable Amazon

At the same time, Lula and the governors of the Amazon states - Acre, Amapa , Amazonas, Maranhao, Mato Grosso, Para, Rondonia , Roraima and Tocantins - launched the Sustainable Amazon Plan (Plano Amazonia Sustentavel or "PAS), which was a roadmap for municipalities to get off the Black List.

Although called a "plan", the PAS is really a set of guidelines that the states agreed to follow while trying to balance growth and conservation. The idea was to impose enough regulation to slow deforestation, while leaving enough flexibility to meet the social and cultural particularities of each state.

Assembling the CAR

A cornerstone of the PAS was the CAR - the Cadastro Ambiental Rural, or "Rural Environmental Registry", which is a national database of rural properties. Registration was voluntary, but any blacklisted municipality had to get 80% of its land onto the CAR to get off the list - and that was no easy task.

To begin with, the population of the Amazon's "new frontier" had increased more than six-fold between 1960 and 1970, as the government incentivized land clearing. These rural pioneers rarely gained official land title, and it was nearly impossible to tell which farmers were responsible for which rainforest destruction.

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On top of that, farmers often balked at getting on the CAR - an act many saw as akin to sticking your head into the lion's mouth.

"They're basically afraid they'll get hit with a massive fine if their land is mapped and it shows they've exceeded their deforestation limit," says Ian Thompson, Director of the Amazon Conservation Program for The Nature Conservancy (TNC).

Uneven Acceptance

Slowly, farmers began to join the CAR - and many early-movers said they were able to better manage their land as a result.

"A lot of these guys never had maps before," says Thompson. "Now, they could look and say, 'Well, this land is really unproductive, let's give it back to nature,' and if they were out of compliance, they could come back in quite easily."

Demachki handily won re-election on October 4, but it was slow going, and not everyone was keeping up their end of the bargain.

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The loggers, for example, continued to poach timber from the Tembe indigenous territory, and the illegal factories continued to turn much of that wood into charcoal. Damachki and IBAMA clamped down on these operations, but his efforts to attract new businesses languished - largely because of the municipality's dirty reputation.

"That stigma was hard to overcome," he says.

Tensions began to build between the farmers - who saw a clear benefit to the Green Municipality initiative - and the loggers, who didn't. It escalated as IBAMA confiscated 15 truckloads of illegally-harvested timber, and it all came to a head after the November 15 Republic Day celebrations.

"Some people burned the trucks, which belonged to logging companies, and the employees of these companies were completely desperate," says Damachki. "The loggers retaliated, and they were joined by the unemployed people, and in that confusion, the riot started."

The date was November 28, 2008: eight months to the day after the Green Municipality agreement had been signed.

Into the Lions' Den

Damachki arrived at city hall as he promised, and it was packed.

"Everyone was there!" he says. "Loggers, civil society, merchants."

He presented the letter that he calls his Apology to the Nation, and made his case.

The world is watching, he said, and he implored them to reaffirm the deal they made eight months earlier - or, he warned, they'd give up all hope of attracting the kind of jobs they needed.

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Most agreed, but the logging and labor factions balked.

"I needed unanimous support, or we would never overcome the stigma," Damachki says.

He dug into his pocket and offered his letter of resignation.
blackboard concept, signs of world religions - major religions group chalked on a blackboard

People can be good or bad, but not religion. It's people who make enemies, who fight and who kill--and it's people who make friends, who love and who enrich life. Should religion be held responsible for what its people do?

This raises a set of thorny questions: what is meant by "its people" in the preceding sentence? Who amongst us can claim to be completely authentic representatives of our respective religious traditions? What does it mean to "belong" to a religion -- or to have a specific religious identity? Even more basic: what is religion? I am aware that there are no definitive answers to these questions, so let me briefly spell out my own responses.

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Questions about life, existence, meaning and purpose have always cropped up in the human heart. Various answers emerged over time in different parts of the world and led to different religious traditions. These timeless answers were not the result of intellectual activity or group discussions: they are believed to have had a divine, transcendent origin. The authenticity of these religious traditions is confirmed and validated in every generation by people who take the teachings to heart and live according to them. Such people have experienced deep inner fulfillment, peace, freedom and joy.

When the teaching of a religious tradition resonates with the head and heart of someone, that person identifies with it and acquires a sense of "belonging" to that religion. To him or her, it becomes "my religion." The process usually begins when we are born in a family that already belongs to a religious tradition. Such inherited identification may last through life or may change if, for some reason or other, some eventually begin to identify with another tradition or with no tradition at all.

Religious identity comes in various hues. Some people don't really "do" anything to affirm their religious identity. They identify with a religion merely to be able to identify with something rather than with nothing. Most among the religious inherit their identity and, even when they are indifferent to it, many are too lazy or uninterested in actively dis-identifying from it. The religious identity of some others is limited to socializing, for religion offers a community which fosters friendships and encourages networking. A few in every tradition take their religion very seriously: some among these may focus their attention on scripture and theology, some others on ritual and sacraments, and yet others on contemplation or serving the community. The identification-spectrum thus runs the gamut between the casual-superficial to the serious-profound practitioner. Even the most serious practitioner may find it challenging to practice his or her own tradition in its every aspect.

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Along this spectrum of people identifying themselves as "religious" are found other competing interests and agendas (often fed by fear and greed for power and control) that also demand attention and claim allegiance. It is these interests and compulsions -- which could be political, economic, cultural, among other things -- that sometimes manipulate and mobilize people by misusing religious language and symbols, providing a quasi-religious justification, and masking the whole enterprise as a religious endeavor. When this kind of packaging leads to unwholesome activities and results, religion gets a bad name.
Co-authored by Beth Sondel

Celebrating its 25th anniversary this past weekend, Teach For America (TFA) marked a milestone. Over the past 25 years, the organization has not only expanded, but also shifted their mission and approach. With seemingly good, albeit naive and arrogant, intentions, TFA originated as a solution to the national teacher shortage by recruiting college graduates from "elite universities" to serve as supplemental faculty in hard to staff districts. Founder Wendy Kopp claimed that TFA "would bill itself as an emergency response to a shortage of experienced, qualified teachers and would therefore not be telling the nation that its inexperienced members were preferable to, or as qualified as, experienced teachers." Fully departing from that description, TFA now claims that their corps members are superior to traditionally trained teachers and the organization has effectively changed its mission to "enlist, develop, and mobilize as many as possible of our nation's most promising future leaders to grow and strengthen the movement for educational equity and excellence."

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Among these critiques, there has been much anecdotal evidence that TFA displaces other, more qualified teachers. TFA vehemently refutes this, claiming on their website that;

Corps members do not have special contracts with school districts. They apply for open jobs, and they go through the same interview and hiring process as any candidate. Our approach is to bring the best possible people into the field, but no one is obligated to hire our teachers.

Until now, this issue has been an anecdotal back-and-forth and had not been addressed empirically - until now.

In a peer-reviewed study out this week - as part of a special issue examining TFA - we, along with our co-authors, provide the first empirical analysis of TFA contracts and the implications they have on hiring processes. To do this, we collected and analyzed 49 Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs) between TFA and school districts across five geographic regions (Atlanta, Chicago, New York City, Eastern North Carolina, and New Orleans).

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Ultimately, we found that TFA's claims about their hiring processes are decidedly false. Instead, across these MOUs (that is, the special contracts that TFA claim don't exist), it was stipulated that local districts reserve and protect positions for TFA corps members; do not limit TFA corps members to "critical" or "shortage" areas; reserve and protect positions for corps members in charter schools; and create pathways towards leadership for TFA corps members.

For example, it was often the case that language like the following outlined the obligation to hire corps members:

Although [TFA] will work in good faith with [the] school district to provide teachers who meet specific grade level, subject matter or other criteria specified by [the] school district, [the] school district shall hire every qualified teacher made available by TFA pursuant to this agreement whether or not such teacher meets such specific criteria.

In exchange for corps members, MOUs stipulate that districts be held responsible for paying a 'finders fee' to TFA for each corps member for each of the two years (usually between $3,000-$5,000). This money is non-refundable even if the corps member is determined unfit once in the classroom - or if they quit before they've completed their two-year commitment. In Atlanta alone, districts have paid approximately $10,251,240 in just finder's fees to TFA since 2000 - money that goes straight to TFA rather than students and classrooms.

With all of the money that cash-strapped districts must pony up for TFA corps members, one might ask why they continue to pay for teachers who have been shown to be mediocre at best. Our analysis found that using TFA to staff teaching positions will, after nine years, provide the district with cheaper labor options than continuing to pay for raises and pensions for career teachers. Thus, in the incessant attacks on teachers as raison d'etre for school failures, TFA corps members represent not only a cadre of teachers who focus almost exclusively on attempting to raise test scores by teaching to the test but they also represent a cheaper source of labor over the long-term. The cult of measurement and meritocracy on the cheap, as it were.

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Then there are rural districts like those in Eastern North Carolina, a state that actually has a significant teacher shortage because their teacher pipeline is leaking at both ends - people are not entering the profession and attrition rates are at an all-time high. Meanwhile, the NC General Assembly decided in 2013 that TFA would be the only state-funded solution to this problem, a policy decision cheaper, for example, than raising teachers' salaries. Ultimately, the presence of TFA allows the state to avoid systemic change and still fill positions that are so untenable that only someone planning to teach for two years before moving on to another career (with the benefits and social status TFA provides) might be willing to accept.

MOUs also stipulated that school districts are required to use "reasonable efforts" to retain corps members and rehire or reinstate corps members to other comparable positions. This is especially problematic in districts like Chicago, plagued by incessant school closures and teacher layoffs. Also disturbing is the fact that while teachers typically enter into one year contracts with districts, TFA requires districts to guarantee positions for corps members for two years.

It's important to point out that traditionally credentialed teachers are not granted any of these privileges. And as Terrenda White has pointed out, even as TFA has put great effort into diversifying their corps, they simultaneously promote policies that displace black teachers across the teaching profession.

This privileging and displacement are likely to increase as TFA continues to expand its influence over policy by installing alumni in leadership positions. In New Orleans, for example, when TFA tripled in size after Hurricane Katrina, the MOUs stipulated that the school district retain corps members by directing them towards leadership opportunities. Now over 50 educational leaders (including the state superintendent) are TFA alumni, with full autonomy to hire whom they please based on charter school policies. It should not be surprising then that TFA constitutes 20% of the city's teaching force.
During a recent visit to Sri Lanka, I (unsurprisingly) saw a lot of military personnel. Many times they were riding around in vehicles. On other occasions the interaction was a bit more personal. In Jaffna, as I was purchasing a new SIM card, a pair of Sri Lanka Army members entered the shop. In Trincomalee, I walked into town to grab the Sunday newspapers. There's a place I remembered from a previous visit; it's right by the bus stand. When I got there, two members of the Sri Lanka Army were inside picking up papers. (Should I at least be encouraged that they're reading something?) After I bought three papers and was walking back to my hotel, I saw a pair of Navy men drive by.

If you're visiting Sri Lanka and you leave your hotel room in Colombo, the capital, chances are you're going to see at least a few military personnel during the course of the day. Without question, the situation is far more noticeable in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. Sri Lanka's civil war ended in May 2009, but a military drawdown still hasn't happened. Since Mahinda Rajapaksa was thrown out of power in January 2015, the military may be intervening less in civilian affairs, but much more needs to be done. The military's intervention into civilian life has undoubtedly continued under the new government, which has shown no indication of wanting to decrease troop levels. And there's no question that the Sinhalese military's strong presence in Tamil-dominated areas results in a range of serious problems.

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"The immediate impact [of militarization in the Northern and Eastern Provinces] in terms of loss of livelihood, torture, sexual violence is well known and documented," says Kumaravadivel Guruparan, a spokesperson for the Tamil Civil Society Forum. "I am also worried about the long term collective psycho social impact on the Tamil population as a whole. The objective of militarisation I have long maintained is the normalisation of abnormalcy and this will have wide ranging impact on self motivation and self development in individuals and also the collective desire within the community for valuable public ideals," such as justice, equality and self-determination.

Moreover, pervasive militarization throughout the island nation's historically Tamil areas undermines any legitimate transitional justice agenda and the most basic precepts of a fully functioning democracy. In line with commitments made at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), there's still time for Sirisena to prove that he's actually concerned about reaching out to the nation's war-weary Tamil community. If the president wanted to move in such a direction, he could do a few things quickly.

Sirisena could first acknowledge that the widespread militarization in Sri Lanka's north and east is extremely problematic. He could promise that a significant military drawdown will occur during his first term in office. He could consistently explain to the entire country that the implementation of a comprehensive transitional justice package is the best way to ensure that Sri Lanka's peace is a lasting and genuine one. Relatedly, he could fully explicate the contents of the recently passed HRC resolution on Sri Lanka (and why it matters). Lastly, he could immediately release the majority of Tamil political prisoners. Unfortunately, there are virtually no signs that Sirisena is going to do any of those things.
A Kentucky National Guardsmen throws a bushel of illegal marijuana plants seized by the Kentucky State Police Cannabis Suppression Branch onto a fire in Bronston, Kentucky, U.S., on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015. Funded by federal grant money, the Kentucky State Troopers and Kentucky Army National Guard work together to enforce marijuana laws including destroying illegal grow operations throughout the state. Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images

By Johann Hari

Across the world, more and more people are asking: Why is marijuana banned? Why are people still sent to prison for using or selling it?

Most of us assume it's because someone, somewhere sat down with the scientific evidence, and figured out that cannabis is more harmful than other drugs we use all the time -- like alcohol and cigarettes.

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Somebody worked it all out, in our best interest.

But when I started to go through the official archives -- researching my book Chasing The Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs -- to find out why cannabis was banned back in the 1930s, I discovered that's not what happened.

Not at all.

In 1929, a man called Harry Anslinger was put in charge of the Department of Prohibition in Washington, D.C. But alcohol prohibition had been a disaster. Gangsters had taken over whole neighborhoods. Alcohol -- controlled by criminals -- had become even more poisonous.

So alcohol prohibition finally ended -- and Harry Anslinger was afraid. He found himself in charge of a huge government department, with nothing for it to do. Up until then, he had said that cannabis was not a problem. It doesn't harm people, he explained, and "there is no more absurd fallacy" than the idea it makes people violent.



Harry J. Anslinger, commissioner of the Treasury Department's Federal Bureau of Narcotics, poses for a photo on September 24, 1930. (AP Photo)

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But then -- suddenly, when his department needed a new purpose -- he announced he had changed his mind.

He explained to the public what would happen if you smoked cannabis.

First, you will fall into "a delirious rage." Then you will be gripped by "dreams... of an erotic character." Then you will "lose the power of connected thought." Finally, you will reach the inevitable end-point: "Insanity."

Marijuana turns man into a "wild beast." If marijuana bumped into Frankenstein's monster on the stairs, Anslinger warned, the monster would drop dead of fright.

Harry Anslinger became obsessed with one case in particular. In Florida, a boy called Victor Licata hacked his family to death with an axe. Anslinger explained to America: This is what will happen when you smoke "the demon weed." The case became notorious. The parents of the U.S. were terrified.

What evidence did Harry Anslinger have? It turns out at this time he wrote to the 30 leading scientists on this subject, asking if cannabis was dangerous, and if there should be a ban.

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Twenty-nine wrote back and said no.

Anslinger picked out the one scientist who said yes, and presented him to the world. The press -- obsessed with Victor Licata's axe -- cheered them on.

In a panic that gripped America, marijuana was banned. The U.S. told other countries they had to do the same. Many countries said it was a dumb idea, and refused to do it. For example, Mexico decided their drug policy should be run by doctors. Their medical advice was that cannabis didn't cause these problems, and they refused to ban it. The U.S. was furious. Anslinger ordered them to fall into line. The Mexicans held out -- until, in the end, the U.S. cut off the supply of all legal painkillers to Mexico. People started to die in agony in their hospitals. So with regret, Mexico sacked the doctor -- and launched its own drug war.



"The scientific evidence suggests cannabis is safer than alcohol. Alcohol kills 40,000 people every year in the U.S. Cannabis kills nobody."



But at home, questions were being asked. A leading American doctor called Michael Ball wrote to Harry Anslinger, puzzled. He explained he had used cannabis as a medical student, and it had only made him sleepy. Maybe cannabis does drive a small number of people crazy, he said -- but we need to fund some scientific studies to find out.

Anslinger wrote back firmly. "The marihuana evil can no longer be temporized with," he explained, and he would fund no independent science. Then, or ever.

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For years, doctors kept approaching him with evidence he was wrong, and he began to snap, telling them they were "treading on dangerous ground" and should watch their mouths.

Today, most of the world is still living with the ban on cannabis that Harry Anslinger introduced, in the nation-wide panic that followed Victor Licata's killing spree.

But here's the catch. Years later, somebody went and looked at the psychiatric files for Victor Licata.

It turns out there's no evidence he ever used cannabis.

He had a lot of mental illness in his family. They had been told a year before he needed to be institutionalized -- but they refused. His psychiatrists never even mentioned marijuana in connection to him.

So, does cannabis make people mad?

The former chief advisor on drugs to the British government, David Nutt, explains -- if cannabis causes psychosis in a straightforward way, then it would show in a straightforward way.

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When cannabis use goes up, psychosis will go up. And when cannabis use goes down psychosis will go down.

So does that happen? We have a lot of data from a lot of countries. And it turns out it doesn't. For example, in Britain, cannabis use has increased by a factor of about 40 since the 1960s. And rates of psychosis? They have remained steady.

In fact, the scientific evidence suggests cannabis is safer than alcohol. Alcohol kills 40,000 people every year in the U.S. Cannabis kills nobody -- although Willie Nelson says a friend of his did once die when a bale of cannabis fell on his head.



Mason Tvert on Thursday, May 6, 2010. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

This is why, in 2006, a young man in Colorado called Mason Tvert issued a challenge to the then-mayor of Denver and eventual governor, John Hickenlooper. Hickenlooper owned brew-pubs selling alcohol across the state, and it made him rich. But he said cannabis was harmful and had to be banned. So Mason issued him a challenge -- to a duel. You bring a crate of booze. I'll bring a pack of joints. For every hit of booze you take, I'll take a hit of cannabis. We'll see who dies first.

It was the ultimate High Noon.

Mason went on to lead the campaign to legalize cannabis in his state. His fellow citizens voted to do it -- by 55 percent. Now adults can buy cannabis legally, in licensed stores, where they are taxed--and the money is used to build schools. After a year and a half of seeing this system in practice, support for legalization has risen to 69 percent. And even Governor Hickenlooper has started calling it "common sense."

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Oh -- and Colorado hasn't been filled with people hacking their families to death yet.

Isn't it time we listened to the science -- and finally put away Victor Licata's axe?

Johann Hari is a British journalist and author. This article is adapted from his New York Times best-sellling book Chasing The Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs. To find out why Glenn Greenwald, Noam Chomsky, Bill Maher, Naomi Klein and Elton John have all praised it, click here.
The U.S. Supreme Court blocked the Clean Power Plan, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's rule limiting greenhouse gas emissions from the existing fleet of fossil fuel-fired power plants on Tuesday. The court, in a 5-4 decision split along party lines, put a stay on enforcement of the Clean Power Plan, which is designed to cut carbon dioxide emissions from power plants 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.

"We remain confident that we will prevail on the merits," said the White House in a statement. "Even while the litigation proceeds, EPA has indicated it will work with states that choose to continue plan development and will prepare the tools those states will need."

But others felt the move could be indicative that the Clean Power Plan will not survive legal scrutiny.

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"Should the D.C. Circuit uphold the rule, I think the stay is indicative that the court is likely to want to hear this case," said Scott Segal, a partner in Bracewell LPP's Policy Resolution Group. "Even the most ardent supporters would have to concede that this does not bode well for the current rule."

The EPA's authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions stems from the 2007 Supreme Court decision Massachusetts v. EPA, which found that carbon dioxide qualified as a "pollutant" and was subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act. But Bloomberg reported that the court's intervention casts doubt on the legal prospects for the Clean Power Plan, which some utilities, coal miners and more than two dozen states are challenging as an overreach of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's authority and an intrusion on states' rights. The D.C. Circuit Court willreview the merits of their lawsuits on June 2. The order blocks the Clean Power Plan from taking effect while legal battles play out, making a decision possibly another year or more away.

"A decision overturning the Clean Power Plan would not prevent the EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act," said Jonas Monast, director of the Climate and Energy Program at Duke's Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions. "That case focuses on current regulations. It does not call into questions the Supreme Court's previous finding that greenhouse gases are pollutants under the Clean Air Act."

De-carbonization of U.S. Power Sector Accelerated in 2015

Energy sector transitions envisioned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) when it released its Clean Power Plan last year are already occurring at a faster pace than the EPA may have expected as evidenced by Bloomberg New Energy Finance's (BNEF) 2016 Sustainable Energy in America Factbook, which called 2015 a "watershed year in the evolution of US energy."

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According to the report, coal use for electricity generation dropped from 39 percent in 2014 to 34 percent last year, while natural gas edged closer to becoming the largest source of U.S. power, accounting for some 32 percent of U.S. generation in 2015. Along with energy efficiency improvements, notable growth in renewable energy installations, and flat energy demand, that shift has major implications for greenhouse gas emissions reductions but not for consumer costs -- at least so far.

"We saw natural gas and coal each provide about one third of U.S. electricity, and this was the smallest contribution we've seen from coal within the modern era," said Colleen Regan, BNEF's senior analyst for North American power. She noted that the decrease in coal use was attributable not only to cheap gas but also to 14 gigawatts' worth of coal plant retirements -- 5 percent of U.S. coal capacity -- last year.

Meanwhile, the U.S. renewable energy industry brought online 16 gigawatts of clean energy -- 68 percent of all new installed capacity -- helping drop U.S. energy sector carbon dioxide emissions to their lowest annual level since the mid-1990s in a year that saw retail electric rates fall 1.3 percent in real terms from 2014.

Driving what the report authors suggest is a permanent shift in the U.S. energy sector are technological revolutions in the gas industry, increasingly attractive economics for renewables, and international- and national-levelpolicy directives, including the Clean Power Plan and recent extensions of the investment tax credit for solar power and the production tax credit for wind energy (subscription).

Next Few Decades' Emissions Trajectory Could Affect Earth for Millennia

A group of 22 researchers, including several of the world's foremost climate scientists, contend that we have been thinking about climate change far too narrowly by making projections only to the year 2100. In a study published in Nature Climate Change, the group suggests that policy makers should consider the consequences of human emissions on global temperatures and sea level over a far longer time horizon.

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"The twentieth and twenty-first centuries, a period during which the overwhelming majority of human-caused carbon emissions are likely to occur, need to be placed into a long-term context that includes the past 20 millennia, when the last Ice Age ended and human civilization developed, and the next ten millennia, over which time the projected impacts of anthropogenic climate change will grow and persist," they write. "This long-term perspective illustrates that policy decisions made in the next few years to decades will have profound impacts on global climate, ecosystems and human societies -- not just for this century, but for the next ten millennia and beyond."

The study, which looked at climate data from the past 20,000 years andfour emissions scenarios for the period 2000 to 2300, demonstrates the effects of near-term policy decisions on the climate system's inherent lag effects--namely, the high temperature sensitivity of global ice sheets and the centuries-long atmospheric retention of carbon dioxide.

"If carbon dioxide emissions continue unchecked, the carbon dioxide released during this century will commit Earth and its residents to an entirely new climate regime," the study says.

Report co-author, Thomas Stocker, a climate scientist at the University of Bern, put the long-term view of human emissions bluntly, saying that it sends a "chilling message" about the fossil fuel era's risks and consequences. "It will commit us to massive adaptation efforts so that for many, dislocation and migration becomes the only option." The study notes that even if warming falls below the United Nations target of 2 degrees Celsius, 20 percent of the world's population must migrate away from coasts.
Here's my little joke of the month: How do you spell Pentagon? M-O-R-E.

Whether it's funny or not, it couldn't be more accurate. And that urge for more is fed endlessly by an American military that has increasingly become the only "option" on that mythical "table" in Washington where all options are supposedly kept. Recently, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter previewed the proposed new Pentagon budget for 2017, and one thing is evident: war is in the money. The Obama administration wants to double the funding for the war against the Islamic State to $7 billion, money to be ponied up by a Congress that refuses to declare war on the Islamic State.

At the same time, the proposed budget calls for a quadrupling to $3.4 billion of what might be considered next-war funding. Think of it as financing for a prospective future European face-off against Vladimir Putin & Co. Yes, Russia, a rickety energy state facing plunging oil prices and rising discontent, turns out, according to Carter, to be America's latest looming enemy du jour. The defense secretary is planning to use that $3.4 billion to "stockpile heavy weapons, armored vehicles, and other military equipment" across Central and Eastern Europe, station "a full armored combat brigade" (4,000 or more troops) in the region, and "construct or refurbish maintenance facilities, airfields, and training ranges in seven European countries: Bulgaria, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania." (All of them, except half of Germany, were once part of the Soviet bloc.)

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Leaving the money aside for a moment, consider how perfectly this latest announcement caps the varying strategies of the Obama administration and the Pentagon over the last half-decade. If you remember, way back in 2011 the Iraq War officially ended and U.S. combat operations in Afghanistan were winding down. At that moment, the Obama administration proclaimed a new global strategy. Washington, which had been bogged down in the Greater Middle East for the previous decade, was going to turn the page and shift its emphasis to the planet's rising power, China. Who doubted, after all, that the U.S. had a military duty to confront, deal with, and contain that country?

This new militarized strategy was called a "pivot to Asia." Of course, Washington had never left Asia. Still, troops and new weaponry were to be moved into the region, a policy the Obama administration initiated with the highly publicized deployment of, or sale of, major weapons systems to places like Singapore and Indonesia and the highly publicized stationing of new U.S. troops (in relatively small numbers) in Australia. All this had barely begun, however, when, from Afghanistan to Iraq, not to speak of Libya, Syria, Somalia, and Yemen, things began to go awry. And soon enough, Washington would find itself pivoting back to the Greater Middle East big time (though without stopping its slow build-up in Asia).

Meanwhile, the U.S. military had also begun pivoting to a place where it had been largely absent in the past: Africa. In the last few years, as Nick Turse has reported at this site, it has acquired a network of 60 small bases, outposts, and access points across that continent; American drones are now in African skies and its drone bases there multiplying; and U.S. special operations teams seem to be training proxy forces everywhere on the continent. Although this has been happening largely under the media radar, there can be little question that a "pivot to Africa" is underway.

Which brings us back to that proposed 2017 Pentagon budget. The skyrocketing funding to move new U.S. troops and equipment into the former Soviet areas of Europe and build (or build up) yet more "facilities" there means that, in 2016, we may be witnessing a "pivot to Europe" as well. You could think of it all collectively as the Pentagon's pivot to more or less everywhere, or just spell it out as M-O-R-E and be done with it.

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The Every Student Succeeds Act may bring a breath of fresh air to teachers that need it most.

High off the rush from defending the galaxy, Dan Adiletta finishes playing the video game Halo on the snowy afternoon of Martin Luther King Day. Though it is a holiday from school, Adiletta has work to do to prep his team for the upcoming robotics competition, "FIRST Stronghold," where students compete with castle-bombarding robots. He is not a student though; Dan Adiletta teaches computer science at Gilmour Academy in Ohio. There is a childlike excitement in his voice as he describes the work his students are doing with computers and technology in his classroom, and imagines all of the places their knowledge could take them.

Also the technology coordinator, Adiletta incorporates tech into all aspects of his teaching techniques. His students use Google Drive for file management, and the messaging platform Slack to communicate about projects twenty four hours a day. The technology obsession that drives Adiletta started early in his career as a teacher in Oakland, California.

The school in Oakland enrolled many at-risk students that proved challenging for Adiletta to engage in the classroom. Determined to spark an interest in his teaching material, he brought in electronic clickers for students to respond to questions displayed on a projector. The impact was powerful, with students able to see the evidence of their efforts and become more aware of their learning. "These students had such little confidence with themselves and had so few positive experiences inside the classroom." describes Adiletta. "Because I was showing them the hard data, [students] were able to concretely say that they made an improvement."

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Technology made the difference to engage students with Adiletta's unique teaching style, and the available flexibility of teaching methods allowed for a learning mechanism that personalized the experience to his class. Though this method worked well for Adiletta and his class, the flexibility for teachers to personalize instruction in American schools is declining, especially where it is needed most.

Who controls the classroom?

Student engagement is a common problem among secondary school classrooms and teachers are always looking for new strategies to encourage a desire to learn. Their ability to do so however, may be decreasing where it is needed most. A 2015 study by the US Department of Education found that perceived teacher autonomy (how much control they have over their classroom) has been decreasing since 2003. Autonomy refers to the balance between a teacher's instructional independence and the structure set out by their school system. Administrative oversight and standardized testing are common examples of school structure requirements that teachers are bound by.

"Every class that a teacher loses out on because of a test is a shame." -- Dan Adiletta

The data from the US Department of Education shows that perceived control has been decreasing annually for nearly every teacher and school characteristic.

Most worrisome, teachers in schools with the highest levels of student poverty report the lowest perceived classroom control. Standardized test results regularly report low-income schools performing lower than their higher-income counterparts. The schools in most need of improved test scores have less control over their teaching as educators and are forced to spend more time preparing students for standardized tests. Teachers become forced to "teach to the test" rather than focusing on areas that could truly benefit their students' learning. Adiletta knows the frustration that teachers have been facing. He echoes many when he says that "Every class that a teacher loses out on because of a test is a shame. High risk schools could use the flexibility to relieve difficult situations."

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The problem of declining perceived autonomy is complex with many factors that contribute to a teacher's perceived control over their classroom. Teachers must be able to use professional judgement to tailor their instruction to students, as acknowledged by the US Department of Education. Will decreasing the requirement for standardized tests in low-income schools as suggested in recent research allow teachers to better personalize instruction?

A ray of sunshine on a cloudy day

Standardized tests created by the No Student Left Behind Act of 2001 have been criticized for disadvantaging students in poor schools, where the resulting negative impact has been the greatest. The recent Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) aims to reduce mandatory testing by returning control from the Federal to State Governments.

ESSA may reduce the amount of standardized tests in low-reporting schools, allowing teachers to spend less time preparing their students for tests with greater flexibility to provide more personalized attention. This change could come to districts in states that decide to lessen the weight of standardized tests as a school reporting mechanism. Though the changes have yet to be propagated, the future already shines brighter for many. Just like Dan Adiletta's practice, such change could spark more personalization and technology in the teaching process for other educators.

Adiletta hopes that the new measures will remove a weight from teachers' shoulders who need more flexibility in their classroom. "It's a breath of fresh air." He says with regards to teachers overburdened by standardized tests. After a decade long of teaching to the test, perhaps teachers will finally have the autonomy they are looking for in order to differentiate instruction. And perhaps we will finally have the focus needed to truly benefit student learning.

Data source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), "Public School Teacher Data File", 2003-04, 2007-08, and 2011-12. Presented in the report Public School Teacher Autonomy in the Classroom Across School Years 2003-04, 2007-08, and 2011-12.

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This post originally appeared on Chalk.com
After the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries, we are reminded that President Obama's time in office is coming to a close. But it's not too late to take care of unfinished business.

Nearly seven years ago, President Obama gave hope to tens of thousands gathered in central Prague, and to billions around the world. In no uncertain terms, he declared "America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons."

It was a declaration the world was hungry to hear. Nuclear weapons have not been used since 1945 and have no role against the major threats we face today, such as terrorism, global warming or cyber attacks. And yet the Obama administration has launched a 30-year, $1 trillion effort to rebuild the U.S. nuclear arsenal from the ground up.



The hope felt in Prague back in 2009 was once again dashed with the release of the administration's $583 billion defense budget -- including a major down-payment on the whopping $1 trillion nuclear upgrade.

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The president's budget request for fiscal year 2017 includes large increases for new nuclear weapons, including new nuclear cruise missiles, new land-based ballistic missiles, and new nuclear-armed bombers and submarines. At the same time, the budget reduces funding for critical programs to prevent nuclear terrorism.

The enormous cost of these nuclear weapons programs will force tough budget tradeoffs with conventional weapons, Pentagon officials admit. "Starting in 2021, between 2021 and 2035, it's about $18 billion a year to reconstitute and recapitalize our strategic nuclear deterrent," Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work recently told Defense News. "If that comes out of our conventional forces that will be very, very, very problematic for us."

But the process of trading nuclear weapons for conventional ones has already begun. While increasing funding for nuclear weapons we don't need, the budget cuts funds for conventional helicopters, fighter planes, and ships -- the weapons we actually use.

In the final stretch of his presidency, Obama is on course to leave a legacy that boosts, not busts, America's nuclear arsenal. As former Defense Secretary William J. Perry recently wrote, "Far from continuing the nuclear disarmament that has been underway for the last two decades, we are starting a new nuclear arms race."

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This is a profound disappointment, particularly given Obama's historic achievements - the Iran nuclear accord, the New START Treaty, and the Nuclear Security Summits.

But there is still time for Obama to live up to his words and set a new course. Two new reports from the Center for American Progress (CAP) and the centrist Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) provide critical new data that can help inform strategies for cutting back our bloated - and dangerous - plans for new nuclear weapons. Ploughshares Fund was pleased to provide funding for these studies.
Every time a suicide bomber blows up Afghan civilians - as in the January attack that killed seven and injured 26 staffers of the TOLO-TV news team in Kabul - Afghans wonder: Why does Pakistan continue to support the Taliban, which brazenly claimed responsibility for this and other deadly attacks on innocent civilians?

Pakistan doesn't necessarily hold a deep love for the Pashtun-dominated Taliban; it bombs them in Waziristan, north of Pakistan, while at the same time asking the Afghan government to enter into negotiations with them.

Pakistan knows that a nationalist Taliban stronghold in Kabul would be a major threat to the security of the Punjabi-dominated Pakistan establishment. But Pakistan wants to use the Taliban as an instrument of pressure to force the Afghan government to capitulate to its demands.

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Pakistan is well aware that, since the 2015 disclosure of Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Omar's death, the group is fractured. The radical organization is no longer an ideology-driven team of young, devoted soldiers seeking to establish a global caliphate, as Al Qaeda or the Arab nationalists in ISIS desire.

The Kunduz incident in 2015 showed their weakness: The Taliban occupied a province for a few days but soon was ousted by the Afghan army and civilians fighting shoulder to shoulder - a scenario quite unlike the '90s, when Afghans welcomed the Taliban to clean up the mess that the Mujahedeen caused.

Many Taliban leaders who tacitly approved of joining the peace process were either mysteriously assassinated or are serving time in Pakistani jails. Therefore, Pakistan would be better off dealing with moderate, educated Afghan President Ashraf Ghani (a Pashtun) than the true warriors of Pashtun ethnicity.

So why does Pakistan support the Taliban? Because the terrorists can help Pakistan achieve its land-grab goals.

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Former president Hamid Karzai, in his farewell speech to Afghans in 2014, lamented failure to bring the Taliban into the peace process. He blamed Pakistan. "Pakistan wanted me to ratify the Durand Line and to control our foreign policy," Karzai said (Pakistani officials privately confirmed this to American observers at the recent peace talks, according to Afghan journalists).

The Durand Line is the disputed border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Before the birth of Pakistan - originally part of India - British envoy to India Sir Mortimer Durand in 1893 signed a treaty with Afghanistan King Amir Abdul Rahman, whereby the British seized 40,000 square miles of ancestral Pashtun territory between the Indus and the Khyber Pass. That land is demarcated by the so-called Durand Line.

Ever since, the Durand Line has been disputed by both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Afghan kings, communist leaders and even the Pakistani-supported Taliban have contested the Line. The Taliban's one-eyed leader, Mullah Omar, reportedly refused to ratify any agreement. Pakistan wants the issue resolved once and for all. What can Afghans do? They don't have much leverage. The Afghan government is exhausted and almost on the verge of collapse because of constant attacks from all sides by the Pakistan-supported Taliban. The only card they have to play is the Durand Line.

Pakistan wants a treaty ratified to give it legal claim to the land. A face-saving solution for Afghanistan would be to hold an internationally-monitored referendum to allow Pashtuns on the Pakistani side of Durand Line to decide for themselves.

Such a vote has happened before. On June 21, 1947, after the creation of Pakistan, Pashtuns on that side of the Durand Line voted to join Pakistan. A new vote might give Pakistan the land it wants, while providing Afghanistan with the peace it needs.

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But the question of pressure from India remains.

After Karzai (with a college degree from India) came into power in Afghanistan in 2001, India increased its influence by building schools and clinics for Afghanistan. India also built a new Parliament building for Afghanistan at a cost of $90 million.

Unfortunately, India's good deeds have been marred by a series of deadly attacks on Indian Consulates in Afghanistan, with the Pakistani Taliban sending terrorists to punish civilians.

Pakistan could serve the purpose of peace by using more of its "soft power," as India has done in helping Afghanistan rebuild, rather than taking the destructive path of death.

Pakistan continues to see Indian influence as a threat. Former Pakistan Prime Minister Pervez Musharraf admitted to The Guardian that during his tenure as head of state, he tried to undermine the government of former Afghan president Karzai because Karzai had helped "India stab Pakistan in the back."

Musharraf ordered a reorganization of the Pakistan's Taliban-friendly intelligence agencies after India extended its influence in Afghanistan by opening consulates in Jalalabad and Kandahar, bordering Pakistan. He accused the Afghan government of fomenting anti-Pakistani sentiment in the disputed territory of Kashmir through these consulates.

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Therefore, it seems clear that Pakistan will continue to support the Taliban - and obstruct a peaceful solution - unless and until two major issues are resolved: The Durand Line dispute and the long-standing India-Pakistan animosities.
It's on.

Well, a counter-revolution on the Republican side, with the billionaire bully boy Donald Trump reasserting his authoritarian appeal over the once Grand Old Party with a smashing 20-point triumph in a crowded New Hampshire primary. The Donald stumbled a bit last week in Iowa, running a primary-style campaign in a caucus state, getting out-hustled by ultra-right Texas Senator Ted Cruz while many would-be Trumpeters eschewed an icy outing for an evening of tedious caucusing.

But now ... heee's baaaack.

Trump's New Hampshire primary triumph vindicates his media-centric campaign and again emphasize the dominance of Trumpism -- his effective hijacking of the aggregated bloc of angry reactionaries largely assembled by Fox News, which ironically now cannot take him down -- in the Republican Party as a whole. The abyss beckons for the professional Republicans who long played dog whistle politics with this profoundly anti-Enlightenment constituency and now have no clear "responsible" alternative to the blow-dried, dyed-in-the-wool mega-opportunist.

On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders won as long expected. But he may be about to pull a big surprise.

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An interesting thing happened over the weekend. After narrow Iowa winner Hillary Clinton cut Sanders's huge lead in half, according to tracking polling, Sanders turned around and pulled some of the vote back. As a result, the Vermont socialist soared to the biggest New Hampshire Democratic win ever beating 2008 NH winner Hillary, 60-38. And more might just be coming.

I've asked before where else Sanders will win besides New England. Well, maybe Nevada, the very next contest state, which caucuses on February 20th.

This, with a substantial Latino vote, should be Clinton turf. Hillary beat Barack Obama there in 2008 and had a big lead in the last public poll there, taken Christmas week.

But, having helped Gary Hart and Jerry Brown take Nevada in years past, it looks to me like there is a Sanders path to victory in the Silver State. And he is making a big move there right now. More in a moment.

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Has Trump reasserted his control over the Republican race? Yep. There was no drop-off from his polling this time. If anything, he added a bit on election day. Now he's helped greatly by two things: Divided opposition and a likely big win in the next contest state, the South Carolina primary on February 20th.

Trump's opposition remains divided; no alternative has a head of steam. Iowa winner Ted Cruz finished third. The great fallback establishment hope, Marco Rubio, who acted like he'd won an Olympic gold medal following his third place Iowa finish, faded to fifth in New Hampshire after Chris Christie made the Florida chameleon look like a deer in the headlights in Saturday night's debate in Manchester.

Even Jeb Bush beat Robo-Rubio in New Hampshire, so the would-be Bush III and his remaining pile of dough ain't going away soon.

The distant New Hampshire runner-up, Ohio Governor John Kasich, is probably the only non-ridiculous Republican left in the race. He's a conservative, yet a thoughtful one, worthy of respect. Helped by the likes of former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, he's not a hater. Kasich is smart and knowledgeable, a capable former congressman and decent governor who knows the earth is not flat and memorably put down the obnoxious wife of a big Republican funder who criticized him for extending national health care to the poor.

Will he do better than Jon Huntsman, the last reasonable Republican who scored in New Hampshire? Maybe. But in the meantime, Trump is running well out in front and fellow falangist Cruz seems well-organized in quite a few upcoming contests.

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While the Dems move to the Nevada caucuses on the 20th and the South Carolina primary on the 27th, the Republicans go in South Carolina on the 20th and Nevada on the 23rd.

That means Trump is poised for another big win in a week-and-a-half. If he gets a head of steam going, he will be hard to catch. That's especially so if he gets around to actually organizing his supporters in caucus states, which he doesn't seem to be doing yet.

For all his fabled fortune, Trump hasn't actually spent much money yet. While I have no doubt that the former Democrat, who once backed a candidate of mine, wants to brag about winning the nomination while being outspent by his opponents, he is a somewhat rare super-rich candidate who would actually benefit by spending a lot of his stash.

Still, the Republican rules, unlike those of the Dems, are geared more to winner-take-all than proportional representation. So a Trump blitzkrieg, as it were, once rolling, won't be easy to stop.

Not that Cruz is playing along. He may have real strength in the Confederate -- excuse me, "SEC" -- primary on March 1st. He's raising a lot of money, plus he has some Texas oil shale billionaire who's apparently prepared to spend whatever it takes for the Cruz super PAC.

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Stop and smell the bananas.

The big money atmospherics on the Republican side are probably indirectly helping Bernie Sanders.

The emphasis on what the Japanese decades ago dubbed kinken seiji, "money politics," reminds of the Clintons' longstanding highly lucrative relationship with Wall Street, which extended even to the run-up to the present campaign, with the former secretary of state delivering lectures for hundreds of thousands a pop, lectures for which she won't release transcripts.

It all feeds into the Sanders meta-narrative about a rigged financial and political system.

Now Sanders has some counter-rigging of his own. In this conspiratorial environment, his decidedly non-slick manner and democratic socialist message, coupled with some early success against the Clinton machine, have created a gusher of small online donations which I think will enable him to actually out-spend Hillary's campaign in upcoming contests.

Like Nevada.

On the day of the New Hampshire primary, Sanders placed a million-dollar ad buy on Nevada TV stations. That brings his media buy there to $3.6 million, a couple times more than Hillary.

That's huge in a state of 2.8 million people, little more than a third the population of the San Francisco Bay Area. What Sanders has going utterly dwarfs what previous successful challengers, like Hart and Brown, were able to muster in the Silver State, where labor is divided.

Despite his big deficit in early Nevada polling, the Sanders prairie fire may be on the verge of roaring over the first of the Clintons' firebreaks. Sanders may just be another trend candidate.

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Nevada's Democratic electorate is fully one-third non-white (mostly Latino). But, intriguingly, Hillary's campaign is now spinning it as much more white than it is.

There's certainly much more where the big Sanders Nevada media buy came from. Between the time the polls closed in New Hampshire and 12:30 AM Wednesday morning -- even though the Sanders site stalled out some -- Sanders raised an amazing $2.6 million in online donations.

Hillary split Iowa and New Hampshire, as long expected. But the equanimity which should accompany that is oddly absent. The past year has seen a marked improvement for Hillary since her rather inane memoir (Hard Choices was about anything but) and off-putting lecture tour. The e-mail flap is largely unfair and, in any event, the product of years-ago decisions and a massive concerted Republican campaign to stir up a complacently complicit media. All this is baked in.

So why the talk of campaign shakeups, the weekend attacks from older Clinton feminist allies on young women for not backing Hillary, the Bill Clinton speech lengthily and ineffectually excoriating Sanders?

Because they are up against a powerful and compelling message without much message of their own. And they may have missed the chance to deflate Sanders, who, for all his general sincerity and passion on the economy, isn't exactly who his dewy-eyed backers imagine when it comes to the problematic long war and troublesome military spending, as I've mentioned before. Now he is off and running.

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The next week will be very interesting.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at her first-in-the-nation presidential primary campaign rally, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, in Hooksett, N.H. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

I am writing as one of the four founding members of Bank Whistleblowers United. We came together recently to create a detailed plan that could restore the rule of law to Wall Street and dramatically reduce the risk and damage of future financial crises. We crafted it so that it could be implemented without any new legislation or regulation. We offered our aid in the implementation process to any candidate who wins the election -- and pointed out that President Obama could implement it immediately. Our plan and approach virtually defines the word "pragmatic." It would also transform finance and begin to end its corrupt culture.

In response to Bernie's big election win in New Hampshire, a political scientist rushed out a piece in the New York Times advising Hillary how to do a PR makeover. His advice was "peddling pragmatism," by which he meant the opposite -- an effort to rebrand Hillary through slogans. The political scientist does, however, understand Hillary's key liability -- the one that Krugman was foolish enough to think was an asset -- "she often sounds as if she were acquiescing to a status quo that Democrats find objectionable." Actually, she is acquiescing to a status quo that is objectively far beyond "objectionable." It isn't simply Democrats that find it unacceptable for a pervasively corrupt Wall Street to maintain its destructive power over our economy and our democracy, that view is shared by the vast majority of Republicans and independents.



Hillary does not "sound as if" she is "acquiescing" to Wall Street's stranglehold. Hillary's most prominent economics supporter, Krugman, urged us to vote for her because Hillary will not seek to break Wall Street's corrupt power. Paul Krugman, in an article meant to attack Bernie Sanders, accidentally misfired and shot Hillary Clinton when he admitted that Dodd-Frank did not even try "breaking [Wall Street's] power" over our economy and democracy -- and praised that failure. Hillary's fundamental problem is that, after an adult lifetime in which she and Bill formed a mutual support society with Wall Street, few find her claims to a Road to Damascus conversion credible. In the last debate, when trying to demonstrate how tough she was on Wall Street the best she could muster was to call the elite bankers' frauds that caused the Great Recession "shenanigans" -- childish pranks.

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Endorsing our plan to restore the rule of law to Wall Street is the perfect opportunity for Hillary to embrace pragmatism and credibly demonstrate that she refuses to "acquiesce" to Wall Street's continued corrupt power over our economy and our democracy. She simply has to pledge to implement our plan to demonstrate that she has embraced pragmatic, vital change that will break Wall Street's dangerous power over our economy and democracy.

Similarly, Hillary is faced with a simple choice, but also an enormous opportunity, by our proposed campaign pledge. She could announce that she had reconsidered her fundraising in light of our plan and decided that it was wrong to take campaign contributions and fees from financial felons. She is locked into a harmful dynamic now in which she tries to defend taking large amounts of money from banks. She could escape that trap by agreeing not to take contributions from banks that the U.S. and its agencies, after investigation, have charged with committing felonies. The issue would no longer be her refusal to admit that campaign contributions affect politics and instead became one of integrity and ethics. She would be on the right side of that issue if she made our campaign pledge. We ask all the candidates to stop taking contributions from the financial felons.

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Bank Whistleblowers United will identify publicly which candidates pledge to implement our plan in whole or in specified part. There is no excuse for violating this pledge, for it can be implemented without any reliance on new legislation or regulation. Any candidate who takes the pledge and fails to implement will be exposed as a liar. That is why we have some degree of confidence that candidates that take the pledge will actually implement the plan. Please ask the candidate you are considering supporting to go on record as to whether they support or oppose the pragmatic plan of the Bank Whistleblowers United.



President Obama can implement our plan now if he has the will to restore the rule of law to Wall Street and break its corrupt power. There are no excuses based on Republican control of the House and the Senate when it comes to implementing our plan. The president could begin to implement it tomorrow. We hope the American people will join us in urging that he do so.

We have designed our plan pragmatically so that any president can implement it. All the president needs to implement our plan is the integrity, the will, and the courage to break Wall Street's power. The Bank Whistleblowers United know all about what it takes to personally summon the integrity, the will, and the courage to "speak truth to power." We did so in circumstances where we knew we would suffer fierce retaliation. Our power, compared to those elite bank fraudsters we confronted was that of a tiny skiff facing a raging ocean.



Wall Street, its political henchmen and women, and the anti-regulators appointed to run most of our regulatory agencies since 1993 are immensely powerful and work together to maintain Wall Street's corrupt power. The fraudulent bankers wear nice suits, but they are brutal and unrestrained in seeking to discredit and destroy those that speak truth to power. We have the scar tissue that ensures we will never forget these facts.



But the president of the United States has incomparably greater powers and protections than we had. Should she or he have a burning will to make breaking Wall Street's corrupt power a top priority, the integrity to refuse the enormous (perfectly legal) bribes Wall Street offers in the form of speeches, consulting gigs, and board seats, and the courage to restore the rule of law in the face of Wall Street's smear machine they will succeed in implementing our pragmatic plan. We understand, from the inside, how fraud became Wall Street's business plan and we know what works to break the power of those elite frauds.

Our plan provides an objective gut check for every candidate. Talk is cheap. If you believe what you say about the need to restore the rule of law to Wall Street, pledge to implement our plan. If you believe that politicians should not be funded by the elite Wall Street felons, take our campaign funding pledge. The Bank Whistleblowers United stand ready to help you implement the plan and train your personnel on how the sophisticated fraud schemes work and how to detect, prevent, and prosecute the senior officers that lead those frauds.
Developing nuclear weapons, like Obama's proposed cruise missile, propels us into a dangerous competition in armaments with Russia, China and others. Do we really want to risk Cold War reruns? We should be advancing forward to an age of no nukes. We especially need nuclear cooperation with China if we want to influence their neighbor North Korea to abandon its arsenal. Estimates already have the United States spending about a trillion dollars on nukes over the next 3 decades. Spending on nukes comes at the expense of every other program integral to the well being and security of our nation. Spending on nuclear weapons means less money for education, medicine, or food for the hungry. It means less resources for helping the record number of refugees globally. How can we let a crisis like this, which impacts many nations, have low funding? The more you waste on nukes the less for conventional military forces and intelligence gathering. You also have less resources for securing nuclear material from terrorists or converting to peaceful uses. Today's threats are not war with Russia or China. That was yesterday's threats. We are now more at risk from terrorist groups like ISIS. It's the danger of one of these groups getting a hold of a nuclear weapon that we should be worried about. That is one of the key reasons nuclear disarmament is a goal we must pursue. If we can get a global ban on nuclear weapons testing, that would help set the stage for deeper nuclear arms reductions. Achieving an end to nuclear testing has been a goal pursued since Dwight Eisenhower was president. Ike and his successor John F. Kennedy helped to produce a limited test ban which prohibited atmospheric, underwater and outerspace nuke tests. But now it's time to get the comprehensive test ban done (including underground tests) and finish Ike and JFK's journey, one which Democrats and Republicans have both shared.

The goal of ending nuclear testing goes back to the days of President Eisenhower and President Kennedy (see top video). Today, advocates from around the world are calling on eight remaining states to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.



What has prevented Senate ratification of the CTBT is the fear that nuclear weapons cannot be maintained without test explosions. In addition there has been some concern of verification of the treaty.



The International Monitoring System of the CTBT has detected all of North Korea's nuclear tests. Once the treaty is in force even more detection stations will be set up. Any nation trying to holding a nuclear test in secret is considered extremely unlikely. If even possible, it would require massive resources and technology for very little or no gain.



As far as maintaining the nuclear arsenal, that can be done with the Stockpile Stewardship program. These labs have done so since 1992, when the U.S. last carried out a nuclear test. Vice President Joe Biden says "our labs know more about our arsenal today than when we used to explode our weapons on a regular basis. With our support, the labs can anticipate potential problems and reduce their impact on our arsenal."



Does any Senator really want to resume nuclear test explosions? It would be such a dangerous, costly, provocative and unnecessary act. What they would need is assurance of proper investment in the Stockpile Stewardship and international monitoring system as a safeguard for passing the treaty. President Obama says he does support the CTBT, so he would sign on to Senate approval.



U.S. leadership on ending nuke testing would encourage other holdout nations like China to ratify and help start negotiations to reduce stockpiles worldwide. There are eight holdout nations on the test ban including the United States, Israel, Iran, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Egypt.



Israel has said it expects to ratify. Imagine if the United States, Israel and Iran could ratify at once. That would be a great step to follow the Iran nuclear deal. If India and Pakistan ratified the treaty think how that could help relations between the two nuclear armed rivals.



The nations of the world have much in common when it comes to the threat of nukes. Nuclear terrorism, accidental launch and the massive costs of the weapons are dangers shared by all. Nuclear weapons elimination is in the interests of every nation.



President Obama's nuclear spending proposals must be reined in by the Congress. We need instead more nuclear diplomacy. President Ronald Reagan's dream of a world free from nuclear weapons is one we must continue to pursue. A good first step is ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
The condition of survivor Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad has deteriorated two days after he was rescued from under 35 feet of snow after an avalanche hit an army post in Siachen.

According to reports, doctors treating Koppad at the Army Research and Referral Hospital in Delhi have said he is in a multi-organ dysfunction state, and there are evidences of oxygen deprivation in the brain and pneumonia in both lungs.

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The next 24 hours are critical for Koppad, being treated at the Army's Research and Referral Hospital in Delhi, according to a report in IBNLive.

The soldier from Karnataka was examined by a team of Army hospital doctors, and a panel of experts from AIIMS New Delhi. "The entire team was in agreement with the management (of medical problems) that the patient had undergone till now, and concurred with the future plan of management for him," a medical bulletin said.

IANS reported that Nidhi Pandey, a housewife from Lakhimpur Kheri, 167-km from Lucknow, contacted the helpline of a local news channel offering to donate a kidney to Koppad. Pandey was deeply moved by Hanumanthappa's story.

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Koppad, who is facing a tough hurdle on his road to recovery is severely dehydrated, hypothermic, hypoxic, hypoglycemic and in shock. According to the report, he has been diagnosed with pneumonia, his liver and kidney are dysfunctional, and continues to have low blood pressure.

The 33-year-old soldier miraculously survived, according to reports, as he was trapped with an air pocket around him, which trapped air and body heat.

Meanwhile, the nation continues to pray for the lone survivor of the tragedy that claimed nine lives.

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To

Dr. Rajiv Seth

Acting Vicechancellor

TERI University

Cc:

Board of Management

& Academic Council

TERI University

10, Institutional Area,

Vasant Kunj,

New Delhi  110070

Sub: Refusal to accept degrees from Dr. Pachauri at 2016 convocation by

20132015 batch

Dear Dr. Seth,

The recent inaction of our board of management at TERI University with respect to our current chancellor Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri deeply saddens us as alumni and a former student body.

The senior management and administration of TERI University has chosen to retain Dr. Pachauri as Chancellor and has also accepted the decision of TERIs governing council to appoint him to the newly created post of Executive vice chairman.

We are aware of Dr. Pachauris immense contributions towards building both TERI and TERI University into what they have become today, and his ability to build global networks, promote the university and institute and to draw funds, projects and grants.

Nevertheless, no measure of such contributions can be used to justify alleged criminal behavior in the form of actions that cause serious harm to another human being. However, the stance of the entire top management at the University and at TERI has been implicitly that the university may continue churning out competent professionals who are good at application in their specialized domains of knowledge but with a complete disregard for values, ethics and principles of any kind.

We will not appreciate and consider a response based on the grounds that the charges against Dr. Pachauri are still allegations, and that he has not been convicted. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) gave Dr. Pachauri no leeway for his alleged actions and he had to resign as its Chairman despite the fact that he was near the end of his term. This stands in stark contrast with either TERI, which has created a unique position for him, or TERIUniversity, which has let him continue in his capacity as Chancellor. Our rationale and conscience are both clear: the Internal Complaints Committee constituted by TERI has found Dr. Pachauri to be guilty of having systematically abused his position of power to exploit and sexually harass a colleague.

Given the flow of events, it is seems like Dr. Pachauri is using all his political clout, media influence and networks to stall the judicial process, intimidate witnesses, coerce TERI colleagues and employees to persuade the complainant to withdraw her case and settle out of court as it would be better for her since she has nothing more to gain.

As we take small steps in building our careers at different institutions of repute, it is becoming increasingly unviable for us to stay silent on this matter, which we consider to be an absolute contempt of principles, ethics and the law. We have a certain duty to uphold some sense of justness as responsible citizens of society.

Dr. Pachauris continuing presence at the top is completely antithetical to our convictions as alumni and graduates of TERI University. We would like to make it explicitly clear that we are not in a position to accept our degrees from Dr. Pachauri at the upcoming convocation on March 7th, 2016. We reiterate, that the trajectory that the University is taking is dangerous and grossly inconsiderate, and as alumni, we sincerely hope that the TERI University Board of Management may seriously reevaluate Dr. Pachauris continuing role as Chancellor of the university.

It is only the basic and essential good practice that he may immediately recuse himself from the post of chancellor and cease involvement in TERI University matters pending completion of legal proceedings.

Barring an appropriate response from the TERI University Board of Management, as 20132015 alumni we will make the assumption that the situation remains unchanged and that the University will not engage constructively with our concerns, following which, the undersigned will not be in a position to accept their degrees from Dr. Pachauri at the 2016 convocation.
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE- In this Dec. 9, 2009 file courtroom drawing shows David Coleman Headley, left, pleads not guilty before U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber in Chicago to charges that accuse him of conspiring in the deadly 2008 terrorist attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai and of planning to launch an armed assault on a Danish newspaper. (AP Photo/Verna Sadock, File)

Deposing before a court via video conferencing, Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley revealed some shocking details about the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, including the role of Pakistans spy agency Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). Headleys submissions can prove to be a shot in the arm for Indian agencies that have been pressuring Pakistan to bring terror perpetrators to the books.

Below are 10 important revelations Headley made:

1. Ishrat Jahan, the Mumbra woman killed in a 2004 police shootout, was a Lashkar-e-Taiba suicide bomber. The incident had got BJP president Amit Shah, who was then a Gujarat minister, into trouble as the encounter killing drew a lot of criticism and an investigation was ordered.

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2. Headley said the LeT had planned to attack Indian defence scientists at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai.

3. Headley identified Hafiz Saeed as the head of LeT in Pakistan.

4. He opened an office in Mumbai's Tardeo AC market area on September 14, 2006. "It was my idea to open an office in India. It was a part of my cover (as an immigration consultant). I had discussed about this with Major Iqbal and Sajid Mir and they both agreed to it," he said.

5. Headley said he joined Let in 2002 at the outfits headquarters in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan and underwent preliminary and advanced weapons and explosives training.

6. He changed his name from Dawood Gilani to David Headley in 2005.

7. There is a female wing of the LeT and one Abu Aimans mother headed it.

8. Headley revealed that he received USD 25,000 from ISIs Major Iqbal. The major had given him counterfeit Indian currency once or twice in 2008. He said ISI and LeT have funded terror operations in India in a big way. He said that the ISI provides financial, military and moral support to terror outfits such as Jaish-e-Mohammed, LeT and Hizbul Mujaideen. Headley took the names of three officials of the Pakistan army and the ISI -- Colonel Shah, Lt Colonel Hamza and Major Samir Ali  apart from that of retired army officer Abdul Rehman Pasha who had close ties with the LeT and the Al-Qaeda. Headley said his assessment was that ISI and LeT were coordinating with each other.

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9. In a meeting held in 2006 where LeT members Sajid Mir, Abu Khaffa and Muzzabil Butt were present, it was decided to set up office in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore.

10. He received funds from Major Iqbal of ISI and also his main contact in LeT, Sajid Mir. His LeT associate Tahawwur Rana, currently serving a 14-year term in a US prison, also had visited Mumbai before 26/11. Rana left India before the attack after Headley advised him to do so.
David Coleman Headley, one of the prime accused in the 26/11 Mumbai blasts, told a special court on Thursday that Ishrat Jahan, who was killed in a 2004 encounter by Gujarat cops, was a suicide bomber for the Pakistani terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba. He was deposing before the court via video conferencing from the US.

Jahan was a 19-year-old girl from Mumbra in Maharashtra and was killed in June 2004 during a police encounter. Three others  Pranesh Pillai (alias Javed Gulam Sheikh), Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar  were also killed in this encounter by the Ahmedabad Police Crime Branch, who alleged that they were all linked with terrorists.

Headley told the Mumbai court that there was a women's wing in the LeT and Jahan had been part of an operation where they were to shoot some police officers. The four were at the time accused of being involved in a plot to assassinate the then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi.

"Ten years ago, LeT mouthpiece called Ishrat a martyr, what Headley has revealed confirms this," BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra toldThe Economic Times.

Meanwhile, Congress' Manish Tewari said that Headley's revelations did not justify the encounter on Jahan. "If BJP is making a charge that we tried to influence the investigation," he told Times Now, "we do not do what they do."

The encounter was carried out allegedly by a team led by DIG D.G. Vanjara, who was later jailed for his alleged involvement in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter.

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The police alleged that Ishrat and her associates were Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives involved in a plot to assassinate the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi. Later, an investigation was launched into the allegations that Ishrat was killed in a fake encounter. After a long investigation, in 2009, an Ahmedabad Metropolitan court ruled that the encounter was staged.

The decision was challenged by the Gujarat State government, and taken to the High Court. On 3 July 2013, the CBI has filed its first chargesheet in an Ahmedabad court saying that the shooting was a staged encounter carried out in cold blood.

(with agency inputs)

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A deputy jailer hailing from Salem, Tamil Nadu, has been placed under suspension, after a video showcasing him dancing in front of his colleagues went viral on social media.

The 58-year-old police officer, Shankaran was visiting Chennai to take part in the Republic Day Parade, and decided to perform an impromptu routine for his colleagues while clad in his official attire, say reports.

The deputy jailer went on leave after the video hit social media. However, allegations that Shankaran coerced a prison inmate to give him an oil massage and cut his hair landed him in further trouble with Salems Central Prison Superintendent.

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Jamie Grill via Getty Images Studio Shot of female's hands holding broken heart

This Valentine's Day, the far right religious organisations who have traditionally objected to celebrating the day, will have company. The new entrants to the hate-Valentine's Day brigade are not worried about the West corrupting Indian sanskaar, but want to use the day to campaign against men-hating women. Men's rights organisations across Maharashtra have now urged people to not celebrate Valentine's Day and rename it as 'False Rape Case Day'.

A report on DNA states, "Men's rights activists are urging men to be wary of women who file false cases of sexual abuse after facing rejection in a relationship. On February 14 when people would be celebrating Valentine's Day, the activists would be urging men to instead observe it as "False Rape Case Day". Not only men's rights activists, women's groups are also working to spread awareness of men abuse laws."

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The report narrates the story of one 'men's rights activist' who explains why the day should be renamed. He recounts the story of a girl who he had fallen in love with. After six months of being in a relationship, the girl allegedly filed a false rape complaint in the local police station after the man refused to give her money to start a business.

Since then, the man, identified as Husaini in the article has taken it upon himself to alert men against such women.

And it's not just men who are rallying for a renaming of Valentine's Day. They have company from women who are fighting for similar causes. A group called Mothers and Sisters of Husbands Against Abuse Law have lent their support to the movement. These women claim that men in their families have been heckled by women and have been framed by false complaints of domestic violence, rape, and unnatural sex.

Men's rights group came to the limelight in the past couple of years when women's rights group upped the ante in demanding laws that strictly punish abusers. Though these groups were meant to help men who have been framed and harassed by women using laws against rape and domestic violence, some of them turned into forums paint women as perpetrators of various crimes, ones who don't need the legal support they get from Indian laws. The Facebook page for one such group, for example, has recently commented on the Pachauri case, suggesting that the TERI chief maybe a victim of a false complaint.

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The post on the page of Men's Rights India reads: "The woman, who claimed Pachauri made sexual advances at her more than 10 years ago, slammed Teri for appointing Pachauri executive vice chairman two days ago, thus elevating his status.

THANK GOD - SHE DIDN'T CLAIM HE RAPED HER IN HER "PAST LIFE"..!!"

Another such group called Save Indian Family Foundation seems to have chosen the International Women's Day and the day before that to hold a protest in Bangalore against the atrocities on men. It cannot be a coincidence that they have chosen 8 March as the day to hold a hunger-strike by the Father's Rights Wings. They plan to demand equal rights for fathers being alienated from their children. The announcement on the website reads:

"1. Tired of being treated as FREE ATM MACHINES and SPERM DONORS, they speak up.

2. Tired of being treated as a visitor in their own childs life, they come forward.

3. Exasperated with the high-handedness of a gynocentric family court system, fathers in Bangalore now say, Enough is Enough."

Though they claim to be battling evil designs of women, one can't help but notice how some of them seem to be leading a hate campaign against women!

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ASIF HASSAN via Getty Images To go with Pakistan-unrest-politics-Afghanistan-India,INTERVIEW by Guillaume LAVALLAE In this photograph taken November 14, 2014, Pakistan's former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf smiles during an interview with AFP in Karachi. The departure of NATO combat forces from Afghanistan could push India and Pakistan towards a proxy war in the troubled state Musharraf warned in an interview with AFP. AFP PHOTO / Asif HASSAN (Photo credit should read ASIF HASSAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf was on Thursday rushed to the ICU of a naval hospital in Karachi after he complained of high blood pressure and fainted.

The 72-year-old was immediately admitted to the Pakistan Navy Ship Shifa or PNS Shifa, which is a technologically advanced naval medical treatment facility.

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His personal physicians have also been called to the hospital, The News International reported, citing sources.

Another report said Musharraf was sitting with family at his home when he fainted. He was taken to the hospital amid tight security.

However, the spokesman All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) has described Musharraf's condition as normal and that there is no serious problem with his health.

He said he was admitted to the hospital for getting some medical tests done.
PUNIT PARANJPE via Getty Images Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan listens during a news conference at the RBI headquarters in Mumbai on February 2, 2016. India's central bank kept interest rates on hold citing the importance of controlling inflation and noting a slowing growth momentum in Asia's third-largest economy. AFP PHOTO / PUNIT PARANJPE / AFP / PUNIT PARANJPE (Photo credit should read PUNIT PARANJPE/AFP/Getty Images)

New Delhi -- Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan offered a great deal of clarity about India's bad loans problem in a speech on Thursday. He said some of the analysis surrounding the issue has bordered on scare-mongering.

The governor sought to allay fears of a deep-rooted malaise, and said while the central bank's asset quality review exercise will hurt short-term profitability of some banks, the cleaning up of bad loans will support future growth.

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Rajan reiterated that the regulators aim is to have clean and fully provisioned bank balance sheets by March 2017.

Taking a dig at financial experts, who have come out with their own estimates of the size of stressed assets in the banking system, the RBI governor said that such claims verge on scare-mongering.

With markets generally in decline, the decline in bank share prices has been more accentuated."

There are some wild claims being made by some financial analysts about the size of the stressed asset problem. This verges on scare-mongering. Our projections are that any breach of minimum core capital requirements by a small minority of public sector banks, in the absence of any recapitalization, will be small, Rajan said at CII banking summit in Mumbai.

He said that for loans that are of concern, the banks are attempting to regularize those that can put back on and are classifying those that cannot be and provisioning those that cannot be.

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They will also make provisions for loans that have weaknesses. Our intent is to have clean and fully provisioned bank balance sheets by March 2017, he said.

Referring to the sharp fall in banking stocks, the governor said that part of the reason was that the broader markets have been in turmoil and banking stocks, being a leveraged play on the economy, perform better on good days and worse on bad ones.

"In sum, to the question of what comes first, clean up or growth, I think the answer is unambiguously  Clean up!"

The BSE Sensex fell more than 3 percent on Thursday, recording its biggest daily fall in nearly six months, hitting the lowest level since May 2014, as fears of a slowdown in the global economy hit markets worldwide. As the broader markets have been on a weaker footing for a while now, banking shares have been one of the worst hit. State Bank of India fell 2.6 percent after saying quarterly net profit fell nearly two-thirds, below estimates.

With markets generally in decline, the decline in bank share prices has been more accentuated. However, part of the reason is that some bank results, mainly public sector banks, have not been, to put it mildly, pretty. Clearly, an important factor has been the Asset Quality Review (AQR) conducted by the Reserve Bank and its aftermath, he said.

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Rajan said that the RBI is working on identifying currently non-recognizable capital that is already on bank balance sheets, such as undervalued assets and that the apex bank could allow some of these to count as capital as per Basel norms, provided a bank meets minimum common equity standards.

Talking about the issue of slower credit growth in the last calendar year, he said that the stressed balance sheets of public sector banks is occupying management attention and holding them back, and added that the only way for them to supply the economys need for credit, which is essential for higher economic growth, is to clean up.

The silver lining message in the slower credit growth is that banks have not been lending indiscriminately in an attempt to reduce the size of stressed assets in an expanded overall balance sheet, and this bodes well for future slippages. In sum, to the question of what comes first, clean up or growth, I think the answer is unambiguously  Clean up!, the RBI governor said.
Hindustan Times via Getty Images NEW DELHI, INDIA - JULY 20: Indian Bollywood director, producer and actor Farhan Akhtar and his wife Adhuna Akhtar pose for the camera during an exclusive profile shoot on July 20, 2013 in New Delhi, India. Farhan Akhtar was in town to launch his celebrity hairstylist wife Adhuna Akhtars salon. The couple has been married for 13 years, and has two daughters. Adhuna, 46, is six years older than Farhan, 39. (Photo by Raajessh Kashyap/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

MUMBAI -- Veteran actress Shabana Azmi says she does not owe any explanation as to why her son Farhan Akhtar split from his longtime wife Adhuna.

The Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013) star and his celebrity hair stylist wife of 15 years recently announced their decision to separate "mutually and amicably".

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When asked about the split Azmi told PTI, "I don't think I owe the world any explanation."

The actress refused to comment anything further on the much-talked about break-up.

Farhan, 42, is the son of veteran writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar and his former wife Honey Irani.

Meanwhile, the Fire (1998) actress will be seen playing Sonam Kapoor's mother in the upcoming Neerja. Azmi says what drew her towards the role was the arch in her character.

"There is a huge arch in the mother and Neerja's character. From being an ordinary girl who does something extra-ordinary to the mother, who is a conventional one. She is concerned if her daughter has eaten her food or not.

"Yet she embraces the fact that her daughter died doing something heroic. So, a character which has an arch is always interesting to do."

The film, directed by Ram Madhvani, is based on the life of flight attendant Neerja Bhanot. The movie revolves around the hijacking of Pan Am Flight 73 in Karachi and how the young flight attendant fought for the lives of her passengers.

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Azmi says even though the film revolves around hijacking, the director has kept the emotional quotient intact.

"I think what Ram has done is that he has kept the thrill of the hijack, because obviously that is the exciting part.

But he has kept the personal, human story as the backbone very strong.

"It's not just a film about the incident but also the strong emotional base that comes from the girl's relationship with her family and particularly with the mother.

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DIBYANGSHU SARKAR via Getty Images Bollywood actor Vidya Balan attends a brand promotional event in Kolkata on February 10, 2016. AFP PHOTO/DIBYANGSHU SARKAR / AFP / DIBYANGSHU SARKAR (Photo credit should read DIBYANGSHU SARKAR/AFP/Getty Images)

KOLKATA -- Bollywood actress Vidya Balan yesterday said the age-old practice of ban on entry of women of menstrual age in some temples was unfair.

"It is great that we are asking these questions now. Men and women should get equal opportunity at work, social life and everywhere," asserted the National award-winning actress.

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"We are saying how unfair it is... I think we will see the changes in our lifetime," Balan told reporters when asked to comment on the controversy over entry of women in some temples of south India.

Kerala government has recently told the Supreme Court that banning entry of women of menstrual age in Sabarimala temple is a matter of religion and it is duty bound to protect the right to practice the religion of these devotees.

"I think we women have created a lot of barriers for ourselves. There are some professions which we have reserved only for males. Women are there only in the background," The Dirty Picture (2011) star said at an event.

Balan feels people need to get over the "stereotypical" notion about looks and think beyond that.

"We need to overcome stereotypical notions which do not allow ambitions to grow... I love wearing sarees but people have asked me why do you dress older than your age. I tell them I love sarees and will continue wearing them. It's not about driving home a point or feminism but just being true to yourself."

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She said more than strangers, judgements from friends and family affect the lives of women more.

"Now with the social media this has increased as friends with whom you spoke to ten years ago are also commenting on your looks, " she added.

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Ablestock.com via Getty Images Scythe

A 32-year-old woman in Sidhi district Bhopal has been booked for attempt to murder for chopping off her brother-in-laws genitals to defend herself against repeated assaults.

This is a rare case and has to be investigated for a proper chargesheet, said Sidhi SP Abid Khan in an interview with Times of India.

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The police were left astounded as the woman walked into the police station holding the severed organ, as evidence of the assaults, along with her three children, alleging it was the only way to stop her brother-in-law.

The police said that before they could reach the man to provide him medical support, he had committed suicide. His body was found handing from a tree near the house.

The woman, whose husband works in Nashik, claimed that her brother-in-law, who was living with her, had been raping her for days. She told the police that during his last attempt, she faked consent and then severed his genitals with a sickle, adding that she had no regrets for her act.

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Judge dismisses Kansas' attempt to block Biden debt forgiveness program

Judge Henry Edward Autrey, sided with the federal government in an opinion ruling that a group of six states' case failed to establish legal standing.
Mayor Richard Alcombright looks over the scale model of the proposed Extreme Model Railroad and Contemporary Architecture Museum. Developer Thomas Krens points to possible improvements on Main Street. Krens explains the details to the Redevelopment Authority: Chairman Paul Hopkins, left, Kyle Hanlon and Michael Leary. Historical Commission Chairwoman Justyna Carlson looks down on the glass lobby. A scale model of North Adams at one end of the gallery. It will take at least five people to oversee the 100 trains that will run through the museum. A vertical window on the end will give park visitors a peak inside. The railyard is based on an actual one in Alabama. The Big Apple will be built to scale at north end of the gallery. PreviousNext

North Adams Model Railroad Museum Heads for Phase 2

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  A proposed model railroad museum is moving into Phase 2 of planning with the approval of the Redevelopment Authority.



The estimated $8.5 million museum is the brainchild of museum visionary Thomas Krens and would entail some 31,000 square feet of space on the north side of Western Gateway Heritage State Park, which is overseen by the authority.



The concept was unveiled late last year with the support of local officials and former Govs. William Weld and Michael Dukakis.

Wednesday's meeting in the park's Building One, currently being used by Krens' Global Cultural Asset Management LLC, was an update on the project's Phase One, which included a 400-page concept development study in collaboration with the nonprofit Partnership for North Adams. (GCAM is also proposing a for-profit museum at Harriman & West Airport.)



The study contains a preliminary report by Williams College economics professor Stephen Sheppard, head of the Center for Creative Community Development, puts the economic impact on the region at $12 million and potential tax revenue at $1.2 million during its two-year construction.



Based on 150,000 visitors annually, the impact would stay about $12 million; at 250,000 visitors, which the principals strong believe is possible, the total impact could be $23 million a year with another $4 million in local, state and federal tax revenues.



Krens, former director of the Guggenheim and a founder of Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, had launched several successful exhibits at the Guggenheim by putting "pop culture in a high-culture context," perhaps most famously with "The Art of the Motorcycle."



He sees the same possibilities with the Extreme Model Railroad and Contemporary Architecture Museum, with the high-tech and detailed installation playing off its near neighbors, Mass MoCA and the Clark Art Institute.



The museum is inspired by Krens late interest in the intricacies of high-end model railroads, sparked by train sets he bought for his older son that had languished in boxes in his basement until a few years ago.



"It's really the technology that attracted me to this," Krens told the authority.



Using a scale model of the proposed museum, with New York City on one end of the gallery and North Adams on the other, Krens walked the board members through the details, such as three garage-door style windows that would open in good weather when a real train was going by.



"What you're going to see in this layout is not one or two trains going around a Christmas tree," he said. "You're going to see 8 miles of track with 100 trains operating simultaneously with over 3,000 freight cars and passenger cars."



"The level of complexity is such that it needs a control center  this 22-foot space with 30 computers and big screens," he said, pointing out the display within the model, later adding, "You're going to see a scale I don't know of anywhere else."

1) People coming to the Berkshires for museums, events and recreation (estimated at 750,000)

2) Railroading enthusiasts (a California railroad museum gets 500,000 a year)

3) Model railroading enthusiasts (Northlandz in New Jersey claims 1,500-2,000 a day)

4) People living within a half-days' drive looking for a family activity

Krens pointed out that some 36 million people live within 175 miles of North Adams, more than Boston, and there is an excellent highway system leading into the area.



"It's logical you could get $300,000," he said.



Further down the road could be efforts to resurrect the Mohawk Theater and what Krens called his "fantasy," a luxury hotel with a rooftop bar on the L-Shaped Mall site surrounded by green space.



"It's a fantasy, but why not? Why not?" he said.



The next steps for the model museum are to begin talks with state and local agencies, pursue funding (Krens estimated about 75 percent private and 25 percent public capital), further pin down costs and permitting, and schematic designs, and undertake economic, environmental, traffic, building and market analyses.



The Redevelopment Authority accepted the study and authorized Mayor Richard Alcombright to work with GCAM on Phase 2 and deal with government agencies on its behalf, including applying for federal and state grants.
The Board of Selectmen referred a citizen's petition about a hotel at Waubeeka back to the Planning Board for a public hearing.

Petition Puts Waubeeka Question to Williamstown Town Meeting

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  The voters of Williamstown will have a chance to decide whether an overlay district is created to accommodate a new hotel in South Williamstown.

Michael Deep, the owner of Waubeeka Golf Links, has submitted an article for the annual town meeting warrant by citizen's petition after the town's Planning Board decided on a 3-2 vote not to generate a zoning bylaw amendment proposal.

Deep came to the Planning Board last summer to ask it to help generate a proposal for the 2016 town meeting that would allow him to explore the possibility of a hotel to create another revenue stream for the failing golf course.

After five sometimes contentious meetings, the board decided not to take any further action.

On Monday, Deep's citizen's petition was presented to the Board of Selectmen, which voted 5-0 to refer the matter back to the Planning Board for a public hearing. By law, the board did not have much choice but to do just that, Town Manager Jason Hoch explained. The citizen's petition is an automatic avenue to the town meeting warrant.

The bylaw amendment that the town will consider on May 17 is generally the same as the last proposal considered by the Planning Board, Deep's attorney told the Selectmen on Monday.

"I'd say it is 98 percent what was last in front of the Planning Board with minor refinement," Parese said.

Included in the proposed bylaw that will go to town meeting is the requirement that at least 80 percent of the Waubeeka property be maintained as open space if and when part of the property is developed with a new hotel and that said hotel "shall be of a form, style, and scale that maintains and enhances those qualities and historical traditions of the Five Corners National Registered Historic District in order to protect the historic and scenic character of the adjacent district."



Planning Board Chairwoman Amy Jeschawitz discusses proposals the board is making to town meeting. The language was developed over the course of five months through discussion at Planning Board meetings and consultations between Parese, Town Planner Andrew Groff and Planning Board Chairwoman Amy Jeschawitz. Jeschawitz, who voted in the minority against tabling the idea at the Planning Board level, attended Monday's Selectmen's meeting but did not address the citizen's petition.

The next step for the proposal is the public hearing hosted by the Planning Board, which can choose to make a recommendation to town meeting. Likewise, the Board of Selectmen will have a chance to weigh in on the question when it considers the annual town meeting warrant articles in the spring.

There will be several zoning bylaws on the town meeting warrant, most generated by the Planning Board itself. One is intended to allow for a different hotel: Williams College's planned replacement for the Williams Inn.

The college's representatives were at Monday's meeting to speak to the proposal, which was generated by the Planning Board in 2014 but shelved at the request of the college so it could do further study.

That study is now complete, and the college has asked the town to put the question to the voters in May.

The proposed bylaw would expand the Village Business District some 550 feet west of the center line of Spring Street and 550 feet west of the center line of Latham Street, creating a building envelop to the southwest of what is currently allowed.

College counsel Jamie Art said the envelope created would allow the college to develop a new inn either close to the road or set back, in the vicinity of the current storage barns on land already owned by the college.

"Regardless of whether it's closer to the street or farther back where the barns are, it looks like the full zone is necessary to support parking, stormwater management and accessory uses," Art said.

Williams' vice president for public affairs also addressed the board, saying the forward movement on the college's inn project could be part of an "exciting spring" for Williamstown.

James Kolesar noted that soon the first residents will be moving into the Highland Woods senior housing project on the north end of town and the Cable Mills apartments on Water Street. The college soon will be starting work on a new Spring Street bookstore. And the town, as part of the Mount Greylock Regional School District, has "once in a generation opportunity" to move forward in the Massachusetts School Building Authority process to replace the district's dysfunctional junior-senior high school.

"The Williams inn project ... would bring more life to Spring Street and, by the way, add to the tax base, as does The Log and bookstore," Kolesar said, referring to the college's recently renovated tavern and planned retail outlet.

Other zoning amendments on the May town meeting warrant include changes designed to make it easier for residents to have home offices and home-based businesses that do not impact neighborhoods, a change that was recommended by the town's ad hoc Economic Development Committee last year.

All zoning bylaw changes would require a two-thirds majority of voters at the annual town meeting.

In other business on Monday, the Board of Selectmen decided to issue a request for information to find out what the town needs to know if and when it decides to pursue a broadband plan for Williamstown.

"The goal is to get experts in the field to give us information that would help us organize to make a decision," Selectman Andrew Hogeland said.

Among the questions Hogeland listed: should a broadband system be town-owned or privately owned, how might it be financed, and whether the town should engage a consultant to help guide it through the process.

Hoch reminded residents that the Council on Aging again is offering assistance in preparing tax returns on Tuesday evenings at the Harper Center.

Citizens Petition for Zoning Change
David Moresi, left, and Matt Tatro are seeing their vision of a homey Italian eatery come true in Grazie. The sauce is Tatro's derivation of the former La Veranda. Tatro shows one of the new bread boards that incorporates chestnut salvaged from the makeover. The dining is simple but elegant with white cloths and oversized paintings. The new bar and Grazie menu in cork, theme of the bar side of the restaurant. The photos in the lounge are of the Moresi family. The Mohawk Tavern has its own menu that can be ordered through the building pneumatic tube. It wouldn't be Italian without an espresso machine. Eventually, a winery cellar will offer a local beverage to go with Grazie's meals. PreviousNext

Grazie Italian Restaurant Opens in North Adams

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  David Moresi had a vision when he bought the Mulcare Block nearly two years ago: Restore his grandfather's tavern, the Mohawk, and open an Italian eatery.



The Mohawk reopened last year, but the restaurant has taken a little longer and required just the right ingredient.



Moresi found it in another North Adams native who had recently returned to the area with his growing family.



"We hit it off, we both had the same vision of what we wanted," said Matt Tatro last week in the newly furnished dining room of Grazie on Marshall Street. "We're both hard working guys, family oriented."



Moresi said it was the right partnership, with each bringing his skills and business acumen to the venture.



"I'm the construction end, he's the hospitality end and that's what makes it work," he said. "Restaurants fail  this is a recipe for success."



Grazie had initially been planned to open last year but other obligations by Moresi's construction company put it off until this week. That time was put to good use, said Tatro.



"The good part about it was that we could figure out every little intricacy, no detail was left unnoticed," he said. "We found everything that needed to be done. ... That time allowed us to find everything we were looking for."



Their shared vision can be found throughout the restaurant, with its classic white tablecloth dining room filled with Moresi's eBay finds of Italian scenes and vintage menus mixed with contemporary scenes of the old country on loan from photographer and artist Kelly Lee.



On the other side, a brand-new bar offers space for eating with a deeper counter, copper foot rail, hooks for pocketbooks and handy charging ports for phones. The lounge in the back has a plump, curved banquette and deep red wallpaper, and is decorated in vintage photographs of Moresi's ancestors.



The entire space, last used as RUB restaurant, has been entirely reconfigured and its original chestnut wood restored and reused, including in table bread boards designed by Tatro and made by a former Moresi & Associates employee.



Tatro also designed the compact kitchen for efficiency and he and his wife, Mackenzie, who will run the front of house, spent hours pouring over plate and flatware samples, and designing menus.



That mix of old and new, and very personal investment, can be found throughout the menu as well.



"From soup to nuts it's pretty much a scratch kitchen," said Tatro. Elements he learned from his first job at the former La Veranda can be found in the sauce that was bubbling away on the stove and the peppers and onions it served are on the appetizer menu.



It also will be only serving dinners at this point but is available for scheduled events for lunch or dinner, including cocktail receptions in the lounge.



There are a lot of people eager to try out the restaurant  there was a run on gift cards last month.



"I think the gift card sales speaks a lot to the overall business and Matt's reputation," said Moresi. "For a restaurant that's not open yet, it shows the anticipation and confidence people have in this venture."



Service is already being provided to the Mohawk Tavern next door, which has its own menu separate from Grazie and a pneumatic tube used to place orders.



A separate winery is nearly completed in the basement and Tatro anticipates future wine tastings and wine dinners.



"We're taking it one step at a time, you only get one first impression and we want to do it right," he said.



Both said they wanted to give something back to the community, and see bringing back a missing piece of the downtown as part of that.



"We know what people want, we know what we want, we know what we grew up on," said Moresi. "This restaurant is for North Adams, it's for the Northern Berkshires. ... The tourists will come by default. ...



"It's just a great meal at a great price."
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
Press Release: IMF Mission Concludes Visit to Suriname

End-of-Mission press releases include statements of IMF staff teams that convey preliminary findings after a visit to a country. The views expressed in this statement are those of the IMF staff and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMFs Executive Board. This mission will not result in a Board discussion.

Press Release No. 16/55

February 11, 2016

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff mission, led by Mr. Daniel Leigh, visited Paramaribo from February 1 to 11, 2016 for discussions on possible IMF financial assistance.

At the conclusion of the visit, Mr. Leigh, issued the following statement:

An IMF team visited Paramaribo for initial discussions on possible financial support for the authorities home-grown economic program.

The team had constructive discussions on a number of policies that could underpin the IMF supported program.

The team will now return to Washington DC to continue the technical work, including assessing the latest measures with regard to exchange rate policies. We will remain in contact with the Surinamese authorities.
Press Release: IMF Staff Concludes Visit to West Bank and Gaza

End-of-Mission press releases include statements of IMF staff teams that convey preliminary findings after a visit to a country. The views expressed in this statement are those of the IMF staff and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMFs Executive Board. This mission will not result in a Board discussion.

Press Release No. 16/57

February 11, 2016

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission led by Christoph Duenwald visited East Jerusalem and Ramallah from February 311, 2016, to assess recent economic developments in the West Bank and Gaza and the financial situation of the Palestinian Authority (PA). The mission met with Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, Finance Minister Shukry Bishara, Governor Azzam Shawwa, Minister of National Economy Abeer Odeh, and other Palestinian officials.

At the end of the mission, Mr. Duenwald issued the following statement:

2015 was another difficult year for the Palestinian economy. Growth in the West Bank slowed to an estimated 2.8 percent, as investment remained weak, donor aid declined sharply, and the suspension of clearance revenue transfers in the early part of the year undermined confidence. While reconstruction efforts following the Israel-Hamas conflict in 2014 provided some boost to the Gazan economy, the pace of recovery was hampered by slow aid disbursements and restrictions on imports of construction materials, and the humanitarian situation remains dire. Unemployment remains stubbornly high in the West Bank and higher still in Gaza, where two-thirds of young people are without a job.

In the face of the challenging circumstances, the authorities managed economic policies well, reducing the overall deficit for the third consecutive year. We estimate that the fiscal deficit declined by close to one percentage point of GDP, reflecting strong revenue performance and successful efforts to contain spending on the wage bill and in non-priority areas. However, efforts to alleviate social hardship in Gaza necessitated higher-than-budgeted spending on fuel. A sharp drop in donor aid contributed to higher public debt, including arrears. Nevertheless, the authorities managed to clear some arrears to the private sector and contributed small amounts to the Pension Fund on a monthly basis.

Uncertainty continues to cloud the economic outlook. Assuming that political uncertainty and Israeli restrictions persist, but that recent episodic violence does not escalate dramatically, GDP growth in the West Bank and Gaza will likely reach 3.3 percent in 2016, with sub-3 percent growth in the West Bank and 5 percent growth in Gaza reflecting continued rebuilding. Over the medium term, growth is projected to hover around 3.5 percent, leading to stagnant per capita incomes and rising unemployment. Also, real GDP in Gaza will not likely return to pre-conflict levels before 2018. While a breakthrough in national reconciliation efforts could set the stage for more favorable conditions, the main risksescalating violence that precipitates a security crisis; shortfalls in donor aid or revenue; or further spending pressures including in Gazawould diminish growth if realized.

The authorities have prepared a prudent 2016 budget focused on further revenue mobilization and spending controls, while increasing transfers to the Pension Fund to make the pension system more sustainable. Still, assuming donor aid around the same level as 2015, IMF staff estimates that the budget implies a large financing gap of over $500 million. To prevent arrears accumulation, the authorities are advised to take measures to narrow the gap, such as containing the increase in the wage bill to below 2 percent. However, as measures alone will not close the gap, increased donor aid will be critical in the year ahead.

Close monitoring will help ensure the continued health of the banking sector. While NPLs are among the lowest in the region, banks high exposure to the PA and double digit private sector credit growth in a weak economic environment warrant close attention. In particular, with most credit channeled to real estate, construction and consumption, the Palestine Monetary Authority should stand ready to deploy macro-prudential tools to address potential risks should they materialize. The recently approved Anti Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing law, in line with Financial Action Task Force guidelines, is a testament to the PAs determination to preempt risks and adhere to international best practices in this area.

Reforms to strengthen institutions and a more strategic approach to aid management, better aligned with budget priorities, will provide a stronger foundation for growth and donor engagement. Finalizing a new public financial management strategy to complement the 201722 National Policy Agenda will ensure that policy priorities are integrated into the budget. Other important milestones for 2016 include operationalizing the Public Procurement Council, approving the Secured Transactions and Companies laws, and completing the 2011 audited financial statements.

Despite the increasingly precarious political situation, enhanced economic cooperation between the PA and Government of Israel is critical to improve the prospects for fiscal sustainability and economic development. A good initial step would be a transparent audit of electricity sector claims which could help reduce unilateral deductions from clearance revenue transfers.

For information on the work of the IMF in the West Bank and Gaza, please see the following link: http://www.imf.org/wbg.
Imperial Valley News Center

FTC Brings Two Actions Against Operators of Online High Schools deemed diploma mills

Phoenix, Arizona - The Federal Trade Commission has filed charges against two operators of online high schools that claim to be legitimate but are alleged to be little more than diploma mills charging anywhere from $135 to $349 for a worthless certificate.

In its federal court complaints, the FTC alleges that these two separate operations mislead consumers about their legitimacy, including their association with recognized high school equivalency programs. They use names like West Madison Falls High School, Columbia Northern High School, Stafford High School and many others.

The defendants took advantage of people who wanted a high school diploma, said Jessica Rich, Director of the FTCs Bureau of Consumer Protection. If a company says you can get a diploma in no time at all or by simply taking an online test, it's almost certainly a scam.

Documents filed by the FTC in both cases allege that the operations bought a number of website names designed to look like legitimate online high schools and use deceptive metatags with terms like GED and GED online to bring the bogus sites higher in search rankings. Once consumers arrive at the schools sites, they are met with messages that imply that the diplomas offered by the defendants are equivalent to an actual high school diploma.

According to the FTC documents, the courses amount to four untimed, unmonitored multiple-choice tests, requiring that students answer 70 percent of each test correctly. For some high schools, when students fail to meet that standard, they are redirected to the test once more, and this time, the correct answers are highlighted for students to change their answers. Other high schools provide students with an online study guide that, when used, also highlights the correct answer for students to select.

Upon completing the tests, the documents allege that consumers are then directed to a set of menus to judge their life experiences, where selecting that one knows how to Balance [a] Checkbook translates as credit for accounting coursework. If a consumer says they Listen to Music Occasionally, he or she may be given credit for a music appreciation course.

The FTCs filings in both cases point to numerous consumers who sought to use the diplomas they received from the defendants to get jobs, apply for college and even join the military, only to find out that their diplomas were not recognized.

The defendants mislead consumers with statements about membership in accrediting bodies that do not exist and are creations of the defendants themselves, according to the FTCs complaints. The Capitol Network defendants also mislead consumers by claiming to be certified by or compliant with Department of Defense standardization programs for online education.

The FTCs filings ask the court to put in place a temporary restraining order halting the operations and freezing the assets of the two separate sets of defendants: Stepping Stonez Development, LLC, also doing business as American Certification Specialists, Intentional Growth, LLC, and Stephen J Remley; and Capitol Network Distance Learning Programs, LLC, Capitol Network Digital Licensing Programs, LLC, Veritas Sales, Inc., Nicholas A. Pollicino, Anthony J. Clavien and Adam F. Pollicino.

The FTC has also produced a new consumer education article with advice on what to watch out for when it comes to online high schools.

The Commission votes authorizing the staff to file the complaints and seeking temporary and preliminary relief were 4-0. The complaints were filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.
Cover crops, a farming revolution with deep roots in the past

Sacramento, California - When Mark Anson came home with his hair on fire after a seminar on the seemingly soporific topic of soil health, his younger brother, Doug, was skeptical.

What had Mark lit up was cover crops: fields of noncash crops like hairy vetch and cereal rye that act on soil like a nourishing facial after the harvest.

Mark, 60, and his two brothers, together with assorted sons and sons-in-law, run Anson Farms, a big commercial soybean and corn operation in Indiana and Illinois. Concern about the soil quality of the familys fields had nagged at him for some time. Our corn was wilting when temperatures hit 103 degrees, he said, and such heat isnt so unusual in the summer. I felt like I had a gorilla on my shoulder. What he learned about the benefits of cover crops gave him hope.

But to Doug, planting some noncommercial crops seemed an antiquated practice, like using a horse-drawn plow. Cover crops had long been replaced by fertilizers. Still, he shared his brothers concern about their soil. Its texture was different, not as loamy as it had once been, and a lot of it was running off into ditches and other waterways when it rained.

So in 2010 the family decided to humor Mark by sowing some 1,200 acres, which Mark describes as highly eroded farmland, with wheat cleanings and cereal rye. Additionally, they spread some cover crops to eroded areas in a few fields.

The next spring, Doug had to admit that the soil texture on that strip was better. And the water that ran off it during a rainstorm was clear, a sign that the roots of the cover crops were anchoring valuable topsoil in place.

But Doug didnt become a believer until 2013, when the family was grappling with a terrible drought. In the part of a field where we had planted cover crops, we were getting 20 to 25 bushels of corn more per acre than in places where no cover crops had been planted, he said. That showed me it made financial sense to do this.

Now some 13,000 of the 20,000 acres that the family farms across nine counties are planted with cover crops after harvesting, and farmers around them are beginning to embrace the practice.

Cover crops are coming back in other areas of the country, too. The practice of seeding fields between harvests not only keeps topsoil in place, it also adds carbon to the soil and helps the beneficial microbes, fungus, bacteria and worms in it thrive.

These properties have led philanthropies like the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation to underwrite research on cover crops, while Monsanto, together with the Walton Family Foundation, recently put up the money to support the Soil Health Partnership, a five-year project of the National Corn Growers Association to identify, test and measure the impact of cover cropping and other practices to improve soil health.

Cover cropping is still used only by a small minority of farmers. When the Agriculture Department asked for the first time about cover cropping for its 2012 Census of Agriculture report, just 10.3 million acres  out of about 390 million total acres of farmland sown in crops  on 133,124 farms were planted with cover crops. The next census wont be done until 2017, but experts say that the practice has spread. In an annual survey of about 1,200 farmers, the mean acreage reported as being sown in cover crops was 259 in 2014. That was double the mean reported by respondents in 2010, though results are not directly comparable because different farmers may have been involved in the surveys, said a spokesman for the Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education, a federal government program, which conducted the survey.

Interest in cover crops is coming from buyers, too. Dan Barber, a prominent chef who uses locally grown foods, has championed incorporating cover crops like clover and millet into cuisine as a way of encouraging farmers to grow them.

The Blue Ox Malthouse in Maine was established to coax farmers there to grow barley as a cover crop, which the company then turns into malt that is sold to the states craft beer industry. Half a dozen farmers are producing good-quality barley as a cover crop, and others are interested in turning the grains theyve been growing as cover crops into something theres a value-added market for, said Joel Alex, Blue Oxs founder and maltster.

One measure of how rapidly the practice is growing is the booming demand for cover crop seeds. Keith Berns, a fourth-generation family farmer in central Nebraska, started making cover-crop seed mixtures in 2010, and the business just kind of took off, Mr. Berns said.

He and his brother, Brian, turned what started as a hobby into a thriving enterprise. This year, Green Cover Seed, their company, will sell enough seed to cover 500,000 acres in cover crops.

Last fall, the Berns brothers were recognized as White House Champions of Change for Sustainable and Climate-Smart Agriculture. We have been kind of surprised at how fast our business has grown, Keith said. The reason is that because its working agronomically and doing what its advertised to do.

Modern farming practices like applying fertilizer and herbicides and not tilling their fields, or no till, have helped farmers increase yields and reduced labor, but they have also unintentionally interfered with root systems, increased erosion and disrupted underground microbial activity and insect life that are vital to plant and soil health. (Many farmers deploying cover crops continue to use herbicides, although often less than they did in the past, but they often can do without fertilizers.)

Weve concentrated on the physical and chemical aspects of farming but not the biological, said Dan DeSutter, who farms 5,000 acres near Attica, Ind.

Mr. DeSutter began fooling around with cover crops about 17 years ago, after Purdue University used one of his fields for research trials. One spring he was repairing a drainage tile in the test field and came across the deep, webbed root system that some Oregon ryegrass had put into the soil.

I thought to myself, I have been pulling the guts out of my tractor to remove compaction 14 inches deep with a ripper, Mr. DeSutter said, and this plant has just bored a system of micropores four feet deep between cash crops all on its own.

Today, all 5,000 acres he farms are sown after the harvest of corn and soy with a mixture of as many as 12 different crops, including sunflower, sorghum, buckwheat, turnips and hairy vetch, each of which delivers a different benefit. Most die off in the winter and decompose, leaving behind a rich layer of organic matter that gradually sinks into the earth. Farmers use a planter or seed drill to punch the seeds for their cash crops into the decaying cover crop.

Before cultivation, Indiana was blanketed in prairie grasses and forest, and the carbon content of the soil was as high as 10 percent in places. Today, after decades of tillage, which moves carbon from the soil into the atmosphere, and monocropping, the level on many farms is below 2 percent, Mr. Fisher said. Cover crops restore organic matter back into the soil, at a rate of about 1 percent every five years.

As we put carbon back into the soil, it gives us a bigger tank to store water naturally, Mr. DeSutter said. This is one way we build resilience into the system.

The adoption of cover cropping has been especially rapid in Indiana  about one million of the 12.5 million acres of farmland there are planted with cover crops between harvests. A strong collaboration between Purdue University and state and federal farm services gave birth to the Indiana Conservation Cropping Systems Initiative, a program that offers education and research to farmers in the state.

Rob Myers, director of extension programs for the north central region of SARE, and a professor at the University of Missouri, said Maryland also ranked high in the use of cover crops. The state reimburses farmers for the cost of cover crop seed and has been informing them about the impact that fertilizer runoff has on Chesapeake Bay.

Despite the support for cover cropping in Indiana, there is still resistance to change. Farmers are notoriously reluctant to offer their neighbors advice about farming, and cover cropping carries with it an implicit criticism of practices  reliance on fertilizers and pesticides, and so forth  that farmers for the last generation have used to increase productivity and reduce work.

All those old guys sitting around shooting the breeze at the feed store get real quiet when I pull up, Mr. DeSutter said, only half in jest.

Neighbors have made pointed comments about his messy fields. The fields sown with a cover crop cocktail are often blanketed in dying, decaying and thriving plants at the same time. In December, spindly black stalks, the remnants of sunflowers, shot up here and there from one of Mr. DeSutters fields, which were covered in a yellowing broadleaf and bright green hairy vetch.

But the biggest obstacle to more farmers adopting cover crops is the lack of data and research on their benefits. Fewer of our neighbors think were crazy than when we started planting cover crops, but theres still a lot of skepticism out there, said Rodney Rulon, whose family farms 6,200 acres in northeastern Indiana and plants about four-fifths of them with cover crops.

Rulon Enterprises, the family business, has begun collecting data on some of its fields. He has found, for instance, an increase in organic matter and higher corn yields  an average of 12.8 bushels an acre more in one of his cover-cropped fields, said Mr. Rulon, who shared some of this data in December at the 70th Corn & Sorghum Seed Research Conference.

You really start seeing a difference in your soil within two or three years, Mr. Rulon said.

The Rulons spend about $100,000 a year on cover crop seed, or about $26 an acre. But they also saved about $57,000 on fertilizer they no longer needed, and bigger yields mean about $107,000 in extra income.

Including the value of improved soil quality, less erosion and other improvements, Mr. Rulon estimates that Rulon Enterprises gets about $244,000 of net economic benefit from cover crops annually, or a little more than $69 an acre.

The federal government is mulling ways to persuade farmers to adopt cover cropping. There is a small subsidy system; Rulon Enterprises, for instance, gets $40,000 to help offset the cost of cover crops and support other conservation practices.

But Mr. Rulon and Mr. DeSutter believe that landowners are the real key to taking cover crops mainstream. Most farmers work some fields leased from absentee owners, and thus have less incentive to maintain and invest in improving soil quality on that land.

Why should landowners see the value of their land diminished because the soil on it has become unhealthy? said Mr. DeSutter. Id like to see landowners give preferential treatment to farmers who are working to improve the value of the land they lease by using cover crops.
Food and Agricultures Leading Experts to Speak at Food Tank Summit

Washington, DC - Food Tank, in partnership with American University, will hold a two-day summit, Wednesday, April 20, 2016 and Thursday, April 21, 2016 from 9AM-5PM. The Summit will take place in the School of International Service Building at American University.

The event will bring together more than 70+ expert speakers who are among the top leaders across all sectors of the food industry, including business, government, and elected officials; nonprofit groups; farmers organizations; unions; funders; chefs; and more. Each panel will be moderated by an expert journalist or food advocate.

Researchers, farmers, chefs, policy makers, government officials, and students will come together for interactive panels on topics that include Uncommon Collaborations, Improving Nutrient Density, Protein for the Planet, Investing in the Food Movement, Legislating Change in Agriculture, Chefs Leading the Food Movement, Innovating and Adapting to a Changing Food System, Food Security and Conflict, among other topics. The entire two-day event will be live streamed on www.FoodTank.com.

This event will sell out. Confirmed speakers include (in alphabetical order  many more to be announced soon):

Allison Aubrey, Food Journalist, NPR

Eliza Barclay, Reporter and Editor, National Public Radio

Laura Batcha, CEO and Executive Director, Organic Trade Association

Charles Benbrook, Research Consultant, Benbrook Consulting Services

Patricia J. Beneke, Regional Director, UNEP Regional Office for North America

Claire Benjamin DiMattina, Executive Director, Food Policy Action

Michael Berger, Founding Partner, Elevation Franchise Ventures

Ali Berlow, Author, The Food Activist Handbook

Jane Black, Food Writer

William Burke, Research Scholar, Center on Food Security & the Environment, Stanford University

Jason Clay, Executive Director, Markets Institute, WWF

Tim Carman, Food Writer, Washington Post

Mitchell Davis, Executive Vice President, James Beard Foundation

Dennis Dimick, Former Executive Editor, Environment, National Geographic

Jeff Dunn, President, Campbell Soup Company

Rodney Ferguson, President and CEO, Winrock International

Pierre Ferrari, CEO, Heifer International

Pam Fessenden, Director, Office of Market and Partnership Innovations, Bureau for Food Security at USAID

Sam Fromartz, Editor-in-Chief, Food & Environment Reporting Network

April Fulton, Contributor, National Geographic

Chip Giller, Founder and CEO, Grist

Dan Glickman, Executive Director, Aspen Institute; Former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture

Eileen Gordon, Founder, Barnraiser

Roger Gordon, Founder, Food Cowboy

Danielle Gould, Founder and CEO, Food + Tech Connect

Diane Hatz, Founder and Executive Director, Change Food

Wenonah Hauter, Founder and Executive Director, Food & Water Watch

Pamela Hess, Executive Director, Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food and Agriculture

Tim Huelskamp, U.S. Congress (R-KS)

Daniela Ibarra-Howell, Co-Founder, Savory Institute

Eric Kessler, Founder, Arabella Advisors

Dan Kish, Head Chef, Panera Bread

Ashley Koff, RD, The Better Nutrition Simplified Program

Jeremiah Lowery, Political Appointee, D.C. Food Policy Council

Evan Lutz, Founder, Hungry Harvest

Riana Lynn, Founder and CEO, FoodTrace

Alexander Muller, Study Leader and Steering Committee Chair, TEEBAgFood

Regina Northouse, Executive Director, Food Recovery Network

Ari Novy, Executive Director, U.S. Botanic Garden

Amanda Oborne, Director of Food and Farms, Ecotrust

Patrick ONeill, CEO, Amp Your Good LLC

Tinia Pina, Founder and CEO, Re-Nuble

Chellie Pingree, U.S. Congress (D-ME)

Ruth Richardson, Open Blue Consulting

Cheryl Rogowski, Founder, Rogowski Farm

Nancy E. Roman, President and CEO, Capital Area Food Bank

Sara Roversi, Co-Founder, You Can Group

Rodney Scruggs, Executive Chef, Occidental Grill

Simran Sethi, Author, Bread, Wine, Chocolate: The Slow Loss of Foods We Love

Greg Sewitz, Co-Founder, Exo Inc.

Howard Shapiro, Global Director of Plant Science and External Research, Mars, Inc.

Lauren Shweder Biel, Executive Director, DC Greens

Bill Telepan, Founder, Telepan Restaurant

Rachel Tepper, Editor, Yahoo Food

Roger Thurow, Senior Fellow, Chicago Council on Global Affairs

Shen Tong, Venture Partner, SOSV; Founder, Food-X

Marianne Williamson, International Spiritual Leader, Lecturer, and Author

Paul Willis, Founder, Niman Ranch Pork Company

Serena Wu, Co-Founder and CCO, Kitchenbowl

Ulises Zatarain, Program Director, Washington Youth Garden

And many more to be announced soon!

Sponsors include; Global Environmental Politics Program of the School of International Service at American University; Elevation Burger; Niman Ranch; Organic Valley; Conflict Cuisine; Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition; Edible DC; and Leafware. More to be announced soon.

Last years Food Tank Summit in partnership with the George Washington University brought together 400 in-person attendees (completely sold out) from more than 25 states and waiting list of more than 1,500 people. There were an additional 15,520 livestream participants from more than 125 countries. 70+ expert speakers in food and agriculture presented and 11 top food journalists were stage as panel moderators from major media outlets including National Public Radio, Bloomberg, The Washington Post, Voice of America, Politico, and more. This year, Food Tank is quadrupling our reach by hosting additional summits in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Chicago, IL, Sacramento, CA, and New Orleans, LA.

70 expert speakers who are among the top leaders across all sectors of the food industry

Two-Day Summit hosted by Food Tank and American University

Wednesday, April 20, 2015 and Thursday, April 21, 2016 from 9AM-5PM. For more information: http://foodtanksummit.com/dc/

School of International Service Building at American University 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20016

About Food Tank

Food Tank (www.FoodTank.com) is focused on building a global community for safe, healthy, nourished eaters. We spotlight environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable ways of alleviating hunger, obesity, and poverty. Food Tank also creates networks of people, organizations, and content that push for food system change.

About American University

American University creates meaningful change in the world. With highly ranked schools and colleges and internationally recognized faculty, AU offers a balance between class time and career-advancing experience in Washington, D.C., and beyond. Its students, among the countrys most politically active, distinguish themselves for their service, leadership, and ability to rethink global and domestic challenges and opportunities.
Private military and security companies: A call for better regulation

Munich, Germany - In a study published today, Transparency Germany demanded that the awarding of contracts to PMSCs and the imposition of international quality standards be made more transparent. What were until recently regarded as responsibilities of the government are now being delegated to private service providers. With this shift it is becoming increasingly difficult to attribute responsibility. A lack of transparency creates opportunities for corruptionthe more so because most military interventions now occur in countries where corruption is rampant.

For this reason, it is necessary to define the governments core military responsibilities and to stop the outsourcing of those responsibilities to private companies. In addition, appropriate registration and licensing systems must be established to ensure that contracts with private actors are fulfilled in a professional manner and in accordance with international law.

Given that companies involved in international affairs are not subject to international law, the governments of countries that participate in military interventions are required by certain agreements to ensure that PMSCs comply with international humanitarian law. Countries must not be allowed to shirk these obligations by hiring private service providers.

Private Actors Are the Rule in Theaters of Operations

In the realm of national and international security, the use of PMSCs has been increasing significantly. In Iraq and Afghanistan, for example, a combined total of more than 250,000 employees of such companies have been deployed. The total value of the private security industry worldwide has been estimated to be as much as $200 billion US.

To this day, countries continue to claim that core military responsibilities are not outsourced to PMSCs. However, in most cases, there is no official definition of what constitutes core military responsibilitieshence, many of the contracts awarded to PMSCs are only vaguely defined. It is in this grey area where Transparency Germany sees a need for action. Employees of private companies are increasingly assuming responsibilities that may involve their direct participation in combat operations.

In Germany, there has been a recent change in the way the term core military responsibilities is interpreted in practice, that is, in theaters of operations in international military interventions. In 2004 and 2005, the Bundeswehr had as a matter of principle rejected the possibility of outsourcing its responsibilities in the areas of protection, repair, maintenance, and logistics. But, by the time Germany had become involved in the war in Afghanistan, the German government was outsourcing these responsibilities routinely. According to Peter Conze, a member of the board of Transparency Germany, This is where clarification is neededthe German government must define clearly who may be commissioned to do what.

Considerable Responsibility, Few Rules

In 2007, the killing of innocent civilians in Iraq by Blackwater, a private American military contractor, attracted widespread media attention. The incident itself, as well as its aftermath, revealed the risks involved when governments, international organizations, and private clients hire the services of a PMSC. At the time of the incident, demands were made for the comprehensive regulation of such practices. Since then, however, little progress has actually been made on this front.

Governments should introduce rules that are binding on international actors, to ensure appropriate selection and monitoring of military and security companies and effective sanctioning of violations, among other things.The deployment of PMSCs has become a staple of military operations, and many countries and international operations are likely to rely on the expertise of these companies in the foreseeable future. Consequently, better regulation is needed. According to Conze, Governments should introduce rules that are binding on international actors, to ensure appropriate selection and monitoring of military and security companies and effective sanctioning of violations, among other things.

Governments and international organizations that hire PMSCs are thus being called upon to introduce quality standards and implement transparent tendering processes. Whether the clients are governments or international organizations, they bear a responsibility to uphold the integrity of national and international criminal justice systems and to ensure that violations by PMSCs or their employees are punished in accordance with the law of the respective countries in which such companies are based.

In addition, national registration and licensing systems are needed that will provide clear and transparent standards with regard to security screening and training of PMSC personnel.
A groundbreaking intervention could mean Potters syndrome is no longer a terminal condition, a conference at the RCSI has heard.

More than 130 doctors, nurses, midwives and medical students attended the recent International Perinatal and Hospice Care Conference 2016, which focused on the care of babies prenatally diagnosed with severe life-limiting conditions such as anencephaly and trisomy 13.

Dr Meredith Birsner, Assistant Professor of Maternal-Fetal Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, told delegates of a unique case of a baby diagnosed with bilateral renal agenesis, a condition where both kidneys fail to develop. The condition, which is usually terminal, was treated by serial amnioinfusion.

Abigail Beutler became the first baby with Potters syndrome to breath unassisted after birth. The treatment involved her mother having injections of saline solution into her uterus to raise amniotic fluid levels.

Dr Birsner told the conference that Potters syndrome was always considered fatal but because of the new intervention this child is a source of enormous joy for this family.

Specialists from Ireland, the US, Canada, the UK, South Africa and Italy spoke about optimal care for severely disabled babies as well as the need for proper support for their families and improved training for neonatal staff.

The conference also heard from US couple Dan Haley and Jenna Gassew, whose son Shane lived for four hours following his birth in October 2014. Following a diagnosis of anencephaly the previous April they decided to make the most of the pregnancy and birth. They completed a bucket list of activities for baby Shane and documented the journey on Facebook, where they had almost a million fans.

We packed a lifetime of adventures into his short life, and we had that precious time with him. He taught us a love we had never known before he entered this world, the couple said.

niamh.mullen@imt.ie
The Department of Health is commissioning an evidence review of international public funding models. Although in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment is not provided by the Irish public health service, there is some support available in that patients who access IVF treatment privately may claim tax relief on the costs involved under the tax relief for medical expenses scheme.

In addition, a defined list of fertility medicines needed for fertility treatment is covered under the High Tech Scheme administered by the HSE. Medicines covered by the High Tech Scheme must be prescribed by a consultant/specialist and approved by the HSE High Tech Liaison Officers, the Minister for Health said in response to Dail questioning by Fianna Fail Deputy Robert Troy.

The cost of the medicines is then covered, as appropriate, under the Medical Card or Drugs Payment Scheme.
The Irish Medical Councils proposed registration support programme for doctors new to medical practice in Ireland will also help inform health employers induction programmes for new medical staff to help them settle better in the Irish health service.

It is envisaged the Councils Safe Start project, chaired by former RCSI Deputy CEO Dr Terry McWade, will have a direct impact on the quality of medical care experienced by patients in Ireland.

UCDs School of Medicine will survey more than 4,000 new and recent entrants to medical practice in Ireland over the coming months to inform the design of the educational programme to be delivered by the Council.

The 50,000 research project is also being developed to inform the work of employers on their own more detailed induction programmes and ongoing support of doctors who have qualified outside Ireland, IMC CEO Bill Prasifka said.

Highlighting the rising numbers of doctors entering the practice of medicine in Ireland for the first time in recent years, he said entering practice in a new health system for the first time was clearly very challenging, even if you were educated here. In the Councils own research, a number of doctors have flagged deficits in induction, which can lead to them feeling unprepared.

While our role in induction is limited, Prasifka said, its important that we use our regulatory remit to support doctors new to practice.

Every health system is different, and some of these differences, for example the way in which doctors relate to patients and their families or how they work with other healthcare professionals can be subtle but hugely important. Doctors who are new to medical practice in Ireland must be given the necessary support that enables them to adapt to the culture within the working environment here in Ireland.

The IMC was interested in playing our part in providing this support, and the research would inform its role, but a comprehensive response to the needs of new doctors would also require the HSE, independent healthcare providers, locum agencies and training organisations to take greater action, he said.

lloyd.mudiwa@imt.ie
The IMO has warned that the incoming Government is facing unprecedented crisis in the public health services.

The Organisation wants an increase in the numbers of beds, services and doctors, as well as improved patient experiences and health outcomes. The unions President says rescuing health services is as big a challenge for the next Government as the financial crisis that faced the last Government. The IMO called on voters to consider Health as a priority, saying there is a need to Invest, Increase and Improve.

The looming unprecedented crisis in the the public health services would require a significant, immediate and sustained investment in public health services as a matter of urgency, said the IMO.

The comments were made by the President of the IMO, Dr Ray Walley, who was speaking at a special IMO briefing on the health services in the context of the general election. The IMO is calling for voters and politicians to put Health first.

Dr Walley warned that years of cutbacks in essential services, a manpower crisis fuelled by record emigration of Irish trained doctors and a 10-year long national emergency in our Emergency Departments had left the public health services perilously close to collapse and in urgent need of emergency attention.

Dr Walley said that it was indisputable that services were restricted, patients were suffering unnecessarily, health conditions are deteriorating and the crisis is deepening.

The IMO also called on all the political parties to abstain from irrational politically motivated reforms and to concentrate instead on stabilising and supporting what is a very fragile public health service. The crisis in our public health service is system wide across hospitals, general practice and community services and we must have a system wide approach to deal with it.

Dr Walley said; Successive Governments have invested scarce resources in pursuing politically motivated cul-de-sacs such as co-location, free GP care and Universal Health Insurance  even while the basic infrastructure of our health service was collapsing around their ears. What we need now is an immediate investment programme, followed by a period of sustained funding so that we can repair the damage that has been done to our health services in recent years and plan for the future health challenges we face so that we can deliver a health service that works.

gary.culliton@imt.ie
Our Future Clothing May Be Able to Hear Sounds and Even Communicate
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Where are you now and what can you see?

I am in the room at the top of my London home, looking out over the treetops, hoping for signs of spring. I sit here most days: it's where I write my articles and books, sitting at my laptop. Feels like home.

What are you currently reading?

Scary Old Sex by Arlene Heyman: short stories by the American writer and psychiatrist, that are both funny and eye-wateringly explicit. Also, Number 11 by Jonathan Coe, a hilarious satire (all too plausible) on our way of life.

Chose a favourite author and say why you admire him/her.

Too many to select one: Ali Smith, Zadie Smith, Charlotte Bronte, Charles Dickens, none better than any other. Each draws you into a world of their own making, and I like being steeped in their worlds.

Describe the room where you usually write.

It is the top of my house, several rooms knocked into one, so windows back, front and side and lots of light. Three tables: one for House of Lords matters, one for writing and stuff, one for books and reminder notes.

Which fictional character most resembles you?

Emma Woodhouse from Jane Austen's Emma. I'm like her in always trying to do the right thing and frequently getting it wrong. And given the chance I can be a bit of a busybody.

Who is your hero/heroine from outside literature?

Nelson Mandela: 27 years in prison for a cause, then on release became President and ended apartheid. Who can match him for character and achievement?

Joan Bakewell will chair a talk with Frederic Raphael at Jewish Book Week on 25 February. Her new book is 'Stop the Clocks'
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

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"Welcome, to Jurassic Park."

There's only one way to accurately match the swooping magnitude of John Williams' epic score kicking in here, as Dr. Alan Grant & co. face in awe the resurrection of the dinosaur. And that's with a live score, filling the room and your ears with all its iconic majesty.

Jurassic Park will have its first-ever UK screening accompanied by a live orchestra. Ludwig Wicki will conduct the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra in Jurassic Park Live, playing Williams' classic score alongside the film in London's Royal Albert Hall on 4 and 5 November. Williams' work will also be honoured with orchestral screenings of Raiders of the Lost Ark in March, and ET in December.

"No-one will ever forget the first time they saw Jurassic Park, one of the scariest  yet most magical  movies in cinema history," Lucy Noble, Director of Events at the Royal Albert Hall, told The Telegraph. "Nor will they forget John Williams extraordinary score, which did so much to create that sense of terror and wonder, while giving us a triumphant, overpowering gem of a theme tune. This unique presentation of the film, premiering at the Hall [in November] will allow audiences to experience the majesty of Jurassic Park in and all-new way."

Also announced is Independence Day Live, launched as part of the film's 20th anniversary; the event will feature a Q&A with the score's composer David Arnold, who also worked on James Bond and TV's Sherlock.

"Its a film that doesnt pretend to be anything other than what it is: a huge piece of cinematic fun with characters you learn to love, bad guys you learn to hate and spectacle that satisfied a lot of inner children who longed to smash things up," Arnold told HeyUGuys. "The score held hands with these ideas and followed suit."

"The Royal Albert Hall is such an iconic venue and a personal favourite of mine  its always an honour to be on the stage, especially with your own material. The Hall screams event and Independence Day was one of the biggest event movies of the last 30 years."

Tickets are available now on The Royal Albert Hall's website.
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

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Kate Winslet has revealed she wont be boycotting this years Oscars, unlike Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith and Spike Lee who will not be attending due to the lack of diversity among nominees.

The 40-year-old actress described how 2015 was an extraordinary year for women and that by not going she would be letting my side down.

Winslet has nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Steve Jobs. She faces competition from Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight), Rooney Mara (Carol), Rachel McAdams (Spotlight) and Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl)

She added that she could not be in attendance when closest friend and Titanic co-star Leonardo DiCaprio presumably picks up the gong for best actor.

When speaking to the BBC at the launch of her new film Triple 9, Winslet said: "To be honest with you, it has been such an extraordinary year for women I'd feel like I was letting my side down if I didn't go.

"And also I feel very strongly that it may possibly be Leo's year. And he is my closest friend in the world and I just couldn't imagine not being there to support him. And I think those are reasons enough really to show my face."

This is the sixth time DiCaprio has been nominated for an Oscar, but he has yet to win one.

This years Oscars caused controversy when only white actors were nominated within the acting categories, leading to many actors speaking out against the academy and the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag to trend.

#OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Show all 19 1 /19 #OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say #OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Jada Pinkett-Smith Today is Martin Luther Kings birthday, and I cant help but ask the question: Is it time that people of color recognize how much power and influence we have amassed that we no longer need to ask to be invited anywhere? I ask the question: Have we come to a new time and place where we recognize that we can no longer beg for the love, acknowledge, or respect of any group? - Posted on her Facebook page. Getty #OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Will Smith "The beauty of Hollywood combined with American ideals is the ultimate dream for humanity: the basis of the American concept of anything is possible, with hard work and dedication, no matter your race or religion, creed, none of that matters in America. I think that diversity is the American superpower. That's why we are great. So many different people from so many different places adding their ideas and their inspiration and their influences to this beautiful American gumbo and for me, at its best, Hollywood represents and then creates the imagery for that beauty. But for my part, I think I have to fight for and protect the ideals that make our country and make our Hollywood community great. So when I look at the series of nominations of the Academy, it's not reflecting that beauty." - Quote from ABC News appearance. Getty #OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Reese Witherspoon "I really appreciated this article in TIME on the lack of racial and gender diversity in this year's Oscar nominations. So disappointed that some of 2015's best films, filmmakers and performances were not recognized... Nothing can diminish the quality of their work, but these filmmakers deserve recognition. As an Academy member, I would love to see a more diverse voting membership." - Posted on her Facebook page. Getty #OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Spike Lee "This whole Academy thing is a misdirection play. We're chasing a guy down the field, he doesn't even have the ball. The other guy's high-stepping in the end zone. It goes further than the Academy Awards. It has to go back to the gatekeepers. We're not in the room. The executives, when they have these greenlight meetings quarterly, they look at the scripts and see who's in it and decide what we're making and what we're not making." - Quote from ABC appearance. Getty #OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say George Clooney "If you think back 10 years ago, the Academy was doing a better job. Think about how many more African Americans were nominated. I would also make the argument, I dont think its a problem of who youre picking as much as it is: How many options are available to minorities in film, particularly in quality films? There should be 20 or 30 or 40 films of the quality that people would consider for the Oscars. By the way, were talking about African Americans. For Hispanics, its even worse. We need to get better at this. We used to be better at it." - Interview with Variety. Getty #OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Snoop Dogg Somebody was actually like am I gonna watch the motherf***ing Oscars. F*** no. What the f*** am I going to watch that bulls*** for? They aint got no n***** nominated. All these great movies and all this great s*** yall keep stealing from us. F*** you! F*** you! - Posted on his Instagram page. Getty #OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Don Cheadle "Yo, Chris. Come check me out at #TheOscars this year. They got me parking cars on G level." - Posted on his Twitter page, directed at host Chris Rock. Getty #OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Mark Ruffalo I woke up in the morning thinking, what is the right way to do this? Because if you look at Martin Luther Kings legacy, what he was saying was that the good people who dont act are much worse than the wrongdoers who are purposefully not acting and dont know the right way. - Quote from interview with BBC News. Getty #OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Lupita Nyong'o "I am disappointed by the lack of inclusion in this year's Academy Awards nominations. It has me thinking about unconscious prejudice and what merits prestige in our culture. The awards should not dictate the terms of art in our modern society, but rather be a diverse reflection of the best of what our art has to offer today. I stand with my peers who are calling for change in expanding the stories that are told and recognition of the people who tell them." - Posted on her Instagram page. Getty #OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Tyrese Gibson "This is not us saying we're against the Oscars because we're gonna combat racism. We're just saying, 'Yo, this is not cool.' You can't be doing this in 2016 and act as if no one is gonna notice." - Quote from interview with People. Getty #OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say David Oyelowo The reason why the Oscars are so important is because it is the zenith, it is the epitome, it is the height of celebration of artistic endeavor within the filmmaking community. We grow up aspiring, dreaming, longing to be accepted into that august establishment because it is the height of excellence. I would like to walk away and say it doesnt matter, but it does, because that acknowledgement changes the trajectory of your life, your career, and the culture of the world we live in. This institution doesnt reflect its president and it doesnt reflect this room. I am an Academy member and it doesnt reflect me, and it doesnt reflect this nation." - Speech at gala honoring Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs. Getty #OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Brie Larson "Thank you @hollywoodreporter for covering this very unique moment in my life! It was wonderful spending time with all of you. Personally, I'm interested in reading their article on #OscarsSoWhite. This is a conversation that deserves attention." - Posted on her Instagram page. Getty #OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say How many black films are being produced every year? How are they being distributed? The films that are being made, are the big-time producers thinking outside of the box in terms of how to cast the role? Can you cast a black woman in that role? Can you cast a black man in that role? You can change the Academy, but if there are no black films being produced, what is there to vote for? - Quote from interview with Entertainment Weekly. Getty #OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Charlotte Rampling "It is racist to whites. One can never really know, but perhaps the black actors did not deserve to make the final list. Why classify people? These days everyone is more or less accepted... People will always say: Him, hes less handsome; Him, hes too black; He is too white... someone will always be saying You are too [this or that]... But do we have to take from this that there should be lots of minorities everywhere?" - Quote from interview on Europe 1. Getty #OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Michael Caine Theres loads of black actors. In the end you can't vote for an actor because he's black. You can't say 'I'm going to vote for him, he's not very good, but he's black, I'll vote for him'. You have to give a good performance and I'm sure people have. I saw Idris Elba (in Beasts Of No Nation).I thought he was wonderful. Be patient. Of course it will come. It took years to get an Oscar, years. - Quote from interview with Radio 4 Today programme. Getty #OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Steve McQueen "This is exactly like MTV was in the 1980s. Could you imagine now if MTV only showed music videos by a majority of white people, then after 11 oclock it showed a majority of black people? Could you imagine that happening now? Its the same situation happening in the movies. Hopefully, when people look back at this in 20 years, itll be like seeing that David Bowie clip in 1983 [of artist critiquing channel for not featuring black artists]. I dont even want to wait 20 years. Forgive me; Im hoping in 12 months or so we can look back and say this was a watershed moment, and thank God we put that right." Quote from interview with The Guardian. Getty #OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Julie Delpy "Two years ago, I said something about the Academy being very white male, which is the reality, and I was slashed to pieces by the media. It's funny - women can't talk. I sometimes wish I were African American because people don't bash them afterwards. It's the hardest to be a woman. Feminism is something people hate above all. Nothing worse than being a woman in this business. I really believe that." Delpy has since clarified these remarks, saying, "I'm very sorry for how I expressed myself. It was never meant to diminish the injustice done to African American artists or to any other people that struggle for equal opportunities and rights; on the contrary. All I was trying to do is to address the issues of inequality of opportunity in the industry for women as well (as I am a woman)." Getty #OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Clint Eastwood "I don't know anything about it. All I know is there's thousands of people in the Academy, and the majority of them haven't won Oscars. A lot of people are crying, I guess." - Quoted by TMZ. Getty #OscarsSoWhite: What Hollywood has to say Ellen Page Its awful, and I think what just happened in regards to the nominations two years in a row is a reflection of the industry itself, and the lack of diversity in all positions. Its so upsetting that were still having this conversation. I dont know what to say other than its so disheartening, and I feel like we all have to be doing what we can to make a change, because were supposed to be telling stories that reflect human experience, and we cant just be showing one group of people." Quote from interview with The Wrap. Getty

Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs recently announced that changes will be made its membership, saying the Academy will be taking dramatic steps to alter the makeup of its membership over the coming weeks in an attempt to bring much-needed diversity.

We recognise the very real concerns of our community, she said. And I so appreciate all of you who have reached out to me in our effort to move forward together. Catch up on the latest Oscars news here.
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Netflix has debuted the first trailer for House of Cards season 4, and its pretty damn intense.

The major focus is the demise of Frank and Claire Underwoods marriage; it doesnt seem Claire has any second thoughts after walking out on the President in season 3.

We had a future until you started destroying it, he is heard telling her.

Elsewhere, Frank is still battling Heather Dunbar in the Democratic primaries, and it seems Doug Stamper is back to his old murderous ways.

Key stills in the montage:

- Someone, possibly Claire, removing a gun from a drawer

- A scene in a dirty prison cell

- Remy and Heather are back on

- A mysterious bald character stalking Claire

- Frank rapping his ring on the Oval Office table as two people make out on his couch?!

- A tap dripping blood (Lady Macbeth symbolism?)

- Doug possibly killing Seth?

- Return of the Russian president

- A teen sucking on a pistol

Season 4 will be showrunner Beau Wilimons last, with Netflix yet to announced the new one for the already commissioned season 5.
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The BBC has revealed the full team of presenters for its new Top Gear series, and it really wants you to know that a woman is on board.

The costume departments not-so-subtle choice of t-shirt for racing driver Sabine Schmitz was spotted by Grazia writer Daisy Buchanan:

Not only did her attire successfully scream LOOK, AN ACTUAL WOMAN!, but the belt buckle reminded the xenophobic section of the shows fans where her allegiances lie:

The full line up is TV presenter Chris Evans, Schmitz, F1 commentator Eddie Jordan, Friends actor Matt LeBlanc, car reviewer and TV presenter Rory Reid, YouTube star Chris Harris and the Stig.

Evans revealed the news, which will likely come as a surprise to fans expecting the traditional three presenter line-up, on his BBC Radio 2 show on Thursday morning.

We really do have a bit of everything for everyone, he said.

A fellow lifelong petrolhead from the other side of the pond in Matt; a fearless speed-demon in the irrepressible and effervescent Sabine; the encyclopedic, funny and wonderfully colourful character that is EJ; Chris, one of the worlds top no-nonsense car reviewers; and Rory, who simply blew me away in his audition and fully deserves his place on the team.

Top Gear is expected to return to BBC Two sometime in May.
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Peek inside any wardrobe in the country and, as well as the gateway to Narnia, you might also reasonably expect to find a T-shirt or two. But this most egalitarian of clothing items is no stranger to controversy, be it well-intended or simply stupid.

In recent weeks we have lauded an LGBT protester and entrepreneur in Burma who prints T-shirts with "Gay is OK" on them (in a country where it decidedly still isn't); rowed over whether an Australian bakery making employees wear "We've got the best buns in town" across their chests is sexist; reminisced about French Connection's decision to resurrect its Nineties "FCUK" branding for 2016; and seen a 20-year-old Egyptian man mark his second year in detention, without charge or trial, for wearing a "Nation without torture" T-shirt. We have also stared incredulously at the news that teenagers in Arizona grouped together to (almost) spell out a racial slur during their senior class photo, and then posted it on social media.

Since the backlash to the last of these  a petition on change.org is rapidly gathering signatures from around the world asking for the girls to be expelled and for the school's principal to resign  the girls have not said publicly whether their stunt was motivated by anything more than attention-seeking in the most distasteful extreme. But it's not too far removed from the kind of thing that John Bercow, Speaker of the House of Commons, reacted against in his 16-page update to House etiquette.

In the revision, he specifically prohibits the wearing of clothing with logos or slogans, a response no doubt to high-profile offenders  albeit ones with important points to make, whether provocative or persuasive  including Caroline Lucas ("No more Page Three") and Harriet Harman ("This is what a feminist looks like").

Steven Fielding, professor of political history at the University of Nottingham, says politicians employ the slogan T-shirt precisely because its attention-grabbing nature tends to yield results: "When Caroline Lucas wore her 'No more Page Three' T-shirt, it got her attention and press coverage  and it got people talking. People don't always listen to politicians' speeches, but they can relate to a T-shirt. These new rules are ironic, really, because John Bercow is the Speaker who has always been keen to get politicians back in touch with the public."

The FCUK T-shirt is to be revived (Rex)

T-shirts have a long history as objects of protest and political point-scoring. US presidential candidate Thomas E Dewey was an early advocate when, in 1948, when he produced a "Dew it for Dewey" T-shirt to support his campaign. And although the shirt didn't land him the job, it did have enough of an impact for Dwight D Eisenhower's supporters to adopt similar tactics four years later ("I like Ike"). Now it's impossible to imagine a campaign without seas of Ts, be they "Bern baby Bern", "Hillary is my home girl" or, on the other hand, "I ain't voting for Monica's ex-boyfriend's wife".

In the Seventies and Eighties, the slogan T-shirt was put to rather more rock'n'roll use, with designers such as Vivienne Westwood and Katharine Hamnett spotting the opportunity to challenge the establishment rather than support it. Hamnett, in particular, became famous for a kind of sartorial activism, with slogans ranging from the general ("Choose life") to the historically specific ("Stop war, Blair out"). On one notable occasion, she even wore one of her own T-shirts, making an anti-nuclear statement  "58% don't want Pershing"  during a meeting with Margaret Thatcher, apparently causing the then-Prime Minister to make a noise "like a chicken".

More recently, we've had the Fawcett Society's "This is what a feminist looks like" design  a clever way to challenge prejudices surrounding feminism while also recruiting a veritable army of on-message supporters to spread the word. For a period, being photographed in one of the T-shirts became de rigueur for any celebrity worth their salt, as much an essential component of fame as claiming to be "totally normal, really" in interviews.

It doesn't look like any of us are going to be getting our slogans off our chests any time soon. But as the backlash against the students in Arizona continues  50,154 signatures as we go to press, and counting  those girls must be wishing that they could escape into Narnia themselves.
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Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has publicly chided board member Marc Andreessen for his deeply upsetting comments on the legacy of colonialism in India.

Andreessen stoked controversy on Twitter on 10 February when he said India's blocking of Facebook's Free Basics service, which offers limited internet access to poor people in developing countries, was morally wrong.

The Indian telecoms regulator blocked the service over concerns relating to net neutrality, but Andreessen seemed to claim that the decision was motivated by Indian anti-colonialism, which he said has been economically catastrophic for the Indian people for decades.

Many Twitter users, from India and elsewhere, criticised Andreessen for his comments. The offending tweet was quickly deleted and Andreessen issued an apology, in which he claimed he is a huge admirer of the nation of India and the Indian people, and saying in future he would leave commentary on these kinds of topics to people with more knowledge and experience than me.

Some Indian commentators have expressed similar sentiments before, however. Journalist Manu Joseph said in a January Hindustan Times article that if India's poor fully understood what they are being denied by internet freedom activists, they would hit the streets and bring the nation to a halt.

Mark Zuckerbergs signature look Show all 8 1 /8 Mark Zuckerbergs signature look Mark Zuckerbergs signature look Mark Zuckerberg told a Q&A audience he doesn't like spending on "frivolous" decision and that includes his attire Mark Zuckerbergs signature look The Facebook founder is often seen wearing Adidas flip flops, a gray T-shirt and a hoodie Getty Images Mark Zuckerbergs signature look That's Mark Zuckerberg wearing his signature gray shirt (again) Getty Images Mark Zuckerbergs signature look ...And again Mark Zuckerbergs signature look Zuckerberg showed up for Facebook's IPO wearing his favourite hoodie REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton Mark Zuckerbergs signature look Zuckerberg pictured with his wife, Priscilla, wearing THAT hoodie EPA Mark Zuckerbergs signature look Zuckerberg speaking at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco (in THAT hoodie again) Mark Zuckerbergs signature look Mark Zuckerberg (centre) at the Facebook headquarters as he remotely rings the bell to open the Nasdaq Getty Images

Critics of Free Basics argued that by limiting which sites users could visit, Facebook was going against the principle that all internet users should be treated the same by service providers. Many also expressed discomfort over the idea of Facebook controlling the internet experiences of some of the world's poorest people.

After Andreessen's apology, Zuckerberg took to his personal Facebook page, which has almost 50 million followers, to show his disagreement with the venture capitalist's remarks.

He said: I found the comments deeply upsetting, and they do not represent the way Facebook or I think at all.

The CEO also spoke about his links to India, writing: India has been personally important to me and Facebook. Early on in my thinking about our mission, I travelled to India and was inspired by the humanity, spirit and values of the people.

He said: Facebook stands for helping to connect people and giving them voice to shape their own future. But to shape the future we need to understand the past."

As our community in India has grown, I've gained a deeper appreciation for the need to understand India's history and culture. I've been inspired by how much progress India has made in building a strong nation and the largest democracy in the world, and I look forward to strengthening my connection to the country.

There are over 130 million Facebook users in India, and Zuckerberg has a high-profile presence in the country, last year meeting with prime minister Narendra Modi.

The social network's battles with the Indian authorities over Free Basics also led Zuckerberg to write a passionate editorial in defence of the service which was published in the Times of India, the country's biggest English-language newspaper.
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Pregnant smokers who take up e-cigarettes as a healthier substitute for tobacco may still be running significant risks with the wellbeing of their unborn children.

Chemicals present in the vapour produced by e-cigarettes can cause developmental problems in laboratory mice whose mothers had been exposed to vaping during pregnancy, scientists said.

In Britain, pregnant women are strongly advised to give up smoking altogether, but alternatives to tobacco, such as e-cigarettes, are considered a healthier substitute and are even available on the NHS.

Recommended Read more How vaping could be holding you back from quitting smoking

However, medical advice suggesting that vaping is healthier than cigarette smoking does not necessarily mean it is safe for pregnant women, said Professor Judith Zelikoff of New York University, who led the research team.

Tests on mice exposed to low levels of e-cigarette vapour over the course of their pregnancy and during the first few weeks in the lives of their offspring, found significant differences in brain activity, sperm counts and behaviour of their progeny compared to unexposed mice, Professor Zelikoff told the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington.

The effects were even more pronounced when nicotine, the active ingredient of e-cigarette vapour, was removed from the vapour, indicating that other chemicals added to the vapour are exerting a significant impact on foetal development.

Our studies also show that exposure to vapour from electronic cigarettes, in utero and postnatally, drastically reduces sperm counts and sperm mobility in juvenile offspring and brings about gene changes in the brain as well as altered behaviour in adult male and female offspring, Professor Zelikoff said. This is groundbreaking research. What it shows is that there is certainly some concern over the safety of e-cigarettes.

Patrick OBrien, a spokesman for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: Nicotine replacement therapy can help some people quit and is free on the NHS for pregnant women. E-cigarettes are becoming a popular alternative to tobacco smoking, but what is in them is not controlled. Some have been found to contain harmful substances as well as nicotine, as this study demonstrates.
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Ahead of her Super Bowl appearance, Beyonce received 10,000 roses from her husband Jay Z.

This raises a number of questions: Did Jay Z arrange to have them delivered to Queen Bey at the office? This, according to florists Ive talked to recently, is the way to boost the potency of a bouquet. Love must not only be done, it must be seen. The office delivery instills in others either unalloyed sister love, or an unspoken but seething envy. Either way, it increases the emotional octane.

Then theres that other burning inquiry: Did she open all those plastic packets of flower preservative  theyre a devil to rip apart  with her fingers alone? I find I have to use my teeth to get them started.

The most important question of all isnt the cost, but rather: What was the color? (The tabloids arent clear on this vital fact.) If the roses were red, as one might expect in the lead-up to Valentines Day, they may not have had the oomph that Jay Z was looking for.

Valentine's Day 2016: What women really want Show all 11 1 /11 Valentine's Day 2016: What women really want Valentine's Day 2016: What women really want Une Rose fragrance, 145, fredericmalle.com Valentine's Day 2016: What women really want Lipstick 38, Tom Ford, johnlewis.com Valentine's Day 2016: What women really want Le Pliage tote 89, Longchamp, selfridges.com Valentine's Day 2016: What women really want Rosaviola candle 44, Olympia Le Tan x Diptyque, diptyqueparis.co.uk Valentine's Day 2016: What women really want 3 pack of knickers 95 (for 3), Charlotte Olympia x Agent Provocateur, agentprovocateur.com Valentine's Day 2016: What women really want Teddy sleepsuit 45, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley for Autograph, marksandspencer.com Valentine's Day 2016: What women really want Red roses bath oil, 40, jomalone.co.uk Valentine's Day 2016: What women really want Mood ring, 200, eddieborgo.com Valentine's Day 2016: What women really want Pyjamas 95, desmondanddempsey.com Valentine's Day 2016: What women really want Knickers 17 cosstores.com Valentine's Day 2016: What women really want Bra 25, cosstores.com

Red roses are associated with passion and love. But many recipients of Valentines Day roses would prefer any color but red, according to floral experts Ive talked to recently.

Yes, Robert Burns wrote that O my Luve is like a red, red rose. But maybe that had to do with how you craft a poem. It just wouldnt work as well as, O my Luve is like a magenta, magenta rose. Also, in his day, most roses were red (or pinkish, or white). The rainbow of rose colors we know today is the result of breeding programs since the poets death in 1796. Take it from me, lads, venture outside the red end of the spectrum this Valentines.

Today you will find roses in about every hue but blue and a clear green (who would want those?) and a lot in a mix of colors in a single bloom. Some roses darken agreeably as they age, others get lighter.

In an informal poll of my female colleagues, the resounding response was that red roses are a bit cheesy, or at least associated with an alarming display of predictability. As one person said: The red rose is the lazy mans flower. Ouch.

If you want to compound the felony, add babys breath and leatherleaf fern to the dozen long-stemmed scentless roses.

Studies show that women dont necessarily prefer red roses, said Bruce Wright, editor of the Los Angeles based floral trade publication, Flowers& magazine. Most women would be happy to receive something other than the stereotypical red roses in a box.

Are red roses a bit cheesy and predictable? (Getty) (Getty Images)

Hitomi Gillian, a leading floral designer and teacher based in Vancouver, said: I hope consumers as well as designers move on from everything needing to be red at Valentines. Theres such a beautiful range of colors, and I wish we could train the gift giver to know what the color preference of the receiver is.

I was 28 years in retail, and the guys would come in and just want the red roses, and so often the color preference of the recipient is different, she said. With a lot of women, the pastels are becoming very strong, the blush and the peaches.

So how does a spouse, fiance, boyfriend or lovesick wooer discern that one hue that will set the recipients heart aflutter?

There are ways to ask and find out what roses your girlfriend or wife likes, said Jennifer Sparks, of the Society of American Florists. She said one tactic is to find a magazine with pictures of flowers and casually pronounce: Oh, I like those, what are your favorites?

It occurred to me that this might be a little transparent if the conversation took place on, say, Feb. 13. Fortunately, the majority of men plan in advance.

Sparks told me that 18 percent of women who buy a Valentines bouquet do so for themselves, so this might be another fruitful avenue of inquiry. Try this gambit: Before you met the man of your dreams, did you ever buy flowers for yourself?

Some roses darken agreeably as they age, others get lighter (Getty) (Getty Images)

Actually, I have another, better way of making a discreet inquiry.

Many websites pertaining to interior design allow you to change paint colors on a given image. Paint companies such as Benjamin Moore do the same. Pick a room, click on a paint chip, and voila, the wall becomes one of a thousand or more colors: Rouge, Claret, Butterscotch, Summer Meadow, Alpine Stream, Lederhosen, London Fog, whatever. Look furtively sideways to detect her reaction and make a mental note. If youre a guy who thinks Martha Stewart was a Scottish queen, then a sudden interest in the world of decor might be a little suspicious.

Heres the genius bit: Pretend youre in the market for a new car, and the manufacturers websites have a rubric called Build Your Own or the like. Once you have the model of your choice, you can change the exterior color with the click of a mouse.

You can further shroud the intent by picking a vehicle that exudes testosterone, a full-size pickup truck or a muscle car. Make sure your mate is around when you start choosing colors, and get her opinion.

Once Valentines Day has come and gone, she may ask if you bought that new car. At that point, simply say that it was so expensive that for the same money you could have bought 10,000 roses.
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Google struggled to answer a number of questions about its tax arrangements while giving evidence to MPs at a Public Accounts Committee meeting.

The meeting comes after public outcry that Google paid 130 million to HM Revenue & Customs for the last ten years.

MPs grilled Google over its tax base in Ireland, its tax arrangements with other countries, and whether it had co-ordinated the timing of the announcement with George Osborne, who heralded the deal as a great success at Davos.

But Google bosses were stumped on a number of occasions:

On what profit Google paid tax at 20 per cent

Matt Brittin, Google president of Europe, Middle East and Africa, said that he understood why constituents were concerned when they saw Google only payed tax on 3 per cent.

Thats not true, its 20 per cent, he said.

MPs later asked him on what figure Google paid tax at 20 per cent.

I dont have that figure in front of me, Brittin said.

Their own pay

Brittin was asked five times to clarify his own pay. He failed five times.

Its a salary  I dont have the figure but Ill provide the figure privately, if its relevant to the committee to understand my salary, he said,

Labour MP Meg Hillier concluded: You dont know what you get paid, ok. Out there taxpayers, our constituents, are very angry. They live in a different world, clearly, if you cant even tell us what youre actually paid.

Whether France and Italy have got more tax than the UK out of Google

MPs asked Google to confirm that sales and profits in France and Italy are lower, despite the fact that Google is reportedly paying more tax in these jurisdictions.

Were not confirming those rumours, but I can say that we have never paid as part of an audit outside the US larger than the one we have just agreed to, Tom Hutchinson, VP of Google Finance, said.

Whether tax was discussed in the meetings Google had with the Government.

Typically they are on meetings on child safety, copyright and other online issues. Im sure tax may have come up from time to time as a question, Brittin said.

When exactly Google filed its taxes  was it to coincide with Osborne in Davos

MPs asked Google when exactly they filed the controversial taxes. They were trying to work out if the timing was intentional  to co-incide with a speech George Osborne gave at Davos in which he heralded the Google tax deal as a great success.

But Google didnt know when it had filed its taxes.

Caroline Flint MP asked: Why was it that weekend that you decided to make the announcement, was it because the Chancellor was in Davos?

Brittin replied: Because we were filing our accounts around that time. I dont have the exact date.

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.

Why Google didnt pay taxes every year

Caroline Flint asked why Google paid the 130 million in tax for a six-year period, rather than paying taxes every year.

Hutchinson admits that its a good question.

The public tuning into this will be asking themselves, how can a massive company like Google, with all the expertise that it hires, how can HMRC not, in real time, tackle the problems of how you pay your tax? Flint replied.
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A controversial documentary following the journey of a man with Motor Neurone disease who ended his life at a Swiss clinic was changed at the last-minute by the BBC, it has been claimed.

How to Die: Simons Choice aired on BBC2 at 9pm yesterday.

It told the story of 57-year-old Simon Binners battle with the terminal illness and his death on 19 October last year at an Eternal Spirit clinic in Basel.

While assisted dying is not illegal in Switzerland, helping someone to end their life in Britain is a criminal offence, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

In the documentary, Mr Binner - a fun-loving and sociable self-made businessman who had attended Cambridge University - said he made up his mind to end his life at a clinic in the car on the way home after his diagnosis last summer.

As his condition deteriorated, he lost the ability to speak, dress himself, or shower, and had to use a wheelchair as his walking failed.

In a recorded statement read by a voice actor, Mr Binner explained: I'm an independent type of guy and the end game of Motor Neurone disease is not to my taste.

Like a used car I'm worn out and it's no longer worth investing in the cost or repairs.

Although his wife Debbie did not initially agree with his decision to travel to Switzerland, she said she saw how desperate Mr Binner was to die after he attempted to take his own life at the family home just weeks before his death.

Ambassadors For Assisted Dying Show all 10 1 /10 Ambassadors For Assisted Dying Ambassadors For Assisted Dying Actor Sir Patrick Stewart Getty Images Getty Images Ambassadors For Assisted Dying Actor Hugh Grant Getty Images Getty Images Ambassadors For Assisted Dying South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu Getty Images AFP/Getty Images Ambassadors For Assisted Dying Author Sir Terry Pratchett Getty Images GETTY IMAGES Ambassadors For Assisted Dying Stephen Hawking Getty Images Getty Images Ambassadors For Assisted Dying Cilla Black PA PA Ambassadors For Assisted Dying Lord George Carey Getty Images GETTY Ambassadors For Assisted Dying Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne Getty Images Getty Images Ambassadors For Assisted Dying Actress Kim Cattrall Getty Images Getty Images Ambassadors For Assisted Dying Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan PA

Viewers saw Mr Binner travel to Basel with his wife and five others, where he enjoyed a final evening meal with the group before they watched him die the next morning at the clinic.

But the BBC reportedly removed scenes from an earlier version of the documentary at the last-minute after being contacted by the Samaritans charity, which was concerned that the corporation would be going against broadcasting guidelines prohibiting the communication of detailed guidance about suicide methods.

Originally, the programme reportedly planned to show a member of staff at the Eternal Spirit clinic speaking about how the anaesthetic Mr Binner used to end his life would affect his body, as well as footage of Mr Binners body after his death.

Neither were shown.

Simon Binners condition deterioriated rapidly (BBC)

In the moving scenes aired, Mr Binner was seen lying on a bed, ready to release the anaesthetic, after playing one last pre-recorded message to his wife.

The exact moment of his death was not shown.

In his last message, he told his wife: Hi Debbie, its Simon here. Ive loved you very, very much Debbie.

I havent deserved you or Hannah or Zoe. Such loving and caring young ladies, and Ive been such a grump gruffalo for much of the time.

But I really love you Debbie. Weve had such a fun and laughter-filled marriage, we were really blessed to have found one another.

 Partner defends choice to die

The one blessing of a slow decline is that weve had time to speak about things over 10 long months, not like losing me in a car smash.

Weve really said everything that needs to be said. Youve been a truly fantastic wife to me Debbie and I know that you loved me and Ive loved you.

Anyway, time and tide wait for no man, I love you very much Debbie. Goodbye.

MPs rejected a bill to make assisted suicide legal for people with fewer than six months to live when they voted on the issue for the first time in nearly 20 years in the House of Commons last September.

Speaking to the Daily Mail yesterday, Mrs Binner said the documentary was beautiful.

We have done it to show the complexities of the argument. Its not a black and white issue, she said.

People get these illnesses. It can happen to anyone. Its so important to have a debate.

Im not telling anybody what to do we just wanted to show the complex issues and use our experience to help move on the debate.

Campaigners in support of assisted dying outside Parliament as MPs voted on the issue last September (Getty)

Mr Binners story first came to light last year, when he announced on professional networking site LinkedIn that he had died.

A message on a section of his profile headed patient, read: I died in Switzerland with Eternal Spirit on 19 Oct 2015 and my funeral was on 13 Nov 2015.

I dont recommend MND! Better to have one massive fatal stroke or be killed instantly by a drunk driver! There is nothing I can say thats positive about MND.

A BBC spokesman told The Independent: This is a sensitive observational documentary following one familys experience of assisted death, which explores some of the complex questions at the heart of this deeply divisive issue.

The film does not serve to support either argument or intend to wholly represent the debate.
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Doc Martin star Martin Clunes has written to Scotland Yard calling for officers to catch the so-called Cat Ripper of Croydon.

At least 35 cats are thought to have been massacred around the south London borough, according to the actor, who sent the email to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe on behalf of animal rights group Peta.

Clunes, who went to school in Croydon, wrote: I read with horror that some of the cats had been decapitated and dismembered - this is the stuff of nightmares.

The local community is understandably distraught and frightened. No one feels safe while this sick individual is on the loose.

He goes on to note that mental health professionals and top law enforcement officials consider animal abuse to be a red flag indicating a deep mental disturbance.

People news in pictures Show all 18 1 /18 People news in pictures People news in pictures 7 October 2015 Russian President Vladimir Putin takes part in an ice hockey match between former NHL stars and officials at the Shayba Arena in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. Vladimir Putin spent his 63rd birthday on the ice, playing hockey with NHL stars against Russian officials and tycoons EPA People news in pictures 6 October 2015 German designer Karl Lagerfeld (R) and model Cara Delevingne (C) appear at the end of his Spring/Summer 2016 women's ready-to-wear collection for fashion house Chanel at the Grand Palais which is transformed into a Chanel airport during the Fashion Week in Paris, France Reuters People news in pictures 5 October 2015 Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne addresses the Conservative party conference in Manchester. The Chancellor argued that reducing the payments to people in low paid jobs would give them economic security by reducing the Governments spending deficit Getty Images People news in pictures 4 October 2015 Cowboys captain Johnathan Thurston takes a moment in the centre of the field with his daughter Frankie Thurston, holding dark-skinned doll, after winning the 2015 NRL Grand Final match between the Brisbane Broncos and the North Queensland Cowboys at ANZ Stadium in Sydney. The image quickly became the talking point of Australias National Rugby League Final and provoked a strong reaction on social media, with many praising Thurston for giving his child a toy that promotes inclusiveness and diversity Getty Images People news in pictures 3 October 2015 Pope Francis gives a thumbs-up as he greets people at the end of an audience to the participants of a meeting organized by the "Food Bank" at the Paul VI audience hall in Vatican Getty Images People news in pictures 2 October 2015 Britain's Finance Minister George Osborne (L) throws an American football as he meets with former American football players Dan Marino (2nd R) and Curtis Martin (not pictured) at 11 Downing Street in London, ahead of the New York Jets playing against the Miami Dolphins at London's Wembley Stadium on 4 October Getty Images People news in pictures 1 October 2015 An honor guard opens the door as Russian President Vladimir Putin enters a hall to attend a meeting with members of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia People news in pictures 30 September 2015 Former Mrs America Lisa Christie, who alleges misconduct by Bill Cosby, holds up photos of her younger self during a news conference at the law office of attorney Gloria Allred in Los Angeles People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Matt Damon has defended himself against claims that he instructed gay actors to remain in the closet. He had said I think youre a better actor the less people know about you and sexuality is a huge part of that. Whether youre straight or gay, people shouldnt know anything about your sexuality but an appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres show said, I was just trying to say actors are more effective when theyre a mystery. Right? Getty People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Actor Marion Cotillard has said that there is no place for feminism in Hollywood. Speaking to Porter magazine, she saidFilm-making is not about gender/ You cannot ask a president in a festival like Cannes to have, like, five movies directed by women and five by men. For me it doesnt create equality, it creates separation. I mean, I dont qualify myself as a feminist." Getty People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Actor Paul Walkers daughter, Meadow, is suing Porsche over her fathers death in a lawsuit that claims he was trapped in the burning car because of design flaws and the seat belt. The Fast and Furious star was killed when the Porsche Carrera GT he was a passenger in hit a pole in California in 2013. The driver, his friend Roger Rodas, also died when the vehicle burst into flames. AP People news in pictures 28 September 2015 Robert Mugabe waits to address the United Nations General Assembly. The leader of Zimbabwe reportedly exclaimed 'We are not gay!' as he criticised Western nation's "double standards and attempts to prescribe new rights that are contrary to our values, norms, traditions and beliefs. In 2013 he described homosexuals as worse than pigs, goats and birds. Reuters People news in pictures 28 September 2015 South African comedian Trevor Noah hosts the first 'Daily Show' since taking over from Jon Stewart as host. Stewart had presented the US satirical news show since 1999 and was described by Noah during the show as a 'Political father' 2015 Getty Images People news in pictures 25 September 2015 Sir Elton John may have received a phone call from the real Vladimir Putin. Mr Putin's spokesman announced he had made contact weeks after the singer was duped by pranksters pretending to be the Russian President. Getty People news in pictures 25 September 2015 Actor Leonardo DiCaprio was mistakenly declared as the artist who produced the Mona Lisa by Fox News anchor Shepard Smith. It was in fact Leonardo da Vinci. People news in pictures 24 September 2015 A new biography claims Donald Trump expected to be dead by 40 and never marry. The Guardian says the a new book also claims that in 1980, Mr Trump manufactured a fake vice-president of his real estate conglomerate, whom he called John Baron. People news in pictures 24 September 2015 The Dalai Lama has said that Britain's policy towards China is just about 'Money, money, money.' And asked 'Where is morality?' People news in pictures 24 September 2015 Puff Daddy secured the number-one spot on the Forbes Hip Hop Cash Kings list, with the publication calculating he made an estimated $60million (39m) between June 2014 and June 2015.

Research in psychology and criminology shows that people who commit acts of cruelty to animals don't stop there - many of them move on to their fellow humans. That is a scary thought indeed, Clunes wrote.

He concludes the letter by saying: Because repeat crimes are the rule rather than the exception among animal abusers and given the malicious nature of these crimes, I implore you to take every measure necessary, including re-examining all available CCTV footage, to apprehend this dangerous criminal.

The safety of the entire community depends on it.

Peta has offered a 5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrator.

PA
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Vladimir Putins Russia poses a bigger threat to the Europe Union than Isis, the billionaire financier, George Soros, has said.

Writing in the Guardian, Mr Soros called Mr Putin a gifted tactician who rather than being a potential ally in the fight against Isis is actually foster[ing] the EUs disintegration by flood[ing] Europe with Syrian refugees.

While the threat of Isis has a simple antidote: refuse to behave the way your enemies want you to, claims Mr Soros. The threat emanating from Putins Russia will be difficult to counter. 

Mr Soros accuses Mr Putin of seizing the fight against the so-called Islamic State to bolster the EU's downfall and says he has obscured his actions by talking of cooperating against a common enemy, Isis.

George Soros Getty (Getty Images)

The 85-year-old cites Russian air attacks on southern and northern Syria as a factor creating tens of thousands of refugees heading for safety in Europe.

There is no reason to believe he [Mr Putin] intervened in Syria in order to aggravate the European refugee crisis, Mr Soros says, but once Putin saw the opportunity to hasten the EUs disintegration, he seized it.

Both Russia and Europe are on the brink of collapse, says Mr Soros, The question is which will collapse first.

Mr Soros predicts the demise of Russia, forecasting the nation's bankruptcy in 2017 when a large part of its foreign debt matures in tandem with Western sanctions and the declining price of oil.

The EU meanwhile, he claims, faces its own disintegration stemming from the finical crisis of 2008 as well as the mounting refugee crisis.

The most effective way Putins regime can avoid collapse is by causing the EU to collapse sooner.

The race for survival pits the EU against Putins Russia, he states. Isis poses a threat to both, but it should not be overestimated. Attacks mounted by jihadi terrorists, however terrifying, do not compare with the threat emanating from Russia.

In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Show all 19 1 /19 In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Syrian boys cry following Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Aleppo Getty In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russian defense ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov speaks to the media in Moscow, Russia. Konashenkov strongly warned the United States against striking Syrian government forces and issued a thinly-veiled threat to use Russian air defense assets to protect them AP In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Syrians wait to receive treatment at a hospital following Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Alepp Getty In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov speaks at a briefing in the Defense Ministry in Moscow, Russia. Antonov said the Russian air strikes in Syria have killed about 35,000 militants, including about 2,700 residents of Russia AP In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Jameel Mustafa Habboush, receives oxygen from civil defence volunteers, known as the white helmets, as they rescue him from under the rubble of a building following Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Aleppo Getty In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Civil defence members rest amidst rubble in a site hit by what activists said were airstrikes carried out by the Russian air force in the town of Douma, eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria A girl carrying a baby inspects damage in a site hit by what activists said were airstrikes carried out by the Russian air force in the town of Douma, eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Civilians and civil defence members look for survivors at a site damaged after Russian air strikes on the Syrian rebel-held city of Idlib, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Civilians and civil defence members carry an injured woman on a stretcher at a site damaged after Russian air strikes on the Syrian rebel-held city of Idlib, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Volunteers from Syria Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets, help civilians after Russia carried out its first airstrikes in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria The aftermath of Russian airstrike in Talbiseh, Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Smoke billows from buildings in Talbiseh, in Homs province, western Syria, after airstrikes by Russian warplanes AP In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russian Air Forces carry out an air strike in the ISIS controlled Al-Raqqah Governorate. Russia's KAB-500s bombs completely destroy the Liwa al-Haqq command unit In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Caspian Flotilla of the Russian Navy firing Kalibr cruise missiles against remote Isis targets in Syria A TASS/ITAR-TASS Photo/Corbis In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russia claimed it hit eight Isis targets, including a "terrorist HQ and co-ordination centre" that was completely destroyed In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria A video grab taken from the footage made available on the Russian Defence Ministry's official website, purporting to show an airstrike in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria A release from the Russian defence ministry purportedly showing targets in Syria being hit In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russia launched air strikes in war-torn Syria, its first military engagement outside the former Soviet Union since the occupation of Afghanistan in 1979. Russian warplanes carried out strikes in three Syrian provinces along with regime aircraft as Putin seeks to steal US President Barack Obama's thunder by pushing a rival plan to defeat Isis militants in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Caspian Flotilla of the Russian Navy firing Kalibr cruise missiles against remote Isis targets in Syria, a thousand kilometres away. The targets include ammunition factories, ammunition and fuel depots, command centres, and training camps A TASS/ITAR-TASS Photo/Corbis

In the past week, Syrian government forces, supported by Russian air strikes, Iranian troops and Hezbollah, have launched a major offensive in the rebel-held area to the north of Aleppo.

The move has shifted momentum in a five-year civil war that has claimed at least 250,000 lives and forced 11 million people from their homes.

Russia maintains that its air strikes do not kill civilians. However, many have questioned this, including the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, who said she was not just appalled but horrified by Russian attacks on civilians.
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Gravitational ripples in the fabric of spacetime, first predicted by Albert Einstein 100 years ago, have now been detected by scientists who believe the discovery opens new vistas into the dark side of the Universe.

Physicists around the world confirmed they had detected unambiguous signals of gravitational waves emanating from the collision of two massive black holes 1.3 billion light years away in deep space.

As the two black holes spiralled together in a violent collision that was over in 20 thousandths of a second, immense amounts of matter - equivalent to the mass of three suns - were instantly converted into energy.

This sent shock waves travelling through space for 1.3 billion years until they were picked up by gravitational-wave instruments on Earth on 14 September last year.

Recommended Read more Gravitational waves find could let scientists build a time machine

The detection of gravitational waves not only confirms Einstein's general theory of relativity, it amounts to the first direct detection of a pair of colliding black holes, the mysterious structures in space that are so dense they exert a gravitational force from which nothing - not even light - can escape.

Were opening a window on the universe, the window of gravitational wave astronomy. Its the first time the Universe has spoken to us in gravitational waves. This was a scientific moonshot and we did it. We landed on the Moon, said David Reitze, executive director of the USs Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (Ligo), who announced the discovery at a press conference in Washington.

Two sets of super-sensitive instruments at two locations in the US both detected the same sub-atomic movements in the space-time continuum - the mathematical model that weaves space and time into a single entity - caused by the gravitational waves as they stretched and compressed the Earth.

The first gravitational-wave signal was picked up at the Ligos Hanford observatory in Washington State and then, seven thousands of a second later, an identical signal was picked up at Ligos Livingston site in Louisiana some 2,000 miles away.

This twin detection of the same signal was critical for statistical confirmation of the discovery.

You can only believe they are real if you observe them at the same time in two different places, said Professor Gabriela Gonzalez of Louisiana State University, the spokesperson for Ligo.

Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Show all 30 1 /30 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Solar Flare An image from Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows a 200,000 mile long solar filament ripping through the Sun's corona in September 2013 Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Nasa Celebrates 50 Years of Spacewalking For 50 years, NASA has been "suiting up" for spacewalking. In this 1984 photograph of the first untethered spacewalk, NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless is in the midst of the first "field" tryout of a nitrogen-propelled backpack device called the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space A Hubble Cosmic Couple The spectacular cosmic pairing of the star Hen 2-427  more commonly known as WR 124  and the nebula M1-67 which surrounds it ESA/Hubble & NASA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Veil Nebula Supernova Remnant Nasa's Hubble Space Telescope has unveiled in stunning detail a small section of the Veil Nebula - expanding remains of a massive star that exploded about 8,000 years ago Nasa's most stunning pictures of space The Soyuz TMA-15M rocket launch The Soyuz TMA-15M rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday, Nov. 24, 2014, carrying three new astronauts to the International Space Station. It also took caviar, ready for the satellite's inhabitants to celebrate the holidays Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Earth from the ISS From the International Space Station, Expedition 42 Flight Engineer Terry W. Virts took this photograph of the Gulf of Mexico and U.S. Gulf Coast at sunset Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Black Hole Friday Nasa celebrated Black Friday by looking into space instead  sharing pictures of black holes Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space NuSTAR X-rays stream off the sun in this image showing observations from by NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, overlaid on a picture taken by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Cassiopeia A c A false colour image of Cassiopeia A comprised with data from the Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes and the Chandra X-Ray observatory Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Orion Capsule splashes down The Orion capsule jetted off into space before heading back a few hours later  having proved that it can be used, one day, to carry humans to Mars Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Earth Observations From Gemini IV in 1965 This photograph of the Florida Straits and Grand Bahama Bank was taken during the Gemini IV mission during orbit no. 19 in 1965. The Gemini IV crew conducted scientific experiments, including photography of Earth's weather and terrain, for the remainder of their four-day mission following Ed White's historic spacewalk on June 3 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Frosty slopes of Mars This image of an area on the surface of Mars, approximately 1.5 by 3 kilometers in size, shows frosted gullies on a south-facing slope within a crater. The image was taken by Nasa's HiRISE camera, which is mounted on its Mars Reconaissance Orbiter Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Yellowstone from space NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman shared this image of Yellowstone via his twitter account Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Saturn This near-infrared color image shows a specular reflection, or sunglint, off of a hydrocarbon lake named Kivu Lacus on Saturn's moon Titan Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Worlds Apart Although Mimas and Pandora, shown here, both orbit Saturn, they are very different moons. Pandora, "small" by moon standards (50 miles or 81 kilometers across) is elongated and irregular in shape. Mimas (246 miles or 396 kilometers across), a "medium-sized" moon, formed into a sphere due to self-gravity imposed by its higher mass Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Solar Flare An X1.6 class solar flare flashes in the middle of the sun in this image taken 10 September, captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy An image of the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy seen in infrared light by the Herschel Space Observatory. Regions of space such as this are where new stars are born from a mixture of elements and cosmic dust Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Mars Rover Spirit Nasa's Mars Rover Spirit took the first picture from Spirit since problems with communications began a week earlier. The image shows the robotic arm extended to the rock called Adirondack Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Morning Aurora From the Space Station Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly captured this photograph of the green lights of the aurora from the International Space Station Nasa/Scott Kelly Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Launch of History - Making STS-41G Mission in 1984 The Space Shuttle Challenger launches from Florida at dawn. On this mission, Kathryn Sullivan became the first U.S. woman to perform a spacewalk and Marc Garneau became the first Canadian in space. The crew of seven was the largest to fly on a spacecraft at that time, and STS-41G was the first flight to include two female astronauts Nasa's most stunning pictures of space A Fresh Perspective on an Extraordinary Cluster of Galaxies Galaxy clusters are often described by superlatives. After all, they are huge conglomerations of galaxies, hot gas, and dark matter and represent the largest structures in the Universe held together by gravity Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Hubble Sees a Galactic Sunflower The arrangement of the spiral arms in the galaxy Messier 63, seen here in an image from the Nasa Hubble Space Telescope, recall the pattern at the center of a sunflower ESA/Hubble & NASA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Pluto image Four images from New Horizons Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) were combined with colour data from the Ralph instrument to create this enhanced colour global view of Pluto Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Fresh Crater Near Sirenum Fossae Region of Mars The HiRISE camera aboard Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter acquired this closeup image of a "fresh" (on a geological scale, though quite old on a human scale) impact crater in the Sirenum Fossae region of Mars. This impact crater appears relatively recent as it has a sharp rim and well-preserved ejecta Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Hubble Peers into the Most Crowded Place in the Milky Way This Nasa Hubble Space Telescope image presents the Arches Cluster, the densest known star cluster in the Milky Way NASA & ESA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space An Astronaut's View from Space Nasa astronaut Reid Wiseman tweeted this photo from the International Space Station on 2 September 2014 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Giant Landform on Mars On Mars, we can observe four classes of sandy landforms formed by the wind, or aeolian bedforms: ripples, transverse aeolian ridges, dunes, and what are called draa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Expedition 39 Landing A sokol suit helmet can be seen against the window of the Soyuz TMA-11M capsule shortly after the spacecraft landed with Expedition 39 Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos, and Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio of NASA near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan (NASA/Bill Ingalls) Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Jupiter's Great Red Spot Viewed by Voyager I Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system and perhaps the most majestic. Vibrant bands of clouds carried by winds that can exceed 400 mph continuously circle the planet's atmosphere Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Chandra Observatory Sees a Heart in the Darkness This Chandra X-Ray Observatory image of the young star cluster NGC 346 highlights a heart-shaped cloud of 8 million-degree Celsius gas in the central region

We can hear gravitational waves. We can hear the Universethats the chirp weve been looking for. Thats the signal we have measured. Its monumental - like Galileo using a telescope for the first time, Professor Gonzalez said.

The direct detection of gravitational waves will now enable astronomers to see the Universe in a different light, giving them an unprecedented opportunity to observe the dark side of the cosmos, almost back to the beginning of time itself.

It will enable scientists to build a network of gravitational-wave observatories both on Earth and in space that will see through the darkest voids of the cosmos.

It will give astronomers the ability to witness collisions between black holes and the interactions of massive stellar objects, even providing them with a time machine to look back almost to the earliest moments after the Big Bang 13.7bn years ago when the super-heated Universe began to cool down to form the first atoms.

This detection marks not only a confirmation of Einsteins theories but most exciting is that it is marks the birth of gravitational astronomy, said Professor Sheila Rowan, director of the University of Glasgows Institute for Gravitational Research.

This expands hugely the way we can observe the cosmos, and the kinds of physics and astrophysics we can do.

Einstein first predicted the existence of gravitational waves in 1916 as a result of his general theory of relativity, the most commonly accepted description of gravity, published a year earlier.

However, despite decades of searching, gravitational waves proved too elusive for the most sensitive of gravity-detecting instruments - until now.

Scientists from Ligo confirmed in Washington what had been rumour for several weeks.

They had witnessed changes in their laser measurements at Ligos two observatories that could only be due to gravitational waves stretching and contracting space-time as they passed by the Earth.

The observation of the gravitational waves produced by the collision of the two back holes is officially known as GW150914. Scientists said it marked a new era in the scientific exploration of the Universe and the laws of physics that control it.

The observation of GW150914 marks three milestones for physics: the direct detection of gravitational waves, the first observation of a binary black hole, and the most convincing evidence to-date that nature's black holes are the objects predicted by Einstein's theory, said Professor Alberto Vecchio of the University of Birminghams School of Physics and Astronomy.

Ed Daw, a physicist at University of Sheffield, said: A measure of its significance is that even the source of the wave, two black holes in close orbit, each tens of times heavier than the Sun which then collide violently, has never been observed before, and could not have been observed by any other method. This is just the beginning.

If the space-time continuum is like a taut trampoline, then massive objects are like heavy bowling bowls distorting the trampolines fabric. When massive objects interact - such as colliding black holes - they send ripples known as gravitational waves travelling at the speed of light through spacetime.

These ripples were too weak and difficult to detect by the previous generation of laser instruments used by Ligo, but an upgrade completed last year made the Advanced Ligo several times more sensitive, enabling it to detect distortions or movements of just one thousandth of the diameter of a sub-atomic proton over a distance of 1 kilometre.

Britain and Germany both contributed key element to the upgrade, and Russian scientists provided critical input. Britains Science and Technology Facilities Council built the sensitive technology of suspending the instruments delicate mirrors while Germany provided state-of-the-art laser equipment.

Ligos 4km-long laser beams has now detected the minute stretching and contraction caused by a passing gravitational wave. It was the definitive proof that the scientists had long been waiting for. They had directly witnessed gravitational waves for the first time, and precisely 100 years after Einsteins general theory had predicted them.

Both of Ligos two observatories in Washington and Louisiana detected the same gravitational waves almost simultaneously  meaning the find has a statistically significant level of sigma 5  virtually ruling out a chance effect.

The discovery also confirms the general theory by direct observation, again for the first time since it was published in 1915.

Although astronomers had indirectly inferred the existence of gravitational waves in 1974 when they had observed the movements of two stars orbiting one another in a binary pulsar, the new announcement seals their existence  and the veracity of the general theory of relativity  with direct proof.

Until you can actually measure something, you dont really know its there, said Professor Jim Hough, associate director of the Institute of Gravitational Waves at Glasgow University, who has spent that past 45 years searching for ripples in spacetime.

I think this is much more significant than the discovery of the Higgs boson. This is the biggest scientific breakthrough of this century.
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A mentally ill man who committed suicide after his benefits were stopped was "murdered" by the Government, his sister has said.

Paul Donnachies disability benefit was ended in June 2015 after he missed four work capability assessments by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

The DWP then informed Glasgow City Council that Mr Donnachie was capable of working, and that his housing and council tax benefits should also be stopped.

The welfare cuts were backdated, so by the time the 50-year-old was informed, he was already in arrears with rent and council tax.

His body was found in his Glasgow flat in January by bailiffs arriving to evict him, but he is thought to have killed himself two months earlier. He had severe mental health problems.

The Government murdered him," said Mr Donnachies sister Eleanor, who is calling for an inquiry into his death.

They are driving ordinary people to suicide.

It says it all that they only discovered he was dead when they came to evict him, she told The Daily Record.

The Conservative Government arent living in the real world and have no idea how people live. They dont care about working-class people and the vulnerable.

Innocent peoples lives are being put at risk and those in Westminster are pushing people like Paul to take their own lives.

Mr Donnachies application for a Scottish Welfare Crisis Grant in September to pay for his gas, electricity and food failed, and he was told to go to a food bank instead.

 Duncan Smith on benefits

A study by the universities of Oxford and Liverpool has linked the DWPs tougher work capability tests to 590 additional suicides between 2010 and 2013.

Suicide is a tragic and complex issue, so to link a death to someones benefit claim is misleading, DWP spokesperson told The Independent.

We are fully committed to ensuring that people who are too sick to work get the support they need.
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Three men who formed the British support team for a 17-year-old jihadist  who had sent one of the men romantic messages while pursuing a violent brand of Islamism  have been jailed for helping the teenager get to Syria.

Aseel Muthana left his Cardiff home in February 2014 with the help of the three men to follow in the footsteps of his older brother and join the ranks of Isis. Muthana and his brother are still believed to be in Syria and are on a UN list of terrorists.

Before he travelled, Muthana made declarations of love to one of the men, Forhad Rahman, 21, and exchanged messages in which they described each other as cutie, honey and babe. In one message, Rahman is said to have written: Radicalise me babe.

Muthana had made clear his intentions to fight in Syria while still in Cardiff in making a video with another of his supporters in which he posed with a ball-bearing gun, fired at tin cans and fantasised about being in Syria.

In the footage, he said: If you are watching this, Im probably dead or Im probably a legend or something.

The depth of his religious commitment was tarnished, however, when he realised he did not know any Islamic chants and instead hummed the theme tune to the Rocky movie. He sent the clip to Rahman with whom he had developed a profound emotional closeness, the Old Bailey heard.

A screenshot of a Skype conversation between Aseel Muthana (main) and Forhad Rahman (Police handout)

Muthana met Rahman in London, where the older man was working for the taxi company Addison Lee, and exchanged affectionate messages. Prosecutors said that Rahman had encouraged his friend to go to Syria despite knowing that his parents went through great pain when his older brother left and were fearful that his younger brother would follow suit.

Kristen Brekke, Adeel Ulhaq and Forhad Rahman. The court heard that the defendants shared the same 'highly-radical ideology' (South Wales Police)

Rahman, 21, from Cirencester, Gloucestershire, admitted allowing the teenager to use his credit card but insisted he thought he was going to Syria to help people by joining a local militia. Rahman, the Muslim convert Kristen Brekke and Adeel Ulhaq had played different roles in their mission to help Muthana achieve his goal to reach Syria.

Rahman was key in funding Muthanas trip. Ulhaq had good contacts in Syria and gave practical advice while Brekke helped purchase kit and let the teenager use his computer. All but Brekke had expressed a desire to follow suit.

Jailing them, Judge Rebecca Poulet QC said: These acts of preparation were clear and determined.

She sentenced Brekke to four-and-a-half years in jail, saying he had acted out of misguided friendship. Rahman and Ulhaq were sentenced to five years for the preparation of terrorist acts, with Ulhaq receiving a further 12 months for terrorism funding. Muthanas older brother, Nasser had travelled to Syria with four other young men from Cardiff months before the teenager made his own flight. Nasser later achieved notoriety when he and other young men made a propaganda video for Isis called There Is No Life Without Jihad.
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The Metropolitan Police may stop automatically believing people making claims of rape and sexual abuse after criticism over its handling of historical cases.

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, Commissioner of the UKs largest force, has ordered a review into the way allegations against public figures are investigated following the dropping of charges against Lord Bramall and the late Lord Brittan.

Writing in the Guardian, he said the Inspector of Constabularys current guidance means that any complaint of sexual abuse must be immediately recorded as a crime and a victim should always be believed.

Lord Bramall was investigated for nine months before the investigation against him was dropped (PA)

Dame Elish Angiolini, who conducted a review into the prosecution of rape in London last year, questioned whether ordering officers to believe claimants was appropriate.

It is more appropriate for criminal justice practitioners to remain utterly professional at all times and to demonstrate respect, impartiality, empathy and to maintain an open mind, she said.

In the first instance, officers should proceed on the basis that the allegation is truthful.

Sir Bernard agreed with her assessment and said that officers must test the accuracy of allegations and evidence impartially, while supporting the complainant.

Emotionally, though, it may not be enough to give victims confidence in our approach, he added.

The Commissioner insisted that officers do not currently believe unconditionally what they are told and conduct a series of interviews before starting to begin a formal investigation.

Alleged victims of sexual offences are granted automatic lifetime anonymity under current laws, while there are no restrictions on naming suspected offenders.

 Child sex abuse inquiry

The precedent has come under increasing scrutiny since the death of Jimmy Savile, when revelations about his sexual abuse and the way victims were treated by authorities sparked a number of high-profile investigations against leading public figures.

As part of Scotland Yards continuing Operation Midland, investigating a suspected VIP paedophile ring active in the 1960s and 1970s, testimony of an alleged victim known as Nick was heavily relied upon but no charges have been brought.

Lord Bramall, the former head of the armed forces, was investigated for nine months before the charges were dropped and former Conservative MP Harvey Proctor said he was the victim of a homosexual witch hunt after being interviewed under caution.

Sir Bernard described a dam bursting after Saviles death starting a flood of claims by men and women coming forward to report historical and recent sex abuse as a part of growing confidence in how police treat victims.

Investigating these cases is exceptionally difficult, he wrote. Victims are often damaged by their experience and rarely disclose everything until they begin to trust officers.

The passage of time makes it difficult to prove or disprove the allegations.

Former Tory MP Harvey Proctor said he was the victim of a 'witch hunt' (PA)

If theres only one complainant at first, the only way to find corroboration is to investigate and go where the evidence takes you.

One key argument for naming suspects has been to encourage other possible victims to come forward with evidence that may prove a conviction.

But Sir Bernard is proposing restrictions on identifying them before formal charges are brought, unless an application is made to a judge.

Those investigated are innocent until proven guilty, but reputations may be tarnished before we have been able to reach a conclusion, he said.

This is distressing for those who are investigated, and for their families, which is why we expressed our sympathy to Lord Bramall.

The Commissioner gave no indication of a halt to Operation Midland and urged the public to support police as they continue their investigations.


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A privately run prison that allowed a violent robber to walk out unchallenged last year continues to suffer from staff shortages, outbreaks of violence and deplorable levels of overcrowding, an independent report has warned.

Space in HMP Dovegate is so tight that single cells for vulnerable prisoners have been filled with extra beds, according to an Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) report on the jail, which is run by outsourcing giant Serco for the Ministry of Justice.

The Independent revealed last May how convicted robber Haroon Ahmed was accidentally escorted out of the high-security jail after jokingly asking a prison officer during visiting hours: Is it OK for me to go home? The 26-year-old was eventually rearrested after a manhunt.

Describing his escape as a catastrophic failure of basic security procedure, the report said Ahmed  who had been in jail since 2008 for robbing a garage armed with a knife  had simply exited the prisons visits hall and escaped through the main gatehouse.

The report also raised concerns about levels of violence within the prison, with 38 prisoner-on-staff assaults and 106 prisoner-on-prisoner assaults in the first nine months of last year. There were also 45 fights and 136 weapons discovered, it added.

As at many other UK prisons, staff at Dovegate were also struggling to stop inmates accessing psychoactive substances, or legal highs, the report said, which had led to widespread debt and associated bullying on the wings. The drugs may also have sparked a violent incident last March involving six inmates, which resulted in a specialist team having to be sent in to restore order, it added.

The IMB said the prison often operated at its maximum capacity of 933 inmates and that the National Offender Management Service had failed to acknowledge that limited space was available for sex offenders, meaning many were put on normal wings, raising the chances of violence.

Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: It is surprising that a private prison is suffering from the overcrowding that is endemic in the public sector, because until now the private companies running jails have been largely protected from it.

This report provides more evidence that the prison system as a whole is under intolerable pressure. Dovegate is supposed to be a prison with facilities designed to help prisoners prepare for life after release. Instead it is used to warehouse Category B prisoners with nowhere else to go.

The Independent broke the story of Ahmeds exit in 2015

Despite its numerous concerns about the prison, the IMB said it had also been impressed by the dedication of staff who it said were responsible for a large population of inmates, some of whom were extremely challenging.

Michael Guy, Sercos contract director at HMP Dovegate, said: I am pleased that the board has recognised the hard work and dedication of the staff in looking after and caring for a complex prison population, some of whom are very difficult to manage.

This report recognises both the considerable changes there have been at Dovegate over the past year and the challenges faced in all prisons of tackling the problem of psychoactive substances, overcrowding and safety. We are working hard to address these issues.
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A teenager who fled to the UK from Iran where he faced persecution for being gay was housed by a private contractor in a small bedroom that he was expected to share with a former Taliban supporter. Under Talban rule in Afghanistan, homosexuality carried the death penalty.

He was among those housed in Middlesbrough, where a political row blew up last month when it was revealed that the homes where asylum seekers live could be identified by their red doors.

The Middlesbrough MP, Andy McDonald, told MPs during a debate on private firms contracted to house asylum seekers that that he had been amazed to learn how different people can be put into a single bedroom quite inappropriately.

He added: A young man in my community who is gay and who has come to this country is having to share a bedroom with somebody who was once a member of the Taliban - an utterly ridiculous state of affairs.

His fellow Labour MP Steven Doughty described it as a shocking example. He added: As a gay MP myself, I would find it horrendous to be placed in accommodation with somebody who potentially had persecuted me or potentially would persecute me. However, that is the reality of many peoples experience - they find themselves in unsuitable accommodation.

Mr McDonald told The Independent: I have met the young man personally, through friends who offered him support and invited him into their home. He is very reluctant to go back to the other property, because he knows his roommates history.

There have been many other instances where people who shouldnt have to share rooms are being made to. Another man, a former Muslim, has converted to Christianity and is worried about sharing a room, because apostasy is not welcomed. Nothing has happened and we hope nothing will, but its that sort of thoughtlessness that characterises the way these contracts are run.

The main contract for asylum seekers in the North East of England was awarded to the security firm G4S, who claim to have made no profit from the contract.

The immigration minister, James Brokenshire, said that the government condemned any actions that would stigmatise or isolate asylum seekers, and that an inspection is under way in Middlesbrough, which would focus on whether the decent homes standard is being met and what steps are being taken to remedy defects that are identified.
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The Welsh government has extended a very warm welcome to junior doctors seeking to escape the new contract being imposed in England.

Its official Twitter account sent out the message shortly after Jeremy Hunt announced the terms, which have sparked two strikes, will be forced through despite huge opposition.

Junior doctors from any part of the UK interested in working in Wales will find a very warm welcome here, the tweet read.

Glyn Davies, the Conservative MP for Montgomeryshire, replied to the tweet calling it deeply disappointing.

UK Govt would never behave like this. Respect is a two way street, he added.

Only junior doctors working in England will be subjected to the new contract, which extends social hours and classifies Saturday as a normal working day.

Wales and Scotland previously said they will maintain the existing contractual arrangements and no decision had been reached in Northern Ireland last week.

The British Medical Association (BMA) has argued that the changes will make doctors work dangerously long hours and effectively cut their pay, and warned that enforcing them could prompt an exodus of young doctors from England's NHS.

 Junior Doctors Contract

Kitty Mohan, co-chair of its junior doctors committee, said: There has been an outpouring of anger over plans to impose a new contact and there is a real risk that junior doctors will speak with their feet.

"To lose a large swath of doctors in the early stages of their careers would be a disaster for the NHS.

But the Health Secretary insisted today that the contract would have a positive outcome.

In a statement to the House of Commons, he said standards in NHS hospitals are too low at weekends and more patients die than during the week.

It was unclear whether the BMA will now stage further strikes in protest at the new contract.

Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary (Getty Images)

NHS England's chief executive, Simon Stevens, acknowledged junior doctors critical role in the NHS and legitimate non-pay concerns.

"These now have to be comprehensively addressed by hospitals, the medical royal colleges, and the national training bodies, he added.

"But drawn out industrial action over contracts and pay would mean further disruption to patients who are relying on NHS care, with thousands more operations cancelled and check-ups delayed.

"That's why Sir David Dalton - one of the health service's most experienced and fair-minded hospital leaders - was called in to negotiate a fair and workable settlement, and it's why it's incredibly disappointing that he has today reported that there is 'no realistic prospect of a negotiated agreement'.

"Under these highly regrettable and entirely avoidable circumstances, hospitals are rightly calling for an end to the uncertainty, and the implementation of the compromise package the Dalton team are recommending.

In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK 20,000 Junior Doctors marched through central London in protest at the new contract changes the government is trying to impose which they say will be unfair and unsafe In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors protest in London In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK 4 year old Cassius takes part in a demonstration in Westminster, in support of junior doctors over changes to NHS contracts, London In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Protest over proposed changes to junior doctors' contracts, Leeds In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors and NHS staff protesting against the health service cuts and the proposed contract changes offered by the government outside Parliament In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors and NHS staff protesting against the health service cuts and the proposed contract changes offered by the government outside Parliament In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Over 5000 junior doctors rallied in Waterloo place, before marching through Whitehall and onto Parliament Square, in opposition to Jeremy Hunt's new working conditions for doctors In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Demonstrators listen to speeches in Waterloo Place during the 'Let's Save the NHS' rally and protest march by junior doctors In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors marched in London to highlight their plight In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK A protester at a demonstration in support of junior doctors in London

The Government made a best and final offer to the BMA on Wednesday afternoon as thousands of doctors were on strike, which was rejected.

In a letter to Mr Hunt on Wednesday, the BMA's junior doctors committee chairman, Dr Johann Malawana, had urged him to accept the unions proposal to reduce the 11 per cent rise in basic pay offered by the Government in return for better premium rates on Saturdays.

This would give you the cost neutrality you seek and junior doctors the appropriate recognition for evenings, nights and weekends, he said.

If you are able to accept this model and withdraw the threat of imposition, we believe that our dispute with the Government would be concluded, leading the way to detailed discussion about implementation.

Additional reporting by PA
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A campaign to legalise the medical use of cannabis is being launched amid warnings that up to 1.1 million people across Britain are currently breaking the law by taking the drug to combat the pain of chronic conditions.

The drive, called End Our Pain, coincides with a Coronation Street storyline focusing on the issue, and is being supported by the former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and senior politicians from all parties.

Campaigners hope to attract hundreds of thousands of signatures for a petition backing the move, with the aim of forcing a Commons debate on legalising medicinal cannabis. They are pressing for ministers to follow the lead of several Western European countries and US states in allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to alleviate the painful symptoms of disorders such as multiple sclerosis, Crohns disease and rheumatoid arthritis.

 Australia medical trials

Estimates of the number of people in the UK who use cannabis for medical reasons range between 861,000 and 1.15 million. They are thought to represent between a quarter and a third of the countrys three million-plus regular cannabis users.

Supporters of legalisation believe they will receive widespread support after millions of television viewers watched the plight of the Coronation Street character, Izzy Armstrong, who is a wheelchair user. She begins to suffer such severe pain that her regular prescription medicine cannot tackle it and in desperation resorts to cannabis.

Potential uses Chemical compounds called cannabinoids  found in cannabis  affect how the body reacts to pain. The Royal Pharmaceutical Society has called for an open mind on the issue of altering the legal status of medicinal cannabis. Its chief scientist, Jayne Lawrence, has said: The worst possible situation would be to have patients deprived of potentially effective medicines. Multiple sclerosis: The stiffness and muscle spasms experienced by people with MS could be alleviated by cannabinoids, as well as tackling the chronic pain associated with the condition and treating depression experienced by many sufferers. Arthritis: Cannabis has been used for centuries to relieve the pain of chronic arthritis, as well as reducing the inflammation associated with it. Researchers are working on designing artificial cannabis to ease the symptoms of osteoarthritis. They are examining ways of inhibiting a pain-sensing pathway in the spinal cord. Chrohns Disease: Studies suggest cannabis could reduce the inflammation caused by the disease with few side-effects. Cancer: Research in the US suggests that marijuana could help kill cancer cells and reduce the size of others, including cells from one of the most serious types of brain tumour. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): The compounds in cannabis could correct the deficiency of dopamine thought to cause ADHD by calming and focusing adults with the condition.

The campaigns co-ordinator, Peter Carroll, said: For too long the issue of medical cannabis has been caught up in the wider issue of drug law reform, but this is a standalone issue. Denying patients access to a medicine that can help them just because it contains cannabis is morally wrong and cruel. We are criminalising people whose only aim is to ease the pain and discomfort of their condition.

Mr Clegg, who recently met a delegation of medicinal cannabis users, said: This is an issue whose time has come. Thousands of Britons live with agonising pain when there is a medicine that we know works that could be made easily available to them. They deserve our compassion and support, not criminal records or a lifetime of pain. Whatever your views on cannabis or drug use more widely, surely we can all agree that doctors should be able to prescribe medicine to their patients if they think it will help them.

The Labour MP, Paul Flynn, said: This is a drug which has been trialled for 5,000 years by many millions of people. If there were serious adverse effects, they would have been apparent many years ago. I believe the evidence is overwhelming. From scientific trials it does have an effect particularly relieving the spasms that people with multiple sclerosis have.

Caroline Lucas, the Green MP, said: Im persuaded by the evidence that cannabis should be regulated and available for medical use via, for example, pharmacists. Its important to get the regulatory model right, but the bottom line is that we need to end the perverse way in which individuals are criminalised simply for wanting to relieve the pain they are suffering.

Several Conservative MPs have backed legalising medical cannabis. They include the former cabinet minister, Peter Lilley, who has pointed out that Queen Victoria is believed to have used the drug to relieve menstrual pain. He said: If it is a Victorian value, surely it can be made more widely available.
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The campaign to keep Britain in the EU is to argue that Vladimir Putin would be the winner if the public votes to leave the 28-nation bloc in the coming referendum.

David Cameron is expected to echo a warning by Labour that the Russian President would welcome a decision by Britain to withdraw from the EU. A Downing Street source said: Who would most love to see Britain leave the EU? President Putin. He would see it as a sign that Europe is falling apart.

National security, including standing up to Russian aggression and co-operation on crime and terrorism, is seen by pro-Europeans as a way to neutralise the impact of the migration crisis, which is thought likely to boost the Out campaign. Some pro-Europeans believe they could then win the referendum on the economic benefits of membership.

Hilary Benn, the shadow Foreign Secretary, was accused by Eurosceptics of scaremongering after saying in a speech on Thursday: President Putin would shed no tears if Britain left the European Union. He would see Brexit as a sign of our weakness and of the weakness of European solidarity at the very moment when we need to maintain our collective strength.

Speaking to the Chatham House think tank, Mr Benn cited Europes co-ordinated response to Russia's aggression in Crimea and Ukraine. He argued: Our national security is served by both our membership of NATO and of the EU. To walk away from our membership and leadership of the EU would be a grave strategic error because Britains role in promoting international peace and security around the globe is greatly enhanced by being part of Europe."

What has the EU ever done for us? Show all 7 1 /7 What has the EU ever done for us? What has the EU ever done for us? 1. It gives you freedom to live, work and retire anywhere in Europe As a member of the EU, UK citizens benefit from freedom of movement across the continent. Considered one of the so-called four pillars of the European Union, this freedom allows all EU citizens to live, work and travel in other member states. What has the EU ever done for us? 2. It sustains millions of jobs A report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research, released in October 2015, suggested 3.1 million British jobs were linked to the UKs exports to the EU. What has the EU ever done for us? 3. Your holiday is much easier - and safer Freedom to travel is one of the most exercised benefits of EU membership, with Britons having made 31 million visits to the EU in 2014 alone. But a lot of the benefits of being an EU citizen are either taken for granted or go unnoticed. What has the EU ever done for us? 4. It means you're less likely to get ripped off Consumer protection is a key benefit of the EUs single market, and ensures members of the British public receive equal consumer rights when shopping anywhere in Europe. What has the EU ever done for us? 5. It offers greater protection from terrorists, paedophiles, people traffickers and cyber-crime Another example of a lesser-known advantage of EU membership is the benefit of cross-country coordination and cooperation in the fight against crime. What has the EU ever done for us? 6. Our businesses depend on it According to 71% of all members of the Confederation of British Influence (CBI), and 67 per cent of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the EU has had an overall positive impact on their business. What has the EU ever done for us? 7. We have greater influence Robin Niblett, Director of think-tank Chatham House, stated in a report published last year: For a mid-sized country like the UK, which will never again be economically dominant either globally or regionally, and whose diplomatic and military resources are declining in relative terms, being a major player in a strong regional institution can offer a critical lever for international influence.

But Matthew Elliott, chief executive of Vote Leave, said: "Pro-EU campaigners cannot make a positive case for remaining in a political project that is incapable of dealing with the challenges of the 21st century. Instead of accepting that we need a new relationship with the EU, they are whipping up fear about dictators and economic doom despite the fact that neither are remotely credible. Voting Leave is the safe option as it will allow us to make our own trade deals, end the supremacy of EU law and invest in our priorities."

Mike Hookem, Ukips defence spokesman, said: "Putin would be more scared of Britain leaving the EU and regaining her place on the world stage than being tied down by a militarily spineless organisation whose contribution to international military affairs has been to waste huge amounts of money in Mali and march up and down outside EU buildings....when it comes to dealing with Russian hostilities, the EU has been utterly useless.

Mr Benn rejected Jeremy Corbyns attempt to swing Labour behind a policy of unilateral nuclear disarmament by opposing renewal of the Trident weapons system. The shadow Foreign Secretary told his audience: If we gave ours up I dont believe for a second any one of the other nuclear powers in the world would say: Well, if you are not going to keep yours any more, we are going to chuck ours in the dustbin. It would not happen.

Mr Benn added: Who can predict what the threats will be in 20, 30, 40 years time?

The deterrent is intended to deter and I think it has succeeded in doing that. And finally, who fancies living in a world in which everyone else has given up their nuclear weapons and North Korea still has its nuclear weapons? If you fancy that put your hands up.
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Chancellor George Osborne's psychiatrist brother has been struck off the medical register after admitting having an "inappropriate" two-year affair with one of his patients.

Adam Osborne also admitted threatening the mother-of-two when she reported him to the General Medical Council (GMC) after she attempted suicide when he ended the relationship.

The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) ruled that his fitness to practise was impaired due to misconduct and found that his behaviour was "profoundly unacceptable" .

The doctor, who is five years younger than the Chancellor, was not present at the four-day misconduct hearing in Manchester but did admit he knew - or ought to have known - the woman was a "vulnerable patient" because of her history.

He also admitted sending the threatening emails "in a moment of panic".

The tribunal heard how he had been treating the woman - referred to as Patient A - at a private clinic in London for depression, anxiety and chronic fatigue before he embarked on the affair. She also had a history of substance abuse and self-harm.

They were in an emotional and sexual relationship between 2013 and February 2015 before he broke it off.

She then took an overdose of alcohol and drugs and was admitted to hospital - but not before telling Dr Osborne's supervisor Dr Neil Boast about the affair.

Dr Adam is the younger brother of Chancellor George Osborne (Getty Images)

He initially tried to convince Patient A to drop the complaint against him - saying the accusation would "destroy his family" - before becoming "more imploring".

Representing the GMC at the tribunal, barrister Bernadette Baxter described Dr Osborne as "highly manipulative" and said he preyed on the woman's vulnerabilities.

She said: "Patient A said on a number of occasions she wanted him to stop contacting her.

"He sees himself very much as a victim. There are emails where the mood very much changed and spills into the territory where he makes threats towards Patient A, consequences to her family and in fact, the patient seduced him."

This not the first time he has been in trouble with the GMC since he qualified in 2004.

He was suspended from practising for six months in 2010 for prescribing contraceptives to his then girlfriend - now wife - Dr Rahala Noor and anti-psychotic drugs to a cocaine-addicted prostitute with whom he had a relationship and had installed in a 795-a-month rent flat, reportedly so he could have "sex on tap".

Dr Osborne resigned from the private Elitemed Ltc clinic he ran with Dr Noor - who he married in 2012 - last year after the allegations first came to light.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. 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Chairman of the tribunal Dr Nigel Callaghan said: "The tribunal does not consider that Dr Osborne's actions are easily remediable. This was not a fleeting relationship but sustained over a period of two years.

"Dr Osborne attempted to persuade Patient A to withdraw the complaint by sending inappropriate emails to her over a 10-day period when he knew she had taken an overdose, and was therefore in a particularly vulnerable and fragile state.

"The tribunal regards Dr Osborne's behaviour as profoundly unacceptable and undermines the public's confidence in the medical profession."

Additional reporting by PA
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Jeremy Hunt has launched an urgent inquiry into the level of junior doctors morale and welfare as large numbers threaten to quit the profession over being forced to accept a new contract.

The Health Secretary appointed Dame Sue Bailey of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges to lead the review.

Mr Hunt has been widely criticised by junior doctors, who voted to strike over his new proposed contract by 98 per cent.

The deal, which would change regulations around working anti-social hours, has been hugely controversial. The Government says it will improve patient care at the weekends but doctors say it will incentivise unsafe rostering and leave doctors who work the longest hours worse off.

An unweighted survey of doctors reported by the Independent found that 90 per cent would consider quitting were the contract unilaterally imposed.

Mr Hunt today said he would impose the contract unilaterally.

The Governments chief negotiator Sir David Dalton recommended the launch of the review, which comes on the same day as Mr Hunt announced he would force doctors to accept the deal.

The Royal College of GPs warned today that the move would inevitably damage morale across the NHS.

In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK 20,000 Junior Doctors marched through central London in protest at the new contract changes the government is trying to impose which they say will be unfair and unsafe In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors protest in London In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK 4 year old Cassius takes part in a demonstration in Westminster, in support of junior doctors over changes to NHS contracts, London In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Protest over proposed changes to junior doctors' contracts, Leeds In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors and NHS staff protesting against the health service cuts and the proposed contract changes offered by the government outside Parliament In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors and NHS staff protesting against the health service cuts and the proposed contract changes offered by the government outside Parliament In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Over 5000 junior doctors rallied in Waterloo place, before marching through Whitehall and onto Parliament Square, in opposition to Jeremy Hunt's new working conditions for doctors In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Demonstrators listen to speeches in Waterloo Place during the 'Let's Save the NHS' rally and protest march by junior doctors In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors marched in London to highlight their plight In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK A protester at a demonstration in support of junior doctors in London

The last few months have been incredibly tough for junior doctors, and have led to the lowest morale across our profession in a generation, said Dr Maureen Baker.

Imposing a contract, in its current form, is asking junior doctors  the future of our NHS  to work under conditions in which they neither feel valued nor able to deliver safe patient care.

 Junior Doctors Contract

Labours shadow health secretary Heidi Alexander said earlier this week that Mr Hunt had caused a fundamental breakdown of trust between the profession and Government.

Johann Malawana, chair of the junior doctors committee at the British Medical Association, warned that he Government had totally alienated a generation of junior doctors.

The BMA has pledged to look at all available options to make sure the contract is not enforced.
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Jeremy Hunt co-authored a policy pamphlet that called for the NHS to be replaced by an insurance system.

The 2005 policy book, called Direct Democracy: An Agenda For A New Model Party, was a collection of writings authored by a group of Tory MPs.

Amongst other ideas, the book contained a blueprint for replacing the NHS with an insurance market system  and called for the private sector to be brought in.

The Health Secretary is listed as one of the authors, though he has previously denied that he wrote the chapter on the NHS and says it does not reflect his views.

The book was presented as a whole and chapters are not marked with individual authors, however.

We should fund patients, either through the tax system or by way of universal insurance, to purchase health care from the provider of their choice, the book says on page 74.

What does five more years of the Tories mean for Britain? Show all 8 1 /8 What does five more years of the Tories mean for Britain? What does five more years of the Tories mean for Britain? Welfare payments will be slashed One of the most controversial parts of the Conservative manifesto was to cut benefits for the working age poor by 12 bn over the next three years. But during the campaign they only said where 2 bn of these savings would come from. That leaves 10 bn still to find. Some experts think the only way they can close that gap is by means testing child benefit  with millions of families losing out Getty What does five more years of the Tories mean for Britain? There will be tax cuts for those in work and those who die The Tories will increase the threshold at which the 40p rate of tax becomes payable to 50,000 by 2020. They havent said so but it is also likely that at some point in the next five years they will abolish that 45p rate of tax altogether for the highest earners. They also want to increase the effective inheritance tax threshold for married couples and civil partners to 1m Getty What does five more years of the Tories mean for Britain? There will be an in/out EU referendum in 2017 The next two years are going to be dominated by the prospect of a referendum on Britains membership of the EU. First off David Cameron has the daunting task of negotiating a deal with other EU leaders an acceptable deal that he can sell to his party so he can go into the referendum campaigning for a yes vote. This may be unachievable and it is possible that the Tories may end up arguing to leave. Opinion polls show Britain is divided on EU membership, one poll this year showed 51% said they would opt to leave compared to 49% who would vote to stay in Getty What does five more years of the Tories mean for Britain? There will be more privatisation of the NHS Having won the election the Tories now have a mandate to go further and faster reforming the NHS. In order to make cost savings there is likely to be greater private involvement in running services, while some smaller hospitals may lose services they currently provide like A&E and maternity units Getty What does five more years of the Tories mean for Britain? There will be many more free schools  and traditional state schools will become a thing of the past The Tories plans to create 500 new free schools and make 3,000 state schools become academies. They will also carry on reforming the Department of Education and remove more powers from local authorities over how schools are run Getty What does five more years of the Tories mean for Britain? On shore wind farms will be a thing of the past and fracking will be the future Government spending on renewable energy is under real threat now the Lib Dems are no longer in power with the Tories. Subsidies are likely to be slashed for off-shore wind farm and other green energy supplies. Meanwhile there will be generous tax break for fracking as ministers try and incentivise the industry to drill for onshore oil and gas Getty What does five more years of the Tories mean for Britain? There maybe more free childcare  but not necessarily In the campaign the Tories pledged to double the amount of free early education for three- and four-year-olds from 15 hours a week to 30. The extra hours would only be offered to working families where parents are employed for at least eight hours a week. However they have not said where the money will come from to fund the pledge Getty What does five more years of the Tories mean for Britain? Workers' rights could be reduced The Tories want to slash business regulation, merge regulator and cut costs. The Lib Dems stopped them from reducing the employment rights of workers in power  but these are now under threat Getty

It adds on page 78: Our ambition should be to break down the barriers between private and public provision, in effect denationalising the provision of health care in Britain.

Put together by Douglas Carswell, the books authors also included Tory MPs Michael Gove, Daniel Hannan, Greg Clark, David Gauke, and Kwasi Kwarteng.

The pamphlet briefly shot to fame in 2012, when Mr Hunts appointment as Health Secretary prompted Labour to highlight the books contents.

Then Shadow Health Secretary wrote a letter to Mr Hunt.

 Andrew Marr reads junior doctors' letters to Jeremy Hunt

Patients and staff will have serious concerns about these remarks and have a right to know whether you remain of this view, he asked at the time.

Mr Hunt has since repeatedly said he believes in the principles of the NHS. He says the Conservatives are the party of the NHS.

The book can be read in full online here.
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Jeremy Hunt could impose a new contract on junior doctors after the deadline for them to accept the Governments best and final offer passed.

The deadline to accept the Governments contentious proposals on pay and weekend working passed over Wednesday night.

The British Medical Association rejected a last-minute deal over the last outstanding issue - Saturday working - to prevent the 24-hour strike on Wednesday.

The terms included a proposal offering junior doctors who regularly work weekends a premium rate for each Saturday they work.

Instead, in a letter to the Health Secretary, junior doctor's chairman Dr Johann Malawana proposed an alternative contract - based on an offer by the BMA in December - which would reduce the basic pay rise offered in exchange for better out-of-hours rates.

Junior doctors - which means every qualified doctor below consultant level - returned to work at 8am on Thursday after day on the picket line.

In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK 20,000 Junior Doctors marched through central London in protest at the new contract changes the government is trying to impose which they say will be unfair and unsafe In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors protest in London In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK 4 year old Cassius takes part in a demonstration in Westminster, in support of junior doctors over changes to NHS contracts, London In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Protest over proposed changes to junior doctors' contracts, Leeds In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors and NHS staff protesting against the health service cuts and the proposed contract changes offered by the government outside Parliament In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors and NHS staff protesting against the health service cuts and the proposed contract changes offered by the government outside Parliament In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Over 5000 junior doctors rallied in Waterloo place, before marching through Whitehall and onto Parliament Square, in opposition to Jeremy Hunt's new working conditions for doctors In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Demonstrators listen to speeches in Waterloo Place during the 'Let's Save the NHS' rally and protest march by junior doctors In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors marched in London to highlight their plight In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK A protester at a demonstration in support of junior doctors in London

Mr Hunt will now be able to move closer towards imposing a new contract which junior doctors say will reduce their overall level of pay as evenings and Saturdays will no longer be considered unsocial hours.

Doctors say they are already working dangerous long hours - with some trusts reportedly making their medical staff work 100 hours a week.

Negotiations between the BMA and the Department of Health orchestrated by the mediation service Acas broke down over the issue of Saturday working in January.

Junior doctors and their supporters stage a sit-down protest outside Downing Street, last weekend (PA)

Mr Hunt, backed by Downing Street, is expected to make a decision "within days" over whether to impose the new terms on Englands 45,000 junior doctors.

A No 10 source told the Guardian: "We think it is a very reasonable deal  As weve said all the way along, we are not going to remove that option from the table and give a veto to the BMA. Weve certainly gone the extra mile in trying to get a deal and are very disappointed there is a further strike today."

 Six times Jeremy Hunt was called out on junior doctors dispute

Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents over 90 per cent of NHS Trusts said Mr Hunt should bring the dispute "to a conclusion" and impose the contract.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Wednesday: "If the BMA wont accept a fair and reasonable offer then, yes, it is legitimate and sensible for the Secretary of State to consider imposition."

An online survey on Tuesday found that 90 per cent of junior doctors would consider resigning if the contract was imposed on them.
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The new contract being forced on junior doctors by the Government will make it difficult for the NHS to recruit enough doctors, GPs professional body has warned.

The Royal College of GPs, the membership body for family doctors which oversees aspects of their training and clinical standards, said it was shocked and dismayed at the decision to press ahead with the changes.

Dr Maureen Baker, chair of the Royal College, warned that the move would damage morale and lead to medical students deciding not to pursue their studies.

The imposition of the contract will undoubtedly impair our efforts to recruit thousands of additional doctors into the NHS over the coming years in order to keep the health service sustainable  as many medical students are seeing this turmoil, not liking what they see, and turning away from medicine in the UK altogether, she said.

Doctors choose medicine because they genuinely want to care for their patients and contribute to the health service. It is evident that junior doctors do not think the proposed contract will allow them to do this. The College will continue to support our junior doctors.

 Junior Doctors Contract

The warning from the Royal College is a particular blow to the Government because the ministers have said they want more care to be delivered by GPs rather than in hospitals.

Doctors pay 9,000 a year for their university degrees and complete around six years of studies, racking up huge amounts of debt in the process.

After graduation they continue compulsory foundation training in NHS hospitals, albeit on a paid basis.

In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK 20,000 Junior Doctors marched through central London in protest at the new contract changes the government is trying to impose which they say will be unfair and unsafe In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors protest in London In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK 4 year old Cassius takes part in a demonstration in Westminster, in support of junior doctors over changes to NHS contracts, London In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Protest over proposed changes to junior doctors' contracts, Leeds In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors and NHS staff protesting against the health service cuts and the proposed contract changes offered by the government outside Parliament In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors and NHS staff protesting against the health service cuts and the proposed contract changes offered by the government outside Parliament In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Over 5000 junior doctors rallied in Waterloo place, before marching through Whitehall and onto Parliament Square, in opposition to Jeremy Hunt's new working conditions for doctors In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Demonstrators listen to speeches in Waterloo Place during the 'Let's Save the NHS' rally and protest march by junior doctors In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors marched in London to highlight their plight In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK A protester at a demonstration in support of junior doctors in London

A survey reported by the Independent on Wednesday found that around 90 per cent of junior doctors were considering quitting upon the imposition of the contract.

Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, told the House of Commons on Thursday that he had the backing of NHS bosses to impose the new contract.

The British Medical Association, which has been negotiating the contract with officials, meanwhile said it would consider all options open to us to stop the contract.

The new terms of employment re-define anti-social hours and make it cheaper for hospitals to roster doctors on weekends and evenings.

The Government says this will improve care at weekends and in evenings but junior doctors worry that it will affect patient safety by encouraging unsafe shift patterns, and also that doctors who work the very longest hours will lose out financially.

Mr Hunt says the Conservatives have a mandate from their manifesto commitments on the health service to make the change. The Tory manifesto made reference to creating a so-called "seven-day NHS" which Mr Hunt says the old contract is disrupting.
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The Government may reconsider controversial cuts to state funding for opposition parties, amid signs of a growing Tory rebellion over the plans.

Cabinet Office minister John Penrose announced a formal consultation on the planned 19 per cent cuts to funding, known as Short money, which supports the activities of UK opposition parties.

Opponents have criticised the cuts as an attempt to weaken political opponents. Bernard Jenkin, the Conservative chair of the Public Administration and Constitutional Committee, questioned whether there was a political agenda behind the plans.

Labour condemned what they called the Governments shabby approach, following an urgent question in the House of Commons. Concerns were also raised over the Governments Trade Union Bill, which is likely to limit the amount of funding Labour receives from its union backers.

The apparent climb-down on Short money came as Nick Clegg accused the Government of seeking to Americanise Westminster politics by seeking rig every rule to the detriment of political opponents.

Appearing before a House of Lords committee, the former deputy prime minister said that cuts to Short money were spiteful and petty and that the Trade Union Bill represented a break from a longstanding tradition that issues to do with money and power are dealt with on a cross party basis.

It is a very unwelcome development indeed when a new government in effect Americanises Westminster politics, he said. In America you have this very unseemly tradition of new incumbents in power busily trying to rig every rule in sight to the detriment of their opponents.

Weve generally avoided that in our country, whether its party funding, electoral reform, the House of Lordswe have sought to try and moveacross party boundaries. I think that is being grievously damaged here, he added. He said that, when serving in the Coalition government, he had blocked moves that might have affected Labours funding.

A Downing Street spokesperson said the Government was still committed to reducing state spending on opposition parties, and pointed out that funding was being reduced across many areas of Government spending.
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Ukip allowed criminals with a violent past as well as racists and homophobes to stand as candidates during the last election, according to a report.

The Times newspaper says it has obtained a leaked dossier showing that the party was aware of but ignored the controversial backgrounds of a number of its candidate.

Fourteen of the partys candidates from the May elections are reported to have a violent past while five have been convicted for offences included grievous bodily harm and assault.

Recommended Read more Nigel Farage says Tories are supporting the EU to help their careers

A further 23 candidates of the candidates expressed sexist, racist, or homophobic views, one expressed support for the far-right English Defence League street gang.

The candidates stood for a mixture of MP and council positions.

The newspaper says that in most cases, the candidates in the dossier were initially barred from standing after a vetting process but then managed to reverse the decision at appeal.

Of 200 candidates blocked by David Soutter, Ukips head of candidates in 2014, 128 challenged their rejection and 115 were allowed to run.

Leaked documents further reveal other party members who applied for selection included drug dealers, a convicted murderer and a sex offender.

In pictures: Ukip celebrate success at local elections 2013 Show all 11 1 /11 In pictures: Ukip celebrate success at local elections 2013 In pictures: Ukip celebrate success at local elections 2013 uk-pics-0.jpg Reuters In pictures: Ukip celebrate success at local elections 2013 uk-pics-3.png PA In pictures: Ukip celebrate success at local elections 2013 ukip-5.jpg PA In pictures: Ukip celebrate success at local elections 2013 ukip-6.jpg Getty Images In pictures: Ukip celebrate success at local elections 2013 ukip-2.jpg PA In pictures: Ukip celebrate success at local elections 2013 ukip-7.jpg Reuters In pictures: Ukip celebrate success at local elections 2013 ukip-9.jpg PA In pictures: Ukip celebrate success at local elections 2013 ukip-4.jpg PA In pictures: Ukip celebrate success at local elections 2013 uk-pics-8.jpg PA In pictures: Ukip celebrate success at local elections 2013 uk-pics-6.jpg PA In pictures: Ukip celebrate success at local elections 2013 ukip-10.jpg Reuters

A Ukip spokesman said: Our candidates team looked at thousands of candidates last year and generally associations such as this would raise a red flag.

Discretion was held by the then head of candidates, Mr [David] Soutter.

Mr Souter himself faced allegations in the Daily Mail newspaper in May that he tampered with the selection process in a key seat. He is no longer head of candidates for Ukip.

Ukip won only one seat at the 2015 election despite getting 12.6 per cent of the overall vote share.
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The controversial rancher Cliven Bundy, the father of the jailed militia leader whose followers have occupied a federal wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon more more than a month, has been detained by the FBI

Mr Bundy was arrested by agents in Portland, Oregon, late on Wednesday as he stepped off a flight from Las Vegas.

Cliven Bundy talking at a stand-off on his land in Nevada in 2014 (AP)

Mr Bundy's arrest was confirmed on the website of the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, which said he had been booked in to the Multnomah County Detention Centre shortly before 11pm local time, according to the Associated Press.

The FBI also confirmed Cliven Bundy's arrest but declined to provide a reason or other details, saying further information would be released by prosecutors.

The Oregonian newspaper reported that Mr Bundy faces charges related to the 2014 standoff between federal agents and militia members on his Nevada ranch. The charges include conspiracy to interfere with a federal officer, the same charge lodged against two of Bundy's sons, Ammon and Ryan, for their role in the ongoing standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

The four remaining holdouts occupying the refuge said earlier on Wednesday that they would turn themselves in Thursday morning.

More follows...
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The $195 million in extra funding allocated to Flint, Michigan to resolve its polluted water supply is not enough to fix all the lead pipes, say critics, while the Governor has admitted that authorities do not know where all the lead pipes are located.

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder announced that the extra funding, to be spent over 2016 and 2017, includes a $50 million reserve fund, delivering safe drinking water and food, as well as providing treatment, testing and education - bringing total funds to Flint of $232 million since the crisis began last year.

Governor Synders total budget for Michigan was $54.9 billion and the mainstay of the funds will be allocated to finance failing schools in Detroit over the next 10 years.

Recommended Read more Flint prisoners including pregnant women were not told of water crisis

Flint Mayor Karen Weaver also said this week that $55 million of the funds would be used for a fast start plan to replace lead pipes in Flint, which are responsible for contaminating the water supply. Pregnant women and families with children will be higher priority, as reported by Jezebel.

But Governor Snyder said fixing all the pipes would not be the best approach to start with, pointing to recommendations by "hero" Dr Marc Edwards at Virginia Tech university who is leading the research team to solve the water crisis. Dr Edwards previously told The Independent that authorities knew about this crisis at least a year ago.

The first step, said Governor Snyder in an interview with MSNBC, is to start testing the water in 400 sites to locate the lead piping.

We dont even know where all the lead pipes are. We know 5,000 lead service lines, we have 25,000 that are not, we have 25,000 that are unknown.

Authorities will sign a contract this week to start mapping the pipes before replacing them in a thoughtful fashion, he said.

Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton had accused governor Rick Snyder of poisoning people to save money.

Thats not accurate. This was a terrible tragedy and it really goes to multiple levels of government, responded Governor Snyder.

He insisted that authorities told citizens not to drink water from the tap since October 2015.

The Independent reported that hundreds of prisoners in the local jail were forced to drink poisoned water in Flint from October to mid-January.
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Dozens of people were killed in a prison riot in the northeastern Mexican city of Monterrey early on Thursday, local media reported, just days ahead of a planned visit by Pope Francis to another prison in Mexicos far north.

Milenio TV said up to 60 people were killed and dozens injured in the predawn riot at the Topo Chico prison. It said relatives of prisoners had heard gunshots in the early hours and that a fire had broken out.

The Nuevo Leon state government said on Twitter the situation had been brought under control and ruled out a prison break but gave no details on what had happened.

The incident is the latest in a series of deadly riots in Mexico's prisons (Reuters)

Television images showed police vehicles patrolling the streets near the prison. Relatives of inmates shook the prison gates and tossed rocks at guards and police on the other side.

"I want to know that my daughter is OK. She is in the infirmary. There are children in there," one woman said outside the prison as some relatives shouted and cursed.

TV showed police vehicles patrolling the streets near the prison (Reuters)

Milenio reported that inmates' relatives who had been within the prison's premises for conjugal visits had seen inmates with burns.

The incident is the latest in a series of deadly riots in recent years to rock the country's overcrowded prisons, which often house inmates from different drug gangs.

The 30 most dangerous cities in the world Show all 30 1 /30 The 30 most dangerous cities in the world The 30 most dangerous cities in the world 30. Teresina, Brazil Teresina had 42.64 homicides per 100,000 residents. According to the Mexico Citizens Council for Public Security's annual ranking of the world's most violent cities in 2015) The 30 most dangerous cities in the world 29. Goiania y Aparecida de Goiania, Brazil Goiania has 43.38 homicides per 100,000 residents The 30 most dangerous cities in the world 28. Detroit, Michigan, USA Detroit had 43.89 homicides per 100,000 residents The 30 most dangerous cities in the world 27. Feira de Santana, Brazil Feira de Santana had 45.5 homicides per 100,000 residents. The 30 most dangerous cities in the world 26. Belem, Brazil Belem had 45.83 homicides per 100,000 residents The 30 most dangerous cities in the world 25. Guatemala City, Guatemala Guatemala had 47.17 homicides per 100,000 residents. The 30 most dangerous cities in the world 24. Cumana, Venezuela Cumana had 47.77 homicides per 100,000 residents The 30 most dangerous cities in the world 23. Manaus, Brazil Manaus had 47.87 homicides per 100,000 residents The 30 most dangerous cities in the world 22. Cuiaba, Brazil Cuiaba had 48.52 homicides per 100,000 residents The 30 most dangerous cities in the world 21. Sao Luis, Brazil Sao Luis had 53.05 homicides per 100,000 residents The 30 most dangerous cities in the world 20. Barquisimeto, Venezuela Barquisimeto had 54.96 homicides per 100,000 residents The 30 most dangerous cities in the world 19. Baltimore, Maryland, USA Baltimore had 54.98 homicides per 100,000 residents The 30 most dangerous cities in the world 18. Maceio, Brazil Maceio had 55.63 homicides per 100,000 residents. The 30 most dangerous cities in the world 17. Culiacan, Mexico Culiacan had 56.09 homicides per 100,000 residents The 30 most dangerous cities in the world 16. Joao Pessoa, Brazil Joao Pessoa had 58.40 homicides per 100,000 residents The 30 most dangerous cities in the world 15. St. Louis, Missouri, USA St. Louis had 59.23 homicides per 100,000 residents The 30 most dangerous cities in the world 14. Salvador, Brazil Salvador had 60.63 homicides per 100,000 residents The 30 most dangerous cities in the world 13. Natal, Brazil Natal had 60.66 homicides per 100,000 residents The 30 most dangerous cities in the world 12. Fortaleza, Brazil Fortaleza had 60.77 homicides per 100,000 residents The 30 most dangerous cities in the world 11. Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela Ciudad Guayana had 62.33 homicides per 100,000 residents The 30 most dangerous cities in the world 10. Cali, Colombia Cali had 64.27 homicides per 100,000 residents The 30 most dangerous cities in the world 9. Cape Town, South Africa Cape Town had 65.53 homicides per 100,000 residents The 30 most dangerous cities in the world 8. Palmira, Colombia Palmira had 70.88 homicides per 100,000 residents The 30 most dangerous cities in the world 7. Valencia, Venezuela Valencia had 72.31 homicides per 100,000 residents AFP/Getty Images The 30 most dangerous cities in the world 6. Distrito Central, Honduras Distrito Central had 73.51 homicides per 100,000 residents. The 30 most dangerous cities in the world 5. Maturin, Venezuela Maturin had 86.45 homicides per 100,000 residents The 30 most dangerous cities in the world 4. Acapulco, Mexico Acapulco had 104.73 homicides per 100,000 resident The 30 most dangerous cities in the world 3. San Salvador, El Salvador San Salvador had 108.54 homicides per 100,000 residents The 30 most dangerous cities in the world 2. San Pedro Sula, Honduras San Pedro Sula had 111.03 homicides per 100,000 residents The 30 most dangerous cities in the world 1. Caracas, Venezuela Caracas had 119.87 homicides per 100,000 residents

In 2013, at least 13 people were killed and 65 injured in a prison riot, which was blamed on gang violence, in the central Mexican state of San Luis Potosi.

In 2012, at least 44 inmates died in a Nuevo Leon prison when members of the notorious Zetas drug cartel plotted with prison guards in an elaborate escape.

Local media said relatives of prisoners had heard gunshots in the early hours (Reuters)

Pope Francis is to begin his first visit to Mexico as pontiff on Friday. Next week, he will visit a prison in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, which was once one of the most violent cities in the world.

Thursday's riot was a harsh blow to Nuevo Leon, where many were uplifted when Jaime Rodriguez, a blunt, outspoken rancher with a penchant for cowboy hats known as "El Bronco," or "the gruff one", defeated President Enrique Pena Nietos ruling party last year to win the governorship.

Rodriguez, a former member of Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), waged a campaign that capitalized on widespread disaffection with the established parties. He was the first independent candidate to win such a post in modern Mexico.

Reuters
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A stand-off drama involving the FBI came to an end on Thursday as talks between negotiators and the last militant inside an Oregon wildlife refuge - streamed live on the internet - resulted in him surrendering and coming out.

Three of four final occupiers at a national wildlife refuge involved in what they said was a protest against federal land control in the West had surrendered earlier on Thursday morning. The fourth man, David Fry, claimed he wanted to remain because his constitutional rights were being violated and that he was feeling suicidal.

Yet at around 11am local time, after negotiations involving Nevada state Assemblywoman Michele Fiore, a Republican, and Rev Franklin Graham, the son of Christian evangelist Billy Graham, Mr Fry agreed to come out.

Cliven Bundy has broken his silence and vowed for the stand-off between ranchers and federal land management to continue (Getty)

Im actually feeling suicidal right now, had said on the webcast. I declare war against the federal government as a citizen of the Constitution.

Jeff Banta, 46, of Elko, Nevada, and married couple Sean Anderson, 48, and Sandy Anderson, 47, of Riggins, Idaho, surrendered peacefully. The protesters narrated the surrender, with the married Andersons described as emerging with their hands up, holding hands, Reuters reported.

The occupation by anti-government militants appeared to be reaching its end in late January, when 11 of its most prominent members  including the leader, Ammon Bundy  were arrested while venturing out of the refuge. One protester was killed, and some of the remaining occupiers heeded calls by Mr Bundy and others to go home.

However, four of the militants refused to leave and held out for another two weeks, despite appeals from the FBI that they give themselves up.

The end of the occupation at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge came the day after the FBI arrested Cliven Bundy, father of Ammon Bundy, and a celebrated anti-government figure who was at the centre of an earlier stand-off with federal agents at his ranch in Nevada in 2014. He was detained as he landed in Oregon.

(Cliven Bundy was charged with several offences, including conspiracy)

On Thursday, the elder Mr Bundy was charged in the standoff from two years ago. He was charged with conspiracy, assault on a federal officer, obstruction, weapons charges and other crimes.

It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer ahead of a court appearance in Portland

During the negotiations with the four holdouts, Ms Fiore urged them to surrender peacefully to the FBI so that they could continue to spread their message.

A dead man cant talk, a dead man cant write, she told them. We have to just stay together, stay alive.
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Donald Trumps stance on Muslims has often been less than friendly. His plans as President include banning them from the US, looking Syrian children in the face and telling them to go home, and insisting that Muslims jeered and applauded as they watched the Twin Towers falling down.

Despite his arguably Islamophobic views, Mr Trump is still playing his part to drive Muslims to the polls - and to vote for him.

According to new figures from Statista, obtained by The Independent, 7 per cent of the Muslim Republican vote is swinging its way to the real estate tycoon.

Statista (Statistica)

The survey asked almost 2,000 Muslim registered voters across six states - California, New York, Illinois, Florida, Texas, and Virginia, where the Muslim population is highest - if they would vote and for which candidate.

A total of 15 per cent said they would vote Republican, with Mr Trump coming out on top. He is followed by Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush at 2 per cent each.

Ibrahim Hooper, National Communications Director at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), told The Independent there might be a number of factors why Muslims would vote for Mr Trump, including name recognition as he receives a lot of coverage in the media.

There are Muslim Republicans and maybe there are those who would support him regardless of his anti-Muslim views, said Mr Hooper.

As Ive said before, if you ask people, is the moon is made of green cheese, 7 per cent will say yes, he added.

Meanwhile, the majority of Muslims would vote Democrat at 67 per cent, with Hillary Clinton winning over half - 52 per cent - of the support and Bernie Sanders following with 22 per cent.

Opposition to Mr Trump could also be driving Muslims to the polls. CAIR found that 73 per cent of registered Muslim voters plan to vote in the upcoming primary elections, and growing Islamophobia in America ranked as these voters primary concern in the election - followed by the economy and health care.

Islamophobia was the third highest concern for Muslims in a 2014 survey.

Mr Trump has called for a database to track the movements of Muslims living in the US, but insisted that he has at least 20 Muslim friends and they have said thank you for his proposed policies.

He and his son have failed to name these friends to the press, mentioning instead the deals they have done in the Middle East.
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And now for South Carolina  for Republicans, in nine days time, for Democrats a week after that, on 27 February. The stakes in both party primaries could not be higher. The battle will be ferocious and, if history is any guide, replete with dirty tricks. And Donald Trumps ascendency is unlikely to be much dented.

The billionaire businessman goes into the contest with his customary 35 per cent or so support. His foes draw comfort by arguing that ultimately he will not win the nomination. Realists counter that if the Republican field remains so divided, 35 per cent is enough.

Recommended Read more Bernie Sanders wins majority of votes from women in New Hampshire

New Hampshire has only muddied the waters further. True, Chris Christie was a likely dropout  but only after his debate demolition of Marco Rubio destroyed the possibility that another strong performance after Iowa would seal Mr Rubios place as the establishment alternative to Mr Trump and Ted Cruz, victor in Iowa.

Instead, the Florida senator finished a dismal fifth, overtaken by governor John Kasich of Ohio and Jeb Bush, whose limp candidacy is at last coming to life. Mr Bush, moreover, has distinct advantages in the state: the backing of its senator Lindsey Graham, and support from his older brother George  whose campaign there in 2000 spread slanderous rumours about his opponent John McCain, who had routed him in New Hampshire. Victory in South Carolina cleared the way for Mr Bushs nomination.

Recommended Read more Donald Trump swaggers his way to victory in New Hampshire

But Jeb Bush will be pushed to pull off that feat. Not only Mr Trump stands in his way, but also Mr Cruz, a good fit for the Bible Belt social conservatives who are far more numerous in South Carolina than in New Hampshire.

Mr Kasich is less of a threat. He goes to South Carolina with little organisation, not much money and the handicap of being the liberals favourite Republican. He has virtually conceded the South, saying he will focus on the midwestern industrial states like Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin and, of course, Ohio which votes in March. Wins there are essential. The odds are, however, that he will turn out another moderate admired by Democrats who got nowhere.

Seven days later its the Democrats turn. Polls put Hillary Clinton well ahead in a state where African-Americans account for a half of Democratic voters. By then Nevada will have held its caucuses. Victory out West would put her back in the driving seat. Another defeat by Mr Sanders, though, and who knows?
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The Catholics are against it, the Anglicans undecided and the Baptists veering toward supporting the right to choose for mothers infected with Zika.

This week, religious leaders from all Christian denominations in Brazil were asked by President Dilma Rousseff to use the pulpit to rally their faithful in the fight against the spread of the Zika virus.

The call led to a fresh debate on abortion in a nation where terminations are illegal in almost all cases. Representatives from the National Council of Christian Churches of Brazil (Conic), which brings together Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian and Orthodox ministries, this week met President Rousseff. They agreed to muster their resources to work with the government and guide millions of churchgoers on how to eliminate the Aedes aegypti mosquito responsible for transmitting Zika.

At the meeting, President Rousseff said religious leaders have the credibility to engage the faithful in combating the insect and educating (their congregation) on how to avoid the accumulation of standing water in their communities.

As the number of babies born with microcephaly in Brazil surges, some religious leaders argued for a nationwide discussion on the de-criminalisation of abortion for mothers carrying foetuses with the condition.

The issue, which was not discussed in detail, has split the churches. The Roman Catholics are opposed to termination, the Anglicans undecided and the Baptists veering towards supporting a womans right to abort. Last week, the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil said in a statement that the increase in the number of cases of microcephaly in the country does not justify (abortion).

The Zika virus - in pictures Show all 5 1 /5 The Zika virus - in pictures The Zika virus - in pictures A three-month-old, who has microcephaly, in Recife, Brazil. A rise in microcephaly cases is thought to have been caused by the spread of the Zika virus in affected countries Getty Images The Zika virus - in pictures A mother holds her baby who has microcephaly Getty Images The Zika virus - in pictures A five-month-old baby, who has microcephaly, in Recife, Brazil Getty Images The Zika virus - in pictures A pediatric infectologist examines a two-month-old baby, who has microcephaly, in Recife, Brazil Getty Images The Zika virus - in pictures A baby affected with microcephaly

Abortion is illegal in Brazil, with women facing up to three years in jail. An exception applies in cases of rape; where the pregnancy poses a risk to the mothers life and under a 2012 ruling when a foetus has anencephaly, where a major part of the brain and skull is absent. Brazils medical experts claim there has been an increase in numbers of women illegally terminating where microcephaly is suspected.

Pastor Joel Zeferino, who represents the Baptist Alliance of Brazil, said: This is an urgent issue that needs to be discussed in a very democratic and open way. Above all, the debate must include women on the outskirts of our cities, black women and poor women in particular. They are the ones who are actually having these illegal abortions. We need to empower these women with voices so they have their say.

President of Conic, Anglican Bishop Flavio Irala, said President Rousseffs call was timely. According to the government, churches are ideally placed to reach isolated villages, with their small pastoral ministries run by outreach workers. Many of these hard-to-reach areas suffer from poor sanitary conditions and limited access to health care.

Recommended Read more Warning against kissing at Rio Carnival after Zika found in saliva

We are going to respond to the challenge urgently and mobilise our congregations against the virus. The issue of care for what we share as a community is ours too, Bishop Irala said.

In the US, the Centre for Disease Control announced it had found the strongest evidence that Zika is the cause of microcephaly, the birth defect afflicting hundreds of Brazilian babies, which leads to abnormally small heads and brains. Scientists revealed Zika infection had been found in brain and placenta tissue taken two aborted foetuses and from two babies who had died from microcephaly.
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North Korea has accused South Korea of making a dangerous declaration of war by suspending operations at an industrial park where the two countries previously co-operated.

Pyongang vowed to immediately deport hundreds of South Korean workers from the city of Kaesong, which lies in its territory across the heavily militarised border.

State media reported that tens of thousands of North Korean employees would also be pulled out, with South Korean assets frozen and cross-border communications shut down.

 South Korea suspends joint project with North Korea

Kim Jong-uns Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) issued a statement through state media targeting the US and the South Korean puppet group.

Operations at Kaesong were suspended on Wednesday in response to the Norths recent rocket launch, with officials in Seoul saying they wanted to cut profits used for nuclear and missile development.

The recent provocative measure is a declaration of an end to the last lifeline of the north-south relations, total denial of the June 15 North-South Joint Declaration and a dangerous declaration of a war driving the situation in the Korean Peninsula to the brink of a war, the CPRK said.

Hit hard by this action are entrepreneurs and people of south Korea and it is the Park Geun-hye group of traitors who should pay a dear price for it.

The statement launched a series of crude insults at the South Korean president, accusing her of inveterate sycophancy and confrontational hysteria at the behest of American prodding.

A long-range rocket is launched from Tongchang-ri in North Korea's northwestern coast (EPA)

As the south Korean people are condemning the above-said action with indignation, the total suspension of the operation in the KIZ is little short of an act of dropping an axe on one's own foot, the propaganda announcement added.

It repeated the Norths claims that its long-range rocket launch on Saturday was to launch a satellite, and the previous alleged hydrogen test exercised the legitimate right to self-defence.

Calling South Koreas action unpardonable, the CPRK said the border would be shut from Thursday morning, roads in the area closed and put under military control, have South Koreans deported and companies assets frozen.

The south Korean puppet group will experience what disastrous and painful consequences will be entailed by its action, it added.

Dozens of lorries were seen returning south over the border on Thursday, laden with goods and equipment, and workers were leaving.

South Korean vehicles returning from North Korea's joint Kaesong Industrial Complex pass the customs, immigration and quarantine office near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. (AP)

Some South Koreans had left Kaesong before the North's announcement but South Korean officials weren't certain whether all its nationals had departed by Pyongyang's deadline at 5.30pm (9am GMT), or what would become of anyone who failed to leave in time.

The South's Unification Ministry said about 130 South Koreans had planned to enter Kaesong on Thursday to begin shutdown work and that nearly 70 who had been staying there would be departing.

Thousands of North Koreans are also being pulled out of Kaesong, which was a vital symbol of fragile co-operation between the two countries, who have technically been at war since their creation at the end of the Korean War in 1953.

The factory park, which started producing goods in 2004, has provided 616 billion won (355 million) of cash to North Korea, South Korean Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo said.

Combining the Souths capital and technology with the North's cheap labour, the industrial park has been seen as a test case for reunification.

In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test Show all 15 1 /15 In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test A lab employee from the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety's regional office in Gangneung, east of Seoul, checks for radioactive traces in the air, in Gangneung, soon after North Korea announced it successfully conducted a hydrogen bomb test. The office in Gangneung is the closest one to the site of the North's claimed test. Officials said it will take three to four days to analyze air samples in detail for any traces of radioactivity, the Yonhap news agency reported EPA In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un signing a document of a hydrogen bomb test in Pyongyang In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test People watch a TV news program showing North Korea's special announcement at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea AP In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test Getty Images In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test Getty Images In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test South Korean people watch TV news at Seoul station EPA In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test Japan's meteorological agency officer Yohei Hasegawa displays a chart showing seismic activity, after a North Korean nuclear test, at the agency in Tokyo Getty Images In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test Ko Yun-Hwa, administrator of Korea Meteorological Administration, briefs reporters showing seismic waves from the site of North Korea's hydrogen bomb test, at his office in Seoul Getty Images In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test North Korea's border county of Kaepoong is seen from a South Korean observation post in Paju near the Demilitarized zone dividing the two Koreas as North Korea announced it had successfully carried out its first hydrogen bomb test Getty Images

It was the only place to officially allow people from both Koreas to interact and have a glimpse into each others lives and sparking the smuggling of South Korean snacks and food.

Last year, 124 South Korean companies hired 54,000 North Korean workers to produce socks, wristwatches and other goods worth about 350 million.

In a statement, the association of South Korean companies in Kaesong denounced the government's decision as entirely incomprehensible and unjust.

Yoon Sang-eun, 62, a South Korean driver for a firm at the factory park, said that if Kaesong stops operating, companies like us almost have to close off business. It is difficult.

But the US supported the shutdown by its ally and said it was considering its own, unspecified unilateral measures to punish Pyongyang for its recent nuclear test and rocket launch, even as the UN Security Council deliberates imposing more multilateral sanctions.

South Korea previously pulled workers from Kaesong for five months in 2013 following a series of military drills.

Additional reporting by agencies
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The final ending of an era of failed hopes for relations between the two Koreas came at sundown. The increasingly unpredictable regime of Kim Jong-un had turned the Kaesong Industrial Complex into a military zone, ordering all South Koreans to leave and seizing their assets.

That draconian North Korean response came hours after South Korea said it was pulling all South Korean companies out of the zone where citizens of both nations had worked together, as punishment for North Korea sending a satellite into space last Sunday, a month after conducting its fourth nuclear test.

South Koreas Unification Ministry, on orders from President Park Geun-hye, said the South feared the $100m (69m) spent annually on pay for the zones 54,000 North Korean workers was supporting the Norths nuclear and missile programmes.

The scene at the entry point as workers rushed out of the zone, their personal gear piled hastily into and on to their vehicles, was one of chaos and near panic. South Korean officials barred reporters from the immigration centre but the mood was clear in phone calls.

Managers of factories, making small industrial items ranging from cosmetics to watches to shoes, feared that some of them were still inside the zone, trying to lock down valuable equipment and recover books and records. We havent accounted for all of them, one harried manager said. Were afraid some might be held as hostages.

The precipitous shutdown of the zone marked the final failure of a project launched more than a decade ago amid hopes the zone would provide a foothold into North Korea for South Korean commerce  and bring about North-South rapprochement.

That dream was quickly turning into a nightmare with North Korea hurling invectives upon President Park and her government, blasting her order for South Korean firms to depart the zone as a dangerous declaration of war  a decision that was bringing the two Koreas to the brink of war.

The Yonhap news agency reported that South Korea had bolstered its military readiness and strength along the western portion of the border in the event of a North Korean provocation.

South Koreans over the years have become inured to bellicose rhetoric from Pyongyang, generally preferring to ignore it, but no one doubted North Korea was correct in saying the shutdown of business at the zone marked an end to the last lifeline of South and North Korea.

Kaesong was the last remaining thread of North-South co-operation, Evans Revere, a former senior diplomat at the US embassy in Seoul, said. It was also the final vestige of a policy of engagement that once held out hope for the transformation of North Korea. Seoul, Mr Revere said, had to end the project if it expected its calls for the international community to adopt strong measures in response to North Koreas nuclear and rocket tests to be taken seriously.

In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test Show all 15 1 /15 In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test A lab employee from the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety's regional office in Gangneung, east of Seoul, checks for radioactive traces in the air, in Gangneung, soon after North Korea announced it successfully conducted a hydrogen bomb test. The office in Gangneung is the closest one to the site of the North's claimed test. Officials said it will take three to four days to analyze air samples in detail for any traces of radioactivity, the Yonhap news agency reported EPA In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un signing a document of a hydrogen bomb test in Pyongyang In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test People watch a TV news program showing North Korea's special announcement at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea AP In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test Getty Images In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test Getty Images In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test South Korean people watch TV news at Seoul station EPA In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test Japan's meteorological agency officer Yohei Hasegawa displays a chart showing seismic activity, after a North Korean nuclear test, at the agency in Tokyo Getty Images In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test Ko Yun-Hwa, administrator of Korea Meteorological Administration, briefs reporters showing seismic waves from the site of North Korea's hydrogen bomb test, at his office in Seoul Getty Images In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test North Korea's border county of Kaepoong is seen from a South Korean observation post in Paju near the Demilitarized zone dividing the two Koreas as North Korea announced it had successfully carried out its first hydrogen bomb test Getty Images

The zone, before the arrival of South Korean factories hiring North Korean workers, had indeed been a military base. Its return to its original mission fuelled concerns about North Korean forces massing closer to Seoul.

Recommended Read more Pyongyang risks a backlash with rocket launch

North Korean troops entered the zone amid reports of the execution of the armed forces Chief of Staff, General Ri Yong-gil, reportedly the latest victim of an ongoing purge that has taken the lives of Mr Kims uncle-in-law, Jang Sung-taek, once regarded as the Norths second most powerful leader, and the Defence Minister Hyon Yong-chol.

General Ri and Mr Kim reportedly were at odds over Mr Kims moves to place the ruling Workers Party above the military structure  a rivalry that exposes a deep rift among those one rung below Kim Jong-un. The Pyongyang regime has just sent an ominous message to the elites by executing yet another general, Mr Revere said. If you are a member of the North Korean elite and you see that Kim Jong-uns reign of terror is showing no signs of slowing down and that even the most loyal elements of the leadership are being killed, you have to be thinking of a Plan B.

South Korea bolstered its military along the border, including near the village of Panmunjom, in Paju, pictured (AP)

The answer, from Mr Kims view, may be to seek absolute unity by turning threats against the South into action. The zone, beside the village of Panmunjom, where the truce ending the Korean War was signed in July 1953, is just 40 miles north of Seoul  within easy range of conventional artillery, much less the mid and short-range Scud and Rodong missiles that North Korea has produced for its own arsenal and for export to such clients as Iran and Syria.

In Seoul, however, there was widespread disagreement. Outside the government, many observers believed that Ms Park had acted too swiftly and harshly, almost daring the North to respond in kind. Predictable but very sad, was the assessment of Tom Pinansky, a long-time lawyer in Seoul, about the stand-off. Her decision does not put South Korea in a better place.

Tony Namkung, a long-time consultant who has advised on both business and diplomacy vis-a-vis North Korea, took a longer view. Only when the US and the two Koreas agree on a peace treaty will projects like Kaesong achieve stability, he said.
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A passenger has died on board a Singapore Airlines flight.

The passenger, believed to be a man who was travelling with his wife and child, passed away while flying from New Delhi to Singapore.

The plane was not diverted and landed at Singapore Changi Airport on Wednesday afternoon.

The incident is reportedly being investigated by police, according to The Straits Times.

The passenger, believed to be a 34-year-old Indian national, was pronounced dead on the flight by doctors, the website reported.

A source speaking to Channel NewsAsia said the passenger was a male and had been with his wife and child.

But a Singapore Airlines spokesperson did not confirm whether the passenger had been with their family and said further details regarding the incident could not be shared for privacy purposes.

The spokesperson told the website: We can confirm with regret that a passenger had passed away on flight SQ403 from New Delhi to Singapore [on Wednesday].

Our condolences go out to the family of the passenger at this time, they said.

News.com.au reported on Thursday that police in New South Wales were investigating the death of a 70-year-old man, who passed away on a flight travelling from Santiago to Sydney.
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A man has been arrested and charged over the alleged rape, kidnap and attempted murder of two young women camping on a remote beach in Adelaide, south Australia.

One of the women - who are believed to be from Brazil and Germany and in their twenties - was forced to run, naked and bloodied, through sand dunes towards a group of fishermen for help after the attack at around 6pm on Tuesday night.

"She ran straight to the car yelling. She opened the back door, jumped straight in and like, 'get me out of here, get me out of here. He's going to kill us all'," fisherman Abdul-Karim Mohammed told 7 News.

The other woman was recaptured by her alleged captor, before she escaped and was found barely conscious and unable to speak, the fishermen said.

Local media reported that one of the women is believed to have been hit in the head with a hammer while another was run over with a vehicle.

The trio had apparently been travelling together from Adelaide to Melbourne, and had stopped to camp for the night at Salt Creek.

Recommended Read more Women rescued after alleged kidnapping and sexual assault in Australia

Salt Creek Roadhouse owner Adam Stewart said he had encouraged the fishermen to return for the second woman after they phoned him for help.

"Unfortunately, [the women] were in pretty bad shape... We're all pretty rattled, obviously. It's a heavy event at any level. Even the police were rattled by it at a very high level," Mr Stewart said.

The 59-year-old man, from Morphett Vale, was arrested at Coorong National Park on Tuesday, and the women airlifted to Flinders Medical Centre with serious but non-life threatening injuries, 9 News reported.

One of the women has since been released but the other remains in hospital in a stable condition.

The alleged attacker appeared at Adelaide Magistrates Court via video link from a police station wearing a white hospital gown and with his right hand handcuffed to the wall of his cell, but did not say anything.

He reportedly had several online dating profiles in which he stated he was searching for a "future wife" and wanted to meet women aged between 22 and 56 for "dating, friendship and serious relationships".

He has been refused bail and is expected to appear in court again in April.

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

Police Superintendent James Blandford said the women had only met up with the man on the day they were attacked.

Effectively these two ladies have been driving with a newly acquainted person and effectively found themselves in a situation which has turned out to be rather scary and physically bad for them, he said.

Unfortunately there are a small minority of people who do prey on innocent people going about their business.
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Two alleged people smugglers have been put on trial charged with causing the death of Aylan Kurdi, whose body washed up on a beach in Turkey last year sparking a reaction to the refugee crisis around the world.

The men, both Syrian nationals, face up to 35 years in prison if they are found guilty on charges of human trafficking and manslaughter.

Aylan was travelling with his father, mother and brother Galip from Bodrum in Turkey to the Greek island of Kos when their boat capsized.

The images that followed, showing the small boy lying face down in the sand, galvanised a huge reaction to the crisis of people risking their lives fleeing conflict areas to reach Europe.

The two men, Muwafaka Alabash and Asem Alfrhad, opened in the Aegean seaside town of Bodrum on Thursday. They are accused of causing the deaths of five people, including Aylan, "through deliberate negligence".

Aylan and his family had fled the northern Syrian town of Kobani, which was periodically besieged by Isis militants throughout 2014 and 2015.

After a period living in Turkey with the hope of returning to their hometown, the family made two failed attempts to travel through Europe to Canada, where Aylan's aunt Tima Kurdi lived in Vancouver.

Refugee crisis - in pictures Show all 27 1 /27 Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugee crisis - in pictures A child looks through the fence at the Moria detention camp for migrants and refugees at the island of Lesbos on May 24, 2016. AFP/Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Ahmad Zarour, 32, from Syria, reacts after his rescue by MOAS (Migrant Offshore Aid Station) while attempting to reach the Greek island of Agathonisi, Dodecanese, southeastern Agean Sea Refugee crisis - in pictures Syrian migrants holding life vests gather onto a pebble beach in the Yesil liman district of Canakkale, northwestern Turkey, after being stopped by Turkish police in their attempt to reach the Greek island of Lesbos on 29 January 2016. Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees flash the 'V for victory' sign during a demonstration as they block the Greek-Macedonian border Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants have been braving sub zero temperatures as they cross the border from Macedonia into Serbia. Refugee crisis - in pictures A sinking boat is seen behind a Turkish gendarme off the coast of Canakkale's Bademli district on January 30, 2016. At least 33 migrants drowned on January 30 when their boat sank in the Aegean Sea while trying to cross from Turkey to Greece. Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A general view of a shelter for migrants inside a hangar of the former Tempelhof airport in Berlin, Germany Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees protest behind a fence against restrictions limiting passage at the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Since last week, Macedonia has restricted passage to northern Europe to only Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans who are considered war refugees. All other nationalities are deemed economic migrants and told to turn back. Macedonia has finished building a fence on its frontier with Greece becoming the latest country in Europe to build a border barrier aimed at checking the flow of refugees Refugee crisis - in pictures A father and his child wait after being caught by Turkish gendarme on 27 January 2016 at Canakkale's Kucukkuyu district Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants make hand signals as they arrive into the southern Spanish port of Malaga on 27 January, 2016 after an inflatable boat carrying 55 Africans, seven of them women and six chidren, was rescued by the Spanish coast guard off the Spanish coast. Refugee crisis - in pictures A refugee holds two children as dozens arrive on an overcrowded boat on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugee crisis - in pictures A child, covered by emergency blankets, reacts as she arrives, with other refugees and migrants, on the Greek island of Lesbos, At least five migrants including three children, died after four boats sank between Turkey and Greece, as rescue workers searched the sea for dozens more, the Greek coastguard said Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants wait under outside the Moria registration camp on the Lesbos. Over 400,000 people have landed on Greek islands from neighbouring Turkey since the beginning of the year Refugee crisis - in pictures The bodies of Christian refugees are buried separately from Muslim refugees at the Agios Panteleimonas cemetery in Mytilene, Lesbos Refugee crisis - in pictures Macedonian police officers control a crowd of refugees as they prepare to enter a camp after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A refugee tries to force the entry to a camp as Macedonian police officers control a crowd after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees are seen aboard a Turkish fishing boat as they arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea from the Turkish coast to Lesbos Reuters Refugee crisis - in pictures An elderly woman sings a lullaby to baby on a beach after arriving with other refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A man collapses as refugees make land from an overloaded rubber dinghy after crossing the Aegean see from Turkey, at the island of Lesbos EPA Refugee crisis - in pictures A girl reacts as refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees make a show of hands as they queue after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures People help a wheelchair user board a train with others, heading towards Serbia, at the transit camp for refugees near the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija AP Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees board a train, after crossing the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Macedonia is a key transit country in the Balkans migration route into the EU, with thousands of asylum seekers - many of them from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia - entering the country every day Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures An aerial picture shows the "New Jungle" refugee camp where some 3,500 people live while they attempt to enter Britain, near the port of Calais, northern France Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A Syrian girl reacts as she helped by a volunteer upon her arrival from Turkey on the Greek island of Lesbos, after having crossed the Aegean Sea EPA Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Beds ready for use for migrants and refugees are prepared at a processing center on January 27, 2016 in Passau, Germany. The flow of migrants arriving in Passau has dropped to between 500 and 1,000 per day, down significantly from last November, when in the same region up to 6,000 migrants were arriving daily.

The crossing which killed all of the family except the father, Abdullah Kurdi, was their third attempt. Abdullah has described how the family paid a combined 4,000 (2,900) to people smugglers for places on a small dinghy.

They began the crossing at night - but when the sea became too rough for the small vessel, the people smugglers allegedly abandoned it, leaving the passengers to try and steer it on their own.

The boat soon capsized, throwing the refugees into the sea. I was holding my wifes hand, Mr Kurdi has said.

My children slipped away from my hands. We tried to hold on to the boat. Everyone was screaming in pitch darkness.

When the images of Aylan first began circulating on social media on 2 September last year, The Independent took the editorial decision to publish the most shocking versions in full.

The campaign which followed helped force the Government to do more to take in Syrian refugees, and just five days later David Cameron announced 20,000 more places would be found.
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The former Prime Minister of Italy has warned Britain's exit from the EU would be the first step of the definitive decline of the union - and could lead to other major nations also pulling out of the EU.

Enrico Letta, who was Prime Minister of Italy from 2012 to 2013, has said the possibility of Brexit needs to be taken seriously.

Speaking exclusively to The Independent about the implications of Brexit, Dr Letta said: The European Union without the UK is not the European Union. The UKs exit will be the first step in European Union decline.

Discussing the likelihood of Britain voting to leave the EU, Dr Letta said David Cameron's effectiveness spearheadling the In campaign in the referendum would be the decisive factor.

The former Prime Minister of Italy, who is now the Dean of the Paris School of International Affairs, added that leaving the EU would reduce the power and influence that London has in the world.

London is the capital city of the world also because London is in the European single market.

Without being the capital of the single market, the European market, [London] will lose a lot of influence. Today the strength of London is because it is the door to the biggest market in the world.

When asked if he made a message to the people of Britain, Dr Letta told The Independent: Together we can both be successful as we were in the pastand alone I think we will be both be defeated.

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

Dr Letta was in the United Kingdom attending the University of Warwicks Economic Summit where he gave a lecture on the future of Europe.

He argued the need for a two circle Europe, one circle that gives the UK a guarantee there will not be a closer union and another circle that will allow other European countries to integrate further.
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The world reeled following reports that as many as 1,000 women had been sexually assaulted - groped, robbed, intimidated and separated from their friends - at Cologne's central train station on New Year's Eve.

Many of the perpetrators, it was alleged, appeared to be of North African or Arab descent, and in the two months since the incident, protests have been held in the streets by right-wing, anti-immigration groups including Pegida and HoGeSa, facing off against counter demonstrations by anti-fascist organisations.

Public support in Germany for asylum-seekers has been shown to have dropped, with some criticising German Chancellor Angela Merkel for lifting asylum restrictions for Syrian refugees last summer  a decision that led to the arrival of 1.1 million migrants and asylum seekers in 2015 and was credited in part for making her Time's Person of the Year.

At the same time, German police reported that the number of sexual assault complaints at the city's annual carnival, which took place last week, had quadrupled since the year before - rising to 66 complaints compared to 18 in 2015, despite a heightened police presence in the wake of the NYE attacks.

So what is it like now on the streets of Cologne, and who do people blame for the attacks?

In an attempt to find out, TV presenter Stacey Dooley made a short film for BBC Three, in which she travelled to Cologne to talk to asylum seekers - and those involved in the protests - about the reaction they had been receiving from German people, and whether it has changed since December 31.

In the footage, she first encounters a feminist march on the steps of the train station. One of the women taking part in the singing, waving flags and blowing whistles explains they are there because they want to "be loud and make a sign against violence against women".

She adds,"I don't care who they are, they're a**holes and we are against a**holes."

Ms Dooley describes a genial atmosphere, where "everyone is on good form".

But then she travels to the other side of the station to witness a different kind of march, and the atmosphere clearly changes. The whole area is flooded with police, while anti-fascists face off against far-right groups including Pegida - and former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson.

Pegida and other far-right groups have been holding anti-immigrant protests in Germany (BBC Three/Stacey Dooley/YouTube)

Against the cries of, "Nazis out, refugees welcome", Robinson uses a megaphone to say: "Islam is the cancer, Pegida is the cure."

He adds: "Angela Merkel is handing out the birthright of Germans like she is handing out sweets to children."

Eventually, captured on film, anti-Islam protesters are dispersed by police using high-powered water hoses.

Ms Dooley talks to women who were at the centre of the attacks to see how it has affected them, some of whom now carry small cans of pepper spray in their handbags.

Women who were caught up in the Cologne attacks describe their experiences (BBC Three/Stacey Dooley/YouTube)

18-year-old Michelle was at the train station that evening and says: "It was full of people but you couldn't see any women or children. We were scared and tried to slip round them but they circled us and surrounded us.

"At first we thought it was a joke, but after a while they just didn't stop. They were touching us wherever they could."

Michelle confirms groups of men touched her chest and between her chest, then stole her things while she was distracted trying to fight them off.

But she doesn't blame refugees single-handedly for what happened.

"I don't think 1,000 men planned to meet there to do this," she says. "There were so many different men. There are so many migrants who try to integrate, try to learn German and try to work and are good for the country."

Ms Dooley also speaks to refugees to see how they feel about being blamed for the assaults.

A man from Somalia, which is wracked by civil war, says it took him five months to travel to Germany, where he "feels safe for the first time".

One young refugee from Somalia says he "doesn't blame" some German people for taking against migrants (BBC Three/Stacey Dooley/YouTube)

"I feel very welcome," he says. "I want to thank the German government, especially Angela Merkel, and all the German people."

A young man from Western Sahara says he was recently arrested and "beaten up" by German police, but claims he "doesn't know why or what for".

"Some of them are good people, some of them are bad people,"he says. "Some are kind, some are racist."

But others are less forgiving. One man, himself a migrant from Kazakhstan, described those who attacked the women as "like lions" which have been "set free".

"They don't see sexy girls in their country then they come here and they see girls like they are naked in front of them," he adds.

One migrant named Amam went to Cologne station to hand out flowers to women after he heard about what had happened on NYE.

Amam says that after the NYE attacks he went to Cologne train station to give women flowers (BBC Three/Stacey Dooley/YouTube)

"At the beginning we were just shocked and then we started seeing comments ... that it was supposedly North Africans who were to blame: Tunisians, Moroccans, Algerians.

"It's a disaster that this happened to women, they were degraded, and you have to stand up against this kind of thing. That's why we thought we'd go there and hand out flowers so that we can show everyone that in these countries - where people say women have no value and no role and are oppressed by men - it's not true, because if it were then we wouldn't be standing there."

800,000 immigrants are expected to arrive in Germany this year. But who do the social workers and other aid employees from Germany working with asylum seekers blame for the attacks?

Germany reacts to Cologne New Year's Eve attacks Show all 13 1 /13 Germany reacts to Cologne New Year's Eve attacks Germany reacts to Cologne New Year's Eve attacks Women protest against sexism outside Cologne Cathedral on 5 January after the assaults Oliver Berg/EPA Germany reacts to Cologne New Year's Eve attacks Women protest against sexism in Cologne following the rash of sex attacks on New Year's Eve Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters Germany reacts to Cologne New Year's Eve attacks Police initially failed to mention the assaults in report the following morning EPA Germany reacts to Cologne New Year's Eve attacks Police officers patrol in front of the main station of Cologne, Germany AP Germany reacts to Cologne New Year's Eve attacks German far-right supporters demonstrate at Cologne`s train station (Reuters) Reuters Germany reacts to Cologne New Year's Eve attacks Supporters of anti-immigration right-wing movement Pegida in Cologne, Germany, January 9, 2016. Reuters Germany reacts to Cologne New Year's Eve attacks Police used pepper spray to control supporters of Pegida, Hogesa (Hooligans against Salafists) and other right-wing populist groups as they protested against the New Year's Eve sex attacks on 9 January, 2016 in Cologne, Germany Reuters Germany reacts to Cologne New Year's Eve attacks Police use a water cannon during a protest march by supporters of anti-immigration right-wing movement Pegida in Cologne, Germany, January 9, 2016 Reuters Germany reacts to Cologne New Year's Eve attacks Police use pepper spray against supporters of anti-immigration right-wing movement Pegida, in Cologne, Germany, January 9, 2016. Reuters Germany reacts to Cologne New Year's Eve attacks Artist Mira Moire protests naked in Cologne against the mass sex attacks on New Year's Eve AP Germany reacts to Cologne New Year's Eve attacks A demonstrator holds a sign in German that reads 'No violence against women' during a demonstration in the wake of the sexual assaults on New Year's Eve, outside the cathedeal in Cologne, Germany, 09 January 2016. EPA Germany reacts to Cologne New Year's Eve attacks Counter demonstrators hold up a sign reading "Against sexism, against racism" as they protest against a demonstration of the islamophobic movement PEGIDA at the train station in Cologne, Germany, on January 9, 2016. AFP/Getty Images Germany reacts to Cologne New Year's Eve attacks Demonstration by a womens group on Saturday (AP) AP

"You can't tar everyone with the same brush," one female refuge worker says.

"We have only had good experiences here, we haven't had any trouble, the guests haven't fought among themselves.

"As women, we have never had any negative experiences, and I mean not even once, regardless of which countries the young or even older men are from. They have always been polite, respectful, always helpful. I can't tell you any different."

Women who work in centres helping refugees say they have had "no negative experiences" (BBC Three/Stacey Dooley/YouTube)

To the contrary, in fact, she says that what she's most frightened of is Pegida - and others like them.

"It's frightening, what's happening at the moment. People who are looking to us for protection are being used for these [political] purposes."
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Threats have been issued to journalists in Dublin following two gangland murders in the capital.

Independent News and Media, which owns titles including the Irish Independent, the Evening Herald and the Sunday World, announced that a number of journalists had been warned by police that their lives could be in danger.

A statement released by Independent News and Media (INM) said: A number of reporters have been formally notified by the Garda Siochana that their safety is at risk from organised criminals.

INM is working with gardai to strengthen security around these journalists and taking every precaution to ensure their safety. The threats are understood to have emanated from criminal gangs in Dublin.

After consulting with the reporters concerned, INM has decided to make these threats public in order to highlight the danger posed to the media.

INM editor-in-chief Stephen Rae said: This is an outrageous threat to the freedom of the press in Ireland and we are taking the threats with the utmost seriousness. The safety of our journalists is of paramount importance.

Mr Rae said it was disturbing that the threats had been made ahead of the 20th anniversary of the death of his former colleague, Veronica Guerin. The Sunday Independent reporter was murdered in June 1996 after exposing the activities of some Irelands most notorious gangsters.
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A 94-year-old who was a guard at the Auschwitz death camp has gone on trial in Germany accused of playing a part in 170,000 murders.

Former SS sergeant Reinhold Hanning has admitted he was a guard at the Nazi death camp, but denies that he was involved in the mass killings there  maintaining that he was stationed in the part of the camp where the gassing of victims did not actually take place.

But prosecutors argue that all guards helped the camp to function and that during the so-called Hungarian action in 1944  when hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews were taken to the camp  almost all were called upon to help deal with the vast numbers of people arriving at the killing complex in Nazi-occupied Poland.

A precedent was set for such charges to be brought in 2011 when former Ohio car-worker John Demjanjuk became the first person to be convicted in Germany solely for serving as a camp guard, with no evidence of involvement in a specific killing.

Hanning's lawyer, Johannes Salmen, said that his client acknowledged serving at the Auschwitz I part of the camp complex, but denied serving at the Auschwitz II-Birkenau section, where most of the 1.1 million victims of the camp were killed in four gas chambers.

Prosecutor Andreas Brendel said that guards in the main camp were used as on-call guards to supplement those in Birkenau when new trainloads of Jews were brought in.

We believe that these auxiliaries were used in particular during the so-called Hungarian action in support of Birkenau, he said.

Remembering the Holocaust Show all 16 1 /16 Remembering the Holocaust Remembering the Holocaust 119165.bin Hannah Bills Remembering the Holocaust 119169.bin Hannah Bills Remembering the Holocaust 119229.bin Hannah Bills Remembering the Holocaust 119167.bin Hannah Bills Remembering the Holocaust 119162.bin Hannah Bills Remembering the Holocaust 119166.bin Hannah Bills Remembering the Holocaust 119163.bin Hannah Bills Remembering the Holocaust 119224.bin Hannah Bills Remembering the Holocaust 119168.bin Hannah Bills Remembering the Holocaust 119228.bin Hannah Bills Remembering the Holocaust 119152.bin Hannah Bills Remembering the Holocaust 119226.bin Hannah Bills Remembering the Holocaust 119150.bin Hannah Bills Remembering the Holocaust 119151.bin Hannah Bills Remembering the Holocaust 119147.bin Hannah Bills Remembering the Holocaust 119231.bin Hannah Bills

Six million Jews died during the Nazis Holocaust  their horrendous Final Solution to the Jewish Question  with other victims including gypsies, homosexuals, the disabled, and those considered to be political opponents.

Hanning was 20 years old in 1942 when he started serving as a guard at Auschwitz.

Prosecutors said he voluntarily joined the SS aged 18 and participated in battles in eastern Europe during the early stages of World War Two, before being transferred to the camp.

He is understood to have served there until 1944.

Ahead of the trial, Erna de Vries, who was deported to Auschwitz with her mother, said: I survived, but up until today I dont know how exactly my mother was killed.

The last thing she said to me was you will survive and tell what happened to us.

I am not hateful, but it somehow feels like justice to see this man, who was working there when my mother died, on trial.

Erna de Vries had been saved from the gas chambers and was transferred to a labour camp as she was considered a Jewish crossbreed because her father was Protestant.

Hannings trial, in Detmold, north-west Germany, is the first of four trials of its kind to be held over the coming months.

Additional reporting by agencies
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Police say six children have died after a school bus crashed into a truck near Rochefort in western France.

Local media reports described all those killed in the crash as pupils, which was later confirmed by officials. Others were reported to have been badly injured.

The school bus was carrying 18 children when in collided with a truck carrying construction materials at around 7.15am local time (6.15am GMT).

Speaking to France Bleu radio, a local councillor described the horror of the crash scene and a large emergency services presence.

French police work near the wreckage of the school bus (AFP)

The crash took place near Rochefort, killing at least six children (AFP)

The incident took place near Rochefort, in western France (marked) (Google Earth)

Jerome Servolle, a police union official in the town, said a gate-like object swung open on the truck, slicing through the school bus at window height.

"The word chaos is not strong enough. This is such a tragedy," he said.

Rochefort's mayor, Herve Blanche, said the circumstances of the crash were under investigation, but confirmed that six children had died.

France's transport minister and other government officials were reported to be heading to the scene in the Charente-Maritime region.

It came almost exactly 24 hours after a boy aged 12 and a girl aged 15 were killed when a driver of another school bus lost control in snowy conditions near Montflovin, eastern France.

The driver had been taking 33 children to school, and he and another six children were injured as the bus overturned. An investigation into the cause of that crash has been opened, though a collision with another vehicle was ruled out.
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The Nato fleet is being deployed to the Aegean Sea immediately in a bid to end the flow of refugees crossing the sea into Europe from Turkey.

Announcing the deployment, which will see refugee boats met by warships rather than coastguards, Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said action would be taken "without delay".

It comes after Greece declared Turkey a "safe third country", giving it the legal framework to turn back asylum-seekers and to actively deport those who have arrived back across the Mediterranean.

In a press conference, Mr Stoltenberg insisted the deployment of Nato's Standing Maritime Group 2 was "not about stopping or pushing back refugee boats".

The fleet, including warships from a range of Western countries and currently under German command, "will be tasked to conduct reconnaissance, monitoring and surveillance of the illegal crossings in the Aegean sea in cooperation with relevant authorities", he said.

The US Secretary of Defence, Ash Carter, said: "There is now a criminal syndicate that is exploiting these poor people and this is an organised smuggling operation.

"Targeting that is the way that the greatest effect can be had ... That is the principal intent of this."

At the same time, it was announced that Nato will step up its counter-terror efforts on the border between Turkey and Syria.

And Mr Stoltenberg said Nato would "step up" its efforts in the international coalition against Isis, following a request from the US.

"We have just agreed that Nato will provide support to assist with the refugee and migrant crisis," Mr Stoltenberg said.

"The goal is to participate in the international efforts to stem the illegal trafficking and illegal migration in the Aegean."

Refugee crisis - in pictures Show all 27 1 /27 Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugee crisis - in pictures A child looks through the fence at the Moria detention camp for migrants and refugees at the island of Lesbos on May 24, 2016. AFP/Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Ahmad Zarour, 32, from Syria, reacts after his rescue by MOAS (Migrant Offshore Aid Station) while attempting to reach the Greek island of Agathonisi, Dodecanese, southeastern Agean Sea Refugee crisis - in pictures Syrian migrants holding life vests gather onto a pebble beach in the Yesil liman district of Canakkale, northwestern Turkey, after being stopped by Turkish police in their attempt to reach the Greek island of Lesbos on 29 January 2016. Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees flash the 'V for victory' sign during a demonstration as they block the Greek-Macedonian border Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants have been braving sub zero temperatures as they cross the border from Macedonia into Serbia. Refugee crisis - in pictures A sinking boat is seen behind a Turkish gendarme off the coast of Canakkale's Bademli district on January 30, 2016. At least 33 migrants drowned on January 30 when their boat sank in the Aegean Sea while trying to cross from Turkey to Greece. Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A general view of a shelter for migrants inside a hangar of the former Tempelhof airport in Berlin, Germany Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees protest behind a fence against restrictions limiting passage at the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Since last week, Macedonia has restricted passage to northern Europe to only Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans who are considered war refugees. All other nationalities are deemed economic migrants and told to turn back. Macedonia has finished building a fence on its frontier with Greece becoming the latest country in Europe to build a border barrier aimed at checking the flow of refugees Refugee crisis - in pictures A father and his child wait after being caught by Turkish gendarme on 27 January 2016 at Canakkale's Kucukkuyu district Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants make hand signals as they arrive into the southern Spanish port of Malaga on 27 January, 2016 after an inflatable boat carrying 55 Africans, seven of them women and six chidren, was rescued by the Spanish coast guard off the Spanish coast. Refugee crisis - in pictures A refugee holds two children as dozens arrive on an overcrowded boat on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugee crisis - in pictures A child, covered by emergency blankets, reacts as she arrives, with other refugees and migrants, on the Greek island of Lesbos, At least five migrants including three children, died after four boats sank between Turkey and Greece, as rescue workers searched the sea for dozens more, the Greek coastguard said Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants wait under outside the Moria registration camp on the Lesbos. Over 400,000 people have landed on Greek islands from neighbouring Turkey since the beginning of the year Refugee crisis - in pictures The bodies of Christian refugees are buried separately from Muslim refugees at the Agios Panteleimonas cemetery in Mytilene, Lesbos Refugee crisis - in pictures Macedonian police officers control a crowd of refugees as they prepare to enter a camp after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A refugee tries to force the entry to a camp as Macedonian police officers control a crowd after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees are seen aboard a Turkish fishing boat as they arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea from the Turkish coast to Lesbos Reuters Refugee crisis - in pictures An elderly woman sings a lullaby to baby on a beach after arriving with other refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A man collapses as refugees make land from an overloaded rubber dinghy after crossing the Aegean see from Turkey, at the island of Lesbos EPA Refugee crisis - in pictures A girl reacts as refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees make a show of hands as they queue after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures People help a wheelchair user board a train with others, heading towards Serbia, at the transit camp for refugees near the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija AP Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees board a train, after crossing the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Macedonia is a key transit country in the Balkans migration route into the EU, with thousands of asylum seekers - many of them from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia - entering the country every day Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures An aerial picture shows the "New Jungle" refugee camp where some 3,500 people live while they attempt to enter Britain, near the port of Calais, northern France Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A Syrian girl reacts as she helped by a volunteer upon her arrival from Turkey on the Greek island of Lesbos, after having crossed the Aegean Sea EPA Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Beds ready for use for migrants and refugees are prepared at a processing center on January 27, 2016 in Passau, Germany. The flow of migrants arriving in Passau has dropped to between 500 and 1,000 per day, down significantly from last November, when in the same region up to 6,000 migrants were arriving daily.

"It is important to respond swiftly," he said. "Because this crisis affects all of us."

Germany has said it will take part in the mission in collaboration with Greece and Turkey, while the US said it "fully supports" the plan.

It is initially expected to involve five warships stationed for Standing Maritime Group 2 currently near Cyprus, but Mr Stoltenberg indicated more ships could be moved to the Aegean if required.

A government source told Reuters Germany is expected to contribute at least one other ship.

The extent to which the Nato vessels will interact with refugee boats remains unclear.

Nato diplomats said that rather than direct intervention, intelligence gathered about people-smugglers is likely to be handed over to Turkish coastguards to allow them to combat the traffickers more effectively.

Yet there have been numerous incidents where interactions between larger coastguard ships and refugee boats have resulted in the latter being capsized, and it is not known how people smuggler captains will react to sighting a large Nato warship in their path.

Nato confirmed that any refugees it "saves" from the vessels will be taken back to Turkey. According to Reuters, the Greek and Turkish coastguards will continue to operate exclusively within their own territorial waters.
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An Israeli MP has caused outrage and bafflement by telling Israel's parliament that the Palestinian Nation doesn't exist because Arabic does not include the "P" sound.

Dr Anat Berko, a member of the ruling Likud party, said in the Knesset: "I want to go back to history, what is our place here, about Jerusalem, about Palestine, when like we said, Arabic doesn't even have 'P,' so this loan-word also merits scrutiny.

Fellow MP, Tamar Zandberg of the left-wing Meretz party retorted: "What? Did everyone hear this? Are you an idiot?"

Dr Berko responded: "These are the facts. I'll send it to you, everything's alright."

While Arabic does not include the "P" sound, Palestine in Arabic begins with a "F" and is pronounced "Falastin".

The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Show all 10 1 /10 The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Medics evacuate a wounded man from the scene of an attack in Jerusalem. A Palestinian rammed a vehicle into a bus stop then got out and started stabbing people before he was shot dead AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Israeli ZAKA emergency response members carry the body of an Israeli at the scene of a shooting attack in Jerusalem. A pair of Palestinian men boarded a bus in Jerusalem and began shooting and stabbing passengers, while another assailant rammed a car into a bus station before stabbing bystanders, in near-simultaneous attacks that escalated a month long wave of violence AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Getty Images The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Palestinians throw molotov cocktail during clashes with Israeli troops near Ramallah, West Bank. Recent days have seen a series of stabbing attacks in Israel and the West Bank that have wounded several Israelis AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Women cry during the funeral of Palestinian teenager Ahmad Sharaka, 13, who was shot dead by Israeli forces during clashes at a checkpoint near Ramallah, at the family house in the Palestinian West Bank refugee camp of Jalazoun, Ramallah AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies A wounded Palestinian boy and his father hold hands at a hospital after their house was brought down by an Israeli air strike in Gaza Reuters The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Palestinians look on after a protester is shot by Israelis soldiers during clashes at the Howara checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus EPA The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies A lawyer wearing his official robes kicks a tear gas canister back toward Israeli soldiers during a demonstration by scores of Palestinian lawyers called for by the Palestinian Bar Association in solidarity with protesters at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, near Ramallah, West Bank AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Undercover Israeli soldiers detain a Palestinian in Ramallah Reuters The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Palestinian youth burn tyres during clashes with Israeli soldiers close to the Jewish settlement of Bet El, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, after Israel barred Palestinians from Jerusalem's Old City as tensions mounted following attacks that killed two Israelis and wounded a child

Another MP, Osama Sa'adi from the Joint Arab list left the chamber in protest, reports Haaretz.

In the same debate - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu derided Labour Party chairman Isaac Herzog for only now "waking up" to the two-state solution being inviable.

Mr Herzog challenged the Prime Minister to annex the Palestinian territories, saying: "Let's see what happens then."

Dr Berko is a former Lieutenant Colonel in the Israeli Defence Force and has served as a visiting professor at George Washington University in Washington DC.

Her academic specialism is in counter terrorism and suicide bombings.
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NATO is considering joining the US-led coalition fighting Islamic State jihadists in Syria and Iraq, US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said on Thursday.

Thanks to the leadership of NATO (head) Jens Stoltenberg we are exploring the possibility of NATO joining the coalition as a member itself, Mr Carter said after a meeting of the coalition in Brussels, according to the AFP news agency.

The coalition already includes all 28 NATO member states individually, but not the alliance in its own right.

The development came after the US had pressed its allies to contribute more to the US-led campaign against Isis, which it said must be accelerated.

Mr Carter spoke with more than two dozen defense ministers, including the minister from key regional ally Saudi Arabia, which renewed its offer potentially to send troops into Syria.

Mr Carter's push came a day after France delivered a rebuke to President Barack Obama, demanding that Washington show a clearer commitment to resolving the crisis in Syria where Russia is tipping the military balance in favor of President al-Bashar Assad.
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The US and Russia are trading accusations over the bombing of hospitals in rebel-held areas of Syria as diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire falter.

A Pentagon spokesperson accused Russia and Syrian government forces of destroying two major hospitals in the divided city of Aleppo on Wednesday, without specifying when the air strikes took place.

But Igor Konashenkov, from Russias defence ministry hit back by claiming Moscow tracked two US Air Force A-10 jets bombing Aleppo on the day.

American officials denied hitting a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospital in the southern town of Tafas in strikes that killed three people on Friday.

 Russian-backed Aleppo offensive 'kills hundreds'

The Independent asked the Russian Embassy and defence ministry whether its forces were involved but did not receive a reply.

A spokesperson for MSF said its Tafas field hospital, lying just miles from the Jordanian border in a region controlled by anti-government rebels, was targeted on Friday night.

Three people were killed and six wounded, including a nurse, while the blasts caused significant damage to the building and put its desperately-needed ambulance service out of action.

In fear for their lives, more than 20,000 people from Tafas town fled to the surrounding countryside, a spokesperson for MSF said.

The hospital is the latest medical facility to be hit in a series of airstrikes in southern Syria, which have been escalating over the past two months.

A member of staff said she had been on the way to work to help people injured in other air strikes when the hospital was hit.

It all happened very quickly. I saw what looked like an explosion and then a flash of light, and then I lost consciousness for five minutes, she recalled.

My colleagues saw me lying on the ground, bleeding, and rushed me inside. I was injured in both my arm and leg by shrapnel.

MSF, an international humanitarian organisation that operates in conflict zones around the world, has previously seen its facilities bombed allegedly by Saudi Arabia in Yemen and the US in Afghanistan.

Its health workers have warned that indiscriminate bombing in both Yemen and Syrias civil wars are killing civilians and increasingly hitting health facilities, preventing people from accessing desperately needed medical care.

Hospitals and clinics are no longer places where patients can recover in safety, a spokesperson said.

MSF renews its calls for the protection of civilian life and the respect of health facilities by all parties to the conflictthe repeated attacks on medical facilities in the ongoing conflict constitute a flagrant violation of international laws.

Bryant Davis, a US Air Force captain, told The Independent the international coalition including Britain and France had conducted no strikes around Tafas.

We take great care - from analysis of available intelligence to selection of the appropriate weapon to meet mission requirements - to minimise the risk of collateral damage, particularly any potential harm to non-combatants, he added.

An official from United States Central Command said Coalition air strikes on 5 February were near Ayn Isa, in the north-eastern Raqqa governate, and hit Isis units, vehicles and buildings.

Recorded air strikes in the country show those by the US-led coalition concentrating on Isis held territory around the so-called Islamic States strongholds including Raqqa and Palmyra, while Russian strikes have largely hit areas controlled by moderate anti-government rebels.

In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Show all 19 1 /19 In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Syrian boys cry following Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Aleppo Getty In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russian defense ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov speaks to the media in Moscow, Russia. Konashenkov strongly warned the United States against striking Syrian government forces and issued a thinly-veiled threat to use Russian air defense assets to protect them AP In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Syrians wait to receive treatment at a hospital following Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Alepp Getty In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov speaks at a briefing in the Defense Ministry in Moscow, Russia. Antonov said the Russian air strikes in Syria have killed about 35,000 militants, including about 2,700 residents of Russia AP In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Jameel Mustafa Habboush, receives oxygen from civil defence volunteers, known as the white helmets, as they rescue him from under the rubble of a building following Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Aleppo Getty In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Civil defence members rest amidst rubble in a site hit by what activists said were airstrikes carried out by the Russian air force in the town of Douma, eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria A girl carrying a baby inspects damage in a site hit by what activists said were airstrikes carried out by the Russian air force in the town of Douma, eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Civilians and civil defence members look for survivors at a site damaged after Russian air strikes on the Syrian rebel-held city of Idlib, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Civilians and civil defence members carry an injured woman on a stretcher at a site damaged after Russian air strikes on the Syrian rebel-held city of Idlib, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Volunteers from Syria Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets, help civilians after Russia carried out its first airstrikes in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria The aftermath of Russian airstrike in Talbiseh, Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Smoke billows from buildings in Talbiseh, in Homs province, western Syria, after airstrikes by Russian warplanes AP In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russian Air Forces carry out an air strike in the ISIS controlled Al-Raqqah Governorate. Russia's KAB-500s bombs completely destroy the Liwa al-Haqq command unit In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Caspian Flotilla of the Russian Navy firing Kalibr cruise missiles against remote Isis targets in Syria A TASS/ITAR-TASS Photo/Corbis In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russia claimed it hit eight Isis targets, including a "terrorist HQ and co-ordination centre" that was completely destroyed In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria A video grab taken from the footage made available on the Russian Defence Ministry's official website, purporting to show an airstrike in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria A release from the Russian defence ministry purportedly showing targets in Syria being hit In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russia launched air strikes in war-torn Syria, its first military engagement outside the former Soviet Union since the occupation of Afghanistan in 1979. Russian warplanes carried out strikes in three Syrian provinces along with regime aircraft as Putin seeks to steal US President Barack Obama's thunder by pushing a rival plan to defeat Isis militants in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Caspian Flotilla of the Russian Navy firing Kalibr cruise missiles against remote Isis targets in Syria, a thousand kilometres away. The targets include ammunition factories, ammunition and fuel depots, command centres, and training camps A TASS/ITAR-TASS Photo/Corbis

Vladimir Putin has repeatedly insisted his intervention in Syria is targeting terrorism but Russian officials have confirmed they share intelligence with Bashar al-Assads forces and, after arriving at his intention, are most likely bombing groups singled out by the Syrian regime.

John Kerry, the US Secretary of State, was meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov today to try and reconcile deep differences over a proposed ceasefire.

Russia wants it to start on 1 March but US believes that will only serve to give give Moscow and the Syrian government three weeks to crush moderate rebel groups and wants an immediate truce.

The conflict has killed more than 250,000 people, driven Europe's biggest refugee crisis since World War II and allowed the Isis to carve out its own territory across parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq.

Additional reporting by AP
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Saudi Arabia has confirmed it is planning to deploy ground troops to Syria to fight Isis.

The announcement, reported by the Saudi owned news organisation al-Arabiya, comes after several weeks of rumours the Gulf state would lead troops in Syria.

A ground operation will likely anger President Bashar al-Assad, as well as the governments of Russia and Iran - who will see the intervention as an attempt to slow the progress of the Syrian government against rebels, according to Conflict News.

It is currently unclear whether Saudi Arabia will deploy ground troops or call upon their newly-formed anti-terror coalition, made up of over 30 countries.

Saudi Arabia has previously threatened to remove President Assad "by force" if he refuses to give up his power.

The kingdom has engaged in a number of proxy wars against Iran, such as the one currently raging in Yemen.

The US has previously indicated it is in favour of greater military involvement by the Gulf states.

Some UK officials have argued a Saudi presence in Syria may curb the Russians' increasingly aggressive military action, due to a desire not to damage commercial and diplomatic ties between the two nations.
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The suggestion by Saudi Arabia that it send ground troops to Syria might mean the limited deployment of Saudi special forces alongside their US counterpart or a more ambitious intervention, probably in combination with the Turkish army.

It might also be a desperate last throw of the dice to rescue a bankrupt policy as it becomes clear that a five-year effort by Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar and the Gulf monarchies to overthrow Syrias President, Bashar al-Assad, has failed. The Syrian army is advancing on all fronts, backed by Russian air strikes, and has cut off opposition forces in Aleppo.

Saudi policy has become more aggressive and proactive over the past year as it has come under the control of the deputy Crown Prince and Defence Minister, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is seen as the power behind the Saudi throne. But much remains unclear about any proposed action by Saudi ground troops in the Syrian civil war, though the US has welcomed the idea of extra help from Saudi Arabia and anybody else who wants to join the fight against Isis.

 Syrians Flee Aleppo to Huge Refugee Camp near Turkish Border

If Saudi Arabia becomes involved in any more ambitious venture in Syria it is likely to be in association with Turkey; but Turkeys policy towards sending its army across the border is ambivalent because to do so would be highly risky.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is appalled by the prospect that the war in Syria may conclude with Mr Assad still in power and the de facto Syrian Kurdish state of Rojava controlling half of the 550-mile long Syrian-Turkish border. Turkey particularly wants to prevent the Syrian Kurdish militia force, the Peoples Protection Units (YPG), advancing west of the Euphrates and linking up with the Kurdish enclave of Afrin. This would cut the supply lines of Isis and the non-Isis opposition from Turkey to Aleppo.

In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Show all 19 1 /19 In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Syrian boys cry following Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Aleppo Getty In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russian defense ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov speaks to the media in Moscow, Russia. Konashenkov strongly warned the United States against striking Syrian government forces and issued a thinly-veiled threat to use Russian air defense assets to protect them AP In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Syrians wait to receive treatment at a hospital following Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Alepp Getty In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov speaks at a briefing in the Defense Ministry in Moscow, Russia. Antonov said the Russian air strikes in Syria have killed about 35,000 militants, including about 2,700 residents of Russia AP In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Jameel Mustafa Habboush, receives oxygen from civil defence volunteers, known as the white helmets, as they rescue him from under the rubble of a building following Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Aleppo Getty In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Civil defence members rest amidst rubble in a site hit by what activists said were airstrikes carried out by the Russian air force in the town of Douma, eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria A girl carrying a baby inspects damage in a site hit by what activists said were airstrikes carried out by the Russian air force in the town of Douma, eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Civilians and civil defence members look for survivors at a site damaged after Russian air strikes on the Syrian rebel-held city of Idlib, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Civilians and civil defence members carry an injured woman on a stretcher at a site damaged after Russian air strikes on the Syrian rebel-held city of Idlib, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Volunteers from Syria Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets, help civilians after Russia carried out its first airstrikes in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria The aftermath of Russian airstrike in Talbiseh, Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Smoke billows from buildings in Talbiseh, in Homs province, western Syria, after airstrikes by Russian warplanes AP In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russian Air Forces carry out an air strike in the ISIS controlled Al-Raqqah Governorate. Russia's KAB-500s bombs completely destroy the Liwa al-Haqq command unit In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Caspian Flotilla of the Russian Navy firing Kalibr cruise missiles against remote Isis targets in Syria A TASS/ITAR-TASS Photo/Corbis In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russia claimed it hit eight Isis targets, including a "terrorist HQ and co-ordination centre" that was completely destroyed In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria A video grab taken from the footage made available on the Russian Defence Ministry's official website, purporting to show an airstrike in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria A release from the Russian defence ministry purportedly showing targets in Syria being hit In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russia launched air strikes in war-torn Syria, its first military engagement outside the former Soviet Union since the occupation of Afghanistan in 1979. Russian warplanes carried out strikes in three Syrian provinces along with regime aircraft as Putin seeks to steal US President Barack Obama's thunder by pushing a rival plan to defeat Isis militants in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Caspian Flotilla of the Russian Navy firing Kalibr cruise missiles against remote Isis targets in Syria, a thousand kilometres away. The targets include ammunition factories, ammunition and fuel depots, command centres, and training camps A TASS/ITAR-TASS Photo/Corbis

Any move across the border into Syria by Turkey and allies such as Saudi Arabia has become more complicated, and potentially more costly, since the Russian military intervention on 30 September last year and the shooting down of a Russian bomber by a Turkish F-16 fighter on 24 November. A cross-border move might now provoke the use of Russian aircraft and anti-aircraft missile systems against the Turks and anybody else involved.

Recommended Read more Saudi Arabia confirms plans to send troops to Syria

Armed intervention by the Sunni states could be presented as the creation of a safe zone for the tens of thousands of displaced people in the area, though it certainly would not be safe as it would be in the centre of a battle zone. There is the danger that any Saudi-Turkish ground assault would be in association with local opposition fighters grouped under the umbrella organisation Jaish al-Fatah; this is supported by Turkey and Saudi Arabia and is led by the al-Nusra Front, al-Qaedas Syrian branch, and by the ideologically similar Ahrar al-Sham.

If Saudi Arabia does intervene in this part of Syria it will become yet one more combatant in the most complex and dangerous battlefield in the world.
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Russia has proposed a 1 March ceasefire in Syria, US officials say, but Washington believes Moscow is giving itself and the Syrian government three weeks to try to crush moderate rebel groups.

The United States has countered with demands for the fighting to stop immediately, the officials said. Peace talks are supposed to resume by 25 February.

The talk of new ceasefire plans comes as the US, Russia and more than a dozen other countries meet in Munich to try to halt five years of civil war in the Arab country. The conflict has killed more than a quarter-million people, created Europe's biggest refugee crisis since World War II and allowed Isis to carve out its own territory across parts of Syria and neighboring Iraq.

Russia says it is supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad's government as part of a counterterrorism campaign. But the West says the majority of its strikes are targeting moderate groups that are opposed to Assad and Isis.

The most recent Russian-backed offensive, near Aleppo, prompted opposition groups to walk out of peace talks last month in Geneva, while forcing tens of thousands of civilians to flee toward the Turkish border.

The US officials weren't authorized to speak publicly about private diplomatic discussions in the run-up to the Munich conference and demanded anonymity. One said the US can't accept Russia's offer because opposition forces could suffer irreversible losses in northern and southern Syria before the ceasefire ever takes hold.

The officials said the US counterproposal is simple: A ceasefire that is effective immediately and is accompanied by full humanitarian access to Syria's besieged civilian centers.

In pictures: Syria conflict Show all 40 1 /40 In pictures: Syria conflict In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Syrians carry children amid debris following a air strike by government forces in the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Syrian man carries a girl on a street covered with dust following a air strike by government forces in the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Syrians react as they stand amid debris following a air strike by government forces in the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Syrian man carries a girl amid debris following a air strike by government forces in the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis An injured Syrian man walks out from the rubble of a destroyed building following a air strike by government forces in the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Syrian woman makes her way through debris following a air strike by government forces in the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis People stand on the rubble of collapsed buildings at a site hit by what activists said was a barrel bomb dropped by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, in the Al-Fardous neighbourhood of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Syrian residents stand amid the rubble of destroyed buildings In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Syrian resident grasps a mattress amid rubble in the al-Firdous neighborhood of the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A view taken from Tel al-Sawadi shows a large explosion allegedly at the Wadi Deif Syrian army base in northwestern Idlib on May 14, 2014, which opposition fighters have been trying to capture for more than a year. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Islamist rebels detonated explosives planted in a tunnel under the army base killing or injuring dozens. AFP In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A bullet-riddled parking sign stands amid debris in a deserted street leading into the old city of Homs In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A general view shows abandoned buildings on a deserted square in the old city of Homs after Syrian government forces regained control of rebel-controlled areas In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A military vehicle that belongs to the Free Syrian Army is seen in Al-Amariya district in Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A mosque is pictured through shattered glass in the old city of Homs, as rebel fighters withdrew from the city centre in line with a negotiated withdrawal deal with the government after having held out under tight siege for nearly two years In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Buses carrying Free Syrian Army fighters leaving Homs. Exhausted and worn out from a year-long siege, hundreds of Syrian rebels left their last remaining bastions in the heart of the central city of Homs under a cease-fire deal with government forces. The exit of some 1,200 fighters and civilians will mark a de facto end of the rebellion in the battered city, which was one of the first places to rise up against President Bashar Assad's rule, earning it the nickname of "capital of the revolution" In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Syrian government forces hold up a portrait of President Bashar al-Assad (L) while others raise the national flag on top of a pole in the old city of Homs In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad run through Aleppo's Bustan al-Qasr crossing after their release by rebels. They were freed as part of a larger deal which saw the last remaining Syrian rebels in central Homs city evacuate their positions and free captives in several locations in northern Syria In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Syrian woman and two children walk past heavily damaged buildings in the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A man carries a wounded girl following a reported bombardment with explosive-packed "barrel bombs" by Syrian government forces in the al-Mowasalat neighborhood of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A wounded man sits as he is treated at a makeshift hospital following a reported bombardment with explosive-packed "barrel bombs" by Syrian government forces in the al-Sakhour district of the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Debris rises in what Free Syrian Army fighters and Islamic rebels said was an operation to strike Al-Sahaba checkpoint, which is considered a gateway to Al-Dayf valley, and remove forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad in Maarat Al-Nouman, Idlib province In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Men try to put out fire at a site hit by what activists said was an air strike by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the town of Azaz, north of Aleppo, near the border with Turkey In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Civil Defence members try to put out fire In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Survivors react at a site hit by what activists said was an air strike by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the town of Azaz, north of Aleppo, near the border with Turkey In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Residents queue as they wait to receive food aid distributed by the UNRWA at the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk, south of Damascus In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Belongings of Syrian rebels inside a chapel at Crac des Chevaliers, the world's best preserved medieval Crusader castle in Syria. The village was destroyed in fighting between the government and rebel forces while the castle, listed as a UNESCO world heritage site, also has been damaged over the past two years In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Hosen Sabah, a 16-year-old student is comforted by his mother at a hospital in Damascus. Nosen was wounded by a mortar outside his school, while 14 other students were killed and over 80 wounded In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Free Syrian Army fighter works on a locally made launcher before firing it towards forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad in Mork town In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Syrian policemen and citizens inspecting the site of a car bomb at the entrance of Moadhamiyet al-Sham neighborhood in rural Damascus. According to Syria's Arab News Agency (SANA), a car bomb explosion has gone off in the countryside of Damascus and initial information say there are casualties, where a car rigged with explosions was remotely detonated at the entrance of Moadhamiyet al-Sham neighborhood in rural Damascus during engineering units it was trying to dismantled it In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Opposition fighters carrying a rocket launcher during clashes against government forces in the Sheikh Lutfi area, west of the airport in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Syrian man helps a woman to make her way through debris following reported air strikes by government forces in the Halak neighbourhood in northeastern Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Syrian man reacts as he carries the body of injured boy following reported air strikes by government forces in the Halak neighbourhood in northeastern Aleppo. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 33 civilians were killed in the attack In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Syrian rescue workers carry the body of a woman following reported air strikes by government forces in the Halak neighbourhood in northeastern Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Syrian woman walks past the burning wreckage of a car following reported air strikes by government forces in the Halak neighbourhood in northeastern Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A man and two children run to a safer place following reported air strikes by government forces in the Halak neighbourhood in northeastern Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A man holds an injured child after, according to activists, two barrel bombs were thrown by forces loyal to Syria's president Bashar Al-Assad in Hullok neighbourhood of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis An injured man talks on a walkie-talkie after, according to activists, two barrel bombs were thrown by forces loyal to Syria's president Bashar Al-Assad in Hellok neighbourhood of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A man walks inside a mosque damaged by, according to activists, a barrel bomb thrown by forces loyal to Syria's president Bashar Al-Assad in Old Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Syrians gather at the site of reported air strikes by government forces in the Halak neighbourhood in northeastern Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Rebel fighters carry their weapons as they run to avoid snipers loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the town of Morek in Hama province

Secretary of State John Kerry, who arrived in Germany on Wednesday, had talks planned late in the evening with UN peace envoy Staffan de Mistura and Adel al-Jubeir, the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, a key backer of Syria's rebel groups.

The Obama administration has been trying for months to clinch a ceasefire and pave the way for a transition government in Syria that would allow parties to the conflict to concentrate on defeating the threat posed by Isis and the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.

But after having long demanded Assad's ouster, the shift in the US focus to combating terrorism has resulted in a confusing mix of priorities and a layered strategy in Syria that few understand, and even fewer see working. Beyond Russia, the administration has often struggled to keep its own allies such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia in line.

We will approach this meeting in Munich with great hopes that this will be a telling moment, Mr Kerry said on Tuesday in Washington. His peace push coincides with Defence Secretary Ash Carter's attendance at a gathering in Brussels to hash out military options with Nato partners.

Brett McGurk, the Obama administration's point-man for defeating Isis, said Russia's Aleppo offensive was having the perverse effect of helping the extremists by drawing local fighters away from the battle against IS and to the war against Syria's government.

What Russia's doing is directly enabling Isil, McGurk told the House Foreign Affairs Committee in Washington.

But the panel's top Democrat echoed some of the frustration of his Republican colleagues with the larger US strategy.

It seems as if we're only halfheartedly going after Isis, and halfheartedly helping the (rebel) Free Syria Army and others on the ground, said the Democratic Representative for New York, Eliot Engel. He urged a robust campaign, not a tentative one, not one that seems like we're dragging ourselves in ... to destroy Isis and get rid of Assad.

Mr Kerry emphasized on Tuesday that US officials are not blind to what is happening. He said the Aleppo battle makes it much more difficult to be able to come to the table and to be able to have a serious conversation.

But the US has staked its hopes for an end to the five-year civil war in Syria on the peace talks and Assad's eventual departure, saying the American public has no appetite for a military solution.

To that end, Washington has tempered its calls dating back to August 2011 for Assad to immediately leave power. And to get Russia on board, it now won't even say that Assad should be barred from running for re-election if and when a new Syrian constitution is drafted.

The ambiguity has emboldened Assad's supporters, Russia and Iran, while upsetting American allies in the Middle East, who are frustrated by a process that appears to lock the Syrian leader in place well into 2017 - and perhaps beyond.
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The first fateful steps have been taken for Saudi-led troops to enter Syrias civil war, a move that has raised fears of powers across the region being drawn into a bloody conflict without end.

Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi Defence Minister and heir apparent to the throne, presented his countrys military plans to a summit organised by a US-led coalition on Syria at Nato headquarters in Brussels. Ashton Carter, the US Defence Secretary, reported afterwards that a wide variety of things had been discussed with the Saudis on the use of ground forces.

He added: First of all it was training of both the military and the police, forces on the ground enabling and accompanying partner force, the Saudi ground forces can do that. We talked about use of special forces  although I dont want to go into that here  we also talked about logistic support and sustainment, and of the rebuilding that will need to take place.

Recommended Read more Saudi Arabia confirms plans to send troops to Syria

He said: Saudi Arabia is also re-invigorating its air campaign, Saudi Arabia and its partners have a clear stake in this fight In the weeks to come there will be opportunities to follow up on the offers made today.

Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states had withdrawn in recent months from carrying out air strikes in Syria and Iraq, focusing instead on Yemen where they are battling Iran-backed Houthi rebels. The Saudis have stated they will lead a force drawn from an Islamic coalition. Its members  United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait  were also present at the meeting.

Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, who met Prince Mohammed at the summit, said: We welcome the offer. The Saudis are serious, they are leading this coalition.

 Syrians Flee Aleppo to Huge Refugee Camp near Turkish Border

The Saudis stated reason for the proposed intervention in Syria is to tackle Isis, but there is widespread apprehension that it may also widen and escalate the vicious sectarian strife. There is a widely held perception that troops from the Sunni Gulf states will provide support for Syrias Sunni rebels who are losing ground and this will bring them into conflict with the Shia enemies  Iranian volunteers and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters backing the regime of Bashar al-Assad. That regime is also backed by Russian air strikes.

The Russian Prime Minister raised the spectre of a permanent or a world war if the Gulf nations sent troops and world powers failed to negotiate a peace. All sides must be compelled to sit at the negotiating table instead of unleashing a new world war, said Dmitry Medvedev.

In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Show all 19 1 /19 In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Syrian boys cry following Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Aleppo Getty In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russian defense ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov speaks to the media in Moscow, Russia. Konashenkov strongly warned the United States against striking Syrian government forces and issued a thinly-veiled threat to use Russian air defense assets to protect them AP In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Syrians wait to receive treatment at a hospital following Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Alepp Getty In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov speaks at a briefing in the Defense Ministry in Moscow, Russia. Antonov said the Russian air strikes in Syria have killed about 35,000 militants, including about 2,700 residents of Russia AP In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Jameel Mustafa Habboush, receives oxygen from civil defence volunteers, known as the white helmets, as they rescue him from under the rubble of a building following Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Aleppo Getty In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Civil defence members rest amidst rubble in a site hit by what activists said were airstrikes carried out by the Russian air force in the town of Douma, eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria A girl carrying a baby inspects damage in a site hit by what activists said were airstrikes carried out by the Russian air force in the town of Douma, eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Civilians and civil defence members look for survivors at a site damaged after Russian air strikes on the Syrian rebel-held city of Idlib, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Civilians and civil defence members carry an injured woman on a stretcher at a site damaged after Russian air strikes on the Syrian rebel-held city of Idlib, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Volunteers from Syria Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets, help civilians after Russia carried out its first airstrikes in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria The aftermath of Russian airstrike in Talbiseh, Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Smoke billows from buildings in Talbiseh, in Homs province, western Syria, after airstrikes by Russian warplanes AP In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russian Air Forces carry out an air strike in the ISIS controlled Al-Raqqah Governorate. Russia's KAB-500s bombs completely destroy the Liwa al-Haqq command unit In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Caspian Flotilla of the Russian Navy firing Kalibr cruise missiles against remote Isis targets in Syria A TASS/ITAR-TASS Photo/Corbis In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russia claimed it hit eight Isis targets, including a "terrorist HQ and co-ordination centre" that was completely destroyed In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria A video grab taken from the footage made available on the Russian Defence Ministry's official website, purporting to show an airstrike in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria A release from the Russian defence ministry purportedly showing targets in Syria being hit In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russia launched air strikes in war-torn Syria, its first military engagement outside the former Soviet Union since the occupation of Afghanistan in 1979. Russian warplanes carried out strikes in three Syrian provinces along with regime aircraft as Putin seeks to steal US President Barack Obama's thunder by pushing a rival plan to defeat Isis militants in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Caspian Flotilla of the Russian Navy firing Kalibr cruise missiles against remote Isis targets in Syria, a thousand kilometres away. The targets include ammunition factories, ammunition and fuel depots, command centres, and training camps A TASS/ITAR-TASS Photo/Corbis

He added: The Americans and our Arab partners must think well: do they want a permanent war? It would be impossible to win such a war quickly.

Mr Fallon stressed that countries facing Isis wanted forces from the region on the ground rather than those from the West. The Iraqi Government is very clear it doesn't want western boots on the ground, it has to be the right boots on the ground and clearly Saudi troops would be more welcome that western troops when it comes to any fighting, he said.

Western powers have been pressing Syrias neighbours to do more to combat Isis. At the start of the meeting Mr Carter said: This marks the beginning of a new stage in the campaign against Isil [Isis]. The campaign will go faster if all the nations in this room did more. We will all look back after victory and remember who took part in the fight.

Brigadier General Ahmed al-Asiri, the Saudi militarys chief spokesman, was robust in the defence of ground troops saying it was an irreversible decision. He claimed the deployment may involve 32 members of an Islamic coalition. Yes, we know the Iranians are there. But no one is fighting Daesh [Isis]. If the Iranians want to fight Daesh let them join the coalition and stop supporting the terrorists.

Saudi Defence Minister Prince Mohammed bin Salman at Natos headquarters in Brussels (Reuters)

Speaking in Brussels, he stressed that the Saudis and their allies were prepared to take part in military operations. We have agreed to go and we have given the US-led coalition our plans. Other things, details like numbers, types of troops, will be decided by specialists, they will be operational by March or April.

Thursday's summit took place amid bitter accusations about the assault on Aleppo by Assad forces backed by Russian air strikes with Washington accusing Moscow of delaying a ceasefire so they could crush moderate rebels.

The Russians had proposed a ceasefire starting on 1 March, but the Obama administration claimed they were creating a three-week window to drive away opposition fighters from what was once Syrias biggest and wealthiest city.
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A teacher has reportedly shot dead at least six people at a local government building in Saudi Arabia.

The unidentified man stormed education ministry offices in the southern region of Jizan and opened fire with an automatic weapon, the Arab News website reported.

Local media said six office staff were killed and three injured but did not offer a motive for the shooting.

General Mansour Turki, a spokesperson for Saudi Arabias interior ministry, told Al Arabiya it was being treated as a criminal incident and the shooter had been arrested.

There was speculation that the secondary school teacher had issues with management or was suffering from mental illness.

Journalists tweeted photographs showing ambulances gathered outside of the building in the aftermath of the attack.

The office compound was cordoned off as investigations continued.

Mass shootings are rare in Saudi Arabia, which has faced a series of recent attacks by Isis militants.

10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Show all 10 1 /10 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In October 2014, three lawyers, Dr Abdulrahman al-Subaihi, Bander al-Nogaithan and Abdulrahman al-Rumaih , were sentenced to up to eight years in prison for using Twitter to criticize the Ministry of Justice. AFP/Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In March 2015, Yemens Sunni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was forced into exile after a Shia-led insurgency. A Saudi Arabia-led coalition has responded with air strikes in order to reinstate Mr Hadi. It has since been accused of committing war crimes in the country. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Women who supported the Women2Drive campaign, launched in 2011 to challenge the ban on women driving vehicles, faced harassment and intimidation by the authorities. The government warned that women drivers would face arrest. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Members of the Kingdoms Shia minority, most of whom live in the oil-rich Eastern Province, continue to face discrimination that limits their access to government services and employment. Activists have received death sentences or long prison terms for their alleged participation in protests in 2011 and 2012. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses All public gatherings are prohibited under an order issued by the Interior Ministry in 2011. Those defy the ban face arrest, prosecution and imprisonment on charges such as inciting people against the authorities. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In March 2014, the Interior Ministry stated that authorities had deported over 370,000 foreign migrants and that 18,000 others were in detention. Thousands of workers were returned to Somalia and other states where they were at risk of human rights abuses, with large numbers also returned to Yemen, in order to open more jobs to Saudi Arabians. Many migrants reported that prior to their deportation they had been packed into overcrowded makeshift detention facilities where they received little food and water and were abused by guards. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses The Saudi Arabian authorities continue to deny access to independent human rights organisations like Amnesty International, and they have been known to take punitive action, including through the courts, against activists and family members of victims who contact Amnesty. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Raif Badawi was sentenced to 1000 lashes and 10 years in prison for using his liberal blog to criticise Saudi Arabias clerics. He has already received 50 lashes, which have reportedly left him in poor health. Carsten Koall/Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Dawood al-Marhoon was arrested aged 17 for participating in an anti-government protest. After refusing to spy on his fellow protestors, he was tortured and forced to sign a blank document that would later contain his confession. At Dawoods trial, the prosecution requested death by crucifixion while refusing him a lawyer. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Ali Mohammed al-Nimr was arrested in 2012 aged either 16 or 17 for participating in protests during the Arab spring. His sentence includes beheading and crucifixion. The international community has spoken out against the punishment and has called on Saudi Arabia to stop. He is the nephew of a prominent government dissident. Getty

It is is leading a coalition of countries conducting air strikes and ground operations in neighbouring Yemen in support of the country's internationally recognised government, resulting rebels targeting Jizan with missiles and cross-border fire.

Authorities said they shot down a ballistic missile targeting its capital of Jazan on Tuesday and that a police officer in the surrounding province was killed in a separate shooting incident on the same day.

In October, two people were killed and another two were wounded when a gunman opened fire inside a bank in the city of Jazan.

Additional reporting by agencies
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In a region in turmoil, happiness is high on the agenda in the United Arab Emirates.

A major government shake-up, including the creation of a Happiness Ministry, comes ahead of plans for significant economic reforms in the federation of seven small emirates which includes Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Unveiling the changes in a three-hour "tweetathon", the UAE vice-president and ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, described his desire for "a young and flexible government" that would, he said, fulfil "our youths aspirations and achieve our peoples ambitions".

Happiness, according to Dr Suad Al Marzooqi of UAE Universitys department of psychology, is high on the Sheikhs agenda. She described the Happiness Ministry as "an umbrella position for all the ministries, as you need every minister in the government to search for the peoples happiness".

The ministry is one of only three in the world. The others are in Bhutan and Venezuela. Ironically, a Saudi-led policy, supported by the UAE, to flood the world market with cheap oil has brought Venezuela to the edge of economic ruin and presumably left its Happiness Minister struggling with a lot of very unhappy citizens. The sheikh also announced the creation of a youth council that will advise the government and be led by a female cabinet minister who must be no older than 22. No reason was given for the age limit.

Sheikh Mohammed also indicated that he was considering the privatisation of "most government services". Critics will argue that privatisation may not open up the countrys economy but rather will benefit the ruling families and those business elites with close ties to them.

The creation of the Tolerance Ministry has raised eyebrows given the UAEs poor human rights record. Noting the harsh treatment of activists, Shazia Arshad of the International Campaign for Freedom in the UAE, dismissed Sheikh Mohammeds claims that a Ministry of Tolerance would change the country for the better: "The intolerant attitude of the UAE authorities to the calls for reform have led to an increasing number of detentions, trials, deportations and enforced disappearances."

She cited the case of a prominent economist, Dr Nasser bin Ghaith, who had supported calls for political reform in the UAE.

The emphasis on tolerance comes at a time when other Gulf states, and particularly Saudi Arabia, are ratcheting up attacks on Shia Iran. It is a statement of intent from Dubai that it has a more nuanced approach, one that seeks to place itself at the heart of new trade opportunities with Iran.

By announcing the shake-up via Twitter, Sheikh Mohammed has restaked his claim to be the strongest and most appealing Emirati leader. It was a position that was dented when Dubai had to be bailed out in 2009 by Abu Dhabi after the global property crash left Sheikh Mohammeds ambitions in urgent need of cash.

The two states have long competed for ascendancy, with oil-rich Abu Dhabi leading a crackdown on dissent. That has proved somewhat uncomfortable for Dubais efforts to locate itself as a Middle East tourism and business hub with a reputation for tolerance, one that has been carefully cultivated with lavish spending on public relations campaigns.
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This week Trump won in New Hampshire with 35.3 per cent of the Republican candidate votes, turning his popularity in opinion polls into an electoral win. Trumps rise was unanticipated by the political class  and speculation about his inevitable demise has been grossly exaggerated.

Trump is not the first celebrity politician in America. Former actors Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger paved the way for celebrities in US politics. But where Reagan and Schwarzenegger spent considerable time trying to convince the media that they had serious ideas and had embarked on new careers in politics, Trump cares little about flattering the media and presents his presidential candidacy not as a new dimension to his public profile, but as an affirmation of his established profile.

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As for Trumps policies, the label populist is an apt descriptor. Populists take advantage of peoples fears and offer crudely simplistic solutions; indeed, they will say almost anything to win over voters. Trump has referred to Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists and supports the building of a wall to stop them flooding into America. He has also called for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States. Trump exploits simmering anti-immigrant sentiments in contemporary America. A politician in Europe doing the same would be called out for being a neo-fascist populist. In the United States, however, political commentators tend to avoid such terminology. By referring to Trumps proposals as nativist or even conservative, US commentators underplay Trumps bigotry and let him off the hook.

Trump also appeals to a large number of economically insecure Americans that, post great financial crash, angrily blame elites in Washington and on Wall Street for their problems. The billionaire Trump masterfully differentiates himself from these elites. He chastises elites for their stupid and unfair rules, but claims that he has overcome those rules, defeated The System and won the economic game. Trump skilfully reflects the anger and economic aspirations of many Americans, but has few (if any) concrete policy proposals to improve their circumstances. In analyses of Trumps popularity, his economic populism has received far less scrutiny than his xenophobic pronouncements.

There is a clear cult of personality around Donald Trump. While Trump supporters disparage Obamas mantra Yes We Can, they unwittingly endorse an unspoken, narcissistic Trump mantra, Yes, I (and only I) Can. The emptiness of Trumps rhetoric was on display again in his New Hampshire victory speech in which he restated the themes at the heart of his run for the presidency: We are going to start winning again and we're going to win so much, you are going to be so happy, we are going to make America so great again, maybe greater than ever before. I love you all.

The appeal of Trump is ultimately a reminder that, in the US, feelings of cultural and economic insecurity can be exploited by pandering to anti-immigrant and anti-elite prejudices. Trump pledges to take America back from those who threaten its future. This is the very definition of crude populism in action.
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Our campaign to raise money for the vital work undertaken by Great Ormond Street Hospital has raised a record-breaking 3.56m to help critically ill children, smashing all previous records for our seasonal appeal.

The Give to GOSH appeal, which ends this weekend on GOSHs birthday, has surpassed all expectations and will allow the staff at the hospital to continue to transform the lives of critically ill children for generations to come.

Dr Peter Steer, chief executive of GOSH, said all the patients and staff at the hospital were overwhelmed with the generosity of Independent readers who had supported the appeal.

 GOSH - end of campaign Indy

He said: When we opened our doors to The Independent back in November, at the very start of the Give to GOSH appeal, never could we have imagined the overwhelming support and generosity that would follow.

To everyone who read our stories and who took the time to pick up the phone and pledge money, to donate online or who cut out the coupons and sent in donations, on behalf of all of the families at GOSH, and all of our wonderful staff, I would like to say a heartfelt thank you.

The work we do at Great Ormond Street Hospital to care for some of the countrys most seriously ill children is expensive.

Meet the patients and doctors of GOSH Show all 9 1 /9 Meet the patients and doctors of GOSH Meet the patients and doctors of GOSH Elliott Livingstone Two-year-old Elliott is a cheeky little boy who has a Thomas the Tank Engine sticker on his Berlin heart machine, which has kept him alive since his own heart failed eight months ago. Elliott has two tubes pumping blood around his tiny body. It keeps him alive but the machine has left him confined to the wards of Great Ormond Street Hospital until a new heart is found Meet the patients and doctors of GOSH Melissa Strickland As the ward sister on Koala Ward, Melissa Strickland leads a nursing team with the challenging job of looking after children with craniofacial and neurological conditions. You have to have all the skills and knowledge to do this job but personally for me you cannot do it unless you have passion but also compassion, she said. You dont get used to the sad side of things but you do learn to manage it. Meet the patients and doctors of GOSH Amy Willis Amy Willis carries a discreet black medical bag everywhere she goes. It contains the cutting-edge HeartWare device that is keeping her alive. A smaller, more advanced version of the Berlin artificial heart, it was fitted in April after she was emergency airlifted to GOSH from Alder Hey hospital in Liverpool. The device means that 14-year-old Amy can be home in Flintshire this Christmas while remaining on the heart transplant waiting list. She is doing well but 15 per cent of patients with a HeartWare device or Berlin heart die while waiting for a new heart, so money raised by the appeal will also go to help researchers identify ways to keep children alive while they await transplant Lucy Young Meet the patients and doctors of GOSH Myra Bluebond-Langner Professor Myra Bluebond-Langner represents the vital work of the Louis Dundas Centre for Childrens Palliative Care, GOSHs world-class centre dedicated to research and care for children with life-limiting illnesses. The LDC is named in honour of Louis Dundas, a four-year-old boy who died in unspeakable pain after suffering a brain tumour in April 2008. Its aim is to ensure that no child suffers unnecessarily in their final days. Money raised from The Independents Give to GOSH appeal will go to fund the teams work to manage pain, and also fund vital research into palliative care in children across the whole of the UK. Professor Bluebond-Langner, who heads the research, said: Paediatric palliative care is a relatively new field where practice has outstripped research. We look to change that. Meet the patients and doctors of GOSH Finella Craig Together with with Professor Myra Bluebond-Langner, Dr Finella Craig represents the vital work of the Louis Dundas Centre for Childrens Palliative Care, GOSHs world-class centre dedicated to research and care for children with life-limiting illnesses. The LDC is named in honour of Louis Dundas, a four-year-old boy who died in unspeakable pain after suffering a brain tumour in April 2008. Its aim is to ensure that no child suffers unnecessarily in their final days. One of the worst experiences for a family is to witness their child in pain and discomfort, and for them to feel totally powerless to do anything about it, said Dr Craig, a consultant in paediatric palliative medicine at GOSH since 2002. Money raised from The Independents Give to GOSH appeal will go to fund the teams work to manage pain, and also fund vital research into palliative care in children across the whole of the UK. Meet the patients and doctors of GOSH Rowan Pethard Like most little boys, Rowan Pethard loves playing football. At the start of 2015 the seven-year-old Spurs fan baffled his doctors in Hemel Hempstead with a string of coughs, colds, tummy bugs, aches, pains and rashes. It wasnt until quite late on that doctors discovered he had leukaemia. He spent two days in intensive care while he had emergency chemo. He has two years of follow-up treatment ahead. Hes amazing, a little superhero, his mum said. It makes it easier for his father and I and his brother to cope. Joe Plimmer Meet the patients and doctors of GOSH Martin Elliott Paediatric heart and lung surgeon Martin Elliott, 64, is one of the longest serving doctors at GOSH, leading groundbreaking research and treating thousands of patients over the past 30 years. His work has bridged the gap between surgery and research with skills ranging from heart-bypass surgery to correcting congenital lung disorders. Meet the patients and doctors of GOSH Ralph Frost For Ralph the hardest thing about having to live at GOSH while he waits for a new kidney isnt missing his toys. He has plenty of those and can terrorise the nurses by pushing his little red motorbike down the corridors of Eagle Ward. The hardest thing for the six-year-old is battling not to cry out during his nightly dialysis sessions. It really hurts, he said. But the other kids are sleeping and I dont want to wake them up. Ralph suffers from nephrotic syndrome and is currently waiting for a kidney from his father, Nick. Hes called the kidney Chase and his parents, who have been trained to operate his dialysis machine, hope to be home by Christmas Lucy Young Meet the patients and doctors of GOSH Lynsey Steele The strongest praise for Lynsey Steele, 33, comes from the parents of the children she helps. The children here wouldnt get by without Lynsey, said Ralphs mother Amie Frost. If she wasnt here then wed have cracked up. Lynseys role, which is funded by the Great Ormond Street Hospital Childrens Charity and will be supported by The Independents Give to GOSH appeal, is to help children play and relax, but also to have the difficult conversations explaining their treatment Ash Knotek

The NHS provides us with a good start, but we need additional support to remain a truly world-class childrens research hospital. Your generosity is helping us to do that.

The news that The Independent has raised more than 3.5m came as the Queen thanked all of those readers and supporters who backed our appeal for GOSH.

In a letter to the hospital, she wrote: As Patron, I would like to send my very best wishes to all the patients, families and staff at Great Ormond Street and extend my thanks to its many friends, volunteers and charitable supporters who have helped make the recent Christmas campaign such a success, ensuring the hospital remains a truly extraordinary place.

Funds from The Independent appeal, run alongside the Evening Standard, i, and The Independent on Sunday, will support the creation of a dedicated heart unit for the sickest cardiac patients as well as supporting the vital work of the Louis Dundas Centre, which helps children with life-limiting and life-threatening illnesses and conducts vital world-leading research.

The success of the appeal, which finishes on Sunday, the hospitals 164th birthday, also means the hospital will be able to carry out 1m of research into the treatment of rare diseases, as well as funding vital patient support services.

In her letter from Buckingham Palace, the Queen, who has been patron of the hospital since 1965, paid tribute to those who have helped to make our Christmas campaign such a success.

She wrote: Great Ormond Street Hospital was founded in 1852. Ever since, the hospital has been dedicated to caring for some of the nations most seriously ill children, whilst seeking new and better treatments and training future generations of child health practitioners.

As one of the worlds leading childrens hospitals, Great Ormond Street offers a beacon of hope to thousands of children from across the UK and beyond every year.
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A common complaint about modern politicians is that they lack the talent of the great figures of the past. That is why we must admire the genius of Jeremy Hunt. When he was Culture Secretary he managed to anger almost everybody, including people who couldnt care less about culture, and after a few months as Health Secretary hes enraged almost every doctor in Britain.

If he became Minister for Circuses, by the end of the week thered be a clown strike. If he was head of the Church of England, within a fortnight wed see the first national church organists riot, led by 83-year-old Conservative voter Eileen Tidbury from Guildford  who would state she was proud to be arrested for using the organ pipes from Westminster Abbey as a battering ram against Hunts office. And Reverend Armthorpe of Cheltenham would become a hero for leading the choir in a chorus of Jeremy Hunt the arrogant during a recording of Songs of Praise.

Its an amazing skill. He could use it to create a music-hall act called The Great Infuriato, the man capable of winding up anyone, with a grand finish in which he spends two minutes with the Hare Krishnas, who then scream you great tosspot and smash him in the face with a tambourine.

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Many of us, if we made a proposal that caused almost every doctor to spit with fury and support a strike, might develop a whiff of self-doubt. But luckily Jeremy Hunt is a true leader. Instead, he has decided to anger them even more, by ending the discussion and imposing the new weekend hours on them. Hes a true perfectionist, and a mark of any healthy society is that all its doctors are fuming with rage and depressed.

The reason hes imposing this settlement, he says, is that we have to have resolution; after all, most people want a resolution. This is true, and a similar approach to disagreements is one of the great strengths of the Mafia. Whatever else you say about them, they dont allow conflicts to drag on and on. Many people in Sicily say: We had a difference of opinion about protection money, so they burned my house down. It was a bit of a nuisance as now I live in a public toilet, but at least we had a resolution and thats the main thing.

In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK 20,000 Junior Doctors marched through central London in protest at the new contract changes the government is trying to impose which they say will be unfair and unsafe In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors protest in London In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK 4 year old Cassius takes part in a demonstration in Westminster, in support of junior doctors over changes to NHS contracts, London In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Protest over proposed changes to junior doctors' contracts, Leeds In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors and NHS staff protesting against the health service cuts and the proposed contract changes offered by the government outside Parliament In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors and NHS staff protesting against the health service cuts and the proposed contract changes offered by the government outside Parliament In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Over 5000 junior doctors rallied in Waterloo place, before marching through Whitehall and onto Parliament Square, in opposition to Jeremy Hunt's new working conditions for doctors In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Demonstrators listen to speeches in Waterloo Place during the 'Let's Save the NHS' rally and protest march by junior doctors In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors marched in London to highlight their plight In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK A protester at a demonstration in support of junior doctors in London

Hunt also claimed opposition to his plans among junior doctors was waning, as 43 per cent of them went to work on the day of the strike. It could be argued this figure is misleading, as it includes all the doctors on emergency cover who hadnt even been called out on strike. But thats just being picky. In fact, if you include the junior doctors who turned up for work in France and Morocco and Argentina, and all the people who went to work at Asda that day, then the figure is even lower.

One Conservative adviser explained in The Times that the moderate doctors must defeat the militants in this issue. Its easy to see what he means: for too long the doctors have gone along with the extremist minority 98 per cent who oppose the plans, rather than the 2 per cent who represent the moderate centre ground. This is how the militants of the British Medical Association get their way, the anarchist Marxists. Its just strike, strike, strike with them: they had one 40 years ago; and now, before the dust has even settled, theyre having another.

 Junior Doctors Contract

One typical militant is Naadir Ansari, a doctor whose shifts had left him so exhausted that, as he put it: I found myself in a corridor talking to a person who wasnt there. But maybe this is where a compromise can be reached, with doctors earning bonuses for operations they carry out on patients who arent really there, when theyre hallucinating because theyve not slept for three days.

In any case, we should be grateful that the people working so long theyre talking to mirages are only doctors, and not anyone doing something important.

Another coherent argument came from Danny Mortimer, chief executive of the NHS Employers organisation. He stated, quite clearly, that the BMA proposal removed from the cost envelope that we both have to work within, proposals which would pay doctors in our most shortage specialities emergency more money, the BMA rejected that and took it outside the cost envelope. What a shame the rest of the medical profession doesnt speak such plain common sense. It would be so reassuring, if you were undergoing an operation, to hear the surgeon saying: The gall stones require removing and remaining inside and outside the kidney envelope up on the down intestine pint of mustard within the realm of the cough medicine envelope.

Then theres the unanswerable argument that the percentage of people who die after going to hospital at weekends is higher than the percentage who go on a weekday. Some people suggest this is because you wouldnt go at the weekend unless you were more seriously ill, so the percentage that die if they go to hospital on Christmas Day will be even higher, and the percentage that die if they go to hospital on the morning of their wedding is huge. But if someone points this out, Hunt will insist every doctor works Christmas Day and all morning on any day when theres a wedding.

Because for too long now weve rewarded the selfish in society, such as those people who train to be doctors, whose only thought is to flaunt their wealth having made no contribution apart from the odd operation. Its time, at last, to offer overdue assistance to the unsung heroes of professions such as investment banking, who toil away with barely a thought for themselves  even on a Saturday  and have never once asked for a penny more.
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Whos the real victim in a sexual assault case? Is it the assaulted? The suspect? Or is it Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, who has responded to attacks on his leadership of the Metropolitan Police by turning the blame on to the victims.

To extricate himself from the scandal around Lord Bramall, who was investigated for nine months before charges of his part in a VIP paedophile ring were dropped, the commissioner now suggests that police should not automatically believe victims who report sex crimes. A good investigator would test the accuracy of the allegations and the evidence with an open mind, he said. This is a more neutral way to begin than saying we should believe victims, and better describes our impartial mindset.

Of course, any crime should be investigated professionally and thoroughly. Of course hard evidence is required. And of course any allegation should be dismissed as soon as it is proved to be untrue. Innocent until proven guilty is the principle on which the British justice system stands.

And yet, sexual assault and rape have not historically been treated like this. For years the norm has been to cast the victim as a liar, to build up flimsy cases around non-evidence like the victims clothing or how many drinks they may have had. Rubbish? I doubt many burglary investigations begin with the police standing on an empty drive asking the victim, are you absolutely sure your car isnt in your drive, sir?

When a 19-year-old student went to the police in 2007 saying she had been drugged and raped by her taxi driver, the police laughed at her and told her that she must have been drunk and fallen over. They arrested the man but he was released without charge. John Worboys went on to attack again and again, before being convicted in 2009 for crimes involving 12 women, though police believe his victims could number more than 100. It was this case, among others, that led the Met to adopt the stance that rape victims should always be believed in the first instance.

Arguably, the last thing that anyone who has been assaulted and has gathered their courage to report as much to a stranger wants is a neutral and impartial face. They want help and Hogan-Howes sceptical stance means that fewer will get it.

Conviction rates for rape are already far lower than other crimes, with only 5.7 per cent of reported cases ending in a conviction. In 2013, the government published a report which stated that only 15 per cent of victims of serious sexual offences reported them to the police. The reasons for not doing so were that it was embarrassing, they didnt think the police could do much to help, that the incident was too trivial, or that they saw it as not police business.

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Hogan-Howes stance will ensure rape and sexual abuse become increasingly not police business. Meanwhile, he has just had his 281,000-a-year contract renewed for another year  so I think we all know who the real victims are.

School is not for practising at being an adult

When shes not rhyming Tesco with al fresco, Lily Allen likes to dabble in saying things. There was that time she declared feminism unnecessary and pondered why there wasnt a male version of it. Now she has taken the Education Minister Nick Gibb to task over a speech in which he argued for a return to knowledge-based teaching.

Allen disagreed: I left school 15 years ago and Ive not used Pythagorass theorem once or even seen a Bunsen burner. Really? No Trig on Top of the Pops, no Bunsens at Glastonbury? That is surprising.

Allen has turned out to be one of the great minds of our time, or quite a successful pop star. Are they teaching children about how mortgages work, national insurance or how to fill out a self-assessment tax return yet? she continued. The answer is, yes  maths and English are crucial foundations from which we learn to understand things like tax forms.

School is for learning, expanding the mind and exploring options, not practising at being an adult. Children do not need, as Allen solipsistically suggests, lessons in divorce. That sort of knowledge is better learned after the bell rings. In the meantime, a money-obsessed celebrity is the last person to give out advice about the things that really matter.

Thank you, but no thanks to the Academy

Id like to thank the Academy... for banning thank yous. Winners at this years Oscars ceremony have been told to submit the full list of people theyd like to thank in advance, so that names can scroll across the bottom of the screen while the winners use their 45 seconds to say something more interesting before the orchestra starts up.

Uh oh. Having to make a proper speech might make the self-serving shebang slightly more interesting for the viewer, but I fear the result will be a lot more nebulous messages to the world. Given that Meryl Streep just declared Were all Africans, really on the subject of diversity, Id say that nobody wants that. What about awkward moments when the winner forgets to praise their co-star or director and everyone speculates about the reasons why? On second thoughts, I take my thanks to the Academy back.
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Ending uncertainty is, according to Jeremy Hunt, the ambition. The Health Secretary announced on Thursday that there would be no more negotiations with junior doctors, and that on 1 August the Government will impose a contract upon them, leaving 55,000 staff working under terms to which they did not sign up, and have not agreed. That is likely to destabilise the NHS, rather than secure its future.

The frustration of the Government is not entirely unreasonable. Its final offer gave some ground in important areas: it announced that fines would be imposed on trusts that over-worked doctors  a crucial backstop that had been undermined in the initial contract proposals; it offered increased weekend pay for those junior doctors who work one in four Saturdays or more. And medics working extra-long hours would have been given a corresponding bump in salary.

Questions remain over the entire project of the seven-day NHS. The threat to citizens of a five-day service was irresponsibly exaggerated. It is only elective procedures that will now be available on weekends; emergency care always has been. And yet, the final contract offer of Jeremy Hunt cannot accurately be described as insulting. The BMAs response  asking that every Saturday be paid at an out-of-hours rate, in return for a substantial cut in the basic pay increase of 11 per cent  shows that pecuniary concerns do not lie at the forefront of the unions thinking. But it does reveal a certain unwillingness to treat weekends as workdays, which must count as a stumbling block towards a negotiated settlement ever being reached.

 Junior Doctors Contract

The public broadly supports the junior doctors in their strike, with 60 per cent still in favour even as the second day went ahead. But the Conservative Party argues that the population also supports a seven-day NHS, and showed as much by voting them in, with that measure in their manifesto. Those who believe it vital for junior doctors to go another extra mile and work weekends will probably still favour the Governments stance. Those who put staff satisfaction above that project will back the doctors.

This newspaper falls into the latter camp. And, whatever the subtleties of the most recent negotiation, the Government holds great responsibility for letting the dispute develop to its current pitch of acrimony. Mr Hunt has behaved disrespectfully almost throughout. He has treated one of the most productive and diligent elements of the British workforce as truculent and greedy. He has dismissed legitimate concerns as union tub-thumping. The final straw will, for many, be the imposition of this contract, and Mr Hunt  or, more likely, his successors  will be left to reap the consequences.

What is now certain is that more junior doctors will leave the NHS, and fewer sign up to it. The Independent reported on a survey showing 90 per cent would consider moving abroad were the contract to be imposed upon them. One in three GP trainee positions is already unfilled. The loss of a portion of the base of the NHS pyramid (junior doctors make up a third of the entire staff) could hardly come at a worse time, as demand for the service increases, and annual funding bumps fall 3 per cent behind this yearly rise.

That shortfall cannot be blamed on the Conservative Party alone. The public appears unwilling to contemplate paying more for the NHS, through an increase of 1 per cent in national insurance, say. But responsibility for turning a contractual dispute into a pitched battle lies with Mr Hunt, and he will have to take a good deal of the blame when the pace of junior doctor emigration picks up. His legacy will be a weakened, overstretched NHS.
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With the imposition of a new contract for junior doctors against their will, the Heath Secretary must be wagering that despite such an unpopular move, junior doctors will still prefer to stay employed in the NHS under the new contract rather than to simply leave.

He is either reckless or ill-informed: the medical profession is already struggling to recruit and retain doctors, even before the announcement of imposition. Applications for medical schools this year are down 18 per cent nationally. The number of junior doctors staying in the NHS for specialty or GP training fell to 52 per cent this year, from 71 per cent four years ago. Retention rates of those already in specialty training are at an all-time low and continue to fall. General practice is in such crisis that GPs have threatened mass resignations if a desperately needed bailout package is not forthcoming.

If the Secretary of State were genuine in his concern about patient safety, he would be urgently investigating how to improve the retention of medical professionals and increase the number of doctors available to provide his desired seven-day services. The imposed contract may prove cheaper for NHS Trusts in the short term, but risks a critical exodus of doctors from the NHS which would prove catastrophic for tomorrows patients.

 Junior Doctors Contract

Dr HJ Willis

Birmingham

As a proportion of GDP spending, the NHS budget is outrageously low in comparison with European countries and the likes of Japan, Canada, Australia; they all come in around 10 per cent. Ours will be 6.2 per cent of GDP in 2016.

We need to raise taxes  on sugar, perhaps  and cease exploiting staff; not least recruiting migrant staff when if we paid decent salaries we could and should employ our own citizens.

Rosanne Bostock

Oxford

I left work last week and asked our nurses at the end of a 37.5 hour week how theyd feel if they werent yet halfway through the working week. Their replies are unrepeatable here.

Psychometric tests show junior doctors performing above average at the beginning of a working week. After 80/90 hours, they perform worse than a drunk driver. Well-publicised, tragic incidences of junior doctors dying in car crashes en route home after such shifts serve as a stark reminder of the dangers of work-related fatigue.

Would you want such an individual looking after your loved ones or driving your bus for that matter?

Hunt is provocatively and deliberately demoralising our junior doctors for his own ends. I think the arguments are confusing for the public but ask yourself this: who do you trust? The politicians or the doctors?

Dr Anne Marie Mitchell

Crieff, Perthshire

Any of us who attend hospitals across the land know what Mr Hunt seems not to  ie that there are far more pressing issues than a seven-day service; that our doctors goodwill is not a commercial commodity and is immeasurably more valuable for that, and that any public system will collapse without it

Michael Morse

Harrogate

Not being minded to reach a negotiated agreement, Jeremy Hunt plans to impose a contract instead. Perhaps he should also consider reviving the Master and Servant Act (abolished 1875) that allowed for the jailing of employees who broke the terms of their contract while he is at it?

Keith Flett

London N17

Doctors thinking of leaving the NHS should read AJ Cronins The Citadel, a devastating account of medicine before the NHS when Harley Street was crammed with greedy frauds and many honest doctors lacked the commercial skills to make their practices pay. The novel has the great lines: You must carry on. You must keep on hoping and trying. Thats a doctors job. Cronin knew what he was talking about: he was a doctor himself.

Stewart Trotter

London W9

Beware more miiltary intervention

You make a compelling point urging the US to seriously consider the offer of ground troops from its allies in the region, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and perhaps Turkey too (editorial, 10 February).

You refer to moderates, pro-West rebel groups fighting against the Syrian regime. As explained many times in the pages of this newspaper, with strong evidence by Robert Fisk, so-called moderate rebels such as the Free Syrian Army are more or less a fiction, with little existence outside the imagination of the US State Department.

You worry that the Russians are bombing the moderates in Syria, those moderates who even the State Department admitted several months ago no longer existed. We have to concede that our allies in Syria are not moderates, but have clear links to al-Qaeda, and in their methods and beliefs are no different to Isis.

Calls for intervention are growing, parallel to the calls to halt desperate refugees from Syria arriving on our doorstep. But please remember, weve been here before. The results of two decades of military interference in the Middle East by our governments, right in front of our eyes, are the very reason for todays desperate situation. More military intervention will only increase the chaos and misery of the peoples of the Middle East.

You may ask how much worse things could get. Well, there are more countries to collapse and turn into hell.

Professor Bulent Gokay

Keele, Staffordshire

In 2009 my Christian Iraqi in-laws reluctantly fled Baghdad: a bomb had exploded in the block of flats where they lived and they had come to recognise that there was no future for the Christian population in that increasingly sectarian country. They travelled to Damascus and found a flat in a quiet suburb, with a church just down the road. They were very happy there.

I visited them twice at that time and I remember our christening my wifes niece at Sednaya, where there has been a shrine, latterly a glorious convent, since the fifth century. We then visited Maloula, a monastery where the monks made and sold their own wine which could also be bought in off-licences in Damascus. We stayed a couple of nights at Tartus, where the Russians have a naval base, and we all danced the dabka under the moon on the sandy beach.

My daughter and I travelled up through Latakia and thence to Aleppo where we were struck by its tranquillity and by the harmonious way the different religious groups mingled together. The Grand Mosque was an oasis of peace and serenity alongside the hubbub of the massive Al-Madina souk.

This was Syria under the tyrant Bashar al-Assad. I have no doubt that progressive democrats, probably the finest people in the country, were frustrated at having to live in a dictatorship. But many of them, along with the rest of the population, will now be asking what price security and secularity?

Robert Curtis

Birmingham

The climate change deniers club

Your exposure of the nefarious activities of various right-wing think-tanks is timely (Where Eurosceptics and climate change sceptics rub shoulders, 11 February) As Bob Ward rightly says, This small cabal is undermining the democratic process which should be based on robust and open debate.

I have first-hand experience of this. Four years ago I organised an international conference on climate change in central London and invited Nigel Lawson to speak. He accepted in principle, but when I sent him the programme containing many knowledgable experts in the field of climate science, he immediately withdrew on the grounds that the other speakers on the programme were not sufficiently eminent.

Was what he actually meant that his absurd views on global warming would not stand scrutiny for a single minute in a room of people who actually understand the science?

Dr Robin Russell-Jones

Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire

Congratulations on the inspired typo in your round-up of the occupants of 55 Tufton Street, You report that the climate change deniers favourite boffin, Professor William Happer, has written an academic paper on behalf of a shame oil company. Some mistake surely  or was it?

David Milsted

Gillingham, Dorset

They say mumbai, we say bombay

And Bangalore instead of Bengaluru, I hope (Letters, 11 February). It is already so elsewhere: Munchen in German is Munich in English and Monaco in Italian, Firenze in Italian is Florence in English and Florenz in German. The Independent has shown its independence.

B S Chandrasekhar

Grobenzell, Germany

When dogs fall foul of the demon drink

Should your pooch be feeling a little ruff after a swift half at the Rovers Return Letters, (10 February), there is only one tried and tested solution....

Stan Broadwell

Bristol
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This week, Protestant and Catholic politicians came together in a rare move of solidarity across the political divide at Stormont. In Northern Irelands divided society, theres perhaps one thing on which both sides can always agree: women do not deserve rights.

A vote was held on whether to amend the regions abortion ban, which is currently among the most restrictive in the world. After the Belfast High Court ruled the ban is a breach of human rights legislation back in November, Stormont was given one last opportunity to amend it to allow abortions in the event of rape or incest, as well as a fatal foetal diagnosis which meant survival outside the womb would not be possible.

One politician, Anna Lo, who proposed the amendment in the case of rape or incest, telling her colleagues her experiences of working as an interpreter for the Northern Irish police and coming face-to-face with the distress of vulnerable women immediately after being raped  a distress compounded by fears of being forced to give birth to their rapists babies.

Another, Basil McCrea, spoke of young couples devastated to learn that their much -wanted pregnancy involved a defect which meant the foetus could not survive outside the womb, and who were forced to travel to England for an abortion and bring their childs remains home in a suitcase.

Among Stormonts otherwise often macho-posturing and aggressive politics, the vote was a rare one of raw emotion.

After hours of debate, on the cusp of midnight, Stormont voted no to both amendments and the abortion ban will remain in all cases.

Its an extraordinary moment both for Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, whereby a UK legislature has voted to commit a human rights breach against its own citizens. Were now in an unworkable situation whereby abortion is a human right according to the judiciary and a criminal offence according to the parliament.

Two women are currently awaiting trial for committing an abortion in Northern Ireland or helping another person to commit one. One woman stands accused of helping her teenage daughter to access abortion pills. The other is a 21-year-old woman accused of attempting an abortion using pills believed to have been ordered online and shipped into Northern Ireland. Under the legal system which equates abortion will murder, both women may now face life in prison following Stormonts vote.

No comment has been made on the situation from either Prime Minister David Cameron or Minister for Women and Equalities Nicky Morgan, despite the fact this is a human rights breach against UK citizens. Nor, sadly, do Northern Irish women expect any such comments to come.

The British government has long held a policy of not getting involved with Northern Irelands ongoing abortion problem. Their argument seems to be that the seldom secure peace process in Northern Ireland is so delicate that British involvement on devolved Northern Irish issues would cause too much outrage from Stormont. In other words, theyre best left to work things out for themselves. But this excuse simply isnt enough any more.

Westminsters refusal to get involved is simply (primarily male) English politicians letting (primarily male) Northern Irish politicians abuse women because the situation is mutually convenient to both legislatures. It is unthinkable that this would be allowed to happen on any other issue than womens rights.

Recommended Read more Imposing a junior doctor contract means a mass medical exodus

Its a common theme in Northern Irish peace-time politics and has been dubbed sextarianism. Politicians who previously fought to deprive each other of rights on ethno-religious grounds are now channelling this approach into people deemed sexual deviants, including LGBT people who wish to marry, sex workers or women who wish to have reproductive rights. Weve seen this happen with the ongoing ban on same-sex marriage, criminalisation of sex work and the constant campaign against abortion.

Essentially, it suits Westminster for Stormont to deprive these groups of rights because, so their logic goes, at least Northern Irish politicians energies are being spent this way instead of being at each others throats.

But by propping up this system, Westminster is allowing human rights breaches against its own citizens. The price to pay for Northern Irish devolution should not come at the expense of womens rights. But in male-dominated negotiations between politicians on both sides of the Irish sea, they always have and always will.
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Those responsible for the Governments drug policies could not be accused of any exaggerated deference to the world of scientific papers, double-blind trials and laboratory-bound research. The Psychoactive Substances Bill  which outlaws anything likely to alter a users mindset  was described in the New Scientist as one of the stupidest, most dangerous and unscientific pieces of legislation ever conceived. It demonstrates Parliament moving in the opposite direction to the tonnage of evidence showing that draconian approaches to recreational drug use have failed.

Where campaigners may find the forces of political suspicion less monolithic is in the use of cannabis for medical purposes. Though in many US states this proved to be a prelude for broader legalisation, it should be considered on its own merits, and not merely as the thin end of the wedge. Two recent scientific surveys, considering more than 100 randomised, placebo-controlled trials, showed that marijuana proved useful in the treatment of multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, anorexia, Lou Gehrigs disease and epilepsy. It can reduce chronic pain levels by 30 per cent. To withhold a chemical that can benefit patients on the basis that it may be used recreationally is neither just nor logically consistent: morphine can be administered on the NHS in cases of extreme pain; why not allow cannabis to be used where the pain level may be lower but exposure to it has often lasted far longer?

On Wednesday the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Drug Law Reform launched an inquiry into medical cannabis. Thursday brings the launch of End our Pain, a campaign which calls for doctors to be allowed to prescribe cannabis. The APPG could reasonably cut to the chase and join in. Criminalising people who seek to reduce pain and suffering with cannabis is illogical, inhumane and thoroughly unscientific.
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There are already 100 ways in which Googles tax return looks paltry, and Matt Brittin, the head of Google Europe, clearly did not want to make that 101. We learnt when the storm first broke that the companys 130m submission to HMRC was not all that much more than the UK canteen spent on chicken during the same period. It would have only added to the discomfort to be able to contrast Mr Brittins salary  which the Public Accounts Committee asked him to disclose  with Googles tax return. So he chose not to declare it.

Understandable, certainly, but it added to the picture of a company that disdains any form of public oversight, and will continue to operate in the shadows where it can.

The select committee hearing produced a good deal more heat than light, and the most important revelation came from HMRC, not Google.

The director general of business tax Jim Harra admitted the Government was simply unable to tell whether Google had made an honest mistake in not paying any tax at all for a decade or taken insufficient care. The Government had to assume the first, and so could impose no penalty on Google. Observers may be tempted to come to their own conclusions.

The UK profits Google makes from advertising are certain to rise, and eat further into the market supporting TV stations  and, indeed, newspapers. The company has now fulfilled its tax liabilities, thanks to a complex web of subsidiaries, a Bermudan base, and a so-called Double Irish.

Its bill will not increase much in future, with George Osborne happy to let matters lie. Mr Brittin believes public anger should be vented at the tax system as a whole. He is right, but there is plenty to spare for a company so willing to exploit its every loophole.
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The underlying tensions between the US and its supposed ally Turkey have once again surfaced after a visit by President Obamas special envoy, Brett McGurk, to the Kurdish PYD (Democratic Union Party) in Kobane in northern Syria.

It was the heroic defence of Kobane by the PYDs military wing, the YPG (Peoples Defence Units), against Isis which won international admiration.

However, Turkey put a different gloss on the visit, and as President Erdogan angrily remarked: Are you on our side or on the side of the terrorist organisations? Turkey has branded the PYD a terrorist organisation together with its sister organisation, the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party), which is outlawed in Turkey. While agreeing with Turkey on the status of the PKK, the US clearly differs when it comes to the PYD, as it considers Kurdish fighters to have been some of the most successful in going after Isis inside Syria.

Now that Erdogan has reignited the war against the PKK in Turkey as a means of gaining popular support, he is clearly afraid that growing international support for Syrias Kurds, for example, from the US and Russia will reinforce the demands of Turkeys Kurds for regional autonomy.

The PYD has wrested control of much of northern Syria along the Turkish border from Isis and has established three autonomous cantons between the Tigris, bordering on Iraq, and the Euphrates.

Although Erdogan has declared crossing to the west of the Euphrates to be a red line for Turkey, the YPG has already done so, and threatens to close the 98-kilometer gap along the Turkish border to be able to link up with Afrin, a fourth Kurdish canton in northwest Syria.

This gap is of strategic importance for Turkey, because it is, as President Obama said at a news conference at the OECDs headquarters in Paris in December, 98 kilometers that are still used as a transit point for foreign fighters, ISIL shipping out fuel for sale that helps finance their terrorist activities.

The US has called on Turkey to close the border but it has refused, so now Syrias Kurds are going to do the job. Turkey has since 2012 tried to lure the US into supporting its plans to replace Assad with the siren call of establishing a safe zone for Syrian refugees together with a no-fly zone in the same area. This would, in effect, block the attempts by the PYD to establish a Kurdish corridor along the Turkish border, which has been Turkeys main intention.

Seen in this context, Turkeys shooting down a Russian Su-24 bomber on November 24 was a strategic blunder. The Russian response included the deployment to Syria of the advanced S-400 air defence missile system, and after a second alleged violation of Turkeys airspace at the end of January Erdogan warned Russia of consequences. Russias response has been to send four Su-35S fighter aircraft to the Khmeimim airbase in Latakia province.

Last September General Philip Breedlove, NATOs supreme allied commander for Europe, observed that the military infrastructure Russia had already installed in Syria was a de facto no-fly zone.

President Erdogan's plans to marginalize the Kurds political influence both in Turkey and Syria seem set to backfire, and the Syrian Kurds have just opened their first foreign representation in Moscow. Russia is also seeking to include them when the stalled peace talks begin in Geneva.

Recommended Read more Imposing a junior doctor contract means a mass medical exodus

Erdogan has now declared Turkeys patience to be soon exhausted and that it could be forced to intervene in Syria.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov believes that the US-led coalition will prevent Turkey from realizing such crazy plans, but both Russia and the US are dealing with a leader whose behaviour, like that of Muammar Gaddafi, is becoming increasingly erratic.

Robert Ellis is a commentator on Turkish affairs in the Danish and international press.
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It is easy to forget now but in the days after last years General Election all the talk was about how hard it would be for a Conservative only Government to govern with a working majority of just 17.

Controversial legislation would have to be shelved. Controversial decisions put off  with the Tories facing a daily struggle to exert their will on the Commons.

But eight months on this Conservative administration is largely governing as if it had a majority well over a hundred  a confidence on show earlier today when Jeremy Hunt stood up in the chamber to announce that he intended to impose a new contract on thousands of junior doctors.

Recommended Read more Imposing a junior doctor contract means a mass medical exodus

If there was a more united and effective opposition Mr Hunt and his ultimate boss the Prime Minister might not have felt confident of taking this drastic step.

By and large junior doctors have public sympathy on their side  with polls showing over 60 per cent of voters blame the Government for the dispute.

The Conservatives are electorally vulnerable on the NHS and before the election everything David Cameron did and said was designed to send the message that the Health Service was safe in Tory hands.

But while Labour has howled in anger  and even joined the picket line  the truth is that they are an ineffectual opposition. And that is because they are not an effectual electoral threat.

No-one in Westminster, not least Labour MPs themselves, believe that Jeremy Corbyn can enter Downing Street in 2020. And the polls  although wrong in 2015  emphatically back this up.

So the normal restraints of Parliamentary democracy no longer apply. The Government has a freedom to take unpopular decisions with little threat of electoral payback.

 Junior Doctors Contract

Recommended Read more Northern Ireland has voted to keep the ban on abortion in rape cases

Added to this is the fact that health is a devolved issue  so the Scottish National Party has little interest in forcing the Government to back down. Actually the image of harsh Tories in England is one they are only too happy to cultivate ahead Scottish Elections in May.

So, whatever the rights and wrongs of the dispute, a new contract will be imposed on the doctors. And future unpopular and controversial decisions will be easier to take.

Government is better for a strong opposition. But sadly the most effective opposition these days  remember tax credits  comes from Tory backbenchers themselves and thats not a good place to be.
Two tranches of the Organic Farming Scheme opened in 2015 resulting in an unprecedented number of farmers converting their farms to organics.

The second tranche closed on December 31 and while no figures have been released by the Department, current estimates are that 2pc of all Irish farmland is now farmed organically.

Global demand is increasing every year. The EU organic market alone is valued at 23bn and Irish organic produce represents a tiny percentage of that market.

We can and should do better to claim a bigger slice of the growing organic global market.

As processors bid to increase productivity, farmers who have converted are faced with a different set of challenges from switching farming systems.

While the majority of new entrants have done their homework, organic production can be very different to conventional farming methods. To quote one farmer: "you don't have the bag of fertiliser to fall back on".

The obligatory two year conversion period can be challenging so it is important that farmers have access to as much information as possible for a smooth transition.

Supports

While both the Organic Farming Scheme, and Capital Grants Scheme are vital financial supports for farmers, there are limited additional resources available.

In Ireland research in the organic sector is practically non-existent, and this needs to change if we are to have meaningful support for organic farmers. Teagasc run a series of organic farm walks, which many farmers find particularly useful.

The new knowledge transfer groups have the potential to ensure that organic farmers discuss technical issues. However, like the BTAP and STAP discussion groups, the geographical spread of farmers can make it difficult to sustain a regular discussion group.

Field Talk programme

Given these issues, the IOFGA is again running a Field Talk programme, designed primarily for new entrants to the sector. Farm walks have been an important part of informal information exchange in the organic sector for many decades.

In many ways organic farming relies a lot on instinct and farmers are anxious to get it right, so it can take a few months before people get confident with the new production methods. Being able to see how others cope with problems and find workable solutions first hand is a real advantage to new farmers.

The field talk programmes over the next few months will allow farmers talk directly to one another. Highlights will include a visit to Mary and Gerry Kelly in Mullingar.

Mary will speak about their new farm partnership, and something which is a core aspect of organic farming - animal welfare.

She will discuss the success she has had using natural medicines in treating and maintaining herd health.

Organic cereals

With increased numbers of beef farmers now farming organically there is a growing demand for home grown organic cereals especially for finishers. Conversion to organic remains low for cereal producers with many farmers reluctant to make the switch. Gavin Tully from Wexford (see panel) was one of the farmers who took the plunge in 2015.

He is more than happy with his first year in organics, so much so that he is converting the rest of his tillage ground in 2016.

Gavin will also hold a Field Talk event this year, outlining his experiences as a newcomer to the sector. He will be joined at this by Trevor Harris, an organic tillage producer for over 20 years.

Overall, the sector remains small and under-resourced.

But if we are to reach the target of 5pc as laid out in the Organic Farming Action Plan, and subsequently gain a larger share of the EU food market, it is imperative that stakeholders build on the momentum gathered in 2015 and provide as much support as possible to farmers converting to organic.

Grace Maher is development officer with IOFGA, www.iofga.org
A central credit register, a review of the code on staff ethics and a discussion on the official languages act were among the issues discussed at Philip lane's first Central Bank Commission meeting as Governor.

A central credit register, a review of the code on staff ethics and a discussion on the official languages act were among the issues discussed at Philip lane's first Central Bank Commission meeting as Governor.

The extension of the European Central Bank's quantitative easing programme was also discussed, following governor Lane's first meeting of the ECB's governing council.

The details were contained in the minutes of the Central Bank Commission meeting just before Christmas. It is the first time that the minutes have been released.

The Commission discussed the draft regulations for the new proposed credit register. A final draft is expected to be presented at this month's meeting.

The annual review of the staff code of ethics and behaviour were also raised.

Activities arising under the Code in relation to gifts, employee queries, breaches of the Code and changes since last year were set out.

The Central Bank has promised to continue to publish the minutes of the Central Bank Commission.
BRITISH Airways boss Willie Walsh has hit out at airline rivals, saying he doesn't admire Virgin boss Richard Branson and admits that the competition with rivals Ryanair is "brutal".

But while he has little time for Branson, he does admire fellow Irishman Michael O'Leary.

The 54-year-old Dublin-born IAG boss, and former long-serving pilot, was speaking after a talk at the Ulster University's Business School yesterday.

Mr Walsh wasn't shy about his strong dislike of fellow airline boss Branson, whom he said he had "no admiration" for.

"I don't buy all the bulls**t about him," he said.

In 2012, Mr Walsh wagered a "knee in the groin" in a bet with Sir Richard over the future of his Virgin brand.

But he does admire staunch rival Michael O'Leary, despite the competition with Ryanair.

Asked about fresh competition from rival Ryanair, which is now back in Belfast, he said "there's always concern when you are competing with Ryanair".

"But we compete with them a lot... we are well used to it," he added.

"There's never friendly competition with Ryanair, it's brutal."

When questioned about the controversial issue of building a third runway at London's Heathrow Airport, Mr Walsh said he's only backing a new runway "if the price is right".

He also reiterated calls to scrap the British government's "ridiculous" air passenger duty (APD), a tax levied on flights in the UK. "Just scrap it. I'm not one of these people who says reduce it. It distorts competition."

Mr Walsh also said he will "definitely" consider buying the long-delayed CSeries jets made by Bombardier, which has a presence in Belfast. And the chief of BA's parent group IAG, said he could bring more routes to Northern Ireland, and potentially new brands, such as Spain's flag carrier Iberia.

"We are particularly interested that the government is talking about a route incentive scheme. If an airline can get some financial incentive to operate a new route, it makes it easier.

"It's probably going to come with Iberia Express... it could be an option."

And asked whether Bombardier's new CSeries jets could be on the table for his multi-billion euro IAG, he said: "We will definitely look at it. And we have looked at it.

"We gave it serious consideration a couple of years ago - what went against it was its time of entry into service.

"The CS300, which is the aircraft we would have looked at, was coming on stream too late.

"I've seen the aircraft, and I've flown the simulator personally. The CS100 could be an option for us at London City Airport."

And speaking about Vueling, which pulled out of Belfast City Airport after less than a year, he said: "The model that Vueling has, they try a market, if the route doesn't work, they try somewhere else. It doesn't mean they don't come back."

He said IAG was "always looking at opportunities".

"We are not afraid if there is the right opportunity there."

The former Aer Lingus and British Airways chief executive also described Belfast as a "transformed" city. He spent 18 years a pilot with Aer Lingus, before joining the management ranks, and becoming chief in 2002, and later going on to head British Airways.
The pro-exit proponents in the British EU referendum debate are fighting among themselves and lack coherence, the British Ambassador to Ireland has said.

Dominick Chilcott also told a conference in Dublin that if Prime Minister David Cameron gets a deal from Europe by next week, the referendum would likely be held on June 23.

But he said the UK government wasn't doing any work on what might happen if voters opt to pull out. "Without wishing to be rude about the leave campaign, they're fighting among themselves quite a lot and there's not a lot of coherence," Mr Chilcott told the Export Leadership Forum in Dublin yesterday.

"There are at least two separate organisations competing to be the designated lead organisation for the leave campaign. It's pretty unclear who you would want to follow."

He suggested the main face of the 'leave' campaign is UKIP leader Nigel Farage. "I suspect, emotionally, if you already like Nigel Farage you'll listen to him. But there's not another figure that has captured the public imagination," Mr Chilcott said.

He said "there will be a plethora of public figures who are respected who will be arguing on the remain side and it's quite hard to see how you would match that on the no side."

He said the lessons from the last UK election is that people are "conservative with a small c". "This is a change referendum and the choice would be between a defined status quo with the prospect of some improvements to it, against a future where there is no agreement as to what that might look like."

AIB chief economist Oliver Mangan said Ireland's UK exports and imports combined are worth 35pc of Irish GDP. He said the concern is that if the UK votes to leave the EU, it is not clear what this could mean.
Plenty of issues to cause exporters concern these days. Markets are volatile, the global economy is becoming rocky thanks in part to the slowdown in China, and, closer to home, the prospect of a British vote on whether to pull out of the European Union weighs on investors and the strength of sterling.

Simon McKeever, the head of the Irish Exporters Association (IEA), points to four other issues of importance - the so-called war for talent, the need to diversify market risk, entrepreneurship and cost competetiveness.

On the domestic front, the last issue seems to be causing him particular concern. The rising cost of housing, insurance and banking are all problems he says his members are grappling with, as well as an inability to recruit the right workers with the right set of skills.

He's not alone in his concerns. From Dublin Chamber of Commerce to Ibec and the Small Firms Association, businesses are increasingly flagging the fact that while our recovery is well under way, Ireland as a place in which to do business, they claim, is becoming less attractive, particularly with a much more competitive environment on our doorstep.

As far back as last summer, Dublin Chamber was warning that Ireland was at risk of losing growing numbers of startups to the UK where the tax regime for entrepreneurs is more attractive.

It claimed to have noted an increase in the number of businesses seeking to relocate away from Ireland to Britain, and warned the UK has achieved a number of competitive advantages within the last five years that pose a threat.

McKeever says he isn't seeing his members getting up and moving across the border just yet, but he adds that the question is being posed.

"In a few years time, where is it going to be better to set up a business, here or north of the border, particularly when you add in the prospect of a lower rate of corporation tax in the North? I think we as a nation needs to wake up. We need to realise that.

"I think if there is 12.5pc [rate] in the UK, and that's on this island, and the United Kingdom is still in the EU, I think that's a competitive threat of a whole different colour for us, and I'm not quite sure we're quite awake to that."

He says businesses look to the UK and see the tax differentials between the two jurisdictions, particularly around setting up a business and then selling it on.

The outgoing government has openly admitted the competitive disadvantages for businesses, and has promised to address the issue if re-elected. Other parties and politicians have made similar promises.

McKeever acknowledges this, but argues that the pace to date has been much too slow.

He points to the Home to Work campaign, established to encourage emigrants who have left at the height of the recession or even before, to return to Ireland.

But would they really want to, asks McKeever.

"It goes back to can they find somewhere to live, given the cost of living, and the taxation rates are too high," he says.

"And it is a global war for talent. They might come back from Australia because the economy is cooling off there and it's a commodity economy; they might come back from Canada, but will they come back from the UK, and Germany and France and the States? Probably not."

And yet, the campaign's success would go some way to helping IEA members with one of the most pressing issues - finding talent. "I don't think it's been happening at a pace quick enough and a lot of our members would be concerned about this," he says.

The competitive edge enjoyed by the UK may be eroded, however, if the British vote to withdraw from the European Union in a ballot that could come as early as June.

A poll released last week suggested that more Britons favour leaving the EU than staying in, although most polls have pointed to a narrow win for Prime Minister David Cameron.

The IEA held a briefing on the implications of a so-called Brexit in June of last year, but McKeever thinks the threat has increased since then. A conference this week heard that 45pc of exports from Irish exporting firms go to the UK.

Despite the potentially damaging effect on our economy, and, indeed, that of Northern Ireland's, McKeever acknowledges we as a country can do little, if anything, to help sway the outcome.

"There are over 40,000 directors of UK companies and there are a couple of 100,000 British people living here," he says. "We have friends and relatives there, but what are you going to do? Organise a mass campaign to try and mobilise that, that hasn't happened. I think we have very little say in what's going on."

The impending referendum is casting a cloud over sterling, which this week ticked up to 78p to 1.

A weakening pound is bad news for Irish exporters as a gain in the value of the euro against the UK currency cuts margins for Irish exporters selling there.

Specialist bank Investec said this week that the current bout of sterling weakness is a "slight over-reaction". McKeever believes Irish businesses have the capacity to deal with it, as long as the UK currency doesn't weaken too much.

"The Irish SME is very elastic to the move on the exchange rate. Do I think it's going to go way back up to 90p? No I don't. Could it go back up towards 78/80? It might. If it was to get above 80 I would start getting worried for our exporters, but perhaps they should be talking to one of their financial service providers about hedging. We as a nation do not hedge an awful lot on our currency risk."

And he says the 'Brexit' debate highlights the need for exporting companies to diversify from their reliance on the UK market. He points out that roughly 80pc of Irish exports are going to the EU, US and UK, with the latter a particularly important market.

"When you combine services and goods exports, the UK is the number one market," he says. "But it's probably not a particularly great thing if there was anything to happen, in any of those markets. It's our firm view that we need to do more to export into China and the BRICS, and into Vietnam and into Africa in particular. I see that as quite a developing market. About 2.5pc of our exports go to China, so for Ireland the food and drink sector is very important into China.

"We need more resources on the ground. We need more people from Enterprise Ireland and our embassy network over there. They don't necessarily have to be high cost public servants that go over, more the budget needs to go into hiring people locally." Minister Charlie Flanagan seems to agree. Outlining the Government's new Economic Diplomacy Strategy last month, the minister promised a pilot programme of locally-hired commercial attaches to help foster more opportunities for Irish businesses.

McKeever is full of praise for Ireland's diplomatic corps, and stresses the IEA is able to easily tap into the state's ambassadorial network to lobby on behalf of its members.

"When the ambassadors come back to Ireland, we host a round table for them to meet some of the businesses that are interested. So we've got to know the ambassadors over time. We find the ambassadors want to help, that they will do things like investigating potential contacts, and going on visits with companies. Nobody opens a door like an ambassador does."

Last year was a good one for the IEA. Membership increased by 12pc and the National Export Hub and National Export Campaign were launched with over 2,100 attendees gathering at eight regional showcases.

Consular services handling has quadrupled since 2011. Africa is the fastest-growing market with visa applications to Ghana, Kenya and Cameroon all on the rise. The top five countries for visa applications were China, India, Russia, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia.

Irish exports into China, McKeever says, will continue to grow, even as the world's second biggest economy records a slowdown.

"The problem is the countries that we export to, which exports to them [China], and we're part of the supply chain to those countries. That worries me a little bit," he says.

"Germany is a big exporter in there, the United States is a big exporter in there, Britain exports a bit in there as well. Industrial production in all three of those countries has dropped. It's the indirect knock-on effect that might affect us."

So with renewed international volatility risking the global economy and a recovering Ireland facing competition threats from our nearest neighbour, what does McKeever believe to be the best make-up of the next government?

"You're trying to drag me into it," he quips, before diplomatically adding: "I think it's very important to have a pro-business element within the next government. It will be very interesting to see the outcome."

'I think if there is 12.5pc [rate] in the UK, and that's on this island, and the United Kingdom is still in the EU, I think that's a competitive threat of a whole different colour for us, and I'm not quite sure we're quite awake to that,' says Simon McKeever regarding corporation tax in Northern Ireland
Half of all Irish professionals are looking to move jobs this year, according to new research conducted by Lincoln Recruitment.

In Lincoln's latest report on the condition of the Irish jobs market, titled '2016 The Year of the Jobseeker', it says that 40pc of candidates surveyed were offered more than one job in 2015.

The firm generated the statistics through the thoughts of 1,400 respondents as well as internal data collected by Lincoln. The report shows a record high demand for accountancy professionals with 82pc of those surveyed in the accountancy field being offered more than one job.

As well as this just under one fifth of those were offered a counter-offer by their then employers to stay put.

According to Lincoln managing director Shay Dalton, Ireland's workplace reputation is continuing to grow.

"Our experience is that Ireland continues to build its reputation abroad as a place to work or live, and we expect to see this trend continue this year," Mr Dalton said.

"For employers, this ability to harness, develop, and retain key players will be the difference between good results and great ones in 2016," he said.

Lincoln found that there is a skills shortage within the Irish workforce and employers are being forced to broaden their selection process to address the shortage.

Just under 30pc of all Irish employers surveyed said that they are looking for talent outside of their industry to address the shortages.
Ireland's largest homegrown pharmaceutical company is to create 175 jobs, it has announced.

Chanelle Pharmaceuticals said the roles will be created in Loughrea, Co Galway over the next five years.

The firm is doubling its production, with the launch of dozens of new products, as part of a 70m investment.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny visited the facility in the IDA business park in Loughrea this afternoon to unveil the companys expansion plan.

Michael Burke, founder and managing director, said Chanelle has already increased its workforce by 200 people over the last five years.

"This growth has been driven by research and development of new products and the expansion into new markets," he said.

"We invest over 8m annually in research and development and this investment will continue as we launch 75 new products over the next five years in both human and veterinary products."

Set up in 1985, Chanelle Group currently employs 375 people in Ireland, the UK, Jordan and India.

Mr Burke said he plans to expand the company further in the United States as well as Central and South America.

Construction to expand the Loughrea manufacturing plant will start in March, and is expected to support another 45 jobs during the build.
Should we be doing more to celebrate business failures in this country and use it as a springboard for future success?

That was the topic for discussion on the latest Ready Business podcast, sponsored by Vodafone. Joining presenter Brian Purcell was Paul Hayes, founder of BeachHut PR and Flounders, the club for failed founders, plus DC Cahalane, who has been VP Growth & Marketing at Teamwork.com, as well as Chief Marketing Officer at Trustev.

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Both of them advise that failing  and most importantly, learning  from your business mistakes is key to growing and improving in your business career.

Every day youre in business you have small successes and small failures, says Cahalane. Its what youre doing every day that makes the difference.

Talking and sharing your experiences is also key, says Hayes whose Flounders club is a forum that ecnourages such interaction. We go the whole nine yards with coffins and ceremonial burnings of business plans. Some of the most successful Irish tech entrepreneurs of recent years have been to Flounders.

Brian Purcell also spoke to Leo Crawford, Chief Executive of the BWG Group, who are owners and operators of the Spar, Eurospar, Mace, XL and Value Centre brands. He is a firm believer in honest failure and doing more to help entrepreneurs.

Ireland needs risk-takers, he says. The challenge for risk-takers in Ireland is that, while we are happy to applaud their successes, we seem to be less tolerant and supportive of honest failure. It's not surprising, therefore, that the fear of failure is greater in Ireland than in other countries, especially the US.

On the #readybusinessadvice slot, there were questions about ideas not just being hobbies  theres a world of difference between an idea that might work and actually running a business says Cahalane.

While Maire wondered how many failures before you should start wondering if its for you?

Keep trying and listening to your gut, says Paul Hayes. But be honest with yourself and have that conversation asking if this is really for you?

On next weeks Ready Business show, were discussing mobile coverage and broadband for businesses in rural Ireland. Send in your questions on Twitter to @Brian_Purcell using #readybusinessadvice.

The Ready Business show, in association with Vodafone , is available every Thursday via iTunes , SoundCloud , Stitcher and Independent.ie . Or subscribe to the RSS feed of the Ready Business Podcast using your favourite podcatcher.
A new Harry Potter book will be released nine years after JK Rowling's final story, The Deathly Hallows.

Rowling's website Pottermore confirmed that the script of the new stage play Harry Potter And The Cursed Child will be released as a book on July 31 2016, the day after the play's world premiere and, fans will note, Harry's birthday.

The Cursed Child is officially the eighth book in the Harry Potter canon and will be released in two versions: a Special Rehearsal Edition using the script performed in the play's previews, before being replaced later by a Definitive Collector's Edition.

The news will be a relief for fans worldwide who are desperate to join in the new chapter of Harry, Ron and Hermione's wizarding adventure, but unable to get tickets to the play, which at the moment has only been confirmed to show in London.

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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ended 19 years after the Battle of Hogwarts, as Harry waved his two eldest children off to the wizarding school.

The Cursed Child will pick up from that moment, focusing on Harry as a frazzled Ministry of Magic civil servant and his middle child Albus Severus, who is struggling under the weight of the family's legacy.

This will be the first tale in the Harry Potter canon not to be penned by Rowling. The two-part play has been written by Jack Thorne, although it has been based on an original idea by Rowling, Thorne and the stage play's director John Tiffany.

The History Boys' Jamie Parker will play Harry Potter in the new play, alongside Olivier Award-winning actress Noma Dumezweni as Hermione and Les Miserables actor Paul Thornley as Ron.

The stage play will run into 2017, which marks the 20th anniversary of the UK publication of Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone.

To celebrate the momentous year, fans will be able to collect a new edition of Hogwarts library book Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, featuring new content by Rowling, as well as new editions of Quidditch Through The Ages and The Tales Of Beedle The Bard.

Before then, fans will be able to indulge themselves once more in Rowling's magical world in Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, starring Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander, a magizoologist who accidentally unleashes a menagerie of magical animals on New York.

The film is set for release in November 2016.
Actress Meryl Streep, President of the international jury for the 66th Berlinale International Film Festival, attends a news conference in Berlin. Reuters/Stefanie Loos

Meryl Streep, the most admired actress of her generation, fueled Hollywood's diversity controversy on Thursday when she said that all of humanity originated in Africa.

The three-time Oscar winner, who is in Berlin heading up her first international film jury, made the comment at a news conference when she was asked if she was familiar with world cinema, particularly films from Africa and the Middle East.

She said she had recently seen the Jordanian film "Theeb," about a Bedouin boy on a hazardous mission in the desert, and also "Timbuktu," about Islamist militants taking over the fabled Malian city.

"The thing that I notice is that there is a core of humanity that travels right through every culture," she said. "And after all, we're all from Africa originally, you know. We're all Berliners; we're all Africans, really."

The comments from Streep, who has been Oscar-nominated a record 19 times, made headlines around the world and swiftly became one of the top trends on Twitter.

They followed an uproar over the all-white Oscar acting nominee selection for a second straight year, which forced the movie industry to confront how blacks, Asians and Latinos are represented in front of and behind the camera in Hollywood.

Some commentators on Thursday expressed disappointment.

"Youd think Meryl Streep would be smarter than to say Were all Africans, really in any context, but alas," said @Jamil Smith.

Others said Streep's remarks were misinterpreted.

"Watch the whole interview before jumping on Meryl Streep," tweeted @evansArmour. "Her quote was taken out of context."

Black Magic Woman's tweet included a poster of Streep's 1985 "Out of Africa" film, where she plays a white land owner. "Now we know Meryl Streep was serious when she made this movie," the tweet said.

Streep's U.S. representative did not return calls for comment or clarification.

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In Berlin, Streep said her seven-member, mainly female jury included a film critic and a photographer and that the panel would have diverse viewpoints.

"We will be looking at different things in these films," she said, "but we're human beings, and film is an emotional experience so ... we're going to make these decisions based on what our heads want to say.

"But we're first attacked by the heart, so that's an interesting process. I'm so looking forward to it."
Amy Schumer has carved out a reliable niche for herself as a comedic actress, but now she's branching out into drama.

According to Deadline, the Trainwreck star has landed a dramatic role in a new film which will be directed by the writer of American Sniper.

Thank You For Your Service will chart the lives of a group of US soldiers as they struggle to adapt to life back in the US following a stint in Iraq.

Hindering their progress is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

The film, directed by David Hall, is based on the novel by David Finkel and will also star Miles Teller, Keisha Castle-Hughes and Joe cole.

It's the first foray into drama for Schumer, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for Trainwreck, which she also wrote.

She's currently writing a screenplay with good friend Jennifer Lawrence.
Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor concedes racism is a "big problem" within the metal community, following rocker Phil Anselmo's recent Nazi salute controversy.

Down singer Anselmo caused a stir last month, when he gave the hand motion during a concert, and shouted "white power" from the stage, prompting fans and peers to gang up on the rocker, who has since apologised for his ill-advised actions.

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And now Slipknot star Taylor is opening up about the incident, and while he assures his fans they won't see his band in a similar situation, he acknowledges racism is a prominent issue within the community.

"This is a bigger problem than what happened that night," Taylor tells the U.K.'s The Guardian. "Slipknot has dedicated itself to bringing people together, to fighting racism, to fighting hate in general since the day we were started. I dont have time for people who judge other people by the colour of their skin. If that in itself offends some of my fans, then Im sorry, youre wrong. I dont ever want our fans to feel like were judging them because of colour, religion, culture, upbringing, etc. We welcome everyone, we always have and we always will."

He adds, "I know there is a problem in metal, and it all comes down to, at least in America, where you grow up and what that culture is passed on from: parents, family members, friends, adults. Its a generational thing. I thought we were close to phasing it out, but unfortunately I was proven wrong."

But Taylor insists there is hope that one day prejudice will be absent from not only the metal community, but all genres, saying, "I just dedicate myself to fighting it. Its across the board in music, though - its not a specifically metal thing. But it has come up in the metal community. Its risen its ugly head because of the incident were talking about.

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"I've not only played a lot of metal shows, Ive been to a lot of metal shows, and I know for a fact they are quite diverse and they always have been....It will take very little to eradicate racism from metal because the majority of it isnt racist."

Meanwhile, Anselmo offered to step down as his band's frontman in the midst of the controversy, especially after promoters in Europe and Down's hometown New Orleans, Louisiana, cancelled gigs in the wake of the white supremacy outburst.

"I've privately suggested to them (bandmates) that they move on without me," he wrote in a post to his official website. "My bandmates are now experiencing the consequences of my behavior, and I now publicly apologize to them as well. Never in my entire lifetime would I drag them down with me."
Firemen searching through debris in Birmingham after IRA bombs destroyed two packed pubs. One victim's sister has said a decision to grant an inquest review would be 'seismic' Photo: PA Wire

West Midlands Police may have been tipped off about the Birmingham pub bombings by an IRA 'mole' before the deadly blasts, a coroner has been told.

It was suggested to the Birmingham and Solihull coroner, Louise Hunt, who was hearing an application to resume an inquest into the deaths of the 21 victims, that there was "reason to believe it's the case".

Ashley Underwood QC, representing some of the victims' families, also said there was suspicion among relatives that West Midlands Police's investigating officers lied in order to gain the wrongful convictions of the Birmingham Six.

The Irishmen were released in 1991 after their convictions for murder had been overturned by the Court of Appeal.

The force's barrister, Jeremy Johnson QC, told Ms Hunt that the chief constable had "no principled objection to the resumption" but claimed that the coroner had no legal jurisdiction in the case.

On the night of November 21, 1974, blasts ripped through the packed city-centre pubs the Tavern In The Town and the Mulberry Bush.

The bombings, which also left 182 people injured, are widely acknowledged to have been carried out by the IRA.

Mr Underwood said it would be a question for any future inquest as to why police may have lied to gain convictions, but suggested that one such reason may be that officers wanted to cover up their informant's involvement.

He said: "These were appalling deaths and the only reason it has not been investigated, as common sense dictates, is the false convictions.

"These cry out for a proper, fearless investigation, which represents the best closure these relatives can have."

Putting forward the families' application to resume the inquest, he added: "There is reason to believe the gang of murderers had an informant in their ranks and that the police knew in advance.

"And there is reason to believe the police had sufficient time, between the telephone warnings and the first bomb going off, to evacuate - and that the emergency services could have arrived earlier - but that records were falsified."

He recounted a 2014 newspaper interview with one of the Birmingham Six, Paddy Hill, who was also present at the coroner's court in Solihull yesterday and who raised the subject of "the alleged informer".

Mr Underwood, addressing the coroner, said: "I can't say if that's true, that's for an inquest to determine.

"But if it is (true), then the police had a mole in the gang, which raises the question, did they know it was going to happen and did they lie to the (criminal) court to cover their knowledge of that and cover their mole?"

Before hearing submissions, Ms Hunt had requested that West Midlands Police provide her with a list of "lost" evidence, including an unexploded third bomb.

A separate police review of evidence in the case, ending in 2014, discovered that of the 168 original exhibits listed for the Birmingham Six trial, 35 items could not be located.

Opening the hearing, the coroner said: "This was a terrible atrocity resulting in the deaths of innocent people and serious injury to many more."

The coroner will hear submissions from lawyers representing the families and the police over the next three days but will not make her decision until later this month.

Inquests were opened and adjourned in the aftermath of the bombings, but were never resumed as a result of the Birmingham Six's convictions in August 1975.

Speaking outside court before yesterday's proceedings, Julie Hambleton - whose then 18-year-old sister Maxine was killed by the Tavern bomb - said any decision to resume a new inquest would be "seismic".
A former Anglo Irish Bank director has told the trial of four senior bankers accused of conspiring to mislead investors that there was a green jersey agenda which involved banks working together to help each other out during the financial turmoil of 2008.

The four men, including former Irish Life and Permanent (ILP) CEO Denis Casey and Anglo's former Head of Finance Willie McAteer, are accused of conspiring to mislead investors by using interbank loans to make Anglo appear 7.2 billion more valuable than it was.

Mr McAteer (65) of Greenrath, Tipperary Town, Co. Tipperary and Mr Casey (56), from Raheny, Dublin are on trial alongside Peter Fitzpatrick (63), from Malahide, Dublin, who had been ILPs former director of finance and John Bowe (52), from Glasnevin in Dublin, who had been Anglo's head of capital markets .

They have all pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to conspiring together and with others to mislead investors through financial transactions to make the bank appear 7.2 billion more valuable that it was between March 1st and September 30th, 2008.

On day 16 of the trial Brendan Grehan SC, defending Mr Fitzpatrick, showed the jury an email sent from the former CEO David Drumm to Mr Bowe and other Anglo executives on March 16, 2008 discussing a suggestion from the Governor of the Central Bank that Irish banks help each other out.

Matt Cullen, the former director of treasury at Anglo, agreed that the genesis of the email was about how banks could help each other out and that this was a case of pulling on the green jersey.

This was Ireland Inc., Mr Cullen said, adding that Mr Drumm was talking to CEOs of the other banks. He agreed with counsel that everybody was involved to try to achieve the same aim, to protect the Irish banking system.

Mr Cullen told Michael O'Higgins SC, defending Mr Casey, that he had heard of the green jersey agenda and said he would have been aware of what was been discussed in Mr Drumm's office from March 16 up until the end of March.

That was the biggest signs of banks working together. AIB going to work with the likes us shows what a crisis it was, he said.

Mr O'Higgins said that the origin of the crisis was the selling of loans that contained a lot of mortgages, some of which were sub-prime. He said a lot of banks in Europe had bought these loans in the form of bonds.

He said that when some of these mortgages started to go bad there was no way of knowing how badly the bonds were tainted and that market confidence began to collapse.

Slowly but surely the confidence in the market started to wane and the brakes came off, counsel said. He described the market as a sentient being but not in any way sentimental.

He said that Anglo's position in the market was made worse because businessman Sean Quinn had taken out a Contracts for difference position on shares in the bank.

Mr Quinn had made a bet that the shares would increase in price and they had been falling rapidly and everyday they fell he had to make up the difference.

The bank was in an unusual position...because he owed the bank so much money he was controlling the situation, said Mr O'Higgins.

Brian Lynch, who was Head of Treasury at Anglo, told Una Ni Raifeartaigh SC, prosecuting, that the deposits in September between the bank and ILP were circular.

He said the purpose of the transaction was that the deposit from Irish Life Assurance would be classified as a customer deposit from a non-banking institute.

He said that this figure would be read by shareholders, investors and rating agencies. He said the deposit would have no impact on the bank's liquidity and had no commercial benefit.

The trial continues before Judge Martin Nolan and a jury.
The former head of Corporate Treasury at Anglo Irish Bank has told a trial that it was normal in the banking industry to try to make the bank look as good as possible on their annual reporting days.

Witness Brian Lynch told the trial of four senior bankers that the 7.2 billion circular cash transaction at the centre of an alleged conspiracy to mislead investors was neither typical nor usual.

Four men, including former Irish Life and Permanent (ILP) CEO Denis Casey and Anglo's former Head of Finance Willie McAteer, are accused of conspiring to mislead investors by using interbank loans to make Anglo appear 7.2 billion more valuable than it was.

Mr McAteer (65) of Greenrath, Tipperary Town, Co. Tipperary and Mr Casey (56), from Raheny, Dublin are on trial alongside Peter Fitzpatrick (63), from Malahide, Dublin, who had been ILPs former director of finance and John Bowe (52), from Glasnevin in Dublin, who had been Anglo's head of capital markets .

They have all pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to conspiring together and with others to mislead investors through financial transactions to make the bank appear 7.2 billion more valuable that it was between March 1st and September 30th, 2008.

On day 17 of the trial Mr Lynch told Brendan Grehan SC, defending Mr Fitzpatrick, that it was an industry norm for banks to manage their balance sheets to look as good as possible at the end of their financial year.

But he earlier told Una Ni Raifeartaigh SC, prosecuting, that the deal between Anglo and Irish Life & Permanent (ILP) carried out in September 2008 was not typical.

Whats unusual is that it is the same amount, for the same period, at the same rate, he said, adding that the size of the transaction was also significantly higher than normal.

Mr Lynch described the cash transactions as circular and said he had become aware of the deal during Friday afternoon meetings in former Anglo chief executive David Drumms office in late summer 2008.

He explained that Anglo would give money to the banking arm of Irish Life in return for receiving money from Irish Life Assurance (ILA) in the same amount.

The reason for the transaction, he said, was that ILA was treated as a corporate deposit, so it would make the corporate deposit numbers better.

During cross examination by Diarmaid Guinness SC, for John Bowe, Mr Lynch said that Friday afternoon meetings held in Mr Drumms office were specifically about the balance sheet, and what it would look like at the end of September.

Mr Drumm was very concerned about funding initiatives for the financial year end, he agreed.

Counsel asked if anyone at the Friday meetings had suggested there was anything improper in the deal. Mr Lynch replied: I dont remember any specific comments.

The witness said he had never been told to conceal the transaction from anyone in the bank, or the Regulator.

The jury heard that during September 2008 customers became very nervous in the midst of closures of banks in the UK and US and billions of euro were being withdrawn from the bank.

Mr McGuinness said: Financial panic was everywhere in the world about banks. Banks were disappearing overnight. The survival of a bank was an entirely legitimate concern.

Mr Lynch agreed this was correct and with counsel's submission that thousands of people worked in Anglo at the time.

Mr McGuinness said: I would expect anyone, let alone a chief executive or other directors, to try and make projections for how they might protect the existence of the bank, its assets, the shareholders and the viability of the bank, isnt that right? Mr Lynch agreed.

Steven Hiles, former market risk analyst with Anglo, told Ms Ni Raifeartaigh that he felt that funding initiatives discussed at the Friday meetings were purely about improving corporate deposit figures  and not about long term funding or liquidity, which is the banks cash flow.

He said he and a colleague had asked Mr McAteer if he was aware of this.

We felt that given the situation and financial crisis it would have been better for the bank if we were looking at liquidity, Mr Hiles said. He told the trial that Mr McAteer told him that he was aware of this.

The trial will continue on Monday before Judge Martin Nolan and a jury.
A former Anglo Irish Bank director has told the trial of four senior bankers accused of conspiring to mislead investors that there was a "green jersey agenda" which involved banks working together to help each other out during the financial turmoil of 2008.

The four men, including former Irish Life and Permanent (ILP) CEO Denis Casey and Anglo's former head of finance Willie McAteer, are accused of conspiring to mislead investors by using interbank loans to make Anglo appear 7.2bn more valuable than it was.

Mr McAteer (65), of Greenrath, Tipperary town, and Mr Casey (56), from Raheny, Dublin, are on trial alongside Peter Fitzpatrick (63), from Malahide, Dublin, who had been ILP's former director of finance, and John Bowe (52), from Glasnevin in Dublin, who had been Anglo's head of capital markets.

They have all pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to conspiring together and with others to mislead investors through financial transactions to make the bank appear 7.2bn more valuable that it was between March 1 and September 30, 2008.

On day 16 of the trial, Brendan Grehan SC, defending Mr Fitzpatrick, showed the jury an email sent from the former CEO David Drumm to Mr Bowe and other Anglo executives on March 16, 2008, discussing a suggestion from the Governor of the Central Bank that Irish banks help each other out.

Matt Cullen, the former director of treasury at Anglo, agreed that the genesis of the email was about how banks could help each other out and that this was a case of "pulling on the green jersey".

"This was Ireland Inc," Mr Cullen said, adding that Mr Drumm was talking to CEOs of the other banks. He agreed with counsel that everybody was involved to try to achieve the same aim, to protect the Irish banking system.

Mr Cullen told Michael O'Higgins SC, defending Mr Casey, that he had heard of the "green jersey agenda" and said he would have been aware of what was being discussed in Mr Drumm's office from March 16 up until the end of that month.

"That was the biggest sign of banks working together. AIB going to work with the likes of us shows what a crisis it was," he said.

Mr O'Higgins said the origin of the crisis was the selling of loans that contained a lot of mortgages, some of which were sub-prime. He said a lot of banks in Europe had bought these loans in the form of bonds.

He said that when some of these mortgages started to go bad, there was no way of knowing how badly the bonds were tainted and that market confidence began to collapse.

He said Anglo's position in the market was made worse because businessman Sean Quinn had taken out a "contracts for difference" position on shares in the bank.

The trial continues before Judge Martin Nolan and a jury.
AN 11-year-old boy who suffered severe brain injuries at birth is to receive 3m under an interim settlement approved by the High Court.

Mohammad Daud Assad, who has cerebral palsy and will require full time care for the rest of his life, was born on February 20, 2004, at the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin.

It was claimed a delay by the hospital in delivering him by a caesarean section caused his injuries.

Had he been delivered several hours earlier, he would not have sustained such catastrophic injuries.

Through his mother, Alia Muryem Assad of Lough Conn Terrace, Ballyfermot, Dublin, he sued the governors of the Rotunda for negligence.

Denis McCullough SC, for the boy, said liability had been admitted in the case in the last two weeks.

The matter was due to be heard as an assessment of damages only, but the parties had reached a settlement which includes an interim payment of 3m, he said.

Mr Justice Kevin Cross agreed to adjourn the matter for six years (2022) when the boy's needs going forward will be reassessed.

As well as reflecting damages for the injuries sustained by the boy, the interim award is to cover various costs.

These include his past care and ongoing care needs, housing, specialised equipment and music therapy which would be of immense benefit to him, counsel said.

In the action, it was claimed the defendant was negligent and breached its duty of care toward the boy by failing to prevent him from suffering the injuries he did by carrying out a timely caesarean section.

His mother arrived at the hospital at 9am on the date in question having been 10 days overdue. However Mohammad was not delivered until 10-30pm by emergency c-section when it was too late.

The hospital failed to summon either the obstetrician or a senior member of the obstetrics team much earlier than it did despite clear signs of foetal distress, it was claimed.

Following his birth the boy required resuscitation.

He suffered severe brain injuries, and has both a mental and physical disabilities, counsel said.

He has attends school and is unable to speak but is responsive and likes music.

Counsel said the house he lives in at the moment is unsuitable for his needs.

The boys parents told the court they were content with the settlement.
Tommy Maher from Scarteen, Newmarket, Co Cork charged on counts of causing loss or making gain by deception pictured at Cork Circuit Court

A FORMER insurance industry assessor who helped organise a car accident scam in which fake collisions were staged for spurious personal injury claims was jailed for two years

Tommy Maher (52) pleaded guilty to deception and false reporting charges in relation to six accidents in Cork from which three insurance companies faced total personal injury claim pay-outs of 219,000.

To date, just 44,000 has been recovered from a widespread scam which prompted Gardai to set up a special investigation.

Dubbed 'Operation Nascar', gardai managed to video-tape several accidents being staged and eventually arrested a total of 26 people.

Accidents were staged in Cork city, Youghal, Mallow and Mitchelstown.

Maher of Scarteen, Newmarket, Cork pleaded guilty before Cork Circuit Criminal Court to a total of six deception charges in relation to six accidents staged across Cork between February 17 2011 and September 26 2012.

He also pleaded guilty to three counts of making false reports to the gardai.

Maher insisted to gardai he did not financially benefit from the scam - but Det Sergeant Sean Leahy said multiple people questioned by detectives indicated they had paid money to the defendant.

Maher today offered 25,000 in compensation.

The scam revolved around those who lodged fake personal injury claims paying a percentage of their compensation to the organisers as a staging fee.

Det Sergeant Leahy said it was his belief that Maher was the leader of the gang.

He added that Maher, using his knowledge of the insurance industry, advised that insurance firms were more likely to pay out nominal amounts for such relatively minor road traffic accidents than engage in lengthy and costly litigation.

However, defence counsel Donal O'Sullivan BL contended that while Maher admitted to be an organiser of the scam, he was not the only principal involved.

Judge Sean O'Donnabhain was told that Maher helped recruit people for the staged accidents.

The scheme involved a driver ramming an empty car from behind.

A third vehicle - sometimes a BMW driven by Maher - would arrive at the scene and people would climb into the damaged car and then claim to be injured.

In one case, five people got into a damaged car and later complained of injuries.

Both gardai and paramedics would be called to the scene of the fake accident and those involved in the scam would claim to have soft-tissue or whip lash injuries.

Det Sergeant Leahy said Quinn/Liberty Insurance, Aviva and Axa paid out a total of 165,623 over three accidents and 54,000 over a fourth.

In two cases, insurance firms refused to pay out because gardai had warned them the accidents involved were highly suspicious.

The court was told that Maher, a father of three, had run into severe financial problems when the Irish construction industry collapsed.

He had worked as an insurance industry assessor and a publican before developing a very successful construction and property business in north Cork.

That ran into severe difficulties from 2009.

Between 2010 and 2011 the defendant had been treated for mental health issues including severe depression.

His deepening financial problems led him to get involved in staging the fake traffic accidents.

Judge O'Donnabhain said it was a very serious matter with ordinary road users paying the price for the scam through higher insurance premia.

He imposed a three year prison sentence but suspended the final 12 months in light of Maher's plea, remorse and co-operation with gardai.

'Operation Nascar' was launched in 2012 following multiple complaints from insurance and motor companies in relation to suspicious damages claims.

It was directed from Anglesea Street Garda Station.

'Operation Nascar' was led by the organised crime and fraud investigation unit with the support of detectives in several Munster counties.

To date, 16 people have been prosecuted in relation to the scam.
A GARDA suing after he claimed he was wrongfully arrested while off-duty on a night out told the High Court he was devastated when he was charged over the incident.

Garda Oliver Cully, who works on protection duty at Aras an Uactarain, said he was later cleared and found not guilty in the District Court of all charges including drunkenness and breach of the peace.

If convicted, it was inevitable I would lose my job. It devastated me, he said breaking down briefly in the witness box.

He added: It took me over completely. I have suffered. It took a year before it (charges) came to court."

He said it was "maximum pressure for me.

"I fought it to the last. I felt there was a good chance the gardai would be believed. I felt it would finish me.

Garda Cully has sued the State and Garda Commissioner claiming he was assaulted, unlawfully arrested, falsely imprisoned and maliciously prosecuted as a result him querying a fare a taxi man was going to charge him in the early hours of April 24, 2004.

He is also claiming he was subjected to emotional suffering.

The State defendants have denied all the claims. They contend Garda Cully was lawfully arrested and that everything was done properly and within the law.

A jury was told Garda Cully hailed a taxi after being at a night club in Dublin city.

When he was told it would be 35 for the journey to his home in Lucan, he said he would pay what was on the meter and he thought he was being overcharged.

The taxi driver drove to two gardai standing nearby.

Garda Cully has alleged he was told to get out of the taxi by a garda and later, when he went to walk away, he was rugby tackled to the ground by other gardai, handcuffed and arrested.

On the second day of the case, Garda Cully

told the court he was out of work for a year after the alleged incident and found it difficult to be as good a father as he had been.

I was consumed by this. I had a huge desire to right what was wrong, he said.

Asked by his counsel Martin Giblin what was it like going from being an insider to an outsider in the force, Garda Cully said it was very different particularly in relation to the authorities in the gardai.

He said he wanted to be vindicated.

Counsel for the State, Hugh Hartnett, put it to Garda Cully that a number of garda will say he was heavily intoxicated, aggressive and foul mouthed on the night.

He replied he was not intoxicated and he would have an issue with what the gardai are saying and that they were wrong.

He said he had rebuked a couple of gardai who he said were abusive to him and that is why he was arrested.

He had said he would report them and the taxi man.

The case continues.
A heroin addict who ran into a tree while trying to escape after robbing a heavily pregnant woman has been given a five year sentence

Defence counsel for Ian Gibbons (40) said he was deeply ashamed at the depth he had fallen to during a relapse into drug addiction following a seven year period clean of heroin.

Gibbons, of Kilmainham Bank, Emmet Road, Inchicore, Dublin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to robbery of a purse and mobile phone at Blackpitts, Dublin 8 on July 2, 2015.

The court heard he snatched a bag from the woman, causing her to fall over. She didn't suffer any injuries.

Gibbons, who has 25 previous convictions, was chased and restrained by members of the public who witnessed the robbery. The woman was taken to hospital but was not injured.

Judge Melanie Greally praised the courageous and responsible members of the community who detained Gibbons at the scene. She said it was an atrocious offence committed on a young expectant mother.

She noted that since the offence Gibbons has again attempted to combat his heroin addiction.

Judge Greally imposed a five year sentence with the final 18 months suspended on conditions.

Garda Geoffrey White told Elva Duffy BL, prosecuting, that the woman, who was 35 and a half weeks pregnant, had been walking from her home to see a friend. She had a bag over her shoulder and was speaking to her husband on the phone.

She said someone grabbed her phone and bag which knocked her off balance and she fell to the ground. The robber ran off and she screamed for help.

Three members of the public saw what happened and chased the man. They lost sight of him for a time but a fourth person spotted him again and the group confronted him.

Gibbons told the men: I didn't know she was pregnant. He agreed to show them where the stolen bag was and all items were ultimately recovered.

The group restrained Gibbons until gardai arrived. During this time he tried unsuccessfully to escape several times, on one occasion running into a tree.

Gibbons told gardai he needed the money for drugs and denied he had deliberately targeted the woman because she was pregnant.

Pieter Le Vert BL, defending, said Gibbons had worked all his life, training firstly as a chef and later working in positions of trust in the security industry.

He developed a heroin addiction but managed to become drug free for a seven year period during which he became known as someone who would help others in a similar position.

Counsel said Gibbons believed he had put addiction behind him but a number of tragedies, including the death through overdose of a person he had helped, led to him relapsing himself.

He said Gibbons had women in his own life and he was ashamed he had fallen so low as to rob a pregnant woman. Gibbons had now taken concrete steps to rehabilitate while in custody and he was now drug free again with the support of his family.
A mentally ill man was pepper-sprayed twice with no effect after pointing a realistic looking imitation gun at gardai, a court has heard.

Colm Lawless (56) was found not guilty by reason of insanity after the jury heard he could not control his actions or understand the difference between right and wrong at the time as he was suffering from bi-polar disorder.

Mr Lawless of Glenmuch Road, Dublin 18 pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to threatening Garda Gary Farrell and possession of an imitation firearm at John of Gods, Sandyford.

The jury were instructed by Judge Sarah Berkeley and counsel for the prosecution and defence that all the evidence pointed towards a special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.

Two forensic psychologists gave evidence that Mr Lawless was suffering from delusions and was insane at the time under the Criminal Law Insanity Act 2006. All the facts of the case were admitted by Mr Lawless.

Jurors took 46 minutes to return the verdict. Mr Lawless will now be sent to the Central Mental Hospital for a 14 day assessment after the court was told a bed was available. A doctor will report back to the court on February 22 on a treatment plan for him.

In interview Mr Lawless said he suffered from severe delusions at the time of the offence as he was going through a manic phase having suffered from bi-polar disorder for many years.

He had stopped taking his medication at the time against the advice of doctors because it was giving him panic attacks. This led to the delusions that he was head of the Jerusalem secret service and that he was on a mission from God to save the world.

He had written letters to the Archbishop and members of government stating this and had hand delivered them. On the day of the incident he believed that the garda whistle-blower Sergeant Maurice McCabe was going to be assassinated and that he had to save him.

Prosecuting counsel Tony McGillicuddy BL presented evidence that staff at the hospital where Mr Lawless attended had informed gardai that he was off his medication and shouldn't be driving.

Garda Gary Farrell and his partner found Mr Lawless sitting in his car outside the hospital. Gda Farrell knew about his condition and decided the best course of action was to take the keys from the ignition for Mr Lawless' safety.

When he did this Mr Lawless took a black air pistol from the glove box. A ballistics expert gave evidence that this was not a firearm under the law but that it closely resembled a Beretta handgun and could be mistaken for one.

Mr Lawless got out of the car and pointed the gun at the officer and at his partner who was in the patrol car.

Gda Farrell drew his baton and told him to drop the gun. When Mr Lawless refused Gda Farrell pepper-sprayed him but it had no effect. He pepper-sprayed him again which also did nothing.

Mr Lawless went into the middle of the yard and threatened to shoot himself if the garda didn't return his keys. Gda Farrell threw the keys towards Mr Lawless who dropped the gun. He was arrested and taken to hospital.

Mr Lawless was interviewed several weeks later having recovered from the episode. He made admissions and said he had bought the gun in a fishing store six months before as a curiosity item.

He said during the incident he believed the gardai would back down because he outranked them as head of the secret service. He praised Gda Farrell for bringing him to the hospital and apologised to the officers.
A YOUNG man has been charged with the murder of a 41 year old Cork Prison inmate.

Brian Veale (31) was charged with the murder of Graham Johnson (41) who was fatally stabbed while working in the Cork Prison kitchens on May 16 last.

Veale of Dominic Street, Shandon, Cork and Dungarvan, Co Waterford appeared before Judge Con O'Leary in Cork District Court.

Det Garda Eimear Brennan gave evidence of the arrest, caution and charge of Mr Veale.

The court was told that the defendant made no reply when formally charged with the murder.

Judge O'Leary said the issue of bail does not arise as the High Court, by regulation, can only deal with bail applications in murder cases.

He remanded Mr Veale to the current sessions of the Central Criminal Court after the book of evidence was served on the defendant.

Free legal aid was granted after solicitor Eddie Burke confirmed his client was not working and had no major assets.

Mr Johnson died after suffering a stab wound to the chest shortly before 5pm on May 16 as he was working in the kitchens of the Rathmore Road facility.

Tragically, the victim - who was serving a four year sentence for theft - was scheduled to be released just four weeks later having completed his sentence at Cork Prison.

Mr Johnson, who was from Bandon in west Cork, had told prison officials he planned to rebuild his life having received help for a serious gambling problem while in custody.

Mr Johnson died in Cork Prison before he could be transferred by ambulance to Cork University Hospital (CUH).

Investigations into the incident were launched by Gardai, the Irish Prison Service and the Irish Prison Inspectorate.

Mr Johnson received a prison sentence in November 2011 from Cork Circuit Criminal Court for a series of thefts related to personal gambling problems.

He was a chronic gambler whose addiction issues began when he was aged just 14 years.

He was handed a five year prison term, with the final 12 months suspended, after he pleaded guilty to stealing 19,000 to feed his gambling habit.

Mr Johnson stole 1,620 in cash, 1,500 in gold jewellery and 1,500 in cheques from a Mallow goldsmith in April 2011.

He also pleaded guilty to stealing 3,000 in cash and 12,000 from a development firm in west Cork where he was working.

The latter incidents occurred in 2007.

Mr Veale, who appeared in court wearing a track suit, did not speak during the brief hearing.
Of the 42 people currently facing charges before the Special Criminal Court, none are charged in connection with offences related to the activities of crime gangs.

All have been brought before the court on alleged offences linked to the activities of various dissident republican terrorist factions.

Following recent events there has been much ill-informed comment about what the Special Criminal Court is and how it functions. As a journalist who has covered this court since 1980, I believe there are certain observations that should be borne in mind in any discussion of it.

The court in its current incarnation was set up by then Justice Minister Des O'Malley in May 1972 to deal with the growing threat of the Provisional IRA.

In the Special Criminal Court, three judges sit without a jury.

The rules of evidence are the same as for the Central Criminal Court.

The vast majority of cases dealt with by the court relate to offences scheduled under the Offences Against the State Act of 1939.

This includes membership of an unlawful organisation and the possession of firearms and explosives, among other offences.

The Director of Public Prosecutions can forward any case to the non-jury court provided she certifies that the ordinary courts are "inadequate to secure the administration of justice".

In practice, there are very few prosecutions in the court for non-scheduled offences.

The vast majority of prosecutions that have taken place in the court since 1972 have related to the activities of the Provisional IRA, the Irish National Liberation Army and, since 1998, the various dissident republican factions: the Real IRA, the Continuity IRA and Oglaigh na hEireann.

However, there have been exceptions. In the 1980s, Dublin criminals Martin 'The Viper' Foley and Stephen Rossi Walsh were put on trial at the court. Following the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin in June 1996, several members of the drugs gang led by John Gilligan, including Gilligan himself, were tried in the Special Criminal Court.

In recent years, the court's business has been almost entirely taken up with the activities of dissident republican terrorists. The only exceptions to this were members of the Dundon gang who were tried by the Special Criminal Court for the murder of Limerick businessman Roy Collins and other criminal activities in the city.

None of the cases of the 42 people currently facing criminal charges before the court relate to so-called organised crime or 'gangland' crime.

This is in part because the gardai separate crime into two distinct groups - 'crime ordinary' and 'crime special'.

'Crime ordinary' includes the activities of the various drugs gangs and organised crime, and comes under the auspices of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (NBCI), the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) and the Organised Crime Unit.

'Crime special' includes the activities of dissident republicans and is investigated by the Special Detective Unit (SDU), which is commonly referred to as the Special Branch.

If there is any link to subversive activity, the SDU will investigate, but in the normal course of events the SDU is not engaged in the investigation of organised criminal gangs.

There is currently a delay of almost two years in getting a trial date in the Special Criminal Court, and that has been cited by Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald as one of the main reasons for setting up a second court, something that was never considered at the height of the IRA's campaign in the 1970s and 1980s. The minister has said the new court will start work on April 4, the beginning of the new law term after the Easter break.

The Criminal Justice Act of 2009, which was introduced by then Justice Minister Dermot Ahern, set up new offences, including membership of a criminal gang and directing the activities of a criminal gang.

There have been no prosecutions in the Special Criminal Court under that piece of legislation and none of the 42 people currently facing charges are for offences covered by that Act.

Following the recent gangland murders in Dublin, much of the debate has centred on the use of the Special Criminal Court. However, it remains to be seen whether the gardai will use legislation on the statute book to bring criminal figures in increasing numbers before this non-jury court.

Diarmaid MacDermott is the co-founder and managing director of Ireland International News Agency
Members of the gang involved in the murder of taxi driver Eddie Hutch Snr are also suspected for the shooting dead of a young mother of two in Dublin nine years ago.

Baiba Saulite was gunned down in November 2006 as she smoked a cigarette at her front door while her two young sons slept inside, in a crime that shocked the nation.

The two killers were close confidantes of Martin 'Marlo' Hyland - the Dublin crime boss who was himself executed a month later.

Hyland recruited the men, who were both in their early 20s at the time, to carry out the murder on behalf of Limerick gangster John Dundon - who is now serving life for the murder of innocent rugby player Shane Geoghegan.

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Gardai now suspect the same pair were among the four-member hit team sent to kill Eddie Hutch Snr, the older brother of crime boss Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch on Monday.

The hit team exacted brutal revenge for the execution of rival criminal David Byrne in the Regency Hotel attack last week.

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And a third suspect is a well-known killer who was hired by the Kinahan cartel for a number of gangland murders in Dublin. He is believed to be the would-be assassin who shot and seriously injured John Gilligan in a murder bid in February 2014.

He is also the prime suspect for the subsequent murder of Gilligan's minder, Stephen 'Dougie' Moran.

Heavily armed members of the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) have been patrolling streets in the north and south inner city since Monday night. Officers privately admit they are shocked by the events.

Up to 40 key criminals are under surveillance by gardai. In recent months, many have been warned that their lives are under threat.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny yesterday said he had "full confidence" in Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan's ability to tackle gangland crime. He also said he did not think new laws were necessary to deal with the issue.

"I don't believe that particular special powers will be required here. The gardai and the special units - the emergency response unit - have dealt with this on other occasions in the country in a period of years and before in Dublin.

"I expect that the high visibility of policing that we've now followed through - I hope that that will yield results and that the persons who were involved in this ferocious internal gangland spate of murders will be brought to justice.

"We support the commissioner and the Garda in the job they have to do here," he added.

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Tensions between the Kinahan and Hutch factions have been at breaking point since the murder of The Monk's nephew last September.

It has emerged that Christy Kinahan Senior and Gerry Hutch had previously agreed that nothing would happen to Gary Hutch after he was accused of being a police informant.

Sources revealed that agreement was reached six weeks before the murder - when The Monk travelled to Schipol Airport in Amsterdam to meet his former friend.

Worried that they had bitten off more than they could chew, the Kinahan gang sued for peace with the Hutch side.

Daniel Kinahan travelled to Dublin three times to meet with Gary Hutch's associates but was rebuffed each time.

In December, Daniel Kinahan had arranged to meet face-to-face with Gerry Hutch in a hotel near Dublin Airport but The Monk never showed.

Kinahan had been accompanied by the hitman and he later made it known he considered the no-show the final snub.

Meanwhile, gardai are still searching for a close associate of Gary Hutch who has been identified in photographs taken shortly after the Regency Hotel attack last Friday.

The man, who is in 20s and from the north inner-city, was dressed as a woman.

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A second man, who is stocky and wearing a cap, is also believed to have been identified and is thought to be from Northern Ireland.

The two men were part of a five-man hit squad - two of them were armed with AK47s and were wearing fake garda uniforms when they stormed the lobby of the hotel.
All non-urgent operations in Dublin's Beaumont Hospital due to take place today and tomorrow have been cancelled because of overcrowding.

The hospital said last night that all affected patients had been told of the cancellations.

The move is part of a series of measures to try and ease the trolley crisis in its emergency department where there were 40 patients on trolleys yesterday morning.

A hospital spokeswoman said ambulances had to be diverted to the Mater Hospital for an hour yesterday to relieve the pressure on the ED.

Patients intending to come to the ED have been asked to contact their GP instead and, if possible, to avoid or delay their visit.

Those with minor injuries should visit the Mater Smithfield Rapid Injury Clinic.

Beaumont has asked GPs not to send patients to the ED unless absolutely necessary.
Labour leader and Tanaiste Joan Burton beside her party headquarters in the Dublin Docklands yesterday Photo: Gerry Mooney

Tanaiste Joan Burton is facing a massive battle to save her own political career, the Irish Independent can reveal.

An exclusive poll of the Dublin West constituency shows the Labour Party leader has only an outside chance of retaining her seat.

Her Cabinet colleague Leo Varadkar is set to top the poll and could even take his place in the new Dail after the first count.

Sinn Fein is also set for a major breakthrough with Paul Donnelly matching the Health Minister's 20pc.

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But the poll will send shockwaves through Labour as it shows Ms Burton's vote has more than halved compared with her 2011 performance.

The Millward Browne poll of 520 voters was carried out between February 5-8 and shows Ms Burton trailing badly in fifth place on just 10pc of first preference votes.

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Speaking today, the Labour leader said that the sample was smaller than usual and showed too many undecided voters.

I don't think people will make up their minds until very close to the election. We saw that in the UK where pollsters had problems, she said.

Polls are part of life for a politician, I read them with great interest.

Speaking in Tuam, Co Galway, Taoiseach Enda Kenny responded to the threat to the Tanaiste's seat saying: "She's a fighter".

He praised Ms Burton's work at the Department of Social Protection saying she had driven a transformation in its work from "just a list of people drawing the dole" to a "vibrant living entity" that helps the unemployed find work and training.

"I'm glad to see Fine Gael showing up well in that particular poll - not that I have any great belief in them [polls]. It's the 26th is the day and I expect the Tanaiste to fight her corner and fight it well."

Fianna Fail will be delighted with the performance of newcomer Jack Chambers who, on 17pc, is within touching distance of winning back the seat once held by the late Brian Lenihan.

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Another striking finding is that Ruth Coppinger of AAA-PBP has not been significantly boosted by the retirement of her colleague Joe Higgins.

Ms Coppinger won the Dublin West by-election in 2014 after Patrick Nulty quit as a TD but is now in fourth place with 15pc of first preferences.

Independent Alliance councillor David McGuinness, who left Fianna Fail after failing to get a nomination, is on 9pc.

Some 14pc of voters in the constituency say they have yet to make up their mind. This means the Tanaiste will be locked in a four-way battle for the final two seats in the constituency.

Based on the figures, Ms Burton will be relying heavily on transfers from Mr Varadkar if is she is to have any chance of getting elected.

The Tanaiste is considered more transfer-friendly than Ms Coppinger but her lead appears insurmountable.

On just 2pc, Mr Varadkar's running mate, Senator Catherine Noone, will not feature - and a massive 43pc of Fine Gael voters in the constituency say they will give their second preference to the Labour Party.

Overall, one in seven voters indicated they would be willing to give Ms Burton their second preference compared with one in eight, who would give their number two to Ms Coppinger.

Ms Burton previously lost her seat in 1997, but has been a solid performer in every election since. In recent days she said she was "very confident" of winning back her seat.

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The drop in her support can be partly explained by the fact that two out of three voters in Dublin West are dissatisfied with the Government's performance.

After 'Don't knows' are excluded, just 29pc said they were satisfied with the Coalition's work over the past five years - but 62pc were dissatisfied.

Unhappiness is highest among working class female voters who Ms Burton openly says are a key demographic for her.

Voters in Dublin West have been considerably more impressed by the performance of Mr Varadkar than any other sitting TD.

Almost one in three people believe the Health Minister has been the most effective constituency TD in the current Dail.

This compares with just 14pc who said Ms Burton was the best performer.

A significant 42pc said the Labour Party leader is the least effective TD, while 27pc said Ms Coppinger was ineffective.

The fact that the highest number of voters in Dublin West cited 'Hospitals/Health Service' as the number one issue that will affect their vote appears to be playing out well for Mr Varadkar.

Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown has been repeatedly in the news due to overcrowding in its emergency department but it was also announced as the site of the new Rotunda Hospital last year.

Just 10pc of Dublin West voters said water charges was their number one issue despite Ms Coppinger being heavily involved in the anti-water charge protests.

Asked which party was most trusted to manage the economy, 27pc said Fine Gael, compared with just 7pc for Labour. Sinn Fein was the least trusted on economic issues.
Fianna Fail would be able to work in a coalition with Fine Gael - so long as it was the bigger of the two parties, its justice spokesman has said.

Niall Collins has firmly opened the door to the end of civil-war politics, but said it must be on his party's terms, with Fianna Fail the senior partner.

He argued that his party had always acted in the national interest and would do so again.

"We could have cut and run before the last election and saved a lot of seats in the interest of the party but we didn't, we acted in the interest of the country," he said.

Mr Collins said his party was "emphatic" when it said it would not be a junior coalition partner for Fine Gael - although this didn't totally rule out a minority government situation.

"If something is in the national interest, if it's in the public interest, if it's fair, if it's proportionate, if it's merited, we'll support it, of course.

"But there won't be any arrangement whatsoever in relation to propping up Enda Kenny or a Fine Gael government. Absolutely no way.

"Under no circumstances are we going in as one leg on a three-legged stool for Fine Gael or anybody else."

However, asked if Fianna Fail could do business with Mr Kenny if Fianna Fail was to win the most seats in the election, the Limerick TD was far more open-minded.

Based on current opinion poll figures that scenario is extremely unlikely, but Mr Collins said his party was running 71 candidates and "absolutely aims to be the biggest party" in the next Dail.

"If we're the biggest party and they want to come in and prop us up, that's a different kettle of fish. I wouldn't have a problem with it," he said.

Mr Collins denied that was an indication that Fianna Fail's real concern was getting the most cabinet positions, rather than the national interest.

Richest

He said: "Fine Gael stands for the richest and wealthiest in society. Their budgets have impacted disproportionately on those who can least afford to pay."

Earlier this week, Health Minister Leo Varadkar said there was no way that a Fine Gael-Fianna Fail coalition could be formed after the election.

But on Monday, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin failed to definitively rule out his party supporting a minority government.

"I'm not going down that route now," he said.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny canvasses in Ballaghaderreen, where he met candidate Maura Hopkins and her lookalike friend Laura Mannion Photo: Andrew Downes

Taoiseach Enda Kenny refused to commit to bringing back telephone allowance for older people as politicians were warned not to underestimate Ireland's 'grey vote'.

Mr Kenny pledged to increase the State Pension by 25 a week by 2021 as part of an 870m spending plan dubbed 'Supporting Older People'.

However, he gave no commitment to bring back the 9.50 a month telephone allowance, scrapped in Budget 2014.

The Taoiseach launched the plan targeting older voters at the Avalon Active Age Centre in Sligo town.

It came as Age Action hosted a packed 'town hall' election debate in Cork where politicians were bluntly reminded of the power of the 'grey vote' with Irish pensioners boasting the highest percentage voting rate for any sector of society.

More than 500,000 older people are eligible to vote on February 26 and their turnout at the 2011 election was 88pc.

Mr Kenny said the number of people aged over 65 will double in the next 30 years and the number over 80 will quadruple.

"It is our elders who built this country. We owe them a lot," he said outlining how the spending plan to support the elderly is the "second largest commitment of our long term economic plan".

Fine Gael promises that State entitlements will be "safeguarded and improved" with the increasing pension and capping prescription fees at 17.50 among the key promises.

Mr Kenny was asked if he has any plan to bring back the telephone allowance but refused to give a commitment on the matter.

"What we want to do is to guarantee that the state facilities that older people have will be maintained and will be improved," he said.

"Obviously we will announce other issues in relation to carers and facilities that also impact on older people as time goes on," he added.

At the Age Action meeting the organisation warned that the country is "failing" pensioners.

"Our pensioners are not demographic 'time bombs'. They are not 'bed-blockers'.

"They are men and women whose hard work and sacrifice built our country. And we are failing them," a spokesman said.

Pat Kelly (72) from Blackrock said older people's living standards have been steadily eroded since 2008.

On politician's arguments that the economy is recovery he said: "I haven't seen it. I had to get rid of my private health insurance because I couldn't afford it. I had to get rid of my landline because I cannot afford it.

"We have had a milkman coming to my house since 1928 and I had to cancel that too."

Nora O'Donovan from Cork city said elderly people are sceptical of political promises.

She said her greatest concern revolved around funding for the healthcare system.

Hospital

"On Christmas Eve I was thrown out (from hospital) at 2pm to an empty house where there was no fire lit or anything," she said.

"There was no one to look after me, no one in the house and they gave me no tablets. And I was just after suffering a mini-stroke."

Nora O'Sullivan from north Cork said she was also concerned about healthcare.

"There are fantastic people working in our hospitals but the pressure they are under is absolutely enormous," she said.

"I was in an emergency department last year and spent almost 30 hours on a trolley. But I was one of the lucky ones.

"I saw patients trying to sleep in arm-chairs and the staff were clearly exhausted."
RTEs exclusion of Green Party leader Eamon Ryan from two party leaders debates to be broadcast later this month as part of the national broadcasters general election coverage is fundamentally unfair, undemocratic and unconstitutional, the High Court has been told.

Ms Justice Marie Baker has begun hearing the Greens action against RTE over Mr Ryans exclusion from the debates, the first of which is due for broadcast next Monday, February 15th.

Mr Ryans exclusion on grounds the Greens do not meet RTEs criterion of having three TDs in the outgoing Dail is arbitrary, overly rigid and unfair and fails to recognise the Greens are an all-Ireland party running some 40 candidates in this general election and with 12 councillors here, Siobhan Phelan SC said.

That criterion only applies to party leaders debates and not other general election coverage, she said. RTEs position results in unfair coverage of pre-election policies and inequality of treatment of the Green Party to its detriment, she argued.

RTE s decision also suggested the Green Party is not a significant player as Mr Ryan was being excluded from two debates, one involving four and the second involving seven party leaders.

Some of those leaders would get two opportunities to address the electorate while Mr Ryan would have no opportunity at all, counsel said. Two of the leaders included in the debates headed parties which did not even exist at the time of the last general election, she added.

She was opening the hearing of proceedings before Ms Justice Baker in which the Greens want orders quashing Mr Ryans exclusion. The action is brought by Green Party trustee Tom Kivlehan and is proceeding via an application for leave judicial review being heard in tandem with the actual judicial review. RTE, represented by Nuala Butler SC, denies the claims.

In her opening, Ms Phelan said the RTE party leaders debate has evolved since it was first introduced in 1982 and has taken different formats over time.

These debates are significant events, she said.

As the purpose of the seven leader debate was to allow a wider platform, that begged the question why the Greens were excluded. Her case was RTEs decision to exclude the Greens interfered with the democratic process protected under the Constitution.

RTE was acting in breach of several provisions of the Constitution, including the rights to freedom of expression and of association essential to the democratic nature of the State, counsel argued.

This case raises issues of fundamental significance because RTE is a public broadcaster regulated by law, with express duties to be fair and impartial in its election coverage and not to favour one party in that coverage, she submitted.

Mr Kivlehan and Green Party deputy leader Catherine Martin are in court for the hearing.

Ms Justice Baker heard the Greens had complained about the party's exclusion to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission and decided to bring proceedings last Friday after the Commission told Mr Ryan in a letter last Thursday its Compliance Committee could not deal with his concerns as it was limited to considering complaints arising from programmes already broadcast.

The Greens contend the party leader's exclusion will have a material and adverse effect on their prospects in the general election. The leadership debate, they claim, will "frame" the rest of media coverage leading to further exclusion of the party from the national debate.

It is also argued the Green Party has had a specific role in matters such as management of recent economic issues and climate change. Unless its leader is entitled to counter arguments other parties may make on those issues, the debate on such matters may be "skewed", it is claimed.

The application is accompanied by an expert opinion from Dr Colum Kenny, a former professor of communications at Dublin City University, in which he is critical of the exclusion of Mr Ryan form the debates and of RTE's environmental coverage.

The hearing continues.
GERRY Adams has again insisted voters are not interested in his plans to abolish the Special Criminal Court  in spite of the upsurge in gangland killings.

Mr Adams today said only the media were asking him about the matter - in spite of two drug-gang murders in Dublin inside four days.

The issue of our long-standing policy on the Special Criminal Court has not been raised with me by even one person outside of the media, Mr Adams said during a break from canvassing in Mullingar.

The Sinn Fein leader would not say if he was apprehensive ahead of sentencing of his friend and collaborator, Thomas Slab Murphy, for tax fraud at the Special Criminal Court tomorrow morning at 10.30am.

I have no plans to go to the Court tomorrow, he said in reply to a question from independent.ie.

Mr Adams also brushed aside suggestions that Sinn Fein will struggle to get transfers over this and other controversies surrounding the party.

That has been disproved in previous elections and Im telling our people every day to ask those who say they are voting for another candidate to ask for a preference for us, he said.

He said the real problem with crime was how Fianna Fail had closed Templemore Garda Training College and began a process which cut 3,500 gardai from the force.

He said the current Government had made a mess of the justice portfolio but insisted Sinn Fein had plans to strengthen garda numbers and give them proper resources.

The Sinn Fein leader said he was pleased with the findings of a poll for todays Herald which showed Tanaiste and Labour leader Joan Burton at risk of losing her seat in four-seat Dublin West.

Mr Adams did not comment on the forecast about Ms Burton. But he said he was pleased to see his partys candidate, Paul Donnelly, on target to take a seat.

I am pleased with that. Paul hit the crossbar last time and were fighting to win in Dublin West and in all the 40 constituencies, irrespective of any polls, Mr Adams said.

Mr Adams said he had prepared for big four leaders debate on TV3 tonight and hoped to do well. He said he was ready to discuss the damage done to people on low incomes and the need for change.

Is he nervous ahead of the first televised debate in the campaign?

Well, yes, I always get nervous. I was nervous coming out here to talk to you guys today. So, thats a good way to be, the Sinn Fein leader replied.

Mr Adams, in Mullingar to canvass with the partys Longford-Westmeath candidate, Paul Hogan, said he found a lot of problems impeding a local recovery including loss of industry, lack of housing and an inadequate hospital A&E.

Here we are in the town of Mullingar. Theres no sign of a fair recovery here, he said.
TONIGHT's debate between the four main party leaders is not "any kind of an international bout", Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said when asked if he'd land a knock-out blow on Micheal Martin and Gerry Adams.

Speaking this morning, Mr Kenny did hit back at the Fianna Fail leader Mr Martin who claimed he had been running scared saying he is looking forward to the opportunity to remind the public about what he branded the "calamitous" former government.

Mr Kenny was addressing the media at a creche in Tuam, Co Galway where he was announcing details of Fine Gael's plans for services for children.

"This is not to be turned into any kind of international bout," he said of tonight's TV3/Newstalk debate.

"This is an opportunity to say to people  here's our plan. This is where we're focused on the future and here's how we intend to do it."

Put to him that Mr Martin said he was running scared, Mr Kenny replied:

"I've been debating with Micheal Martin for the last five years in the Dail every Tuesday and Wednesday.

And he hit back saying:"Micheal seems to go from calmness to desperation.

"I'm looking forward to the debate this evening and my focus is on the future and certainly to remind people of the calamitous state that we were left in by his administration which ran from office, which couldn't get ministers to accept responsibility...

"So I've a few things to say to Micheal as well."

He accused half of the Fianna Fail party of wanting to join Sinn Fein in government and added: "It's not about me and Micheal Martin. It's about you, the people of the country.

"The TV3 debate is an important element of our discussion and I have many things that I hope to be able to say about the journey we've come on and where we want o be for the future.

"So let them not be sounding off down in Cork at all," he added.

Fine Gael's 'investing in early years plan' promises and additional eight weeks paid leave for new parents by 2021 and a 2,000 annual subsidy for children aged nine months to three years in childcare facilities.

Earlier Mr Kenny handed in his nomination papers in Castlebar Courthouse, officially becoming a candidate in the 2016 election.

He was asked if it would be his last time handing in nomination papers or would he run again.

"Are Galway going to win the All-Ireland in the next few years or will it be ourselves? Who knows what the future holds."

"My commitment is if we're re-elected on the 26th that I'll serve a full term as Taoiseach and I would be honored to do so. However, it's a matter for the people to make their decision."

Mr Kenny faces Mr Martin, Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams and Tanaiste Joan Burton at 9pm tonight on TV3 and Newstalk Radio.

After leaving Tuam, Mr Kenny's next stop was the Chanelle pharmaceuticals plant in Loughrea.

He toured the lab at the veterinary and human drugs manufacturer and announced a 70m investment by the firm that will see 170 jobs created in the next five years.
The promise to get rid of the Special Criminal Court in the Sinn Fein manifesto

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams claims the spotlight on his promise to repeal the country's most powerful anti-terror laws has been "hyped out of proportion" - despite it being listed as a measure in his party's manifesto.

As his party was accused of being "soft on crime", Mr Adams stood over his pledge to scrap the Special Criminal Court.

Sinn Fein lists its plans to repeal the Offences Against the State Acts in the party's manifesto, which Mr Adams launched on Tuesday.

"We will repeal the Offences Against the State Acts," it says on page 46 of the manifesto, under the heading of 'Community Safety and Justice'.

The Acts allow for the creation of the Special Criminal Court, used to prosecute Provos and gangland crime figures.

The legislation also outlaws membership of illegal organisations, intimidation of the government and the establishment of kangaroo courts.

Mr Adams, who has been continually accused of being a senior member of the IRA, also bizarrely complained he is one of the "very few people in the Oireachtas who has actually been shot".

And he said he understood the crime issue due to his own experiences.

However, Mr Adams insisted Sinn Fein would move forward with plans to abolish the Special Criminal Court if it is in government.

Mr Adams continued to defend his stance on the court.

"There is an irony that these other parties accuse us of being populist when we raise an issue like this. They seize upon it against the back of two people being killed and others injured and very, very brutal murders being carried out in the capital," he said.

He claimed the criticism of his pledge was coming from other parties trying to make "cheap political shots against the Sinn Fein party".

Mr Adams said he was not claiming his personal experiences gave him a greater insight into crime.
RTEs failure to include Green Party leader Eamon Ryan in two leaders debates to be broadcast this month is fundamentally "unfair, undemocratic and unconstitutional", the High Court has been told.

RTEs decision that only parties with three elected TDs can feature in the debates amounts to telling the electorate Mr Ryan and his party "do not matter" and are not significant players, Siobhan Phelan SC argued.

She was making submissions in an action by Green Party trustee Tom Kivlehan against RTE. It was launched last week after the Broadcasting Complaints Commission told Mr Ryan it could not consider his complaint he was not included because it regarded its remit as confined to considering complaints arising from programmes already broadcast.

RTE denies the claims and maintains its three TDs criterion for leaders' debates is fair, transparent and reasonable and applies equally to all parties.

If the court finds RTEs decision is capable of skewing electoral choices and interfering with free exercise of a vote, as the Greens maintain, the court must find it unlawful, Ms Phelan submitted.

It was not good enough for RTE to say it is the expert and its criteria for inclusion in debates will make better viewing.

An editorial decision that cuts across constitutional values, especially the democratic values at the heart of the Constitution which underpin democratic elections, must be subject to judicial review.

RTE head of current affairs David Nally says the three-TDs criterion accords with the stations legal obligations as a public service broadcaster.

The Greens had not previously objected to the criterion and their complaint appeared to arise now because the party does not have three elected TDs, he said in an affidavit.

Given there are 20 registered political parties in the State, plus several recognisable groupings, RTE was also entitled to adopt criteria to ensure leaders debates are not unfeasibly large, he said.

The hearing is due to conclude Friday (Feb 11) and Ms Justice Marie Baker has indicated she will deliver judgment on Monday.

Because the first debate is due for broadcast Monday night, the judge is hearing telescoped proceedings, involving Mr Kivlehans application for leave for judicial review of RTEs decision being merged with a full review.

In submissions for Mr Kivlehan, Ms Phelan argued Mr Ryans exclusion on grounds the Greens do not meet the three TDs criterion is arbitrary, overly rigid and unfair and fails to recognise the Greens are an all-Ireland party running 40 candidates in the general election and with 12 councillors here.

The three TDs criterion only applies to party leaders debates and not other general election coverage, she said. RTEs position meant unfair coverage of pre-election policies and inequality of treatment of the Green Party to its detriment.

The two RTE debates will involve four and seven party leaders, two of whom headed parties which did not exist at the time of the last general election, she said.

Leaders debates were significant events which had evolved since their introduction in 1982 and had taken different formats over time.

Because the seven leader debate was intended to allow a wider platform, that begged the question why the Greens were excluded, she

said.

The Greens contend their leader's exclusion will have a material and adverse effect on their prospects in the general election.

In court documents, RTE argues it cannot be obliged to include every party in the leaders debate regardless of its level of Dail representation. There is no guarantee of absolute equality, either in the Constitution or broadcasting legislation and what is required is RTE be fair, objective and impartial, it submits.

RTE denies excluding Mr Ryan and argues the Greens were rather told the criteria for his inclusion were not met.

Those criteria were set for sound editorial reasons and the alternative criteria advocated by the Greens would require RTE to

subjectively assess the organisational merit of political parties and the worth of their policies, RTE argues.

TV3 and TG4 planned to hold one debate with just four leaders and the Greens were not invited to take part in those debates, it added.
Anonymous juries would be "sequestered" into rooms and asked to adjudicate on cases taking place in different cities as part of Sinn Fein's plans to abolish the Special Criminal Court.

The party has again faced staunch criticism over its proposal to "repeal" the country's most powerful anti-terror laws as gardai continue to investigate the two cold-blooded murders of recent days.

And the controversy will continue to overshadow the party's election campaign as so-called 'good republican' Thomas 'Slab' Murphy faces sentencing at the juryless court tomorrow.

Speaking at the Sinn Fein offices on Parnell Street in Dublin city, the party's jobs spokesman Peadar Toibin insisted jurors can still be protected if the Special Criminal Court is abolished.

The Meath West TD said those selected to serve on juries could operate from other cities if necessary.

"There are examples whereby juries can be sequestered into another room, be anonymous in scenarios where there are court cases happening," Mr Toibin said during a launch of plans to boost workers' rights.

"It is possible to have a court case in one city where anonymous juries are then brought to a room in a different city where they overlook court cases as well," he added.

Mr Toibin reiterated that the use of the court has been criticised by the UN and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties.

"It is possible and reasonable that citizens who live in a democratic society have a right to a jury court.

"A non-jury court is a significant reduction in those rights and it is not just us who is saying this - it is the UN commission on human rights, Irish Council of Civil Liberties, Amnesty International and politicians from a number of different political parties. It is possible to protect juries. We want to see normal democratic rights upheld and everybody's democratic rights upheld."

But Fianna Fail's justice spokesperson Niall Collins labelled Sinn Fein a "cult" - an accusation that has been levelled at the party on numerous occasions in the past.

Also speaking on the campaign trail yesterday, the Limerick TD said the party was "bereft of any credibility" in relation to its stance on the Special Criminal Court.

"You have to ask Sinn Fein their motivation for that and you've to look at the individuals, the role they have played in various events over the history of this country," Mr Collins said.

"To me and to most people, Sinn Fein are a cult. They are not a political party.

"I think they are bereft of any credibility in regard to their stance on the Special Criminal Court and the Offences Against the State Act. It shows them up for what they are and people are worried about it."

Mr Collins also brought up the use of so-called 'kangaroo courts' in his attack on Sinn Fein.

These courts were used by the IRA to investigate alleged crimes within the Republican movement.

IRA abuse victims Mairia Cahill and Paudie McGahon claim to have been subjected to such processes.

"They want kangaroo courts but they don't want the Special Criminal Court," Mr Collins told reporters.

"They have zero credibility when it comes to any of these issues."

Sinn Fein's stance on the Special Criminal Court contrasts sharply with the policies of other mainstream parties.

Fine Gael has pledged to set up a second Special Criminal Court by April 4 to deal with a backlog in cases Labour also supports the use of the court also, while Fianna Fail favours an expansion.
Within the walls of each count centre on February 27, the atmosphere will be tense and highly-charged.

Political careers will be made and broken.

Three weeks of tireless campaigning will bear fruit, or feel like a worthless exercise. But there are a handful of constituencies where the outcome is more significant than others. One of these is Dublin West.

Our opinion poll has set the scene for the biggest political casualty of Election 2016.

Tanaiste and Labour Party leader Joan Burton faces being unseated by a rising Fianna Fail star 42 years her junior.

Step forward Jack Chambers - the young councillor now poised to take a seat in the four seat constituency.

Any such scenario would not only be a hammer blow for Burton, but it would have profound implications for the Labour Party and the prospect of Fine Gael and Labour forming a second consecutive coalition.

Chambers is quick to mention the name 'Brian Lenihan' when on the doorsteps.

And during our conversation, the medical student points out on seven occasions that he is looking to win back the seat previously held by the late Finance Minister.

"We are confident we will win the late Brian Lenihan's seat. We are getting a very positive response," he says.

But the 25-year-old councillor rejects suggestions that he is simply targeting Burton's vulnerable seat.

"This is not a case of me versus Joan, it is more complex than that."

A question that certainly is not complex is who will come out on top in a constituency where voters have already gone to the polls on three occasions in the past five years.

That accomplishment was always going to belong to Fine Gael's star media performer, Leo Varadkar.

But any hope of the Health Minister bringing his running mate, senator Catherine Noone, to the Dail with him have been dashed if polling figures are correct.

Noone has managed to gain a profile in the Seanad as a result of some of her quirky proposals, including a no-fry zone around schools and the regulation of ice-cream vans.

But our poll shows that Varadkar's potential surplus is likely to benefit his Labour colleague rather than his party running mate.

The election will see Sinn Fein break through in many constituencies in the capital, including Dublin West.

The party's candidate, Paul Donnelly, was defeated in the 2014 by-election called following the decision by Independent TD Patrick Nulty to resign his Dail seat.

He lost out to anti-austerity TD Ruth Coppinger.

A superb canvasser, Donnelly has a strong local organisation behind him and is likely to finish second behind Varadkar.

As the business end of proceedings commence, Chambers, Coppinger, Burton and Independent Alliance councillor David McGuinness will fight for the final two seats.

Although our poll places Coppinger central to the mix, she will be disappointed that her seat is at risk given the retirement of her confidante Joe Higgins, whose support base she would be expected to capture.

McGuinness quit Fianna Fail in controversial fashion after being defeated in the selection convention by Chambers.

But the fact he is in with a fighting chance at taking the final seat illustrates both his ability, as well as the fact he has brought a chunk of support with him.

Burton will need to rely on her high profile, personal vote and Varadkar's surplus if she is to survive.

But she is no stranger to an electoral battle and only a fool would write her off.

PREDICTION: FG, SF, FF, LAB/AAA-PBP
The heartbroken family of the late Mairead Moran has remembered her as a beautiful, strong and independent woman.

The family issued a statement following the trial of Shane Smyth, who was found not guilty of Ms Moran's murder by reason of insanity. Ms Moran (26) was stabbed to death at the shop where she worked at the Market Cross Shopping Centre in Kilkenny on May 8, 2014.

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The Moran family said their daughter was dearly loved: "In Mairead's belongings when we took them home after her death was a card she had kept which read: 'Mairead, follow your dreams, keep safe and always remember how precious you are to us. Love Mam & Dad'," the statement said.

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"She was loved beyond words by all our family, especially her sisters Colette and Michelle and by the many others she welcomed into her life. She was a beautiful, strong and independent woman, happy and smiling with a great attitude to life."

Before her death, Ms Moran had been excited by an offer from her employers at Holland & Barrett to manage its new store.

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"It has been heart-breaking over the last week to hear the full details of Mairead's death. It is all the more difficult for us to grasp as she had absolutely no involvement with Shane Smyth since 2005, more than eight years earlier," said her family.

"Our only consolation is the knowledge that a number of wonderful people came to Mairead's aid, holding and comforting her, ensuring she wasn't alone. We will always remember them. We want to thank the gardai and everyone involved in bringing this case to a conclusion.

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"Mairead's death has left a huge gap in our lives. Since May 2014 we have concentrated on taking care of one another and keeping ourselves strong while we try to come to terms with living without her. We are surrounded by kindness and help from our family, friends and our local community in Kilmoganny who give us the support and the space we need."

The Moran family said they "know that the Smyth family share in our distress at what has happened".

"Mairead, with her ability to just get on with her life, is an inspiration to us all. She was and will always be precious to us and she knew it. We had years to add new memories but we can only cherish the ones we have of her 26 years."
An elite garda unit have been recalled to Dublin ahead of the weekend wake for Regency Hotel murder victim, David Byrne (34), it has emerged.

Members of the Garda Emergency Response Unit (ERU) were sent to the border regions after the murder of Garda Tony Golden in Co Louth but they have been recalled to Dublin in the wake of security issues surrounding the weekend wake.

Gardai are to begin a five-day security operation ahead of the funeral of David Byrne, which is to take place next Monday.

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The remains of Mr Byrne were released to undertakers yesterday and it is thought his remains will be brought to his family home this evening or tomorrow morning.

Mr Byrne's body will be waked in his parents home at Raleigh Square in Crumlin for the whole weekend ahead of the funeral at 12.30pm on Monday.

Garda are said to be concerned at the time that Byrne's body will be waked in the family home, which could increase the risk of a revenge-style attack..

Separate plans are to be put in place for the funeral of Mr Hutch, who was shot in a revenge attack on Monday night. His funeral is expected to take place later on next week.

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Meanwhile, it has emerged that Regency hotel victim David Byrne was shot in the head with a handgun in a so-called "coup de grace" as he lay injured on the floor, it has emerged.

Two men - dressed in fake garda uniforms and armed with AK-47s - entered the lobby of the Regency Hotel in the north Dublin suburb of Drumcondra.

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One of the four gunmen in the six-man hit squad targeted Byrne (34) and shot him in the legs.

As he lay injured on the lobby floor close to the reception counter, his killer shot him in the head.

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Details of Byrne's cold-blooded murder emerged as his body was released to his loved ones last night.

Funeral

Byrne's funeral will take place in Dublin's south inner city on Monday morning and gardai are going to put a major security operation in place for it.

The funeral Mass at St Francis Street Church will be followed by burial at Mount Jerome Cemetery in Harold's Cross.

The funeral of Eddie Hutch Snr (59) - the brother of Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch and uncle of Gary Hutch - is also expected to take place next week. Eddie Hutch Snr was shot dead at his home in Poplar Row on Monday night.

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It's understood Eddie was murdered on the order of the Kinahan cartel in revenge for Friday's murder of Byrne in the Regency.

Gardai now believe that at least two of the six-man death squad sent to the Regency Hotel fled to the North immediately after the murder.

It is understood gardai are investigating a report that two masked men were observed in a car driving erratically on the M1 motorway north of the Swords exit at around 3pm, just minutes after the gruesome attack.

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"They were literally driving cars off the motorway, it was madness," a source said last night.

Two of the chief suspects for the hotel attack are very close associates of Gary Hutch, who was murdered in Marbella last September.

Another man said to be involved in the attack is linked to a criminal who was previously shot by gardai in an armed robbery.

Separately, it has also emerged that senior gardai are planning to see if there is any way a truce could be brokered between the Kinahan cartel and associates of Gary Hutch.

Key to this would be the co-operation of Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch. It is believed the notorious criminal arrived back in Ireland at the weekend following the deadly attack at the Regency Hotel.

His whereabouts are not known and he is keeping an extremely low profile.

He is said to be shocked by the murder of his older brother Eddie, who had no involvement in Friday's attack and is considered to be a "soft target" for his killers.

It is understood that associates of Gary Hutch held a meeting in the Beaumont area of North Dublin yesterday.

The decision by gardai to seek a truce between both sides comes two days after Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin appealed to the "mothers and grandmothers" within "the ranks" of both sides to help effect peace and stop further bloodshed.

Suspects

It is understood that members of the gang involved in Monday night's murder of taxi driver Eddie Hutch are also suspects for the shooting dead of a young mother-of-two in Swords in Dublin nine years ago.

In a crime that shocked the nation, Baiba Saulite (28) was gunned down in November 2006 as she smoked a cigarette at her front door while her two young sons slept inside.

The two killers were close confidantes of Martin 'Marlo' Hyland, the Dublin crime boss who was himself shot dead a month later.

Hyland recruited the men to carry out the murder on behalf of Limerick gangster John Dundon, from the McCarthy/Dundon gang, who is serving life for the murder of innocent rugby player Shane Geoghegan.

Gardai suspect the same pair were among the four-member hit team that killed Eddie Hutch.

A third suspect is also a well-known killer who was hired by the Kinahan cartel for a number of gangland murders in Dublin.

He is believed to be the would-be assassin hired by the Kinahans who shot and seriously injured John Gilligan in a murder bid in February 2014.
Thousands of commuters have been left without transport this morning as Luas workers begin their two-day strike.

No trams will be in operation on Luas rail service today and tomorrow, and those heading into the city centre have been warned to be wary of extra traffic on all routes into Dublin.

Upwards of 90,000 Luas customers are thought to be affected by the stoppages and a further two-day strike has been scheduled for next Thursday and Friday.

Hundreds of angry commuters took to Twitter this morning to complain of delays, while AA Roadwatch warned commuter routes were busier than usual, particularly along the Grand Canal and on the Stillorgan Road.

Our services are operating as normal this morning but due to Industrial Action at Luas please allow additional time for your journey.  Dublin Bus (@dublinbusnews) February 11, 2016



SIPTU members have launched the strikes in pursuit of pay increases of up to 53 pc over the next five years.

Over 240 staff are taking part in the 48-hour work stoppage, and these workers will lose their pay and a bonus of up to 3,000.



Some 16 control room staff - who are not on strike - will also lose their pay and do not qualify for a SIPTU strike allowance worth around 40.



Luas operator Transdev faces a 100,000-a-day 'fine' for failing to provide a service on the light rail network.



Its Managing Director Gerry Madden has apologised to commuters, saying: (We are) very disappointed that SIPTU have chosen to take this action, we have been working tirelessly to try and get them to modify their claim and call of these strikes, said Madden.



Id like to take this opportunity to make a heartfelt apology to all the commuters and the Luas passengers whore seriously disrupted by this unnecessary action.



Although passengers with pre-paid Luas and Taxsaver tickets can claim refunds from next week, these tickets will not be accepted on other public transport services during the strikes.

Way more people commuting by foot this morning - footpaths into town bustling! #LuasStrike  Rebecca (@fernwehed) February 11, 2016

Dublin Bus said it would not be in a position to honour Luas tickets, and said there would be no extra bus services in place to transport people from Luas stations.

"We advise customers to leave additional time for their journey, especially during peak times," said a spokeswoman.



The DART and other train services will also run as normal, and, like Dublin Bus, they will no honour Luas tickets.

Reminder: If you connect to @Luas at Heuston/Connolly, Luas services not operating today 11th & tomorrow 12th Feb due to industrial action.  Iarnrod Eireann (@IrishRail) February 11, 2016

AA Roadwatch are reporting that it is slow going coming into Dublin this morning.



There are delays on the N4 Lucan Road inbound towards Palmerstown, while further in, it is busy on St. Johns Road West right up to Heuston Station.

Those coming into the city centre via Drumcondra, inbound on the Swords Road, are also facing delays.

Unless this bus grows wings I'm not going to be in work before lunch #LuasStrike  Melissa (@_IrishMollie) February 11, 2016

Along the North Quays, there is heavy traffic at Wolfe Tone and again from Ormond Quay to Bachelors Walk.

The Grand Canal eastbound from Ranelagh and inbound from Fairview is also quite busy.



Transport Minister Paschal Donohoe urged SIPTU to defer a second two-day stoppage next week and attend talks with Transdev.



"As Minister for Transport, I want to make clear to everybody involved in this industrial action that firstly, I expect the contract that is in place to provide Luas services to commuters in Dublin will be honoured on the days in which those strikes go ahead.

"There will be fines for the non-provision of those services, and secondly, this Government cannot and will not make funding available to resolve this dispute," he said.

Mr Donohoe added that the strikes were "not fair" to the public.
Gardai and members of local community gather at Shanganagh Park House Community Centre car park for the meeting about a predator in the area. Photo: Steve Humphreys

Members of the local community gather at Shanganagh Park House Community Centre car park for the meeting about a predator in the area. Photo: Steve Humphreys

Inspector James Murphy, Sgt. Angeline Conefrey, and Sgt. James Malone speak to members of local community gather at Shanganagh Park House Community Centre car park for the meeting about a predator in the area. Photo: Steve Humphreys

Gardai in Shankill have urged people not to take the law into their own hands following a spate of alleged sexual assaults in the area.

Concerned residents in Shankill met in a car park to discuss three reported assaults on women in the area since December.

At least three women of varying ages have reported being assaulted near the local Dart Station.

However, speakers at tonight's meeting warned against vigilantism as locals expressed frustration over a perceived lack of Garda presence.

Inspector James Murphy told those at the meeting that four assaults had been reported to gardai in the area since 2 December.

The first on December 2, 2015 took place close to the Dart Station. The second occured on January 3, 2016, near the entrance of the Hollypatk Housing Estate.

Two further assaults were reported on February 9 and 10, on Quinn's Road and Military Road respectively.

Meanwhile, two suspicious approaches in the area were also reported on January 20 and February 7.

Inspector Murphy said gardai were following "over 70 lines of inquiry" but added they would not release a description of the perpetrator at this stage.

He also warned against vigilantism.

"We don't want you taking this on your own bat," he told the crowd of around 40 people.

"We understand your concerns but you have to leave this investigation to us."

"But as always we need your help and assistance with anything you think could help us."

Sergeant James Malone, Crime prevention officer for Dun Laoghaire said: "Social media is going crazy at the moment."

"This is an ongoing investigation and we have to be really careful," he continued, adding that people bring incorrectly named as suspects could cause problems in future.

The meeting came a day after around 100 people protested outside Shankill Garda Station about a perceived lack of Garda presence following the attacks.

It was hoped the event would take place in the Shanganagh Park House Community Centre. However, organisers said the community centre management said they did not have room to accommodate them.

Last night, some 100 protesters besieged a south-Dublin garda station following a series of attacks on young women.

The protest came after it emerged that a teenage girl was attacked on Tuesday night in Shankill.

Garda made another appeal this morning and said the incidents occurred during the hours of darkness from 4.30pm to 10pm.

Garda say a lone man approached a woman and and assault took place.

The first attack since December was reported by the victim - a woman in her 40s who was targeted by an attacker close to Shankill Dart Station on December 4.

On January 3, a young woman in her 20s wrote in a Facebook post that a man, aged in his 40s, attempted to drag her into a secluded wooded area close to the Dart station.

She managed to escape and reported the incident to gardai.

Around 100 people took part in the protest outside the garda station to air their frustration at the garda investigation.

At least 20 people occupied the reception area for 20 minutes.

The group rallied together following news of the latest attack, which occurred on Tuesday evening.

A young woman - believed to be a schoolgirl - was attacked close to Shankill Dart Station.

The woman was followed as she walked on Quinn's Road near the Shanganagh Grove junction in Shankill at about 8.30pm.

It is understood that she was grabbed and groped but managed to get away from her assailant.

Complained

A description of the man has been given to gardai but has not yet been released to the public.

Detectives were making house-to-house enquiries on Quinn's Road yesterday afternoon.

Protesters described the attacks as "attempted rapes" and expressed their concern over the lack of security and safety in the area.

They also complained about the perceived lack of garda presence.

Local man Beppie O'Halloran (18) was one of those who protested and claimed he had witnessed a worrying attack on a young woman about two weeks ago.

"We [he and his friends] were running for the Dart and this man was standing beside this girl and he said something to her like 'look at the kids running' and then we saw him grab her and try to pull her into the woods," he told the Herald. "She got away and ran off."

A garda spokesman said that they were investigating reports of an assault yesterday evening at around 8.30pm on Quinn's Road, but they had no other reports of assault in the area.

Gardai also said a number of statements have been taken and numerous lines of enquiry are currently being conducted together with CCTV and House to house enquiries.

Gardai are asking any witnesses or persons with information to contact them at Shankill station on 01-6665900 or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111.
Tragic news overnight as two female suicide bombers have blown themselves up in a Nigerian refugee camp, killing at least 56 people, officials said.

A further 78 people were being treated for wounds in the twin explosions on Tuesday in a camp of some 50,000 people driven from their homes by the Boko Haram Islamic uprising.

Officials blamed the extremists for the bombings at Dikwa, 55 miles north-east of Maiduguri, the biggest city in the region and birthplace of Boko Haram.

Read More

Islamic State (IS) has released a new video purportedly showing a young British boy blowing up a car and killing three prisoners inside.

The boy, who is thought to be four-year-old Isa Dare, is apparently shown with his hand on the detonator before shouting "Allahu Akbar" - God is great - next to the burnt wreckage.

Read More

It is the second IS propaganda film believed to show the youngster, who has been identified as the son of Muslim extremist Grace "Khadija" Dare from Lewisham, south-east London.

In the latest video, the boy, wearing camouflage clothing and a black headband, is shown pointing and shouting about the "kaffir" - non-believers.

Police in Texas investigating the murder of a teacher and beauty queen in 1960 have arrested the former priest who apparently heard her final confession.

The unsolved killing of Irene Garza, 25, who was last seen at church, has haunted the city of McAllen.

Her bludgeoned body was pulled from an irrigation canal and now, nearly 56 years later, police have arrested the man long suspected of her murder.

Using a walker, a frail-looking John Feit, now 83, appeared in court in Phoenix a day after being arrested at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona, on a murder charge. He is in custody on 750,000 dollars' bail (517,000) while he waits to be transferred to Texas, but has vowed to fight extradition.

Read More

The Irish Independent leads with an election story this morning, revealing that Tanaiste Joan Burton is on course to lose her Dail seat.

An exclusive poll of the Dublin West constituency shows the Labour Party leader has only an outside chance of retaining her seat.

Her Cabinet colleague Leo Varadkar is set to top the poll and could even take his place in the new Dail after the first count.

Sinn Fein is also set for a major breakthrough with Paul Donnelly matching the Health Minister's 20pc.

Read More

In other papers, the gangland murders dominate the front pages.

The Herald reveals shocking details from the murder of David Byrne in the Regency Hotel last Friday afternoon. The paper reveals that the assassin shot his victim in the head with a handgun in so-called 'coup de grace'. Two men - dressed in fake garda uniforms and armed with AK-47s - targeted David Byrne and shot him in the legs.

As he lay injured on the lobby floor, one of the men used a handgun to shoot him in the head.

The Irish Sun also leads with a chilling story from Friday's Regency murder under the headline 'We'll kill your wives'. According to the paper, gardai fear the criminals' wives, girlfriends and mums could be targeted in Ireland's gangland wars.

The Irish Daily Mail say that gardai have pleaded with the warring gangland factions in an effort to broker a peace deal.

The paper reports that a potential peacemaker may be approached to speak to Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch and Christy Kinahan's son.

The Irish Daily Mail also leads on the Regency murder and reports that Liam Byrne - the brother of murdered man, David - has been pictured going back to the scene of the crime and parking opposite the hotel.

The Examiner leads with 'five day Garda operation for David Byrne funeral'. The paper also states that the Government's armed response unit will not be ready for six months.

The Star leads with a gangland story with the headline 'Hutch's killer 'shot Monk's brother'. The story says that gardai believe the hitman from Monday night's murder also killed innocent mum Baiba Saulite in Swords in 2006.

Read More

Finally, the Irish Times says that armed units have been pulled back from Border duty in the wake of the murders over the last six days. The paper also reveals that the Luas strike, schools and 999 call service are intensifying ahead of the election.
A Garda cordon outside the Regency Hotel in Dublin after one man died and two others were injured following a shooting incident at the hotel

Independent News and Media has strongly condemned threats from organised crime gangs to the safety of a number of its reporters.

The sinister move follows the latest bloodshed on the streets of Dublin as a result of a deadly feud between two major gangs.

This year is the twentieth anniversary of the murder of fearless Sunday Independent investigative reporter, Veronica Guerin, who was shot dead in June 1996 by members of the drug trafficking gang, led by John Gilligan.

Ms Guerin's murder led to a big crackdown by the Government on crime that included the setting up of the Criminal Assets Bureau.

The new threats were formally notified by the gardai to INM and security for those journalists is now being strengthened.

INM editor-in-chief Stephen Rae said: "This is an outrageous threat to the freedom of the press in Ireland and we are taking the threats with the utmost seriousness.

"The safety of our journalists is of paramount importance.

"It is disturbing that threats of this nature have emerged as we approach the 20th anniversary of the death of our colleague, Veronica Guerin, who was murdered by criminals for exposing their activities.

"Our media group will not be deterred from serving the public interest and highlighting the threat to society at large, posed by such criminals", Mr Rae added.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said he and the government deplored and condemned any threat made to any journalist in this jurisdiction.

One of the pillars of a function democracy was freedom of speech and in any self respecting society journalists must be afforded the freedom to go about their jobs without fear of reprisal.

"Those who engaged in the recent killings on our streets will be brought to justice and no resource will be spared in doing so", Mr Kenny said.

The Taoiseach added that the journalists under threat had their full support as did all journalists bravely going about their daily duties.

Irish secretary of the National Union of Journalists, Seamus Dooley said he learned with shock of the threats.

He said they were gravely concerned at this latest development, which followed the two recent senseless murders in Dublin.

"Journalists and media organisations will not be intimidated by such threats, which have no place in a democratic society.

"No journalists should be placed under threat for doing their job. We remind all journalists to remain vigilant and to be mindful of their personal safety", Mr Dooley said.

Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin described the threats as a very sinister development and said it would evoke memories of the very worst days of gangland violence and the murder of Veronica Guerin.

He said it would add to the sense of vulnerability and chaos that many communities now felt and further confirmed the total contempt that those thugs had for society and the freedoms that people held dear.

Mr Martin told the journalists that they did not stand alone and that all right thinking decent people in the country stood with them.

Meanwhile, Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said: "Journalists play a vital role in our democracy, particularly in shining a light on wrongdoing. I regard any threat to the freedom of the press in Ireland as a threat to the State itself."

"An Garda Siochana are working closely with Independent News and Media to do everything possible to ensure the safety of their journalists."

Renua Ireland leader Lucinda Creighton has called for campaigning to be suspended in the General Election on the back of the latest developments.

Ms Creighton said this evening that the Cabinet needs to meet to come up with an adequate response to the crisis.

The events of the last week now represent a threat to the security of the State, she said.

Meanwhile, Tanaiste Joan Burton described the threats as "a very disturbing development".

"The news today that gangland figures have issued death threats against Independent News and Media journalists is a very disturbing development, and is an unwelcome reminder of the callous murder of Veronica Guerin 20 years ago."

"I would like to offer my support to the journalists who have been subject to these alarming threats. I have no doubt that this must very distressing for themselves and their families."

"A free press is the cornerstone of a democracy, and any threat to an individual journalist is a threat to us all."

"Myself and my cabinet colleagues are determined to ensure that An Garda Siochana have whatever resources they require to tackle these vile threats," Ms Burton said.
Ireland's ambassador to the UK has said he is confident a deal will be done between Britain and the EU over Europe.

Proposals recently put forward in an effort to avoid a Brexit are "significant", Dan Mulhall said.

He said Ireland supports British efforts to improve competitiveness, such as promoting the single market, boosting the digital economy and tackling climate change.

"I am confident, I am optimistic that a solution will be found that will enable the government to go to a referendum with a new set of proposals for the British public," he added.

A summit of EU leaders on Brexit is due next week. British Prime Minister David Cameron has been meeting key EU figures over a draft deal aimed at keeping Britain in.

Mr Cameron has called for greater British sovereignty and restrictions on in-work benefits for EU migrants known as an "emergency brake". The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee of MPs has been holding an inquiry into the effect of Brexit on Northern Ireland.

Mr Mulhall told the committee the Irish Government supported Britain on welfare fraud reform, but said the provisions were still being worked on.

He said Ireland had a similar proportion of its population born outside the state as Britain but there was not the same focus on resistance to migration.

The ambassador said the renegotiation process reminded him of Ireland after voters rejected the first referendum on the Lisbon Treaty and the country sought further concessions.

He said the key issue affected by Brexit would be trade, adding that the trade in goods and services was worth 65bn last year and 400,000 jobs relied on it.

"It would be a key concern for us to preserve the advantages of our existing economic partnership with the UK, which has thrived and prospered within the EU and which outside the union would be the subject of question marks, I would say.

"I am not an alarmist, I don't go around talking about catastrophes but I look at things and try to weigh up consequences and I see risks on the trading front and that would be the primary concern."
The protest outside the garda station came after it emerged that a teenage girl was attacked on Tuesday night in Shankill, Dublin

Some 100 protesters besieged a garda station last night following a series of attacks on young women.

The protest came after it emerged that a teenage girl was attacked on Tuesday night in Shankill, Dublin.

Since December there have been at least three reported attacks in the Shankill area.

The first attack was reported by a woman in her 40s, who was targeted close to Shankill Dart station on December 4.

On January 3, a woman in her 20s wrote in a Facebook post that a man in his 40s had attempted to drag her into a wooded area close to the station. She reported the incident to gardai.

In Tuesday night's attack, the teenage girl said she had been grabbed and groped by a man close to the Shanganagh Grove junction.

Around 100 people took part in the protest outside Shankill Garda Station following news of the latest attack, with at least 20 people occupying the reception area for 20 minutes.

Protesters described the attacks as "attempted rapes" and expressed concern about safety in the area.

Yesterday detectives made door-to-door enquiries about Tuesday's attack.

A garda spokesman said they were investigating Tuesday's assault but had no other reports of assaults.
The US Ambassador to Ireland has advised J1 jobseekers to move quickly to ensure that they have a job before they travel.

Since last year, J1 students must prove they have pre-arranged employment for the summer before being granted permission to enter the United States.

Ambassador Kevin OMalley said: All of us like to procrastinate and put off and in prior years you could put off until the very last minute. But this year, the people who are moving more quickly will be the happiest.

His comments came as hundreds of positions were snapped up at a fair for students and US employers in Dublin city centre.

He added that American employers loved having young Irish people work with them each summer and he called the programme the building block and the connecting glue between us.
A school of big-eye trevally being harassed by a juvenile bottlenose dolphin off Lady Elliot Island on the Southern Great Barrier Reef, in Queensland, Australia. Photo: Justin Bruhn/OPOTY.co.uk

"A couple of friends, Graeme and Justin, and I were climbing as a team of three on the classic Grooved Arete route on the east face of Tryfan in Snowdonia, north Wales. It was a grey and cloudy day, which made it very atmospheric." Photo: Andy Teasdale/OPOTY.co.uk

"St Cwyfans church sits on its own mini island off the coast of Anglesey in north Wales. I captured this image during a high spring tide," says Ian Mountford, who won the At The Waters Edge category. Photo: Ian Mountford/OPOTY.co.uk

Maldives: "Fernando Stalla is one of the best ocean men Ive seen," says George Karbus. "I already knew that he was a great spear fisherman, surfer and paddle surfer but when we started to do some underwater body surfing his skills blew my mind." Photo: George Karbus/OPOTY.co.uk

The banded darter dragonfly, a species that lives in freshwater environments, trapped by a sundew. "Nature can be cruel from time to time," says Johannes Klapwjik. Photo: Johannes Klapwjik/OPOTY.co.uk

This panoramic image with the moonset was taken at the Three Peaks of Lavaredo (also known as Drei Zinnen) in the Dolomites region of north east Italy. From the Light on the Land category. Photo: Ivan Pedretti/OPOTY.co.uk

Wallabies and kangaroos gather on a beach at Cape Hillsborough near Mackay in north Queensland, Australia. Photo: Judith Conning/OPOTY.co.uk

The Blasket Islands, off the Dingle Peninsula in West Kerry. "I wanted to capture the Atlantic breakers and the feeling of otherworldliness for which it is famed," says photographer Christopher May. "I needed a storm and a sunset, and I was lucky to get both, but it did take nearly a year." Photo: Christopher May/OPOTY.co.uk

Ireland: "After 11 years of freediving in Irish waters I have seen many types of beautiful jellyfish, but the summer last year was exceptionally warm and sunny and the ocean was a different place." Photo: George Karbus/OPOTY.co.uk

The Outdoor Photographer of the Year competition has published its first book, and it will give you serious wanderlust.

12,000 entries were received from pro and amateur snappers alike for the fifth year of the competition, with 150 featuring in the book, 'Portfolio One'.

They range from the wilds of Australia to Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way, where George Karbus shot the freediver and jellyfish featured in our gallery (above).

"After 11 years of freediving in Irish waters I have seen many types of beautiful jellyfish, but the summer last year was exceptionally warm and sunny and the ocean was a different place," says Karbus, who won the underwater category.

"My girlfriend and I were on a freedive session when we discovered these amazing clouds of moon jellyfish. We immediately began swimming among them, enjoying the pulsing as they propelled themselves along."

Karbus previously won the overall OPOTY award in 2010.

Another stunning image, captured by photographer Christopher May, shows West Kerry's Blasket Islands in all their weather-beaten glory.

"I wanted to capture the Atlantic breakers and the feeling of otherworldliness for which it is famed," May says. "I needed a storm and a sunset, and I was lucky to get both, but it did take nearly a year."

Other categories include the Spirit of Travel, won by a photo of students from northern Pakistan, and the Young OPOTY, won by a 15-year-old from Greece.

The overall winner will be announced on February 13, 2016.

Outdoor Photographer of the Year: Portfolio One is published by Ammonite Press this March, with a RRP of 25 (32 approx.).

For more on the images, click here.

More travel galleries:
Brendan Keenan: 'Better laws and foreign money needed to overcome worrying homes shortage'

There is a district in Belfast known as the Holy Land. Not because of its religiosity, but because the streets - Jerusalem Street, Damascus Street and so on - are called after places in that region. Once, there were others; Little Crimea, India, and so on. Seemingly, houses were built so quickly for the city's huge expansion in the 19th century that it was too much trouble to think up original names. They eventually gave up altogether, so far as names were concerned. The Shankill area got First Street, Second Street etc, all the way up to Tenth.
Premium

Dan O'Brien Opinion While we catastrophise about Covid, we ignore risk of running out of cash

We Irish view the world in an increasingly strange and unhealthy way. We catastrophise about Covid in a way other European countries do not. We focus on how bad the effects of the virus could get, on how many more restrictions might be imposed by Government and how helpless we are in the face of the virus.
The ferocity and escalation of armed crime reached a new and horrific level with the fatal gun attack carried out at the Regency Hotel in Dublin last Friday. Moreover, it demonstrated a brazen affront to the rule of law. The calm determination of the attackers to seek out and identify victims and the military precision of the murder and subsequent escape should send a clear signal to the authorities that a professional and determined response is required.

Consequently, and despite the deployment of a high-visibility, citywide, armed garda operation and a focused police endeavour, these gangs were able to carry out another killing in the city three days later. So it was reassuring to hear the authorities are taking up the gauntlet thrown down by the self-styled 'Untouchables'.

Hopefully, what we are now witnessing will be the beginning of a strategy and not a knee-jerk reaction. For the recent atrocities have called into question the ability and capability of gardai to deal effectively with organised crime.

Of major concern to the authorities should be the lack of intelligence in relation to last Friday's attack and, despite it being widely reported by the Irish Independent's respected journalist Paul Williams that further reprisals would follow from the Regency attack, these 'Untouchables' operated with impunity, buoyed by the confidence that they would evade capture.

There is some criticism that the garda response was inadequate. It is reported that the manager of the hotel made three 999 calls and then eventually, to get a response, had to contact a detective friend and it took a further 10 minutes for gardai to arrive. By that time, the suspects had gone.

But what chance had uniformed, unarmed gardai against hitmen armed to the teeth with AK47 assault rifles and wearing Kevlar body armour? They were fortunate they did not arrive while the attack was in progress, otherwise a garda fatality was inevitable.

In the context of the availability of guns and of recent events, a revision of policing methods in responding to armed incidents is urgently required.

The president of the Garda Representative Association, Dermot O'Brien, has stated that to protect his members a rethink by An Garda Siochana on the response to armed crime is required.

He advocates the arming and training of more units and I am in full agreement with his views.

The decision on Tuesday by the Garda to establish a 55-member armed Garda Tactical Support Unit is a welcome innovation but falls far short of what is required. For it amounts to 11 armed gardai per Division in the Dublin Metropolitan Region.

Based on a 24/7 service, this means that just two armed gardai will be on duty in each garda division at a particular time. Given that the DMR stretches from Swords to Bray, clearly this falls well short of an effective armed response.

Mr O'Brien also makes the point that the Garda should reconsider the decision in relation to the withdrawal of Uzi submachine guns. This was a retrograde step, for the Uzi is the weapon of choice for many police forces all over the world. It is safe, easily maintained, dependable and accurate.

Moreover, it is easily carried and it has been proven gardai adapt well in relation to its use. The next step should be to re-issue the Uzi.

May I suggest that the number of armed gardai be increased to at least 200 in the Dublin Metropolitan Region and 50 per region elsewhere, trained to the capability of responding to and carrying out high-risk operations involving armed robberies, hostage taking, searches and surveillance?

These units should be trained to an extremely high standard, adequately and fully equipped and should operate full-time with tight, professional managerial control.

The question will arise: where will these gardai come from and will it result in further depletion of the men on the beat and those working in the community?

Of course it will, but the garda top brass will have to prioritise - do the 'Untouchables' take over or will they be confronted?

And I am pretty sure the response of the Minister for Justice that they should present themselves to the Garda is not a solution. May I suggest whoever advised the minister on this should be handed the P45? As TV footage at the Regency illustrated, an armed confrontation is fraught with danger and uncertainty, with ensuing chaos.

Therefore, the key to the operational effectiveness of an armed garda response is training. Training should reflect real-life situations that the units are likely to encounter and should include simulated exercises; continuous firearms training; tactical awareness training; knowledge of the legal system; map reading; unarmed combat; hostage negotiation; and surveillance techniques. The objective is to create team spirit, for effective team work is a vital element for operational efficacy.

As I have stated on many occasions, an unarmed garda force is a utopian ideal; with the gun culture currently existing in this country and the escalation in gun-related crime, sadly, it is a luxury we cannot afford.

Special measures are necessary to maintain the rule of law and protect our citizens. The current situation cannot be allowed to continue.

Michael Carty is a retired Chief Superintendent in An Garda Siochana. He was Personal Assistant to Commissioner Pat Byrne and served overseas as a Police Advisor in the UN.
Elections are about selection and the winning of power. Generally speaking, the party in Government has an edge, given that it has already attained the prize. That is why the phrase 'oppositions don't win elections, governments lose them' rings true. Given events over the first week of the campaign for the 32nd Dail, the truism seems as apt as ever.

Even its most ardent critics would allow that traditionally Fine Gael had two main attributes. It is known as the party of fiscal rectitude and law and order. But you would not have thought so, given its slipshod and unsure performance on both the 'fiscal space' controversy and the far more grave matter of the recent Dublin gangland murders.

The Finance Minister found himself attacked for the former, while the Justice Minister has been attacked from all sides for her response to the latter.

All the while, a succession of polls shows that support for the established parties has slipped, while it has risen for the smaller parties and Independents.

One recent poll found dissatisfaction with the Government at 65pc. Of course, there is still ample time to arrest the slide.

To be fair to the Government, its record on jobs and Foreign Direct Investment has been solid and growth rates have also been remarkable. But the much-talked-of recovery and the shtick about 'stability' is becoming a harder sell than it ought to have been.

People are clearly not impressed with the performance of any of the major parties in the race. Should this translate at the polls, we are facing into more uncertainty and the likelihood of a hung Dail. Given the jitters on the international markets and other destablising global factors, nothing should be taken for granted. It was Franklin D Roosevelt who said: "Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely."

Our flip-flopping and stumbling politicians could do much to assist this success by doing likewise.

Medical errors add to our hospitals' woes

The news that one in eight hospital patients in Ireland suffers an unintended injury will do little to boost confidence in the beleaguered health sector.

Perhaps there is some reassurance in the fact that 75pc of these injuries are preventable; one might add the sooner the better. The data comes to us from the Royal College of Surgeons and affords a real opportunity to assess the true extent of medical error and its impact on patients.

According to Professor David Williams, a team looked at 1,574 adults admitted to eight public hospitals. Perhaps unsurprisingly the biggest risk was to those who underwent surgery. The bill for hospital errors comes in at 194m a year.

The HSE insists it has put systems in place to improve safety. One should certainly hope so. There is some comfort in the fact that the error level is in line with that in other countries. But only some, for clearly there are real issues to be addressed.

Apart from the toll on patients, the prospect of litigation and redress adds to the trauma. If nothing else, the research can only serve to underlie the urgent need for the establishment of a safety body to look after the interests of patients. If any more evidence could possibly have been required for the case for a radical overhaul of our health services, then this dossier must surely help.
As the election campaign heats up, it now looks like Fine Gael and Labour may not have an overall majority. They appear to be approximately 10 seats off the magic number 79.

As this is a centenary election year, what about a Fianna Fail/Fine Gael coalition?

This would be historic for two reasons. First, it would bury Civil War politics for good. With this year being the centenary of 1916, what an occasion this would be for all of us - a peaceful closure of this chapter in our history.

Second, it would avoid instability and the prospect of a repeat general election in 12 months. It would prevent any newly formed government entering into special deals with Independent TDs - like the famous Jackie Healy-Rae and Tony Gregory deals of previous adminstrations.

In advance of all that, let's look at another alternative: Alan Dukes and his 1987 Tallaght strategy [his proposal that Fine Gael, then in opposition, should not oppose the economic policies of Fianna Fail], which was surely before its time. At the time, a lot of us wondered why Alan Dukes did what he did.

Now let's take a leaf out of his book and give the country what it needs most - more stability and more confidence. Let's cut out the sweet deals.

Brian Kane, Knockloughlin, Longford

Restoring the nation's values

Archbishop Martin's more than reasonable appeal to the mothers and grandmothers of those involved in criminality should be taken up by all mothers in Ireland.

Perhaps a peaceful demonstration in Dublin by mothers who have lost children to violence and drugs might persuade the gang bosses they are not invincible.

Sadly, in recent years, money appears to have taken precedence over life.

Life can be enjoyed so much more when lived simply; and no amount of money in the world can buy love, which is the main requirement for a contented life.

Ireland used to be a Christian social democrat nation, of a reasonable kind. This is what all decent and caring politicians should be interested in creating, rather than just an economy.

Perhaps it might well be time for a national government of a three-year duration, to put the country back on a Christian social democrat path - something the forthcoming General Election might just achieve by default.

Declan Foley, Berwick, Australia

Blowing in the election guff

Recently, as I walked across a very windy Santry flyover, I had to neatly sidestep an election poster as it came hurtling from a pole and scuttled along the path in my direction.

Perhaps I may now get one of those "Sorry I missed you today" cards from the relevant candidate through my letterbox.

Tom Gilsenan, Beaumont, Dublin 9

SF's alarming court proposals

Gerry Adams, Mary Lou McDonald and friends tell us that abolishing the Special Criminal Court is a "key objective" for them should they be elected to government.

The people of Ireland must ask themselves as they vote this month, would they be happy to see a loved one act as a juror in the trial of one of the Regency Hotel AK-47 gunmen?

I certainly wouldn't. Remember, the names and addresses of all 12 jurors are made known to the defence and prosecution in any trial.

The Special Criminal Court acts in the exact same way as a normal court only three expert, senior judges make a decision on one's guilt or innocence rather than members of the public.

I cannot see why Sinn Fein argue that the public good is better served by trying such individuals outside the Special Criminal Court.

In fact, I find its campaign to abolish it shocking for a mainstream political party. It reveals a complete lack of empathy for the victims of murder or of violent crime.

Should the people of Ireland vote for that party regardless, I would be concerned for the future of the justice system in our country.

I have never written to a newspaper in the past but feel this issue is too serious to ignore.

Name and address with editor

Water is a basic civil right

In 1916, the British considered water a civil right, even for the Irish. In 2016, with the Irish now governing themselves - thanks to the fight made by those in receipt of this civil right - they are now charging their own people for the right to water.

Some freedom. Shame on them.

It comes as no surprise that the installation of water meters, along with the principle of water charges itself, should be a matter of serious consideration in the 2016 General Election.

Water, which is an absolute necessity to human civilisation, should be supplied by any elected government, paid for out of the taxation already taken from the people - it should not be charged for by the pint, as is the intention of the last Government (and no doubt it will continue to do so if it is re-elected).

Water is absolutely necessary for preparing food, for drinking, for use in toilets and baths, for washing clothes and dishes and for general hygiene purposes - so paying for its use could bring nightmares for those who simply cannot afford such costs added to their bills.

This experience can be understood by parents with teenagers or young adults still living with them, who are trying to curtail the use of electricity or gas because of the expense.

Water could be another cause of ongoing family tension.

Hopefully, the next government will be such that water charges will be abandoned and water costs taken out of general taxation - as it has been up till the last government.

Redmond O'Hanlon, Address with editor

A fine, florid and funny piece

On a cold, wet, miserable, stormy morning, it would lift your heart and give you a good belly laugh to read Billy Keane's floral description of Issey Miyake perfume (Irish Independent, February 8).

As a long-time user of this product, I can say he got it spot on. The manufacturer should include his florid essay on the packaging and remunerate him accordingly.

I can tell you, the apple didn't fall far from the tree there. I always enjoy his column.

Margaret Cahill, Athlumney, Navan
Ireland has some of the most spectacular scenery in Europe and its more or less on your doorstep. Get in the car and head off for a road trip, heres five of the best.

A difficult job, trying to narrow Irelands scenic driving routes down to five, but weve endeavoured to do just that for you. People of course will differ, and while these road trips have everything from the iconic tourist destinations in the southwest to the lesser known coast route in the south west and Irelands most northerly point. Whats your top drive in Ireland?

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Sheeps Head

Were pretty confident that West Cork is not only one of the most impressive destinations in Ireland but in Europe and the Sheeps Head Peninsula offers a stunning drive to take in the sights between Bantry Bay and Dunmanus Bay. Leaving and finishing in Bantry, out the road to Durrus and the road to Kilcrohane allows you to take in the hairpin bends around craggy outcrops of rock and to the sea with some sunning sheer cliffs. You can stop the car and follow the Sheeps Head Way by foot along 89 km of trail with a low difficulty rating and some unforgettable scenery.

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The Dingle Peninsula

Dingle is a jewel in the rugged crown that is the Dingle Peninsula in Irelands Co. Kerry. It is one of Irelands most popular tourist destination and with very good reason. The landscape and flora in this part of Ireland are quite unique with this corner of the island receiving the best of the Gulf Streams warmer waters. Drive from Castlegregory at the Corca Dhuibhne Peninsula, go west into Cloghane, through the stunning Conor Pass and Dingle and west to Slea Head with dramatic views to South Kerry and the Blasket Islands. After Ballyferriter, continue to Murreagh and Kilmalkedar, to Ballydavid and back to Dingle. Not only will this drive give you some of the best scenery in Ireland, but the winding roads are a challenging and life-affirming ride.

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Ring of Kerry

Tourists flock to the 179 km long Ring of Kerry in peak seasons and it can get quite crowded, but if you get there off peak and you have a clear run at the drive from Killarney out to Cahersiveen and back to Killarney by way of Kenmare you will be lost in a magical landscape that would not look out of place in Lord Of The Rings. Just some of the highlights along the way are Gap of Dunloe, Bog Village, Rossbeigh Beach, Derrynane House, Staigue Fort, Moll's Gap, Ladies View, Torc Waterfall, The Blue Pool and Ross Castle. A good stop off on the route is Kenmare one of Irelands gastronomic hotspots with some of the finest restaurants in the country and a great place to enjoy some world class seafood.

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The Copper Coast

One of Irelands lesser known tourist destinations youll be far from the hordes in summer but you will be no less impressed by the stunning scenery along The Copper Coast. So called because of the proliferation of copper mines in the region, the many abandoned mines have led the area to be designated the only geopark in Europe. Start out in Dunmore East, as picturesque a corner of Ireland as any, and head west along the coast to Ardmore. Youll take in the majestic Comeragh Mountains, the Nire Valley and Stradbally Cove. There are many beautiful, sheltered beaches along the way to stop and have a picnic when the sun is out, which happens more in this part of Ireland than any other.

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Inishowen

Starting in Derry the drive along the east coast of Inishowen, the peninsula with Irelands most northern point, Malin Head, takes you along the shores of Lough Foyle. As you round the Peninsula at Shrove youll be able to catch glimpse of Scotlands Outer Hebrides on a clear day and if youre lucky there could be pods of whales and dolphins out to sea. At Malin Head you can see the Northern Lights on a clear dark night if theres activity and as you come back down the Lough Swilly side of Inishowen, youll come back by Buncrana and Fahan. Make sure you stop at the stunning Grianan of Aileach on your way back to Derry.

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Kim Kardashian is coming out of Cipriani restaurant in Soho on February 10, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Raymond Hall/GC Images)

Kim Kardashian West is seen on February 10, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Marc Piasecki/GC Images)

Kim Kardashian is seen in Midtown on February 10, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Alessio Botticelli/GC Images)

Kim Kardashian is coming out of Cipriani restaurant in Soho on February 10, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Raymond Hall/GC Images)

Kim Kardashian has been pictured in public for the first time since giving birth to her second child in December.

The 35-year-old reality star has avoided the spotlight for the last two months, in the same fashion as when she welcomed daughter North West in 2013. But she made an exception to her hiatus to support husband Kanye West ahead of his Yeezy 3 show at New York Fashion Week.

Never one to blend into the crowd, the media mogul wore a sheer body stocking from his latest line with an inexplicable knee length fur coat and her trademark Celine sunglasses.

Later in the evening, Kanye was pictured carrying their two-year-old daughter into their NYC apartment.

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Whatsapp Kim Kardashian is seen in Midtown on February 10, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Alessio Botticelli/GC Images)

During a 4am feed, Kim updated her website, writing: "I'm up at 4 a.m., pumping and delirious, hiding in my daughter's closet because if she sees I snuck out of her bed, she will start to cry AND I think she gave me a cold so I figure no better time to [write] than now!" Kim blogged. She added that her mother Kris Jenner (who has six children) told her: "One is like one, and two are like twenty. I never really understood that until now.

"I remember Kanye and I would be like, 'WTF are they talking about? Will our lives be the same? Are we going to be OK?!' Of course, I expected it to be different but, wow, it really is so hard!"

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"I get no sleep. Every waking second that I'm not with the baby, I'm with North. I actually think the harder parts aren't with the newborn but with the toddler! I feel like I go into overdrive to give my daughter attention and make her feel loved."

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She added that sister Kourtney Kardashian's daughter Penelope (three) is North's best friend and helps guide her in her big sister duties,

"And I'm so lucky North looks up to Penelope a lot. She also has a baby brother [Reign], so she gives North the best advice. I have the cutest video of P giving North a heart to heart about being a good big sister."

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Eddie Redmayne has been nominated for a Bafta again for his role in The Danish Girl

Henry Cavill is one of the stars backing the Bafta campaign to encourage emerging talent to enter the film, television and video games industries

The UK will need to raise its game at Sunday's Bafta film awards to stop the US extending its lead in the battle for the top gongs.

American stars picked up almost all the top honours in last year's ceremony, with only Eddie Redmayne flying the flag for Britain by winning best actor for The Theory of Everything.

Redmayne has been nominated again this year for his role in The Danish Girl, but faces a tough battle against four big names: Matt Damon (for The Martian), Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant), Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs) and Bryan Cranston (Trumbo).

While Britain has a good track record of winning best actor, its poor performances in other categories has allowed the US to pull ahead in the overall tally of awards.

Since 2006, the UK has picked up a total of 30 of the top gongs, while the US has won 39.

The Press Association's analysis of Bafta winners in 10 key categories over the past 10 years reveals t he UK and US were level-pegging until 2010, since when America has moved ahead.

Big years for the US included 2013, when Ben Affleck won best director for Argo, which was also named best film, while Quentin Tarantino won best screenplay for Django Unchained and Anne Hathaway picked up best supporting actress.

In 2015 it was Boyhood's turn to take the bulk of the honours, winning best film, best director for Richard Linklater and best supporting actress for Patricia Arquette.

The UK's best performance in the past decade was back in 2008, when it picked up six of the top 10 awards, including best actor (Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood) and best film (Atonement).

A UK production hasn't been named best film since The King's Speech in 2011. This was the same year Britain also triumphed in the categories for best actor (Colin Firth), best supporting actress (Helena Bonham Carter) and best original screenplay (David Seidler), all for The King's Speech.

Alongside Redmayne, Britain's best chance for a win this year could be Dame Maggie Smith, who is nominated in the best actress category for her role in The Lady in the Van.

She is up against Alicia Vikander, Redmayne's co-star in The Danish Girl, plus Room's Brie Larson, Carol's Cate Blanchett and Brooklyn's Saoirse Ronan.

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If Dame Maggie fails to win, Christian Bale may be Britain's next best hope. He is up for best supporting actor for his role in The Big Short.

This year's ceremony is taking place at London's Royal Opera House, and is being hosted by Stephen Fry.

It will be broadcast on BBC One on Sunday at 9pm.
Sylvester Stallone and his wife Jennifer Flavin (2nd R) and their daughters, Sistine (L), Scarlet, (2nd L) and Sophia, pose with his award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture for his role in "Creed" during the 73rd Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California January 10, 2016. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Actor Sylvester Stallone (center) and his daughters Sistine Stallone (L) and Sophia Stallone (R) attend the Saint Laurent show at The Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

(L-R) Model Sistine Stallone, actor Sylvester Stallone, and Sophia Stallone arrive at the Saint Laurent show at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)

The latest crop of celebrity children are ready for their close-up.

Their father might be an A-lister actor tipped for her first Academy Award, but Sylvester Stallone's daughters know how to steal a show.

Sistine (19) and Sophia (17) Stallone supported their father on the red carpet for Wednesday night's exclusive Saint Laurent preview in Los Angeles, both already looking like pros at posing.

While Hailey Baldwin, Brooklyn Beckham and Kendall and Kylie Jenner lead the teenage stars taking Hollywood by storm, Stallone's daughters might be the most to benefit from his career resurgence thanks to 2015's Creed - for which he's hotly tipped to take home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

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The fashion setting was only fitting for Sistine, a model with IMG, following in her mother Jennifer Flavin's footsteps, while Sophia is a college student. And Sistine, who is signed to the biggest modelling agency in the world, said she's been taking catwalk tips from her mother, who wed the 69-year-old actor in 1997.

"I inherited my dad's sense of humor and work ethic," she explained. "[My mother is] like my wingman. Shes taught me my good side, my bad side, how to walk for the runway, and how to become someone else in a certain outfit. Modeling is basically acting, changing personalities. You dont want to be yourself."
A handout photo released by the Nigerian Army on February 23, 2015 shows Nigerian troops advancing to try to recapture the town of Baga from Boko Haram.

Two female suicide bombers have blown themselves up in a Nigerian refugee camp, killing at least 56 people, officials said.

A further 78 people were being treated for wounds in the twin explosions on Tuesday in a camp of some 50,000 people driven from their homes by the Boko Haram Islamic uprising.

Officials blamed the extremists for the bombings at Dikwa, 55 miles north-east of Maiduguri, the biggest city in the region and birthplace of Boko Haram.

The six-year-old insurgency has killed 20,000 people, made 2.5 million homeless and spread across Nigeria's borders.

The governor of neighbouring Cameroon's Far North province said another two suicide bombers believed to have come from Nigeria on Wednesday killed 10 people and injured 40 in a border village.
Two suspected people-smugglers have gone on trial in Turkey accused of causing the death of three-year-old Alan Kurdi and four other people.

The image of the boy's lifeless body lying face down on a Turkish beach galvanised world attention on the refugee crisis, graphically illustrating the magnitude of the suffering, the lives destroyed and the treacherous journeys the migrants risk.

Alan's brother Galip and mother Rihan were also among the five victims who drowned when their boat went down on the journey from Bodrum to the Greek island of Kos.

Syrian nationals Muwafaka Alabash and Asem Alfrhad denied any responsibility over the migrants' deaths at their opening hearing.

Instead they blamed Alan's father, Abdullah Kurdi, for the deaths - accusing him of organising the trip.

The two have been charged with human smuggling and causing the deaths of five people "through deliberate negligence". They face up to 35 years in prison each if convicted.

Alfrhad told the court he was in Bodrum on a business trip with his partner and was not involved in the incident.

"I don't know why I am here or why I have been jailed for the past five months," Alfrhad said. "My family spoke with the survivors after the accident ... They said Abdullah Kurdi headed this (organisation) and that he then went on television as a hero."

Alabash also maintained Abdullah Kurdi was involved in the organisation of the trip. The man said he was not a smuggler but a migrant who had been instructed by Abdullah Kurdi to stay back and keep an eye on a Turkish smuggler who had the migrants' money until the group reached Greece. In return, Alabash said, Abdullah Kurdi promised he would be taken on the next trip for free.

Abdullah Kurdi has since returned to Syria.

The trial was adjourned until March 2.
The American people have had enough and are turning on their government.

At a recent debate on the presidential campaign trail, Donald Trump summed up America in 2016. "I will gladly accept the mantle of anger," he said. "People are very angry because our country is being run horribly."

Many people outside the US have struggled to understand the transformation of Mr Trump from billionaire property mogul and television star to perhaps the next Republican presidential nominee.

It happened because, more than any other candidate, he recognised that vast swathes of America are not just annoyed with their government - they are close to boiling point.

The bubbling discontent covers a myriad of issues including poverty, border protection and immigration, the mistreatment of military veterans, and spiralling health care costs.

At its heart is a fundamental breakdown of trust in government. For many Americans, Washington seems a long way away, populated by venal politicians with their snouts in the trough who have left the rest of the country behind.

Two days after he was re-elected in 2012, Mr Obama was at a town hall event in New Orleans. A young boy there asked him: "Why do people hate you?"

Mr Obama later pointed out that: "I was elected president, so not everybody hates me!" But he accepted that "watching TV, it seems that everybody is just getting mad all the time".

When he moved into the White House seven years ago, Mr Obama's approval rating was 69pc. It has been heading south ever since and currently stands at 48pc. At times, it has been as low as 38pc.

For presidential candidates of either party, the greatest insult is being labelled "part of the Washington establishment".

It's so bad even Hillary Clinton has tried to claim she is "not part of the establishment". That takes some chutzpah from a former first lady, senator, and secretary of state.

Voters are deeply disillusioned with a perceived elite that runs America but does not understand it. Many voters now see America as a plutocracy rather than a democracy.

According to a CNN/ORC poll in December 2015, an astonishingly high 85pc of them disapprove of the way Congress is doing its job, and 75pc say they are dissatisfied with the way the country is being governed.

Blame

A total of 25pc say they are "very angry" about the way things are going in the country, 44pc are "somewhat angry" and only 14pc are "not angry at all".

Among Trump supporters, 97pc are dissatisfied with the government, and 91pc are "angry".

Who is to blame? Republicans blame what they see as a partisan president. Democrats blame an intransigent Republican-controlled Congress for refusing to compromise.

According to Phillip K Howard, founder of Common Good, a group that wants to simplify government, Washington has become a "profoundly sick and dysfunctional political culture separated by the Beltway from the rest of the country".

It has "mutated into a perpetual tug of war where political leaders get up in the morning not trying to do anything constructive but just make the other side look bad".

The politics of anger is being fuelled in parts of America where wages have stagnated, causing Americans who were once in the middle class to sink into the "working poor".

According to a recent study by the Pew Research Centre, fewer than half of the population are middle class, down from 61pc in 1971.

The median net worth of families today is barely higher than it was 30 years ago.

The decline is not limited to the country's poorer states such as Mississippi and West Virginia. Even in leafy New England, behind the white picket fences of picturesque homes, poverty is on the rise.

In Exeter, home to the Philips Exeter Academy, the Eton of America, more than 2,000 people in a population of 13,800 are "food insecure", according to the local St Vincent de Paul community centre, and there has been a 177pc increase in distribution from food banks in the last two years.

In Manchester, the biggest city in New Hampshire, one in five children is reliant on food banks for nutrition.

I visited one of the many food banks in the city, watching as dozens of people - many of whom have jobs and work up to 60-hour weeks - waited patiently for their turn.

"Family homelessness is the fastest growing homelessness in the country. Families are not making it," said Pati Frew-Waters, executive director of Seacoast Family Promise, a shelter that takes in working families.

"There are jobs available but you can't make it on the wages they pay. Fast food restaurants will pay just over $7 an hour. You have major companies paying a pittance, truly a pittance."

Craig Welch, director of the nearby Portsmouth Housing Authority said: "We have about 500 families. Around here there has been no wage appreciation. These folks are working but this is the life of the working poor."

John Kasich, the Republican presidential candidate, said he had been shocked to discover on the campaign trail how bad life was for some Americans.

"People come to my town halls and they cry," he said. "Some of these people have traumatic stories and they have nowhere to go. No one is listening to them."

Donald Trump's supporters see his billions as insulation against the influence of big donors and lobbyists that are part of the Washington "establishment".

On the flip side of the coin, voters are also flooding to self-declared socialist Bernie Sanders, who rails against the "billionaire class" and Wall Street, because he also challenges the status quo.

At a rally in Iowa, Mr Sanders, who is running neck and neck with Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential race, asked his audience: "I want to hear: what is it like to live on $10,000 a year social security?"

A woman called Carrie Aldrich stepped forward, took the microphone, and started crying.

"I've been living on less than that," she said. "I can't pay bills. You're ashamed all the time.

"When you can't buy presents for your children it's really, really hard.

"I worked three, four, five jobs, always minimum wage. I have a degree, divorced, and it's just ...my parents have to support me. It's just hard."

Mr Trump vows to bring prosperity by cutting taxes, negotiating better trade deals, and sending illegal immigrants home.

Mr Sanders says he will do it by raising taxes to pay for increasing the minimum wage, providing healthcare for all, and free college tuition. ( Daily Telegraph London)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
An Arkansas judge has been arrested on a complaint of negligent homicide after the death of his son in the back seat of a hot car last summer.

An arrest warrant filed in Garland County on Thursday says Circuit Judge Wade Naramore is named in the misdemeanor complaint.

The judge's 18-month-old son, Thomas Naramore, died on July 24 after being left in a hot car for about five hours.

According to the warrant, the judge told police he called 911 after getting in his car to pick his son up from day care in the afternoon and realising his son was still in his car seat.

Special prosecutor Scott Ellington said Naramore surrendered and was later booked and released on a US$5,000 (1,700) bond.
Protesters march on Court Avenue in support of the Oregon ranching family facing prison for arson

Ammon Bundy meets with members of the Pacific Patriots Network at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon, January 8, 2016

Federal agents on Wednesday closed in on the last four anti-government militants still holed up in a wildlife reserve in Oregon after a 40-day armed occupation, the FBI said in a statement.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said no shots have been fired and that negotiations to end the occupation at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge without violence were continuing.

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Whatsapp Protesters march on Court Avenue in support of the Oregon ranching family facing prison for arson

The four protesters were indicted last week along with 12 others previously arrested on charges of conspiring to impede federal officers during the standoff at the compound.

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The takeover at Malheur, which began on January 2, was sparked by the return to prison of two Oregon ranchers convicted of setting fires that spread to federal property in the vicinity of the refuge.

The occupation, led by Ammon Bundy, also was directed as a protest against federal control over millions of acres public land in the West.

Bundy and 10 others were arrested in January in Oregon, most of them during a confrontation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and state police on a snow-covered roadside where a spokesman for the group, Robert "LaVoy" Finicum, was shot dead. A 12th member of the group turned himself in to police in Arizona.

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The FBI said its agents moved to contain the remaining four holdouts Wednesday evening after one of the occupiers drove an all-terrain vehicle outside the barricades previously set up by the self-styled militia members at the refuge.

FBI agents attempted to approach the driver, and he sped away back to the compound, after which federal agents "moved to contain the remaining occupiers by placing agents at barricades both immediately ahead of and behind" their encampment, the FBI said.

A number of the occupiers were relating their account of events as they were unfolding via an independent Internet broadcast, "Revolution Radio," that is known to be sympathetic to the occupation.

One woman said FBI agents had moved to within 50 yards of the occupiers' position in the compound. One protester identifying herself as Sandy Anderson reported seeing FBI snipers posted on a nearby hillside with high-beam vehicle lights trained on the compound.

"If they tear gas us, it's the same as firing on us," she said, adding, "Don't come in. Don't do it."
A US ban on foreign salamanders is aimed at stopping a deadly amphibian fungus crossing the country's borders

Scientists have explained why the US has slapped a Donald Trump-style ban on all foreign salamanders.

The banning order, which applies to 201 species of the amphibians, was imposed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service on January 12.

While presidential election hopeful Trump has vowed to keep out Muslims who might pose a terrorist threat, the wildlife authority is anxious to stop a deadly amphibian fungus crossing the country's borders.

Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) was first identified in the Netherlands in 2013, having hitched a ride on Asian salamanders imported into Europe as pets.

There are fears the fungus could spread and have as big an impact as the related infection Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) that has already decimated frog populations worldwide.

Professor Karen Lips, from the University of Maryland, said: "North America is home to the highest number of salamander species in the world. They are a vital and irreplaceable component of our forest ecosystems.

"Bsal is the latest invasive pathogen to threaten our native wildlife, but it will certainly not be the last. Both Bd and Bsal are examples of a much bigger, global-scale problem."

Professor Lips was a member of a team of scientists speaking about the urgent need to protect America's amphibians at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington DC.
A 94-year-old former Auschwitz guard has gone on trial in Germany for his role in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews.

Reinhold Hanning was taken to court in the western town of Detmold seven decades after the defeat of the Nazis and is charged with at least 170,000 counts of accessory to murder over his role at the camp in occupied Poland.

The former SS sergeant maintains that he served in a part of Auschwitz where no gassings took place.



Prosecutors argue that all guards helped the camp function and that during the so-called "Hungarian action" in 1944 - when hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews were shipped to the camp - almost all were called upon to help deal with the vast numbers of people arriving at the killing complex in Nazi-occupied Poland.

The trial is the first of three scheduled this year against ageing Third Reich offciers and is the latest to follow a precedent set in 2011, when former Ohio car-worker John Demjanjuk became the first person to be convicted in Germany solely for serving as a camp guard, with no evidence of involvement in a specific killing.

Hanning's lawyer, Johannes Salmen, said that his client acknowledges serving at the Auschwitz I part of the camp complex in Nazi-occupied Poland, but denies serving at the Auschwitz II-Birkenau section, where most of the 1.1 million victims were killed.

Prosecutor Andreas Brendel said, however, that guards in the main camp were also used as on-call guards to augment those in Birkenau when trainloads of Jews were brought in.

"We believe that these auxiliaries were used in particular during the so-called Hungarian action in support of Birkenau," he said.
(left to right) Peter Eyre with his sons Simon Eyre and Anthony Eyre who have been convicted of the murder of two teenagers and a six-month-old baby girl after setting a deadly blaze at a flat in Langley Mill, Derbyshire Credit: Derbyshire Police /PA Wire

A father and his sons have been found guilty of murdering two teenagers and a six-month-old baby in an act of revenge after a row over a stolen moped.

Peter Eyre, 44, Simon Eyre, 24 and Anthony Eyre, 22, were convicted of setting a fire at a flat in Langley Mill in Derbyshire, after a trial at Nottingham Crown Court.

A jury today returned unanimous verdicts against all of the men after three days of deliberations.

The deadly blaze claimed the lives of 17-year-old Amy Smith, her baby daughter Ruby-Grace Gaunt and friend Edward Green, also 17.

Her partner and the baby's father 18-year-old Shaun Gaunt and another man were rescued from the flat.

During the trial, prosecutors said Peter Eyre had waited in the car, while his sons set the blaze using petrol poured by the flat's only exit.

Opening the Crown's case last month, James House QC told jurors: "It was set using petrol which had been poured in the area immediately outside the front door.

"That front door was the only means of entry and exit to the flat on the second and third floor."

He added: "It was done as an act of revenge for an incident that had occurred outside the home of Peter and Anthony a few hours earlier."

A jury of six women and six men was told that the incident involved Mr Gaunt, who had been told by a friend that a third son of Peter Eyre had been involved in the theft of his moped.

"It was the theft of that moped that was to be the catalyst for the tragic events that followed," Mr House said.

"Rumours abounded as to whom was responsible for stealing it."

A dispute had taken place outside the Eyre's family home in Central Avenue, Sandiacre, at about 1.30am on June 21, last year - hours before the deadly blaze.

During the confrontation Peter Eyre's van was damaged, while he is alleged to have threatened Mr Gaunt with a hammer.

Mr Gaunt was also allegedly seen brandishing a broken bottle during the disturbance.

After the fire, a police murder investigation was launched and CCTV evidence uncovered showing the Eyres driving to the scene.

Following the verdicts, Derbyshire Police's Detective Superintendent Kate Meynell, said: "This investigation has always been about getting justice for Amy, Ruby-Grace, Edward and their families.

"What started as a dispute over a stolen moped very quickly escalated to the tragic events of that night in June. It was a foolish revenge attack gone terribly wrong.

"Amy's partner, Shaun, had accused one of Peter Eyre's sons of stealing his moped so Eyre and his older sons, Anthony and Simon, sought revenge against him.

"Nothing can bring Amy, Ed, and Ruby-Grace back but I hope these guilty verdicts will bring some sort of closure for their loved ones."

The men will be sentenced tomorrow.
This handout picture release by the Italian police (Guardia di Finanza) shows Patrizio Benvenuti, 64, a retired bishop arrested by the Italian police who accused him of stealing 30 million euros to people who believed they were investing their money in a humanitarian foundation

A Roman Catholic prelate has been arrested for allegedly defrauding hundreds of elderly people out of millions of euros through an elaborate money-laundering scheme, Italian police said

Monsignor Patrizio Benvenuti, 64, originally from Argentina, has been placed under house arrest, and an international arrest warrant has been issued for French financier and property dealer Christian Ventisette, 54, whom authorities have not been able to find, finance police said in a statement.

Police said the pair persuaded 300 would-be savers in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg, the United States and Italy to invest 30m, encouraged by the promise of helping a charitable foundation.

Contacted by Reuters, Benvenuti said he "substantially rejected" the accusations aimed at him personally. He added that he did not know about finance, suggesting Ventisette had been responsible.

"The funds disappeared, but they are not in my pockets or in those of the foundation. They are in the pockets of the person who duped everyone," Benvenuti said.

Benvenuti worked at the Vatican's legal tribunal and as a military chaplain before retiring from priestly duties.

The victims thought they were entrusting their savings to finance and property sector experts. Police said they were spurred on by Benvenuti's promise that they would also be helping a charitable foundation he falsely boasted was supported by senior Vatican officials.

"He exaggerated the Vatican's support for his foundation," police captain Alessandra Faietti said, adding the organisation's statutes referred to a high-ranking archbishop who has denied being involved in its activities.

The investigation started after a former nun went to the police saying she had received bank documents showing movements of hundreds of thousands of euros that she could not explain.

She said she had signed contracts which gave her titular roles in companies tied to the alleged fraud while living with Benvenuti in Rome.

As part of the investigation, police ordered the confiscation of an eight-million-euro villa in Tuscany, and an archaeological site in Sicily.

Nine other people are also being investigated in the investigation, which includes charges of alleged tax evasion.
Donald Trump has predicted "revolutions" in Europe in a backlash against immigration and defended his remarks on Muslims, saying some were his "best friends," in his first campaign interview with French media.

France "isn't what it was" and the Germans no longer recognise their country, the Republican frontrunner in presidential primaries told the right-wing French weekly 'Valeurs Actuelles' in a long interview released today.

The maverick billionaire candidate also took a swipe at Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, saying she had made a "huge mistake with the migrants" by welcoming hundreds of thousands to seek asylum in recent months.

"What's happening in Europe can lead to its collapse. It's dramatic what (Merkel) has allowed to happen, this flood," he said, adding that the "consequences" were being felt around the continent.

"If we don't deal with the situation competently and firmly, then yes, it's the end of Europe," he predicted.

Stopping short of predicting civil war, he said the continent had "real revolutions ahead of you", adding that Europe "won't be spared" a 9/11-style disaster.

"My German friends no longer know where they are. They can't believe their eyes about what is happeningthey're desperate," he claimed.

He also warned that if immigration could not be dealt with "in an intelligent, rapid and energetic manner," then Europe was headed for "more than just upheaval, on a scale you can't even imagine".

As for France, Mr Trump warned: "Unfortunately, France isn't what it was, nor Paris".

The pro-gun candidate claimed that the Paris terrorist attack of November 13 that killed 130 could have been thwarted if the French had been allowed to bear arms to defend themselves, saying he would have done so.

At the Bataclan (concert hall where 90 died), he said: "The only people who had weapons were the killers...it was 'open bar' for a massacre."

He added: "I always carry a weapon on me. If I'd been at the Bataclan or one of those bars, I would have opened fire. I would have perhaps died, but at least I would have taken a shot. The worst thing is the powerlessness to respond to those who want to kill you," he said.

With no armed resistance in the room, "it was a pigeon shoot", he went on. The killers were "like kids in a candy store".

Mr Trump defended recent controversial remarks in which he called for a ban on Muslims entering the US.

"I have lots of Muslim friends who I talk to all the time and who agree with me. They understand me. Something very serious is going on with radical Islamism and we have to understand what it is," he said.

Mr Trump dismissed criticism over his unorthodox, populist campaign style, saying he was "very honoured" to have a cast of critics from Hollywood stars to the conservative magazine 'National Review'.

"What annoys them the most is that I'm the only (candidate) who doesn't need outside financial help," he said. "As for National Review, it's been on its last legs for ages. Its special edition against me helped me if anything."

Saying he had tapped into anger among voters, he said: "The prevailing sentiment is that I've touched America's sore points, where the malaise is deepest".

Mr Trump, who gave the interview shortly before his triumph in the New Hampshire primary, added that even he was surprised at the success his tactics of bypassing media to address the people. "I admit that I wasn't expecting it," he said.( Daily Telegraph London)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
Kate Winslet: thinks DiCaprio may be in line for his first Oscar. Photo: Matt Crossick/PA Wire

Kate Winslet has said she will not boycott the Oscars over the nominations race row because it could mean missing out on seeing her "closest friend" Leonardo DiCaprio finally win.

The British Hollywood star (40) appeared in 'Titanic' alongside DiCaprio (41). He is nominated for the best actor award for his role in the gritty Western 'The Revenant'.

Winslet herself is nominated for best supporting actress for her role as Joanna Hoffman in Danny Boyle's biopic 'Steve Jobs'.

The nominations for the Oscars, at the end of February, created a controversy after no black actors were shortlisted. Several big names have said they may boycott the ceremony in Los Angeles in protest.

Speaking at the London launch of her latest film, US heist drama 'Triple 9', in which she plays a "nasty piece of work" Mafia gangster, Winslet said: "To be honest with you, it has been such an extraordinary year for women, I'd feel like I was letting my side down if I didn't go.

"And also I feel very strongly that it may possibly be Leo's year. He is my closest friend in the world and I just couldn't imagine not being there to support him. I think those are reasons enough really to show my face."

DiCaprio has been nominated for an Oscar six times but has yet to win.

Winslet, who won the best actress Oscar for 2008 film 'The Reader', said she enjoyed playing a baddie in the new film, saying: "I truly play a nasty piece of work and I relished every minute of it."

As well as the Oscars nod, she has been nominated for a best supporting actress award in this weekend's Baftas.

The ensemble cast of 'Triple 9' includes 'Breaking Bad's' Aaron Paul, 'The Avengers'' Anthony Mackie, Woody Harrelson and fellow Brit Chiwetel Ejiofor, star of '12 Years A Slave'.

Mackie, Paul and Ejiofor were at Tuesday night's gala screening at the Ham Yard Hotel in Soho.

Ejiofor was asked about the row over diversity. He said: "We need more equality in our society and we need more equality represented in media, and those are good things to have, healthy things to have for a society, so it is right that people ask for those things. That whole thing is just a reflection of that reality.

"Absolutely everyone involved on every side of the issue wants the best out of movies and society."
Professor of Astrophysics Graham Woan at the Institute of Gravitational Research, University of Glasgow, as it announced that gravity waves - ripples in spacetime - which have been detected by scientists a century after Albert Einstein predicted their existence. Photo: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

Gravity waves - ripples in spacetime - have been detected by scientists a century after Albert Einstein predicted their existence.

The discovery, made in the US, was described by one British member of the international team as "the biggest scientific breakthrough of the century".

Capturing gravitational waves could open a new window to the universe and even help scientists to watch the cosmos being born.

The subtle distortions of spacetime are generated by cataclysmic events such as the collision of black holes or super-dense neutron stars, or powerful stellar explosions.

As the waves spread out, they compress and stretch the very fabric of the universe.

Although astronomical observations have hinted at their presence, until now they have remained a theoretical concept based on Einstein's mathematics.

Scientists detected them using laser beams fired through two perpendicular pipes, each four kilometres long, situated nearly 2,000 miles apart in Hanford, Washington and Livingston, Louisiana.

Together they make up the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (Ligo), where the hunt for gravitational waves only began in earnest last September.

Making the announcement at the National Press Club in Washington DC, laser physicist Professor David Reitze, from the University of Florida, said: "Ladies and gentlemen, we have detected gravity waves. We did it."

He was greeted with loud applause.

British expert Professor James Hough, from the University of Glasgow, claimed the breakthrough was more important than the discovery of the missing Higgs boson, the so-called "God particle" linked to mass, in 2012.

Speaking in Washington DC, Professor Hough said: "Until you can actually measure something, you don't really know it's there.

"I think this is much more significant than the discovery of the Higgs boson. This is the biggest scientific breakthrough of the century."

To say gravitational waves are hard to detect is a gross understatement.

The Ligo lasers are designed to detect the way a passing wave causes minute changes in the lengths of the pipes. This results in the two lasers being slightly out of step, creating an interference pattern that can be measured.

The effect is very, very small - the equivalent of about one 10,000th the width of a proton, the heart of an atom.

Anything touched by a gravitational wave would be distorted the same way, even people. But normally the changes are not noticed.

Gravitational waves are predicted in Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, published in 1916, which links gravity to the curvature of spacetime by massive objects.

They can be produced in different ways - for instance, by black holes or neutron stars spiralling towards each other on a collision course, a titanic supernova, or exploding star, or even the Big Bang that gave birth to the universe.

The last possibility raises the prospect of peering behind the veil of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), a relic of radiation from about 4,000 years after the Big Bang.

Gravity waves could allow scientists to see what happened even before the CMB came into being.

The gravity waves detected by the Ligo team were from two colliding black holes 1.3 billion light years away.

Professor Martin Hendry, head of the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Glasgow, said: "Einstein's General Theory of Relativity is regarded as one of the most impressive scientific achievements of all time and the existence of black holes is one of the theory's most startling predictions.

"To see such clear and direct confirmation of this prediction, and moreover that the merger of two black holes converts enormous amounts of mass into the energy of gravitational waves, is a wonderful vindication of Einstein's masterwork a century after it was written."

Another Ligo scientist, Professor Gabriela Gonzalez, from Louisiana State University, compared the achievement to that of the 16th century pioneer of modern astronomy, Galileo Galilei.

She said: "It's monumental - like Galileo using the telescope for the first time."

The Ligo project involved 1000 scientists and cost an estimated 620 million dollars (429 million). After 25 years, success came barely a week after the facility underwent a 1 million upgrade to make it more sensitive.

Even then, it took months of careful checking of the data before the researchers felt confident enough to announce the news.

The measurements had very specific characteristics that were exactly what would be expected from two colliding black holes.

Prof Reitze, Ligo's executive director, said: "Our observation of gravitational waves accomplishes an ambitious goal set out over five decades ago to directly detect this elusive phenomenon and better understand the universe, and, fittingly, fulfils Einstein's legacy on the 100th anniversary of his general theory of relativity."

Explaining how the gravity waves were generated, he asked his audience to imagine two black holes, each around 150 kilometres in diameter, and each packed with 30 times more mass than the sun.

Accelerating to half the speed of light, they spiralled towards each other until they crashed together and merged.

"It's mind boggling," said Prof Reitze.

The wave front from the event spread out, like ripples from a stone thrown into a pond, across the vast expanse of the universe.

"When it gets to the Earth the gravitational wave is going to stretch and compress space," Prof Reitze added. "The Earth is jiggling like jello."

Gravitational waves: Questions and answers

How do we see Gravitational waves?

The new information comes from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. That is made up of two installations in the US, 3,000 kilometres apart.

The system uses laser beams to measure pipes with very precise accuracy. It can detect even the tiniest change in their length  and, if that happens, the characteristic swelling and shrinking of the pipe would be evidence of the waves.

Doesnt this just confirm everything we already knew?

Einstein predicted that gravitational waves existed, and theoretical work since then has confirmed that they almost certainly exist. In one sense, this is just practical proof of a working assumption.

But the important stuff is what receiving this signal actually means. If we gain the ability to dependably and verifiably measure the waves, it would open an entirely bit of the universe to study.

If we developed ways of looking at those waves and into the universe, it could be analogous to the development of telescopes. But instead of light, wed be able to see messages from deep in the universes past.

The gravitational waves come bearing information about where they have come from. And many of them emerge from strange and early parts of the universe, like big bangs, meaning that we might receive our first ever messages from those unknown places.

If we could detect the waves properly, then it would enable us to see the development of black holes and the development of stars.

From there, we would be able to understand the beginnings and formation of the universe, and many of its most mysterious parts.

How do we do that?

Scientists and engineers around the world are assembling equipment that will help us detect more gravitational waves, and understand more about those that we find.

Perhaps the most ambitious is the huge eLISA mission, which will send a 1million-kilometre wide antenna into space, being carried around by three spacecraft.

That mission has already successfully sent the LISA Pathfinder, which will head out to test gravitational wave detection. That launched in December and went into orbit a couple of weeks ago.

The full mission will be able to do the same work, but away from the noise and bustle of Earth. That will allow it to listen for much deeper waves  allowing it to see into even bigger black holes.
Gwyneth Paltrow was sent dozens of messages and unsolicited gifts by a man accused of stalking the actress (Invision/AP)

A man accused of stalking actress Gwyneth Paltrow has told a court he sent her dozens of messages in the hope she might want to marry him, despite her giving evidence against him in a previous case.

Dante Soiu told the Los Angeles jury he wanted his messages to show her unconditional love and friendship and that he had no animosity towards her over the earlier case, which sent him to a mental institution for several years.

That case involved 500 messages, including sex toys and pornography, that Soiu sent Paltrow in 1999 and 2000.

Soiu, 66, told the court he wanted to let Paltrow know he was available and willing to marry her if the opportunity arose. His lawyers called him to speak in his own defence in the felony stalking trial.

He sent Paltrow 66 messages and packages between 2009 and 2015, but none of the recent correspondence included pornography. A judge has said the earlier messages could be important to understanding Paltrow's fear of Soiu.

Paltrow, 43, told the court on Monday that she was afraid of Soiu and began crying when she expressed fears about her children's safety.

Deputy district attorney Wendy Segall questioned why Paltrow would want to marry him after he had sent her so many lewd messages and she gave evidence against him.

"I was trying to show I had changed and I had become a different person," Soiu said. "I wanted to show a new face towards her."

Soiu said he did not want to scare the actress, but he was intent on her responding to him.

"I wanted her to say flat out, 'I don't want to marry you'," he said. "That way I would have a definite response from her."

He said he wrote to many public figures, including US president Barack Obama, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian president Vladimir Putin offering counsel on world affairs and solutions to problems.

He conceded that his notes to Paltrow were the only ones that expressed an interest in marriage. "Oh, no, I don't want to marry Putin," Soiu said.

Soiu was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 2000 in the previous case involving pornographic messages he sent to Paltrow. He was re-arrested last year after sending the actress new correspondence.

He said he was addicted to pornography at the time but was now on medication and considered himself healed.

The recent batch of letters described Soiu's intention to marry the actress as well as a pair of earrings he sent her in 2009 as a Christmas gift, some secondhand clothes and a Weight Watchers cookbook. He has also sent her religious books, and forwarded her letters he has sent to President Obama and actress Angelina Jolie.

One letter described Paltrow "bowing to death", a reference the actress said she found disturbing.

Soiu, a self-described born again Christian from Columbus, Ohio, said he was referencing spiritual, not physical death, in his letters.

He said he hoped the Oscar winner would write back to him if she wanted him to stop. "I wanted her to at least be a pen pal or at least say something," Soiu said.

Soiu said he believed he had an understanding with Paltrow's lawyer that he could write to the actress until he was told to stop. He conceded that he never spoke or corresponded with the lawyer to reach that agreement.
Rebel groups have appealed to President Obama to do more to stop Russian bombing raids in Syria as pressure mounted on Washington ahead of a new round of peace talks this week.

World powers are meeting in Germany today to try to revive the first effort in two years to negotiate an end to the war after it faltered in the starting blocks last week.

But with Moscow backing a Syrian government push for all-out military victory against Western-backed rebels, Western officials and opposition delegates hold out little hope.

Opposition spokesman Salim al-Muslat said Mr Obama could stop the Russian attacks, although he did not spell out how.

"If he is willing to save our children, it is really the time now to say 'no' to these strikes in Syria," he said.

US Secretary of State John Kerry is pushing for a ceasefire and more humanitarian aid access ahead of a meeting of the International Syria Support Group in Munich.

Battlefield

Moscow said Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed yesterday on the need for a ceasefire in Syria and the provision of humanitarian aid to blockaded areas.

But one UN diplomatic source said Russia was "stringing Kerry along" in order to provide diplomatic cover for Moscow's real goal - to help President Bashar al-Assad win on the battlefield instead of compromising at the negotiating table.

"It's clear to everyone now that Russia really doesn't want a negotiated solution but for Assad to win," said the diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A senior adviser to Assad, Bouthaina Shaaban, told Reuters in Damascus on Tuesday that there would be no let-up in the army advance, which aimed to recapture the city of Aleppo from rebels and secure Syria's border with Turkey.

Asked how soon a ceasefire could be put in place, a Russian diplomat said: "Maybe March, I think so."

The 'Washington Post' said Moscow had sent a letter to Washington this week proposing to stop its bombing on March 1, allowing it to continue for another three weeks.

Saudi Arabia's King Salman planned to visit Moscow in mid-March, Russia's RIA news agency said, a meeting that would bring together the main sponsors of the opposing sides.

Riyadh said it was willing to commit special forces to Syria should a US-led coalition deploy ground troops against Isil.

Saudi-backed rebels said they would go to Munich but would only go to UN peace talks in Geneva later this month if Russia stopped bombarding their positions and humanitarian aid reached civilians.
Images of Aylan Kurdi after he washed up on a Turkish beach led to an international outcry

Two alleged people smugglers have been put on trial charged with causing the death of Aylan Kurdi, whose body washed up on a beach in Turkey last year sparking a reaction to the refugee crisis around the world.

The men, both Syrian nationals, face up to 35 years in prison if they are found guilty on charges of human trafficking and manslaughter.

Aylan was travelling with his father, mother and brother Galip from Bodrum in Turkey to the Greek island of Kos when their boat capsized.

The images that followed, showing the small boy lying face down in the sand, galvanised a huge reaction to the crisis of people risking their lives fleeing conflict areas to reach Europe.

The two men, Muwafaka Alabash and Asem Alfrhad, opened in the Aegean seaside town of Bodrum on Thursday. They are accused of causing the deaths of five people, including Aylan, "through deliberate negligence".

Aylan and his family had fled the northern Syrian town of Kobani, which was periodically besieged by Isis militants throughout 2014 and 2015.

After a period living in Turkey with the hope of returning to their hometown, the family made two failed attempts to travel through Europe to Canada, where Aylan's aunt Tima Kurdi lived in Vancouver.

The crossing which killed all of the family except the father, Abdullah Kurdi, was their third attempt. Abdullah has described how the family paid a combined 4,000 (2,900) to people smugglers for places on a small dinghy.

They began the crossing at night - but when the sea became too rough for the small vessel, the people smugglers allegedly abandoned it, leaving the passengers to try and steer it on their own.

The boat soon capsized, throwing the refugees into the sea. I was holding my wifes hand, Mr Kurdi has said.

My children slipped away from my hands. We tried to hold on to the boat. Everyone was screaming in pitch darkness.

When the images of Aylan first began circulating on social media on 2 September last year, The Independent took the editorial decision to publish the most shocking versions in full.

The campaign which followed helped force the Government to do more to take in Syrian refugees, and just five days later David Cameron announced 20,000 more places would be found.
France's transport minister and other government officials were due at the scene of the crash

Six students have been killed in a collision between a school bus and another vehicle in a town on France's Atlantic coast.

Rochefort mayor Herve Blanche said the circumstances of the early morning crash are under investigation, and confirmed that six children had died.

France's transport minister and other government officials are heading to the scene of the crash in the Charente-Maritime region.

Eighteen adolescents were on the bus at the time of the collision with a truck.

Jerome Servolle, a police union official in the town, said a gate-like object swung open on the truck, slicing through the school bus at window height.

"The word chaos is not strong enough. This is such a tragedy," he said.
SHARE A pile of Mardi Gras accessories sat on a table outside of a photo booth at the Meals on Wheels of Anderson's Mardi Gras party.

By Jake Grove of the Independent Mail

When it comes to Mardi Gras, most people probably don't know much about this history or origin of the event. Heck, they probably don't even know when it is. But what they do know is that there will be a huge party, plenty of great food and all kinds of good times to be had.

Mardi Gras is synonymous with letting loose, having fun and indulging. From it's home in Louisiana to the thousands of incarnations all over the country and the world, Mardi Gras can turn the stuffiest of events into the talk of the town. It's one of the reason Laurie Ashley, executive director of Meals on Wheels Anderson, has continued to turn Anderson into a little bit of the Big Easy year after year.

"This is always an event that people look forward to and it's a big fundraiser for us," Ashley said. "It's a good show, we have great food and it's just a fun time." The Meals on Wheels Anderson Mardi Gras in the Electric City gala will be at the Civic Center of Anderson starting at 7 p.m. February 19. With just a week until the event, there is still time to buy tickets and enjoy all that this party has to offer and to benefit a truly worthy cause.

Ashely said there will be several features of this year's festivities including the mainstays like a silent auction, food from many local restaurants and music by The Back Nine out of Spartanburg. But one addition this year, that has been talked about, but never used, is the live auction. They plan to put one together this year between sets by the band.

"We are looking to up the donations as well as provide a little interactive element," Ashley said. "This seemed like the perfect time to do that."

Among the items up for auction at either the silent or live auction are: a set of Michelin tires, round trip flight passes on Southwest Airlines, a private wine class for a group of 20, four, one-day hopper passes to Disney World and more.

It's a large list, Ashley said, and the donations keep growing by the day. They will also have several food items from some of the best restaurants in town. Among those participating are: Gourmet Gals Bistro, The Pompous Pig, Earle Street Kitchen & Bar, The Bleckley Inn, Sullivan's Metropolitan Grill, Mama Penn's, The Sweetery and more.

Ashley said this event is one that helps keep so many elderly and infirm individuals in Anderson County fed throughout the year and without it they wouldn't be able to fill the massive need in the area. Tickets are $35 each and reserved tables are also available as a "Table of Friends" sponsorship. The sponsorship is $350 and reserves a table for eight displaying your business or group's name and includes eight tickets.

For more information, call 864.225.6800.
By Mike Ellis of the Independent Mail

A federal magistrate gave lawyers for the city of Seneca two weeks to give more detail on emails they sent to a public relations firm hired after a city officer shot and killed 19-year-old Zachary Hammond last summer.

Hammond was shot and killed during a botched drug sting in a fast-food parking lot when a Seneca police officer tried to stop him from driving away.

Hammond's parents have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the city, the officer and the police chief. As part of the suit they have filed subpoenas for the emails.

City officials have turned over 840 pages of emails, but about 140 of the emails have unexplained redactions, said Eric Bland, an attorney for the Hammond family.

Most of the contested emails were from Complete Public Relations, a Greenville firm hired by the city to deal with media requests after the shooting.

Attorneys for the city say the emails contain privileged conversations and shouldn't be turned over because of an attorney-client relationship.

Michael T. Smith, one of the city's attorneys, said the reasons for the redactions should have been clear, such as including the name of one of the city's attorneys and therefore being protected by attorney-client privilege.

Just including an attorney's name in an email does not make it privileged, Bland said. He said the email would need to include legal advice, rather than advice for handling media requests, to be exempt from the subpoena.

Federal Magistrate Kevin McDonald said he would review the emails to decide if the redactions were appropriate. He gave city attorneys two weeks to give more detail on the emails and another week for Hammond's attorneys to review the updates.

The hearing was the first time attorneys in the case had met in court.

Hammond was killed July 26. He was unarmed.

Tenth Judicial Circuit Solicitor Chrissy Adams declined last year to charge Seneca police officer Lt. Mark Tiller, who shot Hammond, saying Tiller had escalated the situation but could not be prosecuted because he was in fear of his life.

Follow Mike Ellis on Twitter @MikeEllis_AIM
SHARE Contributed photo Amara, a dog found shot and starving in Townville, is getting emergency medical treatment in western North Carolina. Contributed photo No charges will be filed against the owner of Amara, a boxer who was found shot and blinded in Townville. A lawyer has questioned the decision not to file charges in Amaras case. Related Coverage Amara rescuer: Anderson County animal rules too weak

By Nikie Mayo of the Independent Mail

A dog now known as Amara wandered in the woods hurt, blind and hungry for 19 days before she was picked up by an animal-control officer in Townville, Anderson County Sheriff John Skipper said Wednesday.

Skipper sat down with the Independent Mail to provide new details about Amara's case, and to discuss why the man who owned the 2-year-old boxer was not charged for shooting her in the head. Authorities have refused to identify the owner because he was not charged with mistreatment.

Skipper produced a picture from December, when a then-healthy boxer was nursing her litter of five puppies. Skipper said the dog's owner told investigators that she became increasingly aggressive after her puppies were born, that he tried to give her away, and that when the boxer bit his pregnant wife, "that was the last straw."

The owner told investigators what he did next.

"He didn't want his family to see or his neighbors to hear, so he took her to a boat ramp in Townville near Apple Island," Skipper said. "He had her on a collar and a leash. There was heavy rain. He took her down a trail in the woods, petted her, turned his head and pulled the trigger.

"When he turns back, she is flat on her stomach on the ground," Skipper said. "He doesn't feel a heartbeat. He pets her again, puts the gun back in his pocket and leaves."

Amara was picked up as a stray 19 days later, on Jan. 28, on Mystic Cove Lane in Townville. That's roughly half a mile from where she was shot and left for dead. By the time an animal-control officer picked her up, she was at least 20 pounds underweight.

Skipper said Amara's owner likely wasn't charged because of the way South Carolina law is written.

"In our statutes, a dog is your property," he said. "There is no statute that says you cannot euthanize your own dog."

Maj. Garry Bryant, who oversees the jail and the county's animal-control division, said Amara's owner "had an intent to humanely euthanize the dog."

The identity of the magistrate who determined no charges would be issued was made public Wednesday. She is Mary Frances Cole, an attorney who became an Anderson County magistrate in October. According to her public profile, Cole graduated from University of Virginia School of Law in 2012. Cole said she could not comment on any specific case, but did issue a statement to the Independent Mail.

"In the South Carolina criminal justice system, it is not the role of the Magistrate's Court to conduct investigations," she said. "Instead, law enforcement investigates and presents their findings to the Court as well as a recommendation as to whether an arrest warrant should be issued. The Court then issues or denies a warrant solely based on the evidence and recommendation presented by law enforcement.

"If the Court finds that probable cause exists that a crime has been committed by a specific individual based on the evidence presented by law enforcement, the Court will issue an arrest warrant. If the Court finds that probable cause does not exist that a crime has been committed by a specific individual based on the evidence presented by law enforcement, the Court is prohibited by law from issuing an arrest warrant."

Bryant said the animal-control officer who investigated the case did not make a recommendation, but "only presented evidence."

Stephan Futeral, a Charleston attorney who has written about the state's animal laws, said Wednesday that he believes Cole could have issued a warrant against the owner of Amara. Futeral is the author of "Animal Law in South Carolina  Piecing It All Together."

"I don't think there is any justification for what happened in this case," Futeral said. "It is one thing to have a dog attacking you or your family and you have a gun there and pull it out and kill it. It is another to take control of the animal, and to have enough control of it that you are able take it to a location, but you decide not to take it to a shelter. Instead, you attempt to, but fail to, kill it and it suffers as a result.

"Our law says that you cannot be cruel, that you cannot cause pain," Futeral said. "I think the magistrate is very, very wrong on this issue."

Amara has been released from intensive care and is recovering from her wounds at Boxer Butts and Other Mutts, a rescue organization in western North Carolina.

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Oconee County Auditor Ken Nix says he will not seek a third term.

In making his announcement late Wednesday, Nix also endorsed his chief deputy auditor, Christy Hubbard, to succeed him.

"The two terms I have been blessed with take me into full retirement age," Nix said. "I sincerely thank the citizens of Oconee County in supporting me as I strived to live up to my promise of treating everyone equally and fairly under the laws of the great state of South Carolina."

Hubbard said in a written statement late Wednesday that she intends to qualify to seek the office when filing opens March 16.

She is a 1992 Seneca High School graduate and attended Tri-County Technical College. She has been employed by Oconee County for 15 years. For 12 and a half of those years, Hubbard has been chief deputy auditor in the administrations of Ken Nix and his predecessor and relative, Linda Nix.
As per the latest release from Kazakhstani Statistical Agency , the grain production data for Kazakhstan for 2015, with total grain production at 18.2 million metric tons (MMT), 6 percent greater than in 2014. Wheat production is 13.7 MMT, 6 percent more than in 2014, and barley production is 2.7 MMT, 11 percent more than 2014. PThe 2015 harvest was delayed till early November due to rain in the northern region of Kazakhstan. However, despite this delay official statistics indicate that harvest was completed on 98% of planted area (11,570 million hectares out of 11,771 million hectares planted). Additionally, the increase in wheat production can be attributed to a greater use of mineral fertilizer treatments. Unfortunately, traders report that the majority of grain produced has a high moisture content, resulting in lower quality wheat and additional costs for drying.

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Voltas operational performance was a mixed bag. Top-line was quite higher than expected due to faster execution in MEP division. Revenue from MEP division jumped 56.5% yoy, leading to a 37.5% yoy growth in overall top-line. However, operating profit of Rs. 58 crore was lower than IIFL estimate due to higher costs incurred for faster execution of few projects.

Result Highlights: (Rs. in crore)

Reported Results IIFL Estimates Variance (%) Consolidated Revenue 1307.78 1004 30.26 Consolidated Net Profit 54.19 59 [8.15]

Voltas , makers of aircoolers and airconditioners, reported consolidated net profit of Rs.54.19 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015, registering decline of 49.53% yoy, but growth of 21.97% qoq. The companys revenue stood at Rs. 1,307.78 crore, up 37.5% yoy and 23.07% qoq.Its consolidated core operating profit of Rs. 58.36 crore for the quarter, clocked growth of 1.67% yoy but decline of 6.29% qoq. Operating profit margin for the current quarter at 4.46% contracted by 157 bps yoy and 140 bps qoq.For nine months ended December 31, 2015, the company reported consolidated net profit of Rs. 209.16 crore, declining by 21.45% yoy. Its consolidated revenue for the period stood at Rs. 3,968.68 crore, registering growth of 7.46% yoy.Voltas ' core operating profit stood at Rs. 251.67 crore, recording decline of 5.75% yoy. Operating margin for the current period at 6.34% contracted by 89 bps yoy.On standalone basis,Voltas , reported standalone net profit of Rs.21.62 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015, registering decline of 77.8% yoy and 76.29% qoq. The companys revenue stood at Rs. 1,096.62 crore, up 14.91% yoy and 15.98% qoq.Its standalone core operating profit of Rs. 15.43 crore for the quarter, declined by 62.18% yoy and 71.95% qoq. Operating profit margin for the current quarter at 1.41% contracted by 287 bps yoy and 441 bps qoq.For nine months ended December 31, 2015, the company reported standalone net profit of Rs. 195.05 crore, declining by 19.01% yoy. Its standalone revenue for the period stood at Rs. 3,600.28 crore, registering decline of 1.67% yoy.Voltas' core operating profit stood at Rs. 159.95 crore, recording decline of 8.89% yoy. Operating margin for the current period at 4.44% contracted by 36 bps yoy.Consolidated EPS for the quarter stood at Rs. 1.64.Bloomberg estimated the companys consolidated net profit at Rs. 64.13 crore.Voltas Ltd is currently trading at Rs. 245.7, down by 23.5 points or 8.73% from its previous closing of Rs. 269.2 on the BSE.The scrip opened at Rs. 266.95 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 272.4 and Rs. 242.5 respectively. So far 1967252(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 8907.83 crore.The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 1 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 360 on 23-Jun-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 243.2 on 21-Sep-2015. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 289.4 and Rs. 266.6 respectively.The promoters holding in the company stood at 30.3 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 48.64 % and 21.06 % respectively.The stock is currently trading above its 200 DMA.
Stock Commentary:

Wockhardt , pharmaceutical and biotechnology company headquartered in Mumbai, reported consolidated net profit of Rs.60.97 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015, registering decline of 82.44% yoy and 43.33% qoq. The companys consolidated revenue stood at Rs. 1,075.77 crore, down 22.16% yoy and 12.66% qoq.Its consolidated core operating profit of Rs. 76.14 crore for the quarter, declined by 83.56% yoy and 62.09% qoq. Operating profit margin for the current quarter at 7.08% contracted by 2643 bps yoy and 922 bps qoq.For nine months ended December 31, 2015, the company reported consolidated net profit of Rs. 282.76 crore, declining by 23.75% yoy. Its consolidated revenue for the period stood at Rs. 3,448.07 crore, registering growth of 1.34% yoy.Wockhardt Ltd's core operating profit stood at Rs. 428.16 crore, recording decline of 29.52% yoy. Operating margin for the current period at 12.42% contracted by 544 bps yoy.On standalone basis,Wockhardt , reported standalone net profit of Rs.90.13 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015. However, it had reported net loss of Rs.25.41 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year and Rs. 39.08 crore in the preceding quarter. The companys revenue stood at Rs. 630.47 crore, up 42.23% yoy and 10.92% qoq.Its standalone core operating profit at Rs. 119.96 crore, clocked growth of 3438.64% qoq. However, the company had reported standalone core operating loss of Rs. 20.78 crore in the same quarter of the previous year. Operating profit margin for the current quarter at 19.03%, expanded by 1843 bps qoq. However, the company had reported an operating loss in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.For nine months ended December 31, 2015, the company reported standalone net profit of Rs. 26.07 crore, declining by 92.46% yoy. Its standalone revenue for the period stood at Rs. 1,713.57 crore, registering growth of 22.77% yoy.Wockhardt's core operating profit stood at Rs. 116.40 crore, recording growth of 858.81% yoy. Operating margin for the current period at 6.79% expanded by 592 bps yoy.Wockhardt ended at Rs. 875.4, down by 79.95 points or 8.37% from its previous closing of Rs. 955.35 on the BSE.The scrip opened at Rs. 943 and touched a high and low of Rs. 982 and Rs. 846.2 respectively. A total of 2932437(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 10557.47 crore.The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 5 touched a 52 week high of Rs. 2000 on 08-Apr-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 932.5 on 10-Feb-2016. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 1156 and Rs. 932.5 respectively.The promoters holding in the company stood at 74.19 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 11.88 % and 13.8 % respectively.The stock traded above its 200 DMA.
Petronet LNG Ltd posted 10% rise in its net profit to Rs 178.39 crore for the quarter ended in December. The company accredited the net profit growth to imports of higher volumes of LNG and operational efficiencies. However, the volumes came in 40% lower for the quarter.The companys CFO RK Garg discussed the finer details with CNBC-TV18. He said that volumes dropped as their long-term contract was excessively priced due to which consumers shied away from picking up those contracts. This led the company to revise its pricing structure with Qatar, which is its long-term supplier and so the volumes were on the lower side in between October and December.Garg disclosed that the volumes during the December quarter were at 38 trillion BTUs compared with 63 trillion BTUs in the last to last quarter. However, Garg said that the off take from January onwards will be back to normal. Garg reiterated that the company will do better in terms of volumes in FY17. He pointed to the stressed capacity utilisation over focusing on numbers, stating that the company utilised Dahej terminal capacity in full in the December quarter.Garg held the view that their Dahej terminal utilisation will improve going forth, citing the healthy demand growth in the country. While commenting on the companys latest renegotiation with Australia ExxonMobil, Garg said that getting a better rate is not as significant as the affordability of the market. It will be only after the end of the year that the company will get a sense of the volumes and market behaviour.Garg did not anticipate much change in crude and LNG prices during the year 2016 and said that the consumers will continue to benefit from lower prices. In the end, Garg projected that the volume generation at Kochi terminal will remain on lower side due to some challenges surrounding it. He sees some positive outcome of discussion for connecting Kochi terminal to Mangalore market.
State Bank of India: SBI, the largest lender in the country, will announce its financial results on February 11 for the third quarter ended December 31, 2015. IIFL forecasts the bank's standalone net profit for Q3 FY16 to soar to Rs. 3,347.2 crore, growing at a rate of 15% yoy; however, it is likely to dip 13.7% qoq.Tata Motors: Tata Motors will announce its Q3 numbers today. IIFL forecasts the companys net profit for Q3 FY16 to decline to Rs. 3,341.9 crore, at a rate of 6.7% yoy and 877.6% qoq.Ambuja Cements: Ambuja Cements, major cement producing company in India, reported standalone net profit of Rs.109.96 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015, registering decline of 66.54% yoy.Bharti Airtel: Bharti Airtel is in talks to merge its wholly-owned Sri Lanka unit into Dialog Axiata in a likely share-swap deal, according to reports.Reliance Infrastructure Ltd: Reliance Infra is in talks with global pension funds and investment companies, including the Canada-based Brookfield Asset Management Inc and CPP Investment Board (formerly the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board) to sell its portfolio of road assets, reports a business daily.HUL:The company may sell its commoditised businesses such as atta, rice and salt brands as it looks to realign its food portfolio, as per media reports.ITC: The company announced three projects in West Bengal involving an investment of INR 3,000 crore.Cipla: Cipla , global pharmaceutical manufacturers, reported consolidated net profit of Rs.343.20 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015, registering growth of 4.68% yoy, but decline of 20.42% qoq.Petronet LNG: Petronet LNG reported standalone net profit of Rs.178.39 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015, registering growth of 9.85% yoy, but decline of 28.31% qoq.Mercator: Shipping and logistics company Mercator said it has sold its Singapore bulk cargo business to three investors for a token amount of three Singapore dollars.Coal India: Coal India, the largest coal miner in India, will announce its Q3 results today. IIFL forecasts the companys net revenue for Q3 FY16 to rise to Rs. 19,003 crore, growing at a rate of 7% yoy and 8.6% qoq.MOIL: The company will invest Rs.620 mn for setting up a 10.5MW solar power project for captive use for mines in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.ACC: ACC Ltd posted a net profit after taxes, minority interest and share of profit of associates of Rs. 1023.90 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2015 as compared to Rs. 3262.20 mn for the quarter ended December 31, 2014.Ruchi Soya Industries: The companys standalone revenue stood at Rs. 8,185.29 crore, up by 41.68% yoy and 44.82% qoq.DFM Foods: DFM Foods Ltd, maker of packaged snacks, reported standalone net profit of Rs. 6.59 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015, registering growth of 111.22% yoy.Tata Global Beverages: The companys consolidated revenue stood at Rs. 2,081.47 crore, down by 2.78% yoy but up by 2.31% qoq.Sequent Scientific: Sequent Scientific will announce its Q3 numbers today. IIFL forecasts the companys net revenue for Q3 FY16 to soar to Rs. 177 crore, growing at a rate of 58% yoy and 11.3% qoq.Shipping Corporation of India: The companys standalone revenue stood at Rs. 987.04 crore, registering decline of 6.21% yoy and 9.03% qoq.Kalpataru Power: Kalpataru Power Transmission, power plant major, reported standalone net profit of Rs.38.11 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015, registering decline of 7.03% yoy and 7.09% qoq.AXISCADES Engineering Technologies: The companys consolidated revenue stood at Rs. 97.65 crore, up 16.92% yoy and 2.01% qoq.Asahi India Glass: Asahi India Glass Ltd, leading integrated glass company, reported standalone net profit of Rs. 25.53 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015, registering growth of 124.54% yoy and 13.97% qoq.Engineers India: The companys standalone revenue stood at Rs. 368.37 crore, down by 7.52% yoy and 18.24% qoq.Glaxosmithkline Pharma: Glaxosmithkline Pharma reported standalone net profit of Rs.79.90 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015, registering growth of 76.38% yoy, but decline of 16.81% qoq.Lakshmi Vilas Bank: Lakshmi Vilas Bank, one of Indias fast growing banks, announced reduction in the base rate from the earlier rate of 10.70% p.a. to 10.55% p.a.
Tata Motors Ltd is currently trading at Rs. 295.7, up by Rs. 3.85 or 1.32% from its previous closing of Rs. 291.85 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 299 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 299.25 and Rs. 292.05 respectively. So far 7281010(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 95599.53 crore.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 2 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 594.14 on 02-Mar-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 279.15 on 29-Sep-2015. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 338.7 and Rs. 289 respectively.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 33.01 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 41.04 % and 25.95 % respectively.

The stock is currently trading above its 200 DMA.

Tata Motors is scheduled to announce its Q3FY16 results today. Leaders in passenger and commercial vehicles, Tata Motors posted 16% increase in its global wholesales in January. Global wholesales of PVs as well as CVs were up by 14% and 16% yoy in Jan 2016.Not much cheer is expected from Tata Motors from its Q3 results. IIFL expects the net profit to drop 6.9% YoY to Rs. 3314.9 crores. The revenue is expected to clock Rs. 73,277 crore, a climb of 4.7% yoy and 19.5% qoq.During Q3 FY16, volumes for automobile companies recovered except for twowheelers where growth remained subdued. Tata Motors saw a reversal in the trend with declines for passenger cars and UVs. JLR has seen a sharp rebound in volume growth on the back of new launches. IIFL expects that the JLR business will see robust improvement on a sequential basis as benefits of operating leverage kick in.Classifying the company as its "Top Pick", IIFL expects sales volume of Tata Motors to clock 121,390 units, registering a fall of 3.9% yoy and 3.7% qoq.
The entry of Patanjali noodles has raised questions on whether Nestle will be able to protect Maggis turf in the Indian market. While yoga guru Baba Ramdev recently exuded confidence that Patanjali brand of noodles would dislodge Maggi noodles as the top brand in the country, Nestle says it is not intimidated by Patanjali's noodles. In fact,was quoted as saying that Patanjalis entry does not intimidate us or the existing players. It only rejuvenates the market with the flair of energy.Nestle is satisfied with the response they have received after the re-launch of Maggi noodles in India.In a bid to have a strong foothold in the market, Nestle is planning to introduce more variants of noodles and add more products in their shelves in categories like coffee, chocolates and dairy. The products will include high-end and mass consumption as well, the company stated.To go with the flow of rising online purchasing, the company is planning to sell its products through e-commerce platforms. Nestle Chicken Maggi on Snapdeal is a case in point.In a recent report titled Patanjali  Injurious to listed FMCG health, IIFL had stated that Nestle was likely to be least impacted due to few common categories while other FMCG players like Colgate could suffer.In the noodles category in particular, IIFL says Patanjali is not strong as while they have some Indian flavours, Nestle has similar offerings. The entry of Patanjali could be an endorsement of the category to those who consider it unhealthy, and brand equity of Maggi is very strong, the IIFL report stated adding that the disruption potential is less and it will be difficult to unseat Maggi.The reason for Patanjalis success is it unique business model of a single brand, a wide spread of categories, exclusive store network and close association of a personality (Baba Ramdev) with the brand. Moreover, the growing appeal of ayurvedic/natural products, a way for consumers to express Indian-ness and low price help. With the recent push towards wider distribution and media support, IIFL believes Patanjali can report net sales of Rs.200bn in FY20.
Indiana health officials say the state has its first case of Zika virus.

The Indiana State Department of Health announced the person with the virus is a non-pregnant resident who recently traveled to Haiti.

There have been about 50 cases of the mosquito-spread virus reported in the United States, most in travelers returning from affected countries.

Many people infected do not get sick. For those who do, it is usually a mild illness with symptoms including fever, rash, joint pain and red eyes.

The virus is primarily spread through bites from a specific mosquito. Health officials are investigating whether there is a link between Zika infections in pregnant women and a rare birth defect called microcephaly, in which babies are born with abnormally small heads.

Ohio has also reported a case in a Cleveland woman, who also recently returned from Haiti. Zika has been reported in 12 states and the District of Columbia.
After the states major wave of controversy following the passage of the divisive Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), some ripple effects are starting to become apparent.

Visit Indy, an organization that promotes tourism and travel in Indianapolis, has had a front-row seat to the fallout, which Chris Gahl, Visit Indys vice president of marketing and communications, said has been unprecedented.

When asked if he had seen this type or degree of backlash in Indy before, Gahl said, The simple answer is no.

When you look at something that has generated potential lost convention business as well as tarnished the reputation of the city, this was a first.

Gahl said since April 2015, a dozen conventions have cited RFRA as a reason (or the reason) for bypassing the Circle City.

Any time a convention does not select Indianapolis, we ask them why, Gahl said. We ask an open-ended, unaided question  Why didnt you pick Indianapolis?  and we document the reasoning behind that.

Gahl said 12 groups Visit Indy was actively pursuing mentioned RFRA when asked the open-ended question. Other common reasons for saying no include the size of the convention center, hotel rates and overall destination appeal.

Gahl said Visit Indy continues to pursue meeting groups that have previously turned down Indy as a host city; thats why he wont share the names of the 12 organizations.

Just because we get a no, doesnt mean were giving up, he said. We wouldnt want our competitors to know who were bidding on and who were actively pursuing, because theyre currently meeting in another city.

Though Gahl wouldnt name the groups, he did say none of the 12 has met in Indianapolis before, and he said the groups are varied.

(That) makes it extra painful, because they would be new business to the city. They span from education to faith-based groups, from life science to medical. Its a wide variety of conventions that make up these 12.

Even for meeting groups that dont necessarily decline to come to Indianapolis, RFRA and the states position on LGBT issues are still on peoples minds. An annual perception study done by Walker Research and Reach Market Planning for Visit Indy was conducted in October 2015, about seven months after RFRAs passage and the ensuing outrage. The study asked meeting decision makers nationwide, Has Indianapolis been in the news recently, and if so, for what topic(s)? About 196 of the sample of 339 (58 percent) mentioned RFRA and/or LGBT issues in their response.

In previous years, they would have recalled major sporting events, like the Mens Final Four or the Indy 500, so that showed us there was a ripple effect and its still on the minds of meeting decision makers, Gahl said.

Some meeting decision makers have specifically asked about changes in the city and state.

As recently as last week, we were asked by a meeting decision maker about what was happening on the ground here in Indianapolis at our Statehouse, Gahl said. This is a meeting planner thinking about Indianapolis for a convention in 2025, someone based in Washington, D.C., and she was curious on the temperature and barometer of this issue.

Meanwhile at the Statehouse, the so-called Super RFRA bill  which would have reinvigorated RFRA with some of its more controversial aspects that were stripped out after the firestorm  failed to make it out of committee. A human rights measure that would extend legal protections to people based on sexual orientation, but not gender identity, looked to be about dead as of press time. Lawmakers have struggled to agree on whether gender identity should be included as a protected classification.

Our strategy has been to keep (meeting planners) posted on movements and bills being introduced at the Statehouse while also reinforcing the fact that Indy does welcome all, through our longstanding human rights ordinance, Gahl said. When this session ends in mid-March, were preparing to answer the question of what has changed, if anything, in terms of Indianas LGBT protections.

In trying to measure the economic impact of the controversy, specifically the loss of those 12 potential conventions to Indianapolis, Visit Indy used an economic impact calculator that was created for the group by a Harvard economist. The calculator takes into account more than 100 variables to estimate the potential revenue of an organizations visit to the city.

Those 12 conventions tally $60 million in potential economic impact that wont be realized because of Indianapolis not hosting them, Gahl said.

With an annual total of about $4.5 billion in revenue generated by Indianapolis tourism, $60 million might seem like a drop in the bucket.

For perspective, Gahl said the loss of the $60 million in potential revenue is, economically speaking, the equivalent of losing the NCAA Mens Final Four.

Still, more than 100 regional and national meetings and events  and a handful of international gatherings  will go on in 2016 as planned, and Visit Indy has meetings on the books as far out as 2026.

The Tuskegee Airmen Inc. 45th National Convention will be in downtown Indianapolis this July. A spokesman from Tuskegee Airmen Inc. declined to go on the record to discuss RFRA, saying the organization tries to steer clear of political debates. But he said the organization has a strong history in Indianapolis that is a motivating factor in bringing the convention to the Circle City.

Anita Rankin, a convention planner with the national African Methodist Episcopal Church  a group that hosted two conventions in Indianapolis last summer  said the city offers one nice, neat package for groups holding conventions. Rankin specifically cited the proximity of downtown hotels to the citys convention center as one perk of hosting in Indy.
The Federal Transit Administration released its Smalls Starts funding recommendations for the 2017 federal fiscal year, including a $75 million award for the construction of IndyGos Red Line Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project. The grant adds to more than $40 million in successful competitive federal funding opportunities for IndyGo since 2012.

The Red Line was identified as a 35-mile, three-county rapid transit line through the regional Indy Connect planning process, which was launched in 2009 as a collaborative planning initiative to improve transit in central Indiana by the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), the Central Indiana Regional Transportation Authority (CIRTA) and IndyGo. The line will be the first central Indiana rapid transit line and, when fully built, will run from Westfield through Carmel, into downtown Indianapolis, extending to Greenwood.

The route has seen strong regional support and ultimately will come within half a mile of 100,000 residents, connecting workers to the states two largest employment clusters (Downtown Indianapolis and U.S. 31 in Carmel). The line will also make health care and education more accessible with reliable, frequent and quick travel to the states largest hospital and four major higher education institutions.

IndyGo is thrilled to move forward with the Red Line. This funding decision is a testament to the quality and importance of the Red Line project, stated IndyGo President and CEO Mike Terry.

The Small Starts grant award will position IndyGo to begin implementing the Indy Connect plan within Marion County. Phase 1 construction of the Red Line will begin in spring 2017. Approximately 18 months after breaking ground, the first segment of the Red Line will run for 13 miles from Broad Ripple to the University of Indianapolis via Downtown Indianapolis and will be the nations first battery-powered, all-electric BRT system.

A referendum this fall could fund other pieces of the Indy Connect plan, including Blue and Purple rapid transit lines, as well as significant enhancements to local bus service including more convenient routes across the city with shorter waits, earlier hours in the morning, later hours at night and an improved grid pattern for faster travel times and more efficient transfers. Phases two and three of the Red Line will be dependent upon local referenda to be passed in each of the three counties  Hamilton, Johnson and Marion. IndyGo is hosting public meetings for feedback on the Marion County portion of the transit plan throughout February.

In 2015, IndyGo focused on design and public input of Phase 1 of the Red Line, organizing and actively participating in more than 60 outreach meetings, including neighborhood association presentations, business forums and public open houses. IndyGo has already secured much of the $18 million local match through the Downtown Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District and the Indianapolis Department of Public Works.

Next steps include the continuation of design and public outreach activities through the end of 2016. This spring, IndyGo will release a design competition to determine the design of the BRT stations and give the public an opportunity to weigh in on proposed designs.
India is the land of arts and crafts. Almost every region has its own traditional form of art that includes drawings, paintings, embroideries, carvings, saris and more. We're really blessed to be born in a country with so much diversity in this space. Sadly, however, some of these art forms are on the verge of extinction. Let's take a look at 9 of the most beautiful of them which need to be saved right away!

1. Manjusha paintings

manjushakala.in

Manjusha is believed to be the only art form in India that is displayed in series, each representing a story within it. This art form originated in Anga Pradesh (modern day Bihar). Back then, they made products only to be used in Bishahari festival, a festival dedicated to the snake god that took place in the district Bhagalpur. This art flourished heartily during the British rule in India. However, it started fading away in the middle of the 20th century. Fortunately, the Bihar government is making an effort to revive this craft and patent it as Bhagalpur folk art.

2. Traditional art of puppetry

Flickr

Some scholars suggest that puppetry has existed in India for over 3000 years. The surprising thing is that there are so many forms of puppetry that we arent even aware about. There's shadow puppetry from Kerala. Then theres Kathaputli from Rajasthan and Kundhei from Orissa. But all of these wont exist a few years from now. There are very few artists left that know the art. Some NGOs have tried to bring puppetry to urban cities, yet this art form is nearing its end.

3. Parsi embroidery

rugrabbit

Parsi embroidery has been a part of Indias diverse textile heritage. During the bronze age, this art form took birth in Iran and with time it drew influences from European, Chinese, Persian and Indian culture. The saris that depict Parsi embroidery are known as Parsi Gara Saris and take about 9 months to complete. But now, youll find very few of these in the market. The reason is the declining Parsi community and mass production of clothes that are readily available.

4. Toda embroidery

textilerails

The Toda tribe resides in the Nilgiri Hills. The entire tribe consists of only 2000 people and theyre struggling to protect their culture and craft. The embroidery is basically done on cloth with square-shaped deceptions that are one of a kind. Youll find this embroidery done on everything from wallets, cell phone pouches, bed sheets, stoles etc and each design is unique in its own way.

5. Naga handicraft

mapsofindia

The Nagas are famous for their deep-rooted culture and it strongly comes out in the form of art and craft. The tribe is famous for creating interesting handicraft items made from wood, cane and other readily available raw material from the forest. Based out of Nagaland, this tribe makes really gorgeous crafts like baskets, bowls, decors, carved benches, shawls scarves and bags. Fortunately, the tribe still takes part in expos to promote its craft, but we know that these products wont be available for far too long.

6. Roghan painting

IndiaTv

The Roghan painting is done only by 6 surviving people in India right now. The Khatri family living in the Kutch area of Rajasthan have been the practitioners of the art for seven generations, but they fear that this will be the last surviving generation for the Roghan painting as the future generation isnt patient or hardworking enough to take it up. This extraordinary form of art is executed on fabric with castor oil, paints and a 6-inch thin metal rod. The paintings are expensive and are generally purchased by foreigners.

7. Dhokhra handicraft

wordpress

The Bastar region, a district in Chhattisgar, is home to tribes who specialise in Dhokra handicraft. Its wax casting technique has been in India for more than 4,000 years. One of the earliest known dhokra artifacts is the dancing girl of Mohenjo-daro. These products are in great demand in domestic and foreign markets because of primitive simplicity, enchanting folk motifs and forceful form. But, again, very few tribes are practicing the art and no one has been able to come up with a technology to save the 250-year-old legacy.

8. Patola saris

Patola saris, that involve part ikat work, are the most expensive saris in the world. Each classic Patola sari can survive for about 300 years and retain the colour. The saris take four to six months to make, with more than 70 days for the colouring of the silk threads, and about 25 days for the weaving. The costliest sari is priced at a whopping Rs 7 lakh. At least 12 people work for over two years to make it using materials required for 27 normal Patola saris. This extremely complex and time-consuming dyeing art is currently pursued by only four families in Gujarat. Some of the families are trying to keep the tradition alive, but are unsure of its eventual fate.

9. Mithila painting

youthopia.in

The Mithila painting is one of the living creative activities of the women of Bihar. It is a form of folk painting on paper, cloth, readymade garments, movable objects that is mainly done by the village women of Mithila. Originally it was a folk art, practiced by women of all castes and communities using natural and vegetable colours. Since its practised in only one village, and very few women make these paintings, we know that its one of the dying traditions of India.

Have we missed anything? Let us know in the comments below!
cinespeaks

Another one bites the dust. Now upcoming film Neerja has been banned in Pakistan for allegedly portraying the country in bad light. In a rare and unfateful case, the film has been banned there even before it was submitted to the censor boards. The ministry of commerce had initially authorised the import of the film by issuing an NOC to the interested importer company of Neerja, that allowed it to be brought into Pakistani territory. But soon after, the ministry revoked the import authorization certificate, eliminating any chances of the film being brought in the country, let alone being screened. Pakistan's censor board said it came from the information and commerce ministry of the country. The ministry on the other hand, defended the move stating that due to objectionable nature of the content which portrayed Pakistan in poor light, the certificate was revoked.

newsworldindia

"The film was never brought to us for censorship. The commerce and information ministry had also asked the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulation Authority (PEMRA) to ensure that Neerja is not shown on cable channels throughout Pakistan." - Mobasher Hasan, Head of the Central Board of Film Censors, Pakistan

Advertisements of the movie in several newspapers had been doing the rounds in Pakistan for days now, showing its release across many cineplexes and single screen theatres next weekend. The news has come as a shock to Bollywood-crazy Pakistani audience, which is a huge market for Indian producers. Pakistan had earlier banned big banner Indian films like Haider, Phantom and Ek Tha Tiger.

Sonam Kapoor-starrer Neerja is the biopic of the slain stewardess Neerja Bhanot and is based on real incidents during the hijacking of the Pan Am Flight 73 at the Karachi airport in 1986. While she saved hundreds of passengers onboard the Mumbai-New York flight, she sacrificed her life, during her battle with the terrorists. The film is slated to release on February 19.
The next time you scrub your face or exfoliate your skin, think about the harm youre doing to the environment!

via BBCi.co.uk

Microbeads, the tiny little plastic grains in your toiletries, are harming marine life.

The tiny little abrasive microbeads in toiletries like face washes, body scrubs and toothpastes are made of plastic, and are non-biodegradable. Billions of these beads are being washed away into water bodies every day. Theyre so small that water filtration systems cant trap them.

And since theyre so tiny, fish and other marine animals mistake them for food and eat them. In fact, when you eat seafood, its possible that youre eating microbeads as well. Microplastic beads also attract other toxins, making them extremely harmful to the environment. A study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that oysters exposed to microbeads produced 41 percent fewer larvae and, even when those larvae matured, they grew at a slower rate and were 18 percent smaller than other larvae.

via 5gyres.org

The US has banned microbeads, and the UK and Australia are not far behind.

At the end of 2015, President Obama signed a bipartisan bill into law making it illegal for cosmetics companies to use microbeads in their products. The UK is coming under a lot of pressure to follow suit, as a petition by Greepeace urging the US and UK to ban microbeads already has 140,000 signatures. Meanwhile the Australian government has announced a voluntary phase out of microbeads by 2018.

via VoiceOfNiagara

Too little, too late?

However, even as these measures are being put into place, there are many countries where microbeads havent been banned yet. Besides, all the existing microbeads that have been washed into the sea over the years are still a threat to marine life.

If you use cosmetics with microbeads, its time to stop. The fish will thank you for it!

Cover image via the Virginia Institute of Marine Science
A decade ago, a few of us decided to bring an end to the crying injustice done to Subhas Chandra Bose, one of Indias bravest sons, and started scouting for all information available on this great leader under a movement called Mission Netaji. Very soon, we were caught into a web of information coming to us from different sources - some made sense, some were too vague for us to understand, and some were nothing but hearsay, and rejected outright by us. We started work with the immediate information made available to us and simultaneously started researching incomplete leads. These were days when 24 hours seemed short and we prayed for a few more.

A few leads pointed towards Vietnam

Our research on these leads took us deeper into the subject and brought to light some stunning claims. [We came to know about the occurrence of a secret meeting between Netaji, Ho Chi Minh and the Chinese General Liu-Po-Cheng on the 19th of August, 1945, when the world was told that he died in an air crash on the day before. Similarly, it came to our notice that former war correspondent of Chicago Tribune, Alfred Wagg, had claimed to have seen Bose at Saigon in 1945, much beyond the official date of his death.

The Telegraph, 26 September 1994.

We came across some papers talking about Bose being sighted at an airport in France in the late sixties. An eminent journalist and once the High Commissioner of India to Singapore, Prem Bhatia appeared before the Khosla Commission of Enquiry (1970-74) and filed an affidavit mentioning his meeting with Balraj Trikha who had seen Bose at the Saigon Airport in 1971. All these facts came from different credible sources at different points in time and from people who had nothing to do with Bose.

Prime Minister Narsimha Rao's official visit to Vietnam

While we were trying to fit the jigsaw puzzle together, we came across the following newspaper article filed by Prabha Jagannathan. Jagannathan had accompanied Prime Minister Narsimha Rao in his official visit to Vietnam, where he was apparently told that Vietnam holds many documents on Bose that could bring the mystery of his disappearance to rest once and for all.

She was summoned several times by the Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry (1999-2005) (set up to inquire into the death of Netaji), to explain her story which was published in the Telegraph in 1994, but she did not show up. Finally, a few years ago, I succeeded in contacting her.

Chat with Prabha

At the War Remnants Museum, Vietnam

Following the lead, I visited Ho Chi Minh City in March 2010 and found a picture in the War Remnants Museum which featured a person having striking similarities to Bose. Strangely, my inquiries regarding the identity of the person in question were not responded to by the museum authorities and subsequently from the Vietnam Cultural & Foreign Affairs, and Defence Ministries. I had managed to take photos of the framed pictures in the museum, and had them checked by a few other researchers. The consensus was that although the photos taken with my mobile camera arent very clear, yet if we relate these images with the information available from diverse sources, in all likelihood the story of Boses death in a plane crash in 1945 can be shown to be a hoax. To my astonishment, when I visited the museum again after a year to obtain a better quality image, all the documents and pictures were exactly at the same places except the one that had featured the Bose-like man.

Asia Pacific Congress held in Beijing, China, to support the anti French colonists Resistance of Vietnamese people, 1952.

An unlikely source in Uttar Pradesh, India

The other link to the possibility of this person being Bose himself came from an unlikely source  from a mysterious man living incognito in Uttar Pradesh from the 1950s to 1985, and popularly known as Gumnami baba or Bhagwanji. Gumnami baba had a group of illustrious followers including former revolutionaries of Bengal and a few officers of the Indian National Army who believed that he was none other than Bose.

Asia Pacific Congress held in Beijing, China to support the anti French colonists Resistance of Vietnamese people, 1953.

Bhagwanji told his followers that he had been clandestinely involved in global affairs and that he visited Vietnam several times, also attending the Paris Peace Talks related to the Vietnam War. He called Ho Chi Minh the Poet President and mentioned to his followers in the 1970s that it was him who had advised Ho to dump "the very most special cocaine and opium in South Vietnam for free. Thankfully, due to the declassification of the Vietnam War documents in 1991, we now know that the US was battling a deadly drug menace among its troops in the region. War is not an emotional business. It is a cold calculated affair, he told his followers.
One of the biggest issues facing anti-insurgency operations is the ability of militants to leverage strong local relationships in areas they plan to attack. While infiltration by militants in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has fallen, the J& K government has just made made it harder for militants to have a free reign over the region.

Cash to kill

defencelover

According to a Mail Today report, the government has increased reward money for killing A++ grade militants from 10 lakh to 12.50 lakh. A++ refers to "militants who are active on the ground from more than one-and-a-half year. "a senior police official told the Kashmir Monitor.

Other categories have also seen a hike in incentives

jknewspoint

A+ category militant: Rs. 7.50 lakh (from Rs. 5 lakh)

A- category militant: Rs. 5 lakh (from Rs. 3 lakh)

B- category militants Rs. 3 lakh (from Rs. 2 lakh)

C- category, Rs. 2 lakh (from Rs. 1 lakh)

The district's Senior Superintendent Police ( SSP) releases the money to the team which executed the militant, within a week of confirming the kill, and the money is audited.
A billion prayers, medical science and miracles couldn't bring back Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad to life...

The Indian Army soldier who miraculously survived the Siachen avalanche last week is no more.

India Today

The brave soldier who fought all odds to survive 25-feet snow blanket for six days passed away in an army hospital in Delhi on Thursday.

Hanumanthappa who was pulled out of the ice on Monday was in critical condition as his internal organs including kidney had failed. He was also in deep coma and was suffering from shock post the accident.

PTI

Oxygen levels in his blood and brain had been constantly dipping in the past couple of days, despite all efforts by the medical staff in the capitals Research & Referral Hospital.

The 33-year-old is survived by his wife, Jayashri, and a two-year-old daughter.

Mint

Hanumanthappa along with nine of his colleagues were swept away in a deadly avalanche that hit Siachen on February 3rd. While the possibility of finding survivors were bleak, to the astonishment of the search team, they located Hanumanthappa alive on Monday, six days after the mishap.

Hanumanthappa was able to cheat death because he was trapped inside an air-pocket. He was rushed to the army hospital, with him still in coma.

Many, including defence and medical experts had called his survival nothing but a miracle.

Indian Prime Minister Narendera Modi who was all praise for the brave soldier personally visited him in the hospital.

Modi said Hanumanthappa will remain immortal.

He leaves us sad & devastated. RIP Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. The soldier in you remains immortal. Proud that martyrs like you served India.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 11, 2016

President Pranab Mukherjee also condoled his death.

My heartfelt condolences on the passing away of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad #PresidentMukherjee  President of India (@RashtrapatiBhvn) February 11, 2016

The nation shall always remember Lance Naik Hanumanthappa for his bravery and indomitable spirit #PresidentMukherjee  President of India (@RashtrapatiBhvn) February 11, 2016

Even in his death Hanumanthappa's heroics will remain an inspiration for generations on the spirit of the Indian Army.
This extraordinary tale proves how a long lost love can find its way back to a heart where it always belonged.

Norwood Thomas (93), an American World War II veteran has reunited with his wartime girlfriend Joyce Morris (88) after 71 years.

We will let that sink in. Yes. 71 years!

AP

Norwood recently flew to meet his lady love in Australia and after sharing a warm embrace and a romantic kiss, Joyce said, "Well, youre still vertical."

To which Norwood flirtatiously replied, "Give me a squeeze." And their loving reunion has us reaching for more tissues with every passing second.

13NewsNow

Joyce met Norwood in 1944 London where their budding love was interrupted by war. After Norwood went away to fight the Battle of Normandy, he wrote to Joyce asking her to "make my house a home".

But due to a cruel hand of fate, Joyce misjudged his invitation of marriage and thought he was already married and was thinking of leaving his wife.

So the two went their separate ways, got married and had kids.

While Joyce's marriage broke down after thirty years of togetherness, Norwood lost his spouse nearly ten years ago.

The Telegraph

Last year, Joyce asked her son to trace Norwood on the internet which led to the duo finally able to talk to each other on Skype. And soon, through a crowdfunding campaign and Air New Zealand's first-class tickets, Norwood was able to fly to Australia.

The couple now plans to spend Valentine's Day together. Describing the surreal moment, Norwood said, "This is about the most wonderful thing that could have happened to me."
This is called perfect timing!

While we can't wait to watch Ryan Reynolds in action in the latest Marvel movie Deadpool, the actor has given us something else to cheer about!

On The Tonight Show, when Jimmy Fallon pulled out the latest issue of the People magazine, the crowd went nuts when they saw Reynolds on its cover with the tag 'Sexiest Dad Alive'! The Hollywood heartthrob topped the annual list of the magazine, and joined the club of handsome celebrity fathers.

People

Reynolds had welcomed a baby girl in 2014 with wife-actress Blake Lively. The actor recently shared the inspiration behind naming his daughter 'James', making the audiences swoon more than they could already manage.

Getty Images

James is a name that suits boys more than girls, but according to Reynolds, there really wasn't any confusion. On ITV's Good Morning Britain the actor had said, "In the spectrum of weird celebrity baby names, I feel like we're not really breaking any new ground here. I mean, I didn't call her Summer Squash Meadow Lark, or something."

Popsugar

Reynolds had named his daughter after his father James C. Reynolds who passed away in 2015 after battling Parkinson's disease.

He said, "I love being a father. I don't want to be one of those celebs who talks about being a parent like they're the only person in the world who has ever done it. It's the most common thing in the world but the most profound. It's super fun. I just love it."

So adorable!

answear

Well, all we can say is that the title couldn't have found a better match. *swoons*
ISIS might have been fighting the armies of Syria, Iraq, US and Russia till now. But they just got a new challenger to fight against, one with a resolve and some personal scores to settle.

AFP

The 'Force of the Sun Ladies' is an armed brigade made up entirely of former Yazidi sex slaves. They have joined hands with the Kurdish Fighters, the Peshmerga to take on ISIS.

They say their aim is to take back Mosul from ISIS and "bring our women home".

Now we are defending ourselves from the evil; we are defending all the minorities in the region, Capt. Khatoon Khider told FoxNews. We will do whatever is asked of us, she added.

Fox News

Khider is one of 123 Yazidi women aged between 17 to 37 who have undergone training and taken their place alongside the Kurdish Peshmerga forces, and there are another 500 who are awaiting training.

All of these fighters were once sex slaves of the brutal caliphate.

AFP

AFP

Yazidis once numbered 650,000 in Iraq, was one of the biggest victims of the overrun by ISIS as they slaughter of thousands and displaced at least 200,000 in 2014.

yazda.org

Thousands of women and girls were taken as sex-salves, who were subjected to forced marriages, repeated rapes and inhumane treatment.

According to rights groups, ISIS has taken girls as young as 8 and traded them at the market for a few dollars.

Reuters

They were also give away as gifts to fighters.

Recently an ISIS fatwa was recovered detailing how to deal with sex salves.
Sikh American actor, Waris Ahluwalia, who was not allowed to board a flight in Mexico City returned to the US on Wednesday, ending a two-day stand-off with Aeromexico. The airliner also apologized to Ahluwalia who was stuck in Mexico City following the incident.

Heading home this morning. Thank you @aeromexico_com for understanding the importance of https://t.co/3gftrdReyt  HOUSEofWARIS (@HOUSE_of_WARIS) February 10, 2016

Home sweet home. Thank you to each and everyone of you on social media for your support and for https://t.co/9hAhxHhWgg  HOUSEofWARIS (@HOUSE_of_WARIS) February 10, 2016

Before takeoff, he posted a photograph of himself inside an aircraft with his arms around the shoulders of what appeared to be two Aeromexico pilots.

Twitter

On Monday Ahluwalia, was not allowed to board the flight because he refused to remove his turban during a security check.

"I was upset, I had anxiety, I was shaking, I did not speak, and then I realised, clearly, they have not been trained properly. I knew yelling will not do anything. It is about education and the policy" the actor and model told CNN about the incident.

CTV News

While Ahluwalia might have made his point clear, and as he stressed on educating people on Sikh religion, on the ground it is far from done.

'Bullying of Sikh American Children: Through the Eyes of a Sikh American High School Student', a book by a American Sikh teenager describes how rampant the problem is.

Twitter

It is written by Karanveer Singh Pannu, an 18-year-old high school student from New Jersey.

"Sikh-American youth are largely unrepresented and do not seem to have a voice on the national stage or in the media, especially when it comes to bullying," Pannu told NBC.

He also details the results of a bullying survey he conducted of Sikh-American children in order to draw from their experiences as well as his own. Pannu also suggests practical solutions drawn from interviews with several child psychiatrists and psychologists.

Reuters

He said he hopes the book can help other Sikh-American children who have experienced bullying, as well as parents and school administrators trying to understand the students' experiences.

According to a study by The Sikh Coalition, 67 per cent of turbaned Sikh youth in Fresno, California, have experienced emotional and physical bullying in schools and also cyberbullying. "A very emotional mother called me and thanked me profusely for writing this book," Pannu said.
Follow us on google rolls out features to protect online users

New Delhi: Google India, the internet giant said on Wednesday that internet users in India today are more conscious about their online safety, as it rolled out several new features and resources designed to protect users online.

Google India released some key interesting search trends of last year that point towards the demand of greater cyber security.

The trends showed that in the past year there have been 20 percent more searches for "change password" and 97 percent more searches for "two-step verification".

Two-step verification requires more than just a password to sign into your Google account, such as a 6-digit code that is sent to your phone for more protection.

Google said that in the past year itself, there have been 591 percent more searches for "how to track a lost phone".

So to ramp up the online security, Google is offering initiatives like simplifying security settings to making trustworthy messages easier to spot in Gmail. Google will also be driving multiple initiatives to drive awareness about online safety among Indian Internet users.

"With an increase in the number of users coming online and the rise in the penetration of smartphone users in India, we at Google are committed to offering users a safe Internet experience," Sunita Mohanty, director, trust and safety, Google India said in a statement.

"We are adding five million new users a month taking the user base of aconnected' Indians to 500 millions online by 2018-2019. It's more important now than ever before to ensure the data and profiles of these users is safe online," Mohanty added.

While supporting Safer Internet Day, Google is also offering its users 2 GB of extra Google Drive storage on completion of the security check-up by February 11.

(With IANS inputs)

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Follow us on india uae sign nine agreements including cyber security infrastructure investment

New Delhi: India and the UAE signed seven agreements across various sectors today, which is the second day of the three-day visit to India of Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.

The strength of a multifaceted relationship. The leaders witness the exchange of four agreements across various sectors, external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said after the agreements were exchanged by officials from both sides in the presence of Sheikh Mohamed and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The four agreements cover the fields of cyber security, infrastructure investment, renewable energy and currency swap arrangements, he said.

Three more agreements have already been exchanged in the fields of insurance, culture and skill development, Swarup stated in another tweet.

An eighth agreement between EXIM Bank of India and Dubai Economic Council will be signed during the crown prince's visit to Mumbai on Friday.

Earlier on Thursday, after being accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan and paying floral tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat here, the crown prince held a restricted meeting with Modi at the latter's 7 Race Course Road here.

Productive interaction with HH Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Avenues of India-UAE cooperation are immense, Modi later tweeted.

Following this, Sheikh Mohamed called on President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan

During the meeting, Mukherjee expressed great satisfaction at the elevation of the relationship between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to a comprehensive strategic partnership.

Welcoming the crown prince, the president conveyed that India shares UAE's desire for a closer partnership between the two countries, a statement issued by the President's Secretariat said.

Mukherjee said India appreciated the vision of the crown prince's father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and the personal commitment of the crown prince to strengthen bilateral ties with India.

President said it was a matter of great satisfaction that the two countries have decided to elevate their relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership, the statement said.

Mukherjee said Modi's visit to the UAE in August last year, the first by an Indian prime minister in 34 years, has resulted in increasing mutual understanding and bonds of friendship between the two nations.

The joint statement issued during that visit reflects the desire to intensify cooperation between the two countries in a wide range of sectors - political, economic, security as well as on regional and multilateral issues, he said.

Mukherjee also expressed happiness over the establishment of good institutional mechanisms including a joint commission between India and the UAE and said close collaboration through these institutional dialogues and mechanisms would address pending issues and progress cooperation to the desired levels.

The president said during the prime minister's visit to the UAE, the two countries had agreed that investment institutions in the UAE would be encouraged to invest in India's infrastructure, including through the India-UAE Infrastructure Investment Fund and a target of $75 billion is set for the same. India looks forward to working together with UAE to achieve this, the statement said.

The crown prince warmly reciprocated the president's views and expressed his desire to create a strong bridge of friendship and cooperation between India and the UAE.

"Although our relationship have crossed many milestones, that doesn't stop us from opening new horizons for this relationship to grow and prosper, WAM news agency quoted Sheikh Mohamed as saying.

We expect all the mutual groups between the two countries to meet the desire of the leaderships of the two nations by working on creating new opportunities for economic, developmental and cultural partnerships, he said.

Sheikh Mohamed was accompanied in the visit by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, crown prince of Dubai, Lt. Gen. Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE's deputy prime minister and minister of the interior, and Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, chief of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince's Court among others.

Mukherjee hosted a private lunch in honour of the visiting dignitary which was attended by Prime Minister Modi, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, other dignitaries from India and the UAE as well as business leaders.

The crown prince later also met Vice President Hamid Ansari at the latter's residence here during which the two leaders discussed friendly ties and cooperation between the UAE and India as well as ways to promote them in order to achieve common interests.

The UAE is home to around 2.6 million expatriate Indians, 60 percent of whom are blue collar workers.

Latest Business News
Follow us on unforgiving siachen glacier 5 spine chilling things indian soldiers survive at world s highest war zone

New Delhi: Etched on the stone memorial at the Indian Army base camp in Siachen are words, Quartered in snow, silent to remain, when the bugle calls, they shall rise and march again. Siachen, is the world's highest and coldest war zone where brave soldiers of the Indian Army hold a strong position in keeping Pakistan from claiming the glacier.

A few days ago, an avalanche struck the war zone killing 9 of our brave hearts. One soldier, Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad lost his battle to death after struggling for life for nine days. The rescue team had found him alive after being buried under snow for six days.

The entire nation had joined hands to pray for quick recovery of our soldier but unfortunately he breathed his last today afternoon.

While we sleep peacefully in our haven, these soldiers risk their loves to keep our enemies at bay.

Here we tell you five facts about the inhospitable war zone which will make you thankful for the life you are leading. At the end of this article, you will be filled with a sense of respect for the soldiers who keep the nation's interest before their own.

1. Temperatures at Siachen dip well below -50 degree Celsius. At this temperature touching any metal object with bare hands can cause deadly frost bites. Our jawans use guns and other artillery after wearing anti-frostible gloves.

2. Due to continuous use of oxygen masks, our soldiers often suffer from problems of hearing, eyesight and memory loss. Not only this, speech problems, nausea, sleep deprivation and depression are also some of the common problems faced by them. Despite this, the Indian Army holds two-thirds of the glacier, including the highest motorable pass in the world called Khardungla Pass.

3. Fresh food is something which never reaches our soldiers. At the altitude of 5,400 metres fruits like apple and oranges freeze like a rock in no time. Toothpaste too freezes in the tube. To avoid death by cold, our soldiers bathe only once in a month that too in specially designed commodes by DRDO.

4. Something as basic as water too doesn't come easily to our soldiers. They melt ice on stoves to obtain drinking water. Machine guns are dipped in boiling water to keep them from jamming.

5. Apart from protecting the glacier from enemies, our soldiers also safeguard their camp from the wrath of nature. They face almost 35 feet of snow and blizzards all year around. To avoid swallowing up of the camp by snow, they use shovels and light machinery.

In spite of such inhospitable conditions, the Indian Army never sees dearth of volunteers to serve in Siachen. It is also worth a mention that they have built the highest helipad, Sonam' at Siachen which is used to bring in supplies. A big salute to the Indian army for keeping us safe every second.

Jai Hind!

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Follow us on abu dhabi crown prince calls on president pranab mukherjee

New Delhi: Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, General Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is on a three-day visit to India, on Thursday called on President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here.

Indian hospitality, Arab warmth. President Pranab Mukherjee receives crown prince at Rashtrapati Bhavan, external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup tweeted along with pictures of the two leaders.

Mukherjee hosted a private lunch in honour of the visiting dignitary.

Earlier on Thursday, the crown prince, who arrived here on Wednesday, was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

He then paid floral tributes to Mahatma Gandhi and also held a restricted meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the latter's residence at 7, Race Course Road.

A slew of agreements, including on defence equipment manufacturing and civil nuclear cooperation, are likely to be signed between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during the crown prince's visit.

After the India-UAE relationship was elevated to comprehensive strategic partnership during Modi's visit to the UAE in August last year, the first by an Indian prime minister in 34 years, there is focus on new areas of cooperation like defence production in India, security, counter-terrorism, in nuclear and space sector, and in the energy sector.

During Modi's visit, the Gulf nation committed $75 billion in investments in India's infrastructure.

The welfare of the expatriate Indians in the UAE, numbering around 2.6 million, is also likely to come up for discussion between the two sides.

The crown prince is being accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising cabinet ministers, senior officials and business leaders.

Delegation-level talks between Modi and Sheikh Mohamed are scheduled to be held on Thursday evening following which the agreements will be signed.

On Friday, the crown prince will leave for Mumbai where he will visit the Bombay Stock Exchange and meet Indian business leaders.

Latest India News
Follow us on 10 facts to know about ishrat jahan encounter case

New Delhi: In India, number of encounters takes place every year. Some of them make national headlines while most of them remain buried in police files. But very rarely, a police encounter becomes a political tool against a serving Chef Minister. Ishrat Jahan encounter was one of those rare cases that become a thorn in the flesh of former Gujarat CM Narendra Modi.

The Ishrat Jahan encounter case has once again caught national headlines with Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist-turned-approver David Coleman Headley sensational revelation that 19-yesr-old Mumbra girl was a suicide bomber of the terror group.

Ishrat Jahan encounter case has always been debated extensively in media with Modi's opponents terming it a fake encounter case. The CBI even interrogated few IB officials for their alleged complicity in this case. The matter turned so serious that IB chief himself lodged his unhappiness with no less a person than the Prime Minister himself.

So what is this Ishrat Jahan encounter case and how is it related to Narendra Modi? Let's have a look at the entire story:

1. Ishrat Jahan encounter took place on June 15, 2004 and involved killing of four people by Ahmedabad Police Crime Branch on a road between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar.

2. The four victims who died in the encounter were Ishrat Jahan Raza, Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar. Initially, all the four people killed were alleged to be Lashkar-e-Toiba militants.

3. A team headed by DIG D G Vanjara executed the encounter. Later, Vanjara was sent into custody for his involvement in Sohrabuddin encounter case. The police claimed that all the four people were plotting to kill Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

4. In 2004, a Lahore based publication associated with LeT asserted that Ishrat and other three people were linked with LeT but later on the claim was rejected in 2007 by Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the political wing of LeT.

5. In 2009, Ahmedabad Metropolitan court termed the encounter as fake and staged. Gujarat Government challenged this verdict in Gujarat High Court. The state government claimed that the policemen involved in the encounter were not given a chance to put their point forward and the case was heard one sided.

6. In 2010, some media reports claimed that David Headly, the LeT terrorist involved in Mumbai terror attacks had confessed that Ishrat was associated with LeT. Later, these claims were proved to be false by NIA.

7. An SIT (Special Investigation Team) was formed to further investigate the case. The SIT termed the encounter as fake. In the wake of adverse SIT report, a complaint under section 302 of IPC was filed against 20 policemen, including a senior IPS officer, who were part of this encounter.

8. After this, the CBI began investigations in the case with the help of Gujarat IPS officer Satish Verma. The CBI in their investigations for the first time tightened it's noose against a top cop in any encounter case, PP Pandey. PP Pandey had plotted Ishrat's encounter with the Central IB official Rajendra Kumar.

9. In June 2013, the Intelligence Bureau chief Asif Ibrahim told the office of Prime Minister and Home Minister that the Bureau had enough evidence to prove that Ishrat was a part of an LeT module which planned to kill Narendra Modi and Lal Krishna Advani.

10. The United States' Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) had told the Ministry of Home Affairs about Headley's claims on a female suicide bomber named Ishrat Jahaan. In a note on 13 October 2010, the NIA had said that Headley had told them Ishrat Jehan had been part of a 'botched' operation run by the terrorist group.

Latest India News
Follow us on ishrat jahan was a lashkar suicide bomber says david headley

Mumbai: On the third day of his deposition, Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley told a Mumbai special court that Ishrat Jahan was a Lashkar suicide bomber.

Updates:

* Anybody who suggests that this evidence isn't valid,is trying to cover up fr an entire conspiracy to protect her real identity: M Jethmalani

* This (on Ishrat) revelation will not affect this case, but it could be used in any other case: Mahesh Jethmalani

* Headley's evidence based on info given to him by Muzamill Bhatt, seems to suggest that Ishrat was an LeT fidayeen: Mahesh Jethmalani

* Now Headley has also said about Ishrat being LeT fidayeen, suicide bomber. It confirms LeT's 1st statement: Mahesh Jethmalani

* 1st LeT had claimed Ishrat was fidayeen.But that changed after a statement by an Indian politician: Mahesh Jethmalani

* 2 of those with whom she (Ishrat) was had come from across border. I said then & now,don't play politics with terror investigation: RK Singh

* I was Home Secretary then, stood by officers who were being prosecuted. Those people were terrorists: RK Singh, BJP

* Many people said its a deal that was made-that Headley will name Jahan as a terrorist, needs far more probing; its suspicious: Sandeep Dixit

* To me it sounds suspicious, investigation should be done: Sandeep Dixit

* Some people told me a few days ago what David Headley would say. Surprising that they knew before hand: Sandeep Dixit, Congress

* Good news for the country and our agencies that we are getting a right direction: Kiren Rijiju

* Gujarat Government's standing counsel Hemantika Wahi says Headley's statement proves our consistent stand that Ishrat was an LeT operative

* I came to know that Abu Khafa was involved in 26/11 terror attack after I heard his voice on Sajid Mir's laptop: David Headley

* Sajid Mir & Abu Khafa were talking on phone with 26/11 attackers from a control room in Karachi: David Headley tells Mumbai court

* Those who were doing politics on her name and calling her martyr has got startling revelation today: Shahnawaz Hussain

* After the encounter many leaders used to call her innocent and some were calling her Bihar's daughter: Shahnawaz Hussain

* Today after David Headley's statement those minister who had said it should take back their statements: Shahnawaz Hussain, BJP

* If David Headley has made some assertions let them be investigated: Manish Tewari

* Headley pointed towards Ishrat in 2013 but at that time there was attempt to not accept truth as it was: Nalin Kohli

* An important confirmation of a fact that has been in public circulation for a long time: Nalin Kohli, BJP

* Besides India occupied Kashmir, Muzzammil Bhatt, planned many attacks in different states of India, particularly Maharashtra & Gujarat: David Headley

* Muzzammil Bhatt had planned to attack Akshardham temple in Gujarat post destruction of Babri Masjid: David Headley tells Mumbai court.

* The operation was about to shoot police at some naka. One woman LeT named Ishrat Jahan was involved: David Headley

The 19-year-old college girl Ishrat Jahan was killed on 15 June 2004 in an encounter by Gujarat police. The encounter case is an ongoing criminal case in Gujarat involving encounter killings of Ishrat, a girl from Mumbra, Maharashtra, and three men -- Pranesh Pillai (alias Javed Gulam Sheikh), Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar.

The police alleged that Ishrat and her associates were Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives involved in a plot to assassinate then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Ishrat's family as well as several politicians and activists maintain that she was innocent. CBI declared the encounter as staged, but did not comment on whether Ishrat Jahan was an LeT associate or not.

Headley also revealed that he received terror funds, which included counterfeit currency, from both the LeT and Pakistan's ISI which was used for carrying out terror-related activity in India.

Continuing his deposition via video-conferencing from a US jail before Special TADA Court Judge GA Sanap, Headley said that the funds came through both Major Iqbal of Pakistan's Inter Service Intelligence and his main contact in LeT Sajid Mir, besides his LeT associate, medico Tahawwur Rana, currently undergoing a 14-year jail in the US.

Rana had given an amount of around Rs.67,605 in October 2006, followed by $500 the next month (November 2006), another Rs.17,636 that month-end, and in December 2006, $1,000.

Besides, Headley said he had received $25,000 before he left for India, another Pakistani Rs.40,000 from Sajid Mir and Indian Rs.2000 from Major Iqbal that year, in January 2008, LeT's Major Pasha gave Rs.80,000 while Major Iqbal gave another Rs.1,500.

During questioning by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, he said on one or two occasions, Major Iqbal had also given him counterfeit currency notes.

Headley said Rana had visited Mumbai before the 26/11 terror attacks and was advised to leave for his own safety before they were actually executed.

Earlier, Headley told the Mumbai Special TADA Court that the Reserve Bank of India had rejected his application seeking clearance to open a business account in June 2007.

Making this revelation, Headley said he had received funds for terror from both LeT and Pakistan's ISI which was used for gathering intelligence and other works in India, including starting a business.

With this funding, Headley said, he opened an office in south Mumbai's Tardeo area on September 14, 2006 and the following month, on October 12, 2006, he even applied to Reserve Bank of India for permission to open a business account.

Interestingly, his visa consultant in Chicago, Raymond Sanders - who had earlier assisted him in procuring an Indian visa with false information - also helped him in the RBI formality, but the country's apex bank rejected the application on June 1, 2007.

In January 2007, hoping to launch a business in India, Headley had hired an office in Tardeo A/C Market for Rs.13,500 per month and named his landlord as Vora and Maroo Bharucha who was his secretary at the office.

The opening of office and application to open a business bank account were in consonance with the earlier plans by his handlers who wanted him to start a business in India.

Thursday's deposition was in continuation of the evidence which he recorded since Monday, with a day's interruption on Wednesday owing to a technical glitch in the videolink.

Latest India News
Follow us on our position on ishrat jahan vindicated by david headley s statement mha

New Delhi: Home Ministry officials today said their position that Ishrat Jahan, who was killed in an alleged fake encounter in 2004 in Gujarat, was a terrorist has been vindicated by the statement of Lashkar-e-Taiba operative David Headley before a Mumbai court.

However, Headley's disclosures on Ishrat carry little evidential value as his statement was based on hearsay, which carries no weight even though he was making the statement under Section 164 CrPC, which is admissible in a court of law, they feel.

Besides, Headley's statement has to be endorsed by someone like LeT commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi which is not going to come.

Headley's statement will not help the CBI, which had probed the alleged fake encounter as the probe agency investigated only about the June 2004 incident and not about whether the 19-year-old Mumbra girl was an LeT member or not, unnamed officials said.

The CBI had named in its charge sheet former Special Director in the Intelligence Bureau Rajinder Kumar and three other IB officials with murder and criminal conspiracy in the Ishrat encounter case.

However, the Home Ministry had denied sanction to prosecute the IB officials.

In his testimony before a Mumbai court today, Headley reportedly said that Ishrat was actually an LeT operative.

Testifying via video-link from the US, Headley spilled the beans on Ishrat from Mumbra near Mumbai and picked up her name when quizzed by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam about a "botched up operation" mentioned to him (Headley) by Lakhvi.

Ishrat, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an encounter with Gujarat Police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

The city crime branch had then said that those killed in the encounters were LeT terrorists and had landed in Gujarat to kill the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

The CBI, which took over the probe from the Gujarat High Court appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT), had filed a charge sheet in August 2013 saying that the encounter was fake and executed in joint operation by the city crime branch and Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau (SIT).

Latest India News
Follow us on r k pachauri goes on leave as teri chancellor

New Delhi: TERI University's Executive Vice-Chairman RK Pachauri, who has been under the scanner due to multiple sexual harassment charges, has proceeded on leave today. Facing the ire of University's students over his elevation to the newly created post, Pachauri will skip the varsity's convocation ceremony which is to be held on March 7th.

Women activists from across the country along with the alumni had also been protesting against his appointment whereas a group of students had refused to accept degrees from him.

Rajiv Seth, acting VC of TERI University, said to PTI, Yes. He is on leave. I can confirm this as his position as Chancellor of the TERI University. As Chancellor, he is on leave. He communicated this today.

"The convocation is on March 7. He (Pachauri) would not be attending it," he added.

Asked who would be holding the position of Chancellor during Pachauri's absence, Seth said it is yet to be decided and since the VC is involved in the day to day affairs of any university, Pachauri's going on leave will not affect the institution's functioning in anyway.

"That has not been decided yet. His position was of a Chancellor. One who gets involved in day to day things is the VC in any university. So it does not affect the functioning of the university in anyway," Seth said.

Asked to comment on the letter that was written to him by the alumni, Seth said that opinions must be debated and the university will never suppress them.

"We always had a spirit of openness and debate at the university. It is okay if people come up with opinions, we must debate it.

"We would not like to suppress any opinions. It is very important as an academic institution to have openness and open debate. At TERI, which is a Research University, this is encouraged even more," he said.

Some alumni of 2013-2015 batch, had yesterday written to Seth saying the recent "inaction" of the board of management at TERI University with respect to Pachauri "deeply saddened" them.

"Pachauri's continuing presence at the top is completely antithetical to our convictions as alumni and graduates of TERI University. We would like to make it explicitly clear that we are not in a position to accept our degrees from him at the upcoming convocation on March 7, 2016.

"We reiterate, that the trajectory that the university is taking is dangerous and grossly inconsiderate and as alumni, we sincerely hope that the TERI University Board of Management may seriously re-evaluate Pachauri's continuing role as Chancellor of the university," the alumni wrote in their letter.

Trouble mounted for Pachauri, already in the thick of a legal battle over sexual harassment allegations, when another woman, a former employee of TERI, yesterday came out in public making similar accusations while demands were made for putting on hold his fresh appointment as its Executive Vice Chairman.

The woman to whom he had allegedly made sexual advances more than 10 years ago also slammed TERI for appointing Pachauri to the higher position.

Yesterday, a group of former TERI employees and its University Alumni had also condemned the fresh appointment of Pachauri, saying it was a "slap" on the face of those fighting against gender discrimination and demanded deferment of his elevation till the case was decided by the court.

The group had condemned the elevation under the banner of 'A few concerned ex-TERI employees and members of TERI University Alumni network'.

(With PTI inputs)

Latest India News
Follow us on second phase of odd even from 15th april for 15 days

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today announced that the second round of the fortnight road rationing odd-even' scheme will be implemented from 15th April in the national capital. The women have once again been exempted from the scheme along with two-wheelers.

In a press conference held today the chief minister said, As the schools will head for summer vacations from mid April following the conclusion of board exams, we have decided to start the next phase from 15th.

The CM said that 81% percent of the people favoured the scheme in a survey conducted by the government.

A large number of people want no exemption to be given to the VVIPs of the national capital.

However, the chief minister said that the finer details of the second phase will be announced in the coming days as the authorities are reviewing the feedback.

Kejriwal also emphasised that the scheme has bought down the pollution in the city.

The road rationing experiment, aimed at curbing air pollution in the metropolis, was implemented from January 1-15 in its first phase with Sundays being exempted from it.

Subsequently, the government invited public opinion through emails, missed calls, online forms and also reached out to around 9 lakh people through interactive voice response system.

"Around 28,300 suggestions have been received through online forms while another 9,000 and 1,82,808 have come through emails and missed called respectively. The government, on its part, has made more than 9,00,000 calls to gather public opinion," a senior government official said.

AAP MLAs, who organised Jan Sabhas on the same theme, have claimed that public opinion was "overwhelmingly" in favour of re-introduction of the scheme.

(With PTI inputs)

Latest India News
Follow us on 10 sensational disclosures of headley that expose pak s real face

Mumbai: The deposition of Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley continued for fourth day at a Mumbai court via video link. He is being examined as an approver in the 26/11 terror attacks.

Headley has made some sensational disclosures that has exposed the role of Pakistani army and its spy agency ISI in 26/11 Mumbai attacks that claimed 166 lives.

Headley's confession in the crime and his dealings with Pakistan's ISI operatives along with terrorists in Pakistani soil would provide incontrovertible evidence against Pakistan's claim of the involvement of non-state actors in the Mumbai attack.

Here are 10 major revelations made by David Coleman Headley till now that exposes Pakistan's real face

1) In an explosive disclosure on Thursday, Headley referred to a woman killed in a police encounter on Indian soil. When he was given three names, he claimed that the name of the woman was Ishrat Jahan.

2) Headley had visited Mumbai seven times to scout for targets, he revealed that plans to target Mumbai had started over a year before 26/11.

3) While spilling beans about involvement of Pakistan's army and intelligence agency in terrorism in India, he said he knew ISI official Brigadier Riyaz being the handler of LeT's top commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, who was the mastermind of 26/11 attacks.

4) He said he had also conducted a recce of the famous Siddhivinayak Temple and Naval air station on directions of LeT commanders.

5) Headley also revealed that the lashkar had initially planned to attack a conference of Indian Indian defence scientists in Taj Mahal Hotel.

6) ISI provides financial, military and moral support to terror outfits Jaish-e-Mohammed, LeT and Hizbul Mujaideen," he said

7) He named three officials of the Pakistan army and ISI -- Colonel Shah, Lt Colonel Hamza and Major Samir Ali - besides retired army officer Abdul Rehman Pasha who was closely working with LeT and Al-Qaeda.

8) Two attempts were made to atttack Mumbai Prior to before 26/11 attack that killed 166 people, 1st attempt was made in Sept 2008 but boat hit rocks in the ocean, weapons &explosives lost but those on board survived. 2nd attempt to attack Mumbai made in October 2008, those involved in 1st attempt were involved in this as well, but attack failed.3rd and final attack on Mumbai was successful (26/11).

9) Headley also said that he had visited 5-6 militant training camps in Pak. He also attended Daura-e-Suffa,Daura-e-Amma,Daura-e-Khasa,Daura-e-Ribat leadership courses.

10) He had also applied to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to open a business account in India with signatures of Raymond Sanders. The RBI refused to give permission to open a business account.

Latest India News
Follow us on nation pays tribute to siachen braveheart hanumanthappa

New Delhi: Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad, who was battling for life after miraculously surviving the avalanche in the Siachen glacier, passed away at RR Hospital today.

Doctors in the morning said that the soldier continued to remain extremely critical with worsening multiple-organ dysfunctions. His pneumonia had worsened and the blood clotting disorder showed no sign of reversal despite blood component support.

He was kept on maximal life support with aggressive ventilation and dialysis, doctors said.

Having buried under 35 ft of snow for 6 days, Hanumanthappa, who breathed his last at 11:45 am, has left the entire nation with moist eyes.

PM Modi paid homage to the dead army soldier with his Tweet that read, He leaves us sad and devastated. RIP Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. The soldier in you remains immortal. Proud that martyrs like you served India.

"His extraordinary spirit and tenacity, till the very end, is an inspiration for all. My thoughts & prayers are with his bereaved family," tweeted Rahul Gandhi's office.

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar also expressed his sadness on the micro-blogging website, Deeply saddened by the passing away of Siachen braveheart Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. Condolences to his family and loved ones.

"#Hanumanthappa fought valiantly on field ,bellow piles of snow,in hospital,till he breathed his last,Salutes to this Braveheart.We bow!" said Suresh Prabhu in his tribute on Twitter.

I join millions of countrymen to extend my condolences to braveheart Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. Nation will never forget his sacrifice, wrote BJP President Amit Shah.

Bharat mata ke veer saput Lance Naik Hanumanthappa ko meri bhavpurna shraddhanjali, said Lata Mangeshkar in her tweet.

Army Chief General Dalbir Singh also offered his condolences over passing away of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. He said "Soldier in him will continue to inspire generations."

Doctors who treated the soldier included top critical care specialists, head of the department of medicine, senior nephrologists and neurologists from the army hospital as well as the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

Lance Naik and the other soldiers were hit by the avalanche at an altitude of around 20,500 feet. He was found miraculously alive just when the rescuers were beginning to lose hope. The soldier was found conscious but drowsy and disoriented. He was also severely dehydrated and in shock. He had pneumonia and was suffering from liver and kidney dysfunction. But there was no cold exposure related frost bite or bone injuries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to the hospital after he was brought to Delhi on Tuesday. So did Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.

Koppad had served in difficult and challenging areas for 10 out of 13 years of his total service. His postings included Mahore in Jammu and Kashmir from 2003 to 2006, where he was actively involved in counter-insurgency operations.

He again volunteered to serve with the 54 Rashtriya Rifles (Madras) in Jammu and Kashmir from 2008 to 2010, and later in the northeast from 2010 to 2012 where he took part in operations against the NDFB and ULFA. He was serving in the high-altitude areas of Siachen glacier from August 2015.

Watch video:

Latest India News
Follow us on someone attempted to use me as pawn former ib special director on ishrat case

New Delhi: Former IB Special Director Rajinder Kumar today claimed that "someone" tried to use him as a "pawn" by dragging his name in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case to "subvert democracy".

"I am not a victim of witch hunt by CBI. Somebody attempted to use me as a pawn to subvert the democracy in the country. They tried to use me as a pawn. They failed. I did not become their pawn," Kumar told PTI when asked whether CBI carried out a witch hunt by making him accused in the alleged fake encounter.

When asked about his comments on the testimony of LeT terrorist David Headley before a Mumbai court where he termed Ishrat Jahan as LeT member, Kumar said he would speak on the issue after a day or two.

Testifying via video-link from the US, Headley picked up Ishrat's name name when quizzed by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam about a "botched up operation" mentioned to him (Headley) by LeT commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi.

Headley told the court that Lakhvi had mentioned to him about a "botched-up operation" conducted in India by another LeT operative Muzammil Butt where a female member of the terror outfit was killed.

Prodded by Nikam to elaborate on the operation and the members involved in it, he said, "(I was told) It was a shootout with police in which a (female) suicide bomber was killed."

To which the prosecutor prompted three names of which Headley picked up Jahan before telling the court that "there is a female wing in LeT and one Abu Aiman's mother headed it." CBI had filed the charge sheet against Kumar and three other IB officers despite Law ministry's denial of sanction to prosecute them.

Besides Kumar, a 1979 batch IPS officer who retired last year, those named in the charge sheet are P Mittal, M K Sinha and Rajiv Wankhede.

In the supplementary charge sheet, Kumar has been charged under sections 302 (murder), 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), 364 (kidnapping in order to murder), 346, 364 & 368 (wrongful confinement) of IPC, besides sections 3, 25 (A) and 29 of the Arms Act.

CBI has alleged the IB officers had conspired to eliminate the victims, kidnapped them and held them in illegal confinement before the killings.

It said Kumar had supplied arms and ammunition used in the crime to another accused IPS officer Girish Singhal to be handed over to Deputy SP Tarun Barot.

Ishrat (19), Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an alleged fake encounter on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

Latest India News
Follow us on teri students refuse to accept degrees from rk pachauri

New Delhi: In further embarrassment to environmentalist RK Pachauri, a group of 20 students, who recently completed courses at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) University have refused to accept their degrees from its newly appointed Executive Vice Chairman.

Students and alumni wrote a letter to the acting vice-chancellor Rajiv Seth on Wednesday condemning the appointment of Pachauri as Executive Vice Chairman of the green body.

They have also mentioned their refusal to accept degrees at the convocation on March 7.

"We would like to make it clear that we are not in a position to accept our degrees from Pachauri at convocation," the letter reads.

The copies of letter were also sent to the university's board of management and academic council.

"We reiterate the trajectory that the university is taking is dangerous and grossly inconsiderate, and as alumni, we sincerely hope that Teri University's board of management seriously re-evaluates Pachauri's continuing role as chancellor...," it reads further.

Students have also started an online petition to garner support for Pachauri's removal from TERI.

Pachauri was removed as chairman of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, an international body of scientists that makes periodic assessment of climate change science. The decision to remove him from the post was taken after an employee alleged that Pachauri had harassed her sexually.

Also yesterday, another former employee of TERI filed a complaint against Pachauri accusing him of extreme indecency against her.

The 29-yesr-old complainant said that she had first reported the matter to police in February last year but they did not do anything till date forcing her to come out in public with the charges.

Latest India News
Follow us on meet the two dogs which helped army rescue lance naik hanumanthappa

New Delhi: While the entire nation is raving about the valiant efforts of the rescue team of Indian army in tracing Lance Naik Hanumanthappa, the lone survivor in Siachen avalanche, there were some unsung heroes too.

Dot and Misha, two sniffer dogs of the Indian Army played a pivotal role in the search operation for survivors after the avalanche last week.

These two specialized rescue dogs were flown in and pressed into service.

According to a PTI report:

The dogs forewarn the soldiers of environmental dangers like avalanches and also provide navigational assistance in locating missing troops. They also work as mail dispatchers sometimes between the post and the base camp. They also provide the much-needed company to a soldier, who has to guard a post in the "killer glacier'' for three months.

"The dogs, Dot and Misha, did a tremendous job," the army officials said.

Over 150 soldiers worked round-the-clock to carry out the rescue operations in the world's highest battlefield. Along with them, two canines - Dot and Misha - also worked in the icy heights and are credited with the miraculous rescue of Koppad from under tonnes of ice and snow at a height of almost 19,500 feet where even normal breathing is a huge task. "

On February 3, a large ice wall broke off and covered an army post in northern glacier in Siachen, the world's highest battlefield.

The debris, included massive ice boulders, some the size of a small room, spread over 800x1000 metres.

The rescue teams had the arduous task of breaking through 25-30 ft of blue ice, which was harder than concrete, and chip it away inch by inch, army officials said while explaining the rescue operation.

Latest India News
Follow us on attention j.k. rowling fans a new harry potter book is coming out in july

New York: Nine years after the last novel in the best-selling Harry Pooter series was released, fans will be able to read new play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in book form this summer.

Billed as the epic 8th Harry Potter story, the new book will be launched on July 31.

Scholastic Inc. announced Wednesday that a "script book" of "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" will be published July 31. The book is a based on the two-part stage collaboration of J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany and arrives just after the play premieres in London on July 30. Rowling's Potter web site www.potternore.com will release an edition.

Online fansite Pottermore also publishing the e-book edition, The Bookseller has confirmed. The play itself will open at the Palace Theatre in the West End the day before.

The decision to publish the script was a result of "massive public demand", especially from fans living overseas who wanted to share in the London-based excitement.

The storyline catches up with Harry, Ron and Hermione's 19 years after the seventh book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, ended in 2007. It's an exciting time for Potter fans, with next year marking the 20th anniversary of first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

The play chronicles Potter's adult life, depicting the hero as an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic and father of three children who struggles with his past. It will be presented in two parts, intended to be viewed over two nights or two same-day performances.

The first seven Potter books have sold more than 400 million copies worldwide, according to Scholastic, the series' U.S. publisher.

(with AP inputs)

Latest World News
Follow us on starbucks in riyadh bars women from entering store

New Delhi: A Starbucks shop in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh has banned women from entering the shop, all thanks to the gender-wall which collapsed last week.

The shop also pasted a sign board on the window stating, "Please no entry for ladies. Only send your driver to order. Thank you."

The move invited sharp criticism forcing the company to issue a statement that the decision was temporarily and soon women will be allowed to visit the shop.

The company said: "At Starbucks, we adhere to the local customs of Saudi Arabia by providing separate entrances for families as well as single people. In addition, all our stores provide equal amenities, service, menu, and seating to men, women and families."

"Starbucks welcomes all customers, including women and families, to enjoy the Starbucks experience. We have worked with local authorities to obtain approval to refurbish one of our stores in Jarir, which was originally built without a gender wall. That meant it could only accommodate men in accordance with local law."

According to Saudi laws, authorities at the shops, parks, offices have to provide separate entrance gates for men and women.

The law also bans females of all ages from working, traveling or studying without permission from male guardians.

Starbucks has now 78 stores in Saudi Arabia and all stores cater to both families and singles, except for one that is exclusively reserved for women and families.

Latest World News
Follow us on crown prince of abu dhabi accorded ceremonial welcome at rashtrapati bhavan

New Delhi: Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, General Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is on a three-day visit to India, was on Thursday accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here.

A day of engagements for the crown prince begins with ceremonial honours at the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan, external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup tweeted.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke protocol as he personally received the crown prince on his arrival here.

Modi welcomed Sheikh Mohamed with a warm embrace as the latter alighted from his aircraft at the Palam Technical Area here.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also called on Sheikh Mohamed soon after his arrival on Wednesday.

A slew of agreements, including on defence equipment manufacturing and civil nuclear cooperation, are likely to be signed between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during the crown prince's visit.

After the India-UAE relationship was elevated to comprehensive strategic partnership during Modi's visit to the UAE in August last year, the first by an Indian prime minister in 34 years, there is focus on new areas of cooperation like defence production in India, security, counter-terrorism, in nuclear and space sector, and in the energy sector.

The welfare of the expatriate Indians in the UAE, numbering around 2.6 million, is also likely to come up for discussion.

The crown prince is being accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising cabinet ministers, senior officials and business leaders.

Delegation-level talks between Modi and Sheikh Mohamed are scheduled to be held on Thursday evening following which the agreements will be signed.

On Friday, the crown prince will leave for Mumbai where he will visit the Bombay Stock Exchange and meet Indian business leaders.
Follow us on let s ensure parliament s smooth functioning government urges opposition

New Delhi: Emphasising that the Narendra Modi government wants a "smooth budget session" of parliament, Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has said the government is "ready to discuss any issue" with the opposition to ensure "meaningful business in the house".

Parliament's budget session will begin on February 23 with President Pranab Mukherjee addressing a joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.

Naqvi said that a number of important bills are to be "discussed and passed in the overall interest of the country" during the budget session.

"Over 30 bills are pending in the Rajya Sabha alone," he said, adding that the Lok Sabha also has lots of bills pending and it was "high time" these are discussed and passed.

"We are requesting the Congress and others with folded hands not to stop development and reforms in the country," he said, adding the government was "ready to discuss anything with the opposition".

The minister said parliament's smooth functioning is the responsibility of "all concerned", and in case the opposition has any problem with any of the proposed bills, the government will listen to it both inside and outside the house.

On the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill, the minister said that it should be a reality soon as concerns of the opposition have been addressed and there should be no problems in getting it passed.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu "has been in constant touch with the Congress party and others and it seems they all understand the importance of smooth functioning of Parliament," Naqvi said.

Asked about the government meeting leaders of all poll-bound states before announcing the dates of the budget session, Naqvi said this was to ensure that there were no problems for poll-bound states in terms of the session's dates.

"It was for the first time in the history of (Indian) parliamentary democracy that before finalizing dates of a (parliament) session, the proposed schedule was discussed with all concerned," he said.

The budget session will be held in its traditional two parts, February 23 to March 16 and From April 25 to May, with a 39-day recess in between.

The minister, who also deals with minority affairs, said that there was no need for any of the minority communities to be afraid of anything.

"Minorities need not feel unsafe under any regime, be it of Congress, BJP or any other political party, as the constitution of the country provides equal rights and safety to everyone," he said.

On being reminded that news reports about Dalits and people from other weak sections of society being harassed keep appearing in national media quite often, Naqvi said it was "unfortunate".

"We believe that not even an isolated incident of such nature should happen. The government is committed to protect all rights of every individual of the society no matter where he or she lives or work," he said.
Follow us on pm modi crown prince of abu dhabi hold close door meeting ahead of bilateral talks

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held a restricted meeting at his 7 Race Course Road residence with visiting Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, General Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

"A meeting at 7RCR... HH Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan meets PM @narendramodi at his residence," the Prime Minister's Office tweeted along with a picture of the two leaders.

An exceptional tete-a-tete. PM meets Crown Prince for a restricted meeting at 7RCR before talks in the evening, external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup also tweeted.

Earlier on Thursday, the crown prince, who arrived here on Wednesday on a three-day visit to India, was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan here.

On Wednesday, Modi broke protocol as he personally received the crown prince on his arrival here.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also called on Sheikh Mohamed soon after his arrival on Wednesday.

A slew of agreements, including on defence equipment manufacturing and civil nuclear cooperation, are likely to be signed between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during the crown prince's visit.

After the India-UAE relationship was elevated to comprehensive strategic partnership during Modi's visit to the UAE in August last year, the first by an Indian prime minister in 34 years, there is focus on new areas of cooperation like defence production in India, security, counter-terrorism, in nuclear and space sector, and in the energy sector.

The welfare of the expatriate Indians in the UAE, numbering around 2.6 million, is also likely to come up for discussion.

The crown prince is being accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising cabinet ministers, senior officials and business leaders.

Delegation-level talks between Modi and Sheikh Mohamed are scheduled to be held on Thursday evening following which the agreements will be signed.

On Friday, the crown prince will leave for Mumbai where he will visit the Bombay Stock Exchange and meet Indian business leaders.
Follow us on pm modi breaks protocol receives crown prince of abu dhabi personally

New Delhi: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi today broke protocol by personally receiving Abu Dhabi's crown prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan with a warm embrace, as the latter alighted from the aircraft at the Palam Technical Area.

The crown prince, who is also the Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, was accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising cabinet ministers, senior officials and business leaders.

General Sheikh Mohamed is on a three-day visit to India.

A special welcome for a special friend. PM @narendramodi personally receives HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Prime Minister's Office tweeted.

A slew of agreements, including on defence equipment manufacturing and civil nuclear cooperation, are likely to be signed between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during the crown prince's visit.

After the India-UAE relationship was elevated to comprehensive strategic partnership during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the UAE in August last year, the first by an Indian prime minister in 34 years, there is focus on new areas of cooperation like defence production in India, security, counter-terrorism, in nuclear and space sector, in energy sector, according to Anil Wadhwa, secretary (east) in the external affairs ministry.

A number of new agreements and MoUs (memorandums of understanding) are proposed to be signed during the visit of the crown prince to expand the areas of our cooperation, Wadhwa said during a media briefing here on Wednesday ahead of the crown prince's arrival.

This list is still being updated. I cannot give the number right now but as we speak the negotiations are still going on."

The welfare of the expatriate Indians in the United Arab Emirates, numbering around 2.6 million, is also likely to come up for discussion, he said.

After Saudi Arabia, the UAE hosts the highest number of Indians in the Gulf, 60 percent of whom are blue collar workers.

This is the second highest level visit to India from the Gulf region after the visit of the emir of Qatar in March 2015.

The region, which hosts seven million expatriate Indians and is an important source of remittances, has a strong bearing on India's security and stability in its neighbourhood.

The UAE is the third largest trading partner of India after the US and China.

It is also the sixth largest source of India's crude oil imports.

This is the third visit to India by Sheikh Mohamed and the first in his capacity as crown prince.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is scheduled to call on him later today.

On Thursday, Sheikh Mohamed will be accorded a ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhavan following which he will lay a wreath at Rajghat.

He will have a tete-a-tete with Prime Minister Narendra Modi after which President Pranab Mukherjee will host him for a private lunch.

Delegation-level discussions will be held here between Modi and Sheikh Mohamed on Thursday evening and then the agreements will be signed.

On Friday, Sheikh Mohamed will leave for Mumbai where he will visit the Bombay Stock Exchange and meet Indian business leaders.

(With IANS inputs)
Follow us on pm modi smriti irani to address seminar of schools run by rss affiliated body

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address principals of senior secondary schools attached to RSS-affiliated Vidya Bharti Akhil Bharatiya Shiksha Sansthan during a seminar to be held later this week.

During the annual 'Akhil Bhartiya Pracharya Sammelan' seminar, Modi will address the principals of around 1,300 such schools of the Sansthan on 'Key role of principal in social and academic scenario' on February 12.

HRD Minister Smriti Irani will also address the seminar on the same day separately. The seminar will be held between February 11 and February 14.

"Focus of the seminar is that...senior secondary principals are responsible not only for imparting education to students, but their role is important also in the present social hierarchy. The social issues comprise politics, culture and financial policies," the Sansthan's national secretary Shiv Kumar told reporters here.

Apart from Modi and Irani, National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) chairman Santosh Panda, National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) director Hrushikesh Senapaty and principals of some schools will speak during seminar, Kumar said.

Queried about allegations by opposition parties on "saffronisation" of educational system in the country under NDA Government, Kumar stressed that schools under the outfit are affiliated to CBSE and state boards and follow syllabus set by the two bodies.

"On the issue of saffronisation of education system...I think it will be better to ask the Government what is happening at its level (than us). All our schools are affiliated to CBSE or state boards and follow their syllabus. We don't frame that syllabus. We don't think about saffronisation or non-saffronisation of educational system, but India-centric studies," Kumar said.

To another question, he said the upcoming seminar has "nothing to do" with HRD's new educational policy. Kumar though added the Sansthan has submitted its suggestions to the Ministry on the policy.

In the past, Kumar informed, ex-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had addressed a similar seminar organised by the Sansthan in 2001.

"Besides, Union Ministers (from non-BJP Governments) too have attended such seminar in the past," he added.

The Sansthan runs 12,363 formal schools, located across the country barring few Union Territories and states like Daman and Diu and Mizoram, he informed.

Kumar was flanked by the Sansthan's All India General Secretary Lalit Bihari Goswami and joint organisational secretary JM Kashipati.
Follow us on racket in sc/st students scholarship scheme bjp

New Delhi: Opposition BJP today alleged a "big racket" in disbursement of post-matriculation scholarships to SC/ST students pursuing technical education in professional institutions and demanded a high level probe into it.

Senior BJP leader Sushil Modi also questioned Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's silence on the issue.

"We demand that the state government should make public the names of students and payments made to different professional institutions in the country under the programme in the last five years," he told reporters.

A "large amount" has been paid by the state government to three professional colleges located in little known Chandaus in Aligarh district whose existence are doubtful, he alleged.

The money was paid in the name of 404 students in three colleges - Raja Ramchandra Institute of Technology and Management, Dulari Devi Institute of Pharmacy and NCR Technical Campus, all located at Chandaus village, about 20 km from Aligarh.

A person named Nirbhay Singh is the secretary of all the three professional colleges, Sushil said on the sidelines of 'Janata Darbar' at his official residence.

"I asked some people in Aligarh to visit these professional colleges and check the whereabouts of the dalit students of Bihar studying there. To my surprise, they told me yesterday that the three colleges do not exist anymore," he said.

Alleging wrong doing by SC&ST department in disbursement of post matric scholarship, for which the Bihar government pays the fees as well as for boarding and lodging of dalit students from the state, Sushil said, surprisingly the Principal Secretary to the department had ordered to make payments to the three colleges on January 17, the very day he received the communication requesting it.

Sushil had earlier raised the issue of non-payment of scholarship money to 60 SC/ST students at Rajdhani College in Bhubaneshwar which threatened to terminate their study mid-course.
Follow us on shiv sena demands action against ishrat jahan s supporters

Mumbai: Seizing on Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley's claim that Ishrat Jahan was a LeT operative, Shiv Sena today said all those who had supported her should now be booked and action taken against them.

Headley has only repeated what he had first said in Chicago. At that time, some people made her (Ishrat) a Jhansi ki rani' and considered her a martyr. At that time we had said that these people will fall flat on their faces and the same thing has happened, Sena MP Sanjay Raut said.

People who had supported her then should now be booked and action should be taken against them. Even the LeT has said that she was one of their operatives. A terrorist is a terrorist. There is nothing like a fake encounter with regards to a terrorist. What the Gujarat government and police did was right, Raut said.

Meanwhile, Congress spokesperson in Maharashtra Al-Nasser Zakaria said till now nothing concrete has been found against Ishrat Jahan.

Nothing concrete has been found against Ishrat Jahan till now. Government agencies should not blindly believe Headley, who is a terrorist himself. Let the Courts decide what her background was. But, nobody should be targeted on the basis of their religion, he said.
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Obamas Moderate Syrian Deception

By Gareth Porter A veteran CIA officer explains where the agency has gone wrong for decades  and the consequences. Continue

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Are Green Berets Leading The YPG In Taking The Azaz Pocket?

By Moon Of Alabama The U.S. special forces that are trained and able to direct a local guerrilla are the Green Berets. Continue

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Washingtons Machiavellian Game in Syria

By F. William Engdahl The worlds Superpower did not come to that position without extraordinary skills, cunning, a remarkable ability to lie convincingly, to very precisely manipulate the weaknesses of their opponents. Continue

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Israel & Syria: Plan B is to Balkanize

By Dan Sanchez In light of Israels strategic alliances - these statements can be interpreted more as threats than mere predictions. Continue

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Sheldon Adelson Bets It All

Chinese Casino Cash Floods Our Elections

By Matt Isaacs Adelson has used his fortune to reshape right-wing politics in both America and Israel, establishing himself as a GOP kingmaker . Continue

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Cold War Redux

Dishing it to the Russkies

By Philip Giraldi Moscow does not pose a threat to the U.S. On the contrary, it is Washington that poses a threat to Russia. Continue

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Why Does US Avoid N. Korea Talks?

By Finian Cunningham From North Koreas viewpoint, it remains on a war footing because Washington in particular has not given a commitment to abide by peaceful relations. Continue

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Iraq post-9/11: Bob Gates, Careerist Sycophancy, and the Real History of the Deep State

By Patrick L. Smith A veteran CIA officer explains where the agency has gone wrong for decades  and the consequences. Continue

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John Pilger Extremists Run The US And The UK

By John Pilger Real change will never come from within mainstream political parties. Continue

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Song for Jeffrey Lucey

By Meg Hutchinson You were almost twenty-two when they shipped you out

With the sixth motor transport battalion

Operation Freedom, also known as the war

No place for a good kid just trying to pay for school. Continue

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Video - US Military - A Cancer -

Documentary This video is about the Military Cancer attacking our country. Continue

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The Federal Reserve and the Global Fracture

By Michael Hudson If you are going to serve Wall Street  your major campaign contributors  you are going to need a cover story pretending that this will help the economy. Continue

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Puerto Ricans Suffer as Creditors Feast on Debt Colony

By Matt Peppe Puerto Rico has been encouraged to privatize its public assets and use the money to pay its creditors.

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25 killed in Monday's bombing of Syria hospital: MSF : Revising a previous toll of 11 dead, an MSF spokeswoman said nine hospital staff and 16 other people, including patients and a child, had died after the bombing of the hospital on Monday in Idlib province.

Watch: Three pulled from MSF hospital 30 hours after strike : The charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which ran the hospital in Maraat al-Nouman, told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that rescue operations were continuing for two members of its staff who were still missing.

US-led air strikes kill 15 people in Syria's northeastern city : Pro-rebel monitor: U.S.-led air strikes killed at least 15 people on Tuesday when they hit a bakery in the city of Shadadi in northeastern Syria near the border with Iraq, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Free Syrian Army abandons Aleppo, leader flees to Turkey: Some 14,000 militants of the Syrian rebel group have abandoned Aleppo, while its commander has fled to Turkey, according to Turkish security sources

At least 20 killed, 45 injured as blast hits military bus in Turkish capital Ankara: At least 20 people have been killed in a car explosion in Ankara, Turkey's Health Ministry said. Local authorities say 45 were injured. The blast happened in close proximity to the Turkish parliament building, and reportedly targeted military personnel.

Turkey vows to stop Kurdish militia gaining border foothold: Turkey will not let Kurdish militia fighters backed by the United States establish a foothold on its border in northern Syria and will not stop shelling if its security is threatened, President Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday.

Turkey wants secure strip across Syrian border, : Turkey wants a secure strip of territory 10 kilometres deep on the Syrian side of its border, including the town of Azaz, to prevent attempts to "change the demographic structure" of the area, Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan says.

Turkey wants Syria ground operation, but says no consensus among allies : Turkey, Saudi Arabia and some European allies want ground troops deployed in Syria but there is no consensus in the coalition and a strategy for such an operation has not been seriously debated, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said.

How Far Will The U.S. Go If Turkey Invades Syria? : The Government of Turkey has now put itself in a position whereby it must act rapidly and precipitously to avoid moving to an ultimately losing strategic position in the war against Syria, which could result in being forced back to fight a full-scale civil war to prevent the break-up of the State

'We have proof' Turkey backs ISIS & other terrorists  Kurdish commander : The Kurds have documented evidence that the AKP, which is headed by Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, has ties with all those terrorist groups, Karayilan said. Turkey was fostering Al-Nusra Front and Islamic State from the very beginning, Karayilan claims.

10 ISIS fighters killed north of Tikrit, 3 leaders arrested in Samarra and Balad: The Federal Police Command announced on Wednesday, that ten members of the so-called ISIS were killed in a bombardment targeted their headquarters in Makhoul Mountains north of Tikrit (170 km north of Baghdad).

ISIS shoots down Iraqi army helicopter killing one: Officials : ISIS shot down an Iraqi military helicopter west of Baghdad on Wednesday, killing at least one person, officials said.

Radioactive material stolen in Iraq raises security fears: Iraq is searching for "highly dangerous" radioactive material stolen last year, according to an environment ministry document and seven security, environmental and provincial officials who fear it could be used as a weapon if acquired by Islamic State.

Canada wants Iraq to probe allegations of massacre of 55 Yazidis: Ottawa has asked Iraqi authorities to investigate reports by two Canadian organizations of an alleged massacre of Yazidi girls and Sunni civilians during operations in Iraq

24 Yemeni civilians killed in new Saudi strikes : On Wednesday morning, Saudi warplanes carried out aerial assaults against residential buildings in al-Mahjar Village, which lies on the outskirts of the capital, Sanaa, leaving 13 civilians, mostly women, dead, Yemens al-Masirah reported.

14 killed in suicide bomb attack on Yemen military camp : A suicide bomber killed at least 14 soldiers in Aden on Wednesday, in the latest attack on Yemen's second city claimed by jihadists of the Islamic State group.

Israels rash behavior blew operation to sabotage Irans computers, US officials say : As a result, hundreds of millions of dollars that were invested in the operation went to waste.

PLO slams British boycott ban as 'empowering Israeli occupation': Palestinian officials slammed the British Government's decision Wednesday which prevents local authorities and public-sector organizations in Britain from boycotting Israeli goods, saying that it imposes on 'freedom of choice" and "empowers the Israeli occupation."

Shell kills 2 civilians, wounds 20 in southern Libya : At least two people were killed and more than 20 wounded when a shell fell on a civilian area in the southern Libyan town of Mansheya, security officials told EFE on Wednesday.

5 horrible years: Libya marks 5th anniversary of Western-backed uprising to oust Gaddafi : The outpouring of adulation and messages of support to the opposition forces from Western world leaders spoke of a bright new dawn for Libya after Gaddafis toppling.

Manufacturing Consent for attack and occupation of Libya? UN Envoy to Libya Says Time Running out, IS Expanding : Martin Kobler told The Associated Press in Cairo on Wednesday that "every day lost in political dialogue is a day of gain of Daesh," referring to the extremist group by its Arabic acronym.

Obama says will try to block Islamic State from 'digging in' in Libya : "We will continue to take actions where we've got a clear operation and a clear target in mind," Obama said at a news conference in California.

Ukraine: PM Yatsenyuk survives no-confidence vote : The prime minister has been criticised over the slow pace of reforms and faces allegations of corruption. Earlier, President Petro Poroshenko said the PM had lost the support of the coalition and the country's trust.

Russia sues Ukraine in London over unpaid $3B debt: minister: "Today the Russian finance ministry filed the lawsuit against Ukraine with the goal of recovering debt on Ukraine's bond with the nominal value of $3 billion," Finance Minister Anton Siluanov was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying.

Kosovo protesters demand resignation of government: Thousands attend anti-government event in Pristina on eighth anniversary of country's declaration of independence.

Solution to refugee crisis lies in destroying terrorism  Putin after talks with Orban : The solution to the refugee crisis lies in the political settlement of conflicts, particularly in Syria and Libya, President Vladimir Putin said following a meeting with Hungarian PM Viktor Orban. He added that the two share views on the migrant and refugee issue.

Four-year-old Afghan boy dies on refugee boat: The body of the boy, identified as Afghan by aid groups, was found in a boat that landed on the island of Chios, the coastguard said.

China Deployed Missiles on Disputed Island, U.S. Says : The Pentagon has evidence that the Chinese military has deployed surface-to-air missiles on a disputed island in the South China Sea, a United States official has said.

Oil up 7 percent as Iran welcomes output freeze : Oil prices rose 7 percent on Wednesday, rebounding further from their lowest levels in a dozen years, after Iran voiced support for a Russia-Saudi-led move to freeze production to deal with the market glut.

Apple Refuses FBI Order to Create iPhone Backdoor: The United States government has demanded that Apple take an unprecedented step which threatens the security of our customers. We oppose this order, which has implications far beyond the legal case at hand.

Police Shoot Suicidal Dad 11 Times While He Lay in Bed Crying : Suicidal Curly Spry was delusional and crying and laying in bed. His wife and 17-year-old daughter were reportedly standing by his bedside when state police shot him 11 times.

Muslim Man Sues Oklahoma Gun Range for Refusing Him Service ; A U.S. Army reservist from Tulsa who was asked to leave a gun range in eastern Oklahoma after identifying himself as a Muslim is suing the owners in federal court, pushing back against what he says is a rise in anti-Islamic sentiment across the country.

US military burn pits built on chemical weapons facilities tied to soldiers' illness : Though the US government disputes it, new evidence shows a link between service in Iraq and Afghanistan and cancers and untreatable bronchial illnesses
GOP Candidates Compete Over Who Will Commit Most War Crimes Once Elected





By Murtaza Hussain and Dan Froomkin



February 10, 2016 "

Information Clearing House

" -

" -

At a rally in New Hampshire on Monday night, Donald Trump was criticizing Ted Cruz for having insufficiently endorsed torture  Cruz had said two nights earlier that he would bring back waterboarding, but not in any sort of widespread use  when someone in the audience yelled out that Cruz was a pussy. Trump, in faux outrage, reprimanded the supporter, repeating the allegation for the assembled crowd: She said hes a pussy. Thats terrible. Terrible.

The spectacle of one Republican presidential candidate being identified by another as a pussy for failing to sufficiently endorse an archetypal form of torture exemplifies the moral state of the current race for the GOP nomination.

The Republican candidates have seemingly been competing with one another over who would commit the gravest war crimes if elected. In recent months, one candidate or another has promised to waterboard, do a helluva lot worse than waterboarding, repopulate Guantanamo, engage in wars of aggression, kill families of suspected terrorists, and carpet bomb Middle Eastern countries until we find out if sand can glow in the dark.

The over-the-top bombast plays well in front of self-selected Republican audiences  the crowd responded to the description of Cruz Monday night with full-throated chants of Trump! Trump! Trump! But such promises of future criminality from potential presidential nominees have outraged many legal experts.

Torture, indiscriminate killing of civilians, and indefinite detention are clear violations of international and domestic law, says Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLUs National Security Project.

Cruz not only called for the reinstitution of waterboarding during Saturdays presidential debate, but actually justified the practice using language reminiscent of the infamous 2002 Bybee Memo, authored by disgraced former Justice Department lawyer John Yoo. The Texas senator, who had previously said that torture is wrong, unambiguously, period, the end, was asked if waterboarding qualified as torture, and responded: Well, under the definition of torture, no, its not. Under the law, torture is excruciating pain that is equivalent to losing organs and systems, so under the definition of torture, it is not. It is enhanced interrogation, it is vigorous interrogation, but it does not meet the generally recognized definition of torture.

But Yoos definition is absolutely not the law. His torture memos, written for Vice President Dick Cheney to provide legal cover for clearly illegal acts, were later rescinded and repudiated by the Bush administration itself, for being barbaric, legally unsupported, and unreasonable. This question regarding whether waterboarding is torture? Its not arguable, says Pardiss Kebriaei, a staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights.

Trump, at the same debate, said, I would bring back waterboarding, and Id bring back a helluva lot worse than waterboarding.

Trump has vociferously argued in favor of the utility of torture, despite the fact that interrogation experts are nearly unanimous that, moral considerations aside, its no good for extracting truthful information; its best for revenge, false confessions, and propaganda. Dont kid yourself, folks. It works, OK? It works. Only a stupid person would say it doesnt work, Trump said in November. But, he added, If it doesnt work, they deserve it anyway, for what theyre doing.

Says Kebriaei: Ted Cruz and Donald Trump can choose to opt in or out of both international and American understandings of what constitutes torture, but that doesnt change the legal status of waterboarding as torture.

Another frequent Republican presidential talking point, embraced most vocally by Cruz, is the need to carpet bomb territories under the control of ISIS. These territories happen to be home to millions of civilians with no connection to ISIS, other than having the misfortune to live under the groups control. Nonetheless, Cruz has pledged to carpet-bomb them into oblivion, stating that I dont know if sand can glow in the dark, but were going to find out!

Cruz has further claimed that his carpet-bombing would actually be restrained. When I say saturation carpet bombing, that is not indiscriminate, Cruz said during the most recent debate. Its targeted at infrastructure. Its targeted at communications. Its targeted at bombing all of the roads and bridges going in and out of Raqqa. Its using overwhelming air power.

But when asked if he would like to expand the rules of engagement that currently serve as a restraint to bombing civilians, Cruz responded: Absolutely, yes.

Experts say that carpet-bombing is by definition a war crime because it lacks individual targets. One must always distinguish civilians and civilian objects from combatants and military objects and never target that which is civilian, says Widney Brown of Physicians for Human Rights. Depriving civilians of energy, attacking communications infrastructure, roads and bridges  such a bombing plan is a form of collective punishment against civilians and it is unlawful.

Under Rule 7 of the International Committee for the Red Cross guidelines for the laws of war, parties [to] conflict must at all times distinguish between civilian objects and military objectives. Attacks may only be directed against military objectives. Attacks must not be directed against civilian objects.

Meanwhile, Marco Rubio has promised voters that he would start sending new prisoners to the facility at Guantanamo Bay at a time when the Obama administration is trying to close it. In the January 14 debate, Rubio said of members of ISIS, If we capture any of them alive, they are getting a one-way ticket to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and we are going to find out everything they know.

At Saturdays debate, Rubio left the clear impression that the only reason he was not specifying what kind of torture he supported was that we should not be discussing in a widespread way the exact tactics that were going to use because that allows terrorists to know to practice how to evade us.

Hope Metcalfe, an international law expert at Yale Law School, warns that any of these policies would be a disaster, on both legal and policy fronts.

The United States is bound by international treaties prohibiting practices that result in physical and psychological harm to detainees, which is why the Bush administration had no choice but to reverse course when the Yoo memo became public, Metcalfe says. Prior attempts to evade settled law on torture were met with universal disdain, because arguments in its favor are morally corrupt and legally indefensible. 

But the ACLUs Shamsi argues that the current positions of the candidates are a reflection of the U.S.s unsettled moral climate related to national security. Policies like these would be harder for politicians to embrace today if the Obama administration had provided meaningful torture accountability, and if it werent carrying out unlawful drone strikes or holding Guantanamo prisoners indefinitely, she says.

The debate is also alarming American allies, particularly in Europe, says Scott Horton, an international human rights lawyer. How could somebody who talks like this be the leader of the Atlantic alliance? Its not possible. Its disqualifying. And nobody in the United States seems to get that, he says.

Horton says that mainstream U.S. media are barely covering the outrageous comments being made by the candidates. They are so obsessed with the horserace, he laments. To write about issues like torture  and put outrageous comments in their proper context  you actually have to know facts, which is so hard, Horton says. Just talking about the latest opinion polls, thats so easy.
Israel's International Conspiracy





Nearly every western country has an Israel lobby



By Philip Giraldi



February 10, 2016 "

Information Clearing House

" -

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom recently suggested an inquiry into a surge in Israels reported extra-judicial killing of Palestinian demonstrators after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for a harsh response and told his police and soldiers that those opposed to the continued occupation of the West Bank were terrorists. Almost immediately, the Israeli government denounced Wallstrom as engaging in political stupidity, banning her from travel to Israel, while one newspaper close to the government suggested that she might be assassinated, as fellow Swede Count Folke Bernadotte was by Jewish militants in 1948, because anti-Semitism appears to be in the Swedish DNA.

All of that outrage and personal ridicule is pro forma for an Israeli government that reflexively smears and denigrates any and all critics, but the more interesting epilogue was the unanticipated discovery by the Swedish and international media that Wallstrom has not been paying the full rent on the subsidized government apartment that she occupies. The revelation follows a familiar pattern, where critics of Israel suddenly find themselves being discredited for something completely unrelated to the Middle East. President George H. W. Bush (the good Bush) suffered a similar come to Jesus moment in 1991 when he went on national television to denounce the pressure tactics of the Israel lobby. The Israeli government was demanding U.S. Treasury backed loans to construct illegal settlements. President Bush, who was running for reelection and far ahead in the opinion polls, suddenly was confronted by a well-funded and organized opposition raising doubts about him and his record. And President Bush was not reelected, presumably learning along the way that one does not trifle with the Israel Lobby, to be replaced by the enthusiastically Zionist Bill Clinton.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is also wondering about Israels alleged commitment to peace. On Tuesday he said it was human nature to react to occupation, following up with a comment on Wednesday regarding Israels stifling occupation of Palestine. Netanyahu reacted with his usual over the top rhetoric, stating that Ban was encouraging terror. One might also anticipate, as in the case of Wallstrom, a well-orchestrated media blitz questioning Bans motives or explaining how he has always been a closet anti-Semite. It is par for the course and fully expected when one criticizes Israel.

Indeed, it is a global phenomenon. Wherever one goes  Western Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States  there is a well-organized and funded lobby ready, willing and able to go to war to protect Israel. Most of the organizations involved take at least some direction from officials in Tel Aviv. Many of them even cooperate fully with the Israeli government, its parastatal organizations and faux-NGOs like the lawfare center Shurat HaDin. Their goal is to spread propaganda and influence the public in their respective countries of residence to either hew to the line coming out of Tel Aviv or to confuse the narrative and stifle debate when potential Israeli crimes are being discussed.

Israels diaspora allies are backed up by a formidable government organized machine that spews out disinformation and muddies the waters whenever critics surface. The Israeli Foreign Ministry has a corps of paid volunteers who monitor websites worldwide and take remedial action and there is a similar group working out of the Prime Ministers office. That is why any negative story appearing in the U.S. about Israel is immediately inundated with pro-Israel comments, many of which make exactly the same coordinated points while exhibiting the same somewhat less than perfect English. On sites like Yahoo they are actually able to suppress unwelcome comments by flooding the site with Dislike responses. If a comment receives a large number of dislikes, it is automatically blocked or removed.

The sayanim, local Jews in their countries of residence, are essential to this process, having been alerted by emails from the Israeli Foreign Ministry about what to do and say. The reality is that Israel has lost the war of public opinion based on its own actions, which are becoming more and more repressive and even inhumane and so are difficult to explain. That means that the narrative has to be shifted by Israels friends through subterfuge and the corruption of the information process in each country. In some places the key media and political players who are engaged in the process can simply be bought. In other places they can be intimidated or pressured into taking positions that are neither in their own countries interests nor morally acceptable. In large countries like the United States, Britain and France a combination of friendly suasion and coercive elements often come together.

In all cases, the objective is the same: to repress or misrepresent any criticism of Israel and to block any initiatives that might be taken that would do damage either to the Israeli economy or to the countrys perceived standing in the world. In some countries Israels advocates work right out in the open and are highly successful in implementing policies that often remain largely hidden but that can be discerned as long as one knows what to look for.

Recent Israel Lobby activity in the United States has included legislation at state levels to make illegal divestment from Israel or to promote boycott of Israeli products. A trade pact with Europe will reportedly include language requiring the United States to take retaliatory action if any European country tries to boycott Israel, to include the West Bank settlements, which the empowering legislation regards as part of Israel proper.

Israel is also working to create a mechanism for global censorship of the internet to ban incitement, which clearly is a euphemism for material that is critical of its policies. Recently Facebook has begun to delete from its site any hate speech and terrorism related material but what has not been widely noted is that the apparent restrictions also have involved sites critical of Israel including Christians United for Peace.

Many prominent critics of the American Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC) are unaware that AIPAC exists in various forms in a number of other countries. BICOM , the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre, is located in London. The French equivalent is the Conseil Representatif des Institutions Juives de France (CRIF). In Canada there is a Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) , in Australia a Zionist Federation of Australia and in New Zealand a Zionist Federation of New Zealand .

While AIPAC is specifically focused on the U.S.-Israel relationship, its counterparts in Europe often deal with a whole range of issues that they define as Jewish, but protecting Israel is always part of their agenda, particularly for those groups that label themselves as Zionist. The political power and financial muscle of the groups gives them access to government far beyond the actual numbers of their supporters. In France this has led to the legislation of hate crimes that de facto exist to protect Jews that have been also been interpreted as limitations on ones ability to criticize Israel. In its most recent test, a French court declared that a peaceful protest promoting Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) directed against Israel was illegal.

Many believe that France now has less free speech than any other European country. Recently, the alleged humor magazine Charlie Hebdo, ran a revolting cartoon showing the little Syrian boy Alan Kurdi who drowned in Turkey last summer as all grown up and sexually assaulting a woman in Germany. There was considerable outrage throughout the world but no sign that the French government will do anything to prosecute the magazines since it was Muslims who were being ridiculed. Charlie Hebdo frequently insults Muslims (and also Christians) but rarely lampoons Jews.

In Britain, Jewish organizations uniquely are allowed to patrol heavily Jewish neighborhoods in police-like uniforms while driving police type vehicles and there have been reports of their threatening Muslims who enter the areas. Prime Minister David Camerons government, which is responsive to a Conservative Friends of Israel lobbying group, has also done its part to create official barriers to any spread of the BDS movement. It is proposing legislation that will enable it to overrule decisions by local government councils that seek to cut business or investment ties with Israel and, more particularly, Israeli settlements, under the pretext that such action interferes with the conduct of foreign affairs. The British government is also considering its own brand of hate speech legislation, banning from social media any commentary that is considered to be anti-Semitic, which will almost certainly extend to criticism of Israel.

Canadas government has also threatened to use hate speech laws to block criticism of Israel and forbid BDS related activity. Australia meanwhile, has ceased referring to east Jerusalem as occupied and is apparently leaning towards similar non-pejorative language relating to the militarized occupation of the West Bank, preferring the neocon favored dodge disputed. New Zealand has proposed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks that specifically demands that participants refrain from referring a situationto the International Criminal Court, which would effectively decriminalize war crimes committed by both sides during the two recent invasions of Gaza. As a United Nations investigation determined that Israel was disproportionately responsible for what did occur, the proposal eliminates accountability and is effectively a get out of jail free card for some Israeli government officials.

And so it goes. Criticize Israel and there will be a comeuppance by virtue of a highly developed international system that relies on government direction as well as volunteer supporters who are able to shape both the media message and the political response. Accepting that as a given, I suppose one should be proud of being called an anti-Semite every time the label is misapplied to stifle dissent, but it all sadly reflects a lowering of the discussion to a dirt level. This might just be because there is no justification for Israeli behavior. The fact is that in terms of systematic human rights violations Israel is something beyond an apartheid state, frequently engaging in open racism and, in the opinion of many observers, crimes against humanity. It is furthermore a persistent source of instability in the Middle East and even beyond.
Home Sign up for our FREE Daily Email Newsletter Putins Aleppo Gamble Pays Off



By Mike Whitney



February 10, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " Counterpunch " - Last weeks game-changing triumph in northern Syria has moved the Russian-led coalition to within striking distance of a decisive victory in Aleppo. After breaking a 40 month-long siege on the cities of Nubl and Zahra, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) has encircled the countrys industrial hub and is gradually tightening the noose. Crucial supply-lines to the north have been cut leaving the Sunni extremists and anti-government militias stranded inside a vast, urban cauldron. Its only a matter of time before these disparate renegades are either killed or forced to surrender. A victory in Aleppo will change the course of the war by restoring government control over the densely-populated western corridor. This is why the Obama administration is frantically searching for ways to either delay or derail the Russian-led juggernaut and avoid the impending collapse of US policy in Syria. Recent peace talks in Geneva were convened with one goal in mind, to prevent Syrian President Bashar al Assad and loyalist forces from retaking Aleppo. The negotiations failed, however, when Washingtons mercurial allies, the so called moderate rebels, refused to participate. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Syrian opposition withdrew under pressure from Saudi Arabia and Turkey, two of the main backers of the rebels. The WSJs admission was later confirmed by Secretary of State John Kerry who according to a report in the Middle East Eye blamed the Syrian opposition for leaving the talks and paving the way for a joint offensive by the Syrian government and Russia on Aleppo. Dont blame me, Kerry said, Blame the opposition. It was the opposition that didnt want to negotiate and didnt want a ceasefire, and they walked away. None of this will surprise readers who followed the talks closely. The meetings were surrounded by confusion from the very onset. The US delegation headed by Kerry was focused entirely on reaching an agreement that would involve a ceasefire and stop the government-led onslaught. The Saudis, Turks and opposition leaders, however, were on a different page altogether. They seemed oblivious to the dire situation on the ground where their jihadist foot soldiers were taking heavier losses by the day. Kerry, the realist, was looking for a way to stand-down and save US-backed militants from certain annihilation. But the Saudis and Turks felt they had a strong-enough hand to make demands. The clash in viewpoints was bound to produce disappointing results, which it did. The meetings were cancelled before they even began. Nothing was settled. Heres more from the WSJ: About a half-dozen cities and towns targeted in the new regime offensives have one thing in common: All were held by a mix of Islamist and moderate rebel groups funded and armed by Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Complicating the picture is that some, but not all, of these groups collaborate with the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front. That gives the regime and its allies fodder for their claim that they are fighting terrorism. (Saudi Arabia, Turkey Pushed Syrian Opposition to Leave Talks, Wall Street Journal) This should dispel any illusion that that the fighters that are trying to topple the government are merely disgruntled nationalists determined to remove an evil dictator. That is not the case at all. While there are a fair amount of indigenous insurgents, the bulk of fighters are Sunni extremists bent on removing Assad and creating an Islamic Caliphate. This is why Moscow refused to implement a ceasefire during the talks in Geneva. Russia adamantly opposes any remedy that allows internationally-recognized terrorists from escaping their eternal reward. Kerry has deliberately misled the public on this matter. Just last week, he said, Russia has indicated to me very directly they are prepared to do a ceasefire The Iranians confirmed in London just a day and a half ago they will support a ceasefire now. This is false and Kerry knows it. Moscow has tried to be flexible about other so called moderate opposition forces, but when it comes to ISIS, Jabhat Al-Nusra (Syrian Al-Qaeda group), Jaysh Al-Mujahiddeen, Harakat Nouriddeen Al-Zinki, and Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham, Russian leaders have repeatedly said that that they will not relent until the jihadists are either killed or captured. This is why Russias airstrikes continued during Geneva, because most of the fighters in Aleppo are dyed-in-the-wool terrorists. Its worth noting that the Russian-led military offensive clearly hews to UN resolution 2254 which states:  for Member States to prevent and suppress terrorist acts committed specifically by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, Al-Nusra Front (ANF), and all other individuals, groups, undertakings, and entities associated with Al Qaeda or ISIL, and other terrorist groups, [] and to eradicate the safe haven they have established over significant parts of Syria, and notes that the aforementioned ceasefire will not apply to offensive or defensive actions against these individuals, groups, undertakings and entities, as set forth in the 14 November 2015 ISSG Statement. (Thanks to Moon of Alabama) In other words, Moscow is not going to comply with any ceasefire that spares homicidal jihadists or undermines UN resolution 2254. Russian military operations are going to continue until ISIS, al Nusra and the other terrorist militias are defeated. Even so, Kerry has not abandoned the diplomatic track. In fact, Kerry plans to meet Russian Foreign Minsiter Sergei Lavrov in Munich on February 11 for a meeting of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) to discuss all the aspects of the Syrian settlement in line with the UN Security Council resolution 2254. The emergency meeting underscores the Obamas administrations utter desperation in the face of the inexorable Russian-led military offensive. Its clear now that Obama and his lieutenants see the handwriting on the wall and realize that their sinister plan to use proxy armies to remove Assad and splinter the country into three powerless regions is doomed to fail. Heres how the ISW summed it up on the Sic Semper Tyrannis website: Battlefield realities rather than great power politics will determine the ultimate terms of a settlement to end the Syrian Civil War. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies in Russia and Iran have internalized this basic principle even as Washington and other Western capitals pinned their hopes upon UN-sponsored Geneva Talks, which faltered only two days after they began on February 1, 2016. Russian airpower and Iranian manpower have brought President Assad within five miles of completing the encirclement of Aleppo City, the largest urban center in Syria and an opposition stronghold since 2012. The full encirclement of Aleppo City would fuel a humanitarian catastrophe, shatter opposition morale, fundamentally challenge Turkish strategic ambitions, and deny the opposition its most valuable bargaining chip before the international community. (ISW recognizes reality in western Syria, Institute for the Study of War (ISW) Last weeks fighting in northern Aleppo has transformed the battlespace and shifted the momentum in favor of the government, but it has not yet dampened support for the jihadists in places like Ankara or Riyadh. In fact, the Saudis have offered to deploy ground troops to Syria provided they are put under US command. As for Turkey, according to The Hill: Moscows Defense Ministry (has) accused Turkey of planning a military invasion of Syria. Heres more from the same article: The Russian Defence Ministry registers a growing number of signs of hidden preparation of the Turkish Armed Forces for active actions on the territory of Syria, ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.Russia claimed (to) have reasonable grounds to suspect intensive preparation of Turkey for a military invasion of Syria. (The Hill) Turkish officials have denied that they are preparing for an invasion, but at the same time, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has admitted that Turkey will not stay on the sidelines if it is asked to participate in a future campaign. This is from Bloomberg News: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country should not repeat in Syria the same mistake it made in Iraq when it turned down a U.S. request to be part of the coalition that toppled Saddam Hussein. We dont want to fall into the same mistake in Syria as in Iraq, the president said, recounting how Turkeys parliament denied a U.S. request to use its territories for the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Its important to see the horizon. Whats going on in Syria can only go on for so long. At some point it has to change, he told journalists on the return flight from a tour of Latin America, according to Hurriyet newspaper. (Erdogan Signals Turkey Wont Stay Out of Syria If Asked to Join, Bloomberg) While its impossible to know whether Turkey, Saudi Arabia or the US will actually invade Syria, its clear by the panicky reaction to the encirclement of Aleppo, that all three countries feel their regional ambitions are more closely aligned with those of the jihadists than with the elected government in Damascus. This tacit alliance between the militants and their sponsors speaks volumes about the credibility of Washingtons fake war on terror. Finally, in less than five months, loyalist forces aided by heavy Russian air cover, have shifted the balance of power in Syria, forced thousands of terrorist insurgents to flee their strongholds in the west, cleared the way for the return of millions of refugees and displaced civilians, and sabotaged the malign plan to reshape the country so it better serves Washingtons geopolitical interests. The war is far from over, but its beginning to look like Putins gamble is going to pay off after all. Mike Whitney ives in Washington state. He is a contributor to Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion (AK Press). Hopeless is also available in a Kindle edition. He can be reached at fergiewhitney@msn.com. Click for Spanish , German , Dutch , Danish , French , translation- Note- Translation may take a moment to load. What's your response? - Scroll down to add / read comments Sign up for our FREE Daily Email Newsletter For Email Marketing you can trust Donate



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THE greed of 30-year-old Frank Chukwuneye and Abdullahi Zakari, 25, was on steroids, when they conspired to steal N450,000 from their employer, Tom Wu, a Chinese businessman based in Benin city, capital of Edo State.

The evil duo of Chukwuneye and Zakari were employed three months ago by Wu, to serve respectively as his interpreter and security guard.

While Chukwuneye was placed on a monthly salary of N70,000, the Chinese paid Zakari N30,000 per month. He did so regularly.

But demon of greed took hold of their minds and the seed of conspiracy was sown. During the yuletide period, on December 29, Wu withdrew N450,000 from the bank. Upon reaching home, he asked Chukwuneye to put it on the top of the drawer in his bedroom. Later he went out with Chukwuneye.

Meanwhile, as Sunday Sun correspondent gathered from the Edo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Chris Ezike, Chukwuneye had conspired with Zakari to steal the money. He gave Zakari the spare key to the bedroom of Wu and told him where to find the money. To ensure his cooperation, he also promised to give him N100,000, and this sealed the conspiracy.

Narrating what happened next, Zakari told Sunday Sun in an interview at the headquarters of the State Criminal Investigation Department, where he and Chuwkuneye are being held in custody, as investigation progresses: On December 30, 2015 when our Chinese master went out, I went to his bedroom, opened it with the key Frank gave me. I saw the N450,000 where they kept the money on the drawer. I took the N450,000, put in the hollow of a loudspeaker and then set the house on fire.

Upon learning that his house was on fire, Wu rushed back home. Suspecting foul play, he went to Ugbor Police Station, accompanied by Chukwuneye, to make a formal report to the police.

The case was then transferred to the State CID Benin City, which commenced investigation immediately.

Ezike told Sunday Sun that the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mr. Chukwudi Ariekpare, SCID, told the officer-in-charge of general investigation, Supol Stella Ebikefe (SP), to dispatch a team of detectives. In course of investigation, the trail led to the two employees. When properly questioned, they spilled the beans, confessed to the crime, and gave graphic details of the roles played by each of them.

Chukwuneye in his confessional statement admitted that he was the mastermind of the evil act.

Recounting his role to Sunday Sun reporter, he said: Three months ago, I was employed by the Chinese as an interpreter and he paid me N70,000 monthly. I masterminded the whole ugly incident; I gave the security man, Abdullahi, a spare key to the bedroom of our master and told him to set the house ablaze after taking the money.

It was people in the neighbourhood who alerted me that the house was burning, but I pretended as if I didnt know what was happening. I followed my master to Ugbor Police Station to make a report.

Expectedly, the victim, Wu, felt deeply betrayed by the two men he employed. He said: I was shocked to learn that the two Nigerians I employed and made them comfortable and also paid them regularly committed the crime. I employed Frank as my interpreter and gave him everything he wanted, yet he betrayed me. He was the only person who knew that I brought N450,000 from the bank and put it in my bedroom. I want justice to be done and the police to recover my money from them.

Ezike assured that the suspects would be charged to court soon.

Source: Sun News
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Anti-corruption and Financial Crimes, Godfrey Utazi, has expressed the readiness of the Committee to support the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, in the discharge of its duties.

Speaking at the 2016 budget defence session held on Tuesday at the National Assembly in Abuja, Mr. Utazi said, We are here to assess your budget performance for last year with a view to ensuring that the EFCC is strengthened.

The lawmaker, who called for probity and accountability in public offices, added that the essence of the committees oversight functions so far had been to know the challenges facing the EFCC.

Also speaking at the session, the acting Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, who thanked the Senate Committee for its continued support, expressed the hope for a cordial relationship between the EFCC and the National Assembly.

He explained that the total approved appropriation for 2015 was over N10.4bn.

According to him, The Commission received 100 per cent personnel funds in 2015, 50 per cent of capital appropriation and 87 per cent of overhead appropriation.

The proposed budget for 2016 is as follows: Capital Expenditure  N11, 422, 991, 540 (Eleven Billion, Four Hundred and Twenty Two Million, Nine Hundred and Ninety-Nine Thousand, Five Hundred and Forty Naira); Overhead- N2, 999,245, 671 (Two Billion, Nine Hundred and Ninety- Nine Million, Two Hundred and Forty- Five Thousand, Six Hundred and Seventy- One Naira and Personnel as proposed by the Ministry of Budget and Planning  N6,664,040,791 (Six Billion, Six Hundred and Sixty-Four Million, Forty Thousand, Seven Hundred and Ninety One Naira).

Mr. Magu stated that the commission could not give a figure for its own personnel budget because the 2016 personnel budget template designed by the Ministry of Budget and Planning only made provision for detailed nominal roll without estimate; hence, the Commission was not in a position to justify the ministrys proposed figure.

He urged the committee to consider the EFCCs proposal favourably, saying, The Commissions ability to fight corruption will be adversely affected if not adequately funded. Some of the areas that could be affected negatively include personnel, overheads, operations and capital projects.

In his remark, a committee member, Senator Hamma Misau, said the budget for the EFCC was not enough.

According to him, If you look at the body language of the President, EFCC has not even started. We need the EFCC to be able to do more. I think EFCC has done a good job. This is the first time an agency is bringing just N39million for the purchase and maintenance of vehicles.

We cannot claim to fight corruption without properly equipping the EFCC. The National Assembly is supportive and we cannot just be supportive with our mouths. We have looked at the projections and the shortfalls and there is no meeting point. This is the final bus-stop in terms of allocating resources. We will tinker with the budget and see what can be done to help the EFCC.

Mr. Utazi further explained that the Committees oversight functions so far had kept it in an informed position.

He added: We have seen what you have on ground. This country is not saving resources by paying rent. You cannot be doing the kind of job you are doing around hotels. Your new head office is a matter of priority.

You have made a good defence. We have listened to you and now the ball is in our court and we will make sure things work well.
The inspiring story keeps getting better and better each day.

The story of Olajumoke Orisaguna, the agege bread seller turn model, is spreading worldwide and now has been featured in Huffington Post.

Huffington Post wrote an article about her titled How To Get A Modelling Contract: Olajumoke Orisaguna Scouted After Accidentally Walking Into Tinie Tempar Photo Shoot.

According to Huffington Post, Olajumoke Orisagunas remarkable story is the stuff of your most wishful daydreams..

The article details the back story of Olajumokes encounter with TY Bello and how far that chanced meeting has brought her.

According to updates from Olajumokes Instagram page, she will also be featured on CNN as they have been documenting the process of her photo shoot with Nigerian designer April by Kunbi.

See photos from the shoot below: 
There is currently a disquiet among security operatives attached to the Presidential Villa, Abuja, over their unpaid allowances, The PUNCH has learnt.

If not addressed quickly, the situation, our correspondent learnt on Wednesday, might degenerate into a security breach.

Multiple sources who spoke with our correspondent on the condition of anonymity said loyalty of the security operatives had dropped drastically over the non-payment of the allowance.

The PUNCH learnt that under former President Goodluck Jonathan, all security agents attached to the Presidential Villa enjoyed what they called Risk Cautious Allowance.

The security officers include those of the Nigerian Army, Nigeria Police, Department of State Services, Nigerian Intelligence Agency, Federal Road Safety Commission and Fire Service.

It was learnt that Jonathans administration paid the allowance up until March last year and left those of April and May unpaid.

The op]eratives are however regretting that since the inception of the present administration, they have not been paid.

Following a media report last year that President Muhammadu Buhari had stopped the payment of the allowance, our correspondent learnt that the security operatives were told by their bosses that the RCA had not been stopped as reported.

They said they were not only assured that they would be paid, but were also promised that the rate would be reviewed upward.

In the past, senior officers were said to be receiving about N30,000 per month while junior officers get about N25,000.

To assure the operatives of governments readiness to continue the payment, they were said to have been asked to open bank accounts with Zenith Bank Plc where their RCA will subsequently be paid.

One of the operatives however said since last year that they opened the bank accounts, the government had not fulfilled its promise of paying the allowance.

A top Presidency official, who pleaded anonymity, however, told our correspondent that the security operatives allowances had been approved in January.

He expressed the belief that payments would soon be made to those concerned.

When contacted on the telephone, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, declined comment, saying the matter is a security issue.

Source: Punch
Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State yesterday said the choice of Hon. Simon Achuba as the new Deputy Governor is in line with his tradition of ensuring the advancement of the rule of law and ethnic balancing in the state without prejudice to merit.

Hon. Achuba, a seasoned administrator with diverse experience in Local Government administration and legislative governance, was worn-in Tuesday at the Government House, Lokoja, following his nomination by the governor and confirmation by the Kogi House of Assembly.

With the development, the vacant deputy governors position has been filled following the refusal of Hon. James Abiodun Faleke, the running mate of late Prince Abubakar Audu, to take up the position.

A statement signed by Abdulmalik Abdulkarim, Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Strategy, the choice of Achuba from the political camp of the late Prince Audu was not only an expression of respect for the late elder statesman, but a timely ethnic balancing move, which has been the pillar of the Bello Administration.

The Governor has displayed capacity to cement the state into a united force that is capable of de-emphasising ethnic or religious bigotry, to become an economic giant in the country, it said.

On the reports that journalists were denied access to venue of the swearing-in by overzealous security personnel, the statement described the episode as unfortunate.

No such reports were brought to our notice and we believe security operatives attached to the Government House are professional enough to understand the role of media in the drive of Governor Bello to reposition the state for greatness.

We, however, want to underscore our readiness to work with the media and ensure we create for them, a good working environment to thrive and help the society, it added.
The European Union has condemned the latest Islamist attack involving two female suicide bombers who targeted a camp hosting some 50,000 people and were able tokilling at least 58.

The attack came just 10 days after the violence perpetrated in north eastern Nigeria and southern Chad.

We express our condolences to all those affected by this attack, a statement by the EU said.



Targeting innocent people, is unacceptable. Camps have to remain a place of shelter and protection.

The EU expresses its full solidarity with the Nigerian government and people in their fight against terrorism in all its forms.

This was most recently reaffirmed to President Buhari when he met with EU leaders earlier this month. Security and the fight against terrorism will again be high on the agenda at the upcoming EU-Nigeria Ministerial dialogue mid-March.



The EU remains engaged to support the wider Sahel and Lake Chad region in their efforts to curb violence and terrorism, the statement read.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has slammed Governor Ayodele Fayose over his reaction to calls fro his prosecution following revelations by former ally and Peoples Democratic Party Secretary in Ekiti, Dr. Tope Aluko on the conduct of the election that returned him as governor of the state.

Fayose is jittery and that is why he is stoking violence. He has started attacking individuals in Ekiti State like he did during his first aborted tenure in 2006, a statement by the APC Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun said in reaction to Fayoses attack on Lagos fiery lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) over his position on the alleged election fraud that returned him (Fayose) to power.

We want to remind Fayose that many of his party leaders, who still have a modicum of integrity, have also left PDP in droves because they could not stand the shame he has brought upon them through the Ekitigate scandal planned and executed by him and some of his cohorts. Therefore, Falana cannot be an exception.

Fayose is being haunted by his criminal past and there is no way he will not meet his comeuppance no matter how he tries to evade justice.

Through his past and present deeds, decent people of the world have since discovered that Fayose is a threat to democracy and Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, law and order in the society and everyone knows that there is no way he can operate in a society where the law works, the APC said.
The Federal Government has assured the Japanese government that it would use the 1.3 billion yen (N2.3 billion) worth of facilities meant to boost electricity supply in the country judiciously. The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen. Udoma Udo-Udoma, gave the assurance on Thursday in Abuja, at the Signing Ceremony of the Grant Aid for the Emergency Improvement of Electricity Supply Facilities in Abuja.

The project aims to install Capacitor Banks in Apo and Keffi Substations in FCT (Federal Capital Territory) and Nasarawa State respectively and will contribute to stable power supply, decrease transmission loss and improve system reliability, Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen. Udoma Udo-Udoma, said on Thursday in Abuja, at the Signing Ceremony of the Grant Aid for the Emergency Improvement of Electricity Supply Facilities in Abuja.

The sustained implementation of this project is expected to pave way for significant access to quality socio-economic services, thereby leading to reduction in unemployment in the country and promoting community empowerment.

This ministry will ensure that we continue to create an enabling environment required for the sustainability of our partnership.

Our doors will always be open and we will welcome suggestions and ideas on how best to improve our strong ties for the mutual benefit of our countries.

The minister stated that good governance is the key component of the change agenda of the present government. This entails the judicious management of the countrys resources and affairs in an open, transparent, accountable and equitable manner that meets the aspiration of the people.

This is also consistent with the objectives of Grant Aid for the Project for Emergency Improvement of Electricity Supply Facilities in Abuja.

I wish to assure the esteemed government of Japan that the electricity facilities being provided will be very well looked after.

The Federal Ministry of Power will ensure effective management and sustainability of the project, he said.
While the central bank maintained the official exchange rate at N197  N199 despite being a far cry from the parallel market value of N310 which many see as the true value of the naira, small businesses have suffered and the averagege Nigerian which the government said it was protecting by failing to devalue, is suffering. Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomole said the government I doing the right thing.

Oshiomhole who spoke in Lagos while delivering a keynote address at the maiden edition of The Cable Colloquium, entitled: The Naira on Trial: To Devalue or Not? said that the governments position was to pull speculators out of business.

According to the governor, a history of devaluation of the nations currency since the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) has not benefited the economy in any way.

The first time the concept of devaluation was introduced to us by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), it generated a national debate.

Chief Olu Falae lectured us about the beauty of devaluation. When you devalue, the price of imported goods will go up, the capacity to consume will drop, and total outflow of forex will be less.

Nigerian goods will become cheaper, importation will be less and exportation will be more. This will lead to more foreign exchange and will shore up our foreign reserves, Oshiomhole said.

He, however, noted that devaluation had never translated to an approximate increase in exported goods because of Nigerians appetite for foreign or imported goods.

He argued that available statistics from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that the thesis that if we devalue, we will export more, cannot be supported. The real critical question is  will devaluation curb our appetite for imported goods? I am unable to find gains in devaluation, Oshiomhole said.

He said that currency speculators were the ones manipulating the naira, and exerting pressures on the CBN to devalue it, for their selfish gains.

Some people are speculating on the naira; just manipulating the naira for their selfish ends. This is how a section of the business community make their money, Oshiomhole said.

He called on well-meaning Nigerians to support the forex policy of the CBN and the stand by the Federal Government not to devalue the nations currency.
The Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has replaced the embattled chairman of the Board, Haliru Mohammed Bello, with Senator Walid Jibrin.

Bello is currently undergoing trial by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over alleged involvement in the $2.1 billion arms deal scandal, allegedly coordinated by the immediate past National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), who is also on trial.

Until his elevation yesterday, Jibrin was the Secretary of the BoT.

He will occupy the position in an acting capacity pending the appointment of a substantive chair. He will also combine his new role with being secretary.

The decision was conveyed by the new acting BoT Chairman at a briefing in Abuja yesterday.

It was contained in a communique issued after a meeting of the Board held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel.

The meeting by the BoT raised suspicions of a fresh round of crisis of confidence between the board and the National Working Committee, which said that all meetings of the organs of the party be shifted to next week.

The national publicity secretary of the PDP, Olisa Metuh, had on Monday issued a statement saying the meeting of the National Caucus of the party had been shifted to Monday next week, while that of the BoT would hold on the morning of Tuesday, February 16th to be followed by a meeting of the National Executive Committee, NEC.

However, dousing any suspicion of mistrust or crisis in the opposition party, Mr. Jibrin said the BoT decided to ignore the decision of the NWC because it is a special organ of the PDP, adding however, that, members of the BoT would still attend next weeks meeting of the caucus and NEC.

The BoT has already called for this meeting. It is a special organ that regulate its activities. We can take our own decision. We will still attend next week meeting.

The new chairman said they decided to replace Mr. Mohammed because his tenure had already expired.

On the 25th of May, we appointed the outgoing acting chairman, Mr. Mohammed to act for three months, when the three months expired, we decided to extend his period by two weeks and that has expired.

Very soon we are going to hold a meeting to elect a substantive chairman, probably during the next meeting of BoT, we will do it properly and elect a substantive Chairman, he said.

The party organ also declared its unflinching support for the Northeast zone for the position of National Chairman to replace Prince Uche Secondus, who is acting chair.

An Abuja High Court had in November 2015, ordered Secondus to vacate the position within 14 days, but Secondus said he had filed an appeal against the order.

Jibrin said the Northeast zone would meet next week to pick a National Chairman to replace Alhaji Adamu Muazu who resigned last May after leading the party to its first shocking defeat in the 2015 general elections.

He said party leaders expected the north-east to meet and pick a short list of three candidates and submit same to the meetings of national caucus and NEC next week.

He said the two meetings would now zero in on one of the three candidates and announce him as the new chairman of the party.

Among the contenders from the north-east are two former presidential aides, Ahmed Gulak and Rufai Alkali, as well as a former Minister of State, Power, who is being tipped as favourite, Mohammed Wakil; and a former ambassador and Governor of defunct Gongola state, Wilberforce Juta.

The Northeast is going to meet to consider members short listed and bring them to Caucus, BoT and National Executive Committee (NEC) meetings for final approval, Jibrin stated.
About twenty persons sustained injuries during a bloody clash among members of All Progressives Congress (APC), at Oka-Akoko in Akoko South West Local Government area of Ondo State.

Thisday

he Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has closed its case against the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olisa Metuh.

Guardian

The Senate Committee on Works yesterday expressed dismay over the refusal of some 11 road contractors to commence work after collecting a total of N4 billion mobilisation fees.

Daily Trust

A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kano, Alhaji Mujahid Zaitawa, has advised former president Olusegun Obasanjo to stop meddling in the affairs of the National Assembly.
There is no immunity for impunity as far as electoral malfeasance is concerned. In the cases of Obi v Mbakwe, Alliance for Democracy v Ayo Fayose and Amaechi v INEC it has been established that governors cannot hide under the immunity clause to commit electoral fraud.  Femi Falana

Parliamentary immunity in the Nigerian context is not a protector of democracy. Nigerias concept of parliamentary immunity has attracted criticisms for facilitating abuses and protecting corruption.

In the light of Ekitigate, parliamentary immunity has received a lot of attention from Nigerians. It is widely viewed as a rising problem for promoting corruption and abuse of power.

Immunity in Nigeria has become an easy way to obstruct the law. It is responsible for the increase in corruption crimes committed by governors and members of the National Assembly. With the spate of corruption cases involving governors and other politicians, Nigerians have lost confidence in their chosen representatives for their political malpractices under the guise of immunity.

The Nigerian brand of parliamentary immunity only serves to protect the interests of the representatives, rather than the interests of those they were elected to represent. Under the British system, legislators are granted partial immunity from prosecution. British lawmakers and legislators in other countries that practice the British model are protected from civil action for slander and libel by parliamentary immunity while they are in the House. However, parliamentary immunity from criminal prosecution is not enjoyed by members of parliament.

Members of the parliament may not be sought, prosecuted, judged, or imprisoned for actions taken in the course of their duties as parliamentarians. They are immune from prosecution for defamation committed in the exercise of their functions. This includes speeches and votes, law proposals, amendments, as well as reports and other actions on the floor of the House. Under the US presidential system that we operate, members of the US Congress enjoy a similar parliamentary privilege like members of the British parliament. The US Congress members cannot be prosecuted for anything they say on the floor of the House or Senate. They are not immune from criminal prosecution.

The immunity clause under section 308 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution provides for the immunity of President, Vice-President, Governors and their deputies.

Nigerias foremost human rights lawyer Femi Falana (SAN), in an interview with the Punch, explicitly clarified the issue of immunity as it relates to the prosecution or otherwise of the star of Ekitigate, Governor Ayodele Fayose. Many Nigerians have argued that Fayose is covered under the immunity clause of the Constitution. It is their contention that Fayose cannot be prosecuted because of his immunity as a governor.

Here is Falana making a solid legal cause for the prosecution of Fayose:

The army authorities had investigated the fraudulent governorship election purportedly won by Mr. Ayo Fayose in June 2014. It has been confirmed that it was not an election but a coup executed by armed soldiers led by one General (Aliyu) Momoh.

The panel which investigated the shameful event has recommended the dismissal of a number of military officers and the further investigation of others by the EFCC over the money illegally collected by them for the purpose of subjecting voters to horrendous harassment and brutalisation. Captain Sagir Koli watched the whole messy show and decided to record Momoh and his accomplices.

Falana added that once the panel report is released and the investigation of the EFCC on the alleged N4.8bn which was criminally diverted for the election is concluded all the indicted suspects will be arrested and prosecuted.

There is no immunity for impunity as far as electoral malfeasance is concerned. In the cases of Obi v Mbakwe, Alliance for Democracy v Ayo Fayose and Amaechi v INEC it has been established that governors cannot hide under the immunity clause to commit electoral fraud.

By the strict interpretation of section 308 of the Constitution no court process can be issued or served on a governor. But because immunity cannot be pleaded or invoked to cover electoral fraud, elected governors are served with court processes and dragged to court to respond to allegations of electoral malpractice.

Representatives enjoy immunity because it gives them the ability to act for the represented. Immunities are designed to protect the functions borne by the individual. The same thing goes for the diplomat, the trial witness, the judge, the sovereign. The principle behind parliamentary immunity is to protect the ability of elected assemblies to debate and vote without interference by non-elected authorities. It should be understood that parliamentary immunity is not to protect the governors or the legislators, but rather the ability to act on behalf of those whom they were elected to represent. In other words, the immunity is there to protect the parliament not the governors or the legislators.

Yasser Salah a former Egyptian MP was caught in smuggling 550 mobile phones worth more than EGP 1.5 million. Salah explained to the officer arresting him that he could not do so because he was a member of parliament. But the Egyptian Economic Court disagreed with Salah. He was sentenced to two years in prison. In 1994, the Japanese lower house unanimously stripped a Japanese lawmaker of his parliamentary immunity. Kishiro Nakamura was accused of accepting a $95,258 bribe from Kajima Construction Company to quash a bid-rigging probe by the Fair Trade Commission. He surrendered himself at the Tokyo district prosecutors office and was arrested and prosecuted.

For the umpteenth time, let me emphasize that Ekitigate took place when Fayose was a gubernatorial candidate and not a sitting governor. Where does the so called immunity fit in? For the sake of argument, lets assume Fayose committed election fraud as a sitting governor. Even with immunity, the Constitution provides avenue to litigate criminal acts of officials by judicial review.

Under the Nigerian law, immunity for official act enjoyed by lawmakers is similar to the one extended to Nigerian judges. But criminal acts and acts that are committed outside their official duties are liable to court processes. Ekitigate doesnt fall within the official mandate of Fayose as a governor. Election fraud is not part of governors official duty. Ekitigate qualifies Fayose to be tried to the fullest extent of the law. Fayose has no immunity. Therefore, its certain that Fayose will be be prosecuted. And hes a goner!

As the Presidential candidate of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in 2011 elections, President Buhari promised: We will amend the Constitution to remove immunity from prosecution for elected officers in criminal cases. There is no better time than now for the president to initiate a bill that will strip all elected officials of the political license that allows them to loot the treaury with unrestrained greed and impunity.

[email protected]
The United States Embassy in Nigeria has condemned the suicide attacks on internally displaced persons in Dikwa town, Borno state that occurred on February 9.

We extend our deepest condolences to the families of the victims, a statement by the Embassy said.

The United States remains committed to assisting internally displaced populations in northeastern Nigeria through humanitarian relief efforts.

We also continue to support the Nigerian government in its fight against terrorism, the statement read.

Over 50 people were killed in the attacks on locations where over 500,000 internally displaced persons were being sheltered. The attacks were allegedly carried out by two female suicide bombers.

The victims who were mostly women and children have been buired in a mass burial.
Students of Yaba College of Technology Wednesday shut all gates leading to the school in protest of their colleagues death which they blamed on the negligence of the school authority.

The death of Miss Dazan Charity Oluwabukola, a final-year Office Technology Management HND II student was what was protested by the angry students for most part of the day yesterday, bringing activities in the school to a halt.

Some of the students who spoke to INFORMATION NIGERIA said the student died due to the negligence of officials at the institutions Medical Centre.

The late student had fallen sick and had been taken to the institutions Medical Centre for treatment but was not attended to because the officials were demanding a deposit of N35,000 before she was attended to.

One of the student leaders opined that the demand of the officials was uncalled for giving that each students pay N3,000 for healthcare every session.

The protest by the angry students spilled out of the institutions campus, resulting in traffic around the institutions campus which lasted late into the night.

Responding to the allegation leveled against it by the students, the school management defended itself, saying it did all it possibly could to save the life of the late student.

The school made its own allegation saying the protest was less about the death of the student but more about the students trying to force the postponement of upcoming examinations.
On Western Sahara, ICP Asks If Morocco Has Invited Ban, Before April



By Matthew Russell Lee



UNITED NATIONS, February 10 -- After the UN Security Council convened for a closed door meeting about Western Sahara on February 10, Inner City Press asked the Council's President for the month, Venezuela's Rafael Ramirez, if the already once delayed visit by Ban Ki-moon is now "on."



Ramirez said that a visit before the Security Council conducts its April review of Western Sahara is desirable. To the side of the stakeout as he spoke, a number of Moroccan diplomats stood watching; one it seems was intent that the Polisario representative not be allowed to speak at the UNTV microphone. (That did not happen.)



To be fair, Inner City Press has been told that Morocco had agreed to a Ban Ki-moon visit in 2015, only to have Ban cancel it because Ban thought he might be able to go to North Korea, apparently more important to him. But now it's 2016, and April is approaching. Watch this site.



Back on December 8, 2015, neither the briefer, UN envoy Christopher Ross, nor any other official or ambassador came to speak at the televised Security Council stakeout. Inner City Press had asked the UN to ask Ross to "do a stakeout," but none happened.



Here's the text of Ross' briefing to the Council's closed door meeting, which Inner City Press has exclusively obtained and put online here .



Now on February 2, Inner City Press asked UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq, transcript here:



Inner City Press: I've seen a readout [not a UN readout] of a meeting the Secretary-General had with, I guess, a Polisario official about Western Sahara. Also they're reporting that there's some obstruction to the Secretary-General's long-announced intention to visit Western Sahara. One, can you confirm that a meeting took place in Addis on the issue on this issue? And, if so, what's the readout? And, two, what is his current plan to travel or not to Western Sahara?



Deputy Spokesman: First of all, no, there I wouldn't have a readout of that meeting. But, second of all, the main point is that the Secretary-General is very firm in his intention to visit Western Sahara and the region. We do not have a precise announcement on dates to give you right now, but he does intend to do that, and we will announce it when we can.



But why DIDN'T the UN issues a read out of this meeting, like it did so many others? Note that Ban canceled his trip to Western Sahara on the off chance he could get to North Korea -- which failed.



Meanwhile, on January 29, the UN Spokesman threw Inner City Press out of the UN Press Briefing Room then on February 1 made this threat, here. This was echoed on February 2.



On December 8, the Security Council meeting scheduled right after Western Sahara, about Turkey and Iraq, drew the larger crowd.



This remained true afterward, when correspondents crowded around the ambassadors of Russia, Iraq and Turkey. Behind them, Inner City Press saw and Periscoped, France's Deputy Permanent Representative Alexis Lamek whispered with the Moroccan diplomats who'd waited at the stakeout, in what's called the Turkish Lounge.

The UN itself has to some degree dropped the ball. Inner City Press got confirmed, not from the UN, that Ban Ki-moon was slated to visit on November 25-27 but then canceled, so he could go to North Korea (which he ended up not doing). Priorities. It's worth noting, and we do, that Morocco invited Ban back in November. And now, with Ross? Watch this site.





After the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's envoy on Western Sahara Christopher Ross was quoted that Ban will travel there in early 2016, Ban's spokesman would not confirm it to Inner City Press. From the November 24 UN noon briefing, video here, transcript below.



On December 7, after UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq offered a canned answer on Western Sahara, Inner City Press asked why Ross hadn't gone there, and if Ban canceled a visit in November. Transcript here:



UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq: we provided the details of Christopher Ross recent visit to the region, where he visited Algeria, Morocco and Tindouf. The way that he proceeds with his travel, of course, is according to his own discretion, and we have defended and continue to defend his right to travel throughout, including to all of Western Sahara. There are some areas that he didn't visit this time around, but that, again, like I said, is at his discretion, and we will continue to insist upon his freedom to visit those areas.



Inner City Press: I wanted to follow up on the Western Sahara. Given that the Moroccan foreign minister was quoted publicly in EFE and there was a whole Security Council meeting basically about that quote, can you what does it mean that he didn't try to go? It seems to be kind of a concession that he couldn't go, as many people some people read it. And I wanted to ask you one separate question. You can answer them both at once. Can you confirm that the Secretary-General was, in fact, going to visit Western Sahara and had received Moroccan approval in November but, due to his own schedule, did not go?



Deputy Spokesman: First of all, on Christopher Ross, as I explained to Ali just now, we defend his right to visit throughout the territory all the places that are part of his mandate. This is a mandate, mind you, that was given to him by the Security Council, which also has defended his right to conduct his work in accordance with his mandate. In terms of the judgment calls that he makes as he goes about his travels, it's his own decisions as a professional diplomat to determine how to go about his schedule, but he knows, in doing that, that he is free to go where he is where he intends to, and that we support that. Regarding the Secretary-General, no, we don't have any plans to visit Western Sahara to announce on his behalf.



Inner City Press: And can Christopher Ross speak to the press after his briefing tomorrow? Can you at least ask him for that because there seems to be some confusion.



Deputy Spokesman: We'll certainly check. That's his choice, of course, but we'll check.



Back on November 24:



Inner City Press: I wanted to ask about Western Sahara. You gave the readout of Mr. Ross being in Algeria and on the move. You may have seen it. Theres a report by EFE from Algiers saying Christopher Ross confirmed on Tuesday that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will visit the territory in the coming months in an attempt to give impetus to the peace process. So I know that youve said I mean, he is Mr. Ross. He is the envoy.



Spokesman: He is Mr. Ross.



Inner City Press: Was he misquoted?



Spokesman: I dont know if hes misquoted. But what I can tell you is that any travel by the Secretary-General is confirmed from this podium in a statement, and thats what I would say.



On November 18, nine days after Inner City Press asked the UN Spokesman about Morocco's foreign minister saying UN envoy Christoper Ross couldn't or shouldn't visit the desert areas of Western Sahara, the UN Security Council finally met about it.



InnerCityPro.com was the first to report it, mid-afternoon on November 18, as four Moroccan diplomats huddled outside the Security Council consultations, click here for that.



When the Security Council's President for November Matthew Rycroft of the UK emerged with a "Press Element" about the Security Council supporting Ross, and after a question which did not provide any insight into what the Council was saying, Inner City Press asked Rycroft to confirm that the Moroccan minister's comments, that Ross can't visit, had been raised in the Council.



Yes, he said, and the result is the statement of support for Ross.



Inner City Press understands that Security Council member Venezuela raised the issue, stating that waiting for Ross' briefing in two or three weeks was not good enough. (Angola's Permanent Representative, it was pointed out, was in Washington DC with his minister.)



Speaking for Morocco, Inner City Press is informed, was not its main sponsor France -- they like to not be seen in this role, instead using their "implicit" veto, here -- but rather Jordan. Has Jordan been active on the Western Sahara issue? Or is this a question of Kingdoms?



Even supports of Morocco - and Inner City Press does speak with them -- have said Morocco's current foreign minister is "not the brightest bulb," as one of them put it.



The UN has been charged with holding a referendum in Western Sahara, but has yet to do it. In October, when there is usually a Security Council briefing about Western Sahara, there was none.



Inner City Press was told it was because UN Envoy Christopher Ross was "in the region." Other sources tell Inner City Press the King of Morocco declined to meet with Ross, preferring to wait out the UN, or at least under the next Secretary General (and next US President).



Still other sources told Inner City Press the King would travel to Western Sahara on November 6; they call it a provocation. Inner City Press asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric about it; he said he might have something later.



After the King did visit Western Sahara, and as summarized rejected ceding anything toward a referendum; Ban Ki-moon said... nothing.



On November 9, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman:



Inner City Press: the foreign minister of Morocco, Salaheddine Mezouar, told EFE that Mr. Ross cannot visit the, quote, desert regions of Western Sahara by order of the Moroccan Government. So is he going to? I guess I want to ask you to tailor this generic statement to the foreign minister saying [cross talk]



Spokesman Stephane Dujarric: What I'm saying what I said to Ali, which I will repeat, is that, while he has no immediate plans to visit Western Sahara, he has a right to do so, and that right should not be open to question, whether it's the scope of Mr. Ross' work and his range of activities are set forth by the relevant Security Council resolutions and the Secretary-General.



Inner City Press: Right. So I guess what I'm just saying is, was this statement that you're reading, this is you're aware of this Moroccan foreign minister statement?



Spokesman: You've asked me a question. I've answered it.



Inner City Press: Okay.



Spokesman: My answer is a direct response to the question you've asked.



Before the King's trip, wwhen Ban Ki-moon was touring a photo exhibition in the same UN lobby where now indicted Ng Lap Seng sponsored events (even Wednesday night there was another, trying to sell seats at Ban's table at a Wall Street event in December for $6,000), the UN issued a statement.



On November 5, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Dujarric, video here, UN transcript here:



Inner City Press: On the Western Sahara statement yesterday, two questions. Is the Secretary-General aware of a plan by the King of Morocco to actually visit Western Sahara on 6 November, which many people, some people call it a provocation, some people say it's totally within his rights but?



Spokesman: I've seen those press reports.



Inner City Press: Is the statement in some way related to that? What's his message to the King of Morocco in terms of actually going?



Spokesman: I think the message to the, the message to the parties, I think, is very much in the message. It's not a statement to the King of Morocco or to the Front Polisario. It's a message to the partiers to mark the sombre anniversary of 40 years of unresolved conflict.



Inner City Press: But is a visit by the king at this time helpful to what the statement is trying-- ?



Spokesman: I think we'll we may have more to say on that later.



Inner City Press: Okay. And also on this, is it true that Mr. Ross, in the course of his journeys, has been unable to meet with the King of Morocco?



Spokesman: I don't know. I will see when his last time was.





On October 9 when the UN's Fourth Committee took up the question of Western Sahara," the first order of business was a procedural fight about who could testify, on what request and on what topic. The speakers, over several rounds, were Morocco and Senegal on the one hand, Algeria and Uganda on the other.



Uganda, when on the Security Council and otherwise, believes there should be a referendum on independence in Western Sahara; Senegal apparently does not.

Inner City Press ran to cover the dispute, but UN Security said it couldn't enter through the main entrance to Conference Room 4, but to enter the gallery through the UN lobby. But that gallery door was locked. Finally from a media booth about the Conference Room, Inner City Press filmed and tweeted as Moroccan diplomats worked the room, running over to speak with Cote d'Ivoire for example.

After it was resolved - the witness would speak, but should focus on Western Sahara - two countries got up and left: Burundi and Burkina Faso. They had apparently come to support Morocco, or France. They left before the first speaker on Western Sahara (who in his first line called it Moroccan Sahara). There will be more sessions: watch this site.

There was also testimony about French nuclear tests in French Polynesia, New Caledonia and several rounds between Spain and the UK about Gibraltar: is it or is it not a tax haven? The room was emptying out. This will be continued.



In advance of the Western Sahara session in the UN's Fourth Committee, SADR Foreign Minister Ould Salak spoke and took questions at Independent Diplomat on 20th Street in Manhattan on October 8. In his opening he said France uses it veto on the UN Security Council to block human rights monitoring. Inner City Press asked him about the denial of that by France and its previous Ambassador to the UN, now to Washington. Ould Salak replied that France uses the Group of Friends -- the P5 minus China but plus Spain -- so it doesn't have to openly use its veto.

This puts France's veto restraint proposals in a different light - but we'll have more on that in a separate story. In this piece, written at ID on 20th Street, we note that Carne Ross called it the Group of Enemies of Western Sahara, and the worst form of diplomacy.

AFP asked if Ban is going to Western Sahara -- seems Morocco is blocking it (with Ban Ki-moon, it doesn't take much); a Spanish journalists asked about the role of Spain, on which he hope to have more. The Security Council was meeting about Haiti, with its own colonial history. We'll have more on this.



The UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara, MINURSO, which has yet to hold any referendum, was unanimously "renewed" for a year back on April 28, 2015 by the UN Security Council. Inner City Press published Explanation(s) of Vote, below.

On September 25 when UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met with Spain's King Felipe VI, the UN said Ban "emphasized the need for a renewed push to resolve the situation in Western Sahara." Full readout below. Ban also raised Western Sahara with the President of Mauritania. The word "human rights" was not in either read-out. Here's Spain:



"The Secretary-General met today with H.M. King Felipe VI of Spain. They discussed a number of global challenges, including sustainable development and climate change.The Secretary-General thanked Spain for its support for the UNs efforts in Libya. He also commended Spain for its role in the Security Council. Finally, the Secretary-General emphasized the need for a renewed push to resolve the situation in Western Sahara."



There was some "pool" color, concluding that "speaking in English, but hardly audible, Ban and the Spanish King mentioned the 70th anniversary of the United Nations. Felipe VI was wearing today a lapel pin with the logo of the event. "



And here's Mauritania:



"The Secretary-General met today with H.E. Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, President of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. The Secretary-General expressed appreciation for the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals and requested Mauritanias active support in implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.



"The SecretaryGeneral and President Abdel Aziz discussed the security and humanitarian situation in the Sahel and the need to enhance regional cooperation to address terrorism, displacement, migration and illegal trafficking. The Secretary-General stressed the urgency of resolving the question of Western Sahara and thanked Mauritania for its continued support to the mediation process. [He also commended Mauritanias efforts to promote an inclusive political dialogue in Niger.]"



And on human rights monitoring? And on Anders Kompass?

Update: the bracketed final line was removed two hours later by the UN.



Back in April, Venezuela said human rights monitoring should have been included, and the African Union should have been allowed to address the Council. Angola, citing Chad and Nigeria as well, echoed this.



Afterward Inner City Press asked Moroccan Permanent Representative Omar Hilale a series of questions: about what Venezuela said, about the African Union, injured protesters, and why Frente Polisario couldn't speak at the same microphone.



Hilale asked if Venezuela was the right country to speak of human rights. Here now is Inner City Press' transcription of Venezuela's explanation of vote:



"The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has voted in favor of the resolution renewing the mandate of MINURSO. MINURSO, as we are convinced of its important role in supervising the cease fire, reducing the threat of unexploded ordnance and mines, fostering confidence building measures between the parties in order to bring about the referendum, that is in step with the primary mandate in step with Resolution 690 of 1991. These efforts and the facilitation and the efforts deployed by the Secretary General are aimed at bringing about an agreement between the parties. MINURSO, to support this, must continue to provide its support to a series of assistance programs aimed at addressing the difficult situation faced by the Sahrawi families that are separated, in many cases, also breathing a new life into direct negotiations between the Polisario Front and Morocco.



"However, we wish to express certain concerns over the procedure used in the drafting of the resolution we have adopted. We are presented a text that was previously agreed upon by the Group of Friends of Western Sahara, which did not address the legitimate concerns and proposals that were made by numerous countries that are interested in this issue, Venezuela among them. These proposals were aimed at strengthening the role of MINURSO and the promotion and protection of human rights of the population in the Western Sahara, bearing in mind the recommendations made by the Secretary General in his report and the features of all the UN missions. It is necessary, then, that the future negotiation processes on the matter before us sees an improvement in the working methods with the aim of helping to bring about a broad discussion that is inclusive and transparent.



"In the context of the proposals made, the amendment that sought to increase the regularity of the review of the topic by the Council was not taken on board. There is also one aimed at reaffirming the responsibilities of this body in bringing about a fair and lasting solution to the situation in Western Sahara, through the holding of a referendum on self determination, that would allow for a process of decolonization, a situation that has has lasted for more than four decades. It is essential that we ensure the implementation of resolution 690 of 1991, which set forth for, provided for the holding of the referendum.



"We are concerned that without a referendum, the process of colonizing Western Sahara will continue including the deterioration of human rights for the Sahrawi people and the illegal exploitation of their natural resources, all of this to the detriment of stability and peace in the region. Further, we lament that the consultations held on this topic were not proceeded by an open meeting in which we could ensure the participation of the special envoy of the African Union for Western Sahara, the former president Joaquim Chissano.



"In the light of the request from that regional organization which, together with the United Nations, is facilitating the negotiation process between the parties, it is a paradox that there is exclusion from the dialogues in this body of a strategic UN ally in the efforts to find solutions to conflicts that affect peace and security in the African continent. We hope that the Council can correct this omission in the short term.



"To conclude, we should like to reiterate the responsibility that this Council has in working with resolve toward a fair and lasting solution to the colonial situation endured by the Sahrawi people, solving it with a move towards self determination in including the option of independence pursuant to international law and working, with resolve, towards a fair and lasting solution according to to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter."



And from China, as transcribed by Inner City Press:



"Thank you Madam President. China supports the extension of the mandate of the UN mission for the referendum of Western Sahara and hopes that the mission will continue to play a constructive role in stabilizing the situation in Western Sahara and assisting the implementation of confidence building measures.



Chinas position on the question of Western Sahara is consistent and remains unchanged. Based on the above, China has voted in favor of Resolution 2118, adopted by the Council just now.

China knows that some Council members have concerns about the resolution. While the council members were having consultations on this resolution there should have been more time arranged for it, and there should have been more patience, so as to listen extensively to different opinions, and through more sufficient consultations seek a maximum consensus and get the widest support. I thank you."



UNlike China, Morocco's Hilale called the African Union "toxic" on this issue, saying that having made up it mind the AU should not address the Council.



Inner City Press asked how this is different, say, from the European Union addressing the Council about Kosovo. (Hilale said every situation is different: the old "sui generis").



Inner City Press asked why Polisario couldn't speak at the UNSC stakeout where, for example, private citizen Hilary Clinton recently did. Hilale said Hilary Clinton is with a member state. But so are a lot of people.


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Wheat Bounced on Thursday Barchart - Thu Oct 20, 4:26PM CDT Thursday wheat futures bounced back to mitigate some of early week weakness. CBT SRW futures closed 8 to 13 cents higher in the front months. For December, that has the contract sitting at a net 10 1/2... ZWZ22 : 847-4 (-0.21%) ZWH23 : 866-6 (-0.14%) ZWPAES.CM : 7.8348 (+0.99%) KEZ22 : 948-4 (-0.13%) KEPAWS.CM : 9.0728 (+0.90%) MWZ22 : 963-0 (unch)

Hog Futures End Firm on Thursday Barchart - Thu Oct 20, 4:26PM CDT Following 4 consecutive up days, December hogs cooled off with a 35 cent pullback on Thursday. Dec has seen 8 green candles of the past 12 sessions for a net $12.60 gain since 10/4. The other front months... HEZ22 : 87.025s (-0.40%) HEJ23 : 93.125s (+0.40%) KMZ22 : 96.875s (unch)

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Double Digit Gains in Bean Market Barchart - Thu Oct 20, 4:26PM CDT Soybean futures bounced on Thursday with double digit gains taking the back months back above $14. November closed 19 cents higher on the day, eating at some of the carry, but still ended 8 1/2 cents under... ZSX22 : 1390-4 (-0.07%) ZSPAUS.CM : 13.4631 (+1.50%) ZSF23 : 1398-2 (-0.13%) ZSH23 : 1405-6 (-0.14%)
These are promising times for the YMCA. Amid a new national conversation about ensuring opportunity for all, the Y's mission of youth and community development suddenly seems more relevant than ever. The Y has lately been seizing the moment with its first-ever TV advertising campaign, trying to clearly brand itself as an organization focused on helping people. When communities are forgotten, the Y remembers," says the tag line for one of its ads.

Lots of people know and like the Y, Kevin Washington, the president of the YMCA USA, told the New York Times last month. But they see it as a gym and swim place. Were also a charity, and that is the missing ingredient. We want people to realize that were deserving of their charitable donations.

As for those donations, we were curious at Inside Philanthropy to learn how a massive 161-year-old nonprofit with 22 million active members in 10,000 communities pulls in the moneyand how it's capitalizing on the opportunities of the moment. Donna Bembenek, vice president of marketing communications at the YMCA USA, gave us the rundown.

The Ys total revenue in 2014 totaled $6.6 billion. Of this, 37.1 percent came from membership dues. The Y also generates revenue with its programs but these, along with memberships, are subsidized for the needy. So if a young person and the family cannot otherwise be able to support overnight camp there are program scholarships that allow a child to go to camp, Bembenek said.

The Y does its best to eliminate the stigma associated with kids using a different ticket to accept subsidized school lunches or using EBT cards to pay for groceries. Nobody knows. Everybody gets the same membership card. Every kid who goes to camp stays in the same cabins. The kids can just be regular kids at the Y. its a place for the community to come together, Bembenek said. So their personalities are able to grow and be fostered through these programs. We make sure no child gets turned away.

The Y doesnt limit its attention to children and youth. For example, it is also pioneering anti-diabetes programs for adults, and also opens its doors to programs for senior citizens.

Grants are essential to the Ys functioning. The top three foundation backers are the Walmart Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the JPB Foundation. Some of this money is part of specific initiatives. For example, we wrote recently about how RWJF gave a $12 million grant to the Y as part of a 10-year partnership to foster a "Culture of Health."

Related: Which Big National Players Are Joining Forces to Make a Local Health Impact?

We should also mention that many local YMCAs have active fundraising programs, and some have pulled in serious grant money on their own. For example, in 2014, the YMCA of Southlake, in Crown Point Indiana, received a $14 million gift from the Dean & Barbara White Family Foundation.

Meanwhile, the Y also gets money from government grants, Bembenek said, which is the case for many giant nonprofits engaged in human services. As the nation's sixth-largest charity, the Y is often a logical choice for public-private partnerships. In 2010, First Lady Michelle Obama chose the Y as to launch her Lets Move campaign against childhood obesity, a confirmation of the regard in which the Y is held in the highest tiers of government.

Bembenek oversees membership strategy development, marketing communications, financial development and sponsorships for the national Y. She's been spearheading that national ad campaign, which is called for For a better us." The campaign emphasizes the many different ways that the Y addresses social problems by enriching individuals, children, and families through safe spaces, mentorship, education, meal programs, and the swimming program.

The Y USAs online campaign has partnered with The New York Times, Peel, YouTube, Twitter and others to place online banners next to relevant news stories that promote the Y programs that meet the challenges highlighted by the accompanying news items. The ads are slated to run through 2018.

Will this blitz bring in new donors? It's still too early to say.

Meanwhile, the Y has identified sponsorship as a growing strategic priority, Bembenek said. And it is taking a more expansive view of how such partnerships might work, with Bembenek explaining they "might include more consumer activation or more marketing elements than you might find in traditional philanthropy." Bembenek stresses funds and in-kind support that the Y raises nationally are used to increase "the capacity of local Ys to do the work of programs in communities that help the most vulnerable.

All in all, it's an interesting moment for the Y, as it works to more closely associate itself with today's growing fight for equity and opportunity. This is just one of many times that the organization has reinvented or respositioned itself during its remarkably long history.

For other nonprofits, Bembenek offers this advice, Have a very clear understanding of your mission. Have a very clear understanding of the outcomes youre driving so that you can measure those outcomes based on the needs of a community. Then make sure you honor the donor youre working with and that youre investing those dollars efficiently and effectively.
Michael A. Mele, senior vice president of investments in the Tampa, Fla., office of commercial-property investment firm Marcus & Millichap and senior director of the companys National Self Storage Group, has been named the 2015 top broker in the Tampa office and second throughout the firms Florida offices. Mele ranked ninth out of more than 1,500 agents companywide and was first in self-storage transactions, according to a company press release.

Last year marked a series of company milestones for Mele, who joined Marcus & Millichap in May 1999. In May, he qualified for the firms National Achievement Award, and in June, he earned its Platinum National Achievement designation. He was elected to the Chairmans Club in July, and in September was inducted into the Chairmans Circle of Excellence, the firms highest honor. The group consists of 23 top agents, and Mele was the only self-storage agent selected, the release stated.

Mele heads The Mele Group of Marcus & Millichap, the companys top self-storage advisory team. The group provides advisory and brokerage services to individual property owners and has represented publicly traded and non-traded real estate investment trusts as well as private-institutional level funds and firms, according to the release. In 2015, The Mele Group closed 47 self-storage transactions in 11 states tallying more than $280 million in sales volume.

Marcus & Millichap is a commercial-property investment firm with more than 1,500 investment professionals in offices throughout the United States and Canada. The company closed more than 7,600 transactions in 2014 with a value of approximately $33.1 billion.
In the Year of the Monkey, cash-filled envelopes to officials have given way to cakes and fruit  some stuffed with gold or jewels.

Cities across China have gotten so congested recently that urban dwellers who usually drive are taking public transit or walking. Its no wonder: Chinese New Year is here.

The Chinese people go on the move every year when this holiday comes around, and this year is no exception. For the Year of Monkey, which began on Sunday and ends Saturday, more than 200 million migrant workers will return to their home villages, while their bosses  business executives  will be busy giving gifts to their customers and political patrons. That tradition remains alive and well, albeit with a few twists.

Until recently, cars would pour into Beijing from the provinces with executives bearing cash to grease the palms of senior officials, whose control of licenses determines what business gets done. But since President Xi Jinping announced his anticorruption campaign in late 2012, cash presents have given way to the likes of candy and flower baskets.

Gift giving is part of the Chinese New Year tradition, says a businessman who asked not to be identified beyond his last name, Wang. I use to give away red packets filled with wads of cash in the past, but in the past year or two, I just give fruit baskets.

Since the anticorruption campaign got under way in earnest in 2013, tens of thousands of officials have faced punishment, and a few have even been executed for taking bribes. Officials are so afraid of taking money from private sector friends that theyve cut back almost all social activities that may present opportunities where money under the table can be arranged, Wang continues.

They have good reason to be wary. Last year the government snared a number of so-called tigers  officials at the vice-ministerial level or above  as part of its crackdown. Zhou Yongkang, the countrys former security chief, was sentenced to life in prison last June, while Ling Jihua, a former top aide of Xis predecessor, Hu Jintao, is awaiting trial. The anticorruption campaign has depressed Chinese sales of luxury goods, common gift items in the past, and caused a dramatic decline in gambling revenue in Macau.

The pressures seems unlikely to abate any time soon, as Xi has called for 2016 to be a year when nobody dares to be corrupt.

Nevertheless, anecdotal evidence suggests that corruption  though down dramatically  continues. Some gift basket shops are resorting to creative ways to help their customers please their friends in government, even as officials are more reluctant than ever to take bribes.

For example, there is talk that jewelers have teamed up with some cake shops to sell baked goods stuffed with gold ingots, and with fruit shops that jam gems into oranges.

Officials may not openly take money any more, but they cant refuse fruit baskets stuffed with gold, says Wang, who added that although he did not give such expensive gifts, a few of his friends have done so. China is a one-party state, and power is concentrated in the hands of officials, he says. The only way to win officials hearts is to put wealth into their pockets.

If Wang and his friends are any indication of the gift-giving trend this Chinese New Year, it is clear that corruption continues to thrive in China  even as President Xi intensifies his crackdown.

Follow Allen Cheng on Twitter at @acheng87.
Expect longer and more severe bushfire seasons due to climate change caused by carbon and other greenhouse gas pollution.Thats the stern warning by the Climate Institute as new studies show that southern parts of Australia are already becoming hotter and dryer.We have brought together the most recent research undertaken by various bodies and scientists about factors influencing the bushfire season in Australia, said Climate Institute CEO John Connor.It is showing that bushfire risk is increasing in bushfire-prone parts of Australia  generally, the south-east and south-west  and that climate change caused by human activity is a significant factor in the environmental changes that are creating these conditions, he added.Connor said the economic cost of bushfire and other natural disasters related to climate change is expected to soar from $6 billion per year in 2012 to over $23 billion per year in 2050.Add in the effects of climate change and it becomes truly alarming, he said.Connor cited the studies by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) which found a significant increase in the occurrence and severity of bushfire weather in over 42 percent of the parts of southern Australia measured since 1973.Based on the studies, Connor said, the number of fire days considered above very high is expected to rise by 120 percent in Tasmania. In Western Australia, the number of annual severe fire danger weather days would double by 2090.Victoria may also suffer a Black Saturday level bushfire once every three years if the world fails to curb climate change, Connor warned.Findings by researchers in each of the southern states are all showing that fire weather officially categorized as very high, extreme and catastrophic is on the increase and will become more and more frequent as we move into the future, he said.Connor also pointed out that the Met Office and the University of East Anglias Climatic Research Unit in the U.K. had declared 2015 as the hottest year on record.Australias Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO also reported that eight out of the 10 hottest years in the country have taken place since 2002, with 2013 being the hottest and 2015 the fifth hottest.
The CEO of Lloyds of London has said that the insurance industry worldwide urgently needs to attract the skills and talent of Millenials in order to secure its future. Only those businesses that can adapt and change with times will survive, Inga Beale said.Speaking in support of Insurance Careers Month, Beale said that the pace of change is happening ten times faster than the industrial revolution, and that the digital revolution taking place right now is going to have 300 times the impact that the industrial revolution did over 150 years ago.During my 30 year career in the insurance industry Ive seen the world transform at an unprecedented pace, Beale said. The pace of change right now means we need the best and brightest talent to join us to keep us modern, to cope with the innovation and technological capabilities that we all need to equip ourselves with.The Lloyds chief said digital natives are living in a different world to what the ageing insurance industry is used to.Theyre multi-screening and adapting to new technologies that are quite foreign to someone like me, she said. We want to engage, encourage and excite those young people to come and join the insurance sector in order to secure our future. Its only the business that can adapt and change with the times that will become successful.The insurance industry currently employs 2.5 million workers and nearly 400,000 new jobs will be added by 2020. But the number of insurance professionals aged 55 and older has increased 74% in the past ten years according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and AARP and the NACE Recruiting Benchmarks Survey. Insurance Careers Month aims to put a younger face on the industry through the recruitment of Millennials.
The Aon Benfield Scholarship, awarded by the international brokerage and the Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance ( ANZIIF ) is open for applications.The scholarship recognises outstanding insurance professionals across Australia and New Zealand and is open to residents or citizens of either country with at least two years experience working in insurance or reinsurance.The winner will jet off to London to attend the 51annual Aon Benfield global Clients Reinsurance Seminar in June 2016.This scholarship offers insurance professionals the opportunity to explore, analyse and discuss issues that are complex but significant to our industry, Robert De Souza, president APAC/CEO Australia and New Zealand Aon Benfield, and Chair of the judging panel said.It is the contribution to discourse that keeps insurance moving forward, and I look forward to seeing what this years submissions have to offer the industry.To apply for the scholarship, applicants are required to write a 2,500 word essay discussing whether the insurance industry can really unlock big data and what this means for insurability.CEO of ANZIIF and scholarship judge, Prue Willsford , said that she is looking forward to reading submissions based around such an interesting and front-of-mind topic.We anticipate the submissions for this year will inspire excellent discussion and debate, Willsford said.Attending the Aon Benfield Global Clients Reinsurance Seminar is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and one that we know winners benefit from greatly.Applications close at 5:00pm (AEST) on Tuesday 12 April 2016, for more information and a copy of the application form visit the ANZIIF website
Clients to significantly benefit from deal, insurance boss says
A 10-person jury in Boston on Wednesday rejected the claims made by a class of currently healthy Marlboro smokers in Massachusetts who wanted Philip Morris USA to pay for annual chest scans.

Altria Client Services senior vice president and associate general counsel, Murray Garnick, said in a statement that Todays unanimous verdict again demonstrates that these types of medical monitoring claims are meritless. The jury soundly rejected that Marlboro cigarettes are defectively designed. Philip Morris is a unit of Altria Group Inc.

Garnick said this was the third case of its kind to go to trial. Two other similar trials took place in Louisiana and West Virginia in the early 2000s, and in each the jury ruled in favor of Philip Morris.

Philip Morris said further proceedings are expected in the district court following the jurys verdict. The company said the judge presiding over the case has determined that she will decide whether there was a violation of Massachusetts consumer protection act.

This class-action lawsuit was originally filed in 2006.

Smokers in the lawsuit alleged Philip Morris manufactured a defective cigarette knowing it could have made a safer product with fewer carcinogens.

Philip Morris attorneys said cigarette buyers know the hazards of smoking and that the product isnt defective.

The case is Donovan v. Philip Morris USA, Inc., case number 1:06-cv-12234, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts (Boston).

Related:

Topics Massachusetts
Mapfre SA, Spains largest insurer, cut its annual dividend and posted a 32 percent drop in quarterly net profit as income from premiums fell. The shares fell [on Feb. 10] to the lowest since August 2012.

The Madrid-based insurer proposed a dividend of 0.13 euros a share for 2015, down from 0.14 euros a year earlier, according to a regulatory filing on Wednesday. Fourth-quarter net profit fell to 117.5 million euros ($132 million) from 172.3 million euros, after provisions rose and profit declined in its two biggest markets, Mapfre said in the statement.

The shares dropped as much as 4.7 percent and were down 2.1 percent at 1.75 euros at 9:54 a.m. in Madrid trading. They have fallen 24 percent this year.

Mapfres Chairman Antonio Huertas wants to improve the insurers efficiency and profitability by exiting some businesses, increasing prices and raising provisions in units including its domestic Spanish market. The insurer has been hit by the fall in value of the Brazilian real and its unit there, the companys second largest, posted a 47 percent decline in net profit in the three months through December from a year earlier.

Net profit in Mapfres main market of Iberia, which includes Spain and Portugal, dropped 20 percent to 78.6 million euros in the same period. Total premiums across the company dropped 7.4 percent to 4.97 billion euros.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics Profit Loss
A UK exit from the European Union will create a rarely experienced level of uncertainty for Lloyds, the London market as well as the UK and other European economies, according to Sean McGovern, Lloyds chief risk officer and general counsel.

McGovern discussed the implications of a possible UK exit from the EU  or Brexit  on the London insurance market and Lloyds during a speech this week at the Insurance Institute of London. A UK referendum to vote on Brexit could be held as early as June.

He predicted that a vote to leave the EU will create very real risks and uncertainties that we must be prepared for.

The UKs membership of the EU has been part of the success story of the London market, which currently is the largest global hub for commercial and specialty risk, he said, noting that it controls more than 60 billion ($86.1 billion) of gross written premium.

It is a diverse market made of up over 350 firms contributing over 20 percent of the citys GDP and employing 48,000, he explained.

McGovern said that continued EU membership will be key to our future growth and development as we deal with competition from other insurance centers around the world.

He discussed the benefits of EU membership, which EU confers three important benefits for Lloyds and the London market:

It provides the market with access to the single EU market,

It encourages foreign direct investment, and

It facilitates trade with countries outside the EU.

These benefits are, in my view, critical to the success of the London insurance market and its position as the worlds largest specialist insurance and reinsurance center, he said.

Single Market

The most important of these benefits is the single market, which benefits the whole London market as well as Lloyds, he stressed, adding, however, that we take the existence of the European single market for granted.

He let the numbers demonstrate the power of the EUs single market. With more than 500 million people, the EU is the worlds largest insurance market with a market share of nearly 33 percent and total insurance premiums of nearly 1.4 trillion euros [$1.6 trillion], he said.

Access to this huge insurance market on Londons doorstep is clearly a matter of some significance to the London insurance market. We would conservatively estimate that the London insurance market writes 6 billion [$8.6 billion] of premium income from the EU, McGovern noted.

The single insurance market and its passport system allows UK-based companies to establish branches in other member states and still be regulated solely in the UK, he indicated.

The advantage of this system is that underwriters are not required to localize any funds in other EU jurisdictions to meet liabilities, nor do they have to make local financial reports to other EU supervisors under EU law.

Lloyds underwriters are able to write insurance and reinsurance from all of the other 27 member states on a cross-border basis and also locally in those countries in which we have branches.

Therefore, he emphasized, the EU single market allows for efficient deployment of capital

Overall this model is, in many ways, the optimal international regulatory regime for Lloyds and other London market firms, he added. Indeed, we wish that countries outside of the EU placed the same degree of reliance on our home state prudential supervision as EU member states are required to do.

The benefits of the single market are also important for non-Lloyds companies. He pointed to the membership of the International Underwriting Association, which is the organization that represents non-Lloyds international and wholesale re/insurance companies operating in the London market.

Of the IUAs 50 members, McGovern said, just four are UK entities. Twelve are branches of EU insurers, 35 are subsidiaries of groups headquartered in third countries and nine are branches of third-country insurers.

He said the single insurance market also benefits brokers because they can operate throughout the EU on the basis of home state passports and exclusive home state prudential supervision.

In short, the single market is vital to Londons ability to service its global client, McGovern affirmed.

Ramifications of Brexit

McGovern explained that Brexit would mean a period of considerable uncertainty for the UK, citing the example of Greenland, which voted to leave the EU in 1979, because of a single issue: fishing rights.

Negotiations on that single issue dragged on for six years before agreement was reached, and Greenland left the EU in 1985, he said.

I venture to suggest that the UK and the EU would have a rather larger number of very significant economic and other questions to resolve in the course of any withdrawal process. This makes the timing of an eventual exit impossible to predict, McGovern said.

He warned that a vote to leave would fuel European financial markets turmoil and possibly create turbulence in global financial markets.

Uncertainty around the timescale of the negotiations between the UK Government and the EU would put Britain in a limbo, making it less attractive to foreign investors.

Contingency Planning

McGovern said he is leading a team that is developing contingency plans to deal with a range of possible scenarios should Brexit occur.

The objective is to ensure that Lloyds can continue to provide our market with access to the EU, he said. While there will be more work to do in the event of a vote to leave, we are confident that this objective can be achieved and that we will be able to provide ways to allow business to continue to be written on both a cross-border and a branch basis.

For those companies that use the Lloyds platform to access European markets, McGovern said he was confident that we will be able to find a way through the uncertainty.

This will allow business to continue to flow to London but will also continue to offer the opportunity to write business in local markets under the Lloyds structure. But we should not kid ourselves  the London markets access to the EU will not be as good as the access we currently enjoy.

Related:

Topics Excess Surplus Europe Lloyd's Market London
A recently released study shows the positive contributions insurance industry brings to Michigans economy.

The report  Economic Footprint of Michigans Insurance Industry  by Anderson Economic Group shows the insurance sector as a whole provides an annual $37.1 billion in spending, 114,000 jobs, and $6.3 billion in earnings throughout Michigan. Multiple large insurance providers are headquartered in Michigan, adding tremendous value to the states economy.

The reports authors say it shows a burgeoning need for fresh talent, promising continuing growth down the road.

Highlights of the report include:

The industrys $37.1 billion in spending, which includes direct and indirect economic output, jobs and earnings.

Provider creation of 114,000 jobs, leading to $6.3 billion in earnings throughout Michigan. In particular, the sector is employing a growing number of high-tech, IT jobs in Michigan with more than 7,000 IT professionals in the sector across the state.

The insurance sector pays more than $500 million in state and local taxes. These taxes include income and property assessments, as well as a special tax on all premiums written in Michigan. In addition, some companies reported paying another $13 million in other state taxes.

The insurance industry invests more than $1 billion in Michigan companies, local government bonds, and real estate. These investments help pay for critical infrastructure and development across the state.

The industry contributed more than $44 million to Michigan charitable organizations in 2014. Whats more, company employees volunteered more than 63,000 hours at company-sponsored charity activities.

In the most basic sense, insurance companies help Michigan residents and businesses manage their risk and prepare for retirement, said Alex Rosaen, director of Anderson Economic Group, who authored the report. What is often less evident is the substantial impact the sector plays in Michigans overall economic development. To say it simply, the industrys economic footprint in Michigan is significant and important.

The Economic Footprint of Michigans Insurance Industry was prepared by Anderson Economic Group and commissioned by the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Lansing Economic Area Partnership, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, the Life Insurance Association of Michigan, the Insurance Institute of Michigan, the Michigan Insurance Coalition, the Michigan Association of Insurance Agents, and the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors  Michigan.

The full report is available at andersoneconomicgroup.com.

Topics Michigan Market
A U.S. lawyer defending the governments decision to designate MetLife Inc. a threat to the American economy if it were to falter was questioned sharply by a federal judge who was asked by the company to remove the label.

The nations biggest life insurance company is one of four companies tagged as a systemically important financial institution by the Financial Stability Oversight Council. The designation means it may be subject to tougher capital and leverage requirements.

The agency on Wednesday asked U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer in Washington to throw out the insurers 2015 lawsuit, which contends the FSOC designation was arbitrary and unjustified. The suit by New York-based MetLife is the biggest challenge yet to the regulatory council led by Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew since its creation as part of the 2010 Dodd- Frank law meant to reduce the chances of future financial crises.

Collyer asked Justice Department lawyer Eric Beckenhauer why the FSOC seemed to proceed from the proposition that in a fiscal crisis, MetLife would be at the brink of collapse.

Assuming the Worst

Thats not risk analysis, she said. Thats assuming the worst of the worst of the worst.

Beckenhauer responded that its the nature of financial crises to be unanticipated.

He said the insurance company was asking her to override the considered judgment of the heads of nine major financial regulators.

Collyer also queried MetLife lawyer Eugene Scalia about the low bar set for FSOCs identification of potential threats to the financial system, noting that the threshold was merely that it could pose a threat, not that it did.

Scalia said his client isnt a financial institution that should be subject to FSOC and that, even if it were, the methods used by the council to arrive at its conclusions violated federal administrative procedure law and the companys right to due process.

Clouded in Mystery

The designation process, he said, was clouded in mystery.

MetLife has said the FSOC relied on unsubstantiated speculation and that the insurer poses no risk to the financial system. The three other nonbank financial companies designated by FSOC as systemically important are insurers American International Group Inc., Prudential Financial Inc. and General Electric Co.s finance unit.

GE, which is exiting most of its lending businesses, has said it will ask the FSOC to remove the systemically important label from GE Capital. MetLife is the only institution bearing the too-big-to-fail label to go to court over the determination.

The case is MetLife Inc. v. Financial Stability Oversight Council, 15-cv-00045, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics USA Legislation
Drivers overtaking bicyclists on Kentucky roads would have to leave at least 3 feet between their vehicle and the bicycle under a bill that cleared the state Senate.

The Kentucky Senate voted 33-4 to approve a bill that governs how drivers are to pass bicyclists. The bill also gives drivers permission to cross over onto the left side of the road to avoid a bicyclist, even if it is a no passing zone. The bill says the driver must first check to see that the left lane is not obstructed.

Four senators voted against the bill. Republican Sen. Paul Hornback of Shelbyville said it would encourage people to ride bicycles on state highways, which could cause accidents.

Bill sponsor Democratic state Sen. Robin Webb of Grayson said the bill would heighten awareness of bicyclists.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Kentucky Politics
Federal transportation officials might soon be looking into a Royal Caribbean cruise ship that ran into high winds and rough seas in the Atlantic Ocean last weekend.

Sen. Bill Nelson, D.-Fla., has called for the National Transportation Safety Board to investigate the voyage that forced frightened passengers into their cabins overnight Sunday as their belongings flew about, waves rose as high as 30 feet, and winds howled outside.

The thing about this storm was that it was forecast for days. So why in the world would a cruise ship with thousands of passengers go sailing right into it? Nelson said Monday on the Senate floor, according to a news release from his office.

The National Weather Services Ocean Prediction Center had issued an alert for a strong storm four days in advance, Susan Buchanan with the weather service said. The first warning was issued Saturday for possible hurricane-force winds in the area the ship was scheduled to sail through.

Royal Caribbean announced Monday that the ship was turning around and sailing back to its home port in New Jersey. No injuries were reported, and the ship suffered only minor damage.

I was shaking all over, passenger Shara Strand of New York City wrote to The Associated Press via Facebook on Monday. Panic attack, things like that.  Ive been on over 20 cruises, Ive been through a hurricane, it was never like this. Never.

Sixteen-year-old Gabriella Lairson says she and her father, Sam, could feel the ship, Anthem of the Seas, begin to sway by 2:30 p.m. Sunday. The captain directed passengers to their cabins. There, the Lairsons heard glasses shatter in the bathroom, and they put their belongings in drawers and closets to prevent them from flying across the room. They ventured to the balcony, where Sam Lairson shot video of wave after wave rising below.

The winds were so strong that I thought the phone would blow from my hands, Sam Lairson, of Ocean City, New Jersey, said in an email. After that we had to keep the doors to the balconies sealed.

The ship  with more than 4,500 guests and 1,600 crew members  sailed Saturday from Cape Liberty, New Jersey. It was scheduled to arrive for a stop at Port Canaveral, Florida, at noon Monday, then move on to other stops in the Caribbean. But Royal Caribbean said on its corporate Twitter account that the ship would turn around and sail back to Cape Liberty.

This decision was made for guests comfort due to weather forecasts that would continue to affect the ships itinerary, Royal Caribbean tweeted.

Guests will get a full refund and a certificate toward a future cruise. Passengers onboard buzzed happily about that news, Strand said.

Gabriella Lairson said that by early Monday morning, people were out and about on the ship, checking out the minor damage in some public areas.

Lairson praised the crew and captain. They did everything they could to make us feel comfortable, she wrote to the AP on Facebook. She said she and her father were a little disappointed the ship was turning around, but she called it the best thing for the safety of everyone.

Fellow passenger Jacob Ibrag agreed. I cant wait to get home and kiss the ground, said Ibrag, who saw water flowing down stairs and helped some people who were stuck in an elevator Sunday as he made his way to his cabin per the captains orders. The 25-year-old from Queens, New York, then stayed in his cabin until noon Monday, at one point filling his backpack with essentials in case of an evacuation.

Robert Huschka, the executive editor of the Detroit Free Press, was onboard and started tweeting when the inclement weather hit. He told USA Today that the ordeal was truly terrifying. He described the cruise director nervously giving updates, and he later posted photos of shattered glass panels on a pool deck.

But Huschka was among passengers who found a silver lining in the storm. On Monday, he posted: The good news? They never lost the Super Bowl signal. Perfect TV picture throughout storm!

Royal Caribbean gave guests free Internet access and a complimentary cocktail hour, spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez said in an email. Feeling better after the happy hour they just put on for the guests, Sam Lairson joked.

And despite her own worries, Strand said her daughter, 8-month-old Alexa, slept through the entire episode.

Associated Press writers Janelle Cogan in Atlanta and Tamara Lush in Tampa, Florida, contributed to this report.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Windstorm New Jersey
EPIC Insurance Brokers and Consultants has named Joshua Allen West region risk management loss control specialist.

Allen will be based in EPICs Concord, Calif. office and he will report to Marianne Schleicher, chief operating officer of the Bay area region.

Allen is responsible for providing safety management and loss control services to EPICs larger, more complex risk management clients.

Allen has more than10 years of safety and loss control experience. He comes from the Hartford.

EPIC is retail property/casualty and employee benefits insurance brokerage and consulting firm.

Topics Profit Loss
Eagan has more than 20 years experience in tax as well as being a business adviser for public and private companies.

He has experience in advising clients on M&A, tax due diligence, tax structuring, disposition planning, compliance, IRS audits, ASC740 reporting standards, and other international tax matters.

Before joining Alvarez & Marsal Taxand, Eagan was a partner at Ryan Sharkey were his client base ranged from public companies with international operations to privately held, high-growth government contractors and technology companies. Previous to that he led Beers & Cutlers tax department.

Stanley advises private equity funds, sovereign wealth funds, corporations and investment banking firms on their tax and corporate finance affairs, transactional deal structuring, due diligence, and finance structures.

Stanley has more than 18 years experience in international tax matters. Before joining Alvarez & Marsal Taxand he led the M&A tax group for PwC, while he has also worked with KPMGs Washington national tax practice.
Lemergenza surriscaldamento globale non si arresta. Lo rivela la Nasa (Ente Nazionale per le attivita Spaziali e Aeronautiche) lagenzia governativa civile responsabile del programma spaziale degli Stati Uniti dAmerica e della ricerca aerospaziale.

Secondo lEnte statunitense, infatti, nel 2016 la temperatura globale si e attestata a 1,1 gradi centigradi in piu rispetto al XIX secolo, vale a dire rispetto ai livelli preindustriali (il periodo iniziato a partire dal Settecento in Gran Bretagna e diffusosi nell800 in buona parte del mondo). Nel 2015, evidenzia la Nasa, era gia stata raggiunta la soglia di 1 grado.

Un colpo pesante per la comunita internazionale che, alla conferenza Onu di Parigi sul clima svoltasi nel dicembre 2015, si era impegnata a mantenere laumento del termometro al di sotto dei 2 gradi centigradi, e possibilmente entro un grado e mezzo, entro la fine del secolo. Ma, a inizio secolo, siamo gia a oltre un grado.

Le brutte notizie non finiscono qui. Se dal globale passiamo al locale, di questo passo lItalia risentira (entro il 2100) di un aumento di temperatura ben al di sopra dei due gradi preventivati.

Lo rivela il Wwf (World Wide Fund for Nature), lorganizzazione internazionale non governativa di protezione ambientale piu nota al mondo. Secondo lOng, i cambiamenti climatici in Italia saranno a dir poco preoccupanti. Le migliori e piu avanzate elaborazioni dellautorevole Centro Euromediteraneo per i Cambiamenti Climatici (Cmcc), indicano  nello scenario ritenuto piu probabile  un incremento della temperatura media in Italia pari a circa 3 gradi per la fine del secolo per lintero territorio nazionale.

Se si considera lultimo trentennio del XXI secolo (2071-2100)  scrive in un comunicato la ong ambientalista  laumento di temperatura giunge anche a circa 4 gradi nel nord-ovest della penisola italiana nel periodo estivo. Nello scenario peggiore, inoltre, laumento della temperatura media in Italia sara invece di circa 6 gradi entro la fine del secolo. Lurgenza dellazione anche nel nostro Paese e ormai e un obbligo civile e morale, conclude il World Wide Fund for Nature.

Emergenza caldo evidenziata anche dalla Coldiretti (Confederazione Nazionale Coltivatori Diretti), la maggiore associazione di rappresentanza e assistenza dellagricoltura italiana. Il 2016  evidenzia la confederazione sorta nel 44  si e classificato al quarto posto tra gli anni piu caldi di sempre, con una temperatura di 1,24 gradi superiore alla media del periodo. Per il calcolo, la Coldiretti si e basata sui dati del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (Cnr) che rilevano le temperature dal 1800. Nella classifica degli anni piu caldi dallinizio dellindustrializzazione  e percio dellinquinamento atmosferico su larga scala  ci sono, nellordine, 2015, 2014, 2003 e 2016. Seguono il triste elenco: il 2007, 2012, 2001, 1994, 2009, 2011 e, infine, il 2000.

Siamo di fronte agli effetti dei cambiamenti climatici  scrive Coldiretti  che si stanno manifestano con un pesante impatto sullagricoltura italiana, che negli ultimi dieci anni ha subito danni per 14 miliardi di euro. Si moltiplicano gli eventi estremi, sfasamenti stagionali e precipitazioni brevi, ma intense, e il repentino passaggio dal sereno al maltempo. Siccita e bombe dacqua con forti piogge a carattere alluvionale, ma anche gelate estreme e picchi di calore anomali si alternano lungo lanno e lungo tutta la Penisola. Anomalie che si evidenziano anche in questi giorni  conclude Coldiretti  con lItalia divisa in due, tra un nord dove e allarme incendi e siccita ed il centro sud che e seppellito dalla neve.
Henri e stato declassato a tempesta tropicale ma venti e piogge fanno paura. Allagamenti a New York e nel Connecticut, evacuato il Central Park

E stato declassato a tempesta tropicale luragano Henri. Tuttavia, la sua forza continua a far paura, tanto che lo Stato di New York ha dichiarato lo stato di emergenza. I venti hanno iniziato a spazzare anche le coste del Rhode Island, alimentando notevolmente il rischio di inondazioni. Henri ha portato sul litorale atlantico del nord degli Stati Uniti forti venti e piogge violente. Secondo il Centro nazionale per gli uragani, luragano avrebbe toccato terra nella citta costiera di Westerly, alle 12.30 locali, soffiando a 96 chilometri orari e provocando onde che hanno sfiorato i 6 metri. Lo stato di emergenza e stato esteso anche a Massachusetts, Connecticut e allo stesso Rhode Island, il primo degli Stati Uniti a confrontarsi direttamente con Henri. Mentre il Messico ha gia fatto i conti con la tempesta Grace, che ha provocato 9 morti.

Uragano Henri, evacuazioni in Connecticut

Al momento, sono oltre 40 milioni le persone potenzialmente in pericolo per luragano Henri. In alcune aree a rischio, le piogge cadono a ritmi serrati, raggiungendo anche i 7 centimetri lora. I picchi dei venti hanno toccato persino i 120 chilometri lora. La potenza si e comunque progressivamente ridotta, fino a indurre i meteorologi al declassamento di Henri a tempesta tropicale, scongiurando (almeno per ora) paragoni temibili con luragano Sandy del 2012. Del quale, inizialmente, anche Henri sembrava avere le potenzialita distruttive. Il principale rischio, a ora, sarebbe quello delle inondazioni. In Connecticut, migliaia di persone sono state evacuate, mentre a New York e stata sgomberata larea del Central Park, dove era in corso un importante concerto.

Emergenza a New York

Proprio nello Stato di New York, il governatore Andrew Cuomo ha mobilitato diverse centinaia di uomini della Guardia nazionale per rispondere allemergenza portata dalluragano. Alcune stazioni della metropolitana sono state gia soggette ad allagamento, cosi come diversi sottopassaggi dove lacqua ha intrappolato numerose auto. Interrotti i collegamenti ferroviari fra la Grande Mela e Boston, cosi come le linee da Manhattan a Long Island e al New England. Anche i voli hanno risentito dellemergenza: 28 voli sono stati cancellati allaeroporto internazionale JFK, cosi come negli altri scali cittadini.
No, that title is not a misprint. While everybody likes cheap energy and most economists believe that economic growth is predicated at least in part on cheap access to energy, it does not automatically follow that there is no good that can come from higher energy prices. Markets are made up of multiple independent agents and what constitutes a challenge for one can be an opportunity for others. (Learn a little more about the "non" part of this nonrenewable resource. Check out Peak Oil: Problems And Possibilities.)

TUTORIAL: Exchange-Traded Funds

1. Some Sectors Thrive It probably counts as obvious that there are sectors that thrive when oil prices march upward. High prices for oil fuel the same sort of process as in any other sector; suppliers look for ways to provide more of the product and take advantage of those higher prices. For energy, then, that means opportunities for companies involved in exploration (seismic survey, for instance), drilling, production and servicing.

Ultimately boom times in the energy sector filter into the economy. After all, a dollar in wages from an oil company spends the same at Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) as a dollar from a solar energy company. When oil prices are high, companies spend more on equipment, supplies, salaries and the like - money that enters the economy in much the same fashion as a boom in any other sector.

2. New Technologies Become Viable Cheap oil is problematic for companies and industries looking to supplant oil. While most people can agree that there are vague and nebulous costs associated with accessing and utilizing oil (pollution, for starters), the United States has been reticent to translate those costs into higher energy taxes. What's more, it is not clear that higher taxes on fossil fuels in Europe and much of Asia really do anything to mitigate environmental damage beyond reducing consumption. All in all, then, when oil prices are low it is very hard for cleaner energy technologies to compete effectively on price.

With higher oil prices, though, suddenly a lot of new ideas get a hearing. Increased fuel mileage for passenger cars seemed pointlessly expensive in the U.S. prior the 1970s energy crisis, and it likewise seems probable that hybrids today owe any acceptance outside of the environmental crowd to the high price of gasoline (the number one derivative of oil these days). Along similar lines, the path towards viable mass market all-electric cars is predicated on persistently high oil prices.

It is not just passenger vehicles where high oil prices lead to innovation. Quite a lot of plastics and other synthetic materials are derived from oil and higher prices ripple through the economy. With high oil prices, then, comes increased interest and R&D into non-oil alternative feedstocks for these materials.

This process has a lot of fringe benefits for the economy as a whole. Research into oil substitutes creates jobs for scientists and engineers. When successful, these efforts also result in product alternatives that allow consumers to spend less of their income on energy (whether directly or indirectly). Oil-free technologies also typically offer less environmental degradation and related externalities, though they are never entirely free rides themselves (the batteries in hybrids, for instance, require metals that have to be mined, refined and processed).

3. Changes in Behavior For those who believe that burning oil (and other hydrocarbons) is generally a bad thing, higher prices that lead to lower use has to be counted as a benefit. When people are faced with higher prices and no obvious substitutes, they will consume less assuming that their demand is relatively elastic.

With high oil prices (and high gasoline prices), people will drive less - staying closer to home for shopping, combining various errands to be more efficient, and so on. Likewise, they will spend less on oil-derived products whose prices rise with higher oil prices. Clearly there will be some loss; if there are no easy substitutes available, people will simply have to spend more on energy and spend less on other things.

Over time, though, more and more options become viable and greater changes in behavior are possible. Given time, people will drive less, take better care of their cars (to increase mileage), switch to more fuel efficient car models and/or use more public transportation. Likewise, companies will find limits on just how much they can pass on higher input costs and will seek to reduce their usage of oil and oil byproducts as well. (This organization's decisions can influence oil prices, but there is a limit to its power. Check out Meet OPEC, Manager Of Oil Wealth.)

4. Alternatives Come to the Fore If increased exploration and production is a normal byproduct of higher oil prices, so too is substitution. When Nazi Germany faced oil shortages in World War II, methods of producing oil, diesel and gasoline substitutes from vegetable oils, animal fats and coal were thoroughly explored. Likewise, the oil crisis of the 1970s gave the development of ethanol in Brazil a major boost.

In the United States there really are few short-term alternatives to oil. Technology exists to supplant oil with natural gas in many applications, but those switchovers only make economic sense in the face of persistently higher oil prices. Likewise, coal and biomaterials (switchgrass, etc.) can be pressed into service, but again only make sense as alternatives if oil prices are quite high and seem likely to stay there.

TUTORIAL: The Industry Handbook

The Bottom Line On the whole, higher oil prices are not going to have most people in the United States celebrating. If nothing else, there is a psychological impact to driving by those gas stations every day and seeing the prices tick higher. That said, free markets offer plenty of options for economic agents to respond to higher prices and oil prices are no exception. While painful in the short-term, higher prices may ultimately open the door to cleaner, more efficient and ultimately cheaper energy sources that benefit us all for years down the road.
Who Was Karl Marx?

Karl Marx (1818-1883) was a philosopher, author, social theorist, and economist. He is famous for his theories about capitalism, socialism, and communism.

Marx, in conjunction with Friedrich Engels, published The Communist Manifesto in 1848; later in life, he wrote Das Kapital (the first volume was published in Berlin in 1867; the second and third volumes were published posthumously in 1885 and 1894, respectively), which discussed the labor theory of value.

Key Takeaways Karl Marx was a prominent thinker who wrote on topics related to economics, political economy, and society.

Born in Germany, Marx spent much of his time in London, where he wrote many famous works including The Communist Manifesto and Capital (Das Kapital).

Marx often collaborated with long-time friend and social theorist Friedrich Engels.

Marx is known for his revolutionary writings favoring socialism and a communist revolution.

While Marxism and Marxian economics has been largely rejected by the mainstream today, many of Marx's critiques of capitalism remain relevant today.

Investopedia / Joshua Seong

Early Life and Education

Born in Trier, Prussia (now Germany), on May 5, 1818, Marx was the son of a successful Jewish lawyer who converted to Lutheranism before Marxs birth. Marx studied law in Bonn and Berlin, and at Berlin, was introduced to the philosophy of G.W.F. Hegel.

He became involved in radicalism at a young age through the Young Hegelians, a group of students who criticized the political and religious establishments of the day. Marx received his doctorate from the University of Jena in 1841. His radical beliefs prevented him from securing a teaching position, so instead, he took a job as a journalist and later became the editor of Rheinische Zeitung, a liberal newspaper in Cologne.

After living in Prussia, Marx lived in France for some time, and that is where he met his lifelong friend Friedrich Engels. He was expelled from France and then lived for a brief period in Belgium before moving to London where he spent the rest of his life with his wife.

Marx died of bronchitis and pleurisy in London on March 14, 1883, and was buried at Highgate Cemetery in London. His original grave was nondescript, but in 1954, the Communist Party of Great Britain unveiled a large tombstone, including a bust of Marx and the inscription "Workers of all Lands Unite," an Anglicized interpretation of the famous phrase in The Communist Manifesto: "Proletarians of all countries, unite!"

Marx's Theories

Marx was inspired by classical political economists such as Adam Smith and David Ricardo, while his own branch of economics, Marxian economics, is not favored among modern mainstream thought. Nevertheless, Marx's ideas have had a huge impact on societies, most prominently in communist projects such as those in the USSR, China, and Cuba. Among modern thinkers, Marx is still very influential in the fields of sociology, political economy, and strands of heterodox economics.

In general, Marx claimed there are two major flaws inherent in capitalism that lead to the exploitation of workers by employers: the chaotic nature of free market competition and the extraction of surplus labor. Ultimately, Marx predicted that capitalism would eventually destroy itself as more people become relegated to working-class status, inequality rose, and competition would lead the rate of corporate profits to zero. This would lead, he surmised, to a revolution where production would be turned over to the working class as a whole.

Exploitation and Surplus Value

While many equate Karl Marx with socialism, his work on understanding capitalism as a social and economic system remains a valid critique in the modern era. In Das Kapital (Capital in English), Marx argues that society is composed of two main classes: Capitalists are the business owners who organize the process of production and who own the means of production such as factories, tools, and raw materials, and who are also entitled to any and all profits.

The other, much larger class is composed of labor (which Marx termed the "proletariat"). Laborers do not own or have any claim to the means of production, the finished products they work on, or any of the profits generated from sales of those products. Rather, labor works only in return for a money wage. Marx argued that because of this uneven arrangement, capitalists exploit workers.

This exploitation is the reason, according to Marx, that employers are able to generate profits: they extract a full day's worth of effort and production from workers but only pay them a smaller fraction of this value as wages. Marx termed this surplus value and argued that it was nefarious.

Labor Theory of Value

Like the other classical economists, Karl Marx believed in a labor theory of value (LTV) to explain relative differences in market prices. This theory stated that the value of a produced economic good can be measured objectively by the average number of labor hours required to produce it. In other words, if a table takes twice as long to make as a chair, then the table should be considered twice as valuable.

Marx understood the labor theory better than his predecessors (even Adam Smith) and contemporaries, and presented a devastating intellectual challenge to laissez-faire economists in Das Kapital: If goods and services tend to be sold at their true objective labor values as measured in labor hours, how do any capitalists enjoy profits? It must mean, Marx concluded, that capitalists were underpaying or overworking, and thereby exploiting, laborers to drive down the cost of production.

While Marx's answer was eventually proved incorrect and later economists adopted the subjective theory of value, his simple assertion was enough to show the weakness of the labor theory's logic and assumptions; Marx unintentionally helped fuel a revolution in economic thinking.

Historical Materialism

Another important theory developed by Marx is known as historical materialism. This theory posits that society at any given point in time is ordered by the type of technology used in the process of production. Under industrial capitalism, society is so ordered with capitalists organizing labor in factories or offices where they work for wages.

Prior to capitalism, Marx suggested that feudalism existed as a specific set of social relations between lord and peasant classes related to the hand-powered or animal-powered means of production prevalent at the time.

Marx's Written Works

During his lifetime, Karl Marx wrote and published no less than least fifteen complete multi-volume books, along with numerous pamphlets, articles, and essays. He could often be found writing at the reading rooms at London's British Museum.

Perhaps his most famous work, The Communist Manifesto summarizes Marx and Engels's theories about the nature of society and politics and is an attempt to explain the goals of Marxism, and, later, socialism. When writing The Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels explained how they thought capitalism was unsustainable and how the capitalist society that existed at the time of the writing would eventually be replaced by a socialist one.

Das Kapital (in English, Capital: A Critique of Political Economy) was a full and comprehensive three-volume critique of capitalism. By far the more academic work, it lays forth Marx's theories on commodities production, labor markets, the social division of labor, and a basic understanding of the rate of return to owners of capital. Marx died before the third volume was finished, which was published posthumously by Engels based largely on Marx's notes. Today, many of the ideas and critiques of capitalism remain relevant, such as the emergence of monopolistic mega-corporations, persistent unemployment, and the general struggle between workers and employers.

The exact origins of the term "capitalism" in English are unclear, and it is certain that Marx was not the first to use the word "capitalism" in English, although he contributed to the rise of its use and interest in the concept. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the English word was first used by author William Thackeray in 1854, in his novel The Newcomes, who intended it to mean a sense of concern about personal possessions and money in general. While it's unclear whether either Thackeray or Marx was aware of the other's work, both men meant the word to have a pejorative ring. Adam Smith also famously wrote about the capitalist economic system in his 1776 masterpiece, The Wealth of Nations, and Marx was well aware of Smith's writings.

Contemporary Influence

Marx's work laid the foundations for future communist leaders such as Vladimir Lenin and Josef Stalin. Operating from the premise that capitalism contained the seeds of its own destruction, his ideas formed the basis of Marxism and served as a theoretical base for communism.

Nearly everything Marx wrote was viewed through the lens of the common laborer. From Marx comes the idea that capitalist profits are possible because the value is "stolen" from the workers and transferred to employers.

Marxist ideas in their pure form have very few direct adherents in contemporary times; indeed, very few Western thinkers embraced Marxism after 1898, when economist Eugen von Bohm-Bawerk's Karl Marx and the Close of His System was first translated into English. In his damning rebuke, Bohm-Bawerk showed that Marx failed to incorporate capital markets or subjective values in his analysis, nullifying most of his more pronounced conclusions. Still, there are some lessons that even modern economic thinkers can learn from Marx.

Though he was the capitalist system's harshest critic, Marx understood that it was far more productive than previous or alternative economic systems. In Das Kapital, he wrote of "capitalist production" that combined "together of various processes into a social whole," which included developing new technologies.

He believed all countries should become capitalist and develop that productive capacity, and then workers would naturally revolt, leading communism whereby the workers would become the dominant social class and collectively control the means of production. But, like Adam Smith and David Ricardo before him, Marx predicted that because of capitalism's relentless pursuit of profit by way of competition and technological progress to lower the costs of production, that the rate of profit in an economy would always be falling over time.

Economic Change to Social Transformation

Dr. James Bradford "Brad" DeLong, professor of economics at UC-Berkeley, wrote in 2011 that Marx's "primary contribution" to economic science actually came in a 10-paragraph stretch of The Communist Manifesto, in which he describes how economic growth causes shifts among social classes, often leading to a struggle for political power.

This underlies an often unappreciated aspect of economics: the emotions and political activity of the actors involved. A corollary of this argument was later made by French economist Thomas Piketty, who proposed that while nothing was wrong with income inequality in an economic sense, it could create blowback against capitalism among the people. Thus, there is a moral and anthropological consideration of any economic system. The idea that societal structure and transformations from one order to the next can be the result of technological change in how things are produced in an economy is known as historical materialism.

What Is Karl Marx's Main Theory? Karl Marxs theories on communism and capitalism formed the basis of Marxism. His key theories were a critique of capitalism and its shortcomings. Marx thought that the capitalistic system would inevitably destroy itself. The oppressed workers would become alienated and ultimately overthrow the owners to take control of the means of production themselves, ushering in a classless society.

What Is Karl Marx Best Known for? Karl Marx is best known for his theories that led to the development of Marxism. His ideas also served as the basis for communism. His books, Das Kapital and The Communist Manifesto formed the basis of Marxism.



What Is Marxism vs. Communism? Marxism is a system of socioeconomic analysis, while communism is a form of economic production that extends to government or political movements. Marxism is a broad philosophy developed by Karl Marx in the second half of the 19th century that unifies social, political, and economic theory. It is mainly concerned with the battle between the working class and the ownership class and favors communism and socialism over capitalism.

The Bottom Line

Karl Marx remains controversial, but his writings still remain relevant today. Even as mainstream economics has relegated Marxism as a heterodox school of thought, Marx did have a lot to say about the capitalistic system of production and roundly critiqued it for generating social and wealth inequalities, negative externalities, and class struggle. Ultimately, Marx's predictions about the impending collapse of capitalism and the communist revolutions that would follow proved incorrect. This has led many to discount Marx and Marxian thought. Still, Marx's insights remain influential and inspiring to others.
Boeing Co. (BA), one of the world's leading aerospace companies, develops and manufactures commercial jets, military aircraft, weapons systems, and strategic defense and intelligence systems. Boeing provides services and support to customers globally, and provides financing for orders and deliveries.

The top shareholders of Boeing are Timothy J. Keating, Leanne G. Caret, Theodore Colbert, Vanguard Group Inc., BlackRock Inc. (BLK), and Newport Trust Co.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) began recertification testing on Boeing Max 737 aircrafts at the end of June. The aircraft has been grounded since early 2019 following two fatal crashes in the span of five months. The FAA indicated that it would lift the grounding order as soon as the aircraft has satisfied certification standards.

Boeing's 12-month trailing net loss and revenue are $3.4 billion and $70.6 billion, respectively. The company's market cap is about $103.7 billion. These financial data are as of July 15, 2020.

Below we look in more detail at Boeing's top 6 shareholders.

"Insider" refers to people in senior management positions and members of the board of directors, as well as people or entities that own more than 10% of the company's stock. In this context, it has nothing to do with insider trading.

Top 3 Individual Insider Shareholders

Timothy J. Keating

Timothy J. Keating owns a total of 80,080 Boeing shares, representing 0.01% of the company's total shares outstanding. Mr. Keating has served as Boeing's executive vice president of Government Operations since early 2018 and is a member of the company's leadership team, the Executive Council. He is responsible for leading Boeing's public policy efforts, liaising with government officials, and leading the Boeing Global Engagement organization, which was first launched under his leadership in 2017.  Mr. Keating first joined the company in 2008 as senior vice president of Government Operations and has worked to strengthen Boeing's relationship with all levels of government and the communities in which the company conducts business. Before Boeing, Keating worked in public affairs at Honeywell International and as a special assistant to the President in the Clinton Administration.

Leanne G. Caret

Leanne G. Caret owns a total of 59,148 Boeing shares, representing 0.01% of the company's total shares outstanding. Ms. Caret has served as president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS) since early 2016. A company veteran with more than 30 years of experience at Boeing, she previously led Boeing's Global Services & Support business, which is the U.S. Department of Defense's largest performance-based logistics contractor and an industry leader in providing sustainment services for a diverse range of military products and systems. She has served in numerous other roles, including as chief financial officer (CFO) at Boeing Defense, Space & Security, which she now leads.

Theodore Colbert

Theodore Colbert owns a total of 54,846 Boeing shares, representing 0.01% of the company's total shares outstanding. Mr. Colbert serves as Boeing's executive vice president, president and CEO of Boeing Global Services, and is a member of the Executive Council. He leads the company's aerospace services development and aviation industry customers globally. Mr. Colbert first joined Boeing in 2009 and has served in a number of different roles, including chief information officer (CIO) and senior vice president of Information Technology & Data Analytics. Prior to joining Boeing, Colbert was senior vice president of Enterprise Architecture at Citigroup, and before that worked at Ford Motor Co. in its Information Technology group.

Top 3 Institutional Shareholders

Institutional investors hold the majority of Boeing's shares at about 62% of total shares outstanding. 

Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group owns 41.8 million shares of Boeing, representing 7.4% of total shares outstanding, according to the company's 13F filing for the period ending March 31, 2020. The company is primarily a mutual fund and ETF management company with about $6.2 trillion in global assets under management (AUM). The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) is one of the company's largest exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with about $151 billion in AUM. Boeing comprises 0.31% of VOO's holdings.

BlackRock Inc.

BlackRock owns 33.3 million shares of Boeing, representing 5.9% of total shares outstanding, according to the company's 13F filing for the period ending March 31, 2020. The company is primarily a mutual fund and ETF management company with approximately $6.47 trillion in AUM. The iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) is among one of BlackRock's largest ETFs with approximately $198 billion in AUM. Boeing comprises 0.36% of IVV's holdings.

Newport Trust Co.

Newport Trust owns 32.7 million shares of Boeing, representing 5.8% of total shares outstanding, according to the company's 13F filing for the period ending March 31, 2020. Newport Trust, owned by Newport Group Inc., is a private company that provides trustee and independent fiduciary services to leading U.S. companies and institutions, including 25% of the corporations in the Fortune 500.  The total value of the company's portfolio is $24.3 billion. Boeing is among Newport Trust's top 10 holdings, comprising about 20% of the portfolio's total value, as of March 31, 2020.

Diversity & Inclusiveness of Boeing

As part of our effort to improve the awareness of the importance of diversity in companies, we offer investors a glimpse into the transparency of more than just who are the shareholders at Boeing. We highlight the company's commitment to diversity, inclusiveness, and social responsibility as a whole. Find out how Boeing reports the diversity of its management and workforce. The  shows if Boeing discloses its data about the diversity of its board of directors, C-Suite, general management, and employees overall across a variety of markets.
What Is the Story Behind Greece's Downfall?

In 2015, Greece defaulted on its debt. Some said Greece simply fell into "arrears." However, it missed a 1.6 billion payment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), making it the first developed nation to have missed such a payment.

In 2001, Greece joined the Eurozone, which to some, precipitated Greece's downfall. However, the Greek economy suffered structural problems before adopting the euro as its currency.

Key Takeaways: Greece defaulted on a debt of 1.6 billion to the IMF in 2015.

The financial crisis was largely the result of structural problems that ignored the loss of tax revenues due to systematic tax evasion.

Greece was much less productive than other EU nations, making Greek goods and services less competitive and causing the nation to take on too much debt during the 2007 global financial crisis.

Prior to 2001, Greece experienced high inflation, high fiscal and trade deficits, low growth, and problems with exchange rates.

Greece gained entrance into the Eurozone by misrepresenting its debt and finances.

Greece Before the Eurozone

Before acceptance into the Eurozone in 2001, Greeces economy was plagued by several problems. During the 1980s, the Greek government pursued expansionary fiscal and monetary policies. However, rather than strengthening the economy, the country suffered soaring inflation rates, high fiscal and trade deficits, low growth rates, and exchange rate crises.

In this dismal economic environment, joining the European Monetary Union (EMU) appeared to offer a glimmer of hope. The belief was that the monetary union backed by the European Central Bank (EBC) would dampen inflation, help to lower nominal interest rates, encourage private investment, and spur economic growth. Further, the single currency would eliminate many transaction costs, leaving more money for the deficit and debt reduction.

Conditional Acceptance

However, acceptance into the Eurozone was conditional. Of all the European Union (EU) member countries, Greece needed the most structural adjustment to comply with the 1992 Maastricht Treaty guidelines. The treaty limits government deficits to 3% of GDP and public debt to 60% of GDP. For the remainder of the 1990s, Greece attempted to get its fiscal house in order to meet these criteria.

Greece was only able to gain admission to the EMU by misreporting the size of its deficit, as the country's finances were nowhere near within the Maastricht limits. Greece was hoping that despite its premature entrance, membership in the EMU would boost the economy, allowing the country to deal with its fiscal problems.

In 2004, the Greek government openly admitted that its budget figures had been understated to meet the entry requirements for the Eurozone's single currency.

Greece Enters the Eurozone

Greeces acceptance into the Eurozone had symbolic significance as many banks and investors believed that the single currency effaced the differences among European countries. Suddenly, Greece was perceived as a safe place to invest, which significantly lowered the interest rates the Greek government was required to pay. For most of the 2000s, the interest rates that Greece faced were similar to those faced by Germany.

These lower interest rates allowed Greece to borrow at a much cheaper rate than before 2001, fueling an increase in spending. While indeed spurring economic growth for a number of years, the country still had not dealt with its deep-seated fiscal problems which, contrary to what some might think, were not primarily the result of excessive spending.

Many of Greeces fiscal problems stemmed from a lack of revenue due to systematic tax evasion. Generally, self-employed, wealthier workers tended to under-report income while over-reporting debt payments. The prevalence of this behavior reveals that rather than being a behind-the-scenes problem, it was actually more of a social norm that was not remedied in time.

Greece's Competitiveness Gap

Eurozone membership helped the Greek government to borrow cheaply and to finance its operations in the absence of sufficient tax revenues. However, the use of a single currency highlighted a structural difference between Greece and other member countries, notably Germany, and exacerbated the governments fiscal problems. Compared to Germany, Greece had a much lower rate of productivity, making Greek goods and services far less competitive.

The adoption of the euro only highlighted the competitiveness gap as it made German goods and services relatively cheaper than those in Greece. Having given up independent monetary policy, Greece could no longer devalue its currency relative to that of Germany. This served to worsen Greeces trade balance, increasing its current account deficit.

While the German economy benefited from increased exports to Greece, banks, including German banks, benefited from Greek borrowing to finance cheap imported German goods and services. As long as borrowing costs remained relatively cheap and the Greek economy was still growing, such issues continued to be ignored.

Greek Financial Crisis and Bailout

The global financial crisis that began in 2007 exposed the true nature of Greeces financial strife. The recession weakened Greeces already paltry tax revenues, which caused the deficit to worsen. In 2010, U.S. financial rating agencies stamped Greek bonds with a "junk" grade. As capital began to dry up, Greece faced a liquidity crisis, forcing the government to seek bailout funding, which they eventually received with staunch conditions.

Bailouts totaling 289 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other European creditors were conditional on Greek budget reforms, specifically, spending cuts and higher tax revenues. These austerity measures created a vicious cycle of recession with unemployment reaching 25.7% in August 2012.

These measures, applied amidst the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, proved to be one of the largest factors attributing to Greece's economic implosion. Tax revenues weakened, which made Greeces fiscal position worse. Austerity measures also created a humanitarian crisis: homelessness increased, suicides hit record highs, and public health significantly deteriorated.

Greek citizens voted against additional EU austerity measures in July 2015. Afterward, Greece began to recognize improvements in its economy. The nation's unemployment rate went from a record high of 28% in 2014 to 13.2% in 2021. Its GDP went from a -10.1 in 2010 to 1.8 in 2019. Unfortunately, as of 2020, its GDP dropped back into the negative, -9.

What Type of Economy Does Greece Have? Greece operates a free-market economy, whereby prices for goods and services are dictated by market participants. Its government is limited in how it can intervene.

When Did Greece Adopt the Euro? Greece joined the Eurozone, or Euro area, in 2001, making its primary and sole legal tender the euro.

How Did Greece Recover From the Eurozone Crisis? After experiencing a powerful economic recession and social unrest from citizens desperate to avoid additional EU-mandated austerity measures, Greece began to rebound from the Eurozone crisis. Its unemployment rate decreased to less than half of its highest rate, and its GDP went from negative to positive. In 2017, Greece was able to issue bonds for the first time since 2014. In 2018, the nation exited its last bailout program, lowered taxes, and elected a new Prime Minister, who vowed to reward the nation's citizens, investors, and businesses.

The Bottom Line

Far from helping the Greek economy to get back on its feet, bailouts only served to ensure that Greeces creditors were paid while the government was forced to scrape together paltry tax collections. While Greece had structural issues in the form of corrupt tax evasion practices, Eurozone membership allowed the country to hide from these problems for a time but ultimately created an economic straitjacket and an insurmountable debt crisis evidenced by the country's massive default.
Press Release

New York/Geneva, 11 February 2016

Caption: Senior IPU and UN figures at the hearing included (l-r) Yuri Fedotov, Saber Chowdhury, Mogens Lykketoft, Martin Chungong and Paddy Torsney. IPU

A conference of world MPs at the United Nations in New York has highlighted the need for fresh thinking to meet the challenges of the world drug problem.

The parliamentary hearing, jointly organized by IPU and the Office of the President of the UN General Assembly, drew MPs and other experts from around the world to evaluate current drug policy and search for new solutions.

The meeting concluded that greater international cooperation was useful, but that countries should take advantage of the flexibility provided by existing conventions to tailor their own solutions to the drug problem. This may include decriminalizing the use and possession of light drugs like cannabis, within a strict regulatory system, as several countries have done. The meeting urged countries to focus on the root causes of why people used drugs, as well as tackling the traffickers who are the main culprits, and to develop a people-centred approach toward the problem in line with the new Sustainable Development Goals.

The hearing, on 8-9 February, was part of the preparations for a UN General Assembly special session on the world drug problem, UNGASS 2016, which takes place in April.

The MPs, joined by representatives from international organizations and civil society, examined the complex drivers of drug production and consumption, including links with terrorism and organized crime, and the challenges posed by new types of drugs. They reviewed the progress made by parliaments since a plan of action was adopted by governments in 2009, setting 2019 as a target date for eliminating or significantly reducing supply, demand and associated criminal activity such as money laundering.

They also questioned whether the so-called war on drugs, which relies on a law-enforcement approach, diverts valuable resources from healthcare to law enforcement, and has a disproportionate impact on poorer sections of society, women and individual users.

IPU President Saber Chowdhury praised delegates for their open and passionate debate, and stressed the need for more compassion and less judgement in dealing with people using drugs.

IPU Secretary General Martin Chungong added: if we help people out of poverty, provide health care and education, make institutions more transparent and representative, and indeed do all the things the SDGs ask us to do, then we will undercut the drivers of the drug problem. The most important message from this hearing is that each country needs a comprehensive debate with all constituencies, and to draw up strategies appropriate to its own situation.

The President of the General Assembly, Mogens Lykketoft, closing the hearing, urged MPs and parliaments to place the issue high on their national agendas. He said: Whatever the various national positions, we have to engage with the number one question  are our efforts succeeding for the families and individuals most affected, for societies, for your countries, and for our inter-connected world? And how can we work more closely together to strengthen our global response?

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also spoke to delegates during a reception at IPU offices, while the Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Yuri Fedotov, addressed the opening of the hearing.

IPU-UN parliamentary hearings enable MPs to feed their views and experiences into UN work and decision-making processes, as well as increasing their understanding of those processes.

The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) is the global organization of national parliaments. It works to safeguard peace and drives positive democratic change through political dialogue and concrete action.
Anne Anderson, Irelands Ambassador to the US, will celebrate North Carolinas Irish heritage by leading the Charlotte St. Patricks Day parade on March 19.

Anderson, a native of Co. Tipperary, is Irelands 17th Ambassador to the United States and the first woman Ambassador. After serving as Irelands Ambassador to the UN, she took up duty in her current role in Washington DC in 2013.

The Charlotte St. Patricks Day Parade is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, lending the occasion special significance.

The parade kicks off at 11am in uptown Charlotte and will be followed by the all-day Charlotte Goes Green Festival, which will feature Irish music, Irish dancers, bagpipers, Irish/Celtic and other vendors, childrens amusements and food and beverages.

Charlotte marked its first St. Patricks Day parade in 1996, when a small group walked down Tryon Street with some bagpipers. It has since blossomed into a massive celebration, drawing upwards of 80,000 spectators.

Last years grand marshal was Dr. R. John Young, Honorary Consul of Ireland for North Carolina. Previous grand marshals have included Governor Pat McCrory; Bill Duffy, CFO of the Charlotte Bobcats; and Pat Terrell of the Carolina Panthers.

For more information about the parade and the Charlotte Goes Green Festival, visit www.charlottestpatsday.com
The Notre Dame-made documentary entitled 1916, a three-part series on the Easter Rising narrated by Liam Neeson, has gotten off to a splendid start on Irish television. Critics are raving about the Irish American production.

Irish Times critic Bernice Harrison called it a landmark series and stated, "its landmark TV status is further burnished by Liam Neeson as voiceover and a full-blooded, atmospheric soundtrack from Patrick Cassidy."

She continued, '1916' is clearly a big budget project: locations mentioned in the credits range from Berlin to India, France to the US. While no documentary about an historical event can be viewed as definitive  not least because as an academic discipline, history studies is built on historians contradicting each other  '1916' succeeds superbly on two fronts: it is lucid, accessible storytelling that creates a vivid and vibrant image of the time; and its editorial viewpoint, that the Rising must be seen in an international context, is a convincing and appealing one.

The series has already been snapped up by a record 155 public television stations across the US and in countries around the world where the Irish diaspora is spread. It will be shown around St. Patricks Day or Easter, the 100th anniversary, across the United States and Canada. The BBC has also picked it up.

The series was funded to the tune of $3 million by the Keough-Naughton Institute, named after the late American Irish philanthropist and Coca-Cola president Don Keough and Irish businessman Martin Naughton of Glen Dimplex. It was overseen by Briona Nic Dhiarmada, an Irish filmmaker and the Thomas and Kathleen O'Donnell Professor of Irish and Concurrent Professor of Film, Television and Theatre at Notre Dame.

Read more about the 1916 centenary here.

Harrison notes, '1916' is directed by Ruan Magan and is a well-constructed, thoroughly researched project with many historians on camera. Its key strength is the way it skilfully condenses historical events without leaving the viewer feeling short-changed or confused.

The contention is that a rebellion was not inevitable on that particular day in Easter week, but it was bound to come, because of the history of oppression but also because of the mood internationally at the start of the 20th century. The fight for Irish independence, it effectively suggests, was a reaction to the spread of the British Empire, a wartime enhanced understanding of nationhood and a rising class consciousness. The film also sees echoes of the American War of Independence and the French Revolution in the Rising. Comparisons are made with the language in the Proclamation and the US constitution noting the emphasis on equal rights, opportunities, and happiness.

She quotes Liam Neeson, In time the Rising would inspire freedom movements around the world. Theres not much room in '1916' for those revisionist ideas that the Easter week rebels were a small bunch of blood-sacrifice terrorists with no popular mandate, who wreaked havoc on OConnell Street and wasted lives.

As a result of the global perspective Irish America, especially the role of John Devoy, is much more widely covered as is Roger Casement, who during his colonial career witnessed horrific abuse of natives in the Congo.

The Notre Dame production "is that rare thing: a thoroughly engaging history lesson," concludes Harrison.

Read more: The crucial facts about Irelands 1916 Easter Rising in one easy infographic
A former Anglo worker has said there was no commercial benefit to a number of so-called back-to-back transactions with Irish Life & Permanent in 2008.

He was giving evidence in the trial of four former bankers accused of conspiring to defraud investors, depositors and lenders.
Update 11.30pm: Labour leader Joan Burton used the first major leaders' debate of the General Election to attack Sinn Fein's plans for the economy.

She said the party's tax plans would actually benefit wealthier people like landlords, and not a young worker getting a job.

"What kind of economics is this? It's fuzzy Sinn Fein economics," she said.

Update 11.00pm: There have been been some fiery exchanges in the first major leaders' debate of the General Election.

The leaders of Fine Gael, Labour, Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein faced off in the debate hosted by TV3 and Newstalk.

Topics covered the economy, crime, housing, health and abortion - but many aspects were marred by sustained rows between leaders.

Labour leader Joan Burton questioned whether opposition leaders could be trusted with their handling of the economy.

Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams was attacked by the other three leaders for his party's stance on the Special Criminal Court - but accused others of misrepresenting his concerns.

"You can't back away from the fact that between you, you cut garda numbers. Now, you had a choice," he said.

The final standings on our #GE16 #leadersdebate poll. GA 37%, MM 26%, EK 16%, JB 6% and No Winner 16% https://t.co/9ZgSjtw98F  Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) February 11, 2016

Update 9.50pm: The Taoiseach came under fire from Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin over the Government's record on health.

Deputy Martin defended his own record in the sector, and attacked what he said were Fine Gael's broken promises.

"The man has some brass neck to talk like he's talked about health," he said, referring to Enda Kenny. "Their policies, their performance is a disgrace. They made promises before the last election..."

Enda Kenny: "You broke the country, you broke the country."

Deputy Martin: "And you better face up to it. Before the last election you said..."

Enda Kenny: "And know you want to bring back those that did break it back into government."

Deputy Martin: "Are you going to listen or not? Can you not face up to your own failures in terms of health policy?"

Earlier:

The first major debate of the election campaign is underway in Dublin.

The leaders of the four major parties are taking part in the debate hosted by TV3 and Newstalk.

The debate has so far been dominated by discussion on the economy and the health service.

Enda Kenny said Fianna Fail already had a chance to wreck Ireland's economy, and Sinn Fein would do similar in power.

"Now if you think Gerry that the people watching at home tonight, you are going to charge them 50% tax on an income of 33,800 - that means that you're going to have a 65% marginal tax rate.

"You would drive thousands of jobs out of the country every week, you would ruin and wreck our economy and that's why I said at the beginning - it can't go to people who would wreck it in the future, this man wrecked it in the past."

Feel free to leave a comment in the blog and we will include as part of our review of live reaction across social media during and after the debate.
The first TV and radio debate of the election campaign takes place tonight.

Tonight the leaders of the four main parties will go head to head in the debate hosted by TV3 and Newstalk.

However, before Enda Kenny, Joan Burton, Micheal Martin and Gerry Adams are grilled by Pat Kenny and Colette Fitzpatrick to try and sway voters, the campaigning across the country continues.

Fianna Fail launches its election manifesto - entitled An Ireland for All - in Dublin.

It is Limerick for Labour as the party launches a housing plan, while Joan Burton campaigns in her constituency.

After Enda Kenny hands in his nomination papers in Castlebar, he heads to Galway to launch Fine Gael's childcare and early years plan.

Sinn Fein's talking services for people with disabilities as Gerry Adams campaigns in the Midlands.

There will also be manifesto launches from the Greens and People Before Profit.

Election candiates in Dublin will be put through their pacings this morning at the Children's Hustings.

Pupils from 5th and 6th class in St Enda's Primary School will quiz politicians on the issues they want the next Government to deal with.
The Nato Maritime Group is being ordered immediately into the Aegean Sea to help end smuggling of migrants between Turkey and Greece, the secretary general said.

Jens Stoltenberg said the warships, now under German command, are being tasked to conduct reconnaissance and surveillance to help end Europes gravest migrant crisis since the Second World War.
The group reported pre-tax profits of 599m for 2015; up 58% on the 378m generated in 2014. Last years revenues were up at just over 8.1bn.

The profit growth was largely driven by an exceptionally strong performance in the final three months of the year, with fourth quarter profits up 230%, year-on-year, to 191m.

Basic earnings per share for the year grew by 63% to 172.6c.

Management also offered an upbeat outlook for this year on the back of improving corrugated prices.

A 20% increase in final dividend to 48c per share  bringing total dividend for the year to 68c, or 23% up on the previous 12 months  reflects the boards confidence.

Having established a strong platform for growth over the past few years, we expect to deliver good earnings growth in 2016, group chief executive Tony Smurfit said.

While this will, to some extent, be influenced by the broader macro-economic environment, we are confident our current investment initiatives, our geographic diversity, our integrated business model, and our strong, free cash-flow generation positions us well for 2016 and beyond, he said.

The group spent over 380m on acquisitions last year and delivered cost savings of 75m; a figure it hopes to meet again this year.

In addition, Smurfit Kappa is considering switching trading currency for its ordinary shares in London from euro to sterling next month in a bid to make it easier to fulfill a potential future admission to the UK series of FTSE indices.

Management said that it remains committed to retaining an Irish Stock Exchange listing and will keep the euro as its financial reporting currency.

The group also yesterday announced that Ian Curley will stand down as chief financial officer, next month, following 16 years in the post.

He will be replaced by Ken Bowles.

Smurfits share surge tapered off slightly in later trading yesterday

However. it closed the day up by almost 12% at around 12.40.
Fresh from promoting live exports to global buyers at Italys Fieragricola trade fair in Verona last week, Bord Bia, and ambassador to Spain David Cooney hosted a beef dinner in Madrid on Monday for Asoprovac, the Spanish Cattle Feedlots Association.

Spanish buyers expressed interest in Bord Bias news that Irish calf registrations grew by 120,000 head in 2015, with a similar rise expected this year.

Bord Bia also led a talk for Spanish feedlot owners in Cordoba, organised with Asoprovac and Covap. Covap members finish over 22,000 cattle per year in its meat plant.

The drop in the number of animals carried over from last year in Spanish feedlots increases opportunities for Irish live cattle exports, said Cecilia Ruiz, Bord Bias Spain manager.

Spain is growing its beef production, and demand is expected to focus on good quality Friesian bull calves, plus beef crosses coming from the dairy herd.

In 2014, Spanish live cattle imports rose 31% to 532,000, with further growth last year, mainly in France. In 2015, Irish exports to Spain were ca 30,000 head, of which 95% were calves.

Bord Bia is also confident Ireland can increase its live cattle exports to Italy, which reached 25,000 head in 2015, mostly Belgian Blue and Limousin, with a recent demand for niche breeds such as Angus. Italy imports one million live cattle each year, more than any other EU country.

Bord Bias Italy manager Nicolas Ranninger said he was delighted Fieragricola chose Ireland as its first guest country.

This high- profile honour drove extra visitors to the Bord Bia stand, and we used the opportunity to drive demand for Irish livestock and food, Mr Ranninger said.

Meanwhile, Bord Bia is in Nuremberg, Germany, today promoting its Origin Green sustainability programme at Biofach, a trade event which hosts 2,000 exhibitors and 44,000 trade visitors from 130 countries.

Bord Bia is hosting 10 Irish organic food firms including Good Herdsmen; Irish Country Meats; Slaney Foods; Irish Seaspray; Kush Seafarms; Marine Harvest Ireland; and Natashas Living Food.
The report aimed at young farmers has 40 years as its cut-off point.

And there I was, a young man of 45, still clinging to the idea that I was wet behind the ears, when clearly, as far as the commission is concerned, Im past it.

Its a bitter pill to swallow, and one I will have to take up with Phil Hogan the next time I trundle across his path with my Zimmer frame.

But forge ahead we must, for time is passing me by, as I know all too well now.

The aim of this report, in which 2,205 young farmers were interviewed in all 28 EU member states, was to highlight the needs of young farmers, including their need for knowledge.

It sought to provide an overview of existing exchange schemes available for young farmers, with the objective of improving such schemes.

The availability of land either to buy or rent was confirmed in the report to be the most important need of young farmers, not only in Ireland but across the EU today.

Irelands young farmers see the issue of access to land as more problematic than their European counterparts.

Nearly three out of four here said they have difficulty in obtaining land, a similar proportion to the UK, Germany, the Baltic states, Hungary, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic  but less than Belgiums 82.3%.

In most other countries, only 50%-60% of young farmers find it hard to get hold of land; but its a problem for less than 40% in Denmark, Poland, and Austria, and for only 33.8% in Italy.

Funding the purchase of land was also cited as a problem in the report. Difficulty in accessing credit was highlighted not only for young farmers here in Ireland but right across the EU.

In Irelands case, participation in workshops, joining a study group, and the ever popular discussion groups, were considered more important ways of gathering knowledge than for other young farmers in the EU.

The 75 interviewees in Ireland had already achieved a high level of vocational education (84% with BSc or higher qualification, compared to only 43.9% in the EU).

Agricultural advisers, veterinarians, and research institutes were also considered to be more important here for young Irish farmers to gather the information they need.

However, seeking out this information from sources like the internet was seen as a less appealing option for young Irish farmers, and this can easily be explained by our dismal internet access.

Even as I piece this article together, my internet connection here in West Cork is hit and miss.

In the EU survey and report, Irelands inferior internet services were obvious, with young Irish farmers highlighting a missing or bad internet connection as a real problem in obtaining the knowledge they feel is necessary to run a successful farming enterprise.

Although 71% of Irish young farmers said they search for knowledge on the internet, only 36.6% said they obtain knowledge via e-learning, social media, or e-discussions.

Knowledge on the internet is important for more than 87% of young farmers in the UK, Portugal, Netherlands, Denmark, Latvia, Romania, Croatia, Italy, Bulgaria, and Slovenia.

The e-learning, social media, or e-discussions routes are important for more than 50% of young farmers in Spain, Portugal, Romania, Croatia, and Bulgaria.

Looking at exchange schemes as a way to obtain that knowledge, in general the report showed that young Irish farmers awareness of exchange schemes is rather low when compared to other young EU farmers.

Like other young farmers in the EU, Irish farmers who got to participate in an exchange scheme were enthusiastic about them, saying they enhance their networking and management skills.

Nevertheless, young Irish farmers showed less interest in enthusiasm towards exchange schemes.

They highlighted issues like having no replacement staff to run the farm at home, a lack of time, and the language barrier as difficulties they face in exchange schemes.

Although not so well-known in Ireland, exchange schemes in agriculture have existed for more than a century.

Farming by its very nature can be an isolating occupation, but exchange schemes can play an important role by offering those who travel an opportunity to widen their personal horizons, while gaining practical knowledge of farming in different parts of the world.

The importance of the experience of leaving home, of seeing more of the world, and having to fend for oneself, cannot be overemphasised.

On the downside, travel abroad might give some false expectations of life back home on the land.

Living the farming dream in Tuscany for six months is not the same as farming for the rest of your life in wintry West Cork.

I might be old (over 40), but I still have my senses and know that for the past three months, all we have seen here is rain.

Irish farmers young or old often have to work in the mud.

And in this report, I saw no questions regarding young farmers attitude towards their working life on the farm.

There were no questions on the work they perform.

Do they perceive it as being dangerous or difficult? No question on their enjoyment of their role as a farmer or on the reasons why they choose a life on the land.

Not much either on the education systems for young farmers. Do they see it as satisfactory for their needs in farming? Nothing either on the isolation that many feel in farm life.

Do young farmers feel isolated or cut off?

There were no questions asked about the long term. Do young farmers see themselves as staying on the farm for the rest of their working lives?

Do they feel any family pressure or responsibility to keep the farm going for the long term? For a report with an aim to document the needs of young farmers, I found a lot of questions remained unasked.

Yes, it is important to be highlighting the needs of young farmers, and while this report is a good start, its a long way from offering the complete picture.
The move comes after it emerged the Governments high-profile new armed emergency response unit will not be in place for six months and as the Irish Examiner obtained footage of the scenes before gardai arrived following Mr Byrnes murder, showing the assassins escaping.

The remains of Mr Byrne were released to undertakers yesterday and are due to be brought to the family home in Crumlin, south Dublin, either this evening or early tomorrow morning.

The 33-year-old criminal will be waked in his parents house at Raleigh Square over the entire weekend for funeral mass at 12.30pm on Monday.

Gardai are concerned at the length of time the body will be waked in the family home  increasing the risk of attacks. Garda intelligence shows a large number of criminals  including senior members of the Kinahan crime cartel  have been visiting the home since Byrnes murder last Friday.

Officers believe this will intensify significantly over the weekend as people pay their respects, posing significant security challenges.

Report: Dissidents claim responsibility for Regency Hotel shooting https://t.co/0jjeu3sTYk pic.twitter.com/3I4bTTkwbu  Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) February 8, 2016

Gardai are braced for reprisals for the shooting dead of Eddie Hutch Snr in the north inner city on Monday night  a suspected revenge attack for Mr Byrnes death at the Regency Hotel. Separate plans will be drawn up for the funeral of Mr Hutch, a 58-year-old brother of Gerry The Monk Hutch, next week. The development comes after it emerged that the Governments new Regional Support Unit for Dublin will not be in place for six months.

Meanwhile, the Irish Examiner last night obtained eyewitness footage of the scenes moments after Mr Byrne was shot at the hotel last Friday, detailing what happened before gardai arrived. A one-minute video taken on a mobile phone shows Mr Byrnes bloodied body lying beside the counter of the hotel before shocked bystanders go outside and see a silver van slowly driving away.

Theres no way theyre guards, one local is heard to say, while another shouts theyre not cops, jeez, look at that young fella, theyre not guards.

The person videoing the scenes then zooms in on the van saying theyre trying to get out down there, believed to be a reference to the hotel gates. The situation is likely to lead to questions about why it took gardai so long to arrive.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Tanaiste Joan Burton yesterday expressed full confidence in Garda Commissioner Noirin OSullivan, with the Fine Gael leader saying that he hoped the high-visibility policing would yield results.

However, Fianna Fail justice spokesman Niall Collins claimed the plans are just repackaged and involve taking gardai from other areas.

The Irish Examiner reported yesterday that more than 40 members of four linked gangs, all part of the wider Kinahan cartel, were being subjected to in-your-face policing in the Crumlin, Drimnagh, and south inner city areas.

This includes the use of stop and search powers on the suspects and the setting up of checkpoints outside their homes.

Eddie Hutch senior shot in suspected Dublin gangland killing https://t.co/TMaCkIW4y8 pic.twitter.com/3suMxSJpK8  Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) February 8, 2016

A detailed policing plan for the Byrne funeral period is being drafted by senior officers in two neighbouring garda districts  the G District which covers Crumlin and Drimnagh, and the A District covering the south west inner city.

This is because the funeral Mass is taking place across the Grand Canal at St Nicholas of Myra Church on Francis Street.

Gardai in Crumlin are expected to mount cordons around the Byrne family home from tonight, with perimeters of checkpoints and armed patrols, in what is a built-up area.

We'll have checkpoints, the ERU and SDU and we'll have undercover people in position at certain locations, stop certain people from moving and prevent any attack, said a source.

For the funeral, gardai will have to strike a balance to giving the family the dignity for the occasion, but ensure there is no risk to public safety.

Traditionally there is a certain respect for funerals, but given that the reprisal for Byrne's murder was so quick, and was a Hutch family member, you don't know.

Gardai will also be on high alert for the functions after the funeral, the location of which are not yet known.

Attention will then turn to the funeral of Mr Hutch, part of a well known family in the north inner city.
The strike over pay started at 5.30am this morning and with normal services resuming on Saturday at 6.30am. A repeat two-day strike is already planned for next week, on February 18 and 19.

Transport Minister Paschal Donohoe said he has no power to offer Luas operator Transdev more money to meet drivers demands for pay rises which run from 8% to 53%, depending on length of employment.

If this action goes ahead as planned, significant disruption will be caused to those who have come to depend on Luas to get to work and about their daily business, he said.

Mr Donohoe said the planned action did not serve the company, the staff or service users well.

Negotiations have previously broken down following hearings at the Labour Court and the Workplace Relations Commission.

The strike has the support of 99% of drivers, traffic supervisors, revenue protection officers, and supervisors in the Siptu trade union.

Luas union representatives claim the company pay scales mean drivers can work for nine years and hit a salary of 42,247 compared with 47,941 for traffic supervisors. They claim the operators are returning profits each year and have asked for 10,000 pay rises for traffic supervisors, increases of 10% to 14% for the revenue protection officers and supervisors who check tickets, and hikes for the 172 drivers which would take their top level of pay to 64,993.

Transdev said the claims would cost more than 20m over five years.

It is planning for normal service to resume at 6.30am on Saturday and apologised to customers for the inconvenience.

Meanwhile, staff operating one of the 999 emergency call answering centres have confirmed they will conduct a 12-hour strike on the day before the general election.

The Communications Workers Union (CWU) confirmed the stoppage will begin at 8am on 25 February and will end at 8pm.

The union has decided to only stage a work stoppage in the Navan 999 centre. The other centres in Ballyshannon and Dublin will operate as normal.

It has indicated to employer Conduit Global that it remains to open to dialogue with a view to resolving the issues at the centre of this dispute.

Workers are calling for

A Living Wage of 11.50 per hour;

An immediate end to unnecessary and punitive suspensions, and the negotiation of a fair Corrective Action Policy;

A fair on-call policy;

Collective bargaining.

In a statement, BT Ireland, which runs the service, said there was absolutely no necessity for industrial action. It said it understood that Conduit Global had been working very closely with employees to address their concerns and significant progress has been made in the past three weeks.
This is one of the main findings in a report prepared by economist Jim Power for RGDATA, which represents 4,000 family-run retail outlets throughout the country.

It points out that the shops contribute more than 100m annually in commercial rates and invest 41m in local sponsorship every year.

If you spend money in these local shops it is worth three times more to the local community, said Mr Power.

Every 100 spent in locally-owned shops results in an injection of 250 into the local economy, he said.

People wanting to live in vibrant local communities should be supporting Irish-owned shops.

The report points out that many town centres in Britain and Ireland have been undermined by the increasing penetration of large multiples, particularly those situated in out-of-town locations.

Independent retailers will play their part in getting more people back living and shopping in our towns and villages but need supportive policies and initiatives from government.

In particular, local authorities and An Bord Pleanala must ensure that the town centre must retain primacy as the centre for retail, commercial and social activity.

The multiples account for 65% of the market and employ an estimated 35,000 but independent grocers similar in size to Lidl and Aldi supermarkets have twice as many workers.

Mr Power said family owned shops were major employers in local economies and had given many people their first job.

They are the most significant employers in the retail sector with 89% being paid above the national minimum wage.

The report was based on research carried out with RGDATA members who own shops, convenience stores, and supermarkets around Ireland.

There are around 5,000 independent retail grocery shops in the country and they account for more than a third of the retail grocery market in Ireland.

Almost half (47%) of the shops are first generation family-owned, 31% are second generation, 15% are third generation, and 7% are 4th generation or longer.

Eight out of 10 are open up to 15 hours a day, with 20% open between 15 and 24 hours.

Weekly turnover for 9% of stores is under 20,000 and just under 60% have turnover in excess of 50,000.

Over the past five years there has been an increasing focus on part-time workers, with the split between part-time and full-time now 50/50.

Average pay is around 23,000 per year. Just under half of employees (47%) have between five and ten years service, with almost one in five (17%) employed for over 10 years.
The High Court was correct in finding no case had been made to support the claims made on behalf of Alan OLeary, now aged 29, of Ballyphehane, Cork, the three-judge Appeal Court held yesterday.

It ruled the High Court was entitled, after hearing the plaintiffs case over 11 days, to grant applications on behalf of the State, HSE and a doctor who administered the vaccine in February 1988 to the then 15-month-old plaintiff, to strike out the claims against them.

Mr Justice Sean Ryan, president of the appeal court, said this case concerned claims that Mr OLeary, who cannot live independently and is looked after by his sister, suffers from hyperactivity and mental retardation arising from a measles vaccine. All three defendants denied the various claims against them, he noted.

Among those claims, it was alleged the State disregarded the manufacturers recommendation that the measles vaccine should not be administered to persons such as himself with a family history of epilepsy.

The High Court had correctly held no evidence whatever had been adduced from which the court could possibly infer any negligence on the part of the State or any breach of the States duty of care, the judge said.

He said the plaintiff had relied on a 2009 report of the vaccine damage steering group of the Department of Health, which recommended the State, because it actively encourages participation in a national immunisation programme, should look sympathetically at the very rare number of cases where children suffer serious adverse reactions because of their participation.

That report, and other documents upon which the plaintiff relied, were not evidence in the case and the High Court could not have made findings based on their contents, he said.

While it was argued Mr OLeary had a legitimate expectation of compensation from the State, it had made no representation or promise to that effect. The State had not enacted any compensation scheme and the High Court could not legislate for a scheme exclusively within the provision of the Oireachtas, he said.

Mr Justice Ryan also noted Mr OLearys case was initiated in 2002 on his behalf by his mother, who died in 2007. Among the claims advanced were claims that no, or no valid consent, was obtained from the late Ms OLeary for administration of the vaccine, he noted.

His mothers death had left Mr OLeary, whose case was then pursued on his behalf by his sister Charlene, with a severe evidential deficit, the judge said. There was also no evidence about the consent issue one way or the other as the doctors record merely stated measles vaccine and did not address the consent issue.

There was no evidence adduced upon which negligence on the part of the GP could be inferred, the judge said. The court also upheld the High Court findings no evidence was adduced to support claims against the HSE .

Appeal Court rules High Court was right to dismiss claim vaccine caused brain injury
The Regional Support Unit was announced by Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald on Tuesday following a meeting with Garda chiefs after a second gang murder in four days.

The minister said the unit  a heavily armed 24/7 roaming patrol squad  will have a staffing complement of 55.

The unit, together with increased Garda checkpoints and armed patrols, was announced in response to the murder of Eddie Hutch Sr on Monday night in suspected retaliation for the shooting dead of David Byrne last Friday.

On Tuesday, Garda Commissioner Noirin OSullivan said the RSU would be fully operational in the coming months.

But a number of well-placed sources told the Irish Examiner that it will take five to six months for the RSU to be actually up and running, while another experienced source estimated it could take even longer.

Report: Dissidents claim responsibility for Regency Hotel shooting https://t.co/0jjeu3sTYk pic.twitter.com/3I4bTTkwbu  Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) February 8, 2016

Notification to gardai of the competition to fill the unit is about to go out and insiders predict that will run for at least a month.

This is to give interested gardai a chance to make their application, which then goes to their supervisor, who must write a report on their suitability. That report has to go up the hierarchy, before being submitted to human resources.

Sources say the interview and selection process would take at least another month.

The recruits will then undergo a three-month training period, which is similar to that provided to the elite Emergency Response Unit.

Some sources pointed out that current competitions have been moving very slowly.

This includes the competition for the detective branch, which is said to have been running for four to five months and no interviews yet. A similar competition for the Special Detective Unit has been running for more than two months and no interviews have been held.

Ms Fitzgerald said on Tuesday that an initial overtime budget of 5m was being made available to provide the equivalent service of the RSU pending its establishment.

This includes bringing extra shifts in from the SDU and the ERU to conduct the armed patrols. In addition, members of the existing RSUs in the other divisions are being brought in to provide patrols.

It is not clear how long the 5m overtime budget will cover, but it is unlikely to last for six months.

Eddie Hutch senior shot in suspected Dublin gangland killing https://t.co/TMaCkIW4y8 pic.twitter.com/3suMxSJpK8  Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) February 8, 2016

The ministers establishment of the RSU, and its staffing complement of 55, got a mixed reaction.

The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, representing supervisory ranks, called it misleading and said the 55 members will come from the frontline.

The Garda Representative Association, representing rank-and-file gardai, welcomed the RSU, but did call for a budget to fill vacancies on the frontline.

Other sources said the next batch of 100 recruits are due in March.

The GRA has also called for local detectives to be armed with MP7 machine guns, to match the weaponry of the gang at the Regency.
The family of Aaron Joyce, 14, from Ashbourne, Co Meath, won a landmark discrimination ruling by the Equality Tribunal against the undertaker, Michael Ryan Funeral Directors.

The teenager suffered from a degenerative liver condition and died at Kings College Hospital in London on Christmas Eve in 2011. Two months before his death, his mother Ann donated part of her liver in a bid to save his life.

The tribunal awarded the maximum compensation of 6,384 under the Equal Status Acts to the boys family because they were refused access to a funeral home in Ashbourne to repose their son.

Pavee Point co-director Martin Collins said that, in his 30 years of being involved in Traveller politics, he had never heard of anything as shocking and repulsive.

It is a new low for Irish society that something like this could happen to a 14-year-old boy and his parents. It is despicable, said Mr Collins.

The boys parents wanted to repose his body in the Ashbourne funeral home because the boy lived in the town.

He went to school in the town and all his friends lived there, said Mr Collins. It was his dying wish that his body be reposed in Ashbourne but that was denied to him.

The undertaker had initially agreed to allow his funeral home to be used to wake the teenager but then refused to take the boys body because the family were members of the Traveller community.

Aarons body was taken to Jennings funeral home in Coolock, Dublin, but many of his friends never got a chance to say goodbye.

The boys mother said she was happy with the tribunals decision. Aaron would not have like what happened with the funeral parlour, she said. He would have been the first one to go in there and say: Why did you do this? 

Both Pavee Point and the Equality Authority supported the Joyce family in bringing the case.

Mr Collins said the family wanted to make it clear that the case was never about money but about honouring Aarons memory and giving some dignity and respect back to him. Every last cent of the compensation will be donated to the Make a Wish Foundation, said Mr Collins.

Chief commissioner designate of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, Emily Logan, welcomed the tribunals decision. The family has suffered a great loss with the death of their son and this was compounded by the discrimination that they experienced at the time of his burial, she said.

We hope that the outcome of the case can bring some closure to them and will prevent such discrimination being repeated in service provision.
Dublins prime office market saw rents rise 24% last year, to 560 per square metre, said the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI), while DTZ put new Dublin prime rents at 590 psm and noted this represented a 90% rise in values since a trough in 2013.

In an outlook for 2016 and review of last year, SCSI shows the value of office development land rose by 27% last year, and will go a further 16% in 16, while land for housing in the capital rose by 20% last year, and will go 16% higher this year.

The institutes 2015 review found that the sums invested in the commercial property market dipped from 2014 figures of 4.5 billion, to 3.7 bn in 2016, but this still represents an exceptionally buoyant year for property investment, as all sectors of the market recorded marked increases in activity, said the SCSI, adding the 2015 property market has seen investment spread more broadly through the regions compared to 2014, when investment was largely focused on the Dublin Region.

The slow delivery of new accommodation in Dublin over the past five years, as well as housing shortages, transport pinches and rising rents, means ongoing concerns about Dublins ability to continue to attract service sector Foreign Direct Investment in the absence of appropriate office space, according to Brian Meldon of SCSI.

Dublins Grafton Street retail rents grew by almost 18% in 2015, and may rise a further 11% this year, and by 8% in Munster but demand in suburban areas and neighbourhood shopping centres remains subdued and higher vacancy rates will likely remain a challenge within these areas in 2016, said the outlook report; it also reported residential development land increases of 19.7% in Dublin, 16.7% in Munster, 15.1% in Leinster, and 10.0% in Connacht/Ulster.

Notably, Dublin is the only region in which growth in the value of office development land exceeds growth in the value of residential land, and development finance remains the biggest single issue in ensuring additional new residential and commercial units are built over the short-term, stated the SCSI, adding availability of development finance for measured speculative development, as well as speeding up the planning system will address supply issues and create a more sustainable market.

The full report also noted that Munster was the region where most survey participants (48%) felt mortgage lending activity had increased in 2015.

Meanwhile, office market take-up ran at close to 300,000 sq m, its strongest level since 2007, according to a DTZ Sherry FitzGerald survey released also this week, with supply side shortages emerging in key markets, most notably in the Central Business District of Dublin and the Galway office markets, according to Marian Finnegan, Chief Economist, while, crucially, occupier demand was running 25% higher relative to the 10-year average.

On a regional level, activity was strongest in Limerick, supported by a number of large deals in the latter half of the year, most notably the occupation of 2,500 sq m in Thomas Street by IT platform company, Uber, said Ms Finnegan.

After a decade of oversupply, supply levels continued to decline with vacancy levels falling in all four regions.

"That said, a clear divergence exists across the markets; while supply levels remain strong in Limerick and Cork, availability has returned to more normalised levels in Dublin.

"In contrast, there is an acute shortage of supply in Galway.
ARCHBISHOP Diarmuid Martin called this week for intervention by the mothers and grandmothers of the gangland criminals. He said they were strong women and persons of wisdom. Who knows if his plea will go anywhere. But at least he recognises the central role a parent can play, not just in a family, but in a society.

Pity our aim is to put them out of business. This government has continued the work of governments since Charlie McCreevys tax individualisation budget in 1999 so that a married couple with two earners can currently bring home over 5,000 more than a married couple with one earner on the same wage.

It seems nobody has any problem with this gross inequality. So much so that Enda Kenny confirmed on RTE radio this week that Fine Gaels proposed 5% claw back of some of the benefit of USC abolition from workers on over 100, 000 will be paid on individual incomes, not household incomes, and drew no comment.

Two earners on 99,000 each and theres no claw back, it seems; one income of 100,000 and you lose 5%. This blunt instrument takes no account of the number of a familys children, the state of those childrens health and the size of their mortgage which would make some families far from super-rich on 100,000 compared with a married couple with no children and no mortgage on 198,000.

Fine Gael is not alone in its devotion to tax individualisation with no compensating measure to recognise family circumstances. It is just the most galling because Fine Gael led the criticism of Charlie McCreevys budget in 1999. It was Michael Noonan who stood up in the Dail and accused McCreevy of changing the kind of Ireland we have known and changing it for the worse. Now, although hes minister for finance he says he can do nothing about it. He cant repeal individualisation because society has changed, he told RTE last year. He agreed that our taxation policy treated people unequally as families but added that it treated them fairly as individuals. What kind of country would promote individuals over families? What kind of country would divorce childrens married parents in its tax code?

Mr Noonan proposes increasing the home carers tax credit from 1,000 to 1,650 and increasing the income threshold above which it is not paid to 10,500. That still leaves a massive gap between families with two earners and families with one earner, a gap which will nearly double for high earners after the claw back, although some families with two earners dont use childcare because they have older children or flexible work.

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This is an ideological attack on stay-at-home parents. Youd have to ask what they have done to deserve it. They mostly raise their kids well and serve their communities diligently. They are no better than parents who work outside the home but they are no worse either. They are the same people in different circumstances.

It is appalling that one-earner families enter the top tax bracket at 41,800 while two-income families do so at 65,600. If a father got offered some night security work to bulk out the familys income they could streak into the top tax bracket but his partner could take on work in the local supermarket with no penalty. Whose business is it except theirs who goes out to work and who stays home? Lucky the family that has any choice.

The Central Statistics Office is not yet able to offer me todays breakdown of mothers of children under-15 working full-time, part-time, and at home but my statistics for 2012 showed more than 30% of mothers working full-time, while approximately 20% worked part-time and approximately 50% worked in the home. There are 250,000 mothers working full-time in the home. And while many of those women are finished with the full-time rearing of their children, actuary Brendan Lynch makes the point to me that many women in their 50s and 60s who have devoted two decades to child-rearing wont make an easy return to the workforce and may still be the emotional mainstay of their families and their communities.

Enda Kenny needs to stick to his 'recovery' story to get elected https://t.co/U4XIK1a5nG (SN) #ge16 pic.twitter.com/5Yir3MeMBY  Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) February 9, 2016

Strong women, so. Persons of wisdom. But because we have used the tax system to socially engineer the end of the one-income family, we have left young families next to no choice, despite consistent findings like that of Amarach Research in 2013 that full-time daycare was the preferred choice of just 17% of parents. I was mortified recently when a friend who is expecting her first baby detailed her search for a rental home in Dublin decent enough to bring a child into. Shes paying nearly 2,000 a month. No childcare is going to be cheap enough for her. Meanwhile her landlord winters in Spain guzzling the money which should be going straight to her child.

Tax individualisation from 1999 was one of the factors which fuelled our crazy property boom. It transferred money from children to banks and developers. Maybe you think thats a terribly intelligent way to run a society. I have to say I dont.

It is an attack on children which began with the abolition of the child tax allowances in the 1980s and progressed to individualisation in 1999. There have been movements of outraged citizens including Nora Bennis, Nora Gilligan, and her daughter-in-law, Aine Ui Ghiollagain who is secretary general of the parents and carers NGO Curam. She vividly remembers sitting in her car listening to Charlie McCreevy saying he didnt want to incentivise women to sit around drinking coffee.

They have had very little impact. And that is not surprising because this is an issue on which the traditional right and the traditional left agree. Of course Joan Burton spoke out against tax individualisation when she was in opposition, saying in 2007 that the policy of individualisation has led to dramatic transfers from families with children to two-income households, many without dependents Small wonder that many single income families really feel that the State has it in for them.

Ever wondered what the main players in #GE16 are saying on Twitter? Well find out HERE. https://t.co/IRB1F7XDKd pic.twitter.com/QLwlwfUp3f  Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) February 8, 2016

Small wonder, Joan. Since getting into Government the same woman has presided over the cutting of pensions for women who have spent most of their lives working in the home on the basis that Those who pay more benefit more. She has kicked single parents with no children under seven off the one-parent family payment.

Our tax system does give a tax allowance to children of single parents but none for children of married parents. Do children of married parents come into the world with shoes on their feet? Do they not have mouths to feed?

In France and Germany, countries with much better records on child poverty than we do, children have a tax allowance of their own. Isnt it clear that the only fair way to tax families with children is as households rather than divorcing their parents and pretending they have no children?

Am I just talking to myself here? Or is anyone prepared to stand up in Government and speak for families with children?

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The family of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler have spoken out over their torment and pain after her killer Levi Bellfield finally gave harrowing details of his crimes.

In a statement, they said they hoped the 13-year-olds soul, at long last, can finally rest in peace, now that the serial killer has given his account of the 14 hours during which he raped, tortured, and strangled the teenager.

Bellfield would only speak to female officers from Surrey Police when he decided to confess and gave them disturbing details of how he killed Milly.

He was given a whole-life prison sentence in June 2011 for the brutal slaughter of the teenager, but had never admitted killing her until an investigation was launched into whether he had an accomplice after he bragged to a fellow prison inmate about his crime.

Last month, Surrey Police said they had arrested a man in his 40s, but the suspect was released without charge after just 10 hours because there was no evidence.

In their statement, the Dowler family said: We feel we need to say something in addition to the information that has already been made public, as we do not think what has been revealed reflects the true heinousness of this man.

In May 2015  nearly nine months ago  we were informed that Bellfield had requested to speak to Surrey Police about Milly.

"Bellfield made it clear to police that he would only speak to female police officers. Bellfield provided the officers with a harrowing account of Millys final 14 hours.

"Giving details of her abduction, repeated rape, torture, and then finally how he murdered her.

"The reason we were told this information last May was because previously Bellfield had shared the information with other prison inmates and one of them was due to be released.

"This meant there was a risk that this information could be made public without us knowing about it.

He told the officers that he had snatched the schoolgirl, assaulted her at his flat near Walton station, and then driven her to his mothers house where he raped her in broad daylight over the boot of his car.

The horrifying attack continued at another location for a number of hours before he strangled her.

The statement continued: A few days after hearing this harrowing information from Surrey Police, they revealed to us that they were also investigating an alleged accomplice involved in the abduction and rape of Milly.

Hearing Bellfields account of how Milly spent her final hours before being murdered was shocking enough, but the news that there could have been another individual involved was devastating.

"There are no words to describe the additional torment and pain we have been going through since we were told this information.

We had to remain silent for eight months while the police conducted their investigation. Finally, when they made the arrest of the suspected accomplice, the person was questioned and released without charge in less than 10 hours as there was no evidence found.

The pressure this has put us under as a family has been unimaginable and has taken its toll on all of us. We have had to fight every step of the way to get this far.

Milly was snatched from the street while on her way from school to her home in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, in March 2002.

Bellfield was found guilty of abducting and killing her following a trial at the Old Bailey.

He was already in jail for the murders of Amelie Delagrange, 22, and Marsha McDonnell, 19, and the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy, 18, when he went on trial accused of killing Milly.

In 2008 he had been given a whole-life term for murdering Ms McDonnell in 2003, and murdering Ms Delagrange and attempting to murder Ms Sheedy in 2004.

Millys body was found in a wood in Yateley Heath, Hampshire  40kms from Walton-on-Thames. Experts could not say how she died.

Police are now looking into a number of other crimes in the wake of his shock confession.

Bellfield is suspected of several other attacks. At the time of his conviction in June 2011, detectives said they believed Bellfield may have been responsible for around 20 attacks on women which were unsolved.
AUSTRALIA:

An 88-year-old British woman has embraced her wartime sweetheart in a reunion after more than 70 years apart.

Joyce Morris and 93-year-old former US serviceman Norwood Thomas laughed as they hugged each other after Mr Thomas flew from the States to the Australian city of Adelaide to reconnect with his long-lost love.

This is about the most wonderful thing that could have happened to me, Mr Thomas said, in a reunion broadcast in Australia on Channel 10s The Project.

Good, Ms Morris replied with a laugh. Were going to have a wonderful fortnight.

She was a 17-year-old British girl and Mr Thomas was a 21-year-old paratrooper when they met in London shortly before D-Day.

After the war, he returned to the US. The pair wrote letters to each other, and Mr Thomas asked Ms Morris to come to the US to marry him, but she misunderstood and thought he had found someone else, so she stopped writing.

The two eventually married other people.

Mr Thomass wife died in 2001, and Ms Morris divorced her husband after 30 years.

Last year, she asked one of her sons to look for Mr Thomas online, and they found his name in an article about D-Day in The Virginian-Pilot newspaper.

The couple reconnected by Skype, and after their story went public, hundreds of people made donations to help fund Mr Thomass trip to Australia from his home town in Virginia Beach.

The two are planning to spend Valentines Day together.

Pet hates

ENGLAND:

Takeaway food and booze have been blamed for a growing obesity crisis... among pets.

A leading animal charity highlighted statistics indicating that more than 5m cats, dogs, and rabbits in the UK are overweight as it launched its annual pet slimming competition.

PDSA blamed the fatty, sugary and downright dangerous treats some owners give their four-legged friends. Cake, chocolate, biscuits, crisps, chips, takeaway, and even alcohol are among the inappropriate items served by some owners, the PDSA said.

Lovers plea

ENGLAND:

Residents of the village of Lover have sent out a Valentines Day plea for help in their bid to bring life back to their rural home.

The Wiltshire village was once famous for its postmark, which brought thousands of romantics to deliver their Valentines Day cards from the post office to get the distinctive stamp. But the tradition ended in 2008 when the post office and village store closed. Now villagers are aiming to raise 110,000 (141,000) to buy the old Lover primary school  another amenity which closed 10 years ago  to transform it into a community centre.

Skinflints

ENGLAND:

The ancient tradition of printing laws on vellum will come to an end in March, the House of Lords has confirmed.

MPs handed the decision to end the 1,000-year-old practice to peers, who are pushing ahead with the cost-cutting measure.

Switching from goat and calf skin to archival paper, which can survive for up to 500 years, is expected to save around 80,000 a year.

Sister act

USA:

Twin sisters in New Jersey have given birth to girls minutes apart at the same hospital.

Stephanie Edginton and Nicole Montgomery delivered their daughters Cora and Louisa six minutes apart at Virtua Hospital in Voorhees.

The twins themselves say they were born three minutes apart.

Serial offender

USA:

Police say a 24-year-old central New York man who admitted to being involved in about 100 thefts has been arrested again after robbing a woman.

Police say Kenneth Lafler was arrested after he jumped into a womans car earlier in the week and stole her purse.

Officers say the victim recognised Lafler because he had been charged with breaking into her car two months ago.

He was released after posting bail on February 3.

Strip show

USA:

A Houston man and a New York woman are facing felony charges after authorities say they were recorded having sex in public during a 30-minute ride in a glass-enclosed cabin on a Ferris wheel 550ft above the Las Vegas Strip.

A Las Vegas judge set a March 9 date to see if the charges against Phillip Frank Panzica III and Chloe Scordianos can be resolved without trial.

Police say surveillance cameras captured the act, security warned the couple to stop, and people in another car shot phone video.

Images havent been made public.
In recent days, a Russian-backed Syrian government offensive around the city of Aleppo has sent tens of thousands of people fleeing to the Turkish border.

Turkey has taken in some 3m refugees  including more than 2.6m Syrians  making it the country with the worlds largest refugee population.

Turkey has not, however, allowed the latest wave of refugees in, providing them instead with assistance at displaced persons camps on the Syrian side of the border.

That prompted the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, this week to call on Turkey to admit all civilians who are fleeing danger and seeking international protection.

At a news conference with his Dutch counterpart in The Hague, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called the UN Security Council and the international community two-faced for demanding that Turkey open its borders while not moving a finger to solve the Syrian crisis or to stop the Russian bombings.

Mr Davutoglu also said the Syrian and Russian military operations were an attempt to drive out people who do not support the government of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

By taking in the refugees that have fled Aleppo, he said Turkey would be indirectly contributing to what he called Syrias ethnic cleansing.

With every refugee that we accept, in a way, we would be contributing to this ethnic cleansing aim, he said.

If this is a strategy to change the demography in Syria, then we all have to be vigilant against it.

In Ankara, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the UN had sent $455m (404m) to Turkey to help with refugees compared to the $10bn that Turkey had spent on the refugees since 2011.

What does the UN say? Open your border to the refugees. What are you for then? What is your use? Mr Erdogan asked.

We have taken 3m Syrians and Iraqis into our home until now. How many did you take?

Turkeys Oncupinar border crossing, opposite the Bab al-Salameh gate in Syria, has been closed since Friday, with only ambulances and aid trucks being allowed to cross.
Burma A Change of Political Weather: NLD Lawmakers Reflect on Personal Transformations

Three recently elected NLD legislators describe the transition from political dissident to parliamentarian.

RANGOON  Aung Win used to fight against the government, asking for better policies. Now, he is sitting in Burmas new Parliament hoping to create better policies.

The 70-year-old politician is a new Lower House lawmaker from Rangoons Hmawbi Township, representing the National League for Democracy Party (NLD), which won in a landslide victory against the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) in Novembers election.

The NLD secured almost 80 percent of contested seats in the Union Parliament, which convened on February 8. Lawmakers with unprecedented backgrounds have entered the legislature, including 71 ex-political prisoners.

Aung Win now sits in Parliament wearing pinni suit, a symbol of Burmese independence during both the countrys colonial days and during the NLDs nearly 30-year struggle against a military regime.

After surviving a tough era of military repression, he is learning to act within a different political scene, he told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday. Burmas new legislature, he said, represents a change of political weather.

I have to remind myself everyday now to leave all of my political bias. Whoever it is, whatever their political party is, we should only focus on working together for the genuine benefit of the country, he said.

His sentiments echo calls by NLD chairwoman Aung San Suu Kyi to prioritize national reconciliation.

Aung Wins ex-military background is not typical within the countrys democratic movement. He attended the Defence Services Academy, graduating from the schools ninth batch, along with outgoing President Thein Sein and the chairperson of the Union Election Commission, Tin Aye.

People from Aung Wins town of Hmawbi still call him Captain, because it was the last rank he attained during his military service; he has not been a captain for 27 years.

He describes his transformation from soldier to politician during the 1988 student uprising, where he became the leader of a protest group in Hmawbi Township where he was a civil servant recovering from severe injuries he endured on the front line in the army.

For his role in the demonstrations, Aung Win was imprisoned for one and a half years. After his release, he joined the NLD and continued his political activities as a party member.

I believed our people were right. Thats why I joined the protest against the government in 1988, he explained during an interview with The Irrawaddy in late October last year while campaigning for the election.

We suffered a lot of suppression. We fought for this one single goalthe change, he told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday.

Now, we are given a chance to implement what we promised during our campaign.

Another NLD lawmaker, Kyi Moe Naing, from Pegu Divisions Yedashe Township, said that adapting to a new political environment remains an emotional challenge. People put so much hope in the newly elected representatives, he said, but is now realizing that not everything he had wanted to do can be implemented immediately.

I used to be the one who raised questions to the government, he said. But now, I ask questions of myself about what I can do for my people within this 5-year term.

He was imprisoned from 1991 to 2000 for his involvement in pro-democracy movements.

Aye Win, a lawmaker from Irrawaddy Divisions Ingapu Township, has, like the ex-military MP Aung Win, been a member of the NLD since the partys formation. He told The Irrawaddy that he is also experiencing new challenges in his role.

I used to be the one who did party work at the township level, he explained.

Even though Aye Win is now a political actor in the national arena, he said his original goal to work for the country remains unchanged.

Our party has assigned me to bigger duties to work for our people, he said.
Burma Analysis: New Lawmakers, Same Silencing of Burmas LGBTQ Citizens?

Despite last weeks sea change in the Union Parliament, it is unclear if Burmas LGBTQ citizens will find long-sought support in the new government.

CHIANG MAI, Thailand  Despite last weeks sea change in the Union Parliament following the roaring victory of Aung San Suu Kyis National League for Democracy (NLD) in Burmas historic November election, it is unclear if the dividing line that relegates the former pariah states LGBTQ citizens to the fringes of cultural and political life will persist.

At least in part, the bones of this lie in the legacy of British colonialism that still stretches across large swaths of Asia. Section 377 of the former British penal code criminalizes carnal intercourse against the order of nature, which has typically been interpreted to mean same-sex acts, particularly sodomy. Britains penal code was exported to its colonies to entrench European mores among the local masses. This doubled as a form of control, and it remains intact in many former colonies today.

Present-day Burma still has section 377 on its books. People who engage in same-sex acts can be punished with up to 10 years in prison. Laws against homosexuality are rarely enforced, but sexual minorities and their advocates often face abuse from police, who are known to extort bribes by using the threat of prosecution.

In 2013, for instance, 12 gay men and transgender women in Mandalay were arrested and then forced to strip in public before they were taken to a police station and subjected to further humiliation. After the incident, Human Rights Watch reported that Myint Kyu, Mandalay Divisions minister of border and security affairs, said, The existence of gay men who assume that they are women is unacceptable, and therefore we are constantly taking action to have the gays detained at police stations, educate them and then hand them back to their parents, though this usually hinges on the ability to pay bond.

Queer men are confronted with obstacles including greater risk of contracting HIV in a society whose stigma against homosexuality obstructs safe-sex education and shames those who are HIV positive into silence. However, non-gender conforming and queer women are arguably more obscured in larger human rights efforts in Burma.

Lynette Chua, assistant professor of law at the National Singapore University, told The Irrawaddy that transgender women are overwhelmingly targeted by police because theyre seen as acting in a way thats gender transgressive. But social norms ignore abuses to this group by unspooling a narrative that its members invited violence. This is underpinned by broader discrimination against women and by a widely accepted belief in the majority-Buddhist country that being transgender is accumulated bad karma for past sins.

In the lead-up to Novembers general election, activists aimed their efforts at summoning political muscle as a key way to protect and empower Burmas LGBTQ citizens.

One of Burmas most prominent human rights voices, Aung Myo Min, said in an interview with The Irrawaddy that activists during this time had two main objectives: making sexual minorities visible, and prodding candidates to rethink social prejudices before the newly minted lawmakers took up their seats in Parliament.

Much of the public still sees homosexuality as a negative element, he said, and politicians are wary of promoting LGBTQ rights because they fear that doing so might make it seem as if they have a more vested motive for taking up these causes. Raising awareness among political players is one of the best means of galvanizing support for LGBTQ citizens.

This is likely because progress in conservative Burma must stem from simultaneous, equally powerful changes both to national culture as well as to national policy.

David Gilbert, a researcher at Australia National University focusing on how regulation shapes gender and sexuality in everyday Rangoon life, put it plainly to The Irrawaddy, saying that Burma needs law reform, including the repeal of section 377 and vague anti-loitering laws, such as section 30(d) of the Rangoon Police Act, which has frequently been used to target male-bodied transgender women. In addition to a shift in public attitudes, new laws are needed to provide protection from discrimination, he said.

Yet there is a healthy dose of skepticism to be had. While some politicians have called on the decriminalization of homosexuality in Burma, the countrys tenuous political climate makes it dubious as to whether qualified words will translate into action anytime soon. Indeed, LGBTQ rights have yet to secure a crowning position on political agendas.

Burma has made headway over the past few years by bringing more attention to its admittedly grim LGBTQ situation. There is a burgeoning grassroots movement, and in January activists lauded the return of the &Proud LGBTQ film festival. Hopes are certainly high that this is the dawn of a new, liberal era in Burma. But looking ahead, advancing LGBTQ rightsgiving greater prominence to lesbian and transgender rights, building the capacity of local leaders and even having openly LGBTQ candidates contest electionswill require Burmas political top brass to grapple with what activists describe as a problem of political vision.

New lawmakers must see LGBTQ rights as human rights. Its important for sexual minorities to be treated as equal human beings, Aung Myo Min said. What activists want is the universality of LGBTQ rights and the lives they protect.
Burma Authorities Demand Permission for Aung San Birthday Celebrations

Devoted National League for Democracy members have hit a snag on the eve of celebrations honoring the late General Aung Sans 101st birthday, on Feb. 13.

RANGOON  Devoted National League for Democracy (NLD) members have hit a snag in preparations to mark the revered General Aung Sans 101st birthday on Feb. 13, with the party faithful, as well as student union members, reporting that authorities are demanding they obtain official permission.

Khin Maung Myint, an executive committee member of the NLD in Mandalay Divisions Kyaukse Township, said that party members want to hold celebrations on Friday and Saturdayincluding a public literature talk, a quiz competition for children and a fitness contestbut that the township administration has said they can only do so with official permission.

Weve now submitted a permit to host the event, Khin Maung Myint said, adding that party members were yet to receive any official word.

If permission is not granted, we will proceed anyway, he said. We will have a fundraiser and a free feast at the NLD office on Feb. 13.

This is the tack that was taken at the Yangon Institute of Economics. While members of the student union had not been cleared to hold an event on Feb. 10 honoring Aung Sans birthday, some 100 students went ahead with their planned festivities, including singing songs, playing games and sharing birthday cake.

As access to a field was obstructed, students had to hold the event in a different space near the institute. The students said they were filmed and photographed by police.

In 2015, the NLD led a whole year of celebrations to commemorate the 100th birthday of Burmas martyred revolutionary.
Burma Burmas First EITI Report Attracts Mixed Reviews

While acknowledged as a boost for transparency in the resource sector, Burmas first EITI report lacked serious scrutiny of the jade trade, observers said.

Burmas first ever Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) report was published last month, focusing on revenue flows from the countrys oil, gas and mining sectors, completed as part of the governments effort to become a full-fledged member of the global protocol. Burma became a candidate country in July 2014, and the countrys membership became a key plank of President Thein Seins reform agenda.

The London-based NGO Global Witness, which last year released a highly publicized report on corruption in the multi-billion dollar jade industry, called Burmas first EITI report an important foundation for more accountable management of Myanmars oil, gas and mining industries that the incoming government, civil society and companies can build from.

In a detailed response to the report, however, Global Witness concluded that the assessment could have been more thorough in its coverage of the lucrative jade trade, which the watchdog group says the EITI reports authors seem to have treated as an afterthought.

Global Witness noted that the reports author avoided citing already published government data on the jade trade that was released in a 2014 Harvard study authored by David Dapice with full cooperation from the Burmese government, or other data that Global Witness had obtained and published last year. Most bizarrely, they do not even reference published government statistics on jade production, notes Global Witness.

Although the full disclosure of who owns which firms involved in a given extractive resource project is one of the main goals of the EITI process, the report left out much of this information in its coverage of the jade trade.

The report offers very little on the question of who really owns companies and what the terms of companies contracts areboth are crucial to the publics ability to hold companies and officials to account and need to be prioritized in the next stage of the EITI process, said Global Witness, whose own report last year revealed that several high-profile former members of the previous ruling regimeincluding the families of Snr-Gen Than Shwe and former northern commander Ohn Myintwere behind shadowy firms with lucrative concessions in Kachin states Hpakant.

Global Witness wasnt the only critic of Burmas EITI efforts. Wong Aung, director of Shwe Gas Movement (SGM)an NGO created in response to concerns about the now completed China-backed twin oil and gas pipelines projectwas part of the EITIs multi-stakeholder group at the beginning of the process. A native of Arakan State, Wong Aung said the report did not do enough to cover issues relating to resources in ethnic areas.

I totally agree with Global Witness, there needs to be a more serious look at jade and other resources coming from ethnic areas, said the veteran campaigner. There are still a lot of political and institutional obstacles to making the report complete.

Wong Aung told The Irrawaddy that he was left somewhat disillusioned with the civil society engagement component of the EITI process, which he said glossed over the concerns of ethnic groups about resource governance and environmental policies.

The problem is that a lot of marginalized people, including ethnic people, have been left out of the process, he said.

Wong Aung wants the incoming National League for Democracy (NLD) government to make an effort to address long-standing concerns of ethnic people about resource governance, lamenting that the issue does not appear to be a high priority for the NLD despite its national importance.

Firm Linked to Japanese Govt Fails to Comply

The EITI report contained a great deal of data provided by international oil and gas firms about their payments and taxation levels to the Burmese government, which also provided data for what they received from these firms, something that the government had never done before.

The report noted however, that Nippon Oil Exploration (Myanmar), which owns a 19.32 percent stake in the Yetagun offshore project, did not cooperate with the process. Most of the other major international oil firms operating in country did comply. Data available on the website of firm JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corporation revealed that it owned a 40 percent stake in Nippon Oil Exploration (Myanmar). A 50 percent stake in Nippon Oil Exploration (Myanmar) is held by the Japanese government, while the remaining 10 percent is held by the Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi, according to the companys website.

Despite the fact that Nippon Oil failed to produce copies of their receipts as requested for the EITI audit, the reports authors were able to include some information about the firms activities because their partner on the Yetagun projectthe Malaysian firm Petronas, which is the operator in the consortium of firms involved in Yetagunshared its data. Information relating to the firms Burmese operations, including the firms local registration number and ownership structure, were not provided. Likewise, details about Nippon Oils auditor were also missing.

The Japanese government has held a stake in the Yetagun project since it entered into a partnership with JX Nippon in the 1990s, before the project went online. In February 2009, the Japanese government, led at the time by the centrist Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), formally announced its decision to become a supporting country of the EITI.
Burma Charges Filed Against Students Over Jan. 20 Protest March

Mandalay Division police have opened a lawsuit against four student activists for leading a commemoration ceremony marking an education bill protest march.

MANDALAY  Mandalay Division police have opened a lawsuit against four student activists for allegedly leading a commemoration ceremony in January marking a student protest march against Burmas controversial National Education Law.

The four students Kaung Zaw Hein, Shine Min Htet Zaw, Khaing Zin Thet and Nyan Lin Htetare being charged under the Peaceful Assembly Act by police in Aungmyaythazan, Chanayethazan and Maha Aung Myay townships, according to the Mandalay divisional police office.

A police officer said that the four student activists have been requested to present at their respective police stations in order to proceed with the case, as it is bailable.

They organized a protest without permission. If they dont show up, their arrest warrants will be issued at once, and the court will accept the case, said an officer.

On Jan. 20 over 30 students from Mandalays Yadanapon University and students from the Mandalay Student Union joined together in a march to commemorate one year since the long march from Mandalay to Rangoon, an act of protest against Burmas National Education Law.

Their march terminated at Letpadan, Pegu Division, when police brutally cracked down on protesters. Over 50 student activists remain in jail for their role in the protest.

During the ceremony last month students urged the government for the immediate release of the activists detained at Thayawady Prison, as well as the release of all political prisoners across the country.

Arrest warrants for Kaung Zaw Hein and Shine Min Htet Zaw were issued at a court in Chanayethazan Township in 2014 for distributing leaflets and protesting at Zaygyo Bazar.

Nyan Lin Htet faced a prison term for a graffiti protest on the grounds of Yadanapon University and was released at the end of 2015 after serving the sentence.
Burma Civilians Displaced as Taang, Shan Armed Groups Clash in Northern Shan State

Fighting flared between the Taang National Liberation Army and the Shan State Army-South this week, with both groups trading blame over the hostilities.

RANGOON  More clashes have been reported between the Taang National Liberation Army and the Shan State Army-South this week, with both armed groups trading blame over the cause of hostilities.

Fighting has been reported on successive days since Feb. 7 across three townships in northern Shan StateNamkham, Namhsan and Kyaukme.

According to local media reports, several hundred villagers from Tauk San in Kyaukme Township have fled their homes as clashes continue.

Col Sai Hla, a spokesperson for the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), the political wing of the Shan State Army-South (SSA-S), claimed Taang forces attacked their base in Namkham on Sunday.

They came to attack our new base where we set up on a mountain. They could not take our mountain post as our armed forces fought back, Sai Hla told The Irrawaddy.

They burned some houses at a village in Kyaukme Township. They even arrested some villagers, including monks who tried to help the villagers escape.

Tar Bong Kyaw, general secretary of the Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA), denied the claims, while acknowledging that Taang forces had arrested members of the RCSS.

The TNLA general secretary also repeated a claim, first leveled in November last year, that the SSA-S was cooperating with the Burma Armyan accusation the Shan armed group has repeatedly denied.

The RCSS troops wait to fight us outside [Kyaukme] town in order to get help from the Burma Army, said Tar Bong Kyaw, claiming that the SSA-S was able to freely pass through checkpoints manned by government troops in the area. He further alleged that the Burma Army had provided Shan forces with ammunition.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy, Col Sai Hla refuted the allegations which have been hotly debated among Burmese social media users this week.

The RCSS was among eight armed groups that signed the so-called nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) with the government in mid-October. The TNLA by contrast was not recognized by the government and excluded from the negotiations.

At a recent event to mark Shan National Day in Loi Tai Leng, the remote mountain headquarters of the SSA-S, RCSS chairman Lt-Gen Yawd Serk spoke positively of the ceasefire pact.

Signing the NCA is a way to unity, as it is signed between the government and the armed groups of both sides who think for the public, he told The Irrawaddy. When the public cooperates, it will be successful.

According to two Taang civil society organizations, over 550 villagers from Law Naw in Namkhan Township have been forced to flee their homes due to ongoing hostilities.

In a joint statement released on Wednesday, the Taang Womens Organization and the Taang Students and Youth Organization also alleged that the RCSS had been forcibly recruiting villagers in southern Shan State.

We Need to Fight Back

Representatives of the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) met with Yawd Serk in northern Thailands Chiang Mai in December in a bid to alleviate tensions in northern Shan State.

RCSS is not a member of the ethnic alliance, which includes the TNLA and whose membership is comprised of groups that opted against signing the NCA.

Nai Ron Tein, deputy communications officer for the UNFC, told The Irrawaddy this week that leaders of both sides may meet next week.

Both groups have accused the other of instigating the conflict which first broke out in November. TNLA leaders have viewed the clashes as playing to the time-honored divide-and-rule tactics of the former regime.

The best solution would be if Yawd Serks troops go back to their place [in southern Shan State], said Tar Bong Kyaw. For us, we need to fight back as they came to take control of our area and we have no other options.

The TNLA has in the past fought government troops alongside members of the Kachin Independence Army and the Arakan Army, further raising fears among some observers of the potential for this weeks fighting to cement divisions between ethnic armed groups.

We do not want to fight against our ethnic armed groups, said Sai Hla of the RCSS. It is better to work out how we can stay as one community in Namkham.
Burma Detained Student Activists Mark Early Valentines Day at Court Appearance

Summoned to yet another court appearance Thursday, detained student activists were determined to remain upbeat, marking Valentines Day outside the court.

RANGOON  Summoned to yet another court appearance on Thursday, detained student activists were determined to remain upbeat, marking an early Valentines Day by wearing matching t-shirts and presenting each other with chocolates.

Appearing at Rangoon Divisions Kamayut Township Court, Phyo Phyo Aung and her husband James, also known as Lin Htet Naing, posed for the cameras and exchanged gifts to mark the well-known day, which falls on Sunday. Another detained couple, Min Thwe Thit and Po Po, did the same.

Fifty-three students remain detained for their role in demonstrating against the National Education Law early last year. Their protests came to a brutal end when police violently cracked down on the demonstrators at Letpadan, Pegu Division, on March 10.

As their trials continue to drag on, courts from the commercial capitals Kamayut, Botahtaung, Tamwe, Hlaing and Mayangone townships recently tacked on charges against at least one of the students the 28-year-old Phyo Phyo Aung.

A coalition of groups released a report last month in which they claimed some of the 53 detainees at Thayawady Prison faced illnesses that were potentially life-threatening, calling for their immediate release.

Phyo Phyo Aung and James were arrested three months after their marriage in January 2015. They are being held in different prisons and only meet on hearing days.

Min Thwe Thit was arrested in March and his fiance Po Po has been on bail since April.

On Thursday, Min Thwe Thit took to Facebook to express his feelings.

This year is worse as we have no freedom, he wrote.

We wore couples shirts today. As long as we have understanding for each other and are faithful to our revolution, every moment we meet is Valentines Day.
Burma Rangoon Police Seize US$1 Million Worth of Abandoned Drugs

Responding to a local tip, police find over 260,000 methamphetamine pills in a garbage dump in Rangoons Mingaladon Township.

RANGOON  Police have seized over 260,000 methamphetamine pills worth over 1.3 billion kyats (over US$1 million) in Rangoons Mingaladon Township, officers confirmed this week.

Responding to a local tip in Pyinmabin village on February 5, police found the stimulants abandoned at a garbage dump near the Rangoon-Prome road. The tablets were wrapped in paper and packed in plastic and cement bags near the dumping site.

We assume that those stimulant tablets were abandoned weeks ago. Some of the bags are torn and some tablets are wet. We are still probing into the case. Drug squads and local police stations are working together to find the owners of those drugs, said police officer Htay Win of Htauk Kyan Police Station.

Police have opened an investigation under the Illicit Drugs Act. It is not yet immediately clear if the latest discovery is linked with the chain of five previous drug hauls in Mingaladon and East and West Dagon townships last year. In these busts, police seized over 33 million pills worth around 170 billion kyats (US$138.5 million) in total.

On February 8, police also confiscated 4.5 million kyats (US$3,600) worth of stimulants from a house in South Dagon Township and a haul of the same narcotics worth 500 million kyats (over US$400,000) in Tamwe Township.

Translated by Thet Ko Ko.
Burma Villagers in Mandalays Myingyan Township Protest to Keep Their Water Flowing

Dozens of residents in Mandalays Myingyan Township have protested against the destruction of the Mya Nandar reservoir, the only source of water for locals.

MANDALAY  Dozens of residents from Hsa Khar village in Mandalay Divisions Myingyan Township protested on Wednesday against the destruction of the Mya Nandar reservoir, the only source of water for the villages residents.

Protesters said that the reservoirs waterways have been blocked due to an ongoing land expansion project by the Myingyan municipal department, and that the village could face a water shortage in the months leading up to the dry season.

Because theyve bulldozed most of the ground, the flow of water leading to Mya Nandar reservoir has been stemmed and the water level has significantly dropped, said Ye Myint, one of the Hsa Khar protesters.

According to locals, the land expansion project, supposedly for housing and farming, was started a month ago, near Myingyan Industrial Zone and Hsa Khar village.

Weve submitted several appeals to the department to clear the waterways, but we havent received any response. So now we have to protest, said Ye Myint.

During the protest, villagers demanded a stop to the project and the creation of alternative pathways for water to reach the village.

We dont want the project. We just want our water back, Ye Myint said.

The Irrawaddy attempted to contact the municipal department on Wednesday but was unable to reach anyone for comment.

Weve never faced a water shortage in the summer because weve always had the reservoir. This summer, however, well face one for sure, said Mya Ohn, another villager. Our crops are already dying, and very soon, we could be confronted with a drought.
Ethnic Issues Lisu People Want to be Free From The Threats Of Armed Groups

Lisu National Development Party lawmaker Lar Mar Lay discusses his partys priorities as he enters the Lower House.

RANGOON  The Lisu National Development Party won five constituencies in the 2015 general elections, two seats in the Lower House, two seats in the Kachin State parliament and the post of Minister of Lisu Ethnic Affairs in Kachin State. Lar Mar Lay, a 36-year-old lawyer, won a Lower House seat in Tsawlaw Township, Kachin State, for the party.

The Lisu are an ethnic minority of several hundred thousand people living mostly in Kachin and Shan states; many adhere to the Christian faith. Due to its relatively small numbers, the group has struggled to defend its interests while being surrounded by bigger ethnic groups in the north of Myanmar and dealing with the previous Bamar-majority government.

The Lisu do not have an armed rebel group, though some of its people have joined the ethnic Wa, Kachin and Shan rebel groups.

Lar Mar Lay recently spoke to reporter Ei Cherry Aung about his partys role in the national and Kachin State parliaments, and the issues he wants to prioritise on behalf of the Lisu people.

You are representing the Lisu and won in Tsawlaw Township constituency. Are there many Lisu people in this area?

People believe I would address their woes in the parliament and so they voted for me. But our party[s Lisu support base] is smaller than any other [ethnic] parties in this area. It has a population of more than 6,000, among which there are 3,800 eligible voters, only 1,400 of them are Lisu people.

Which issues will you prioritise in parliament?

I will discuss Kachin State issues, such as IDPs [internally displaced persons], the peace process, and the poor education and healthcare services in my constituency, as well as the need for amendments to the Constitution.

What did the national and state governments do for the Lisu people in the last five years? And what type of help do Lisu people now expect from the new government?

President Thein Seins government did not implement any project with special attention for the Lisu people. We expect better rule of law in Chipwi, Tsawlaw Township, Khaunglanphu, Putao, Myitkyina, Waingmaw and Tanai townships. Two militia groups, government forces and the KIA [Kachin Independence Army] forces have their military camps in Tsawlaw Township. We want to be free from the threats of these armed groups, and be able to enjoy democratic practices.

People are living in poor conditions there. For example, there is no paved road in this area. The living standards are much lower than in Yangon, Mandalay and Naypyitaw. Many grade 4 schoolchildren cannot speak the Myanmar language well. Local people are not accustomed to using a toilet. The area has no landline phones.

Many Lisu people in Shan state and Mandalay region have also not received citizenship cards. This is a loss of citizenship rights. The incoming government is requested to solve these problems.

Are there any Lisu soldiers in the Kachin and Shan rebel forces?

There might be some Lisu soldiers in these forces because some of them might have been forcibly recruited.

What is your initial view of the peace process approach of the NLD government?

Most ethnic armed groups have more confidence in the NLD than the outgoing government when it comes to the peace process. But we will have to wait and see whether the military will collaborate with the new administration on the peace issue.

If the new peace process does not live up to expectations of ethnic armed groups, the civil war will continue. But collaboration between the government and the army could reduce these armed clashes.

What is the current situation of the Kachin IDPs?

IDPs in the government-controlled areas are being supported by NGOs. Those outside these areas are trying to survive by themselves as NGOs fear working there due to the lack of government security measures. It means that neither the government nor civil society organizations can fully provide humanitarian aid to these IDPs. Only a ceasefire deal could help them return home.

What sort of difficulties will the next government face in the peace process?

All the armed groups, including army forces, [pro-government] militias and border guard forces, need to support the governments efforts on this issue. Each armed group must be counterbalanced through activities to strengthen the rule of law. Law enforcement officers need independent authority to ensure rule of law [in conflict areas].

Which constitutional amendments would you like to see?

The state and regions chief ministers should be elected by the [state and region] parliament. I oppose the fact the president can directly appoint the chief ministersthis article should be amended.

What are the main challenges for the incoming government?

National reconciliation should be their first priority, and then lasting peace. Armed groups should not have unreasonable demands. For example, Kayin leaders should consider the interest of all ethnic people in Kayin State.

Do you think ethnic affairs can be discussed effectively with few ethnic party representatives in parliament?

Aung San Suu Kyi has promised that her government will take an approach of national reconciliation, but we will have to wait and see what happens in the parliament.

What are the major obstacles to creating a federal union in Myanmar?

The major problem with this issue is racial discrimination. National leaders should remove any mindset that focuses only on the interest of their own race. Such attitudes will never lead to the establishment of a genuine federal union. A federal army [integrating ethnic rebels with the army] will be the first step for the federal union; such a federal army must involve young talented persons of all races.

This story originally appeared on Myanmar Now.
Thursday, February 11th, 2016 (5:26 pm) - Score 867

More than 2,000 homes on the Northern side of the Isle of Skye in Scotland, which will not be reached by BTs roll-out, could soon benefit from superfast broadband (30Mbps+) services after a local community project secured the necessary public investment from the Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE).

Details of the North Skye Broadband project are still a little sparse, although we understand that HIEs Community Broadband Scotland (CBS) initiative will provide support through the OJEU procurement process with a view to harnessing a capital grant of up to 1,460,000 (max 89% of capital costs) and more will probably come from the community itself.

The new network appears to be aiming towards a future proof locally managed superfast fibre class broadband service, although precisely details of what technology will be deployed have not yet been announced and are still somewhat subject to the outcome of their tender process. The related State Aid Consultation doesnt give much away either.

The company will be a social enterprise, which reinvests any profits back into the communities it serves.

Predictive Timeline for 2016 1. Community engagement rollout February 2016 onwards and ongoing.

2. Selection of preferred supplier Late Spring 2016.

3. Contract Award Summer 2016.

4. Commencement of Superfast Broadband Roll Out Phase one late Summer/Early Autumn 2016. Within eighteen months of its initial meeting to discuss the lack of access to decent broadband services, the group will have progressed to starting the roll out of the infrastructure required to supply a modern Superfast Broadband system serving North Skye residents during 2017.

Its worth pointing out that this isnt the only community broadband project on Skye, with wireless ISP Skyenet also having benefited from public funding in different parts of the island (e.g. Aird, Achnacloich, Tokavaig, Ord and Drumfearn). In fact that network recently announced plans to expand its coverage (here).
Thursday, February 11th, 2016 (8:38 am) - Score 1,507

The 12.2 million Black Country Broadband Project (Englands West Midlands) has made good progress since it began deploying last year and has already expanded BTs fibre broadband (FTTC/P) network to an additional 10,000 premises. Today the next batch of upgrades have been confirmed.

Overall the project, which sat out the first Broadband Delivery UK phase because the area (i.e. Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton) already had pretty good NGA coverage, intends to make fixed line superfast broadband (24Mbps+) speeds available to 98% of local premises by June 2017.

The development will require Openreach (BT) to upgrade 400 street cabinets in the area and 80 of these have already been completed. So far the following areas should have seen some benefit: Bentley, Blackheath, Brierley Hill, Castle, Darlaston, Ettingshall, Netherton, Priory, Rowley, St Andrews, St James, St Pauls, St Thomass, the centre of West Bromwich and Woodside.

The good news is that related work is now starting on the next phase, which will upgrade connectivity for parts of Brierley Hill, Dudley, James Bridge, Streetly, Tipton and Willenhall.

Bill Murphy, BTs Managing Director of NGA, said: The roll-out of fibre broadband is progressing well and our project teams are working hard to make it available to more parts of the Black Country as quickly as possible. Every day were hearing how fibre broadband is touching peoples lives in new and exciting ways. Whether its someone working from home or running a small business, or students doing their homework or downloading films or streaming music  everything is easier, better and faster with fibre broadband.

Unfortunately the project doesnt have a dedicated website like other such state aid supported deployments, although you can find some information on the Black Country LEP site.
Thursday, February 11th, 2016 (8:17 am) - Score 1,801

Satellite operators Eutelsat and ViaSat have announced that theyre teaming up via a Joint Venture. On top of that ViaSat has also announced plans to build three new ViaSat-3 spacecraft, which could deliver broadband speeds of 100Mbps+ to customers around Europe and possibly the UK.

Apparently the first two satellites will focus on the Americas and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), respectively, while a third is planned for the Asia Pacific region. Construction of the first two ViaSat-3 satellites, which is being helped by Boeing Satellite Systems, has already begun and these should be delivered in 2019 (i.e. related services probably wont go live until 2020).

Admittedly the new Satellites arent going to solve the age old problem of latency, which will always be slow given the orbit / relay distance, but they will make such services significantly faster and add a huge amount of extra capacity (1Tbps Terabit per second (1000Gbps) of network capacity per satellite).

The promise of this is that the new Satellites will be able to deliver residential packages that offer download speeds of 100Mbps+ enabling 4K ultra-high definition video streaming (hopefully the data usage allowances will be adjusted upwards to match), which is faster than BTs best FTTC (VDSL) lines today (up to 80Mbps). A 1Gbps service will also be offered to the maritime sector (ships and off-shore oil platforms etc.), as well as something similar for aircraft.

But of course by 2019/20 BT will have deployed a lot of 300-500Mbps fixed line G.fast connectivity and no doubt Virgin Media will have gone beyond their current top speed of 200Mbps, although both of those will still be more focused on the first 60-65% of largely urban UK premises. As such ViaSats new kit, which will also be compatible with the existing ViaSat-2 class terminals, remains focused on those with slower connections (e.g. rural areas).

Mark Dankberg, Chairman and CEO of ViaSat, said: The innovations in the ViaSat-3 system do what until now has been impossible in the telecommunications industry  combining enormous network capacity with global coverage, and dynamic flexibility to allocate resources according to geographic demand. While there are multiple companies and consortia with ambitions to connect the world with telecom, satellite and space technologies, the key technologies underlying ViaSat-3 are in hand today, enabling us to move forward in building the first broadband platform to bring high-speed internet connectivity, including video streaming, to all.

The other big news is the Joint Venture with Eutelsat, which will help ViaSat to expand into Europe. At the same time it will allow Eutelsat to expand its current wholesale broadband business and launch a new consumer retail service in Europe.

The joint venture will initially use Eutelsats existing KA-SAT spacecraft, although this is very likely to be expanded to include ViaSat-3 when it launches.

Michel de Rosen, Eutelsat Chairman and CEO, said: With KA-SAT, our unique dedicated High Throughput Satellite, Eutelsat has built an effective, high-quality, broadband platform for Europe in which ViaSat has played a key role as technical partner. Broadband is an important component of our strategy, and we seek to partner with market-leading companies that contribute to enriching our offer. ViaSat is a partner that we both trust and value for its track record in setting industry standards and developing technologies that unlock broadband opportunities. Our joint venture will take our relationship to a new level and give further impetus to affordable, high-quality internet services in Europe.

In relation to this ViaSat said that they would continue to provide selected broadband technologies for KA-SAT gateways and terminals and will acquire a 49% interest in the wholesale side of the new business, for a consideration of 132.5 million (103m).

On the retail side we expect to see the first consumer services going live sometime this year, with ViaSat owning 51% of the business and Eutelsat holding 49%. However the deal is still subject to the usual regulatory approvals and that isnt expected to complete until the second quarter of 2016.
Opera Software's board today recommended that shareholders approve the $1.2 billion offer by a group of Chinese companies for the company, the result of a sales exploration since August.

The Norwegian company is best known to consumers as the maker of the Opera browser for personal computers, mobile phones and smartphones. Those parts of Opera Software, however, are minor contributors to the firm's bottom line, which is dependent on its mobile advertising platform.

"The Consortium's ownership will strengthen Opera's position to serve our users and partners with even greater innovation, and to accelerate our plans of expansion and growth," said Lars Boilesen, Opera's CEO, in a statement Wednesday.

The collection of Chinese companies that Boilesen dubbed the "Consortium" included Beijing Kunlun Tech, a mobile game maker, and Qihoo, known for its search and anti-malware business in the People's Republic. The bid was led by the private equity firm Golden Brick Silk Road Fund Management.

Opera kicked off the sales process in August 2015 when the board of directors said it had hired bankers to help explore options after the firm missed a second-quarter revenue forecast.

At the time, the board said the move was prompted by "strategic interest in the company from a number of parties," and so had "initiated a process to evaluate and consider strategic alternatives ... with the objective of further enhancing shareholder value."

"Consider strategic alternatives" is code for putting the "For Sale, Everything Must Go!" sign in the shop window.

Opera's share of the browser market is miniscule: In January, Net Applications estimated its global desktop user share at 1.6%, far behind the other browsers in the top 5, such as Internet Explorer (46.9%) and Chrome (35.1%). In its latest earnings presentation, Opera said its desktop browser had just 59 million monthly average users (MAU) during the December quarter. Meanwhile, Opera for Android boasted a MAU of 144 million.

Qihoo has a browser of its own, which accounted for about 3.5% of the Chinese market, according to data from Baidu, the largest search provider in the People's Republic of China.

But browsers have long been a trickle in Opera's revenue stream. In the latest quarter, the firm's desktop and mobile browsers brought in $23 million, or less than 12% of the December quarter's total of $194 million. Like other browser makers, notably Mozilla, Opera earns the bulk of its browser-based revenue from deals with search providers. In Opera Software's case, those deals were with Google and Russia's Yandex.

Opera's big dog was its mobile advertising business, with revenue last quarter of $145 million, or 75% of the total.

The potential buyers made note of that in their Wednesday statement. "Opera has made remarkable achievements in recent years in the fields of mobile browser and mobile advertising," said Yahui Zhou, CEO of Kunlun, speaking for the bidding consortium.

Opera's sale awaits shareholder approval, which will be solicited in the first half of March. Although approval will require a "Yea" vote by those holding at least 90% of the outstanding shares, a group of major shareholders representing 33% of the shares has already said it would accept the deal.
Hertz has warned around 230 IT workers that their jobs may be at risk as it expands its outsourcing work with IBM.

The employees work at a Hertz technology center in Oklahoma City, Okla. The facility has the company's highest concentration of IT workers in the U.S. They were told this week.

The outsourcing "will probably impact" other U.S. IT positions, said Bill Masterson, a Hertz spokesman.

Asked if the total number of affected IT jobs will be larger, Masterson said: "We expect it to be larger than 230 for the U.S."

Hertz is trying to improve its IT operations. It hired a new CIO last year with experience in the car rental industry, Tyler Best.

The firm seeks a "transformative IT agenda," said Hertz CEO John Tague, in a conference call with analysts last year, according to a transcript at Seeking Alpha.

Tom Kennedy, Hertz CFO, told analysts in an earning call last year that "we have 1,500 people in the back office, which is quite double what it should be. Our call centers are probably double what they should be," according to the Seeking Alpha transcript. He said the firm's IT spend is over $400 million a year.

IBM has a 20-year relationship with Hertz, said Masterson. Some of the Hertz IT employees will get IBM job offers, but it will be a "smaller number" than 230.

Hertz wants the transition to IBM completed by June.

Masterson said he did not know if any of the IT work was being moved offshore.

IBM India Private Limited, an IBM subsidiary, has filed paperwork for numerous H-1B workers for a property in Oklahoma City. The property, according to government records, belongs to Hertz Technologies Inc., a Hertz subsidiary. At least two dozen Labor Condition Applications for this address were found in a random check at MyVisaJobs.

The Hertz cuts come at what may be a worrisome time. The job market for IT workers, overall, may be slowing down. According to an analysis by Foote Partners, the U.S. added 5,500 only IT jobs in January. Only 6,100 jobs were added in December, which was the worst month for IT employment since August 2014.

The monthly average of new IT jobs in 2015 was at 12,300 a month, according to Foote.
One of four congressional sponsors of the ENCRYPT Act of 2016, which would preempt state and local laws banning encryption on smartphones, cut her teeth in mobile communications for Microsoft.

U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) worked as vice president of mobile communications at Microsoft from 2004 to 2007. That was her second stint at Microsoft; her first was from 1989 to 1998 after receiving an MBA when she worked on Windows 95, email and embedded systems. In between, she helped start Drugstore.com.

Her tech background is likely to come in handy in the upcoming encryption debate. The ENCRYPT (Ensuring National Constitutional Rights for Your Private Telecommunications) Act, introduced this week, is designed to ensure a uniform national policy for encryption technology.

DelBene and the bill's co-sponsors -- Reps. Ted W. Lieu (D-Calif.), Blake Farenthold (R-Texas) and Mike Bishop (R-Mich.) -- fear that a patchwork of state and local laws could be chaotic and disrupt interstate commerce. Two bills under consideration in California and New York would require manufacturers of encrypted smartphones to enable decryption of data on phones made after 2017.

ENCRYPT "has a good chance of becoming law," DelBene said via email. That's partly because it "sets out the principle that laws on encryption are a national issue requiring policies from the federal government, not a piecemeal approach from the states."

There are already deep divisions in Congress and between federal officials and privacy advocates over whether tech firms like Apple and Google should be forced find a way to decrypt smartphone data -- even when the encryption is disk-level hardened and passcodes are known only by users, not stored where a vendor can retrieve the data readily.

"No matter where you stand on whether there should be backdoors in devices for law enforcement to access personal information, you should be able to support this bill, because a patchwork of state laws on encryption will not make us safer -- it would actually weaken our national security," DelBene added.

The congresswoman said she often hears from constituents who are concerned about privacy. "Many are surprised to learn that some of their electronic communications aren't subject to the same warrant standard [requiring a judge's signature based on probable cause] as a piece of paper in a filing drawer," she said. "America's most basic electronic privacy laws are woefully out of date. As we consider increasingly complex questions in the digital age, I'm committed to ensuring my constituent's privacy is protected in the manner the Fourth Amendment requires."

The Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures without a judge's warrant, has become the lodestone for all types of electronic privacy matters. There are at least two major cases before the federal courts based on the amendment's privacy protections, but Congress appears primed to act as well.

In addition to ENCRYPT, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) are still working on a bill to guarantee law enforcement access to encrypted data. Meanwhile, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) are drafting legislation to create a commission to study U.S. encryption policies and practices.

A Burr/Feinstein bill would undoubtedly ignite more fireworks than passing ENCRYPT. DelBene said such proposals, which require companies to break encryption, "will not make us more secure. They will just give bad actors more targets to exploit."

Congress can "find a balance between preserving one's right to privacy and protecting our national security," she said.

DelBene suggested she favors the commission concept from McCaul and Warner. "Lawmakers, industry leaders, privacy advocates, security experts and law enforcement need to come together to ensure we're doing everything we can to protect our national security in a responsible way," she said.

"As someone with a long career in the technology industry and as an entrepreneur, I know firsthand how quickly technologies have developed to become critical to our daily lives," DelBene said. "Policymakers need to be more engaged and informed on how technology works. For example, requiring companies to weaken devices with backdoors means opening up innocent Americans' personal information to bad actors and hackers who would love nothing more than to have easier access."

This story, "ENCRYPT Act co-sponsor learned tech ropes at Microsoft" was originally published by Computerworld .
Norbury's win - under the captaincy of Fred Field - was quite unexpected as their opponents, Limpsfield, are 12 divisions above them in the league. But a recent influx of new players, and a partisan crowd, helped Norbury to victory by three matches to one.

Other members of the winning team were David Lovejoy, Sam Kebreth and Saad Guerraoui.
Library bond unanimously approved Voters waited in line for 45 minutes Tuesday to participate in an eight-minute meeting that resulted in the unanimous approval of a $600,000 bond to help renovate the North Road...

Ferryboat business told to halt operations The ferryboat company operating from the municipally owned docks at East Ferry is illegally using that space, according to correspondence mailed to business owner Bill Munger. Town Administrator Jamie Hainsworth...

A DOGGONE NEW BUSINESS A former business that used to clean peoples clothes is reopening as a groomer to tidy up the fur of those peoples four-legged companions. The defunct laundromat at the McQuades...
Kohl will be taking J. C. Penney's spot as sponsor of the Feb. 28 Oscars' Academy Awards and will air five commercials during the event.

Along with its airing during the Academy Awards, Kohl's also initiated a digital campaign with the hashtag #AllTheGoodStuff on Monday (Feb. 8). This campaign will last a month and celebrate sincere moments of gratitude.

J.C. Penney has held the coveted Oscars' sponsorship spot for the past 14 years, but it looks like the Oscars are ready for a change.

Advertising Age reported a spokeswoman for J. C. Penney confirming that they would be stepping back this year. "For 14 years, the Oscars served as the advertising platform to debut our spring collection of fashion and home furnishings found only at J. C. Penney," the spokeswoman said, adding that they felt it was time to shift their marketing efforts and look for fresh ways to captivate customers.

J. C. Penney aired seven commercials in the Oscars last year. They also introduced a second-screen game during the Academy Awards show.

Will Setliff, Kohl's executive vice president of marketing, called the Oscars sponsorship "a major brand moment," Ad Week reported. The move is hoped by the retailer attract new shoppers, especially 18- to 24-year-olds as well as Hispanics.

The Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin-based company has declined to comment on the particulars of its marketing plans.

According to Ad Age, the cost of a 30-second spot by ABC was around $2 million last year. 36.6 million viewers watched the highly prestigious event in 2015 - and this was an all-time low for the event. It was a notable fall from a 10-year high of 43.7 million viewers in 2014.

Kohl's executives have also declined to comment in regards to the controversy surrounding the 88th Oscars Aacdemy Awards. Trending on social media as #OscarsSoWhite, it condemns the lack of actors of color being nominated in any major category. Many high-profile celebrities like director Spike Lee, and actors Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith are planning to boycott the show.
Teresa Giudice has turned heads around even in prison. In the latest news, she has launched her new book titled "Turning the Tables: From Housewife to Inmate and Back Again" which details her interesting life behind bars.

In her new book, the Real Housewives of New Jersey star describes some of the horrible experiences she encountered while serving her sentence and at the same time shared those moments of positivity.

She spent a year in jail and as some authors do, they base their books from their own personal experiences which Giudice did. She detailed horrifying moments when she was served food laced with live maggots as well as having to endure unsanitary common bathroom conditions. And like Orange Is The New Black, there's a lot of drama from the other women inside the iron box.

But what's interesting really are her positive. She wrote about her lavish prison parties that she personally attended and the various spa services she availed.

"I went to my first party the first week I was there. I had no idea they threw parties in prison," Giudice writes in her book while further describing the food she consumed. The various parties include celebrations suc as an inmate being set free and a birthday party for an inmate.

The reality TV star describes her experience as enjoyable, writing that she actually forgot she was in prison at one point because she had such an enjoyable time.

To make use of her time, she involved herself with the prison's beauty benefits such as the spa and massage services available, and a salon type advantage where a person named Tonya paints her nails once a week and dutifully did her make-up for everytime someone visits her. Kind of like a page from Orange Is The New Black, she trades food, beverages and make-up with other inmates to get what she wants.

If you'd like to learn more about Teresa Giudice's experience behind bars, her book is already out on sale.

What are your thoughts on her prison sentence so far? Share your comments in the comments section.
In today's technology, robots can save lives. Robots come in all shapes and sizes and it wouldn't be a strange thing if the tech that saves your life looks like a cockroach.

Cockroaches have ultimately survived several natural and earthly disasters. The creepy crawlies have lived through the ice age and survived our insect sprays. It's no wonder scientists look to them for insipiration. They are described online as virtually un-killable.

So instead of stepping on them, people are now learning from them. In recent studies conducted by a team at the University of California, Berkeley, the cockroach is able to withstand pressure of up to 900x its body weight and can creep in spaces that are up to 60% smaller than its normal body size while still moving at super high speeds of up to 20x its body length per second - like a microscopic superfast shrinker, one can say. That explains why they can appear in weird places like the cracks between tiles and shock you in the middle of the night. These are the reasons why the cockroach survived.

Dr. Kaushik Jayaram and his team of UC Berkeley researchers saw these characteristics to be useful for mankind. They are trying to mimic these benefits in a search and rescue kind of robot that can squeeze into tight spaces in times of extreme disasters - such as an earthquake that collapsed a building on a group of people. They published their findings in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week.

This kind of technology is beneficial for disaster prone areas and even during worst case scenarios of an attack. They built an origami style robot they call "CRAM" or a compressible robot with articulated mechanisms. It sort of looks like a robot with its segmented features and flexible shell. It can also move like a cockroach, bending its spine to roll forward and crawl like the insect. Their compression abilities are extremely useful for the century.
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As Mason Wells begins deploying its largest fund ever, the private equity firm for the first time in its 18-year history has a new leader.

Tom Smith, longtime understudy to John Byrnes, has been named president and chief executive officer of the Milwaukee-based company, which said earlier this week it had raised $615 million for a fourth fund.

Byrnes, who has become chairman as part of the planned leadership transition, organized Marshall & Ilsley Corp.'s private equity arm in 1983 and managed its spin-out into Mason Wells in 1998.

Smith said he wants to continue expanding the firm and plans to announce the addition of several new professionals over the next several weeks. However, that growth will continue to be carefully managed, with a commitment to keeping the company's private equity fund sizes below $1 billion, he said.

Keeping future funds size under $1 billion will allow Mason Wells to keep investing in family-owned businesses and transitioning them to institutional management, Smith said.

"We think we have access to opportunities that can be very attractive," he said.

Mason Wells, the largest private equity firm headquartered in Wisconsin, acquires companies in four industry sectors: packaging, engineered products, consumer packaged goods and business services. It plans to invest the new fund in 10 to 14 primarily Midwestern companies over the next four or five years. A key criterion is the opportunity to create value with profitable growth and margin improvement rather than aggressive leverage or other financial engineering techniques.

The firm has in-depth knowledge of the industries and players in which it invests, and treats its portfolio companies the right way, said Kathie Buono, general counsel at Briggs & Stratton Corp. and a Mason Wells investor.

"They want to create value for their investors, but they understand the best way to do that is to support the portfolio companies," Buono said.

The firm has done a good job of making money for investors in all three of its previous funds, said Buono and John Fowler, vice chairman at Quad/Graphics Inc. and another investor in its funds.

Mason Wells raised a $175 million fund when it spun out of M&I in 1998. The firm followed that with a $300 million fund in 2005 and a $525 million fund in 2010.

Mason Wells has consistently applied a strategy for creating value to every company it acquires, Fowler said. If that strategy hasn't worked, the team is willing to aggressively make corrections, he said. And Mason Wells is very transparent with investors about which companies are doing well and which ones are not, he added.

Fowler said he is confident the firm's approach and success will continue under Smith.

"Tom and the rest of the team have taken all the good things John created and improved and institutionalized them so they're repeatable and sustainable in a larger context," he said.

Smith has a good sense of the business and human sides of private equity, Buono said.

"He understands people and personalities and business issues, and has the ability to meld them together in a way that's productive for everyone," she said.

Smith is a Milwaukee-area native who knows the region well, and he and his team should be able to use their understanding of the private equity business to take Mason Wells to the next level, Byrnes said.

"It's a strong team that understands how to make money in private equity," Byrnes said. "They're good at it."
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Seven individuals and eight organizations have been honored by the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions for their efforts to promote financial know-how among state residents.

The recipients of the 2015 Governor's Financial Literacy Award were selected from 32 nominations submitted to the Governor's Council on Financial Literacy. Criteria used in the process included innovative implementation, measureable results, collaboration with partners, and whether the effort was focused on needs-based groups.

Individual category award recipients were: Steve Adams, Northwood High School, Minong; Dana Berger, Financial Information & Service Center (FI$C) Goodwill Industries, Menasha; Kory Krauss, Catholic Charities  Consumer Credit Counseling, Green Bay; and Greg Ogunbowale, James Madison Academic Campus, Milwaukee.

In the Organization category, the recipients were: Altra Federal Credit Union, Onalaska; Community State Bank, Union Grove; Layton State Bank Financial Scholars Program, West Allis; Royal Credit Union, Eau Claire; Sauk Prairie Economic Empowerment Project, Sauk Prairie; School District of New Berlin, New Berlin; Talk With Our Kids About Money, by BMO Harris Bank, Milwaukee; and Wisconsin Department of Employee Trust Funds, Madison.

Honorees in the Legacy category were: Jody Forsythe, Northwestern High School, Maple; Brian Schultz, University of Wisconsin  River Falls, River Falls; and Teresa Walker, Department of Financial Institutions, Madison.
Ryan Reynolds flips the superhero character sideways in Deadpool. Credit: TNS

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Here's a guide to what's on the big screen in the Milwaukee area. It doesn't include listings for movies opening next Friday but holding Thursday night screenings, including "Race," "Risen" and "The Witch."

As always, all theater information is subject to change. Check with individual theaters for updates.



Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip

PG (some mild rude humor and language). 86 minutes. Playing: Oak Creek Budget.

In the fourth live-action/computer-animated movie inspired by the novelty-song-turned-cartoon characters, Alvin, Simon and Theodore are convinced that Dave (Jason Lee) is going off to marry his girlfriend (Kimberly Williams-Paisley)  and dump them. So they hit the road, with the girlfriend's pain-in-the-butt son (Josh Green), in hopes they can block the wedding. With Jason Lee, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Josh Green, Bella Thorne, Tony Hale; voices by Justin Long, Jesse McCartney, Matthew Gray Gubler, Kaley Cuoco, Anna Faris, Christina Applegate.

The Big Short

R (pervasive language, some sexuality/nudity). 130 minutes. Playing: Fox-Bay, Hillside, Mayfair Mall, North Shore.

An eccentric money manager, a young Wall Street banker, an activist-minded hedge fund operator and a former banker bet against the 2005 housing boom  and the global economy. Michael Lewis' bestselling nonfiction book about the economic collapse and the handful of money men who spotted the trouble before anyone else is the basis for this comedy directed by Adam McKay, with Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, Steve Carell and Brad Pitt as the iconoclastic foursome. Five Oscar nominations, including best picture, director (McKay), supporting actor (Bale).

The Boy

PG-13 (violence and mature themes). 97 minutes. Playing: Majestic, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, Ridge, South Shore, Southgate.

A young American woman takes a job as a nanny in an English village, and finds out her charge is actually a life-size doll that's the spitting image the 8-year-old son thought lost in a fire 20 years earlier. Thriller with Lauren Cohan ("The Walking Dead").

Bridge of Spies

PG-13 (some violence, brief language). 141 minutes. Playing: Oak Creek Budget.

In the early 1960s, an insurance lawyer, who previously had been recruited to defend a Soviet spy, is called on to negotiate a swap of said spy for a U.S. pilot of a spy plane shot down over Russia. Tom Hanks plays the lawyer enlisted to help thwart World War III in Steven Spielberg's based-on-a-true-story thriller, co-written by the Coen brothers. With Mark Rylance, who went to the University School of Milwaukee, as Soviet spy Rudolf Abel. Nominated for 6 Oscars, including best picture, supporting actor (Rylance).

Brooklyn

PG-13 (brief sexuality, brief language). 112 minutes. Playing: Hillside, Ridge, Rivoli/Cedarburg.

Saoirse Ronan as a young Irish woman in the 1950s who comes to America and falls in love, only to be called back to Ireland and question where her true home lies. Written by Nick Hornby, based on Colm Toibin's novel. Three Oscar nominations, including best picture, actress (Ronan).

Chicago

PG-13 (sex, violence, thematic elements). 113 minutes. Playing: Majestic (Sun., Mon., Wed. only), Ridge (Sun., Mon., Wed. only), South Shore (Sun., Mon., Wed. only).

Glossy musical about a woman who, after killing her husband, is turned into a celebrity by a slick lawyer. Winner of six Oscars, including best picture and best supporting actress for Catherine Zeta-Jones. With Renee Zellweger, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, John C. Reilly.

The Choice

PG-13 (sexual content, some mature themes). 111 minutes. Playing: Hillside, Majestic, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, North Shore, Ridge, Saukville, Showtime, South Shore, Southgate.

A couple succumb to their chemistry, marry and start a family, only to have a tragedy force one to make a decision that will affect them both. Latest romantic drama based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks, with Benjamin Walker, Teresa Palmer.

Daddy's Home

PG-13 (language, crude and suggestive content). 96 minutes. Playing: Ridge, South Shore.

Stepdad Will Ferrell and birth dad Mark Wahlberg try to outdo each other in winning their kids' affection in this slapsticky comedy.

Deadpool

R (language throughout, sexual content, strong violence, graphic nudity). 108 minutes. Playing: Avalon, Fox-Bay, Hillside, IPic/Bayshore, Majestic, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, North Shore, Ridge, Rosebud, Saukville, Showtime, South Shore, Southgate.

Ryan Reynolds plays a former mercenary who undergoes a lifesaving experiment that leaves him horribly scarred but also gives him accelerated healing powers  and amps up his expletive-spewing, morally ambiguous persona. Latest, and likely snarkiest and coarsest, superhero in the Marvel canon. (Showing in IMAX at Mayfair Mall.)

Dirty Grandpa

R (pervasive crude sexual content, nudity, language, drug use). 102 minutes. Playing: Hillside, Majestic, Menomonee Falls, Ridge, Saukville, Showtime, South Shore.

A lewd, crude oldster tricks his straight-laced grandson into taking a raunchy road trip to Daytona in the hopes of liberating them both. Crude comedy with Zac Efron, Robert De Niro.

The 5th Wave

PG-13 (violence, language, teen partying). 112 minutes. Playing: Hillside, Majestic, South Shore, Southgate.

When aliens  some of them in human form  begin a plan to take over Earth, a high schooler out to rescue her brother becomes part of an armed force training to take them on. Action drama, based on a bestselling young-adult novel, with Chloe Grace Moretz.

Fifty Shades of Black

R (strong crude sexual content, some nudity, pervasive language). 92 minutes. Playing: Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, Southgate.

The "Fifty Shades of Grey" phenomenon gets the spoof treatment by Marlon Wayans ("A Haunted House"), with Wayans playing Christian Black, a businessman with particular tastes who takes a seemingly mousy girl on a journey of, um, discovery. With Kali Hawk, Mike Epps.

The Finest Hours

PG-13 (intense scenes). 116 minutes. Playing: Hillside, Majestic, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, Ridge, Saukville, Showtime, South Shore.

An oil tanker bound for Boston is ripped in half during a killer storm, and a small Coast Guard boat sets out to rescue the survivors. Based-on-a-true-story drama, with Chris Pine as a young Coast Guard captain leading the rescue, and Casey Affleck as the engineer on the tanker trying to keep his co-workers alive.

Fitoor

Not rated. 130 minutes. Playing:Mayfair Mall.

Romantic tale of a Kashmiri boy who falls for a girl raised to break men's hearts. In Hindi with English subtitles.

45 Years

R (language, brief sexuality). 93 minutes. Playing: Downer.

Best actress Oscar nominee Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay play a couple about to celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary, but when the body of his former lover is found 50 years after she fell off a mountain, his wife begins to question everything from her husband's past to their future.

The Good Dinosaur

PG (thematic elements). 92 minutes. Playing: Oak Creek Budget.

Animated Disney tale about an alternative world where that asteroid missed Earth, and a young dinosaur befriends a lost little boy.

Goosebumps

PG (scary creature images, some rude humor). 103 minutes. Playing: Hillside (Fri.-Sun. only), Majestic (Fri.-Sun. only), Menomonee Falls (Fri.-Sun. only), North Shore (Fri.-Sun. only), Ridge (Fri.-Sun. only), South Shore (Fri.-Sun. only), Southgate (Fri.-Sun. only).

A teenager's family moves to a small town, but when he tries to connect with the beautiful girl next door, he meets her father  who turns out to be "Goosebumps" author R.L. Stine, keeping the monsters he's created locked up in his books. That is, until the boy accidentally lets them loose. Mild horror-comedy with Jack Black as Stine.

Hail, Caesar!

PG-13 (some suggestive content, smoking). 106 minutes. Playing: Hillside, IPic/Bayshore, Majestic, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, North Shore, Oriental, Ridge, Saukville, Showtime, South Shore.

Coen brothers comedy about a movie studio fixer who, when the star of a big prestige picture is kidnapped, enlists studio talent to help get to the bottom of it. With Josh Brolin, Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, Ralph Fiennes, Alden Ehrenreich, Frances McDormand, Jonah Hill, Tilda Swinton.

Hotel Transylvania 2

PG (some scary images, rude humor). 89 minutes. Playing: Oak Creek Budget.

Sequel to the 2012 animated hit, with Drac a proud but confused grandfather of a half-human baby whose hoping his young grandson will be able to follow in his wing-steps. With voices by Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, many others.

How to Be Single

R (sexual content, pervasive language). 110 minutes. Playing: Hillside, IPic/Bayshore, Majestic, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, North Shore, Ridge, Saukville, Showtime, South Shore, Southgate.

After a breakup, a young woman (Dakota Johnson) gets help in navigating the dating world from a free-spirited pal (Rebel Wilson). Romantic (sorta) comedy with Leslie Mann, Alison Brie.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay  Part 2

PG-13 (violence, some thematic material). 136 minutes. Playing: Oak Creek Budget.

It all comes down to this: Katniss Everdeen and friends take the rebellion to the Capitol in the final chapter in the blockbuster action series, based on the second half of the third book in Suzanne Collins' trilogy. With Jennifer Lawrence, Donald Sutherland, Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Woody Harrelson.

Joy

PG-13 (brief language). 123 minutes. Playing: Oak Creek Budget.

Best actress Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence plays a woman whose life has been thwarted by others again and again who sets out to do something for herself and her family  and, despite them, pulls it off. Drama based on the story of Joy Mangano, the real-life Long Island mother of three who invented the self-wringing Miracle Mop, directed by David O. Russell.

Kung Fu Panda 3

PG (mild rude humor). 95 minutes. Playing: Fox-Bay, Hillside, IPic/Bayshore, Majestic, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, North Shore, Ridge, Saukville, Showtime, South Shore, Southgate.

Po, that free-spirited martial-arts panda, has just taken over the role of instructor when he has to face off against an evil bull that has absorbed the powers of other masters in the spirit realm. With many of the voices from previous "Kung Fu Panda" entries, including Jack Black, Seth Rogen, David Cross, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu, Dustin Hoffman. (Showing in 3-D at Mayfair Mall.)

The Lady in the Van

PG-13 (a brief unsettling image). 104 minutes. Playing: Downer.

An elderly woman talks playwright Alan Bennett into letting her park her van in his driveway, and winds up living in it, there, for the next 15 years. Based on a true story, with Maggie Smith, Alex Jennings, Jim Broadbent, Frances De La Tour, James Corden.

The Martian

PG-13 (some language, brief nudity). 142 minutes. Playing: Oak Creek Budget.

A crew is forced to abort its mission to Mars, leaving behind an astronaut believed dead in a massive storm. Only, he's not dead, and as he fights for survival  and to let the world know he's alive  his crewmates and NASA have to grapple with the realities of rescue. Space drama directed by Ridley Scott ("Alien," "Prometheus"), with Matt Damon as the spaceman left behind. Seven Oscar nominations, including best picture, actor (Damon).

Mustang

PG-13 (mature themes, sexual content). 97 minutes. Playing: Times.

In Turkey, five teenage sisters are, for all purposes, imprisoned in their home, facing a future of housework and being married off to men of their parents' choosing  unless they can find a way to rebel. In Turkish with English subtitles. Oscar nominee for best foreign-language film.

The Night Before

R (drug use, pervasive language, some strong sexual content, nudity). 101 minutes. Playing: Oak Creek Budget.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen and Anthony Mackie play three childhood friends who, facing lives with responsibilities, get together for one last Christmas Eve night of debauchery. Raunchy holiday comedy co-written and directed by Jonathan Levine ("50/50").

The Oscar Nominated Short Films 2016: Animated

Not rated (some mature content). 86 minutes. Playing:Mayfair Mall, Oriental.

Program includes the Russian tale "We Can't Live Without Cosmos"; "Bear Story," from Chile; "Prologue," a tale of two ancient warriors made in Britain; "World of Tomorrow," an American sci-fi tale in which a girl sees the future, darkly; and "Sanjay's Super Team," a Pixar short about a first-generation Indian American blending his family's spiritual roots with his superhero obsessions.

The Oscar Nominated Short Films 2016: Live Action

Not rated (some mature content). 107 minutes. Playing:Mayfair Mall, Oriental.

Live-action short film nominees in this program include "Ave Maria," in which nuns at a convent on the West Bank try to help a family of Israeli settlers, even though the nuns have taken a vow of silence and the Israelis can't use the phone on the Sabbath; "Day One," in which an Afghan-American woman joins the U.S. military and, sent to Afghanistan, must bridge several cultural gaps; "Shok," in which two young boys in Kosovo in 1998 must make some life-or-death decisions; "Stutterer," about a man in an online relationship who's worried about how his speech impediment will change things once he meets his connection in person; and "Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)," a German drama about a father and daughter taking a fateful journey.

The Peanuts Movie

G. 89 minutes. Playing: Oak Creek Budget.

Charlie Brown, Snoopy and friends are back in this computer-animated installment, fighting familiar fights, including Charlie's sports-related futilities and Snoopy's duel with the Red Baron.

Point Break

PG-13 (violence, some sexuality, language, drug material). 113 minutes. Playing: Oak Creek Budget.

Remake of the 1991 Keanu Reeves-Patrick Swayze action movie, with Luke Bracey as an undercover cop who infiltrates a crew of calculating extreme-sports bank robbers, with an escalating agenda and complicated motives. With Edgar Ramirez, Delroy Lindo, Ray Winstone, Teresa Palmer.

Pretty in Pink 30th Anniversary

Not rated (original rating: PG-13, for language and mature themes).130 minutes. Playing: Majestic (Sun., Wed. only), Menomonee Falls (Sun., Wed. only), North Shore (Sun., Wed. only), Ridge (Sun., Wed. only), South Shore (Sun., Wed. only).

Molly Ringwald's the quirky girl from the working-class part of town, and Andrew McCarthy's the pretty-boy preppy in John Hughes' 1987 teen romance. With Annie Potts, James Spader, Harry Dean Stanton and scene-stealer Jon Cryer. Includes bonus material.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

PG-13 (violence, gore, brief suggestive material). 108 minutes. Playing: Hillside, Majestic, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, North Shore, Ridge, Saukville, Showtime, South Shore, Southgate.

Big-screen adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith's parody mashup of zombie fightin' and Jane Austen's beloved novel "Pride and Prejudice," in which prideful Elizabeth Bennet is a shrewd zombie-killer, wrestling with her feelings for the dashing and deadly Mr. Darcy. With Lily James, Sam Riley.

The Revenant

R (violence, some gore, a sexual assault, language, brief nudity). 156 minutes. Playing: Avalon, Hillside, Majestic, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, North Shore, Ridge, Saukville, Showtime, South Shore.

An explorer and hunter in the American wilderness of the 19th century, left for dead by his companions after being attacked by a bear, sets out for revenge. Atmosphere-rich historical drama  based on a novel inspired by a real-life story  by Oscar-winning director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu ("Birdman"), with Leonardo DiCaprio as the vengeance-fueled woodsman and Tom Hardy as his former pal turned target. Nominated for 12 Oscars, including best picture, director (Inarritu), actor (DiCaprio), Hardy (supporting actor).

Ride Along 2

PG-13 (violence, sexual content, language, some drug material). 101 minutes. Playing: Majestic, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, North Shore, Ridge, South Shore, Southgate.

Kevin Hart and Ice Cube are back  brothers-in-law-to-be, now  and back on the case when they're sent to Miami to track down a drug kingpin. Sequel to the 2014 action comedy, directed by Tim Story, co-stars Olivia Munn, Ken Jeong, Benjamin Bratt, Tika Sumpter.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

R (sexual content, innuendo, language, mature themes). 95 minutes. Playing:Oriental (Sat. only).

Brad and Janet stop by Dr. Frank-N-Furter's castle and find some strange goings-on, from sex to Busby Berkeley-style musical numbers to some of the campiest performances you'll ever see, featuring the young Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, Tim Curry and, yes, Meat Loaf  again. (Showing at midnight Saturday only.)

Sisters

R (pervasive crude content and language, drug use). 118 minutes. Playing: Oak Creek Budget.

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler play a pair of fortysomething sisters who find out their parents are selling their childhood home and decide to give their past a send-off with one last, wild house party. Directed by Jason Moore ("Pitch Perfect"), with Maya Rudolph, Rachel Dratch, Bobby Moynihan.

Spotlight

R (some language). 128 minutes. Playing: Ridge.

A unit of investigative journalists at The Boston Globe digs into a story of a priest facing multiple accusations of sexual abuse and discover a much bigger conspiracy within the Catholic Church and Boston's power elite. Drama based on the true story, co-written and directed by Tom McCarthy. With Michael Keaton, Kenosha native Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, John Slattery, Liev Schreiber, Stanley Tucci.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

PG-13 (fantasy/action violence). 136 minutes. Playing: Hillside, Majestic, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, North Shore, Ridge, Saukville, Showtime, South Shore.

Thirty years after the events of the first "Star Wars" trilogy, the rebellion is in trouble, a dark organization called the First Order is on the rise, and old warriors are in the fight. J.J. Abrams picks up the gauntlet from George Lucas in the seventh movie in the franchise, with some new faces (when you can see them)  including Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver and Lupita Nyong'o  and some old friends, including Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, and even R2-D2. Five technical Oscar nominations. (Showing in 3-D at Mayfair Mall.)

TED '16: Dream Opening Night Live

Not rated. 120 minutes. Playing: Majestic (Mon. only), Menomonee Falls (Mon. only), North Shore (Mon. only), Ridge (Mon. only), South Shore (Mon. only).

The popular TED Talks series hits the big screen, with speakers including TV maven Shonda Rhimes, entrepreneur Astro Teller, composer AR Rahman, choreographer Bill T. Jones and more.

Theeb

Not rated. 100 minutes. Playing: Times.

A Bedouin boy joins his older brother as he guides a British soldier across the desert in World War I Arabia. Jordanian film  part Western, part coming-of-age tale  was first shown at the 2015 Milwaukee Film Festival. Oscar nominee for best foreign-language film. In Arabic with English subtitles.

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

R (pervasive combat violence, gore, language). 144 minutes. Playing: Hillside, Majestic, Menomonee Falls, Ridge, Saukville, Showtime.

When the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, is attacked, a unit of former military men turned private security contractors for the CIA has to decide whether their mission includes rescuing the diplomats. Action movie based on a bestselling account of the attacks, directed by Michael Bay. With James Badge Dale, John Krasinski, Max Martini, Pablo Schreiber, Toby Stephens, David Costabile.

Trumbo

R (language). 124 minutes. Playing: Oak Creek Budget.

Oscar nominee Bryan Cranston plays Dalton Trumbo, the successful screenwriter who, after getting blacklisted as one of the "Hollywood Ten," leads a secretive effort to write movies  and get paid for it  by any means necessary. With Diane Lane, Helen Mirren, Louis C.K.

Tumbledown

R (brief sex). 103 minutes. Playing: Mayfair Mall.

A pop culture scholar, determined to write the biography of a music legend, tracks down his widow in a small town in Maine and makes an unexpected connection. Indie comedy with Jason Sudeikis, Rebecca Hall, Joe Manganiello, Blythe Danner, Richard Masur, Dianna Argon, Griffin Dunne.

When Harry Met Sally...

R (sex, language). 96 minutes. Playing: Avalon (Sun. only).

Rob Reiner's 1989 romantic comedy asking, and answering, the musical question: Can men and women be good friends without sex getting in the way? With Meg Ryan, Billy Crystal. Showing at 9:30 p.m. Sunday (Valentine's Day); $5, or $15 for VIP ticket, including admission, a heart-shaped red velvet cake and a glass of champagne.

Where to Invade Next

R (language, some violent images, drug use, brief nudity). 119 minutes. Playing: North Shore, Oriental, Ridge.

Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Michael Moore ("Fahrenheit 9/11") hits the road, going to countries around the world to see which of their ideas  free college tuition, eight weeks of paid vacation, etc.  we can take for our own.

Zoolander 2

PG-13 (crude and sexual content, brief violence, brief language). 100 minutes. Playing: Hillside, IPic/Bayshore, Majestic, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, North Shore, Ridge, Saukville, Showtime, South Shore, Southgate.

Derek Zoolander, the dimwitted supermodel who saved the (fashion) world in 2001, is called on to do so again 15 years later when someone begins targeting the world's most beautiful people. Ben Stiller directed and stars in this sequel, with Owen Wilson returning as his sidekick and Will Ferrell as his nemesis; also co-starring Penelope Cruz, Kristen Wiig, Benedict Cumberbatch.

Written and compiled by Chris Foran.

For more on the movies, go to jsonline.com/movies.

THEATER GUIDE

Avalon(Neighborhood Theater Group): 2473 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., (414) 539-6678

Downer(Landmark): 2589 N. Downer Ave., (414) 962-3120

Fox Bay(Cinema Grill): 334 E. Silver Spring Drive, Whitefish Bay, (414) 906-9999

Hillside(Marcus): 2950 Hillside Drive, Delafield, (262) 646-7300

IPic/Bayshore: 5800 N. Bayshore Drive, Glendale, (414) 963-8779

Majestic(Marcus): 770 N. Springdale Road, Brookfield, (262) 798-4099

Mayfair Mall(AMC): 2500 N. Mayfair Road, Wauwatosa, (888) 262-4386

Menomonee Falls(Marcus): W180-N9393 Premier Lane, Menomonee Falls, (262) 502-9070

North Shore(Marcus): 11700 N. Port Washington Road, Mequon, (262) 241-6180

Oak Creek Budget(Marcus): 6912 S. 27th St., Oak Creek, (414) 761-7469

Oriental(Landmark): 2230 N. Farwell Ave., 276-5140

Ridge(Marcus): 5200 S. Moorland Road, New Berlin (262) 797-0889

Rivoli/Cedarburg: W62-N567 Washington Ave., Cedarburg, (262) 377-1010

Rosebud(Neighborhood Theater Group): 6823 W. North Ave., Wauwatosa, (414) 763-7975

Saukville(Marcus): 350 S. Riverside Drive, Saukville, (262) 268-9455

Showtime(Marcus): 8910 S. 102nd St., Franklin, (414) 425-2600

South Shore(Marcus): 7261 S. 13th St., Oak Creek, (414) 768-5960

Southgate(Marcus): 3330 S. 30th St., (414) 672-5111

Times(Neighborhood Theater Group): 5906 W. Vliet St., (414) 763-1763
Dakota Johnson and Rebel Wilson struggle to regroup after a night out perfecting How to Be Single. Credit: Barry Wetcher

SHARE The coming-of-age story Theeb is nominated for an Oscar for best foreign-language film. MAD Solutions Ryan Reynolds plays the idiosyncratic, smart-mouthed hero of Deadpool. 20th Century Fox Maggie Smith stars in "The Lady in the Van." Sony Pictures Classics Owen Wilson (from left), Ben Stiller and Penelope Cruz walk the walk in Zoolander 2. Paramount Pictures

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Here are some of the movies opening in Milwaukee this week.

'Deadpool'

"Deadpool," the latest Marvel movie, stars Ryan Reynolds as a former mercenary who undergoes a lifesaving experiment that leaves him horribly scarred but also gives him accelerated healing powers  and amps up his expletive-spewing, morally ambiguous persona.

"Deadpool's" getting really good reviews so far. Newark Star-Ledger critic Stephen Witty gave it 3 stars:

"Ryan Reynolds not only carries the movie, he picks it up and runs with it."

"Deadpool" is rated R for pervasive violence and language, sexual content and nudity. It runs for 108 minutes.

'Zoolander 2'

He's back, years past his prime. No, not Peyton Manning  Derek Zoolander, the dimwitted supermodel who saved the (fashion) world in 2001.

In "Zoolander 2," Zoolander (Ben Stiller) is no longer, well, cool. But when the world's most beautiful people get murdered, each with one of Zoolander's signature runway looks on their faces, a superhot Interpol agent (Penelope Cruz) recruits Derek and modeling bro Hansel (Owen Wilson) to help bring down Zoolander's old nemesis, played again by Will Ferrell.

"Zoolander 2" is rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content, brief violence and brief language. It runs for 102 minutes.

'How to Be Single'

And the role of this year's Valentine's Day weekend, female-centric romantic comedy goes to..."How to Be Single," in which free-spirited Rebel Wilson teaches recently dumped co-worker Dakota Johnson how to play the dating field without fear of entanglements.

Leslie Mann and Alison Brie are also along for the girls' night fun/frustration.

"How to Be Single" is rated R for sexual content and pervasive language. It runs for 110 minutes.

'Where to Invade Next'

You can say this for Michael Moore: He knows how to road-trip.

In his latest movie, "Where to Invade Next," the Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker and professional rankler heads to other countries to see which of their ideas we can take for our own.

Reviews for "Invade" have been generally positive. The A.V. Club's Mike D'Angelo gave it a B, saying Moore "makes his strongest bona fide argument in ages, albeit one that still gleefully stacks the deck and avoids examining possible downsides too carefully."

"Where to Invade Next" is rated R for language, some violent images, drug use and brief nudity. It runs for 119 minutes.

'The Lady in the Van'

America's favorite dowager slums it  class-wise, not quality-wise  in "The Lady in the Van."

Based on a true story from the life of playwright Alan Bennett ("The History Boys"), "Lady" stars Maggie Smith as an elderly woman who talks Bennett (Alex Jennings) into letting her park her van in his driveway  and live in it, there, for 15 years.

Smith is the center-ring attraction. In his 3-star review of "Lady," Chicago Tribune film critic Michael Phillips said Smith's performance is "a robust, unsentimentally funny turn."

"The Lady in the Van" is rated PG-13 for a "brief unsettling image." It runs for 104 minutes.

'Theeb'

A Bedouin boy joins his older brother as he guides a British soldier across the desert in World War I Arabia in "Theeb."

Part Western, part coming-of-age tale, the Jordanian movie, which was shown at the 2015 Milwaukee Film Festival, is one of this year's Oscar nominees for best foreign-language film.

Arizona Republic film critic Bill Goodykoontz gave it 4 stars (out of 5):

"It's classic stuff, and it's easy to imagine the story set in Arizona or New Mexico with John Ford directing John Wayne."

"Theeb" is not rated. It runs for 100 minutes. It's showing in Arabic with English subtitles.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens, with John Boyega as an ex-stormtrooper on the run, is nomimated for five technical Oscars. Credit: Lucasfilm

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Here are where (and whether) you can see the movies nominated for this year's Academy Awards.

Also, a reminder: This year's Oscar-nominated live-action shorts and animated short films are showing at both the Oriental Theatre and AMC Mayfair Mall.

"Amy"(1  documentary feature): Available on DVD, streaming on iTunes and Amazon.

"Anomalisa"(1  animated feature): No longer in theaters.

"The Big Short"(5  picture, supporting actor for Christian Bale, director for Adam McKay, film editing, adapted screenplay): Showing at Fox-Bay, Hillside, Mayfair Mall, North Shore; available for streaming on iTunes Feb. 23.

"Boy and the World"(1  animated feature): No word on Milwaukee or video release date.

"Bridge of Spies"(6  picture, supporting actor for Mark Rylance, original score, original screenplay, production design, sound mixing): Showing at Oak Creek Budget; available on DVD, streaming on iTunes.

"Brooklyn"(3  picture, actress for Saoirse Ronan, adapted screenplay): Showing at Hillside, Ridge, Rivoli/Cedarburg; available for streaming on iTunes Feb. 23.

"Carol"(6  actress for Cate Blanchette, supporting actress for Rooney Mara, adapted screenplay, cinematography, costume design, original score): Due out on DVD March 15.

"Cartel Land"(1  documentary feature): Streaming on Netflix, iTunes.

"Cinderella"(1  costume design): Available on DVD, streaming on iTunes, Amazon.

"Creed"(1  supporting actor for Sylvester Stallone): Due out on DVD March 1.

"The Danish Girl"(4  actor for Eddie Redmayne, supporting actress for Alicia Vikander, costume design, production design): Streaming on iTunes; due out on DVD March 1.

"Embrace of the Serpent"(1  foreign-language film): No word on return to theaters (played at 2015 Milwaukee Film Festival).

"Ex Machina"(2  original screenplay, visual effects): Available on DVD, streaming on Amazon, iTunes.

"Fifty Shades of Grey"(1  original song for "Earned It"): Available on DVD, streaming on iTunes.

"45 Years"(1  actress for Charlotte Rampling): Showing at Downer.

"The Hateful Eight"(3  supporting actress for Jennifer Jason Leigh, cinematography, original score): No longer in theaters.

"The Hunting Ground"(1  original song for "Til It Happens to You"): Available on DVD, streaming on iTunes, Amazon.

"Inside Out"(2  animated feature, original screenplay): Available on DVD, streaming on Amazon, iTunes.

"Joy"(1  actress for Jennifer Lawrence): Showing at Oak Creek Budget.

"The Look of Silence"(1  documentary feature): Available on DVD, streaming on iTunes.

"Mad Max: Fury Road"(10  picture, director for George Miller, cinematography, costume design, film editing, makeup and hairstyling, production design, sound editing, sound mixing, visual effects): Available on DVD, streaming on iTunes and HBO streaming services.

"The Martian"(7  picture, actor for Matt Damon, adapted screenplay, production design, sound editing, sound mixing, visual effects): Showing at Oak Creek Budget; available on DVD, streaming on iTunes, Amazon.

"Mustang"(1  foreign-language film): Showing at Times; due out on DVD April 12.

"The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared"(1  makeup and hairstyling): Available on DVD, streaming on iTunes, Amazon.

"Racing Extinction"(1  original song for "Manta Ray"): Due out on DVD Feb. 23.

"The Revenant"(12  picture, director for Alejandro G. Inarritu, actor for Leonardo DiCaprio, supporting actor for Tom Hardy, cinematography, costume design, film editing, makeup and hairstyling, production design, sound editing, sound mixing, visual effects): Showing at Avalon, Hillside, Majestic, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, North Shore, Ridge, Showtime, South Shore.

"Room"(4  picture, director for Lenny Abrahamson, actress for Brie Larson, adapted screenplay): Due out on iTunes Tuesday; due out on DVD March 1.

"Shaun the Sheep Movie"(1  animated feature): Available on DVD; streaming on Amazon.

"Sicario"(3  cinematography, original score, sound editing): Available on DVD, streaming on Amazon.

"Son of Saul"(1  foreign-language film): Reportedly due in Milwaukee Feb. 19.

"Spectre"(1  original song for "Writing's on the Wall"): Streaming on Amazon; available on DVD.

"Spotlight"(6  picture, director for Tom McCarthy, supporting actor for Mark Ruffalo, supporting actress for Rachel McAdams, original screenplay, film editing): Showing at Ridge; streaming on iTunes; due out on DVD Feb. 23.

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens"(5  film editing, original score, sound editing, sound mixing, visual effects): Showing at Hillside, Majestic, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, North Shore, Ridge, Saukville, Showtime, South Shore.

"Steve Jobs"(2  actor for Michael Fassbender, supporting actress for Kate Winslet): Streaming on Amazon; due out on DVD Tuesday.

"Straight Outta Compton"(1  original screenplay): Available on DVD, streaming on Amazon, iTunes.

"Theeb"(1  foreign-language film): Showing at Times; available for streaming on Amazon and iTunes Feb. 19; due out on DVD May 17.

"Trumbo"(1  actor for Bryan Cranston): Showing at Oak Creek Budget; streaming on iTunes; due out on DVD Tuesday.

"A War"(1  foreign-language film): No word on Milwaukee release date.

"What Happened, Miss Simone?"(1  documentary feature): Streaming on Netflix.

"When Marnie Was There"(1  animated feature): Available on DVD.

"Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom"(1 documentary feature): Streaming on Netflix.

"Youth"(1  original song for "Simple Song#3"): Streaming on iTunes Friday; available on DVD March 1.

 Chris Foran
Janan Najeeb, a prominent member of Wisconsins Muslim community, offered a prayer on the floor of the Assembly. Credit: Michael Sears

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Janan Najeeb, a prominent member of Wisconsin's Muslim community and a longtime participant in local interfaith efforts, offered a prayer on the floor of the Assembly at noon Thursday in what is thought to be a first for Wisconsin.

"I'm honored and excited," said Najeeb, who was invited by Milwaukee Democratic Rep. Mandela Barnes to offer the opening prayer. "I'm also a little bit surprised because, based on what the clerk has sent, it's safe to say I'm the first Muslim to do so."

Najeeb, a Mequon mother of five and longtime community volunteer, is president of the Milwaukee Muslim Women's Coalition and founder of the Islamic Resource Center, the state's first public Islamic lending library. She sits on a number of boards including the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee and the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts.

Barnes, who considers Najeeb a friend, said he invited her in an effort to promote diversity in what is a predominantly white, Christian body and to present a more balanced picture of Muslims than that presented in much of the current political rhetoric.

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump declared in the wake of a terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif., that Muslims should be barred from entering the United States and required to register with the government.

Gov. Scott Walker drew outrage from Muslims and interfaith leaders when he declared during his 2015 presidential campaign that there are only a "handful of reasonable and moderate followers of Islam."

"There is just so much for us to get over in terms of our fears," said Barnes, who is Christian and previously worked for the Milwaukee Inner-City Congregations Allied for Hope. "Muslims want the same things everyone else wants  to live peacefully, enjoy themselves and just live and breathe."

Longtime lawmakers, including one since retired, said they could not recall ever hearing a Muslim prayer in the Legislature. Efforts to reach Assembly Clerk Patrick Fuller were not immediately successful, but a woman in his office said, "We've had everybody  the Dalai Lama, Indian tribes..."

Najeeb offered a general prayer as well as two citations from the Qur'an that speak to the value of diversity. They say, depending on the translation from Arabic:

 "And among His Signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the variations in your languages and your colours: verily in that are Signs for those who know."

 "We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you."

Najeeb said she hopes lawmakers "will realize that Muslims are part of the fabric of our society...and we are adding our story to the stories of the many communities that came before us and created this country."

Allison Dikanovic of the Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.
The state Assembly approved a bill Thursday slicing into Planned Parenthoods funding and was slated to approve making it easier for landlords to kick out tenants when crimes occur on their properties. Credit: Michael Sears

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Madison  The state Assembly approved bills Thursday slicing into Planned Parenthood's funding and making it easier for landlords to kick out tenants when crimes occur on their properties.

With all Republicans in favor and all Democrats opposed, the Assembly approved the bill 61-35 and sent it to Gov. Scott Walker, a longtime opponent of Planned Parenthood.

Under the bill, SB 238, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin would lose about $4million a year because it would put restrictions on how much clinics affiliated with abortion providers could be reimbursed for dispensing birth control.

"Taxpayers should not be subsidizing abortion providers," said the bill's chief sponsor, Rep. Andre Jacque (R-De Pere).

Democrats contended the measure was part of a yearslong effort by Republicans to deprive Planned Parenthood of money and would lead to more sexually transmitted diseases, unintended pregnancies and abortions.

"Policy after policy that we see in this body is aimed at rolling back access to birth control," said Rep. Chris Taylor (D-Madison).

Planned Parenthood and other family-planning clinics acquire drugs at discounted rates available through a Medicaid health program known as 340B. Medicaid is run jointly by the state and federal government and provides health care coverage to the poor, elderly and disabled.

Under the bill, Planned Parenthood would be limited to billing taxpayers through Medicaid for the actual acquisition cost, plus a dispensing fee.

The bill doesn't mention Planned Parenthood by name, but singles the group out by offering lower reimbursement rates for clinics that are linked to an abortion provider. Opponents of the measure say it is likely to be challenged in court because the state would treat Planned Parenthood differently from other clinics.

The governor also has before him a bill that could divert a federal grant from Planned Parenthood to other programs. Planned Parenthood has received Title X grants for the last 30 years and currently shares one with two other providers worth $3.5 million.

The moves come four years after Republicans made other funding cuts to Planned Parenthood, which the group says led to the closure of five rural clinics that provided birth control and health screenings but not abortions.

Eliminating Planned Parenthood's funding has gained momentum following the release of secretly recorded videos by abortion opponents that showed a Planned Parenthood official in California discussing the cost of providing fetal body parts for medical research.

Last month, a grand jury in Texas indicted two abortion opponents over the videos, and Planned Parenthood sued the makers of the videos, alleging they were involved in a criminal enterprise and had lied about the abortion provider.

Landlord-tenant bill

Also Thursday, the Assembly approved AB 568, which would set new policies on when landlords could evict their tenants and how local governments could regulate rental properties and establish local historic districts. It passed 60-31, with all Republicans for it and all Democrats against it, and now goes to the Senate.

Under the bill, landlords with five days' notice could evict tenants if they or their guests engage in criminal activity.

The group End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin blasted the proposal, saying it could lead to victims getting kicked out of their homes when their abusers attacked them or committed other crimes. The measure would bar that from happening, but the group argued that victims wouldn't have enough time to gather information about protections in the law if they were given little notice they were being evicted.

"The practical result is that many victims will be re-victimized by being effectively removed from their homes because of their abusers' crimes," Tony Gibart, the group's public policy director, told lawmakers in a memo.

Also under the bill, local governments could not create historic districts without holding a public hearing. Property owners who had received historic preservation tax credits or whose properties were listed on historic registries could not vote against creating the local historic district.

An earlier version of the bill would have barred local governments from designating properties as historic landmarks without the owners' consent  an idea that drew sharp criticism from Milwaukee officials.

Liquid nicotine. Assembly members on a voice vote sent to the Senate AB 502, which would require that liquid nicotine be packaged in a way that would be difficult for children under age 5 to open. Liquid nicotine is used to refill cartridges for electronic cigarettes.

Hunter harassment. On a voice vote, the Assembly approved SB 338, which would make it illegal to harass hunters and fishers by using a drone, disturbing hunting stands or bait, or confronting or photographing them. It now goes to Walker.

Editor's note: An earlier posted version of this story incorrectly stated that legislation passed by the Assembly would bar local governments from creating historic districts unless they were approved by two-thirds of property owners. The bill, AB 568, would require public hearings but not a vote.
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Two Milwaukee women were killed and a third critically injured early Thursday morning in a single-car crash in Brown Deer.

Kierra Monei Jackson, 20, died at the scene of the crash and Fredericka L. Owens-Wright, 22, died at Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa, according to the Milwaukee County medical examiner's office.

The third woman, a 20-year-old Milwaukee resident, was in critical condition.

The crash was reported about 12:30 a.m. at N. Teutonia Ave. and W. Dean Road, Brown Deer police said in a news release.

According to a medical examiner's report:

Jackson, who was driving, was southbound on Teutonia after she and co-workers from Walmart had eaten at an Applebee's restaurant.

The car veered off the road just south of Dean Road.

Jackson and Owens-Wright were ejected from the vehicle when Jackson attempted to correct it, causing it to overturn before striking a phone box and an electric box.

Speed was a factor in the crash, which occurred on a stretch of road with a posted speed limit of 40 mph, according to the report.

The crash remained under investigation, police said.
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A Journal Sentinel investigation uncovered mistakes and failures in an undercover sting in Milwaukee's Riverwest neighborhood by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives  stolen guns, sensitive documents lost, wrong people charged and a burglary of the sting storefront. Go to section.

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The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has made strides since its disastrous Operation Fast and Furious, but the agency's flawed storefront operations and others like them show more safeguards are needed, a report issued Thursday finds.

In Fast and Furious, agents allowed 2,000 guns to pass into the hands of criminals, including one at the scene where a U.S. Border Patrol officer was killed.

After the operation came to light, investigations were launched, congressional hearings held and the Justice Department's inspector general issued a blistering 471-page report detailing many failures and making recommendations.

Even as those reforms were supposed to be implemented, ATF was running storefront operations in Milwaukee in 2012 and elsewhere where oversight was lacking. Undercover ATF agents ran fake hip-hop clothing stores but were really seeking to buy guns and drugs.

A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation revealed in the Milwaukee operation that ATF agents had three guns stolen, including a machine gun; used a brain-damaged man with a low IQ to promote the operation and then arrested him; allowed armed felons to leave the store; arrested four of the wrong people; and paid so much for guns that people bought them from stores and sold the guns to agents for a profit.

The investigation found similar problems and new ones in ATF storefronts from Portland, Ore., to Pensacola, Fla.

ATF officials told members of Congress it would not run any storefront cases until it could improve operations. Spokeswoman Ginger Colbrun said Thursday that ATF has no active storefronts.

After the Journal Sentinel reports, Inspector General Michael Horowitz launched an investigation into storefront operations, examining stings in Milwaukee, Pensacola, St. Louis and Wichita, Kan. The investigation, launched two years ago, is ongoing, and further recommendations for improvement are expected in that report.

The inspector general's report issued Thursday assessed how ATF is doing on reforms promised after Fast and Furious. While it touched on storefront operations, it looked more broadly at ATF as well as other federal law enforcement agencies.

The inspector general is closing out four of the six recommendations made after Fast and Furious, but ATF and the Justice Department have more work to do, it said.

The ATF's previous policies did not include provisions that specifically require headquarters to review undercover operations that present a "significant risk of violence or physical injury to individuals," for example. Other federal agencies, such as the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration, had such mandates.

"We were especially concerned about this omission given ATF's failure to properly evaluate public safety in Operations Fast and Furious and Wide Receiver," the report states.

Operation Wide Receiver preceded Fast and Furious and featured some of the same problems.

The agency still needs to make improvements to policies regarding confidential informants engaging in "otherwise illegal activity" and its monitored case program, which is aimed at better oversight of high-risk cases.

The report also found that ATF was not conferring with federal prosecutors on risky storefront operations as well as investigations into stash house robbery crews, where ATF agents engage people they think might be interested in doing a robbery. Such cases have come under fire from federal judges because of the risk of injury or death and of entrapping the defendants.

Colbrun said the ATF welcomes the inspector general's findings.

"ATF continues to accept full responsibility for the flaws involved in the execution of Operations Fast and Furious and Wide Receiver, and it remains unequivocally committed to the leadership, policy, oversight and accountability enhancements it began implementing well before the issuance of the 2012 OIG report," she said.
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By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) |  

Tom Friedman of the New York Times has completely given up on a two-state solution, forthrightly abandoning the polite fiction that there will ever be a Palestinian state alongside Israel, and ridiculing American presidential candidates for speaking as though it were still a possibility. In fact, he proclaims, with an eye for the glaringly obvious, the peace process is dead:

The next U.S. president will have to deal with an Israel determined to permanently occupy all the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, including where 2.5 million West Bank Palestinians live.

Friedman proposes a long list of those responsible for the failure of the peace process. It isnt remarkable that he blames, among many others, Palestine president Mahmoud Abbas and the Gaza party-militia, Hamas, though it would have been refreshing if he had admitted their powerlessness truly to affect the equation. It is sort of like blaming the Inca for Francisco Pizarros brutal conquest of Peru.

What is remarkable is that he puts Israeli and/or pro-Israeli actors first in his rogues gallery and pulls no punches. The villains of this piece include:

1. Fanatical Jewish settlers on Palestinian land.

2. Right-wing Jewish billionaires, such as Sheldon Adelson, who shielded expansionist Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu from criticism by influencing the US Congress. (Friedman has long since implicitly acknowledged the argument of John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt in their The Israel Lobby, but this statement of it took even me aback; I think focusing only on the rightwing billionaires is a little unfair, since there are lots of Israel lobbies and many supporters of the Israeli squatters are neither rich nor right wing.)

3. Netanyahu himself, characterized as power-hungry and unimaginative: Bibi won: Hes now a historic figure  the founding father of the one-state solution.

Friedman had for decades championed a two-state solution and even once pressed for a US military presence in the West Bank to allow (or force) an Israeli withdrawal. Like many American Jewish supporters of Israel, he sees the Israeli Rights determination to swallow up the Palestinian West Bank as endangering the future of the Israeli state, rather as the Everglades python doomed itself by trying to swallow a whole crocodile.

Friedman concludes,

Let the one-state era begin. It will involve a steady low-grade civil war between Palestinians and Israelis and a growing Israeli isolation in Europe and on college campuses that the next U.S. president will have to navigate.

Of course, the low-intensity civil war is already a daily reality in the West Bank. Here are headlines from just the last couple days from a site that closely follows developments in Israeli-occupied Palestine (these are headlines seldom seen in the US press and never on American television, creating a vacuum of knowledge that itself skews US views):

Army Kills A Palestinian Child In Hebron Soldiers Kidnap Three Palestinians In Hebron Israeli Army Kidnaps 23 Palestinians Army Kidnaps Six Palestinians Bethlehem, One In Jenin Seven Palestinians Injured Near Bethlehem Qassam Fighter Killed in Tunnel Collapse UPDATE: Israeli Forces Kidnap 18 Palestinians in West Bank and Jerusalem, including Minors Settler Wounded in Gush Etzion Stabbing Settlers Assault Shepherd near Hebron

At the end of his column Friedman waxes apocalyptic about the Middle East:

So my advice to all the candidates is: Keep talking about the fantasy Middle East. I can always use a good bedtime story to fall asleep. But get ready for the real thing. This is not your grandfathers Israel anymore, its not your oil companys Saudi Arabia anymore, its not your NATOs Turkey anymore, its not your cabdrivers Iran anymore and its not your radical chic college professors Palestine anymore. Its a wholly different beast now, slouching toward Bethlehem.

One big difference between academic analysis and this kind of op-ed is that the latter still tries to explain the world through character flaws, as though everything is a Greek tragedy. This form of argumentation was also popular also in the Victorian age.

Thus, Netanyahu is fatally greedy and ambitious. Sheldon Adelson is arrogant and a puppet master. Israeli squatters are fanatics. Mahmoud Abbas is feckless. Hamas is stubbornly aggressive, so much so that it declines the possibility of becoming Singapore by making peace with Israel (talk about bedtime stories).

In authoritarian states, the character of the ruler is not irrelevant, of course. And in our new American oligarchy, the character of our billionaires, from Trump to Adelson to Saban, is also consequential.

But larger forces are at work here. Rashid Khalidi has pointed to a settler-industrial complex, whereby Israeli colonization of the West Bank is increasingly an element of the Israeli economy, creating internal lobbies for the policy. Lax Israeli campaign finance regulations have allowed Sheldon Adelson to have an outsize impact on Israeli politics (including dumping his free pro-Netanyahu newspaper on the market, to the disadvantage of other dailies and other parties). Congressional support for Israel is certainly to some extent bought and paid for by Adelson and others, but some of it comes from the Evangelical Right and some of it from imperial security considerations (Israel as a kind of aircraft carrier for the US in the Middle East).

Friedmans depiction of Iran as a rogue state that is over-reaching could be challenged. Iran could be seen as the conservative power here, as simply supporting a long-standing status quo in Lebanon and Syria. It is supporting the American-imposed status quo in Iraq. Tehran probably isnt actually much involved in Yemen. So what has changed is that Saudi Arabia has become a revolutionary, Napoleonic force in the region, bankrolling the overthrow of the populist Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt, attempting to overthrow the Baathist republic in Syria (founded in 1963), and to tip the balance of power toward the minority Sunnis in Lebanon.

I voice this critique because I think it is important for policy-making to consider economic and power and environmental dynamics and not to focus only on the character of politicians. Some constraints are structural. If Mahmoud Abbas were replaced by Salam Fayyad, he would also fail to achieve a Palestinian state. That is because Israel is a regional Power and can dictate to the Palestinians, and the Israeli elite has decided to keep them stateless and to steal their land.

Id like to point out that the low-intensity civil war going on in the West Bank is not guaranteed to be a steady-state phenomenon. At some point it could become a high-intensity civil war. Given the state collapse in Syria and Iraq and Yemen and Sinai, it cannot be predicted what the outcome of such a civil war will be on the region and on Israel. The Israeli far right, which is in power, appears to think that it will be possible simply to transfer the rebellious Palestinians to Jordan and Egypt. But Egypt wont permit it, and can prevent it. Jordan would likely collapse under the shock, with severe security implications for Israel. Millions of Palestinians would stream as refugees into Europe.

So, I think Netanyahus policies are presenting the next president with a security challenge substantially more severe than the end of the two-state solution or a low-intensity civil war. The specter of actual civil war in the West Bank is the real beast slouching toward Jerusalem.

-

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Maan News Agency |  

BETHLEHEM (Maan)  The Israeli Knesset on Monday approved the first reading of the NGO transparency bill, denounced by critics as a move to delegitimize and weaken human rights organizations in Israel.

The first reading of the bill, which passed 50 to 43, sparked uproar among some lawmakers, two of whom were removed from the plenum after interrupting far-right Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, who wrote the bill, a Knesset press release said.

Palestinian MK Hanin Zoabi of the Joint List was also eventually removed by ushers from the podium after she continued to speak after her time was up.

The bill would require any nonprofit organization that receives the majority of its funding from a foreign political entity to label itself as such in publications.

Accompanied by a preexisting law requiring that NGOs report foreign governmental funding, the bill would also require nonprofits to list countries supporting it at any forum at which they meet with elected officials and in their advertisements.

The bill is believed to target left-wing rights organizations, many of them pro-Palestinian, as they are the primary recipients of foreign political aid.

Shaked, who initially proposed the bill in November, accused the Israeli left of historically hijacking the values of transparency solely to target the right, according to the Knesset release.

Meretz MKs Tamar Zandberg and Esawi Frej were forced to leave after they interrupted Shaked, who also accused the left of claiming ownership over what constituted democracy and justice.

Dov Khenin, an MK with the Joint Arab List party, addressed Shakeds statements saying: George Orwell has come back to life and has spoken here from the Knesset podium. It`s simply unbelievable  dark is light, silencing is democracy.

Khenin argued that leftist rights organizations promoted transparency while the Israeli government covered communities and secrets of right-wing groups, specifically citing Im Tirtzu, a group supported by Shaked that recently accused four Israeli human rights activists of promoting terror.

Israeli watchdog Peace Now responding to the passing of the first reading by saying the bill was a violent and discriminatory act of public shaming against those criticizing the government.

Voicing concern regarding freedom of speech, the group said in a statement: Coercing specific civil society organizations to mention their funding sources in every possible occasion is no different in principle than the wearing of special badges.

It continued: To improve Israels image in the world, whats needed is a change in policy rather than a crackdown on dissent.

The transparency bill has received major flak since its introduction, with US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro in a meeting with Shaked last month expressing concern that the bill could have adverse effects on rights organizations in Israel, according to Israeli daily Haaretz.

The bill is one of several that critics argue severely challenges the self-professed democratic values of the state of Israel . . .

Via Maan News Agency



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By Mairead Maguire | (Inter Press Service) |  

BELFAST (IPS)  The World Health Organization has said that Violence is a preventable disease and people are not born violent, rather we all live in cultures of violence. This can be changed through nonviolent peacemaking and the persuit of just peace and nurturing of cultures of peace. . .

The consequences of NATO/US policies of invasions and occupation is the destruction of Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Syria, and Yemen, to name but a few. A real question now to be asked by Europeans is: Do you want to continue being part of the perpetual wars of US and its most belligerent states of UK and Israel, and the militarization and nuclearization of Europe to continue? . . .

Many governments in Europe are in denial that they are in a crisis but unless courageous policy reversals are implemented and more funding put into human security by dealing with unemployment and poverty, things will not change for the better for our societies in the forseeable futre. But we do not need austerity cuts, we live in a very rich world its just that we have got our priorities wrong!

Billions of Euros spent by NATO and Europe hosting war exercises, increases fearology, prepares people mentally for enmity and war, and lines the pockets of the rich, of arms manufacturers and war profiteers. In November 2015, while the worlds political leaders, and media, focused on the refugee crisis and the violence of illegal groups of Daesh (Islamic state) and other fundamental Islamic extremists, almost unknown to the civil community, as it was little reported, one of the great threats to the survival of humanity was taking place in Northern Europe, across three European states. Some 36,000 military troops, 200 fighter aircrafts and more than 60 warships carried out NATOs biggest war games in 13 years.The military troops were from over 30 states.

They were carrying out war exercises preparing to fight together in battle groups if necessary in a war, which should it come to pass, would be a horror of horrors and one of the greatest crimes against humanity, a nuclear/conventional war on European soil, and spreading quickly across the world. The NATO (led by the US) has fought many illegal wars. They argue that it is necessary to fight terrorism and that it must defend its members from threats from the Middle East and North Africa.

The cold war propaganda against Russia continues and NATO by its expansionist and aggressive strategy has brought Europe to a situation similar to that of the Cold War causing a new dangerous confrontation with Russia.

I believe Europe (and indeed the world) must now ask the tough questions and make hard, brave and courageous choices: Do we continue down the road of re-arming Europe and the World, and building a culture of militarism and war, creating enemy images and demonizing other countries and their leaders, implementing regime change through bogus right to protect military intervention, or do we choose to start disarming our conscience, hearts and minds, dismantling our weapons, ending militarism and war and implementing International law?

Europe and the world needs a New Vision of Unity and Demilitarization of Regions, with power devolved to communities where people feel empowered and true democracy can be established. A demilitarized world is something we can all work together to build.

It is not an impossible dream, but begins with each one of us, choosing to live lives of nonkilling and nonviolence and building friendships between peoples and regions in order to cooperate as the human family on the problems we all need to deal with such as environment and poverty. We have imagination and genius and with confidence and trust in ourselves and each other, we can move away from nationalism and war, towards regional solutions built on demilitarized societies of peaceful co-existence  we can and we must learn to live together in all our diversity. Peace Demilitarized and Devolved Democracy is possible and is a human right for all.

Mairead Maguire, a peace activist from Northern Ireland is a 1976 Nobel Peace Laureate

Licensed from Inter Press Service



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By David M. Faris | (Informed Comment) |  

Donald Trump has now won a primary, and looks positioned to win many more. The GOP establishment nightmare looks more plausible by the day  have you seen a poll anywhere in any state where Trump or Ted Cruz doesnt lead? In so many ways, Trumps ascent in the Republican primary is an umami-spiked burger of unrivaled deliciousness. For those on the left who have long regarded the GOP primary electorate as an out-of-control anti-system party, Trump is the embodiment of uninformed, aimless rage. This badly dressed billionaire with narcissistic personality disorder and a Herodotus-length history of marital and business wreckage is the savior of the values-voting white working class? How could a man who represents everything that is wrong with American casino capitalism  who is literally a casino magnate  become the vehicle for the aspirations and recriminations of down-on-their-luck, downwardly mobile working class voters?

Most of Trumps supporters couldnt afford a single night in one of his ostentatious hotels. In real life, Donald Trump would face down illegal immigration by building a 2,200-mile luxury hotel along the border and staffing it with migrants. Better yet, the man is so radioactive nationally that he would likely take the entire party down with him on election night, an electoral Chernobyl that might even breach the concrete containment building of the House GOP majority. The half-life of the fallout from this subcritical meltdown could span multiple cycles. That Trumps chief current rival for the nomination is also a universally loathed piece of electoral kryptonite just makes it sweeter. Is there a danger that one of these guys could actually win? Sure, but the opportunity of both a landslide victory and the reconquista of congress far outweighs the tiny risk.

Yet this is just the horse-race perspective. Because Trump is on the verge of making every serious observer in America look silly  including Nate Silver, the Nostradamus of political forecasting, who repeatedly and loudly declared< that Trump was an enormous longshot it is worth getting to the bottom of exactly what is happening. For the professional agitators in the intellectual stratosphere of movement conservatism, Trump represents either a dangerous deviation from orthodoxy, or a one-time cul de sac, a creation of the moment who, even if successful in attaining the nomination, will quickly be routed around, like damage on the Internet. They are wrong. Trump is everything the right has spent 40 years working towards: the apotheosis of anti-intellectualism, the monstrous creation of money-is-speech, Citizens United politics, the standard-bearer of contempt for competent public administration, and the true face of the movement-endorsed, Wall Street-executed strip-mining of the American middle class. He may not sing along to every tune in the karaoke book, but he is, nevertheless, its inevitable endpoint.

Trump is, first, the consequence of the rights 40-year war against government  by relentlessly demonizing it, they have convinced a considerable number of Americans that just about anyone can competently run it, or preferably destroy it. Ever since Ronald Reagans Im from the government and Im here to help< quip, this has been the overarching theme of Republican politics. If youve convinced your core supporters that government is asbestos, and that it needs to be torn out of the wall of free enterprise capitalism, why would they care what kind of person is put in charge of its disposal? Who needs governing experience when all you need is an axe?

Trumpism is also the culmination of the rights worship of blind ignorance. Some of this can be traced back to his biggest supporter, Sarah Palin. When John McCain unexpectedly chose the then-Alaska governor as his running mate in 2008, it should have set off alarm bells throughout the party hierarchy. Instead, party insiders and commentators almost without exception lined up enthusiastically behind this obviously incompetent, dimwitted opportunist who from the beginning could not speak without a script for more than 10 seconds without sounding Google-translated. A party that signs off on having Sarah Palin ascend to the second-highest office in the land just has no business wringing its hands about Donald Trump. Both in terms of speech patterns and policy acumen, Trump is Palin, just without the incomplete term governing Alaska. If anything, Trump actually seems like a worse human being  a self-important, oversensitive misogynist who internalizes every slight and then publicly humiliates anyone who crosses him.

But laying this at the feet of the tragicomic figure of Sarah Palin is reductive. Conservatives have spent 60 years constructing an entirely alternate information universe for themselves  one where global warming is a leftist hoax to gin up research dollars (never mind the little problem of entire countries being evacuated< the professorial, incrementalist family man Barack Obama is a raving Maoist running roughshod over the Constitution and the evidence-free Laffer Curve is the basis of all sound public fiscal policy. It is not a new observation to notice that the rules of discourse and evidence seem not to apply in this universe. But lost in the general condemnation from the reality-based community is the problem that these entrepreneurs of outrage and hostility have lost control over their creation by believing that the normal rules of politics in Universe Actual would still apply outside the echo chamber. The party cannot decide when the partys own supporters have been convinced that participating in routine policymaking is a Munich-level betrayal of ideological purity. Worse, a movement that had grown smug about its level of intellectual complexity has awoken to the cold fact that its most fervent supporters could care less about The Road To Serfdom and Atlas Shrugged and the archives of the National Review. They seem a bit more concerned about the hollowing out of the middle class.

But if they are honest with themselves, the gatekeepers of noble conservatism should see that they had a hand in the rise of Trump not just by cordoning themselves off from mainstream discourse, but by aligning themselves with Trump on his biggest issues. National Review in particular has spent the Obama years trying to refashion itself in the image of the Tea Party to please readers whose core beliefs look and sound distinctly Trumpian. The pages of the magazine and its online counterpart became wildly successful precisely by fanning the flames of ignorant terror panic by giving a platform to wild-eyed Islamophobes like Andrew McCarthy and the unctuous Victor Davis Hanson, and running near-daily jeremiads against immigration. After Trump released his ban-the-Muslims proposal, McCarthy wrote that he has a way of pushing us into important debates< Trumps worldview is indiscriminate rage  against the establishment, against illegals, against China, against the media, against women, but above all against government itself. Most of Trumps basic policy positions  if you can call them that  would not seem all that terribly out of place in any of conservatisms popular media outlets.

And now the self-appointed guardians of movement conservatism have been usurped by upstart competitors who dont play by the rules of stoking apoplexy and then lining up behind the nearest warm Romney at election time. National Review spawned a thousand Red States and Pajamas Medias and elevated clueless buffoons like Erick Erickson, Mark Levin and Glenn Beck to positions of discursive authority in their movement. Rather than keeping these people on the margins, they were given their own shows on Fox News and linked to prominently on RealClearPolitics and invited on TV as experts during election season. That these same demagogues have now decided to clutch their pearls and express their horror at Trump in the pages of National Review itself< should be no means absolve them of their responsibility for his existence. On the contrary, the fact that National Review, of all publications, should appeal to such people for authoritative expertise proves that they have placed the movement in their hands.

This is also how the Citizens United story ends. Conservatives may actually believe that money is speech, but they also thought Universe Actual rules would apply to the orgiastic splattering of untraceable cash on TV screens: reliable Wall Street billionaires like Sheldon Adelson and the Koch Brothers would direct their stream of wealth to the nearest empty vessel of Randian orthodoxy, elevating an army of Scott Walker clones to positions of authority across the country and then to the highest office. These hopes have been repeatedly dashed by radicalized primary voters, who have selected an endless succession of severe and unelectable ideologues to run in races across the country. The establishment interpreted the Christine ODonnell Todd Akin revolts as a growing thirst for policymaking-by-hedgefund. Never did they dream that one of these deep-pocketed Rockefellers would blow their money on their own candidacies, harness popular frustration with supply-side dogma, and then ingeniously massage the cash-driven media ecosystem for months of free publicity.

So this is where we are. The writers and talking heads taught the GOP base to distrust scientific expertise and to loathe the political class. But 40 years of slashing taxes and removing all barriers to the accumulation of wealth has eviscerated the financial security of the lower and middle classes and made it nearly impossible for non-elites to make a decent living in this country. Today those same voters regard the Republican establishment the same way they do climate scientists: as charlatans perpetrating an elaborate hoax on them.

Now they are experiencing the same terror as the babysitter in When a Stranger Calls< the call from Donald Trump is coming from inside the movement. The moderate Republicans upstairs are dead, and theres not much they can do now except get out of the house and run. The right has created this B-horror villain, and they are powerless to escape him. Progressives can be forgiven if they arent exactly rooting for the heroes in this one.

David M. Faris is a professor of Political Science and Public Administration at Roosevelt University in downtown Chicago. He is also the director of Roosevelts interdisciplinary International Studies Program. His book Dissent and Revolution in a Digital Age: Social Media, Blogging and Activism in Egypt (2013) focuses on the use of digital media by Egyptian opposition movements.



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Human Rights Watch |  

(Istanbul)  Turkey should allow Syrians at its border fleeing the fighting in and around Aleppo to seek protection in Turkey, Human Rights Watch said today. Forcing people to remain in a war zone, where they risk death and injury, is no solution to the challenge of protecting Syrians fleeing their country.

European Union governments should match their calls on Turkey to let Syrians enter the country with increased resettlement of Syrians from Turkey to the EU. Turkey hosts at least 2.5 million Syrian refugees, more than any other country and the largest number of refugees in any single country worldwide.

Turkeys generosity in sheltering 2.5 million refugees shouldnt stop now and leave thousands of Syrians stranded at the edge of a war zone, said Gerry Simpson, senior refugee researcher at Human Rights Watch. Governments in Turkey and the EU should keep all borders open to Syrians and others in need of protection.

In late January 2016, Syrian government forces, backed by Russian airstrikes, began an offensive in northern Syria to break the siege imposed by armed opposition groups on the towns of Nubbul and Zahraa and to cut off the city of Aleppo from Turkey. Human Rights Watch has documented unlawful air strikes in the offensive, including the use of inherently indiscriminate cluster munitions.

According to the United Nations, between February 1 and 9, about 45,000 people fled the offensive and travelled to nearby border areas with Turkey, adding to the estimated 6.5 million Syrians already internally displaced in Syria.

On February 9, Turkeys Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu claimed that during a recent unspecified period, Turkey had allowed 10,000 Syrians to cross in a controlled fashion. The UN refugee agency in Turkey has not confirmed Turkeys assertion.

Instead, aid agency staff told Human Rights Watch that while a few people with serious injuries have been allowed to cross to Turkey for medical treatment, thousands have been refused entry at the Oncupnar/Bab al-Salama border crossing, remaining near the border in poor conditions. The rest have fled to the nearby towns of Azaz and Afrin or to eight old camps for internally displaced people to the east of Azaz along the Turkish border. Aid workers say the camps sheltered 40,000 displaced Syrians before the recent crisis and are now filled beyond capacity, with about 50,000 people.

Turkeys generosity in sheltering 2.5 million refugees shouldnt stop now and leave thousands of Syrians stranded at the edge of a war zone, Governments in Turkey and the EU should keep all borders open to Syrians and others in need of protection. Gerry Simpson Senior refugee researcher at Human Rights Watch Syrian activists told Human Rights Watch that Syrians stuck at the border and living in nearby villages such as Azaz are sleeping in the streets, fields, and in schools. A number of aid workers in Turkey have reported that the Turkish authorities have allowed international aid groups based in Turkey to cross into Syria and join Syrian aid groups to distribute tents and other assistance to Syrians stuck at the border crossing and in nearby border areas. On February 6, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey said that if Syrians reach our door and have no other choice, if necessary, we have to and will let our brothers in. On February 9, the UN refugee agency said Turkey should open its border to all civilians in Syria fleeing danger in need of international protection. Human Rights Watch said that allowing much-needed cross-border aid does not absolve Turkey of its obligation to respect the principle of non-refoulement. That principle, under customary international law and international human rights law, prohibits rejecting asylum seekers at borders when that would expose them to the threat of persecution and torture. Turkey has previously indicated it wants to create a safe zone in Syria to which Syrians could flee to and Turkey could return Syrian refugees. In July 2015, President Erdogan said that cleansing the region of all threatening elements and establishing a safe zone constitutes the basis of 1.7 million Syrian refugees return. The same month, Cavusoglu, the foreign minister, said that, When areas in northern Syria are cleared of the [ISIS] threat, the safe zones will be filled naturally. People who have been displaced can be placed in those safe areas. While Turkeys desire to limit the number of refugees may be understandable, the current situation in northern Syria makes clear that any safe zone would be safe in name only and would put the lives of displaced people in danger, Human Rights Watch said. Since early 2015, Turkey has all but closed its borders to Syrians fleeing the conflict, who have increasingly been forced to use smugglers to reach Turkey. In late 2015, Human Rights Watch documented how Turkish border guards intercepted Syrians who crossed to Turkey using smugglers, in some cases beat them, and pushed them and dozens of others back into Syria or detained and then summarily expelled them. EU leaders, including the EUs High Representative Federica Mogherini, have said that Turkey should allow Syrians fleeing Aleppo to reach safety. In November, the EU concluded a controversial migration deal with Ankara to curb migration flows to Europe, offering 3 billion in aid to assist Syrians in Turkey, reinvigorated EU membership negotiations, and visa-free travel for Turkish citizens. Some European leaders have also called for a plan under which Turkey would process all asylum seekers wanting to reach the EU, in exchange for a pledge by EU states to resettle a few hundred thousand refugees from Turkey to the EU over an unspecified period. The EU is right to press Ankara to keep its borders open to refugees, Simpson said. But it needs to heed its own advice and ensure that EU governments meet their obligations to host and process asylum seekers rather than using the migration agreement to try to shift responsibility onto Turkey.

Via Human Rights Watch



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VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Feb. 11, 2016) -

(All dollar amounts are in US dollars unless stated otherwise)

FIRST MAJESTIC SILVER CORP. (NYSE:AG)(TSX:FR)(FRANKFURT:FMV)(BVM:AG) (the "Company" or "First Majestic") is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement with The Bank of Nova Scotia and Investec Bank PLC for a Senior Secured Credit Facility (the "Facility") consisting of a $25 million revolving credit line and a $35 million term loan. The proceeds of the Facility are being used to settle the Company's existing lead and zinc prepayment facility with Bank of America Merrill Lynch ("BAML") and to replace the $15 million revolving credit line the Company assumed when it acquired SilverCrest Mines (the "SilverCrest Credit Line").

Effective with this transaction, the Company has eliminated its base metal hedge with a mark to market gain of $5.0 million. The Company is settling the BAML prepayment facility debt with a cash payment of $31.5 million from proceeds of the $35 million term loan. The remaining $3.5 million net of transaction fees is added to the Company's treasury for general and administrative purposes. The SilverCrest Credit Line was due to be repaid no later than June 30, 2016. Effective with the new Facility, the repayment of the credit line has been deferred to February 2019, and an additional $10 million has been added to establish a $25 million revolving credit line for the Company.

"The announcement of today's debt restructuring, along with the decision to lock in our $5.0 million gain on our BAML lead and zinc hedge, and to push out the settlement of the revolving credit line by three years, immediately improves the Company's working capital position and provides significant financial flexibility to continue pursuing our corporate objectives," stated Keith Neumeyer, President and CEO. "Our strengthened balance sheet and diverse portfolio of producing silver mines provides us with the opportunity to access funds at a low cost of capital."

The Facility has a three year payback period which is based on terms and conditions consistent with financings of this nature. The term loan provides for a six-month repayment holiday, and a three-year payback period consisting of 11 quarterly payments. Further details will be communicated in the Company's 2015 annual MD&A, and in the first quarter financial results of the Company.

First Majestic is a mining company focused on silver production in Mexico and is aggressively pursuing the development of its existing mineral property assets and the pursuit through acquisition of additional mineral assets which contribute to the Company achieving its corporate growth objectives.

FIRST MAJESTIC SILVER CORP.

Keith Neumeyer, President & CEO

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This news release includes certain "Forward-Looking Statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities laws. When used in this news release, the words "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "target", "plan", "forecast", "may", "schedule" and similar words or expressions, identify forward-looking statements or information. These forward-looking statements or information relate to, among other things: the use of the Facilities.

These statements reflect the Company's current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information and the Company has made assumptions and estimates based on or related to many of these factors. Such factors include, without limitation: fluctuations in the spot and forward price of silver, gold, base metals or certain other commodities (such as natural gas, fuel oil and electricity); fluctuations in the currency markets (such as the Canadian dollar and Mexican peso versus the U.S. dollar); changes in national and local government, legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments in Canada, Mexico; operating or technical difficulties in connection with mining or development activities; risks and hazards associated with the business of mineral exploration, development and mining (including environmental hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected formations, pressures, cave-ins and flooding); risks relating to the credit worthiness or financial condition of suppliers, refiners and other parties with whom the Company does business; inability to obtain adequate insurance to cover risks and hazards; and the presence of laws and regulations that may impose restrictions on mining, including those currently enacted in Mexico; employee relations; relationships with and claims by local communities and indigenous populations; availability and increasing costs associated with mining inputs and labour; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, including the risks of obtaining necessary licenses, permits and approvals from government authorities; diminishing quantities or grades of mineral reserves as properties are mined; the Company's title to properties; and the factors identified under the caption "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Information Form, under the caption "Risks Relating to First Majestic's Business".

Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements or information. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be anticipated, estimated or intended. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements or information to reflect changes in assumptions or changes in circumstances or any other events affecting such statements or information, other than as required by applicable law.
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Feb. 10, 2016) - Franco-Nevada Corporation ("Franco-Nevada" or the "Company") (TSX:FNV)(NYSE:FNV) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement with a syndicate of underwriters led by BMO Capital Markets, CIBC Capital Markets, RBC Capital Markets, and Scotiabank, pursuant to which they have agreed to purchase, on a bought deal basis, 11,500,000 common shares of Franco-Nevada at a price of US$47.85 per common share (the "Offering Price"), for aggregate gross proceeds to Franco-Nevada of approximately US$550 million (the "Offering"). The underwriters will also have the option, exercisable in whole or in part, at any time for a period of 30 days following the closing of the Offering, to purchase up to an additional 1,725,000 common shares at the Offering Price to cover over-allotments, if any. In the event that the option is exercised in its entirety, the aggregate gross proceeds of the Offering to Franco-Nevada will be approximately US$663 million.

The Company plans to use the net proceeds of the Offering for the funding of Franco-Nevada's acquisition of a precious metals stream with reference to production from Glencore plc's ("Glencore") Antapaccay Mine located in Peru, as announced on February 10, 2016 (the "Antapaccay Transaction"), and the balance will be added to the working capital of the Company and used for further investments and other general corporate purposes. The completion of the Offering is not conditional upon the successful completion of the Antapaccay Transaction.

The Company expects to file a preliminary prospectus supplement to its existing base shelf prospectus on or about February 10, 2016 and intends to file a final prospectus supplement to its existing base shelf prospectus on or about February 11, 2016, in each case with the securities regulatory authorities in each of the provinces and territories in Canada and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC").

The Offering is scheduled to close on or about February 19, 2016, and is subject to certain conditions including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary approvals including the approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange, the New York Stock Exchange and the securities regulatory authorities.

The Company has filed a registration statement (including the existing base shelf prospectus) with the SEC for the Offering to which this communication relates. Before you invest, you should read the prospectus in that registration statement and other documents the Company has filed with the SEC for more complete information about the Company and the Offering. You may get these documents for free by visiting EDGAR on the SEC Web site at www.sec.gov. Alternatively, the Company, any underwriter or any dealer participating in the Offering will arrange to send you the prospectus or you may request it, in Canada from BMO Capital Markets, Brampton Distribution Centre C/O The Data Group of Companies, 9195 Torbram Road, Brampton, Ontario, L6S 6H2 by telephone at 905-791-3151 Ext 4020 or by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and in the United States from BMO Capital Markets Corp. at 3 Times Square, 27th Floor, New York, NY 10036 (Attn. Equity Syndicate), or toll-free at 800-414-3627 or by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ; from CIBC at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or fax to (212) 667-6303, Canada: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ; in Canada from RBC Capital Markets, Attention: Distribution Centre, 277 Front St. W., 5th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5V 2X4 (fax: 416-313-6066) and in the United States from RBC Capital Markets, LLC, Attention: Prospectus Department, Three World Financial Center, 200 Vesey Street, 8th floor, New York, New York 10281-8098 (telephone: 877-822-4089, fax: 212-428-6260); or in Canada from Scotiabank, Equity Capital Markets (Tel: 1-416-862-5837), Scotia Plaza, 64th Floor, 40 King St. West, M5W 2X6, Toronto, Ontario, and, in the United States from Scotiabank, Equity Capital Markets (Tel: 1-212-225-6853), 250 Vesey Street, 24th Floor, New York, NY 10281.

This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the common shares in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of that jurisdiction.

Other Corporate Updates

Franco-Nevada expects to release its year end audited financial results after the market close on March 10, 2016.

Including the first contribution from the Company's Antamina stream, the Company expects gold equivalent ounces ("GEO") for 2015 in the range of 357,500 to 362,500 GEOs, an approximately 23% increase over 2014.



Revenue for 2015 is expected to be slightly higher than for 2014 despite being impacted by weaker commodity prices.



Year-end net debt is expected to be approximately US$290 million with approximately US$460 million outstanding under the Company's credit facility.



An impairment is expected on the Company's carrying value of its oil & gas assets. The impairment is estimated to range between US$60 and US$80 million. In addition, an impairment is expected on the Company's royalty at Rubicon Minerals Corporation's Phoenix project (which has a carrying value of US$16.6 million) due to recently revised resources.



The preliminary financial data contained in this news release is unaudited, preliminary and based on management's estimates. Accordingly, the Company's actual results may vary.

Corporate Summary

Franco-Nevada Corporation is the leading gold-focused royalty and stream company with the largest and most diversified portfolio of cash-flow producing assets. Its business model provides investors with gold price and exploration optionality while limiting exposure to many of the risks of operating companies. Franco-Nevada uses its free cash flow to expand its portfolio and pay dividends. It trades under the symbol FNV on both the Toronto and New York stock exchanges. Franco-Nevada is the gold investment that works.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws and the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, respectively, which may include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to future events or future performance, management's expectations regarding Franco-Nevada's growth, results of operations, estimated future revenues, carrying value of assets, future dividends and requirements for additional capital, mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates, production estimates, production costs and revenue, future demand for and prices of commodities, expected mining sequences, business prospects and opportunities, financial results for the year ended December 31, 2015 and the Antapaccay Transaction and its expected impact on future performance and results of operations. In addition, statements (including data in tables) relating to reserves and resources and gold equivalent ounces are forward-looking statements, as they involve implied assessment, based on certain estimates and assumptions, and no assurance can be given that the estimates and assumptions are accurate and that such reserves and resources and gold equivalent ounces will be realized. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budgets", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "predicts", "projects", "intends", "targets", "aims", "anticipates" or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases or may be identified by statements to the effect that certain actions "may", "could", "should", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Franco-Nevada to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. A number of factors could cause actual events or results to differ materially from any forward-looking statement, including, without limitation: fluctuations in the prices of the primary commodities that drive royalty and stream revenue (gold, platinum group metals, copper, nickel, uranium, silver, iron-ore and oil and gas); fluctuations in the value of the Canadian and Australian dollar, and any other currency in which revenue is generated, relative to the U.S. dollar;

changes in national and local government legislation, including permitting and licensing regimes and taxation policies and the enforcement thereof; regulatory and political or economic developments in any of the countries where properties in which Franco-Nevada holds a royalty, stream or other interest are located or through which they are held; risks related to the operators of the properties in which Franco-Nevada holds a royalty, stream or other interest, including changes in the ownership and control of such operators; influence of macroeconomic developments; business opportunities that become available to, or are pursued by Franco-Nevada; reduced access to debt and equity capital; litigation;

title, permit or license disputes related to interests on any of the properties in which Franco-Nevada holds a royalty, stream or other interest; whether or not the Company is determined to have "passive foreign investment company" ("PFIC") status as defined in Section 1297 of the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended; potential changes in Canadian tax treatment of offshore streams; excessive cost escalation as well as development, permitting, infrastructure, operating or technical difficulties on any of the properties in which Franco-Nevada holds a royalty, stream or other interest; actual mineral content may differ from the reserves and resources contained in technical reports; rate and timing of production differences from resource estimates, other technical reports and mine plans; risks and hazards associated with the business of development and mining on any of the properties in which Franco-Nevada holds a royalty, stream or other interest, including, but not limited to unusual or unexpected geological and metallurgical conditions, slope failures or cave-ins, flooding and other natural disasters, terrorism, civil unrest or an outbreak of contagious disease; and the integration of acquired assets. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based upon assumptions management believes to be reasonable, including, without limitation: the ongoing operation of the properties in which Franco-Nevada holds a royalty, stream or other interest by the owners or operators of such properties in a manner consistent with past practice; the accuracy of public statements and disclosures made by the owners or operators of such underlying properties; no material adverse change in the market price of the commodities that underlie the asset portfolio; the Company's ongoing income and assets relating to determination of its PFIC status; no material changes to existing tax treatment; no adverse development in respect of any significant property in which Franco-Nevada holds a royalty, stream or other interest; the accuracy of publicly disclosed expectations for the development of underlying properties that are not yet in production; integration of acquired assets; risks relating to the Antapaccay Transaction and its completion; risks relating to the completion of the Offering; and the absence of any other factors that could cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended.

However, 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. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Franco-Nevada cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein. For additional information with respect to risks, uncertainties and assumptions, please refer to the "Risk Factors" section of Franco-Nevada's most recent Annual Information Form as well as Franco-Nevada's most recent annual Management's Discussion and Analysis filed with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities on www.sedar.com and Franco-Nevada's most recent Annual Report filed on Form 40-F filed with the SEC on www.sec.gov. The forward-looking statements herein are made as of the date of such document only and Franco-Nevada does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new information, estimates or opinions, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Feb. 10, 2016) - Franco-Nevada Corporation ("Franco-Nevada" or the "Company") (TSX:FNV)(NYSE:FNV) is pleased to announce that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Franco-Nevada (Barbados) Corporation ("FNB") has agreed to acquire a precious metals stream with reference to production from the Antapaccay mine for US$500 million ("Glencore Stream"). The Antapaccay mine is located in Southern Peru and is wholly-owned and operated by Glencore plc and its subsidiaries ("Glencore").

"Franco-Nevada is pleased to partner with Glencore," said David Harquail, President and CEO of Franco-Nevada. "Following our recent Antamina and Candelaria investments, this is yet another step in strengthening and diversifying Franco-Nevada's portfolio with some of the best mining projects in the world. This investment is expected to be immediately accretive and provide our shareholders with gold price optionality over multiple cycles and potential further exploration and expansion upside."

Transaction Highlights

Another cornerstone investment: The Glencore Stream is referenced to production from the Antapaccay open pit mine which has been expanding throughput rates and production since late 2012. It is on the same property as the Tintaya mine that operated for almost 30 years. Glencore has invested in excess of US$1.5 billion to develop Antapaccay into a low cost operation with production that ranks amongst the top 20 copper mines globally.



The Glencore Stream is referenced to production from the Antapaccay open pit mine which has been expanding throughput rates and production since late 2012. It is on the same property as the Tintaya mine that operated for almost 30 years. Glencore has invested in excess of US$1.5 billion to develop Antapaccay into a low cost operation with production that ranks amongst the top 20 copper mines globally. Immediately accretive: Franco-Nevada is expecting 60,000 to 70,000 gold equivalent ounces ("GEOs") 1 applicable to deliveries from the stream in 2016. Due to the timing of concentrate shipments, Franco-Nevada expects 11 months of deliveries to contribute to revenues in 2016.



Franco-Nevada is expecting 60,000 to 70,000 gold equivalent ounces ("GEOs") applicable to deliveries from the stream in 2016. Due to the timing of concentrate shipments, Franco-Nevada expects 11 months of deliveries to contribute to revenues in 2016. Near term growth: Total throughput from the Antapaccay plant and Tintaya plant is expected to increase to 105,000 tpd by mid-2016. Full year contributions to Franco-Nevada from the Glencore Stream are expected to average 70,000 to 80,000 GEOs 1 per year over the next 5 years. Glencore's current mine plan (based on Mineral Reserves) projects production to 2030.



Total throughput from the Antapaccay plant and Tintaya plant is expected to increase to 105,000 tpd by mid-2016. Full year contributions to Franco-Nevada from the Glencore Stream are expected to average 70,000 to 80,000 GEOs per year over the next 5 years. Glencore's current mine plan (based on Mineral Reserves) projects production to 2030. Alignment with Glencore : Under the streaming agreement, precious metal deliveries are initially referenced to copper in concentrate shipped. FNB will receive 300 ounces of gold and 4,700 ounces of silver for each 1,000 tonnes of copper in concentrate shipped, until 630,000 ounces of gold and 10 million ounces of silver have been delivered. Thereafter, FNB will receive 30% of the gold and silver shipped.



: Under the streaming agreement, precious metal deliveries are initially referenced to copper in concentrate shipped. FNB will receive 300 ounces of gold and 4,700 ounces of silver for each 1,000 tonnes of copper in concentrate shipped, until 630,000 ounces of gold and 10 million ounces of silver have been delivered. Thereafter, FNB will receive 30% of the gold and silver shipped. Exploration and expansion potential: The Glencore Stream is referenced to the entire Antapaccay concession covering approximately 997 km2. The Coroccohuayco deposit is located within 10 km of the Antapaccay plant and is not included in the current mine plan. Coroccohuayco hosts 256 million tonnes of M&I resource, at approximately twice the copper grade of Antapaccay reserves, and could potentially provide supplementary high grade ore later in the mine life. In addition, there are a number of large-scale regional targets and prospects on the Antapaccay concessions.



Transaction Terms

FNB will make a one-time US$500 million advance payment upon closing of the transaction which is expected to occur in February.



Gold and silver deliveries to FNB will initially be determined by reference to copper shipments until 630,000 ounces of refined gold and 10 million ounces of refined silver have been delivered. For each 1,000 tonnes of copper in concentrate shipped, FNB will receive 300 ounces of gold and 4,700 ounces of silver until the previously mentioned thresholds are met. Thereafter, FNB will receive 30% of the gold and silver shipped.



Deliveries to FNB will be payable monthly based on the prior month's shipments. FNB will be entitled to deliveries based on shipments on or after January 1, 2016. In the first quarter of 2016, FNB expects to receive deliveries of gold and silver under the Glencore Stream relating to January and February.



FNB will initially pay an on-going price of 20% of the spot price of gold and silver until 750,000 ounces of refined gold and 12.8 million ounces of refined silver have been delivered. Thereafter, the on-going price will increase to 30% of the spot price of gold and silver.



Gold and silver deliveries will be made by Narila Investments Ltd, a Bermudan incorporated wholly-owned subsidiary of Glencore plc. Glencore plc will be a party to the agreement. The operating company and its immediate holding company will be subject to certain negative covenants governing indebtedness and encumbrances.



Antapaccay

Antapaccay is located within the province of Espinar in Southern Peru - a district with a long mining history. The property hosts the historic Tintaya open pit mine and related infrastructure which began operating in 1984 and produced over 1.6 million tonnes of copper and 500,000 ounces of gold until operations ceased in 2012.

Glencore (Xstrata) invested in excess of US$1.5 billion of initial capital to build and commission the Antapaccay open pit mine and plant, which commenced operations in 2012 at an initial throughput of 70,000 tpd. Through debottlenecking at the Antapaccay plant and restart of the Tintaya plant in 2015 (which incorporated additional throughput of 20,000 tpd), total throughput at the mine has increased to approximately 100,000 tpd. By mid-year 2016, additional flotation capacity is expected to increase Antapaccay plant throughput to 85,000 tpd, taking the total throughput capacity of the operation to approximately 105,000 tpd. The mine produced 202 kt of copper in 2015 and is expected to produce approximately 220 kt in 2016 (at 0.70% copper) ranking it as one of the top 20 largest copper producers in the world.

Based on current projections, the mine life at Antapaccay is estimated to extend until 2030 and would mine 538 million tonnes of sulphide ore at an average copper grade of 0.52%. The current mine plan is solely based on Antapaccay reserves and does not incorporate additional resources from the project. Antapaccay currently contains Mineral Reserves of 547 million tonnes at a copper grade of 0.52%, M&I resources (inclusive of Mineral Reserves) of 686 million tonnes at a copper grade of 0.50% and inferred resources of 165 million tonnes at a copper grade of 0.40%.

The Antapaccay property consists of mining concessions that cover an approximate area of 997 km2. The property also contains the Coroccohuayco brownfield expansion project, a satellite skarn deposit that is located within 10 km of the Antapaccay plant and is part of the Tintaya mineralized district. At this stage, exploration and drilling at Coroccohuayco has focused on defining resources. The current M&I resource includes 256 million tonnes grading 1.01% copper, 0.10 g/t gold and 3.1 g/t silver and an inferred resource of 80 million tonnes grading 1.20% copper, 0.10 g/t gold and 4.7 g/t silver. Beyond the estimated Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources of Antapaccay and Coroccohuayco, there are a number of regional scale targets and prospects for exploration within the large concession.

Please refer to the "Mineral Reserves and Resources" section of the press release for additional detail.

Financing the Acquisition

To provide the initial upfront cash payment of US$500 million, Franco-Nevada intends to use the net proceeds of a US$550 million equity offering announced concurrently as of today's date (the "Offering"). At December 31, 2015 the Company had approximately US$290 million in net debt with US$460 million outstanding under its US$1.0 billion credit facility. On completion of the Offering and after funding the acquisition of the Glencore Stream, the Company expects to have in excess of US$800 million in available capital to complete further investments.

Conference Call Information

Management will host a conference call today, Wednesday, February 10, 2016 at 4:45 p.m. Eastern Time to discuss the transaction.

Interested investors are invited to participate as follows:

Via Conference Call: Toll-Free: (888) 231-8191; International: (647) 427-7450

Conference Call Replay: A recording will be available until February 17, 2016 at the following numbers: Toll-Free (855) 859-2056; International (416) 849-0833; Pass code 49997871

Webcast: A live audio webcast will be accessible at www.franco-nevada.com.

Corporate Summary

Franco-Nevada Corporation is the leading gold-focused royalty and stream company with the largest and most diversified portfolio of cash-flow producing assets. Its business model provides investors with gold price and exploration optionality while limiting exposure to many of the risks of operating companies. Franco-Nevada uses its free cash flow to expand its portfolio and pay dividends. It trades under the symbol FNV on both the Toronto and New York stock exchanges. Franco-Nevada is the gold investment that works.

[1] - Gold Equivalent Ounces (GEOs): GEOs include our gold, silver, platinum, palladium, and other mineral assets. GEOs are estimated on a gross basis for NSR royalties and, in the case of stream ounces, before the payment of the per ounce contractual price paid by Franco-Nevada. For net profit interest ("NPI") royalties, GEOs are calculated taking into account the NPI economics. Silver, platinum, palladium and other minerals were converted to GEOs by dividing the associated revenue, which includes settlement adjustments, by the average gold price for the period. For the GEO contribution from the Glencore Stream, precious metals have been converted to GEOs using commodity prices of US$1,150/oz Au and US$15.00/oz Ag.

Mineral Reserves and Resources

The Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources for the Antapaccay deposit and the Coroccohuayco deposit as of December 31, 2015 are as follows.

Antapaccay Mineral Resources (inclusive of Mineral Reserves) as at December 31, 2015:

Grade Contained Metal Class-ification Quantity Copper Gold Silver Moly Copper Gold Silver Moly (Mt) (%) (g/t) (g/t) (%) (kt) (koz) (koz) (t) Measured 198 0.60 0.13 1.55 0.005 1,188 828 9,867 9,900 Indicated 488 0.46 0.09 1.33 0.005 2,245 1,412 20,867 24,400 Measured & Indicated 686 0.50 0.10 1.39 0.005 3,430 2,206 30,657 34,300 Inferred 165 0.40 0.10 0.90 0.005 660 530 4,774 8,250

Antapaccay Mineral Reserves as at December 31, 2015:

Grade Contained Metal Classification Quantity Copper Gold Silver Copper Gold Silver (Mt) (%) (g/t) (g/t) (kt) (koz) (koz) Proven 194 0.60 0.13 1.56 1,164 811 9,730 Probable 353 0.48 0.10 1.37 1,694 1,135 15,548 Total 547 0.52 0.11 1.44 2,858 1,946 25,279

Coroccohuayco Mineral Resources as at December 31, 2015:

Grade Contained Metal Classification Quantity Copper Gold Silver Copper Gold Silver (Mt) (%) (g/t) (g/t) (kt) (koz) (koz) Measured 9 0.71 0.08 2.08 64 23 602 Indicated 247 1.02 0.10 3.18 2,519 794 25,253 Measured & Indicated 256 1.01 0.10 3.14 2,583 817 25,855 Inferred 80 1.20 0.10 4.70 960 257 12,089

Notes:

Antapaccay Statement of Resources & Reserves as at December 31, 2015, as to be included in the Glencore Statement of Resources & Reserves as at December 31, 2015. Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves are estimated in accordance with the 2012 Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (JORC Code). Columns and rows may not add up due to rounding. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Mineral Reserves have been estimated using the following metals prices: US$2.95/lb Cu, US$1,100/oz Au, US$15/oz Ag. Mineral Resources have been estimated using the following metals prices: US$3.10/lb Cu, US$1,100/oz Au, US$15/oz Ag. Mineral Resources for the Antapaccay project have been estimated using a 0.15% copper cut-off grade. Mineral Resources for the Coroccohuayco project have been estimated using a 0.30% copper cut-off grade.

The technical and scientific information contained in this press release relating to the Antapaccay project is based on the information disclosed in the document entitled "Antapaccay Mining and Technical Information" and dated effective February 10, 2016, which document was prepared by Compania Minera Antapaccay S.A. ("CMA"), the owner and operator of the Antapaccay project and an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Glencore, available on CMA's website at www.glencoreperu.pe.

The technical and scientific information contained in this press release relating to the Antapaccay project was reviewed and approved by Heller Bernabe, an employee of CMA and a "Qualified Person" as defined in NI 43-101.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward looking information" and "forward looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws and the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, respectively, which may include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to future events or future performance, management's expectations regarding Franco-Nevada's growth, results of operations, estimated future revenues, carrying value of assets, future dividends and requirements for additional capital, mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates, production estimates, production costs and revenue, future demand for and prices of commodities, expected mining sequences, business prospects and opportunities and the acquisition of the Glencore Stream and its expected impact on future performance and results of operations. In addition, statements (including data in tables) relating to reserves and resources and gold equivalent ounces are forward looking statements, as they involve implied assessment, based on certain estimates and assumptions, and no assurance can be given that the estimates and assumptions are accurate and that such reserves and resources and GEOs will be realized. Such forward looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management. Often, but not always, forward looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budgets", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "predicts", "projects", "intends", "targets", "aims", "anticipates" or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases or may be identified by statements to the effect that certain actions "may", "could", "should", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Franco-Nevada to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward looking statements.

A number of factors could cause actual events or results to differ materially from any forward looking statement, including, without limitation: fluctuations in the prices of the primary commodities that drive royalty and stream revenue (gold, platinum group metals, copper, nickel, uranium, silver, iron-ore and oil and gas); fluctuations in the value of the Canadian and Australian dollar and any other currency in which revenue is generated, relative to the U.S. dollar; changes in national and local government legislation, including permitting and licensing regimes and taxation policies and the enforcement thereof; regulatory and political or economic developments in any of the countries where properties in which Franco-Nevada holds a royalty, stream or other interest are located or through which they are held; risks related to the operators of the properties in which Franco-Nevada holds a royalty, stream or other interest, including changes in the ownership and control of such operators; influence of macroeconomic developments; business opportunities that become available to, or are pursued by Franco-Nevada; reduced access to debt and equity capital; litigation; title, permit or license disputes related to interests on any of the properties in which Franco-Nevada holds a royalty, stream or other interest; whether or not Franco-Nevada is determined to have "passive foreign investment company" ("PFIC") status as defined in Section 1297 of the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended; potential changes in Canadian tax treatment of offshore streams; excessive cost escalation as well as development, permitting, infrastructure, operating or technical difficulties on any of the properties in which Franco-Nevada holds a royalty, stream or other interest; actual mineral content may differ from the reserves and resources contained in technical reports; rate and timing of production differences from resource estimates, other technical reports and mine plans; risks and hazards associated with the business of development and mining on any of the properties in which Franco-Nevada holds a royalty, stream or other interest, including, but not limited to unusual or unexpected geological and metallurgical conditions, slope failures or cave-ins, flooding and other natural disasters, terrorism, civil unrest or an outbreak of contagious disease; and the integration of acquired assets.

The forward looking statements contained in this press release are based upon assumptions management believes to be reasonable, including, without limitation: the ongoing operation of the properties in which Franco-Nevada holds a royalty, stream or other interest by the owners or operators of such properties in a manner consistent with past practice; the accuracy of public statements and disclosures made by the owners or operators of such underlying properties; no material adverse change in the market price of the commodities that underlie the asset portfolio; Franco-Nevada's ongoing income and assets relating to determination of its PFIC status; no material changes to existing tax treatment; no adverse development in respect of any significant property in which Franco-Nevada holds a royalty, stream or other interest; the accuracy of publicly disclosed expectations for the development of underlying properties that are not yet in production; integration of acquired assets; risks relating to the Glencore Stream and its completion; and the absence of any other factors that could cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. However, 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. Investors are cautioned that forward looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Franco-Nevada cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these forward looking statements. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on forward looking statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein. For additional information with respect to risks, uncertainties and assumptions, please refer to the "Risk Factors" section of Franco-Nevada's most recent Annual Information Form as well as Franco-Nevada's most recent annual Management's Discussion and Analysis filed with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities on www.sedar.com and Franco-Nevada's most recent Annual Report filed on Form 40-F filed with the SEC on www.sec.gov. The forward looking statements herein are made as of the date of this press release only and Franco-Nevada does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new information, estimates or opinions, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

The issuer has filed a registration statement (including a prospectus) with the SEC for the offering to which this communication relates. Before you invest, you should read the prospectus in that registration statement and other documents the issuer has filed with the SEC for more complete information about the issuer and this offering. You may get these documents for free by visiting EDGAR on the SEC Web site at www.sec.gov. Alternatively, the issuer, any underwriter or any dealer participating in the offering will arrange to send you the prospectus if you request it in Canada from BMO Capital Markets, Brampton Distribution Centre C/O The Data Group of Companies, 9195 Torbram Road, Brampton, Ontario, L6S 6H2 by telephone at 905-791-3151 Ext 4020 or by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and in the United States from BMO Capital Markets Corp. at 3 Times Square, 27th Floor, New York, NY 10036 (Attn. Equity Syndicate), or toll-free at 800-414-3627 or by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ; from CIBC at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or fax to (212) 667-6303, Canada: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ; in Canada from RBC Capital Markets, Attention: Distribution Centre, 277 Front St. W., 5th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5V 2X4 (fax: 416-313-6066) and in the United States from RBC Capital Markets, LLC, Attention: Prospectus Department, Three World Financial Center, 200 Vesey Street, 8th floor, New York, New York 10281-8098 (telephone: 877-822-4089, fax: 212-428-6260); or in Canada from Scotiabank, Equity Capital Markets (Tel: 1-416-862-5837), Scotia Plaza, 64th Floor, 40 King St. West, M5W 2X6, Toronto, Ontario, and, in the United States from Scotiabank, Equity Capital Markets (Tel: 1-212-225-6853), 250 Vesey Street, 24th Floor, New York, NY 10281.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING MINERAL RESERVE AND RESOURCE ESTIMATES

This press release been prepared in accordance with the requirements of Canadian securities laws, which differ from the requirements of U.S. securities laws. Unless otherwise indicated, all mineral resource and reserve estimates included in this press release have been prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 and the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Classification System. NI 43-101 is a rule developed by the Canadian securities regulatory authorities which establishes standards for all public disclosure an issuer makes of scientific and technical information concerning mineral projects. NI 43-101 permits a historical estimate made prior to the adoption of NI 43-101 that does not comply with NI 43-101 to be disclosed using the historical terminology if, among other things, the disclosure: (a) identifies the source and date of the historical estimate; (b) comments on the relevance and reliability of the historical estimate; (c) states whether the historical estimate uses categories other than those prescribed by NI 43-101; and (d) includes any more recent estimates or data available.

Canadian standards for reporting reserves and resources, including NI 43-101, differ significantly from the requirements of the SEC, and reserve and resource information contained herein may not be comparable to similar information disclosed by U.S. companies. In particular, and without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the term "resource" does not equate to the term "reserves". Under U.S. standards, mineralization may not be classified as a "reserve" unless the determination has been made that the mineralization could be economically and legally produced or extracted at the time the reserve determination is made. The SEC's disclosure standards normally do not permit the inclusion of information concerning "measured mineral resources", "indicated mineral resources" or "inferred mineral resources" or other descriptions of the amount of mineralization in mineral deposits that do not constitute "reserves" by U.S. standards in documents filed with the SEC. U.S. investors should also understand that "inferred mineral resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence and great uncertainty as to their economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an "inferred mineral resource" will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Under Canadian rules, estimated "inferred mineral resources" may not form the basis of feasibility or pre-feasibility studies except in rare cases. Investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of an "inferred mineral resource" exists or is economically or legally mineable. Disclosure of "contained ounces" in a resource is permitted disclosure under Canadian regulations; however, the SEC normally only permits issuers to report mineralization that does not constitute "reserves" by SEC standards as in-place tonnage and grade without reference to unit measures. The requirements of NI 43-101 for identification of "reserves" are also not the same as those of the SEC, and reserves reported by Franco-Nevada in compliance with NI 43-101 may not qualify as "reserves" under SEC standards. Accordingly, information concerning mineral deposits set forth herein and in the Prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference herein and therein may not be comparable with information made public by companies that report in accordance with U.S. standards.

In addition to NI 43-101, a number of resource and reserve estimates have been prepared in accordance with the JORC Code or the SAMREC Code (as such terms are defined in NI 43-101), which differ from the requirements of NI 43-101 and U.S. securities laws. Accordingly, information containing descriptions of Franco-Nevada's mineral properties set forth herein may not be comparable to similar information made public by U.S. companies subject to the reporting and disclosure requirements under the U.S. federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. For more information, see "Reconciliation to CIM Definitions" in Franco-Nevada's annual information form dated as of March 25, 2015 for the financial year ended December 31, 2014, which is incorporated by reference herein.
Toronto, Ontario (FSCwire) - The Board of Directors of Mustang Minerals Corp. (TSXV:MUM) (Mustang or the Company) today provided a update on the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) audit of Canadian Exploration Expense (CEE) renounced to subscribers of Mustang in prior Flow-through share issuances.

The Company has been notified by the CRA of its determination of the shortfalls for years 2010 to 2012 when CEE was renounced to subscribers. ( see November 13, 2015 press release regarding the CRA Audit  the Audit ). The shortfall for the three years of CEE totalled $1.37 million vs the $1.46 million preliminary amount announced November 13, 2015. The reductions to the amount of CEE in each of the years are as follows: 2010  TIN# - 42090-1; 20.3% reduction; 2011 TIN#-43326-8; 9.3% reduction; 2012 TIN # - 44284-8 16.7% reduction. Subscribers of the flow-through share issuances will be contacted directly by CRA regarding a reassessment in the coming weeks. In addition, CRA has notified the Company that it is liable for Part XII.6 of $145,000 in connection with the shortfall.

As a potential measure to deal with the liability arising from the indemnification of shareholders pursuant to the subscription agreements, the shareholders of the Company at the annual meeting held February 3, 2016 approved the issuance of common shares of the Company in order to satisfy obligations to subscribers of the flow-through share issuances of up to $600,000. The current working capital of the Company is insufficient to repay the obligations relating to the audit.

Annual Meeting: The re-appointment of the current directors and the resolutions contained in the Management Information Circular dated December 23, 2015 were approved by shareholders at the annual meeting of the Company held February 3, 2016 in Toronto.

To find out more about Mustang Minerals Corp. (TSX-V: MUM)

visit our website at www.mustangminerals.com or:

Telephone: 416-955-4773 email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

We seek safe harbour.

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and forward-looking information within the meaning of the Securities Act (Ontario) (together, forward-looking statements). Such forward-looking statements may include the Companys plans for its mineral projects in Manitoba, the overall economic potential of its properties, the availability of adequate financing and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements to be materially different. Such factors include, among others, risks and uncertainties relating to potential political risk, uncertainty of production and capital costs estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses, physical risks inherent in mining operations, currency fluctuations, fluctuations in the price of nickel and other metals, completion of economic evaluations, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, the inability or failure to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis, and other risks and uncertainties, including those described in the Companys Management Discussion and Analysis for the most recent financial period and Material Change Reports filed with the Canadian Securities Administrators and available at www.sedar.com.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor it Regulations Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.
LIBERTY LAKE, WASHINGTON--(Marketwired - Feb. 10, 2016) - Hunt Mining Corp. (the "Corporation") (TSX VENTURE:HMX) is pleased to announce that an Argentinian subsidiary of the Corporation has entered into a definitive agreement to buy the Martha Mine in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina from an Argentinian subsidiary of Coeur Mining, Inc. for total cash price of US$3.0 million.

The Corporation believes the purchase paves the way for the transition from an exploration company to a mining company and enhances the commitment of Hunt Mining to be engaged in the Province of Santa Cruz for the long-term.

Further information will follow in due course.

About Hunt Mining

Hunt Mining Corp. has continued to develop its properties as an active and aggressive explorer in Santa Cruz since 2006. During that time, Hunt's wholly owned subsidiary, Cerro Cazador S.A., has completed exploration activity including approximately 64,000 meters of HQ core drilling, 416 line kilometers of Induced Polarization geophysical surveys and more than 20,000 surface soil, sediment, channel, chip, and trench samples, beyond the historical work previous to the same properties. This, and additional information can be viewed at www.huntmining.com.

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 contains forward-looking statements. The Corporation has provided the forward-looking statements in reliance on assumptions that it believes are reasonable at this time. The reader is cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of the forward-looking statements may prove to be incorrect. All such forward-looking statements involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the Corporation's control. Such risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, delays resulting from or inability to obtain required regulatory approval. The actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements and, accordingly, no assurances can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do, what benefits, including the amount of proceeds, the Corporation will derive therefrom. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Feb. 11, 2016) - Atlantic Gold Corporation (TSX VENTURE:AGB) ("Atlantic" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Company has entered into an agreement (the "Agreement") with the Province of Nova Scotia (the "Province") in respect of the leasing of certain parcels of land owned by the Province, situated within the footprint of the Company's Moose River Consolidated Project ("MRC Project") for a period of 10 years. The Company now has all surface and sub-surface rights necessary to progress the MRC Project to construction, subject to the finalization of project financing.

The parcels of land under lease cover the mining area within the Touquoy deposit, as well as all facilities and other infrastructure required to process ore from Touquoy, and eventually from Beaver Dam.

The Agreement may be renewed for a further 10 year term with written notice at least 3 months prior to the expiry date of the Agreement, provided that Atlantic has complied with the terms and conditions of the Agreement to the satisfaction of the Province, and provided that Atlantic is in compliance with the Mineral Lease covering its Touquoy deposit. The finalization of the Agreement will allow for the commencement of clearing related activities at the Touquoy site.

Steven Dean, Chairman and CEO commented, "Atlantic is pleased to finalize terms for a definitive lease agreement with the Province of Nova Scotia. The Province and Atlantic have established a positive working relationship over the past several months and will continue to work together to progress the MRC Project to development and production, resulting in a landmark step with respect to gold mining investment and economic development in the Province".

Further updates will be provided in due course.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Steven Dean, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

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.

Forward-Looking Statements:

This release contains certain "forward looking statements" and certain "forward-looking information" as defined under applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws. Forward-looking statements and information can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may", "will", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe", "continue", "plans" or similar terminology. Forward-looking statements and information are not historical facts, are made as of the date of this press release, and include, but are not limited to, statements regarding discussions of future plans, guidance, projections, objectives, estimates and forecasts and statements as to management's expectations with respect to, among other things, the activities contemplated in this news release and the timing and receipt of requisite regulatory, and shareholder approvals in respect thereof. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, without limitation, statements related to proposed exploration and development programs, grade and tonnage of material and resource estimates. These forward looking statements involve numerous risks and uncertainties and actual results may vary. Important factors that may cause actual results to vary include without limitation, the timing and receipt of certain approvals, changes in commodity and power prices, changes in interest and currency exchange rates, risks inherent in exploration estimates and results, timing and success, inaccurate geological and metallurgical assumptions (including with respect to the size, grade and recoverability of mineral reserves and resources), changes in development or mining plans due to changes in logistical, technical or other factors, unanticipated operational difficulties (including failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate in accordance with specifications, cost escalation, unavailability of materials, equipment and third party contractors, delays in the receipt of government approvals, industrial disturbances or other job action, and unanticipated events related to health, safety and environmental matters), political risk, social unrest, and changes in general economic conditions or conditions in the financial markets. In making the forward-looking statements in this press release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including without limitation, the assumptions that: (1) market fundamentals will result in sustained gold demand and prices; (2) the receipt of any necessary approvals and consents in connection with the development of any properties; (3) the availability of financing on suitable terms for the development, construction and continued operation of any mineral properties; and (4) sustained commodity prices such that any properties put into operation remain economically viable. Information concerning mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates also may be considered forward-looking statements, as such information constitutes a prediction of what mineralization might be found to be present if and when a project is actually developed. Certain of the risks and assumptions are described in more detail in the Company's audited financial statements and MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2014 and the quarter ended September 30, 2015 on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. The actual results or performance by the Company could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, any forward-looking statements relating to those matters. Accordingly, no assurances can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what impact they will have on the results of operations or financial condition of the Company. Except as required by law, we are under no obligation, and expressly disclaim any obligation, to update, alter or otherwise revise any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.
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02/03/2016 // 1-800 Car Wreck // (press release)

Recently in Houston, a man died after being struck by a vehicle while trying to cross the street. The fatal accident reportedly occurred around 7 p.m. near Ormel Street in the 900 block of Aldine Bender.

Source: Click 2 Houston Report Pedestrian struck, killed by vehicle while attempting to cross road

HOUSTON  A deadly car crash in the 900 block of Aldine Bender near Ormel Street had the roads shut down for several hours Tuesday night.

Investigators with the Harris County Sheriffs Office traffic division said a man was attempting to cross the street around 7 p.m. when he was struck and killed.

To read more visit http://www.click2houston.com/news/pedestrian-struck-killed-by-vehicle-while-attempting-to-cross-road.

The man was struck by a female driver whose vehicle was hit from behind by a second vehicle after she slammed on her brakes. Both drivers reportedly waited at the scene with the victim until police arrived.

Sgt. Mike Harvey stated to the news source, Its still very early in the investigation, but I dont perceive any charges being filed We dont have any indications of speed at this point, and we dont have indications of impairment or intoxication.

The investigation into the incident was ongoing at the time of the report, and the identity of the victim was being withheld.

Houston Pedestrian Accidents

Statistics show that in the United States, a pedestrian accident injury occurs every 7 minutes. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also says that pedestrians are 1.5 times more likely to be killed in a car accident than a passenger in a vehicle.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Pedestrian Safety

In 2012, 4,743 pedestrians were killed in traffic crashes in the United States, and another 76,000 pedestrians were injured. This averages to one crash-related pedestrian death every 2 hours, and a pedestrian injury every 7 minutes.1 Pedestrians are 1.5 times more likely than passenger vehicle occupants to be killed in a car crash on each trip.

To read more visit http://www.cdc.gov/Motorvehiclesafety/Pedestrian_safety/index.html.

The state of Texas is one of the top four listed by the Governors Highway Association (GHSA) as accounting for 41 percent of the pedestrian fatalities that occur in the country combined. The city of Houston is listed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) as being one of the top five cities in the country for pedestrian deaths.

Houston pedestrian accident lawyer Amy Witherite of Eberstein Witherite LLP, who has handled numerous Houston pedestrian accident lawsuits, says that, distracted drivers are a top cause of many of the cases our firm has worked on involving pedestrian deaths in Houston. The most reported driving distraction incidents involve cell phone use while driving, whether a driver was texting or talking on a mobile device without hands-free support.

The CDC says that according to a 2011 study 69% of drivers in the United States ages 18-64 reported that they had talked on their cell phone while driving within the 30 days before they were surveyed. In addition, 31% of U.S. drivers ages 18-64 reported that they had read or sent text messages or email messages while driving at least once within the 30 days before they were surveyed.

Witherite further says, Motorists must maintain situational awareness at all times and not let distractions such as their cell phones cause them to put themselves or anyone else in harms way.

The cause of the aforementioned Houston pedestrian accident had not yet been determined at the time of the report.

Media Contact:

Lucy Tiseo

1800 Car Wreck Houston

Phone: 866-774-5410

http://houston.1800-car-wreck.com/

Connect with Eberstein Witherite on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+

Media Information:

Address:

Phone: 1800-227-9732

Url: 1-800 Car Wreck Houston

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New-comers could profit from an informative crash course on their hosts norms and values. But the question, What does it mean to live in a multi-ethnic society, in a meta-nation? is one that hosts themselves should not put the aside for too.

The outcry from the media that followed the incidents over New Years Eve in Cologne and other German cities threatens to put an end to Willkommenskultur. The police registered more than a hundred complaints by women who had been mugged or sexually harassed by young men of predominantly foreign origin. Many of the identified perpetrators were asylum-seekers.

The conservatives and nationalists exclaimed Weve been telling you so all along! The liberals and progressives, on the other hand, blamed them for racism and bigotry  often justly. Yet, in the day after the events, the latter  myself included  went through a series of disappointed expectations. At first, I hoped that the police would find out that the culprits were not predominantly of foreign origin. Then, I hoped there would be no refugees among them. And finally, I hoped that the motivation for the attacks was predominantly economic and not sexual. In the course of a few days, I saw my liberalist hopes shattered one after the other.

Its easy to attack conservatives for their over-generalisations, for blaming the refugees as a whole for the crimes of the few. However, liberals too often like to lump the refugees to one helpless mass that is in need of our benevolence. European liberals dwell in a perpetual state of not altogether unpleasant repentance for past colonial wrongdoings, which makes them blind to some essentially European accomplishments that are worthy of being defended.

* * *

Courses dealing with integration have been one of the more constructive attempts to provide a rational and systematic response to the events. The idea: Along with some practical information about their host countries, the new-comers should learn about European values. Though, inevitably, any mention of Europes spreading of values invokes the ghost of its colonial past.

The very tone of The Economists recent remark on such courses might indeed push one to believe that they are a form of cultural imperialism. One should, it is written, teach migrants that they must respect both the law and local norms such as tolerance and sexual equality.

I dont think one needs to teach migrants that they must respect the law and local norms. That laws and rules must be obeyed is a lesson that a criminal is taught by correctional facilities. In most cases, it would be enough to simply explain to new arrivals what the laws and norms are that exist in the society where they now live.

Besides, Western societies arent exactly sexism-free. Sexual harassment is still a sad reality that too many women face across Europe and which many took to the street to protest after the events in Cologne. A carnivalesque atmosphere, such as the one during New Years Eve in Germany, often aggravates this reality. Women have been complaining for years that Munichs police force is sluggish in its dealing with complaints of sexual assaults during the yearly Oktoberfest.

Nevertheless, it is simply a fact that feminist movements have had a better chance and more success in their fight against male chauvinism in Europe than in the countries across North Africa and the Middle East. Thus, young men that come from there might indeed profit from a crash course in matters of sexual equality.

* * *

In fact, integration courses are nothing new. One is already offered by the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). It is voluntary, but there is an incentive. Successfully absolving it reduces the minimum required time of living in the country before being able to apply for the German citizenship from eight to seven years. The course has two parts: the first module focuses on the German language, and the second is called Life in Germany.

But consider the following question which the BAMF uses to test foreigners newly acquired legal and social knowledge as well as knowledge of living standards in Germany.

A black man applies for a job as a waiter in a restaurant in Germany. What would be an example of discrimination? He does not get the job a) because his knowledge of German is not sufficient, b) because his financial expectations are too high, c) because of his skin colour, or d) because he does not have sufficient professional experience required for the job.

The answer is trivial, but the question itself seems to contain a racist stereotype. Why does the man of colour apply for a job at a restaurant and not, say, at a management consultancy?

In other words, parallel to courses for immigrants, the general local population could also profit from some systematically organized cogitation on the effects of globalization on their own society  above all, its shift away from the hitherto relative ethnic and cultural homogeneity.

What is the new meaning of being a citizen or resident in Germany, when it is becoming a meta-nation? Native Germans wont be able to enlighten the new-comers on this question, unless also they deal with it on their own.

There will hardly be an acceptable way around Willkommenskultur. According to some estimations, in the coming decades, Germany would need to absorb 300,000 to 500,000 people annually simply to prevent the collapse of its social systems due to the ageing of its population.

Hence, along with the polices local-case efforts to find and punish the perpetrators of the New Years Eve incidents, Germany must also work against stereotypes and structural inequalities that new-comers face  first and foremost enabling legal access to work. Being able to provide for themselves in a dignified manner will be a more concrete, effective, and egalitarian lesson in equality, more than anything that can be taught in a classroom.
LA Conservation Corp provides at-risk young adults and school-aged youth with opportunities for success through job skills training, education and work experience with an emphasis on conservation and service projects that benefit the community. Los Angeles Conservation Corp - Restoration + Recreation

There was a time when the Los Angeles River represented all that was grimy and gritty about this city. Here, gray concrete filled with an assortment of trash collected from the city of Angeles, eventually making their way out to sea, bobbing aimlessly. But that time is drawing to a close. With a hotly anticipated restoration program making its way through approvals, and a number of projects designed to draw residents to the river, Angelenos are finally coming to see the river in a new light.

The same could be said of 21-year-old Alexander Salguero, member of the Los Angeles Conservation Corps (LACC). Tuesday through Saturday, Salguero can be found wading into the waters of the Los Angeles River from Atwater Village to Lincoln Heights. Wearing a hard hat, a reflective vest, and steel-toed boots, Salguero is one of five River Corpsmembers plucking out invasive plants, picking up trash, and removing graffiti from the river. All the while, he and his comrades are learning about native landscaping, hydrology, and water quality management from their crew supervisor Brian Casey.

It is difficult work, but one that Salguero prefers to his aimless past. When he was 17, before entering the LACC program, Salguero was far from being the model student. "I went to a normal high school, but I wasn't really taking school seriously or anything like that. I'd skip classes, not really pay attention to the advice teachers gave, and got myself into trouble," he recalls.

Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Conservation Corps

Instead of homework, Salguero came home with tickets--for staying out of his Long Beach home past the curfew hour, even a DUI two months after turning 18. "It was a bunch of tickets that cost around $1,000," Salguero remembers. It was a steep price to pay, which had its consequences.

Rather than ask his mother, a thrift shop owner who lived on unpredictable income, Salguero decided it would be better to pay off his debt himself. He started independent studies at the same time. "My mom doesn't get a paycheck and we could never tell what she would make," says Salguero, "I didn't want to put the stress on her."

It was a good idea, but one that didn't quite pan out. Salguero had the hardest time finding a stable job that would help him pay off his tickets. "I wanted to apply to other jobs, but I would constantly see that they needed a high school diploma or work experience."

The best Salguero could find was a warehouse job with unpredictable hours. He worked at two different warehouses --one in Long Beach and another in Los Angeles-- but was never able to financially support himself.

At the same time, Salguero continued to struggle with his independent studies. "I didn't know what I was doing," he says. The soft-spoken young man was faced with just a packet, a class schedule twice a week, and not a lot of direction. "I didn't know what I was learning. If I had any question, I didn't really have anyone I could ask."

Salguero was lost and little by little, he had finally started to realize it himself. With no other good options, he took the advice his cousin had insisted on, apply to the LACC, a three-decade old organization that helped educate, train, and employ at-risk youth by giving them real world experience in conservation projects across Los Angeles.

Alex, like many youth who find guidance at LACC, found a path for himself in the challenging yet noble work of caring for the river.Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Conservation Corps.

Founded by former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Mickey Kantor in 1986, LACC began with just 27 corps members headquartered in an abandoned fire station on the edge of downtown Los Angeles.

It was patterned after the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) model during the time of President Roosevelt's New Deal. The conservation corps provided jobs to about 6 million young men who would help plant nearly three billion trees, 800 parks that would become future state parks, and construct thousands of miles of public roadways. Congress voted to eliminate funding for CCC in 1942, to divert funds for World War II efforts, but it provided inspiration for Kantor when the time came.

"We walked into the bank with just two cents in our pocket," Kantor recalls on the LACC website. Kantor co-signed the bank loan that gave the organization $45,000 to purchase three passenger vans it would need to start their operations. Today, LACC Corps members can be found working throughout Los Angeles--in Redondo Beach, operating a coastal science education center to Pacoima, lending a hand in environmental assessment and remediation projects. Each year, conservation corps serve 26,000 young people nationwide. Locally, the LACC employs nearly 600 youth in the field each year.

The program achieves multiple benefits in one swoop, but the most powerful change can be seen in LACC's constituents themselves, says Wendy Butts, CEO of LACC.

"We've heard from many of our young people that if it weren't for the Corps, they would never have known about the Los Angeles River and the countless species of wildlife and native vegetation that call the River home. They never would have visited the trails in the Angeles National Forest or seen the shores of the Pacific Ocean in person. And they certainly wouldn't be able to name the types of trees and other greenery that thrive in Southern California, or know the importance of marine conservation efforts," says Butts.

"We are proud of the fact that our offerings not only provide our youth with an opportunity to gain valuable work experience, a high school diploma, and a pathway to a career in the green economy, but that we also connect our youth to new experiences that they otherwise would not be able to access. They can work atop the San Gabriel Mountains instead of just seeing them from their doorstep. How amazing is that?"

For Alex Salguero, became more than just a cemented waterway --it became a chance for his own transformation. Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Conservation Corps.

LACC's program may sound like a saving grace, but Salguero recalls he had no such high hopes for the program. He simply had no idea what else to do. After procrastinating, hemming and hawing, Salguero finally walked into the LACC office and gave in his application. "They asked me if I wanted to work at the same time," says Salguero. It was an offer he couldn't refuse.

Salguero admits he only came to LACC for "the high school diploma and the paycheck," but he soon found more to stick around for. "The more time you invest in it, you start to get a little love for what you do and the people you work with. I started to be something for myself. It helped me grow into a different person."

He was eventually placed in LACC's River Corps team, which works on the stretch of the river between Atwater Village and Lincoln Heights. His time in the river has helped him see it in a new light. "I never even knew there was an actual river, even if I lived in Long Beach and now in Los Angeles," says Salguero. "I thought it was just a big drainage where feces go. I didn't realize there were living animals and plants there."

He also began to see himself differently with the help of his case manager. Each LACC corps member is assigned a case manager that they regularly consult with. Sessions inevitably lead to questions about his next steps, his plans for the coming years.

Like the river, people at LACC took a look at him and see not a dead end, but a future waiting to be realized. Salguero says it was those conversations that helped clarify his path. "They focused a lot on helping the community, but they also want you build yourself up as well," he says.

Those conversations and his work on the river made him realize that he wanted to work within the community. After two years in the program, Salguero is now enrolled in Los Angeles Trade Tech studying Criminal Justice. He hopes to finish his bachelor's degree at a California state university and eventually pursue a career in law enforcement.

Though most days are filled with hard work cleaning up the river, Salguero says it's given him a little time for appreciation especially at the area by Marsh Park. "It always catches my attention, how beautiful the Los Angeles River is," says Salguero, "Once you work on the area, you begin to see just how amazing the river actually is. Cleaning it up makes me feel like I've done something."

In Salguero's eyes, the river is now more than just a concrete structure. It has become a place where one becomes part of a greater whole. By working to better the river, he also saw improvements in himself. What was external became internal. "[Working on the river] helped me grow self-respect, as well as respect for the things around me and the things I invest my time and effort in. And it's taught me how to take on so much responsibility, and the biggest part, realizing that little actions can have a big impact."
GRAND ISLAND  Central Platte Natural Resources District is selling conservation seedlings until April 1 for spring planting, and 40 species of conifers, shrubs and deciduous plants that grow well in central Nebraska are available.

The 1- to 2-year-old seedlings grown at Halsey State Forest are ideal to plant as windbreaks, wildlife areas, riparian buffer strips or for other conservation practices.

Windbreaks provide livestock, crop and topsoil protection and may reduce energy costs up to 40 percent when planted near homes.

Seedlings are sold in bundles of 25 for $17.50, Plant services are available for 40 cents per seedling for orders of 200 or more. For planting plan design help, contact a local U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service office.

To order seedlings, call Kelly Cole at 308-385-6282, visit the CPNRD office in Grand Island or use the form at www.cpnrd.org.
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When I started my first internship, back in Sweden in 1979, I worked under a fifty-something cardiologist who spoke slowly with a southern drawl  yes, there is a southern drawl there, too, slightly reminiscent of Danish, spoken not far from where my supervisor grew up.

He epitomized the old school of cardiology, before it became a procedural specialty. He diagnosed heart murmurs by auscultation with his stethoscope, and he even claimed he could hear faint cardiac rubs or pulmonary rales in patients who were having a heart attack. He seemed to share the temperament of neurologists  slow and methodical master diagnosticians with, very much then and to a degree also today, limited or no treatment for a substantial portion of the diseases they diagnose.

In 1979, color Doppler echocardiography was not yet invented, and coronary angiography was not available where I worked. Cardiology was a purely cognitive specialty. The most important condition cardiologists treated, angina pectoris, was diagnosed on the basis of history, physical exam and at most a stress EKG.

Over just two decades, cardiology became a procedural specialty, and the diagnosis and management of angina became high tech with nuclear imaging, coronary angiography, cardiac stenting and bypass surgery. The view of angina became focused on stentable, critical lesions.

But people still died from heart attacks, even with only minor blockages on angiography and normal nuclear stress tests. And patients with classic angina symptoms were told they had non-cardiac chest pain if their stress EKG was abnormal but their nuclear scan was normal, or if the EKG and scan were abnormal, but the angiogram showed no critical stenosis. For over 100 years, the term pseudoangina was used to characterize this syndrome.

Every few years I would ask whichever consulting cardiologist seemed the most approachable, and every time I would get essentially the same answer: Angiogram trumps MIBI, MIBI trumps EKG, EKG trumps clinical history, kind of like the old rock-paper-scissors game.

Ironically, in 1973, the year before I started medical school, Harvey Kemp coined the term cardiac syndrome X for effort angina with normal coronary arteries. We now have some understanding of the mechanisms behind this condition, and this has led to some techniques for proving and studying it, but the diagnosis is largely clinical. We essentially dont do coronary angiography with injection of adenosine or acetylcholine, measurements of coronary flow reserve, single photon emission computed tomography, positron emission testing or stress cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, at least not at Cityside Hospital. One thing we have learned is that this condition does progress relentlessly in 20 to 30 percent of cases and causes heart attacks and death in some patients, even though this was initially thought to be very rare.

The most dramatic development in cardiology in the last twenty years is probably our understanding that rupture of non-critical cholesterol plaque, small enough to go undetected during routine EKG or nuclear stress testing, accounts for somewhere around 85 percent of all heart attacks.

So much for all the angiograms, elective stents and bypasses cardiologists have been doing. In acute coronary syndrome, which is unstable angina or a heart attack without classic EKG changes of a completed heart attack, there is still an important role for urgent cardiac catheterization, but its role in stable angina or asymptomatic coronary stenosis is debatable at best.

So, now cardiologists are having to reconcile that their angiograms are a most imperfect predictor of disability and death, their stents dont save lives except in acute coronary syndrome, and more and more of their patients will be plodding along with medical management of coronary disease that doesnt show up on angiograms. They may find themselves tinkering with medical management of an incompletely understood syndrome, choosing drugs and dosages based on  gasp  patients subjective histories and clinical experience.

The pendulum is swinging back; a circle seems to be completed. Will cardiologists become slow and methodical internists again?

A Country Doctor is a family physician who blogs at A Country Doctor Writes:.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
What started as a school fundraiser turned out to be one of the most exciting Antique Roadshow style events ever, writes Sean Keane.

A Voodo doll from The Congo (complete with embedded needles) and a US army Purple Heart medal were overshadowed by the appearance of an autograph book with the signatures of the two most important figures in Ireland during the 20th century, Eamon de Valera and Michael Collins, on the one page.

Not to be outdone, another person brought in a letter, written by a Kilkenny man, attached to the US army's press section, to his parents in Kilkenny on the headed notepaper from Adolf Hitler's, private stationary at The Eagle's Nest, Obersalzberg in Berchtesgaden - the date is May 12, 1945.

The gems were just some of the fantastic pieces brought in by members of the public to St Josephs National School, Clinstown, Jenkinstown as a fundraiser for the school's Literacy Lift Off programme.

The scheme gives children lots of opportunities to read books at their own level of competency and gradually lift the complexity of what they can do in both reading and writing.

Philip Sheppard of leading auctioneers, Sheppards Irish Auction House, Durrow has seen it all in the antiques world but even he was stunned by the quality of the pieces brought in, including a Co Clare estate map from 1777, which even had the houses painted on it.

Here in one painting is the history of an estate covering over 8,000 acres, Philip Sheppard said.

He said a conservative estimate for the painting would be between 5,000 and 8,000.

He would like to see it being purchased by the National Museum such is its importance.

A woman brought in what she thought was a pair of costume made earrings which turned out to be real diamonds worth anywhere between 10,000 and 15,000.

However what Philip took most pleasure from was the atmosphere.

It was electric, everyone was in great form and it was for a very good cause, he said.

He picked out MC and auctioneer, George Candler for special praise and said that the Roscommon native had done much to brighten the afternoon.

And a local woman who brought in an old medal from a box that came home from America happened to be a Purple Heart, awarded for gallantry and Bravery during World War II and presented to her later uncle.

She was absolutely delighted and it was that kind of day, Philip said.

However, everyone was talking about one item, the autographs of the two men who dominated Irish public life for so long, one in death, the other as Taoiseach and later as President.

The hall was divided, about the nature of their legacy.

Philip Sheppard said the book which also forms part of a diary was a very collectable item but said he was unable to put a price on it without further investigation and examination of the piece.

The history thats attached to items can be very intriguing  uncovering the story thats lurking beneath the surface of an antique is all part of the fun and the appeal, Philip said.

Peter Ring, chairperson of the Parents Association of St Josephs National School said he and the rest of the parents were delighted with the turn-out and with the amount of money raised.

He praised parent, Shem Healy who came up with the idea.

He thanked those who donated items of value to the school which Sheppard's will auction off at their next auction. He thanked Sheppard's and MC George Candler, who gave their services for free and the local businesses for their generosity in donating hampers and vouchers. All these items were raffled and auctioned on the day.
Kilkenny city and the academic world has been stunned by the death of leading historian and archaeologist, John Bradley of NUI Maynooth.

Kilkenny city and the academic world has been stunned by the death of leading historian and archaeologist, John Bradley of NUI Maynooth.

The countrys leading expert on medieval towns and Kilkenny city passed away this morning (Friday) following a brief illness. He was 60 years old. Fellow archaeologist, Coilin ODrisceoil said Mr Bradleys death was akin to the city losing Kilkenny Castle.

John Bradley who was extremely popular and unassuming, helped to identify and save much of Kilkennys archaeological fabric. His books on his beloved city were treasure troves and a great source of reference to scholars, definitive works in their own right. He was outspoken and passionate about Kilkenny and scolded planners when he thought they had got it wrong with regards to medieval sites, the Central Access Scheme and protecting the City Walls. He helped to safeguard the built heritage of his native city.

His books include: Treasures of Kilkenny: charters and civic records of Kilkenny city and Kilkenny - Irish historic towns atlas. His essays include: Death, art and burial: St Canices Cathedral, Kilkenny, in the 16th century, Irish art historical studies in honour of Peter Harbison; Urban sovereigns and territorial sovereigns-the castle and town of Kilkenny 1200-1500; Bradys castle, Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny: a 14th-century fortified town house.

His friend and fellow archaeologist Coilin ODrisceoil said John Bradley was such an important part of the fabric of the city.

So much of what we now know about Kilkennys past is as a result of his painstaking research, his abundant publications and his lectures, which were events always to be treasured. It is because of John that so many of us cherish our city today, for it was Johns work that opened our eyes to Kilkennys enormous wealth of archaeology and history. We have lost our greatest ever archaeologist and a scholar of international importance. The people of Kilkenny will forever be in his debt, he said.
(Kitco News) - When traders dont know what to do, they go where people are flocking, explained billionaire Mark Cuban on CNBCs Fast Money. In the interview Thursday, Cuban said he thinks that place is gold.

"I think people are so confused about this market. Nobody really understands what's happening, including me. So, things that I thought made sense didn't make sense and weren't working. ... When traders don't know what to do, they go where everybody is. And I thought that would be gold," he said in the CNBC interview.

The owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and a star of ABCs "Shark Tank" Cuban said, that he placed a bet on the yellow metal, noting that he bought "a lot" of call options on gold. He added that he does not view gold as a hedge, Nothing fundamental, nothing intrinsic  this is purely a trade. I see gold as more religion than fundamental, I dont see it as a hedge.

Strong safe-haven demand for gold sent the precious metal soaring to a 12-month high above $1,260.00 Thursday. Gold prices have risen around 15% the past six weeks. April Comex gold settled Thursday session up $53.20 at $1,247.80 an ounce. March Comex silver settled the day up $0.514 at $15.794 an ounce.

By Daniela Cambone of Kitco News; dcambone@kitco.com

Follow me on Twitter @DanielaCambone
(Kitco News) - Franco-Nevada To Acquire Precious-Metals Stream From Glencore For $500 Million

A Franco-Nevada Corp. (TSX, NYSE: FNV) subsidiary has agreed to acquire a precious-metals stream for production from Glencore Plcs Antapaccay copper mine, located in southern Peru, for $500 million.

Franco Nevada has also arranged in $550 million in financing to fund the deal, the company announced late Wednesday.

Franco-Nevada said the company is expecting 60,000 to 70,000 gold-equivalent ounces from the stream in 2016. Full-year stream contributions to Franco-Nevada are expected to average 70,000 to 80,000 gold-equivalent ounces over the next five years, the company added. Glencore's current mine plan, based on the mineral reserves, projects production to 2030.

"Following our recent Antamina and Candelaria investments, this is yet another step in strengthening and diversifying Franco-Nevada's portfolio with some of the best mining projects in the world, said David Harquail, president and chief executive officer of Franco-Nevada. This investment is expected to be immediately accretive and provide our shareholders with gold price optionality over multiple cycles and potential further exploration and expansion upside."

Glencore will use the proceeds from the agreement as part of its debt-reduction plan, according to news reports.

Shares of Franco Nevada Corp.

The streaming agreement is expected to close yet this month. Franco Nevada will also initially pay an ongoing price of 20% of the spot price of gold and silver until 750,000 ounces of refined gold and 12.8 million ounces of silver have been delivered. Then, the ongoing price will increase to 30% of the spot price of gold and silver.

Franco Nevada reported that the Antapaccay open-pit mine has been expanding throughput rates and production since late 2012. Glencore has invested more than $1.5 billion to develop Antapaccay into a low-cost operation with production that ranks amongst the top 20 copper mines globally.

To fund the stream with Glencore, Franco Nevada reported that it entered into an agreement with underwriters that will purchase 11.5 million shares of Franco Nevada at $47.85 per share for gross proceeds of $550 million. The banks include BMO Capital Markets, CIBC Capital Markets, RBC Capital Markets and Scotiabank.

The company plans to use the net proceeds of the offering for the funding of Franco-Nevada's acquisition of a precious metals stream (for) production from Glencore Plc's Antapaccay mine, and the balance will be added to the working capital of the company and used for further investments and other general corporate purposes, Franco Nevada said.

By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com
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By Kitsap Sun Staff

PORT ORCHARD  Kitsap Superior Court judges announced Wednesday that they selected Port Orchard attorney Michelle Adams to replace Thurman Lowans as the court commissioner.

Lowans, who has served as the county's court commissioner since 1994, announced his retirement in November. Adams will begin her new role March 28, according to a statement from Superior Court.

Commissioners function like judges but are not elected. Instead they are hired by the elected judges and conduct hearings on dependency, adoption, paternity, domestic relations and other family court matters.

Adams was licensed to practice law in 1995. She handles some criminal defense cases and has specialties in family and appellate law, according to her state Bar Association profile.

She has served as a temporary judge for the Port Orchard Municipal Court since 2009. Since January 2015 she has served as a temporary judge for the Gig Harbor Municipal Court and the Kitsap County Superior Court.

Adams also applied to fill the position of former Superior Court Judge Jay Roof, who retired last month. At a county Bar Association meeting in December, she told colleagues she wanted to make being a judge her full-time job.

"The Judges are confident that Michelle will excel in this role, and we are thrilled that she has accepted our invitation to join the Superior Court bench," Presiding Superior Court Judge Leila Mills said in the statement.

Gov. Jay Inslee has appointed Bremerton attorney Jeffrey Bassett to replace Roof, it was announced this week.
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By Jay Ambrose

Warrior greenies, get out of the way. You've done enormous hurt in this world, you appear prepared to keep it up and it's time to allow people their health, their lives and a chance to fight back more effectively against mosquitoes that have been having at us from ancient times to right this minute.

Those insects are presently doing their egregious harm in a new, emphatic way in Brazil and more than 20 other Latin American countries and territories. They are biting people and infecting them with a pathogen called Zika. The virus has been around for decades but for the first time is believed to be causing a birth defect shrinking the skulls and damaging the brains of babies. It may also cause a syndrome that paralyzes people and it has even sneaked into the United States. The reported estimate is that 4 million people could be hit with Zika by the time we get to 2017.

Time to use DDT maybe? Absolutely. As the scientist Robert Zubrin has noted, here is a pesticide that was used during World War II and later to kill mosquitoes and wipe out malaria and other diseases in the United States, Europe, Latin America and Asia, saving hundreds of millions of lives. Mosquitoes, fighting back, managed to develop resistance to it in some areas, but then something more dramatic happened, giving them an enormous break.

Rachel Carson happened. Her factually challenged book, "Silent Spring," happened. The book said DDT, then being widely sprayed to protect crops, would kill off birds, fish and other wildlife and that some spring morning you'd wake up without hearing a single tweet but maybe having been cursed with cancer.

That was in 1962. By 1971, Zubrin observes in a National Review article, we had the Environmental Protection Agency, a seven-month investigation and a judge ruling that DDT would not commit the alleged harms. It didn't matter. The EPA banned its use anyway, and another agency said we wouldn't fund foreign projects that used DDT. Other Western countries jumped in with one kind of ban or the other and it became harder and harder for malaria-plagued African countries to get the pesticide as some African scientists signed on in thinking its threats outweighed its benefits.

The cost, some contend, has not been just a few lives, but millions upon millions of lives, mostly African children, even though the spraying would be slight and inside homes and present no wildlife dangers. For empirical evidence, consider South Africa. It banned DDT in 1996 and within a matter of years malarial cases had increased by thousands, causing 460 deaths in the year 2000. It reintroduced DDT and had brought malarial deaths down to 94 by 2014.

It's true that some other heedful countries have had less success with DDT, sometimes because of inadequate funding, and have had good success with other techniques. It's true, too, that more potential ill effects of DDT have been noted, although there is still not the slightest hint of anything anywhere comparable to what malaria does. What's clear is that DDT is now needed in South America. As noted in The New York Times, one person who favors such weaponry against Zika is Dr. Lyle Petersen, not exactly someone in the uninformed sector of the population. He is the director of vector-borne diseases at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The people who have so fiercely objected to DDT are radical environmentalists who too often push the movement in awry directions and are now doing that on another issue. Some activists are reported by Reason Magazine to be protesting a Key West, Fla., experiment in which the offspring of genetically modified male mosquitoes are born dead. Brazil is pushing ahead with a program that's succeeding, and meanwhile there's another GMO program that might produce mosquitoes that no longer transport diseases in the first place.

Thank heavens for environmentalism  it has done enormous good  but also for the people who fight back against its extremists.
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Carrie Riplinger, Seabeck

Commission shouldn't have such power

Senate Bill 6443, which was rejected by a 25-24 Senate vote on Wednesday, states: "The human rights commission shall repeal the rule currently codified at WAC 162-32-060 in its entirety. The human rights commission may not thereafter initiate any rule-making procedure that involves the subject of gender segregated facilities."

This bill is a common-sense response to an agency that clearly overstepped its authority last December. Whether or not you agree with mixed gender shower rooms and toilet facilities, it is unacceptable that unelected boards with no public accountability or legislative oversight create laws that substantially negate established cultural norms.

Changes to laws of this magnitude must be openly debated, approved by the Legislature and signed by the governor.
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Charles Ely, Bremerton

POF service won't help the majority

Over the years I've heard two recurring themes about Bremerton. The first was that the powerful business elite precipitated Bremerton's decline by forcing the Kitsap Mall to move to Silverdale, and the second was how the city was on the verge of a renaissance if only we had(or could regain) a fast ferry to Seattle.

It is, at the very least, morally questionable to force those Kitsap residences who can least afford it (sales tax being the most regressive of taxes, disproportionately impacting the poor) to subsidize those who are commuting to Seattle.

So, outside of a handful of commuters, who really benefits from a fast ferry to Seattle?

The headline to an article in the Feb. 5 Kitsap Sun said it all: "Powerful backers pushing fast ferry plan."

It's the very wealthy and their politician friends who stand to gain from this proposal  just as they benefited from condo projects that brought the Kitsap County housing authority close to insolvency, tunnels and other traffic "improvement" projects that create gridlock and keep cars out of downtown, and a taxpayer-funded marina and convention center that still lose money.

The voters rejected a ferry tax twice before because they knew that a fast ferry to Seattle would benefit only the few and be an ever increasing burden on the majority.

We've learned over the years that when someone starts talking about economic benefit "trickling down" what they usually mean is that the people are going to be urinated upon.
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By Meredith McGehee, Campaign Legal Center

As 2015 came to a close, the Federal Election Commission (FEC)  the agency charged with enforcing federal campaign finance laws  finally fined "Restore Our Future" super PAC $50,000 for violating laws restricting coordination with candidate campaigns, in response to a complaint filed by the Campaign Legal Center in 2012. Not only did it take the FEC nearly four years to resolve the matter, but the fine amounted to a slap on the wrist for the more than $4 million in illegal spending by the super PAC.

Unfortunately, this kind of flaccid enforcement is characteristic of an agency that was designed to fail. The FEC has been called "a toothless tiger," and the "most successful agency in Washington doing what it was designed to do  next to nothing." The FEC is so dysfunctional that it fails to fulfill even the basic functions of its job. The split commission routinely deadlocks both on matters of great significance and routine administration. The Commission has gone without a permanent General Counsel for two years because the Commission cannot agree on whom to hire. In this election year, it remains extremely unlikely that the FEC will properly administer and enforce campaign finance laws in the upcoming elections.

And, as the example above demonstrates, even in those rare instances when the Commission closes a case, it is almost always "a day late and a dollar short."

It is a waste of taxpayer money for an agency to exist but so seriously fail in its mission. American taxpayers deserve better.

Recognizing that it is voters who lose the most when the FEC fails to do its job, Sixth District Rep. Derek Kilmer led a bipartisan effort to introduce the "Restoring Integrity to America's Elections Act," which would break the partisan gridlock at the Commission. Joining Rep. Kilmer in co-sponsoring the bill are Republicans James Renacci of Ohio and Lou Barletta of Pennsylvania, as well as Democrat John Carney of Delaware.

H.R. 2931 would change the FEC to a five-member body with an appointed chair and no more than two commissioners from any party. Certain administrative functions would be delegated to the chair, allowing the commission to focus on the difficult questions of campaign finance law rather than squabbles over staffing. Commission action on enforcement matters, rule making, and advisory opinions would still require bipartisan support but avoid the pitfall of deadlock. By making the FEC an odd-numbered commission, it would have a structure like almost every other regulatory agency in Washington.

The Kilmer bill also would create a Blue-Ribbon Panel to make recommendations to the president for FEC Commissioners, bringing public pressure to appoint qualified commissioners with a demonstrated commitment to fulfilling the agency's statutory duties. An unfortunate tradition has arisen in which the president defers to the House and Senate leaders to select nominees. The result is an FEC that is too often stacked with partisan or ideological loyalists, as opposed to honest enforcers.

The FEC's abject failure comes as super PACs and so-called "dark money" groups are drastically changing the face of political campaigns. The skyrocketing outside spending in the 2016 elections is a phenomenon created by the Supreme Court in Citizens United v. FEC, which freed corporations and labor unions to make unlimited independent expenditures using their treasury funds.

More than 40 years ago, a Republican senator led the effort to establish an independent commission to enforce the nation's federal campaign finance laws. Senate Minority Leader Hugh Scott, R-Penn., proposed the creation of a five-member commission, a "small, lean agency that would investigate disclosure violations and send them to the Justice Department for disposition." However, House Administration Committee Chair Wayne Hayes, D-Ohio, a protector of the machine that had kept the Democrats in control of the House for four decades, successfully ensured that the new independent agency would be as weak and ineffective as possible.

Rep. Kilmer and his bipartisan co-sponsors recognize the need for a functional agency doing its job to ensure the laws are respected and enforced. It is time to fix the Commission that has proved to be exactly what Chairman Hays hoped for: a weak, ineffective agency deadlocked by partisan dysfunction.

The Kilmer bill provides a new starting point to find common ground for Republicans and Democrats who believe federal agencies should not simply exist, but actually function.

Meredith McGeHee is policy director of the Campaign Legal Center in Washington, D.C.
Around seven and a half years ago I was fortunate enough to see Arthur Meeks hilarious play On the Conditions and Possibilities of Helen Clark Taking Me as Her Young Lover.

A revamped version of the show called Hillary Clinton/Young Lover is on at Circa. It has a similar premise  the earnest Richard Meros doing a powerpoint presentation on why Hillary Clinton should take a young lover, and why it should be him.

Meek is excellent as Meros. He has a charisma and enthusiasm which shines through.

The audience were highly engaged and laughing through the show. Meros asks the audience to put their hands up if you have a degree  only in Wellington would three quarters have their hands up. And then as he asks them to remain up if you have honours, masters and finally a PhD, there were still a few hands up. That forms part of the play with one of those representing the smart people, and someone uneducated being picked to represent the uneducated (which was me that night!).

The humour is fast and furious, but not too over the top. Very clever use of images on the powerpoint such as bananas and kiwifruit got lots of giggles.

Meros is at his best as he deals with the numbers to whittle down the number of potential lovers for Hillary Clinton from 7 billion to one  him. The criteria for eliminating certain countries such as Canada and Australia was great.

Its a one hour show, and lots of fun. Definitely worth seeing if you never saw the Helen Clark one, and if you did see it, youll still find enough new material to enjoy this one also.

Its on until Saturday 20 February.

Rating: ****

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BROWN-FORMAN CO. Jeff Arnett is master distiller at the Jack Daniel Distillery in Lynchburg, Tenn. He only is the seventh master distiller at the facility since its founding 150 years ago.

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By G. Chambers Williams Iii

The iconic Tennessee whiskey maker Jack Daniel plans to spend $140 million to expand its distillery in Lynchburg, Tenn., adding about 30 jobs, its parent company, Brown-Forman, announced Wednesday.

Increased demand is driving the expansion, according to the announcement. The money will go toward building two new barrel warehouses and adding onto the existing bottling facility.

"Jack Daniel's is a Tennessee tradition that was born in one of Tennessee's smallest counties and has grown into a globally recognized brand," Gov. Bill Haslam said in a statement released by the state Department of Economic and Community Development. "That says a lot about the quality and commitment of Moore County's workforce.

"I thank Brown-Forman and the Jack Daniel Distillery for their continued investment in Lynchburg and bringing us closer to making Tennessee the No. 1 location in the Southeast for high-quality jobs," Haslam said.

ECD Commissioner Randy Boyd, a longtime Knoxville entrepreneur, also praised the expansion.

"Tennessee is home to many brands known around the world, and of those brands, Jack Daniel's certainly ranks among the top of the list," Boyd said. "This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Jack Daniel Distillery, and as one of the state's most respected brands, we thank the company for its long history in our state and its continued contribution to Team Tennessee."

This latest move comes on the heels of a $100 million expansion of the distillery announced in August 2013.

At that time, Brown-Forman said that "Mr. Jack's legacy" is growing globally, forcing the iconic Tennessee whiskey maker to expand its stills and warehouses in order the meet the demand for its charcoal-mellowed products worldwide.

That project was designed to increase production and storage capacity at the distillery so that "every drop of Jack Daniel's will continue to be made in Lynchburg," Master Distiller Jeff Arnett said at the time of the announcement.

With that expansion, Arnett said Jack Daniel would add more than 90 full-time jobs to the distillery, which still operates in the same hollow where Jack Daniel founded it.

"The demand for Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey worldwide speaks volumes for the craftsmanship and specialness of a spirit distilled from a small cave-spring hollow in Tennessee," said Arnett, who is only the seventh master distiller in the history of the brand.

Arnett said the spring, which provides the necessary iron-free water for whiskey making, is the key to Jack Daniel's success, so any expansion would have to be in Lynchburg. The company also recently built a 10-million-gallon holding tank for the spring water so there would be a continuous supply even during times of drought.

At the time of the 2013 announcement, the company had more than 430 employees at the distillery, primarily focused on the areas of distilling, bottling and shipping. That count now is over 500 and still growing.

"The bourbon and American whiskey category is booming, and we appreciate the support of our Tennessee state and economic development officials as we work to meet global demand for Jack Daniel's," Larry Combs, an executive with Jack Daniel's Supply Chain, said in the Wednesday announcement.

The latest expansion also will include renovations to the facility's visitor center, which saw more than 275,000 visitors last year.

The distillery has been adding barrel warehouses  where the whiskey is stored and aged in 55-gallon oak barrels  at a rate of up to three a year to keep up with the growth, Brown-Forman said in 2013. There were 78 warehouses in operation at the time, he said.

Louisville, Ky.-based Brown-Forman sells about 12 million cases of Jack Daniel products annually in more than 160 countries.
SHARE Photos by MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL Emily Campen, owner of The Flower Pot, arranges a dozen roses for customer Tanner Bradley. Emily Campen said unsurprisingly that Mothers Day and Valentines Day are her two biggest days of the year. Customer Tanner Bradley takes his vase of roses as Emily Campen, owner of The Flower Pot, finishes ringing up the order. The store will be open Sunday for last-minute lovers.

By Steve Ahillen

"Before I came on here I taught seventh-grade language arts at Holston Middle School," recalls Emily Campen, co-owner with her sister of the Flower Pot in downtown Knoxville. "There is a classic children's book that kind of has been our story. There's this little house and a town grows up around it."

The Flower Pot has its much larger and older headquarters location on Broadway. Campen and her sister, Mary Beth Reagan, also own Betty's Florist on Chapman Highway; but it's this little shop on Gay Street with its baby blue stripe around the roof and flowers displayed cheerfully in big picture windows that brings to mind "The Little House" by Virginia Lee Burton.

Much like the small house in that book, this little building at 700 Gay Street has gone about its business quietly for more than 30 years while the city transformed around it.

Riverview Towers, all 24 stories, sprung up just down Gay Street in 1985, joining even taller First Tennessee Plaza, finished in 1978. The old Knoxville News-Sentinel building behind the shop on Church Avenue disappeared more than a dozen years ago. A block of old stores and shops catty-corner on Gay Street was replaced by red-brick Two Centre Square with "Oarsman" statue rowing through the sidewalk in front. The Tombras Group will soon take over the old Knoxville Utilities Board Building across Church. Gay Street itself is being torn up in front of the shop to make the stretch more pedestrian friendly and aesthetically pleasing"I can hardly wait. It'll be gorgeous," Campen says.

Downtown used to be deader than a drooping daisy at night back in the '80s; now, after dark, people seem to be everywhere with restaurants and bars popping up like, well, spring flowers.

The Flower Pot has been hopping with St. Valentine's Day approaching.

A recent visit found floral designer Don Thomas scurrying around the various displays inside the showroom, making adjustments to this bouquet or that arrangement.

"Some women just don't like roses," he said. "They'd rather have something different, some other colorful flower."

He mentioned that the shop actually has a basement with a cooler more than twice the size of the one upstairs.

"I will never forget my first Valentine's Day after I joined my sister in this," Campen says. "There were flowers everywhere with little walkways through them here and there. It was like an episode of 'Hoarders,' but it was all flowers. People worked like crazy. It's like walking into the middle of a three-ring circus."

Each year during the week of Valentine's The Flower Pot and Betty's delivers approximately 1,200 flower arrangements, the sisters say. It takes about 10,000 roses to fill all those orders.

The downtown location always has been busy this time of year, ever since opening as a flower shop around 1980. The building has its own history. Oldtimers may recall it as the location of one of the handful of Blue Circle restaurants for decades. It was a Baum's Florist for a few years in the early 1980s before Robert and Carolyn Dodson added it to their Broadway shop and it became the Flower Pot.

Campen recalled how her sister came to own it.

"She had been working for the Girl Scouts and had this idea to have a flower stall on Market Square. She started taking business classes and as an assignment was told to talk to her competition, which in this case was the Flower Pot. She met with Robert Dodson. He convinced her to buy the Flower Pot because they were planning to retire.

"It was during the recession in 2008. I remember sitting on the couch, and she announces she's going to buy a flower shop. I'm thinking, 'It's a recession. Who's buying flowers?' But, she has made it work, and the business is doing great. Our sales are up."

In fact, with the influx of so many city dwellers, the Flower Shop will be open on Valentine's Day, a Sunday, for the first time to handle last-minute requests.

Campen says dealing with those deadline shoppers has always been part of the job. Many a lawyer from the office towers nearby has shown up in a panic on Valentine's Day looking for roses.

"We get quite a few who need something at the last minute. I remember we had a guy call one time who was getting married at the Hilton. He and his fiancee were from out of town. It was a very small ceremony, but their florist had mixed up the date. They didn't have a wedding bouquet. You have to have a wedding bouquet!

"We were able to get something together and get it down there. They were thrilled and had a beautiful ceremony. They sent us pictures."

When asked how she feels on nights she is downtown and spots her shop in the place it has always been, Campen replies, "I'm always very proud. Don does a great job with the window displays. And, we try very hard to be a part of good things happening downtown."

Steve Ahillen is a freelance writer living in Knoxville.
Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Cornelia Clark and Chief Justice Sharon Lee, from left, listen as Jennifer Smith argues on behalf of the state during oral arguments on whether death row inmates can properly challenge the constitutionality of electrocution as a possible method of execution on Wednesday, May 6, 2015 in the Tennessee Supreme Court. (ADAM LAU/NEWS SENTINEL)

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By News Sentinel Staff

A Knoxville lawyer made legal history Thursday  as a defendant on the losing side of a case of first impression for the Tennessee Supreme Court.

The high court's ruling, backing up lawyer William Whitlow Davis Jr.'s conviction for driving drunk in 2009, gives law enforcement carte blanche approval to stop any motorist for a common driving mistake  dipping a tire onto or slightly over the centerline of the road.

"We recognize (the law at issue) criminalizes a common driving infraction and provides police officers with a great deal of discretion in determining whether to initiate a traffic stop," Justice Jeffrey S. Bivins wrote in Thursday's opinion. "We are confident that drivers in Tennessee cross lane lines all the time. Nevertheless, our Legislature has chosen to criminalize the common driving infraction of crossing the center lane line (or lines).  It is not for this court to second-guess our Legislature's policy decisions unless those decisions contravene either the federal or state constitutions."

A Knox County Sheriff's Office deputy stopped Davis' car on Keller Bend Road after seeing the vehicle cross the centerline once on a curve. Davis was drunk, but he challenged the deputy's right to stop him at all with nothing more than a single driving mistake as cause.

The stop was based on a state law that makes it a misdemeanor to fail to maintain a lane of traffic. There is little wiggle room in the law itself  as Bivins noted. But the law doesn't say how many times such a crossover or touching of the lines merits failure to maintain a lane of traffic. The law merely states a vehicle must be driven "as nearly as practicable" within the lane of traffic.

Davis' case came on the heels of another DUI arrest based on the same law in Williamson County in which a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper followed a woman for two miles until her vehicle drifted once across the centerline. In both cases, officers wanted to stop the two drivers because officers believed the drivers were drunk but had no proof or legal cause. The lane drift in each case gave the officers what they were looking for  a traffic violation.

The high court decided to take both cases up for review after a lower appellate court split on whether a single crossover merited a failure to maintain a lane of traffic. The court upheld the Williamson County woman's conviction on Thursday, too.

Although the ruling allows an officer to simply follow a driver suspected of some other crime in hopes the driver will drift across a traffic lane line, the justices used a footnote to strike a note of caution: "We do not mean to require or imply that a stop should be made in all instances."
SHARE Bernie Ray McGill

By Jamie Satterfield of the Knoxville News Sentinel

A man illegally detained for 22 days for a sentence he already served is suing the Knox County Sheriff's Office.

Attorneys Gena Lewis and Michael Bernard have filed a civil-rights lawsuit in U.S. District Court on behalf of Bernie Ray McGill, 55, against the KCSO, Sheriff Jimmy "J.J." Jones, Assistant Chief Deputy Rodney Bivens and Capt. Steve Bravo, who is identified as the "facility commander" for the Roger D. Wilson Detention Facility on Maloneyville Road.

KCSO officials declined to comment Wednesday.

McGill has been in and out of prison most of his life, including a stint for voluntary manslaughter for fatally shooting his wife in 1996 in a struggle over a gun. He found himself back behind bars at the Maloneyville Road facility on Jan. 20, 2015, after a drunken-driving arrest. Two days later, a judge ordered him released on his own recognizance, records show.

According to the lawsuit, Bravo refused to approve McGill's release, saying McGill had skipped out on an 180-day sentence from 2011 in a suspended driver's license case Bravo said McGill was supposed to serve in addition to a three-year prison term on a drug charge. It's not clear from where Bravo obtained his information.

Knox County Criminal Court records showed the two sentences  the 180 days for the driver's license case and the three-year term in the drug case  were to be served concurrently, or at the same time. Tennessee Department of Correction records showed McGill finished the entire sentence in October 2013.

"Bravo told (McGill) that the TDOC had erroneously released (McGill) from the penitentiary," the lawsuit stated.

McGill spent the next two weeks trying to convince someone at the jail to check court records to no avail, the lawsuit stated. McGill then hired an attorney, who filed a petition in Criminal Court demanding McGill's release. Judge Scott Green quickly ordered McGill's release, verifying in his order McGill should never have been held.

McGill's attorneys are blaming a poorly-crafted KCSO policy updated in response to media coverage of the mistaken release of an inmate a few years ago as the cause for McGill's wrongful detention.

"Anytime there is a question regarding a release of any type, notify a supervisor," the policy states. "Do not release the inmate."

The attorneys note the policy is silent on what a supervisor should do if a question about an inmate's release arises or when. They want a federal judge to strike the policy down as unconstitutional.

"The policy contains no provisions limiting the duration of the detention or for the provision of any type of judicial process or procedural due process to individuals thus detained," the lawsuit stated.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and attorneys' fees.
Empty voting booths await voters at Rocky Hill Elementary School on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2015 during the 14th District special primary election. (ADAM LAU/NEWS SENTINEL)

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By Gerald Witt of the Knoxville News Sentinel

Early voting strong as voters consider large Republican ballot

A large ballot for the Republican primary caused a few people to call with complaints to the Knox County election's office at the start of early voting.

Early voting, which began Wednesday at 10 locations in the county and runs through Feb. 23, looks to be busy, according to Chris Davis, assistant administrator of elections at the Knox County Election Commission.

"Statistically, it's busier than it was four years ago," Davis said.

As of Wednesday afternoon, he said 820 people had already voted. That's up from approximately 600 who voted on the first day of early voting in the 2012 primary.

Usually there are some calls to the elections office when early voting begins.

"Some problems here and there," Davis said. "Internet connections and a power outage."

Both those issues were handled, he said.

But that ballot for the Republican primary, that's for voters to wrangle. Buddy Burkhardt, chairman of the Knox County GOP, said it's not a bad problem to have.

"The presidential race, with all the Republicans in the running, and Donald Trump," he said, "I think there's going to be a big turnout."

The primaries are open in Tennessee, which means that someone registered to one party can choose to vote in another it they want.

"If you're a Democrat and you want to vote for Donald Trump, you just sign up and pull the trigger, submit your vote and walk away," Burkhardt said.

The large number of Republicans running in the primary elections can help elected officials, according to Burkhardt.

"Sometimes I wish that Republicans wouldn't challenge Republicans, but that's what it's all about," he said. "When you have a challenge, it makes you a better person even when you win."
photos by AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL Clusters of old Zebra mussel shells cling to a piece of equipment at the Norris Dam Marina Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. The mussels are an invasive species that is spreading up the Tennessee River system, causing economic and ecological damage. They were first discovered in the Great Lakes area in the United States.

SHARE Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency biologist Bart Carter checks for signs of Zebra mussels along the Norris Dam Marina Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. The mussels are an invasive species that is spreading up the Tennessee River system, causing economic and ecological damage. They were first discovered in the Great Lakes area in the United States. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL) A sign warning boaters to clean and dry out their boats to help combat the spread of the invasive Zebra mussels along the Norris Dam Marina Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. The mussels are spreading up the Tennessee River system, causing economic and ecological damage. They were first discovered in the Great Lakes area in the United States. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL) Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency biologist Bart Carter checks for signs of Zebra mussels along the Norris Dam Marina Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. The mussels are an invasive species that is spreading up the Tennessee River system, causing economic and ecological damage. They were first discovered in the Great Lakes area in the United States. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL) Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency biologist Bart Carter checks for signs of Zebra mussels along the Norris Dam Marina Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. The mussels are an invasive species that is spreading up the Tennessee River system, causing economic and ecological damage. They were first discovered in the Great Lakes area in the United States. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL)

By Morgan Simmons of the Knoxville News Sentinel

NORRIS  Bart Carter did not have to look very hard to find zebra mussels during a recent visit to Norris Dam Marina. Beside the boat ramp was the metal frame of a dock that had been pulled up last October after being underwater for eight years.

The steel trusses, the wire cables virtually every inch of the frame was encrusted with zebra mussels. For Carter, fisheries program manager for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, it was an all-too-familiar sight.

"Once they're here, there's no way to eradicate them," he said. "They can inhabit a wide range of depths, and they can survive cold water. The best we can do is slow their spread."

The zebra mussel is an invasive species that was discovered in the Great Lakes in 1988. Biologists believe these small mollusks  adult zebra mussels average about one-inch long  hitchhiked to North America in the ballast water of large ocean going ships from Europe. From the Great Lakes they spread rapidly throughout the Mississippi River drainage, eventually reaching East Tennessee around 1994.

Dispersed by barge traffic and recreational boaters, they've made their way up the Tennessee River system, attaching by the thousands to man-made structures and even anchoring themselves to native mussels. In 2014, zebra mussels were discovered in Cherokee Lake after having been discovered in Melton Hill and Norris lakes a few years before that.

Aquatic biologists like Carter are spending more and more of their time monitoring invasive species that damage the ecosystems of local streams, rivers and lakes. Besides zebra mussels, there's the threat of silver carp and bighead carp  two aggressively invasive species from China that are making their way up the Cumberland River system  as well as nonnative crayfish that anglers unintentionally introduce from their bait buckets.

Also of concern is a fast-spreading algae called didymo (sometimes referred to as "rock snot") that has migrated from northern waters to the colder tailwaters below TVA dams.

"As an agency, our best, and sometimes only, defense is educating the public on how to prevent these things from spreading around," Carter said. "A lot of states are taking drastic measures like check points, and inspecting boats near certain water bodies."

Zebra mussel larvae are microscopic in size, and can be transported in live wells or any part of a boat that carries water. As juveniles and adults, they can survive several days out of water if weather conditions are moist and humid.

They feed by filtering plankton out of the water. Despite their diminutive small size, each adult zebra mussel can siphon a liter of water per day. On Norris Lake, where the water already is clear and relatively infertile, the fear is that zebra mussels are competing for the same food that supports larval and juvenile fishes and native mussels.

Dennis Baxter, TVA's manager of reservoir ecological health, said anecdotal reports that the zebra mussels' filter feeding has make Norris Lake noticeably clearer are not scientifically accurate.

"Some people say Norris appears to be clearer, but Norris has always been a clear lake," Baxter said. "We would have to see densities of 122,000 meters over a large area of the lake for zebra mussels to impact water clarity.

"Norris Lake is full of zebra mussels, but there is no evidence they're affecting the densities of plankton, at least not now."

Diving ducks eat zebra mussels, and so do freshwater drum, but their food value for humans is practically nil.

Wildlife officials say stopping the spread of zebra mussels is mostly a matter of boat operators cleaning, draining and drying their vessels before traveling from one lake to another. Steps include draining live wells, pulling boat plugs, flushing the engine with clean water, and most of all, drying the boat and equipment for five days before launching into another body of water.
By Megan Boehnke of the Knoxville News Sentinel

Andrew Graybeal, candidate for Knox County property assessor, insists he graduated from the University of Tennessee with an engineering degree, but UT officials said they cannot find any record of his enrollment.

Graybeal, 42, said he graduated in 1993 from the state's flagship university with a bachelor's degree in applied sciences and electronic engineering technology. Before that, he said, he earned an associate degree from ITT Technical Institute and transferred the credits to UT.

(PDF) Resume Andrew Graybeal submitted to be considered for an appointment to a vacant seat on County Commission in 2008.

But UT officials said Wednesday they could find no records of Graybeal's attendance and tried alternate spellings of his name with no success.

"Without being able to go to UT and ask for a copy of my records  something that's 23 years ago  this is kind of monotonous," Graybeal said Wednesday evening. "I know I graduated. I know I went to UT. I know I paid the money. I worked my way through college."

In 2008, Graybeal submitted a resume to the Knox County Commission that said he attended ITT from 1991-1994 and received an electronics engineering degree. He has been a real estate agent since 2003.

He did not list the University of Tennessee on that 2008 resume, which was included with a signed letter asking commissioners to consider appointing him to a vacant commission seat for the 7th District.

Graybeal, who is running against current Deputy Assessor Jim Weaver and former property assessor John Whitehead, ran unsuccessfully for the same office in 2008. He ran for school board in 2014 but eventually withdrew his candidacy.

Last month, during a taping of "Inside Tennessee" on WBIR-TV, Graybeal said the property assessor's office was under federal investigation. The News Sentinel has not been able to verify those claims.

Graybeal has also asserted errors in the county's tax database inflate property values and has said he is running because "no one is willing to do anything about" the mistakes.

Graybeal said he was at his parents' home Wednesday searching for his diploma.

"Look, it's politics. It's bashing," he said. "I'm just going to tell the voters, 'Look, 23 years ago, I graduated from the University of Tennessee.' "
SHARE U.S. Rep. Phil Roe

By Michael Collins of the Knoxville News Sentinel

WASHINGTON  Nearly 7,500 acres in East Tennessee would be designated as federally protected wilderness areas and would be added to the Cherokee National Forest under a bill filed Thursday by U.S. Rep. Phil Roe.

Roe's bill, called the Tennessee Wilderness Act, marks the first time legislation to expand the national forest has been filed in the U.S. House.

U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker have been pushing a similar bill in the Senate for a number of years.

"As an avid outdoorsman, I strongly believe we must protect the beautiful lands we're fortunate to have in East Tennessee," said Roe, a Johnson City Republican. "Though these particular lands have been treated as wilderness for more than a decade, it's important to officially protect them."

Roe's legislation differs from the Senate bill in one respect: The Senate version would add almost 20,000 acres of designated wilderness to the national forest. Roe's bill would apply to only some 7,500 acres located in his congressional district.

Areas to be designated as wilderness areas under Roe's proposal include 4,446 acres in Carter and Johnson counties that are generally referred to as the Big Laurel Branch addition and another 2,922 acres in Washington and Unicoi counties known as the Sampson Mountain addition.

The state would continue to have jurisdiction over fish and wildlife management of the land, which would protect permit holders' ability to hunt and fish. Privately owned land would not be affected by the legislation.

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy said designating the land as wilderness ares provides "the best protection available" for the trail.

Morgan Sommerville, the group's southern regional director, said the organization endorses the new wilderness protections "as long as enough volunteers are available to help maintain the trail."

Mary Johnson, who is with the commercial real-estate firm Land Partners in Bristol but also runs a small farm and vineyard in the mountains, said Roe's legislation "ensures that future generations will always be able to hunt, fish, hike, camp and experience our remarkable mountains, creeks and rivers just as we do today."
<p>This photo taken Sept. 19, 2009 shows the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)</p>

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By Richard Locker

NASHVILLE  Falling short of the votes needed to pass a statewide school-voucher bill, voucher advocates filed an amendment Wednesday that would limit vouchers to students from the Shelby County Schools system on an experimental basis, then be expanded later.

After seven years of failure, the bill is set for a crucial floor vote in the House of Representatives this morning. It was postponed from Monday when supporters acknowledged they lacked the 50 votes required for passage. The bill in its statewide version won state Senate approval last year; if the House approves the Shelby-only amendment, it must return to the Senate for concurrence before it becomes law.

Vouchers allow parents to take taxpayer funding from public schools to pay tuition at private schools  about $7,000 per student in Shelby County. The bill would limit vouchers to students attending schools in the lowest five percent as defined by state academic achievement standards, and students must be from households with incomes low enough to qualify for free or reduced-price school lunches.

The statewide bill provides for 5,000 vouchers in the first year of operation, increasing to 20,000 in the fourth year of the program. The amendment would create allow 5,000 vouchers in Shelby County alone and require the state comptroller's office to evaluate the program and make annual reports to the state Legislature, which could then expand the program at any time.

The amendment was filed by Rep. David Hawk, R-Greeneville, but the bill's sponsor, Rep. Bill Dunn, R-Knoxville, said he will support it if it wins enough votes to pass a bill. Most Democrats oppose vouchers but the House's huge 73-26 Republican supermajority would be enough to pass the bill. But enough Republicans, particularly from rural areas, oppose vouchers and have stymied passage.

A small army of voucher lobbyists  most funded by out-of-state "school choice" groups  worked the legislative office building in hopes that the Shelby-only amendment would sway enough votes.

"If that's where we are and we can help some kids we will go with it," Dunn said Wednesday. "The thing about Shelby County is they have a very large population, most of the failing schools are in that county and also they have many different private schools that have a lot of experience working with inner city children. So it really is a good place to start it out.

"Obviously I'd like more children to be helped but if people feel like we have to have a pilot program to disprove some of the misinformation that's out there then that's what we have to do."

Asked if he believes the amendment would turn enough votes his way, Dunn said, "We'll see. I don't know."

Tony Thompson, lobbyist for the Shelby County Schools, called the amendment "a last-ditch attempt to pass what has been determined by their inability to get enough votes on the original bill as bad policy. The SCS school system is adamantly opposed to the voucher bill but especially now that it evidently will single our school system out over all others in the state. This is just the proverbial camel's nose under the tent as the amendment even says that the purpose of the pilot program is to evaluate its effectiveness before broadening its scope to other school systems.

"Shelby County Schools have made great strides over the past several years, with the Izone schools which are outperforming the Achievement School District, and we are continuously closing down struggling schools, consolidating schools and moving students to better schools. This could potentially pull another $17 million out of the SCS school system alone, in a system that is already struggling due to the growth of charters and losing schools to the ASD."
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The Tennessee House of Representatives is scheduled to take up a bill today that would launch a school voucher program allowing low-income students to attend private schools at taxpayer expense.

Action on the bill was deferred on Monday when it became apparent the measure did not have enough votes to secure passage. House members also proffered a flurry of proposed amendments limiting the scope of the bill.

State Rep. Bill Dunn, the Knoxville Republican who is sponsoring the legislation, asked for the delay. He has proposed an amendment of his own to limit the bill's application only to Knox, Hamilton, Davidson and Shelby counties.

The bill would allow disadvantaged students in the state's lowest-performing schools  the 5 percent designated as priority schools  to use public funds for tuition at participating private schools. The program would start out serving up to 5,000 students statewide, expanding by steps to 20,000 in the fourth year.

Dunn's bill is a principled effort to give needy students their best shot to get out of poverty  a quality education. Opponents fear the "opportunity scholarship" program would gut public education. A compromise, however, might make the bill palatable enough for reluctant lawmakers.

As written, the bill puts at the front of the line students attending priority schools who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. If there are any scholarships left over, any other disadvantaged student at any school in the district would qualify. In Knox County, the pool of eligible students would expand from fewer than 1,500 to about 24,000  40 percent of the school system's students. More than 200,000 students would be eligible under an expanded program in Knox, Hamilton, Davidson and Shelby counties combined.

Even students from the highest-performing schools would be eligible. At Farragut High School and Sequoyah Elementary School, for example, about 10 percent of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. Students attending successful public schools already have the opportunity to obtain a quality education.

Restricting the program to only those attending priority schools still would fulfill the core purpose of the bill  to give disadvantaged students at failing schools the opportunity for a better education. Hand in glove with restricting eligibility would be an amendment allowing demand to drive the expansion in numbers. The number of available scholarships would not need to rise unless enough students from failing schools push up the ceiling.

Such a compromise would undercut one of the opponents' most compelling arguments  that the bill is nothing more than a scheme to subsidize private schools at the expense of public education. According to legislative researchers, the bill would divert more than $69.6 million from local public school systems to private schools once fully implemented in the 2018-2019 school year  and that estimate assumes only half the scholarships would be claimed.

Offering some of the state's neediest students an opportunity to escape dysfunctional schools and obtain a quality education is a noble goal. Compromise, though perhaps unsatisfying to the most ardent on both sides, would be a reasonable solution.
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A minority of Americans like the Affordable Care Act. A few alternatives are out there, including expanding Medicare/Medicaid or single-payer (i.e., government-provided health care for all). I offer an alternative to Obamacare with something for everyone to hate: Tax employer-paid health care benefits and use the tax money to pay for health care for unemployed U.S. citizens.

Employees receiving health care benefits, especially conservatives, will hate the idea of paying even more taxes to a confiscatory government, especially if the money is to be transferred to those who just need to go out and get a job.

The unemployed will hate a plan that provides enough money for basic medical care but not enough to match the Cadillac plans of union employees. Benefits would necessarily be prioritized and limited, like the Oregon plan.

Liberals will hate a plan where people receiving health care are treated differently based on who's paying the bill. They like socialized health care that is totally paid for by people who should quit complaining and consider themselves fortunate to have a job.

Illegal immigrants will hate a plan where they get no free benefits in a country where they have no legal rights.

This plan would provide health care for all Americans while eliminating the sea of government control under Obamacare. Let the hate begin.

Jim McCague, Oak Ridge
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After reading about SB 1736, which would make a landowner responsible for any injury a gun permit-carrying individual sustained on private property posted with "no trespassing" signs, I contacted one of the sponsors, Sen. Dolores Gresham, R-Somerville. It seems the intent of this bill is to protect gun-permitted individuals wherever they go. Are "no trespassing" signs not to be honored any longer? Landowners should have complete control as to who passes onto their property. To file suit against a landowner for injuries someone sustains while trespassing on your posted land (gun permit or not) is ludicrous.

There are three other gun bills that are being considered that make you wonder where the "public servant" in politics comes from. Sen. Mike Bell, R-Athens, is sponsoring bills to require K-12 schools and private colleges and universities to implement a written handgun-carry policy that either permits or prohibits permit holders to go armed on the school grounds and buildings or parts of the campus; and allowing full-time employees of public colleges and universities who have handgun-carry permits to go armed on any university-owned or controlled property. The fourth bill being considered would ban state colleges and universities from taking any adverse action against anyone with a carry permit for storing or transporting guns or ammunition in their vehicle on campus. How many children and adults have died on school properties after being shot by people possessing guns and ammunition just for the purpose of killing?

Republican lawmakers are supporting situations that have led to past slaughters. Before you vote the next time, remember that these elected officials are not serving the public with these types of bills.

Barbara Pierce, Sweetwater
A pedestrian walks down the middle of Sutherland Avenue in Knoxville on Saturday, Jan. 23, 2016. (ADAM LAU/NEWS SENTINEL)

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By Mamie Kuykendall of the Knoxville News Sentinel

Knoxville is bracing for another round of snow Friday, with more snow and subfreezing temperatures sweeping across the region next week, according to the National Weather Service.

The majority of the weekend's snow will come Friday between 6 a.m.-2 p.m., with the Knoxville area seeing  to 1 inch, and counties further north getting 1-2 inches, said Sam Roberts, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Morristown.

Friday is expected to have a high of 45 degrees and a low of 23 in Knoxville.

"If it does come in around morning commute, it could cause some travel problems," Roberts said. "That's something to think about."

Though there may be flurries Saturday morning, most of the weekend will be fairly dry  but bitterly cold.

Saturday's forecast high in the mid-20s is twice as cold as average for February, according to Roberts, who said next week's usual temperature is about 51 degrees.

The evening will be even colder, with a low of 15, according to Roberts.

Sunday should be mostly sunny, with a high of 35 and a low of 26.

More snow is expected to hit Monday and Tuesday, although it is too soon to pinpoint how much precipitation might fall, according to Roberts.

Knoxville could see anywhere from a slight accumulation to a couple of inches of snow early in the week.

Monday will see snow and rain throughout the day, with a high of 38 and a low of 31.

Tuesday's forecast calls for more snow, with a high of 44 and a low of 31.

Wednesday is expected to be mostly sunny, with a high of 54.

On Thursday, NWS issued a Hazardous Weather Outlook for southwest North Carolina, East Tennessee and southwest Virginia, to include Knox County.

The outlook warned of the light accumulation Friday, as well as next week's wave of arctic air and possible snow accumulation, and warns travelers to stay up-to-date on snow forecasts.

A more accurate forecast for next week's snow should be available Friday morning, Roberts said.

More details as they develop online and in Friday's News Sentinel.


By Park Si-soo



The shutdown of the inter-Korean Gaeseong Industrial Complex in North Korea will take a huge toll on 124 South Korean companies that had operations there despite compensation and aid packages promised by the government.



North Korea ordered small- and medium-sized companies there to remove all their employees from the complex by 5:30 p.m., Thursday, leaving behind their assets, including manufacturing equipment, finished products and raw materials.



They will also face the risk of breaking contracts with thousands of buyers and suppliers if the shutdown continues, which will end up with a wave of damages lawsuits against them.



Listed companies are expected to suffer additional financial damage from declining stock prices or broken ties with investors.

Seoul estimates expected losses stemming from the shutdown at 1 trillion won ($835.4 million), but experts believe the figure will continue to increase as long as the complex remains off-limits.







The South launched a pan-government special task force Thursday committed to helping affected companies.

It will ask state-funded banks and other financial institutes to do everything they can to help the companies survive the unprecedented crisis, including offering new lending and extending loan maturities.
By Park Si-soo

The closure of the Gaeseong Industrial Complex has dealt an additional blow to the already embattled Hyundai Group.

It will cost the group, which is struggling to keep its cash-strapped shipping affiliate afloat, more than 10 billion won ($8.31 million) a year from revenue from a hotel, a duty free shop and a gas station located in the complex.

The group's exclusive right to develop the largely untouched industrial site faces the risk of being discarded, should the shutdown become permanent. Winning the right in 2000, the group has invested nearly 40 billion won in developing the site.

North Korea expelled all South Korean citizens from the industrial complex Thursday and froze all assets of South Korean firms operating there in retaliation for Seoul's suspension of business at the complex.

Accordingly, Hyundai Asan, an affiliate specializing in inter-Korean business, brought back all its employees at the complex.












Mouth-watering chocolates and cakes for Valentine's Day tempt the taste-buds at the bakery franchise Paris Baguette in Jongro, downtown Seoul, Thursday. / Yonhap



By Yoon Ja-young

With Valentine's Day nearing, retailers have started pushing chocolates through massive marketing campaigns.

Department stores are offering premium chocolates from around the world. Lotte Department Store in downtown Seoul launched its "chocolate festival," offering haute European brands such as Hugo et Victor and Fauchon from France, Pierre Ledent and Godiva from Belgium and Laderach from Switzerland. There will be a presentation session by chocolate chefs on Valentine's Day as well.

Hyundai Department Store offers a "Love Valentine" event at its branches nationwide, presenting diverse desserts, as well as gifts to go with the chocolates such as perfume and lingerie.

Shinsegae Department Store is promoting La Maison du Chocolat, a luxurious chocolate brand from France and also Japan's Royce' chocolate as its top picks for Valentine's Day.

Shinsegae is also accessing consumers through its retail outlet chain E-Mart and supermarket chain E-Mart Everyday as well as its convenience store chain With Me. E-Mart has introduced chocolates to its packaged food brand Peacock.

Retail outlets are focusing on selling imported chocolates at reasonable prices. Homeplus, for instance, offers around 800 kinds of chocolates from 30 countries at up to a 50 percent discount. Homeplus explained that chocolate sales in February are twice the average monthly sales, and four times higher than the slow season. Its strategy for this year is marketing diverse options at reasonable prices.

Restaurant chains have prepared diverse dining options targeting lovers during Valentine's Day. The Steak House by VIPS is offering a special meal using Ghirardelli chocolates. Texas de Brazil, which specializes in Brazilian Churrasco, is holding a "Lovely Weekend" promotion between Feb 12 and 14. All lovers visiting the restaurant will be offered sparkling wine and chocolate fudge cake.

Valentine's Day has been celebrated in East Asia as a day when men get chocolate or presents from their girlfriends, but it seems that custom is changing. According to Shinsegae Department Store, the ratio of chocolate sales to male shoppers has been increasing for the Valentine's Day season during the past three years. In 2013, only 14 percent of those who purchased chocolates were male, but the ratio soared to 31 percent last year. As Shinsegae expects the ratio to reach 40 percent this year, the department store is focusing on offering diverse products as gifts for both men and women. Sales of cosmetics, bags and fashion accessories, which are typical gifts for females, also marked double-digit growth during this season last year.

According to a survey by Career, a job market information provider, the gift that men want most for Valentine's Day is a wallet, followed by any item representing the relationship such as couple's rings. Chocolate ranked third, and IT devices fourth.
Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn said Thursday that the government should preemptively deal with the possible outbreak of the Zika virus by strengthening cooperation with international health authorities.



"The government should intensify cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO) and share informationwith Zika outbreak countries," Hwang said during a Cabinet meeting.



The mosquito-borne illness, declared by the WHO as a global emergency, has spread to parts of Asia and Latin America. South Korea has not reported any cases yet.



The PM further asked relevant government agencies to strengthen the monitoring of passengers returning from Zika outbreak countries as well as imported animals and plants from there.



The virus has been linked to thousands of birth defects in newborn babies such as abnormally small heads and improperly developed brains.



"Please make efforts to quickly and exactly notify the people about the latest information and precautionary measures to minimize public anxiety," Hwang said.



The PM emphasized that the government should be as transparent as possible in the dissemination of information on possible suspected cases to reassure the public.



(Yonhap)




By Kim Hyo-jin



A National Assembly extraordinary session started Thursday amid expectations that parties will pass a pending bill drawn up to address human rights abuses in North Korea.



Redistricting constituency boundaries is expected to be another hot button issue during the month-long session with the April 13 general election just about two months away.



The leaders of the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) agreed to hold plenary sessions on Feb. 19 and Feb. 23. They will continue negotiations to narrow their differences over details of the bills during a bipartisan meeting next week.



Passage of the North Korea human rights bill is being prioritized in the wake of Pyongyang's rocket launch on Feb. 7, according to Saenuri Party lawmakers.



"At the risk of increasing the North's provocation, the party decided to further push for the North Korea Human Rights Bill, along with the Anti-terrorism Bill," Rep. Won Yoo-chul, the party floor leader said after meeting with government officials Wednesday.



The bill aimed at improving the dismal human rights situation in North Korea has been pending in the Assembly for months due to the parties' wrangling over its wording.



The MPK insisted that the need to improve human rights in the North and secure peace on the Korean Peninsula should be equally expressed in words while the Saenuri Party argued that the stress should be put on the human rights issue.



Under increasing pressure from the ruling party calling for effective sanctions against Pyongyang, the MPK withdrew its long-standing argument on the wording. "The stress can be put either way," Rep. Rhee Mok-hee, the party's chief policymaker told reporters after the bipartisan meeting.



Meanwhile, the parties said they ironed out their differences on how to change electoral districts to a large extent.



"We expect the constituency boundaries will be finalized in the February extraordinary session," Rep. Moon Jeong-lim, spokeswoman of the MPK said, adding the remaining issues are how to set the minimum and maximum number of people for a constituency and the number of constituencies there should be in metropolitan areas.



With parties making improvement on pending bills, National Assembly Speaker Chung Ui-hwa said he would view Feb. 23, the last plenary session day, as the deadline for the parties to negotiate the new electoral map. He earlier asked the parties to conclude talks by Feb. 12.




By Lee Kyung-min

Korea's tourism industry is introducing programs to attract Chinese Muslims to Korea.

The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) said Thursday that it has published its first Chinese-language tour guidebook designed to cater to Muslims from China.

"Almost 20 million people of 10 ethnic minorities including Hui and Uyghur in China are Muslims, with a concentrated population in the Xinjiang region," a KTO official said. "But most guidebooks for Muslim tourists were for those in Southeast Asia, so there has been no Muslim-related information available in Chinese."

The guidebooks have information about Muslim-friendly facilities here, including prayer rooms, mosques and restaurants offering halal food.

On Thursday, a group of 24 Chinese Muslims arrived in Korea to take part in a program jointly developed by the KTO, Asiana Airlines and local tourism agencies.

The group will spend five days here and have meals at restaurants certified by the Korea Muslim Federation, such as bibimbap (rice mixed with assorted vegetables) and samgyetang (chicken soup with ginseng), as well as visit major tourist attractions.

"With more halal restaurants expected to open across the country, we'll develop tourist programs for Chinese Muslims connecting Jeju and Busan," the KTO official said.

Last week, the KTO stated that it aims to attract 1 million Muslim tourists this year in an effort to diversify the inbound tourism market.
By Jun Ji-hye

South Korea is likely to suspend its participation in the Rajin-Khasan project, a joint logistics program involving the two Koreas and Russia, after shutting down the Gaeseong Industrial Complex (GIC) in North Korea, officials said Thursday.

"Inter-Korean economic cooperation and exchanges have been suspended amid North Korea's provocative actions, and this will also affect the Rajin-Khasan project," an official from the Ministry of Unification told reporters on the condition of anonymity, noting that there is a possibility that it will be put on hold indefinitely.

The project is aimed at transporting bituminous coal produced in Western Siberia to South Korean ports through the North's port city of Rajin and Russia's border town of Khasan.

The comment came a day after Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo announced that South Korea is shutting down the GIC, the first sanction unilaterally made by the South Korean government against Pyongyang, to cut off the North's financial resources suspected of being used in the development of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).

A South Korean consortium, comprised of POSCO, Hyundai Merchant Marine and the Korea Railroad Corporation, was seeking to sign a formal contract with a Russian contractor early this year to officially begin the project. If it began officially, Seoul would have to pay harbor usage fees to the North.

The official said the government now has no choice but to suspend all of its administrative support regarding the project, such as allowing company officials to visit the North to carry it forward, as part of its punitive measures against the North's Feb. 7 launch of long-range rocket.
By Chung Ah-young



Citizens seem to have begun realizing "free childcare programs" are not really free and will be halted whenever state or municipal coffers are empty. A survey showed a public preference for differential support based on parents' income levels rather than the current same payment for all.



According to the survey of 2,000 adults by the Korean Education Development Institute (KEDI), 37.2 percent of respondents preferred income-based support for childcare or education for children aged three to five.



Another 29 percent said that equal payment regardless of family income  the current system  was desirable.



It seems that people regard the differential support as more rational than equal payments, a researcher from KEDI said.



"The survey results seemed to reflect people's anxiety over whether the free preschool programs can be operated if the government has no stable financial resources," said Im So-hyun, an associate research fellow.



"The interests of the respondents, adults in general aged between 19 and 75, might be different from parents who have children entitled to the preschool programs."

The free preschool program, or Nuri Curriculum, has created budgetary conflicts every year between regional education offices and the central government.



In 2013, the government introduced the curriculum for all children aged three to five, as part of President Park Geun-hye's campaign pledge to strengthen the nation's responsibility for early childhood education and care.



But due to the snowballing burden on the state coffers for the expanded program, the government ordered regional education offices to assume the burden of funding the program in 2015.



The offices have refused, however, citing a lack of financing. They also claim no responsibility for provision, especially for financing daycare centers, which are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Kindergartens are under the Ministry of Education, but some municipal councils have refused to provide funds for these as well, citing fairness with daycare centers.



Concerning the divided jurisdiction, the survey showed that 64.8 percent of respondents supported integration of daycare centers and kindergartens to resolve this conflict. Only 11.8 percent preferred the current system.



"As far as the regional education offices shouldering the burden of financing the daycare centers, the bone of contention still remains," Im said.



With the conflict continuing, heads of 14 out of 17 education offices nationwide, which have refused to allot the budgets for the program, have taken turns staging a one-person rally in front of Cheong Wa Dae since Feb. 4.




Health authorities have started a study to determine whether smoking scenes in films encourage smoking among adolescents.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Thursday it had begun the 80 million won study, which will be continue until Nov. 30.

The results of the study are expected to determine regulations on smoking scenes in films.

Measures are expected to include rating the films, or warning film companies not to include too many smoking scenes.

The study follows a World Health Organization call earlier this month for governments around the world to regulate smoking scenes by rating films or displaying warnings.

Through "Smoke-free movies: from evidence to action," the organization urged the 180 member countries of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to take action.

The report cited a U.S. study that found that on-screen smoking led 37 percent of adolescent smokers to take up smoking.

It also said that 59 percent of the top grossing Hollywood films from 2002 to 2014 had smoking imagery.

China recently ordered that the country's films should not contain"excessive" smoking scenes. India has also introduced new rules on tobacco imagery and brand display in films and on TV.
By Kang Seung-woo

Russia has demanded an apology from South Korea's spy agency over claims that it may have supplied key parts for North Korea's long-range rocket.

After Pyongyang launched a rocket, Sunday, National Intelligence Service (NIS) officials met lawmakers from the National Assembly Intelligence Committee and said that vital components seem to have come from Russia, according to Rep. Lee Cheol-woo of the ruling Saenuri Party.

"The South Korean intelligence authorities' statement is irresponsible and unprofessional," Mikhail Ulyanov, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's nonproliferation and arms control department, told a press conference in Moscow, Wednesday.

"One cannot come forward with such accusations without having clear evidence. If the South Korean government has any kind of grounds to suspect us of illegal deliveries violating the United Nations (U.N.) Security Council's resolutions, South Korea should present evidence.

"Otherwise, the South Korean government should retract the accusations and seek ways to make an apology for the statement."

Earlier this week, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin also said the country's relevant organization had never sent parts or technology to the North.

The technology for space rockets is almost identical to that of intercontinental ballistic missiles, and the U.N. resolutions ban the North from using ballistic missile technology.
South Korean trucks from the Gaeseong Industrial Complex in North Korea pass a checkpoint near the inter-Korean border in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, Thursday. / Korea Times photo by Seo Jae-hoon



By Yi Whan-woo

North Korea expelled South Korean workers from the Gaeseong Industrial Complex (GIC) and froze all South Korean-owned property there, Thursday, retaliating against the South's decision to shut down the complex the previous day.

Pyongyang also designated the area an off-limits military zone, and cut off communication lines between the two Koreas.

"We ordered all South Korean personnel to leave the GIC by 5 p.m. [local time], Thursday," the North said in a statement issued by the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, which handles inter-Korean affairs.

The statement came as South Korean firms there were pulling out their assets based on the government's decision. Some of 280 South Korean officials and workers remained at the complex after 5 p.m., but all of them returned home safely afterwards.

"We decided to freeze all assets belonging to South Korean enterprises and related organizations, including their machinery, raw materials and products. Those who are deported can take nothing but their personal possessions," the statement read.

"When the South Koreans leave, we'll cut off inter-Korean military hotlines, and then the dialogue channel set up at the truce village of Panmunjeom.

"The South Korean enemy forces will experience themselves the harsh and painful price they should pay for halting the Kaesong industrial complex," it said.

The South decided to shut down the complex, Wednesday, to punish Pyongyang for its launching of a long-range rocket, Feb. 7.




South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said Wednesday that the U.N. Security Council should adopt the toughest possible sanctions resolution on North Korea that goes well beyond Pyongyang's expectations.



Yun made the remark during a visit to New York aimed at drumming up international support for stronger sanctions on Pyongyang, stressing the North's four nuclear tests and six long-range missile launches over the past decade represent a direct violation of U.N. resolutions and disrespect for the Security Council.



"The strong and comprehensive measures that the Security Council should take should be markedly different from the responses to the first, second and third nuclear tests," Yun said during a briefing to South Korean correspondents. "Just as repeated wrong behavior gets additional punishment, very large prices should be paid for habitual violations of Security Council resolutions."



Yun stressed that the upcoming resolution should be the "final" resolution.

"There shouldn't be a situation where a resolution is adopted about the fourth nuclear test, and a fifth resolution" is adopted in the future after another nuclear test, Yun said.



During a two-day visit to New York, Yun held meetings with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and ambassadors of the 15 member nations of the Security Council to convey South Korea's position on sanctions on the North.



Yun said that most of them appeared to agree that a North Korea resolution should be adopted at an early date with strong content.



The minister also stressed that unilateral sanctions are also important in addition to U.N. sanctions.



"Besides the Security Council resolution, many countries are implementing sanctions and pressure measures bilaterally," Yun said. Meanwhile, a senior South Korean official said that many countries share an understanding that it's time to block sources of money used for the North's nuclear and missile programs. (Yonhap)




South Korea will take all measures to ensure that its citizens can return home safely from a troubled inter-Korean factory park in North Korea, an official said Thursday.



Presidential spokesman Jeong Yeon-guk made the comments as South Korea began to move its personnel out of the factory park in North Korea's western border city of Gaesong.



The factory park, the last-remaining symbol of inter-Korean economic cooperation, is home to more than 120 small South Korean plants that produce garments and other labor-intensive goods. More than 54,300 North Koreans work in the complex.



On Wednesday, South Korea announced that it has decided to completely shut down the industrial park in retaliation for North Korea's recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch.



The project has served as a major legitimate revenue source for North Korea. The South Korean firms annually provide about 100 million dollars in total to North Korea for their workers' income.



North Korea unilaterally closed the factory park in early 2013 in anger over South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises. But both sides resumed operation of the factory park later that year, as the North pledged not to shut it down again "under any circumstances." (Yonhap)




South Korea has suspended a trilateral logistics project with North Korea and Russia as part of its measures to punish the North for its nuclear and missile tests, sources said Thursday.



The project linked the three countries by rail and sea, with shipments of coal and bottled water arriving in the South through North Korea's port city of Rajin and Russia's border city of Khasan.



As the project is a source of income for the North, South Korea will halt its development to stop the money from being channeled into the North's development of weapons of mass destruction, the sources said.



Seoul announced Wednesday that it will close the inter-Korean industrial complex in North Korea's border city of Kaesong. The U.N., U.S. and Japan are also in the process of imposing additional sanctions on Pyongyang over its fourth nuclear test in January and long-range rocket launch earlier this week.



All discussions about a formal contract on the project will be put on hold, the sources added.



Along with the Gaesong Industrial Complex, the logistics project was one of the few exceptions to Seoul's punitive measures against Pyongyang following the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship in March 2010. (Yonhap)




China's foreign ministry has kept mum on South Korea's decision to halt operations of its joint industrial park with North Korea, a move by Seoul to punish Pyongyang for its latest rocket launch and nuclear test.



The Chinese ministry has yet to respond to a question sent by Yonhap News Agency via a fax about China's stance over the South Korean decision as of Thursday morning.



At the same time, U.N. Security Council members remain divided over how to punish North Korea for its fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6, with China, one of five veto-wielding council members, reluctant to put crippling sanctions on North Korea.



China's state-run media took note of the Wednesday decision by South Korea to suspend operations at the Kaesong Industrial Complex in the North Korean border city of Gaesong.



The official Xinhua News Agency described South Korea's move as a "punitive" measure against North Korea's launch of a long-range rocket.



The website of the state-run Global Times newspaper reported that shutting down the Gaesong complex is aimed at imposing a strong economic sanction on North Korea.



The Gaesong complex, which opened in 2004, has served as a major revenue source for the cash-strapped North Korea, while South Korea has benefited from cheap but skilled North Korean labor. The South Korean firms operating at the complex annually provide about 100 million dollars in total income to North Korean workers. (Yonhap)




South Korea started withdrawing workers from the Gaeseong Industrial Complex in the North, Thursday.

The government announced Wednesday it would shut down operations at the inter-Korean complex in the border city of Gaeseong, as a countermeasure following a nuclear test and rocket launch by Pyongyang.

"The government is seeking to withdraw South Koreans from there as soon as possible," a Unification Ministry official said.

According to the ministry, North Korean workers did not show up at the complex Thursday.

A total of 124 South Korean companies have been doing business in the complex, which opened in 2004 as a reconciliatory move between the Koreas.












The military on Thursday retrieved what is believed to be debris from the rocket North Korea launched earlier this week.



Three pieces of what seems to have been the rocket's combustion gas jet nozzle were recovered from waters some 105 kilometers off Ochung Island in the Yellow Sea, according to the Navy.



The debris was found in the ocean floor off the island located about midway along the west coast of South Korea, the Navy said.



On Sunday, North Korea launched a long-range rocket carrying an Earth observation satellite in what the outside world believes was a test of the country's long-range missile technology.



The rocket successfully put the satellite into orbit, although whether it is running normally has not yet been verified.



The first stage of the rocket and the fairing landed in waters near South Korea as it flew over the Yellow Sea and Japan towards the direction of the Philippines.



(Yonhap)




South Korean trucks from the Gaeseong Industrial Complex in North Korea pass a checkpoint near the inter-Korean border in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, Thursday. / Korea Times photo by Seo Jae-hoon



By Yi Whan-woo

South Korea began to pull out staff and material from the Gaeseong Industrial Complex (GIC) in North Korea, Thursday, a day after it announced a closure of the inter-Korean complex.

No major disturbances occurred in the complex despite concerns here that North Korea may obstruct the firms there from pulling out.

The officials from Seoul's Gaeseong Industrial District Management Committee put priority on ensuring the safety of the South Korean workforce in negotiations as it prepares to pull out from the inter-Korean industrial park, according to the Ministry of Unification.

During a meeting with Pyongyang's Central Special Development Guidance Bureau representatives, the committee members also discussed ways of retrieving finished goods and factory equipment before cutting supplies of electricity and water at the GIC.

However, it remains to be seen whether North Korea will be cooperative regarding the South's move to completely halt operation of the GIC, which Seoul suspects is Pyongyang's major source of hard currency for financing its U.N.-banned nuclear and missile programs.

Analysts have speculated that the repressive regime may deport the South Korean workforce in retaliation for Seoul's decision concerning the GIC. It decided to shut down the joint factory park in Gaeseong as punishment for Pyongyang's launch of a long-range rocket on Feb. 7, which is regarded by other nations as a ballistic missile test.
By Park Moo-jong

A Korean proverb goes, "A thief who will steal a needle will steal a cow," similar to an English proverb, "He who will steal an egg will steal a hen."

Needless to say, old habits die hard.

We are living in an era not only of nuclear threats, but also of nuclear families with no children or one or two per family at the most.

As a result, many countries, including South Korea, Singapore, Japan, Spain, and Germany to name a few, are experiencing low birth rates.

Numerous reasons are to blame for the trend of "being childless being the best lot," as an old Korean saying goes.

In this time, an only son or only daughter is virtually an emperor or empress in a family.

A Swedish writer-psychiatrist wrote a book in 2013, "How Children Took Power".

A Korean translation version of this was published last month, calling on parents to seize back control of their families.

David Eberhard warned in the book that Sweden's liberal approach to parenting has bred a nation of ill-mannered brats and now Swedish parents are unwilling to discipline their children in any way. In 1979 Swedes became the first to adopt a total smacking ban.

He laments: "We live in a culture where so-called experts say that children are 'competent' and the conclusion is that children should decide what to eat, what to wear, and when to go to bed."

"If you have a dinner party, they never sit quietly. They interrupt. They're always in the center, and the problem is that when they become young adults, they take with them the expectation that everything is centered around them, which makes them very disappointed," He says.

That's the very story of Korea of today.

Korean parents are apt to give their only son or daughter anything they want, if they can afford to do so, so as not to discourage their "precious darling."

Parents' excessive protection and unilateral blind love of their children are only spoiling them and these young people will end up becoming exceptionally egoistic and behaving badly.

There are too many ill-bred children here, there and everywhere.

Everywhere we go we are bound to bump into children who make too much noise and run around at public places such as restaurants, subways, public baths, theaters and stadiums.

As a result, many young Koreans have become ill-mannered.

On a January Sunday evening, I was at a seafood restaurant famous for its "haemul-tang" (soup made with various types of seafood such as small octopuses, clams, shrimp, blue crabs along with bean sprouts, onions and dropwort).

Ominously, I was seated next to a party of four adults and three children -- two boys and a girl. The children confirmed my apprehension as soon as my family took our seats.

They began to run around the tables, making a great deal of noise and raising dust. But their parents just smiled and did not do anything to stop their naughty offspring.

Other diners, including members of my family, felt increasingly disturbed and finally I told the children "very politely" in a low voice: "Hey kids, don't do that." Their parents also heard me.

But my "authority" worked for only a few seconds. Employees at the restaurant didn't seem willing to stop the children misbehaving either.

The children and their irresponsible parents, who were certainly ill-bred themselves, were going to spoil my dining out with my family.

When I was about to stand up to stop the children, my wife held me back calmly saying, "Be patient, please."

This may be the tip of the iceberg.

In the past, not too long ago, few parents left us to disturb others at public places. If children continued to do so, their parents took up the rod.

Korean parents today are too generous to their children, treating them as princes and princesses.

I heard from a Japanese diplomat that it is beyond imagination in his country for children to disturb others at public locations without being reprimanded.

Without fully realizing, we have been gradually giving up the social education usually provided outside of schools for the growing generation. Few adults show up to scold young people who are impolite or do wrong.

This phenomenon is a natural outcome of "being patient." We have to come out to scold middle and high school students who light up even in the presence of adults with no hesitation. If you are afraid of their repercussive reaction, call the police.

Today's parents are responsible for the mass production of ill-bred and egoistic children in our society who do not know how to care for others.

Of course, there are still many well-bred children thanks to their parents who did not spare the rod and thus did not spoil their children.

Parents need to restore authority, while not becoming authoritative.

Smacking or taking the rod to punish our children for their misdeeds is quite different from the latest social issue of home violence such as a pastor beating his 13-year-old daughter to death.

We have to remind ourselves of the proverb: "Spare the rod, spoil the child."

The Bible teaches in the Proverbs (23:13) of Solomon, son of David: "Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die."

In 1971, U.S. rock band Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young sang Nash's "Teach Your Children." "Teach your children well, their father's hell did slowly go by, and feed them on your dreams, the one they picked, the one you'll know by............"

Park Moo-jong is the senior advisor of The Korea Times. He had served as the president-publisher of the nation's first English daily from 2004 to 2014 after he had worked as a reporter of the paper since 1974. He can be reached at moojong@ktimes.com or emjei29@gmail.com.
By Gwynne Dyer



Here we go again. North Korea launched a ballistic missile of intercontinental range on Sunday (saying it was just putting up a satellite) only weeks after it carried out its fourth nuclear weapons test (which it claimed was a hydrogen bomb).The United Nations Security Council strongly condemned it, and even the People's Republic of China, North Korea's only ally, expressed its "regret" at what the country had done.



There will certainly now be more UN sanctions against Kim Jong-un's isolated regime. But there have already been four rounds of UN military and economic sanctions since North Korea's first nuclear test in 2006, and Pyongyang just ignores them.



Clearly, this is something that the North Korean regime wants so badly that it is willing to endure considerable punishment in order to get it. But why is this very poor country spending vast sums in order to be able to strike its neighbors  and even the United States, for that is what the intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) are about  with nuclear weapons?



Well, here's a clue. What the North Korean government said after last month's hydrogen bomb test was this: "The DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) is a genuine peace-loving state which has made every effort to protect peace on the Korean Peninsula and security in the region from the vicious US nuclear war scenario."



"The US is a gang of cruel robbers that has worked hard to bring even a nuclear disaster to the DPRK....By succeeding in the H-bomb test...the DPRK proudly joined the advanced ranks of nuclear weapons states...and the Korean people demonstrated the spirit of a dignified nation equipped with the most powerful nuclear deterrent."



Never mind the stilted rhetoric and gutter abuse; North Korean propagandists always talk like that. Listen to the key words that are almost buried under the surrounding invective. North Korea's nuclear weapons program, they say, is meant to "protect...the region from...the US ...nuclear war scenario" by creating a "most powerful nuclear deterrent."



Really? Do they actually fear that the United States might use nuclear weapons on them, and that they can only be safe if they have their own hydrogen bombs and ICBMs? Are they doing all this purely as a defensive measure?



Of course they are. However bad-tempered and impulsive they sounded, the men of the Kim family, father, son and grandson, who have ruled North Korea in dynastic succession for the past 68 years were not crazy. They never started a war, because they knew they would lose it, and the current incumbent is certainly not going to start a nuclear war.



He would have to be crazy to do that. North Korea lacks the resources to build more than a few bombs a year, and it does not have the technologies to ensure that the mssiles it may one day have won't get shot down. It will probably never be able to guarantee that it can strike even South Korea or Japan with nuclear missiles, let alone the United States.



Everybody in the North Korean hierarchy (along with some millions of other North Koreans) would certainly be dead only hours after the regime launched nuclear weapons at any of those countries. The United States has literally thousands of nuclear weapons. It would take only a few dozen quite small ones to virtually exterminate the entire ruling elite, and North Korea would have no way of stopping them.



A few not-very-high-tech nuclear weapons would give Pyongyang no usable ability to launch a nuclear attack against the United States or its allies. They would, however, give it a pretty credible nuclear deterrent.



Launching a few nuclear weapons against a major nuclear power is suicidal, but those same few weapons can be a perfectly good deterrent against a nuclear attack by that same power, because they give the weaker party a capacity for "revenge from the grave." Even a country as powerful as the United States will behave very cautiously when faced with the possibility that an opponent might land even one or two nuclear weapons on its territory.



North Korea has lived under the implicit threat of US nuclear weapons for almost seven decades, and the United States has never promised not to use its those weapons against it. It's almost surprising that we haven't seen North Korean nuclear weapons before now.



North Korea is just doing the same thing that Pakistan did in the 1980s and 90s out of fear of Indian nuclear weapons, and that Iran was doing in fear of both Pakistani and Israeli nuclear weapons in the last fifteen years.



The Security Council is quite right to try to block North Korea's nuclear weapons programme, and the successful use of international sanctions to stop Iran offers some hope that it may succeed. But North Korea is not a crazy state plotting a nuclear holocaust at the cost of its own extinction. Its nuclear weapons programme is a perfectly rational  although highly undesirable  policy for a small country with a big problem.



Gwynne Dyer is an independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries. Contact him at gwynne763121476@aol.com.




There is no denying that Korea's manufacturing industry has been in decline, largely because of the surge in recent years, of Chinese manufacturing. But given that manufacturing is the backbone of the economy, it might be premature to draw this conclusion.



It is encouraging in this regard that the National Assembly passed the so-called One-Shot Act last week, although this came belatedly, seven months after the bill was submitted to parliament.



The opposition parties opposed the law out of concern that it might be abused by family-run conglomerates seeking to transfer wealth from one generation to the next.



This concern may yet be proven as legitimate, but the legislation should have been passed earlier considering that many Korean companies are badly in need of swift restructuring amid the current global economic doom and gloom.



The law is intended to encourage companies to realign their business portfolios and undertake mergers and acquisitions.



In particular, restructuring in such beleaguered industries as shipbuilding, steel and shipping is expected to gain traction. The most notable case is the proposed merger between Hanjin Shipping and Hyundai Merchant Marine.



The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy says that about 30 percent of the country's flagship industries will be subject to restructuring under the law, citing Japan, which passed a similar bill much earlier.



The law envisions helping our key industries, which are beset by China-triggered oversupply and sluggish exports, to regain their lost competitiveness through proactive and autonomous retooling.



For example, under the law, which takes effect in August, a company can push for a merger only with approval from its board of directors if the target company's market capitalization is less than 20 percent of its own market value.



Mergers and acquisitions between small-and medium-sized enterprises will also gather speed.



Addressing concerns about possible favors for conglomerates, the law has safety clauses, including one to ban a restructuring plan if its purpose is deemed to be transfer of ownership. Even so, the government should do whatever it can so that allegations of favoritism do not arise.




Charles Campbell

By Yi Whan-woo

Charles Campbell, a former Eighth U.S. Army (EUSA) commander and retired four-star general, died at his hometown in Shreveport, Louisiana, Monday, according to the Stars and Stripes. He was 68.

The online version of the U.S. military newspaper said Campbell died after a lengthy illness. It did not elaborate.

Campbell commanded EUSA in South Korea from November 2002 to April 2006 and dealt with sensitive security issues involving the two allies, such as drawing down the number of U.S. troops here.

He served as the chief of the U.S. Forces Command, overseeing all continental U.S.-based conventional operating forces, from 2006 to 2010.

Following his retirement in 2010, Campbell mentored the U.S. Army and coalition leaders in South Korea and Afghanistan, and visited here several times.

He earned his commission through the Reserve Officer Training Corps at Louisiana State University. After Special Forces training, Campbell participated in the Vietnam War, during which he taught tactics to the U.S Army stationed there.

He also served as A-Detachment executive officer and commander.

Among those who paid respects to Campbell, retired U.S. Army Lt.-Gen. Russel Honore, wrote on his Facebook, "Rest in peace, General Hondo Campbell."

Honore was a former Second Infantry Division commander under EUSA, and also led relief efforts in New Orleans in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina.

"Rest well boss, we shall see you on the high ground," Honore wrote.
The love-and-hate bilateral partnership will continue



By Kim Yoo-chul



U.S.-based mobile chip titan Qualcomm has emerged as the savior to lift Samsung Electronics' logic chip business after TSMC is said to win an exclusive contract with Apple to manufacture the next-generation iPhone processor chips tentatively named A10.



According to industry sources and executives at Samsung's first-tier Korean partners, Samsung Electronics is on track to push Qualcomm to allow the Korean technology giant to manufacture more Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 chipsets.



"Samsung should keep its logic chip business running and because Qualcomm is a long-time ally, Samsung hopes to get more orders for the manufacturing of Qualcomm's latest chipsets on a foundry and contractual basis," an executive at one Samsung's local partners, said by telephone.



The executive added that Samsung still hopes to fill in the void in production yields on its fabrication lines being stolen by the loss of its leading clients for the production of logic chips, which are far more profitable than conventional chips.



"The outlook for the global memory chip market remains quite uncertain this year due to weak demand and expansion of chip production by Chinese rivals, meaning Samsung can't' afford to see a reduction of the production of logic chips," said the executive.



Samsung is the global leader in memory chips such as DRAMs and NANDs of those being used to write and store data in computing devices; however, TSMC of Taiwan is the global leader in making the logic-chips of those used to control entire computing systems.



Samsung has so far been fabricating chips for Qualcomm, Apple, NVIDIA, Sony and AMD, with the design provided by those clients, at its local manufacturing plants.



"While Samsung has been successful in commercializing its own Exynos-branded processors for the Galaxy line of devices, the number of companies using the Exynos chips aren't that many beyond Samsung Electronics' handset division. As Qualcomm has addressed key issues related to overheating of its Snapdragon 820 chipsets, Samsung hopes to continue the work with Qualcomm," said another executive at another local parts supplier to Samsung.



Local media reports said TSMC exclusively won a contract with Apple to produce the first batch of A10 chips. The new Apple chips will be produced with finer 10-nanometer processing technology from June this year, said the reports.



Samsung plans to beat out TSMC for the Apple logic chip business next year with its seven-nanometer technology. But officials say due to TSMC's latest contract with Apple, it's highly unlikely that Samsung's logic chip business will turn profitable this year.



In chip-making, thinner is better.



A 10-nanometer chip, for example, could help Apple iPhones and other mobiles become smaller and more power efficient which would mean set-makers would be able to make mobile devices thinner without it affecting battery life. A seven-nanometer chip; therefore, is much better than a 10-nanometer chip.



"Samsung has no doubt that Qualcomm will retain the Korean company as its top client to source its Snapdragon 820 chipsets. Although Samsung is cutting its reliance on Qualcomm in the logic chip making business, their love-and-hate relationship will continue," said the executive.



Samsung Electronics is paying billions of dollars annually for Qualcomm in royalty payments to use Qualcomm's wireless technology.



Samsung Electronics said it can't comment on issues about its clients.



Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Lenovo and Xiaomi have confirmed their plans to release their latest handsets using the Qualcomm chips at this year's mobile convention to be held in the Spanish city of Barcelona.



The latest updates support the Qualcomm chipsets in terms of stability, efficiency and advanced wireless technology such as LTE-U.






The Instrument of Ratification of the ILO Convention concerning Employment Policy C 122 of 1964 was handed over by Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN in Geneva to Mr. Georges P. Politakis, Legal Adviser and Director of the Office of Legal Services of the International Labour Organization (ILO) on 3 February 2016.

Sri Lanka is the 110th ILO Member State to have ratified this priority Convention, which is included among the four standards that are the most significant from the viewpoint of governance, giving clear signal of the Governments commitment to actively promoting full, productive and freely chosen employment, in consultation with the social partners, bilaterally as well through the Colombo Process, the grouping of Asian Contractual Labour Sending Countries, as its Chair-in-Office.

Sri Lanka has ratified all 8 core ILO Conventions and has been enjoying cordial relations with the ILO in promoting the rights and welfare of labour.

Mrs. Samantha Jayasuriya, Deputy Permanent Representative and Ms. Dilini Gunasekera, Second Secretary were associated with Ambassador Aryasinha at this occasion.



Link:

http://www.ilo.org/global/standards/subjects-covered-by-international-labour-standards/employment-policy/WCMS_448670/lang--en/index.htm



Press Release in PDF



Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka

Geneva

3 Februrary 2016


Accepting an invitation extended by the Government in February 2015, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Raad Al Hussein will undertake a four-day official visit to Sri Lanka.

The High Commissioner will arrive in Sri Lanka on the morning of Saturday 6 February and depart on the morning of 10 February.

During the visit, he will call on President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Leader of Opposition R. Sampanthan and have meetings with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mangala Samaraweera and several other ministers as well as senior Government officials, civil society representatives, the tri-service chiefs, members of the diplomatic community in Colombo and the National Human Rights Commission.

On 7 and 8 February, the High Commissioner will visit Jaffna and Trincomalee where he will meet with the Governors and Chief Ministers of the Northern and Eastern Provinces respectively. He will also meet civil society representatives, victims of alleged human rights violations and the displaced.

The High Commissioner will meet with religious leaders in different locations.

Substantive discussions during the visit will include measures to strengthen, promote and protect human rights, as well as steps being taken to implement the provisions of Resolution 30/1 titled Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka which was adopted by the Human Rights Council on 1 October with the co-sponsorship of Sri Lanka.

For further queries please contact the UN Office in Colombo (+94 (0) (77) 4448401 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Colombo

4 February 2016

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )%20%20%20%20%20Ministry%20of%20Foreign%20Affairs%20%20Colombo%20%204%20February%202016">Read more
The United States government would continue to assist Sri Lanka with their negotiations with the IMF and the debt restructuring

Read more
The SLFP does not condone the continuation of the Emergency Regulations (The Public Security Ordinance) more than a day necessary

Read more
The state Coastal Commission, as expected, voted today to oust its own executive director over the objections of many past commissioners and environmental groups. The vote to get rid of Charles Lester was 7-5, taken in closed session even though the commission's lawyer said that step was not required by law, then announced to an audience that had come mostly to support Lester. The side opposed to Lester has been saying in recent months that it was unhappy with his management performance. His backers said the pressure for his ouster was coming from commissioners who wanted more leeway to approve development along the coast, and that notion has been advanced aggressively by leading environmental groups and LA Times columnist Steve Lopez, who has done a couple of columns now and who went to Morro Bay himself for the meeting.

After the vote, commission chair Steve Kinsey, who voted against the firing, "called it a difficult decision that 'revolved around leadership and not around an issue of greater flexibility for development' along the coast," per the LA Times news story. At least two other commissioners, both of whom voted to fire Lester, also said the line of attack by Lester supporters that he was the victim of pro-development pressure was off-base.

"We need to set the record straight. There was no coup by developer interests," [said commissioner Mark Vargas.] But this is like trying to convince people that the fluoride in their water was not a communist plot, Vargas said. [skip] Vice chair [Dayna] Bochco said commissioners have had problems getting information from the commissions staff, had not been included in agency processes and were often left in the dark about how staff had come to conclusions related to projects. I would like to discuss with the press the reasons we are here," Bochco said. "It is not about developers and their consultants. We have been terribly mischaracterized as developer hacks.



Lester said after the vote that the commissioners only mentioned organizational issues that he thought could be resolved. "Maybe they just thought I was too independent, Lester said. His supporters at the meeting included some coastal developers who praised his work. Heal the Bay posted a statement of disappointment about Lester's firing. Excerpt:

Heal the Bay is discouraged and disappointed by the decision made by the Coastal Commission today to terminate Dr. Charles Lester as its Executive Director. His firing is representative of a larger issue about the future of Californias coastline. The vote raises the question of what the Coastal Commissions vision is for Californias coast, and how it diverges from Dr. Lesters performance record of fostering collaboration, providing the public a voice, moving projects and policies forward along our coast, and upholding the Coastal Act.

Dr. Lester's collaborative spirit led to the passage of several important policies and projects by the Coastal Commission, including the Santa Monica Mountains Local Coastal Plan and California's first sea-level rise policy providing guidance to coastal communities about how to prepare for climate change. We are grateful for the large outpouring of support from the public for Dr. Lester and the Coastal Act, a law poignantly referred to in public comment today as the Constitution of our shores. Unfortunately, the voice of the public was not heard, despite the thousands of people that rallied behind Dr. Lester encouraging the Commission to maintain his position.



OK, so clearly an internal rift at the Coastal Commission, a state agency that rules on development along the coast as enforcer of the 1970s initiative that made almost all of the California coast public and subject to regulation. Gov. Brown's recent appointees were behind Lester's ouster, though Brown himself took no public opinion, while other Sacramento officials were for him. So clearly two sides, with prominent Democrats on both sides, like with many Coastal Commission actions, which mostly get a pass from the media, but which are closely watched and often controversial -- pro and con -- in communities affected.

The LA Times has really chosen to side with the enviro groups' take that firing Lester is an outrage story, and a pretty big one. Tonight, the main news story is accompanied by a news sidebar and an editorial from the editorial board. A tight close-up photo of Lester takes up the entire top of the paper's website, pushing down even today's far more shocking news: the plea bargain by former Sheriff Lee Baca. This is how the Times web page looks tonight: good luck trying to learn quickly what's hot news in the world or the region.

The Times' coverage today also included five tweets about the coastal commission from the assistant managing editor for California news:

Was the Times really into this story or what? The #2 editor at the whole paper also tweeted about it five times:

Puzzle: Coastal Commissioners said they couldn't bare reasons for Lester firing. Their counsel said they could. https://t.co/CziYXWD8BZ  Marc Duvoisin (@MarcDuvoisin) February 11, 2016

Lopez live-tweeted the meeting, posting more than a dozen times:

I've not heard such unconditional praise for any employee anywhere. Is coast commish swayed, or defiantly digging in on plan to bury Lester?  Steve Lopez LA Times (@LATstevelopez) February 10, 2016

The Times reporters at the scene also kept the tweets coming, as did various other newsroom staffers, including California editor Bob Sipchen  who happens to have been a spokesman and editor for the Sierra Club before returning to the Times and his current straight news job.

Watch the commission decide the fate of California's Coast. @latimes and @LATstevelopez are right up front https://t.co/G8QjSEmtav  Bob Sipchen (@BobSipchen) February 10, 2016

Was the future of the California coast really decided today? I still don't know, but it doesn't look like it. That won't really be known until we see what the coastal commission does on big development questions over the next, oh, five to ten years. Will the Times and other news media cover the nitty gritty of what the commission does going forward? Open question. They haven't really up to now.
When it opened in 1940, the Arroyo Seco Parkway looked like the future. Its sweeping curves transported motorists between Los Angeles and Pasadena without encountering a single stop sign, traffic light, streetcar, bicycle or pedestrian. It was a roadway designed for the uninterrupted, unimpeded flow of automobiles. It was the work of civil engineers.

If L.A.'s landscape bears the imprint of any one group of professionals, it must be engineers. From the 1880s onward, engineers like William Mulholland and Lloyd Aldrich prescribed bold measures to ease Los Angeles growing pains. By the 1960s, they had recast the City of Angels as a city of concrete, a metropolis structured around the personal automobile, built to simultaneously tame the excesses of wild nature and correct its deficiencies.

Civil engineers and their creations are the subject of The Road Taken: The History and Future of Americas Infrastructure, a new book by Duke University historian Henry Petroski, himself a civil engineer.

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Subtitle notwithstanding, Petroskis book focuses on transportation infrastructure at the exclusion of nearly every other type, including aqueducts, oil pipelines, telecommunications cables, power lines, and the other conduits that, as Petroski writes, enable civilization to function in a civilized way.

Still, roads and bridges alone provide enough fodder for an author like Petroski, who excels at revealing the origins of everyday, utilitarian things. His previous books include histories of the toothpick and the pencil, and his latest contribution bristles with fascinating details about the elements of road design we often overlook.

Take the stop sign, for instance. When private automobile clubs first erected them in the 1910s to signal boulevard stops, the signs were diamond-shaped and usually featured black letters on a yellow background. (Californias stop signs have nearly always been white on red.) The sign owes its now-familiar octagonal shape to a Detroit police officer who took it upon himself to cut off its corners, thus doubling the number of sides from four to eight. Thanks to international standardization, the work of this police officer is now reproduced around the world.

Curbs and gutters earn their own chapter. So do guardrails and Jersey barriers. Americans rapid adoption of the automobile in the 20thh century placed great demands on the nations transportation infrastructure, and engineers responded with such innovations, along with a host of others  yellow centerlines, Botts dots lane indicators, typefaces designed specifically for directional signs  to keep roads safer at increasingly higher speeds.

Petroski pays particularly close attention to pavements, tracing the evolution of the technology from ancient Rome to the innovations of Scottish engineer John Loudon McAdam, and from the now-ubiquitous asphalt to the self-healing road surfaces of the future. Yes, potholes will one day repair themselves.

But The Road Taken is more than a straightforward history of innovation in road design. It argues forcefully that the United States ought to invest considerably more in its public works.

Indeed, the books title is a play on Robert Frosts famous (and oft-misread) poem The Road Not Taken, and Petroski suggests that, like Frosts traveler, the United States has encountered a fork in the road  one representing choices that must be made regarding the nations infrastructure.

Petroski trumpets the dire warnings of the American Society of Civil Engineers, whose series of infrastructure report cards have given the nations public works progressively worse grades. In its 2013 release, the category of bridges stood out for its comparatively good mark: C-plus. According to the organizations 2013 report, Failure to Act, our infrastructures dismal overall G.P.A. reflects a growing shortfall in public investment.

By 2020, the report projects, the nations accumulated deficit in infrastructure spending will reach $1.1 trillion. By 2040 it will balloon to $4.7 trillion. Events like the 2007 collapse of an interstate highway bridge in Minneapolis powerfully illustrate the profound consequences of under-investment.

Spending alone, though, will not resolve dilemmas about the social and environmental costs of infrastructure projects.

Cities like Los Angeles no longer anoint engineers as their principal urban visionaries. They now also enlist the imagination of architects, planners, environmentalists and even artists. The poet Lewis MacAdams, for example, reimagined the Los Angeles River Flood Control Channel as a habitat for biological diversity, a recreational space for park-poor neighborhoods and a public commons for the entire city  a vision that now boasts the support of developers, public officials and, crucially, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Petroski acknowledges the contemporary role of activists such as MacAdams in a chapter on historic preservation, arguing that antiquated infrastructure like Manhattans High Line can find new, socially beneficial uses. Another provides a tantalizing glimpse of the smart highways of the future, with bridges that detect their own structural anomalies and cars that drive themselves.

But as the 20th century ideal of urban transportation championed by engineers  one that privileged the free movement of the automobile above all else  fades in our collective rear-view mirror, The Road Taken says surprisingly little about how to invest in our transportation future while avoiding the road hazards of the past: fractured neighborhoods, polluted air, civic anomie.

Consider the Arroyo Seco Parkway. As Petroski would correctly point out, the road is functionally obsolete, designed for the slower automobiles of the 1940s. At 70 miles per hour, its curves are dangerously tight, its on-ramps laughably short. What, if anything, is to replace the parkway and the obsolete autopian vision it represents?

Today its hard to see the once-futuristic road as anything but an artifact of the past.

As we speed ahead through the 21st century, we will continue to depend upon the triumphs of civil engineers. We may just ask others to help navigate.

Masters is a Los Angeles historian and host of the television series Lost LA on KCET.

::

The Road Taken: The History and Future of Americas Infrastructure

Henry Petroski

Bloomsbury: 336 pp., $28
With room to grow, Long Beach Airport has offered Southwest Airlines an opportunity to begin operations later this year, starting with four daily flights.

Long Beach Airport, one of the regions smallest commercial airports, also offered JetBlue Airways three daily slots and Delta Air Lines two slots, according to city officials. JetBlue, Delta and American Airlines already fly out of Long Beach but Southwest does not.

Southwest, which serves four other airports in Southern California, had requested nine daily slots at Long Beach. An airline official said the Dallas-based carrier could begin operations with only four slots, with the hope of adding more flights in the future.

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The flight slots became available when recent noise studies confirmed that Long Beach Airport could add nine daily flights without violating the citys strict noise ordinance.

The airport handled about 2.5 million passengers in 2015, a 10% drop from 2014. By comparison, Los Angeles International Airport served nearly 75 million passengers last year, a 6% increase from 2014.

Another reason that airport noise has dropped is that most U.S. carriers have invested heavily in newer, quieter jets. Southwest, for example, has ordered 191 737 MAX jets from Boeing, a modern plane described by Boeing as having a 40% smaller noise footprint than older planes. (A noise footprint is the area on the ground where noise from a particular aircraft can be heard.)

Southwest will begin to take delivery of the MAX jets next year.

They are quieter than theyve ever been, and the trend will continue, said Brad Hawkins, a spokesman for Southwest.

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Gary Kelly, Southwests chairman, president and chief executive, announced the carriers application to serve Long Beach at a gathering of Southwest employees in Las Vegas on Wednesday. He noted that Southwest already serves four other airports in the region: LAX, Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, John Wayne Airport near Santa Ana and Ontario International Airport.

No one can offer California what we do on a daily basis, especially with the attractive addition of our low-fare service at Long Beach, he told the workers.

To read more about travel, tourism and the airline industry, follow Hugo Martin on Twitter at @hugomartin.

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In a smart, irreverent exhibition at Gavlak gallery in Los Angeles, Amy Bessone takes us back to a time when divorce was shameful for women, so much so that it might land ones picture in the newspaper.

Bessone found and collected these images  in effect, modern-day scarlet letters  from newspaper archives of the 1930s through the 1970s. Blown up to respectable portrait size, they are exhibited alongside powerful sculptures of female torsos and comically curvaceous tobacco pipes. Together, they are a cheeky celebration of women living outside the lines.

The moods captured in the black-and-white photographs, some taken in the courtroom, run the gamut from shame to defiance to glee. One woman turns away from the camera, her face obscured by a veil. Another glares back dramatically over her shoulder, ensconced in a thick, leopard-print coat and enormous matching hairband. Still others smile broadly, casually crossing their legs or smoking a cigarette. Although these images were intended to humiliate, they radiate self-possession, giving the lie to the idea of the fallen, discarded woman.

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The most enigmatic portrait, Number 15: Betty, depicts a woman holding two animal claws, one in each hand. It might evoke the stereotype of the wild, out-of-control vixen, but the expression on Bettys face is so placid and contemplative, and she holds the claws so gingerly, that to cast her as a homewrecker seems comical.

This picture also appears in limited edition artists book The League of Divorced Women, where we get additional images and snippets of the womens stories. As it turns out, the claws belonged to a pet lion that Bettys ex-husband chose over her. After their divorce, the lion died. Parting is such sweet sorrow.

Eight larger-than-life sculptures of female torsos also play with stereotypes  in this case the objectification of womens bodies. Each is truncated just above the breasts and at the top of the thighs, reduced to just the essentials from a chauvinists point of view. Executed in ceramic or bronze, they also evoke classical statuary, in particular broken but revered pieces like the Venus de Milo or the Nike of Samothrace.

Against these sexist and art historical reverberations, Bessone has mucked with the form even further. One torso is split in half and bound with ropes. Another appears to have been smashed and only partially glued back together. Some are covered with fingerprints or contagious-looking bumps. Still others are painted with thick, dark brushstrokes that suggest bondage gear. In breaking open this classic form, Bessone unleashes the fears, violence and fantasies of mastery that undergird the tradition of the female nude.

Her manipulations also give the works a surreal charge, an impression reinforced by their counterparts: five comically large ceramic sculptures of smoking pipes, arrayed around the galleries. While the torsos are elevated on pedestals, the pipes appear only on the floor, their curving mouthpieces more sinuous than assertive, more decorous than forceful. They may be the least emphatic phallic symbols ever. Sometimes a pipe is just a pipe, but not this time.

Gavlak, 1034 N. Highland Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 467-5700, through March 5. Closed Sundays and Mondays. www.gavlakgallery.com
An artist flea market. An exhibition that explores the nature of the color black. And a show devoted to the legacy of an iconic California woodworker. Plus: New paintings, art inspired by rats and a talk about the Blaxicans of Los Angeles. Here are six events not to miss this week:

Noir: The Romance of Black in 19th Century French Drawings and Prints, at the Getty Museum. Figures in deep penumbra and sprightly creatures in dim settings. In the middle of Europes industrial revolution, some artists became intrigued by the non-color of the color black, creating prints and charcoal drawings that evoked the nocturnal, the dark and the deep recesses of the cosmos  not to mention the not-quite-real state of dreaming. Through May 15. 1200 Getty Center Drive, Brentwood, Los Angeles, getty.edu.

Rob Pruitts Flea Market, in downtown Los Angeles. For years, artist Rob Pruitt has been setting up his nomadic flea market in whatever art market town he happens to find himself: New York, London and now Los Angeles. This extravaganza is part art installation, part real-deal flea market, with artists from all over the L.A. area and beyond selling objects and other merchandise at their tables. This edition, to be held in downtown, will feature work by more than 150 artists and organizations, including Joe Sola, Big City Forum, Mario Ybarra Jr., Martine Syms, Bert Rodriguez, High Desert Test Sites and John Kilduff. Naturally, there will also be art stuff by James Franco (because hype), as well as food trucks and cocktails. Bring your cold, hard cash and your hipster-y sense of adventure. 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. 405 S. Mateo St., downtown Los Angeles, nomadicdivision.org.

Sam Maloof Woodworker: Life/Art/Legacy, at the Maloof Foundation. The foundation is celebrating the centennial of the birth of the renowned Southern California woodworker, whose elegant objects and furnishings are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the L.A. County Museum of Art and the Smithsonian  and whose rocking chairs were used by American presidents. The exhibition will feature more than 60 objects from throughout the artists life, including furnishings, drawings, photographs and other ephemera. The show is part of a years worth of events that will celebrate Maloofs life and work. 5131 Carnelian St., Alta Loma, malooffoundation.org.

Reveal the Rats, at the Pit. A group show featuring work by Anna Betbeze, Rebecca Morris, Sterling Ruby, Lara Schnitger and Despina Stokou explores the idea of rat as architect, a creature that is constantly remaking its environment. The artists in the show do much the same: deconstructing and reconstructing ideas and objects in their work, which includes collage, quilting, textiles and painting. Opens at 6 p.m. Saturday and runs through March 31. 918 Ruberta Ave., Glendale, the-pit.la.

Joshua Abelow, Moving Pictures, at Tif Sigfrids. A show of paintings by the New York-based artist revels in crude form-making: stick figures, witch figures and abstracted, colorful forms. The series emerged out of a period the artist spent in rural Maryland. Opens Saturday and runs through March. 19. 1507 Wilcox Ave., Hollywood, tifsigfrids.com.

Blaxicans of L.A.: Then and Now, at the Museum of Latin American Art. USC researcher Walter Thompson-Hernandez discusses his Blaxicans of Los Angeles Instagram project, which chronicles Afro-Latin identity in Los Angeles. 7 p.m. Friday. Admission $10; members free. MOLAA, 628 Alamitos Ave., Long Beach, molaa.org.

FINAL WEEK

Toba Khedoori, at Regen Projects. In her fourth show at the gallery, the L.A.-based artist, known for her detailed renderings of plants, architecture and other objects, takes to canvas as well. Her pieces reveal aching detail that, at moments, teeters into abstraction  creating images that are more than mere representation. Through Feb. 13. 6750 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, regenprojects.com.

Customizing Language, at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions. Organized by guest curators Idurre Alonso and Selene Preciado, this group show gathers artists from the Americas to look at the ways in which language often reflects political reality. It includes the work of figures such as Marco Ramirez ERRE, Regina Jose Galindo and Mely Barragan (whom I wrote about as part of the Tijuana art series in October). Through Feb. 14. 6522 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, welcometolace.org.

Stas Orlovski, Skazka, at Young Projects Gallery. The L.A.-based Orlovski is known for his haunting stop-motion animations that employ bits of vintage childrens books and Victorian drawings. This work, which features a soundtrack by experimental audio artist Steve Roden, is inspired by 19th century magic-lantern performances and includes a stage-set and larger-than-life projections onto silhouettes. Through Feb. 15. Young Projects Gallery, 8687 Melrose Ave No. B230, West Hollywood, youngprojectsgallery.com

ONGOING EXHIBITIONS

Edmund de Waal, Ten Thousand Things, at Gagosian Gallery. Both an artist and an acclaimed novelist, de Waal is a figure whose passion for words feeds his art and vice versa. For his first solo exhibition in L.A., he is presenting arrangements of objects  including the ceramics he makes  inspired by music, poetry and the architecture of Rudolph Schindler. Through Feb. 18. 456 N. Camden Drive, Beverly Hills, gagosian.com.

Sadie Barnette, Superfecta, at Charlie James Gallery. In a series of multimedia works  from photography to meticulously rendered drawings  the artist looks at the culture of horse racing, touching on issues of fantasy, escapism and chance. Through Feb. 20. 969 Chung King Road, Chinatown, Los Angeles, cjamesgallery.com.

George Porcari, Greetings From LA: 24 Frames and 50 Years, at Haphazard. Since the 60s, artist George Porcari has been photographing Los Angeles  from the street to the beach. In this exhibition, he uses those images to make large-scale photo collages set around a blank space  or void  that shapes the tone of the images above and below. Through Feb. 20. 1542 Sawtelle Blvd., Sawtelle, Los Angeles, haphazard.co.

Marcia Hafif, Glaze Paintings and Works on Paper From the 1970s, at Marc Selwyn Fine Art. Throughout her career, Hafif has been obsessed with color: the colors of the Pacific Ocean or Roman architecture  hues that she reproduces in paintings and installations that serve as meditations on the subtleties of tone. In her first solo show at Selwyn, the artist is showing some of the early works  graphite drawings and glaze paintings  that helped shape her practice. Through Feb. 20. 9953 S. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills, marcselwynfineart.com.

Ishiuchi Miyako: Postwar Shadows at the Getty Center. Showcasing several bodies of work by the Japanese photographer, this exhibition includes her moving images of objects and clothing that survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Each image captures deeply personal details such as patches, mends and stains, all evidence of the full lives once inhabited by these garments. Also on view will be a small exhibition of contemporary Japanese photographers. Through Feb. 21. 1200 Getty Center Drive, Brentwood, getty.edu.

Punk Povera, at Wuho Gallery. This group exhibition gathers painting, drawing and sculpture from L.A. and Mexico City inspired by a pair of cultural movements: Arte Povera, the Italian art movement that focused on the use of simple materials, and punk, the musical and fashion movement that favored grit over excess. Through Feb. 21. 6518 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, wuho.architecture.woodbury.edu.

The Wartime Photographs of Ansel Adams, at the Skirball Cultural Center. Adams powerful black-and-white images from Manzanar during World War II protested what he described as the enforced exodus of American citizens: Japanese Americans who were forcefully detained for the course of the war. Its a stirring view of life for Japanese Americans during a dark period in American history. Through Feb. 21. 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Brentwood, skirball.org.

Diana Thater, The Sympathetic Imagination, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The Los Angeles-based video artist is widely known for groundbreaking video installations that incorporate the architecture of a space while exploring a range of natural phenomena: from the underwater lives of dolphins to the ways in which bees communicate. For the show at LACMA, she is showing works shot in Claude Monets garden in Giverny, France, and at the Galtaji Temple in Jaipur, India. Through Feb. 21. 5905 Wilshire Blvd. Mid-Wilshire, lacma.org.

Noah Davis: Imitation of Wealth at the Museum of Contemporary Art Grand Avenue. In 2013, Davis re-created a series of works by famous artists and put them on display at the Underground Museum, his alternative art space in Arlington Heights. The idea was to display works of high cultural value in an unlikely setting. Now, the Museum of Contemporary Art has re-created the installation  a work made more poignant by the artists recent death. (The piece is viewable free of charge through the windows of a storefront space adjacent to the museum.) Through Feb. 22. 250 S. Grand Ave., downtown, moca.org.

John Outterbridge, Rag Man, at Art + Practice. The renowned Los Angeles assemblage artist is showing works produced mainly over the last decade and a half from scavenged materials such as twigs, bones and hair. Works from the recent series Rag and Bone Idiom evoke talismans and healing rituals. Through Feb. 27. 4339 Leimert Blvd., Leimert Park, artandpractice.org.

Marianne Vitale, at Venus. A sculptor known for her weighty pieces is having her West Coast debut show with a pair of installations that will feature 60 tons of steel railroad track and a series of nearly 100 11-foot white pine timbers. Through Feb. 27. 601 S. Anderson St., Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, venusovermanhattan.com.

Martine Syms, Black Box, at Human Resources Los Angeles. An exhibition of 60 new short videos by the Los Angeles artist explores ideas about the rules of personal comportment, with each set up as a 30-second lesson. Its a busy month for the artist, who recently performed at the Broad and is set to participate in the Hammer Museums 2016 Made in L.A. Biennial. Through Feb. 27. 410 Cottage Home St., Chinatown, Los Angeles, humanresourcesla.com.

R. Luke DuBois: Now and Sandow Birk: American Quran, at the Orange County Museum of Art. OCMA opens a pair of new shows: one by the New York-based DuBois, an artist who often employs data to create unique visualizations, and the L.A.-based Birk, who has spent nine years transcribing and illustrating every verse of the Koran in a uniquely American way. Through Feb. 28. 850 San Clemente Drive, Newport Beach, ocma.net.

John K., Women, at Farago. Little is known about the North Dakota-born, L.A.-based photographer who for years took erotically-charged photos, transparencies and 8mm films of women  both clothed and nude. These go well beyond the average nudie picture taken by some hobbyist. The artist (whose surname was Kayser) had an inspired eye when it came to tone and light, not to mention composition. Through March 5. 224 W. Eighth St., downtown Los Angeles, farrago.xyz.

Mark Dutcher: The Time Machine at Jason Vass. This new downtown art gallery is kicking off with a show of works by the L.A. abstractionist. The exhibition will feature his Time Machine series as well a painting inspired by the poetry of American wordsmith Hart Crane. Through March 5. 1452 E. Sixth St., downtown Los Angeles, jasonvass.com.

Rain Room, at the L.A. County Museum of Art. It was universally panned by the critics when it appeared at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. (New York Magazine critic Jerry Saltz described it as the worst single work of art that I saw all this year ... a high-tech amusement-park ride.) And my colleague Christopher Knight labeled it brainless amusement in his review of the experience. But who cares when you can take the worlds most awesome selfie inside it and share it with the world on Instagram? Through March 6. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, lacma.org.

Derek Fordjour: Eight Paintings and Yashua Klos: How to Hide in the Wind, at Papillion. A pair of new shows at Papillion explore the black figure in unique ways. In a series of new paintings, Fordjour places arrangements of figures against patterned and other carnivalesque backgrounds. Klos, in the meantime, creates elaborate collages that find ways of integrating faces and heads into architectonic elements that appear to float in space. Through March 6. 4336 Degnan Blvd., Leimert Park, Los Angeles, papillionart.com.

Morgan MacLean, Massing the Void, at the Landing. Raised among a community of boat-builders in Massachusetts, MacLeans sculptural pieces take their cue from the fine craftsmanship of traditional wood sailing vessels. In this series, which spans seven pieces and three years, he used a crushed cardboard box as a point of inspiration to make a series of abstracted sculptures that are as much about form as they are about space. Through March 12. 5118 W. Jefferson Blvd., West Adams, Los Angeles, thelandinggallery.com.

Dansaekhwa and Minimalism, at Blum & Poe. A survey of some 35 works pairs pieces by key American minimalists (Sol LeWitt, Carl Andre, Agnes Martin) with important works from Koreas Dansaekhwa movement, whose artists (figures such as Lee Ufan and Kwon Young-woo) were renowned for creating monochrome works in imaginative and textural ways. A truly meditative show. Through March 12. 2727 S. La Cienega Blvd., Culver City, blumandpoe.com.

Ron Jude: Lago, at Gallery Luisotti. In his fourth solo show at the gallery, Jude explores the landscape of the Salton Sea, the famously polluted body of water, near which the photographer spent some of the formative years of his childhood. Through March 12. Bergamot Station, 2525 S. Michigan Ave., Santa Monica, galleryluisotti.com.

Disguise: Masks and Global African Art, at the Fowler Museum. This exhibition looks at the art of disguise through the work of a dozen contemporary African and African American artists  touching on everything from elaborate masks to the illusionist camouflage of the digital sphere. Expect to see work by artists such as Zina Saro-Wiwa, Jacolby Satterwhite and Brendan Fernandes. Through March 13. UCLA, north campus, Westwood, fowler.ucla.edu.

Siren at Five Car Garage. A group show of 10 artists who hail primarily from the Los Angeles area looks at works that employ or reference sound. This includes works of video and a pair of sound baths that provide sound healing. (The sound baths require advance RSVP and an admission of $30.) Five Car Garage is located in the garage of a private home; address and other details are provided with an RSVP. Through March 18. Santa Monica, emmagrayhq.com.

... Loss, Desire, Pleasure, at the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at USC. For four years, the Los Angeles nightclub known by a word that cant be printed in this newspaper, served as rejoinder to the clean cut-world of West Hollywood gay bars  a gritty setting where dance, performance and activism were blurred into a single act, and where the human body served as statement and canvas, displaying piercings, tattoos and all kinds of other bod-mods. This exhibition tracks the clubs historical legacy and connects it with contemporary artistic practices. Note: the related link contains NSFW images. Through March 19. 909 W. Adams Blvd., University Park, Los Angeles, one.usc.edu.

Frank Gehry, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Featuring more than 200 drawings and 65 models, as well as countless photographs and video, this retrospective looks at the life and career of one of L.A.s most celebrated architects. Totally worth it just to see the original design for downtowns Disney Hall. (Glad they went for the option that was built.) Through March 20. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, lacma.org.

Christian Eckart, post-post, at Wilding Cran. The Canadian-born, Houston-based artists first solo show in Los Angeles features a series of new abstract paintings as well as a curious sculpture titled The Absurd Vehicle, a seemingly enticing objet whose many wheels and impractical body look as if they would simply send a rider scurrying in circles. Through March 26. 939 S. Santa Fe Ave., downtown Los Angeles, wildingcran.com.

Evan Holloway at David Kordanksy Gallery. Holloway, a Los Angeles artist, is known for making curious arrangements out of seemingly simple materials: Geometric pieces of tree branches turn out to be cast bronze, while spherical shapes studded with spent batteries nod to spiky Nkondi nail fetish sculpture. Through Mar. 26. 5130 W. Edgewood Place, Mid-City, Los Angeles, davidkordanksygallery.com.

Erwin Wurm: One-Minute Sculptures at the MAK Center. The Austrian sculptor brings a wry approach to the form with pieces that can only be completed by the viewer  which means standing on a pedestal with a pink plush doll on your head or sitting inside a white plinth turned on its side. Its all a tribute to the absurd nature of the monuments men make to themselves. Go with friends for maximum enjoyment. Through March 27. Schindler House, 835 N. Kings Road, West Hollywood, makcenter.org.

In Focus: Daguerreotypes, at the Getty Museum. A selection of some of the museums 2,000 daguerreotypes go on view alongside daguerreotypes from the collection of singer-songwriter Graham Nash, a prominent collector of this early type of photography. Through March 30. 1200 Getty Center Drive, Brentwood, getty.edu.

Robert Cremean: The Beds of Procrustes and The Seven Deadly Sins, at the Pasadena Museum of California Art. The California artist is known for cool, diagrammatic pieces that employ the human figure in ways that riff on bigger questions of art, myth, faith and sacrifice. For his show in Pasadena, one installation examines the legend of Procrustes, the Greek mythological bandit who would torture people in various ways in order to force them to fit onto an iron bed, while another uses human figures to interpret each of the deadly sins. Through April 3. 490 E. Union St., Pasadena, pmcaonline.org.

Lita Albuquerque, 20/20: Accelerando, at the USC Fisher Museum of Art. In an exhibition that melds film, sound and performance, Albuquerque tells the story of a 25th century female astronaut who lands on Earth in the year 6,000 BC. The piece is drawn from a text that Albuquerque has been working on since 2003, re-imagined in the museum as an impressionistic environment that, among other things, features original music by film and theater composer Robbie C. Williamson. Through April 10. 823 W. Exposition Blvd., Exposition Park, Los Angeles, fisher.usc.edu.

Rebecca Campbell and Samantha Fields: Dreams of Another Time at the University Art Museum at Cal State Long Beach. A two-person show looks at the works of two important Los Angeles-based artists: Campbell, known for her meticulous portraits composed out of broad lines, and Fields, who uses old-fashioned paint to create the sensations of digital blurring. In the permanent collection galleries, the museum will also be displaying a number of prints by renowned painter Wayne Thiebaud. Through April 10. CSULB, 1250 N. Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach, web.csulb.edu/uam.

Skin, at the L.A. Municipal Art Gallery. The work of three dozen contemporary artists  including figures such as Kara Walker, April Bey and Ken Gonzales-Day  examines issues related to race and identity in this new group show. Through April 17. There will be a related Un-panel Conversation on the subject held on Feb. 17 at 7 p.m. 4800 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, lamag.org.

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Hard Edged: Geometrical Abstraction and Beyond, at the California African American Museum. A new exhibition features the work of 46 artists  from emerging figures to well-established names  working in the arena of geometric abstraction. This includes works by fresh voices and standard-bearers, including well-known figures such as Rashid Johnson, Senga Nengudi, David Hammons and Tim Washington. Through April 24. 600 State Drive, Exposition Park, caamuseum.org.

Alice Konitz, Los Angeles Museum of Art (LAMOA), at Occidental College. This is a work of sculpture that also serves as a micro exhibition hall. The space was established in Konitzs backyard in 2012 but will be on view at Occidental College for the course of the academic year. The inaugural exhibition features work by L.A. artist Alice Clements. Through spring 2016. In front of Weingart Hall at Occidental College, 1600 Campus Road, Eagle Rock, oxy.edu.

Catherine Opie: 700 Nimes Road at MOCA Pacific Design Center. For six months in 2011, Los Angeles photographer Catherine Opie documented the Bel-Air estate of Elizabeth Taylor  the clothes, the photographs, the jewelry, the little bits of personal ephemera that make a house a home. Now she is showing the series, one that chronicles a life of wealth and fame, at the Museum of Contemporary Arts West Hollywood space. Through May 8. Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood, moca.org.

Popol Vuh: Watercolors of Diego Rivera, at the Bowers Museum. The Popol Vuh is a nearly 500-year-old Mayan text, written in Quiche, that recounts that cultures creation myths. This sacred text inspired a series of watercolors by Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, an artist who was preoccupied with indigenous themes. Now 17 of these paintings, on loan from a museum in Mexico, are on view at the Bowers. Through May 29. 2002 N. Main St., Santa Ana, bowers.org.

Alex Israel, at the Huntington. In 2012, the San Marino library and museum unveiled the first of its contemporary interventions with low-key works by Ricky Swallow and Lesley Vance. Now the museum is getting bolder, with a series of installations by painter Alex Israel, whose pop-inspired canvases and objects touch on topics such as celebrity, glamour and power. Through July 11. 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, huntington.org.

Senses of Time: Video and Film-Based Works of Africa, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. For one of its long-term installations, the museum has gathered works of video or film by contemporary African artists that explore the body and the looping nature of time. This includes pieces by figures such as Yinka Shonibare, Sammy Baloji, Berni Searle, Moatax Nasr and Theo Eshetu. Through Jan. 2, 2017. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, lacma.org.

Islamic Art Now at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Contemporary works from LACMAs permanent collection by 20 artists who live in or have roots in the Middle East look at questions of society, gender and identity. Runs indefinitely. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, lacma.org.

Find me on Twitter @cmonstah.
There are just a select few who inarguably belong in the pantheon of great film composers; Ennio Morricone is one.

However, just as the film for which he has received his sixth Oscar nomination, Quentin Tarantinos The Hateful Eight, is often misleadingly put in the small box of being a western, the casual moviegoer might limit Morricone to his classic spaghetti-western collaborations with Sergio Leone.

Many people mistakenly describe The Hateful Eight as a western movie, says the maestro through a translator. In my opinion, its not a western movie, but an adventure movie set in a particular moment in American history that is after the war of secession. And [more than 30 years] after my last western score, I didnt want to repeat myself, to resemble what I had done for Sergio Leone or the other western movies.

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In my opinion, if you were to label this movie, it would be an adventure, a drama, with some irony inside.

Indeed, the Hateful score belongs much more to a twisty chamber mystery, as Tarantino has described his film, than an ultra-macho cowboy shootout saga. It combines harpsichord-like tiptoeing sounds and gravitas-imbuing strings with a repeating woodwinds theme straight out of a whodunit.

What I wanted to do with the two bassoons at first  and later there is a tuba and later on the contrabassoon and then the trumpet, and in the end, the male voices  I wanted to de-traumatize the dramatic content of the music, says Morricone. To add something lighter, more curious, more interesting. The contents of the theme remain tragic and dramatic, but the way these instruments are played, to the extreme ranges of their timbre, makes them quite lighter and ironic.

Morricone has more than 500 scoring credits in a career spanning more than 60 years. And at 87, hes not appreciably slowing down. Counting shorts and documentaries, he has 20 credits in the last five years. He has scored many major American and French films and composed more than 100 classical works, selling more than 70 million records globally. His exquisite work for Roland Joffe's The Mission (1986) is No. 23 among AFIs 25 Greatest Film Scores of All Time. And that doesnt include the countless times his iconic themes have been parodied, referred to, or appropriated outright by filmmakers, including Tarantino.

Morricone has previously been quoted as criticizing Tarantinos use of his music in the auteurs films  published reports had him saying Tarantino places music in his films without coherence, among other things, at a Rome university in 2013. Thats apparently all in the past, as the maestro now happily cites Tarantinos use of his Citta Violenta in Django Unchained and Rabbia e Tarantella, from the film Allonsanfan, in Inglourious Basterds.

Those were examples of which I really appreciated the way Tarantino used the music, he says, adding, Tarantino made something very special for this movie because the 70-millimeter version of the film starts with a musical overture; just a fixed image on the screen and you just have music. I really appreciated it.

And also, the use of the music entitled Snow is used very effectively in all the snow-covered sequences.

At the time he was writing for the film, however, Morricone was scoring blind  he worked only from the page.

It is true, this music score has been written just on a reading of the script, he allows, but it was a very, very careful and accurate reading of the script. In addition to that, this script was full of many, many details. It was such a bulky script because every single sequence, every single gesture of every single actor was described in many, many details. It gave me a good idea what the film would look like.

I didnt compose them knowing the sequences they were intended for; I just gave Mr. Tarantino the music and then Mr. Tarantino was very, very good at actually selecting the pieces of music and putting them in the sequences and editing them in a very brilliant way, as he had done in the past with the other pieces of music I had composed for other films.

Morricone relished the freedom the auteur gave him, allowing him to compose freely, without any special indication; he didnt ask me for anything precise. Because of this freedom, I took the time to think carefully about what I wanted to do.

The composer received an honorary Oscar in 2007 to go along with three Golden Globes (including for Hateful Eight), four Grammys, five BAFTAs and 10 David di Donatello Awards, Italys highest film honor.

Awards in general are important for composers; they work silently, unseen, they are in the background, he says. But the music can be actually appreciated and duly recognized only if the director makes good use of the music.

Sometimes you can compose great music, but in the editing and cutting of the film, it is not well placed so the audience cannot listen to it, so the music is worthless.

calendar@latimes.com

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No car chases. No fistfights. Not even an illicit affair. The makers of Spotlight stuck to the facts, believing the unvarnished story of Boston Globe reporters uncovering the sexual abuse of children within the Catholic Church would be compelling enough.

In many ways, the film is a study of craft, and that craft is professional journalism, says Oscar-nominated director and co-writer Tom McCarthy. We just took our inspiration from the actual reporting. We werent trying to, um "

Sex it up, offers Oscar-nominated costar Mark Ruffalo, sitting beside his director in a booth before the bar opens at the Sunset Tower Hotel.

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Yeah, or to sensationalize it in any way to make it any more entertaining, McCarthy says. We thought, theres enough entertainment value in the story, in the subject matter. And the importance of the story.

We had to be really patient and trust the audience to come to us, to come to the material. That was probably the big gamble, that we had a really strong screenplay and an incredible ensemble of actors we knew would bring a lot of humanity to this.

The bet paid off, as the film has collected laurels across the board, including the top Screen Actors Guild Award for its stellar ensemble work. It is now among the front-runners for the best picture Oscar and is reverberating outside of Hollywood as well: Just last week the film screened for a Vatican commission on clerical sex abuse.

Despite the compelling nature of its David-versus-Goliath portrayal of blue-collar journalists, as Ruffalo describes them, up against the Church in the Catholic stronghold of Boston, the filmmakers still received notes about how to improve the film. For instance, although the characters are real people, one suggestion had been for Ruffalos Mike Rezendes and fellow nominee Rachel McAdams Sacha Pfeiffer to have an affair.

Hearing this, apparently for the first time, an incredulous Ruffalo turns to his director, Are you joking?

We had a lot of those, says McCarthy, confirming the unheeded advice. We had ones that said, Can you make the Church a more active antagonist? It made the challenge a little more high-wire in that regard, trying to find that pressure and tension without an evil priest running around knocking reporters off, you know? But again, I just kept leaning on the material.

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Both men trumpet the value of investigative journalism and agree on the seriousness of the actual reporters demeanor, again not exactly the stuff of box-office gold.

Ruffalo says his director told us, these guys have a really flat way of talking. They dont use language the way you guys do.

I spent a few days with [Rezendes], watching him work a really important story. All these young men were being killed at Bridgewater, this criminal state psychiatric home. He basically uncovered [the guards] were being so brutally rough with them. He changed the law, he changed that whole institution with three choice stories.

It was inspiring, and at the same time, so workaday. Theres nothing glamorous about it; its just one step in front of the next, all the way up the mountain.

The filmmakers have been praised, including by the real journalists being portrayed, for capturing the essence of reporting work, complete with its occasional drudgery.

The closer you could stay to the truth, the simple, unvarnished truth, the less ability people who dont want the story to get out in the world have of hurting it, keeping it from reaching the people, says Ruffalo.

Indeed, the films depiction of an entrenched institution actively covering up and even enabling crimes against children has gone largely unchallenged.

Because it cant be, says Ruffalo, defiantly. I dont know one person who sat in that audience and doesnt feel the moral authority of that movie by the time its over, who can say, That didnt happen.

Ruffalo and McCarthy both say survivors of abuse have thanked them for the film, Ruffalo relating the words of one grateful female viewer: When I came out, everyone called me a liar, called me a fraud. They said it never happened. So many people were afraid to come forward because they saw the way I was treated.

Ive rarely had such a positive response to a movie, and so much outrage, says the actor. When people see that Cardinal Law [archbishop emeritus of Boston] basically went to the Vatican to live in a palace to end his career, they cant believe it. The outrage is constant.

McCarthy says, A lot of us involved, that sense of injustice gets us going.

I dont like when people cut in traffic, he says, then the laugh dies away. So when something this horrific and tragic, especially when it happens to vulnerable children  theres something about the mechanism involved that allowed this to happen for so long  its so unjust; its so unfair.

The reporters felt when they were writing the stories, and we felt when we were making the movie, we thought, Weve got one shot to make this clear and make our imprint. And I hope we can get it right.

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Is Zoolander 2" one Zoolander too many? The answer, unfortunately, is yes more than no.

On the plus side, its pleasant to get reacquainted with vain, stupid, incredibly self-centered male model extraordinaire Derek Zoolander, the man who parlayed a look he called Blue Steel into a position at the epicenter of the fashion world.

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Ben Stiller (who also directed and co-wrote the script with Justin Theroux, John Hamburg and Nicholas Stoller) returns as the modeling icon, a bear of very little brain who calls a youngster with a large vocabulary a walking Tyrannosaurus. When someone says, more in awe than anything else, You really are an idiot, arent you, Derek Zoolander does not object.

Even though Owen Wilson (as archrival/best friend Hansel) and Will Ferrell (as fashion criminal Mugatu) return from the 2001 original, the magic does not return with them.

With a convoluted, over-plotted story line and unsteady supporting characters (not to mention cameos by such diverse people as Willie Nelson, Sting, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and fashion potentate Anna Wintour), this new hit-and-miss Zoolander is unlikely to become the cult favorite its delirious predecessor was.

A lot has happened to Derek and Hansel in the 15 years since they were last seen, including having to cope with the tragedy that brought both men low: the collapse of the building that housed the Derek Zoolander Center for Kids Who Cant Read Good. It turns out the book-shaped structure was actually built out of kids stuff, Popsicle sticks and glue, not the most durable of materials.

Dereks wife was killed in the collapse, and in the chaos of the ensuing months, their son, Derek Jr., was taken away by the state. Distraught at the multiple calamities, Zoolander became, in his own words, a hermit crab, retreating to a cabin in extreme north northern New Jersey, where he grew a kung fu sage kind of beard streaked with dramatic white.

As for Hansel, burdened by what he considers to be a severe facial injury, he retreats to the desert-like wilds of uncharted Malibu, where, in one of the films most tedious conceits, he lives with an unusual melange of 11 people, including Kiefer Sutherland, all of whom simultaneously become pregnant. Yes, you read that right.

1 / 1 Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller), left, and Hansel (Owen Wilson) on the Valentino runway during Paris Fashion Week in March 2015. (Pascal Le Segretain / Getty Images )

Derek and Hansel end their self-imposed exile when fashions current ruler, Alexanya Atoz (Kristen Wiig), invites them to participate in her latest fashion event, to be held, as it turns out, on the grounds of an abandoned medical waste dump in Rome.

In Rome, they meet their successor as top model, All (a brief Benedict Cumberbatch cameo), an individual who claims not to be defined by binary concepts. Favorite phrase when wanting to exit a situation: All is done.

Inexplicably also in Rome is Dereks long-lost son Derek Jr. (Cyrus Arnold), who turns out to be a chubby kid whose existence makes Derek Sr. question his belief that being fat makes you a terrible person.

It is in Rome that Zoolander 2s story actually begins, with a James Bond-type prelude of masked men on black motorcycles assassinating Justin Bieber (yes, he plays himself) for reasons that become explicit if not exactly clear as things unfold.

That assassination gets the attention of Valentina Valencia (a game Penelope Cruz), a special agent with Interpols Galactic Fashion Division, the same folks who put Mugatu into the European Union Fashion Prison, which turns out to be an actual place we get to visit.

Valentina has an idea that Zoolander can help her find the killer of Bieber and other international pop stars, and the unexpected presence of the great man in Rome allows her to test her theory.

With its four credited writers, a plot that really doesnt exist and an on-again, off-again gestation period that lasted more than a decade, Zoolander 2" defines haphazard. You may smile at times, but not as often as youd like.

------------

Zoolander 2'

MPAA rating: PG-13, for crude and sexual content, a scene of exaggerated violence, and brief strong language

Running time: 1 hour, 42 minutes

Playing: In general release

kenneth.turan@latimes.com
I am an endangered species, but I sing no victims song. I am a woman. I am an artist and I know where my voice belongs.

These words, borrowed from jazz singer Dianne Reeves Endangered Species, rang out in Hollywoods Taglyan Complex on Wednesday night as actress Sheryl Lee Ralph belted them from the stage. Quite fittingly, they embody the purpose of the African American Film Critics Assn. which, for the seventh year, hosted an awards dinner to honor its selection of the years best films and television shows. And with a broader conversation about diversity unfolding in the entertainment industry, the organizations importance was placed front and center.

For all of us here who are filmmakers, creators, [we know that] black product is always devalued, said Reginald Hudlin, producer of this years Oscars ceremony. Its always seen as a piece of business, not a piece of art. So the importance of [black] film critics, of us being able to critique and respect our own work is really crucial.

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Hosted by Terrence J and Nischelle Turner, the night attracted some of the most influential names in black Hollywood. What seems like a reincarnation of the Black Oscars, the gathering honored a diverse lot of 10 films the association believed to be the best of the last year. Those films included Straight Outta Compton, which took home the top prize; Creed and Beasts of No Nation along with The Danish Girl, Carol and The Martian. Shows including Survivors Remorse, black-ish and How to Get Away with Murder were also recognized. Creeds Ryan Coogler was named best director.

Individual honors were presented to Hudlin, famed director John Singleton and Jeff Clanagan of Codeblack Films. Clanagans words, while accepting the Ashley Boone award for his work in marketing and distribution, received much applause for its direct approach to addressing ways black Hollywood can respond to the broader industrys lack of diversity.

We should be doing for ourselves versus always chasing the studios when theyre saying no, he said. Dont take no for an answer. Our culture transcends and travels worldwide.

Clanagan suggested content creators make use of the Internet and social media as platforms to get their productions out to the world.

And when people say that black films arent good business decisions?

This notion [that] our movies dont travel overseas is [expletive], he said. There are audiences over there and they want to see us, [so much so that] they get it on bootleg.

As for what studios can do, HBO Films president Len Amato had an idea during his acceptance speech for the Cinema Vanguard Award.

Diverse initiatives and programming are no longer altruistic endeavors, he said. The country is changing and the industry must change with it. It makes good business sense.

Terrence J perhaps summed up the evening the best, which can be applied to why awards shows that celebrate people of color and their cultural productions are important.

This is an opportunity for us to celebrate each other, for us to encourage each other and for us to continue to motivate each other in the creative journeys were on, he said.

And if you were looking for Hudlin to comment on the Academy Awards...

Someone wanted me to say something about the Oscars, he began. Its on Feb. 28. Please watch the show. Its going to be fantastic.

Get your life! Follow me on Twitter: @TrevellAnderson.
In the jail abuse scandal that has roiled the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department and resulted in the convictions of more than a dozen officials, one question has remained open: How high did the corruption go?

Retired Sheriff Lee Baca admitted in federal court Wednesday that it went all the way to the top.

Baca, who left office two years ago, pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents and federal prosecutors investigating the beatings of inmates and visitors at the nations largest jail system. As part of a surprise plea deal with the U.S. attorneys office, Baca acknowledged for the first time taking an active role in trying to stymie the federal probe, even allowing a team of deputies to confront one FBI agent at her home.

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Full Coverage: L.A. County jail system under scrutiny

Baca faces a maximum of six months behind bars and could be sentenced to probation under the terms of the plea deal. U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson is to sentence him May 16.

U.S. Atty. Eileen Decker, whose office pursued the jail investigation with the FBI for six years, said Bacas guilty plea brought no joy to case agents or prosecutors.

It is indeed a sad day when a leader of a law enforcement agency fails to honor his oath, and instead of upholding justice, chooses to obstruct it, she said during an afternoon news conference.

The 73-year-old Baca appeared in court with his sheriffs badge pinned to the lapel of his brown suit and took calls from former colleagues as he waited for his arraignment. His involvement in a scandal that saw unarmed inmates and visitors beaten by his deputies appeared to deal a lethal blow to a reputation for integrity and community service he promoted for himself and his officers during his 15 years on the job. Baca had department business cards inscribed with what he said were the agencys core values, including respect for the dignity of all people, and required deputies to memorize and recite them.

He had such a level of arrogance and importance, said Peter Eliasberg, the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, which had long complained about abuse at the jails. What happened to the inmates was horrible. He is in large part to blame for that.

Federal officials secretly launched an investigation into abuse at the jails in 2010 after receiving complaints from inmates. Advocacy groups said beatings by deputies were routine in the crowded jail system. Ultimately agents uncovered evidence of assaults, including attacks on a mentally ill inmate and a man visiting an incarcerated relative. So far, more than a dozen former sheriffs officials have been convicted of charges related to beatings and attempts to cover them up.

Prosecutors have been looking closely at possible criminal conduct by Baca for years, but it was only in the last week that they informed his lawyer, Michael Zweiback, that they intended to ask a grand jury to indict him, Zweiback said. Prosecutors didnt specify the charges they would seek, Zweiback said, but one possibility was obstruction of justice, a more serious charge than the false statements count to which Baca ultimately admitted. Seven sheriffs officials have been convicted of obstruction in the jail scandal and received sentences ranging from a year and a half to more than three years in prison.

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Trying to avoid that sort of sentence, his lawyer began negotiating with prosecutors.

He really wanted to put this whole ordeal behind not only himself but also the department, Zweiback said. It was very important to him that this no longer be a distraction to the Sheriffs Department.

In the plea agreement filed in federal court Wednesday, Baca admitted lying in an April 12, 2013, interview with investigators. By that time, the scandal was front-page news, with The Times that day citing anonymous sheriffs officials claiming Baca had a significant role in trying to hinder the federal investigation. Baca publicly presented a different view, telling the paper, Im not a hands-on person.

He continued to maintain that he knew little in the meeting with FBI agents and prosecutors, according to the plea agreement. He told them he was not involved in hiding an inmate, Anthony Brown, an informant cooperating with the investigation by federal agents, and was not aware that one of his top lieutenants had intervened to stop agents from questioning Brown.

In addition, he told investigators that he was not involved in sending sheriffs officials to the residence of Leah Marx, an FBI agent working the jail case, to threaten her with arrest and only learned about it when an FBI official phoned him to complain. According to the plea agreement, Baca was at the meeting the day before where officials came up with the plan and told his subordinates they should do everything but put handcuffs on her.

In entering his guilty plea, Baca admitted only to lying to officials about his awareness of the visit to the FBI agents home. Under the terms of the plea deal, he agreed not to contest the prosecutors other allegations.

David Bowdich, assistant director in charge of the FBIs Los Angeles field office, noted that Baca continued to deny the truth even as rank-and-file deputies were under the gun and being prosecuted.

He had the opportunity to lead and he did not lead, Bowdich said.

Zweiback said Baca had accepted that he might spend time in federal prison. He is ready for whatever outcome is deemed appropriate by the court.

Baca has not offered any explanation as to why he lied, his lawyer said.

Bacas second-in-command, Undersheriff Paul Tanaka, is scheduled to go on trial in March for his alleged role in obstructing the federal investigation. Prosecutors contend that Tanaka took the lead role in trying to undermine the probe. Bacas plea agreement does not require him to testify at that trial, and his attorney said he expects the former sheriff to assert his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination and refuse to testify if called to the stand.

The charge to which Baca admitted  making false statements  carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Under the terms of the agreement, Baca can withdraw his guilty plea if the judge indicates that a sentence of more than six months is warranted.

The disparity between the sentence negotiated with Baca and those of other sheriffs officials galled some in the department.

He is one person who could have prevented these problems, said George Hofstetter, president of the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs.

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Decker, the U.S. attorney, defended making the deal with Baca. She said that as in all cases, prosecutors analyzed the evidence and assessed the chances of winning a conviction from a jury. She said another important factor was Bacas willingness to plead guilty before prosecutors sought an indictment from a grand jury.

It was significant that a law enforcement representative, particularly a former sheriff, has come forward in a way that no one else has at that level to accept responsibility, Decker said.

She said prosecutors would not decide what sentence to recommend to the judge until after reviewing materials Baca is expected to submit in advance of sentencing. Typically these include evidence of a defendants contributions to society.

Baca stepped down in 2014 enmeshed in controversy. The countys blue-ribbon commission found troubling evidence of excessive force by deputies against inmates and sharply criticized Bacas leadership. And a 2013 federal investigation separate from the jail probe concluded that his officers had harassed and intimidated African American and Latino residents of the Antelope Valley.

Baca, flanked by his wife, declined to speak to reporters as he left court. In a statement read by his attorney, he said, I made a mistake and accept being held accountable. I will always love the men and women of the Sheriffs Department and serve human life no matter whom and where they are.

joel.rubin@latimes.com

cindy.chang@latimes.com

harriet.ryan@latimes.com

Times staff writers Richard Winton and Kate Mather contributed to this report.

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A teenager who was born female and uses the boys locker room at Rancho Bernardo High School in San Diego has triggered a dispute over a state law that seeks to accommodate transgender students.

A Poway Unified School District board meeting was packed Tuesday night with people raising questions about student rights.

Parent Holly Franz said she learned when the semester resumed three weeks ago that a genetically female student who identifies as male was changing in the locker room.

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Franz said she understood that the district must follow the law, but would like the school to make accommodations for others who may feel awkward because of the situation. She also urged that all students be notified if there is a transgender student using facilities where others change clothes.

Transgender rights advocates responded by starting a petition on Change.org asking the district to take no action regarding the issue. As of Tuesday afternoon, about 1,200 people had signed the petition.

Supporters said they did not want the district to make accommodations that would segregate transgender students.

The issue was raised during the public comment portion of the meeting. Trustees could not take action because the discussion was not part of the agenda, nor did they suggest staff consider a course of action.

My son came home from school and told me there was a girl using the boys locker room, Franz said before the meeting. This is someone hes known for years and has always been a girl. My son was very upset by this, and I called the principal.

Franz said she was not asking for segregation, but would like the school to provide curtains or some other means of ensuring privacy.

Siobhan Garry, 17, a senior at Westview High School in San Diego who started the Change.org petition, had no problem with the idea of creating private changing areas for all students.

Every student finds changing in the locker room fairly uncomfortable to a certain degree, said Siobhan, a transgender student who identifies as nonbinary, or not exclusively male or female.

Early on, some districts admitted struggling with the rules that went into effect in January 2014.

The law states that K-12 public school students who are transgender or gender nonconforming are allowed to participate in classes and activities without regard to their birth sex. It also allows transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms without regard to their sex at birth.

Supt. John Collins issued a statement before the meeting saying the district had tried to accommodate all students rights since the law was implemented.

Over the past two years, we have worked to ensure every students right to privacy, as well as every students right to feel safe, valued and included on our campuses, he wrote.

Kathie Moehlig, a parent in the district who did not address the meeting, said she had been asked to be the spokeswoman for the transgender students family.

This is the first issue Im aware of that anyone has brought up with AB 1266, she said. In working with people at the Transgender Law Center in California, its the first one that they know of.

A representative of the center could not be reached.

Some opponents of the law had predicted problems would arise, including situations where boys would pose as transgender in order to use girls facilities. A statewide referendum effort aimed at repealing the law failed in 2014.

Moehlig said she was concerned that the request for student privacy by Franz could result in segregation of transgender students. But if the proposal was for privacy areas that could be used by all students, she said, she would have no objection.

She does, however, oppose the request that the school notify all families if there is a transgender student using a locker room.

Shes fighting for things that the laws are clear about, and I applaud the district and principal of Rancho Bernardo High School in knowing the law and their legal obligation of protecting the students, she said.

Christine Paik, Poway Unifieds director of communications, said the district could not disclose that information because of privacy laws.

Franz said she understood the district was following the law but argued that it hadnt been implemented well. She said she was considering legal action against the state to gain more privacy for students.

Though the law requires school districts to allow transgender students to use restrooms and locker rooms they choose, it does not specify what steps each school should take to accommodate them and other students.

After the law went into effect, a county school official said campuses would address the issue on the individual needs of students and on a case-by-case basis.

Schools are working with students  based on what they are comfortable with or what their needs are, said Don Buchheit, senior director for student support services with the San Diego County Office of Education.

In San Diego Unified School District, all schools have private restrooms available for any student to use, and middle and high school students have options for changing in private in locker rooms.

We havent had any issues that Im aware of like we heard in Poway, said Linda Zintz, communications director of San Diego Unified.

Zintz said all schools created private areas after the law took effect that could be used by either transgender students or other students in locker rooms.

gary.warth@sduniontribune.com

Warth writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

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Todays American college freshman is more liberal, less religious and increasingly committed to civic involvement and political activism than her predecessors in previous generations, according to a national survey released Wednesday by UCLA researchers.

Nearly 60% of freshmen surveyed said they expected to vote sometime during their college years and majorities supported same-sex marriage, abortion rights, affirmative action, legalization of marijuana and equal pay for women. They also overwhelmingly oppose U.S. involvement in other countries wars.

Collectively, the findings suggest that more students are committed to social justice, said Kevin Eagan, director of UCLAs cooperative institutional research program, which has conducted the annual American Freshman survey for the last 50 years. That may be why they are the most committed to political and civic engagement of any of the previous 49 classes.

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One-third of those surveyed said they were liberal or far left, the highest proportion in four decades, while one-fifth described themselves as conservative or far right.

But their attitudes were markedly different according to race and ethnicity. Although interest in political and civic activism has grown among all students, African American and Latino students were far more likely than Asians and whites to expect to participate in a campus demonstration. They were also more likely to believe it important to promote racial understanding and influence politics.

For instance, only 6% of Asians planned to participate in a protest or felt it important to influence politics, compared with more than twice that share for African Americans.

The UCLA researchers said the heightened interest in political activism could be the result of students witnessing the recent wave of protests against police shootings of African American men and student demonstrations against campus treatment of minorities at the University of Missouri, Claremont McKenna College, Occidental College and elsewhere.

Whether the enhanced political interest will affect the presidential election this year is another matter, however. Although Barack Obama produced a record turnout of young voters in 2008  and won the backing of 66% of those under 30 years old  young people still have the lowest voting rates of any age group.

We certainly see students embracing more of the progressive perspectives, Eagan said. But will it actually translate to action?

If they organize, protest and show up at the polls, they may have a role in shaping the public discourse on issues related to social inequality, equity and discrimination, he said. By contrast, if these students do not follow through on their intentions and goals, the enthusiastic support were seeing for addressing social justice concerns will likely diminish, eliminating the potential for a broader impact in politics or American life.

The researchers surveyed more than 141,000 first-time, full-time students who entered 199 four-year U.S. colleges and universities in 2015. Among them were freshmen from 29 public and private California campuses, including UCLA, UC San Diego, Cal State Long Beach, Cal State Northridge, USC and Occidental College.

Despite their overall embrace of liberal views, todays freshmen are more likely to support restrictions on free speech  a trend that has led to controversial student movements to disinvite commencement speakers, disrupt presentations by those with unpopular views, and demand trigger warnings before uttering potentially uncomfortable speech.

Support for banning racist and sexist speech on campus reached 70.9% in 2015, up from 58.9% in 1992. And 43% of those surveyed said colleges should have the right to ban extreme speakers, up from 25% in 1971.

Eagan said he understood student concerns that derogatory speech could lead to violence or harm students. At the same time, institutions need to make sure we arent insulating students from ideas that may be counter to their narratives, he said.

The proportion of students who did not affiliate with a religion grew to 29.5%, an all-time high since the survey began. Freshmen also continued to report that they studied more and partied less in their last year of high school than previous classes.

For the first time, the survey asked students about their sexual orientation and gender identity and found that those who described themselves as bisexual, gay, lesbian, queer or other more frequently felt depressed and overwhelmed than the 93.2% of students who said they were heterosexual.

The survey also asked questions about students financial aid for the first time. It found that more than a quarter of freshmen received a federal Pell Grant  an annual award of up to $5,775 for low-income students  and they were disproportionately Latino and African American. Those students worried far more than others about their ability to pay for college and had to scramble more to take out loans, find work-study jobs and seek other ways to foot their educational bills.

The UCLA institute plans to release another analysis in June that will provide more detail about how college freshmen have changed over the 50 years of the surveys.

For more education news, follow me @TeresaWatanabe
A Tulare County sheriffs deputy and a pilot who worked for the Sheriffs Department were killed Wednesday when their plane crashed into a mountain in the San Joaquin Valley, authorities said.

The single-engine plane, which the Sheriffs Department purchased in 2011, crashed about 4:15 p.m. about 10 miles east of Porterville, Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said.

The plane ignited after it crashed, sending a plume of black smoke into the sky.

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The pilot, James Chavez, 45, and Deputy Scott Ballantyne, 52, were the only two on the plane. Boudreaux said he met with family members before he released the mens names to the public.

We ask that the community say prayers for the officers and their families, as this is a very difficult time for us, Boudreaux said.

Its unclear what caused the crash of the CTLS aircraft. The Sheriffs Department had clocked about 3,000 hours of flight time in the two-person plane.

It happened so quickly, there was no distress call or mayday, Boudreaux said.

Chavez, a resident of Hanford, was a veteran pilot and had significant aviation experience from his service in the California Army Reserve National Guard. He had been hired by the department in 2014 after more than a year of volunteering as a pilot.

He was just a fantastic pilot, Boudreaux said.

Ballantyne had begun working in the departments aviation unit about 18 months ago as an observer onboard the aircraft, the sheriff said.

Before the crash, both men had flown out to assist deputies on the ground who were tracking down a person wanted for brandishing a firearm, Boudreaux said. That suspect was arrested, and the plane was about to leave the area near Springville.

Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said the agency, along with the National Transportation Safety Board, will investigate the crash.

State Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris and Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims were among the politicians and law enforcement leaders who expressed condolences to Boudreaux and his department, the sheriff said.

Boudreaux, who oversees about 600 sworn deputies and about 250 support staff, called his agency a tight-knit group.

Our department is strong and we will come through this, he said.

For breaking news in California, follow @MattHjourno.
As President Obama swings through Southern California this week for political fundraisers and an appearance on Ellen DeGeneres daytime TV show, motorists in Los Angeles braced for heavier-than-usual traffic that never materialized.

Obama arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday afternoon after attending fundraisers in the Bay Area. He arrived for his taping of Ellen in Burbank. The interview will air Friday.

Along the presidential motorcade, sidewalks and corners were dotted with groups of onlookers, most with smartphones out, and one with a We [heart] Obama sign. As he headed from his final fundraising event in Hancock Park to his hotel room to retire for the night, handfuls of Angelenos waited along Crenshaw Boulevard for the motorcade to pass.

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Earlier in the day after taping Ellen, the president landed on the football field at Los Angeles High School at 6 p.m., right before the Democratic presidential debate began. He was headed for fundraisers in Hancock Park organized by the Democratic National Committee.

The president talked about his to-do list and campaign promises and said he had achieved 80% of what he set out to do. He referenced Los Angeles in talking about the work still left undone. Right now as we speak there are children in this city who have no place to sleep, he said.

After spending the night in L.A., Obama will decamp Friday to the Coachella Valley, traveling to Palm Springs and later Rancho Mirage. There hell host leaders from Southeast Asia for a two-day summit starting Monday at Sunnylands, the 200-acre estate formerly owned by the Annenberg family.

Read our interview with President Obama >>

On Thursday, several roads across L.A. County will be shut down for the presidential visit, according to the Los Angeles Police Department:

At LAX, both directions of Sepulveda Boulevard between Lincoln and Century boulevards will be closed for about eight minutes between 2:30 p.m. and 4 p.m.

In Mid-Wilshire near Los Angeles High School, South Rimpau Boulevard near West Olympic Boulevard will be closed for an hour starting at 3 p.m.

In Burbank, Olive Avenue between North Pass Avenue and Hollywood Way will be closed from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

In Hancock Park, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., two roads will close: South Rossmore Avenue between 3rd Street and Wilshire Boulevard, and 6th Street between South Muirfield Road and South Arden Boulevard.

Also in Hancock Park, from 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., South Windsor Boulevard will close between 2nd Street and 5th Street, and 3rd Street between Plymouth and Lorraine boulevards will also close.

The LAPD also provided a list of roads to avoid:

Thursday

The area around North Hollywood Way between North San Fernando Boulevard and Forest Lawn Drive from 3:15 p.m. to 4:45 p.m.

The area around North Hollywood Way between Forest Lawn Drive and North San Fernando Boulevard from 4:45 p.m. to 6:15 p.m.

The area around Rimpau Boulevard between West Pico Boulevard and West 6th Street from 5:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.

The area around Wilshire Boulevard between South Hudson Avenue and South Arden Boulevard from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The area around West 4th Street between South Muirfield Road and Lorraine Boulevard from 7:15 p.m. to 8:45 p.m.

The area around Crenshaw Boulevard between Wilshire Boulevard and West Adams Boulevard from 8:45 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.

The area around Wilshire Boulevard between the 405 Freeway and Malcolm Ave from 8:45 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.

Friday

The area around Wilshire Boulevard between the Westwood Village area and the 405 Freeway from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.

The area around South Bundy Drive between Ocean Park Boulevard and the 10 Freeway from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Here are some maps of the closures from KTLA-TV Channel 5.

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Coastal Commission fires executive director over objection of hundreds of supporters

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The California Coastal Commissions decision late Wednesday to fire its executive director, Charles Lester, after closed-door deliberations sparked outrage by environmentalists and is expected to leave deep divisions.

Many of the more than 100 Lester supporters awaiting the decision broke into tears or reacted angrily.

During an emotional meeting before the vote, many speakers warned that replacing Lester would send a powerful signal to staff to be more accommodating to development.

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Its disgraceful that the commissioners voted in secret to fire Dr. Lester, Steve Jones, oceans communications specialist for the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a written statement. This isnt over.

Assembly Speaker Toni G. Atkins (D-San Diego) tweeted: Let me apologize to the public. I truly thought my appointees would be better stewards of the coast.

The environmental group Heal the Bay issued a statement saying Lesters firing is representative of a larger issue about the future of Californias coastline. The vote raises the question of what the Coastal Commissions vision is for Californias coast.

1 / 11 Protestors meet to support Charles Lester before the start of the California Coastal Commission meeting Wednesday morning. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 11 Mark Palmer holds a sign in support of Charles Lester at a California Coastal Commission hearing on his position as executive director. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 11 Members of the California Coastal Commission listen to speakers in support of Charles Lester. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 11 Alex Lowe, left, and Rob Moddlemog from Orange County hold a surf board as members of the California Coastal Commission listen to speakers in support of Charles Lester. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 11 Charles Lester listens to speakers at a California Coastal Commission hearing on whether to dismiss him as executive director. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 11 Charles Lester signs an autograph for Gordana Kajer, right, during a break in speakers. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 11 Charles Lester gets a hug from Lennie Roberts, left, from the Committee for Green Foothills in San Mateo County, during a break in speakers. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 11 Supporters of Charles Lester fill the room with waving signs. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 11 Members of the California Coastal Commission listen to speakers in support of Charles Lester. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 11 Charles Lester reacts to speakers during a long commission hearing on a vote for his dismissal. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 11 Charles Lester, left, reacts as he hears the vote to fire him effective immediately. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

The panel disclosed that it voted 7 to 5 in a private session to dismiss Charles Lester, touching off an emotional scene unique in the agencys 44-year history.

Several commissioners who voted against Lester were escorted out of the meeting by law enforcement without explaining their votes.

Commission chairman Steve Kinsey, who voted against the firing, called it a difficult decision that revolved around leadership and not around an issue of greater flexibility for development along the coast, which many of the hundreds of supporters of Lester had claimed in seven hours of public testimony earlier in the day.

The challenge we face now is to rebuild trust and to illustrate through our actions that we will live up to the ideals of the Coastal Act, Kinsey said.

No other commissioners offered explanations following the vote. After giving Lester a moment to speak, they adjourned.

Commissioners Olga Diaz, Erik Howell, Wendy Mitchell, Effie Turnbull-Sanders, Mark Vargas, Martha McClure and Roberto Uranga voted to fire Lester. Voting no were Carole Groom, Mary Shallenberger, Kinsey, vice chair Dayna Bochco and Mary Luevano.

The dismissal takes effect immediately, with Senior Deputy Director Jack Ainsworth leading the agency until the commission selects an interim and permanent replacement.

In his remarks after the vote, Lester said, Its been a privilege to serve the commission for the past 4 years. If there is a silver lining, Ive been energized by all the people who came together on this.

His comments drew sustained applause from the audience.

In an interview later, Lester said he heard nothing from commissioners during the hearing that went beyond organizational issues he thought they would work through to resolve.

FULL COVERAGE: Firing of the California Coastal Commission executive director >>

He said he went out of his way to address concerns about the agencys process, staff diversity and communication with commissioners.

I dont know, maybe they just thought I was too independent, Lester said.

Commissioners took the action in closed session because they said they were bound by law to honor Lesters right to privacy.

But their reasoning did not align with advice from the agencys chief counsel, who told the panel they were free to discuss any current issues involving Lesters performance because he had chosen a public hearing to defend himself.

Before moving into closed session, several commissioners were critical of media reports, fueled by coastal activists and environmental groups, that attributed the move to fire Lester to a desire for more coastal development.

Commissioners said the reports were baseless and damaged the reputation of the agency.

This created an atmosphere of public distrust, said Commissioner Vargas. We need to set the record straight. There was no coup by developer interests.

But this is like trying to convince people that the fluoride in their water was not a communist plot, Vargas said.

Some commissioners alluded in general to unhappiness with Lester.

Vice chair Bochco said commissioners have had problems getting information from the commissions staff, had not been included in agency processes and were often left in the dark about how staff had come to conclusions related to projects.

I would like to discuss with the press the reasons we are here, Bochco said. It is not about developers and their consultants. We have been terribly mischaracterized as developer hacks.

Commissioners Groom and Shallenberger defended Lester and praised him for a long list of achievements, including the development of a strategic plan for the agency, efforts to address sea level rise, increasing the budget by $3 million and good cooperation with local governments.

He leads by accomplishment, Groom said. Month after month after month we have some 60 issues to deal with. To do this work there is leadership at the top and the bottom.... The proposal to replace our executive director is absolutely wrong.

Speakers included officials from local governments up and down the coast, representatives of state legislators, commission staff members, environmental organizations and Fred Collins, an administrator for the Northern Chumash Tribal Council, who implored the commission to protect grandmother ocean.

Youre getting killed here today, former commission chief counsel Ralph Faust told commissioners. He urged them to make their decision in public, adding that whatever it is, own it and defend it.

In the past, some commissioners said that Lester is lacking in management and leadership skills and that they have trust and communication problems with him and staff.

They say the planning and approval process is far too long and burdensome for developers.

His critics say the problems have existed since 2011, when about half the commission was replaced.

Lester was notified in writing Jan. 14 that the commission would consider his dismissal. The panel gave him the option of resigning or having a public hearing to determine his future. He chose the latter and he defended his record in remarks that opened the hearing.

Lester, who replaced longtime Executive Director Peter Douglas five years ago, said he remained the best person to lead the powerful agency in its mission to shape land use and protect the environment along the coast.

He backed his work and that of staff to preserve coastal resources and public access in the face of rising seas, a growing population and increasing development pressure.

Our beaches are a critically important public commons to be enjoyed by all Californians, Lester said. Many of our beloved beaches could be lost -- squeezed out between the rising seas and shoreline development.

He highlighted his experience and commitment as a public servant protecting the states 1,100-mile shoreline under the 1976 Coastal Act.

In a highly charged environment, Lester said, the independent, 160-member staff provides impartial, objective and well-reasoned recommendations that are crucial for political appointees on the panel to make proper decisions.

At least one big developer, the Pebble Beach Co., showed up to support Lester, praising him and the commission for their approval four years ago of a major development at the luxurious Monterey Peninsula resort after years of clashing over the proposal.

The letter from Chief Executive Bill Perocchi called Lester a fair, pragmatic, creative, open and reasonable director who balanced the needs of the company and the rights of the public.

Sonoma County Supervisor Efren Carrillo cited Lesters proven track record and sensible approach.

He urged commissioners to greatly consider your responsibility to future generations and to place their coastal protection duties over politics or development pressure.

A former chairman of the commission, Mel Nutter, said the way the hearing was structured -- with hours of public testimony before any commissioners uttered any criticisms of Lester -- was totally backwards.

The public was asked in effect to present a defense against a set of charges that were never presented, said Nutter, a Long Beach attorney. It was totally backwards and that put the public at a huge disadvantage.

The commission was back in session Thursday, and some critics of the firing are also in Morro Bay pressing their case.

dan.weikel@latimes.com | Twitter: @LADeadline16

tony.barboza@latimes.com | Twitter: @tonybarboza

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Southern California Gas Co. announced Thursday that it has temporarily controlled the flow of gas from a well near Porter Ranch, a crucial first step in the effort to stop the leak that has forced thousands to flee their homes.

The gas company said that a relief well reached the base of the leaking well and that officials are now pumping heavy fluids to temporarily control the flow of gas out of the leaking well. That could keep the leak plugged permanently.

But officials emphasized that this was a first step and that cement must now be poured to fully block the leak. That could take several days.

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We have temporarily controlled the natural gas flow from the leaking well and begun the process of sealing the well and permanently stopping the leak, Jimmie Cho, senior vice president of gas operations and system integrity, said in a statement released by the gas company.

State regulators will eventually conduct inspections and pressure tests to certify that, after nearly four months of environmental contamination, civic disruption and worry, Aliso Canyon Natural Storage Facilitys Standard Sesnon Well 25 has been plugged.

Thursdays development was cause for celebration, although there is still a lot of work ahead, said Paula Cracium, president of the Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council.

It changes from controlling the crisis to now navigating recovery, Cracium said. Homeowners have been injured. Property values have been injured. Theres going to be a version of PTSD as they get a whiff of any odor in their home.

Most of the families in the community are very excited to get back, but they will not be distracted by the leak stoppage. They still want to know that their homes are safe, she added.

Once the leak is stopped, residents who have temporarily relocated to leased houses and hotel rooms will have seven nights to move back to their residences, in accordance with terms of a recent agreement between the gas company and the Los Angeles city attorneys office.

However, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Porter Ranch), said Wednesday he wants to delay the start of the seven-day clock until another step is taken. Sherman wants the California Air Resources Board to certify that the air surrounding the Aliso Canyon field is free of natural gas.

Over the past three months, the well has spewed more greenhouse gases than any other facility in California. The release of so much methane, a greenhouse gas several times more powerful than carbon dioxide, will contribute significantly to global warming, experts say.

Odorants that are commonly added to gas to aid in detecting leaks have prompted hundreds of complaints of nausea, respiratory problems and nosebleeds and have displaced residents from more than 4,400 homes in Porter Ranch and its surrounding communities in the foothills of the northern San Fernando Valley.

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The stricken well is one of 115 injection wells at the 80-year-old, 3,600-acre Aliso Canyon facility, which stores 86 billion cubic feet of gas and serves 11 million people in the Los Angeles basin. Many of those wells are corroded and mechanically damaged, the gas company said.

Yet it is the only gas storage field in a distribution area stretching from Porter Ranch 60 miles south to Santa Ana that can ensure reliability in both winter, when homes and businesses use significant amounts of natural gas for heating, and summer, when gas-fired generators supply power to air conditioners.

Efforts to close the well are being conducted under new orders imposed by the Safety and Enforcement Division of the California Public Utilities Commission in consultation with the state Department of Conservations Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources.

The gas company, which is the subject of ongoing criminal investigations and civil litigation, has been ordered by the PUC not to remove, temporarily store, bury or raze anything within a 400-foot radius of the wellhead.

Materials to be protected for use as possible evidence include all metal and concrete well casings, tubing, valves and valve parts, wire, gas and mud samples, gravel, cement mixtures and soil.

Its clear the costs of this incident are the gas companys, Robert Weisenmiller, chairman of the California Energy Commission, said in an interview Wednesday. The CPUC will be tracking all of the gas companys costs to make sure they are not allocated to ratepayers and that the shareholders have full responsibility.

Weisenmiller said he expected the issue to be highly contested.

Environmentalists said stopping the flow of gas was a big step but also urged caution.

Stopping this leak is critical to ensure the safety of the Porter Ranch community, but this isnt the end of the story, said Damon Nagami, director of the National Resources Defense Councils Southern California Ecosystems Project. We must do everything we can to protect families in California and across the country  as well as our climate  from harmful gas leaks.

L.A. City Councilman Mitch Englander issued a statement saying: With so many lives affected over the past four months, the news of finally stopping the leak will allow this community to begin breathing a healthy sigh of relief. The next several phases are critical to ensuring the capped well is certified, the entire facility is safe, and this community can begin to recover.

Twitter: @LouisSahagun

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Public health officials in Yolo County confirmed Wednesday that a resident there who recently returned from international travel contracted the Zika virus, the latest of several confirmed cases in California.

The person, whose identity and gender were not released, had recently traveled to a country in the Caribbean or Central or South America and contracted the virus, said Beth Gabor, a spokeswoman for the Northern California county.

She said the person is not pregnant and has a mild case. The person is not under any travel restrictions.

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Zika is a mosquito-borne illness that until 2015 occurred only in Africa, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands.

After an outbreak in Brazil last year, the virus has spread to 20 countries throughout the Americas.

Transmission occurs when a mosquito bites a person infected with the Zika virus, then bites another person. The virus is not contagious.

Symptoms of Zika virus include rashes, joint pain, fever and red eyes. There is no vaccine.

Since 2013, there have been six confirmed cases of Zika in California, officials with the state Department of Public Health said last week.

Some suspect the virus is tied to a spike in birth defects in Brazil. Last year, thousands of babies were born with microcephaly, in which a childs head is abnormally small. Health officials in some Latin American counties have told women to hold off on becoming pregnant.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that pregnant women in any trimester should refrain from traveling to regions where the Zika virus is active.

If you are pregnant, consider postponing your trip, said Ron Chapman, the health officer of Yolo County. Pregnant women who have recently traveled to an area with Zika should talk to a healthcare provider about their travel even if they dont feel sick.

As of Feb. 3, 35 cases of Zika had been reported in the U.S., all associated with international travel.

For breaking news in California, follow @MattHjourno.

Times staff writer Soumya Karlamangla contributed to this report.

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Paul Terasaki, a philanthropist and pioneer in organ transplant medicine who invented a tissue-typing test that became an international standard for matching donors with recipients, died Jan. 25 at his home in Beverly Hills. He was 86.

Terasaki spent three years in an internment camp during World War II and worked stints as a busboy and gardener as a youth. After earning a doctorate in zoology from UCLA and joining the schools faculty, he embarked on the research that would make him wealthy. Over four decades, he donated a total of $58 million to his alma mater, including a $50-million gift in 2010 that ranks among the largest the school has received.

In recognition, the Terasaki Life Sciences Building opened in 2010, housing cell biology, neuroscience and genomics laboratories. Terasakis donation included $6 million to the UCLA International Institute, which created the Paul I. and Hisako Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies, and $2 million to endow the Paul I. Terasaki Chair in Surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

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To think that I would ever donate anything to UCLA would have been impossible, Terasaki once told a campus publication. Its quite a distance Ive traveled. After the camps, we did not have enough money to afford much of anything.

Paul Ichiro Terasaki was born in Los Angeles on Sept. 10, 1929, to Japanese immigrants and was raised in Boyle Heights. His family had a cake shop in Little Tokyo. They sold it at a loss and parted with most of their possessions when ordered to relocate to the Gila River detention site in Arizona during the war.

After internment, the family settled in Chicago, where Terasaki took hourly jobs as he pursued his education. At 19, he returned to California to enroll as an undergraduate transfer student at UCLA. He eventually became a professor of surgery.

In the 1960s, Terasaki developed antibodies used in a typing test for heart, kidney, liver, pancreas, lung and bone marrow donors and recipients, and launched a company based on this research in 1984 called One Lambda Inc.

In 1987, Terasaki and UCLA were criticized by a state auditor generals report that alleged conflict-of-interest rules and University of California policies were violated by the private production of the testing technology. Terasaki received no discipline or penalty and denied any wrongdoing, saying he paid $500,000 to UCLA for the rights to technology he created in a university lab.

The typing test remains in use. Terasaki sold his company in 2012.

Terasaki also founded the first kidney transplant registry in the 1970s, anticipating the federal registries now in use. He was awarded the UCLA medal  the schools highest honor  in 2012.

He really is pivotal for moving the world of transplantation along, said Victoria Sork, dean of UCLAs Life Sciences department.

Terasaki and his wife, Hisako, whom he married in 1954, were also supporters of the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center and the Little Tokyo Service Center. At the service center, Terasaki was involved in a volunteer program to recruit bone marrow donors called Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches.

I rarely heard him say more than a few sentences at a time, but his impact was huge, said Bill Watanabe, head of the Little Tokyo Service Center from 1980 to 2012.

anh.do@latimes.com
Whether hes your candidate or not, give Bernie Sanders credit: He has made inherently corrupt, high-roller campaign financing a central issue of his presidential bid.

Bernie definitely has blazed a trail, says Derek Cressman, a California-based political reformer. No presidential candidate has ever made it a centerpiece of his campaign the way he has.

In 2000, Sen. John McCain of Arizona railed against so-called soft-money donations to political parties in his unsuccessful race for the Republican nomination, but he also had higher-priority issues.

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Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont running for the Democratic nomination, has made fat-cat campaign money an integral part of his populist rigged economy message.

And its working. Although still the underdog, Sanders trounced Hillary Clinton in a New Hampshire landslide Tuesday after a razor-thin loss to her in Iowa.

Sounding a bit like Woody Guthrie intoning this land is your land, Sanders told supporters after the New Hampshire voting:

We have sent a message that will echo from Wall Street to Washington, from Maine to California  that the government of our great country belongs to all of the people and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors and their super PACs.

Exit polling showed that the personal quality mattering most to voters was whether a candidate was honest and trustworthy. And 92% of those who said that supported Sanders. Certainly the senators honesty image has been burnished by his campaigning against the unfair influence of mega-rich political donors.

The giving of large wads of campaign cash is, for my money, the root cause of virtually all evils in our political system.

Money may not always buy elections, but it indisputably influences legislation.

How much?

We react more positively to our friends than we do to strangers, says longtime Sacramento lobbyist George Steffes, who began his career leaning on lawmakers for Gov. Ronald Reagan. Thats human. And one thing friends of legislators do is support them.

Labor friends and business friends. Teacher unions and oil companies.

Its a reason education reform is so hard to enact in Sacramento  and why California is the only major petroleum-producing state without an oil-extraction tax.

Sanders put it this way in a New Hampshire debate with Clinton last week:

Lets talk about why, in the 1990s, Wall Street got deregulated. Did it have anything to do with the fact that Wall Street  spent billions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions?

". Lets talk about climate change. Do you think theres a reason why not one Republican has the guts to recognize that climate change is real and that we need to transform our energy system? Do you think it has anything to do with the Koch brothers and ExxonMobil pouring huge amounts of money into the political system?

". And in my view, it is undermining American democracy.

No muffled message there. No ducking or swerving.

Clinton should leap in, agree completely and cut him off. But maybe shes leery of being accused of hypocrisy. Her candidacy benefited from $48 million in outside money last year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Rather than joining Sanders in an anti-corruption chorus during the debate, Clinton got defensive.

I really dont think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you, she told him. If youve got something to say, say it directly. But you will not find that I ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation.

Maybe not. But plenty of politicians have.

Sanders proudly notes that he has not received any outside super PAC help.

The senator brags about the 3.7 million individual contributions, averaging $27, that he has received from 1 million people.

By contrast, Republican Jeb Bush benefited from $118.4 million in outside money last year, the politics center reported.

Correct that: He actually hasnt benefited much. Hes barely surviving.

Republican front-runner Donald Trump also has not accepted super PAC money. But hes a billionaire who can self-finance his campaign. Sanders isnt.

Super PACs  political action committees  burst on the national scene after the U.S. Supreme Courts 2010 decision favoring Citizens United, a conservative lobby. The court eliminated limits on outside spending by corporations, unions and nonprofits for political advertising.

Five zealots on the court say the 1st Amendment forbids limiting the amount of money a billionaire like Charles Koch or Tom Steyer spends to promote his point of view, Cressman says in his new book, When Money Talks.

These five men in black robes say it is unconstitutional to prevent the super-rich from drowning out the voices of everyone else. These five men are wrong.

Sanders repeatedly says he wants to absolutely overturn the court decision. Clinton agrees. But that would require a substantial change in the court.

The Citizens United decision has not affected California state elections. We already suffered the curse of so-called independent expenditure committees that can raise unlimited money so long as they dont coordinate with the candidate. Yeah, right!

The real answer is complete public financing  the public buying the politicians instead of the special interests. But hardly anyone wants that: not the politicians, not the political profiteers, not the public.

Dont misread me. Im not saying Sanders should be president. But I am thankful hes pointing out to voters the root cause of legal corruption in politics.

Its a subject other candidates dread.

george.skelton@latimes.com

Twitter: @LATimesSkelton
A federal government contractor is issuing smartphones to immigrant families released from two massive Texas detention centers as a way to ensure that they are able to contact case managers and reach their U.S. destinations.

Officials described the phones as part of a less-restrictive alternative to detention programs designed to make sure that low-risk immigrant families with pending cases show up for court. The phones, they said, are not used to track or monitor immigrants but rather as a safety net.

But immigrant advocates were skeptical of the new phones, and the program.

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It is concerning whether the women are being tracked through their phones and whether their communications with counsel are confidential, said Jonathan Ryan, executive director of Raices, a San Antonio-based immigrant legal advocacy group.

The number of immigrant families crossing the border illegally has skyrocketed this year: 24,616 family members were caught at the southern border from October through January, almost triple the number during the same period a year earlier.

Yaneth Guevara Leyva, who has a pending asylum case, said she received a Galaxy 4 smartphone complete with voice and Internet service after she was released from one of the Texas detention centers two weeks ago. She said she was told that she was being placed in a family case management program along with her children, ages 7 and 2.

They told me I was selected because I have small children and for my case, because I was a victim of domestic violence, Guevara said. I was surprised because I thought I would get ankle monitors.

Guevara, 29, worked selling food from her home in northern El Salvador, but fled what she described as abuse at the hands of her husband in October. She left without a cellphone, attempting to reunite with her two older brothers in San Fernando.

After she was released from the detention center, she used the new phone to catch a direct bus with her children to Los Angeles on Jan. 31.

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Guevara said she wasnt worried her conversations would be monitored, noting that she never signed forms consenting to that. She said she returned the phone, as she expected she would, at her first appointment with a case manager from GEO Care, the contractor running the program.

They tell us not to be afraid; they say theyre here to help us. I feel good about it, she said.

Advocates have been sharing cellphones for years with immigrant families dropped off by detention center staff at a San Antonio bus station, allowing them to call and send photos to family members they plan to meet.

One of the first things they always wanted to get was cellphones before undertaking the long journey, Ryan said, but those who buy phones often cannot afford the bills that follow.

The new smartphones are free, yet immigrant advocates worry they may be used to secretly monitor the users.

Considering the number of entities monitoring cellphones in general, its hard to believe theyre not being tracked at all, Ryan said.

He said advocates were especially suspicious because GEO Care is part of GEO Group, the Boca Raton, Fla.-based prison company that issues ankle monitors to immigrant families and runs eight immigrant detention centers, including the Texas family detention center where Guevara was held.

The same day GEO Cares $11-million contract was announced in September, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights issued a scathing report detailing alleged abuses at immigrant detention centers, including denying medical care, staff retaliation and rights violations.

Pablo Paez, a spokesman for GEO Group, referred questions to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

GEO Care has handed out 25 phones to immigrant families since last month, half of the 50 they plan to dispense, officials said.

Participants must be considered low risk, meaning they would not otherwise be held in detention as their cases progress or issued ankle monitors, officials said. Priority for the program is given to families with special needs, including pregnant or nursing mothers, those who speak indigenous languages, have very young children, have medical or mental health issues, or have been exposed to trauma.

Advocates argued that the program should be run by the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service or the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, agencies that ICE had relied on for case management and that had worked for years to earn the trust of immigrant families.

Richard Rocha, an ICE spokesman, said that the agency recognizes the expertise and experience of community-based immigration assistance organizations which have a long history of assisting recently arriving populations and that it plans to develop the family case management program by growing already existing ICE partnerships with these local community providers.

ICE officials said GEO Cares proposal to run the program was the most comprehensive and cost-effective.

Advocates are not the only ones concerned about the program, and the smartphones.

If the point of this were to make sure ICE could track people, that would actually make more sense, said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the conservative Center for Immigration Studies. It really is a continuation of this policy of the federal government taking over from the smugglers once the illegals get across the border and ensuring the illegal immigrants get what they paid the smugglers for and reach their destination.

Krikorian fears the program could backfire, counteracting a U.S. public awareness campaign in Central America trying to stop migrants from making the trek north by feeding rumors that, he said, theyre not deported  and they get a phone for free.

If anything, he said, it seems like this might increase immigration.

molly.hennessy-fiske@latimes.com

Twitter: @mollyhf

NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >>

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Returning to the message of hope that propelled him from the Illinois state capital to the White House, President Obama on Wednesday invoked Abraham Lincolns warning that a house divided could not stand and called for structural changes to improve the countrys political discourse.

In an address to the same Illinois Legislature where he once served, and in the city where nine years earlier to the day he had launched his presidential bid, Obama accepted responsibility for his failure to reduce the polarization and meanness in our politics, even as he fondly recalled the collaborative nature of his work as a state senator.

He warned that the poisonous political climate was a growing threat and said he still believed in a politics of hope.

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In a big, complicated democracy like ours, if we cant compromise, by definition we cant govern ourselves, he said.

The presidents trip to Springfield was a nostalgic one, including a stop at a restaurant he frequented during his legislative service and recollections about some of the hazing he faced in his early days under the dome.

He spoke privately to aides about the good old days in Illinois when Republicans and Democrats worked together  and when he, a liberal black urban lawmaker, reached a deal on a law to fight racial profiling with the white Republican ex-Marine who ran the Senate with an iron fist.

In his speech, Obama bemoaned how political insults have become the norm, how bipartisanship is penalized rather than rewarded, and spoke of other challenges posed by the influence of money and a balkanized media environment.

Weve always gone through periods when our democracy seems stuck, and when that happens we have to find a new way of doing business, he said. Were in one of those moments.

He said his message was meant for both parties, and at times playfully admonished the Republican and Democratic lawmakers in the chamber for applauding his comments only when they served their own goals.

Twelve years after Obama left Springfield, the state body has turned radically partisan, to the point that Republican lawmakers march in lockstep with their GOP governor in stolid opposition to the Democratic-led House and Senate.

Even in this rural capital famous for wheeling and dealing among partisans of all demographics, the reality today is a far cry from the hopeful picture Obama presented during his first presidential campaign, when he declared that America is neither red nor blue, and not as divided as our politics would suggest.

While he did not directly address the presidential campaign, at times he seemed to refer to the rise of candidates challenging the party establishment.

Weve got to build a better politics, one thats less of a spectacle and more of a battle of ideas, he said.

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At one point, he seemed to echo Hillary Clintons criticism that Sen. Bernie Sanders ideas are admirable, but often unrealistic.

When either side makes blanket promises to their base that it cant possibly meet, he said, that kind of politics means that the supporters will be perennially disappointed. It only adds to folks sense that the system is rigged, and its one of the reasons why we see these big electoral swings every few years.

Building on the message of his State of the Union address last month, Obama called for specific changes in the political system, including campaign finance reform, national redistricting and expanded voting rights, like same-day registration and early voting.

But that would do only so much, Obama said, calling for a modicum of civility between the parties.

The way we respect  or dont  each other as citizens will determine whether or not the hard, frustrating but absolutely necessary work of self-government continues, he said.

michael.memoli@latimes.com

christi.parsons@latimes.com

Memoli reported from Manchester, N.H., and Parsons from Springfield.

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It came down to one young man.

Let me take my stand, he said. This isnt something Im going to back away from.

For 80 excruciating minutes on Thursday morning, David Fry, a 27-year-old dental technician from Ohio, was alone in a remote wildlife refuge in Oregon, though he had perhaps never been so embraced.

He was surrounded by police, the world was listening live online, a group of conservative state lawmakers had come to show their support, as had a prominent evangelist. Self-described constitutional activists spoke to him by phone, urging him to surrender.

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You guys are going to have to probably kill me or watch me kill myself, Fry said, speaking to an FBI negotiator, but also to tens of thousands of people following along on YouTube to a phone call live-streamed by one of the activists.

During nearly six dramatic weeks of the armed standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, one man had been killed by police and a dozen others had been arrested on federal conspiracy charges. Just the night before, Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy had also been arrested at the Portland airport, apparently on his way to show support for his incarcerated sons and those at the refuge.

The militants who had initially led the occupation, including two of Bundys sons, said it was a bold show of their opposition to federal policies on public lands  that they were at the front of a movement thousands of people would join. Yet as the standoff diminished to just a few final and often frantic holdouts, it also became a platform for Fry and others to express  frequently in profane and contradictory terms  a sense of alienation in a country whose culture and priorities they said did not reflect theirs.

After three other holdouts surrendered Thursday morning, at least one carrying an American flag, only Fry remained. He said he was angry and confused. He said he feared being sexually assaulted in prison. He said the government was corrupt. Why, he asked, could he not legally smoke marijuana in his home state? Why should his tax dollars fund a government that helps pay for abortions and war in the Middle East? Promise him that will stop.

Rancher Cliven Bundy speaks to reporters on Jan. 27 in Bunkerville, Nev. He was arrested this week at the Portland, Ore., airport, apparently on his way to show support for his incarcerated sons and others who led the armed occupation of the wildlife refuge. (John Locher / Associated Press)

Negotiators, he said, wanted to end the occupation with clean hands, but he was not going to let that happen.

Im going to give you dirty hands, he said.

An FBI negotiator named Mark was on one phone, his voice largely undiscernible by online listeners, while a Republican state lawmaker from Nevada, Michele Fiore, the evangelist Franklin Graham and at least two self-described constitutional activists spoke to him as well.

Walk out, they urged him. Go peacefully. That is what Jesus would do. At one point, Fry said he had a gun to his head. Later, he said he was lying in a bed, beneath a blanket. He wanted a pizza.

Then, suddenly, at almost exactly 11 a.m., it was over. No bullets were fired.

If everybody says hallelujah, Ill come out, Fry said. Will you do that?

Everybodys listening, everybodys listening, he said.

Hallelujahs could be heard nearby.

Im walking toward them right now, Fry said.

Keep walking, my friend  hallelujah, a new voice, belonging to a man, could be heard telling Fry.

Slow down, someone said. Keep your hands up.

In a firm but friendly voice, a man said, Turn around. Keep walking toward the sound of my voice, nice and easy. Right here. Going to put your hands behind your back, OK?

A man asked, You got any guns on you or anything?

No, Fry replied.

Ammo?

A few more muffled voices and noises could be heard. The call to the live-stream, aired by activist Gavin Seim, ended.

A moment of stunned silence passed before another activist on the line, Kris-

Anne Hall, who had been desperately trying to persuade Fry not to kill himself, said, Can I cry now, Gavin?

She sobbed heavily.

America needs to learn from what just happened here, Seim said.

The digital-age drama unfolded in striking contrast to the remoteness of the refuge, which spans nearly 200,000 acres in the high desert of eastern Oregon and provides critical habitat for scores of migratory bird species.

On Jan. 2, Ammon and Ryan Bundy led more than a dozen people in an armed takeover of the refuge and the compound of buildings inside it. They initially said they were protesting the prison sentences of two local ranchers found guilty of setting fires that spread to federal land, but their complaints expanded to a broad indictment of federal restrictions on cattle grazing, logging, mining and other land uses.

On Jan. 26, the Bundys and several other occupation leaders were arrested during a traffic stop on a remote stretch of highway north of the town of Burns, which is about 30 miles from the refuge. One of the leaders, Robert LaVoy Finicum, whom Fry had met online months before the occupation and had grown to admire, was killed by Oregon State Police during the law enforcement operation.

Ammon and Ryan Bundy and 14 others, including the four holdouts, were indicted last week by a federal grand jury in Portland. Each faces a maximum six-year prison sentence.

Besides Fry, the others arrested at the refuge on Thursday, according to the FBI, were Sean Anderson, 47, his wife, Sandy, 48, both of Riggins, Idaho; and Jeff Banta, 46, of Yerington, Nev. They face the same charges as everyone arrested so far in the case: conspiracy to impede officers of the United States from discharging their official duties through the use of force, intimidation or threats.

The standoff did find sympathy among many people in the rural West; many said they supported the cause but not taking up arms to act on it. Some people mailed packages to the occupiers from far away or brought them dinner.

As we have said since Day One, our goal has been to end this illegal occupation peacefully, and we are grateful that we were able to do so today, Greg Bretzing, the FBI special agent in charge of Oregon, said in a statement Thursday afternoon.

The issues highlighted by the standoff are likely to draw continued attention  particularly with the arrest of Cliven Bundy, whose own battle against the government helped inspire it.

Unlike his sons, Bundy was not charged in Oregon but in Nevada. There, in the spring of 2014, he led a tense armed standoff over his refusal to pay the federal government more than $1 million in cattle grazing fees accumulated over two decades.

In court documents filed Thursday, he is accused of using a weapon and leading hundreds of supporters in intimidating law enforcement officers who had arrived to try to seize his cattle from federal wildlands.

Fiore, the Nevada lawmaker, had gathered several other state legislators from around the West and sped toward Burns on Wednesday night in an attempt to intervene and hold off any bloodshed.

By nights end, most of the holdouts had signaled that they were prepared to surrender Thursday.

Under the arrangements approved in advance by the FBI, the first three agreed to emerge if they were met by Fiore and Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham and president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Assn.

Graham spoke to all of the holdouts on the telephone as he and Fiore drove toward the refuge, praying for them on more than one occasion. Finally, he and Fiore entered an armored vehicle with three FBI agents and met the surrendering holdouts as they emerged.

He had promised to hug them.

Twitter: @yardleyLAT and @mattdpearce

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Two dozen Latino celebrities came together Thursday to implore voters to reject Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush and other top Republican presidential candidates who they say have turned their backs on the Latino community and embraced the party of Trump.

In an open letter to the Latino community published online, Carlos Santana, George Lopez, Zoe Saldana and other prominent Latino celebrities and activists say Donald Trumps GOP rivals have not done enough to distance themselves from the Republican front-runners anti-immigrant rhetoric.

The rest of the Republican presidential candidates went off the deep end with him, the letter says. Weve seen clearly that all the leading Republican candidates have sided with the far-right at the expense of the Latino community. Theyre capitalizing on negative stereotypes and inaccurate information about our community in order to win votes from the GOP base.

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The bilingual letter, which also was signed by Parks and Recreation actress Aubrey Plaza, Ugly Betty star America Ferrera and actor Benjamin Bratt, was released by People For the American Way, a left-leaning nonpartisan group that targets what it describes as right-wing extremism. Another of the letters co-signers, labor and immigrant rights leader Dolores Huerta, sits on the organizations board.

Its main target is not Trump, whose has called Mexicans rapists who bring drugs and crime to the U.S., but Rubio and Bush, two candidates who have portrayed themselves as more moderate alternatives and who are still attempting to break through as the nomination process continues past Iowa and New Hampshire.

The letter attacks Rubio for calling for a border wall and attacks Bush for using the term anchor babies to refer to children born to immigrants in the country illegally. Bush used the term after Trump proposed revoking automatic citizenship for those born in the U.S. to immigrant parents.

It also criticizes both candidates for not supporting a path to citizenship for immigrants in the country illegally. Neither the Rubio nor Bush campaign responded to requests for comments on the letter.

The letter comes as Rubio and Bush go head to head for Latino votes in early primary states such as Nevada. Both candidates have made a claim to the Latino electorate, with Rubio emphasizing his Cuban roots and Bush flaunting his fluency in Spanish.

The candidates have both denounced Trumps most controversial comments. Bush, especially, has presented his views on immigration as softer and more humane than Trumps, describing children being brought to the United States without documentation as an act of love, and calling for a path to legalization for the estimated 11 million immigrants in the country illegally.

But according to the authors of the letter, neither has gone far enough.

Even if the eventual Republican nominee backtracks on his or her anti-immigrant sentiments, we must not forget that weve now seen that in the face of bigotry, the Republican candidates have chosen to turn their backs on our community, the letter says. It closes with a reminder about the growing power of the Latino electorate, which this election will be larger than ever before.

We hope that power is used to vote for candidates who support our community, share our values, and will fight for working families, it says. Neither Trump nor any of his fellow Republican candidates meet that standard.

Follow me on Twitter: @katelinthicum

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A United Nations commission concluded this week that the Syrian government has engaged in crimes against humanity, including murder, rape, torture, imprisonment and enforced disappearance, as well as what it characterized as extermination and other inhuman acts. But is anyone listening?

Wheres the outrage at the photos of the gaunt and shrunken Syrian civilians who are starving in the besieged town of Madaya, where a 2-pound bag of rice now costs $150? At the encirclement and bombardment of the historic city of Aleppo this week by forces loyal to the government, threatening to cut hundreds of thousands more civilians off from food supplies? At the destruction of priceless Syrian antiquities, monuments, religious sites and historical works of art by Islamic State? At the masses and masses of desperate Syrian refugees now massed at the Turkish border seeking to escape the dangers posed by both the government and its opponents?

The true victims of the war should remain the worlds focus.

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The devastation in Syria beggars belief  some 250,000 dead, more than 10 million uprooted in five years  yet the world appears unable to act. European powers dither over how many refugees they must accept. The United States vacillates over whether to become more deeply involved in its fourth conflict in the region since 9/11. Only Russia seems to have no such qualms: Its continued airstrikes, aimed at keeping the brutal President Bashar Assad in power, appear to be turning the course of the war.

Assad is a criminal despot who manufactured a ferocious civil war out of a series of relatively peaceful Arab Spring protests. There is little doubt that the world would be better off if he were to leave office tomorrow. But there seems to be a growing consensus that the top priority right now should not be Assads future, but finding a path to a ceasefire that will end the death and destruction, and eventually, with luck, lead to a durable peace.

That approach leaves unresolved crucial questions about Assads future. And it wont be easy to achieve: The most recent effort to reach a diplomatic solution  the U.N.-sponsored peace talks that collapsed in Geneva last week  ended only a few days after they began, thanks to Russias ongoing air strikes, the fractious Syrian opposition and lack of resolve by the Western powers. Efforts to revive the talks before the end of the month will resume in Munich Thursday.

Yet there is no other choice than to continue seeking a ceasefire. And in the meantime, the true victims of the war should remain the worlds focus. Food and medicine must be provided to Syrians besieged by the government or trapped by Islamic State and other groups. Injured people must be evacuated from hard-to-reach areas of the country and aid convoys must be allowed unimpeded access. Attacks on medical facilities must be ended, and bombings of civilian areas, and the used of banned cluster munitions. Could new sanctions on those who are complicit in murder and torture bring relief to the Syrian people? What steps can be taken to more quickly move Syrian civilians out of harms way?

It remains astonishing that in the 21st century, after World War I and World War II, after the Holocaust and Darfur and Rwanda and Srebrenica, it is still permissible to hold a civilian population hostage, subjecting non-combatants to murder and torture and rape, without arousing the wrath of ordinary people all over the world.

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My father used to keep food in the refrigerator for days, even weeks after the best by date, so long as it looked and smelled OK. My mom, by contrast, went out to buy a new carton of milk as soon as the date passed. Often there would be two containers of milk in our refrigerator: the half-empty one my dad was committed to finishing, and the new one my mom had purchased, out of fear that she might get sick if she drank my dads past-date milk.

Scenes such as this play out in households across the country. One person dutifully follows best-by, sell-by and use-by date labels on packaged and processed food while another jeers at them. According to one study, more than 90% of consumers report throwing away past-date food because of food safety fears. But the truth is that these dates are not intended to communicate safety information. Instead, they signal a manufacturers estimate of how long food will taste its best. Sometimes the dates are set based on consumer taste tests, but often theyre just a guess.

The U.S. alone wastes 160 billion pounds of food, or nearly 40% of food produced in this country, annually.

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In 2013, the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic and the Natural Resources Defense Council published a report, The Dating Game, that tied food waste to date labels, and revealed that the dates are not federally regulated and do not indicate food safety. The Food and Drug Administration, which has the power to regulate date labels, has chosen not to, precisely because they are not related to safety. Food scientists say that not a single food safety outbreak in the U.S. has been traced to a food being consumed past date. (What are outbreaks traced to? Generally, to pathogens that may have contaminated the food during processing, or to temperature abuse such as leaving raw chicken in a hot car, or to air exposure that encourages mold. These are not problems that date labels currently address.)

In the absence of federal labeling rules, states have stepped in. The variation in state laws is dramatic, providing further evidence that date labels are not related to safety. New York, for example, does not require dates on any food products. By contrast, Massachusetts requires dates on all perishable and semi-perishable foods and heavily restricts sale or donation after that date. A past-date carton of orange juice would be legal to sell in New York, but just across the border in Massachusetts the same, safe juice would generally wind up in the trash.

Milk is the product with the most inconsistent labeling, state to state. Milk sold in stores is generally pasteurized, a process that kills harmful pathogens and eliminates the risk of food-borne illness, even after the sell-by or use-by date. Although the modern industry standard for milk quality dating is 21 to 24 days after pasteurization (and again, milk will still be safe after that), some states impose much stricter time limitations. Montana, for example, requires that milk bear a date of 12 days after pasteurization. Even worse, Montana bans the sale or donation of milk after that date, which wastes countless gallons of good milk.

Between the lack of knowledge about the meaning of date labels and their lack of uniformity, consumer confusion is pervasive. We need a federal standard. Congress should simplify date labels to two well-defined options: a quality date and, in the very few cases where its applicable, a safety date. The list for the latter is small  mostly ready-to-eat foods such as deli meats and unpasteurized cheeses that, if they were contaminated before you bought them, could become more risky over time. For all other food products, manufacturers and packagers would have the option of including a quality date. The standard, national format for quality would be Best if used by ______; for safety: Expires on ______.

Regulating date labels in this way would help consumers make better decisions. It would also be a win for food companies, which struggle to comply with 50 different date labeling laws and lose $1 billion each year from food that expires before it is sold. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) will introduce legislation to standardize date labels in the Senate this month. In the House, Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) has already introduced a comprehensive food waste bill that includes date-label regulation.

Date label confusion harms consumers and food companies, and it wastes massive amounts of food, which harms the planet. The U.S. wastes 160 billion pounds of food, or nearly 40% of food produced in this country, annually. Twenty-five percent of our freshwater is used to grow food we throw away. What gets tossed out goes into landfills, releasing hazardous methane into an already stressed atmosphere. Making date labels clear and uniform offers a relatively low-cost way to eliminate confusion and save consumers money, and it would make a big dent in the unnecessary waste of wholesome food.

Emily Broad Leib is director of the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic and executive producer of the documentary EXPIRED? Food Waste in America.

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A Jewish candidate won a U.S. presidential primary for the first time. And America yawned.
For the first time in American history, a Jewish candidate won a presidential primary election. And America yawned.

Im talking about Bernie Sanders, of course, who thumped Hillary Clinton in New Hampshires Democratic contest on Tuesday. Everyone is aware that Clinton would be our first female president, but most voters dont seem to know  or care  that Sanders would be our first Jewish one.

Thats partly because Clinton plays up the first-woman deal, while Sanders downplays his Judaism. He has never belonged to a synagogue, his wife isnt Jewish, and he hasnt been to Israel since a volunteer stint on a kibbutz in the early 1960s.

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Perhaps we cant see what a big deal Sanders candidacy truly is because weve forgotten how much prejudice Jews encountered for most of our political history.

But theres more to the story of our collective insouciance. Perhaps we cant see what a big deal Sanders candidacy truly is because weve forgotten how much prejudice Jews encountered for most of our political history.

Consider the most prominent Jewish politician of the early 1800s, Mordecai Noah, who served as sheriff of New York City and also as U.S. consul to Tunis. Although Noahs father and grandfather had both fought in the American Revolution, newspapers routinely referred to him as Shylock or simply the Jew, to remind readers that he really didnt belong.

And when Noah defended slavery, abolitionist leader William Lloyd Garrison attacked him as the miscreant Jew and the enemy of Christ and liberty. On another occasion, Garrison called Noah the lineal descendant of the monsters who nailed Jesus to the cross.

Southern slaveholders also reviled the Jews who supported their cause, including Confederate Secretary of War Judah Benjamin. Some Southerners even attributed the Confederacys defeat to Benjamin, suggesting that God wouldnt hear their prayers because of the little pilfering Jew in their midst.

The first Jewish Cabinet member in the White House was Oscar Straus, an heir to the Macys department store fortune, whom Theodore Roosevelt appointed as secretary of Commerce and Labor in 1906 in part to challenge anti-Semitism. I want to show Russia ... what we think of Jews in this country, explained Roosevelt, who also appointed the first Catholic to the Cabinet.

But a decade later, when Woodrow Wilson nominated Louis J. Brandeis for the Supreme Court, it became clear what many Americans still thought of Jews. Brandeis was a Hebrew, and, therefore, of Oriental race, one critic warned, and it is very probable that some of his ideas of what were fair might not be the same as those of a man possessing an Anglo-Saxon mind.

Brandeis appointment set the precedent for Herbert Hoover to nominate the next Jewish justice, Benjamin Cardozo, in 1932. When Cardozo died in 1938 and Brandeis resigned in 1939, Franklin D. Roosevelt selected Felix Frankfurter for what become known as the Jewish seat on the court.

Frankfurter is regarded today as one of the giants of American jurisprudence, so its easy to forget how much anti-Semitism his nomination generated. A Jew has no right in our courts, one outraged citizen wrote in a letter to Idaho Sen. William Borah. We want white men there. Others saw the nomination as part of a conspiracy involving FDR, who appointed so many Jewish officials to posts in his New Deal that bigots derided it as the Jew Deal.

Anti-Semitism dwindled after World War II, when the battle against Nazism made overt prejudice taboo. The 1964 Republican presidential nomination went to Barry Goldwater, whose father was Jewish but whose mother raised him Christian. I always knew that the first Jewish president would be an Episcopalian, journalist Harry Golden famously quipped.

And in 2000, Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman became the first Jew to be nominated for vice president. Lieberman was part of a big postwar wave of Jews elected to Congress, which now includes 17 Jewish representatives and 11 Jewish senators, among them Sanders.

That doesnt mean Americans will vote for a Jew for president. Although 91% of voters say theyd be willing to do so, up from 46 % during the New Deal, surveys of prejudice are notoriously imprecise because most people dont want to admit their own biases. In a recent poll of Jewish college students on 55 campuses, more than half said they had witnessed an anti-Semitic act or comment. And just in June, talk show host Diane Rehm shocked Bernie Sanders by asking whether he held joint citizenship in Israel.

Its a classic anti-Semitic slur  dual loyalties  and Rehm apologized right away, saying she had been hoodwinked by rumors on the Internet. But its worth asking how many other people will fall for that kind of hateful drivel, and whether it will hold Sanders back as the primaries continue.

Back in 2005, no less an authority than Barney Frank maintained that a Jew could never be elected to Americas highest office. The presidency is unique, said Frank, a longtime Jewish congressman. I think weve gotten rid of anti-Semitism everywhere but the presidency. Even if Sanders cant go all the way, a strong run might finally prove Frank wrong.

Jonathan Zimmerman teaches education and history at New York University. He is the author of Too Hot to Handle: A Global History of Sex Education.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
It is bad enough to lose the New Hampshire primary by more than 20 percentage points to a septuagenarian socialist, but when you also lose the votes of young women by an even more lopsided margin, it really stings if you happen to be the first female in history with a serious shot at becoming president of the United States.

Hillary Clinton must be baffled. As an advocate for feminism since she was a Wellesley undergrad back in the 1960s, she had to assume the one bloc of voters she could always count on would be her fellow (fellow?) feminists. They stuck with her in 2008 during her protracted and ultimately futile battle with Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination and, after voters opted for the first black commander in chief, it looked as if 2016 would be a womans turn at last.

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In the early stages of the campaign, Hillary appeared utterly dominant among the Democrats while the Republicans seemed to be self-destructing. Conventional wisdom said she should be picking a dress for her inaugural ball. Then along came Bernie Sanders and his childrens crusade. Clinton still has the best shot of anyone running to reach the White House, but only if she is able to convince young people  and young women, in particular  that she is not yesterdays news.

Interviews with young female Sanders supporters by various media outlets prior to the New Hampshire vote revealed Clintons problem. For these 20-something women, gender is not a major consideration. Sure, they would like to see a woman become president and expect that to happen in the near future, but they are not especially enthused by the too-familiar female candidate asking for their votes this year. These young women adore Bernie because he is honest, idealistic and bravely radical. They are shunning Hillary because, in their eyes, she is devious, boringly pragmatic and as conventional as mom jeans.

The Clinton campaigns outreach to millennial women was not helped by the pre-primary comments of two staunch Hillary champions, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and feminist icon Gloria Steinem. Stumping for her candidate last weekend, Albright ended an appeal to young female voters by dragging out an old aphorism, Theres a special place in hell for women who dont help each other! That did not go over well. For her part, Steinem went on Bill Mahers HBO show and blamed hormones for the lack of Hillary love among young females.

When youre young, youre thinking, Where are the boys? Steinem said. The boys are with Bernie.

Village Voice writer Holly Wood, a female millennial, wrote a caustic column in response to the dismissive arrogance of Clintons old guard. Millennials enthusiasm for Sanders is not a sign of immaturity or ingratitude for the hard-won social progress attained by their elders, Wood said. Rather, it is a product of fears about the future and a realization that the issues Sanders has been hammering at for 40 years are the most pressing concerns of 2016: The economy is rigged. Democracy is corrupted. The billionaires are on the warpath.

Clinton might have the right chromosomes, but that is not enough for Wood and many other politically engaged young women. They look at the compromises she has made through a long life in politics and do not see the unavoidable accommodations that must be made to achieve incremental change; they see collusion and clouded morality.

The reason Wall Street is dropping zillions of quarters into Hillarys Super PAC-Man machine isnt because it wants change  its because Wall Street sees revenue in her promises of keeping things much the same, Wood writes. Under Hillary, our prisons will continue to punish for profit. Our schools will continue to be sold off to private contractors. And despite 87% of Democrats standing behind universal healthcare, Hillary insists it will never, ever come to pass. Not from her, I guess, since shes taken over $13 million from the healthcare industry.

Ouch. That judgment may be way too harsh, but it shows how much work Clinton will need to do if she wins the nomination. Hillary will have no chance to shatter the ultimate glass ceiling if she cannot inspire young voters to show up at the polls in November.

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Days removed from her humbling defeat in New Hampshire, and with the campaign moving into states with large populations of minority voters, Hillary Clinton sought to reboot her candidacy in a nationally televised Democratic debate Thursday night by closely aligning herself with President Obama and charging that her opponent is running on a one-note agenda.

A calm, measured Clinton mentioned Obamas name 21 times during the two-hour debate. She chastised Sen. Bernie Sanders for criticizing Obama in language she said a Republican might use. And she tried to move past the Wall Street ties that have become the albatross of her campaign by warning voters that cleaning up campaign finance alone wont fix the country.

But Clintons arguments were met with feisty rebuttals by her resilient 74-year-old rival, who was not about to yield the momentum generated by Tuesday nights victory in the New Hampshire primary. Sanders covered little new ground at the debate, sticking to the populist themes that have served him well so far, painting Clinton as part of a tired political establishment too tied to special interests to upend an economy rigged against the middle class.

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The volleys began early as Clinton ripped into Sanders agenda, charging that he would expand the size of the federal government by 40%. She demanded that he level with the American people about the true cost of his plans.

As a bookend, Clinton returned to the attack at the debates end, questioning her rivals loyalty to Obama. She accused him of having called the president weak and a disappointment and highlighted a blurb Sanders wrote in praise of a book about Obamas presidency called Buyers Remorse.

Madame Secretary, that is a low blow, Sanders hissed in response.

I have worked with President Obama for the last seven years, he said. We have made enormous progress. But you know what? Last I heard we lived in a democratic society. Last I heard a United States senator had the right to disagree with the president, including a president whos done such an extraordinary job. So I have voiced criticisms, youre right.

The exchange highlighted the much greater role to be played by minority voters, among whom Obama is extremely popular, in the next several rounds of Democratic primaries.

The candidates also engaged in their most contentious exchanges to date on foreign policy.

Clinton has long touted her experience as secretary of State as preparation to serve as commander in chief, while Sanders repeatedly has cited his House vote in 2002 against authorizing the Iraq war  noting that then-Sen. Clinton voted in favor  as an example of his superior judgment.

On Thursday, Sanders expanded that criticism, saying that the administrations action to remove Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi from power  a course championed by Clinton  had created a power vacuum that has now been filled by the Islamic State militant group.

As president, Sanders vowed, he would look very carefully about unintended consequences before taking military action.

Clinton responded by saying Sanders had supported a Senate resolution that backed the administrations Libya policy, and she sought to undermine his argument that his vote against the Iraq war demonstrates a better grasp of world affairs.

I do not believe a vote in 2002 is a plan to defeat ISIS in 2016, she said, using an acronym for Islamic State.

Clinton also referred to a recent interview in which Sanders could not identify whom he consults for advice on foreign policy. The independent Vermont senator responded by citing her praise for Henry Kissinger, secretary of State in the Nixon and Ford administrations, whom he called one of the most destructive secretaries of State in modern history.

I am proud to say Henry Kissinger is not my friend, he said. Count me as somebody who will not be listening to Henry Kissinger.

The tough exchanges underscored how much the race has changed after Sanders big victory Tuesday. Clinton now faces a very real threat that she may not win her partys nomination.

Sanders 22-percentage-point rout was a wake-up call to the Clinton campaign. It put Sanders in position to compete in states Clinton had appeared to own, including Nevada and South Carolina  the next nominating contests.

Clinton acknowledged one aspect of her New Hampshire defeat, her struggle to win over female voters, particularly younger women.

I have no argument with anyone making up her mind about who to support, Clinton said. I just hope that by the end of this campaign there will be a lot more supporting me.

One major reason for Sanders success has been the response by liberal voters to his message that the political system has been corrupted by big-money contributions. It is an issue that repeatedly has put Clinton on the defensive, which was where she again found herself when discussion turned to the millions of dollars in support she has received from Wall Street.

Asked about the mammoth pro-Clinton super PAC called Priorities USA, which is run by longtime Clinton friends and advisors, she tried to distance herself from it.

Its not my PAC, she said, making the case that the organization, which operates independently from her campaign, also had supported Obama.

She added that Obama had taken record amounts of Wall Street cash but stood up to the financial industry nonetheless, as she vowed she would do.

Lets not insult the intelligence of the American people, Sanders replied. People arent dumb. Why in Gods name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it they want to throw money around.

While Clinton defended herself on financial contributions, Sanders sought to rebut her charge that his healthcare plan would undermine the Affordable Care Act, Obamas signature domestic achievement. The Vermonters lifes work, he said, has been dedicated to ensuring healthcare was a right for all people.

But Clinton contended that her vision for building on the presidents healthcare law, paid for by raising taxes on the wealthy and closing loopholes, was more politically viable.

Once Im in the White House, we will have enough political capital to do that, she said.

Secretary Clinton, youre not in the White House yet, Sanders shot back.

Both used their opening statements to address issues of concern to minority voters, particularly African Americans, who make up a majority of Democratic voters in South Carolina.

Clinton noted that her first speech of the campaign was on criminal justice reform, while Sanders referred to a broken criminal justice system.

Leading up to the debate, Clintons campaign had attacked Sanders as a Johnny-come-lately on civil rights issues, saying Clinton was on the front lines of major fights while Sanders was at best an obscure backbencher.

She took a more diplomatic approach on the stage. What we have to do is build on an honest conversation about where we go next, she said.

Sanders brought the conversation back to Wall Street, lamenting how it damaged the economy, and how blacks and Latinos were hit especially hard.

Clinton returned in her closing statement to Sanders continual refrain that sweeping money out of politics would help solve the other problems the country faces. She said she agreed with Sanders on the need to get big money out of politics, but added, I am not a single-issue candidate.

Times staff writer Cathleen Decker in Milwaukee contributed to this report. Halper and Memoli reported from Washington.

For more on the Democratic campaign, follow @evanhalper and @mikememoli

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Im Christina Bellantoni, the Essential Politics host today. Lets get started.

As he enters his last year in office, President Obama said he hopes he has created a tone for the next president that is less strident than the political rhetoric on the campaign trail.

Some of our most revered presidents were hugely polarizing. And people cussed them and called them everything but a child of God, Obama told The Times Christi Parsons in a 45-minute interview in Springfield, Ill. on Wednesday. I suspect that when Im done being president, suddenly people will start saying, Oh, you know that guy, he wasnt a bad guy.

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The president spoke to Parsons after an hour-long speech calling for comity in politics at the state capital.

She started the story with an anecdote about how the interview took place: Obama craved a few moments with a few friends who remember when he was not a polarizing figure but an effectively bipartisan one  his poker buddies from his eight years in the Illinois Senate.

The three retired state senators, two Democrats and a Republican, were still laughing about Obamas warmly received address to the Illinois General Assembly when Obama sat down to join them for the interview with the Los Angeles Times about the legislative gridlock in Washington and his role in it.

The president reflected on race, partisanship and if he should have hosted more parties for Congress at the White House. Check out the story or read the transcript.

BLACK VOTES MATTER

At the same time, the Democrats aiming to replace Obama turned their attention to a more diverse electorate as they compete in what is looking like a prolonged contest.

Evan Halper and Chris Megerian report that Hillary Clintons allies in the black community moved aggressively Wednesday to shore up her support with minority voters after her crushing defeat in New Hampshire, as Sen. Bernie Sanders worked to win over the black and Latino voters who will now be crucial to the outcome of the Democratic nominating contest.

SANDERS BRINGS IN THE $$$

We detailed the money race on Trail Guide as big donors and individual donors alike take a fresh look at the race. Sanders announced Wednesday his campaign had raised $5.2 million in the 18 hours after his New Hampshire victory. The campaign says the average donation is $34.

George Skelton devotes his Thursday column to Sanders, finding that whether you like him or not, the Vermont senator is the first presidential candidate to make a corrupt campaign finance system a central issue.

DEMOGRAPHICS

Now that all the Granite State votes are counted, Clinton won just four precincts, and by a slim margin.

Cathleen Decker examined what she dubbed an across-the-board repudiation of Clinton in New Hampshire given Sanders won almost all categories of voters, including women.

New Hampshire is almost wholly white, more liberal and less religious than most states, which may make the defeat here a blip when the election season is concluded, Decker writes. But the sharp divisions evident Tuesday suggest trouble ahead for the national front-runner.

FIORINA ON FEMINISM

Speaking of women, former HP chief executive Carly Fiorina had a message for them when ending her bid for the presidency Wednesday.

Do not let others define you, she wrote in a statement. Do not listen to anyone who says you have to vote a certain way or for a certain candidate because youre a woman. That is not feminism.

A feminist is a woman who lives the life she chooses and uses all her God-given gifts. And always remember that a leader is not born, but made, she wrote.

WHATS NEXT FOR THE GOP ESTABLISHMENT?

Noah Bierman and Lisa Mascaro take stock of Ohio Gov. John Kasichs strong second-place finish in New Hampshires primary and find it means donors and voters elsewhere will size him up anew, or maybe for the first time. Will his plodding electoral strategy hold up long enough to survive a national campaign?

Though few expect him to win South Carolina, which holds the next GOP primary Feb. 20, he could benefit as his two main rivals from Florida  former Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio  continue their fierce battle to remain viable long enough to reach the Florida primary next month.

Another top rival, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, dropped out Wednesday after his sixth-place finish in New Hampshire. For now, the still-splintered and unstable nature of the competition benefits Donald Trump, they write.

Keep up with the news from the campaign trail, and join us for the Democratic presidential debate Thursday night on Trail Guide.

HEADED TO LOS ANGELES

As weve been reporting, Obama is in town today to tape an interview with Ellen DeGeneres and appear at some fundraisers. Will he become the first sitting president to dance on her show? Well cover every detail, from the potential for #Obamajam traffic to what John Legend sings, on our politics page.

CUTTING OIL USE IN HALF

Gov. Jerry Brown isnt giving up on his goal of cutting petroleum use in California in half by 2030. Last year, Brown publicly challenged oil companies that lobbied to kill a similar provision in SB 350, the states climate change law. This year, hes using his budget proposal to ask for more than $1 billion in cap-and-trade funds to go toward four programs that his administration says will help achieve that goal, reports Christine Mai-Duc.

A BRIGHT SPOT FOR CALIFORNIA REPUBLICANS

Phil Willon sat down with San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and found the moderate Republican dodging questions on his own political future while he focuses on re-election.

Faulconer did outline his views on the minimum wage, Californias water crisis and the San Diego Chargers.

BILINGUAL DNC VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS CONFRONTATIONS AT TRUMP RALLIES

Now that Trump has notched his first primary victory, the Democratic National Committee is rolling out a new Internet attack video highlighting the GOP candidates criticisms of immigrants, opposition to reform and what it describes as violent encounters between protesters and Trump supporters or security guards at his rallies over the last few months.

Titled La Violencia y El Partido ReTrumplicano or Violence and the ReTrumplican Party, the video features Spanish language television news footage showing protesters being physically removed from Trump events intercut with a Republican National Committee video released last month highlighting the story of a Latino volunteer. It also includes footage of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz saying he opposes amnesty for immigrants in the country illegally. Look for the DNC and party leaders like Rep. Xavier Becerra to step up critiques of Cruz, Trump and Rubio.

TODAYS ESSENTIALS

 Ex-Los Angeles County sheriff Lee Baca pleaded guilty Wednesday to lying to federal investigators, a stunning reversal for the longtime law enforcement leader who for years insisted he played no role in the misconduct that tarnished his agency. Bacas plea in a downtown courtroom capped a string of prosecutions that began with low-ranking officials and worked up the chain of command.

 Over the objections of hundreds of supporters, the California Coastal Commission voted 7-5 on Wednesday to fire executive director Charles Lester.

 Two California Democrats are urging the Federal Trade Commission to rein in gay conversion therapy programs aimed at LGBT youth, Christine Mai-Duc reports. Reps. Jackie Speier (Hillsborough) and Ted Lieu (Torrance) urged the FTC to take all actions possible under its authority to stop the practice, which they called unfair, deceptive and fraudulent. Read the letter here.

LOGISTICS

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Please send thoughts, concerns and news tips to politics@latimes.com.
Gov. Jerry Brown is looking to make good on a promise to curb Californias petroleum use by shifting away from new legislation and instead tucking his fuel-reduction goal inside the state budget.

Oil companies spent millions of dollars in 2015 to strip a controversial climate change bill of its provision slashing petroleum use in half by 2030. At the conclusion of that bruising fight, a defiant Brown stood before reporters in the Capitol and declared war.

Oil has won the skirmish. But theyve lost the bigger battle, he said. Because I am more determined than ever ... were not going to miss a beat.

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The budget the governor submitted to the Legislature last month proposed spending a third of the states cap-and-trade funds, about $1 billion, on public transit, promoting electric vehicles and other programs, all with the explicit goal of cutting oil use by 50% by 2030. Those dollars were collected through the auction of pollution credits to companies that emit greenhouse gases.

In doing so, the governors decision to place such a visible marker could be adding a sizable new wrinkle to budget negotiations this spring in Sacramento.

H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for Browns Department of Finance, said the inclusion of the petroleum-reduction goal in the budget proposal reflects the governors commitment to keep that issue on the front burner in light of what happened with last years climate change bill, SB 350.

If youre not successful on the first go-round, it doesnt mean you abandon your principles, Palmer said. There are a variety of ways that you can achieve that, and the budget plan continues the efforts to move us toward that goal.

Brown has maintained a laser-like focus on the oil-reduction target, first unveiling it in his 2015 inaugural speech and frequently mentioning it since. The target shows up in several strategic documents by the state Air Resources Board, which manages the states cap-and-trade program and has sweeping authority to regulate air pollution.

Oil is the heart of modern prosperity, and yet it has the destructive impact that its going to undermine that prosperity very quickly. So we have to move off it, Brown said at a news conference last September, adding that its not a change thats coming willingly.

The administration says cutting petroleum use in cars and trucks is a crucial part of its climate change strategy because transportation accounts for an estimated 40% of Californias greenhouse gas emissions. But the concept has been hard to swallow for some business-aligned Democrats in the Legislature, who broke with the party last year to block the oil-reduction clause.

The air board estimates that existing policies already will get California to a 25% reduction in petroleum consumption by 2030. Figures put forth by the auto industry estimate the figure could be even higher.

Going the rest of the way toward Browns goal will require continued improvements in vehicle fuel efficiency, decreasing the number of miles Californians travel every year and investing in fuel sources with lower carbon content, the states Air Resources Board says.

The governors new budget proposal relies heavily on mass transit, proposing to add an extra $400 million of discretionary cap-and-trade funds, a more than sixfold increase. An additional $500 million would go toward consumer rebates for electric vehicles and low-carbon fuels. The proposed boosts in spending are a combination of new cap-and-trade dollars and money left unspent after last years stalled negotiations in Sacramento.

Typically, legislators hew to party lines when it comes to voting for the budget. But some more-moderate Democrats could find it difficult to vote for a budget package that includes language similar to last years oil provision in SB 350, which some Democrats at the time argued could hurt low-income and commuter-reliant communities.

Assembly Speaker-Elect Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) says some Democrats framed their opposition of SB 350 as a desire for greater oversight of the powerful Air Resources Board, which would have had discretion over how to implement it.

If thats the issue, then maybe the governor and I should be looking at that, Rendon said. Otherwise, he added, pouring funds into the same goal could make it difficult to reach consensus on the governors new plan.

Oil companies spent nearly $12 million on lobbying from July 1 to Sept. 30 last year and blanketed the airwaves as the fight over the petroleum targets was at its height.

(The bills other provisions to boost renewable energy goals and double energy efficiency in buildings by 2030 ultimately passed and were signed into law).

Industry leaders are now closely watching the budget negotiations.

The Western States Petroleum Assn., the industrys largest lobbying organization, said in a statement, If the governor is going to push these expenditures forward, he will need to demonstrate to the Legislature, and the people of California, how proposed spending can dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The governor has not been shy about his plans to use executive power to further his climate goals, particularly the petroleum-reduction target.

But the fact that it hasnt been given the force of law means any action Brown takes will remain at risk of being dismantled once he leaves office in 2018.

I do remain of the strong belief that [defining petroleum targets] statutorily is the best way to do it, said Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles).

Kathryn Phillips of Sierra Club California, which supported the oil provision of SB 350, agrees its not the same as a mandate, but applauded the governor for finding a way around the political stalemate to work toward cutting gasoline use now.

The administration is pressing forward with what they can do at this point, but everything theyre doing is essentially consistent with that goal, she said.

For more on California politics, follow me @cmaiduc

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A package of proposals unveiled Thursday by female lawmakers would help women in California achieve equitable pay and expand family-leave job protections, as well as earmark more state funds for child care and for helping children on welfare.

The Democratic members of the California Legislative Womens Caucus said they hoped to build on the success of last year, when they won approval of one of the toughest equal-pay laws in the nation.

We positioned California as a leader in the fight to improve the economic lives of women and children, said Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara), the caucus chair and one of 10 female lawmakers who attended a Capitol news conference. Yet we lag behind the rest of the world in family-friendly workplace policy, she added. Women and families must be part of Californias public policy priorities for this year.

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One bill would seek to reduce the disparity between pay to men and women by prohibiting employers from asking a job candidates past salary history and requiring them to disclose a salary range for an open job upon request.

The idea to base a new wage on the old  possibly discriminatory  wage simply perpetuates the discrimination, Assemblywoman Nora Campos (D-San Jose) said.

Another bill would provide three months of job-protected maternity and paternity leave for most California workers. Currently, those working for small employers can take up to eight weeks of leave without fear of losing their jobs.

Lawmakers also are reviving a proposal that failed last year to require that employers give workers adequate advanced notice of their schedules.

Another bill being brought back after failing last year would repeal a cap on benefits to families on welfare when they have another child.

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Under the proposal, the additional child would increase the welfare check by $128 per month. That would cost the state $200 million annually, according to Sen. Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles), the author of the measure. The cap, she said, has been the leading driver of childhood poverty.

The most expensive proposal made Thursday would allocate an additional $800 million to provide child care and early childhood education for tens of thousands more than receive it now.

A representative of the governors office declined comment.

While united on the legislative proposals, the caucus members have varying opinions on the national presidential race, in which Democrat Hillary Clinton is a contending to become the first female president.

Jackson bristled when asked about former secretary of State Madeline Albright, a Clinton supporter, who recently said: Theres a special place in hell for women who dont help each other!

Responded Jackson: Everyones entitled to their own opinions. She went on to say that Clinton was well prepared to be president, but she complained that young women do not seem to be aware that the struggle for gender equity is not over.

I dont think that younger women are as acutely aware of the battles that have been fought to pave the road for them to become professionals, Jackson said.

Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) interupted Jackson to note that the Legislative Womens Caucus has not endorsed in the presidential race. We clearly are a caucus of different ideas, Gonzalez said.

Twitter: @mcgreevy99

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An emergency relief well is expected to intersect Southern California Gas Co.'s damaged injection gas well near Porter Ranch as soon as Thursday, possibly ending the leak within days, regulatory and utility officials said Wednesday.

If all goes well with the intercept, workers could immediately pump slugs of mud and stabilizing fluids down the relief well into the damaged pipe. If those materials stop the leak, workers would pump in thick shots of a cement that would cure and permanently seal the well.

At that point, state inspectors would start a days-long process to determine whether the well has been killed, ending a leak that has sent about 80,000 metric tons of gas, mostly methane, into the atmosphere since the leak began on Oct. 23.

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We will very soon reach the point of intersection, gas company spokeswoman Stephanie Donaldson said Wednesday afternoon. But were not going to try and pinpoint a date and time for completion of this job for a couple of reasons: We dont want to create false expectations, and we have to expect the unexpected.

Officials involved with the effort, however, said they expected the relief well to breach the leaking well sometime Thursday, with the fluids to follow very quickly if there are no hitches.

The process was scheduled to begin on Wednesday with the relief well drill making a soft touch of the designated intersection point about 1.6 miles underground. That drill would be swapped the following day with one capable of cutting through the wells concrete and metal casings in preparation for the administration of the fluids, mud and cement, which takes 48 hours to cure, officials said.

State regulators would then conduct inspections and pressure tests to certify that after nearly four months of environmental contamination, civic disruption and worry, Aliso Canyon Natural Storage Facilitys Standard Sesnon Well 25 was plugged.

Once the leak is stopped, residents temporarily relocated to leased houses and hotel rooms elsewhere will have seven nights to move back to their homes, in accordance with terms of a recent agreement between the gas company and the Los Angeles city attorneys office.

However, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks), said Wednesday he wants to delay the start of the seven-day clock until another step is taken. Sherman wants the California Air Resources Board to certify that the air surrounding the Aliso Canyon field is free of natural gas.

Over the last three months, the well spewed more greenhouse gases than any other facility in California. The release of so much methane, a greenhouse gas several times more powerful than carbon dioxide, will contribute significantly to global warming, experts say.

Odorants added to the gas to aid in detecting leaks have prompted hundreds of complaints of nausea, respiratory problems and nosebleeds and have displaced residents from more than 4,400 homes in Porter Ranch and surrounding communities in the rolling foothills of the northern San Fernando Valley.

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The leaking well is one of 115 injection wells at the 80-year-old, 3,600-acre Aliso Canyon facility, which stores 86 billion cubic feet of gas that serves 11 million people in the Los Angeles basin. Many of those wells are corroded and mechanically damaged, the gas company said.

Yet it is the only field in a distribution area stretching from Porter Ranch 60 miles south to Santa Ana that can ensure reliability in both winter, when homes and businesses use significant amounts of natural gas for heating, and summer, when gas-fired generators supply power to air conditioners.

Efforts to kill the well are being conducted under new orders imposed by the Safety and Enforcement Division of the California Public Utilities Commission in consultation with the state Department of Conservations Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources.

The gas company, which is the subject of ongoing criminal investigations and civil litigation, has been ordered by the PUC not to remove, temporarily store, bury or raze anything within a radius of 400 feet of the well head.

Materials to be protected for use as possible evidence include all metal and concrete well casings, tubing, valves and valve parts, wire, gas and mud samples, gravel, cement mixtures and soil.

Its clear the costs of this incident are the gas companys, Robert Weisenmiller, chair of the California Energy Commission, said in an interview Wednesday. The CPUC will be tracking all of the gas companys costs to make sure they are not allocated to ratepayers and that the shareholders have full responsibility.

Weisenmiller said he expected the issue to be highly contested.

louis.sahagun@latimes.com

Twitter: @LouisSahagun

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Coastal Commission fires executive director over objection of hundreds of supporters
The California Coastal Commission fired its executive director Wednesday -- a decision made despite an overwhelming show of public support for the land use agencys top official.

The panel disclosed that it voted 7 to 5 in a private session to dismiss Charles Lester, touching off an emotional scene unique in the agencys 44-year history.

Many of the more than 100 Lester supporters awaiting the decision broke into tears or reacted angrily. Several commissioners who voted against Lester were escorted out of the meeting by law enforcement without explaining their votes.

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Commission chair Steve Kinsey, who voted against the firing, called it a difficult decision that revolved around leadership and not around an issue of greater flexibility for development along the coast, which many of the hundreds of supporters of Lester had claimed in seven hours of public testimony earlier in the day.

The challenge we face now is to rebuild trust and to illustrate through our actions that we will live up to the ideals of the Coastal Act, Kinsey said.

No other commissioners offered explanations following the vote. After giving Lester a moment to speak, they adjourned.

Commissioners Olga Diaz, Erik Howell, Wendy Mitchell, Effie Turnbull-Sanders, Mark Vargas, Martha McClure and Roberto Uranga voted to fire Lester. Voting no were Carole Groom, Mary Shallenberger, Kinsey, vice chair Dayna Bochco and Mary Luevano.

The dismissal takes effect immediately, with senior Deputy Director Jack Ainsworth leading the agency until the commission selects an interim and permanent replacement.

Its disgraceful that the commissioners voted in secret to fire Dr. Lester, Steve Jones, oceans communications specialist for the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a written statement. This isnt over.

In his remarks after the vote, Lester said, Its been a privilege to serve the commission for the past 4 years. If there is a silver lining, Ive been energized by all the people who came together on this.

His comments drew sustained applause from the audience.

In an interview later, Lester said he heard nothing from commissioners during the hearing that went beyond organizational issues he thought they would work through to resolve.

He said he went out of his way to address concerns about the agencys process, staff diversity and communication with commissioners.

I dont know, maybe they just thought I was too independent, Lester said.

Commissioners took the action in closed session because they said they were bound by law to honor Lesters right to privacy.

FULL COVERAGE: Firing of the California Coastal Commission executive director >>

But their reasoning did not align with advice from the agencys chief counsel, who told the panel they were free to discuss any current issues involving Lesters performance because he had chosen a public hearing to defend himself.

Before moving into closed session, several commissioners were critical of media reports, fueled by coastal activists and environmental groups, that attributed the move to fire Lester to a desire for more coastal development.

Commissioners said the reports were baseless and damaged the reputation of the agency.

This created an atmosphere of public distrust, said Commissioner Mark Vargas. We need to set the record straight. There was no coup by developer interests.

But this is like trying to convince people that the fluoride in their water was not a communist plot, Vargas said.

Some commissioners alluded in general to unhappiness with Lester.

Vice chair Bochco said commissioners have had problems getting information from the commissions staff, had not been included in agency processes and were often left in the dark about how staff had come to conclusions related to projects.

I would like to discuss with the press the reasons we are here, Bochco said. It is not about developers and their consultants. We have been terribly mischaracterized as developer hacks.

Commissioners Groom and Shallenberger defended Lester and praised him for a long list of achievements, including the development of a strategic plan for the agency, efforts to address sea level rise, increasing the budget by $3 million and good cooperation with local governments.

He leads by accomplishment, Groom said. Month after month after month we have some 60 issues to deal with. To do this work there is leadership at the top and the bottom.... The proposal to replace our executive director is absolutely wrong.

Supporters of Charles Lester, the California Coastal Commissions executive director, fill an auditorium in Morro Bay where commissioners discussed whether to fire him. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

The comments came after a hearing in which many speakers warned that replacing Lester would send a powerful signal to staff to be more accommodating to development.

This hearing is not about Charles performance, its about yours, said Stefanie Sekich-Quinn, a representative of the Surfrider Foundation.

Speakers included officials from local governments up and down the coast, representatives of state legislators, commission staff members, environmental organizations and Fred Collins, an administrator for the Northern Chumash Tribal Council, who implored the commission to protect grandmother ocean.

Youre getting killed here today, former commission chief counsel Ralph Faust told commissioners. He urged them to make their decision in public, adding that whatever it is, own it and defend it.

In the past, some commissioners said that Lester is lacking in management and leadership skills and that they have trust and communication problems with him and staff.

They say the planning and approval process is far too long and burdensome for developers.

His critics say the problems have existed since 2011, when about half the commission was replaced.

Lester was notified in writing Jan. 14 that the commission would consider his dismissal. The panel gave him the option of resigning or having a public hearing to determine his future. He chose the latter and he defended his record in remarks that opened the hearing.

Lester, who replaced longtime Executive Director Peter Douglas five years ago, said he remained the best person to lead the powerful agency in its mission to shape land use and protect the environment along the coast.

He backed his work and that of staff to preserve coastal resources and public access in the face of rising seas, a growing population and increasing development pressure.

Our beaches are a critically important public commons to be enjoyed by all Californians, Lester said. Many of our beloved beaches could be lost -- squeezed out between the rising seas and shoreline development.

He highlighted his experience and commitment as a public servant protecting the states 1,100-mile shoreline under the 1976 Coastal Act.

In a highly charged environment, Lester said, the independent, 160-member staff provides impartial, objective and well-reasoned recommendations that are crucial for political appointees on the panel to make proper decisions.

At least one big developer, the Pebble Beach Co., showed up to support Lester, praising him and the commission for their approval four years ago of a major development at the luxurious Monterey Peninsula resort after years of clashing over the proposal.

The letter from Chief Executive Bill Perocchi called Lester a fair, pragmatic, creative, open and reasonable director who balanced the needs of the company and the rights of the public.

Sonoma County Supervisor Efren Carrillo cited Lesters proven track record and sensible approach.

He urged commissioners to greatly consider your responsibility to future generations and to place their coastal protection duties over politics or development pressure.

A former chairman of the commission, Mel Nutter, said the way the hearing was structured -- with hours of public testimony before any commissioners uttered any criticisms of Lester -- was totally backwards.

The public was asked in effect to present a defense against a set of charges that were never presented, said Nutter, a Long Beach attorney. It was totally backwards and that put the public at a huge disadvantage.

dan.weikel@latimes.com | Twitter: @LADeadline16

tony.barboza@latimes.com | Twitter: @tonybarboza

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Since humans first gazed at the heavens, they have observed the universe primarily through the window of the electromagnetic spectrum, including visible light waves, radio waves, and X-rays.

But it turns out that using light in its various forms is not the only way to peer into space.

Now, with the ability to detect gravitational waves, scientists say they will be able to document distant phenomena that would otherwise be obscured or hidden.

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Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of space-time. They are produced in many ways but it takes the motions of dense and massive objects like black holes and neutron stars to produce strong enough waves to be detectable by instruments on Earth.

Unlike electromagnetic waves, gravitational waves do not get scattered or absorbed as they pass through matter. Part of what makes them so useful is that they can sail right through dense regions of space and come out the other side unaltered.

For example, the gravitational wave signal that was detected by two LIGO instruments in Washington and Louisiana first hit the Earth in the Southern Hemisphere and then passed right through our planet before being picked up by the two observatories, said Saul Teukolsky, an astrophysicist at Cornell University.

That shows you how weakly these waves interact with matter, he added.

Gravitational waves may also allow scientists to see systems and objects that have never been detected before because they dont emit electromagnetic waves.

On Thursday, scientists announced that the first gravitational wave signal to be detected on Earth was caused by the collision of two black holes each with a mass roughly 30 times the mass of the sun. A collision like this one does not produce an electromagnetic signal, so it would not have been possible to detect with telescopes on Earth.

No one had ever seen a system like this before, said Jonah Kanner, a LIGO research scientist at Caltech. No one had ever seen a 30-solar-mass black hole period. 

He added that even this very first detection could help scientists better understand how galaxies and stars evolve.

Surabhi Sachdev, a graduate student at Caltech who works on LIGO data, said the most inspiring part of using gravitational waves to learn about the universe is the possibility of seeing something never seen before.

Thats what excites me, she said. The idea that we may find objects we never imagined.

Do you love science? I do! Follow me @DeborahNetburn and like Los Angeles Times Science & Health on Facebook.

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Ibrahim Amiri was finishing a hamburger one day in 2011 when a headline in the newspaper wrapping caught his eye.

He had to read it a second time to make sure he wasnt dreaming. But it was true: Neil Armstrong, one of his lifelong heroes, and two other Apollo astronauts were visiting Afghanistan to rally U.S. troops.

Amiri, an amateur astronomer who had built his own telescope out of spare parts as a teenager, tried to contact the U.S. Embassy to arrange a meeting. But it was too late: The astronauts had left.

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Still, he didnt let disappointment set in. He saw it as a sign that validated a fascination with the stars that began during his childhood in a refugee camp in Pakistan.

Amiri, now 26, was 6 or 7 when he saw the Hale-Bopp comet streaking across the sky above the camp in Peshawar, Pakistan, where he was born.

I remember it had this long tail that shone in the night sky, Amiri said. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before.

He began to seek out books on astronomy. His interest grew when his family returned in 2003 to Afghanistan, where television stations had reemerged since the fall of the Taliban government, and cellphones and the Internet were just starting to accelerate the flow of information from the outside world.

One day in 2003, while watching television, Amiri saw something that changed how he looked at the universe: pictures of the Mars surface. Amiri was struck by the similarities between the Red Planet and his own.

It looked so similar to Earth, he said. There were mountains and deserts, even the sun in the sky.

In 2007, after years of study, he built his own 100-millimeter refractor telescope out of spare parts he found around the city. Following diagrams in his books, he fit a magnifying glass at the end of a stovepipe and then adjusted the lens to bring images into focus.

When I first saw the moon, with its craters, it was astonishing, he said.

::

Amiris telescope is an example of the ingenuity of young Afghans who have overcome war, economic uncertainty and a struggling education system to pursue their dreams.

Last year, a 30-year-old self-trained engineer built a solar-powered motorbike that he hopes will help improve mobility for disabled people in a country where few streets or structures are built with them in mind.

A robotic excavator designed by a teenager in Logar province recently caught the attention of former President Hamid Karzai, who gave the child an award and held him up as an example to tribal elders of the merits of education.

In a country without a space program, Amiri clung to a moonshot dream of becoming an astronaut. When he enrolled in 2009 at Kabul University, where there was no astronomy program, he studied physics, which NASA considers a related field.

Though he never got to meet Armstrong, last year he met another hero, Abdul Ahad Mohmand, who became the first Afghan to travel into outer space when he spent nine days aboard a Russian space station in 1988.

It was a proud moment, Amiri said. He and other amateur astronomers were able to show him our own telescopes, he said.

Now Amiri, in addition to his day job as a translator and language tutor, has begun teaching a new generation of young Afghans about the heavens. He has joined a group of fellow amateur astronomers and helped develop a textbook for school-age children. The group hopes it will replace the more outdated texts in the countrys schools.

The astronomers also recently purchased a mobile planetarium for the rooftop of their offices in west Kabul, hoping to pique the interests of schoolchildren  boys and girls  in astronomy.

Last summer the Consortium for Undergraduate Research and Education in Astronomy, a program run by a professor at Kenyon College in Ohio, invited Amiri to the United States. He attended seminars at Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles and studied the spectrum of light emitted from sunspots using the Snow Solar Telescope on Mt. Wilson in the San Gabriel Mountains.

Amiri believes that for a nation constantly caught in conflict, the growth of astronomy could give young people something universal to study, helping to deter those vulnerable to the propaganda of insurgents.

When you see that the Earth itself is just a little speck in the universe, he said, all of these differences  the borders, the languages  everything else seems so insignificant.

Latifi is a special correspondent.
A mainland Chinese man wanted in connection with the killing of his two teenage nephews in Arcadia last month formally agreed Thursday to be extradited back to the United States after a hearing in a Hong Kong magistrates court.

Acting without legal counsel, Shi Deyun, 44, signed a document stating that he agreed to be surrendered to U.S. authorities and that he understood the consequences of his decision. He had previously dismissed the services of a lawyer, saying he wished to represent himself, and has been held without bail.

Magistrate Jason Wan Siu-ming, conducting the hearing in English, carefully took Shi through the consent document, asking after every section, Do you understand? Shi, a Mandarin speaker, responded yes though an interpreter. By signing the committal order, Shi agreed to be held awaiting his return to America, and also not to oppose a disposal order allowing U.S. authorities to return with any of his properties that have been seized, including his Chinese passport.

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The consent order cannot come into effect until signed by Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying. At the request of Anthea Li, the Hong Kong governments counsel in the extradition case, the judge explained to Shi that under a section of the territorys laws regarding fugitives, he has the right to apply for habeus corpus, which would mean he could not be removed or extradited.

Not removed to where? asked Shi.

To the U.S.A., said Wan. He explained to Shi that habeus corpus was a legal term meaning that you apply for the protection of the person, and it meant that a person objects to his surrender to the other government. But he cautioned Shi that the procedure was a bit complicated and should he decide to go that route, my advice is to seek the advice of a lawyer.

Shi, dressed in a grey wool jacket and a dark shirt, appeared alert throughout the hearing. He was given documents to review and allowed to leave the courtroom to study them with the help of the court interpreter. Although he walked with no assistance and was not handcuffed, he moved slowly with his gaze downward. His responses were soft but audible.

When asked if he wanted the U.S. charges against him to be read out, Shi replied no.

Li, the local governments lawyer, told reporters outside the court that the U.S. had informed Hong Kong that the issue of the death penalty would not arise, and the maximum penalty possible would be a life sentence. Hong Kong does not impose the death penalty and will not return fugitives to a jurisdiction where they might face capital punishment. Li also said the extradition documents were not considered public information in Hong Kong.

Investigators with the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department have said that on late Jan. 21, or early the next day, Shi drove to his brother-in-laws town house in the 400 block of Fairview Avenue in Arcadia, after assaulting his estranged wife in La Canada Flintridge.

Shis two nephews, ages 15 and 16, were found with extreme injuries at the Fairview residence on Jan. 22 by their mother, investigators say. The sheriffs department pronounced both teenagers dead at the scene from blunt-force blows to their torsos.

Shi arrived in Hong Kong on Jan. 23 on a flight from Los Angeles and was immediately taken into custody on a warrant issued on the basis of a provisional arrest document from U.S. authorities.

Li told the court that Hong Kong authorities had received a full surrender request from their U.S. counterparts, and needed to execute the extradition in accordance with a 1997 treaty.

When he first appeared in court late last month, Shi denied being a fugitive, saying that he had flown to Hong Kong en route to a city in mainland China where he owns businesses.

Shi apparently moved to Southern California in 2014 with his wife and two children. Recently, his wife told him that she wanted a divorce.

At a hearing Feb. 1, Shi had told the judge he had health issues and was suffering from delusions.

I feel many people are trying to kill me, Shi said then. Im very confused I dont know what has happened to me over the past few days.

On the judges order, Shi was taken to a hospital for a medical examination. He returned to the court that afternoon. He spoke for himself for the remainder of the proceedings, after dismissing the defense lawyer that the judge had arranged to represent him.

At that time, Shi appeared dejected and listless. He often gave monosyllabic answers in a hoarse voice and spoke very softly, with even his court-appointed interpreter at times straining to make out his responses.

Moriarty is a special correspondent.

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North Korea on Thursday ordered a military takeover of a factory park that had been the last major symbol of cooperation with South Korea, calling Seouls earlier suspension of operations at the jointly run facility as punishment for the Norths recent rocket launch a dangerous declaration of war.

North Korea said it was responding to Seouls shutdown order by immediately deporting the hundreds of South Koreans who work at the complex just across the worlds most heavily armed border in the city of Kaesong, pulling out the tens of thousands of North Korean employees and freezing all South Korean assets. The North also said it was shutting down two crucial cross-border communication hotlines.

Hours after the Norths expulsion deadline, South Koreas Unification Ministry, which is responsible for ties with the North, said all of the 280 South Korean workers who had been at the facility finally crossed into South Korea.

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The Norths moves significantly raised the stakes in a standoff that began with North Koreas nuclear test last month, followed by a long-range rocket launch on Sunday that outsiders see as a banned test of ballistic missile technology. South Korea responded Thursday by beginning work to suspend operations at the factory park, one of its harshest possible punishment options.

South Korea said it would ban reporters from the border crossing on Friday.

I was told not to bring anything but personal goods, so Ive got nothing but my clothes to take back, a manager at a South Korean apparel company at the complex, who declined to give his name, told the Associated Press by phone before he crossed into South Korea.

Chang Beom-kang, who has been running an apparel company in Kaesong since 2009, said from South Korea that his company has about 920 North Korean workers  who didnt show up Thursday  and seven South Korean managers at Kaesong.

He said one of his workers, who entered Kaesong earlier Thursday, was about to cross the border to return to South Korea with thousands of womens clothes produced at the factory. But at the last minute the employee had to drive back to the factory to unload the clothes because of North Koreas announcement that it would freeze all South Korean assets there.

Im devastated now, Chang said by phone, saying hes worried about losing credibility with clients because of the crisis.

Yonhap news agency, citing an unidentified military official, reported that South Korea bolstered its military readiness and strength along the western portion of the border in the event of a North Korean provocation. The report didnt elaborate on what that meant. Seouls Defense Ministry would only say that its military has been on high alert since the Norths nuclear test last month.

North Koreas Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said in a statement that the Souths shutdown of Kaesong was a dangerous declaration of war and a declaration of an end to the last lifeline of the North-South relations. Such over-the-top rhetoric is typical of the Norths propaganda, but the country appeared to be backing up its language with its strong response.

North Korea, in its statement, also issued crude insults against South Korean President Park Geun-hye, saying she masterminded the shutdown and calling her a confrontational wicked woman who lives upon the groin of her American boss. Such sexist language is also typical of North Korean propaganda.

North Korea has previously cut off cross-border communication channels in times of tension with South Korea, but they were later restored after animosities eased.

Seoul said its decision on Kaesong was an effort to stop North Korea from using hard currency earned from the park to develop its nuclear and missile programs.

Earlier Thursday, along the South Korean side of the border, a stream of large white trucks lined up before crossing into North Korea, presumably to bring back products and gear from the factories.

North Korea, in a fit of anger over U.S.-South Korean military drills, pulled its workers from Kaesong for about five months in 2013. But, generally, the complex has long been seen as above the constant squabbling and occasional bloodshed between the rival Koreas, one of the last few bright spots in a relationship more often marked by threats of war.

Park, the South Korean president, has now done something her conservative predecessor resisted, even after two attacks blamed on North Korea killed 50 South Koreans in 2010. She has shown a willingness to take quick action when provoked by the North. When North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test last month, for instance, she resumed anti-Pyongyang propaganda from loudspeakers along the border, despite what Seoul says was an exchange of cross-border artillery fire the last time she used the speakers.

The factory park, which started producing goods in 2004, has provided $560 million in cash to North Korea, South Korean Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo said.

Combining South Korean initiative, capital and technology with the Norths cheap labor, the industrial park has been seen as a test case for reunification between the Koreas. Last year, 124 South Korean companies hired 54,000 North Korean workers to produce socks, wristwatches and other goods worth about $500 million.

South Korean businesses with factories at the park reacted with a mixture of disappointment and anger. In a statement, the association of South Korean companies at Kaesong denounced Seouls decision as entirely incomprehensible and unjust.

The park also allowed people from both Koreas to interact with each other and glimpse lives on the other side of the border. Some South Korean snacks have become popular among North Korean workers.
When Pope Francis visits the western state of Michoacan next Tuesday, he will step into a plaza that holds the memory of one of the drug wars most heinous acts of violence.

On Sept. 15, the eve of Mexican Independence Day in 2008, throngs of revelers had crowded the plaza in the state capital of Morelia when two grenades exploded, killing eight people, wounding hundreds and introducing an indiscriminate style of narco-terrorism that plagues the country to this day.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed or disappeared across Mexico in recent years, forming a map of violence that stretches from the jungles of Chiapas to the U.S. border. But few Mexican states have been harder hit than Michoacan, where the descent into near-anarchy has given rise to cult-like drug cartels and ragtag armies of farmers turned vigilantes.

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Francis, whose six-day visit begins Friday, last week in a videotaped message told the Mexican people you are living your little piece of war. His one-day visit to Morelia, which will be heavily guarded by federal and military forces, will take him to the historic cathedral, which sits on the same plaza struck by the grenade attack.

1 / 7 Men belonging to the Self-Defense Council of Michoacan engage in a firefight while trying to flush out alleged members of the Knights Templar drug cartel from Nueva Italia, Mexico on Jan. 12, 2014. The vigilantes said they were liberating territory. Mexican troops and police stayed away. (Eduardo Verdugo / Associated Press) 2 / 7 The window of a bank is riddled with bullet holes in the town of Apatzingan in Michoacan state, Mexico on Jan. 11, 2014. Residents from various towns were destroying property to protest the arrival of vigilantes, or members of self-defense groups, to their communities. (Eduardo Verdugo / Associated Press) 3 / 7 Mexican federal police patrol in Michoacan. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 7 Vigilante groups in Michoacan state were ordered by the Mexican government to register their weapons in an effort to create a rural police force. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 7 Esperanza Bejar Perez walks past the hearse carrying her son Roberto Carlos Zamora, 27. She said vigilante forces had been tormenting her son, demanding money, threatening his family and beating him repeatedly. Zamora, she said, took his own life rather than face them anymore. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 7 A body is removed from a mass grave in La Barca on Nov. 15, 2013. Dozens of bodies were found in clandestine graves near the border between Jalisco and Michoacan states amid a turf war between the Knights Templar and New Generation cartels. (Agencia Esquema / Associated Press) 7 / 7 Flavio Gomez, identified by police as the brother of Servando La Tuta Gomez, head of the Knights Templar drug cartel, is escorted to a federal police truck at the airport in Mexico City on Feb. 27, 2015. Servando Gomez, a former teacher who became one of Mexicos most-wanted drug lords, was also captured. (Marco Ugarte / Associated Press)

Hundreds will be gathered inside, including some who were victims of drug violence, according to local media reports. Later, tens of thousands will hear him at a stadium gathering.

People [in Michoacan] look to the popes visit as an opportunity to move beyond the past, said Fernando Martinez Elorriaga, a professor at the Autonomous University of Mexico, who does research in Michoacan. They hope that his blessings will bring peace and tranquillity to a state overrun with violence.

The violence, which erupted in the mid-2000s, is rooted in the battle over control of methamphetamine production, and grew as organized crime groups expanded their reach to extortion and kidnapping, turning the terrain of mist-covered mountains and fertile valleys into some of the most lawless lands in Mexico.

The two main organized crime groups  La Familia and its spinoff, the Knights Templar  espoused pseudoreligious teachings while dominating all corners of society, from city halls to police stations and media.

The federal governments failure to restore order, most notably in the late 2000s when the corruption cases against 35 government and law enforcement officials unraveled, eventually gave rise in 2013 to a fierce anti-cartel vigilante movement.

Led by avocado and lime farmers angry at being extorted by criminal groups, the masked vigilantes roamed the state, erecting roadblocks and waging fierce gun battles with drug traffickers. The vigilantes included many former residents of the United States. Michoacan has sent more migrants to the U.S. than almost every other Mexican state, and fundraisers for the vigilantes have been held in cities from California to New York.

The popes visit has raised hopes that he will ask the government to free hundreds of vigilantes who remain in prison on weapons charges. Though some vigilante groups were infiltrated by traffickers, they enjoy widespread support in some areas. One imprisoned vigilante leader, Jose Mireles Valverde, a physician who lived 10 years in Modesto, Calif., is praised as a hero in an article posted on the homepage of the archdiocese of Morelia.

If Michoacan wants peace and tranquillity there must come a period of reconciliation, and that reconciliation cant happen unless these people are freed, said Ignacio Mendoza, the attorney for Mireles and 200 other vigilantes.

Vigilante leader Hipolito Mora, a lime grower released from prison last year, said in a phone interview that the popes intervention could be a turning point. Mora says the government allowed crime to flourish and then fabricating charges against the vigilantes, people who were forced to take a stand.

See the most-read stories this hour >>

The popes visit could also bring uncomfortable attention to the churchs ambiguous role during the drug war. Though many priests have been killed, there have been few sustained efforts to provide leadership against the cartels, say many experts. Suspicions have long swirled that some churches are compromised through the practice of narco-limosnas, or drug-tainted donations used to build gaudy churches in drug-trafficking regions.

Francis may take the opportunity to urge clerics to take a more active role in building communities and youth programs resistant to the pull of organized crime. Thus far, the churchs efforts, with some exceptions, have been paltry, said David Shirk, director of the Justice in Mexico Project at the University of San Diego.

The fact that the current pope is coming to Mexico and emphasizing the issue of crime and violence, and going to places that have been hardest hit ... sends a very loud signal, particularly in contrast to the position the church has taken, which is one of almost abandoning the flock, Shirk said.

Timothy Matovina, a professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame, said Francis is known to push for change at local churches. He has not been shy of taking on the local bishops and clergy in places he has visited, and saying, Were the shepherds, working for the church of Christ here, we have to be bold and stand up for the gospel and stand up for whats right, Matovina said.

Workers clean the entrance of the cathedral in Morelia, where Pope Francis will say Mass on Feb. 16. The plaza opposite the cathedral was the site of one of the more horrific incidents of drug cartel violence: a 2008 grenade attack. (Enrique Castro / AFP/Getty Images)

The pope arrives at a time of relative tranquillity in Michoacan, with drug trafficking groups in retreat after the arrests and deaths of key cartel leaders. But ominous signs remain.

Gunmen claiming to be vigilantes, in a videotaped message last week, threatened armed insurrection unless the government finishes off the Knights Templar. In the video, a masked man flanked by two gunmen said their group would hold off its offensive until after the popes visit.

The pope has lashed out directly against criminal groups elsewhere. In Rome in 2014, he strongly denounced the Italian Mafia, telling mafiosi they would go to hell if they didnt renounce their bloodstained money and bloodstained power.

Such language can have an impact, for even drug traffickers have a hard time dismissing the pleas of devout family members who hear the popes message, said Shirk.

Traffickers love their moms, Shirk said, and moms love the church.

richard.marosi@latimes.com

Twitter: @ricardin24



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Five years on, Tahrir Square activists look back at Egypts revolution: Maybe we were naive
Five years ago Thursday, Cairos Tahrir Square erupted in euphoric celebrations as hundreds of thousands of Egyptians danced, cheered, wept and fell to their knees in prayer on the night that President Hosni Mubarak stepped down after three decades of autocratic rule.

Fireworks lighted the night sky, and songs of freedom filled the air.

The revelers that night, Feb. 11, 2011, included Islamist firebrands and liberal secularists, students and farmers, lawyers and homemakers, many of whom had rarely if ever interacted before. In Tahrir Square, epicenter of an extraordinary 18-day rebellion, they created their own idealized version of society.

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But the elated crowds have long since dispersed, their revolutionary slogans replaced with the din of cars in one of Cairos busiest traffic circles.

A monument to the hundreds who died at the square was torn down by activists who accused the military-backed government of trying to co-opt the spirit of the revolution. A flagpole flying the national colors has taken its place.

These days people who occupied Tahrir reflect on those heady days and ask: Was the hope for change only a naive dream?

Were going to Tahrir Square!  Zyad Elelaimy

Zyad Elelaimy, 35, has been advocating for change since he was a teenager. A leftist lawyer who defends political prisoners, he shed tears when he saw reports of Tunisians celebrating the ouster of their longtime strongman, Zine el Abidine ben Ali, the first leader to topple in what became known as the Arab Spring.

Elelaimy doubted Egypt would see an uprising like that in his lifetime. But nine days later, on Jan. 25, he led one of 19 marches across 16 cities to protest repression under Mubarak.

The demonstration began with just a handful of people. But as the marchers made their way from a shantytown on the outskirts of Cairo to the upscale Mohandessin neighborhood, more people joined them.

The swelling crowds helped us break through one police barrier after the other, he recalled. Someone asked him what they should do next.

I spontaneously told him, Were going to Tahrir Square, he said. It was the widest space that I know of in Cairo.

Soon, the square was filling with people. But around midnight, police armed with tear gas moved in.

NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >>

Elelaimy sprinted into downtown, where he collapsed on the ground, overcome by an asthma attack. As police rounded up protesters, a cafe owner came to his rescue, seating Elelaimy and his friends at a table to make them look like ordinary diners.

Three days later, both sides were better organized. Demonstrators converging on the square were initially held back by tear gas, birdshot and water cannon blasts. But as their numbers grew, the police took flight, some officers shedding their uniforms as they ran.

From that day, the square belonged to the revolution.

There is no state at the moment.  Mohammed Tolba

In Mubaraks secular Egypt, Mohammed Tolbas untrimmed beard and the face-covering veil worn by his wife were all it took to arouse the suspicion of the feared State Security.

Although he was not politically active, the 36-year-old software developer and father of three was detained multiple times and questioned about his ultraconservative religious views.

Once, when he tried to drive his family to a Red Sea resort, he was stopped at a checkpoint and ordered to turn back. The officers assumed the family might be terrorists and did not want them near foreign tourists, he said.

In those days, Tolba avoided Tahrir Square because of the Interior Ministry headquarters looming nearby and the plainclothes officers who might swoop in at any time.

That changed the day he was shown cellphone video of a police van driving into the crowd during the first days of the protests. His brother was in that crowd and was knocked over.

Tolba, on a business trip to Sudan, immediately booked a flight home and felt like he had landed in another country. Streets normally full of life were deserted, except for soldiers enforcing an overnight curfew.

The next day he joined his brother on a march to Tahrir. As they got closer, Tolba wanted to turn back. But his brother calmed his fears, telling him, There is no state at the moment, let alone State Security.

With each step, Tolba grew more confident. Once inside the square, he was amazed by the diversity of the crowd.

I was having a conversation with a liberal movie director, something which was completely impossible for me in the past, he said, laughing at the memory. I loved the fact that this sort of silence among Egyptian people was breaking.

We were all together.  Mohamed Sayed

Mohamed Sayed, a lanky 25-year-old in jeans and a hoodie, works for a tourism agency on Tahrir Square, near Cairos world-renowned antiquities museum. He spends his days in the streets trying to tempt foreign visitors with offers on tours. Although the agency was forced to close during the uprising, Sayed sympathized with the protesters.

Inequality was a cancer entrenched in the Mubarak regime, he said. Only the well-connected could hope to be treated fairly.

Volunteers sweep the streets around Tahrir Square after an 18-day occupation ended in February 2011. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

He watched on TV as hundreds of government supporters, some on camels and horses, charged into the square Feb. 2, wielding clubs and horse whips. The next day, he joined the protesters in the square.

By then, a tent city had sprung up, with teams of volunteers to provide security, distribute food and sweep up trash. There was a medical aid station  and even artistic and cultural events.

Christian Copts were looking out for Muslims while they prayed. Young people were helping older ones. Guys were helping girls and making sure they were fully protected, he said. Before that, you would hardly see 20 or 30 Egyptians standing together in some line without them ending up fighting each other.

Sayed spent eight days in the square. He was at home the night Mubaraks resignation speech was broadcast, but ran back to Tahrir.

We were all together, he said. Everybody was singing hysterically. I remember one guy was throwing his toddler in the air and catching him in celebration.

No one cared who was who.  Ahmed Hesham

The Muslim Brotherhood, a banned Islamist group that was Egypts most potent opposition under Mubarak, did not initially endorse the protests in Tahrir Square. But that made little difference to young followers such as Ahmed Hesham.

Every day, Hesham would arrive in Tahrir around 3 p.m. with his brother and sister, and their mother too, and stay till nearly midnight.

A lone protester steps into the path of an oncoming tank near Tahrir Square in January 2011. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Hesham, now a 33-year-old engineer, remembers how surprised he was by the vast crowd. Until then, he had no idea how many Egyptians believed that Mubaraks government was unjust and corrupt.

That was a great feeling, to know that I was not on my own in this, he said.

Although Brotherhood members established their own spot in the square, that did not prevent Hesham from getting to know the secular activists who called the protests. He spent hours with them discussing their countrys future.

The night Mubarak resigned, he remembers running to his new friends to congratulate them.

We were all hugging each other in jubilation, he said. No one cared who was who or who was with who.

Something inside me told me that it was not going to last.  Sara Abdallah

Sara Abdallah, 29, remembers the revulsion she felt the day she saw a police officer beating a thief on her way home from work at a charity near Tahrir. The man begged for mercy, but the officer kept kicking and punching.

The policemans brutality is what drew her into the square in 2011, along with the chants of bread, freedom and social equality.

Women celebrate the fall of Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak in February 2011. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

As a woman in Cairo, you face harassment every day, she said. I have to walk around with my headphones on, so as not to hear some remark that would disturb me  or just use taxis.

Abdallah, who does not wear a veil, was still living with her parents at the time. It took her days to convince them that it was safe for a young woman to join the protests. But after accompanying her a few times, they too realized that things were different in the square.

I felt really safe in Tahrir, to be honest, she said. Still, something inside me told me that it was not going to last.

The night Mubarak resigned, a number of women were violently assaulted by mobs of men among the revelers, including the CBS correspondent Lara Logan.

Maybe we were naive.  Mohamed Sayed

Five years later, Egypt is still beset by poverty, corruption and bureaucratic problems.

The countrys first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, is behind bars along with thousands of his Muslim Brotherhood supporters, and an army man, Field Marshal Abdel Fattah Sisi, is back at the helm of the Arab worlds most populous nation.

Cairos central Tahrir Square, epicenter of an extraordinary 18-day rebellion in 2011, stands mostly empty on Jan. 25, 2016. (Brian Rohan / Associated Press)

Abdallah did not trust the Brotherhood, but she thought Morsi, an Islamist, should have been voted out of office, not removed by the military amid more protests. The deadly crackdown that followed when Morsis supporters took to the streets has made her question whether change is even possible in Egypt.

People were watching a real massacre and cheering for it, she said.

Some of the people Hesham grew up with were among those killed. One of his uncles hasnt slept in his own bed for three years, for fear he will be arrested.

Although Hesham faults the Brotherhoods leaders for believing they could govern without other sectors of Egyptian society, he was stunned by the vitriol directed against the movement on social media. He no longer speaks to some of the friends he made in Tahrir.

These days, even liberal activists are being rounded up. But where some see only defeat, Elelaimy sees an Egypt transformed by those turbulent days in the square.

The revolution has created a new awareness, he said. Justice and equality are no longer just terms found in books.

Tolba, too, is convinced that Egyptians will rise up again  if only because the economy is so bad.

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But others have grown weary of the perpetual unrest and want to give Sisi a chance to restore order.

We need any form of stability, otherwise my whole generations lives will be lost, Sayed said.

Attacks by Islamist extremists have increased since Morsis ouster, driving away much-needed tourists. Sayed, who relies on commissions at the tourism agency, has seen his income drop by half. He no longer knows what to think about the 2011 uprising.

We definitely did the right thing, but our lives have only gotten worse, he said. Maybe we were naive to believe that democracy can be achieved in 18 days.

Special correspondent Hassan reported from Cairo and Times staff writer Zavis from Los Angeles.

For more international news, follow @alexzavis on Twitter

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Syria talks at make-or-break point as humanitarian disaster widens
The United States, Russia and other world powers agreed Thursday to implement a nationwide cessation of hostilities in Syrias civil war to start in one week in an effort to stop the carnage and allow delivery of humanitarian aid to besieged civilians.

The cease-fire will not apply to groups designated as terrorists -- namely, Islamic State and the Al Qaeda offshoot known as the Al Nusra Front -- so that Russia and the U.S.-led coalition can continue airstrikes against those positions.

But how that will play out is unclear: The U.S. has often accused Russia of claiming it was fighting Islamic State when in fact it targeted other opponents of the Syrian government.

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The Russians also would be allowed to continue airstrikes against other, unspecified targets that they claim are terrorist groups.

U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry made the announcement after a meeting in Munich, Germany, that lasted hours beyond schedule, a sign of the torturous negotiations and deep levels of disagreement among the parties involved in the Syria crisis.

Obviously, its been difficult, Kerry said.

Kerry said details of the cessation of hostilities had yet to be worked out. That could include ways to monitor and verify the cease-fire. He said aid deliveries to the most desperate parts of Syria would begin within days.

This is a pause that is dependent on the process going forward, Kerry said. But it will have the effect of stopping offensive actions at least temporarily, he said.

The objective is to achieve a durable long-term cease-fire at some time, he said.

Russia, which is backing the Syrian government, had proposed a cease-fire to begin March 1. After days of bombing runs that U.S. officials say have killed civilians and moderate U.S.-backed rebels, Moscow has given its ally a clear military advantage.

The suspicion was that Russia would prefer a cease-fire to begin three weeks from now in order to provide time to finish crushing the rebels and return the besieged city of Aleppo, Syrias largest, to President Bashar Assads control.

The United States, Saudi Arabia, other Arab gulf states and much of the West want to get rid of Assad, saying his brutality and willingness to use chemical weapons against his people make him more suited for a war crimes tribunal than a presidential palace.

But Russia and Iran remain Assads firm backers, and their forces have shifted the balance of power in Syria back to Assad after nearly five years of civil war.

U.S. and European diplomats rejected the Russian proposal, saying the cease-fire had to be immediate.

The future of Syria and Syrians is in our hands, European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in Munich.

Earlier, Kerry started Thursdays meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, and then joined other members of the so-called International Syria Support Group, a collection of 20 nations working on the conflict, which has fueled the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II and killed more than 200,000 people.

After the meeting concluded, Lavrov joined Kerry to announce the results. He bristled when a reporter asked him whether aid agencies were lying in regularly claiming that Russian airstrikes have killed civilians. Some do lie, Lavrov said.

The Obama administration also wants a settlement in Syria to allow for more focused fighting to eliminate Islamic State militants, who have seized on the chaos to take over large swaths of Syria and Iraq before expanding now to Libya.

Kerry tweeted that he made clear [to Lavrov] the need for immediate progress on humanitarian access, ceasefire.

Were going to have a serious conversation about all aspects about whats happening in Syria, he told reporters in Munich. We will talk about all aspects of the conflict.

At the margins in the Munich talks, Russian and U.S. officials were far from agreement and instead traded accusations.

Moscow rejected a U.S. military statement Wednesday saying Russian warplanes had destroyed two hospitals in Aleppo. Russia insists the damage was the result of U.S. airstrikes. U.S. military and State Department officials denied the Russian claim.

More than 50,000 Syrian refugees have fled Aleppo and the surrounding area toward the border with Turkey, where they are in effect trapped.

Already reeling from the influx of more than 2.5 million Syrian and Iraqi refugees, Turkey has refused to allow more to enter. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said doing so would further the ethnic cleansing that Assad is causing. He instead called for the establishment of havens in Syria.

The top human rights official for the United Nations, Zeid Raad Hussein, said the deterioration of conditions in Aleppo, where about 300,000 people may be trapped and under attack, was grotesque.

The warring parties in Syria are constantly sinking to new depths, without apparently caring in the slightest about the death and destruction they are wreaking across the country, said Hussein, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization said Thursday that it plans to deploy warships and surveillance planes to the Aegean Sea to monitor the crossings of thousands of Syrian refugees, who are risking their lives on a daily basis to escape civil war.

The NATO force will work with the European Unions border management agency, Frontex, to stem trafficking and illegal migration, said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

This is not about stopping or pushing back refugee boats, he said at a NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels. NATO will contribute critical information and surveillance to help counter human trafficking and criminal networks.

Another goal of the Munich talks is to persuade the warring parties to return to negotiations in Geneva on Feb. 25. The first attempt at negotiations broke down this month when opposition groups walked out over the Aleppo offensive.

There has been persistent disagreement over even the basics of who should be allowed at the negotiating table; Syria considers many of the opposition groups to be terrorists, the same label Turkey gives to several of the Kurdish groups.

Times staff writer W.J. Hennigan in Washington contributed to this report.

For more news about global affairs, follow @TracyKWilkinson on Twitter.

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The army chief of staff in North Korea has reportedly been executed due to corruption allegations.

Citing media reports in South Korea, BBC said Ri Yong-gil was killed just this month due to corruption as well as "factional conspiracy."

It noted that he is the newest top official in the country who has been executed after other high-ranking officers have also disappeared from the public's eye.

The Guardian added that that Ri's execution was done at a time when there was heightened tension in Korea due to the North's rocket launch and nuclear testings.

The same report also mentioned his name was not included in reports during the celebration and meetings for the rocket launch over the weekend.

A source from a South Korean newspaper, as per The Guardian, claimed that this recent purge is a sign that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea supreme leader is "still insecure" of his powers.

Sought for comment, the National Intelligence Service in Seoul has not given their statement on the unverified report.

Meanwhile, Independent claimed that though it is extremely difficult to confirm the report from the country, Ri reportedly had a falling out with Kim starting in 2014.

Reports surfaced later on that the army chief of staff will be replaced by General Pyon In Son, who is now the operations leader of the Korean People's Army.

But Independent claimed that Pyon was also executed early last year when he was removed from service after he failed to obey instructions. They were also corruption claims.

The recent execution is said to be another high-profile one since the purge of Km's own uncle, Jang Song Thaek in 2013.

Jang's death was claimed to be a needed move for Kim at that time to make sure that he stays in power.

"He had to go. To really start running the country Kim must get rid of the old guard. They are so much older; they are in their sixties and seventies and he is in his thirties," explained North Korea expert Andrei Lankov in the Independent report.

As for Ri, the general rose into power during the leadership of Kim Jong-il in 2002. According to BBC, his last public appearance was last month with Kim when they conducted a nuclear test.

Another North Korean specialist Mike Madden mentioned in the same report that Ri seemed to have already been replaced by Ri Myong-su, who appeared in a Pyongyang rally just recently.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Brazil's Catholic Church has rejected calls to allow abortion to expecting mothers infected with the Zika virus.

Zika is being linked to a birth defect called microcephaly, a condition where babies are born with abnormally smaller heads and incomplete brain development. The United Nations Commission on Human Rights have urged countries with surging rates of microcephaly cases to ease their laws and allow pregnant women with Zika to terminate their pregnancies, AFP reported (via Yahoo! News).

Brazil has restricted abortion except in some cases, which includes rape, when the fetus has no brain, or when the mother's life is in danger, the news outlet listed.

Auxiliary Bishop Leonardo Ulrich Steiner, secretary general of the Brazilian Bishops' Conference, rejected the UN's argument.

"Microcephaly has been occurring in Brazil for years. They are taking advantage of this moment to reintroduce the abortion topic," the bishop told the Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper, as reported by AFP. "Abortion leads to eugenics, the practice of selecting perfect people."

Sergio da Rocha, Brasilia's current archbishop, said society should "value life in whatever state it's in," adding that "less quality of life doesn't mean less right to live," AFP further reported.

A group of activists in the country has also petitioned the Supreme Court to alter Brazil's restrictive laws on abortion, the news outlet noted. Each year, the nation sees around a million illegal abortions.

Women's rights activists in Brazil are also preparing an appeal to the Supreme Court to consider giving the right to abortion in microcephaly cases.

"We have everything on hand - we have an epidemic, we have the historical negligence of the Ministry of Health, and we have women's needs on the table," said Debora Diniz, vice chair of the International Women's Health Coalition, as quoted by PRI.

Since October 2015, Brazil has reported 404 confirmed cases of microcephaly, while another 3,670 cases are still under investigation, the news outlet noted. Scientists said that the Zika virus, carried by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, can be transferred from a mother to the fetus in the womb.

The Centers for Disease Control has warned women -- both those who are pregnant and planning to conceive -- to avoid traveling to South America, Central America, and Caribbean countries like Puerto Rico, USA Today wrote.

The virus, however, is not considered as a major threat to the rest of the people, USA Today added. According to CDC Director Tom Frieden, 80 percent of those infected will not display any symptoms at all, while others will only have mild symptoms. Zika remains in an infected individual's blood for about a week.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The naked and bound body of an abducted Mexican journalist was found along a highway this week.

The slain Anabel Flores Salazar was kidnapped from her home near the city of Orizaba in Veracruz on Monday, Feb. 8, according to a Puebla state official who chose to remain anonymous, the Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ, reported. She was a crime reporter for local newspaper El Sol de Orizaba.

The Veracruz attorney general's office said that Flores Salazar, who was found dead with her head wrapped in a plastic bag, was abducted from her house around 2 AM by at least eight armed men. The assailants, who were dressed in what seemed to be military uniforms, forced their way into her home.

Her aunt, Sandra Luz Salazar, who was in the house at the time, told CPJ that the gunmen claimed they possess a warrant for her niece's arrest. The assailants reportedly pointed their guns at family members as they forced Flores Salazar into one of the three gray trucks parked outside.

Veracruz Governor Javier Duarte tweeted that the abductors' vehicles were stolen.

According to a news report, Flores Salazar had a baby and a four-year-old son.

Flores Salazar recently worked on a report about a store owner who was fatally shot, CPJ added. She also reported on police activities, murders, and car accidents for El Sol de Orizaba. She formerly contributed for the dailies El Buen Tono and El Mundo de Orizaba as well.

The country's Special Prosecutor for Crimes against Freedom of Expression will probe into Flores Salazar's abduction and death, CNN reported from the federal attorney general's office.

The state prosecutor's office claimed in a statement released on Monday that the journalist had connections with a suspected member of an organized crime group.

"The administration of Governor Javier Duarte Ochoa has a dismal record of impunity and has been incapable and unwilling to prosecute crimes against the press," said Carlos Lauria, CPJ's senior program coordinator for the Americas. "We urge federal authorities to take over the investigation into Anabel Flores Salazar's murder, seriously look her journalism as a possible motive, and bring all those responsible to justice."

The CPJ considers Mexico as one of the world's most dangerous regions for journalists, CNN wrote. Majority of the threat comes from organized crime groups like drug cartels. Since 2011, 11 journalists have been slain as direct retribution for their work.

Veracruz sees the most violence against journalists. CPJ said that six of the country's 11 confirmed journalist killings over the past five years took place in the state. That number doesn't include the murders with unclear motives of seven other journalists and three more who are missing.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A lady driver in Costa Rica decided to show her protest against Uber by tying herself to a tree in President Luis Guillermo Solis' frontyard, declaring that she is there to fight for her rights.

A report from Tico Times revealed that Virginia Moreira, a 54-year-old taxi driver in the Central American country, wrapped herself in a Costa Rican flag and shackled herself to a tree near Solis' Escalante home on Wednesday.

"I'm here to fight for by children's bread. It's my job," she told the outlet, adding that she has no other means of earning to finance her children's daily needs.

According to the outlet, Moriera had been driving her 16-year-old cab and just lost permission to drive passengers in Costa Rica because her vehicle was a little too old for the job as stated under the law.

What the lady driver condemns is the fact that the government strictly applies the law to traditional taxi drivers like her but not to unlicensed taxis or Uber-managed passenger vehicles.

"Today the government does not support us. They apply the law to us, who are legal, and they don't apply the law to those who aren't," she said.

As law enforcers closed in on the area, some of Moriera's fellow taxi drivers parked nearby to show their solidarity and support for the 54-year-old mother with words of protest written on their cabs' windows: "Uber out."

While taxi drivers in Costa Rica have a history of expressing their dissent toward the ride-hailing mobile service with violence, the demonstration in the Escalante neighborhood remained peaceful.

In the past, traditional taxi drivers have taken it unto themselves to compel Uber drivers to quit by assaulting them or shaming them in public.

In August, Reuters reported that two vehicles from the ride-hailing service were taken out of circulation and an Uber driver taxi was attacked by Costa Rican cab drivers during the first weekend of the highly controversial company in the country.

Aside from that, the Solis himself issued a warning to the business that the government would apply stern vigilance in the streets of Costa Rica for law-breaking Uber drivers via Costa Rica Hoy.

Uber is a popular and notorious cab-hailing mobile service that has remained under close check, not only by Costa Rica but by other countries as well.

Just this Wednesday, Montreal drivers of black taxis organized a protest against the company which resulted in traffic stoppage.

According to the Montreal Gazette, the rally involved hundreds of taxi drivers and affected flights at the Trudeau airport.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Colombia's FARC rebels have promised to no longer accept minors to join their ranks. This was in line with the ongoing peace talks with the Colombian government to end the conflict that has spanned over five decades.

The Colombian government and the leftist FARC rebels are currently undergoing peace talks to put an end to the conflict that has killed more than 220,000 people, most of them civilians. Human rights groups have already decried the group's forced labor on child soldiers -- children as young as 17 years old.

In an earlier statement, the FARC rebels said that they will cease recruiting youth younger than seventeen years old. Furthermore, the leftist rebels said that they will return child soldiers under 15 years old as reported by BBC.

The report said that until last year, FARC rebels have recruited soldiers, both male and female, as young as 15 years old. Since then, FARC has raised the bar to seventeen years of age. The Colombian government has since then also decided to treat captured child soldiers as victims instead of militants.

In previous arguments, the FARC leftist rebels said that the government failed to give these child soldiers the decent living accommodations that they need. Poverty is still a main issue in the country and the rural poor are being forced to live under such marginalized conditions that are unfit to be lived in. The FARC rebels also accused the government of illegally recruiting over 500,000 minors in poor rural areas, oftentimes by force.

In the past, the FARC rebels have said that many of their child recruits are the children of the FARC rebels themselves. Some of their child recruits also joined the FARC army after being orphaned.

However, many of these former child soldiers said that they were taken from their homes and forced to fight. Many have escaped. Many were as young as 11 years old. Many have also escaped.

According to Fox News Latino, the FARC said from now on, they will only be recruiting adults into their armies and that they expect the Colombian government to ensure that the rights and protection of children in armed conflict are being upheld and prioritized.

The FARC rebels also challenged Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos to make do on his election campaign to put a stop to all obligatory military service as well as ensuring that minors are not being forced into battle.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Pope Francis will be spreading a message of love and compassion for the poor when he makes his six-day trip to Mexico. The Pontiff of Rome will also be defending the rights of migrants as the United States has shown its defensive stance on the issue of migration.

The Pope seeks to show solidarity for the migrants despite the United States wanting to do away with illegal immigrants. Even now, the Obama Administration has begun its efforts of deporting illegal immigrants from across the country. Many of these immigrants are families and even unaccompanied minors trying to escape violence from Central America.

The move has been heavily criticized by migrant advocates as well as many Latino groups. The raids started as early as early January and migrants, including women and children, have either been held in detention cells or deported to their home countries, Washington Post reports.

Despite the U.S. taking a defensive stance on illegal immigrants, and with presidential candidate Donald Trump promising to deport illegal immigrants in the country should he be elected president, the Pope stands in his solidarity with the migrants, reports The Wall Street Journal.

According to the report, the Pontiff of Rome is to hold Mass in Ciudad Suarez on February 17. This is significant because the place is located near the U.S. border where it is expected that over 200,000 devotees from the Mexican side alone will be in attendance.

Pope Francis wants to incorporate a sense of community despite the great divide. It is also expected that 50,000 people from across Texas will be attending. The pope has always been a staunch supporter of the rights of immigrants, being the product of Italian immigrants who fled to Argentina.

The Pontiff has also decried the injustices and discrimination given to the migrants and has given them priority, calling on world leaders to show compassion amidst a world of indifference.

Even now, the Church has opened its doors to migrants everywhere. All across Mexico, migrants can seek shelter, particularly in San Salvador, which leads up to the U.S. border.

Pope Francis is also set to address the cases of human rights violation in the country. As it is, Mexico is already one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists and media men, following the recent abduction and slaying of Anabel Flores Salazar.

The pope's visit to Mexico will usher in a message of new hope to the country where nearly half of the population is living in poverty. Despite President Enrique Pena Nieto's efforts to boost economic reform, the government is still fighting an ongoing war against organized crime.

Pope Francis hopes that his visit to Mexico might address the issue of the lack of compassion in a world where indifference has become the norm. Choosing to stand in solidarity with the migrants, the pontiff of Rome calls for those who will stand with him as well.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Puerto Rico is in the middle of a major economic crisis with about $70 billion financial debt. La Isla del Encanto is now thinking that gay tourism can help the Caribbean island rise up from its debt crisis.

"There's a connection between more rights for gay people in Puerto Rico and have more impact in regards to gay tourism on the island and that will have a domino effect in regards to improve the economy," a gay advocate named Cecilia de la Luz said.

According to We are Mitu, it has been more than 40 years since she has been asking for the equal rights of the members of the homosexual community. In fact, she also believes that through this, the quality of life for every citizen on the island will improve -- not just for homosexuals.

Statistics show that 90 percent of foreign visitors come from the U.S., a lot of whom are "gay honeymooners," who often shell out a lot of money. Moreover, the executive director of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company, Ingrid Rivera, boasted that Puerto Rico is a great spot for wedding events.

Hence, the administration is trying their best to have U.S. airlines offer more flights straight to the Caribbean island. They are also working on with promotional ads for the "gay community."

However, there are no definite counts as to how much gay tourism can earn for the archipelago, but according to Rivera's assumption, it can be up to 350 to 500 million. Furthermore, Puerto Rico is the only island in the Caribbean, which has the same rules for gay people as the U.S.

This means that gay tourists are free to visit the island and are respected, unlike other areas of the globe. In fact, one of the gay visitors named Lee Hall got engaged to his boyfriend in Puerto Rico and said: "Everyone here, that I've experienced, is very gay-friendly, gay accepting."

Meanwhile, the Obama government and Democrats of the legislative body cried out for the Republicans to pass a law that will enable Puerto Rico to file for bankruptcy, The Washington Post reported.

The Republicans are also finding ways to set up a "financial control board" for Puerto Rico, similar to that which helped reinstate the budgetary arrangement in Colombia.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Chocolate is a favorite indulgent of many. You can eat it on its own, or you can mix it with fruits and other snacks to make it more enjoyable. Now, science proclaims that chocolate is not only a sweet treat for your taste buds; it turns out the confection is also beneficial to your health.

Studies have suggested that chocolate has the ability to lower blood pressure, reduce the danger of heart disease, help control blood sugar, and lessen stress, according to CNET. In the last decade, researchers also found that there are chemicals in chocolate that could possibly block diarrhea.

"(Chocolate) is a good antioxidant, it has a good effect on inflammation. We think most of the beneficial effects are because of this," said Dr. Owais Khawaja, a cardiology fellow at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center in Toledo, Ohio, as quoted by the news outlet.

Khawaja added that the chemicals found in chocolate, which came from cacao seeds, can also potentially decrease the risk of cancer and dementia, CNN wrote.

Chocolate, together with coffee, tea, and cola, can also lower a person's chances of developing skin cancer. A study of more than 120,000 nurses in the United States found that men and women who consumed the highest amount of these drinks and ate the most chocolate have a 13 percent and 18 percent lower risk of getting skin cancer, respectively.

Another study also found that higher chocolate intake is associated with a lower risk of future cardiovascular events. For the research, more than 150,000 men and women in the U.S., Australia, and Europe reported consuming up to 3.5 ounces of chocolate each day. Eating chocolate was linked with a 21 percent lower risk of stroke, 29 percent lower risk of heart disease, and 45 percent lower risk of dying due to heart disease.

Milk chocolate is also said to lower the risk of heart disease, presumably due to the calcium it contains, CNET added.

However, like many other things, chocolate is not always good. Chocolate's antioxidant and anti-inflammatory abilities are believed to originate from a type of plant nutrients found in cocoa beans called flavonoids, CNET noted. Dark chocolate holds more flavonoids that white chocolate, which doesn't actually contain chocolate and is not a good source of the compound.

A chocolate bar that contains 70 percent of cocoa normally belongs in the dark chocolate category and carries different levels of flavonoid compounds depending on how it was processed, the news outlet added. A chocolate that underwent a chemical stage known as ditching, or Dutch chocolate, has basically lost its flavonoid compounds.

Chocolate can also cause weight gain, and can generate problems if a person has gastrointestinal conditions and kidney disease due to its high potassium content, Chron listed.

All in all, chocolate is good for the body at times, but too much of anything can cause serious problems. Chocolate, basically, should be eaten in moderation.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The recent arrest of political activist Milagro Sala after being accused of corruption has caused tension between Argentine President Mauricio Macri and Pope Francis. Sala was arrested in January on counts of fraud and extortion, which has sparked debate from various rights groups.

The Argentine president is scheduled to meet the pope on February 27 during Macri's visit to The Vatican. This will be his first official visit as Argentina's president since coming into power last December 10. While Pope Francis has met Macri before when the president was still mayor of Buenos Aires, Sala's arrest threatens to raise tension between Argentina's leader and the pontiff of Rome.

The Guardian reports that Pope Francis had met Sala in Rome just after he was elected pope. Pope Francis is a staunch supporter of human rights and has fought on numerous occasions to defend Argentina's social workers and movements.

Sala has been accused of inciting a coup by Jujuy Governor Gerardo Morales. Both are known to be in a long-standing feud with each other. Morales, in a report with the Buenos Aires Herald, said that he will stop at nothing in his attacks against Sala, whose group he accused of wanting to oust him out of power and wanting to overthrow the provincial government.

Sala is the leader of Tupac Amaru, which was vastly supported by Macri's predecessor and rival Cristina Kirchner. The organization was given $2m in subsidies which were used to house 70,000 indigenous members.

The Argentine Catholic Church has already urged leaders to not take its fear of political change in the fight against corruption as the pontiff of Rome has already decried xenophobia numerous times. Bishop Jorge Lazano, a church official in Argentina, has already called for the release of Sala.

Macri had previously spoken to Pope Francis on the phone to greet him on his birthday back in December. The two prominent Argentine figures had no communication following Macri's victory back in November of last year.

After Sala's arrest on January 16, human rights activists stormed in front of President Macri's presidential office, demanding her release. The groups have argued that Sala was unjustly jailed after peacefully exercising her rights of protesting. The group runs schools and textile mills that have provided livelihood to various members of the community.

When Macri is set to meet with the pope at the end of the month, Sala's arrest will surely be one of the things that will be addressed. The Argentine Church has already raised concerns that Macri and his government are now out to take down social movements.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Protesters took to the streets of Quito, Ecuador, to hold a counter-demonstration in the wake of the dispute between the country's government and military chiefs that led President Rafael Correa to fire the military high command.

The problem, as noted by Voice of America, came when the top military command from the Social Security Institute of the Armed Forces (ISSFA) was accused of overcharging the Environment Ministry by an estimated $41 million in a land sale in 2010. The Armed Forces were said to have sold 66 lots to the Ministry for $48 million, but according to the report by the Attorney General, the lots only amounted to about $7 million.

Fox News said that when asked to return the funds, General Luis Garzon said that the money couldn't be returned as it had already been dedicated to military pensions. When Garzon stepped out of military practice and spoke at a news conference about the matter in question, Correa fired him for disobedience.

Correa fired Garzon and other military high command officers, announcing via Twitter, "With great pain I had to prematurely end the High Command. We will not allow anyone to manipulate soldiers or the country."

He also stated in the rally on Wednesday, "Soldiers can have certainty over their pensions. Our armed forces are very important for the country, but they are not the whole country."

The military chiefs have been given until April to leave their office.

He also added that the $41 million overcharge will be discounted: the money will be taken from the state's social security contributions to the military.

Anti-government protesters chanted on the streets, calling for Correa to go to prison for his decision to fire the officers involved. Pro-government crowds, on the other hand, call for the unity of people.

An opposition protester told TeleSur TV that Correa should resign from his post, as the country is now living in "total insecurity" and suffering from a moral crisis. The president's actions were said to be an example of abuse committed by the government, adding that he should go to jail.

Another protester noted, "Nine years in power is too much, we want (Correa) out. Democracy has ended, nothing is independent."

Still, despite the protesters gathering outside the Presidential Palace, Correa summarized the dispute, slamming the mainstream press for misrepresenting the government in the process. Correa said, "I want the press to listen to me: Stop manipulating the people. Everything we are doing is legal and for the good will of the people."

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Zika Virus Update: Central America Gangs Obstructing Work Against the Virus Outbreak

media@latinoshealth.com By Staff Writer Feb 11, 2016 11:00 AM EST

Central America street gangs are impeding the work of health officials in their quest to quell the Zika virus in highly affected areas.

According to the New York Post, maras or organized street gangs have control over neighborhoods and they may deny access to health workers and sometimes they threaten their lives as well.

The presence of gangs is especially present in the country of El Salvador. El Salvador has a population of 6 million people. Since the start of the year, there have been over 700 recorded murders and its homicide rate from last year was 103 per 100,000 residents.

"The state is absent," Superior School of Economics and Business Criminologist Carlos Carcach said, as reported by Fox News Latino. "The state is being replaced by the gangs."

According to the outlet, there are over 7,000 suspected Zika virus cases in the area and the government is trying their best to fumigate and get rid of standing water to offset the propagataion of the carrier of the virus Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.

Nelson Mejia, a sanitation coordinator in Villa Mariona, had personal experiences dealing with the maras. A clinic in the area had to be closed for many months because its staff was being extorted. While a wary truce allowed it to operate, there have been many incidences like this when it comes to government workers.

Mejia added that fear of the gangsters contribute to the epidemic as it hinders the government from doing their job. Intimidation and fears from maras and locals alike lead to slow and unreliable service which ultimately hurts the people residing in gang-controlled areas.

He cited that a man working for the health ministry's local water project had been beaten up and another clinic employee was chased away for being suspected as a cop. Some workers have been denied entry to the area while another was left after being intimidated.

The fumigation coordinator in Guatemala, Sergio Mendez, that they have been warned by locals not to go to Guatemala City because it was considered "too dangerous."

"We don't ask for help from the police or the army to enter an area, because later they go and carry out raids," Mendez said, as reported by ABC News. "And we have to go back. The people think we reported them."

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Almost 100 Nerve Disorder Cases in Colombia Linked to Zika Virus

media@latinoshealth.com By Czarmecin Feb 11, 2016 11:00 AM EST

A new case of illness is linked to Zika virus. In Colombia, there are nearly 100 cases of paralysis or nerve disorder that health officials link to Zika.

Almost 100 Colombians are plagued with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare nerve disorder with symptoms similar to that of the mosquito-borne Zika Virus, Colombia's National Health Institute announced, per Fox News.

According to Mayo Clinic, Guillain-Barre syndrome is a rare disorder, where the immune system attacks the nerves. One will initially feel weak and a tingling sensation on his extremities. However, this sensation can quickly spread and cause the entire body to be paralyzed.

This was what Luis Molina from Cucuta, Colombia experienced when he drove his wife home last month. She jumped out of the car and ran across the street for some errand and, when she returned, he was still in the car, Stat reported.

When she asked him what he was doing in the car, his answer was, "I can't move." He then tumbled out of the car. Per the report, it was the first sign that Molina had a Guillain-Barre syndrome

The authorities recently announced that three people with Zika virus had died after being inflicted with Guillain-Barre syndrome. This is the first time health officials admitted that Zika virus could cause deaths.

"We have confirmed and attributed three deaths to Zika," said Martha Lucia Ospina, head of Colombia's National Health Institute, in a conference on Friday, Feb. 5.

"In this case, the three deaths were preceded by Guillain-Barre syndrome," she added. Six further deaths were under investigation for a possible association with Zika.

Colombian Health Minister Alejandro Gaviria announced that there was a "causal connection" between Zika, the Guillain-Barre disorder and the three deaths.

The Malay Mail Online reported that there is an increase of Guillain-Barre cases as the Zika outbreak spreads across Central and South America.

Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Suriname and Venezuela have all reported an increase in Guillain-Barre cases.

Colombia reported an average of 242 cases of the said condition last year. However, the country reported 86 cases in just five weeks to Jan. 20, 2016.

Per the report, CDC wrote on its website: "We do not know if Zika virus infection causes GBS (Guillain-Barre syndrome). It is difficult to determine if any particular germ "causes" GBS."

According to WHO, it is impossible to determine the cause of Guillain-Barre syndrome. However, the condition is often triggered by an infection, such as HIV, the mosquito-borne dengue virus or influenza.

A team of CDC experts will be arriving in Colombia for a three-week visit to investigate the possible link between Guillain-Barre syndrome and Zika.

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Experts Concerned About Mental Health of Refugees in the US

media@latinoshealth.com By Rachel Cruz Feb 11, 2016 04:30 AM EST

Refugees from Syria who are seeking asylum in the United States are faced with many problems like securing homes and jobs. However, experts warn that many of them could develop mental health problems as well. The alarming thing is they could be in denial about this too, Fox News reported.

Welfare organizations dealing with refugees say that it is hard to assess the impact of the refugee's traumatic experience for now. However, the experts acknowledged that this should be monitored since some of the symptoms don't appear until months or years later.

One expert noted that refugees usually experience the "honeymoon phase" in their first year of living in a new country. "It's only about two years later or so when there's a mental health crisis," Harvard psychiatry professor Richard Mollica said. "It's at that point that reality hits and they really need a lot of mental health care."

Some 100 refugees have settled in Massachusetts since the U.S. took them in from Syria beginning 2011, and a few have expressed they do not have any time to assess their mental state with jobs to secure and families to help out. They also have physical wounds to consider as victims of war and it's healing from these conditions that becomes the priority over mental wellness. They won't be able to move and fend for their family if they are physically ill.

Some refugees have gone to counseling in the U.S. following bouts of sleeplessness but they don't return to the doctors after the first visit. Apart from their trauma, adjusting to a new environment, new culture and language barriers could also trigger mental health problems and it's the same concern for other welfare organizations in Europe.

Refugees in other countries actually arrive to their new homes in good health, but then they develop depression months later. "The past comes back, the present is difficult, and the future is uncertain," said psychologist Pina Deiana via The Guardian.

When mental health problems are not addressed, it can also lead to physical problems. Those with children have more challenges as their mental state may affect the well-being of the rest of the members of their family.

The World Health Organization has created a guideline that outlines how the mental and psychosocial needs of refugees should be handled by those who deal with them. Also, there are government websites dealing with refugee resettlements that offer programs that promote emotional wellness. Screening refugees who are still seeking asylum have also changed over the years, as more is being done to address potential mental health issues.

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Kate Middleton Pregnant: Duchess Expecting Twin Girls, Breaks News to William by Texting Sonogram [Rumors]

media@latinoshealth.com By Rachel Cruz Feb 11, 2016 05:09 AM EST

The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, is said to be pregnant again and she has told her husband, Prince William, the good news via a text of the sonogram. The royal couple is going to have twin girls this time around, Hollywood Life reported.

An insider claimed that Kate and the prince are not even trying for another baby. "It is the early days, but the buzz in the royals' inner circle is that Kate's pregnant again, and this time she's got not one but two buns in the over," the source further stated. The Duchess is said to be on her 12th week of pregnancy.

Celeb Dirty Laundry reported that when Prince William received the text from his wife, he was in disbelief. The news outlet suggested that the future king is not ready to become a father for the third time as he already planned on spacing the birth of his children properly.

Hollywood Gossip implied that one of the twin girls will be named Diana, after the prince's mother, and it is said to be Prince William's wish. The news outlet also stated that this pregnancy is different for Kate after having two previous delicate conditions. "She's been able to carry on with her royal duties seamlessly, as well as looking after George and Charlotte, something she wouldn't have been able to do if she was doubled up [with nausea]," the source revealed.

Kate has suffered difficulties while carrying Prince George and Princess Charlotte in the first few months of their term. She has a condition called hyperemesis gravidarum, or more commonly known as extreme morning sickness, the American Pregnancy Organization cited.

Gossip Cop belied the rumors and stated that there has been no official confirmation from Buckingham Palace about Kate's third pregnancy. In fact, the royal pair is planning for a long trip to Bhutan and India in the coming months as part of their official duties.

If the princess were pregnant at 12 weeks, she would have dropped the trips from her schedule considering her morning sickness. Hyperemesis Education Research cited that, while every pregnancy is different, the condition almost always recur.

Meanwhile, Latin Post reported that the royal pair had an advanced low-key Valentine's date at a pub not far from their Anmer Hall estate. They were seen laughing, chatting and having a good time together in between drinks. Both of them were dressed casually. "It's nice for them to have a normal night out like any other parents of young children," a witness said.

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Undocumented parents in Pennsylvania, though wishing to participate in their children's school activities, find it a bit hard to correlate their status to the state's differed treatment. According to Latino Rebels, while there are rules in volunteering to such activities, everyone is entitled to undergo certain background checks without any prejudice to their immigrant status.

In Philadelphia, undocumented parents who wish to volunteer in their children's schools are required to undergo the same process as documented parents. This includes the standard Pennsylvania State Criminal History Record Check and Child Abuse Report. The two standard procedures are enough to allow them to volunteer and participate, but on instances where a criminal record shows, the FBI may step in to the picture.

In Pittsburgh, however, undocumented parents' chances of being part of their children's schools activities are halted because of the school district's inability to further their background checks. An associate and social worker from a school in Pittsburgh reveals that undocumented parents are not encouraged to volunteer because the school just can't do a background check. Also, undocumented parents do not have their own social security cards or even driver's licenses, making the check harder.

In view of the situation, the Pittsburgh school implied that they don't want to jeopardize their personal information by forwarding any kind of information to the FBI. The school also cited that due to the Jerry Sandusky case, which resulted to "stricter laws surrounding child abuse," undocomunted parents could not volunteer.

In Philadelphia, the rules governing undocumented parents wanting to volunteer in their children's school activities based on the School District of Philadelphia did not mention the need for social security and driver's license cards. All they needed to provide were clearances from the two aforementioned departments. This brings the inequality and divided way that the Pennsylvania state handles undocumented parents.

According to Latino Rebels, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh have a long range of difference on the number of Latinos living in their areas. Whether this statistic has any effect on the parents' rights to volunteer, Pittsburgh currently doesn't have a written rule on the status of undocumented parents unable to participate.

WBTV reports that Action NC member Hector Vaca said regarding the issue of identification, "Fingerprinting is actually more secure. It offers more security and opens up more doors for these parents, which means more parents will have the right to volunteer."
Although he finished fourth in Tuesday's New Hampshire Republican primary, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is still very much in the race, speaking out against New Hampshire winner Donald Trump on issues such as immigration.

With this in mind, Latin Post looks at where the 62-year-old candidate stands on core issues.

Immigration & Border Security

Bush differs greatly from Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz regarding immigration. Whereas both Cruz and Trump favor building a border wall, Bush espouses a comparatively compassionate solution for undocumented migrants.

I believe that for those already in the country, we need to put in place a rigorous path that requires individuals to pass a thorough criminal background check, pay fines, pay taxes, learn English, obtain a provisional work permit and work, not receive federal government assistance, and over an extended period of time earn legal status, Bush states on his site.

His strategy for beefing up border security includes cracking down on "sanctuary cities," which he feels undermine immigration laws, and employing new technologies such as drones, advanced sensors and radar in order to help agents track illegal activity. Bush would also require electronic verification for all employment as a method of deterring undocumented immigrants from coming to the U.S. to look for work.

Taxes

According to his official site, Bush describes todays tax code as a labyrinth littered with thousands of special-interest giveaways, subsidies and other breaks written to favor Washington insiders.

His solution: lower taxes and simplify the tax code.

Rather than supporting a flat tax, which Cruz supports, Bush would impose three individual tax rates: 28 percent, 25 percent and 10 percent.

As governor, Bush cut taxes for Floridians every single year he was in office. According to his site, his efforts returned a total of $19 billion to the people of his state.

Education

Bush has set an educational goal of ensuring every American student who graduates from high school is prepared to either enter college or start a career.

In order to achieving this, Bush wants to revamp the entire K-12 educational system so that it caters to students and their families, rather than the bureaucracies of the educational system, as he puts it.

According to his campaign site, Bush sees the role of the government in education as a limited but vital one.

In order to help students further their education once they graduate high school, a Bush administration would provide all graduates with access to a $50,000 line of credit through an Education Savings Account. Through Bushs plan, students would be able to repay this credit by contributing a percentage of their incomes proportional to the amount spent. The rate would be 1 percent for every $10,000 spent, and the credit would be expected to be repaid over the course of 25 years.

In addition to this credit, low-income students would also be eligible to accept an additional need-based Pell Grant.

Health Care

Bush has described ObamaCare as a form of government takeover. If elected president, Bush would act to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

The candidate's alternative to ObamaCare involves promoting medical innovation, lowering health care costs across the board and returning power to the states. However, around 4 million Latinos benefit from the health law, with the Obama administration attempting to court more.

Bush hopes to promote private sector leadership in the health care industry while lowering the cost of health care for all Americans. He would also do away with certain essential health benefits" currently covered under Obamacare, such as maternal care and mental health.

Mark Fendrick, a professor at the University of Michigan's medical school, believes Bushs plan would be more economically feasible than what is currently offered through Obamacare.

"Do I believe that his plan will cost less than the current status quo under the Affordable Care Act? I believe the answer is yes," Fendrick said, according to NPR.

Gun Rights

Bush believes recent tragedies, such as December's ISIS-inspired shooting in San Bernadino, have allowed the Obama administration and leftist lawmakers to weaken the Second Amendment. His administration would focus on keeping guns out of the hands of terrorists rather than taking guns away from law-abiding citizens.

Bush is a lifelong member of the National Rifle Association, and he can even boast an A+ rating from the group.

While governor of Florida, he passed several pro-Second Amendment pieces of legislation, including the Stand Your Ground bill, which enables citizens to defend themselves from attackers even outside their homes. The law has not been without controversies. In 2012, when George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin, an unarmed young black student, police initially declined to arrest Zimmerman due to the law.

In order to protect the Second Amendment, Bush says he will repeal Obamas anti-gun executive actions and continue to oppose all legislative actions to impose unnecessary burdens on law-abiding gun owners.

Terrorism & Defense

Bushs plan for combating terrorists such as ISIS calls for engaging with U.S. allies and leading a global coalition to disrupt the terrorists networks. His plans involve destroying terrorist safe havens in Iraq and Syria, and making an attempt to discredit the ideology that motivates individuals to become Islamic militants.

If elected president, Bush promises to make sure Iraqi forces have whatever they need in order to combat insurgents. Over time, and with the help of a coordinated international effort, Bush hopes to establish multiple safe zones, as well as a no-fly zone in Syria.



Bush also has a four-point strategy to strengthen U.S. defenses. According to his site, he would restore international order, promote international stability, rebuild the military, and reform the Pentagon.

Following the recent terror attacks in Paris, Bush delivered a major address regarding U.S. defense policy in which he called for a major military overhaul of America's foreign policy in order to better deal with radical Islam.

"Radical Islamic terrorists have declared war on the western world. Their aim is our total destruction. We can't withdraw from this threat, nor negotiate with it," Bush said at the time at The Citadel military college.

Bush believes the U.S. needs to have a more prominent ground presence in nations where Islamic extremist groups thrive.
Anabel Flores Salazar, a reporter for the newspaper El Sol de Orizaba, has been found dead along a highway after she was abducted from her home in Orizaba, in the Mexican state of Veracruz on Tuesday. The journalist's body was found discarded along a highway in the nearby state of Puebla, half-naked, bound, and with a plastic bag over her head, according to CNN.

The reporter's corpse was positively identified by family members.

Salazar, a mother of two who recently gave birth, was taken from her home after eight men dressed in military uniforms came to her house and stated that they had a warrant for her arrest.

Sandra Luz Salazar, the slain journalist's aunt, stated that despite the family's protests, the men ushered her niece into a gray truck, pointing guns at the family members the entire time.

"We pleaded with them not to take her. I told them that she recently had a baby," the aunt said, according to The Daily Mail.

It was eventually found that the gray truck used to transport the late journalist was reported to be stolen. With the fatal incident involving yet another journalist in the Latin American country, the federal attorney general's office pledged to initiate a full-scale investigation by the Special Prosecutor for Crimes against Freedom of Expression, in order to determine the factors surrounding the late Salazar's abduction and subsequent death.

Salazar was working as a crime-beat reporter before she was killed covering stories involving crime and justice. Though her family stated that she had no enemies, the Veracruz state prosecutor's office did state that she had been physically present when a notorious gang member was arrested in 2014, reported FOX News.

Mexico has ranked as one of the most dangerous countries for journalists, with at least 15 journalists being killed in Veracruz since Gov. Javier Duarte came to office back in 2010. Apart from the 15 who are confirmed dead, three other journalists have been reported missing.

The threat to journalists' lives has been attributed primarily to the widespread power and influence of notorious drug cartels and other forms of organized crime that have gripped the country. With journalists only having their words as a means to fight back against an extremely formidable foe, most end up finding themselves on the losing end of a bargain.

In fact, in Salazar's last interview alone, she was quoted to have referred to the Mexican state of Veracruz as a "lawless state."

Indeed, she ultimately confirmed that assumption at the cost of her life.
United Airlines will be pulling out it services to two regional airports in the country this coming April. According to Star Gazette, United will be ending its two-year stint in New York's Elmira Corning Regional Airport while Tyler Morning Telegraph reports that Tyler Pounds Regional Airport in Texas will suffer the same fate after more than 20 years of service.

Star Gazette noted that United had high expectations when the partnership with Chemung County officials in New York started back in 2014, with daily flights offered to compete with Allegiant, Delta and American Airlines. However, the goals were not reached due to the area being dominated by Delta Airlines with almost half of the airport's flight traffic while United only accounts for 14 percent.

Chemung County Executive Tom Santulli was very disappointed as the airport is a big asset to the area, but airport Manager Ann Crook is very positive that the number of passengers will not be affected. United flights to Elmira Corning Regional Airport will end on April 4, 2016.

"I don't think we'll lose passengers at the airport. I think people who were flying with United will pick up another carrier. I think it's an opportunity for the other airlines. So even though we got some bad news, another airline is on the verge of making a major announcement," Crook said.

On the other hand, declining number of passengers flying out of Tyler Pounds Regional Airport is the main reason why United will be ending more than 20 years of service, per Tyler Morning Telegraph. United Airlines spokesman Jonathan Guerin confirmed the news, adding that the decreasing number of energy-related business passengers going to Houston is due to low petroleum prices.

"We continually review supply and demand for service in all of our markets. We made the difficult decision to end service between Houston and Tyler, because the route didn't meet our expectations and is no longer sustainable," Guerin said.

Tyler Pounds Regional Airport Manager Davis Dickson was also disappointed with the news, but he's hoping that American Airlines will increase its services. He added that they renewed their contract with United back in September for three years, but the Chicago-based airline carrier asked for its termination.

"I've been here 20 years. We've seen where the economy affects us. It's cyclical, and we'll rebound back," Dickson said.

Just like in Elmira Corning Regional Airport, services will end on April 4. The total number passengers in the airport back in 2014 were 168,645, but a 15 percent drop off happened last year with only a total of 142,014.
Researchers from Europe have found out that a fetal brain, whose mother suffered from Zika virus symptoms during pregnancy, is missing neural folds. Even though it's not enough to prove that the mosquito-borne disease directly causes microcephaly, scientists believe what they found is a big clue in finding the link between the two, per the Associated Press.

The data from the research will be used with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis, which found Zika virus' genetic material in the brain tissue of two dead Brazilian babies and placentas from two miscarriage fetuses. Dr. Michael Greene of Massachusetts General Hospital says that these findings will be helpful, but there are more unanswered questions about the link between Zika and microcephaly.

The research was made possible by 14 individuals and the results were made public last Wednesday via The New England Journal of Medicine. The 25-year-old woman looked for help in the Department of Perinatology at the University Medical Center in Ljubljana, Slovenia last Oct. 15, 2015 after experiencing Zika symptoms.

No abnormalities were found during the first weeks of pregnancy, but during the 32nd week, doctors found out that her fetus was suffering from severe brain disease and microcephaly. The woman gave her permission to remove her unborn child and was approved by the ethics committee of the University Medical Center and the Slovenian government.

The team of scientists performed an autopsy on the fetus and placenta three days after it was removed from its mother. Central Nervous System examination, electron microscopy, indirect immunofluorescence tests and other microbiological experiments were done on the fetus with the team coming up with good results.

"This case shows severe fetal brain injury associated with ZIKV infection with vertical transmission. Recently, ZIKV was found in amniotic fluid of two fetuses that were found to have microcephaly, which was consistent with intrauterine transmission of the virus," the results stated.

The results further revealed that "the localization of immunofluorescence signal and the morphologic appearance of the calcifications, which resembled destroyed neuronal structures, indicate a possible location of the virus in neurons. The consequent damage might cause arrested development of the cerebral cortex at the embryonic age of approximately 20 weeks."

Brazilian health authorities have linked the Zika virus, which has plagued the country since last year, to the increase in its microcephaly cases. Due to the high number of the rare brain deformation cases in Latin America, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Zika virus as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern last Feb. 1, per their official website.
Yahoo! gave 60-day notices to 107 Sunnyvale employees as a part of the company's revitalization plan, filed with the California Employment Development Department, Wednesday, Feb. 10.

As reported by Business Insider, layoffs will take effect April 11. Employees who were affected by the recent cutting are entitled for other jobs in Yahoo! and will also receive severance packages. The Sunnyvale cuts were spread across several job classifications mostly from the engineering departments.

Yahoo!'s rehabilitation plan's goal is to reduce its global workforce by 15 percent as the company struggles to meet their revenue goals. The plan involves the trimming of workforce and the reduction of its products. It is the strategy chosen by Yahoo! Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer in order to "revamp its core Internet business."

"As part of our strategic plan, we have made the difficult but necessary decision to reduce our workforce in order to more efficiently align resources and position the company for a stronger future," Yahoo! said in a statement that was emailed to USA Today. The company also said Yahoo! is looking forward to "provide more clarity" to their employees especially those that were impacted by the company's cost-cutting-related decisions.

Business experts said the company's struggle is caused by the company's flawed media strategy, late investment into products fit for mobile devices and strategies which hasn't produced expected return of investment.

Despite other experts' suggestions of selling the company in order to save it, CEO Mayer stands firm with the company's present strategic plan. As reported by USA Today, the company is presently looking for alternatives like selling some of Yahoo!'s net businesses and real estate. It is their way to raise more money which they can use to improve and update services and products.

"We believe a simplified Yahoo! will increase shareholder value over the long term," said CEO Marissa Mayer last week, Tuesday, during the company's earnings call. "Having fewer products means we can improve those products faster and increase profitability and focus."

Meanwhile, some employees were also told that Yahoo!'s Southern California and San Francisco offices will soon reduce their workforce. The number of affected positions is yet to be available.

Rob Enderle, an American technology analyst, said Yahoo!'s mass layoffs would only create an unhealthy working environment. Its strategy would make it "very hard for the company to function. Everybody is kind of concerned about their jobs, and the end result is they can't get much stuff done."
Focusing on the welfare of the people, MANNA Foodbank in Western North Carolina (WNC) has recently recorded its one millionth food pack given to local children. According to Citizen-Times, despite the massive number, the organization said that it is reaching only 10 percent of the people that actually need the program.

Kara Irani of MANNA FoodBank said, "The need is constantly increasing so that shows us that it is definitely a worthy and important program. The kids love the packs and look forward to them every week."

MANNA FoodBank's latest milestone comes as a form of reward and, at the same time, a reminder that many people are still in dire need of help when it comes to basic needs such as food. Irani also added, "It's not slowing down in our area. Despite economic growth, we're still seeing just as much need as we did just after the recession hit."

According to the organization's Hunger in America Report posted on MANNA FoodBank's website, in 2013 alone, at least 107,600 unique clients were served during the year. The appeal for food assistance came from the 16 counties in Western North Carolina.

Van Zandt News recently reported that Wal-Mart has also pledged help in the Feeding America program by donating food to the East Texas Food Bank in Tyler. The latest program appoints MANNA in Canton and Shining Light Food Pantry in Wills Point to collect the food donated by Wal-Mart in Canton.

With the help of the East Texas Food Bank, MANNA was able to get 150 pounds of meat from Wal-Mart after they made their first trip collecting donations.

"This comes at a perfect time. Grace Bible Church has been so gracious to allow us the use their chapel for the past couple of years and have now leased us the property adjacent to the chapel in which to build our own home," said MANNA's Board President Dick Patterson. "The church gave us a 30-year lease of the property with a 30-year renewal option and we will be breaking ground in February."

MANNA FoodBank started its food distribution in 1982 with the purpose of providing food for the people of Western North Carolina. It was founded by the Hunger Awareness Group in Asheville, North Carolina and currently benefited by people from all walks of life that need the support of a free food program.
As the mosquito-borne Zika virus continues to spread throughout Latin America, people are searching for more ways to prevent it. Argentina, in particular, is demanding for more frogs and toads that feed on mosquitoes as added protection.

In an article by Daily Mail, Jorge Lemus of Argentinas Ministry of Health stated that the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which triggers the Zika virus, is capable of surviving pesticides that have been sprayed in affected areas.

We are working hard to fumigate areas in order to kill the mosquito but they are resistant to the chemicals, so we will need to change its composition, said Lemus. He added that fumigation is a supplementary approach that only targets the adult mosquito. Eggs or larvae are not eliminated by spraying.

To further prevent the spread of Zika virus, as well as others like dengue fever, yellow fever and chikungunya, Argentinians have been demanding for more adult toads and frogs that can chomp on mosquitos that are immune to the pesticides. Several sellers and online sites have been advertising the sale of the amphibians. The price has increased in the past several days, with each animal costing up to $7.

AFP cited that Latin Americans have also been relying on sleeper fish that eat wingless larva and genetically modified insects to destroy eggs and adult mosquitoes. Experts are looking for more ways to kill mosquito larva while still in the breeding ground. There have also been plans to use radiation to target the reproductive organs of male mosquitoes, making these impotent. Reportedly, the use of other animals to kill the mosquitoes and their eggs has lessened the need to fumigate areas. Some people have also come up with organic insecticide that can destroy larva.

Based on the same Daily Mail report, Argentinian government officials already agreed to shoulder close to 40 percent of the price of insect repellents and insecticides. They also started a new campaign which advised people to remove open water reservoirs that could house infectious mosquitoes, such as puddles and buckets with water. Mosquitoes usually lay their eggs on these areas.

Zika virus results to various side effects, such as brain damage in infants and paralysis among adults.

In the meantime, there have been five reported cases of Zika virus in Argentina. All patients acquired the virus abroad and brought it home with them.

More updates and details on the spread of Zika virus in Latin America and the preventive measures are expected soon.
After Joaquin Guzman, also known as El Chapo, was recaptured, Guadalupe Fernandez Valencia, his alleged head of financial operations, was also arrested in Mexico.

Sputnik News wrote that Valencia, 55, also known as La Patrona or The Boss, was captured in the city of Culiacan in Sinaloa state. She reportedly transferred both drugs and money for the Sinaloa Cartel. She has been charged with money laundering and drug trafficking by U.S. authorities. Her extradition has also been requested.

Citing a police statement, La Patrona is reportedly headed to a federal prison where she will remain in custody until her legal status is determined. Valencia is the sister of Manuel Fernandez Valencia, another drug trafficker of the Sinaloa Cartel who is under U.S. custody at present.

The Sinaloa Cartel, which acquired its name from its home state, operates by smuggling cocaine from Colombia via Mexico to the United States, adds Sputnik News. El Chapo is the head of the organization. The drug cartel also produces and distributes Mexican marijuana, heroin and other illegal drugs in North America and Europe.

El Chapo previously escaped a maximum security prison in July 2015. He was recaptured on Jan. 8, 2016 in Sinaloa and is currently detained in Altiplanoplano.

According to VICE News, La Patrona was arrested on Feb. 9, 2016, according to a spokesman for the National Security Commission. The Commission previously stated that Valencia imported huge quantities of heroin, cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamine from Mexico into the U.S. A video of what appears to be the aftermath of Valencias arrest surfaced in local media, featuring police officers escorting a woman without handcuffs into a waiting police vehicle. The woman had dyed blonde hair and a leopard print shirt.

Valencia was arrested in 1998, where she finished a prison sentence in California. She returned to drug activities after her release. In November 2015, the U.S. Treasury Department labeled Fernandez as a Foreign Narcotics Kingpin. She was also described as a lieutenant for Alfredo Guzman, El Chapos son.

According to Jose Carlos Cisneros, an expert who investigated the role of women in the Mexican drug trade, Valencia was among the highest ranked females in the Sinaloa Cartel. Cisneros added that some women almost have the same power as El Chapo, although they prefer to focus on money laundering more and maintain a much lower profile.

More updates and details on La Patronas arrest and case are expected soon.
This Valentine season, one of the most in demand products worldwide is the chocolate. Aside from flowers, chocolates are often what most people want to give during this special day to express their love, affection and sweetness to their partners. It varies from flavors, sizes and shapes, but no matter how they are presented, it will forever be the comfort food people get easily tempted with.

So to add more sweetness this Valentine's season, here are some of the world's most expensive chocolates sweet-lovers will be happy to know about:

Chocopologie

Chef Fritz Knipschildt founded Knipschildt Chocolatier in Odense, Denmark and produced the most expensive chocolate in the world. Known as the world's ultimate chocolate masterpiece, the simple yet extravagant Madeleine French Dark Chocolate Truffle is worth $250 per piece or almost $2,600 per pound. Only available on a preorder basis, this chocolate, which is made up of 70% Valrhona cacao mixed with truffle oil and blended well into a creamy ganache, will surely bring out a heavenly taste that all choco-lovers out there will end up asking for more.

Noka Vintages Collection

Noka Vintages Collection is like a compilation that reveals the different chocolate origins of the world: Ecuador, Venezuela, Trinidad and Ivory Coast. With prices that range from $16 to $234, the Vintage Collection is enveloped with a captivating and beautifully-textured packaging. The hand-crafted truffles, on the other hand, are made with "rare, single-estate dark chocolate and fresh organic cream." This chocolate was loved by the world that it was ranked first as the most luxurious chocolate in the world by the food editors of TASTE, a British television gourmet food show. It has also received the recognition as the best chocolate in the United States.

DeLafee

A product of Switzerland, DeLafee chocolate is the best chocolate for people who want to taste something unique this year. With the "magic of gold," these chocolates stand out from its other competitors. The chocolate is uniquely and specially prepared using fine cocoa beans, coconut oil, sugar, milk powder, cocoa butter and vanilla with a touch of 24-k edible gold hand-crafted to each masterpiece. With a price of $504, these chocolates are no doubt the best Switzerland chocolate in the world.

Cadbury's Wispa Gold Chocolate

Known for producing mouth-watering and delicious desserts, Cadbury, makers of the Wispa Gold Chocolate, is a very famous brand in the chocolate world. But with all the chocolates they've produced, the Wispa Gold Chocolate is the most special. With a price of $1,628, the Wispa Gold is known to be the most expensive chocolate bar in the world.

Other expensive cocoa treats worth to be included in the list are Michel Cluizel Box of Assorted treats worth $895 and Gold and Diamond Chocolates worth $1250 per box.
There are so many destinations all over the world, but the tourist spots in the U.S. are more than enough to keep the explorer's heart satisfied as well. Lonely Planet trained the spotlight on the country's best sights and sounds, as they released their top U.S. picks for travelers who are planning to hit the road this year.

According to Lonely Planet's list, Philadelphia is the best city to visit in 2016, boasting a colorful and affordable experience that benefits every kind of tourist. The country's first and only World Heritage City, Philly, has its own distinct flavor with craft breweries, locavore restaurants and a down-to-earth atmosphere grounded in its historic roots.

Just at the heels of Philly is Natchez, Mississippi, a destination known for its history and architecture. This year is an especially good time to drop by the area because it's celebrating its 300th anniversary with more than 300 events throughout the year. There are plenty of interesting activities that visitors will have a tough time picking one, from the Natchez PowWow in March, the Great Mississippi River Balloon Race in October and many more.

Rounding up the top three destinations in the U.S. is the renowned Yellowstone National Park, which highlights the rugged beauty of the country's natural resources in 9,000 square kilometers of wilderness. The park is a stunning place to visit all-year-long and a must-visit hotspot for every American explorer at some point in their lives.

In a report from CNN, Lonely Planet's Eastern U.S. destinations editor Rebecca Warren explained what makes their lineup relevant to all kinds of travelers.

"There are so many amazing places to visit in the U.S. every year, but what distinguishes this list is the timeliness," Warren pointed out. "I think we can get lost in what's in your own backyard. It reminds people that there is so much to do in America, and it changes every year."

The rest of the places in Lonely Planet's list are: Birmingham, Alabama; Alaska; Somerville, Massachusetts; Northwest Arkansas; San Antonio, Texas; Southern New Mexico; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The country is so vast and varied with so many different cultures to get to know and learn from. Before venturing to foreign countries, it might be a good idea to brush up in your own. Lonely Planet didn't just offer their picks on the must-visit U.S. places in 2016, but they also crafted a quiz on the website to help travelers figure out where they should go.

Which one are you planning to visit this year?
Latino voters are expected to take to the polls for South Carolina's Feb. 20 Republican primary in much greater numbers than they did for either the Iowa caucus or the New Hampshire primary, which could spell trouble for Cuban-American GOP candidates Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.

Despite a shared heritage, their hardline stances on immigration have left both candidates in the crosshairs of many Latino voters in the nation's second fastest-growing Latino population.

"It will be truly ironic if either Cruz or Rubio becomes the nominee for their party," Michael Jones-Correa, a political science professor at Cornell University, told International Business Times. He added they are "the first Latino candidates of a major party and yet receive almost no Latino support and are running on positions that run contrary to those held by many Latino voters."

Back in August, a Gallup poll found Rubio had a net rating of only +5 among Hispanics, while Cruz was tied for next to last out of 10 GOP candidates with a net rating of -7. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was the only Republican candidate registering a double-digit positive rating at +22, while Donald Trump lagged the field at -51.

Rubio, Cruz Immigration Views Have Changed

Rubio's current stance, which he articulated as "no amnesty in any form, not even back-of-the-line," is in stark contrast to 2012 legislation he cosponsored calling for a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

Cruz has often tried to score points with Latino voters by highligting Rubio's flip flop on the issue, but each time the Florida senator has countered by arguing his rival also once offered an amendment to legislation that would allow undocumented immigrants to permanently remain in the U.S. and obtain legal status.

"I don't want immigration reform to fail," Cruz reportedly said during a May 2013 Judiciary Commitee hearing. "I want immigration reform to pass, And so I would urge people of good faith on both sides of the aisle, if the objective is to pass common sense immigration reform that secures the borders, that improves legal immigration, and that allows those who are here illegally to come in out of the shadows, then we should look for areas of bipartisan agreement and compromise to come together. And this amendment, I believe, if this amendment were to pass, the chances of this bill passing into law would increase dramatically."

Many predict there isn't much either man can do to put himself back in the good graces of the Palmetto State's Latino voters prior to this month's ballot, even though many Latinos there have traditionally shared some of the party's socially conservative views.

Trump Leads Anti-immigration Charge

GOP front-runner Donald Trump has only fanned the flames with his fiery rhetoric, branding Mexicans immigrants "rapists" and "criminals" at the beginning of his campaign. Trump has also demanded a giant wall be erected along the Mexican border to keep out immigrants, and he continues to insist that, if elected, he would quickly deport 11 million undocumented immigrants.

"I think they could've stood up to Trump and that would've definitely gotten them some praise from Latinos," League of United Latin Americans national executive director Brent Wilkes told the IBTimes of both Cruz and Rubio. "But, you know, honestly the whole party is going to pay the price when you have somebody like Trump running around for a year bashing Latinos, bashing Muslims."

According to Pew Hispanic, the Hispanic population in South Carolina has now grown to become the 29th largest in the nation, with 258,000 Latinos now residing there. Of that total, about 88,000, or 34 percent, are eligible to vote in the upcoming 2016 presidential election.

Given the steady rise in numbers, a 2006 University of South Carolina study deemed Mexicans the "new face of the South Carolina labor force."

A recent The State poll shows Trump leading the GOP field with 36 percent of the vote, compared to 20 percent for Cruz and 14 percent for Rubio.

Still, come Nov. 8, Wilkes predicted the Republicans will pay a price as a whole for the immigration stances the trio and other candidates have espoused during the primaries.

"This [election] could be the worst percentage ever [for Republicans], it really could," he said. "If things continue in the direction they're going, people may look back to Romney's paltry showing and think that was a good one compared to what happens this November."
Miller Lite is running their fourth annual Tap the Future contest to encourage entrepreneurs to send in original business ideas.

The participants with the best idea will be awarded a $200,000 prize, the brewing company said in a press release, providing entrepreneurs necessary funds, along with exposure, to take their business plans to the next level.

Miller Lite has already awarded over $1 million in funding through the contest over the past three years. Thousands of entries are received each year, but only select business ideas make it to the semifinals.

The contest begins Thursday, and contestants will have until April 8 to submit their original ideas to MLTapTheFuture.com. Miller Lite will then select the 30 best submissions to move on to the next round.

A Chance to Pitch to a "Shark"

Thirty semifinalists will get an opportunity to pitch their ideas at live events in Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Miami. At these live pitch events, contestants will be able to present their ideas in front of Daymond John from ABC's "Shark Tank" and a panel of experts. John and his panel will select a winner from each city, who will each be awarded $20,000 and move on to the final round.

The six finalists will then have one more opportunity to pitch their ideas in front of a judging panel in Chicago in September. The judges will select the best idea and award the winner the $200,000 grand prize.

National Exposure

Miller Lite wants entrepreneurs to not only be excited about the possibility of receiving the $200,000, but also about gaining national exposure in front of well-respected experts who have the experience to help them succeed.

John encouraged entrepreneurs to send in their ideas because he believes the Tap the Future contest can help them grow their businesses.

"Miller Lite Tap the Future can open doors for aspiring entrepreneurs who want to take their business to the next level and are willing to put in the work to do so," John said. "I encourage entrepreneurs who are ready to get down to business and work hard to not pass up this opportunity."

USHCC Endorsement

The Tap the Future contest received an endorsement from the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC). MillerCoors, the maker of Miller Lite, has a strong history of giving assistance to Hispanic businesses, something the USHCC has applauded the company for.

"The USHCC is thrilled to support MillerCoors -- a longstanding partner of our association -- as they host their national business competition, Tap the Future, for the fourth year. Again and again, MillerCoors has recognized the critical importance of supporting small and minority-owned businesses in America," said USHCC President and CEO Javier Palomarez. "We are proud to support MillerCoors as they empower entrepreneurs across America to pursue new and innovative business ideas."

Last year's Tap the Future winner was Brian Hill, founder of Edovo, a business that helps inmates in correctional facilities stay focused on educational and vocational programs through the use of tablets. Hill says his participation in Tap the Future has helped grow his business and raise more capital.
Despite their efforts to win over black and Latino voters, both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have shown no progress in hiring minorities within their own campaigns.

The staffs for both Democratic presidential candidates went on a hiring spree since last October; however, a new report published by Inclusv -- a diversity hiring initiative project powered by PowerPAC -- reveals the contenders failed to hire people of color.

Inclusv Executive Director Alida Garcia told Latin Post that the Sanders campaign has more than doubled by the end of 2015, growing from 193 in October to 418. However, only 30.9 percent of his staff is of color, which is down slightly from 33 percent in October. Meanwhile, 13.4 percent of his staff is black, while 11.7 percent of his operatives are Latino. The Sanders camp also self-reported that people of color comprise nearly 37 percent of his senior staff.

According to self-reports by the Clinton campaign, her camp has over 30 percent of people of color and 37 percent of her senior staff identify as being of color. This shows the amount of minority hires in her campaign has pretty much remained the same since October, when 32 percent of people of color were working for her.

Inclusv, which helps professionals of color get hired in Democratic campaigns, says Sanders and Clinton have remained committed to self-reporting its hiring data, but it had hoped for better results.

"While Inclusv applauds the transparency of the campaigns, we are disappointed that these numbers show a decline in racial diversity on both campaigns," said the group in a statement sent to Latin Post.

"This is especially troubling given that African Americans are expected to be over 50% of the turnout in South Carolina's February 27th primary, and Super Tuesday will include states with high percentage of voters of color, including Georgia, Texas, and Virginia," it added.

Likewise, Garcia urged the candidates to "do better" when it comes to hiring minorities.

"We believe that campaigns that are 70% white don't reflect the voters and values of the Democratic Party and it's incumbent on both campaigns to fight for increasing staff diversity the same way they fight for endorsements by well-known people of color," she told Latin Post in an email.

In a statement, Garcia also encouraged people of color to contact her organization if they wish to work on one of the Democratic campaigns.

"As the Sanders & Clinton campaigns pivot toward South Carolina, Nevada, and Super Tuesday we encourage them to approach their hiring processes with greater transparency and intentionality and we encourage people of color who wish to work on these campaigns to upload their resumes at Inclusv.com so that we can continue to advocate for them," she said.

In response, Bernard Coleman, Clinton's chief diversity and human resources officer, reassured voters that "The Hillary for America campaign is committed to diversity, inclusion, and equity."

*This article was updated to include direct statements from Inclusv Executive Director Alida Garcia.*
A US federal court of appeals blocked an injunction that halted Mississippi's executions using lethal injections. The court of appeals said that the lower court ill-treated its discretion when it barred the use of particular injection drugs.

In August, US District Judge Henry T. Wingate issued a preliminary order which blocks the state from executing prisoners. However, the 5th Circuit US Court of Appeals said that Judge Wingate's ruling was incorrect. Moreover, one of the juries at the Circuit, Judge Walker Elrod rejected the arguments coming from the death row prisoners, as reported by ABC News. The prisoners who are to face death penalty said that Mississippi can't execute them since the state will not be using a certain class of drugs required by the state law.

The death row inmates who brought the lawsuit argue that the state's protocol for execution infringes the state requirement that an 'ultra-short-acting barbiturate or other similar drug' be used. The death row prisoners then pointed the possible use of pentobarbital, as reported by Buzzfeed.

The lawyer for the two death row inmates who challenged the protocol said that the executions in Mississippi are unlikely to restart immediately. Attorney Jim Craig said that the inmates will seek for more injunctions against the state's method of execution as Yahoo News reported. The lawyer also said that they could request a review of the case by the full 5th Circuit US Court of Appeals, but have not yet decided.

Republican Governor, Phil Bryant also released a statement saying that 'the 5th Circuit's ruling affirms his belief' that Mississippi is legally administering the death penalty. Meanwhile, Attorney General Jim Hood of Mississippi said that the state's lawmakers should find other means of executions as lethal injections are more conducive for lawsuits. The Democrat Attorney General suggested electrocution, gas chamber, hanging, and firing death squads when lethal injections are not available. The last lethal injections that were administered by the Mississippi was back in 2012.
The bankrupt coal mining corporation Arch Coal has made a deal with Wyoming. In the deal, the company gained a temporary reprieve of having a multimillion dollar liability for the cost of cleaning up the coal mines.

It has been a practice of large mining companies like Arch Coal to use self-bonds to cover the expenses in cleaning up the coal mines. But lately, it has come under scrutiny because almost all giant coal companies like Alpha Natural Resources file bankruptcy leaving the citizens with billions of dollars in cleanup cost.

During the court arraignment, Arch Coal said that Wyoming and the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality agreed to accept $75 million, which will finance the said operation. They added that this money will cover the cleanup of large mines like Coal Creek and Vanguard and additional $17 million will be used for the other four small mines that they are operating.

According to the settlement, Arch coal is still liable for the remaining cost of the cleanup. It is stated that the total amount will be $485.5 million and the company has only given a fraction of the cost. However, Arch Coal can only do this after emerging from bankruptcy. This is also the same settlement that the state of Wyoming and West Virginia forged with Alpha Natural Resources.

The Interior Department Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation Enforcement is now looking at this cases. If the department finds any irregularities regarding the management of the mine then it can assume power over the companies and take over the operations. It is still a question though why Wyoming officials allowed Alpha and Arc to decline the obligatory cleanup. Aside from Alpha and Arc, other major coal companies like Cloud Peak Energy Inc. and Peabody Energy Corp are also liable for engaging in self-bond agreements.
The United States has expressed its belief that Rwanda is reportedly doing everything to destabilize troubled Burundi. The U.S. officials think that Rwanda has high involvement in spreading Burundi crisis by recruiting refugees to launch attacks against President Pierre Nkurunziza's government.

Two American senior diplomats have said in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that they have colleagues who can assure that Rwandan in involved in Burundi crisis, Telegraph reports. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US assistant secretary of state for African affairs further attested that the Rwandan government has been participating in destabilizing Burundi. It is the first time for U.S., a strong supporter of Rwanda in the past, to accuse the government in Kagali of its participation in the Burundi crisis.

"There are credible reports of recruitment of Burundian refugees out of camps in Rwanda to participate in armed attacks by Burundian armed opposition against the Burundian government," said Thomas Perriello, US envoy for the Great Lakes region of Africa.

Perriello told the senate committee that he met three Burundian former child soldiers who were recruited in Rwandan camps. He claimed, the child soldiers were allegedly trained and brought to Congo to prepare them for attacks in their home country. Despite the Burundi crisis allegations, the U.S. invited Rwanda's government to examine the claims, according to Bloomberg. Burundi's Foreign Minister Alain Nyamitwe supported the U.S. claims stating that they've been thinking about the same thing for the last seven to eight months.

Nyamitwe also advised the U.S. to take action on the ranging Burundi crisis. Burundi has been in turmoil since Nkurunziza has announced his will to run for the third term in April. After winning, Burundi crisis erupted killing over 400 people. There are also at least 240,000 people who left the country, BBC adds. The tension heightened with reports claiming that Burudian refugees were allegedly recruited in Rwandian camp between May to June 2015 to launch attacks in Burundi. It is said that they were given two months of training.

Rwanda's Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo claimed that the allegations are "unfounded." The refugees have said that their mission is to remove Nkurunziza from his position.
Detroit LIVE: 2016 Ram 1500 Rebel [Video]

Jan 13, 2015, 12:01am ET

The Ram 1500 Rebel boasts over 10 inches of ground clearance thanks to an air suspension system.

Ram has introduced an off-road ready variant of the 1500 pickup called Rebel at the Detroit Motor Show.

Exclusively offered as a crew cab model with a five-foot seven-inch bed, the Rebel eschews Ram's traditional crosshair radiator grille and instead adopts a single-slat unit with an oversized "RAM" emblem. It also gains a blacked-out front bumper that incorporates a skid plate, tow hooks, LED fog lights and an aluminum powerdome hood with two air vents. Out back, the Rebel features a model-specific tailgate, a black bumper and blacked-out tail lamp bezels.

33-inch Toyo all-terrain tires mounted on 17-inch alloy wheels help the Rebel cruise over even the roughest terrain. An air suspension allows the Rebel to offer a class-leading 10.3 inches of ground clearance.

The interior has been upgraded with seats upholstered in high-durability vinyl and a black instrument panel with gray and red accent stitching. The Rebel's center console features a cast iron appearance thanks to an Iron Gray Metallic finish, and the seat upholstery is embossed with the tread pattern of the Toyo tires.

The 1500 Rebel comes standard with a 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 engine rated at 305 horsepower and 269 lb-ft. of torque, while power-hungry buyers can opt for a 5.7-liter Hemi that generates 395 ponies and 410 lb-ft. of twist. An eight-speed automatic transmission comes standard regardless of which engine is chosen, and both two- and four-wheel drive models are available.

The 2016 Ram 1500 Rebel is scheduled to go on sale early in the second half of the year. How much of a premium it commands over the standard 1500 will be revealed in the weeks leading up to its on-sale date.

Live images by Brian Williams.
Dieruff high school building

The Dieruff High School in Allentown.

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A Dieruff High School student was arrested Wednesday on charges he lunged at an assistant principal, threatened school staff and scuffled with a police officer.

Wanya Grimsley, 18, is charged with two counts of making terroristic threats and a single count of disorderly conduct. He was sent to Lehigh County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.

Allentown police said Grimsley was causing a disturbance in a hallway, and repeatedly yelled profanities at a security officer while repeatedly threatening the school official. When warned that police would be called, Grimsley also continued shouting profanities.

"The SWAT team couldn't stop me!" Grimsley said, according to police.

Grimsley "stormed" away, down a hallway and into the school's commons area, where assistant principal Michael Makhoul and others unsuccessfully tried to calm him down, police said.

After lunging at Makhoul, security officer Frank Torruella grabbed Grimsley and put him in a classroom.

Grimsley still refused to calm down, then refused to walk out of the school, police said. He was arrested after resisting while being taken into custody, police said.

Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
saucon valley generic 7015.jpg

The Saucon Valley School District is the latest to consider adding full-day kindergarten. (lehighvalleylive.com file photo)

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Saucon Valley is the latest Lehigh Valley school district to consider adding full-day kindergarten.

But Saucon is in the rare position of being able to switch to full-day kindergarten without hiring new teachers.

Superintendent Monica McHale-Small is advocating for the change and has made several presentations to the school board in the last month. Now, the administration wants to hear from parents.

The district met with the PTO Wednesday to get its input. Saucon plans to survey parents during the online kindergarten registration to see if they want their children in a full-day or a half-day program.

McHale-Small told the board Tuesday night she would likely bring a recommendation to switch to a full-day kindergarten program in the coming months.

A growing number of Lehigh Valley school districts are adding universal full-day kindergarten programs as part of a push to have children reading on grade level by third grade.

"Reading on grade level by the end of third grade is a critical marker for future success," McHale-Small said.

Students who are not reading proficiently by the end of third grade are four times more likely to drop out of school than proficient readers, Lehigh University professor Brooke Sawyer told the school board during a presentation Tuesday night.

Black and Hispanic children that are not reading at grade level in third grade are twice as likely to not graduate from high school as similar white children, Sawyer said.

McHale-Small showed that Saucon's third grade state reading test scores are lagging behind similar schools with more children living in poverty and with special needs.

"We can do better," she said. "I know that we can do better."

The majority of the school districts in Pennsylvania now have full-day kindergarten, she said.

Bethlehem Area added a universal program this year while Allentown and Parkland school districts are starting universal full-day kindergarten next year. Easton Area wants a universal program but only had the funding to add March, Paxinosa and Cheston elementary schools this school year.

If Saucon were to enact a program, it would likely start next year.

Saucon Kindergarten teacher Jennifer Campbell piloted a full-day kindergarten program for Saucon Valley during the 2004-05 school year. It was a great success, Campbell said.

She taught the same curriculum but was able to move at a better pace for 5-and-6-year-old students that left students more relaxed.

Saucon's current half-day program has 126 students enrolled and 39 students are in an extended day program for at-risk students, McHale-Small said. If more seats were available, teachers would have another 39 students in the extended program, she said.

"In our extended day program many of the students are in and out of the program," the superintendent said. "We're using it right now as an intervention so students come and go."

The earlier a struggling child receives help, the more likely they are to succeed, McHale-Small said. Earlier interventions reduce special education needs down the road, she said.

Director Ed Inghrim said his children and his grandchildren already read on a third grade level by the time they entered kindergarten.

He questioned why the district would force children to go to full day and spend the day with kids with lower skill levels. He suggested continuing to offer half-day.

The parent survey will cover such an option, McHale-Small said. She noted most districts that split between half and full-day kindergarten tend to drop the half day option.

Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com.com. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Zika confirmed in Lehigh University student

A lab worker holds a vial containing mosqitoes of the species Aedes aegypti that are known to carry Zika virus, on Feb/ 10, 2016, at the International Atomic Energy Agency Laboratories in Seibersdorf, south of Vienna, Austria. Lehigh University said the same day one of its students who had traveled abroad over winter break contracted the virus. (Getty Images | For lehighvalleylive.com)

A Lehigh University student who traveled abroad over winter break has tested positive for Zika amid a continuing outbreak of the virus.

The Bethlehem school announced the diagnosis in an email Wednesday evening to the Lehigh community, university spokeswoman Lori Friedman said.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health relayed the positive test to Lehigh, Vice-Provost for Student Affairs John Smeaton said in the email.

"We are grateful to be able to report that the student has recovered and is feeling well," Smeaton wrote. "The Lehigh University Health and Wellness Center has been in direct contact with state health officials, who indicate that there is no additional health risk to anyone on campus."

Friedman would not comment on whether the student was one of two female Pennsylvania residents who, the state Department of Health said Tuesday, had contracted the state's first confirmed cases of Zika.

State health officials were not immediately available for comment Wednesday evening on Lehigh's announcement. The state announcement Tuesday on the diagnoses included no further details about the two cases, in an effort to protect patient privacy.

Health Advisory: Confirmed case of the Zika virus at Lehigh. More information here: https://t.co/zP1G45hJ6z  Lehigh University (@LehighU) February 10, 2016

This Zika outbreak began in May 2015 and is occurring in many countries. Generally a mild illness, Zika is known to spread primarily through the bite of an infected mosquito.

But in rare cases it has been known to also spread from mother to child, as well as through blood transfusion. Sexual transmission of Zika virus is possible, and men who have traveled to affected areas are advised to take steps to prevent the spread of Zika virus through sexual contact.

"No locally transmitted Zika cases have been reported in the continental United States, but cases have been reported in returning travelers," Lehigh says in a Zika update on its Student Affairs website.

Ana Beatriz, a 4-month-old girl with microcephaly, a feared complication of the Zika virus, is seen Feb. 8, 2016, in Lagoa do Carro, Pernambuco, Brazil. (European Pressphoto Agency | For lehighvalleylive.com)

Concern about the virus was elevated following reports of increased cases of a serious birth defect known as microcephaly that may be associated with Zika virus infection among pregnant women. Children born with the untreatable disorder suffer from disproportionately small skulls.

Lehigh's email to its campus community included a link to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention question-and-answer feature on the virus.

The university advises contacting Lehigh's Health and Wellness Center if anyone exhibits symptoms of the disease - including fever, rash, conjunctivitis and joint pain - within two week of travel to an area of concern.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Speaking on Seanad Reform, Independent candidate, Bernie O'Hara said: Political parties have been promising for years reform of the Seanad without any action.

In many cases it has become the consolation prize for candidates who fail to be elected. It costs the taxpayer millions of Euros every year without providing much value to the people. In keeping with the vision of the brave men and women of 1916 who gave their lives that we would be free to decide our own destiny it would seem appropriate to honour them by reforming the Seanad in a way, that would represent and give a voice to all the people of the nation.

The way to do this is to have it made up of representatives from all the national voluntary organisations throughout the country, who would be paid expenses.

 This would save millions of Euros each year while at the same time providing a voice to every sector of the population, she stressed.
Tap on the farm lanes, to launch your sheeps forward.Overpower your opponents with clever placement of sheeps. Make use of different sheep classes to win closely contested multiplayer battles.Features:- Exciting Player vs Player (PvP) game mechanic- Farm theme with cute animals- Random selection of opponents in this multiplayer game- Play with your friends in real-time- Taunt your friends using emoticons- Chat with your friends while playing

Arcade

Stupid Zombies

One man, one shotgun and a whole lot of zombies. You are humanity's last hope, and it's your job to keep them brainless.Adjust your shots and angles, and you watch your bullets ricochet from wall to wall, elegantly picking off each zombie's arms and limbs.Features:- 4 giant stages with over 360 challenging levels- Exciting zombie theme- Simple and innovative ricochet based gameplay. Defeat the stupid zombies with brains and ingenuity.- Realistic physics- Great zombie soundtrack
In the European Parliament, MEPs form groups with colleagues from other member states who share their political outlook and aims.

For Liberals Democrats, ALDE is our long-standing pan-European party, which has existed practically since the Treaty of Rome was signed. In 2009 the UK Conservatives left the similarly long-established European Peoples Party to for a new ECR group.

From the outset there was concern about some of the extremists with whom the Tories were apparently prepared to work.

In 2014, ECR recruited a new German faction, Alterative fur Deutschland. They are a hardline Eurosceptic party whom UKIP also courted.

One of AfDs MEPs has said that refugees should be shot. The Guardian reports:

Beatrix von Storch, recently wrote on Facebook that women and children attempting to enter Germany illegally should be stopped on the border with guns. She later clarified that she meant only women, not children. Her intervention was in support of the AfD party leader, Frauke Petry, who told a German newspaper that police must if necessary use firearms to stop people crossing the border. The comments have been described as a disgrace for Germany by the finance minister, Wolfgang Schauble, while German social democrats said they were reminded of communist East Germany, when people were shot for trying to escape the country. The remarks have alarmed some lawmakers in the European parliament, including those who sit with the AfD in the anti-federalist, rightwing European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group. At a private ECR meeting, one British Conservative MEP argued that AfD should be suspended, but group leaders want to give the German MEPs time to explain their views.

It is good that the ECR have condemned these outrageous remarks. But it brings shame on the Conservative Party, and on the UK. for any UK MEPs to remain in a party grouping with AfD. As Catherine Bearder MEP has rightly put it: Many in the UK will be horrified to discover that the Conservative partys bedfellows in Europe have such extreme and unpleasant views. It is time for Conservative MEPs to sever their links with rightwing, extremist parties such as the AfD and stand up for decency, tolerance and compassion. David Cameron must end this toxic association that is alienating Britains close allies and undermining his credibility in the EU renegotiation. If the UK Conservatives fail to separate themselves from the proponents of such offensive views people that will reflect very badly on them.

* Antony Hook was #2 on the South East European list in 2014, is the English Party's representative on the Federal Executive and produces this sites EU Referendum Roundup.
A CHRONIC drug addict who robbed a pensioner in the public toilets of a busy shopping centre, will be sentenced this Friday.

Martin Morey, aged 24, of no fixed abode, has pleaded guilty to assaulting the now 86-year-old at Roxboro Shopping Centre on July 30, last.

During a sentencing hearing this Tuesday, Detective Garda Mick Dunne said gardai were alerted to the incident by a woman who discovered the pensioner stumbling along a corridor at the shopping centre, with blood streaming down his face.

Limerick Circuit Court was told CCTV footage which was retrieved during the investigation showed that Morey, who has a large number of previous convictions, waited outside a toilet which was being used by the pensioner at around 11am.

Det Garda Dunne said as the man entered the toilet, Morey pushed his way through and pinned him to the wall with his arm

Morey then searched the man and took his wallet which contained a quantity of cash and a mobile phone before fleeing the scene.

During the violent incident the pensioner struck his head off the toilet cistern.

After the alarm was raised, an ambulance was called and Judge Tom ODonnell was told a medical examination showed the victim had sustained a deep laceration to his forehead and two black eyes.

Judge Tom ODonnell was told further CCTV footage, obtained by gardai, showed Morey fleeing the Shopping Centre and later entering a house in nearby John Carew Park.

Det Garda Dunne said he changed his clothing at that house before leaving a short time later.

Morey was arrested a number of days later and during interview at Roxboro Road garda station made certain admissions relating to the incident.

The court heard the defendant told gardai that when he took heroin he didnt know what he would be capable of doing.

The 24-year-old, who has previous convictions for arson, theft, robbery, possession of stolen goods and burglary, was remanded in continuing custody until Friday when Judge ODonnell will hand down his sentence

Morey has been in custody since he first appeared in court last August. The case has been adjourned a number of times since for administrative purposes.

He faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
CLARE County Council will close its service office in Westbury, in Limericks western suburbs, next month.

The move, the council says, follows an examination of the level of activity at the office, which identified that last year, just 400 people visited the office for non-motor tax queries.

Clare County Council said it is conscious that with advances in phone technology in particular, access to online facilities is now much greater than when online access facilities were initiated at the office. An increasing number of people are renewing motor tax on-line in Clare using their own online access and this reflects what is happening throughout the country.

Due to this, the council said it cannot justify keeping the office, at Knockballynameath open after its lease expires.

But general election candidate Cllr Cian Prendiville has criticised the move, saying: The people of Westbury and Shannon Banks already feel they are falling betwee two stools not getting the services that they need from Clare County Council. They are out of sight, out of mind. The closure of this office will only add to this feeling.

Clare County Council has said services will continue to be provided by its offices in Shannon Town and all affected staff will be redeployed.
NEWCASTLE West will play host to its first ever pop-up exhibition this weekend when Sol Art comes to town.

Opening on Friday night in the Red Door Gallery, the exhibition will run for one weekend only but is expected to generate a lot of interest.

The man behind the pop-up is Martin Davis who founded the Sol Art Gallery in Dublins Dawson St in 2002 and who has a long record of hosting and attending art exhibitions both in Ireland and abroad.

And his decision to come to Newcastle West has been welcomed by Claire Gearey of the Red Door Gallery. I am delighted. Martin has been in the art business in Ireland for 30 years and during this time discovered an immense talent and an immense interest in art in rural communities across Ireland, she said.

It is great for the town and for people who want to come and see the exhibition or to buy something, she added.

Mr Davis, Ms Gearey said, represented Irish and international artists and this would be reflected in the exhibition.

This exhibition represents the breadth of artistic talent available from Sol Art to suit all tastes, Mr Davis said. And it will include a broad range of media from traditional forms of painting and sculpture to more contemporary media such as photography.

Works from acclaimed Irish artists such as James Brohan, Aidan Harte, JB Vallelly will be included along with work from Kerry artist Liam ONeill and Limericks own Mike Fitzharris.

International contemporary work will be represented by Los Angeles based artist Rimi Yang and Polish artist Katarzyna Gajewska.

The finest of Irelands new emerging artistic talent will also feature including Dudas unique style of contemporary pop art and the fantastical narratives of RHA award winning portrait artist Francis OToole, Mr Davis said.

The exhibition opens at 7.30pm this Friday evening and will run on Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 5.30pm.
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Entertainment / Arts

by Bongani Ndlovu

REVERED arts guru Cont Mhlanga has called time on his illustrious 36-year career in the arts industry.Regarded as the pioneer of arts in Zimbabwe, Mhlanga, who founded the cultural centre in 1982, has ventured into agribusiness in his rural home of Lupane. As a result, he will no longer be active in the centre's administration but has left his capable wife, Thembi Ngwabi, in charge. Ngwabi will be responsible for all administration at the popular centre.Veteran performing artiste Thulani Mbambo will manage the centre's television content wing - Amakhosi Digital - while Godwin Phiri has been tasked to manage Skyz Metro FM - a radio station which is yet to be launched."It's been a long time coming as I've been in the arts business for donkey years. It's time to call it quits and relax at my farm," Mhlanga said."Though I won't be there physically, I'll be guiding the team in terms of what the vision of Amakhosi is. In other words, I'm now a consultant to Amakhosi," said Mhlanga.He said the imminent launch of Skyz Metro FM and Amakhosi Digital had led him to retire as he wants those remaining to be able to run with the projects without him."My fear was that if these new projects take off when I'm there, people would excessively rely on me and this would cause a collapse when I would eventually decide to leave. So I found it better for those I felt were capable, to launch without me and run with the concepts for the next 10 years."I believe I've trained them well and that they'll succeed because they've caught the vision of Amakhosi."Mhlanga said he would chip in and act as a mentor and consultant only when necessary, otherwise all his attention is on his five goats for now."I've five goats that I'm rearing as I'm primarily an expert in agribusiness after my parents spent monies to get me educated in that field. I took up the arts much later in life."The arts guru may however be tempted to bounce back as people in his homestead are constantly asking him why he left the arts business.Mhlanga who wrote more than 20 plays among them The Good President, The End, Sinjalo, Children on Fire, and Vikela has three books to his name. He also adapted the popular play Stitsha to a TV series. It featured late Beater Mangethe.Popularly referred to by many as 'khulu', Mhlanga made ZBCtv worth watching back in the days with his 'Umkhlu lomsebenzi' productions. He also made Friday's worth looking forward to in Bulawayo as the cultural centre hosted a 'Friday Live at Amakhosi' where live music bands would perform. Alick Macheso and late Tongai Moyo are some of the artistes who performed there.Competitions such as Dreams to Fame discovered young talent as this was a platform for up-and-coming artistes.Among those who were nurtured by Mhlanga are Ba Shupi, Sandra Ndebele, Sarah Mpofu, Raisedon Baya and William Nyandoro.
News / Africa

by Staff Reporter

A sexy ghost is reportedly to be stripping in the middle of the road in Kwazulu Natal in front of the motorists.

Daily Sun reported that the ghost stands in the middle of the road in a short black dress and when drivers get close to her, she takes off her clothes.



What happens next, according to many who've experienced this terrifying moment in Elandskop, outside Pietermaritzburg in KZN, is an accident.



Motorists get such a fright they lose control of their cars.



According to residents, the ghost has been appearing at the Ehhashini bus stop since 2005.



They said they believed the ghost came from the graves near the bus stop.



Sibusiso Ngcobo (43) said the ghost caused at least 10 accidents a year.



He said the latest one happened in December.



S'celo Dlamini (35) from Bulwer said he fell victim to the ghost in October.



"I was driving my Toyota Corolla on this road at about 9.30pm when the woman came and stripped in front of me. I thought she was a magosha and asked her to let me pass because I wasn't interested but there was no response," he said.



Dlamini said he asked the woman to move because he was not interested.



"When she didn't move, I drove into another lane to avoid knocking her out. When I had already passed, I was shocked to see her again in front of my car. I tried to reverse and my car rolled. Luckily I only sustained minor injuries but my car was written off," he said.



Local induna Robert Ngcobo (69) said some residents wanted to call in the Shembe Baptist Church to perform a cleansing ceremony.



President of the South African Traditional Healers Association, Sazi Mhlongo, said a strong inyanga could stop the ghost.



Transport department spokesman Kwanele Ncalane confirmed that many accidents occurred in the area, forcing the department to build speed humps.



Mhlaliseni Hlatshwayo of the Shembe Church said: "We can go there with white candles and pray.



"We are a very powerful church and no ghost can defeat us."
The concept for the Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel, an unmanned seafaring ship that would hunt quiet diesel submarines.

Space battles, unmanned submarine hunters and artificial intelligent systems that help human commanders make split-second decisions may sound like science fiction fodder, but military researchers are hard at work trying to make them a reality.

The U.S. military's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has put millions of dollars into projects to develop such technologies, as well as other projects to make cheap, reusable rockets and war technology, officials with the agency said Wednesday (Feb. 10) in a news briefing.

New foes, new technology

The U.S. has typically faced big, monolithic adversaries (think the USSR during the Cold War) or hostile nation states (like Iraq during the Gulf War), and over the past few decades, it has been incredibly dominant, said Steve Walker, the deputy director of DARPA. [Humanoid Robots to Flying Cars: 10 Coolest DARPA Technologies]

In the future, however, "we can't pick the next hotspots in the world and we can't necessarily focus on the fights we can win," Walker said.

Instead of a limited set of well-known foes, the U.S. now faces a myriad of quickly shifting and interconnected threats, from traditionally hostile nation states to criminal organizations to terrorist networks. Fighting those enemies may require something beyond the large, expensive military systems that take ages to design and build.

"We need to mix it up," Walker said.

Robot and man

Toward that end, DARPA is investing in a number of technologies that make warfare cheaper and more flexible.

For instance, the agency is investing in the development of a futuristic, relatively cheap space plane called the XS-1. The reusable plane would launch into suborbital altitudes, flying at hypersonic speeds of Mach 10, to deliver fleets of mini-satellites, then return to repeat the process.

Other proposed projects would take humans out of at least some of the equations of modern warfare. For instance, the agency is designing an unmanned warship that could hunt down ultraquiet diesel submarines  all without a human aboard. The first prototype, dubbed the Sea Hunter, is a 130-foot-long (40 meters) behemoth that took its maiden voyage in the waters off Portland earlier this month and will be christened in April. Such ghost ships could be connected in an invisible grid with other manned vessels, constantly communicating to dynamically assess threats.

Another project aims to put artificial intelligence (AI) in the cockpit with human pilots. The AI would then be used to sabotage the enemy's communication networks.

"The way we would do that is by first of all scouring the spectrum in real time and then second of all applying some of the most amazing technology from the frontiers of artificial intelligence and machine learning to learn what the adversary is doing in the electromagnetic spectrum, start making predictions about what they're going to do and then adapt the on-board jammer," said Arati Prabhakar, the director of DARPA.

Currently, completely unknown signals must be sent back to a central command station, where they sometimes take months to decode, she said.

And the newly proposed Hallmark program would leverage artificial intelligence systems to rapidly assess dynamically changing data in futuristic space battles  then present a set of two or three decisions to a human commander, who would be able to make decisions more quickly than he or she otherwise would.

"You don't want to overload the human; you want to give them exactly what they need to make the decision," Walker said.

Follow Tia Ghose on Twitter and Google+. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.
The Burmese python has worn out its welcome, and its time is nigh.

For the second time since 2013, Florida wildlife officials are inviting people near and far to search for Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) in the Everglades. Depending on where they spot the invasive species, participants can either capture or kill the snakes, which are generally about 6 feet (almost 2 meters) in length, said Carli Segelson, a spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).

However, the snakes' brownish markings make them well camouflaged. So far, 1,035 volunteers have caught 95 snakes  more than the 68 snakes caught by 1,600 participants in 2013, Segelson said. [Photos: Burmese Pythons Invade the Florida Everglades]

The Burmese python isn't venomous, but the non-native species is destroying the native wildlife in Florida's Everglades. (Image credit: FWC Kevin Enge)

The 2016 challenge, which started Jan. 16 and ends Feb. 14, is the state's way of controlling the pythons' population. "It's not good for the ecosystem and the native wildlife to have an invasive species living in the area," Segelson told Live Science.

Either way, the pythons have prospered in the Everglades' hot, humid summers and mild winters. They're also eating the native birds, mammals, fish and reptiles, Segelson said. There are some reports of alligators eating the pythons (and vice versa), but other than that, the Python Challenge seems to be the only major way to get rid of them.Experts aren't sure how the pythons got established in the Everglades, but they have two ideas. Perhaps pet owners set captive snakes free into the wild, Segelson said. Or, maybe the snakes escaped from captivity during Hurricane Andrew in 1992, she said.

Volunteers can brush up on their python-finding and safety skills at PythonChallenge.org, which has videos and tips for capturing the snakes. On average, it takes more than 15 hours to spot a python, but participants might have more luck if they look in marshes, pine rocklands, canal banks and open areas, according to the site. Moreover, the challenge is held in the winter, when snakes spend more time basking in the sun (especially on levees or tree islands) due to the cooler weather.

Florida law enforcement officials show a captured wild Burmese python. (Image credit: FWC)

Volunteers can kill snakes in certain areas, but some regions require that they capture the snakes live and bring them in to be euthanized. In these instances, volunteers can put snakes in breathable bags  such as cotton pillowcases  and then put the bag in a heavy-duty, ventilated container labeled "dangerous reptiles," before handing them over to officials.

People can still register for the Python Challenge, which only officially ends on Valentine's Day  if people see an invasive plant or animal in the wilds of Florida, they can call 1-888-IVE-GOT-1 (1-888-483-4681) or download the app. They can also join the Python Patrol to help capture the snakes year-round.

Who knows, maybe the next volunteer will break the record, Segelson said. Right now, the longest wild python caught in Florida measured 18 feet long (5.5 m), Segelson said, but they are known to grow to be up to 26 feet long (8 m) in their native home on the Malay Peninsula in Southeast Asia.

Follow Laura Geggel on Twitter @LauraGeggel. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.
Laser scans of Britain's terrain may reveal weathered Roman roads that have been hidden for centuries across the countryside of northern England.

Over the past 18 years, the U.K.'s Environment Agency has used a technology called lidar to collect data for more than 72 percent of England's surface. This remote sensing technique bounces laser light beams off the ground to make 3D terrain maps that can peer below vegetation and reveal the contours of every ditch and boulder below.

The U.K.'s lidar maps were used primarily for environmental purposes, such as for planning flood defenses or tracking eroding coastlines. But last summer, the agency dumped all 11TB of its data sets onto the Survey Open Data website. [Roman Fort: See Images of the Long-Lost Discoveries]

The maps grabbed the attention of archaeologists and history buffs among them, David Ratledge, a 70-year-old retired road engineer who has spent nearly five decades searching for ancient Roman roads, The Times of London reported (opens in new tab).

After the Romans invaded Britain in the first century A.D., they built an impressive network of roads to secure their occupation. You can walk in the footsteps of Roman soldiers on a few surviving sections of these ancient highways today, but many routes have been stripped of their stones or they have been obscured by development and farmland.

These "lost" roads left some gaps in the history of Roman Britain. One mystery for Ratledge was, how did the Romans get from Ribchester to Lancaster? With access to the new maps, Ratledge thinks he has solved the puzzle. He traced an 11-mile (17 kilometers) road from Ribchester to the main north-south road at Catterall that then led to Lancaster.

"The road takes a very logical and economical route to join the main north-south road at Catterall and hence on to Lancaster," Ratledge wrote on the website of the Roman Roads Research Association. "Years of looking for a road via Priest Hill, White Chapel, Beacon Fell, Oakenclough and Street proved to be time spent in the wrong place!"

Ratledge said a prominent stretch of a Roman rampart is even visible in Google Street View.

"How nobody me included spotted it is a mystery," he wrote.

Archaeologists Hugh Toller and Bryn Gethin have also used the lidar data to find four other roads, including a missing part of a Roman road called the Maiden Way, the U.K. Environment Agency said in a statement.

First developed in the 1960s, lidar has a variety of uses. In one of its best-known early applications, it helped NASA's astronauts study the surface of the moon during the Apollo missions. Today, it's been used to survey land for oil and gas companies, or to assess the damage of a disaster like the 2010 Haiti earthquake or Hurricane Sandy. It's even been used in an artistic capacity, to make haunting portraits of people in Ethiopia.

The technique has also become a useful tool for archaeologists who want to look for buried structures without breaking ground. In recent years, archaeologists have used lidar to discover the foundations of a lost city in the Honduran rainforest, mapped the sprawling ancient city of Angkor in Cambodia and revealed lost historic sites across New England.

In England, archaeologists aren't the only ones interested in the Environment Agency's terrain maps. The agency said utility companies might use the data to plan the construction of new infrastructure, and winemakers might even find the lidar maps useful when scouting potential plots for vineyards. "Minecraft" players have also requested the data sets to help them build virtual worlds.

Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.
An illustrator's impression of a trilobite attacking a Cambrian worm on a shallow seafloor. The trilobite detects a lumpy worm burrow by sight and perhaps smell, then burrows down and grasps its prey with its many legs. This scene is based on trilobite and worm burrows found fossilized in Missouri.

Trilobites were savvy killers who hunted down their prey and used their many legs to wrestle them into submission, newly discovered fossils suggest.

The fossils come from a site in southeastern Missouri, not far from the city of Desloge. They are trace fossils, which means they preserve not the organisms themselves, but their burrows. The burrows were made by various species of trilobite as well as by unknown, wormlike creatures.

A statistical analysis of these burrows and their intersections shows that they cross one another more than expected, a sign that the trilobites were deliberately hunting down their wormy prey. In a subset of those cases, the trilobites seemed to sidle up to the burrows in parallel, perhaps so they could latch onto the worms lengthwise with their row of legs. [Video: Primitive Sea Creatures Were Advanced Ninja Attackers]

"This is legitimately the moment of interaction between the trilobite and the animal that it ate," said study researcher James Schiffbauer, a paleobiologist at the University of Missouri.

Trilobite tracks

The discovery of these fossils came about by accident. During a department field trip to visit a local lead mine, the researchers made a side trip to a known fossil spot. While there, study co-author John Huntley, also a professor at the University of Missouri, stumbled across a block of fossilized burrows, frozen in silty shale. The sediment was set down during the Cambrian period, between 540 million and 485 million years ago, when the area was a shallow nearshore environment. The shallow bottom was likely covered with a dense microbial mat, which made for a rich food source for wormy (or "vermiform") creatures. These worms were, in turn, prey for trilobites.

"It became sort of a small shallow-water hunting ground for the trilobites," Schiffbauer told Live Science.

Graduate student Tara Selly took on the painstaking task of cataloguing and counting the burrows and their intersections. Her findings revealed that the worm and trilobite tunnels intersected about 30 percent of the time  more than would be expected based on chance alone.

"Likely one-third of [the burrows] were actually capturing predatory events," Selly told Live Science.

A moment in time

The trilobites known from this area belong to species with particularly large eyes, Schiffbauer said. Those eyes may have made them adept hunters, he said, able to seek out burrow entrances or impressions. The critters would then burrow down to grasp their prey.

"What we're seeing is really sophisticated behavior fairly early on in what some people would say is a very simple creature," Schiffbauer said. The trilobites might also have used scent to sniff out their prey, he said.

Predation is important to understand, Huntley told Live Science, but it can be hard to see in the fossil record. Some Cambrian fossils have recorded animals inside the gut tracts of other animals, but it's not clear whether they were hunted and eaten or scavenged. Other signs of predation in the fossil record are wounds or drill holes in skeletons or shells, Huntley said.

"In this case, what we're getting is actually impressions of the body," Huntley said. "It's a different window into this process that we know is important ecologically and really important evolutionarily as well."

The research iss detailed online in the Feb. 15 issue of the journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.

Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitterand Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook& Google+. Original article on Live Science.
News / Local

by Stephen Jakes

Mandara residents in Harare are reportedly unhappy with the lack of development at the shopping centre amid calls for the local authorities to spruce up the area.Harare Residents Trust indicated that residents of Mandara are unhappy with Mandara shopping center it has been idol for the past ten years, and they residents are complaining that they are illegal dealings selling of drugs, alcohol,and vending such that the residents fear its a breeding area of thieves."In line with the outbreak of typhoid the are has become a health hazard. Residents have sent several letters to the Harare City Council complaining over this issue but to no avail," said the trust.
WASHINGTON  Gravitational waves, the cosmic ripples that distort space-time itself, have been directly detected for the first time.

In a highly anticipated announcement today (Feb. 11), researchers affiliated with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory(LIGO) reported the detection of gravitational waves. The signal picked up by LIGO came from the collision of two black holes and was detected on Sept. 14, 2015 by LIGO's twin detectors in Livingston, Louisiana and Hanford, Washington, scientists said.

This cosmic crash sent gravitational waves streaming outward at the speed of light, causing ripples in the fabric of space-time, similar to how a dropped pebble disturbs a still pond. Researchers said the collision occurred 1.3 billion years ago between black holes that were about 29 and 36 times more massive than the sun, respectively. During the crash, about three times the mass of the sun was converted into gravitational waves in less than a second, generating a peak power output of about 50 times that of the entire visible universe, they added. [Gravitational Waves Detected by LIGO: Complete Coverage]

"Our observation of gravitational waves accomplishes an ambitious goal set out over five decades ago to directly detect this elusive phenomenon and better understand the universe, and, fittingly, Einstein's legacy on the 100th anniversary of this general theory of relativity," said LIGO Laboratory executive director David Reitze, of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, in a statement.

"With this completely new way of examining astrophysical objects and phenomena, gravitational waves will truly open a new window on the universe, providing astronomers and other scientists with their first glimpses of previously unseen and unseeable wonders, and greatly adding to our understanding of the nature of space and time itself," LIGO team members wrote in an online description of the project.

Gravitational waves were first predicted by Albert Einstein in his famous 1916 paper on general relativity. One of the central, and strangest, tenets of general relativity is that space and time are not separate things but rather are linked together in a single fabric: space-time. Massive objects, like stars, stretch and curve this fabric, sort of like how a bowling ball distorts a rubber sheet. These dips cause objects such as planets, and even light, to take a curved path around those more massive bodies.

Gravitational waves affect this fabric as well, causing ripplelike distortions. Previous studies have confirmed the existence of gravitational waves  which are generated by the acceleration (or deceleration) of massive objects  through indirect methods, but the LIGO find is the first direct detection of this enigmatic phenomenon.

"The description of this observation is beautifully described in the Einstein theory of general relativity formulated 100 years ago and comprises the first test of the theory in strong gravitation," LIGO team member Rainer Weiss, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), said in a statement. "It would have been wonderful to watch Einstein's face had we been able to tell him."

LIGO can only spot relatively strong gravitational waves, which are created by dramatic events, such as two black holes swirling around each other and then colliding, or a merger of superdense stellar corpses called neutron stars. The detector can also find gravitational waves generated by an exploding star, known as a supernova, LIGO team members have said.

Spotting these space-time ripples is a serious challenge. As a gravitational wave passes through Earth, it squishes space in one direction and stretches it another direction. LIGO looks for that warping of space-time using two "L"-shaped detectors; one is in Livingston, Louisiana, and the other is in Hanford, Washington.

Each arm of each detector is 2.48 miles (4 kilometers) long. Near the point where the two arms meet, a pulse of laser light is released down each arm simultaneously. The pulses travel down an arm, bounce off a mirror at the far end and come back near the starting point, at the crux of the "L."

If a gravitational wave passes by, it will compress one arm of the detector and stretch the other. As a result, the light beam traveling down the stretched arm will take slightly longer to get back to the starting point than will the light beam traveling the arm that has been compressed. (If the same signal is spotted by both detectors, researchers can be confident the signal is real, and not the result of environmental conditions at one of the two sites. Recording the signal at two different locations also allows scientists to find the gravitational wave's source in the sky by triangulation.)

That logic seems simple enough, but the change in the length of each arm is far smaller than the width of an atomic nucleus. If the LIGO detector spanned all the way from the sun to the next-nearest star  Proxima Centauri, located 24.94 trillion miles (40.14 trillion km) away  a gravitational wave would shrink the detector by only the width of a human hair, one LIGO scientist said.

This is not the first time gravitational waves have been in the news. In 2014, researchers using the BICEP2 telescope in Antarctica announced they had detected signatures of gravitational waves in the microwave light left over from the Big Bang (known as the cosmic microwave background). But that result fell apart when observations by Europe's Planck space observatory showed the alleged signatures were probablynothing but space dust.

The LIGO team's claim of direct gravitational-wave detection will very likely undergo intense scrutiny before the scientific community fully accepts the result as sound. There are no other experiments that measure the same kind of gravitational waves that LIGO is sensitive to, so there is currently no way to directly compare the results with another experiment.

The research will be published in an upcoming issue of the Physical Review Letters.

LIGO is operated by scientists at the California Institute of Technology and the MIT, and it's funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation. The LIGO Scientific Collaboration has more than 1,000 members, from 83 institutions in 15 countries.

Follow Calla Cofield @callacofield.Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
Mosquito larvae, which hatch and grow in water. Trash like abandoned tires can collect water and create breeding grounds for mosquitoes, including those that carry the Zika virus.

At least a dozen research groups are now working on developing a Zika virus vaccine, according the World Health Organization (WHO). But scientists are also investigating many more questions about Zika, beyond how to fight it with vaccination.

A licensed vaccine is likely years in the future, WHO representatives said. More-immediate questions will need to be addressed in order for scientists and health officials to diagnose and contain the virus in the meantime, and to determine whether Zika is linked to microcephaly  a disorder in which babies are born with smaller-than-average heads  and Guillaine-Barre syndrome, a neurological disorder.

Live Science has rounded up some of the biggest questions about this mysterious virus, and talked to experts to get the low-down on the latest science that might provide answers. Here is what we found: [Zika Virus News: Complete Coverage of the 2016 Outbreak]

Is Zika causing microcephaly and Guillain-Barre?

Perhaps the most urgent question is whether Zika is, in fact, causing babies to be born with the congenital condition microcephaly, and whether the virus is leading to the neurological disorder Guillain-Barre.

Microcephaly is rare, and growing clusters of infants with the condition in Brazil have been linked to areas with Zika outbreaks, suggesting a connection. The presence of Zika DNA in amniotic fluid in several of these cases indicates that the mothers were infected with the virus, which likely had come into contact with the developing fetus. Similarly, Guillaine-Barre, a rare condition that can cause near-complete paralysis in extreme cases, has been on the rise in areas identified as Zika hotspots in Brazil.

Scientists are working to find out whether Zika is responsible for microcephaly, a serious birth defect. (Image credit: Samuel Borges Photography)

On February 10, a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) described four cases  two microcephalic births and two miscarried fetuses  with signs of Zika infection in their brains and placental tissue, the strongest evidence yet of a connection between the virus and the birth defect. But scientists have yet to find the "smoking gun" that proves Zika infection is causing either microcephaly or Guillain-Barre, said Nicholas Jackson, global head of research for vaccine development at Sanofi Pasteur, one of the companies working on a Zika vaccine.

"It's critical to confirm the potential association," Jackson told Live Science. "And there's another really important point related to that: If you get Zika and you don't have symptoms  because only one in five people develops fever and feels unwell  are you still at risk to go on and have those complications?" he said.

"Those are really important, fundamental questions about the disease and the virus that need to be understood," Jackson said.

How can people with Zika be diagnosed quickly?

The possibility of links between Zika and neurological disorders leads to another puzzle piece: How do you know if you're infected?

"Eighty percent of people [infected with Zika virus] are asymptomatic," said Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "Of the 20 percent with symptoms, the symptoms are usually mild  fever, rash, muscle aches, headaches, joint aches  nonspecific things. This is a significant challenge to all scientists," because it makes the infection hard to spot, Glatter told Live Science.

In other words, how can health officials contain a virus that usually lurks unseen?

Glatter recently co-authored a report in the Harvard Business Review recommending Zika-fighting strategies that were inspired by actions taken against the recent Ebola epidemic in West Africa. For Ebola, the use of rapid diagnostic tests (RDT) in the field allowed community health workers who lacked significant medical training to quickly identify infected people using a single drop of blood, Glatter explained. The RDT analyzed the blood, looking for an antigen, a protein produced by the actual virus itself, which would confirm the person was infected.

A transmission electron micrograph (TEM) of Zika virus. (Image credit: CDC)

Developing, distributing and using such field kits in known Zika hotspots will be critical for containing infection, Glatter said. "The rapid diagnostics are really where it's at, in order to quell and reduce the spread of patients that are infected," he said.

"The pace is feverish right now, especially at the CDC, to develop one of these antigen-detection kits, because unless you get it into communities where the virus is active, you don't know who can stay and who can leave," Glatter said.

But there are properties of the Zika virus that present additional obstacles to developing these field tests, he said.

"The problem is that it's rapidly changing," Glatter told Live Science. "There are certain proteins on the capsule of the virus that have the ability to mutate, so getting the exact proteins that we're looking for in terms of the antigens that will be employed in a kit is really the crux of the issue, and really the challenge at this point," he said.

And Zika's similarity to other viruses in its family could also complicate the diagnostic process, said Alan Barrett, director of the Sealy Center for Vaccine Development in Texas. Zika is part of the flavivirus family, which means it's genetically similar to the viruses that cause dengue, yellow fever and West Nile infections.

"In Brazil, where they have 10 different [types of] flaviviruses, trying to identify Zika from dengue or a different virus is going to be very difficult," Barrett told Live Science.

How is Zika spreading?

Another mystery surrounding Zika is how exactly the virus has accomplished its recent, unprecedentedly rapid spread across the Americas, into areas where it had never been detected before. Researchers have long known that Zika is primarily carried by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, and this species is highly adaptable. Scientists also think that climate change has made some environments more hospitable to mosquitoes than they used to be. But there are other unknowns related to Zika's mosquito carriers.

Head and proboscis of Aedes aegypti, also known as the yellow fever mosquito. (Image credit: Pest and Diseases Image Library/Bugwood.org)

"Is it using the same mosquito vectors across South America? The assumption is yes, but we haven't proved that definitively," Barrett told Live Science. "Is it a strictly human virus cycle, like chikungunya? If animals are involved as a reservoir, it's going to be much harder to get rid of it. Are humans dead-end hosts for Zika, or is there active enough replication for mosquitoes to spread it from human to human? There are lots of things we still don't understand," he said.

Glatter said humans are likely to blame as well for the rapid spread.By producing large quantities of garbage, people provide breeding grounds for the bloodsuckers that might be carrying viruses.

"We have an explosion of garbage throughout our world that's spurred the development of Aedes aegypti," Glatter told Live Science."It lives in tires. It's adapted to live in plastic. These are ideal habitats for mosquitoes to lay their eggs. All it needs is a little moisture, and they're good to go. Our problem with trash is a root cause for the rise of mosquitoes," Glatter said. [Sting, Bite & Destroy: Nature's 10 Biggest Pests]

How many people may be infected by other routes of Zika transmission?

Recent evidence suggests that the virus can sometimes spread through other paths.

Earlier this month, in Texas, a person was diagnosed with sexually transmitted Zika, the first case of locally acquired Zika infection in the United States this year. Previous instances of Zika spreading through semen were reported in Colorado in 2008 and in French Polynesia in 2015.

It's unclear how often sexual transmission may happen, and whether it's easy or difficult for the virus to spread this way. But the CDC recently issued a warning on its website for pregnant women who have male partners who traveled to or live in a Zika hotspot: Those women should either abstain from sex or use condoms for vaginal, anal and oral sex for the duration of the pregnancy, the warning said.

Transmission through blood transfusions is also possible, evidence has shown.

On Feb. 4, Brazil health officials confirmed two cases of Zika infection linked to blood transfusion, Reuters reported.

A bulletin issued Feb. 1 by the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) in response to the Zika outbreaks recommends that travelers to Mexico, the Caribbean, or Central or South America self-defer from donating blood for at least 28 days after their return to the United States. According to the bulletin, "2.8 percent of blood donors tested positive for Zika RNA during the French Polynesian outbreak."

Following the AAAB's recommendation, the American Red Cross issued a statement on Feb. 2 that its representatives would implement self-deferral for prospective blood donors. The organization added it would request that if donors develop Zika symptoms within two weeks after donating, they contact the Red Cross immediately so that their blood donations can be quarantined.

How can future pandemics be prevented?

While scientists race to answer these and other questions about Zika in order to contain and defeat the virus, they are also looking ahead and anticipating the next pandemic, Glatter said.

"Zika is here to stay in the Americas. It's going to be a part of our lives for years to come," Glatter said. "We need to look at the time line and get a good idea of what the viruses are that are a threat to the human race, and invest in technologies and spot the trends early to become more proactive and less reactive."

Follow Mindy Weisberger on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.
Ancient trysts between Neanderthals and modern humans may have influenced modern risks for depression, heart attacks, nicotine addiction, obesity and other health problems, researchers said.

The Neanderthals were once the closest relatives of modern humans. Scientists recently discovered that Neanderthals and modern humans once interbred; nowadays, about 1.5 to 2.1 percent of DNA in people outside Africa is Neanderthal in origin.

"This raises several fascinating questions like, 'What effect does the Neanderthal DNA that remains in modern humans have on our biology?'" said study senior author John Capra, an evolutionary geneticist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. [See Photos of Our Closest Human Ancestor]

Now, for the first time, researchers have directly compared Neanderthal DNA with the clinical records of a significant portion of adults of European ancestry. The scientists discovered that this archaic genetic legacy has had a subtle but significant impact on modern human biology, they said.

"Neanderthal DNA influences a broad range of traits relevant to disease risk in modern humans," Capra told Live Science.

The researchers first identified about 135,000 Neanderthal genetic variations found in modern humans. Next, the scientists analyzed a database of more than 28,000 adults of European ancestry from the Electronic Medical Records and Genomics (eMERGE) Network, a consortium of nine hospitals across the United States. This data linked patient genetic data with versions of those individuals' electronic health records that were stripped of identifying details such as names and addresses.

The data helped the researchers determine if each person had ever been treated for medical conditions such as heart disease, arthritis and depression. It also helped the scientists determine what Neanderthal genetic variants each person carried.

Ultimately, the researchers found that Neanderthal genetic variants were significantly linked to increased risk of 12 traits, including heart attack and artery thickening.

Surprisingly, the investigators also found a Neanderthal genetic variant that significantly increased the modern human risk for nicotine addiction, the researchers said. However, this does not mean that Neanderthals smoked tobacco, Capra said.

"Tobacco was found solely in the Western Hemisphere until Europeans brought it back from expeditions to the Americas," Capra said. The Neanderthal DNA that boosts the risk of nicotine addiction may have had a completely different and potentially beneficial effect "that exhibited itself 50,000 years ago," Capra said.

Some of the scientists' discoveries confirm previous ideas. For example, earlier research suggested that Neanderthal DNA influenced skin cells known as keratinocytes that help protect the skin from environmental damage such as ultraviolet radiation and germs. The new findings suggest that Neanderthal genetic variants increase the risk of developing sun-triggered skin lesions known as keratoses, which are caused by abnormal keratinocytes.

"When we started this study, we expected that if we found anything at all, we would find an influence of Neanderthal DNA on bodily systems that are involved in interactions with the environment," Capra said. "We hypothesized this because Neanderthals had been living in Central Asia and Europe for hundreds of thousands of years before our recent ancestors ever reached these areas  and thus had likely adapted to the distinct environmental aspects of these regions, compared to Africa, in terms of climate, plants and animals, and pathogens."

Capra and his colleagues also found that a number of Neanderthal genetic variants influenced the risk for depression, with some variants increasing the risk and others reducing it.

"The brain is incredibly complex, so it's reasonable to expect that introducing changes from a different evolutionary path might have negative consequences," study lead author Corinne Simonti, a graduate student of human genetics at Vanderbilt University, said in a statement."

The researchers suggest that some Neanderthal genetic variants might have provided benefits in modern human populations as they first moved out of Africa thousands of years ago. However, those variants may have later become detrimental in modern, Western environments, the scientists said. One example is Neanderthal DNA that increases blood clotting; while this can help seal wounds and prevent germs from entering the body, it can also increase the risk for stroke, miscarriage and other problems, Capra said.

The researchers suggest that Neanderthal DNA may not have contributed to differences in skin colors between modern humans, unlike what previous research has suggested. Instead, differences in modern human skin color probably developed very recently, Capra said. "Neanderthals may also have had a range of skin colors," Capra added.

Future research can compare Neanderthal DNA with data gleaned from other sources of medical information, such as lab tests, doctors' notes and medical images, the researchers said. "There is still much to learn about the effects of interbreeding on different populations in recent human history," Capra said.

The scientists detailed their findings online today (Feb. 11) in the journal Science.

Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Originally published on Live Science.
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

The Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Minister Patrick Chinamasa has hailed the introduction of tax management system by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority and said that he would like to see a quicker unfolding of the system and the pace expedited.He said this during a presentation made by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority at Kurima House on 5 February 2016 at a function that was attended by the Ministry of Finance, World Bank, Inspur and ZIMRA Board Members and management.Speaking during the function, Minister Chinamasa applauded the introduction of the Systems and said that it will increase efficiency on revenue collections, which increases the motivation of taxpayers to comply, therefore the realization of more revenue."When efficiency rises, then we can lower tax rates", he said.ZIMRA has introduced Tax Management System to connect clients to the ZIMRA system in order to enhance revenue collection and monitor real time transactions so as to avoid revenue leakages. The e-services platform has also been introduced and it allows for online registration, account management and payment of fiscal obligations and the platform has seen clients applying and receiving tax clearance certificates online. The Authority has also introduced Automated Revenue Machines (ARMs) to allow taxpayers self-service. The ARMs will allow taxpayers to pay for their taxes, submit tax returns and travellers will be able to capture and submit declarations. The ARM provides convenience as they are accessible 24 hours a day.ZIMRA's Tax Management System comes at a time when the Government of Zimbabwe is prioritising installation and use of ICTs. In the 2016 Budget presentation made in November 2015, Minister Chinamasa alluded to improving ICTs in the country for increased productivity. He highlighted that "when internet penetration rises by 10 per cent in emerging economies, it correlates with an incremental Gross Domestic Product increase of one to two per cent". He further alluded to Government's thrust of establishing Data Centres, complete Mile Connectivity, establish Community Information Centres and to extend the E-Government platform, among a host of other national ICT priorities.
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

The National Constitutional Assembly party has expressed concerns over police conduct against Prosecutor General Johannes Tomana recently.Party spokesperson Madock Chivasa said the NCA party is concerned by the reckless actions of the police last week when they illegally arrested Prosecutor General Johannes Tomana."The arrest of the Prosecutor General and his subsequent placement on remand on criminal charges of abuse of office are unconstitutional acts which are unacceptable and a threat to the legal system in Zimbabwe," he said."It is premature, ignorance of law and therefore unconstitutional to arrest and charge a Prosecutor General for alleged acts of misconduct arising from the performance of his duties before invoking the procedures in the Constitution that deal with acts of misconduct by a person occupying that office."Chivasa said the NCA party blames the State for pursuing this illegality by prosecuting a case that violates the provisions of the constitution of Zimbabwe.He said the state's arrogance, if not ignorance, was further exhibited by opposing bail citing fictional reasons including that the Prosecutor General was a flight risk candidate."NCA party strongly believes that the state is victimizing the Prosecutor General for reasons yet to be established. His illegal arrest and placement on remand undermines the critical role played by the Prosecutor General's office in Zimbabwe's legal system. It undermines the achievement of justice," he said."As NCA party we demand that ZANU PF government respect the constitution of Zimbabwe and drop the charges against the Prosecutor General as well as removing his placement on remand."
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Detailing all of the pop-up restaurants, pop-up bars, pop-up shops, pop-up galleries, and pop-up gigs in London, complete with maps. Please send any tips to dan.calladine@londonpopups.com or via twitter - I'm @LondonPopups
A Longford student is preparing to travel to a town in Uganda where he will spend a month working with orphans affected by AIDS.

Oisin Bennett from Killoe, who is currently studying medicine at University College Dublin, is part of a volunteer programme at his college, which will see him travel to the Ugandan town of Nansana in June.

It's part of the UCD Volunteers Overseas programm, he explained. I'll be working with orphans whose parents had AIDS or who have aids themselves, and also with children who have disabilities. There's a stigma about children with disabilities in Uganda; they are not treated the same and they are not educated.

Oisin, a son of Damien and Yvonne Bennett, explained that he is currently training with an organisation called Comhlamh, which will prepare him for the work ahead.

When I get over there I'll be working with an organisation called Nurture Africa, he continued. We're booked to head out on June 24.

In the meantime the former Killoe National School and Mercy Secondary School, Ballymahon, pupil is busy raising funds for the trip.

There's a book and bake sale on February 21 at Cullyfad Community Hall, and in Ennybegs on February 28  both after Sunday Mass. I'm looking for donations of books and board games to sell at them. If anyone has anything, they can call me on 085 1349884, or my dad on 086 3828914, or call into the Sewing Centre in Longford.

Monetary donations can also be made online at https://give.everydayhero.com/ie/oisin#/
Longford Leader reporter Patrick Conboy recently purchased a photo album on eBay which was described as having old photos of Longford. However, when it arrived through his letterbox it was obvious it was a personal album documenting a trip  or trips  to the county during the 1950s-1960s.

I bought the album from a curiosity shop based in London, which sells through eBay, Patrick explained. There is a well-dressed man with a blazer, dicky bow, and glasses in many of the photos, and I believe the album may have belonged to him. In some of the photos he is accompanied by a woman with dark, or maybe brown, hair. Perhaps she is his wife or a close family member?

I don't know how this album ended up in a curiosity shop; perhaps it was as a result of a house clearance after someone passed away?

Many of the photos focus on St Mel's Cathedral in Longford town and what appears to be a Corpus Christi procession. There are also photos of the couple taken with two other gentlemen on St Mel's Road, and at the grave of a David McNamara (died 1932) and his wife Annie (died 1962).

In addition, the album contains some postcards dating from 1948, which were sent from Longford by a man called Peter to a Doris Clarke, who was then residing at the Corestin Private Hotel, Port Isaac, Cornwall. Judging by the language used in the messages, Peter and Doris appear to have been sweethearts, or maybe even married to each other.

Patrick is eager to learn more about the people featured in the photographs, and whether they may have relatives still living in the Longford area.

If there are close relatives in Longford who would like the album, I would be happy to pass it onto them, he said. If you can provide any further information, contact the Longford Leader on 043 33 45241 or email patrick.conboy@longfordleader.ie.
Others, Nature & Weather, Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Health & Wellness

By Cait Russell Published: February 11 2016

The NWS has issued a Special Weather Statement for Long Island for this weekend, as temperatures are expected to drop to zero Saturday night into Sunday morning.

The National Weather Service has issued a Special Weather Statement, as well as a Hazardous Weather Outlook for Long Island for this weekend, as an Arctic Blast in the area will drive temperatures to drop to zero Saturday night into Sunday morning. During this time, Wind Chill values could reach life-threatening levels as cold as 20 - 25 degrees below zero, and the NWS urges residents to take precautions to stay warm, and to keep pets warm as well - temperatures may reach record breaking lows this weekend.

With temps only reaching the teens on Sunday, the NWS is warning that it will be "bitterly cold" here on Long Island, and throughout the New York Metro Area. They go on to warn that cold spells of this magnitude create a serious risk of hypothermia and frostbite, and that if you must be outside between Saturday night and Sunday morning, that gloves, hats, and extra layers should be worn - the low temps could lead to frostbite in less than thirty minutes if proper precautions are not taken.

Additionally, it is recommended that Long Islanders check their car battery, and tire pressure levels before traveling - batteries run the risk of dying due in the bitter cold, and tire pressure could drop when temperatures are this low. The NWS urges locals to equip their cars with a Winter Safety Kit that includes additional warm clothes, an extra set of gloves, a blanket, and other essencials to stay warm should your car break down, become disabled, or get stranded.



Currently, temps are expected to rebound back into the 30s on Monday, however residents are urged to check weather reports regularly, and bundle up before going outside. For the most up to date weather information, head over to the LongIsland.com Weather Center, where you can find the latest weather forecasts, advisories and more.



To get the latest traffic & road conditions before traveling, visit the LongIsland.com Traffic Center, and be sure to check out the live traffic feeds on our Traffic Cam Page.



[Source: NWS.]
Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: February 11 2016

The First Squad reports the arrest of a Bronx man for Grand Larceny that occurred on October 20, 2015 in East Meadow.

East Meadow, NY - February 11th, 2016 - The First Squad reports the arrest of a Bronx man for Grand Larceny that occurred on October 20, 2015 in East Meadow.



According to detectives, a male victim, 86, received a telephone call at his Benito Street home from a male claiming to be his grandson. The caller stated that he had been arrested and needed $7500.00 to be released.



The caller gave the victim an account number located at the Bank of America to deposit the money. The victim complied, but later found out that his grandson was never arrested or made such a call.



Subsequent investigation by detectives led to the arrest of Jeremy E. McFadden, 23, of Cortona Park East, on Wednesday, February 10, 2016.



McFadden is being charged with Grand Larceny 3rd Degree and will be arraigned on Thursday, February 11, 2016 at First District Court, 99 Main Street, Hempstead.
Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: February 11 2016

Yesterday, Food & Water Watch announced a coalition of parents and businesses from across the South Shore in support of GMO labeling.

Huntington, NY - February 10th, 2016 - Today, Food & Water Watch announced a coalition of parents and businesses from across the South Shore in support of GMO labeling. A diverse set of allies have signed on to a letter in support of Senate Bill 485, which would require labeling of genetically engineered foods in the state.

The coalition is calling on Senator Venditto to co-sponsor the legislation to add New York to a growing list of states that require labeling of genetically engineered foods that includes Vermont, Maine and Connecticut.



At the event on Wednesday, local residents demanded the right to know if food is genetically engineered in order to make informed decisions about what to eat and feed their families.



Overwhelmingly, Americans want mandatory labeling of genetically modified food. According to polls by ABC News, over 90% of consumers support mandatory labeling. In December, The New York Times penned a powerful editorial supporting GMO labeling. Just weeks ago, Campbells Soup announced its intention to label GMO products, citing polling that shows over 90% of Americans want mandatory labeling. 64 other countries including Russia and China require GMOs to be labeled.





We know the effects of the toxic pesticides sprayed on GMO crops, I want to be able to choose wisely what I feed myself and my family, said long-time Merrick resident and mother, Margaret Maher. As the Chairman of the Consumer Protection Committee, and a father, Senator Venditto should co-sponsor this bill.



The growing campaign to label GMOs in New York is working to spread this message across Senator Vendittos district. Since January, the group of activists collected over 400 petitions, and generated dozens of phone calls into Sen. Vendittos office, urging the Senator to cosponsor S 485. Now, parents and business owners across the area are adding their support. This varied group of supporters represents how this issue is important to people for a wide range of reasons, from those interested in consumer choice, to concerns about the increased use of pesticides on GMO crops.



For me, this is simple. I want to know what is in the food I am feeding my family, said Farmingdale resident and mother Jacqueline Hassett I am simply asking for the right to be able to do the research and make a conscious, educated decision on the food I want to provide for them. We know what our clothing is made from, and where. The same is true of virtually everything we buy. How is this not the case for our food?



The bill to label GMOs in New York, S. 485, currently has 23 co-sponsors in the New York State Senate. Just yesterday, the bill on the Assembly side, A. 617, moved out of the Committee on Consumer Affairs and Protection with a strong statement in support of GMO labeling from the Chairman, Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz.



About Food & Water Watch

Food & Water Watch champions healthy food and clean water for all. We stand up to corporations that put profits before people, and advocate for a democracy that improves peoples lives and protects our environment.
Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: February 11 2016

Suffolk County Police Sixth Squad detectives are seeking the publics help in locating a Ronkonkoma man who went missing earlier this week.

Ronkonkoma, NY - February 11th, 2016 - Suffolk County Police Sixth Squad detectives are seeking the publics help in locating a Ronkonkoma man who went missing earlier this week.



Following an argument with his wife, John Kalsky left his home at 684 Portion Road on February 8 to stay with a family member at 62 Birchwood Drive in Medford. Kalsky left that location on foot later in the day and has not been seen since.



Kalsky, 38, is white, 5 feet 5 inches tall, 158 pounds with brown hair, brown eyes and a goatee. He has tattoos on his shoulder and forearm. He was last seen wearing blue jeans, black snow boots and a New York Yankees hat.



Detectives do not believe there is any foul play related to Kalskys disappearance.



Anyone with information on Kalskys whereabouts is asked to call 911 or the Sixth Squad at 631-854-8652.
Nature & Weather, Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: February 11 2016

Funding Will Prioritize Specific Projects To Help Shield Freeport, Long Beach, Island Park, Oceanside, Baldwin, Five Towns - Hundreds Of Thousands of Residents - From Future Storms.

Nassau County, NY - February 11th, 2016 - U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer, today, said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will deliver $200K in federal funding to the Nassau Back Bays resiliency study. Schumer, who pushed vigorously for these funds, said these federal funds will zero-in on specific coastal protections to best shield south shore communities from another Sandy.



I said it before and Ill say it again: Nassaus Back Bays project is, quite simply, a must-fund, said Schumer. I applaud the Army Corps for heeding the call and validating this project as a major priority so that Long Islands South Shore communities are better protected and more resilient in the future.



Today, the Nassau Back Bay feasibility study sets sail and the work we so desperately require will soon begin. We must make sure the vulnerabilities to our South Shore communities are addressed in the event of a future storm and this funding will help get that job done.



"This is a sign of progress, and we would like to sincerely thank Senator Schumer for his tireless advocacy as, together, we fight to build a safer barrier island, said City Councilwoman Eileen J. Goggin. On behalf of coastal municipalities, we share frustration with the pace of the progress. However, we will continue to aggressively advocate for additional state and federal funding to protect our neighborhoods from flooding to adopt a comprehensive approach to solving the issues that all coastal communities in our area are currently facing.



The now final Army Corps work plan includes data from a North Atlantic Coast Comprehensive Study Schumer previously secured federal dollars for. Schumer said todays funds originated from the FY16 Appropriations bill that he helped pass in the Congress at the end of last year. The bill included roughly $7 million in federal funding for Flood and Storm Damage Reduction in the Army Corps Investigations Account.



Schumer said that the Army Corps allocated some of these account funds to begin work on Nassau Countys Back Bays feasibility study, which is a critical next step in the process of securing additional federal dollars for specific protections along the south shore.



This study will examine the coastal flooding that occurred during Superstorm Sandy, test various solutions to prevent such flooding and make a final recommendation on how best to alleviate flooding along Nassau's back bay communities. The study will analyze various options from raising additional homes to tidal surge gates at the Jones and Rockaway Inlets.



Schumer personally urged the Army Corps to make sure this Nassau project had the funding necessary to move forward in this years Army Corps work plan so locals can prioritize specific South Shore protections while working to secure the federal funding that will help to make them a reality.



Schumer further notes, the $200k in federal work plan dollars will allow the study to begin soon. As for next year, the Army Corps has also proposed an additional $300k in funding for this project, allowing the agency to finalize the Back Bays study.



Historically, Nassau Countys Back Bay communities have endured flooding on numerous occasions. After Superstorm Sandy, Long Beach, Island Park, Oceanside, Baldwin, and Five Towns were extensively flooded. On the Long Beach barrier island, the ocean met the bay. According to the comprehensive U.S. Geological SurveysObserved Storm Surge Mapper from October 29th, 2012, it is clear there was storm surge on both the oceanfront and Bayfront side of the barrier island.



In addition to Superstorm Sandy, these south shore communities experience severe flooding during regular high tides and heavy rainstorms. Freeport's Nautical Mile, Island Park's Austin Blvd. and Nassau Expressway in the Five Towns are prone to flooding during the lightest of rain storms.
News / National

by Staff Reporter

MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai is in Masvingo to meet with Zimbabweans and grassroots structures of the party in the province.According to the party's Presidential Spokesperson Luke Tamborinyoka, "Tsvangirai kicked off his Masvingo tour with a well-attended meeting in Bikita yesterday. Today, he will be in Gutu before proceeding to Chivi for further meetings and public engagements tomorrow. He will proceed to Mashava on Friday.""Tsvangirai will use the opportunity of this visit to Masvingo to assess the food situation in the province, which is one of the worst affected by the drought that has once again resulted in an alarming food insecurity situation in the country," said Tamborinyoka."It is the MDC-T leader's view that it is the height of insensitivity for Robert Mugabe to host his $1 million birthday bash in Masvingo for his 92nd birthday. Given the hunger and starvation stalking the province, Mugabe's million-dollar birthday bash will be akin to hosting a lavish party at a funeral.""Tsvangirai will wind up his Masvingo tour with a meeting of party structures in Chiredzi on Sunday."
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Columnists Press Releases
News / National

by Staff reporter

Zanu-PF bigwigs opposed to embattled Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa succeeding President Mugabe have vowed that a woman will return to the ruling party's powerful presidium this year, most likely at his expense.Party officials linked to the Young Turks known as the Generation 40 (G40) said Senate President Edna Madzongwe, and not First Lady Grace Mugabe, was likely to be the woman VP.They also said that it is now a question of when in 2016, not whether there will be a woman VP.Last December's Zanu-PF congress set a clear deadline that 2016 would be the year that gender parity would be realized in the presidium.
News / National

by Staff reporter

Boisterous fighters of the liberation struggle had to abandon their planned demonstration yesterday, which was meant to show support of their embattled leader, Christopher Mutsvangwa, as well as stopping Higher and Tertiary Education Minister , Jonathan Moyo, from attending the Zanu-PF's Politburo meeting.The war veterans had planned to converge at the party headquarters, but developed cold feet at the eleventh hour after they were outwitted by members of the Zanu-PF Women's League who are said to be working closely with Generation 40 (G40)  a group of young Turks campaigning against Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa's prospects of taking over from President Robert Mugabe in the event that he retires from active politics.
News / National

by Staff reporter

Zimbabwe's rural teachers say they will go on the streets today in an attempt to force the government to honour its dues and pledges to civil servants.If successful, this will be the second major sector to embark on mass action after unhappy public sector medical staff  including doctors and nurses  went on strike last week in protest at the government's failure to pay them their December salaries.The Rural Teachers Union in Zimbabwe (RTUZ) has already submitted a notification letter to the police internal security intelligence in Harare, informing them of their intention to go on protest.
News / National

by Staff reporter

The late ZANLA supremo General Josiah Magama Tongogara saw a free Zimbabwe before he even went to join the liberation struggle.In 1963, General Tongogara, affectionately known as General Tongo, told his late father that Zimbabwe will be liberated despite odds staked against the black people.ZBC Chief Correspondent Reuben Barwe recently visited the Tongogara homestead in Shurugwi's Gamwa area, and spoke to General Tongo's young brother, Joshua.The young brother of the late national hero Joshua Tongogara said he was a witness to the discussion between his late father and late brother at their farm in Gamwa small scale farms in Shurugwi."I witnessed him telling our parents that he was going to train as a freedom fighter. Our father said no saying he will die of hunger, but General Tongo said their food in the struggle will come from you the people. He told our parents in the kitchen that when he dies Zimbabwe would have been liberated," said Joshua.The late General Tongogara started schooling at Rockford Primary School in Shurugwi South before doing his upper primary school at Jongolingo in the same area.He left for Zambia in early 1960s after telling his father the late Magma that he was going to fight and liberate this country a move his father doubted would materialise.He stuck to his views and died on the eve of liberation due to a traffic accident in Mozambique.The parents of the late General died later in the 1980s and were given state assisted funerals.The young brother Joshua says despite promises by many to assist the family as a token of appreciation of the good work done by his late brother, nothing has happened and they have resigned to their poverty."It's you who feel ashamed of our circumstances including the dwellings of the late General. To us this has been our home since we moved here from Punungwe in the early 1960s," said Joshua.The late ZANLA supremo schooled at the same school with the late former Midlands Governor Herbert Malaba, Florescent Chitauro and many other luminaries and Rockford school headmaster Memory Sukura says they feel forgotten despite producing a military genius in the name of General Tongo.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has expanded its footprint across southern Yemen by seizing five towns, including a provincial capital, over the past two weeks. Al Qaedas official branch in Yemen continues to capitalize on Yemens chaotic civil war.

AQAP took full control of Houta, the capital of Lahj province, on Jan. 26, according to Al-Araby al-Jadeed. Pro-government militias in the town fled as AQAP fighters were storming the public institutions and blew up a police station.

After overruning Houta, AQAP marched on four towns in the provinces of Abyan and Shabwa, traditional strongholds for the jihadist insurgent group. On Feb. 1, AQAP took Azzan in Shabwa without a fight.

Next to fall was Mahfid, a town in Abyan province, on Feb. 4, according to Al-Masdar Online. AQAP raised its black banner and set up security checkpoints throughout the town. Mahfid, like Azzan, was taken without opposition from security forces.

Additionally, AQAP recently took over the coastal towns of Shoqra and Ahwar in the Abyan province, according to a Feb. 8 report by AFP.

The five towns are the latest major population centers in southern Yemen to fall under al Qaedas sphere of influence. The first city to fall was Mukalla, the capital of Hadramout province, in April 2015. AQAP launched several high-profile assaults on Yemen military bases before capturing the provincial capital.

In December 2015, AQAP overran Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province, and the nearby town of Jaar after clashes with Yemeni security forces.

In addition to the cities and towns known to be held by AQAP, the group also holds sway over rural areas in Abyan, Shabwa, and Hadramout provinces.

AQAP seeks to administer the territory it has recently seized, and is promoting its efforts on social media. Recently, AQAP has highlighted its efforts to provide services as well as put into effect sharia, or Islamic law, in Mukalla, Zinjibar, and Jaar. [See LWJ report, AQAP provides social services, implements sharia while advancing in southern Yemen.]

AQAP is retaking ground that was lost in 2012 after the Yemeni government, with US assistance, launched an offensive in southern Yemen. AQAP controlled most of southern Yemen, including Zinjibar and a number of towns in Abyan and Shabwa from May 2011 until the fall of 2012.

AQAP has taken advantage of Yemens chaotic civil war, which began in 2014 and is being fought between Shiite Houthi rebels and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh on one side, and deposed President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and a Saudi led coalition of Gulf nations on the other. While the pro-Hadi forces have battled to eject the Houthis from southern and central Yemen, AQAP has taken advantage of the turmoil and seized areas where Hadis forces are weak or non-existent.

Hadis forces have put up little opposition to AQAP and its political front, Ansar al Sharia, as the groups have also launched deadly attacks against the Houthis. The US has targeted AQAP leaders in drone strikes, and has killed some of the groups top leaders, including its founder and first emir, Nasir al Wuyhashi. But the loss of senior leaders has not stopped AQAP from gaining ground in the south.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

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News / Regional

by Kamangeni Phiri

CHIEF Sibasa's popularity ratings are sinking to microscopic levels ever since he assumed the unofficial duty of schools debt-collector two years ago.He does not squirm while donning his "borrowed robes" as he subjects parents who fail to pay fees to all forms of punishment. Parents are also fined, sometimes ordered to surrender goats, at his court for defaulting on fees.The traditional leader from Filabusi is a debt-collector for a number of local schools in Filabusi and surrounding areas.Lazarus Dube, 75, of Ukuzwisisa Village says parents are being made to climb a hill and clear bushes on roadsides, as part of punishment. Some have to reconstruct a local dam near Chief's Sibasa's homestead at Sibasa Business Centre."Two of my grandchildren were dismissed last year at Tshazi Secondary School after their mothers failed to pay fees. The mothers of the two children are both my daughters. They were taken to Chief Sibasa's court for defaulting on third term fees, last year. The chief forced my daughters together with other defaulting parents to climb to the summit of a hill near his homestead," Dube said.Chief Sibasa would ask the parents what they saw at the hill top and the parents would say nothing. The chief would then order them back to the hill top and would only let them free if they tell him that they have seen a trigonometrical beacon."They would then be taken to Silalatshani Irrigation scheme to clear bushes. This year, they were taken to Sibasa Dam to patch up the dam wall using sand," he said.Among the schools that hand over defaulting parents to the chief are Tshazi Primary, Tshazi Secondary, Filabusi B Primary, Amazon School, Msithi Primary and Singwango High.Not all schools are under Chief Sibasa's area of jurisdiction. Tshazi, for example, is under Chief Ndube, a woman.Dube fails to understand how Chief Sibasa presides over certain cases from areas under other chiefs."The school is in Ward One under Chief Ndube yet Sibasa keeps persecuting us. He fines us for failing to pay fees and his security aide charges a certain fee for serving us summonses. The same parents are punished for failing to pay fees. My prayer is authorities intervene and save us from further abuse," said Dube.The sentiment among locals is that Chief Sibasa's debt-collecting duties are taking precedence over his official role as their chief  dispute resolution and community welfare issues.Parents allege Chief Sibasa at times demands livestock, especially goats, as fines for defaulting. The schools do not get the goats.For two successive years Filabusi villagers have been battling the impact of drought, just like other rural people in the country.Herod Nhliziyo, 52, of Mahole Business Centre, says it is difficult for most villagers to pay fees when families are starving.Nhliziyo knows the pain of defaulting fees after he was forced to clear road bushes in 2014. He had failed to pay fees for his son, then a pupil at Tshazi Primary School."I was forced to climb a hill near the chief's court. We were then made to clear bushes along the road. I then had to clear the outstanding fees at the chief's court. I paid to the headmaster. What pained me is that I was made to work in Chief Sibasa's area yet I'm from Chief Ndube's area," said Nhliziyo.He, however, blames local headmasters and School Development Committee chairpersons for the "double punishment"."The chief has no problem. Chief Sibasa only listens to cases presented to him. It's the people whom we elected to represent us at school, the SDCs, who're to blame. The headmasters are also to blame for delegating their administrative duties to a chief. There's drought. It's difficult to send a hungry child to school. Naturally, I've to feed the kid first before I worry about fees," said Nhliziyo.Mark Dube, 75, an assessor at Chief Sibasa's court, says the traditional leader is not at fault in handling cases from other areas.He says even some of the contested areas were under Chief Sibasa's jurisdiction as his land was vast."Some areas in resettlement areas don't have substantive chiefs. In the case of schools in Chief Ndube's area, it's the government that appointed Chief Sibasa to preside over all cases after Chief Ndube abused her office at one time," the assessor said."We don't influence teachers or anyone to bring cases to our court. We're guided by the letters of demand from schools. We don't grab cases. It's government policy that schools shouldn't harass kids over fees payment. They should take the parents to the chief."He said some of the defaulting pupils were now parents who're now failing to pay fees for their children.Mark Dube admitted to punishing defaulting parents but denied demanding fines from them. He described the money paid to Chief Sibasa's messenger as "transport allowance"."Parents pay $5 to the police officer for his service of serving them with the summonses. At the chief's court, parents make payment plans. They tell the chief when they would pay the balance. Those who fail to pay are punished so that they see how serious the process is. We make them work but we don't make the poor sell their goats or any other livestock to settle fees arrears. We never fine defaulters goats. Everything paid by the parents at the chief's court goes towards fees. We only handle registers and receipt books. The school headmasters handle the money themselves. We've dealt with many schools here and in Fort Rixon, mostly resettlement areas," he said.Tshazi Secondary School headmaster, a G.V. Dube, refused to shed light on the matter citing protocol.Chief Sibasa denied ordering defaulting parents to pay a fine."It's schools that charge parents interest. On punishment, we do that because some villagers are too poor to pay fees. It's difficult to make some people pay when they're old or poor. We just make them work for the community and help engage the school on their behalf. No child is barred from school. All kids are in school now. I don't solicit for cases. SDCs are the ones who decide to bring the fees cases to my court," he said.But Chief Ndube is not amused by her counterpart's "transgressions".She emphasised the importance of working together in harmony as leaders although she remained sceptic on the methods employed by Chief Sibasa to recover school monies.Chief Ndube said paying fees was important."We need to work together as chiefs. There are indeed some people complaining over my counterpart's handling of the fees issue. They complain that they're being made to work in an area outside their jurisdiction. My counterpart is wrong on that," Chief Ndube complained."A chief should first ask an individual where he's from before handling a case. If the person is from outside his or her area, the chief should refer the person back to the rightful traditional leader. We differ how we rule our subjects. The $5 charged by the chief's police officer when summoning defaulting parents can help clear or reduce fees arrears. Some parents owe as little as $15 or $20 but because of the drought situation, they struggle to pay such amounts. It's not fair to take money that should help parents settle fees arrears."Chief Ndube, who is female, said some chiefs have challenges in executing their duties due to lack of training."There are traditional leaders who have no clue as to how to preside over cases. They lack training. Some of us were trained soon after our appointment. Training teaches you how to handle such issues," she added.The government, while enforcing its policy that children must not be barred from school, advised school authorities to approach the courts without delay to claim outstanding fees owed to them by parents and guardians ahead of the start of this term.Primary and Secondary School Minister, Lazarus Dokora, said in early January schools should seek legal recourse against parents who defaulted in paying levies and tuition fees since third term last year.He said most parents were "hiding" behind the government directive that no pupil should be sent away for non-payment of school fees."We expect to see school authorities busy compiling lists of defaulting parents and amounts owed and have recourse at the traditional and community courts, the magistrates courts and the small claims courts," he said."Levies should be paid and government simply protects the child that he or she shouldn't be expelled because the contract to pay fees is between the parents and the school. While no child shall be expelled for non-payment of fees, it doesn't mean that parents should relax and find comfort in that. They should honour their obligations."He said school fees for this year at government institutions including independent colleges remained frozen while voluntary levies or other unauthorised charges would not be tolerated.
Luton is a large town, borough and unitary authority area of Bedfordshire. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 258,000. Luton is home to Championship team Luton Town Football Club, London Luton Airport and The University of Bedfordshire. You can find us on Facebook and Twitter. For all the latest news from Luton sign up to our newsletter here.
Find Your Bliss With the New Experiences by Blissed Out Retreats

Instead of just a yoga or wellness retreat, each experience has activities created around a central theme. For example, the first experience held in Bali, Indonesia in April is, which includes activities like dance, yoga, and art classes as a way for guests to discover how to express themselves. Plant-based cuisine Well-appointed accommodations and amenities Yoga classes for all levels Other classes centered around the theme (like art, cooking, fitness, meditation, health & wellness, dance, etc) A well-established and knowledgeable special guest teacher Connection with like-minded individuals and so much more.The food, the location, the yoga, all the little included extras (massages, classes, day trips) were absolutely outstanding and beyond anything I could have ever imagined. So much work and thought went into this retreat and I will always look back on it as one of the best trips I've been on. Personally, my favourite part was meeting a group of smart, strong, like-minded women that I will forever call my friends. -To say it was life-changing would be an extreme understatement. The food was so sublime, we literally had foodgasms every day, exceeded my expectations. Bali itself was so divine. It was absolutely beautiful- and rarely do you vacation and get such an IMMERSIVE experience within the local culture. I just didn't want it to end. 
Carmel-by-the-Sea Art Scene Continues to Inspire



For the Love of Art is scheduled throughout February at Carmel Art Association's gallery, located on Dolores Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues. The gallery is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.



Thinking Out Loud runs from March 5 to April 1 at Cherry Center for the Arts, Guadalupe Street and Fourth Avenue. The gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.



Fittingly, the late landscape artist painter Francis McComas called this area the greatest meeting of land and water in the world, while Jack London wrote of Carmel's burgeoning artists' colony in his 1913 novel, The Valley of the Moon.This is a particularly special year to visit Carmel-by-the-Sea as the village is celebrating its Centennial . One of the many special related events is the Carmel Art Festival , scheduled for May 13-15, which will again feature a juried painting competition, silent auction, and art sale, with proceeds going to support local art youth programs. While the Festival is held on Mission Street between Ocean and Sixth Avenues, many of the downtown galleries also are scheduling shows and demonstrations to coincide with the event.Over the decades, while countless artists brought creative energy to townnames like Ferdinand Burgdorff, Percy Gray and William Frederic Ritschel the Carmel Art Association gave it aesthetic structure, stature, and sustenance. The second oldest art cooperative in the country, the association has defined Carmel-by-the-Sea's art community for nearly 90 years. Both the Art Association and Carl Cherry Center for the Arts have scheduled exhibits celebrating the works of local high school students:The ever-popular Carmel Art Tour is a fun and informal 90-minute guided walking tour of the town's art galleries and their painting, sculpture, art glass, and photography, from historic to contemporary. Advance reservations are required, and available by visiting www.carmelarttours.com It's never been easier to get to Carmel-by-the-Sea. Monterey Regional Airport (MRY) is just a 10-minute drive away and served by direct flights to and from San Francisco (SFO, United Express), Los Angeles (LAX, American Eagle/United Express), Las Vegas (LAS, Allegiant Air), Phoenix (PHX, U.S. Airways), and San Diego (SAN, Alaska Airlines). Alaska Airlines recently began daily non-stop service to and from Los Angeles (LAX). San Jose International Airport (SJC) is 75 miles north.For more information, visit. For more information and a short video on Carmel: Artist Colony, visit www.carmelcalifornia.com/artist-colony.htm
P&O Cruises' Pacific Pearl Goes to Napier for the Renowned Art Deco Festival



Over 200 events to attend over the weekend such as outdoor concerts, vintage car parades, fashion shows, Great Gatsby-themed picnics and more;

to attend over the weekend such as outdoor concerts, vintage car parades, fashion shows, Great Gatsby-themed picnics and more;

Streets known for bringing history to life with their Art Deco inspired designs, making this one of the most unique cities in the world;



Deco Spontane will host a new free dance event where Art Deco enthusiasts join local celebrities to learn and perform the Charleston;



The Waka Experience, a two hour tour on board the Te Matau a Maui, a traditional Polynesian waka, which will sail through Hawke's Bay giving travelers a unique cultural experience.



There are already plans for the ship to return next year, with the ship departing from Auckland and arriving in Napier on February 16, 2017, coinciding again with the festival.Following a devastating earthquake in the 1930's, Napier rebuilt incorporating Classical, Spanish Mission, and Art Deco architecture. The festival attempts to recreate the atmosphere of the period after Napier's reconstruction by encouraging guests to dress in Art Deco-inspired clothing and hosting a variety of events to bring the 1930's to life.Art Deco is one of New Zealand's largest festivals enjoyed by all, and for the first time ever P&O Cruises is offering a cruise that will be stopping in Napier during this famous event.For more information on TREMAINS Art Deco Weekend, please visit: http://www.artdeconapier.com/ For more information on P&O Cruises, please visit: https://www.pocruises.co.nz/cruises/napier/p710 For more information on New Zealand, please visit: http://www.newzealand.com/us/ *Tickets subject to availability, bookings are essential.
Opinion / Columnist

Watching Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa speaking about the El-Nino -induced national disaster on Tuesday, one can draw confidence that Government is very much prepared for this disaster. For that reason, government deserves an appreciation and support from all sectors of society.President Mugabe declared the 2015-2016 agricultural season a national disaster. I am impressed with the state of preparedness of government in this regard. We are told government has to feed at least three million until March 2017 when another harvest is expected. In view of this drought, government needs about US$1.5 billion to import grain. The Non-Governmental Organisations, both local and international and businesspeople should listen and react to the voice of appeal.Already government's appeal has yielded something as international development partners have mobilized $60 million for food importation. Mr Bishow Parajuli, the United Nations resident coordinator confirmed this week that US$60 million has already been mobilized to help Zimbabwe.Government also has an emergency response plan that includes food importation, vulnerable food distribution, emergency water supply, micro-nutrient feeding of the under fives, emergency irrigation rehabilitation and development, school feeding, livestock and wildlife support.It is time for the NGOs to show the drought stricken people of Zimbabwe that they really care and empathize with them. We have seen these NGOs very active in the so-called democracy issues where they purport to assist the people of Zimbabwe to democratize their country. They also say they want to defend the rights of the people of Zimbabwe. Unfortunately people of Zimbabwe do not live on democracy and rights alone. They need food first and foremost. Food is the basic need of the people. It is the primary human necessity that overshadows any other essentials.Therefore, all people and organizations should take this issue as a matter of priority and save humanity and animals' lives. Political differences should be set aside and fight the common enemy of hunger. However, we urge NGOs and others who are to assist, to avoid using food handouts for political expediency. History is awash with incidences where the NGOs gave people food with their right hand while their left hand held opposition ideologies. They campaigned for the MDC-T using food handouts.Now that we have learnt that we don't control natural rains, government must now put human effort where it can. For instance, the drilling of boreholes in A1 farms can assist them to start irrigation projects where they can subsequently support the national food reserves by growing summer crops.Government could also assist farmers with the transfer of cattle from drought stricken areas until the situation improves in those areas. It is unfortunate that some unscrupulous businesspeople and other well-fixed individuals are taking advantage of the drought to rip off farmers, especially peasant farmers of their cattle. Imagine a farmer parting away with his beast for a scanty US$50. People must have conscience. If all things were equal, the same beast can be sold for $500 or more.During the parliamentary question and answer session, the Minister of Agriculture, Dr Joseph Made urged farmers to sell their cattle before they succumb to drought. It is a good idea but government must regulate the price of cattle to curb the manipulation of poor farmers.Government must be applauded for resuscitating the feeding programmes in schools. This writer went to school during a time when the feeding programme was still in full swing. Pupils could be fed with porridge, mahewu or even sadza and beans. Apart from mitigating hunger, the feeding programme motivated learners a lot. School was the best place to be for the learners.
Opinion / Columnist

A UK based Zimbabwean lawyer and government critic, Tinomudaishe Chinyoka filed a Constitutional Court application on Friday seeking a court order to have parliament probe President Mugabe's health to see if he is still on top form for the presidential office.Last month, Chinyoka and the MDC-T Member of Parliament for Zengeza East, Alexio Masundire approached the highest Court seeking to have the National Heroes' Act declared unconstitutional and to bar President Mugabe and Zanu PF from further declaring heroes. In the same month, Chinyoka took President Mugabe to the same court challenging the constitutionality of declaring December 22 a national holiday over a unity accord signed between Zanu PF and PF-Zapu. None of his applications has yet been heard.While it is the right of everyone to seek recourse in the courts of law, it should be appreciated that the Constitutional Court is saddled with more serious cases. With his other court applications against Government still pending, Chinyoka has become a legal nuisance and he seems intent on using all legal avenues to demean the President and Government.Chinyoka is a half-done product of the University of Zimbabwe law faculty. He has a shocking limited understanding of the Zimbabwean constitution. A Constitutional lawyer and law lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe, Professor Lovemore Madhuku dismissed his case with disdain, saying it had no legal basis.By filing such trivial court applications, Professor Madhuku said Chinyoka was abusing and belittling the Constitutional Court. He paralleled Chinyoka's application to a man who, after being ditched by a wife, goes to the court asking it to force the estranged wife to love him. Professor Madhuku said Chinyoka's case was rather a political issue that could be taken to parliament or to the people.Nevertheless, it is a lost cause. Professor Madhuku is on record saying it's practically impossible to impeach the president under the current constitution."It is impossible to impeach him under our current constitution to remove the president from office. For you to remove the president as parliamentarians, you will need to do it through what is called an impeachment. Just to get the matter to be debated in parliament you will need one third of the total membership of parliament to be able to introduce a motion for that debate  About 90 MPs will have to sign that to have the matter to be introduced."If the motion is debated and parliament needs to vote to remove the president, that vote must be supported by two thirds of the total membership which includes the Senate. So, you will need 270 MPs plus 80 Senators. Two thirds of that kind of number. You will need over 200 something MPs in the country and all these are MPs that are drawn from Zanu-PF. Opposition numbers in parliament have gone down," said Professor Madhuku.Chinyoka should have considered these factors if he was a lawyer worth his salt. Otherwise he could have spared himself from embarrassment. Most of the cases he cited in his affidavit as evidence that President Mugabe no longer has the mental and physical capacity to govern Zimbabwe are ridiculous.There are young people, as young as Chinyoka, even young presidents across the globe, who also at one time read wrong speeches, had a slip of the tongue, fallen and slumbered. That cannot be a symptom of physical or mental incapacity.It is shocking that the lawyer finds a case in President Mugabe's routine medical check-ups. In any case, he always receives a clean bill of health whenever he goes for these check-up processes. He needs to be told that President Mugabe can stand for over an hour while delivering speeches at both local and international forums. This is no mean feat, which, perhaps Chinyoka cannot withstand.Undisputedly, the President has been blessed with longevity. However, age has not dented a bit on his mental capacity. Like wine, his mental faculty matured with age. If he was no longer fit, he could have not inspired the confidence of member states of the regional and continental bodies where he had a year stint as the boss. He magically steered Africa Union and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) during his tenure at the helm.In a democracy like Zimbabwe, a president is changed through the ballot. Zimbabweans, over 60% of them, gave President Mugabe a mandate to govern them and their choice must be respected. They were alive to his age when they overwhelmingly retained him in power. Therefore, the Constitutional Court or Parliament cannot subvert a people's choice.President Mugabe's reign ends in 2023. If there are people who no longer want him in power, 2018 is nigh. If they cannot defeat him in an electoral plebiscite as Morgan Tsvangirai recently admitted, they must just be patient for the due constitutional process to take its course in 2023.Nobody must take Chinyoka seriously. He is a confused person who is trying to get political recognition through the Machiavellian way. He is a political turncoat who after dining with the MDC since 1999, shifted his allegiance to Zanu PF in 2013 with the anticipation that he would get a soft landing and gets a quick passage to riches. He is an opportunist who waits to see the direction of the political wind.This is the same Chinyoka who in 2013 said he had abandoned the MDC-T because it "ran a foolish campaign buttressed on making fun of the president's age." Today Chinyoka is making a fool of himself by repeating what he denounced just two years ago."They think removing Mugabe is a cause, I say long live our President," said Chinyoka while announcing his intention to join Zanu PF, a decision that was not motivated by any principle.Chinyoka is haunted by a dirty history. He is one of the students who were arrested after they torched a laboratory at Dadaya High School. He escaped jail by a whisker courtesy of the presidential pardon.When he was still the University of Zimbabwe Student Representative Council (SRC) president, Chinyoka abused the union's funds. He was subsequently booted out through a vote of no confidence.He also left Zimbabwe for the UK under a cloud after he abused client's money. He also bolted out of the country with children from a previous marriage without a lawful custody. That's Chinyoka for you.
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Association appoints new board members and sets priorities for the future

The International Bunker Industry Association (IBIA) has appointed three new members to its Management Board and one new member to the IBIA in Africa Board. The appointments were announced at the Associations 23th annual dinner, which was held on February 8 at the Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, London.

Heralding the beginning of International Petroleum week, the prestigious event attracted a record number of attendees, with over 1100 bunker industry professionals at the dinner, despite the gloomy state of the industry.

Chairman elect Robin Meech, opened the event by acknowledging that the last year has been a period of dramatic change, with global trade slowing, along with global bunker demand.

Meech thanked the outgoing IBIA Chairman Jens Maul Jrgensen, Director of the Bunker Department, Oldendorff Carriers GmbH & Co. KG for his strong leadership and direction over the last two years, a period which has seen a 17 per cent rise in IBIA membership, to the current 760 individual and corporate members from 80 countries.

He then announced the election of three new board members at the associations recent AGM. Bob Sanguinetti, CEO and Captain of the Port of Gibraltar, Henrik Zederkof, CEO Dan-Bunkering and Mustafa Muhtaroglu, CEO Energy Petrol will all join the IBIA Board on April 1, 2016.

Meech also welcomed Patrick Holloway, Partner with Webber Wentzel Attorneys, who is an IBIA main board member and steers the IBIA in Africa, Executive Committee. He thanked Dilip Mody, Treasurer on the IBIA board, who stood down at the AGM, recognizing his valued support and significant contribution over recent years.

Meech went on to outline some of the associations key achievements over the last year. IBIA has grown significantly in both membership and influence.

IBIA represents members interests at the International Maritime Organization, sharing both practical considerations and industry perspectives on the introduction of the 0.50 percent global sulphur cap. IBIA believes that if it were to be introduced in 2020, there would not be sufficient compliant fuel to meet industry demand. Such a move would lead to extreme price differentials, low levels of compliance with those companies that were compliant, operating at a 25 percent cost disadvantage to those less scrupulous operators and charterers.

IBIA works closely with other industry organizations including INTERTANKO, INTERCARGO and the International Chamber of Shipping to improve bunker quality while striving to avoid over regulation and poor returns for professional suppliers. The associations new office in central London is alongside the Society for Gas as a Marine Fuel, strengthening the associations influence in the growing LNG bunker market.

IBIA is also pushing to improve bunkering facilities at ports around the world. Peter Hall, IBIA chief executive and members of the IBIA board, met with top executives from six of the world's larger ports  the Port of Singapore, the Port of Gibraltar, the Port of Rotterdam, the Port of Malta Port, the Port of Algeciras, the Port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and a representative for West African ports - this week, to discuss closer working and the development common practices as part of IBIAs global Port Charter. This follows on from the IBIA Forum held in Mauritius in 2015, in conjunction with the government to explore the development of the island nation as a significant bunker hub, an initiative which will be repeated in 2016, in Ghana.

Looking forward, IBIA is keen to support membership growth and to increase engagement, encouraging members to share their collective knowledge by joining one of the associations working groups. These groups are key to ensuing that IBIA remains the truly balanced voice of the industry, with the associations balance and breadth of membership giving it credibility on both a national and international stage.

Finally, Meech announced that carbon emissions, greenhouse gases, and education and raising industry standards would be the key concerns for his forthcoming term of office, as well as the members' recent industry wide call for higher ethical standards.
Sea IT has entered a long term ICT agreement with Veritas Tankers. The agreement comprises installation of BlueCORE Generation 4, an ICT platform specifically developed for the marine industry, and BlueCONNECT, a virtualized software which acts as mail server and carrier controller.

Veritas Tankers will upgrade and have the installations made on all its vessels: Astina, Astral and Astoria. Sea IT will support Veritas Tankers during a three-year period though the Fixed BlueCORE ICT agreement.

This agreement gives us excellent operational ICT performance and minimizes the need for expensive and fragile hardware, said Ove Johnsson, CEO at Veritas Tankers. We can enjoy greater operational control and focus on what we do best [shipping] while relying on Sea IT experts for support if ever needed.

BlueCORE is a future proof IT and communication solution developed by Sea IT for the demanding conditions in marine environments. Equipping Astina, Astral and Astoria with BlueCORE enables Veritas Tankers to regard its ship as remote office locations with real-time, online access to internal applications.

According to its developer, BlueCORE is a cost efficient, modular platform which supports Veritas Tankers business objectives. It is built to optimize business processes, reduce operational costs and to ensure maximum efficiency by utilizing all available IT resources onboard. It enables a seamless integration between the crew onboard and the office. With BlueCORE Veritas Tankers can integrate and structure all programs from various departments  from Technical and Operations; Chartering; Health Safety Environment & Quality; Human Resources to third parties for fuel consumption, sea chart updates and more.

Veritas Tankers has fully embraced the ICT concept and understands its business benefits, therefore we look forward to the upcoming years and hear more about increased efficiency and cost savings, said Kristian Ryberg, CEO at Sea IT. With BlueCONNECT they will always know exactly which communication systems are available and which ones currently are in use.

Flexible, scalable and easy-to use platform, BlueCONNECT, which integrates with BlueCORE, has been developed to support all leading email solutions. BlueCORE is a completely open architecture for M2M management and fully supports integration of future third party products. Third party products can be integrated to further reduce costs for Veritas Tankers, for example maintenance costs.

Sea IT offers BlueCORE to its customers with products and services from global partner companies such as Inmarsat, Cobham, Sailor, Sea Tel, Jotron, Orbit, Cisco, HP and Microsoft which require none or minimal technology updates.
NATO, EU mission to help target traffickers in Aegean Sea.



NATO ships are on their way to the Aegean Sea to help Turkey and Greece crack down on criminal networks smuggling refugees into Europe, the alliance's top commander said on Thursday.



Hours after NATO defence ministers agreed to use their maritime force in the eastern Mediterranean to help combat traffickers, Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Philip Breedlove said he was working quickly to design the mission.



"We are sailing the ships in the appropriate direction," Breedlove told a news conference, and the mission plan would be refined during the time they were en route. "That's about 24 hours," he said.



The plan, which was first raised only on Monday by German and Turkey, took NATO by surprise and is aimed at helping the continent tackle its worst migration crisis since World War Two. More than a million asylum-seekers arrived last year.



Breedlove said NATO would also monitor the Turkey-Syria land border for people-smugglers.



Although the plan is still to be detailed by NATO generals, the allies are likely to use the ships to work with Turkish and Greek coastguards and the European Union border agency Frontex.



"There is now a criminal syndicate that is exploiting these poor people and this is an organised smuggling operation," U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter told reporters.



"Targeting that is the way that the greatest effect can be had ... That is the principal intent of this," Carter said.



The numbers of people fleeing war and failing states, mainly in the Middle East and North Africa, show little sign of falling, despite winter weather that makes sea crossings even more perilous.



A 3 billion euro ($3.4 billion) deal between the EU and Turkey to stem the flows has yet to have a big impact.



BACK TO TURKEY

Germany said it would take part in the NATO mission along with Greece and Turkey, while the United States, NATO's most powerful member, said it fully supported the plan.



The alliance's so-called Standing NATO Maritime Group Two has five ships near Cyprus, led by Germany and with vessels from Canada, Italy, Greece and Turkey. Breedlove said NATO would need allies to contribute to sustain the mission over time.



Denmark is expected to offer a ship, according to a German government source. The Netherlands may also contribute.



"It is important that we now act quickly," German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said.



Intelligence gathered about people-smugglers will be handed to Turkish coastguards to allow them to combat the traffickers more effectively, rather than having NATO act directly against the criminals, diplomats said.



NATO and the EU are eager to avoid the impression that the 28-nation military alliance is now tasked to stop refugees or treat them as a threat.



Greek and Turkish ships will remain in their respective territorial waters, given sensitivities between the two countries. Any refugees saved by NATO vessels will be returned to Turkey, Greek Defence Minister Panos Kammenos said.





By Robin Emmott and Phil Stewart
Marines with the Provost Marshals Office conducted hostage scenario training at Laurel Bay Feb. 4, 2016. Elements from the Criminal Investigations Division and the Special Reaction Team stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, South Carolina participated in the exercise.



The training centered on a single individual barricaded in a house on Laurel Bay. The simulation was designed to be as realistic as possible to give the Marines a chance to test their capabilities.



We did a hostage and barricaded suspect drill. said Gunnery Sgt. Jerimiah Conn, operations chief with PMO. The scenario began as a domestic disturbance and escalated into a hostage situation. We brought in different units from PMO and canine units for our tactical support. The end result was the suspect surrendering to us.



The training area was controlled by cordoning off a residential area of Laurel Bay and constructing a temporary fence. The barrier ensured that the training site was a controlled environment with no outside elements interfering.



There are constraints to working on Laurel Bay, said CWO2 Chad Sitz, the investigations officer with CID. We have to work around a full living community with three schools but, in the end, we need to be prepared for any possible security threat.



The PMO units from MCAS Beaufort and Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island are the first responders for security threats aboard either installation or military housing facility. It is necessary for Marines to train under realistic circumstances should a real world situation arise.



We utilized real live assets and man power that we would have on the scene, said Conn. We made sure to only use the resources that would be available to us in a real situation. Everyone was on a realistic time line.



Usually, each section of PMO trains individually to become proficient in their job fields. This scenario was a chance for them to work with other sections as part of one team.



Training like this helps the Marines work on their tactical and communication skills, said Conn. It is easy to sit and work through a scenario one-on-one but, when we are out here, there are a lot more variables involved.



Leaders had to coordinate with SRT and CID to get the most up to date information on the scene and make decisions in real time. It was just as much a test for them as it was for the participating teams.



It is important for Marines to see how the entire system works from top to bottom, said Sitz. We had everyone from Privates First Class to senior officers on the scene to rehearse their roles.



Each section had a specific role to play in the field. CID was in charge of communicating with the subject and gathering information while SRT physically interacted with the suspect utilizing their personal protective equipment. The simulation was resolved without major mistakes made by law enforcement.



The Marines did quite well today, said Conn. There were a few minor mistakes that we need to review but, all-in-all, they did a pretty good job and we maintained communication between our assets and the command post.



The PMO Marines of the Tri-command train year round for any crises that may arise. They conduct real world scenarios like this approximately three or four times a year.





More Media
Through strong winds and choppy waters, Marines with Bridge Company, 8th Engineer Support Battalion, prepared for Operation Iron Blitz by providing support to 2nd Tank Battalion by operating rafts, which allowed the tanks to cross a body of water at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, Feb. 4, 2016.



Bridge Company operated two seven-bay raft systems which would each carry two tanks at the same time across New River. The operation allowed 2nd Tanks to cross the river in less than 15 minutes.



This operation definitely increases the mobility [of a unit], said 1st Lt. Walter Williams, a platoon commander with Bridge Company. You will save your tanks from having to cross a civilian bridge and you can literally cross any body of water as long as the shore conditions are correct.



Transporting tactical vehicles over open bodies of water is typically the preferred method of travel when the opportunity is afforded.



Were pretty much the water taxi for the [Marine Logistics Group], said Cpl. Adam Gilliam, a raft commander with Bridge Company. We support the MLG [with every amphibious crossing].



The company is proficient in a wide variety of water-crossing operations and is capable of using different types of rafts.



We can do concurrent bridging and conventional and longitudinal rafting, Gilliam said. We can also carry up to any two tactical vehicles from [Humvees] to tracked tanks.



While working in a garrison environment, the company trains so they can take their capabilities overseas to a combat zone if called upon.



Being in combat wouldnt make a difference to us, Gilliam said. We wear all of our protective personal equipment and as long as we have security posted we could get it done.



Bridge Company is an important benefit to II Marine Expeditionary Force and they are called upon to complete any water-crossing operations that any unit in the MEF may need.



We, as Bridge Company, contribute a huge factor to the MEF, Gilliam said. Anything from tanks to [humvees] gets rafted by us and I would say we are a huge lifeline to the MLG.





More Media
The 35th iteration of Exercise Cobra Gold 2016 begins with a display of multi-national forces in the opening ceremony at Sattahip Naval Base, Thailand, Feb. 9, 2016.



During the next 10 days partnering nations will increase the capabilities to conduct combined joint operations as well as achieve effective solutions to common challenges.



Cobra Gold secures the future by supporting stability, interoperability, readiness and fostering effective peace keeping mission, said Glyn T. Davies, the U.S. Ambassador to Thailand.



Cobra Gold is the largest combined task-force exercise in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region and is designed to improve the capabilities of participating nations to conduct operations such as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.



With the Humanitarian Civic Action, the Multination Medical Symposium and the Non-combatant Evacuation Exercise we are only improving our response to any future disasters, said Sgt. Jessica Brisbin, an airframe mechanic with Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 262, Marine Aircraft Group, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, III Marine Expeditionary Force. With the earthquake recently in Nepal, we can see how important it is to be able to train and prepare ourselves for these types of situations.



Coming together the partner nations will increase skills and knowledge with advancing regional security and ensuring effective responses to regional crises.



Participating in Cobra Gold helps demonstrate our commitment to maintaining the readiness of security as well as our humanitarian interest to our partnering nations in the region, said Brisbin.



The participants will also improve the quality of life, as well as the general health and welfare of civilian residents in the regional area, building on the commitment to bettering the Indo-Asia-Pacific.



Thailand and the United States have been treaty allies since 1954 and with a glorious past it now sits on a strong foundation, said Davies. That foundation allows us to look to the future with confidence.




Nearly four months after dropping out of the race for the Democratic nomination, former U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va. is dropping thoughts of an independent bid for president.

"Ive worked with both parties, including as an official in the Reagan administration and as a Democrat in the Senate. Both parties, in my view, have moved away from the major concerns of the average American," Webb said in a statement.

"We looked at the possibility of an independent candidacy. Theoretically it could be done, but it is enormously costly and time sensitive, and I dont see the fundraising trajectory where we could make a realistic run."

In an address Thursday to the World Affairs Council in Dallas, Webb said he had reluctantly concluded that he could not put together the funding he needed to get on the ballot throughout the country.

In his speech Webb asserted a lack of serious foreign policy debate in the presidential campaign.

"We have not had a clear statement of national security policy since the end of the Cold War," Webb said. "And I see no one running for president today who has a firm understanding of the elements necessary to build a national strategy."

Webb, 70, a highly decorated Vietnam veteran, former Navy secretary and author who represented Virginia in the U.S. Senate from 2007 to 2013, left the Democratic race Oct. 20 after failing to gain traction.

Quentin Kidd of Christopher Newport University said at the time that the impact of an independent run by Webb could depend on whether the Democrats and Republicans nominated outsiders.

Webb might have sensed an opening, given that Sanders and business mogul Donald Trump won big victories Tuesday in the New Hampshire primary.

But the senator told attendees at the event that he could not muster the financial means to compete in a national election.

Webb, whose career has alternated between public service and private pursuits as a journalist, author and attorney, gave a reentry into politics serious consideration. In January he hired former Draft Biden national finance director Sam Jones to lead his fundraising operations.

Webb would have faced logistical challenges as well as financial burdens to qualify for presidential ballots around the country.

To qualify for Virginias presidential ballot as an independent, Webb would have had to amass the signatures of 5,000 qualified voters, at least 200 from each of the states 11 congressional districts.

He would have had to submit the petitions to Virginia elections officials 74 days before the Nov. 8 election.
TODAYS WORD is gruntle (GRUN-tul). Example: The hour-long wait at the restaurant irked us, but once we were seated, we were soon gruntled by an amiable waiter.

WEDNESDAYS WORD was passionate (pa-shuh-nut). It means: having, showing, or expressing strong emotions or beliefs; easily aroused to anger; filled with anger; capable of, affected by, or expressing intense feelings: enthusiastic, ardent. Examples of passionate usage: (1.) He gave a passionate speech on tax reform; (2.) She has a passionate interest in animal rights. (4.) We were moved by his passionate plea for forgiveness.

Helen Via Puckett from Stuart was born Feb. 29, 1940. In years she is 76, but because she was born on leap day, she has had only 19 birthdays. Happy upcoming birthday to Helen.

What is Cane-Fu? Its a program created to give an advantage to those who carry a cane either due to age or disability. Tom Ashmore is a certified Cane-Fu instructor as well as a Disabled Veteran from the Vietnam War. On Thursday, Feb. 18, Ashmore will be instructing a class for seniors on the use of a cane. The Martinsville/Henry County TRIAD S.A.L.T. Council is sponsoring the course that will be held from 2-4 p.m. at Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church on Starling Avenue, Martinsville. It is free and open to all seniors. No registration is required and refreshments will be served.

For more information on cane usage, go to www.caneloyalty.com, or call Southern Area Agency on Aging at 632-6442.

A reminder that 2016 Henry County decals are on sale at the Collinsville Volunteer Fire Department from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Decals are on sale through April 15. If you have not paid your 2015 personal property taxes, you cant get a decal, and the fire department cannot collect any tax payments. If you did not receive your property tax form, call or go by the Henry County Treasurers office.

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) serving Western Virginia is warning area businesses of misleading and illegal solicitations from an "F" Rated company out of Miami, Fla. The solicitation comes in the form of a fax from "Yellow Pages Virginia" and, at first glance, appears to be a request for verification of company information in order to update a current Yellow Pages listing. The fax displays the well-known walking fingers Yellow Pages logo and states in large uppercase letters "THIS IS NOT A BILL." The large type is unfortunately a red herring  its the small print that business owners need to worry about. The Junk Fax Prevention Act, passed by Congress in 2005, prohibits junk fax advertising and allows recipients to sue the businesses that send unsolicited faxes. Even if one sends an unsolicited advertisement by fax by accident, the minimum liability is $500 per page sent. Many complainants allege that Open Business Directory has threatened to place their bill into collections. Many unethical or fraudulent business directory outfits are headquartered in Canada or the Caribbean, but use post office boxes or mail drops to make it look like they are in the United States.

Before paying, check them out for free at bbb.org.

For more advice on fighting fraud, visit www.bbb.org or contact the BBB Serving Western VA at (540) 342-3455 or (800) 533-5501.

Heres a little humor in honor of Valentines Day:

It was Valentines day and John and Janies first date. They sat in the darkened cinema waiting for the film to start. The screen finally lit up with a flashy advertisement for the cinemas concession stand. John and Janie realized that there was no sound. The film began but the silence continued.

Suddenly, out of the darkness, an irritated voice in the crowd loudly shouted, "Okay, whos got the remote control."
With 228 homes sold in the year in 2015, an increase of 31 percent compared to 174 homes sold in 2014, Easthampton ranked 8 on a list of "hottest" towns and cities for residential real estate in Massachusetts.

Neighboring Holyoke came in ninth with 269 homes sold in 2015, a 30 percent jump from the 2017 sold in 2014. This is according to a list released Thursday by Lamacchia Realty Real Estate Corp. which has its Massachusetts headquarters in Waltham.

Lamacchia gets its data from The Warren Group, which collects it from county Registrars of Deeds and from the multiple listing services Realtors use.

The company said percentage increases in home sales is an important factor it uses to determine which towns or cities are attracting residents. Lamacchia also figures in sales of single family homes, condominiums and multi-family homes.

A full list is available here.

As far as price is concerned, the median price for a home in Easthampton was $217,500, a decrease of 3.3 percent from 2014 when the median price was $225,000.

In Holyoke, the median price was $155,000, down 6.1% compared to 2014 when the median price was $165,000.

Median price is the sales price that would be in the middle if each individual price was ranked from highest to lowest. Realtors use this statistical measure because it accounts for statistical outlines, like a multimilion-dollar mansion, that would skew an average.

Wayland was the "hottest" town in the state with sales up 46.2 percent over 2014.

Westfield and East Longmeadow also made the top 50- the only other Western Massachusetts communities to do so.
Westfield - United Bank today announced the winners of its 2015 Mortgage Loan Officer (MLO) Sales Contest, the Bank's second annual internal awards program that recognizes its bankers for achieving excellence in mortgage production.

The final standings are based on the number of units and volume closed in 2015. Depending on an MLO's production for a given year, they can be recognized in three categories: Chairman's Club - including Chairman's Club Champion, President's Club or Vice President's Club. Milly Parzychowski, was named one of the winners of the "Vice President's Club" award. Milly, of Feeding Hills, is a Mortgage Loan Originator, CMPS. She joined United Bank in 2011 and covers Western Massachusetts.

Parzychowski's more than 40 years in banking and mortgage origination included loan officer roles at Mortgage Master Inc., and Family Choice MortgageCorp. Parzychowski was also a Branch Manager at American Home Mortgage, and at CNI National Mortgage. She was a Loan Originator with National City & Source One, and started her banking career as a teller at Valley Bank in Springfield. She is currently an MBA candidate at Bay Path University.

Parzychowski is based at United's Westfield branch at 10 Elm Street. Last year she was named to United's Vice President's Club.
quesalupa.jpg

The quesalupa is a quesadilla-chalupa hybrid.

(Taco Bell photo)

Without a doubt the smartest restaurant marketing ploy in years, Taco Bell's development and introduction of the quesalupa came to fruition early this month with the creation's Super Bowl debut.

As those who watched Super Bowl 50 know, the quesalupa is a quesadilla-chalupa hybrid. It's a "sandwich" of two soft tortillas thickly layered with pepper jack cheese that, after preliminary frying, is formed into a U-shaped taco shell. Next filled with seasoned beef, lettuce, chopped tomato, shredded Cheddar, and sour cream, that stuffed shell becomes a quesalupa.



The reported inspiration for the quesalupa is a Central American specialty known as pupusa, a sort of cheese-stuffed tortilla.



Coming off a string of successful new product introductions, Taco Bell's marketing people went to extraordinary lengths to build buzz about the quesalupa. After its in-house product development cycle was completed, the quesalupa was test marketed in the Toledo, OH area, where three dozen restaurants ran it on their menus in order to gauge consumer acceptance.



Although originally expected to be rolled out nationwide in late 2015, the quesalupa was instead made the focus of a quirky marketing campaign that culminated in its Super Bowl 50 "reveal." A select group of food writers and press representatives did enjoy a sneak preview of the item on the Saturday before the big game, a tactic designed to further build media interest.



Despite the marketing muscle Taco Bell put behind the quesalupa's rollout, the company maintains that it's a limited-time-only menu offering. Making quesalupas is apparently a labor-intensive process for a fast food environment.



If sales take off and remain strong, however, the company is likely to rework the quesalupa in order to give it a permanent place in the Taco Bell lineup.



Hugh Robert is a faculty member in Holyoke Community College's hospitality and culinary arts program and has over 40 years of restaurant and educational experience. Please send items of interest to Off the Menu at the Republican, P.O. Box 1329, Springfield, MA 01101; Robert can also be reached at OffTheMenuGuy@aol.com
First annual Easthampton Winterfest highlights snow-covered Nashawannuck Pond

Easthampton's WinterFest features wagon rides by Blue Star Equiculture and a historical ice harvest on Nashawannuck Pond.

(File photo)

There will be so many activities on tap at Easthampton Winterfest this Saturday, Feb. 13, that visitors and locals alike will have to make some hard choices.

Now in its third year, the city-wide festival features a full roster of family-friendly events, including a historical ice harvesting exhibit and horse-drawn wagon rides from Blue Star Equiculture.

You can't go wrong by starting with a pancake breakfast at Trinity Lutheran Church at 2 Clark Street from 8-10 a.m., with all proceeds going to the Nashawannuck Pond Steering Committee, which protects the downtown pond and produces Winterfest.

Families with young children could head to Flywheel for a ten-to-noon morning dance party -- which also features pancakes -- or to the Emily Williston Memorial Library for story time. Outdoorsy types will want to gather at Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary for a winter nature walk and science activities.

The day will feature a snowman-making contest; a chili cook-off at Eastworks, a movie matinee of Disney's "Frozen," a craft and vendor fair at Eastworks, and a winter warmer artisan sale at the One Cottage Street studios. All day long, artist Dave Rothstein will be constructing a giant snow sculpture outside the 50 Payson Ave. Municipal Building.

Plan to rendezvous back at the pond area for a community bonfire from 4-6 p.m., which will launch Art Walk Easthampton, always held the second Saturday of the month. This month's art walk theme, appropriately, is Fire & Ice.

Easthampton's three breweries -- Fort Hill, New City, and Abandoned Building -- will host "Winter Fest on Tap" from 1-9 p.m. with craft beer and live music.

The event enjoys broad support from local civic groups and from and the business and arts community. This year organizers lined up media sponsors in the form of the Northampton Radio Group the Westfield News.

If you go:



What: Third Annual Easthampton WinterFest

Where: Venues all over Easthampton; parking available at 50 Payson Ave., behind the Pleasant Street Mills, and in other locations.

When: Sat., Feb. 13 from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Tickets: Some events are free and others ask for donations. Check the full roster of events for more information.
DALLAS, Tex.At just about 11 a.m. Pacific time, the Dallas City Council voted to pass the resolution introduced by Mayor Mike Rawlings which would direct the City Manager, who has charge over the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, "to not enter into a contract with Three Expo Events, LLC, for the lease of the Dallas Convention Center." What that means is that the Exxxotica Lifestyle Convention, which is owned by Three Expo, will not be allowed to hold its convention at the city-owned convention centeran outcome that sets the city up for a massive First Amendment lawsuit.

The genesis of the mayor's resolution seems to be from the Hunt family: Ray Lee, the billionaire oilman who owns 30 acres in the heart of the city, and his wife, Nancy Ann, chair of an anti-trafficking organization based in Dallas.

On the other hand, however, last week the council had a closed-door meeting with the Dallas police chief, the city's Vice Squad and other officials who had attended Exxxotica's August, 2015 convention in the cityin fact, the same venue currently under discussionand the officials all assured the councilmembers that nothing untoward or illegal had happened during the convention.

But apparently, those assurances fell on deaf ears.

AVN was able to hear the last part of the City Council hearing, whose venue was filled to overflowing with concerned citizens, and none of the final three speakers, at least, had any love for free sexual speech.

"One of the very early lessons I learned in life is, you don't go where you're not welcome," said District 7 Councilwoman Tiffinni A. Young. "This is not something that this city supports. This is not something you look forward to as something for our children to look up to and see around in the community."

In response to Young's questions, Dallas City Attorney Warren Ernst assured the council that the resolution would not stop Exxxotica from seeking a venue elsewhere in the city, and also that the city ordinance controlling adult-oriented businesses would not apply to Exxxotica because the convention would be "temporary" rather than a permanent business.

Some were also concerned that by calling so much attention to the issue, the council and the convention's opponentsof the 18 speakers who addressed the council, 17 were opposedwere giving the show enough free publicity to guarantee its success.

"Now, theyre probably going to be here every year," said District 1's Scott Griggs, "because if the resolution passes well end up in court and itll bring so much publicity, and theyll have an order from a federal judge saying they can. The PR windfall from this has been a shame."

"I want to start by first saying that I too am supportive of the First Amendment, and I believe, though, that we can vote in support of the mayor's resolution and still be in support of the First Amendment," said District 13 Councilwoman Jennifer S. Gates. "This isn't a ban. It's not saying that it'sas Mr. Magoo says; thank you for your workthat we can use other case law to say why this is still supportive of the First Amendment.

Gates noted that when the council was notified in mid-2015 that Exxxotica would be coming to the convention center, that there was already a contract in place, and that if the council had tried to stop it, it would have been in breach of that contract. Gates seemed to think that in the absence of a contract for an upcoming show, the council was in a better legal position to keep Exxxotica out of the convention center. She also indicated that she was not concerned that enacting the ban would reflect poorly on the council's public relations.

"I'm not going to be silent about this," Gates declared. "I'm not going to be silent about an industry that's exploiting women and children, and you know what? If that makes more people attend, then more people attend, but my silence isn't an excuse."

"I haven't heard from a single constituent that's come to this microphone today and told me that this is good for Dallas," she added. "I may have heard from a couple emails from a few people, but less than a handful that told me this is a good idea. I've heard from several of my ownyou see those that are listed in District 13and I've heard from lots of them that have emailed me. They don't want it, and you know what? They're aware of the legalities because the Dallas Morning News has done a good job of letting them know that this could put us at risk, and they're still letting us know that they don't want it in our city.

"This is a tough vote, and it may make us at a legal risk," she added, "but we've taken challenges on before that meant a lot ot our citizens, and I feel confidentI didn't originally, but now I've heard from the people, I've heard from you today, I've heard from the emails; I feel confident our citizens are telling us they don't want this, it's not what they stand for, and they don't want to take that risk that this can lead to that underbelly current of the exploittion of women and children, and they want us to stand up, so I'm comfortable with standing up with the mayor."

The final speaker before the council's vote was District 5's Richey D. Callahan, and he too expressed support for the resolution.

"I appreciate all the folks who felt like it mattered enough to come down and exprtess your First Amendment rights," he began. "I'm tired of being silent. We've all been cowed and wher you can't say anything or you might offend somebody. I know they're stepping on your toes but you gotta give them the right. Well, what about my rights, what about your rights, what about our rights as a city? ... When I grew up and I understood the way the law was, I just can't see that the Framers of our Constitution and the writings in the Federalist Papers in no way believe in the unbridled or unrestricted right to allow pornography to be displayed in a public facility. There's something wrongheaded about that...

"I want to leave you with this: If you think the display of leather and whips and viewing folks in dominatrix outfits or suggestions of sadomasochism or anything that they're marketingagain, there's three X's in there, folks. You seen it on the billboards. We're not talking about one X, we're not talking about soft porn; they're marketing with those three X's. Now, whether or not they actually do it or not, it doesn't matter. They want you to think that, 'Man, this is real stuff, XXX.' But if you think that's oikay, then you go ahead and support that, but I'm not going to, but I'm really tired of activistic judges and people telling me that I can't do this or I can't do that. Today, if you checked on your calendar this morning, is Ash Wednesday. Perhaps today would be a good day to give up Exxxotica, and maybe for the city of Dallas to give it up too."

In the end, it was a close vote, 8-7, but the resolution passedthereby setting the city up for a very expensive court battle.

"Well walk straight out of here and into our lawyers office," Exxxotica organizer J. Handy told reporters as he left the council chamber following the vote.

"We have already begun seeking the advice of counsel, and will be seeking an injunction against the city of Dallas to let Exxxotica return to the city as planned," said Three Expo spokesperson Daniel Adams. "Even though several councilmembers who voted for the resolution stated, 'We know this is not the correct thing for us to do, against the advice of our counsel and the city attorneys,' and it is their constitutional right, but because of their moral beliefs, they voted for the resolution. We look forward to winning an injunction and proceeding with Exxxotica as planned in Dallas."

The convention is reportedly hoping to have a Dallas show by mid-2016.

This isn't the first time that Exxxotica has had venue problems. In 2010, the city of Secaucus, New Jersey passed its own ban, forcing the convention to relocate to Edison. Three Expo sued, and Secaucus settled the case in 2011 for an undisclosed amount.

"We've faced similar opposition in the past," noted one person familiar with Exxxotica's history. "We know they [the city council] are not doing what they should be doing."

UPDATE: In a formal statement released this afternoon, Exxxotica reiterated its displeasure with the vote and renewed its vow to seek legal recourse.

"At the special meeting, ministers and citizens spoke out both for and against the expos return to the city-owned Dallas Convention Center with a resolution from Mayor Rawlings for the city-owned exhibit hall to not enter into contract with Exxxotica," the press release stated. "Several council members supported allowing the show to go on, stating that after testimony from the management of the convention center, Dallas Police, Dallas Vice, and other city officials had reported no incidents during the shows debut in the city last year.

"Council members, both for and against the May 2016 show, also stated that on the advice from the city attorney, the show had the constitutional right to take place and there were not any legal reasons to disallow or block the event. All council members were advised that the city would most likely be sued by the producers of Exxxotica, costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more, and that it would most likely lose.

"We absolutely have the right to produce the event at the convention center and the citizens of Dallas have a right to attend," said J. Handy, director of Three Expo, producers of the Exxxotica Expo. "And after todays testimonies, we realize the City of Dallas understands those rights. Its just unfortunate that their personal, religious and conservative beliefs compelled them to make decision which obviously violates the law."

UPDATE #2: Here's some pretty good commentary on the situation.
TEMPE, AZCCBill, a global payment services platform, today announced they were presented with the prestigious Best Payment Systems at the 7th Annual iDate Awards event. Recognizing excellence in the field of online payments, this award is reserved for providers whose solutions and innovative work contribute to the development of the entire online dating industry.

Representing CCBill at the annual iDate Conference and Awards was CCBill Sales Executive, Paul Kluzak, who shared, Being recognized by our industry partners and peers is simply incredible. I was very flattered to accept this award on behalf of the entire CCBill family and our dedicated teams around the globe. For nearly 15 years, we have had the privilege to support the expanding online dating industry with payment and affiliate services, and we look forward to the opportunity to continue that work, to help drive retention and growth well into the future.

Working with many of the industrys leading websites, CCBill has gained the trust of the online dating community and remains a favored resource for merchants, worldwide. CCBills reliable platform specifically helps to address the data security and privacy needs of the online dating market. In addition, their robust subscription automation system, easy application process, and stable U.S. and EU banking relationships were all provided as reasons why CCBill remains a popular choice for dating site owners. CCBill also provides a range of expansion options such as an integrated Affiliate System and a Merchant Connect network, for merchants looking to increase revenue with cross-sales and upsales in a variety of online markets.

Being included in the iDate Awards ceremony is a huge honor for CCBill, said Gary Jackson, Managing VP of Sales at CCBill. As the Oscars of the dating industry, this event not only promotes industry innovation, but also encourages collaboration between professionals in different fields. For us at CCBill, the iDate Conferences provide a valuable opportunity to discuss business ideas and get inspired for our future product and services development. We are humbled by the votes we received for the Best Payment System award and we are delighted to continue our work with the online dating community to help expand their impact and potential.

Every year, the Internet Dating Conference Awards Ceremony gathers industry professionals to review the dating market and celebrate the greatest achievements in the industry. This year, the event took place on January 27 in Miami, Florida, and brought together hundreds of participants.
LOS ANGELESTrans bareback hardcore site Pure TS, owned by veteran performer Christian, returns as a sponsor at the upcoming Transgender Erotica Awards. Christian won Best Non-TS Performer last year and is a current nominee in the same category.

"I wanted to create a site that would be something I'd enjoy visiting as a consumer," said Christian. "It had to be user friendly, intuitive and feature top talent. That's what Pure-TS.com is and why its a great fit for the TEAs. It's pure sex in HD. Simple and effective but with its own unique qualities. I'm proud of what I've been able to accomplish and I think viewers are going to enjoy what they see."

Christian has worked on many of the winning DVDs, for the companies represented at the show and also as a previous winner of the TEAs himself, said Grooby owner Steven Grooby. His commitment to the amount of work he does is extraordinary and it's encouraging to see a performer whos taken his skills, his contacts and education of the industry, into producing an excellent website that can compete with the best of them. I'm very happy to see that he's sponsoring this year again and honoring the models who help us all keep working in this industry. His Pure-TS website is stuffed full of nominees for this year's show, and I'm sure some of the winners will be in there.

In his 13 year adult career, Christian has worked for virtually all of the major adult companies and is a four-time AVN Award winner, including Best TS Scene with Foxxy. The powerhouse male performer is now expanding his role from talent to producer to content owner. The site already boasts more than 200 scenes, with new ones updated every three days. Aubrey Kate, Vaniity, Domino Presley, Kylie Maria, Joanna Jet and Venus Lux are a few of the adult performers showcased in bareback hardcore sex performances on Pure-TS.com.

The Transgender Erotica Awards, now in its eighth year, celebrates the accomplishments of the trans adult industry and its performers. Due to its growing popularity, the TEAs have been expanded into a three day event kicking off with a daytime TEA Con for fans on Saturday, the Awards on Sunday, and the official After Party on Monday. Visit theteashow.com for more information.

Media inquiries can be directed to [email protected].

The 2016 Transgender Erotica Awards will be held on Sunday, March 6, 2016 at the Avalon in Hollywood, CA. The official After Party will be held on Monday, March 7, 2016 at the Avalons connecting property, the Bardot.
MONTREAL, QuebecGirlsway, the AVN-nominated all-girl studio from Gamma Films, has announced a new contest for all lovers over Valentines Weekend. Girlsways Sharing The Bed Script & DVD Giveaway will begin on Friday, February 12, at midnight, East Coast time, and conclude on Monday, February 15, 2016 at 11:59 PM. One winner will be chosen who will receive one signed script from Girlsway's Sharing The Bed plus one copy of Sharing The Bed on DVD. The lucky winner will be picked and contacted on Tuesday, February 16, 2016.

Here is how to win: Simply follow @GirlswayNetwork on Twitter. Then, RT the giveaway Twitter post that will be pinned to the top of the Girlsway Twitter profile. (One entry per Twitter account.).

From Directors Bree Mills and Stills by Alan comes a bold new look at love and the challenges facing young lesbian couples today. Starring all-girl actresses Shyla Jennings and Sasha Heart, Sharing The Bed is a roller coaster ride of emotion, struggle, passion, and lust that features some of the most intimate lesbian sex ever filmed for Girlsway.

When good Christian girl Shyla (Shyla Jennings) and proud lesbian Sasha (Sasha Heart) unexpectedly meet in Vegas, they share an intense experience that changes them forever. But sometimes love is not enough to manage self-doubt. While Shyla begins to see a therapist (Dani Daniels) to help her come to terms with her sexuality, Sasha returns to her family home to confront the women (Syren De Mer, Tara Morgan) who she has been secretly hiding from her whole life. In the end, the two lovers must embark on a journey of self-discovery that will hopefully lead them back to each others arms.
The challenges confronting our world are complex and cant be solved by a single government, industry or organization. But these problems arent insurmountable  if we connect the social mindset of young workers to the power of technology.

The McKinsey study traces the problem to the fact that major stakeholders are not engaging with each other. A third of companies say they never work with educators. Of those who do, fewer than half said the communication was effective. Meanwhile, fewer than half of the youth surveyed said they had an understanding of what to study for a profession with openings and decent wages.

Full Story: http://paidpost.nytimes.com/cisco/developing-a-new-generation-of-global-problem-solvers.html?sr_source=lift_facebook&_r=1

****

The above article is a paid-for article by Cisco but the info is spot on to the challenges facing our work force development efforts. Russ

***

GOT CODE!? Missoulas Sentinel High Does http://www.matr.net/article-70117.html

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Missoula Sentinel STEAM Courses Guide

STEAM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics. The idea of emphasizing these subjects in delivering the curriculum has been driven by the business community, with the goal of preparing students for a competitive work environment.

STEAM skills are vital for success in the 21st century and critical to our collective future. The National Academy of Engineers has identified 14 Grand Challenges that the world faces in this century. Each of these grand challenges can be solved by lifelong learners of STEAM.

http://sentinelsteam.weebly.com/courses.html
A longtime fabrication plant in Missoula is no longer producing steel bridges, pushing jobs to Billings as company officials consolidate amid the recent energy sector downturn.

A dozen or so jobs were eliminated last month at TrueNorth Steel, located across from the Missoula International Airport, President Dan Kadrmas says.

The layoffs came abruptly. Employees were notified of the change on Jan. 15, the same day the cuts took effect.

By Derek Brouwer

Full Story: http://missoulanews.bigskypress.com/missoula/jobs/Content?oid=2677561
Alaska Airlines will restore some of the service it cut from the Helena market.

Delta Airlines will also be phasing out its 50-seat aircraft in favor of 65-seat jets that will offer nine seats in a first-class section.

Neither airline asked Helena Regional Airport for revenue guarantees or other financial assurances as a condition for expanding service, said Jeff Wadekamper, the airports director.

AL KNAUBER Independent Record

Full Story: http://helenair.com/business/delta-alaska-expanding-service-at-helena-airport/article_6c60db99-7aed-502b-a394-a59372285108.html
LOS ANGELESAward-winning Latina adult film star Vicki Chase will be joining host James Bartholet and cohost Lauren Phillips on Inside The Industry tonight, February 10, 7-9 p.m. PST on latalkradio.com.

The group will be discussing their new projects, and they will be taking calls live from the listening audience.

Inside The Industry is continuing its exciting and fun weekly on-air contests. This week's contests also include a free signed DVD, autographed 8 x 10s from the lovely ladies or a free promotional item from Pipedream Products. Fans can win by emailing James at [email protected].

Fans can call in live at 323-203-0815 during the broadcast, and join the conversations in the chat room at the Inside The Industry site, or on the Adult DVD Talk site.

The program is also rebroadcast daily, on LA Talk Radio and Inside the Industry's own site. Inside the Industry is also available on iTunes.

Inside The Industry is sponsored every week by Streamate, AVN, 1amdollusa.com, Pipedream Products, Adam & Eve, and Black Tie Limousines.

Production companies that would like to send information to be discussed on the air, performers who want to be booked as guests on the program, or companies that wish to advertise on the program, can email the Inside the Industry production office at [email protected].
Bipartisan bill will stop federal, state, and local governments from taxing the Internet

(U.S. Senate)The U.S. Senate today overwhelmingly passed Senator Jon Testers bipartisan legislation that permanently bans government excise taxes on folks who use the Internet.

Testers bipartisan Internet Tax Freedom Forever Act permanently extends the moratorium that restricts federal, state, or local governments from imposing an excise tax on Internet access. Without this legislation, Montanans would see an automatic 3.75 percent tax on their Internet access bills.

"Reliable and affordable internet access is critical to the success of families, schools, and businesses across Montana," Tester said. "My bill prevents new taxes from being imposed and allows folks the freedom to continue to use the worlds greatest source of information."

The Internet Tax Freedom Forever Act was included in the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act, which was passed by the Senate today 75-20 The measure now goes to the Presidents desk for signature.

Testers Internet Tax Freedom Forever Act is available HERE https://www.scribd.com/doc/255350470/Internet-Tax-Freedom-Forever-Act
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.
Traveling around the world is one of the best hobbies. Though sometimes we meet some problems on our way which better be solv
by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, February 10, 2016

Integrated digital marketing agency Rauxa has appointed Gina Alshuler to CEO from president, succeeding the founder Jill Gwaltney, who launched the company in 1999.

Alshuler, the classic story of the college graduate finding her way, came to the agency 15 years ago as an account coordinator. She unexpectedly worked her way up the ranks, after canceling her flight to Washington D.C., where she planned to go into politics and perhaps through law school. "I thought my stint at Rauxa would be a short one, between school and moving, and I would stay in Southern California," she says.

Throughout her career with the agency, Alshuler has effectively built strategic client partnerships while delivering sharp campaigns, per the company.

Rauxa focuses on content marketing, CRM, and data and analytics, along with a bit of search engine optimization to support Web site implementations requiring design and development, according to Alshuler. The company recently opened a content marketing division called Cats on the Roof, with a warehouse space in Culver City, Calif., supporting production for online videos.

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The company does not have a search division, but Alshuler says someone approached her earlier this week about acquiring a search firm.

Alshuler appointment made public Wednesday along with the opening of a Seattle office led by Marc DeFigueiredo, VP of Account Services, and new hire Jon Friesch, who recently joined Rauxa from Oracle. The Seattle office marks Rauxas seventh nationwide, as the agency expands to service a roster of clients such as Allergan, Delta Dental, Gap and Verizon.

Alshuler's appointment also coincides with SteelHouse choosing Rauxa as its agency of record. "We've achieved substantial growth heading into 2016 with a $130,000 run rate, in part because of our extreme focus on technology that truly performs for our clients," says Patrizio Spagnoletto, CMO, SteelHouse, in a statement. "We look forward to collaborating with Rauxa to help us bolster our momentum in the year ahead."

Rauxa will support SteelHouse through direct response, data management, media planning and buying, and video production for branded content.
by Philip Rosenstein , Staff Writer, February 11, 2016

The New Hampshire primary results reinforced the importance for political marketers and campaigns to be active and engaged on mobile devices.

As far as reaching voters online, mobile does better than desktop, in addition to being the quicker way of connecting with voters.

Mobile strategies will be integral to many campaigns in both parties, particularly in their effort to court the growing share of young and minority voters.

Per an IAB report, previously discussed in Red, White & Blog, 67% of Hispanic voters primarily visit political sites on their mobile devices, as did 60% of African American voters. The same is true of the all-important influential voter. Some 61% of these voters actively use mobile devices to educate themselves on political news.

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Marketing Politics Daily spoke with the CEO and co-founder of the mobile technology company Ubimo, Ran Ben-Yair, to discuss the novel opportunities that political marketers have this cycle to reach voters on mobile.

Mobile has the ability to target voters based on a number of accumulated data points, including location, political affiliation, voting record and climate data, among other relevant information.

Of importance to marketers is utilizing actionable insights, as Ben-Yair puts it, to quickly respond to the most appropriate strategy at any specific moment or location.

An issue of substance, especially among tech-savvy millennials, is the sense that ones life is being intruded upon when ads seem to know all about you. Ben-Yair acknowledges the problem, but notes that campaigns can dispel that worry by being aware of creative and messaging that will engage users in a less intrusive manner.

Email is also a significant cog in mobile strategy. With incredibly robust email lists, developed over years, candidates need to include varied and engaging emails optimized for a mobile audience. Over 67% of U.S. email opens occur on mobile devices, according to 2015 study by Movable Ink, and clickthroughs are higher than on desktop.

Bernie Sanders big success in New Hampshire and large online spending numbers will add additional clout to targeting on mobile devices and increase the ubiquity of programmatic solutions for mobile-first content.
Politico, Thursday, February 11, 2016 12:09 PM

The two remaining Democratic candidates for president will meet in their sixth debate and second one-on-one contest. The PBS Newshour debate, to be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, will surely re-address old issues and may bring new ones to the fore. Pundits will be looking for signs that Sanders is positioning himself as a president rather than the leader of a movement. And they push for more information about his background. Also, of significant interest, is whether Hillary Clinton will come out swinging as she did in the most recent debate.

Read the whole story at Politico 
If you were wearing red on February 5th, chances are that you already know February is American Heart Month. For its part, the slogan this year for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is Make blood pressure control your goal. The aim is to prevent a million heart attacks and strokes in the US by 2017. Share on Pinterest Reducing hypertension is one of the goals of 2016 American Heart Month. High blood pressure (BP), or hypertension, affects some 70 million Americans, quadrupling the chance of a person dying from a stroke and tripling the chance of dying from heart disease. Physicians prescribe medications to lower BP but with limited effect. Some people do not see the benefit, some may suffer unwanted side effects and others may hear stories about adverse effects that cause them to discontinue treatment, as previously reported by Medical News Today. For many, it may be that the treatment is not targeting the underlying cause. Hypertension that results from a medical condition, such as obstructive sleep apnea, adrenal gland tumors or thyroid problems, is called secondary hypertension. This type of high BP can result from medications such as hormone treatments and painkillers, recreational drugs and even herbal remedies. Secondary hypertension usually starts suddenly and causes higher blood pressure than primary hypertension. Over 90% of people with high blood pressure have primary hypertension. It progresses gradually over the years, increases with age and is affected by hereditary factors. Lifestyle factors, such as too much salt, lack of exercise, obesity or heavy alcohol consumption can cause primary hypertension. While advice and treatment for high BP mainly focuses on lifestyle factors or dysfunction of the cardiovascular system, some researchers are looking elsewhere. This spotlight will touch on some new approaches to hypertension.

A question of neurology According to the American Academy of Neurological and Orthopedic Surgeons (AANOS), hypertension is not only a problem of the heart, kidneys or blood vessels but also of the central nervous system. Fast facts about hypertension 29% of Americans have high BP

Only 52% have their condition under control

High BP caused the deaths of 360,000 Americans in 2013. Learn more about hypertension Prof. Julian Paton and colleagues, from Bristol University in the UK, are among researchers studying the relationship between high BP and the brain, and particularly the nerves in the brainstem. To understand the role of the nervous system in blood flow, we will start by looking at the autonomic and sympathetic nervous systems. Some of our actions, we control; we choose to raise our hands or close our eyes. But we cannot normally choose to breathe or to stop our heart from beating. It is the autonomic nervous system that controls involuntary actions such as cardiovascular system function. The autonomic nervous system includes the sympathetic nervous system. When we are stressed, the sympathetic nervous system, sometimes called fight or flight, steps in. The adrenal glands produce more of the neurotransmitters epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline), and extra blood is pumped to the muscles, which delivers additional nutrients and oxygen until the crisis is over. Prof. Paton explained to MNT: The nervous system is connected via nerves to the heart and every blood vessel in your body. Via these nerves, it can increase heart rate and narrow blood vessel diameter. Both cause blood pressure to go up. Neurogenic hypertension is related to excessive and abnormally high sympathetic activity, he added. The additional activity is normally temporary. If it continues, it can become a problem. Researchers have previously associated stress with long-term hypertension. MNT recently reported that teenagers who are easily stressed are more at risk of hypertension later in life. In 2014, Mancia and co-researchers, from the University of Milan in Italy, found abnormally high amounts of norepinephrine and epinephrine in people with normal blood pressure but whose families had a history of hypertension. These sympathetic bursts have also been seen in patients with high BP. Mancias team concluded that high BP can result from a dysfunction in the autonomic nervous system. They propose that a central sympathetic overdrive is responsible for hypertension in some people, depending on their genetic background or blood pressure phenotype.

The selfish brain hypothesis of hypertension The kidneys are key to the cardiovascular system because they regulate the balance of salts and fluid, which has a direct effect on BP. Share on Pinterest Resistance in the brainstem may lead to hypertension. If the kidneys lack blood, they can call on the brain for provisions. The brain supplies the kidneys, but this will cause an imbalance, because the brain will be short of blood. Hypertension will occur. The term selfish brain was coined by Prof. Achim Peters of Lubeck University in Germany, a specialist in obesity. The hypothesis perceives the brain as having a special hierarchical position in the body. If there is a bottleneck, so that the brain cannot get enough energy, says Prof. Peters, it will call the energy back to itself. Research has shown that many patients with hypertension have narrow blood vessels at the base of the brain and low blood flow, also called high resistance. Some scientists are now speculating that low blood flow in the brainstem may cause systemic hypertension in order to boost blood flow to the brain. Prof. Paton explained to MNT: A question we are addressing is that brain blood flow determines blood pressure levels; said differently, if brain blood flow is low then hypertension may develop through activation of the sympathetic nervous system. Why? Well, high blood pressure will help to push more blood into the brain. This is the so-called selfish brain hypothesis of hypertension. If blood flow to the brain decreases, the brain will send out instructions to the body to constrict blood vessels, boosting the blood supply to the brain but resulting in high BP. In hypertension, the sympathetic nerve signals to the blood vessels makes them stiff, their walls become thicker and resistance increases; if this happens in arteries to the head, it makes it harder for blood to reach the brain. Prof. Patons team is seeking to better understand what causes this to happen. The question is: does reduced blood flow to the brain cause hypertension, as is generally believed, or does hypertension decrease the brains blood supply?

Targeting the carotid body The Bristol team believes that finding out what causes the resistance could lead to solutions to reduce the restriction, in order to normalize BP. Share on Pinterest Removal of the carotid body could solve the problem of high BP for some patients. One solution proposed by Prof. Paton and others in 2012 relates to the carotid body (CB), which is attached to the carotid artery. The carotid artery supplies blood to the brain and the carotid body acts to ensure the brain gets enough oxygen. The CB is a cluster of chemoreceptors or sensors, which constitute the main peripheral chemoreceptor in humans. CB hyperactivity is known to increase neurogenic activity and, therefore, vascular resistance and hypertension. Prof. Paton told us that his team has found that these sensors are sending alarm signals to the brain to put blood pressure up, for some unknown reason. Normally, he says, these alarm signals are off. Prof. Paton explained that the sensors, which are about the size of two grains of rice, act to taste the blood and sense oxygen levels in the blood. We know if we remove these bodies or disconnect their nerves from the brain we can turn off the alarm signals and lower blood pressure in conditions of hypertension. If suppressing the activity of the CB can improve blood pressure, removing or suspending functionality could help control hypertension in people with an autonomic imbalance, and start to uncover the root cause of some kinds of hypertension.
There is cautious optimism that the prevalence of new cases of dementia appears to be falling, despite ongoing concern about the aging population. These are the conclusions of a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Share on Pinterest Rates of dementia in each age group show signs of falling.

Figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) suggest that, globally, 47.5 million people have dementia. The figure is expected to rise to 75.6 million by 2030 and to almost triple to 135.5 million by 2050.

Currently, some 5.1 million Americans are living with Alzheimers disease and other dementias, and the rate is projected to grow as more people live to the age of 65 years and over.

Experts predict that 7.1 million American seniors will have Alzheimers by 2025, 40% more than in 2015.

By 2050, the number could triple to 13.8 million unless medical breakthroughs succeed in preventing or curing the disease.

The Framingham Heart Study (FHS) was set up in 1948 to investigate the causes of heart disease and stroke. It is now a joint project of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and Boston University, MA.

In 1975, FHS researchers began monitoring participants for cognitive decline and dementia, using information from FHS examinations, external clinical records, family interviews and results of examinations by neurologists and neuropsychologists.

Researchers looked at the rate of dementia at specific ages in four time periods: the late 1970s, late 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.

They also considered risk factors, including education, smoking, blood pressure, cholesterol levels and medical conditions, including diabetes.
Scientists have made a major breakthrough in the global search for a new drug to beat the malaria parasite's growing resistance to first-defence treatments.

The deadly mosquito-borne malaria parasite kills around 450,000 children every year. Resistance to the world's most effective antimalarial drug, artemisinin, has developed in South-East Asia, with fears it will soon reach Africa. The artemisinin resistant species has spread to six countries in five years.

A paper published in Nature describes how a group of scientists from Stanford University, collaborating with the MRC in Cambridge, The University of California, San Francisco and the Universities of Melbourne used cutting-edge technology to design a smarter drug to combat the resistant strain.

"Artemisinin causes damage to the proteins in the malaria parasite that kill the human cell, but the parasite has developed a way to deal with that damage. So new drugs that work against resistant parasites are desperately needed," Prof Tilley said.

The new drug targets the parasite's waste disposal system, known as a proteasome.

"The parasite's proteasome is like a shredder, that chews up damaged or used-up proteins. Malaria parasites generate a lot of damaged proteins as they switch from one life stage to another and are very reliant on their proteasome, making it an excellent drug target," Prof Tilley said.

Researchers at Stanford University purified the proteasome from the malaria parasite and examined its activity against hundreds of different peptide sequences using a novel method developed at the University of California, San Francisco. Using this information, they designed inhibitors that selectively targeted the parasite proteasome, while sparing the human host enzyme. This high degree of selectivity allowed the Stanford team to confirm that the drug could be used to clear parasites from infected mice.

Then, the group at the MRC in Cambridge used a revolutionary new technique called Single Particle Cryo-Electron Microscopy to generate a three-dimensional, high-resolution structure of a protein, based on thousands composite images. This is the first time this technique has been used to design a drug.

University of Melbourne Professor, Leann Tilley, an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow at the Bio21 Institute, tested the new drug in red blood cells infected with parasites and found that it was as effective at killing the artemisinin resistant parasites as it was for the sensitive parasites.

"The new proteasome inhibitors actually complement artemisinin drugs," Prof Tilley said. "Artemisinins cause protein damage and proteasome inhibitors prevent the repair of protein damage. A combination of the two provides a double whammy and could rescue the artemisinins as anti-malarials, restoring their activity against resistant parasites."

Prof Tilley and her team are currently working with experts from Japanese anti-cancer drug giant Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and Swiss-based foundation Medicines for Malaria Venture to identify additional classes of parasite specific proteasome inhibitors that could be advanced to clinical trials. She recently received $297,000 from the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund to conduct this work.

"The next step is screening the Takeda libraries to find a similar drug that doesn't affect the human proteasome. The current drug is a good start but it's not yet suitable for humans. It needs to be able to be administered orally and needs to last a long time in the blood stream."

Prof Tilley said if they can find an existing drug in Takeda's drug libraries that matches the structure of the new malaria drug, they could move it towards human trials very quickly.
New research uncovers a cascade of reactions within nerve cells that relay sensations of pain associated with inflammation. The findings, which are published in the British Journal of Pharmacology, indicate that drugs designed to curb this pathway may help relieve inflammatory pain in sufferers.

Previous studies identified that a molecule called Rac1 maintains chronic neuropathic pain resulting from injury to the nervous system. Jun Chen, MD, PhD, of the Fourth Military Medical University in China, and his colleagues wondered if Rac1 might also be involved with chronic inflammatory pain, which is caused by tissue injury, trauma, and diseases such as arthritis. An estimated 20 percent of people worldwide suffer with chronic pain. with the majority of cases being inflammatory pain.

"We found that Rac1 can be activated in chronic inflammatory pain and drugs that curb this reaction can relieve pain, offering the promise of new drugs for pain treatment in the clinic," said Dr. Chen.

These findings were based on experiments involving rats: when investigators injected the paws of rats with bee venom to cause inflammation, Rac1 was activated and set off a cascade of reactions involved in pain perception. In contrast, giving the rodents a molecule that inhibits Rac1 (called NSC23766) before or after the bee venom injection reduced their paw flinches and their pain hypersensitivity.

All studies involving animals were reported in accordance with a set of guidelines referred to as ARRIVE (Animals in Research: Reporting In Vivo Experiments).
Screening large "libraries" of compounds to find those with a desired biological activity is a powerful method for discovering new drugs, but requires a large, expensive and dedicated facility. Now, scientists at the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have devised the central component of a screening system that would be orders of magnitude smaller and cheaper.

"We've developed a device that can do the functional equivalent of high-throughput compound screening on an ultra-miniaturized scale," said the study's principal investigator Brian M. Paegel, an associate professor at TSRI.

The advance, published recently online ahead of print in Analytical Chemistry, follows a previous study from the Paegel laboratory in ACS Combinatorial Science that described the synthesis of miniaturized DNA-encoded compound libraries. The new screening device is designed to work with the new type of library.

One-Bead, One-Compound

Current high-throughput screening systems typically occupy 10,000 square feet of space or more and cost millions of dollars. They rely heavily on robotic devices that retrieve compounds from the library, place each compound into a separate small well in an "assay microplate" and measure each compound's biological activity--for example, whether the compound inhibits a particular enzyme involved in viral replication.

Being almost entirely automated and relatively quick, such systems can rapidly screen the tens or hundreds of thousands of compounds in a typical library. But the great cost of these high-throughput screening systems limits their use to locations at pharmaceutical companies and large research institutions. The Scripps Florida campus houses one of the most active high-throughput screening facilities outside the pharmaceutical industry.

The new approach starts with the use of "one-bead-one-compound" (OBOC) libraries, in which individual compounds are chemically attached to microscopic beads. Over the past two decades, many laboratories have begun to work with OBOC libraries of one type or another, which are so quickly and cheaply prepared and are so compact that such libraries are essentially laboratory consumables. "It is possible to generate an OBOC library of millions of compounds in a week for about $500," said Alexander K. Price, a senior research associate in the Paegel laboratory and lead author of the new study.

LIGHTSABR

There are considerable technical challenges involved in putting bead-borne compounds through miniature screening devices. But, as they report in their new paper, Paegel and Price were able to engineer a benchtop-scale device that meets these challenges and can screen OBOC libraries.

The device is built on the microfluidics principles that also underlie inkjet printer technology. Using a "suspension hopper," which Paegel and Price described in a 2014 Analytical Chemistry paper, the device introduces OBOC library beads into tiny liquid droplets that contain the assay of interest, such as an enzymatic activity assay. The volume of these assay droplets is about 100,000 times less than the volumes used for high-throughput screening assays.

The device then frees each compound from its bead with a photochemical reaction induced by ultraviolet (UV) light and, after an appropriate period of incubation, records the result in each droplet.

Dubbed LIGHTSABR (Light-Induced and Graduated High-Throughput Screening After Bead Release) for its light-based cleavage of compounds from their carrier beads, the device overcomes significant technical hurdles concerning the smooth flow of droplets, the absorption of stray UV irradiation and calibration of the UV waveguide.

A key innovation is that the technique allows users to vary the UV illumination to adjust the amount of a compound cleaved from its bead--and thus adjust the dose of the compound being tested. The team successfully demonstrated this dosing function using an assay designed to find inhibitors of HIV-1 protease, a key enzyme involved in the replication of the virus that causes AIDS.

The next step for Paegel and Price is to apply the microfluidic LIGHTSABR and the laboratory's DNA-encoded OBOC libraries. "In addition to antiviral compounds, we are also pursuing new antibiotics and other drug classes that address the emergence of resistance in rapidly evolving pathogens," said Paegel.

"Hundreds of laboratories around the world could operate their own miniaturized screening facilities, using their own assays to go after targets that are of most interest to them," said Price.
Quanterix Corporation, a leader in the transformation of healthcare through its ultrasensitive single molecule testing capabilities, has announced that Analytical Chemistry, a leading peer-reviewed scientific journal, has published a groundbreaking new study authored by Dr. David Walt of Tufts University that prominently features Quanterix's Single Molecule Array Detection technology, Simoa. The publication demonstrates that the ultrasensitive technology makes it possible to quantify phenotypic responses of individual prostate cancer cells, a technique that could be useful for understanding fundamental biology and may eventually enable both earlier disease detection and targeted therapy.

According to the American Cancer Society, approximately one in seven men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime and about one in 38 men will die from the disease. As such, it's critical to quickly and accurately detect elevated PSA levels at much earlier stages in disease development to allow for an improved prognosis. Simoa's newly uncovered ability to track protein expression in single cells does just that by enabling the study of cellular pathways and behaviors with greater precision than ever before, and could enable both earlier disease detection and targeted therapy in oncology.

"The potential to detect proteins at the single cell level is a major breakthrough in oncology research, where the ability to perform ultrasensitive liquid tumor biopsies rather than more invasive traditional approaches can dramatically impact early detection of cancers," said Kevin Hrusovsky, CEO and Executive Chairman, Quanterix. "This level of detection has the capacity to fuel a major groundswell of research in the oncology space. We look forward to continued innovations and new discoveries in this therapeutic area as we aim to revolutionize the way in which cancer is being detected and treated today in hopes of eventually redefining remission."
Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) has announced that the Medicines Healthcare Products and Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has granted UK patients with the most common type of kidney cancer,1 renal cell carcinoma (RCC), access to the investigational immunotherapy treatment, nivolumab, through the Early Access to Medicines Scheme (EAMS). Through EAMS, nivolumab will be available as monotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma after prior therapy. The scientific opinion is based on data from a Phase III clinical trial, in which nivolumab demonstrated a significant median overall survival benefit of 5.4 months compared to standard therapy, everolimus in patients who received prior therapy.2 BMS will provide funding for the scheme.

Dr James Larkin, Consultant Medical Oncologist, The Royal Marsden, commented: "In the UK, kidney cancer incidence has more than doubled in the last 30 years and for patients with advanced stages of the disease, the long-term outlook can be very poor and there is a high unmet medical need in this setting. Nivolumab is the first immunotherapy to demonstrate in a clinical trial, significant improvement in kidney cancer survival compared to standard therapy. Earlier access to innovative treatments is of huge importance and I am very pleased that the MHRA has recognised the life-extending benefit nivolumab can offer to patients with advanced kidney cancer."

Kidney cancer is the eighth most common cancer in the UK.3 During 2012, around 10,400 people were diagnosed with kidney cancer and around 4,300 people died from the disease (an average of more than 11 people per day) in the UK.3 Approximately 27% of kidney cancer patients will have stage IV disease when first diagnosed (cancer that has spread/metastasised).4 In these cases, it is estimated that around 15% of men and 10% of women will survive for five years or more, after diagnosis.5

Commenting on the decision, Life Sciences Minister, George Freeman said: "Advanced kidney cancer is a devastating condition, but thanks to our Early Access to Medicines Scheme NHS patients with the most common form of the disease will now be amongst the first in Europe to have access to this medicine. This scheme, launched in 2014, is making a real difference in speeding up access to innovative medicines, but we want to go further, which is why the independent Accelerated Access Review will recommend how we can get new treatments to patients even faster."

Nivolumab is a PD-1 (programmed death-1) immune checkpoint inhibitor that works by harnessing the ability of the immune system to fight cancer.6,7 Of the seven positive scientific opinions under this Scheme, today's decision marks the fourth positive opinion for nivolumab.8

In 2015, nivolumab was licensed in the European Union for the treatment of adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after prior chemotherapy;6 NICE has since issued draft guidance not recommending it for reimbursement in NHS patients in this indication and a final decision from NICE is currently pending. In contrast, in January 2016, NICE issued draft guidance recommending nivolumab as monotherapy for use within its licence, as an option for treating advanced (unresectable or metastatic) melanoma in adults. NICE will also assess nivolumab for use in kidney cancer pending marketing authorisation.

Commenting on the announcement, Johanna Mercier, General Manager, Bristol-Myers Squibb UK & Ireland said: "Bristol-Myers Squibb has worked in collaboration with the MHRA to ensure early access to nivolumab, this time in patients with kidney cancer. Recent draft guidance issued by NICE not recommending nivolumab for squamous lung cancer patients is disappointing, however, we are hopeful that health bodies in the UK will recognise nivolumab for its value, innovation and advantageous survival benefit for patients, and ensure prompt reimbursement as soon as possible across all licensed indications."

Data supporting nivolumab

The data supporting early access to nivolumab today is based on a Phase III study comparing nivolumab to everolimus in previously-treated patients with advanced clear-cell renal cell carcinoma after prior anti-angiogenic treatment.2 In this study, nivolumab demonstrated median overall survival of 25 months (95% CI, 21.8-NE) versus 19.6 months (95% CI, 17.6- 23.1) for everolimus.2

The safety profile of nivolumab in the study was consistent with prior studies and favourable versus everolimus. Fewer grade 3-4 treatment-related adverse events (AEs) occurred with nivolumab (19%) compared to everolimus (37%). Any grade treatment-related AEs occurred in 79% of patients treated with nivolumab and 88% of patients treated with everolimus. The most frequent treatment-related AEs were fatigue (33%), pruritis (14%) and nausea (14%) in the nivolumab arm and fatigue (34%), stomatitis (29%) and anaemia (24%) in the everolimus arm.2

About the Early Access to Medicines Scheme (EAMS)9

Started in 2014 and granted only to therapies which are deemed to offer significant innovation over other medicines, the EAMS aims to give patients with life-threatening or seriously debilitating conditions access to medicines that do not yet have a marketing authorisation when there is a clear unmet medical need.

Under the scheme, the MHRA will give a scientific opinion on the benefit/risk balance of the medicine, based on the data available when the EAMS submission was made. The opinion lasts for a year and can be renewed.
AUSTIN, Texas

Feb. 10, 2016

Austin, Texas

Stephen A. Brigido

Pennsylvania

/PRNewswire/ -- The human body may be its own best ally when it comes to the treatment of injuries, ulcers and deformities, especially when it concerns helping a patient's foot or ankle to heal faster.Foot and ankle surgeons are gathering this week at the Annual Scientific Conference of the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons (ACFAS) into examine state-of-the-art advances in regenerative medicine for foot and ankle injuries."One such advance is using a patient's own human cells/tissues to help them heal (regenerative medicine)," says, DPM, FACFAS, afoot and ankle surgeon and Fellow Member of the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons. "An area of continued study among foot and ankle surgeons, using platelet rich plasma (PRP), shows particular promise for patients needing quick recovery times from a foot injury or surgery," he added.During a doctor's visit, a patient's own plasma is enriched with their platelets, by taking blood out, almost as if they are donating blood. The blood is then separated. Two healing parts of the blood (platelets and plasma) are injected back into the patient right where they need it most  the injury.All kinds of patients can benefit from the use of PRP, but some injuries and conditions, or those who are on their feet often, may benefit more from using regenerative medicine techniques."Achilles tears, for example, are a common injury for those constantly on their feet," says Dr. Brigido. "The Achilles can be injected with platelet rich plasma during a regular office visit and the injection is almost as quick as getting a flu shot. The "healing qualities" of the platelet rich plasma can turbo-boost healing," he adds.Patients with diabetes are also more prone to ulcers on their feet, wounds which can be very difficult to heal due to poor blood circulation. "The use of PRP treatments can help these patients by bringing healing platelet rich plasma to a part of the body that is deficient of healthy oxygen-rich blood," says Dr. Brigido. "The great thing about PRP is it gives patients like this the extra nudge they need to get their own body to start to heal itself," he added.For more information on the latest in foot care or other foot and ankle health information, visit the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons' patient education website at FootHealthFacts.org.FootHealthFacts.org

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/regenerative-medicine-evidence-suggests-human-body-best-resource-for-healing-300214054.html



SOURCE American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons






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For their part, research funders will require scientists to share interim as well as final data as rapidly and widely as possible.The document stated, "The arguments for sharing data, and the consequences of not doing so, have been thrown into stark relief by the Ebola and Zika outbreaks. In the context of a public health emergency of international concern, there is an imperative on all parties to make any information available that might have value in combating the crisis."The statement urged other organizations to follow suit.Other signatories included Doctors Without Borders (MSF in its French acronym),, the South African Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust.The move was welcomed by experts as a sea change in public health research.Trudie Lang, director of the Global Health Network, said, "The response to Zika - even more so than in the case of Ebola - was being hamstrung by the many unknowns. We are still to prove that Zika causes microcephaly, and we need to know at what point damage happens in pregnancy, should this be the case. In addition we need to develop better diagnostic tools and agree how to interpret anomaly scans to assess how these affected babies are developing."Lang further added, "Data needs to be shared as quickly as possible to address all these questions concurrently. There is need to ensure the data is reliable and accurate. This requires research sites to be well trained and have the resources they need to collect and manage data in ways that avoid error."Infectious diseases professor Mark Woolhouse from the University of Edinburgh described the commitment as one of the most welcome developments in decades. He said, "If acted upon, this declaration will save lives."An outbreak of the usually benign Zika virus in Latin America and the Caribbean has coincided with a surge in babies with microcephaly, a condition that causes them to have unusually small heads and brains, leading to death or disability.No scientific proof has been found that Zika causes microcephaly, though the UN's World Health Organization (WHO) has said that a link is 'strongly suspected' and has declared Zika a 'public health emergency of international concern'.There is no cure or vaccine for the virus which, in most people, causes mild symptoms.Source: AFP
In an interview with the Syrian Sama TV channel, Russian diplomat Maria Khodynskaya-Golenishcheva said that U.N. Special Envoy for the Syria Crisis Staffan de Mistura had "committed several mistakes" during the preparations for the Geneva III Conference. "To this day, de Mistura refused to accept the delegation of the opposition coming from inside Syria," said Khodynskaya-Golenishcheva, the spokeswoman for the Russian Diplomatic Delegation to Geneva, in the interview, which aired on February 7, 2016. "This is a grave mistake, and we hope it is rectified before the talks resume," she said.

Following are excerpts:

To watch the MEMRI TV clip press here

De Mistura "Committed Several Mistakes"

Maria Khodynskaya-Golenishcheva: "Before the talks are resumed, de Mistura must resolve some problems pertaining to these talks. First of all, he should resolve the problem of Kurdish representation. The Kurds are an inseparable part of Syrian society, and unless the Kurds participate in the talks, it will be impossible to reach a decision on any article on the agenda, including the issues of a ceasefire, of combating terrorism, and so on. During the preparations for the Geneva III Conference, de Mistura has committed several mistakes, including his refraining from forming an opposition delegation, which would represent the entire spectrum of the opposition.

"To this day, de Mistura refuses to accept the delegation of the opposition coming from inside Syria, and consisting of people who did not leave their homeland. This is a grave mistake, and we hope it is rectified before the talks resume. The fundamental reason for the suspension of the talks is the withdrawal of Riyadh's opposition delegation from the talks, and its insistence on its preconditions. and its insistence on its preconditions. It is important to note that this contradicts U.N. Security Council Resolution 2254, which states that there must not be any preconditions. The government delegation came to Geneva at the scheduled time, and was ready to discuss all the articles on the agenda, which is very good...

"The Russian airforce takes part in the anti-terrorism operations in Syria, in accordance with the request of the legitimate Syrian government, and with the Security Council resolution about combating terrorism. The demand made by the Riyadh delegation to stop the anti-terrorism operations of the Syrian army, which are conducted with the support of the Russian airforce... I would like to ask: Who fights the Syrian army in Aleppo? It is the Al-Nusra Front and some armed factions connected with Al-Qaeda. My question is: For whom do they seek help in Aleppo?...

"We denounce any attempt to isolate Syria and its diplomats from any conferences held for the sake of Syria. Let me give you an example. At the UN headquarters in Geneva, conferences are held about humanitarian aid to Syria and about bringing aid into Syrian cities, without the presence of Syrian diplomats in these conferences. This is neither productive nor realistic. This is peculiar. How can we discuss bringing humanitarian aid into city A or city B, without the presence of Syrian diplomats?"
In a number of recent statements, the former president of Tunisia, Moncef Marzouki, has gone on the attack against agents of counterrevolution in the Arab world, as he describes them. Marzouki has singled out the United Arab Emirates as financiers of counterrevolutionary regimes - an attack that drew stinging responses from the UAE Foreign Minister as well as that country's press - and he likewise condemns Egypt's president 'Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sisi as a tyrant. Although Marzouki is not himself an Islamist, he views the Islamist movements as legitimate actors in the Arab revolutions and as allies against the old regimes. As president of Tunisia he cooperated closely with that country's Islamist movement Al-Nahda - though their relationship has recently soured - and he regularly champions the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, siding pointedly with the man Sisi deposed, former Egyptian president Muhammad Mursi.

Prior to the Arab Spring Marzouki had been a prominent oppositionist and human rights activist, before becoming Tunisia's first post-revolution president in the years 2011-2014. He is closely identified with the revolutionary fervor of the Arab Spring, and is currently the founder and president of the Arab Committee For Democratic Revolutions.



Moncef Marzouki (image: Almesryoon.com, January 23, 2016)

Marzouki: The Tyrant Sisi Has Laid Egypt To Waste

In the course of a speech given in advance of the fifth anniversary of Egypt's January 25, 2011 revolution, Egyptian President 'Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sisi addressed a few words to the Tunisian people, against the backdrop of recent violent protests in Tunisia. Speaking at the Egyptian police academy in honor of Egypt's National Police Day - which happens to also fall on January 25 - Sisi said to the Tunisian people: "I do not want to interfere in your internal affairs, but economic conditions are difficult in the entire world. Preserve your country, and do not lay it to waste."[1] It should be noted that in 2011 the Arab Spring had spread from Tunisia to Egypt, and with the anniversary of January 25 approaching Sisi may have been concerned at the potential impact of the unrest in Tunisia on the situation in Egypt.

Whatever Sisi's reasons for addressing the Tunisian people may have been, former Tunisian president Moncef Marzouki, now in the opposition, was quick to post a stinging response to Sisi on his Facebook page. As stated, Marzouki, while not himself an Islamist, sides with the deposed Muslim Brotherhood-dominated government of former president Muhammad Mursi, and he took advantage of the opportunity to encourage Egyptians to take to the streets on January 25 against the "tyrant" Sisi and his regime:

"Sisi advises us Tunisians to preserve our country! This man advises us to preserve our country, when it is he who laid waste to his!

"I, in turn, would like to offer advice to the Egyptians. The preservation of Egypt is something that not only the great Egyptian people needs. The Arab world, the Arab spring, the Palestinian cause, our people in Gaza under the siege of the dictator, and the [entire] world - we all are in need of an Egypt that is free of corruption and tyranny, because it was and will again be the greatest armature of the [Arab] nation at this point in our history. Everyone is now insolently attacking [the Arab nation] due to the absence of this armature.

"Take care, for Egypt's sake. Do not let yourselves be dragged into the box of violence that the tyrant [Sisi] and his minions want to drag you into, not tomorrow, on the fifth anniversary of your grand revolution, and not any other time. The tyrant is repeating an idiotic scenario, and his failure is certain. This guy [Sisi] obviously does not know history, otherwise he would not be committing all this folly. For this reason you will be victorious...

"Honor and eternal [glory] to your martyrs, and to the martyrs of the Arab Spring. Freedom for all the prisoners - and among them, my dear brother Muhammad Mursi. Love and appreciation for all the heroes of the peaceful revolution, the grand January 25 revolution."[2]

The UAE Is "Financing Conspiratorial Plots Against Our Peoples' Liberation"

The spat with Egypt's Sisi was not Marzouki's sole one in recent days. In a January 22, 2016 interview with the satellite news channel France 24, Marzouki accused the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of conspiring against the Arab Spring and accused it of playing a part in the deteriorating situation in Tunisia. Specifically, he stated that the UAE was an enemy of the Arab revolutions and a financier of 'coups' against them.[3] (The UAE has provided billions of dollars of economic support to Egypt since Mursi was deposed in July 2013, in addition to its political support for the new regime.)[4]

Marzouki repeated these accusations in a statement issued by the Arab Committee for Democratic Revolutions, an organization he founded after being voted out of office; the Committee's two vice-presidents are the Yemeni activist and 2011 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Tawakkol Karman, and the veteran Egyptian oppositionist Ayman Nur. The statement, issued on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the revolution in Egypt, addressed the state of affairs in the Arab world in general, and expressed solidarity with the "democratically elected president of Egypt, Muhammad Mursi," and it also singled out "the rulers of a small Arab country" - viz. the UAE - as representing the "worst form of meddling" through its "financing of conspiratorial plots against our peoples' dreams of liberation." The following are excerpts from the statement:

"... Five years have passed [since the Egyptian revolution], and the responses to this popular wave have still not calmed in many Arab capitals, despite all the attempts to extinguish it... The counterrevolutionary forces have set out in conspiracies, in which there is close cooperation between media that is bought and paid for, corrupt money, and fabricated terrorism, planned by regional and international forces in order to abort the achievements [of the revolutions] - the most important of which are an unprecedented level of liberty, the entry of the people into the public sphere, free elections, and democratic constitutions...

"The foreign and domestic support for the counterrevolutionary forces did not succeed in producing what the [counterrevolutionary forces] promised in order to justify their return. The economic and social situation has deteriorated, the level of liberty has retreated, organized repression has expanded, and the scene has unfolded onto civil war, bloody savagery, and destructive sectarian conflict. The Arab sphere has turned into a stage for a game of axes and interests, and for foreign meddling.

"From the depths of this bloody scene, the Arab Committee for Democratic Revolutions asks God's mercy for the souls of the innocent martyrs of the Arab revolutions; expresses full solidarity with the victims of oppression, injustice, killing, forced displacement, and siege in Syria, Yemen, and Palestine; and [expresses full solidarity] with the prisoners in Egypt - first and foremost among them the democratically-elected president of Egypt, Muhammad Mursi; and it calls on the Arab people in the various countries of the [Arab] Spring to hold fast to their legitimate right to liberation, independence, just [economic] development, sovereignty, and democracy, and to be certain of the inevitability of victory, despite all the obstacles and conspiracies...

"The Committee expresses its absolute rejection of foreign meddling in the affairs of our region, in all its various forms... It considers the worst form of meddling to be the actions of the rulers of a small Arab country in the financing of conspiratorial plots against our peoples' dreams of liberation and freedom, and it calls on them to desist from this destructive policy..."[5]

UAE Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash: Marzouki Is A "Voice From The Past... Trying To Cover Up His Own Failure"

The Foreign Minister of the UAE, Anwar Gargash, was quick to fire off a Twitter response to Marzouki's January 22 statements on France 24: "Marzouki's attack on the Emirates is in keeping with his habitually trivial and unbalanced political conduct. [He is] a voice from the past [trying to] justify his own flop, a high-pitched tone trying to cover up his own failure. The position of the Emirates was and is for the wellbeing and stability of the region and its cohesion. Perhaps Marzouki should be more 'just'[6] in his appraisal of the disintegration, extremism, and terrorism that is sweeping the region. And perhaps most of the voices that take aim at the Emirates are ones that harbor extremist and sectarian designs for the region, and Marzouki has been a tool for some of them..."[7]

Condemnation of Marzouki's statements was likewise forthcoming from closer quarters. The Tunisian Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that it was keen on strengthening relations with all the Arab countries, and that it sharply condemned Marzouki's "irresponsible" statements, which were liable to disturb and put a strain on the profound bonds of brotherhood between Tunisia and the UAE.[8] Ridha Belhaj, Director of the Presidential Cabinet, issued a similar condemnation.[9]

UAE Columnist Ahmad Muhammad Al-Shehi: Marzouki Is "An Enemy Of The Peace" And "The Greatest Danger To The Future Of The [Arab] Nation And Its Stability"

Marzouki's statements elicited sharp reactions from the UAE press as well. One example was a January 26, 2016 article in the Al-Bayan daily by Ahmad Muhammad Al-Shehi, Director-General of the Ras Al-Khaimah Holy Quran Establishment. Al-Shehi argued that the Arab Spring revolutions were a disaster for the region, characterized Moncef Marzouki as "an enemy of peace" for calling for more of them, and defended the UAE's role in countering them:

"... This is not the first time that Marzouki has attacked the Emirates. He has done this repeatedly. These days he has taken to spitting out the venom of his black malice towards the Emirates on some of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood [satellite] stations, on which he has become an honored guest. He uses them to defame one government and to curse another, to foment revolution against one state, and to call to bring down the regime of another. He boasts of wretched revolutions..., defends them, and calls for them, as though his only care and his only occupation is to attempt to drown the Arab countries in revolutions and to bring down governments and regimes, without paying any heed at all to the disastrous consequences of the so-called [Arab] Spring revolutions... For this reason he is worthy of the title 'enemy of the peace'.

"He is the greatest danger to the future of the [Arab] nation and its stability. Marzouki launched and heads something called the Arab Committee for the Defense of the Revolutions [sic]. He incites against the regime in Egypt and in other countries, stands together with the Muslim Brotherhood and those like them, and raises the symbol of Rabia [Al-Adawiyya Square],[10] taking pride in the fact that he raises it everywhere...

"Everyone has seen with their own eyes the bitter fruits of these revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Syria. The distressing - nay, catastrophic - consequences of these revolutions continue on to this day, but Marzouki does not learn the lesson from all this... Does Marzouki not see the rivers of blood that are being spilled?... It is amazing that he incites to more and more revolutions, as though he has entirely lost his mind. This extremism in favor of the revolutions emphasizes that this man is an enemy of the peace...

"And on the other side, the UAE is the dove of peace, and the best support for its sister countries in defending their stability and cohesion. It has stood with them in their tribulations, and has supported them as much as it could with expertise, funding, and humanitarian, political, and military support, so that they could emerge from the darkness of anarchy and its consequences to the light of security and stability..."[11]

Endnotes:
Review:

Deadpool starts off quite unexpectedly  with a radio song featuring Mera Joota Hai Japani, Raj Kapoor's iconic song from 'Shree 420', and Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool sitting in the back of a cab of an Indian guy called Dopinder. The first of many gleeful jokes that made Deadpool an Internet sensation makes its debut here followed by a high-speed chase that firmly establishes that a new superhero has arrived.

 20th Century Fox

The movie, of course, is an origin story so we go into flashback where ex-Special Forces operative Wade Wilson is happy to do small jobs for money until he meets Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) and the two fall in love. Before long, he is diagnosed with cancer and heads to a private research facility to cure himself. In the comics, this is supposed to be the facility that gave Wolverine his adamantium claws but in Deadpool, everything is up for a joke, including the cast of 'X-Men' and their residence among others. (Fans of the series will remember that Reynolds made an appearance in the 2009 film X-Men Origins: Wolverine in a very, very brief role too).

Deadpool takes his slogan of With great power comes great irresponsibility very seriously. The superhero, often described as Spider Man with swords, even turned the latters slogan into a joke! At various points, Deadpool will step away from the mayhem on screen to look directly at you and troll something or someone to make you laugh. Ryan trolls his first failed tryst playing a superhero in Green Lantern as well by asking not to make his superhero suit in Deadpool green and animated! Pop culture references are thrown aplenty. From Liam Neesons parenting ways in the Taken series to Notting Hill references, the quips come hard and fast through the 108-minute runtime.

 20th Century Fox

Ultimately, it is this need of trying to be too clever every time that begins to wear on you. The origin story, too, seems overwrought without adding any compelling dimension to Wade Wilsons transformation into Deadpool. Establishing his own origin story means that none of the other characters are sketched out in much detail, so Deadpools relationships can seem a bit superfluous. In fact, his friendship with Dopinder seems most compelling over anything he shares with his girlfriend, allies and foes.

Director Tim Miller keeps the tone of the film on an even keel throughout but the movie falters for a bit after the first high-speed car chase trying to establish Deadpool. Right from the brilliant (and funny) opening credits to the post-credits that Marvel movies are famous for, Miller does a stellar job at holding together everything else while promoting Deadpool for a sequel.

We had written about the need for superheroes to be messy over three years ago when Marvels studio bosses decided not to cast Iron Man as an alcoholic in Iron Man 3. The studio has come a long way since then with Deadpool - whose d*ck jokes abound in the movie. That in itself deserves applause and is a testament to how quickly things can change in Hollywood.

Watch the trailer here -
Deputy Foreign Minister Dimitris Mardas met today with the Head of the Diplomatic Representation of Palestine in Athens, Mr. Toubassi. During the meeting, with took place in an excellent climate, a review was carried out of developments in the sector of bilateral economic relations, with reaffirmation of mutual interest in promoting cooperation in all sectors.



Referring to his recent meeting in Ramallah, with Palestines caretaker Deputy Minister for European Affairs, Amal Zatu, Mr. Mardas emphasized the sectors of tourism and construction, highlighting the need to enhance the dialogue between agencies in both the public and private sectors.
Ahead of the upcoming visit to Athens of the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation, Paolo Gentiloni, Deputy Foreign Minister Dimitris Mardas met at the Foreign Ministry today with Italian Ambassador Luigi Marras.



The agenda for the meeting included the potential for further enhancement of economic cooperation between the two countries, given that Italy is Greeces second largest trade partner. Following the example of cooperation with France, the creation of a corresponding roadmap was discussed. Also considered were the potential for assisting the actions of the Greek-Italian Chamber of Commerce in Greece, the development of new actions via interregional cooperation, and the strengthening of tourist flows to Greece.
Editors note: This is part of the Huron Daily Tribunes Your Seniors section that will appear all week and highlight senior citizens from the Pigeon area.

PIGEON  Minutes after Virgil Duane Bouck sat down to relive tales from his life, an incredible reality began to unfold. This is a story books are written about. This is a tale from which movies are made. In less than two hours, Bouck covered almost a century of history. The 95-year-olds tale began when he was 8 years old, on the verge of entering the Great Depression.

My dad lost his job (from the Ford Motor Company) in 1928, Bouck said. There was no work. My grandfather asked us to come back and live in Filion. He had farmed with my grandfather before going to Detroit. We lived with them for four years, and dad rented land.

He went to the Filion School until the eighth grade. The farm they rented was east of Elkton, and they moved to that area. Bouck said he walked four and a half miles every day to Elkton High School.

He graduated in 1937.

His father did well on the farm, and in 1937, he purchased a 140-acre farm near Pigeon. Unfortunately, only 60 acres of it was cleared land. To make matter worse, there was no electricity. It would be two more years before Edison would bring power to that area.

Up until 1939, we farmed with horses, Bouck said. Most of our equipment was two row or four row. But, with a good team of horses, you could plow an acre a day with a one bottom plow.

His father bought a tractor in 1939, but he kept the horses for another three to four years.

Little did the young farm boy know his future was about to change by leaps and bounds. World War II was about to start. Bouck joined the Merchant Marine. As luck would have it, he was stationed on the Great Lakes. Before the war was over, he had worked his way up to assistant purser.

He was asked to stay on the Great Lakes, but, in 1945, the farm boy decided it was time go home and go back to farming with his dad. He had saved every dime when he was in the service. He soon bought his own 80-acre farm and started milking with 10 dairy cows.

After a phone call from close friend, Jay OHara, Bouck went to Detroit to meet with General Motors administration. They were having trouble with steel production and quality. OHara had lead management to believe his old friend was a genius in that area. After a day of discussions and tours, they offered him a job at the Cadillac factory. He accepted, but with one reservation; he would only work winter months. After all, he was a farmer.

One of his duties was to send his boss written reports to the quality of steel he was working with. The reports went to the bosss secretary. He delivered reports to her for about four months.

We were married in four months, Bouck said. We were married 64 years and never had a major problem. I had an angel.

His angel gave him five children and a lifetime of love and understanding. To his great sorrow, Vernetta has passed away.

To say the young Bouck was resourceful would be an understatement. The first tractor he used on his 80-acre farm was built from junk and scrap he collected. He obtained a six-cylinder test engine from General Motors, added an old transmission, and purchased surplus aircraft tires from World War II aircraft.

The tires were 24 ply, he said. I think we bought them for $12 apiece. When the tractor was done, anybody could drive it. It drove just like a regular tractor.

He then took an Avery stationary threshing machine and reinforced it. He put on a rear axle and added tires. When finished, he hooked it up behind the tractor and used to thresh grain. He didnt stop there. He enjoyed fishing, but needed a boat. That was no big problem. Hed just build one from scratch.

It was made from scrap, Bouck said. We didnt have any money then. We just traded.

He traded World War II aircraft surplus starters for sheet steel. He added a six-cylinder engine and three carburetors. Before he knew it, he had built a 20-foot fishing vessel.

He built the boat in the early 1950s. He later sold it as a fishing tug. Over the years, he heard it had been sold a couple times.

As of five years ago, I heard it was still going, he said.

But this young farm boy turned out to be much more than a farmer, a GM employee, and an inventor.

I was a federal employee for 22 and a half years, but I farmed in the meantime, he said. I was the county executive director for four different counties.

He explained he was in charge of all of the USDA farm programs in Midland, Tuscola, Genesee and Kalkaska counties, but not at the same time.

Bouck admitted his life was not just about work. He was quite social in his younger days.

Every Saturday night wed go up town, he said. Everybody went up town. The young folks would go to the Dairy Barn (at Pigeon) and went dancing later.

In winter, hed ice fish.

We mostly caught perch, Bouck said. They were good, right out of the fresh water.

His father was a hunter and fisherman, and Bouck had the same interests.

As he got older, he enjoyed traveling with his wife.

This is a great country, Bouck said. We used to like to travel. Weve covered every state in the U.S. except two. Ive never been overseas, but our daughters have.

He went on to say the couple has also traveled extensively in Canada, visiting every province in that large country.

At 95 years of age, Bouck looks to be in excellent shape. In fact, he had an active outdoor life until he was 94 years old. Unfortunately, health problems have interfered with his active lifestyle in the past year.

This darn heart attack really slowed me down, he said.

Bouck now lives at Country Bay Village in Pigeon. While observing him at his new home, its obvious he is one of the more active members in that senior setting.

While talking about his new home, Bouck said hes seen great changes in the local hospital from the time it was up town.

Dr. Scheurer was a friend. He was my mothers doctor and my doctor, he said. The town is very lucky to have this complex where people are treated like family.

He had more to say about his hometown of 77 years.

The town is also very fortunate to have the foundry and machining complex for employment, Bouck said. Gaschos Furniture is excellent. They helped put Pigeon on the map. Theyre one of the big suppliers for Art Van.

Boucks also proud of the local school system.

Recently retired school superintendent Bob Smith was one of my Sunday school pupils, he said. Pigeon has one of the finest school systems in the state. Its nothing short of top rated.

Bouck said he also thanks the Lord for putting him in the Hayes Church community where nearly all of the farmers have prospered.

From a young age, he said hes known that if you want to get ahead in life, you have to hustle.

I had a good life, and I enjoyed it, Bouck added.
CASEVILLE  The Caseville city council took care of a number of approvals and motions on its agenda this week.

Council approved a contract for attorney services of Robert Thall of Buckham, Sparks, Thall, Seeber & Kaufman to assist the citys assessor with pending tax tribunal cases and other assessor related matters.

This is what they specialize in  tax law, said Caseville clerk Jamie Learman. ... We pay as we use them. This is basically a pay-as-use agreement.

The contract went into effect Feb. 1 and will run until Feb. 1, 2017.

Council members also approved a list of election inspectors for this year. Chairpersons are Dena Withey and Colleen Poisson. Inspectors include, but arent limited to: Alice Hazzard, Louis and Linda Balaze, Dianna Dunn, Jacqueline Finneren, Daniel and Karen Korbutt, Rebecca McGeathy, Marilyn Mitchell, Joanne Vander Meulen, Gail Wilcox and Elizabeth Willenberg. During the election, the rate of pay for chairpersons is $12 per hour and for inspectors is $11 per hour.

Other items of business approved include:

 Appointed Alice Hazzard as an alternate for the board of review. Her term will expire January 2018.

 Hired Raymond Heins as the electrical inspector for the city. Heins contract will be effective in April, pending approval from the state of Michigan Bureau of Construction Codes.

 Authorized the Caseville Area Fire Protection Association to conduct a controlled burn of phragmites in Caseville as recommended by the parks and recreation committee. Council will work with the Caseville fire chief to determine a date to hold the burn as well as a way to notify community members.

 Extended one health insurance policy to retirees with at least 10 years seniority with the city through the USW Health and Welfare fund. Premiums will be paid in full by the retiree.

 Set a public hearing for 6 p.m. March 14 for the residents to have an opportunity to discuss the proposed improvement project by the breakwall.
Air Force Gets Its Own Combat Dive Badge After Using the Navy's for Years

Air Force officials said there is a notable distinction between Navy divers and their divers, which was a key reason for...
Veterans Affairs Secretary Bob McDonald on Wednesday discussed a budget proposal designed to make it easier to discipline senior executive service employees for wrongdoing.

The proposal is included in the department's $182 billion budget for fiscal 2017, which begins Oct. 1, among other policy and benefits changes intended in part to streamline agency operations.

The bid to place medical center directors and other SES-level employees under Title 38 -- the same job category as doctors and nurses -- was spurred by recent administrative judges' decisions vacating VA disciplinary actions against two senior executives.

"It seemed to us that [the Merit System Protection Board] judges didn't understand the intent of Congress" in giving the department greater power to discipline employees," McDonald told lawmakers.

A Title 38 employee demoted or fired for cause by the VA secretary would not be able to appeal to the board.

"[This] gives us more flexibility to pay them more competitively," McDonald said, "but it also gives us more flexibility in disciplinary matters without all the things that happened with the SES employees."

McDonald met on Tuesday night to discuss the planned bill with House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Jeff Miller, a Republican from Florida, and ranking member Rep. Corrine Brown, a Democrat from Florida, as well as the chair and ranking member of the Senate veterans committee, Sens. Johnny Isakson, a Republican from Georgia, and Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut.

A legislative provision based on the VA proposal will immediately be incorporated into current and ongoing negotiations between the two committees as part of package of veterans' legislation, a source familiar with the action told Military.com.

VA is also asking Congress for legislation to end a longstanding appeals process that allows veterans to continue pushing claims for years after they have been denied, McDonald said. In one case, he said, the Board of Appeals has been working on a case continuously appealed for 25 years.

Under the current law, a veteran may appeal any number of times if not satisfied with a VA ruling.

The proposed legislation would end -- with very limited exceptions -- the requirement that the department continue to accept new evidence in an appeal once an initial decision is issued. It would also transfer continued appeals to the Board of Veterans Appeals and eliminate optional board hearings before veterans' law judges.

"Without the change," McDonald said, "pending appeals will soar to 2.2 million by 2027."

-- Bryant Jordan can be reached at bryant.jordan@military.com. Follow him on Twitter at @bryantjordan.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter has yet to sign off on the Marine Corps' plan to integrate women into previously closed infantry jobs.

But a draft version of the plan, first published this month by the Christian Science Monitor, sheds light on the Corps' thinking and priorities as it prepares for the historic move.

A defense official confirmed the plan published was a draft version provided to members of the Senate and differed only slightly from the final version sent to Carter.

Here's what everyone should know about the Marines' gender-integration strategy:

1. The Corps expects low numbers of female grunts.

The strategy assumes that about 200 female Marines will enter ground combat arms jobs every year, making up less than 2 percent of Marine personnel in those jobs. The Corps derives this assumption from surveys by the Center for Naval Analyses and the Pentagon's Joint Advertising Market Research and Studies program.

With a service that is just 7 percent female, it's not surprising the Marines are projecting low initial numbers of infantrywomen. That may change in coming years, though; Marine Commandant Gen. Robert Neller recently told Congress he's interested in increasing the Corps' female population.

2. Some jobs may see more female applicants than others.

Another assumption from the Corps' integration plan is that female Marines "propensity" for newly opened military occupational specialties will not be evenly distributed. If this does prove to be true, it may be due in part to self-selection and in part to more challenging physical standards for certain jobs.

While some newly opened jobs, such as light armored vehicle crewman or artilleryman, require periods of intense physical effort, Neller has said the most challenging infantry jobs -- and those with the highest injury rates among female volunteers who attempted them -- were positions demanding long marches under heavy loads, like machine gunner or rifleman.

3. The plan has five overlapping phases.

The Corps' strategy for integration begins with "Phase 1: Setting the conditions" and ends with "Phase 5: Sustainment." In a service in which a significant part of the population has opposed the idea of women in ground combat jobs, the plan calls for a somewhat staggered rollout of full gender integration.

Phase 1, which began in 2012 when the Marines began experimentation and study to examine the possibility of integration, will end "when ground combat arms units become socialized and acculturated to serving with female Marines," the plan states, though it's not clear how that progress will be measured. Other phases include recruiting of female enlisted applicants and officers for infantry positions; entry-level training for those recruited; assignment of female Marines to ground combat jobs; and sustainment, which includes implementing long-term physical standards for infantry jobs, monitoring progress, "affording opportunities for viable career paths," and making adjustments as needed to the existing implementation plan.

4. The Marines want female leaders in place first.

In a series of task assignments, the plan directs the commanders of the Corps' major force commander to "ensure female Marine leadership is in place prior to the introduction of junior enlisted female Marines into combat arms units." The plan does not explain whether these leaders will be senior enlisted Marines or officers, or if they will all be required to complete infantry training before they can make lateral moves to ground combat units.

The Marine Corps has yet to see a female officer complete its grueling infantry officer course, though a few of the 29 women who have attempted it have come close. The Corps will likely look to the 240 female volunteers who have already completed enlisted infantry training prior to combat jobs opening to fill some of these new leadership roles.

5. Filling newly opened jobs infantry jobs could take time.

It has been a month since the Marine Corps officially announced that ground combat jobs were open to female troops who had completed relevant infantry training, but none of the initial 240 women to earn a ground combat Marine occupational specialty have requested a lateral move to the newly opened jobs, Marine spokesman Capt. Philip Kulczewski said Wednesday.

"At this point, no Marine volunteers have requested a LAT move to ground combat jobs," he said in a statement. "However, it is unfair to judge this population alone for propensity ... We have created a 25-year longitudinal study to assess all aspects and possible impacts throughout Implementation, to include propensity."

That first lateral move request could arrive shortly, however; Marine Cpl. Remedios Cruz has said she hopes to be one of the first women assigned to an infantry unit.

6. MARSOC will get female trainers.

The Marines' integration plan calls for the Corps' elite special operations command to add two female trainers to its assessment and selection program and nine-month individual training course. These female Marines will be staff-noncommissioned officers or officers, the plan stipulates, though it doesn't specify whether they will be required to complete infantry training ahead of their assignment. MARSOC's commander, Maj. Gen. Joseph Osterman, told Military.com the command has already gotten its first female applicants and is actively soliciting other qualified female Marines across the Corps.

7. Some Marine Corps facilities may need a remodel.

In the Marines' draft plan, several force commanders are instructed to make sure that existing Marine Corps facilities that used to house all-male units are altered as necessary to accommodate women. In addition, the plan directs the commander of Marine Corps Combat Development Command, Lt. Gen. Robert Walsh, to make sure the Marines' educational buildings are capable of accommodating female staff and students at levels up to 15 percent of the total population. It's not clear where the 15 percent figure comes from, though. And the plan doesn't specify what special accommodations need to be made for women, apart from ensuring there are enough gender-specific restrooms available.

8. New gear may be on the way for all Marines.

Marine Corps Systems Command will be ordered to buy new tactical clothing, gear and equipment that reduces weight while increasing protection, fit, and mobility, according to the Marines' draft integration plan.

This gear will be developed in accordance with a Marine Corps study released in July 2015 examining ways that better equipment could help to reduce the strain of load-bearing and reduce injuries. The study found that not only female Marines, but all smaller-statured troops could benefit from some gear design improvements, including ergonomic packs and remodeled trigger systems for tank machine guns.

9. The commandant will personally monitor certain trends.

The Marines' plan calls for the commandant to receive direct information about five specific concerns as new jobs open to women:

Indications of decreased combat readiness or effectiveness;

Increased risk to Marines including incidents of sexual assault or hazing

Indications of a lack of career viability for female Marines

Indications of command climates or culture that is unreceptive to female Marines

Indications that morale or cohesion is being degraded in integrated units.

In a recent interview, Neller told Military.com that he expected to revisit integration plans if any of those issues surfaced.

"We'll report it through the chain of command. In my testimony [before the Senate Armed Services Committee Feb. 2] I asked Congress to make us come back," he said. "Because we don't know what we don't know. And I'm not presupposing the outcome."

The Corps may be limited, however, in what it can do to change course if issues do arise. In a January memo to Neller, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus warned the commandant against delaying integration because of social concerns.

"I expect you will ensure that a worthwhile goal does not unreasonably delay or prevent the execution of a policy imperative," he wrote.

10. Some doubt the sincerity of the Marines' integration efforts.

The Marine Corps was the only service branch to request exceptions to Carter's integration mandate. And while Neller has since stated that he expects Marines to "move out" in support of full integration, his statements during the Feb. 2 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the topic caused some to question his commitment to its success.

"Our hope is we'll be successful [with gender integration], but hope is not a course of action on the battlefield," Neller said during the hearing.

Marine Lt. Col. Kate Germano, the former commander of the Corps' only battalion that trains female recruits and an advocate for gender integration, said during a forum on the issue that she found the commandant's statement concerning.

"We need to be very cautious about the perception we are giving off, because that sets the tone for everything," she said. "... Doubts result in pre-supposed negative outcomes."

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.
U.S. Army equipment officials are working on a new lightweight, body armor system that combines a plate-carrier style vest with an armored combat shirt.

The new Soldier Protection System is being designed to provide soldiers with as much as a 14-percent weight savings than the current soldier protective equipment, according to Col. Dean Hoffman IV, the head of Army's Project Manager Soldier Protection and Individual Equipment.

"This is a modular system; if you want to deal with weight, you have got to go super-low, light-weight, but we also have to be able to protect the soldiers," Hoffman said during recent interview with Military.com. "It gives commanders more flexibility, more options to choose the right level of protection to suit the mission."

The Soldier Protection System, or SPS, is a full ensemble that goes beyond torso protection and provides the soldier with improved protection for vital areas such as the head and face, Hoffman said.

Currently, the Army issues soldiers the Improved Outer Tactical Vest, or IOTV, which offers torso, neck, shoulders and groin protection against 9mm and shrapnel threats.

Rifle plates such as the Enhanced Small Arms Protective Insert and the X-Threat Small Arms Protective Insert offer different levels of front and back protection against high-velocity rifle rounds. Smaller versions of these plates can be worn on each side of the torso for additional protection.

The IOTV weighs roughly 31 pounds in size medium when it equipped with front, back and side armor plates.

The Army also issues the Soldier Plate Carrier System, a more stream-lined system designed to lighten the soldiers' load, especially during fast-paced dismounted combat operations. It averages just under 22 pounds with front, back and side armor plates.

The new Modular Scalable Vest portion of the SPS features a more streamlined design compared to the IOTV, similar to the plate carrier. Soldiers can wear front, back and side rifle plates depending on the threat level, Hoffman said.

It also features a new quick-release system that is much simpler than the QRS on the IOTV, Hoffman said.

One of the biggest challenges with the quick-release system on the IOTV was it relies on a complex system of cables, he said.

"You actually had to get training, and it was a pain to put together," Hoffman said.

The new quick-release on the SPS activates easily by pulling a special tab in the front causing the front and rear sections to separate and drop to the ground. Special cables are integrated into the Fastex-style buckles, making it easy to reassemble, Hoffman said.

The most noticeable feature of the SPS is the new Ballistic Combat Shirt, or BCS, which has been updated with soft armor on the neck, shoulders, high chest and high back to protect against 9mm rounds and shrapnel, Hoffman said. The lower part of the shirt is still a breathable, fire-resistant material.

"It is just a soft armor, almost like a concealable-body-armor-type material," Hoffman said, describing how this latest version of the combat shirt is designed to be worn beneath the vest to eliminate the need for the Deltoid Axillary Protectors, or DAP.

The Army developed the DAP system early in the Iraq war to protect the shoulder and upper arm from shrapnel wounds many soldiers were receiving from enemy improvised explosive devices.

But the DAP is also bulky and prone to snagging when exiting Strykers and other vehicles.

"So when you would come out, those [DAPs] would catch on something, it would pull you down and rip off," Hoffman said. The armor on the combat shirt "is all smooth, contoured  it gives you much more flexibility and maneuverability," Hoffman said.

The new shirt also features a partial zipper closure and a mandarin-style color that is much softer than the IOTV collar that tends to rub and chafe on the neck, Hoffman said.

"We did the human-factors testing and everybody loved the shirt," Hoffman said. "At the end of the day, we want to provide protection to the soldier, but we also got to make sure he has the performance that he needs."

The goal of the SPS is to shave off 8 to 14 percent of the weight, Hoffman said, so at the most it would weigh about 4.3 pounds lighter than the average IOTV's 31-pound weight.

There is also an armored belt portion to the system which includes a male-female connector that attaches the belt to the vest in the back. The idea behind the concept is to help make the load more comfortable to carry.

Several companies have made these rigid-spine loadbearing systems but none have fared well in Army tests.

"When we did the initial human factors testing, this was the one thing that the soldiers did not like, so we have kind of gone back to the drawing board," Hoffman said.

For now, the Army plans to make this a separate effort from the SPS, so there is no chance of it holding up the program, Hoffman said.

But there is more to the SPS than just the vest and armored shirt, Hoffman said.

There is also the Integrated Head Protection System, which gives the soldier the ability to attach extra armor to the top of the helmet to provide additional protection against snipers shooting down on soldiers riding in an open turret, Hoffman said.

The system would also include an armored facemask to protect against gunfire and shrapnel, he said.

"We are keeping abreast of the current threats that are out there and making sure that our equipment is going to stop that," Hoffman said, adding that the Army recently approved a requirement for the effort.

The goal is to begin fielding the vest and BCS sometime in 2019 Hoffman said.

"We kind of did the proof of concept; we have proven that we can do it," Hoffman said.

The initial fielding plan is to issue the SPS to soldiers who are deploying to a combat theater, Hoffman said.

"This will probably not go to all the warfighters," he said. "Anyone who is being deployed and going into theater will always have the best equipment possible."

--Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.
The father of a Marine killed in an MV-22B Osprey crash last year plans to sue the manufacturer of the aircraft, saying design flaws contributed to the tragedy.

Mike Determan lives five miles from Arizona's Marana Northwest Regional Airport, best-known to some as the site of the deadliest crash in the short history of Marines' tiltrotor aircraft.

On April 8, 2000, an Osprey attempting to land at the airport stalled and then plummeted in a phenomenon known as vortex ring state, killing all 19 Marines on board. Determan knew the history, but never guessed that tragedy involving the aircraft would strike again much closer to home.

But on May 17, 2015, another Osprey went down -- this time at Marine Corps Training Area Bellows, Hawaii. The aircraft had hovered twice for brief periods in severe brownout conditions during a landing attempt, resulting in significant dust intake and "turbine blade glassification," or the melting of reactive sand at high temperatures, according to an official command investigation obtained by Military.com.

Two Marines aboard the aircraft were killed: Lance Cpl. Matthew Determan, 21, an infantry squad leader with Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines out of Camp Pendleton, California; and Cpl. Joshua Barron, 24, an Osprey crew chief with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 161, out of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California. The other 20 Marines aboard the aircraft sustained injuries of varying severity.

The investigation into the tragic crash recommended new guidelines limiting cumulative Osprey hover time in reduced-visibility conditions to 60 seconds, called for more advanced technology to mitigate brownout conditions, and ascribed partial blame to the pilots of the aircraft and the commanders of the squadron and Marine expeditionary unit it was attached to, saying better decision making and a more effective survey of the landing site might have prevented disaster.

The Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures Standardization program, or NATOPS, would ultimately recommend pilots spend no more than 35 seconds at a time hovering in reduced-visibility conditions.

Suit to Name Suppliers

But Mike Andrews, an attorney with the Montgomery, Alabama-based law firm Beasley Allen who represents the Determan family, said the problem lies solely with the Osprey. Andrews confirmed he is preparing a lawsuit against Osprey manufacturer Boeing Co. on behalf of the Determans, asking for unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. The suit, which he said will also name other manufacturers of V-22 parts, will be filed in Hawaii in coming weeks, though Andrews said he had not determined whether to file it in federal or state court.

Boeing spokeswoman Caroline Hutcheson declined to comment on the pending litigation.

"I can tell you that this is an unsafe aircraft," Andrews said. "Our feeling in this case is, our military boys and girls need to have the best equipment possible, and the V-22 is not it."

He was previously involved in a 2002 lawsuit against Osprey manufacturers Boeing, Textron's Bell Helicopter unit, and BAE's U.S. subsidiary following a December 2000 Osprey crash near Jacksonville, North Carolina, which killed all four Marines aboard.

"This is a situation in which we feel the Marine Corps, the military in general, is doing the best they can with a defective product," Andrews said. "They've been sold a bill of goods and they're trying to work with it. It's inexcusable."

A September report from Naval Air Systems Command generated in response to the Bellows crash underscores Mike Determan's contention that Osprey power loss during reduced visibility landings is far from an isolated incident. The report, obtained by Military.com, highlights three other such events dating back to 2013, one involving the CV-22 Air Force variant of the aircraft.

Two years prior to Bellows on Aug. 26, 2013, a Marine Corps Osprey crashed after experiencing engine compressor stall in a brownout near Creech Air Force Base, Nevada, according to the report. All four crew members walked away, but the aircraft was damaged beyond repair, according to officials.

On Feb. 24, 2015, another disaster was narrowly avoided when a deployed Marine V-22 experienced engine compressor stall in reduced visibility conditions, then recovered and successfully returned to base. Since no mishap occurred, this incident was never reported publicly.

On Dec. 1, 2013, an Air Force CV-22 operating out of North Africa experienced a compressor stall shortly after landing in brownout conditions, resulting in a Class C mishap, signifying damages between $50,000 and $500,000.

Undocumented Incidents

The report also found six additional undocumented aircraft power loss incidents in areas that contained "reactive sand," or sand containing high levels of elements with low melting points. It also found that a second Osprey at Bellows on May 17 had experienced a "near-miss," though it ultimately avoided stall in the sand cloud.

Determan said he believes the Marine Corps deserves some of the blame for the Bellows crash because officials were slow to apply lessons learned from previous MV-22 stalls in brownout conditions.

"They knew that there was a problem with restricted visibility; they knew it from Creech Air Force Base a year prior," Determan said. "To send my son and the other Marines in that morning knowing that the sand is reactive and it's very dangerous  by not doing the pre-work, they're just putting these guys at huge risk."

A former V-22 test pilot who spoke with Military.com under condition of anonymity because he is well known in the aviation community said the Osprey is uniquely susceptible to ingestion of sand and dust, which can melt at high temperatures inside the engine, changing airflow and making the engine less efficient. Because the aircraft can fly like an airplane and then tilt its rotors skyward for take-off and landing like a helicopter, its engine inlets are vertical as it descends, the pilot said, making it even more vulnerable to dust intake.

"The Osprey ingests one hell of a lot of dirt and sand," the test pilot said, adding that the aircraft had higher disc loading than other helicopters, meaning its smaller rotors had to pump a larger volume of air at a higher velocity. "You hover over that sand and you make one hell of a mess."

'Inherent Risk'

Mike Determan has a solution for the Marine Corps: Ground the Osprey until a third-generation tiltrotor, the Bell V-280 Valor, is ready to deploy. That aircraft will not have prototypes ready for a first test flight until 2017, and it's not yet clear what the Corps' fielding or purchasing plans with regard to the V-280 might be.

A Marine Corps spokeswoman, Capt. Sarah Burns, said the service has no plans to ground the MV-22, which is quickly becoming the centerpiece of its strategy for crisis response and long-range lift.

"By its very nature, there will always be inherent risk in combat aviation. This is due to the expeditionary nature of U.S. Marine Corps operations and the varied types of missions we fly," Burns said.

"When mishaps occur we diligently investigate them, and we are transparent with regards to the findings of each investigation," she added. "In this investigation there were no indications that there is an issue beyond that of the aircraft involved and consequently did not lead to a determination that a grounding of the fleet would be warranted."

According to figures provided by Burns, the Osprey's Class A mishap rate, which is calculated based on mishaps involving loss of life or $2 million or more in damage, is roughly in line with or better than comparable aircraft platforms.

Since fiscal 2010, the Osprey has a mishap rate of 3.06 per 100,000 flight hours, Burns said, compared with 3.63 for the CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter; 3.09 for the CH-46 "Phrog" retired by the Marines last year; 4.18 for the UH-1 N Twin Huey and Y Venom choppers; and 1.54 for the AH-1 Z Viper and W Super Cobra. These figures, however, don't take into account the Jan. 15 tragedy in which two CH-53E Super Stallions collided off the coast of Oahu, killing all 12 Marines aboard.

Marine Corps leaders have staunchly supported the V-22 as the revolutionary future of Marine Corps aviation, along with the brand-new F-35B Joint Strike Fighter. Recent experiments have highlighted the Osprey's ability to cover long distances at high speeds for raids and inserts; a squadron of Ospreys is now deployed to the Middle East with the Marines' crisis response force in the region for personnel recovery missions and support of the coalition fight against Islamic State militants.

'Where are the Ospreys?'

"The question used to be, 'Where's the carrier? Where's the [amphibious ready group/Marine expeditionary unit]?'" Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller told an audience at the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 11. "Now the question is, 'Where are the Ospreys?'"

Still, some worry that the Osprey may prove increasingly fragile as it replaces other workhorse Marine Corps rotary-wing platforms and weathers more years of deployment wear and tear.

The fact that Naval aviation was still learning about the Osprey's vulnerabilities and attempting to mitigate them more than eight years after the aircraft was first deemed deployable in 2007 was a function of the platform's complexity, the pilot said.

"[Ospreys are] encountering things, they're going places they have not been before" as the Marine Corps becomes more dependent on the platform, the pilot said. Despite Osprey deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan since 2007, the pilot characterized the aircraft's use to date as "ash and trash" -- transportation and lift, rather than combat.

"You can't go into a hot [landing zone] with the aircraft. If you do, you'll break it," he said. "The aircraft has never been tested to do the extreme maneuvering.'

The level of complexity in the tiltrotor aircraft increases the number of "unk-unks" -- unknown unknowns -- which are very difficult to test for, the test pilot said. And that doesn't sit well with Determan, who fears more Marines may be lost to tragic mishaps as new vulnerabilities come to light.

"Nobody really knows how the airframe is going to react when it gets older and older," Determan said. "Learn from the mistakes and make a better aircraft, and don't hold back on the cost."

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.

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The U.S. Army has 6,000 M1 Abrams tanks and for years has been saying that it doesn't need any more, but the service is requesting $558 million for more tanks in the latest budget.

"There's an industrial base piece to all of that," Maj. Gen. Neil Thurgood, the Army's deputy for acquisition and systems management, said Wednesday of the funding that will go to the General Dynamics Corps. plant in Lima, Ohio, the only tank manufacturer in the U.S.

Thurgood said the money would improve the Abrams' maneuverability and defenses, and also give its 120mm main smoothbore gun more range.

"You want to be able to shoot further than the person shooting at you," he said.

The main reason for funding more tanks was, "we want to preserve our national ability to maintain that technology base" in U.S. heavy industry if needed in time of war, Thurgood said.

Beginning in 2012, former Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno began testifying to Congress that the Army had more than enough tanks, even suggesting that the line at General Dynamics be frozen temporarily.

In 2012, Odierno testified that "we don't need the tanks," and said he'd rather use the money to spend on modernizing other weapons systems and platforms. "Our tank fleet is two and a half years old on average now. We're in good shape and these are additional tanks that we don't need," he said.

Last year, after Congress put more money for tanks back into the budget, Rep. Mac Thornberry, a Texas Republican and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said that keeping the line alive at General Dynamics showed that Congress was not a "rubber stamp."

"We made a judgment call" just as the Army was considering sending more tanks to Europe in response to the Ukraine crisis, Thornberry said. "That might be some evidence that Congress made the right call."

Thurgood was among several top Army officers who met in a roundtable session with defense reporters at the Pentagon on a range of issues stemming from the Defense Department's fiscal 2017 budget request presentation Tuesday.

Maj. Gen. Thomas A. Horlander, the Army's budget director, said the $148 billion budget request for the service would improve the readiness of the force -- the core concern for Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley.

Readiness is "consumable and it is cumulative," Horlander said, and the ability of the force to respond quickly in a crisis has been undermined by what he called the "oscillating" funding levels of recent years.

"It manifests itself in oscillating readiness levels" in which units "were unable to maintain the right amount of repair stocks and replenishment parts," he said. Without predictability in funding levels, he said, "you're always trying to catch up because you've lost what you built up previously."

Predictability in funding was especially critical for the readiness of the Army's rotational brigade formations for Europe, Kuwait and South Korea, said Maj. Gen. Walter E. Piatt, the Army's director for operations, readiness and mobilization and theformer deputy commander of U.S. Army Europe.

"We have to create a sustainable readiness model," Piatt said. In the past, "guys coming back -- we just went off a readiness cliff," he said. "We can't do that, the demand does not allow it. We have to maintain all formations at an acceptable level of readiness."

--Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.
The proposed changes to the military healthcare system in the Pentagon's fiscal 2017 budget are "perplexing" because they focus almost entirely on fee increases without also detailing care reforms, advocates and watchdogs say.

"My position has always been that if you're going to increase fees, you have to show an increase in value," said Jeremy Hilton, who helps lead the grassroots group Keep Your Promise, which lobbies for military family benefit safety. "But if it's simply increasing fees for fees' sake, than that's just going back to balancing the budget on the back of our retirees -- and that doesn't make any sense."

The defense spending plan, announced early this week as part of President Barack Obama's federal budget request, included a proposal to redesign Tricare's system around two new plans similar to the existing Tricare Prime and Standard systems. Retirees would also use one of the new systems, but would be expected to pay a yearly enrollment fee.

Currently, retiree families who use Tricare Prime pay about $560 a year to enroll in the plan, while retirees who use Standard do not pay enrollment fee. Under the new proposal, both groups would pay fees of $700 or $900 for families, depending on which Tricare plan they elect. Additionally, fees would rise for all groups, including increased catastrophic caps of $1,500 for active duty families and $4,000 for retirees.

Excluded in the budget proposal was a plan to make the Tricare system more effective or deliver better care. It's that omission, officials with the Military Officers Association of America say, which causes concern.

"We were hoping to see some specific proposals to address well-documented problems with access, continuity of care, referrals, National Guard and Reserve programs and other documented health care issues, but so far, we're left asking, Where's the substance?'" Dana Atkins, the organization's president and a retired Air Force lieutenant general, said in a statement.

MOAA officials also said that they don't support the drastic fee increases associated with the new plan. Retired families under 65 who use in-network providers are likely to see an increase of $500 to $600 per year under the proposal, while those who use out-of-network providers will likely face an increase of over $1,000 per year, they said.

The House Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee is holding hearings to debate the effectives of the military healthcare system. While officials expect a Defense Department report on the system to be delivered in March, the current hearings look to examine whether or not the military treatment facilities are meeting their primary role of promoting military readiness -- and how that readiness should be defined.

"We spend a lot of time in hearings and briefings ... trying to define what the role of the military healthcare system should be and how we structure that role to meet the requirements," Rep. Joe Heck, a Republican from Nevada and chairman of the panel, said in an interview with Military.com early this month.

"How do we best ensure that the military healthcare system can meet its primary role, which is to have a ready and deployable healthcare force to take care of our men and women in uniform when they deploy," he added, "and provide a valued benefit to military members, retirees and everyone to whom the healthcare benefit has been promised?"

The budget proposal will be examined by Heck's committee as well as the full Armed Forces committees in the House and Senate before legislation is drafted authorizing the Defense Department's budget for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 and any Tricare changes.

Although the budget proposal had not been released at the time of Heck's comments, he told Military.com in the interview that he did not anticipate wide congressional support for moving ahead with a consolidation plan, like the one the Pentagon was rumored at the time to be proposing and then later released.

"Our job is to wade through the reports, the recommendations that are made by the outside panels, collate that with the information we've received from our own briefings and hearings, and determine what we think is the best way forward for the military health care system," he said.

-- Amy Bushatz can be reached at amy.bushatz@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @amybushatz.
Finding a middle ground between low income rentals and luxury apartments is tough for renters in Ann Arbor.

The people behind the State Street Village apartments say they're providing an option for the problem with its nearly finished complex

Developed by Ann Arbor-based McKinley Inc., the apartment complex on Ann Arbor's south side is preparing to welcome residents who fit what McKinley CEO Albert Berriz calls "the missing middle".

"This is a condo-grade apartment that we're pricing and we're delivering to the missing middle, that workforce housing unit," Berriz said. "Our intent is not to be low income, affordable tax credit housing, we've never presented to be that. Nor are we the ultra-luxury that's being built downtown."

The apartments range from one bedroom to four bedroom with floor plans starting at 704 square feet and topping out at 1,726 square feet. Rents on the units range from $1,349 to $3,199.

The rental rates reflect a desire to offer housing options to people who make too much money to live in "low income" apartment communities, but not enough to afford the luxury apartments in the downtown area.

McKinley chief real estate officer, Ken Polsinelli admitted there aren't many options available to residents in their communities who seek something more upscale with more space, but can't pay downtown Ann Arbor rates.

"We're full everywhere, so we have to create more opportunities for people and give them more choices," Polsinelli said.

For comparison, a two bedroom apartment at State Street Village ranges between $1,799 to $1,899 a month for floor plans of 944 to 981 square feet. At the apartments at 618 S. Main near downtown Ann Arbor, a two bedroom unit is between $2,615 to $2,855 a month for 861 to 1.033 square feet.

By offering larger floor plans, more amenities and higher-end finishes, the apartments fill the needs renters at other McKinley communities have expressed a desire for while meeting a need in the Ann Arbor market.

The larger floor plans not only provide more space than what's typically available near the University of Michigan campus and downtown, Berriz said, they also allow for different types of renters.

"The other piece that is always missing in the missing-middle dialogue is family," Berriz said.

Polsinelli said having units large enough for families to live in is a driving force for the project.

"The choice is important because when you're in a one bedroom or two bedroom apartment as a family, the natural inclination is that you don't have enough space," Polsinelli said. "You need to have a place where your family can live comfortably."

Fifty-two of the 78 units on site are three or four bedrooms, renting for between $2,299 to $2,699 for three bedrooms, and $2,999 to $3,199 for four bedrooms.

Polsinelli said the location of the complex was important for the demographic the company is targeting too because downtown is within walking and biking distance, as are shopping and dining options at Briarwood Mall.

An AAATA bus stop is located right outside of the complex entrance that gives residents easy access to public transportation if needed.

The apartments feature stainless steel GE appliances and an island table in the kitchen, a laundry room with washer and dryer, large closet spaces in the bedrooms and granite countertops. An on-site fitness center is also available along with charging stations for electric cars. As with all McKinley communities, State Street Village is a smoke-free community.

McKinley vice president for Michigan Development Tom Gritter said the complex can begin leasing some of the units now while finishing touches are being made on one of the buildings. The first building will be ready by the end of the month with the second building finished next month.

Once completed, two four-story buildings will be on the grounds along with a leasing office that has a fitness center and a pair of smaller apartments.

So far, there's been interest from tenants in other McKinley properties while the company is preparing to market the apartments to the public, Gritter said.

Matt Durr is a business reporter for The Ann Arbor News. Email him at mattdurr@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter.
KALAMAZOO, MI -- People on The Move announces the new title or working role of local people moving from one paid position to another.

That includes lateral moves, promotions, new hires or people taking on significant new work assignments.

Among those making moves recently were:

HEALTH CARE

-Dr. Mark Tieszen has joined Bronson Adult Critical Care. Tieszen most recently worked for 23 years as an intensivist at Sanford Medical Center in Fargo, S.D. He completed his multi-specialty critical care medicine fellowship at SUNY Health Science Center in Syracuse, N.Y., and his internal medicine residency at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Boston. Tieszen is board certified in internal medicine with a subspecialty certification in critical care medicine. He has a bachelor's degree in biology from the University of South Dakota and a medical degree from the University of South Dakota School of Medicine in Vermilion, S.D.

-Dr. Denise Warren has joined Bronson OB/GYN - Capital Ave and The Bronson BirthPlace in Battle Creek. Warren completed her obstetrics and gynecology residency at Ingham Medical Center in Lansing. She is board certified in obstetrics and gynecology and received her medical degree from Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine in East Lansing.

HUMAN SERVICES

-Sakhi Vyas has joined The Learning Network of Greater Kalamazoo as its communications manager. Vyas is a graduate of Kalamazoo College with a degree in international and East Asian studies and has a master's degree in marketing management from the Instituto de Empresa in Spain. She was previously employed at Western Michigan University's Haenicke Institute for Global Education. The Learning Network strives to improve the lives of children in Kalamazoo County from cradle to career by connecting excellent educators to a caring and engaged community.



SERVICES

-Forensic Fluids Laboratories recently announced more new hires. Patrick McHenry has joined the company as director of therapeutic sales. McHenry previously worked as the national director of oncology sales at Quest Diagnostics. He attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering - automotive systems. Kelsey Garlock has joined Forensic Fluids as a laboratory technologist. Garlock, who worked for the company as an intern before joining it full-time, attended Ferris State University where she received bachelor's degrees in forensic biology and biotechnology. Rasheeda Curry has joined Forensic Fluids in the Data Entry department. Curry previously worked as an intern at Wilder Research Center and has a master's degree in public policy from the University of Minnesota. Forensic Fluids is a Kalamazoo-based oral fluid testing company.

BANKING

-Greenleaf Trust Bank recently announced staff promotions. Sharon A. Conran has been promoted to vice president, trust relationship officer. In that role, she is primarily responsible for estate settlement for the personal trust team. Conran has 16 years of experience in estate settlement processes and procedures. She has a bachelor's degree in finance from Western Michigan University and a law degree from Michigan State University College of Law. Michelle M. Gray and Lorey L. Matties have been promoted to participant services specialists. As such, they provide education and communication services to retirement plan clients and participants of various retirement plans. They are also responsible for conducting retirement plan group and enrollment meetings, meeting with plan participants, and developing education and informational materials. Gray supports the Participant Call Center, while Matties oversees the fulfillment of the quarterly participant statements. Gray has more than 15 years of experience in employer sponsored retirement plans and human resources, as well as more than 25 years of customer service experience. Lorey is a Central Michigan University graduate who has more than 20 years of experience in the retirement plan field.





To get moving



People on The Move announces the new title or working role of individuals moving from one paid position to another. Items should include the proper name of that person(s) and his or her new title. We also want to mention the position or job the individual most recently held.

Be advised that People on The Move is for people who live, work or are known in our readership area.



We publish head and shoulders photos of individuals when they are provided to us. They may be sent to ajones5@mlive.com. E-images should be JPEG format of at least 300 DPI.

For more information, contact Al Jones at ajones5@mlive.com.
Sur La Table_ Kitchen1_0414_002.jpg

Seattle-based Sur La Table to open its first West Michigan store in 2016.

(Eric Bell)

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Signing Fresh Thyme Farmers Market to a Grand Rapids location two years ago set the stage for developer Scott Wierda to woo Sur La Table to the retailer's first West Michigan storefront.

The foodie favorite will set up shop later this year in front of the soon-to-open organic grocer in Breton South Village.

"Securing an organic grocer was very high on my list to try to convince Sur La Table to create a presence in Grand Rapids and Breton Village in particular," Wierda said.

The CWD Real Estate managing director co-owns Breton Village and the newly launched Breton South Village. The latter is slated to eventually grow to 85,000 square feet of retail housing.

Wierda courted the Seattle-based retailer for more than a year.

Eventually the retailer arranged a visit to Grand Rapids. Wierda took them on a tour through the city's downtown and other retail quarters - first fanning their enthusiasm for the community, before convincing the decision-makers his development was the best fit.

Sur La Table is known for its on-site cooking classes, which are often led by a classically-trained resident chef.

With a long-term lease on hand, he began construction on the 8,800-square-foot building in front of Fresh Thyme that will be completed this month.

The interior build out of Sur La Table's 5,800 square-foot interior will start this spring, although the retailer hasn't yet announced an opening date for the store.

Launched in Seattle's Pike Place Market in 1972, the retailer sells an array of high-end and exclusive kitchen, bar and dining room products, from cookware to cutlery.

The French moniker - which means "on the table" - is pronounced "sir la tawb."

Sur La Table - whose tag line is "The Art and Soul of Cooking" - has garnered much of its foodie fandom with its onsite cooking classes, often led by a classically-trained resident chef.

"They are very passionate about their particular business," said Wierda of Sur La Table, his voice full of excitement he rarely shows. "This is who we need to attract. It's a fabulous co-tenancy."

Despite his unbridled enthusiasm for this deal, Sur La Table isn't his biggest first-to-market catch. In his CWD role, Wierda reeled higher profile and more elusive retailers Cabela's and Trader Joe's to the West Michigan market.

At Breton Village, the longtime developer has strategically picked his shops like a chess player, using one deal to leverage another.

That patience turned what was once an odd gaggle of stores into a fashion and specialty retail district that has drawn national and local merchants who have bypassed Grand Rapids' big malls to sign with Wierda. Those tenants include Anthropologie, lululemon, Evereve, Orvis and West Elm.

Wierda acknowledges he can afford to take a long view on his leases because he owns the development.

He thinks Sur La Table will not only attract West Michigan shoppers but pull from as far away as Traverse City and Kalamazoo.

Sur La Table has only 120 locations, including three Michigan stores in Ann Arbor, Troy and Novi.

Shandra Martinez covers business and other topics for MLive. Email her or follow her on Twitter @shandramartinez.
Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders square off in Wisconsin tonight in the last debate scheduled ahead of their Flint appearance.

Time: 9 p.m. EST

Location: Milwaukee, Wis.

Where it's streaming: It streams live here and will also be broadcast on CNN.

Moderators: Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff of PBS NewsHour

As the debate is happening, come back to this post where MLive will host a live chat.

Sanders and Clinton discussed the Flint water crisis at a previous debate and could do so again Thursday before heading to their next debate, which takes place on March 6 in Flint.

The city has become a national talking point after to a water crisis emerged when the city switched water sources and pipes leached lead, exposing an unknown number of children.

Tonight's debate is the sixth Democratic debate this election cycle, and Flint's will be the seventh. The Democratic National Committee has announced a total of 10 debates.

With Sanders coming off a strong win in New Hampshire and Clinton the winner in Iowa, the candidates are neck and neck in a fight for momentum going into Super Tuesday on March 1, when primaries and caucuses from 14 states and territories assign 1,017 Democratic delegates.

There are just two Democratic contests left before that date: the Nevada Democratic Caucus on Feb. 20 and the South Carolina Democratic Primary on Feb. 27. Michigan voters weigh in on March 8.

Emily Lawler is a Capitol reporter on MLive's statewide Impact Team. You can reach her at elawler@mlive.com, subscribe to her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter: @emilyjanelawler.
snyder flint

Gov. Rick Snyder on Wednesday said he was working on cultural changes within state government following the Flint water crisis.

(Emily Lawler | MLive.com)

LANSING, MI -- Gov. Rick Snyder said Wednesday that his administration was working to change the culture of state government after failures contributed to the Flint water crisis, which exposed an unknown number of children to lead.

The governor along with Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley has sought to connect with state employees throughout his term through the Office of Good Government. That office handles programs like "bureaucracy busters" and surveys employees for feedback. But the Flint water crisis still happened.

"That's one of the most humbling parts of this whole experience is to know and believe we've done a lot of great things in terms of empowering state employees, getting people more involved, recognizing people for being proactive, but then recognizing in a very large organization you can have some people who are not participating. I can't speak to the reasons why but they're not participating and they can do a lot of damage," Snyder said.

"So the endeavor is to say we just need to keep working hard every day to change the culture in some ways."

He said state employees were well-intentioned and hard workers. During his annual budget address he named state employees who had gone above and beyond to help in the Flint water crisis.

But he said that all levels of government, including state government, had failures in regard to the crisis.

"There needs to be improvement in terms of people being clear and open to say 'let's just solve the problem,' let's not be as concerned about making sure we're just documenting who did what to whom or sort of trying to say 'it's not my issue,'" Snyder said.

He said in the ideal environment state employees would feel comfortable bringing forward issues openly so the state could work to solve them.

The governor sent an email to employees after the water crisis happened warning that it could never happen again.

He also acknowledged that his high-level staff were communicating more information to him. Recently a document emerged showing that not only the Department of Environmental Quality but someone in his own office, Director of Urban Initiatives Harvey Hollins, knew of a possible connection between the Flint water switch and Legionnaire's Disease in March of 2015. The bacterial disease, though not definitively linked to the water, caused 10 deaths.

"I said it in front of the entire state during the state of the state address. I think I made it clear that if issues come up I need to know about them, period. And I think that process is beginning," Snyder said.

DEQ Director Dan Wyant and spokesman Brad Wurfel resigned over the water crisis. DEQ Drinking water and Municipal Assistance Director Liane Shekter Smith was let go.

Emily Lawler is a Capitol reporter on MLive's statewide Impact Team. You can reach her at elawler@mlive.com, subscribe to her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter: @emilyjanelawler.
LANSING, MI -- It's not us, fracking. It's you.

House Democrats want Michigan to dump high-volume hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a controversial oil and gas extraction practice that some lawmakers want to temporarily halt until updated regulations are passed.

Democrats say that, while vertical fracking has been used for years in Michigan, the newer technique of horizontal fracking requires updated regulations that better address the chemicals and massive volumes of water used in the process.

In a tongue-in-cheek press conference on Thursday, Feb. 11, bill sponsor Sarah Roberts, D-St. Clair Shores, framed the state's relationship with fracking as something akin to a thrill-is-gone romance in need of a Valentine's Day break-up.

Fracking "has become needy, sucking up a lot of resources and has taken too much control," said Roberts. "We think its time to take a break, re-evaluate our relationship and start fresh with some new rules."

The eight-bill package introduced Thursday afternoon would place a moratorium on new fracking permits, require fracking wells be at least 5,000 feet from "sensitive" locations like schools, hospitals, homes, and public parks, and require full disclosure of all chemicals used in the process.

"The public has the right to know what chemicals are being injected underground the state of Michigan and they should know that before the permit is granted," said Rep. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor.

Other proposed rules would require drillers more closely monitor waterway impacts when their use exceeds 100,000 gallons-per-month, ban use of fracking wastewater in roadway dust control, increase liability if contaminated groundwater is discovered and give local governments greater say in permitting decisions by including them in the regulatory process.

"We want our counties and townships, which are specifically prohibited from regulating wells, to have some say in the operation, location and abandonment of wells," said Rep. Christine Greig, D-Farmington Hills.

The proposals drew swift fire from Michigan Chamber of Commerce, which said they would raise energy prices and endanger Michigan jobs.

"Three petition drives to ban fracking have failed to gain voter support in Michigan," said chamber president Rich Studley. "House Democrats now want to impose a moratorium on energy exploration that voters have repeatedly declined to sign."

Although similar legislation targeted at fracking failed to gain traction last year, the new try hopes to piggyback on national attention paid to Flint's lead-contaminated water crisis and heightened public sensitivity to water quality and infrastructure issues in general.

A petition drive to put a fracking ban on the Nov. 2016 ballot failed to collect enough signatures during its six-month window last year, but the Committee to Ban Fracking is continuing its campaign in hopes of gathering enough new signers to get on the ballot.

Update: One tiny fix could drastically change Michigan ballot campaigns

John Griffin, executive director of the Associated Petroleum Industries of Michigan, said current Michigan Department of Environmental Quality regulations already cover concerns addressed in the bill package, which has a tough road ahead in the Republican-controlled legislature.

He said, that although the bill sponsors say the aren't trying to ban fracking altogether, that, in essence "no drilling is the goal."

Griffin credited fracking with contributing to low gasoline and natural gas prices and said Michigan already has "some of the toughest regulations in the country."

He characterized the non-disclosure of chemicals in the fracking process as a way for oil and gas companies to maintain valuable trade secrets.

"Say one company has a fluid mixture that's advantageous and sought after -- if they disclose it, their competitor can go out and copy it," Griffin said.

Democrats have created a website to advocate and gather signatures in support of the bills, which are expected to be assigned on Friday to the Republican-controlled natural resources committee, chaired by Andrea LaFontaine, R-Columbus Township.

- MLive capitol reporter Emily Lawler contributed to this report

Garret Ellison covers business, environment & the Great Lakes for MLive Media Group. Email him at gellison@mlive.com or follow on Twitter & Instagram
LANSING, MI -- Sen. Virgil Smith's planned resignation as part of a plea deal would shrink the state Senate's Democratic super minority to 10 members, the least representation Democrats have had in the state senate since 1954.

Smith agreed to resign and serve 10 months in jail Thursday as part of a plea deal stemming from a May 2015 incident where he is accused of shooting at his ex-wife and her vehicle. After the incident Senate Democrats stripped him of his leadership roles and committees but he remained in the caucus. The Senate did not pursue his expulsion.

But with his resignation the Senate Democrats would drop from 11 to 10 members. The entire Senate is set at 38 members, and would drop to 37 with Smith's planned resignation.

"The developments today were significant and I hope that the legal process will move swiftly. We need this issue to be resolved once and for all. Our focus will remain making sure the people of the 4th District have whatever help they need," said Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint.

In 1954 the Senate Democrats had eight members, but swung up to 11 members in 1955. The last time the Senate was under Democratic control was in 1983.

Since 2011 the Senate Democrats have been a super minority, meaning they don't even have more than a third of the body's members. That amount would allow the party to block two-thirds votes on things like immediate effect for bills.

However, Smith was somewhat disengaged from the Democratic caucus for months now, voting with Republicans on routine votes as recently as Wednesday. He championed measures like D-Insurance, a special auto insurance pool for Detroiters, which other Democratic members were lukewarm on.

Asked about the shrink to 10 members in the state senate, Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Brandon Dillon said the party had "a lot of work to do" in upcoming legislative elections. The House is re-elected this year, while the Senate is up in 2018.

In the meantime, the Governor could call a special election to fill Smith's seat. A spokesman for the Secretary of State said it would not be feasible to put his seat up in the March 8 special election, which fills seats for former Reps. Todd Courser, Cindy Gamrat and Brandon Dillon, because ballots have already been out for two weeks.

Snyder spokesperson Dave Murray said that a resignation letter would need to be presented to the Secretary of the Senate and the Senate Majority Leader before discussion of a special election could take place.

Emily Lawler is a Capitol reporter on MLive's statewide Impact Team. You can reach her at elawler@mlive.com, subscribe to her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter: @emilyjanelawler.
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11.02.2016 LISTEN

Are you a property investor on the hunt for a hidden gem in the global real estate market? Then it might be worth turning your sights to Asia, where plenty of untapped investment opportunities are to be found.

With rapidly growing economies and maturing property markets, emerging Asia offers many advantages for the astute real estate investor. Global real estate portal Lamudi has released a guide to Asias untapped property hotspots for 2016.

Boracay, Philippines

Arguably the Philippines most famous beach destination, the island of Boracay has recently emerged as a residential investment hotspot. With a new airport set to open this year and major property developments launching on the island, Boracay has become increasingly popular among both residential and commercial buyers. Yet Boracays property market is far from reaching its peak, with the continued development of the island meaning real estate values remain relatively low. As development accelerates, property values are expected to see high growth in the coming years.

Surabaya, Indonesia

While Indonesias capital Jakarta might seem the more obvious choice, the countrys second biggest city has recently cemented its place as a firm favourite among property investors. Property prices in Surabaya remain competitive when compared with Jakarta. Yet price growth here is the highest in East Java, supported by rising demand in the residential sector and increasing commercial activity as large firms in insurance, telecommunications and mining look to expand to the city.

Yangon, Myanmar

As Myanmar has opened up to the outside world, prices in the countrys real estate market have surged. Nowhere is this having more of an impact than in Yangon, the Southeast Asian nations commercial hub. Changes are afoot in this frontier market, with a new Condominium Law allowing for foreign ownership of high-rise buildings passed in January. Moreover, after recent elections saw the National League for Democracy claim victory, hopes are high that the new democratic government will take further measures to stimulate real estate growth.

Gampaha, Sri Lanka

Sri Lankas largest city, Colombo, is the usual target for real estate investors. However, locations outside of the countrys commercial hub are now seeing increasing demand. According to Lamudi data, Gampaha is the second most searched city among Sri Lankan homebuyers, with the number of searches for this city increasing over the course of 2015. The citys property prices remain relatively low while demand is high, as many Sri Lankans now choose to live in Gampaha and commute to Colombo for work.

Chittagong, Bangladesh

The seaport city of Chittagong makes the list for its strategic location, booming infrastructure and overall economic growth. Development is well underway here, with Bangladeshs planning minister recently pointing out that infrastructure projects in the Chittagong region now total more than US$7 billion. Chief among them is the proposal to build a road linking Chittagong to Kunming in southwest China, via Coxs Bazar and Myanmar. It comes as no surprise, then, that the citys property market has shown rapid growth in recent years, with this expected to continue into 2016.
Ghana-based Nigerian Comedian, Hogan says no Nigerian man comes to Ghana and leaves without tasting the apples of Ghanaian girls.

He said this in an interview with Livefmghana.com.

No Nigerian comes to this country without having a taste of some of the finest apples Ghana has though most of them come for business reasons, he said.

Hogan is a stand-up comedian, an actor, a producer, writer and a corporate MC and one of Nigerias most celebrated comic actor in Ghana.

He broke into lime light in 2011 with his rib cracking jokes on Hitz FMs Laughter Express, followed by Charter houses 1000 laugh series in the same year.

Since then, he has rocked several big stages and worked with Africas celebrated comedians in Ghana, Nigeria and beyond.

He is the producer of Chronicle of Hogan, a series of Comedy skits airing on Viasat 1 and Joy Prime and recently won an award for short and animated films at the 2015 F.O.F.A AWARDS in Ghana.
Kennedy Agyapong and Afia Schwarzenegger

11.02.2016 LISTEN

The 'talk-of-town' exchange of insults between the Member of Parliament for Assin North, Kennedy Agyapong, and Okay FM presenter Valentina Agyeiwaa, aka Afia Schwarzenegger, has ended in an anticlimax with the MP pleading that the radio presenter should not be sacked from her job.

Kennedy, on Tuesday evening, called on the Despite Group of Companies, owners of Okay FM, to maintain Afia Schwarzenegger but advised that she should not let anyone use her as a channel to insult others.

I will urge Despite to let her (Afia Schwarzenegger) go and work. I know people won't agree but we are now doing the job of President Mahama and I would have compassion on her, Kennedy noted.

The forthright MP made the plea in a response to an official press statement issued by Okay FM apologising for the unfortunate exchanges between their presenter and the politician.

There are speculations that Afia Schwarzenegger has been sacked from Okay FM but management of the station has told NEWS-ONE she is still a member of the Despite Group and host of 'Ye Wo Krom' on Okay FM as well as 'Kokooko' on UTV. No one has sacked her from either Okay FM or UTV.

Afia Schwarzenegger's mid-morning show, 'Ye Wo Krom', was not aired on Monday and this heightened speculations that she had been fired but NEWS-ONE gathered that 'Ye Wo Krom' would be off air for about three days for a review of the structure to make it more interesting.

According to the statement from Okay FM, management deeply regrets the unfortunate recordings circulating on social media even though most of the audios were not recorded in our studios.

The structure of the Despite Group of Companies is NOT to malign, denigrate, insult or condone and support acts of insults against personalities in society. Our business was built mainly to address social issues, to bridge the information gap and to serve as a platform for the exchange of ideas and generate discussions that will be of mutual benefit to our various publics and us.

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The statement apologised to the general public, Oman FM, Honourable Kennedy Agyapong and all other persons who may have been scandalised or have suffered in any way as a result of this incident.

MEDIA COMMISSION NOT HAPPY

The National Media Commission (NMC), Wednesday evening, issued a statement on the development. It strongly condemned the conduct of the two persons, describing their behaviour as an outrageous breach of the standards of decency required in public electronic communication.

The statement signed by the NMC Chairman, Kwesi Gyan-Apenteng, said the Commission would like to remind all operators of electronic communications networks that their freedom to carry content comes with responsibility. It is important to protect our freedoms and not take them for granted. We must therefore take strong steps to ensure that we do not allow a minority of people to destroy our freedom on the altar of parochial commercial, personal or partisan political interests. We particularly call on the Ghana Independent Broadcasters' Association (GIBA) to take steps to bring its members to order and to ensure that Ghanaians are fed with decent content.






11.02.2016 LISTEN

Minister of Tourism Culture and Creative Arts, Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, says government has allocated an amount of GH1 million towards the development of the creative arts industry for 2016.

She said the release of the funds was in line with President John Mahama's commitment towards improving the sector. She advised members to draft proposals to be able to access the funds in their respective region.

Mrs Ofosu-Adjare announced this when she paid a working visit to members of the creative arts industry in the Central Region to interact with them and discuss their challenges and concerns for redress.

She said the visit was also to inform them of the Creative Arts Bill currently in parliament and to sensitise them on it before its passage.

Mrs Ofosu-Adjare said a secretariat would be established in the region to serve as an avenue to sensitise and educate members on the bill. She indicated that 3,000 young people would be trained in the industry, of which 300 would be selected from the region.

Ms Christiana Carl Oparebea, director, Centre for National Culture, Cape Coast, expressed appreciation to the minister for the visit, which she described was in the right direction.
After surviving a gory accident in 2013, former hiplife artiste Isaac Okai known as Yaw Siki, now lives on preaches the gospel.

The incident, which happened on the Accra-Tema Motorway did not just leave the artiste bedridden for months, it also renewed his faith in God.

Yaw Siki, who had his debut hiplife song Wope Dodo in 2011, switched from secular music to gospel in appreciation of God's favour for him and the second chance offered him.

One inch away from death God gave me a second chance. They said there's this thing called hallow vest, that vest was screwed to my forehead, actually touching my scalp and I had to lay on my back for three months, he recounted.

Yaw Siki added that, I couldn't take my bath for three months, they had to do dry cleaning for three months, it wasn't a pleasant experience and so if today if I am here, it's by His grace, I am saved by grace, I have been given a second chance, forgiven and healed.

Since giving his life to Christ, he has released tracks like 'Thank You', 'Ohene' and 'Medi Wekyi'.

Unfortunately, these songs were not given same attention like the secular ones. According the former hiplife musician, who now prefers to be called Yaw, the media still took interest in his old works.

Though he had friends from the industry to come to his aid during the traumatic experience, they fled before long.

"The acceptance they (gave) me, they do not associate or accept or receive me like how they used to because now. But I have a different mindset [and] a different goal ahead of me.

"I feel rejected, I am human [being] but already the bible has made me know that if I am in Christ I am not of this world and so definitely once I am not of this world and not doing the worldly things then I cannot associate with them, he opined.

After battling with himself on his next line of action after chalking close to no success with his gospel music career, Yaw says God gave him yet another direction.

I was praying last year in December and then the spirit just prophesied through my own self that I should preach in communities 7,8,9 and 10 (all in Tema) this year.

Yaw turns 30 this year and out of curiosity, he was asked how he fends for himself? He disclosed that, he gets financial assistance from family and also receives tokens from preaching the word of God.

"(With) my bills, my family supports me and then when I preach, people give [me money], when I preach I do not ask but when I finish and some people call me, oh take this, take that and all with family support I am able to pay bills.

Last year December, I [preached] at the Motorway Roundabout and a man gave me GHc500. That's the highest I have received so far, he disclosed.

"I preach in the Trotros (Commercial buses). I preach in between lanes in the communities and you see that people will not give you that big amount for preaching to them but I don't mind," Yaw concluded.
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Cape Town (AFP) - South Africa's radical leftist Economic Freedom Fighters party Thursday walked out of Jacob Zuma's state of the nation address in the latest attack on the embattled president who is tainted by graft allegations.

In chaotic scenes for more than an hour, EFF lawmakers shouted down the Speaker before obeying her order to either allow the president to deliver his address or to leave the chamber.

"Zuma is no longer a president that deserves the respect from anyone," EFF leader Julius Malema yelled as Zuma sat impassive at the podium.

"He has stolen from us, he has corrupted the economy of South Africa, he has made this country a joke and after that, he has laughed at us."

The EFF lawmakers, dressed in their regular uniform of red workers' overalls and red hardhats, then left the chamber.

The party, which supports land redistribution without compensation and nationalisation of mines, was formed by former ANC youth leader Malema in 2013 and has become an effective critic of Zuma's government.

Its lawmakers had earlier vowed to disrupt the president's address if he failed to explain his sacking of two finance ministers in one week in December, which sent South Africa's rand currency into free fall.

Once he got the chance to speak, Zuma acknowledged that the country's economy was in trouble and pledged to implement "an effective turnaround plan" in partnership with the private sector.

This would include cutting wasteful government expenditure and getting rid of underperforming state-owned enterprises, he said.

Earlier, police fired stun grenades to disperse angry protesters outside parliament shortly before Zuma delivered his address.

Zuma faces moves in court, in parliament and on the streets to have him impeached or dumped by the ruling African National Congress (ANC).

Factors fuelling the calls for Zuma to quit include public money spent on his private residence, damage done to the economy when he fired two finance ministers within days, and government corruption.

- Economy in trouble -

His address to parliament comes just two days after the Constitutional Court heard a crucial case accusing the president of violating his oath to uphold the constitution.

Two opposition parties took the case to court over Zuma's initial refusal to obey a ruling by the national ombudswoman that he repay some of the $24 million lavished on his private home at Nkandla in eastern South Africa.

His own lawyers accepted in court that the case had "traumatised the nation," and conceded that he needed to obey.

But they urged the court not to be "inveigled into a position of making some form of wide, condemnatory order, which will be used effectively for... an impeachment in parliament".

The court reserved judgement.

The EFF has pledged to use an adverse ruling by the court to press for Zuma's impeachment.

Any such attempt however would likely fail in a parliament where Zuma's ANC holds an overwhelming majority.

But critics hope the groundswell of discontent, expected to result in losses for the ANC in municipal elections later this year, could lead the party itself to oust Zuma as president.

The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, did not disrupt Zuma's speech, but had called on him to use the occasion to announce his resignation.

Zuma "hops from one scandal to the next, all to protect himself and his cronies... while our country remains on the verge of economic meltdown," party leader Mmusi Maimane said in a statement.

The heightened tension comes amid a sharply slowing economy, high unemployment, grinding poverty and a resurgence of public racial animosity.

The World Bank recently cut its growth forecast for this year to just 0.8 percent.

Commentators have predicted that 2016 could be South Africa's toughest year since the ANC came to power under liberation icon Nelson Mandela at the end of apartheid in 1994.
South African President Jacob Zuma sits down as he is interrupted trying to give his state of the nation address in Cape Town, South Africa on February 11, 2016. By Schalk van Zuydam (Pool/AFP)

11.02.2016 LISTEN

Cape Town (AFP) - President Jacob Zuma on Thursday announced plans for "an effective turnaround plan" for South Africa's ailing economy in an address to the nation disrupted by a walkout by radical lawmakers.

Zuma, who plunged markets into chaos in December when he fired two finance ministers within days, met this week with business leaders in an attempt to avoid a downgrade of the country's debt to junk status by ratings agencies.

The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have predicted that South Africa's growth this year will slide to less than one percent -- far below levels needed to deal with unemployment running at 25 percent.

"Importantly, our country seems to be at risk of losing its investment grade status from ratings agencies," Zuma said when he was finally allowed to speak after chaotic scenes in parliament.

"If that happens, it will become more expensive for us to borrow money from abroad to finance our programmes of building a better life for all especially the poor."

Lawmakers from the leftist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), dressed in their uniforms of red workers' overalls and hardhats, noisily interrupted his speech for an hour before being ordered out of the chamber.

"Zuma is no longer a president that deserves the respect from anyone," EFF leader Julius Malema yelled at the president.

"He has stolen from us, he has corrupted the economy of South Africa, he has made this country a joke and after that, he has laughed at us."

Zuma shrugged off the protest with his trademark giggle.

But once he got going on his speech, the tenor was sombre, and he pledged that wasteful government expenditure would be cut.

This would include limiting the size and frequency of trips abroad, a possible move of parliament from Cape Town to the administrative capital Pretoria, and getting rid of underperforming state-owned enterprises.

At the same time, black economic empowerment would remain a foundation of economic policy, he said.

- 'Demon of racism' -

More than 20 years after the end of apartheid, Zuma also raised the issue of resurgent racial tension -- after a storm of anger over a white woman who called black beachgoers "monkeys" on a Facebook post.

"The nation was shaken last month when racism reared its ugly head on social and electronic media, causing untold pain and anger," he said.

"There is a need to confront the demon of racism."

Earlier Thursday, police fired stun grenades to disperse angry protesters outside parliament shortly before he delivered his address.

Zuma faces moves in court, in parliament and on the streets to have him impeached or dumped by the ruling African National Congress (ANC).

Factors fuelling the calls for Zuma to quit include public money spent on his private residence, damage done to the economy when he fired the finance ministers, and government corruption.

His address to parliament came just two days after the Constitutional Court heard a crucial case accusing the president of violating his oath to uphold the constitution.

Two opposition parties took the case to court over Zuma's initial refusal to obey a ruling by the national ombudswoman that he repay some of the $24 million lavished on his private home at Nkandla in eastern South Africa.

His own lawyers accepted in court that the case had "traumatised the nation," and conceded that he needed to obey.

The court reserved judgement.

The EFF has pledged to use an adverse ruling by the court to press for Zuma's impeachment.

Any such attempt however would likely fail in a parliament where Zuma's ANC holds an overwhelming majority.

But critics hope the groundswell of discontent, expected to result in losses for the ANC in municipal elections later this year, could even lead the party itself to oust Zuma as president.

The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, dismissed Zuma's address, saying "he cannot be trusted to grow the economy, create jobs and fight corruption."
10.02.2016 LISTEN

The winners of this years DStv Eutelsat Star Awards were announced during a ceremony held in Nairobi, Kenya, that also celebrated rising student interest in science and technology.

The fifth edition of the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards, organised by MultiChoice and Eutelsat, reached a record participation with nearly 2,000 entries from 18 countries. The winner in the essay category, Ayawen Asuinura from Ghana has won a trip to Paris and onwards to a launch site to witness a rocket blast into space to place a satellite into orbit. This is the first win in the essay category for Ghana that has already produced two winners in the poster category.

The runner-up in the essay category was Sara Eribo from Equatorial Guinea who wins a trip for two to visit MultiChoice facilities and the South African National Space Agency near Johannesburg. In the essay category, students were asked to interpret the quote by Socrates Man must rise above the Earth, to the top of the atmosphere and beyond, for only thus will he fully understand the world in which he lives and to show how satellites help understand and take care of our planet.

In the poster category, Mallon Marume from Zimbabwe scooped the first prize for artistic creativity and will visit Eutelsat in Paris to understand how satellites are operated and piloted in space and the many ways they benefit users. This is a consecutive win for Zimbabwe as Joseph Mahiya won top honours in the essay category last year.

Benjamin Ibanda from Uganda was the runner up in the same category. The four winning schools attended by the overall award winners and runners-up were also rewarded with a DStv installation, including dish, TV set, PVR decoder and free access to the DStv Education Bouquet.

Paolo Nespoli, an ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut chaired the jury of the Awards for the third year in a row, assisted by an international panel of skilled industry experts: Ronke Bello, CEO at Innovative Technology Literacy Services Ltd, Nigeria; Dr Jane Munga, Policy Advisor, Kenyan Ministry of Information, Communication, Technology and Research, Kenya; Dr Perkins Muredzi, Dean of School of Industrial Sciences and Technology, Harare Institute of Technology (HIT), Zimbabwe; Melt Loubser, GM: Broadcast Technology, MultiChoice Africa and Rodney Benn, Regional Director, Eutelsat.

Commenting on the entries, Paolo Nespoli said: As the Jury Chairman of the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards over the last three years, I confirm that this years entries reaffirm the high standard of this unique competition. The quality and creativity of the finalists essays and artwork underscore the deep interest of Africa's young generation in science and technology. I am truly honoured to be part of a competition that reveals some of Africa's future thought leaders."

The keynote speaker was Kenyas Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of ICT, Hon. Joe Mucheru who said: It is important to note that His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta and his government is determined to promote holistic development of the country covering all sectors with particular focus on leveraging science and technology in the delivery of services in all sectors of the economy including ICT and education. Therefore, it is gratifying to note the effort by both MultiChoice Africa and Eutelsat in ensuring that we nurture interest and build capacities in science and technology.

About the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards

In 2010 MultiChoice Africa and Eutelsat combined their expertise to initiate an annual pan-African student competition called the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards. The DStv Eutelsat Star Awards encourages 14-19 year-old students to write an essay or design a poster on a satellite-related topic. Country winners from across Africa then compete in the overall awards for a trip to the Eutelsat facilities in Paris, with the essay winner travelling onwards to witness a live rocket launch.

Runners-up win a trip to South Africa as guests of MultiChoice Africa and the South African National Space Agency at Hartebeesthoek. Schools attended by the overall winners also receive a DStv installation, including dish, television, state-of-the-art PVR decoder and free access to the DStv Education Bouquet. Winners at national levels win prizes such as computers or tablets.
10.02.2016 LISTEN

German police have rejected as speculation a report that a line controller turned off an automatic safety system shortly before two passenger trains collided in Bavaria.

Ten people were killed and scores more were injured, 18 seriously.

An unconfirmed report suggested that an automatic braking system had been switched off to allow one of the trains to make up time.

But a police spokesman rejected the theory as pure speculation.

Discard that, we reject that, a spokesman told local broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk .

The braking system, which is supposed to kick in when a train runs through a red light, was installed after a 2011 disaster at Magdeburg in which 10 people died.

Reports in German media suggested that in exceptional circumstances the automated system could be overridden by rail staff.

But police said the controller had been questioned on Tuesday as part of the inquiry and there was no immediate suspicion towards him. As the investigation was in its early stages, nothing could be ruled out.

Human error is still being investigated as a possible cause of the disaster, which happened on a single-track commuter line on Monday morning near Bad Aibling, a spa town about 60km (37 miles) south-east of Munich. The control room at Bad Aibling is also at the centre of the inquiry.

Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the trains had crashed into each other while both were travelling at about 100km/h (62mph).

Although the search for a third data recorder is still being carried out, Mr Dobrindt told reporters on Wednesday that one of the black boxes had already been analysed. No technical fault or evidence of driver error had been found on the westbound train, he said.

But the eastbound trains data recorder may be of more importance, as it was several minutes late when the two trains crashed head-on.

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Nine of the 10 victims of the crash were men. Both train drivers and two train guards were among those killed.

The 10th victim was a teenaged girl, according local reports.

Police said that the search of the wreckage had been completed and no more victims had been found or were missing.

None of those being treated in hospital was in a life-threatening condition, they added.

The search has been complicated by the difficult terrain where the crash happened.

A 160-tonne crane arrived at the scene of the disaster on Wednesday, as salvage workers prepared to remove the two mangled trains from the track. The work was expected to last at least two days.

Bavarian State Premier Horst Seehofer laid a wreath at the site with his colleagues and said it was a tragedy. The whole of Bavaria has been shaken, he said.

The trains collided in a hilly and densely wooded region near the Mangfall river.

Investigators will have to find out why a train that left Holzkirchen travelling east to Rosenheim was on the single track at 06:48, four minutes after it was due to reach its next stop at Kolbermoor, where it would have met the westbound train on a double track.

The westbound train from Rosenheim to Holzkirchen would have left Kolbermoor at 06:45 and would have been expected to be on the single track at the time of the accident.

As the PZB automated braking system had been checked a week ago, there has been heightened speculation that it may have been temporarily disabled, and it is the controllers responsibility to ensure trains are running safely.

-bbc


10.02.2016 LISTEN

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has lashed out at the US over its support for Syrias main Kurdish group.

The failure to recognise the Democratic Union Party (PYD) as a terrorist group was creating a sea of blood, he said.

Turkey says the PYD, on which the US relies to battle so-called Islamic State in Syria, is an offshoot of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Mr Erdogans comments come as Turkey faces pressure to allow in 30,000 Syrian refugees stranded on its border.

The refugees have fled an offensive by Syrian government forces and Iranian-backed militias, supported by Russian air strikes, on rebel-held areas around the divided northern city of Aleppo.

More than 500 people, including dozens of civilians, have been killed since the assault began 10 days ago, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group.

Medecins Sans Frontieres meanwhile warned that the fighting was placing extreme pressure on the already devastated healthcare system in the border town of Azaz.

MSFs head of mission for Syria, Muskilda Zancada, warned that displaced people, including young children and the elderly, could be stuck living in the open in freezing conditions, with severe effects on their health.

Turkey has already taken in more than 2.5 million Syrian refugees over the past five years and says it will continue to do so in a controlled fashion. US policy ambiguous

In some of some of his fiercest remarks so far against the US, Turkeys president asked in a speech in Ankara on Wednesday: Are you on our side or the side of the terrorist PYD and PKK organisation?

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Is there a difference between the PKK and the PYD? Is there a difference with the YPG? he added.

We have written proof! We tell the Americans: Its a terror group. But the Americans stand up and say: No, we dont see them as terror groups.'

Mr Erdogan said the failure to do so meant the region had turned into a pool of blood.

While Turkey sees the PYD and YPG as offshoots of the banned PKK, the US does not and believes they are the only effective force against IS on the ground in Syria, reports the BBCs Mark Lowen in Istanbul.

But Ankara worries they will fan Kurdish separatism in Turkey and that arms given to the Syrian Kurds will seep over the border to the PKK, with which armed conflict has resumed, our correspondent says.

Mr Erdogan regularly hits out at the West over Syria, accusing it of complicity by not intervening to topple President Bashar al-Assad and calling baseless the criticism that jihadists have been allowed to cross Turkeys border, our correspondent adds.

Frances outgoing Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, also questioned the commitment of the US to resolve the crisis in Syria on Wednesday, saying its ambiguous policy was contributing to the problem.

Mr Fabius said he did not expect President Barack Obama to change his strategy before leaving office, regardless of what Secretary of State John Kerry told Mr Assads main backers.

Im not sure that the end of Mr Obamas mandate will push him to act as much as his minister declares [publicly], he added. There are words, but actions are different and obviously the Iranians and Russians feel that.

-bbc


10.02.2016 LISTEN

Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Bernie Sanders have shaken up the US presidential race with decisive victories in the New Hampshire primary.

Billionaire Mr Trump is likely to get more than twice the number of votes of the next Republican candidate.

Senator Bernie Sanders, who beat Democratic rival Hillary Clinton by a huge margin, said his victory showed people wanted real change.

Both candidates are riding on a wave of discontent with mainstream politics.

The aim of the primary race is to choose which candidates will represent the Republican and Democratic parties in Novembers presidential election.

On Tuesday Ohio Governor John Kasich came second in the Republican vote, with former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Florida Senator Marco Rubio all vying for third place.

New Hampshire is the second state to choose delegates in the long nomination battle following last weeks Iowa caucuses, which were won by Mr Cruz for the Republicans and Mrs Clinton for the Democrats.

The result gives momentum to the winners ahead of the next contests in South Carolina and Nevada. The Republican race

Mr Trumps lead in New Hampshire is the first time the New York businessman  who has never held political office  has translated his widespread support in opinion polls into an election victory.

In his victory speech, the real estate mogul congratulated Democratic winner Mr Sanders but sideswiped that he wants to give away our country, folks!

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Mr Trump, 69, has pledged to deport millions of migrants who are living in the US illegally; build a wall along the border with Mexico; and impose a temporary ban on all Muslims entering the country. The Democratic race

With close to 90% of the votes counted, Senator Sanders has a lead of more than 20 percentage points over Mrs Clinton in the two-horse race for the Democratic nomination.

He had topped polls in New Hampshire in recent months, but Tuesdays outcome is seen as a significant victory for the self-described Democratic socialist candidate.

What the people here have said is that given the enormous crises facing our country, it is just too late for the same old, same old establishment politics and establishment economics, Mr Sanders told cheering supporters.

The 74-year-old has vowed to eradicate income inequality, provide free university education and break up big banks.

Mrs Clinton congratulated Mr Sanders, but said in a speech she would continue to fight for every vote in the campaign. Despite the setback, she still remains the front runner for the nomination.

Mrs Clintons campaign manager, Robby Mook, said in a memo that they expected the race for the Democratic nomination very likely to be decided in March.

The former secretary of state acknowledged before the polls that Mr Sanders had a natural advantage in New Hampshire because he represents the neighbouring state of Vermont as senator.

Mrs Clinton, who has more support from the Democratic establishment, narrowly won in Iowa.

-bbc


Sunyani, Feb. 10, GNA - Mr Frederick Appiah Kubi, Manager of the Brong-Ahafo Regional Hospital Co-operative Credit Union (BARHCCUS) has indicated that membership of the union is open to the public and not restricted to only workers of the hospital.

He observed that a viable credit union thrives on high membership, and this called for the need to open up the facility's common bond to broaden its membership base.

Mr Appiah Kubi was speaking at this year's Annual Performance Review meeting of the Brong Ahafo Regional Hospital in Sunyani.

He said from an initial membership of 288, in 2013, the membership increased to 651 in 2014 and further soared to 805 by the end of December, 2015 whiles posting a growth rate of 19.13% during the year under review.

The BARHCCUS Manager said management was putting in place a strategy to reach out to as many people as possible in the Sunyani Municipality and its adjoining suburbs like Penkwase, Nkwabeng, New Dormaa, Kotokrom, Yawhima and Chiraa to rope in more members.

Mr. Appiah Kubi assured the general public that BARHCCUS was duly registered by law under the Co-operative Act and affiliated to the Credit Unions Association of Ghana (CUA).

'We want to make BARHCCUS, a household name in the financial environment of the region and even beyond, in the next five years so rush and become part of this unique happy family,' he said.

GNA
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The United Nations wants to send independent forensics experts to Burundi to help authorities investigate allegations of mass graves in the strife-torn country, a senior official said Wednesday.

After a government security crackdown in December, witnesses came forward with accounts of at least nine mass graves in and around Bujumbura including one in a military camp where more than 100 bodies were allegedly buried.

Corpses were allegedly dumped in grave sites by police who had carried out raids in Bujumbura, arresting and shooting young men in response to a December 11 attack by gunmen on three military barracks.

UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic told reporters that a Burundian prosecutor had opened an investigation of the alleged mass graves and that the United Nations had offered to help.

"Somebody has to dig those mass graves. We would like to be present when this is done and we are offering to provide forensics experts," Simonovic said.

The government, which has dismissed the allegations, has not responded to the UN offer for experts to be on site for the excavations.

UN human rights officials are examining satellite imagery of the alleged mass graves and pressing the government to act quickly to shed light on the allegations.

Burundi has been in turmoil since President Pierre Nkurunziza announced plans in April to run for a third term, which he went on to win.

More than 400 people have died in the violence and at least 230,000 have fled the country.

UN Security Council ambassadors traveled to Burundi last month to urge Nkurunziza to open up serious negotiations with the opposition and agree to an international presence.

The mission was aimed at preventing a slide toward ethnic killings in Burundi between Hutus and Tutsis, similar to the violence that led to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
The Late JB Danquah

10.02.2016 LISTEN

The Accra Region police have announced a 10,000 cedi reward for anybody who would provide information that will lead to the arrest of the assassin(s) of Member of Parliament for Abuakwa North.

A statement announcing the bounty also asked operators of medical facilities to be on the lookout for suspicious character(s) with fresh knife wounds, who may seek medical attention at their facilities.

JB Danquah was murdered Tuesday dawn at his home in Shiashie by unknown assailants. He was stabbed twice on his ribs and abdominal area in yet another case of horrifying murders to hit the country.

No motive has yet been established for the murder even though three suspects were arrested and later granted bail.

A statement released and signed by the Police Director of Public Affairs Superintendent Cephas Arthur said a crack team of investigators has been constituted to investigate the murder.

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The team is headed by the senior police officer from the CID Headquarters under the direct supervision of the Director-General CID, the police statement said.

Superintendent Cephas Arthur said the police are committed to unraveling the mystery surrounding the murder of the MP.

But not many are convinced the police would get to the bottom of the case given the avalanche of unresolved murders in the country.

On March 12, 2014, Nii Ayittey Noyatse, the Joma Mantse in Ga South, was shot and killed by unidentified assailants. A day later Fennec Okyere, manager of controversial hiplife artiste, Kwaw Kese was also shot dead at his home in Manet. In June of the same year, the Paramount Chief of the Nanumba Traditional Area, Naa Dasana Andani, was killed under bizarre circumstances. Again one Arnold Nii Ofori Tackie was also shot dead in Tema.

A Vodafone Marketing Officer, the Branch Manager of Ecobank Ghana at Abrepo in Kumasi in the Ashanti region, and a Stanbic Bank worker were also murdered under mysterious circumstances. The police are yet to get to the bottom of these murders.

It is hoped the police will arrest the perpetrators of these heinous crime.

-adomonline


Executive Director of African Center for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA) has added his voice to calls for Members of Parliament to get security protection.

Dr. Rashid Dramani says if the Executive and the Judiciary arms of government get police protection then the Legislature which is equally an important part of government must also get same.

I believe that what's good for the goose is good for the gander so the MPs should also get police protection Dr. Dramani stated.

He was contributing to a discussion about the safety of MPs Wednesday on Adom FMs Burning Issues programme.

The discussion topic was informed by the sudden death of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Abuakwa North, Joseph Boakye Danquah-Adu.

The MP was stabbed to death on Tuesday at his residence at Shiashie in Accra by unknown assailants.

Fear and panic has grip Members of Parliament following the fatal incident.

Meanwhile, the Greater Accra Police command has granted bail to three of the five suspects arrested in connection with the murder of the Abuakwa North MP Joseph Boakye Danquah Adu.

A security person and two female house helps of the late MP were released from custody Tuesday evening.

Danquah was stabbed to death at his East Legon residence during the wee hours of Tuesday. The police say they suspect foul play and have launched forensic investigations into the case.

The Police Administration is offering GHa10,000 to anyone with information leading to the arrest of Tuesdays killers of the MP for Abuakwa North, J. B. Danquah-Adu.

A statement announcing the bounty also asked operators of medical facilities to be on the lookout for suspicious character(s) with fresh knife wounds, who may seek medical attention at their facilities.

A statement released and signed by the Police Director of Public Affairs Superintendent Cephas Arthur said a crack team of investigators has been constituted to investigate the murder.
11.02.2016 LISTEN

Founder and Leader of the International Godsway Church, Bishop Daniel Obinim has issued a stern warning to critics branding him an Anti-Christ.

Quoting I Chronicle 16:22 which states that 'Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm' to buttress his point, the prophet said he is the apple of Jesus' eye thus anyone who insults him will incur the wrath of God.

Bishop Obinim incurred the wrath of many including renowned men of God after he claimed he can metamorphous into any creature including a snake .

Founder of Hope Generation Ministry, Prophet Eric Nana Kwasi Amponsah popularly known as Computer man did not mince words describing Bishop Obinim as a false prophet .

But the outspoken prophet while addressing his congregation said the many criticisms has rather strengthen him to do the work of God.

So far, no man of God has been able to challenge me; it shows that I'm the only pastor in Ghana with such supernatural powers because even the powers of angles are in levels he bragged.

Bishop Obinim however warned those who have made it a habit to launch vitriolic attacks on him when he performs his miracles.

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A lot of people going mad, smoking marijuana, having problems in marriages and losing monies in this country have all spoken against me. God cause these things to happen to them because they are destroying His work he stated.

The International Godsway Church leader bemoaned how some pastors who should know better join the bandwagon of unbelievers and hurl insults at him when he is doing the assignment of God.

Don't get me angry because if I tell you the things I do for Jesus spiritually, you will marvel. When you are asleep, I'm fighting for Jesus to win more souls for Christ.

I have been able to reform prostitutes and armed robbers; given them money to start a trade. What have you done for people to condemn me he quizzed.

Bishop Obinim urged his critics especially men of God whom he described as 'Pharisees' to concerns on their assignment of earth since we will all be judge in the end time.

He also charged his members to defend him fiercely on radio stations and all social media platforms when he is being ridiculed for doing the work of God.

-adomonline


It is called democracy and it is a system of government that often purports to be righteous. However, it is a style of government that has given rise to years of slavery and Europe-inspired political and economic occupation of many of the worlds nations. Hmmmin fact, when you reflect on it, the term democracy is synonymous with Europes greed and injustice throughout the globe. We can therefore only wonder why the African nations of the earth have for the most part, given themselves over to European and American style democracy. This article seeks to explore democracys failure in Africa.

Democracy and Africa

Who makes a government and expects the people to do whatever they want? The answer is: nobody. However, in the name of freedomthe unrighteous kinddemocracy does just that. Today, democracy has instilled so much injustice in the world that one can only wonder why Africa of all continents wants to see it flourish as the standard of government for the nations of the continent.

Democracy, or what I call white-is-right democracy, oversaw the slave economies of yesterday, and today does the same. As African people continue to move to Europe and North America in the name of seeking economic prosperity and freedom, many will sell their sweat and labour to European interests and those of other nationalities for the purpose of becoming rich and achieving the Western dream of social affluence. A question that must be asked is what happened to Africa that its nationals cannot stay home and prosper in their own nations? This author believes that the answer is very simple: the adoption of European style education and heathenism, or what is commonly referred to as Western education in the modern sense.

Democracy emphasises a liberal form of education. Interestingly though, even after having been educated in Europe and North America, as well as other nations of the world, African professionals in particular, seem ill-equipped to positively transform their nations economic positions and judicial inclinations. This is to the extent that one can only wonder why the name of Jesus (Yeshua), of all people, is even mentioned in Africa at all. After all, the Christian faith is about developing the mind to transform the earth into a haven of righteousness and peace. This philosophy was once the basis of many aspects of Western education. Many an African professional will somehow claim to be Christian, or to have some affiliation with the Mashiach (Christ) of Yisraelite origin, even though their education now inclines them to fight in the interests of foreigners and against righteousness.

Yeshua and Divinely-Inclined Government

Yeshua preached about a Kingdom of God where His Father as divine ruler, transformed the hearts of human beings as things to do righteousness. This is why he said, But seek ye first his [Yahwehs] kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things [economic needs] shall be added unto you (Mattityahu/Matthew 6:33 ASV).

It is interesting that Yeshua taught his disciples that part of the reason he came to the earth was so that they would have life, andhave it abundantly (Yochanan/John 10:10 ASV). A hard life slaving nine-to-five and at odd hours of the night, in Europe or North America is hardly what Christ had in mind when he talked about the abundant life that comes with being a part of his Fathers Kingdom government.

When we revisit the Bible, the previously mentioned scripture verse contextually starts out by first telling us that The thief cometh not, but that he may steal, and kill, and destroy (Yochanan/John 10:10 ASV). Although Christs reference to the thief is synonymous with the character of the Biblical Satan, it should be recognised that Satan, based on the Bible, works through human agents. And when we think about it, which nations have stolen, killed and destroyed in Africa, more than the European in pre-modern and modern times? Hmmm, this is food for thought. But it may even turn your stomach if you think on it for too long.

When we take the history of Europe in Africa into consideration, you would think that Africa would have learned its lesson about economic slavery and the popular term colonialism. However, this has not happened. Africans in general can be considered foolish for adopting European-style democratic government in an attempt to right the wrongs of their development past. If anything, rather, they should be looking to Yahweh, Creator of heaven and earth, and His Son Yeshua, for answers about governance, economics and righteousness in their lands.

Conclusion: Righteousness in the Land

Government in Africa is largely influenced by European interests. Economics, politics and justice in Africa is usually left in the hands of leaders who have sold themselves to Europe and North America in order to gain honour and favour in the sight of the officials and other nationals in these regions of the world. Righteousness is as a result of this, very much lacking in governance. This trend is foolishness of one of the highest sorts.

Just consider that today even the President of America is believed to be some type of force of righteousness in the world, even though his nation, America, is a hotbed of immorality, evil and blatant whoredoms. This is a nation where women rule men in unrighteousness, launder welfare funds without labouring, rear ungodly children and even fornicate with other women. (The mens turn will come later.) It remains to be seen whether the nations of Africa will ever do differently than the US and Europe in ensuring that things like state-sanctioned usury, family-based prostitution or even interest-laden land commodification are done away with on African soil. We wait to see whether Africans see the need for divinely-inclined government to replace democracy and its harlotry in years to come. Amen (and so shall it be).
Hospitals across the country say they are struggling to provide basic care for patients due to the high indebtedness of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).

The Authority owes about 400 members of the Health Insurance Service Providers Association (HISPAG) more than 36 million cedis in unpaid claims.

In the Upper West Region for instance, Joy News Correspondent, Rafiq Salam reports the situation is making it difficult for hospitals to treat patients.

NHIA owes over 19 million Ghana cedis to health facilities in the region, hospital authorities tell Rafiq.

Since Monday February 8 2016, HISPAG has been charging cash for services provided health insurance cardholders.

HISPAG has expressed concern over a directive by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) to the NHIA to halt payment of claims because of ongoing probe into fraudulent activities at the Authority.

HISPAG says that directive is collapsing the health insurance scheme and impeding operation of hospitals.

Executive Director of HISPAG Frank Tobloh has told Joy News a roadmap agreed with government on the payment has not been followed.

As at April last year, some facilities were not paid. That is the situation we find ourselves in. We have resolved that anybody who holds the National Health Insurance Cards and gets into any of our facilities, we are not going to turn them away but make sure they pay cash for the service and the drugs that we provide for such persons, Tobloh said.
The British fugitive, who allegedly murdered his girlfriend and two children in the United Kingdom (UK) and fled to Ghana, is to be repatriated to his home country today, Thursday February 11, 2016.

The Ghanaian Times newspaper reports Thursday a highly-placed source at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) disclosed this on Wednesday.

Arthur Simpson-Kent was arrested by the Police near the Busua beach, in the Western Region, and transferred to Accra for prosecution.

He was put before the Kaneshie Magistrates Court and remanded into the custody of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI).

Simpson-Kent was said to have gruesomely murdered his girlfriend, Sian Blake, 43, and children, Zachary, 8, and Amon, 4, and fled to Ghana.

The suspect, who was facing three counts of murder, voluntarily opted for repatriation to the UK to face the law.

His decision was announced by his counsel, Mr Justice Srem-Sai, at the Accra High Court, after state prosecutors said they had received a formal request from the UK for his extradition.

Prosecuting, Ms. Rebecca Adjalo, a State Attorney, told the court that the police, upon information from their counterparts in the UK, mounted a search on for the accused on January 8 and he was subsequently, arrested near Busua, in the Western Region and brought to Accra.

She said investigations were ongoing and that a team from the Metropolitan Police in UK were in Ghana working with local officers to ensure the extradition of the accused.

Adjalo prayed the court to remand him in BNI custody while the necessary processes place, because the laws of the country allowed for the extradition of the accused.

Counsel for the accused, Srem-Sai, however, argued that the remand would amount to infringement of the accuseds human rights, adding that, his client had not been allowed his right to counsel.

The counsel said the Extradition Act of 1960 states that when a foreign power wants someone to be extradited, the Ministry of the Interior should receive a petition from the High Commission of the country, upon which an arrest warrant would be issued.

The court, presided over by Rosemond Agyiri Duodowa, however, remanded the accused into BNI custody until January 26, and asked the prosecutor to ensure that the accused had access to his counsel while in custody.

The facts of the case were that the accused was unemployed and lived at East London with his girlfriend and two children.

On January 7, the International Police (INTERPOL) received information and an arrest warrant for the accused for allegedly murdering his girlfriend and children.

Prosecution said an aunt of the accuseds girlfriend made a report to the police and the following day, when they spoke to the accused, he told them that his girlfriend had travelled with the children to Cambridge, UK, on a visit.
11.02.2016 LISTEN

For Six (6) years Tigo insurance has reached out to those in the informal sector and low-income earners, to help them manage their risk and vulnerability through Hospital and Life Insurance policies.

Micro-insurance plays a very important role in society. Just like everyone else, low-income earners are also exposed to risks.

Through monthly deductions of GHC 1.50 for Hospital and Life Insurance policies, Tigo Insurance has been supporting Ghanaians to pay for their hospital bills and funeral costs in the event of losing a family member.

At a short ceremony in Accra to pay claims to various customers, the Claims Manager for Tigo Insurance, Nicholas Normeshie, said Tigo has since 2010 registered over 1.3 million customers and paid over GHC 5 million to some 8000 people as Hospital and Life insurance benefits.

He said although the process has been gradual, people have warmed up to the benefits of making small contribution towards an insurance policy and that includes low income earners. We have several customers who have become ambassadors for Tigo Insurance because of our prompt payment of claims when they were admitted in a hospital or lost a family member. They have seen and felt the impact of putting away small amounts of money, he emphasized.

He said, Micro-insurance offers a promising alternative for low income earners and people in the informal sector to manage risk and use their assets more productively.

He disclosed the differentiation for Tigo Insurance has been designing products that meet the needs of low income earners and keeping their premiums affordable. Our claims processes are also easy, fast and convenient, it ensures that customers receive their benefits within 72hours, he revealed.

He commended efforts by the National Insurance Commission, the Ghana Insurance Association and donor agencies such as GIZ for intensifying public education on the numerous benefits of insurance.

Tigo Insurance is managed by BIMA, a micro-insurance agent protecting low-income families in 14 countries across the world, and the policies are underwritten by Prudential Life.
11.02.2016 LISTEN

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Folks, the NPP's Ashanti Regional Chairman (Bernard Antwi Boasiako, also known as Chairman Wontumi) is known as a vile critic of the NDC and its government led by President Mahama. He is known for the use of intemperate language to register his stiff dislike for anything NDC/Mahama and does politics as defined by his understanding of the UP culture. He is also known for extending his mean attitude to President Mahama's brother (Ibrahim), and is in court to answer for smearing Ibrahim.

He is out again, expressing dismay at the manner in which President Mahama reacted to the killing of the NPP's Abuakwa North MP (J.B. Danquah-Adu). As reported, Wontumi has condemned President Mahama as not "showing respect to the deceased and his family" because he used an non-traditional means to express his "shock" at the murder of the MP.

Indeed, President Mahama had used his Twitter space to express that shock, which is at issue as fart as Wontumi's reaction is concerned. Let's hear him as reported:

"It does not show respect for President Mahama to tweet to console the family of the deceased MP. It is not traditional for him to use that medium to sympathize with a member who is party to one of the arms of government which makes laws for the countryit is sad and surprising for the President to do that... I expected as the Parliamentarians did, considering events surrounding his death, the President would have issued a statement to offer condolence to the bereaved family.

He went further to accuse President Mahama of "not showing any interest towards the safety of his people, especially in the wake of numerous cases of contract killings and unresolved murders"; and he opined that President Mahama should have used the death of the MP to assure the nation of maximum protection to offer hope of peaceful environment for Ghanaians. (See http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Mahama-didn-t-show-respect-to-family-of-slain-MP-Wontumi-414556).

MY COMMENTS

True, one would have expected President Mahama to use better means then Twitter/social media to reach out to the family of the slain MP and calm nerves while investigation into the matter is done. I agree with Wontumi that by turning to Twitter, President Mahama flopped. It is unacceptable for him to go that way.

How many of the deceased MP's relatives even use Twitter to be able to know what the President has said in reaction to the sordid happening? How many Ghanaians even use that medium to condole/console the bereaved as President Mahama has done?

Indeed, our traditions and culture have no room for that approach. In that sense, President Mahama failed to use the occasion to stamp his authority as a "Father-for-all" (re-echoing the late President Mills). It is not customary for Ghanaians to commiserate with each other that way. The President failed to show warmth and must be told the truth. Ghanaians would appreciate him better if he had done otherwise than using social media on this occasion.

Ghanaians are known for reacting to the death of loved ones in a more "human" manner than the one chosen by President Mahama. On that score, Wontumi is right; and I strongly agree with him.

What prevented President Mahama from personal issuing a statement to express that shock and to reassure everyone that the authorities would do everything in their power to investigate the matter and punish the perpetrator(s)? Could he not have even delegated some of his appointees to immediately interact with the relatives of the slain MP and express that shock? The human touch/feeling is missing in the President's choice of channel to express his shock.

Folks, I have on many occasions condemned the recourse to social media by President Mahama and his government functionaries, especially in raising issues and commenting on matters bordering on governance. Let no one be deceived about the hidden danger(s) of social media and the many new-fangled attractions that end up being traps for avid users.

I have had the occasion to caution President Mahama and his appointees so fixated on Facebook and other social media as to lose touch with their fellow human beings seeking opportunities to physically interact with them to share ideas on issues bordering society.

For all that they represent, social media can't be relied on to do political mobilization for the President or the government/political party. It is just a facility to be used for purposes that aren't all-encompassing. Anybody in government who deceives himself/herself that using social media and writing all kinds of stuff there will ensure connections with people is not fit to be in government. People cherish physical interactions more than what is bandied about on social media.

To cut a long story short, let me reiterate the point that President Mahama's use of Twitter this way is misplaced and regrettable. Is he not in the country at the moment to use means other than Twitter to reach out to the bereaved family or just any other constituency affected by this dastardly act?

Folks, I am tempted to think that President Mahama's recourse to Twitter/Facebook, etc. is premised on the claim that he is a communicator; and he relishes the fact that he can use the media to that effect. It doesn't help in all cases to endear him to the hearts of the people. He shouldn't over-rate such a facility.

Ghanaians expect him to connect with them physically, not through social media that can be used by "enemies of the sate" to gather intelligence aimed at undermining Ghana's interests!!!

I wish those fascinated about Facebook, Twitter, and other social media (where they hang around, saying just anything at all) will pause to consider the fact that such facilities have become useful goldmines for security and intelligence establishments seeking intelligence to perpetrate their clandestine activities worldwide. How many times haven't we been told that the security system in the United States, for instance, has asked Facebook for data on users considered as "threats"? Or just anybody whose presence on such social media is of interest to them?

I will continue to sound the warning note that President Mahama and his functionaries should be more wary of social media as a danger to themselves and the system they are presiding over than as an asset to be cherished and used indiscriminately.

Can we even pause to note that such social media were developed by people not interested in our African cause for whatever we seek to progress in life? How many of us worked with them to develop such facilities? Why should we lose our heads, using such facilities anyhow? And why should we turn such social media into better modes of dealing with our people, contrary to the laid-down traditions and culture that guide our existence as one people with a common destiny?

I am disappointed at the President's use of Twitter for this purpose on this occasion. He has a lot to do to undo the harm done to him by his choice of an uncommon channel to condole/console the family of the late MP. He has lost a good opportunity to stamp himself on the situation politically.

The overarching question: Will he resort to Twitter or Facebook in reacting to the death of other prominent Ghanaians or world leaders? If not, why not?

I shall return
Mango farmers in the Lower Manya-Krobo municipality of the Eastern Region are crying foul over the activities of Fulani herdsmen who allow their cattles to destroy their mango plantations and other farm properties.

The farmers are bitter that the phenomenon has put many of them in huge debts after many years of toiling to cultivate their mango plantations.

The mango plantation farms are located in the stretch of land between Okwenya and Kpong along the Tema-Akosombo highway.

Mr Edward Amanor, the Chairman for the Lower Manya Association of Mango Farmers in the Eastern region, told this reporter on Wednesday that it is not only the farmers who are complaining and suffering at the hands of the Fulanis but also the people of Lower Manya and Krobo as a whole.

Mr. Amanor, who himself is very bitter after losing several acres of his mango plantation to the nomads said, the Fulani herdsmen actually guide their cattle to feed on their mangoes plantations to their displeasure.

According to him, over eight Mango farmers have so far reported the situation at hand to his office though he is aware that a far more greater number are affected. He explained that the activities of the herdsmen and their cattle have destroyed about fifty acres of their farm lands.

He further noted that they have officially reported the case to the Lower-Manya Municipal Assembly, the Municipal Director of Agriculture, and also to the Akuse Police Command.

He averred that if the leaders refuse or delay to take any concrete decision to stop the Fulani Herdsmen from destroying their crops, they may be forced to take personal actions against them to prevent any further destruction of their plantation farms left.

The Municipal Chief Executive for Lower Manya-Krobo, Hon Jacob Acolatse on his part told Modern Ghana of his receipt of the official complaint of the farmers.

Hon Acolatse who described the phenomenon as a ''Security threat'' said he has informed the Municipal Co-ordinator to invite all the stakeholders to a meeting after which he will take up the case to a Municipal Security Council meeting for a decision to be taken.

Meanwhile, the management of the Kloma Hengme, a Krobo Advocacy and Heritage association have said they are deeply worried over the phenomenon since it is a security threat to the Krobo people.

The association said the numbers of Fulani Herdsmen and their cattles seem to be increasing by the day and they suspect a possible migration of the nomads from other hostile areas into the Krobo area.

A Deputy Director of Communications of the association, Joseph Tetteh Akutey, said the association will be following the event closely and will work in collaboration with the Municipal Security Council and all stakeholdes to find a concrete solution to these disturbing phenomenon to curtail possible conflict situations in the future.

This development comes on the back of the raging standoff between residents of Agogo in the Ashanti region and the Fulani nomads.

It will be recalled that just a few days ago, hundreds of millitary personnel have been deployed to maintain peace by the Ashanti Regional Security Council (RESEC) following a recent unrest over there. This was after Fulani Herdsmen was reported to killed three residents in Agogo in cold blood.
Sister in charge of Immaculate Heart of Mary School is calling for attention to be given to integrated education in Ghana.

The school presently has about 550 pupils, out of which 35 are physical challenged.

The call, according to her is to give equal opportunities to all manner of children to access quality education without discrimination.

Sister Steve Mariette Amponsah, Headmistress of the school, says children born with disabilities have proven to be equally good as normal children academically.

She explains such integration will promote unity, equal opportunities and prevent them from getting onto the streets to beg.

The school, Immaculate Heart of Mary, has however reiterated its commitment towards assisting such children for the future.

No matter the situation of the child if he/she is willing to study we will accept him and some of these children with disabilities are better than the normal ones academically, Sister Amposah said.

At the climax of a week-long event for the Catholic Education in Offinso, pupils displayed cultural dances and other activities that exhibited Ghanas rich cultural values.

Parents present at the occasion were delighted and called for sustainability of such events to help draw parents and their children together.
11.02.2016 LISTEN

The Ghana Immigration Service led by Mr. Felix Sarpong, the new Director of the Service, has revealed that its men and women are battle ready to safe guard the borders of the country to prevent illegal entry of persons who intent using unapproved routes into the country before and during the 2016 general elections to cause troubles.

This revelation comes after the passage of the Immigration service act by parliament clearing officers of the Service to bear ammunition to enhance their works at the various borders and general duties in the country.

Speaking to The Republic Newspaper in an exclusive interview, Controller of Immigration who heads the Public Affairs Department of the Service, Mr Francis Palmdeti noted that Personnel of the service had in the past relied solely on their colleagues at the Custom Excise and Preventive service to deal with hostile violators of the countrys immigration laws.

He said the Service had always lamented its deficiency in dealing with crime at the borders because they were not by law allowed to wield ammunition to fight back at criminals who wanted to force their way in the country using unapproved routes.

Mr. Francis Palmdeti who described the move as an exciting news to the entire personnel of the Service, said the decision to arm the service is part of efforts by government to ensure that the various security agencies especially the Immigration Service is well placed to fight terrorism.

For so many years, we have had the border patrol unit, they have worked with their bare hands but now the bill has been passed and they are now entitled to bear arms. This will make our officers especially those at the borders more effective to fight back when the need arises, he stated.

The objective of the bill which has been sighted by the Republic Newspaper is to ensure the effective administration and management of migration in the country; and contribute to national security on matters pertaining to migration.

The Public Affairs boss of the service noted the new bill is also to set up the border patrol unit of the immigration service which will be the first line of defense in our country. This, he said, after President John Mahama approves the bill making a law, they will arm the border patrol unit of the service first and other officers as in when the need arises.

He disclosed that the new Director and former Deputy Director of operations of the GIS with 34 years of immigration experience is working hard to make the service more effective to be able to discharge its constitutional mandate to the good people of Ghana.

He continued that is it the duty of the security enforcement system to develop intelligence capacity to monitor emerging trends in order to prepare strategies and tactics to be embarked upon to frustrate or manage security threats. This, he said, the service is ready to collaborate with other security agencies to gather intelligence and use same to track down criminals at the borders as well as in the country.

He said the GIS is also ready to work closely with responsible Journalists to get a comprehensive understanding of the political environment to enable them to formulate appropriate policies based on the early warning signs to avert any violence that may occur and the borders of the nation safe from intruders who may want to come into the country and cause confusion.
The inability of the National Health Insurance Scheme to pay the claims of service providers is threatening healthcare delivery in the Upper West Region.

As of the close of December 2015, the NHIS owed the Upper West office of the Ghana Health Service GH19,387,891.55, and as of Tuesday, health facilities in the region had been reimbursed only up to May 2015.

The acting Regional Director for Health Services in Upper West, Dr Winfred Ofosu, has consequently appealed for the quick release of funds to service providers in order not to compromise healthcare delivery in the region.

'It is sad to note that not even all hospitals are fortunate to have received payment up to May 2015. The impact of this is becoming unbearable for the health facilities, and if no prompt action is taken, healthcare delivery could suffer seriously,' he said.

Addressing participants at the Upper West Regional Health Service Performance Review Conference in Wa, Dr Ofosu said 'any delay in reimbursement makes it difficult for health facilities to procure medicine and non-medicine consumables for quality care.'

Depending on NHIS

He said Upper West recorded 95 per cent clients with NHIS cards in 2015 alone, meaning they would rely heavily on the reimbursements to remain operational and effective.

The Upper West Region already has a deficit in the supply of health professionals, although the regional minister, Alhaji Amin Amidu Sulemani, announced that the doctor-to-population ratio has improved from 1:22,940 in 2014 to 1:20,300 in 2015.

Alhaji Sulemani also announced that the region would continue to enforce a policy to retain 100 per cent of health professionals trained there to improve the numbers of professionals in the health sector in the region.

Retaining health professionals

Already, he said midwives in the region had increased from 113 in 2014 to 219 in 2015, while the number of physician assistants also increased from 37 in 2014 to 43 in 2015.

Community-based Health Planning Services (CHPS) zones were also increased from 148 in 2014 to 202 in 2015, while the corresponding CHPS compounds were increased from 164 in 2014 to 194 in 2015.

These gains appear endangered at the moment following the revelation by the acting regional health director about the indebtedness of the NHIS to health facilities in the region.

Despite the obvious challenges, Dr Ofosu said the region increased family planning coverage from 50.9 per cent (91,791) in 2014 to 53.1 per cent (98,341) in 2015.
As a uniquely bellicose nation, ancient Rome constantly lusted after the adrenaline rush of war and its perilous glamour. Unsurprisingly so that, Roman legionaries became the worlds first self-anointed professional soldiers. Within the imperial army ranks indeed, berserks, single individual warriors, and deadly elite regiments as well took on the highest pride in carrying out risky military missions in order to secure the overstretched imperial frontiers. Among those deadly elite regiments, two forces made history to this day.

The Roman elite Praetorian Guards created in 27 BC and composed of 4.500 troops stationed throughout Rome and its surrounding towns. The second elite fighting forces were the Batavian Auxiliary Cohorts. As the best and fearsome Roman auxiliary elite shock troops, the First Batavian cohorts played a key role during the invasion of Britain in AD 43.

Remarkably enough, and beyond its warmongering instincts, Rome crafted its imperial expansion more as a function of changing relationship with individual nations than by way of controlling territories. Dominion for Rome was first and foremost over people, not territory. In this regard, Romes dispatched special forces on some distant frontiers aimed at achieving global security and imperial dominion through permanent engagement.

Strangely enough, todays international security policy mantra seems a recycled Roman military franchise for sale. By sealing a strong love affair between special forces and drones, the global war on terror has elected the 21st centurys new military power. Laying to rest the large conventional military power of the past, outposts of special forces have been taking position around the globe.

The US special forces have been operating in more than 100 countries around the globe. Paris had significantly salvaged its old African empire through its war footing operations on the continent. The dispatching of at least 10.000 French legionaries across the continent staged a strategic and invigorated French military comeback on its old dominion. In the Sahel region alone, the French militarys African footprint has been flexing muscle with 3.000 special forces ready to intervene. During the deadly November 2015 terrorist attack on the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako and the terrorist carnage at the Splendid Hotel on 15 January, 2016 in Ouagadougou, French special forces were on the ground to disrupt militants threat.

Admiral William McRaven has never been so accurate a military visionaire than when he confessed in 2014 that, we have been moving from a state of perpetual war to perpetual engagement. The lurch from dreams of economic development to security nightmares through tactical victimization of local populations by militants groups has rushed Africa into the age of dirty wars. The empire has found its new African clothes: the build up of elite special forces across the continent as a cure for terrorism.

Narcisse Jean Alcide Nana, is the author of Virus Militarises (Edilivre, Paris, 2015)

Bibliography

Nico Roymans, Ethnic Identity and Imperial Power: The Batavians in the Early Roman Empire (Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam, 2005)
The Writer

11.02.2016 LISTEN

It is not only the ministers (priests) that should purify themselves, the congregation should also. This must happen before God would come down to dwell amongst us in the fullness of His glory. There is so much filthiness in the church today. You find people who tell you they are Christians but live like devils. Today, harlots claim to be Christians. Thieves, cheats, cultists, liars are all Christians. Why? Because they bear Christian names and also go to church. And who are you to query their Christianity? They also speak in tongues like you, sing well and involve in all the charismatic displays. But did God not say that He sees beyond the outward displays, that He looks at the inside? We must all come before God in repentance today. We must purify ourselves if we expect His presence to come and abide with us.

Look at what happened in Exodus 19; when God decided to come down on Mount Sinai to meet the children of Israel. He first told Moses His intention of bringing them out of Egypt: to be a special treasure, Kingdom of priests and a holy nation to Him. After that, He told Moses to go and purify the children of Israel for He would come down to meet them, "Go down and prepare the people for my visit. Purify them today and tomorrow, and have them wash their clothing. Be sure they are ready on the third day, for I will come down upon Mount Sinai as all the people watch (Verse ten). When Moses came to them he relayed God's message, and I love the words he used for that, "Get ready!" Bringing down God's presence needs a conscious arrangement. It takes a process. It involves obedience, discipline and purity. Moses told them, "If you desire it, then put yourselves in order. Purify yourselves! They did just that and heaven came down.

The bible said that on the morning of the third day, "There was a powerful thunder and lightning storm, and a dense cloud came down upon the mountain. There was a long, loud blast from a ram's horn, and all the people trembled. Moses led them out from the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. All Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the LORD had descended on it in the form of fire. The smoke billowed into the sky like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain shook with a violet earthquake. As the horn blast grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God thundered his reply for all to hear. The LORD came down on the top of mountain Sinai... " (Verses sixteen to twenty). Great!

When the people obeyed God and purified themselves, He had no choice than to come down with the majesty of His eternal throne. His supernatural manifestation of His presence was the result. The bible said that there was powerful thundering and lightning storms, blasting, fire and heavy smoke. And tell me what can stand these. When we do our part, then we will see God in the fullness of His glory.

PRAISE

Now, go back to our main story in 2 Chronicles 5. After the priests purified themselves and performed their duties, it became the turn of the musicians. The music ministers and different musical instruments were assembled, and they sang praises to God. They sang that God is good and that His faithful love endures forever. They praised God. We cannot draw down the presence of God without praise and worship; especially the praise that comes from a clean life. When you praise God, the gates of heaven will open for you. Some of us do not know that as you have the gates on earth and in hell, that there are also gates of heaven.

For the gates on earth, you use physical keys to open them. For the gates of hell, you use spiritual weapons to unlock. But for the gate of heaven, you must use the prescribed keys - Praise and worship. David gave us an insight into this in Psalm 100: 1-4, "Shout with joy to the LORD, O earth! Worship the LORD with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy. Acknowledge that the LORD is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise... "

Praise will open (at any time) the courts and gates of God for you. David knew this secret and that was why he said that God's praise will continually be on his lips. He also said that he will sing of His praise all the days of his life, and also to all the generations. No wonder, God could not resist favouring him. No wonder, God gladly said that David was a man after His heart. David was faithful in giving Him His 'food' - praise. He praised him in the morning, afternoon and night. A man of praise and worship will constantly dwell in the presence of the Most High. He will always attract the king of Glory and His hosts around him.

I have personally seen hosts of heaven around me during and after long high praise. A man/woman of praise wiil always be a friend of the angels. He/she will never expire in His presence. I totally agree with David on this. One of the things that triggered and sustains my relationship with God and growth in the ministry is praise (and worship). Most of the divine revelations, empowerment and covenants I have with Him also came through this process. Praise will always touch God's heart.

So if you want to endear yourself to Him, become from today a man/woman of praise. When I say that I love doing my battles through midnight prayer, it may interest you to know that I spend most part of the period on praise and worship. When you do that (I mean spend hours to praise God in the midnight ), God will lead you to some top secrets of life, secrets of His kingdom, and also take you through His gates and courts. Live a life of praise and thanksgiving and you will always be in the presence of God. Praise Him day and night. Praise Him in your bedroom. Praise Him while driving. Praise Him in the midst of difficulties. Praise Him for He is our maker. Praise Him for He is the king of the whole universe. Praise Him from a holy life.

PRAYER

After the musicians performed, king Solomon began to pray. Praise and worship before prayer. You can only get things from God (prayer), when His gates have been opened for you through praises. Solomon prayed and reminded God of all His promises to Israel and to his father David. When you pray according to the word and promises of God, you leave Him with no choice than to show up. This is simply because He can never deny His words. You must throw them back to Him in prayer. When you do this He will come down in His supernatural presence to confirm them.

Solomon took time to pray. He prayed throughout the whole chapter six of the second chronicles. A whole chapter! It was a comprehensive prayer session. I will always support Christians (churches) praying long enough. It is very true that the longer you stay in the presence of God, the higher His manifestation. We must spend time before God, if we actually want the manifestation of His presence. We must curtail the time and resources we put into wasteful, competitive, ego-boosting programs and activities, and give more time to real praying. Only then will we start witnessing the fullness of His abiding presence. Till next week, God bless!

Gabriel is the author of the book Power of Midnight Prayer. Website: Pastor Gabriel N Agbo (author) on AuthorsDen E-mail:[email protected] Tel: 08037113283
11.02.2016 LISTEN

Over the weekend, the 33 grooms of the upcoming Happy Fm Mass Wedding participated in a cooking contest was spiced up by Onga: mamas helping hand.

The competition, which forms part of preparation for the mass wedding on the 14th of February, saw the grooms display their culinary skills on different recipes with a touch of the Onga seasoning to send a message on shared responsibilities and gender equality at homes.

The grooms used the different variants of the Onga seasoning in preparing meals like Jollof, Banku with Okoro Stew, Fufu with Goat Meat Soup, Yam with Palava Sauce and many more.

Even though preparation of the meals came with some difficulties, the mamas helping hand of Onga brought out the great taste of the various dishes prepared by the grooms. The Brides of the various grooms together with family members and friends were there to cheer up the men in the kitchen.

Event manager for Promasidor Ghana producers of Onga, Mr. Gideon Kodo, expressed his excitement about the idea of having the grooms battle it out in the kitchen.

He also added that this is not just a cooking contest but the beginning of a change of the stereotyped societal definition of the roles men at home and Onga is ready make to cooking easier for any man who is ready to go to the kitchen

Participants of the contest were giving Onga cloth and other souvenirs from the brand while best six grooms in the contest were presented with cooking burners and special Onga packages.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has no ulterior motive but is seeking transparency in this year's electoral process.

It will, therefore, do everything possible to ensure the country attains a free, fair and credible 2016 polls so that its outcome will be accepted by all stakeholders.

The Director of Communications of the party, Nana Akomea, was reacting to claims by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) that some civil society groups and the NPP wanted to dictate to the Electoral Commission (EC) as to what to do.

Nana Akomea, in an interview with the Daily Graphic, stated that 'expressing a viewpoint on how to ensure a credible register and a transparent electoral process is in no way usurping the functions of the EC.'

''When the EC is printing ballot papers and invites political parties to the printing press, does that amount to taking over the work of EC and printing houses?' he asked.

In his view, since the voters register is the foundation of all elections, the NPP wants to make sure that there is broad consultation and that the processes are transparent.

Voters register

On the voters register, he said all stakeholders and the EC agreed that there were serious flaws with the state of the register.

''Where there is a difference in opinion is how to correct the flaws,' he stated

He said the NPP was of the view that a new register would cure it but the EC and the NDC were of different views that there was a mechanism to clean the register.

However, Nana Akomea said the panel of experts had stated that the current method of cleaning by EC was not adequate and would not work and had recommended that voters present themselves physically for verification.

What NPP and Ghanaians were doing was thinking about the processes so as to arrive at a solution that is acceptable to everybody, a process which did not amount to usurping of EC's powers.

NPP's view

According Nana Akomea, Ghanaians and major stakeholders such as civil society groups are expressing concern over the conduct of elections and that does not amount to usurping the role of the EC.

He explained that Ghanaians were just expressing concern and were trading ideas ''so that we arrive at a final arrangement where everybody is comfortable.''

Constitutional instrument

On the constitutional instrument to govern the 2016 election, Nana Akomea stated that what the NPP Members of Parliament (MPs) on the Committee on Subsidiary Legislation of Parliament were seeking to do was to have a situation where instead of one person guaranteeing for five people to register, it should be limited to one person guaranteeing for only one person.

He said one person guaranteeing for five persons will encourage racketeering and ''guarantee contractors'' if they know they could guarantee for as many as five new potential voters.

Background

The Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress, Mr Koku Anyidoho, has come out to encourage the EC to remain focused and not to capitulate under the flabbergasting, cacophonous and street agitations by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and some of its allies.

In an earlier interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra last Friday, he lashed at some political parties and civil society groupings, who, according to Mr Anyidoho, 'want to hijack the job of the Electoral Commission (EC) and dictate what to do.'

'That is unacceptable, the EC, as an independent constitutional body, has served Ghana well since the inception of the fourth Democratic Dispensation in 1992, and it must be left alone to continue with its good work,' he stressed.

He said it was amazing how certain civil society groups were positioning themselves as if they were the ones mandated to manage Ghana's electoral process.

'Using Gestapo tactics to force the EC's hand into doing the bidding of the NPP and its flag bearer and not what Ghana needs will not work,' he stated.

Speaking on radio last week, the Executive Director of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) observed that the EC was not on course to conduct credible elections because it was far behind schedule in its voter education and the legislative instrument to change the date of elections from December 7 to November 7, this year.
11.02.2016 LISTEN

When I was growing up, there was a healthy tension between those in my family who had not been to school, and those of us who had been lucky enough to be educated.

This tension was expressed most often by those members of our family  particularly, the men  whom we regarded as ''illiterates. They'd never received Western education, so we openly treated them with scant respect, especially when it came to seeking opinions about anything important in life. Their attitudes were completely different from ours, and we largely put them on the back-burner. They noticed the haughtiness that marked our relationship with them, and to get their own back, they s never ceased to test our so-called intelligence we had acquired by going to school, to see whether our education had indeed provided us with any knowledge that was of real relevance to the lives we led.

They sought reassurance that they weren't as "useless" as their inability to read or write, or speak English (the language imposed upon us by our British rulers of the time) made them out to be. Yes, they might have admired us for being able to save them from going to pay money to a professional Letter-Writer when they needed to send a message to someone in another town or village. But they didn't do that so often, for when they needed to talk to someone who lived elsewhere away from them, they travelled to go and see the person. This enabled them to collect stories about their travels to tell other members of the family, as well as their friends  something they valued, as the thrill of travelling lessened the boredom of normal life.

Travelling also offered them an opportunity to renew physical contact with people they had interacted with, intimately, in earlier days. Such re-established contacts were emotionally satisfying to them and they welcomed them in their lives. Letters  or even worse, frightening telegrams sent to announce the occurrence of deaths and other emergencies in their family  were a nuisance that to be endured only when necessary. They weren't anything to be craved- as those who went to school seemed to do, what with their pre-occupation with the yearly 'examinations by which their proficiency in acquiring the art of reading and writing were measured to assess whether they should proceed further in education.

The illiterate watched the devastation that occurred in the lives of school-children who failed their examinations with incomprehension. This so-called disaster was alien to life as it was really lived. Didn't these school-children lead their own lives before they went to school to be subjected to these examinations? If they failed, so what? All they would need to do would be to revert to the life they knew before they went to school, wasn't it? So why allow failure at examinations to ruin their lives? Some fellows who failed felt so disgraced that they even moved away from their own villages to live elsewhere!

These extreme reactions to failure at school exams seemed ridiculous to the illiterates,, for although they too experienced peer pressure, such pressure concerned things that really mattered greatly in real in life. such as being rejected for marriage by a girl one loved, or being unable to build a house or create a farm that could take care of one's family; or being incapable of resisting the youthful tendency to become addicted to alcohol.  these were the real tests of character that, to them, determined a person's status in adult life.

Written examinations? But, well  it was the white man's prescription for advancement in life and society that mattered these days, weren't they? The illiterate accepted the new facts of life. But they looked on it all from a practical point of view: if your child in school failed an examination, you would have to cough up money to buy him or her a new school uniform and new books to enable him/her to repeat the class (where this was permitted). In many instances, a child who failed an examination was driven away from school  either by an unwillingness to suffer the humiliation of attending classes with his/her former juniors, or by the inability of his/her parents to raise the funds needed to allow an unpromising school career to continue.

In my family, my elder half-brother, Kwasi Kwakye, was the pioneer: the first to go to school. He was already in Standard Three (Primary Class Six) when another senior brother, Kwame Awuku, and I were enrolled into Class One. Kwakye's being in Standard Three was something of a boon to us: we were spared most of the bullying that Standard Three boys carried out against those in junior classes. For if someone bullied you and you told your brother, he too would go and bully someone related to the one who bullied you. Which created a sort of balance  in our favour.

I was very eager to learn as much as possible before I formally went to school, and so I became the fag of my brother Kwakye so that he would teach me at home, not only how to read and write, but a lot more of the things he learnt at school. What do I mean by becoming his fag? Well, for instance, he loved to go hunting for birds in the bush with his tae (catapult) and he would make sure I always tagged along, to collect for him, the pebbles for him, which he used as the bullets' in his catapult. And I became his retriever who undertook the dangerous job of finding the birds he was able to shoot down, from the snake-infested thickets into which the birds fell. I also acted as the confidante  or betweener  who relayed messages between him and his girlfriends.

In return, I was allowed to hijack his textbooks and school notebooks and teach myself a lot from them. Once, this caused me trouble: I showed off to one of his classmates by repeating to him, something I had picked up from from Kwakye's notebook! The guy was angry that I knew as much as him, though I was only in Class One, and he threatened to report Kwakye to their class-teacher.

I don't know whether the teacher had asked them to keep what they learnt from him a secret, but the fuss nearly made me lose the privilege of being able to raid my brother;s school-bag at will. Thenceforth he, tried to hide things from me, My only salvation was that I was indispensable to him, as he still needed me to fetch bullets  and his paramours  for him! He did warn me, though, to be careful in future not to show off my knowledge before!

Anyway, by filching stuff from my brother in the way I have described, and also by borrowing books from whichever senior pupil I could  I was able to convey to my teacher, on being enrolled in Class One, the idea that he had very little to teach me. My teacher, Mr Akwa, was in fact so impressed with my so-called precocity that once, after I had obtained ten-out-of ten in a test and the next best pupil, a boy called Kwaku Hene, had only obtained eight- out- of ten, Mr Akwa put me on a desk all by myself and wrote underneath the table of the desk: DANGER D D BOY!

Mr Akwa then went to Standard Three  which was being taught by a college mate of his called Mr Ayeh  and invited the pupils (whom we feared very much, as they were our Seniors of Seniors who could punish us for being late and things like that) -- Mr Akwa enticed these gods of ours to come and have a look at me!

But I soon discovered that there was a price to pay for this fame. For Mr Akwa began to palm off to me, the really difficult (that is, dense) members of my class who were not receptive to the knowledge he wanted to impart to them. He would give me exercises and ask me to take these pupils through them  under the shade of a tree just out of earshot of our classroom proper  while he moved ahead with the brighter pupils himself . I never got to know whether Mt Akwa made sure there were gaps in my own knowledge, as a result of my missing lessons from him. What I do know us that I continued to top the class whenever he gave us a test, despite spending so much time under the tree, teaching the dullards for him!

A funny incident happened whilst I was carrying out these teaching duties of mine. One day, we were going on as usual under our tree when a well-known bully from Class Two came to disrupt the class. Now, Class Two children were known to be obnoxious, for although they were only one year above us Class One pupils, they somehow regarded us as the pits, having inherited from them, the status of bottom class they had just vacated.

But this bully was particularly arrogant even for a Class Two pupil.

Hey? he shouted at my charges,  Are you fools or what? How can you allow this tiny tot to be your teacher? Haven't you paid school fees like everyone else? Imbeciles!! Idiots!

My classmates did not take kindly to this disruption and informed him that it was our teacher himself who had selected me to come and teach them under the tree. Could he please leave us alone? they pleaded.

But he didn't leave, and continued to stand his ground, hurling abuse at my charges. He made further learning impossible and I started to walk towards our classroom to go and report him to our teacher.

But that proved necessary, for unfortunately for the bully, some of the difficult classmates over whom I had been put in charge were boys who had already sprouted pubic hairs, and were revered by the majority of Class One children (who were mainly little kids aged between six and eight). One of these mature pupils was a powerfully-built guy called Gasimon. He had the temper of a bulldog.

Without saying a word, Gasimon went straight to the bully and let him have a very good one on the cheek  gboom! We all clapped and laughed..

The bully's cheek swelled to twice its size within a few seconds! We wondered whether he would go and report Gasimon to the head-teacher. But instead, the bully slunk away home, crying all the way. Even though he was in pain, he had had enough sense not to go back to his classroom, or anywhere else in the school for that matter, as he would have had to undergo the embarrassing task of explaining just how he'd come by his swollen cheek, even though he hadn't shown any sign, earlier in the morning, that he was suffering from mumps! The episode was one of the funniest  and most satisfying  events in my days as a supernumerary Class One teacher.

(To be continued)
Cape Town (AFP) - Police erected razor wire barricades outside the South African parliament Thursday ahead of President Jacob Zuma's address to the nation against a background of concerted efforts to oust him from office.

The embattled president faces moves in court, in parliament and on the streets to have him impeached or dumped by the ruling African National Congress (ANC).

Protesters are expected to march near the parliament in Cape Town, where several city blocks were put under security lockdown ahead of the flagship speech.

Factors fuelling the "Zuma must fall" demonstrations are public money spent on his private residence, damage done to the economy when he fired two finance ministers within days, and government corruption.

The annual state of the nation address in parliament comes just two days after the Constitutional Court heard a crucial case accusing the president of violating his oath to uphold the constitution.

Two opposition parties took the case to court over Zuma's initial refusal to obey a ruling by the national ombudswoman that he repay some of the $24 million lavished on his private home at Nkandla.

His own lawyers accepted in court that the case had "traumatised the nation," and conceded that he needed to obey.

But they urged the court not to be "inveigled into a position of making some form of wide, condemnatory order, which will be used effectively for... an impeachment in parliament".

The court reserved judgement.

A radical opposition party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), pledged after the hearing that they would indeed use an adverse ruling by the court to press for Zuma's impeachment.

Any such attempt however would likely fail in a parliament where Zuma's ANC party holds an overwhelming majority.

- 'Delicate time' -

But critics hope the groundswell of discontent, expected to result in losses for the ANC in municipal elections later this year, could lead the party itself to oust Zuma as president.

The EFF has also vowed to disrupt Zuma's address in parliament if he fails to explain his sacking of the finance ministers in December, which sent South Africa's rand currency into free fall and hammered the stock market.

Similar tactics used by the EFF last year saw parliament degenerate into chaos and led to lawmakers being violently evicted.

Parliamentary officials hope to prevent a repeat performance at this evening's speech scheduled for 7:00 pm (1700 GMT).

The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, has said it will not disrupt proceedings, but called on Zuma to use the occasion to step down.

"The most appropriate pronouncement President Zuma could make during his State of the Nation Address this evening is to announce his resignation," party leader Mmusi Maimane said in a statement.

Zuma "hops from one scandal to the next, all to protect himself and his cronies... while our country remains on the verge of economic meltdown," he said.

The heightened tension comes amid a sharply slowing economy, high unemployment, grinding poverty and a resurgence of public racial animosity.

Commentators have predicted that 2016 could be South Africa's toughest year since the ANC came to power under liberation icon Nelson Mandela at the end of apartheid in 1994.

Even Zuma's lawyer Jeremy Gauntlett told the Constitutional Court this week: "This is a delicate time in a dangerous year."

Underlining the gloom hanging over the state of the nation address is the fact that it comes 26 years to the day since Mandela was released from prison.

As the nation's first black president, Mandela won global admiration for his skill in turning a country tortured by apartheid into what came to be known as the "Rainbow Nation". He died in December 2013.
11.02.2016 LISTEN

The National Communications Authority (NCA) has offered to explain the circumstances leading to the award of a monopoly licence to Afriwave Telecom Ghana Limited to operate the controversial interconnect clearing house (ICH) for telecom companies, albeit in a bizarre manner.

The regulator says it was 'some transpositional error' that led to some of the bidders scoring high marks during the assessment process, but it was later 'corrected.'

Interestingly, however, the NCA could not tell the public the actual score after the purported 'correction' which made Afriwave win the contract on a silver platter.

IMANI Ghana, a policy analysis think-tank, believes some interests were being served with the award of the contract to Afriwave, and has therefore called for its abrogation and a fresh start of the bidding process.



Over-Voting

In what appears to be an over-voting reminiscent of the 2012 election petition where over-voting was described as 'transpositional error,' the NCA says a similar thing happened in the bidding process.

A close look at the scores awarded all the competing companies in three main categories indicate that Afriwave scored more marks than the maximum awarded.

The NCA in the preparation of the report, transposed the scores from Excel to Microsoft Word and noticed that there were some transpositional errors which were corrected to correspond with the original Excel scores, it said in a statement issued yesterday to rebut an investigative piece done by IMANI Ghana on an alleged fraudulent manipulation of the bidding process of the ICH.

IMANI is insisting that the processes leading to the award of a monopoly licence to Afriwave is riddled with fraud.

The procedure for getting them (Afriwave) that licence was fraudulent, IMANI boss, Franklin Cudjoe, told Joy Fm yesterday.

He believes someone has a vested interest in Afriwave; thus, the manipulation of figures.



Rigged Process

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According to a statement by IMANI, the Application Evaluations Committee that looked into the capabilities of five companies that had put in bids to manage the ICH platform rigged the process in favour of Afriwave.

The companies that put in bid included Afriwave, Subah Infosolutions, Prodigy International Limited, TCMS-GVG Consortium Limited and Channel IT Ghana Limited.

The think-tank alleged that the Albert E. Enninful 8-member panel instituted by the NCA had admitted that they had insufficient information to make informed judgements about the financials of most tenders and wondered what informed the total points awarded under debt and equity.

The evaluation report itself mentioned on page 32 that the financial position of Afriwave was not strong and that their finances were actually negative. The liquidity position of the company was not that strong. On the average, current assets were barely higher than the current liabilities. The working capital was not positive for all three years, 2013 was negative, the report stated.

The report was received and recommendation accepted by the NCA Board chaired by Eugene Baffoe-Bonnie.

How a company which finances were described as negative by the evaluation panel became the eventual winner is a big question on the lips of observers.



Draft Report

We are not sure where IMANI got their information from, and we would like to plead with the general public to ensure that they get their information from the right sources, in this case from the NCA, the authority said in the statement and added that IMANI was misleading the public by basing its analysis on a 'draft 'report.'

Transparent Evaluation

According to the NCA, Afriwave is a wholly-owned Ghanaian company with Laurisia Associates as its integration partner, Huawei and Muecci as its technology partners that provided the most satisfactory responses against four other competitive applicants.

It said that there was a comprehensive and transparent evaluation of the bids of the five applicants on 23rd January, 2015, and the NCA Board of Directors considered the evaluation report and the recommendations contained therein and endorsed the said recommendations, adding, the Board duly adjudged Afriwave Ghana Limited as the winner of the Clearing House licence.

By William Yaw Owusu


Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings flanked by executives of the new FONKAR

11.02.2016 LISTEN



The Friends of Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings (FONKAR) group has resurfaced with a new campaign slogan  'Operation Vote Mahama Out!'

Part of the group's intention is to embark on a vigorous campaign to ensure that President Mahama and his governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) are voted out of power come November 7 when the country goes to the polls.

At an event to re-launch the group in Accra yesterday, National Coordinator of the rejuvenated FONKAR, Joseph Bediako, gave the assurance that he and his colleagues would do whatever it takes for Ghanaians to vote against Mahama with a promise to march the NDC and its agents boot for boot.

If they dare to insult any of the opposition leaders  Nana Akufo-Addo, Paa Kwesi Nduom, Edward Mahama, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings and co  we will reply themwe are going to stick to the truth, nobody can buy our conscience, he said.

He talked about unbridled corruption in the NDC administration aside the increasing rate of unemployment in the country, which has rendered most of Ghana's youth jobless, with a promise that sooner or later most of his (Mahama's) appointees will be exposed.

The group, which has been registered as a non-governmental organization (NGO) with the Registrar General's Department (RGD), has since declared an unflinching support for ideals of Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, vowing to defend her works both locally and internationally.

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Leadership of the new FONKAR later called on Mrs Rawlings at her Ridge office to introduce to her the new executives made up of Richard Bekoe as Secretary; Christiana Bosu, Spokesperson; Ernest Oduro, Communications Director; Abigail Owusu, Women Organiser and Evelyn Afriyie, Greater Accra Coordinator.

Mrs Rawlings in warm handshake with the new executives

The rest are Lydia Atta Owusu, Students Representative and Eastern Regional Coordinator; Daniel Amoah, Director of Security; Opoku Agyemang, Director of Research; Christian Lamptey, Western Regional Coordinator; Victoria Sam, Central Regional Coordinator; Francisca Essel, Ashanti Regional Coordinator; Rebecca Afriyie, Deputy Coordinator and Kwesi Denkyi, Special Adviser.

Mrs Rawlings was overwhelmed with the organization and representation from all the regions and the decision to register the group, pledging her commitment to assist the members at all times for the confidence reposed in her.

Let us make FONKAR into something positive that will change the lives of people, something that will influence the lives of people in a positive way and something that will also elevate yourselves into a higher level than where you are today, she told the new executives.

By Charles Takyi-Boadu


The two siblings lying dead [INSET: Francis Gbene when he was alive]

11.02.2016 LISTEN



A TUTOR at the Asante Mampong Midwifery Training School and his younger brother, who were on a motorbike, were in the wee hours of Wednesday allegedly shot dead by a police patrol team, who mistook them for armed robbers.

Francis Gbene, 34, an Anatomy and Physiology teacher and his brother, Thaddeus Gbene, 28, were allegedly shot in the back and head respectively at about 2:00 a.m. by the law enforcers.

Francis Gbene and Thaddeus Gbene, a plumber, who were both workers of the school, were reportedly trying to seek support for a female teacher at the school whose residence was purportedly being attacked by suspected armed robbers.

Francis, a native of Wa in the Upper West Region, was given an additional responsibility as a tutor of Nursing Informatics.

His mother had arrived from Wa the previous night to spend some time with her three children  all residing at the college campus  only to be greeted with the tragedy, Isaac Gbene, another younger brother of the deceased tutor, stated.

The police patrol team had also received a distress call about the invasion of the female teacher's house by suspected armed robbers and so they (police) were rushing there to help when they saw two men speeding away on a motorbike.

The police patrol team thought the two men were the robbers and so they reportedly gave them a hot chase, amid blowing of siren to beckon them to stop, but the men did not stop.

In the course of the chase, one of the men on the motorbike turned and the policemen thought perhaps he was trying to shoot at them so they (police) opened fire at them, which sent them to the ground.

Thaddeus, who was sitting behind his brother, reportedly died on the spot but Francis, who was then alive and bleeding profusely, was rushed to the hospital where he later gave up the ghost.

ASP Mohammed Yussif Tanko, Ashanti Regional Police PRO, said it was after the two men had been shot that the police realised that they were not the robbers, adding that the regional police command was not happy about the development.

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Investigation

ASP Mohammed Tanko disclosed that the regional command had sent men to Asante Mampong to investigate the case, stressing that if the officers that went on that particular duty were found culpable, the necessary punitive action would be taken against them.

He stated that the shooting was not deliberate, but added that the regional command was attaching the necessary seriousness to the matter, considering that valuable human lives had been lost.



Shooting

Throwing more light on the case, the police PRO said around 2am on Wednesday, the police received a distress call that armed robbers had invaded the residence of a female teacher at the Mampong Midwifery School campus.

He said from the narration of the patrol team, when the police vehicle reached the robbery scene, the people at the crime scene told them (police) that the armed robbers had taken a particular route.

So as they (police) negotiated a curve, they saw a motorbike at top speed so they (police) tried to stop them, thinking they were the robbers, but the two men on the motorbike refused to stop, he said.

ASP Tanko disclosed that the police then pursued the men on the motorbike for some time so when one of them turned, they (police) thought they were trying to shoot at them because he was holding something that appeared like a weapon.

The policemen then shot at them. Unfortunately, later we discovered that they were not the robbers but indeed they were also running around to see if they could get some assistance for the robbery victim.

The bodies of Francis and Thaddeus have since been deposited at the Asante Mampong Government Hospital awaiting autopsy.

FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr. & Ernest Kofi Adu, Asante Mampong
Hannah Tetteh, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ghana

11.02.2016 LISTEN

The Embassy of Ghana in Germany refers to your article titled Ghanaians in Germany Bare Teeth at Foreign Ministry published by your online version on the 5th February 2016 which was an extract from a discussion on Adom FMs Morning Show Dwaso Nsem on the same day. The article highlights the perceived delays in the acquisition/issuance of passports and visas at the Embassy. The Embassy wishes to clarify some of the issues raised as follows:

Until September, 2015, the Embassy was issuing two streams of Passports namely express Passports that were issued within seven (7) days of application and regular application that took fourteen (14) days. Express passports were issued on the same day or within three days while regular passports were issued in a week. The Embassy however, suspended the express passport service in October to manage an exigency.

The Embassy experienced delays in meeting the deadlines since October 2015 due to technical problems regarding passport booklets and later the Passport printing machine. Printing was, therefore restricted to urgent cases with the understanding of applicants. The normal schedule was resumed January 2016 on first come; first serve basis and to those proven to be emergency cases such as funerals, child registration, interview for resident permits etc.

As of February 8th, 2016, the Embassy has issued a total of 552 passports for the months of September, and October, 2015, and has been working even on weekends to clear the backlog.

Another element worth considering is the exponential increase in passport applications to the Embassy. The average of about 250 applications a month, increased to over 450 applications from June 2015, presumably due to the influx of migrants in Germany. Obviously these unexpected developments affected the timely processing of applications.

Regarding the acquisition of visas, the Embassy rolled out an online visa application system in October 2015 after a two-month education campaign on the processes. The online application process brought in orderliness and the required controls. It also revealed a number of fraudulent acts and inaccurate information, particularly regarding applications submitted by the so-called visa agents. Secondly, to reduce cash handling and enhance financial administration, the Embassy encouraged Bank payments for Consular services.

A few visas/passports delayed due to the inability to relate the name on the Bank transfer to the applicant (since monies were paid on behalf of applicants without any reference to the application). Other issues that occasioned delays included non-delivery of mails by the post office as some applicants supplied self-addressed envelopes with non-existent addresses.

Another element fueling unnecessary delays is the use of the so-called passport and visa agents who create the impression of shortages in order to maximize their importance and profits.

The Embassy remains committed to serve and protect the interest of our nationals and encourage them to approach the Embassy directly instead of working through the so-called Agents. At the same time applicants are advised to submit on time request for passport renewal before the expiry of their passports and before purchase of tickets to travel to avoid unforeseen circumstances.

GHANA EMBASSY
The Chief of the Zongo Community of Kumasi Old Tafo, Alhaji Seidu Chibsah has condemned clashes between some Muslim youth and supporters of traditional leaders in the area on Wednesday.

Alhaji Chibsah said on Adom FMs Morning Show Dwaso Nsem that the action of the youth groups was unacceptable and unjustifiable.

Clashes between the youth and some supporters of traditional leaders of the area over a piece of land caused an imposition of a 6:00pm to 6:00am curfew.

One person died with several others sustaining injuries in the clashes.

The Muslim group allegedly went on rampage after the traditional council questioned their decision to fence a piece of land.

They pulled down a mosque while trying to fence the piece of land near the Old Tafo cemetery and vandalized two church buildings. Vehicles and other properties were also destroyed.

But Alhaji Chibsah who was in Accra during the incident, believes there are different interest groups in the Muslim group.

He said it beats his imagination that a Muslim group would pull down a Mosque.

There are a number of groups fighting for their own interest and not for the parcel of land, he said.

He explained that the disputed land was given to the Zongo leader in the 1940s by the then Traditional Council of Old Tafo.

He indicated that pillars had been erected to fence the piece of land. But the youth recently said they wanted to fence the land with a wall.

This, according to him began on Saturday, February 6 but they built the wall beyond the area given them. They attacked the Old Tafo Chief, when he questioned them over the extension and insisted that they had documents that showed they could extend the land.

Alhaji Chibsah said the leaders of the Muslim group refused to show up when he invited them to resolve the issue.

The disagreement was renewed on Wednesday when another group tried to prevent the Muslim youth from extending the wall, he revealed.

He urged the youth of the area to remain calm and promised to lead the Muslim youth to apologise to Old Tafo Traditional Council for the attack on the Chief.

Meanwhile, the leadership of the Muslim youth group says it will continue to build a fence wall around the disputed land.

In an interview on Dwaso Nsem, the spokesperson for the youth Rabiu Mohammed said, We have all the necessary documentation to build the fence so we will continue to build it. For now, one of our people has died and we want to focus on putting him to rest and go back to site to continue, he stated.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com| Akosua Asiedua Akuffo| [email protected]
11.02.2016 LISTEN

Burkina Faso has abandoned genetically modified Bt Cotton crops in order to phase out inferior GM crops for non-GM crops.

The biotech industry has been claiming that Bt cotton would be an ideal crop for poor farmers, stating that Bt cotton varieties have been adopted by commercial and smallholder farmers in several developing countries, including China, South Africa and India.

In fact, the UK's Environment Minister has claimed that GM crops are necessary to help address hunger in developing countries and that it would be immoral for Britain not to help developing countries to take up GMOs.

The US has had a similar stance, as has the UN and WHO.

Countless small-scale farmers in Africa would disagree, though. African farmers and civil society have repeatedly rejected GM crops and asked their governments to ban them.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has been actively pursuing Africa for GM crop testing, as well dumping grant money where they can find a foothold.

But a new briefing published by Brian Dowd-Uribe, Assistant Professor in the International Studies Department at the University of San Francisco and Matthew A. Schnurr, Associate Professor in the Department of International Development Studies at Dalhousie University, describes exactly why GM cotton and other crops are not what Africa needs at all.

The professor's briefing describes the rapid decline of Burkina Faso's cotton crop following the introduction of GM Bt cotton.

At the time, Burkinabe cotton was renowned for its high quality, the product of a highly successful non-GM breeding programme founded by the French government and spanning 70 years.

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In just a few years since Bt GM cotton has been introduced, farmers have experienced high yields, but of a substandard cotton product.

reviously, before Bt cotton, African cotton had a high ginning ratio (the percentage of the desired cotton fiber per unit weight of cotton delivered to the factory) and long staple length. This is now absent from the Bt cotton harvested.

The ginning ratio remains well below the 42% achieved by non-GMO cultivars.

For Burkina Faso's farmers, it has become clear that focus on yields alone is not the defining factor of a crop's success.

The yield in Burkina Faso was high with Bt cotton in the most recent growing season, it produced over 700,000 MT of cotton, while neighboring Mali produced only 500,000 MT. Yet within a few months, Mali's entire product had been sold on the international market, while most of Burkina Faso's languished awaiting export.

One high-ranking official lamented: What is the point in being the top producer if you can't even sell your cotton?

For these reasons, the country will slowly phase out Bt cotton, even while Monsanto tries to introduce new strains of Bt cotton into Africa.

Burkina Faso companies plan on reducing the amount of Bt cottonseed on the market from 53% in 2015/16 to 30% in the 2016/17 growing season, with the goal of a complete return to non-GM cotton in time for the 2017/18 season.

GM Watch


11.02.2016 LISTEN

A prosecution witness in the case of the 35-year-old carpenter standing trial for allegedly stealing an AK47 rifle from a sleeping policeman on duty has said that the accused threatened to kill her.

The witness, Felicia Opoku, a 32-year-old co-tenant of Anthony Agbozo at Pokuase in Accra, said the accused had warned her to stay away from matters concerning him (the accused) and his wife or risk being killed.

Led in evidence by Chief Superintendent Duuti Tuaruka, Felicia told an Accra Circuit Court presided over by Aboagye Tandoh that on the day of the incident she heard the accused and the wife arguing.

She said having been warned by the accused that if she got closer to them she would be killed, she entered her room. She added that while inside, she saw the accused holding a black handbag behind her window.

Felicia stated that the following day, she saw the said bag under her refuse bin and alerted her husband.

The witness indicated that they both raised an alarm and neighbours nearby assisted them to open the bag. It contained the rifle, a screwdriver and a pinch bar, she told the court.

Sitting continues today.

Anthony was said to be in possession of the rifle in addition to eight rounds of ammunition without lawful authority.

He was arrested last year at Pokuase when he purportedly threatened his wife with the weapon.

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He has however denied the charges of unlawfully and intentionally damaging the rifle which is the property of the Ghana Police Service.

At about 6pm on November 30, 2015, L/Cop Joseph Manu went to the Amasaman Charge Office and booked the said weapon in addition to 10 rounds of ammunition for guard duty at the Pobiman tollbooth.

Four hours later, the police officer went home with the rifle to see if his wife who had travelled the previous day had returned.

The police said while waiting, the policeman put the rifle on the floor, laid on his bed and slept off and that while he was asleep Anthony entered the room and stole the rifle together with the ammunition.

During interrogation, it was detected that Anthony had cut the muzzle and the butt of the rifle while six out of the eight rounds of ammunition retrieved from him were not those stolen from the police officer.

[email protected]

By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson


11.02.2016 LISTEN

Some mourners at the family house. INSET: The minister exchange pleasantaries with the Akyem Old Tafo Chief

THE outgoing Eastern Regional Minister, Antwi-Boasiako Sekyere, on Wednesday visited the family house of the late Member of Parliament for Abuakwa North Constituency, J.B. Danquah Adu, at Akyem Old Tafo to commiserate with them.

The Eastern Regional Minister said he woke up on Tuesday morning to very sad and heartbreaking news of the demise of the late NPP Member of Parliament for Abuakwa North.

On behalf of the Eastern Regional Coordinating Council, I express our heartfelt condolence to the New Patriotic Party and the family of the late MP for this huge and irreplaceable loss.

The minister, who was received by the Chief of Akyem Tafo, Osaberima Adusei Peasah, said the government will help the police to investigate and bring the perpetrators to book.

Osaberima Adusei Peasah, on behalf of the bereaved family, said the family was yet to meet and plan towards the final funeral rites of their late son and that they would announce the funeral arrangements at the appropriate time.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Abuakwa North, Joseph Boakye Danquah, was stabbed to death Tuesday dawn at his residence at Shiashie in Accra.

The Abuakwa North MP is the grandson of the late JB Danquah, the Ghanaian statesman, Pan-Africanist, scholar and historian who played a significant role in pre and postcolonial Ghana.

Danquah Adu, a Chartered Accountant, would have been 51 in July.

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He was a Deputy Women and Children's Affairs Minister in the John Agyekum Kufuor administration.

Prior to becoming an MP, he was the Executive Director of Automotive Springs (Ghana) Limited, Accra.

He won the recent parliamentary primaries of the NPP in Abuakwa North with 237 votes, beating his contender, Lawyer Kay Amoah, who had 117.

He left behind a wife and two children.

The outgoing Regional Minister was accompanied by some officials of the Regional Coordinating Council, the East Akyem Municipal Assembly and some Regional Executives of the NDC.

From Daniel Bampoe, Old Tafo




11.02.2016 LISTEN

A former youth leader at the Akrokerri College of Education has called on President John Mahama to sack appointees whose activities tend to sabotage the developmental agenda of the government.

Mr. Linus Njonolah noted that many government appointees and their cronies and family relations are either awarded contracts or engaged in acts that openly display opulence and ostentatious living at the expense of the image of the government.

He said, by their lukewarm attitudes, these appointees sabotage the government, a development which could spell doom for the Mahama-led administration in the November 7, 2016 polls.

The former TEIN President noted that while the President is working so hard to fulfill the governments promise and projects to the people, some of the government appointees were strangely busily engaged in acts that smacks off insensitivity.

According to him, some Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives, (MMDCEs), by their actions and performance, were giving the National Democratic Congress (NDC) a bad name.

Mr. Njonolah, while briefing newsmen in Kumasi over the weekend, appealed to the President, John Dramani Mahama, to save the party from going into opposition, since some of his appointees were acting contrary to what they could have done to make the party attractive to the public, and called on him to act swiftly to save the party from losing the upcoming elections.

Meanwhile, the Takoradi NDC Constituency Chairman, Eliasu Abdul Rahman, has similarly expressed same sentiments that the actions of the current government appointees in the Western Region were a source of worry to party members. According to him, most of them openly display acts of arrogance when speaking in public or at party engagements.

This attitude, he explained, is courting problems for the party, since most residents, particularly, party faithful, openly express displeasure at the NDC, and have vowed not to involve themselves in any outward campaign programmes.

He noted: Gradually, the NDC party is going down, and this downward spiral is the express work of some government appointees who are only interested in lining their pockets with the monies they had received from some contractors or dubious deals. Mr. Abdul Rahman noted that the earlier some of the appointees were removed from office, the better for the NDC to work and ensure they stay in power till 2020.

From Richard Owusu-Akyaw, Kumasi
11.02.2016 LISTEN

Counsel for the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Egbert Fabille, has challenged the authenticity of the alleged recording tendered in as evidence against his client by Counsel for Mr. Ibrahim Mahama, brother of Ghanas President, John Dramani Mahama.

Mr. Fabille, yesterday told a Kumasi High Court, presided over by Justice Charles Adjei Wilson, that the voice of his client had been doctored, arguing that the said tape was not that of the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the NPP.

The Counsel for Mr. Bernard Antwi Boasiako, aka Chairman Wontumi, made the argument when he concluded his cross-examination of one of the witnesses in the case, Adwoa Owusu, a reporter with Prime FM in Accra, the station that recorded the said comments made by the NPP Regional Chairman.

But the witness insisted that the voice was that of Chairman Wontumi, explaining that the voice was an authentic one which had not been tampered with. Mr. Mahama has sued the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the opposition party for alleged defamatory comments against him and his brother, whilst addressing party supporters at Obuasi in 2014.

Chairman Wontumi allegedly accused the President and his brother of siphoning state funds and spending it abroad at the expense of the poor Ghanaian tax payer. The case has been adjourned to 21 and 22 of March, 2016.

From Issah Alhassan, Kumasi
Interior minister-designate Prosper Bani has given the assurance that he will work with the leadership of parliament to secure the premises of the House if his nomination is approved.

He said his observation about the level of security at the legislative chamber has shown that basic security within the precinct of the lawmaking chamber is low.

...I will tell you and observation; I drove around parliament and the State House early morning on two different occasions and nobody asked me anything.

 So one of the immediate decision I will take when given the nod is to work with leadership to secure parliament, the former Chief of Staff of President John Mahama told members of the Appointment Committee of parliament today during his vetting.

Prosper Bani, a specialist in International Peace-Building and Development has worked for over 15 years with the United Nations and has held various positions on both regional and international organizations across the world.

He led innovative processes in peace and development in Kosovo, Tajikistan, Senegal, Switzerland, South Africa and Afghanistan.

Other accomplishments include mobilizing donor supports for post-conflicts peace building projects in Georgia, Croatia, Bosnia, Sierra- Leone, India, El-Salvador, Mozambique, Haiti and Fiji.

Mr. Bani is highly experienced in initiating and managing strategies for governance, building partnerships and facilitating complex relationships, especially in conflict resolution, development and management. He was once Director of Studies at the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ).
11.02.2016 LISTEN

Tigo has rewarded 20 employees who demonstrated exceptional customer service relations in their line of duty in 2015. The cash donation, certificate and mobile devices rewards were to encourage others to emulate their worthy examples.

At a short presentation ceremony at the Tigo Head office in Accra, the Director for Customer Operations, Stephen Essien, emphasized customer was paramount to the success of the business and urged all employees to go the extra mile to ensure customers that walk into the business walk away happy and satisfied.

Exceptional customer service ultimately leads to customer retention and loyalty, therefore there is the need to go beyond service to ensure customers are appreciated, cared for and understood at all times, he said.

He reminded the team about the power of social media and the ability for customers to share their opinion, both good and bad with millions of people across continents.

Blue Star awards is an initiative from the Customer Operations department in Tigo. Every year, exceptional front and back-end customer service personnel are acknowledged and rewarded.
Kojo Bonsu

11.02.2016 LISTEN

REGISTRATION OF traders at the Kumasi Central Market will begin Monday, February 15, this year, in connection with the re-construction of the ancient market into a modern edifice.

Godwin Okumah Nyame, PRO of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA,) disclosed that the assembly began sensitizing the market women about the registration process some days ago.

He stated that the sensitization process would be sustained alongside the registration of the traders, adding that the registration exercise would be done according to the sections at the market.

Okumah Nyame indicated that KMA wants to compile the data of the traders so that construction of the new market would be done in a manner whereby there won't be any problems.

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He said people whose names bear the stores and sheds at the market according to KMAs records, people who trade in sheds and stores and traders who don't have stores or sheds, would be registered.

Mr. Nyame vehemently debunked rumours that the KMA has plans of forcibly ejecting the traders at the central market immediately the registration process, which is being done biometrically, is completed.

He disclosed that the refurbishment of the Kumasi Central Market would be done in two phases, and that the traders would be properly relocated to Kejetia Terminal which would have been completed by then.

Government of Ghana had secured financial assistance from the Brazilian government to construct the multi-million dollars Kumasi Kejetia/Central Market into a modern facility to boost business in Kumasi.

FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi


COP Dr George Akuffo Dampare

11.02.2016 LISTEN

The Minority Leader Hon. Kyei Mensah-Bonsu has lauded the Greater Accra Regional Police Commander over the manner in which he has managed investigations into the murder of Hon. JB Danquah.

Speaking on Oman FM radio station yesterday he said the manner in which the Regional Police Commander has handled the case so convinces him that the Police would do a good job.

He traced how the Police responded to the distress call when the crime was committed and as he put it, within twenty minutes they were there.

Those who do not know how crime scene procedures are undertaken had the opportunity of doing so when homicide detectives set to work when they descended on the home of the assassinated legislator at his Accra residence, last Tuesday. They set about to construct how the criminals set foot into the house and eventually committed the crime and left, he described what the detectives did as soon as they set foot in the house.

The Greater Accra Regional Police Commander COP Dr. George Akuffu Dampare was at the crime scene as early as 3am to join his officers undertook a consolation mission.

Although he has refused to talk about what he has done so far, we have learnt about how he quickly moved the family of the deceased from the crime scene to a safe location decided upon by the family as a way of calming their nerves.

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He is said to have used his own vehicle to transport the traumatized family quickly away from the scene of crime after which he moved quickly to engage two clinical psychologists to assist with managing the trauma suffered by them.

In view of the importance of communications in such matters, the regional commander has demanded from Parliament to give him a liaison officer through who developments from investigations would be relayed to the august house.

The family too would be given periodic briefing from the regional police command through a representative, DAILY GUIDE has learnt from a source close to the regional commander.

Having won the confidence of the family, it has become worrying however that the regional command has been subtly relieved of the assignment; the case having been subtly moved to the CID headquarters' Homicide Unit to continue.

Sources close to the Police yesterday confided in the DAILY GUIDE about what in their view was the absence of finesse in the manner in which the case was taken off the regional command and handed over to a new set of personnel.

Whoever takes over would have to maintain the standards set by the regional commander who has won the confidence of the bereaved family in a manner which makes them relate to him easily; his blend of policing and counseling being a major factor.

By A.R. Gomda


11.02.2016 LISTEN

The Egyptian medical team in a photograph with officials of the Ministry of Health (MoH) and Embassy of Egypt in Ghana

The Egyptian doctors who were brought into the country at the request of the Ministry of Health (MoH) have completed their humanitarian service at various hospitals across the country.

The team of 15 doctors, made up of surgical consultants, dentists and dental specialists, orthopaedists, urologists, pulmonologists, gynaecologists, internal medicine consultants, microbiologists and cardiologists, worked in regional hospitals at Ho, Cape Coast, Yendi and Tamale.

Dr Victor Bampoe, Deputy Minister of Health, at a farewell ceremony organised for the medical team, lauded the Egyptian medical team for the medical support they provided during their stay in the country.

We want to say thank you for the brotherhood assistance you have shown to Ghana, Dr Bampoe stated.

He said both countries had benefited mutually from the collaboration, adding that their presence augmented the brotherhood that exists between the two countries.

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Dr Bampoe also appreciated the continuous collaboration between the Egyptian medical team and the country whenever their assistance is needed in the health sector.

Mohammed Heider, ambassador of Egypt to Ghana, said the team of doctors complemented the efforts of their Ghanaian counterparts to provide the needed healthcare to persons who needed them.

They have 24 major operations, 40 anaesthesia cases, 607 outpatient department cases and 304 impatient cases. One hundred and forty three doctors in the country also received training from their Egyptian colleagues in their field of concentration.

Dr Abdelaal Elbahnasy, leader of the medical team, said the cooperation from the Ghanaian doctors and nurses was excellent.

'Let us make this a permanent initiative where at least there would be a continuous support every month, he said.

By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri


My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains

11.02.2016 LISTEN



My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,

Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains

One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk.

John Keats



Agogo is normally a peaceful town, and the town  folks very lovely and affable  until  their relative peaceful nature was punctured by the marauding Fulani nomads with their cattle having omnivorous (or just herbivorous) appetite to eat up all the crops of the farmers; including cocoyam, plantation, water-melon, and other vegetables. There is no more 'highlife a gogo,' but the townsfolk have become agoraphobic.

Agogo fascinates me. The name originates from the weariness of the first settlers (They are weary: w'agogo). They pitched camp beside a river they name 'Agogowa'. This is the home of my lecturer in Russian Grammar, Dr. Felix Sampson Kwabena Owusulong but not as mouthful as Xaxagbe or Kuntunkununku which is stylistically shortened to Kuntz; Dr Owusu had an infectious smile and would continually grin while we were fumbling with the stiff rules of Russian grammar (Genitive Case, Instrumental Case, Accusative Case, Dative Case, Ebei! Or as someone would exclaim, Haba!). One professor of Russian Poetry (name withheld) would ask us to stand on our tables for being unable to recite 'Ya Goya' by Andrey Voznesensky (I am Goya of the bare field by the enemy's beak gouged, till the crates of my eyes gape)  till the day one of the students 'fell' from the table. The punishment ceased. I am grief. Incredible? It was at the University of Ghana.

Agogo is the home of my holy room-mate, Kwadwo Baah Wiredu who would organise students to pond me every Sunday not for losing, but for winning the 'What-do-you-know' quiz. Those were the halcyon days of the seventiesmore than forty years ago.

The story of the mischievous Fulani herdsmen sets one wondering about world nomadism. One may recall the Wandering Jew or as the French call him 'le juif errant' the mythical figure whose legend spread in Europe in the 13th century. In 'Flores Historiarum' (1228) Roger of Wendover wrote about him under the title; Of the Jew, Joseph, who is still alive awaiting the last coming of Christ quoting from Biblical sources: Verily, I say unto you. There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death till they see the son of man coming in his Kingdom.

The Gypsies or the Romani (Romany) people were traditionally itinerant ethnic group living mostly in Europe and originating in India (Rajasthan and Punjab) about a thousand years ago. The World War II (1939-45) saw the Germans deporting these Gypsies or sentencing them to forced labour in concentration camps. As many as 1,500,000 were killed on sight.

Come in 'The Cowboys'. The Reader's Companion to American History says this about 'The Cowboy' (a derogatory reference to the black cattle herdsmen designated 'boys' rather than men, no matter how old they were).' The cowboy of myth and reality had his beginnings in Texas 1866-86, the era of the open range and the great cattle drives. The incentive was the high price of beef up North where Union armies had exhausted the supply, and the urbanizing East provided a ready market. A steer worth four dollars in Texas was worth forty dollars in the North  Beginning in 1986, they begun moving long lines of longhorns northward with the primary destination being the railhead at Sedalia, Missouri. Indians and farmers who resented cattle trampling their crops and spreading the dreaded Texas fever protested their passage. Outlaws stole the cattle and were not averse to killing the men driving them.

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On November 24, 2011, Nana Akuoko Sarpong, known in his heyday (NOT heydays) as Shawcross, the Paramount Chief of the Agogo Traditional Area granted an interview to Daily Graphic in which he refused claims that he had signed a secret pact with the herdsmen, and was deriving personal benefits from their occupation of the Agogo Stool Lands. He explained: I don't own cattle. My passion is planting trees and doing fish farming. Nana Akuoko Sarpong's decision to sign open contracts with some of the herdsmen, including Alhaji Karim Grussah, Alhaji Dauda Kassim David, Alhaji Salia, Duuse Moro, Ali Mamadu, Fuseini Hassan was to get a supply of cattle for a possible meat industry in the area.

The contracts made, provision for fencing the area to keep the animals in a ranch; and digging boreholes for the water needs of the cattle, had been breached by some of the herdsmen.

In March 2011, the Agogo Traditional Council served notice on Alhaji Grussah, the Guaranteed Cattlemen and all the private cattlemen of Agogo to evacuate the area. The notice read in part: You have breached all the conditions and the basis upon which the said grant was made, i.e. failure on your part to fence the land and also dig wells to provide water for the animals causing the animals to move from the allocated site to destroy water bodies and farms of residents, not to mention alleged cases of threats and other inhuman behaviours. You have, therefore, created an atmosphere whereby we could no longer contain you and your cattle within our farming areas. By this notice, you are to evacuate with your cattle and leave farther away from the farming areas on Agogo Stool Lands latest by the 29th of March 2011, failure of which would compel us to forcibly drive you away from the area. In respect of all others who on their own accord took land from the local people without reference to the Agogo Traditional Council, we are by this notice informing them that they are all affected by this drive.

In response to this notice, Alhaji Karim Grussah and his group wrote to the Council to express their concerns that some misguided persons in the area have resorted to unlawful acts by killing our cows and spraying the grass in the area with poison such that our cattle would die should they graze in those areas.

Notable persons from the Agogo Traditional Area have waged a relentless fight in this Fulani menace. Such people include 'some' chiefs in the area including Nana Agyei Frimpong, the Gyasehene, Ernest Owusu-Bempah and the Member of Parliament for Asante-Akyem North, Honourable Kwadwo Baah, the Agogoman World Wide Association. The atrocities committed against the inhabitants are legion: destroying farm produce, harassing farmers, threatening the farmers, raping the women, engaging in armed robberies, doing acts of highwaymen, et cetera. The vast land which include Kowireso, Kyenkyenku, Abiriwapong, Nyame Bekyere, Bontere have been affected.

Of course, there is a court order compelling the authorities to flush the illegal cattle-owners and herdsmen out of the area. The IGP, Mr. John Kudalor and the Ashanti Regional Police Commander, DCOP Kofi Boakye have toured the area to ascertain the situation. They are likely to have been briefed about the court order, and the Road Map for the evacuation of the unwelcome visitors. One is not being ethnocentric here. We understand the ECOWAS protocol. But the ECOWAS protocol directs aliens (call them ECOWAS citizens) to follow laid down procedure when in a country not of their birth. The arms these Fulani men are wielding, how did they obtain them? Some as deadly as AK 47! The Fulani biroro (cattledriving Fulani) can be deadlier than the Fulani gida (home settled Fulani) It is hoped their findings would ensure peace and harmony to all residents in the area, be they cattle owners or food crop farmers.

Africanus Owusu-Ansah

[email protected]

PS Tears cannot stop flowing from my eyes over the death of Honourable J.B.Danquah Adu, Member of Parliament for Abuakwa North. How? Someone may ask. We leave everything in the hands of God, but don't let us saddle God with things we can do for ourselves. Condolences, the family, wife and children of J.B., condolences, all the Members of Parliament, condolences NPP, condolences, right-thinking Ghanaians, condolences all.
11.02.2016 LISTEN

The presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has appealed to Krobos to vote massively for the NPP, in both the presidential and parliamentary elections, and thereby help deliver a resounding victory for the party in the November polls.

According to Nana Akufo-Addo, listening to the concerns of the people of Krobo Odumase, it was clear that many were not satisfied with their current conditions of living, and appear to have lost hope in the ability of Ghana to offer a decent living to its citizens.

Speaking in Ga, he, however, urged them not to give up on Ghana, but have faith, that with the right leadership pursuing the right policies, Ghana will become a country of progress and prosperity.

With some nine months to the holding of the general elections, Nana Akufo-Addo admonished all Krobos not to pay heed to those who, whenever elections come up, seek to divide them along ethnic and political lines for electoral gain, stressing that we are all Ghanaians and are one people..

The NPP flagbearer made this known when he joined mourners at the final funeral rites of the late Mr. Emmanuel Adjase, father of Robert Tetteyfio Adjase, convener of the pressure group Disappointed NDC Youth Crossing Over to NPP, at Krobo Odumase, on Saturday, February 6, 2015.

The popular wo ma chake mi slogan, which was introduced in the year 2000 and heralded the desire by Ghanaians for change, according to Nana Akufo-Addo, originated from the Krobos.

He was, therefore, delighted that this same slogan was being sung by mourners and residents of Krobo Odumase, at a time when Ghanaians are clamouring for change. Ghana, he said, finds herself in a situation which requires nothing short of a change in government from the November election, so the country can be rebuilt.

An NPP victory in 2016, Akufo-Addo stressed, will bring back hope to Ghanaians, and will begin the process of rebuilding Ghana again, assuring that the change we are looking for in our lives will then come.

Nana Akufo-Addo was accompanied by Freddie Blay, acting NPP National Chairman; John Boadu, acting NPP General Secretary; Alan Kyerematen, former presidential aspirant and former Minister of Trade and PSIs under President Kufuor; Kinston Akomeng Kissi, NPP Eastern Regional Chairman; Dr Samuel Yaw Annor, former NPP Eastern Regional Chairman; Abraham Tetteh Sackey, NPP Lower Manya Krobo Constituency Chairman; Samuel Nuertey Ayertey, NPP parliamentary candidate for Lower Manya Krobo Constituency; Moses Tetteh, NPP Chairman for Upper Manya Krobo Constituency; Joseph Tetteh, NPP parliamentary candidate for Upper Manya Krobo Constituency; Richard K. Twum-Barimah, NPP Chairman for Yilo Krobo Constituency; Francis Djetse Appertey, NPP parliamentary candidate for Yilo Krobo; amongst others.
11.02.2016 LISTEN

Black Man: I feel pain in my stomach.

Black Woman: Than lets go to hospital.

Black Man: To save money I go to Pharmacy and get a Drug.

Black Man was rushed to Hospital and in ICU Doctors took control over his life and recovery.

A mixed coloured child is born completely white darkening over a period of 6 months after delivery. Underneath the black skin of an African, that is less than 1 mm, the skin is white. The black layer is only made by GOD to protect his people from the harsh sun. Blacks have a flat, Whites a pointed nose. Black Women have a well-shaped bottom, Whites straight flat.

The Brain of everyman is the same in volume and structure, be it a Black Man, White Man or Red Indian. What makes the difference is the using of the Brain based on the underneath laying capacity and willingness of the mind, the attitude of people. A lazy man can never be a successful man, a selfish man can never be a caring person, a badly organized man can never run a factory profitably, and a Nation with no Generation thinkers can never establish a proudly wealthy and strong country.

It is a sign of growing maturity when the Junior White Man with a tiny layer of Black follows the Senior White Man, learns from his experiences and improves on the mistakes he made to come out - over time - as his senior to lead this world into GLORY.

Prez. Robert Mugabe on Friday February 5th 2016 lamented in public that 2, 5 Mio. people in the south of his country Zimbabwe face starvation in the midst of severe draught. While he had focused on installing his wife as his successor to continue his legacy of killing his own people, his people get weaker by the day and their spirit of survival diminishes to the basics of life. Their instinct to raise up and fight against the one destroying their lives and future is now subsequently becoming more and more a burden to outsiders.

Starvation in Zimbabwe, Eritrea and others to come shortly is foreseeable once a Leader has no genuine interest in his people but his Swiss Bank Accounts.

The most powerful woman of today, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, lives with her husband, Prof. Sauer, in an Apartment in Berlin City Centre (has no own house) while South Africa President, Jacob Zuma, has unlawfully renovated his Estate for Millions of Dollars from SA Taxpayer.

Unexpected catastrophies do happen in every country, only when hurricane Katharina hit New Orleans (USA, East Coast), a plan to rescue, machinery to assist and money were available to cushion the effected people in the city in the fast possible way were in place.

No African Leader, no African Intellectual has a Master plan for the next 100-200 years how best to address the upcoming challenges on the African continent. After 8 years most Presidents are out of office or establish an endless family dynasty with no inner wisdom for the good future of their people.

Neo-Colonialism is seen by many as the worst Horror scenario for Africa. Financially, through the back door, Africa is already back in the hands of the White Man. Without Loans and AID support from the White Man, Africans cannot survive a single day. The only thing Whites do not have back is the control of the political system of Africa.

When African countries will be empty of their once so rich mineral resources, when climate change will have its drastic effects on feeding Nations with an ever increasing population, Neo-Colonialism will be the survival plan of the White Man to protect his societies from the Black Man wanting to enter in their numbers Europe and USA looking for greener pastures to fill a hungry stomach and give their children hope of a better future, while at the same time by their coming, they are going to destroy the White Mans culture and future.

GOD did not create Africa for the pure White Man but for the White Man with a Black layer of skin and flat nose shaped with a beautiful bottom to be a good steward of his creation. When he is sick and does not see a Doctor well in time on his own will and initiative, GOD by force will admit him into Hospital and take control over his life and future to save him as no Man lives by himself but by the grace of GOD. He is the final decision maker in case his people do not cooperate with him on their own free will.

As problems in Africa are mounting up and no original African solution is in sight, but Egoism the Ruler of African Nations, GOD is about to intervene in his own proven system once again. It is not too late for Africans to make the much needed turn around standing at the cross road of their fate. The wise Man decides for the right road to happiness, the fools deserve only the leadership of others GOD will chose to rule over them.

Author: Dipl.-Pol. Karl-Heinz Heerde, Sakumono Estate, Block D10, Aprt.9, Tema West, phone +233(0)265078287, [email protected] ,09.02.2016
Nana Addo

11.02.2016 LISTEN

Good morning ladies and gentlemen of the press.

National executive members of caucus present

Regional Executives

Constituency executives

We thank you so much for honoring our invitation to our press conference to react to some statements made by the flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party, Mr. Akufo-Addo and his running mate Dr Muhammadu Bawumia at their Nasara conference in Kumasi some weeks ago.

On the 30th January, 2016 the flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party, Mr. Akufo-Addo at their first national Nasara conference in Kumasi reiterated his 2012 pledge to introduce Zongo Development fund to help boast infrastructure development in the Zongo Communities.

To quote him, In the 2012 campaign, I announced to the country that if, God-willing, I was elected to lead our country, I would do something never done before in our history to tackle the deprived nature of the Zongos. I said an Akuffo-Addo government would establish a special fund called the Zongo Development Fund. This fund will be aimed at enhancing infrastructural development in Zongo communities, in order to improve the lives of their residents. I am going to repeat that commitment in our 2016 manifesto, and let me go a step further and assure you that, in office, I will carry out this pledge to the letter.

We Members of Zongo Caucus wish to put on record that, the NPP cannot boast of a single policy geared towards the development of Zongo in the entire 8 years of their administration, with a Northern Vice President.

It is an open secret that, President John Dramani Mahamas administration is executing key infrastructural development across the entire length and breadth of the country which our Zongo communities are beneficiaries.

In the area of roads, 70% of roads in predominantly zongo communities in the country are tarred and work is still ongoing in some areas. In Ashanti Region for instance, we have Asawase, Oforikrom, Ayigya, Ejura, Tafo, Yalwa, Asante Bekwai just to mention but a few.

We see the so-called Zongo development fund a sham and a calculated attempt to swindle the unsuspected zongo voter.

Dr. Bawumia talked about restructuring of the Hajj board and he naively said, they will bring back the allowances for the Islamic Teachers. We [NPP] will also bring back the allowance to Arabic tutors. We will champion both Arabic and English language across the country.. We will also restructure the hajj pilgrimage. We need the support of the Zongo communities in order to take power from the governing NDC, he said;

The NDC government in 7 years has been able to restructure and expand the Hajj pilgrimage. The days where prospective pilgrims are treated likes slaves at the airport in the scorching sun is a thing of the past. Again, days when people pay fares and get stranded at Accra is also a thing of the past. The construction of a permanent Hajj Village is an attestation. Again, because of the judicious execution of hajj affairs by this government, our quota to the pilgrimage has been increased tremendously by the Saudi Arabian government. The Npp in 2008 airlifted 2300. Last year we were able to airlift 5400 pilgrims of which Bawumia was part. This is a significant improvement.

The NDC government is establishing a permanent pilgrimage commission of which a three member committee has been set up to see to the draft of a bill, to be sent to parliament to be passed in to law.

We want to inform Dr. Bawumia that, Islamic teachers do not receive allowances but, rather Salaries. In fact it was started by the Rawlings administration. There are known Nasara coordinators who work with the Ghana Education Service as Permanent Arabic Teachers. He should update himself well before making any pronouncement.

Under the President Mahama Administration, the Zongos have seen major Development in terms of educational infrastructure. Almost every basic School under the Islamic Education Unit across the country have new classroom blocks.

For the first time, Senior High schools within the Zongo Communities have been adopted and expanded by the NDC government. Examples are Sakafia, Azhariya, Tijaniya, Tawheed SHS and others. In Ashanti region, two new community day Senior High Schools are under construction in Ejura and Asawase respectively.

In improving the livelihood of our Zongo Communities, Over 12,000 Kayayees in the Ashanti Region have been registered under NHIS for free to enable them have access to free health care.

Many of our underprivileged Zongo elders are beneficiaries of the expansion of the Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty (LEAP) program.

In terms of appointment, out of the 30 MMDCEs in Ashanti, 9 capable Zongo people were appointed. An opportunity we missed throughout the entire 8 years of the Npp.

In a bid to unite the Zongo Communities, the NDC government has organized all Zongo Chiefs for a National Zongo chiefs conference in Accra to enable them form Association of Zongo Chiefs.

During, the limited registration last year by the Electoral Commission, it was widely reported that these same kayayees were denied the opportunities to register in areas like Ashtown, Bantama, Asafo and other Akan dominated areas. They were told to go to the Northern Region to Register.

It laughable when, the NPP organized their abortive fundraising in Kumasi a fortnight ago, they told the whole world that, Kayayees donated 5,000 cedis.

We therefore urge the NPP to allow their new found love to register where they live. For us to know that they really embrace and accept them.

We are reliably informed that the NPP are attempting to prevent people from Zongo and Northern extraction from Registering in the upcoming Limited Registration by the electoral commission.

We in the Zongo Caucus wish to serve a notice that, we will fiercely resist any attempt by the NPP to prevent those People from registering where they genuinely live.

We thank you all for coming.

LONG LIVE NDC

LONG LIVE ZONGO CAUCUS

LONG LIVE GHANA

JM TA ZARCHE

SHEE KENAN!!!

AWAL MOHAMMED

REGIONAL COMMUNICATION OFFICER

(0243201093, 0268746427,)

MOHAMMED AWAL SWALLAH

DEP. COMMUNICATION OFFICER.

(0261656420, 0243817780) 
11.02.2016 LISTEN

On November 1997, the America Administration imposed economic sanctions against Sudan under non-substantiated claim, that, the countrys policies impose unusual and extra ordinary threat to the national security and foreign policies of the United States.

Ever since, the US Administration used all sorts of pretexts and justifications to renew the sanctions. Today, the sanctions remain in place despite the fact that the Sudan has resolved the conflict in South Sudan which was initially cited by Washington as a reason behind the sanctions.

According to doctors and scientists in Khartoum, the sanctions have isolated the countrys biomedical sector and negatively impacted health-care provision in general and the whole country has been deprived of access to high-quality medical technology and pharmaceuticals through no fault of theirs.

In accordance with amendment introduced by the US Administration lately, food, medicine, and humanitarian assistance are all theoretically exempted, but obtaining sanctions waivers can be onerous. Even when they are granted, many organizations, decline the transactions regardless. If they make a mistake in interpreting the complex web of laws stemming from the sanctions, they can face severe punishments.

When the trade embargo was first introduced, it blocked a number of products, including basic technology that is used by most productive sectors. An omission has been made, however, for Gum Arabic . Gum Arabic is an essential ingredient to all soft drinks, several medicines, and cosmetic products among others. The Sudan is the worlds largest producer, with 70-80 percent of global production.

The real reasons for these sanctions are strictly political and unfortunately a wide portion of the people suffers from this.

The embargoes also make it difficult for Sudanese academics to access vital bodies of scholarship. Immaculate office at the Sudan University of Science and Technology in Khartoum, for example, complains that the university cannot buy subscriptions to scientific journals or even books online through Amazon.

The US sanctions are punishing a new generation of Sudanese civilians, with half the population aged under18. The sanctions have contributed to under-development and poverty.

It is our view that internationally agreed UN sanctions could sometimes help in resolving conflicts and disputes. However, that many of the consequences facing Sudan today stemmed from the imposition of unilateral and comprehensive sanctions from the US, which are totally illegal, illegitimate and inhumane.

At the recently ended African Union (AU) summit in Adisa Ababa, the AU has called for the lifting of the unilateral sanctions on Sudan, pointing out that these sanctions are incompatible with all international laws and norms.

We are therefore calling on the United States to end their unilateral comprehensive sanctions against Sudan. The sanctions have had a terrible effect on the daily lives of Sudanese and that sanctions should be lifted now.

The CAMPAIGN is also calling on the UN Security Council not to remain divided over the wisdom and effectiveness of sanctions against Sudan, but to put pressure on US to lift the sanctions now.



Haj Abdel Manan Abdel Rahman

Convenor

Lift Sudan Sanctions Campaign [LSSC]

0244470505/0277430055

His Excellency The Sudanese Ambassador

0543223008/0302733027
Information available to Joy News indicate that the Government of Ghana is scheduled to meet with authorities in Togo to arrange the return of some Bunkpurugu natives seeking refuge in Togo.

The residents have sought refuge in the neighbouring town as a result of a conflict in their hometown and are struggling to survive.

With the support of the Togolese government, the residents and their families have been reduced to living on five bowls of maize a month. This is provided by authorities every month.

Children are unable to go to school and their parents are unable to work and make a living to cater for them.

The plight of the Bunkpurugu residents was revealed by Joy News Seth Kwame Boateng in the documentary titled, Brother at War.

The documentary highlighted the effects of the conflict in Bunkpurugu which has lasted for decades and claimed many lives.

The feuding factions are children of two brothers  the younger one is contesting his older brother  the current Chief of Bunkpurugu, Naa Alhaji Abuba Nasinmong.

Both have taken entrenched positions and are reluctant to meet each other.

The Bunkpurugu chief who doubles as the leader of the Jafouk gate and his people are not ready to relinquish the skin for the Jamong gate to take over. Theyd rather kill each other.

However, Project Director of the Ghana Refugees Board, Tetteh Padi said a plan to bring the refugees back home was delayed by elections in Togo last year.

He hinted that the Ghana government will be meeting with officials from Togo to draw a roadmap.

Ghana is more peaceful than Togo but obviously with sporadic disturbances, these people find a quieter place during the period that the disturbances are taking place. It is only natural that people will want to run away from areas where they dont feel safe

Ghana government, UNHCR, the Togolese government are in an arrangement and are discussing modalities for returning these persons back to Ghana, he said.

Meanwhile, a member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Defence and Interior, Major Derrick Oduro has asked government to do more to bring lasting peace to conflict ridden Bunkpurugu.

See Also: Hotline: The Bunpkpurugu brothers at war

Video: Hotline Documentary: Brothers at War  Part 1

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Naa Sakwaba Akwa | [email protected]
11.02.2016 LISTEN

Yara Ghana, a leading crops nutrition provider, says it is committed to engaging the various tertiary institutions in country to sustain the interests of students in the agriculture sector.

The Managing Director of the company, Sergio Godoy said they have intensified efforts to help increase the number of agronomies in the country by targeting students pursuing agric-related courses to explain the prospects in the sector to them.

We recently had a programme at the KNUST and it was very positive because the students showed keen interests in our engagement with them, said Mr. Godoy at a breakfast meeting with some selected editors in Accra on Tuesday.

He said Yara, since opening its Ghana branch, has also been working in close collaboration with local research institutions like Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) and Oil Palm Research Institute (OPRI) and other international development agencies to boost agriculture, saying combining knowledge with local results is vital for the agric sector.

Mr. Godoy said that since 2007, Yara Ghana has been importing and supplying high quality products for cereal and cocoa farmers, among others, adding that Yara Ghana has grown to become a market leader in fertilizers in the country.

He said that Yara Ghana has prioritized technical support for farmers under its Yara Crop Nutrition Concept and was focusing on what he called crop knowledge, portfolio combination and application competence in order to help farmers to optimize profitability in a sustainable manner.

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The Managing Director said the company now has over 10 sale agronomists covering the different zones in the country.

He said the company was supporting what he called strong sales and distributorship network while providing agricultural extension support for farmers in respective catchment areas based on our crop nutrition approach.

Yara Ghana is committed to being the leading provider of sustainable crop nutrition solutions, supporting farmer profitability through knowledge, quality and productivity while minimizing the impact on the environment, he added.

By William Yaw Owusu


11.02.2016 LISTEN

The Flag bearer of People's National Convention(PNC), Dr.Edward Mahama has appealed to the National Peace Council to intervene in the ongoing violence among the youth of Bunkpurugu in the Northern Region.

Dr.Edward Mahama made the appeal during a meeting the party held with the Chairman of the National Peace Council, Rev. Dr.Emmanuel Antwi in Accra last Tuesday.

The Bunkpurugu district has suffered many casualties over the last years as a result of feuding factions.

A Security Boss commenting on the issue said We agree that there must be a problem in the community, but there should be a peaceful solution to the problem. There is no problem beyond human beings. We can solve this problem. Citizens of Bunkpurugu should be the ones solving the problem,

The Inspector General of Police (IGP), John Kudalor, has also warned that police will be less tolerant of the incessant clashes in the area.

Giving a description of the state of the area, Dr. Mahama lamented that the youth have taken to engaging in brutalities to the extent that they have resorted to setting houses ablaze or engaging in contract killings.

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Worried Mahama blamed the situation on the inability of policy makers to create skills training programmes and opportunities for the youth to be gainfully employed.

The flag bearer who also supported his claims with a documentary film depicting the damage to life and property pleaded passionately with the Council to intercede in bringing the warring factions together to facilitate the development of the area.

The Chairman of the Peace Council, Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Asante while expressing his appreciation to the PNC flag bearer and his entourage assured that the Council would liaise with its Regional Office in Tamale to find ways by which they can help bring the situation under control.

He revealed that the Council is already holding talks with the Northern Peace Council to ensure the movement of the people towards the path of non aggression.

By Solomon Ofori


Former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings has thrown her hat in the ring for the November Presidential elections.

'There are a number of people who have shown interest. If the interest is still there, I'll be one of the competitors...if the interest is not there I'll still compete", she said at the launch of a revamped 'Friends of Nana Konadu Agyeman Rwalings' (FONKAR) in Accra on Thursday.

Mrs Rawlings, who was disqualified by the Electoral Commission (EC) from competing in the 2012 Presidential Election after failing to meet the commission's criteria, also used the occasion to urge Ghanaians to speak up about the challenges confronting the country.

'There are things that we should all be talking about which as Ghanaians we've kept quietand you ask yourself, why are we quiet? Do we want an explosion on our hands before we talk?

'Our great grandfathers and mothers did not keep quiet that is why we have independence. They fought for something. Let us all be strong enough and fight for something. Positive fighting, positive work will elevate the country and whatever community we live in,' she said.

Touching on the spate of killings in the country in recent times, Mrs Rawlings said the government had the responsibility to protect the lives and property of the citizenry.

She said: 'It is for these reasons that we pay taxes so that our taxes can be used to pay the police and other security agencies so that they protect us. Inasmuch as we cannot have one policeman per Ghanaian and therefore we need to have a certain sense of personal responsibility, we also need to know that we are safe with our police and the military in our country. I personally think that we are in a state of mourning but I personally feel that it is important that we feel secure whether in our homes, or on our roads and workplaces.

'The only way is to let us know that you are in charge of us and in charge of our country and we have security because you are giving it to us.'

Mrs Rawlings' comments come two days after the Member of Parliament for Abuakwa North, Mr J.B. Danquah, was murdered at his home at Shiashie in Accra.

The MP was killed at dawn on Tuesday when his assailant (s) entered his room at dawn and inflicted multiple stabs on him.
The health of Nigerian children calls for a great concern over Boko Haram-induced violence in the North-east of Nigeria.

Whether openly or obliquely involved, children across the country are susceptible to the sweeping brunt of terrorists attacks.

A number of Nigerian children are going through stress likewise their parents. Evidence is that at the end of a week-long visit to Nigeria, the United Nations (UN) Special Envoy to Nigeria, Leila Zerrougui representing the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Children and Armed Conflicts, observed that children budding up in North-east are in need of security from ruthlessness and ailment.

In Yola, after meeting with displaced people from the conflict-affected areas, Zerrougui, said, I witnessed peoples shock and disbelief at the devastation suffered by their communities. I saw trauma in childrens eyes. The scale of the suffering is way beyond what I anticipated to find. The people I met demand and deserve urgent protection."

The UN envoy further exposed that over 900,000 people, many of them women and children, have fled their homes in the North-east; over 300 schools have been rigorously destroyed, and hundreds of children killed, injured or abducted from their homes and schools.

There is palpability that many children and young people are separated from their parents and families in any attack. For example, in April 2014, Boko Haram abducted over 200 schoolgirls at Chibok that are yet to be found. Many children have been dislodged, kidnapped, killed, wounded, and made to be orphans, assaulted sexually, and others because of ghastly attacks by Boko Haram. The disgusting aspect is that some children who have language barrier do not comprehend with what to do when terrorists attack. Children with pre-existing mental health problems, attacks worsen their situations. Caseworkers or doctors and others are often aloof to attend to emergency.

Aliyu Ndajiwo whos a medical student in West Indies in a contribution made available to Nigerian audience last year, argued that many Nigerians are paralyzed by fear of Boko Haram. Ndajiwos anxiety was that unremitting fear has disadvantageous effects on health, particularly in children, with heightening of several stress chemicals in the body.

The release of such stress chemicals or hormones like adrenaline (as well as noradrenalin) and cortisol is essential for survival. Prolonged release of one of those hormones, cortisol, can have long-term effects on the body by suppressing immune response, altering the function of some neural systems and causing damage to certain brain structures such as the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and the amygdala, Ndajiwo reported.

Examining the adverse effects of terrorism on Nigerian children last year, a 9-year-old Nigerian girl, Miss Splendour Joe Abisoye who resides in Abuja with her parents, wrote a book titled, Effects of Terrorism on Children. What the intervention of the girl through a book meant was that her mental stability was exposed to the severe stress that Nigerian children are developing in addition to psychological symptoms over terrorism.

Many children like Abisoyeare pronto experiencing mental health challenges  intellectually or irritatingly  with the attendant incessant terrorists attacks that leave scores of people dead and numerous property destroyed. Children in the country came to the awareness of terrorism after the terrorists atrocious acts on the New York City World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Nigerian children are vulnerable as news of disasters continues to filter into the air.

The worse is that there are scarcity of pediatricians-volunteers at hand to serve as expert advisors to local children across the 36 states of Nigeria. Ndajiwo would say, Children and adolescents inflicted with trauma are more likely to show suicidal tendencies and some of them eventually end up committing the act.

Nigerias lackadaisical approach is not the same in the USA, where different associations like the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, National Center for PTSD, American Psychological Association, National Institute of Mental Health, Center for Mental Health, Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, American Academy of Pediatrics and others, are ever ready and on ground to counsel children in order to balance their mental and psychological states over disasters.

Since this is rarely in place in Nigeria, many children are recruited into terrorism and many others think that it is nice to be a terrorist. The aftermath is that Nigerians have been experiencing situations where children are used as suicide bombers and what not, in the hands of unrepentant Boko Haram fighters. It is evidence that Nigerian children do not get the right answer they deserve after a terrorist attack, hence they suffer emotionally.

Zerrougui said that in 2014, the armed conflict in the affected areas in North-east was one of the worlds deadliest for children. She wept, adding, The beginning of 2015 brought again relentless violence with the appalling suicide bombing committed by a girl allegedly as young as ten, killing several people in a market in Maiduguri, as well as what some organisations have termed as Boko Harams deadliest attack in Baga."

Psychologists have said that children who hear the news of disasters suffer more than the people that were injured or killed. This is the reason in a country like the USA, the Mental Health Association NSW prepared hand books solely to help people living with the trauma of terrorists attacks and other human-made disasters.

The information aims to address the anxiety that can affect people in the face of impending terrorist attack, and what to do after such an event, reported D'Arcy Lyness, PhD, in January 2014.

Unlike in Nigeria, the source added, The attacks on the US, Bali and London, together with other terrorist incidents in recent years, have caused many of us to think about our personal safety and the risk of terrorist attacks.

Conversely, when there is a terrorist attack in Nigeria, children who are not with their parents or loved ones do not have a telephone counselling service, such that obtains in the USA at Kids Helpline, Young Diggers, local community organisation, local service clubs, local council and others. The true nature is that when there is a terrorist attack in Nigeria, individuals offer help to others, before any disaster emergency units would arrive hours later.

There are often unreliable news sources with the government saying a different thing from the situation on the ground. In short, there is always conflicting reports. Local Members of Parliament are even farfetched to ask questions. It is appalling that there is no record telling Nigerians the number of children that are undergoing the following: Numbness, shock, traumatic stress, flashbacks and nightmares, grief, loss; anger, despair, sadness, hopelessness and others in this era of terrorism.

Many children in Nigeria invariably walk in fear with a feeling that they could be the next to be attacked. According to Ndajiwo, On the other hand, excessive and prolonged activation of the bodys stress response system could lead to what is referred to as toxic stress. This type of stress can hinder healthy development in children by affecting the childs cognition and behavior, and can also alter the expression of stress regulatory genes, thereby increasing the risk of stress-related physical and mental ailments later in life.

The authorities in Nigeria could learn from the USA, which after the September 11 2001, terrorists' attack, has been in pursuit of best way to talk with her children about disaster and potential threat. Although, Erlanger A Turner Ph.D., a Clinical Psychologist in Houston, Texas, said in a forum, "These conversations are not easy and may cause some children and adults to worry about their safety. In children, increased worrying or anxiety can also cause difficulties functioning with daily activities such as school."

Odimegwu Onwumere is a Poet/Writer; he writes from Rivers State. ([email protected]). Tel: +2348057778358.
The outgoing Managing Director of Zenith Bank Daniel Asiedu says one of his biggest challenges as boss of the institution was how to sustain the strong financial performance posted by his predecessor.

Mr. Aseidu is set to retire from the bank as MD by the end of this month, after almost 7 years as boss of Zenith bank and more than ten years with the institution in Ghana.

Mr. Aseidu says it was not easy doing everything to improve upon his predecessor's record performance.

Joy Business received a copy of the interview. Listen
11.02.2016 LISTEN

A US push for an immediate ceasefire in Syria has run into Russian opposition ahead of talks aimed at reviving stalled peace negotiations.

Russia is reportedly calling for a halt to hostilities on 1 March, but the US suspects it wants to give the Syrian army three weeks to crush rebel forces.

Russian air strikes have been helping the army make major gains in Aleppo province, displacing 50,000 people.

World powers will discuss the ceasefire proposal at a meeting in Munich later.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Raad Al Hussein, called on them to ensure that talks in Geneva aimed at finding a political solution to the conflict resume as soon as possible.

The talks were suspended last week while still in the preparatory phase, with both sides blaming each other for the failure to make any progress.

More than 250,000 people have died in almost five years of war in Syria. Eleven million others have fled their homes as forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and those opposed to his rule battle each other, as well as jihadist militants from so-called Islamic State (IS).

Thursdays meeting of the International Syria Support Group in Munich will bring together both allies and opponents of Mr Assad, including Russia, Iran, the US and Saudi Arabia.

Before they began, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said Moscow was ready to discuss the modalities of a ceasefire, without giving any further details.

US officials say Russia has proposed that the ceasefire start on 1 March.

One official told the Associated Press that the US could not accept that date because rebel forces might suffer irreversible losses in northern and southern Syria before the ceasefire took hold.

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US Secretary of State John Kerry wants a ceasefire to be effective immediately and accompanied by humanitarian organisations being given full access to besieged areas, where the UN says more than 400,000 people are living in dire conditions.

Frances permanent representative to the UN, Francois Delattre, said: The [Syrian] regime and its allies cannot pretend they are extending a hand to the opposition while with their other hand they are trying to destroy them.

The UN human rights chief also on Thursday expressed utmost alarm at the rapidly worsening human rights situation in and around the city of Aleppo.

Since the offensive by government forces began on 1 February, dozens of civilians had been killed and some 51,000 displaced, Mr Zeid said, adding that 300,000 others in rebel-held eastern Aleppo were at risk of being placed under siege.

We have also received numerous reports of destruction of civilian infrastructure, including at least three clinics and two bakeries since the launch of this latest round of hostilities, he added.

The US military meanwhile described as patently false Russian claims that US aircraft bombed Aleppo on Wednesday. The US earlier alleged that Russian air strikes had destroyed two clinics in Aleppo  something Russian officials denied.

Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin also said his country was not about to be apologetic for its actions in Syria, accusing other UN Security Council members of exploiting the humanitarian situation for their own political gain.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan used a live television address to warn on Thursday that refugee numbers could increase to 600,000 if the strikes continue.

Attacking the mounting pressure on Turkey to allow in 30,000 of those displaced by the fighting around Aleppo who are stranded at its border, he said Turkey would be patient up to a point, but then would be forced to take action.

Nato member states later agreed to begin naval patrols in the Aegean Sea to deter people smugglers plying their trade between Turkey  which is hosting more than 2.5 million Syrian refugees  and Greece.

-bbc


11.02.2016 LISTEN

Nato ships are being deployed to the Aegean sea to deter people-smugglers taking migrants from Turkey to Greece, Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg says.

The announcement followed a request from Turkey, Germany and Greece at a defence ministers meeting in Brussels.

Mr Stoltenberg said the mission would not be about stopping or pushing back refugee boats.

Nato, he said, will contribute critical information and surveillance to help counter human trafficking.

The decision marks the security alliances first intervention in Europes migrant crisis.

US defence secretary Ashton Carter earlier said that targeting the criminal syndicate that is exploiting these poor people would have the greatest humanitarian impact.

The decision was made to help Turkey and Greece manage a human tragedy in a better way than we have managed to do so far, Mr Stoltenberg, Nato Secretary General, said.

Natos Standing Maritime Group 2, which is under German command and is comprised of at least three ships, will lead the operation in co-operation with Greek and Turkish coastguards.

Germany Defence Minister Ursula Von der Leyen said several Nato members had pledged warships and that any refugees rescued would be returned to Turkey, a fellow Nato ally.

A European Commission spokesman said it viewed the plan as a sort of forerunner to a proposed European coast guard.

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Mr Stoltenberg said reconnaissance and intelligence gathering was also being stepped up at the Turkey-Syria border.

Almost 75,000 migrants and refugees have already arrived in Greece by sea in 2016, the UN refugee agency says. Of those, 45% are Syrians. More than 400 people have died attempting the crossing.

One of the most popular destinations is the Greek island of Lesbos, just a few miles from the Turkish coast.

Separately, two people-smugglers have gone on trial in Turkey in connection with the death of Alan Kurdi  the Syrian boy whose body was photographed washed up on a Turkish beach  and four other people. They have denied the charges against them.

Turkey is now home to more than 2.5 million Syrians, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been highly critical of Europes response to the crisis.

On Thursday, he confirmed that he had threatened, at an EU summit meeting in November, to send busloads of refugees and migrants into Europe.

Minutes of that conversation had been leaked earlier in the week.

He appeared to renew that threat when he told a business meeting on Thursday: We will be patient but we will do what we have to.

World leaders are meeting later in Munich to discuss a ceasefire proposal for Syria.

-bbc


11.02.2016 LISTEN

NATIONAL MEDIA COMMISSION CONDEMNS THE USE OF INDECENT LANGUAGE IN BROADCASTING

The National Media Commission (NMC) has noted with dismay the recent exchanges between a radio presenter Valentina Afia Agyeiwaa (aka Afia Schwarzenegger) and the Member of Parliament for Assin North, Hon Kennedy Kwame Ohene Agyepong, on Okay FM and Oman FM, which has subsequently been rebroadcast on other radio stations and on social media.

The nation has rightly condemned the behaviour of the two. However, the NMC notes further that the exchanges represent an example of outrageous breach of the standards of decency required in public electronic communication.

The behaviour of broadcasters in this matter demonstrates the existing weaknesses in gate-keeping and professionalism in the industry. It highlights the concern of the Commission that our nation's search for peace, development and enlightenment could be heavily undermined if substantive democratic regulatory interventions are not put in place.

When the people of Ghana voted for a liberal constitution with progressive provisions on free expression, it was the collective expectation that freedom would lead to a search for knowledge, progress and peace, which would uplift the standard of life of the people and champion the nation's development. It was not freedom to destroy the fabric of society; it was not freedom to explode the basest elements of uncontrolled emotions; and it was not freedom to socialize private anger.

Indeed, while the NMC views the recent incident with grave concern, we are aware that it is not an isolated incident but forms part of a growing disregard for decency and good standards of behaviour in the media, especially broadcasting. It was to cure this menace that the NMC enacted the National Media Commission (Content Standards) Regulations, 2015 (LI2224), which discourages offensive content including material that is sexual, violent, aggressive and humiliative.

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The Commission would like to remind all operators of electronic communications networks that their freedom to carry content comes with responsibility. It is important to protect our freedoms and not take them for granted. We must therefore take strong steps to ensure that we do not allow a minority of people to destroy our freedom on the altar of parochial commercial, personal or partisan political interests. We particularly call on the Ghana Independent Broadcasters' Association (GIBA) to take steps to bring its members to order and to ensure that Ghanaians are fed with decent content.

The Electromagnetic spectrum on which broadcasting is carried out is a scarce and precious national resource. Hence, the persisitent abuse of the media space constitutes an abuse of a national resource, which the Commission will not continue to tolerate.

In this regard, the Commission is pleased that the Despite Group of Companies has issued an apology for the use of indecent language on Okay FM. Although this is a good step, it is not enough. Operators of public electronic communications must ensure that such behaviour is prevented from occuring in the first place.

The NMC wishes to assure all Ghanaians that the Commission is alive to its responsibilities and continues to work tirelessly to ensure that the nation aspires towards the highest standards of performance in the media.

KWASI GYAN-APENTENG

CHAIRMAN

-adomonline


A man suspected to have masterminded the killing of the late Member of Parliament for Abuakwa North, Mr Joseph Boakye Danquah. has been arrested by the police.

The suspect was arrested in an operation led by the Accra Regional Police Commander, COP Dr George A. Dampare, on Thursday dawn.

Police sources told Graphic Online that the suspect was still being interrogated to establish whether he acted alone or had other accomplices.

The identity of the suspect is not known as of now.

...more to follow
11.02.2016 LISTEN

When the Ministry of Communications announced the decision to introduce an Interconnect Clearing House platform, IMANI was one of the early sceptics. Documents available to IMANI have strongly vindicated our position.

On the 2nd of December 2014, the National Communication Authority (NCA) invited applications for the grant of a license to enable service providers to establish, maintain and operate clearinghouse services in Ghana's telecommunication industry.

The NCA claims that the Clearinghouse is aimed at providing a common platform for routing, switching, billing and settlement of interconnect traffic as well as other important services for both current and future operators in Ghana.

By the 17th of December 2014, which was the deadline of the hurriedly arranged tender application process, a total of 5 applications had been received according to the Application Evaluation Panel (AEP) report. The applicants were: Afriwave Telecom Ghana Limited, Subah Infosolutions, Prodigy International Limited, TCMS-GVG Consortium Limited and Channel IT Ghana Limited.

The 8-member AEP (under the Chairmanship of Albert E. Enninful) submitted its report on the 29th of January 2015, and it was promptly endorsed by the Chairman of the NCA, the next day, on the 30th of January.

In fact, as is customary with such processes, no review of the Panel's report was done by the NCA and the indecent haste in which the endorsement was issued clearly betrayed the scheme's parochial intentions. But this was the least of the tender's problems.

Below we list the factors that combined to produce the fraudulent outcome.

1. For such a complex undertaking, the 21 day timeframe used to review detailed technical and financial submissions from 5 companies competing to manage such a mission critical system as a monopoly interconnect clearing house system was not merely ridiculous, it was farcical.

2. The Evaluation Panel itself admits in its report that no pre-qualification was done. So in addition to the NCA never having reviewed the report of the Evaluation Panel, the panel also had no prior guidance whatsoever from the NCA's technical staff to assist it in its work.

3. There were no visits whatsoever to any of the applicants' operational locations or premises to ascertain their existing capacity.

4. There were no client references or testimonials of previous work done in the clearing and general telecom intermediation space. In fact, there were no references of any kind at all.

5. Some of the criteria were blunt instruments of no real relevance to the assessment. For instance, the Panel's idea of preventing 'conflict of interest' was to penalise any applicant who may already have a license with the NCA without regard to the broad range of licenses issued by the NCA. How could someone with a radio broadcasting license for instance be conflicted in providing ICH services?

6. Now the real meat. The Panel manipulated its own scoring scheme to ensure that Afriwave came on top, regardless of the actual results, and they did so with a brazenness that is almost farcical.

7. Afriwave was awarded 5 marks in a section where the total available marks were 1. This is the part where the applicants were to show that their 'operational support team' for the planned undertaking is up to scratch by presenting their CVs.

8. This is on top of the fact that Subah having won all the two points available in the Project Implementation Team subscore, compared to Afriwaves score of 1, it was highly irregular for Afriwave to have been declared as having a superior operational support team' given how interlinked the two requirements are.

9. It is weird that the panel purported to evaluate the companys Switch and Routing Platform and Fraud Management System, when Afriwave to date has been involved solely in the mast erection space. Which Switch, Routing and Anti-Fraud systems exactly were reviewed? Our understanding is that this evaluation was carried out on diagrams submitted by the parties.

10. Despite the 'equipment identity register' subscore having a maximum score of 1, Afriwave was awarded 4 marks against Subahs 1.

11. Despite evidence of Telco Interconnections having a maximum subscore of 2, Afriwave was awarded 4 marks.

12. Despite 'topology scalability' having a maximum subscore of 1, Afriwave was awarded 2 marks.

13. Likewise, the requirement to provide a critical bill of quantity could only be scored a maximum of 1, yet, here too, Afriwave was given 2 marks.

14. Afriwave was thus given as much as 11 extra points for technical performance it could not have demonstrated, as the ratings were above the maximum allowed. I.e. the scoring was a mathematical impossibility.

15. If these strangely awarded points are subtracted from Afriwave's actual score, it should obtain 67.2 points, and not 78.2 points, and consequently should have lost out to Subah in the tender.

That this whole process was rigged to guarantee a perverted outcome can be seen from the remarks of the panel in various parts of the report. In various comments, as if to pre-empt future investigations and dodge blame, the panel laments the low quality of the submissions. It nevertheless went ahead not only to manipulate the raw scores to enable Afriwave to emerge as the winner of the bid but also to recommend the granting of a monopoly license to the same company.

Interestingly, all eight members of the AEP were asked to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement covering the evaluation of the applications for the NCA. This elicited howls of protest from the likes of Occupy Ghana and IMANI President Franklin Cudjoe who described the entire process as political and illegal since the process had the benefit neither of transparency, nor of stakeholder buy-in.

The evidence below substantiates and justifies these concerns.

Analysis of the AEP report

A summary of the findings above is presented in the table below.

Table 1 clearly demonstrates that whereas Subah's scores were consistent with the maximum attainable, Afriwave's scores exceeded the maximum possible for the mentioned criteria.

Assuming that Afriwave had the maximum attainable for the criteria in Table 1, it should attain a total score of 6. Rather it obtained an additional 11 points culminating in a total of 17 points. Thus, subtracting the fictitious 11 points from the total score of 78.2 reported for Afriwave Telecom Ghana Limited leaves the final score at 67.2, which is lower than the reported score of 72.7 for Subah Infosolutions.

There are many other questions which come up at this stage.

A few are:

In view of the committee's claim of insufficiency of information for making informed judgements about the financials of most of the tenders, what informed the total points awarded under debt and equity?

 With a score of 0 on equity, how did Afriwave score more than 75% of the points available on debt equity ratio?

 Why was the final report of the committee not vetted by the NCA for accuracy and consistency of the computations and conclusions arrived at?

 What could have been the sufficient financial information requested, that bidders couldn't provide, given the experience and record of the business entities?

Source: Imani
11.02.2016 LISTEN

Accra, Feb. 11, GNA - Professor Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), on Tuesday said it was important for Africans to build on the possibility of youth engagement in the change process of the African continent.

He said the youth can be a formidable force to transform Africa and create a better world, adding that with right investments, support and interventions, young people especially adolescent girls have the power and potential to transform families, communities, nations and the world.

Professor Osotimehin said this at the opening of the 7th Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights (Accra 2016) in Accra, on theme;'Realizing demographic dividend in Africa; the critical importance of adolescents and youth sexual and reproductive health and rights'.

The conference is being hosted by Mrs Lordina Dramani Mahama, First Lady of Ghana and President of the Organisation of African First Ladies Against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA) in collaboration with Curious Minds, Ghana, an organisation of young advocates and youth in broadcasting.

Participating First Ladies are from Kenya, Ethiopia, Mali and Cote D'Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau, Burkina Faso Sudan, Madagascar and Mozambique and Chad.

He said the conference is to raise visibility and build continental support for the investments needed in Africa to realize the demographic dividend, and to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities associated with advancing the agenda in Ghana.

He said it would also create the opportunity to bring greater attention to the huge assets that young people represent as a pathway to harnessing the demographic dividend and progress towards sustainable development in Ghana and the rest of Africa.

Professor Osotimehin said the demographic dividend is an opportunity that should be seized to uplift Ghana and all other African nations, adding that actions must be taken to promote sustainable development for women, men, boys and girls alike.

'We have a global resource that until now has been largely overlooked, and it has nothing to do with science or technology. It is the world's young people,' he noted.

He said there must never be a time when Africans would be on their bended knees for help and as such we must provide education in entrepreneurship, vocational and technical training to the youth as well as the provision of sexual reproductive health care.

He called on African countries to strengthen their school systems and invest in adolescent health for the youth in order to create opportunities for integrated development.

President John Dramani Mahama, President of Ghana, opening the conference said it was important to empower the youth in order for them to be part of the process in moving the continent forward.

He said the conference was very timely and important in order to compare notes and share experiences as well as how far African have gone in relation to sexual reproductive health and rights.

He said the first ladies of various African countries came together to help in dealing with reproductive health and begun with HIV and AIDS, but as time went on their work has widened to tackle issues of breast and cervical cancer.

President Mahama said as governments there is the need to keep the worlds focus on walking towards ending AIDS, by continuously introducing new effective anti-retroviral drugs and dropping the rate of mother to child transmission.

He noted that early marriages were the most obnoxious practice in the 21st century, which is not acceptable and governments must support each other to fight the trend.

He urged governments to create the opportunity for girls not only to go to school but stay in school in order for them to reach their full potentials.

Mrs Lordina Mahama, First Lady of Ghana, said it was important for African countries to focus and work hard towards achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals as well as invests in the health care of people especially the youth.

She said reducing maternal mortality, early and forced marriages, reduction of teenage pregnancy, and discussing solutions and prevention of HIV and AIDS would be considered during this conference.

Mrs Mahama said 'we need a continent of young people who are educated and healthy and we must invest in their education and health care in order for them to grow and contribute towards the development of the African continent'.

She noted that the future of every country depended on the activeness of its youth, and her outfit would continue to support all youth programmes to achieve their targets for the socio-economic development of the country.

GNA
Apam (C/R), Feb. 11, GNA - The teenage pregnancy among school girls in the Gomoa West District has declined from 16 cases in 2014 to 11 cases in 2015, representing 0.3 percent.

This was due to formation of adolescent clubs in schools, health education at primary and Junior High Schools (JHS) and the enforcement of assembly bye-laws that prevent school children from being seen in the streets after 2000hrs by chiefs.

Dr Liuz Amousou Gohongo, Gomoa West Director of the Health of the Ghana Health Service, said this at the 2015 Annual Performance Review Meeting held at Apam.

He said statistics available at the Gomoa West Health Directorate indicates that 16 school girls between 10 years and 14 years got pregnant in 2012, adding that 26 school girls under the same ages were pregnant in 2013.

Dr Gohongo said the directorate has put in place effective measures to find solution to the health concerns of the District.

The Gomoa West Health Director said pregnancies of ages between 15 and 19 (not school girls) also increased from 744 in 2014 and 754 in 2015, representing 17.8 percent.

Dr Gohongo said more Community-based Health Planning and Service (CHIPS) had been established in the District to ensure effective quality health delivery to the communities.

He said the malaria continues to top the ten cases brought to health facilities in the Gomoa West saying it increased to 25,783 in 2015 as against 22,583 in 2014.

Dr Gohongo appealed to all health workers not to show any political sentiments during the discharge of their duties as 2016 is an election year.

GNA
Winneba (C/R), Feb. 11, GNA - The fourth Junior Police Command course at the Staff College Winneba has begun.

The participants from various police outfits in the country will stay in the College for five weeks and will be schooled on disciplines including, managing the media, effective leadership skills and cyber-crime.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Beatrice Vib-Sanziriat used the occasion to commend the Commandant and Staff of the Ghana Police Command for successfully implementing nine training courses since the inception of the College.

The course is to build the capacities of the participants to help them improve their previous knowledge and to better prepare them for challenges they may confront in the execution of law enforcement duties.

DCOP Vib-Sanziriat said capacity building is one of the important initiatives any institution or business entity must embark upon if it wants to achieve its stated objectives.

'The Police administration recognizes this fact and have put in place measures to ensure that personnel of all ranks attend capacity building training programmes annually to enable them provide quality, effective and efficient law enforcement services', she said.

DCOP Vib-Sanziriat said since the inception of the College over a year ago, it has been used to upgrade the capacity of over 350 officers who are currently holding various command positions in the service.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah, Commandant of the College, congratulated the participants for securing a seat in the College and expressed the hope that they would gain useful skills.

GNA
Accra, Feb. 11, GNA - The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) with the Ghana Health Service, and the Theatre for Social Change, has taught children in the Odododiodoo Constituency to effectively wash their hands to stay healthy.

This was done through storytelling, drama, dancing, playing and hand washing competition.

The Theatre for Social Change, who aided the children in the competition, indicated that in washing your hands you need to first wet your hands with water, rub some soap on your hands, wash your finger and thumbs, move back and in between your fingers, and finally rinse.

According to UNICEF, washing hands with soap after using the toilet, or cleaning a child, and before handling food, could reduce rates of diarrhoeal disease, including some of its more severe manifestations, such as cholera and dysentery, by 48 per cent to 59 per cent and the rates of respiratory infection by about one-quarter.

However, the world body notes that despite its lifesaving potential, handwashing with soap is seldom practiced, saying around the world, the observed rates of handwashing with soap at critical moments range from zero per cent to 34 per cent.

UNICEF says research shows that a $3.35 investment in handwashing brings the same health benefits as an $11.00 investment in latrine construction, a $200.00 investment in household water supply; and an investment of thousands of dollars in immunisation.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview, Susan Ngonyi, the UNICEF Representative in Ghana, said though hand washing had been known as a Ghanaian custom for a long time it was usually not done well enough.

She explained that there was soap in virtually every household but usually it was used for washing other things other than the hands.

"Hand washing is an investment into the future to prevent sicknesses, which would reduce the load it causes when someone is ill, beside, it is a cheaper disease preventive measure,' she noted.

Madam Ngonyi said hand washing with soap must be acquired as a habit, consequently, they had targeted children so that they could grow up with it.

She said simultaneous programmes were being held to educate more children to acquire the life-saving habit.

John Alartey, the Project Coordinator for Theatre for Social Change, said in 2014-2015 many cholera cases were recorded across the country due to the low practice of hand washing.

'Most Ghanaians have cultivated the habit of not washing their hands after visiting the washroom, shaking hands, playing and handling objects, in spite of the continuous awareness creation programme,' he said.

GNA
Ho, Feb 11, GNA - The World Health Organization (WHO) would be interested in how health managers in the Volta Region would at the end of 2016, achieve 'improved health outcomes through the use of quality improvement approaches'.

A representative of the WHO gave the hint in a message at the 2015 Performance Review of the Regional Health Directorate under the theme 'Achieving improved health outcomes through the use of quality improvement approaches.'

'We would be interested in your performance based on your theme,' the representative said.

He said the Volta Region had lost its top performances in the health sector in recent years and expressed the hope the situation would change for the better.

The annual performance reviews look at how the health sector fared in the Region in the previous year with the view to mapping out strategies to improve the situation in the ensuing year.

As a peer review forum, each Municipal and District Health Directorate presents for discussion, reports on how they fared in delivering various health variables, challenges faced and best practices they could adopt from each other.

In a summary, Dr Joseph Nuertey, the Regional Director of Health described the performance for the past year (2014) as 'mixed'

'Whilst we saw a decline in some areas, we improve slightly in many areas.

'Limited financial inflows from traditional sources as well as the National Health Insurance Authority' posed a major challenge.

There was also the problem of frequent electricity outages and threats of disconnections by the Electricity Company of Ghana and drops in facility attendance when managers attempted to charge 'a token to take care of utilities.

These notwithstanding the Region posted positive strides in nutrition which saw constant declines in the underweight rate among children below five years from 12.1 in 2013, 10.9 in 2014 and 9.8 in 2015.

Family Planning 'saw an increase in the couple year protection from 161,228.5 in 2014 to 166,924.1 in 2015.

Preference for long-term as against short term methods saw persistent increases even though there was a decline in general coverage from 28 percent in 2014 to 26 percent in 2015.

Agotime-Ziope, Adaklu, Akatsi-North, Ho West, Krachi East and Krachi West showed persistent improvement in immunization coverage from 2013 to 2015.

Keta and Ho Municipalities however saw persistent drops in their immunizations from 2013 to 2015 with Ho Municipal being the worst performer in the country.

Still-birth rate in the Region declined from 1.9 percent in 2014 to 1.7 percent in 2015, while maternal mortality rate declined from 178 per 1,000 to137 per 1,000.

The management of the Sacred Heart Hospital, Abor, received commendation for 'the swift response in stemming the tide of maternal deaths there.

GNA
11.02.2016 LISTEN

Since Ghana returned to democratic governance under the Fourth Republic, there are many features that run through the changes in governments. One such key feature is the change in governments after two terms of governance by either the NDC or NPP. After former President J.J Rawlings of the NDC ruled Ghana for two terms of eight years between January 7, 1993 and January 7, 2001, there was a change in government in the 2000 general elections. Former President J.A. Kufour of the NPP took over from former President J.J Rawlings on January 7, 2001.

After Former President J. A. Kufour ruled for two terms of eight years, there was another change in government in the 2008 general elections. Former President John Evans Atta Mills of blessed memory took over the reins of governance from Former President J. A. Kufour on January 7, 2009. Very unfortunately, Former President J. E. A Mills passed in July 2012 without completing one term of four years. In accordance with the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, then Vice- President, John Dramani Mahama took over as the next President of Ghana.

For me, this singular event i.e. President John Mahama taking over from the uncompleted tenure of office (of less than six months) of Former President J.E.A Mills could change the usual change in governments between the NDC and the NPP in every eight years since 1992. My readership might disagree with me but I would urge my readership to hold their horses so that I would explain the reasons why I hold this view.

To explain my reasons for holding this view, I would entreat my readership to take note of the similarities between 2000 and 2008 presidential elections. In the 2000 elections, a sitting president in the person of J.J Rawlings of the NDC who had ruled for eight years was not contesting in the elections. His Vice, Prof. J.E.A Mills, was contesting the 2000 elections with former President J.A Kufour as his major contender. In the same vein, in 2008, a sitting President in the person of J.A Kufour who had ruled for eight years was not also in the race.

Former President J.A. Kufours foreign affairs Minister, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo, contested the elections with Late Prof. J.E.A. Mills of the NDC as his major contender. The point of departure between 2000 and 2008 presidential elections on one hand and the 2016 presidential election on the other hand is that, in the 2016 elections, we are going to have a sitting president, John Dramani Mahama, who has ruled for four years as a President of Ghana but whose party has been in power for the past 7+ years participating in the November 7, 2016 presidential election. Nobody should be quick to tell me that this does not make any difference since President John Mahama was Vice- President and later became President at the tail end of the first term of the NDC government under former President J.E.A Mills. Those who reason like this might have to revise their notes.

The 1992 Constitution of Ghana could help this category of people who think that eight years of NDC government equals eight years of H.E John Dramani Mahama being in power as President of Ghana. For easy reference, I quote article 60, clauses 6 and 7.

(6) Whenever the President dies, resigns or is removed from office the Vice-President shall assume office as President for the unexpired term of office of the President with effect from the date of the death, resignation or removal of the President.

(7) Where the unexpired term served by the Vice-President under clause (6) of this article exceeds half the term of a President, the President is subsequently only eligible to serve one full term as President. I hope this cures the mischief of those who deliberately or ignorantly assume that eight years of NDC government equals eight years of H.E John Dramani Mahama being in power as President of Ghana.

At this point my readership may be wondering what the ramifications of the differences and similarities between 2000, 2008 and 2016 Presidential elections are as far as the November 7, 2016 Presidential Election is concerned. For me as an ordinary election observer, these differences and similarities would surely inure to the benefit of President John Dramani Mahama in particular and the NDC in general as a party if these differences and similarities are utilized well. My reasons? My reasons are not far-fetched. President John Mahama would not have the problems associated with being a sitting President without being a flag bearer of his party after eight years of NDC government.

We all heard and sometimes saw what transpired between former Presidents J.J Rawlings and Prof. J.E.A Mills in the run-up to the 2000 presidential elections and the propaganda that was associated with such happenings. One of such propaganda that was used by the NPP against late Prof. J.E.A Mills in the 2000 elections which somewhat yielded the expected results for the NPP was the assertion that a vote for then candidate J.E.A. Mills was a vote for then President J.J Rawlings.

This saw late President J.E.A Mills doing everything possible to prove that he was not tied to the apron strings of former President J.J Rawlings. Some of these actions and inactions were very detrimental to the political fortunes of Prof. J.EA Mills and the NDC as a whole. One of such actions was the imposition of parliamentary candidates on some constituencies across the country which caused a lot disaffection among grassroots of the NDC as a party. The cumulative effect of the spitefulness that existed between and among the rank and file and top party leaders of the NDC in the 2000 election was that the party lost the election which the party could have won easily based on the past achievements and potential achievements of the party in the future.

We did also observe what happened when former President J.A Kufour was a sitting President after eight years of ruling Ghana on the ticket of the NPP while Nana Akuffo Addo was the Presidential candidate in 2008. Coupled with the Dankwa-Busia theory associated with the long standing disunity in the NPP, the seemingly bad blood that existed and still exists between former President J.A Kufour and candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo stemmed/stems from the formers bold, obvious and unflinching support for Allan Kyeremanteng in the NPPs glamorous presidential primaries that took place on the University of Ghana campus in 2007.

This curious event led to suspicions and counter-suspicions from defeated candidate Allan Kyeremanteng/President Kufours camp on one hand and candidate Nana Addos camp on the other hand. We are all witnesses to the results of such power play between the Dankwa and Busia factions within the NPP.

The final results of the power play that existed between the Dankwa and Busia factions in the 2008 Presidential elections was manifested in the last runoff that took place in Tain. Dr. Arthur Kennedy in his book titled Chasing The Elephant Into The Bush: The Politics Of Complacency recounts that a day before the vote in Tain, former President Kufour told a gathering including candidate Nana Addo at the palace of the Omanhene of Wenchi that due to the circumstances pertaining in Tain, there is going to be no vote in Tain. Dr. Arthur Kennedy concludes his observation as far as the Tain runoff was concerned by posing four (4) very critical questions.

These questions are; Why could the President not go to TAIN? If it was not safe for him to go, why could the vote take place? Why did the NPP Candidate not go to TAIN? Why did President Kufuor announce at Wenchi that there would be no vote in TAIN when he did not know that for a fact? Why did the party that wrestled power from the NDC in 2000 allow power to be wrestled from them despite having the security forces under its control (Arthur Kennedy, 2009:149)? Just as the NDC lost the 2000 elections to the NPP out of spitefulness, the NPP lost the 2008 election out of the same spitefulness but the NPPs type of spitefulness was deep- seated and still haunting the party as I type this article.

This article, however, does not seek to oversimplify the chances of the NDC and NPP in the November 7, 2016 elections. It rather seeks to point out the dynamics involved in the 2000 and 2008 Presidential election and the dynamics that are at play in the 2016 Presidential elections.

I believe strongly that the results of the 2016 Presidential election would be based on Former President Bill Clintons assertion that Elections are always about the future, not the past. So whether the NPP or NDC would be declared winners in this years Presidential Election would depend on whether the Ghanaian Electorates have confidence in the NPP or NDC going into the future.

Kpirko Wenceslaw E-mail: [email protected] Mobile Number: 0208352885
11.02.2016 LISTEN

Two accused persons, who allegedly robbed a Tema-based engineer off his Toyota Camry saloon car at Dzorwulu, a suburb of Accra, have been remanded into custody by an Accra Circuit Court. The accused persons, Yaw Antwi Boasiako and Kwaku Akorsah, pleaded not guilty to the charge of conspiracy to commit crime, to wit, robbery and robbery.

The court, presided over by Aboagye Tandoh, remanded the two into lawful custody to reappear on February 18, 2016.

Facts

Briefing the court, the Prosecutor, Chief Inspector Adu, explained that the complainant, Godwin Broke, who owns a white Toyota Camry saloon car with registration number GM 4493 14, is an Engineer who lives at Tema Community 3, while the first accused person, Yaw Antwi Boasiako, aka Yaw Broni, is a goldsmith.

According to him, the second accused person, Kwaku Akorsah, aka Abban is a driver. Both the accused persons and two other suspects, namely Ivan Kofi Danso and Faisal, together at large, have been good friends.

On June 18, 2015, Ivan Kofi Danso invited the accused persons and Faisal to his house at Kwabenya, a suburb of Accra, and told them that he had seen a Toyota Camry in town and wanted them to steal it for him, to which they agreed.

He continued that in the evening of June 19, 2015, the accused persons and Faisal went to Kofi Danso's house, and he drove them to a drinking spot at Abelempke, also a suburb of Accra, to have some drinks.

After spending some time at Abelemkpe, Kofi Danso drove his friends to the house of Kwaku Akorsah.

Kwaku Akorsah alighted from the car, entered the house together with Kofi Danso, and handed over a locally manufactured pistol to him (Kofi Danso), who also handed it over to Faisal.

Chief Inspector Adu said when Kwaku Akorsah came back into the car, Kofi Danso drove them to Dzorwulu towards the Fiesta Royale Hotel, and when they reached the Nii Kwabena Boni Crescent Street, Kofi Danso spotted the complainant's car being driven by himself with his friend on board. Kofi Danso identified the car to the three others, and they followed it to House number 576/40 on the same street, where the complainant stopped to allow his friend alight.

The Prosecutor explained that Kofi Danso drove and parked directly behind the complainant's car, after which Faisal and the two others went to the car. Faisal pointed the gun at him and forced him and his friend out of the car, the Prosecutor continued.

Faisal then drove the car with the accused persons on board to Kofi Danso's house after the robbery.

The complainant thereafter reported the theft to the police for investigations. On October 5, 2015, acting on intelligence, the police retrieved the complainant's car, which had been re-registered as number GR 479 15, from Kofi Danso's house. Investigations later led to the arrest of the accused persons, and they admitted the offences in their respective cautioned statements.

By Maame Agyeiwaa Agyei

([email protected])
11.02.2016 LISTEN

The outspoken Ashanti Regional Chairman of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, has expressed pessimism in the development of Ghana as a nation under the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) government.

According to him, there is no way Ghana could develop under the Mahama-led NDC government.

He has, consequently, warned Ghanaians, who wish to see Ghana recover from its lost glory, not to repeat the mistake by retaining the incompetent John Mahama-led government in the 2016 general elections.

Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, known in political circles as 'Chairman Wontumi', put it bluntly: There is no way Ghana can develop under the NDC government if we don't change this incompetent administration.

Speaking on a Takoradi-based radio station last Saturday, Chairman Wontumi pointed out that the only way Ghanaians could save this country from sinking further into economic retrogression was to boot out the Mahama-led administration and vote Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP into power, come November 7.

To Chairman Wontumi, it is Nana Addo, who he described as incorruptible and has the international record to succeed, could save Ghana from the mess the Mahama-led administration has plunged it into.

Continuing, Chairman Wontumi explained that the recent admission by President Mahama that when voted into office for the second term, he would use 2017 to put money in the pockets of Ghanaians, as his admission of the failure on the part of the ruling government.

He questioned what the President had been doing all these years, having been in power, only for him (Mr. President) to beg Ghanaians to vote for him again, in order to use his second term in office to put money in our pockets.

Chairman Wontumi reminded listeners of the radio station that the promise by President Mahama to put money in their pockets in 2017 was only a ploy to remain in power, and rather inflict more hardship on Ghanaians.

This is because, the President, in 2014, promised to put money in the pockets of Ghanaians the following year; questioning what might have gone wrong for Mr. Mahama to have a change of mind.

Nonetheless, Chairman Wontumi believes that every Ghanaian who cares about the future of this country, and who wants to do away with hardship, should rise up and join the crusade to boot out President Mahama and the NDC from office. Come November, 2017, NPP will be in power, and there is nothing that can stop the party from coming back to power, the Ashanti Regional NPP Chairman stated.

From Alfred Adams, Takoradi
11.02.2016 LISTEN

An attacker has opened fire at an education department office in Saudi Arabias southern Jazan province, killing six employees, officials have said.

Two other people have been wounded in the assault, in the remote community of Ad Dair, next to the border with Yemen.

The attacker has been arrested, an official said.

No motive has been given for the attack, and authorities say they are treating it as a criminal act.

The suspect has not been identified but the AFP news agency, quoting Al-Ekhbariya state TV, reported that the man was not an employee but had some business at the ministry.

Earlier reports suggested the attacker was a teacher.

Criminal mass shootings are rare in Saudi Arabia but the country has faced recent attacks by the so-called Islamic State.

Saudi Arabia has led an air campaign against Shia Houthi rebels in Yemen and violence in the border region has been frequent in recent months.

-bbc


UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon

11.02.2016 LISTEN

The UN Secretary General is to be commended for recognising older peoples needs in humanitarian responses but more needs to be done, says HelpAge International.

The rise of ageing populations and its consequences for humanitarian work have not been adequately considered in the Secretary Generals report for the World Humanitarian Summit, said Marcus Skinner, humanitarian policy advisor with HelpAge International.

We were disappointed that the key themes of the WHS Synthesis Report relating to ageing were not addressed. The ageing of populations affected by emergencies will be a significant driver of changing humanitarian needs, with consequences for future responses.

Unfortunately, this meta-trend and its implications are not adequately considered in this report. For example, the risks and marginalisation faced by older women are not explicitly recognised in broader discussions around womens empowerment and gender-based violence. Nor are the multiple discriminations faced by older people and people with disabilities discussed.

We welcome the recognition of the vulnerabilities of older people and the need for national and international efforts to address their marginalisation from humanitarian assistance, said Skinner.

And its positive to see the call for improved sex and age disaggregated data collection and analysis to assist in the fulfilment of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, he added.

HelpAge is working with leading humanitarian agencies representing children, youth, and people with disabilities to support the summit preparations and ensure the opportunities for reform are not missed.

The launch of the Secretary Generals World Humanitarian Summit report has been keenly anticipated by humanitarian agencies. Following a long process of consultation and engagement agencies were keen to understand the level of ambition Ban Ki-moon would set.

HelpAge was also keen to understand the degree to which the Summit would address the neglect of older men and women identified in the World Humanitarian Summit Synthesis report published at the end of last year.
11.02.2016 LISTEN

Now, one strange thing about the hunter was that he had a habit of cutting off the head of each animal he killed, and putting it in a special room in the cottage,

which he called Botire Danmu ("The Room of Skulls). On the rare occasions thathe received a visitor in the cottage, he madesure he took him to the Room of Skulls to let the visitor view his trophies. Thus his reputation grew far and wide as an unsurpassed marksman.

The hunter also taught his little boy the name of each animal he killed, plus its nickname or sobriquet. A duiker (adowa) for instance, was called Kwadwo Abrefi Adowa, while the porcupine(kotoko) was called Kotoko Gyanbibi. Almost every animal had such a nickname, which was a combination of its ordinary name plus a selection of its better known characteristics. How these appellations were crafted by a people who did not know how to read and write is a marvel. The methodology involves such tools of word-play as rhyme, alliteration and assonance. The imagery employed to extol the 'virtues' of each animal us extremely rich and deft: it reminds one of way apostrophe is used in the more memorable poetry of other languages, such as English.

One wonders again how can a language that is not written but only spoken, incorporate rhyme, alliteration or assonance as components of its versification? If you can listen to the examples of poetic lines about various animals I am about to give, you will be reminded that the best poetry is to be said -- or spoken aloud. In Akan society, poetry is created by the tongue for the tongue; or for the drum; or the horn. Each medium requires the most melodic of the sounds available to the language. And of such melodic sounds is great poetry. Made.

So we have:

[Lion] Aboa kesie [The Great Beast]

Esrem Sei! [King of the Grasslands!]

[Elephant] Eson [Elephant]

Boninkoro [Mighty Single-cast Bone]

A obu [That can break]

Akuma mu! [The hefty Axe!]

[Leopard] Kurotwiamansa [The great slayer who finishes whole nations]

Aboa fufuo [The white/beautiful beast]

Kurotwiamansa [The Great Slayer]

Nam seseaa ase [Treads beneath the seseaa tree]

Ma seseaa ase woso biribiribiribiri [And makes the seseaa shake uncontrollably]

Na obeforo? [What if it climbed the tree?]

Kurotwiamansa [The great Slayer]

Nam hahan mu [Treads through the bushes]

Rewe sika hwiren[Munching on a flower of solid gold]!

Kurotwiamansa ba [The Great Slayer's offspring

Yemmfre no akodaa! (Must never be deemed a child!]

You see the amount of words devoted to the leopard? This s because it was the most feared beast in the forests of the Akans. It was so fearsome that many kings and chiefs were given attributes borrowed from the leopard  to make their subjects fear and revere them. And, of course, Akan folklore us full of stories about the leopard. Like this one:

The little boy and his father had been living together for several years without any untoward incident, when one day, a big leopard showed up at the cottage without notice, as the boy, left alone as usual, was in the kitchen preparing a dish for his absent father.

The leopard opened the kitchen door with a single blow from his paw  without knocking.

Hey boy! the leopard said in a rough voice. Are you really the son of that stupid hunter who lives here? the leopard shouted.

My father is not stupid! the boy protested.

You want to challenge me, eh, boy? the leopard said in a menacing tone. If he were not stupid, would he have annoyed me by killing so many of the animals I myself want to prey upon? Doesn't he know that animals don't grow on trees?

The boy immediately realised that the leopard was in a foul mood and that he had to think very carefully before saying anything to it. A quick glance at the leopard indeed showed that it had curled its long tail at the very tip and was shaking the tail to the left and to the right. His father had told him that leopards did that when they were about to strike at an animal. Leopards also sprang from the left side of their body, the father had added. So the boy watched the position of the leopard very carefully and casually kept moving, always away from where the leopard could reach him if it sprang from its left side.

The boy also tried to look the leopard in the eye several times, for his father had told him that no animal could look a human being fully in the eye. And indeed, the leopard turned his fiery eyes downwards whenever the boy looked at him directly. So although the boy's heart was pounding at three times its normal beat, he communicated a state of fearlessness to the leopard.

Ahah! the leopard retorted when the boy said his father was not stupid. It went on: You have admitted that you are the hunter's son! And you have the audacity to challenge me when I say he is stupid?

Yes, I I am the hunter's son, the boy answered. And I maintain that he's not stupid!

He's stupid!

He's not stupid!

He's stupid!

He's not stupid!.... Anyway, what do you want? the boy finally asked.

Now, the close proximity of the leopard nearly made the boy vomit. He had heard his father say that a leopard always carried its kill up a tree and hid it in the fork made by two adjacent branches, feeding on it little by little. By the time the prey was finished, it would have got badly rotten and would be stinking. And in truth, a huge billow of stench emanated from the leopard's mouth any time it opened its mouth to address a question to the boy..

Finally, the leopard said: Do you know I usually kill those who challenge what I say? So I could kill you for contradicting my opinion of your father. But  but  I came here with a purpose.

Oh! said the boy, relieved that the leopard had said it was not going to kill him. And what purpose is that?

The leopard said: I've heard that your father keeps a room in which he has collected the skulls of all the animals he has been able to kill. Is that true?

Yes! answered the boy.

Is there a leopard among them? the leopard asked.

The boy said: I don't know what a leopard's skull looks like!

You don't know? the leopard asked. Okay, I want you to go and bring all the heads of the animals and assemble them on the ground right here. I want you to identify each head to me. Now, I want you to know this: if anyone ever lies to me, King Leopard, death is his punishment.

With that, the Leopard let out a ferocious roar that reverberated through the forest and made any animal that was nearby run away into the deepest recesses of the forest to seek safe shelter.

The boy did as the leopard had said and brought out all the skulls of the animals his father had killed. He assembled them in a line.

And the leopard said to the boy, Surely, you must know what skull belongs to which animal?

The boy replied, Yes, I do know their names.... up to a point!

Up to a point?.... Up to What point? asked the leopard.

Well, the boy said, employing the verbal skills that his father had taught him and which, the father had said, would come to his aid if he was ever in a position to be condemned by the words that came out of his own mouth.... There are some animals which are a taboo to our clan; totems that must not be killed. But occasionally, especially in the dark, my father shoots such animals without knowing what they are. In such cases, he observes solemn funerary obsequies l for them  as if they were humans. He does not allow me to see these totems in their dead state, as he says that would bring me misfortune!

Hmmm?  said the leopard. Are leopards a taboo in your clan or not?

Quick as a flash, the sharp-witted boy said, My father reveres leopards. He says our Paramount Chief is named Etwie after the leopard!

The leopard smiled  showing those gory teeth of his. But he did not stay impressed for long. That may well be so. I have heard it said myself. But you have told me yourself that there are some animals that he shoots in the dark. And one of my own cousins did vanish without trace some time ago. We looked everywhere for him, but never found his body.

Oh sorry, said the boy.

Sorry, are you? the leopard remarked sarcastically, you won't know what sorry means if I happen to find the skull of my cousin among your stupid father's stupid collection of trophies!

And the leopard let out another ferocious roar. Tree branches shook and thickets rustled  as if even the vegetation was scared stiff.

Then the leopard pointed to one of the skulls and asked:  To which animal did this skull belong?

The boy answered: Oh, I know that one: it is the adowa or duiker. Its human name is Kwadwo Abrefi Adowa.... Yes, it was my father who slew this duiker! When I hear the report of a gun in the bush, I say ''Long life to you, Oh Brave Father!

Ah? Human name? asked the leopard, puzzled.

Yes, the boy replied, as I explained to you, an animal can be the totem of some human clans, so they endow them with human names in order that when they are carrying out a funeral ceremony for the animal when it dies, it may not seem out of place.

Ummm? said the leopard. You humans are a funny lot, aren't you? You feed on animals and yet you treat some of them as if they were humans like you? ... Okay, to which animal does this skull here belong?

Oh that's the bush-buck or onwansane. Its human name is Onwansane Mmomire!

And so it went on, as the boy identified each skull and recited its human appellations.

After he had identified and named about twenty animals, the boy recognised the skull of a leopard. He was going to say Etwie or alternatively, Osebor or the flattering Aboa Fufuo, and add that it was always addressed, not with its bare name, but as Father Leopard . But he stopped himself in time and pretended not to know. He said to the leopard, I can't readily identify that one, and since you do not forgive those who give you false information, I'd much rather you waited until tomorrow, by which time I would have been able to ask my father for the authentic name.

You want to wait until tomorrow? the leopard asked.

Yes! the boy nodded.You deserve the truth and nothing but the truth!

All right. You can have until tomorrow! But don't tell your father why you want to know! Or you are already dead! You hear? the leopard said.

And after shaking its tail several times, the leopard slunk noiselessly off into the bushes and vanished.

The boy heaved a sight of relief. Would his father believe him when he told him what happened? There was nothing to indicate that he had had such a torrid time with a real live leopard that had a grouse against mankind  especially a hunter's son!
11.02.2016 LISTEN

A TUTOR at the Mampong Midwifery Training College and his visiting brother lost their lives on Tuesday after being shot by Police, in what is believed to be a case of mistaken identity.

The deceased were said to have been mistaken for armed robbers, after personnel of the Mampong Police received a distressed call about the invasion of a group of armed robbers to the campus of the College

Both the Police and the school authorities remained tightlipped on the incident when contacted by The Chronicle, but a close source told this reporter that the incident happened around 2am yesterday, when the team of police personnel, in an effort to deal with the attackers, mistook the deceased tutor and his brother for the armed robbers.

An impeccable source, which pleaded anonymity, said the tutor, whose name was given as Francis Gbeneh, was with his brother, who had paid him a visit, when he was informed that armed robbers had attacked the school.

The source noted that since the tutor did not have any means to reach out to the police, he, according to the source, tried to get in touch with the Principal of the College, but could not get through her phone, as it was switched off.

The source said after trying unsuccessfully to get the Principal of the school on phone, Mr. Gbeneh asked his visiting brother to join him on his motor bike to accompany him to the bungalow of the Principal, so they could relay the information to her.

Unknown to the duo, the Police had also been informed about the presence of the armed robbers on the schools campus.

The paper gathered that whilst on their way to the Principals bungalow on the motorbike, the police ordered them to stop, but because the teacher and his brother and the police could not identify each other, owing to poor weather visibility, the deceased reportedly disregarded the order from the police, thinking they were the armed robbers.

The police, suspecting that they were the robbers, who were running away from the scene, run after them and fired several shots, killing the brother instantly, whilst the tutor was later pronounced dead when he was rushed to the Mampong Government Hospital.

Meanwhile, the Mampong Police District Commander, Superintendent Bismark Agyapong, refused to comment on the incident unless he was authorized by the Ashanti Regional Police Command.

He stated: I have been ordered to come to the regional command and I cannot talk to the media until I have briefed my superiors.

From Richard Owusu Akyaw, Kumasi
11.02.2016 LISTEN

Opposition MPs have heckled South Africas President Jacob Zuma at his highly-anticipated state of the nation address in parliament.

Left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters MPs said they could not listen to someone who had broken his oath of office.

Riot police have set up barricades to keep protesters away from parliament.

The speech is seen as a watershed moment for Mr Zuma, who is facing a court case over the use of $23m (15m) of state money to upgrade his home.

The opposition has rejected Mr Zumas offer to repay some of the money.

Opposition parties have brought a case over Mr Zumas expenditure to the Constitutional Court, hoping it may open the way for impeachment proceedings against him.

In court papers, Mr Zuma said he was prepared to repay money for non-security features, including the building of a swimming pool and an amphitheatre at his home in rural Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal province.

.

However, opposition parties have pressed on with the case, asking judges to rule that Mr Zuma had violated the constitution and his oath office by failing to repay the money when an anti-corruption watchdog first ruled in 2014 that he had unduly benefited from the renovations to his home.

Local media report that police have used stun grenades after clashes broke out between rival protesters in Cape Towns central business district.

EFF leader Julius Malema led protests inside parliament during last years state of the nation address, resulting in him and members of his party being thrown out by security guards.

Mr Zuma is also under intense pressure to use his speech to deliver a plan to improve the countys struggling economy, the BBCs Milton Nkosi reports from South Africa.

Earlier, hundreds of opposition supporters took to the streets to protest over a range of issues, including Mr Zumas handling of the economy.

Supporters of the governing African National Congress (ANC) have also been demonstrating outside parliament to show their loyalty to Mr Zuma.

-bbc


Interior Minister designate Prosper Bani is alarmed at what he says is the poor level of security at the Parliament House.

The minister designate said despite having driven to the House on several occasions in the past not once did any security person ask him what he was there to do.

That is a worrying security situation, Prosper Bani admitted during his vetting for the Interior Minister position, Thursday.

"I share the same worries with you and we need to begin to work together.... I am concerned, very concerned about their security.

I have driven into this house several times. On no occasion has anyone stopped my vehicle, checked my vehicle and asked me where i am going to.

"This morning i drove to this compound on two occasions. No one asked me anything," he said.

The concerns raised by the minister designate come at a time when the MPs are mourning the death of a colleague, JB Danquah who was stabbed to death Tuesday dawn.

The Interior Minister designate said the security of the individual MPs as well as House must at all times be protected.

He vowed to work with the leadership of Parliament to improve the security of MPs if approved as Minister.

"If given the opportunity to serve, one of the first actions i will take is to work with leadership to secure Parliament House.

The security of MPs cannot be forced on them without consultations with their leaders. My concern is the safety of where you work.
Police at Cantonments here in Accra are investigating circumstances under which security operatives at the US Embassy allegedly assaulted a soldier Raymond Amezado Thursday morning.

The victim, a Ghanaian born who is serving in the US Army, sustained deep cuts on the forehead and legs, and lost lots of blood, Joy News' Joseph Opoku Gakpo reported.

He is said to have challenged US Embassy officials over their decision to deny his friends visa.

An eyewitness named only as Jerry said the victim demanded that the monies of his friends be refunded if the US Embassy was not going to grant them the visa.

But that did not go down well with the officials some of whom allegedly pounced on the soldier.

"They really beat the guy to the extent that the guy was wounded and had severe cut on the eye About ten intercom security men and about two police men. There was another cut on the leg. We had to rush him to the hospital," he said.

Raymond is being held at the Cantonments Police Station after being treated at the Police Hospital.

Joseph Opoku Gakpo reported further that the victim looked frail and upset with a huge plaster on his forehead while in custody at the police station.

The victim who is holding an American citizenship is said to have served in Afghanistan and other areas of combat.

Meanwhile, the US Embassy has confirmed the assault.

"We can confirm there was an incident in consular session this morning. Local law enforcement responded and we thank them for their assistance. We refer you to local law enforcement for further information," Sarah Stealey Press Attache Officer at the US Embassy in Ghana told journalists.
Accra, Feb. 11, GNA - Ghana's First Lady Dr Mrs Lordina Mahama, has called for investment in the youth in Africa to enable them to realise their useful potentials in nation building.

She said the youth represented the wealth of every nation and must be entitled to all the needed services to ensure their usefulness in society.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the African First Ladies conference on Reproductive Health and Rights, the First Lady expressed the critical need for African countries to focus and work to address all barriers impeding the realisation of the full potential of the youth on the continent.

The conference is on the theme, 'Realising Demographic Dividend in Africa: the Critical Importance of Adolescents and Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights'.

'We need a continent full of well-educated and healthy young people; that means that we should start to invest in their education and health care to enable them to grow and contribute towards the development of our dear continent and achieve the 17 sustainable goals,' Mrs Mahama said.

The Organisation of African First Ladies (OAFLA) in collaboration with Curious Minds, Ghana, an organisation of young advocates and youth in broadcasting are organising the three-day conference, being attended by First Ladies from Kenya, Ethiopia, Mali and Cote D'Ivoire.

Others are from Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau, Burkina Faso and Chad with others First Ladies expected from Sudan, Madagascar and Mozambique.

Also in attendance are the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders in Africa, the President of the International Women's Health Coalition and over 15 Ministers from the Health, Justice, Gender and Youth Ministries across Africa.

Over 500 participants, representing various stakeholder and constituency groups across the African continent are attending the conference and these include policy makers, development partners, civil society organisations, academia, activists, media, adolescents and youth.

Mrs Mahama noted that the future of every country depended on the activeness of its youth, and expressed OAFLA's continuous support and commitment to all youth programmes to ensure the successful achievement of their targets in nation building.

She said the year 2016 would see the achievement of major milestones in the collective endeavour to secure the future of Africa, improve maternal and child health on the continent and work towards ending the AIDS epidemic.

Mrs Mahama explained that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has provided a new opportunity, and there was the need to identify and utilise entry points across several sectors and at various levels as efficient and cost-effective ways to achieve the ambitious goals of ending AIDS among children and improving adolescent sexual reproductive health and rights.

She said OAFLA was committed to ensuring the removal of all the barriers impeding the full potential of the youth, adding, 'Barriers such as maternal mortality, early and forced marriages, teenage pregnancy, HIV and AIDS would be top on the agenda for discussion during our meeting'.

Dr Mustapha Sidiki Kaloko, AU Commissioner for Social Affairs, reiterated the need for Africa to address the problems of sexual and health rights facing the youth, adding, 'By so doing, we will be achieving the SDGs as well as realising the demographic dividend'.

Professor Babatunde Osotimehin, UN Under Secretary-General and the Executive Director of UNFPA, described the youth as a formidable force to transform Africa and called for the right investments, support and interventions, to empower and transform them.

He noted that the world's seven billion population had the youth constituting over 56 percent and was expedient that their lives were improved.

He said Africa had more than enough natural resources but lacked human resources to man them and called on African countries to strengthen their school systems and invest in adolescent health for the youth to create opportunities for integrated development.

GNA
Accra, Feb. 11, GNA - Togbe Afede XIV, the Board Chairman of the World Trade Centre, Accra has urged Ghanaian companies embarking on a trade and investment mission to Turkey to highlight the operations of their businesses to attract investors.

He encouraged the companies to convince prospective business partners in Turkey for long-term relationships.

The Board Chairman gave the advice, on Wednesday, at a programme in Accra, for the companies to acquaint themselves with the culture and engagements of the Turkish Government.

The World Trade Centre, Accra, Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, and the Embassy of Turkey, in Accra, are facilitating the five-day trip for 12 Ghanaian companies.

The mission to Turkey would provide avenue for the Ghanaian companies to interact with entrepreneurs for business opportunities in both countries.

The companies include Deliman Group, Menjes Group, Unibank Ghana Limited, Rubatch Enterprise, ET Legacy Farms, Dosonec Limited, Korpha Trends, Klucky Enterprise and Powertec Ventures.

The rest are Appex Shipping, SL Limited and SAS Finance and Akoa Limited.

Togbe Afede said the Centre had organised successful trade missions to Brazil, the United States of America, Italy and Qatar, for Ghanaian companies to exhibit their products for business opportunities and investments.

Mrs Nesrin Bayazit, Turkish Ambassador to Ghana, commended the companies for the trip, saying that the engagement would strengthen the collaboration between the two countries to explore business opportunities and trade investment.

She said for a decade Turkey's Gross Domestic Product has been growing at an average annual rate of 4.7 per cent with more than 800.000 billion dollars in 2014.

The World Trade Centre, Accra, is a member of the prestigious World Trade Centre Association in New York, a global network, which provides business people, services, and facilities for easy and faster international trade.

GNA
Accra, Feb. 11, GNA - The Metropolitan Insurance Company (MET) has re-branded to Hollard Insurance Ghana Limited following its acquisition by the South African Insurer.

'Today, just as a young lady might get married and voluntarily take on the name of her chosen life partner, we at MET have decided to take on a new name. We are now Hollard,' Mrs Lynda Odru, Chief Executive Officer, Hollard Insurance Ghana Limited, said at a ceremony to outdoor the new name.

She said MET had over the years became a very respected and recognizable brand known for its ethical, professional and empathetic character by customers and competitors.

Mrs Odru said with Hollard, the insurance company would blend its local expertise with the global capabilities offered to it to create a global brand with a local focus.

She said with a bigger balance sheet, Hollard Ghana would be able to take on bigger risks.

'Thanks to the world class line of Business System, the work flow process, and access to Centres of Excellence at Hollard, we will now be even more efficient, enabling us to achieve operational excellence that translates into greater value for our customers,' she said.

Mrs Odru said if Hollard Ghana would maintain its position as one of the top five companies in Ghana's crowded insurance industry, business growth and profitability are key and pledged her team's readiness to blend local knowledge in the Ghanaian market with the experience, skills and capacity of Hollard to achieve results.

She said Hollard Insurance Ghana Limited would want customers and partners to enjoy a sustainable future and feel understood, supported, and empowered by the products, services and relationships we have to offer.

Mr Brooks Mparutsa, Chief Executive Officer of the Hollard Group, said the company would leverage on the local expertise of the MET team to build a competitive insurance business.

'MET has built a reputation for excellence and professionalism in Ghana, something we are proud of and will retain going forward,' he said.

Mrs Lydia Lariba Bawa, the Commissioner of Insurance, lauded the partnership between MET and Hollard and expressed the hope that it would help deepen the insurance market.

Hollard is a large corporation with a global reach. Based in South Africa, the insurance group has a global strategy which has seen it open branches in China, India, Pakistan as well as Zambia, Mozambique, Namibia and Botswana.

Ghana is its first stop on its West Africa road map, after three years of discussions with MET Insurance.

GNA
Accra, Feb. 11, GNA - Senior management staff of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have undergone training on personal security precautionary measures.

This stems from a recent incident which resulted in the killing of an EPA official whiles on duty by an unknown assailant.

The training was organized by Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Paul M.N Awini, Tema Regional Police Commander.

DCOP Awini said there is the need for all especially people in authority to have surveillance precaution measures to reduce their vulnerability from attackers.

He said people living in unprotected houses are the main targets of criminals hence the need to be vigilant in all one's activities.

'Crimes are not done anyhow but are carefully planned hence there is the need for all to protect themselves accordingly', he said.

The training was part of a three-day bi-annual senior management meeting to deliberate on the progress of the various EPA regional offices.

He said what is normal and unusual in one's community and neighbourhood should be reported to the police immediately for the necessary steps to be taken.

He advised that people maintain good relations with their neighbours, have a fence wall, have strong doors and windows with burglar proof systems.

'No security system guarantees your safety, it is therefore important that we adhere to these safety precautions to ensure all are protected,' he said and urged all to contact the police on 18555, 191, and 0302773906 for emergency cases.

The meeting also addressed issues such as how to deal with directives from the Ministry, mine water treatment and the bio-gas plant amongst others.

Mr Mahama Ayariga, Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, applauded the EPA for the investment they are making with regards to mining and the economy.

He said a committee has been established to look into the three options of water treatment plants that will enable mining companies to treat water bodies and prevent it from being contaminated.

'It is also important now to tap into the virgin areas in the sector to be able to generate more income for your operations since you are no longer on government subventions,' he said.

GNA
Migrant workers in Malaysia - it may be interesting to consider what is happening in Singapore.





The primary concern of local workers, especially at this time, when there are so many losing jobs by reason of factory closures and retrenchment (or VSS/MSS schemes).





I n Singapore, like Malaysia, Employers of migrant workers do not have to pay into the Employees Provident Fund (EPF/KWSP). In Malaysia, for local workers earning RM1,000 per month, employers will have to contribute a further 13% - as such the local workers get RM1,000 + RM130(the employer's contribution for EPF) - making local workers pay per hour of work higher, in comparison to migrant workers.{ see also earlier post For local workers, employers pay extra 13% above their income to EPF - not so for migrant workers?]





As an employer, you don't have to pay Central Provident Fund ( CPF ) contributions for foreign workers. However, you must a pay monthly levy for Work Permit holders.





To balance, this off, the LEVY comes in - so for migrant workers, the Employer pays LEVY to the government.





What should be the amount payable? Maybe, it should be a fixed rate of RM2,500, but maybe a fixed 13% of the total income of the worker. By total income, it will include basic wage, overtime payments, work on rest day/public holiday payments, shift allowances, etc.





If it does not include total income, but just based on 'basic wage' - employers may just make migrant workers work maximum hours just to reduce the labour cost per worker per hour. If this happens, then local workers once again becomes more expensive.





What about the other costs for migrant workers - recruitment cost, accommodation, travel to and from country of origin, medical testing, etc..? If the levy rate is fixed at 13% of total income, then all we have is making the cost per worker per hour for both migrant and local worker equal. The additional expenses in employing migrant workers would be the DETERENCE - and, if you choose to hire migrant workers rather than local workers, that is the additional burden that employers will have to bear.





QUOTAS - Levy Rates Increase as you take in more migrant workers





What is interesting in Singapore, is that there are quotas for migrant workers in a workplace - in Malaysia, at present, there is no quotas - so, the employer can simply use 99% migrant workers.





in Singapore, we find that there are higher LEVY rates when the employer wants to use more than 25% migrant workers in his/her labour force.





[In fact for Malaysia, we need quotas to also protect Regular Employment Until Retirement - as more and more employers are resorting to precarious forms/practices of employment. All local workers should be employed as REGULAR EMPLOYEES - and maybe short-term contract employees should be limited to 10%, and their work should not be work in core business]





KEEPING EMPLOYER LABOUR COST DOWN MEANS ALSO LOW WAGES FOR LOCAL WORKERS





If there is a high demand, and the number of workers are limited > this would have resulted in employers willing to pay higher wages for workers. It would also mean that employers will also invest in training workers, including skills training, so that they would be able to satisfy their labour demands. End of the day, we will be having local workers with greater skill and higher wages. Such a situation would also mean better employment security - and employers will hire with the hope of keeping their workers - they will be regular employers until retirement after their probation period. Now, that there are so many workers out there, employers choose short-term contract employment and other precarious employment practices. This will all stop - and employers will be more responsible and caring to workers - because they will want workers to be with them for the full duration.





But when Malaysian local workers were in demand, with a certain chance of being able to demand for better pay and working condition, this struggle can be said was 'crushed' by the introduction of migrant workers in large numbers ...Hence, wages stayed the same - low?? Worse, it was the Malaysian government that allowed this...and, as such, blame must lay on this Barisan Nasional Malaysian government





Even now, more and more migrant workers are allowed into Malaysia - and thus the ability of workers to demand higher wages and better working conditions is hindered. What with all the unemployment, retrenchment, factory closures, when Malaysian workers are in dire need, Malaysia goes ahead with a MOU with Bangladesh to supply 1.5 million migrant workers in Malaysia? Is there a need for so many? Remember, most migrant workers come to work in Malaysia for 3-5 years at the very least > How many will be going back to their country of origin because their 5-year contract is over? If their contract is over, many of this already trained migrant workers may be willing to renew their contracts for a few more years, would they not. So, where is the justification that Malaysia will need a further 1.5 million over the next 3 years - remembering also that the number of documented migrant workers now is only about 2.1 million.???





Unjustly low Minimum Wages? Has 'Real Wage' in Malaysia increased or decreased?





To make matters worse, Malaysia's minimum wage of RM900 is pathetic - and, interestingly employers started paying workers just minimum wage... [Malaysian government recognizes that individuals in Malaysia earning RM2,000 or less, and families earning less than RM4,000 deserve financial assistance from the government to survive - the BR1M. As such, it makes no sense why the Minimum Wage in Malaysia is still so low??]. Is the Malaysian government doing this to maintain 'low wages' to woe in the foreign investor? Sad...





Keep Wages Low - Workers Forced to Work Overtime to Survive?





Malaysia's policy seems to be to KEEP WAGES OF WORKERS LOW - and for survival, get workers to work overtime and maybe even work a 2nd Job? What about respecting the right to '8 hours work, 8 hours rest and 8 hours leisure/social life'?





To facilitate the ability to work more - the government set the monthly overtime limit to 104 hours a month, that means workers in Malaysia will end up working for 12 hours every working day...





Some stuff from Singapore Ministry of Manpower website

What is the foreign worker levy

If you employ Work Permit holders you may be limited by a quota for your industry. You will also have to pay a monthly levy for each worker.



CPF

Levy rate and quota

The workers qualifications (skilled or unskilled). Dependency ceiling or quota (for manufacturing and services sectors).

Quota and levy

Quota Unskilled - monthly Unskilled - daily Skilled - monthly Skilled - daily Basic Tier / Tier 1:

Up to 25% of the total workforce $370 $12.17 $250 $8.22 Tier 2:

Above 25% to 50% of the total workforce $470 $15.46 $350 $11.51 Tier 3:

Above 50% to 60% of the total workforce $650 $21.37 $550 $18.09

Qualifying for skilled worker levy

Type of qualification Certificates needed Academic qualifications Malaysia - Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM). If you wish to use a diploma or higher qualification, you need to produce a copy of the transcript or a letter from the institution stating the course duration.

North Asian sources (NAS) - High school certificates

People's Republic of China (PRC) - Diploma

Skills Evaluation Test (SET) conducted by ITE SET Level 1 or National ITE Certificate (Nitec) Workforce Skills Qualification ( WSQ ) Composite Assessment for Generic Manufacturing (CGM)

Required safety courses

Course requirements during employment

If they've worked They should take the MSOC 6 years or less Once every 2 years More than 6 years Once every 4 years

The foreign worker levy, commonly known as 'levy', is a pricing mechanism to regulate the number of foreign workers in Singapore.The levy liability will start from the day the Temporary Work Permit or Work Permit is issued, whichever is earlier. It ends when the permit is cancelled or expires.As an employer, you don't have to pay Central Provident Fund () contributions for foreign workers. However, you must a pay monthly levy for Work Permit holders.The levy you pay depends on two factors:Find out the levy requirements by sector: - Singapore Government Ministry of Manpower website The number of Work Permit holders that you can hire is limited by quota (or dependency ratio ceiling) and subject to a levy. The levy rates are tiered so that those who hire close to the maximum quota will pay a higher levy.The quota and levy rate for the manufacturing sector are as follows: Calculate your quota or refer to the Guidelines on the Calculation of Quota and Levy Bill The daily levy rate only applies to Work Permit holders who did not work for a full calendar month. The daily levy rate is calculated as follows: (Monthly levy rate x 12) / 365 = rounding up to the nearest cent.You pay less levy for skilled foreign workers. You can apply for the skilled-worker levy rate for workers with the following certificates:Foreign workers in the metalworking industry must take the Metalworking Safety Orientation Course (MSOC) before their Work Permits can be issued.As soon as you get in-principle approval, register the workers for the course. They should take the coursein Singapore. The Work Permit cannot be issued until they take the course.As an employer, you are responsible for your workers passing the test. If they fail the course, they should retake it as soon as possible. They need to pass the course within 3 months of arrival or their Work Permit could be revoked.Workers in the metalworking industry need to retake and pass the MSOC regularly. How often they need to take the test depends on their years worked in the sector.When, the worker's MSOC certificate must beon the day of renewal. Otherwise the Work Permit will not be renewed.
11.02.2016 LISTEN

Accra, Feb. 11, GNA - The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a suit filed by Alhaji Abdulai Yusif Fanash Muhammed, from Hohoe asking it to overturn its decision that Woyome refund GH 51 million cedis to the state.

The plaintiff's action filed on December 22, 2015 was dismissed but the Court would file the reasons for the dismissal on March 3, 2016

The nine-member panel presided over by the Chief Justice Mrs Georgina Theodora Wood said the action of the plaintiff was vexatious and awarded cost of GH 15, 000 to the Attorney-General and Martin Amidu, parties in the case.

Alhaji Muhammed has gone to the Supreme Court inviting it to overturn its decision that Woyome refund GH 51 million cedis to the state.

The anti-corruption crusader Mr Amidu, who was a former Attorney-General and a party in the case, prayed the Court to throw out a suit filed by Muhammed which was praying the same Court to overturn its own earlier ruling that the businessman return GHa 51.2 million to the state.

The Court also dismissed a counter claim by Mr Ken Anku, the counsel for Woyome against the A-G.

The case was dismissed on the grounds that the main suit was void, hence struck out.

Mr Anku told the Ghana News Agency that his client would be going to the International Chamber of Commerce for an arbitration of the cases.

GNA
Accra, Feb. 11, GNA - Miss Akosua Agyapong, a youth activist, has called for the formulation of laws to protect their sexual rights as well as increase the age of consent to marriage from 16 to 18 years with no exceptions.

She said from the very patriarchal set-up that arbitrarily determines for women and children, issues of their sexuality, there were too many harmful cultural practices that endanger their sexual and reproductive health.

These, she said, included Female Genital Mutilation, child marriages and gender based violence amongst others.

Miss Agyapong, who is a student of the University of Ghana, made the call at the seventh African Conference on Sexual Health and Rights being hosted by Mrs Lordina Mahama who is also the President of the Organisation of African First Ladies Against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA).

The Conference on the theme: 'Realising Demographic Dividend in Africa: the Critical Importance of Adolescents and Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights'', was organised in collaboration with Curious Minds-Ghana, an organisation of young advocates and youth in broadcasting.

Participating First Ladies are from Kenya, Ethiopia, Mali and Cote D'Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau, Burkina Faso and Chad.

Other First Ladies expected at the Conference are from Sudan, Madagascar and Mozambique.

Also in attendance are the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders in Africa, the President of the International Women's Health Coalition and over 15 Ministers from the Health, Justice, Gender and Youth Ministries across Africa.

Over 500 participants, representing various stakeholder and constituency groups across the African continent are attending the conference including policy makers, development partners, civil society organisations, academia, media, adolescents and youth activists.

Miss Agyapong said: 'A great deal of havoc has been caused for centuries to many on the African continent particularly women, adolescents and young people over issues of their sexual and reproductive health rights.

She called on African governments to invest in the education of the youth specifically in the areas of comprehensive sexuality, the provisions of ASRHR programmes and youth-friendly reproductive health services to adolescents and young people.

'Without the right investments in young people we will not be able to harness the demographic dividend', she said and expressed commitment in championing issues of sensitisation, mentorship, advocacy and accountability in the sphere of ASRHR.

She also pledged to be worthy ambassadors for the Agenda 2063, Sustainable Development Goals, and ICPD Beyond 2014 agenda.

Miss Agyapong appealed to traditional, religious and community leaders to work tirelessly at ensuring safe communities and schools for the youth.

Ms Catherine Nyambura, a youth Activist from Kenya, on behalf of young women in Africa, called on African First Ladies to ask their state parties to accelerate the elimination of barriers in accessing factors of production such as land, technology, capital and labour.

"African state parties should also accelerate development of policies to facilitate young women and girls' access to Africa's resources in our quest for economic empowerment and overall realisation of the demographic dividend'.

GNA
Ho, Feb. 11, GNA - Rotary Club of Ho, working in collaboration with three foreign Rotary affiliates Wednesday presented a Toyota Prado Sport Utility Vehicle, (SUV) to the Margaret Marquart Catholic Hospital Eye Clinic at Kpando in the Volta Region to support its outreaches.

The other collaborators are German Rotary Volunteer Doctors (GRVD) and the Rotary Club of Essen, Germany.

The three provided half of the 28,000 dollar cost of the vehicle, while the other half was got from Rotary Foundation.

The vehicle, along with a mobile-slit-lamp presented to the Marquart Eye Clinic under the package earlier last December, will raise the capacity of the ophthalmological facility, which has an expansive coverage area.

The Mobile-Slit-Lamp detects macular degeneration, detached retina, cataracts, injury to the cornea and blockages of the retinal vessel among others.

Monsignor Cletus Egbi, who represented the Bishop of the Ho Diocese of the Catholic Church, said the Catholic Church founded the Marquart Hospital at Kpando in line with its policy of serving the less privileged people, populating the rural areas especially.

He said the Eye Clinic started in 1997, gave sight to the blind and hope to the hopeless.

Monsignor Egbi said the vehicle with an insignia of the Marquart Hospital, was indeed for the whole region-to reach everywhere possible with help.

He expressed joy that the Hospital had gotten over the hard times and was now able to reach more people.

Dr David Kupitz and his wife Dr Elke Kupitz are the Ophthalmologists in charge of the Clinic.

David Kupitz told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the vehicle would expedite treatment by enabling staff get to clients on time and also facilitate movement of clients to the premises of the Clinic at Kpando.

He said cataract and glaucoma were the most reported cases and that often clients came late, posing huge challenges to medical staff.

Susana Kudjoe, Ho Rotary Club President, who formally gave the vehicle, said an amount of 2,750 Euros, which is the balance of the transaction, would be given to the Margaret Marquart facility to support its outreach programmes.

She said the facility aided the Rotary family offer by facilitating tax waivers, doing the clearing and paying for insurance cover on the vehicle.

GNA
Accra, Feb. 11, GNA - The La-Wuogon Muslim Trust (LWMT), a non-profit organisation, has donated 20 voice recorders to visually impaired students of the University of Cape Coast to facilitate their learning process.

These recorders in addition to the brails would enable the students to access learning materials and listen to lectures at their free time.

Mr. Kamalrideen Ibn Farid Bagonluri, the Executive Director of the La-Wuogon Muslim Trust, during the presentation, said the organisation sought to provide basic education, vocational training with placement, skills training and career guidance to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, hence the gesture.

Mr Hafiz Laryea, the President of Campus Volunteer Foundation-UCC, receiving the donation on behalf of the students, expressed gratitude to the LWMT for the support.

'These voice recorders will go a long way to enhance the educational life of our visually impaired colleagues,' he said.

'It is our hope that other organisations would also lend a hand when the need arises. We believe with our collective efforts, societies will get better.'

Ms Magdalene Dassah, a visually impaired student, expressed gratitude to LWMT for going to their aid and to Campus Volunteer Foundation for the help they are rendering to students.

LWMA projects bring together youths of different religious and ethnic background in efforts to overcome difficulties and celebrate bonds of unity.

GNA
Accra, Feb. 10, GNA - The delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Ghana (AHK Ghana) is expecting a delegation of German companies from the renewable energy sector from April 18 to April 22.

A statement copied to the GNA said there would be conferences on renewable energy policies among others during the visit.

It said the interest of the trade visit is mainly in the energy supply sector of the industrial enterprises in Ghana.

'As Ghana is currently facing an energy crisis, the interest for companies based in Ghana for alternative energy solutions has intensified. The trade mission is open to German companies dealing in various renewable energy technologies including solar photovoltaic, biogas and biomass," it said.

The statement said circumstances in Ghana offer good opportunities for renewable energies as natural resources and weather conditions are ideal for such infrastructure.

GNA
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business AirAsia India CEO Mittu Chandilya quits: Sources Sources say Chandilya had been unhappy with excessive micromanagement by its Malaysian parent.
business Budget 2016: Important to unlock ways to get fund managers to India: Experts AIPAC committee, established by SEBI, has submitted report highlighting measures needed to unlock domestic capital pools like pension funds, charitable trusts, insurance companies and NABARD.
business Some stocks look attractive, but global issues persist: Mizuho Tirthankar Patnaik of Mizuho Bank says the pain is much more global. But many of the stocks after a significant fall do look attractive and that makes one believe that it is a great buying opportunity, he says. But one must not forget that global issues, the genesis of this crisis, are still very much present, he told CNBC-TV18
Although the Republican legislators who represent Hamilton County are not willing to fully fund the BEP 2.0, they have endorsed sending thousands of your and my tax dollars to private schools. The voucher bill (HB1049) provides the promise of a private school education to students currently enrolled in low-performing schools.

Vouchers may provide financial resources; however, vouchers are not the solution. At a time when several school systems are suing Tennessee for inadequately funding the BEP, why are legislators giving their support for the voucher bill? Is it because legislators have joined the pro-private school marketing campaign or because each legislator wants the best for every K-12 student in the state of Tennessee?

The issue of school vouchers is a concerted effort to distract favorable support for public schools in Tennessee. Are our legislators prepared to accept the impact the voucher bill will have on students remaining in failing schools? Get behind our public schools and provide full support to our students, their parents, and teachers. After all, offering whats best for the best should be offered to all students. Right? If not, why?

Margaret M. Smith, Ed.D.

Signal Mountain

* * *

I have read many of the editorials that lambast the efforts of Tennesseans who would like the opportunity to take advantage of vouchers to send their children to schools other than public schools. How this effort would hurt public schools and how we should, as good citizens, try to support our public schools.

The problem is that the people who want us taxpayers to support these schools probably don't have school aged children. Well, I do. And what's more, I pay to send my children to a local private school, and watch my tax dollars go to the very same public schools that I refuse to send my children to. I would like to have a say in where my tax dollars go but I don't.

And no, I'm not well off by any means, but I see what my children's school has done for them and in them and that's what sways my thinking and why I send them to said private school.

Kristoffer Tinney

Chattanooga

* * *

Also, Ms. Smith, I ask the question why do we have privileged magnet schools where we segregate students, teachers and moneys?

Jay Reed

Falling Water
business Declared 80% of AQR requirements as NPA in Q3: OBC Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Animesh Chauhan, MD & CEO of the bank says three accounts were put under RBIs 5/25 rule and 9 accounts worth Rs 1,500 were added under strategic debt restricting (SDR).
business Tata Motors Q3 profit down 2% to Rs 3507cr, JLR EBITDA falls 24% As far as JLR business is concerned, the company said strong sales in the UK , Europe, North America and other Overseas markets which helped in partially offsetting lower sales in China and weaker model mix in the quarter.
Cochlear shares had a good run since mid-2013 after the share price had fallen from a near record high. But todays gain has helped to push the stock to a new record.

What happened to the Cochlear share price?

Shares of Cochlear Ltd [ASX:COH] gained more than 14% on Thursday, rebounding after a poor start to February.

Why did Cochlear shares do this?

Cochlear has had a good run since mid-2013 after the share price had fallen from a near record high. But todays gain has helped to push the stock to a new record and break through the $100 barrier.

The share price gained after the company upgraded its profit forecast, and increased the interim dividend.

What now for Cochlear Ltd?

Cochlear has been labelled as a high growth, high risk, and volatile company, due to the nature of its business in the medical devices sector.

But with strong revenue and profit growth, plus an increase to the dividend, investors could start to look at the stock differently.

However, that wont stop it from being a high risk proposition. Just as a positive earnings surprise can send the stock soaring, if the company disappoints in the future, even by not growing as quickly as some investors hope, the stock price could quickly turn in the opposite direction

Cheers,

Kris
After a several-years hiatus for the GPS Winterim program, offerings for the Upper School Winterim in 2016 have many groups engaged in creative activity on campus and other teams enjoying and learning about the outdoor adventures unique to the Chattanooga area.

On campus, one group of students is learning about the book art medium and, facilitated by book artists Juanita Tumelaire and Ellen Simak of the Open Press, making their own books. Another course challenges students to create videos in Spanish  choreography, music, and lyrics  to use in all the Spanish classes as instructional aids. A third class is engaged in a four-day study of the history of projectile weaponry, building catapults, learning archery at the local archery range, and coming to a greater appreciation of the mathematics lurking behind projectiles as well as their impact on various eras of history.

A creative writing workshop welcomes Adrian Matejka, a musical storyteller of a poet and writer of The Big Smoke. Another writing class is using creative writing and visual arts to study the question, What does it look like and require to practice empathy in a world of unshared experience?

A virtual exchange class has been chatting via Skype with some British students from the Wycombe Abbey School for Girls. After research on each other's school, the two classes held discussions about the British culture and the upcoming U.S. election. The GPS class also enjoyed afternoon tea at the English Rose tearoom.

Among the groups enjoying the outdoors, even in the snow, is History and Beauty of the Cumberland Plateau: A Hiking Tour. The first day involved a hike of the Black Mountain Loop Trail near Crossville, entering the trail through the Stone Door and eating lunch looking south over a spectacular panorama of the Grassy Cove, the Tennessee River, and beyond to the high mountains of the Cherokee National Forest, according to faculty sponsor Bryant Haynes.

Faculty members Angela Langevin and Julie McElroy are sponsoring Extreme Natural History, a mini-course that takes girls on outdoor adventures to learn what it means to be a steward of natural resources, and also what it means to be a naturalist. The students are learning about the natural histories of the birds, plants, lichens, rocks and mammals in expeditions on the Tennessee River Gorge Trust lands, caving, rock climbing, and bird watching.

Back at GPS, another mini-course is teaching how to be stewards of the Chattanooga community. After an overview of local non-profits, including the start-up and fundraising processes, students go through the process of identifying and defining a community problem, brainstorming and problem solving using the design thinking process, and pitching their proposal. A crash course in 3D printing, curatorial workshops, tutoring at Eastside Elementary, and a four-day film camp were among the many classes offering "outside the box" educational experiences. Click here for a slideshow of Winterim photos.

Several groups took roads out of Chattanooga: one to NYC for daily dance workshops, one to Nashville for a peek at the workings of state government at the Tennessee State Capitol and Senate chambers; two class trips to Disney World; and one to Atlantas Bodies Exhibition as part of a Wonders of the Human Body course.

Whether in or out of the classroom, engaged in the Chattanooga community, dancing in New York studios or hiking in the snow, there was lots to learn during GPSs Winterim week of classes, said officials.
February 11, 2016

The Race To Raqqa Is On - To Keep Its Unity Syria Must Win

The race to Raqqa is on. Syria and its allies are competing with the U.S. and its allies to snatch east Syria from the Islamic State.

Raqqa in eastern Syria is held by the Islamic State as are the other cities along the Euphrates towards Iraq. To defeat the Islamic State in Raqqa, Deir Ezzor and other eastern Syrian towns and to liberate them, is the aim of all purported enemies of the Islamic State. But this question has to be seen in the larger context.

Could the U.S. and its allies capture Raqqa or Deir Ezzor and with it parts of eastern Syria it could use them as a bargaining chip to gain some negotiation power with Syria and its allies over the future of Syria. Alternatively it creates a Sunni state in east-Syria and west-Iraq. Mosul would be part of such a Sunni state and it would be put under the tutelage of a neo-ottoman Turkey. There have been U.S. plans for such a "Sunnistan" and a revision of the Sykes-Picot borders for some time.

For Syria and its allies the upholding of the unity of Syria is a major objective. To leave Raqqa and the eastern oil fields to the U.S. and its allies would be a devastating loss. Syria and its allies must therefore beat the U.S. and its allies in the race to Raqqa and the larger east Syria.

Syria just made the first major move. A brigade of the Syrian Arab Army attacked the positions of the Islamic State along the Ithriyah to Raqqa road. The town Tal Abu Zayhn has been taken on the way to the first objective, the Tabaqah military airport. Additional supporting forces from various allied groups are assembling in Ithriyah to later support the attack.



map via Southfront - bigger

The U.S. move towards east-Syria is still in preparation. The first U.S. plan was to use the Syrian-Kurdish YPG forces of north-east Syria. These were labeled Syrian Democratic Forces after attaching a few men from Arab tribes. These forces would have attacked Raqqa from the north. But the Kurds did not want to invade the Arab lands they would not be able to hold. Their aim is to connect to the Kurdish enclave in north-west Syria along the Turkish border.

The U.S. is coming up with a new plan. There are only sketches visible so far and the following is informed speculation.

The U.S. has extended the runway of the agricultural Rumeilan/Abu Hajar airfield (map) in the Kurdish held area in north east Syria to be able to supply larger operations in the wider area:

This location has been chosen because it's just 100 miles (160 kilometers) from ISIS frontline positions and some of its lucrative oil fields, but well within territory held by Kurdish fighters known as the YPG. The runway is being nearly doubled in length from about 2,300 feet to 4,330 feet (700 to 1,320 meters) -- long enough, say, to receive C130 transport planes. A small apron is also being paved.

Some U.S. special operation forces are said to already operate from there. This is the vanguard on a reconnaissance mission.

It was publicly disclosed that one brigade if the U.S. 101st Airborne Division would go to Iraq to train, advise and assist the Iraqi forces for an attack on Mosul.

Some 1,800 soldiers from the 101sts Headquarters and its 2nd Brigade Combat Team will deploy soon on regular rotations to Baghdad and Irbil to train and advise Iraqi army and Kurdish peshmerga forces who are expected in the coming months to move toward Mosul, the Islamic State groups de facto headquarters in Iraq.

But Col. Pat Lang was told that two brigades of the 101st would deploy:

I was told today that two brigades of the 101st Airborne Division are going to Iraq, not just one. This probably is related to the Saudi Juggernaut. pl

The Saudi "juggernaut" was the recent announcement that the Saudis would be willing to send troops to Syria. Nobody was, at first, taking that serious but it now starts to make some sense. The Saudis today confirmed their intent:

Saudis decision to send troops to Syria in an attempt to bolster and toughen efforts against militants is final and irreversible, the Saudi military spokesman announced on Thursday. Brig. Gen. Ahmed Al-Assiri, said that Riyadh is ready and will fight with its U.S.-led coalition allies to defeat ISIS militants in Syria, however, he said Washington is more suitable to answer questions on further details about any future ground operations.

...

The statement comes as Saudi Arabias Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman visited NATO headquarters in Brussels to discuss the Syrian civil war.

The Saudis would fight under the control of the one brigade of the 101st airborne that was not announced to go for Mosul. The Saudis would deploy from Saudi Arabia via a U.S. controlled airstrip in west Iraq or through east Jordan towards Syria while the brigade from the 101st would probably deploy from the Kurdish area in north Iraq through the Kurdish areas in north-east Syria towards Raqqa. Raqqa would thereby be attacked from a north-eastern and a south-eastern. The airport of Rumeilan/Abu Hajar would be one of the major supply bases.

Such a move of forces would be quite large and over relative long distances. But most of the area is desert and modern motorized military equipment could easily cover those distances in a day or two. This would put Saudi troops into Syria. If they would take Raqqa or Deir Ezzor and the eastern Syrian oilfields they would NEVER let go of it unless Syria would bend to the Saudi demand of introducing an Islamist led government.

The plan is workable but it would also instigate a large mobilization of Shia forces and could lead to a bigger conflict. The Russian Prime Minister Medvedev warned today that new Arab forces entering the Syrian war could spark a much wider war.

The Saudi operation was said to start within two month. The Syrian government forces and their allies will now have to rush to the east to protect the unity of the country. The U.S. for its part may want to hinder the Syrian advantage by whatever means it has, including - possibly - some "erroneous" bombing.

The race for Raqqa, and Syria's future, is on.

Posted by b on February 11, 2016 at 19:10 UTC | Permalink

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With early voting already taking place for the March 1 Primary, the Chattanooga Tea Party will be hosting a Republican Presidential Candidate Forum on Thursday, Feb. 18, at 6:30 p.m. and will include moderated questions as well as questions from the audience.

Confirmed as attending will be Kevin Kookogey, Tennessee State chair for Ted Cruz; Bobby Wood, Marco Rubio campaign; and a representative for the Donald Trump campaign. Representatives from other campaigns may also be attending and speaking.

The meeting will be held at The Century Club Banquet Hall, 3221 Harrison Pike (off Access Road, just south of the Highway 153-Amnicola Highway intersection, next to Indian Motorcycles).

Guests are asked to bring a non-perishable canned good item as the Chattanooga Tea Party is committed to supporting the local Chattanooga Area Food Bank.

Please RSVP at Chattanooga Tea Partys Facebook page (link at ChattanoogaTeaParty.com).
Is your portfolio earning you the best possible rate of income? Are you prepared for this year's interest rate rise? We show you how to maximise yield and where to find dividend payers in our Guide to Income Investing.

Emma Wall: Hello and welcome to the Morningstar series, "Ask the Expert." I'm Emma Wall and I'm joined today by fund analyst for Morningstar, Fatima Khizou, to talk about commodities.

Hi, Fatima.

Fatima Khizou: Hi, Emma.

Wall: So, if you told investors a year ago that after the torrid time oil price it had, it would halve again over the next year, they probably wouldn't have believed you; but it happened. In fact, in general, it was a bad place to be in commodities, energy, oil stocks over the last couple of years, wasn't it?

Khizou: Yes, it was. Commodity-related investments have undoubtedly been an unloved and challenged area for the last few years. It's certainly understandable that there is a degree of disappointment amongst investors given the sharp decline and weakness over the last five years. In each of the major commodity sub-sectors with energy being the latest one after agriculture in 2013 and base metal in 2011.

Oil prices have actually tumbled by almost 75% in the last 18 months as a result of the decision taken by OPEC in November 2014 to switch from a price to a market share strategy. And this downward trend is showing no sign of ending and Saudi and other players are holding firm on their strategy. But it's not all gloomy. We've seen more recently some areas of the commodity market surging like gold particularly.

Wall: About time too, because gold, of course, is the sort of thing that does well when there is doom and gloom about and there has been doom and gloom about for quite some time from China, from the Middle East and it seems to take investors a while to sort of do that flight to safety which they have done in the past. But finally, they are here and gold has gone up in the past week, hasn't it?

Khizou: Yes, it has. Finally, as you said, it tends to work well when there is a lot of economic concern and last year even during the Greek crisis that hasn't been the case. And so far this year gold equities have enjoyed a strong rally on the back of economic growth concerns but also weaker dollar which tends to help in this space.

Wall: If investors are feeling bold, if they think they can call the bottom of the energy market, there is a fund which they should consider, shouldn't they, for a niche part of their portfolio?

Khizou: There is one which is Guinness Global Energy which we rate here at Morningstar Silver and it's run by an outstanding team of three managers, Will Riley, Jonathan Waghorn, and the highly-experienced Tim Guinness, who has more than three decades of industry experience. The long-term track record here is strong.

Last year has been weaker given the environment and the key here in this space, but across all the commodity complex is a focus on quality, on companies with stronger balance sheets and in terms of energy, companies that are able to survive in this low oil price environment but also eventually able also to capture the upside.

Wall: When it comes.

Khizou: When it comes. It will one day.

Wall: And what about investors that want a slightly broader basket approach?

Khizou: One that is a representative of the entire commodity complex including energy is First State Global Resources. Here again, the fund is run by a well-resourced team of high calibre individuals led by a highly experienced manager Joanne Warner. The broad investment approach has been consistent since the fund was launched and the results over time have been also solid. In our view, this is a quality way to invest in the resources space.

Wall: Of course, it is worth mentioning, I said the word niche earlier. These are of course only for investors who have a well-diversified portfolio already and this is a satellite player. This is not for the core of your portfolio, is it?

Khizou: Yeah, we always emphasise that this type of fund should only form a small part of the overall portfolio of an investor.

Wall: Fatima, thank you very much.

Khizou: Thank you.

Wall: This is Emma Wall for Morningstar. Thank you for watching.
All over the world people are confronted with how to respond to a seemingly long list of current plagues. And now, add the Zika virus, which the World Health Organization is calling a public health emergency of international concern, causing distress to pregnant women all over the world.When confronted with world problems that need compassionate prayer, I always turn to God and shift my thinking away from what seems to be wrong to what I know to be spiritually right in order to find a way to help.In this case, I am finding it helpful to turn to the 91st Psalm, which begins He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and fortress: my God, in Him will I trust.The idea of Gods children abiding under the protective power of the Most High -- defended in a place invisible and inaccessible to evil or harm -- can calm our fears about any public health emergency. Also, in Psalm 94, God is described as our defense against any evil that would condemn the innocent blood.But, theres more to this promise. By holding to the concept of the defending and protecting nature of God, good, and to good being infinite and always present, we begin to see that this infinite good must include everyones health and is completely independent of geographic locale or world conditions.As I was pondering the news of this virus, and thinking of a pregnant friend who had fearfully cancelled upcoming vacation plans out of the country, I was reminded of a favorite Sunday School jingle, there is no spot where God is not.I considered: is God absent from one part of the world and present in another? Are we safer in Tennessee than Colombia, or safer in London than in South Africa?In that same 91st Psalm, we are assured that he shall deliver thee.from the noisome pestilence and thou shalt not be afraid. God is everywhere, loving His creation. And being aware of His presence can make us immune to all kinds of ills.God doesnt leave one part of the world plagued and unprotected while he focuses on another continent. Mary Baker Eddy, a 19th century religious reformer and author, was well acquainted with the power of God to address the plagues in her time. She saw God as universal Love, and wrote that His calming reassuring voice reaches over continent and ocean to the globes remotest bound.That message of Love says to all who are exposed or fearful, God is keeping us safe everywhere  even to the globes remotest bound.A few years ago, my friend went on a business trip to Asia. He began experiencing symptoms of the Avian Flu (Bird Flu) and became quite ill and fearful. He called a Christian Science practitioner for prayer. Among the things they discussed was the fact that there was no spot on the globe where God, infinite good, was not present. When he returned to the States, he related in a church service where congregants speak of spiritual healing -- that he had experienced an almost immediate healing from this flu. He mentioned that the prayer was so quickly effective because he was convinced he had the best help in the world -- that God was his refuge and help, keeping him well and safe no matter where he was. In the words of the Psalmist: Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation, There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. It didnt matter where his dwelling was -- in Asia or in the United States  Gods presence to heal and protect could not be absent.So, in the midst of reports of the Zika virus and contagion, lets turn to God as our refuge  knowing that prayer helps all mankind. Lets allow divine peace and calm to replace fears and alarm by reasoning that God is infinite good. Whether you are walking to the grocery store or flying to another continent, the Divine and its loving, protecting power cannot be absent from any geographic location.Debra Chew writes about the connection between thought, spirituality and wellness from a Christian Science perspective. She has been published in Knoxville News Sentinel, Chattanoogan.com, UK Health Triangle Magazine, Jackson Sun Health Magazine, and in the Memphis Commercial Appeal. She is the media and legislative liaison for Christian Science in Tn.
A former Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) employee has pleaded guilty to smuggling marijuana into the workhouse.

Prosecutor Charlie Minor said Ronald Durham, 31, brought it into the workhouse on at least two occasions.

He was given a suspended four-year prison sentence and 20 days of public work.

Since he has no prior criminal record, Durham was placed on diversion status. He can have the charges expunged if he gets in no further trouble for the next four years.

Judge Don Poole told him he must do all the public work days and pay the court costs.
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SYDNEY (AP)  A 93-year-old World War II veteran from the United States embraced his wartime girlfriend in Australia in their reunion Wednesday after more than 70 years apart.

Norwood Thomas and 88-year-old Joyce Morris laughed as they wrapped their arms around each other afterThomas flew from Virginia to the southern Australian city of Adelaide to reconnect with his long-lost love.

"This is about the most wonderful thing that could have happened to me," Thomas said, in a reunion broadcast on Channel 10's "The Project."

"Good," Morris replied with a laugh. "We're going to have a wonderful fortnight."

Morris was a 17-year-old British girl and Thomas was a 21-year-old paratrooper when they first met in London shortly before D-Day. After the war, he returned to the U.S. The pair wrote letters to each other, and Thomasasked Morris to come to the U.S. to marry him. But somehow Morris misunderstood and thought he'd found someone else, so she stopped writing.

The two eventually married other people. Thomas' wife died in 2001; Morris divorced her husband after 30 years.

Last year, Morris asked one of her sons to look for Thomas online, and they found his name featured in an article about D-Day that ran in The Virginian-Pilot newspaper.

Thomas and Morris reconnected via Skype. After their story went public, hundreds of people made donations to help fund Thomas' trip to Australia from his hometown in Virginia Beach.

The two are planning to spend Valentine's Day together.
SAN DIEGO (AP)  For the 15th time, officials denied parole for Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, after hearing Wednesday from another person who was shot that night and called for the release of Sirhan.

The decision came after Sirhan answered questions from the California parole panel for about three hours in a small, windowless conference room.

Commissioners said Sirhan did not show adequate remorse or understand the enormity of his crime.

"This crime impacted the nation, and I daresay it impacted the world," commissioner Brian Roberts said. "It was a political assassination of a viable Democratic presidential candidate."

During the hearing, Sirhan stuck to his previous account that he did not remember the shooting in 1968 at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after Kennedy won the Democratic presidential primary in California.

He said he recalled being in the hotel then going to his car and returning after realizing he had too much to drink. He said he became interested in a female as he drank coffee.

Paul Schrade, now 91, told the panel that he believes Sirhan shot him but an unidentified second shooter killed Kennedy. Schrade was a Kennedy confidante who was one of five people injured in the shooting.

Schrade pleaded for the release of Sirhan at the hearing and apologized to him for not doing more over the years to secure his freedom.

Schrade's voice broke with emotion at times during his hour of testimony that recounted his efforts to unravel questions about the shooting of Kennedy.

"I forgive you for shooting me," Schrade told Sirhan at the hearing. "I should have been here long ago and that's why I feel guilty for not being here to help you and to help me."

The two men faced each other for the first time since Schrade testified at Sirhan's 1969 trial. Schrade repeatedly apologized for not attending any of Sirhan's previous 14 parole hearings.

Sirhan nodded politely each time Schrade sought his forgiveness.

Schrade showed flashes of anger against Roberts, who admonished him for violating protocol by addressing Sirhan directly.

Schrade also criticized a representative of the Los Angeles County district attorney's office for making what Schrade called a "venomous" statement against the release of Sirhan.

Roberts at one point asked Schrade to wrap up his presentation, saying "quite frankly, you're losing us."

"I think you have been lost for a long time," Schrade shot back.

Earlier in the hearing, the commissioner asked if anyone wanted a break. Schrade spoke up from the audience and said, "no I want this to get over, I find it very abusive."
Texas Department of Public Safety

HOUSTON (AP)  A convicted robber and gang member on the Texas 10 Most Wanted list has been caught in Houston.

The Texas Department of Public Safety on Wednesday announced the arrest of 29-year-old Gilberto Ruvalcaba.
FERGUSON, Mo. (AP)  The federal government sued Ferguson on Wednesday, one day after the city council voted to revise an agreement aimed at improving the way police and courts treat poor people and minorities in the St. Louis suburb.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Ferguson's decision to reject the deal left the department no choice except to file a civil-rights lawsuit.

"The residents of Ferguson have waited nearly a year for the city to adopt an agreement that would protect their rights and keep them safe. ... They have waited decades for justice. They should not be forced to wait any longer," Lynch told a Washington news conference.

The Justice Department complaint accuses Ferguson of routinely violating residents' rights and misusing law enforcement to generate revenue  a practice the government alleged was "ongoing and pervasive."

Ferguson leaders "had a real opportunity here to step forward, and they've chosen to step backward," Lynch said.

Ferguson spokesman Jeff Small declined to comment. Messages left with Mayor James Knowles III were not returned.

Ferguson has been under Justice Department scrutiny since 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was black and unarmed, was fatally shot by white officer Darren Wilson 18 months ago. A grand jury and the Justice Department declined to prosecute Wilson, who resigned in November 2014.

But a scathing Justice Department report was critical of police and a profit-driven municipal court system. Following months of negotiations, an agreement between the federal agency and Ferguson was announced in January.

A recent financial analysis determined the agreement would cost the struggling city nearly $4 million in the first year alone. The council voted 6-0 Tuesday to adopt the deal, but with seven amendments.

Hours before the lawsuit was announced, Ferguson leaders said they were willing to sit down with Justice Department negotiators to draw up a new agreement.

"We ask that if they (the Justice Department) feel there needs to be some additional changes to the agreement, we sit down and talk," Knowles said.

That seemed unlikely from the outset. Within hours of the Tuesday vote, Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, said in a statement that the department would take "the necessary legal actions" to ensure Ferguson's police and court practices comply with the Constitution and federal laws.

Knowles said the seven amendments were formulated after the analysis showed the deal was so expensive it could lead to dissolution of Ferguson. The analysis suggested that the first-year cost of the agreement would be $2.2 million to $3.7 million, with second- and third-year costs between $1.8 million and $3 million in each year.

Ferguson has an operating budget of $14.5 million and already faces a $2.8 million deficit. Voters will be asked to approve two tax hikes in April, but approval of both would still leave the city short.

A big part of the cost was the requirement that Ferguson raise police salaries to attract better candidates, including more minority officers. Removal of the pay-raise clause was among the seven amendments.

Another new provision states that the agreement will not apply to any other governmental entity that might take over duties currently provided by Ferguson. That means, for example, that St. Louis County would not be beholden to the agreement if it takes over policing in Ferguson.

St. Louis County police spokesman Brian Schellman said if the county were ever asked to take over policing in Ferguson, "we would consider the implications of the consent decree before entering into such an agreement."

Knowles doesn't believe neighboring municipal departments would agree to cover Ferguson under the Justice Department's requirements.

Defiance has often defined Ferguson in the 18 months since Brown's death.

Days after Brown's death, then-Police Chief Tom Jackson released surveillance video showing Brown's involvement in a theft at a small grocery store just moments before the shooting, with the burly teenager pushing the store owner. The video's release only heightened anger among protesters.

Knowles has vigorously defended Ferguson. Even as protesters and civil rights leaders called for reforms, the mayor noted that Ferguson was already making changes to municipal courts aimed at easing the burden on people accused of minor violations. In fact, city revenue from court fees and fines has declined by hundreds of thousands of dollars since the shooting.

It's not uncommon for local governments to seek changes to agreements even after negotiations, but the overwhelming majority of investigations still end up in a settlement.

Samuel Bagenstos, the former No. 2 official at the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, warned that the federal agency "is serious about bringing a lawsuit if they don't get a deal."

"If Ferguson insists on making significant changes to the deal they've already worked out, that's probably not going to work out well for them," said Bagenstos, now a law professor at the University of Michigan. "And I think at the end of the day, Ferguson understands that, and we'll probably see a deal pretty soon."

The Justice Department has initiated more than 20 civil rights investigations into law enforcement agencies in the last six years, including in Baltimore and Chicago. In the last 18 months, the department has reached settlements with police departments that included Cleveland and Albuquerque.

There have been occasional disagreements.

In 2012, the Justice Department sued Maricopa County, Arizona, after failing to reach agreement on allegations that the sheriff's office targeted Latinos with discriminatory stops and arrests. County officials voted in July to settle parts of that lawsuit.

The federal government also sued North Carolina's Alamance County following an investigation that alleged biased policing practices against Latinos there. But a federal judge last August ruled in the county's favor, saying the Justice Department failed to prove the sheriff ordered deputies to target Hispanic residents. That case is on appeal.

___
AUSTIN, Texas (AP)  Two state health researchers in Texas are under fire for co-authoring a study suggesting what Republican leaders have long disputed: cuts to Planned Parenthood are restricting access to women's health care.

Texas Health Commissioner Chris Traylor has not said whether the researchers, one a high-level director with more than 20 years in state government, will be disciplined. But a spokesman made it clear that the agency agrees with outraged Republicans over the researchers' contributions to a study that the GOP sees as flawed and biased.

The study was published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine, one of the most prominent medical journals in the nation. It found that fewer women in Texas have obtained long-acting birth control, such as intrauterine devices, after the GOP-controlled Legislature booted the nation's largest abortion provider from a state women's health program in 2013. Births paid for under Medicaid also increased among some women.

Powerful Republican state Sen. Jane Nelson dismissed the findings as invalid, in part because the research was funded by the nonprofit Susan T. Buffet Foundation, which is a major supporter of Planned Parenthood and other abortion rights groups.

She also questions why two state health employees were among the study's five co-authors.

"It's one thing for an agency to provide data upon request. It's quite another to be listed as a 'co-author' on a deeply flawed and highly political report," said Nelson, an architect of Texas' current women's health program. "I've communicated strong concerns to the agency. This should not have happened, and we need to make sure it doesn't happen again."

Texas Health and Human Services spokesman Bryan Black said the agency "completely agrees" with Nelson and that the agency didn't know of the study until it was published.

He did not comment on whether action will be taken against the researchers  Rick Allgeyer, the director of research and an influential decision-maker in the sprawling 55,000-employee agency, and Imelda Flores-Vazquez, who joined the agency in 2014 and is a program specialist, according to a LinkedIn page.

She and Allgeyer have not returned phone messages and emails seeking comment. But Peter Schenkkan, an Austin attorney and one of the study's authors, said he is disappointed that anyone would deem the contributions inappropriate.

"The first step of a public official should be to face the facts. Not to punish those who bring the facts to them," said Schenkkan, who was lead counsel for Planned Parenthood in court over its exclusion from the state health program.

Planned Parenthood officials said the study showed the impact of "politically motivated" decisions.

"The truth hurts. Unfortunately for Texas officials, disliking a study doesn't make it not true," said Yvonne Gutierrez, executive director of Planned Parenthood Texas Votes.

Flores-Vazquez and Allgeyer collaborated on the study with University of Texas researchers who are analyzing the impact of women's health laws passed by the Texas Legislature in recent years. School researchers say the Buffet Foundation plays no role in their work.

Joseph Potter, one of the university researchers and the senior author of the Planned Parenthood study, said in an email that he was not in a position to comment on reaction to the study.

Texas barred Planned Parenthood from state planning services the same year that then-Gov. Rick Perry signed tough abortion restrictions that shuttered clinics across the state. Those restrictions will go before the U.S. Supreme Court next month in a major abortion rights case that will likely impact similar measures adopted in other GOP-controlled states.
County Commissioner candidates

Scott Ramsey and Grace Jones gave potential voters their takes on transparency, projects and taxes at a pair of forums Wednesday.

The pair were among the 10 Republican candidates running for six offices appearing at the Midland County Republican Womens and Midland County Republican Party forums at Midland County Club and the Horseshoe Pavilion respectively.

The forums provided insights on positions ranging from railroad commissioner to county clerk. Early voting for the March 1 Republican and Democratic primaries begins Tuesday.

Ramsey announced during his speech at the Republican Womens event that Jimmy Smith, current county commissioner for precinct 1, endorsed him as his preferred successor. Ramsey listed fiscal responsibility, keeping the countys property tax rate the lowest in the state, improving and maintaining roads and supporting law enforcement and the public libraries as goals should he fill Smiths seat.

One question posed to Ramsey and his primary opponent Grace Jones concerned transparency in government.

We need to make sure that people know how money is spent and where it's going and I will work towards making sure people can easily access that information," Ramsey said. Ramsey added that the construction of the Horseshoe Pavilion appears to be a contentious issue and expressed support for the multi-purpose complex that cost more than $30 million to build, citing the Horseshoe generated between $3 million and $9 million a year in economic revenue.

Jones announced a pair of endorsements at the MCRW luncheon. One was from Texans For Fiscal Responsibility and the other from Rhonda Lacy, co-chair of Mighty Texas Strike Force and one of MCRWs long-standing members.

Jones emphasized the need for conservative leadership by those who represent all backgrounds and stressed transparency, namely that she would advocate for having all major capital projects and tax increases be brought before the voters.

I represent a portion of our community, young families making their way and people struggling to make ends meet, Jones said. Its important that we have people in government who truly understand the impact that government spending can have on families.

Besides Ramsey and Jones, other local races represented were Mark Wohleking and Mat McClure, vying for constable, Precinct 2. State races at the MCRW forum included Railroad Commission candidates John Greytok, Doug Jeffrey and Wayne Christian. Supreme Court Justice for Place 5 candidate Rick Greene, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals place 2 candidate Ray Wheless and place 5 candidate Sid Harle also were in attendance.

During the Republican Party debate, Ramsey and Jones answered questions regarding roads and how they would handle the anticipated reduction in mineral revenue and taxable valuations for the coming year. Both referred to looking at county departments and cutting any expense needed.

Ramsey said that line items would be included in cuts while road infrastructure would be watched to ensure that all transportation needs would be met by any future population increase. Jones specified that the county should cease and desist all capital expenditures, and emphasized increasing transparency in the county government by posting a list of roads under construction or slated for construction on the county website.

Both said they would not enter office with a new major capital project.

The GOP event allow brought together candidates running for constable, precinct 2; county clerk (Sue Madry and Alison Haley) and district attorney (Laura Nodolf and Will Lundy).

Follow Cassie on Twitter at @Cassie_Burton51
AUSTIN, Texas (AP)  Already indicted on felony securities fraud charges, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will face an ethics investigation for advising local officials they could refuse to issue same-sex marriage licenses on religious grounds.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled gay marriage legal in June. A month later, a complaint filed and co-signed by more than 200 attorneys said Paxton's stance encouraged officials to violate the U.S. Constitution and break their oaths of office.

The complaint was initially dismissed by the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel of the State Bar of Texas, but an appeals board appointed by the state Supreme Court reinstated it Feb. 2, saying the complaint alleges a "possible violation" of professional conduct rules.

"Texas ethics rules prohibit any lawyer, including the Attorney General, from counseling a client to engage in conduct that the lawyer knows is criminal or fraudulent," attorney Eddie Rodriguez said Wednesday. His Houston firm helped initiate the complaint.

Potential penalties could range from a reprimand to disbarment, Rodriguez said.

Paxton's office did not respond to messages seeking comment. A State Bar official declined comment, but Rodriguez released a copy of the letter from the appeals board reinstating the case.

The appeals board's decision to reinstate the case does not mean Paxton violated professional ethics, but requires him to respond to the complaint as part of the investigation.

The day before the high court's ruling, Paxton released a statement that urged county clerks and judges to hold off on same-sex marriages until his office could give guidance. Two days after the ruling, he issued an opinion that clerks did not have to issue licenses and justices of the peace could refuse to perform same-sex wedding ceremonies on religious grounds.

The complaint against Paxton alleges he encouraged officials to break the law.

"Public officials are entitled to express disagreement with U.S. Supreme Court decisions. They are not free to disregard them or encourage others to do so," the complaint argues.
Robert M. Frye, a principal engineer for the power transmission system, was honored as the TVAs Ike Zeringue Engineer of the Year during the TVA board of directors meeting Thursday in Chattanooga.

Mr. Frye, a 29-year TVA veteran, leads an electrical engineering team dedicated to ensuring TVAs critical transmission system remains highly reliable, routing power across the TVA system and to local power companies without interruption, said officials.

TVA is proud to name Robert Frye the 2016 Ike Zeringue Engineer of the Year, said TVA President and CEO Bill Johnson. Each year, we have the pleasure of recognizing an individual who exemplifies excellence in the engineering field and a steadfast commitment to TVAs mission of service. Robert has earned the trust and respect of his colleagues, and he is well-deserving of this achievement.

Mr. Fryes engineering work has helped TVA spend fewer ratepayer dollars while improving functionality and reliability of system components. Among his designs is a digital relay replacement used to protect high-voltage transmission lines. Mr. Fryes modern design saved about 80 percent in total costs compared to a typical replacement for this type relay, said officials.

Robert brings exceptional talent and dedication to his role on the Substation Engineering team, explained Jacinda Woodward, TVA senior vice president, Transmission and Power Supply. Not only is Robert a highly capable engineer who supports TVAs mission of service and reliability every day  hes a trusted leader and mentor for our department.

Robert is part of the dedicated TVA workforce across the Tennessee Valley that has helped TVA provide 99.999 percent reliability to our customers every year since 2000, Mr. Johnson added.

The award is TVAs highest honor for an engineer and named for O.J. Ike Zeringue, a former TVA president and chief operating officer, and chief nuclear officer.

Mr. Frye is also one of 10 finalists for the Federal Engineer of the Year Award, which will be presented Feb. 26 in Washington, D.C.

A 1985 graduate of UTC, Mr. Frye holds a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering. He is a member of the National Society of Professional Engineers and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Mr. Frye lives in Chattanooga with his wife, April.
Dear Mr. President:

I write to express deep concern regarding your policy of strategic patience toward the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK), particularly in light of their recent nuclear test and satellite launch that also served as a long-range ballistic missile test. Your administration has, for too long, hoped to achieve denuclearization through failed diplomacy and limited sanctions. The nuclear tests of May 2009, February 2013, and January 2016 suggest that strategic patience with a country still officially at war with us is not working.

I would like to propose five alternative actions rooted in American strength that might actually modify the hostile and aggressive behavior of the DPRK and its protectors:

1. Fully enforce U.S. laws. In September 2015, Secretary Kerry warned of severe consequences if North Korea refuses to live up to its international obligations.[1] It is well past time to impose those consequences. History demonstrates that the United States is able to dictate the agenda when dealing with hostile regimes and improve global security through our leadership. Unilateral U.S. actions against Iran, combined with diplomatic pressure, led other nations to impose their own financial and regulatory measures against Tehran. Collectively, the international sanctions isolated Iran from the international banking system, targeted critical Iranian economic sectors, and forced countries to restrict purchases of Iranian oil and gas, Tehrans largest export.

The United States should use its actions against Iran as a model for imposing the same severity of targeted financial measures against North Korea. Washington should no longer hold some sanctions in abeyance, to be rolled out after the next North Korean violation or provocation. There will be little change until North Korea feels the full impact of sanctions and China feels concern over the consequences of Pyongyangs actions and its own obstructionism. The U.S. needs to sharpen the choices for North Korea by raising the risk and cost for those who choose to violate laws and resolutions. Actors who have thus far been willing to facilitate North Koreas prohibited programs and illicit activities should not be exempt for political convenience. If Congress passes additional sanctions in the coming days, my hope is that, in addition to signing them into law, you would faithfully and consistently execute such targeted measures in a non-discriminant manner.

2. Stop protecting China. It is time to tell the truth about China: the PRC is not our partner in denuclearizing the Korean peninsula. Lax enforcement of U.S. laws have made China complacent in policing the illicit financing of regimes like North Korea and Iran, thus becoming complicit in their proliferation. China has enabled DPRK arms shipments to Iran to travel unimpeded through Chinese ports[2] and airspace.[3] It has facilitated the shipment of chemical reagents and protective suits from North Korea to Syria.[4] It has allowed transfer of arms-related material to Syria.[5]

Perhaps the most egregious act was the Chinese transfer of transporter-erector-launchers (TELs) to North Korea in 2011. Upon receipt of these vehicles, North Korea modified them with the ability to launch the KN-08, an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the West Coast of the United States from a road-mobile launch platform. This capability poses a nuanced challenge to our ground-based interceptors deployed in Alaska and California. A subsequent report from the United Nations confirmed that Chinese entities were responsible for the sale of these vehicles.[6] On April 7, 2015, Admiral Bill Gortney, the Commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command, confirmed that the KN-08 was operational. Because of China, North Korea has a modern mobile missile launcher that increases its ability to threaten Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and California with a road-mobile nuclear strike.[7]

3. Rebuild the U.S. Navy.The foundation of the United States ability to project power overseas is the aircraft carrier, and its supporting Carrier Strike Group. One would hope that your annual budget submission to Congress would reflect the centrality of the aircraft carrier to Americas defense of our national interests and our allies abroad, but sadly this is not the case. The USS Gerald Ford is over budget,[8] the second ship of the class remains behind schedule,[9] and our Navy has only 272 combatants.[10] The budget you submitted further exacerbates this problem by reducing shipbuilding funds an additional $1.75 billion, as our adversaries expand their presence at sea and increase aggressive rhetoric regarding territorial sea claims.

While Naval force projection has declined under your watch, Japan has invested heavily in its armed forces. Leading the effort to broaden the definition of self-defense and expand the military missions Japan would be willing to accept, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has prudently responded to the threat environment he faces in East Asia. In contrast to your administration, the Japanese government increased defense spending by 2.8% to $42 billion in 2015, which amounted to the largest defense budget in Japans history.[11] Your administration has celebrated our allys commitment to stability in the region, but I/we fear that your unwillingness to fully fund Americas military to meet its threats will render moot the courageous actions of our friend and ally Japan. The U.S. must renew its commitment to force projection to protect our allies and deter our enemies.

4. Deploy THAAD in South Korea. Last year, your administration approached Seoul with the prospect of deploying a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) unit to better protect U.S. troops and critical targets in South Korea. This system is more capable than any ballistic missile system that South Korea has or will have for decades. The THAAD deployment is wholly in line with Chinas stated goal of preserving stability on the Korean peninsula and would not in any way constrain Chinas military capabilities. Yet, the PRC reacted aggressively to this prospective deployment. In July 2014, President Xi Jinping warned President Park Geun-hye to tread carefully[12] regarding THAAD so it wont be a problem between South Korea and China.[13] Beijing has issued similar warnings after Seoul began publicly discussing the need to improve its missile defenses after last months North Korean nuclear test.

I welcome recent progress this week in negotiations with South Korea on THAAD. However, I am concerned that you have not publicly condemned Xi Jinping for attempting to intimidate and blackmail a U.S. ally into rejecting our military assistance. It would be unfortunate if the climate agreement and progressing trade negotiations with the PRC were higher strategic priorities for the United States than standing up to the worlds largest communist state. If the U.S. is serious about defending South Korea, we must openly confront Chinas support for North Korea. The U.S. should strongly push back against Chinas opposition to THAAD by rebutting its false assertions that the system would impact Chinese security.

A good place to start would be disinviting them from Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC) 2016. While speaking in Jakarta on March 20, 2013, you linked participation in these exercises with political engagement: We have invited the Chinese to participate in the RIMPAC exercise which we host, and we are delighted that they have accepted. We seek to strengthen and grow our military-to-military relationship with China, which matches and follows our growing political and economic relationship.[14] Given Chinas complicity in North Koreas nuclear capability, stonewalling of missile defense in South Korea, and its aggressive actions in the South China Sea, I/we believe it is time for the United States to fundamentally reevaluate U.S.-China relations.

5. Relist North Korea as a State Sponsor of Terrorism. One need not look far for justification. North Koreas cyber attack and accompanying threats of a 9/11-type attack fulfill the legal definition of international terrorism  violent acts or acts dangerous to human life thatappear to be intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population (18 U.S. Code  2331). Removal from the list has resulted in no improvement in the behavior of the DPRK, and we should end the dangerous fiction that they are not engaged in international terrorist activities.

The regime in Pyongyang has not only issued explicit threats against American citizens, but there is also documented evidence that North Korea has shipped arms to Iran. Three intercepted vessels bound for Iran in July 2009 contained North Korean weapons that Western intelligence and Israeli intelligence officials and non-government experts believe were bound for Hezbollah and Hamas.[15] All three ships contained North Korean components for 122 mm Grad rockets and rocket launchers, 2,030 corresponding detonators, and related electric circuits and solid fuel propellant. As you know, Hezbollah and Hamas frequently fire these rockets into Israel. Yet your Administration continues to assert that North Korea is not known to have sponsored any terrorist acts since the bombing of a Korean Airlines flight in 1987.[16]

Until such actions are taken, the North Korean threat will continue to metastasize. Their launch last Saturday is further evidence of the escalating danger the DPRK poses to the U.S. and our allies. America must once again lead from a position of strength, rekindling the fear of our enemies and restoring the trust of our friends.

Sincerely,

Ted Cruz
Some of the biggest names in country music will come together starting this May to represent the 2016 Country Megaticket Tour, a massive summer run that will feature artists like Brad Paisley, Miranda Lambert, Luke Bryan, Brantley Gilbert, Darius Rucker, Dierks Bentley, Florida Georgia Line and Keith Urban throughout a series of dates at various locations around the U.S. A ticket to Country Megaticket is the real deal for country music fans, as one ticket is good for each of the concerts in the series throughout the summer. For such an epic package, it should come as no surprise that tickets are booming on the resale market.



(Photo: Rick Diamond/Getty Images for City Winery)

Tickets went on sale to the general public on February 2, with primary tickets ranging from $300-1200. On the secondary market, Country Megaticket Tour tickets are averaging $928 across all 19 scheduled performances. As it stands, the most expensive venue slotted for the summer run is scheduled to be the series at the Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, where tickets are averaging a whopping $3,134, with the cheapest ticket available for $455. The least expensive venue on the Country Megaticket schedule is slated to be the Xfinity Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts, where tickets are averaging $604, with the cheapest ticket available for $320, according to data provided by TiqIQ.

Other performers appearing across the dates include Hank Williams Jr. and Chris Stapleton, Jason Aldean, Kenny Chesney, Rascal Flatts and Toby Keith. Many of the acts this summer will also be featured on their own headlining touring runs. Luke Bryan will be touring this summer on his Kill The Lights Tour, which will kick off February 18 and run until October 29, and Keith Urban will be touring this summer in support of his upcoming album, Ripcord, due out later this year. One of the bigger country tours this summer will also include Miranda Lambert and Kenny Chesney, who are joining forces on Chesney's Spread The Love Tour. Tickets to see Kenny Chesney this summer are averaging $180 across all dates.

 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
With only nine days to go until his debut album Phase is released, Jack Garratt has unveiled his new single "Fire" with Zane Lowe on Beats 1 as the Hottest Record in the World.

The single is different from the soothing ballads that fans are used to hearing from the British multi-instrumentalist. It starts out like another soft, acoustic-driven song about his own personal insecurities, but then switches things with electronic synths layered underneath his soft vocals and guitar. That is only the beginning as it heads straight to the UK club scene with a tempo change into some drum n bass, mixed in with the soulful voice of Jack Garratt, similar to what Rudimental are able to do with their songs.

Garratt has been thrust into a unique position in his career. He has been tabbed as one of the most high-profile artists to watch in 2016, even before he even released an official debut album. There is immense pressure on the 24 year-old to deliver with his debut album and live up to the lofty expectations that have been set for him.

Speaking to Zane Lowe after the world premiere, Garratt acknowledges those expectations and how weird it has been. He speaks about going to Italy and finding fans there, which was a bit surreal since he has not proven himself as an artist.

He is able to brush off the negative comments that have inevitably arisen because as he says "I was fat and ginger as a kid."

Speaking about the record, Garratt described it as "a lot of fun." He said, "This is essentially every fear and insecurity that I've ever had in myself or I've seen other people have in me represented as sound. At least that's the intention."

Stream "Fire" below and pick up Phase on iTunes before it is released next Friday on Feb. 19.

 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West welcomed their second child, Saint, into the world in December 2015. Although loving being a mother, the Keeping Up With the Kardashians star has remained open about the obstacles she's faced during her pregnancies and labor. In her most recent blog post on her website, Kardashian discussed the parenting struggles of raising two kids and the cute dinner dates her hubby has with their daughter North.

The 35-year-old reality star is the mother of a two-year-old fashionista and a two-month-old son, who's face is still a mystery to the public. Motherhood has been a roller coaster of emotions for Kardashian, which included severe physical pain and battling pre-eclampsia.

Although she knew having a second child would be an adjustment, Kardashian didn't realize how much of a challenge it would actually be. Now, it seems Kardashian is getting a taste of North and the "terrible twos."

A photo posted by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on Dec 30, 2015 at 12:01am PST

"I'm up at 4 a.m., pumping and delirious, hiding in my daughter's closet," Kardashian wrote on her website, according to ETonline.com. "If she sees I snuck out of her bed, she will start to cry AND I think she gave me a cold so I figure no better time to [write] than now!"

Sleep has become a thing of the past for the working mother. When she's not giving all her attention to her newborn baby, all her focus is on North. Kardashian admits the hardest part is making sure her toddler doesn't feel left out. She makes it her mission to shower North with love.

Kardashian isn't alone when keeping a smile on his daughter's face. Kanye takes his daughter out on special daddy-daughter dates, while North's three-year-old big cousin, Penelope Disick, gives her advice on how to be a great big sister.

Kris Jenner once gave Kardashian advice about mothering two children and although she didn't understand it at first, she has a full grasp of the meaning now. The advice: "one is like one and two is like twenty."

"I never really understood that until now," Kardashian said. "I remember Kanye and I would be like, 'WTF are they talking about? Will our lives be the same? Are we going to be OK?!' Of course, I expected it to be different but, wow, it really is so hard!"

 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Omari Hardwick may be turning heads now as a big named actor, but it wasn't long ago that he found himself in a financial struggle, homeless and living in his car. That same car was on its way to repossession until another powerhouse actor, who Hardwick sees as an uncle, stepped in to pay the debt on the car.

Hardwick has graced the big and small screens and captured the admiration of many fans for his character portrayals, especially in his STARZ original series Power, where he plays Ghost, a cutthroat, no nonsense drug dealer who is willing to go above and beyond to remain in control of his surroundings. But, according to Hello Beautiful, there was a time in Hardwick's real life when he had no control over what was going on, and almost hit rock bottom.

The 42-year-old recently spoke with The Real cohost Lonni Love and opened up about his struggles after landing his first gig in a Spike Lee production and then going broke soon after. Sucker Free City was supposed to be the opportunity that landed Hardwick on his feet, but the production didn't head in the direction that it was originally intended to.

"I sort of transitioned into getting an agent, and the whole thing, doing all these odd jobs [and] pursuing fire fighting as a backup...," Hardwick said of his days trying to break into acting. "On the day that I said no to the fire department was the day that Spike Lee offered me my first gig. ...It was great. We shot in in San Fransisco and then I went broke after that."

The actor explained how Sucker Free City was supposed to be a series, giving him more than just one pay check, but it turned out to be a "one-shot deal" that soon left him living out of his car and taking showers at local YMCAs.

Hardwick explained how it was the help of actor Denzel Washington and his wife Pauletta that stopped the repossession of his vehicle, according to The Root. The actor explained how he had unofficially been taken in by the family as a relative and viewed the Washingtons as his aunt and uncle. His relationship with their son, John David, who currently stars in the HBO series Ballers, is what opened the door to his new extended family.

According to Hardwick, the Washingtons "perfectly and appropriately didn't help [him] out" by making it easy for him, but they did give him shelter when he didnt' have a place to stay. And with Denzel's approval, "Aunt Pauletta" paid the debt on his vehicle in an effort to help him keep his transportation.

Hardwick remembered the day he was able to repay his debt to the Washingtons.

"...When I paid him that check back it was big," explained Hardwick. "They framed that check."

 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
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Lawsuit For Fired Police Investigator Who Refused To Change Findings Dismissed

By aaroncynic in News on Feb 11, 2016 9:40PM



Chicago Police officers follow one of the many marches demanding the resignation of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel in the wake of the release of the Laquan McDonald shooting video. Photo by Aaron Cynic/Chicagoist

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by a former investigator with the Independent Police Review Authority Wednesday, rejecting claims that his free speech rights were violated.

U.S. District Judge Charles P. Kocoras ruled that Lorenzo Daviss constitutional rights were not violated when he was dismissed from the agency. Davis says he was fired from IPRA after refusing to reverse his findings in several cases involving police shootings that found officers unjustified.

Davis has no First Amendment claim because he was not speaking as a citizen when he wrote reports detailing his findings concerning accusations of police misconduct, wrote Kocoras, according to the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin. The written reports and findings, as well as Davis verbal refusals to alter his reports and findings, were intimately connected to his job as an IRPA investigator.

The judge however, did not make a ruling on Daviss allegations that he was pressured to change his findings in police shootings or that he was ultimately fired by then chief administrator Scott Ando.

In a statement emailed to the Tribune, Daviss lawyer Torreya Hamilton said:

We are disappointed in the judge's ruling, particularly his finding that the issues of police accountability and IPRA's broken system for investigating police shootings are not matters of public concern. We will still be pursuing Mr. Davis' claims in state court to the fullest extent of the law. This is not the end of Mr. Davis' fight to prove that his firing was illegal."
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A New Wicker Park Bookstore A Block From Myopic Is Opening Soon

By Mae Rice in Arts & Entertainment on Feb 11, 2016 8:55PM



Volumes Bookcafe's exterior (via IndieGogo)

A new bookstore-slash-coffeeshop-slash-also-theyll-have-brandy is on the cusp of opening in Wicker Park. Volumes Bookstore is hiring booksellers and baristas at this point, promising big discounts on books and... lots of access to coffee! Their signage, pictured above, is in place. Theyre just waiting on some final approvals from the city.

Were hoping [to open] in the next four weeks, co-owner Rebecca George told Chicagoist. Its really dependent on some inspections that the city is taking forever on.

Soon, though, Wicker Park will have another major bookstore. Located at 1474 N. Milwaukee Ave., in the storefront once occupied by used-clothing boutique Recycle, Volumes will be a block from Myopic Books and walking distance from Quimbys.

George doesnt see that as a problem.

Theyre so niche, she said of the nearby bookstores. Theyre not going to have the new Harry Potter book thats coming out.

Myopic, George noted, specializes in used books; Quimbys emphasizes zines and DIY publications.

Of Myopic, George added, They dont select their books, whereas we get to select from catalogs We know whats coming out before anybody else does."

According to George, several local bookstores and literary establishmentsincluding Quimbyshave been supportive of the Volumes project, which George co-owns with her sister, Kimberly.

George said she hopes that with the addition of Volumes, Wicker Park can become kind of a mecca of literary fun.

We reached out to Quimby's and Myopic, but no one was available for comment.

The plans for Volumes do sound unusual for Wicker Park. The store will serve Metropolis coffee and Dollop baked goods in house, George said. The first 30-something feet, when you enter, will look more like a coffee shop, George said, and then the rest is a bookstore selling 95 percent new books.



Only about 5 percent is used, George said. Thats Myopics wheelhouse [but] if someone brings em in, great.

The house coffee shop will have adult beverages along with regular drip: beer from small local breweries, wine, brandy, and ciders. No liquor, George said.

(Coffee shops serving beer could be trending all over Wicker Park soon; the closest Starbucks also has plans to start serving craft beer and wine.)

Volumes' space will also serve as an event hub for author readings and more. Im kind of a quirky person, George said so I kind of want to do some fun flash fiction readings, some comedy readings. We also want to do a Scrabble league."

Volumes has been in the works for the past two years, since George decided, at the last minute, not to get a PhD. Instead, she decided to open a bookstore in Wicker Park, where she has lived for most of the past 12 years. (There were a couple years where I cheated and lived in Lakeview, she said.)

She and her sister started by choosing the storefront. Its in a building built in 1883, which translates into beautiful vintage tin ceilings, George saidand also a lot of unexpected refurbishing costs.

We had a contingency fund, she explained, but the costs of updating their space overwhelmed it, hence their IndieGogo campaign (now closed) that they ran to fund a second HVAC and and an update to the buildings water line.

We've been working on this store for several years now, says their IndieGogo campaign. We've put our blood, sweat, tears and life savings to get to this point.

Now, though that campaign reached just under half of its funding goals, theyve gotten even further. Knock on wood, opening day is just around the corner.
Sarkodie should have been bigger than ...
3 Bladed Weapons And A Gun Used In Gage Park Killings

By Mae Rice in News on Feb 11, 2016 6:38PM



Gage Park, via CPD

Three bladed weapons and a gun were among the weapons used to kill the six people found dead a week ago in a Gage Park home, a police spokesperson told the Tribune Wednesday. None of those weapons have yet been recovered, added spokersman Anthony Guglielmi.

A gun was recovered at the Gage Park home, but it was not used in the killings.

The Cook County Medical Examiners Office ruled all six deaths homicides on Friday.

The six victims of the Gage Park massacre were three generations of the same family, identified as Noe Martinez and his wife, Rosaura Hernandez; their adult children, Noe Martinez Jr. and Herminia Martinez; and Alexis and Leonardo, Herminias two sons.

Previously, blunt trauma was reported as the cause of death for the family. Really, it was one of several causes of death.

According to the Cook County Medical Examiners Friday statement, the elder Martinez and the young children died from "multiple sharp-force injuries. Hernandez and Martinez Jr. died of multiple blunt- and multiple sharp-force injuries, while Herminia Martinez died of multiple gunshot wounds.

The investigation is still underway, and no motive has been established for the killings yet, Guglielmi told the Tribune. However, he said that as a preliminary step, police have amassed hours of surveillance footage from the day, from sources including CTA buses and a city camera on a light pole.

Though a funeral will be held in Chicago on Sunday, at St. Gall Catholic Church, the Mexican consulate in Chicago issued a statement that the victims bodies will be buried in Mexico.
One of the few living Tuskegee Airmen was recognized Thursday at MacDill Air Force Base.

Retired Lt. Col. George Hardy was part of the all-black 99th Fighter Squadron that flew 21 combat missions over Germany in the final two months before V-E Day.

The thing is, we wanted to fly. says Hardy, And we did what was necessary to fly.

But Lt. Col. Hardy says that was only half the fight. There was still the fight for equal rights.

Like we went overseas and flew over there and came back and nothing in the States had changed," he said.

Even when things did change and the military was integrated, Hardy says it took years before he felt accepted.

These days he looks at many of the changes in the African-American community and is left disappointed by the progress.

It's almost frightening at times. Hardy says, The fact that generations are growing up and not taking advantage of the opportunities. Because opportunities exist. It's just a matter of preparing yourself for it.

Nevertheless, the 90-year-old veteran continues to tell his story to anyone who will listen as a tribute to those fellow airmen who gave their all for freedom and equality.

I look back yes, it was all worth it," he said. "We paid a price, but it was a price we'd probably been glad to pay."


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A woman who was on probation for burning down a tree in Seminole County known as The Senator, was found guilty of a misdemeanor driving charge and could go to prison for violating her probation.

Prosecutors say it took a Seminole County jury 10 minutes to find Sara Barnes guilty of a 2nd degree misdemeanor for several traffic charges, violating the terms of her probation in the plea deal she took in the tree burning.



Barnes admitted to starting the fire that ultimately destroyed the beloved Seminole County landmark in Big Tree Park in January 2012.

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Police said Barnes and a friend started the fire so they could see better in the dark while doing drugs.

Barnes entered into a plea agreement in 2014 that suspended her sentence as long as she completed five years of probation.



Now that she has been convicted on the driving charge, prosecutors will move forward with the felony arson and drug charges shes had faced for burning down The Senator.

"The Senator," a 3,500-year-old cypress tree, was the fifth oldest in the world.



The Senator in 1967, and in 2012, when it was destroyed.
An environmental company with a Cocoa facility is trying to help the people of Flint, Michigan deal with their water crisis, and the City of Cocoa is pitching in.



On Thursday the city donated 10 pallets of bottled water (roughly 17,280 bottles) as part of Elastecs Operation W.E.T.



Elastec makes pollution control systems with a focus on oil spill recovery. The Illinois-based company has a facility in Cocoa and is collecting bottled water at the companys locations in Illinois and Cocoa.

So far Elastec says it has collected 21 pallets of water, along with cash and water case donations. The water drive runs through Friday.

The Flint water crisis

The city of Flint is in the midst of a water crisis that is affecting residents health.

In April 2014, the state of Michigan, which was in control of the city of Flints budget because of a financial emergency, switched Flints water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River as a cost-saving measure. A new supply line to Lake Huron was under construction at the time.

It turns out the water from the Flint River was highly corrosive. Since aging services lines to Flint are made of lead, the corrosion leached lead into the water that was flowing into the citys homes.

The situation had been going on for over a year before a local pediatrician reported high levels of lead in children coming into her practice.

Critics say the states Dept. of Environmental Quality should have treated the water in accordance with federal law. That did not happen.

Flint residents are suing Michigan.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Dept. of Homeland Security are leading the federal response to the crisis with water and temporary housing and home repairs. But residents are desparate for clean water for cooking and cleaning.

To find out how you can donate through Elastec, head to the Operation W.E.T. website.
The rice noodle in Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, dates back to the Qin Dynasty (221-206BC), when South China had not yet been conquered by the first Qin Emperor Yingzheng.

Guilin rice noodle [China Daily]

He sent a 500,000-strong army under General Tu Sui to occupy the places in today's Guangdong and Guangxi. However, the Qin army met strong resistance from local tribes, and were further troubled by the hot and rainy weather as the soldiers came from an area mostly belonging to today's Shaanxi Province in Northeast China.

The war lasted three years. To transport enough provisions to feed Tu's occupation troops, Yingzheng built a canal in Xing'an County of Guangxi connecting the rivers of Xiangjiang in the north with the Lijiang in the south. The two waterways flow into the Yangtze and Pearl rivers respectively.

It took the Qin army another four years to finish the canal project. The soldier-turned construction workers ground local rice into powder and boiled it to produce rice milk, and then processed the latter into noodles. They consumed the boiled rice noodles with pepper, vinegar and salt.

The rice noodle was not only popular among the Qin army, but also warmly welcomed by local residents. It has been passed down from generation to generation in Guilin and surrounding areas to become a staple food in South China now.

As a birthplace of rice noodle, Xing'an County boasts of a number of related eateries. Baolaoye Rice Noodle Restaurant is one of them. It is owned by a businesswoman named Fu Jinrong.

Fu said the Qin army liked the rice noodle for two reasons. First, it tastes like the flour noodle to which they were accustomed. Second, the specially-made brine soup helps people to get rid of the negative influence of the humid weather in Guangxi. She has her own way of making a special kind of brine soup using condiments she has chosen herself.

Fu Jinrong talks about her rice noodle restaurant. [China Daily]

Fu also adds sliced beef and barbecued pork in her rice noodles, along with dried ground nuts, shallots, caraway seed, pickled green beans and pepper. "Vinegar is the soul of the rice noodles, as well as a testimony to its origin from North China where vinegar is indispensable for noodle lovers," she said.

The success of the dish lies in the brine soup. "I have my secret recipe that needs more than 24 kinds of raw materials, like a prescription of Chinese herbal medicine," she explained.

After boiling these "raw materials" for more than 10 hours, she adds ox bones, sliced pork and pig ears, and boil them together for a long time. She filters off all solid residues from the soup and then colors it with dried brown sugar.

Fu's father-in-law was a rice noodle seller in the 1940s by Wanliqiao Bridge of Xing'an. She learned the skill at 20-year-old, and started running her own rice noodle restaurant. The bridge was built in 825 during the Tang Dynasty. It is the oldest stone bridge in Guangxi today, and has always been a bustling business center.

She remembered one bowl of rice noodle was priced at only 0.07 yuan (one cent) in the 1960s. The price has risen to four yuan now. She thinks it is a pity that people always associate rice noodle with Guilin, but not Xing'an. "Guilin is well known for its picturesque scenery, while Xing'an is only a county in the city."

Despite Fu's romantic story, Yue Qihai, director of Xing'an Museum, says: "It is only a legend that rice noodle was born in Xing'an. So far, there is no concrete evidence to prove it."

That doesn't affect the delicious dish, however.
Frustrated residents in two Brevard County beachside communities plan to tell city and state wildlife experts Thursday that coyotes need to go.

"They need to be trapped and my opinion is they need to be euthanized," said Scott Fee of Indian Harbour Beach.

It has been more than a month now since Fee captured a coyote chasing after his cat on surveillance video, outside his home, near Gleason Park in Indian Harbour Beach. His cat was never seen again.

Coyote sightings have only increased.

"There are plenty of people that are uncomfortable with even letting their dog out in the backyard which we should certainly be able to in a city without fear of something happening," said Fee.



Cages, watermelon, raw chicken, even drones were used to find and trap the coyotes last month. But Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers told Indian Harbour Beach city leaders the coyotes weren't causing a threat to public safety, so they weren't allowed to trap and relocate the animals.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is hosting a meeting with residents from Indian Harbour Beach and Satellite Beach to tell them how to live with coyotes.

"Lock up your garbage cans, take in your pet food, if you have cats or dogs don't leave them out roaming at night," said FWC Officer Lenny Salberg.

Only when a coyote is a threat can it be declared a nuisance and captured to be killed or relocated.

Fee says he thinks the coyotes roaming his neighborhood are already a nuisance. He wants to see them put down.

"Relocating a coyote to another area is simply going to move the problem to another area, to go through the same thing we are," said Fee.

The FWC meeting takes place at 6:30 pm is open to anyone in the public. It will be held at the Gleason Park Community Center.
If you ever travel out of Orlando Sanford International Airport, expect to see some changes.



Officials at the Sanford airport are planning a major expansion.

Bonnie Butler is traveling to Illinois to help her son who just had surgery. She lives in Merritt Island. But instead of going to Orlando International Airport, which is closer to her, Bonnie drove about an hour to fly out of the airport in Sanford.

Definitely, its so much easier to get in and out of Sanford, said Butler.

In the last five years, traffic through the Sanford airport has more than doubled, in large part due to expanded flights by their biggest carrier  Allegiant Air.

Airport officials say they must expand the airport to keep up with the growth.

Our logo here is simpler, faster, better, were SFB. And in keeping with that, we want to make sure we maintain that convenience for our passengers, said Orlando Sanford International Airport President & CEO, Diane Crews.

Right now, passengers flying in and out of the Sanford airport go up escalators in the same place. But the expansion will open everything up, and separate arrivals and departures to ease congestion at the airport.

The expansion will add four new gates, three baggage carousels and combine the domestic and international screening areas into one security area.

Airport officials are only about a third of the way through the planning process. Construction should begin in May 2017 and be complete by 2020.

Bonnie Butler says the increased traffic in Sanford wont stop her from making the drive to Sanford.

It still will be a convenient airport and easy to access in or out of the airport, said Butler. Im glad to see they are growing a little bit, because as Florida grows, the airport needs to grow also.

An artist's rendering of the proposed Terminal B changes. (Orlando Sanford International Airport)

An artist's rendering of the proposed Terminal B changes. (Orlando Sanford International Airport)

An artist's rendering of the proposed Terminal B changes. (Orlando Sanford International Airport)

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Plainview and the surrounding area continues to buck statewide trends with strong sales tax revenue figures against declining revenues for the state in general

Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar on Wednesday posted local sales tax allocations for February, showing a statewide decline of 0.7 percent from February 2015.

The same report shows that sales tax allocations for the 15 participating local taxing entities within the six-counties served by the Herald rose 7.4 percent from a year ago. Plainview saw an increase of 4.7 percent while Hale Countys allocation rose 3.7 percent.

During the first two months of 2016, the allocations for the same area rose 6.9 percent, while Plainviews total is up 5.5 percent and Hale Countys total rose 9.3 percent.

Our region is very fortunate compared to other parts of the state regarding retail sales, commented Mike Fox, executive director of the Plainview/Hale County Economic Development Corporation. Consumer spending reflects confidence in the economic future of Plainview and Hale County. Hopefully this trend will continue because it generates much needed revenue for both the city and county, said Fox who is currently representing PHCEDC at the World Ag Expo in Tulare, California.

Linda Morris, executive director of the Plainview Chamber of Commerce, adds, When sales tax numbers reflect a positive gain, it just confirms that the economy continues to stay strong in our area and the confidence of our citizens to spend money, shop local, and purchase needed items in Plainview just reflects their confidence in the economic future of Plainview and they react by being part of that growth and future.

Hegar notes that the current allocations are based on sales made in December by businesses that report tax monthly; October, November and December sales by quarterly filers; and 2015 sales by businesses that report tax annually.

Energy-centric cities such as Odessa, Midland, Corpus Christi and Houston continued to see decreases in sales tax allocation, Hegar said. Other areas of the state helped to somewhat offset those losses as cities such as San Antonio, Austin, Fort Worth and Dallas saw moderate increases in allocations.

Construction in general, and particularly the development of wind energy resources, appear to be a factor in maintaining the growth of sales tax revenue for Plainview and the surrounding area.

The largest percentage gain during the current cycle was for Edmonson, which shot up 145 percent from February 2015. Its payment climbed from $597 to $1,463.

Castro Countys payment went up 53 percent, while Floydada rose 35 percent and Petersburg went up 31 percent.

Declines were posted by three entities, Silverton, down 8 percent; Hale Center, off 6 percent; and Swisher County, off 0.3 percent.

Current sales tax payments and change from a year ago for area entities include:

Silverton, $6,236, -7.6%

Hart, $4,336, 7.1%

Floydada, $43,950, 34.8%

Lockney, $11,665, 1.1%

Abernathy, $22,583, 23.8%

Edmonson, $1,463, 145.2%

Hale Center, $9,457, -6.3%

Petersburg, $5,980, 31.2%

Plainview, $428,992, 4.7%

Olton, $20,397, 6.5%

Kress, $1,849, 2.3%
The renovation of Petersburg's Community Center has resumed after council members finally found a compromise to move forward with the project.

In January, the council voted in a special session to halt all renovation efforts of the 54-year-old building after a dispute arose questioning the purchasing powers of the City's Mayor Darin Greene and City Manager Ronald Heggemeier.

The majority of council members felt the mayor and the city manager were not justified in their actions to use city funds to go ahead with the project without first gaining a city council vote of approval.

From that time, approximately $46,129 has been spent or has been obligated for materials and installation at the center, not including the price for total bathroom or floor renovations.

It was said the total project could have exceeded $60,000 once completed.

Earlier this month, the council sought legal counsel and met with City Attorney Matthew Wade in another special meeting.

Though the council didn't agree with the mayor and city manager's decision to transfer budget money and spend it on the community center without council vote, there was no current statute in the City of Petersburg's ordinances that stated the mayor, as the city's Chief Financial Officer, could not move and spend the money.

During that meeting, Wade gave the council possible resolutions to pass to resolve the problem.

These included policies and procedures establishing caps and limits to the mayor's spending ability as well as caps and guidelines to the rest of construction at the community center. The council also had the option to return materials already purchased.

Resolution templates were also offered for accepting donations from the Petersburg Economic Development Corporation and evaluating the city manager.

On Monday, the Petersburg council met in their regular session to set the new ordinances.

At the beginning of that particular discussion, council member Carroll Leon made a motion to resume the remodeling of the community center with the materials already bought. Though seconded by council member Gilbert Gonzales, the motion was defeated when council members Justine Turner, Jenny Livar and Larry Martinez voted against it.

Later in the meeting, council lmembers had a long discussion on establishing guidelines, caps and limits for the construction project.

Though council members Gonzales and Leon wanted to continue the project as is, the remaining three wanted to explore the options of caps.

Guidelines and changes proposed included returning materials and appliances to the store in order to swap out for more affordable items. The guidelines also explored the move to hire a contractor to finish the job. Before being shut down, construction was being done by City employees with the supervision of city manager Heggemeier.

Replacement items included changing kitchen tops from granite to Formica and changing out sinks and refrigerators.

But a point was made that the granite was purchased at a deal and was actually cheaper than Formica. Also, templates had already been made for purchased appliances and new items might not fit the space.

Heggemeier added that hiring a contractor could skyrocket the price of the project to more than $100,000. On top of that, it was brought up that some materials purchased could not be returned because the items had been opened or had exceed their 30-day limit.

The council argued who would be responsible for inspections of the project, as well as investigating return policies and project accountability for a significant part of the nearly four-hour meeting.

However, if all materials were left the way they were and construction resumed, Heggemeier said the project could be completed for less than $49,500 plus donations he was expecting to receive. The completed center would include finishing everything from bathrooms to windows, but would not cover the remodeling of the floor.

If costs go above that number, any additional city money spent would have to come before the council first.

The council liked the idea and unanimously voted to resume the project.

However, the Petersburg council did change a city ordinance Monday. They voted 3-2 to limit the amount of money the mayor could transfer and spend without the council's approval.

Though Gonzales and Leon voted against the caps, Martinez, Turner and Livar voted that the mayor may authorize the expenditure of funds on any budgeted item on behalf of the city up to the amount approved by the city council in the adopted budget line item. The spending could not exceed that line-item amount.

If a transfer of funds must be made, the council must give approval prior to money being spent.

An emergency clause was added so the mayor could spend if need be, but it had to be brought back to the council within 30 days.

In other action, the council did not accept a contribution from the Petersburg EDC for the community center as Turner felt the money could be used for other economic development efforts. The contribution would cover the costs to the city if the center project went over funds allotted.

An agenda item regarding the appointment of new City representatives to the PEDC board was tabled. Also tabled was an agenda item establishing performance standards for reviewing the City Manager's job duties, including an evaluation form. The council felt the wording of specific items needed to be looked at by a lawyer.
 Flash

As revellers across China set off fireworks to welcome in the Lunar New Year, Yandunjiao Village in the eastern peninsula of Shandong is strangely quiet.

Yandunjiao, home to thousands of wild swans every winter, banned fireworks year round a decade ago so as not to scare off the birds, a big draw for tourists.

The swans come from late October to spend the winter in Yandunjiao bay, which has amiable weather and abundant fish and seaweed.

Tourists are Yandunjiao's lifeblood. Chasing photos of the swans, they stay in the village's dozens of guesthouses and spend money in local shops and restaurants.

Chinese set off fireworks not just on Lunar New Year's Eve itself but throughout the week-long Spring Festival holiday. It is traditionally believed that the loud bangs scare off evil spirits, as well as fuelling a festive atmosphere.

But people in Yandunjiao claim not to miss the tradition.

"We don't regret giving up the folk custom of setting off holiday fireworks. We're grateful to the swans. We protect them and they have rewarded us with good fortune," said Gao Yongjin, owner of the biggest guesthouse in the village.

Winter tourism earns him 400,000 to 500,000 yuan (US$60,000-76,000) every year.

Gao's guesthouse is decorated with photos of the swans, many taken by guests.

"The swans here are not afraid of people. Photographers can approach them to get good pictures," said 81-year villager Qu Yuanzheng.

He recalled that the birds used to be sensitive to strangers. "They clapped their wings if people walked closer than 100 meters from them."

Locals have long protected the birds, according to Qu. They have provided food for them when food was scarce. They have rescued injured swans and kept tourists from harassing the birds.

Qu Rongjiang's guesthouse was his family's residence for 100 years. It was refurbished and transformed three years ago. From his yard, people can hear the swans. His wife prepares dishes cooked with seaweed.

Sun Ji, a tourist from east China's Nanjing who stayed at Qu's guesthouse said he was impressed by local ethics.

Shandong was the birthplace of Confucius. Sun said the village honors Confucianism, with its emphasis on morality.

"It's touching that these people treat swans like their family," he said.
HARTFORD  Secretary of the State Denise Merrill wants to repeal a state statute that allows political parties to expel members who dont align with their partys principles.



On Wednesday morning, Merrill released a statement saying she submitted draft language to the legislatures Government Administration and Elections Committee to repeal the lack of good-faith party affiliation law that passed in 1949. The law allows local registrars and local party chairs to remove someone from their partys enrollment list after a hearing.



If, during a hearing, local officials determine someone does not intend to affiliate with the party and does not intend to support the principles or candidates of such party, his name may thereupon be erased or excluded from the enrollment list of such party, according to the statute.



The statute also allows for the dismissal of a party member if they enroll or affiliate with another party. Merrill said getting dismissed form a political party could bar someone from voting in this years presidential primary.



Our concern is that the current law could restrict someones right to vote, she said in a statement. At the very least, people should ask themselves if our statutes are the right place for these kinds of processes. Should the state play a role, through elections officials, in deciding the ideological purity of political party members? We dont think so.



The Government Administration and Elections Committee has until Feb. 19 to raise a bill based on Merrills proposal.



aragali@record-journal.com 203-317-2224 Twitter: @Andyragz






Michael Moore has made the movie that everybody thinks about making after visiting Europe for the first time.

Where to Invade Next is all about the great ideas from other countries that we might think about trying. Its about how nice it is in France, Germany and Italy  and Slovenia and Portugal and Norway and Iceland. Its not that we have it so bad here, but that other countries have it good, too, and in some areas, they have it better.

For many Americans, the mere concept of this documentary will be heretical. Arent we the greatest? Doesnt everybody know that? So why listen to what foreigners have to say? Theyre all jealous. They resent us because were so wonderful.

Alas, the people whod benefit most from seeing this movie will never see it. People who go around chanting USA! USA! at every opportunity tend not to have passports.

The central gimmick of Where to Invade Next, which borders on silly, is that United States keeps getting into wars and getting nothing out of them, and so now, instead, Michael Moore will be invading countries on his own, with the idea of bringing something useful back home. He carries a big American flag with him and plants it into the ground every time he hears a good idea. He claims the idea for the United States.

He goes to Italy first (always a good choice), where he endorses the Italian way of government mandated seven-week vacations for everybody. Apparently industry in Italy doesnt collapse from this and management and labor get along fine. Moreover, Italians live a lot longer than they do in the United States, probably because theyre not overworked, overstressed and miserable.

Where to Invade Next ** Quick take: We're not number 1? Really? See More Collapse

Then Moore goes to France and checks out the lunches being served to school children and high school kids. Youd be amazed. Its not the white flour and slop that we grew up on. Its good food, and somehow produced for less money than in the United States.

Some of the things Moore uncovers seem, from an American perspective, positively surreal. Going to prison in Norway, for example, looks like an enforced vacation. The prisoners have their own rooms and their own keys. They read in the library. They go swimming, and nobody is ever knifed in the shower or sexually violated. Its hard to imagine how such a thing could work, but according to Moore, the recidivism rate is a very low 20 percent.

In Portugal, they made drugs legal  and drug use went down. In Iceland, they experienced a financial collapse and actually prosecuted the white-collar crooks responsible for it. In Slovenia, college is free, and in Germany theyre facing their Nazi history and not sweeping it under the rug.

As a piece of filmmaking, Where to Invade Next gets off to a strong start and then sags in the last half hour, but it makes a lot of interesting points and, in the way it shows other countries, conveys something about the United States: There is just something harsh in American life, something in our national personality going all the way back to de Toqueville and beyond. You feel it when you get back from vacation, turn on the radio and everything sounds like one loud migraine.

Who knows if the ideas and solutions of other countries could even work here? But Moore, at least, offers something to think about.

Running time: 110 minutes
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 John Davenport /San Antonio Express-News Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Show More Show Less 3 of 3





The Lone Star Rail Districts plan to run passenger trains on one of Union Pacifics freight lines has been derailed, at least for now.

UP terminated its agreement with the district to study the possibility of running passenger trains on a freight line that parallels Interstate 35. The idea was central to the districts plans to build a passenger rail line, known as LSTAR, between San Antonio and Georgetown.
The crew at Mental Floss has come out with another entertaining U.S. map of Google searches.

This one provides a state-by-state look at what people are musing about when they do Internet searches.
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A former teacher at an El Paso elementary school is on the run from federal authorities after being charged in connection with an alleged drug trafficking ring run by her family members.

In October, a federal grand jury in El Paso indicted Monica Velasco, a 42-year-old teacher at Thomas Manor Elementary School, on charges of conspiracy connected to racketeering, drug trafficking, money laundering and kidnapping in a foreign country.

Velasco quit her 14-year job at the school and fled from her El Paso home in September after her sister and two brothers were charged in connection with an alleged murder-for-hire plot in 2008 of a man and his two daughters in Juarez, Scott Williams, deputy for the U.S. Marshals Service in El Paso, said in an interview with mySA.com.

RELATED: 'La Patrona,' financial operator for Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman captured in Mexico

"Everyone we've spoken to has said she's deathly afraid of Mexico," Williams said, adding that she did not enter Mexico in the past to visit family there and that authorities have "strong reason" to believe she is still in the El Paso area.

Deputies with the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force nearly captured Velasco at a home in El Paso's Lower Valley earlier this month, but she fled before deputies arrived, Williams said.

Authorities arrested Monica Velasco's mother Josefina Gurrola, 63, on Feb. 5 and charged her with concealing a person from arrest. Gurrola is accused in a criminal complaint of communicating with Velasco using disposable cellphones since about November.

The 63-year-old told investigators that Velasco fled after she "realized after her brother and sister were arrested that she would be next" and that her daughter "went into hiding after they were arrested because she was scared about going to jail," the complaint reads.

SEE ALSO: 3 men arrested in connection with killing of 7-month-old baby, family in Mexico drug gang shootout

The 42-year-old former teacher was primarily in charge of handling and storing money for what's referred to as the Velasco Criminal Enterprise in a federal indictment unsealed in January.

Federal officials allege that the El Paso-based enterprise has significant resources and conducts illegal activity in other parts of Texas as well as Las Vegas, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina and the city of Juarez, just across the border of El Paso.

The organization allegedly engages in theft and burglary of vehicles, kidnapping, extortion, robbery and money laundering, according to the indictment.

RELATED: Photos surface of new Mexican criminal organization declaring war on powerful drug cartel

Members of the enterprise rip off or steal drug loads from suppliers or competing drug traffickers and then turning those drugs for a profit, the indictment alleges.

Velasco would receive or dole out drug proceeds to members of the enterprise and also transfer "ownership of property" for the enterprise and rent vehicles for members, federal prosecutors say.

On one occasion in 2014, Velasco transferred a Cadillac Escalade used to pay for one kilogram of cocaine to her brother Emmanuel Velasco Gurrola, who allegedly heads the enterprise, according to the indictment.

Emmanuel Velasco Gurrola, his brother and enterprise co-leader Samuel Velasco Gurrola and their sister Dalia Valencia were indicted in September for allegedly paying a hit man to kill 69-year-old Francisco Maria Sagredo Villareal of Juarez on Oct. 3, 2008, and his two daughters Cinthia Judith Sagredo Escobedo, 40, and Ruth Sagredo in November 2008.

Ruth Sagredo was married to Samuel Velasco Gurrola, the El Paso Times reported.

RELATED: Body of slain Mexican journalist found wrapped in plastic, handcuffed on side of highway

Before arresting Velasco's mother last week, authorities had been tailing Josefina Gurrola as she would park in different locations around El Paso and sit in her car, the complaint says.

Gurrola told investigators that she was waiting for people to bring her information about her daughter's whereabouts.

The mother took her grandson to Ysleta Independent School District offices in order to obtain funds from Velasco's retirement account, according to the complaint.

Gurrola initially told deputies that a little girl standing near a curb gave her documents needed to obtain the check from the district, the complaint says.

However, Gurrola later admitted that Velasco provided the documents on Jan. 31 after deputies questioned who the child was, what street she was on and why the child was out in the cold.

RELATED: 3 Mexican cartel 'sicarios' arrested near Texas border, suspected of 5 murders

Gurrola gave deputies different answers for how the money withdrawn from Velasco's account would be used, according to the complaint.

Alternately, the 63-year-old said the money would be given to Velasco and used to pay lawyers for her children, the complaint reads.

Gurrola stopped speaking to investigators after they asked whether she received money on behalf of her son Emmanuel Velasco Gurrola at a McDonald's, the complaint says.

"Stop, stop," Gurrola told investigators, according to the complaint. "I do not want to speak to you all anymore because you do not believe anything I say."

RELATED: South Texas women very happy after 80 pounds of pot found in their car at border

jfechter@mySA.com

Twitter: @JFreports
For Ramona D. Campos, there was nothing more important than caring for those she loved.

From the time she looked after her little sister while just a child herself, to nursing her own mother into old age, Campos was rarely without a loved one to nurture during her long life.

She was always caring for somebody, her daughter Lucy Castillo said.

Campos also believed in welcoming visitors, advising her granddaughter, who she helped raise, to always open up your home.

It didnt matter who came over, her granddaughter Jennifer Naranjo said. Shed be ready at a moments notice to make them something to eat.

Campos died Jan. 28 at 90.

More Information Ramona D. Campos Born: May 18, 1925, McMahon Died: Jan. 28, 2016, San Antonio Preceded by: Husband Trinidad C. Campos; parents Nicolas and Marcelina Dominguez; one grandson and two great-grandsons. Survived by: Daughters Angie C. Uribe and son-in-law Richard, Lucy C. Castillo and son-in-law Juan; sons Frank Campos, Jose R. Campos and daughter-in-law Alvina, and Juan A. Campos; 10 grandchildren; 12 great-grandchildren. Services: Visitation from 1 to 9 p.m., rosary at 7 p.m. Thursday at Castillo Mission Funeral Home, 520 N. General McMullen; Mass at noon Friday at Christ the King Catholic Church, 2626 Perez St., followed by burial at San Fernando Catholic Cemetery #2, 746 Castroville Road. See More Collapse

Raised in the Rio Grande Valley, Campos was the oldest of six children, put in charge of caring for her little sister while the rest of the family worked in the fields.

She only went to school up until the third grade, Castillo said. She had to help around the house.

Leaving home to live with an aunt in San Antonio as a teen, Campos began working at Finck Cigar Co., riding the bus daily. It was there she met her future husband, getting to know him while they rode to work and back.

Marrying in 1953, the couple settled in a home on the West Side, raising five children together.

Her husband was diagnosed with cancer in the early 1970s, dying a few years later, when their youngest child was 12.

She became mother and father to me, Castillo said. I missed my dad of course, but she made up for it.

Never remarrying, Campos told her family that their father was my only love  I wouldnt be able to ever love another man like I loved him.

They were very close, Castillo said. He was  devoted to her.

Her house a gathering place for her many grandchildren, Campos always made sure there was something hot and ready to eat, Naranjo said.

As Naranjo grew up, marrying and having her own children, she often turned to her grandmother for advice.

Instead of calling my mom or one of my friends of the same age, Id always call my grandmother, Naranjo said.

A devote Catholic, Campos attended Christ the King Catholic Church for many years, and was singing in the choir when it was chosen to sing for Pope John II during his 1987 visit to San Antonio.

mheidbrink@express-news.net
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Three incumbents on the all-Republican Texas Supreme Court face primary challenges this year, and all three are worthy of their partys nomination for another term. The states highest civil court has functioned efficiently in recent years and has erased its backlog of cases.

Place 3 incumbent Justice Debra Lehrmann is being challenged by Michael Massengale, a justice on the Houston-based 1st Court of Appeals.

Lehrmann is seeking a second six-year term. Massengale argues that she is a judicial outlier because she leads the high court in dissents since 2010. Lehrmann has written 42 dissents since arriving on the court, only 10 more than the second-leading dissenter, Justice Phil Johnson.

Massengales argument doesnt hold water. Lehrmann noted that the courts majority opinions often begin as a dissent. Dissents are part of the courts healthy analysis of law, and Lehrmanns dissents show a welcome independence.

A dozen former Texas Supreme Court justices, including former Chief Justices Wallace Jefferson and Tom Phillips, are supporting Lehrmann.

Lehrmann served 22 years on Fort Worths 360th District Court before being appointed to the states high court by former Gov. Rick Perry in 2010. She was elected to the Place 3 post later that year.

Lehrmann is passionate about the law and has earned renomination to the Supreme Court position.

In Place 5, veteran Justice Paul Green is being challenged by former state Rep. Rick Green, who lacks judicial experience.

Paul Green served on the San Antonio-based 4th Court of Appeals from 1995 through 2004. He was elected to the Texas Supreme Court in 2004 and is seeking a third term. A San Antonio native who has served as a director of the State Bar of Texas, the incumbent has the backing of numerous former high court justices.

Rick Green is campaigning on a political agenda that is not suited to the judiciary. Texans would be making a mistake if they elected him to the states highest civil court.

We hope Republican voters do not get confused by the candidates same last name. Paul Green is a highly qualified, conservative judge who deserves the Republican nomination.

In the race for the Place 9 nomination, Justice Eva Guzman is being challenged by Joe Pool, a candidate who has no judicial experience but is making his third run for the high court. Guzman has earned renomination to the post, and we urge Republican voters to cast their ballots for her.

Guzman was appointed to the Texas Supreme Court by Perry in 2009. She was elected in 2010 and is seeking a second term. Guzman served eight years on the 14th Court of Appeals in Houston and two years on a Harris County district court bench. Guzman has exhibited strong leadership skills in bar foundation work, and she is involved in the courts access for justice commission.

We strongly recommend Guzman.
Re: Smith exaggerates uncertainty on warming, Brian Chasnoff, Tuesday:

I no longer get annoyed at columnist Brian Chasnoffs predictably liberal rants. He never deviates from progressive orthodoxy, regardless of the topic. Man-made global-warming is part of the liberal creed, and woe be to anyone who questions its truth.

But tell me, Mr. Chasnoff, what is wrong with Rep. Lamar Smith asking government scientists to show their work to justify their conclusions? Most, if not all of us, are required to do this in our vocations. Are you afraid we might learn that they fudged the numbers?

Steve Weakley

Respect Congress?

Re Shkreli takes 5th, insults fuming panel, Business, Feb. 5:

The irony of Martin Shkreli irreverently testifying before Congress couldnt escape many. He was asked to testify before a body for whom nearly the entire country has tremendous disdain, and they were amazed he gave them no respect.

Why? While I might have been kinder and gentler, Shkreli truly just exemplified what we all feel for that non-august, do-nothing body that allowed Shkreli, either by commission or omission, to do what he did.

Perhaps if we all treated these people the way they deserve to be treated, we would get new representatives who care for this country and their constituents. I always learned one earns respect. All our politicians have failed on that account.

Valerie Overstreet

Cruz overload

Re: Cruz slams draft for women, front page, Tuesday:

There are more candidates in the presidential race than Ted Cruz. Not only that, there are Democrats in the race, too. Furthermore, there are more Democratic candidates than Hillary Clinton.

Headlines matter. Equitable reporting matters. Some of us want to hear about all sides and more of whats going on in the race.

Poppy Davis

Follow Houston

Re: Light rail options, Your Turn, Feb. 1:

With all due respect to the letter writer, you want your first light rail line to be where you can get investment, with professionals and tourists using it, along with people who will develop positive attitudes toward the line. You do not want people who use buses anyway. Otherwise, why bother?

Houston took a successful approach with its initial line from downtown to the Medical Center: brilliant. There were millions in new investment in midtown and tons of professionals using it. People then changed their negative views about light rail, and now you see three new lines.

In San Antonio, the first line should either go straight up San Pedro from downtown, then over to the airport, or up Broadway to the airport. Thats how you get new investment and make people change their mind on light rail, not with an initial line from Mission Concepcion to Our Lady of the Lake. Get real.

As always, Houston has much to teach sleepy San Antonio. We are the only major city with no light rail. Not exactly something to be proud of, people.

Shannon Deason
Posted on 02/11/2016, 11:00 am, by Farmscape.Ca

The Chair of the Saskatchewan Pork Development Board says theres a strong desire among western Canadas pork processing plants to be able to access increased numbers of slaughter hogs from Saskatchewan.

In order to improve returns to pork producers through reduced transportation distances and costs, the Saskatchewan Pork Development Board has been working to attract expanded processing capacity to the province.

Sask Pork chair Florian Possberg says, by expanding processing capacity in Saskatchewan, we create a local market that has a lot less freight costs.

We do produce about 2,000,000 hogs annually here in the province. About half those hogs are owned by Olymel, former Big Sky Farms company, and they would almost exclusively go to the Red Deer Olymel plant. Saskatchewan, the Thunder Creek plant does roughly 6,000 hogs a week.

In addition probably about a third or a quarter to a third of our hogs would go to Manitoba plants. The significant ones there are Brandon, Maple Leaf plant and Neepawa, Hylife plant. I think theres interest in the Red Deer plant, in the Brandon plant and the Moose Jaw plant to have additional supplies come to their plants.

Probably Thunder Creek in Moose jaw is in the best position to encourage Saskatchewan production but I think the other companies as well, Maple Leaf and Olymel and Hylife would very much like to see additional hog production availability for their plants.

Possberg says Sask Pork is taking a Saskatchewan first approach in terms of processing capacity but where theres a demand, the provinces producers are being encouraged to supply the needs of all of our western Canadian pork processing plants.
Yves here. This story is important not just for describing how poorly online public schools have done, but also for how large their role has become. And it also demonstrates yet again that the charter school movement is not about achieving better educational outcomes, but private looting of the government purse and undermining teachers unions. Astonishingly, public schools effectively subcontract the online public schools to charter schools. So this is another brand, and a particularly lousy one, for pushing charter schools.

By Steve Rosenfield, who covers national political issues for AlterNet, including Americas retirement crisis, democracy and voting rights, and campaigns and elections. He is the author of Count My Vote: A Citizens Guide to Voting (AlterNet Books, 2008). Originally published at Alternet

A new political strategy: throw online charters overboard to save the rest of the school privatization industry.

For the second time in three months, the Walton Family Foundationwhich has spent more than $1 billion to create a quarter of the nations 6,700 public charter schoolshas announced that all online public school instruction, via cyber charter schools, is a colossal disaster for most K-12 students.

If virtual charters were grouped together and ranked as a single school district, it would be the ninth largest in the country and among the worst performing, co-wrote Waltons Marc Sternberg and Marc Holley, respectively the foundations director of educational giving and its evaluation unit director, in a recent Education Week commentary. Online education must be reimagined. Ignoring the problemor worse, replicating failuresserves nobody.

Last fall, the giant foundation, which has pledged to spend its second billion to expand charter public schools nationally between now and 2020, simultaneously released three detailed comissioned studies finding more than two-thirds of Americas 200,000 charter students receiving all of their instruction over the Internet were barely learning the basics.

The majority of online charter students had far weaker academic growth in both math and reading compared to their traditional public school peers, their experts press release said, after noting that kindergarten-through-high school students need to be in classrooms with live teachers, not occasional faces on computer screens. To conceptualize this shortfall, it would equate to a student losing 72 days of learning in reading and 180 days of learning in math, based on a 180-day school year.

Stanford Universitys Center for Research on Educational Outcomes, or CREDO, which calculated the semesters of lost learning, looked at virtual charter schools in 18 states. It found enrollments had nearly doubled between the 2009-10 and 2012-13 school years, documenting a rapidly growing corner of the charter school industry, which presents itself as an alternative to traditional public schools.

Based on even modest funding levels of $6,000 per student, 65,000 students [in 18 states] represents a public investment of $390,000,000 annually, CREDOs report said. With 200,000 students in 200 online schools in 26 states, that means taxpayers are now spending upwards of $1.2 billion annually for these failing charter schools.

Anybody who has teenagerseven kids with good grades with lots of interestsknows how hard it is to get them to focus without prodding by adults. Yet that absence of daily supervision is at the heart of the online education model pushed by Wall Street, Silicon Valley and a charter movement thatuntil Waltons retreatembraced online schools.

The results are, in a word, sobering, wrote the foundations Sternberg and Holley in Education Week. As a result of these findings, we at the foundation will ask new, more rigorous questions of online charter operators when we review their funding proposals, in order to expose whether applicants are addressing the problems this research identified We urge policymakers to make changes, too.

On its face, the statements from the Walton Family Foundationwhich is funded by Walmart profitsare a stunning admission from one of the largest players in the national movement to replace traditional public schools with privately run charters. The dream of entirely online public schools, Walton seems to say, is a fantasy that simply isnt working in its current real-world iteration. But a closer reading of the language used in Waltons commentary, as well as in the trio of reports it released late last fall, reveals a more sophisticated public relations strategy at play. Walton, which has promoted charters as a reform that can best thrive when exempted from government oversight, is urging states to increase their scrutiny of the schoolsbut not the rest of the privatized K-12 industry.

The obvious question is, why? Why would a foundation whose principles emanate from the very worst free-market principles begin calling for greater government involvement in these kinds of schools? Chalk it up to keeping their priorities straight. Walton has committed to investing billions to see charter schools upend public education in America, and that overall agenda has been sullied by the dismal performance of the online segment of the industry. In short, its tossing them overboard to save their ship.

Even so, the foundation has refused to draw a hard line on cyber charter schools. Walton didnt call for a moratorium on the online schools; it is merely toughening its grant standards. And even as its researchers detailed again and again why online schools are overwhelmingly failing, the foundation has chosen to call for a reimagining of online educationnot a repudiation of it.

One could spend hours speculating why this might be, but the most clear-cut answers relate to money: as in, too many important people are making money from what can only be described as one of the biggest education scams pushed upon taxpayers in recent years by Wall Street and Silicon Valley.

That vision was articulated late last month, when the nations largest private company running online charter public schoolsK12 Inc.held its quarterly earnings conference call for investors. Executives said they had turned around a franchise that was recently dropped by its biggest school district client, banned by one state, under investigation in another, and has been sued for fiscal mismanagement and settled out of court. K12 is shifting its business model from running cyber public schools to selling curriculum and other platform services, which mirrors ed tech world trends yet relieves them of responsibility for the results.

We are well-positioned to benefit in this digital education explosion, CEO Nate Davis told Wall Street analysts, after reporting K12 had $208 million in fourth-quarter revenuesmostly from taxpayersfor 100,000 students in its virtual public schools. The conference call came two days after Walton published its commentary, We Must Rethink Online Learning.

K12s stock price jumped 10 percent after the calland hasnt come down since.

Its Not All About Children

This should be a pivotal moment in education policy, as a national leader of the public school privatization movement is admitting a big failure and colossal waste of taxpayer resources. But its worth wondering why lawmakers fell for the online ed sales pitch in the first place.

Go back to the teenagers you know. If you put them in front of computers, told them to read a bunch of stuff and absorb it, gave them assignments with future deadlines, and mostly left them alone to do all of this, how soon do you think it would be before they were texting friends, watching videos and doing everything teens do instead of doing their homework?

Last fall, Waltons experts answered that question, as well as examining what cyber school students were learning, in a series of commissioned reports. Its first report, by Mathematica Policy Research, boasts that it provides the first nationwide data and analysis of the operations and instructional approaches of online charter schools. It begins by describing this new industry as the frontline of the web-based education technology boom. Online charter schoolsalso known as virtual charters or cyber chartersare publicly funded schools of choice that deliver student instruction via telecommunications [to] about 200,000 students at the elementary, middle, and high school grade levels.

Mathematica queried 127 principals of online charter schools and analzyed federal data on student performance. Heres how it summed up their defining characteristics. Student-driven, independent study is the dominant mode of learning with 33 percent of online charter schools offering only self-paced instruction. (Self-paced means no deadlines from teachers.) Online schools typically provide students with less live teacher contact time in a week than students in conventional schools have in a day, it continues. Maintaining student engagement is considered the greatest challenge, it reports, which places significant expectations on parents to actively participate in student instruction. It concludes: These findings suggest reason for concern about whether the online charter school sector is likely to be effective in promoting the achievement of its students.

Put simply, those findings are saying cyber charter schools mostly abandon kids, have far-off teachers, have trouble keeping students focused, and end up relying on parentsall of which it suggests might be reason for concern.

Waltons second report looked at what cyber students were learning. Stanfords CREDO said the academic results from full-time online schools were terrible, but its 114-page report emphasized the sector was rapidly expanding. Some states have seen enrollment growth which is literally exponential, it said. While the overall percentage of students who attend online schools is small, only 0.5% of students in our data, based on increasing growth rates we should expect to see continued expansion of online educational services.

CREDOs noted online charters tend to have whiter student bodies than their brick-and-mortar counterparts, which have touted diversity as a selling point. A large majority of students enrolled were white, 69 percent compared to 45 percent in other charters. While the percentage of black and special education students were the same as brick-and-mortar charters, 13 percent and 11 percent, respectively, there were far fewer Hispanic students in online charters (11 percent) compared to brick-and-mortar counterparts (32 percent), and fewer Asian/Pacific Islanders in cyber schools (2 percent) compared to other charters (6 percent).

How bad were the all-online charter schools CREDO examined? After looking at 101 schools, it concluded only two percent of the online charter schools outperform their comparison [brick-and-mortar charter] schools, 32 percent perform no differently, and 67 percent have weaker growth than their comparison schools. In math, a full 88 percent of online charter schools had significantly weaker growth than their comparison schools.

Walton funded a third report from the Center on Reinventing Public Education, which reviewed state laws and policies relating to online charter schools. Released last October, before its recent Education Week commentary in which it called for more state regulation, it restated the industrys sales pitch for the schools, acknowledged there were problems, but said they were being taken care of. It urged legislators not to reject the schools.

The report starts by touting the industrys selling points to lawmakers that resonate with anti-union right-wingers. Online charters are for students who cant attend traditional schools for health or other reasons, can tap new labor markets of teachers, and can efficiently arrange instruction to very large classrooms. Nationwide, three states have the most online studentsOhio, Pennsylvania and Californiaand Arizona has the highest proportion of online enrollment, one out of every 25 students.

Some of these online schools have so many students its more accurate to think of them as privatized cyber school districts, CRPE said, adding that was not an anomaly. Its foremost example was one of the largest online charter schools in the country, Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, [which] enrolled 10,982 students in 2011-2012. The school, with revenues of $110 million and net assets of $57 million, resembles a mid-sized school district more rather an individual school.

In other words, while the cyber school industry wants the public and policymakers to discuss these schools as if they are similar to traditional classrooms with teachers supervising students, the reality is anything but. They are corporate-run franchises, called education management organizations in Wall Streets parlance, that rely on delivering the same instruction to large volumes of student to profit.

The Centers report discussed what it said can be cause for concern, calling them suspicions but not facts. It noted two-thirds of online charters contract with for-profit education management organizations (EMO), raising suspicions that schools will skimp on quality to maximize profits. It said government regulators often raise concerns about the quality of teachers and how charter authorizers can ensure that taxpayer money is being used productively in online schools.

But then it said states were sufficiently responding to the industrys problems. Exhibit A was K12. States have taken action to sever ties with for-profit providers, such as K12 Inc., due to perceived resource mismanagement and poor performance In the 2010-2011 school year, only 27.7 percent of K12 Inc.operated schools across the nation met the Adequate Yearly Progress standard.

Admiting there are problems before the regulators show up is an old lobbying strategy. The Centers report said some states were taking a serious look at online charters and praised them for responding cautiously; that is, without alarm that multi-millions are being spent on public schools that are failing two out of three students.

We saw no direct cuts to online charter school funding, but determined that there are plenty of new regulations that affect online charter school revenues, CRPE said, offering examples. Colorado changed the way it counts online students, from enrollment once per year to monthly counts, which reduced overall allocations. Florida recently started funding online charter schools based on course completion, effectively reducing overall online charter school funding.

When confronting the for-profit industrys biggest feara moratorium, which Illinois enactedthe example was framed as a reaction by an outlier state. This is one of the few instances where a state issued an allout ban on opening new schools for several years in order to ensure that existing laws and administrative rules reflect the unique characteristics of online charter schools.

Whos Fooling Who Here?

The three reports commissioned by Walton came out late last year before it announced it would spend $1 billion between 2015-2020 to expand all charter schools across the country. Initially, charter industry lobbyists told reporters they were shocked by the findings, but were quick to defend this failed public school experiment.

I think we had a sensethat there were some problems in terms of performancebut we were alarmed by the results, Todd Ziebarth, senior vice president of state advocacy for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, told the arch-libertarian Heartland Institute. Thirty to 40 percent of kids are faring better in this environment, Ziebarth continued. So it does work for some families.

That lineits okay that online public charters are failing two-thirds of studentswas the primary public relations response until late last month, when Waltons top education officials published their Education Week commentary, stating they would ask new, more rigorous questions before awarding grant money to online charter operators and urging state charter regulators to create new accountability systems rethink their expectations and policies, and test novel policy arrangements.

They said Walton has only given $550,000 to cyber charter schools, out of $385 million in startup fundinga figure that seems low but is difficult to verify based on publicly available records. State regulators must take action if schools are failing students, the foundations Sternberg and Holley wrote, but then drew the line on where they dont want government interference. To be clear, our comments about online charter schools are not an indictment of instructional technology or online learning more generally, nor how these stand to help create more high-quality educational options.

In other words, as state legislatures, which are the primary overseers of education policy, convene across the country, Walton is giving lawmakers a green light to go after online chartersjust not the rest of the burgeoning industry thats also dominated by corporate franchises with other failed experiments. That highly political response begs the policy question of why lawmakers and education policymakers should stop there, as what has emerged as the charter school industry since the 1990s is not what lawmakers envisioned when they were sanctioned as local experiments in public education. They werent burgeoning private brands funded by taxpayers.

How Waltons criticism and call to action on online charters plays out remains to be seen. But two days after its Education Weekcommentary appeared, K12 CEO Nate Davis held his 2015 fourth-quarter conference call for Wall Street analysts. He ended by listing the business development growth targets for 2016 and beyondincluding K12s shift to selling teaching materials and platforms to online charter school operators, lessening its responsibility for academic outcomes. The targets include Alabama, West Virginia, Nebraska, Missouri, Connecticut, New Mexico [where they had been banned], Texas, Wisconsin and Virginia.

Last fall, after investors heard during K12s 2015 third-quarter call that it was losing its biggest contract, its stock fell by more than 20 percent. Perhaps they hadnt seen Waltons Education Week commentary before Januarys investor call, though thats doubtful, as its their job to track the industry. Or maybe they just dont care, because Davis said K12 was stabilizing as a company with revenues in the hundreds of millions. After the call, K12 stock jumped nearly 10 percent. This week, it was up by another 7 percent.
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New Hampshire's primary voters have resoundingly presented America's political parties with two unprecedented, very different dilemmas.

Granite Staters overwhelmingly made Donald Trump the Republicans' presidential front-runner  he beat runner-up John Kasich by a 2-to-1 margin. Now the Grand Old Party's dilemma is their front-runner is prone to be uncontrollably foul-mouthed. Indeed, he has proven himself an unpresidential embarrassment to any parents who may have brought young children to his events to see a future president.

New Hampshire voters also gave the Democrats a landslide victor, neighbor Bernie Sanders, of Vermont  he defeated Hillary Clinton by an 18-point margin. The Democrats' dilemma is that party pros fear Sanders is too leftist to be elected president and could lead the party into devastating, across-the-board defeats comparable to the routs suffered under the leadership of the two Georges, McGovern and Custer.

It remains uncertain whether the Democrats' just-dethroned yearlong consensus favorite, Hillary Clinton, will be able to recalibrate her strategic appeal and rekindle the flame of impassioned support that flickered and died in New Hampshire. Clinton, long a front-runner to be America's first female president, overwhelmingly lost the support of young females to the 74-year-old liberal revolutionary, Sanders.

And this brings us to the Democrats' bottom line dilemma: Nationally, the Democrats have the weakest bench of alternative presidential prospects either major party has had since World War II. If Clinton falters or is undone by the FBI's probe of the private email she used as secretary of state, it is unclear there can be any viable alternative to Sanders. (Vice President Joe Biden, who opted out in the emotional duress following the death of his son Beau, could conceivably reconsider.)

Meanwhile, both parties have landslide victors who were never longtime proud card-carrying members of the parties they are now fronting. Trump was a longtime Democrat who never made a quick and clean conversion to the Republican Party (as Ronald Reagan famously did). Trump always contributed grandly to candidates from both parties, hoping they could help him make more money. Sanders proudly called himself a democratic socialist and independent, not a Democrat. Until now.

Republicans face one more dilemma. On the eve of Tuesday's historic New Hampshire vote, Trump, who wants in the worst way to be our president, demonstrated, yet again, he's at least capable of going about it in the worst way. At a Manchester, New Hampshire, rally, when Trump noted Ted Cruz's debate comment opposing waterboarding of terrorist suspects, a woman shouted a word most couldn't hear. Trump stopped and pointed at her, declaring: "She just said a terrible thing. You know what she said?" Then, with a teenager's smirk, he instructed her: "Shout it out because I don't want to say." She did; but most still couldn't hear her. Trump's smirk widened; you could sense he was about to commit a full-frontal Fonz; and he did: "I never expect to hear that from you again. She said he's a p****." (Here, the man who wants to be your president, uttered the P-word for a female body part.)

The crowd roared with glee. And Trump, with all the faux sincerity he could muster, proclaimed: "That's terrible!" No doubt he felt it was also terrible when, the previous Thursday, he committed not one obscene faux pas, but two  an F-bomb and an S-bomb  at a Portsmouth, New Hampshire, rally.

But all the above pales compared to Trump's most unpresidential and unacceptable campaign conduct  which was, indeed, worse than any candidate has ever been recorded committing. In November, Trump mocked a New York Times reporter who suffers from a disease that limits the use of his arms. The reporter, who has interviewed Trump multiple times, had said he couldn't substantiate Trump's claim of witnessing thousands cheering the fall of the World Trade Center towers in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Then, at a South Carolina rally, Trump mocked the reporter's affliction.

"You gotta see this guy!" Trump shouted, contorting his face, raising his arms, with hands flopping helplessly in front of him. And in an exaggerated disabled person's voice, the man who wants to be your president shouted: "'Aaahh, I don't know what I said. I don't remember!' He's going, 'I don't rememberrrr. Maybe that's what I said!'"

Which brings us to the Republicans' ultimate dilemma: It isn't ultimately about Trump's abhorrent conduct. It is about the sad acquiescence of Republican voters who are rewarding his conduct with their most precious possessions  their votes. They, too, used to be better than that.
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By Carrie Kerskie

There is a new phone scam on the horizon. This scam involves a caller claiming to be from the supervisor of elections office stating that your information must be updated before the next election. The goal of the scam is to get you to provide your sensitive information out of fear of not being eligible to vote. But does the supervisor of election's office call to confirm voter information?

During the scam call the caller will ask the voter to register by telephone by providing a Social Security number. Trish Robertson, the election communications coordinator from the Collier Supervisor of Elections stated that to register to vote Collier County residents need to complete and submit a Florida voter registration application form. The form is available from the Supervisor of Elections website at CollierVotes.com. The direct link to the form iscolliervotes.com/Voters/Register-to-Vote/Application. This form must be printed, signed and returned to the supervisor of rlections office. The form is not valid without your signature.

But what happens when your information, such as your address, changes? "When we learn from a third party that a voter has moved or needs to update their address, our standard procedure is to mail them an address confirmation notice" stated Robertson. She further stated "If we call the voter, it is usually to confirm information they supplied to us that we think may be incorrect." In the event you should receive a call from someone claiming to be from the supervisor of elections office and you are uncomfortable you can simply call the Collier County Supervisor of Elections office at 239-252-8683 for confirmation.

While there is no deadline for you to change your address information, Robertson suggested that you do it sooner rather than later to ensure a smooth voting experience. There is, however, a deadline to change your party affiliation or to become a registered Florida voter before the March 15, 2015 election. The deadline is Feb. 16, 2016. To do any of these simply download, complete and return by mail the previously mentioned Florida Voter Registration form fromCollierVotes.com.

Another type of election scam to avoid is the survey taking or polling call. This type of scam call claims to be from a political party, a candidate or a general information gathering organization. The calls begins by asking you general questions. Soon the questions become more personal and eventually end up directly asking for sensitive information. The goal is to gain your trust before asking the sensitive questions. Or the call could begin by asking your opinion about a specific candidate or political party to gauge your level of support for said candidate or party. Once the caller knows you are in support of the candidate or party the caller will then ask for an over the phone donation. This, of course, can be made by providing your credit card information or your bank account information. The best way to handle these types of calls is to either politely decline to participate or simply hang up the telephone.

Lastly, there is another type of call that increases near election time. Companies may call offering to help you register to vote or to update your information for a fee. While this is not illegal it is unnecessary. As previously stated, to register to vote or to update your information you simply complete a Florida Voter Registration form. This form can be downloaded from the Collier County Supervisors of Elections website CollierVotes.com or by calling 239-252-VOTE to request a form.

Signs of a scam

Often, scammers who operate by phone don't want to give you time to think about their pitch; they just want you to say "yes." But some are so cunning that, even if you ask for more information, they seem happy to comply. They may direct you to a website or otherwise send information featuring "satisfied customers." These customers, known as shills, are likely as fake as their praise for the company.

Here are a few red flags to help you spot telemarketing scams. If you hear a line that sounds like this, say "no, thank you," hang up, and file a complaint with the FTC:

You've been specially selected (for this offer).

You'll get a free bonus if you buy our product.

You've won one of five valuable prizes.

You've won big money in a foreign lottery.

This investment is low risk and provides a higher return than you can get anywhere else.

You have to make up your mind right away.

You trust me, right?

You don't need to check our company with anyone.

We'll just put the shipping and handling charges on your credit card.

Carrie Kerskie is a sought-after speaker, trainer and consultant on identity theft and data privacy. She is the author of "Your Public Identity: Because Nothing is Private Anymore." Kerskie is the director of the Identity Fraud Institute at Hodges University and president of Kerskie Group Inc. You can contact her at 239-435-9111 or ckerskie@hodges.edu. Follow her on Twitter@CarrieKerskie.com.
On Tuesday, Febuary 14, 2007, 48 couples gathered on the beach at Lovers Key State Park at sunrise to celebrate Valentine's Day with a group wedding. Some couples, like Chris and Kim Clower, of Cape Coral, renewed their vows after years of marriage. Others, like U.S. Army Pfc. Nathan Henning and Ashley Wait, of Cape Coral, walked onto the beach to get married for the first time. Henning returned to southwest Florida from his infantry unit in Vilseck, Germany. He said he will likely deploy to Iraq within the year. "That's what I came back for," Henning said. "To marry the love of my life."

SHARE Country musician Chris Young on stage at Germain Arena in Estero on April 8, 2010. It was opening night of Alan Jackson's "Freight Train Tour" which includes support acts Chris Young and Josh Turner. (Chris Bradshaw/Special to the Daily News) On Tuesday, Febuary 14, 2007, 48 couples gathered on the beach at Lovers Key State Park at sunrise to celebrate Valentine's Day with a group wedding. Some couples, like Chris and Kim Clower, of Cape Coral, renewed their vows after years of marriage. Others, like U.S. Army Pfc. Nathan Henning and Ashley Wait, of Cape Coral, walked onto the beach to get married for the first time. Henning returned to southwest Florida from his infantry unit in Vilseck, Germany. He said he will likely deploy to Iraq within the year. "That's what I came back for," Henning said. "To marry the love of my life." 32 couples renewed their vows at the sunset ceremony at Lover Key State Park at sunset on Valentines Day. Related Coverage In The 239: Dave Coulier discusses "Fuller House" before Naples shows

By Maryann Batlle of the Naples Daily News

5. Grab a seat in a 'Full House'

Dave Coulier performs this weekend at Off the Hook Comedy Club, 2500 Vanderbilt Beach Road, Naples.

Coulier, who later this month will step back into his role as Uncle Joey in the new Netflix Original series "Fuller House," has shows at 7 and 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday and at 7 p.m. Sunday. General admission tickets are $25 and VIP tickets are $35 on Friday and Saturday. On Valentine's Day, general admission tickets include dinner and are $60 and VIP tickets are $85. offthehookcomedy.com

4. Catch a flick

The Bonita Springs International Film Festival starts this weekend at the Center for Performing Arts, 10150 Bonita Beach Road, Bonita Springs.

The festival kicks off at 6 p.m. Friday. The opening night film is "Una Noche," about one man's dream of escaping to Miami from Cuba. An opening night party includes craft beers, cocktails and desserts. Tickets to attend both are $75 per person. facebook.com/events/164312967275598/

3. Get a little country

Country musician Chris Young has a 7:30 p.m. Valentine's Day concert at Germain Arena, 11000 Everblades Parkway, Estero.

The "You're Gonna Love me" superstar likely will give you and that special someone a night you won't forget. Tickets are $37 to $57. Parking is another $10. germainarena.com

2. Hear the engines purr

If you're into cars, head down to the 12th Annual Cars on Fifth show from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.

The Naples Chapter of the Ferrari Club of America will line up muscle cars along Fifth Avenue South in downtown Naples. Admission is $5. carsonfifth.com

1. Say "I do" again

Renew your wedding vows on Valentine's Day, under in a beach gazebo on Lover's Key State Park, 8700 Estero Boulevard, Bonita Springs.

Ceremonies will be held at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. They includes a Champagne toast, brunch or lunch, coffee, cakes, desserts and dancing. Preregistration is required and costs $75 per couple. friendsofloverskey.org
Water ebbs and flows on the shoreline of a man-made beach area Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016 at the W.P. Franklin Lock and Dam in Alva, Fla. The mayors of Lee County's six municipalities convened at a joint emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss action items regarding freshwater releases from Lake Okeechobee into the Caloosahatchee watershed. Its argued that the release of dark, nutrient-laden freshwater into the watershed, damage Southwest Florida's economy and ecology. (Corey Perrine/Staff)

SHARE Florida Gov. Rick Scott delivers his state of the state address during a joint session, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Cannon) A water depth line is shown Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016 at the W.P. Franklin Lock and Dam in Alva, Fla. The mayors of Lee Countyas six municipalities convened at a joint emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss action items regarding freshwater releases from Lake Okeechobee into the Caloosahatchee watershed. Its argued that the release of dark, nutrient-laden freshwater into the watershed, damage Southwest Floridaas economy and ecology. (Corey Perrine/Staff) Water churns Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016 at the W.P. Franklin Lock and Dam in Alva, Fla. The mayors of Lee County's six municipalities convened at a joint emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss action items regarding freshwater releases from Lake Okeechobee into the Caloosahatchee watershed. Its argued that the release of dark, nutrient-laden freshwater into the watershed, damage Southwest Florida's economy and ecology. (Corey Perrine/Staff) Related Coverage Lake Okeechobee water releases raising concern

By Arek Sarkissian of the Naples Daily News

TALLAHASSEE  Gov. Rick Scott said Thursday he wants the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to divert waters from Lake Okeechobee to the Everglades, sparing some of the fresh water discharges into Southwest Florida that have caused concerns among local officials.

"We actually need to do this before the rainy season starts," Scott said in an interview with the Naples Daily News. "We're trying to make sure this happens."

In response to Scott, the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the state Department of Environmental Protection filed orders Thursday that paved the way for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to take action. And Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, said he believes things could start moving very quickly, and some of the water could begin flowing to the Everglades National Park as soon as Friday.

"I know that people are working around the clock as we speak to make the governor's plan happen," said Negron. "A lot of what they're going through is details like property easements, but I think we could see something in the next 24 hours."

In a letter sent Thursday to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Scott wrote that the water could be diverted by increasing the capacity of a canal known as the freshwater Shark Slough, which leads to the national park. The move should save the brackish Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie Estuaries from being forced to be flooded by the lake water.

Scott held two teleconferences Thursday with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and both of them were productive, said Negron, who was briefed by DEP Secretary Jon Steverson.

"All they have is a handful of obstacles in front of them and then water should start flowing south," Negron said.

Historic rainfalls over South Florida in January pushed the banks of Lake Okeechobee beyond the safe limits managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, prompting the water release last week. The release is pumping ugly, brown water into Lee County's coast, which local officials and fishermen argue is killing fish and ruining the ecosystem.

On Feb. 4, the Corps announced it would "release as much water as practical" from Lake Okeechobee. The released water flows in two directions, west through the Caloosahatchee River and east through the St. Lucie Canal. As a result, the lake water is mixing with other runoff that reaches the river.

Billions of gallons of brown, freshwater have flowed daily into the Caloosahatchee Estuary since the releases began. That water then spills from the river and makes its way to the Gulf of Mexico.

Lee County's six mayors met Wednesday to figure out how their cities can cope with the discharges. The mayors recommended using county and state lands to store water so it doesn't have to be pumped through the estuaries.

Scott said he recognized the Legislature is discussing plans to continue elevating the Tamiami Trail so Everglades waters can flow south to Florida Bay, but something needs to be done before the summer.

"We've got to get those waters to move south," Scott said. "We've got to get the water moving south as fast as possible."

In another environmental issue, Scott said he was not yet ready to weigh in on a plan by the Legislature to provide statewide regulation of fracking. The two bills, by Sen. Garrett Richter, R-Naples, and Rep. Ray Rodrigues, R-Estero, would also toss out a growing pile of bans passed by more than 60 cities and counties around the state. Scott would only say the state's environment should come first.

"I haven't seen the bills yet but what we need to remember is that people moved down here because it's so beautiful," Scott said. "We're going to do what ever we can to protect our environment and keep it as pristine as we can."

Contact Daily News reporter arek.sarkissian@naplesnews.com or 850-559-7620
While vacationing, George Bumpus of Blairsville, Ga. fishes Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016 at the W.P. Franklin Lock and Dam in Alva, Fla. The mayors of Lee County's six municipalities convened at a joint emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss action items regarding freshwater releases from Lake Okeechobee into the Caloosahatchee watershed. Its argued that the release of dark, nutrient-laden freshwater into the watershed, damage Southwest Florida's economy and ecology. (Corey Perrine/Staff)

SHARE A female boat-tailed grackle peeks out as the locks are opened for a vessel Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016 at the W.P. Franklin Lock and Dam in Alva, Fla. The mayors of Lee County's six municipalities convened at a joint emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss action items regarding freshwater releases from Lake Okeechobee into the Caloosahatchee watershed. Its argued that the release of dark, nutrient-laden freshwater into the watershed, damage Southwest Florida's economy and ecology. (Corey Perrine/Staff) Water ebbs and flows on the shoreline of a man-made beach area Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016 at the W.P. Franklin Lock and Dam in Alva, Fla. The mayors of Lee County's six municipalities convened at a joint emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss action items regarding freshwater releases from Lake Okeechobee into the Caloosahatchee watershed. Its argued that the release of dark, nutrient-laden freshwater into the watershed, damage Southwest Florida's economy and ecology. (Corey Perrine/Staff) Jean Adams, of Pittsburgh, from left, looks with Allen and Judy Carter, both of LaBelle, as a vessel passes upstream through the locks Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016 at the W.P. Franklin Lock and Dam in Alva, Fla. The mayors of Lee County's six municipalities convened at a joint emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss action items regarding freshwater releases from Lake Okeechobee into the Caloosahatchee watershed. Its argued that the release of dark, nutrient-laden freshwater into the watershed, damage Southwest Florida's economy and ecology. (Corey Perrine/Staff) Ann Marie Ceccarelli and her partner Ray Klopchin both of Orange County, N.Y. hunt for treasure on a nearby man-made beach Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016 at the W.P. Franklin Lock and Dam in Alva, Fla. The mayors of Lee County's six municipalities convened at a joint emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss action items regarding freshwater releases from Lake Okeechobee into the Caloosahatchee watershed. Its argued that the release of dark, nutrient-laden freshwater into the watershed, damage Southwest Florida's economy and ecology. (Corey Perrine/Staff) Related Coverage Scott asks for Corps of Engineers help with water releases Related Photos W.P. Franklin Lock and Dam

By Maryann Batlle of the Naples Daily News

Captain Frank Ventimiglia said the kids on his charter fishing trip Wednesday afternoon caught no fish.

But they had seen a dead dolphin float by, he said over the phone. They were on a boat somewhere near Pine Island Sound.

"This is a total natural disaster," Ventimiglia said.

The natural disaster he referred to is not an oil spill. But it is man-made.

Ventimiglia said he and other commercial fishermen are at risk of losing their livelihoods because billions of gallons of brown freshwater have been coursing through the Caloosahatchee River and into the Gulf of Mexico.

After a January of historic rainfalls, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced it would release water from Lake Okeechobee to protect South Florida from flooding.

Ventimiglia is outraged. Aside from being ugly to look at, the released water is killing fish and ruining the ecosystem off Lee County's coast, he said.

"All the fishing guys are literally going to be bankrupt," he said.

Concern over the Lake Okeechobee water releases into the Caloosahatchee River reached critical mass this week.

In a letter dated Monday, State Rep. Heather Fitzenhagen, R-Fort Myers, asked Gov. Rick Scott to declare a state of emergency in Lee County and surrounding areas. She invited Scott to tour affected areas and requested a state "study of the fiscal and ecological impact of the releases," according to the letter.

"Southwest Florida's pristine beaches, mangroves and coastal treasures continue to be viciously and relentlessly permeated by the toxic, black outflow," Fitzenhagen's letter states. "At a minimum, our area could lose millions, but the amount of loss could be amplified if action is not taken to eliminate the need for these releases soon."

Lee County's six mayors, including Bonita Springs Mayor Ben Nelson and Estero Mayor Nick Batos, met Wednesday to figure out how their cities can cope with Lake Okeechobee water discharges.

At the meeting, the mayors suggested using county and state conservation lands to store water on shore.

"The dramatic effect that this is having on the quality of life of all of our residents, and the economic effect it is going to have on the region is so significant that we have to look at all these things," said Batos.

In an emailed statement, Lee County Manager Roger Desjarlais said multiple county departments are keeping an eye on the lake discharges.

"We recognize that some businesses are having a slower start to 2016 than anticipated, but we are still collecting data," according to the statement. "Until the economic picture becomes more clear, it would be premature to make any recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners."

South of Lee, Collier County said it is also tracking the lake releases.

"We are monitoring the situation," said Kate Albers, a county spokeswoman. "However, we are not expecting to have issues in Collier County."

Unusually heavy rains in January, likely catalyzed by the strong El Nino weather event, put South Florida in a bind.

Last month, the South Florida Water Management District said it pushed water north into Lake Okeechobee, a move known as back pumping, to protect South Florida from floods. That forced polluted, nutrient-rich water from the Everglades Agricultural Area into the lake.

The water district's back pumping began sometime after an intense Jan. 27 rainfall, the state agency said. The back pumping ended as of Jan. 31, according to a water district statement.

By then, heavy rains had soaked the rest of the state. Lake Okeechobee, recipient of the back-pumped water, hit high levels.

The Army Corps manages the lake's height. On Feb. 4, the agency announced it would "release as much water as practical" from Lake Okeechobee.

"We're choosing between a bad option and a worse option," said John Campbell, an Army Corps spokesman.

The released water flows in two directions. It moves west through the Caloosahatchee River and east through the St. Lucie Canal.

As a result, the lake water is mixing with other runoff that reaches the river, Campbell said.

Billions of gallons of brown, fresh water have flowed daily into the Caloosahatchee Estuary since the releases began. About 4.2 billion gallons would move through the Caloosahatchee River on Wednesday alone, according to data from the Army Corps.

That water then spills from the river and makes its way to the Gulf of Mexico.

The Army Corps is aware of the impact Lake Okeechobee water releases can have on Lee County's environment, Campbell said.

The state's flood control system in place now, designed and built last century, is flawed, Campbell said, but makes it possible for millions of people to live in what is supposed to be "a swamp."

The way Florida handles floodwaters is the legacy of an era when protecting the environment was less of a priority, Campbell said.

"I think everybody is in agreement we'd like a better system," he said. "What has eluded us is general consensus."

This round of Lake Okeechobee releases could continue for weeks or months, even if heavy rains stop.

As of Wednesday, the lake's water level came in at 16.3 feet. By comparison, the Army Corps attempts to keep the water between 12.5 and 15.5 feet during dry season, said Campbell.

"The water we are releasing  all it has done is slow down the rise of water in the lake," he said. "We're releasing the maximum we can without flooding anyone else ... and we're still not in a position where we can get the lake down."

If the releases continue into March and beyond, Ventimiglia said, economic woes will ripple through Lee County's economy.

And this is a fixable problem, he said.

"The water's gotta flow south."
China Pierrelus is surrounded by applause as she accepts her Champions plaque from Susan McManus during a pre-ceremony gathering before the 2016 Night of Champions, hosted by Champions for Learning at the Naples Grande on Wednesday, February 10, 2016. (Scott McIntyre/Staff)

SHARE "Heart of the Apple" award recipient Dick Munro addresses the crowd after being presented the award during the 2016 Night of Champions, hosted by Champions for Learning at the Naples Grande on Wednesday, February 10, 2016. (Scott McIntyre/Staff) "Mentor of the Year" award winner Gary Personette hugs one of his mentee's Jose Martinez as he takes the stage to accept the award during the 2016 Night of Champions, hosted by Champions for Learning at the Naples Grande on Wednesday, February 10, 2016. (Scott McIntyre/Staff) Guests mingle during the 2016 Night of Champions, hosted by Champions for Learning, at the Naples Grande on Wednesday, February 10, 2016. (Scott McIntyre/Staff) Honorees for the 2016 Night of Champions, hosted by Champions for Learning, stand for a portrait at the Naples Grande on Wednesday, February 10, 2016. (Scott McIntyre/Staff)

By Melhor Leonor of the Naples Daily News

Dick Munro has interviewed hundreds of local families who are struggling  listening to their stories and combing through each year's cohort for students who could use a mentor to help them succeed.

The former media executive and local retiree has spent the last six years volunteering his time with the local education foundation, Champions for Learning, and was honored Wednesday with its annual Heart of the Apple award for service.

"Some of these kids just need a mentor, people to put their arms around them," Munro, 85, said. "But I know that we all agree that what we do brings us pure joy. We receive much, much more than we ever give."

During its Night of Champions event, Champions for Learning honored Munro and other locals who have donated their time to the organization's push to better the county's education efforts.

One honoree was Gary Personette, who was surprised with the foundation's Mentor of the Year award by three students who say he has made an impact in their lives.

"No other stranger has ever tried to form such a bond with me, and this meant the world to me," said Carlos Justiano, a graduate of Golden Gate High School and a freshman at Florida SouthWestern State College. "Gary pushed me to become a more confident person, to have goals and have a plan to achieve them."

Misael Tamayo, who will soon graduate from Golden Gate High School, said that he is confident in his next steps because Personette will continue as his mentor.

"I feel I have a role model and friend to count on throughout the journey that awaits me," Tamayo said.

Personette said that when he became interested in working with Champions for Learning, he insisted on doing something one-on-one with students. Through its mentorship program, Personette and dozens of other mentors meet with their assigned mentees at their school to talk about their education and the future.

"To have some effect on these young men's lives is a real gift," Personette said.

Champions for Learning also recognized the work of Kathy and Bill Avery, Bernardo Barnhart, Sue and Art Bookbinder, Debra Faulk, Suzanne Evans, Jim Hoppensteadt, Mary Ingram, Maria Jimenez-Lara, Phil McCabe and China Pierrelus.

In different ways, the honorees serve local public school students by mentoring, making donations to local schools and holding educational workshops.

"We all know that helping our young people connect to their future is also the future of our community," said Bill Barker, Naples Daily News president and publisher and board chairman of Champions For Learning.
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By Daily News Staff

Collier County residents have until Feb. 16 to register as either a Republican or Democrat to vote in the presidential primaries March 15. Florida is a closed primary state, which means voters can only vote for candidates within their respective parties.

Regardless of party affiliation, residents of unincorporated Collier County will be able to vote on one item: a nonbinding straw ballot that asks if they would support a single combined fire and emergency medical response district covering the unincorporated areas of the county.

City of Naples residents will vote in the city's mayoral and city council races.

Voters who live within the Fiddler's Creek MSTU will have the chance to vote on whether to annex their neighborhood into the Greater Naples Fire Rescue District.

During the March Presidential Preference Primary, only Democrats and Republicans will be able to vote for presidential candidates; however, there may be other items on the ballot for Collier County's NPA (no party affiliation) and minor party voters to weigh in on.

Voters can visit www.colliervotes.com to check their registration status or to download a voter registration application. Voters can also contact the supervisor of elections office at 239-252-8683.
Florida Senators debate SB 552, an Environmental Resources bill,Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, in Tallahassee, Fla. (Scott Keeler/The Tampa Bay Times via AP)

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By Arek Sarkissian of the Naples Daily News

TALLAHASSEE  With a gap of nearly $1 billion, the House and Senate began Wednesday discussing their separate spending plans that are vastly different from Gov. Rick Scott's requests for $1 billion in tax cuts and $250 million in economic incentives to attract business.

The two budgets also show a roughly $400 million difference in money earmarked for Medicaid, which is partly a difference in how the two chambers have addressed a loss in federal funding that hospitals use to treat the poor.

The House and Senate spent Wednesday discussing their budgets, and both chambers are expected to vote on their plans Thursday. The differences, once approved in their passed budgets, will be discussed during joint-legislative conferences in the coming weeks. The $79.9 billion House plan is $989 million less than the $80.9 billion Senate plan, and both are larger than the $79.3 billion plan proposed in November by Gov. Rick Scott.

Lawmakers built their budgets on an expected $654 million surplus, while Scott's budget anticipated $1.6 billion more in revenue.

Scott proposed in November a plan for $1 billion in tax cuts made up mostly of an elimination of income tax on manufacturing and retail business worth $770 million and a $339 million cut in taxes for commercial leases. But the two-term governor's plan has not yet completely materialized in the House and Senate spending plans. The House came close with a $991 million plan to cut taxes and provide one-time rebates that would be split between two years. The Senate plan was still a work in progress, spread over five bills that come to about $363 million in cuts and rebates that are still moving through committee.

House Finance and Tax Committee Chair Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, said his plan includes a 1-percentage-point reduction in the commercial lease tax, which could save taxpayers about $260 million. Other one-time rebates include a 10-day back-to-school tax holiday worth $56 million, a one-day technology tax holiday worth $23 million, and an exemption on taxes for college textbooks worth $33 million.

Senate Finance and Tax Chair Dorothy Hukill said she broke up her plan into five bills so senators could fine-tune each part. The plans include a bill that would lower taxes on fuel used by airplanes by $10 million. She also included a 1-percent elimination in the commercial lease tax and another plan to permanently eliminate the tax on manufacturing equipment.

Another difference between the House and Senate budgets is the governor's request for $250 million that would go toward the Enterprise Florida quick action closing fund. Scott uses the money to lure companies to the state, but he drew fire from senators last year in how he spent it. Since then, the Senate agreed to provide Enterprise Florida with the money if it was placed in a higher-yield investment fund as prospective companies met the required growth benchmarks to receive the incentives. House economic development committee chair Clay Ingram, R-Pensacola, said he was still in negotiations with Scott's office.

"I think what it all comes down to is we're still working out the details as to how Enterprise Florida keeps that money and how they spend it," Ingram said. "It's not a matter of whether they get it. We just want to work out a plan where we feel comfortable, and I think we're getting there."

Another difference in the two legislative budgets is a gap of $400 million in Medicaid funding, which includes both state and federal dollars. The Senate provided an extra $200 million to increase rates hospitals can bill Medicaid for inpatient hospital stays, which was meant to offset a loss in money known as the Low Income Pool Fund, which provides medical care for the poor. Two years ago, the Legislature earmarked $2.17 billion in state and federal money toward the Low Income Pool, but the federal government announced last year it would only provide $1 billion for the current budget year and $608 million for next year currently. The Legislature already provided $400 million in general revenue toward the LIP fund, but it would not match the previous size of the fund.

Instead of directly supporting the pool fund, the House elected to help smaller hospitals.

"We do make some small adjustments to ensure our rural hospitals are able to continue as the safety nets in their communities," said House Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Matt Hudson, R-Naples.

The House and Senate plans also differ on spending for secondary education. The Senate plans to spend $7,249 per student, more than the $7,231 proposed by the House. In local and state dollars, the House plans to spend $15.85 billion, while the Senate plans to spend $15.89 billion.

The two plans also differ in proposed raises for state workers. The Senate recommends $18 million for 2-percent raises for the Department of Corrections' roughly 18,000 correctional and probation officers. The Senate also proposed $1.87 million to provide a $2,000 annual increase to each of the state's roughly 900 forestry firefighters. The House budget includes pay increases for the firefighters but not for correctional and probation officers.

Contact Daily News reporter arek.sarkissian@naplesnews.com or 850-559-7620.
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Moe Kent, Naples

Bring back Bill

As a long-time resident of Naples who has watched mayors come and go, I must respond to a recent letter endorsing John Sorey.

I support Bill Barnett for mayor and for good reason. He got more done while he was mayor than all the others combined, including Mayor Sorey.

During his 12 years as mayor, and another 12 as a council member, Barnett was also a thoughtful and respectful leader who listened before acting. The writer refers to Sorey as an "energetic problem solver." There are many of us in this community who believe that is precisely Sorey's problem. He doesn't listen to the concerns of voters, and he doesn't listen to his fellow council members, three of whom enthusiastically support Barnett. Sorey "energetically" does whatever and whenever he pleases, for example:

-- In what has been called "The Naples Chainsaw Massacre," Sorey ordered the chopping down of trees along Gulf Shore Boulevard without prior consultation with the community. Because of the backlash from residents, that debacle cost the taxpayers $500,000.

-- Sorey recently took on another position. Yes, he now holds two full-time jobs, one as executive director for a local nonprofit and the other as mayor. How is that possible? More importantly, is it ethical, or even legal, to ask a small business to donate to a nonprofit while wearing the mayor's hat? Can you spell conflict of interest!

We need a mayor who is thoughtful, listens and builds consensus before taking action. We do not need one who rides roughshod over this community with a "Mayor knows best" attitude.

We need to bring Bill Barnett back!
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Dick Jones, Naples, and Ocean City, New Jersey

Mosque visit

This was a wonderful thing to do, extolling various contributions and the sacrifices Muslim Americans make serving in our military, etc.

In President Obama's remarks, which lasted for almost an hour, he criticized the Republican presidential field for an alarming and offensive eagerness to marginalize Muslim Americans. He used the term Muslim Americans a few times.

I have yet to hear one presidential candidate include the term Muslim Americans  in their eagerness to protect the United States from threats coming from "radical Islamic terrorists," a term not in Obama's vocabulary.
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Carole J. Greene, Naples President Naples Press Club

Public records issue

The Naples Press Club (NPC) has gone on record with Florida legislators  Rep. Greg Steube and Sen. Rene Garcia, sponsors of the bills  in opposition to HB 1021 and SB 1220.

These bills, if passed as currently constituted, would severely restrict the ability of people to be awarded payment of their attorney's fees if they win a lawsuit upholding their right to have access to public records.

Such a restriction could substantially hinder the public's right to know and hamper their efforts to keep our elected officials accountable. What private citizens would mount lawsuits if they may have to dig deep to pay their lawyers even when they win the suit?

What attorney would take a case if he stands a chance of not getting paid even when his client prevails in court?

The press club understands that the bills might have been created to eliminate frivolous lawsuits. If that is the only intent, then the wording of the bills needs to be amended. If the intent is to keep private citizens and journalists from ferreting out official malfeasance and corruption  and these bills become statutes  our democracy is in danger.

These bills go too far. Legislators need to do more work on this issue so citizens, businesses and journalists are not left vulnerable and without realistic paths to enforce their rights to public records under the law and the Florida Constitution.

Please contact your Florida legislators and ask them to withdraw or amend these bills. You can find contact information at floridafaf.org/legislature/contact-your-legislator/

NPC has always supported and will continue to favor journalists' and citizens' open and affordable access to public records.
In this file photo, District 4 Commissioner Penny Taylor smiles debates during a Collier County Commission meeting at the Collier County Manager building in Naples, Florida on Tuesday, June 23, 2015. Calvin Mattheis/Staff)

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By Penny Taylor

Dr. Robert Tober, Collier County EMS Medical Director, is a highly respected recipient of many prestigious awards and acknowledgements of his professionalism.

Among them are 1999 EMS System of the Year by the state of Florida; 2000 EMS System of the Year for the United States by the National Association of EMS Physicians and the first recipient of the Collier County Physician of the Year award by NCH Healthcare System, plus numerous other accolades.

Dr. Tober has had a productive and collegial relationship with Dr. Douglas Lee, his deputy medical director, for the past six years.

As justification as to why anyone would doubt that Dr. Tober and North Collier Medical Director Dr. Jeff Panozzo will be able to work cooperatively together as proposed in the Feb. 5 letter from the North Collier Fire Control and Rescue District, one needs look no further than Dr. Panozzo's 2013 evaluation of Dr. Tober.

In July 2013, and against the background of allegations raised by Physicians Regional Healthcare System that patients were being disproportionately directed to NCH's hospitals as a result of Dr. Tober's EMS protocols, the 11 members of the Public Safety Authority evaluated Dr. Tober's performance as medical director of EMS. (Note: Ultimately the allegations were determined to be unfounded).

The results of the evaluation yielded five who appraised Dr. Tober as "Exceeds Expectations" (Score between 8.0  10.0); four who indicated he "Meets Expectations" (4.0  7.5); and two who rated him "Needs Improvement." Of the two indicating the lowest score (between 1.0 and 3.5), one was Dr. Timothy Everett, emergency physician from Physicians Regional Hospital who appraised Dr. Tober at 3.1 and the other was from Dr. Panozzo, who, across the board gave him the lowest possible score of 1s (in all 25 categories).

Dr. Panozzo's lack of confidence in Dr. Tober's leadership was earlier expressed in the April 17, 2013, medical director subcommittee meeting.

According to audiotapes of that meeting, Dr. Panozzo accused Dr. Tober of making protocol decisions in a vacuum. It also appears from the conversation on the audiotape that North Collier Fire Control and Rescue District (NNFD in 2013) think they should be the ones with whom Dr. Tober should consult before making protocol decisions. (Note: Dr. Tober had forwarded the protocol changes to the district for their review months before the changes took effect, but the district never responded).

The district's Feb. 5 proposal continues to disregard Dr. Panozzo's challenges to Dr. Tober's authority as Collier County Medical Director by requiring that Dr. Panozzo serve as Dr. Tober's deputy medical director for the district.

There are other concerns I have about the North Collier Fire Control and Rescue District proposal submitted Feb. 5 but clearly the inferred suggestion that Dr. Panozzo can work constructively with Dr. Tober is unreasonable.

In fact, it is so unreasonable that the district proposes a liaison to interface between them.

In conclusion, I am concerned that there is a pattern of undermining Dr. Tober and his authority as Collier County's medical director by Dr. Panozzo and this is not acceptable for the health, safety and welfare of our citizens.
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By Chris Hudson

Now, halfway through Florida's legislative session for 2016, it's important to focus on what policies are most important to helping Floridians improve their lives.

And right now, that boils down to two priorities: increasing access to high-quality, affordable health care, and protecting a level playing field for our state's entrepreneurs and businesses.

Actually lowering the cost of health care is especially important in the age of the Affordable Care Act  a law that does the opposite. The president's health care law has sent premiums higher in each of its first three years, including by 9.2 percent on average across the Sunshine State this year. At the same time, skyrocketing deductibles have rendered many insurance policies "all but useless," according to a recent report in The New York Times.

We can't sit idly by as Washington makes health care increasingly unaffordable. We must implement state-based reforms that can bring more choice to patients and lower costs.

Legislators should start by eliminating our "Certificates of Need" law, which requires health care providers to obtain government permission before opening or expanding facilities, or even adding new equipment. By shackling entrepreneurial physicians, this red tape reduces access to care and increases costs for the rest of us, as years of research show.

Legislators should also reform our "scope of practice" laws. This would allow licensed health care providers like nurses and physician assistants to provide more basic services like prescribing low-level medications for common ailments. Similarly, legislators should reform burdensome residency requirements, which would help Florida attract more aspiring physicians into our state.

Taken together, these common sense  and easily achievable  solutions would significantly help the 63 of 67 Florida counties reporting health care provider shortages today.

On the economic front, we must also ensure that our state's entrepreneurs compete on a level playing field, where success is earned through hard work rather than government connections. That means rooting out cronyism and corporate welfare of any form.

Exhibit A is Gov. Rick Scott's "Enterprise Florida Inc.," a public-private partnership between the state's business and government leaders. Gov. Scott has proposed adding another $250 million in taxpayer money to this corporate slush fund, and has tied it to a $1 billion tax cut as a way to sell it to state legislators who are on the fence.

In other words, he's holding a $1 billion tax cut that would help the entire state hostage to corporate welfare that would mostly benefit the well-connected few.

That's wrong  there's no way around it. The same goes for Hollywood's latest attempt to get more tax credits for films they want to shoot in our state.

If this sounds eerily familiar, it should. Out-of-state movie studios blitzed state lawmakers looking for handouts last year, too. This despite the Florida Legislature's Office of Economic and Demographic Research finding that state taxpayers only get a return of 43 cents on every dollar given away to film producers. That is the epitome of corporate welfare  taking tax dollars from all and giving them to a wealthy few.

Principled state legislators showed real grit last year fending off Hollywood's attempts to win more film tax credits at our expense. They should stand strong again, and also refuse to pump another quarter-billion dollars into Scott's pet program. That's the surest way to keep our tax policy fairer and more equal in a way that creates more jobs.

With one month remaining in the legislative session, it's now time for state legislators to double down on policies that are most important to our state. By keeping focused on these two issues  improving our state's health care, and keeping corporate welfare at bay  state lawmakers can do their part to keep the sun shining on our great state.

_ Hudson is the Florida state director of Americans for Prosperity.

_ Americans for Prosperity is a conservative national organization founded in 2004 that states on its website that its mission is to "protect the American Dream by fighting each day for lower taxes, less government regulation and economic prosperity for all."
IBERIABANK has partnered with the Collier Injury Prevention Coalition to host an informative seminar about the dangers of falling and the simple steps that can be taken to reduce falls for by seniors. The educational seminar and interactive prevention clinic will be held at the IBERIABANK branch located at 1905 Pine Ridge Road on Thursday, March 3. The event will begin with a welcome reception and clinic at 5:00 p.m. The formal presentation will start at 6:00 p.m. Reservations may be made by calling (239) 403-5170.



According to the Injury Prevention Coalition, an aging adult dies every three days in Southwest Florida from injuries sustained during a fall. 20% of seniors in the U.S. who fall are hospitalized with moderate to severe injuries; 50% of those seniors pass away within one year and 11% never return home. Falls are not a natural part of aging, says Mark Tesoro, MA, injury prevention educator with Lee Memorial Health System. Most falls are avoidable, and we hope to improve local statistics through prevention and education. Tesoro will lead the seminar and bring awareness about the common dangers around the home.



Tesoro will be joined by members of the Collier Injury Prevention Coalition to demonstrate fall prevention products and provide life-saving advice including:

 Complimentary Balance Testing from Lee Memorial Health System

 Fall Prevention Items from Sunshine Ace Hardware

 Medication Management Suggestions from Walgreens

 Safety Item Installation Tips from The Happy Handyman



This lecture is open to the public, however seating is limited. For additional information about the In the Round Lecture Series, please contact Keith Dameron with IBERIABANK at (239) 403-5105.
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By Tim Aten

The 29-year-old woman critically injured Wednesday night in a two-vehicle crash in Collier County is from Bonita Springs.



Andria Michelle Crummett was taken to Lee Memorial Hospital following the 11:45 p.m. crash in the intersection of Golden Gate Parkway and Livingston Road, the Florida Highway Patrol reports Friday.



She was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash, FHP reports show.



Reported earlier:

Collier County crash seriously injures both drivers

A 29-year-old Florida woman is in critical condition and a Lee County man was seriously injured in a two-vehicle crash Wednesday night in Collier County.



The name of the woman critically injured in the crash is not being released until family members can be notified by the Florida Highway Patrol. She was taken to Lee Memorial Hospital following the 11:45 p.m. crash in the intersection of Golden Gate Parkway and Livingston Road, FHP reports show.



The woman was driving a 2013 Honda Accord north in the left lane of Livingston Road when the left side of her car was struck by a Chevrolet Avalanche pickup eastbound on Golden Gate Parkway. The driver of the truck, Andre Nieves, 31, of Fort Myers, was seriously injured and also taken to Lee Memorial Hospital, reports show.



Charges are pending in the T-bone crash, FHP reports.
Even a century-old community bank can try something new now and then.

Bank of Botetourt in Buchanan, Va., founded in 1899, said Thursday it has opened a mortgage division to pursue unmet demand for home loans in southwestern Virginia.

The new unit, Virginia Mountain Mortgage, is offering purchase and refinancing products, construction loans and investment property loans, according to a news release. Duaine Fitzgerald, the chief financial services officer and a 16-year veteran of the bank, will head the new unit. He will oversee 15 employees, including eight mortgage specialists.

The $323 million-asset Bank of Botetourt has 10 branches and deposits of nearly $288 million. It produced net income of $2.7 million last year on revenue of about $16 million, according to its call report.

It has taken other modernization steps in recent years, including making a switch in 2013 to Fiserv's account-processing system and mobile-banking offerings from an in-house system.

Competition in the Virginia banking market has intensified in recent years, and it has also become a hotbed for mergers and acquisitions. Hampton Roads Bankshares in Virginia Beach said Thursday it had agreed to buy Xenith Bankshares in Richmond for $107.2 million.
There's no reason to not read the Bible and understand it in our mother tongue languages as another convention has set this possible.

The countries of Armenia and Belarus have sealed a deal to establish exchange of books. Aside from this, they will need to cooperate to translate works of Belarusian and Armenian writers or poets to national languages including the oldest Armenian Bible that was printed in year 1666.

"We have brought the oldest Armenian Bible printed in 1666," the Armenian Deputy Culture Minister Artur Poghosyan stressed out.

In the 23rd International Minsk Book Fair opening ceremony, Poghosyan said that Belarus has vast experience in book publishing and printing so they have agreed with the Belarusian Culture Ministry to cooperate in this field.

Poghosyan as the guest of honor during the said book expo stressed out that Armenia has been taking part for the said event for ten years now.

In accordance with Armenians celebration of its 25th Independence, it showcases books and writings of different genres.

Aside from the two countries, guests from 29 other countries participated in the event, among them are Azerbaijan, the United Kingdom, Germany, Venezuela, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Iran, China, Kyrgyzstan, South Korea, Cuba, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Palestine,Syria, the United States, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Finland, France,Tajikistan, the Czech Republic, Sweden, and Ecuador.
Today eight Allies (Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for a Danish-led Smart Defence project on the multinational provision of air-to-ground precision-guided munitions (PGMs).

The project was originally launched by Denmark in the margins of the NATO Wales Summit through the signature of a Letter of Intent (LOI) by defence ministers from six NATO member countries (Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Norway, Portugal and Spain). Membership expanded last year with Belgium and the Netherlands joining the LOI. With the MOU signing Allies have now institutionalized their cooperation framework. This will enable the participating Allies to address all aspects of their air-to-ground precision-guided munitions (PGM) requirements through multinational cooperation. This will include the procurement and management of munitions inventories

In parallel, the group of Allies has already submitted a Letter of Request to the United States for a first future multinational order under this cooperation framework. By working together under NATOs Smart Defence umbrella, the eight Allies that signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) will directly respond to one of NATOs capability priorities.
NATO Defence Ministers confirmed enduring support for Georgias ambitious reform path in a ministerial meeting of the NATO-Georgia Commission on Thursday (11 February 2016).

Georgia is moving closer to NATO thanks to its reforms, and to its significant contributions to our shared security, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said. Meeting with Georgian Defence Minister Tinatin Khidasheli, ministers reviewed progress on NATOs Substantial Package of support to Georgia and discussed how to intensify the Alliances support.

The Secretary General underlined that NATOs Substantial Package is strengthening Georgias defences and its ability to work side-by-side with NATO forces.

In May, our Joint Training Centre in Tbilisi will start training the first Georgian company. This is good news, he noted.

Defence Ministers also discussed Georgias domestic political and security reforms, which are bringing the country closer to NATO. They welcomed Georgias efforts to strengthen its democratic institutions, and stressed the need for continued progress in key areas of reform, including the rule of law and independence of the judiciary. The Secretary General also confirmed Allies full support Georgias territorial integrity and sovereignty, within its internationally recognised borders.

We call on Russia to reverse its recognition of the Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions of Georgia as independent states. Abkhazia and South Ossetia are part of Georgia, he said.

The Secretary General reaffirmed that NATO is committed to helping Georgia move towards membership in the Alliance. Our commitment to Georgia is strong. We help building Georgias defences. We encourage its reforms, and we support its Euro-Atlantic aspirations, said Mr. Stoltenberg.
(NaturalNews) Congress's failure to update the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) of 1976 has prompted numerous states to enact their own restrictions pertaining to the chemical industry. The move has forced the American Chemistry Council (ACC), a top trade organization representing North American chemical manufactures, to fight chemical regulation legislation at the state level.The ACC argues that chemical regulation is best dealt with at the federal level through TSCA rather than a "patchwork of state regulations," but public awareness regarding the dangers of chemical exposure has forced state legislatures to take action.In response, the ACC has redirected their focus to state-level activity by increasing its financial contributions to state and local candidates, according to a new report from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).Their political spending more than tripled ahead of the midterm elections, as the group prepared to battle preemption, or laws passed by states that conflict with federal legislation. ACC describes preemption as their greatest challenge, arguing that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should be the only one responsible for deciding which chemicals are safe to use.Careful analysis by CREW reveals that ACC's lobbying increased from $3.94 million in 2008 to $12.25 million in 2013, funding thousands of political ads backing members of Congress from both parties in an attempt to push for a "friendly overhaul of chemical safety laws."Approximately $1.8 million was spent by the ACC in 2014, funding more than 6,000 ads for that year's election cycle, reports "The American Chemistry Council's pumped-up political advertising spending, campaign contributions, and lobbying dollars make it impossible for new chemical regulations to pass without its approval," said CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan.While the ACC doesn't discriminate between political parties when it comes to their financial contributions, CREW's analysis shows a tilt towards the conservative side with 55 percent of the group's contributions going to Republicans beginning in the 2008 election cycle, but becoming even more prominent in the 2012 and 2014 election cycles.Roughly 70 percent of ACC's contributions to federal candidates went to Republicans during the 2012 election cycle. Republicans have received about 62 percent of the group's spending in 2014.Since 2007, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) has received the most campaign contributions, totaling $38,000. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) is the second largest individual recipient, accepting $32,500.After the West Virginia chemical spill that left more than 300,000 residents without clean water for weeks, Rep. Boehner insisted that no new regulations were needed. Rep. Hoyer also took little action, but said he was open to congressional hearings to find out more about the spill."The ACC is increasingly running ads to support a bipartisan group of members it views as allies of the chemical industry, and appears to be spending hundreds of thousands of dollars more on them than must be reported to the Federal Election Commission (FEC)," states CREW's report.The numbers disclosed by CREW regarding ACC's political spending are likely only a small fraction of what's truly being spent, since the only ads the group is required to report to the FEC are ads advocating the election or defeat of a candidate, known as "independent expenditures."Independent expenditures, or so-called "electioneering communications," air within 30 days of a primary or 60 days of a general election, criteria that many ACC ads didn't meet.
Guilty of ... missing paperwork

'Disproportionate and draconian'

(NaturalNews) America the police state has become a labyrinth of rules, regulations and mandates, the amount of which is impossible to know, let alone comply with. But you know, that ol' "ignorance of the law is no excuse" excuse wielded by faceless, un-elected bureaucrats wins out every time against the hapless, helpless citizen. In fact, some Americans cynically believe that rules are nearly impossible to comply with, and that they are written that way on purpose so as to justify the size, scope and power of the state.That's what seems to be the case in Ohio, whose Republican governor, John Kasich, wants to be the next president of the United States. His state's department of education is so stringently absurd, that for lack of a piece of paper, it seeks to jail parents who dare to homeschool their kids As reported by, two separate households that homeschool their children are facing jail time and thousands of dollars in fines and fees, for just barely missing state deadlines that they knew nothing about.The charges are as ridiculous as the filings  "contributing to the delinquency of a minor," despite the fact that state nannies acknowledged the children were indeed being schooled at home, in parental education programs that officials later acknowledged met the state's requirements.The state school system says that the parents did not provide them with proper, timely notification that their kids would not be attending public school [a requirement that only a totalitarian could love]. But in contemptuous fashion, rather than notifying the parents of their delinquent paperwork filing, education officials let the children's' absences from public school mount up for nearly a month, so that they could bring criminal charges against them, according to Peter Kamakawiwoole of the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA).Job justification, you see. Now watch  don't be surprised if the next step is for the state to step in and remove the children from the homes of these "criminals."Most of the time around the country, the lawyer said, "if the family resolves the issue promptly, state officials rarely pursue further actionlike criminal prosecutionagainst the parents. Unless you happen to live in Ohio."Kamakawiwoole added that both families were relatively new to homeschooling laws in the Buckeye State."One family filed a notice of intent when they began homeschooling last year, but did not know they had to file another notice for this school year," Kamakawiwoole wrote [and why didn't the state education nanniesthey needed to file again?]. "The other family filed their annual notice of intent, but did not submit an educational assessment with their notice because they had not yet completed it, and had been told by their school district that there was no deadline for submitting the assessment."So they were given wrong information by school officials, and are now being made to suffer for it.Kamakawiwoole maintained that the state education officials who are paid by state taxpayers had an obligation to contact the families when absences began to mount."As soon as both families realized their errors, they took action to comply with their districts' demands," he wrote. "After filing the paperwork, both families received a letter from their superintendent verifying that their homeschool program is in compliance with state law for the 2015-2016 school year."However, the school district then brought criminal charges  which will carry a maximum of $1,000 in fines, and six months in the county jail, not to mention what kind of lasting effect such a conviction might have on other constitutional rights ( like gun ownership ).However, "each day that a child is 'truant' can be considered a separate offense," Kamakawiwoole said, so that means jail time and fines could mount quickly."There is no question that homeschooling families have to meet certain filing requirements in Ohio , and this statute's primary purpose is to deal with parents who ignore their responsibilities to direct the upbringing and education of their children," Kamakawiwoole wrote. "But that is not what is happening here. When schools use this statute to prosecute families for what amounts to a simple clerical error, the response is disproportionate and draconian."
Disaster for GMO sugar beet industry?

Companies are feeling the pressure

(NaturalNews) Citing consumer discomfort with genetically modified organisms (GMOs), Hershey has begun to transition its sugar sourcing away from GMO sugar beets, and toward non-GMO sugarcane."More than three-quarters of the sugar we are using today is cane sugar  and as we get into 2016, our expectation is to be at or near 100 percent," Hershey communications director Jeff Beckman said.The decision to stop buying sugar from sugar beets was made in February 2015, along with several other large policy changes. The company made it clear that the reason for the decision was not a philosophic opposition to GMOs, but rather a recognition that consumers are increasingly choosing GMO-free products.The company did not announce any plans to change the labels of its products, and intends to declare just "sugar" on its ingredients lists.Hershey's quiet policy change has made big waves in the sugar beet industry, which supplies more than half of U.S. sugar. Nearly 100 percent of sugar beets planted are now genetically modified Hershey is a giant in the candy industry  it sold $7.4 billion worth of 80 separate candy brands worldwide in 2014  and thus a major customer for sugar beet growers. The company's announcement sparked worried discussions at two separate sugar beet cooperative shareholder meetings in 2015. At the meeting of the Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative in Wahpeton, N.D., co-op president and CEO Kurt Wickstrom, called anti-GMO activist groups a major threat to the industry.David Berg, president and CEO of the largest sugar beet cooperative in the United States, American Crystal Sugar, struck a similar note, calling the anti-GMO movement one of the biggest challenges for the industry.GMO sugar beets have only been grown in the United States since 2005; though they were first approved by the USDA in 1999, candy companies initially refused to purchase GMO sugar for fear of consumer backlash. Now history seems to be repeating itself, but the sugar beet industry has planted itself into a corner; there is no feasible way for them to go non-GMO without taking massive financial losses. It's now almost impossible to find non-GMO seed, and would take years to build up a new supply."The supply of seed that is not genetically modified is extremely outdated and just not a viable option at all for raising sugar beets today," Berg said.Hershey's decision takes place in a larger context of more and more food giants turning away from GMOs, even as the U.S. fights over the culture of GMO labeling The candy giant made its decision following a pressure campaign by a coalition called GMO Inside. The same group successfully pressured General Mills into making Cheerios GMO-free, by sourcing only sugarcane and by dropping corn starch as an ingredient. GMO Inside is now urging General Mills to make the same move with Honey Nut Cheerios, which contain nine times as much sugar as the original flavor.Another recent anti-GMO move came from Campbell's soup, which in January announced that it will soon be the first U.S. company to label GMO ingredients in its products. The company also announced its support for federal mandatory labeling of GMO ingredients.Vermont recently passed a state law requiring labeling of GMOs, and the industry is fighting back hard. In July, the House passed H.R. 1599, popularly known as the Deny Americans the Right to Know (DARK) Act, to ban any labeling of foods as GMO-free  even by voluntary third-party labeling efforts! The USDA is jumping on the anti-labeling bandwagon, planning a voluntary "labeling" measure in which companies pay the USDA to certify their products GMO free, and GMO peddlers continue to pay nothing.The Senate has yet to vote on the DARK Act.
Zika virus doesn't cause microcephaly!

Billions already pledged to the vaccine industry... even with no scientific evidence of a link

Genetically engineered mosquitoes aren't working either

A massive science hoax, vaccine hoax and chemical hoax all designed to generate more industry profits while ignoring the true causes of suffering in Brazilian children

(NaturalNews) Despite all the public hoopla, all the cases of microcephaly being discovered in Brazil have never been scientifically linked to the Zika virus. A group of doctors from South America are now saying the brain deformations the world is witnessing are caused by thewith a chemical larvicide, not by mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus.What we're seeing with the brain deformations of children, in other words, is more like the history of, a prescription medicine given to pregnant women that caused children to be born with limbs missing. But the official narrative on all this is pushing a false link with Zika in order to justify more chemical fumigation, more vaccines and more genetically engineered mosquitoes.From the doctors at Red Universitaria de Ambiente y Salud (the Red University of Environment and Health), with h/t to GM Watch : ( SOURCE document It looks like the world's health authorities areto conceal the damage caused by toxic chemicals manufactured by powerful globalist corporations.The larvicide sprayed in Brazil, for example, is called "pyriproxyfen," and it's manufactured by Sumitomo Chemical, a corporation known to be a "strategic partner" of Monsanto. The Argentinian doctors' report lists Sumitomo as a "subsidiary" of Monsanto. As GM Watch reports , "Pyriproxyfen is a growth inhibitor of mosquito larvae, which alters the development process from larva to pupa to adult, thus generating malformations in developing mosquitoes and killing or disabling them."Hmmm... a growth inhibitor of developing organisms? Does that raise any question marks with anyone when considering the under-developed cranial and neurological systems of the children being victimized in all this?From the report As reported by the Argentinian doctors in their report, Zika virusThe entire reason these brain deformations are being blamed on the Zika virus, we're now learning, is so thatthat poison the people and the environment even more! From the doctors' report:It's a vicious cycle, of course: The government sprays chemicals that cause brain deformations in children, but in order to avoid blaming the chemicals, they blame mosquitoes, thereby demanding MORE toxic chemicals be sprayed, causing yet more deformations that demand yet more chemicals and so on.If all this sounds familiar, it's because it's ripped right out of the playbook of the vaccine industry: Many vaccines actuallyepidemics (which is why children who are stricken with measles and mumps have almost always been previously vaccinated against measles and mumps), thereby increasing public demand for more vaccines which cause more outbreaks,It's the perfect business model: When your product causes an epidemic of disease or birth defects, justand then pay off all the government health authorities to demand more of your product! After all, even the CDC loves these pandemics because it gives them an opportunity to exhibit more "authority" and push for more vaccines.Based entirely on fraudulent information and quack science, President Obama has now called for $1.8 billion in government handouts to vaccine companies and pharmaceutical corporations to combat Zika. Yet the linkage between Zika and microcephaly is nothing but an unproven, unscientific, mythological narrative dreamed up by the vaccine pushers. It carries the same scientific weight as saying "Black cats cause bad luck" or "Rubbing a rabbit's foot gives me good luck."Hence the term "vaccine voodoo" which is a technically accurate description of the total lack of science underpinning the fraudulent vaccine industry. Isn't it amazing how quickly the government, the media and the vaccine pushers have leaped to their preferred conclusion about microcephaly(Hey, it's a pandemic... they don't need any real EVIDENCE, right?)When bad science and dangerous chemicals are already destroying people's lives, the solution must be MORE bad science, right?Enter genetically engineered mosquitoes. According to all the criminally insane GMO pushers, GM mosquitoes are the instant answer to mosquito-borne diseases (and nothing can ever go wrong, we're assured).The problem is that they're criminally insane and scientifically illiterate to boot. That's why the GM mosquitoes aren't working. "The last strategy deployed in Brazil, and which might be replicated in all our countries, is the use of GM mosquitoes -- a total failure, except for the company supplying mosquitoes," say the Argentinian doctors.Once you put all the pieces of this puzzle together, it becomes crystal clear: The Zika virus narrative is athat's being pushed solely to sell more chemicals, more GM mosquitoes, more vaccines and more fumigation of the Brazilian population with deadly substances.The real cause of microcephaly is being systematically ignored, lending yet more support to the idea thatto poison the people of Brazil, deliberately reduce their offspring to mutants, increase abortions and demand that women no longer get pregnant.All the signs are there, folks. This is the Bill Gates human depopulation agenda in full swing, disguised as a mosquito virus outbreak. It's no mistake that the larvicide chemicals are being, targeting those very same populations that are now being told, "Don't have any more babies!"
Nutrition Capital Network (NCN) is again partnering health and nutrition investors with idea makers to further the growth and innovation in the industry.

Alongside Vitafoods Europe, NCN is hosting its third annual European investor meeting in Geneva in May 2016. NCN Europe III is a professional investor meeting that connects qualified investors with European and global growth companies in health, wellness and nutrition. The meeting will be on Monday, May 9, 2016 from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at Palexpo the day before the Vitafoods Europe exhibition and conference starts.

Between 10 to 14 companies seeking capital and partnerships will present their businesses to an audience of 40 to 50 investors. After the presentations, companies will have an opportunity to meet one-on-one with investors, scheduled on site. An informal networking cocktail reception will be held immediately following the meeting.

NCN Europe III focuses primarily on science, ingredients and technology related to nutrition and health and wellness. Finished product companies in consumer health, supplements, and natural and organic foods will also be considered as presenters. Presenting companies will be seeking investment, acquisition, or corporate partnerships for technology development, commercialization, clinical trials, distribution or licensing. Successful applicants will be mentored by NCN Principals and members of the NCN Selection Committee.

The next day, May 10, the Vitafoods Venture Den will showcase three companies selected from NCNs presenting companies as they compete in front of three judges for an array of valuable prizes. The Vitafoods Venture Den is an exciting, fast-paced business pitch contest set on the Vitafoods Centre Stage from 4 to 5 p.m.

If youve got a great idea/company that needs an investor, start the free application process. Space is limited and early application is recommended. The deadline for applications is March 28, 2016.
The Indianapolis Zoo needs your help in naming their newest baby giraffe. The reticulated giraffe, also known as a Somali giraffe, was born Jan. 9 and is the zoo's first giraffe calf since 2011. At only a month old, the male calf stands about six-feet-tall and weighs 158 pounds.

This is the zoo's first baby of 2016. He was born to 18-year-old mother Takasa and the zoo's bull, Majani. Keepers note that the calf's coloration is very similar to his father's, with pale, caramel-colored spots in contrast with Takasa's cinnamon-colored spots.

As the tallest land mammals on the planet, Giraffes are under threat from habitat loss in their native sub-Saharan Africa environments.

The zoo's giraffe herd will remain in a heated indoor facility throughout the winter, so the newborn calf will be introduced to the public in the spring.

In the meantime, the zoo is holding a contest to name the baby. The three pre-selected names include Amazu, meaning "no one knows everything" in Nigerian; Jengo, a Swahili word meaning "building" or "construction"; and Mshangao, meaning "amazement" or "surprise" in Swahili.

The poll will open on the Indianapolis Zoo's Facebook page until Feb. 23. The baby's official name will be announced on Feb. 24.

Facebook users who like the zoo's page can vote for their favorite name once a day. One lucky fan will win a plush giraffe and four zoo tickets.

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For more great nature science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).

-Follow Samantha on Twitter @Sam_Ashley13
The pH levels in the world's oceans are lowering--becoming more acidic--as a result of the high concentrations of carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels. This side effect of global warming is known to cause corals to bleach and become sick, but new evidence shows that it is weakening the skeletal structure of coralline algae, a type of red algae that depends on hard rock in order to grow.

Coralline algae are an essential component of marine biodiversity because they form things called maerl beds -- a hardened form of the algae -- which serve as habitats in shallow waters. That is, the beds operate as a home and nursery for a large and varied collective of species.

High-magnesium calcite, a highly soluble type of calcium carbonate, is the main component of coralline algae's skeletal structure. That skeleton is susceptible to greater amounts of carbon dioxide being absorbed into the oceans. Typically, the skeletal structure of coralline algae is able to endure during stressful situations, however.

Scientists from the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom have been studying how climate change affects coralline algae and have formerly determined that ocean acidification causes a reduction in the breadth of the algae's cellular walls and, hence, the strength of their skeletal structure. Yet, their previous work also indicated that the coralline algae were able to bounce back, adapt, and resume growth.

Their new study, published in Scientific Reports, examined the new growth of the algae and the U.K. researchers found that the regrown skeletal structure was more brittle as a result of a change in chemical composition. Because the skeletal structure is unable to grow as strong when facing climate change conditions, the scientists stated that coralline algae will eventually become insufficiently calcified, and thus unable to offer an appropriate habitat for other species in the future.

"Coralline algae support a huge variety of marine life, with more than 460 species associated with their beds including economically important species such as scallops," senior author of the study and Head of Global Change at the Cabot Institute Professor Daniela Schmidt said in a press statement. "While a number of studies have now shown that coralline algae can continue to grow even in challenging environmental conditions, it is fundamentally important that we combine these physiological studies with potential impacts on the structural integrity of the skeleton and its consequences to habitat formation."

For more great nature science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).
Earthquakes have greater reach than previously thought. In fact, their ruptures can leap further -- a good bit further than previous research has known. This could have real repercussions for Los Angeles and other seismically active areas of the world.

That is, a study from the University of California Riverside, recently published in the journal Nature Geoscience, found that an earthquake that starts out on one thrust fault can move outward 10 times farther than previously believed, connecting to a nearby thrust fault, bringing about a much larger range for double earthquakes, also called earthquake doublets.

In multiple-thrust fault areas, such as Los Angeles, one earthquake could connect to another fault and double the impact.

The study authors, including Gareth Funning at UC Riverside, say that one such example is if one earthquake spread from the Puente Hills thrust fault under downtown Los Angeles, to the Sierra Madre thrust fault running near to Pasadena, according to a release.

Other areas with multiple thrust faults in near proximity are the Ventura, Calif. area; the Middle East, especially around Tehran, Iran; the front of the Himalayas, such as in Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and Nepal.

In studying a 1997 Pakistan earthquake, the researchers showed that it was two events: a magnitude 7.0 earthquake, then a magnitude 6.8 event that followed 19 seconds later and took place about 30 miles to the southeast.

The second quake was not an aftershock, says Funning -- because the events took place so near together in time and were similar in size. The many aftershocks that occurred were a good bit smaller.

Regarding Los Angeles, "This is another thing to worry about," Funning said. "The probability of this happening in Los Angeles is probably pretty low, but it doesn't mean it can't happen."

For more great nature science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).

-Follow Catherine on Twitter @TreesWhales
Keep private water companies OUT of Wisconsin, Glory Adams of Eau Claire wrote. She wants to stop a bill that would allow cities to sell water and sewer systems to out-of-state companies without even a community vote.

Assembly Bill 554 would do away with the mandatory citizen referendum prior to the sale of public water and sewer utilities. It would also eliminate the ban on selling to out-of-state companies.

The bill is moving quickly. It passed the full Assembly and a Senate committee in a few weeks. All thats needed for final passage is a full Senate vote.

In a follow-up conversation, Glory said AB 554 scares her. Look at the company that wants to get in. Their record is abysmal.

I learned Rep. Tyler August introduced the bill at the request of a company called Aqua America that does have an abysmal record.

Lee Bergquist of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Rep. August wrote the bill after Aqua America approached him. Mr. Berquist reported the company met first with the Public Service Commission (PSC) and was told that 161 Wisconsin public utilities had operating losses in 2014. Presumably, these financially-strapped cities might make good Aqua America customers.

Aqua America has a long list of problems. Bruce Murphy of Urban Milwaukee recently wrote, There has been 170 instances since 2005 where Aqua North Carolina did not comply with state and federal laws regarding contamination levels, and customers there have complained about poor water quality, dry wells, high rates and subpar service.

Mr. Murphy described problems in Texas where customers were required to boil water; Pennsylvania where customers saw rates rise from $153 to $707; Florida where Aqua charged residents twice as much as neighboring local water utilities. Serious problems in Florida included many violations and consumer complaints that water was smelly, discolored, contaminated and undrinkable.

Senator Lasee offered arguments for the bill in a public hearing: We want to give our local partners one more tool in the toolbox to budget prudently, protect taxpayers, and take advantage of the open market principles which are driving down tax and energy costs around the nation. We can realize the same benefits of the free market innovation here in Wisconsin.

I found no evidence the sale of a public water utility to a private company lowered rates or provided higher quality service.

Im really concerned people will think this wont happen in Wisconsin, Glory Adams told me. The problem is, theyve taken so much away from the DNR and theyve changed so many rules.

She continued, I get really concerned the PSC would be voting to approve these sales. Look at the members of the PSC, they are all appointed by the governor.

The PSC does play a critical role in the sale of public utilities. Under current law, a city that wanted to sell its water or sewer utility would pass a resolution or adopt an ordinance and send a proposal to the PSC. If the PSC determined the sale was in the best interest of the municipality and its people, they would set a price and other terms of the sale. A majority of citizens in a referendum must then approve the sale.

As amended, AB 554 would allow (not require) a citizen vote only before action by the PSC and only if 10 percent of the voting population signs a petition asking for a vote. These strange rules set up a situation ripe for shenanigans by local officials.

Sen. Dave Hanson, in a recent Green Bay press conference, described what happens after a community sells off its water.

As the residents in communities where Aqua takes over their water soon find out, Aqua and corporations like them are not responsive to the people they serve. They are not accountable to anyone. They make their profits by cutting staff, cutting corners and raising rates  knowing full well that their customers have nowhere else to turn to get their water.

Selling off water utilities to unaccountable out-of-state companies is a bad idea. The people own water and sewer utilities for a reason. Clean water and functioning sewer is essential to life. Lets stop this bill now.
Like clockwork, thousands of blacktip sharks migrate down the Atlantic coast to South Florida's coast in search of food and warmer waters every winter. This year, however, something is just not quite right: It appears the sharks have gotten a late start.

The migration, which begins offshore of the Carolinas, can be seen in an amazing aerial footage captured by The Sun Sentinel. The animals' late start, likely a result of El Nino, has some experts concerned.

"What I can say is they are running late this year, and I'm curious to see if we have the same numbers that we've had in other years," Stephen Kajiura, Florida Atlantic University professor of biological sciences, said.

Blacktip sharks, characterized black markings on the tips of their fins, average about five feet in length. Generally they winter in Florida from mid-January to mid-March, often swimming within only a few feet of shore where they have an abundance of fish to prey on.

Kajiura, who has been studying shark migration since 2011, surveyed the ocean between Miami and Jupiter, recording aerial footage of thousands of sharks off Palm Beach, which for some reason has always been a "hot spot" for the sharks.

After spending the winter in Florida, blacktip sharks travel north to waters off of Georgia and the Carolinas. In recent years, however, some have even been seen as far north as New York -- which Kajiura says is likely a response to changing water temperatures.

This season, an especially strong El Nino has significantly impacted water temperatures and altered the migration patterns of many other marine animals, especially whales.

Even though the sharks stay close to shore, Kajiura assure beach-goers have nothing to worry about.

"For the most part, these sharks are really skittish, so when you get in the water, they're going to scatter and go away," he told The International Business Times.

Related Articles

Humpback Whales Make Slow Migration To Hawaii This Season

Right Whale: Slow to Show in Florida

For more great nature science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).

-Follow Samantha on Twitter @Sam_Ashley13
Surprisingly, eagles have been living well in an agriculture-heavy landscape in South Africa, researchers noted in a new paper. The raptors in question are even doing better than others living in a wilder mountain habitat.

The study looked at an apex predator in the southern regions of Africa, Verreaux's Eagles, Aquila verreauxii. The birds, which have a wingspan of 5 to more than 7 feet, are in decline.

Researchers including Megan Murgatroyd at the University of Cape Town wanted to learn whether habitat loss from increasing agricultural use of the land might be to blame, according to a release.

However, they found that a group of the eagles had higher breeding success in the agricultural Sandveld region than another (and smaller) group in the nearby Cederberg Mountains. In fact, the group in the farming area had the highest breeding success of any Verraux's Eagle population studied, ever.

It could be that there's just a really wide and available base of prey for the eagles in the Sandveld. Also, maybe the more rolling, less challenging terrain might be easier for the eagles to navigate. That said, the scientists note that there could be a threshold of agricultural development at some point at which the Sandveld's eagle population might fare less successfully. In particular, they think that the Sandveld area's management should keep in mind anything that would lead to eagle deaths, like the development of wind energy systems.

The study took place over four years, with researchers visiting nest sites in both areas every 2-3 weeks during the breeding season.

"The Cederberg is a beautiful natural wilderness area, so we were surprised when it became apparent that the Verreaux's Eagles breeding there are far less productive than those in the Sandveld, which has been extensively converted for agriculture since the 1980s," Murgatroyd said in the release. "This comparison has highlighted the potential importance of an agricultural landscape to Verreaux's Eagles, but further research, in particular with a focus on adult and subadult survival rates, is still needed for a better understanding of the long-term persistence of these populations."

Findings on this were recently published in The Condor: Ornithological Applications.

For more great nature science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).

-Follow Catherine on Twitter @TreesWhales
A North Atlantic right whale mother and calf hung out this week for two days in Florida's Sebastian Inlet, off Brevard County and north of the town of Vero Beach. They were near the Indian River Lagoon.

The two swam back and forth while onlookers took snapshots. The mother is about 45 feet long, and her calf is about 18 feet.

"In my 17 years of doing this, I have not seen them doing this inside of Sebastian Inlet," Julie Albert, director of a whale monitoring network with the nonprofit Marine Resources Council, said in an article on FloridaToday.com, part of USA Today.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) officers were preventing boats from drawing too near to the endangered whales.

North Atlantic right whales are one of the rarest of the large whales in the world. There are thought to be 450-500 of the whales. Each fall, they migrate from Canada and New England down the Atlantic Coast to their calving grounds off Georgia and Florida.

Right whales have a dark color and lack a dorsal fin.

"It's very unusual that they would come into an inlet," Lenny Salberg with the FWC said in the article about the whales. He assured that the state biologists have made certain that the whales are not ill, however. "These are very healthy whales."

For more great nature science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).

-Follow Catherine on Twitter @TreesWhales
McDonald's closed more restaurants than it opened last year, including several locations in the Bay Area.

BuzzFeed News reports the fast-food chain closed 154 restaurants in the United States in 2015  and only opened 63 new franchises. That's compared to 2014, when 222 new McDonald's restaurants opened in America.

In Walnut Creek, the city's last-standing McDonald's restaurant shuttered in January 2015, according to the San Jose Mercury News. The closure came just weeks after closing a location in downtown Martinez.

A location on San Francisco's Van Ness Avenue followed suit, closing after 36 years of business. An outpost on Mission Street closed suddenly in June, the same month that a McDonald's on Stanyan Street in the Haight was named a "public nuisance" in a letter San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera sent to McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook.

In San Jose, a McDonald's on East San Carlos Street also closed in December.
Heroes dont always wear capes. Sometimes heroes arent even aware that they have saved a life.

Every day, the American Red Cross relies on 14,000 heroes to volunteer their time and donate their blood to keep the supply at a healthy level.

After the hour is up and the blood has been collected, these donors go about the rest of their days, without a clue of where that blood goes. For the person receiving the blood, it could be the difference between life or death.

The Red Cross is experiencing a shortage of blood that has reached emergency need levels. But with enough work, volunteers and donations, citizens can help get the supply back to where it needs to be.

THE CRISIS

We typically do see shortages in the winter and during the holiday months, said Sue Thesenga, communications manager of the North Central Blood Services. People are busy, weather plays a role and there are seasonal illnesses to consider.

This winter has proven especially challenging for the organization to keep up with blood demands due to severe winter weather conditions on the East Coast in January.

According to Thesenga, more than 300 blood drives were cancelled in 20 different states. She estimates nearly 10,000 donations to have gone uncollected due to the circumstances.

It further depleted the already low supply, she said.

Earlier in the month of January, Thesenga said that Red Cross issued an urgent need appeal. The appeal was type based, meaning that there were specific types of blood that the organization needed urgently.

Now the Red Cross has issued an emergency need appeal, meaning that the agency is desperately low on all types of blood.

Thesenga cannot remember the last time the Red Cross supply reached levels low enough to issue an emergency need appeal.

Blood and platelets are necessary to respond to emergencies, including accident and burn victims, heart surgery and organ transplant patients and those receiving treatment for leukemia, cancer or sickle cell disease.

Currently the organization is seeing a decline in all types of blood. People with blood types of O positive and negative, AB, A negative and B negative are specifically urged to donate.

The universal blood donor is O negative. In emergency situations, doctors will immediately turn to this type of blood, Thesenga said. This is why individuals with this specific blood type are strongly encouraged to donate.

Blood products are being delivered to hospitals as quickly as donations are coming in, she said. Eligible donors are urged to make an appointment to give blood or platelets now and help ensure blood products are available for patients locally, and across the country, including areas severely impacted by winter weather.

In the worst case scenario, Thesenga says hospitals will have to start prioritizing by cancelling elective surgeries to preserve blood.

This is what we are doing absolutely everything to try to avoid, she said.

HOW TO HELP

Not everyone is eligible or willing to donate blood, but that isnt the only way to help overcome the shortage.

The best and easiest way to make a positive impact, Thesenga says, is to recruit and encourage others to get out and donate blood.

Another way to lend a hand is to host a blood drive. These usually take place at schools, community centers or churches.

There is also always the option for monetary donations. For more info on this, visit the redcross.org.

For those willing and able to donate blood, the process is fairly simple. A blood donor card or drivers license or two other forms of identification are required at check-in. Individuals who are 17 years of age, weigh at least 110 pounds and are in generally good health may be eligible to donate blood.

Blood donors can now save time by using RapidPass, a new phone application, to complete the pre-donation reading and health history questionnaire online. The form can be filled out on the day of the donation, prior to arriving at the blood drive.

Thesenga says that this is a problem that can be fixed if everyone helps. If only two more people came to every blood drive than we expected, we would meet the need.
Inspections performed in the wake of last summer's deadly balcony collapse near the University of California, Berkeley revealed more than 400 buildings with balconies, stairways, decks and landings in need of repair, according to a city report released Wednesday afternoon.

Six students were killed  including five from Ireland and one from Rohnert Park  and seven others were injured June 16 when a balcony broke off a downtown Berkeley apartment building during a womans 21st birthday celebration.

Wednesday's report notes that Berkeley wanted to respond "swiftly following the tragic collapse of the 4th floor balcony" at 2020 Kittredge Street, known as the Library Gardens apartments, and develop code amendments to "reduce the likelihood that a catastrophic collapse" could occur again.

[PHOTOS]Berkeley Balcony Collapses at 21st Birthday Party

Problems ran the gamut from minor water intrusion to major leaks, according to the report. The city had 2,200 such buildings with "weather-exposed elements," and inspectors found that 402 needed fixes. The story was first reported by Berkleyside.

Property owners were given 90 days to make the fixes and city spokesman Matthai Chakko said "most" had been completed.

The city council in July required the inspection of all weather-exposed exterior elements in properties with at least three units and ordered that subsequent inspections take place every three years.

Berkeley also stiffened requirements for building materials and venting in order to make inspections easier to conduct and improve airflow to elements that could be impacted by water damage and other problems.

City staff sent out nearly 6,090 letters to property owners of multi-family buildings to inform them of the new inspection rules. The city received responses to about 4,400, or 72 percent of the letters that were sent, the report notes.

The Alameda County district attorney launched a criminal investigation last year into the cause of the balcony collapse. The DAs office has not released any information about the probe since its initial announcement in June.

Teresa Drenick, spokeswoman for the office, confirmed Wednesday to Berkeleyside that the investigation is ongoing.
The Palo Alto Unified School District will officially appoint community members to consider renaming all 17 district schools.

The school board voted unanimously Tuesday night to create a Citizens Advisory Committee to recommend which schools, if any, should be renamed.

The renaming committee will be responsible for researching the names of all PAUSD schools, deciding whether school names need to be changed and identifying potential new names.

The decision is in response to a Jordan Middle School parents campaign to change the name of his sons school. Jordan Middle is named after David Starr Jordan, a leader in the eugenics movement and supporter of sterilization and racial inequality. Starr was also the found president of Stanford University.

Parents from Terman Middle School and Cubberly Community Center have also asked the board for their schools to be renamed as well, as namesakes Lewis Terman and Ellwood Patterson Cubberly were also supporters of eugenics.

Indiana University

"I think the names should be changed," said Jordan Middle School parent Lars Johnsson, who started a petition to rename the school. "But, I respect and understand that there is a process and there is more time needed to reach out to the community, to look at all opinions and make sure that both students and long term residents and every other constituency has the opportunity to participate."

PAUSD spokesperson Jorge Quintana said the board is creating the process to seek committee applications, and will soon decide how many people need to be on the committee. Quintana said the board plans to appoint a committee by the end of March.

Board members have expressed a mix of long term Palo Alto residents, current students and parents are ideal for the committee.

Once the committee is formed, PAUSD says it will be given a December 2016 deadline to decide which schools need to be renamed.
After touching down at Moffett Field in Mountain View Wednesday, and hopefully having a good night sleep at the Sheraton Hotel in Milpitas, California, President Barack Obama plans to visit the Peninsula on Thursday before hamming it up with comedian Ellen DeGeneres.

Obama has previously stayed at Fairmont hotels, such as the one in San Jose and San Francisco, during his past Bay Area visits in 2014, 2013 and 2011. Why he picked the Sheraton in a small city about 10 miles north of San Jose this visit wasn't immediately clear.

A Fairmont San Jose representative declined Thursday morning to answer any questions related to Obama, or any of the guests to "respect the privacy" of the people who stay there.

Flashing traffic signs along Interstate Highway 880 warned motorists that Barber Lane - the route to the hotel - was closed early Thursday morning.

Obama's view from hotel would be the Nimitz Highway, some dried-out bushes, a parking lot and off in the distance, the Great Mall of Milpitas. The Sheraton does boast a 614-foot presidential suite, that has a wet bar and a "cordless telephone, but which otherwise looks pretty ordinary, from the hotel's website. Online reviews of the hotel are mixed. One Trip Advisor poster complained the WiFi didn't work. On Yelp and Priceline, the hotel received 3.5 stars. Gary Ikeda on Facebook noted that Beyonce paid $10,000 a night at a Los Altos Airbnb, while the president chose much more modest digs this visit.

Alan Waples

The president is expected at a private Democratic fundraiser on Seale Avenue at a Palo Alto home Thursday morning. The Palo Alto Weekly cited sources who said that is the home of Amy Rao, CEO of Integrated Archive Systems. He is then scheduled to attend a brunch at the Atherton home of venture capitalist and California's former Controller and Chief Financial Officer Steve Westly.

While local leaders are happy their wealthy town folk are sought after, they also want to recoup costs from pricey presidential visits.

In 2014, officials of the affluent Atherton passed an ordinance that requires homeowners who schedule large events, including presidential visits, to cover any added expenses, Atherton Mayor Mike Lempres.

The president is expected at a private Democratic fundraiser at a Palo Alto residence Thursday morning. He is then scheduled to attend a brunch at the Atherton home of venture capitalist and Californias former Controller and Chief Financial Officer Steve Westly. Kris Sanchez reports.

"We're a small town but candidates do stop by quite a bit," Lemrpes said. "Were honored to have the president here but it does make it challenging for a small town."

More than 300 people are expected at Westlys house Thursday. Each guest will shell out a $250 admission fee, but anyone who wants a photograph with Obama will have to pay $10,000.

Obama is scheduled to depart from Moffett Field at about 2:20 p.m. Thursday and head to Los Angeles for another Democratic fundraiser as well as an interview with Ellen DeGeneres. His appearance on the daytime talk-show will air Friday.

The president has visited California some two dozen times during his presidency.
San Francisco police Chief Greg Suhr presented a new use of force policy to the city's Police Commission Wednesday evening in response to the fatal shooting of Mario Woods last year.

But one long-controversial item generated most of the discussion: Tasers.

The comprehensive policy called for a commitment to the "sanctity and preservation of all human life, human rights and human dignity." It outlined policy and procedures for using pepper spray and batons and prohibited chokeholds.

But it also introduced electronic control devices, commonly known as Tasers, as a viable option for San Francisco officers. Suhr and prior police chiefs have long sought to equip officers with Tasers but the proposal has created fierce backlash from civil rights groups who have argued they are too dangerous, particularly for people with heart problems, and will do nothing to curb police use of deadly force.

Use of Tasers was brought up almost immediately after Woods' death on Dec. 2. Suhr, Mayor Ed Lee and the city's Police Officer Association have all suggested that Woods -- who was shot and killed by five police officers while holding a knife in the city's Bayview District -- would still be alive today if those officers were equipped with Tasers.

"It seems like a backdoor way of getting Tasers," police Commissioner Petra DeJesus said of including it in the revised use of force policy.

DeJesus said she has attended several meetings discussing possible changes to the use of force policy and has heard from community members there that they don't support officers getting Tasers.

"Who's asking for Tasers?" she said. "It comes down to the department and the mayor."

The commission heard over an hour of public comment overwhelmingly in opposition to Tasers, calling for Suhr's resignation and expressing fear and outrage at the scandal-plagued department.

"It's unfathomable to think that adding another weapon to a Police Department that's out of control is going to solve our problems," one speaker, Nancy Kato, said.

One commissioner suggested the issue was too much of a lightning rod and should be discussed separately from the rest of the use of force policy.

"This is such a big and controversial issue it's going to overwhelm our other discussion," Commissioner Victor Hwang said. "We're already rolling out body cameras and we should let them get used to body cameras and acclimate to them before adding something new to their toolbelt."

Suhr's Taser policy is more narrow than other departments that already use them. Most officers would not have them, only specially trained officers, and using them would require a special callout. Suhr said he thinks they would be an invaluable tool in buying officers time before deadly force had to be used.

Other use of force policies laid out this evening also go beyond those at other departments. The policy expressly forbids both the use of chokeholds and cartoid restraints -- a similar hold to a chokehold that compresses arteries on either side of the neck and not the windpipe. San Jose police reiterated a policy that allows carotid restraints just this week.

Suhr said the policy would also prohibit officers from firing on a suspect in a vehicle unless the suspect posed a threat other than with the vehicle itself, a policy he said was already in place in New York but is uncommon in Bay Area departments.

But Tasers dominated the discussion throughout the evening, to the dismay of the commission.

"The lack of Tasers is not what killed Mario Woods," Berkeley Copwatch activist Andrea Pritchett said. "A lack of regard for black life is what killed that man."

The audience at the meeting cheered as she addressed Suhr directly, saying if he is seeking Tasers for the department, "You have absolutely no idea what real community safety is about."

The policy will be reviewed by a working group and then sent to the U.S. Department of Justice for further study before two planned public hearings. The commission hopes to vote on a final version of the new policy in April, Commission President Suzy Loftus said.

Most of the commissioners agreed they wanted to leave the use of Tasers in the policy for the time being to get feedback on it. They all agreed there were positive things in the policy, and will be able to vote on it item by item when the time comes.

"This is fundamentally about re-engineering use of force and I think it's a shame that we're only talking about electronic control devices," Loftus said.
WATCH CONTEST: Live on Red Bull TV.

The Mavericks big-wave surf contest, officially called Titans of Mavericks, was last held off Pillar Point near Half Moon Bay back in January 2014.

And as the waves pick up, along with the world's top surfers, plenty of crowds are starting to show up for Friday's one-day competition that's only held when conditions are just right. Waves between 15 and 25 feet are expected this time around.

The competition is invitation-only. This year, 24 of the world's best surfers are competing for a $120,000 purse, with $30,000 going to the winner.

The contest was supposed to start at 7:30 a.m., but actually kicked off at 8 a.m. It should end by late afternoon, depending on conditions.

ITS ON! FRIDAY @RedBullTV pic.twitter.com/NbylQ4eJRH  Titans of Mavericks (@titansofmavs) February 10, 2016

But don't expect to see anything from land. Since a rogue wave wiped out some spectators during the 2010 contest, there is no access to the bluffs or the beach at Pillar Point, and authorities are expected to block roads.

Event organizers will not be a hosting viewing party with a big-screen simulcast as they have in past years. Instead, surf fans are encouraged to watch on Red Bull TV.

Fans can watch the event on screens at six places in Half Moon Bay and Princeton-by-the-sea including the Mavericks Surf Shop; Half Moon Bay Brewing Company; Flavor; Old Princeton Landing: Public House and Grill; Miramar Beach Restaurant; and Cameron's Inn, Pub and Restaurant, according to organizers. In Santa Cruz, fans can watch the competition at Pleasure Pizza East Side Eatery, Berdels, New Bohemia Brewery Co. and Pono Hawaiian Grill. In Pacifica, fans can watch the surfers at La Playa Taqueria and in San Francisco, fans can catch it at Pete's Tavern and the Wipeout Bar and Grill, according to the event's website.

The best option for those hoping to see the action in person seems to be to charter a boat, although the Coast Guard advises that spectators who chose "to view the event from the water should do so at their own risk."

More information can be found on the event's website at titansofmavericks.com.

Santa Cruzs own Ken Collins has been surfing Mavericks for 23 years, seen a million things happen, but he says he learns something new every time.

Bay City News contributed to this report.
Alabama health officials say they've confirmed the first travel-related case of the Zika virus in the state.

The Alabama Department of Public Health issued a statement Wednesday saying a resident of Morgan County in the Tennessee Valley tested positive for the virus.

Acting State Health Officer Tom Miller says more cases probably will show up in Alabama, noting there there are four tests results that are still pending.

Given the frequency of international travel to affected areas, we anticipate having additional positive cases. We are working with the medical community to identify high-risk individuals, Miller said.

The Zika virus is transmitted primarily through the bites of Aedes mosquitos. These mosquitoes are the same species that transmit dengue and chikungunya viruses. It moved quickly through Latin America before showing up in the United States, most often in people who have traveled.

Federal and state officials say cases of the virus have been confirmed in 12 states and the District of Columbia.

In the last four months, authorities have recorded close to 4,000 cases in Brazil in which the Zika virus may have led to microcephaly in infants. The ailment results in an abnormally small head in newborns and is associated with various disorders including decreased brain development. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Zika virus outbreak is likely to spread throughout nearly all the Americas.

Meanwhile, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidance last week advising men who have been to a Zika outbreak region to use condoms if they have sex with a pregnant woman  for the entire duration of the pregnancy. U.S. health officials Friday also said the men might consider abstaining or using condoms even during sex with a woman who isn't pregnant.
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders battled for the crucial support of black and Hispanic voters in Thursday night's Democratic debate, a polite but pointed contest that marked a shift in the primary toward states with more minority voters.

After splitting the first two states with Sanders, Clinton also deepened her assertion that her unexpectedly strong rival was energizing voters with promises "that cannot be kept." And she continued to closely align herself with President Barack Obama, who remains popular particularly with black Democrats.

Seeking to boost his own support with minorities, Sanders peppered his typically economic-focused rhetoric with calls to reform a "broken criminal justice system."

"At the end of my first term, we will not have more people in jail than any other country," he said.

In one of many moments of agreement between the candidates, Clinton concurred on a need to address a criminal justice system that incarcerates a disproportionate number of minorities. But she cast her proposals for fighting racial inequality as broader than his.

"We're going to emphasize education, jobs and housing," said Clinton, who was endorsed earlier in the day by the political action committee of the Congressional Black Caucus.

The candidates both vowed to pursue comprehensive immigration reform, using the emotional issue to draw a contrast with Republicans who oppose allowing many of the millions of people in the United States illegally to stay. Both disagreed with a new series of raids authorized by Obama to arrest and deport some people from Central America who recently came to the country illegally.

"We should be deporting criminals, not hardworking immigrant families who do the very best they can," Clinton said.

Both candidates were largely restrained in their head-to-head contest  a contrast to their campaign's increasingly heated rhetoric on the campaign trail. While Clinton played the aggressor in the previous Democratic debate, she is mindful of a need to not turn off Sanders' voters, particularly the young people that are supporting him in overwhelming numbers.

Clinton is hoping to offset Sanders' backing from those young Americans by drawing support from the black and Hispanic voters who make up a big share of the electorate in Nevada, South Carolina and other states that come next on the primary calendar.

The former secretary of state sought to discredit some of the proposals that have drawn young people to Sanders, including his call for free tuition at public colleges and universities and a plan for a government-run, single-payer health care system. Clinton said those proposals come with unrealistic price tags. And she accused Sanders of trying to shade the truth about what she said would be a 40 percent increase in the size of the federal government in order to implement his policies.

Sanders didn't put a price on his policies, but neither did he shy away from the notion that he wants to expand the size of government.

"In my view, the government of a democratic society has a moral responsibility to play a vital role in making sure all our people have a decent standard of living," Sanders said.

Sanders has focused his campaign almost exclusively on a call to break up big Wall Street banks and overhaul the current campaign finance system that he says gives wealthy Americans undue influence. His campaign contends that his message will be well-received by minority voters, arguing that blacks and Hispanics have been hurt even more by what he calls a "rigged" economy.

Sanders' strength has startled Clinton's campaign. He defeated her by more than 20 points in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary, drawing the majority of men, women, independents and young people.
Chicago aldermen voted Wednesday to give oversight of the City Council to Inspector General Joseph Ferguson.



The ordinance has been in the works since January of last year and was advanced by the councils Workforce Development Committee.



We are on the one yard line. If we fumble now, that is what we will be remembered for, Ald. John Arena said.



The measure gives Ferguson oversight of the council as well as the right to investigate council members and their staff. Certain amendments by the City Council have limited some of the IGs proposed powers, including his ability to audit.



The first ordinance [with the audit function] is the right ordinance, Ald. Ameya Pawer said. But it doesnt end up that way, no one would have ever predicted that the City Council would be under one inspector general along with every other city department and employee.



Ferguson will not investigate ethical or criminal violations within the City Council, which differs from the his oversight of the rest of the city government.



Ald. Michelle Smith stressed transparency and warned of a crisis of confidence among Chicago voters.



It can only be solved if we lead, Smith said. We must overcome our misgiving and pass this ordinance without diluting it. Voices are pleading across this city for honest oversight.



Council members made a variety of amendments to the original ordinance. Ald. Pat OConnor, the mayors City Council floor leader, was instrumental in rounding up votes for the amended ordinance.



Institutionally, we have seen where these things have gone off track because of personalities, OConnor said. So, if you define the roles better in an ordinance, its better.



The changes limit Fergusons oversight of aldermen and their employees who have broken the law. Program audits that determine how taxpayer money is being spent, and wasted, will also be off-limits to Ferguson in cases involving the City Council.



Certain programs will not be overseen by Ferguson, including workers compensation. That program, which pays out $100 million yearly, is currently controlled by Ald. Ed Burkes Finance Committee.



Auditing of the $66 million aldermanic menu program will also be off limits to the IG. The program gives $1.32 million to each of the citys 50 aldermen to spend on a variety of improvements to the neighborhoods they represent.



OConnor noted that it may be more economical to put the money into the general fund, but that takes away choice, he claims.



Everything the inspector general is getting today is something that everyone has been calling for at least two or three years, OConnor said. That controversy will be put to bed.



The Inspector Generals office was created by former Mayor Richard M. Daley in 1989. At the time, aldermen chose to exempt themselves from this oversight. The legislative inspector generals office was later created in 2010 to oversee aldermen.



The citys former legislative inspector general, Faisal Khan, was accused of over-reaching in his investigations and requiring time sheets from aldermen. Khans term ended in November of last year and a replacement has yet to be named.
This is the third edition of Ward Room's Campaign Round-Up, a weekly post dedicated to keeping voters informed about the state and county's upcoming 2016 elections. Check the Ward Room blog for continued coverage every Wednesday.

Illinois Senate Race

US Rep. Tammy Duckworth participated in a Chicago Tribune editorial board endorsement session Monday with her counterparts in the democratic primary, State Sen. Napoleon Harris and former prosecutor Andrea Zopp. The three will face off in the March 15 Democratic primary.

Zopp, who was endorsed by Congressman Bobby L. Rush this week, accused Harris and Duckworth of being silent on the Laquan McDonald case.

McDonald was fatally shot by Chicago Police officer Jason Van Dyke in October of 2014.

Ive been outspoken on the issue, called early on for the Department of Justice to come in and investigate Chicago Police Department pattern and practice, Zopp said.

Harris admitted that he knew nothing about his opponents before defending his record.

I think right now, for me, its about leadership, Harris said. Its about knowing the issues, and I think we all have a grasp of what the issues are.

Duckworth took the opportunity to discuss reforms to prison sentencing.

We cant throw away a huge percentage of our population and not give them an opportunity to succeed and to have an opportunity to move away from the conditions that led them to being in prison in the first place, Duckworth said.

Duckworth also called out Senator Mark Kirk when asked about radicalized Iraqi refugees in Texas.

They came as teenagers and they were radicalized because they were on those talk lines with ISIS because they see people like Mark Kirk demonizing Muslim and Islam and wanting to shut down our borders, Duckworth said. Thats how we turn people against us, is when we play right into ISIS hands.

Kirk responded to the allegation on Twitter, saying, [Tammy Duckworth] is a naive fool if she believes terrorists are inspired by lawmakers over Islamic ideology.

Last week, Kirk received endorsements from several suburban township GOP organizations including Maine, New Trier, Evanston, Northfield, Barrington, Riverside and Leyden.

Kirk also received an A- rating from the National Education Association for his education policies last month.

The senator has recently called for a pause in the countrys initiative to welcome refugees from Syria.

As long as the screening process is weak, Senator Kirk is calling for a pause in the program to ensure that those seeking to take advantage of our nation are stopped, a Kirk aide told Ward Room.

Kirk also recently secured $300 million for the Great Lakes Restoration initiative. The initiative combats invasive species, pollution and toxic contamination in the great lakes.

Kirk will face Oswego businessman James Marter in the March 15 Republican primary. Veterans party candidate Chris Aguayo will be included on the ticket for the general election.

8th Congressional District

A recent Public Policy Polling poll found that Illinois State Sen. Mike Noland is leading former Illinois Deputy Treasurer Raja Krishnamoorthi and Villa Park Mayor Deb Bullwinkel in the race for the Democratic nomination for Tammy Duckworths soon-to-be-vacated US House seat.

According to the poll, Noland received 22 percent of votes, Krishnamoorthi received 17 percent and Deb Bullwinkel received 11 percent. Fifty percent of voters were unsure who they would vote for.

This week, Krishnamoorthi was endorsed by the Daily Herald and the Sierra Club.

The Republican ticket includes Dupage County Commissioner and former mayor of Elmhurst Pete DiCianni.

High school teacher Bill Fraser, an Independent, will appear on the general ballot in November.

10th Congressional District

Nancy Rotering was endorsed this week by Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, Rep. Lou Lang and former Highland Park Mayor and State Rep. Dan Pierce.

Her opponent in the March 15 Democratic primary, Brad Schneider, received endorsements from the Illinois Federation of Teachers and the Daily Herald.

Incumbent Bob Dold is running unopposed on the Republican ticket.

Cook County States Attorney

Incumbent Anita Alvarez remains the races Democratic frontrunner although she lost an important endorsement Tuesday.

Outcry over the Laquan McDonald shooting caused US Rep. Luis Gutierrez to withdraw his endorsement for Alvarez and endorse her rival, Kim Foxx, instead.

Gutierrez said he was not satisfied with Alvarez's handling of the police shooting death of McDonald. Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke was not charged with McDonald's murder until 14 months after the incident.

Foxx was also endorsed by the Daily Herald.

Donna More addressed the City Club of Chicago Wednesday calling Alvarez "a serial screw-up when it comes to high-profile cases."

More pointed to the county's epidemic of violence and Alvarez's mishandling of high-profile cases as a reason for change.

"So far this year 285 people have been shot and wounded and 64 have been shot and killed," More said. "We are a city and a county in a crisis of violence, fear and distrust."

Alvarez, Foxx and More will appear on the March 15 ballot for the Democratic nomination for Cook County States Attorney.

Christopher Pfannkuche will run uncontested on the Republican ballot.

Early Voting has begun in Illinois. Primary elections will be held March 15, general elections will be held Nov. 8.
Members of the Illinois legislature praised President Barack Obama for his speech at the Capitol Wednesday, which acknowledged a poisonous political climate" and encouraged unity and bipartisanship.

Weve always gone through periods when our democracy seems stuck, and when that happens we have to find a new way of doing business, Obama said. Were in one of those moments. We have to build a better politics.

During his speech, Obama said making bipartisan compromises doesnt make me a sell out to my own party. He then turned to Rep. Ken Dunkin and said, Well talk later, Dunkin. Sit down.

Dunkin, a democrat, has recently come under fire after forging an alliance with Gov. Rauner.

I was honored that President Obama affirmed my decision to find a compromise to bring people together, Dunkin told Ward Room. As the President noted, our problems are not new and compromise is not a sign of weakness, but necessary for self-government.

Dunkin also told Ward Room that he has been invited to visit the White House on March 17.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Christine Radogno, who has also sided with Gov. Bruce Rauner during the states historic budget stalemate, responded positively to Obamas visit.

Despite political differences, it really is cool to know the most powerful man in the world, Radogno said. The President visited with those members who served with him in the State Senate during his visit to Springfield today.

Senate President John Cullerton also spoke fondly of Obama.

He has challenged each and every one of us to be the solution, to rise above rhetoric, refuse to be so easily divided and recognize avenues for agreement even among those who disagree, Cullerton said in a statement.

Senate Assistant Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford praised the the tone and message of the presidents speech.

To move passed [sic] the gridlock, we have to defy the pervasive narrative that we cannot work together or that political interests are outweighing the interests of the people, Lightford said in a statement. Our leaders need to come together with a fresh outlook and a grounded understanding of the consequences of their motivations and actions.

Obama explained that his passion for politics has not diminished as he approaches the end of his political career.

The point Im trying to make is I care about fixing our politics, Obama said. The reason this is important to me? Next year Ill still hold the most important title of all, citizen.
The father of the jailed leader of a group that occupied an Oregon federal wildlife refuge was charged Thursday by federal authorities with leading a tense April 2014 armed standoff with Bureau of Land Management agents near his ranch in Nevada.

Cliven Bundy was arrested Wednesday night when he arrived at Portland International Airport from Las Vegas to visit his sons, Ammon Bundy and Ryan Bundy.

The charge reopens the festering question of how federal officials would fulfill promises to "administratively and judicially" resolve the cancellation of a roundup of Bundy cattle from rangeland about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

The 32-page criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas accuses Bundy of leading more than 200 self-styled militia supporters into the April 2014 confrontation that had snipers with military-style weapons on a freeway overpass training their sights on federal agents who were attempting to enforce a court order to round up Bundy cattle.

"Bundy and his confederates recruited, organized and led hundreds of others in using armed force against law enforcement officers in order to achieve their criminal objectives," the charging document said.

The complaint refers to at least four other people as co-conspirators, but doesn't name them. Federal authorities said no other arrests were immediately expected.

In Oregon, Bundy's sons had been leading an armed group that occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and demanded it be handed over to local control for ranching, mining, logging and other uses. They had also asked that two jailed ranchers in the area be freed.

Authorities arrested Ammon Bundy and Ryan Bundy and other group leaders at a road block on Jan. 26 as they traveled to a community meeting north of the refuge.

Cliven Bundy was being held at the Multnomah County Jail pending an appearance in federal court. He has represented himself in previous local, state and federal legal proceedings.

A family member in Bunkerville, Nevada, said she didn't think he would hire a lawyer to handle his case.

Bundy's daughter-in-law, Briana Bundy, also said the family patriarch wasn't committing a crime in trying to visit his sons, and she questioned why authorities waited almost two years to bring charges.

The criminal complaint accuses Bundy, 69, of conspiracy, assault on a federal officer, obstruction, weapon use an possession, extortion to interfere with commerce and aiding and abetting. If convicted of all six charges, he could face more than 40 years in federal prison and more than $1 million in fines.

Officials wouldn't say why it took almost 22 months to charge Bundy.

U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden said the matter remained under investigation.
President Barack Obama taped an appearance on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" in Burbank and spoke at a pair of Democratic National Committee fundraisers in Hancock Park on Thursday, criticizing the tenor of the campaign to succeed him.

President Obama arrives at LAX aboard Air Force One this afternoon. Pan phone around or click and scroll for 360 view of video.

Posted by Sean Browning on Thursday, 11 February 2016

Obama arrived in California late Wednesday after delivering a speech about civility in politics to the Illinois General Assembly. He entered politics as an Illinois state senator.

Obama is expected to depart LAX Friday.

During his appearance on the "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" Obama criticized what he called the Instagram culture, "We expect quick answers without sacrifice," complained about politics that demonizes the other side and "factually incorrect news."

The president's visit to Burbank for a taping of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" was his first in-studio appearance since 2007, when he showed off his dance moves during his first campaign for president. It also marks the first time a sitting president will appear on the show.

The episode will air Friday.

Obama then flew from Burbank on Marine One, the presidential helicopter, to Los Angeles High School.

Obama also traveled by motorcade to the Hancock Park home of entertainment lawyer Aaron Rosenberg and Danny Rose, a producer of the CBS drama "Scorpion," for a reception, concert and fundraiser for about 340 people.

Tickets ranged from $1,000 per person to as high as $33,400 per couple, which included prime seating and admission to a reception with a presidential photo line. Some of the money went to the Democratic Hope Fund, which helps retire Obama's campaign debt.

Obama began a nearly 20-minute speech by telling the crowd he keeps a checklist in his desk of campaign promises he made.

Obama will remain in Los Angeles overnight, according to the White House. He is then scheduled to fly to Palm Springs in advance of a summit of Asian leaders on Monday and Tuesday, which the president will host at Sunnylands resort in Rancho Mirage. Obama has invited the leaders of 10 Southeast Asian nations to a two-day summit.

The president will be joined by Secretary of State John Kerry at the Sunnylands event, which is aimed at strengthening the new U.S.-ASEAN strategic partnership forged last November during a presidential trip to Malaysia.

Obama was last in the Los Angeles area in October, when he attended a series of fundraisers for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Democratic National Committee.

He took part in a roundtable discussion at the home of "Star Trek" and "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" director J.J. Abrams, a fundraising event at the Pacific Palisades home of psychiatrist Dr. Robin Berman  where Jamie Foxx performed for guests  and a dinner at the home of interior designer Michael Smith and his partner, former HBO executive James Costos, the U.S. ambassador to Spain.

That visit was Obama's 23rd to Los Angeles and Orange counties as president.

Obama has taken part in fundraisers during 20 of his previous visits to Los Angeles and Orange counties as president, attending 37 of them in Los Angeles County on those trips, occasionally attending several during the same visit.

As is typical with presidential visits, motorists should anticipate delays as roads are closed to accommodate his motorcade.

City News Service contributed to this report.

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Gov. Dannel Malloy is activating the states Severe Cold Weather Protocol from 4 p.m. today through 10 a.m. on Monday as we brace for temperatures to plunge to 0 and wind chills that will make it feel 20- to 30-degrees below zero for some parts of the state.

Malloy is urging residents to prepare for bitter cold temperatures over the next several days and said the several cold weather protocol directs the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, the Department of Social Services, the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services and the Department of Housing to coordinate with 211 and shelters to ensure that the states most vulnerable populations are protected from the severe cold weather.

The next few days will certainly be the coldest we have seen so far this winter season, and could be among the coldest nights in terms of wind chill that our state has experienced in several years, Malloy said. Those in need of shelter or a warming center should call 211 to find available locations, which are open throughout the state.

The Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security will activate its WebEOC communications network, which enables local, regional and state emergency management officials and first responders to share up-to-date information about a variety of situations and conditions.

Protect Your House

Connecticut Water is offering tips for residents to take to keep pipes in your home from freezing:

Know What Areas of Your Home are Most Vulnerable to Freezing  Basements, crawl spaces, unheated rooms, and outside walls are at higher risk of having temperatures affect pipes

Eliminate Sources of Cold Air Near Water Lines  Allow room heat to freely circulate around these areas. Seal cracks or holes in windows, walls or doors near the meter or pipes

Protect Your Pipes and Water Meter  Wrap exposed pipes with insulation or use electrical heat tracing wire; newspaper or fabric may also work. For outside meters, keep the lid to the meter pit closed tightly and let any snow

If you have pipes that are vulnerable to freezing, allow a small trickle of water to run overnight to keep from freezing up. The cost of extra water is low compared to cost of repairing a broken pipe.

Expose pipes to warmer room temperatures by letting warm air to freely circulate the area. Set up a small space heater for pipes that are more likely to freeze.

Check for cracks in the vault cover of outside meter installations  A cracked cover permits cold air to enter and all insulation value to be lost. The double cover is then unable to protect against freezing.

Know where your main water shut-off valve is in the case a pipe freezes or burst so you can shut off the water immediately and minimize damage.

Protect Your Car

The cold temperatures can also do a number on your car.

John DeSimone, owner of Modern Tire in West Hartford, said it is important to take preventative measures now to prevent a headache later.



"You have to be more aware of your car, treat it more like it is an investment, but it is also a casket on wheels if you do not take care of it, DeSimone said.



DeSimone recommends having your battery checked. Typically batteries last 3 to 5 years. They are one of the prime culprits for causing drivers problems during cold weather.

He also recommends having your serpentine belt checked. If it is cracked or stretched, it could also prevent your car from starting.

It is also good to put a winter blend of windshield wiper fluid in, make sure you have decent traction on your tires and repeatedly check your tire pressure because it fluctuates in the cold and could go flat.



You cannot push the limit. It is winter time. It is bad enough that you need tires, but if you do not have an all-season tire or a snow tire in this kind of weather, it is kind of hard to drive, DeSimone said.



It is a lesson drivers like Brian Waddell, of West Hartford, know all too well.



I came back to a flat tire and I had to drive it down here and manually do it on a Monday morning. It was great, but those are the things that if you are checking your air pressure the right way, you could have avoided, I guess, he said.

To get the latest forecast, download the NBC Connecticut app.


A New Haven Public School teacher accused of an alleged sexual relationship with a student appeared in court on Thursday.

Kirvana Jones, a teacher employed by the New Haven Public School system, faces charges for second degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor, officials from the city of New Haven said.

At the beginning of February, the New Haven mayor's office told NBC Connecticut that they had been investigating an "unprofessional" relationship with an Engineering and Science University Magnet School student.

The investigation began when another student came forward, alleging inappropriate conduct between Jones and another student. According to the arrest warrant, the witness provided police with partially nude photos of an adult female that she said was obtained from the victim's phone. The photos showed a woman's buttocks, a woman in a colorful bra and purple thong and a woman holding her breasts.

Police said when they initially interviewed the 16-year-old victim he denied a relationship and said he had Jones stored in his cellphone as "J" in order to text or call her about homework. The victim admitted to a sexual relationship after police brought in his legal guardian, the arrest warrant said.

The boy told police that he and Jones had elevated their relationship to "boyfriend and girlfriend" over the course of two academic years, from 2014 to 2016. He told police it was after they began exchanging text messages and phone calls that Jones told the student she liked him and "boundaries were crossed," the affadavit said.

According to the victim, Jones began to text sexually suggestive messages to the boy leading up to his 16th birthday, which is on Dec. 4. During this time Jones allegedly sent him four photos that were "identical" to the ones showed to police by the witness, according to the affidavit.

On Dec. 2, the boy said Jones picked him up and brought him to her New Haven apartment on Chapel Street and engaged in intercourse. After the alleged encounter, the victim said he received a text message from Jones that read: "I can't believe I just did that!"

About two weeks after the incident, the boy said Jones would not let him talk or stand up in class like she had in the pass. According to the victim, Jones allowed him to maintain an above B average when he wouldn't do homework but this changed after their sexual encounter.

On Feb. 8, police obtained a search warrant for Jones' apartment and found a blue, pink and gold bra that was "identical" to the one shown in photos. Additionally, police took photos of furniture that matched the items shown in the photos.

One juvenile witness told police that Jones called the victim "sloppy" and told him he was "supposed to delete" the photos after she sent them, the court documents said.

Jones was "immediately" removed from the classroom after the investigation came to light, New Haven Public Schools said in a statement.

New Haven school officials said they do not believe any other students or teachers were affected or involved.

Jones was being held on a $75,000 bond but it was reduced to $50,000.
Despite being climatologically past the coldest part of winter, temperatures are just now dropping the lowest they've been all season. And with the cold air looming, now is the time to make sure your home is prepared.

William Perleoni, the owner of William B. Perleoni Plumbing reminds people to, "Open cabinet doors of you have a freezing problem before they should run the water, let the water drip. Running water doesn't freeze"

In addition to the frigid temperatures this weekend, wind is also a huge concern with winds gusting up to 30mph.

"Wind is the biggest enemy," says Perleoni. "Its going to be very windy this weekend. So what they should do is uh make sure that wind can't get in make sure windows are shut everything's tight"

With the recent snow, you don't want to forget about what's on the outside of your walls either.

James Campbell, Owner of Barney Barker Oil Company encourages people to, "Make sure that the exhaust pipes are above grade and flowing and not blocked by any snow banks."

If your furnace uses oil, you don't want to head into this weekend low on fuel.

"Fill your tanks up early, don't let it go below a quarter" says Campbell.

And hey, you can't complain about the price of oil!

"Last year about this time was almost $4 a gallon and now we're at $1.59 today," says Campbell. "So I think that's a pretty good thing"

But if the cold doesn't sound appealing and you wish you could head to warmer weather, you can at least make your house feel like the tropics!

" If you can get an elevation of 40% humidity or greater it feels like the Bahamas or summer when you have that moisture in the air" explains Campbell.

And if you are heading out of town, there are a few things to consider before you leave your home.

Perleoni says, "Do not turn down the thermostat. If anything turn your thermostat up. A lot of people will go away and turn the thermostat down then they're whole house freezes"

This weekend will be a great time to head to warmer weather! With wind chills in the -20's to -30's this weekend, you really want to make sure your house is ready to go, and you have all the necessary contacts if you do find yourself needing professional help.
Connecticut Students for a Dream won the right to admission to state colleges even though they're undocumented students. Now they want to be able to apply for financial aid.

They had caps and gowns for a news conference at the SLOB in Hartford. What they don't have is the papers they need for institutional aid.

Sixteen-year-old Gabriela Valdiglesias, from West Hartford, said, "I constantly worry that I won't be able to go to college. My parents' situation puts me under a lot of stress."

What the group wants is a financial aid system separate from the federal government's rules. Right now the federal government does not give financial aid to undocumented students. And even though the institutional financial aid is a state program it relies on the federal financial aid application. The top Democrat in the state senate calls that a roadblock.

"Those who are motivated to be in Connecticut, to seek higher education, should be afforded every opportunity," said Sen. Martin Looney, (D) New Haven.

One man motivated to be here escaped gangs in his native Guatemala as a teenager, even though he had to come the hard way.

"And I walk," said Edgardo Perez Cabrera, a student at Naugatuck Valley Community College.



"I walk from my house to Texas where my father sleeps. And I am here! I'm living my dream."

But the students said their dreams of university turn to nightmares even after they're accepted.

Angelic Idrovo said she won admission to Western Connecticut State, "but what happened is that my family and I weren't able to pay, weren't able to afford the tuition."

The group said students' tuition already pays for institutional aid. They just want the government to give them a chance to get it.
Brazil has signed an agreement with the University of Texas Medical Branch to develop a vaccine against the Zika virus, adding the goal is for the vaccine to be ready for clinical testing within 12 months.

Health Minister Marcelo Castro said at a news conference that the government will invest $1.9 million in the research, which will be jointly conducted by the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston and the Evandro Chagas Institute in the Amazonian city of Belem.

He said the Health Ministry also has reached vaccine partnerships with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and is looking to work with pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline because of its role developing a vaccine against Ebola after a deadly outbreak in West Africa in 2014.

Brazil's Zika outbreak has become a public health crisis since researchers here linked the mosquito-borne virus to a surge in a rare birth defects compromising infants' brains. The connection has yet to be scientifically proven, but the CDC has pointed to strong evidence of a link between the two and called on pregnant women to avoid travel to 22 countries and territories in the Americas with active outbreaks.

Brazilian officials have previously said any vaccine for Zika could take as many as five years but Castro on Thursday said he was more optimistic, saying that it could be ready for distribution within three years.

As part of a stream of foreign researchers and regulators arriving to the South American nation in the coming days, representatives from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will meet with their Brazilian counterparts to ensure that clinical testing of the vaccine can take place as quickly and smoothly as possible.

"This isn't just Brazil's concern; it's the world's concern," he said.

While Castro said the government's main focus now is on quickly developing a vaccine, reports about the virus' evolution continue to emerge.

On Thursday authorities reported a third adult death in Brazil with possible links to Zika: a 20-year-old woman who died last April in Rio Grande do Norte state after being hospitalized with a severe respiratory problems.

Castro said doctors had been perplexed by the death, which occurred before the Zika outbreak had been discovered and was originally classified as a result of pneumonia. But test results made known this week confirmed traces of Zika in the woman's blood.

"We're still studying this in greater detail," Castro said, cautioning that it's impossible to know what role, if any, Zika caused in her death that the death, which was reported to the WHO.

Castro said World Health Organization chief Margaret Chan is expected to visit Brazil on Feb. 23 to help coordinate the government's response with other agencies around the world. An initial delegation of 15 researchers from the CDC was slated to arrive in Brazil on Friday, he added.
A group of black and Hispanic high school students visiting Texas A&M University say they were harassed, taunted and told by white students they were not welcome to attend the university, according to Texas Sen. Royce West (D-23rd District).

West's office released a statement Thursday saying two black female high school juniors were part of a larger group touring the campus when they were approached by a white female Texas A&M student who asked the girls if they liked her earrings -- which were replicas of the Confederate flag.

Nearby, a group of white male and female students began harassing the larger group of 60 high school students by using racial epithets and telling them to "go back where you came from."

The group of students, from Dallas' Uplift Hampton Preparatory School, were visiting the campus as part of the school's Road To College at Uplift Education Program.

Jayla Alex-Johnson was one of about 60 juniors touring the campus.

Some students were really upset about it," said Alex-Johnson.

Standing towards the back of the crowd, she could only hear some yelling. It was not until later that she learned exactly what was being said to her classmates.

I hope that their attitude changes," Alex-Johnson said. "The way they think, the way they believe in everything.

Parents at Hampton Prep say those involved in the alleged campus harassment at Texas A&M should be expelled.

I hope they catch those people and find out who it was and they kick them out of whatever, said Anna Alvarenga, a parent of a student at Hampton Prep.

According to West, the confrontation was witnessed by TAMU officials accompanying the students. A campus police officer initially said the university students were expressing their First Amendment rights, though a report was made on the incident.

Following their tour, Alex-Johnson said TAMU officials met with students to discuss the incident and assure them that the behavior was not in line with the university's beliefs or ideals.

They were really sincere," she explained. "And they couldnt believe what happened, like neither of us could, and they just really apologized and told us that this shouldnt be happening at their school.

A group of black high school students visiting Texas A&M University say they were harassed, taunted and told by white students they were not welcome to attend the university, according to Texas Sen. Royce West (D-23rd District).

West said the incident is now being reviewed by executive leadership at the university, including Chancellor John Sharp.

"While high level meetings are taking place among A&M administrative, faculty and student leaders, those meetings need to produce results that say that overt acts of racism will not be tolerated anywhere within the university system," West said. "I expect a response that is swift and similar to those taken at the University of Oklahoma. The students responsible for these reprehensible actions should be strongly disciplined, if not expelled."

West implored action must be taken swiftly or the university runs the risk of damaging its credibility. West added that the university has a history of recruiting minority students from urban schools, has established outreach centers in Dallas and elsewhere and has made scholarship monies available to minority students.

"But actions such as what took place Tuesday can undo whatever good has been done. When those student's stories are told to parents and friends, they could undoubtedly, further the belief that the home of the Aggies has a campus environment that has been hostile to Black students; that is those who are not athletes," West said.

Texas Sen. Royce West (D-23rd District) speaks out after a group of high school students visiting Texas A&M University said they were harassed and told they were not welcome to attend the university.

Michael K. Young, president of Texas A&M University, said in a statement released Wednesday he was outraged and tremendously disappointed in the behavior of his students and that "appropriate action will be taken."



"I deeply regret the pain and hurt feelings this incident caused these young students. Be assured that we take such allegations very seriously," Young said in a statement. "While the actions of a few certainly do not represent our institution as a whole, it is the responsibility of all of us to stop any incidents that could be considered hateful or biased-based on race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability or any other factor."

Uplift Education released a statement Thursday afternoon saying they were "proud of our scholars for the grace and composure with which they responded to the college students who chose to engage in a disrespectful and unacceptable manner."

Uplift added they appreciated the swift response from university leadership and that they hope the incident can broaden the national conversation about inclusion and cultural awareness so that everyone can feel safe and welcome.

At this time, the students involved have not been identified by the university.

Students at Texas A&M University react to news that a group of black and Hispanic high school students visiting the campus said they were harassed.

Uplift Education Statement

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NBC 5's Caroline Connolly and Kevin Cokely contributed to this report.
A Dallas police officer credits 10 years of experience and training on the police force to her quick-thinking in stopping a robbery in progress late Tuesday night.

Sr. Cpl. Cassie Dotsy arrested an armed robber after he fired shots both inside and outside a Wal-Mart at 7401 Samuel Boulevard.

"I heard the shots and I knew that they were close," said Dotsy.

She looked up from filling out an accident report to see shoppers running out of the store and knew something was wrong.

Dallas police said the suspect, later identified as 36-year-old Marcus Booker, walked into the store, pointed a gun at a cashier and demanded money. Before the cashier could react, the man started shooting at the floor and cash register.

I didnt have time to think about anything else, Dotsy said about jumping into action when she saw the suspect run out of the Wal-Mart. I saw the citizens running. I saw kids. I heard shots and I just reacted, to what I say is natural when youre in the profession that I'm in."

Dotsy said shoppers helped point out where the man was running as he ducked around vehicles in the parking lot and fired two more shots.

Eventually, police said the suspect listened to Dotsys verbal commands and put down his gun.

Booker was eventually arrested and booked in the Dallas County Jail for aggravated robbery.
A Silver Alert was cancelled Thursday morning after Plano police said they found a missing 75-year-old woman checking into a hotel in Oklahoma.

Police said the alert was issued for Annamarie Doyle when her husband said she had not returned home from a medical appointment earlier in the day.

Doyle's credit card was used at a Lewisville 7-Eleven at about 10 p.m. and a Denton 7-Eleven about 1:30 a.m., according to Plano Police Department spokesman David Tilley. Both store clerks told police a woman fitting Doyle's description asked them for directions to Plano.

Doyle was described as 5 feet 3 inches tall and 126 pounds with blonde hair with a green streak, hazel eyes and speaking with an Irish accent. Police said she was last seen wearing glasses, a white sweater, black pants and black boots.

Police said Doyle was diagnosed with an unspecified cognitive impairment that could prevent her from finding her way home.

Plano police asked anyone with information about Doyle's disappearance call them at 972-941-7900 or 911.
Below is the statement from Texas Sen. Royce West after a group of black high school students were harassed and taunted while on a tour of Texas A&M University in College Station.

ROYCE WEST STATEMENT (UNEDITED)

Regarding incident at Texas A&M University - College Station

DALLAS - Late Tuesday, I received disturbing news from Texas A&M University (TAMU) officials that a group of students from Dallas were subjected to racial epithets while on a campus visit to the university. Sixty junior students from Uplift Hampton Preparatory were approached by white Texas A&M students who made it known that the visitors - prospective students - were not welcomed by them on campus.

The initial confrontation began when a white female student approached two female African American Uplift Hampton students to ask their opinion of her earrings, which were Confederate flag replicas. This was exacerbated by a group of white, male and female students, who within earshot of the first event, told a larger group of the high school visitors, part of the Road to College at Uplift Education Program, to, "Go back where you came from." They continued their taunts by using the most well-known racial slur that's directed toward African Americans and also made other references to the Confederate flag.

This scene was witnessed and reported by TAMU officials who were accompanying the Uplift Hampton students. A campus officer initially said that the A&M students were expressing their First Amendment rights. However, campus police were dispatched and a report was made. The incident is now being reviewed by university officials, including executive-level administrators. It was reported to me by Texas A&M Chancellor John Sharp. An account from Uplift Hampton faculty who witnessed the incident was also forwarded to A&M officials.

It's 2016 and within months of other race-related events that have taken place on college campuses in Oklahoma, Missouri and elsewhere nationally. They have in common that they have been triggered by a climate of racially-tinged conflict and other acts of intolerance. These discussions related to the Confederate flag began last summer following the massacre of innocent worshippers at a Charleston, South Carolina church. Yet there are those who still defend Confederate symbols and ideologies.

Throughout my more than 20 years in the Texas Senate, I have attempted to expand and enhance educational opportunities for all of Texas' young people; first imploring them to graduate high school and then encouraging and making available to them, the means to attend college. This includes working with officials at Texas' flagship institutions to strive harder to achieve a more diverse student body.

Although progress has been slow, particularly when it comes to African American students, Texas A&M has made the effort to recruit minority students from urban schools. It has established outreach centers in Dallas and other cities and made scholarship monies available. But actions such as what took place Tuesday can undo whatever good has been done. When those student's stories are told to parents and friends, they could undoubtedly, further the belief that the home of the Aggies has a campus environment that has been hostile to Black students; that is those who are not athletes.

While high level meetings are taking place among A&M administrative, faculty and student leaders, those meetings need to produce results that say that overt acts of racism will not be tolerated anywhere within the university system. I expect a response that is swift and similar to those taken at the University of Oklahoma. The students responsible for these reprehensible actions should be strongly disciplined, if not expelled.

The collegiate experience has always had the goal of fostering academic and personal growth, broadening perspectives and being a melding place for diverse cultures. It is not the breeding ground to further prejudice and bigotry. I call on Texas A&M officials to drive their decision to a destination which says that the halls of higher education are open to any student who is willing to rise to the challenge of earning a college degree. A 21st Century Texas institution of higher learning deserves no less. Royce West

Texas Senate
The Harris County Sheriff's Office in Texas has fired two deputies accused of having sexual relationships with a slain deputy's alleged mistress, a witness to the killing.

Deputy Darren Goforth was shot in the back and killed last August at a Houston-area gas station. The suspect, 31-year-old Shannon Miles, is facing a capital murder charge. He was ruled incompetent to stand trial earlier this month.

Attention is now shifting to the sheriff's department itself, which has fired Deputy Marc De Leon, a 14-year veteran, and Sgt. Craig Clopton. The men are accused of having sexual relationships with a woman who claimed to be Goforth's mistress and was seen crying over his body the night of the killing.

Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman said De Leon initially lied about his own relationship with the woman, and sources said De Leon was also accused of having sex with the woman while he was on duty.

De Leon's attorney, Joshua Normand, said in a statement, "Mr. De Leon has no comment as to the facts surrounding his separation of employment from the Harris County Sheriff's Office, at this time, as he will avail himself of the appeal process under Harris County Civil Service Rules."

Clopton, who was investigating Goforth's murder, was fired last October because of his alleged relationship with the woman. The Houston Chronicle spoke by phone with Clopton, who declined an interview and asked for privacy, the newspaper reports.

"The leader of any organization would be highly embarrassed for the conduct of an officer that would lead up to termination due to some kind of relationship," Hickman said.

The sheriff's office revealed it's investigating similar allegations against a fourth deputy involving the same woman.

"This one seems to be the gift that keeps on giving," Hickman said, but added that he does not believe the department has a pervasive problem.

The sheriff's office drafted a formal policy last week prohibiting deputies from having relationships with people connected to criminal cases. Hickman said the policy was a direct result of these latest incidents.

It's not the first time the Harris County Sheriff's Department has been plagued by such a scandal.

Three deputies were fired in 2013 for allegedly having sex with a married teacher in their patrol cars, KPRC reports. The woman, a volunteer with the Citizens Police Academy who was married to a reserve deputy, participated in ride-alongs with the department.
Critics of bite mark evidence say Texas could be on the brink of taking a stance that would likely reverberate in courtrooms across the U.S.

The Texas Forensic Science Commission will consider making recommendations Thursday on the reliability of bite mark analysis in criminal cases. At least two dozen men convicted or charged with murder or rape based on bite marks have been exonerated nationwide since 2000.

The state panel can't banish the use of such evidence. But skepticism from the influential commission would likely carry weight in courtrooms.

Peter Bush, a University of Buffalo researcher and leading opponent of bite mark evidence, says other states would likely follow the lead of Texas.

Bite mark evidence supporters argue the practice has helped convict child murders and serial killer Ted Bundy.

The commission will also discuss the case of Steven Mark Chaney, a Dallas man released from prison due to faulty bite mark evidence. Chaney was convicted of a 1987 double murder due in large part to bite marks left on the arm of one of the victims. A forensic dentist testified that the odds the bite marks were not Chaneys were one in a million at trial.

Online: Bite Mark Panel Meeting - 1 p.m. Feb. 11

NBC 5's Ben Russell contributed to this report.
After an overwhelming loss in New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton is staking a campaign comeback on her ability to woo black and Latino voters, placing outreach to those communities at the center of her strategy to retool her 2016 bid.

The 22-point loss to rival Bernie Sanders in this week's primary heightened concerns among Democrats that Clinton's message is failing to win over both women and young voters  two key parts of the coalition that twice elected Barack Obama to the White House.

The New Hampshire defeat, along with Clinton's razor-thin win in the leadoff Iowa caucuses, raised the stakes for Clinton to rally minority voters  another pillar of the Obama coalition  in the contests coming up in Nevada and South Carolina.

As the contest fans out across the country, Clinton's campaign plans to cast her as a stalwart advocate for racial justice, tracing back to her days working for the Children's Defense Fund in the 1970s. She will tie her future even closer to Obama, who remains a deeply beloved figure among black Americans.

Clinton also plans to intensify her focus on issues of importance to minority voters, such as immigration, civil rights and gun control,  dispatching African-American supporters to make her case and launching a flurry of attacks to undermine any credibility Sanders may be building within the black community.

Focus-group surveys conducted by Clinton's campaign with undecided black voters in Charleston before the New Hampshire voting found that the former secretary of state has retained a high degree of trust with African-Americans, even as her numbers on trust and honesty have declined overall, according to Clinton aides.

While the voters were open to Sanders and liked his economic message, their views shifted after hearing about his plans to replace the Affordable Care Act with a single-payer health care systems and his past opposition to gun control measures, according to Clinton aides.

"He only started talking about the issues concerning African-Americans in the past 40 days," said South Carolina state legislative leader Todd Rutherford, who formally endorsed Clinton on Wednesday. "Secretary Clinton has been talking about these issues for the last 40 years."

While Clinton still holds a big lead among party insiders known as superdelegates, who can support the candidate of their choice, the first two contests made clear that Sanders has undermined her once dominant position as the favorite for her party's nomination.

Her aides believe the next two contests and the primaries that follow in March, where minority voters make up a larger slice of the electorate than in overwhelmingly white Iowa and New Hampshire, could essentially decide the race by setting a tone for a campaign that's likely to evolve into a state-by-state slog for the 2,382 delegates needed to win the nomination.

In the two days since her New Hampshire loss, Clinton has launched a full-scale press for black voters, unveiling a series of endorsements from top African-American leaders, including the backing of the Congressional Black Caucus' political action committee on Thursday.

Members of the group's board, including Georgia Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights icon, said they would travel to South Carolina to campaign for her.

Her team will also be rolling out the support of 119 black legislators in the March voting states and is pressuring South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, who's pledged to remain neutral in his state's contest, to back her candidacy before the Feb. 27 primary.

Later this week, she'll be endorsed by a group of faith leaders in Flint, Michigan, adding to the 28 ministers and 50 black mayors who've already expressed their support for her candidacy.

Meanwhile, Clinton supporters are targeting Sanders' record on issues like racial equality and criminal justice, even playing down his early support for the civil rights movement as a college student who joined the 1963 March on Washington.

"Thousands of people walked on Washington. What are the real policy issues or legislation that he has presented?" said Dr. Hazel Dukes, president of the NAACP's New York State Conference. "She's been there when it matters most."

On Friday, Clinton will head to rural Bamburg County, South Carolina, a poor, majority-black area of the state to hold a town hall on racial and economic disparities. She's holding a Monday campaign event in Riviera Beach, Florida, a majority African-American city, before meeting with civil rights leaders on Tuesday and holding a campaign event with the mother of Sandra Bland, the Chicago-area woman whose death in a Texas jail cell has become a rallying cry for criminal justice reform.

Former President Bill Clinton is being dispatched to Memphis, Atlanta and Florence, South Carolina, in the coming days, and the Clintons' daughter, Chelsea, is heading to majority-black Flint, where the crisis over water has become a symbol of racial and economic inequality.

Sanders' campaign plans to promote his personal story, arguing that his early work as a college civil rights activist and his message of economic equality will help diversify his support. On Wednesday, he held a heavily publicized breakfast with civil rights activist Al Sharpton in Harlem, and Ta-Nehisi Coates, an influential writer on racial issues, said he would vote for Sanders.

But his team also acknowledges that his constituency may be far stronger in states with less diverse Democratic electorates, like Oklahoma, Minnesota, and Massachusetts  all states where they launched new ads on Wednesday.

"Bernie Sanders has an incredibly powerful story to tell," said adviser Tad Devine. "His fight for equality and civil rights, his fight against inequality and economic injustice is very, very powerful. It's going to resonate with the African-American community."
Imagine getting extra cash simply for driving to work  or sitting in traffic.

But are promises of a paycheck for wrapping your car the "real deal?"

The answer is yes  if you're careful about how you sign up.

The eye-catching logos roll by us every day  promoting products and services  leading drivers to wonder if they could get paid for wrapping their rides.

Debi Tully was curious  so when she got an email offer to turn her car into an "ad-on-wheels" for a brand-new french energy drink  she didn't hesitate.

"$300 a week just for driving my car, to have my car wrapped with their advertisement," she said.

All she had to do was cash a nearly $3,000 check that came in the mail.

"It looks real legit to me."

Keeping $300 for her upfront payment  and sending the rest to a graphic artist to design the wrap.

"I think that might have raised a red flag  why would I be paying their vendor  why aren't they paying their vendor directly?"

"It usually takes a couple weeks for the banks to determine that the check is, in fact, counterfeit  and by that point, if the consumer's already wire transferred the funds off to this third party, the consumer's on the hook," said Todd Kossow, of the Federal Trade Commission.

It's a trick that's triggered hundreds of complaints with the Federal Trade Commission.

And while consumer advocates warn that many "car wrapping" offers are a scam  there are legit operations  including companies like Carvertise  and Wrapify.

Breshawn Wiley recently signed up with Wrapify to get paid for promoting eBay every time he hits the road.

"I literally just go to school, the gym, or go to work," he said.

The San Diego startup, which just launched in Los Angeles, encases cars in advertising  then uses a GPS-linked app to track a driver's movements. You make more when you travel through densely populated areas, where the ads get more exposure.

"Once you open up the app, it shows you how much you made today," Wiley said.

About 20,000 drivers have signed up so far, nationwide  a simple online process  and Wrapify says some are pulling in as much as $450 a month.

After three weeks of driving, Wiley's take was just $113, but he's not complaining.

"It's not a full-time job, just a supplement that pays gas or lunch," he said. "But I couldn't have asked for a better experience."

If you're interested in getting your car wrapped for cash  be wary of offers you see on websites like craigslist, as well as unsolicited emails.

And if you're asked to pay up front for car wrapping  your best bet may be to just drive away.

More information on Wrapify.
Valentine's Day may be one of the few times per year that you go out and buy fresh flowers, but that is no excuse for rookie mistakes. The gift of flowers is a reminder that you are thinking of someone and Feb. 14 is an excellent opportunity to send this message. Make that gesture count with these budget-friendly tips for delivering quality flowers that won't disappoint.

Opt out of the Valentine's Day up-sell - Almost all floral retailers will create Valentine's Day-specific offers to catch your eye. Those bouquets come with a hefty price tag, and often lack on the stem count you are looking for. Avoid the holiday-specific bundles.

[NATL] Best Couples and Familes on the Golden Globes 2016 Red Carpet

If in season, head to your Farmer's Market - Get to know a Farmer's Market in your neighborhood before Valentine's Day. Pay attention to bouquet costs when it's not a floral holiday so that you have a baseline before prices increase. Ask a vendor to pre-order for Valentine's Day and lock in a price before the holiday surge. You can feel accomplished come February 14 knowing you already have your fresh flowers and that you have supported local growers.

Don't Procrastinate - Many companies offer incentives to place your Valentine's Day order in advance, so that they can get a sense of how much inventory to allocate for the major holiday. Take advantage of those offers and you can save quite a bit - you can also sit back and relax while everyone else is scrambling to find the last red and pink flowers!

[NATL] Celebrity Hookups: David Foster, Katharine McPhee Marry

Learn how to pick fresh flowers - Chances are that if you are looking at a bouquet and all of the flowers are already open, those flowers were not picked yesterday. We all get stuck on how the blooms look right when we buy them. A real flower pro, though, will know to look for bouquets or bunches where the flowers are still closed. Those blooms are the most fresh, and will continue to bloom for days to come.

Do some recon - Sending flowers online? Do all that you can to make sure those blooms are fresh and look good. Check to see where your retailer ships from, and opt for a business that sources flowers from U.S. farms. Floral retailer Bloom2Bloom founder Laurenne Resnik advises, "Whether you're buying online or in store, check for companies with the 'American Grown' or 'California Grown' labels. Farm-direct flowers really do last longer." Unlike most outlets, Bloom2Bloom doesn't change its products just for Valentine's Day.

[NATL] Celebrity Baby Boom: Christian Slater u0026 Wife Welcome Daughter

Think outside the vase - Don't fall for the cliches this Valentine's Day. Skip the vase and look for companies that keep costs down for consumers by wrapping bouquets in Kraft paper for that farm-fresh look. Remember, just because everyone is advertising red roses this Valentine's Day, doesn't mean you have to buy them. Rananculus and Tulips offer a new twist on an old classic. Not to mention, they are in season in California right now!

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A sex abuse prevention workshop conducted at a New York City public school prompted a 9-year-old girl to report an alleged case of sex abuse by her religious instructor, resulting in the arrest of the 46-year-old man, prosecutors said.

The suspect, an after-school instructor at the Masjid Abu Huraira Mosque in East Elmhurst, Queens, is accused of groping the girl on two different occasions while she was attending the program between November 2015 and February 2016, the Queens District Attorney's office said.

He allegedly said to her, "You are a good girl," as he touched her, prosecutors said.

When a sex abuse prevention workshop using puppets was held at the girl's school, the girl told the workshop instructor what allegedly happened.

After investigation, authorities arrested the suspect on sex abuse and child endangerment charges. He was awaiting arraignment in Queens Criminal Court Wednesday. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney.
The alleged leader and three other suspected members of Newark's Grape Street Crips gang were arrested Thursday morning as part of an effort to stem the spate of violence that has marred the New Jersey city in recent months.

The suspected leader, Corey Hamlet, 39, along with associates Sean Scott, 45, Keon Bethea, 33, and Jamil Harrison, 32, were charged with numerous crimes, including RICO conspiracy, use of firearms in crimes of violence, witness tampering, robbery and drug trafficking, authorities said.

All four of the suspected members were remanded at their arraignments Thursday in U.S. District Court in Newark, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

FBI and DEA agents, Newark police, and officers from the Essex County Sheriffs Department raided several locations and took the suspected gang members into custody, officials said.

The New Jersey Grape Street Crips is the local branch of a nationwide street gang founded in Los Angeles which engages in drug-trafficking and other crimes, law enforcement officials said. Officials say the gang controls much of the heroin trafficking in northern New Jersey.

In addition to the gangs criminal activities, the gangs rules say members must retaliate against anyone who cooperates with law enforcement, officials said. Gang members routinely engage in acts of intimidation and violence against witnesses, cooperators, and law enforcement officers, the officials said.

Nine months ago, more than 70 members of the Grape Street Crips, including the No. 2 and No. 3 highest ranking members, were arrested in New Jersey, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said.

"The people of Newark should not have to endure that kind of violence or the fear that it breeds," Fishman said in a statement.

Andrew Campi, acting director of the New Jersey FBI, said the bust brings Newark closer to "dismantling one of the most violent street gangs in this city."
The governors competing for the Republican presidential nomination all tried to outdo each other in time spent in New Hampshire, staking their campaigns on an electorate more moderate and less religious than in Iowa. But when the polls closed on the country's first primary, it was the candidate who barely stopped for a cup of coffee in the Granite State making the victory speech.

Businessman Donald Trump, who skipped much of the retail politics for which New Hampshire is known, the intimate meet-and-greets at diners, in living rooms and at town meetings, came out on top with 35 percent of the vote. He captured the lead when he announced that he was running for president and held it throughout the primary race.

After winning the New Hampshire GOP primary, Donald Trump claimed he would be the greatest jobs president that God every created. He also stated that the unemployment rate could be as high as 28 or even 42 percent, which is not true, according to PolitiFact.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who finished second, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the fourth-place finisher, both left New Hampshire for the next contest in South Carolina, while New Jerseys Gov. Chris Christie, so often in New Hampshire that he was criticized for ignoring his own states problems, was dropping out.

If you look at [Trump's] circumstances, you could say that spending time in the state doesnt matter, and when he did come it was for very large rallies where there was no give-and-take between the candidate and the citizens, said Linda Fowler, a professor of government at Dartmouth College. On the other hand, John Kasich really did show that retail politics can still make a difference.

After an invigorating second-place finish, Republican candidate John Kasich addressed supporters in New Hampshire.

Kasich began with 2 percent of the voters and ended up with 16 percent in a very crowded field, she said. The governor of a swing state who ran a campaign based on issues instead of insults, he was able to capitalize on his appeal to moderates unhappy with Trump and U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, exit polling showed.

[NATL] Voters Head to Polls in New Hampshire's 'First In The Nation' Presidential Primary

The outspoken Christie, meanwhile, was overshadowed by the even more brash and controversial Trump, and the New Jersey govenor struggled to gain his footing with voters. He finished sixth in the Republican pack.

We came here to say that speaking your mind matters, that experience matters, that competence matters, and that it will always matter in leading our nation, Christie told supporters Tuesday night. That message was heard by a lot of folks and it was stood for by a lot of folks here in New Hampshire, just not enough. Not enough tonight.

Hillary Clinton conceded the New Hampshire primary to Bernie Sanders, appealing to his voters in her address by discussing income inequality and Citizens United.

Christie, who focused most of his resources on a strong showing in New Hampshire, returned to New Jersey on Wednesday to announce he was suspending his campaign.

Bush was pushing ahead to South Carolina despite also failing to stir much excitement around his campaign. At the start of the year, his super PAC, Right to Rise, still had about half of the $118 million it raised last year.

The three governors had trouble differentiating themselves, and some Republicans worried that Christie had the least chance of winning the nomination, Fowler said. In the past, retail politics have been critical for candidates  Sen. John McCain in 2000 and 2008, for example  but at the same time, the field was much less crowded.

Meeting voters doesnt necessarily mean theyre going to support you, when they had so many options to choose from, she said.

New Hampshires voters famously demand a chance to see the candidates up close. The state makes a case for its first-in-the-country status by pointing to the scrutiny candidates get as they criss-cross the state for the small gatherings.

On the Democratic side, the primary winner, Sen. Bernie Sanders, swept the state with 60 percent of the vote to 38 percent for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The two each made about 90 stops in the state, according to necn's candidate tracker.

Bernie Sanders won the Democratic primary in New Hampshire, beating Hillary Clinton. He slammed Republican policies and establishment politics for supporting the interests of large donor groups instead of the common interest of citizens.

Among the Republicans, in the hours before the polls closed, Christie was claiming to have topped Kasich in days on the ground in New Hampshire and town halls attended.

Kasich and Christie each spent about 70 days in New Hampshire to about 55 for Bush. During those visits, Kasich and Christie made 190 stops each at breakfasts, fundraisers, dinners and other events over the course of the campaign, while Bush made 111, according to the necn candidate tracker.

Trump, by contrast, had only 46 stops over 30 days, though his campaign intensified its ground game in the final days.

We learned a lot about ground games in one week, he joked after his win.

Fowler cautioned against drawing too much from Trumps victory, relying as it did on his celebrity.

Its hard to generalize because his candidacy is breaking so many rules, not just the one about retail politics, she said.

Meanwhile, by Wednesday, Carly Fiorina had also suspended her campaign. She had campaigned heavily in New Hampshire, making 149, stops but came in seventh, with only 4 percent of the vote.
LINK: Presidential Campaign Ad-o-Matic

NBC10 and Telemundo62 have announced their joint sponsorship of Headed to the White House, a timely new exhibit at Philadelphias National Constitution Center opening on February 12. The exhibit is designed to engage students, families and visitors of all ages with the presidential election season by leading them on an interactive journey through the political process.[[368564361, C]]

NBC10 and Telemundo62 are proud to partner with the National Constitution Center, said Ric Harris, President and General Manager of NBC10 and Telemundo62. Were excited to share fascinating stories about the democratic process and its impact on our viewers throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.

Headed to the White House was created by the National Constitution Center and uses artifacts, interactive modules, multimedia and role-playing opportunities to guide visitors along the campaign trail and into the Oval Office. The exhibit is timed to coincide with the 2016 presidential election and the National Democratic Convention taking place this July in Philadelphia. [[368554031, C]]

Partnering with the National Constitution Center provides NBC10 and Telemundo62 access to historians and Constitutional experts with unique insight into the political process, said Anzio Williams, Vice President of News for both stations. We are especially excited to be able to share these insights with both our English- and Spanish-speaking audiences.

Headed to the White House is scheduled to open Friday, February 12and will run through November 13. For more information, visit www.constitutioncenter.org. You can also buy tickets HERE.
Wawa, Wegmans and other local eateries stepped in to feed Ursinus College students after more than 170 students came down with a stomach ailment that caused the Montgomery County-based university to close its dining halls.

The norovirus sickened 100 Ursinus students, 22 of whom were sent to the emergency room or urgent care late Tuesday and early Wednesday, according to school officials and the local health department.

A number of students have taken ill with a stomach infection. We are working with the health department to identify the cause.  Ursinus College (@UrsinusCollege) February 10, 2016

About 75 more had fallen ill overnight -- two requiring hospitalization -- into Thursday morning as officials said they hoped the worst of the sickness was over.

The latest update: The total number of students exhibiting symptoms is 174. The Wellness Center remains open and is available at x3100.  Ursinus College (@UrsinusCollege) February 11, 2016

Most students fell ill after dinnertime Tuesday and exhibited similar symptoms, including vomiting, diarrhea, and dehydration.

Students were taken to various hospitals, including Einstein Medical Center and Phoenixville Hospital. Officials from the Center for Disease Control and the Montgomery County Health Department responded to the hospitals.

"It's been miserable," said La'Shante Cox, a Senior at Ursinus and one of the hospitalized students. "It's been absolute misery. I kept throwing up. I kept going to the bathroom and it was an ongoing thing."

Thomas Moore, another Senior at the school, had similar symptoms that kept him bedridden for hours. He ate for the first time in 24 hours Wednesday night.

"I feel like it would help a little more if we tried to take a couple of days off so everyone could actually recuperate," he said.

Phoebe French, another student who fell ill, said she felt strange hours after eating in Lower Wismer, one of the dining halls on campus. French said it will be a long time before she eats campus food again.

The latest information is that 88 students have become ill. The health department is continuing to investigate the cause of the illness.  Ursinus College (@UrsinusCollege) February 10, 2016

Wawa and Wegmans stepped in to supply breakfast for students and the Collegeville Italian Bakery made sandwiches Thursday while the county worked to track down exactly what caused the outbreak. County Commissioner Valerie Arkoosh said Wednesday that the symptoms resemble those of norovirus, a gastrointestinal ailment. Norovirus can be transmitted easily from person to person, Arkoosh said, or it can be foodborne.

An Ursinus spokesperson said Wednesday that officials are working with the health department to determine how the illness spread.

As a precaution, Ursinus shut down its dining halls as health officials continue to investigate he cause of the outbreak. The gym on campus was also closed.

"I'm not eating on campus because I'm not willing to risk that everything was cleaned and inspected thoroughly enough to make sure it's safe to eat in there again," said student Karla Pisarcik.

Community restaurants and local businesses are partnering with Ursinus College to provide food for students.

Classes still went on as scheduled Wednesday though students say they were empty. Officials spent the day cleaning residential and common areas. The college and classes also took place Thursday but it was up to professors whether to hold classes.

"Good hand-washing is really, really important," Arkoosh said. "Wash any surfaces that may have come into contact with the virus, including sinks and door handles."

The incubation period for the virus is 12 to 48 hours, with a median of 33 hours. People who are infected are contagious for a couple days.

The illnesses occurred only one day after the death of Ursinus history professor Dr. Richard King.
The San Diego jazz community is poised to celebrate the debut performance of the legendary double-bass virtuoso Gary Peacock, who will play an Athenaeum Jazz production on Saturday, Feb. 13, at 7:30 p.m. at the Scripps Research Institute (10620 John Jay Hopkins Drive) in La Jolla.

I dont usually do concert previews, but the opportunity to experience Mr. Peacock, who will appear with his New York trio featuring pianist Marc Copland and drummer Joey Baron, is something Im totally over the moon about.

Peacock changed the scope of the instrument as early as the 1950s, when he arrived on the West Coast after a stint in the Army during the Korean War. Bass wasnt even his instrument (he originally played vibraphone and piano) -- but after the bassist in his combo left the group, he took up the instrument out of necessity, recalling, I always sort of knew where the notes were.

After playing with a whos-who of Los Angeles heavyweights, Mr. Peacock set out for New York, intent on joining the fomenting musical revolution exploding at the time. In 1964, he had perhaps the widest reach in contemporary music -- playing with the Bill Evans Trio at one extreme, while setting the template for free-jazz bass playing with saxophonist Albert Aylers group at the other. In between, he subbed for Ron Carter in Miles Daviss touring band.

A fruitful association with the recently departed piano icon Paul Bley deepened his influence, and in 1983, his hookup with pianist Keith Jarrett and drummer Jack DeJohnette as the Standards Trio changed the face of piano trios forever. The Standards Trio has been a vital force in the music since that time, recording dozens of superb albums on the ECM record label.

This is Mr. Peacocks first San Diego performance, although he was scheduled to appear at the Athenaeum a few years back before an illness forced him to cancel.

Peacocks tone, touch and sound are all sui generis, and this concert promises to yield an unforgettable experience. Best of all, tickets are still available, $35 general admission, $30 Athenaeum members, $15 student rush.

This weekend is turning into some kind of double-bass dream. In addition to the Peacock date, on Friday, Feb. 12, Bertram Turetzky will be celebrating his 83rd birthday at Dizzys in Pacific Beach (4275 Mission Bay Drive) at 8 p.m. Tickets are going for $15 at the door.

And on Saturday at noon, bass virtuoso Mark Dresser is hosting a Telematic performance at UCSD with Michael Dessens trombone, Nicole Mitchells flute, Stephanie Richards trumpet, and Myra Melfords piano playing in real time with two musicians broadcasting from Zurich, Switzerland, featuring Matthias Ziegler on flutes and Gerry Hemingway on drums.

Robert Bush is a freelance jazz writer who has been exploring the San Diego improvised music scene for more than 30 years. Follow him on Twitter @robertbushjazz. Visit The World According to Rob.
It almost seems folly to write about "Zoolander No. 2" and the comeback of aging, dim-witted, evil-fighting supermodels Derek Zoolander and Hansel when there's only one journalist who can do their story justice: 1970s TV newsman Ron Burgundy, of "Anchorman" fame.

The "Zoolander" and "Anchorman" characters, separated by little more than time, inhabit the same comedic universe of buffoonish and cartoonish public figures in movies that celebrate the silly. The comedies also share cast members: "Anchorman" star Will Ferrell reprises his role as the models' nemesis, Mugatu, in the new flick, due out Friday. "Zoolander" headliner Ben Stiller showed up as a combative rival newsman in the original 2005 "Anchorman."

But the strongest link comes in the approach to promoting long-gestating sequels by springing surprise in-character public appearances. The latest "Zoolander" will test whether the "Anchorman" campaign model works  or whether it's time to write, as Derek Zoolander might put it, the franchise's "eugoogally."

Building expectations for sequels to long-dormant fan favorites, as George Lucas can attest, is a risky business. Credit Ferrell with embracing overexposure from moment he resurrected Burgundy with a jazz flute spectacular on "Conan" in 2012. In the weeks before the film's debut the following year, Ferrell turned up as his plaid-clad alter ego on everything from real newscasts to car commercials.

Stiller and co-star Owen Wilson followed a similar script, strutting across a Parisian runway for Valentino to announce their return as Derek and Hansel. They later posed as mannequins in Valentino's Rome store, and Derek even made the cover of Vogue.

"Anchorman 2" scored with fans beyond the publicity stunts. Ferrell and creative partner Adam McKay injected the movie with a deeper level of satire that the first outing, by suggesting cable TV news craziness started with the advent of televised police chases.

"Zoolander No. 2" appears set to dive past the skin-deep by tackling the cult of self-absorbed celebrities with around-the-clock multimedia followings, 15 years after the original film's pre-Twitter debut. Last week, Stiller and Co. lampooned digital narcissism by showing up at the London premiere of "Zoolander No. 2" with a record-long selfie stick.

The stick stretched 28 feet, making it hard to handle. But it may prove more difficult to match the heights of the original "Zoolander," which turned Blue Steel into gold. Whether or not Derek and Hansel are ready, it's time for their close-up. Ron Burgundy  and the rest of their fans  will be watching.

Jere Hester is Director of News Products and Projects at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. He is also the author of "Raising a Beatle Baby: How John, Paul, George and Ringo Helped us Come Together as a Family." Follow him on Twitter.
The California Coastal Commission voted to oust its executive director, a victory for developers and business groups who do not feel they have gotten a fair chance under his leadership.

The shake-up at the California Coastal Commission, decided after a day-long meeting Wednesday, raises questions about the direction of an agency often caught in the friction between property owners and conservation along the 1,100-mile coast -- large stretches of it prized for pristine beaches edged by jutting cliffs.

From an Encinitas homeowner trying to protect his property with a sea wall to the controversy over seals at La Jolla's Children's pool, the CCC rules on environmental issues; those issues get heated and political when they involve money, especially when it comes from the pockets of business owners and developers. The commission manages development along more than 1,100 miles of shorelines.

Environmental Attorney Marco Gonzalez supports commission executive director Charles Lester and the work he has done with the coastline.

"The beach is popular, the beach belongs to all of us and if we don't have people up there waiting to stand firm in the face of certain development pressures, we're just going to lose it, Gonzalez said.

Many coastal activists showed up at Wednesday mornings meeting with similar praise. No one disputes Lester's importance and power in shaping policy and recommendations for commission votes, which is why, even though no reason was given for his proposed dismissal, few people wondered where it came from.

"Clearly I do believe the environmentalists consider him one of them and the business community is concerned he is more concerned with environmental issues than not taking into consideration business and economic impacts, said John Dadian, a political analysis.

Critics pointed to aggressive and overreaching policy under Lesters leadership since 2011. The commission has been at the center of fierce battles over beach access in celebrity enclaves, and it's facing a lawsuit after banning SeaWorld from breeding captive killer whales at its San Diego marine park.

Former Commissioner Steve Blank, who was viewed as an environmental advocate and resigned in 2013, said the move to oust Lester was not a surprise and developers have long sought greater influence at the agency that regulates them.

"A lot of people in the business community and basically with common sense did not think the coastal commission should have jurisdiction with how to breed animals, Dadian said.

The move to replace Lester comes in the midst of a long-running review of a proposed development of nearly 1,400 homes, a resort and retail space known as Banning Ranch in the Newport Beach area. Companies involved in the project include real estate firm Brooks Street, Cherokee Investment Partners and Aera Energy, which is jointly owned by affiliates of Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Exxon Mobil Corp.

I think the people I represent and the general public, I'd think they'd be very happy that we have someone up there willing to put his foot down and say no to some of these folks, Gonzalez said.

San Diego's representative, Supervisor Greg Cox, did attend today's meeting and was replaced by his alternate, Escondido City Councilmember Olga Diaz. NBC 7 San Diego reached out to Supervisor Cox through his communication director, who said the supervisor would not be making on comments on the matter.

Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat who appoints four of the commission's 12 voting members, declined to comment on Lester's possible dismissal through a spokesman in January.

The Associated Press' Michael R. Blood contributed to this report.


San Diego Police are investigating two home invasion robberies in a span of less than two hours.

Just before 3 a.m., three suspects entered a home on Spring Meadow Lane in Sabre Springs through a side door. A family with two children was sleeping inside the home south of Poway Road and east of Interstate 15.

The suspects were confronted by the homeowner and fled the scene, police said.

If youre asleep in your home and somebody comes into your home and youre woken up and realize there are strangers in your home, its terrifying, said Lt. Kevin Mayer with SDPD.

NBC 7s Liberty Zabala reports from Sabre Springs where suspects broke into a home and robbed the residents by gunpoint. San Diego Police are investigating the possibility that this may be part of a series.

Four miles away, around 5:30 a.m., several people living on Breezeway Place were awakened, robbed at gunpoint and tied up, police said. The suspects got away with some items.

A father and his two adult sons were restrained but were able to free themselves, go next door and call police. A toddler was asleep in the home at the time, according to SDPD Lt. Todd Griffin.

One neighbor who identified herself only as Jennifer told NBC 7 she answered her door and found one of the victims asking her to call police.

"He had broken zip ties on his hands so I assumed they had been zip tied," the neighbor said.

Lt. Todd Griffin talks from the Sabre Springs neighborhood where residents were awakened by suspects in a robbery.

The location of this robbery is inside the Carmel Mountain Ranch Country Club just east of Interstate 15 and north of Ted Williams Parkway.

Neighbor Caroline Palmer said they do lock their doors at night but this kind of crime in the community is still frightening.

Its kind of scary because this has always been a safe neighborhood, Palmer said. Weve never worried about people breaking in or robberies.

NBC 7s Liberty Zabala spoke with a resident of Carmel Mt. Ranch as she describes the victims of a home invasion robbery as they came to her for help.

In each case, the robbers were armed with handguns, police said.

Griffin said officers were looking into the possibility that another home in the neighborhood was burglarized this morning.

Officers were doing a house-by-house check to collect evidence when officers discovered a door open on the home. They cleared the home and found it empty. They have contacted the homeowner to go inside the home and determine if it's been burglarized.

Now, the SDPD is asking for help solving the crimes. If someone who lives in the area has a home surveillance system, police want to take a look at your video from the past week to try to identify a suspect.

Investigators are interested in the following areas:

10700 Passerine Way

11400 Aliento Court

11300 Spring Meadow Lane

14200 Breezeway Place

Officials said the suspects may be driving a dark gray or silver, newer model sedan or a white, newer model sedan with a sunroof. The crimes took place between midnight at 5 a.m.

Three suspects were sought in a home invasion in Rancho Bernardo. However police have not linked the crimes or suspects.

On Friday, Feb. 5 three men broke into a home on Aliento Court, a cul-de-sac located west of West Bernardo Drive and north of Bernardo Center Drive. A couple was held at gunpoint and items were stolen, police said.

At the time, investigators said that incident may be connected to another residential robbery that occurred Sunday, Jan. 31 on Passerine Way in Sorrento Valley.

"Unfortunately in each case they've been wearing hoodies, with their faces covered, bandanas, gloves," Griffin said.

So far weve not drawn any connection between suspects and victims in these cases, said Griffin. Its too early to tell.

For homeowners, the best line of defense is to lock their doors, according to police. The homes with doors left unlocked were targeted, Griffin said.

Images: Persons of Interest Sought in RB Home Invasion
With his hair neatly pulled back into a ponytail, Dr. Willie Morrow looks back at his career as a pioneer in the black hair care industry  his lively legacy currently on display at a museum in Escondido, California.



Morrow is the focus of The History and the Hair Story: 400 Years Without a Comb, an exhibition at the California Center for the Arts Escondido.



The exhibit carefully displays Morrows long career as an entrepreneur, professional barber, self-taught chemist and inventor of black hair care products and tools, including very functional, widely used Afro Pick combs and California Curl relaxers.



Wall by wall, photograph by photograph, Morrows deep-rooted role in black hair care history comes to light, as does the importance of hair in African American culture as a whole.



Oh, Ive been through it. Ive been through probably five generations of hair, Morrow told NBC 7. Hair seemed to be one of the carriers in the black community. Its popular. People go out of their way for some hair. Hair is everything. I mean, you have some hair, you may have the cornerstone of beauty.



Many of the artifacts on display come from Morrows own personal collection  items hes kept over the decades that tell his unique story, including newspaper clippings, books he has written and tools he has used to create his hair care products.



I always say that I'm the world's best kept secret, Morrow said, with laugh.



Some of those books, he said, were translated into other languages and distributed around the world, often times to military service members. In the 1970s, Morrow visited military bases around the world teaching the ins-and-outs of cutting black hair. Hes touted with creating the natural haircut for the troops.



Another part of the museum floor is set up to mimic an old-time barbershop.



Two worn, red chairs sit there. For Morrow, those chairs represent not only history, but his story and those stories of all who have taken a seat on them, waiting for a haircut.



Lives  you learn about everything [from people sitting in the barbers chair], said Morrow, with a smile.



Those two chairs are original chairs from Morrows barbershops, one from the shop he ran in the 1960s on Market Street in southeastern San Diego, the other from his business in Alabama. Back then, Morrow only charged 20 to 25 cents for a haircut.



His philosophy as a barber, he said, has always been to carefully listen to the customer.



Always do what the customer asks you to do, no more, no less, he explained.



San Diego Mesa College professor emeritus of black studies, Starla Lewis, curated the exhibit and told NBC 7 its a true labor of love for a man who has given so much to the community.



I would say hes iconic, said Lewis, referring to Morrows permanent place in African American history. I feel that we are honoring a man who deserves it, while hes still alive.



Besides being effective, Lewis said Morrows black hair care products have sent a powerful message to the African American community: your hair is beautiful, you are beautiful.



Hair represents power. It represents privilege. It represents beauty, Lewis explained. You cant talk about the African American experience without talking about hair. Other people are always fascinated and wanting to touch African American hair.



Lewis said Morrows career is also an inspirational example of how successful someone can become if they tap their potential and work hard. To this day, Morrow creates hair products in his warehouse in San Diego's Lemon Grove community.



Heres a man who not only created hair products and combs, but he also said to the community, You can be a self-made human being, she said.



Ive been employed by myself all my life, said Morrow.



I made it with these," he added, glancing at his hands. "As Booker T. Washington said, you train these to do something. Make something, do something, create something, develop something that can be made into a greater part  another part  and make a contribution to society.



Lewis said her hope is that visitors leave the exhibit feeling good about themselves, on the inside and outside.



I wanted people to walk through and leave feeling that it's okay to be who they are and to feel a sense of self love, she said. One young lady said, This exhibit makes me love myself more. Thats what I want all people to come in and see.



Although Morrow has had much success and influence in the history and industry of hair, he doesnt let his legacy go to his head.



Looking around the exhibition, he pauses, takes a few steps and, suddenly, is speechless.



The feeling I get is, How in the world did I create all of this stuff? he said. I never thought that I would see it so beautifully displayed as it is here.



This just makes my heart feel good, he added. That is my life. Its been a great journey  a great life.



The History and the Hair Story: 400 Years Without a Comb runs through March 6 at the museum at the California Center for the Arts Escondido (340 N. Escondido Blvd.).

The exhibit is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Tickets range from $5 for students and seniors to $8 for general admission. It is free to military and children under 12 years old. To learn more about the exhibit, visit the California Center for the Arts Escondido website.


A 19-year old man died Wednesday after he was stabbed in Springfield, Virginia, police say.

Shaki Ezekiel Phillip was pronounced dead after Fairfax County police responded to a report of a stabbing about 2 p.m. on the 7400 block of Loughboro Lane. Phillip was unresponsive when police arrived and was suffering from an apparent stab wound to the upper body, police said.

Phillips was transported to Inova Fairfax Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Two men in their late teens were seen leaving the area, police said. Detectives have reason to believe the crime was not random.

Police ask that anyone with information contact Fairfax County police at 703-691-2131.
Maryland Democrats outlined a package of gun control measures on Wednesday as part of their legislative priorities this session.



House Speaker Michael Busch, D-Anne Arundel, described them as "common sense legislation" to protect Maryland residents, particularly those on college campuses. Here is a summary of three measures that Democratic leadership is supporting:



COLLEGE GUN BAN



Guns would be banned on public college campuses. Now, gun policies are decided on a campus-by-campus basis. The measure would make it illegal for a person to possess a gun on public colleges and university campuses, including community colleges. It would exempt police officers and security personnel. "Our college campuses are going to be a gun-free sanctuary," Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller said.



TERRORIST WATCHLIST



The Maryland State Police would be prevented from issuing gun permits to people on the terrorist watchlist maintained by the FBI. Supporters of the bill say there is a loophole in the law, because federal law doesn't prevent someone on the list from buying a weapon.



DOMESTIC ABUSERS



Courts would require judges to order people convicted of a domestic-related crime to transfer their firearms to a federally licensed firearms dealer or local law enforcement within two days of conviction or probation. While the law already says they can't possess a firearm, but supporters of the bill say the problem is judges have not been telling offenders they must surrender their firearms.

The measure would create a process for people convicted of domestic violence offences to turn in guns. They would also have three days to produce documentation that the firearms have been turned in. "All we are doing is improving the implementation of this law by saying that the courts have got to compel surrender of those firearms," said Sen. Jamie Raskin.
If Maryland had tougher anti-drunken driving laws, would Officer Noah Leotta be alive?

The family of the 24-year-old Montgomery County police officer hit by a suspected drunken driver in December urged state lawmakers on Wednesday to make in-car blood alcohol level-testing devices mandatory for anyone convicted of driving drunk.

Rich Leotta, the late officer's father, shouted as he delivered remarks in Annapolis on "Noah's Law."

"It's not a Democrat or Republican issue. It's not a polarizing issue. And it's not a controversial issue!" he said, holding his son's police badge.

Anti-drunken driving advocates and lawmakers have tried for years to get a law passed in Maryland that would require convicted drunken drivers to blow into a device the size of a cellphone to get a blood alcohol content reading before their vehicles will start.

But the bill has faced opposition from the liquor lobby, never making it out of the House judiciary committee.

"Gosh darn it, people are losing their lives because they want to sell more alcohol, make more money," Rich Leotta said.

Officer Noah Leotta was critically injured the evening of Dec. 3 after he had volunteered to work on a special holiday alcohol-enforcement patrol.

"This officer was killed serving the public, trying to prevent the exact crime that killed him," Montgomery County Police Chief J. Thomas Manger said.

Leotta was stopping a suspected drunken driver at Rockville Pike and Edmonston Drive in Rockville, Maryland, and was outside his cruiser when Luis Gustavo Reluzco, 47, smashed into the police car and then struck him, police said.

Leotta, who would have been with the Montgomery County police department three years in January, was rushed to a hospital with significant trauma. He died Dec. 10.

After Leotta's death, the police chief spoke furiously about inadequate penalties against drunk drivers.

"The state of Maryland has some of the weakest penalties for drunk drivers," he said. "Until the state of Maryland starts taking these crimes -- and I'm talking about the crime of a drunk driver behind the wheel of a car who's killing someone -- until they take this crime seriously, there is no justice for these families. There is no justice for these victims."

Reluzco, who still had not been charged in Leotta's death as of Wednesday, previously was arrested twice for drunken driving, Manger said.

Rich Leotta said he's fighting for stricter anti-DUI laws in Maryland to honor his son's memory.

"I need to do this. Because I don't want my son forgotten," he said, his voice quavering.

Only repeat drunken drivers and drivers described as having been excessively drunk are currently ordered to use the ignition interlock devices in Maryland. Mothers Against Drunk Driving said laws requiring their use save lives.

Car-locking systems have stopped more than 1.77 million people from driving drunk since states first passed laws in 1999 requiring offenders to install them, MADD said Wednesday in a first-of-its-kind national report.

Twenty-five states have laws that require ignition interlocks for all offenders following any drunken-driving offense.

Rich Leotta said he and his wife, who both are recently retired, will devote their lives to getting Noah's Law passed.

"It would be an honor," he said.
Police in Seat Pleasant, Maryland are investigating a fatal shooting that happened Wednesday inside a home.

They were called to a home in the 6700 block of James Farmer Way just before 2 p.m. Inside, they found a man suffering from what they called "upper body trauma."

The man was taken to a hospital, but he died.

A neighbor said this community is usually quiet. "This is the first I have ever heard of anything like that," said Blanche Malloy.

Police are offering a reward of up to $25,000 for anyone who provides information leading to an arrest and charges in the case. If you have information, call the Prince George's County Police Department's Homicide Unit at 301-772-4925.

If you would rather remain anonymous, call Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477) or text PGPD plus your message to CRIMES or go to www.pgcrimesolvers.com and submit a tip online.
A gunman fatally shot a sheriff's deputy inside a crowded restaurant in Abingdon, Maryland, during lunchtime Wednesday and killed another deputy in a shootout, authorities and witnesses said.



The gunman was killed in the exchange of gunfire not far from the shopping center where the Panera restaurant is located, Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said. Remarkably, no bystanders were hurt.



Police haven't released a motive for the shooting, but the sheriff said he believed the first deputy who approached the gunman was shot "because he was wearing a uniform." The shooter had warrants out for his arrest in Florida and Harford County.

The slain officers were described as a 30-year veteran and a 16-year veteran. The sheriff said he had met with both of their families but was withholding their names because more relatives needed to be notified.



"This is a tragic day for the Harford County Sheriff's Office," Gahler said.



One of the deputies was rushed to The Shock Trauma Center at University of Maryland Medical Center. Video showed an ambulance and sheriff's car escorted by police on motorcycles leaving, apparently taking the body to the medical examiner's office. Police lined each side of the street and saluted when the vehicles drove by.

The initial shooting took place inside a Panera restaurant in Abingdon, which is about 20 miles northeast of Baltimore.



Sophia Faulkner, 15, said she and her mother were getting lunch and almost sat right next to the gunman. Instead, they chose a booth about 10 feet away because the man appeared "sketchy" and disheveled. He was sitting in the back and hadn't ordered any food, Faulkner and her mother said.



A sheriff's deputy was called to the restaurant to check on a report about someone causing a problem. The deputy tried to talk to the man, who was apparently known to workers there. The deputy sat down beside him, asked how he was doing and the man shot him in the head.



"I saw him fall back out of his chair and the blood started coming out," Faulkner said. "I didn't know how to process it. My mom said, "What's going on?" and I said, "Get down, someone just got shot.'"



"Everyone started screaming'' after the gunshot, and children -- out of school because of snowfall --were running around, Faulkner said.

"I was freaking out so much and everybody was running to one side of the store. Families were huddling together. I didn't really know what was going on," she said. "You see this stuff online and in movies and on TV when it happens, but you never think you're going to go out to lunch one day with your mom and it's just going to happen."



The gunman fled and witnesses gave officers a description of him and told them which way he was headed, the sheriff said. After at least one deputy caught up with him and shots were exchanged, leaving the second deputy severely wounded and the suspect dead, the sheriff said.

"I saw two women and a child run from Panera to our back door. They were hysterical. They said they heard gunshots," said bartender Mike Davis, who was working at the Ocean City Brewing Co.'s Taphouse. "We locked the door and went to talk to a cop. The cop said not to let anyone in. Then, we heard more gunshots, 'Pop, pop, pop, pop,' from down in the shopping center. It was hectic."



The sheriff said investigators believe the person acted alone and there is no further threat to the community.



"The restaurant was very full at lunchtime," Gahler said. "Thankfully, no one else was injured."



The shopping center is called the Boulevard at Box Hill. It has a mix of shops, restaurants, a grocery store and a bank.



Yellow tape blocked off the Panera and Taphouse restaurants, but people were coming and going freely at other businesses after the shooting.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in honor of the deputies.

The First Lady and I send our most sincere thoughts and prayers to the families and loved ones of the brave deputies who made the ultimate sacrifice today for the community they selflessly served," he said in a statement. "It is my hope that their commitment and dedication to law enforcement and protecting others will be remembered and will forever serve as an inspiration to others.



Panera spokeswoman Amanda Cardosi said the company is heartbroken.



"Our thoughts and actions now are directed towards the victims and their families. This location will remain closed as we work with law enforcement to investigate," she said.
The Boston police Department is looking to identify a female suspect for questioning in relation to ongoing incidents of bank fraud and identity thefts.

The suspect was last seen in a white Toyota Camry with a license plate PL1613.

Police believe the suspect is involved in a larger group of individuals who break into cars and then commit bank fraud with the stolen identities taken during the break-ins.

The Boston Police is urging anyone with information to contact Sergeant Detective Dentremont at 617-594-3148.
Getting into Maines lobster industry takes time. In some cases, people are on the waiting list to get a license for decades.



The Commissioner of the Department of Marine Resources says keeping an estimated 300 people on the waiting list is bad for the industry, and wants to make the process move faster.



We have skipped a generation of fishermen in this industry, said DMR Commissioner Patrick Keliher.



An act to Improve the Limited-Entry System would streamline the process for getting a lobster license in Maine, making it easier for students to complete the apprenticeship program and increasing the fees for lobstermen over the age of 70.



It would also encourage zones to determine their exit-to-entry ratio differently. Currently, Keliher said the ratios are determined by the number of traps a lobsterman holds in the final year of his or her license. He wants zones to consider his or her historical fishing effort instead, to get a more accurate number for the allowable new traps.



Keliher hopes it allows more people to get off of the waiting list, and into the water.



For the people on the waiting list, its not far enough, and for the people in the fishery, we went too far, he said.



Lobstermen testified for and against the bill before the Committee on Marine Resources Wednesday.



David Cousens told lawmakers the current system is not perfect, but this bill does not fix its problems. Instead, Cousens said it could let too many people into the industry.



You cant legislate to let everyone do what they want to do, he said. I am concerned about people in this industry being able to make money.



Several students also testified, pleading with lawmakers to ease the rules for the apprenticeship program. High school student Caleb Hardie said its difficult to complete the required 1,000 hours in the training program before the age of 18, while balancing school and community activities.



The committee will have a workshop for the bill before holding a vote.
Police in Bourne, Massachusetts, posted a sarcastic message to their Facebook page on Thursday offering to provide tax advice for drug dealers - all they have to do is come by the station and share details about their operation.

"Attention drug dealers operating in the Bourne area...With tax season rapidly approaching, we know how hard it can be for you to provide a detailed accounting of your business related income and expenses," the post reads. "Could that late night trip to Wendy's be a business expense? Can you claim mileage if using your personal vehicle for business transactions?

"That's why our certified drug transaction reporting specialists will be available 24/7, free of charge, to assist you with analyzing your business dealings. Simply come to 175 Main St and ask for the Tax Security Special. Can't come to us, we'll come to you!"

Attention drug dealers operating in the Bourne area...With tax season rapidly approaching, we know how hard it can be... Posted by Bourne Police Department on Thursday, February 11, 2016

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Now the only question is whether anyone take them up on their offer...
Shocking surveillance video of a hit and run in Woburn, Massachusetts, Wednesday morning, and police say this was just one of a string of crimes the driver is accused of committing.

Investigators say 29-year-old Tyson Delgado of Winthrop was being interviewed by a police officer for a possible theft in North Woburn, when Delgado allegedly assaulted the officer and sped off in a white Chevy sedan.

The officer was not seriously hurt.

But a short time later, police say Delgado's car struck 65-year-old Fred Pica of Woburn just as he was crossing the street in a crosswalk at the corner of Main and Union Streets.

Pica was bale to return home on Wednesday night after being treated for a broken ankle, broken toe, and and bruises at Lahey Hospital.

Witness Alessandra Ferreira said, "This old man was in the sidewalk, the next thing that I saw the car was hitting him so he was on the car hood, so the guy brake a little bit but after that he sped up."

Witnesses say they believe Delgado struck the victim trying to avoid the officer doing detail work near the intersection.

Witness Mariana Almeida said, "That was crazy and then he just sped up he didn't stop, I think he just stopped when he saw the police officer behind him."

Mariana Almeida says the driver and a female passenger got out of the car and checked on the man, while admitting to police they hit him.

Almeida said, "The police officer said you guys stay there don't go anywhere don't touch him."

But police say Delgado took off once again, ditching the car a short distance away on Green Street before taking off on foot.

Ferreira said, "I hope they catch him soon because the family deserves justice to be served."

Anyone with any information about Delgado's whereabouts is asked to call police.
Potentially life threatening wind and cold are expected this weekend in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Wind Chill Watches have been issued for those states from Friday night through Sunday afternoon, with Wind Chill Advisories also issued for parts of Maine and New Hampshire.

[SEVERE WEATHER ALERTS]

Below-freezing wind chills are forecast from Saturday through Monday, with a low of 4 below zero in Boston on Saturday and 2 below zero on Sunday. Some areas will see wind chill values of 25 to 45 below zero at times.

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh is urging residents to check on the well-being of elderly or disabled neighbors, and to be mindful of homeless individuals who may need assistance.

"Extremely low temperatures present challenges for our City and our residents, and we are working to monitor the situation and keep all our residents safe," Walsh said in a statement. "I ask each and every single Boston resident to stay safe and to look after their neighbors."

With "life threatening" temps & wind chill in the forecast, please remember these important safety tips. pic.twitter.com/EkgW8MBJWw  Dustin Fitch (@DustinGFitch) February 11, 2016

MORE COLD WEATHER TIPS:

Preventing Hypothermia and Frostbite

Dress for the Weather:

Wear several layers of loose-fitting, lightweight, warm clothing rather than one layer of heavy clothing.

Outer garments should be tightly woven and water repellent.

Wear mittens over gloves, layering works for your hands as well.

Always wear a hat and cover your mouth with a scarf to protect your lungs.

Dress children warmly and set reasonable time limits on outdoor play.

Restrict infants' outdoor exposure when it is colder than 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

Watch for signs of frostbite:

These include loss of feeling and white or pale appearance in extremities such as fingers, toes, ear lobes, and the tip of the nose.

If symptoms are detected, get medical help immediately.

Watch for signs of hypothermia:

These include uncontrollable shivering, memory loss, disorientation, incoherence, slurred speech, drowsiness and apparent exhaustion.

If you or someone you know shows any of these symptoms, get in touch with a healthcare provider immediately. If symptoms are severe, call 911.

Heating Safety

Never try to heat your home using a charcoal or gas grill, the kitchen stove, or other product not specifically designed as a heater as these can cause a fire or produce dangerous levels of carbon monoxide very quickly. Using faulty or improper heating sources is the number two cause of home fires in Massachusetts.

Have your heating system cleaned and checked annually.

Install and maintain smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors on every level of your home. Carbon monoxide is an invisible gas produced whenever any fuel is burned, such as near oil or gas furnaces, water heaters, fireplaces, stoves, and some space heaters. It has no smell, taste, or color. It is a poison and is deadly.

Heat Guidelines for Property Owners and Tenants
A day after his victory in the New Hampshire primary, Bernie Sanders met Wednesday in Harlem, New York, with the Reverend Al Sharpton.

NBC News reported Sanders did not make any public comments after leaving the morning meeting with Sharpton. Sharpton said they discussed issues vital to black Americans.

"My concern is that in January of next year, for the first time in American history, a black family will be moving out of the White House," Sharpton said. "I do not want black concerns to be moved out with them. We must be front and center, and not marginalized, and Senator Sanders coming here this morning further makes it clear that we will not be ignored.

Back in Vermont, many of Senator Sanders' constituents were "feeling the Bern" after his 22 point victory over Hillary Clinton, the former U.S. Secretary of State.

"I really think that his strong win in New Hampshire will help him to raise more money," predicted Sanders supporter Jim Eaton. "I actually will give more money myself--a small amount--to help him win in other states."

"I always felt that universal health care is important, and his ideas definitely appeal to me," Susanne London said of Sanders, noting his margin of victory over Clinton in New Hampshire did not surprise her. "I would be surprised if that happened in South Carolina."

Nevada holds its caucus February 20, followed by a primary in South Carolina February 27.

Sanders' win in New Hampshire even drew praise from someone who may not vote for him: Gov. Peter Shumlin, D-Vermont.

Shumlin campaigned for Clinton in Iowa and New Hampshire, and has called her the candidate most qualified for the White House.

"I'm proud of Bernie, and I think all Vermonters join me in being proud of Bernie," Shumlin said Wednesday, adding he believed months ago that Sanders could win New Hampshire. "We've got a long way to go. We're going to see some back-and-forth. So let's just all sit tight. It's a good process. Folks are showing up-- they're excited. This is a good debate for Democrats."

Just since winning the Granite State, the Sanders campaign announced more than $5-million in mostly small contributions to help it continue pressing for what it has termed political and economic revolution.
After losing his beloved Rottweiler last year, it was a big step for George Tevepaugh to buy a new puppy - a 15-week-old Yorkie named Bubbie.

Oh, he was a cute little thing. He was so small, Tevepaugh said.

Last summer, Tevepaugh bought Bubbie for $750 from Just Pups. It's a home pet store in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts, owned by Susan Robson and her husband Dave, who also hapens to be the town's animal control officer.

Tevepaugh says at first, the Yorkie was playful and happy, but within days...



My wife called and says, he's real sick. She says, the pup's dying, he said.

The Dracut couple rushed Bubbie to a nearby animal hospital, where he was diagnosed with Parvo, a highly contagious, potentially fatal virus. He says the veterinarian told them if the puppy got aggressive care, the prognosis was good, but it would cost thousands of dollars. Tevepaugh decided to return the puppy after he says Robson promised to bring Bubbie to her vet.

Last week, Robson was arraigned on one count of animal cruelty in Lowell District Court. Investigators say Bubbie died three days later because Robson never got him medical care, and only took him to the vet to dispose of his body.

She did not respond when we asked her, Can you tell us anything about what happened?

Her lawyer Lawrence Beane said, My client pled not guilty. She's devastated the dog got hurt.

After Robson's vet reported the Parvo death to the state, investigators went to check on her other dogs. Robson buys them from out-of-state breeders, and by law, each puppy must be quarantined for 48 hours and then checked by a vet to declare them healthy for sale.

But when inspectors reviewed the paperwork of 30 puppies, they found that more than half had not been quarantined. Sixty percent were not examined by a vet after 48 hours - including the Parvo puppy - and 56 percent did not have their required health certificates.

According to the state report, Robson's vet also told investigators that Robson removed unsigned health certificates from her office without permission. One of the inspectors was concerned that Robson was forging health certificates for puppies in her store.

The veterinarian would not talk to necn on camera, but says that she broke ties with Robson, concerned that she was selling sick puppies.

A former customer tells necn she returned a wheezing puppy to Robson last fall two days after she bought it.

Those are very, very major violations, says Mike Cahill, director of the state's Division of Animal Health.

Although the state has not yet released the annual inspection reports that necn requested for Just Pups, Cahill confirms this is not Robson's first major violation.

In 2007, she paid more than $3,000 in fines for operating an unlicensed kennel. And in 2014, another puppy died in her care. According to records obtained by necn, Robson removed a sick puppy a customer had brought for treatment from the MSPCA's Angel Memorial in Boston. Robson allegedly told hospital staff it was too expensive and she would take it somewhere cheaper. Against vet orders, Robson took the dog and later told state investigators it had died in her car on the way to the animal hospital. Investigators say Robson had sold that sick puppy with no valid health certificate.

We asked Cahill, The state could have brought her in for a hearing, suspended her license, taken away her license - did any of that happen? Replied Cahill, No. We just issued the financial penalties based on the paperwork violation.

The state fined Robson $300 for the health certificate violation, but Robson's check bounced last year and they let the matter drop. They made sure, Cahill says, to include that fine in a closed-door settlement they just made with Robson. They fined her $5,000 for the violations after Bubbie's death and suspended her license for 6 months.

The state has, however, allowed Robson to continue to sell dogs - in fact, she's been given until the end of the month to sell the six puppies she still has.

That's a shock to George Tevepaugh, who says Robson should not be allowed to sell any more dogs.

Terrible, he said, How many more pups are sick?

The state tells us they have required Robson to show them valid health certificates for the remaining puppies before she sells them.

And if Robson is convicted on the animal cruelty charge, her license will be automatically revoked. She's due back in court in next month.
This column is available in a weekly newsletter called IT Best Practices. Click here to subscribe.

In October 2012, then-U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta gave a speech in which he warned that the United States was facing the possibility of a cyber Pearl Harbor and was increasingly vulnerable to foreign computer hackers who could dismantle the nations power grid, transportation system, financial networks and government. According to Panetta, the nation's adversaries have been acquiring technologies that could allow an aggressor nation or extremist group to gain control of critical infrastructure. They could derail passenger trains, or even more dangerous, derail passenger trains loaded with lethal chemicals. They could contaminate the water supply in major cities, or shut down the power grid across large parts of the country.

None of those things have happened in the U.S.  yet  but there have been recent high profile attacks on industrial and critical infrastructure systems elsewhere.

Investigators have confirmed that the Ukrainian power grid was knocked offline in December 2015 by a cyber attack that used malware to damage computers and sensitive control systems. A troubling aspect of this attack is that other countries' power systems aren't much better protected than the Ukrainian system, meaning this could happen anywhere. Even in the U.S.

Germany's Federal Office for Information Security reported a cyber attack on a steel manufacturing plant in late 2014. According to the agency, attackers used a spear phishing email to gain access to the plant's office network, and from there made their way into the company's production network. Commands were sent to the network's control components, preventing the plant from appropriately shutting down a blast furnace. This resulted in significant physical damage to the plant, costing millions of dollars and shutting down productivity for months.

Many experts believe this is just the beginning of cyber warfare events that will be waged around the world. Unfortunately, the industrial world is years behind the information technology (IT) world in preparing for cyber attacks, largely because this is something new in the operational technology (OT) world.

Traditionally, OT systems have been isolated and protected by the means of "security through obscurity." Industrial systems run on proprietary operating systems from companies like Schneider Electric, Honeywell, Emerson, Siemens and a handful of other vendors. Until recently, they have had no connections to the IT world where malware is prevalent.

This is changing, however, as plant operators seek the benefits of creating connections between IT and OT systems. Operators want to gather important metrics that can help them improve their production processes and gain better insight into the business overall. But this is creating vulnerabilities on the OT side of the house, and as a result, plant operators need to harden their OT environmentssomething that is easier said than done.

The IT and OT environments are quite different. In the IT world, if a vulnerability is discovered, say on a Windows or Linux system, it's simple to install a patch and reboot the system. In an industrial environment, you can't just shut down a production system to apply an update or patch and then reboot. Something like a petroleum refinery, a water treatment plant or an electricity generating station has to be scheduled for downtime, and even at that the maintenance is typically performed only once or twice a year.

In the IT world, systems get replaced every three to five years. In the OT world, the replacement cycle for machines might be 10, 20 or 30 years or more. Equipment that is decades old was never built with security in mind, so there might not even be a way to update the OS.

There are many issues in the industrial world that make security hardening a real challenge. NextNine is one company stepping up to address the challenges, offering a distributed platform for security management of the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition/Industrial Control Systems (SCADA/ICS) environments.

NextNine's platform consists of a centralized security center, virtual security engines that are located at each plant location (one per plant), and a secure communications tunnel that connects the security center to each plant's security engine.

The plant operator defines the enterprise security policy in the security center and it is pushed out to the various plant locations. The virtual security engine can semi-automatically  with help from a human because of the industrial environment  implement security policy. The engine also measures the compliance of the security policy to what has been defined and will send the results back to the central office to present in a dashboard. This process goes well with concept of the hardening circle that security people would like to see: set the security policy, measure current compliance to the policy, report the gaps, address the gaps, repeat.

NextNine offers a variety of services with its platform. One of them is a granular remote access solution that enables a vendor  say, Honeywell  to get into the plant to provide updates and patches to its own devices. The remote access solution would allow a specific engineer at Honeywell to see only Honeywell devices, and only the ones that he is allowed to deal with. He can only perform tasks he is authorized to do, and even those can be overseen by local personnel and aborted in case the engineer does something dangerous or that isnt allowed. It's a strong mechanism with audit trails that are required by various security regulations such as NERC CIP.

Another NextNine capability is inventory. Maybe this sounds trivial, but many of these industrial companies don't know what assets they have. If they don't, they definitely cannot defend them. It's not as easy as it sounds to do an asset discovery and inventory because in this fragile, proprietary world of industrial systems, if the asset discovery is done too aggressively, it's possible to bring the plant down, which is the worst possible scenario. NextNine says it enables an asset inventory without putting availability at risk.

NextNine keeps a whitelist of approved applications and a blacklist of things that aren't permitted to run on these systems. The solution also collects log files to send to a centralized security information and event management (SIEM) system for analysis. NextNine supports a variety of third party anomaly detection tools and does compliance measurement. Everything is presented in a dashboard to keep management informed of the security status.

The end result is that there is an inventory report, a site compliance report for the security policy, and a dashboard that managers can look at and act upon to improve the hardening of the plant. While this is commonplace in IT environments, it's truly a new experience in many industrial situations that have never done this before.

NextNine says its solution is vendor-agnostic and will work with equipment from a variety of industrial vendors, as well as with active security protection solutions (like anomaly detection and patching) from specialty software vendors.

This platform is said to fully conform to the NERC CIP 5.1 standards, and NextNine says it is even helping define industrial security standards being put forth by the White House and NIST. It's all done with the goal of reducing industrial cyber risks and bringing a more mature security posture to this vulnerable environment.
Google has now agreed to remove links from all of its domains  including Google.com  that are accessible from a European country in which the company has acquiesced to a citizens invocation of his or her right to be forgotten as spelled out in Europes radical privacy laws, according to the New York Times.

Google had previously argued that it was only necessary to remove such links from results provided by the Google site registered under the home countrys top level domain.

The Times reports:

In practice, (the change) would mean a successful request from someone in Spain, for example, would lead to the removal of the link from Googles European online search domains, and from all of its non-European sites  including Google.com  accessible from that specific country. Search results for individuals outside the European Union will not be affected, and links on Googles non-European domains will still be accessible from other European countries.

At least for now. This slope couldnt possibly be any slipperier.

Despite Googles renewed efforts to appease European privacy concerns, it remains unclear whether the companys actions will be enough to head off the continuing legal disputes from Europes national data protection authorities, who want Google to apply the right-to-be-forgotten ruling across its global operations.

That would seem inevitable and how Google responds will determine whether American-style freedom of expression and freedom of the press prevails here in the United States and elsewhere or is hamstrung by run-amok European censorship.

And in the meantime none of this line-drawing involving domains addresses the utter futility of attempting to erase history through search-engine manipulation. Removing links from a search engine does not remove embarrassing or outdated content from the Internet. It merely inconveniences those trying to find it.

A right to be forgotten is meaningless when it is unattainable, yet the collateral damage caused by the quest for it is quite real.

Welcome regulars and passersby. Here are a few more recent buzzblog items. And, if youd like to receive Buzzblog via e-mail newsletter, heres where to sign up. You can follow me on Twitter here and on Google+ here.
The launch of cloud security startup Cato Networks by cybersecurity expert Shlomo Kramer reminded me of the episode of USA's Mr. Robot when Elliot Alderson explains why he chose his healthcare provider  limited security budget and limited security staff let him break through the perimeter defenses and change his medical records to cover up his lifestyle. In the real world, though, cyber threats are scaling faster than enterprises can respond. Like Elliot, Kramer is counting on enterprises with limited security staff and budgets turning to his new venture for end-to-end, perimeter-less security.

According to a report by Reuters, Cato Networks is different because it asks customers to move all their traffic to its encrypted network. In other words, Cato is the opposite of Check Point Software Technologies, the company Kramer co-founded in 1998 that invented a perimeter defense used by almost all enterprises. The mobile internet has changed how the enterprise works. Large numbers of employees operate outside of the traditional security perimeter, necessitating a new way of looking at cyber defenses.

David Cowan, a Bessemer Ventures partner, said in the report, "You're not going to see big companies just moving their critical traffic over this hodgepodge network that they will knit together." But, frankly, what are CIOs' choices? Like the IT manager of Elliot's healthcare provider in Mr. Robot, their limited staff and budgets mean they can't scale to match today's cybersecurity threats. The Financial Times reported a 30% deficit of security talent by the end of the decade, when demand for 6 million certified security experts exceeds a supply of 4.5 million. During the last decade, the cyber threat has metastasized from small hacker groups into nation states like China engaged in national and industrial espionage and organized crime attacking financial assets. Last year, there was barely a week without news of data breaches affecting millions of people whose data had been entrusted to some large organization. Anthem, Premera, Ashley Madison, the IRS and the U.S. government's Office of Personnel Management, to name just a few, were all humbled by breaches.

Building a perfect perimeter is like building an ancient walled city and hoping to outlast a never-ending siege from an enemy whose weapons are evolving all the time. The reality facing CIOs is that there are really just two kinds of companies: those that have been breached, and those that haven't been breached yet. Some enterprises will meet the cybersecurity threat, but with more than just a strong perimeter defense. They will change their security operations to look more like a platform company.

A look at how platform company Google runs its security operations lends some insights into the challenges facing enterprises and what Cato Networks may be trying to replicate to help these enterprises. Google runs its Global Security Operations at an enormous scale to monitor the security that's built into its networks, data centers, and products. It does a great job with encryption, authentication, and physical security to keep intruders out. However, it does a better job predicting, detecting, and defending against attempted breaches and attacks. The company can also afford to recruit the best talent from the limited pool of security pros. Using predictive analytics on a huge trove of security data collected from its enormous world-wide operations and independent sources, Google can predict and respond to the cyber threats at a scale few other companies can match.

Cato raised $20 million in a round led by U.S. Venture Partners and Aspect Ventures to outsource network security into the cloud. Kramer is betting that his new venture can scale and operate like the security operations of Google to protect its customers' traffic in a perimeter-less fashion.
Earlier this month, a Swedish developer named Peter Fjallstrom wrote a blog post explaining how he used a few scripts to turn Slack, everybody's favorite new collaboration app, into a tool that helps keep track of his kids, calendar, and even improves the grocery shopping process.

Fjallstrom explained that he was inspired to apply Slack to his personal life after seeing the impact it had on his team at work. So he used the free tier of Slack  available for iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows and allows you to browse through the most recent 10,000 messages posted  and added a little ingenuity to help organize the logistics of a family of four.

With a deployment that Fjallstrom admits his kids might eventually start to question, Fjallstrom integrated a script that, upon a prompt, grabs location data from the Find My iPhone app and presents a static Google Maps image showing their location at that moment.

Naturally, the spying element has attracted some differing opinions on this tool, but it's at least interesting to know it's possible.

Also interesting was Fjallstrom's use of Slack to keep a real-time grocery list. He uses an online grocery delivery system, which is based on a list that the customer creates before a certain weekly deadline. Rather than opening the list 10 minutes before deadline and trying to remember everything they'll need for the week, which Fjallstrom says is how his family had done it before, he uses custom Slack commands to add grocery items to the list as they run out.

When he notices they've run out of a certain item, he opens Slack, asks it to search the grocery service's list for the item, then uses a buy command to add it to the list.

Fjallstrom admits in his post that this integration is not kosher at all and might even violate Slack's terms of conditions. But he says outright that if the grocery service, MatHem, has any problem with it, he'd cease and desist as soon as they let him know. The post has been live for 10 days and has bounced around the internet and it's still there, so maybe he's in the clear.

Fjallstrom also integrated Google Calendar and the RSS feeds that his kids' schools made available (which is pretty impressive in itself) so he doesn't miss a school-related event.

Of course, these aren't exactly revolutionary applications. Amazon, for example, has tried desperately to get people to add household items to their shopping lists in real-time, rather than just run out to a store.

But if you're a fan of Slack  and, surprisingly, there are a lot of them  these are just some new, potentially useful ways to use it.
VMware has been on a news blitz this week, announcing updates to many of its management products and one specific focus has been on enabling hybrid cloud computing.

The company has a stronghold in its compute virtualization software based on vSphere, but as more enterprises use public cloud services, VMware is extending the support of its management tools to include off-premises resources. VMware hopes that any customer looking to use Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud Platform will choose the companys vRealize Suite to centrally manage their on-premises virtualized environments and the public cloud.

+MORE AT NETWORK WORLD: VMware gives enterprises a BYOD boost with three new tools | SD-WAN: What it is and why youll use it one day +

VRealize Suite combines management software products, such as the newly updated vRealize Operations 6.2, which is meant to be a portal for monitoring and managing a virtual environment. It gives users a central view into all of the virtualized resources in an environment, allowing issues to be resolved and compliance monitoring to be done from a single interface.

VMware vRealize Operations 6.2 monitoring AWS public cloud resources alongside vSphere instances.

The rest of vRealize Suite is made up of Log Insight (also updated to a 3.3 release with backend enhancements), vRealize Automation (for automatically provisioning workloads across virtual and cloud-based infrastructure) and vRealize Business Cloud (which provides chargeback of usage to departments).

One new hybrid cloud enablement feature is Portable Licensing Unit, which prices VMwares management tools based on how many workloads they manage no matter where those workloads live. They could be VMware virtualized resources, or those in the public cloud.

Carl Brooks, an analyst at 451 Research, notes that the product updates fit with VMwares announced strategy of bundling management tools atop its core virtualization products. They want to be the gateway, they want to be the control panel in front of the admin, and therefore the most sticky software in the data center, he notes.

But these tools are no silver bullet, Brooks says. They can do high-level API integration with public clouds like AWS and Azure. But management of extensive use of those platforms will likely require expertise in any particular vendors cloud.

Hybrid cloud management technology is not unique to VMware: A whole host of vendors offer this capability. VMwares one differentiator is its network virtualization NSX technology, Brooks says. VMware has hinted that it will enable customers to use NSX as a bridge between their on-premises and public clouds. Already customers can run the software in both locations.

In addition to the operations management news, VMware announced Virtual SAN 6.2, the fourth-generation update to the companys all-flash storage platform for virtual machines. It includes new deduplication and compression capabilities, which along with other new features, can increase storage efficiency by up to 10x, VMware says.

VMware also said its HyperConverged infrastructure (HCI) business, named EVO, is growing and now has 3,000 customers.

And on Tuesday VMware had a series of announcements related to its End User Computing division.

Meanwhile, VMware is doing some restructuring internally, having recently announced layoffs as its parent company EMC (which owns a super-majority stake in VMware) moves forward with plans to be bought by Dell.
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...and hes never been better, playing retired composer and conductor Fred Ballinger in Youth, buoyed by an on-form Harvey Keitel

MICHAEL Caine is an acting legend. Hes inhabited some of the big screens most iconic roles, and stamped his own indelible mark on them. Theres Harry Palmer, theres Alfie, theres Charlie Croker, and theres Jack Carter  among many others. Hes also responsible, of course, for some best forgotten  but frequently remembered for all the wrong reasons  roles in films like Jaws: The Revenge and The Swarm, and more recently Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and the pitiful The Last Witch Hunter. But in Youth, Caines never been better. As retired composer and conductor Fred Ballinger, he ups his game, buoyed by an on-form Harvey Keitel. On holiday at a Swiss health spa with daughter Lena (Rachel Weisz) and film director friend Mick Boyle (Keitel), Fred discusses the finer details of his life  resentments, misunderstandings and regrets over the beautiful women he never slept

with included  as he debates whether or not to accept an invitation from the Queen to perform for Prince Philips birthday.

Friend Mick indulges similar musings, though he struggles to remember large chunks of his life, and things are brought into stark relief for him when faded screen star Brenda Morel (a feisty and fabulous Jane Fonda) shows up to let the director down, having accepted a TV role over the film Mick is currently preparing for. Lena, meanwhile, sorts through her own feelings of middle-age angst, having been jilted by her husband for a younger woman. It soon becomes clear that Youth isnt about youth per se; its about getting older, and being old  and how youth is viewed through that filter, whether mourning the loss of youth, regretting things not done or processing the lust stoked by the young and their young bodies. Youth, director Paolo Sorrentino says, is a preoccupation of the old; and, in particular, he spends time observing lust  specifically the lust inspired in the older man for young women. He juxtaposes young bodies with old bodies and asks us subtly to question our notions of physical attractiveness in the context of age.Theres one scene involving a traditionally beautiful naked woman in a pool. The camera lingers on her slow, deliberate and self-aware performance as she strides into the water, and its extremely discomfiting to see these two old men, Fred and Mick, leering. Although she appears to invite it, its clear were seeing her and the performance through the eyes of two men aware of their own mortality and lamenting their own lost youth. Their reduction of her to a sex object is sad, and what theyre really obsessed with is the fountain of youth in which theyre symbolically bathing. An unsettling film, Sorrentinos study of youth never really gets under the skin of its theme or characters, but it does ask lots of questions. Were left with a sense

of pointlessness to existence, and to the film perhaps, and an awareness of the absurdity of life and human nature. Youth is far from perfect, but its always captivating.
A new Blunderbus children's show in Newbury this half-term

THE popular Blunderbus Theatre Company return to the Corn Exchange this coming half-term holiday, with their brand new family show My Pet Monster and Me. This funny, big-hearted story has lots of fun for little monsters aged three-plus and their grown-ups.

Sophie Bucket lives on a farm with her dad, but shes a lonely little girl who longs for a friend to share her adventures with. When she finds an egg one day, she keeps it warm and... out pops a cuddly, toothy, burpy, baby MONSTER. Theres trouble ahead, as this big baby monster just wont stop growing.

Join them down on the farm for adventures with Sophie and her new friend George, the most lovable monster in the land. Theres puppetry, music, songs and plenty of laughs.

Since 1998, Blunderbus have been creating magical theatrical experiences for children and their families all around the world. The company performs to more than 200,000 children each year, touring to theatres, arts centres, schools and festivals across the UK and as far afield as Malaysia, Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore, with critically acclaimed shows such as How to Catch a Star, The Owl who was Afraid of the Dark and Giraffes Cant Dance.

So why not join Sophie and Georgeat the Corn Exchange on Thursday, February 18? There are two shows  at 11.30am and 2.30pm. Visit www.cornexchangenew.com
Christian Value Investment Newsletter Captures Top-Two Ranking



SALAMANCA, N.Y., Feb. 11, 2016 /



TCVI's annualized gain of 13.0% outperformed the 10.4% gain earned by the Wilshire 5000 Stock Index HFD cites as a performance benchmark. This raw or unadjusted return was the 11th highest in the five year category, but combined with TCVI's significantly lower risk factor, earned the second place risk-adjusted finish, having climbed steadily in the rankings since August 2015 when it first broke into the "top seven" that HFD highlights in each issue at the 5, 10, and 20 year milestones.



Reacting to the news, Mick Williams, TCVI's editor and co-founder of Faithful Servant LLC, noted, "We're saddened to learn that MarketWatch's Hulbert Financial Digest will cease publication after more than 35 years of service to the investment community. This highly respected, impartial publication, owned by the same corporation that owns The Wall Street Journal and Barron's, has been a great 'friend' to The Christian Value Investor family of newsletters. The investment professionals who subscribed to our newsletters over the years did so primarily based on the objective performance data reported by Hulbert Financial Digest and its on-line companion Hulbert Interactive."



Faithful Servant LLC's co-founder Richard Williams noted, "Mick recently got invited to join some of his college faculty colleagues in attending the Kingdom Advisors Annual Conference February 17-19, 2016. We're very excited about the opportunities this affords."



According to Mick Williams, his three newsletters, The Christian Value Investor, The Christian Utility Investor, and The Christian Transportation Investor, grew out of his 2008 MBA thesis and the capstone project of an MBA entrepreneurship class. He became convinced of the potential of his project's business model for a distinctively Christian investment newsletter embracing the Value Investing principles first taught by Warren Buffett's teacher, boss, mentor, and friend, Benjamin Graham, and he co-founded Faithful Servant LLC with his father, Richard Williams, a retired Air Force officer. For more, see .

Share Tweet Contact: Major Richard Williams, 716-938-6623SALAMANCA, N.Y., Feb. 11, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- For a second straight month a top-two finish among 133 competitors was reported for Faithful Servant LLC's flagship Newsletter, The Christian Value Investor by Hulbert Financial Digest 's February issue. The ranking was determined by the newsletter's risk-adjusted performance over the previous 5 year period.TCVI's annualized gain of 13.0% outperformed the 10.4% gain earned by the Wilshire 5000 Stock Index HFD cites as a performance benchmark. This raw or unadjusted return was the 11th highest in the five year category, but combined with TCVI's significantly lower risk factor, earned the second place risk-adjusted finish, having climbed steadily in the rankings since August 2015 when it first broke into the "top seven" that HFD highlights in each issue at the 5, 10, and 20 year milestones.Reacting to the news, Mick Williams, TCVI's editor and co-founder of Faithful Servant LLC, noted, "We're saddened to learn that MarketWatch's Hulbert Financial Digest will cease publication after more than 35 years of service to the investment community. This highly respected, impartial publication, owned by the same corporation that owns The Wall Street Journal and Barron's, has been a great 'friend' to The Christian Value Investor family of newsletters. The investment professionals who subscribed to our newsletters over the years did so primarily based on the objective performance data reported by Hulbert Financial Digest and its on-line companion Hulbert Interactive."Faithful Servant LLC's co-founder Richard Williams noted, "Mick recently got invited to join some of his college faculty colleagues in attending the Kingdom Advisors Annual ConferenceFebruary 17-19, 2016. We're very excited about the opportunities this affords."According to Mick Williams, his three newsletters, The Christian Value Investor, The Christian Utility Investor, and The Christian Transportation Investor, grew out of his 2008 MBA thesis and the capstone project of an MBA entrepreneurship class. He became convinced of the potential of his project's business model for a distinctively Christian investment newsletter embracing the Value Investing principles first taught by Warren Buffett's teacher, boss, mentor, and friend, Benjamin Graham, and he co-founded Faithful Servant LLC with his father, Richard Williams, a retired Air Force officer. For more, see TheChristianValueInvestor.com
Celebrate Life, Family and Religious Liberty March 7, 2016 in Naples, Florida

Pro-Life Leaders Speak During Thomas More Society Dinner Cruise



Contact: Tom Ciesielka, 312-422-1333, tc@tcpr.net



NAPLES, Fla., Feb. 11, 2016 /Christian Newswire/ -- On Monday, March 7, 2016, the Thomas More Society will bring pro-life leaders to Naples, Florida to celebrate life, family and religious liberty with a second annual sunset dinner cruise. Speakers for the networking benefit include Tom Brejcha, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Society and Shawn Carney, co-founder and campaign director of 40 Days for Life.



WHAT: 2nd Annual Sunset Dinner Cruise to Celebrate Life, Family, and Religious Liberty



WHEN: Monday, March 7, 2016, boarding begins at 5:15 pm Eastern.



SPEAKERS:

Tom Brejcha, Thomas More Society president and chief counsel



Shawn Carney, 40 Days for Life co-founder and campaign director



Fr. Michael Orsi, Action for Life TV



and testimonies from the Thomas More Society's notable clients, representing a few of the many pro-life individuals and groups across the country to which the Thomas More Society provides pro bono legal aid.

WHERE: Naples Princess, 550 Port O Call Way, Naples, FL 34102

MAP here



WHY: Supporting the Thomas More Society's pro bono legal work defending life, family, and religious liberty



TICKETS AND INFORMATION: www.thomasmoresociety.org/florida



Thomas More Society provides legal counsel for sidewalk counselors, pregnancy centers, and pro-life organizations including 40 Days for Life around the country and also defends religious freedom and family values. The Society is also defending David Daleiden, the undercover investigator who has exposed Planned Parenthood's sale of fetal body parts, against two RICO (racketeering) lawsuits brought by the National Abortion Federation and Planned Parenthood, and against a criminal felony case brought in Houston, Texas.



"We live in a day and age when life, family, and religious liberty are increasingly under fire," said Sarah Barraza, Thomas More Society's Director of Communications. "This sunset dinner cruise is an opportunity to join together with like-minded friends to support an organization working to defend those values."



Find additional cruise details and speaker bios here.



Read about the Thomas More Society's Florida involvement defending life, family and religious liberty here.



About the Thomas More Society:

Thomas More Society is a national not-for-profit law firm dedicated to restoring respect in law for life, family, and religious liberty. Headquartered in Chicago, the Society fosters support for these causes by providing high quality pro bono legal services from local trial courts all the way to the United States Supreme Court. www.thomasmoresociety.org
Church Sues for Religious Ban in Wine Country Contact: Lori Sanada, Advocates for Faith & Freedom, 951-304-7583



TEMECULA, Calif., Feb. 10, 2016 /Christian Newswire/ -- Today, Calvary Chapel Bible Fellowship filed a complaint in federal court against the County of Riverside, California, based on the United States Constitution and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Person's Act of 2000.



Calvary Chapel Bible Fellowship, commonly known as "Calvary Wine Country," is located in the region of California known as the Temecula Wine Country.



Calvary Wine Country opened its doors in 1996 when churches were once allowed to locate in the 17,900 acre Wine Country region  an area equal to 28 square miles. However, soon after Calvary Wine Country was approved, the County banned churches from the Temecula Wine Country, leaving Calvary Wine Country as a nonconforming use. Now, Calvary's ability to expand its facilities for its flourishing congregation in the Wine Country is uncertain at best.



Calvary Wine Country plans to remain in the Wine Country and to build a larger sanctuary on its 28 acre adjacent property. However, the county's zoning ordinances still ban churches and Calvary Wine Country is the only church in the Temecula Wine Country. Meanwhile, the County permits special occasion facilities, wineries, hotels, resorts, restaurants, and many other tourist related uses in the Wine Country.



Calvary's pastor Clark Van Wick said, "It's a tragedy to see our religious liberty eroded in this country where men and women have fought and died to protect our liberty. It's un-American to see churches outlawed like we're seeing here in the neighborhood I've lived in for 27 years."



"This is a classic case for the federal religious land use law that protects churches and requires that zoning authorities treat religious assemblies on equal terms to other nonreligious assemblies," said Robert Tyler, Managing Partner of Tyler & Bursch, LLP and counsel for Calvary Wine Country. He further commented, "Calvary Wine Country has long desired to just be a good neighbor, to work cooperatively with the county and to provide a place of worship for the thousands of residents that live in the Wine Country."



Unfortunately, Calvary Wine Country has been the target of litigation by a "loose" organization named Protect Wine Country. Calvary Wine Country has had to fight a neighboring vintner, a special interest group, and other politically influential wineries just to continue its right to exist on its own property.



Robert Tyler commented, "It is ironic that Father Junipero Sera, the 'Father of California Wine,' planted the first known vineyard in California at the San Diego Mission de Alcala and vineyards graced the California Missions for many years. Today, however, Riverside County has determined that a church is no longer compatible with vineyards and has banned all religious assemblies from the Temecula Wine Country."



Calvary Wine Country is represented by Advocates for Faith & Freedom in association with Tyler & Bursch, LLP. Robert Tyler filed one of the first lawsuits under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 on behalf of the Elsinore Christian Center located in Lake Elsinore, California. That suit resulted in a successful resolution wherein the City paid more than $1.6 million in settlement. Robert's firm, Tyler & Bursch, LLP, has become one of the nation's premier firms for handling religious land use cases on behalf of churches.



Advocates for Faith & Freedom is a nonprofit public interest law firm dedicated to protecting religious liberty in the courts. You can visit our website at www.faith-freedom.com.



Email info@faith-freedom.com to receive press releases. Also, join us on Facebook and Twitter to stay up-to-date on our progress in this case and others.



A copy of the Complaint can be found here.



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Tom Kacich is a columnist and the author of Tom's Mailbag at The News-Gazette. His column appears Sundays. His email is tkacich@news-gazette.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@tkacich).
Alpha cells in the pancreas, which do not produce insulin, can convert into insulin-producing beta cells, advancing the prospect of regenerating beta cells as a cure for type 1 diabetes. The findings come from a study at the University of Geneva, co-funded by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, that is published today in the online edition of the scientific journal Nature.

The researchers, led by Dr. Pedro L. Herrera, demonstrated that beta cells will spontaneously regenerate after near-total beta cell destruction in mice and the majority of the regenerated beta cells are derived from alpha cells that had been reprogrammed, or converted, into beta cells. Using a unique model of diabetes in mice, in which nearly all of the beta cells are rapidly destroyed, the researchers found that if the mice were maintained on insulin therapy, beta cells were slowly and spontaneously restored, eventually eliminating the need for insulin replacement. Alpha cells normally reside alongside beta cells in the pancreas and secrete a hormone called glucagon, which works opposite to insulin to regulate the levels of sugar in the blood. Alpha cells are not attacked by the autoimmune processes that destroy beta cells and causes type 1 diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes is a chronic, autoimmune disease that affects children, adolescents and adults, in which the immune system attacks the beta cells in the pancreas that produce insulin, a hormone that enables people to convert food into energy. People with type 1 diabetes are dependent on insulin treatment for the rest of their life.

Dr. Herrera's results are the first to show that beta cell reprogramming can occur spontaneously, without genetic alterations. Previous efforts to reprogram non-beta cells into beta cells relied on genetic manipulations - processes that can not be easily translated into therapies.

According to Dr. Andrew Rakeman, JDRF Program Manager in Beta Cell Therapies, the breakthrough in Dr. Herrera's work is the demonstration that alpha- to-beta-cell reprogramming can be a natural, spontaneous process., "If we can understand the signals that are triggering this conversion, it will open a whole new potential strategy for regenerating beta cells in people with type 1 diabetes," he said. "It appears that the body can restore beta cell function either through reprogramming alpha cells to become beta cells or, as previously shown by others, by increasing growth of existing beta cells. This path may be particularly useful in individuals who have had the disease for a long time and have no, or very few, remaining beta cells."

Role of Removing Beta Cells

Dr. Herrera's team genetically engineered the animals to be susceptible to a toxin that would destroy only their beta cells. When the mice were exposed to the toxin, the beta cells were rapidly and efficiently destroyed - greater than 99% just 15 days after treatment. Then, to track the source of newly regenerated beta cells, Dr. Herrera's team used another genetic manipulation to permanently label mature alpha cells and all their descendents with a fluorescent protein. This "genetic lineage tracing" approach allowed the scientists to track the fate of the alpha cells and their progeny; the presence of fluorescently labeled beta cells in the recovered animals gave conclusive evidence that alpha cells had reprogrammed into beta cells.

Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today

The Geneva researchers pointed out that the critical factor in sparking the alpha-to- beta-cell reprogramming was removing (or ablating) nearly all the original insulin-producing cells in the mice. In mice where the loss of beta cells was more modest, the researchers either found no evidence of beta cell regeneration (when only half the cells were destroyed) or less alpha cell reprogramming (when less than 95% of cells were destroyed).

"The amount of beta-cell destruction thus appears to determine whether regeneration occurs. Moreover, it influences the degree of cell plasticity and regenerative resources of the pancreas in adult organisms," said Dr. Herrera.

Regeneration Research

In type 1 diabetes, the immune system attacks beta cells, stopping a person's pancreas from producing insulin, the hormone that enables people to get energy from sugar. JDRF has been at the forefront of diabetes research looking to develop therapeutics to drive the regeneration of insulin-producing cells within a person's body (as an alternative to transplanting insulin-producing cells from other sources). Beta cell regeneration involves triggering the body to grow its own new insulin producing cells, either by copying existing ones - some are usually still active, even in people who have had diabetes for decades - or causing the pancreas to create new ones.

This study is another step forward for JDRF's research focus on Regeneration as a potential pathway to restore insulin production - and normal blood sugar in people with type 1 diabetes. JDRF has become a leader in this new and exciting research field, funding a wide range of research projects, including studies like Dr. Herrera's, and an innovative diabetes drug discovery and development partnership with the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Foundation (GNF), focused on regeneration approaches.

In addition to regenerating or replacing insulin producing cells, a cure for type 1 diabetes will also require stopping the autoimmune attack that causes diabetes, and reestablishing excellent glucose control.
Being diagnosed with a potentially life-threatening illness is distressing enough but a dearth of cohesive services often compounds the difficulty, according to an NAU researcher.

Mary Anne Hale Reynolds, an associate professor in the School of Nursing, focuses on adults, ages 20-59, and the physical, psychosocial, emotional and spiritual impacts following a life-threatening disease diagnosis.

Reynolds' area of expertise is palliative care, which she described as an array of services geared toward people with serious illnesses.

"The interesting thing about palliative care teams is they are almost always based in acute-care settings in hospitals," Reynolds said. "But for people who are discharged home, then community resources become very important."

Most people Reynolds has surveyed are unable to accurately describe palliative care, which she describes as similar to hospice services but provided on an outpatient basis through community partners over a longer period of time.

Palliative care includes spiritual counseling, pharmaceutical assistance and health care services. Unlike patients in hospitals, hospice and assisted-living facilities, many people in Reynolds' research live at home, continue to work and often care for family members despite a potentially life-threatening diagnosis.

As the health care system in the United States continues to evolve, Reynolds has witnessed a move toward more palliative care, yet research on the topic is sparse.

With more people living longer with life-threatening illnesses, there is an imperative to improve the quality of their lives, Reynolds said, which could be accomplished through a robust model of palliative care.

Services could include managing symptoms and pain, transportation to and from treatments, navigating insurance and referring people to a lawyer if advanced directives are needed.

In a recent northern Arizona study, Reynolds learned about inadequacies of services for people with cancer. She discovered recurring themes among the afflicted, including difficulty maintaining employment, financial burdens and the challenge of commuting to Flagstaff for health care.

Most of the people in Reynolds' study, which was funded by the American Nurses Association and Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association, were slow in being correctly diagnosed, postponing their cancer treatments. After a diagnosis, palliative care services could have improved their lives, she said.

"Palliative care models are all about improving people's quality of life, not the quantity," said Reynolds, noting that in many cases patients receiving palliative care early do actually live a couple of months longer than expected.

In addition to enhancing the quality of life following a diagnosis, Reynolds said, palliative care research shows an economic benefit from fewer hospital readmissions.

Reynolds wants to expand her recent research to include cardiac patients and people with other types of life-limiting illnesses. Educating primary care providers, including those in rural communities, would be a big step toward improving the quality of life for patients.

"With palliative care, it is about identifying services we have an what we need," Reynolds said. Nurses, including Reynolds' students, will play significant roles on future interdisciplinary teams if the healthcare system moves to a more encompassing palliative care model.

Reynolds received word this week that two of her grant applications were accepted and funding will be awarded for additional palliative care research.
"This is not unexpected," says Frank Esper, MD, infectious disease specialist at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital in Cleveland, after learning of the first case of Zika virus in Ohio, found in a Cleveland woman who traveled to Haiti. "We know people are going to come back and they're going to have the Zika virus."

Zika is not fatal and, for most people who contract the mosquito-borne virus, symptoms mimic the flu: fever, ache, and perhaps red eye or rash, The virus then leaves the system in five days. Zika in pregnant women, however, has been linked to microcephaly, or small brains, in their babies, which could lead to serious developmental problems.

"What we need to worry about mainly is the pregnant moms and their unborn child," says Dr. Esper. "That's the population who's at risk for any problems from the Zika virus."

Aside from a few cases of sexual transmission, Zika is mainly spread by mosquitoes unique to tropical areas so travelers from Central and South America will be the main source of the virus in the north.

There is no treatment or vaccine for Zika. The Cleveland woman has not be hospitalized.

Protection for Travelers in South and Central America

* Use insect repellant

* Wear long pants and long-sleeve shirts

* Avoid going outside at dawn and dusk, when mosquitoes are most prevalent

* Stay at places with screens on windows and doors and central air conditioning

Source: University Hospitals Case Medical Center
Johns Hopkins recently received approval from the United Network for Organ Sharing to be the first hospital in the U.S. to perform HIV-positive to HIV-positive organ transplants. The institution will be the first in the nation to do an HIV-positive to HIV-positive kidney transplant and the first in the world to execute an HIV-positive to HIV-positive liver transplant.

"This is an unbelievably exciting day for our hospital and our team, but more importantly for patients living with HIV and end-stage organ disease. For these individuals, this means a new chance at life," says Dorry L. Segev, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

This announcement brings to fruition the exhausting two-year effort Segev put into helping draft and push through the 2013 HOPE Act ? a bill signed by President Obama that made it possible for HIV-positive individuals to donate organs, and one of only 57 bills passed in 2013 by the most unproductive Congress in the history of the United States.

Approximately 122,000 people are on the transplant waiting list in the U.S. at any one time. Thousands die each year, many of whom may have lived had they gotten the organ they needed. Meanwhile, Segev estimates that each year, about 500 to 600 HIV-positive, would-be organ donors had organs that could have saved more than 1,000 people ? if only the medical community was allowed to use the organs for transplant.

The antiquated law, which the HOPE Act reversed, prevented doctors from using organs from HIV-positive donors, even if they were intended to be given to an HIV-positive patient desperately in need of the organ. Despite very positive outcomes in non-HIV transplants in HIV-positive recipients and proven results of HIV-positive to HIV-positive kidney transplants in South Africa, HIV-positive to HIV-positive transplant in the U.S. was not a possibility until now.

"Organ transplantation is actually even more important for patients with HIV, since they die on the waiting list even faster than their HIV-negative counterparts. We are very thankful to Congress, Obama and the entire transplant community for letting us use organs from HIV-positive patients to save lives, instead of throwing them away, as we had to do for so many years," says Segev.

The first approved HIV-positive to HIV-positive transplant could take place as soon as a suitable organ should become available and a recipient is successfully identified and prepared.
Prof. Peter Wright THOUGHT LEADERS SERIES ...insight from the worlds leading experts

Please can you give an introduction to your research?

I'm a professor in the Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology at The Scripps Research Institute. I have been performing NMR research on proteins for nearly 40 years.

In very general terms, my research is focused on the relationship between the structure, dynamics, interactions and function of proteins. In some projects, we focus purely on dynamics, trying to understand how the dynamics of enzymes, for example, relates to enzyme catalysis and interactions. We are also interested in how transient fluctuations in a protein structure can lead to aggregation-prone states that cause disease.

A major research effort in the lab is focused in the area of intrinsically disordered proteins or IDPs. This is a large part of our research activity and has been for very many years, ever since we stumbled across IDPs in the mid-1990s. An enormous effort is being made in the lab to try to understand IDPs, their conformational ensembles, and their biological functions.

The Dark Proteome - NMR in Disease Research Play

The Dark Proteome - NMR in Disease Research from AZoNetwork on Vimeo.

How important is it to study IDPs?

It is extremely important. IDPs represent about one third of the proteins in the human proteome. We know very little about them and refer to them as the dark proteome.

IDPs are involved in a huge number of functions in the cell. They control cellular regulation and signaling and are involved in organization of membrane-less compartments in the cell. They are closely associated with disease and are linked to cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, infectious disease and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

IDPs are incredibly important in human biology and, obviously, in medicine. IDPs offer us new possibilities to develop novel drugs and identify novel therapeutic targets, so it is extremely important to study them and understand how they function.

Why is this area so challenging?

It is challenging for very many reasons. They pose many challenges for NMR, which is the central tool for studying IDPs. Traditional structural biology methods such as crystallography cannot be used for IDPs because they do not have unique structures.

When IDPs are in the free state and not bound to targets, they adopt ensembles of structures, but they frequently also form dynamically disordered complexes when they interact with a target.

The method of choice for studying IDPs is NMR, but they pose real challenges because the dispersion in the NMR spectrum is very limited. If an IDP is highly dynamic, then the lines are very sharp and you can apply multidimensional, 4D and 5D experiments to resolve the poorly dispersed spectra and minimize peak overlap.

However many IDPs actually have broad cross peaks due to local compaction of the IDP and restricted motions. For large IDPs, the spectra frequently contain a mixture of sharp and broad resonances and that poses additional challenges.

Another major challenge is that there is frequently exchange broadening in IDP complexes due to the timescale of exchange between free and bound states or fluctuations within the complex that cause broadening of the NMR signals. This is another major challenge that needs to be addressed in NMR studies of IDPs.

A final challenge is that many eukaryotic proteins contain both globular domains that are well structured and disordered regions. One needs to understand these proteins at a holistic level: how do the ordered and disordered regions function together to perform the biological function? Again, this poses a real challenge because you typically get broad signals from the globular regions and sharp signals from the disordered parts.

Can you share with us some recent results of your research?

Firstly, NMR is a central and arguably the most important tool for studying disordered proteins. One of the reasons for this, is that NMR can be used to characterize the conformational ensemble of an IDP, follow post translational modifications, and characterize the protein when it is in the free state as well as when it is bound to its target.

The first example I will give is the work of two Japanese post-docs, Kenji Sugase and Munehito Arai, who have used NMR relaxation dispersion experiments to characterize the mechanisms by which disordered proteins bind to their targets. They were able to show that the mechanism of binding and folding depends on the population of folded states in the conformational ensemble of the free IDP.

If there is a high population of native-like folded states in the conformational ensemble, say more than 40 or 50%, then this dictates one folding pathway - the protein folds before it binds. If the conformational ensemble of the unbound state is deficient in natively folded states, then folding occurs after binding.

Relaxation dispersion experiments provide insights into the kinetics and mechanism of the IDP binding processes. This is very important information to guide the future development of novel drugs.

The second example I will give deals with a problem that is encountered quite frequently in doing NMR spectroscopy on complexes of IDPs to gain understanding of how they interact with their targets. One of the very real challenges is that when complexes are formed, the NMR spectrum is often exchange broadened, making it very difficult to assign resonances and determine the structure of the complex.

A way around that problem was developed by a graduate student in the lab, Alexander Krois, and a post-doctoral fellow, Josephine Ferreon. By fusing the IDP to its binding target in a single polypeptide chain, the cross peaks in the NMR spectra became sharper and they were able to make complete assignments and determine the structure.

Using this strategy they were able to obtain structures of the full-length activation domain of the tumor suppressor p53 bound to a target protein, leading to new understanding of the intermolecular interactions.

However, one of the downsides of this strategy is that proteins must be isotope labeled for NMR experiments; if a fusion protein is labeled with isotopes, then both the disordered protein and its target become labeled. As a consequence, the NMR spectra of the fusion protein become a lot more crowded and a lot more complicated than the spectra of the individual components.

Alex came up with a very neat solution to this problem by using inteins. By fusing the two proteins using inteins, he could label the IDP with N15 and C13, while leaving the target protein unlabeled, or vice versa. This resulted in simplification of the spectra and facilitated structure determination and studies of dynamics.

You can also take the intein strategy a step further. The method Alex developed is very robust and can be applied to proteins that contain a combination of disordered regions and globular regions. Using inteins, the globular region can be left unlabeled while just the disordered part is isotope labeled. Alex demonstrated this strategy using the tumor suppressor p53.

By making the resulting segmentally labeled constructs, he can then use NMR to probe interactions within the full length p53 tetramer. He obtains beautiful spectra of the disordered region, and can follow post translational modifications and interactions with other molecules without the complexity of the broad signals coming from the folded core domain of p53.

How important is NMR? What does it give you that other technologies do not?

NMR is a central tool for the study of IDPs. It provides technology to characterize the conformational ensemble of IDPs, leading to new understanding of the conformations that are populated in in the free state and the dynamics with which they exchange.

NMR also allows characterization of IDP complexes, which are frequently partly disordered. There are two extremes; sometimes when an IDP binds to its target it will fold up into a well-defined structure; other IDPs remain dynamically disordered in their complexes with their binding partners.

In some cases, an IDP is partly structured and partly disordered when bound to a target protein. This gives rise to the concept of static and dynamic binding sites, where part of the protein folds on binding while other parts remain dynamic in the bound state. NMR is the only tool that can be used to investigate these complex and dynamic interactions.

The ability to characterize dynamic proteins, to map conformational ensembles, to follow post translational modifications in real time, and to determine the structure and dynamics of IDP complexes is what makes NMR such a powerful tool for studying IDPs. NMR is also a very powerful tool for studying interactions, since it is straightforward to identify the regions of an IDP that interact with its target through changes in chemical shift or line width.

How will your work impact medicine and biomedical research?

It will do so in many ways. Obviously this is a major challenge, since one third of the proteins in the human proteome are disordered, and the range of their functions and behavior is vast. New and totally unexpected results are constantly emerging in the IDP field. The concept that disordered proteins undergo phase transitions and form membrane-less compartments within the cell, for example, was totally unexpected. An enormous amount of work needs to be done to understand IDPs and their function in the cell.

Our own work is beginning to provide new insights into the mechanisms by which disordered proteins bind to their targets, the molecular basis by which they recognize their targets and how they regulate signaling pathways. Much of the complexity of the signaling pathways in a cell comes from disordered proteins and the post translational modifications that they undergo.

Our research is providing necessary technologies for study of IDPs and we are beginning to scratch the surface of understanding how IDPs are functioning in the cell. As we learn more about how disordered proteins function and what their role is in signaling and disease, new possibilities open up for the design of therapeutics.

Part of our research that impinges directly on this concerns viral IDPs. Many viruses express intrinsically disordered proteins in an infected cell that function to hijack the cellular regulatory networks. Many of the DNA tumor viruses, for example, produce disordered proteins that block the action of p53.

The tumor viruses hijack the host cell cycle by using their own disordered protein regions to mimic cellular IDPs. We should be able to do the same thing with drugs, by designing small molecules or peptide-like molecules that target the cellular machinery in the same way that viral IDPs do. These are the types of insights that we gain from studying disordered viral proteins and their interactions that will have an enormous impact in the long term.

Which specific proteins are you focusing on and how do they relate to disease?

Many of the proteins that we are studying are directly related to disease. One such disease is cancer, which we are addressing through our work on the tumor suppressor p53 and DNA tumor virus proteins. We are trying to understand the molecular mechanisms by which DNA tumor virus IDPs function to hijack cellular signaling pathways and disrupt regulation of the cell. These projects relate directly to disease.

Another area that is disease related is directed towards understanding how a protein can transiently unfold, either partly or fully, to form an aggregation-prone state that causes disease. We are focusing on the protein transthyretin, which is not an IDP.

Many pathogenic mutations occur in transthyretin and these mutations lead to early onset amyloid disease if you are unfortunate enough to have one of those mutations. However, about 25% of octogenarians suffer from senile systemic amyloidosis, a cardiac disease in which wild type transthyretin unfolds and aggregates.

Given the prevalence of this disease in the elderly population, understanding how the wild type protein unfolds to form amyloid is extremely important. Again, we use NMR relaxation dispersion methods to observe a transiently populated aggregation-prone state, populated to the level of only 1- 2%.

There is so little of this state formed that it cant undergo aggregation- it simply relaxes back to the correctly folded ground state. However, by using NMR relaxation dispersion we can characterize the structure of the transiently unfolded state that leads to aggregation and disease.

How will your work impact the future of biomedical research?

I think the impact will be very high. The IDP field is huge. As I mentioned before, about one third of proteins in the human proteome are disordered. It's going to take an enormous effort to understand the role of these proteins and the impact of the dark proteome upon cellular signaling and the organization of cells, as well as its impact upon medicine.

The work that we are doing is laying some of the foundations for a mechanistic understanding of how IDPs function - how they function in signaling and how they interact with their binding partners. Understanding of these processes is going to be very important in the future for developing new drugs and therapeutics to target diseases associated with IDPs.

One of the problems we are studying in the lab concerns the mechanism by which disordered virus proteins hijack the machinery of the infected cell. We are particularly interested in DNA tumor viruses such as the human papillomavirus, which causes cervical cancer, and are trying to understand how the disordered proteins produced by HPV and other DNA tumor viruses interact with cellular targets, competing with cellular IDPs to hijack the cellular machinery.

Viruses are very effective drug designers. Over billions of years, they have evolved to target the cellular machinery in ways that we cannot. I think that there is a real lesson for us there. An understanding of how viral IDPs function in the cell can guide us to design our own molecules to disrupt cellular pathways and treat disease, both viral disease and other diseases. We can use the viral IDPs as a model to gain new insights into how to target cellular pathways and control cellular regulation.

About Peter Wright

Peter Wright is a Professor in the Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology and holds the Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Chair of Biomedical Research at The Scripps Research Institute.

He received his B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and undertook postdoctoral studies at Oxford University, UK, from 19721976. He joined the faculty at the University of Sydney, Australia in 1976. He was appointed to the faculty of Scripps in 1984 as Professor, and was Chairman of the Department of Molecular Biology from 1987-2012.

His research has focused on applications of nuclear magnetic resonance to study mechanisms of protein folding, the structural basis of protein-protein and protein-nucleic acid interactions in the regulation of gene expression, and the role of dynamics in protein function.

His work on protein interactions led to the realization that many proteins do not adopt stably-folded, globular structures but are intrinsically disordered, and that protein disorder plays an important functional role in cellular signaling networks.

He is an elected fellow of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance, the NMR Society of Japan, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Molecular Biology.

About Bruker

Bruker is market leader in analytical magnetic resonance instruments including NMR, EPR and preclinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Bruker's product portfolio in the field of magnetic resonance includes NMR, preclinical MRI ,EPR and Time-Domain (TD) NMR. In addition.

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In October, when David O'Connor last visited Brazil as part of a decade-long research program studying drug-resistant strains of HIV, one of his Brazilian collaborators had a request.

"He asked about using some of the technologies we have developed to look for new viruses to study some unusual cases of a birth defect, microcephaly, in the north of Brazil," says O'Connor, a University of Wisconsin-Madison pathology professor.

The babies born with underdeveloped brains and small heads were the relatively quiet beginning of worry over the spread of Zika virus, concern that has grown louder outside Brazil with an international outbreak and emergency attention from public health officials around the world.

"At the time we didn't know it would explode into the public consciousness like it did," O'Connor says. "But we did start planning."

That planning will soon culminate in some of the first experiments studying Zika virus in monkeys, conducted by a broad UW-Madison team that includes the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center and expertise in infectious disease, pregnancy and neurology.

Pathobiological sciences Professor Jorge Osorio and research scientist Matthew Aliota, who were first to identify the Zika virus circulating in Colombia in October, provided essential Zika virology expertise. Ted Golos, professor of obstetrics and comparative biosciences, studies how other infections during pregnancy impact newborn health. The research group has extensive experience with viruses in humans and nonhuman primates  such as HIV and influenza  and their work will be conducted in secure facilities designed for the safe study of potentially harmful viruses.

Their work will start with basic questions about Zika virus infection. Very little is known about the virus even though more than 50 years have passed since it was discovered in the Zika Forest in Uganda.

Until recently, Zika was expected to cause little more than flu-like symptoms  the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists fever, joint paint and a headache  in about 20 percent of the people it infected.

"That's why it's an understudied virus," O'Connor says. "The viruses that get the most attention are the ones that makes us the most sick."

The rapid spread of the virus and potential connection to an otherwise rare birth defect have drawn plenty of attention from the public and from government officials.

"People want clear answers, and we want to be able to make clear public health recommendations," says Thomas Friedrich, a UW-Madison professor of pathobiological sciences. "There are a lot of countries in the tropics right now saying, 'Don't get pregnant until 2018.' That's not a sustainable public health recommendation."

In January, the National Institutes of Health made Zika virus research a high priority, and the groundwork underway at UW-Madison led to NIH support for a series of studies of the virus in macaques, monkeys whose physiology and immune systems are similar to humans.

The researchers will track the effects of initial infections, but also try to establish whether one Zika virus infection provides some protection against future infection  like chicken pox does.

Zika does not mutate particularly fast, the feature of HIV and influenza that makes those viruses hard to pin down with vaccines (like HIV) and leaves people open to reinfection seasonally (like flu). This may make Zika easier to head off with a vaccine, but the best sort of immune response to provoke with a vaccine is not yet known.

"That's why we need to have data that shows what natural immunity looks like and the sort of immune responses that arise to protect an individual when they encounter that virus again," O'Connor says.

Perhaps more hotly anticipated will be results from planned studies of Zika and pregnancy.

"We strongly suspect Zika infection during pregnancy is associated with birth defects such as microcephaly," Friedrich says. "But we don't know how strong the link is, or what percentage of women who get infected might give birth to children with birth defects."

Or whether the timing of the infection during pregnancy matters. Or whether it is direct infection of a developing fetus by the virus or the immune response the infection sparks in pregnant women that causes problems like microcephaly.

"There are questions that cannot be safely and ethically addressed in humans that are absolutely vital," O'Connor says. "What we will learn about Zika from the monkeys will hopefully have an immediate application when figuring out how to deal with this from a public health perspective."

Working with the Zika virus from the original 1947 discovery in Africa and from the ongoing South American outbreak  provided by UW-Madison Osorio and Aliota, who were first to identify Zika virus circulating in Colombia in October  the researchers also hope to identify any important differences in infection by the different strains.

O'Connor also hopes results from the studies will help settle minds around the world, and help change the tenor of Zika news stories.

"The more hyperbolic the media coverage is, the more it gets repeated, reposted, retweeted," he says. "The key messages are that we don't know a lot. We will know a lot 12 months from now. But it's really important we let data guide the decision making, not our guts."
Something is buzzing on the roof of the Opera Garnier in Paris. Visitors to the opera are surprised, and perhaps a little alarmed, to see bee hives on the roof of the theatre. Meanwhile, New York City too has recently passed laws to allow city slickers to take up beekeeping. Beekeepers across the world despair about the loss of honeybees, a loss that has received a great deal of media attention, and has been movingly depicted in the recent film More than honey. It is this global concern that has driven the surprising developments on top of the Opera Garnier and in the heart of the Big Apple. The Parisians? and New Yorkers? new-found love of honeybees is but a small expression of a much greater concern -the global decline of pollinators, not only honeybees, and the future of our food.Optimists believe that we can compensate for this loss; they advocate introducing honeybees to farmlands. So while the urban dwellers of Paris keep their bees on the roof of the Opera Garnier, poor farmers in India keep their bees on top of their homes. Indeed, farmers from Tanzania to Kyrgyzstan are finding that beekeeping has many advantages: pollination of crops by honeybees compensates for the loss of wild pollinators, honeybees are easy and cheap to maintain, and of course, they produce honey.Let?s think about coffee for a moment. My morning coffee depends on bees; and this is at the heart of what my work in India is about. My first trip to India opened my eyes to the diversity of existing honeybees. At first sight, I was startled by their size ? three times the size of the common honeybees we are used to in Europe; these are the giant Asian honeybees, called Apis dorsata. They have a reputation for being aggressive, and their attacks are dreaded by local farmers. Luckily, they usually build their nests at the top of tall trees in or around small family-run coffee estates. Another local species, Apis cerana, also pollinates coffee. This bee, by contrast, is a gentle and easily domesticated species. And had local beekeepers not told me, I would have mistaken it for its cousin, the familiar European honeybee, Apis mellifera.In southern India, farmers are cutting down the large trees in order to produce more coffee. This is bad news for the giant honeybees; they need these trees for their nests. What should a farmer do? If he cuts the trees, he gains space to plant more coffee, but he loses the benefits of pollination by the wild giant honeybees. One could think of a simple solution - domesticated Apis cerana bees, cared for by farmers on their estates.My work with farmers has taught me that it is otherwise. A few years ago, the government promoted the distribution of subsidized hives to coffee planters. But only 15% of the farmers own Apis cerana hives, and these are mostly empty or rotting in some corner of the plantation. I asked farmers why are they not using the hives. I discovered a myriad of constraints: the lack of skill and knowledge in taking care of the bees, the difficulty in finding colonies in the wild, the absence of distributors of queen bees in the region, the fear of being stung, or, more simply, the lack of time. But above all, most of the planters were just not interested in beekeeping. In their view, the benefit of bees for coffee production is marginal. Keeping bees is just not profitable, even accounting for the honey produced. Why not?The sticking point is that other species of wild bees continue to pollinate coffee without needing any additional effort by the farmers. Farmers perceive no problem at all, as they can cut trees and grow more coffee, while still relying on wild pollinators from the wider landscape, which remains relatively rich in tree cover. Many small forest fragments, refuges for wild bees, sprinkle the region. Large trees are being lost, forests encroached, and coffee planting intensified, all to the detriment of biodiversity, but plenty of trees and forests remain, so coffee is still pollinated, and production remains high. There are no real losers in this equation: neither the farmers nor the conservationists, let alone the coffee drinkers. But for how long?If farmers continue to cut trees, the giant honey bees will eventually decline and disappear, and so too will the wild bees on which famers are increasingly relying. Introducing beehives is not yet a priority in this landscape, as the wild bees are still performing an invisible but essential job. Our concern is that if farmers fail to anticipate future problems, either by retaining trees or investing in Apis cerana hives, then there is a high risk of future pollination failure, which will cause a decline in coffee production. This does not augur well for farmers, for conservationists, or for you and me (because our coffee will become more expensive).Compensating for the loss of wild bees with honeybees requires overcoming cultural, social, and economic barriers. Traditional beekeeping does not sit well alongside the modernizing society of India, and beekeeping know-how is gradually being lost. Getting farmers actively engaged in pollinator management could be a turning point in modern integrated agriculture. Neither the urban beekeepers of Paris, nor the coffee growers of India are immune to bee stings; and the ultimate sting could be the loss of these pollinators altogether.

(Doktorandin Charlotte Pavageau /ETH-Zukunftsblog)
John John man to know fate

PH taxi driver and mechanic, Mark DeGannes pleaded guilty yesterday to fraudulently converting $36,000 entrusted to him by Carol Solomon-Nichols at the Gulf City Mall, Lowlands on January 29 last.

In pleading guilty to the offence, DeGannes, a father of two of John John, asked the Magistrate to be given at least one month to repay Solomon-Nichols.

He was remanded for tracing and sentencing. The charge was laid by PC Marcus Turpin.
JAPANESE WOMAN FOUND DEAD

She is said to have been among a group of Japanese who visit Trinidad and Tobago annually for Carnival.

Public relations officer of the steel orchestra, Dr Jean Campbell, confirmed last night that Nagakiya played with the band for the past five years. Police are still trying to unravel the mystery surrounding her death, but sources indicated to Newsday last night that the woman had, a medical condition. A Facebook page in Nagakiyas name informs that she was from Sapporo-shi district in Hokkaido, Japan and studied music at the Senzoku Gakuen College of Music.

She is described on the page as a musician and steelpan player and the page also gives her address as Woodbrook in Port-of- Spain. Among the many pictures in her profile is one with veteran leader of the Phase II Pan Groove Len Boogsie Sharpe and she is also seen in video images playing with the Silver Stars Steel Orchestra.

Newsday was told that officials from the Japanese Embassy visited the Forensic Science Centre in St James where they made a positive identity of the body.

According to sources, a friend of Nagakiya became concerned when he did not find her at her home address and upon hearing of the discovery of a body at the Queens Park Savannah, especially the description that the person was of Asian descent, he alerted the Embassy.

A long-standing member of Silver Stars last night described Nagakiya as a very friendly person who was good with everyone.

We are all in shock, he added.

The grief-stricken player also confirmed Nagakiya played with mas band Legacy over Carnival.

I saw the costume and she told us she was playing with Legacy.

We are waiting to find out what really happened to her from the autopsy, he said.

Nagakiya was clad in a yellow bikini and beads mas costume when her body was found and police said she had an identification band on her wrist which indicated she was playing with Legacy. But in an immediate response following queries by Newsday, Legacy band leader Mike Big Mike Antoine said the woman could not have been playing with his band as he personally made checks on his system, and all masqueraders were accounted for.

Police also said in the release that the womans body was clad in a yellow and teal coloured bikini- type costume and the Legacy wrist band had the name of a section called Rhythm. Antoine said he has no section in his band named Rhythm and none of his sections had yellow bikini costumes.

We have a green section, a pink section and a blue section, Antoine said. We did not use yellow in any of our sections this year because we used it last year. Police also revealed the woman was wearing a gold-coloured ring with a small blue gem on the left middle finger, a silver chain hand band on the left wrist with translucent gems attached and a clear coloured glass-like band on the right wrist.

I conducted a personal investigation and scanned our files myself as we have the names, numbers and sizes of all members who played with our band.

And all persons who played with us are well and accounted for, Antoine told Newsday.

It is an unfortunate situation regardless of which band she may have played in. Its a sad situation for the whole country because we do not send for people to come and play mas so they could get killed. But this had nothing to do with Legacy mas. I do not want my band to be blamed for something of which it is innocent, Antoine said.

He added that his band crossed the stage at 10.30 am on Tuesday after the Ronnie & Caro mas band and finished playing at about 7 pm. Antoine said if family members identify the woman and confirm she was playing with the band Legacy, he would be able to progress from that point with more information. At about 9.30 am yesterday, Geoff Adams, a 64-year-old man of Tamana was passing along the Queens Park Savannah and upon nearing Queens Royal College, he came across a man who was shouting and gesticulating wildly.

At about 9.30 am yesterday, Geoff Adams, a 64-year-old man of Tamana was passing along the Queens Park Savannah and upon nearing Queens Royal College, he came across a man who was shouting and gesticulating wildly.

He said there was something under the tree, Adams recalled.

I thought it was a manicou or iguana the man saw, but when I checked, I saw it was a woman wearing a yellow bikini, Adams said. The woman was found lying in an awkward position, slumped over exposed roots of the massive tree with one hand behind her back. She bore minor lacerations on one of her elbows and on her face and her hair was tousled.

Adams immediately alerted the St Clair Police and officers arrived and cordoned off the area. Crime Scene Investigators processed the scene and the body was removed to the Forensic Science Centre where an autopsy will be done today.
There Were Rules on Handling

Asbestos. They Were Ignored
(Newser)  Police say an incredibly prolific thief in New York is back in jail after stealing from the same poor victim for the second time in as many months, the Syracuse Post-Standard reports. According to the AP, 24-year-old Kenneth Lafler allegedly got into the woman's car and took her purse Monday in Auburn. She apparently recognized him because he'd been charged with breaking into her car back in December. In fact, Lefler had been in jail on those chargesamong othersuntil bailing out Feb. 3. Five days later, he was right back there. Following his arrest in December, Lefler allegedly confessed to stealing from nearly 100 vehicles. That's a lot of cases, and police are still investigating his claims, the Auburn Citizen reports. (Read more theft stories.)
(Newser)  Police investigating the tragic death of a Missouri toddler are trying to piece together what happened in the hours before his body was found in a van around a mile from his home in Iron County on Wednesday morning. Police say 3-year-old Titus Greyson Tackett's grandparents were babysitting when his parents returned home at around 1am Wednesday to discover them sleeping, the front door open, and the boy gone, reports NBC News. After an overnight search involving local police, the Missouri Highway Patrol, the FBI, and volunteers, Titus' body was found in the van at 11am, wrapped in a blanket, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Somebody who spotted the body flagged down a searcher, police say.

Family members told police that they last saw Titus at around midnightand he was wearing only a diaper. The temperature in the area was around 14 degrees overnight, according to the National Weather Service. Authorities say an autopsy will be carried out and it still isn't clear if foul play was involved in the boy's death, KTVI reports. "At this point, it's too early to determine exactly how he got out of the house and how he ended up where he was," Iron County Sheriff Roger Medley tells the Daily Journal, adding that there does not appear to be any connection between the van's owners and the boy's family. (Read more Missouri stories.)
(Newser)  Two sheriff's deputies are dead after a man opened fire in a busy Panera Bread during lunchtime Wednesday in Maryland, Fox News reports. According to the Washington Post, a deputy was called to the restaurant because a man was acting suspiciously. Fifteen-year-old Sophia Faulkner, who had decided against sitting near the man, described him as "sketchy." The deputy arrived and sat next to the man to talk to him, and the man shot him in the head. "Everyone started screaming," Faulkner tells Fox. "I was freaking out so much, and everybody was running to one side of the store. Families were huddling together. I didn't really know what was going on." The man took off running.

A second deputy caught up with the suspect and was shot, ABC News reports. He later died at the hospital. Two more deputies arrived at the scene and fatally shot the suspect. Sheriff Jefrey Gahler says he believes the first deputy was shot because he was wearing a uniform. The identities of the deputies have not been released. Theyre both two outstanding deputies who served the citizens of this county for 16 and 30 years respectively, the Post quotes Gahler. The suspect has been identified as 67-year-old David Evans. He was wanted on two outstanding warrants, including one for assaulting a police officer in Florida. No citizens were injured during the shootings. (Read more shooting stories.)